Hello FanFiction!

Hard to believe I was working on this nearly 10 years ago. Sadly life moves on and I haven't done any creative writing since, and although I'm still a nerd and love watching cartoons for the nostalgia I don't have the same passion that led me to writing in the first place. I had a vague plan of where I was going in this story, but I doubt I'll be writing the rest of it now.

HOWEVER...there are still 6 completed chapters of this sitting on my laptop that I would like to share for old-times sake, and because they've survived this long without being deleted that it would be a waste not to put them out into the universe!

I hope you enjoy, and if any fresh young minds would be interested to continue this story it would be nice to see it come full circle.


Let's begin

The next morning the new recruits were awakened suddenly in the dark by Major Tom and a very large trumpet. Aerrow nearly fell off his top bunk and stumbled into the green haired boy sharing with him, repaying the knock from yesterday. There had been no time before lights out for small talk and Aerrow still felt embarrassed about his first interactions with the other cadets, but it looked like there would be no time to try and fix that this morning. They hurried to stand to attention as the Major walked down between the rows of bunks.

"04.00, time to start the day! We begin with a 10k run, nice and easy to warm up. Get changed and outside in the next two minutes, move!"

There was a great scrambling to find everything in the dark until the Major hit a yellow crystal by the door on his way out and a soft glow lit up the room. hastily tugged on his boots and was last out of the door.

The weather was mild despite the early hour, and Aerrow woke quickly as they began their first lap of the barracks. This, at least, was familiar. Hours spent running around alone in the woods and mountains of various terras was natural, normal, everyday training. Despite being surrounded by strangers in a new and daunting place, Aerrow felt the tension that he had held onto for the past week as he made his way to the Academy slowly ease out as his muscles warmed up and he lengthened his stride.

Running in a tight group, Aerrow was once again reminded of just how much he stood out. Although fairly tall for his years he was easily the shortest of the cadets, with even petite Jael a few inches above him. Although his muscles were strong and lean from training, it was clear he had a long way to go before he was fully developed like the stocky Ryder. He knew better than to think he would ever be as big as Batesson the Wallop, but at least he wasn't a skinny as the blue-furred Blizzarian whose name he couldn't recall.

Unsure if it was allowed, no-one spoke until about fifteen minutes into the run. The tall black haired boy at the front of the group looked to Corinna running on his right.

"Is this pace manageable for you, milady?" He spoke charmingly, but the taunt was thinly veiled and Corinna replied coolly.

"I would not expect you pups to keep up with me were I to set the pace."

"By all means, be my guest." The boy gestured forwards with a smirk and fell back a few steps. Corinna's eyes glinted and she gradually increased the pace until Aerrow felt his breathing starting to hitch and the blood pound in his ears. He held his position within the group for the next ten minutes, but gradually his shorter legs fell slower and slower, and all too soon he was trailing behind the group, struggling to keep up.

Quicker than he thought possible, but still not nearly soon enough, the group slowed and stopped in front of Major Tom after completing the distance. Aerrow gasped for breath and was relieved to see many of the group were also red faced. Even Corinna and the tall boy at front had a rosy glow to their cheeks that suggested it had not been quite as easy as they made it out to be.

"Good start." Major Tom gave a nasty grin. "Let's continue."

The next two hours were hell. Obstacle courses and endurance exercises and sprint rallies kept them all sweating and straining to their limits. Aerrow found he was fairly fast and his smaller size helped with trickier obstacles, but that was one of the few things he could say positively about the experience.

07.00 finally arrived and the Major dismissed them to clean up and get breakfast. Aerrow's feet dragged as he followed others in his class to the mess hall after a quick shower and change of clothes.

Breakfast was served in one of the larger barracks, large enough to accommodate all of the Academy's population at the same time. It was a cacophony of talk and laughter as they arrived and joined the queue to be served. Breakfast was porridge of the thick, grey and gloopy variety. It was undoubtedly full of all the vitamins and nutrients needed to fuel such rigorous training, but it was exactly as flavoursome as it looked. Aerrow hardly noticed. He was hungry enough to eat his own boots by this point.

