Destiny (Anime Style)

Chapter 9: Guardian Type

The arena went silent. Everyone present; spectators, applicants, and even Ikora were shocked and without words for what just happened. Ravi and Leah really managed to defeat Derek. Both of them were totally exhausted and with their clothes torn apart, but they did it nonetheless, or so it seemed.

After a few seconds, everyone shouted of emotion. As if they had just witnessed the match of the century. The applicants were really happy.

"THEY DID IT! YEAH!" One of them said.

"AMAZING!" Another one claimed.

Ikora felt even more curious about both Ravi and Leah. But this last one didn't have time to worry about the other's excitement. She was holding tightly an unconscious Ravi after all.

"Ravi! RAVI!" she screamed with concern as Ravi's body was so hot that it was even burning Leah as well. Though she didn't really care. "Please... please wake up! It's over now! We won!" She yelled as a few tears fell from her eyes.

"YOU HAVEN'T WON AT ALL!" Someone yelled from among the rubble that Leah's attack caused.

"No, it can't be"

Everyone went silent again and watched as none other than Derek stood up with anger once again. He was very injured and had blood falling down from his forehead, but could still fight despite of all that.

"You 2... sure are tough" the bully muttered in a menacing tone. "To think a pair of weaklings would damage me this much. I can't allow that... you hear me!? I WON'T ALLOW IT!" he finally shouted while rushing to attack Leah and Ravi once more.

The young girl on the other hand, closed her eyes as she held Ravi even tighter in her arms. But then, Ikora stepped right in front of them mere moments before Derek could reach them.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the bald woman yelled while crossing her arms.

"Ggh" Derek groaned as he stopped just before his punch reached Ikora.

"This exam is over"

"Huh? Of course not! Just because that girl said it, it doesn't mean they've won!"

"Really? And what if the rules say it?"

"The rules?" Derek asked, puzzled, only to then notice that both of his arm protectors were more than just cracked. "It... it can't be. When did these break?"

"I saw it. The right one broke when your and Ravi's punches hit my barrier. And the left one broke when Leah's attack hit you directly"

"Tsk!"

"As I said, the exam is over. Or perhaps you wanna try punching me for real? You know what would've happened if your attack just now reached me, don't you?" Ikora was intimidating Derek. She must really be strong, otherwise there was no way that gorilla would even fear her. "It's time you fulfill your part of the bet. Now go ahead!"

Derek had to swallow his own pride, and as Ravi and Leah were being taken to the infirmary, he finally proceeded to announce the long-awaited results of the exam: everyone passed.

The applicants were euphoric after this.

"OH YEAH!" One of them yelled with excitement.

"THIS IS GREAT! I'M FINALLY IN!" Another one added with tears of joy.

"JUST YOU WAIT MOM, I'LL HELP YOU AND MY WHOLE FAMILY FROM NOW ON!" The one who spoke to Ravi during the exam said.

The spectators were also yelling of excitement.

"Heh... not bad!" A brown-haired boy claimed.

"AMAZING! THEY REALLY DID IT!" An awoken girl added. 'Though I think I've seen that girl called Leah before. Yeah, I believe she's in my class but I never noticed her. How weird' she thought with a puzzled expression.

Another one of the spectators, a male awoken with short white hair, just stared carefully, but unimpressed. "Hmph!" he finally said before leaving.

These 3 mysterious people were going to be really important later.

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The next day, the results of the knowledge exam were announced too, and everyone passed it as well. Some with better scores than others, but that wasn't important anymore to be honest.

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And then, the day after that, Ravi finally woke up in the hospital once again. He had both arms covered in bandages and he didn't know what happened after passing out, at least until the same nurse that attended him last time entered the room in order to put him up to date.

"Ahh... you woke up!" she claimed with joy, after which she then changed to a more serious tone. "I hope this doesn't become a habit of you"

"Hehehehe... I'm sorry" Ravi answered.

"Oh, don't worry. It's always a pleasure to attend such an attractive young boy like you"

Ravi smiled, but then the curiosity of knowing what had actually happened after the exam beat him. "What happened after I passed out? Do you know?"

"Well... Thanks to you, every applicant of this month successfully entered the Guardian Academy"

"Woah! Really?!"

"That's right! And I think they are all quite grateful to you" the nurse added while staring at a pile of letters over the table next to Ravi's bed.

The human boy startled after noticing them too. "These are..."

"They are letters of gratitude. Almost every applicant came here to thank you, but you were unconscious. That's why they decided to write some letters just for you"

Ravi smiled once more after hearing this. "What about the knowledge exam? Did I pass?" he then asked, eagerly.

"Well..."

