The Squadron Forms and Time Flies

'Another year gone.' Tigra thought as she sat boredly in class.

Over the year, she had gotten far enough ahead of the class that she became bored listening to their instructor speak about things she already knew, comprehended, and could even teach others. Considering she has helped Adora and Catra sometimes with their own subjects, she can say she knows the material.

She decided to check her 'sheet' as it's been classified to see how she's grown.

Tigra  Age: 10

Level 9 (1175/1700)

HP: 700  HPR: 70

MP: 200  MPR: 30

SP: 350  SPR: 35

STR: 10  DEX: 29

CON: 35  INT:21

WIS: 15  CHA: 10

Att. Points: 0

Skill Points: 10

[H2H LV 13 (259/1300) - Increases damage from weaponless attacks by 26 %.]

[Run LV 16 (134/700) - Increases DEX by 25% + 16 % when running.]

[Dodge LV 4 (175/400) - Has a 4 % chance to dodge an attack that you don't notice.]

[Reading LV 31 (481/1550)]

[Writing LV 26 (328/1300)]

[Sneak LV 16 (661/1300) - Have a 16.75% chance to avoid detection from someone looking for you. Have a 33.5% chance of avoiding detection from those that aren't looking or aware of you.]

[Dash LV 21 (777/1000) - Multiplies your DEX by 150% + 21%]

[Electrical Resistance LV 27 (2158/2700) - Decreases damage taken from electrical attacks by 27%]

[Physical Resistance LV 6 (546/600) - Decreases damage taken from physical attacks by 6%]

Spells:

[Flame LV MAX - Can create small flames on the tips of your fingers. Cost: 1 MP/m]

[Fire LV MAX - Can create larger flames that can cover the hands, be used to cook, or be used to light a campfire. Cost: 4.5 MP/m]

[Heat LV 13 (976/1950) - The ability to produce heat throughout various parts of your body. Use of this could balance body temperature or even raise it as an example. Cost: 11 MP/m]

…

Tigra had tested the ability to increase her stats through exercise, yet quickly learned that her ability doesn't translate that way. The only way she's found to increase her base stats are through leveling up skills or by using Attribute Points to increase them directly.

She had used 10 each to increase her DEX and CON, 5 for STR, 4 for INT, 3 for WIS, and 8 for CHA. While Charisma doesn't seem to be doing much for her at the moment, she didn't like seeing a 2 next to all her other stats. After increasing it though, she found herself able to take charge of group projects and could more easily find ways to motivate others to do what she wanted.

Tigra focused on her Skill Points before another menu opened up, asking if she wanted to upgrade or create a skill/spell or purchase a trait.

That had popped up when she reached Level 5 about 6 months ago. Or, more accurately, when her Skill points would have reached 5 total points at one point.

She had held off on using her points but had seen herself falling slowly behind the others and refused that.

So, she focused on [Purchase Trait] before a list of available traits appeared for her.

[Traits available: ]

[Strong - Permanently increases STR by 15%]

[Quick - Permanently increases DEX by 15%]

[Durable - Permanently increases CON by 15%]

[Smart - Permanently increases INT by 15%]

[Wise - Permanently increases WIS by 15%]

[Charming - Permanently increase CHA by 15%]

…

[Improved Regen - Multiplies HPR by 2]

[Enhanced Regen - Multiplies MPR by 2]

[Healthy as a Horse - Multiplies SMR by 2]

…

[Pyromaniac - EXP for [Fire Magic] is doubled. Stackable with other multipliers]

[In the Shadows - The level influence of [Sneak] is increases by 50%]

[You are Speed - For 2 minutes, DEX is multiplied by 3. Can only be used once a day]

…

While there aren't any that would influence her too much right now, [Quick], [Enhanced Regen], and [You are Speed] are ones that she does want. She thought of the pros and cons of them.

'[Quick] would be active constantly and it affects my speed, ability to dodge, and damage I do in an attack. Con, my DEX is already pretty high and doesn't need to be increased right now.'

'[Enhanced Regen] would be useful since, unlike my HPR and SMR, MPR is directly linked to my WIS. So, unless I focused on Magic, my MPR would stay lower in numbers compared to the other regens. Con, I'm not planning on using Magic enough to be recognized for it for now, especially with Shadow Weaver still my superior.'

