Ember Unit

Born for the Military

A/N Since the last chapter was so short and late, this will be uploaded as well. Please enjoy, bye for now~

The last ten competitors line up in the ring, the crowd has fully assembled once again and the cheers are loud as they can be. I see Erwin walk throughout the crowd collecting the last of the bets, he's managing this pretty well for one man.

After that little stunt he pulled on me a short time ago whenever I look at him my face heats up. God dammit Erwin, you don't just do that to girls. Erwin separates from the crowd and stands in front of us.

"Folks these are your final ten, who out of these ten will get into the final five and the third stage?" Chanting of several names begin, each competitor smiles in triumph when they hear their own name, even I do. In the corner of my eye I see Mike and one of the slum boys from earlier cheer my own name, this makes me smile even more.

"Okay folks our first battle is between Caleb and Naomi. Same rules apply competitors, good luck." The crowd's cheer seems like it will never end, Caleb and I stand opposite from one another, short sword verses long sword, interesting. "Alright now, BEGIN!"

Caleb unlike Milo had a chance to study my battle style, but I also have that advantage.

He runs towards me, blade griped in his left hand. He's left handed, that is useful knowledge. He gives a series of quick swipes, I dodge and block his forward assault. I'll wait for him, he will quickly tire like he did in his first battle.

Once he does I will aim for his left hand. After a few more seconds of this he slows down, I see my chance. I quickly alternate hands and grip the handle tightly in my left hand. I raise my sword on an angle to the right, I apply force in the motion and collard the tip of the handle to his left wrist.

My plan worked, he dropped his blade but made a quick scramble for it, ignoring the pain in his hand. I kicked it away from him, it's position was fairly similar to Milo's mace. I alternate hands once more and point my blade at his face. His eyes widen in shock then quickly narrow. He grabs the blade of my sword and tries to pull out of my grasp, blood pours from the new wound he created. I kick his left hand, he now finally understands the pain in this one part of his body and retracts his hand in defeat.

"Naomi wins again!"

I block out the cheering and place my sword in its cover once more, I offer him my right hand, he grasps my hand with his own. I pull him to his feet and congratulate him, he just gives a soft thank you. I walk with him to one of the under cover seats outside the ring. "I'll fix up your hand for you." He shakes his head.

"No, I-I'm okay, I can do it myself."

"I was the one who made the injury it's the least I can do." He keeps still and silent as I apply alcohol to the bloody wound. I clean up the blood then bandage his hand firmly. "I'll be back, I'll get some ice quickly." He just nods. I walk inside the medical tent we sat near and searched for some ice to apply to the bruise and sprain. Within a few minuets I return to him and apply the ice, I pray no bones are broken.

"It should get better now, oh and sorry for this." He once again shakes his head, he is a quiet person that's for sure. "Thank you Naomi, it's fine I signed up for this knowing this could happen, so it's alright." He gives me a small smile, I can do nothing else but return it.

By the time I walk back to the other competitors the second fight was almost over. All the competitors studied their movements, creating strategies for future fights. At least their determined to win, it be boring if they weren't serious.

What makes this situation uncomfortable however is the fact that they continue to glance at me, they most likely see me as a threat, well I couldn't blame them, if I saw a young women defeat two men without breaking a sweat and hardly using their weapon I would defiantly keep tabs on them.

I let out a small sigh and bring my black jacket closer to my body, if only I could just hide behind the leather forever. After twenty minuets the final fight is in progress. I turn around and place my weapon on the table like the other competitors who have finished, repairs need to be done to all weapons now.

My eyes wonder away from the fight and drift along the crowd. In the far left I see the town square statue. Wait a minute. Shouldn't the Ember Unit commander be here by now? Where is he? My eyes sharpen now, I begin to scan the crowd. Now that I think about it, I never paid much attention to the crowd after the beginning.

I see the faces of towns and slums people, I see people with several different occupations and children mimicking the battles in a childish manner. At the very front I see the mayor and his associates and at the very back I see drunkards, of course.

I finally see what I'm looking for, at the very back towards the right, I see him amidst the crowd, no one has noticed him it seems. The commander stands there and watches what's in front of him.

What specific thing is unknown to me. How long has he been there? I detach my eyes from his form and act like I'm studying the fight before me. Within a few moments the fight is over. The loser ended up with a broken nose, dislocated jaw and several bruises and cuts, that's the worst state a loser has been in the tournament so far.

"Alright folks stage two is now over, we will have a quick ten minuet break before the final stage." The crowd separates once more and children run up to competitors to ask them all kinds of questions, I only just manage to slip out of the ring.

I glance up at the sky and see it is around two o'clock now. I immediately make my way to Erwin. "Hey Naomi, great fight. I swear you were born to be in the military." Heh, how ironic.

"You know I'm against joining the military, that law they introduced is so stupid. Taking away the youngest child is horrible and illogical." He just nods his head in agreement. "Well they should be coming here next year, that means lil' Mike will be taken."

I just look down at the ground now, he's already had one brother taken away, now Mike will go soon. "Well it seems there is nothing we can do about it, personally I'm glad we missed out on the branding. But one day they will stop this law, they will see that it is wrong."

I stand still, my arms crossed over my chest. "Naomi, as much as I want to believe in what your saying, I don't think they will stop, I mean it greatly benefits the government so why would they, also many turn a blind eye to it. A bonus for them."