The Phylum

Chapter Thirteen: Eligible

I sighed, walking toward and away from weapons and targets in the Training Center. I'd been doing this so much I was surprised I hadn't put a run in the soft ground. The other students in the center had noticed my purposeless rounds around the room. I was continuously thrown questioning side glances from students that were usually followed by a dirty look from their mentors. I didn't want to interfere with anyone's business, but I couldn't sit or stand still. Calico was late for training, and not just late by a few minutes either. She was an hour late. The girl who had stressed the importance of being punctual to training sessions was eating her own words. "Every second you get to train is precious, Ezra. Be late and you could be missing out on learning a skill that could save your life" I whispered to myself, quoting her. If she was right, I was missing an alarming amount of life saving skills.

After a while of pacing around the room, I began watching the others. Some of the students were like animals, viciously tossing knives at their targets with their minds. Some TKs were graceful with their powers, suspending colorful weights above their heads and creating colorful patterns in the air. Some simply couldn't control their powers, the objects that they were simply supposed to telekinetically nudge sent flying uncontrollably through the air. However, I noticed how desperate their efforts were, as if they'd never get enough training time in. I wondered if I looked like that while training, I'd have to ask Calico later.

Suddenly, the Training Center's doors were blown open, the strong one-way glass rattled in the door's panes. I stared in surprise as my black-banged mentor marched toward me, the gravity behind her left visibly distorted. Calico wasn't one for dramatic entrances, or using her powers unnecessarily. She wasn't much of a show-off, she preferred practicality. I wasn't the only one whose attention Calico had attracted, all the eyes in the room followed her. Some mentors had jumped in front of their students, their hands ready, their eyes alert. She looked dangerous. However, everyone's stares only infuriated Calico further. She stopped in front of me and turned to look at the eyes on her, "training's over, get out." Immediately there was uproar from the mentors and students. Shouts of "we won't stand for this!" erupted from the crowd. "Sorry, Cal, for whatever's buggin' you but that doesn't affect our training time" a dark skinned mentor said calmly, his eyes smoldering. Calico hissed between her teeth, "get out, Devon. Legion gave me a write-up." Devon glared at her, "let's see it then." Calico unclenched her fist to reveal a crumpled bit of paper, she held it out for him. Devon took it, unwrinkled it as best he could, and squinted at the distorted writing. Devon's face went dark with defeat, but he was quick to straighten up and reclaim his dignity again, "let's head out then." Other mentors requested that they see the write-up, as if the message would change. The message never did, not even when one of the mentors used her X-ray vision on it. Eventually, all the mentors and students had grudgingly filed out of the Training Center, leaving Calico and I behind.

Calico angrily mumbled to herself as she began setting up targets, targets I'd never seen or practiced with before. Calico growled, "He doesn't stand a chance... just got a decent handle on his powers... they'll destroy him." She unzipped the heavy-looking bag she had been toting. "Okay, so, uh, what's going on?" I asked her, watching her retrieve gunblades. "Fine, I'll train him. In four days he'll be the most lethal freakin' kid out there," Calico continued, refusing to acknowledge me. "Out where?" I asked, trailing behind her confusedly. Calico spinned to face me, her eyes suddenly apologetic.

"You're eligible. They're putting you in."

"Putting me in what?"

"The Duels. I thought they wouldn't. You're not trained properly."

"What's the Duels?"

Calico sighed, picked up one of the gunblades on the ground and aimed at one of the targets she'd set up. "They're...fights," with those words she pressed the trigger and let loose a string of electricity toward the target. The electricity hit its mark, but it didn't burn through. The surge of energy stretched over the target, lingered and then disappeared. "Do that," Calico tossed the gun toward me, the weapon nearly slipping from my fingers. "What? Are you kidding?" I asked her, trying to get a decent hold on the gun. We were taught hand-to-hand and telekinetic combat, nothing with actual weapons. "You heard me, hit the target," Calico continued bustling around. She erected targets, hovertargets, and retrieved other weapons I had no experience with. "Cal," I said, trying to get her to calm down and explain herself. I couldn't concentrate with her scrambling about. The agitated girl was oblivious, she was too busy worrying about things she was keeping me out of.

"CALICO!" My voice echoed throughout the Training Center, shaking the hovertargets in the air. Calico immediately stopped what she was doing, a quick shiver running through her at my sudden authoritativeness. She turned around and looked at me, an expression I'd never seen before on her face. "It's a fight, Ezra. I tried telling Legion, you weren't ready, he said that if you had your powers you were ready," Calico's voice was soft.

My mentor crouched over her bag again, this time she motioned for me to follow. I did. Calico retrieved a tablet from a hidden pocket, she gave it a few expert taps. A medium-sized hologram of a changing chain of buildings bloomed out from the tablet. No matter how many times the buildings changed, two were always highlighted. One building was highlighted in red, the other in green. "This," she pointed toward the hologram, "this is one of the simulation chambers." The hologram continued changing, extravagant buildings turning into decrepit ones. "In four days you'll be fighting in one of these," Calico spun the hologram so the green building was always in front of her. Pointing at the changing green buildings, she looked at me, "this is the Hero's homebase." I opened my mouth to ask what a 'Hero' was but she stopped me with a raised hand, "let me explain." I nodded obediently, and looked back at the next building she was pointing at. "The red building here," Calico fingered the red building, "is the Opposition's territory." The decent-looking city morphed into a pretty, Outer one. "Everything else in between those two buildings is fair game,"

Calico tapped the hologram again and the streets in between the buildings lit up. "There's two players and three roles: the Hero, the Opposition, and the TK. The Hero has one job: save the TK. The Opposition stops at nothing to keep the TK from the Hero. The TK always stays in the Opposition's territory unless the Hero moves it," while Calico was explaining this she switched between the green and red buildings.

"The Duel ends in three ways: one of the players gives up, the Hero brings back the TK to homebase, or the game times out," a timer suddenly appeared on the hologram when Calico mentioned the game timing out."To forfeit, shoot the gun four times in the air. The game will end, you lose and the other person wins," she looked me carefully in the eyes as she said this. I knew Calico wouldn't let me quit under any circumstances. She wanted me to lose with dignity."You get an hour," my mentor tapped the timer with her finger and watched as it reset itself for 60 minutes. "There's four rounds in total. If you beat the fourth round on a winning streak, you get your first mission automatically. If you only lose one round, you're only up for consideration for a mission." Calico said the last part of her explanation quickly. She knew I wouldn't stand a chance, doting on the winnings would be stupid.

"You get a day in between each Duel day, they're called recovery days," Calico rolled her eyes at the words 'recovery days'. "You get two weapons: your skills and the stungun," Calico pointed at the gunblade still in my hands. "It doesn't shoot bullets anymore, just stun energy. The blade can't be detached either, it's sealed inside of the gun," Calico carefully took the gun from me and fingered two different buttons on it. "The smaller button thins the laser so it only affects one part of the body, the big one affects the entire body. The stun lasts for the whole game, so be accurate," she twirled the gun by its trigger.

"You get chosen to be the Hero or the Opposition randomly, so our usual strategy of improvisation is really important." Calico looked down at the hologram searching for things she might have missed, "the simulation chamber changes for each round. You might find yourself on terrain you're not used to, but there will always be something you can use for protection." My mentor smiled, seemingly pleased with her explanation. "Out of questions?" Calico smirked at me, gathering up everything that was left on the floor. "Just one: who's the TK? Another student?" Calico's face darkened in annoyance, "I guess you'll find out for yourself."

I suppose I would.