The spire training went on for several hours. There were a few instances when they got close, but in the end, reaching the summit proved too daunting a task. After the final failed attempt, Marcus called a lunch break.

The cafeteria was well-stocked with a variety of food. The five Knights sat together, but otherwise they would have seemed like total strangers. In many ways, they were. No one talked about the failed attempts to reach the summit or proposed any solutions. No one even questioned the veteran members. That came as something of a shocker to Tom—when he first joined, he had a thousand questions and wouldn’t shut up. Why were they so quiet?

After lunch, they assembled outside on a grassy plain sandwiched on three sides between the mountain range, a forest, and a small beach. The five Knights lined up in front of Marcus. There was a tension amongst them after the failed attempts to complete the spire.

“The spire was just the first stage of your training,” Marcus began. “Obviously you’ve still got a way’s to go before you can conquer that one. But for the afternoon session, we’re gonna switch things up a bit. That’s why we came here to the Arena. This is where a lot of our training with the powers occurs. Has a nice, wide-open space, a few different types of terrain, and it’s equipped with hard-light holographic projectors to generate just about any sort of opponent you’ll face.

“You’ve already met your Titans, but now, we’re going to show you just some things that connection makes possible. Knight Stone? Give a demonstration of what you can do.”

Tom nodded and stepped forward. He held his bent arm in front of his chest and touched the Gauntlet with his free hand. The Gauntlet glowed with a red hue of energy and the nanites slithered out from their housing, coating his body and interlocking together to form the red armor of the Phoenix Knight.

“You don’t have to shout your Titan’s name or strike any fancy poses or anything like that, huh?” asked Ethan.

“This isn’t a kid’s show,” said Tom.

The helmet altered his voice, making it deeper and distorted with a slight echo. Tom held out his hand and a beam of red light surrounded his closed fist. It extended and took the shape of a sword, with flames flickering along the length of the blade.

“The Flameblade,” said Tom, holding the sword up so the rest of the group could see. “Each of you has your own specific weapon, linked to your Titan and possessing the power of your element. To summon it, you just have to visualize it and it’ll appear. This will allow you to channel your elemental powers through the blade. Watch.”

Tom turned away from the group and swung the sword in a downward motion. An arc of flame moved in the blade's wake, following along the path until it struck one of the nearby trees and caused it to light on fire. Drones appeared almost instantly to extinguish the tree before the fire could spread.

“Knight Kim?”

Marcus looked at Rachel. She nodded and used her Gauntlet to transform, too. A blue glow emerged from her Gauntlet and the nanites swarmed over her body, locking into place until the Raiju Knight stood ready. Rachel stretched her arm out and a blue bow materialized in her grip.

“Thunderbow,” she said, holding up the weapon. She turned to another tree and pulled the blue light that connected each end of the bow. An arrow forged of lightning materialized in the nocked position. Rachel released the string of light and the arrow shot through the tree like a thunderbolt, leaving a singed hole in the center.

“Knight Monroe, you’re up next,” Marcus ordered.

Alexa gave a nod and stepped forward. She reached for her Gauntlet and placed her hand on the face and closed her eyes.

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“Feel the connection with your Titan, visualized your armor,” said Rachel.

Alexa did, concentrating on the memory of meeting the Wyvern. And sure enough, a purple glow emerged from her gauntlet and she could feel the nanites covering her body from head to toe. It was a unique sensation compared to last time. Before, Alexa felt uncomfortable. But after meeting with the Wyvern, it felt as comfortable as putting on PJs.

“Good, now summon your weapon,” said Marcus.

At first, Alexa didn’t know what he meant. She couldn’t visualize something if she didn’t know what it was. But then, an image appeared in her mind. She didn’t know if this was the right way to do it, but she continued to focus on that image. And sure enough, a purple glow appeared in her hand until she held a purple whip with a long tail.

“The Zephyrwhip,” said Marcus. “Give it a go.”

Alexa had never used a whip before, but that muscle memory Marcus mentioned earlier kicked in. It was as if her body—or, more accurately, the armor—knew the exact motions. She cracked the whip, and it generated a powerful burst of wind that sliced through one tree.

“Whoa!”

“Good work. Knight Reyes?”

Olivia still stung from her failure this morning. And though others had fouled up in the successive sessions, she still felt most responsible for setting the tone. This time, she hoped she could do something right. How hard could it be, after all, to just transform and conjure a weapon? The others seemed to manage just fine.

She held up the Gauntlet and concentrated on it, thinking back to the beautiful Unicorn she’d met before. While she focused her thoughts on the Unicorn, the Gauntlet hummed with a yellow glow and soon Olivia felt the nanites coat her body. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable doing this, and perhaps that was why to her it felt like it was taking longer to armor up.

Once she was in her armor, she concentrated on the weapon. Again, she thought of the Unicorn and it gave her the image she was trying to summon. Sure enough, a yellow rod of light appeared in her hand, turning into the solid form of a long staff.

“Terrastaff,” said Marcus. “Try it.”

Just like with Alexa, Olivia felt nature taking over her body. She slammed the end of the staff against the ground and tremors reverberated out from the point of impact.

“When you get more control, you’ll be able to do a lot more with those vibrations,” said Marcus. “Knight Jackson? You’re the last one.”

Ethan held up his Gauntlet, thinking about the Karkinos. That same familiar glow, but green, surrounded his Gauntlet. The nanites swarmed over his body, forming the Karkinos Knight armor over him. Once armored up, he wasted no time in summoning the weapon the Karkinos showed him, a trident forming in his hands.

“Aquatrident,” said Marcus. “See what it can do.”

Tom turned away, avoiding watching as Ethan summoned the powers and weapons that once belonged to Scott.

“Whoa, this is pretty badass!” Ethan held the Aquatrident up, forming a ball of water above its three tines. “Look at me, I’m like Aquaman, but better!”

The ball grew larger, the water flowing around. Ethan was starting to come off as the star pupil of the new class. And then Ethan lost control and the ball burst open, dumping water all over him.

“Maybe that’s why Aquaman just talks to fish,” said Alexa with a chuckle.

Ethan thrust the trident in Alexa’s direction and a burst of water appeared above the tines. The water sprayed from the points, acting as firehoses. Once the water struck Alexa, it was strong enough to bowl her over, her short bob flattening against her forehead and neck.

“Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be?” asked Alexa, a playful feeling taking over her. She jumped to her feet and snapped the whip three times, sending out three cutting arcs of solid air.

Ethan thrust the trident towards each, water spheres forming to intercept and break the path of the air blades. He focused on Alexa, the two of them both smiling beneath their helmets. Though neither could see that, they were still both able to feel that same rambunctious spirit.

Not everyone felt the same, though.

“That’s enough!” shouted Marcus.

The bass of his voice was enough to bring both Ethan and Alexa to attention. Marcus jabbed a finger at each of them.

“This isn’t a damn game, all right? I’m here to train you to use these powers so you can save the goddamn planet. You wanna play around, you do it on your own time and without these weapons. They’re far too important to be used frivolously.”

“Calm down, Agent Kane. They were just having some fun,” said Tom.

“This ain’t Disneyland. If you can’t get your shit together, we’ve got a long list of potentials. One of them will certainly be able to. Understood?”

There was silence. The newbies looked to the vets for some idea of how they should respond.

“Knights, are we understood?” Marcus asked again, his impatience obvious in his enunciation.

Murmurs of uncertain acquiescence followed.

“Good, then we’re clear,” said Marcus. “Now, I want you to start practicing with these powers until using them becomes as natural as breathing. Get to it.”