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Boris woke up tired and groggy. He was dressed in a black suit, and covered with a tan quilt. Standing up, he realized that he was definitely not in the same place as he had fallen asleep. The room appeared to be some kind of dojo, with bamboo floors and posters with sayings that were written in Japanese. "Hello?" he called out, his voice echoing in the empty room. The only person he saw was himself, standing in the long mirror that stretched across one side of the room.
The back door was open, so he decided to investigate. Outside was an extravagant training center, with shelves lined with every kind of weapon imaginable. At it's center stood Devon, who looked intimidated. He was clutching a bo staff as tight as he could and frantically looking around. A shadowed figure kept darting around him, trying to catch him off-guard. When he saw Boris, Dev instinctively abandoned the staff and raced towards him. "Boris! You're awake!" his voice was full of relief and fright.
"Devon! Where are we?"
"Forgive me." Dev fiddled with his hands like a nervous hamster. "If I happened to be late for training today, well..."
The shadowy figure appeared from behind a shelf of weaponry and flew towards the two. "Devon," he said, landing beside the young man, "You forgot about your training! Besides, if this man is to treat you with any respect, you must insist he call you 'master'." he grinned broadly, revealing several dagger-like teeth. Devon hung his head and nodded. The strange figure looked Boris up and down."Hah! Why, if it isn't my old friend, Boris Volkov."
"Gray," Boris growled. "Devon, I didn't know that you meant Gray Sullivan! He's your tutor?" he nodded his head towards Gray, begging for a challenge. "I can't believe you'd stoop so low, using black magic to look like them. How long are you going to keep that up?"
"Oh, I plan on continuing this act for a while now. It's gotten me far recently. And uh, I don't happen to see any wings under that blanket of yours? What happened to those?" Gray retorted.
"Take a wild guess."
Devon shook out of fear, but eventually he butted in to stop the fighting. "Guys!" he cried. "What even happened between you two?"
"Oh, nothing much." said Boris causally. "He only ruined my life, no problem!"
"What happened that day was not my fault." Gray mumbled through gritted teeth. "That was all on you, for a little screw-up mistake. Don't expect anyone to take pity on you because you're playing innocent."
"Me? Play innocent? No, Gray. I don't play innocent, I am innocent. You're just playing dumb."
"GUYS!" Devon wailed. "I'm in charge here, anyhow. Look, whether you two children like it or not, I'm the boss, so you have to get along." He shot a forced look of intimidation at Gray, as if to legitimize his dominance.
"Fine." Boris snapped his fingers, and Gray's wings turned into their original state, bat-like. "But don't expect me to be all fun and games around this mess."
The tutor laughed darkly. "Challenge accepted."
