Twice in a lifetime: Book 1

Real-World Experience

The first-year students were woken up and taken outside rather early; the sun hadn't even risen. The tired students watched as the bus that had brought them here drove up to them.

"Get in." Mr. Sam demanded. They quickly piled into the van and noticed that the bus driver was a skinny man bathed in shadow. All that was visible of him was his piercing eyes that stared straight ahead. "Students!" Mr. Sam continued, waking them even more with his stern voice. "We are heading to a training stadium. Every school in the state uses it, and todays our turn. This stadium will provide real world situations for you to solve. You may sleep on the way, as it'll take us an hour to get there."

The first years all sighed a sigh of relief, and fell asleep on top of each other.

Arriving at the place in what seemed like only minutes, Mr. Sam quickly awoke all the students and rushed them out the bus. The inside of the stadium looked more like a theme park. In view from the entrance was a snowy mountain, several tall buildings, and a luscious forest.

"I have in my hands a clipboard." Mr. Sam began. "With this I will review your problem-solving skills and teamwork. You will be split into groups of three and sent to different areas. Let's begin. Lucy, Eli, Johnny; you three will be going to the skiing accident area. Ruby, Jean, Zen; you three will be going to the spontaneous building fire area. Lastly, Joy, Yin, and Desmond; you three will be going to the domestic dispute area. Check the map behind me to find your areas. At your area, you will find a changing room with the clothing you designed during design class. Change into it and wait patiently. I will be monitoring you from that shed over there." he pointed to a small wooden shed. "And I'm only one man and there's one hundred cameras so don't complain if I miss something." The students each went to their respective areas.

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Johnny kept his design simple. Like many other superheroes with electric powers before him, he chose to have a lightning bolt on his chest. Behind the lightning bolt was a simple black shirt that clung to his body tightly. He requested a bandana, and indeed the suit came with a blue bandana, but on it was a small note telling Johnny to never attempt to hide his face with it. Undeterred, he tied it to his neck, put on his boots, and exited the changing room to meet with Eli and Lucy.

Eli kept his design even simpler. He simply wore a Kevlar vest and padded pants. He had to keep his arms exposed if he wanted to use them properly. On his head he wore a small metal helmet. Lucy was tying his hair back into a bun.

Lucy had kept her design the simplest of all. She wore a cape, which stood out the most at a quick glance. She wore the bare minimum of clothing that she could get away with (which was still a fair bit of clothing). She wanted to feel the sun on her skin, if you had asked her, she would say that that was the best feeling in the world.

"You may begin." A speaker upon a pole sounded out in Mr. Sam's voice. The trio quickly sprang into action. There was a table in front of them. On it was a piece of paper explaining what they were to do.

"A child has gone missing." The paper read. "You are the first heroes on the scene. The child has been out there for almost an hour. The child does not have much time left. Find them, warm them up, get them to the lodge."

"Alright, I have an idea." Lucy spoke. "I can go up there and be your eyes in the sky."

"But how will you speak to us?" Eli asked.

"Oh, I got it. One of you can hop on my back." Eli pushed johnny forward. "Thanks for volunteering, now hop on my back." Lucy turned around, and Johnny grabbed on as respectfully as he could. Within a second, they were in the air. "Do you see the kid?"