historical

"No you're not calling dibs, you miserable old coot!" The old woman snapped at him.

She was tall, slender and had a headful of lush winter-white hair. She was wearing a white outfit that made her look otherworldly and mysterious. I could tell immediately that she was once an earth-shattering beauty. Even in her obvious advanced age, she still looked amazing.

In a grandmotherly sort of way, of course. But amazing.

"Hey, don't smack my head in front of the kids!" The muscular old man frowned and chided the beautiful old woman.

SMACK!

"I'm going to smack you whenever and wherever I like!" The old woman snapped irritably at him. "If you don't want to get smacked, then stay away from me!"

"I AM staying away from you! YOU'RE the one who's following me!" The old muscular old man complained like a little boy. "How am I supposed to maintain my distance when you're following me around like a duckling? Don't tell me that you've finally fallen fo-"

SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!

"Follow your head! Fallen your head! You perverted old man!" The old woman unleashed a barrage of staff techniques that the old man was barely able to dodge.

"They were once a couple." Veronica Wu whispered loudly to me. "But many years ago when they were still young, Elder White, the old lady, caught Elder Liam, the old man, with another woman. She dumped him and she had been smacking him with her staff whenever he got within range ever since. Everytime. Without fail."

"Enough." The third "old fogey" said in a raspy voice. This time, the third old fogey truly was an old fogey. He was slightly hunched, his head was filled with sparse, stringy white hair, and every inch of his time-worn skin was wrinkled beyond belief.

He was wearing a white outfit similar to Elder White, but with gold trim instead of red.

Elder White sighed and withdrew her staff which was about to smash Elder Liam's head. Strangely, even after being hit multiple times, Elder Liam's head was totally fine.

"Elder White. Elder Liam. Grand Elder Xing." Veronica Wu bowed in greeting.

I immediately copied her actions and bowed as well.

"Senior Teacher Veronica." Elder White greeted her back and smiled gently.

"Who do we have here?" Elder Liam asked eagerly like a little kid about to open his Christmas present.

"This is Justin from the White Tiger Hunters." Veronica Wu introduced me formally.

"Ah a Whitefrost brat! I like you already!" Elder Liam exclaimed happily. "Your senior brother, Jeremy, is in my faction!"

"Hey! No recruiting is allowed before the "Bazaar"!" Elder White shouted at Elder Liam. Her hand which was gripping her staff twitched lightly.

"I'm not recruiting him. I was merely expressing my admiration for his background and telling him the fact that his senior brother is in my faction, which coincidentally is a faction which favors unarmed melee com-"

"Ehm." Grand Elder Xing coughed lightly.

"Ah yes. Grand Elder Xing, would you like to speak with young Justin here?" Elder Liam hastily changed the subject.

Grand Elder Xing, for all his aged look and weak, raspy voice, moved gracefully like a wild tiger. He made his way closer towards me and looked straight into my eyes.

I felt a slight shiver run down my spine at Grand Elder Xing's cold and penetrating gaze.

"What is your name, boy?" He rasped.

"My name is Justin, Grand Elder!" I replied promptly.

"Which organization are you from?" He continued to ask, all the while keeping his sharp gaze on me.

"I am from the Whitefrost Clan." I said and prepared my heart for the real question.

I knew the first two questions would be questions which had obvious answers to see my natural reaction. The real question would come after that, and if my reactions were suspiciously different, then I would be caught lying.

"How did you get so strong?" Grand Elder Xing asked casually.

Here we go.

"I ingested a weird looking pill I found in the coat pocket of a skeleton in a junkyard. I've been strong ever since." I answered without hesitation.

Technically I wasn't lying. The red mecha core WAS round like a pill.

Grand Elder Xing nodded in approval after detecting no traces of falsehood in my words. Although extremely strange, it was not an impossible occurrence.

"A junkyard scrapper!" Elder Liam cried out in pleasant surprise. "That's it. I'm putting my foot down on this. He is a PERFECT fit-"

"Elder Liam. Please remind me, what is the third clause in Chapter Fifteen of the Staff Regulation Book regarding recruitment of Faction Disciples? I seem to have forgotten it." Grand Elder Xing glared at Elder Liam coldly.

"AH HAHAHA! If even the Grand Elder has forgotten it, how can I, a mere Elder, dare to remember it! I forgot it as well! I forgot! Hahahaha! Ah! I seem to remember that I have an urgent matter to deal with. I'll be taking my leave first. Grand Elder Xing. Elder White. Senior Teacher Veronica. And... Justin. See you all later! HAHAHA!" Elder Liam immediately ran to his white mecha, flew off in a burst of acceleration and disappeared into the horizon within seconds.

"Justin. I do apologize for that old coot- Ah, I mean Elder Liam." Elder White smiled benevolently at me. "You did a great job reaching here so quickly. I think you broke the record by almost an hour!"

"By sixty three minutes at three seconds, Elder White." Veronica Wu corrected her.

"By over an hour!" Elder White beamed. "Excellent job. Excellent job indeed."

"Good job young man. It's been a while since any of our entrance exam records got broken. The Dragon Prince will definitely be interested in you. Justin eh? I will remember that name." Grand Elder Xing nodded, turned around and left.

"Well. It's a good day to be out. I believe I will stay here and enjoy the view with the both of you!" Elder White announced and smiled at Veronica Wu's quickly souring face.

Of course Veronica Wu was only putting on an act. She thought that she had already secured my faction choice by revealing that she was a Black Dragon.