Galennic [#Wattys2017]

32

I have not updated this in forever. Help me.

I don't own anything.
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The day was already hot despite it being nine in the morning. Or it was just the excited atmosphere. Either way, Orson's palms were constantly sweaty and he kept wiping them on his knees, wondering why he was so nervous. It was just a school competition.

Well, it was more than a school competition. This was the Republic's Futures Program. These were the best of the best in the galaxy. And to be fair, he didn't know if he had the skills to stand a chance against them.

A soft arm wrapped around his shoulders and he was pulled to the side. Galen have him a tight squeeze before kissing him lightly on the forehead. He signed something and Orson slowly translated it. *"You're going to do just fine, Orson."*

Orson nodded. But he still wasn't comforted. The first round was the academic round and he, Mina, and Galen had agreed to go first. Orson had no idea what kind of academics they were talking about. If it was writing, he was going to fail. If it was reading, he was going to fall asleep. If it was math, he had a chance.

He wondered what Galen was thinking.

To his right, Mina sat tapping her pen against her textbooks. She was binging on information before they went in. As for Quint, he was looking around for Lyra. "Where the hell is Lyra?" He asked.

Orson shrugged. "I dunno." Then his eyes fell on to a small figure with a rope leading from their hand to the blob in front of them. Lyra ran up to the crew with her reek. The reek looked much better than it did a few days ago.

Orson swung off his seat and dropped to his knees. The reek nearly jumped into his arms. It began kissing him with its large tongue. "Why hello to you too, Hoagie!" Orson laughed.

Hoagie had been the name the group settled on. Mina wanted to call it Sapphire (which Orson argued was a girl's name), Lyra wanted to call it Emmitt (which Quint said didn't fit), Galen wanted to call him Horny (which everyone agreed was a terrible name) and Orson wanted to call it Galen (which Lyra said was stupid). It was Quint who chose the name Hoagie and while there was some controversy, Lyra liked the name and so became Hoagie the Reek.

Lyra bent down and rubbed Hoagie's horn. "You ready for the competition?" She asked Orson.

"No," he admitted quietly. "I'm far from ready. I can't believe we're doing this."

"What?" Lyra looked up at him, confused. "Speak up. You know Ilum screwed with my hearing." Orson repeated himself in a near shouting voice right in her ear. Lyra slapped him lightly across the face before saying "Hey, I'm not the one who signed us all up. But it's better than doing nothing I suppose."

Suddenly a woman's voice came over the loudspeaker. "We will now begin sending in those who are participating in the academic round of the Republic's Program Academy School Competition." Her voice droned. "Please step forwards and enter the metal door on the south side of the building when your team name is called."

"Wait, what's our team name?" Quint asked.

"I don't think we ever came up with one..." Mina said slowly. Orson and Galen nodded. They hadn't come with one either.

Lyra said otherwise. "You'll know when our team name comes up. It's something you can't miss." Orson was skeptical. Lyra had a tendency to think something was obvious when it wasn't for the rest.

The lady drawled through team names. "Avalanche... Break-Through... Bone Crusher... Cue-the-Horns... Devil's Advocate... Entitled... Fails-Aren't-Allowed... Game on... Havoc... Hawkeye... Hoagie..."