The Lost Bloodline

"Brandon, Brandon, wake up, we are going to be late for our first class" Bruce called as he rushed into the bathroom to get ready,

Brandon lazily dragged himself out of bed, he gazed across the dorm room as a gentle smile appeared on his face, he was finally at the one and only Blue River Academy, the most prestigious and the best school in all of Eleanor. He and his childhood best friend, Bruce Devin both got admitted on scholarships, and coincidentally became dorm mates or so they thought.

Brandon waited for a few minutes before Bruce came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and one wrapped around his hair causing Brandon to chuckle,

"Don't say it" Bruce warned,

"Don't say what?" Brandon asked feigning innocence,

"Quit playing dumb, you know what I mean" Bruce replied,

"Oh you mean how you keep tying a turban in your hair that makes your head look like a croissant" Brandon teased with a grin,

"Come on man, that was ages ago, stop bringing it up" Bruce whined,

"But if I did that, who would tease you till your face became a tomato" Brandon replied grinning as he quickly slid into the bathroom before Bruce could find something to toss at him.

20 minutes later, they were walking along the hallway going to class while chatting,

"Hey, did you hear what happened to Rick?" Bruce asked,

"You mean Rick Bradson? no, why would I even want to hear anything about him, the guys a jerk" Brandon replied with an annoyed tone

When the school resumed, the freshers were given the first week off to explore and familiarize themselves with the school ground, it was during this period that Brandon and Bruce encountered Rick Bradson, he was a bully who picked on the scholarship students, he would insult their families, try to take their meals and even go as far as try to physically harm them knowing fully well, he wouldn't get punished, not just because his family was one of the schools most influential sponsors but also a noble house, no one from a poor background could go against them even if they had the best lawyers, no one stood up to him, the other nobles turned a blind eye to it, low status students avoided him like a plague, except for one, Brandon, he always stood up to Rick and due to him being amazing at Martial arts from elementary school, he always put Rick on his bottom.

"Not that I care but, what happened to him? Brandon asked,

"He was selected for a Mythic evolution program but there's news that he's no where to be found at the moment " Bruce replied,

"He's probably just hiding in one of his family's numerous properties around the area" Brandon replied with a flat tone,

"He's not, according to my update, his family said he never came home the previous day and no one has checked into any of their properties around the area" Bruce replied,

"So you are saying he's missing?" Brandon asked with a raised brow,

"That makes twelve of them now" Bruce said with a worried expression,

"Don't you think you are jumping to conclusions here, knowing you, it's probably hasn't been more than a day since you found out Rick was missing" Brandon attempted to cheer Bruce up'

"It's been 17 hours to be exact" Bruce announced proudly,

"Wow, you're totally going to awaken as a Techno mage with an affinity for lightning" Brandon said as he raised his hand to give Bruce a high five,

"Yeah, probably but I'm still so curious about what you might awaken as" Bruce replied as his hand met Brandon's,

"If only I knew my parents, I would probably have an idea" Brandon said with a sad sigh,

"Oh, am so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you" Bruce apologized, talking about Brandon's parents have always being a sore wound being poked for him,

"I know, I know" Brandon replied with a slight smile,

"And besides,my parents are your parents too" Bruce said as he out him arm over Brandon's shoulder,

"Thanks bro, we should probably hurry up, if we don't want to be late" Brandon added with a chuckle before running ahead,

"Hey, that's cheating, it's not a race if you run before it starts" Bruce yelled as he ran after Brandon,

By the time they got to their homeroom door, Bruce was slightly out of breath while Brandon was not even slightly affected,

"You have been slacking off, haven't you?" Brandon questioned Bruce,

"Maybe, let's just go in" Bruce said,

They got into the class and were welcomed by the cold stare of their homeroom teacher, Miss. Silver Lychin, she was dressed in her signature white suit and trousers with her blonde hair packed into a pony tail,

"Good morning ma'am, sorry we are almost late" They said unison and were shocked when they heard something like a chuckle from her, she pointed them to their seats while she kept typing on an old rusty typewriter on her desk which she refused to changed for some reason, she was a water mage with an affinity for steam, immediately the the clock struck seven, she placed the typewriter down by her desk and turned to address the students,

