Galactic High

“FIGHT!” Master Kull yelled.

Jack wasted no time as he dashed forward as swiftly as he could before the seven could react, making a beeline for Xharl, the huge leader of the Red Legion aspirants from his class. The yellow-scaled brute had barely any time to react as Jack jumped up high in the low gravity, aiming perfectly as the sharp bone of his flying knee cracked against the Xarak’s snout with a sickening crunch, dropping the beast out cold in a single strike. Still taking advantage of the element of surprise, Jack quickly found his footing and spun around with a heavy punch to another Xarak’s face. It was able to get a meaty claw up to block some of the force, but the impact still sent the reptile stumbling back, wobbly on his feet. He wasn’t knocked out, but he would have to take time to recover.

Nika wasn’t far behind Jack with her own game plan, keeping low and dashing forward on all fours, baiting her insectoid opponent into a low guard. She knew that if the Anicite got the opportunity to attack with its sharp pincers and barbed forelegs it could cause some major damage.

So she wasn't going to give it the chance.

Using her powerful legs and tail she jumped up high over the low swipe, before using her forward momentum to deliver a devastating bicycle kick, hammering her powerful feet repeatedly into the Anicite's skull, knocking it out before it hit the ground. Looking back up, Nika could see one of the Xarak staggered back by Jack, with another pushing past him for an attack.

Nika didn't hesitate, rushing forward and swiftly wrapping her tail around the creature’s arm before it had a chance to take a swipe at Jack with its keen claw. Quickly she pulled herself closer to the Xarak, using her momentum to kick low at its knee, buckling it. Jack, who had noticed the incoming attack but couldn't do much about it, quickly spun round to elbow the creature in the face, knocking it to the ground before it was finished off by Nika's kick between the eyes as she rushed to her next opponent.

Jack didn't have time to think as he quickly braced for a heavy swipe to his side that completely knocked the wind out of him. He cursed as he took in his new assailant, a hulking aquatic-looking beast with an exoskeleton of hard, rough coral advancing cautiously towards him. Thick pale armplates from multiple limbs formed a shield in front of it while the creature delivered hammer-like blows from its back tentacles, Jack maintaining his footwork to dodge. He knew he couldn’t stall for too long. Aside from this guy, there were three other opponents. One was the Xarak he’d knocked back who was still shaking it off, and he could see Nika facing off against what looked like one of Alora’s race. From what he could see, the guy was good, quick on his feet and able to get some good offence on Nika, who for her part kept up an effective defence, deflecting the momentum of the guy’s attacks and counterattacking on her own, but the numbers were still against them and they were split up.

And there was Svaartal. The serpent hadn’t entered the fight yet, which Jack felt was strange. From what he had seen about him so far, Jack knew the snake was a coward who would take advantage of every opportunity. So why hadn’t he attacked him yet? As he dodged a tentacle lunge from the coral monster, Jack’s heart dropped as he saw Svaartal make motions with his hands, multicoloured sparks spraying out as his form shimmered and warped.

The bastard was buffing himself with magic!

Nika dodged back, the punch grazing the side of her head. The Eladra was good and had laid some hits on her, but she had landed some hits on him as well. Currently they were evenly matched, but she knew that the numbers game would soon turn against them. She looked to the side to see Jack fighting the hulking Ploothe, desperate to bring the other down as the other Xarak finally recovered and lumbered up to attack her.

"Wait!" called the Eladra to the Xarak, who ignored him as in a rage he made a wild swipe at Nika. "Give them a chance to surrender!"

"Not gonna happen!" Nika growled, as she used her tail to slide underneath the Xarak's legs and jumped up to try and put him in a choke hold. The Eladra looked disgusted with himself as he rushed in to help.

"Nika!" Jack yelled as he pushed forward in frustration against the guy blocking him, hammering blows onto the armoured arms in his way as tentacles smashed into him as well. Thinking quickly in desperation, Jack grabbed one of the lunging limbs and pulled with all his might, hoisting the creature towards and over him in a judo throw, slamming it into the ground with a hard thump.

Getting up quickly he rushed towards Nika who was frantically fending off her two attackers, before he dropped to the ground on pure instinct as a jet of green mist shot over his head. As he got to his feet he was shoved back by something hard.

"Still want to act tough now?" came the sneering voice of Svaartal, times seven. He and what seemed like six others looked blurry and distorted, likely a combination of magical effects, as he slithered over to Jack quicker than should have been possible. Jack raised his arms in defence, not knowing what was going to happen as the Svaartals lashed out with their forked tongues. Jack felt pain as he pulled back, seeing three large cuts on his arm.

"I have heard of 'death by a hundred cuts' human," the snakes sneered as they slithered rapidly around Jack in a circle, lashing out with more attacks that gave him more cuts along his arms. "How many could a Deathworlder take?"

