"What are you doing?".

Dillon stared at Alexander. This was the first time they were actually looking at each other. Dillon had watched Alexander from a distance ever since he came to this academy. Alexander glanced at him a few times when they had that meeting in the library at the start of the semester but didn't properly acknowledge him. Obviously, Alexander didn't remember him, but this was the first time he acknowledged him, which was what Dillon wanted, but it was terrible timing.

"How did he know I was here? There's no way that was three minutes", Dillon frustratedly thought.

"Leave those balls there and get lost", Alexander bluntly ordered him.

Dillon put his hands up, dropping the five balls he held on the floor, making a mess. The balls rolled in different directions around the room.

"I will", Dillon replied, with a pissed look on his face.

"I can see your backpack. Empty out your bag".

Dillon's expression quickly changed to a smirk, "No".

Alexander knew it wasn't going to be that easy. He didn't know who Dillon was, but he knew a guy who was built like Dillon wouldn't listen.

"You won't leave this room with that bag", Alexander told him in a bored tone. He thought this was pointless.

"Oh yeah?" Dillon replied, still smiling. "As if you could stop me", he said, walking to the door, taking heavy steps each time.

"I've got a brown belt in jiu-jitsu. I'll incapacitate you in less than ten seconds", Alexander replied, sounding serious. He said it so smoothly that it sounded like a fact.

"Brown belt?" Dillon scoffed. "I don't know why you're so proud. It's not a black belt".

Dillon didn't know anything about jiu-jitsu, but like everyone else he knew what a black belt was.

"I'm eighteen. The minimum age to get a black belt is nineteen. I'll get one when I turn nineteen", Alexander said, unfazed. "Either way, I'll still incapacitate you in less than ten seconds".

"Heh, I'll knock your lights out before you get the chance to put your hands on me", Dillon replied, confident he could beat him.

He didn't care what belt Alexander had in jiu-jitsu. He was confident if he landed one punch, he would win. One clean punch, and it was over.

"Punching isn't allowed", Alexander reminded him.

"Then your 'brown belt in jiu-jitsu' means fuck all", Dillon replied, mocking him.

"Striking isn't allowed in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It's all grappling", Alexander coldly said. "Pushing and shoving are allowed within limits. So I can throw you to the floor and take that bag off you. And if you try and hit me, I'll incapacitate you as self-defence".

Dillon could feel Alexander's confidence oozing. Everything Alexander said, he said it without stuttering or hesitating. It was pure confidence. Alexander's confidence knocked his confidence. He could tell Alexander wasn't lying. The look in his eyes portrayed arrogance, but his speech was confident. Dillon couldn't compete with that type of confidence. He couldn't even fake that type of confidence if he tried.

Dillon didn't know any martial arts. All he knew was how to throw a punch. That was enough for him. One punch won most of his fights up until now. His strength carried him.

"Who says your jiu-jitsu is allowed?" Dillon asked, his smile disappearing.

"No one stated it isn't allowed, so I can still do it until someone says it is not allowed", Alexander replied, straight-faced.

Dillon had no answer to that. He stared at Alexander, unsure of what to do next. Alexander took the opportunity to get closer as Dillon was lost in thought. Seeing Alexander get closer made Dillon instinctively walk towards him. He wasn't going to wait for Alexander to walk in front of him. Their steps led them to become face-to-face with each other. Both of them were six feet tall, so they were looking eye to eye. It was like a boxing face-off. Neither of them spoke. They just stared at one another. Dillon didn't like the awkwardness, so he broke eye contact first and tried to step away to Alexander's right. Alexander sidestepped to his right and blocked Dillon. Dillon looked at Alexander's cold, straight face. From the look, he could tell Alexander wasn't leaving him alone.

"Tch".

Dillon outstretched his right arm and placed his hand on Alexander's chest. Forcefully pushing him away.

Alexander was pushed back, but before he became out of range, he quickly grabbed Dillon's right sleeve with his left hand to stop himself from falling. He quickly pulled himself forward, swiftly grabbed Dillon's shirt near the collar, bent his right knee forward, circled his left leg behind, kicked his right leg forward in front of both of Dillon's legs and…

BANG!

"UGH!"

Threw Dillon over his shoulder.

Dillon's fall was cushioned by his backpack filled with plastic balls. I say cushioned, but it actually made the fall harsher for his head because it snapped back harshly and bobbed back forward.

The students in 1-D were shocked. It looked like the camera somersaulted, but it was Dillon getting thrown to the ground. Ash and Jason were speechless and watched the screen in awe. Everyone knew how big Dillon was, so seeing the camera get flipped over so easily was unbelievable. The classroom was silent. All the students looked at each other to check if they saw the same thing.

Dillon was on the ground, speechless, processing what happened. It happened in an instant. He pushed him, and now he was on the floor. It made no sense. He didn't know how he was in this position. He looked up at Alexander. Alexander was looking down at him, lying on the floor like he was trash. He was towering over him like he was his owner.

