MEKA BORN: UNKNOWN

003

Keller had led them single file down the white halls of wherever Kade could call home. He did not know where this place he had spent his entire life was, better yet, what it was called from the outside. Out of all the slight conversations he's over heard, not a single one had mentioned this place, or the people who run it.

He had heard the name Father a few times in passing. Even in the orientation, that woman's voice that spoke through the walls, had said it twice. Tyler the Orderly and the one orderly he'd seen for a few minutes, had said the name Father. Who was this Father? And why did he like Kade? No one liked Kade, Kade didn't even like Kade. So why him?

Keller stopped at a wall, the rest of the class stopped suddenly behind him, half of the line knocking into the back of each other. Sky, who was the caboose of the line, wasn't paying attention and slammed into the back of Kade.

"Ouch... sorry, Kade," She whispered his name.

It was given in strict detail that they were not allowed names. And if it was found out that you had gave yourself a name, you would be punished severely. It was also said that on graduation, you had the chance to choose your name yourself, if you managed to graduate. The largest class to graduate from this place was said to be 57 Units, out of 300. Ann had told him this, but she didn't elaborate when Kade asked her what happened to the others who didn't graduate.

Kade's class was led into the room, while Keller stood guard at the door, and watched each Unit shuffle in. Kade had a panging feeling, when it came his turn to walk past Keller, he would yank him out of line and be mean. But Kade walked up to Keller, hesitated with the thought of being grabbed. But the red robotic hand never came, and Kade continued into the large room.

The room was the largest Kade had ever seen. The ceiling was so high, he thought one of those Meka could stand straight up in here. There was enough room from wall to wall, for Kade to run full speed around and around the whole room.

Off to the left was weights, long white bags that hung from chains, and a large, squared boxing ring that stood higher than everything else. On the right, there were racks of weapons, and a sparring sand circle. Another new color for him, the beige of the sand. Kade was excited to see and feel it. On the racks, where different types of white sharp weapons, but they were dulled for training.

Infront of them, and by far the largest thing in the room was the shooting range. A long straight wall, with multiple small booths for a single shooter to stand in, small opaque glass frosted white walls separated each shooter. A range that seemed to go for a mile, with nothing but a white field and obstacles in the way. More racks were set up near the range, but these had what looked to be white training guns.

"Listen up you tank swimmers," Keller said in a way that "Tank Swimmers," was a degrading term. "This is the Training Center. Here I will teach you to fight," he pointed to the boxing ring. "Teach you to shoot." He pointed to the gun range. "Since Meka only deal with big ass guns, you will not go over there," he pointed to the sand pit. Kade felt a twinge of sadness in his gut. "Come over here, and I'll teach you the basics of hand to hand combat. That will help you with basic combat techniques, and strategy. Then we'll see who's who in one on one spars," Keller laughed gleefully. "I love watching kids fight."

Keller had them form into multiple lines, and thoroughly taught them how to punch, block, and counter attacks.

"This is just the basics for day one!" Keller said, as he corrected a Blue-Hair girl. "Through out this whole Phase. I will drill you, and form you into fighters who can actually survive combat if you think hard enough. But don't think to much, or you will die!" He corrected a Red-Hair boy's punch. "Battle is fast, gruesome, and exhausting. You will tire out faster than you think. My first real battle lasted only ten minutes, but to me, it felt like hours. I slept for almost a day after, but I had to get up for another attack." Keller rounded over to Kade, and he watched Kade through a punch, then step back. "Good." He said softly, and moved on to Sky. He corrected her blocking stance and moved on.