Chapter 24

I couple hours later Hoodie came into the laboratory to retrieve me. It was already noon. It was time for me to train. I got extremely nervous as I finished dressing into clothes Hoodie had given me. I felt like I was going to panic again. I walked out into the halls with Hoodie. It was quiet throughout the mansion. I could usually hear Sally talking with her teddy bear or Ben boasting loudly about winning a video game. It was just quiet. We walked down the stairs and then walked outside. There I could see Jack, Slendy, Ben, Masky, Jeff and even Sally and Smile. I walked up to Slendy and he said, "Good afternoon Elizabeth. Are you prepared for today?" I couldn't say yes. I was honest and told him that I wasn't. He chuckled and said, "No one is really. But you will have to be ready for the challenges that lie ahead." I nodded and looked down at my feet. I held myself as it was really cold outside. I shivered and said, "Can't we do this somewhere more warm?" Slendy shook his head. "Better here than anywhere else," he stated. I sighed and shivered again. I looked over at Jeff and could see he was upset. I don't know why but I'm guessing it has something to do with this training. Or he's mad at me. I could see one of his hands bandaged. I then remembered biting him in my own blind insanity. I want to apologize but then Slendy spoke up. "Everyone will be helping you in your training. Masky and Hoodie will help in stealth and agility." I looked at them and they both nodded. "Ben will be helping you in weaponry," Slendy kept on. "Speed with Sally. And Jeff will be the ending session for your training. For now Jack will start things off."

Jack walks up and crosses his arms. I gulped. "Take off the jacket," he ordered. I gave him a look and said, "But it's freezing cold out!"

"That doesn't matter right now," he said, "now do what I say and take off the jacket." I look over at Jeff, thinking that he would've gotten mad at Jack for being so pushy. He was just watching us. I sigh and did what Jack told me to do. I took off my jacket and felt the cold rush to me. As if it wasn't cold enough with a jacket. I rubbed my arms and shivered. Jack lead me farther away from everyone else. Once we were at a good distance he stopped me and stood in front of me. "Slendy told me to teach you some basic moves. I'll show you kicks, punches and many other things that no one has ever seen before." I nodded and he said, "Follow my lead." He then moved into a position with his fists raised and legs apart. I did the same. Jack moved my arm slightly to the left and said, "Pay attention to everything I do. If you even so much as miss a little detail you're done for." I gulped and nodded. He then slowly started to move his arms in a punching style. I did what he did and slowly moved too. After two punching motions he turned his body slightly to the left and put his elbow up. He stepped forward and pushed his elbow out. I did the same, careful not to miss a detail. He aligned his body straight again and then slowly chopped down with his hand. Another punch, then an upper cut I'm guessing and then he raised his knee and pushed it up for a knee bud. I did everything he did.

After a while of going slow he started speeding up and I had to memorize every move he did before only I had to do them faster. The faster he got the more forceful he became, hitting the air like he was actually hitting a person. I would occasionally slip up and Jack would scold me for it, even if it was a tiny mistake. After a while he stopped and told me to take a break. I sighed and let my arms go limp. "You're doing good," he said. I smiled but then he added, "But not good enough." I frowned and groaned. A few moments later we went back to what we did before. We would stop for a while then start again. Eventually I grew extremely tired and Jack noticed it. "Come on," he said, "don't go soft on me now. Keep up." I groaned and kept going. After a while I noticed that it was getting dark and nearly everyone else went back inside, except for Slendy and Jeff. "It's getting dark out," I huffed to Jack. He shrugged and said, "Don't worry about that."

"But everyone is going back inside," I whined. Jack turned to me and said, "You're training. They aren't. If I have to train you until you pass out then that's how we're going to do it. Now hands up and. Follow. My. Lead." I scowled and did as he said. This is hell. Eventually it became completely dark and Slendy had to put up a flood light for us. I didn't know what time it was but I'm sure it's already past Sally's bedtime. It's pretty late. I was exhausted yet Jack wouldn't let me stop. And when he did it wasn't long enough for my muscles to relax and rest. I was sore, hungry and sleepy. Jack was just the complete opposite. He seemed to be fully energized which annoyed the hell outta me. With every passing second I could feel myself ready to pass out. Every move Jack showed me was completely memorized in my head now. Even the complicated ones he demonstrated. He's running me into the ground here! And right now I'm actually considering using the ground as a bed.

