Chapter 22 (Tris' POV)

Uriah asked me earlier to take care of the Dauntless-born initiates, so he could spend some quality time with Marlene. So here I am, standing in their training room with Christina, Tobias, and all of the initiates, Dauntless-born and transfers alike.

We (Christina, Tobias and I) already decided to give the initiates an hour to practice on the punching bags so we could get a feel of who to pair who with, since we wanted the Dauntless-born and transfers to get to fight each other and test out their strengths and weaknesses. While they were punching/kicking the bags, Christina, Tobias and I compiled a list of who was fighting who. The list is as follows:

Hestia VS Roxy (Roxy is petite and fast, but there was no one else to pair Hestia with)

Clement VS Zane (I'm sure Clement will lose, but there was no other boy)

Michael VS Xavier (Michael has a larger build, but Xavier's strength is better)

Jose VS Blade (I was hoping that Blade would beat Jose up, and I'm sure that Tobias and Christina knew that as well, which is probably why they didn't object)

Tesa VS Ivy (although Tesa is taller, Ivy is faster)

Snow VS Jess (they both have small frames but are very fast)

Alyssa VS Skye (they both seem equally strong and fast)

Scarlett will be sitting out.

After this was approved once again and was written on the big board, I walked to the side to once again sit on the table, and then called to the initiates to stop. The bags creaked a little before coming to a full stop. Pointing to the board, I told them, "First up, Hestia and Roxy!"

They both get into the ring, Hestia glaring at me the whole time. I raise my eyebrows at her, and she turns away. "Begin," Christina says, and the two girls start circling each other, hands up. Everything is okay with Roxy's posture, except her left side is unguarded. If she is fast enough, which I'm sure she is, she can deflect any attack Hestia throws. Hestia's posture is... acceptable, I suppose, but she needs to guard her abdomen a hell lot better. Unless she wants to be kicked over and over in that spot. Suddenly, Roxy lunges forward and punches Hestia in the nose, but the punch doesn't hit. Hestia, surprisingly, had blocked it. But before Hestia's hands can return from the position they are currently in to cover her torso, Roxy kicks her in the stomach. Roxy backs up immediately, anticipating an attack, holding her hands up again. Hestia jumps forward and tries to punch Roxy in the side of her face, but she spins to the side, not only dodging the punch, but ending up behind Hestia, where she elbows downward right in the middle of her spine. Hestia kneels down, but gets up. Roxy's eyes are now shining, so that must mean she has a plan.

Hestia sloppily kicks her in the side of the body, but Roxy grabs the foot and yanks, dropping Hestia onto the floor where her head hits the concrete with an audible sound. Ouch. Oh well. She should've practiced her kicks before, when I gave her time to. Roxy's foot moves back a little, getting ready to kick Hestia. Suddenly she straightens, stopping her kick to Hestia's rib midway, and then I realize that Hestia had murmured "concede". If Eric was here, he wouldn't have allowed it. Judging by the look on Tobias' face, I can see that he's wondering about Eric as well. He was supposed to be here to terrorize the initiates after all- not that I want him to, it's just that he isn't, so what's keeping him from doing it?

I brush the mental question away from the front of my mind as I walk up to the board and circle Roxy's name. Jess and Ivy cheer in the back. "Next up, Clement and Zane!"

They both get into the ring, everyone watching (except for Hestia, who was sulking in the corner). Without warning, Zane reaches forward and delivers a solid back-fist strike to Clement's head, leaving him clutching his cheek. That could not have been light. While his hands were on his face, Zane kicks him on the other side of his face with a round-house kick, although it was very sloppy. I see Zane's foot moving forward and hooking behind one of Clement's, and with a simple tug, he falls onto the floor. I glance at Tobias, asking him a silent question. He nods a little, and I call out, "Stop!" They both look toward me, as do all of the other initiates. "Clement, do you think that I cannot tell you weren't trying? No one drops that easily, and that kick, Zane, was very slow. Anyone could've blocked it. If you wish to pass initiation, you have to try better than that! Fight ended, Zane wins. Next, Michael and Xavier!"

