Chapter 56 Counting Sheep

Zack slapped Jake hard across the back as the short glasses-wearing assistant asked to tally up their points. However, Zack didn't get the reaction he wanted; Jake's body immediately tensed up as he screamed out loud, "Ouch!" Zack was shocked. "Oh, sorry 'bout that. I forgot that you're still a little sore," Zack apologized.

"A little?" Jake shot back. "You asshole! I'm still in agony over here." Jake's face was red-hot with pain, embarrassment, and anger. He threw a weak punch, but Zack dodged. Zack laughed as he blocked incoming attacks. "Okay, okay. I said I'm sorry, man. Jeez," Zack said.

"Oh, you're not sorry yet, you son of a bitch, but you will be," Jake replied. At this point, the pain from Jake's back became numb, and he was just having fun. "A strange concept for the young man to have," he thought. After a long time, he was having a good time. He clenched his teeth while smiling and threw another punch. This one had some speed and strength behind it and connected right on Zack's jaw. Both young men were surprised that the attack landed.

After a while, when the shock wore off, Zack had a devilish grin on his face. "Alright, shitbag, now it's on," Zack declared. Jake mirrored Zack's grin, and the two boys were setting up for round two until the voice of the short assistant interrupted. The man coughed and firmly said, "Excuse me, gentlemen. I don't have time for horseplay." The two boys stopped; a look of embarrassment shared equally on their faces.

"Now, if you please, allow me to tally up your points," the assistant continued. "Um, yeah, sure. Sorry about that," responded Jake. "Yeah, sorry. We got carried away," said Zack, smiling. He lightly nudged Jake, saying, "Alright, dude, you're up. You go first." Jake nodded and handed over all of his armbands. The assistant's face was unamused, but he took – well, more like snatched – Jake's armbands out of his hands as he proceeded to count.

Once he tallied up all the points, he was quite surprised that at least one of the boys had met the requirements. "Well," he said in a snooty voice, "color me surprised. Congratulations, you accumulated 101 points." Jake smiled to himself softly. "Great, that's great," he said, holding his head down, happy that the second phase for him was over.

Zack narrowed his eyes while looking at the short assistant. "Why the hell are you surprised?" Zack asked, but the man didn't give him a response. He held his hand out, gesturing for Zack's armbands. Zack glared at the man, but he handed all the armbands he had over. The man proceeded to count up his points. As he did, Jake turned to Zack and asked under his breath, "Hey, did you ever get the chance to count them up?"

"Nope," Zack responded. "I had time before, but that gorilla woman went ape shit, and I kinda forgot." Jake looked at the assistant counting the armbands – different colors, but mostly a mass of white-colored armbands. Jake felt a small pit in his stomach. He had passed the second phase, but he couldn't help but worry about Zack.

Jake turned and looked at Zack with a small look of worry on his face, but Zack just smirked. "Whatever happens, it'll be fine." The assistant kept on counting until he reached the end. His face frowned as if he had smelled something foul. He then rolled his eyes as he spoke, "Well, I guess, sir, you also pass." Jake's eyes went big with excitement. "You have accumulated 103 points." Jake smiled as he turned to look back at Zack, who was smirking himself. "I hope you two do well in the third phase," the assistant said, though both boys could tell he didn't mean it. He then nodded his head and walked away.

"Whew," came from Zack. "Wow, I actually passed. Yeah, I know, what a relief. If you didn't, then you would have got your ass kicked by that lady for nothing." The two stared at each other for a long while, then burst out laughing as they both fell back laughing onto the floor.

As that was happening, the bald assistant named T.K was overseeing the goings-on, and everything seemed to proceed smoothly. However, the more and more applicants that were being escorted out, the fewer there seemed to be overall. So, he grabbed his walkie-talkie to get in contact with Moon D. He clicked the button and then spoke into the walkie-talkie, "Sir," he said, pausing, waiting for a response. Soon after, the voice of Moon D chimed back, "T.K, my main man. How's it going down there?"

"Smoothly, but it seems we might have a problem," the excited announcer responded. "A problem, you say?" The voice of Moon D responded. "Yes, sir. It seems that a large multitude of applicants didn't pass the second phase of the exam. Only a small few are still around, meaning we probably won't have that many applicants for additional phases."

There was silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie. Then Moon D's voice came back, "Hmm, not that many passed, huh?" The man said. The assistant responded with a "Yes, sir." More silence, then Moon D spoke, "Well, I guess that means this year is a special short year." "A short year?" T.K asked. Moon D responded, and when he did, the bald assistant could hear the announcer smiling from ear to ear. "Guess we get to do something we haven't done in a long while."

As T.K and Moon D were having their discussion, we turn back to Zack and Jake laying on their backs side by side. The laughing fit they had was just starting to wind down as Zack lifted his arm up, displaying something to Jake. "Here," he said, and when Jake looked, he saw the katana he had given to Zack before they commenced their plan on Nebula. "Thanks for letting me borrow it."

Jake reached out his hand and grabbed the sword along with Zack. "No problem. I bet it was in better hands with you than me," he said as Zack let the sword go. Zack chuckled. "I don't know about that." Zack said, "I'm sorry if I was out of line, but I tried to unsheathe the sword."

Jake looked at Zack. "You did?" "Yeah, I did. I was in the zone, and I've never held one of the mystic blades before before with my own two hands before, so I had to at least give it a try." Jake asked, "It didn't even move an inch?" He said, smirking. "Turns out that sword doesn't see me as worthy."

Jake's face scrunched up. "What do you mean by that?" Jake asked, "Mean by what, that the sword didn't see you as worthy?" Zack narrowed his eyes in confusion. "You don't know? What the mystic blades truly are do you? they aren't just magic swords with power, but each is alive technically." Hearing this, Jake was shocked. "They are?" Zack said, looking directly at the ceiling. "It's said all of them are alive; they have their own personality and quirks, likes and dislikes. When it comes to the mystic swords, one has to be seen as worthy enough to even unsheathe them and use them in battle."

Jake just laid there, absorbing all the information. His own thoughts went back to when he fought Judas, when he unsheathed the sword for the first and only time. Was I worthy then? he thought. Then his mind went to what Nolan Sullivan said when he was told why he wasn't executed: because he was worthy enough to use it.

Jake shot up, then looked down at Zack. "If that's true, then why was I able to unsheathe the sword before but not now?" He looked at Zack, longing for an answer. The spiky-haired boy didn't know much himself. Zack shrugged. "I don't know. I guess something must have changed for the sword to view you differently. But I'm not the one you should be asking."

Jake's face scrunched up again. "Then who should I ask?" he said. Zack only smirked, then nodded his head towards the sword Jake held in his hands. Jake shot a glance at the sword, then back to Zack. "Are you kidding me?" Zack shook his head. "No. Like I said, all of the mystic swords are alive, which means they can speak. So why don't you ask it?"

Jake looked at the sword with the most confused look on his face. He thought everything Zack said was insane, but it couldn't hurt to try. But before he would even get the chance to try, the voice of T.K spoke to the applicants. Jake's attention switched from his sword to the bald assistant that was speaking. Even Zack shot up, looking at the man.

Now, in the auditorium, all there was where assistants and a handful of applicants left. Jake and Zack eyed who was left, and there were only twelve left, including themselves. "Ladies and gentlemen," T.K said in a deep voice, "because of the lack of applicants that passed the second phase and with the limited number of current applicants, we will now commence with the third and final phase."

"Wow, so soon," Zack thought. "And the third phase will be one-on-one battles."