B8 Wellspring Academy
The girls follow behind Captain Higgs and Sarah as they reach the main street which is full of shops with everything they could imagine. Sarah stops them by the first building and eyes Captain Higgs, "Higgs I can take the girls from here." Higgs nods, the disappointment in his eyes clear.
"Girls this is the final goodbye as I need to get back down to the main floor," he shakes Sanshi's hand. "Sanshi take good care of your sister and work hard. You will be great I just know it." His gaze turns to Emily who shyly holds out her hand for Higgs to take. "Emily I'll leave Sanshi in your care, make sure she eats right and doesn't lose her way. Don't ever lose that compassion of yours you will need it someday". Emily nods her eyes filling with tears that she quickly wipes away.
"Goodbye Captain Higgs it was a pleasure learning from you," Sanshi says keeping emotion from her features. She can't help but feel this will be the last time she will ever see him, but she pushes that thought to the back of her mind.
"Take care of yourself Captain Higgs I will definitely take care of Sanshi, " Emily smiles through her tears, "I will miss you". With That Higgs turns and heads back toward the elevator. To Emily, Captain Higgs was basically their father raising them from very small children and teaching them everything he could. He helped them when they were sick or hurt, she truly would miss the Captain. Sanshi, eager as ever, didn't even glance back at Higgs walking away. She had already learned everything he could teach her it was time to move up and meet other teachers. Fire fills her heart with excitement for the new floor and the beginning of their new life.
Sarah reads through her notes giving both the girls a chance to take everything in. Both girls passed both exams with flying colors, Sarah was glad for that. This week had been extremely hard with the budget for the facility nearly being completely cut. The development floor only a month ago still held around 30 children until there was a sudden rush to clear the floor due to funding. In order to do so her Higgs and the other project heads made a rush to graduate as many subjects as possible, however in the end 60% were terminated and it wasn't floor was going to be totally repurposed once the children were gone which meant Higgs would be reassigned. The project's funding had been diminishing for years since it was decided that this project would be phased out, however Sarah didn't want to give up. She had shown the board plenty of results, sure it took years to create these super humans they called the evolved, but that wouldn't be a problem if she could just work on the project a bit longer. If she could make the mutation process faster and more successful, the super humans would be far easier to develop. However, they had stopped taking in children just after the delivery of these girls. Sarah would need to extract the mutation from the students she already had and make them unstoppable. Only then would she finally get the funding back to finish her research.
She sighs as she reads Captain Higgs assessment of the two "young dragons" as he liked to call them. He was a dumb lug but he was excellent when working with children. Sanshi has a good analytical mind and drive for strength, however her temper and inability to hold back poses quite the problem. She also follows orders without question or hesitation, only questioning something if Emily brings it up. Emily's abilities are focused on her natural talent for feeling the situation. Her perception is dead on everytime and she has the compassion to help others. However she seems to be unmotivated on her own, I suggest an emotional stimulus for her. A good assessment outlining the strengths and weaknesses of both girls. A frown appears on Sarah's face as she realizes she didn't give Higgs a hug, she probably wouldn't be seeing him again.
"Dr Sarah, are you alright?" Emily asks her eyes full of concern.
"Yeah I am fine, come on girls you've done enough ogling. Time to get you both to your new quarters." Sarah needed to forget those children and focus on the ones she had in front of her. Sarah let her confidence come back as she lead the girls down the main street towards the living area's. The streets were paved and lined with walking paths on the edges. They reached a small street which had little houses all along it, each house similar in yet unique. Finally they walked up the drive of a small blue house with a black door. Sarah pulled out her key and unlocked the door then let it open so the girls could see in. The house had one main floor with two bedrooms each with it's own bathroom, a small living area, and a nice sized kitchen. She hands the girls their keys and types into the touchpad that is next to the door.
"Admin Identification please," the council on the wall speaks with a robot voice. Sarah swipes her badge against the screen. The computer makes a few noises then beeps, "identification verified," the computer gives her access and the lights turn on.
"Girls this will be your house while you're on this floor. These keys are yours just remember to check into any of the touchscreen panels when you first get in or an alarm will go off. Everything in this house is standard issue so if you break or need something additional it will be part of your military ration. To help you all ready for real world scenarios we use a credit system here. Going to class, getting good grades and any achievement will earn you credits which you can spend on food, entertainment, and anything else within reason. Since it's your first time we will start you out with 100 credits each." She types into the touchpad showing their accounts have 100 credits each. "Are there any questions?"
"You mean these credits can be spent like money? Does our house or utilities cost credits? What about any repairs to the house?" Sanshi asks with her serious face. Sarah hated it when kids looked at her like that, it meant they were bottling in their emotion which usually meant trouble later. Sanshi always wanted to know what she was being evaluated or what they were looking for. She had read all the reports on Sanshi although she got perfect marks, she lived too much for the fighting and overly aggressive when it came to the sparring matches. She would need to be monitored for mental health issues while she was here.
