Self-Defense Training

It'd been almost a full month of constant training, his body having been pushed to a limit he never thought he had before. He was tired and achy but still feeling pretty confident in his abilities. Every test Prompto had done, everything that had been tossed at him was passed with flying colors. He was a novice champion among die-hard veterans. At least when it came to guns and machinery based weapons he seemed to be a master of his own.

No one, so he'd heard, had ever really learned to truly harness the weapons in the way that he did. They called him a natural, a pro, almost as if he'd been born to use these particular kinds of arms. Because to be honest…he sucked at using a sword. Gladiolus told him it could take him years to master the use of a sword. Even with Ignis's daggers he didn't seem like a match. But with a simple gun in hand, all it took was the pull of the trigger to make the baddies turn to mush. Or the practice dummies anyway in this case.

"Bravo," his trainer said clapping his hands and walking closer to Prompto as the blond lowered the smoking pistol. The trainer was dressed in a traditional Crownsguard uniform, sword strapped to his side ever ready to defend if needed. "You've really improved since we started this weeks ago."

"Thanks," Prompto said giving a sheepish smile back as he rubbed at his head. "I've been working hard. Gotta be at my very best if I expect to help protect the prince after all." His eyes looked over at the dummies, one of which was barely hanging on from toppling over off its stick figure. Today was supposed to be his last day of training. If he could pass today's test, he'd be allowed to go with Noctis. He had to do his best even if it killed him. He clenched his hand before looking down at the small handgun he was gripping.

"Well once you finish up today's training, you'll be well on your way to the prince's side." Prompto stepped back feeling a nervous blush cover his cheeks when a woman came over handing the trainer a wooden sword before holding out a different gun to Prompto.

"Uh…t-t-thanks," Prompto said, hand shaking slightly when he picked up the gun before handing over the real weapon to her. He could never explain his nervousness around women. It did at least explain why he never had a girlfriend in high school. Being near them was one thing but talking to them took a whole new level of courage. He couldn't say he didn't hate himself for it. What guy couldn't get close to a cute girl? No way was that normal. No one would want a guy that couldn't talk to them.

Scratching the thought from his mind, Prompto looked up at the trainer as he held up the gun. "What are we using these for?" The trainer opened his mouth to answer but a commotion by the entrance distracted him as he turned to look before suddenly going to attention.

"Marshal." The trainer saluted quickly before his hand went back down, Prompto's eyes turning to look in confusion at the door seeing the middle aged man standing at there looking around. Other bystanders that had come to watch the training were either standing at attention or staring on in awe in the case of the maids. As the light blue eyes went around the room finally landing on Prompto, the young blond swallowed quickly before he panicked fumbling with the gun before giving a sloppy form of a salute.

"At ease," the marshal said getting quick mumblings of the word "sir" before the spectators scrambled out of the way to continue their observation. All eyes were on the marshal. Not that Prompto could blame them. The man radiated with power, with strength that seemed almost unsurpassable as his katana lay in quiet rest at his side. It sure made Prompto feel like there was some power there as the closer the marshal got to him, the more he felt like dropping to his knees and bowing his head at his feet for forgiveness. And he didn't even do anything wrong.

He remembered hearing rumors in his first few weeks of training, about the marshal who was commander for the Crownsguard. He was known by many as the Immortal Shogun, the man who had survived through so many battles it seemed impossible to kill him. He was one of the top best fighters in the Kingdom of Lucis.

Cor Leonis. That man, this legend as many had called him, was standing right here in this room and staring Prompto down the closer he got to him like he was ready to see heads roll.

The marshal stopped in front of him staring straight into his eyes and making Prompto nervously rub at his arm before he looked away quickly. Like a lion staring its prey down before dinner. That's what it felt like.

"What phase of training is he in now?" Cor asked, Prompto glancing up at him to find the eyes still on him even though he was speaking to the trainer.

"Final phase, sir," the trainer said giving another quick salute. "Once completed he'll be done with his self-defense training." Cor nodded his head as if approving of the answer before he turned around starting to walk away. Prompto found it easier to stare at his back feeling some sense of relief at the thought that the marshal was leaving. The receding sounds of the other's boots against the training room floor seemed to help ease the pounding in his chest.

But then the marshal turned around holding the sheath of his katana to him and used a thumb to push the weapon up slightly, his other hand coming around to grab the hilt of the katana looking somehow relaxed and ready to strike all at one time. Was that even possible? From the murmuring around the room and the fact that everyone had backed up against some part of the wall by the door as far away as they could told Prompto that this couldn't be good. It didn't help that more people had actually shown up, probably from the word spreading that the marshal was there.

