The Sixths

Chapter 1

The rain danced around me as I tried to focus my feelings. Not emotional feelings, my actual sense of touch. Darren was around here somewhere, and as soon as I let my guard down, I knew he would strike. I sensed vibrations in the ground all around as the rain shattered any chances of finding my opponent. It was like finding a needle in a hay stack except your needle was swimming through the piles of hay, purposely evading you. I took a deep breath, trying to pinpoint larger vibrations against all the small ones. To my surprise I, heard a snap, a fairly loud one, considering I was practically deaf. Spinning, I swept the ground with my foot. This action was immediately punished when I felt a blade press up against my back.

"Too slow, Caia," Darren pulled the blade away. "You need to focus. What's wrong with you today? I've sparred with you before during rain. You almost always won. I don't know what you're doing, but you need to knock it off. If you aren't ready all the time you're never truly ready," I sighed and slumped my shoulders. I didn't know what was wrong with me. True, I could best Darren occasionally, but every time I got confident, something like this would happen and every ounce of pride would dissolve.

"One more time?" I asked hopefully, looking to avenge myself. The rain was dying down, but even if it hadn't, I would've been able to feel his disapproval.

"I think we've done enough today," Darren sighed. "We might as well go inside now, the rain has served it's purpose. He walked beside me as mud sloshed between my bare toes. Sometimes I wished I could see, just for the little things, like Darren's old wrinkled face, a butterfly, or even my own hands. Instead, all I got was a light outline of everything, only visible if I squinted in perfect lighting. As the doors pushed themselves out of our way I felt the normal suction at my feet. Since it was custom for Gacentians to walk barefoot, most buildings had misters and vacuums underfoot to clean off everyone's feet. I closed my eyes, trying to ignore my sense of sight. Sight came in handy every once in a while, but usually it just got in the way.

Suddenly, the ground was shaking, and I fell to the floor. What the heck? This had only happened before in drills. But it was after school hours!

The intercom interrupted my thoughts, "students and teacher, prepare for battle. This not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill. Go to your captains for further instruction," the voice remained calm, just like it should in this situation. I followed Darren, my captain, as he rushed to our squad's designated area. To my surprise, Poppy was already there. I saw her demeanor brighten when she saw me.

"Caia!" she ran up to me, her knives clinking against her armor. "How did your practice go?" she seemed to forget we were about to go into battle.

"I'll tell you all about it later," I said, shrugging it off. I looked around at our area, already thinking of a strategy. Since we were squadron one, we would probably be on the front lines. We were off the side of the main hallway, in a courtyard. My best bet would be that we would wait for them to come through the corridor, then surprise them.

"Alright, squad," Darren yelled harshly, " We don't have time to chit-chat. Our best bet of defending the IYMD is going to be waiting for them at the front doors. They will be slowed by the small entry point, and would be ready for any surprise we could throw at them," he paused, glaring. "What are you waiting for? Move!" in an instant we were sprinting to the front of the building. I felt a sweat build up on my forehead. Who had the audacity to attack the IYMD? It was suicidal. Sure, we were all kids, but that didn't matter when you'd been trained to fight and defend your entire life.

"how long do you think this will last?" Poppy whispered,"I was in the middle of something," I rolled my eyes.

"honestly Poppy, you're always in the middle of something. And it's never the same thing," I added. Poppy was always trying out some new hobby. I was past the point of hoping she would find one she truly liked.