'[You are Speed] would be a good last resort in case I get in trouble. But I believe that I can remain alive and out of that big of trouble for now.'

With the pros and cons thought of, she decided to get [You are Speed] and [Quick].

Traits [You are Speed] and [Quick] have been purchased for 10 Skill Points.

…

DEX: 29 → 33

...

With all of that done and having nothing else to mess with with the sheet, she was forced to tone back into what this instructor had been talking about, yet found herself intrigued.

"Today, those of you who haven't been placed into squads yet will be when you move to your barracks. Those on your squad will remain so unless they are expelled or removed from action via injury or death." They informed.

*Bing*

"Remember to study. You have your final exam in two months that will determine if you will be moving to the 3rd year of the Academy or if you have wasted our time and must do this again. Dismissed."

Tigra hopped out of her chair before making her way out of the class and made her way to the gym with a wide smirk as she prepared herself for her routined quest reminder if they are to fight today. They usually fought about once a week in her combat class with the other days training the body or seeing how far our limits were.

For Tigra herself, it was easy for her to figure out her limits since her limits could be calculated by her in a few moments. She could [Run] for about 40 minutes before she would collapse, [Dash] for 10 minutes, fight for 30 minutes without breaks, and could take about 40-55 direct hits in a fight with her fellow students before she would need to end the fight one way or another.

The ones not like her? They could run for maybe 10 minutes, dash for 3, and maybe fight for 12 minutes. They aren't neat and consistent like she was, yet she preferred that. It always reminded her that not everything comes down to just numbers. Kept her from becoming detached with reality.

As she walked into the gym, she was greeted by her class and Mr. Baston once more.

"Anyone here willing to fight Tigra?" He asked them.

No one raised a hand at this, which only made her smirk harder.

[Quest [Trial by Combat II] completed!]

Reward: 35 EXP x29

1015 EXP gained.

Leveled up!

Tigra

Level 10 (480/1900)

Att. Points: 5

Skill Points: 1

…

This had become the norm for her after she had beaten everyone in this class without getting hit and had started to use her claws more and more, leaving more and more people unwilling to fight her where she was given free reign to use her claws.

"Alright, Tigra, you know the drill."

"Run until I can't, take a small break, and repeat for the rest of class time." She recited off.

Baston nodded before Tigra started doing just that. She wanted to level up Dash as she noticed that it increased CON by 2 when it reached level 5.

But she didn't just run. No, she also practiced another control spell she acquired from her Skill Point purchases, specifically Heat.

By using this while using Dash , she would gain EXP while it used Stamina while also having Heat gain experience by using Magic Points. Two separate energy points were being used without interfering with each other.

By focusing Heat to four separate areas, arms and legs, she could turn the meager 11 MP/m cost to 44 MP/m while also having Heat gain 4x the EXP per second.

'I'll run out of MP in 5 minutes and SP in about 10 minutes. Heat should gain about 1200 EXP when I run out of MP while Dash should gain about 780 by the time I need to stop running. With my regens, I'll stop for 7 minutes to let MP refill and SP refill by roughly 70% before starting this pattern for the next hour.' She thought out while already doing that plan.

'This method lets me empty and refill my MP 5 times when class is over. Stamina will never fully refill but will allow me to use Dash entirely with only four breaks in between, each giving 600 EXP for every break after the first.'

She had done this for months on end since this became her basic once a week activity. The upside: Run, Dash, and any spells she could use without them being seen could be upgraded at a much faster rate.

The downside: H2H, Dodge, and Physical Resistance had slowed down since she hadn't been able to fight people as often as she used to.

In fact, it has been long enough for her to need confirmation on how much damage she could deal with her hits. She knows her numbers are starting to get high enough that the multipliers for DEX are starting to show. It could become problematic if she doesn't learn how much others can actually take.

So, she did her training for the next hour before class ended once more.

…

[Dash] gained 3180 EXP

[Dash] leveled up! LV 21→22

[Heat] gained 6000 EXP

[Heat] leveled up! LV 13→16

…

Tigra opened the door to her barracks and came upon a strange sight.

A blond haired human that she vaguely remembered from the first day of the Academy was on the ground, covered by a load of papers with only his head and feet visible. He seemed to have grown taller by a few inches but still retained the noodle-like arms that she thinks she remembers him having.

