When Cheiron finally let them go to bed, near midnight, he warned them they better go straight to bed. Anyone caught out of his or her dorm would have detention.
The next morning, they all staggered out of bed, starving and ready for a nice breakfast of sludge, but Cheiron was waiting.
“To the training hall.”
“What?” Iolaus asked. “What about breakfast?”
“None this morning,” was the reply.
“And classes?” Herc asked.
“None, either. Now go!”
“How does he expect us to anything without food,” moaned Iolaus.
“Maybe he’ll have some sort of party or something in the training hall for working so hard last night?” Jason suggested.
“Doubtful,” muttered Iolaus.
“This is ridiculous!” cried Casche. “I can’t concentrate! I’m starving and tired and hungry…”
“Me, too,” agreed Iolaus.
The cadets piled into the training hall, slightly refreshed from sleep, but even hungrier than the night before. Once inside, Cheiron yelled, “Split into groups again. Number 84!”
“But that’s the hardest one!” whined Casche.
“Exactly,” was Cheiron’s reply. “If you can do it starved and exhausted then you can do it when you are fresh. Now go!”
At first, the cadets tried to push past their hunger and fatigue, but they soon got clumbsy and Cheiron got angry.
“Weak and pathetic! You’re all weak and pathetic!”
“Maybe we wouldn’t be if you cut us some slack,” muttered Hercules.
“What was that, Hercules?” Cheiron snapped.
Hercules repeated what he said, defiantly. His reply was “Detention.”
“This is madness!” Hercules complained to his friends. “He never acts like this!”
“That’s why he’s teaching us a lesson,” explained Jason.
“I’m not so sure,” replied Herc.
“Maybe he’s finally showing his true side,” some Spartan cadet they had never seen before suggested. “He is a beast after all.”
Hercules growled. “That’s not true and you know it. Take it back.”
The Spartan laughed. “Make me, god-boy.”
“Oh, I’ll make you.” Hercules clenched his fists, but Alayia put a hand on his shoulder.
“Fighting among ourselves will do no good.”
Hercules nodded. “You’re right.” The Spartan wandered off. Hercules looked around for Cheiron, but saw that he went to eat the breakfast denied to the cadets. Herc smirked, jumped onto one of the balance beams, and whistled to get everyone’s attention.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but Cheiron thinks we’re nothing. Are we nothing?”
The cadets looked around at each other, unsure of what to say. Hercules looked pleadingly at his friends. Iolaus understood and shouted, “No!”
Herc grinned and continued. “Cheiron thinks he got us. Does he got us?”
“No!” answered Hercules’s sparing group.
Herc thought for a second, then shouted, “Even though we don’t got uniforms, we’re an army just by saying so. And Cheiron will know.”
The cadets all cheered as Herc bit his lip, deciding what to say next. He took a deep breath, then said, “What’s it gonna take to stop the drills? Are we ready?”
A giant “Yeah!” rang through the hall.
“Cheiron will know!” continued Hercules. “And Fedicious, too. Mister Fiddle-Face have we got news for you!”
Iolaus jumped up with Hercules, and shouted, “Cheiron will hear what we’ve got to say; that we’ve been doing drills, but we’re making them today.”
Herc nodded. “When the tardy bell starts ringing, will we hear it?” He was met with a “No!” so went on: “What if Strife and Discord come out swinging, will we hear it?” Again, the cadets answered, “No!”
“When you’ve got a hundred voices singing,” Jason added, “who can hear a lousy whistle blow?”
“And Cheiron will know,” Iolaus and Hercules shouted in unison, “that this ain’t no game!”
“We’ve got a ton of rotten mush and perfect aim,” Casche laughed.
“He gave his word,” said a cadet.
“But it ain’t worth beans,” answered another.
“Well, he’ll see what concentration really means,” commented Hercules.
“And Cheiron will know. And Cheiron will learn,” Jason told his fellow cadets.
“And Cheiron will wonder how we make the tables turn,” added Iolaus.
“And Cheiron will see that we had to choose,” Herc continued.
“The things we do today will be tomorrow’s news!” Alayia said.
“And the old will fall,” Herc told them all, “and the young stand tall. And the time is now.”
“And our ranks will grow!” Jason added on.
“And grow,” agreed Iolaus.
Herc nodded. “And grow.”
In unison, all three of the cadets shouted, “And Cheiron will feel the fire and finally know!” They led the cadets out of the room, through the halls, and out of the front as everyone yelled “STRIKE!”
Casche
Posted on Apr 7, 2006, 7:18 PM from IP address 152.163.100.136
