Introduction of Geniuses
Summer Vacation on Campus ended and every student prepared themselves for the first day of school. Maria packed up her backpack full of stationery items, Silvia followed behind Maria as they both went down the elevator to meet up with Aiden.
“The break flew by quickly!” Maria said feeling unsatisfied with having to already go to school.
“It was a lot more eventful than Summer of last year. I would have thought you got your fill.” Aiden responded.
“That’s the issue, because it was so fun, I didn’t want it to end already.” Maria responded.
“It was pretty fun, but I am also glad that it’s time to get back to work. I’ve been feeling a bit nervous about the workload we will be given at this school. The other students were indeed rather intelligent.” Silvia said to them.
During the break a few more students joined up, making the total number of Freshmen that year 22 Students. They all sat in a lab room at assigned desks.
Maria looked around, the other students all seemed to be taking the first day of school extremely seriously. All were facing forward. Then the Home Room teacher walked in.
“Everyone stand up.” The Teacher said walking in. All the students stood up. The Teacher looked at them, measuring the students’ focus with their eyes. “Morning to you all, and congratulations on making it this far. I am the first face you will see every morning at this school, your homeroom teacher, Miss Creed.” Miss Creed said, wearing a white lab coat and goggles. She wore black gloves which nearly went to her elbows.
“She’s intense.” Maria thought to herself.
“When I call your name, you are to tell me what your planned Concentration of Study is going to be. Then you are to sit down. Understood.” Miss Creed said, pulling up the list of names on her tablete.
“Rebecca Burns.” Miss Creed Started.
“Present, and I wanted to be a CEO of a fortune 500 company.” Rebecca responded then sat down.
“Joanne Coyce.”
“Present. I want to focus on Economics. Maybe one day become the Secretary of Commerce and clear out the National Debt.” Joanne said before sitting.
“Tammy Crabtree.”
“Here. I focus on Politics. More accurately interdisciplinary fields that are involved with Social, Economic, and Warfare.” Tammy said as she sat.
They each sat down feeling relieved that they made it past introductions.
“Richard Garrison.”
“Present. I want to concentrate on Architecture and Civil Engineering. So that I could innovate and modernize Infrastructure across the world.” Richard said, taking a seat.
“Aiden Heavens.”
Aiden looked over to Maria, then back at Miss Creed. “I’m present. And as for a Concentration, that’s left to be determined.” Aiden then sat down. Maria looked at Aiden as his answer was extremely boring.
“Zofia Johns.”
“That’s me, and I want to focus on Aerospace Engineering, so that I could build myself a plane fast enough to handle the speed I desire to travel.” Zofia said with gusto. She then sat down.
“Keith Johnson.”
“Present. I want to focus on Material Science. Lighter and stronger materials are what will shape the future.” Keith said, as he sat down.
“Gary Khan.”
“Present. I plan to continue dominating the Stock Market as I have already done. Besides that I suppose learning more ways to grow my money will be my target.” Gary said, as he took a seat.
“Maria Li.”
Maria cleared her throat. “I’m here! I want to Concentrate on Leadership and Strategies. Hard problems, things like that.” Maria said, sitting down feeling satisfied with her answer.
“John Lynn.”
“Present.” John then adjusted his glasses. “I want to Concentrate on Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence.” John then quickly sat down covering his head.
“Ventus Marcos.”
“Good Morning, I’m here. As for my Concentration I want to focus on Temporal Space. And probably a little bit of World Leadership, whichever comes first.” Ventus said, before he took his seat.
“Steve Martinez.”
“Present. My concentration is on Architecture.” Steve then sat down. He kept his sentences short.
“Steven Milligan.”
“Here. I want to be a Material Engineer. We can have all the theories and functions, but until someone actually builds it, then we aren’t going to get anywhere.” Steven seemed to have targeted Keith with that comment. He then sat down.
“Antonio Moore.”
“Present. My concentration is on the Ocular Sciences. More specifically the Repair and Augmenting of it.” Antonio said before sitting.