"Good morning students, as some of you may know, my name is Miss Silver Lychin, I am your homeroom teacher, you will meet me in this classroom every morning at Seven apart from Sundays and Saturdays, with the exception of this coming Saturday which will be your awakening ceremony, today however will be your evaluation day, you will be given three trials and from its results you will be put into different ranks from S to F, the first trial will be your affinity gauge, the second trial is a physical test which will test your physical fitness while the last trial will test your mental fitness/IQ, instructions regarding each trial will be given to you at the place of the trial, as we all know we are still at war with the dark race, so some of you may be deployed to the Frontline during your 2nd year, so use this period to work hard and push past your limits, the sky is your stepping stone, an official will arrive to take you to the trial ground soon, Good luck my students, may fate smile upon you all" She said fiercely to which she received a standing ovation from the students, they felt hyped and inspired by her speech.

Sure enough, 5 minutes later, a man in military uniform arrived at their homeroom door,

"Alright soldiers, fall into a single file and make your way outside where a military vehicle will be used to transport you to the trial area and don't bother taking anything, everything you need will be provided at the venue, we leave in 3 minutes" The man said with a booming voice,

"I suspect he's an Air mage with affinity for sound" Brandon whispered to Bruce,

"and how do you know that? you might be right about mine but only because you have known for a long time" Bruce stated as he didn't believe Brandon,

"Intuition I guess" Brandon said as he shrugged shoulders.

The students lined up and followed the military officer to the a huge bus painted the Same color as their military uniform, he opened the door and let the students in, when Brandon and Bruce were about to get on he said to Brandon,

"You were right soldier, I am indeed a wind mage with an affinity for sound, your intuition is seems to be accurate, make sure you groom it well"

To which he replied with a nod, the rest of the students boarded the bus and they made their way to the trial grounds, but a few meters away from the school, the AC in the bus began to emit purple gas, which put the students to sleep,

"Don't worry, it's not lethal" Brandon said to Bruce who already had a panicked expression on his face, the gas put everyone to sleep except Brandon who pretended to be alseep,

"Being raised in an orphanage that taught basic and advanced martial arts has it's perks" Brandon chuckled inwardly as he slightly opened his right eye to look out the window, he wanted to know where and how they would get to where they were going.

The journey was a smooth and peaceful one, Brandon would occasionally peep out the window to observe the scenery, it was beautiful, a blue hue seemed to envelope everything outside making him wonder whether they were under water or on another planet.

"it must be an illusion formation, after all i am sure, they wouldn't just leave the base location to be found so easily" Brandon finally concluded.

The bus drove for about an hour before stopping at a large clearing near a cliff, the man that made the announcement alighted holding something that looked like an oversized briefcase,

"A portable portal device, i guess they are more paranoid about the dark race and the missing students than Bruce" Brandon said to himself,

The portal device was dropped at the centre of the clearing and upon activation it began to spread and increase in size to form a door-like structure which golwed with a blue hue, a group of men also dressed in military attire stepped through the portal and began picking up the students one by one and taking them through the portal,as Brandon was carried past the earlier official, he heard him whisper,

"I know you weren't asleep kiddo"

Which caused a shiver to run down Brandon's spine,

As he was taken through the portal he found himself being dropped in a large metallic room which he estimated was as big as their entire school but, one thing that piqued Brandon's interest the most was the lack of windows or doors. Though it was cold inside, he couldn't see any air conditioners, It took a few minutes for the remaining students to be carried through the portal then, a soldier dropped a gas canister which released a thick green gas that immediately woke the students up but the moment it got to Brandon, his veins began to bulge, he felt a banging pain in his head, it felt like he had drunk too much caffeine, the pain then began to spread to the rest of his body causing him to roll on the ground in pain,

"Brandon, are you okay? talk to me bro?" Bruce panicked as he noticed Brandon's condition, he looked up to see the military official who came to their school casually walked towards them,

"What did you do to him?" Bruce asked with teary eyes,

"The epinephrine other wise known as adrenaline was supposed to negate the effects of the sleeping gas used to put you guys to sleep but since it didn't pit your friend to sleep, it just gave him an epinephrine overdose which may lead to tachycardia but, we should have something to help him with the pain but he will fidget and might not be able to go through the trials" the man explained,

"just do it, you can clearly see he's in pain" Bruce replied annoyed,

"Do not forget who you are speaking to young man" the official warned slightly irritated by Bruce's tone,