He found himself sat next to the green haired boy who shared his bunk. Eager to stop thinking of everyone in terms of their hair colour, and hoping to make a better impression than yesterday, Aerrow plucked up the confidence to start a conversation.

"Hey…um, my names Aerrow, what…um…what's yours?"

"Damian." He looked up from his near finished bowl of porridge with a grim look. "How bad is this breakfast?"

"Oh…I dunno," Aerrow shrugged, "I've had worse." Much worse, he thought, thinking back to his brief stay on Terra Toledos scavenging food from the dumpsters behind the wrestling ring.

Damian scoffed and threw back another spoonful of gloop. He gave Aerrow a sidelong glance. "By the way, sorry if I embarrassed you yesterday, you know, when I called you short." He looked uneasy. "I don't always think before I speak. My mam is always telling me to keep my trap shut."

Aerrow fought down the flush rising up his neck and cursed his pale complexion. "It's fine, don't worry about it." He gave a small sigh of defeat. "I am short."

Damian laughed lightly. "Nothing wrong with that."

"Easy for you to say."

"Hey, this only happened a few years back, bet I was shorter than you when I was your age!" Aerrow averted his eyes back to his bowl, hoping he wouldn't ask again. "I do have to ask again though," Damn. "Properly this time, how old are you?" He looked at Aerrow seriously.

Wary of the many ears nearby and already feeling more than a little uncomfortable, Aerrow answered quietly. "Well…I turned sixteen a couple weeks back."

"Sixteen?" Damian didn't trouble to keep his voice down. "And they let you in?"

"No way." Another disbelieving voice joined in: Jael sitting on his other side and shaking her head. "They never take under nineteen. I only just made it this year."

"I passed the tests." Aerrow replied stiffly. "What does it matter how old I am?"

"Because you just won't keep up."

The three of them turned to the black haired boy sitting at the next bench. Batesson and Ryder were sitting on either side of him, staring coldly at Aerrow. The boy turned to face them fully.

"You're too young. You might have fluked your way in here, but this place is only for serious warriors who are ready to become the elite. I bet you couldn't even hold your own against that little firecracker by your side."

"And you think you could?" Jael challenged.

He considered her seriously for a moment, and then smiled. "Definite possibility."

She snorted at his ambiguous answer. "And they say chivalry is dead. Who are you then?"

"Cole," The boy replied with a mock bow to her. "From Terra Atmosia. And I've been training for this my whole life."

"So have I." Aerrow replied, gaining some strength in his voice.

Cole merely looked at him pityingly.

"So not long enough at all yet."

He turned away and continued his own discussion. Aerrow slowly turned back to face his empty bowl. He had known he would be the youngest here, and he expected some conflict because of his age, but he didn't think it would start quite this soon. So much for first impressions.

Jael gave a snort and elbowed him in the ribs. "Age is just a number I guess. They wouldn't have let you in if you were no good. And it's not like any of us have seen each other in action yet either. Don't stress it."

Damian, however, looked disgruntled as he finished his porridge. Although he talked with Aerrow again it was clear he was reserving judgment for now.


History and tactics classes came after breakfast. Although Aerrow knew a lot of the answers, his shyness kept him from offering them. The few times he was called upon he kept his answers brief and breathed a sigh of relief when the History Master would nod at him and move on.

The Master Tactician never seemed to nod at all, but prowled the large table littered with crystals and figurines set up in complicated battle plans, snapping at everyone who said something wrong, which seemed to be every time someone opened their mouth. He gave them impossible scenarios and zoomed the figures around the board, taking fierce delight in blowing them up with a flamer crystal whenever someone led their miniature squadron to their doom. By the end of the first class, no one was left alive but the Cyclonians.

Everyone said it was depressing. Master Tactician called it "a grim reminder of the harsh realities of war".

After lunch, mechanics was pleasantly familiar to Aerrow's time spent working in garages and depots across Atmos. They spent the time dismantling and re-building various weapons and skimmers, learning how to care for their armour and equipment and seeing how everything worked. The Blizzarian, whose name turned out to be Kipp, showed to have extensive knowledge of aircraft and spent a proud half hour arguing with the Lieutenant about whether or not an Air Skimmer III Ultra has worse crystal fuel mileage than the original model, or if it made up for it in maneuverability.

