“Kaelie! Ramaya! Gavin! Brooke! How were Battle Team tryouts today?” Alanna asks excitedly.

        I wish I could telepathically communicate with her. Kaelie’s been down in the dumps all afternoon, ever since she’s convinced herself she can’t make it. I bite my lip, and silently shake my head behind Kaelie. Kaelie lets out a heavy sigh.

“I don’t think I’ll make it.” she says sadly. “But Ramaya and Gavin will.” Brooke looks at her apologetically.

“Are you sure? I wish there was something I could do!” She says sincerely.

“There is something you can do. Leave me the heck alone!” With that she storms off. But I catch a glimpse of tears in her eyes. Gavin tries to run after her, but I grab hold of his shirt.

“Gavin, leave her alone for a bit. It’s what she wants.” His expression drops.

“I just want to comfort her!” he complains.

“She doesn’t need comfort. She needs to be away from us for a bit. She’ll be fine.” I explain. Brooke and Alanna nod.

“The last thing you want to is annoy her.” Alanna says.

“Maybe if you weren’t also trying out for the team she wouldn’t feel so upset.” Brooke adds.

“She shouldn’t feel upset because of me! I really like her!” He interjects.

“We know you do, but please listen to us! All she needs is space!” I plead.

“Trust me, by tomorrow, she’ll have forgotten all about this.”

“And what if she hasn’t Ramaya? What kind of boyfriend would it make me if I didn’t go comfort her?”

“She’s only mad because we’re more likely to get into Battle Team!”

“Well, she doesn’t have to be mad at me anymore.” My eyebrows furrow.

“What? Why?” I’m truly confused.

“Because I quit. I’m not coming for tryouts tomorrow.”

“But-”

“No! I’ve made my decision, and that’s that! If this is what it takes to prove to Kaelie I like her, I'll do it. See you later.” He storms off. Brooke and Alanna look bewildered by what had just happened.

“Did that just-”

“Yes.”

“And he just-”

“Yup.” I sigh heavily.

Since when did my life become such a drama?

     We eat dinner in almost complete silence, then Brooke and I take off for our dorms, completely exhausted. And we still have another day of tryouts, supposedly the most important one of all. As I’m walking down the empty hallway, Rhodes bursts out of a nearby hallway, looking really angry. He stops in his tracks.

“Oh, Ramaya. Hi,” he says. I hug him without saying anything. My mixed feelings run away and are replaced with a bit of comfort and clearness as his hands wrap around my waist. He looks at me.

“What’s going on?”

“Well, I…” He changes his arms from around me to holding my hands in his. I smile at the gesture. “I just had an interesting dinner with Kaelie and Gavin. And Brooke and Alanna, but, well,” I don’t know how to explain this.

“Let’s go to my dorm,” he suggests kindly.

“Alright.”

    We walk quietly through the cold night air to the dorms and up the stairs. He unlocks his door and we step inside. It’s nice and warm, and actually very neat for a guy’s room. We sit down on his bed side by side, and his arm wraps around my waist again. I lean my head on his shoulder.

“Ok. What is it you wanted to tell me?”

“Well, Kaelie has convinced herself she won’t make it into Battle Team, and she stormed off. Gavin wanted to go comfort her, but-”

“But what?” Rhodes’ eyes look into mine.

“But I stopped him and said she needs some alone time to calm down.”

“And so, what happened?”

I sigh. “Then Gavin got mad, saying he’s her boyfriend and he needs to be there for her. We tried to explain to him not to go, and then he got mad at us. And said he wasn’t going to tryout anymore.”

Rhodes gives me a look of sympathy. “Oh, Ramaya, I’m so sorry. Maybe I can talk some sense into Gavin. He is my friend, after all.”

“I don’t know if he’ll listen-”

“I will anyways.”

“Well, ok. Thank you.” I say, picking my head off of his shoulder. He grabs my hand lightly, as if he knows I’m about to break. I feel like I am. I blame part of it on exhaustion, but, well, I don’t even know what. I close my eyes and lean back onto Rhodes, and he grabs a piece of my hair and runs his hand down it. It feels comforting somehow. Just to be with him, like I’ve known him forever.

