"Alright! We will proceed as if O'Brian wasn't here!" Mr. Bené said valiantly as the students began their monthly physical examinations.
As the students prepared themselves for the exam, O'Brian sat nonchalantly in the distance towards the other side of the bleachers. Using his right hand to softly adjust his spectacles, he carefully examined the students, taking note of their every move onto his holographic notepad.
"Ok then it's time for the sprint! Aaaand As usual, we're going to run 50 miles" Mr. Bené yelled.
The students toed the line ready for the run into the forest that had been secured for the school.
"Ready? Go!" Mr Bené yelled
"Great job everyone! Lance has set a new personal best with a time of 9 minutes and 55 seconds with a top speed of 350 mph!
Axel meanwhile drooped his head, reading the analytics from his run on his fit watch. He had finished last with a time he didn't even bother recording.
"I though today would be the day…" He thought
"Ok class it's time for lifting!" Mr. Bené announced. "Grab a bench and show us what you;ve got!"
Axel sat back on the bleachers dreading the coming of his turn.
"You're going down Lance! I've been practicing all month" Reggie gloated. "Did you see Ax during O'Brian's test? Who knows? You might be sharing third place with him soon" Reggie laughed grabbing his sides.
Lance's patience was already low from his back and forth with Axel, and with that last comment could control himself no longer.
"Keep talking and you'll be sharing a hospital bed with him!" He yelled arrogantly.
Upon receiving Lance's fuming glare of animosity, Regis's eyes popped open and his pupils began to dilate.
"Uhhh" moaned Reggie.
Falling to his knees quickly losing strength, he flopped to the ground as if he had just received a hard blow to the stomach. Rocking back and forth on the ground he struggled to keep his consciousness before fully collapsing.
"What's wrong Reggie?" said Mr. Bené as everyone crowded around him.
"Someone… please help…" he barely squeaked as his face slowly turned blue from lack of oxygen.
Mr. Bené turned around eyeing Lance who stood beside Reggie, seemingly uninterested in his suffocation.
"Lance this isn't your doing is it!" Mr. Bené barked.
Lance simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away.
"I…. ..ms …b. ..he ..n …en" Reggie uttered with the last of his strength.
"What?"
"I….. Must…. Be… in heaven… I… don't believe it….Lance Nozuka.... Just talked to me."
Lance face palmed himself again. Had he just socialized with someone whose perspective on life was a complete joke? Even worse, now he had been on the receiving end of one.
"This is all your fault you blue haired idiot! Now my guard is down for good! People are going to think they're friends with me or something!" He thought
"HAHAHA" the class roared.
"I'm not even gonna bother lifting today," Axel thought, remembering the last time. He had barely been strong enough to lift the bar without weight on it.
"Looks like PB is on top again at 10,000 lb!, followed by Reggie and Lance who are deadlocked at 8,000."
"Yehhhh! Take that air head!" Reggie yelled at Lance.
"And last but not least of course is our school's record is held by B who isn't here for this month at 1st place for 20,000 lb."
"PB? B?" O'Brian questioned, confused by the names. "Do they have real names?"
"Why of course" Mr. Bené answered "Is that a holographic notepad you have there!"
"Why yes it is" O'Brian said, expanding the resolution of the notebook. With the snap of his fingers 3 large turquoise panels floated around his head in a ring. As he scrolled through the panel closest to view the sound of digital data processing hummed through the air
"Wow the technology the SPA has access to is really something else!" Mr. Bené remarked gawking at the floating panels.
"Yes I suppose to an area such as this it is a marvel but almost everyone in the agency has some type of holographic notepad" O'Brian admitted. "What were the names of those students again? I can;t find them in the roster" O'Brian asked
"Pb is Peter Brown and... well as for B…. Well I think I'll just point it out to you…. best not to say that name out loud."
Mr. Bené walked over to O'Brian's holographic workstation and after a few moments of scrolling pinpointed B's name on the virtual board.
"Oh? That's quite a nice name", O'Brian remarked, "Why can't I say it out loud?"
"Trust me" Mr. Bené said wearily, "That's a name you never want to say out loud, even the principal wouldn't dare to try it."
O'Brian stared back at Mr. Bené clearly confused by the point he was trying to make.
"Let's just say this is one of those "chaotic" situations you mentioned earlier" Mr. Bené said shrugging his shoulders. "One that may seem normal, but could definitely cause a heart to stop."
"Fair enough," O'Brian answered, taking note of the interaction on his pin pad. "I think I've unleashed enough chaos for one day"
"I'm not even gonna bother lifting today" he thought reflecting on his top lift of a meager 500 pounds.
