Harrison wasn’t looking forward to the next hour. After the last Duo round, the 48 remaining members were given time to rest. The extra exhaustion and confusion of the round had eliminated 27 fighters. Quite a large cutoff.
They were given their assigned teams right after the round was over. With the amount of fighters left, they only had four teams, one of which didn’t even have the full 15 members. They had some time to train before the next day. The first Team round would be at 3, giving them the entire morning to train and get to know each other.
“This will go well,” Lílitha remarked as she walked with him and Calista to the training room he’d reserved. Harrison was already sweating in his Practicum uniform.
“I already hate our team,” said Calista. “Do the coaches want to torture me?” She adjusted her tights.
“Hate them or not, that’s our team. We need to work with them,” Harrison told the girls.
“I wonder.” Lílitha put a finger on her chin. “We have a few Guild members that were put in our team because their Guilds didn’t ‘want’ them, a few others that hate you, some that hate me, and that hate Calista…”
“Li, you’re not helping.”
“We need to request a team change. It’s ridiculous. They move the rounds, and now we have less than 24 hours to make it work? Unacceptable.”
“We hardly have a team anymore. And it’s not like any of the others like us any more than these guys do. We can’t do anything about it.”
“Can’t Cam and Bel be on our team?” Calista groaned.
“They’re not going to move them to our team because you want your friends around, Cali. That’s the whole point.”
“Well, why do I have to be with those glitches from Theta and Iota? Do you know what they did to me?!”
“Yeah, and you broke one of their noses, didn’t you?” He looked at her. “You can handle yourself.” They stopped at their door. “Alright, listen. I know this isn’t the best team, but we need to work with what we’ve got if we want to stay in the game. So no drama, no picking fights,” —he looked at Lílitha— “no complaining. They’ll be doing enough of that. Be the bigger person by not doing that and being the Favorites you should be. Agreed?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Lílitha rolled her black marble eyes; while her pupils weren’t visible, their movement was evident.
“I’m serious, Li. Control yourself.”
“Hey, Hothead’s not in there. I don’t care about any of them. Worry more about this girl.” She jerked her head at Calista.
“Says the girl who bites everyone.”
“Girls-” Harrison sighed.
“Yeah, okay. Let’s just get this over with.”
They entered the room. The 12 people inside had broken up into small groups to talk. All of them silenced, turning to Harrison when he entered.
“Attention, everyone,” Harrison announced. “Good evening. Welcome to your team. I know this time around, it’s a bit… different. We have less time to train. But if everyone here is a good fighter, we should be able to make it work.”
Some scoffs and smirks flew around. One of the Theta girls coughed, “Cheerleader!” into her fist, giggling with her friend.
Harrison checked his AIDA band for the teammates’ names. “Geija Herifa?” He looked at her.
The Paeseoan girl paled. “Yes?”
“How’s your nose?” He cocked his head. “Did it heal up okay?”
“Seems a bit crooked,” Lílitha added.
The others snickered while she looked away, embarrassed. Calista bit back laughter, even cracking her knuckles.
“Like that’s so impressive,” a Paesearthian commented. He had greenish skin and brown hair. He had the red Guild patches of Epsilon on his uniform. “Theta members are losers.”
“Speak for yourself, Epsilon reject,” Geija retorted.
“Oh, and you’re not? You’re the worst in your Guild.”
“Stuff it, Cattlebee,” a Dnilian girl snapped. Harrison was surprised to see a ‘higher species’ student on his team.
He checked her name; Blair ‘Ghost’ Bruning. Being shapeshifters, Dnilians could also change their transparency. Blair was a fan of being ‘invisible’ when she competed last Versus.
“Oh, you angry, Ghost?” the Paesearthian taunted. His name was Horace ‘Tarzan’ Cattlebee. Harrison remembered him from last Versus. He’d gotten eliminated in the first Chaos rounds with his reckless way of fighting.
