Sun, no Terra, fidgeted with the hem of her dirty shirt. She wanted to ask these kind strangers for a change of clothes, but she still didn’t know what they wanted or what ‘The Rebellion’ stood for. All she knew at this point was that a group of teenagers had powers, they’d dressed themselves up in corresponding colors, and claimed to be heroes. So in the end, she didn’t really know anything.

“Nice to meet you, Terra. I bet you’re wondering why we rescued you or why we were out in the desert, to begin with, right?” Podinal declared, not even waiting for her to respond before continuing. “Our leader said that we would find a girl in the desert and we had to make her feel at home. Super vague, I know, but we did it anyway. Been at it two weeks now but still going strong. Don’t feel bad if you aren’t her since we’re heroes and we refuse to give up.”

He gestured for her to sit down on a chair. Vazerio stepped up and continued where his comrade had left off.

“We just need to run a small test, if you’re willing. You can always say no and we’ll just let you go home, but so far no one has passed so you’ll probably be going home anyway.”

Terra didn’t feel any malice coming from any of them, so she nodded her head to take whatever test they had stored for her. Plus, she didn’t have a home to return to so if she did somehow pass maybe they’ll offer a place. If she didn’t pass, she wondered if they would still offer her some housing. Unter strolled forward something hidden by a piece of dark fabric and handed it to Vazerio.

“What we need you to do is describe this item.” Vazerio pulled off the fabric, revealing what was underneath.

Terra couldn’t seem to back away fast enough from the dark crystal Vazerio held in his hand, toppling over the chair she was sitting on and rushing to the back corner of the wall, hoping to find a way out. The door was near the group and she wondered that if she booked it she could make it before anyone stopping her. Everyone seemed genuinely surprised by her reaction, which did give her the advantage.

Sprinting forward she grabbed the door’s handle and pulled, but it shut in her face immediately. Damn Roip and her superspeed! Terra tried running to the back of the room again, but, Roip grabbed her arm before she could escape.

“Let me go!” She screamed.

Memories of the horrible pain she had felt when she had been forced to purge the black crystal resurfaced and she fought harder to get away from Roip’s grasp.

“Calm down, it’s just a black rock.” Beiwot tried, but Terra refused to listen.

This group just wanted to use her like John had; they wanted some sort of wish granted and would do anything to get that crystal cleaned! She was going to fight this time though, she wasn’t tied down like before and had more than enough energy!

Terra grabbed Roip’s thumb and ripped Roip’s hand off her arm and turned around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the back of her opponent’s knees. Roip was surprised, but quickly recovered and lunged at Terra. Terra used the door to jump over Roip, but found herself in a new predicament; now Roip stood before her and her exit.

“Wait!” Vazerio wrapped the black crystal up and shoved it away in his pockets, showing his hands up for Terra to see. “We didn’t mean to startle you. I don’t know what about that rock makes you so scared, but you don’t need to see it anymore. If it’s any consolation, you passed, so... yay…” His hands shook in the air theatrically for effect.

“So what do we do know?” Dexai asked.

“I guess we move onto phase two.” Podinal chimed.

“She already seems strong enough, is phase two really necessary?” Roip remarked, rubbing the backs of her knees.

“We all had to go through the training sims and she’s no exception,” Unter added in a quiet voice.

“We should probably first ask her if she wants to join our cause before we start getting ahead of ourselves.” Vazerio turned to Terra, who had calmed down and come to the conclusion that the group really didn’t know what the crystal was. “Terra, will you do us the honors to join the Rebellion?”

All eyes turned to her expectantly.

“Not until I know what the Rebellion is,” Terra announced.

“You must not be from around here. Well, the pigs at the Capitol think that we all work for them.” Podinal started. “The people on the outskirts literally aren’t getting water and food while the heads at the Capitol throw charity balls to honor the election of a new corrupt leader.”

“We joined pretty late in the game and the Rebellion has been going on for a long time now. The other empires don’t seem to be having the problems we do with our Capitol.” Dexai mentioned.

“Our goal is to create a more even societal system by spreading the wealth the Capitol makes off labor to the lower tiers,” Unter commented.

“We’ve even tried reaching out to the other empires for aid, but if they did supply aid it would be like declaring war. Everyone is so afraid of conflict that they’ll let millions suffer as long as it doesn’t affect them directly!” Beiwot angrily voiced.