"I will give him something to counter the effects of the adrenaline but it will take some time to take effect" he said as he injected a yellow liquid into Brandon's body, the bulging veins began fading and his ragged breath calmed but he was unconscious, Bruce looked up to find that all the other students had already formed a circle around the commotion and were already whispering among themselves,

"Alright, people nothing to see here, the trials will begin shortly" the official yelled to silence the crowd,

"you, keep watch over your friend, you two will go last" he added pointing to Bruce,

He walked out of the crowd of students to a side of the room with a glass screen and tapped something on the wall then the ground in front of the students began to change and soon the large empty white room turned into mini training ground which was divided into three parts with each part having large alpha-numeric 1a, 1b, and 1c showing boldly at the edge, middle and end of the room, the military official climbed a podium to address the students.

"Now pay attention everyone, my name is Colonel James Norris, I will be the overall supervisor of your trial today, firstly let me begin by explaining the ranking system to you" The official said and a large floating white screen appeared in front of him with a table on it the heading labeled rank at the left and points at the right, underneath the rank were the letters a,S ,A ,B ,C ,D ,E ,F with corresponding points placed in front of each of them like so;

Rank - Points

S : 1601 - 3200

A : 801 - 1600

B : 401 - 800

C : 201 - 400

D : 101 - 200

E : 51 - 100

F : 1 - 50

"Now, if you look to the screen in front of me, you will see the points required for each rank and a score board will be provided to record your performance in each trial, since you are first year students, the highest anyone of you can get is rank C, but with hardwork and dedication you can improve in your later days, now turn your attention to the arena in front of you, it has been set up in order of the format given by your school, floor 1a is the affinity trial , floor 1b is the physical trial and floor 1c is the IQ trial and they will be taken in that order, a list of your names has already been given to us and I shall be calling you in alphabetical order except for Brandon Flare who is currently unconscious and Bruce Devin who I have assigned to look after him, now please move on to floor 1a" Col. James explained,

The students moved to the instructed floor and waited for instructions concerning the first trial,

"For the first trial, based on your previous school grading, you will each receive a low grade ability orb that will temporarily grant you an ability, you will be then shoot one of the targets in front of you with as much power as you can, you will be awarded ponts on both power and accuracy, do you understand?" Col. James yelled,

"Yes sir" the students shouted in unison,

"First, Alexander Benjamin Moore, you will be given a water ability with an ice affinity orb, step forward to begin your assessment" Col. James said as he began the first trial,

A young asian boy about 13 years old with curly blue hair stepped forward, he was given a blue energy orb that contained the ability, he absorbed the energy and then concentrated it into a ball of water before projecting it with all his might towards the target, a loud bang was heard as the jet stream of water hit the target square in the middle, the score board projected 35 beside his name,

"Very good, now the next person, Alexandra Isabella Moore, you will be given a Fire ability with a plasma affinity orb" the colonel announced,

a girl with scarlet red hair stepped forward and received a red energy orb before doing same as the boy but her blast was weaker, the score board projected 20 next to her name,

Brandon who was already awake and had been briefed on the rules of the trial was paying keen attention to the the other students assessment untill it was finally his turn,

"Brandon Flare, you will be given a fire ability with a lava affinity orb" the colonel announced,

He stood up weakly to receive the orb, after absorbing the energy, he took a deep breath and concentrated all his energy into a dense ball of fire and just before he threw it at the target his eyes glowed orange which only Colonel James seemed to notice, a loud bang rang through the arena as the score board projected 40 next to his name,

"Yes, that's my brother" Bruce yelled excitedly,

"Bruce Devin, you are next"

Bruce stepped forward and was given a plain lightening ability orb,

"Due to the uniqueness of your talent this is the best we could do for you" col. James explained to which Bruce nodded,

He got a 30 his assessment which cause him to frown,

"Don't beat yourself up Bro there's always room for anything" Brandon said to cheer his friend up,

"Now please move towards floor 1b for your physical fitness assessment" col. James announced,

the student stepped towards the next trial which comprised a circular punching bag and an elastic rope,

"For this assessment, you will not require the use of your ability, you are to hit the punching bag with your physical strength alone after which you are to pull the elastic rope, the farther you pull it before it retracts the higher your score, the use of ability will not be tolerated" Col. James said sternly,

the students were called alphabetically, some students like Alex did well, while others performed miserably, then came Brandon's turn again,

