Don the Hero

Principle Cruise's eyes twitched when he heard Don's reply. Cruise was looked back at his actions to see what he had done wrong. he had shown his superiority while showing that he was a gentle approachable soul. He had made up the perfect principle persona but was still rejected. 'should I have gone for a more 'hot blooded more fists than talk' approach?' He thought this for a second before he quickly dismissed that idea. He quickly went back to his normal gentle demeanor and turned back to smile at Don.

"Really? You don't want to attend this school?" Don shook his head. He had never thought of being an Adventurer nor did he much reason to be one.

"I am pretty young so I still have a few years to decide on what I want to do. I already have a few ideas and none of them have much to do with adventuring." Principle Cruise looked at Don weirdly. This was the first time he had heard a child with such promise say that. In the past he had dupe-err I mean encouraged many talented students into joining his school. With his legendary genius stealing rep, he had earned many years of scorn from principles in other academies.

Although he has been doing this for years, this was the first time he had seen a child like Don. A child who seemed to not care about being an adventurer at all. He had to admit that the only reason he discovered the boy was because of his shadow and because he wanted to help his brother.

Suddenly an idea sprouted in Cruise's head. He quickly changed his composer to that of a more pitiful old man and sighed.

"It is too bad... I had thought that... well never mind" This peaked Don's curiosity and he could help but ask,

"What did you think?" Cruise smiled as he saw that his trap was working.

"I have been thought that I had seen something in you. You see from a young age I have been able to spot those with destinies. I see that in the future...You will face many hardships but your will is strong. I also see that after facing those hardships, you will become a hero like no other. one that is able to protect the world!" Principle Cruise was all over the place. posing and gripping his hand in a stance for justice. As he had hoped, this made Don's eyes sparkled with naive wonder.

From a young age he had always loved the stories told of Taurask and the other 11 heroes. Although he had stayed away from Taurask due to the expectation of being a strong will warrior type, He still loved the principles that the stories thought. While the other children would usually fight over being the 12 heroes, he would gladly stick to playing a supporting role. Even now, as he had grown a little older, his dream has never changed. To protect his village from danger and to him, his village was his world.

Cruise sweated a bit as he continued along with his ramble. He had been hoping that the young child would not be able to spot his bullshit. In honesty, he was just spilling all the things he remembered his great grandchildren talking about. Kids these day all want to be heroes. After a bit more nonsense he quickly Wrapped in all in a nice bow.

"All in all, I can see that the future may be tough but with your talent and this school careful care, i know that you will be able to rise up through it all! Now what do you say?" Don snapped out of his day dream as he heard this and seriously contemplated for a good while. Although he had his childish ideas, he was not the type to make big decisions without thinking about it. After some thought, he finally replied to the old man.

"HMM... Well it does sound interesting; well I will ask my parents to see what they think about it." The old man smiled sneakily as he heard this. 'This is basically in the bag!' The old man thought. He had done his research well before approaching Don. He knew that the boy had come with his parents and his siblings who were also taking the exam for the academy. Cruise was quite thankful for the couple to not only have one talented child but 3!. What made him even happier was the master of one of the children. It just so happens that that master was an old student of the academy. With him there he would be able to trick the gullible village Couple even more easily.

"Perfect! what are we waiting for!" Without a second thought, Cruise grabbed Don by the arm and sped towards were the Finch were sitting worriedly. Like a flash, Finch saw their son appear before them. The poor couple almost had a heart attack at the scene. The old man graciously smiled as soon as he saw the couple which calmed their hearts.

Teacher Zen seeing the old man, quickly stood up from his seat and bowed respectfully to him.

"It is an honor to meet you again, Principle Cruise!" Cruise smiled warmly at his old student. 'Who would have thought that a random graduate would have such luck. he laughed softly at this thought.

"Ho ho ho. I am also honored to meet and former student. It is not so common for many of my old Students to come and greet this weak old man." Zen could not help but twitch his eyes as he heard this. 'My dear old Principle, if you can be considered weak after running 100 meters in less than as second then what am i? dirt' of course this was only Zen's inner thought. he had long already found out about the true face under the mask.