Dillon didn't want this humiliation. He shot up and got to his feet. His backpack was still on his back, and somehow, it sounded like all the balls were intact. How none of the balls popped was a mystery.

Dillon nervously smiled, trying to brush off what had just happened.

"Heh. You said you're a black belt in jiu-jitsu. That was a judo takedown, not jiu-jitsu", he said, pointing at Alexander, knowing what he did as he'd seen it in a video before. He mistakenly said Alexander was a black belt because his head was all over the place.

"When did I say I could only do jiu-jitsu?"

Dillon felt his heart drop.

"I'm skilled at other martial arts, but I'm best at jiu-jitsu. The move I did to you can be used in jiu-jitsu, but it's mostly known to be used in Judo".

Alexander used the Tai Otoshi on Dillon. Tai Otoshi is a judo throw that is hard to master and difficult to pull off, but Alexander did it effortlessly. Alexander was skilled in a lot of things because he had to be to impress his family and live up to their standards. He'd never gotten into a serious fight before, but if he did, he would have a lot of techniques from different martial arts to use. His arsenal was full of weapons. It would be really hard for him to lose a fight if he ever got into one. Well, the people in 1-A and 1-D wouldn't start a fight with Alexander after seeing that, so Alexander being in a fight any time soon was unlikely.

"You're lucky there's no striking. You'd be the one with their lights knocked out", Alexander arrogantly said, quoting him. "Speaking of striking, do you hear that?" he asked, putting a hand to his ear.

Dillon blankly stared at him. All he heard was silence. He felt like he was being treated like an idiot. He didn't want to answer to look stupid.

"Silence", Alexander answered. "Meaning my throw was allowed".

Dillon's eyes widened.

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"No announcement has been made to tell me off, so I can keep throwing you to the floor if I want, and I won't be breaking the rules".

Dillon felt caged in. It felt like he was suffocating. He couldn't escape. He looked ahead, but there was no escape route for him. Alexander wasn't built like him, but it felt like he was ten times bigger than him.

"I don't care what you do because it's pointless", Alexander said. "If you used your brain, you would empty your bag and leave. But if you think you can get something from this, you really are stupid".

Dillon didn't want to admit defeat. He had eight balls in his bag. He can't forfeit so easily.

"I'm not letting you leave with that bag full", Alexander said, pointing at Dillon. "I'll keep you here until the round is over, and you'll be penalised for getting to your safe zone late".

"You can't keep me here", Dillon wasn't thinking when he said that. His pride was talking.

"I can".

A cold and slow response that was filled with confidence and an arrogant look to accompany it. Dillon felt that response.

"I'll throw you to the floor over and over and over again. I'll use a different technique every time to make you understand you have no chance".

Dillon stood frozen. He wasn't scared. He just didn't know what to do. Well, he knew what he had to do, but he didn't want to do it. It was weird because he would usually charge forward, not thinking, no matter what was in front of him, but something inside him was stopping him. Something inside him was telling him he couldn't.

"Dillon empty the bag", Sabrina told him. "You're wasting too much time".

The rest of 1-D was watching this embarrassing performance. A lot of them had lost hope now. They already accepted the loss even though it was still the beginning of the round.

The rules for the students back at the academy were the same as in the first round. All of the students could go and search for map pieces. But none of the students went. Map pieces were no longer needed. Finding a map piece with dots was useless as more plastic balls have been added. No new map pieces have been hidden, so searching was unnecessary. Students could leave the classroom if they wanted to and chill wherever they wanted, but they had to be back by the end of the round.

None of the 1-D students left the classroom. They all stayed to watch. They all watched one of their representatives take another L. Dillion's reputation was already low, but now it was at rock bottom. He forced himself to be a representative, and this was the performance he gave.

Dillon didn't want to empty his bag. He stood there as if time had stopped. He wished time stopped.

"Hurry up. You're wasting your time", Alexander condescendingly said, glaring at him.

Dillon snapped back to reality. "You're wasting time as well", he replied.

"I'm defending my safe zone. I don't think it's time wasted. My teammate is getting points. Your teammate is probably doing the same. But you're here doing nothing".

Nothing.

It felt like a wave hit Dillon. That word rang in his ears. In this challenge, he has done nothing.

"Tch".

Dillon took his backpack off, unzipped it and started taking plastic balls out. One by one, he painfully removed them from his bag.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven.

He left one ball in his bag hidden at the bottom. Dillon looked at Alexander's eyes to see what he would say.

"Are you hiding one in there?" Alexander asked, looking at the bag.

"No", Dillon answered with a screwface.

Alexander analysed his face. He knew he was lying. It was obvious.

"Get lost".

Alexander decided to let him have it.

Dillon zipped his backpack and put it back on his back. He kept eye contact with Alexander as he walked past him. As soon as he made it past Alexander, he jogged out of the room and ran down the corridor. He had to find another floor to search. He wasted a lot of time and only had one plastic ball.

