Academia: Champions of Calgary

4. Spar Alert!

Sarah decided to stay in the main lab, and look around for a bit. Lader never liked the elevator, so he stayed behind as well. 

Underneath Arrytech Labs' main lab, are training grounds crafted specifically for the Int. It's a little old-fashioned considering it was made nearly 10 years ago, but it still holds up nicely. It's dubbed "The Algo". 

Fourschach had lowered the elevator that he, Tom & Connie were standing on, because it was time to train the Int. As Connie was a former Int, she knows how to help Tom with the basics on how Ints act on the battlefield, and what tactics they could use to champion over their adversaries, what powers he could access, expanding Math's status as merely a form of punishment, to a whole new world of wonder, opening up newer possibilities, never thought of before!

It was obvious that Connie couldn't be the one to train Tom, no matter how enthusiastic she may be, because of her pregnancy, according to Fourschach. 

"I knew, one of these days, well, no, since Connie became the Int, there would come a time when no one would be able to train the Current Int, that being Tom. So, I had spent a large amount of money, buying some robots from our neighbours in Cyberia, while re-engineering the Algo, to simulate real-time fights. I hope it helps." Fourschach continued, guiding them off the elevator. 

He pushed a button on a wall, and the Algo began its simulation of real-time fights. A robot arose from a chamber, and it was given a rubber sword, by Fourschach. 

(Is he for real, right now?)

They persuaded Tom to spar against a robot, much to his discordance. To him, fighting a robot, means he's gonna meet his maker in 10 seconds. But, he knew Connie would try to convince him, that everything was going to be fine. He wanted to get it over with, so he activates the Circum Relic's abilities.

"FROM THE QUADRANTS OF ACADEMIA, COMES A NEW HERO!" he incanted. 

The Int's Guise had fitted him once again, though hesitation was visible on Tom's face. He thought he was gonna die, all because he picked up a mysterious wristwatch from a snowbank. He pulled out the Digit Sabre from his back, and he was finally able to wield it properly. Though, Connie immediately told him to correct his stance, due to ergonomic issues. 

3... 

2...

1...

FIGHT!

The robot charged towards the Int, raising its sword heavenward, then bringing it down on him. His natural instincts kicked in, and he dodged the sword. Unfortunately, the robot was quick to bring the sword up again, and attempted to stab the Int once again, failing, as he was quick enough to escape death's blade once again, rolling to the left. He got back up, defending himself from the sword, with his Sabre. Combat was fierce between the robot and Tom, aside from all the captchas that he had done. They were both formidable in terms of defense, offense, & nonsense. Connie was visibly cheering on for the fledgling Int, and Fourschach just sighing in disbelief, at what incompetency he was witnessing. All the other Ints he's previously assisted during his 5 year career, none have been more pathetic than this teen. However, after a while of sparring, one stood on another, the Sabre being the closest to the heavens. 

Connie was proud of what she was seeing, although vomiting immediately afterwards, and Fourschach was dumbfounded by the sight of the new Int's victory. 

"Well, it seems that Connie's incompetence made her forget to inform you, about the magiportation the Circum Relic can do..." Fourschach informed Tom.  "I'm sorry, eh. What now?" the latter questioned. Connie slapped him 

Fourschach further expounded on the Circum Relic's abilities, of being a means of travel. He urged the Int to yell "De Carte!" for a mysterious reason. 

"De carte!" the Int shouted. The Relic had diverged into different components, but the most prominent of it all, was the Compass. There's a reason why there was a compass rose & compass arrow inside of the Relic. 

Fourschach also continued to him, to wave his hand in a circle, to test if the Compass' calibration works. It does. Next, he advised him to hold the Digit Sabre with his non-dominant hand, that being his left hand. With his right hand, he must position it above the compass arrow again, but this time, to the direction he wants to travel to. 

The Int positions his hand to the North-East position, and Fourschach said something unsettling. "Pray that you have an iron stomach. Yell 'Begin!' to magiport." he said. 

Suddenly, the Digit Sabre was flying northeastward, at nauseating speeds, with Tom heading straight for a wall. He tried hovering his arm over any other direction, Southward. The Sabre rotated, bringing him backwards, into the robot chambers. 

"Int! Shout 'End'! to end!" Fourschach hopelessly yelled at him. 

It was useless, as he had crashed into the robots. The Academics came to the Int's aid, and they pulled him out of the rubble. 

(There's no way Connie's telling the truth about this being Math...) 

Sarah was just mindlessly tinkering around, looking at more of the scientific & magical exhibits. Lader was following her around, in vain, in an attempt to stop her from touching more of the equipment. She was already giving Lader a headache, and he was constantly muttering to himself why he allowed a wild card to roam freely around the exhibits. 

She was a free spirit in the exhibit, and it was nearly impossible to make her stop. Until a scabbard on a wall piqued her attention. On it was inscribed:

" (^*/+- "

Lader had finally caught up to her, though she stopped, because she was inquisitive about *this* particular decoration. She felt like there was some kind of mysterious aura, surrounding it. Lader mentioned that it was simply a gift from a family friend of his, and it was called "The Bisector". She shrugged it off, then continued exploring the main lab & exhibit. Lader sighed in relief, staring back at the Bisector for a brief moment, before retrieving it from the wall, for more magitechnic engineering. 

Suddenly, sirens from all of Arrytech Labs rang out, and the monitors in the main lab, started flashing "ALERT!". Tom, Sarah, Connie, Lader, & Fourschach all rushed back to the main lab, the Humans unaware of what this alert is... According to the Academic Trio, this was unofficially a crash course for the Int.