A/N: So sorry about the delay on this chapter. I kept rewriting it because I wasn't satisfied but I think it turned out well. I still plan on taking a break after this one to make sure the next part of the story is in order. Like I said some pretty huge things are about to happen. As always enjoy and review.

The next morning Jorge seemed satisfied with our analyses of yesterday's fighting.

"All of you were able to recognize the most glaring issues with your execution, well done", the Tenno said. "Over the next few weeks, we will check back in periodically as you improve and I want you to begin looking for more subtle flaws as we go on. The more minute issues aren't necessarily of less consequence. You must acknowledge and rectify them if you are to become an effective combatant."

This time I watched the first round of matches. Most interesting was Kilian fighting Julian. Other than me, Kilian had little trouble with his competition; that was both due to his ability to track the other students down and his awareness in a fight. Julian was similar to me: he was intuitive and an excellent combatant. I don't think being intuitive was a bad thing but as Kilian showed, it also paid to be cerebral during a fight.

The two of them started in a jungle this time. So the environments would be different today as well; the prior arenas had all been some form of urban: a cityscape, suburban neighborhood, or in Phillip's case yesterday, a factory.

As usual, Kilian was able to track down Julian after about 15 minutes. It was uncanny, my friend almost seemed drawn to his opponent.

Julian seemed to catch onto Kilian quickly though because soon enough they both began firing at one another through the thick foliage. Neither scored hits, but Kilian had more than a few close calls. At one point a burst from Julian shaved the bark off of a tree a few inches from his chest, but Kilian was calm throughout the engagement. His innate composure was something I envied. His Latron was well suited for the way he fought: methodical and precise.

I was not so secretly hoping Kilian would win. Julian and I had formed a pseudo rivalry over the years.

Neither was able to gain an advantage over the other. They moved through forest, occasionally firing at each other. It was clear Julian was trying to get away from Kilian, maybe to set a trap or perform a flanking maneuver. My friend wasn't having any of it though; he wasn't letting Julian get more than 10 or 15 meters from him. The pursuit lasted another few minutes while Kilian pressed and Julian ran.

The chase ended when Kilian abruptly stopped near the edge of a small clearing. Julian had disappeared on the other side and was waiting for Kilian to move into the open. Instead of entering the clearing he skirted the barren area and began searching for the other student once again. The silence was strange after the consistent sound of gunfire which had pervaded since the two met. Kilian searched for another few minutes while I'd noticed Julian's point of view remained stationary in a cluster of trees. I couldn't tell if they were close but Julian was prepared for an ambush.

Then Kilian did something strange: stopped, picked up a large branch and broke it over his knee. After several minutes of silence, the snap sounded like a gunshot. Julian shifted his position, searching for the sound's origin. The rustling he'd made was just loud enough to reach Kilian. My friend slowly crept forward until he was taking cover behind a tree, watching the direction Julian's rustling had come from.

It took a moment, but I recognized the undergrowth Kilian watched as the one Julian hid in. I don't know how Kilian guessed but it seemed he knew as well. Kilian raised the Latron, leveled it at the foliage under the cluster of trees and squeezed off a round.

Had Julian been standing, the projectile would have taken his head off. As it was, the bullet zipped a few centimeters over him. Julian scrambled backwards, firing at Kilian trying to get away. Kilian moved up and I thought the game of cat and mouse would begin again but this time Julian changed tact. He circled back around and came to an undergrowth next to Kilian. The other student knew he was there but before Kilian could fire at him, Julian lunged out of the brush and smacked into my friend.

The two tumbled to the ground in a pile of tangled legs and arms. Kilian managed to free himself and rolled away from the other student. He'd dropped the Latron so Kilian unholstered his sidearm, a Lato, and came up to a crouching position. Again, before he could fire Julian was back on him, this time with his Skana drawn. Kilian sidestepped the first strike and dove away from the second. As he came up from his roll, Kilian switched the Lato to his left hand and drew what looked like a shorter Skana with his right.

