Guardians

Chapter 3:      A young guardian's resolve.

#Narrator: when the savage released an energy blast towards koharu, she froze due to fear and couldn't move from the place where she was standing.

#Sasori: KOHAAARUUU! MOVEEE....

#Narrator:

#Umiko: you gotta be joking right?!. I certainly won't allow you to become a guardian.

#Sasori: why? Why won't you allow me to become a guardian?

#Umiko: seriously? How in the world did you get a thought you could be a guardian? How can, you of all the people who just simply passes his time by pulling some stupid prank and gets unnecessary attention, even think of becoming a guardian?

#Sasori: I thought that you of all people would understand the reason behind my actions, but no you are the same as others.I once tried to tell you about my feelings, but you just treated me like a kid, and you ignored my words. Others also reacted in the same way as you did, and they also made fun of me. I couldn't even fight them. I took out the frustration in this way and also nowadays people are becoming more like robot just going through their routine life I just wanted to bring some change.

#Umiko: huh…..ok! then tell me how are your feelings related to this guardian's course.

#Sasori: mom a guardian not only fights against savages, but also the silly materialistic desires like sex, money, comforts that may cause a normal person to convert into a savage. I want to become like them.

#Umiko: that's just a child's dream. Such an ideal and straight forward thinking won't be suitable for surviving in today's society.

#Sasori: that's exactly why I want to bring a change in this society, people are just getting more concerned about their needs and comforts than the reason of their living and helping others. I want to change that. We're born as humans for a reason. I want to find that reason. Can you really believe that humans have higher intellectual power than other beings just to earn some money and to fulfill his materialistic comforts? Please mom let me join the guardian's course, I have a strong feeling that this is the right path for me. Please have faith in me. (I kinda shouted the whole thing out)

My mother didn't respond for a while, after some time she just got up and closed the front door of our dinning hall. I didn't know what to do, I was left alone in the corridor with a rather bizzare expression on my face, after a certain while I just went back to my room. That night I experienced the most silent dinner ever. After dinner koharu called me to inform that the entrance was going to be conducted at the sakazuki high school which was located at the heart of the downtown area of the city and the timings were from 8 am to 12 am. I kept the phone in speaker mode so that my mom can hear and she gets to know of my intentions of enrolling to the guardian's course. My mother react in any mann
er, she didn't even seem to notice that I was answering to someone at the phone. My mom slept  without even saying a single word to me. I was kinda confused and angry, I was confused about what should I do next, and I was angry because it seemed that my mother was ignoring me totally and didn't even try to understand how I felt about the guardian's course. I decided that I would attend the entrance exam regardless of my mom's interest. I was awake till 1'o clock at night preparing for the entrance exam. I didn't know exactly how to prepare for the exam. All I knew was that guardians usually use little martial arts in their battles, so I saw some martial techniques and moves certain moves online and tried to imitate them for some time until I fell asleep. Morning I silently ate my breakfast in the dinning hall and went upstairs to my room to change into my casual suit and tracks. After changing I tried to leave house silently, when I was about to leave the house suddenly the sliding door( which is the front door) opened and my mom came through. She saw me and began speaking (wow! after a long time).

#Umiko: You are gonna enroll to the guardian course no matter what I say, aren't you?.

I just silently nodded my head.

#Umiko: well I realized that I can't stop you on that, but you gotta promise that whatever happens in this course and also in the line of duty you will come back home safely.

With a large grin on my face I said

#Sasori: you can count on that mom.

My mom smiled back

#Umiko: well! then get going isn't the exam at 8am?.

#Sasori: yeah! I totally forgot about that. Bye mom!

#Umiko: Take care and good luck!.

With my mom's consent I felt really confident about attending the exam.
Now I felt like I was really ready for the course.
I took my bicycle and headed towards Sakazuki high school. On the way I ran into Koharu who was also heading to the Sakazuki high school as she was also attending the guardian's course entrance exam.

#Sasori: Hey! Going to the exam I guess.

#koharu: yeah!

#Sasori: So!?. How did you prepare for the exam?

#koharu: I did nothing in particular actually. All I did was watch some martial art techniques and practice them and study about the powers of the guardian, I couldn't think of anything else that they would ask us in the entrance exam.

#Sasori: wow! You thought that much ahead and prepared that much.

#koharu: it's nothing to brag about, I am sure that you are also well prepared in the same way.

#Sasori: yeah! ( I wish I had been so well prepared, now my chances of passing the exam seem less than before).

