Bellator: Heat and Motion

"Ah, you must Vivran Upsilon Yutta. Very sorry about the commotion that came with your arrival. I'm afraid that with all the commotion, I forgot to tell my other student that you'd be coming! Bwahahaha!"

Other... student.

"Uhm..."

Vivran wasn't exactly sure how to react to the scene in front of him. Actually, he wasn't sure how to react to anything that had happened since his bath had been interrupted. But this definitely took the cake in unsureness-on-how-to-reactness.

A geezer in monk robes suddenly appearing, brushing off that mega-attack like it was a potato fly, and clocking out his supposed subordinate?

After fully processing all of these actions that happened within the frame of less than 3 seconds, Vivran could only bring up his own opinion on the matter:

"This place is awesome! I've never experienced anything remotely like this before!" Stars in his eyes, Vivran's face lit up with a grin. "Where did you even come from? Are you the master man? How'd you do that splitting thing with the heat? When I tried to block it, it just hurt like hell. Literally, I'm assuming. Actually, now that I'm talking about it... OWWWWWWWWWW!!!"

"Bwehehehehe! You sure are a riot! Little old Henrietta was right about you! Full of energy and curiosity."

The old man laughed in glee at the adolescent's chatter. As Vivran ran back to the pond that he had been bathing in not 3 minutes ago to soak his burn, he turned back to observe his supposed new master.

Ton-Ire had a wrinkly, long old face, as you would expect from an old man who was closer to being a century old than a newborn. Surprisingly, he didn't yet show any signs of balding. Both his eyebrows and hair were made up of long beige strokes ending in little grey stubs.

He was currently wearing a light grey holy robe that was occupied with gold outlines and white etches. It was hard to tell because of the little exposure, but he seemed well built for an old man, standing at around 175-180cm tall (5'11).

"So you're the... Spitter?"

"Spinner, you dumb doe. I didn't extinguish that attack with saliva, did I?"

"...huh? You mean you... spun the attack?"

"That's exactly what I did!"

Ton-Ire smirked as he boasted about his accomplishment proudly. Vivran felt a little embarrassed about the old man getting so uppity about it. It definitely had been an awesome sight, and there was no way he'd be able to do the same without proper training...

"Gak-! That reminds me, I thought I was going to be your only student! VIP access! The one and only wonder boy! My name's Vivran Yutta, the man who will experience everything, not the man who's gonna play second fiddle to some red-haired hot shot with issues no shrink could handle!"

He gestured to the bruised boy lying at his feet. Said boy was currently unconscious and had had no attempt made to hide that he had been put through the wringer, even prior to the Bath Incident.

"Were the injuries that Red-Hair had before all this from your training with him? Cause if so, that better not mean I was only brought here to be a sparring partner! If that's how it's gonna be, I'm out!"

"Alright, alright, let's just calm down," Ton-Ire snickered. "But 'Red-Hair'? Is that what you've been calling him? You'll be a good fit for him after all. Oh man, that's good. I'll have to use that whenever he's being broody again."

"...Eh?"

"BAH! Everyone's always making fun of what I find fun! All critics, I tell ya!"

"Sure...?"

"But anyway, let's hold off on the tour and introductions until Ondo wakes up, don't wanna say everything twice and all that."

"Eh-? You kidding!?" Vivran protested. "This guy's knocked out cold! He's not waking up till next winter!"

He couldn't believe it. He really did trek up that entire mountain path just to get side lined! He had half a mind to send the geezer flying before Ton-Ire started to chuckle heartily.

"Ohohoho! So it's true!" he said rubbing his hands together. The motion reminded Vivran of how flies clean themselves off from dust and mini-debris.

"Huh? What is?"

"I assume you based that calculation on how long it takes for the citizens back at your village to wake up after a hard time?"

"Uh, yeah. Pikeman Hyuse spent a whole three weeks in a coma after a showdown with an Elden cat. You should've those burn marks!"

"Hm, indeed. Now, if you were to swap places with this young boy, how long do you think you'd take to recover?" Ton-Ire inquired with a curious, albeit slightly smug impression.

Was he trying to prove a point? Some dumb lesson in empathy? Vivran didn't hesitate on trying to crush that misplaced superiority and immediately responded.

"With these injuries? About ten hours. Fifteen tops."

"Oho? Is that right?"

"Yep, I'm not lying. I've always been tougher and stronger than all the villagers. I recovered from injuries really fast too."

"Do you, by any chance, know why?"

"Cause I'm special!"

A silence hung in the air after the boy's brazen declaration. Much like when he showed off his beaten invite to Red-Hair, a playful breeze streaked across the area.

"BWAHAHAHA! A RIOT! A RIOT I TELL YA!" Ton-Ire broke out in uproarious laughter. "HE'S SPECIAL HE SAYS! BWEHEHEHE!"

Ok, now he definitely had a full mind to knock him out.

"The heck you laughing at!? That's what Granny Baker always said! I'm a special, never before seen human in the village who can take down a hundred Deformities!"

"Bwehehehe! Alright, alright, let's just calm down," the old man said in a patronizing tone that only fueled Vivran's agitation. Just who the hell does he think he is!

