Later on, Six and Four split us up into five groups of two and one group of three. They were teaching us the basics to fighting. Sierra and I paired up together. I saw Six give Sierra and I a look of approval after we started doing the moves that were demonstrated for us.
We spend the next week and a half on practice fighting before we do the real thing. We all walked over to the mini-screen next to the big one that showed all the ranks. On the list to fight today was:
Jinx vs. Shay
Jay vs. Jacob
Tony vs. Skylar
Sierra vs. Destiny
Parker vs. Daisy
Sarah vs. Ari
Jane was the only not fighting today, but that meant that she would be fighting tomorrow. I was last and I didn't like it. We circled around the fighting mat and waited for either Four or Six to get up there and tell us what's going to happen.
Then the door to the training room opened.
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Eric, the creepy looking guy, came into the room and walked over to us. He stepped onto the mat and slowly made a full circle to look at us.
"The rules of fighting in Dauntless initiation are that the initiates fight until the other is no longer able to. Say that you are fighting and you get knocked out by your opponent, the fight's over. If you only have several cut and are bleeding, the fight's still on."
"Luckily for you, Eric, those weren't the rules during our initiation." said Four snarkily.
Eric was embarrassed. His face was turning red. Some of the transfers started snickering, until Eric gave them a glare.
"Well, it's different now. First fighters."
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The fights went by fast. Shay beat Jinx by kicking her in the face. Jinx was immediately escorted to the hospital part of the compound.
Jay and Jacob went toe to toe for a while until Jay knocked Jacob off his feet and punched him.
Skylar beat Tony by kneeing him in a certain place and then punching him in the face. It was her first move, too.
Sierra and Destiny kept pulling each other's hair. That is until Sierra had a better idea and flipped Destiny over her shoulder. On impact, Destiny was knocked out considering that she went head first.
Parker and Daisy ended the same way as Tony and Skylar's fight.
Next up was Sarah and I. We got on the mat and waited for Six to announced the go-ahead.
"On your mark.. get set... FIGHT!" yelled Six.
Sarah and I started to circle around the mat. She made the move to punch me and I ducked. I took a punch at her chin when she was wondering how I ducked without her hitting me. She stopped and held her chin.
"Why, you little Stiff?!" She was burning with rage and came at me again. I ducked and tripped her. She fell onto the mat and I straddled her and started punching. She started clawing my arms. I just kept punching until she quit clawing me, finally. Four picked me up off of her and some of the other transfers, except Sierra, Jay, and Tony, took her to the hospital.
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Sierra and I kept winning our fights for the next three weeks, while Jay and Tony were off and on. Everyday, I would get up and go to the training room and just look at the ranking screen I was still at number eight and Sierra was still ninth. Jay and Tony would switch spots tenth and eleventh everyday. The first stage was almost over. And that meant that Visiting Day was getting closer. Visiting Day was literally the day after the last day of Stage one.
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The last day of Stage One was bittersweet. The rankings were up and all initiates had the day off to get ready for Visiting day unless you were spots seventeen and eighteen.
The rankings were:
1. Tate, Dauntless-born
2. Jinx, Transfer
3. Drew, Dauntless-born
4. Shay, Transfer
5. Landon, Dauntless-born
6. Clarissa, Dauntless-born
7. Kyle, Dauntless-born
8. Ari, Transfer
9. Sierra, Transfer
10. Jay, Transfer
11. Tony, Transfer
12. Sarah, Transfer
13. Skylar, Transfer
14. Jacob, Transfer
15. Parker, Transfer
16. Daisy, Transfer
And the two who were being cut:
17. Destiny, Transfer
18. Jane, Transfer
After Sierra, Jay, Tony, and I saw the rankings and congratulated each other, we decided to get more tattoos as a reward. We got there and we automatically knew what we wanted to get. Sierra wanted to get the Candor symbol on the back of her right hand, Jay wanted the word "loyalty" on his neck surrounded by flames, Tony didn't want any more tattoos, and I wanted a tattoo of the Abnegation and Dauntless symbol mixed together. Tori did my tattoo again this time and asked for the reason behind it.
"The Abnegation for my past and Dauntless for my future."
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That night Sierra and I were talking about how happy we were about our families coming tomorrow, but I wasn't so sure about mine.
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The next morning, I put on a simple black thigh-length dress, a black beanie, my beloved black ankle boots, and a black leather jacket. The jacket was one of the rare leather jackets that didn't have spikes and chains on them. My blonde curly hair was loose and I thought it looked good with the beanie. Sierra got up after me and put on a pair of black ripped jeans, a loose black shirt, a black leather vest, and her black combat boots. Her dark brown hair was put into a loose side braid.
Tony and Jay wore what they usually wear. Jay came over, sat by Sierra, and grabbed her hand. They started going out a week ago and Sierra still full-on blushed. We left the dorm room and went to the Pit. Once there, Sierra brought me over to her parents and younger brother.
"Hi, I'm Michelle and this is my husband, Kye." Her mother introduce herself and Sierra's father, I shook their hands.
"And I'm Sasha's brother, Arthur." I shook his hand as well.
"My name isn't Sasha anymore, it's Sierra." I laughed at Sierra's stubbornness.
"I'm Ari, but you can call me, Arabella, as that is my birth name."
"What faction did you transfer from?" asked Sierra's father, Kye.
"I'm from Abnegation."
"Oh, well we heard some things about-" Michelle started to say before Sierra interrupted her.
"Hey Ari, isn't that you family over there, why don't we go say hi." Sierra said pushing me away from her parents.
I saw my mother, father and sister. I waved over to them.
"Mother, Father, Julianna, it's so good to see you guys." I tell them as I hug them.
"Mother, Father, Julianna, this is my friend, Sierra. Sierra, this is my mother, father, and sister."
"Hello, Sierra, I'm Arabella's mother, Danielle, and this her father, Anthony." My mother introduced herself and my father.
"I'm Julianna, Arabella's twin sister." Julianna told Sierra.
"Wow, you two look so alike except for the fact that Ari has blue eyes and you have brown."
"Wait, Ari? You changed your name?" My mother just over heard Sierra and Julianna's conversation.
"Hey, Sierra, why don't you introduce Jay to your parents? Haha, bye." I pushed Sierra in the way of her boyfriend.
"Arabella, you changed your name." I could tell my mother was kind of angry. I had to distract her as much as I could.
"Hey, Julianna, how's initiation going." I asked because I partially concerned.
"Arabella." My dad was getting in on this.
"It's going fine."
I decided to answer my parents. "Yes, I changed my name, but not because I didn't like it, but because it seemed too long for Dauntless."
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tate coming over here. "Hey, Tate." I called out.
"Hey, Ari. How's it going." He came over and stood next to me. I realized that he was taller than my father.
"Just telling my family about my new name." I gave him a look that stated, help me!
"Oh. Well, I gave her new name as a nickname and it stuck. Now, if you'll please excuse me, I've got to meet up with my parents."
"Oh, okay, I'll see you around, right?" I had a crest-fallen look on my face.
"Yeah, you will. See ya, Ari." He flashed me a smile.
"Aw, it's a nickname." Julianna was cooing silently.
"Yes, it is. Now, Julianna, tell me about your initiation. And Mother, Father, tell me about how work has been."
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A/N I really liked writing the Visiting Day part. Especially since I liked the outfit that Ari was wearing.
-Megara the Jedi
May the Force be with you.