Haley sighed as she sat on a bench outside of the Atlas Academy Training Hall. As she watched students head into the hall she let her mind wander. Everyone looked capable like they’d been preparing for this. However, she didn’t know how that could be possible considering her knowledge of this place was extremely limited. As far as most of the public knew Atlas was a place where people prepared to handle the dangers of space and underwater exploration.
“Hello-!” A boy grinned at Haley as he waved as fast as possible. “You look like you’re pretty nervous. Do you want to walk in together?”
Haley blinked and let her shoulders relax, “yeah I’m pretty nervous, and sure we can head in together.” Haley offered a small smile.
“My name is Henry,” Henry said as he tucked his hands into his pockets. The sun bounced off of his orange hair as he walked, Haley wondered if his hair had been dyed.
“Haley.” She mumbled as they walked into the hall. Henry watched her blonde hair bounce as she practically skipped into the building.
“So are you fit?” Henry asked as he tried to break the ice as they walked to the auditorium.
“I’d like to think so but I could always be fitter. I’m not as fast as I could be. I have been boxing for a while…” Haley cut herself off. She felt like she was rambling.
“I kind of get it! I played football all through elementary and middle school. I’m pretty athletic myself but there’s still a lot I have to work on.” Henry offered as someone bumped into his shoulder, pushing him forward.
“Watch out.” The woman grumbled as she pushed Henry aside.
“Jeeze.” Henry scoffed as he watched the raven-haired woman take a seat in the front row.
“We should probably sit down,” Haley said as she nudged Henry and walked with him to take a seat in the third row.
-
“Welcome students. Today we will be performing a few fitness tests. Make no mistake, today is not a low-key day by any means.” Sarah smiled at the group before her.
“124 of you made the cut. Aided by your test scores and your behavior during the period of seemingly random questions. We were expecting much more of you to pass, but that didn’t happen. You will be cut today if we notice that you can’t handle these tests.”
“Running, marksmanship, weight lifting, obstacle courses, you name it and you’ll be doing it today. From your scores today you’ll be assigned to your combat teams for the last two days of combat exercises. So perform at your best and make today count. Now, please file out and head to the courtyard!” Sarah grinned as she slammed her palm off of the podium.
-
“Running the mile? They can’t be serious.” A blue-haired boy snickered as he tied his shoes and got in position to run with the group.
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“You can grin all you want blueberry but let’s see if you can put your money where your mouth is.” A girl said from next to him.
When the buzzer went off they both took off running, both of them forgetting about the rest of the students, completely overtaken by their new rivalry.
“So what’s your name hot shot?” The girl laughed as they kept running. For a moment it was like nobody else was around.
“Milo and you?” Milo grinned as he ran with the woman.
As her brown hair waved in the wind the woman spoke back to him, “Miley.”
The two ran until the buzzer went off.
“I wasn’t really expecting to make a friend on the track,” Milo said as he opened his water bottle. As he pressed the top and put his head back to drink his leg twitches.
“Calling us friends is a bit of a stretch. After all, I just met you, Milo.” Miley exhaled as she attempted to catch her breath.
-
“You really need to relax-!” A taller man grunted as a staff slammed off of his abs. His body quivered from the force of the blow.
“I’ll relax after I win, Ben!” The shorter boy snapped as he swung the staff as much as possible. The people watching were in disbelief and it wasn’t because the boy was good. Clearly, neither of the two had any prior experience with the weapon.
“Chris man you have to relax. You’re making everyone look at us weird.” Ben laughed as he took another hit to his stomach. He coughed loudly and laughed more. Each hit was hard but not technical.
“Are you guys done goofing around so the rest of us can complete our test?” A boy with short white hair sighed as he watched the two dance around on the mat in front of him.
Chris paused and spun around, holding the staff out in front of him. " Are you asking to spar with me?”
“Not at all. I am not interested in watching you flail around with a weapon while you waste everyone's time.” The boy said as he stepped onto the mat and took the staff from Ben's hands. Ben blinked and took a few steps back. He was surprised but didn’t feel like starting a fight with the guy.
“Who are you?” Chris grumbled as he attempted to spin the staff, nearly missing his head.
“Alaric. Now get off of the mat before I make you.” Alaric narrowed his eyes and put his legs apart to get into a stance. He was not expecting Chris to charge at him, but before contact could be made a buzzer went off. Irritated, Alaric clenched the staff, he was ready to attack Chris anyway.
“That’s enough! My name is Clark and I am the combat instructor here. Before we can continue the tests some of you will be eliminated right now based on the medical tests you submitted before you started your written tests.” Clark slid his hand over his red hair and tapped students around the room. He was frank, telling students that their bodies would never make it through training. Telling them that their blood tests yielded less-than-ideal results.
-
“Are you two alright?” A boy asked the girl in his arms as he watched some blood leave the side of her mouth. He turned to face the girl next to him, she looked shocked, her blue eyes seemed to catch the lights of the alarm going off around them.
“What the hell was that?” The girl mumbled as they continued moving, “Those things came out of nowhere.”
“We did sign up for the pre-combat simulation but I will admit that these robots are stronger than I was expecting. But are you okay? You got hit pretty hard on the back.” He huffed as they moved into the next room. The computer panels and red siren illuminated the room.
“What was the objective again?” The girl mumbled as she ran over to the computer. Her hands shook as she hovered them over the keyboard.
“We have to shut off the security system.” The girl in the boy's arms mumbled as she opened her eyes. “You can put me down.” She insisted but the boy walked her over to the computer and only then did he place her down.
“I got this just cover me.” She smiled and watched her two teammates turn to cover the door.
“My name is Valentine, by the way. You guys?” Valentine asked as she started typing.
“Aurora.” The other girl said as she raised her shock rifle towards the doorway.
“Ethan.” The boy said as his brow twitched.
“They’re coming!” Ethan screamed, making Aurora nearly jump out of her skin. As the two unloaded on the doorway the alarm ended and Valentine forced her arm into the air.
“Got it!” She grinned as MISSION COMPLETE flashed on the computer screen.
-
“Welcome back from your testing students. If you’re sitting in the auditorium right now, be proud of yourselves. You are among only 100 students who made it to the last round of testing that starts tomorrow. We made a few changes to this test yet again, you will find that you’re in bigger groups now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Sarah smiled at the group before her. She barely knew these kids and yet she was proud of them, especially of those who were much younger than the rest.