Disclaimer: How much I ought to wish these characters are mine - they simply and disappointingly aren't. That's the fact. All of the SC characters belongs to Namco. The only thing I have change are the age and their occupation plus a few other things but still making it reckonable. Yada yada... On with the story!

Chapter 2: Eying the other competitors

Talim held her head between her legs, trying to catch her breath. It hadn't been easy to find the right bus among all the other busses and taxies - One made a good deal trying to convince them driving with him. They had politely turned off his offer and it had following turned pretty bad afterwards. They had practically their legs on the back of their neck. Finally at a corner away from all the tumult on the big square, they found the bus. It appeared as every one of the passengers from the same plane were inside and ready to go. The motor of the bus roared like a wild beast.

However, after a bit of talking with the driver, they climbed the stairs and searched for a free spare seat; He had secured them that there would conversely be lot of time for recovering. The driver wouldn't say precisely where the camp was placed but they should arrive at it around sun set the next day.

This didn't raise her attention nor did the plenty of non-occupied seat.

She lifted her head, when she noticed that someone truly was whispering her name nearby. It was Kilik.

"Take a glance around you and tell me your opinion," he said softly as he bowed over to her because of the distance between them. He had seated on the other row beside the walking space – just like in the plane. Why does he do that? Talim couldn't help wondering but pushed that question away for his.

She led her brown eyes room the cabin from one side to another: two girls with blond hair sat in front of Kilik. They had Greek-looking clothes on. Even though they approximately gave the impression of being the same, one of the girls looked slightly older than the other. The youngest had short hair held back by a headband and the other longer. In front of Talim was a man. His hair was in a black ponytail, his armour heavy and shiny.

She could count a few more – A redhead, a girl with dark brown hair and… Was that an Elvis-stylish hairdo by the driver? Talim thought while raising her eyebrows in pure amusement. Then she glared over her shoulder and noticed a pair of horns; A Viking-type or a gladiator? – Her thoughts paused before going to the last person - a guy with oily blond hair. Was that a rapier by his side?

She returned her full attention at Kilik and whispered back:

"You should think we would be more people. We're not more than ten!"

He shrugged. He didn't have an answer – neither did she. But there was only one way to find out.

"Hello there! My name's Talim" she said cheerfully towards the two girls. They stopped their conversation, both giving her smiles in return. Talim sighed and tried again. "Who are you? It would be nice to at least to know your name."

The two blonds whispered whether to say it or not, but they apparently agreed the first thing as the oldest spoke: "My name is Sophitia and this is my sister Cassandra" motioning over to the one with short hair. The girl waved swiftly. The one called Sophitia had most likely decided to make Talim and Kilik company as both of the sisters moved to sit next to them.

"You see. We don't understand why we got those letters. I'm just interested in my children and haven't fought for years. My sister is at the university, so she has her homework. "The woman continued. Talim discovered that Kilik and Sophitia must be around same age.

"What about the others?" Talim asked curious and nodded in direction of the one with armour. This was highly mysterious and she needed to find the answers.

"Everyone here has probably a similar story matching ours – yours. "

Strange.

"Who are they?" Talim asked stubbornly.

Sophitia and Cassandra exchanged gazes. The shorthaired shook her head. "Well… we don't know much actually. When we got here we were hardly informed at anything. The only thing is names and places. Very weird though."

Nevertheless Talim got what they knew; the one with the ponytail was Mitsurugi and had travelled all the way from Japan. He used Katana and was definitely not a talker. But that was probably because he was a samurai, Sophitia stated.

Mitsurugi merely grunted at this point.

Then there was the redhead named Yun-Seong. Talim was warned to near him, since he had nothing else than himself in mind – thinking that he was too talented for everyone in the cabin. He simply was a plain pain in the ass. He was from Korea. The girl with the dark hair was Xianghua, her full name Chai Xianghua. She mastered the Chinese sword and came from Peking. Talim was also warned about her. She might seem weak and sweet, but was light to toes and strong.

The one with Elvis-hair was Maxi; A seafarer and adventurer. He had seen a lot of things and this gave him a little of Yun-Seoungs attitude but else a fine company. He used Nunchaku with an agility which impressed the most. He was from Shuri. The one with the horns was Rock. A man from the British Empire and he used giant mace. The last one was the blond man named Raphael. He was from Rouen.

'That's explaining his weapon' Talim thought but she was corrected. He used an English sword rapier.

After the information, Talim was left in thoughts. What she had heard about them sounded really good. And she hasn't yet seen them in practice. She was about to enter something tough. Tougher than she had ever expected and she couldn't slip the thought that she couldn't stand a single chance against these Profs. She turned her head and looked for the first time out of the window since they left the airport. The time had gone faster than she had imagined: the sun was about to go down behind the horizon. The last light cast though the panes, making everything swim in peach, yellow and deep red colours - Besides this breathtaking sight was there only dreary sand wherever you placed your glance.

"Talim… Talim!" said Cassandra and Talim woke up from her trance.

"Yes?" she answered.

"What do you use for weapon?" was the excited question. There almost got completely silence in the cabin.

"Uh… I use two times elbow blades, "Her voice unsure.

"That's sound pretty cool! How long have you been using those?" exclaimed Cassandra and got a poke in the ribs by her sister a second later. She more or less dragged the younger back to their original seats, mumbling something with indecent manner.

Talim realized she had held her breath and relieved she breathed out. She felt a concerned gaze upon her and she smiled at Kilik. He had not the slightest been involved in the chat with the two sisters. He could have been one of the seats!

"What do you think about this?" she asked him in a low voice.

He raised his dark eyebrows with a half-amused expression.

"This is going to be a great deal more agitated than I thought."

Continues...

AN: Tadah! chapter two already. I'm a little proud since I wrote this on a couple of hours - which I usually don't. Takes probably a month or such XD I just feel like it, you know? I wanted more of the SC 3 characters to join in but thought it would be too hard for me keeping them as they more or less are. Now, all of or main characters and subcharacters are been introduced. Then we really can begin to have fun!:D