“Paul Nettleton.”
Paul shook his head and gave himself a smile. “Here! My Concentration is Psychiatric Aid.” Paul then looked at the rest of his classmates with a smile then he sat down. His smile then disappeared.
“Johnnie O’Conner.”
“Here, and my Concentration is on Politics. I look forward to studying with everyone.” Johnnie then sat down.
“Silvia Reiners.”
Silvia adjusted herself. “Present. My focus is going to be on Genetic Science, also the augmenting of it.” Silvia said before sitting down. She tried to look serious but with all the eyes of other intelligent students looking at her made her get the feeling she didn’t belong.
“Abraham Schubert.”
“Here. And I also want to concentrate on Material Engineering.” Abraham said before he sat down.
“David Shannon.”
“Here, not sure how though. I just want to build stuff and work on cars.” David said lazily sitting down.
“Joyce Smith.”
“Present. My concentration is on Fluid Dynamics and Aviation.” Joyce said before she tilted her head, then sat down.
“Jerry Terrell.”
“Here. My concentration is on being a Bone Doctor.” Jerry said with a smile. But no one laughed. “Ouch, tough crowd. I want to be an Oestheo Physician.” Jerry said before he sat down.
“Luetta Todd.”
“Here. And I want to Concentrate on vehicle engineering. Probably in the range of Mechanical Engineering I suppose.” Luetta said being the last one to take her seat.
Miss Creed checked off everyone and looked rather disappointed in the line-up.
“Very well, it seems we are lacking in the Scientist department. But that doesn’t matter too much, since you all are freshmen your concentration won’t matter. Though it is nice to keep in the back of your mind.” Miss Creed put away her tablet. She then turned around to the board and started writing.
She was filling the board with numbers, and diagrams. “The components of our Universe can be explained through a few fundamental equations. These are the wave functions and assist with determining the potential locations of Elementary Particles according to the standard model.” Miss Creed started speaking.
The students in the class then quickly brought out their notes after being caught off guard with the sudden beginning of class.
Maria brought out her Graphing Calculator and different colour pens to take colourful notes. She received advice from Zofia about how to take good and memorable notes.
Aiden kept up with the work, not missing a single word that Miss Creed said.
This pace kept up for a few hours with only short 15 minute breaks in between each lesson.
Maria looked up at the clock waiting for lunch time to come. It was still 30 minutes away.
“My hands are on fire…” Maria thought to herself as Miss Creed continued to write more information on the board.
Miss Creed then turned around. “Now everyone, take out a blank piece of paper.” Miss Creed told the class. She then flipped the board revealing a problem.
“Write as many Fermi Diagrams that would describe this interaction.” The board said. It then had an image of an Electron then a box, then the release of a photon.
“When you are finished, hand in your paper and you can go to lunch.” Miss Creed said, sitting at her desk.
The class was stunned. They were already having a quiz on what they learned.
Maria looked at the blank paper, and her mind went just as blank as it. She pressed her pen against the sheet. “Okay, I got this…” Maria thought to herself as she started writing.
Silvia felt overwhelmed with not being given enough time to perfect her knowledge on the subject. As a perfectionist she was terrified of not getting a perfect grade, and thus was unable to write anything she wasn’t certain about.
Aiden got up from his seat and walked past Maria. He was trying to show Maria the answers.
Maria pushed Aiden forward, declining to cheat on this quiz. Aiden then turned in his paper and waited in the hall.
Not even a few minutes later several students also turned in their papers and headed to lunch.
“Seems that they are pretty smart.” Aiden thought to himself watching his classmates leave the classroom. Aiden continued to wait for Maria.
Ventus walked out of the classroom. “Wow Angeal, you were the first one to turn in your paper. I couldn’t do that ha, I would be afraid of making everyone else feel nervous.” Ventus continued down the hall.
Maria soon came out as well. She had a smile on her face. “I think I did pretty good on that!” Maria said to Aiden.