Suddenly we both started hearing a sound of what seemed like a bike racing towards us, before we could stop our cycles and turn around a bike raced from behind and passed from right between us which took us by surprise and caused us to lose our balance. The boy turned around without stopping ( the boy appeared to be of same age as us, his hair was a little messed up little similar to mine, he had a little muscular body than mine, he was as tall as me, but most importantly his face was kinda familiar, it felt like i knew him somehow. ).

#boy: Aww! Did I hurt you love birds?.

#Sasori and Koharu: WE ARE NOT LOVE BIRDS! (screamed unanimously).

I thought 'she is not my girlfriend, I consider her to be my big sister

The boy smirked at us and sped away.

#koharu: who the hell was that?

#Sasori: don't know! maybe he is also attending the entrance exam.

#koharu: who? That guy? No way! he has a fat chance of being a guardian.

#Sasori: well! you maybe right.

We lifted our cycles and started to head towards the venue of the exam again.
Slowly we reached the venue of the entrance exam, it was totally crowded, many people of our age were present there. When we entered campus area a guide (wearing some kind of uniform, she also appeared to be of same age as us, she was a good looking girl, her hair was tied into a pony tail which made her overall appearance kinda cute) stopped us from going any further and explained the current circumstances and the procedure to enroll for the entrance exam.

#Guide: Please wait if you are going to enroll for the entrance exam then you have to wait for a while, since so many people are willing to take the exam, so management has decided to conduct the exam in different slots to avoid a total mess of the examination area. Now please give me your names and take this tokens, I will inform you when your turn comes to enroll for the examination.

We did as she said. She left to stop and explain the same thing to some more.

#koharu: well! It's better if we look for some place to sit down.

#Sasori: yeah!

Suddenly a voice started calling out to Koharu, it was a girl's voice, we both turned around to find a girl of same age as us.

#koharu: oh Hey! mio. You too came for attending the entrance exam. I never knew that you were  interested in being a guardian.

#Mio: well! I didn't particularly come thinking to become a guardian. I just wanted to see for once where i stand when it comes to basic human qualities.

#koharu: wow! I never thought someone would attend exam with that intention. Well! We are also writing with the same kind of ideology, but our main aim is to clear the obstacles and become a full fledged guardian.

#Mio: wow! Well! good luck in achieving your goal. Oh! I think my number has been called out. Well! see you later.

After she left I asked koharu.

#Sasori: who was that girl?

#koharu: oh! She was my classmate in my middle  school. Her name is Nakamura mio.

We were spending the free time by simply chatting instead of preparing for the exam, to release the pent up tension when my number was called out. I mustered a lot on the way and summoned a lot of courage. When i reached the administrative block there was a short line in front of receiption. At the starting of the line I saw the boy from before, the same boy who drove his bike rashly and made koharu and me fall down. After finished enrolling for the exam he turned around and our eyes immediately met each other, he smiled mischievously at me. I didn't react but I did want to punch him right in his face. He went to a hall which seemed like a common waiting room. I was waiting for my turn to come. When I arrived at the receiption  desk, the receiptionist held out a note.

#Receiptionist: that boy from before who smiled at gave this note to you.

I took the note and kept it in my pocket.

#Receiptionist: now please hand over your token.

I handed her the token.

Your hall no is 4, please go to this hall after the seminar in the waiting room.

#Sasori: seminar?

#Receiptionist: one of our falcuties is giving a brief introduction on guardian's course and some tips on how to become a guardian.

#Sasori: well! Anyway I have a favour to ask.

#Receiptionist: yes?.

#Sasori: can you tell me the name of the who asked you to give me this note?

#Receiptionist: yes wait just a minute. Right! His name is Ito Daikil.

#Sasori: thanks! (Daikil hmm…  his name was also kinda familiar)

#Receiptionist: and oh! Sorry that I forgot, can you fill up this form too?

#Sasori: yeah sure i have to just fill up my details right?

#Receiptionist: yeah!

After I filled and submitted the form i went to the common room where the seminar was going to be held. Daikil was sitting somwhere in the middle of the hall. Seeing him suddenly I remembered about the note the receiptionist passed to me. I too settled somewhere in the middle and took out the note which I had kept in the side pocket of my casual jump suit and started reading it 'well! I'm sorry for what I did earlier.., but I couldn't resist myself. Anyways putting those things aside, it has been a long time Sasori, how have you been'. I was happy that he apologised to me, but I was completely shocked that kid talked to me as if  I were his best pal. Now I was feeling both confised and guilty (confused about who he was and guilty that I couldn't  remember him even when I got to know his name.)
Suddenly the speakers behind me came back to life. The whole hall fell silent due to this sound. A person entered the hall from the front door of the hall, He climbed the dias and started to setup the mike for speaking. Immediately realising that he was the one who was going to give speech, I folded the and kept it back in my pocket and started looking for koharu.