“I’m annoyed. There’s a difference between annoyed and angry, Tarzan. Bughead.”
“‘Bughead’ would’ve been a more appropriate call sign,” Alka from the Iota Guild remarked.
“Oh, I wonder why Lasso didn’t want you on her team?”
“Okay, then, I’ve assessed all of you enough now,” Harrison interrupted. “This just gave me all the information I needed.” He glanced at his Favorites, both of whom rolled their eyes. He approached the unhappy group. “Alright. So you’re all working with me now. If you don’t like it, too bad. This is the team you have, so you’re going to stick with it, deal with it, and work with it. Got it?” He eyed the members sternly.
“Yes, sir,” someone muttered sarcastically.
“What was that?” Harrison’s brows raised as he scanned them. He walked through the group, daring them to respond. “Could you repeat that, please?”
No one answered. Harrison caught Calista staring at him, but not with fear or shyness— more like an admiration of some kind. Lílitha noticed, too, nudging her out of her daze. He hid his inward chuckle and kept his straight face.
“Good.” He smiled charmingly. “Let’s start with names. Get to know each other. We’ll do some warm-ups, then fight some CDSims. We won’t be doing anything fighting each other; we’re focusing on teamwork lessons. We need to learn how to work together so we don’t get glitched up tomorrow.”
“Fun,” a Paeseoan man said.
“Yes, it’ll be fun. If none of you are whining about how you don’t like this person.” He said the last words in a mocking, babyish tone, making some chuckle. “Some of you are already experienced. Those of you with call signs, you’ve had to work with people you don’t really like. So there shouldn’t be a problem.”
Lílitha stepped forward. “I don’t know half the people in this room… except Damaris, obviously.” She nodded at the blonde human, who sat with another Earthian girl and a Martian girl near the back.
“Damaris Delario, right?” Harrison said.
The girl nodded shyly. “Uh, these are Charlotte Petz and Eriiin Samuels,” she introduced the two other girls.
“The Gamma reject, too. Great,” a Voraxian muttered.
“Orthos Milin,” Harrison addressed him. “Second-year 1. You didn’t get on the team last Versus, and none of the other Student Coaches wanted you on their Guild.”
The others snickered while he frowned angrily. “Harrison Smith. The Cheater that didn’t have a Guild until the two losers joined out of pity.” Lílitha’s arm immediately stretched to hold Calista back from responding.
“And yet, I’m your leader and you have to follow my orders, or get cut out of the Games.” Harrison shrugged, the insult bouncing off him.
“With you, we’ll all get cut out of the Games,” someone else remarked.
“I’m surprised you don’t agree, Hammerhead.” He looked at the heavy, stocky Mercearthian in the corner, his square-shaped head giving justice to his call sign. His name was Brocato Piline. “Your team was a disaster last time. You got eliminated very soon, very fast. Your team was one of the worst-performing on Earth.” He looked at the other members, his brown brows raised. “Anyone else want me to bring up hidden code for you? I got all your history right here.” He tapped his AIDA band.
No one spoke up anymore. After a while of silence, Eriiin Samuels finally raised her hand, a bit shy.
“Yes?”
“Um… does the Joint Elimination thing apply to Team rounds?” she asked.
Many of the other fighters snickered. “Dean White told us it didn’t, dummy,” said Alka Betina.
“She’s just asking a question,” Calista defended the girl.
“Was I talking to you, Cheerleader?”
“You’re talking around me, so, yeah.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“If you’re so smart, you’d know better than to mess with my Favorite in front of me.” Harrison glared at the Mercumartian girl fiercely. She looked away, running her fingers over her black head crust— her version of playing with her hair.
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“No, Joint Elimination doesn’t count in Teams,” Lílitha answered Eriiin. “If our teammates get cut, it’s over for them. It’s just harder for the rest of us with fewer members. So if one of you gets eliminated, that’s on you, and you’d be making it harder for the rest of us. So do us a favor: fight well.”