~Eight hours later~

The sun was already half way up into the sky. My body feels numb to the core. Every combat move Jack has shown me is etched into my mind that it's all that I can think about. My body is twitching whenever I stop for a moment, like its egging me on to keep going since its gotten used to moving so much in just a night. I was drenched in sweat and my hair stuck to my face. Even though it's cold out it didn't seem to cool me down. Jack has pushed me to my limit. What someone else would learn in a week I have learned in a single night. And I'm worn out!

Jack kicked up and so did I. My leg doesn't feel as sore anymore, which is good but bad since I might've pushed too far that it's starting to go numb. Jack jumped back and punched and I copied his move. Jeez, when Slendy said everyone won't go easy on me he really friggin' meant it! Man I bent in ways I could never bend before! It's scary!

Everyone but Slendy was inside and well rested while I'm out here working my ass off! Slendy started walking over to us and he said, "That was good. Thank you for your assistance, Jack." Jack nodded and stopped. He turned to me and patted my head. "That wasn't so bad." I glared at him and growled. He moved his hand away and shifted in his spot awkwardly. "Well, I guess it was kind of bad," he muttered. I frowned and then punched him across the mask. He stumbled back and yelled, "Shit man!" I trudged off towards the mansion and once at the door I nearly took it off its hinges as I burst in. Ben, Sally and Jeff were in the living room watching TV. They looked at me in surprise and I marched to the stairs. Hoodie was coming down and he started saying something when I shoved my hand in his face and pushed him away with barely any effort. Masky was coming down not long after and before he could say anything I flipped him over and kept walking. I made it to my room and slammed my door. I then fell across my bed and immediately fell asleep from exhaustion, listening to the sounds of Masky and Hoodie moaning downstairs from the quick number I did on them.

...

I woke up to someone nudging me awake. I looked up and saw Sally with a smile on her face. "Wakey wakey!" she giggled. I managed to put on a smile for her despite the fact that every inch of my body is in pain. I got off the bed and started walking out the door with Sally following behind me. I had gotten a glimpse of the time before we left and it was 2:24. I had only slept for three hours. I groaned at the realization and sulked.

We got downstairs and saw everyone there. Slendy already had a plate of breakfast for me and I took it. I ate it faster than I could chew. Once I finished everyone looked at me with wide eyes. I scowled and said, "What?" They quickly turned away and went back to eating their breakfast. I sighed and walked out of the kitchen. I took a seat on the couch and relaxed. After a few minutes Slendy said to come outside with him. I knew we were going to train again. I groaned and lifted my sore body up from the couch. I walked out of the mansion and the first thing I saw was a table of weapons. I stared at it and then at Slendy then back at the table. This day isn't going to end well.

Once everyone was outside Slendy spoke up. "Okay Elizabeth," he said, "today Ben is going to teach you weaponry. You can't always use yourself and magic for fighting. You need something to fall back on when there's nothing left. So we're going to see what is good for you." I looked at the table again and groaned. There were a lot of weapons. Too many in fact. Ben came up and said, "Take your pick." I looked around and tried picking something good. I saw an ax that looked good. I grabbed it and lifted it only to drop it and have it weigh me down. It strained my poor sore arms and I whined. Ben chuckled and said, "Maybe not that one." He picked it up for me and threw it back on the table with ease. I looked for something else and saw a sword. I grabbed it and held it tight. It didn't drop on me which is good.

Ben took me farther away like how Jack did. Ben took out his own sword and said, "Let's test out your weapon shall we?" I nodded and raised it. Ben got ready too and he counted down.

3...

2...

1.

