章 28: Fast like a field guide

The room that Casper had taken Kellen to was on the higher levels of the tower. It wasn't quite classified as a space for just Espers, but Kellen knew that most Guides wouldn't dare to step foot in here. Fortunately, Kellen wasn't most Guides.

It was like a giant play room. An obstacle course built just for those who had awakened powers. To the left of the entrance were a bunch of cubbies for outside shoes, while to the right was a large space with mats on the ground. Kellen assumed it was a warm up space so you didn't sprain anything. Tucked to the right was a doorway marked for change rooms and bathrooms. In the far distance Kellen could see a large old school board with names scribbled and ranked. He couldn't read the names from this far away, but he could guess. He bet either Gunther or Ms. Hill was on those lists. But the main focal point of the space was the obstacle course itself.

It was giant, and made Kellen's mouth water. With rope swings, rock walls, pits of foam under long stretches of climbing...Kellen was in dreamland. It was unconscious, him kicking off his shoes and shoving them in a cubby. Casper watched the Guide, a smile playing on his lips as the man's blue eyes lit up from within. He hadn't seen him this excited before. He was sure that when he told the Captain about how excited the younger Guide had been, he wouldn't be very pleased that he'd missed it.

"You look like a kid in a candy store. I can tell you'll be back here." Casper chuckled as Kellen nodded.

"Why didn't you show me this place yesterday?" His tone was slightly accusatory as he began to notice others in the room too. Realising they weren't alone, Kellen pulled himself together slightly. He took his time removing his socks and jacket, rolling up the sleeves on his shirt underneath before adding them to his shoes. Casper's faint smile had become a real one as he watched the Guide move.

"Well, I can see that I made a mistake now. I didn't know you'd be this excited." He stared in the direction that Kellen was looking. The giant boards. "Shall I time you?" He asked as the Field Guide dropped into a few stretches, warming up his muscles.

"Not on the first run." He told him, and Casper laughed. The two heard laughter from nearby and realised that some Espers had been listening into their conversation. Casper stiffened at the sound, since he knew that the Espers were making fun of them from the tone of their laughter. It wasn't good intentioned like Casper's had been. Kellen, who'd been brought here to work off some steam, grinned. "Why? Is it a hard course?" He asked Casper, hoping one of the fools bit the bait.

"Well, it might be hard for Guides, but this is a B Class obstacle course. For us, it's easy." The Esper who approached them boasted. Casper, who hadn't even seen Kellen in action because he was one of those Guides who never left the city, snorted.

"I hear only Hill, Gunther and Jason have completed this course. Are you saying you can but you just haven't?" He demanded and the Esper scoffed. He either knew who Casper was and didn't care, or had no idea and assumed we were two dumb Guides. Kellen couldn't wipe the grin from his face.

"Of course. I can do anything they can." The Esper puffed his chest, clearly bragging to the two Guides. Casper turned and rolled his eyes, while Kellen, who had been stretching this whole time, finished and got to his feet.

"Alright Casper, time us. Whoever gets the best time wins, right? And then you have to admit that a Guide beat you." Kellen told the Esper, who smirked at him.

"Why would I race against you?" He asked. Kellen could tell Casper was going to explode soon, and could feel the sternly worded email in his bones. His lips turned up slightly.

"Because of your pride, obviously. Or are you afraid I am going to get a better time than you?" He taunted, and the Esper fell for it hook, line, and sinker. His face even turned purple at the taunt. He stormed towards the beginning of the course.

"You're not even going to make it a quarter of the way, Guide!" He shouted and Kellen watched as Casper's hands shook. He was vibrating, his was so angry. Kellen placed his hand over the others, giving it a squeeze. When Casper met his gaze, he gave a wink. Kellen had dealt with these kinds before, and they were his favourite type too. Kellen was in a great mood as he was about to wreck this man's whole month.

"You can use my phone as a timer." Kellen offered, handing over everything in his pockets before moving towards the angry Esper. Kellen was in a great mood, while the man next to him was furious. "Count down for us, Casper!" He shouted. The Esper shot him a dirty look, but Kellen grinned in response.