Jack snarled through the pain as he maintained a defensive stance, taking more cuts along his arms and legs. He saw Nika try to fend off her two attackers, desperately pulling off a backflip and uppercutting the reptile before taking a kick from the other guy.

If Jack didn't do something, they were dead.

Timing his movement just right, he jumped forward as quickly as he could. The Svaartal he tried to clothesline dissipated in black smoke as Jack immediately pivoted into a wheel kick, the mirror image also dissipating.

"Nice try, human!" the remaining five Svaartals snarled as they circled around him once more. "Now you die!"

The five snakes rushed forward at Jack, who closed his eyes. The images and sounds messed with his sight and hearing, so he quickly concentrated. Where would the real attack come from?

The feeling of a rush of air behind him confirmed his guess as Jack quickly spun round just in time to face his attacker, reaching his hand up to grip Svaartals tongue tight before it could lash at his eyes.

"Hho-" the snake tried to mouth before Jack yanked forward, pulling Svaartal into a kick aimed at where he thought the penile area was located. “Of course you’d attack me from behind!” Jack snarled. “Pussy!”

The kick didn't have the effect Jack wanted, which Svaartal took advantage of as he grabbed Jack's arm, and sunk his fangs in deep.

Jack growled as Svaartals eyes widened in surprise that Jack was still standing, the snake quickly becoming dazed as Jack headbutted him.

"YOU. MOTHER. FUCKER!" Jack yelled in between punches, forcing Svaartal to release the bite, the telltale clear venom dripping down from the serpent's fangs. He released his grip on the tongue as well. His hand hurt like hell, but Svaartal fell back to the ground, dazed. Hearing Nika try desperately to fend off her two attackers, Jack knew he had already taken too much time. As Svaartal tried to clamber to his feet, Jack stopped him by grabbing his tail, dragging him along the ground as he charged at the last Xarak, clobbering him over the head with the cursing Svaartal, whacking one motherfucker…

...with another motherfucker!

The Xarak collapsed to the ground, releasing Nika who had been fighting the hold. Jack slammed Svaartal into the brute again for good measure, knocking the hulking beast out. The serpent, for his part, was still spouting expletives and threats, so Jack shut him up by smacking him on the ground a few times to improve his manners.

Puny god. Jack thought in his mind, though Hulk and Loki this was certainly not. He moved to punch Svaartal in the face to confirm the KO as the last guy tackled him from the side, sending Jack rolling back. He quickly sprung to his feet to see where his attacker was but relaxed a little when he saw the last guy backing off towards the aquatic creature Jack had thrown to the ground, checking to see if the hulking beast was alright.

Jack did the same, moving to Nika as she struggled to get to her feet. "How are you holding up?"

She grinned as she took Jack's hand and hopped upright, trying to make an effort to look tough and unfazed as she did. "Oh, that? Had them right where I wanted them!"

Jack rolled his eyes as he looked at the last two. The aquatic creature was still on the ground clutching at something while the elven-looking boy stood opposite in a relaxed stance, looking back at the two of them.

"I don't suppose you want to call this one a tie?" the boy cheekily called to Jack and Nika. Jack just stood there, taking a second to process it before he just snorted in amusement.

"Little late for that, Vaal," Nika called out in a friendly tone. "Though since you gave me the option of surrender, it's only fair we do the same to you, no?" She looked up at Jack to see if he agreed.

As the adrenaline started to wind down, the realisation of what just happened caused him to just give a curt nod, barely registering what Nika had just said.

"I did not give you permission to stop!" Master Kull yelled at the group. "Seven of the best Red Legion aspirants in this group failed against these two? Shameful! I should come over there an-"

"Master Kull!"

Both the students and Kull looked around towards the speaker, who looked to be a teacher. He seemed to be the same species as Crill, a hawk-like avian with spectacles, with brown feathers that were turning grey and dressed in finery with a broadsword of all things strapped to his hip. Behind him were a few students he didn't recognise, and one that he did, who looked to be hiding at the back.

Nya.

Did she do something?

Kull seemed to tense up upon seeing the other teacher, which seemed strange to Jack. The man didn’t look intimidating at all…

“Mr Sparrel, I’m….teaching,” Kull growled. “What is it?”

“Well,” Mr Sparrel smiled as he spoke in his upper-class accent, clearly not intimidated in the slightest by Master Kull. “It appears a Demon of some kind, probably a Moringu, has been summoned on the 37th floor and has proven rather difficult for the defence systems to take down. The headmaster has requested that I take it down with your assistance, unless you feel that this is beyond the capabilities of the Red Legion’s finest?”

Kull narrowed his eyes at that but did nothing. “Very well,” he growled before turning to the group. “Pair up and practice blocks and strikes until I get back or until everyone is called for laps. Don't even think of slacking off…"

As Kull rounded up a few other PE teachers Jack just stood there thinking to himself before he felt an arm wrap around him.

