"Excuse me Commander could you come here for a second?"
"What?"
"There's something going on out there I think you should see..."
"They've still got a couple of hours before I do anything, what did they all leave?"
"No sir but I really think you should take a look."
"All right whats so important that...well would you look at that. They've gone and sat down well if that isn't grounds for getting kicked off my squad I don't know what is. I'll let them get nice and comfy and then I dismiss them with the rest of the losers."
"But Sir I don't think you understand. You see those 8 men they were rounded up by that girl, and she has them paired up and rotating standing–like they're taking turns on a watch."
The Commander peered back through the tent opening to see Kabuto and Soleil take their second turn at "watch."
"That kid she's with, hasn't he been here before?"
"Yes Sir, that's Kabuto of the Zhou-Lin family and this is his...well this would be his fourth year Sir."
"Haha looks like we've got one hell of a sprite don't we? That girl got herself surrounded by every sort of fighter looks like. There's a bender, a martial artist, a marksman, a weapons master and Kabuto with experience and who knows the ropes. I'll be damned. Let's go Corporal."
"But Sir you said they needed a couple more hours..."
"I know what I said but that kid's got something I'm interested in."
The Commander marched out of the tent and made directly for Soliel and her team. Upon seeing the Commander each of the men (and Soleil) stood up and snapped to attention. The Commander stopped directly in front of Soliel and glared down at her. Soliel kept her composure and stared straight ahead as if the Commander was at the other end of the line and not directly in front of her.
"You told me that if I let you try out for this squad I wouldn't be disappointed, yet the moment I leave you and these pansies decide that it would be better for you to take a nap. Give me one good reason I shouldn't boot the lot of you!"
"I can give you two Sir, and I quote 'number one be disciplined number two be smart.'"
"And how is laziness an example discipline or intelligence?"
"Correct me if I'm wrong Sir but the Elites is made up of 15 soldiers. Each soldier has a specialty but overall they are a team. Is it better for all 15 to stand watch and then be useless in the case of an attack, or would it be better for a few to stand watch at a time while the others rest and ready their weapons?"
The Commander moved away from Soleil and looked at the rest of the men with her.
"And you men agreed to what she said. Are you willing to stand with her and accept the consequences of her actions? Well are you?"
There was a moment of silence and then two of the men pulled away from the group and stood back in the lines. Once they were gone Kabuto stepped forward.
"I am willing Sir."
"Oh really? And the rest of you, are you willing to stand by her decision?"
There were nods and murmurs of agreement from the rest of the men. Kabuto smiled and faced the Commander
"Well it looks like we're all willing Sir."
"Very well, you made your decision and theirs no going back. You two deserters! Get the hell of my field and the rest of you men form one line. And as for you and your men Sunshine, hit the showers and report for further instructions at 5:00. Move!"
With a chorus of "yes Sir's" Soleil and her team ran off toward the barracks.
"Now for the rest of you who were too either too proud or too scared to join up with the little lady, you'll be running laps until 5:00. Move it!"
After they were out of the Commanders range Kabuto let out a loud woop,
"Yahooo! We made it pass the first leg! Did you see the look on his face when you were telling him off? Hooey I thought there was going to be hell to pay for! Haha!"
Tamaki through his arm around Soliel and shouted to the rest of the guys,
"Three cheers for our little ray of Sunshine! Thanks to her we'll be lounging while those other blokes run themselves dizzy!"
Soleil smiled and pushed away from Tamaki only to be lifted up by Kabuto on placed on Mori's shoulder.
"Since we don't have to slave away in the sun you don't have to walk! Off to the dining hall gentlemen...and uh lady, now we celebrate!"
Soleil laughed as the men carried her towards the dining hall joking and laughing the whole way. She looked up to see the sun shining brilliantly and smiled. You know Baba, maybe being here won't be as bad as I thought...
"Stop your daydreaming kid! There's fresh grub and good wine, a toast to our fearless leader Soliel!"
"Would you guys stop, put me down"
"Aww come on Sis you're no fun! Lighten up a little..."
"Tamaki don't you dare come near me! No, stop right there!"
Soleil jumped from Mori's shoulders trying to avoid Tamaki's advances.
"Come on Sis just a peck on the lips, think of it as a thank you!"
Kabuto grabbed Tamaki's arm halting his progression.
"All right thats enough teasing for one day guys, give Soliel a break. We've got just enough time to head over to the field before the training starts. I don't want to think about what will happen if we're late."
The group sobered up and gathered their things and headed out to join the rest of the recruits at the training field.
"I'm amazed at how big this training facility is. I didn't know all of this could be housed inside the Palace."
"The Palace? The only part of this place that's connected to the Palace is the private training facilities used by the royal family, but these fields and the barracks are all outside the palace walls. You should know that, didn't you pass through the city to get here?"
"Oh no I came through the Palace...that's the way I was told to go to try for the Elites."
"Boy oh boy you must be some charmer Sunshine, how on earth did you manage to get them to let you in through that way?"
"Well actually I'm..."
"Hey we can continue the 20 questions later Karu right now we have to focus."
"Toya's right! We should probably do a warm up lap around the track to get our blood pumping; nothing too hard mind you we need to keep up our energy. Toya says a lot of the first day is endurance training."
The men nodded and took off at a light run around the track, Soleil setting the pace. The Commander came out and saw the group running,
"Every time I turn around that girl is making some sort of impression. If anyone would have told me all that would happen today I would have thrown my sake at him!"
"She has quite the spirit Sir, and is very pretty."
"Pretty? Ha! Get your eyes checked son that woman is drop dead gorgeous and she's a fighter too. You don't see women like that anymore for sure. Keep your eyes on that one Corporal, she's a rare gem."