"I am not going to do well in this part" he said to Bruce,

""Not with that attitude" Bruce snorted jokingly,

"Am serious, the gas from earlier sapped my energy" Brandon complained,

Bruce rubbed his chinned thinking of a way to help Brandon,

"Remember what you told me when I complained about getting 2nd every during that IT contest back home?" Bruce asked with a smile,

"How is that supposed to hel- oh you are a genius, thanks bro" Brandon said as he moved forward,

"Work smarter not harder" he mumbled,

he stood a few distance from the punching bag and sprinted right at it, rather than punching it like the rest of the students, he ran into it, this of course shocked everyone,

"is that even legal? whoa he's nuts" were some of the whispers going about,

"Silence, all if you, the goal was to hit the bag with physical strength alone and so Brand Flare did not go against the rules" Col. James said and the whispers died down,

"Wow, that kid is something else, he recovered fast from the gas effect and now this, it seems we have a new prodigy on our hands" he mumbled inwardly,

"Does the direction we pull the rope in necessarily important?" Brandon asked,

"No as long as it is pulled away from the original point" col James replied,

"What are you up to young prodigy?" he thought to himself,

Brandon held the rope and sprinted towards the wall,

"What is he doing?" was what was on all the students minds at the moment, but as he got to the wall he ran a few meters up it and pushed himself off with the gathered momentum and was able to pull the rope fair enough but still got a low score,

"Don't beat yourself up, you did your best" Bruce said,

a total of 29 points was given to Brandon bring his total points earned to 69 points,

Bruce did his assessment and got a 60,

"Nice one" Brandon complimented,

"Couldn't have done it without your training" Bruce replied with a smile.

As they made their way towards the last trial, the blue haired kid from earlier approached them,

"Hi, am Alexander but you can call me Alec, the red haired girl is my twin sister Isabella, you did great back there" He said with his hands stretched out for handshake which Both boys shook,

"Am Bruce and this is my bro Brandon, nice to meet you" Bruce replied as they shook hands,

"alright I will see you guys after the trial" Alec said before returning to meet his sister,

floor 1c was had was filled with tables with two chairs at opposite sides with a chess board with the pieces by the side and a timer on the table,

"Now this is the last and final trial, this trial will test your mental fitness/capacity, those you who didn't do well in the previous trials can boost your points here since you only need your intellect for this trial" col. James explained with a smile,

"Am guessing this is his favorite trial" Brandon whispered to Bruce,

"indeed it is soldier" Col. James said looking towards them, which caused Bruce to shiver,

The last trail was a game of chess, and they would be playing against the other soldiers, of course a lot of students failed this trail, the few who did well were Alex, Isabella, Brandon, Bruce and five other students, they were all given 60 points each, Brandon and Bruce were both D rank mages,

"Congratulations on completing your trials, you will be all be given digital watches that show your rank and points, as you improve, it will be recorded in your watch and will automatically update on the school file and although many of you may be F rank Mages at the moment, I want you to remember that the only thing that differentiate great mages from others is the effort they out into their training, you can still grow and though some of you may have low grades but never let that limit your potential, after you are given your watches you will all be injected with sedatives before being transported back to your school, good luck Soldiers, may fate smile upon you" Col. James announced before walking past them, when he got to Brandon he handed him a box and walked off.

The students were given their watches and sedated just as Col. James has said and this time Brandon didn't fight the effects of the drug, well more like he was took weak to fight it, the last thing he saw before closing his eyes was Col. James smiling at him.

As the students were being taken away, Col. James sighed,

"So much talent , yet so little time will be available to nourish them, I hope they will be ready when the time comes"

The ride back to school was a gloomy one, the students had already been woken up when they were still a thirty- minute drive away from the school, rather than being chatty and excited, some were terrified, now that everyone of them had been ranked, there was sure to be some bullying especially for the F rank mages who although were more numerous but were still far to weak to go against the higher ranks in their class not to mention the other classes.

Out of a total of one hundred students, fifty were F rank mages, twenty five were E rank mages, eighteen were D rank mages and the remaining seven were C rank mages,

All military academies at the time believed in survival of the fittest, the teachers had been instructed not to interfere in any fights unless it was life threatening or causing destruction of property, this meant for the weak the school would be hell on earth unless they formed alliances with higher rank mages which meant becoming their lackeys.

