Zachary was working away with the parts he had. He had the metal to work with and was heating, bending and welding sheet metal to form the body of the device when his hand accidentally touched the hot metal. It pulled back reflexively and Zachary immediately went to find a water source to treat the burn. He entered into the mansion through the side entrance and found a sink in the kitchen, where he ran water over where he had touched the hot metal. As he did this, however, he became conscious of the state of his injuries from last night. His hands were already red and skin peeling from the fire he had been attacked with and it stung lightly. He looked at himself in the small circular mirror placed over the sink and almost reeled back in surprise at his face. Like his hands, it was lightly burnt and the skin was red and peeling. However, the most damage had been done to his hair, and he realised that he should have expected this as hair has a tendency to burn easily. His eyebrows were almost non-existent, his fringe had been pushed back by a large margin and the beard he had grown over the past year had been reduced to a few tufts of singed hair. Mr Winters must have dealt with all-sorts to overlook this.

Zachary was surprised somewhat that it didn't hurt as much as he thought it should. That's because we have plenty of spirit, Kaa'is chimed in. Zachary sighed, anticipating how he would lead to needing more spirit. Spirit aids in healing, strength and endurance. The more spirit we harvest, the faster we recover and the harder we are to take down. It also helps that I've figured out a nice concoction of pain-reducing hormones.

Zachary groaned. He knew Kaa'is was intentionally provoking his memory, and the vague memories of the sensations he felt last night returned to him. He turned off the tap and returned to work, hoping to redirect his mind. But even as he worked, he felt uneasy and fidgety, and no matter how often he tried to push it away he kept thinking about the sensation, disturbingly pleasurable, he had felt while killing that man last night. He worked through it regardless, and soon he needed to find parts. He went over to the documents and took out the one detailing potential component locations. While he had changed a lot of the components in the design, he could still use the map as a detailed depiction of buildings in the vicinity. He eventually determined that there was a block of apartments which was still intact in which he might find a radio, an office tower which might have a wind core powered ventilation system and, marked on the map as a potential component location, an old mechanic's, although heavily looted it should still contain the scrap he needed, some suspension specifically. Everything else, from the lightning core battery to the wiring to the Sparker to the fastening, he already had available from either his own stash or that which came with the workshop. With his route planned, Zachary went outside, hopped into his carriage, started it up and drove off.

Sector Zero - Training Grounds

"Good luck, future Mercenaries." Hector's voice reached even the outer edge of the forests from where Ishigo watched the gathering, perched upon the branches of a tall tree. He scoffed softly, knowing that only a few of these people would choose to remain Golden Mercenaries after breaking out. It was just tradition, Ishigo assumed, to bid them good luck as they began their training. From his view, he could see each and every person on the training grounds as they all separated to find their preferred starting station. He smiled at the sight of Julian deciding to start with the cardio training, and even chuckled at the sight of Kisheto beginning at the combat maneuvering station.

'He really wants to make up for his mistake back when we were up against the Saints, said Jin from within Ishigo. Ishigo nodded and spoke softly with confidence in his words: "He will."

Ishigo then looked at the other hosts and smiled as he saw them oblige to Hector's request. They were willing to cooperate, meaning Ishigo had picked out the right crowd. He was thankful for their presence, and he knew that the rest of the world would be as well once they heard of their contributions towards Sovereign's freedom.

---

"Damnit, lad! I said CLOCKWISE means take the rear. COUNTER CLOCKWISE means form up! We spent the first hour practicing signals, what's wrong with you?!" Trent yelled as he halted the simulation. There were 12 men in his group, all non-hosts. Kisheto was among them, and he frowned as he received the scolding from the squad leader. "I'm sorry, yo, they're real similar." Trent rubbed his right eye and mumbled, "Damn it's too early for this..."

"Look," he began, putting a reassuring hand on Kisheto's shoulder, "All signals are done with the right hand so think of it like this: if the hand moves towards my head, take the rear. If it moves away, form up in the circle we showed you." Kisheto listened carefully and then nodded, holding his rifle closer to his chest, "Got it."

Trent smiled and signaled for the squad to form up. "We're heading for a supply run," he began, describing the mock-situation that he would simulate, "We get ambushed and need to escape quickly. You know the signals, use what you learned." Everyone nodded and Trent walked towards the front of the group. "This is no time to walk, we're on the move. On my mark - 3... 2... -" Trent then fired his rifle off in random bursts, causing most of the trainees to either run or fall to the ground for cover. Only Kisheto and a few other men stood, unfazed by the gunfire. Trent looked back and smiled, "Nice job ladies. For real this time... 3.... 2... 1... WE'RE UNDERFIRE ON MY 6, TWO COVERING, EVERYONE ELSE FULL THROTTLE LETS GO GO GO."

Almost immediately, two of the twelve men nodded to each other and ran towards the back of the squad, choosing to cover their rear flank while running backwards. Everyone else formed the traditional "full throttle" position: two columns of five men each running forward. Trent let them sprint for a good minute before starting his storm of orders.

"L2, CUT IN COVER FOR THE TREES!" he yelled. It took a second for the men to figure out where they were standing, but sooner than later, the second man in line in the left column broke off to take cover behind a nearby tree and provide mock-covering fire.

"L3, R3 SWITCH FOR REAR!" he yelled. Kisheto was R3, and he nodded instantly, having figured out his position the second they began running. He swiveled off to the right, breaking away from the neat line in which the squad was running. He held his gun up to create mock covering fire as he ran forward and switched places with one of the two men providing cover for their "6."

Trent let the men sprit for another few seconds before falling to floor. He put his hands behind his head and yelled out, "SQUAD LEADER DOWN, LEADER DOWN!" before falling completely silent. The men instantly panicked, losing their formation and shuffling about to try to decide what to do. They did know the protocol, but the adrenaline overpowered their critical thinking skills. Kisheto shot a few rounds into the air before running to the front and jumping over Trent's "dead" body.

"ON ME, FULL THROTTLE, THREE IN THE REAR WATCH OUR 6, GO GO GO!" The squad looked at each other, but within fifteen seconds, managed to form an alternative full throttle to accommodate for the odd-number of soldiers that remained.

Trent smiled from his position, 'Damn, these guys learn fast...' he thought before getting up and watching the squad continue the drill from a distance.

Vates – Sector Zero Training Grounds

"Good luck, future Mercenaries." Hector’s words made Vates smirk, not because there was anything particularly funny about what Hector said, but because he still couldn’t quite believe he was now a Golden Mercenary. It was certainly not something he ever envisioned doing, nor something he would have ever wanted to do. It seemed he had little choice now though. Looking around he couldn’t see anyone familiar, but then again there were tonnes of people here and his vision only stretched past a few rows of heads.

“Mornin’ Vates!” came a familiar voice that turned him to turn, “The men told me you left early. I was hoping you’d stick with them.”

It was the man who had given him a tour and signed him up the day before. “Good morning…” Vates paused as he realised he still didn’t know the man’s name, “I’m sorry, I don’t think I ever caught your name.”

“Roebuck. James Roebuck. Born in Valira. I joined the Military when I was seventeen but after a decade I got tired of the shit pay, the bureaucracy and the politics, and decided to join the Mercs. Been with them ever since. That’s all you need to know” He said shaking Vates hand. “You’ll be in my squad, so you’ll train with my squad. That’s why I had you and some others stay in the squad’s barracks. Now then, let’s get moving, we’ll be starting the day with some combat drills.”

---

Vates took the brief pause to stretch his legs and look towards the other squads in the area. He could see one man getting irate with another about hand signals. Vates had picked up the signals and protocols fairly quickly, as did most of the squad to Roebuck’s relief. The morning so far had been a different pace to what he had grown used to, not one that was better or worse, just different. “Alright men, take a knee!” ordered Roebuck, causing everyone to drop unnaturally fast; it was the result of their morning training, as they were all now in a mind frame that caused them to quickly respond to their leader’s orders.

Vates couldn’t help but smile as he placed his hand on the grass and let his fingers dig slightly into the cold earth as his hand softly swung backwards and forwards slightly. It was such a simple thing yet the year in the concrete jungle had left many with only memories of natural beauty was. Looking around he saw that most did not share this little moment, probably because many of the men in this particular squad appeared to be existing Golden Mercs; that was probably the reason why the group as a whole had taken to the drills so well. “You’re doing great lads. So great in fact that I want to try something else! So far most of you will only know of the drills that I’ve just taught you, the drills that we and the other squads will be using. But I bet no-one here knows what drills to expect from the military, or at least not well? You might have seen the odd military squad but I’m sure none of you have seen them in proper force or in a large scale battle?” Roebuck asked. He let the question linger in the air for a moment and he could tell he had the full attention of his men. “You see, the military are going to be using different tactics to us, and I believe it’s important to know these tactics as well as we know our own! Now someone tell me what the main differences between us and the military are?”

