Arno

“You’re gonna have to apologize to Ms. Health Maiden, Ori!”

“For what? Doing what I was supposed to?”

Ori and I were discussing as the floor below us was slowly bringing us to our destination.

“No! It’s just…she could’ve died!”

“Arno, there was no other strategy I could’ve used to give us the upper hand. She’s a titled CT. There’s no room for pleasantries or honor with a CT of her caliber.”

Right next to us, was that flowy dresslike trainee uniform that we notice as Tomi Shimamoto’s. She was on her own platform that was being moved. She seemed to be in her own world as she looked at the moving ground below her.

“Uh…thanks for helping out our friends! Every bit of firepower probably helped a lot against Therese.” I said to her.

“There’s no need to thank me. I was selfishly vying for the basket of regular badges myself.”

“But you didn’t just snatch it and ran. You became the support of everyone there so they all had a chance at getting points. Thank you!” I said with a smile.

“It was nothing…” She averted her gaze as more pieces of moving land started to creep closer. With it, carrying other trainees with badges.

“Arnooooo! Oriiiiiii!” Anna could be seen waving her badge in the air with Gollie holding a couple himself. Even more faces Ori and I recognized started to appear as well as some new faces. So these are the people who will be going into the second round of the finals…huh?

“What’s up with that girl over there?” I pointed over to a trainee that was in fetal position on the floor. She was wearing that white dress with the leather corset and wide circular goggles with blue rims. That’s when I recognized her as Mikan. The builder of the very arena we were just fighting in.

“My poor Gaia…what in the world did they do to you…” tears slowly streamed down her face as she rocked back and forth.

“Deserved. After having us sleep in that awful cavern, she’s not getting my pity.” Derris said as his platform inched toward us.

“How were things on your end, Derris?” I asked.

“You pretty much know how it went. Terrible. That Cistra girl gave us a wild goose chase. Sure, Tomi came in and things got more even, but she gave us the slip and that’s when that black hole nonsense happened.”

Derris seemed pretty ticked off, but he was holding a badge regardless. He probably expected a better performance on his part. At least he wasn’t eliminated during this first event.

“Allllright everyone! Thank you so much for participating!” Nellie Ruth appeared on a platform of her own with the King himself and the commander of the BCT. They were all sitting on a couch, but Nellie and Commander Milton stood up as their platform approached. This was my first time seeing the king and Commander. Ori told me they’re siblings, but they look like they came from completely different walks of life.

“Right behind me here is a display screen that’ll show the rankings of every eligible trainee. Look carefully at your ranking, because it’ll greatly determine the events of tomorrow! We’ll begin with the lower ranking half of the participants! Hit it, Mikan!”

Mikan despite being her her fetal position with her head low, turned the cog over her goggles, which etched lines onto the screen that created a ranking of all of our names:

9th:Therese Cistra 20 points

10th: Ori Haustoria 10 points

11th: Agathor Septimbre 10 points

12th: Derris Zi Foxtrot 10 points

13th: Crystal Vex 10 points

14th: Leo Poliark 10 points

15th: Rono Ecluse 10 points

16th: Remie Begnoll 10 points

Seeing these rankings reminded me…Ori gave me the title badge we got! I quickly looked next to me for her reaction, but she simply looked forward, waiting for the rest of the results. Was this really the best strategy? Ori fought with me to beat a titled CT and she’s all the way down there…

Another thing that throws me off is that Therese did all of that messing around to get in the lower half of trainees. Sure, she’s at the top of that list, but she really dropped the ball during that final part of the event. Doesn’t really matter to me. Her loss is our gain.

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All of the other names there made sense when you think about Therese’s interference. I’m sure if it wasn’t for her, our friends would’ve taken three or four regular CT badges. There’s a couple of new names I don’t recognize like “Crystal” and “Agathor,” but there was a new name that I did recognize.

“Leo?!” I scanned all of the platforms and quickly laid my eyes on the man himself. With that usual bright smile, he winked and said “Heya!”

“Hey…didn’t you have a dog with you?”

“Oh yeah! Bonnie! Why do you ask?”

“Did you get her replaced?”

I pointed to the beast that he was riding. It was a female lion with a golden coat of fur. The lion had a very royal air about her as she held her head high above the rest of us. That animal truly is the king of the jungle. Or I guess in this case, the queen.

