Just barely in his sight, Knox could see the glimmering lake only a bit further down the path. He noticed, however, the thick layer of fog floating gloomily over the lake. He looked back at Keira, who was still being carried by him. “We’re almost there. Judging by the sun, I’m pretty sure we’ve made it in time.”

“Good,” she said, impatiently. Though her limbs still hurt, she jumped off of Knox’s back. She stood still for a second before she started to walk. “I don’t need your help, my limbs are fine.”

Knox smiled. “As long as you’re alright, everything’s good.”

Keira rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, whatever.” Keira and Knox continued to walk, getting closer and closer to the lake. “So…are you bipolar or something?”

“Me?”

“Who else would I be talking to?”

Knox looked up at the sky. “I don’t even know what that means…”

“Well, let me think… I guess what I’m trying to say is why are you so complex?”

“Complex? You think so?”

“It’s kinda obvious. I mean, one second you could care less about what happened to me, then one hour later you’re saving me from Bain. It’s like you can’t make up your mind.”

Knox looked down and kicked up some leaves. “I’m just doing what I think my father would want me to do. He raised me to always put your friends and teammates ahead of others, no matter what. When it comes down to a situation that puts someone’s life in danger, I always have to do my best to make sure nothing happens to them, whether I like them or not.”

Keira arched her eyebrow. “That’s…interesting. So you’re saying you rescued me just because I’m on your team?”

“Well, that’s part of the reason. I don’t necessarily like or dislike you, and the same goes with everyone else I’ve met here.”

“So…you feel the same way about Tokar and Blake?”

“Yeah…so far, I think their good people, but I can’t consider them friends just yet. I need to spend more time with them to really understand their personalities and their goals. The same goes with you. There must be a reason why you have such a harsh personality.”

“Harsh…personality?” Keira looked to the ground and frowned. She looked to the ground and was on the verge of crying.

“D-don’t take it like that! I don’t think you’re a bad person or anything, I just…well…”

“No, you’re right. I was never like this before, but some things happened lately. I just…” She looked back to when Bain talked to her. She could hear him saying, “I think you and I want to kill the same person.” “I don’t like to talk about it.” She wiped away her still tears and asked Knox another question. “So, what do you think about your enemies? In this case, Saga’s team.”

“I don’t really see them as enemies, just an opposing team. The person I’m most upset with is the examiner, Mia. She kidnapped my sister.”

Keira widened her eyes. “You’re kidding? Why?”

“She saw my potential to be strong, so she used it as a motivational force. I need to pass this exam in order to stop them from doing anything to her. In the end, if Saga’s team attacks us during the next phase…well…” Keira looked into Knox’s eyes nervously and noticed a dark shadow forming under his eyelids. “I’ll rip them to shreds.” Keira became stiff after hearing Knox’s terrifying tone. She was frightened by the seriousness in his voice. This kid, she thought, has so many sides to him, it’s scary. I can’t make heads or tails with him. I can never tell what he’s thinking or how he’s feeling. He’s so mysterious, and being mysterious is a huge advantage. I can understand why Saga wants to fight him so badly.

Knox stumbled as he stepped into the smooth sand. He looked around and counted up the remaining contestants. “36,” he mumbled. “And maybe more to come. This might be pretty tough.”

From behind a tree, Bugie slid his way stealthily through the sand, trying to avoid being seen by Keira. He tip-toed his way through, each step being silent. He almost made it out of her sight, until she unpredictably turned her head and stared him down. Bugie gulped harshly and started to lightly shake. “Oh geez…”

“Oh yeah,” mumbled Keira. “I forgot about the fat ass. It’s a miracle he made it out alive.”

“What?” asked Knox. “Who?”

“Oh, no one!” she answered, trying to hide what she did to Lola and Mick.




Blake sat down on the sand, soon after spotting Knox. He waved his hand rapidly. “Yo, Knox! Over here!” Knox waved back and sat down across from Blake and Tokar. “Damn, dude, we were scared for a second. We honestly thought you were dead.”

Knox smiled. “No, but we did come across Bain.”

“R-really?” Blake clapped his hands together. “Please, man, please tell me you killed him…”

“No, we fought for a bit, but after a while he let us leave.”

“You’re kidding me… Ah, you should’ve taken him down while you could’ve!”

“It doesn’t really matter. The main goal was to rescue Keira, so there was no point in killing him if he stopped messing with our team.”

Blake blew up his cheek and looked away. “Oh boy,” he started, sarcastically. “Thank god Keira’s back. That definitely makes the day better…”

Keira bent down, took a deep breathe, and slapped him at full strength. Blake rolled over on his side, laying his hand up against his burning cheek. “O-o-ouch!”

“It’s good to see you, too.” she said.

“Did you at least get anything out of him?” asked Tokar, anxiously.

Knox nodded. “His power is the ability to change his arm into any weapon. The setback is that he has to flip a coin, which determines whether he gets to pick his ability or not.”