A few answers were thrown about, some serious which Roebuck acknowledged, some less serious . “They are better trained and better armed.” Eventually said Vates.

“Exactly!” replied Roebuck pointing to Vates, “That really is the main point. We might have some guns, but trust me when I say that they have the range advantage… and they will use it. We are going to have to get up close and personal, but those bastards are going to make us pay dearly for every metre we take towards them. And the real kick in the teeth is that once we reach the fuckers the chances are they’ll cleave through us like butter and we’ll be too tired to run back away!”

That was clearly not what the men expected to hear. It was certainly not what they wanted to hear. Roebuck let out a booming laugh at the bewildered faces of his squad before issuing his next orders. “Now then, imagine that whatever weapon your holding (be it a sword or whatever) is a rifle. Now I want you to get in single file and start jogging along. When contact is spotted I want you to all drop to your knees and start firing. Understood? Good, go!”

The squad then begun jogging into the ‘forest’ for a good few minutes until they were practically separate from the other squads. It was only a light jog but a few men were clearly begging to feel a strain and Vates wondered how they would fare later on the cardio stage once they had been tired out even more. “Contact left!” roared Roebuck suddenly, causing more than a couple of men to hesitate before dropping to their knees. “Not quick enough! Now, you are all firing in one place as one scrunched up block. Your fire is therefore much more concentrated and is doing a shit tonne of damage. You do not want to loose this advantage by breaking formation and scurrying about like we do. However you need to move right. So what you do is peel out; the man furthest left will run round the back of the squad and become the far right. As he does so he will tap the next man on the shoulder, who after a few moments will then do the same thing, all the time the formation will continue to provide fire but will be slowly moving.” As he dictated this the team followed the drill. After Roebuck was content they understood the drill well he asked them another question, “Now then, what problems do you face when performing this drill?”

Again a few answers were thrown about. One man suggested that cover could be limited, but Roebuck argued that their superior weaponry and continuous concentrated fire meant that mattered little. One woman noted it was hard for the formation to turn at which point Vates quickly added “and they are only really able to fire in one direction to gain a full advantage.” Roebuck was about to reply but Vates continued, “By utilizing are more mobilized strategies and our hosts we can try to flank their squads which will decimate their ability to provide concentrated fire. Then it’ll just be a case of getting in close, splitting them apart and fighting each one-to-one.”

“Exactly.”

Zachary's first stop was the old mechanic's. He had chosen the location to visit first partly because it would make a convenient route but also because it wasn't a multi-storeyed which would take time to climb and search. He managed to get there without any encounters, and he looked upon the dilapidated front of the mechanic's. The paint had peeled off, windows broken in to and doors forced open. He drove up to the garage door, which was still closed, so he got out to inspect it. Laying his hand on it, the door's workings assembled within his mind, showing him that it was locked by padlock. All it took to open it was moving the tumblers aside and pushing open the lock using his magnetic abilities, a skill he had used numerous times before while scavenging in the ruined city. He manually lifted the door up, drove his carriage through the opening, parked it inside and then closed the door behind him. The place was engulfed in darkness, which was soon broken when Zachary retrieved and turned on his torch. If he had been given the time to fully repair his carriage he would have been able to install headlights, but that had not been necessary to get it on the road.

It was not long before Zachary found a light switch and, mercifully, it still worked. Able to look around the garage, Zachary discovered that it was a mess, with tables overturned, drawers pulled onto the floor and tools and scrap all over the place. This was a clear sign of looting, but typically looters only took food, easy-to-use cores, functional (or near-functional) tools and weapons and sometimes clothes so Zachary felt confident that he would be able to find what he was looking for. It did not take much rummaging around to find a whole cache of heavy-duty metal springs. He picked a few which seemed to be the right size and placed them in his carriage. Before leaving he took another look over the place just in case he found anything else of use, and to his luck he discovered a radio which must have been used by the mechanic to listen to while working. With no means to transmit communications, and the absence of any radio stations which it could listen in on, the radio had gone untouched. Checking over it with his machine reading confirmed that it still had what he needed, although the battery had been taken. He placed the radio in his carriage as well.

Zachary departed from the mechanic's and headed towards the office building, checking the map for his route. However, as he headed down a road, a military squadron entered the road ahead of him. Immediately Zachary stopped and began to reverse to a street he could turn off on, but already he had been spotted and the military were shouting orders. "That's not one of ours." "Contact left!" "They've got carriages?" "Squadron Hotel to base, we've spotted a live non-military carriage on Whitely Road. It's attempting a retreat down Oak Street." Plasma bolts zipped past Zachary, and several tore through the thin metal walls of the carriage with little resistance. Zachary managed to get away before the bolts hit anything important, but he was still suitably panicked. He had heard and seen them speaking into their two-way radios, so more soldiers would be on their way soon. There is no way the military, with their iron rule over Sovereign, would tolerate someone getting their hands on a working carriage.

Zachary's mind was racing trying to find a solution while his carriage was racing to get him away. He realised that he would have to hide until the search waned, but the trouble would be finding a place he could hide a carriage. And he didn't have long. Zachary was searching frantically when Kaa'is spotted a place. Over there! It was the entrance to an underground carpark for an apartment building. A slice off the top had crumbled down to the street but it looked as if the carpark was intact, but most importantly it was dark. Checking around for any watching military, and spotting none, he drove down through the entrance and in to the shadows. He stopped to pull out a torch, and then kept going. Through the small circle of vision which the torch provided he could see that it was not a very big carpark. There were still some carriages remaining, although they had been thrown against the walls by the flood during the cataclysm. A layer of water remained on the ground, which was of no hindrance to the levitating carriage, and the rest of the water must have drained away to somewhere. There was an elevator and concrete wall present as well, which provided Zachary a place to hide behind, hidden from view from any who peaked in from outside. He wasted no time in crawling over there in his carriage, checking that the water-covered ground was clear and stopped the engines. He then turned off the torch, engulfing him in darkness and leaving him to sit alone for however long he felt it would take for the military to deprioritise the search. It was going to be a long wait.

Outside Sector Zero - Abandoned Bank

The vault of the bank opened with a low moan as a patrol of Golden Mercenaries stepped out and began marching towards the single opening that served as an entrance to the area of the bank's entrance. The patrol moved as a single unit and made its way past the dust-ridden wall which threatened to crumble at any moment. As soon as the patrol cleared the area, a soft, maniacal snicker broke the eerie silence of the ghost alley.

"Simple as that," Lizard said as he pressed his ear piece. His voice was high pitched and extremely nasal, much to Fang's annoyance. Five stories above the bank in an adjacent building, a lone bat broke out of a window and swooped downwards until it began rolling into a ball of fur which eventually warped into the figure of a young woman.

"Nekros, a small crack in the rubble of the fallen hotel, look along from the West. It leads to a bank. The vault is the entrance," she said before turning to the wall behind her. The bricks seemed to appear in place, but if one focused hard enough, they might have noticed a faint outline in which the sight distorted.

"Stop staring at me, creep," Fang spat before pulling out two brick-shaped packages from a pouch on her thigh. Lizard snicked once more before deactivating his natural camouflage, seeming to appear out of thin air as he pushed off the wall on he had attached himself about ten feet above the ground. "We should rig the lift. Kill them with their own stupidity. How are you going to live underground with an elevator as your only exit?! Nyah! Idiots!"

Fang rolled her eyes as she walked along an imaginary line, calculating each step. She then knelt and held out her left hand. With the slightest twitch, her nails extended to form three inch claws, which changed to a jet black color. She then thrust her hand down into the concrete below, jamming her nails through with little effort. Tearing the concrete up took a bit more strain however, but with a grunt and strong arm, she managed to pull the concrete enough to place the explosive charge neatly beneath. Fang then stood up and kicked the concrete back with another grunt of effort, leaving what seemed to be cracked concrete in place of her set up.

Lizard raised a brow, though it could not be seen behind his goggles. "Didn't think you'd be so..."
Fang turned around and winked, "Scary?" she said as she flashed him a fang-flaunting smile. She then turned towards the bank and began walking along another imaginary line. "Nekros gave us strict orders. No direct contact for another seven days. Until then, we do what we're told and do it without question."

Lizard sighed and threw up a hand in indifference. "I'm headin' back. *sniff* Don't get caught."

Fang simply shook her head and chuckled, "Riiiiight..."

