"So the tournament we discussed the other day, they've worked out the rules more clearly, its going to be divided by year, the school also agreed to work it into the curriculum so depending how you perform your grade can go up" Anya stated. "However there is a stipulation for our class, we have to be available to all grades, so we have to compete in first year through third year," "Isn't that a little..." Darren replied. "That's unreasonable non?" Jeanne said, "We're just starting our first year the director said we were head and shoulders above but that didn't include the third years," "Do we get to work as a team of five?" Aleksi asked. "No, we're only allowed a team of three, and since Jon's gone that means only three of us can compete" Anya replied, "Well I'm out" Aleksi said, I have rugby training anyway." "Ouis, I'm not confident enough in my ability to fight" Jeanne said, "So it's us three?" Darren said, "I'm okay with that" Ito said smiling, "We'll have to set aside some training time with the faculty" Anya said. "This being said the actual tournament isn't till after the long weekend, so it doesn't start till the second of May" "In that case we have plenty of time to train, not sure how far ahead of us the third years are but we'll have to really grind" Darren said happily. "You know what they say, friends who train together always work out," Anya and Ito both groaned, "What's the problem? friendships working out is a good thing non?" Jeanne asked. Aleksi explained it to Jeanne "Oh, Darren's head is good for nothing but bad puns ouis?" she asked, Anya and Ito started laughing.
"We should probably book our times before lunch break is out, I'm sure plenty of the other students are having the same idea" Anya said, "I'm not sure if that matters" Darren replied remembering what happened when he booked the underground training facility. Darren explained how he was pretty sure they changed the time of the regular students who had booked the time slot he wanted to accommodate him. "They were pissed off about it and took it out on Ito while she was waiting for me to change" Darren said, "Well that wasn't your fault!" Anya exclaimed, "I should have known something was up and let them go ahead of me" Darren said feeling guilty. "I don't think it would have mattered" Ito stated, "The regular students already have a grudge against us for being who we are."
When they got to the office there was a large crowd ahead of them, as they were considering coming back later the faculty called them to the front, "What can we do for the student council?" the receptionist asked. "Well we were planning on booking our time for daily use of the training facility" Anya said "But with this crowd maybe we'll just come back tomorrow," "Nonsense Ms. Vasaliev," the receptionist said "Tell me what time you were looking for and we'll see that you get it" the lady said. Darren and Ito shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the other students, "Well I suppose that's only fair since they're forcing us to fight all three grades" Anya declared loudly enough for everyone to hear. Some of the regular students felt guilty hearing her announcement while others still believed that the special treatment wasn't fair, Darren noticed some of the regular students trying to get up closer to him. "Vice President! can I please have your communicator number," "My training isn't going as well as I'd like, can you help me please?" Darren was berated with questions till Anya dragged him out of there after finishing their registration.
The afternoon classes proceeded as usual, Darren was starting to get the hang of Russian although he was able to hold a basic conversation now he still struggled with sentence structure. The classes ended uneventfully, he met up with Ito outside the classroom, Aleksi waved to them as he headed towards the gymnasium for Rugby club. "We should head down to your gymnastics club see if we can get you out early for training" Darren said, "It should be fine" Ito responded, "The club president brought up the tournament last time saying anyone needing time off to train would be permitted." With that settled they headed off to see if they could find Anya, she had scheduled their daily training sessions for four o clock, which made sense to Darren since they weren't all in the same general studies classes. "Maybe we should meet up at the facility" Darren said, "I don't even know where Anya's classroom is" Ito agreed since she hadn't asked Anya either and that way they'd be able to watch the team ahead of them while they waited.
Several students were chattering away in the observation room, apparently the team that was up first consisted of two transfer students, the third was said to be a student that was dropped from the elite class. Darren and Ito looked at each other, of course Jon was going to take part in the tournament, he was probably pissed off after getting booted from the elite curriculum, he must have been forced to join up with the transfer students since the regular students were wary of him. Darren saw them walk out into the center of the arena while it built up a typical commercial city block, several training bots rolled out into the arena as well, by the looks of it they were set to police, Jon's team mates were a Russian and an Asian fellow. "Another student from Asia" Darren wondered, a student to his left corrected him "Apparently he's Russian, one of the few Asian families living in the country" he said. When the student saw who he was talking to he seemed uncomfortable, "Don't worry about it I'm just a regular guy same as you" Darren said in a friendly tone. The student seemed to lighten up a bit and asked Darren about why Jon was moved to the regular course, Darren and Ito explained what had happened, "He's in my class..." the student muttered dejectedly. "Don't worry about it, as long as you steer clear of him he shouldn't have any reason to target you" Ito said smiling, the student seemed pleased to hear that and went back to chatting with his friends. Jon's team were performing fairly well when Ito and Darren left to go get changed and select their equipment, the two transfer students complimented each other well, Jon was still acting like he was a one man team though.
"There you are!" Anya exclaimed, "I've been waiting here for at least twenty minutes" she complained, Anya had already selected her gear and registered so Darren and Anya split up to their respective locker rooms and got ready.
"It seems the tournament battle is going to take place on a commercial city block arena" Anya said, "The goal is going to be to neutralize the enemy command center while protecting your own, all the buildings will be accessible to use as cover as well." "Is it the same field Jon's team is on right now?" Ito asked, "Jon's team?" Anya questioned, "He's working with a pair of transfer students" Darren explained "Me and Ito were watching them before coming down here." "Well we shouldn't have to worry to much about that team," Anya said "The moron will probably just charge Darren ignoring any team work." "His team mates are good though" Ito said, "They work really well with each other, its hard to believe they just met" Darren added "To answer your question though, yes it's probably the same field, the faculty released that information to all the teams" Anya clarified.
Jon's team finished their time frame and left the arena, without saying anything Jon intentionally bumped into Darren as he was walking passed, the Asian student smiled apologetically to the group as he passed by. "Still an ass" Darren said before Jon was out of earshot, Jon ignored him heading into the locker room, "That was weird" Ito commented, "Nevermind," Anya said, "It's our turn now."
This time wasn't like Darren's previous time in the facility, this was all live now, they would be training with automated bots programmed with typical police tactics, the day of the tournament there wouldn't be any bots though it would be competing teams. This time round they would be using live ammunition as well so they had to be more careful, the goal was to break past the police blockades and secure a riot transport. From there a team member could hack in to the police system and shut down whatever bots remained ending the battle, for that purpose Anya had come equipped with her usual hacking devices. Ito was using a submachine gun, she had brought two combat knives and a few smoke grenades as well, the two girls were wearing body armor, Anya's suit had integrated electronics for marking heat signatures. Darren was wearing his typical environmental suit, he had a helmet with an integrated computer as well that could be fed information from Anya's suit, he was bringing a marksmen rifle his katana and a few tesla mines.