Their match is just as uneventful as the previous one. Mostly just circling, until Xavier manages to get Michael in a head-lock and he concedes. After circling Xavier's name, Jose and Blade are up. I'm quite interested in this match, just to see how long Jose holds up. This pairing was actually suggested by Tobias, and I can tell that he's very attentive, waiting to see Jose getting beat up for that nasty cut on my shin. Which, unfortunately, hasn't healed yet-which, of course, means that Tobias was babying me the past few days. Ugh. But it was kind of sweet. Anyway... A glance around the room shows that everyone else is also looking interested on how Jose will lose and how long it will take. Will it be an easy loss or involve a lot of pain?

The first few seconds of the fight are uneventful, as Blade simply stands there, seemingly undefended (although it's clear, at least to trained instructors, that he's ready to attack at a moment's notice), as he sizes up Jose, who is awkwardly circling him, unsure of what to do. But then Blade lunges forward and punches Jose in the nose, letting the momentum carry him behind Jose, where he immediately pivots on the ball of his foot, waiting for Jose to attack. And he does. But using the same technique Roxy used, he pulls the foot and Jose falls. Unlike Clement, Jose realizes what could happen and rolls out of the way before the kick can land on his back, but not fast enough. It hits the side, not the spine, but still, it must've hurt. Blade is like Eric, sadistic and trying to make painful things last as long as possible. He waits for Jose to get back up before punching him again, in the nose, again. This time, however, a loud crack is heard, and blood gushes out. I look up at Tobias, feeling kind of guilty for the happiness that I felt at Jose's pain. I couldn't help it. But he didn't seem upset, instead, he seemed okay with it, so I laced my fingers with his and looked back at the fights, where Jose was now on the floor, blood dripping all over the place, with Blade kicking repeatedly at his side. This happened a few more times, with some Dauntless-born initiates laughing, before Tobias finally looked at me and asked, "Should I stop the fight?"

But he didn't need to, because Jose finally called out "concede" before stumbling off, red-faced, to the infirmary, I suppose.

The fight between Tesa and Ivy wasn't that long- it was obvious from the beginning. I actually knew Ivy before I began the job of instructing the initiates- she was a friend of Lynn's. Despite her tiny frame (smaller than even Snow and Jess, and both of them were shorter than me) she was a very fierce fighter- I could probably take her, but it wouldn't be easy. She made sure the fight was fast and quick, and I knew that she was one of the few who didn't approve of the way initiation was run. But I also knew that she was very quick and could easily analyze any situation she was in (she was one of the few, along with Alyssa, who both Tobias and I suspected of being divergents) and figure out how to escape the danger.

The match between Snow and Jess was very fair. They both had small frames, little muscle, and were fast. Not as fast as Ivy was, but fast enough to dodge most punches thrown their way by their opponent. In the end, after a good 8 or so minutes, Snow finally had Jess pinned under her, and she conceded. I circled her name on the chalkboard.

And now, for the final fight(of the morning): Alyssa and Skye. I knew that she was probably the best fighter of the transfer initiates, with Snow's speed perhaps challenging her skills, and Christina told me that Skye was the best out of the Dauntless-borns, and only Blade coming close to defeating him, so we paired them together. They both got into the ring and Skye called out, "If you don't win, Aly, don't be upset. I am, after all, the best fighter of the class!" to which Alyssa's only reaction was smirking at him a little before they began, even without Tobias, Christina or me telling them to start. The first 30 seconds they were just circling each other, analyzing everything. I could see her eyes traveling back to Skye's hands and the distance they were from his face. It was, perhaps, his one weakness, and Alyssa's was the lack of protection for her right side.

Very quickly and suddenly, he lashed out with a round-house kick to her face- Alyssa blocked, swiftly and surely, before punching at his face, which was unprotected. His face snapped back, and she seized the opportunity to kick him in the stomach. But it was, as she figured out a little later, a show, because I saw Skye quickly grabbed her foot and tugged, using the same technique that Roxy used. Aly, however, hooked her leg around Skye's and as she fell, he did too. They both rolled up quickly, hands up once again, and circled each other once again. In a blur of black and red, they both end up on the floor, with Skye above Aly, holding her arms above her head.

