Tunnel Rat Chapter 141 (Patreon)

The next few days flew by for Milo.

Basic Claw Drills. Sparring. Breakfast with Larry followed by stories of Larry in Flowerland. Engineering class. Lunch with Larry and dancing afterwards. Mining Class. Dinner with Arlothe and Cremona. Advanced Fighting Class followed by a bath and several hours studying arcane texts in the library.

He was busy, but happy. He monitored section E for troubles, and kept track of the days until the big swap meet event he was going to with Butch and the gang.

In the mornings he lead the beginning class in stretching, excercise, and basic claw and tail drills. This was followed by a bell of sparring without his spell enhancements. Gilad routinely used him as an opponent to illustrate attacks, blocks, and dodges. Then the two of them would spar with each of the students, and then let them fight with each other. All of the students were progressing well. Even the troublesome players seemed to have had a breakthrough in attitude, asking for tougher fights and more instruction. Blackwhisker's group were the most agressive and were learning at a fast pace spurred on by watching what Milo and Gilad could do.

Several of the students asked Tallsqueak the secret of his enhancements. He just said in a very serious voice that such magics were not for beginners, and recommended enrolling for classes at the Tower of Strife if they wished to pursue magic, or being a combination fighter. There was much discussion about the Spell Claw class and whether it was better than the Claw Wizard class.
After his day of dueling, Milo had noticed that the beginning class was getting larger. Students from the Tower of Strife were showing up to learn the basics of fighting, to add to their magic. They were a great source of amusement to the rest of the class. They barely knew how to use their tails, and were slow to dodge and claw at their opponents. The exception was the student who showed up the fourth day after the duels, wearing old burlap practice clothing, with her hair tied into a long braid.

Black Whisker told a joke asking, 'How many mages does it take to kill a spiderling? 4! One to get bit so they they know it's a spiderling, two to argue about what type of spiderling, and one to run get a guard to stomp on it.' The students from the tower were used to such jokes. The newcomer wasn't. When it came time to spar, the new student challenged Black Whisker. He accepted with a grin. His opponent was older than him, smaller, and a girl.

The two of them circled each other, and on his first claw attack, Black Whisker took a small scratch. His eyes got wide, he froze up, and then toppled over. Gilad slapped a palm on his forehead and shook his head from side to side. Then hands behind his back, he addressed the class. "It seems we need to state a few rules to keep things civil as you progress in power. This is a fighting class. Spells and enhancements are not used here. I do not break your bones with Quivering Claw attacks, Tallsqueak is not using his bone armor and magical claws, and from now on, Professor Cremona should refrain from showing what attacks using Poison Claw techniques can do."

"However, I see the need to add a special class next season where we will incorporate advanced techniques such as spells, enhancements, claw techniques, and dance moves. I'm sure the healers will love the extra experience they will get each class. And since she is working on her fighting style after many years, I invite Professor Cremona to attend our special advance class held here in the arena each night."

Cremona accepted both the admonishment for disrupting the class, as well as the invitation by bowing deeply. As the students who didn't know her realized who was standing next to them, they cleared a large space around her. The students from the tower rolled their eyes and smirked. Jokes about mages became extinct.

Milo was very curious about what techniques Cremon used. She showed up that night with her husband. Arlothe had no intention of fighting. He brought a comfy pillow to sit on and a huge bag of snacks to eat while he observed the fun. From the shadows, the eyes of curious students peered out. They hadn't explicity been told that this was a private practice, but none of them wanted to get to close.

Some of them had nearly fainted when they saw Larry lumber into the arena and begin his warm-up excercises. Larry was every nightmare they had been told about growing up. "Don't sneak a piece of cheese, you don't want to become a fiend! Don't stay out past last bell, you don't want the fiends to get you. Wash behind your ears or they'll grow so big people will think you're a fiend!"
Larry sitting passively and eating his food was one thing. Larry flexing his muscles and doing basic claw drills with 6-inch long claws was another.

Still, it seemed that neither Gilad or Tallsqueak was afraid to fight with Larry. Neither was Cremona when she arrived, although the shock on her face was one that Arlothe would treasure forever. Like Gilad, she had actually seen fiends fighting in the Spider Wars and knew what they could do. After her initial shock, she walked into the ring and was greeted by everyone.

Gilad spoke to them all. "This little group has grown, so let us talk a bit about the rules. Tallsqueak and I are both fighting with all of our abilities. I advise you to do the same, Cremona. Larry will push all three of us, and I think he has some surprises for you. Don't be afraid to use Poison Claw techniques, I think you will find that Tallsqueak an I are quite resistant to them, and we thank you for helping us with improving Strong Poison Resistance. Larry, I assume you have some resistance to poisons?"

Larry nodded. He had gotton much better figuring out the Blue Screens and knowing what the words meant. "Larry has Fiendish Resistance at level 1. It says that it is based on Larry's CON. Larry has a CON of 33."