"Three, two, one!" Kellen shot off, scaling the wall in front of him in seconds. He wasn't thinking about his next move, instead letting his body take control. It was times like this where he was glad he'd put in all of his training. He was able to trust himself as he scaled, climbed, jumped, crawled, swung and ran through the obstacle course, leaving the Esper in the dust. He felt exhilarated as he moved, his muscles contracting and releasing, dust kicking up in his face. It wasn't like being in a gate, but Kellen felt that without building a simulation room, this was the closest he was going to get. Kellen couldn't stop his face from splitting with a stupid grin as he used a rope to throw himself at the next platform. There was a point where he almost lost his grip while high up in the air and he could hear people gasping below him. Kellen was able to get to the next platform safely and clapping filled the air. Kellen absorbed their praise and ran with it, finishing the course by reaching the final platform and ringing the bell. Cheers and clapping filled the air as Kellen took a minute to gather his breath, grinning wildly. He was up on a higher platform, and he found the ladder down easily, but instead turned his gaze further, towards the small crowd that had gathered. Casper stood there, his eyes sparkling behind his glasses while Kellen did a sweep and couldn't even find the Esper who had originally challenge him. Casper raced forward once he realised Kellen had seen him.

"You beat Gunther's record!" He told him excitedly before gesturing wildly behind him. Kellen turned his head and didn't see anything at his eye level, before dropping his gaze and realised he now had a clear view of the boards. They were clearly score boards dating back to the first obstacle course. The most recent was erasable, but the others must have been redone in permanent marker showing the top three from the previous course. Kellen noticed that Gunther and Hill's names covered the boards. Gunther's was more often than not at the top, with Hill either trailing or topping him in some courses. Well well well. Kellen had no idea that this would ignite his competitive spirit, but here he was. Kellen, having caught his breath used the ladder to get down, meeting the excited Casper at the base. "That was amazing! I've never seen someone move like that before. How the hell did you manage that?" He asked quickly, and Kellen pushed his hair out his face, grinning.

"I like moving." He told him simply, and Casper shook his head. Casper grabbed Kellen's arm, dragging him towards the score board and methodically moved everyone's name down until Kellen's took the top place, along with his time. He was surprised. He hadn't realised he'd beaten Gunther by such a wide margin. He had no idea that Gunther was so slow.

"Hey hey hey, what's this? I heard something was going on here and I find that a fucking Guide has dethroned me?" Kellen turned and found both Ms. Hill and Gunther making their way towards the two Guides. Both of the Espers were still in their work out clothes provided by the Guild, and Kellen wasn't sure if they had just come from teaching a class or not. Gunther was grinning, taking the sting out of his words.

"Well if you weren't so slow, Gunther, a Guide wouldn't have dethroned you." Kellen said, grinning and Gunther shook his head.

"Not fair. I wasn't even here. I demand a rematch. I worked hard for that title." He protested and Kellen scoffed.

"You worked hard? That was my first run. I'm only going to get faster from here." He countered and Ms. Hill chuckled.

"Boys, boys. Calm down. The testosterone is getting a little heavy. Why don't all three of us try, hmm? Make it a fun competition?" She added, her smile just as wide as Kellen's. He offered his hand to both of them to shake on, and they stood there, shaking each other's hand with a menacing grin on their faces. Casper was shaking his head behind them, surprised that Kellen was just as bad as the Espers.

"Ah! Before that, come with me Kellen. Rhys'd be pissed at me if you tore your uniform." Gunther said, releasing their hands. Ms. Hill waved them off as Gunther led Kellen to the men's change room and found him a fresh set of clothes that fit him. Kellen changed quickly, shoving his folded uniform into the cubby his shoes occupied. Then, the two joined Ms. Hill where she was waiting at the starting line.

"Alright. I'll count down again." Casper called, holding onto three phones for timing purposes. "Ready? Three, two, one!" Unlike the first time Kellen ran the course, the other two were right beside him when he took off. They were neck in neck as they scaled the wall. Every step of the way, they were right at Kellen's heels. Ms. Hill had the advantage of her strength to get through everything. Gunther, who was a Water Elemental Esper, wasn't using his powers. That didn't mean the man wasn't flowing like water over the course. He moved faster than Kellen thought possible, but Kellen was still able to keep a lead on them somehow, trusting his body and years of experience to take him where he needed to go. When Kellen grabbed the bell at the end of the course and gave it a ring, he felt a wave of adrenaline rush through his body. His grin was even wider then before. Gunther came next, but by mere seconds as Ms. Hill was right behind him.

"Argh, damn it!" She yelled as she rang the bell. All three of them were panting, and Gunther placed his hand on Kellen's shoulder.

