Wolf was nervously waiting at the front of the queue, thinking about the advice he had been given from the foster home he had been sheltered in for the past few years. It had been both a place of refuge and a prison for Wolf, serving as a constant reminder of the shattered life he had ended up in. But there was no time to dwell on the past. He didn't want to end up like his parents, scraping by on government handouts. He wanted to get himself into the Cornerian Army, one way or another.

With only one other person in line in front of him, Wolf took a look at the papers in his hand one last time. At the top of the list was where he could write down his name, which had been something he had been debating with himself for a while. At birth, his name was Wolf Thornton, the surname being his father's. Even though his parents never married, the doctor simply wrote down the last name of the father's when Wolf was born, either out of laziness or absent-mindedness. Every time he heard that name, his body scowled in disgust, further reminding him of his broken home. Now there was a chance to break out of that misery, once and for all.

He handed over the papers to the clerk with a shaky hand, his heart pounding in his chest. The clerk casually glanced at the documents, then sighed as the clerk handed the papers back to Wolf.

"Alright, Mr. O'Donnell. Make your way towards the right for your physical exam."

Relief washed over Wolf as he entered the changeroom and got into his workout clothes to start the physical exam. He looked around him and saw a few people with their muscles about to burst through their outfits, but he put those doubts in the back of his mind as he walked towards the instructors nearby. He went through each drill effectively, his hard work and training paying off as he was able to endure each drill without losing too much energy. It did, however, make him sweat quite a bit, his fur getting all sticky as a direct result.

There was one particular drill where he had to run back and forth from one end of the gym to the other, having to reach the other side before a beep rang out. It was a drill that relied entirely on endurance, forcing everyone to manage their energy while being quick enough to make it to the next beep as the time between each one got smaller and smaller.

It was something that Wolf was able to excel at, being the one thing he was good at being teased all the time back at school. Now he was finally able to put it into good use.

Wolf could feel the eyes of the instructors on him, watching his every move. He pushed himself harder, not paying attention anything else around him but the beeps that timed his runs. All that he was focused on was proving his worth to the Cornerian Army, regardless of what his body felt like at the moment.

Eventually, three recruits remained - Wolf, a chameleon, and a lemur, all wanting to be the last one standing. They continued to run back and forth, as Wolf's heart pounded and his breathing drew heavy from the exhausting work he was putting in. Then, his foot slipped on the gym floor, causing him to slip momentarily, making him lose ground on the timing of each beep, and trailing far behind the other two recruits.

"Damn," Wolf muttered under his breath.

He saw the chameleon tire out not long afterwards, not even trying to make the next beep as he stopped on one side to collect his breath. The lemur was the last one standing, his short stature catching the eye of Wolf, who was quite surprised that the lemur was able to outrun everyone else.

"Not fair," grumbled Wolf. "He's got less energy to burn than anyone else."

Wolf got some water from the refreshment station nearby as the other recruits made their way towards the strength training section. After taking a few drinks of cool, refreshing water, Wolf leaned forward on his knees, sweat dripping down from his forehead as he caught his breath.

The lemur approached Wolf with a bottle of water in hand. "That was one hell of a run, bud," he said, extending a hand towards him.

"Thanks," replied Wolf, shaking his hand. "You're pretty quick yourself, considering your size."

The lemur chuckled. "Size really doesn't matter much, from where I come from. Name's Algy, by the way."

"Wolf," he replied, giving a small nod. He glanced over at the weight machines that were scattered on the other side of the gym, nodding towards Algy. "Speed is one thing, but do you think you can tackle those weights there?"

"Just watch me."

After a few minutes of rest, Wolf and Algy made their way towards the pull-up bar that was a few feet from where the rest of the recruits were lined up. Wolf was the first one to go, as he grabbed the bar and started counting in his head as he went up and down. The first three pull-ups were quite easy. Four, five, six, he could start to feel his arms start to weaken. Seven, eight, his midsection curled as he struggled to reach his head over the bar. Nine, he really had to push through as his hands clenched tightly on the bar. His body went straight down as he prepared himself for the tenth pull-up. The lupine strained his body mightily, as every muscle in his body tightened…

His hands let go from the bar, as the lupine landed his feet back onto the floor, getting his breath back again. The instructor shook her head in disappointment, checking off the paper on the clipboard then pointing at Algy as he stepped towards the pull-up bar.

Algy looked up at the bar, seeing it tower well over his body. Wolf had half the mind to suggest getting a platform to help out the lemur, but Algy instead leapt up over his own height and grabbed the bar firmly, going through each pull-up with ease.

Wolf's head spun as Algy kept going up and down, completing each pull-up with ease. He breezed past twenty, went through thirty with no trouble, and reached to fourty pull-ups as he jumped back down to the floor, still bouncing around with tons of energy.

"Fourty! Well done!" the instructor shouted, showing a rare bit of emotion towards the recruits. Algy beamed as he walked triumphantly towards Wolf.

"No fair," Wolf grumbled. "You have a smaller body to lift up."

"Wanna bet? I'll bet that I can crush you in an arm wrestling contest."

Wolf chuckled, still catching his breath from earlier. "You're on… as soon as we're done here, anyway."

Another instructor marched up to the two, interrupting their conversation. "Alright, no more time for chatting. Back to work."

The two lined up beside a wrestling area, when another instructor looked down at Algy, pointing towards a different line. "You're going in that weight class, young man."

"Fair enough," shrugged Algy. "Guess I'll see you later."

Wolf quietly waved, as he went over towards one of the wrestling circles and waited until he was at the front. There he was matched up against the green chameleon he was running with earlier, staring down at Wolf while giving a mischievous grin, waiting to take his turn. Wolf paid no attention to him, simply staring straight back at the chameleon.