"Ok everyone time for the final challenge!" Mr. Bené said.
In the background, seemingly forgotten by the students O'Brian was taking notes on his notepad. He briefly stopped after Lances fit of rage hearing the weights slam onto the rack. As Lance walked back into the crowd he gave him a sinister grin before returning to his work.
"Ok class! Now it's time to put your money where your mouth is." Mr. Bené said rallying the students up.
"You've ran your time trials, performed various bodyweight exercises and also preformed your heaviest lift for O'Brian. Now it's time show us your power! You've had a month to collect yourselves, so show us what you've been doing. It's time to show the S.P.A what we are capable of. "
Axel's mouth began to sink into his stomach, he hated this part. Every month he displayed his powers for his class only to be the laughing stalk of the school.
"Reggie you first since you're going to talk about how good your display is until you get the chance".
"Ok everyone give me one sec". Reggie said willingly. He galloped to the edge of the field grabbing a practice dummy and placed it in front of him.
"Ok guys I have managed to do the unthinkable." Reggie snickered.
"You do the unthinkable?" Mr. Bené laughed "Really now? Who'd have guessed?"
"I've managed to solve my problem of having limited range!" He said taking a small canister out of his pocket.
"With this canister on my shoulder I can compress air and fire it at will! I call it the "Reggie Canon" He said, jamming the canister into an empty slot on his arm. He shot a look at Lance before proceeding on.
"Thanks buddy" he chimed.
Looks of confusion washed over the crowd of students. Reggie and Lance had been talking all day, but were they really buds?
Lance was scowling in his seat. A month ago he had done the same trick with his power.
Lance had the power to control the wind. He could create powerful gusts with the thrust of his arms, or elegantly ascend through the air in flight.
In a demonstration last month he created a small pocket of air which he fully compressed and released on his opponents. He had named it the "Wind canon". It had only been a month but it seemed Reggie had figured out how it worked and was going to implement his own version with his bionic arm. The irritating part was the fact that he knew Reggie had made up this move to deliberately copy him. With the power of magnetism in his arsenal Reggie had no need for this move other than to copy Lance.
ERRMMMMMMMMMM!
Reggie booted up the device and it started to hum.
"First my arm sucks in air from the surroundings."
Reggie flipped a switch on his arm and it began to suck up air filling the field with the sound of a vacuum turning on.
"Now that I've built up the air, I can compress it using my powers of magnetism and fire it like so."
A giant metal rod began to slowly force its way out of his arm as the sound of the vacuum came to a cease. The metal rod slowly edged itself out, one inch at a time, making a loud clicking sound for each inch until it had expanded a foot out of Regis arm.
When the clicking had finally stopped, Reggie pulled back on the rod with all his might.
"Yeeeeehaw!" He yelled as he cranked the metal bar.
The bar didn't bunch
"What?" Reggie yelled "It seemed I don't have enough strength to unlock the mechanism while holding the air in place! Mr. Bené can you help me out!"
Shaking his head in despair, Mr. Bené slowly approached Reggie. "I know I'm going to regret this" He sighed, placing his hand onto Regis arm.
"1 2 3-"
BOOOOOM!
The device boomed with power catapulting Reggie hundreds of feet backward and causing Mr. Bené's hair to stand up like he'd been in a tornado.
"HAHAH IT WOOOORKKEDD!" Reggie beamed as he drifted across the field smashing into a pile of equipment.
"Next… for God's sake" Mr. Bené muttered as he slowly walked back to the crowd.
"I'll be brief" said Lance as he walked up to the dummy. "Also you may want to cover your ears."
"Great", said Mr. Bené sarcastically, "Another wind guy, I'm gonna stand over here this time."
Mr. Bené walked over right next to O'Brian, smiling at his newfound haven from the shrapnel his students were producing.
Lance stood back and started to focus his power. The practice field became so quiet that only the gentle breeze of the wind and the buzzing of the birds could be heard. Everyone both fan and foe on the bleachers was sitting at the edge of their seat awaiting Lances next move.
"Focus" Lance thought "It all starts with….. One breath" He said taking in a breath of fresh air.
Taking in a deep breath and Lance went into a meditative state as he closed his eyes channeling his energy.
As he channeled a torrent of air whirled around everyone blowing viciously across the field. The grass and trees rippled as wind passed through, flowing in sync with the long green strands of Lances hair.
Though everyone was being blown back, he gracefully crouched, assuming a sprinting position but had placed one hand behind his back and the other around his waist.
After a few moments Lance quickly sprang to his feet and ran straight at the dummy jumping into the air. Seemingly about to crash into the dummy's head, Lance came inches away from contact before seemingly disappearing.
