First Shot

A Chapter by Sentoshi

The beginning?

The halls were bustling with laughter, the visage of students walking past by. A guy who went by the name Daisuke sat on a bench awaiting the arrival of his friend. Tall and had an average build for his body, with short spiky hair, he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

He sat there wondering where his friend was, singing a tune to himself wishing his friend would be quicker. His stomach was grumbling and he was getting irritated, he hates it when he’s hungry. Scratching his head, he stood up and thought “I had enough I’m starving I’ll meet him later zZz”. But before he could take a step he heard his friend’s voice “Hey Daisuke where are you going?” Without turning my head I shouted “I’m f*****g hungry here and I was about to leave without you, what took you so long anyways?”

“I’m sorry I went to pick up a friend, I want you to meet her.” He finally turned around and saw his friend Masahiko, tall and slender with long hair reaching his shoulders, a tad shorter when standing next to Daisuke. Standing next to him was a girl Daisuke has never seen before, she was rather petite in size and had long hair which was swept to the sides and reached her shoulders.

“Hey moron, don’t be rude in front of a girl.” He couldn’t really hear what Masahiko said, for he was stunned to see such a cute girl standing in front of me. He snapped out of his daze, and that’s when she introduced herself as Natsumi. He introduced myself to her as well and went back to questioning Masahiko. “Hey, so what are we going to eat today I’m starved!” “No thanks bro, I’ve already eaten with Natsumi you can go ahead by yourself.”

Glaring intensely at him he said “You should have told me you moron, and here I was waiting for you while starving.” With that he stormed off by myself to eat, with the image of Natsumi still lingering in his head, but shook it off soon. He was eating by himself while at the same time being angry at Masahiko, but his thoughts were interrupted when a friend greeted him and sat down across the table.

“Hey Daisuke, what happened you look annoyed? Was it Masahiko again?” He nodded before looking closely and saw that it was Sumiko. She had a slim body with long hair past her shoulders and she wore glasses. Daisuke had quite a crush on Sumiko for awhile but was rejected; now they are quite close friends. “That darn Masahiko, ditching me for a girl…and making me wait all this while.”

“Well you know how he is after all.” She said with a laugh. He gave a frown towards her and let out a long sigh. “Cheer up Daisuke don’t stress too much it’s not good for your health now give me a big smile!” He couldn’t help it, and gave a small smile. “Now that’s much better, I’ve to go to go now see you later.” She got up and ran off while waving her arm.

He glanced out the window of the restaurant and concentrated his gaze towards a large sign which bore the words “Saishuu Academy”. He shifted his eyes looking towards the building that stood behind the sign.

The world famous Saishuu Academy, which is known to have housed and trained many of the world’s best weapons masters. The academy was separated into 2 different sections, the Seitou and the Kindaiteki. Each section holds their own unique way of training students, some which used traditional training methods and others who used more modern methods.

Daisuke let out another sigh and slumped back into his chair. “Maybe I should transfer myself to the Kindaiteki, the Seitou has such boring training methods.” His thoughts again interrupted by the sudden vibration of his wristcom. He looked at his wrist and saw the name Masahiko flashing on it. He pushed a button on the side of the wristcom and Masahiko’s face appeared on the screen.

“Daisuke battle training is about to start better get your butt over here before Buta reaches.” Daisuke laughed at his statement, Buta was a nickname they gave to their battle instructor his name is Bunta. He is rather strict on Daisuke because he didn’t really have much interest in his class, which is not surprising because all he does is give lectures.

He ran towards the battlegrounds and was able to reach there a second before Bunta arrived. Panting and breathing heavily Masahiko walked up to him and patted him on the back. “You made it just in time bro.” “No thanks to you, I had to wait for you and then you tell you already ate.” “Hey that’s what bro’s are for.” He said with a grin, the background noise of Bunta giving instructions being fuzzed out by their conversation.

“Where’s that girl you were with earlier? Natsumi was it?” “Oh ho! Are you interested? I can set you up if you want.” “No thanks…I’m afraid of the type of girls you know.” “Hey what’s tha…?” Masahiko’s sentence was cut short by Bunta who had finally noticed the conversation they were having. “So you guys think you know it all don’t you, get out there on the field and show me what you’ve got.”

Daisuke and Masahiko grinned at each other and walked onto the field, grass and dirt. That was all there was on the field, the perfect battleground and a perfect training ground. They stood about 5 meters away from each other facing one another, still grinning. Daisuke reached into his pocket and gave a surprised look. “Damn, I left my Ploist in the dorm.” “Well I guess you have to fight without it now wouldn’t you.” A big grin was stapled on Bunta’s face which annoyed the heck out of Daisuke by the least.

Masahiko reached his hand into his holster which kept a bracelet which had a chip implanted inside it; he took it out and tossed it to Daisuke. “I knew you’d forget your Ploist so I took the liberty of bringing it along with me” “Thanks!” He then reached into his other holster and pulled out a pistol grip which had a trigger attached but no barrel nor cartridge, which also had a chip implanted in it.

