"Is that the castle over there?" The history hunters were all looking off into the distance, where they could see what looked to be a castle by the coast.
"Yeah, unless there's another castle estate close to Drosstein that I don't know about," The leader replied. Ah, so close yet, so far. If they kept driving, they might arrive there before nightfall, but most likely, it would be dark by the time they arrived. So, all of them decided to take a break at the lakeside like Martin had suggested before. They all figured that Mr. Hartmann wouldn't mind if they arrived an hour or so later. They didn't set an exact time to meet, plus they could always make some sort of excuse. Maybe if they were lucky, Mr. Hartmann would let them stay the night and serve them dinner. If not, they would have to stay the night in the nearby town. Anyway, it was a beautiful day out, and they needed a break from being crammed inside that van. Especially the ones with new bodies.
Martin and Owen were checking the route to the estate. These country roads could get confusing, and the last thing they needed was to get lost. Meanwhile, Scottie was gathering all his new tools while also taking a moment to straighten out the back of the van. He took a quick glance at the safebox that now contained the Eon Chronical. Owen had asked them to put the thing in their safe box if they weren't using it. Scottie was pretty sure that Owen wanted to do that just because he was scared of the thing, but it was still a good idea to do that anyway. It would be a disaster if it got damaged or stolen. He doubted anyone wanted to use it again now. Not until they got a chance to test out their new bodies, at least. Speaking of which, Lucky was walking toward the lakeside with a sword and shield in hand. Right, let's see what this new body can do.
Lucky took a deep breath, got into a stance his brain now knew, and began doing practice swings. It was almost scary how his brain now knew how to do all of this, but at this moment, all the knight was focusing on was his form. It wasn't long before the spectacle drew in some attention. Owen and Martin had seen what was going on and approached. They were quite impressed at Lucky's new martial skill strength. The knight wasn't wearing a shirt, so they could see how his muscles ripple with each swing. Still, even with an audience watching, Lucky was solely focused on his sword swings. He was imagining facing off against enemy knights, bandits, and even a dragon or two. Finally, with one final cry, Lucky swung the sword with all his might to finish this brief practice session. After that last swing, the sound of a small applause came from behind him. It was then that Lucky finally realized he had an audience.
"Well done, Lucky. Quite an impressive show," Martin complimenting him like this was a bit embarrassing, but Lucky was still happy to hear it. "Hmmm, I did say I wanted to figure out which one of us was stronger earlier, didn't I? Shall I grab my sword as well, so we can finally determine that?" But before Lucky to reply, Owen quickly chimed in.
"Hey, I like seeing two people having a friendly fight as much as the next bloke, but I'm not sure using those swords to do that is a good idea. Those swords aren't exactly for practice, and we only have a first aid kit if one of you gets hurt." Ugh, as much as they wanted to ignore Owen, both Lucky and Martin knew he was right. It was certainly strange that Owen was turning into the voice of reason in their group. Probably had to do with the fact he was scared shitless of what was happening so that he couldn't be his normal surly and impulsive self.
"Shit, you're right." Needless to say, Martin was disappointed. Well, maybe they could still salvage this. "Well, how about a different competition then? Perhaps a bit of wrestling?" Owen almost stopped breathing when he heard this suggestion. With how sexually confused he was now, he did not need that mental image. Lucky, in contrast, seemed less than impressed.
"A fine competition, for sure. But one that you're surely to win. There's no way I could win a wrestling competition against a Roman Legionary. Perhaps a simple competition like arm wrestling? A tad boring, but..."
"Actually, I might have an idea that might work." Everyone flinched as they turned to where the voice was coming from. It was Scottie, carrying two large branches that had been cut down and turned into a pair of poles. Scottie had gotten so close to them, and none of them didn't even notice him until he spoke up. Was this something that they were going to have to get used to if Scottie chose to remain a ninja? "Why don't you use these poles as training swords? Just as long as you don't hit each other in the face, I think these will be mostly safe."
The rest of the History Hunters were still a bit taken aback by how quickly and quietly Scottie was able to work, but at least Lucky and Martin shrugged it off as they were eager to test their might. The two of them grabbed the poles and faced off. The air seemed to have become thicker, and the mood got tenser. A change in mood caused by the two warriors putting their pride on the line in this fight. It might have been a bit overdramatic for a friendly spar, but they were warriors now; they lived to be the strongest.
"Alright. Remember, don't attack the head. You two ready?" Scottie was the only thing standing between two titans of war. Before, he would be worried, but these two titans were his friends, not to mention he could probably take them on now. Anyway, the two warriors nodded in affirmation. "Alright then. Fight!"