Julian didn't seem to see the Lato in Kilian's left hand; he advanced on the other student again, thrusting towards Kilian's right side. Kilian blocked the thrust as well as the follow up slash before finally knocking the sword aside. At the same time he brought the Lato up and fired. Julian registered the weapon right before it discharged and managed to move off, but not enough for the round to miss. The small caliber slug struck him just inside his right shoulder.

Julian fell to the ground, clutching at the hole in his chest. Kilian didn't give him the opportunity to recover; the handgun discharged once more. This time the round took Julian in the center of the forehead and the fight was over.

I didn't know what made me happier: that Julian had lost or Kilian had won. It was the first time I'd seen his ingenuity first hand. His creativity was only surpassed by his innate ability to track down his opponent. I was truly impressed by the display.

I hadn't even been paying attention to the other 2 matches which were still on going. Phil was fighting Katrina and Joshua fought Cameron. Phil was chasing Katrina through what looked like a farmhouse from the old 'westerns' my dad used to watch. Katrina had lost her primary weapon and was blindly firing at Phil with a Viper. Phil seemed composed as he ducked behind cover or dove out of the way of each incoming barrage. Eventually the 2 wound up in the loft filled with boxes and barrels they used as cover. My other two friends engaged in close quarters combat, both using sidearms, but after the adrenaline rush of Kilian's fight it was fairly uneventful.

Suddenly I found Kilian standing next to me watching Katrina and Phil fight.

"Nicely done", I whispered. "That trick with your sidearm, incredible."

"Thanks. Wish you hadn't seen it."

"You think I'd have fallen for it?"

"Guess we'll never know."

"Hmm."

Phil and Katrina had each wounded the other: Katrina had taken a round to her left upper arm and Phil was hobbled with a hole in his left thigh. They must have been out of ammo because they were stalking each other prepared for a melee with weapons drawn.

The fight was drawn out for a few minutes but again, wasn't all that interesting with both of them suffering from injuries. It ended as I had expected: Katrina victorious. I felt bad for Phillip but there would be plenty of time to help him improve. Joshua and Cameron had finished a few minutes prior so Jorge chose the next 6 combatants, this time I would be participating while Kilian, Katrina, Cameron, and Julian sat out.

"Watch how it's done", I said to Kilian before placing the helmet over my head.

I'd elected to stay with the same weapons throughout the prior day but I wanted to switch it up this time. My primary was a Braton, a very light and compact bullpup automatic assault rifle which fired small caliber rounds. It has a high rate fire and almost no recoil. Reliable, accurate and easy to use. I stuck with the Lex as my sidearm and decided on a short bladed Ether Sword. The weapon was one of the more exotic bladed instruments used by the Tenno. I didn't know how it was made, but the blade was incredibly durable and light with a razor sharp edge. I'm not a huge fan of wielding it two handed, I prefer weapons with some heft, but for one handed use it was the perfect weight.

This time I was deposited in a town which had long ago been overrun by foliage and trees. I won my first fight handily that day, it probably didn't last for more than 15 minutes. The second one was against Joshua who didn't put up much more of a fight. After that I fought Phil. I felt bad for him; I could tell he was giving it everything he could, and I tried to give him a few chances I wouldn't normally present but he needed a lot of practice. I decided I'd do everything I could to help him over the coming months. I couldn't see him fail, it would probably hurt me as much as it would him.

The last fight of the day, against Cameron, was a challenge. For the most part I'd only used my Braton for the first 3 fights but Cameron forced me into close quarters combat in a smaller townhouse with us both using swords. In the end I won but he was able to score a few hits on me before I did.

