Finally, it was Monday morning and Alex made sure he was early on his first day at training. Luckily, he was able to make it just in time.
On getting there, Alex tried to locate Marcos, in order to get some briefs and ideas on how things were being done. He searched around but couldn't locate Marcos. Then he remembered that Marcos had told him that he would be handling some duties so he decided to quit his search.
He picked a spot to sit while waiting with the others to be called up for testing to determine the unit he'll be posted to. Alex looked forward to joining the special forces like his father. But he knew he would have to pass this test excellently in order to get into special forces.
While he waited, he looked around admiring the beautiful structures and devices that surrounded him while letting his mind roam about thinking of the things he could achieve at this great institute just the same way his father had.
Still on his imagination, Alex felt a little tap on his shoulder, he turned around to know who it was butt he saw a strange face.
"Sorry, can I help you", Alex asked the stranger.
" Sorry to disturb you, my name is Liam I'm new here and I guess you are too", he replied smiling.
" I noticed the cheerful look on your face so I decided to come talk to you so we can get to know each other. So what's your name?", Liam asked.
" I'm Alex, nice to meet you", Alex replied while stretching out his hands for an handshake.
" The pleasure is all mine ", Liam replied while receiving Alex's hand shake. Then they started discussing to get to know each other.
Liam Ross was born into the Terra family. He was a young and daring boy. He was adventurous and mostly got into trouble. But one good thing about him was his resourcefulness.
While they conversed, an announcement came in that they all should assemble at the testing ground. Shortly after, a tall man wearing a suit decorated with different medals of honor, came up to address them.
" Good morning cadets " He greeted .
" Good morning, sir" they all replied in unison.
" I'm Captain Morgan, commanding officer of Boris Academy and it's my pleasure to welcome you all to this great institution. For you to be here means you're one of the best".He said.
Then he continued, " I want you all to know one thing, that you're all on a journey and it's not going to be an easy one but with perseverance I assure you that you'll scale through". He said.
"So without further delay, I'll be releasing you all so your instructors can assess you and post you to your various units. I wish you all a wonderful season. Thank you".He concluded and left the stage while the cadets gave him a standing ovation with rounds of applause.
After the speech, the test began almost immediately. They were being called in by groups of fives into the simulation room to test their abilities. So Alex and Liam sat down and continued their conversation while waiting for their turn.
A short while later, a man came in holding a book in his hands.
" If you hear your name" he said, " please follow me."
" Alex Smith, Liam Ross, Amers Fox, John Mick", he called out.
As soon as their names were called out they all followed the man to the training and simulation area where their test was to take place. As soon as they got there they all lined up in a file. So they were all called one at a time to display what they could do.
John Mick was the first to be called up , and he proceeded forward. Then the instructor went on to tell the students the point of the training and what was expected of them.
" Listen up cadets", he started, "this training is aimed at deciding your level and the unit you'll be posted to in this institute. Once you are called up, move to that table over there on the right and pick one of those watches.
He further went on to tell them that the watch was meant to help them keep tabs on their progress during the training and also on other essential services like access to some facilities in the institute . After all the explanation, he asked John to go on with his exercise.
The training exercise was divided to three stages, which were; combat, stress control, critical and logical abilities. Of the three test, critical and logical abilities test seemed to always be the toughest. It was so hard that only few managed to pass very well in that area of the test. Due to this fact, Alex practiced really for that part, so it was finally time to show what he could do .
For John, his combat test fixed him in a fight with a strange kind of beast with the hands of a gorilla, lion's head and claws and scorpion tail. The beast was in the likeness of a centaur. The chances of winning such was really slim but he went on with it.
The alarm went off signalling the start of the combat, then John bravely charged forward to engage the beast. After five minutes of tough combat, John was able to scale through and he also passed the other two stages which earned him seven points placing him at level 3 at the special forces and combat unit.
Alex who was watching all the while, made up his mind to go talk to John after training to get to know him and see if they could be friends. While he was busy with his thoughts, the instructor called out his name but he didn't hear. It took a nudge from Fox who was closer to him to bring him back to reality.
He went over to the table and picked up one of the watches which was blue in colour with white stripes and put it on then proceeded to his combat challenge. For his combat challenge he was to take on a phoenix. As soon as it started, the phoenix launched towards him but Alex was able to avoid the phoenix's claws from ironically beautifying his face.
He charged forward with his own attack and was able to land a quick punch and pin down the phoenix's wings. But for some reason, he was distracted and lost grip and was thrown off and got ass kicked . But at the end he was able to make the pass mark which was five points. Then he went on to the stress management test in which he did absolutely well due to his ability to deal with stressful situations. He was also able to do well in the logical test.
At the end of his session, the instructor addressed him saying, "For a young fighter of your class,I know you could have done better but you got carried away. You need to work on your focus and I can assure you that you'll do great things".
"Thank you sir", Alex replied and went back to his position while his score and post unit were transferred to his watch.
On getting to his seat, he discovered that he got six points and did not make it to the combat unit He was posted to the mechanical and intelligence unit. This meant he had to work hard and get a high score to be able to change to combat and special forces.This wasn't what Alex wanted and sure enough it affected his day.
For the rest of the session, Alex was absent minded and didn't really pay attention. He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice when the session was over. They were all asked to head to their various units in order to resume the next day.
At the end of the training, Amers Fox was posted to the medical part and she was so happy, while Liam did enough to get him into the intelligence unit which meant he and Alex would get to see more of each other.
Alex was really confused on how to handle the situation, this was due to the fact that many expected him to get into the combat unit and that was what he wanted.He also felt that his father would be disappointed in him. As a result of this, he decided to hide it and lie about his status to others but decided to tell Marcos about the situation to get his opinion.
But the real question was for how long was he going to keep that a secret?