5

"Do I smell strawberries?" Dexter asked as the elevator went down.

Cobie gave a forced laugh. "It must be Taylor's shampoo or something." Taylor looked at him and winked.

"I don't use strawberry shampoo. It's actually unscented." Taylor said with a smile.

Dexter turned towards Cobie with a devious smile. "So you use strawberry shampoo Cobie?"

Cobie exhaled, "why do you do this to me," he asked Taylor who continued to smile.

"Don't worry, Cobie, we don't judge here," Dexter said as he turned to face forward away from Cobie.

With his mood soured, Cobie crossed his arms. There was a tug of reassurance from his bond to Taylor. He knew she was only messing around with him, but for some reason he still got mad. He told himself that he needed to get his anger in check.

A few seconds later the doors opened the group was greeted by two guards. They were wearing the schools combat outfit. One had a katana on his back while the other had throwing knives on his waist.

"Hold for scan," the one with the katana said with an annoyed sigh. Dexter stood still as they held out a scanner that swept through the area of the elevator.

A robotic voice from the scanner rang out. "Three entities noted, Halitus, recruit unnamed, recruit unnamed. Clear for entry."

"Newbies? Don't hurt them Halitus." The one with throwing knives asked.

"Shut up Frost," Dexter said as he pushed passed him and his partner, Cobie and Taylor behind him.

Once they rounded a corner Cobie spoke up, "Don't like that guy?"

"No, you'll find out later, but he's just an asshole who tries to pick on the new guys to seem strong." Dexter answered, eyes straight forward as if he was looking for someone.

The walls were lit up by zigzagging lines that changed colors from red to blue to purple and back to red. The floors were just regular white linoleum and the ceiling had signs pointing down separate corridors. The group passed one that said battle arena that piqued Cobie's interest.

After some time of walking past what seemed to be the same halls over and over again, the group reached a door that had a sign above it displaying it as the armory. Dexter put his hand on a scanner to the right of the door.

"Halitus recognized. Two unnamed entities noted, do you wish to sponsor?" Asked a robotic voice.

"Yes," Dexter said rolling his eyes. The door unlocked with a click and Dexter swung it open to reveal the armory. As the group entered the door shut behind them and locked. The armory had weapons displayed everywhere. They looked to be organized by type of weapon. Swords were on the far right side. Spears were toward the middle in an aisle consisting of staff like weapons. In the back there was another door and the sound of metal being forged could be heard.

"Hello there," a skinny woman with short blue hair popped up from behind the counter at the back. "What can I do for you?"

Dexter walked forward to the counter. "I have two new recruits who need to be set up with weapons."

"Oh, no problem please, step forward and we'll figure out what to get you too." She waved at Cobie beckoning him to the counter.

When he reached the counter she held out her hand to him to take. Cobie felt a pull in the bond from Taylor. He laid his hand on hers and she closed her eyes. Instantly she frowned then pulled her hand back as if she just got shocked. Holding her hand she looked at Cobie with disbelief. She shook her head and started to speak, "you kill with a touch, so you'll need a weapon that allows you to get close. A sword would fit you best, they're over there." She pointed to the right wall.

"Thanks," Cobie said, eyeing her hand. There was a small burn on it, he thought that Taylor was holding back his abilities. Cobie sent a small prayer hoping that she wouldn't die. He turned his back and walked to the swords.

They were all made from what seemed like the same metal. He didn't know blacksmithing or what the metal was so he wasn't too sure what to look for. He saw many different types of swords. Some had a spike on the pommel, others had no guard. He saw one that looked like something used for fencing. It had an interesting guard and hilt. Cobie wasn't the fancy kind of person though, so he just let it be. Nothing he was looking at actually caught his eye. All he saw were chunks of metal that he couldn't dream of using proficiently.

"Still looking?" He heard Taylor ask from behind him. She was holding a long spear that was a little taller than she was. It was sleek black with a shiny blade at the top. The hand holds were wrapped in black leather.

"Yeah, I see you found something for yourself." Cobie said, looking the spear up and down.

"It's not much yet, but I can still modify it to the way I like." She said with a small smile, tightening her grip on the shaft.

"How did you know which one to get? All of these look the same," Cobie said looking back at the arrangement of swords.

"Well, it was easy for me. It felt like it called out to me you know, like I'm supposed to hold it. You don't have that feeling about any of these?" Taylor asked, peeking over his shoulder.

"No, none of them," Cobie sighed.

"Still looking?" The woman at the counter asked. She walked over to where Cobie was standing helplessly looking at swords. "You know this usually doesn't take this long. One calls out as soon as it's looked at." She put her hand on her hips.

"None of them are. They all just look like metal sticks," Cobie looked at the thin woman. "I'm sorry I hurt you, I didn't want to."

"It's no problem. I'll tell you a secret though," the woman leaned in and lowered her voice so only Cobie could hear her. "Only the powerful students burn me." When she stood up she gave a smile. "My names Hera, I can see the powers of the students here at the academy. That's why I run the armory, because I can point them to the right weapon." She pointed at Dexter, then Taylor, and finally at Cobie. "And I think I know what you need." She turned away leaving Cobie in small shock at her "secret."

"So what did she tell you," Dexter piped in, making Cobie jump.

"N . . . Nothing really, just something about her ability," Cobie looked at his hands. Powerful?

When Hera returned her hands were behind her back. "This is something our smith made a long time ago. When it would refuse to claim a wielder her pulled it from the shelf, calling it a failure, but he never destroyed it." She showed the sword that was behind her back, or the hilt of it anyways. "I know it doesn't look like much, but here, take it." She held it out for Cobie to take.