Arianna listened to Hector’s speech, her eyes scanning the large crowd of trainees around her. It was a big group, but the four sectors evenly split them into twenty-five each. Still, it was too much for Arianna’s mind to handle. Castiel noticed it the instant that the group arrived and relieved Arianna of the thoughts of every Merc or to-be-Merc at the training grounds. She found her gaze catching the back of a man’s head. He seemed familiar, but just before she could get a good look at him, Hector finished his speech and the trainees began to split apart. She decided to find the man at another time and turned to gaze upon the four stations. She’d been sent to the first station; fortunately for her, it was a good station to begin the day.

Arianna began her first day of training with a few stretches to make sure that she didn’t pull or tear any muscles. From there, she picked up one of the twenty-five jump ropes hanging on a rack and began to swing it, jumping lightly to avoid tangling her legs in the rope. She was absorbed in old memories as she jumped, remembering her days as a young child learning how to jump rope. The wave of nostalgia was bittersweet. After jumping rope for a while, Arianna moved on to jogging through the trail, enjoying the man-made forest. It was a relief from the rubble and crumbled buildings above them. She did a few laps in a jog, marveling at how she was just now sweating and running out of breath. The stamina that being a host gave her was a big improvement from her physical state before the Void Gate opened. She paused for a few gulps of water before running a few laps. She found herself at the end of her second running lap when the whistle was blown and they were told to move stations.

The walk between station one and two was a good time for Arianna to take a breath and drink some more water. While the rest of the group began to find their respective weight training stations, Arianna had no clue where to start. It was only when she noticed a few mats that she sprouted an idea. She laid the mat out and began to mimic the poses her mother used to do when she was doing yoga. Arianna guessed that since it was the beginning of her training, she could start out by working on the strength of her mind and flexibility instead of jumping right into lifting weights, like most of the other trainees. After all, most of her abilities were towards stretching her mind to the limit and being quick enough to dodge attacks and make her own.

At the end of station two, Arianna made her way towards station three. She’d watched the trainees at this station while she did her yoga and was curious to learn such maneuvers. First, she listened to a lecture about how to read the Mercenary maps and the basic hand gestures. They then were assigned numbers and a group, and set out on their first simulation of maneuvers. Arianna remembered the signals and memorized them by heart. She responded well to the signals, but overall knew that she had a lot to do when it came to moving around the group. By the end, she was ready for a tall glass of glacier water.

After a hearty water break, Arianna moved onto station four, the one that she had been most worried about. Her fighting technique was nothing compared to the Golden Mercenaries, and she knew it was going to be tough to be able to handle the blows of the military soldiers, if she were ever in a fight with one. She was taught a few basic moves through a slow training process by some volunteer Mercenaries, and once they thought she knew the moves well enough they put her up against a few other trainees. Her quickness helped her a lot, but the sheer strength of some of the other mercenaries was enough to overtake her. By the end of the section, she was lying on her back, wincing from the last battle. The trainee that had been fighting with her helped her up. “Don’t be so disheartened. After a few weeks of training in section two, you’ll be strong as me, but also faster than you are now. You’ll be one hell of a soldier,” the girl said, smiling as they took their water break and headed back to section one. Arianna smiled softly and stuck to the girl’s side throughout training, even daring to find out her weight limit on every weight machine they had. Arianna found that she could lift significantly more than she thought she could, but as she noticed the weights that some of the other trainees were lifting she realized that she had a lot to make up for.

Throughout the day, Arianna began to improve in each station. As the whistle was blown at the 2 o’clock mark, Arianna felt confident that she had learnt a lot in the day’s rigorous training exercise. She watched as the non-host trainees split off, looking rather relieved and exhausted and couldn’t help but feel jealous. She drank an exaggeratingly large amount of water before pouring a little down her back to cool off. Then, she looked around at all the hosts left in the training grounds and began to grow curious. What did Hector have in store for them?

Zachary had lost track of time in the darkness of the underground car park. And left in the darkness with nothing but his mind and Kaa'is to interact with he felt he might lose track of his sanity if he waited much longer. Normally, if he wanted to pass the time, he would find some engineering problem to mentally fixate on, but this time that was not working. He was fidgety, his fingers unable to keep still and his eyes and face twitching. He tried sleeping, but he was not particularly tired, and as he tried to relax his mind instead went back to the murder of last night. Worse still, it wandered onwards, contemplating what may happen if he clashed with the military and how he might attack and ultimately kill. He tried mentally speaking with Kaa'is, but he seemed quite interested in the topic of battle strategies, especially brutal and lethal ones, and that only made Zachary more fitful.

Unable to take it any more, Zachary got off the carriage and stormed out of the car park. The sunlight, albeit obscured by the Wall, caused him the throw up his hands to protect his eyes. Once his eyes had adjusted sufficiently to the brightness, he was able to take a look around and found that the area was clear. He let out a deep breath and he stepped back in to the ramp so he could stop and plan where he was partially sheltered from view. From his backpack he removed his map and studied it. Looking out and around a few times he was eventually able to identify his location on the map and found that he could walk from where he was to the office building he wanted.

Before he left he went back in to the car park. He shoes were already soaked from when he had left so he didn't mind wading through again. Using his torch for light to aid navigation, he went up to the small carriages which had been pushed up against the walls and laid a hand on them. In each of them, he was surprised to discovered that the kinetic cores of their engines had not been looted. The carriages were too damaged to be functional without repair, but the damage was outstandingly little when all things were considered. He was about to use his powers to remove the cores when he realised that they would be a lot more useful with the whole engine attached. So he removed the engines as a whole, a task made easy with the telekinetic removal of bolts and the added strength when carrying metal, and placed them in the back of his carriage. He also removed the lights, because they would undoubtedly be useful. He left one carriage that was in particularly good condition as it was, just in case he wanted to repair a second carriage any time soon.

With that done he set out on foot in the streets towards the office tower. On his walk he spotted one military patrol, but since he was on foot he was much better positioned to take cover and hide until they were gone. After some time, he reached the building he wanted, and his shoes had gone from dripping went to just somewhat damp, which was still uncomfortable but a much better alternative to how he had been sitting around in the darkness. He looked at the building, which looked quite derelict but, compared to all the other buildings, seemed structurally sound. He walked inside and began the ascent hoping not to come across anyone, although he considered that unlikely. A building intact enough to have flights of stairs which were unbroken between most floors would be a likely place of shelter, in which case what Zachary hoped for more realistically was that if he came across anyone they would not be aggressive.

In his youth, Mathias had once come across an old man travelling the roads of Wintra, if one was to judge by appearance they would have sworn that this ancient traveler was naught but a frail, demented husk, now destitute and with little skill to speak of. Luckily for Mathias, he was never one to judge so easily. He recalled, during his exercises, how he had fed and sheltered the man. This act of kindness, although unusual for Mathias, did not go unappreciated. In return for his hospitality the traveler taught him the basic principles of Wing-chun.

Now on the snow blanketed patio, Mathias practiced. His arm movements were sharp, yet precise, his lower body was sturdy yet flexible. The trick, as he was taught, is for every movement to have a purpose. He could almost hear his mentors voice, passing through the falling snow before him.

"Think of your body as a river, you must flow. You can either flow fast or flow slow, either way you must get your destination. A river knows its true course, all lead to the Ocean and although they may bend and twist, every rivers course is as direct as the terrain allows. Your Ocean is your target young man, you may bend and swerve, but only to get to your target. Every movement has a purpose, every river knows its course."

He had not performed Wing-Chun in many years, but he felt it necessary now. The tide had turned, the city was always chaotic, even before the rift, but since the broadcast, since the people found hope in the darkness...Things had got much, much worse.
"How long will it take..." He pondered "Before the civilians try to breach the estate? The North wall lies just beyond my land. And how long will it take for the military to storm in after them...and how long until the remainder seep through: the lost few, the demons and the degenerates." Mathias closed his eyes and deeply inhaled the aggressively cold air and as if carried by such action, Boreas assured his host "We will no succumb Mathias, will we defend our land, our people will be protected, your plan will work...it must."

Reassured, Mathias continued his training, he would need all the practice he could get.

Sector Zero - Training Grounds

There was an hour left, and Kisheto was ready to drop dead. Sure, the combat maneuvering courses were tiring, and the physical and cardiovascular courses were straining, but the lack of longer breaks left him on the verge of passing out, as many of the other non-military personnel had. There were two hosts that still hadn't risen from their blackouts which occurred about an hour prior during a one-on-one in the GMMAT course.

Kisheto, above all, was angry. He felt like a pawn, constantly being yelled at for constantly messing up. The blame was half his, if not more, but still, the thought that his performance was deemed inferior irritated him.