"I think I won this," I hear him say.

But then, I see Alyssa smirk, and I knew that Tobias and I was right in pairing her with the best Dauntless-born fighter. "I don't think so," she calls out and then she pulls her knees up, hitting Skye right where the sun doesn't shine. I can't help but quietly laugh along with Tobias when Skye rolls and calls out, "Cheater! That's not fair!"

Aly doesn't say anything as she grabs both Skye's arms and pulls then behind him (he's lying face-down on the floor- -that blow must've hurt!)

Out of nowhere, Skye rolls away, leaving Aly a little disoriented, but not so much that she can't stand up and defend herself again. I see Aly lunge for Skye, a little rashly, but he twists his body out of the way and lands an elbow to Aly's side. Before she can recover, he is quick enough to toss her onto the floor and place his elbow at her neck, her legs safely pinned under his so that she can't knee him there again.

After a full thirty seconds, she finally, grudgingly, mumbles, "Concede." I hear Skye laugh, and with Tobias following me to the board, I circle his name. I'm starting to suspect if something is going on- Dauntless-born and transfers don't get along that well, and they certainly wouldn't be playfully smirking at each other. I should talk to Tobias about this later.

"Alright, listen up!" All the initiates, even the Dauntless-born, quiet down, and I continue, "Your rankings thus far will be displayed on this board"- Tobias points to the board, where the winning fighters' names are currently circled-"but for now, go to lunch. Be back here at 1."

After they all exit, I only have time to turn to Christina and tell her, "Four and I will be at the cafeteria in a few minutes. See you!" before Tobias practically drags me to my Fear Landscape. I don't need to wonder why- I know he's been dying to figure out if any of my fears have changed yet, and I've been too.

A/N: Happy New Year's, guys! :)

So I actually had this written already, but I didn't update it because I was helping my brother finish his break HW because he conveniently didn't know about it and I had to tell my parents about it on Friday. So yea, I wasn't allowed on the internet until his work was complete. But it's complete now, so here's the chapter^!

Alexa Lehnus: :P Yes, it's a little late, but I read it nonetheless :) It's really nice that you guys take time to do this, so thank you :)

Guest: More jealousy between Tris and Hestia? Alright, I'll try.

fanficforyou: Thank you and happy new years! It's not often that Uriah's anxious- I mean, he's Uriah! But this is the next step to Uriah/Marlene, so I felt I kinda had to show it. Nice to know that you liked how I did it :) The speech was good? XD Thanks :)

Booklover4610: Is the sixth sense still working? Did you know I was going to update today XD :P Thanks again :) Yes, totally agree that Percabeth and Fourtris are just so ANFJDHXNDJFKSEKRHWE :P But I ship Urlene too :)

CJ potter rider jackson: Thank you! Well, I wouldn't call it that suddenly, because they've grown up together, they've been together for a long time now, and the Dauntless get married at early ages (I assume) so I thought it was okay. Glad to know you liked it, and happy 4-days-later New Year!

Artofskating: Urlene :3 This is the last day that the initiates will be fighting against each other, I think, and after that they'll get a short break before Stage Two starts :)

RollingTurtles: Thank you so much! Yes, Allegiant was so heartbreaking :'( WHY? WHY MUST SHE DO THIS TO US? I couldn't help but write this because I just couldn't accept the Allegiant ending :P I had to have an alternate ending, so this just began :P

madisonbookaddict14: Uriah and Marlene? Well, I'm still debating exactly how it's done. Is it like the modern day stuff where there's a wedding and reception afterwards? Or would it be just signing papers and then a huge party? IDK, how would you like it to happen? YES IKR I'm a Percabeth shipper all the way. High Percabeth-shipper Five! :P

Till next time,

~myperfectionismyimperfection