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Over the next week after rescuing the dog, the raptor continued to practice upon countering and parrying moreso than usual. He slowly began to get better at it with his reflexes improving, sharpening slowly at a rate that he didn't even notice, and he silently questioned if he was even getting better. As often as he could block or counter Glenn, it would never last long enough, and he never managed to hit his tutor successfully. But he didn't give up, knowing of course that his teacher was at a master level. James was particularly fond of leg sweeps, since it apparently took down enemies quite quickly and easily, especially with his claws adding a good slash at the legs. Despite this, Glenn warned him that not all enemies would be so easy to fell with such tactics, some of them having strong legs or stronger stances and having to require other maneuvers. All this the raptor continued to learn again and again, checking his stances, wielding his blade. He was still on the short sword, the scissors lying always to one side uselessly so. Now and again James would feel them, feel how cold and lonely they must have felt at being discarded for the sake of training. He pitied them. He wanted to hold it, to wield it high and mighty like Excalibur itself, just to get a feel for it. He hadn't trained with longswords yet but he just had to feel it again. The scissors felt...just right in his hands, even though he had no idea how to wield them. He swung back and forth, trying to control his swings and doing less successfully than with the gladius, due to the added length and weight, but he handled them a little better than when he had first used them. He spun in a slow arc, striking at imaginary foes waiting to be killed, breaths sharp and strong, controlled, small utterances accompanying the whoomph of the blades' passing. As he swung them more, he felt a strange energy in his mind.

A strange energy, of something akin to true power while swinging such a weapon. He felt he could carve rhinos in two with these blades, cut down elephants and skyscrapers with a single slash samurai-style. He was gripped with the sense of incredible strength, rather similar to the feeling a child gets whenever he picks up a large stick and swings it like a staff or sword wantonly. Eventually James began to tire out and put it again to one side, returning to bed that night. The next day would come with a rather interesting development. On this morning, James was training his reflexes, striking against Glenn's short sword repeatedly with his own, clanging against each other. The raptor was certainly improving in the fact that he barely let him through his defence, but he wasn't good enough to be able to strike back through Glenn's defence either, and he didn't want to. Right now, he was taking the lesson to heart after he lost his focus, and was almost struck against the snout with a blade, the frog shouting: "Hast thou not been listening to me boy?!?" "W-what!?!?" "Lower thine guard and thou art allowing the enemy in! One of the first rules of battle that thou must learn, is to NEVER lower thine guard! Now...again." With this in mind he worked on his defence, never letting his guard down for a second, keeping his posture as rigid as possible to better resist the strikes. He still hadn't entirely gotten a feel for the proper stance, but he was doing his best to remember. Swings up high were immediately countered before swings down low, the frog's own reflexes incredible. Everytime James thought he had a chance to hit the armour, a blade was suddenly there, out of nowhere. "Let us rest for now," said the swordsman after a lengthly session. James nodded in agreement and backed away before being certain the battle was over, so he could relax and sit down, drinking some water that Glenn offered as well as some bread. He inquired during his eating: "So...how long you want me training on the short sword?" "At least a year will do, until I am satisfied with thy progress." "Oy..." "I know thou art eager to improve thy skills quickly but there is no quick way to progress." "I know I know, just...hhhhh...can't believe it'd take this long, three years alone sounds...well, long." "Haha, if thou sayeth so. I will say thou hath the potential to become a good swordsman, with commitment to thy task." "Well I'm putting everything into it, aren't I?" "Indeed, which pleases me. When thy training in the basic sword is complete, the next two years shall be the training of the longsword." "Longsword? You mean those huge-ass two-handed things? That's TWO years!?" "Indeed, twice the length for twice the training after all, and this is as short as I can give thee in training in such weaponry to even give thee the title of swordsman. It will also make fine training for wielding thy scissors." "Yeah...those things are kinda rusting over there." "All weapons must obey their master, and thou must resist its temptations until thou art worthy of wielding it."