That left Julian and one other the next day. The night that followed was similar to the prior one: after martial arts, we all spent a few hours talking about the day's matches in the commons. Several other students wanted to talk to Kilian about his improvised dual wielding maneuver with the Lato and Skana and the finale of his fight against Julian. I don't think anyone else expected Julian to lose a match. I'd beat him tomorrow as well. He might have 4 years on me but I think when all is said and done, I'm a better combatant than him. Watching his matches it's easy to tell he's overconfident. He lost to Kilian because he didn't adjust when it was obvious his first attacks didn't put Kilian on the defensive. Had Julian changed tact, maybe gone back to a ranged fight since Kilian had lost his rifle, he might have won. Julian believes he can fight however he likes and his skill will carry him through.

"Any tips on beating him", I asked Kilian after another student, this time Joshua, congratulated him.

"You'd think I won the Slot Cup with how many congratulations I've gotten", he mumbled, smiling. "I think you'll beat him. If you pressure Julian, he isn't a very good shot. He's creative but the guy doesn't hid what he's trying to do very well so it ends up being a fairly straight forward fight. You've got good instincts, trust them."

"I just wish I had your improvisational talent."

"Well", Kilian said through a yawn, stretching. "Not everyone can be as good as me."

I laughed at him.

"Didn't I beat you?"

"Best 2 out of 3?"

We both laughed until Phil and Katrina approached our table. Once they had done their round of congratulations for Kilian, we resumed talking about the day's fights. Phil won his last two fights of the day against, Joshua and another while Katrina won all but her fight with Julian. I felt my fighting was much sounder than the first day. All of my matches, save the fight against Cameron, were actually fairly boring. Katrina even gave me a compliment.

"You didn't look as amateurish as you did yesterday. If you fight a bit better tomorrow you might even be able to beat Julian."

Well… a backhanded compliment.

"Your ringing endorsement warms my soul", I said. "Do you have any other expert advice?"

"No. That's all you get for free."

I sneered at her before Phillip spoke.

"Do you think I did better today", he asked.

"Yeah", I replied, "I thought you were much more composed in the matches I saw. Hell if Katrina hadn't gotten lucky with that last strike you probably would have beaten her."

I gave Katrina and innocent smile, but before she could reply Kilian spoke up.

"Disparaging comments aside, you did very well. Like Chris said, you stayed calm throughout. Yesterday it seemed like when the fights neared their end you would get anxious, tighten up and that would lead to you losing."

"One thing I think you should focus on for the time being", I continued, "is firing on the move. You're a good shot when stationary but if things begin to get fast your aim erodes a bit."

"I might need help with that", Phil replied.

"Sure thing", Katrina said.

That night I could think of nothing but fighting Julian.

"It's not a big deal. It's the 3rd day of combat and it's just a simulation", I said. I could tell myself that as many times as I liked but truth was I wanted to beat Julian. I wanted to prove I was the best in combat. I guess that isn't necessarily a bad thing, competitiveness breeds results, but I feel like a true Tenno would not think like that. I fell asleep fighting those feelings.

The next day back in the VI room, my first fight was not against Julian but that was fine by me; the type of environment changed yet again. This time we were on what looked like a ship. The only time I'd ever seen anything like it was Samuel's last mission footage; we were on a Corpus vessel.

I'd chosen the same loadout as the day before which was well suited for this type of environment. I took my first contest slow, making sure I was careful and attentive. I didn't want to make a simple mistake which cost me the fight.

I sat out the next session, but finally it was my turn to fight Julian. I expected to be nervous but my heart wasn't trying to beat out of my chest, my stomach wasn't knotted and my muscles were loose. I was ready.

I stayed with the same loadout: Braton, Lex, and Ether Sword. I found myself standing in a very different setting. It still looked like a ship, but bulbous, ugly construction replaced the simple, streamlined design of the Corpus.

"Grineer", I muttered. They were the only ones who would make something this ugly. I felt sorrow and anger well up in my chest. I was again taken back to the day these freaks attacked my home.

"Not now." I swallowed my anger and revulsion and focused on my task at hand. It would be almost impossible to track Julian in here, so I would basically just have to search for the other student until I found him. I'd have to be careful not to run into an ambush; there were plenty of places to hide in the ship. The design was extremely wasteful; there were unusable spaces in every room due to how they were laid out, but that would provide plenty of places to stage a trap.

