CHAPTER 2: THE HEART OF GOLD
The teacher walked around the classroom, explaining the rules. Meanwhile, Cassirino adjusted his hat, clearly not listening, and Clockwise was offline—not even a sound of ticking. Rexy was the only one paying attention, eyes wide with excitement. Suddenly, he raised his hand.
"Teacher! Do we get to do missions too? Like, easy ones? We're studying to be heroes one day, so..."
The teacher listened to Rexy's question and pulled out a small rule book, flipping through a few pages.
"Yes. You'll have mini-missions in the Virtual Training Simulation Room to train your style, reflexes, agility, and skills," he answered, closing the rule book.
Clockwise's head perked up at the mention of machinery. He raised his hand.
"Teacher, I can't do VR training because I'm remotely controlling this vessel from far away. Do you have the chip for the simulation?"
The teacher chuckled.
"Not our first time having a robot student. We do have one."
Clockwise tilted his head, curious about the student he mentioned, but chose not to ask further. Rexy, on the other hand, was visibly thrilled, imagining how cool it would be to fight enemies in VR. Not long after, the teacher closed his book and cleared his throat.
"Prep time's over, boys. Today we're having our first VR training session. Follow me!"
He turned around and walked out of the classroom. The three followed him into the hallway. It wasn't as crowded as earlier, but there were still students walking around and janitors cleaning the floors. The teacher led them upstairs to a spiraling vintage staircase. Each door had a golden handle and a large wooden frame. Beside it was an elevator encased with golden trim and lights. Rexy looked at the teacher.
"We have an elevator. Why are we walking?"
The teacher let out a chuckle.
"Walking builds leg strength. The elevator's only for disabled students or staff with important meetings."
They continued climbing. It took a grueling five minutes to reach the VR Training Room. Rexy practically collapsed onto the floor, catching his breath. Cassirino was a bit sweaty but still standing. Clockwise remained perfectly fine—he wasn't physically walking. The teacher patted Rexy and Cassirino on the back.
"C'mon. Get in the room."
He lightly pushed them inside. The room was enormous—roughly 25 meters in each direction. Rexy looked around, amazed and a little nervous. The teacher handed them each a headset and controller.
"Put these on, boys," he said, then turned to Clockwise and handed him a USB stick.
"We don't have chips here. You'll need to plug this in. Do you have a USB slot?"
Clockwise took the USB and inserted it into a port behind his neck. He paused, scanning the room.
"How did you even make these?"
The teacher laughed.
"No, no—I didn't. The principal did. He's a mad coder," he said, wiping away tears of laughter.
Once they put on their headsets, Rexy and Cassirino saw a blank menu to choose their fighting styles. Cassirino selected Long Katana. Rexy and Clockwise both chose Melee. The teacher suddenly spoke up.
"Oh—and be careful. This thing doesn't warn you when you're near the wall. I'll supervise from afar."
His warning made the three a bit nervous. Once the styles were selected, obstacles began flying at them in the simulation. Cassirino sliced them down with precise strikes. Clockwise parried, blocked, and kicked them aside. Rexy, however, struggled. He couldn't time his attacks at all. Seeing this, Clockwise called out:
"Don't rely on your eyesight! Feel the speed and timing of the attack. When your skin suddenly itches a bit—that's where they'll hit. That moment is the right time to strike!"
Rexy listened carefully. He began observing the obstacles' patterns. Suddenly, he subconsciously parried one—then dodged another—and kicked a few aside. Though he got tired quickly, he scored 50/100.
He removed his headset, sitting on the floor while catching his breath. Cassirino walked up and playfully patted his back.
"Hey, you did good! Don't be disappointed in yourself—that's a great start for a beginner."
Rexy looked up and smiled.
"I'm not disappointed. Training like this is fun."
He reassured as he stood up, put the headset back on, and kept practicing. Ten minutes went by quickly, and the difference was obvious: Clockwise had minimized his movement, Cassirino's slash was optimized, and Rexy's parry rate was much more consistent.
After a morning full of training, both Rexy and Cassirino were on the ground, panting. Clockwise's joints were rusty and loose. The teacher finally signaled them to stop. He grinned widely, patted Cassirino and Rexy on the back, and said:
"Good job, you guys. You may rest. Clockwise, do you need a small adjustment? Your leg looks like it just collapsed."
Clockwise sighed and replied,
"Don't worry, teacher. I can do it myself."
