Komodo lay in the medic office within a private room. The doctors were cutting into his body to making sure that no bones were broken or cracked. Unfortunately many of the bones were cracked so they that to put "certain bandages" on to help keeping them from breaking any further. Komodo was awake during this process and didn't even scream or flinch when they did this operation. The doctors and nurses were a little creeped out by this but continued their job. "Scavenger Komodo. What did you do to both your intestines?" A girl nurse said holding a pen and a clipboard. Komodo glanced at her. His red crimson red seemed to glow brighter now, the nurse assumed. "I didn't do anything. Gerald was just able to land a solid hit on them and he dug into them with his shoes." Komodo replied giving minor breaths as to not injure anything else. The nurse nodded. Standing up as she left the operating room. Komodo knew who she was reporting to and almost chuckled if it wasn't for the death stare the other nurses and surgeons gave him. So he shut his mouth and stayed quiet.
In a different room completely separate from the private ones Jack was laying in a bed. He was alive, but had a cracked Jaw and rib cage. "The doctor said he'll need two weeks of rest or less if he has a healthy body." Jake said sitting next to Macy who was slumped on a chair next the bed. She looked like she about to cry, but she bit her tongue keeping herself firm and strong. Amy glanced inside looking around before walking in with a trey of hot warm lemon balm tea. "Here." Amy says giving Macy a mug, "This will help with the nerves." Macy gladly accepts it and takes a sip before instantly regretting it. "Whew! Ow that's hot!" Macy yelped in surprise while giving Amy and glare of disappointment. Amy merely shrug that seemed to say, "Oopsies." Amy then gave her brother, Jake, his own mug. He nodded a silent thanks and placed his tea on a counter to let cool down, unlike Macy. Amy did the same placing her own mug on the counter.
A nurse walked out of a room heading towards the exit before Jake called, "hey Miss. Have you seen Komodo?" He asked politely. The nurse, holding the clipboard, nodded and pointed at a door at the end of a hallway. "The door I just came out of was the electrical room, but right now both Gerald and Komodo are having a operation so please don't disturb." The nurse said before turning around and walking away. Her steps fading into the long hallway of lined up hospital beds and blue sound proof walls. Macy was about to get up but Jake stopped her and shook his head. "Stay. You don't need anymore shock. I don't want you to get PTSD." Jake said in a calm and soothing voice placing a hand on her shoulder. Macys body trembled and slowly but surely tears streamed down her face. Jake walked away heading down the hallway towards two large double doors.
When he got to the doors and opened them he noticed that the walls were a darker blue with black shades on some windows with patients inside sleeping over being operated. One room though was on and he strode over to it. Taking careful and cautious steps as to not wake the other sleepers.
At the same time this was happening another situation was unfolding with Amy and Macy. Macy was still slowly crying after Jake had left and she cuddled next to Amy who shielded Macy with her own arms wrapping around and hugging her. Macy buried her face into Amy as tears streamed down her face. You see after the fight Macy was the first one out of the group to come help Jack and Komodo while Amy only stood behind and watched from afar in horror. "I shouldn't have left them alone! I shouldn't have!" Macy cried but the voice was muffled by Amy's chest. Amy shook her head even though Macy couldn't see it. "No, it's not your fualt. None of us knew this was going to happen. So don't blame yourself." Amy said in a smoothing and quiet manner brushing her fingers threw Macys hair.
