Sonic quickly unlocked the room door with his watch. Immediately, the door slid open, and they discovered that the corridors were buzzing with students who were already making their way toward the hall that was mentioned over the speakers.
When Sonic saw everyone in the same suit, he grinned brightly. For the first time in a long time, he didn't feel like he didn't belong in a place.
"Are you guys coming?" Sonic asked and left the room. James followed, and so did Eric right after. In a matter of seconds, all the students made it to the hall. They were all excited to take the tour around the military school. So far, what they've seen impressed them, and they would love to explore more.
As they sat, expecting Mister Leo, the dark-skinned Militant from yesterday, to come address them, another soldier stepped forward.
"Listen, everyone. I'm Skylar Vox, "The person you're all waiting to hear from won't be available today, so four of us will be leading the tour." he announced, pointing to his comrades standing beside him.
The students all paid close attention as Skylar Vox continued addressing them. They didn't want to miss any information he was about to give.
"Sergeant Creed will be leading the first group. Be warned, he's short-tempered. Sergeant Beckett will lead the second group, and he's also quick to anger," Skylar Vox stated.
"I'm definitely not going with those two," Sonic muttered to himself.
After how Sergeant Creed and Sergeant Beckett were described, half of the members from the first two groups shifted to the last group. A chuckle escaped Skylar Vox as he observed the rearrangement.
However, there was one more sergeant remaining whom he hadn't introduced to the students.
"And lastly, I present Sergeant Cressida. She's..." He paused, trying to find the right words to describe her. "Well, you will find out during the tour," Skylar Vox announced.
Sonic was too slow to switch groups, and he found himself in Sergeant Creed's group, which was the first group. What surprised him even more was discovering that James and Eric were among those who fell into the third and fourth groups just moments ago.
Just when Sonic decided to switch groups as well, Sergeant Creed spoke up. 'If you have friends in the third and fourth groups, pray that they come back in one piece.'
Upon careful calculation, Sonic realized the groups in question should be Commander Skylar and Sergeant Cressida's groups. For some reason, he felt lucky that he didn't switch like the others.
Sergeant Creed was a formidable soldier who had served the military school for almost twenty years now. He started off as a student just like them, and after his college days, he became part of the military forces. Now in his forties, he had gained a lot of respect in the force. After Commander Skylar Vox, Creed and the other two Sergeants were next in command. Mister Leo, on the other hand, was the junior General to Mister Robert, so he definitely held a higher rank than the four militants who were to lead the tour.
While Sergeant Creed was leading the way, Sonic noticed a familiar face that he didn't expect to make it through the Exam yesterday - it was the same boy whom Rony and his friends bullied two days ago in the woods, the boy that Sonic stood up for and was almost killed for.
"So he made it in," Sonic grinned to himself after seeing the boy.
The boy saw Sonic grinning at him, but he didn't recognize him. The boy barely looked at Sonic's face back then before running off like a coward.
Sonic was even wondering who could be weaker than him that he was able to defeat in yesterday's match.
Curious to know more about this boy, Sonic walked closer to him, trying not to appear like a stalker, and inspected him using his system.
< Name: Ethan Leroy >
< Age: 16 >
< Race: Human >
< Ability: Earth >
< Ethan Leroy is a level one student >
"Of course he's a level one," said Sonic as he dismissed the holographic screen from his face, slightly angered that the person he almost died for didn't remember his face.
Soon they arrived at the gym center, and Sergeant Creed led them right inside to take a closer look at the equipment. They could already see inside the gym, as the walls were all made of transparent glass.
Sonic witnessed equipment that he hadn't seen before in any gym center. The equipment looked like gadgets, and each of them had a dashboard on them. Sonic wondered what the dashboard was for.
He tried to lift one of the dumbbells that was next to him, but as small as it was, Sonic couldn't move it even a bit. He tried using both hands, and still, the little dumbbell remained stationary.
While Sonic was still struggling with the small dumbbell, a student named Finley Scott picked up a barbell with two plates added to both sides. Everyone held their breath as they watched Finley Scott effortlessly raise the barbell with just a single hand. The only explanation for this was that either Finley Scott was a telekinesis user, or he had super strength as an ability.
Sonic was just contemplating which one it might be when his system displayed a holographic screen before him with a message.
< Inspection in use >
< Name: Finley Scott >
< Age: 17 >
< Ability: Flame Manipulator >
< Finley Scott is a level three student >
Sonic's system was learning very quickly; it now displays information and answers to questions without Sonic asking. All Sonic needed to do was think about what he wanted the system to do.
However, Sonic discovers that Finley Scott didn't have either of the abilities he had imagined. Then how was he able to lift such heavy gym equipment as the barbell, with four huge plates attached to it?
Though Sonic had already discovered that Finley Scott didn't have any possible ability that could have made him lift the barbell, the other students thought he did.
Soon, Sergeant Creed cleared the air as he gave a reasonable explanation of how Finley Scott was able to lift the barbell.
"Alright everyone, relax. He's not actually carrying the barbell with his ability or strength. You all see a dashboard on the surface of every equipment, right? Well, you can actually set the weight of the equipment on the dashboards. That's what he did. I guess he noticed it on time."
Finley Scott smiled as his secret had been revealed to the others. Now it all made sense to Sonic how a level three Flame ability user was able to lift such a heavy object.
Sonic's mind raced back to the dumbbell that he wasn't able to move a bit. "Uh!" Sonic exclaimed when he saw the weight that the little dumbbell was set to; 500 pounds.
He immediately set it down to one pound, and indeed it worked. Everyone started lifting the heaviest equipment they could lay their hands on. After spending thirty minutes in the gym, Sergeant Creed spoke up again.
"Now let's go to my favorite center. Just hope that we get there first, because it's the most fun place to be here."
What could supposedly be more fun than this amazing gym center? The students buzzed.