“And there you have it!” Nellie announced into her microphone. “Our rankings and matchups for the second day of the cross zone finals! Is there any piece of advice you’d like to leave our trainees with going into this next round, Commander Milton?”

“But of course…” Commander Milton took the microphone that Nellie handed him and stepped forward, immediately grabbing everyone’s attention. After all, he’s our future boss. He’s the one who will be calling the shots from behind our earpieces. The one who we’ll be trusting not only our lives, but the lives of the country with. He commands respect through and through.

“Look at the colleagues that surround you. There is a chance that you have ate with, drank with, and confided in them. Tomorrow, you will be crushing their dreams. That is a natural part of being a counter terrorist. You will battle against people who are ideologically opposed to us, but they’ll fight to the last breath to realize that dream of theirs. These battles tomorrow are supposed to simulate that feeling. To the victors of tomorrow, take in that feeling and internalize it. It’s a fundamental part of being a CT.”

Crushing the dreams of others…huh?

I couldn’t help but think about a certain chief and became downcast…

“So you’re saying that I’m going to die here…and the cultures, hopes, and dreams of the entire Rosarian people will rest on the shoulders of Jack?”

I was downcast, but I remembered Jack and how he would preserve what was left of the Rosarian people. That’s the conclusion I came to on that day, and I’ll stand by it.

But then there’s Ori…before I could even look to my side, I felt the warmth of Ori’s hand as she pulled away from mine and looked to the floor with a troubled expression.

“I ALSO…have some parting words I would like to express.” The king of Holia announced to us. “None of you are as impressive as my Royal Guards, but you’re impressive assets to the kingdom of Holia nonetheless. Some of you have managed to sneak your way into the spotlight, but the true cream of the crop will rise these following days…”

“I agree…” Ori said in a low, but resolute voice that grabbed everyone’s attention. “Whether it’s Arno or myself, one of us is going to take that number one ranking. So just watch us do exactly that, oh gracious king.” Ori gave the king of Holia her biggest smile.

“Ha! I’d love to see a parasite try to be nothing more than a bottom feeder. Feel free to prove me wrong! If neither of you get first place, both of your heads will be rolling on the floor!”

“I don’t give permission for that whatsoever.” Commander Milton immediately threw away the thought his little brother had.

“So many exciting battles tomorrow! We’ll end the programming here, so tune in around the same time tomorrow for day two of: the cross zone finals!” Nellie paused for a moment before saying “For everyone that’s paired up, you’ll be rooming with your partner for tonight. Make sure to get to know them and even learn about each other’s fighting style! Good luck!” She waved us goodbye as I heard Mikan click a button behind us. The platform’s below us all connected to create one giant square platform that carried us to the same spot we started the badge steal event. We then began our descent into our quarters. As we did, I glanced over at Ori, who was tapping her foot in thought.

“Ori, are you okay?”

“Yeah. Just fine.” Ori gave me short and to the point answers as she continued to face forward.

“Oh…okay…”

When we finally got back to our quarters, everyone was figuring out who was staying where. Ori and I didn’t say much as we split ways. Since Leo has a room in the better hall, I went in there to chat with him. It was a room in pure white with a made up bed, bathroom, and a marble tile floor. I’m completely jealous of this guy.

But I’m not jealous of his lion. That’s now the shape of a wolf he was giving head scratches to?

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“You know, I’ve been meaning to ask… how are you and the dog a package deal?”

“How are you and Ori a package deal?”

“We’re dating! Plus, it’s not like we’re sharing one slot…I mean, we’re going up against each other after all…”

“Yeah…sorry about that.”

It’s not like it’s his fault things ended up like this…that’s just how the dice were rolled. Tomorrow I’ll fight Ori. When I do, I’ll—

Suddenly, a scenario in which I beat Ori flashed in my mind. She was battered and bruised on the floor, tears streaming down her face. I…I never raised my fist against Ori. I never wanted to hurt her. Everything I am was made to protect her. How the hell am I going to fight her tomorrow?

“Hey…”

I looked over at Leo, who stopped giving his wolf head scratches and stared at me with a hollow expression. “You’re not thinking of holding back, are you? Because if you do, we’ll never forgive you.”

“I…uh…”

“I guess we should talk about each other’s abilities, huh? I guess we’ll go first.” Thankfully, Leo changed the topic before giving me a chance to answer. “Bonnie here has a stemata that allows her to transform into any animal she’s seen. As for me, I’m a sharpshooter with these training pistols here.” He tapped his sides, where there were two holsters keeping his pistols.

“You mean the standard ones we’re given before receiving our actual stemata?” I raised an eyebrow at that.

“Yup! I’m a special case that Dr. Archon himself said will work closely with Bonnie, but he said I won’t be getting a stemata of my own. He pretty much told me “Good luck!”

“Alright, how about Overclock? Can either of you do that?”

“I don’t have the aptitude for it, Bonnie has the potential though. She hasn’t done it yet though.”

A dog that can Overclock? No wonder they’re a special case. The dog’s crazy strong! I have way more respect for it. Maybe dogs aren’t really all that scary…

“Alright how about yourself? A man doesn’t get into the top three ranking of trainees out of pure chance.”

That’s when I explained my fighting style to him. I started off with the most basic part: my martial arts training under my father. The snake god style is what my entire stemata was planned around. Speaking of my stemata, it’s a suit of armor that ejects smoke out of its slits. I use it not only to propel myself freely through an area, but to also help provide more impact and attacks in a smaller time frame. And then there’s my Overclock. It’s an ability that allows me to omit the action of whatever I do and just leave the result. It has an effective range, so I can’t just hit someone from across the country.

“How many times in a row have you tried to use your Overclock?” Leo asked.

Let’s see…there was the time with Daniel Rosarian. That was once. After that I tried training with it daily. Working it out like a muscle every day since then. I can now use it twice on any given day.

“I see. That’s not so bad. If we’re lucky, Bonnie might surpass her limits and be able to really blow em out of the water. I don’t really know much about the venue or the rules of the two on two, but if it’s mainly a battle to prove strength, I think we got this in the bag! Well…” For a moment, Leo’s confidence waned and I had to figure out why?

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, it’s just that your partner I’m sure is pretty impressive so she’ll put up her own fight. But who she’s partnered up with might just make this less of a cakewalk than I thought: Julien Ferritin.”

“The guy ranked number six? He finished with 50 points right?”

“Yeah…”

That means he fought a titled CT just like Ori and I and won. The difference is that he did it alone…

“He’s from zone two, so I’m just going off of what I hear from the papers. He was in a huge scandal with a celebrity where after a heated argument in passing, he seduced his girlfriend and made her do a recording of them…I’d rather not say it’s pretty crude. I don’t get how the BCT can let guys like that into their ranks. He seems like complete scum.”

“I’ll just see for myself. After all, I’m sure there are people today that have all sorts of thoughts about Haustorians like me because of word of mouth. I won’t let some newspaper story ruin what could be a good friendship!”

Knock Knock Knock

I looked over at the door and then back at Leo. It seemed like he wanted me to answer it since he was occupied…giving his dog belly rubs.

I approached the door and as I opened it, I saw Ori with a blank expression on her face as she looked to the ground. Standing behind her was a man with a lean, yet muscular build. He wore white, baggy pants and a white tank top as well as red short hair that was parted to the side. He’s not a Rosarian, so his hair is probably dyed. On top of it all, he had a sly grin on his face as his eyes trained on Ori and I.

“Arno…I think we should break up.”