WARNING: Graphic depictions of gore and fight scenes.

Raphael walked to the Training Grounds for the combat session. He froze when he saw the two trainers.

"Oh no.
They're good looking, damm*t", he mumbled.

Imelda wore a black crop top, her incredibly toned body on show. Raphael admired people that had confidence.
People that knew how to get what they wanted.

Winning them over wouldn't be as easy as he thought.

Before he could approach them, his fellow trainees ran forward, alerting the Trainers of their presence.

Finian saw Raphael.
"Oh!
Look who decided to grace us with his presence?"

Raphael laughed nervously.
"Ha, um, about that—"

A loud shrieking sound cut Raphael off. He looked around, his eyes widening when he saw a creature that resembled a human, but had two troll heads.
Its tusks were long, and lava grey, with small green vines wrapped around them.

The creature rammed both heads into Makoto's shoulder, sending them flying. They collided with Imelda, who quickly helped them up.

"Everyone, get back!", she yelled, putting a hand up, to stop Ashryn from rushing forward.

Rhiannon knelt down beside Makoto, tears forming in her eyes.
"They're... they're not breathing!
We need to get help!"

Finian and Imelda looked at each other, before nodding.

Finian looked at Raphael.
"Oi!
See that bag near you?
Grab it and give it to Imel—"

The creature ripped Finian's arm off, the blood spraying all over its face.
The creature flashed a devilish grin, before shoving his arm in its mouth and chewing on it.

Raphael felt his breakfast churn around in his stomach, like a washing machine. He covered his mouth in an attempt to stop himself from being sick.

Finian fell to the ground, his screams showing some humanity that Raphael didn't know he had.
Imelda ran towards him.
She collapsed next to him and quickly tapped his face.

"No, no, no, come on, stay awake, Fin! For me, yeah?
Please don't close your eyes."

"I'm... everything's sp–pinning..."

"Please, please, please, just listen to me!", she sobbed.

"Makoto's dying, hurry up, Raphael!"

Raphael was brought back to reality by Rhiannon's voice.
He grabbed the bag and ran forward, before letting out a loud scream when the creature locked eyes with him.

"No, please don't hurt me!", he yelled.

The creature charged forward, its mouths opening to reveal razor sharp teeth.
Someone tackled them to the ground, and they landed with a THUD.

Raphael's mouth opened when he saw that it was Ashryn.
"My God..."

Ashryn struggled against the creature's strength.
"Shut up and get that bag to Ri, quickly!"

He nodded.

He continued running for his life, occasionally glancing back to see if Ashryn was succeeding against the beast.

"Here", said Raphael, handing Rhiannon the bag.

She snatched it from him, quickly rummaging in it to find the injection Imelda described to her.

"Help me take off their jacket!", she instructed.

Raphael did as he was told.
Once Makoto's jacket was off, Raphael looked back.
A look of horror appeared on his face when he saw Imelda drop to the ground, after being strangled by the creature.

Next to her, was Ashryn, who was laying in a pool of her blood.

"It's not working!
They're... they're dead."

Raphael froze.
He looked at the carnage around him. Just like that, they lost their chance of being heroes.

Not just that though.

Four people lost their lives.

He looked down at Makoto's jacket.
He lifted it to his face, before closing his eyes and sobbing.

"That's enough!", called out a familiar voice.

Raphael looked up to see Imelda and Finian.
He looked next to him, and Makoto and Rhiannon were gone.

"Wh–what's going on?"

"That was a simulation", said Finian, pointing to a small device that was clipped on to a nearby tree.

Raphael couldn't believe what he was hearing.
How could two people be so heartless?

"You... you used technology against me?"

"We want you to know that we mean business", said Imelda.
"If you struggle in class, fair enough. But if you don't even show up?
That's when we get angry."

"But it was so... gruesome."

"I'm sorry we had to make it so graphic. 
But we needed it to feel real."

"If you ask me, we didn't do enough", said Finian, surprising Imelda.

"Look, I'm sorry, ok?
I won't miss another session. I promise", said Raphael.

Finian glared at him.
"You better not."

Once Raphael was dismissed, he hurried back inside.
These Trainers were more ruthless than he thought.

And smarter.

He'd need to find another way out of this.

Right after he gave Rhiannon the biggest death glare.
To him, she could be the only person that ratted him out.

After all, Ashryn told him Rhiannon was the one that saw him sleeping.

★★★

Rhiannon felt much better about her chances here after their impromptu fashion show yesterday.
She was starting to feel like part of a team.

She grinned when she saw herself in her new uniform again.
She quickly styled her hair into a dutch braid, before grabbing her water bottle and heading to their fitness session.

They were inside today.
Astra and Oren stood apart, which suggested that the group would be split today.

"Alright, everyone!
You're going to get into pairs today, and you'll do sit ups non-stop for ten minutes", said Astra.

The trainees were shocked.
Even Ashryn couldn't hide her surprise.
She shook her head at Astra.

"There's no way we can do that for ten minutes!", argued Ashryn.

"Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't realise we had a quitter on the team", said Astra.

Ashryn's eyes widened, and she clenched her fists, her blood starting to boil.

"I am not a quitter!"

"If I may...", started Makoto.
"... it does seem pretty unrealistic."