Just then; Leah, Wire and Cybel arrived, and after seeing Ravi finally awake they got thrilled with joy as well. "Ahh... Ravi!" the young girl gasped while rushing to give her dear friend a very caring hug.

"I'm so happy you are ok" Wire added with relief.

"Well, I'm not ok. But at least I'm awake hehe..." the bluenette replied with a smile as Leah finally stopped hugging him.

"I'll leave you alone. I guess you have a lot to talk about" the nurse then claimed while leaving the room.

And so, Leah, Wire and Cybel explained everything of what had happened after the practical exam to Ravi, though this last one already knew most of it.

"I see... so that i***t of a bully had to accept Ikora's orders" Ravi said to Leah.

"Yeah. Ikora is very powerful. She's a commander after all" the human girl answered with a grin.

"And what about my knowledge exam?"

"Well... About that..." Leah took out a piece of paper she was carrying. "Here I have the results" she then added with a big smile.

"Woah! Give them to me, I wanna see!" the bluenette replied with excitement, after which the brown-haired girl handed him the document only for Ravi to finally found out his scores for each topic.

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Math: 100/100

Physics: 100/100

Chemistry: 100/100

Biology: 86/100

Social Studies: 75/100

History: 72/100

Philosophy: 73/100

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These were his results. The minimum score to pass on every course was 70, so he had successfully approved all of them. Though with better scores in the ones related with science.

In any case, Ravi gasped from happiness after this, and then, Leah joined him too while giggling slightly at his childish and innocent behavior. Seems like their efforts weren't in vain after all, and now, the bluenette was officially a Guardian Trainee... Just like his friend.

"So, what comes now?" the blue-haired boy asked while still happy.

"Well, first we need to find you a new place to live, cause I don't wanna keep sharing my apartment much longer... no offense" Leah added as Ravi couldn't help but to sweat-drop.

"Hehehe... don't worry" Just then, he noticed the human girl actually had some really different clothes than the ones she wore before: a modern black tracksuit with a couple of white, and a pair of training shoes. "What's with the new look?" he asked her with confusion.

"Oh, this? It's the guardian academy training suit. It's what a trainee has to wear while on training sessions. I just came out from doing some exercise, that's why I'm still wearing it"

"You mean I'll be wearing the same?"

"That's right! Only during physical training though. Any other time we can wear our normal casual outfit"

"And what about your other suit? You know, the skin-tight suit with the hood and the cloak"

"Oh... that's my official guardian suit. The one I wear while on missions"

"It's technically not official" Cybel intervened. "After all, you are not a full guardian yet"

"Yeah, I know. But I really couldn't wait any longer. I had that design in my mind for a long time"

"An official guardian suit, huh?" Ravi added while holding his chin. "I would really like to choose mine too"

"Well, in order to choose yours, you first need to know which guardian type you are?"

"Guardian type?"

"Yeah, it is..." Before Leah could finish talking, someone entered the room. It was Ikora.

"I'll explain the rest if you don't mind, Leah" the vanguard commander said as every around startled at her presence.

"Ikora!" Leah, Wire and Cybel claimed while surprised to see her in there.

"What are you doing here?" Leah then asked the commander.

"I came to see you 2. You've both become quite famous around here after that exam" Ikora replied with a smile.

"You don't need to tell me" the human girl added while sweat-dropping. "People in my class who saw the exam were asking me all sorts of questions like... how do I know Ravi? or how did I manage to create such a powerful attack? Though I really don't know how I managed to release that much power to be honest"

"Well, people tend to surpass their limits when they have a good reason to do it. And I believe helping Ravi at all cost was yours"

Leah blushed a bit after hearing this. "Well, if you say so" she said, a little embarrassed.

Ikora then sat on a chair to be more comfortable. "Anyway, I'm here to give you some news. The first one is that Ravi's class has already been decided"

"My class?" Ravi asked.

"I assume we won't be able to be on the same one, given that I started 1 month ago" Leah mentioned.

"Actually, he's in your class" Ikora added with a grin.

"What? How can he be in my class? Doesn't he need to start at a previous level?"

"Oh please, you are not that advanced. You merely have 1 month of experience. Besides, you've been absent for a long time, and all because of your mistake"

Leah startled and faced downwards after hearing this. On the other hand, Ravi and Wire had no idea what mistake they were talking about.

"Let's forget about that for now" Ikora continued. "Ravi showed an incredible display of his abilities while fighting Derek. He's obviously not an amateur. That's why we decided to put him on a bit more advanced class. And after searching for a while, we decided to put you 2 together. Isn't that great?"

