There's currently an OC poll on my page if you'd liek to vote on it, or you can submit your own OC and have it added to the poll. Voting on it is appreciated as the people who created the OCs were creative enough to do so and deserve credit along with some recongnition. It isn't mandatory, but it is appreciated if you do vote.

[Chapter 9]

"Geez..." I flopped down onto my bed, completely drained.

After the ceremony feast, Neptune had dragged us all out to the Community District to do some dumb things. In the process, Noire and Vert had managed to get drunk. After that, I had taken Luna back to her district, just before things starting going downhill.

It was now around midnight and I was sore and tired.

I shook my head. "Can't wait for the morning drills tomorrow..."

I pulled the blankets over myself and closed my eyes. I have to win... I have to see my family...

That was the last thought I had before sleep took over.

*GET YOUR SCRAWNY ASSES UP! IF YOU CAN DO THAT, GET DRESSED AND HEAD TO THE TRAINING FIELD!*

"Gah!"

"W-What!"

"Ow!"

At the sound of Andy's voice blaring over the intercom, many of the newcomers fell out of their beds, completely shocked.

I simply rubbed at my eyes before rolling out of bed and getting my uniform on. Grabbing my weapon, I followed the others up to the fourth floor.

Upon arriving onto the fourth floor, we found Andy leaning against a wall, staring directly at us. "Well, it's good to see that some of you know how to get up. Now, let's see who can't do the same..."

We filed into the room. For the next five minutes, we waited for any more students to arrive. After a newcomer barely made the five-minute mark, Andy sealed off the elevator door.

I took that moment to examine what had changed about the room. Honestly, nothing had really changed about the fourth floor or any of the floors.

The room was still a large stadium arena, with a simulation field, though not as advanced as the BSA's simulation field. Frankly, the room hadn't changed at all.

"Alright, whoever didn't make it will be getting a strike and won't get breakfast either," Andy turned to us. "I'll be taking roll now. Whoever doesn't give a response will be counted late, meaning you'll be punished. So, pay attention..."

Andy began to call out our names. Surprisingly, we were only missing a dozen students. Usually, it'd be several dozens. This time, it was just one dozen.

"Not a bad start to the year..." Andy smiled and stared at us all. "But let's see how much longer you can keep it up.

"Now, onto the training. We'll start off easy this time," Andy stepped onto a podium, looking down on us. "Each of you will be entered into a simulation against an endless number of Gunners. Your goal is to eliminate a minimum of at least fifty in fifteen minutes. Any extra you kill in that time will go towards your score for the district rankings. If all of you can do this, then I might not throw the rest of the drills at you today. Hell, maybe I'll even give each of you an extra meal card."

I noticed that Neptune had formed a wide grin at Andy's offer. "I got this!"

"We'll go in alphabetical order," Andy explained. "While one person is doing this, the rest of you will watch from the sidelines. If I catch you not paying attention, that'll be a strike to get into the Doll Room."

Everyone nodded once more; Andy did the same. "Right. Now, line up. We'll start."

"… Hm?" I glanced down at my shoulder to find Neptune resting her head there. I nudged at her. "Hey, Neptune. You can't fall asleep now."

"H-Hm...?" She rubbed at her eyes as I pulled her into line with me. "Why...?"

"Because we're about to start," I said in a hushed tone. "If Andy catches you asleep, you won't get your morning pudding!"

"Crap!" Hearing that caused Neptune to snap wide awake and focus. "Alright! I'm up!"

Letting out a relieved sigh, I turned back to face the student in the simulation, waiting for my turn.

"Sigi Aurum," Andy nodded to me. "It's your turn."

After many had gone, it was finally my turn.

The energy burst from the handle and formed the energy blade.

The arena around turned to a glass room. Perched on several platforms around the room were multiple, generic-looking Gunner members. There were also several surrounding me, guns all pointed right at my head.

I held my breath and tightly gripped my blade, prepared. "…"

"BEGIN!"

*Bang!*

At Andy's signal, the Gunners all fired their weapons at me. Without even thinking, I let my body fall to the ground. Bullets grazed past me and shot at the Gunners around, killing the ones surrounding me.

I quickly lunged forward, barely avoiding the next round of bullets. As my feet touched the glass, I kicked up a nearby pistol and began firing away at the Gunners.

Several had their heads blown off, while others stumbled off their platforms and shattered into pieces when they hit the ground.

"…!"

The second I dropped the gun, another wave of Gunners materialized, weapons already aimed right at my head.

