Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
━━━━ ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ━━━━
AS their lunch break drew to a close and Davina's plate failed to finish itself, Four had done the rounds and collected all the transfers and led them off. Davina had kept her head down, not sure whether she wanted to be at Edward and Myra's side, or if she would rather Will and his new friends; so instead she ended up somewhere in the middle alone, following the back of Four's head. She could see tattoos sneaking up the back of his neck from under his shirt.
He took them to a different room this time, as big as the other, but with much more space around them. In the middle a circle was painted around a raised, padded platform, and on the wall to the left was a chalkboard with all eleven of their names scratched in alphabetical order. Davina looked at it curiously, scanning the room one more time, noticing the faded black punching bags hung up on the other end.
"Pick a bag and keep quiet," Four instructed, his voice easily reaching all of them in the echoing room.
The group of transfers spread out and placed themselves in front of a punching bag, Davina between Apollo and Peter. She shifted her feet nervously and stretched her hands at her side; this was one advantage she had. The very thing she had been shunned for back in her home Faction may be the thing that would win her a place in her chosen one.
It was funny how things worked out sometimes.
Four stood in the middle so they could all see him as he continued to speak. "As I said this morning, next you will learn how to fight. The purpose of this is to prepare you to act; to prepare your body to respond to threats and challenges—which you will need, if you intend to survive life as a Dauntless. We will go over technique today, and in a few days you will start to fight each other," Four explained. "So, I recommend that you pay attention. We don't expect you to be black belts in three days, but those who don't learn fast will get hurt."
Their instructor continued to go over a few different punches and kicks, most of which Davina was either already familiar with or had some skill in. She felt an unusual rush of confidence in her system as they began to hit their own punching bags, and Davina realised how good her odds were for stage one. As Davina continuously hit the punching bag, she imagined it was an opponent, darting back and forth, keeping her stance steady and ready as if it would grow arms and hit her back.
They had a few days to prepare for actual combat one-on-one. She had sparred with Edward for the last eight years, he was the only person who scared her in their transfer group. No one else had the experience they did, as she looked around, comparing her skills to others. From her point of view, Edward was a stand out, and she supposed she was, too. To her right, Peter was doing well, which Davina narrowed her eyes at, before turning to Apollo.
His punching bag hardly moved, and his movements in general were choppy and too aggressive. Davina looked to see Four at the other end of the room, so she broke out of the line and towards Apollo.