[Kyle  Age: 10]

[LV: 7  Reputation: 32 [Friendly]]

…

She couldn't think of anything that she's done for him to have that high of an opinion of her. All she's done is fight anyone willing to fight her.

Near him, the Reptilian Rogelio held his green, scaly face in one of his hands. He stood about 2 or 3 inches taller than Tigra with claws permanently out and a tail behind him.

[Rogelio  Age: 10]

[Level: 8  Reputation: 15 [Friendly]]

…

Again, nothing stood out to her about what she could have done and at this point, it is just confusing and slightly annoying her.

Off to the side, Lonnie was leaning against a bed frame and seemed to be laughing slightly. Her arms seemed to have gained some muscle over the past year.

[Lonnie  Age: 10]

[Level: 9  Reputation: 27 [Friendly]]

…

'Alright, the moment it comes up, I'm asking what I've done to make them friendly towards me when I've barely interacted with them.' She thought.

The mood stopped as the trio looked over at her with varied expressions. Kyle seemed to be nervous to be in the same room as her while underneath a mess that he likely made, Rogelio seemed to be appraising her before finding something he liked, and Lonnie narrowed her eyes at her.

"The two bunks closest to the doors are mine, Adora, and Catra's sleeping spots." Tigra said, walking over to one of the beds and picking up a nearby book.

She sat on the bed before opening the book and starting to read.

"So…" Kyle spoke after about 15 minutes. "I guess we're going to be squadmates?"

Tigra looked at them.

"What are your specialties?" She should have expected the 'huh?' from Kyle. "Mine are speed and," With a snap, her left hand caught aflame, taking them back, "Magic."

With a quick wave of her hand, the fire went out and returned back to her book.

"Weapons and close-combat." Lonnie spoke, catching Tigra's attention, which could be noticed by her ear flicking.

"Really? Like to go a few rounds later?" Lonnie simply shrugged, not giving a yes or a no.

Rogelio growled and hissed, making Tigra look at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Med-ical and Mech-anic." He pronounced as he went.

Tigra nodded slowly.

"Can that growl and hissing language be taught?" To her surprise, Rogelio nodded with surprise in his eyes. "I will need to learn that to communicate more clearly."

"I-uh, seem to do better with small guns and machinery."

"Adora focuses on strength and speed as her second. Otherwise, she'll be focusing on staff, leadership, and hand-to-hand combat."

"Isn't she overachieving there?" Lonnie asked.

"With Shadow Weaver taking a special interest in you, you either swim or sink. Catra and I won't let her sink."

"Oh yeah, she's our Squadron Leader right? What is she like?"

"Annoying, cruel, task driver, and more." Tigra spoke off the top of her head. "Give it two weeks, you'll have her personality figured out as you will in three more years."

"And Catra?"

"Speed and strategy. She's more likely to plan something out for us than to let us do something without at least a contingency in place.

"Catra, Adora, and I are trying to become Force Captains as soon as we can. Do any of you three have goals that you want to complete as soon as you can?"

"I just want to finish my missions, fight, and if I become a Force General, so be it." Lonnie told her after a moment of quiet. "So, I'll only say this once, thanks for helping me improve my combat ability."

Tigra blinked before trying to think if she's actually fought Lonnie before in combat.

"I…don't have any memory of fighting you."

"You wouldn't." Lonnie looked away slightly. "I fought you last year in combat class. We saw each other for maybe two weeks before you were pushed ahead to the next combat class. Despite that, you showed how little strength meant if I can't actually hit my opponent."

"Sounds similar to how she helped me." Kyle spoke up.

"How, in Lord Hordak's name, did I help you?"

"Well, the few times I would get picked on in classes, you kinda tended to…draw attention to yourself. When they tried to fight me, you tended to call them out as your vict…um, sparring partners and knocked them down with a few hits. Afterwards, they seemed to think you cared about me. So, they left me alone."

"Well…while not my intention, I don't mind that that action occurred."

Rogelio started to grumble and hiss while Tigra narrowed her eyes.

"While I don't know exactly what you just said, did it have anything to do with me beating up someone or defending someone like I did with Kyle?"

Rogelio nodded lightly.