Daisuke wore the bracelet on his right wrist and shouted “Ploist Kaihou”, Masahiko followed accordingly. Both the bracelet and pistol grip started to give off a small glow and a strange voice which said “Ploist Weapons System Engaged” was heard coming from both of them. Then an orb surrounded Daisuke and Masahiko which obscured both of them from view. After a moment, the orb slowly dissipated and standing there was both of them in different clothing that they were in before.

Daisuke now held a bow in his hand which once held the bracelet and Masahiko held a gun blade where the pistol grip once was. Their casual clothing now replaced by, something which resembled a battle suit, with their body covered by flexible yet tough pieces of armor. The pieces of armor may look weak but they can actually withstand up to 1 ton of impact.

“Ploist” a weapons system created by Saishuu Academy, using technology implanted within devices which enables the user to create a virtual space around them and equip them with weapons and armor which is kept within the space. Every student is required to build their own arsenal based on their fighting styles to encourage creativity with their weapons. Currently only Saishuu Academy retains the technology required to create “Ploist”.

But other academies have created their own weapon’s systems which are able to compete equally against the “Ploist”. Each academy retains their own weapons systems so that each academy is unique in a way such that, students are easily identified by their weapons system.

“So Masahiko…you ready to be trashed again?” “Don’t count on it Daisuke I’m not the same person I was last week.” “We’ll see about it!” Daisuke jumped back and braced himself while placing his fingers on his bowstring and pulled it back towards his cheek. Slowly an arrow started to materialize on the bow. Aiming it carefully at Masahiko, he began his attack with a single shot directly at Masahiko’s torso.

Masahiko used his gun blade to easily deflect the arrow and started charging towards Daisuke, who kept his distance by jumping back while showering Masahiko with a barrage of arrows. Masahiko was able to get close to Daisuke a few times but his attacks were as easily deflected as Daisuke’s first attack.

The battle was drawn out for a long time, and both friends wouldn’t yield. Finally Daisuke spoke “Well, it seems you really have improved…but your still years away from competing with me.” “Oh, really? I’ll show you my new technique!”

Masahiko braced himself and placed both hands on the grip of his gun blade. “BLADE MAELSTROM!!!” shouting at the top of his lungs, he ran towards Daisuke at high speed letting the tip of his blade touch the ground. The ground began to split open at the tip of his blade, and within reaching 2 meters of Daisuke he lifted it off the ground, slashing upwards.

The ground in front of Masahiko started to explode and rubble was flying everywhere, and Daisuke was nowhere to be seen. Masahiko grinned and said “Hah how do you like that Daisuke I win!” Out of the dust and rubble arrows began to fly out which pinned Masahiko to the ground. He did not expect that attack and was caught by surprise by the sudden barrage.

Out of the dust Daisuke stepped out and said “One-Shot, One-Kill.” Slowly aiming his bow directly at Masahiko, an arrow again materializing but this time it was made out of pure energy with the arrow crackling from intensity. Daisuke whispered but no one could hear what he said, which was “One-Shot: Lancelot”. He let loose the energy arrow towards Masahiko who was pinned helplessly to the ground. The arrow in mid flight began to change into a shape similar to a lance.

The lance hit Masahiko dead on, and the entire battleground was filled with dust obscuring everyone’s view. The other student’s began to whisper to each other whether Masahiko survived the attack. “Ploist Safety System Engaged” rang out from the dust. A wave of relief overcame the students.

The dust began to clear and there lying on the ground exhausted was Masahiko unharmed, Daisuke stood next to him with a smile and stretched out his hand to help him up. “Man…don’t you know how to hold back Dai that attack could have easily killed me if not for the safety system.” “Well I thought you told me you wouldn’t lose this time.” “Your once crazy son of a b***h you know that Dai.” “Yeah I know, that’s why you love me don’t ya.” Both of them laughed before being interrupted.

Looking out at the field Bunta began shouting “You idiots look what you did to the field, it’s ruined! It’s going to cost a lot to fix it.” “Ah…ah…the Buta is lecturing us again…didn’t he tell us to show him what we got?” “You’re right Dai, we shouldn’t be held responsible.” Hearing what they said he was outraged “Who are you calling Buta!? I am your instructor show me some respect you rascals, I’m going to report you to the Inspectors.”

“Do it then, were not afraid after all we can just say it was under your orders, all the students heard it too right?” turning towards the other students and watched as they nodded agreeably. “You…you…” was all Bunta could say while eyeing all the students angrily before storming off towards the Inner Sanctum.

“Tsk…were going to get into trouble aren’t we Masahiko?” “Yes we are, but wasn’t it totally worth it to see the look on Buta’s face?” “Totally!!!!” “I’m beat Dai, meet you back in our dorm I’m going to go get me some supper before heading back.” “Alright, see ya later.”

The sky began to darken, which made both of them rush towards their destinations in a hurry before the rain could fall upon them.