Test 2 Part 1

As I was walking through the halls, I kept thinking about what the second test could be.

I wasn't ready for any Ihron activity, but that wouldn't be a big issue because Ihron below magnitude 1, aren't smart enough to use in depth tactics. They could use some tactics, but we were trained so we could handle small tactics, but there were still some kids who would walk in to a forest filled with Ape-Ihrons, but that is besides the point.

I didn't understand how they would be able to host an Ihron based test here. There wasn't a single space where they could do it other than the outside, but that still didn't answer how they would've gotten the Ihron there, or how they would be contained.

The only conclusion I could come to is that it would be a test against other students.

It was easier to facilitate, and they wouldn't have to worry about location because the gym already had a button that would create an arena that could handle students.

The students would be healed upon their exit of the arena, so even if they got a broken got a broken bone they would be fine when they left.

I would honestly prefer a tournament style tournament because I would be healing every time I left the arena, and that is just free healing for my foot.

It wasn't bad enough that I couldn't use it for a quick fight, but I am not a fictional character that can fight on an injury forever because their creator forgot about it. 

Some people had a talent related to regeneration that would allow for their wounds to be continuously healed as they fought, but only those in the Indigo Grade or the Purple Grade could be strong enough to fight with their talent this soon after awakening it.

The most it would do for anybody below Indigo Grade would be a constant supply of energy while for those in the Blue Grade or the Green Grade there would be a small amount of healing. Their powers would still heal a little bit, and an injury like mine would be nothing in the long run for them, but right now it was a small struggle for me to continue walking without a limp.

My foot was full of lacerations, and still needed to thaw before I could do anything extreme with it. I checked my pulsewave, it was 13:06M, I was right next to the gym, and so was the woman who checked your identity.

I handed her my ID once again, and she let me into the gym. The man from before was also there, and he pointed me towards the seats again. It was just like before except my spot was one of the last few open.

Juliana and her friends still hadn't arrived, so I was able to sneak into my spot without having to bother anybody.

The old man, who I am assuming is the Arthur that the administrator was talking about, still hadn't gone onstage yet, and the rest of the students were nervously talking between each other.

Right before I was about to get lost in my thought, Juliana and her friends came, and sat in their seats. This time they started to talk about what the test could be, and they had arrived to the same conclusion that I had.

There was no way that we could have had any other test than a student vs student test.

Before I could think any further about what it could possibly be, Arthur the Geezer walked onto the stage with trail of lackeys.

This time the students didn't even need to have their attention grabbed.

They were just as nervous as they were uninformed, so they were waiting for him to walk up there, and inform them.

Lucky for us, that was all he intended to do.

"Students," he began, "I am pleased to see all of you have done your best in the first batch of tests."

He continued, "I know that a lot of you are now worried about what the second test would be, and how it would be done, so allow me explain."

"Your second test will be one about combat," he explained the obvious stuff first, "It could've been against Ihron, but that would've been too taxing on our funds, so we didn't do it."

Now he got into the actually important parts, "We are glad that your gymnasium has this lovely built in arena for this exact purpose. To fully utilize its effects, we have decided to hold a massive tournament that will determine the strongest student."

"Just so you know, we will be making sure that every spot is filled in the rankings," he said as he walked away from the microphone to press a button.

Then he came back, "We have already decided that some people have been given a pass to the second round."

"Those lucky individuals will show up when our roster shows up," he said as a massive bracket appeared on the wall.

On it, every person--who had signed the contract to go to Bronzeheart Academy--appeared on the second round's list.

"We will start the bracket from the first round, then we will fill in the spots for that one in with another bracket, and so on until all the spots are filled," the old man said in an almost bored tone as he pressed another button that summoned the arena.

The floor boards in the center of the gym slid away to reveal the arena, and slowly it rose up. It was a flat plane of dirt in a massive circle that was triple the size of a regular lecture hall. An extra neat detail was how it was suspended off the ground with a small platform of stone that made the challengers walk up some stairs before they fought. The one actually cool thing about it was the translucent dome that surrounded it. It was the safety mechanism that kept kids from being hurt, and it was going to be my best friend when I got up there.

"To start it off can we get Andrew Clark and Tony Stork in the ring please," he said, and two kids slowly got out of their seats to make their way to the arena.

"Everyone, get out of your seats real quick," the old man said, "I want to make things more comfortable."

Everybody complied, so the Geezer pressed a button, and slowly bleachers started to rise out of ground.

It wasn't like the arena though; instead of coming up from the floorboards, the floorboards just became the bleachers. They rose off the ground, along the walls, and created a neat arrangement of chairs on a bleacher.

"Clean up all the chairs, always be ready for your fight, and have fun," the old man said as he stepped off the stage.

After he got off it, the stage transformed back into the floor, and kept me puzzled.

I had never seen our school's gym operate this way. The arena I had seen in actions, so I wasn't surprised by that, but whenever our school had their tournaments, we never got the bleachers.

Why is my school just so shitty, I thought as I sat down on my new seat.

Wait, wouldn't this affect my bacteria spread? so I asked the system if it would still spread right.

(Think about it yourself, you're smart enough to have thought of using the vents)

Wow, thanks for your kindness and generosity, I thought sarcastically.

If my bacteria would still be carried through the gym, I would be fine, and when the bleachers came out I could feel a slight breeze still, so I should be fine in the long run.