"Hey…" Nika spoke quietly as the others paired up, giving the two of them a wide berth. "You ok? That was bloody brutal even for Kull's usual standards."

Jack wasn't ok. How could he be after that? Kull had just ordered seven of his fellow classmates to try and kill both him and Nika, and he himself had come close to losing control. Had Vaal not knocked him off of Svaartal…

"I'm all good!" Jack found himself saying with false confidence. "You?"

"I'll manage," Nika replied with a sigh of relief. "Like I said, I had them right where I wanted them! We might want to check with Alora when we can though, you're pretty badly cut up."

Jack looked down at his arms. The wounds Svaartal had left on him were many, stung quite badly, and it took all of his willpower not to visibly cringe at the downright ugly wound on his hand from where he had grabbed the razor-sharp tongue. His brothers had often told him that even if you come on top in a knife fight, you were going to get cut. Strange as the context was, it still applied here.

He couldn't let the discomfort show.

Humans were meant to be tough.

And men were meant to be strong.

As Nika and Jack paired up with the others while the wounded were seen to by the patrolling medical droids, the Kizun felt like crap. She knew she shouldn't. The pair of them fought well, had overcome the odds and looked like total badasses doing so! She had honestly expected to be either killed or beaten badly alongside the human, and despite the bravado, that had nearly happened to the both of them.

And yet the human just shook it off like it was nothing. Nika was sad in a way. She couldn’t admit her vulnerability from their shared experience. If Jack didn’t feel the same way, what would he think of her?

“Jack…” she began softly as they halfheartedly practised, keeping up appearances but happy to wind down after the fight. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

Jack’s gaze became distant for a while as he struggled to form a reply. “I….”

“LAPS!” yelled one of the P.E teachers, the cry being mimicked by the others. Nika cursed at the timing of that.

“Laps?” Jack asked, more than happy to change the subject.

“Yep,” Nika sighed. “Run the perimeter of the sports hall until the teachers get bored or the lunch bell goes off. At least we can find the others and let Alora heal us up.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Jack replied, once again looking confident as the pair of them started jogging.

*******

“He did what?” Alora exclaimed angrily. “I’ll report him to the school board, I’ll have him disbarred! I’ll...”

“Alora! Chill!” Nika replied in a soothing tone. “We’re fine now!”

Jack and Nika were jogging at a relatively steady pace to match Alora's. She had immediately started to work her healing magics on seeing the state of the pair of them, listening to their account of what happened.

The healing effect still felt strange to Jack. He had experienced it before when the church of Astara saved him after he arrived, but that didn't make it feel any less weird. It was like his wounds were dunked in some kind of warm gel, then itched like hell immediately after. He decided to let Nika do the talking as he scratched his arms in a futile attempt to soothe the feeling.

"That doesn't give him the right to have students officially try to kill each other!" Alora replied, in a very un-chill manner. "He's already under investigation for the injury and abuse of several students!"

"Wait, you mean the teachers can't lawfully tell us to fight to the death? That's so progressive!" Jack exclaimed.

Alora rolled her eyes at Jack's sarcasm. "One of the major rules the founding gods decreed was to ensure the duty of care all teachers have towards students. There've been cases of Master Kull pushing students past their limits, but he's gone too far this time!"

As the two girls continued back and forth, Jack decided to slow down a little to allow his other two friends to catch up to him. Sephy was sweating at a steady pace, but Chiyo was visibly suffering, the Ilithii hating the physical exercise as she trundled behind.

"Hey Jack! What's this about you and Nika being total badasses?" Sephy grinned at him

Jack sighed. Their group had been at the edge of the sports hall, so not everyone saw what happened, but by the way many of his fellow students were staring at him in a mix of awe, fear and curiosity, Jack guessed that the story had spread quickly.

"The teacher tried to make us fight against some other students to the death, and according to Alora, that's bad," replied Jack, giving the heavily condensed version as he didn’t want to dwell on it too much.

Both Sephy and Chiyo's eyes widened at that. "Damn," Sephy replied, the most serious Jack had ever seen her.

Chiyo gently tugged on Jack's arm to get his attention, rubbing her fingers along the part of his arm where Svaartal had bit him with a questioning look.

"Yeah, that's where Svaartal - the snake guy - bit me. Hurt like hell but not as much as that sharp tongue of his did."

"With venom?" Sephy asked incredulously. "How are you even alive? Sleevaash venom is a damn killer, everyone knows that!"

"Huh. Must have missed the memo," Jack replied with false bravado.

"You two fought very well regardless!" a third voice called out, and Jack turned round and tensed up as he saw one of the guys they had fought. It was Vaal, the grey, elven guy that had been the only one among the seven still standing by the end.

"Yeah?" Jack asked, weary of the other boy.

