“So…” Catcher started up as soon as Rei and Aria reached them, looking between the pair. “Should we make up a cool ritual, or something? Like a ‘welcome to the super-secret Rei-Is-a-Freaking-Monster club’ party, maybe?”
“Oh, I want a party!” Aria exclaimed enthusiastically, sounding like she was only half-joking.
“Don’t encourage him,” Viv said with a sigh before looking at Rei, who was watching her blankly. “I had to tell him, sorry. He was starting to make up all kinds of stupid reasons why you two were chatting alone.”
“Like wha—?” Aria started to ask, stepping around him to stand at his side.
“Nope. Not going there.” Rei managed to cut Catcher off before he could answer, the wicked look that overtook the Saber’s face making him think he could guess all too well what sort of debauchery might have been theorized. “That’s how rumors get started. I’ve also barely eaten today, so I’m starving. You guys good to head to the mess?”
“Sure,” Viv answered readily enough, pushing herself to her feet.
Catcher, on the other hand, looked distinctly disappointed. “What? That’s it? No fanfare? No celebration?” He frowned at Rei. “This is a big deal, man!”
“So you guys keep telling me,” Rei muttered, forcibly stopping himself from rubbing at his temples with thumb and forefinger. “Which—if you think about it—is all the more reason to not make a scene, wouldn’t you say?”
Catcher looked unconvinced.
“Come on, pouty face,” Viv told him placatingly. “You can have my dessert. How’s that?”
“Deal,” Catcher answered at once, bouncing up from his seat. He paused, though, just as he started to hitch his bag over his shoulder. “Oh… Wait. On second thought, scratch that. I’m gonna be skipping the sweets for a few days.”
Rei gave him a funny look as he moved around the blond boy, deciding his stomach wouldn’t survive waiting for anyone else to get moving.
“Why? You worried about your love handles, all of a sudden? Pretty sure there’s no one in the galaxy in better shape than most Users…”
Catcher shook his head. “Nah. Just wanna stay clean for Monday. Figure a few days of salads and protein won’t kill me.”
Rei frowned, looking around to Viv and Aria. “What’s happening Monday?”
“Oh, right, you wouldn’t know,” Aria said, looking apologetic. “Sorry. I should have told you.”
“Told me what?”
It was Viv who answered, grinning at him evilly.
“Parameter testing. First thing Monday afternoon. Not even giving us part of the week to prep ourselves.”
Rei’s curse echoed so loudly, several cadets walking along the outside of the walls glanced up at the Arena’s open crown in confusion.
*****
Aria didn’t realize she’d paused, when the others started making down the steps. Her eyes were on the back of Rei’s head, watching him descend as he grumbled in annoyance at the news. Only when Viv stopped and looked around at her, clearly a little worried, did Aria realize she hadn’t moved from the end of the row.
“You okay?” Viv asked quietly, so that the boys down the stairs from her couldn’t hear.
“What?” Aria flinched. “Oh… Yeah. Sorry.”
She started after Viv at once, who lagged behind to let her catch up.
“You sure? I mean… When Rei showed me, I’m pretty sure I was semi-catatonic for a couple of days…”
Aria laughed discreetly at that. “No. No, I’m fine. Like I told him, I already knew something was up. Everyone does. How could they not? I just didn’t expect… that.”
“That,” Viv repeated with a snort. “Yeah… You can’t really, right? No one would expect that.”
“No one,” Aria agreed enthusiastically.
Ahead of them, Catcher and Rei had started up a conversation regarding something about the projection plating of the Arena floor, so Aria and Viv were content in trailing behind a little, choosing instead to chat about their training that day. It had been an intense one, with Reese laying into most everyone in the class over the course of the 3 hours of matches, and the two of them had even come head-to-head at one point. Despite all this, Aria found herself distracted as they spoke, having repeatedly to pull herself back to the topic at hand while Viv largely carried the conversation. More than once she caught herself looking at Rei again.
A tiny pulse of something warm, light and deep, pressed at her chest.