"Yeah! That's awesome!" Ravi yelled with excitement given that he really liked the idea of being in the same class as Leah.

"Yeah... that's... awesome" this last one muttered with a smile but with a bit of concern as well. She was really happy to be with Ravi in the same class. But at the same time, she feared having to deal with his pranks and childish behavior at the academy too.

"Ok, now that that's over, there's one more thing we need to discuss" Ikora claimed while getting a bit more serious.

"What is it?" Ravi asked her while raising an eyebrow.

"It's time to decide which guardian type you are" the woman in the purple coat finally claimed, after which she proceeded to explain the blue-haired boy about the different types of guardians in existence.

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There are basically 3 different and well-defined types of guardians: Titan, Hunter and Warlock. The reason they are called like that is due to aspects of their personality or special abilities they possess.

Titans are usually known for their robust armors. In addition, they aren't as agile or fast as the other types, but they compensate it with an amazing resistance, spectacular defense and way over the top strength. They are usually the ones who charge at the enemy without restraints using their bare fists and brute force... or the ones in charge of protecting their fellow comrades in the battlefield.

Hunters belong in the wild. They usually wear a cloak, hood and suits that are much lighter than the other 2 types. However, despite not having much protection against attacks, they are usually the fastest, most agile and instinctive fighters there are. And they also usually wield knives, daggers, fire weapons like pistols or guns, or any other kind of light special weapon they come up with.

Finally, Warlocks are more intellectual fighters. They are all about using their amazing wit, perception and knowledge to solve problems and defeat their opponents. They are also the ones who know more ways of harnessing a guardian's powers to create unique and fantastic abilities, and are always trying to learn new stuff. Their usual outfit consists of long coats, special battle pants, boots, etc.

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With all that in mind, Ravi was now wondering which type he would turn out to be. "What type do you think would suit me, Leah?" the blue-haired boy asked the young girl.

"Huh? You want my opinion?" she replied slightly surprised.

"Yeah"

"Well, during the exam you confronted Derek without fear, even though he was a lot more powerful and stronger than you. So I think maybe a titan suits you?"

"You think so? Hunters sound a lot cooler though! You are a hunter right? Your outfit was exactly as Ikora described"

"Well, yeah... I'm a hunter... I think" Leah said with doubt. "Anyway, let's find out already. Ikora?"

"Sure" Ikora answered, and then, she took out a small yellow crystal she was carrying inside her coat and gave it to Ravi.

"What's this?" the boy asked.

"It's a shard of the Traveller. Well, only a tiny piece of it"

"WHAT?! Are you saying this is what the Traveller is made of?!" Ravi asked with surprise.

"In part. We'll be using it to find out your type"

"And how is this gonna help us with that?"

"Just hold it firmly and you'll see"

Ravi took a firm grip of the crystal just as Ikora said, and a few seconds later, the yellow crystal turned white, and after a few more seconds, it turned yellow once again. "It's yellow again"

"Yeah. That crystal changes color depending on the type that the person carrying it belongs to. Red for titans. Blue for hunters. And yellow for warlocks. White is its natural color, the one it has when no one is carrying it or when it's still trying to decide which color to change into"

Ravi thought for a moment and finally realized his type a few moments later. "The crystal was yellow when you gave it to me, then it turned white, and after that it turned yellow again when I, alone, was holding it. And that means..."

"It means you are a warlock!" Leah interrupted with excitement. "Of course! Why didn't I think about it?! Of course you'd be a warlock! You are always so curious and want to learn more about the world, which is one of the greatest qualities of them! And of course there's the fact that you are a genius in science! That's amazing!"

Ravi smiled after this. "A warlock, huh? Well, their long coats are pretty cool too... hehe..."

Leah and Ravi kept talking while Ikora just watched them with a smile. "Anyway, I guess we are done here" she finally said. "I've got important matters to attend to. As soon as you recover completely, you'll be attending with Leah to the academy. You may need to put up to date a bit though"

"That's no problem for me"

"Leah, you'll be in charge of showing him his classroom, as well as teaching him how this place works"

"Sure" Leah firmly answered.

Then, Ikora said one more thing before finally leaving for good. "Let's all gather to talk again someday. I'd really like to know more about you 2 and how you met each other"

And so, that's how Ravi's classroom and guardian type were decided at last.

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Later that night, the blue-haired boy began feeling a lot better and as such, he was finally allowed to go home along with Leah.

Meanwhile, a mysterious figure somewhere else at the tower was staring at the Traveller, thinking and mulling over many interesting things inside his mind. "I... sense a change. Yes... I can sense that a big change will soon take place" He finally muttered to himself, after which this mysterious person finally turned around and went back towards his own chambers.