"You sure you're ready, Tris?" I make sure. We're about to start the initiate training.
"More than ever, Four."
"So…?"
"So, what?"
"You need a nickname if you're going to be a trainer!"
"Tris is my nickname! My real name is Beatrice!"
"Well, it's just so… bland." I kid.
"Fine. Call me Six from now one, got it?"
"Kay, kay. Oh look, they're almost here." We gaze down at the train speeding towards us. We back away so we don't interrupt anyone from jumping. I've been told there are 21 transfers, much more than usual. Once the screaming of jumping off the train and onto the roof finish, I count. 12. 9 people either factionless or dead. My heart sinks as I recall how so many have died during this initiation. A take out my list of initiates and cross out the ones that aren't here and have died. This is the new list:
Cody – Erudite transfer; acts smart sometimes, but you can't beat him in a debate.
Amy – Erudite transfer; snobbish and brags a lot.
Jenny – Erudite transfer; child of deceased Jeanine Matthews, without evil intentions.
Alesandra – Abnegation transfer; seems fragile on the outside, unsure about the inside.
Seth – Abnegation transfer; not sure he's quite cut out for Dauntless.
Joseph – Amity transfer; first Amity to go to Dauntless. This should end well.
Nia – Candor transfer; dramatic and a bit crazy; staring at me dreamily.
Michael – Candor transfer; can't quite tell; staring at me in a deadly way, noticing Nia.
Alicia – Candor transfer; dullish personality, not much flare.
Leticia – Candor transfer; she looks nervous and shy. Looks can be deceiving.
Yuri – Erudite transfer; doesn't show off but is very intelligent.
Yan – Erudite transfer; twin of Yuri, doesn't look alike but is same as Yuri.
Interesting group of initiates. Let's see who the first jumper will be. Tris has already jumped down to make the announcement. Once everyone is settled down, they stare at me expectantly.
"May I help you?" I ask with a smirk on my face.
"Yeah, you can. What now?" an initiate asks. I think it's the Stiff, Alesandra. She is dark skinned with shoulder-length black hair and piercing dark brown eyes. She has gray Abnegation clothes and simple gray shoes. I get up close to her face as she backs off a little bit and taunt her.
"Figure. It. Out. I thought Stiff's weren't supposed to be curious?" She squints her eyes at me, then notices the giant hole. She slowly steps over and jumps down, screaming. Seth is wide eyed at her bravery, as though he thinks it is stupidity. Soon, Tris makes the announcement.
"ALES, FIRST JUMPER!" That seems to trigger everyone else to realize it's somewhat safe to jump down. Next is Nia, then Michael and eventually everyone else followed by me, who jumps down last. "Listen up! All of you who didn't die, which is everyone in here, will continue with Dauntless training! The phrase 'You snooze, you lose' is very appreciated here! Trust me, it's happened before with my friend, Edward. You don't wanna know." She glances at Nia, who is still staring at me and laughs.
"What's so funny?" It's Alesandra again.
"Nothing, nothing." She says, wiping a tear out of her eye from laughing."
"OK, so what now? I'm assuming this isn't the end?" It's Cody, the smart-ass. People seem to call him Code. I wonder if he's good with computers.
"You're right," I respond. "You will be trained in several levels." I explain the system of Dauntless training, and we show them the Pit and eventually the training room. "Here, you will be sparring each other, which is the first level of training. I will now make the match-ups for today. I size everybody up and write the matchups on the chalkboard. "Leticia, you will take Michael. This is in order of first up to last up." I pause for reactions. Leticia shows off her signature nervous look and Michael just grins. "Seth will take Joseph." They both awkwardly stare at each other. "Yan will take Amy and Yuri will take Jenny." They all seem content with their match ups; they probably know each other and their strengths. "Cody will take Alesandra and Nia will take Alicia." Both Cody and Alesandra look like they wanted a better challenge, and Nia has this indescribable look on her face as Alicia still has her dull look. Did she even hear what I said? "And by the way, my name is Four and she is Six." Someone stifles a laugh, and I'm pretty sure it's Cody. "Would you like a part in this, Cody?"