Absently, Aria lifted on hand, lightly touching the black fabric of her jacket just over her heart with the tips of her fingers.
You’re gonna be trouble for me, too, she thought, echoing the realization for only her to hear.
CHAPTER 36
“Growth is the measurement by which we quantify your ability to survive.”
- General Shira Abel
Central Command, Earth
Annapolis Commencement Speech, 2465
Watching Sense tackle his final attempt at the Speed & Agility test was like taking in a completely different human than the one who’d run this exact course 10 weeks prior. Though Rei new the bald cadet had only climbed three ranks to D8 over the length of the first quarter, his CAD had evolved recently to encase his full legs, and he’d obviously developed a much better sense of his abilities since the start of term. Whereas Sense’s speed and nimbleness had already seemed impressive before, he moved now with a grace that appeared even to impress Michael Bretz—hovering high above them as he administered the testing—because the sub-instructor nodded along steadily for almost all of the allotted 15 seconds.
Sense danced more than ran across the staggered form of the exam field, deftly handling the rise and fall of the hexagonal patterns that made up the projection like his feet had memorized the troublesome terrain. He jumped and flipped and spun with all four limbs, the black, rapidly moving discs vanishing one after the other after the other in quick succession to his swipes and kicks and strikes. There was never a pause in Sense’s movement, never a hesitation or a hitch. Like water around rocks he flowed, claiming every target within reach of any limb as he did.
“Time!” Bretz bellowed from overhead. “Total: 37 discs! Up thirteen from your initial test, Senson! Excellent work!”
“Thank you, sir!” Sense called back with a casual salute to the man, already starting to jog off the field. Despite his increased speed and maneuverability, it looked to have been in Endurance where the Brawler had made the most improvement, because he didn’t even appear winded. On the contrary, he’d barely broken a sweat as he stepped out of the parameter ring and off the raised field to trade grins and thumbs up with Rei and Emily Gisham before taking to his assigned circle outside the ring.
“Emble!” Bretz was yelling. “On deck! And I want to see a better effort this time.”
The only indication Tad Emble made that he had heard the chief warrant officer was a darkening of his face as he stood up. Rei, for his part, just couldn’t bring himself to feel bad for the boy, and he watched the brown-haired Brawler step up onto the field with interest, barely noticing Bretz reset it. Emble’s last count had only been 26. If he didn’t make too much of an improvement this time around…
“Cadet. Call.”
Emble called his Device, and a second later the red 5 appeared in front of his face.
When the count hit 0, he was off in a blur.
Had Sense not just performed his feat, Rei was sure Emble’s attempt would have been more impressive. In comparison, though, the slighter boy’s movement and dance were stiffer, almost clunky. He swiped more than struck, jumped more than leapt, hurtled more than ran. The attempt, rather than focused and clean, appeared to be fueled more by desperation than focus, his pattern and movements unsteady and lacking.
It showed, in the end.
“Time!” Bretz’s announcement matched the vanishing of the discs, the black circles blinking out of being just as Emble had been pouncing towar
ds another group. “Total discs—” the Warrant officer didn’t hide his frown “—25. Step off the field, Emble. We’ll speak after all tests are complete.”
The Brawler looked stricken. As he turned to do as instructed, recalling his CAD in the same motion, he seemed unable to keep his eyes from meeting Rei’s. The two of them might not have been on the friendliest terms for obvious reasons, but Rei still tried not to be blatant with his elation on his face. 25! That meant Emble’s top count was 26! If the adjustments Rei had planned for after his first two tries paid off…
“Ward! You’re up!”
Rei might have seemed a little too enthusiastic as he leapt to his feet, because he could have sworn he heard Sense snigger. Ignoring his friend, he hurried onto the field and to the starting circle.
“Cadet. Call,” came the order, and with a word Shido was around Rei’s arms and legs, black steel gleaming over white as the Device’s blue vysetrium glowed.
The countdown started, but Rei mostly ignored it, carefully studying the mapped directive his NOED had plotted out for him, highlighted in red. He could do it. He knew he could.
