The Heroism Of Azalea Crimson

Chapter One

The buzzer blared through the arena obnoxiously, signaling the end of my performance.

"And that wraps up this month's tournament! Once again, another outstanding performance from Miss Azalea Crimson." Mrs. Lortige's voice could be heard loud and clear thanks to her megaphone. "A sheet will be posted on the billboard outside the dining hall, be sure to check to see what place you scored. Have a good evening. You are dismissed."

I watched the students stand up from the stands were they were sitting. They immediately flooded out into the hallways of the Institute. 

I sighed. I was still standing on the sand in the middle of the arena. I was the one to perform last, because everyone knew I was going to give the most impressive performance. I never dared to disappoint, because I knew what it would mean for me.

So, every month, I went all out.

The tournament was a monthly tradition here at the Institute For Heroes. It would last seven days, and the students were required to attend all seven, even if their grade wasn't performing. Every day over the course of the week would be dedicated to a different grade starting from grade six and ending at grade twelve. On Sunday, all sixth graders were required to perform. On Monday, it was all seventh graders, and then so forth. Only individual performances were allowed.

Every tournament followed the same routine. One student would go out into the arena at a time. They would go against a training robot set to the hardest difficulty, and they would only have a couple of minutes to defeat it. If they failed, they were punished. 

Everyone stressed out over the tournaments. They were a huge deal. Students would train and train and train in preparation for the tournaments, and sometimes it wasn't enough. They would embarrass themselves in front of the entire student body as they lost to the robot, and then when we didn't see them at dinner, we would know why. When we saw them the next day with scars on their body, we would know why.

That's just the way it is here. We're being trained to be heroes. It's a tough business. The Institute is only preparing us for the real world, where we'll be battling merciless villains and keeping our own in impossible fights. 

I took one last look at the robot laying lifeless on the sand of the arena. Then, I turned around and headed for the arena exit, the sand crunching under my shoes as I walked.

~~~

There are two ways to fail a tournament. Either you fail to defeat the robot before the buzzer sounds, or your performance was ranked the lowest out of all of the performances that day.

Of the ninth graders that had performed today, two of them had failed. One of them hadn't finished on time, and the other had been ranked the lowest.

Their names were Kaelin Emmerson and Trinity Paul. I didn't really know them well, but I noticed their absence at dinner that night. 

No one mentioned them. If anyone pitied them, they didn't say so. It was an unspoken agreement that we didn't talk about the people being punished. It was better that way. They wouldn't want us to talk about them. It would only make matters worse. They knew what would happen if they lost. They're going to have to accept the consequences for their failure.

"Azalea Crimson. The light in this dark world, the only hope for humanity! Oh, she's just so amazing, I could simply name my first born child after her!" I heard a voice say in a sarcastically over dramatic tone. I recognized the voice well, because I had heard its mockery so many times I had accepted it as a part of life.