The two stood on opposite sides of each other, leaning forward as they slowly placed their hands on the line to start the match…

They both charged right at each other, tussling at each other as they both tried to shove each other towards the edge of the wrestling mat. With them being roughly the same height, the two were evenly matched, none of them having any kind of advantage over the other.

Wolf managed to get a hold onto the chameleon's arm, giving him momentum to pull him downwards, but the chameleon managed to twist their bodies in a way so that they both fell over sideways, landing on the floor at the same time.

"That's good enough!" shouted the instructor. "You two have good physical strength."

Wolf got back up to his feet, then handed out his hand to help up the chameleon to his feet as well. "Not bad, there."

The chameleon smirked mischievously, stretching his legs as they stepped away from the wrestling mat. "You're not so much of a slouch yourself."

The two looked ahead at where Algy was performing his wrestling match, facing off against another pint-sized lemur, measuring not that much taller than Algy. However, when they placed their hands on the line to start the match, Algy ran straight up to the other lemur and practically threw him off the mat, ending the match instantaneously. Algy couldn't help but grin a little as he hopped back towards the other two cadets.

"I crushed that one," Algy boasted.

The chameleon couldn't help but give a doubtful look back. "True, but do you really think someone like you can hold up against one of these brutes?"

"Hey, don't doubt him," nudged Wolf. "This guy's got muscles."

"Him?" the chameleon chuckled. "I'll have to see it to believe it."

"I can probably take both of you on at once," Algy boasted. "I'm always up for a fair fight!"

"Hah! Maybe after we're done here," said Wolf, scratching the back of his head. "But maybe not right after this… they're definitely putting me through the wringers, that's for sure!"

Algy chuckled. "Come on, this is nothing…"

Within a few minutes, the three cadets finished up their physical training, and went in and out from the changeroom back into the dormitory. Wolf was sitting alone in the lounge of one of the Academy's rooming houses, browsing aimlessly on his phone.

The green chameleon noticed Wolf and walked up to him, sitting down on the couch beside him. "You look familiar…"

"Hmm?" Wolf looked up, distracted by his cellphone. "Yeah, back at the gym, right?"

"Name's Leon, by the way."

"Wolf. Your schedule come out yet?"

"No… I'm just wanting to find someone to team up with here. The last thing I want is to be grouped up with one of those brutes at the gym."

"Hah, you never know if they might be nice or not!"

"True, but you seem like a nice enough guy yourself…"

"Hmm. I suppose so… It's not like I know anybody else around here, except that tiny little guy we met earlier."

"You mean Algy? That guy's a freak of nature. I don't know if he's serious about trying to take both of us on at once."

The two laughed, as they got up from the couch, heading over to the registration table to put their names down for the residence.

"Honestly, I'm not sure why they make people pair up like this anyway," said Wolf.

"Probably to save money on housing," Leon chuckled. "Also so they can shout about 'building good character' and what not."

The two got to the front of the line, as the clerk leafed through some papers. She then gave Wolf and Leon some slips, giving them the room numbers that the two would be staying in. Theirs was directly beside each other.

Leon and Wolf's eyes widened in surprise, almost as if the stars were aligning on purpose. "Awesome," smirked Leon. "Good to know I'll have someone to keep company.

The two headed to where their rooms were, where they could hear Algy talking to someone in the hallway, and as they stepped inside, they realized he was talking to someone on his cellphone in a bit of a huff.

"…What do you mean, your preference?" shouted Algy. "This is my life, and I'm sick and tired of you bossing me around telling me what to do! …No, I don't care what happens to the company! I'm sure there's at least one toady who's willing to take up the reigns of your pill-popping empire!"

Algy looked over to the side, noticing Leon and Wolf walk nearby. Algy gave a big grin, seemingly curing his bad mood in an instant.

"Listen, I'm actually quite busy at the moment, so you'll have to call me back. Don't expect me to come crying back to you any time soon."

Algy hung up his phone as quickly as he could, exhaling out in relief.

"Sorry, were we interrupting?" asked Leon.

"Hardly," Algy scoffed. "The sooner I stop talking to that leech of mine, the better. Funny I should happen to run into you two again…"

"You decided to go into a rooming house?" asked Wolf.

"Eh, it's not like anyone of us knows somebody around here. Certainly not me. I hardly had the chance to get out into the world, being all sheltered up and all that. But enough about me. You still owe me an arm wrestle," he jumped, pointing at Wolf.

Without missing a beat, Wolf and Algy headed inside to Algy's room, which was also nearby to Wolf and Leon's. Wolf and Algy quickly propped their arms onto a table, each of them using their right hands.

The two nodded their heads and started pushing their arms down, but even with Algy's small arm, he was able to maintain his position, their two arms hardly budging. Within a few seconds, though, Wolf's arm started to fade, and Algy pounded down his arm onto the table, winning the match.

"Damn," Wolf muttered under his breath. "You're good."

"Brilliant!" Leon shouted, giving Algy a high-five. "He wasn't kidding about your strength!"

Algy simply smirked, as his cellphone started to ring again. "Sorry, guys, I gotta take this."

"No worries," Wolf replied. "Same guy as before?"

"No, thankfully not. Just my bank manager to help set up financials." Algy then went into the bedroom nearby to take his call, as Leon walked over to Wolf, who was still shaking his head in disbelief.

"Looks like the kid is the real deal," Leon chuckled, putting his arm around Wolf's shoulder. "Cheer up, though, it looked really close there!"

"Not really," Wolf admitted. "I was struggling to keep up there for a bit. Now my arm's a bit sore. Guess I gotta hit the gym, huh?"

"You and me both. Maybe we can get some fitness tips from him, eh?"