"It's just been such a long time since I've met such an ignora- erm, that is to say, newly inducted Pathfinder in training," Ton-Ire said with a slight cough. "Either way, it's like I said: I won't be saying nothing until Ondo wakes up. Now don't just stand there, grab the kid's legs and drag him to the Kingdom Dojo!"

"Say what!? Why do I have do it?"

"Do ya see anyone else around? Just consider it your first bit of strength training."

"Hrmph."

Grabbing Red-Hair by the ankles, Vivran followed Ton-Ire to the big building that he had correctly guessed before as a dojo. It was a massive wooden building that utilized sliding doors and tatami mats instead of hinges and chairs.

Unfortunately for Ondo, a factor of things ended up with him having giant concussions added onto his head:

1. The Kingdom Dojo was slightly raised above the ground, so it contained a total of five steps to get to its main floor.

2. Vivran didn't care enough to fix his hold on the limp boy's body, so it ended being dragged up said wooden stairs, feet first.

The first room that visitors see upon entering is the main sparring room; a massive area donned with a lowered floor in the middle for students to fight in while spectators safely observe from above. It reminded Vivran of the drawings he saw back in the city's cartography store depicting ancient colosseums, only with a more casual, academic, and even playful vibe.

"Lay him in here," Ton-Ire gestured to a side room. "The plants help with the flow of Csen, so his healing rate will be accelerated to that of ten times."

It was much smaller than sparring area. Vines spread across the wall and ceiling, even hanging down to create their own natural drape to come through. The only other color besides green that you could see, were from the subtle, yet giant ceramic brown pots that seemed to be randomly placed around the room. Each one seemed to house a different seed, but amazingly they all seemed to meld together in a way that seemed natural. Due to the general size, shape, and location of the room, Vivran suspected that maybe this had been a pantry, or rather a break room for tired students at one point.

Well, judging from the conveniently person-sized moss beds on the floor, he supposed it still was a break room, just for those who can literally do nothing else but have a break. In other words, it was a nursing room.

*Pretend that it looks like its description*

"Whoa..." Vivran breathed in amazement. If he were to once again find something to relate it to, the greenhouse district that stood between his village and the city was probably the closest he could think of. Even then, the puny little glass terrariums that housed a few vegetable seeds here and there had nothing on this level of Flora.

"I call this the Botanical Art Therapeutic Housing room! Just tuck yourself in with the moss, nice and cozy there, and just breathe steady. The plants will take care of the rest!"

"...?"

After a short struggle to align Red-Hair's body with the moss bed, Ton-Ire gestured for Vivran to have a seat and then helped himself to a cup of piping hot green tea... that he had had hidden in robes somehow beforehand.

"Where did that-? How did you-?"

"I said let's save the questions until Ondo wakes up!" Ton-Ire snapped before returning to his cuppa. "Now zip it, and tell me where you're currently at in your Pathfinder curriculum."

"So should I shut up or talk...?"

Regardless of the metaphorical roller-coaster that was interacting with "The Spinner", Vivran was having a blast. The dull village that he'd left behind was already a complete white room compared to this environment he had only spent an hour in.

He could it feel it. Gone were the days of having to do meaningless chores like carrying wagons, clearing chimneys, mopping floors, and carrying the elderly. This was a place where he could actually experience the world.

Experience. Experience. Experience! Just the sound of it sent chills up Vivran's spine. He was finally going out into the real world. The big world. The full world.

"You're a weird kid, anyone ever tell you that?"

Vivran's euphoric anticipations were suddenly popped by Ton-Ire's blunt (and slightly hypocritical in Vivran's opinion) words.

"Huh?"

"Ever since we got in this room, you've been grinning over nothing."

"... I was?"

Ton-Ire, who was currently taking a long sip of his tea, merely nodded with closed eyes.

"I really was? I was grinning? Smiling? Me! Ever since we got here?"

But Vivran's curiosity could not be satisfied with a small head gesture. This sudden barrage of questions caused the old man to pause in the middle of his gulp.

He opened only one eye to try and muster a glare to silence the eccentric brat, but was instead met with a sight that caused them to widen in sudden surprise.

Though the distance between the two had only been about three meters, both had taken a cross-legged sitting position. Suddenly moving about would normally require at least a full second of untangling your lower limbs.

Yet from the span of the sudden rush of questions, to Ton-Ire opening his eyes, Vivran had someone managed to dash forward, his crouched face hovering not even 5 inches from the old man's.

"Hey, hey, geezer, I really was smiling? Like, happy looking and everything? Do you know why? Huh? Geezer, do you know why I was smiling? Was it because of this room?"

The silver youngsters head continued to push forward, making Ton-Ire realize that not only was the initial toothy grin still on face, but there was now a slightly insane gleam in his sky-blue eyes. The whole image of it gave off the vibe of a mentally disturbed brat.

"The Spinner" was a treasured hero who had lived through many encounters, most of them being life-threatening. Many in his line of work fail to reach an age above 40, yet the fact that he continued to live long enough to go well into his retirement years spoke volumes about his skill and survival instinct. When faced with this sudden surprise, the ambush of his own protegee while sipping his afternoon tea, the master Pathfinder, who had bested dangers far above the human race time and time again, could of course only react in one way.

"PFFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!"

"GAH-! HOOOOOOOOOOOT!!!"

Evidently, by spitting his drink all over the offender; Vivran Upsilion Yutta.