Jake stumbled over a trey on the floor and almost fell if it wasn't for his good balance. He swore and continued walking towards the shining yet faint white light. After about ten minutes of cautious walking and silence he finally reached the light, which was a door with lighting shining through it. Jake glanced into the window putting his nose close the glass. He could see Komodo sitting on the bed covering his face with a paper like he was reading it. Jake knocked on the door softly to get Komodo's attention. Komodo didn't flinch or even look up at the noise, but he gave a gesture with his hand for Jake to enter to which Jake obliged and entered. Jake walked over to a chair next to the bed and sat down on it. His legs spread apart with his elbows on his knees with his hands keeping his chins up. "Let me see your face, Komodo." Jake snarled meanly with a smirk. Komodo didn't hesitate and placed down the paper. Jake looked in shock, terrier and surprise. "Y-your face!? What-." Jake could finish his sentence before slumping his head down In grief and guilt. Komodo's upper left face, except for the hair, was almost completely melted off showing bone with little flesh left. The eye socket showed with no iris or eye visible as it was completely gone. It was like staring a earth quake when it shatters the ground making large cracks. Komodo's left ear was gone showing bone, but for some reason he could still hear out of it. The rest of Komodo's face was flesh and bone with a skeletal surface. It was like looking at a skeleton who still had flesh on. Komodo's long black hair drooped down on the hospital bed with no sign of hair loss or damage. Komodo's hand reached out and patted Jake's shoulder. Jake glanced at the hand. It was skeletal tissue, muscle and bone but mostly muscle with the smell of burning flesh. Steam emanated off his body and face making Jake over his mouth with the hem of his coat. Komodo only watched Jake with a keen stare that burned through him like molten lava. "Why are you here, Jake." Komodo whispered in a soft, crisp and deep voice that sounded like judgment to Jake. "Here to finish me off after the failed attempt last time?" Komodo continued with a deep, unnerving and demon-like chuckle that echoed in the room. Jake flinched at the words. He didn't think Komodo would hold a grudge for so many years, yet he did. Komodo held that grudge for many years and was still honing it today. "How? How did you live? We saw you burn in that fire pit!" Jake yelled loudly grabbing Komodo's collar in a vice-like grip. Komodo only smiled and placed a hand on Jake's shoulder gently pushing him aside as he got off the hospital bed. His footsteps were soundless and silent with, which should be impossible for a human to make. Jake watched in shock as Komodo took off the hospital shirt, reveal more of the burnt off flesh, even the spine and ribs were showing making Jake question how Komodo survived that fist fight eariler. "Why? Why did you fall? Why did you have to come back only now when we were worried about you?" Jake muttered softly. Komodo chuckled again putting on his black pants, shirt and shoes. "Why? Because I wanted to see all of you again after that incident." Komodo replied warmly. Jake was about to speak again but Komodo interrupted. "Don't lie. I know you all saw what happened. Very unfortunate that the two poor boys were fogged up with… jealousy. But don't fret, it will be over soon.
Make way from the burning star.
A unyielding light
Never to bend or fall
In its burning pit
Palace of fire so deep in the pit
Unfortunate for the yeilding priest
Lied to those around
After many tries his screams met their demise
Tied to the fog and smoke forever amiss
Either death or survival was laden on his head." Komodo's spoke in a sorrowful tone glancing at Jake as he put on his mask. Jake didn't understand or it's the fact that he couldn't understand. "What are you talking about Komodo? When did you become a poem writer?" Jake said slowly with a nervous laugh. He didn't remember what happened on that day. All he knew was Komodo left them and now he has this steam and burning flesh problem. What was going on!? Jake was confused, he tried to remember but couldn't and his brain hurt. Komodo looked at him with a sad stare like he was disappointed in Jake. "How unfortunate. I seems you don't want to remember what happened on that day. It will come eventually, but it's evident now. It won't come anytime soon." Komodo muttered as he placed his arm under Jake armpit and hoisting him up. Komodo then helped the limping Jake put the door towards where Macy and Amy sat waiting for Jake to return.
Durning all these events Amy and Macy were soundly sleeping on the lined up chairs until they heard the sound of groaning and coughing. They both slowly opened their eyes and stared at the site. Jack was awake. He was trying to hoist himself up to lean against the solid blue wall. Amy and Macy instantly got up and ran to his side to help him as to not injure him. They were able to help Jack lean against the wall and they both glanced at each other in concern. "You good Jack?" Macy asked calmly with a anxious expression staring into Jacks eyes. Jack looked at her with a wide smile and gave a thumbs up. "I was never better! That felt incredible! The punch I gave to that guy was a feeling I could never forget!" Jack yelled loudly with excitement making many nurses around the area glare at him with thorn-lke eyes that pierced him like a knife. "Mm. Well you sure seem jolly about something." Komodo said appearing behind them like ghost making Amy and Macy yelp in surprise. Although Komodo was surprised to see Jack well, he was also impressed to see the two girls surpressing their own emotions to keep calm. Very brave of themselves. Komodo slumpt Jake onto a chair letting him cough his lungs out; he then walked over the Athe three and stood by Amy and Macy. "So! Jack. Since you feeling better, like the rest of you, why don't you all follow me and we can all start the day off." Komodo said with authority, rasing an arm and pointing a pointing a finger out the medical hall and toward the middle ground. Suddenly Komodo saw a flashback, a distant memory that was long forgotten in his lost brain.
