Chapter Nineteen: Unexpected

The trials proceeded as usual until Helper T Cell made another announcement. "Students and Staff of St. Shimizu! Today, one of you shall have the opportunity of sparring with a real S rank immune cell! Lady Macrophage, who would you like to spar with?"

"Mmmm…B Cell?"

"B CELL! Come on up!"

B Cell strode up to Lady Macrophage, his grin radiating confidence.

"Alright! Here are the rules: you two will compete in separate training areas and kill simulated enemies. You cannot know your opponent's score. The cell with more kills at the end of 2 minutes wins!"

"Yorushiku, B Cell!" Lady Macrophage smiled. B Cell ran off to the training area immediately. A horde of bacteria greeted him. He filled his gun with antibodies. This was going to be easy.

Two minutes had passed. The last enemy fell to the floor.

"How did I do?" B Cell asked.

"You did great." Lady Macrophage smiled. B Cell assumed he won. "B Cell, you are now an A rank immune cell. Congratulations." She continued.

"WAHOOO! FINALLY! FINALLY! THE IMMUNE SYSTEM RECOGNIZES MY POTENTIAL! JUST WAIT UNTIL I BECOME THE GREATEST S RANK IMMUNE CELL EVER! I'M COMING, WORLD! YOU BETTER BE READY! YESSSSSSSSSSSS!" B Cell pumped his fists in the air and then ran off, doing a victory dance. Killer T and NK rolled their eyes. Then, the speaker crackled.

"AHEM! LADIES AND GENTLECELLS, PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE YET! WE HAVE ONE LAST SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!" Helper T Cell's voice boomed. "Since neutrophils are an important part of the immune system, we have decided to open a new course for talented neutrophils! Hopefully, this course will greatly improve the combat proficiency of this body's neutrophils! The students qualified to attend this class are…U-4989, U-2001, U-2626, U-2048, U-…" U-1146 was amazed at this announcement. All his best friends were attending that class! However, U-1146 didn't hear his number get called. Oh, well. He was still happy for them. He wasn't ready for the next announcement, though. "The teacher of this elite class shall be…U-1146!" U-1146 nearly jumped out of his membrane when he heard this.

"What? Only A rank and above immune cells can teach elite classes!" U-1146 couldn't believe his ears!

"I know. Come here." U-1146 walked to the stage reluctantly, not sure what to expect. Lady macrophage reached out and removed the silver star-shaped badge with the letter B on it from U-1146's uniform.

"From now on, you are an A rank neutrophil, the first one since the time of Jixuanyuan. Congratulations." She secured the gold star with the letter A to U-1146's clothes. U-1146 suddenly felt a horrible feeling.

"Are you…are all of you doing this just to get me to feel better about becoming the cancer cell?"

"No! We had this planned a long time ago! We don't give promotions to immune cells to make them feel better! We give them to the ones who deserve them!" Helper T Cell looked like he was telling the truth, but St. Shimizu Instructor U-1146 still didn't fully believe him…