We sit on his bed like this until I feel my eyelids start to droop. Without moving, I mumble, “Maybe I should go. It’s getting late.”

“Mm.” he says, and then he kisses the top of my head. A rush of emotion runs through me, and I move to stand up.

“I wish we had more time to just…  be together,” he says.

I smile tiredly at him. “Me too.”

“So you’re going?”

“Um, yeah. I guess so.”

“Alrighty then. Good night,” He says, smiling faintly.

“Good night,” I reply quietly, and walk out. I close his door softly and slowly make my way to my door. I walk in, and a hastily written note is right inside my door.

Ram-

Sorry about the dinner outburst. I actually talked w Gavin. He said he’ll continue to try out, as long as I’m ok. I’m ok. I’ll still try out.  Even though I’ve figured there’s no point. Good luck. See you tomorrow.

Kae xo

    I smile. Good. That puts some of my thoughts to rest. At least she’s still trying out. I climb into bed in my clothes and fall right asleep.

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    The next morning, I wake up to daylight streaming in my window. Did my alarm go off? I lazily roll over to check my clock. Holy crap. It’s 8:45, and tryouts start at 9:00! I jump out of bed, throw on the first pair of clean clothes I find and dash out the door, boot laces untied. I sprint to the dining room, grab a piece of toast, and run out. As soon as I make it outside, I take off, flying across the fields to the opening of the locker room. Two minutes later, I’m drifting down the hole, breathing hard and wiping sweat from my brow. Not a terrific start to the day. I see Kaelie going about her business, tying her training shoes and closing her locker. I fast-walk over.

“Kaelie!”

“Huh? Oh, hi Ramaya,” she says coolly.

“Wha- why didn’t you come get me up? I’m late!”

“I didn’t notice you were missing from the dining room this morning…” she says, frowning. It’s a lie, I see it in her eyes. I narrow mine.

“Right. Well, fine. I’m here now.” I say with finality.

“Yes.”

    I change mega-speed, and make it into the training room with the last few people. Forge is already on his platform in the track. He clears his throat loudly, and the room quiets.

“Good morning. Today may be the last day I see some of you, but for most of you, hopefully not. It’s the last day of tryouts, also the most important. While you need to be able to fend for yourself and be strong individually, you are nothing if you can’t work in a team. Today, my friends, is team testing.” He puts a thumbs up in the air, quite out of character for him, but the crowd responds well with cheers and applause. I clap a bit too, still out of sorts from my rushed morning. I clear my head. I’m here now. It’s ok. Forge re-quiets the large group and continues.

“You will also need to work with people you don’t know or just met. So, to erase any familiarities, you will be put in three random groups, no pattern of age or element. Totally random. I’ll read off the pre-scrambled teams now. Listen up.”

Everyone starts whispering or looking nervously at their friends, who they will momentarily be split up with.

“Attention. Team One! With Blue vests- Grace Paster, Justine Impting…” he keeps going, listing off names I’ve never heard, but a few I have. Zaiden, Payson, and Gavin are in that group.

“Team Two! With maroon vests! Ramaya Naciat…” As soon as I hear my name, I start looking around for who else is on my team. Brooke is called near the end. I smile, and find her face in the crowd. She looks at me with a smile too. I nod, and turn back to Forge. Nobody else I really know is in my team, besides Drexel, the guy who modeled the other outfit, Robert, the one I had to battle, and Kader, Garron’s sidekick.

“So, this means that anyone WHO HAS NOT BEEN CALLED! Is in Team Three, with purple vests. Get into groups with the teachers of the same vest color as you. Go!”

    Kaelie is on the purple team, then. I walk towards Brooke as we approach the two teachers wearing maroon vests. They tell us to follow them and stay close- we might get lost. The group trails closely behind the instructors as they lead us through narrow hallways to the side of the training room. Eventually we end up in a circular room with doors lining the walls.

“Mini tour!” The woman instructor pipes up. “This room leads to all the battle arenas, each one marked by a sign above the door.” I notice the signs. “They’re each very different, and some favor a certain element more than others. We’re battling in arena four today. Come on.” She continues walking through a doorway.

