It took a little while for everything to get settled. Angel and I were allowed to go our separate ways to rest until the orientation started. Basically, the orientation was a nice, sweet little program where everyone who had participated in the tournament gathered together to hear who made what team. The orientation would take place in the multipurpose room; a huge room where lots of meetings between most of the staff took place.
However, once we got there, I could definitely tell that things were happening a little differently.
Although I had never been to a preliminary tournament orientation, I had heard lots about them. Everyone came to sit down as the announcer, well, announced the names of those who would be picked for which team. The only people who normally were in there at the time were the participants and some staff personnel. Of course, not everyone was getting picked; the only reason why the other participants were there with the people who actually won was because they had the possibility of receiving prizes for their accomplishments in their battles, if any. Or, very rarely, a loser may be given a position on one of the elite teams if they demonstrated astounding battle strength.
But when we got there, there were far more people than I figured would be there. Papria was there, looking slightly nervous. I also noticed that the one creepy guy named Morrin, or Lord Morrin, as everyone else called him. There were a ton of people there; and not just simple ordinary staff either, like teachers or instructors or the occasional engineer or two or some other high ranking staff person. I saw soldiers. They were dressed for the occasion, but there was no mistaking it by their posture and stance; like they had this "Mess with me and I'll blow your freakin' head off" composure about them. Their clothing was all blue, and they all stood by Morrin as if they were attending to him in some way.
For some strange reason the clothing the soldiers wore brought back a hint of nostalgia.
I looked to the left and right of me. Terrone sat on my left, and some chubby guy I had never met before in my life sat on my right. I saw no sign of Angel, or Andrea or anyone for that matter.
"Welcome, welcome all," Morrin began. "As you all know, this is the orientation of the 7th annual preliminaries battle. You have all done well, and I can tell by your expressions that many of you do not know me or have even heard of me."
There was a minor shuffling between the students, along with a little murmuring. I didn't blame them. The seats, although cushioned, weren't all that comfortable. And the lighting was just a little painstakingly too bright. The room, although massive in size, was not very airy or well ventilated. There's not really much to go into detail about; typical linoleum for floors and marble paneled illuminated walls.
"Allow me to introduce myself for those of you who have no clue as to who I am. I am Lord Morrin Edriss Bane, heir to the Valian Confederacy Kingdom; hence the the surname "Lord Morrin". However, you may just address me as either Sir Morrin or Sir Bane. I am the sole proprietor to S.C.I., the organization that runs and funds your schooling, among other things, as well as the sponsoring of the tournament you partook in. As you should all know, S.C.I. is a secret service organization for the Murasma Prime government. The annual junior preliminaries we hold is our way of filtering out the best from... the rest of you who are better suited to other methods of work within the organization. However, many of you have held such exceptional powers about you that I could no longer hold the preliminaries tradition in the way that we normally would. So there is... a slight change for this orientation than the others that have come before it."
Everyone just stared. Including many of the staff.
"Many of you will notice that when our lovely new announcer, Papria, calls out your names, there will be far more who advanced than you may think. With us in the audience now we have many of you from many different S.C.I. regions. Quite normally we only have about twenty that make the cut into the special elite classes and maybe some others by default, but this time many more of you have been chosen because of your amazing demonstration of your abilities. Abilities that will greatly enhance our elite classes."
Papria stepped up to the podium, papers in hand. Her look confused me; I didn't know whether she was happy, upset, or just stressed out.
"Hello, hi to all of you. As you all know, I'm Papria, the announcer of the junior preliminaries. The names I will announce at this time are the people who will be initiated into an elite class suited to their persona. Our S.C.I. elite classes as of the moment are as follows; squad Flash Star, squad Blue Earth, squad Wave Break, and squad Arc Force. Once you have been chosen and your squad determined, after an ending commentary by Lord Morrin you will be assigned to meet your team leaders. Now quite normally, we only have about five new members enlisted per team during each preliminary, but in this instance it seems that there will be ten new members; an all time first for squad team recruitment for S.C.I."
"Well, at least there's no anxiety." Terrone whispered to me.
"Yeah, there most certainly is," I whispered back. "I mean, I already know I made the team, but which team? What is my team captain going to be like? Will he be strong? Or maybe he's a she? Who else who didn't win the tournament got lucky enough to get into one of these squads?"
