The military ship rode over the stretching ocean, as far as the eyes could see, the whooshing sound of the calm ocean adding to the peaceful atmosphere.
Inside the ship, in a large hall, Desmond stood in a corner, away from the rest of the candidates.
"I... I knew it wouldn't go well." He breathed, looking like all color had been drained from him. He bumped his head lightly against the wall.
"What am I going to do now?" He said and bumped his head against the wall again.
Rexford and Emmanuel stood from afar watching him.
"What's wrong with him?" Emmanuel asked scratching the back of his head with confusion written plainly across his face.
"Just how clueless can you be?" Rexford asked him with a paled expression.
"Huh?!" Emmanuel turned to Rexford looking even more confused. Rexford sighed heavily and looked back at Desmond.
"Can't you read the mood or are you just dumb?"
"What did you just say?" Emmanuel snarled, glaring dangerously at Rexford but Rexford looked unfazed.
"I guess it's both then." Rexford turned fully back to Desmond.
"The written exam didn't go well for him."
The words snapped Emmanuel out of his rage. He looked toward Desmond with worry growing on his face.
Rexford and Emmanuel exchanged glances , nodded and walked over to Desmond.
They both placed their hands on his shoulders upon reaching him.
Desmond slowly turned his head left and right before looking back down, still with his head against the wall.
"What's up, Des?" Emmanuel asked, knowing clearly the answer he'd get.
"Not good. I couldn't even write a single word. I didn't know what to put down. Even looking for the wrong thing to write is hard. What am I gonna do now?" He asked no one in particular, going down on his knees.
"What's gonna happen if I fail this part?" He asked again sinking to the ground.
Emmanuel and Rexford their jaws, neither knowing what to say to cheer on their friend as silence rang in their midst.
At the other part of the hall, a tall dark-skinned guy— the tall one among the two dark-skinned guys— walked towards the exit.
"Those instructors. How can they make us wait for such a long time in this place?" He muttered as he walked with a bored expression. "I'm tired of waiting."
The others around watched as he walked away and murmured among themselves.
"What's that guy doing?"
"Is he an idiot?"
"Or didn't he listen to the instructions?"
"They said to wait here untill the results are ready but he's... leaving?"
A security guard stood at the door, wearing a navy blue tracksuit jacket over a white t-shirt and a matching pair of navy blue tracksuit pants. He spotted the dark-skinned guy walking towards him and straightened.
"Where do you think you're going?" The guard asked but that didn't stop him.
"Isn't it obvious. I'm getting the heck out of here."
"If I should remember correctly, you were told to wait here until your results are ready, weren't you?"
"I don't care if they're our instructors or not. I do what I want. And right now I'm getting out of here. So don't try and stop me." The dark-skinned guy said, shooting the guard a cold glare.
"Sorry, but that's my job." The guard shot back not looking the least fazed by the dark-skinned guy's threat.
"Fine then." The guy mumbled as his left fore arm started glowing white. The glowing faded to reveal a bronze arm guard.
The guard flinched a little but quickly recovered and frowned.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Are you just dumb or you're messing with me. I'm going to force you out of my way."
The guard gritted his teeth, taking a step back.
"This is bad. I don't possess an onyx." The guard thought to himself, taking another step back. "How am I going to deal with this guy?"
"Don't think you scare me in any way." The guard blurted but his shaking legs gave him away.
As the dark-skinned guy activated his arm guard on his left fore arm, wind started spiraling around his arm rapidly like a drill and he pointed it at the guard.
Again, murmurs could be heard among the candidates.
"This doesn't look good."
"Does he want to get himself into trouble?"
"Hey, somebody stop him."
"This is your last chance." The dark-skinned guy pronounced still glaring at the guard. "Get out of my way."
Desmond, Rexford and Emmanuel watched from where they were at the entire scene.
Emmanuel sighed and activated his arm own guard.
"They want someone to stop him but are too chicken to do so themselves." He said and was about to rush there—
— but lightning suddenly flashed past him from behind.
Both Rexford and Emmanuel gasped at what was going on.
Desmond shot forward, launching himself into the air and towards the dark-skinned guy who immediately noticed him. The dark-skinned guy watched nonchalantly as Desmond closed in on him.
Desmond clenched his right hand into a fist, ready to knock the dark-skinned guy out when the moved his arm from the guard and pointed it at Desmond. Desmond got closer to him and was about to throw his fist but the guy attacked first.
"Abrasive bombard." The wind drill around his arm shot at Desmond who couldn't react on time and received the attack to his chest sending him flying backwards into a wall before dropping to the ground with a loud thud.
The dark-skinned guy turned his arm back to the guard.
"Now..." He began as another wind drill formed around his arm. "If you don't want what happened to him to happen to you, then you better get out of way right now."
"What the—"
"He's that strong?"
"He didn't even break a sweat."
"Who is that guy?"
[Augustus Kumah]
[Age:15]
[Ability:Wind]
"Shit!" The guard shriveled. "He's a strong one. What am I gonna do?"
But before anything else could transpire, Desmond jumped from where he fell, landed against and kicked off the wall towards the dark-skinned guy— Augustus— again. Augustus turned his head to look at him with his eyes narrowed.
"What a vermin." He whispered and pointed his arm back at Desmond again.
Desmond noticed it and braced himself in mid-air as he approached Augustus. Augustus shot another wind drill— "Abrasive bombard" at Desmond.
"Don't think it'll work on me twice." Desmond said and tilted to the left, avoiding the attack.
"Huh?" Augustus blinked in surprise but recovered quickly and scowled. He turned fully to face Desmond pointing both arms at him this time as a wind drill formed around each arm.
He shot three wind drills at Desmond who aneuvered his way through the air, narrowly dodging the first and second drills.
Desmond couldn't dodge the third attack wind drills at however and had to block it with his arms but the impact still sent him flying backwards into the wall again. He landed against the wall this time and attempted to use it as a platform to spring off toward Augustus again.
Augustus' eyes narrowed further and he fired several wind drills in rapid succession at Desmond.
Desmond jumped upwards and landed along the underside of the ceiling, running three steps dodging from Augustus as they trailed behind him.
After taking three more steps at the underside of the ceiling, Desmond dove towards Augustus again.
Augustus tracked him perfectly and shot another wind drill. Desmond was caught off guard and received the hit to his gut.
He gagged and was sent slamming into the wall. Augustus didn't end it there. He shot several wind drills at Desmond and they made clean contacts with him.
Desmond seemed like he was about to fall but suddenly planted himself into a squatting position on the wall and...