F-Rank Frank Chapter 35 (Patreon)

Chapter 35

Once again, the purple hair on Frank’s head glowed brightly, not that he could tell. Though everyone of the dignitaries and military leaders immediately around Frank all turned to him, apparently attracted by his hair that was now standing on end and glowing brightly.

“Everything okay?” Yolinda asked.

At that point Frank was about to respond that he was fine. But that was when others came forward, most to check out his glowing hair. But the closer they came, the more Frank felt ill at ease.

Danger.

With that Frank began using his Energy Sight, peered into the bodies of the high-ranking cultivators. Just as he expected he saw the clumps of dark energy right where the warnings seemed to emanate from. But this time there was something odd about the clumps, they seemed to be alive.

Well not alive but vibrating. Further, they seemed to be upright, if that was a thing. Being fairly egg shaped and ovular, most of the clumps often appeared to Frank in a sideways position, but now they appeared to be vertical. An act that should be impossible, much like balancing an egg on anything other than its side. Yet, for whatever reason the vibrations from within the fragments all seemed to have awoken them and caused them to stand upright, with their smaller tip on top.

Suddenly with everyone’s gazes on him, he looked around, and then found Holsy, well James Holsy, still odd thinking that he has a first name.

Locking gazes with James, he paused and then asked, “can I speak to you real quick?”

James for his part looked confused, but then shrugged and followed the normally silent kid to a back corner, away from most prying ears. Though it was hard to get away from everyone given the enhanced hearing of each and every cultivator in the place. Still, it felt a little easier only talking to James, versus telling what he was seeing and feeling to others.

As he got back, he was about to talk, but then suddenly felt his throat dry up.

“You wanted to talk?” James Holsy asked.

“Yeah,” James began, then finally managing to swallow the lump that had been building in his throat, he began detailing what he had been feeling. “It’s about…”

***

(An Hour Later)

James Holsy arrived to hear that the music was already playing. As he got closer, he looked for the obvious signs. The first thing he looked for was the bright dark aqua blue hair of his date, the typical look of Captain Parinne, finding her was easy. Even in the somewhat darker atmosphere of the dancing hall, her hair seemed to glow with a majestic radiance that still set James’ heart fluttering every time he saw her.

The fact that they had both been in the same initial training year was not lost on him. What was lost on him however, was the fact that he waited so long to make his move. Only at the end of their training when the fear of missing out, or getting rejected would not be as hard to stomach did he ask.

Then the worst thing happened, she agreed to go out with him, she even called him cute. But then he realize that he waited too long, and she was shipping out to the east, while he would be sent out to the west.

That was his one regret, and that was honestly the moment that ultimately changed him. From that point on, he vowed never to let fear dictate his actions. Instead, he decided from that point onward that he would grab life by the horns and ride it out his way.

Fate had also seemed to be supporting his inevitable reunion with the famed Captain, as his little sister was picked up by the Captain.

While James Holsy would never leave the services of Vanguard, the person that he owed his life to at least twice over, he would not mind serving under Captain Perinne should conditions change.

Which of course brought him to the game changer, his boy. The damned unicorn.

Looking around he looked for the boy, his unicorn, only to then find him dancing on the floor. For a moment, rage filled James as he thought that the two that were dancing were too close, too intimate. It was a waltz or one of those other formal dances that requires the dancers to be too close.

His feet were on autopilot towards the Captain, while he continued to watch the boy dance so closely with his sister.

At least he thought it should be his sister, as that was who he was here with. Yet, as he looked, he quickly saw double. First, there was a person the exact silhouette of his sister next to the Captain.

This revelation only caused further anger to fill James’ mind as he then turned to his boy, only to see that he was dancing with some dark haired twin talented student. Even in a dimly lit room, his eyes quickly sought out the markings for rank, advancement and everything.

As he drew closer, he could see his sister clearly sipping away at a beverage cup.

“Everything okay?” James asked, his words were to the two of them who were clearly watching Yolinda’s dance partner performing a sensual dance with some random stranger.

“Yeah, just taking a break.” Yolinda replied, as she turned back and scanned her brother, then clearly noticed something in his gaze. “Are you okay?”

At that James paused then replied, “well I just got done working on everything. But then I come back to see that your date is clearly putting the moves on someone else.” More than a little venom laced James’ words.

Synchronized chuckles.

At his words the Captain and his sister both laughed in a form of synchronization harmony. This was the same way that birds would, or people that had spent so long together in a war time environment that they had an innate timing and cadence with their partnered individual.

Hearing their obvious criticism of his thoughts, James paused.