'...wonder if that pink juice shit tastes any good. Probably could ask for some sugar from that one hot mercenary. Gotta play it cool and innocent, like I just want sugar and nothin' else. No wait, that's stupid, she's not a chef why would I ask her for sugar... Maybe I could say I'm lost, and- no wait, that's fucking lame. Ohhh, sparring partner, hell yes...' Kisheto was lost in his mind, unable to focus on the mercenary who had called for the group to gather around and watch him perform a simple GMMAT grapple attack.

---

"Alright, so, here, let's see how it would look on two similar sized people. Remember, the guillotine is hopeless if your opponent is bigger. If someone of you tried it on me, I could just lift you with my neck," the instructor-mercenary said with a chuckle. He then peered into the crowd and pointed at two young men sitting near one another in the back of the group.

"You - Gold Eyes, and you - Silver Top, front and center!" he called out to Kisheto and Yugeto respectively. Kisheto snapped to attention at the sudden wave of people turning to look at Yugeto and him. Yugeto raised a brow and shrugged, "If you say so, Neckbeard," Yugeto replied, causing the audience to chuckle and the instructor to frown and reach for the hairs on his exposed neck. Kisheto laughed and looked at Yugeto, surprised he hadn't noticed such a keen individual before.

Kisheto and Yugeto walked towards the center of the opening that the instructor made, and the group began to shift to form a large circle around the two. The instructor then nodded to Kisheto, "Alright Goldie, you're on offense. Remember, dominant hand over the opposite side and then curl downwards. Your elbows should lock right around his neck before you bring him down, and then he's all yours."
Kisheto yawned nonchalantly. "Damn, at least take me to dinner first," he said, causing the audience to laugh once more. Yugeto scoffed, "Whoa chillll.... Now's not the time for your balls to drop," he replied. Kisheto raised a brow, only slightly offended, partially due to the louder laughter that ensued around him. He had been contested.

"Yeah? Well at least I don't have old man hair, you...you fuck!" he said with a frown. The audience instantly fell silent in an awkward, passive rejection of Kisheto's reply. Yugeto smirked and tilted his head, "Is your mommy around? I might have to get her permission before I put my hands on you. Shouldn't be a problem since she was so okay with me f-"

The crowd had already began laughing, and as the laughter began to crescendo, Kisheto charged at Yugeto, interrupting his insult. He balled his fists and swung at Yugeto, causing the instructor and a few mercenaries to step forward in order to stop him, but Yugeto simply warped into a silver aura that Kisheto dashed through, nearly falling due to his misguided momentum. Yugeto reformed behind Kisheto, who spun around, his expression showing pure anger. It was childish and overly compulsive, but Kisheto had just ticked, and he wanted to beat Silvertop's ass.



At the sight of Yugeto's spirit manipulation, a few of the mercenaries backed up, including the instructor, choosing to play passive in the wake of a host's fight.

"FUCK YOU!" Kisheto yelled as he swung again and again at Yugeto who either ducked, swung to either side, or demateralized into spirit to evade. However, every time he tried to strike Kisheto, Kisheto also managed to dodge or block his attacks. Yugeto tried to get a spirit link on Kisheto, but Kisheto blocked his strikes by forcing away his arms by the forearms. He used his own forearms against Yugeto's, though Yugeto's force greatly overpowered Kisheto's own. Yugeto's strength wasn't canceled, it was redirected.

Yugeto finally began to get slightly annoyed, "Stop trying so hard for something so small!" he shouted. Kisheto kept giving his all, swinging his leg all the way around and nearly clipping Yugeto's ear had he not ducked diagonally. Kisheto through a flurry of punches at Yugeto's head, which Yugeto evaded and finally managed to slap both palms on Kisheto's right forearm. Yugeto smirked and yanked Kisheto off his feet, tossing him up above himself while maintaining his tight grip on the boy's arm. He then spun around and slammed Kisheto to the ground, creating a slight shockwave and denting the dirt. Kisheto coughed as he lay limp for a second, but regained his senses immediately, rolling out of the way of Yugeto's foot which stomped on empty ground. Kisheto rolled into a crouch, but coughed as he felt himself grow slightly weaker. As the dust settled, Kisheto could see why. His eyes widened before a long rope of silver light that extended from his forearm like an IV connected to Yugeto's palm.

"Wow... probably the best tasting spirit yet..." he said with a smirk as he began yanking the spirit out of Kisheto's forearm. Kisheto cried out in pain as he fell backwards, suspended by the rope emitting from his arm. He tried with all his might to pull back, his body tilted backwards while a few feet away, Yugeto stood perfectly still, pulling the rope of spirit closer one hand at a time.

"Wow, pretty long for a little boy," he said chuckling as the rope began to gather around his feet. Kisheto coughed and strained, but his muscles were already torn and he could barely managed to stand. Yugeto raised a brow, "Just how much do you have..."

Yugeto stopped pulling for a second, allowing his grip to tighten. He placed both hands on the rope of spirit and his eyes began to grow silver. With a single breath, he yanked as hard as he could and an enormous burst of golden spirit rushed out of Kisheto's arm, only to gather above Yugeto. Yugeto gasped and looked above him. A humongous orb of golden spirit floated above the group, creating a shadow that covered the entire lake. The orb was connected to a thick rope of silver spirit, which appeared to be gradually turning a similar golden color. Yugeto shook his head, "The fuck are you? Some sort of bank for the ka-gays?"

Yugeto thrust his hands forward, causing the gargantuan mass of spirit to rush back into Kisheto, who coughed and gagged back to life. The instructors and the rest of the group remained silent in fear and awe. Kisheto continued to cough, but managed to speak a few words in between,
"Nev- *cough* - Never... speak of my mom..." he said weakly, still seated on the ground.

Yugeto squinted and looked at the boy. 'The taste was familiar... whatever. Seems chill when he ain't trippin.' Yugeto thought as he walked forward and held out a hand. "Quit bein' so dramatic. I don't see no damn cameras around."

Kisheto wiped his mouth and looked up at Yugeto with spiteful eyes, but he sighed as he felt his body return to its over exhausted state. Taking Yugeto's hand, he pulled himself up and nodded. "Who needs the guillotine when you can pull the fucking ghost juice out of someone," he said with a smile and a cough.

Yugeto and the rest of the audience laughed, and the instructor shook his head, still in disbelief at what he had just seen. "O-okay, everyone calm down and regroup, let's move over to the sparring facility."

Zachary ascended the stairwell of the building, the light from outside sufficient for navigation thanks in part to natural lighting considerations by the designers of this office building. He was nervous as he climbed, though, always worried that he might be encroaching on somebody else's territory and he would not be in any way welcome. Despite the creeping paranoia, Zachary made it to the rooftop of the building without seeing anyone. Once out in the open Zachary found that he had to make the effort to calm himself down and suppress the fight-or-flight sensation. He breathed deeply and took in the panoramic view that his present position offered him to calm himself down. He was not by nature particularly prone to exploring, so he hadn't climbed to the top of tall buildings as nearly often as some other people had in the past year, so this view still held some majesty for him. Despite the desolation, the skyline of Sovereign was still grand, no longer clean and pristine and shiny, but grandeur remained, just as great ruins of ancient civilisations have grandeur. Marring the view was the Wall, encasing him on all sides and preventing the sky, the horizon, the fields beyond, from being seen and serving as a constant reminder of the military grip over the city. The skyways, although normally ignored, formed streaks of light which seemed out of place in the greying husk of the capitol, a taunting reminder of how advanced the city had been just over a year ago.

Now able to focus Zachary proceeded to search the rooftop. He quickly spotted the large metal box with gratings which must have been the office's ventilation and air conditioning system. At a touch he was able to identify after a few seconds that a wind core was still present, still charged, and he could see where it was too. The access panel was locked, but that only slowed him down for the few seconds it took to read the lock in his mind and shift the tumblers aside. Once open, he was able to reach in through the metalwork, prise open the core casing and remove the wind core. It was quite large, but it had to be in order to pump air through an entire multi-storey building.

Closing the panel, Zachary was feeling satisfied with how easily he had made this find when he turned to go and saw a man pointing a shotgun at him standing where he had come from. The man seemed to be in his late forties, with signs of age beginning to show in his copper hair and and fair skin, he had a beard and a balding head. Most importantly, he did not seem particularly welcoming of Zachary's presence. The man's appearance startled Zachary, causing him to step back, and he also put his hands up, still holding the wind core in one of them.

