Author's note: Hey, I just want to thank everyone who's read the story and has liked it so far, especially those who follow and review it! I'm very grateful and I'm extremely happy that so many people like it. Just as a note, I'm going on vacation next week so I won't update at all next week, but the story will resume when I get back. Thank you all again and I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Back at the Dauntless compound before breakfast, Isabelle and Artemis, along with another Dauntless born Isabelle didn't know by name, had decided to gather the initiates—both transfers and Dauntless born alike—to train themselves while the instructors and leaders were away, since they really had nothing better to do. As Isabelle was in charge of the transfers, she had told them earlier that morning that they could do whatever they pleased... except for Avicus. She didn't give that luxury to him so she ordered the guard to keep him in the living quarters for the time being, only to be reunited with the rest of the initiates for meals, lying and saying that it was a direct order from Eric. It was needless to say that the boy was pissed, but Isabelle didn't care. She was going to use every bit of power she had to keep Avicus as miserable as possible until he was kicked out of Dauntless for good. Isabelle knew she shouldn't be abusing the small amount of power given to her like this, but it brought the girl too much joy to simply ignore the opportunity. Every little annoyance did the trick.
With the leaders gone, the initiates thought it was a good idea to train together as this would be their only opportunity to do so. The training wasn't as serious as it would've been if the leaders were around; it was more like playtime as the air was filled with sportive banters and laughing, unlike the dramatic and stern atmosphere that their regular training consisted of.
And so, the initiates ran together, doing their laps while talking to one another. Isabelle had found herself in the company of one of the female Dauntless borns, a girl named Artemis. She was tall and slender, with beautiful auburn hair tied to the side in a long fishtail braid. Her eyes reminded Isabelle of the whisky her father used to drink on a summer's evening, almost honey-colored but slightly darker. Artemis was a spritely girl, nimble on her feet and with her tongue. She was quiet talkative and asked the transfer about her old life back in Erudite. Despite being a little invasive, Isabelle didn't mind. It was sort of refreshing actually, being able to talk about home. At this point in her life, it wasn't as painful to bring it up. If it were the first few weeks of training, Isabelle would've been a sobbing mess, but now, after being hardened by Eric and Four's training, it didn't hurt as much to remember and share it with others.
Artemis was completely fascinated with Isabelle's old life; it wasn't a false fascination, like a person of a higher status learning about the struggles of someone in a lower class and pitied them for it, or an obsession to learn about something that she had no knowledge of but wanted to use that information to up-one someone else. The Dauntless born was truly interested in learning about something she knew nothing about. Artemis didn't have to leave her family to be here. She didn't have to try and compete against kids who already knew the culture of the faction. She didn't have to prove to the leaders that she belonged here, because it was already a given that she was worth keeping. This was all still relatively new to Isabelle, and yet she still stood here confident—knowing that she wanted and needed to beat the odds. Artemis found great inspiration in that—in Isabelle.
The two girls took a liking to each other, enjoying the other's company during their laps. After they had finished their run, the two girls decided to continue training with one another. Isabelle's friends didn't seem to mind, thinking that it was a good idea to hang around some of the other Dauntless born in order to get tips from them and such. It wasn't only beneficial for the transfers to get pointers from their competitors, but it was also beneficial socially. It was good every once in a while to break away from your friends in order to establish new alliances and friendships; the more the merrier, Isabelle thought with a smile.
They did simple warm-up training then. Artemis taught Isabelle some yoga moves as both a cool-down from running and a warm-up for the rest of the day's workout. Artemis also taught the transfer some breathing exercises that would help in stressful situations or when breathing became hard after intense workouts. Isabelle enjoyed learning from the Dauntless born. It was a different experience, but it was insightful none-the-less. Training under leaders and instructors was very different from learning from another initiate—there wasn't a certain amount of pressure to get things correctly right away as there was more room to learn from mistakes. It was a very enjoyable experience for all the initiates and it was beneficial.
At eight-thirty, they broke for breakfast. Avicus joined them, but as usual he was accompanied by a guard who kept a close eye on him. He sulked at his own table and was eventually joined by Mia and Bruce—the only two initiates who would somewhat associate themselves with the violent and aggressive boy. Artemis left Isabelle to sit with her Dauntless born friends—Durro, Flot, and Nicole—allowing the brunette to spend some time with her own. As Artemis left to join her friends, Isabelle couldn't help but notice that Durro kept a lingering eye on her, a half-smile lacing his lips, resulting in a small blush to appear on the transfer's cheeks. To Isabelle, he was probably the most attractive of the initiates with his tan complexion, brown hair set in loose dreadlocks that hung just past his earlobes, and vibrant brown eyes. The girl shook off any notion of the boy as she rejoined her friends at the table.
