Vitkus Twins

Chapter Eighteen

“Who wants to beat that Justus will get lost?” Aldona asked Montgomery, Azuloas and Jakoba as they arrived at the training field that Viktorija pointed out the day before; after they had dropped the Losrusern team at their hotel. It was a training field that she usually want to after her patrol duties.

Not that it mattered, Viktorija had told them. She would be able to find them, when she told them her sensory abilities were only getting better and that her range was getting bigger. When Jakoba asked her what her range was, they just looked at her, but they could understand how she had a large of range.

It would’ve given her more time to run when the mobs were after her.

“Or is trying to talk up a pretty woman or man,” Azuloas added.

“Him getting slapped across the face because he has the charm of a rabid dog,” Jakoba dryly added.

“That’s insulting to the rabid dog,” Aldona told her.

“Twenty,” Launce told them.

“On what?” Aldona asked him.

“All of the above,” Launce told them.

“Someone slapping him because he flirted with their partner,” Montgomery chimed in.

“Can’t do a bed on Justus,” Jakoba explained slowly, looking around the field. Mostly annoyed by the fact that there wasn’t a pond or river, so none of them could practice fighting on water. It was nothing like Sashan’s training field, in fact, it wasn’t considered a training field unless it had a form of water to walk on. “Not when no one’s willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

“If hasn’t done anything we’ve just listened; we’ll give him the money,” Azuloas told them, he knew it would annoy Justus if they were handing him twenties. He might even start muttering about their lack of faith.

Justus Błyskawica wasn’t an easy man to understand. But he was fun to make fun of.

“We of little faith,” Aldona said with a smile on her face, while Jakoba started gigging next to her, trying to control her laughter. Montgomery just grinned, while Azuloas and Launce went to the middle of the training field.

A free for all type training session, Aldona grinned as she looked at Jakoba. Both knew that Jakoba wasn’t ready for this type of training, but Aldona also knew that they had to do it at some point, and she had to join in them in this type of training.

When had she become such a worrywart? Aldona didn’t know, all she knew that trying to protect Jakoba didn’t mean wrapping her up in cottonwool, sometimes it was throwing in with the sharks and preying she could swim. Just letting Jakoba take that risk, knowing that she had given as many tools as she could.

Montgomery had won their last free for all, but then Aldona and Azuloas had spent most of it fighting each other; trying to see which twin was stronger. Turned out; they were still pretty even in their skill sets. It didn’t help that they knew each other’s tricks like the back of their hand, Montgomery was the only still pulling wool over their eyes.

Since he had more training and thus more tricks to pull. Even with that, they never knew who was going to win in any given fight.

It was like that before Montgomery was added to the mix; he might have a higher chance of winning due to his battle history. But he also hadn’t fought in years and Aldona knew that he had some bad habits because of it, he froze at times and she had kicked him into more then one tree. He tired easier than they did, so they were slowly building his stamina back up.

Launce lost more than he won, but he was still the best with a sword. Hand to hand was his weak spot, he even took up archery better then he did hand to hand.

“We can join in after we do some chakra control exercises,” Aldona told Jakoba, she needed to know what to expect in a free for all; Aldona knew that much. She just wished she had more time with Jakoba before throwing her in the deep end. “If you feel up to it.”

“Have to learn at some point, for all we know one of the tasks is fighting until x number of people are left and I don’t exactly look scary,” Jakoba told her. “Nor am I used to fighting more then one person at a time.”

“If that happens, stay with Viktorija,” Aldona told her, humour in her tone. Jakoba just looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “It’ll give you more experience protecting someone smaller than you are, without risking a child’s life.”

“Or Viktorija will just more experience protecting someone taller than she is, without risking someone, like a merchant or traveller,” Jakoba shot back.

“We’ll have to track a river at some point, or I can torture you can make you climb up a waterfall, or swim up it,” Aldona told her.

“Or random thought, we could ask Viktorija where she practices her water walking,” Jakoba pointed out.

“If she does it in the village,” Aldona pointed out. “And we don’t have the same freedom she does, if they see us coming and leaving; they might stick people on us to see what we’re doing.”

“Then she’ll be getting a new training regiment,” Jakoba remarked, before looking around the field and sighing. “And maybe a new favourite field, this one is just a clearing.”

“Could be useful for learning how to fight in a forest,” Aldona pointed out.

“Could be.”

“It’s a thought.”

Quickly Aldona made her way up one of the taller trees, before turning on her heel and catching Jakoba’s leg and throwing her towards another branch, Jakoba flipping mid-air to catch the branch before could break any of her bones.

“What are you doing?” Aldona asked her, jumping onto the branch that Jakoba was hanging off before pulling her up. Now Aldona was glad that she got Jakoba to wear gloves, the metal plating would stop anything from digging into her skin.

