Chapter 8: Reunion

Van was walking across the compound towards a cluster of small buildings situated far away from the main academy. He walked quickly, looking around to make sure there was nobody around, as the lack of trees made him stick out like a sore thumb to anyone watching.

As a breeze blew past Van, he shivered. It was quite cold, even though the sun was high in the sky.

'Damn it's cold.' Van thought as he shoved his hands in his pockets. He walked for another minute or two before he could make out a crowd in the distance. From what Van could see, they were all gathered around the frontmost building.

Van breathed in and out a couple times before his gaze filled with determination. 'Let's do this.' He thought to himself, now walking forward with confidence.

******

In front of the Trainee Registration building, a huge crowd full of teenagers stood in excitement, talking and making a ruckus despite how different they all looked. There were boys in leather armor, girls in robes, and some even wore school uniforms similar to Van.

All of the trainees gathered here were Transmigrators from all kinds of worlds. If one listened to the crowd carefully, they would be able to distinguish all the different ways people talked to each other.

"Greetings, what rank potential did thou receive?"

"Hello brother, this lowly trainee is but a humble B ranker."

"Hah, all of you kneel before me, I got an S rank! Just like in those novels!"

"What kind of world are you gonna visit first when you become a full fledged Transmigrator?"

"I wanna go somewhere like home! Preferably with more advanced space travel, and better mechs!"

"Is this all of us? I wanna get started with training already!"

"Yeah, we're complete. They should be coming to get us all in like, 5 minutes." 

"Oh wait, looks like we got one more." 

"Huh? Where?"

"Back there, coming from the entrance."

"Man, what's up with his shirt? That design looks terrible…"

The trainees at the back spotted the newcomer, a boy who had his hands in his pockets as he approached. As he got closer, they got a good look at him. 

White shoes, wrinkled blue pants, and a white button-up shirt that had brownish blotches on the front. Black hair, black eyes, and a long, thin scar that went from ear to ear, across his nose. The boy stopped in front of the trainees before weakly waving at him.

"Hi. I'm Van, is this where the trainees are?"

The people at the back who spotted Van before shrugged before going back to whatever they were doing. All ignored him except for a boy wearing a hoodie and shorts that approached him. 

"Yeah, we're meant to gather here and wait for someone or something. I'm Mark. You're from Earth, right?"

Van shook Mark's hand before they joined the back of the crowd.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Van asked him, to which Mark nodded at his clothes.

"XX High School. Plus, have you seen what the trainees from other worlds are wearing? It's weird, but makes it easy to distinguish people from Earth."

Looking at the others in the crowd, Van noticed what Mark meant. Many were wearing robes, armor, spacesuits, and some were just wearing rags. Van even saw a person wearing a spiked skull, their head not visible. 

"So, what's going on up front?" 

"Actually, I don't know. Wanna check it out?"

The two continued to talk as they moved to the front of the crowd. Van didn't show it, but he was excited while talking to Mark. He hoped he was about to make a friend for the first time in years.

"What's wrong with your shirt?" Mark pointed at the stains on Van's shirt.

"Oh, it's just blood." Van shrugs, to which Mark chuckled. "Right, right."

As they got close to the front of the crowd, Van could hear what the people around them were murmuring. 

"Really? Someone got a T rank potential? They say there hasn't been a T rank for like 200 years!"

"Yeah, apparently his name's Grant, and his friends with him are all apparently at least S ranked potential!" 

Van froze, before shaking his head and moving forward. There was no way… right?

They reached the front, where the crowd was the loudest, and couldn't go through anymore.

"What's going on?" Van asked Mark.

"No clue. Let's try to get a better look."

Van and Mark tried to peek over the heads of those in front of them, and Van saw it. The face that he could never forget.

"Haha, no way! He's here!"

Before Van could process what he just saw, he was roughly shoved from behind, and burst out of the crowd to land at the feet of the center of all the commotion. Looking up, Van saw him, and began to tremble. The blonde hair, the evil grin. Grant was looking back down at him.

"Look who it is, guys." Van quickly looked behind him to see who shoved him, and saw Travis, a tall, burly man who was one of his many tormentors. Van slowly stood back up as Travis joined Grant and the others. Now, Van could see that he was reunited with all 8 of them. 