I searched from room to room for Julian. Luckily the ship had a fairly linear layout; there weren't many pathways to move about. The problem was I had no idea how large the ship would be, so I just continued to search.

Eventually, I came to the bottom floor of a large, open room with several different levels consisting of platforms around the edges and a few suspended in the center, catwalks and ladders connecting them all. Some had machinery on them which would provide cover, but many were empty stages. A few minutes into searching when I was 4 levels above the ground, I heard the soft 'whoosh' of a door opening. I immediately scrambled to cover, looking for the source of the noise.

It came from above me on the opposite side of the room. I could see the door was still open so he either left something to keep it open or he hadn't moved out of the doorway yet. I decided to get a better view of the opening, so I quickly climbed up a ladder to the platform above me.

I was still a level under the door so I couldn't see into it very well, but I didn't want to risk moving up another floor. As I waited the silence settled like a thick cloud, suffocating me. I felt my heart rate pick up and my palms start sweating. "Deep breaths", I whispered.

After what felt like an hour, but in all likelihood the pause was no more than a minute or so, the door whooshed closed. I couldn't tell if Julian had entered the room or not. Just in case, I raised the Braton, set my sights on the edge of the platform and waited. My pulse was pounding in my ears like a drumbeat.

Another minute passed when I saw movement out of my peripheral vision. By the time I'd turned to the motion it was gone. I slowly stalked to the edge of the platform, vigilant for any more movement. After another moment I could hear the subtle ringing of boots on a ladder. Julian was definitely in here. He must have been climbing down from where I'd seen him because the path to the platform above him provided no cover.

He was descending to a platform one level above mine with catwalks connecting it to others arranged around the room. I couldn't stay where I was, there was no cover here and he had the benefit of being higher. Before I could change position though, I saw the older student emerge at the end of the platform. I didn't think, I just raised my rifle and squeezed the trigger.

Julian must have seen me right before I had because the rounds sailed through the space he'd occupied a moment before. I had to move. I turned and sprinted towards the edge of the platform I was on, directly away from Julian. There was another platform directly below this one. If I could get to it, I would have some cover between Julian and myself.

As I neared the edge I dropped into a slide. Twisting as I went over the edge, I grabbed onto the end of the platform with all of my strength and swung myself back under it, towards the one below. Julian fired just as I disappeared, rounds whizzing behind my back. I landed in a roll before popping up, sprinting under Julian's position. There was no way I'd be able to climb to his level which left either finding another route upstairs or finding a way to make him come down.

There was an exit at the back of the platform but I had no idea where a set stairs would be. I couldn't tell if Julian had moved but he had the advantage in here, I couldn't confront him under these circumstances.

"Dammit", I muttered before exiting the large room. I didn't want to run but staying there would be idiotic.

I searched for a staircase that might lead me to the upper floors. It didn't take as long to find as I thought it would; the entrance was set into the wall in a hallway branching off from the platform's exit. I carefully climbed the stairs, alert for any noise or movement. I climbed to the floor above where I'd seen Julian last and exited the staircase, hoping he'd stayed where he was, waiting for me; it had only been about 2 minutes since I first saw him.

Emerging onto the new level I saw this one was largely occupied by oddly shaped and sized computers. I was directly above where Julian had been so I had to find a position I could-. My thought was interrupted when gunfire exploded out of nowhere. I scrambled for cover as I tried to figure out where Julian was. He must have anticipated me getting to higher ground.

I glimpsed Julian firing again from the platform to my left as I slid behind a bank of computers. Rounds peppered my cover as I tried to figure out how to gain the upper hand. This was better than when I'd been below Julian; that would have been a shooting gallery.