Already Kaa'is was going through a battle plan. He's got a simple fire-core powered shotgun, made mostly of metal. Just a flick and we'll have him disarmed. We can barge our way past with the wind cannon and iron knuckles. Even if he fires, that shot is probably metal so our force plus the kinetic shield should be enough to prevent actual damage. Zachary was about to follow through, readying his power, when he stopped himself. This was not how they normally handled such encounters.

Zachary steadied himself as much as he could and said, "I don't mean any harm." The man did not move, his gaze as steely and aim as steady as before, but at least he hadn't fired, so Zachary continued, gradually growing in confidence as Kaa'is and his body caught up with the idea that he wouldn't be fighting. "I just came here to collect this wind core here, see? If you were using it I can put it back, but it seemed to be abandoned. I didn't know you were here. I don't mean to pose any threat."

Zachary paused to allow the man to respond. To his relief the man lowered the gun slightly and asked, "What do you want that core for?"

"I'm an engineer. I wanted this core to..." he hesitated. It came to mind that perhaps, by some chance, working for Winters and building a sonic weapon could be quite a dangerous answer. Kaa'is quickly jumped in on his train of thought and provided a simple, realistic lie. "...to recharge my wind cannon. I made it myself." He gestured to the wind cannon, the piece of metal piping, sticking out of his backpack.

The man grunted and lowered his gun more. "Since you're done here I'll make sure you get out."

Zachary, further relieved, nodded, put the wind core in his backpack and walked down the stairs with the man following behind him, still armed. The break the silence as they descended the flights of stairs Zachary attempted to strike up some conversation. "My name's Zachary, by the way."

"Thomas," said the man.

"So, is it just you here, or do you have a family or clan as well?"

After a short pause, Thomas replied, "Both. How about you?"

"I've been mostly independent."

"It's going to be dangerous on your own."

"Isn't it always?"

"Especially so soon." Thomas gestured out a nearby window down to the empty street below. "Ever since that announcement the streets have grown emptier, not fuller as such a rouse might do."

Zachary furrowed his brow. "Why do you think that's so?"

"Part of it would be fear. The military now patrol more aggressively, especially up in this District, so small bands are at risk out on the streets. Even if we wanted to fight to break out, we'd be too weak individually."

"So safety in numbers. In order to make a successful break-out, there'd need to be someone to co-ordinate the attack, someone to give the signal for everyone to emerge from hiding and strike. But who?"

"A lot of people and gangs have gone to the Golden Mercenaries, which is the other reason for the empty streets. They're the guys behind the announcement. They're grouping together an army in their not-so-secret base, and they have the timing."

This gave Zachary some food for thought. "I hope they understand what they're up against."

Thomas was grave. "The cost will be dear. But it already has been." They finally reached the ground floor. "Here's the exit. Take care on those streets."

Zachary waved him goodbye. "Thank you, Thomas. Take care as well." Then Zachary left to return to his carriage. He had all three components he needed now, so he just had to get them back to the Winters estate and put them together into a functional device.

Ishigo looked at the mass of mercenaries and trainees leaving the grounds. He had been relaxing in the same branch the entire time, watching the people push through and face some of the most extreme tests that their bodies and spirits had ever been through. They were pushed to new limits, and forced to break the barriers that bound them to their civillian status. It had been a long day, but the trainees left with a new attitude, their heads held high and their strides long and confident.

Ishigo continued to look out at the field as Hector began walking towards him and Raeven, who sat on the ground below eating an apple plucked from the same tree. She looked up at Ishigo, smirking softly. "I wonder if I could hit you with this from here," she teased, taking another bite. "Then again, I don't want to waste another apple." Ishigo chuckled quietly. He was in a much more reserved mood, as he always was in the company of Raeven. As Hector neared the two, he sat upright, making sure that he was perfectly visible to the third musketeer.

"Whoa, easy amigos, I wouldn't wanchu to pull a muscle working that hard," Hector said jokingly, which made Raeven grin in amusement. He walked up to the tree and crossed his arms, taking a moment to take a deep breath and let the stress of the past few hours melt away. "So, whatdya think? We got a shot?" he asked the two, looking back at the group that neared the entrance to the grounds. Raeven glanced past Hector towards the group of hosts, noticing how they looked exhausted, but they didn't look as rough as the non-hosts had as they left. "I think this will be enough to hold them off until Victor uses his special weapon." Ishigo nodded, and Hector followed suit.

"That is what we want, yes, but... I don't want them to be considered... sacrifices, you see?" Hector replied. He scratched his chin and looked up at Ishigo, "We're about to start placement. Whatchu got?"

Ishigo shrugged as he continued to eye the departing group. "I work best alone. Raeven could tag along, but any more would be cutting our efficiency." Hector raised a brow as he thought about Ishigo's statement. It was true, there weren't many that could keep up with Ishigo, and only a few could maintain stealth to the same degree. Raeven, however, synchronized well with Ishigo, and to top it off, she was one of the only known people to land a solid hit on him in a duel. At the mention of her name, Raeven looked up at Ishigo. "You aren't leaving me alone, are you?" She said with a smirk. "I knew I was going to be your partner since I arrived here."

"You guys gonna head out, then?" Hector asked. Before they could reply, he reached into his belt pouch and retrieved a folded piece of paper. Tapping the paper twice, he tilted his head and grinned, "You sure you wanna miss this?"

Ishigo sighed and shook his head, but stopped as he noticed something in particular about the group that remained. "...fine. This might be pretty interesting, actually," he said as he nodded towards the field. Hector looked back and smiled, having noticed exactly what caught Ishigo's attention. He then looked at Raeven and nodded towards the field, "Let's go give these fools some squads."

---

"What about the girl that used to play that one commercial with the herbal shampoo and shit? She had kinda thick brows, but damn, you're tellin me you wouldn't hit that?" Kisheto asked.Yugeto scratched his head and looked into deep thought before he shook himself back to the conversation. "She's pretty banging, but after some serious thinking, I've decided Flo is superior. She makes up for semi-decent attractiveness with a great personality. Yep, definitely Flo."

Kisheto reared back and threw the stone he was holding into the lake, counting as it skipped six times before sinking into the water. "Ehh... I guess, but she seems so innocent and youthful. Actually..." Kisheto tilted his head and squinted as he tried to recall the figure of the woman. "I think there's a side to dudes that gets insanely turned on by the thought of bonin' people that you shouldn't be bonin'. Like the whole nerdy-chick-throwin-off-the-glasses angle, 'nah mean? I 'unno, it's just the hormones maybe. Humans are strange."

Yugeto raised an eyebrow before replying. "Hmm...yeah. Humans. You're a weird bunch, I'll tell ya that."

Kisheto chuckled softly, but stopped as he began to work through what he had just heard. He turned to Yugeto with a puzzled look, but his attention was stolen by the humming of the training grounds' speakers.

"Ok, my friends. I'm assuming you're all hosts?" Hector spoke into a microphone at the center of the stage from where he had spoken to the large trainee audience before. The hosts that had remained began gathering around as soon as his voice echoed through the grounds.

"Well, I'd appreciate it if you all took a seat. We're going to start assigning you brave and loco folk to squads now, so get comfortable and try to make friends, si?" he motioned to Raeven, who stood on his left side holding the paper that contained the squad listings. Raeven, in turn, glanced over at him. She had no intention on reading the listings, but wouldn't care if he made her. Her eyes returned to the crowd of hosts, looking over each of them and trying to sum them up by the way they held themselves. Hector shook his head and chuckled before reaching for the paper, "I got it."

Kisheto looked back and cursed under his breath. "Yo, I gotta run, I'll catch up with you later, alright, homie?" he said to Yugeto as he pat him on the shoulder to get his attention. Yugeto nodded silently and followed behind Kisheto."I need to get placed in my squad, brother." Yugeto headed off towards the crowd of hosts.

---

Hector cleared his throat aloud, causing the crowd to grow silent. "Alright, I'm going to call each squad number and then call out your names and powers. It is important that we all understand what we are capable of so as to not hurt one another. Once this is done, I highly suggest you all head to your respective squad training zones, which we have put aside especially for hosts, and start... getting to know one another."

Hector unfolded the piece of paper and nodded, "Alright then, let's go."

Hector ran his finger along the paper until it stopped next to squad one.
"Well this one's easy.

SQUAD ONE: We have our two ninja assassin motherfuckers - Ishigo and Raeven. You guys can have zone one, but I doubt you'll need it... In case you guys are wondering by the way, Ishigo and Raeven are my closest friends. Both have abilities that make them rather sneaky, as Ishigo can blend in with and manipulate the shadows around us, while Raeven can become completely invisibile while maintaining sight in the darkest of areas. Both of them are also extremely capable in martial arts. They'll also assist any of you while you serve with us; consider them Hector when I'm not around."