    The new hallway is lit by yellow lights and is a bit wider. We end up in a small room with some shelves and benches. Obviously a “get-ready” room for before battles.

“Sit down,” the male instructor says. We scramble for bench seats, and some are forced to the floor. I managed to grab a seat half hanging off of a bench. I turn to face the teachers.

“I’m Mr. Craning, and I normally instruct the animal group.” The man says.

“And I’m Ms. Gledding. Usually leading the fire. Today, we are grading you individually, but the winning team gets bonus points, enough to potentially get you into Battle Team if you weren’t going to make it.”

    Some people get hopeful looks, others just determined to win. I nod my head. Maybe if Kaelie’s team won, she can get in! I’m silently praying for about twenty minutes, while waiting for more directions. Then Mrs. Gledding finally speaks.

“Alright. Everyone’s out of the training room. You are allowed to go to your locker room to suit up.”

“Report back here in ten minutes. Don’t get lost. And don’t put on any gear in your locker other than the suit. This includes vests, helmet, plating, and padding. Bring those here.” Mr. Craning says.

    We all silently trickle out of the room. I walk shoulder to shoulder to shoulder, or should I say shoulder to elbow with Drexel. I don’t get why everyone is so much taller than me here! I’m average height. Well, maybe a teensy bit below. But still! When we get to the dressing room, Drexel opens the door for me, and graciously lets me through first. So he's air.

“Thanks.” I say quietly. I’m really nervous.

“It’s fine.” He replies, as I duck behind the curtain to the girls side. I hear the click of his lock opening, and the hear the back of the locker door slamming against the other lockers. Is there nobody else from air on our team? Yikes.

    I silently unlock my own locker, and cautiously open it. The floor length locker, usually empty except for a training suit, is now stocked with stuff. I pull out the battle suit, and study it. It still looks the same from the tour but it seems to have gotten lighter. I quickly undress, and throw my training suit into the locker. Then, I hastily pull on the battle suit. Once I’m dressed I decide to put up my hair. Luckily, there is a hair tie on my wrist. I tug my semi-heavy hair up, and try to smooth it out without looking. Dang. It’s hard. When I finally give up on smoothing it out, I wrap the hair tie around three times. Then, I turn back to my locker. A helmet, vest, along with loads of padding and plating.

I hear Drexel’s voice call out, “You done yet?”

“Yeah.” I reply.

“Can I come onto your side?” He asks.

“Uh, sure.”

He appears from behind the curtain, carrying all of his gear. “C’mon. We need to go.”

“Alright.” I stand on my toes, and try to grab all the padding and stuff on the top shelf of my locker. Drexel chuckles.

“Need help?”

I blush. “Yeah. I’m afraid I’m too short.”

He sets his stuff down, and grabs my things. I take it from his hands, and smile. “Thanks!”

“Don’t mention it. That’s what teammates are for, right?” He smiles at me.

“Right.” He collects his items, and we leave. The walk on the way there seems longer. Much, much longer. It seems like we’ve been walking for five minutes.

“Why’re you so quiet, fourth- year?”

“It’s Ramaya, and I’m nervous.”

“Why? You know you’ll make it, right? You’re the best fourth-year here.”

“Excuse me? What about Robert? And Dawson?”

“Not nearly as good as you!” He smiles smugly. I decide to drop it, and continue walking.

“We have a small group.” He says.

"They should all be the same amount..?" I say with confusion.

"I don't know. It is smaller though."

"I guess."

“Some people see it as a disadvantage, you know, less people who are battling on our side. But in all actuality, it’s a good thing. Less people on a team means less people to look out for, so we can look out for each other, better.”

I nod. It makes sense. We keep walking through the narrow hallway.

"Uh, For today, we're the only air people? On the maroon team?"

"Yeah. I guess so." Our footsteps echo in the empty passageway.

"So... You're an eighth-year?" I ask slowly.

"Yeah."

"How do you like it?"

"It's fun. Lots of projects and stuff, but fun."

"Mm."