Just looking at the sword made Cobie timid as if the sword itself was shy. He couldn't seem to look away. Slowly he picked up the hilt and instantly felt a rush of belonging. He held the hilt out in front of him and the sword jerked as the blade came into being from the hilt. It was segmented to be able to collapse. The sword was light and when Cobie moved it, it sang with joy. This was going to be his sword.

"Its name is Pravus. Our smith gave it that name when it wouldn't claim anyone. But now, it belongs to you. I would love to say congratulations, but you don't even have your name yet. So, come back when you do." Hera put her hands on her hips with a smug look.

"It's time to go guys. The next thing we have to do is evaluate your abilities in battle. How well you fight and all that," Dexter said, walking to the door.

Cobie and Taylor ran to catch up. "You mean that we're going to fight someone?"

Dexter shook his head and explained. "No, you don't spar anyone until you can control your powers enough not to kill someone by accident. You'll be fighting bots that die like humans. It's not as easy as it sounds."

The group walked in silence until they reached the sigh that said battle arena. Go down that corridor and you should see changing rooms. Go in there, get dressed in your combat gear, and wait for the doors to open."

Taylor looked excited, while Cobie was dreading the battle. How was he supposed to fight if he hasn't ever had any practice?

"Oh, and you're going to be evaluated as a team. Good luck." Dexter walked down the hall away from the battle arena.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Cobie called out.

"To class, duh," Dexter said that as if it were obvious. "I'm done with my part. You'll be picked up by your instructors after the eval." He turned away again and turned the corner.

"He's an ass," Taylor said, fixing the backpack strap. In it was her spear which could collapse for storage. Pravus was collapsed inside Cobie's duffel bag. "Let's go do this." She said with enthusiasm.

"How can you be so cheery about this?" We're going to crash and burn. I've never fought before." Cobie said, as they turned toward the changing rooms.

"It's not a pass or fail. It's to test how good you are. It will also test our abilities as teammates. IF we do poorly we will get put into basic fighting classes. I've heard that each week, we eval again to try and rank up to the next trainer based on our performance." Taylor explained.

"That's just a rumor though, there's no proof behind it. What if we can only eval once a year?" Cobie asked as they reached the changing rooms. There was only one door and the sigh above it read "Team Changing Room."

"Then we only eval once a year, there's nothing we can do about it. But they need to push out fighters so I can see it being weekly." She opened the door for Cobie and he stopped.

"Alright that makes sense. We have to change together?"

"Yes, now stop bring so dramatic. The most you'll see is my underwear." Sighing in defeat, Cobie walked into the changing room.

The changing room had two benches and two lockers. The door locked behind them, probably for security, Cobie thought. He set his duffel bag down and pulled Pravus out and put it to the side. While fishing out his combat gear, Cobie looked over his shoulder to see Taylor pulling off her shirt to reveal her slender shoulder blades and white bra straps.

Cobie pulled off his tie and shirts. To put on the gears shirt but when he took a closer look the combat clothes were a one piece. He sighed and took of his pants. While he was bent over, Cobie took the opportunity to look back again. He looked Taylor right in the eyes. She had on the suit already and was lacing up her boots.

"You take too long to get dressed. You should to stop trying to steal peeks at me and focus on getting dressed." When Cobie quickly looked away and got out of his pants, Taylor laughed.

Cobie couldn't get into the gear quick enough. Soon he was lacing up his boots with Taylor walking to his back. "What are you doing?" Cobie asked as he finished tying his boots.

"Zipping you up," She zipped up the gear and he could feel the suit getting tighter. Suddenly it pressed down on his muscles and the gel became hard over his chest, shoulders and back. It also got hard around knees and elbows. Cobie rolled his shoulders and it felt completely natural to him. "My turn," Taylor said, and turned her back to him.

He zipped her up and watched as the gel hardened around the same places and protruded where her chest was. The zipper disappeared into the gel to prevent the gear to fall off. Taylor said a quick thanks and walked away to her spear. When she picked it up, it expanded to its full size. She put it to her back and the gel formed around it enough just to hold it in place.

Cobie picked up Pravus and it expanded to its full form and gave a small hiss. With a satisfied smile, Cobie put the sword on his left hip and watched as the gel formed a sheath around it.

There was nothing more to do but wait, so Cobie sat down and faced Taylor. "What's the strategy?"

"I have no clue," Taylor answered.

"At least you're truthful," Cobie sighed again and started to think. "How many things can you shield at once?"

"Probably the both of us, but I don't know my range when doing two shields at once." Taylor looked up with a smile.

"If what Halitus said, then if I touch the bots they will die. So I will need to be shielded to get close to them."

"But you won't be able to touch them with a shield over you."

"Then shield all of me except my right arm," Cobie said holding up his arm for enthuses.

"You know this might just work!" Taylor said, getting excited.

"Just watch your back, because I don't know how much I'll be able to do out there."

"I'll be fine, you should be more concerned about yourself." She gave a small laugh.

"We'll see what happens. Who knows, I might get more kills than you," Cobie said, taunting her. Just then a wall at the back of the changing room opened.

"Recruits, please enter arena for evaluation."

"Alright, let's do this," Taylor said, jumping up. Cobie stood up and felt a strong pull from his bond with Taylor. It was filled with fiery determination and with Taylor at his side, he gave a confident smile as he walked forward to the battle.