LIMITLESS SPARRING

The cadets gathered outside their dormitories; all of their eyes swollen from the tear gas. Most of them are still semi-asleep.

Franz, Bryan and Nanami waited for them outside. Bryan absent-mindedly looked at his watch.

"All arrived on time, acceptable," he said.

Bryan pointed to the flag post nearby. "If you get eliminated or you choose to quit, drop your helmets and number plates there!"

"Today's training begins! 10km run standby!" yelled Nanami. The cadets all sprinted forward.

(1 hour later)

"Limitless sparring!" announced Maia. "Use any means at your disposal to take down your opponent! Exercise self-restraint."

Sean found himself standing in a muddy field, facing off Karl. The cadets are now dressed in full body sparring gear. They had been allocated pairs to fight against in a hand-to-hand combat training. Louis faced off against Albert, Ariel against Clara, Vera against a Swiss-Chinese Inari cadet named Erika Chan, numbered 4. Eddie is however, unfortunate, as due to a lack of cadets, he is facing off against an instructor, Lieutenant Reza Ilhan.

Reza smiled at Eddie, "You were from the 1st Commando Battalion before joining UNSSD Special Operations, right?" he asked. Eddie replied that he was. Reza laughed. "Consider us neighbours then, I was from Kopassus. So, let's see who fares better, Singapore's finest or Indonesia's best?"

Maia blew her whistle, signalling that the course begins. Eddie froze a thick layer of ice around his arms, then charged at Reza, who dodged with ease and tackled him into the mud. Eddie grunted, smashing Reza in the head with his arm, pieces of ice shattering onto the ground. Reza blinked, disoriented from the impact. Had he not worn a helmet that force was enough to open wounds. Seizing his chance, Eddie pushed Reza off him into the mud, climbing up. Reza however was faster, quickly forming ice around his knees and kneed Eddie in the face, sending him back down into the mud.

Ariel grunted, kicking Clara down with a forceful kick in the groin. "Come on!" she taunted. Clara roared, charging at Ariel and traded blows with Ariel. Ariel elbowed Clara, quickly pulling distance, throwing a fireball at Clara who sliced it apart in the air with a gust of wind she generated that travelled like a sharp blade.

Erika winked at Vera, extending her claws and charged at her with extreme ferocity and speed. Vera avoided her blow, catching her in a backflip and smashed her into the mud. Erika stood up, Vera deployed the pincer on her tail and use it like a third arm, attacking Erika from 3 sides. Erika immediately froze the air around her to form shields, and Vera generated flames around her tail and hands to break them.

Louis tackled down Albert and hurled him into the mud. Albert caught himself before he fell in and levitated down, giving Louis a thumbs up. Louis gave Albert a thumbs up in return. Albert however, soon turned that to a thumbs down and threw a series of punches at him, generating strong gusts of wind that almost floored Louis. Louis immediately formed 2 ice daggers in his hands, and summoned 2 tentacles, each holding an ice dagger.

"4 arm swordsmen," recognised Albert, surprised. "That's a technique commonly used by Lita contractors in Spades International."

Louis charged at Albert, attacking him with fast and precise blade work from 4 sides. Albert immediately jumped back, forming flames around his hands, using them to block and melt the ice blades.

"He is fast…" muttered Albert, struggling to keep up.

Meanwhile, Sean and Karl still walked around in ready positions, not trading blows. Both are waiting for the other to strike first. Finally, Karl lost his patience and threw a fireball at Sean. Sean immediately formed an ice shield, stopping the fireball and generating a veil of mist. Little did he knew that it was Karl's trap, he took the chance to charge and punched him in the waist, sending Sean reeling back.

"Go to hell!" roared Karl. Sean shook his neck, then lunged at Karl, swiftly hitting him in the waist multiple times. Karl grunted in pain, punching Sean off. He then used his mind powers on Sean, causing Sean to lose focus, taking multiple blows from Karl.

Sean quickly recovered, dodging a blow by Karl and wrestling him down, before Karl can get up, another blow hit him in the face. Sean then locked Karl, twisting his arms, careful to control his strength to ensure that he does not accidentally fracture his limbs.

Clara kicked Ariel down. Ariel then caught Clara in the middle of her second kick and tripped Clara. Seizing her chance, Ariel pinned her down and locked her knee joint around her neck, restraining her in a takedown.

Eddie charged at Reza, only for him to punch him in the face first with an ice coated fist, knocking Eddie down.

Erika grunted, pulling Vera's tail, causing Vera to lose balance, falling. She then jumped onto her body and plummeted blows down onto her face, which Vera feebly blocked.