    We finally enter the circular room and walk into the arena four prep room. We're some of the first people back, surprisingly. Some people must've gotten lost.

"Well, thank you two for coming back." Ms. Gledding sighs. She shakes her head. “The rest haven’t shown up, and they better hurry, because they have a minute before we should be instructing you on how to put on the gear.” Mr. Craning nods.

    Then, Brooke, Robert, Kader, and ten other people burst into the room. A loud chorus of sorrys echo through the room.

“Alright. You made it just in time. We were worried only Ramaya and Drexel would be able to battle.”

“First order of business, names. Say ‘em.”

“I’m Drexel, air. Eight year.”

“Ramaya, also air. Fourth year.”

“Robert, animal. Fourth.”

“Lolah, earth. Sixth.”

“Kader, water. Seventh.”

“Leander, fire. Eight.”

“Savana, Fire. Fifth.”

“Roy, earth. Eight.”

“Holder, animal. Seventh.”

“Blossom, earth. Fifth.”

“Raylene, water. Sixth.”

“Andrica, fire. Seventh.”

“Xander, animal. Eight.”

“Codee, water. Eight.”

“Brooke, water. Fourth.”

And that finishes that. We have a lot of eight years in our group. A lot. But only fifteen people total. That can’t possibly be a third of all the people trying out.

“Good. Now that we have that out of the way, battle suits.” Mr. Craning points a finger at me. “You, grab your stuff and get up here.”

I scramble over, with my stuff in hand. Mrs. Gledding points at the ground where she wants me to put my stuff. I oblige, and tenderly drop my gear.

“First thing you’ll need is leg padding.” Mr. Craning pulls out a thin piece of foam-like padding. “Strap it around your calf, and let it do the rest.”

    I take the piece from him, and do just as he said. Once it’s strapped onto my leg, I stand up straight, and wait. Suddenly, I feel the piece shifting, to cover my whole leg! I look down, stunned.The padding is now covering my whole leg, but it doesn’t restrict my movement.

“Okay. Put the other one on.”

    I do as he says, and when the other one has spread, it looks like I’m wearing extra pants. But it still doesn’t feel different.

“Arm padding next, it works the same way as the leg padding.”

    I strap on both of the arm pieces, and he’s right. The materials covers my arms in the same way my legs are covered.

“Finally, the last piece of padding is neck coverage. Even with the helmet and vest, the neck is still the most vulnerable.” Mr. Craning hands me the last piece of padding. “There’s a clasp in the jacket collar. Put it there.” I do as I’m told, and the padding folds over my neck. It would seem uncomfortable, but it really isn’t.

        Mrs. Gledding speaks up. “Alright. Now that you’ve seen it, do it.” Everyone puts on their gear, and now, we have a room full of people with enough protection to withstand a bomb. Maybe.

“Now. Grab your vest. As you can see, your torso is the only part of your body, not protected. That’s what the vest is for.” Mr. Craning gives me mine. “Put it on.” I slip my skinny arms through the holes, and wait. “Zip it up.”

        I pull the zipper up, and the vest immediately molds to my figure. “Now, General Forge said that you were on the maroon vests team. As you can see, the vest is black. Before you say anything, however, put the vest on." Everyone does as they’re told. “Now the last part of the suit is the helmet.” Everyone looks at the helmet. It looks like something an air biker would wear. “We know this isn’t the most practical helmet, but trust me. You’ll be amazed.”

        He sets it on my head, and immediately I feel different. The padding inside makes it so comfortable. And the gap where I look through doesn’t restrict my vision! It’s wide, and stretches to just past my temples. But it’s an unfilled gap. Any blast could easily seep through and harm me.

“How does it feel?” Mr. Craning asks. You can even hear perfectly in this thing!

“Good, but what if someone hits in between my vision gap?”

“Perfectly valid question Ramaya, and there’s a button at the bottom near your jaw to serve for that need.” I locate the button, and press it. An orange tinted visor screens over the gap, and all of the vests are now maroon. I gasp. “What do you see?”

“All the vests are maroon!” I exclaim.

