Winning

Rain was reganing consciousness bit by bit. She was not fully aware of what was going on around her at the moment but she could tell she was in someones arms. Florate? No his scent was different and so were his clothes. Florate's gi was green but the one who was carrying her now was in a black gi. She tried to look up to his face but the sun blinded her eyes immediately she looked up she was able to catch a glimpse of his hair. White! This was definitely not Florate, where was he?' Did he leave her? she asked herself with worry. She was still down with the thoughts before what should have been her priority at the moment clicked in her head.' Who was carrying her? She asked herself. White hair? Black gi? Now who wears a black gi and has a white hair?' she thought quickly within her before finding her answer :Nex! What on Omania would he want from her? Or was he planning on killing her instead of maiming her? Whichever it was, she has to find out first before acting because jumping out of his hands would only make things worst for her as she was to weak to lift herself. She must wait till his his vulnerable, then she would attack. But for now, she would just enjoy the free ride' she said to herself with a slight proud smile on her face before closing her eyes tight and burying her face the more in his chest.

She stayed that way till she felt him come to a halt. She peeped with her eyes half closed and saw that he was not alone, another boy was with him. Now she had double problems. He was putting her down at the foot of a tree while stayed calmed till she was put down and laid lifelessly like she was really unconscious but her senses were very sharp to counter any attack he might strike her way. She stayed that way for few seconds, there was nothing going on or seeming like an attack. For those few seconds, she was imagining in her mind how she would be able to take the two of them incase if something happens because she wasn't sure any of her team mates knew where she was now, including Lilith and Florate talk less of rescuing her. She was on her own now and must build up her courage.

She was jolted from her thoughts when she heard them speak. It was the boy with Nex who spoke first.

"You have the girl now Nex. What are you going to do with her?" Rain was sure he was a member of Nex's team and that he must have helped him adopt her. She believed he was not too comfortable with his idea of them adopting her instead of heading to bridge and accomplishing the mission of the test. Good for him to think so, at least that shows he was not as senseless as Nex. What good would she do him?

"lt is an understatement to stay that l have a lot to gain from her, she is my prize in this test and l have gotten it" he replied with a dirty smirk on his face which she was able to see because she was peeking on them and they were too distracted to notice her. 'Prize? Now this was getting serious.

"l understand Nex" the boy was now calm. "Let's leave her here, where no one will ever find her and lets head towards the bridge immediately because l don't trust the others to follow the path you instructed to the bridge. The final team might beat them to it" he said sensibly, hoping to talk some sense into Nex which she prayed he would heed to.

"Never Shevan!" 'So his name was Shevan' she saw Nex send him a death stare and it was very obvious it made shivers go down Shevan's spine because of the way he drew back instantly. "l will stay here with her. I trust that the rest of the team must be following the light now and very soon the test will end. It doesn't matter who accomplishes the test's mission, what matters is which team accomplished the test's mission and l can boldly say to you that only our team has found the bridge. The other teams are put of the way long ago, well except for the stubborn ones but that does not count because l bet they have no clue where the bridge is. So relax Shevan. We are already the team to be rewarded and leveled up at the same time so stop bothering yourself and help me wake her up l need to speak to her, we don't have much time for the test will be over soon"

'Oh no' she gasped. If just Nex's team found the bridge, then that means they would get the reward which they utterly did not deserve. No she must do something and fast but what exactly?' she was still speaking within her when she heard Shevan's voice again.

"Fine then" Shevan breathed. "l trust you. Now let's try to wake her". ' What?! Wake her? Oh no! Now was the time to act and she knew it. She stayed calm till the both of them came close to her. She couldn't peek now because they were so close to her and she had no way to outsmart them on that, so she only had her instincts to depend on and hope it leads her well.

She first felt a pair of hands cup her face and from the sound of the voice and the scent that followed, she knew it was immediately ;Nex. "Rain? Rain?" he called softly as he shook her face softly. "Rain wake up". But she didn't bulge at his call, she stayed lifeless with her eyes shut tight waiting for the right time to attack.