As Scottie quickly backed away, the two warriors clashed. Fiercely, they swung their poles at each other with power and precision. It was borderline a miracle that the poles didn't snap in two. It wasn't the power in their swings that was impressive, though. It was all their movements, their footwork, their dodges; every small movement was impressive. To Owen and Scottie, it was like watching a stage show. Well, if the artifact-hunting gig didn't work out, they could always perform for Medieval Times or something like that. Eventually, one warrior had taken the upper hand. Lucky had found an opening and swept Martin's legs, causing the Roman to topple over. That was it. Lucky had won their little spar.
The other guys clapped for Lucky as he helped up Martin. The leader obviously had mixed feelings about this. One part of him was disappointed that he lost, but the other was happy to have a good match and that he had such a skilled friend and subordinate.
"Nice job, Lucky. But I'll be the one to beat you next time."
"Heh, we'll see about that. Phew, that was a good workout; I'm all sweaty now." Yeah, both of the warriors had a sheen of sweat on them. It made Owen gulp as he noticed how good they looked right now.
"Yeah, me two. Want to go take a dip in the lake then to cool off? I know none of us packed swimsuits, but no one's here to watch us skinnydip." Martin took a brief glance at Owen, which Lucky had noticed.
"Yeah, that sounds great right now. How about you, Owen? You want to join us?" This time Owen almost choked at Lucky's words.
"S-skinny dipping? If you wanted to go swimming, why didn't you buy a swimsuit when you were at the mall?!" Though obviously, that wasn't the reason why he was so flustered. Being naked and vulnerable between two beefed-up warriors when he was already thinking unnecessary thoughts?
"Sorry, buddy, guess I was just busy thinking about everything that just slipped my mind," Martin replied. Although, by his tone, it was clear he didn't really care if he forgot or not. "Don't worry Owen, no one's going to come here and everything that happens here will stay here." Owen was about to say something, but Lucky, sensing that Owen was going to resist, spoke up first.
"Besides, it isn't like you to not want to do something like this. Don't you want to show us how a real man looks or something? Don't tell me you're afraid of showing a little skin?"
"What?! No, I'm not scared! I... I just don't want to Scot- Scottie?" It was only then that they noticed that Scottie had disappeared again, without them noticing again. It was going to take them a while, but it looked like this was going to be something that they were just going to get used to. Anyway, with Scottie gone, Owen couldn't think of any more excuses. "Okay, fine. Just, you guys go on ahead. I'll... grab the towels."
Lucky and Martin agree to that, thankfully. As he was walking away, Owen looked back and quickly snapped forward again. Stop thinking about their butts Owen, that's super degenerative thinking. Stop thinking about how round and firm... NO! Ugh, he was using this moment to clear his head, not to fill it up more with any more confusing thoughts. The Eon chronicle messing with everyone's mind was already too much for him, so to add all of this on top of it? Maybe... it wouldn't be a bad idea to just go focus on the Eon Chronicle and see where all these confusing thoughts go? That was the last thought Owen had in his brain before he found himself in front of the van where he found Scottie with towels in hand. Guess they both had the same idea.
"Hey, Owen. You're not going to be running away from this, are you?" Scottie chuckled. Man, between what happened between him and Lucky and whatever was going on between Owen and Martin, everyone was really sexually charged, not to mention feeling really gay. Guess this was a side effect of so much testosterone running through their bodies now and not a woman in sight. He wondered if this would escalate into a foursome or something like that. Mmmmh, maybe that would be fun.
Meanwhile, Owen was about to yell at Scottie before he realized something. This might be the only time for him and Scottie to speak privately about the Eon Chronicle. But how was he going to convince him? Was he going to have to use his brain? Oh no.
"N-no, of course not. Uh, by the way. Do you remember where the name Eon Chronicle came from?" Well, that question was enough to stop Scottie. What a weird question to ask. Was this Owen trying to get out of skinny dipping, or trying to get rid of the Eon Chronicle again?
"Huh? What do you mean? Martin was the one who told us after we took this job..." Despite how confident he said that, there was something that felt off to him. Perhaps it was because Scottie wanted to keep his mind after he transformed that a part of that mindset still remained.
"Are you sure?" At this point, Owen was desperate for Scottie, or anyone to believe him. He rather not be considered the crazy one of the group. "I don't know if you'd believe me, but we never got a name. All we knew was that we were supposed to find some device in some bunker. We never knew the name, or at least Martin never told us."
"Alright, I'm not sure if I should, but I trust you." The relief that washed over Owen's face probably just proved this to be true. How concerning. "Hey, why don't you go ahead? I need to put away a few things, okay?"
Owen agreed, and Scottie did what he said. After he did though, the Ninja then glanced in the direction of Drosstein. There were so many unanswered questions about the Eon Chronicle, and maybe there were answers at Drosstein. You know, with his new skills, maybe he could uncover those secrets.