Love had come up, probably to give as an ass-whupping. Sure enough, he said "A fight like that could have distracted the two pairs fighting in the arena. Fortunately, the fight was already over when the bang from Hyrum's fists might've distracted them."

At first I was pretty amused at Love yelling at us for unauthorized fighting because it might've stopped the authorized fighting. Just another example of how authority in this tower meant everything, and overruled money, fame and justice; although, the first two usually came with authority. Justice was left out for some strange reason.

Then I realized that the fight had ended. It must've been even faster than my one. I looked, but couldn't see who had been fighting.

Love said "Would Nathan, Kryst, Laesa, Nal-Kae, Asuna, Cosmos, Blade, Naeyeon, Golofold, and Ayph-Ci please report to the hotel reception in 10 minutes. The rest of you may leave the testing ground through the lift." He gestured to the wall where a lift'd suddenly appeared.

I guess Ayph-ci and Golofold were the two that had finished in less than a minute. I looked at them but they didn't seem tough or bear any resemblance to the 10 great clans. It was only after he said that that I realized that I had passed! I'd finally done it! I couldn't believe I'd survived. I turned around and saw Nal-Kae looking at me with a grin so wide his face might split open. Cosmos came and clapped me on the back, which Nal-Kae obviously interpreted as permission to hug me. I stiffened a little, but relaxed and returned it. My hands could feel the soft wings beneath his shirt, and his warmth made me feel something I hadn't in a pretty long time.

Laesa came up to us and said "Good job. Hey, I was wondering if we could be a team."

I looked up. I hadn't thought about going up with anyone except for Cosmos and Nal-Kae. I looked at the two of them and saw that Cosmos wouldn't really care, and Nal-Kae would fall to pieces if we didn't take her on board.

I shrugged "What the hell, I guess you're coming with us."

"As long as you're recruiting" Nathan said. "I wouldn't mind working together with you again."

What in all that's unholy and on the 43rd floor was Nathan saying! Did he want to team up with us? That was my first reaction. My second reaction was that I would never be able to live with him without him burning one of us. I looked at Cosmos and Nal-Kae, but they didn't seem to care. Nal-Kae actually seemed glad at the chance for another damn playmate, and Cosmos would probably let Nathan come just to see me squirm. If this was what being in a team entailed, I wasn't too sure I wanted to be in one now.

Laesa spoke up "Why not, Nal-Kae seems pretty on board with the whole thing."

Oh, right. She was on our team too. Lovely. I turned back to Nathan and he was actually smiling, the damn pyromaniac. "What're you looking at?" I asked.

He didn't move, but he said "You being overruled by the rest of the team. I must admit, it's an amusing sight."

Stuck-up bastard, but then I guess he was right. "Fine, whatever." I turned to the other regulars who passed, looking at us with huge grins "Anyone else wanna come up with us? Any takers? Hyrum? I know we could use a good meatshield like you!"

He growled, but Love came between us "Please refrain from juvenility, regular." He put on emphasis on the last word.

I stood down, we could deal with Hyrum when he made it up next time, and left the arena. Cosmos just had to ruin the mood by asking "What about Yaan?"

I ignored him, staying happy as I looked at Nal-Kae and the rest of the six-man team. Love led us to a suspendiship, which we all boarded, and we floated up to the 21st floor.

A/N: So, that's the end of part I. A lot of characters introduced in the last test, and I'll be bringing a couple back, but not for a while. The next part will be in first person, but from another person's point of view, and he'll have no connection to this team. Enjoy!