“We know who’s getting cut first,” Geija snickered, glancing at Calista.
“Do you need another broken nose?” Calista threatened.
“Ooh, the Socializer making threats?” Horace chuckled. “Bring it on!”
“Shut up, Tarzan,” the Klausian member of the team snapped. “Your voice is annoying.” Harrison recognized her as Bella ‘Freezer’ Yosta, one of the better fighters of the Zeta Guild, though not a Favorite. Why was she on their team?
He did hear complaints about her attitude more than her fighting. She was a very cold, emotionless woman, much like her powers… like a freezer. Their generation was very on-the-nose with call signs, now that he realized.
“Alright, all of you have bugged me off about…” He counted on his fingers. “11 times. So for warm-ups, 11 full series of push-ups should cut it.”
The team groaned in outrage. “You want us to do 220 push-ups?! Are you insane?” Geija exclaimed.
“Bug-off number 12; 240 now. If you don’t cut the attitude, I’ll keep adding. You don’t want to do the push-ups, fine. We can just stay in this room arguing until curfew, or we can get some work done so we don’t get crushed tomorrow. What’s it gonna be?”
After a long pause, the 14 got down for push-ups. Harrison looked at his Favorites. “You two are fine. Just do basic warm-ups.”
“You know, a partial Coach isn’t a good one,” said Brocato.
“They’re the only two that have fully respected me.” He walked through the group. “Charlotte, Eriiin, and Damaris; you three do only three sets. Now all of you know what happens when you have an attitude on my team.” He smiled charmingly. “Come on, you’re tough fighters! You’re strong. Push-ups shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Are you going to whine about it?” Lílitha added.
After grueling stretches, the fighters took turns throwing all sorts of weapons at oncoming CDSim holograms. Three members at a time would line up and be given random weapons that they could use, ranging from guns to battle axes. Calista struggled a bit, being more comfortable with melee weapons than shooters. Harrison would occasionally intervene, fixing people’s positions and giving advice.
“Don’t stretch out your arm so rigidly,” he said, observing Orthos as he aimed a handgun at the hologram. The man ignored Harrison, shooting anyway. He winced at the vibration coursing through his bone, missing when he jerked from the force.
Harrison shrugged. “Told you.”
“I think I know how to shoot a gun,” the Voraxian gritted out.
“You know how to shoot it, you just don’t know how to hold it. You need to relax your arms for that type of weapon.”
The tension was palpable in the training room. Many members didn’t like Cheater giving them advice and teaching them. Most were older than him, so they felt undermined by his young age.
Reilly had retained most of his Guild, so he had his own team, with only one vacant spot that Hillary Kaye took, being the only Delta still in the competition. Disaris had also retained enough of his Guild, and appointed Delaine as his co-leader, since only three Gammas were left after last round. They took in leftover members from other Guilds, including Camelithia and Belinda.
The other two surviving Student Coaches, Elisa and Catherine, were on the fourth team with the non-Guild members, only eight in total. One would think they were the less fortunate group, but at least Elisa and Catherine could work together in leading the team, and they had considerably better reputations.
Harrison was left alone with his team, his co-leader being, by default, Calista. He believed in her skills, but none of these people would look up to him as a leader, let alone her. Dean Lisa was sympathetic towards his situation, so he wondered why she and Dean Gina allowed this set up… unless she was testing his skill in teaching uncooperative students. Or maybe she was pressured by President Chrisman somehow.
Many dreamt of being on a team with one of the Student Coaches. It was a very common goal among Versus students in Fistborn. The Student Coaches were the idols of the student body. The best in the entire academy. The ones that would supposedly make the biggest impact on the competition and wow the news anchors and fans.
They were seen as a tight-knit, exclusive circle, a family that knew each other well. Which, in part, was true, but Harrison didn’t feel it much. He was a very obvious outcast among the ten.