"What are you going to do the moment we get back?" Bruce asked to initiate a conversation with the still silent Brandon,

"It would probably be better if we went straight to the dorms, the tension in the bus right now is suffocating and am pretty sure it's going to be the same way in class" Brandon replied,

"Yeah, if only they didn't allow bullies to reign free in the school, we would have no reason to be scared" Bruce stated,

"You think this is scary, just wait until the awakening day, right now although we have been placed in ranks, we still lack our elemental abilities, so there shouldn't be a lot of bullying but once our abilities are awakened, all hell would break loose" Brandon explained with a sigh,

"It's all in the hopes of producing soldiers strong enough to face the foreign races" Bruce said in a sad tone,

"The problem is no one actually knows what they look like, according to the news, they never leave their dead behind, but am sure they are not humans" Brandon concluded,

"Do you think they are the ones responsible for the missing Twelve?" Bruce asked with round eyes,

"Not this again, but I don't think so, I mean the company in charge of the mythic evolutions, what was it's name again?" Brandon explained trying to recall the companies name,

"Alphite industries, the leading industry in both magical and technological advancements, they made great strides in improving human living standards, remember what they did in Taiwan?" Bruce chatted excitedly, his dream job wasn't to become a soldier but a scientist at Alphite industries, but a job there required some form of military background, he was always abreast with all their latest discoveries and advancement in every of the world,

"If you keep smiling so much when you talk about them, the edges of your lips will reach your ears" Brandon teased which caused Bruce to frown slightly,

"You only say that because you are jealous of my charming smile" Bruce said in attempt to counter Brandon,

"Charming indeed, the ladies probably find frogs more charming than you" Brandon retorted before bursting into laughter,

"Shut up, shut up, you always do this to me" Bruce groaned as his face turned red, he hit Brandon's shoulder in order to quiet him down as his laughter was drawing attention to them,

"Hey you, what's so funny, you think because you are a D rank mage, you can laugh however you like" a spikey haired kid sitting opposite them yelled before leaving his sit to confront them, he had muscular build and was about a metre taller than them, they glanced at his watch, he was an E rank mage with ninety nine points, just two points away from being a D rank mage,

"What's your problem, did you hear us talk less of you or are you just looking to vent your frustrations out on us?" Brandon replied slightly annoyed,

"Er, Brandon, I don't think talking back is a good idea right now, you still look a little worn out from the trials, I doubt you can take him on now" Bruce cautioned his friend,

"Better listen to your friend, just because you managed to get a D rank in the trials doesn't mean you are actually stronger, I mean, we all saw the underhanded methods you used" The spiky haired kid mocked until someone grabbed him from behind,

"Who do you think you a-" By the time he saw the watch on the person's hand showing C rank with 250 points, his legs immediately turned to jelly,the person was none other than Alec,

"Sup guys, is this rascal bothering you" he said with his hands still on the boys shoulder,

The boy looked at them with teary eyes as if pleading for mercy,

"Nah, he was just returning to his seat, now weren't you?" Brandon said with an amused expression,

the boy nodded vehemently, as Alec released him , he hurriedly scrambled for his seat drenched in sweat,

"Thanks for the save" Bruce said,

"My pleasure, although am sure you could have handled it on your own" Alec replied,

"I doubt but thanks not withstanding"Brandon said,

"No problem, gotta go back to my seat, see you guys at school" Alec replied as he walked back to his seat which was right behind them so was his sister,

"What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to embarrass us? our situation is bad enough as it seems" Isabella scolded him as he sat down,

"Relax, it's not like I started a rebellion against the military system" Alec replied,

The bus had finally arrived at their school, where they found Miss Silver waiting outside for them,

"Welcome back students, I hope your trials went well?" she greeted but was met with the gloomy look on thier faces,

"It was that bad huh, no worries, there's always room for improvement" she said in attempt to encourage them,

"Since it's already late, you can all return to your dorms for now, you will each be given daily allowances of 50 credits each day so you can purchase items from the school supply building, your accounts have all been synced to the watches given to you after the trial, you are dismissed" Miss Silver announced before briskly returning into the school.

