The walk to the canteen was weirdly long, but they got there after around 15 minutes of walking through winding hallways. When they get there, around 50 other kids are lined up, and an American man clearly in the army asks them all a question. All the kids respond with two words. The army man finally gets to Xavier's group, he asks the Turkish boy, who responds with Atar Ertugrul, then the army man asks him the question, that Xavier desperately wanted to know what it is. "What is your name?" He asks in Korean, "Chang Seong.". The man continues, he gets to the japanese boy, the japanese boy responds with "Shijima Teika."
After 5 minutes the man finally finishes, and a message is played over the intercom in 20 different languages. As it plays, more and more kids leave. "Contestants, you have been placed with two other contestants, you are ranked from 52nd to 0th, in terms of proficiency in Heat. In three years you will be placed on the front lines, if you can survive your training. We will teach you all the English Language, so you can communicate with each other. Get back to your cells!"
Back in the Cell
Xavier looks at their numbers, he knows from what was said, that these three in this cell were perceived as the strongest by the people running this experiment. Of course, this isn't definite, but while the kid ranked as 5 could end up as the strongest, it is extremely unlikely for the kid ranked 52 to end up even in the top 5 strongest. These numbers are just general ballparks as ranking strength is a thing humans have failed at for a long time, but a guy who can bench press 305 lbs, is probably stronger than a guy who can bench press 210 lbs.
He doesn't know what the kids Shijima Teika and Atar Ertugrul are thinking, but from their relative demeanor, he guesses that Atar is very cocky and confident, while Teika is more reserved, not exactly shy, but chooses to not speak.
Of course, until they're taught English, they can't speak to each other. So, the cell stayed quiet…
The first three months were painful as the innate human desire to socialise wasn't possible. But finally they had learned enough English to have basic conversations. The sign of this was that they finally were taught how to manifest and control Heat.
The conditions weren't the best, but it was a hundred times better than what Xavier lived with, of course the other kids hated their lives as they had normal 1st world country conditions before being put in here.
The canteen was large, with around 20 tables, Xavier sat with Teika and Atar. "Number 1 why you not eat?" Atar asks, Xavier was just staring at his food, he didn't really have an appetite, "0's right 1. You need to eat, we're going to start fight classes after food. You need full belly for that." Teika inputs.
"Both of you need to stop talking, unless I have to fight you two, then I'll be fine." Xavier retorts, "And, I'm not hungry." "Whatever 1, who cares if you die."
Xavier gets up and walks around the canteen looking at all the different tables, he picks a random table to sit down at, it had four people there already, 42, 23, 22, 17. 42 was a blonde girl, 23 was a slightly overweight boy with brown hair, 22, was a skinny boy with ginger hair, 17, he was a well built kid, but he had the look, Xavier instantly knew that 17 would go far.
"Who are you?" 22 asks, "What? Am I not allowed to sit down near you four?" Xavier asks, "they scared of you because your number so high." 17 inputs, "No we not 17!" 42 shouts out. "Took you 2 weeks before you talk to me. You scared if you make him angry he'll kill you, let's speak real though because we don't have this "Heat" yet so what's the point." "17 stop talking!" 22 shouts out, "What's your problem 22!? Since I started talking to all you, you've only been mean to me!" "If you don't stop talking I'm going to make you stop!" "What!? Are you threatening to fight me!?" 22 throws a punch, 17 steps away from it, Xavier, sensing things will get bad, jumps in and pins 22 to the ground. "Let me up 1!" "I think it's time to go away 17." Xavier suggests, "Yeah I'll head over to your table 1." 17 walks away to the table with Atar and Teika.
"Why did you let him go 1!?" 22 rages in protest, "Because you would get completely destroyed. You should be thanking me for saving your life." Xavier walks off.
"Contestants, head to Combat Training right away or be eliminated!" The intercom shouts out. All the kids head over towards one room, they all enter. An old scraggly man sits hunched over a desk on the side of the room, in the middle, a massive boxing ring.
"Ah, you are the students." The teacher scurries in front of the kids, "Kids, welcome to your Combat Training Class."