A shinai whistled through the air in an overhead strike. The attack did not have the intent to kill, obviously, but it would still be extremely hurtful if it landed.
It never did, as another shinai blocked its path with relative ease. A loud sound of wood clashing against wood was heard. The person who swung the overhead strike pushed forward, using his strength advantage against his opponent.
The defender allowed the sudden push as she took a small step backwards with her left foot and rotated her body, letting his sword glide along the surface of hers. The attacker instantly lost his footing and fell face-first.
He groaned after a moment of silence, the woman lightly snickering behind her face mesh. "Another round for me Finn. Maybe we should call it a day?"
Finn slowly stood up and looked at her. He removed his face mesh and nodded. "I think that's a great plan. I don't think my pride can take much more of a beating."
"What pride?" She joked as she also removed hers. Her blue eyes met his brown ones as he sighed. "Touché, June."
Both laughed a little and then moved to the locker rooms to change.
****
Closing the locker, Finn sighed. This was his 98th spar against June, his childhood friend.
And his 98th loss against her.
She and Finn had met when they were both 5 years old. They both were in the same orphanage. She was very outgoing and adventurous, which naturally was the reason for their meeting.
They both were in the same kindergarten, but in two different worlds. She naturally was very popular and had many friends, while he was just a background character with zero friends.
They barely, or even never, really interacted, but that changed one day. She had been climbing a tree, almost to the very top. Unfortunately, she lost her footing and tumbled down, landing straight onto her right arm, breaking it instantly.
Finn had been the only one nearby who heard the thud and the scream that followed. He, without thinking, rushed over to the source to help.
Seeing June lying in a heap and crying set him further into action as he rushed over to her. Gently picking her up and avoiding the obviously broken arm, he rushed as fast as he could without hurting her further toward the nearest caretaker.
That had led to them becoming great friends later on. They became practically inseparable.
Into their teens, June had taken a liking to kendo and urged Finn to join her in practicing it. Finn honestly didn't like the idea, but the crush he had developed for her pushed that thought away and he agreed.
His lack of enthusiasm toward the sport meant that he sucked at it. Now, at the prime age of 20, he sat with a sparring record of 0 wins and 98 losses.
There was a bit of truth in that joke about his pride being hurt, but he didn't care as long as she was happy.
Smiling, he left the locker room and waited for June to finish. Once she was finished. They made their way out of the gym and to their respective homes.
It was already late afternoon, with the sun painting the sky orange as it slowly faded behind the houses.
They idly chatted about random things and interests until they had to split up.
"Thanks again for today, Finn." She smiled as she held out a fist.
"No problem. Being a sparring dummy is always fun." He joked as he bumped her fist. "Stay safe, alright?" He added after a moment of silence.
She smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. Cya." She turned around and walked in the opposite direction from where he stayed.
"Take care!" Finn waved and walked to his crappy, run-down apartment. He had to get a part-time job after he turned 18, as the orphanage urged him to get one. They were at least nice enough to let him stay until he had enough money to move out. He ended up in the apartment.
June had a long-lost family member who had helped her with housing and everyday needs.
He shook his head and hurried his pace. He really wanted to get home as fast as possible. He stinked.
On the way back, he frowned as he fell into deep thought. 'Today felt somewhat strange. I thought today would be my lucky day. I actually thought I was going to win!' He made a mock-hurt expression.
But in all seriousness, Finn did feel that something was different today. He couldn't really pinpoint it. If he had to guess, he probably just woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
He snickered at his bad attempt at a joke, when suddenly everything turned dark, which almost gave him a heart attack.
He looked around. Everything was pitch black and dark. Nothing else was present, only him. Though he did feel that something else was around him in the darkness, that he couldn't make out.
Floating around for another second, Finn came to a valid conclusion. 'Did I die? Was my joke that bad?'
But before he fell into a mess of emotions, he remembered something. 'This is exactly what the heroes said happened to them, for their initiation!"
Heroes were ranked from rank 0 to 7, in ascending order. And to go up a rank, they are transported to another dimension. There they are given objectives to complete to leave said dimension.
'And in the initiation stage, you are ranked 0.'
There are also no prerequisites to being chosen, as it was very random and could happen to anyone.
Just then a blue screen flashed before his eyes. It held a simple message. It read.
[Welcome to the initiation stage, cadet.]
Finn rubbed his eyes as he read it, but contrary to belief, it hadn't disappeared.
Finally coming to terms with his situation, he gave the biggest grin he could.
"Looks like my childhood dream is coming true!"