The morning sun had finally risen, a few people around the school had struggled to sleep through the night, and Rebecca[Layla] was one of them. Throughout the whole night she had been pondering how to inform the others. She had already made up her mind that she needed to warn them, but couldn't figure out how.
She didn't want to imagine what would happen when Truedream found out that Tony[Peter] had no Skill[ability] that could be taken. She was aware of his intentions, from what the boys and Pure had told her, Rebecca[Layla] had accurately deduced the specifics of Wesley[Duke]'s plan.
Every term, Truedream would visit a different military base. However, it turned out that he visited a particular one more often than the others, and that was military base two. This was the reason why Rebecca[Layla] had been sent to this place.
Something strange was going on with military base two, they hadn't been able to figure out what yet, because so far every agent they sent had disappeared. Thus, they decided to do things differently this time, so instead of sending a grownup, they decided to send an agent, who was at the age of the draft, in as a student.
The reason for Truedream's visit was to acquire different abilities from students. Every time that Truedream used his Skill[ability], it would also increase his Skill[ability] level along with it. His skill bypassed almost all the information that they had about mutant cells.
After taking someone's Skill[ability] away, he could then implant the Skill[ability] into a new person. Their body would automatically get the same Skill[ability] level as the one that was taken. Nevertheless, they would still need to take the time to get familiar with the Skill[ability] and learn all the skills.
This was why they were offering Tony[Peter] a lot of Skill[ability] books, and it also explained why they were hurrying him to get his Skill[ability] to level four. There were always certain criteria when it came to choosing which students to use for this. The first and most important criterion was, they should never hail from an original family.
Although Truedream's family was one of the big four, usually other originals were also part of the big four, or under the banner of one. So this criterion was added to avoid a war between the big four.
They needed students who wouldn't stand out, so that people wouldn't really notice, or care if they were to go missing. As such another one of the criterion was, the student had to come from a poor family, ones with no backing or support.
Archer[Quinn] was still safe because the school believed that at present he had no Skill[ability], but both Rebecca[Layla] and Tony[Peter]'s abilities were documented, and both of them fulfilled the criteria. It was different for them, there was a possibility that along with Tony[Peter], Rebecca[Layla] was also a target.
Rebecca[Layla] had entered the school using false documents, her family wasn't prominent, but she didn't mind if she was to lose her Skill[ability]. She had only obtained it for the mission in the first place. The only thing that she didn't want was to end up like Tony[Peter], and be the military's lap dog. She needed an outside position, where she could observe everything that was happening without getting involved.
With all things said, she didn't have to warn them about what could happen, but Rebecca[Layla] wanted to. The question left was, how should she go about explaining what she had discovered?
++++
The morning combat classes had started and Rebecca[Layla] had wanted to team up with Archer[Quinn], hoping she would be able to get a hint on what they were planning with Tony[Peter].
Unfortunately, before she could even reach Archer[Quinn], he had already gone off to Arian[Fex]. Although the two of them didn't talk much, she could see that Archer[Quinn] was enjoying himself while practising with Arian[Fex]. Perhaps, it was because they were both the same race or had something else in common.
She could tell a real friendship was beginning to develop. 'I hope I will have something like that, it all seems so real instead of this fakeness.' Rebecca[Layla] thought as she looked at her own disposition.
"What are you daydreaming about?!" Gyro[Erin] shouted. "I can't believe we have to continue practising these stupid leg techniques. This is the beast weapons class, not the martial arts class. And Simon[Leo] said he wouldn't move on until he was satisfied with the performance of every single one of us, " She complained, with a slight look of frustration on her face.
The two girls continued to train together using the leg techniques, but a slip in Rebecca[Layla]'s concentration caused her to drop her guard. She wasn't able to lift her knee in time, like how she usually would during practice, and instead, Rebecca[Layla] took a full blown kick from Gyro[Erin], to her side.
"Ouch!" Rebecca[Layla] said, as she dropped on the floor while gripping her side.
"What's wrong? We have practised that kick so many times, I was sure you would be able to block something like that?" Gyro[Erin] said as she walked over, and offered her hand to her fallen comrade.