Being accepted as a Guild member was an exciting feat. Guild members took up almost half of the Versus school. It meant they were noticed. They were deemed worthy of a Student Coach’s time. And if one of the top four chose them, it was even better.
Then there were the Favorites. That proud badge everyone aspired to wear. The ones that were admired almost as much as the SC’s. Those that would most definitely succeed them. People like Rosalina and Camelithia were to be feared.
Harrison always felt they were idolized too much by Fistborn students. It put so much pressure on them. One year, their success would be at a high, but the next, they could fail. In Chaos Rounds, their chances were as good as anyone’s.
A Student Coach being eliminated was like an angel falling from grace. People would wonder where all that ‘skill’ went and some students’ attitudes would change. Then they would be replaced by someone who did better, their social status erased from existence.
Li Mei, Kalis, Melsen, and Stösten got eliminated during the Chaos Rounds, as did many of their students. People were talking about their failures, wondering what changed, what they did wrong, if they were as capable as they thought. They probably wouldn’t ever recover from their loss.
Despite that, Harrison would probably never be able to relate to his nine peers. They were respected. He was not. Neither were his Favorites. Instead of commending them for staying so long in the competition, most news anchors were asking what ‘tricks’ they were using to get through the rounds. The more controversy, the more digits they got.
Lílitha was intimidating enough to force people to leave her alone, but Calista was still working on her presence and character in the arena. Many still saw her as the girl who got through just because of luck and looks.
They finished taking turns on the CDSim. Harrison moved on to the next part of his lesson plan. “There’s a lot of you here that aren’t used to weapons. And I get that, especially if you’re new and this is your first ever Versus. You can get away with that in one-on-one fights, but in these kinds of rounds, you need to use weapons. There’s games out there that can’t be played without them. Capture the Dragon, Hitball, Weightless Dodgeball, games like that.” He turned to the empty space before them. “ERMM, generate a training level of Capuzzle Rush, please.”
“Generating…” the male robotic voice replied. The other half of the large room sunk, becoming a basic map for the game.
“Who here has not trained with this game?” Harrison asked.
A couple of hands went up. Some teammates rolled their eyes, smirking derisively.
“You should know the general idea. Find the capsules with the puzzle pieces, get them to the puzzle frame on the other side, whoever has the most pieces in wins. You’ll see from the image when the square is full. Do it all before time runs out.”
“What does this have to do with weapons?” Horace said.
“I was getting to that.” Harrison eyed him. “What you will do is run and grab all the capsules you can as fast as possible. I’m teaming you up, three each. Two of you will work with me. You can only use weapons in combat. If you refuse to use weapons at all, you’ll be teleported to the beginning and your pieces will return, and you’ll have to do all that all over again.”
“That’s a bit unfair,” Geija muttered.
“If you think this is unfair, how have you survived this long?” Harrison wasn’t normally this harsh with his words, but with the attitude most of them were taking, he’d have to put his foot down.
“Glaiver does this a lot better,” Horace spoke up, referring to his Student Coach by his call sign. “He’s a lot more direct than you are.”
“Kalis isn’t in the competition anymore, Tarzan.”
“My coach always puts us with our friends. It’s less chaotic that way,” said Alka. “You’re making this so much harder for us, and we only have until tomorrow.”
Lílitha stared at them, bursting into laughter. “How old are you all?” she exclaimed. “You sound like children complaining that ‘this isn’t the way Mommy types code’.” She mocked them in the last sentence.
Some of the other students snickered, trying to hide their amusement. The Paesearthian man glared at her, opening his mouth to say something. Harrison held his hand up. “Quiet.”
“And I’m supposed to be the ‘child’, according to you,” Lílitha continued.
“Li.” He raised his brows. “Let me do the talking.”
The little woman shrugged, not saying another word. Calista folded her lips, resisting laughter.
“I get that for some of you, I’m not your original Student Coach. But this is the way things work. You’ve been in the Versus before. You’ve gotten different teachers. I’m not going to do the same thing your favorite coaches do. When you’re in group training with me, you do what I say. You learn with me. If you have a problem with that, good luck tomorrow, because you can’t change teams. Do we understand each other?”