He felt a little guilty considering the fact that he had been tempted to swing it around a little at night, just to experience its power and uniqueness. But he nodded regardless, chewing pensively. A while later, an imp blundered in through the trees standing defiantly before the resting warriors. James and Glenn stood up with swords close at hand and at the ready. "Who goes there!?" inquired the frog. "I bring a message from our leader, Lord Enca!" The imp brought out a piece of paper and read it clearly before them. "Ignoble warriors, I, Lord Enca, do not take transgressions upon my tribe lightly, especially during their times of peace when camping. I wish to settle the matter of honour with you, if you're not cowardly that is, within my domain as guided by the messenger who brings you this." "Huh...what do you think, sir?" James did not like the idea of going to them in their "domain", but he wanted to take the fight to them for sure. Glenn merely said: "I would like to propose an amendment to thy lord's message." "Yeah? Wassat?" "We shall not go to thy domain, and disadvantage ourselves by whatever means thou shalt surely possess to handicap us. Instead we meet upon neutral ground, a barren plain to the west of here where the lone ash stands." "Wha...how DARE you imply that my lord would try anything so disgraceful!" "Oh, disgraceful!?" James was getting his temper up. "That's rich coming from a couple of dog-eating pricks like you!" "It's called survival, kid!" "It's called kidnapping and murder, you little cunt!" "You wanna stand in front of my lord and say that, huh!?!?" "Oh I'd fucking love to! You bring him to this neutral ground or no fight for your fat-ass boss, got it!?!" Glenn flashed a look at James showing he did not approve his outburst, but said nothing as the imp said: "I'll just give you back your message to my boss. He ain't gonna be happy..." The frog crossed his arms stiffly. "I do not care for trying to please an enemy of mine, whelp. Take our message back to thy lord."

The imp headed back through the forest and when they were alone, Glenn turned to his pupil and frowned. "Thy temper is not an ally." "What the hell you on about now!?" "Since our training together I have been sensing...something about thee." "What do you mean?" "...tell me, what ambitions dost thou have in future?" "I...I dunno. I mean...why do ya ask?" "Imagine how a flower blossoms with a strong intent of its own. A flower can either bloom with glorious petals filled with the light of noble hearts, or twisted thorns with the will of evil, to create evil. And all it takes for that flower to bloom is an idea, from justice to greed. But how shalt thee bloom, James?" "...what the fuck are you on about?" "In layman's terms, thou possesseth...an aura about thee. And I am not pleased with it." "Well I can't really change it if I don't-" "It is one of violence, boy." "So what? You're a warrior, don't you have an aura of violence?" "No, because I do not revel in it, and I certainly do not facilitate in more than is required. I fight for the needs of my home and the future of it, for the safety of the future and for the sake of justice. But what dost thou fight for? One must ask thyself this before we can even begin. What dost thou fight for?" James pondered a small while before he replied with an honest answer. "Revenge...m-maybe at first." "As I suspected." "People treated me bad back home. I wanna make them pay one day, when I get back home to slaughter the bastards for hurting my best friend and experimenting on me. And then there was that one guy who killed my lover sometime back, but he's already dead too, cuz of me." "Then I must warn thee. Revenge is only separate from evil by whom it targets. With one simple slip of control, the most noble of intentions shall lead thee to hell, if thou cannot restrain thyself when necessary." "So...what are you saying, exactly?" "Control thy temper, fight with a strong arm and a mind clear of such negative thoughts. Fight to survive, not to kill." "...uhhh okay." He wasn't feeling better from that little dialogue, but he just shrugged and let the frog talk. James knew he always had a temper, but he never realised how scary it could be for some. But that's everyone else's fault for thinking dinosaurs were scary when angry just because of the teeth and eyes. Anyone could be scary when angry, he always thought people overreacted around him. He hated the fact people made assumptions about him. But at the same time he was pleased of the fact that he could build such a fierce reputation easier than others, if he tried. Eventually they were met once again by the imp messenger who simply said: "We accept your terms to battle on neutral ground, by the old ash upon the barren plain to the west." "Then we shall travel there and meet thy lord immediately. Good day." After the brief but civil meet, Glenn took up his sword and beckoned James to follow him, the raptor taking his now-trustworthy gladius along for the ride, a little confused. "That was...pretty civil." "Why would it not be?" "The guy is challenging you to an ass-kicking contest, and you just say 'splendid I'll see you there' like it's a fucking tea party." "A warrior should not refuse a fight from enemies, lest they be called cowards." "I thought this was all about NOT fighting." "It is. If I refused and let him be, he would cause more chaos unto the land, far worse than that of kidnapping a mutt." "So, sort this shit out as soon as possible?" "Precisely. It depends on thy enemy of course."