Jumping to my side, I avoided several shots and lunged towards the nearest Gunner.

As one of them rested their aim on my forehead, I lunged forward and sliced their arm off. While the blood flowed out, I finished the movement by cutting their head clean off.

Before the body fell, I grabbed it and began using it as a meat shield, blocking the incoming bullets.

Grabbing the body's grenade, I chucked it over the body, ricocheting off the glass and landing at the center of several Gunners, blowing them to pieces.

Grabbing another pistol, I spun around and fired at the Gunners' weapons, knocking them from their hands.

Using that as an opening, I stepped forward and drove my blade deep into one of the Gunners. Using my other hand, I fired at the other Gunners, blowing their heads off as I pulled my blade from the Gunners' body.

I tossed the gun to the glass floor and watched as it disappeared. Looking up, I found several dozen waves of Gunners staring me down, all of the rifles aimed right at my forehead.

Taking a deep breath, I stepped back and took a stance. "…"

"Open fire!"

All at once, the bullets were sprayed at me.

Letting my adrenaline run, I began reflexively deflecting and dodging the many bullets.

As soon as they stopped firing, I picked up a nearby grenade. Just before the Gunners snapped their aim to me, I chucked the grenade right at the center of their group.

*BOOM!*

Before any of them had time to run, the grenade went off and they were all blown to bits.

Several more appeared to take their place. As they began firing weapons at me, I dashed forward, avoiding the bullets. I stepped forward and drove my blade through one, following up by grabbing their pistol and blowing off the heads of the others.

I let out a breath as a single Gunner formed. I groaned. "Of course..."

Standing there was a copy of Deadeye. Though her name was Tsuki, we all called her Deadeye Tsuki, the leader of the Gunners.

She quickly drew a pair of pistols, the laser dots already on my forehead. Good thing this is only a simulation...

"Die."

*Bang!*

I rolled out of the way of her sights, barely avoiding her bullets. "…!"

Before I had time to even look at her, I hopped back, barely avoiding the next two bullets.

I then spun my head to face her, just in time to see two bullets aimed right at my face. Keeping my eyes on her, I ducked before bursting into a sprint towards her.

Deadeye took a step back and focused her aim on me. Before she fired, I lunged forward.

"Gh!"

Just before my blade made contact with her, a sudden pain hit my chest, crumpling me to the ground.

Looking up, I found the gun pointed right at my forehead; Deadeye's eyes showed no emotion. "Die."

*Bang!*

I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the shot, but it never came. Opening it, I found that the simulation was over. I had killed sixty-three Gunners.

As I rose to my feet, I realized my wound was no longer there. I turned to face Andy, who was smiling.

"I didn't think you'd get to the part of the simulation where you fought Tsuki, but I guess you did. Though, you didn't do so great..."

I let out a sigh. "I don't care. I'm just glad that I completed the exercise..."

"Here," Andy handed me my meal card. "That's yours. Once we're done, you can be off."

"Thanks." Nodding, I got back in the line, waiting for the last few Bladers to finish.

"So, how were your days so far?" I asked everyone as we sat at the table, waiting for our food.

After the simulations had ended, we had ended up going out to eat. We had ended up at a restaurant that I had picked, managing to find the rest of our friends there as well. So, we sat at a large table.

"It's been alright," Luna shrugged. "All Shiri and I really did was study about magic so far. But it's the stuff we already know."

"That simulation was too boring," Brindle said with a sigh. "After a while, I picked up the pattern of those Gunners."

"Same here," Angel agreed. "Even though I let them shoot me for a good while, it was still boring."

Noire shrugged. "To be fair, it is the first day."

"All I did was hit a baaag..." Plutia whined. "My arms are tired now..."

Blanc shrugged. "It was just boring, hitting that thing over and over again."

"I agree," Vert said. "While some of us that couldn't use weapons were put into groups where we recorded test data, us that could use weapons were put into the testing."

"Ours was as easy as pie!" Neptune said. "It was pretty easy! Plus, we got two meal cards cause we did so well!"

"By the way," I turned to Shiri. "You said that you wanted to talk to us about something, right?"

Shiri smiled before nodding. "Yeah, but I want to do it after we eat..."

We stared at Shiri in wonder. "Do what?"

Shiri stared at Neptune and me, wearing a serious expression. "If you want me on your team, prove yourself. Beat me in a battle."

Neptune and I exchanged looks before grinning.

"We thought you'd never ask!"