Author's Notes:

Warning, if you are not caught up with Balance, Life of a Nobody and Grey Hearts, then you may/will get lost.

Location: World 44KJHZ50 (Bolitaria)
Reflection: ZZ94T
Report: #384F34G0 (Walkers)
Operative(s): Patches the Hyena
Operation Task: Trannie Training
Report #: 1/7

It had been four days since Clementine brought her friends to this world. Shortly after she and Zeke’s family left. Now they wait. The group all sat around the Boletarian palace arch stone. Mostly because old fears of something out in the woods kept in their minds.

“So, when do you think Clementine will be back?” Tenn asked.

“Hopefully soon.” A.J said. “I miss her…”

“She will.” Violet said. “She...she has to.”

“Yeah, but when?” Louis asked. “It’s been days. I know she’s...something else now, some kinda uber magical girl but...we’ve mostly been just helping the people here hunt and gather stuff.”

“It’s a nice castle though.” Willy threw in. “Like out of a fairy tale.”

“I think we are in one now Willy.”

“Yeah, went from walking corpses to demon armageddon recovering world… some fucking fairy tale.” Violet sighed. “At least the issue here is pretty much done with. Though hard to tell what’s worse. Walkers or demons?”

“At least these demons no longer have the numbers walkers do.” Willy said.

“They are strong though… and can use weapons.” Mitch added.

“Fair point…”

“This is some kinda… fever dream if ya think about it. First Clem disappears for weeks, appears back with all kind of magic weapons and powers, she was even bullet proof!” Ruby recalled. “Got magic swords and magic guns… what can they even do?”

“From what we saw Clem doing with them… a lot.” Violet said.

“Yeah.” AJ agreed.

“Alright then you lot!” Entered a man clad in leather armor, shield and spear both sporting clear Keychains. “Time to get off your asses.”

“And, who the hell are you?” Violet asked.

“The name’s Patches. Patches the Hyena.” He introduced. “Ol’ Master Thomas put me in charge of training you lot til he gets back from his meetings in New Daybreak H.Q.”

“Training?” AJ asked.

“Yeah training. You got Keyblades, well I’m gonna teach you brats to use them proper.”

“And where do you get off calling us brats?” Mitch asked. “There’s eight of us and just one of-” Mitch suddenly found himself in Patches grasp, flung into the air, til he was out of sight. The event made everyone stand and back up.

“Now then,” Patches said, turning to face the others. “Any objections?” Everyone shook their heads in response. “Good.” Patches said, counting with his fingers down from three. At two Mitch could be heard screaming, and after one Patches caught him and placed him belly first onto the ground. “Now then, off to the woods.”

As Patches opened the gates and walked into the outside forrest, the others helped Mitch up. “Mitch, are you alright?” AJ asked.

“I… I swear… I think I crapped my pants…” Mitch replied.

Louis took a sniff, and yes, the noticeable smell of feces began to fill the air. “Yeah… I can tell.” Louis said, waving away the stink from his nose.

Once Mitch was in some clean pants and washed up a bit, the group met up with patches in the forest. Tall giant trees reaching to the heavens surrounded them. “Alright then, first and foremost, bring out your Keyblades.” Patchs said, the group doing so. “Perfect. Now then, show me just how hard you lot can hit with them. Hit a tree, and I'll evaluate how much you’ll need work.”

The first up was Violet, who struck at a tree but didn’t get very deep in it at all. Louis, Ruby and Tenn didn’t do much better. Mitch got about half way before his Keyblade got stuck in the tree. Willy didn’t even make a scratch. Omar and Asim got as far as Mitch did. Aj however managed to make a clean slice along the trunk of the massive tree. “Very impressive for such a little fella.” Patches said with approval ad AJ’s inborn skill. “Now that I know where each of you stand, I can show you where I want you all to be.”Patched summoned his spear-Keyblade, the tip glowed for a faint moment before he thrusted forwards, a powerful burst of air followed suit as countless trees in front of him were all now missing five feet wide holes of themselves, some of them even falling over as their stability failed them. The group dropped their jaws. “And I’m not even a Keyblade Master.” Patches added.

“What can a Master do?” Louis asked.

“Much, much more.” Patches answered simply. “First off, basics. We start with blocking, and we need to see in which you all fall into in terms of your abilities. Depending on strength you can use either one or two hands to aid in blocking. If physically you are weaker, magic can be incorporated into your defenses.”