Mattie noticed where Durro's attention lay, but didn't say anything to her friend; she merely smirked. Isabelle didn't notice. Breakfast was filled with light conversation. This was the end of the sixth week of the first stage, barely two weeks remained before the bottom five would be kicked out of Dauntless. Then after that, it was only two weeks of the second stage, and finally a single day for the final stage. In two weeks time, sixteen people would be gone, destined to become factionless for the rest of their lives. It was so close, Isabelle realized as she continued to eat her breakfast while her friends talked idly. Even if she didn't improve in her skills and matches, Isabelle would remain above the cut-off and she'd be fine—as long as she didn't do worse, she'd be fine. It was just four more weeks, she could do it. She had to.
After breakfast, some of the initiates practiced at the punching bags and knife throwing at the back of the facility while a small group of boys started to set up certain parts of the obstacle course that had been taken down previously to add more space to the warehouse. They tied the rope bridge to the pillars, double checking that they were tight and secure. They placed two sets of regular sized tires at the beginning of the course for the initiates to run through, making sure that there were ten for each set, as well as two extra large sized tires, rolling them across the warehouse to their destination. Once that was done, they walked around and ensured that all the wheels on the movable obstacles were locked.
When they had finished, one of the boys—Durro—whistled, getting nearly everyone's attention. His pretty brown eyes glistened with mischief as he waved them to come over, "Who wants to play?"
There was a lot of cheering as the large group of initiates rushed over to the obstacle course. Isabelle and Artemis were among those who ran over to see what was going on. Durro grinned as he raised his hand to settle the crowd, "Why don't we have a little contest—the transfers against the Dauntless born? Let's see who's better at the obstacle course!" The group cheered again, agreeing with the little competition that Durro had suggested. "Alright, so we'll have one person step up from one group and then a someone from the other group will challenge them; the two will then go against the other in the run. The course consists of ten obstacles, in this exact order: first we have the Stutter-step tires, followed by the cargo net climb, then the tire flip, then we have a few under and overs, hurdles, the balance beam, monkey bars, the low crawl underneath the rope bridge, rope swings, and then finally the high wall. If you fall off an obstacle, you must restart it—no exceptions. Who's first?"
It wasn't a surprise when Kathryn volunteered to go first, nor was it a surprise when Mattie challenged the blonde girl. Isabelle chuckled at the two's zeal for competition, finding it both ambitious and entertaining. The two girl's got ready, standing at the beginning of the course as they stretched their limbs. Durro acted as the referee and when they were ready, he announced for them to start.
Both girl's were neck-to-neck during the Stutter-step tires as they both made it to the cargo net climb at the same time. Mattie gained a lead as Kathryn's leg got tangled up in the net on her descent down, nearly causing the blonde to loose her grip on the net. Her cursing was audible, even above the cheers, as Mattie was the first to reach the tire flip, making her way down the appropriate distance. Kathryn was finally able to get out of the net as Mattie finished up, running over to the under and overs. Kathryn worked fiercely as she tried to make up for time lost on the cargo net. Mattie leaped over one barricade, then under one, over another, and under the last as Kathryn started the same obstacle. Being tall, the hurdles were easy for Mattie, finishing them in no time, but Kathryn wasn't too far behind. Mattie's height caused a slight problem when she reached the balance beam, trying to steady herself as she made it across the beam as quickly as possible. It was at this obstacle that Kathryn had finally found her chance to catch up with the transfer. At the monkey bars, the two were neck-to-neck once again and remained so throughout the low crawl and the rope swings. It was at the high wall where Mattie's height was once again an advantage, so at her first jump she was able to grab a hold of the top of the wall and she pulled herself up and over. When she jumped down, she ran over to the finish, out of breath at the run of the course. A few seconds later Kathryn joined in, also breathing heavy.
"And the victory goes to the transfer!" Durro exclaimed in excitement before giving his congratulations to Mattie. Kathryn acted as if she let Mattie win, saying something about how she needed to inspire the others to do better. Mattie only laughed at her fool of a friend.
Warsan was next, only to be challenged by Robbie. Another big surprise, Isabelle thought sarcastically with a smile. They started the course without hesitation, Warsan immediately leading of the two. Although Warsan was much smaller than his competitor, the dark-skinned boy was able to stay ahead by nearly an entire obstacle. The transfer was the best at endurance, so he was able to keep a steady pace as he zoomed right through the course. The only difficulty he had was at the hurdles and at the high wall, but still he managed to beat the blond Dauntless born as he finished first by nearly a minute and a half. Robbie didn't take his defeat as lightheartedly as his sister, but still managed to not take it too seriously.