After a lengthly walk towards the western coast, they soon left the lonely forest behind them, trees thinning out towards what was indeed a barren plain. Still as death were it not for the wind slowly brushing its whispy fingertips across the grassland, bending them, combing them towards the north. Yet even the wind felt dead, a skeletal hand cold as ice brushing across the traveller's cheeks. James shivered, gazing skywards where darkening clouds came with the wind, grey like gravedirt. "H-h-h-huh, overcast today." "Mayhaps thou wouldst prefer a cape next time?" "N-n-nah I'm good. The cold'll keep me sharp, heat makes me sluggish." "A fair point." They walked onwards to their meeting point, a single tree upon the middle of the field, somehow remaining there all by its lonesome, giving it a strange presence. James wondered on why it was there, how it came to be all on its own, what legends surrounded such an outcast ash. Their enemy had not arrived yet apparently, so they merely stood against the gnarled bark and waited. James struggled to keep with the cold wind, trying to shield himself with the tree to no effect, panting shakily next to his stoic teacher. Glenn stood almost like a suit of armour, motionless except for his eyes and the occasional involuntary croak. His chin puffed up with air now and again, his expression unchanging, amphibious eyes unblinking. The strange tics of his mentor prompted the raptor to ask a question he had been wanting to ask for a long time. "S-s-so, are you really a f-frog or what?" "Nay. I was once human." "Wh-really? Wh-what happened?" "The dark sorcerer Magus came to my time, from far back in the past in a time when magic spread like wildfire. He had come to my time to seek resolution in saving his own, but in turn ended up wounding my world. He killed my mentor, and turned me into this, feeble as I was back then." "Shit...you ever catch up with him, or is it like permanent?" "My friends and I did, but circumstances changed considering my vengeance upon him." "You...didn't kill him?" "I clashed swords with him, when all was said and done before we returned to our own times to settle matters. That is all I shall say." Understanding that this was more personal, James stopped asking and kept waiting for their opponent to arrive, pondering on what Glenn would have looked like as a human. Whatever he imagined, he preferred the amphibious look far more, feeling more of an attachment towards a creature of a reptilian-like appearance than to that of a human. He wasn't even sure if he liked humans that much himself, but he had rarely met amphibians. He found the frog to be quite...handsome. Half an hour seemed to pass until others came.

The raptor was frustrated at being made to wait, trying to keep himself warm against the biting wind before seeing a small group of shadows on the horizon, slowly coming towards them. Twelve imps, circled around one larger imp, larger than James even, standing at 6 foot 6 inches tall he assumed. Even Glenn was impressed by the stature, the imp wearing armour and dark pantaloons that stretched around his large bodily form, his face human but fat-headed. "I am Lord Enca," he began with a forceful introduction, "I hear that you two set upon some of my people while they were resting within the Cursed Forest." Glenn nodded and replied: "My apologies for what occurred, but thy followers had kidnapped a pet and were planning to devour it." "Do you call our survival a violation of the law, frog?" "Only when they kidnap from towns and villages. A wild beast or monster I hath no complaint for." "You can preach semantics all you want, but you attacked my people without any cause to deem so. And therefore I challenge you to a duel." "I accept thy challenge, Lord Enca." James was amazed at how civil this was becoming. He had expected some incredibly fancy trash talk at the very least instead of something so formal, as if they were setting up invitations to a ball. The large imp eyed at the raptor curiously. "Your friend was also involved upon the attack of my people. Will he fight me too?" "That would perhaps be unfair to thee if we were to assault thee together." "Now you call it unfair to attack with both your swords? Such hypocrites." "Thy followers outnumbered us. If they could not defend themselves then that is their undoing." "Then I challenge BOTH of you! Both of your swords against mine, I will make sure that justice is served this day." "...if thou wisheth it, so be it." Lord Enca grinned with an arrogant smile and tight eyes, stepping back to give each other some room, whilst Glenn and James did the same. They stood away from the tree, the wind at each other's backs, standing together. Glenn wielded his legendary Masamune, a fine sword that glinted even upon this overcast day. James brandished his gladius of no name, simple but sturdy, his free hand twitching its fingers like a gunman in a duel. Lord Enca brought out his own swords, two long mean-looking sabres curved like the smile of a killer, which he also had upon his lips, his rotund body swaying a little comically. "Now I see why he wants to fight both of us," murmured Glenn to his student who just chuckled cockily. "Hehehe, we can take this guy no problem." "Never underestimate thy opponent, no matter how unskilled they may seem. I ask thee to leave most of the fighting to me, do not try to stand against him alone." "Alright."

