Renegade Rising (The Renegade Series) (22 page)

“Also, throughout the term while the Renegara’s are on their summer break, they will be helping in your training,” Roarie explained. Gisbo saw several boys and girls in Renegara attire walking their way.

If Gisbo had thought his day couldn’t get worse, he had been wrong. There, at the head of the Renegaras, was none other then Ranto. Gisbo gritted his teeth as Ranto eyeballed him, taking the place next to Roarie with his other Renegara friends. Gisbo noticed a number of pulsating symbols all across Ranto’s belt which all glowed except for a fork shaped one. At this, Gisbo smiled a bit to himself.

“For our first exercise, we will work on endurance. Gamba and Tora, if you please,” Roarie said.

A boy and girl in Nazarite attire walked to the center of the field and each raised a staff into the air. With a jolt, one ignited in green essence and the other in yellow. With a wave of their arms, the earth shifted and swelled until it formed several large, rather steep hills. Upon completion, a yellow energy field seemed to drop from the sky and formed a dome around them.

“These little molehills will be a part of our training every day throughout the term, so get used to them. It's pretty simple. You will sprint up the hills as fast as you can and then run down the other side, repeating until I allow you to stop. Also, you will become familiar with this special energy field surrounding your training ground. This trick is a particular favorite of mine that I have dubbed The Encourager. Should any of you start slacking, running a little too slowly for my liking, a friendly electric shock will shoot from the barrier and encourage you to move a little quicker. We will do this until I think you’ve had enough. Now please randomly position yourself outside of your synergies for exercises. The time for teamwork will come later; I want you to get to know your fellow Renegas, so go and get situated,” Roarie ordered with a clap. Gisbo split off from Rolce and walked to the farthest hill from him and stood next to two other boys.

One boy had a shaved head, medium build, a friendly smile and sharp green eyes. He wore Shininja gear. The other boy was massive, nearly as wide as he was tall. His Berserker attire was quite filled out, especially toward his stomach area.

“How's it going? You can call me Shaved Head or just Shaved will do,” said the boy with the shinija gear. Gisbo accepted his handshake with a wry smile.

“Shaved Head, huh? I’d ask why you’re called that, but I think I reached my limit on stupidity for one day,” Gisbo joked, but his air of curiosity led the boy to explain anyway.

“Well, my real name is Jag Davison, but as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a shaved head and, well, I’m not so much a social butterfly and with everyone hardly knowing my name, they just referred to me as the kid with the shaved head. Kinda stuck I guess, but I don’t mind,” Shaved said with a laugh. He motioned to the boy next to him.

“This is my friend, Grandfield. He was my best bud from my old town and we ended up in the same synergy!” Shaved told him as Gisbo pumped Grandfield’s strong yet chubby hand.

“Don’t worry, you won’t be hearing us call you pup. You . . . are amazing! My class master, Groggo, was quite depressed losing to such a prissy kid like . . .” Grandfield moved in closer to whisper, looking over his head for the person he was about to mention, “ . . . Ranto. He was ecstatic to see him get floored by you,” Grandfield said, smiling widely as he shook Gisbo’s hand up and down repeatedly.

“Eh, I do what I can and you already know my name, so good to meet ya both!” Gisbo said. Upon hearing Roarie’s voice, all three of them braced themselves for the order to begin. It was then they noticed Ranto make his way over to stand behind them, grinning.

“Hey, pup, good to see ya again. Me and you are going to spend some quality time together this year. Oh and looks like Davison’s and Groggo’s boys have joined up as well. Such company always attracts each other it seems,” Ranto said. To Gisbo, his words seemed to just fester and boil within his viens. He literally began to shake with fury. Noticing this, Shaved put a hand on Gisbo’s shoulder.

“Seriously, don’t. He’s trying to egg you on. Trust me, I heard Renegade punishments are quite harsh, not like detentions at some grade school and, as of right now, he’s our superior. You can’t nail a teacher, let alone her assistants. Just try and phase him out,” Shaved advised in a calm, comforting tone.