“And how does that work?” Violet asked.

“A Reflect spell.” Patches said, demonstrating as he was covered in a glass like barrier for a short time before it faded. “A simple and often essential spell for combat.”

“Why not just always use it then?” Ruby asked.

“Because it requires magic to use of course. Only those who have an excessive amount of magic can use it as a constant form of blocking.”

“Wait, it’s called reflect? Does it… counter blocked damage?” Asim asked.

“Yes, glad you noticed.” Patches said with a smile. “Physical and magical.”

“Okay, so then teach us already.” Violet said. “Our world is littered with undead freaks and we’d like to save if.”

“So was mine, and then some. Now look at it. Just a few months ago this forrest was covered in fog littered with soulless husks of former humans and demons. Now it’s back to its natural glory. Granted there’s like only five of us left, but plenty of real estate for anyone who wants to move to another world. Just not in the Valley of Defilement, place is not suited for life other than insects.”

“With a name like that I can see…”

“Yes. Now then, a simple attack to practice is Strike Raid. It has other elemental variations, but we will focus on it’s basic form.” Patches demonstrated the attack. “Notice that it actually returns to you, meaning that when you throw it, it’s acting like a boomerang, returning to your grip.”

Nodding, the group began practicing the attack. Aj managed to get it on the second try, and the others all followed suit quickly. “Haha! This is awesome!” Louis cheered, catching the return of his weapon.

“Good, you all catch on quick. Next are Finishers.”

“Finishers?” AJ asked.

“Yes. When attacking the ideal strikes before retreating or backing up to avoid attacks are three consecutive hits, a finisher is a more powerful fourth and final strike before rushing back. Mine is called Heat slash. A simple but effective finisher that deals some extra damage with fire by lighting the tip of my key-spear on fire before the strike. There are many to learn and while it is possible to learn them all and shift between them, it's easier to stick to the ones that you develop and come across naturally.”

“So what is our finishers?” Asim asked.

“Everyone starts at the first, simply named Finish. A jump with a full body weight swing down on your target. Simple, and easy to preform.”

“And how do we learn these other Finishers?” Violet asked.

“Over time they will activate for you on their own. Their information can be learned and practiced through texts, but your Keyblade will give you them and their information when you are ready for it.”

“Our Keyblades?” AJ asked.

“Yes. Keyblades choose their masters, they have minds of their own and personality, only few can hear their voices.”

“Like Clementine?”

“Yes. Especially her and the others like her.” Patches said. “Now, onto something much more fun. Command Shifts, and Shotlocks.”

“Sounds fun.” Willy said.

“Oh they are. Command Shifts activate after performing a certain amount of any combination of attacks, special attacks mind you, or spells. They adjust your normal combat style and provide quite the kick to your attacks. Shotlocks are a means of focusing on a certain amount of enemies, then unleashing a powerful spell to deal with them. Now, interestingly most Shotlocks make you untouchable, but only while they are active and not all do this.”

“So use them often then?” Violet asked. “Shotlocks I mean.”

“They do have a cool down period, and they recharge in several ways. First is with items, second is by dealing damage to your opponent, or if you learn how by taking damage yourself, the more damaging the hits you take the quicker it recharges.”

“How do we learn abilities?” Louis asked.

“Same as with Shotlocks and most anything else, when you are ready, your Keyblade will give it to you, or, you can practice from textbooks.”

“Okay...how did you get so strong you were able to throw Mitch into the sky?” AJ asked.

“All part of managing your magic lad. Once you acquire a Keyblade you are given a certain amount of magic to use, depending on what your body can handle at the time. As you get stronger through training and combat, you can allocate more magic to yourself, this magic become split. Most goes to your body, allowing you to perform some abilities and even impressive feats that should be impossible, but to us, is natural as breathing.”

“Feets?” AJ asked.

“No, Feats AJ, F.E.A.T.S. it means doing what's impressive or even Impossible.” Louis clarified.

“Oh.” AJ said. “Like what? More aside from magic?”

Rather than reply, Patches turned to the nearest tall tree, taking a running start then running up it at the 90° angle and even around the large trunk without even leaning or missing a step. He then stopped, falling a lethal height but landing safely to his feet, unharmed. “Like that.” He said to his jaw dropped students.

Report end. Continued in later report.