“Arno…Bonnie’s hurt! You don’t recognize her?” He started to give his mount’s head a firm pat and that’s when I realized…

“The dog…the dog is a cat now!” I pointed and yelled out.

“Pfft haha! That’s an interesting way to put it, Arno.” Jack made a poor attempt to hold back his laughter.

“Everyone got a good look at the bottom eight? As you can see, for those of you who tied, we brought up whoever acquired their badge first. Now, are you ready to see your top eight trainees of this year’s Cross Zone Finals?! Because I am! Hit it, Mikan!”

“It’s like I lost a part of my very soul…” Mikan dejectedly said as she pressed the button once more. The lines on the screen were promptly erased and etched onto the screen and revealed a ranking of the top eight trainees:

1st: Gill Williams 1,020 points

2nd:Tomi Shimamoto 70 points

3rd:Arno Achebe 50 points

4th: Annabelle Hotch 50 points

5th: Jack Rosaria 50 points

6th: Julien Ferritin 50 points

7th: Mikan Archon 30 points

8th: Gollie Themis 30 points

Wait…huh?!

WHAT?!

One thousand points?! That’s mister Terrance! You’re telling me someone was strong enough to take him down?!

Everyone immediately jerked their heads left to right, searching for this mystery person. When everyone’s eyes finally landed on an unfamiliar face, I knew exactly where to look. When my eyes landed on the individual who managed to snagged the Terror Crushers badge, I was just as surprised as everybody else.

I was staring at a man that looked like he was in his mid-forties. He had a near-shaven head with a large widow's peak, and wore a white open trenchcoat that seemed refashioned from the standard trainee uniform. He wore a salmon-colored turtleneck underneath it along with black slacks and shoes. He just looks like a normal guy…

Wow…CTs really do come in all shapes and sizes.

“What the hell is going on here?!” Therese pointed at the man. “This guy is the one who beat him?! I don’t believe it for a second! I was supposed to…” For the first time, Therrese Cistra raised her voice out of anger. And she just as quickly let that anger wash away into pensiveness. Did she just say…?

“Well, you’d be right to think that, haha…” Gill scratched the back of his head.

“...Then how?” Even Tomi was interested.

“Well…I was told by my wife not to give information like that away. Sorry guys!” He let out even more nervous laughter as he did a slight bow to all 15 people staring at him.

Crystal said “Your wife runs the show, doesn’t she?”

“She sure does! Behind every great man is a greater woman or however the phrase goes…can we stop staring at me now, please?”

“O-oh sure! Sorry!” I immediately began to look back at the rankings as the other trainees discussed among themselves. I see the names of my friends up there and that makes me happy. There’s Mikan and Tomi, who I’ve briefly met and heard of through the event. Only one name stands out to me: Julien Ferritin.

As I tried looking around to find this person, I noticed something completely different. This time, all eyes were trained on me.

“Arno, you’re one of the top three trainees. You’re an item of interest right now.” Ori whispered to me as she interlocked her hand with mine and smiled. As much as everyone found interest in me…as much as Ori wanted to prop me up…I wouldn’t be in that position without her.

“Ori, I—”

“Alright everyone!” Nellie’s booming announcer voice cut through everyone’s conversations. “As you know, tomorrow will be the two on two competition. The winners will move on to the third and final day while the losers…will be eliminated. Just so you know, these matchups only had one factor taken into account. Otherwise, it’s all random. That one factor is us taking one name from the top and bottom name each to pair up. Now let’s see those matchups! Hit it, Mikan!”

“Now that I think about it, I could probably make some additions I was brainstorming before rushing to deadline.” Mikan was drawing a blueprint while she hit the button for the last time today. I’m glad she’s getting back in her groove.

Annabelle Hotch and Crystal Vex vs. Jack Rosaria and Remie Begnoll

Agathor Septimbre and Mikan Archon vs. Gollie Themis and Rono Ecluse

Leo Poliark and Arno Achebe vs. Julien Ferritin and Ori Haustoria

Therese Cistra and Tomi Shimamoto vs. Derris Zi Foxtrot and Gill Williams

I quickly scanned the list and came to a horrifying realization about tomorrow.

“I’m…fighting Ori?”