The sounds of grunts, howling pain, thrown fists, gunfire, sword slashing, bodies being thrown, and other malicious sounds filled the arena. But there was no crowd of spectators or booming commentary; there was just General Scythe, and all of the new commanders, facing off against each other to prove their worth.

Scythe was a plucky man with alien like buggy eyes, and silver skin. He had thin lips and short wavy orange hair.

But he owned his position as General with pride, and with undoubtedly incredible skill and leadership.

He watched as commander after commander fought. Most in this division were of human race, only a speckle were Agma, including himself.

Jinko was close to the very front of the line, she rubbed her metal palms against her uniform, and looked around at the dark surroundings.

“Hey!”

Jinko peered around, expression unphased.

There was a scrawny boy, standing at a short height. He too had silver skin, but had bold scarlet hair, and youthful features from his large curious eyes to his puffy lips.

“Hello,” she replied.

“Woah… your eyes are so pretty!” The boy said, his eyes seeming to sparkle.

He gazed at her glowing violet pupils in awe, the light bouncing off her black irises like neon light.

“Thank you, that's very kind of you,” she said most graciously, somewhat smiling.

“You're very welcome… Miss… what's your name? Ha sorry… should've ask that first.”

“Jinko Amari Kang. But please, simply address as Jinko,” she told him, as he continued to stare at her eyes, “what may I call you?”

“The name's Kirk Ornelas Scythe, but don't go tellin’ nobody I'm a Scythe,” he cautioned, “they'd think I'm just a spoiled brat like my siblings… so don't go sayin’ nothin’, okay Ms. Kang?”

She smiled more at his snappy tone and flowing hand gestures as he spoke.

“I promise to you that I'll keep my lips sealed, Kirk. And please call me Jinko.”

“Thanks Miss!” he said, sighing with relief, “So what's your superpower?!”

“Do you mean my abilities as an Agma?” She rephrased.

“Yes yes!”

“There's many. I'll be fighting soon, so you shall get to see them there.”

“Oooooh I can't wait!!!”

She smiled more radiantly, almost seeing Rory in him.

“May you win your battle, Kirk. Seeing how you've gotten this far at such a young age, I'm sure you'll do great,” she complimented.

“Oh I'll try my best Miss. I'm no good with hand to hand, but with your blessings I shall do my best milady!” He said, taking a small bow.

“I'm sure you'll do-”

“Jinko Kang.”

Jinko stopped talking, facing frontward without the slightest smile on her face. (even though she was only smiling a second ago)

She stared into Scythe’s hard eyes, as he bored into hers.

“Do your best, Miss… Kang.”

She nodded, taking her place at the edge of the arena.

He spoke to the other competitor, Josiah, which was a tall bulky man, with a mini gun strapped to his torso.

Before Scythe fired his gun, the two got into ready position. The man's foreboding eyes and smooth lick of his lips, showed off his cocky demeanor. While Jinko’s serious expression, kept her mind from slipping.

The gun sounded, the room dwindling to silence.

Jinko's arms enlarged, the black metal of her hands and feet spread up her arms/legs. Veins appeared on the sides of her eyes, as her fighter boots and machine gun arms took complete formation.

Josiah flung up into the air, bullets streaming on her, before he dropped down to the ground. She deflected all of them, sliding down on the ground, while covering her head with her massive guns.

They came into close proximity, Josiah throwing an iron clad fist at her face. Evading his fist, she slammed her leg into his side, sending him flying across the arena.

He hit the wall, vigorous pain vibrating through his body.

“You bitch!”

He recoiled off the wall, sending bullets once again at her. She came at him at full speed, readying herself for the final blow.

He smirked wildly as she drew closer. He ripped out a gun holstered to his side, firing a single bullet at her.

She blocked it with her arms, the bullet exploding into a thick fog. It shrouded the area quickly, a silence befalling the battle.

Jinko stood in wait, listening attentively while looking around. Her eyes could see through the fog, but what she saw were several heat signatures.

But though all were almost identical, one was colder. It had to be Josiah.

Quietly, but with great speed, she ran towards his direction.

