Chapter Eleven

Fred and Joe’s Friendship

Sky regarded Fred and Joe waiting for more of the food to be cooked and thought of a question. “How did you meet Mr. Joe, captain Fred, I bet that would be interesting?” Sky asked Fred.

Fred’s point of view

“Well, Sky that is an interesting story that goes back to when I was in school.” William started giving Joe a questioning look. Joe nodded to give him consent to continue. Fred continued with a little more excitement. “I was in my last year of high school when I met Joe. He was starting grade 9 and had a hero complex. He tried to stop some other kids from being picked on and jumped in to save the day. It was six to one after the kids he was helping took off and left him alone. He managed to take the younger ones down, but the two seniors were getting the best of him. The two of him had him pinned and were about to kick and punch him while he was down. No one close by tried to do anything to help him. I had to get to my advanced class and would be late if I stopped to help him. I tried calling out to the two overgrown weeds to stop them. They looked over to me and sneered “mind your own business Fred this is of no concern of yours. He started it, and we’re going to finish it. He’s new and needs to know who’s in charge here. Run along and go get some more perfect grades you don’t want to be late, Mr. Goody Goody.”

I couldn’t let it pass. I shrugged my shoulders and rolled them a bit to loosen them up. “I see that you’re the one to be reminded about who not to mouth off too. I’m not the goody goody you’re assuming I am.”

As I was talking to the two weeds, Joe managed to get out of their grip and took a fighting stance. Joe addresses me not taking his eyes off of the two seniors, “thanks man, I just needed to get to my feet. I’ve got it from here; I wasn’t expecting on getting attacked by those two with cheap shots like losers.” Joe smiled readying himself for a fight.

The bigger and older of the two gave no sign of the younger one coming in from behind to take another cheap shot. Joe here took a ring on his finger and turned it once on his finger and said something under his breath. A wash of spent magic washed out from him, and nothing seemed to happen. After a few seconds, the guy behind him came with a spin kick to the side of his head. Joe ducked enough, so the kick went over his head. That’s when the other two used a spell each to speed up their attack.

Even with their enhanced speed, Joe seemed to hold his own against the three weeds. I almost left them alone right until I felt another wash of spent magic wash out from the two seniors. It was considerably more than the other spells before. I wasn’t sure about the spell I saw briefly, but it didn’t look very friendly. It didn’t take long before I saw what the spell was when Joe took the first hit. When he blocked the first hit the spells, connected and sent him flying. I called out to rescue Joe from the fast and the furious weeds.

I managed to get there just as a few teachers walked up and stood there not knowing how to stop a magic-powered fight. The four fights were a martial artist and knew how to fight. I approach the teachers and offer to step in before it gets out of hand. They both looked up to me, their mouth fell open, and they just nodded their heads adding. “Just don’t kill anyone and we’ll take it from there.”

I step in front of Joe’s attackers, crack my knuckles and roll my shoulders once more. I looked down into their surprised faces, “time to teach a lesson or two. The leader of the gang is only 30 centre metres (1 foot) shorter than me. He only pauses slightly before attacking me with a flurry of punches. I easily block them without casting a spell of any kind.

Joe took the younger one of the weeds and pinned him to a wall with an armbar. I see my chance and grab them both by the throat at the same time and lift them to the wall half a metre (1 ½ ft.) off the floor.

Joe’s point of view

Joe holds up his hand. “I was doing pretty good, and I just cast an awareness spell so I wouldn’t get jumped again from behind. I was still faster than the three of them, but I wasn’t ready for the strength boost. I could have taken them if I used a strength spell too. But Fred was kind of cool the way he grabbed the two weeds and just lifted them to the wall and pinned them. It was impressive when the teachers asked him to release them if they drop the casted spells.

After the fight, I asked about where he learned how to fight and if he wanted a training partner. I asked him “Fred, I’m new here and I need to know more about the schools’ social scales. Where did you learn to fight like that? I’ve never seen a person your size move like that. I’ve taken a few courses and was told I was a natural. I want to train with you if you need a partner to train with.” Joe said being completely honest with the story.

Fred’s point of view

Fred smiled and started the story again. I used to have a few training partners, but they stopped training after a while. They said I was too intense with my training after the master sensei class. I never forced anyone to join me, and I didn’t expect Joe to do much better.

