With all of the plans in place for her to go off to Amal, it came time for Alix to train with Eric and Alisa. Now, that may sound like a bad idea. You know, because every time that they happen to be in the same room they start fighting about something but rest assured...
...Alix has her ways of dealing with those two.
So, there they all are! Standing in the field just in front of the fools' "hideout". Eric and Alisa are both standing beside each other while Alix is standing opposite to them, cracking her knuckles.
Alisa swallows deeply before speaking. "Um, mom? Are you sure about this?"
"Of course I am." Alix lifts her arms overhead and begins stretching side to side.
"I actually agree with Alice this time, Mama Wolf. I mean, I don't want to do this!" Eric adds with discomfort in his voice.
"Would you two just shut up and start?!" Eric and Alisa make eye contact confirming that they are indeed both in the same situation. They both sigh in resign then charge at Alix. Alix gently shakes out her wrists as she waits for whoever gets to her first.
Eric, ends up being the unlucky soul as he dashes ahead of Alisa with his sword drawn. He swings the sword at Alix. Alix notices that his swing is just a bit too wide and charges into during the small window. She rams into Eric with her shoulder, pushing him back and taking his balance.
Eric tried to regain himself but Alix didn't let it happen. She took another step in and hit him hard in the gut then uses her other hand to hit him on the face. While Eric is still falling to the ground, Alix was already racing at Alisa.
Alisa, after seeing Eric get knocked down in an instant, panics. She slides against on the dirt as she tries to stop her charge to run the opposite direction.
Alix clicked her teeth. "What did I tell you about being a coward?" Right as Alisa turns her back to Alix, she feels a vice grip on the hood of her cloak. Alix yanks Alisa back, grabs her by the face, lifts her up and slams her hard against the ground.
Alisa feels all of the air in her body vanish and pain flood her systems.
Alix lets out a deep breath when she hears heavy footsteps from behind her. She claps her hands together, activating the enchantment on her gloves, and turns to face the approaching foe.
It was Eric, up again with newfound moxie! Alix's hands start to crack and snap as cold air envelopes them. The gloves freeze creating a thick layer of ice atop them. Eric, now recalling how dangerous Alix was up close, starts trying to use the length of his blade to his advantage.
He swings tries to swing at Alix from the edge of his range but whiffs it! He'd only been practicing the sword for a few months and had yet to become accustom to it. Alix stood in place as the sword cut the air in front of her then took a step toward Eric. A step that he was actually prepared for.
Eric hopped backwards and swung his blade while retreating to create some space. Alix lifts her ice covered hand and uses the back of it to parry Eric's sword using her hand like some sort of buckler. She then pushes off with her back foot and hits Eric in the face yet again, only this time with momentum assisting her. Eric hit the ground again and his nose started to bleed.
His entire face twists in pain. Alix turns back to Alisa who had been preparing a spell while Alix was distracted by Eric. Alisa hops and twirls through the air causing the wind to become visible and sharper. Alix rolls her eyes.
"Still with the dancing." She mumbles and starts moving toward Alisa. Alisa stands on the tip of one foot and begins to spin like a top which sends sharp cuts of wind through the air at Alix. Alix watches the air closely and weaves past each slash sent her way.
Alisa realizes that her attack is failing and decides to try a different plan. She stops spinning for a moment and uses the wind to leap into the air. While in the air she spins again only this time with her legs together. The air swirls around her and forms a drill using her body. Alisa drills down at Alix.
Alix had been prepared for this. She'd already written a pair of spell circles into the air and activated them. The runes in the air moved up her forearm, then her hand and finally formed a circle around her fingers.
"Di-Omnious: Dissonance." Alix snaps her fingers activating the spell. From her hand, a powerful wave of energy pushes out with great force and speed, pushing away all mana in its path. This spell is quite good at clearing the mana within a certain distance!
That included the mana that Alisa was currently using. Alisa felt her self lose balance in the air as the wind mana was taken away from her. She fell uncontrollably down toward Alix. Alix drew back her fist and hit Alisa just as hard in the face as she had it Eric.
Alisa flies to the side, rolling on the ground for several meters before coming to a stop next to Eric. Both of them lay there breathing hard.
"Moom, you cheated!" Alisa says from the ground.
"Did I?"
Eric pushes himself up from the ground. "She's right, you did! You said you wouldn't use magic today but you used your gloves and your new spell back to back!"
Alix shrugs. "Enemies on the battlefield won't tell you what to expect, so why should I?"
"But you did tell us!" Alisa shoots up from the ground and points at Alix. "You just lied! That's so unfair! You know that we can't beat you if you use all of your skills!" Alisa stomped on the ground and shouted.
"So, you two wanted me to go easy on you, is that it?"
Eric and Alisa look at each other before screaming simultaneously. "YES!!"
Alix grabs her chin and nods in interest. "I see, so you two want me to coddle you like a bunch of babies because you can't handle the heat of a real battle? You want me to let you win instead of drilling into your heads that there are simply some fights that are going to be impossible for the current you to win? You want me to tell you my every move and hold back so that you don't have to learn how be prepared for any and everything that your opponent will throw at you which will help you build up quick reactions for combat situations? Am I correct so far?!"