“Welcome to military technology. All of the vests appear to be black to the naked eye, but the visors show the true color. But, you can only see your team’s color. All other colors are black, until someone’s suit is deactivated." Leander raises his hand.

“Deactivated? What do you mean sir?”

“Well, a person can only take so much damage before he or she "dies". When you have take enough damage, your suit will freeze up, or deactivate. You are stuck in the position you deactivated in until the battle is over. The battle ends when everyone is frozen except for one team. There can only be one person left and his or her team will still win. Your suit color can be seen by everybody battling once you have been deactivated. Please also note that your suit slowly becomes brighter the more damage you take.” Everyone nods. “Now, get those helmets on, and put your on game face. It’s time to battle.”

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        We all line up. The two instructors left to go to the viewing area, so we’re all alone in the prep room. Whispers float around the group, wondering what the arena will be like. I wonder too, but don’t say anything. Finally, an announcement comes on the crackly speaker. I can barely tell who’s speaking, but it’s Forge.

“The arena entryway doors will open in two minutes. Come up with strategy, as much as you can, before entering. The teams will enter equal distances apart in the arena. Good luck, and work hard.” The speaker turns off.

“What should we do?” a guy asks, I think named Xander.

“I think we need some sort of formation, and go in by brute attack.”

“That won’t work.”

“What about splitting into defence and offense.”

“What are we defending?”

The room’s volume slowly raises until some people are shouting. We’re wasting time.

“GUYS!” I yell. Everyone quiets. “Why don’t we make an attack plan based on the elements we have.”

People look at each other, some snicker.

I frown. “Doesn’t that make sense?”

“Well, the more we separate, the less strong we are,” a girl says. I think Raylene.

“Not if we plan it right.” Brooke speaks up. “Think back to the snowball fight, Ramaya.”

I remember the success we had. It was when we were all split into groups, doing different things to slowly weaken the enemy, then we all came together to all throw snowballs to collapse their fort. We can apply that here.

“Guys, I don’t know what the arena’s like, but we need to split into groups by element. Then at the end, come together to fight.” I explain.

Some people nod, slowly grasping the concept.

“We’ll plan a bit more once we get in, but for now, get into element groups.”

We all shuffle until we have two air, four water, three animal, three fire, and three earth.

Kader speaks up. “Ramaya and Drexel hold advantage. They can fly and scout. If I know Garron, he’ll be targeting everybody. It doesn’t matter what element.”

“Then we’ll just need to take out Garron.” Drexel says, as if it’s plain as day.

“No. We’ll need to take out his whole team.”

“That’ll be hard.” Robert says, frowning.

“Sure darn right it’ll be hard. But we're not here to do anything easy! If we don't eliminate them first, it'll make it even harder than it is to win.” Kader clenches his fists. I’ve never seen him without Garron. I don’t think anyone else has either. Maybe he’s actually a good guy.

“We know a lot about Garron’s team, the purple team, but what about the other one? The blue team?” Lolah asks.

“They’re smart. They’ll be playing strategically.” I speak up.

“So one team is playing by brute force, and the other by strategy? What does that leave us?” Roy asks.

“Strategic brute force.” I say, cracking a smile.

“What?” Everyone looks confused.

“Garron’s team is using brute force to take out everybody, and the other team is using strategy to out think their opponents. We have to use brute force, but we have to use it strategically.” They all nod with understanding.

“And how do we do that?” Andrica questions. The silence in the room is deafening.

“I might know how.” Codee says. Everyone turns to him. “We need stealth. More importantly, we need to stay as an group. So not necessarily staying together, but knowing where we all are at all times.”

“We need a signal.” Brooke says.

“Yeah. Like a sharp whistle. Can everyone do that loudly?” I ask. Nods all around. “The enemies might confuse it for something else, so we’ll be alright.”

“Good thinking, Ramaya and Brooke,” Kader smiles. He brushes his longish blonde hair from his face.

“Alright. Let’s get prepared. Deep breaths, all,” Roy says. Then the speaker crackles.

“Arena opening in 10.. 9.. 8..” we all freak out for a moment but then calm down. “5.. 4.. 3.. 2.” Silence. Where’s the one?