'Well, that explains why they have a good opinion of me already: I've accidentally helped them in one way or another when all I've been doing is focusing on improving my H2H and other skills.' Tigra confirmed. 'Well then, at least this will be an easy transition for me.'

[Quest Added!]

Moving up the Ranks

Once you graduate, you will be made a Senior Cadet. From there, you will have to provide results or prove your competence to be promoted to the next tier: Force Captain.

Objective: Be promoted to Force Captain

Bonus Objective: Achieve the promotion within a year of graduation.

Rewards: 10000 EXP, [Title: Force Captain], ???

…

That was how their squadron began and things only continued from there.

Adora seemed determined to be the best that she could become. She more or less mastered the staff, picked up strategy classes, joined Lonnie and Tigra in hand to hand classes, and started to put on muscles. Some of Tigra's protectiveness over the two of them seemed to have rubbed off onto Adora, which caused some tension to pop every now and then between her and Catra.

Catra only got faster and smarter with time. Tigra isn't sure but she's pretty confident in saying that she is only faster than Catra due to the boosts she gets from her skills. Catra also took up small weapons, like daggers, stun batons, and also a whip. She says that she just likes the motion of the whip. While Catra had a rough spot in the beginning when it came to making bonds with the squadron, she eventually gained a friendship with Rogelio and, begrudgingly, Lonnie. She would make fun of Kyle every time he messed something up, yet she seemed to make up ways to help Kyle improve.

Lonnie grew stronger and more tough thanks to her continuous fighting with Tigra. Since Adora joined them in combat classes more often, Lonnie seemed to have grown to respect Adora, despite how much Shadow Weaver seemed to favor Adora over the rest of them. She got along more with making fun of Kyle and sparring with Tigra more than the others.

Rogelio grew slightly happier at being able to talk in Lizard Tongue, his native language, more often than before ever since Tigra had shown that she actually meant it about learning Lizard Tongue. He also became the main mechanic of the squadron if something of theirs broke and they didn't know how to fix it. He seemed to have grown close to Kyle since he spent most of his time with him.

Kyle actually grew to become a pretty good marksman and medic throughout the years. The main downside for him though is that he becomes a lot more clumsy when he has to deal with those that have some expectation of him. He deals best when it is only Rogelio, Lonnie, or Tigra with him if someone has to be with him. Anyone else, they see 'useless' Kyle due to his nerves. As in he would mess up the simplest of things, like not knowing where their homework would be when it was right in front of his face.

And Tigra? She continued growing, fighting, improving her skills, anything that could put her ahead when they entered the war. After all…

[Quest Complete!]

The Academy

Rewards: 20000 EXP, Cadet Promotion

…

Due to reaching Level 25, a special announcement has been made. As of now, you will be receiving 10 Attribute points and 2 skill points per level up. This will be adjusted once more at Level 50 and 75 respectively.

However, the EXP required will increase once Level 50 has been reached and once more at 75.

…

Time has run out.

[Tigra Age: 17]

Level 28 (680/5500)

HP: 1750 HPR: 175

MP: 590 MPR:180

STM: 875 SMR: 175

...

STR: 23 DEX: 99

CON: 88 INT: 51

WIS: 56 CHA: 34

Magic Control: 20%

...

[H2H LV 69], [Run LV 57], [Dodge LV 38]

[Reading LV 72], [Writing LV 68], [Sneak LV 43], [Dash LV 68]

[Electrical Resistance LV 81], [Physical Resistance LV 34]

...

Spells:

[Flame LV MAX], [Fire LV MAX], [Heat LV MAX]

[Heal LV 8 - Heals target by 133 HP/m. Cost: 12 MP/m]

[Haste LV 17 - Multiplies Dex by 25%. Cost: 35 MP/m]

...

Traits:

[Night Vision - Allows you to see in very dim lighting]

[Magical - Allows you the ability to use magic]

[Huntress - Increases final DEX by 25%]

[Primal Instincts - You are aware when someone around you has the intent to harm you]

[You are the Weapon - doubles the bonus from Hand-To-Hand]

[Quick - increases final DEX by 15%]

[You are Speed - for 2 minutes a day, DEX is multiplied by 3]

[Healthy as a Horse- Stamina Regen is multiplied by 2]