"He'll complete his training with me then." Cor said, eyes flickering over to Prompto again making the blond tense up and almost feel the urge to want to escape. This felt so dangerous. He was really starting to wish the freaking commander of the Crownsguard hadn't been the one to decide to do a random visit and torture him. He admitted that in the past, he'd been curious about the guy. But right now, this was the last man on earth he wanted to see.

"S-Sir," the trainer said glancing at Prompto nervously before he looked at Cor again. "With all due respect, we can't just-"

"What have his scores been for his training?" Cor asked cutting the trainer off even though his eyes stay focused on Prompto as if he'd found a small fly he wanted to crush and refused to let escape his sights.

"Uh…." The trainer seemed thrown off by the question. When Prompto glanced over at him, he could see the sweat literally pouring down the man's face. Intimidation was definitely one of the marshal's strong points it seemed. The trainer seemed at a loss for answers, probably from the pressure suddenly being put on him. But thankfully the girl that gave Prompto his gun earlier ran over to the trainer and handed him a stack a papers that he seemed grateful to receive as he listed off the scores. "A ten out of ten on marksmanship, sir. His overall speed is a ten out of ten though his reaction time seems to lack a small percentage coming out as an eight out of ten at best."

"What about stamina?"

"Well…." The trainer hesitated at this glancing at Prompto apologetically as he spoke. "He is…lacking a bit when it comes to stamina. I think it might be because he doesn't use-"

"Make it quick."

"He sucks at it, sir," the trainer said finding no way to sugarcoat it.

"Hey!" Prompto said giving a hurtful glance at the trainer. He started to open his mouth to say more but clamped his lips shut when he saw Cor shifting positions. The marshal frowned staring across at Prompto as his arms came up to rest over his chest.

"I see." Was all Cor said not bothering to elaborate more on what it was he saw.

"See what?" Prompto didn't get an answer to his question and instead tensed up as he saw Cor starting to move walking over to him again. He came close, uncomfortably close, walking a small circle around him with his eyes flickering here and there around his body as if inspecting a brand new fighter dog. He stopped in front of Prompto again, looking into his eyes and making the younger male uncomfortable enough to look away. So weird.

"All the skills in the world won't do you any good if you're too tired to even fight." He didn't even look back as he held an arm out pointed towards the practice dummies. "Bring in new targets. I've heard of his skills but I'd like to see for myself what we have." Cor didn't even have to look back, the shuffle of feet moving as new targets were brought out and old ones taken away just from the simple order. Prompto kept his eyes looking away but the other forced him to look when he rested fingers on his chin turning Prompto's head to face him. "Show me what you've got."

Prompto stared up at him before nodding meekly stepping back to let the fingers drop away as he gave Cor a look. "I'll show you just how good I am. Watch me! I'm going to pass this training and go with Noct to Altissia!" Prompto held his gun up pointing it to the first target before he pulled the trigger, a rubber round firing and hitting the target leaving a red mark of paint in the middle of the target's head before he fired again hitting the same spot over and over until the gun clicked empty. He lifted a brow, giving a smirk of satisfaction as he looked over at Cor expecting the marshal to look impressed.

"You know how to shoot standing in place," Cor said not looking the least bit fascinated by it. "Good. You might live long enough to kill one enemy before you die." The smirk on Prompto's face died as he stared at him in shocked. Had this guy really just said that to him?

"You know, I'm really starting to think you're just one giant jerk, you know that?"

"I'm not here to be your friend," Cor said before he turned to the trainer giving him his katana and taking the wooden sword in his place. "Step back if you don't want to be hurt." Was the only warning he gave the trainer before his attention returned to Prompto.

"Ah…y…y-yes sir!" The trainer saluted him holding the katana like a newborn child before he took off running to join the others by the wall. The woman from before came over handing Prompto a couple of clips of the rubber bullets before giving him a worried look.

"Good luck," she said smiling encouragingly and giving him a wink that sent him blushing.

"T-Thanks," Prompto said nervously giving her a smile back and feeling relieved when she retreated to the others. He wondered about why she wished him good luck or why he needed so many clips before he tensed and leaned back just in time for the wooden sword to swing past his face. "Whoa, w-wait a minute! What the hell, man?"

"The enemy doesn't wait for your next move," the marshal said swinging at him again and giving a grunt when Prompto dodged the attack. "Your objective to pass is to eliminate your target while dodging my attacks." He didn't relent as he spoke, speaking easily as he came after Prompto again.

"There's no way I can do that and dodge your attacks at the same time!" Prompto said fumbling with pushing the clip into the gun while he ran to the other side of the room away from the crazed commander.