“Multitasking,” Jakoba informed her.

“You want to fight up here?” Aldona asked her, it could be interesting to do; if they were in Sashan and not stuck in Nestanha.

Aldona could wonder how many of their bones they would break before they perfected the basics of fighting among treetops. Another thing that made her hesitant, is that she and Jakoba were the team’s medics. If something did go wrong, they’d have to wait for Viktorija to show and show them where the hospital was.

And if it turned out Viktorija knew medical techniques that would be better; even if Aldona highly doubted that she did. She knew about the medical seals, Viktorija knew those since she had been able to save Page’s life with two of them.

“Multitasking Aldona, learn how to go from branch to branch while doing chakra control excurse as difficult as water walking,” Jakoba explained, narrowing her eyes at the trees around them. “And you’ve told me more than once that battles could happen anywhere.”

“How about we just start with a game of Extreme Tree Tag?” Aldona asked her, they would need a medic on hand if they were going to try fighting in the treetops. “Remember, Jakoba, we have three moronic boys on the team and we’re the medics. I’m better sure Launce is seconds away from unsealing his sword and stabbing Azuloas with it.”

“Your brother can be a pain,” Jakoba told her.

“That he can.”

“So, tag?”

“Tag.”

“So, who’s it?”

“Your idea, you should be it.”

“Rock, paper, scissors?”

“Fine.”

Aldona grinned at Jakoba as she lost, bowing before disappearing into the trees before Jakoba could touch her. They didn’t know long they had been at it, when Jakoba missed her branch and crashed landed into Launce and Azuloas.

Azuloas had caught Launce’s leg when Jakoba did that; Aldona pausing as she looked at the three and Montgomery put his hands up and backed from the group. Launce’s leg was broken, which caused him to stare at Jakoba in complete shock.

During their Academy years, she wouldn’t have touched him; let alone broken any of his bones.

“Launce, Azu?” Aldona asked as she jumped down, blinking at Launce’s leg. It was clearly broken, at least, it looked like a clean break. “I’d ask if you’re okay, but Launce’s leg is broken. Azu?”

“Nothing my healing can’t fix,” Azuloas told her.

“Apart from his pride,” Montgomery commented.

“I’ll Launce’s leg, you just need to get off him,” Aldona told them. Montgomery nodded his head, before helping Jakoba and Azuloas up. Leaving Aldona enough room, to put her hand over Launce’s broken leg. “Azu, we should look for Justus. He hasn’t been this late for a while.”

“It’s been nearly an hour,” Jakoba told them.

“After a game of whatever you and Jakoba were playing,” Azuloas told her.

“Extreme Tree Tag.”

“We’ll look for him after a game of Extreme Tree Tag.”

“Justus is an adult.”

“An adult with the common sense of a child,” Aldona pointed out as Jakoba and Azuloas grinned at her. “And we’ll need to start a new game when Viktorija and Justus get here anyway.”

“If she arrived before you two; then we’ll just train with her while we wait,” Jakoba promised with a growing smile. “None of us know what she’s capable of.”

“Other than tracking,” Montgomery stated, Jakoba smile growing larger. Aldona and Azuloas didn’t know what was going through her head and they didn’t know if they wanted to know.

Jakoba just wondered how useful it was to train with a sensor; such as learning to get away and hide from one. Most younger sensors didn’t have a reason to have a decent range outside of war time, so while war veterans had a scarily large range without knowing how they had got it in the first place and thus, leaving them unable to train others to obtain during peaceful periods.

Nestanha was known for having some of the best sensors in history. With their second leader being one of the best in his and his brother’s generation. But then, they were also born in one of the biggest wars in the land’s history.

“Let’s just play,” Azuloas told them, Launce nodding as he sealed his sword away. Storage seals, so basic that anyone with decent handwriting would be able to create one. Now, Academy students had to learn to make a storage seal, but when they were going through the Academy.

It was still optional; which was the reason that Jakoba didn’t know it.

“We’ll give Justus another two hours,” Aldona admitted removing her hands from Launce’s leg and helping him up. “And the person who’s it by that time, is the loser and thus must train in something they’re not comfortable with.”

“And if you or Azuloas are still it?” Jakoba asked her.

“Never said it had to be now, only that they had to start training in an area they’re not comfortable with,” Aldona blankly told her.

“Medical techniques,” Azuloas admitted.

“Swordplay,” Jakoba said.

“Hand to hand,” Launce bit out.

“Tracking,” Aldona added.

“Sealing,” Montgomery told them.

“Let’s get started then,” Aldona and Azuloas told them, Aldona nodding her head as the others made their way into the trees. She could have fun with this, and she might try getting Launce first. Even if it would be interesting to help Azuloas or Montgomery with their weak points.