Astra threw her hands up in the air. "Ok, so you're all happy to díe?"

"Astra—", said Oren.

"No!
Ok, you're all going to get your sorry butts on the mats and do the sit ups! Now!", she yelled.

Makoto felt their heart racing.
They loved fitness, but even they would struggle to do sit ups for that long.
They were terrified of being pushed too far.

Ashryn scoffed.
"F*ck this."

Ashryn headed towards the door, leaving Astra speechless.

"This... this is Hell", said Raphael.
"I've been through enough today."

He stormed out of the room.

Makoto frowned.
"I'm really sorry.
I just..  I can't do what you're asking.
It's too much too quickly."

Makoto followed after Raphael, but glanced back at Rhiannon before they left.

Astra couldn't help but gasp.
"What's happening?"

Rhiannon hesitated, but thought about her teammates.
They were a united force, and she wasn't about to risk losing what she'd only just gotten.

"Look, we're happy to be pushed.
We know there's not a lot of time, but you're being really mean to us.
We're not superhuman, ok?", she said.

Rhiannon sighed, before walking out as well.

Astra stared at the empty space where the trainees once stood.
She tried to find words to say, but none would come out.

"Alessa's not going to happy", said Oren.

★★★

Rhiannon smiled when she saw Raphael walking to his room.
She approached him, tapping his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey!
Going to bed again, sleepyhead?
I thought I'd go—"

Rhiannon was cut off by Raphael slamming his door in her face.

A shocked Rhiannon just stared at the black the door, struggling to process what just happened.

"Why the long face?", asked Ashryn.

"Raphael just slammed the door in my face."

Ashryn's eyes widened, so she quickly looked down.
"Geez, that sucks.
Anyway, see you later!"

"Wait!", exclaimed Rhiannon.
"Do you want to look around together? Or we could grab some food before
our—"

"Yeah, I'm gonna stop you
there, Eager Beaver.
We don't need to hang out."

"But in–in my room yesterday—"

"Look, I'll admit that was fun.
But I came here to do a job.
We're not friends just because we spend some time together.
In fact, the only reason we do is because all the other agents just see us as trainees they don't need to bother to get to know."

Rhiannon felt like she had just been slapped in the face.
A part of her suspected that that was how they felt, but she hated the idea of being an outsider so much, that she didn't want to believe it.

"So, we're just..."

"Colleagues, if anything", said Ashryn.

Rhiannon sighed.
"Won't that make us  lonely?"

Ashryn shrugged.
"There's a high chance we'll all díe anyway.
You want my advice?
Stop making friends and start working on your survival tactics."

★★★

Astra sat on the floor, her legs tucked so that her chin rested on her knees.
Her eyelashes were damp from her tears.
A tinge of red had formed around her nose, and her throat was sore from the amount of crying she did.

"Astra?"

Astra quickly sat up straight, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion when she saw Rhiannon standing by the door.

"Wh–what are you doing here?", she asked, before clearing her throat.

"I–I was looking for you.
I felt bad about earlier.
I didn't know where your room was, so I thought I'd try here", she said.

Astra exhaled sharply.
"Well, here I am."

Rhiannon slowly approached her, stopping in her tracks when she saw a pile of papers near Astra's feet.

She pointed at them.
"Are those for our sessions?"

Astra hastily picked them up, clutching them to her chest.
"Can you just leave?"

Rhiannon rolled her eyes.
"Why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Revert back to your strict mode whenever we're around.
I've seen you laughing and joking with the other Trainers."

Astra sighed.
"The other Trainers aren't going into a life or death battle."

"You're literally agents for the Unit for the Abolishment of Evil", reminded Rhiannon.

Astra chuckled.
"Oh yeah."

Rhiannon smiled.
"Being kind doesn't make you weak.
I bet we'd all respect you more if we knew you were working with us, not against us."

"What, change my tactic half way through?
That'll definitely make people walk all over me.
I need you to take me seriously."

"Then find a balance.
Let us know we can come to you, but if we abuse your trust, you'll punish us or something.
There's a way to do both", said Rhiannon.

Astra contemplated Rhiannon's advice. She couldn't help but feel guilty for being so hard on her.
She actually thought she was quite nice to her, but hearing her in their session made her realise that she was too focused on the wrong things.

She made a mental note to tell Oren he was right.

"And... I'd love some advice on how to improve my stamina", admitted Rhiannon.

Astra smiled at her.
"Lucky for you, I've already worked that into the sessions."

She ripped a piece of paper and quickly scribbled something down on it.
She handed it to Rhiannon.

"But if you ever want any more advice, about anything, that's my room number."

Rhiannon smiled.
"Thank you."

____________________________

Ok, so combat was... intense. Do you agree with what Imelda and Finian did to punish Raphael?

Ashryn's definitely stirred the pot a little! How will Raphael react around Rhiannon now?

Astra's under an immense amount of pressure. I can relate to her, because I've always done things for others, but when it comes to me wanting to do my own thing, I can't if it conflicts with the things other people want. Astra doesn't want people to walk all over her, and that's something I relate to.

Will Astra listen to Rhiannon?

Speaking of Rhiannon, she's just had her team bonding dreams shattered. Will the trainees ever be friends?

Also, Sophia makes her official appearance in the next chapter!

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