Ishigo smiled and nodded to the crowd as Hector pointed to him and then Raeven. Raeven smirked lightly and waved at the crowd. She showed off a little by warping the light around her hand, and was rewarded by a few oo's and aah's.

"SQUAD TWO: Originally, we had this squad serve as a search and rescue team, and it shall stay a search and rescue team, but with more... firepower. Squad Two is led by Julian Drake, a newcomer who's proven to be one of the finest team players in Sector Zero, though he has chosen to relinquish his status as Squad Leader. He is known to be able to control and even transform into a frightening black smoke. However, you guys need more, especially after we lost Rocky..." Hector shook his head as he remembered the man who went rogue after being overwhelmed by his thirst for spirit. "Squad two will still consist of Ria, our youngest host who is a medic angel from above, and Yon Ivor, the man who can send your soul out into the world as if it were you in person. Adding onto Squad Two, we have Arianna Chrystein and Blake Ketrius. Arianna is apparently a telepath, which, in my opinion, is one hell of an advantage for us. Blake is an exceptional combatant, who will add the oomph that this squad needs were it to face a threat. Blake has opted to be Squad Leader, and Julian and Ivor have accepted his request, as he seems to be a capable young man. He is able to...wow... um, well, he hurts. Just watch out for him and keep a distance, he packs quite a punch."

Blake watched from the frontlines of the crowd with a determined look on his face, masking his inner excitement with his pairing with Arianna. His plan to earn her trust would work swimmingly.

As Arianna moved to the front to join her squad, she looked up at Hector, her brow raised slightly. Apparently.. she teased in his mind before looking around at the rest of her squad with a soft smile.

"SQUAD THREE: We're gonna keep this squad the same. This is our Bait squad, used to create presence in a certain area for tactical positioning. When noticed, we have our best strategists gauge reactions to react to what we would expect the military to do upon detecting the bait squad. The reason they play this role, which I must say, is extremely brave of them, is because they, when working together, are the best at escaping the stickiest situations. The bait squad consists of Lilian Tanner, who is able to morph into various different organisms, taking on their full anatomy when she does so. Lilian uses this ability primarily to escape solo - luring in the military and then dipping out in the shape of a street rat. Lilian Tanner is joined by her sister, Margaret Tanner, who has the ability to teraform the land around her, creating walls and diversions. Finally, squad 3 has Rodrick Buhler, a man who can regenerate his entire body, save for the head. I'm sure it hurts like a bitch to have your lower half be blown off, but damn, it must be reassuring to know it grows back." Hector chuckled at his last statement.

"Moving on, we have SQUAD FOUR: Originally, we had two elemental squads, made primarily to hurt the military. Each consisted of three elemental hosts, one with a fire kage, one with a water kage, and one with a lightning kage. Now, we are combining both squads to make one large assault squad consissting of two of each element. The hosts are as follows: Fire- Nikki... uh, no last name... and Tylok Vinsouzzi, Water- Elizabeth Irynn and Scarlett Rickle, Lightning- Joseph Quinn and Suryan Al'Tektin. Remember, these guys are our bruisers, they charge in, dish out their explosive combos, and hop out before the military can figure out a way to best them."

"Next, we have SQUAD FIVE: This squad will be our Splinter Squad. These guys are responsible for weakening the military's defense to give the Assault squad an easier time. They won't be taking on waves of soldiers head on, but rather, going out to target key defensive parameters that the military needs in order to preserve their superiority on the battlefield. For example, taking out any single patrols, intercepting and stealing weapon shipments, destroying emerging encampments, and so on. The splinter squad will also function hand in hand with Squad One with their secondary objective, which may make the biggest difference in this battle yet. The joint squad is tasked with the finding and destroying of the enemy hosts, which we've recently been informed of. Not only are these bad boys trained soldiers, but they're ruthless and will kill anything that moves. I can tell you one thing, you will not win an even fight. Squad one will be responsible for the search and singling out of each host, while the rest of the joint squad will converge on the targets to secure a kill. The Splinter Squad consists of... Yugeto, our new, unique arrival, who is capable of controlling one's spirit, making him our main weapon against the enemy hosts. Yugeto will work in conjuction with Pelias Xovos, who is capable of being a fine tank and defender, while having a decent amount of combat experience under his belt, too. Additionally, we have Noel Ethaise, a young woman who... we've been informed is capable of rather explosive combat. Yugeto will primarily be focusing on hosts, including hostile hosts that do not belong to the military, as I'm sure you will run into many on the way. Squad Five will be led by Xovos, as we believe he has the best shot at successfully directing a combat squad."

Yugeto hollered in excitement once his name was mentioned. "I'm gonna eat those bad boy motherfuckers! Woo!" The hosts standing near him backed away a little, but his friendly demeanor and casual charisma calmed them down after a few seconds.

Hector folded the piece of paper and nodded to Yugeto with a grin, "Bon appetite, hermano."

"Well, that takes care of that. It's urgent that you all get together in your respective Squad Training zones in as soon as possible. We don't have much longer before D-Day folks. In order for you guys to function well together, it's important that you understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. And more importantly, make some fucking friends, alright? Who knows how the world is gonna treat you guys once we get out of this hell hole. Just know one thing: to me and the rest of this city, you will be heroes. Good luck out there, my friends."

Blake headed out towards the Squad Two Training Zone, Kataskai sitting on his shoulder. Are we really settling for a Search and Rescue? Squad leader is great and whatnot, but how do you expect us to absorb Kages? Blake snorted dismissively, and waved his hand in the air. "We're clearly strong enough to kill Arianna. We're fine. No need." Immediately after he spoke, Blake shuddered and staggered. Obviously. But do you really believe you're strong enough to fight reinforcements? We can fight off two hosts, even three. But six or seven? Hmph. You've got to find a weak brain to pick that will be loyal to you, and manipulate it against Arianna, or the Mercenaries as a whole. Better yet, turn this faction against her, paint her to be an outcast. As far as "no need", you must be truly idiotic to believe I won't push you towards my own sustenance. I'm offering you a pool of my power to do as you'd like and all I ask in return is an offering here and there. Get to work. Blake simply nodded and continued towards the Training Zone.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yugeto was already floating in his Spirit-form towards the Splinter Squad Training Zone at a leisurely pace. "Shit, these guys really hooked it up. I work with a team of people to help me find some Spirit, and I kick some ass and save the ecosystem or whatever while doing it!" Yugeto laughed with glee, believing he had truly achieved nirvana. "Good deeds and a Spirit buffet...I'm in paradise!" Yugeto called out as he manifested his physical form upon arrival at the Training Zone.

Raeven watched the squads begin to form. She listened to the chatter, focusing on no voice in particular. The hum of excitement and "Pleased to meet you"'s filled the air, reminding her of the old hum of Sovereign. She felt an urge to smile, but only gave herself a little range to give a soft smile. The way Hector had announced her made her feel like she was being considered one of his right hand men. She certainly wanted to portray that in her actions around the squads. Out of all of her years in such a powerful city, she knew that the way she portrayed herself mattered about how people saw her.

She turned her attention to Hector, picturing his smaller, younger self next to him. The change was drastic. The childish imagination of having power transformed into a tall, confident man that seemed humbled by the amount of power he had. In moments like this, she wished that they were all young and free again. The three amigos they used to be had been one of the best times of her life. Even to this day, it was her happiest memories. She could only hope that after this war was over, they'd enjoy life again together.

Vates - Sector Zero

Vates found himself sat on the cold concrete like floor outside of the barracks that he was assigned to. He was sat with a group of his fellow squad mates, all of which seemed just as tired or (in many cases) even more so. They all stretched out like cats against the refreshingly cold floor, sipping at their water flasks, trying to recover from the strenuous activities they had been engaged in all day. Vates had done well at every stage, and apart from the stage when he had to do weights, he was consistently one of the best performers. Many had been surprised by had good he was at hand-to-hand, capable of taking down most in the squad; however whilst he was alright with his blades, Roebuck suggested he might be better suited to a longer weapon like a spear because his strength failed against heavy blows.

Vates was propped up against a wall and was facing away from his new friends and their assorted conversations, and towards the spectacle a short distance away. He listened as Hector announced the various squads and the abilities of each member within them. "It makes you wonder what we would be capable off if we absorbed spirits like many of them must do." Janus said, his voice taking on an unusual coldness and flatness. Before Vates could even register what Janus had said a large thumping begun shaking the ground around them - something big was approaching.