James didn't want to risk taking on a guy who might have way more experience than him, especially considering his quite low level of skill in swordsmanship. Thinking up his own ideas for how to play this, the imp lord roared and readily charged towards his opponents. Glenn dodged to the right, while James dodged to the left, keeping away from each other to give their foe a harder fight. Enca went towards James first, seeing that he was clearly less skilled a fighter. The raptor became a little panicked at seeing the beast blunder towards him, and did his best to dodge the two sabres. His reflexes served him well, but his agility even more so with strafing and dodging repeatedly. One thing he had learnt from Glenn he put into practice now was that you only backed away in fight if desperate or trying to run away, as backing away allowed the opponent to charge at him with greater force. He kept strafing around the rotund enemy lord, managing to avoid the slow swings. "Hold STILL lizard!" "Not my fault you can't hit me fat boy!" One sabre swing got a little too close for comfort and he thought he'd been grazed on the shoulder, but he kept his guard up for the next swing and deflected it swiftly before pushing his momentum forwards to stab Enca in the leg, a beastly grunt as his reward before backing off quickly. Luckily Glenn swooped into Enca's view and became the focus of attack. "Dost thou demand a true opponent?" The imp lord snarled at the mocking jibe and swung his blades together at Glenn, who relied on finely honed reflexes and countering due to not having the agility of his pupil. It was more than enough when every several swings and thrusts that were blocked, were soon ended with a counter that slashed across the imp's grotesque arms. James kept away, watching the two fight and ready to assist.

The two continued to slash and clash, blades singing in the wind with clangs resonating upon the plains. Glenn almost never let the blades through other than a few unlucky scrapes across his armour, but not wounded, the frog seeking to strike at the limbs more than anything else. At one point the two clashed hard, hard enough to make James shiver from the sound itself, faces against each other over their swords. "You're a good fighter," said Lord Enca, "It's a pleasure to finally face the legendary Frog!" "Thy pleasure is entirely yours, fiend. But I am pleased to see that thou hath reached my expectations of thee." "Oh I'm gonna reach 'em alright..." In an underhanded move, Lord Enca pushed himself away from Glenn, but at the same time kicked his boots hard enough to push dirt up towards Glenn's face, temporarily blinding him. James, not expecting a fair fight, rushed forwards to stab right into the imp lord's back, somewhere in the kidney region, preventing him from attacking with a furious roar of pain. "AAAAARGH! YOU...CHEATING LITTLE BASTARD!" "You wanna fight dirty huh!?! I got plenty of tricks too, big boy, let's see what ya got!" Giving his master time to recover, the raptor went back to his dodging maneuvers, seeing his backstab had managed to slow his foe down a little before he started fighting dirty. James however was accustomed to such tactics and recognised them all. Dirt barely touched him when he could see a hard enough kick trying to deliver it, as well as making sure Enca stayed as far away from him as possible. He could only strafe for so long however before Enca gave a vicious elbow smash into his jaw during a turn of his body, stunning James unexpectedly before the huge swing. It slashed at his flank, right over the tailbase and tearing through his slacks. Blood sprayed from behind him to vomit down his tail, his scream ringing across the barren plain. He hoped that Glenn had heard it, and thankfully he did, seeing the imp lord turn towards the frog and start striking once more.

While James tried to recover, Glenn made more certain to not be tricked, keeping Enca away with strafing blocks. A slash would be deflected by his blade while he dodged in to the right, to deliver a hearty swing through the side of the torso. Cracking the armour before slashing under the left arm, Glenn caused a smooth rainstorm of blood to come out, his foe's nerves torn enough to render it useless for attacking, energy drained from it with the blood. Now he had only one arm fully working, with the other rendered as a meaty guard for his chest. Attacking single-handed with his sabre, Enca continued to strike violently, trying at least to overcome Glenn or throw him off balance, knowing it would be the only way to even get a shot in. Glenn however was determined and strong, his stance perfectly resisting every single strike rendered unto him, his Masamune never absent, never failing to protect its master. Soon however, Glenn saw his chance and unexpectedly deflected the swing as he would with an overhead blow. Going under the blade, blocking upwards with it and shoving it to the side, he moved to Enca's right, cleaving a thick bloody gash through the shoulder and crippling the lord much to his anguished cry. Rendered useless, his swords fell from his weakening hands as blood poured from both sides of him. He had lost. Glenn stood before him, blade pointed down unto his head. "Thou art defeated, fiend." Lord Enca roared, crying his frustration out to the sky, panting shakily as he tried to get up. Trying to admit defeat, slowly struggling to trudge off with the least bit of dignity left in him, his blood dripping off of his fingers and down his blades. Glenn merely watched his defeated foe walk off into the horizon, attended to hastily by his subjects who desperately tried to staunch the bleeding. They carried his swords to alleviate some of his pain, their evidence of being here seeping into the grassy dirt as a bloody trail. James slowly walked up to Glenn, himself wounded with a scar across his back that turned his tail red. Without a word, the frog sheathed his blade and put an arm around his pupil, who walked weakly with him. His green eyes became pitifully apologetic. "Come...let us return home."