“Interesting…how many weapons can he conjure?”

“I’ve only seen an assault rifle.”

“Well, at least we have the mechanics down. It’s logical to say that he can only summon normal weapons, nothing supernatural. It’s also safe to assume that he has at least one other ranged weapon and a few melee ones.”

“So, what do you guys get done?” asked Keira.

Tokar sighed. “Long story short, everything went poorly for us. We both were trapped by Saga and Silver, and we were given the choice between showing our powers or death. Things just didn’t work out in our favor.”

Knox shrugged. “It’s not the end of the world. Silver already showed off his power in phase 2, so now we just need to find out Saga’s power in case they attack us.”

“Right,” mumbled Tokar. “It’s just unfortunate that the most dangerous psychic is the one that we know the least about…”


Bain came out of the forest, drenched in sweat and blood, with a smile on his face as he took a deep breathe of the lakeside air. He spotted Silver and Saga at the edge of the lake and walked towards them. “I’m home…”

Saga looked at him fiercely. “So, you didn’t die. What a shame.”

Bain laughed to himself. “Man, so cold!” He tapped Saga on the head several times. “By the way, I had a little duel with your lover, Knox.”

Saga’s eyes widened. He swept away Bain’s hands and said, “Really? Was he worth the challenge?”

“Personally, I thought he was just average, but he wasn’t trying his hardest. He was just fooling around with me.”

Saga examined Bain’s body, noting the big gashes and bruises all over him, specifically his face. “His fooling around seemed to mess you up pretty badly.” Saga smiled deviously and dug his nails into his palm. “Yes, he’s just as strong as I imagined. I can’t wait to slaughter him…”

Silver butted in, “Speaking of which, you look kind of pale. Are you feeling alright?”

Bain looked back at when Knox punched him with his enhanced punch. He grew goose bumps at the thought of how he almost passed out. “I’m fine.” Bain got on his hands and knees and scooped some water into his hands, gulfing it down. “Oh yeah, about their powers. The woman, Keira, she’s like a ticking time bomb.”

“Time bomb? What do you mean?”

“She can set a certain amount of time on her body, and after she pays of her time, she enters a rage mode. Her entire body just goes berserk. To say the least, she’s pretty much unstoppable in that form.”

“I see…and Knox?”

“His is plain and simple. Along with a defense aura, he has an offense aura that makes his physical attacks stronger. He can only have one aura at a time, so on and so forth.”

Silver clasped his hands together and smiled. “Awesome, we know all of their powers now… All that’s left to do is eliminate them. If we can accomplish that, it’s guaranteed that we’ll pass the exam.”

“You think so?”

“Of course. Well, I should mention now that this may be the last phase where we get a chance to attack them. If my predictions of the final phase are correct, this is our only shot.”


Back in the forest, two strangers walked next to each other. On the left, a woman in her late teens, with sparkling green eyes that were the same color as her silky, long hair. She wore a light green garment that had the words POSTALCROMBIE stained in dark blue letters. Along with that, she wore a red skirt that matched her shoes. Next to her, a boy who stood several inches taller than her. Also in his late teens, yet a few years lounger than the woman, he had silky orange hair that matched his fierce eyes. He wore a button down plaid shirt, composed of alternating red and orange squares, along with a pair of baggy khakis that covered the top of his black sandals.

The girl clapped twice and looked to the boy. “Oh, how exciting! I hope we’re almost there!”

The boy responded, in a mature tone, “You’re such a little girl, Califlora. You should act your age more often.”

“First of all, I told you to call me Flora. That’s like if I called you by your full name all the time, Remington.”

Rem shrugged. “I don’t mind Rem or Remington, really.”

Flora jumped ahead of Rem and pointed hastily. “We can’t fool around anymore! We need to get going before we get eliminated.”

“We never signed up for the exam in the first place. Mom and Dad just wants us to retrieve him. They never gave us a time limit, so enjoy the scenery. It’s not everyday that we’re allowed to go on such easy missions anymore!”

“I just really, really, REALLY want to see him again. I can’t remember how many years it’s been since we’ve seen him.”

“Six years, and it doesn’t matter. Life’s better without him here. Mom and Dad should just let him do what he wants.”

Flora smiled slyly. “You’re just jealous ‘cuz Mama and Papa like him better than you.”

Rem blushed and started to pick up his pace. “Whatever. You’re right, screw the scenery, let’s just get this retarded job over with. If we’re lucky, he’ll be dead by the time that we get there…”

Flora frowned. “Don’t be so cruel to your baby brother! You should be more suppo-” Flora suddenly stopped at the sound of leaves cracking.

“What’s wrong?” asked Rem.

“Didn’t you here that? Somebody’s around us…”

“It’s probably just an animal…”

“No, I can feel it with my body. Definitely a human.”

