Hitoshi quickly bagged the second Coda Seed and rubbed his back, getting to his feet at the bottom of the cliff.  That battle had taken a good bit out of him.  Mandragoras weren’t known for their strength, but the fact that they’d managed to mount a sneak attack surprised him.  Attacks from those bush-monsters hadn’t taken anything out of him, but that fall had.  His right eye shut as he took a look around to see if there were any more seeds around.  After taking a deep breath, he began to shuffle his feet, heading to the next area of the Training Course.

He was blinking a lot from some pain in his back, the results of his fall from earlier.  His hand was stuck to it, but after a few moments, he decided that he couldn’t just leave it as it was.  There were monsters around here, and he couldn’t afford for any of them to get the jump on him.  Reaching into his bag, he moved his fingers around the seeds he’d been collecting and pulled out a small, blue bottle.  “One Potion down the hatch!” he said, as he flipped it open and drank the Potion.  With one loud gulp, the liquid’s magic went into effect, ridding his body of all the pain that had previously been in with him.

With his strength back, Hitoshi started moving faster, letting the bag back down to his side and walking past all the bushes and trees that surrounded him in this part of the Training Course.  He was making a good bit of distance, scanning the ground for more seeds.  Since he still had to find 6 more, he assumed they would be all over the place.  It would only be a matter of time before he found some more.  He just had to be patient and diligent, and he’d find them in no time at all.

He soon came to a bridge that passed over the creek that filled this place.  Looking to the side, he could tell that the source of the creek, a waterfall, had another seed by it.  All he had to do was cross the bridge and he’d be able to add one more to his collection.  As he approached it, however, he slowly quieted himself.  At the front of the bridge were two more Mandragoras, turned the other direction and shuffling around together, as if communicating to one another.  Hitoshi watched them for a moment until he was sure neither had seen him.

Taking the initiative, he charged towards the bridge and, with one quick swipe of his sword, he’d cut into and launched both Mandragoras down into the creek below.  The bush-monsters squealed as they took the plunge and were swiftly carried away, losing any chance they had at launching a counter-attack against Hitoshi.  They’d gotten a sneak attack in on him earlier, so now he’d gotten back at them, using the same tactic.  Slowly putting his sword away, he ran across the bridge and up the next path, collecting the next seed. 

Now, he had 3 seeds.  There were only 5 left to find, and then he’d be completely done.  Smiling, proud of his victory against those recent Mandragoras, Hitoshi started to feel a little arrogant.  Moving his hand away from his sword, he started to casually jog through the Training Course.  After passing the bridge he’d crossed earlier, he could see a set of stairs, and below the stairs was yet another seed.  His eyes brightened as he rushed over to it.  Getting on his knees, he lowered his hand and picked it up.  His luck was definitely starting to change.

Or was it?  The moment he’d bagged the 4th seed, a surging pain flew in through Hitoshi’s butt.  “OW!!!” he screamed, as he jumped into the air, hands over his bottom.  As he came back down, he threw himself up and looked around the area.  Right next to him were two Rivercraps, large Blue crabs that dwelled around the water-filled areas of the Training Course.  One of them was jumping back into the creek while the other was holding it’s pincers towards Hitoshi, snapping them at him and moving its head, as if it were mocking him.

Hitoshi’s face went red as he realized what had happened.  The crabs had snuck up on him when he found that last seed and decided to play a prank on his bottom with their claws.  His jaw dropped as he pulled out his sword to get back at them.  As quickly as he’d pulled the sword out, however, both crabs were scurrying away.  He leapt at one of them, but only proved to plow his own face into the dirt as they jumped into the creek and swam to safety.  With a frustrated look on his face, Hitoshi blew some hair out of his face and stood back up.

After wiping the dirt off his armor, the young man turned and continued his search for the Coda Seeds.  His trek took him to another creek-crossing, though this new one wasn’t a bridge.  All across the Training Course, the professors had set up small rocks that students had to jump on to get across to the next area of the Course.  After a couple quick jumps and nearly losing his balance on the way, Hitoshi made it to land again and started running, continuing his quest for seeds.

Getting surrounded by forest again, he ran around a corner and came across a pink flower, growing by its lonesome.  Hitoshi stopped at the flower and looked down and around it.  He almost started to smile as he looked at it’s beauty.  Almost getting lost in a trance, Hitoshi quickly got himself going again and saw a small seed right next to it’s base, almost hidden by the leaves.  After bagging his 5th Coda Seed, he began to walk more slowly through this area of the Course, his head leveling off a little and thinking to avoid any more surprise attacks and humiliation towards him from the creatures of this place.

His trip was pretty calm for awhile, no monsters coming up to attack him as he came to another bridge, leading to another area where the Course has a small stairway, leading up to higher ground.  As he crossed the bridge, he decided to stop for a rest.  His butt sat down next to a group of white flowers and, next to them, he noticed yet another Coda Seed.  He quickly bagged the 6th Seed and let his eyes rest for a few moments, regaining the strength he’d lost since beginning this ‘assignment’ for Professor Moriko…