Chapter 4

Before this year, every other tournament that was held only allowed base level soldiers to participate, because of the unexplainably destructive ability of the captains. This year, good preparations were made and the walls of the arena were heavily reinforced with an extremely durable material we called Daiganite. so only the captains would be allowed to participate.  

Everybody in the training facility directed their attention to both of us, and we both glared at each other with despise. Soldiers from my squad tried to talk me out of going against this over-confident red head, but I was too stubborn to listen to them. The mood was already set. I was now face to face with one of the captains from squad A. 

I moved backwards a little, and stood in the regular battle stance, my left fist held tight in front of my face and my right fist close to my chest. He then moved backwards and did the same.  

We both glared at each other for a moment before he said, “You can chicken out if you want, you know. There's no harm in admitting fear.”  

I laughed a bit and replied, “Don't tell me you're suddenly scared of a girl now.” Everyone in the training ground laughed and snickered as a smirk grew on my face.  

I'll have to admit I was a bit nervous. Mostly because both our Commanders were also watching. I couldn't embarrass mine now. This looked like a good opportunity to get a taste of the A squad's power before the main event.  

It all came down to who would attack first. I assessed him and found a weak spot in his stance. Actually, he was pretty much open.  

I quickly launched the first punch towards his face, but as I was about hitting him, the voice of my commander pushed a pause button on my forward momentum.

“STOP!!!” he yelled, and my hand stopped right in front of my opponent's face. 

Due to the amount of force at which I threw my fist, large amounts of dust flew from the ground and diffused in the air. I quickly withdrew my fist from my opponent, who was surprisingly very still. You'd think he'd try to at least move to avoid the punch, but there he was, like a brick wall.  

“Back to training, boys!” My Commander yelled again. “You'll all need your strength for the upcoming tournament. You all have to be prepared for a tough competition.” He then turned to me and said, “Kira, go get some rest. We'll need you all healed up for the tournament.” 

“She gets to rest while we all suffer out here? No fair,” murmured one of the other soldiers in the training ground.

I saluted my commander and marched out of the building. I wasn't looking, but I had a feeling my commander was staring at me while I was exiting. And so was Grifo, the Captain who had challenged me. 

*** 

I entered my capsule room and sat on my bed, thinking. My mind was filled to the brim with numerous questions. Why did my Commander stop me right at the moment I was about to remove that dudes face? It was as if he knew something I didn't. My Commander was always one to see many steps before others. Like a chess player but in real life situations.  

Grifo's face crawled into my head again. I only just met him, but I felt some kind of familiar vibe flowing from him. It just kept going back and forth in my head. “Maybe some milk will help me sleep,” I thought as I stood up and headed for the kitchen.  

As I approached the kitchen door, I walked past an old photo on my shelf. I paused and stared at it. It was a photo of my mom before the machine apocalypse began, and she was so pretty. I had seen the photo many times before, but this time, it was different.

What caught my attention was a little hand that held my Moms. It was small, so I concluded it belonged to a child. What bothered me though was the fact that I wasn't born when the photo was taken, so that kid couldn't have been me. And because I couldn't see the child's face, I didn't know whether they were a boy or girl.  

I studied the picture closely to see if I could get any clue to discern who the child was. “MILK!!!” I squeaked as I suddenly remembered why I had come there. I left the picture and ran into the kitchen to get the milk.

I stretched and yawned. It was already morning. The warm milk had done its work. “Ugh. Another stressful day at the training ground,” I said as I yawned again.  

As I prepared myself to get off my bed, I suddenly heard alarms blaring, and they were the ones that signified danger. 

I hurriedly walked over to my door and opened it. It was commotion outside. Soldiers ran up and down, with the majority heading towards the main exit of our base. Without thinking, I grabbed one of the soldiers and pulled him into my room.

“What's going on?”  

“Captain Tyson, dangerous machines have been spotted near this area,” he said frantically. “Comander says they are too close for comfort. We're on our way to fight them off.”  

“Why didn't the Commander assign someone to inform me of this?” I asked.  

“The commander doesn't want you getting hurt before the tournament, ma'am,” he replied. I immediately shoved him and shut my door.  

“Ugh!” I yelled angrily as I fell to the floor. “Why is the Commander doing this to me? I'm not a baby,” I said as I sat up.

“I know I tried to skip training yesterday, but that doesn't mean I wasn't interested in the action that would happen out there.”

I groaned, stood up, opened my door and walked out. The commotion was still going on, but I wasn't bothered anymore.

“I guess I'll have to find something else to do in the meantime" 

After having breakfast, I decided to take a stroll around the military base. The whole place was quiet and empty.  

As I passed by a hallway, I saw someone suddenly run pass the other side. I couldn't see his/her face because the person was cloaked. I immediately ran after this strange person, but before I could get to the other side of the hallway, he/she was gone. I sighed, looked towards the path I assumed they followed, and continued through it.  

I didn't know where I was going because I hadn't been to this part of the base before, but I kept on moving. I walked for some minutes before stopping.

“This is a complete waste of time,” I said as I turned around to head back to where I had come from. But as I stepped forward, a trap door opened beneath me and I fell through. 

Dust and dirt flew all around me as I slid down the hole. I came through the other end and landed on my face, hard.

"My face" I groaned in pain as I got up slowly. I slowly lifted my head and gasped at what I saw. 

Computed weaponry that had been dumped were arranged in front of me. But something was different about them. They were alive.