"That was amazing man. Fuck. I'm pissed you beat me. Twice." Ms. Hill collapsed on the platform, breathing heavily.

"You damn men with your longer reach." She muttered and Kellen laughed.

"It was impressive to watch you use your strength Ms. Hill." He said, and she glared at the man. It was the first time he'd seen her not smile or happy in a while.

"You motherfucker. You had enough time to look behind you and see what I was doing? Fuck you Kellen." She growled. "Also, if you keep calling me Ms. Hill after whooping my ass like that, I'm going to send you to the medical bay." Kellen laughed even as he felt a shiver go down his spine.

"Alright, I'll just call you Hill then." Her eyes narrowed, but she nodded. Gunther sighed.

"That was great. We should do that again sometime. I'm a little disappointed that Rhys didn't get to see us, but there will always be another time." Gunther exhaled before offering a hand to Hill to help her up. Kellen went down the ladder first with them following. Once at the bottom, Kellen realised how drenched he was. Using the bottom on his shirt, he wiped his face.

"You keep filling out, Kellen!" Hill called and Kellen glanced up, dropping his shirt, confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked and she shook her head at the beefcake.

"Your muscles? They're coming back." Oh. He pulled up his shirt again to stare at the body forming in front of him. He forgot that if he used a lot of his powers at once, the body would go back to the preferred structure after he had consumed enough calories. Of course, that usually meant that the body was just for show, unless you were Kellen. A man who liked nothing to be for show. That didn't mean that every Guide was like him with a chiseled body. He was only like this because he'd been working out since before he awoke as a Guide. Most had their body return to a normal human state.

"You're right. Maybe I just wasn't eating enough before." Kellen pondered. He had been getting skinnier when he was at Guiding Center B. Maybe he had been using more calories for guiding than he had thought? Casper shook his head at their words.

"Ignoring the fact that Kellen is now exactly the Captain's type, it appears as if all the Espers who are supposed to be your willing volunteers are here now, Kellen. Mmm, maybe with a few for spares. Shall we head over now?" It wasn't until that moment that Kellen thought, maybe the three lieutenants were here for a reason. Like, maybe, they were here to tell the other members of the Guild exactly how well Kellen knew them. Glancing between the three of them, he tried to get a read on their expressions. Gunther had his eyes closed, breathing softly with a smile on his face. Hill was jostling with a different Esper who had a grin on their face. Casper was changing the times on the score board. No, he was thinking too much. That was something the Captain might do, but not these three.

"Oh, Hill, remember when you asked if I had anyone else in mind, just in case? I'm thinkig we should hire him no matter what since he has a lot of experience. That and I don't want him to get poached by someone else now that I'm part of a guild." Hill stopped her roughhousing and became serious. She brushed some of her short curls out of her face.

"Oh? Someone who you know that I don't" Who is he?" She asked, and Kellen could tell everyone else was listening in as a grin split his face.

"Well, I worked with the Saturn Guild while I sent him away to everyone else. It's my former partner, Brent Jameson. A rare A Class freelance Field Guide. Don't say that you know that though when you message him. He tries to keep that part a secret." He winked at Hill and she smirked. "You should drop that you know me, otherwise you might have a hard time getting a response from him." He added. He watched, stunned, as she pulled a lollipop out her pants pocket and had it in her mouth within the next second. Kellen checked his pants and found he had no pockets. Where had she gotten those from?

"Alright, if little Kellen is so sure about him, I'll reach out right away. I'm excited since you personally dropped his name, and called him your partner. He must be good." She paused, raising her hand to pause Kellen as Casper joined him at his side. "Oh, before I forget. Be gentle with the Espers I chose Kellen. They delicate. They haven't met many Guides like you." She turned with a wave and headed off towards the score board where a group of Espers were forming. Gunther however, joined the two Guides.

"I'm here to monitor the training session, just in case. Rhys would have come but he's in a meeting with the D.E.C. and the Nemesis Guild right now. Don't worry, if the Espers get a little too rowdy I'll crack some skulls." Gunther added, his black eyes sparkling. Casper sighed, running his hand through his hair.

"We don't have Green to fix them if you do that, so just choke them out instead." He offered calmly, and Kellen was reminded that even though Casper hadn't gone to the front lines like he had, he had been working with people like Hill. He had a feeling nothing truly phased him.