At a pause in the barrage, I stuck my Braton over the computers and began firing at Julian. Once the bolt locked open I swapped magazines before leaning out to the right side of the computer banks, aiming towards the older student's position. No sign of him. I waited a few heartbeats before leaving my cover and advancing towards him, hugging the wall to my left. As I neared the catwalk connecting the two platforms I stepped back into cover behind a pillar set in the wall.

He was waiting for me to step onto that walkway; there was no cover and the moment I did I was finished.

At least that's what I thought. Suddenly I heard Julian sprinting across the Catwalk towards me. I couldn't get my rifle up fast enough; he emerged around my cover and opened fire. I dove out of the way as rounds mangled the face of the pillar. I tried to roll and regain my footing but Julian was right there to meet me. He put his shoulder into my chest, knocking me back to the ground but before he could shoot me I swept Julian's legs out and he landed next to me, both of our rifles skittering away.

Julian went for his handgun but I rolled onto him and swung at his head, forcing him to defend. I tried to press but ended up overshooting a strike. With the opening he managed to land a shot just above my jaw. Stars were swimming in my eyes and before I knew it Julian had bucked me off and was fumbling for his sidearm again. I kicked his arm away and tried to get back on him but the other student rolled away and we both got to our feet.

As I closed on Julian I drew my sword and he responded likewise, brandishing a Skana. I engaged the melee by lunging for Julian's left hip. He parried and countered with a stab at my left shoulder then a swing across my torso. We fought to the edge of the platform where there was a 5 meter drop to the next one below. I managed to draw first blood when I knocked Julian's parry aside and sliced through the upper sleeve on his left arm. However, after another few seconds of fighting I found myself standing on the edge of the platform, Julian pressuring me.

I tried to gain some ground but he met every one of my moves. I couldn't help but think if I'd chosen a heavier sword I wouldn't be in trouble. Had I gone with the Orthos this fight would probably be over. As it was, the light weight of the Ether blade was disrupting my timing; I couldn't get into a rhythm with it.

Julian wasn't letting me off of the ledge but he still couldn't land a strike. My opponent was getting frustrated, maybe I just had to wait him out. He thrust once more, but this time he went too far. I sidestepped right and parried the strike. Yes he went too far his weight was forward, leaning towards me, all I had to do was-, then I realized the strike was not a mistake. When I'd sidestepped I'd put most of my weight on my left foot which was closest to the edge. Julian twisted and rammed his left shoulder into my right, knocking me off balance. He pushed off with his sword and there was nothing I could do.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I fell over the edge of the platform. I regained enough sense as I fell to parry one last thrust he sent my way before I tumbled over, but I was still in serious trouble.

I twisted in the air, intending to land feet first and roll but I came down awkward. More weight was over my right leg then I intended and as I tried to roll I came down hard on my right side. I lost grip of my Ether Sword and it skittered over the side of the platform. Cursing, I clambered for cover just in case Julian was going to open fire.

My shoulder was on fire, I couldn't tell if it was dislocated or damaged but for the moment I couldn't move it without pain lancing through my chest. Worse than that was now I was down to my Lex, a weapon I could not wield properly with one good arm; the recoil was too much.

At least I wouldn't have to go looking for Julian now though; he would press this advantage for sure. I slowly stood, trying to keep my right arm pinned to my side and drew my handgun. Firing with my off hand was something I'd practiced plenty but that was always with a Lato which was considerably less powerful.

I stumbled over to the platform's exit and peeked through. Gunfire was what greeted me. It wasn't automatic though which meant Julian hadn't recovered his rifle. That's something I guess. The only thing I could do was move back out and take cover. This time it was behind a couple of crates. I didn't know if they was anything in them or if they would stop a round; hoping was a major part of my strategy now.

Aiming wasn't difficult with my left hand but I didn't know how well I would be able to control the Lex's kick. I trained my sights on the entrance to the platform and a few seconds later Julian's head popped out and I fired. The shock from the Lex ripped through my arm and sent the round way wide; it hit the wall a half meter above the door.