Eric and Alisa try to talk but find their voices caught in their throat.
"Well? Speak up!" Alix yells at the two scaring them into replying.
"N-No, that's not what we want!"
"W-we were wrong! We're sorry!"
Alix shake her head at the two. "I question everyday why I even agreed to help you two," Eric and Alisa feel a pain in their heart.
Few things in the world are as emotionally painful as the disappointment of a parent. Even a fake one.
"I refuse to train anymore with the two of you today! Get your things. We're going home." Eric and Alisa both look down at the ground.
"Yes, ma'am." They say say and turn to go grab their things.
The walk back to Hedgie's place was silent, a luxury normally not granted when in the presence of Eric and Alisa but one that Alix earns often after combined training day!
The three enter the tavern and see that Kent is sitting at one of the tables eating. He looks up and starts laughing instantly.
"So, you two lost again!" Eric and Alisa ignore Kent and rush to their rooms. Kent smirks. "Sure, ignore me! It doesn't change the fact that ya lost!" He calls after them then hears their doors slam at the same time.
Kent goes to continue eating when Alix sits down in front of him. He lift his spoon to eat but Alix speaks before he can.
"So, did you get the ship?" Kent drops is spoon into the bowl of soup.
"And what ship might you be talking about?"
"Your ship, of course!"
Kent sighs, "And what makes you think that I have a ship?"
"The fact that so many people call you captain and that Hedgie said that you used to be a Tyrant on the seas, not just in my life, meaning you used to sail. So, it can be reasonably intuited that you, at least at some point, had a ship that you used to control. " Kent stares at Alix with dead eyes.
"Well, I'm sorry to say that I lost that ship a few years ago now. So, tough luck!" He picks his spoon back up and tries to eat again.
Alix narrows her eyes. "So you have a second ship?"
He throws his spoon back down. "What about anything I said, told you that I have a second ship?"
"You specified 'that ship' which alludes that while the original is gone you do have another ship that you do not like as much as the first. Now, stop with all of your deflecting and tell me, is the ship ready?" Kent sits staring at Alix in awe before speaking again.
"Fine, you caught me." He says reluctantly. "The ship's down at an old place by the water. You can take it, for whatever you need it for."
"When can you get it into the water?"
"I won't. Go do it yourself." Kent instantly rejects the idea of getting the ship.
Alix's face twists in confusion. "Why not?"
"Because I don't want to! Look, it's not that hard to find someone to pilot the ship, you can even ask one of those old codgers down at the Feud Pin. I'm sure they'd be glad to hit the water again!" Kent picks up his bowl and takes it to the kitchen. It seemed like he was never getting the chance to eat so he may as well go put the bowl in the sink.
Alix stood and followed Kent into the kitchen. "Did I ask for someone else to pilot the ship? Just do it yourself!"
"I would but there's a problem."
"What problem?"
Kent pours the remnants of his soup down the drain then turns to Alix. "I don't want to pilot the ship."
"That's not a real reason!" Alix raises her voice.
"Look, I think you're taking this whole, 'me calling you mother thing' too seriously! You aren't actually my mom so, you can't command me to do anything that I don't want to do!" Kent pushed past Alix and started walking to his room.
Alix chased after him. "I wasn't the one that made that bet! I just challenged you to a duel! And besides, I don't care what you call me! I just refuse to waste my time searching for someone else to pilot the ship when you could take me to Amal yourself!"
"Well, I don't want to!"
"WHY NOT?!" Kent stops in front of his door and quickly turns to look at ALix.
"BECAUSE LAST TIME I WENT OUT TO SEA MY CREW WAS WIPED OUT!" He shouted. Alix was shocked into silence for a moment but kept her composure.
"I see. So something like that happened?"
"Yeah, something like that happened! And don't have any plans of meeting the thing that killed my crew for a second time when I was lucky enough to escape it the first time! It was dumb enough to chase after the Sinbad crew once! I'm not doing it again!" Kent opened his door and marched into his room. He tried to slam the door behind him but Alix was stopping it with her hand.
Alix was staring daggers at Kent. "Look, I get not wanting to do something because of a trauma but I refuse to sympathize with a person that is letting fear control their life!" Kent's eyes widened as Alix continued.
"I don't know the circumstances behind whatever happened to you and honestly I couldn't even force myself to care! All I know, is that you have the ability to pilot your own ship and take me to where I need to go! I don't care if you let fear scare you away from your goals like a mind slave, but I will not let it inhibit mine!" Alix pushed hard on the door, knocking Kent on the floor in the process.
She stares down at Kent with determined eyes. "You have three days to get your shit together and have that ship ready for our departure! Otherwise, I'll beat you down for a second time and drag you to the wheel myself!" Alix let a frustrated breath out of her nostrils and walked back to her room.
Kent stayed sitting on the floor for several minutes replaying the scene over and over in his head. Eventually he gets off of the ground and stares at Alix's door. He sighs exhaustedly.
"Not even a pirate captain can escape chastising from his mother." He closes his door so that he can rest before the night shift.
It seemed that he was going to have to go down to Phillip's to get everything ready for their big trip!