“Which is where we come in. We supply aid to the outskirts by delivering the goods to them once they’ve passed through the channels. A lot of the times the Capitol will hire mercenaries to chase down the stolen goods, but luckily we’re not like other people.” Vazerio rejoined. “So, what do you think? Would you like to help the less fortunate and be heroes like us?”

“Do I have to wear a costume?” questioned Terra with a grimace.

“Uh, I guess you don’t,” Podinal replied, a little disheartened.

“Then sure, I’ll join.”

“Do you need time to settle, or do you want to start immediately?” Vazerio asked her.

“There’s nothing to settle, let’s do it.”

Vazerio shrugged his shoulders and let her up the set of stairs and through the door. Terra had thought the living quarters would be behind the doors, but it was a spacious room that was made entirely of grey metal.

“We call this the sim room. All of our training is done here. You’ll need to put on this suit so we can read your movements and vitals so we can enhance your performance.”

He handed her a black suit with a bunch of blue dots all over it and then walked over to one of the walls and pressed his hand against it. A warm white light glowed where he had pressed his palm and an outline of a door appeared, the panel popping out and sliding out to reveal another set of stairs. She followed him up and found a large room filled with beds and bookshelves and personal items.

“This is where we stay since we’re all away from home. I take it since you didn’t give us anything besides your name you’ve run away from home?” He took Terra’s silence as confirmation. “You’re safe here. Think of us as your family and we’ll get along swimmingly. We already have a bed and everything for you.”

He stopped at the furthest bed from the door, indicating it was hers.

“Your dresser is fully stocked with simple clothes. We do get a small allowance every week to spend at your leisure. Most of us spend it on games and equipment, but you can spend it on whatever you want. You don’t even need to worry about food since we get it delivered. Kitchen and lounge are upstairs. You can change in the bathroom there,” he pointed to a door next to the set of stairs they had come up. “I’ll be in the sim room pulling up a beginner module, so just come down when you’ve changed.” With that, he turned on his heels after giving her an encouraging smile and left.

Terra walked across the room and shut the bathroom door behind her. When she looked at herself in the mirror, she was surprised to see her reflection staring back. Maybe Alter had gotten the hint and decided to leave her alone. Something was wrong with her reflection though, she looked much older than she remembered. Her eyes were a tired blue and she seemed to have sprouted a few inches. When did that happen? She looked closer at herself and saw that her facial features looked slightly elongated as if she stretched since the last time she’d seen herself. Her hair had a slight green tint to it as well, was that always there?

She shook her head of cobwebs and started removing her clothing. Blood had caked on her shirt and pants and she deemed them unusable. Despite her growth, the suit she had to put on was incredibly loose. Terra had to hold the waist of the suit in order to not trip while walking. Sucking it up, she strolled down the stairs, proud that she didn’t even stumble. She did feel ridiculous, and the fact that Vazerio was failing to hide his grin didn’t help her self-esteem.

“I take it you’ve never used one of those before.” He commented while trying to hide a smile.

“What gave that away?” Terra replied, holding up her sleeves to reveal a vast amount of extra fabric.

He walked up to her and pressed and held something on her collar. Terra could feel the suit shrinking until it fit snuggly against her body. She tested her limb movements and was pleased to find no restrictions.

“The first simulation we’re running is just basic technique. How to punch, how to block, how to kick, the whole beginner package. It’ll increasingly get harder and harder once you pass basic training since it adapts to your movements and brainwave patterns, and it’ll keep going until you lose. Roip holds our current record of reaching round 57. She says we should round it up since she got over halfway through it, but numbers are numbers.” He put a small cylinder in both of her hands and placed some sort of goggles on her head.

Terra found that she could see her hands and body, but she couldn’t see Vazerio anymore.

“The option for the session will pop up in a moment. Keep holding on to those sim sticks because they measure the force you put in a punch. Plus, if you manage to get through the beginning training today, those sim sticks will act as weapons in the fight simulators. Whenever you choose a different weapon, they adjust their weight accordingly so you have a more realistic feel for the weapon. Give me a moment to get out of the room and I’ll send you the notification.”

She heard him close the metal plating behind her, leaving her in complete silence. In the corner of the goggles, she could see her vitals displayed. A line of text appeared in her line of sight.

Training Sim: Beginner.

Begin?

Y/N