“You must have been confident, you didn’t even want to look at my answers.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Well, it wasn’t that hard, there wasn’t even really a certain amount of correct answers. I think she just wanted to see how creative we could get with the diagrams.” Maria responded to Aiden.
“What do you mean? There are only a few interactions that could result in an Electron releasing a Photon.” Aiden said to Maria.
“No, not really. Because within the box could be a positron, which most people would get. Or it could be a Positron, a virtual negative down quark and a virtual down quark. Or it could be several photons that get absorbed by the electron, then a Neutron could decay. There are just so many ways to draw it.” Maria said to Aiden.
“You may have deviated from the assignment.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Guess we have to see.” Maria laughed.
Silvia then came out. She was one of the last students to leave the classroom. “That was stressful.” Silvia said to the two.
“Why’s that? I didn’t think it was hard at all.” Maria said to Silvia.
“Because the question was so vague. I wasn’t sure what was supposed to be the correct answer, I didn’t have time to read over my notes before the quiz, everyone was leaving. It just wasn’t…” Silvia then exhaled. “I’m hungry.” She said bending down.
“I’m sure you did well, SIlvia.” Aiden said to her.
“I sure hope so.” Silvia responded.
The group then headed down to the Dining Hall. There were tables filled with Seniors, Juniors and Sophomores. The Freshmen ate furthest away from the food stands.
Aiden grabbed himself some water, and Maria got herself some Pizza.
They both sat down and Silvia tried to join them.
“No way, this is my only time away from you.” Maria said to Silvia trying to keep her from sitting.
“Really? You’re going to be like this? Just let me sit down, I’m friends with Angeal too.” Silvia said, trying to sit.
Ventus then came to the table. He then sat down next to Aiden.
“So how’d you think you did?” Ventus asked Aiden.
“I think I did pretty well.” Aiden responded then he proceeded to ignore Ventus.
Ventus then looked over at Silvia. “Say, you said you wanted to do something with Genetic Engineering right? That’s a pretty serious field, I would love to have someone like you part of my future inner circle.” Ventus said to Silvia.
“I decline.” Silvia said to Ventus.
“Wow, so quickly. Why’s that?” Ventus asked Silvia.
“Because I don’t have any interest in working with you. You don’t seem like you would be able to keep up with me intellectually. Afterall you are going into a fake field.” Silvia responded.
“Temporal Science isn’t fake, it’s going to be what is needed to learn in the year 2024.” Ventus said to SIlvia.
“Sure it will. Now can you go somewhere else?” Silvia asked Ventus.
“Okay. I just figured since we are all sort of like roommates that it would be cool to sit together during lunch.” Ventus added.
Silvia then pointed. And Ventus left.
“Wow, that was really mean, Silvia.” Maria said to her. “Is that what it looks like from the outside?” Maria asked.
“Well you are trying to get rid of me despite me already having an established friendship with Angeal. We don’t even really know Ventus.” Silvia responded to Maria.
“Still felt pretty mean.” Maria said, she then stopped trying to kick Silvia off of their table.
“I already get enough of him when I am in my room, so I think it’s okay that he doesn’t spend time with us here.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Okay, I’ll go along with you on this.” Maria responded to Aiden. They all then started eating their food.
The second half of classes began.
Miss Creed handed back the quizzes to the students.
Maria was hesitant to look at her quiz which was upside down on the desk. But she built up the courage to look.
“90%. Indication of High use of Lateral Thinking. Moderate use of Vertical Thinking.” The quiz said. Maria pumped her fist with excitement.
Aiden looked at his quiz. “55%. There are several diagrams that you could have employed. Your answers are correct, but the lack of exploration indicates Low Lateral Thinking ability.” Aiden’s quiz said.
“A 55? But all my answers were correct, how could I have a failing grade?” Aiden thought to himself.
Silvia checked hers and she also didn’t do well. She got a 60 on her quiz. “I guess it could have been much worse.” Silvia thought to herself.