“Holy crap,” said a voice from the side. The two looked, simultaneously, at the voice and spotted a young, messy haired man walk out from behind a tree. “You two are pretty damn sharp.”

“See, Rem, I told you it was a human.”

“Good for you. Let’s just get going…”

The man butted in. “What’s the rush? The phase is almost over and I think we both need to get to the ending point, no? I mean if you two know where the lake’s at, you could, well, give me some directions. If not, then…” The man’s hand lit up fiery green color. “I guess you’re just useless.”

Rem took a deep breath and looked at his purely golden watch. “A threat?” he asked to himself. “What a pain. Flora, I’m in a bad mood today. You wanna take him?”

Her eyes lit up in excitement. “Really, you mean it? Oh, you’re such a nice brother! It’s about time I get some action.”


On the edge of the forest, the MCG blimp noisily started to land. After a minute or two, the blimp landed safely, and with everyone’s eyes on the door, Mia exited the blimp. She walked down the middle of the beach until she stood at the edge of the lake. She looked around, counting up how many examinees were still here. “Wow,” she started, “40 contestants still ali-, I mean in the exam. You should all be very proud of yourselves. Out of about 400 contestants, you guys are the only ones that have made it this far.”

The examinees stood quiet, only caring about the details of the next phase. From the blimp, small groups of soldiers were carrying out wooden boats, enough to fit each team into one. “The next phase will be held on an island in the middle of the lake. I will give you all of the details later, but I will say now that the you will remain in your current teams for this round, as well as that you are allowed to attack any other examinees during this round.”

Saga glanced over at Knox and roughly gritted his teeth. Our fight is so close. I can’t wait much longer, Knox.

“That gives us no other options,” said Silver. “We have to take them out this round.”

“I have no problem with that,” answered Bain. Saga looked up at him with a blank face. Silver looked as well, thinking to himself, Are you really sure, Saga? Is Bain actually who you think he is?

Blake rubbed his hands back and forth rapidly. “Alright, let’s bounce! I’m totally ready for this!”

Tokar grabbed his shoulder. “I sure hope you are. Try not to screw up this round, alright?”

“Eh, shut up! I’m not gonna let those assholes stop me this time!”

“Like I said earlier, you should just try to stay away from them.”

However, Knox didn’t get in a boat. While Blake, Tokar and Keira got into a boat, Knox walked over to Mia, with his arms crossed, and glared at her. Looking into his eyes, she could feel the Knox’s seriousness before he even made an action. This kid is too creepy, she thought.

“She’s alright, right?”

Mia waited a second before answering “Who?”

“Celia.”

“I don’t know. We could’ve killed her the same night we captured her…”

The pupils of Knox’s eyes became darker, frightening Mia. “Don’t f*** around with me. I think you know what I’d do to you if that was the case…”



From the boat, Blake looked over at the two talking to each other. “Damn, dude, these 2 are taking to long. I just want to go…”

Tokar took a deep breath and replied, “Be patient. Knox isn’t the kind of kid who would just approach someone with so much power with such a fierce approach. He must have some background with Mia. I’m sure that has to relate to his sister.”

Blake sighed, picking up a paddle and brushing it back and forth through the water. “Yeah, I know…but damn, Knox can’t be so cocky like that. S***, I’m freaking retarded and even I know that the best way to rescue his sister is to just do what the MCG tells us to do, whether I like it or not. Being cocky is just going to get him or his sister killed.”

“You’re right, but…” Tokar stared off into the fog and smiled. “Sometimes being cocky and daring is the only way to get something done.”



Mia gulped, struggling to not show off her fear. “S-she’s fine. Of course, we’ve practically made a deal that you must pass the exam to be reunited with her.”

“Fine. How much longer?”

“Two more phases, including this upcoming one. Now, if you get in the boat we can get this started…”

“Alright,” said Knox. He jogged back to the boat and hopped in, acting like nothing just happened. “You guys ready?” he asked, excitingly.

“Hell yeah, son!” yelled out Blake. Tokar simply nodded, and Keira said nothing. The examinees waited anxiously as Mia got into her own boat and started to sail off into the fog, with the examinees following her.



“Ewww…” claimed Flora. “This is so gross. I can’t believe I got his blood all over my shirt…”

Rem looked back down at the man, now dead, laying in a thick puddle of blood. His fingers were disconnected from his body, and three pieces of bark were jammed into his head. “You went overboard with him, as usual. You need to do something about that.”

“It’s not my fault,” she replied, feeling a small bruise on her arm. “I hate it when guys hit girls, it’s so rude!”

“Yeah, but I don’t think that rule applies in this case. Anyways, can we go now?”

“Uh, I guess so…I really hope we find him.”

“I guess it’ll be interesting to meet him again. Of course, I call first dibs if he resists.”

“What? No fair!”

“Flora, you’re 20 years old, stop acting like such a baby.” Rem started walking, with his mind focused on the objective. “Besides, it would be so much fun murdering that pathetic excuse of a brother.”