---

Finger steady. Shoulders loose. Sight on target, aim adjusted for wind, drag and time. It was an officer, a cruel bastard. He was renown for his ability to claw information out of his victims. He had been useful to her, but she was wasn't on his side anymore. Draws one breath and holds it. Finger tightens. Targets dead. She'll be long gone by the time his men even realise where the shot came from.

Sector Zero - Training Grounds Forest

Kisheto rolled his neck and cracked his knuckles. He grinned and nodded once in Ishigo's direction, "You ever been in a bar fight before?"
Ishigo tightened the bandages on his arm and shook his head, "Those are too easy. Everyone's intoxicated and they focus solely on making their attacks hit as hard as they can." Kisheto's expression fell blank. He had never seen a person like Ishigo before, but for some reason, he felt he could connect with his logic. It was as if Ishigo could put his thoughts into words; starting bar fights was easy because he didn't expect much of a challenge.

Ishigo nodded at Kisheto, "You remember what I showed you? Precise and calculated?" Kisheto waved his hand in the air, "I got it, man, trust me."

Ishigo stood still and squinted at Kisheto, "Alright... attack me."

Kisheto shrugged, "Alrighty then." Without a second thought, Kisheto broke into a full speed dash towards his opponent. As he neared Ishigo he rolled to his right and charged Ishigo with his left shoulder while preparing a follow up punch with his right hand. Ishigo simply leaned back slightly while simultaneously throwing his right hand up, between Kisheto's left arm and torso. He reached for Kisheto's neck and as soon as he made contact, he rolled to his left, letting Kisheto's own momentum carry him forward into nothing while Ishigo choke slammed him down to the ground. Kisheto coughed as he fought to regain the air that was knocked out of his lungs. He groaned in pain and slowly stood up. "What the hell... how'd you slip your hand under there like that?" he asked as he rubbed his aching back.

Ishigo stood still and held out the hand he used to grab Kisheto's neck. "Once you understand the your body's field, you can move it the way you want it to move, even when something enters that field. Hold out your hands to both sides." Kisheto raised a brow but obliged, spreading his hands out to each side as far as he could go.

Ishigo nodded, "Now turn around full circle." Kisheto did as he asked.

"That right there is your upper-horizontal body field, or your horizontal reach. At any given time, assuming you're capable of flexing your arms to full potential, you can move your hands to any part of that circle you made. The same concept applies with your legs. You need to understand this because if you don't, you're just flailing your arms around hoping to get your strike where you want it to. If you understand your body field..." Ishigo didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he dashed forward one step, grabbing Kisheto's arm and pulling him towards himself. As Kisheto's body flew towards him, Ishigo grabbed his other arm and spun him around, catching the first arm and spinning him the other way. Kisheto tried to resist, but anything he did would be stopped by Ishigo's ability to catch his every moment with his own. Eventually, Kisheto found himself on the ground helpless, with Ishigo holding his free arm as he placed on knee on Kisheto's back. Kisheto's other arm was pinned under his torso.

"...then you can make a bitch out of anyone who enters your personal space."

---

"Good. Good. Good. KEEP GOING," Ishigo quickly struck Kisheto lightly on his face, causing Kisheto to grow more frustrated. He was blindfolded, and to anyone else watching, it would appear as if he were staying in place, spinning around and flailing his arm in robotic maneuvers. However, he was reacting to every change in his immediate environment. Ishigo was constantly moving about within Kisheto's "body field", close enough to where the slightest movements could be felt or heard.

"DON'T LEAVE AN OPENING!" Ishigo commanded as he continued to feign attacks. If Kisheto was able to block the attack, Ishigo would halt his strike and go for another opening, which Kisheto would instinctively raise his hand to parry as well.

"Good. Good. Good. Good. OPEN!" Kisheto felt the hand strike his face once more, causing him to grit his teeth in anger. He stepped forward and lashed out blindly with his right fist. Ishigo grabbed his wrist and tossed him over his shoulder. As Kisheto hit the ground hard, Ishigo kept a hold on his wrist and began dragging him to a nearby tree. With a quick toss, he slammed Kisheto into the tree and knelt by him.

"This ISN'T a bar fight. NO. FLAILING. You know what that means? Before you even THINK about making a move, prepare yourself for a hundred moves I can make against it. Fights aren't won by brute strength. You don't walk into a battlefield, flex, and win. You have to strike," as he said the last sentence, he quickly jabbed Kisheto in the stomach with lightning speed. Kisheto didn't even have time to cough before Ishigo continued. "You have to defend," Ishigo said as he struck Kisheto across the cheek once more before spinning to a standing position and delivering a kick to the other side of his head. At this point Kisheto was on the ground, barely able to stand.

"You have to THINK," he said as he stomped on the ground where Kisheto had been moments before he rolled out of the way. Ishigo tilted his head to the side, "The fact that anger clouds one's mind is common sense. You don't have to be a Monk of the Horns to know this. You can't think when you're angry, and you can't fight when you can't think." Ishigo walked towards Kisheto and put a hand on his shoulder, which caused Kisheto to flinch initially. He was breathing heavily and even standing caused him to feel strained.

"Most importantly, however, you have to fight with purpose."

Kisheto's breathing relaxed as Ishigo let his hand ease off with the last statement. He walked backwards, making some distance between the two. "Now, I've taught you a lot within these past four hours. I want you to show me how you can combine those things with your own style. We're not going to spar just yet, instead... try snatching my scarf."

Kisheto wiped the blood from his mouth and looked at the red scarf that hung from Ishigo's pocket. He nodded, and Ishigo prepared his combat stance. "Let's go."

Kisheto broke into a dash towards Ishigo, but this time, when he neared, he planted his left foot and spun around, delivering a high kick to Ishigo's head with his right leg. Ishigo ducked under it and went to grabbed Kisheto's leg but, Ishigo abruptly halted his movement and jumped to spin the other way, delivering a similar kick but in the opposite direction. Ishigo was caught off guard by this motion and had to throw up his right forearm to block the kick, causing him to stagger a bit to the left. Kisheto followed up with four quick jabs, all of which were blocked by Ishigo, who then knee Kisheto in the stomach. Kisheto doubled over for a moment in pain, which gave Ishigo enough time to place a hand on the back of his shirt and deliver another kick to his stomach. The kick shot him up enough to where he was suspended by Ishigo clutching his shirt for a split second in the air before Ishigo slammed him onto the ground. Kisheto swallowed the pain and rolled out of the attack before spinning around and charging Ishigo once more. He let loose a flurry of punches and kicks, all of which seemed to do nothing to Ishigo, as each strike was either blocked or evaded. Eventually, Kisheto grew frustrated and wanted to tackle him, but he held off his urges. Instead, he backed off from his assault. Ishigo took a second to breathe, and in that second Kisheto went with it: he charged Ishigo head on and attempted to tackle him. However, Ishigo simply wrapped his arms around Kisheto's torso, which was pointed towards his own. He lifted Kisheto up, as if to slam him down in a pile driver, and threw him up with the strength that Kisheto couldn't believe he had. Before Kisheto could go flying up however, Ishigo jumped above him and flipped, delivering a vertical kick to his torso and smashing him back into the ground. Ishigo landed on the ground next to him, having decided the fight was over.

"I told you not to charge me like that, is it that hard to focus?" he said calmly, kneeling over Kisheto's aching body. Kisheto snickered as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out the red scarf and chuckled, "Sorry, man... it's just my style."

Ishigo looked down at his own pocket with wide eyes. 'What in the....' He was beyond surprised; he didn't even feel Kisheto reach for his pocket. "How did you...?"

Kisheto shrugged, "It's easy after years of practice, y'know?"

Ishigo scoffed as he looked at Kisheto in disbelief. "Ok, good session. We'll do this again tomorrow if there's time? I heard you heal fast, so this shouldn't be a problem," he said as he pointed at Kisheto's broken body. Kisheto nodded, "Same time, same place. Don't go easy on me next time, alright?"
Ishigo chuckled and nodded, "Got it."

Xovos frowned inwardly. His mercenary work had never lead to conducting a group of people, much less those with special abilities. Xovos was covered in a sheen of sweat and still had a hard time catching his breath. Having been stagnant for the past year, he was not in the best shape, despite his fit form. The only reason Xovos has been capable of breezing through the drills was conditioning from days before the Sanctuary catastrophe.

Pelias made his way through the crowds to the Splinter Squad, his mood somewhat darkened by the prospect of extra work. "Perhaps the squad will be independant in there own right and all I'll have to be is a title holder." Xovos comforted himself by proposing scenarios in which he would have to work less. Sven remained surprisingly silent through the whole ordeal, having never interjected once during training or whilst Xovos's thought process was consumed with comforting himself.

Extra post! My mistake.