A second later a blast fired into the dummy tearing it apart and blowing it to smithereens as he appeared behind it.
Team Lance cheered and hollered with excitement at Lance's newest display of eloquence. Meanwhile many of the boys grunted or acted as if they hadn't seen his technique.
"Big deal" said Pb boastfully, "I could do that if I wanted to!" He explained
Reggie busted out into laughter at the sight of Pb's huge body flopping in the wind as he attempted to perform the aerial maneuver.
"Yeh man" Reggie said agreeing, "I'm sure you could! Man I'd pay money to see Lances face after that!"
"Yeh hahah"Pb chimed in not understanding Reggie's joke, "he'd be all like, damn Pb I didn't know you could get up there like that."
Reggie sprawled on the floor laughing at the thought of Lance seeing his eloquent technique sloppily emulated by Pb.
"Awe man your too good P, you're too good." Reggie laughed
Lance shook his head before returning to address the crowd.
"It's called the wind scar". "I build up turbulence behind me and use it to gather wind. Then I use that buildup of wind energy as a blast, destroying my enemies…. although it seems it isn't finished yet" he said examining the dummy
"You remember I told you to cover your ears at the beginning right?" "You were supposed to hear a sonic boom from the sound waves colliding with each other as well. Looks like I still have work to do."
"Very good Lance! Can't wait to see what you show us at the final examinations." O'Brian said eagerly.
"Did you get all of that?" Lance fired back
O'Brian paused in his writing, taking notice of Lance's fiery ejaculation.
"HQ will want to make sure you got every detail, as well as the fact that I did 20 reps of 15,000 pounds. I'm sure you didn't overlook that".
O'Brian looked up from his notebook, the glare from his glasses shot across the room like a laser homing in on Lance.
"Those eyes" O'Brian thought "It couldn't be"
"Lance Nozuka is that right?" O'Brian said as a glare flashed from his glasses. "Is Nozuka your mother's name or your fathers?
Lance squinted his eyes seemingly infuriated by the comment. "My father's unfortunately" he sighed.
"I see it must all be in my head then" O'Brian said relieved "You remind me of a man from the S.P.A who always gets in the way of my research" O'Brian said readjusting his glasses.
"There is no one else like me" Lance rebutted "But if you get in my way of climbing the S.P.A I'm going to seriously screw up your research"
"Is that so?" O'Brian said laughing "Well then don't worry Mr. Nozuka, I've got it all, including that hotheaded attitude of yours as well" he replied.
Lance smiled taking his seat on the bleachers once again.
"Just you watch" he said into his closed fist.
"I'll have everyone watching during the exams!"
After an hour of performances Mr. Bené looked up from his clipboard.
"OK" said Mr. Bené "that's everyone correct?"
Axel made a break for the door as Mr. Bené went down his list.
"Hold up Mr. J" Reggie said. "Axel hasn't gone yet!"
Axel sent a glare so strong at Reggie it almost sparked electricity.
"Sorry bro," Reggie said scratching his head.
"Ok Axel, get on with it lets see how much you've improved" Mr. Bené sighed as he dug through the supply closet for a tape measure. His entire class was behind him laughing, waiting for him to make a fool of himself. Though he was certain there was only 25 in his class, as the group's enmity grew larger and larger the class mocking gazes seemed like a never ending wave of hostility ready to crash into him.
There were a few outliers in the crowd he recognized, but they were still quite a ways off from being his "friends" and he still did not know what to make of their intentions.
Reggie was standing there grinning with almost a supporting look. Axel couldn't place what Regis's grin entailed, but it didn't feel like the ridicule he was receiving from the rest of the class.
Lance as usual, was looking on towards Axel with the strongest dilution of pity that had been saturated with frustration.
Axel began to laugh at himself reading Lances expression.
"Whether I do well or not he can't even look at me like I'm a person until we've fought" He's saving all his ridicule for then" he thought.
Axel grinned with a hint of coy in his smile staring back at Lance. It seemed this was why Lance was always so mad. He wanted to scream, kick, and beat Axel up, but had no grounds to do it. To him Axel was some distant relative still in infancy, throwing up and dirtying Lance's things all the time. Lance had no choice but to hold in his frustration, knowing that beating the newborn child would be nothing more than a display of inhumanity.
Behind Lance on the bleachers PB was slamming his hand into his chest, making what he believed to be sounds Axel would make.
Fumbling his words, and not completing his sentences he cried
"HRRIIIIIIMMMSS."
"HII IIRRMM an XXEElll IRIRLLULU" he mocked as students joined him.
