(BL) Hunting The Field Guide - Chapter 116

Chapter 116: The first wave Chapter 116: The first wave The ride in the elevator down to the Guiding Division was quiet.

Brent had picked up a few more shakes on his way out of the training room and was busy draining them into his body.

He still looked thin, but he was slowly gaining colour back into his face.  The three Guides who had witnessed everything, and had been guiding, were still pale and slightly shaking.

Kellen wasn’t sure if it was from his outburst, or if they needed more shakes like Brent.

Either way, he was planning to grab some shakes once they arrived to the Division proper.  Keeping an eye on them as the doors opened for the elevator, Brent led the way while Kellen took up the back with the three Guides in the center.

Brent opened the door, and they found that inside of the Division was a mess.

People were running all over the place, and Guide Anderson was barking orders out to others.

He had a hard look on his face, which told Kellen that he had been briefed on what was happening.  Kellen glanced around the room, noticing that some of the older Guides had similar expressions.

He assumed that they were the few that Casper trusted, and it was confirmed when Guide Anderson spoke to them, and with his help they began organizing the rest of the Guides into small groups to interview.

A few Espers entered into the Guiding Division behind Kellen’s group, and headed directly for Guide Anderson.

From their grim expressions, they were here to oversee everything.  Much to Kellen’s surprise, Pamela was one of them.

Her eyes were glowing the pink shade of her powers, and Kellen was surprised to find that her companion Esper had the same shade.

It gave a hint to what her powers were, but he wasn’t going to ask.

She didn’t even acknowledge Kellen as she breezed past him in civilian clothes.  Kellen turned his attention to a small group of Guides who had tucked themselves into some couches out of the way of everyone else.

It was about half an hour past when their class should have starters, but no one seemed to be anxious to get going.

Instead, they were clearly worried about what was going on.  At first, when they caught sight of the two Field Guides in their uniforms, they seemed to perk up, until they saw the shell shocked, pale faces of their fellow Guides.  “W-What happened?” One of the braver Guides asked.  “We got a lesson in what not to do.” Bree answered coldly, and half of them froze.

Kellen watched as their eyes darted around the room, taking note of who was and who wasn’t here, and he narrowed his eyes.

He smiled at them.  “Now, who wants to admit that they were doing something wrong before we find out that you did something wrong?” Brent, who still looked gaunt, but now had colour in his face, asked, a smile on his face.

The look in his eyes gave away his anger.  Horrified, most of the Guides admitted to doing something wrong immediately without more threats.

They were also clear that most of them that had joined the class and were waiting down here had only done it once or twice before their conscience got to them.

Casper would be the judge of that.  The fact that none of them came forward, and it was Gwen, not even one of the Espers who was being affected that broke this news to them, told Kellen a lot.

Someone insidious had taken hold in the Guides of the Guiding Division, and it was going to take a lot of manpower on Casper’s part to weed it out.

He was not looking forward to it.  The one thing Kellen could say that was in favour for them is that they did appear to be riddled with guilt, where the others upstairs had not.

Sure, some had thrown up, but Kellen was sure it was more about the fact that the consequences of their actions had caught up to them.

Nothing more, nothing less.  That being said, while Kellen was raiding the shake fridge for Bree and her two other Guide companions, he spoke to Guide Anderson and had him jot down the names of those in his class that should be questioned more.

Guide Anderson, who was understandably busy, took a second to do as he asked, while also making sure that Kellen drank a shake as well.

When Kellen gave him a look, the man smiled at him softly, easily.  “Guide Woods, I work with Lieutenant Casper.

Your glare, at least when it comes to this, doesn’t affect me.

Drink a shake please, it will give me some peace of mind.” His words were lightly teasing, and Kellen was happy to see that the man that Casper kept around him at least took care of him properly.

Kellen patted him on the back, draining the shake, before tossing it into the recycling and grabbing an armful.  “You’re a good man, Guide Anderson.

Let us know if you need any help.

Brent offered himself up as a Guide, I don’t know if Casper told you that yet, but wait until we finish our two lessons before putting him to work.

Today is going to be a long day.” He sighed at Kellen’s words.  “Lieutenant Casper had informed me of that, and I was of the same mind, but I appreciate you letting me know.

I hope that your class goes well, Guide Woods.” He smiled at Kellen, before looking over his shoulder at the chaos of the office space.

He sighed.

“It’s going to be a long, long day.

Hopefully the Lieutenant will be here soon.” Kellen nodded, before heading back to the group.  Brent was hovering over them like a hawk, and with his scar, and still sharp features added with the all black outfit, he was sure that the new students weren’t going to fuck around for a while.  Kellen approached Bree and the others, offering them the shakes which they took, before he offered the spares to Brent.