His hand started glowing as he touched his own joints. Suddenly, his clock started spinning backward. Soon, his whole leg glowed, and his joints rewound back into place tightly.
"Woah! How did you do that?" Rexy asked, curious.
Clockwise replied coldly,
"I rewound time by overdriving the local space and time with a special frequency and quantum wave. It's quite difficult to pull off, especially since I didn't update this model—it's too fashionable, and I need it to at least not look scary to other people."
Rexy, clearly not understanding most of it, still replied excitedly:
"Woah! I don't understand most of it, but you sound really cool!"
Clockwise stopped for a moment before looking at him and replied with a hint of annoyance and care:
"Dude... you're so naive. This world isn't just fun and happiness. If you continue acting this whimsical, especially in a job like this, you might be in huge trouble."
Rexy, clearly determined, replied:
"No, I will always be happy. Since I didn't have the chance to be happy with my parents... I will make them proud no matter what! After all, i am sure everyone will be happy till the end!"
Clockwise paused at the mention of Rexy's situation and replied with a hint of regret:
"What makes y— Oh... sorry for bringing that up."
Rexy was about to respond but was cut off by the teacher:
"Break time! You guys can freely do what you want, just don't leave the school. We'll return to class in 30 minutes!"
Cassirino stood up slowly, adjusted his clothes, and randomly pulled out a bag of chips, chuckling:
"Who wants chips?"
Rexy pulled out a bottle of sparkling water to compete with Cassirino:
"LIMITED MINT FLAVORED! I AM TWO STEPS AHEAD!"
Clockwise sighed and started eating off-screen. Rexy and Cassirino listened to the sound and whispered to each other:
"Dude, he's eating. The thing he's eating sounds really crunchy. Any idea what it might be?"
Rexy whispered quietly, and Cassirino followed up:
"I hear pouring. This dude must be drinking soda and eating chips off-screen too! Bastards two steps ahead of us."
"He is rich enough to make a whole remote-control robot. I bet he's eating croissants and drinking red wine right now, not chips and soda."
They discussed quietly, snickering. After a moment, Rexy ran up, dragged Clockwise's inactive body, tied it onto a chair, and hung the chair from the ceiling. Later, when Clockwise came back, he looked around in surprise and shouted:
"WHAT THE—UNHAND ME RIGHT NOW, YOU IDIOTS!"
Rexy and Cassirino started practicing aiming on Clockwise with paper balls. Enraged, Clockwise broke free and slapped both of them on the head:
"Do that one more time and I'll unmake your existence."
Both whined in annoyance, replying:
"You're the boss, your choice."
Clockwise sighed, giving them a taste of their own medicine by strapping them on his back and loop-flying around the school at intense speed. Cassirino was extremely dizzy and speechless, while Rexy screamed in fear:
"PLEASE LET ME GO! I SWEAR I BELIEVE IN GOD, I NEVER LIED TO MOMMY AND NEVER TALKED BACK TO DADDY!"
The rope snapped intentionally, flinging Rexy and Clockwise back into the classroom. Right when the school bell rang, the teacher was already inside, trying to read a book. Startled by the crashing noise, he stood up and saw Rexy and Cassirino on the floor.
"Jeez! What the hell are you guys doing?"
Cassirino, dazed and dizzy, replied:
"Getting bodied by Clockwise for tying him to the ceiling."
Clockwise, not as angry as before, replied with a sigh:
"Next time, just don't mess with me."
It was lunchtime. They gathered at the cafeteria in a corner spot. The cafeteria was full of students eating, playing, and talking, with teachers sitting to rest. The teacher pulled up his bento box, which contained rice, salad, and a prepped Korean drug egg. Rexy also pulled out his lunch: fried rice with egg, sausage, peas, and a carton of milk. Cassirino looked at his lunch and whistled:
"Nice packs, dude. Did you make this yourself?"
Rexy looked at him and replied:
"Yeah. What'd you bring for lunch?"
Cassirino sighed in defeat and pulled out a packed fast food bag—a combo of sweet soda, a healthy beef burger, fried chicken, and fries. Rexy looked in awe:
"Wow! It looks good! Why are you sad? Your lunch is packed!"
Cassirino replied, slightly annoyed:
"This is the fifth fast food lunch in a row."
Rexy chuckled and offered him some of his fried rice:
"I'll give you half of my rice. In return, give me one of your chicken wings."
Cassirino gave him a chicken wing and took the fried rice:
"Deal!"
They looked at Clockwise, who was eating off-screen, but having learned their lesson, they just kept eating while calling Clockwise "big boss."