Axel turned to see what had become of his white haired admirer.
Amazingly he was sitting in the same place. It had been almost 4 hours since O'Brian had appeared, and during that time the boy hadn't moved one inch. This time however he seemingly noticed Axel's look of confusion and signaled back.
Standing up from his chair he gave Axel a thumbs up, as his ghostly blue eyes burned with an even greater intensity before.
Lance noticing this interaction proceeded to move towards the white haired boy's side of the bleachers. However it wasn't long before he came colliding with another invisible wall.
"What the hell is going on today!" he bickered returning to his seat.
Axel just closed his eyes and tried to focus. He stepped back and focused as hard as he could on his lungs. He lurched back placing all of his weight on one foot like he was about to release a giant sneeze.
"QqqqwweeeHUCxcccK" he began drawing in the surrounded air.
"Concentrate" he thought. "Just like Gille did earlier, maybe that was the secret to his dreams."
Axel began to feel a strength building up in his chest as he began to unleash the power of the vitriolic attack he had seen Gille do in his dreams.
"HRRIIIIIIMMMSS." PB continued above chuckling with Jeff.
"Focus" Axel said as he attempted to channel his energy into his throat now.
After about 15 seconds of inhaling Axels lungs finally reached their capacity as he unleashed the full power of his attack.
"PPPPPTTTU" he shouted spitting a blob of saliva into the air.
Letting out a deep sigh Mr. Bené took out a tape measure and measured the distance the spit had traveled.
"25 feet Axel…." Mr. Bené said as he sighed.
Axel received an onslaught of ridicule and jeers as he walked back to the bleachers.
"Huckkcckuuck ptuuu" PB mocked as Axel made his way back to his seat. Lance gave Axel a look of disappointment as he raised his head from his book.
"What are you gonna cry now?" the look said.
Axel stopped walking up the bleachers and paused exchanging looks with Lance. Amidst the jeers and laughs they stood eyeing each other in total isolation from the chaos. Axel looked down at his necklace remembering Lance's words.
"Live, don't you ever complain in front of me again!"
Axel eyes burned with the flare of complacency. He took a look in the lower side of the bleachers, seeing Reggie, before spinning around catching the eye of the white haired boy who was still giving him a thumbs up.
"No" Axel said to Lance with his eyes. "I won't give you that satisfaction!"
With the little optimism he had left in him Axel placed his hand high in the sky signaling a sarcastic thumbs-up to everyone in the field. He then shot another look back at Lance that said "I'm not as weak as you-"
"Whack!"
Axel's grandstanding was rudely interrupted by a slimy spit ball of lead smashing into the back of his head. On the other side of the bleachers PB was laughing with Jeff.
Axel slowly walked dejectedly back to his seat on the bleachers. He still had a long way to go before he could stand up to Lance. As things stood now, he could barely stand in front of his classmates without crumbling.
"Well done everyone" Mr. Bené remarked.
"I think you all did a great job demonstrating what we are capable of here at SCS." "I'm going to give the floor to O'Brian for any last remarks he'd like to make."
O'Brian got up from the bleachers and returned to the center of the field in an instant. The transition was so fast it was hard to tell if he hadn't been standing there the whole time.
"Thank you very much Mr. Bené," said O'Brian taking the center stage.
"Today I have gained quite a bit of information about this school and its students," He said taking a look around the bleachers.
"To be completely candid, you all have exceeded my expectations in more ways than one." "I think all of you here could easily become agents."
A roar of applause came from the students rallying. Until O'Brian said those words his critical analysis had given the students an inferiority complex of sorts.
"With your limited knowledge of dark energy and its manipulative forms, not only have you managed to strengthen and nurture your powers, some of you have actually gone to the lengths of customizing them for specific tasks, a skill which we don't teach but comes with the acclamation of time."
"Many of my contemporary's at S.P.A headquarters fear the spread of knowledge, and have made investigations into dark energy and its contingencies a near illegal act, limiting your pregressions at this academy "
"I however find myself a more progressive type. I see a coming threat that requires a new perspective on Shifters education and development. Thus by the powers not given to me by the S.P.A but the president of this island, I have come on a special mission."
Mr. Bené's mouth dropped to the floor with O'Brian's announcement.
"You mean to say the highest power in the land has asked you to come here?" Mr. Bené asked.
"I wouldn't say that" answered O'Brian
"It's rather I have asked the highest power in the land to come here."
"Let me explain, my presence here actually isn't for the S.P.A exams, although they are of high importance. To be completely honest with you I have no say or power in their selection process, instead I have come here for an alternative purpose."