"Yes, I would. I'm assuming those are nicknames?"
"Yes, yes indeed."
"Well, why are those your nicknames?"
"That's classified."
"Why can't you tell us? It's not like you have any secrets, do you?" He's onto me. I have to leave this debate fast, or he'll have me leaking SOMETHING. I just ignore his remark and show everyone their rooms. This year we have 2 transfer dorms. Cody, Alesandra, Nia, Seth, Michael, and Jenny take Room 1 while Leticia, Joseph, Yan, Yuri, Alicia, and Amy take Room 2. We have lunch and I notice groups. Surprisingly, all the Candor and Erudite are spread around and not together. Cody, Alesandra, Nia, and me sit in one group. I chose to sit here because Alesandra and Cody seem to be worthy opponents, and Nia just plopped herself next to me, still staring. What is UP with this girl? I wonder when she'll realize that I'm dating Tris. Cody and Ales study each other closely, then realize that it won't be an easy match and continue to eat. Another group is Seth, Michael, Yan, and Yuri sit in one group, Yan and Yuri arguing about something and Seth and Michael keeping to themselves. Joseph, Jenny, and Alicia sit in one group, apparently very bored but trying to make nice. Leticia sits with Tris, since Tris "swears" that she's powerful. Leticia probably just reminds her of herself. At least, herself when she was at the beginning of training. Once lunch is over everybody goes to the training room and Leticia and Michael step onto the mat. Michael has a hungry look in his eyes, while Leticia looks more confident than usual. Michael throws a punch and Leticia panics and gets into the armadillo position right before she kicks Michael where it counts. As he hunches over in pain, Leticia flails her legs around and ends up getting him in the face. Michael grabs Leticia by the top hem of her shirt and tosses her to the other side of the mat. Then, Michael charges, picks her up, and slams her to the ground. I hear some Ouch's and see some grimaces at that move. Michael grabs her by the leg and spins her around, planning to throw her out of the mat range, but his plan backfires when Leticia uses that move as an advantage and kicks him in the face with her free leg, in which he falls down and Leticia accidentally lands right onto him, knocking the wind out of him. Leticia looks confused and almost offers to help until she realizes that she just won the match, as Michael is just barely out of the ring painted on the map. You can lose by either being on the floor for 10 seconds or being out of the ring. I don't really pay attention after that until Cody and Alesandra's fight. That, I was hoping to see. They both circle each other for a while until Ales makes a quick move and gets Cody on the ground. Cody flings his leg up and launches Ales off of him, followed by a punch in the eye. Ales wobbles around before regaining her balance and getting uppercut in the belly by Cody again. Ales quickly recovers and roundhouse kicks Cody in the side of his face. He stumbles, and Ales kicks upwards, which hits Cody's chest and gets him to fall on his back. He recovers after about 3 seconds and gets his punch caught my Ales' palm, to which he quickly takes that as an opportunity to kick her belly. She gets launched to an area just inside the ring, and Cody leaps at the chance – literally. He leaps at Alesandra, but she ducks and Cody figures he has nothing to lose, so he grabs her arm and drags her out of the ring as he is flying outwards. He slams into the wall, but recovers quickly. Both of them have a look of triumph.
"HA!" Cody taunts.
"What do you mean, 'HA'? I won! You were out of the ring first!" Ales comes back.
"Well, I believe the rules are, and I quote, 'you must get the other person out of the ring to win'. You didn't get me out of the ring, I leaped out of it. On the other hand, I dragged you out. So I win." He sticks his tongue out at Alesandra like a child. She's speechless at his logic as I count this match as a loss for her. Nia and Alicia finish their match quickly.
"OK, today's recap!" I state. "The winners today are Leticia, Seth, Amy, Yuri, Cody, and Nia! Everyone to their rooms! Finally, today is done with!"