Terrone looked at me humorously. "You sound like a kid going to a toy store for the very first time in your life. I've never quite seen you this excited."
"Because... because I get to see the world Terrone. Don't you see? I'm finally free of this academic prison! I get to actually perform missions outside the academy premises! I actually get to feel like I'm doing something important."
"Alright, we're ready to begin to announce the names!" Papria shouted.
* * *
It took about half an hour to finish the entire thing, along with handing out awards for outstanding achievements in certain areas on the battlefield and, yes, even in the classroom.
I had made team Flash Star. My squad leader's name was Morrison; I had never heard of him before ever. But he was supposedly a very strong leader that had been initiating and breaking in new recruits for years. The way recruitment worked, you were initiated after the preliminaries, got in experience with your squad leader, and then afterwards you along with the rest of the squad after gaining enough experience in the field are transferred over to other S.C.I. locations were you take up bigger missions and so on and so forth. A new leader among the squad is formed and a new name is given; and pretty soon you'll either find yourself in league with some of the big, bad squads of S.C.I. or you became a squad team trainer.
Angel made the cut and (do you really have to guess?) she made it to team Flash Star as well. Andrea made team Wave Break. And somehow, someway, that idiot Devlin even somehow made it to a squad, which of course pissed Terrone off. Devlin made team Blue Earth.
To conclude the orientation, Lord Morrin stood up to address us for the last time.
"Congratulations to those of you who have made the elite classes. And for those of you who didn't, remember that there is always up till next year to improve and hone in on your skills. Those of you who received awards, don't take it as just a complimentary achievement. Those awards mean something. You have great potential that can be expanded upon."
This seemed to make a few of them feel better.
"For those of you who made the elite classes, your work credits have been saved to our uploaded files. Some of you one day may want to move upwards in the ranks. When that time does indeed come I want you to be aware that those of you who have completed the most credits will be the first looked at when it comes time to promote or, indeed, that blessed day when one member of your team is initiated as a new squad leader or trainer. I just want all of you to keep in mind that this entire experience will be a learning, growing experience as you get out into the world to make a difference for the Murasma prime government. You are now the backbone of one of the most powerful nations in the world. Don't let it down."
Terrone settled back into his chair. "Heh, a pretty serious guy, eh Amarene?"
I shifted a little in my seat. "Yeah, I guess so... something about that guy really gives me the creeps."
Terrone chuckled, "Yeah, I say the same thing about Ms. Dubose."
"That is all I have left to say to you all," Lord Morrin concluded. "All of you may go back to your respective destinations. For those of you being initiated into your respective squads, head to your right. The doors there are labeled with the name of the squad team. Simply walk through the door that is the name of your new team. Good luck, and congratulations for being the best of the best."
"The best of the best, huh?!" Some guy from behind yelled. The voice sounded annoyingly familiar. Not Devlin annoying, but that other kind of annoying.
I turned in my seat to see none other then Treiko standing in his chair in the back, glaring menacingly at Lord Morrin. The fool! Couldn't he tell that Morrin had to be surrounded by a dozen guys that couldn't be mistaken for none other than high security personnel guards?
"My my, we seem to have an energetic one in our midst," Lord Morrin commented, amused. He passed a casual glance towards Treiko. I could see the guards tensing up, but it didn't look like they were reaching to pull out any weapons. Yet.
Then surprisingly, Lord Morrin turned his stare towards his bodyguards. They eased down, relaxing their muscles, looking less rigid. And for a moment a startling question came to mind; why in the world did Lord Morrin bring so many soldiers in the first place? And not ordinary soldiers either. These guys weren't advertising other than their expressions and their vibes. But you could tell that they were highly dangerous people to tangle with. Why not just normal guards? I could see why a room full of elementare arte capable kids would be dangerous, but certainly we all didn't have a reason to be pissed like Treiko; a couple of ordinary security officers could have handled this little outbreak just fine right now.
I tried not to dwell on the question and focused more on the situation at hand.
"You seem to be upset, young one. May I ask your name?" Lord Morrin inquired. He really didn't seem too interested.
"The name is Treiko. And I think that you letting more people into the squad and of all people not me is just plain bullshit!"
Wow. You had to have guts to say that to staff. And not just any staff; the head honcho controller of all S.C.I. Although I whipped Treiko like nothing, I really didn't want to know what type of environment his academy possessed; wherever he came from.