Seven preteens and five young adults shuffled their feet behind a white strip. They put one foot forward, one hand on the floor, and one in the air. Before them stood a notched wall. Once they would tumble over that, the hover disks of varied heights. Metal plates large enough to accommodate their bodies dropped from the ceiling to the floor and returned.
"This is the start," Raylay told the girls. "You'll climb the wall, run across the disks, and when a plate comes to a level where you jump, do that. It's not a long course."
"And no worries," Relda added. "The plates--you can tell--don't move fast."
Ozla and Klea moaned in unison. The girls rose to a standing position.
"Come on," they whined. "It's our first day. Can't we start with weights and martial arts?"
"This is a qualifying round to test your strength," Eyan chimed in. "We'll get to the weights and martial arts."
The girls took their position again: one hand in the air, the other, on the floor. They leaned forward and used their grounded hand to spring themselves to action.
They scaled the wall with relative ease.
"This isn't so bad," Ozla admitted.
"Stay humble!" Anthem called from behind her.
"To be honest," Daly admitted, standing next to Anthem, "I don't want to fight. I want to be settling down with clones of my own. Or young that I adopt."
"Not me," Anthem retorted.
Next came the disks.
"Or me," Darrion interjected.
Annika and Anniston nodded their agreements.
"Am I supposed to--?" Ozla questioned.
"Yes," Noah replied. "Grab the edges and go across."
The disks wobbled underneath them.
"I can't," Ozla griped. "It's too much."
"You're fine," Asia called to her from the tower. "Just don't think about it."
Eyan tapped his foot while the last of the clones leapt to the plates.
"They're doing well," he remarked.
Relda puffed out her chest and said, "Yes. Physically at a good starting point. They need to work on grit. Especially Ozla."
Eyan cupped his hands at the corners of his mouth, and announced, "Alright. Grab your practice blasters. We'll hit the range."