While Scott and Harley rode off to meet their destiny, things back at the house became a bit hectic for a time. Not everyone could train at the same time or they would be too weak to defend the place. Proper training would require them to become incredibly weak and allow themselves to heal, so Michael and Frank chose teams.

Frank's Team consisted of himself, Rachel, and Cia. Michael's team was Harold. They made sure that their barrier was up and ready before anyone got started training, but that did not completely rule out the possibility of an attack. Even with knowledge that the barrier protected against monsters, no one believed it was fool proof.

"Are you planning to actually become a cheerleader, or do you want to just shake your pom-poms and think about it a while?" Frank asked Cia as they went out into the backyard to train. Their team would go first since they were the largest group. It would give them the most time to recuperate before an attack.

"Yeah, I think so. I'm not a great fighter, and it gives me a chance to support everyone now instead of later," she said with a laugh.

Frank grinned at her. "Why not change right now, so you get the most out of this?"

Cia shook her pom-poms then offered him a sly grin. "Good idea."

She hold her pom-poms aloft. For a moment everyone expected some sort of fancy light show. However, all she did in the end was lower them once more. "Guess that's it..."

"You class changed?" asked Frank. "How can you tell?"

The newly minted cheerleader shrugged her shoulders. "I checked my stat— Hello!"

"What is it?" asked Rachel. She moved forward and stood next to Frank. Briefly she glanced over at him then quickly looked away, a slight tinge of pink on her cheeks. He had taken his shirt off for the purposes of training.

"My level reset to one... but my agility, charisma, mana, and stamina went way up," said Cia.

"How much we talking here?" asked Frank, his tone curious with a mild hint of possible jealousy.

"Stamina and mana both jumped by twenty points. Agility went up to six." Cia stared at her screen for a moment. "Charisma is a seven, but go up to a ten with these pom-poms... My other stats are about the same or higher than they were before."

"Weren't you some sort of warrior class? How can a cheerleader be stronger than that?" asked Frank incredulously.

Cia shook her head. "Who knows? Maybe it's because I got the class from those pom-poms instead of just at random from that book?"

"Maybe..." said Frank, "If that's the case then there might be other items like that. If we could find some of them and give them to people in our group, they'll start off stronger than normal anyway."

They spoke at length about Cia's new changes then set about the task of actually training. Frank led the girls through a grueling work out that constantly depleted their stamina then damaged their hit points slightly. Once that eventuality was quickly reached, they took out a few books that he had brought for the occasion and they began to study.

Inside the house, Michael and Harold also studied books. That particular training did not weaken their bodies, but it might sharpen their minds.

Over two hours passed before Cia decided to try something a little different. "You know, we just keep training and reading. Maybe we can speed things up?"

"What do you mean?" asked Frank.

"Faster is better!" said Rachel, her face flush from her many exertions. Certainly it did not have to do with her proximity to Frank and his bulging musculature. She fanned herself a little to further cool down.

"Well. I have only one skill. Motivation!" said Cia. "It's supposed to slightly increase stamina regeneration."

"Can you use it now? My axe technique doesn't do much outside of a fight," said Frank.

"Let's see?" said Cia with a cheerful smile. "Give me a minute, it's been a while..."

She hopped up and stood back a little from the others. After she took a moment to breathe deeply in and out, she placed one pom-pom clad hand to her hip then thrust the other toward her teammates.

"Ready?" she asked. They nodded in unison and she threw her hand straight up into the air. "OK!"

Cia canted her hips from left to right then clapped her pom-poms together, "Do you feel the rhythm?" Clap. Clap. "Can you feel the beat?"

"I feel it!" called Rachel lightly, a smile on her lips.

Cia winked at her saucily then hopped up and down on foot, but changed which foot it was with each hop. "So stand on up ya'll..." Clap. Clap. "Get on your feet!"

Frank grinned like an idiot then but blinked as he felt a strange surge of energy flowing through his body. Her cheering was more than a little cheesy, but it certainly did something outside of a fight. He checked his status while Cia continued to dance and cheer in the background. At the bottom, under status effects he received a notice citing a ten percent boost in stamina regeneration for five minutes. "Not bad..."

It was not a world shaking boost due to the low stats that everyone possessed, but skills also did not seem to be as strong, or even work, outside of a fight. Who knew what she could do in an actual battle? Well, other than Cia herself. It would be good to ask her about what her skill claims it can do in an actual battle.

The best part was that if he felt the effect, he was sure Rachel did as well. Stat boosts that can help the whole team were in short supply. Until now, it was mostly just Scott who could boost the team in a fight.

"I wonder if you're getting professional experience for this?" he asked Cia. "For that matter, does it tell you how it works in a fight?"

She stopped cheering, but offered him a friendly smile. "It regenerates an additional point of stamina to everyone on our side for each turn that I cheer, and for every four points of charisma that I have."

"Wait, so you can give us two points of stamina every turn that you cheer?" asked Frank, his excitement growing. It wasn't much really, but if they did not have to wait for a full minute to regain stamina then it was worth it!

"Seems that way. If I can get some gear that boosts charisma, we'll be unstoppable," she said happily.

"Hell yes," said Frank, a broad grin showing his enjoyment of that little fact. "What about professional experience, though?"

She fluttered her eyelashes playfully then said, "Who knows? Maybe when Scott gets back he'll pat me on the head and properly teach me a thing or two."

Frank chuckled at her. "Don't you think Harley will get jealous?"

Cia grinned broadly. "Only if I blush and call it embarrassing."

Rachel laughed at her friend and shook her head. "You're terrible."

Cia offered her an exaggerated wink. "No. I'm a cheerleader."

That brought a laugh from the other two that echoed through the backyard. It was good to laugh at something so silly. However, the frivolity ended not long after that. Cia needed to recover even more than before since she used her skill, since it used mana as a catalyst for the status effects. They went back to reading.