Silence. Some people nodded.
“I don’t want to hear any more complaints. You can go sit outside and wing it tomorrow. Otherwise, shut your cache holes.”
Dead silence. Harrison allowed himself a satisfied smile and opened the ERMM barrier.
“Tarzan, Ghost, both of you are with me.” The two he called instantly soured and sulked. Calista was placed with Orthos and a Mearthian named Diego. Lílitha was with Hammerhead and Eriiin. They were very mixed groups, most of them grumbling at the teammates they got.
This was going to be a glitchfest to work with.
===
Everyone exited the barrier in a screaming match. Harrison massaged his forehead, trying to stave off a headache, while everyone yelled about whose fault it was that they lost. The winning group, Lílitha’s group, was silent.
“I told you to split and get the other piece! Then you turned around and went for my piece!”
“Because it was too far, and I would’ve gotten kicked out! You were supposed to run ahead of me!”
“And what would that do?”
“You’re supposed to clear the way!”
Calista’s two teammates were both berating the human girl, who could hardly do anything to defend herself. With their intimidating heights and voices, the girl looked like she was going to burst into tears.
“I thought you were grabbing it! That’s why I ran ahead!” she yelled. “You guys weren’t clear to me-”
“It couldn’t be clearer.”
“How? Neither of you virus-heads wanted to talk to me!”
“Watch your mouth, girlie.” Orthos fixed her with a glare.
“Everyone, quiet!” Harrison shouted.
Most shut up immediately, but some other members chose to continue their arguments. Harrison approached them. “I said quiet.”
They turned to him. “Oh, were we bothering you, coach?” Tarzan taunted.
Harrison held his fierce gaze for a while. He then smiled. “Tarzan, Orthos, and Diego. You three go back in and play against each other. I won’t let you out until you’re good enough.”
“Excuse me?” Horace raised his brows. “Why should we?”
He shrugged. “Or go sit outside and get us all eliminated tomorrow. You guys will have to deal with Dean White yourselves, not me. Every training session is recorded and sent to her, and when she sees you guys being whiny little glitches, she’ll have something to say about it. I don’t have to tell her anything. I can just sit back and watch you guys sweat, maybe even grab some popcorn. What’s it gonna be? It’s a win-win for me, at least.”
After a few moments, the three groaned and re-entered the barrier. Harrison then faced the other eleven. “Does anyone else have a problem they want to cry about?” he said with a hint of mockery. “If you’re having an attitude because you didn’t get the SC you liked, then hack off and get out of here, because I’m not letting you slow us down. I don’t give a glitch if you guys get eliminated tomorrow. In fact, good riddance. Now, if you actually want to get on the planet team, you’ll shut up, listen to me, and work.”
He glanced at Calista. “All of you have spread rumors about this girl not working hard enough, or having everything fall in her lap.” He pointed at her. “But look at her. She’s working hard, she’s listening to me, and she’s not complaining. She’s a better student than all of you combined. Lílitha’s the only Ilamikoan in the entire school and she’s made a huge name for herself on another planet, even stood up to the strongest species without even thinking twice. That’s why they’re my Favorites. Not you.”
“It’s not like you’re Reilly Campbell,” a Paeseoan, Parthos, muttered.
“And let me see… are you in a Guild? Are you a Favorite? Are you even on the same team as Reilly Campbell?”
He was silent.
Harrison jerked his head at the barrier. “Go join your teammates in the ERMM.”
“Wha-”
“Now.”
He glanced at the others, then went to the ERMM. To the others, Harrison said, “We’re a team. You need to accept that. You guys need to hash your cache out and learn to work with each other. Understand?”
Many nodded and muttered their assent. Harrison had established his authority… for now.
How would he get this team working in time for tomorrow? At this rate… they were bound to lose and go home after the round.