In the evening the new recruits gathered in one of the combat halls. They warmed up with basic drills on dummies and crystal controlled robots, and Aerrow saw Damian give him a thumbs up when he reduced his robot to a pile of rubble after hitting all the pressure points in rapid succession. Aerrow replied with a grin and a small flush, and finished his drill with building confidence.

Sensei walked the room examining the state of each student's robot. Aerrow saw he wasn't the only one to have dismantled his cyber opponent. Sensei nodded with approval.

"Good. We can progress." He clapped his hands twice and pointed to a circular fighting ring in the centre of the building. "Hector and Eva. Take positions."

Aerrow felt his confidence drain away as quickly as it had come as the two cadets entered the ring and took up positions at either side.

"Fight to incapacitate, not to harm. No use of weapons. Any technique permitted. Fight until one opponent concedes or is downed. Any cadet breaking bones or causing more damage than deemed acceptable," He looked around the room sternly, "Will not be tolerated."

The knot in Aerrow's stomach grew. Don't be stupid, he told himself, it's just training, you can do it.

"Begin." Sensei said the command so softly it took the two combatants a moment to realise the fight had started. They advanced cautiously towards each other, and then Hector made the first move.

He swung a wide fist which Eva countered with a double hand block and a swift elbow to the nose. Hector dodged and they exchanged a flurry of blows, each scoring a few hits, but no advantage. As Eva kicked out Hector flipped backwards and would have evaded her if he'd been quick enough, but she followed through with a backhand chop that caught Hector around the ear and he fell to a heap as his flip failed.

"Fin." The fight ended as softly as it had started a few minutes ago. "What went wrong?"

The class then proceeded to pick apart each move the two had used, saying what had been good and what had been bad, how Hector's flip had lacked the power to take him far enough out of Eva's reach to evade her next attack. Sensei nodded amiably and added corrections of his own, then sent Hector to practice his flips and Eva to increase the speed of her elbow strike.

"Kato and Aerrow, take positions." Aerrow's stomach gave way to the knot and fell out from under him. He took several deep, steadying breaths as he entered the ring and looked at the lithe boy who was his opponent. Training, just like normal, nothing to it.

"Begin."

Kato charged him immediately and Aerrow dodged swiftly under the outstretched arms. He turned and had to dodge again as Kato kicked towards his head. He made a fist and sent it flying towards Kato's elbow, but the memory of a sharp snap and a shriek of agony made him pull the punch and his balance wavered. Suddenly he was flying through the air as Kato threw him and he landed heavily on the mat on his back.

"Fin."

Aerrow stood stiffly up and left the circle. Kato nodded to him but looked put out. The fight had barely lasted a few seconds.

"What went wrong?"

Aerrow tried to listen patiently to the multiple criticisms his classmates dished out about his performance, and looked Sensei in the eye when he turned to face him.

"You hesitated." He said simply. "You could have landed the blow, but you did not. Return to the dummy."

Aerrow nodded and made his way slowly back to the practice area, leaving the fighting ring behind.


Within just a few sessions, Aerrow was swiftly established as the poorest fighter of the group. He rarely landed a blow, and when he did it was weak and ineffectual. As the days passed his performance declined until he even struggled against the crystal robots which he had so efficiently disposed of on the first day.

His other studies also suffered. He struggled through the obstacle courses with heavy limbs and clumsy moves. He made simple mistakes and often ended up in the mud and river water. He fell behind on the morning drills, which were getting steadily longer and faster. Even his knowledge of history and mechanics, which was good, failed with his plummeting confidence.

Pain and exhaustion were his constant companions, and the friendly conversations he had managed to build with some of his peers dwindled in the face of his incompetence. No-one would waste their time on someone unlikely to last the first term at the Academy.


Just to note that I've changed the ages of characters, because 14 years old? Really? Nope. Aerrow is 16 when he joins the Academy, and the others are between 19 and 25.