“Now that everyone has a chance to look at your grade, you can toss them since they aren’t going to be a part of your record. However, those quizzes will be similar to how quizzes will be from now on. In terms of difficulty and what I am looking for. We are teaching you to memorize information, we are teaching you to develop knowledge.” Miss Creed said to the class.
A great relief was released by the class. It showed that a good majority of the class didn’t do as well as they thought they would.
The first day of classes came to a close and the students were permitted to return to their dorms.
“Looks like I am the smartest one now!” Maria said to the group.
“That’s just an indication that it was a flawed way of grading, since obviously you aren’t smarter than the two of us.” Silvia responded to Maria.
“Sounds like someone is just feeling salty.” Maria mocked Silvia.
The two then bickered to one another.
Joyce then came up to the group. “Hey Silvia and Maria, a bunch of us girls want to check out the spa at this school, do you want to join us!?” Joyce asked Maria.
“A spa? Why?” Maria asked.
“You know, to just relax, and get your skin looking nice. Don’t worry, it’s next to the dorms.” Joyce said to Maria.
“Can Angeal come too?” Maria asked.
Joyce then looked up at Aiden. “Ah… no? He’s a guy right?” Joyce asked Maria.
“That doesn’t mean anything.” Maria responded.
“Yes it does. But anyways, if you don’t want to come, that’s okay.” Joyce said to Maria.
“I’ll go, I need some relaxation after today.” Silvia said to Joyce.
Joyce then looked at Maria. “And what about you?” Joyce asked.
“Sure, I’ll go with the girls. This is highschool afterall.” Maria responded. “I’ll see you later!” Maria said to Aiden.
Aiden now walked alone to his room. He found Ventus in the room staring once again at the wall.
“What are you doing?” Aiden asked Ventus.
“Nothing. Wow, looks like you are back early. Did everyone decide to do other stuff without you?” Ventus responded with the question.
“It was a girl’s only thing, so I couldn’t be a part of it.” Aiden then sat on his bed. “Why are you always here alone? Don’t you hang out with people?” Aiden asked.
“I do, but sometimes I just need to recharge a bit.” Ventus responded.
Aiden then looked over at Ventus. “Hey, I have a question for you.” Aiden said to Ventus.
“I might have an answer.” Ventus responded.
“Are you Vanoe?” Aiden asked Ventus.
“Vanoe? Who’s that?” Ventus responded.
“Are you an aspect of the Winds?” Aiden asked another question.
“An aspect of the Winds? Oh, because my name is Ventus. That’s fun wordplay, but I don’t know what that means.” Ventus responded. “Who’s Vanoe?”
“He’s a person that I met back when I went to the Olympics last year. I just wasn’t sure if you were just pretending not to know me. But you sound genuine in not having any idea of what I am talking about.” Aiden said to Ventus.
“You went to the Olympics? That’s pretty awesome, I wish I could have gone. I loved watching it on TV.” Ventus told Aiden. “If you thought I was Vanoe, he must be a pretty cool dude.” Ventus laughed.
“Well, he was pretty impressive.” Aiden responded to Ventus. They both then sat in silence for a bit.
“Well if you are curious about my origin, would you believe me if I said I was an Alien?” Ventus looked over at Aiden.
Aiden then turned to look at Ventus. “No, I wouldn’t believe you. Your body is much too Human.” Aiden said to Ventus.
“Ha, maybe. If only you could see what I see.” Ventus said with a lower voice.
“So, are you going to tell me what you know, that I don’t know you know?” Aiden asked Ventus.
Ventus then rubbed his chin. “Hmm, is it time for me to reveal it.” Ventus said to himself. Ventus then looked over at Aiden, and stared at him a bit. Then he looked back over at the wall. “Okay, I will give you a little hint.” Ventus said to Aiden.
Aiden looked unamused.
“It deals with where you are from.” Ventus said to Aiden.
“There’s no way he would know I’m from the heavenly realm. He’s obviously acting like he knows more than he actually does.” Aiden thought to himself. “Where do you think that is?” Aiden asked.