After school, I introduced Joe to my sensei Ginta Toro. The teacher was in his late fifties, around 180 cm. (5-11 ft.). His build was lean and muscular, and he moved with the agility of someone half his age. His head was shaved bald and had deep-set grey eyes. He regarded Joe, and his stance asked about what training he had and how long. He agreed to take him on as a student. Joe at first couldn’t afford the classes, but the sensei saw his potential and gave him the same discount as I received. Neither of us came from wealthy families, and we both worked on weekends to make extra spending money. It was three months into the school year to see he was no quitter. Even with a lot of lady’s vying for his attention, he maintained his grades and training. Joe tried not to get distracted from school and training because they were more important for him than a fling.

Fred looked Joe, reached up and squeezed his shoulder as a sign of admiration.

He could almost keep up after six months, and he was one of my only sparring partners during class. It was just him and the sensei who were willing to try. Having someone so close to my level, I started to improve faster also. After our time in the dojo, we both spent as much time with weights as with sparring. Joe here knew he could never match my strength, so he went for speed. When we sparred, he was getting close but not close enough. Our sensei Ginta Toro asked us to try competing in some competitions. Whenever we entered any tournaments, we were always the top two. We were undefeated in the senior nationals until the last fight when it came down to Joe and me. It was a great fight, and it was not quick like all the ones we won. I had to try; we were both in top form. Unfortunately for Joe here, he just couldn’t overcome my size and strength. He comes close in speed but not quite there.

After the match, we were approached by the man who placed third. John Riktar was in top shape in his early thirties. His face was clean shaven and had sharp features and deep-set green eyes. His hair was dirty blond and was cut very short. He asked us what we had planned to do after we finished our schooling. We had both discussed this before and were thinking of law enforcement. He said that sounded commendable then asked us if we ever considered the military services. He told us he was a Sergeant on a recruitment drive and was here to have some fun while seeing the local talent.

“I’m very impressed with both of your performances. You two are beyond most of I’ve seen and fought in a long time. How is your magical aptitude and well? Is it as good as your fighting prowess? He suggested we go to a military school to finish our education on whatever level we were.

We decided to go on a two-day tour of the nearest base. It was physical training in the morning, educational midway, magical in the afternoon. They were fourteen-hour day We agreed, free education was free education, and we took advantage of it. We had started our training three weeks after the tournament. It wasn’t as tough as we thought it would be. The physical was a breeze, and we sailed through to everyone’s surprise. The educational was just okay because it was below my current level. Joe here was in his level and did exceptionally well. The magical training was amazing for both of us. We never had the same kind of training in school. With little deliberation and coaxing from the cadet trainers, we decided to join.

Our school and sensei Ginta Toro understood what we were accepting. We were wanted and could do a lot for the Imperial defence force.

Joe’s point of view

Fred, I like to state that even though I was the youngest there the training we did together was far superior to the training in the cadets. We tried a little of the training they called advanced. We had little difficulty our first time, and Fred beat their record and then I beat him. Fred and I were suddenly surrounded by an elite trooper in training. I thought when we beat the record it was of the trainees not the top of the elite trainers. We became the talk of the base and celebrities of the gauntlets. We could do our training only one hour after the magic training. At first, it was just Fred and I, but after a few days, we were joined by other cadets. Fred and I started to show the ones who joined us on how to move with more efficiently. After only one week the cadets training in the morning improved. It wasn’t very often that someone could teach better than the instructor. Within the year, we were instructing all the new cadets. We were asked to come up with more difficult gauntlets for the more advanced soldiers. The elites were feeling a little underworked after seeing the two teenagers outclassed them in every physical exercise. Fred here was bigger than most of the elites and Joe was faster than all of them. After a few years, we finished training we started a new training course for the cadets right up to the elites. We also started to excel in our magical studies and started to implement it into the physical training more in the gauntlets course. The courses for the advanced military students were too tough for most. We like to push ourselves as much as possible. To make ourselves the best we could be we forced ourselves harder and longer in our new training. We started a super elite force training regime for the few that could keep up.

Fred’s point of view

Well, only a few could keep up, somewhat. I was hoping more were able to stay with training. It was some of the elite that didn’t make it through the advanced training made a statement that we have never seen the true battle to grade themselves inadequate. Joe and I were put on our first mission that was an observe, capture and remove. We were put in charge of a six-man team to observe some mages, capture one if needed and assassinate a powerful rogue mage. We had to work with some of the men we had failed in our super elite course. Joe and I were told it was to prove experience was better than any training we could come up with.

