Fairy Tail: Dawn of Change by Melissa Nichols (fantasy novels to read .TXT) 📖

stairs to the running, was one pattern. She got a three-minute break once she finished, but she had to complete the pattern three times. That was one-hundred-eighty steps, thirty sit ups, thirty push-ups and nine laps. By the time Makarov called a halt, she wanted to flop on the ground and give up, but she refused to let herself do that. It would only make it harder for her to get back up and do the next task, and she didn't want to waste that energy. She was going to do everything Makarov asked her to, and she was sure there was a lot of that left so she would need every ounce of energy she could muster.

 

Besides, Makarov had done all of that with her, and he was an old man, a grandpa! She couldn't even tell herself that he had longer legs than her, because he was actually shorter than she was, and he wasn't using his magic to cheat. So if Makarov could do it, then she could too!

 

"Alright," Makarov said, once she'd regained her breath. "That might have been a bit much for your first day's warm-up, but you're doing pretty well. Have you ever taken self-defense before?"

 

Roxanne shook her head, drinking from the water-bottle he'd given her with quick sips.

 

"Mm, I thought not. Though you did surprisingly well at the meditation for a beginner." Makarov rubbed his chin. "We'll start with the basics, then. Now, I know you saw those rascals at the guild hall tussling, but that isn't what self-defense is for. It's to help you protect yourself, not pick fights with others. Save that for when you're old enough to know better!" He chuckled at his own joke, while Roxanne smiled.

 

'The basics', it turned out, consisted of two things: how to stand in a balanced, ready fashion, and how to fall without hurting herself. It sounded easy, but Roxanne quickly learned that it was a lot harder than she'd thought. Makarov demonstrated first, and then had her imitate him. The hardest part was relaxing while falling, because all of her instincts told her to brace herself instead. Makarov's training method wasn't what she'd expected, either. Instead of telling her to practice falling, he told her to practice her balanced stance, and then—very gently—knocked her feet out from under her. She learned how to fall both backwards and forwards, and each time she fell, he helped her up and corrected her stance, telling her what to do to fall better next time. The one time she fell at a particularly bad angle, almost hitting her head, he caught her easily and prevented the injury.

After that, it was a little easier to make herself relax into the fall.

 

"Once I'm sure you've got this down to a reflex," Makarov told her, "you'll start on how to make and dodge blows." A bright, encouraging grin, surprisingly youthful on his lined face. "At the rate you're going, that should be by the end of the week!"

 

"Thank you, sir!" Roxanne smiled at him, wiping her sweaty face.

 

She felt relieved down to her soul when Makarov stopped the training and brought back them back to the guild for lunch. She sat at the bar and looked around while Mira cooked her food. Lucy sat at one of the benches across the guild hall with Natsu, Happy and Gray. Roxanne grinned at Lucy's visible happiness and stayed where she was, content to mull over her meditation lesson by herself, ignoring her growling stomach.

 

"Hey, Roxanne!" She heard a voice call her, and turned back around to see Natsu waving at her. "Come join us!"

 

"Really?" she asked, not really expecting to be called over to join that group. "But I'm just a boring kid."

 

"You're not boring!" Lucy replied before Natsu could. "You are young, but you're certainly not boring."

 

"Exactly. So come over here!"

 

"Come on, kid," Gray said casually, using the term as an endearment instead of an insult. "Come talk with us."

 

Reassured, Roxanne smiled again and raced over to the table, sitting down beside Lucy.

 

The group talked for a few minutes, which mostly consisted of Natsu asking Roxanne questions about herself, which she answered truthfully. After all, all she needed to lie about what where she had come from. She had no reason to lie about what she liked to do or what foods were her favorites, so she answered as honestly as she could.

 

Pretty soon, Mira brought Roxanne her lunch and the conversation shifted away from Rox, which she appreciated. Now the subject circled around Lucy, with Natsu asking many of the same questions. Gray didn't speak much, preferring to listen instead, but he was paying attention to the questions Natsu asked. Roxanne knew that he was interested in getting to know his newest guildmates, and that he trusted Natsu's instincts, so he must think they were worth getting to know since Natsu had taken such a shine to them.

 

Roxanne looked down at her plate, smiling at the thought and trying not to bounce with excitement. Her legs swung from the bench's edge, kicking idly as she munched her way through the chicken salad sandwich and sweet rolls Mirajane had brought her. Once her plate was completely clean, Roxanne looked around for Makarov, expecting him to tell her it was time to continue her training, but he just smiled and shook his head at her, gesturing for her to continue talking as he went over some paperwork up at the bar. Relieved, Roxanne turned back to her new friends and continued chatting.