Rebecca[Layla] lifted her hand to grab Gyro[Erin]'s, but the pain on her side hurt even more. Furthermore, she noticed a stinging pain arise every time she breathed. "What the hell? I knew your sword skills were monstrous, but where did you get such strength in your kicks? I think you broke one of my ribs."
"Would you stop complaining?" Gyro[Erin] said as she knelt down, and placed her hand on her friend's side. She then activated her ice Skill[ability], ever so slightly, causing the muscles around that area to become numb from the cold, and also taking the pain away.
"Can someone call the guard and take her to the doctor's office?" Simon[Leo] said.
Gyro[Erin] then lifted Rebecca[Layla] up from the ground, allowing her to use her shoulder for support. "Don't worry, I will take her. Besides, she needs to walk a little bit on her own. It will only make her stronger, " Gyro[Erin] said.
The two girls then started to leave the room together. As they were walking, Rebecca[Layla] couldn't help but feel useless and pathetic. Other than a blood bank for Archer[Quinn], what use did Rebecca[Layla] really have? She hadn't even been helpful in the fight with the Oregon[Dalki]. If it wasn't for Gyro[Erin], the two of them would have been dead back then.
And Zamier[Vorden], although a bit messed up in the head, was very powerful. The only one who was even more worthless than her was Tony[Peter], and that wasn't much of an achievement.
"Would you please stop crying? I didn't mean to hit you that hard. You usually block something like that, " Gyro[Erin] said, in an attempt to comfort Rebecca[Layla].
Rebecca[Layla] didn't even notice, since her thoughts were so muddled that tears were now slowly descending from her eyes. She wiped them away, and simply put on a brave smile.
"Oh, it's not that. I was just thinking about how useless I am to the team whenever we're in a fight, " Rebecca[Layla] said.
"Well, you're not wrong about that, " Gyro[Erin] replied, not realising how harsh she sounded.
Although Gyro[Erin] was right, it still hurt Rebecca[Layla] to hear it straight from her mouth.
"But you help in other ways. You were the one who thought about that blood bowl, remember? I can't say much, but honestly, if you weren't there to hold me back sometimes, I would have already shoved a few spikes up the boy's backsides."
Rebecca[Layla] laughed. "Gyro[Erin], this is kind of a strange question to ask but, are we friends?"
"Well, I don't carry everyone I hurt, out of the room."
Although Gyro[Erin] didn't say it, Rebecca[Layla] knew her well enough to know what she was like by now.
Back at the training hall, the lesson had just finished for the day. Archer[Quinn] had managed to work up quite a sweat all the while going up against Arian[Fex]. Truth to be told, Arian[Fex] was the only person in the room who he could go against while merely using a fraction of his power, outside of Simon[Leo] of course.
When practising with Rebecca[Layla] and Gyro[Erin], he would always have to hold back his power slightly, but with Arian[Fex], it was different.
Now that the lesson was over for the day, students were free to do what they wanted. That's the moment when Archer[Quinn] noticed Arian[Fex], who was looking around the room oddly, and was kicking the floor about, until he eventually started to speak up.
"Hey, uh… I know this is kind of strange to ask after everything that happened between us, but what are you planning to do after this?" Arian[Fex] asked.
Lately, whenever Arian[Fex] would try to approach people, they would turn away as soon as they saw his watch. It was a strange reaction, but he had finally understood the matter when he saw the mistreatment going on around the school.
This caused him to be quite an outcast, yet that wasn't the only problem. He was also incredibly bored. With no one to really talk to, and nothing to explore, he started to look forward to the training sessions with Archer[Quinn].
"Me, umm, I was actually planning to go to the VR gaming room?" Archer[Quinn] replied.
"VR gaming room, what's that?" Arian[Fex] asked, with a little bit of excitement in his eyes.
"I can show you if you want. You want to come along?"
"Well, I mean, if you really want me to come that bad, sure, " Arian[Fex] replied, his anticipation clearly showing through his faux shy demeanour.
To be continued....
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