"Take your filthy hands off her!" a familiar voice she knew yelled with evident anger. Florate? He is here! She squealed within her in joy but didn't make her loose gaurd. Nex was distracted, she could feel it and now the right time to attack!

She fluttered her eyes open and as fast as she could act, pulled Nex's head down to hers and gave him a hard head. She didn't wait for him to yelp in pain before gave him a hard kick which brought him down on his back and she did not hesitate to get on top of him and began raining on him a very hard punches upon punches.

He was still receiving the blows before Shevan came to his aid, though a bit too late but he really needed the save. "Rain watch out!" Lilith yelled from where she stood before she made to help her out but Rain didn't seem like someone who needed help in handling the situation. She was pulled off Nex by Shevan but she gave him a hard elbow blow on stomach and as he cowered in pain, she hit his head hard against a tree beside him which made him drop on the floor.

"Rain are you alright" Lilith hugged her tightly.

"I am fine Lilith as you can see" she hugged her back.

"You really beat the shit out of those two" Florate came for his own hug and he received it. "I am sorry l could not protect you" he said sadly to her ear, still hugging her.

"l am fine Florate don't put the blame on your self" she cupped his face. "lt is Nex who should take the blame and l believe he is paying dearly for his mistakes now" she said as she looked his way with disgust written all over her face. He was still on the floor grunting in pain and Lilith went to where he lay. She crouched to him and looked at him, irritated with his whole being. "If you dare touch Rain again, consider yourself a handicap that day because I swear to you, l will make sure you no longer use any part of your body that made contact with hers" she threatened.

"It's... useless" Nex said, followed by a wired laughter showing his blood stained teeth. They were all frustrated with his laughter because they couldn't figure out why he was laughing. "Your team lost Lilith" he finally said. "The test would be over in thirty seconds supposedly and l am certain my team got to the bridge first because l found it first and l showed them they way. Hahaha. You loose Lilith and my dear Rain we shall meet later maybe during lunch" he blew Rain a kissed which she was utterly irritated at. "l won. Hahaha my team won!" he was shouting out in joy still lying on the floor.

"He could be right. His team might be the ones to get the reward they utterly did not deserve" Rain clenched her fists in anger.

"l don't think so, let's go and find out for ourselves. I know where the bridge is we could still..." Florate was reviving her lost hope but lost his immediately they heard the loud buzz, signifying that the test was over.

"it's over already" Rain said more to herself than to them all.

"Well that was earlier than l thought" Nex was getting up and grunted in pain as he spoke. "l guess they beat the time. Hahaha" he gave his most annoying laughter again, which made the three of them want to take turns in punching his face but their attention was distracted when the simulation effects began fading away. In no time, the whole place return to the normal room they had walked I to before the test began and the only thing visible where the maimed bodies of their fellow aspirants, littered here and there.

"Linthorn?" Florate called as he could not spot him any where. He just wanted to make sure they were successful and he really hoped they were because having Nex win was not something he was going to enjoy. "Lyra? Steve?" he called again but no answer. He looked at Nex and saw that he too was searching for his so called trusted teammates but at least he found them, they where lying on the floor like the other maimed ones. But where were his team. He glanced at Rain and Lilith and found out through the look on their faces that they too had the same thoughts, where were they?. Before he could talk to them about it, a door they didn't even know existed opened at the north wall of the room and Linthorn, Lyra and Steve walked out of it.

" Guys!..." Linthorn called out in joy but was shut up by the next loud voice they heard which was surely the grand sensei's. Sense Velskud.

"Congratulations to you seven. I now pronounce you level two aspirants of Triven. You have all past the test of courage and have also succeeded in boosting your stats in distinction. Tap on your bracelets to see how good you did in the test".