 

After another fifteen minutes, Makarov called Roxanne away. She pouted for a second, enjoying spending time with the group and not wanting to leave, but then took a breath and followed him anyway. As much as she loved talking with her new friends, which was a lot, she wanted to be a mage twice as much. Besides, she knew that being a guild master wasn't just about being the strongest mage in the guild. There were a lot of responsibilities that Master Makarov had, and he was taking time away from them to help her. She wouldn't let one second of that time be wasted.

 

Makarov led her back to the park, where they meditated again, and then did another set of warm-ups, somewhat gentler this time and focused more on endurance-building exercises like jogging. That was followed by foot training—ladder-runs and hopscotch and side-dashes—and reflex-training such as wall ball and coin catch. Her favorite was the coin catch. Makarov had her hold one arm out in front of her, slightly bent, palm down. Then he balanced a coin on the back of her hand, and bounced her hand up, making her try to catch the coin on its way down. It was a lot harder than it looked, but once Makarov told her that the motion was incredibly similar to parrying a punch, she found it a lot easier to concentrate. He told her that once she got better at it, she could try to catch two or even three coins at a time. He also told her that once he was sure her endurance was up to snuff and she was competent with falls, he'd move on to more self-defense.

 

"Now, I won't always be here to train with you," he reminded her, letting her take a brief break. "So on days when I have duties with the Council or other such things, I want you to focus on meditation and endurance training unless you've got an older mage to supervise you. It's much too easy for a growing girl like you to hurt yourself."

 

"Yes, sir," Roxanne agreed meekly. Weakly, even. This time, training had lasted nearly two hours, and she wanted to do nothing more than crawl into bed and sleep forever. She doubted she'd be able to sleep, though—every muscle ached, and even her head hurt from concentrating so much.

"I'm glad you understand. Now, let's do our cool-down stretches, alright?" Makarov worked her slowly through the stretches, making sure she hadn't strained herself too badly and that she didn't cramp up in the process. Once he was satisfied, he led her back to the guild, urging her to clean up and change into something besides training clothes. "And you'll want to soak in the bath for a bit, instead of just showering. No point in making you stiff as an old man just yet!"

 

Roxanne almost wanted to resent his cheerfulness, but found she was too tired even for that. "Yes sir," she agreed meekly, and did as he said. While soaking in the bath, she scolded herself for her weakness. She hadn't even started serious training yet, but she was ready to crawl under a rock and die from today's exertions. How much worse would serious training be? She just might actually die!

 

But it's something I have to do, so I’m going to ignore my exhaustion and give my training everything I’ve got!

 

This stuff would be critical later. If she expected to be a good fighter and help the guild, she had to learn the essentials of hand-to-hand combat until she discovered her magic. If she didn't train, she'd be only a burden and a liability. Someone could get hurt or even killed trying to protect her! So she needed to toughen up and train now, while it was still relatively easy.

 

Once she was done bathing, she emerged feeling better, though her legs were still weak as jelly. She had changed into black jeans and the 'Cute but Fierce' shirt, but she still didn't know why Makarov had brought her back. She was sure that it wasn't just to shower and change into clothes that she couldn't train in.

 

As they made their way back into town, Makarov explained. "Starting tomorrow, part of your training will be swimming. For that, you'll need a swimsuit. I don't suppose Lucy bought one for you?"

 

"No, sir." The possibility hadn't even crossed their minds.

 

"Then I'll buy the swimsuit. Tomorrow, you'll start swimming every day. There won't be time to go back to the apartment to change so wear it under the clothes you had on today."

 

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Roxanne groaned inwardly at the thought of adding more exercise to her regimen. "What else should I be prepared for?"

 

"That's it, actually," Makarov said. "Every day will go similar to today. We'll start the day with a good breakfast, then an hour of meditation. Then we'll do the stretches and warm-ups, followed by the first segment of self-defense training, then lunch. After lunch, we'll do another round of exercise and self-defense, and then move on to swimming for a half an hour. After that, we do another hour of meditation and then you're done for the day. But there won't be any swimming today, so instead we're going to end the day with the third round of meditation. However, I do want you to do another hour of meditation before you go to sleep every night."

 

"Yes, sir!" Honestly, Roxanne wasn't sure if she'd be able to stay awake long enough to meditate, but she could at least try. "Um, when will I get to learn magic?" she ventured after a moment's hesitation.

 

"Why, when the magic is ready for you to learn it!" Makarov said cheerfully. At Roxanne's nonplussed look, he chuckled and patted her on the shoulder. "Sorry my dear, that was just a joke. It will come to you in time, with meditation and patience. Hm, come to think of it, we should probably include time for magical theory in your training. And you're so young—have you had schooling?"

 

His question made her heart race. Uh oh. She hadn't counted on school in Fiore, which meant the subjects were almost guaranteed to be different! How should she answer? She couldn't tell him the truth, not yet. He'd think she was nuts! But she couldn't say she hadn't had schooling either. Her mom was supposed to be a college professor!

 

"Mostly self-study," she replied, doing her best to drain the panic from her voice. She