At 2, he settled down, planting the clawed toes of Shido’s steel boots firmly.
At 0, he rocketed out of the starting circle like an arrow flying from its bow.
Four discs flashed out of being before he’d even reached the rising sweep of the pillars that partially circled the field to his right. He managed the climb at a sprint, downing another three as he did, then took a flying leap without pausing to launch himself in a massive arc through the air. It wasn’t the highest jump he could have made, but was instead calculated meticulously to cross his path through as many of the shifting targets as possible as he rose and fell. With intricate precision born from a new D2 Cognition Rank—and two previous failed attempts—Rei twisted in midair and swiped out in perfect synchronization with every extremity. His only clue that he’d struck true came from the echoed bzzts of discs pixilating out, then twice more as he slashed with his claws and left leg before hitting the ground in a roll that brought him up barely a foot from the field perimeter. Not stopping, Rei launched himself forward, cutting left and right, then planted and pivoted to barrel straight at the staircase’s final pillar once more. Reaching it—and taking another disc as he did—Rei leapt again, praying to the MIND his plan would work better this time. Ignoring the target zipping by to his left ear that had broken his focus on his last two attempts, Rei thought of nothing but his footing, willing his neuroline to concern itself only with the landing. He hit the pillar halfway up its height, some 6 feet from the uneven ground.
And this time, he didn’t slip or slide as he shoved off again, keeping his momentum upward, arching out and away in a graceful backwards flip as his hands and feet struck out again.
“Time!” Bretz voices called 2 seconds later, just as Rei made his landing. “Total discs: 26! Brilliant improvement, Ward!”
Rei couldn’t stop himself from grinning like a maniac while he got to his feet, hearing Sense and Gisham both whooping his triumph from the sidelines. He might still have been far behind either of them—Gisham had come in second with a still-impressive 35 discs—but he had nearly tripled his count of 9 from the first parameter test, and tied for last place. What’s more, Warren had only scored 32 points.
Given that she looked about as sullen as Emble, sitting at the far end of their line of five circles outside the perimeter, Rei was pretty sure she, too, had realized it was only a matter of time before he caught up to her as well.
“Bravo, cadet.”
Rei looked around, feeling the field start to sink beneath him. Michael Bretz was stepping off his floating disc nearby, and looked to be having trouble concealing a rather pleased expression.
“Pretty sure Captain Dent saw that as well,” the chief warrant officer said, jerking his head over his shoulder in indication. “Caught her looking after I made the call. Excellent work. I’m glad to see my hopes for you haven’t been wasted so far.”
Rei’s cheeks ached from smiling so hard. “Thank you, sir.” He saluted, being careful of Shido’s claws as they came close to his hairline. “Hasn’t been an easy go of it.”
“I know.” Bretz looked a little more serious, and he studied Rei carefully for a moment. Them he leaned in, dropping his voice. “I’m aware of all the extra training hours you and your three suitemates are putting in. Keep at it. It won’t just be the tail of the class you’ll catch up to, at this rate.”
Before Rei could say anything in reply—like correct the man on the fact that Aria didn’t share a suite with him, Viv, and Catcher—Bretz had pulled back and spun about to address the rest of the Brawler group.
“Break, then prepare for Offense & Endurance!”
“Yes, sir!” the collective response came—even from Warren and Emble—and as one the Brawlers started to stand from their designated spots as the circles vanished beneath them.
Rei moved quickly off the projection plating so Bretz could begin setting up the second test, recalling Shido as he did. Sense and Gisham convened on him at once, grinning almost as broadly as he still had to be.
“That was awesome!” the bronze-skinned girl exclaimed enthusiastically. “We might have gotten more discs, but that was so clean, Ward! Did you miss a single target?!”
“There was one by that last pillar I think I could have gotten if I’d been given another try,” Rei answered eagerly enough. “It messed me up on my first two runs, though, so I didn’t go for it this time.”
“Seriously badass, man,” Sense agreed, snatching a trio of waters from a passing service drone and handing them out. “At this rate, if you haven’t caught up to me by end of the calendar year, I’ll be disappointed.”