Dillon got humiliated again. Once by Malakai and now by Alexander. Anger filled him, but he couldn't do anything about it. His pride was taking hit after hit. He didn't even feel like competing anymore, but he couldn't quit. He had to see it through. The word 'nothing' still filled his head. He had to finish this challenge with something. Dillon wasn't aiming for first or second anymore. He was aiming not to come last.

Back at 1-A's safe zone, Alexander viewed the room. Plastic balls were everywhere on the floor. He couldn't be bothered to clean it, but he quickly organised them into a corner. He didn't want to waste too much time putting them back in the locker. He made sure that nothing was out of place before leaving the room. Alexander closed the door behind him and thought,

"We're lucky we've got that item".

From one safe zone to another. Yes, another person found a safe zone. Someone from 1-E. It was Nada.

Nada cautiously walked into the room. She was on a floor she wanted to explore the whole challenge. This was the first chance she had. The top floor. The fifteenth floor. Meaning she was in 1-B's safe zone. She didn't mean to find it. She didn't have a special item or anything. This was accidental. She wanted to explore the top floor to see what it looked like and happened to find one closed door while the other doors were open. She was already carrying one plastic ball, but she would soon be carrying more if this heist went uninterrupted. It was going to be hard because she didn't have anything to help her carry them, and her arms and hands were small, but she would try.

"I wonder who's safe zone this is", Nada thought. She went towards the locker and opened it. Her eyebrows furrowed, and her mouth gaped when she saw the amount of plastic balls in the locker.

"Why do they have like ten balls?".

Nada didn't know whose safe zone this was, but she expected more than what she saw. She knew this wasn't 1-C's safe zone because Malakai told her it was on the ninth floor. Based on what she saw, she thought this was 1-D's safe zone. The small amount of plastic balls blew her mind. The locker had eleven plastic balls inside, so Nada was only one off with her observation. 1-E had sixteen plastic balls in their locker, so Nada thought they would have roughly the same amount or more. She underestimated how well they were doing.

"I feel bad. But, the game is the gameee ♫" she said, upbeat, picking up as many plastic balls as she could.

After grabbing as many as she could, Nada had four plastic balls in her arms. She only took three out of the locker because she couldn't hold more. She had to find another way to carry more. She got one of the plastic balls and put it under her shirt. Nada looked down at herself.

"Hehehe, I'm pregnant".

She fit one ball under her shirt near her stomach. She shifted the plastic ball to the right and put another plastic ball next to it. Now, she had two plastic balls under her shirt near her stomach. With extra space on her arms, she took two more plastic balls from the locker.

"It's going to be hard to move with these here", she said, looking down at her stomach. "I'll come back here after I drop them off".

"Huh?!"

Nada speedily turned around at the sudden sound.

"Ryan?!" Nada said, surprised to see him.

Ryan had a similar expression to Nada. He didn't mean to make a sound, but he couldn't help it after seeing someone unfamiliar robbing their safe zone. At first, he saw someone short and thought it was Akari, but then he saw the pink hair. That was what shocked him.

"Why are you here?!" Ryan asked. That response came out automatically.

He had four plastic balls in his arms with the tablet tucked in his jeans.

"Why am I here? Why are you here?" Nada replied. "This is your safe zone? Why do have so little plastic balls?".

"Shit, what's her name?" Ryan thought. "She's friends with Malakai. Fuck. Forget her name. I need to stop her".

"Little? We have eleven plastic balls", Ryan said, slowly walking forward.

"Eleven is so low. We have sixteen", Nada replied.

"It was eleven before, but it's fifteen now. I have four plastic balls here", Ryan said, still edging forward.

"No, you've got ten. I'm taking five of your balls", Nada cheekily replied.

Ryan kept a smile on his face, but inside, he was annoyed. She reminded him of someone he hated.

"Can you please put them back?" Ryan asked. "I haven't done anything to your class".

"You haven't, but we don't have an alliance", Nada replied, lifting her shoulders. "Nor did we agree to leave each other alone".

"We could make an alliance now", Ryan persuasively said, raising his eyebrows and still taking little steps.

"Naaah, we already have an alliance with another class", Nada replied, shaking her head. "Huh, wait a minute? Don't come any closer!".

Nada realised that Ryan was closer than before. He was at the door, but now he was halfway into the room.

Ryan paused for a second. "I just want to keep my plastic balls", he said, taking a step as he talked, hoping she would be distracted by his voice.

"Woah, woah, woah", Nada said, sounding more serious. "Stop coming closer".

Ryan's smile was gone. He was straight-faced. He didn't put an angry or annoyed face on. He knew a lot of people were watching. He had to stay composed. He couldn't taint his image.

"Ryan, just go towards her. She'll get scared", Owen said, encouraging him, not understanding why he was stopping.

Ryan looked at Nada's small stature."He's right", he thought.

He took more steps and got closer to Nada.

Nada saw the change in Ryan. Before, he looked clueless, and he was being cautious, but now it was like he knew what he was going to do.

Nada had to do something. She quickly threw two of the balls she was holding in her right arm to the other side of the room. Ryan was still walking towards her. After seeing what Ryan was going for, Nada knew what to do. She went into her pocket and,

POP!