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Training. It was on Deryk's mind quite a bit. He wanted to be proficient at his job. What better, than to do a training exercise? The various list of things he could do were all interesting, but for now the Sun Hunter course grabbed his attention. Right now, he could use a little more fighting experience still. Sparring with other trainees did well for that, but this sounded like it would do pretty well too.

He wasn't really confident he could do too well on his own, though. So, he went on to see who else would be up for doing a course with him.

Right now, he wasn't too familiar with anyone just yet, but there were a few hunters whom he had spoken with a few times. After spotting Wilson once, he made the offer to see if he'd be up for tackling the shadows.

And so there they were, preparing for things to begin.

"You ready for this? I think I'm ready. Not sure what to expect. Heard this is really tough," he said while letting Tooley out, taking a moment to look over his hidden blade. Taking on multiple opponents with such a close range weapon was going to be a challenge.

But hey. If Altair and Ezio could do it, he could too... right?

"Is it that hard? Hadn't had a chance to do any of the courses yet."

Deryk was now slightly apprehensive about doing this course, but it was too late to turn back now. Taking in a deep breath, he nodded to the other trainee, extending the hidden blade ahead of time.

"Alright. Let's do this. Perhaps we can beat this together." he said with a sense of determination. Not wanting to dally too long, he went on into the tunnel, waiting for the first signs of shadowlings to appear. He hadn't really seen the things before so he wasn't entirely certain what to expect. Other than dark blobs that is.

From what he could tell, that was about right as far as their description went.



Tooley had a point, and this was quite apparent as the first wave came towards them. As the shadowlings drew close, the blonde hunter slashed and stabbed into them, defeating a handful withe relative ease.

"Aw come on don't say that. Course is probably really tough. Yes," Deryk nodded while looking around to see where the next shadowlings would pop up. They came, and before he knew it, they were swarming all over Wilson.

"Ack! Wilson!" he cried out while watching as his partner was overwhelmed before too long.

At least a senior hunter had come by to save the guy before anything horrendous could happen, but this didn't make him feel too good about the rest of this training run.

Tooley hummed.

Looking up, Deryk was quickly reminded that he was being attacked. He did as Tooley said, jumping to the left as some shadowlings attacked. Once he landed, he slashed out a small group, dispatching them.

It was a shame Wilson hadn’t been conscious to see Derryk’s defeat. It would’ve comforted him somewhat, although the fact that Derryk had taken out nine shadowlings while he had taken out an impressive number of zero still would’ve stung.

Luckily, it wasn’t long until Wilson slowly came to. He breathed deeply then realized his mask was gone. Gramps? Wilson forced his eyes open and attempted to remember what he had just been doing. [About time you woke up, Youngin’. They’re almost done bandaging you.] “Bwuh?” As he pushed himself up he finally understood—there was a hunter kneeling next to him, humming quietly as he wrapped some bandages around the trainee’s arms.

“Finally came to? That was quick,” the elder hunter chimed with an approving nod of his head.

“I’m used to it, I suppose.” A wry smile, then his eyes widened. Derryk! “The other trainee, Derryk. Is he okay?” The hunter half-nodded his head to the side and Wilson’s gaze followed. He slowly got to his feet to walk over to Derryk, who appeared to be waking up as well. Wilson abruptly sat down, wincing as he did so. [Obviously, we need to do some more work on this course.] Inside his mind, he laughed uneasily. He crossed his legs and wrapped his arms around them. Frowning, Wilson scratched his head. “Soooo. Uh, how did you do? Did you get very far? Certainly farther than I did.” He chuckled.

Wilson grinned at Deryk. He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck as he took note of his own sores and bruises incurred from the shadowlings. Mutely, the trainee nodded his head as Deryk informed him of what had happened after the first wave. “Third wave, huh? Not bad. Now if only I could’ve made it that far with you.” He laughed. “And yeah, we’ll be feeling the aftereffects tomorrow.” His smile turned pained while he hung his head. Perhaps the injuries wouldn’t be too irritating; he was starting to become used to being injured and beat up now. Something he would have never imagined before coming to the island.

“Oh, yeah I’m fine. Those senior hunters are pretty good at getting others out of their fairly quick.” Wilson turned to his side so he could stretch out his legs. “You probably some sort of weakness or hesitation. Those things are really ruthless about that. Just one small moment and they won’t hesitate to take advantage of it.” It had taken him the first couple tries to realize this.

Wilson nodded his head sympathetically. “Yeah. I can definitely see why it’d be a good idea to practice not to hesitate, but I agree—sometimes you just can’t stop yourself from taking that crucial pause.” Then he broke out into a grin as the other trainee rubbed his side, obviously sore.

He couldn’t stop himself from weakly laughing when Derryk mentioned the senior hunters. Yes, Wilson was very thankful for their presence. Otherwise he probably would have died because of his failure ages ago. Rolling his neck, he winced at the twinges of pain. “Yeah, perhaps we will, but I have a feeling that this kind of stuff isn’t exactly my forte.” Wilson tried not to groan. It only meant he would have to run this course even more. He stood up and offered a hand to him. “Well, I guess they’re in the Sun division for a reason.” He shrugged, but winced once more.

“Yeah, all that jazz.” He wiggled his fingers. What was this thing called, jazz hands? “Yeah. Gathering intel and analyzing stuff on the scene, right?” Wilson didn’t mind doing those things, but he wasn’t the bookish type. He liked being outside and doing physical things, although he admitted that doing drills over and over would tire him out quickly. “So, I guess that’s it, huh?” Wilson rolled his shoulders. “I think I’m calling it quits for today.”