They all tapped their bracelets, curious of what their performance in the test might be. Although they where now leveled up, their performance does count a lot in their boost rate in the next level plus every one wants to know how good they performed.

Lyra was the first to see hers, and it was a lot better than the last time she checked it and she was amazed with how well she did in the new bar that was added, courage.

LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 68%, exceptional self-defense skills 70% attack skills 76% emotional mastery 78% respect 67% honor 70% discipline 54% courage 76%.

And here was Steve's, LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 88%, exceptional self-defense skills 60% attack skills 54% emotional mastery 80% respect 99% honor 90% discipline 78% courage 78%.

Linthorn's LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 100%, exceptional self-defense skills 98% attack skills 99% emotional mastery 80% respect 99% honor 89% discipline 99% courage 99%. Now that was a straight A' and he sure deserved it, it was because of him that the team remained together.

Nex's LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 89%, exceptional self-defense skills 80% attack skills 99% emotional mastery 80% respect 50% honor 90% discipline 99% courage 99%. He only scoffed at his scores, his father would have just manipulated them and given him straight A's just like Linthorn. He got a very low C in respect, how on Omania was he supposed to respect his team mates when he was the leader. This will affect his boosting in this new level badly, but he still awaited the reward for the first team that got to the bridge and followed the light because he was certain it was his.

Florate's LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 99%, exceptional self-defense skills 100% attack skills 98% emotional mastery 56% respect 99% honor 90% discipline 99% courage 99%. He only sighed at his C in emotional mastery. How was he supposed to that when he almost went crazy when Nex adopted Rain. He would have to work on that after now.

Rain's LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 99%, exceptional self-defense skills 100% attack skills 100% emotional mastery 50% respect 99% honor 100% discipline 99% courage 100%. 'Oh of course' she breathed. She only became too emotional when she thought Florate and Lilith where in danger or should she say when she thought they left and forgot her. She bowed her head, disappointed at herself. She should not have let her emotions get the best of her, but she showed courage at the end she attained 100% now that was something to be proud of' she smiled to herself.

And finally, Lilith's LEVEL 1:Responsibility: 100%, exceptional self-defense skills 100% attack skills 100% emotional mastery 78% respect 99% honor 99% discipline 100% courage 95%. A 'B' in emotional mastery of course she got swept by her emotions when she thought Nex adopted Rain because of her. That was something he was going to pay for. But she at least she made A's in the rest.

"Rain Flake" the voice of the sensei came again, this time directly to Rain.

"Yes sensei" she bowed immediately.

"As the only one who attained a full score in your bar of courage which is the main base of the test, you will receive a special reward. I now pronounce you most courageous level two aspirant. Your badge shall appear on your on top of your stats bar immediately after you have been inducted as level two aspirants by tomorrow night"

"Thank you so much sensei l promise to uphold the attitude". She said gratefully.

"But work very well on your emotions Rain. Apart from that flaw, you had the best result so far"

"l will sensei" she sighed deeply but was elated by the feeling of Florate's hand on hers. She looked at him and he gave her a wink which made her smile sweetly.

"Now the team who earned the reward as the first ones to fulfill the mission is team 5 led by Linthorn Emberlock who shall receive the badge of best team leader by tomorrow.

Rain and the rest of the team jumped up in joy. "We made it!"

"Yes you did" the sensei replied and your reward you get half bars to fill in your stats, all your team members l mean those of your who passed with distinction you six. Your bars are already at 50% which means half of your burden has been lifted and l trust you can handle the rest.

I really enjoyed seeing you all in action today and l must say l have strong and zealous aspirants amongst you. You may now leave and prepare for tomorrow, you have the rest of today and tomorrow off classes. See you at the grand hall".

At his last words, the door opened wide and their clinic nurses came in with lots of stretchers to carry the others that were injured know what could be done for them so that those who didn't pass with distinction among them but at least showed their courage could join others tomorrow night.