"Ah.. you must be Don's parents. It is nice to meet you." The principle said to the Finches. The Finches looked anxiously at him.

"Yes we are. Do you perhaps know our son Elijah, he was just taken away..." Betty said this with a worried face. Elijah looked so badly injured, it had triggered her memory of when they had discovered Don who did not wake up after a long torturous month. Cruise put a shoulder on the parents as he gave a meaningful expression which raised his charm up by at least 30 %!

"Do not fear, out medical team is one of the best in all of Vernia City. Your boy is in good hands. And from what I could see, his wound were only skin deep. there is no need to worry about long lasting injuries" The Finches face turned softer as they heard this. Unlike the couple, Don's face turned serious. Don had to have contact with Elijah to understand the full extent of his condition yet the old man only needed a glance. If his speed and the attitudes of the guards did not prove it then this proved that he was truly a strong fellow.

This was the second time he had felt this mysterious air in a person. The first was when he had seen the 12 adventurers from Beach town. He later discovered that this feeling was coming from Florence. The feeling of a wolf in sheep's clothing. If he was only interested in the school a bit before, now he was determined to go to the school. But unlike before, his reason is to protect his siblings from this weird old man. Although the feeling he gave off was different from Florence, he still did not put his guard down.

After a bit of small talk, Cruise quickly introduced the idea of Don joining the school. He had already won the couple over and the rest was just filler talk to make them even more trapped in his web of charm. Whenever the parents wanted Don's opinion he would simply nod. After looking at the Pros and Cons a bit, they quickly agreed to the idea.

'And another bait snatched' Cruise thought in delight. little did he know that his 'little bait' already had a bad impression of him and had already seen through his facade.

After a bit casual talk, Cruise said his farewells to the Finch family and teacher Zen before finally appearing in front of Valentine who was watching the semifinals. At this moment, Drew had already finished his match and was waiting on Mark and Maryline to see who would join him in the semifinals.

"So that is the new kid you wrangled in huh?" The old man tried to act innocent as he saw the dark face of the vice principle. Valentine could only scoff at the old man's acts.

"What is so special about the boy anyway? even I can tell that he hasn't even awakened yet." The old men turned serious again as he heard this.

"That boy... spotted Z... No he stared right into Z's eyes" The old man said this quietly so that no one else would hear them.

Valentine gasped once she heard this. 'Z? How many years have I know that shadow yet I haven't been able to spot him... yet that pubescent.'

"Your luck is as impeccable as always Principle Cruise." The old man could not help but laugh vibrantly as he heard this.

"Ho ho ho. And to think I would be able to snatch him before the other principles could even get a whiff of him. My skills have truly only ripened with age like fine wine. HO HO HO!" Valentine's astounded face quickly changed to one of distain. 'You truly cannot even stay serious for more than a minute Principle...' Valentine decided to change the topic as to not hear the man's annoying laughter for another second.

"That boy is truly something." Miss Valentine said as she looked at boy with red hair that was battling Maryline. The old man nodded.

"He is definitely your type of student. He has gotten tops scores in every test so far and he would un doubtably get top scores in this test too." Valentine smirked as she heard this.

"So you agree with me that he is worthy of being MY student right?" The old man smiled wirily, he knew he had digged himself in a hole.

"Yes, yes. I won't fight over you with this one. Besides, I already have a student in mind."

"Other than the boy?" The old man nodded as he looked at the chubby short kid cheering his friend on.

"You might have an eye for talent but I have an eye for compatibility and that boy suits me quite well. HO HO HO HO!"

Valentine shook her head as she saw the finale blow of the match. Mark had finally blown Maryline off the stage. Although it took longer for the battle to end, Mark still only had a few more bruises on him while Maryline was taken by the Medical team quickly. Luckily she had far less injuries compared to Elijah and was still conscious when she left. Before she left, She looked at Mark one more time, eyes filled with hatred.

"In the future, I will beat you. Mark my words!" Maryline said this in a strained tone but Mark was still able to hear her. He smiled smugly and folded he hands as he replied.

"I will be waiting for you, miss"