Everything was going great with the mission, and we made it to the mission starting point. Joe and I were fine, but the four others were breathing heavily, they must have been slacking off in their training. The so-called mission leader told us we were moving too fast and that precautions needed to be taken. We were every bit cautious as they were but much faster. We spread out to survey the mages that were going in and out of the buildings on the massive estate. Radio silence was in effect during the reconnaissance part; only retina texting was the only communication we used. We watched for hours and seen many mages come and go. It was five hours after we started the mission when the first mark was spotted. Joe and I saw the second mark the man we had to assassinate. Just as we texted spotting the last mark is when things went nova. One of our men jumped the gun and started to gun down mages to get to the one targeted for assassination. We never had a chance to make any plans for the extraction of the other mark. Joe and I ran into the building to catch to the mage running to escape capture. With our intense training, we fought the mages with relative ease and caught the mage and put him under a binding spell. When we went to call about the rest of the team's progress, we received answers from only two of our group.

We had to go back to help our other team members. We managed to rescue and extract the rogue mage. The team leader tried to blame us for the almost failed mission do to our inexperience in the field after our helmet cam vid were watched. We were acquitted from blame and even praised for the success of the botched mission.

After that mission, Joe and I were sent out with more experienced soldiers. We quickly earned respect and support of the more seasoned soldiers.

After two more years of successful missions, we were given a troop. I was made team leader for a team of ten recruits. Joe here was made my second two of the men grumbled about it. Joe is here as cocky as he was suggested he fight them both on at once to prove he deserves to be there. After Joe thoroughly beat them, they dropped out, and we took on two more men to replace the two dropouts.

We trained together for four months combining magic and extreme dexterous combative fighting before our first mission together. Our first mission together was a near suicide mission. Joe and I were the fastest by far going through the training for the mission. We started missions of putting down small rebellions. The team worked well together, and we accomplished our missions with no fatalities. We did have some injuries, and we recovered some tech that we commandeered. The missions were successful, and we had earned a few medals.

We were placed in charge of training more soldiers and started a new super elite mage training. We had very few men come close to our level of training. We kept training as hard as ever, and no one met our expectation of what we would call super elite soldier mages. We had admirals watch our training sessions and impressed them enough that we were given some of our own two-person missions. We overheard a couple of admirals say they have never seen two men move with such deadly grace. They even mentioned something about how we used magical weapons and martial arts at the same time.

We received a spaceship for the first mission, and it went great with just the two of us. I don’t mean to brag but soon became the most coveted two-person team of the elite mage forces. It was only a small ship and had minimal weapons; it was fast. We had started missions that previous teams were unable to do. We were given our final tests, exams, and graduated with honours. Shortly after our final graduation, we had a mission to rescue a high ranking official and her family for a group of giants and ogres. They were still protesting the mage war and how they were treated. We managed to save them and were brought into the higher society. Soon we found ourselves rubbing shoulder with the wealthy elite. I grew tired of the snobbish men and women flaunting their wealth. Joe here stayed with the young, wealthy daughters. I met my beautiful wife serving at one of the pompous parties. I found my first love and soon we were married. Joe here seemed to happy with his pretty boy act and impressing the young ladies of the rich and powerful if tales of fierce battles. Joe snorted with a smile at Fred’s words but didn’t interrupt any more than that.

Joe’s point of view

I thought I found love many times, unlike my brother Fred here love never found me. I would have had two beautiful kids too if I found someone like his wife. I swore by the aurora light of Venus they were made for each other. The biggest fight they ever had was that she wanted to find me a wife. Fred understood that I needed my own space to breath and I attract the wrong type of women for now and get distracted too easily. Fred and I stick together still being able to train like no other. I push Fred even more now that he has kids to go home too. I’m not going to let him go soft and slip up from a little mistake because of lack of training.

We had this ship made three years ago, and will keep it after our honourable retirement. I sort of messed things up a bit by dating the wrong ladies. I never slept around, but I did date many ladies, none of them steady. Sky, you may be kind of young to understand. Some women say things that aren’t true to try and keep something they never owned. I was found guilty of corrupting three young noble’s virtues and run off the planet. After I did that Fred still stuck with me and we started to get low paying, uninteresting missions. They can’t sandbag us in somewhere in an uninhabitable galaxy. Since the mage wars, they needed to keep us close because we’re still one of the best elite soldier’s mages out here.