"If you can't then consider your training failed." Cor paused long enough to allow him to put the clip in, the wooden sword held against one shoulder as he seemed to glare at him. "There are a lot of dangers out there on the other side. A lot of creatures and daemons that you've never seen before. They won't hesitate to kill you nor are they going to wait around for you to reload your weapon. The others aren't going to have time protecting both you and the prince. To live, you have to adjust and adapt to the situations presented to you."

"That's easy to say when it's a life or death situation."

"…Alright then." Prompto tensed up at how coolly the words came out. He would have thought it was awesome how Cor just held his hand out and the trainer ran over trading out the wooden sword for the katana if it wasn't for the fact that he was the one on the receiving end of the commander's glare as the katana was gripped in his hand. "Let's turn this into a life or death situation then."

Prompto's eyes widened, his gun coming up just in time to block the other's blade as the marshal seemed to move like lightning with the blade aimed right at Prompto's head. He was strong and it took effort for Prompto to push the crazed man off him. He took off running hating he had nowhere to hide and recover, his breath already coming out in pants. Stamina. He really was bad when it came to stamina.

"You have a task to do to complete your training, right?"

"Huh?" Prompto ducked down hearing the voice behind him and was grateful he did since he heard the wipe of the katana going past where his head had just been. Was the commander seriously trying to kill him? "Are you insane!" Prompto used his body to roll dodging out of the way of another attack aimed at the floor he'd just been standing at. "Why are you seriously trying to kill me?" He scrambled to his feet running to get as far away as possible.

"Because this is the only way you're going to learn to defend yourself properly." Cursing, Prompto turned around aiming the gun at Cor before pulling the trigger, the bullet bouncing off Cor's katana when he held it up to block the shot. "You'll have to do better than that," Cor said heading his way. "Besides, you should be trying to destroy your target if you want to live."

Cor held his katana to his side, his thumb pushing up the blade from its sheath, his free hand gripping the hilt as he stared at Prompto. Whatever it was, whatever the action meant sent gasps and whispers around the room from the spectators. Cor's body suddenly seemed to slide forward, his katana coming out quickly and slashing in front of him. Despite not even being remotely close to Prompto, the force of his swing sent a powerful gust of wind into him knocking him off his feet and sending him tumbling backwards. His head bumped into the wall and he groaned out in pain reaching back to rub it as he looked up quickly for Cor.

The older man was still standing in front of him, the katana back in place in the sheath as if it had never come out. What the hell was that move he just did? Prompto pressed his hand against the wall struggling to stand feeling like his ears were still ringing as he tried to focus feeling disorientated. He shot the gun towards Cor pulling the trigger over and over not really aiming at him as he just struggled to move away from him.

"You're doing a poor job," Cor said knocking each of the rubber bullets away as he advanced on Prompto. "Give up?"

"I'm…going to…leave Insomnia with Noct," Prompto said moving behind one of the dummies as he slid down against the wall breathing hard. "I'm going with…Gladdy and Iggy." He reached for the last clip in his pocket shoving it into the gun before he closed his eyes trying to get his thoughts together. "I'm going to…do really cool things like ride chocobos and meet awesome people." He was starting to get his breath under control leaning over slightly to look at Cor watching his slow, cautious approach. He might have a chance at this. But it was literally going to be the only one he'd get. He needed to time this right.

"And I'm going to be the first person to best Marshal Cor Leonis, Commander of the Crownsguard in a stupid self-defense training course that tries to kill you."

"Oh really?" Cor lifted a brow at that and Prompto would have found it cute if he wasn't so pissed off with having to defend himself against the madman. He dodged out of the way as Cor came out slicing at him and chopping the training dummy in half, his eyes staying focused on Prompto as he sheath the weapon again. Prompto ran behind him and turned around aiming his gun again taking a couple of shots noticing just how fast Cor was. Was he even a human?

"Let's end this shall we?" Cor said standing in place and unhooking the katana with one thumb. It was the move Prompto was waiting for as he kept running away staring back trying to time the action. He waited. He waited until Cor slid forward about to pull his katana out before he turned making a beeline for him sliding down on his back to slide between the older man's legs before he took the gun firing rubber rounds the whole time he slid underneath. He could hear the wind of Cor's attack hitting the wall where Prompto had been standing at, the older man unable to stop the action in time.

Prompto laid there breathing hard, eyes clenched shut trying to catch his breath. If he didn't win this there was no point in even trying to pretend to keep going. He heard footsteps heading his way slowly and opened his eyes yelling out when he saw a hand thrust in front of his face. But he relaxed when it didn't do anything, hesitating before he reached out grabbing hold of the firm grip and being pulled up with ease by the commander as the older man give him a nod.