After lunchtime, the teacher pulled the three into a gym with pools. He said:
"Right now we will be studying PE, specifically swimming. I prepped three pairs of swimsuits already. You guys wear them and—"
He was cut off by Clockwise, looking at him in pure disappointment:
"But I am a robot."
He said with fake sadness. The teacher burst out laughing:
"Sorry, my bad! Guess you're sitting this one out!"
Clockwise sat back with a pouty expression, watching Cassirino and Rexy walk out of the changing room in the teacher-prepared swimsuits. Rexy's body looked thin with an average amount of muscle, while Cassirino was absolutely jacked. Cassirino flexed his muscles at Rexy:
"Check this out!"
He tried to do a backflip but got pushed into the pool by Rexy.
"You watch!" Rexy said, backing away before jumping in and splashing water all over Cassirino. The teacher blew his whistle:
"NO jumping! Cassirino and Rexy, 10 pool loops now! No touching any part of your body on the floor or the wall. Go!"
They started swimming as ordered. Cassirino struggled slightly because his muscle made him heavy and unable to fully float, while Rexy was surprisingly fast and floated easily. By the fifth loop, Cassirino was practically sinking but still moving. Rexy had already finished and cheered him on:
"C'mon, you can do it!"
Cassirino roared, swinging his hands and pushing with his legs, swimming at full speed. Two minutes later, he finally finished the loop. The teacher blew his whistle in approval:
"Good! You two, now try to remain floating. I'm applying dense water in this pool!"
Suddenly, the lid on the wall opened, and the water color became darker. Rexy tilted slightly to the right from the sudden density change. Cassirino immediately lost his balance, panicking:
"What the hell! Why is the water so heavy?!"
The teacher chuckled:
"I added more hydrogen so that it feels denser and harder to float!"
Rexy and Cassirino tried their best to float, but Cassirino had already sunk to the bottom. Rexy barely floated. Cassirino decided to stand on his feet and sighed:
"I'm too heavy for this."
The teacher laughed:
"It's okay! Not even Rexy is floating—"
Randomly, he saw Rexy floating face-down. Curious, Cassirino flipped him over and got splashed by Rexy, who burst out laughing:
"I got you clean!"
Cassirino looked at him angrily and splashed him back, making the whole floor wet. The teacher blew his whistle:
"Guys, this is not playtime! CONTINUE LOOPING AROUND THE POOL."
They groaned in disagreement but continued anyway. Rexy swam aimlessly, while Cassirino practically rolled on the floor. Clockwise sighed in relief:
"Gladly, I don't have to do this—"
The teacher glared at him:
"No, you have your own exercise."
He pulled up a taser and zapped Clockwise's armor. It was ineffective. The teacher went silent for a moment before replying:
"I was trying to make you stabilize yourself through electric shock. Your suit absorbs external electric force, noted."
Clockwise smirked off-screen with confidence:
"I can even stabilize on a string."
Suddenly, the teacher tied a string between two poles and looked at Clockwise:
"Up you go."
He dragged Clockwise onto the string to force him to stabilize. Clockwise yelped:
"Woah woah woah, slow down! I'm just joking!"
The teacher grinned:
"Now you'll do it for real."
Clockwise panicked and frantically tried to balance on the string, waving his hands and leaning aimlessly. The teacher warned:
"If you fall, I'm taking your top hat for a week."
Clockwise whined in protest:
"Not my top hat!"
Finally, both got up, absolutely tired, and asked the teacher:
"Can we... go yet? I don't think my spine likes this exercise."
The teacher grinned and patted them on the back:
"Sure thing!"
Clockwise was still frantically waving his hands. The teacher put him down:
"Timeout. It's 4 p.m. already. You guys can pack your stuff and go home."
He suddenly glared at Rexy in a low, intimidating voice:
"Tomorrow, bring me the collection, or I'm breaking your knee."
Rexy flinched and shouted:
"YES, SIR!"
They changed clothes and walked out the school gate with their bags. Cassirino walked alongside Rexy, asking:
"Do you live far away?"
Rexy took a moment to think and replied:
"You can call it long. I have to travel to a few bus stops. It actually doesn't even feel that far. The whole 5 stops are just half an hour."
Cassirino pondered and chuckled:
"I will visit your house one day!"
Rexy grinned:
"I live alone! So you can come in anytime."
Cassirino got on his bike:
"Well, I gotta go home now. Bye!"
He waved to Rexy and rode away.