Sorry I haven't updated in so long!  I'm at college, but I wrote a lot of stuff recently so I'm just now adding the chapters.  I also updated this chapter and chapter 14 to make them more readable, sorry about that mistake!!

"Ye-owch!" Pyri yelped as she tripped and fell flat on her face into Ainsley's room. Ainsley looked up from her desk and at the heap on her doorstep with amusement.

 "What are you doing?" Ainsley asked. Pyri picked herself up and ran to the small mirror that Ainsley had mounted on the wall next to her bed. As Pyri moved across the room, Ainsley noticed that she only had one boot on.

"Geez! You don't have a bigger mirror than this?" grumbled Pyri. Ainsley shrugged,

"I never really cared I guess," she replied. Pyri sighed, exasperated and put her arm around Ainsley.

"My dear girl, you need to get out more. We need to take you shopping!" as she said the word, 'shopping' a dreamy smile appeared on Pyri's face. Ainsley snorted,

"Right, and with the field exam in two days we have so much time to be shopping too," she said sarcastically. Pyri didn't pick up on the sarcastic tone.

"Exactly!" Pyri said, excitedly, "Let's go right now!" She grabbed Ainsley's hand and began pulling her away from the desk. Ainsley was surprised at Pyri's strength, assuming that she would be physically weak because of her stature. Ainsley had to use all of her strength to pry Pyri's hand from hers. She looked down at Pyri's feet and noticed, one more, that her left boot was missing.

"What's wrong with your boots?" Ainsley asked. Pyri looked down and a dart of recognition flashed across her smiling face.

"Oh yeah, I was in such a hurry to get here to study, I kind of woke up a little late, but anyway I was running here and kind of getting dressed in the process so I didn't have time to put both my boots on so I figured I'd put them on while I was waiting outside but I leaned against the door for support and I just kind of fell in," Pyri rambled, all in one breath. Ainsley stifled a laugh, which came out as a weak cough, and turned back to the books on her desk.

"We really need to start studying," Ainsley said, always on task. Pyri groaned.

"We couldn't at least go to the training center?" she whined, "At least that would be interesting." Ainsley suppressed another laugh. Pyri was four years older than she was and acted as if she were four years younger. Ainsley closed the book that had been left open on her desk.

"Okay," she said in a mocking tone, shaking her finger in the direction of Pyri,

"But only this once." Pyri clasped her hands together and jumped up.

"Great! Let's go!" she said, grabbing Ainsley's hand and dragging her out of the room.

Xaria released a stunning series of punches that immobilized the body of yet another Grat. She paused to take in a couple of breaths before continuing to walk in circles under the tropical canopy in the training center. She heard a crashing through the underbrush and looked up, bracing herself in a defensive stance with fists out. Instead she saw two cadets emerge from the bushes. One was her roommate, being dragged by her friend, Pyri. Xaria relaxed and began to laugh. Pyri waved excitedly. Ainsley looked a little worried as they reached Xaria.

"Are you okay?" Ainsley asked her, "You look awfully tired." Xaria nodded and dipped her hands down into the small brook that wound around the training center to splash some of the water on her face. It was warm, but it refreshed her all the same.

"I'm fine," she replied to Ainsley, a little breathlessly. Ainsley narrowed her eyes,

"Are you trying to discover your Limit again?" Xaria looked at the ground, chided by a fourteen year old. Ainsley glared at her, "You know you're not supposed to do that, what if you fainted?" Xaria dismissed the thought with a wave of her hand,

"There are other people in here, I'm sure one of them would come across me in time." Ainsley shook her head and sighed.

"Ummm.Ainsley?" a nervous voice asked. Ainsley looked up to see Pyri looking quite frightened of a large tree.

"What is it?" Ainsley asked, perplexed.

"I think we should leave now," said Pyri, quietly, as she began to take small steps backwards. Ainsley shrugged,

"I don't see what the problem is," said Ainsley, looking around, "Sari's already killed nearly everything in this area," she joked, looking over at Xaria who wiped a sheen of sweat from her forehead.

"No, I'm serious, there's a T-Rexuar in there," said Pyri, nervously pointing a trembling finger at the underbrush they had just come out of. Ainsley shrugged, and then narrowed her eyes.

"How would you know there's anything in there? I don't see anything," Ainsley paused for a moment to hear the jungle like sounds of monsters in the training center, "And I don't hear anything coming from over there either." Pyri shook her head and grabbed Ainsley's hand.

"Let's just go, okay?" she said, visibly upset. Ainsley shook her head, but began to walk quietly away with Pyri. Xaria turned to follow when a large thing flew over their heads and landed on the ground in front of them. All three of them fell to the ground as the earth shook. Xaria opened her closed eyes to a large dinosaur-like face blinking in front of her. The T-Rexuar stood up in it's full majesty and sounded a large roar. The force of it blew Pyri back a few feet and she struggled to get up. Ainsley pulled out her rapier. "As long as there's three of us we should be able to do this," she yelled over the din of the roar. Xaria nodded and held her fists in front of her as Pyri visibly steeled herself and pulled out a large black mace. The three cadets braced themselves, waiting for the attack.