"You've done well," Cor said, three evident dots of red marks showing on his black coat. He rested a hand on Prompto's shoulder, his eyes softening a bit as he spoken again. "You remind me of another that used to fight alongside me that seemed to favor guns. While not my cup of tea, it does get the job done."

"Sir?" Prompto felt nervous looking into the eyes but he felt some relief when they turned away from him wondering why his heart had to start pounding so much when he was being stared at. Was it because of the praise from such a high standing guy?

"Consider your training complete. I'll come pick you up in the morning to take you to get your Crownsguard uniform from the Citadel."

"P-Pick me up?" Prompto said confused before Cor dropped his hand starting towards the door. "Wait! S-Sir! Pick me up from where?"

Cor stopped looking back at him with a lifted brow like it was a dumb question before he continued to walk. "From your house."

"From my…w-w-wait you don't even know where I live!"

"Trust me," Cor said glancing back at him with a hint of a smirk to his lips. "I know a lot more about you than you think." The look left a chill down his spine as he visibly shivered feeling a bit grateful when the man disappeared past the crowd and out the door. Should he be concerned that Cor knew exactly where he lived? Probably not. He knew it was part of the fact that he was friends with Noctis. And with Cor being the commander of the Crownsguard, him knowing information about Prompto shouldn't be surprising. But it did make him wonder just how much the other might know about him, one of which being something he could never let anyone know.

"Congrats! Looks like you passed your training!" The trainer was all grins as he came up to him giving him a rough hit on the back.

"Hey, don't think I forgot how you double crossed me and said I sucked at stamina," Prompto said pouting and putting on a glare he didn't really feel.

The trainer held up his hands defensively though he was smiling as if enjoying the small banter. "Sorry but it is the truth. You might be fast but your juices run out after running like two minutes. You'll need to work on that while you're traveling with Prince Noctis."

"Trust me," Prompto said smiling at him. "I won't slow them down. I'm not going to be a liability to them."

"I know you won't." The others in the room came over to congratulate him and say how cool he was and he couldn't help the nervous laugh as he rubbed behind his head not used to so much attention. Even the woman that gave him the encouragement earlier came over to congratulate him which mostly ended in him stuttering awkwardly.

Luckily the trainer saved him by throwing an arm over his shoulder companion like as he tugged him from the crowd. "Come. Let's walk and talk while we head back to get your things."

"Ah…r-right." Prompto pulled away turning and waving at the group as he walked backwards out the door. He turned following the trainer feeling a strange relief that it was all over now. "Geez, who would have thought the legendary marshal himself would show up to my training. I don't even know why he would even bother coming here."

"It's obvious that he's intrigued by you." Prompto blinked staring at the trainer's back, the other stopping when he realized the blond had stopped following him.

"Intrigued by me?" Prompto asked pointing to himself. "Why would he find me interesting?"

"Who knows?" the trainer said shrugging as he turned looking at Prompto. "I do know that I've never seen the marshal come to training unannounced. And definitely not to perform the training himself. I must say that you did a marvelous job fighting against him. No one else would have managed to get a hit on him."

"Huh..." Prompto tilted his head frowning as he thought about it following the trainer again. So Cor came there just for him? Just to train him? Why? Was he testing him to see if he would be qualified to go with Noctis?

"My guess is that we really don't get many that like to use guns and the machinery type weapons here. Like literally…you're the first person in some years to use them. And the first person to be so skilled with handling them, almost like you were born to use them."

"Heh…well…." Prompto shrugged his shoulders smiling at him. "I don't really know anything about that but I do a lot of photography, ever since I was a kid. So maybe that had something to do with it?"

"Maybe," the man said resting his hands behind his back as he walked. "Regardless, finding such a rare fighter like you, I'm not really surprised to see the marshal come here to see. I wasn't expecting him to take over the training though." The trainer smiled over at him. "So, are you excited to get your uniform tomorrow?"

"I sure am!" Prompto said smiling as they stopped in front of the room holding his stuff. "I've been waiting on this since we started! I hope it'll fit me. Would suck if it was too small or something." He opened the door to go into the room but paused as he looked back at the trainer. "Oh…I do have one more thing I want to ask."

"Really? And what's that?"

"That…weird move thing he did on me that felt like I just got hit by a wall of wind." Prompto folded his arms over his chest. "What exactly was that?"

"Lion's Roar," the trainer responded. "It's a technique he seemed to learn back in his younger days. No one's ever been able to emulate it. I couldn't honestly tell you how it's done or what it really does even. But I've seen that move tear apart a broken car before. It literally tore that hunk of metal to pieces."