"Yes credits are like money however they don't gain interest. Your house is military issue so no, as long as you are passing classes your house and all utilities costs you nothing. As for repairs, if you try to fix it yourself your parts and damage you do are your own otherwise the military will put it on maintenance list and fix it when they get around to it". Sarah watches the girls reactions as she finishes answering. Emily seems excited to have her own room and free time to do what she wants, Sanshi however seems nervous.
"What is the daily schedule here? Are there scheduled fights or mock battles? I also didn't hear anything about food schedule. How are we being graded here?" Sarah sighs at Sanshi's question, she definitely was going to have a hard time adapting. Plus all of these questions were starting to annoy her.
"There is no set schedule besides your classes which you will set up on your own. Fights will happen around the end of every month should you challenge or be challenged. We have mock battles twice a year for your midterm and finals, other than that the rest is up to you," Sarah watches Sanshi's reaction as Emily smiles. "We also encourage you both to find secondary activities to relieve stress. The top recommended activities are drawing, yoga, cooking, and recreational sports." Sarah's watch beeps interrupting the tense mood currently in the air. "Ah I am already late, well you girls have fun you can check in with me anytime via any of the touch terminals and oh I almost forgot your medical checks are now only 4 times a year you will have to schedule them yourself so make sure to do that otherwise you'll lose credits". Sarah turns to leave already running late for the next meeting.
"Thank you miss Sarah," Sanshi says saluting as Sarah rushes out of the house.
Emily watches Sanshi, who is now staring off like a robot that has lost its main directive. "Sanshi relax this is going to be way nicer! We get to pick our classes, our schedule, and what we eat. Sounds like we can even get new clothes! I am so excited," Emily hugs her sister from behind in excitement as Sanshi turns her head to look at her.
"Emily without all those tests how do I know if I am doing well . . . What if something we do is wrong and we get terminated from the program. What if this is how they weed out the slackers who aren't cut out for the military. What if," Emily quickly turns Sanshi around before she can finish.
"Relax there's nothing to panic about. This whole thing is probably a test to see how responsible and independent we are. There is nothing to worry about we're already past the hard part," Emily says with confidence. She gives her sister a hug like they used to do all the time and Sanshi hugs back. "What should we do first? Go shopping for food, see what she meant by entertainment?"
"We should sign up for classes and check the house for necessities to makes sure our credits are spent carefully," Sanshi said looking at their budget on the touchpad. She clicks into the school class list which has hundreds of classes. What is most interesting is each class has a credit cost next to it. "Did she say we have to pay for classes?" Sanshi asks looking over at Emily who had now started to go through what supplies they have in the kitchen.
"Hmm no I don't think so why?" Emily says pulling out a nice fry pan.
"There are credit costs next to each class"
"Oh wait she said we earn credits for each class and good grades so that must be our income," Emily says proud she came up with the answer.
"Hmm . . . Our monthly budget is based on the classes we choose to take. This makes our class choices extremely important," Sanshi starts looking over the list. "We are limited to 5 classes a term each and some have prerequisites or requirements and supplies needed. It also seems like the credits you earn scale with class difficulty," Sanshi says a smirk showing on her features. Emily knew that look, her sister was probably going to make a spreadsheet and find out what the optimal plan would be for them. Why couldn't she ever just let things go or do something without planning like crazy.
"You know Sanshi, everything doesn't need to be a complicated math equation. Why can't we just pick classes we like and enjoy the freedom we've earned," Emily says making a valid point. Sanshi turns around with a look that says are you stupid?. Emily hated it, it was the look her sister gave just before going into some long lecture. Honestly, she was worse than the teachers sometimes.
"Emily get real, the freedom they gave us is the test. They want to see if we can manage our lives without a captain giving us orders overhead. This is the kind of training an officer would get, "Sanshi says her eyes lighting up. "This whole place is a test of ranking," she leans so Emily can see the screen that shows a ranking of everyone on the floor. The raking is listed by how many credits each person has along with their win/loss record and type of evolution they have. "This is the true test Emily, we have to make our way to the top of the list, earn the credits, and keep them. This whole floor is dedicated to military prowess," she gives a sigh of relief. "For awhile there I was worried this was some weird way of kicking out of the program."
"Who cares if we get terminated from the program. It would be nice to finally get a chance to leave this facility and see the world," Emily says her eyes distant imagining what the world outside is really like. Sanshi looks at her sister with a serious look. Emily notices, "whats up? You have that look like your keeping some big secret from me."
Perceptive as always, Sanshi thinks, "Emily . . . when Dr. Sarah and Captain Higgs said terminated they meant eliminated, as in killed," Sanshi pauses to study Emily's features. She has the look of shock and sudden realization. She looks down unsure of what to say then looks up determined.
"Your wrong Higgs said that the students who failed were sent home," Emily says glaring at her sister. How could she say such a stupid thing there was no way Higgs would lie to her. Sanshi looks away for a moment then looks like she made a decision.