“I just gave you a hint, I can’t spill the beans on it.” Ventus said to Aiden.
“Everyone already knows I’m from Sequoia.” Aiden said to Ventus.
Ventus then laughed. “Not even close!” Ventus said to Aiden. He then continued to laugh amused that Aiden was trying to fool him.
“Then where does he think I’m from?” Aiden thought to himself. “Just say where you think, I don’t want to guess.” Aiden said to Ventus.
“Aw, that’s no fun. But it isn’t time for me to say, the Universe is saying to wait a bit longer.” Ventus responded to Aiden as he laid on his bed.
“The Universe, well this guy doesn’t have any clue about any of that.” Aiden thought to himself.
Ventus started singing a song about Greek Gods.
Aiden became suspicious of Ventus.
The girls returned from their spa day, and Maria knocked on the door to Room 888.
“I’m back Angeal!” Maria said outside the door.
“I know.” Aiden said to Maria. Maria then looked inside the room and saw Ventus sitting on the bed. Ventus waved at Maria.
“Hello Maria!” Ventus said to her.
“Hey hey!” Maria responded with a smile.
“Okay, let’s head over to your room.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Why the rush? I want to talk to Ventus a little.” Maria said.
“I think there is more to him than he is letting out. I don’t want us to give anymore information.” Aiden said to Maria in a low volume.
“Oh, he creeped you out?” Maria laughed quietly.
They both started walking away from the room.
“I think he knows that I am from the Heavenly Realm.” Aiden said to Maria.
Maria was surprised. “How would he know that? Has he been there before?” Maria asked Aiden, shocked that Aiden would think someone actually would know that.
“He didn’t believe that I was from Sequoia, and he began to sing a song about Greek Gods. Putting those two together would get me to that conclusion.” Aiden explained to her.
“How would he know that though?” Maria asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe he is looking at something when he stares at that wall.” Aiden said to Maria.
“You should stare at that wall later, see what is hidden in there.” Maria joked with Aiden.
They both entered Room 808 and began playing cards as Silvia sat at her desk studying the material that they learned today.
“Are you really not going to study for tomorrow? What if we have another pop quiz?” SIlvia asked Maria.
Maria placed her cards on the floor, revealing that she had a full house. Aiden revealed that he had a 4 of a kind.
“I think I am in good shape, after all, I did get a 90 on the latest quiz.” Maria said, reminding Silvia of her score.
“You aren’t ever going to stop bringing that up, it’s as if you’ve never gotten a 90 before.” Silvia remarked.
“I have, but I am just savouring the delicious taste of beating you in academics.” Maria teased Silvia.
The next school day started.
The freshmen class woke up bright and early to get to their home room. Miss Creed walked into the classroom with a syllabus. She handed it to the students seated in front. They handed the pages to the students behind them.
“Yesterday we went over how STEM classes were going to be held. But as you can see you will also be tested on your Physical Achievements through Quarterly Physical Fitness tests, Biyearly Weapons’ Proficiency Tests, and Interpersonal Relations Exams.” Miss Creed explained to the class.
Maria looked at the syllabus. She saw that the weapons’ classes were going to teach them how to shoot various rifles and handguns. “So cool!” Maria thought to herself.
“After the first assessments a class President will be chosen to represent your class to the Dean of the school. Resources for independent research and club funding will be determined by how valuable the Dean deems your class’ products. Also on the syllabus is a list of extracurricular activities, or clubs, whichever you want to name them. Participating in these clubs will also help your class with acquiring funding.” Miss Creed continued to explain.
Miss Creed gave the students a few minutes to look over the papers that were handed to them.
“Now I want everyone to pay attention to today’s weapon’s safety class.” Miss Creed said, pulling up a diagram of a M16 service rifle.
The students then rushed again to pull out a blank sheet of paper to write notes. They weren’t given the opportunity to ask any questions.