Grant, Travis, Emil, Jake, Maria, Jessica, Trish, and Belle. The 4 boys and 4 girls all looked down at him with various expressions. Disgust, amusement, excitement, he could see them all.

Van stood there silently, beginning to tremble. Grant walked to his side before putting his arm around Van, who was frantically scanning the crowd for Mark.

"M-Mark?" 

Unfortunately, Mark was nowhere to be seen. It seemed he had disappeared into the crowd as soon as Travis had arrived. 

"You know, Van, it's really great to see you again. We all thought you went - SPLAT! - on the concrete back there, which honestly would've been pretty funny." 

Grant patted Van's shoulder as those at the front of the crowd began to murmur about them. 

"Who's that guy? You think he's another S rank or something?"

"I don't think so, look at how he's shaking. I think he's about to cry."

Van truly was about to cry. 2 days. 2 days he was free from his torture, but now he was back in hell. He could already see it, being called to places to get beat up again, being forced to do things that would put himself in danger, never being free- 

The night before flashed in his mind. He stood up for himself then, why not now? Instantly, he began to calm down. He wasn't fine, but now he could actually think somewhat. 

Mark had abandoned him. Sure, they knew each other for less than 5 minutes, but for Van, it was like he had been thrown to the wolves. 'Looks like I won't be making friends this time…' 

"Look around Van. A bunch of our schoolmates are here. You think we look nostalgic to them right now?"

Looking around, Van realized he was right. Most of the people that were interested in them were either faces he recognized from school, or people wearing clothes that were obviously from Earth. Those from other worlds didn't seem to care, only slightly interested in the rarity behind Grant's rank potential. 

Suddenly, Grant punched Van in the back of the head, sending him down to the dirt. Van gripped the back of his head in pain, coughing violently. 

'Is it just me, or is he hitting harder than before?' He thought to himself.

Van tried to get up when a foot landed on his back and pushed him deeper into the dirt. Van craned his neck to turn and glare at Grant, who was stepping on his back. Grant raised an eyebrow at seeing Van's glare. 

"Oh, that's the first time I've seen a look like that on your face," He said, before leaning down and grinning at Van. "Just what happened to you?"

Before Van could respond, something grabbed the crowd's attention. The crowd became noisy, and Grant even turned away from Van, who couldn't see anything except the dirt and Grant above him.

Van saw Grant frown, and a voice broke through all the noise, silencing the crowd.

"Quiet down! And no fighting!"

An invisible force seemed to shoot out towards the crowd, aiming for Van and Grant. Van felt a huge gust of wind before seeing Grant put his arms up to shield his face. The force made contact with Grant's arms as the sound of a whip being cracked could be heard. Grant was forced a meter back, taking his foot off of Van, who sighed in relief at the pressure being taken off his back.

Unfortunately for him, Grant wasn't the only target. Before Van could stand up, the force crashed into him too, sending him sliding across the dirt past Grant and into the crowd behind. Van felt like his torso was punched by a giant. He couldn't breathe, and his chest and stomach hurt so much that he wanted to vomit.

In front of the crowd, a woman wearing office attire and holding a clipboard had arrived. She had been the one who released the invisible force that attacked Van and Grant. 

"Trainees, now that I have your attention, it's time for your registration." She cleared her throat. 

"Everyone gather up. I will call your names one by one, and a device I have with me will project your name, origin world, transmigration trigger, rank potential, and current rank. Any questions about these will be answered in official training. After your turn is done, you will line up next to me."

As soon as she finished speaking, the crowd gathered in front of her, everyone stepping over Van who struggled to stand. As she began calling out names, Van dusted himself off. Now his clothes were bloody AND dirty.

The trainees began to line up next to the woman. Van stood near the back of the crowd, silently shaking in rage and fear. Grant and the others were back. Within 5 minutes of meeting someone new, Grant had ruined it and humiliated him in front of everyone.

But Van wasn't the same boy who jumped off that construction site anymore. He had stood up to his parents, and got a little revenge at the same time. Van didn't know how, but this time, he wouldn't just lay down and let his bullies walk all over him. He was going to live his new life, one way or another.