"Emily, you know that day when the Tiger girl Tara went crazy and everyone was supposed to be in lockdown. I know I said I made it back to our room, but I was actually in the girls bathroom." Sanshi watches Emily's face gauging her feelings before continuing. "Tara had come into the bathroom. I was scared so I stood on the toilet seat so she wouldn't find me but it was stupid she could smell me. She was about to open the door to my stall, I could see the blood dripping from her claws when Higgs and the guards came in and shot her in the head." Emily covers her mouth in shock listening intently to her sisters words. Sanshi looks down and away, "after that I overheard their conversation about how hard it was to terminate the evolves that failed. That they hated storing the bodies for the research teams to take apart." Sanshi stayed silent knowing she just dropped a huge bombshell on her sister who was ignorant when it came to this type of stuff.
"That's . . . that's why you try so hard," Emily says tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "A-and I was so mean to you about. . . about pushing me all the time," Emily holds her sister close, "this whole time. Y-you were just trying to keep us alive." Sanshi hugs back now with tears of her own. The only emotions she could never seem to push back were the ones for her precious sister.
Sanshi lightly breaks the hug with a smile as Emily sniffles, "Emily that is why it is very important that we work hard and make our way to the top. The dragon sisters will show this facility we are a force to be reckoned with!" Sanshi gives Emily some time to calm down while she starts analyzing the classes available to them. The core classes give the most credit but 1 recreational class is required. Sanshi works to compile the best possible schedules with hopefully the most valuable information. While Sanshi makes her spreadsheet Emily works on checking their current assets. The house came fully stocked with most needed necessities but they will need all consumables including things like shampoo, conditioner, and toothpaste. After about 30 mins both girls finish their tasks and come back together to discuss their options.
"I finished looking over everything in the house. We need alarm clocks, toiletries, and any consumables. As far as the kitchen goes we just have a microwave, a full set of pots and pans and some casserole dishes. We also need a full set of cleaning supplies." Emily rattles off reading the list she made. Sanshi takes the list and adds it to the spreadsheet.
"Hmm I am thinking taking 5 classes would be to dangerous. Since you get a % of the credits based on grade in the course it would be safer to take only 4. We will also need to get a feel for the value of a credit here I think getting the basics would be a great start. It's still pretty early and we have 200 credits, we should probably go out and buy the house stuff first then see what we have left over." Sanshi gets up and stretches, "lets go check out more of the layout here and visit the school too since we have time." Emily nods in agreeance.
By the end of the day the girls bought all their necessities with only a few credits to spare. They both come home feeling a bit defeated. The school itself has a huge tournament grounds with lots of smaller arenas inside and is very impressive. The entire floor is huge, Sanshi estimated it would take nearly 3 hours to walk around the dome's circumference. They set their bags down and Emily starts putting things away while Sanshi recalculates their budget.
"Food is going to be a problem this week," Sanshi concludes outloud for Emily to hear, "I hope your ok with just getting by on the cheap ramen till we get our first week of classes pay." Emily walks in with two cups of easy ramen that she put hot water into.
"That's fine as long as we get some vegetables to go with it. Did you figure out our course schedules yet?" Emily says while sitting down next to her sister. Sanshi yawns while finishing her calculations so she can show Emily their course list.
"I know you don't like it but I figured it's best if we take the same courses, that way we can help each other the entire time. I still didn't pick our recreational course so if you want I'll let you pick that," Sanshi scoots over letting Emily see the screen that lists the courses. To signal the ramen is done Emily opens hers to let it cool a bit then reads the screen.
"How about art? I've always wanted to learn to draw and paint it could be a lot of fun," Emily says eating her first bite of non military issued food. It may not be anything special but it was something she bought and prepared herself and she was damn proud of it.
Sanshi makes a face but nods while taking a bite of her noodles. She adds the classes for both of them and then messes with their budget. There is barely enough money for food clearly this is the motivator for people to partake in the fights at the end of each month. She slurps another bite of noodles, "Hmm we're going to have to fight this month or we don't eat the last week. Credits are issued every other week and we will barely make enough with these beginners courses to cover basic necessities let alone normal food." She finishes her noodles and drinks the leftover broth, "it's already the second week so we won't get the first payment of this month," she sighs. "They certainly didn't make this easy."
Emily looks seriously at her sister, "so what are we going to do?"
"Well it says here that the scheduled fights are at the end of the month but if someone accepts your challenge you can start it anytime you both agree," she leans back against their couch, "guess I will have to pick a fight or two." Sanshi lets a smirk show on her face while Emily gives an annoyed look.
"You just want to see how strong the higher ranked evos are," Emily says finishing her noodles. "Come on tomorrow will be a long day. Lets lockup and get some sleep," she says while getting up and heading to the bathroom. Sanshi looks at the ranking again memorizing the names and types of evo's a the top of the list. Could she beat them all? She honestly wasn't sure but she really didn't have a choice.