“Get ready to be let down, then,” Rei lied with as straight a smile as he could manage, cracking the top of the drink to gulp it down.
The truth of it was that he had somewhat higher expectations of himself, if all went according to plan. He’d hit D7 over the weekend, with nice spikes in his Speed and Cognition bringing him to D3 and D2 respectively. He was hoping for another rank by the end of the week—or at least before his first Intra-School match—and he was due for a fourth evolution soon if Shido kept up its current pattern.
If he was being honest, Sense’s level was one he hoped to surpass within 6 weeks or so, much less the entirety of the coming quarter.
The three of them spent the break chatting about the Speed & Agility course, as well as what their approaches were going to be for the Offense & Endurance test. Given his already-impressive score in the Defense assessment that would come last, this next exam was the one Rei had been most looking forward to. He’d maxed out at E5 last time, his Speed and Endurance failing him as he’d taken on the first opponent of that level. Now, however, Endurance alone was more than a full tier higher than it had been, and that was the spec that had seen the least improvement over the course of the last 9 weeks.
Strength. Offense. Speed… Every other relevant stat had made even greater leaps.
C0, Rei told himself as he swigged from the water again, setting his goal while Sense and Gisham talked about what changes they would see in the projected opponents at the higher Ds. Reaching C0 was a realistic goal if his adversaries were only defending, he thought, and would make him feel a little better about the upcoming SCTs if he could beat it…
C0, he told himself again, visualizing the black digits on grey, simulated clothing.
All too soon, their short break was over, and Bretz was calling them to attention again.
“Eyes forward!”
The moment they’d all snapped to face him—Rei, Sense, and Gisham standing a little separate from Warren and Emble—the sub-instructor started his review.
“You know the deal, but quick refresher: opponents start at F0 and go up in increments of five, two fights at each rank. They will alternate back and forth across the field, and won’t attack. Only dodge and defend.
Your job is to FDA as many as you can, with how fast you can manage it as a secondary factor. Attempt ends when any of them last more than thirty seconds. Any questions?” He didn’t give anyone the chance to lift a hand. “Good! Order will be the simple reverse of the last test. “Ward, Emble, Senson, Warren, Gisham. Ward, you’re on deck.”
Glad that Shido was now at a point to allow him a full recovery after only their brief reprieve, Rei capped his water, tossed it to Sense when the Brawler held an offering hand out for it, and stepped onto the flat white field. Moving quickly he took up a position in the center of the wide circle, turning to face the black outline to the north of him, where he knew his first opponent would appear.
“Cadet. Call.”
“Call,” Rei echoed, and he felt himself lift fractionally on steel heels as Shido took form around his limbs again. Almost at once the counter started, and this time he watched it carefully, only looking through the transparent red numbers once the shape of the female projection appeared, her monotone grey broken up by the clear “F0” that labeled her chest in black.
The numbers hit 0, and Rei was pretty sure she was “dead” before the countdown had even faded away completely.
He didn’t hesitate. Not in lancing at her. Not in plowing Shido’s claws through her bare defenses to cleave her face into equal partitions. Not in whirling as the second opponent—the man, this time—manifested to the south. Rei thought it couldn’t have been more than 10 or 11 seconds by the time the F5 woman appeared, and another 15 or so before the first E0 showed up. Within a minute he had cut them and the following E5s to ribbons, blasting past his previous record.
At last, the first D0 made her appearance.
This was new territory, and Rei felt the faintest hint of anxiety as he rocketed towards the projection, watching her bring her hands up, ready to defend. His concerns faded when she blocked his opening, clawed punch, only to be too slow to stop his left hand from grabbing her by the arm just below the shoulder. With a quick twisted and a violent heave Rei used the limb like a handle, putting all of his Strength to pulling the woman down and slam her as hard as he could to the ground. She bounced and convulsed, but when no FDA was announced Rei brought a foot down on her neck.
Iron Prince: A Progression Sci-Fi Epic (Warformed: Stormweaver Book 1) Page 61