The Eladra casually waved his hand at that. "Fight's over, Kull isn't here and I've got nothing against you guys whatsoever. I knew Nika was good but you were something else! I simply wanted to pay my respects. It was a good fight!"

"Uh…" Jack started. He had no idea how to respond to that. "...sure?"

Vaal smiled at that. "Some of the others and I are on a few sports teams and we need some more people, maybe you’ll be interested in joining our Deathball team?”

“What?” Jack replied, slightly irritated. “So Svaartal and the lizard squad can ambush me when I have my back turned?”

Vaal blanched at that. “Those four from your form class you were fighting? They’re assholes we don’t play with. Just because we’re Red Legion aspirants doesn’t make us friends. Kizzariiith and Plooderoo are, though.” He pointed to the insectoid and the aquatic, who were lumbering along.

“Oh…” Jack replied, feeling a little bad about his initial hostility. “Sure, I guess. I don’t know much about the rules though.”

“Not to worry!” Vaal replied with a pleased smile as he jogged ahead. “I’ll shoot you my commlink code when we get back to the lockers.”

Jack had a think about that. It could be an ambush. Or it could be a chance to make some new friends.

Stranger things had happened, but Jack didn’t have long to think. Upon seeing that Chiyo was struggling Sephy called out to her "Hey! Teachers aren't looking!"

Looking relieved, Chiyo began to levitate for several moments before a barking voice called out. "Miss Dhasii! Did I say you could use your powers? Drop down and give me twenty!"

Staring daggers at Sephy, Chiyo laid down into a pushup position and started to weakly attempt the exercise.

"Heh, that's what she gets for getting me in detention!" Sephy grinned at Jack. "Could you believe she actually left homework with fake answers in the house that anyone could copy?"

"No way!" Jack replied, pretending he didn’t know, trying his best to keep a straight face.

Suddenly Sephy yelped and jumped up into the air, involuntarily activating her wings on reflex.

"Use of wings is forbidden!" another P.E teacher yelled as the Skritta took a few awkward steps forward while trying to adjust what seemed to be a wedgie. "Drop down and give me twenty!"

As Jack continued jogging he looked back to see Chiyo in the middle of her pushups with a strangely satisfied smile…

*****

"H-hey! You're Jack, right?"

Jack sighed. He barely had any time after returning to the changing rooms before he had been bombarded with questions. Several had already asked about what his relationship with Alora was, and upon learning that they were just friends, he was hit with a broadside of yet more questions about her favourite colour, her eating habits, and where she would be that evening.

Jack got disturbed rather quickly by this, but fortunately, when he told them that the next person who asked would get badmouthed to Alora by him, the questions ceased.

Immediately followed by questions about his fight. There were enough witnesses, of course, but since the stories became more and more exaggerated with each telling, the other boys were very keen to confirm a few things. No, he didn't use any performance-enhancing drugs. No, he didn't buff himself with magic, that would be Svaartal. And most definitely no, he didn't immediately after have a steamy make-out session with Nika over the broken bodies of their opponents.

Though that was not an unpleasant thought…

Shit. Not the line of thought to entertain when he was changing clothes around a bunch of other guys!

He was about to turn to the speaker to advise him to leave when he recognised the avian. Crill was looking even more nervous than when he tried to call out Master Kull for setting up such a dishonourable fight. Beside him was the rat-like being from his home class who also looked a bit fidgety.

"Oh hey! You're Crill, right? What's up?"

Crill shuddered at that and stuttered slightly before finding his voice.

"I...I want to apologise for my cowardice earlier. I should have fought alongside you, and I have brought dishonour upon my clan. I beg for your forgiveness!" he finished, ending with a stiff lower bow.

Jack was a little confused for a moment before hurriedly reassuring the guy. "No no! Don't be sorry about that! I appreciate you speaking up about it. Like you said, it was an unfair fight, and Kull was being a dick. If anything you were brave for saying something. I mean how many skulls was that guy even wearing?!"

As Crill gave a sigh of relief, the rat-dude spoke up. "That was an amazing fight! You're definitely one of the best fighters in our year, maybe you could be a good match for..."

All the boys that heard immediately snapped round with looks of glee on their faces, and whispered in excitement. They obviously knew where the ratfolk was going with this…

Upon seeing Jack's confused face the rat spoke up for everyone to hear.

"OK...so Jack's new to our class so he doesn't know, but there's a really good fighter in our year that's beaten most of the other good combatants here."

"Don't remind me!" Vaal called out from the side to a chatter of laughter from the crowd. "Rena kicked my ass!"

Jack gave a pained smile at that. Sure, he could fight, but he didn't look for conflict against those that didn't deserve it.

"Maybe some other time," Jack replied diplomatically, to a few playful groans from the guys as the bell rang to hurry them up.

Lunchtime!