He remembered laying in a hospital bed. His breathing slow, too slow for normal standards which was very concerning. It was hard to breathe, too hard. Like weights were on his lungs and a rope was tied around his neck. It felt like he was just hanged from a lamp post and left dangling. His body hurt. His upper left face hurt with unimaginable pain making him spasm uncontrollably and having the doctors pin him down. When they touched him it hurt, like thousands of knifes were cutting him along with needles poking into his body hitting his vital points. He tried to scream, but is came is raspy gasps like he was drowning in water. His eyes, well his eye was tearing up with blood and coursing down his cheek making it burn even more painfully and he gasped. It was after many painful hours of breathing, gasping, glancing and shaking that the pain stopped. He didn't feel a thing. No pain, no tremor, no tears, no shaking, nothing. It was like his nerves stopped working, which they did after the docter X-rayed and examined his body. To Komodo that was worse than torture. Hate was the word that rang in the very fiber of his being, no, his very nerves. No! Not even that! It was down to the very bone of his body that protruded out from his exposed flesh and muscles! Hate! HATE! HATE! NOT EVEN THE WORD HATE COULD DESCRIBE THE AMOUNT OF HATRED, PURE UTTER HATRED! THEIR ARE MORE THAN BILLIONS IF NOT TRILLIONS OR EVEN QUADTRILLIONS OF BLOOD CELLS IN THE HUMAN BODY! IF HATE WERE EMBEDDED THEY WOUDNT EVEN EQUAL TO ONE, ONE TRILLIONTH OF THE AMOUNT OF HATE KOMODO FELT!
Those memories flashed through him like a sonic-boom that hit directly in the face. Komodo stumbled forward, almost falling before catching himself on the railings attached to the wall. He looked behind him, seeing the concerned faces of Macy and Amy. He sighed standing back up firmly and adjusting himself slightly. He made a hand sign for the group to follow him and they all started walking.
When they walked out of the medical hall they saw many students rushing to attention in front of Komodo and saluting in respect. "Reporting to Scavenger Komodo!" They all yelled in unison. Komodo saluted back. "At ease man. Follow me to the yard for the daily Training courses!" Komodo ordered turning a 90 degree and walking away with the large group of students following. "Sir yes sir!" They all replied, except for Macy, Amy, Jack and Jake.
They all walked through corridors, some tight and some wide while others where claustrophobia. After some time they finally reached the yard, a wide open circular field area with weights, tracks for running, boulders, a parkour area with a curving up wall, a place to jump up and squat onto, do work outs, and a large ring with a pole and rope. "Welcome to the special Zone. This is usually not on the map because it's rarely ever used. But I was the only person to be given permission to use this facility for training and training only." Komodo roared loudly making a faint echo. The large bustling students stoping and forming lines. "90 students, sir." A female assistant said holding a clipboard in her hand and looking at Komodo who nodded. "Alright. Now! You will each be paired into teams lf 10 each. You will have a team name! 1 through 9 since we have 90 people. Team one will do rope. Then the rest of the teams will do the other training areas after rope. After each person does the test the next person comes and goes. After the first teams goes the next team comes after doing the other test. Each team must do each test five times. So be glad you only doing it once per time." Komodo said tapping a sheet of paper and pointing at a white board as he started to draw on how each test works. "First test is very obvious. Climb to top using wherever technique is easiest for you. Second test is work outs. This has a multitude of tasks such as: Planks for thirty seconds, one pushup, one sit-up, one jumping jack, one squat and two frog jumps. The third test is the Squat jump squat. In this test you must squat then jump onto that high block," Komodo says pointing to a tall rectangle block that's high enough for a human, "and stay squatted when landing on the block, but when you go down you must be squatting as well. For the fourth test you are doing parkour. This is very simple. Complete the parkour training ground. Your must wall run from side to side, switching every so often, then hopping from dragons teeth to dragons teeth. Then you must leap onto a hanging bar and swing yourself onto the top of the wall run. For the fifth test! It is boulder. You must push that boulder with all your might from point A to point B or whenever the instructor says stop. This will help you push back your enemies with your feet. Next is test Six. In this you must run a 200 feer circle. You can jog, sprint or run doesn't matter as long as you can pass the yellow line in under five minutes." Komodo said with a loud laugh gaining jaw dropping expressions from many students and even his assistant. Some were even hesitant and considered ditching. Komodo then continued on with his speech, "For the last and final test. It's weights. You must work each muscle in your body for two minutes straight without a single rest. Do each part for two minutes then take a one minute rest then do the next. This will be done last after we have done all the other tests. Because for the last one we will do it for three hours." Komodo's said calmly as he handed back the sheet of paper to his shocked assistant. Many students shouted curses and swear words at Komodo as they went to their teams 1 - 9.