Are my bacteria even coming through the ducts right now? I inquired.

(Yes, they are coming through just fine, so don't worry about that, and focus on your stupid foot)

(Last time I checked, your foot was the more worrying issue, and I don't think I need to tell you about possible infections)

Gotcha, I will get my foot fixed, I thought, I know that it doesn't look good but it will be fine. I've thought about it already, and it will get healed within the hour.

A little fun fact about that little dorm over there, it is pretty good at its job, I said to the seemingly worried 'system'.

"Can we get Jackson Talon and Randy Dickinson in the arena for Fight 13 please," the old man called out to the crowd.

Two boys made their way down to where another kid was crying, yet another kid was pumping his fist in victory.

I couldn't believe my eyes, someone would pump their fist just for passing through the first round of the bracket.

It wasn't even a fair match from what I had saw. The kid who had won Fight 12 was a Yellow Grade and the other kid was a Red Grade, it was a horrible unbalanced match up.

But that kid who had won, was pumping his fist at that.

A frown grew on my face, Why would you act like that from winning the first battle. You didn't even fight well.

(Why are you even think this, you know he won't be able to hear them you idiot)

Does it matter if the complacent fool can hear me utter curses in my head? I asked the system.

(Nope, but it would help me out if you weren't uttering such foul language when only I can hear it)

(If you want to curse somebody do it to their face)

I don't know what you mean by cursing somebody, but I won't, I sneered, People like that will just get pounded to the ground. 

The old man suddenly called out, "Can we get Zen and Juliet Cunningham down in the arena for Fight 14."

I heard his bored voice boom throughout the whole gym, and grew a small smile.

"Can you save my spot for me?" I quickly asked Juliana as I put my backpack in my spot on the bleachers.

"Sure," she quickly replied, "Good luck."

"Thanks," I said as I made my way down to the arena.

I tried to not show my injury, so I slowly walked down the steps, and looked around for my opponent.

She had already made it down to the arena, and seemed to be looking for me.

She hadn't seen me yet, but I was surprised to see that she was a Yellow Grade. 

On the wall where the brackets were, in a corner they would display the fighters with their school photo, and around the photo was an aura.

Mine was Indigo, but her aura was Yellow. 

I could only assume that the bracket was made, so Yellow Grades could make it through the first round easily, so that the later rounds could be more exciting, but that was only a hunch.

When I reached the final step she finally noticed that I was her partner, and she stepped into the arena, and waited for me to make my way over.

I still had a little while to go, so I observed her gaze as I walked over.

She was looking at legs, and she seemed to have noticed my injured foot, but that didn't matter, I would still win.

I could tell that she was slightly nervous because we had been inside of the same class.

She had seen me fight, so she knew what I could do.

And that was very little.

I slowly stepped into the arena's barrier, and waited for the battle to start.

The old man was the one to start the match, but for some reason he was looking at me.

He most certainly saw my injury, but he suddenly sighed and mustered the most bored expression I have ever seen. "3,2,1, Go."

Juliet immediately charged at me in a roundabout way that went for my right side. 

I rotated to face her as she got closer to me, but she abruptly side stepped to my right side, and went for a roundhouse kick.

I just ducked under her, and grabbed her leg in a quick shooting motion.

She could do nothing as I stood up again with her leg, so she fell on her back.

I quickly did a spin still holding onto her, and threw her across the arena like a sandbag.

She bounced a good bit once, but after that she was tumbling for a little bit.

I quickly ran after her, and when she stopped I was ready with my right leg already shooting for her stomach.

She tried to get up, and face me, but my foot smashed into her stomach before she could, and she was sent flying.

The sad part was that she started to barf up her lunch as she flew outside of the arena and rolled onto the wooden floor.

A lackey of the old man ran up trying to not step in the barf, and checked her to see if she was okay.

Then he made a quick hand signal, which I could only guess meant that she was okay, and then he and another lackey made sure she got to one of the mattresses that they had laying out for people who went unconscious.

Despite thirteen other losers being defeated she was the only one beaten to this extent, so she was able to rest in the comfiest mattress there.

"Zen is the winner," the old man said as his lackeys started to hook Juliet up to multiple machines to make sure she would be okay, and I started to walk back to my seat.

When I took the first step outside of the arena, my foot started to heal, so I just stood right outside of the barrier while I waited for it to heal.

It was fully healed in seconds, and I could only wish I didn't have anything covering it while it did.

After it healed I started to make my way up through the bleachers and back to my seat.

It was a nice little warm up for the basically new foot. The new foot was still stiff from the regeneration.

It hurt a little bit as it stretched out as I walked up the stairs, but it was nothing compared to when I pushed off it during the fight, or when I used it to stabilize myself for the kick. 

Those nearly broke my focus during the fight.

By the time I had reached my seat it was feeling much better, so I did a quick calf raise to get a full range of motion check, and it moved smoothly without any issue. 

After the little extra I did, I moved my backpack, and to my surprise the girls sitting next to me were looking at me like I was a completely new person. 

"What's with the weird faces?" I asked.

Their faces were wide eyed, and had dropped jaws.

It looked like they were from some weird cartoon.

I didn't know why they were looking at me like that, so I just pulled out my last sandwich because I knew there was going to be a while before my next match.