Then just before James could say anything, it was the Captain who stepped in to explain. “Relax James, your sister’s date’s integrity is still in tact. If anything, you should use this time to learn how to dance yourself.”

“What?” Was all James could manage to reply to that.

“Look at them, he is guiding her through the movements the way any good dance instructor would. ‘Outside foot towards the hand, inside food catches. Pause. Then lean back.’”

As the Captain spoke, Frank and the dark haired beauty that he was with did just that. What had looked like synchronized movements of love was really just Frank being so smooth that he seemed to cover for his partner’s lacking abilities. They strode three steps forward, then Frank took her into a backwards dip, one where Frank looked completely comfortable, though there did seem to be the slightest hesitation on the part of his partner.

“‘Relax, I’ve got you.’ Also, one thing to point out is that they pass the paper test.” Captain Perinne stated,

“The paper test?” James asked, clearly never having heard of this before.

“Yeah, where you could slide a piece of paper between the two dancers at any point of their movement and be able to move the sheet around freely.” The Captain replied.

With that James looked closer and saw that this was in fact the case. That other than their hands, their bodies remained an almost perfect distance from each other. A lot of this coordination clearly came from the heightened physical capabilities of the two awakened individuals. The rest seemed to come from just how naturally smooth and graceful Frank looked while on the dance floor.

Just as James began to realize all of this, Yolinda paused, apparently noticing something.

“Oh, that’s my cue,” Yolinda said, taking the rest of her cup of red liquid and downing it in one go. Then turning, she handed the empty cup to James.

“What?” Was all James could ask, before reflexively taking the plastic cup from his sister’s hand.

Then before James had time to realize what happened, Yolinda was already off, heading towards the dance floor, in a beeline for Frank.

All James could do was stare in awe, as he moved forward to fill the void left by his sister’s departure, while standing next to Captain Perinne. Even that simple movement, let his overly delicate sense of smell take in the odd assortment of perfumes that always seemed to come from the Captain, it was a scent of lilacs, vanilla extract, and something else.

“It would appear that your sister, is trying to make sure that her dance partner is not taken for this dance.” Captain Perinne stated, drawing James’ attention away from the intoxicating smell of the Captain and towards the two dancers that were now on the stage.

Seeing the way his sister unhesitatingly went over and tapped Frank’s current dance partner on the shoulder, then proceeded to speak with the dark-haired interloper. After which the dark-haired interloper appeared to apologize, even bowing to James’ sister before quickly excusing herself and walking away with a sort of nervous gate.

“What was that?” James asked.

“It seems that your sister has taken a fancy to your blind date for her.” The Captain said, her lips smiling coyly as her red lips seemed to all but dance seductively.

Seeing the Captain, and realizing this was his chance to make a move, James moved in closer and was just about to ask the Captain for a dance when he heard the tempo of the new song.

Dah-da-dah-da-dun-da, da-dun-da, da-duh-da.

Hearing the unmistakable beat and rhythm of the fast paced song, James paused, realizing that this was not his chance to get close to the Captain. In fact, with such a fast paced song, James felt that no one could get that close.

To his surprise, James even saw a few of the older dancers leave the stage, leaving the stage for only a few individual dancers, or those couples like Frank and Yolinda who just smiled brightly at each other as they began to take up dueling positions. Well if dueling positions involved smiles, looping arm hangs and having your back foot’s heel in the air.

Then as one, he watched as they both began to move in unison.

There was an odd symmetry to their movements as their bodies and feet danced and slid around, while their arms pulsed forward and backwards seemingly at odds with he movement of their lower bodies. To James it all seemed to be unnecessary movements.

James didn’t get it, there was so much wasted movement, so much extra going on that seemed a bit excessive. Yet, when done in harmony with his sister matching the pace and movements, James could see the art of symmetry.

For a second James thought about opening his mouth to express how he thought the two could do something else with their times, other than learn obscure dance movements. Fortunately, he was saved from making such a comment to the Captain, this was a mixture of common sense telling him to be quiet here, and the Captain actually choosing that moment to save him.

“This is why dance is so important,” Captain Perrine stated.

“What? Why?” James asked, wanting to hear the Captain’s thoughts on this very subject.

“This is one of the few times when you can truly express your soul. So many cultivators think that just because they can move quickly and with seeming grace that they can dance. They can’t, as dance is more than straight lines and attack vectors. In fact, that is why most girls hate coming to these dances, as most guys treat the activity as a battle, rather than an expression of the soul.” Captain Perinne stated, at that she turned to face James and stare at him.

Shiver.

In that stare there was a cold intensity, a fervor that almost demanded that he respond in kind.

Locking gazes with her, James found himself asking, “so this is why you opted to avoid most dances, instead focusing on being the reserve units deployed during these events?”