Drawing near, she jumped up into the air, arms held high. She showered him with bullets just as he did, before slamming down both of her arms on his head.

The smoke cleared, as Josiah crumpled to the ground.

Jinko looked towards Scythe. He gave a nod, notifying her of her success.

Her arms and legs morphed back to their original state, the veins next to her eyes diminishing.

She returned her view to Josiah, putting a hand out to him.

“Are you alright?” She asked.

He glowered at her hand, tossing it away with a cold slap of his hand.

“I don't need help from a cheating Agma!’ he said with strong disdain.

He held his head, before getting up and walking away.

She stared after his dauntless and conceited saunter, clenching her open hand.

She turned away, seeing Kirk's benevolent, youthful face, excited eyes, and smile. He clapped at her, giving her a thumbs up, before taking his place.

Seeing his good natured gestures only taunted her wash of sadness; only to be reminded of her own family.

Yet, the familiarity comforted her, and eased her inevitable differences that weighed her.

She smiled warmly back, as she took her place amongst the other commanders.

Rory clutched the groceries, as he followed Desirae through the stalls of the street market. She twisted and turned through every small path and person, while Rory jabbed his legs into every small path, and bumped into every person.

The heat toasted Rory's skin to a burning point, while the wet air clung to his skin.

What made the atmosphere even more unbearable was the smells of garbage, cigarette smoke, fish, and raw meat.

There was always something that could be stepped on, whether it was a thick spit ball or a freshly dropped cigarette bud.

He hated it all. He couldn't stand the barking venders, and pushy shoppers.

Desirae came to a vegetable stand. She searched through the heaps of vegetables, making sure they were fresh. But to Rory, all of the vegetables looked the same.

“Mom are you done yet?” He whined.

“I need a couple more things dear.”

“Why can't we just go? You always cook too much anyways!” He pleaded.

“Oh hush! It'll only be a little longer!”

Rory threw up his arms in an exaggerated motion, but Desirae just ignored him.

He rolled his eyes, staring up at the nighttime sky.

Wow it's so clear… for once… If only the heat wasn't raging tonight...

He gazed for a while longer, before being interrupted by a fly. He swatted at it, hoping it would fly away. But it lingered there, tormenting him.

Corrin came up to the vegetable stand. He looked over the pile of bamboo shoots, deciding whether to buy them, or not. He couldn't concentrate very well, because of an awful smacking noise in the background.

He turned to see what it was, finding Rory being chastised by a fly.

“Rory?”

“C-Corrin?!” Rory gasped, halting his antagonizing of the fly.

He dropped one of the grocery bags, the green beans tumbling to the ground.

“Ah shit!”

Corrin crouched down, helping him pick up each individual green bean. Rory did so as well, already mortified with himself.

After they had collected all of the beans and placed them back into the plastic bag, they came back up from the dirty ground.

“Thanks…”

“No problem…” Corrin said, dusting off his hands, “...So what brings you here?”

“...You know just shopping with my mom here…” Rory said, pointing a thumb at Desirae.

They didn't know what else to say. They both just blushed, and averted their looks the other way.

“Rory we're going home now, let's go,” Desirae told him.

“...Oh...okay… I'll see you at the library then, Corrin…” Rory said, giving him a cumbersome wave.

“OH! You must be Corrin!” Desirae beamed, disregarding the whole idea of heading home.

Corrin's eyes widened with bewilderment.

“...Y-Yeah…” Corrin said, straightening himself, “I'm Rory's friend…”

“Well, it's a pleasure to finally meet you!” Desirae said, smiling brighter than the sun.

“...You as well.”

Rory wanted to clip Desirae’s mouth shut and go home, before she embarrassed him even more than he already was.

“So are you two meeting tomorrow for studying?”

“Um… yes.”

“Oh that's great! I have work off tomorrow so you can come over and study at our home!” she proposed delightfully, “Rory hasn't brought over a friend… actually he's never brought over a friend, so I think it'd be lovely to have you over!”

Rory's jaw dropped.

“N-No Mom- I mean- We can just study at the library… after all you're probably tired from working all the time… just take a break and-”

“Oh please dear. It's a lot more comfortable at home than that stuffy library. In plus, I don't want you coming home late.”