The moment she and the Military officials left, chaos ensued, now that they had been ranked, some old friendships were broken to from new alliances, most high ranks didn't want to have anything to do with someone whose rank was below theirs except, to use as their slaves,

"Come on Bruce, let's get out of here, I'm tired" Brandon whispered,

They were almost out of the crowd when they ran into Alec and his Sister,

"Hey guys, this is my sister Isabella, Isa, this is Brandon and Bruce" Alec said,

Isabella just gave the boys a cold stare before walking off,

"Did we do something wrong?" Bruce asked confused,

"No, sorry about that, that's just how she is, she's not really the social type" Alec apologized before going after her,

"Come on bro, let's move before we get into any more confrontations" Bruce suggested.

They walked quickly and quietly till they got out of the chaotic crowd around them, the moment they got to their dorm room, they immediately locked the door,

"what to you know about those twins?" Brandon asked Bruce as he sat on his bed,

"The Moore twins? don't you know anything about the noble families in Eleanor?" Bruce asked in shock,

"Should I?" Brandon asked back,

"The Moore family is one of the noble families, their ancestors were part of the first settlers on Eleanor, and they have being living here ever since, they are major shareholders in various infrastructures like the medicine, business, even the music industry and their current leader Jean Michael Moore is one of the board members at Alphite industries, Alec and Isabella are his nephew and niece, their father is his younger brother Jonathan Clave Moore, he one of the five 5-star generals of the army and a well known war hero, they call him the battle god " Bruce explained,

"wow, they sound like real big shots, but I thought the kids from the noble families wouldn't arrive in school until the day if the awakening ceremony" Brandon stated,

"Yeah, but it's optional, noble families are free to send thier kids to school anyday before or on the day of awakening but, for Alec and Isabella, their case is different, a few years back, it was reported that Isabella was involved in some sort of scandal but her brother took part of the blame despite her protest against it, so it appears their family and uncle still hasn't forgiven them" Bruce explained,

"And you know all that how?" Brandon asked suspiciously, Bruce looked away as if he didn't hear the question which confirmed Brandon's suspicion,

"You hacked into the news media system didn't you" Brandon said,

"No, it the noble family news forum, but you can't tell anyone about this, okay?" Bruce replied in a low voice,

"What in the world, dude you could have been caught and jailed or perhaps worse, you know their news forum is meant for noble families only" Brandon stated in panic,

"I know, I know which is why I never told anyone" Bruce said with his head down,

"Whatever, it's still early noon, what should we do?" Brandon asked,

"I want to sign up at the school news register and for the laboratory assistant" Bruce said regaining his cheer,

"I don't really have any extra curriculars in mind, would you mind if I joined you at the register?" Brandon said after a few thoughts,

"When have I ever said no to a helping hand" Bruce said with a grin,

"Cool, let's go, we can check out the supply store afterwards" Brandon said heading for the door but was suddenly halted by Bruce,

"Dude you smell like a used gym towel, you need to hit the showers before we can go anywhere" Bruce said while covering his nose,

"No, I don't" Brandon said, he lifted shirt to take a sniff,

"Oh my, that does smell bad, how did I not notice" Brandon groaned, he quickly took off his shirt and trousers threw them at An unsuspecting Bruce and ran into the bathroom,

"Gross, Brandon why on earth would you do that, I am so gonna kill you when you get out" Bruce ranted, Brandon couldn't help but laugh at Bruce's tantrum,

By the time he came out, Bruce had already calmed down,

"Didn't someone say he was going to kill me" Brandon taunted,

"Don't push it Brandon" Bruce retorted as he walked into the bathroom to take a quick shower.

After their showers, the boys made their way to the principals office to inquire about joining the

school news register, they knocked on the office door,

"Come in" a deep husky voice said,

They walked in and soon found themselves in from of sergeant Borden Raid, he was a huge muscular man with a menacing aura, he had a large scar across his face which made the boys wonder, how he was able to still have both his eyes, he had long brown hair that made him look like a babarian,

"Have a seat boys, how can I help you both?" Sgt. Raid asked,

"Sir we would like to inquire if the school news register, has any openings" Bruce said as they sat down,

"The news register? they are a lot of openings available" Sgt. Raid replied with a hint of surprise,

"A lot? are none of the senior students part of the register?" Brandon asked,

"Not really, honestly, it's been a while since anyone even inquired about the register so much so that it was temporarily disabled" Sgt. Raid replied.