Hearing that Captain Perinne paused, and then nodded.

“So if I learned to dance?” James began asking, but he was quickly cut off, as Captain Perinne took a step forward and got right within dancing distance of James.

Then placing one hand seductively on his chest, she began to reply, “I would have been here with you every step of the way seeing your soul on full display for everyone to see.”

Badump, badump.

Hearing the comments, and the feeling her warm hand on his chest, James could only feel more regret. This was a slightly deeper regret, one forged on possible futures missed, and times squandered. Then looking over at the body, at Frank, James looked at the movements and felt that he could copy the movements or at the very least get them close, with his rate of cultivation.

“Care to dance?” James asked, holding out his hand, only to realize that it still had the plastic drink container from his sister. Seeing the cup, James looked around quickly to find a trashcan nearby, which he promptly used and then came back. For a moment, he thought he had ruined the entire moment, though the slight smile that Captain Perinne was forcefully holding back told him that she had enjoyed the moment.

With that, James got on the dance floor and tried to mirror the movements Frank had demonstrated. Though just like learning combative movements, there was one thing to know the movements and an entirely other factor of being able to perform the movements.

Focusing on the movements, James tried to do a back heel slide, one of the base movements that Frank was now performing with his sister only to realize almost instantly that he had messed up, big time.

SHREEK!

There are times when cultivators have an amazing ability to use their supernatural strength and power to do amazing feats, like destroy boulders with a single punch. Or cut down large trees with a singular knife hand strike. There are also times when that added strength makes it so mundane tasks like dragging your foot on the ground and trying to appear smooth while doing so causes embarrassment. In James’ case this embarrassment was caused by the ear squelching sound that his nicely polished shoes managed to scream out, as they were mercilessly dragged squealing across the smoothly polished floors. Fortunately, James was able to stop, but only after his action caused a wildly deafening sound to be heard and alert every cultivator in the area of a possible threat.

Pause.

There was a clear pause, as everyone stopped to stare at James. Well, two things didn’t stop. First, the music fortunately was still playing on its final few seconds, and the other thing that saved James was the fact that while Frank and Yolinda both glanced in James’ direction, neither of the two stopped their rhythmic dance with each other.

Seeing their continued movement, and even the disapproving head shake from his little sister James could only feel somewhat embarrassed.

Even Captain Perinne could only just stand there and look at him, though to James’ great relief she just began smiling brightly as it seemed that she could no longer hold back her laughter.

For a moment, James thought about breaking away and calling it quits, as that was what the old James would have done. Yet, seeing that the Captain was at least smiling, told James that he still had a chance.

Smiling James decided to play up his mistake, “so dance is an expression of the soul?”

Dah-ha-ha-haa-ha. You know this is true.

At that the song gracefully changed before James had to burn any more rubber from his awkward movements. This song was fortunately a lot slower, and one that required James to get intimately close with the Captain.

“Yeah, and your soul still seems to be that loud and awkward boy that I fell in love with all those years ago.” Captain Perinne stated.

Badump, badump, badump.

Hearing her, James paused almost inadvertently knocking knees with the Captain as he paused for just a moment too long. Only now did James realize that the Captain had taken both the lead in the conversation and the lead in the dance that they were both performing together.

Then just as quickly as he paused, he moved to his correct position and finally began to speak a step later, “wait you mean it?”

Chuckle.

As she laughed, the blue strands of the Captains hair began to glow in an oddly pulsing pattern. James remembered this, as this was something that he always found interesting while talking to the exotic beauty, the way her hair would seemingly pulse at random.

“What, you still don’t understand the messages that I am sending?” She asked.

At that, James looked at her, and her flashing hair and paused as he began to wonder. “Are you trying to seduce me with your hair?”

Chuckle.

“Oh, man, you are so stupid sometimes.” Captain Perinne stated, and was about to go on, but she was cut off.

KABOOOM!

A giant rumbling force shook the ground, causing the music system to cut out, and suddenly leaving a number of cultivators all in a confusion. Then the power began to fade, leaving only emergency lights and the hairs of the cultivators who had come from the lower levels to light up the area. Surprisingly there were quite a few in place.

Glow.

Just as everyone else was getting used to how low the level of light was, a giant burst of purple light began to shine. Turning towards the light, Frank looked around, and then seemingly relaxed when he caught sight of James.

Seeing the look in his eyes, James paused, then asked the question that he had been hoping to avoid.

“Is it happening?”

“It’s happening.” James confirmed.

RUMBLE!

Then like that, James felt the ground shake as what could only be described as a minor earthquake erupted around them.