(Speech symbols * means respective person talking to himself and # means respective person speaking to someone else.)

*Sasori:  where're you koharu the seminar is almost going to start.

Before I  coud think of anything else the person had started to speak

#exam incharge: well! good morning yet to be guardians.

There was a lot of murmuring in the hall, no one  was particularly listening to him.

#exam incharge: SILEEENCEEEEE………

everybody immediately  became silent.

#exam incharge: that's better. Well! Good morning to each and everyone. I am today's examiner, my name is Ito Daisuke. You may call me as Daisuke sensei. I am here to tell about the traits that a person should posses to become a guardian. First we will start with question who are guardians?.

He asked someone in the front rows to standup and answer the question.

The person who was stood up was the same girl whose name was nakamura mio.

#Mio: ummm… I think guardians are someone who fight for the right and good cause and also save us from savges.

#daisuke: well! It is correct when you put it in simple terms like that. Can anybody else answer the question?

There was no response to his question. Suddenly Daisuke picked someone and to my surprise that someone happened to be Daikil. He stood up without any fear and started to speak.

#Daikil: Sir a guardian is someone who cherishes a life more than anything else, A guardian is someone
Who doesn't  crave for any materialistic needs or desires, A guardian or a person who is aspiring to be a guardian isn't supposed to do any kind bad deeds which will help him to achieve things like sex, money, authority etc, under any circumstances. A guardian should have a strong will to overcome any kind of obstacles which come come his way.

#Daisuke sensei:  wow! That was pretty intense, anyways thanks for sharing your views with us, but be sure to apply them in a real life situation.
Well! You heard that boy everyone when you become a guardian you will have so many responsibilities and most importantly even when you're facing unfavourable circumstances you shouldn't alter your ways, even when everything just seems to go south on you, you shouldn't shift your methods towards dirty ways, your will should be so strong that in such conditions you should rather choose to die doing the right thing than to live doing bad to others. IS THAT CLEAR? .

#everyone: YES SIR!!!

#Daisuke sensei: good you better keep that in mind, and trust me when the situation comes you're gonna need those words. Now in a few minutes your exam is going to start which is gonna decide both your future and the world's as well. Thats it for now. So please be patient and don't make a mess of this hall. You can move and talk with others silently.

With that he climbed down the dias and left the hall in a hurry.

Immediately I started searching for koharu and I also tried to stay as far as possible from daikil until I remembered who he really was, if he really os one of my childhood friends then I cannot face him without recognizing him. I spent the rest of the time searching for koharu, I was worried that whether she had attended the seminar or not. After a long search I found her talking to some of her mid school friends. I was about to call her when suddenly the lights in the hall went off (since the hall was somewhere inside the building there was no ventilation so there was sunlight entering the hallway). After a minute or two some people entered the hall carrying flame torches. Seeing them I felt that something was wrong, then I noticed weapons like guns and rifles in their hands. Some people (who must have noticed the same)  started to panic and started to shout 'TERRORISTS  TERRORISTS. ….'
everybody pancked and started to look for a way for exit. I started looking for koharu in all this mess.
I found koharu with her friends boldly looking for a way out, I called out to her, she responded quickly.

#koharu: Sasori where were you, I was searching for you like a wild dog.

#Sasori: never mind that, are you alright.

#koharu: yeah I am fine. What about you?

#Sasori: yeah I am also fine.

#koharu: well who the hell are these guys?

#Sasori: don't know looks like they're terrorists

#koharu: terrorists? Why would they come to a school?.

Suddenly there was high frequency sound coming from the speaker, everyone immediately fell silent, then we heard a person voice from the speaker, I immediately turned towards the dias where daisuke sensei had previously delivered his speech, there was no one over there. The person started to speak

#Stranger: well well well, hello there little fellas sorry for the trouble but we came over here for an important task.

Somebody from behind me built-up courage and shouted

#student: first why don't you tell us who the hell you are and what are you doing here.

#stranger: ohhhh! It seems that this year's guardian candidates  are quite brave ones. Oh! Well where are my manners. We're  the subordinates of the main savage force commanders and we've come to abduct this year's best guardian candidates. Oh! and don't worry we've arranged a special consolation price for those who are not special enough to be considered as one of the best and that price is…………………… death.

Everybody immediately started panicking.