“ONE! Go!” The doors burst open. My eyes widen as I take it all in.

        The arena is a giant crater with a lake at the bottom. It slopes gently around the edges, but gets steeper the farther in you go. I look up. We’re in a massive white dome. But the terrain looks completely not man-made. There’s short grass everywhere, some dead, some still green, and not a tree to be seen. But then I notice the walls. There’s little broken pieces of brick walls scattered all around the slope. Good for hiding behind but also blocks visibility. After the initial shock, we slowly step into the daylight. Well, not really, but that’s what it looks like.

    I see on the other sides of the circular arena the two teams streaming out. Both appear black vests, just like Mr. Craning said.

        But I can tell which is the purple team. The ones yelling battle cries and running to the lake is obviously purple.

        The other ones slowly creeping around the arena edges is blue. And we’re still standing here. I gulp.

“Alright, people. Come on, we gotta do something!” I say. Everyone mumbles agreement. “Water! Find a secure spot near the lake. You can use that. Fire! Don’t even get near the lake, you’ll die. Do what you need to. Earth! If armies approach, give them an earthquake! And animal… just make yourselves useful.” They smile. “Drexel and I will be scouts. And remember the whistle!”

“Yes!” They all shout.

“Alright. Let’s go!” We split into groups, the water running down the slope towards the lake. Other water elements have already gotten there, and are creating massive waves to wash away anyone who comes near. Yikes.

“Let’s go!” Drexel yells to me. We take off, flying really high above the ground so we can see everything. I see maroon vests approaching a group of black vests and spray them with flames. A few turn blue and freeze up, others become extremely bright blue and stagger away. Excellent, I think. We keep flying.

        Suddenly, a huge burst of wind hits me, and I go tumbling off balance towards the ground. I hear Drexel shriek and curse at the attackers. I regain my flying, and shoot back up to Drexel’s level. I give the three attackers a massive wind-slap-in-the-face, with his help, and they all tumble to the ground, turning purple and freezing. We high five and continue scouting. I look around. There’s a lot of frozen blue people laying around. I guess their strategy didn’t work so well for them. But there’s still a lot of black vests battling maroon vests down by the lake.

“Over there!” I yell to Drexel. he nods, and we rocket towards the center of the arena. Hovering above a group of water elements battling it out on the shore, we send wind-bullets to the black vests. They collapse and turn bright blue or fall and freeze. It’s working, I think. I motion for Drexel to stay here and keep doing that, and then I fly away. I do the whistle, and immediately, reply whistles come from behind a wall. I zoom over, and find the three maroon vests I was looking for. Our animals. They’re huddled together, just trying to stay away from the battle.

“Ah-HEM!” I yell. They whip around and wave nervously to me. “Why aren’t you battling alongside your fellow teammates?”

“Well, we, um…”

“Just get out there! Our water elements are being bombarded with waves! Go!” They all sprint down towards the lake, which is slowly turning into the main focus of the battle. I spy the maroon fire elements battling other fire elements. I shake my head. The same element fighting the same element? None of them will ever win! It’s an elemental stalemate. I fly over and shoot the maroon peoples’ flames with wind gusts, feeding them oxygen and enlarging them by a ton. They immediately knock down the rest of their opponents, then turn to see what just happened. I smile and give them a friendly wave, and they all laugh with relief. But summoning all those flames without a fire source to draw from has exhausted them.

“Take it easy. Just defend yourselves, don’t worry about us down there,” I say. One of them gives me a tired thumbs-up, and I smile again and fly away. I see the maroon earth people have put themselves to good use by knocking down anyone who comes near with a big shake of the ground. They work together to create a giant crevice in the ground, in which several purple people fall into.

“Yes!” I shout to myself, but it’s lost among the sounds of battle. There’s now about an even number of purple and maroon, battling it out to see who will win.

⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄-⋄

        I’m shooting wind-bullets at some purple vests when I see it- Brooke screams and falls to the ground, glowing red and frozen. I yell out and rush over. I know she’s not dead, but that suddenly gave me a panic attack.