"Can it be re-enabled?" Bruce asked hopefully,

"Yes, meet Miss Silver, she's the head of the news register" Sgt. Raid replied, Bruce sighed in relief,

"Thank you Sir, permission to take our leave sir?" Brandon asked,

"Permission granted, you are barely a two weeks in the school Year and you are already using military protocol, you guys are special, I can tell" Sgt. Raid replied,

"We appreciate the compliment sir"Bruce chirped,

They saluted and left the office to find their teacher,

"So Miss Silver is the news register's head, well that explains the typewriter" Brandon said,

"yeah and since it was disabled she probably didn't get any funds to change the equipment with"Bruce sighed in pity,

"Poor Miss Silver, she has been all alone all l this time" Bruce bellowed,

"And who told you I was lonely" Miss Silver said from behind them causing the boys to jump back in fright,

"How were you able to sneak up on us like that even Brandon didn't notice you" Bruce asked in shock,

"You will learn that in fight class, now why am I the subject of your conversation?" Miss Silver asked still walking,

"We were thinking of joining the school news register, Sgt. Raid said you were the head and that it could be re - enabled" Bruce replied,

"Oh I see, well first up we will need a photographer and a writer" Miss Silver replied rather gently,

"I will be the photographer" replied Brandon,

"I will be the writer" replied Bruce,

"Good, meet me at the register tomorrow during lunchtime, I will see to the re-enablement before then" Miss Silver replied,

"Thank you ma'am" They replied in unison.

Their next stop was meant to be the school laboratory but they got blocked by seven students,

"Hey guys wanna join our group?" a huge chubby guy asked,

"No not really, but thanks for the offer" Brandon said politely, they were all D rank same and he and Bruce, they tried to walk past the but were blocked off,

"It wasn't an offer, buddy" another boy said,

"Like I said before, no thank you now move aside" Brandon demanded,

"I see we have a stubborn one, why don't we convince them to join us boys" the fat guy said with a mischievous grin, he lunged at Brandon, who tried to dodge but was still too weak and got tackled to the ground, five of the boys ganged up on Brandon while the other two held Bruce, Brandon was being hit pretty badly, his nose was broken as well a few ribs,

"Stop it, you are hurting him" Bruce cried out, but to no avail,

"Stop please, leave him alone" he pleaded but they just ignored him,

Brandon now had broken ribs as well as his nose and his vision was getting blurry,

"Brandon, you have to fight back" a voice said as he saw a blurry figure in front of him,

"I can't" he mumbled,

"Yes you can, you can't give up now, think about Bruce, are you just going to let them beat him up too" The voice replied,

"Noo" Brandon replied barely by a whisper,

"Say it louder, are you going to let them hurt your family?" the voice asked seriously,

"Nooooo" Brandon screamed as he released a shockwave from within him that blew the guys against the wall, the remaining two guys immediately took to their heels out of fear,

"Brandon, Brandon, are you okay? don't worry I will get you to the clinic" Bruce said as he raised Brandon up over his shoulder.

The doctor and nurses on duty was alarmed by the sight of the bloody Brandon being brought in by Bruce, they hurriedly took him in and began treatment but the strange thing was, most of his Injuries had already healed, this baffled the doctor and nurses but, they were too grateful that Brandon was alive to take it seriously, Brandon had lost quite an amount of blood so he was unconscious at the time, once his Injuries were taken care off he was laid to rest on one of the beds while receiving a blood transfusion,

"Brandon, what was that back there? am pretty sure the ability orbs have already worn out but that didn't even look like a fire ability or any ability I Know" Bruce wondered,

"Well at least it saved us, you saved us.......... again" he mumbled,

He stayed by Brandon's side till late that evening when a worried nurse managed to convince him to go get some clean clothes for Brandon and report the incident to a teacher,

He quickly went looking for Miss Silver, she was the only teacher who might even do something,

"What did you say?" Miss Silver asked furious startling Bruce,

"and you really don't know how your friend did what he did...... It's barely been twelve hours since the trials and already some rascals have already began exhibiting this sort of behavior" she sighed with furrowed brows,

"Don't worry, I will see what I can do, you go back and stay by your friend's side" she added before leaving Bruce, who went to get Brandon's clothes and some snacks and went straight back to the clinic, he wanted to be there when Brandon woke up, more so he was curious to know if Brandon is aware if what he did.

"Wake up Brandon" Bruce prayed within his heart.