“These are the 4 Weapons Safety Principles. 1: Treat every weapon as if it were loaded. 2: Never point your weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot. 3: Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until you are ready to fire. 4: Keep your weapon on ‘safe’ until you intend to shoot.” Miss Creed said, reading off the list. “Now repeat those Principles back.” She ordered.
The students then repeated the rules back to Miss Creed. She then had them repeat it again and they did.
“And the fifth safety rule. ‘Know your target and what lies beyond.’ So don’t shoot at anything if what is behind them is something you do not want to hit.” Miss Creed added to them.
Miss Creed pulled up a diagram of a rifle. She showed them the bolt, driving handle, barrel, and so on. She wanted to drill into them how they would be taking care of their weapons once they are issued them.
After several hours of continuous drilling of information, the students were given a short reprieve to ask questions.
Tammy raised her hand and was called on. “Why are we learning how to use weapons? I thought we were supposed to focus on academics.” Tammy asked Miss Creed.
“This school is developing you to be the top people in your field, and some of you may even go on to be Presidents, Generals, and CEOs, all potential targets for aggressors. We are preparing you to be able to protect yourself if it comes to that. If you intend not to take that top position then maybe you should reconsider your enrollment Miss Johnson.” Miss Creed said to Tammy.
The class was silent for a moment.
Ventus raised his hand. “During these weapon classes would we be allowed to augment our personal weapons?” Ventus asked Miss Creed.
“After you’ve shown mastery of your weapon handling, then you would be permitted to augment your weapons. That would likely be when you are Juniors.” Miss Creed responded. Miss Creed looked around. “Any more questions?”
None of the students answered.
“Then head outside and you are going to be assigned rifles for your courses.” Miss Creed told the students.
After the students were assigned rifles by scanning their student card with the barcode of the weapon, they were allowed to hold the weapons.
“Whoa, Aiden! Can you believe it!? I have a real gun now!” Maria said with excitement.
“Hey! Don’t wave it around. Remember the first and second principle.” Silvia said to Maria, grabbing her arm.
“It’s not like there’s bullets in here.” Maria responded to Silvia.
“The first principle literally tells you to treat it like it’s always loaded.” Silvia reminded Maria.
Maria then lowered her weapon. “I just can’t wait to shoot these.” Maria said. Maria adjusted the buttstock of her M4.
The armour told the students to put their weapons away and to head to lunch.
The students did just that and left the Armoury.
Maria grabbed a plate of Lasagna with garlic bread and a salad. She sat down at the table with Aiden and handed him her salad.
“I’m getting excited now, can you believe they are actually going to teach us to shoot people. I am going to graduate as an elite sniper or something.” Maria told Aiden.
Silvia then sat at the table. She was eating a Chicken Wrap, with a side of celery. “You would enjoy that.” Silvia said, responding to Maria’s excitement about weapons.
“And you’re not? How could you find guns boring?” Maria asked Silvia.
“I don’t think weapons are boring, I just don’t want to have to shoot anyone. I’m sure I would have bodyguards to handle that for me.” Silvia responded. “What do you think about the weapon classes?” Silvia asked Aiden.
“They seem like a valuable knowledge point in those edge cases where you would find yourself in a situation that required the use of a weapon. Though in my case, it’s practically redundant.” Aiden responded.
“You probably wouldn’t ever find yourself in a situation like that, right?” Silvia asked Aiden.
“Of course he wouldn’t, even if he did he could probably just blow them up with his mind.” Maria touched her fingers on her temples.
Aiden just looked at Maria with his unchanging expression.
“What clubs are you thinking of joining? It seems that it’s going to impact our High School experience a lot.” Silvia asked the two. “I think I am interested in the Biochemical Research Institute.” Silvia added.
“I haven’t given it much thought yet, and whatever club I join, Angeal is going to join too.” Maria responded.
“Angeal, did you give it any thought?” Silvia asked Aiden.
“I have not. Though I would recommend that we join the Organizational Government Institute if you are planning to control a large number of people.” Aiden said to Maria.