        I shake my head and return to the skies where I can see everything. I spot Kaelie battling furiously with a maroon vest, but she’s able to overpower him and he freezes. I raise my eyebrows. Impressive. For Kaelie, anyways.

        The number of people “alive” is still dwindling rapidly. I’m going to need to be very careful to not become a… I scream.

        A huge flame just shot past me. I fly around, trying to avoid the forest of flames being thrown at me. I catch a glimpse at the attacker. It’s Garron. He’s still alive? Surprisingly, he hasn’t been stupid enough to get himself frozen yet. But my mind quickly has to decide: fight or flight. I might as well fight back. I start shooting bursts of wind to deflect their burning attacks. But my suit starts to get brighter and brighter. I bite my lip in concentration. Suddenly, from behind a wall, five black vests I haven’t seen yet burst out from behind a wall. And one of them is Payson, which means… The blue team isn’t out yet! Geez! But then, my vest beeps. That must mean I’m about to “die.” Just as I’m closing my eyes to give in to Garron’s flames, Payson sends a surge of water from the lake, which soaks Garron.

        He and his friends are immediately put out, and they actually start steaming like campfires. I laugh. “Thank you, Payson!” I yell out to him. “No problem!” he shouts back, and he and his friends start taking out the damaged purple team one by one, until all that’s left is three maroon and two blue. We just stand there, waiting for the time that one of us will try to end it. Then, Payson’s teammate attempts to blow us away with a wind gust, but he’s weak and Drexel freezes him with one wind-bullet. Payson’s standing there in shock.

“Strategy didn’t work out for you in the end, did it Payson,” I say with an innocent smile.

“I guess not…” he says gruffly.

“Mm hmm,” I say, still smiling, and using the last of my energy, send him sky high. He comes crashing down and freezes up. It takes us a moment to realize… we just won. The maroon team won! “WOO HOO!” I shout, and put my hands over my head. Then, the lights in the arena dim, and the three exits glow white. I assume that means we should leave, so Drexel, a girl named Savana, and I walk victoriously to our exit. As soon as we walk through the door, the lights turn back on in the arena, and everyone is able to get up.

        Some look really mad they didn’t win, others happy they can finally just get up. Everyone walks to the door they came in, and soon the prep room is filled again with smiling, excited people. Brooke looks super happy, even though she missed the finale. Everyone’s asking what happened after they got frozen, and Drexel and I are able to recreate the battle based on what we saw while flying around. And then he describes how we won.

“We thought there was only purple left, but then these five blue people came out of hiding and attacked all the purple! It finally came to a showdown of three maroon and two blue. I got one of the blue, and Ramaya got the other by fantastic means. It was crazy! But we won!” Everyone cheers, and begins taking off all the gear.

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        After about an hour of dressing back into regular clothes, cleaning up all the gear, and getting organized, there’s a final closing ceremony at the air training room. General Forge looks pleased at how the battle turned out as he stands on his track platform. Finally he calls attention to himself.

“Good afternoon!” Everyone quiets. “Today was the last day of Battle Team tryouts.The battle in arena four went extremely well, and good job to the maroon team, who showed that even though they were outnumbered even at the start, they could still come through. Fantastic job to everyone, however. It was one of the better tryouts battles I’ve seen in a few years.”

        Clapping fills the room. “Alright, alright! Now, we would like to say that everyone can join the team, but unfortunately, that can’t happen. The instructors carefully monitored all of you in today’s test, and we have the cuts based on all three days. Notes will be delivered tomorrow morning to tell you if you made it or not. I wish all of you who do make it the best of luck in the team, which starts soon! Have a nice evening.”

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5K! 5K! 5K! 5K READS! OMGOMGOMGOMG!!!! THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING LOYAL READERS! In honor of this amazing thing, we're offering you a deal. If you tell your friends about this book and get them to comment and read it, we'll put your username in the book description as "loyal readers." Yay! Because you are! Thanks again!

Since school has now started, we're going to be doing all of our updating on the weekends. One chapter, maybe two :)

Megan and Wien <3

ps- this ends the Battle Team tryouts. What did you think?