Arianna looked around at her new squadmates, memorizing each of their abilities. She let their thoughts enter her mind, attempting to get a good idea on how these hosts acted. Mostly, she felt her group fit the qualities of a search and rescue team. With her telepathy, she could locate the persons with their thoughts. From there on, Yon Ivor could confirm the location by projecting either himself or another to the person/s. Perhaps even project sweet, little Ria to heal the person if she could use her powers in astral form. If not, Julian and Blake could serve as protection for Ria as they traveled to the person. Hell, she was sure that she would even be useful in protecting them by listening for unwanted distractions.

Overall, Arianna felt extremely useful in this group. Especially since she wouldn't have to worry much about fighting the military. That is, of course, if they never ran into the military or were ambushed by them. Still, the group could easily blend in as a group of civilians. She wouldn't expect the military to guess that they were up to no good with a young girl on the team. For a moment, she paused, flashbacks of the death of the young girl from yesterday clouding her mind. She quickly let the thoughts of those around her flood her mind, leaving it in chaos until she could forget the awful memory. After a deep breath, Arianna cleared her mind and moved onwards towards Squad Two's training zone. The field was decently sized, allowing enough space for the group to split into little sparring groups to practice. Her gaze moved to rest on Blake, their squad leader, who seemed extremely happy about the squad placement. She smiled at Julian as he arrived, glad that the cool, laid back man was on her team. As Ivor and Ria approached them, she smiled warmer and shook each of their hands, introducing herself. After the time for introductions was over, she turned her attention onto Blake. "Well, shall we begin?"

Yugeto slung his arm around Xovos' shoulder and gave him a friendly one-armed hug. "What's up, boss? I can't tell you how happy I am to be working with you guys. We beat stuff up, I get a ton more Spirit, and we save the world like some badasses while we do it! Talk about paradise, am I right?" Yugeto exclaimed. He regained his composure and ran a hand through his hair, re-orienting himself. "Yeah, so...I'm Yugeto, as you might've heard. I'm here with you guys to do some good and help these fellas out, and to rack up my Spirit. I can manipulate the Spirit of others, hosts or not. I can give you extra Spirit and take it away, too. My abilities are straight-up Spirit Manipulation, so I guess that's pretty chill. If you guys need a boost in a pinch during battle, I can transfer Spirit over to give you that little advantage, or further develop your powers by giving you a big quantity of Spirit, which I probably won't do for no reason. My Spirit is honestly really fucking high, but I have an innate urge to increase my capacity for it more and more. So this team stuff is me using that as a positive tool for the 'greater good' or something. So...yeah. That's me." Yugeto finished. After introducing himself, Yugeto stretched out his arms and yawned, waiting for the next person's introduction.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________

Blake nodded silently to Arianna, and then turned to face the group as a whole. "Hey everyone. I'm Blake Ketrius, as you guys heard Hector announce, I'm going to be working with you guys as the Search and Rescue Squad. Now, our role is quite self-explanatory; we search and rescue important hosts, mercenaries, key figures, and civilians under oppression. Now, the combined stealth and reconnaissance powers of our team make this feat much easier, augmented heavily by Arianna's telepathy, Yon Ivor's astral projection, Ria's medical prowess and healing abilities, and Julian's ability to shift out of his corporeal form to an ethereal one due to his smoke powers to allow for quick movement and transportation. What you haven't been informed of, is that when the time arises and when the Recon Squad is occupied, we and the Splinter Squad are the de-facto groups responsible for capturing key Military individuals to work towards crippling their structure. Our abilities will come into play here greatly as well." Blake took a breath and continued. "Now, I know Hector didn't elaborate much on me, so I'll give you guys a brief description on my powers. Unlike the rest of you, my abilities are not centered to work specifically for Search and Rescue; I'm more of a fighter than anything, but I've got the defense to back you all up. Kataskai, my sword here, is a special Ancient Flame Core-constructed sword. I won't go into much further detail than that just yet. I have the ability to absorb and store energy directed towards me and channel it into things like my sword or others regardless of the energy type used. I can also manipulate already-existing energy constructs such as fire or electricity to the point where I can choose its' direction and target, but not much more than that. I feel like we're going to be a great team." Blake said with an air of determination.

Zachary managed to get back to his carriage then get his carriage back to the Winters estate with little more ill event than getting his shoes waterlogged from wading through then ankle-deep water in the underground car park again. Driving in to the estate he saw Mathias on the patio practising some form of martial art. Zachary gave him a curt wave and nod and drove on, allowing Mathias to continue his practise, and parked the carriage behind the garage this time, out of view. He took the items he needed out of the back of the carriage and carried them in to the workshop, where he took out his tools from his bag and resumed work.

While Zachary had gathered ample experience in jury-rigging mis-matched parts together during his year of post-apocalyptic survival engineering, this sonic weapon was not going to be as simple as sticking some wires together and welding one bit onto another. It needed to be robust, reliable, effective, and of presentable quality for he was doing this on contract after all. As such the daylight hours came to an end well before his project did and, while the shed had lights, it did not have heating and the bitter cold of the outside was now creeping inside with the sun unable to stop it any more. This made Zachary wish he still had his jacket. Cold was not the only thing getting at Zachary, though, as he became more acutely aware of the hunger pains in his belly. He hadn't eaten since breakfast. With the elements against him, Zachary was forced to retire from engineering for the night and finish tomorrow.

He crossed quickly from the shed into the side entrance, flitting through the snow flurries with the indirect dusk light hardly helping visibility. As soon as he entered, he was welcomed by warm air and the smell of freshly cooked food. He closed the door behind him promptly to keep the warm air from escaping into the cold wind outside, a key Warshiran etiquette. Inside the kitchen were three people, cooking and preparing food. They turned their heads to him when he entered, and one asked, in a polite manner, "Who are you?"

"Zachary Mason. I'm an engineer, hired this morning by Matthias Winters," Zachary replied.

This response seemed to satisfy the cooks. "Welcome to the clan, then. You're just in time for dinner. Head through there and you'll find the dining room. Food will be out in a minute."

Zachary thanked them and entered into the dining room. It was decadently furnished, with paintings on the walls, a richly-coloured table with matching chairs, plates, cutlery and glasses already set out on the table, and a fine carpet. There were also many people in this room, presumably also people Matthias had brought into his clan. Zachary joined the throng and introduced himself to a few people. It was not long before the door to the kitchen opened and in came the cooks with serving bowls and platters of food and jugs of water. Everyone moved to take a seat and once the food was placed they all gave themselves a helping of what they wanted. As Zachary got a serving for himself, he realised that he had not had a cooked meal like this for a long time. For months he had been living off stolen military aide rations with the occasional canned food item as he could find it. All the fresh food had either spoiled or been eaten in the first few weeks. Even a stockpile of food such as might be in the Winters mansion could not sustainably feed a large group like this for a year. With that in mind, Zachary closely inspected and analysed his food.

On his plate he had pasta with a tomato sauce and kidney beans, with a side of corn soup with shreds of chicken. On the table he could also see a bowl of fruit salad, made from diced and stewed pieces of fruit. It did not take him long to notice a pattern- these are all canned goods, save for the pasta itself which is stored dry. Tomato sauces are often canned or bottled. Kidney beans are a common canned good, as is corn and chicken soup. The shreds of chicken were like those found in cans, as no whole chicken pieces were present. The fruit in the fruit salad were not freshly cooked but instead tinned fruit. On the table there was no salad, no meat aside from the small amount of canned chicken, nothing requiring fresh, perishable ingredients, save for a few herbs used as seasoning which could have easily been grown in a small herb garden (he'd actually seen a few herb gardens which had started to grow wild out in Sovereign). Zachary concluded that the Winters were resourceful enough to have scavenging groups to collect large quantities and varieties of canned foods, strong enough to hold on to such a stockpile, and with skilled enough cooks to make the food appear fresher than it actually is. Any fresh food, and beverages other than water, that they do have would be in short supply, and thus only brought out on special occasions.

Zachary enjoyed his meal, and the company of the other people. After dinner he inquired as to where he would be sleeping and whether he could have a coat. He was shown to a dormitory, filled with beds and mats on the floor. It clearly had not been originally designed as a dormitory, but obviously the mansion lacked the number of bedrooms required to house as many people as it currently did, so they had to make do. The members of the household also found for him a spare coat, which he thanked them graciously for.

As the house settled down, Zachary went to bed along with most other people. While the mattress he had been sleeping on before was reasonably comfortable, he found that these beds were a lot cleaner. Another perk of living in a mansion with people playing specific roles rather than living as a hermit in a dusty underground grotto. And so he slept comfortably, more so than he had for a very long time.