Gilad paused but recovered his train of thought. "Thank you Larry. I think your special resistance will work against many things and hopefully you gain some experience Professor Cremona. Now, some rules:

If anyone wishes to stop fighting, call 'HOLD!' and we stop immediately, and administer healing potions.
If Larry seems upset, or angry, we should all take a break and have a cookie.
If your opponent is stunned or off balance, please refrain from using finishing blows. They tend to be messy."

Fighting began with Larry and Tallsqueak. Tallsqueak armored himself in bone, his claws gleamed, and his long tail moved in a complex pattern, ready to strike. Larry was hopping from foot to foot, smiling.

"Begin!"

Larry hopped straight at Tallsqueak, landing where he had been standing. Tallsqueak rolled to the side and came up ready to block Larry's claws. Instead, Larry had immediately begun a spinning kick. He didn't know where Tallsqueak was dodging, but anywhere around him was a target. Larry's large foot, adorned with a pink fuzzy baby weasel slipper caught him in the stomach and he went flying out of the ring to land flat on his back in front of several students from Clan Puffyfur, who helped him stand up.

Gilad calmy announced, "The next round will be Professor Cremona and Larry. I urge everyone to remember how quick Larry has become, and to use distance as a way to avoid his attacks. I thank Tallsqueak for giving us such a fine example of what happens when you don't."

Cremona entered the rink with some hesitation, but then threw away any concern. She was used to dueling with Arlothe and being electrocuted on a daily basis. Some bruises and cuts were a price she would to pay to get back into shape for claw fighting. The chance to improve her dueling ability was too good a chance to pass up. The chance to fight against a cheese fiend was a gift she should be thankful for.

"Begin."

This time, Larry spun in place, then hopped to the left, followed by three quick steps towards Cremona. He wasn't moving like a fiend! He was staying on two legs and it looked like it was dancing. Cremona quickly moved away, and began dodging as fast as she could, not knowing what she was facing. Eventurally she saw an opening and expelled a stinking cloud of toxic gas at Larry's head. "Larry can't see! Go away stinky cloud!" He waved his claws through the air, trying to disperse it.

Cremona raced forward and slashed at Larry's arm, leaving long slashes that bubbled a green ichor. Simultaneously she took a very hard blow to her head from Larry's tail, and was knocked unconscious. She came back to her senses a moment later. Arlothe had her head tilted back and was pouring a health potions down her throat. She held her head as it throbbed. "Oh, that hurts."

Tallsqueak and Larry were seated in the ring having cookies. Gilad was observing them. Larry's wound had quit expelling the poison from the slash, and had scabbed over already, half healed.

"That was an interesting bout. Larry, what did you learn?"

Larry finished his cookie first. It wasn't polite to talk with food in your mouth. "Larry learned that green girl has stinky clouds that make you not see. Larry needs to remember to move Larry's head out of cloud, and not wave and yell. "Shoo cloud, go away."
He took another cookie and then looked at Cremona. "Larry learned green girl makes lots of knows when she moves. Larry's ears told his tail to slap her. Now we have cookies. Larry likes cookies."

Arlothe laughed and Cremona was silent, wishing her stealth score was better. Mages didn't need to be sneaky, did they? Against a fiend, it seemed they did. That meant shouting out spells was right out, and she'd need to find a way to increase her stealth skills. Did Old Healer still have that huge maze in his basement? Maybe she and Arlothe should start having duels in it? First hit wins and play in the dark? Oh, that would be fun.

Gilad took a round with Larry, and Tallsqueak yelled, "Begin!" This round went much longer than the earlier two. Gilad danced in and out of Larry's reach, throwing punches and slashing at his opponent. Larry advanced with hops, spins, and quick steps, forcing his smaller opponent to constantly dodge around him. Larry landed several hits with his tail and claws, but Gilad always seemed to be blocking his blows and deflected most of the damage. After nearly ten minutes, Larry spun, Gilad appeared directly in front of him and thrust out with a hard punch to Larry's jaw, knocking him down.

Larry slowly got up, holding his head. He smiled and crawled over to the plate of cookies. "Larry needs cookie break." Gilad looked at his hand, noting he had broken two bones in it. "Tallsqueak? Please pass me a potion and I would appreciate you setting my bones and healing the breaks. Then I think it's time for you and Cremona to take a turn."

The bouts went on until halfway through 11th bell. They ended early, out of healing potions and cookies. All four opponents battered and bruise. Larry the least hurt, his fiendish regeneration fixing all but the most lethal of attacks in only a few minutes. Cremona was worst off, bruised from head to toe, limping and leaning on her husband.

The all sat in the mess hall as Bleusnout happily cooked them plate after plate of food, and listened to them talk about about the techniques each used and how to counter them. Larry ate the equivalent of three of his normal dinners, stretched and declared he was sleepy. Gilad also proclaimed himself ready for bed. Tallsqueak walked with the Professors to the Tower of Strife before going off to bathe and then retire to the Library for late night studies.