A moment later Julian came out firing. His shots peppered the other side of my cover but none of them made it through. Sweet, a little good news. Shifting my right arm, pain stabbed my shoulder but nowhere near as much as it had. It was still throbbing and I couldn't lift it past 45 degrees but it was something. I just didn't know what I could do. Julian had stopped firing but I knew the moment I tried to change position I'd be dead.

What do I do? I've been on the defense for the majority of this fight. While that isn't a huge issue for me, I can do both equally well, Julian is an offensive fighter and I haven't been able to take advantage of that.

"I guess it's time to change that", I whispered. I had no other options besides getting aggressive; if I waited for him, he'd whoop me at this point. With a crippled arm and weapon I couldn't use at range there would be no way I won trying to play defensively.

First thing first, I had to find him. Standing I poked my head out to the right of the crate. I glimpsed Julian taking cover behind what looked like a large bench 5 meters away before ducking back when the other student fired at me. Readying my sidearm I came out of the left side, straight at Julian, firing. I had no chance of hitting him but I just needed him to take cover. He did for a moment before trying to take a pop shot at me. I rolled to my left, careful not to aggravate my shoulder any more; I'd need it. When I was a meter from Julian's cover the older student popped back up and tried to aim at me but I was too close for him to get a clean shot. I ducked to the side and vaulted over the waist high bench.

Julian drew his Skana and advanced on me. If he could keep me at arm's length I had no chance. I had two rounds left in my magazine and at this range I would have no chance to reload so I couldn't risk missing. As Julian reached me I ducked his first swipe and sidestepped his follow up thrust. At most I had 3 or 4 more strikes before Julian landed something, so I had to make a move.

The next attack was a feint at my right side followed by an upwards cut. That was my opening; he'd used the exact same move against Phil. As he finished the strike there was a split second his guard would be wide enough for me step in.

I took a half step back to avoid the blow and right before move ended I lunged forwards, clearing the Skana and ramming my left shoulder into the older student's chest. He stumbled but didn't fall like I'd hoped. Julian brought the sword back around. He couldn't get the blade on me but before I could block it he slammed the hilt into my right shoulder. I'd never felt pain like that before; my right side felt like it had been dipped in molten metal. My vision flashed red as the edges dimmed and I cried out in pain.

I fought to regain my focus; my left hand still clung to the Lex but my right arm hung uselessly from my side. Julian took a step back and thrust the Skana at my chest. The blade almost seemed to be moving in slow motion.

There was only one thing I could do; I twisted to my left and raised my sidearm. It wasn't enough to make Julian miss, his Skana piercing my chest just inside my right shoulder. As it did though, Julian's chest was centered in my sights. As pain racked my body I squeezed the trigger.

I didn't see the round's effect but the blade stayed lodged in my chest as I fell to the ground. I couldn't function anymore, the pain in my shoulder was too much. My body was engulfed in agony and my mind was too preoccupied trying to manage it.

I was enveloped by pain for what felt like an eternity; there was no escaping it.

Then I heard someone call my name. It wasn't loud, like a ripple in the ocean of my pain, but it was there. I tried to focus on those ripples. I heard it again, and again. The voice sounded urgent, worried. I fought to concentrate on that voice.

"CHRIS!"

I jolted awake and found myself lying down on the floor of the VI room surrounded by the other students, save Julian. I groaned as my right side throbbed.

"How do you feel", Katrina said; she'd been calling my name.

"Terrible", I croaked.

Jorge was standing behind Katrina and Phil wearing a look of genuine concern.

"I'll be alright sir", I said. "I just need some time."

He nodded.

"Can you stand", the Tenno asked.

"Maybe." I sat up gingerly, keeping my right arm pinned to my side. Phil helped me to my feet and walked me back to my room.

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Would you mind just… talking for a while?"

Phil nodded. There was nothing I really wanted to discuss but I'd felt so alone while I was unconscious the last thing I wanted to do was spend the rest of the day by myself.

"Thank you."