“Good to see there’s at least one cool head among you three; smart, too. You’d better heed his warning, pup. Eating is one thing, fighting’s a whole other matter. I wouldn’t want to embarrass you further today,” Ranto said, looking Gisbo straight in the eye, almost purposely flashing his muscled arm with three completed armbands before moving on to observe the other Renegas.

“That guy’s gonna get it one of these days. Groggo tells me most of the Renegaras all have that holier than thou attitude about 'em. Buncha jerkwads. They belong in the Strifes if anything,” Grandfield said with a snarl. Gisbo was pleased to know he wasn’t the only one who wanted to wallop him, even though he had no idea who the Strifes were. Grandfield made them seem worse than Flarians.

“I’m starting to like you guys already,” Gisbo said. At that moment, a giant lightning bolt struck the hill in front of them and a loud voice rang out, “Go!” Gisbo, Grandfield, and Shaved all sprinted quickly up the hill with Shaved in the lead, back down the other side, turned around and did it again.

After only a few up and downs, Gisbo and Shaved were doing all right, maintaining a steady speed, but Grandfield was another story. He started to slow a bit as a painful stitch erupted in his side only to quickly forget the pain as a bolt of electricity spanked his rear end. With a yelp and a jump, he began to run much quicker.

“Gah! People of big stature . . . weren’t meant . . . for such training. It’s so damn hot, I don’t think I can . . . YOUCH!” Grandfield shouted in between heavy breaths as he rubbed at his tender behind and picked up the pace.

“Don’t give me crap, Grandfield! You are a Berserker! You and your pal, pup, need endurance more than any other class here! Now move it!” Roarie shouted as she paced back and forth at ease and ordered a bolt to crack across Gisbo’s backside for no good reason.

“DAMN IT! YOU OLD BI . . .” Gisbo started, only to receive another one. He desperately tried to fire some derogatory name toward Roarie only to be cut off each time by a painful jolt of yellow.

The process continued for a full half hour with only three rests in-between and by the time, it was finished everybody was on the ground wheezing and rubbing their sore behinds. Gisbo had never been more tired in all his life. Aquarians walked around and sprayed water into the Renegas gaping mouths as they gratefully gulped their fill, then plopped back to the ground.

“Hills, the best way to train your endurance. The various machines around here are designed after the human body itself. Many of them run best when run continuously at full speed, not going about a steady pace for long distances. Something the residents outside our great city have not yet discovered and you all, like machines, must run exceptionally well to go about your tasks. Now, on your feet,” Roarie stated. With a unison groan, the students struggled to their feet and struggled even more just to stay upon them.

“With your legs and lungs worked out, it’s time to focus on the upper body. You may already realize our training methods are quite unorthodox and guess what? They will continue to prove so. We believe in growing muscles, not simply pumping them up only to have them deflate if not regulated properly. You may notice many of the Elekai’ Neanderthals in Karm’s army were all huge and armor clad; such a waste. With those large pectorals comes slowness, showboating and an utter waste of oxygen. You will be different! Such will not be the case with the Scrappers Supreme! Your bodies will be swift, powerful, natural and adaptable through various exercises, which we will do right now!” Roarie stated with a clap and a smile. Many more groans reverberated throughout the Renegas.

“Ah ah! Did I hear groaning? Who here thinks this is too hard, hm? Does anyone have something to say?” Roarie challenged, somehow maintaining her stomach churning sweetness. Gisbo was about to raise his hand when Grandfield and Shaved grabbed both of his arms and held them down.

“I didn’t think so. Now, like our four legged friends of the forest, we will train by using our own body weight against us. Your strength will grow as you do and be one with you. Animals continually do this, hence most can decimate us if we are weaponless. All natural! You must respect your furry friends and train like them if you wish to be true Renegades. Training your bodies with some form of heavy weight to pump yourself up strains you unnaturally and deflates you accordingly. If you are to fight something natural, like another four limbed life-form, you need to train like it. We are made to fight, not lift things. Understand? Those that do will trounce their opponents with ease. So let us begin our exercises. I will demonstrate,” Roarie said as she placed her hands on her hips and put her feet together as the class did the same.