He swung his sword and luckily my own blocked it. He swung again and I moved my sword around to block again. At first I was just blocking but then eventually I started to attack. I swung mine and nearly hit Ben but he stepped back in time. "Nice one," he said and swung. I yelped and fell back. I looked up to see Ben about to jump on me with his sword raised. I managed to lift up my sword and block. I pushed back and Ben did too, making an unbearable weight on me. I managed to lift up my leg and push him off by his side. I quickly got up and Ben dashed up to me. He swung and stabbed and I had to block. I started losing my grip on the hilt and when he swung and hit the blade my sword flew out of my hands and clattered to the ground. I gasped and looked at Ben. He chuckled.

"I don't think swords are your thing," he said as he put his back in its sheath. I huffed and nodded. They really weren't. We went back over to the table and I picked out another weapon. I picked a bow and arrows. The bow had blades along the edge expect where I have to hold on to. Ben took me away again but he had me test out my aim. I aimed for a tree branch and I missed. I tried again and I missed again. I tried again and I finally got an arrow in, but it didn't hold long and it fell. I scowled. Ben told me to keep trying to shoot at other things. Eventually my arrows would stick and my aim got better. During my test run my grip had slipped and I almost hit Masky. Luckily he ducked in time and the arrow had stuck to the wall behind him. Everyone started laughing while he flailed his arms around ranting on how he could've died. Next Ben had me fight with my weapon. I didn't feel so sure but I had to. I would aim at him but he'd dodge so I'd have to be quicker. Once he came closer to me I had to stop using arrows and had I use the blades on the bow.

I didn't help as much and I was just messy with it. Eventually Ben pinned me down and I had to pick another weapon. After trying out knives, a lighter ax, spears, a mace and many other weapons that were no help whatsoever we finally came down to one. It wasn't like all the rest though. It was two bracers that had hidden blades at the tops and there were three bumps on the tops too. Ben showed me how to use it and the three bumps were actually spear heads. They shoot out on strings and hit whatever target and then retract back to the bracers. It was a well designed weapon. I tried it out and it felt comfortable. It wasn't heavy nor was it too light. I felt that this one would work. It has to. All the other weapons didn't work so this one has to.

Ben had me fight with it and I did. I lunged at him with the blade and he'd block with his sword. I had the spear heads shoot out and nearly hit him but he'd dodge it although I was close. I was doing so much better with these. I was free to run around and jump around without it weighing me down. And I could punch easily as well. Ben would swing and I'd block with the bracers easily. I knew these weapons were the right ones for me. And by the looks of it so did Ben. After a while he stopped me and we both took a break.

I panted and said, "I think these are the ones." Ben looked at me and asked, "Are you sure?" I nodded and he smiled. "Great," he said. I finally felt relieved. I finally found my perfect weapon. I looked up at the sky. Dusk was coming soon. We've been out here for a long while. Slendy came over and asked if I had found my weapon. I nodded and he told me to take them off. I did and he gently grabbed my wrists and turned them over to reveal my marks. He told me to hold the two bracers in both of my hands. Nothing happened for a few moments and then I felt the bracers rattle in my hands. Suddenly they shuddered one last time and disappeared in a flash of white. I was surprised and wondered where they went. I noticed my marks were glowing red again. "Now that you have found your weapon," Slendy spoke up, "you will always have them in here." He pointed to both my marks and I finally understood what happened. I smiled and looked at my marks. "Whenever you need them," Slendy said, "just call on them and they shall appear." I nodded and Slendy lead me back inside the mansion.

I felt accomplished. But I knew this wasn't the end of training. Unfortunately I have a lot more to learn from everyone. At the end Jeff will be my last session. I'm guessing he'll fight me to test me and see if I'm ready, to see that I've learned everything that I need to know. I'm nervous. This training is serious. He might not be the dumb, wild and playful Jeff I've come to enjoy. He might be the serious, cold-hearted and unmerciful Jeff that all his victims have feared. Once the time comes we can't act lovey dovey. He won't go easy on me, that I know. He won't be nice. I won't be Ellie to him. I won't be his Sunshine. I won't even be Elizabeth to him. I'll just be the proxy, nothing more. I won't be anything significant to him.

And that scares me more than anything else.