"Wow…really?" Prompto swallowed thinking about the fact that he'd been hit by the thing and how much force it'd had when it hit him. For it to tear a car apart would mean that it had a more destructive force than what he saw in the training. It made him realize just how power Cor really was and how he might have really been going easy on him just to try to help him get better. At least, that's what he was going to go with since thinking on it now, he doubted Cor would have left such an opening unless he was letting Prompto win.

"Anyway, I better let you get home to rest," the trainer said giving him a salute. "Don't forget that the marshal is coming to pick you up in the morning. Try not to be late."

"R-Right," Prompto said wondering why he felt his cheeks heating up hearing that the marshal would come get him in the morning. The trainer left him to return to his training area as Prompto went into the room gathering his items off the couch. The room was nothing more than a small area for him when he needed to put items away or change clothes when he needed to.

He stepped outside getting ready to walk down the steps of the building before he saw a car parked at the bottom of the steps with none other than Cor Leonis leaning against the car with his arms folded. He must have heard the door opening when Prompto came out because he opened his eyes looking up at the blond before he walked over to the driver's side. "Get in. I'll take you home."

"Huh?" Prompto blinked staring at the car before looking at Cor giving a small shake of his head. "I-I'm fine, really. I can walk ho-"

"Get in," Cor said again, the authority strong in his voice as he stared at him.

"A…Alright," Prompto squeaked out finding it hard to say no to the commander of the freaking Crownsguard. It didn't help that people were starting to stop and stare, mumbling as many seemed to recognize the marshal. Moving faster, Prompto descended the stairs hopping into the passenger seat and buckling up before holding onto his stuff and looking straight ahead as Cor joined him in the car.

It was definitely the quietest and most awkward car ride home he'd ever had. He wished in a sense that Noctis was there to knock out some of this weird feeling floating around the car. At least it would have given Prompto someone to talk to. Because he sure as hell didn't know why Cor was taking him home to begin with. Should the great leader of the Crownsguard really be worrying about some kid fresh out of his school getting home safely? Well…considering that they were there to protect the citizens, it did make sense that Cor would worry about him. No wait…didn't he just pass his self-defense training? Did he really need babysitting to walk home alone?

"You did well today," Cor said out of the blue making Prompto jump in surprise before he had to force himself to relax and keep his cool.

"Uh…thanks?" Prompto glanced over at him smiling but the other was still keeping his eyes on the road. Which was a good thing honestly considering some people in Insomnia really needed to go back and have another driving lesson. Hopefully Cor was as good with his driving as he was with his fighting.

"How long have you used guns?" Prompto blinked. Shouldn't Cor know this answer already since he apparently knew where his home address and probably his secret porn stash were?

"About a month," Prompto said instead. "I've only been training a month so I haven't really gotten all that used to them yet."

"You seem fairly used them to me," Cor said glancing at him out the corner of his eye. "A regular person is not going to learn to shoot a training dummy five times in the head in exactly the same spot without either having some really innate abilities or having prior experience with a weapon before. And even then, that kind of accuracy is almost unheard of."

"Well it must be innate because I've never even touched a gun until I started training here." Prompto folded his arms frowning as he stared at him. "What, is this an interrogation or something? Are you testing to me to see if I'm trustworthy enough to go with Noctis? Because believe me, the last thing I'd ever do is hurt my best friend or any of my other friends." As limited on friends as he was. He wouldn't be able to survive again if he didn't have them.

Cor glanced over at him shocked before his eyes quickly returned to the street and he frowned. "I…apologize. I didn't mean to seem intrusive." He grunted slightly seeming to really think about what he wanted to say next. "I've…never come across a person before with so much skill in so little time. With a little more training, you could probably become a really amazing fighter, one so amazing he'd one day help save the world."

"You…you really think so?" Prompto asked feeling his guard falling at the sudden compliment.

"I'm sure of it," Cor said slowing the car down in front of Prompto's house. "We're here. Be sure to get plenty of rest. I'll be here bright and early in the morning."

"Oh uh…r-right." Prompto nodded fumbling with the door before Cor unlocked it for him and he climbed out trying not to look like an idiot. Was kind of late for that though if he couldn't even open up a stupid door. "I'll see you first thing in the morning, sir?" He gave a salute and couldn't help feeling a blush on his cheeks when the marshal smiled at him.

"First thing in the morning," Cor said before he drove off leaving Prompto standing there staring after the car like some love-struck moron. In all his years…he never would have thought he'd find someone that could rival his interest in Noctis. But the fact that he could feel his heart thundering in his chest just from remembering Cor's smile meant he had some serious problems going on. Great. It just meant his car ride tomorrow was going to be even more awkward.

End.