Maria brought out her paper.
“Wow, there are a lot of clubs here. The Robotics Lab seems pretty cool!” Maria said.
“You’re into Robots?” Silvia questioned Maria.
“Who isn’t. Didn’t you watch those Robot uprising Movies. I want to build one of those.” Maria responded.
“And you would probably be the reason the World ends because of it.” Silvia joked with Maria.
The group continued to talk throughout lunch.
The second half of the day, the students were to put on their workout uniform and prepare for a run around the school.
Maria and Silvia came out of their room.
Silvia then started to stretch as they waited for Aiden.
“How long is this run supposed to be?” Maria asked Silvia.
“It’s a 5 Kilometer run, so it shouldn’t be so bad.” Silvia responded.
“5 Kilometers, I don’t think I’ve ever ran that far.” Maria responded by lifting her knees. Silvia looked at Maria confused.
“Weren’t you the tomboy of the school? How have you not run a 5 Kilometer track?” Silvia asked Maria.
“Because I always want to go somewhere when I run, I don’t run just to do it. That’s stupid.” Maria responded.
“Well, you are going to have a rough time today then.” Silvia responded.
Aiden then met up with them. Ventus followed behind Aiden.
“Hello guys!” Ventus said, waving his hand with a smile.
Maria waved back with a smile. Silvia ignored him.
“Okay, I grouped up with them, you can leave now.” Aiden said to Ventus.
“Oh, I was hoping that we all could go down together. Maybe run in a group?” Ventus responded.
“Sorry Ventus, I would have loved to, but it seems they don’t really like you.” Maria said to Ventus.
“Okay, then see you in class, during the run then.” Ventus left, still with a smile on his face. It seems his feelings were a bit hurt, but he didn’t show that.
The students lined up on the field.
“Today will be your initial physical screening. Try to keep up with the group. Finishing 5 minutes after the Leader will be an automatic failure.” The teacher, Mr Hawks, said to the Freshmen.
“5 Minutes, that shouldn’t be so hard.” Maria thought to herself.
“Today, I will be the Leader. And one of you students will hold your class colours.” Mr Hawks said to the students.
He held out the flag waiting for someone to step up. Ventus stepped up to carry the flag. “I don’t mind doing it.” Ventus said. Mr Hawks handed Ventus the flag.
Mr Hawks led the students in dynamic stretches. Maria was already becoming exhausted from it. “I should not have eaten so much.” Maria thought to herself.
The students then began to run.
Zofia, Antonio, Keith, and Joyce quickly got in the front and led the main pack of the class. Ventus and Mr Hawks were in the front setting the pace.
Silvia quickly passed Maria. “You are going to need to pick up the pace or else you are going to fail.” Silvia said to Maria.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll catch up.” Maria said already struggling. Aiden ran beside Maria.
John, Abraham, Joanne, and Johnnie were the only ones behind Maria.
After passing the 1 kilometer mark, Maria was already about 2 minutes behind the leader.
“Oh wow, I am getting tired.” Maria said to Aiden.
“Want me to assist you?” Aiden asked Maria.
“Sure, just have, like an invisible hand, help me move faster.” Maria commanded Aiden.
Aiden then constructed that. And Maria’s pace picked up a bit.
The students in the front started singing as they ran to keep up their motivation. Ventus waved the flag high so that the students in the back could see how far they were.
Even with Aiden’s assistance Maria was still about 3 minutes behind. They were now at the 3 Kilometer mark. Maria felt like she had been running forever.
“You’re more than halfway there, just keep your breathing up.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Are you even still helping me?” Maria asked Aiden.
“Yes I am.” Aiden responded. He then showed Maria by taking away the assistance. Maria then slowed way down.
“Okay, keep helping.” Maria said to Aiden.
The pair continued to run. About 30 minutes passed and the runners in the front finished the run. They rested drinking water that was at the finish line.
Maria was about 4 minutes behind. But she felt like her chest started cramping.