“We will first focus on breathing. As any Soarian can tell you, air is a powerful source and you need to be full of it. It will also begin to grow your muscles. We will do this until I feel you have had enough. First, we will breathe in as much air as possible.” A host of boys and girls coughed and gagged doing so as their lungs burned. “And now you will breathe out as much as possible while clenching your butt cheeks and your stomach tightly.” More coughing and wheezing continued as the Renegas did so. Gisbo felt like his entire torso was constricting itself as his body tingled all over and his sore muscles twanged painfully.

“Good. Again!” Roarie ordered. More wheezing and coughs ensued as they went about the exercise. Grandfield simply collapsed to the ground with a thud.

After a few more breaths, Roarie seemed to agree with Grandfield that they had had enough. The Renegaras continued watering them down, smiling at their pathetic feebleness. Gisbo indeed felt pretty pathetic as he lay down, thinking that he might not be able to get back up.

“Rested? Now? How about now? Ready? Oh good!” Roarie exclaimed.

“No, we’re not ready, you crazy . . .” Gisbo started until Granfield rolled on him and covered his mouth.

“Exercise two! Here we go! Drop to the ground like a tiger; it is time to do some push ups! After me!” Roarie demonstrated an odd form of pushup as she stretched her legs apart, bent forward, slid her body forward like a snake, arching her back, then rose to repeat the process. At most, everyone could do about three before they fell face forward in the dirt, which by now was mud. Some Renegaras cleverly foresaw the exercise and they had made sure to drench the ground in neat lines as they supplied water.

The strange workout continued into an odd array of squat thrusts, more breathing, followed by strange sit-ups, until finally it seemed Roarie was ready for the final exercise. Boys and girls quit trying to stand on their feet and resorted to lying on their backs, wracked with pain.

“Good! You may remain in your lying positions for the final exercise of the day, the bridge!” Roarie said. Gisbo thought it sounded good so far as he let out a sigh of relief. Anything that started by lying down couldn’t be too bad.

“This exercise will be the final one we do each and every day, increasing the time each day so you will eventually be able to hold this position for hours,” Roarie said.

“Lay here for hours? I can do that.” Grandfield moaned.

“This is one of the most controversial exercises around and will work EVERY single muscle in your body, but it will supply various benefits including increased metabolism, adrenaline rate, muscle growth, etc. We will hold this for about thirty seconds today. Now do as I do.” In a great show of athleticism, Roarie arched her back from the ground in a sort of gymnast stance as she held her belly in the air, arching her entire body into an upside down U with her hands and feet planted on each side to support her. Grandfield shook his head and let his mouth hang open.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?” Grandfield whined loudly. “You kiddin’ me?”

A few seconds were what most of the girls could achieve. Their flexible bodies managed to at least hold themselves upward. The boys couldn’t even make their backs rise more than a foot from the ground. They fell in pain, slapping their backs against the mud beneath them.

“Well, boys and girls, that does it for day number one! Congrats! You may now return to your housings and I will see you first thing tomorrow!” said Roarie as she turned and walked away with a wave, but nary a glance backward. Her class however did not do so. They all lay on the ground heaving hard, muscles twitching. A snide Renegara Nazarite conjured a large black rain cloud over the group as the older group walked away. Gisbo heard Ranto laughing hysterically.

“I’ll kill 'em, I swear I will . . .” Gisbo stated weakly.

“For once Gisbo, I agree.” Rolce said from a few rows down. The rest of the Renegas muttered in agreement through moans. Not one of the boys and girls moved as the rain poured down, washing the sweat and dirt from their weakened bodies. At least day one was over.

Chapter Ten:
The Sybil

After lying in the drenched field for another ten pain filled minutes, the class managed to vacate the field. Gisbo introduced Rolce to Shaved and Grandfield as they all made their way to the bank and grabbed some tarries for lunch.

“That lady is a bit evil, eh?” Shaved mouthed as he collapsed into a chair outside a food stand that read, “Renegade Joe’s Steak Hut.”