Seed Of Speed

In a large, private sparring ten people gathered and chatted as everyone arrived. The moment Jalu saw Diego, she jumped out of Rainshower's arms and landed on top of his head, where she refused to move from. Diego made all of the introductions as the team leader, except for Adapt Flowingrock, who he had yet to meet. She certainly had a unique look among all of the people Diego had met so far, but that did not necessarily mean she was pretty.

Flowingrock had jet black hair, which was unseen throughout the desert people, and her skin was a reddish-brown. Her face was scarred by some sort of claw, turning her left eye completely white, which she tried to hide with her long hair. Her right eye was a piercing blue color, yet another uncommon color in the desert. She was timid and quiet, always trying to escape from any attention throw her way by only responding with short answers and slightly hiding behind Silverflame. It was clear by the way she grabbed at his sleeve that their relationship was close, if not intimate.

Thankfully, Stormblade, Tovao, and the Hammer and Flail Brother had big enough personalities to cover up her silence and take the spotlight. The four of them laughed and joked until Diego finally calmed them down and explain what he was wanting.

"Thank you, everyone, for coming and being willing to help me on this expedition. Hopefully, after this trip, we can all get to know each other quite well and, when we get back, I can register all of us as an official team. Before we get to that point though, we need learn to work together. Since it would be difficult to gather a random group of ten or hard to ask another core disciple's team to spar, I thought it would be good for us to spar against each other," Diego announced.

"My idea was to have Rainshower, as our healer, sit out of the actual practice. Although she is gifted with Water Magics aside from healing, we all know that her power will be weakened out in the desert unless she relies on mana-water which is very expensive. Otherwise, I say we break into groups of four and I will have a clone help both teams as we spar against each other. I will also keep my true body using my Soul-Singer abilities so that you all can get an understanding of how much energy I can return to you," Diego explained.

There were a few smothered laughs and chuckles from the group, in particular Stormblade and Tovao, no doubt making fun of the fluffy white fox perched on his head. Diego's eyebrow twitched for a moment before he sent two weak {Thunder Bullets} straight at them, hitting both squarely between the eyes.

"Does anyone have questions or suggestions?" Diego asked.

"Are you sure you want to waste your mana making clones? It is a very limited method of fighting," Silverflame said.

Diego chuckled and replied, "My clones are a bit unique. Although they are limited in quantity, the quality is far more than your average clone. My master, Swordflash, has accepted my form of fighting and allows me to use them in our spars, unlike my Soul-Singer abilities."

"Then I apologize," Silverflame said with a slight bow.

"Anyone else?... Then how about we split into teams? Silverflame, Flowingrock, Kang, and Tovao should be one team while Stormblade, Moonfall, Kibal, and Korto be the other."

Diego purposely separated Silverflame and Flowingrock from Kibal and Korto as the two pairs had the best synergy of the entire group. Since teamwork was supposed to be the most important part in passing their group test, he planned to use his clones to target the weaker members of the different groups, so that the others would have to work together to fend off his pesky bullets. As the two teams separated, Diego used his [Speed Clone] skill and sent one into each group.

"Remember, this is just a friendly spar so that we can work on our teamwork and get a feel for everyone's abilities," Diego reminded.

Flowingrock tugged on Silverflame's sleeve and nodded towards the group without saying anything, but he understood her easily.

"Flowingrock would like to cast {Sandstone Armor} on everyone. I suggest that if the armor is broken, that person will be 'dead'," Silverflame explained.

"That's a wonderful idea, thank you, Flowingrock," Diego replied with a bow.

Flowingrock raised a hand and Diego could 'feel' the flow of mana that she sent out. A small bit circled around her feet while the rest rushed through the sand to circle everyone else, but Rainshower. It was as if the sand came alive as it started to crawl up everyone's legs and wrap itself around their bodies. Once everything below their neck was covered by lose sand, the grains rushed in together and solidified into a b.r.e.a.s.tplate, bracers, and greaves. Moonfall, Stormblade, Kibal, Korto, and one of Diego's clones made their way to the right while the other four and a second clone of Diego's moved to the right.

"I need to be undisturbed for a minute to cast one of my custom illusion spell and victory will be guaranteed," Moonfall said.

"But how hard would it be to do that in a true battle situation? Even if we could prevent them from targeting you for this duel, it would only work one time, and, for our test, the other team would likely know of your skills," Diego replied.

"What about lesser forms of the spell? With my limits with mana, I've had to learn how to stack multiple spells together to break up the drain," Stormblade suggested.

"That is something I can work on in the future, but I won't be able to come up with it on the spot," Moonfall said while puffing her cheeks with a pouty expression.

Diego chuckled and placed a hand on her head then said, "No one expects you to create something new that quickly, it's just an idea for the future. How about you focus more on minor illusions and other simple spells to help everyone for now?"

"Fine," she said then stuck out her tongue in a playful manner.

On the other side of the room, a similar discussion of tactics was happening.

"What can you tell us about their skills? Obviously, I know Stormblade's ability," Silverflame asked.

Diego chuckled and shrugged, replying, "It's not really fair if I tell you, right?"

"Moonfall is Brightmelody's senior disciple-sister, so she should be skilled in illusions," Kibal said with a smirk.

"Illusions? That could prove to be a problem. We must make sure she doesn't have the time to cast any large spell. Flowingrock, we need you to focus on her as you're skilled with long distance attacks. Don't worry, you just need to make her move a little every few seconds so that she can't build a large Sigil," Silverflame said.

"What about Kang Chan? He is the top martial apprentice in the sect, and can even rival average shamans with his ability," Korto asked.

"He is that impressive?" Silverflame asked, surprised.

"He is well-known for diverting spells with his fists and kicks," Kibal agreed with a vigorous nod.

"Then can you two tie down Tovao and Stormblade while I deal with him? He may be skilled against apprentice shaman, but an adapt's magic is far more pure and harder to counter without true magic," Silverflame said.

"Tovao won't be a problem, but Stormblade can be tricky if he tries to keep away from us," Kibal said.

Diego laughed and said, "Poor Tovao, I think he is the weakest of the whole group."

"Don't be too hard on him. It hasn't been six months since he joined while the rest of us have been here for two years, minimum. He is just unlucky to have a freak for a brother," Korto chuckled.

"That's not nice," Diego chuckled.

"Still a fact though," Kibal responded with a grin.

"The other side has made their preparations, are you guys ready?" Diego asked.

"Yes," Silverflame said with a nod.

The two groups spread out, almost as if on que, and looked across the sandy field from each other. In the middle of the room, against the side wall, Rainshower and Diego's true body stood, waiting for everyone to get ready. Once he heard both sides were ready, Diego's ki'ta appeared in his hands and he strummed out one of his favorite tunes: ACDC's "Back in Black".