Rory flushed with a wave of anguish, knowing the inevitable of trying to get out of this.

“...Are you fine with that?” Rory grumbled, looking towards Corrin.

Corrin was smiling a bit, almost as though he were holding in a laugh.

“I'm fine with that… Just tell me the details later.”

“Well, it was very nice to meet you! We'll be heading off now; have a nice night, dear!” Desirae said sweetly.

“You as well,” he said to her politely, before turning to Rory, “I'll text you later.”

“Cool…”

Rory waved, then went along with Desirae out of the market.

“Ah he is so nice!” she said, as they walked out of the marketplace.

“Mom. You literally talked to him for one minute,” Rory pointed out.

“And so pretty!”

Rory almost smacked his forehead at this point.

“He's just a friend! Stop freaking out about it…”

“Well, if you were me, and had an antisocial son, wouldn't you be happy that he made a friend?”

“Ugh! Of course I'd be… but I wouldn't… be like... this!”

She continued to go on excitedly about Corrin, and Rory's new spark of friendship, for the rest of the way home.

Rory sat on his bed, surrounded by notes. He just wanted to review what he collected so far, and what holes he could find in the information.

Ah ha! That's what I'm missing! Corrin went on that little two-day-trip to Colony Seven a couple days ago… Maybe if I look into it I'll find something…

Rory got off his bed, and went to his desk. He started off by just simply searching up Colony Seven.

He read on and on about the rural villages and abundant sloping green hills, but didn't find a single thing related to Oasis.

He hovered his mouse around the website, circling the article with lackluster eyes.

Wait what's that?

He circled backwards, seeing something pop up when her hovered over the word “infinite”.

A small text box popped up and read,“log in”.

What could this be…?

He clicked on the text box, the screen loading onto a different website.

The website was completely sleek white with a thin black box in the middle. Above the box read “password”.

Well shit. This could be anything… but if I were to guess…

He simply typed Oasis, not expecting much out if it.

The screen buzzed, the text “incorrect password” showing on the screen.

Hmmm… has to be more complex than that… Wait. Could it be…?

Reluctantly, he typed Project Oasis into the space.

Suddenly the screen reloaded, showing a new screen.

In the middle of the similar sleek white screen, it read “Welcome to Project Oasis Headquarters”.

Holy fuck.

Rory pranced out of his chair, doing a little dance in celebration.

How was that so easy?

Stopping his joyful parade, he slinked back into his chair.

He clicked the “start” button, the website taking him to their database.

Where shall I start? Heh heh…

He saw a tab labeled “youth members”, making him think of Corrin right away.

He clicked on it immediately, only to find a verification screen.

It read: “Please identify your guard code”.

Guard code…? That's a military term. Jinko mentioned something about that being the verification code of a squad. Wait. Maybe it refers to… the soldiers that randomly come for Corrin!

He figured it out partially, but that didn't mean he was getting past the verification code.

Dammit. I'll have to try something else…

He clicked the back button, scanning the array of tabs.

Oooooh the staff tab sounds… intriguing. Maybe I'll find something out about the two Dr. Henson's…

He went to that tab, finding a list of scientists paired with a small description.

He scrolled down until he reached the bottom, seeing the two doctor Henson's next to each other.

Margaret Henson, must be Corrin's “mother” figure.

He read her description seeing that she specialized in human experimentation.

Wait. Is Corrin their… test subject?!

He skimmed over David Henson's description, seeing all of the same information.

Ugh this doesn't make sense! If “nobody” knows about what Oasis actually is, how can they be performing human experimentation with… nothing?! I have to dig further into what people have currently found out about Oasis...

He opened a new window, surfing the web for whatever he could find.

There's nothing…

He laid his head on the keyboard, a series of random letters entering the web address bar.

Wait. There is one thing… I can do. But it's so... illegal.

“Rory's Moral Code” of research projects was to: NEVER hack into any form of Database or illegal website for research unless it was ABSOLUTELY necessary.

I can't. I shouldn't… but… I… have no other choice...