The walk home was arduous for James, as he tried to endure the pain that throbbed in his sensitive lower back region. His tail was limp and stained, his grunts forced down with a biting of the lip. Glenn kept him going with a Cure spell to at least staunch the wound, but the exhaustion remained, the walk through the Cursed Woods somehow thrice as long as it was before. Eventually they returned to Glenn's home, the frog carefully assisting the raptor down the ladder, his steps turning weaker until he was placed down upon a mat. "Lie on thy belly." Feeling he could relax at last, James whimpered and shivered as Glenn slowly took his slacks off, gazing upon the large deep slash. While it did not cut any major organs luckily, the wound did manage to cause quite some bleeding. "I will call for the doctor tomorrow, for now I can do naught but staunch and seal the wound." Glenn brought out a small bundle of medical supplies and carefully began to cleanse the wound before suturing it up with a needle and thread. James unashamedly cried out whenever he felt the needle bury into his flesh, twice with every step towards his wound sealing up, tears of pain in his eyes. "My apologies." "Wh-what for?" "I should never have taken thee to battle. Thou art clearly not skilled enough." "But...w-we took those guys on together, we had to! A-AGH! I...I was good enough, right? I did all you taught me, all the blocking, the strafing and-" "Indeed indeed, but that alone is not enough to deal with any opponent. Dost thou see now why I worry about thee in thy quest to return home?" The wound itself may not have been grievous, but it was serious enough for James to nod humbly so and only further strengthen his resolve to keep training. "But I, as thy instructor, must also learn to not overestimate thee." "But...I....nnngh...I did help. When he threw that dirt in your eye and-" "A crafty maneuver by my foe. I appreciate thy assistance James. Thou art improving certainly." "So...w-what you think about dirty fighting now-AAAGH!" "Pragmatics in combat can be essential to survival, if thy honour is not in question." "Honour? Wha-...what honour is there in trying not to get killed?" "It appears we are at an impasse." "What?" "Whatever laws exist in thy world art clearly different from mine. Our minds think differently. But all I can do for thee are two things. To train thee as a swordsman, and to offer thee another line of thought. I will not impose the latter upon thee." "...okay...hhhhh..." The suturing was soon finished, and Glenn cut the thread after making sure the wound was tightly sealed before putting a bandage around James' body, from back to front, tying it firmly but not tightly. James was slowly assisted to his bed by Glenn, carefully climbing into it and pulling the covers tightly against himself. "Now thou must rest. I will ask Lizbeth to come here tomorrow, but for now, thou must not move from this bed for whatever reason." "Okay...th-thank you." "Think nothing of it. Now sleep." The frog gently patted James' head, who murred weakly at the gloved touch before Glenn went to his bed. Gazing at his instructor for a while, sleeping in his bed, he watched the body softly rise and lower, sighing to himself at such a heroic figure. As he began to drift off from the weakness of his body, he started to think on his current moment in life. Dimensions away from home, lying in bed with a bleeding back, training with a frog-like swordsman who for reasons he could not comprehend, was trying to teach him for three years just so he wouldn't get killed. He didn't know what to say to this. He wondered about Glenn, and wondered what his feelings towards his pupil were. Was it really just nothing more than a moral sense of duty? Or was there something more? Was he really doing the best he could in this training? Whatever the case, he now felt even more an urge to not disappoint his master, and let himself sleep with that resolve. As he drifted off, he began to feel things that had been hiding subconsciously from within his heart. Things that would turn his tutorship under Glenn more troublesome than before.