"Right now this island is seeing a great threat emerge in terms of gang relations and violence. Every day the number of criminals is rising innumerably while the S.P.A is succumbing to attrition. Right now we need agents more than ever and I actually came scouting to take a select few of you as Agents."
The students were at full attention now. They began staring at the most prominent students in envy anticipating their announcement.
"This is gonna be easier than I thought." remarked Lanced
"There is a catch however." said O'Brian as he adjusted his spectacles.
"Listen closely, after a Shifter has taken the exam He becomes a recruit at S.P.A HQ. After that, a minimum of two years of training have to be accomplished before becoming an agent. However due to the impending threat in the badlands I have asked HQ to skip this requirement under special circumstances.
"Rather than take you through the regular examination process, I have recommended to enter you all in the gauntlet," he said, adjusting his glasses.
Mr. Bené gave O'Brian a look of incredulity, almost as if O'Brian had suggested his students be wrapped in bacon and fed to lions.
O'Brian's spectacles seemed to glisten as he said the word. Whatever the purpose, he clearly had his own intention for what he was about to reveal.
"WHAT!?" Mr. Bené exclaimed "You want to bring children to that hellhole without any formal training?"
"Yes", answered O'Brian, "And based on what I have gathered here, I think they could be rather successful."
Murmuring and chatter broke out among the students as they turned to one another seeking an answer to O'Brian's remark. It seemed none of them had heard of the gauntlet before and were taken aback by Mr. Bené's response.
"Wait! What is the gauntlet exactly?" Reggie asked
O'Brian turned to the crowd of confused students and let out a sigh as he began addressing them,
"The gauntlet is the yearly set of examinations that decides the hierarchy of the SPA." "It is the rite of passage each agent must proceed through to become an officer." "In the world of Shifters, while we are not completely ruled by might, combat ability is by far the most important strength." "At the end of the exams, there is a tournament that determines what rank each member resides in."
"The moment I have been looking for…one step closer..." Lance thought.
O'Brien grinned at Lance, he could see the eagerness filling Lance's eyes, and couldn't wait to see what he could do.
"Not everyone is ready for something like this, let me give you a fair warning" "In the Gauntlet, anyone who enters will have to place their life on the line." "Killing is against the rules and will result in disqualification of course, however!" O'Brian said briefly pausing. "It is not illegal! Students are forced to sign a waiver before entering, and any student that kills another can retake the exam."
"However be warned, once an examiner has decided a battle there can be no retribution. Any unnecessary roughness or noncompliance intentional or not that compromises a student's safety, will result in a permanent ban to entry into the SPA."
"We agents will do our best to prevent unnecessary casualties but in the end, in order to take this exam you have to be willing to bet your life." "You won't be going up against just any other shifters either. You'll be going against those who have been trained for at least 2 years or longer, have a clear understanding of their powers, and have a will of fire to die for what they believe in. If you don't have the most resolute will, you'll be obliterated before you even have a chance. That's why I've come early.
"At the end of the school year, or in two months the S.P.A exams will take place. Before we even give anyone a chance at coming into the S.P.A, we must first examine their skills as I have today. However the officer in charge will use a different mechanism, what it is I cannot disclose but I assure you there are only a few here I would be concerned about passing."
O'Brian quickly glanced at Axel before continuing his speech.
"Two months from now will be the final checkup. At that time you guys must show your greatest strength. After that the examiner will choose the select few he believes to be capable of fighting in the gauntlet, and after that you can decide for yourself whether you want to come or not."
O'Brian peered over the students checking their reactions to the information he had just given them. The majority of the students looked anxious and confused but there were a few standing out. Lance, PB, and Reggie, all smiled with avarice at the thought of the tournament.
O'Brian smiled wildly, his job was done.
"Very well then, good luck to you all, I will see you in two months' time." He said concluding
"Remember, both beauty and chaos are in the eye of the beholder." "And while the gauntlet does seem a fearsome place, it is also a place to display your skill and unique abilities."
O'Brian created the two bulbs of electricity in his hands again filling the field with bright blue and red flashes.
"I will see you all again in two months' time in the place where beauty and chaos meet"
O'Brian slammed the two bulbs of electricity together and in a flash of neon excellence he was gone.
Mr. Bené slowly walked to the center of the stage examining where O'Brian had just stood. He looked around cautiously making sure he had truly left before proceeding forward.
"Well…." he said admiring O'Brian's disappearance, "I guess that's it for today! Class dismissed!" yelled Mr. Bené
"Aaaaaaccept you folks in detention I'll see you in just a bit." he said chuckling softly.