“Alrighty, Alrighty! Who’s going up against me first?!” She started stretching and Derris stepped forward.

“I’m going first.”

“W-hwat?!” Rono jumped in fear at Derris offering himself up to fight.

Immediately after, we heard more footsteps coming from the hallway as a second figure emerged.

“Apologies for being late, Instructor.” Jack joined all of us in the line and I looked him up and down. He didn’t have any weapons or different clothing that could be his stemata. He was just wearing his standard uniform.

“No worries, Trainee. You’ll be joining in with Trainees Rono and Derris in their mock battle since we have an odd number of recruits this year.”

“Am I going to get a say in this…” Rono asked, but was briefly ignored.

“Now follow me, you four.” Instructor Matthews made his way to the training grounds and told us to continue training while we waited. Anna went back to sulking in the corner and Gollie was trying to cheer her up.

“Well, we need to figure out how to control your stemata because we’re on a timer with the mock battle and we can’t waste minutes or even seconds on you messing around.” Ori was talking to me, but my eyes were drawn over to Anna. Why is she so sad? Did something happen?

Ori noticed my lack of attention and sighed. “Arno, I know you can’t help but be concerned about a friend, but we have to get this under control. The sooner you know how to use it, the better.”

“Right…” I shook off my worries for Anna. Besides, Gollie is over there. I’m sure he’ll be able to help her out.

Ori began to ask me questions about my process and I answered them as faithfully as possible. She asked for my process on using my stemata and I told her what I’ve been doing. I visualize my soul as a fire and have it burn as wild and brightly as possible. Me saying Blazing Soul is a way to help me visualize that fire. As I kept explaining this though, Ori began to frown more and more.

“I don’t think anyone has ever used a different type of model to interpret stemata use…” She started tapping the side of her sniper rifle as she thought.

“Maybe it’s a matter of transferring interpretations…”

“What do you mean?”

Ori then explained that my base interpretation of my stem system is a wild raging fire and although it works, it comes with the issue of control that I’m dealing with. So if I transfer my version of my stem system into the traditional model, that would be like someone pushing out stem energy throughout their entire body instead of the necessary part to activate their stemata.

“So how do I fix it?”

“Assuming that the fix for a traditional stem system would be to visualize blocking all output except the necessary outlets, I would suggest doing that for your version.”

“But how do I do that with a fire?”

“Contain it. Imagine a furnace.”

“A furnace? That sounds lame, Ori.”

“Lame?! Arno, We’re not worrying about how cool a conceptualized concept of your stem system looks! This is just a means to an end!” Ori began to snap at me, but I wasn’t having it.

“It’s the rule of cool, Ori! I won’t settle for less!” I pumped my fist in the air.

“Listen, the furnace was just a suggestion. The container could be anything. It could even be a Steamed Ham steamer! Just think about it.”

I’m thinking about it and nothing much comes close to what I originally had in mind. Man, if it wasn’t for the way this stupid armor works, this wouldn’t be a problem!

Wait…the armor!

“BLAZING SOUL!” I activated my stemata and took to the skies, leaving a trail of smoke behind me.

I went higher and higher until I very suddenly lost all control of my trajectory again and began to zip all sorts of directions. The more this way of flying happens, the more I feel like I’m gonna throw up. This time will be different though. I think I figured it out! Ori was onto something. The fire can still be there, I just need to contain it. And what better container is there than the armor itself?

I imagined the flame being contained in my armor and each slit that the steam came out of was a hole that I could plug. When I did that, I plugged all the holes in the front of my armor and was able to stop the steam from coming from there. Once I figured that out, I started turning different slits in the armor off and on and in no time, I was flying. I was doing so well, I even flipped as I descended and stuck the landing next to Ori.

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“Imagine how differently things would’ve panned out at zone two if I had this.” I joked.

“Yeah you’re telling me. Now let’s do some more training until you perfect it.” Ori said.

“Are you sure you don’t want to train with your stemata?”

“I am. I’ll try to hit you while you’re flying, and you’ll dodge my shots. It’ll practice my aim and your maneuverability.” She said as she cocked her gun.

“On three we get started! One…two…three—”

Whistles making a cheery tune could be heard in that hallway as Ms. Natalia came strutting out and Instructor Matthews followed her.

“What happened to Derris and the others?” I asked Ms. Natalia.

“Oh, they failed. They’re in the infirmary.” She said very matter-of-factly.

Wait, seriously?

“Alright, who’s next?” she asked as her eyes darted between Anna’s team and mine. Silence washed over both parties as we hung our heads low, not wanting to volunteer. If I was more prepared, I would do it, but I just learned how to control my stemata.

“I understand! First battle nerves are getting to your heads! If you guys don’t volunteer though, I’m picking for ya!”