“Oh wow, this is hard.” Maria said to Aiden.
“We can afford to slow down another minute.” Aiden said to Maria.
Maria slowed down her pace.
Ventus ran past them the other way with the flag. He was heading to the back of the pack to cheer on the students who were far away in the back.
“Well, isn’t he just a ball of energy?” Maria said to herself.
“Come on guys, if you are behind me, then you are beyond the 5 minute cut off time. Just keep going, you’re almost there! Stay in front of me.” Ventus said as he went to the back.
Maria was only 100 meters away. She then used the rest of her energy to force herself to get a good time.
“Maria Li, 34 minutes and 12 seconds. Good job.” Mr Hawks said to Maria.
Maria fell on the ground trying to catch her breath. Silvia handed Maria some water.
“I’m surprised that you actually did it.” Silvia said, having looked as though she was fully rested.
“What time did you finish?” Maria asked Silvia.
“I finished in 31 minutes and 2 seconds. So not that bad.” Silvia responded to Maria.
Maria laid her head down.
“The air isn’t down there, you should sit up.” Zofia said to Maria.
Maria then sat up. “This doesn’t feel any better.” Maria responded.
The rest of the students crossed with barely any time remaining. Ventus crossed the line at 34 minutes and 55 seconds.
“Seems you all have passed. Go back to the field for our cool down stretches.” Mr Hawks told the students.
“I would have so failed if you didn’t help me.” Maria said to Aiden looking at the students who crossed after her.
“I think you are more fit than the students who came in last, so I don’t think you would have done that badly. I only slightly helped you.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Good work out there guys!” Ventus said, jogging past the other students.
He continued to hold the flag throughout the cooldown workouts.
Following the assessment the students were free to do whatever they wanted. They were supposed to use this time to figure out which clubs they wanted to join.
Silvia immediately went to the Biochemical Research Institute.
Aiden and Maria wandered around a bit.
When they were making their way around campus they saw some of the upperclassmen in the courtyard testing out some machines. Maria became interested in that.
“What club is this?!” Maria asked the guys who were testing.
“This isn’t a club, we are just having fun with some stuff we built. Are you a freshman?” They asked Maria.
“Yeah.” Maria responded. They then looked up at Aiden.
“Is he a freshman too?” They asked.
“Yes I am.” Aiden responded.
“So you guys must be looking for an institution. If you want to see what fits, just go to the school counselors and fill out a form of your interest. Then they should help you out on getting into the institution you want. It’s going to be hard for you if you are just walking around asking people if they are in a club.” They said to Maria.
“I guess that’s probably true.” Maria responded.
“Just go there, and fill out the form in the front.” The upperclassmen said, then they resumed playing with their equipment.
“Well I guess that’s where we are going.” Maria said to Aiden.
Maria and Aiden filled out the form and were given a list of institutions to join.
Maria was given a list consisting of: AI and Robotics Development Institute, the Institute for Military Leaders and Warfare, and the Human Augmentation Institute Focusing on Cybernetics.
Aiden was given a list consisting of: International Medicine Institute, Research of Medicine Institute, and Biochemical Research Institute.
“Hey, that;s the same one that Silvia was going to join!” Maria scolded Aiden.
“I didn’t do that on purpose, I just wrote that I wanted to assist you.” Aiden said to Maria.
“Sure you did.” Maria looked at Aiden suspiciously.
“I already said that I was going to join the one you joined, so whichever you choose.” Aiden told Maria.
Maria looked at her list.
The first month of school went very similar to this. The students were introduced to new concepts and given a crash course on various topics. Maria struggled a bit at first but eventually was able to catch up to speed with the other students.
Maria finally decided that she was going to join the AI and Robotics Development Institute, in hopes that she could build an army of Robots to assist her in controlling the world.
“Looks like I’m going to become a Robotics Genius, Aiden!” Maria said to Aiden.
“We pretty much already have Golems for that, but nonetheless, I’m proud of you.” Aiden responded.
MV Studios 