Louis and Albert coincidentally punched each other in the face at the same time while generating bursts of wind, the result being that both of them are sent flying into the mud.

Nanami chuckled at them, then she blew her whistle, signalling the end of the segment.

Hearing the whistle, Sean loosened his grip on Karl, asking if he is alright, to which Karl angrily pushed him away. "No room for sore losers," joked Sean.

Reza helped Eddie up.

Clara tapped on Ariel, asking her to loosen her grip, which Ariel complied.

Erika stepped off Vera, allowing her to seat up. Vera rubbed her tail in pain.

Louis and Albert both crawled up, rubbing their faces in pain.

"Stay where you are! If you're standing up keep standing, if you're lying on the ground keep lying!" ordered Maia.

She looked at Sean who is standing up.

"Number 9!" she yelled. "Step out, let me spar with you!"

The cadets all turned to Sean, surprised.

Sean declined. "Ma'am! I don't think this is allowed?" he replied.

"Cadets have no right to decline the instructors!" roared Maia angrily, stepping forward.

Nanami stopped her. "Enough," she warned. "This is the training field, not an arena to settle your personal scores," she said, trying to persuade her to stand down.

"Not your business," snapped Maia, pushing Nanami aside. She then threw an ice dagger at the feet of Reza who attempted to stop her.

Nanami radioed Franz, alerting him of the situation. After some deliberation, Franz gave the order to proceed, while getting on a jeep and driving over.

"Alright then!" said Nanami. "Consider this a demonstration."

Maia took off her load bearing vest and wore a set of sparring gear.

Sean looked away from her, not wanting to face her directly. He knows how much she hates him for his role in Freyja's death.

Clara whispered to Ariel, "what's going on here?"

"I heard that Sean is re-enlisted," whispered Ariel back, recounting the rumours she had heard when she was selected for the Tier 1 course. "I think they have tensions."

Maia charged at Sean, holding him in a throat lock, Sean immediately elbowed her, prompting Maia to loosen her grip, but before he can fully free himself, Maia grabbed Sean again and wrestled him into the mud.

Just as Maia is going to land another blow. Sean raised his arm. "I admit defeat," he said, not wanting to fight Maia, feeling that he deserved being defeated by her for his mistakes 3 years ago.

He stood up slowly. Suddenly, out of the blue, Maia gave him an uppercut, sending Sean swirling backwards, landing back in the mud, disoriented.

Maia then directed a kick directly at Sean's head, Sean's survival instincts kicked in, recovering and fighting back, the 2 continued to trade blows, sending mud flying everywhere. The sound of flesh and bone clashing reverberated. Flames, ice, and bursts of wind also appeared time to time.

The other cadets watched apprehensively. They can tell that if this goes on, at least one of them is going to be seriously injured.

Suddenly a gunshot resonated through the air. Maia and Sean turned to see Franz with a HK VP9 pistol in his hand. They released their grip on each other, facing Franz.

Franz kept his pistol back into his holster. "Maia, you tired?" he asked.

"Sir, not one bit!" yelled Maia. "I treat every training like live combat!"

Franz snickered. "You 2 are having live combat while the other cadets are there watching you 2 like circus clowns, do you think that's acceptable?"

Maia bowed her head, guilty.

"Sir!" exclaimed Sean. "Instructor Maia here asked me to be a volunteer for a demonstration, I have agreed to it!" he lied, wanting to end the hostilities here and save Maia some face.

Franz sneered. "One veteran and one instructor, sparring with each other without any restraint, YOU CALL THIS A DEMONSTRATION?"

"Did you get your head kicked by a donkey?" roared Franz, reprimanding Maia. "Since when did limitless sparring gave you the right to treat your comrade like an enemy?!"

"Remember! There is another relationship between the 2 of you, comrades in arms!" roared Franz.

He directed his attention to the other cadets. "Most of you here have never been thrown into desperate scenarios, in such cases, other than your determination and skills, all you can rely on are each other!"

"Comraderie is the most important trait of all soldiers! No matter how big your differences are, its never an excuse to rain down wanton violence on each other. Understood?!"

"YES SIR!" yelled the cadets in unison.

Franz then turned to Sean and Maia. "Head to your next course!" he ordered. "Maia, go run 50 rounds around the running track and I want a handwritten 1,000-word reflection by tomorrow morning. IS THAT CLEAR?!"

"Yes sir…" muttered Maia. Sean left with the other cadets, turning back to see Maia glaring at him. He looked away, trying to not let the raging guilt envelope him.