Brent poured them into his body like a faucet, and it was clear from some of the expressions on the Guides faces that they had never pushed themselves this far.  Oh, if they survived today, they were in for one hell of a first month.

It was clear that in his absence, nothing was spoken about.

Not what happened, nor why everyone was running around.

The group clearly wanted to know, but the three Guides who had witnessed it were keeping their mouths shut.

Kellen appreciated the show of loyalty, even if it was tinged with fear.  Kellen was already tired, and they hadn’t even officially started their classes yet.

Brent was already drained.

Kellen had started the day being excited to do well, and then all of this shit hit the fan.  One of the small blessings was the fact that most of the morning class had been unaffected.

They had lost five from the idiots upstairs, but gained two from the afternoon class.

That meant that there was only a three person loss in the morning, but a seven person loss in the afternoon.

It might even be more.

Kellen just hoped that those on the backup list were serious, since there were now vacancies.  Once Brent, Bree, and the other two finished their shakes, it was Kellen’s turn to lead everyone to the elevators.

Kellen took the first group up, while Brent went with the second.  It wasn’t a happy affair, with both Brent and Kellen feeling grim about the outcome already.

They’d lost the spark of hope for their class with the long term stunt pulled by the powerful few of the Guiding Division.

But Kellen knew that if they remained in this awful, dark headspace, they were going to awful teachers, and awful examples of what a good Field Guide was.

And that was against everything Kellen stood for.  So, while in the elevator, he took a few seconds to collect himself, before putting his game face on.

He wasn’t going to let some pieces of absolute shit ruin his day, ruin his plans, and ruin what the Guild had helped him set up.

They were not going to take this away from him.  When he met Brent in the lobby of the obstacle floor, it seemed that he had come to the same conclusion.

Nodding to each other, they led the group into the obstacle room.  When the twelve of them stepped into the obstacle room, a few of them gasped.  “What the hell?” One of them muttered as they looked around in wonder.

It was clear that they had either never stepped foot into this room before, or they had never seen it set up like this before.

Kellen felt a little smug at either response.  “Alright, first things first, grab a booklet and find your size of uniform.

The change rooms are directly across from us on the right hand side.

No shoes are allowed, so take them off and put them in the cubbies to the left of the door.” Kellen ordered, and watched as all of them scrambled to do as they were directed.  Brent stood by the uniforms, helping them find the right sizes.

Kellen and Brent obviously hadn’t gotten them the jackets yet, since that was the hardest to source items of the uniform, but just the base uniforms.

With all of the straps.

It was important for them to get used to the feel on their bodies, since they would get tighter once they had several items shoved into the straps.  It took about 10-15 minutes for everyone to get changed, and when they came out, it felt a little surreal.

To see so many people in the same uniform felt a little overwhelming, but in a good way.

They did seem uncomfortable though, and Kellen noticed that they all seemed to be fiddling with a part that they found particularly uncomfortable.

Most were playing with the straps, but some were playing with their collars and the like.

Brent joined Kellen near the door so that they could whisper to each other.  “I feel like a proud parent seeing them all in uniform.” He murmured, and Kellen chuckled, crossing his arms.  “A little too soon, don’t you think?

What if we aren’t proud of anything they accomplish today?” Kellen thought back to only a little while ago, while he stood in piss and blood, and his hands clenched.

Brent chuckled.  “Then we get the back up roster, minus Bree.

She’s stuck with us.” He said, and Kellen nodded.

“Poor thing.

She can’t escape from us.” The two swung their gaze towards the purple haired girl, who felt their gazes on her.

She turned and looked at them over her shoulder, clearly nervous, and Brent snorted.  “Did you say anything about her previous training to me?” He asked, and Kellen shrugged.

“Maybe?

I remember Casper telling me she did some basic training, and that it was a little more advanced then what Guides normally go through, but that’s all I can remember right now.” Kellen said, and Brent chuckled, shaking his head.  “We need to remember to be kinder.

We can’t scare everyone away.” Kellen raised his eyebrow at Brent’s statement.  “Really?

I would have thought you would have wanted to scare everyone away.

You know, less students for you to worry about.” Brent’s eyes were hard as he smiled.

“And then I got to look into the face of what we’re working against, and I decided that I would rather have students, then people who would betray everything I worked for.” Ah.

A solid reason.

Now that they had made Brent serious, there was no going back.

This program was going to succeed, whether they liked it or not.

CREATORS’ THOUGHTS CalyB And so Bree’s fate is sealed, and the first day of lessons begins.