Macy, Jake, Jack and Amy were in team one, the lowest of the teams meant for newcomers. Macy was excited as she clapped her hand on Amy's back and strode along with the other group of people. Jack took carful strides as he was still recovering from his injures; Kudos had also warned him to not strain himself as one simple strain could place him back in the medical center for weeks or even months. Jake was anything but excited, he was extremely nervous as he stood in front of the first section of the course. Jake knew how to climb a rope, but it's been three years since the last time he tried. He felt stiff and he felt his sisters hand on his shoulder in comfort. "You got this, brother." She said with a nervous smile, which made him even more tense. He gave a thin yet weak smile had he grabbed onto the rope, glancing around as the other students were working through their courses with massive struggle. Jake could feel Komodo's stare of curiosity as he wrapped his leg around the rope and started climbing.
Suddenly everything felt wrong, like gravity was heavier than normal. He felt nauseous and weak. His arms started to tremble and give way. He stared up at the rope. Weird. It looked longer than it did before, but that was his mistake for underestimating it. He gritted his teeth and tried climbing.
Komodo watched with surprise, it was like watching Caterpillars turning into Butterflies, so beautiful and majestic. He watched as Jake made his way slowly up the long rope. It was about 100m. A world class Athlete would need to climb it. That was what Komodo was aiming for. This was Kudos's training. However Komodo didn't want to participate in it this time. He wanted to watch. He heard soft, but yet heavy footsteps behind him.
"This is your training course now, huh." Gerald said with a smug expression, eyeing Jake keenly as he fell down from the rope and landing on the soft mattress. Komodo nodded calmly glancing at Gerald with a cautious eye. "Yea, you missed a lot of Kudos's training sessions. Also you reek of alcohol." Komodo remarked, waving his hand in front of his face violently with disgust. Gerald chuckled softly pulling out a small flask and taking a small swig. Gerald, after taking a quick drink, made a small gesture to Komodo to see if he would want some. Komodo refused kindly pushing away the flask back towards Gerald who shrugged with a smirked and took another drink.
Komodo rolled his eye and looked away as Gerald sat on a chair. Burping loudly. "Your Jake fellow is pretty impressive. Not as impressive at his sister though." Gerald said pointing at Jake who was now waiting at the section of the course huffing and puffing like a hoarse. Komodo nodded smoothly in agreement watching as Amy made it slightly higher then Jake did, but it wasn't by very much. Only by a tiny margin. Komodo then heard another foot step behind beside and heard a voice the sound of leaves leaving a tree in the wind. "So, your friends are now attending the school now, huh? You know, Komodo. They will be come a hinderence to you in battle." The voice said, changing from winter snow falling to the ground to a slithering snake wrapping around its prey. Komodo glanced sideways staring at a smiling, sliver haired women wearing a commanders hat. "I would keep that mouth shut if I were you, Quinn." Komodo replied calmly, a knife carefully placed at Quinn's throat with a expert hand. Gerald whistled in the background wiping his mouth of alcohol. Quinn chuckled pushing away the knife from her throat. Her grey eyes now slits as she took her fighting stance. "My, my Komodo sensei. Are you attacking your bestie now?" Quinn gasped with a dramatic expression placing a hand over her chest and bending her back backwards with her white hair fluttering in the wind. Komodo's hand raised, reaching for his mask and opening a small circular hole the size of a chalk stick. He then took out a small lighter and a cigarette. He stared at Quinn with disgust and distain like he was looking at the most ugliest thing in the world or a peasant. Komodo then placed the cigarette in the hole and lit it. It was long, agonizingly long and it made Quinn get a little embarrassed for doing such poses in public.
Quinn, Gerald and Komodo were some same rank — Scavenger. Scavenger rank is given to those after they have shown the right skills and leadership meant for such a rank. They were able to make their own workout routines and training sessions. The could even appoint other Scavengers as well, however it must be fair and based on what is said from others. If they get good votes from based on what they've experienced then that person can become a Scavenger. Gerald was able to become a Scavenger thanks you Komodo after Komodo put in a good word for Gerald. This was because Gerald had helped Komodo during Kudos's training course. Scavengers had a meeting room where they would discuss about student and new students.
Quinn stood nervously as Komodo exhaled a small puff of smoke, he was nervous. Quinn heard about Komodo's fame within the whole school. It was amazing, but still! How could such a person exclude a terrifying presence. Komodo flicked his cigarette away and closed the small chalk sized hole.