Five makes a disgusted snort. “That is so childish. You’re ridiculous.”

“Maybe,” Nine replies, shrugging blithely. “You can show me how ridiculous I am in training.”

So this is all one of Nine’s little motivational tools, trying to get Five mad at him so that he’ll come fight in the Lecture Hall. Such a boy’s plan. We could’ve just asked Five nicely. Five keeps right on staring at Nine, sizing him up. He smirks, a glint of something mischievous in his eyes, and I get the impression that Five has seen right through Nine’s ploy.

“Tell you what,” says Five. “I’ll give you a free shot right here. If you can hurt me, I’ll come train with you. If you can’t hurt me, you take the overcompensating macho stuff out of my face for the rest of the day.”

Nine’s face lights up in a wolfish grin. “You want me to hit you, little guy?”

“Sure,” Five replies, his hands in his pockets, chin jutting out. “Give it a shot.”

“This is dumb, you guys,” I say, trying to defuse what has suddenly become a really absurd situation. Both Five and Nine are so involved in this pissing contest when we should be learning to work together. I glance over at Eight for some support. A small smile tugs at the corners of his lips, almost like he’s amused by this whole thing. When he catches my look of disapproval, Eight’s smile turns sheepish and he places a hand on Nine’s shoulder.

“Let’s just go train,” Eight says, keeping his voice light. “Five can come by when he’s ready.”

Nine shrugs off Eight’s hand and cocks his fist back. He raises his eyebrows at Five. “You sure you wanna test me, Frodo?”

“I hope your punches are better than your insults,” Five snaps back. I have to admit, I sort of admire his spirit. Of course, this all could’ve been avoided if he’d just swallowed his pride to begin with. The way both Five and Nine are acting is pathetic. Two of the last remaining Loric in the universe need to be given a time-out.

Like me, Eight has resigned himself to letting this play out. We both take a step back.

Nine really takes his time, drawing it out. He cracks his knuckles, rolls his neck, makes sure his shoulders are square. I think I’m more nervous than Five is; he just stands there passively, waiting for Nine to throw his punch.

Finally, Nine takes a swing. It’s a big overhand blow and even though it’s definitely enough to knock someone out, I think I’ve seen Nine throw punches harder and faster. I guess he took a little off the punch, not wanting to hurt Five that bad.