If only you knew, Ms. Natalia. If only you knew…

“Fine! I’m picking for you guys. Eeny meeny miny moe…” She darted her finger back and forth between my team and Anna’s while singing her tune. My heart raced every time she directed her attention back to me.

“Eeny meeny miny moe!” Ms. Natalia finished her selection song when she pointed at Anna’s group. I thought to myself thank goodness, but when I looked over to Anna, she still didn’t feel up for the challenge. Regardless, she stepped forward with Gollie and the two left to begin their mock battle with Ms. Natalia.

“Now that I think about it, we should save the energy in our stematas anyway since we’re up next.” Ori sat back down and I sat next to her.

While we relaxed for the first time in what felt like a while, I got to thinking about how far we've come. We were surviving day by day in the streets of Haustoria and here we are now. We get to eat three meals a day, have friends that believe in us, and a goal that we can chase. And it’s only gonna get better from here! I don’t know why I’m thinking of this now of all times, but life changing for the better is always so fun to think about!

“Hey Ori, what do you wanna do when this is all over? When we create that paradise for parasites?”

“What do I wanna do? I guess I’d wanna become a governor or something if I’m not already. And somehow help the people of Haustoria. And somewhere in there…get married with someone.” She looked away as she said that last part. I don’t know why, though. You shouldn’t be embarrassed about love. Any time I would ask, my parents would love talking about how they met, how their dates went, and how my father proposed.

“How about you?”

“I think I would keep being a CT. Protecting people from harm makes me feel like there was a point in me surviving. I especially feel that way when I’m fighting for or protecting people that I care about. Like you!” I smiled at her and she looked away immediately.

“Are you getting nervous before the mock battle?! Why are you getting all mushy with me all of a sudden!” Ori started to get furious with me.

“Oh, my bad! I forgot that you don’t like it when I talk about that kind of stuff!” I brushed it off and tried to think about something different to talk about. But before I could, I heard footsteps coming from the hallway and it was Instructor Matthews, Anna’s team, and Ms. Natalia. They were back from the mock exam already. Ori’s eyes widened at the sight of this.

“It hasn’t even been a minute yet…” Ori muttered.

“We’ll be putting a hold on the mock battles due to Natalia’s stemata not having enough energy to efficiently continue. We also need to repair parts of the exam grounds. This is estimated to take upwards to an hour, so we’ll take a bit of an intermission. You’re allowed to do whatever you want, just be back in an hour.” As soon as the Instructor dismissed us, Anna ran away and Gollie followed her. Ori began to check her stemata and said “Well we got more time than we thought thanks to Anna, so let’s get to training.”

“Ori, I’m gonna go see what’s wrong with Anna.”

“I figured you would say that…fine.” The both of us ran to go find Anna.

It took a bit of looking, but after a long search around the area, we finally found her outside of the school by the steps. Gollie was rubbing her back as she sat there crying.

“What’s wrong, Anna?” I descended the steps and asked.

“Oh, Arno. How’s it going?”

“I should be asking you that.” I joked as I sat next to her. “Did you guys fail?”

“No. Matter of fact, we passed with flying colors.” Gollie said.

“The problem is how we passed. That stupid doctor completely ignored my request! He just saw my aptitude score and gave me this destructive stemata. How the hell am I gonna use this to support people?”

Ori remained at the top of the steps and explained. “Anna, you’re always trying to be the type of person that just helps people and nothing else. That’s great, but the problem is that the BCT is very unforgiving in its stance on terrorism. Although you’ll be responding to hurt civilians and evacuations, most of the time you’ll be killing terrorists. Under a train of thought like that, the most logical decision for the BCT was to give you such a stemata. So there’s only one option: fall in line.”

“Ori…” I wanted to counter her point, but I just didn’t know how so I kept quiet.

“You could fall in line, or you could make a path yourself.” Ori descended the steps, crouched next to her, and smiled while she patted her head. Anna was taken by surprise by this along with me. Ori doesn’t like all this sentimental stuff so it's honestly shocking seeing this side of her.

“Rebel against the world in your own way. Find a way to use that stemata to further your own goal. The only one that knows how to live your life is you, after all.”

“Ok…” Ana held her breath at that moment.

“Get better, Anna. You're a dear friend of mine and I'd like to see you succeed.” Ori got up and ascended the steps. “Come on, Arno! We gotta work our asses off!”

“Right! Bye, Anna! Bye Gollie!” I waved as I ascended the steps with Ori.

As we walked in the hallways of the academy to return to the courtyard, I bumped shoulders with her “Look at you! You’re getting better at talking to people.”

“I just gave her some advice I would give myself if I were in her shoes. Besides, I’m sure if I wasn’t there, you’d say the same thing eventually.”

“Yeah, you got a point.” I couldn’t help but smile at that.