Pair after pair, the competition went on. After Mattie and Warsan's win, the Dauntless born stepped up their game and came back with a four match winning streak, but in the seventh run, JD was able to snatch another win for the transfers. Their winning streak didn't last long as Aliyah lost her run to Axel. The score was currently 5-3 and Isabelle volunteered to go next.
"I'll take that challenge," Artemis said with a wink as she stepped forward towards the brunette, earning a smile from her as she playfully nudged the transfer with her elbow.
Durro also stepped forward, grinning at the two girls, "You got to practice with her all morning, why don't you let me go against Isabelle?"
Artemis raised her hand to Durro's chest, giving him a gentle push back, "Too bad lover-boy, I already called dibs. Besides, you're the ref and the transfers are already down one man, so you should just stay ref to keep things even, alright?"
Isabelle expected the Dauntless boy to be upset at Artemis' bluntness and retaliate against her, but the grin remained on his handsome face as he slowly backed away, "touché."
And so, the two girls took their place at the start of the course before Durro announced for them to start. With Artemis being tall and thin, she made her way through the Stutter-step tires effortlessly while Isabelle did her best to keep up. The two were equally matched at the cargo net climb, both finding it rather difficult to try and maneuver their limbs through the obstacle. Isabelle seemed to be a bit stronger than Artemis, using her the newly formed muscles in her thighs to help with the weight of the large tires as she flipped them. Artemis struggled a bit with the giant tires.
Isabelle gained a small lead over the Dauntless born as her smaller stature made it easy for her to duck underneath the barricades, but provided a small difficulty as she tried to jump over the others. The hurdles were just as much a challenge for Isabelle, but she tried her best. The two reached the balance beam at the same time and they both quickly moved across it. The girls remained tied as they reached the final obstacle: the high wall. Is knew this would be her biggest challenge given her height. Artemis was tall, but she wasn't particularly strong since she was quite thin, a lot smaller than a majority of the other girls. Artemis made it up the wall first, but she stopped to sit on top of it, regaining her breath. Isabelle took her opportunity to take a few steps back before she ran and jumped up, able to grab a hold of the wall. Quickly she pulled herself up and flung herself over the wall carefully. Artemis jumped down, nearly at the same time, and both girls ran to the finish, resulting in a tie.
"Good job, girls," Durro congratulated, his grin growing in delight.
Artemis high-fived the transfer, both girls laughing in their exhaust-fueled hysteria after their run in the course. The rest of the morning flew by as the remaining pairs faced off in the obstacle course. Isabelle and her group of friends, now including Artemis and Nicole, sat near the course as they sat and watched. They rested on the side as they judged the remainder of the initiates and their performance during the run of the course. The group of kids critiqued and examined the other initiates who did poorer than expected, laughing occasionally at the results. They didn't do so to be mean, but most of the kids who didn't do well fell of various obstacles in an overly dramatic or comedic fashion, causing them to laugh at the situation. It wasn't long before it was time to break for lunch. Just as they did before, Artemis and Nicole joined their friend Durro while Isabelle and her friends enjoyed lunch together, with the exception of Warsan who sat with Virgil and his little crew.
After lunch, the initiates held mock matches, pairing up one Dauntless born with one transfer, just as they did with the obstacle course. While Warsan had endurance, he didn't have nearly the amount of strength and power that Robbie had. The Dauntless born would obviously win the match, but he allowed Warsan to tackle him to the ground a few times as they wrestled on the mat. Their tussle was very child-like, almost resembling two brothers fighting over a toy as they rolled around on the ground, holding onto each other's shirts and using their feet to try and pry the other off of them. The two almost rolled off out of the ring more than once, but managed to keep themselves from tumbling out. The match ended with Robbie as victor, as predicted; he was able to pin Warsan facedown as he sat on the transfer's back, locking the boy's wiry arms behind him as the blond pressed Warsan's head against the mat with a smile on his handsome face.
Much like her brother, Kathryn also won her match against Mattie. Nikki, who lost against Nicole in the obstacle course, was able to win her round against the Dauntless born during the match. The fighting was fun to watch, since nobody took it too seriously. Artemis and Isabelle decided to wait until after dinner for their match, wanting to watch more than participate. Durro still acted as referee as he payed close attention to the fighting pair. Every once in a while, the boy would sneak a glance over at Isabelle. She never noticed, though, and he was kind of glad that she didn't.