#stranger: SILEEENCEEEEE…….

Everybody immediately fell silent.

#stranger: that's better. Ok out of mercy I will give some of you a choice and that is you can buy your way out of this but you can't save others, that's right you will have to leave your helpless friend behind.

The same person who showed boldness before talked again and this time I turned around to be surprosed it was Daikil.

#Daikil: and may we know what will you do with those whom you will abduct.

#stranger: I like your guts kid and the answer to your question is that we will train them as savage soldiers and send these people to the savage main force and if you people refuse to follow us then you die too.

#Daikil: But why us, why are you abductind us for that kind of things, we don't even have minimum fighting skills.

#stranger: the fact that you don't have any fighting skills makes it easy to kidnap and once a wise man said that a blank white paper turns out to be a valuable asset when compared to a coloured paper.

#Daikil: now that makes a lot of sense.

#stranger: enough chitchat, lets get to work. Now based on your physique i will select somof you guys.

He took out his gun and started to show it off. He first pointed out the boys at the last row and selected some of them. After picking some people (he picked koharu and daikil and me)

#stranger: well the others who weren't picked can buy their way or join us volunteeringly or die.

My insides started to shake like hell, I didn't want to end my life just being a mere savage main force soldier, I couldn't just bear that thought. I wanted to fight back. Koharu saw me and immediately understood what i was thinking at that moment.
Meanwhile some people started to go outside the hall with the subordinates of the savges to make a deal with them and once they went they never came back. After some of these deals no one else seemed to want to make deal.

#stranger: Ok! That's it your time is up everyone we are going to kill each everyone who didn't do as we said so if you want to change your mind this maybe your last chance.

Some people started to waver. I couldn't bare this anymore so i got up and started speaking for everyone.

#Sasori: not a single person in this room is going to follow whatever shit you have said, everyone here have aspired to become a guardian their whole life till now and they will keep doing to do so no matter what you do here or no matter however you threaten us. There is no way we are going to surrender ourselves and become puppets in your hands and train ourselves to become savages 'cuz that would make everything that we have been through up until now meaningless and we, especially I don't want that to happen so I rather choose dying than becoming a savage puppet in the hands of likes of you. A guardian never gives upon his ideals that's  the most important requirement for a person who aims to become a professional guardian.

#stranger: wow you've got some guts kid, but guts isn't the only thing that you require in today's world what you need is smartness and you clearly lack that and so it is end of line for you guys. Good buy kids.

Saying that he shot me right at my chest, but to me it didn't felt like a gun shot but instead it was like a pricking feeling of something sharp and the next thing I knew I was on the floor. I could see blood near the place where i was shot, i was now certain that i was going to die now, but I was kinda happy to go out in this way atleast people won't see me as a prankster now, for sometime I could see people gathering around me and after 2 or 3 minutes I blacked out.

After some time I could see a person who was radiating brightly walking towards me. I thought this is some kind of dream that you get before death because I was literally suspended in space. The person had a strange smell, it was like the smell of fresh mud and also had a smell of trees and all kinds of fauna mixed in. He also had a thin coating of water all around him. The person without talking a single word passed right through me, I could feel all his aura and all of his powers seeping into me, I panicked and tried to wake myself up.
Suddenly i felt my face hit something hard and the next thing I knew I was in a room lying upside down on the floor beside a bed. This wasn't my room, feeling totally confused, I sat on the bed and tried to remember the last thing I did and I also tried to find out where the hell I was. After sometime everything was flooding back so fast that my brain couldn't keep up, After sometime of wracking my brain I remembered what happened before I found myself lying on the floor and I also found that I was in a hospital due to the gun shot I took on the right side of my chest, but to my surprise I didn't feel any kind of mark on my chest that would proove that i was actually shot. Suddenly the door of the room opened and a nurse came inside.

#nurse: oh! You're awake.

I was still confused

#Sasori: excuse me nurse?, can you tell me what exactly happened to me.

#nurse: oh! You were just given an over dosage of some kind of sleeping drug which just knocked you out that's all. So you are fine now and you can leave whenever you want. …….. oh! And I forgot to mention someone from guardian's academy gave you this.

She held out a note. She left the room after giving me the note. I opened the note and I was surprised to see what was written in it. It said  "CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE PASSED THE ENTRANCE EXAM FROM NOW ON YOU ARE A  STUDENT OF THE GUARDIAN'S ACADEMY "

…………

Next time on guardians: I can't  beleive that I did it! I really am a student of the guardian's academy.

Next time: chapter 4: "the guardian's academy".