"Today we will be working on fighting techniques." Supreme commander Drellin walks back and forth in front of the neat line my group has formed. "you will need to be prepared to fight ANY opponent we make you face. Including one of the opposite gender." a few of the boys snickered. "The point of this exercise," Drellin continues "is to make it almost always a guarantee of you being hard to beat. I have paired each of you with someone of the same gender to train with you. These partners will change daily, so don't get too attached. we will continue this lesson for a week. your partners are as follows." He pauses and looks at us. "Violetta and Arix. Kiran and Jaymees, Saen and Izey, and Jinder and

Autuum." I sneak a quick smile at Autuum even though we are not allowed to express our thoughts about partners. "Ok." he continues. "today you will fistfight with your partner. don't look so dumb." he says to a gaping Arix. "Yes, being punched can hurt, so that is why you will be wearing prochain." there are several gasps and a couple shrieks of delight. Prochain!wow! this is the stuff the more experienced sectors, 8,9, and 10 always talk about! "What you will do," says Drellin. "Is you will put on these 4000$ a piece suits, and turn them ON!!! I know it's really complicated, but you must find the switch and turn them ON!!!!" he says in a mocking tone. "Then," he continues. "You will take your partner's hand and press it on the hand-pad." he shows us a fair sized grey plastic square on the shoulder of the suit. "they will do the same to you." he says. "then you will start the fight! for those of you dumb fatties who do not know what Prochain is, it is a high tech suit of training armor that will protect you from any blow. in the fight, it will give you a point if you punch or kick any of the 8 sensors with a 7 out of 10, or more force in a punch. There is one sensor on the chest and one sensor on the stomach. one on each shoulder. there is one between your shoulder blades. your helmet acts as a giant sensor. there is one on each knee. the first person to 10 points wins. simple? I thought so. suit up!!!!!" The place turns into a madhouse as everyone scrambles to get a suit. I can hardly wait myself. after we get a suit, me and Autuum choose a spot. "Let's suit up quick! I want to have as much time with Prochain as possible!" she says. I nod in agreement. after we get suited up, I press her hand against the hand-pad. she does the same to me. suddenly, a mechanical voice comes out of my suit. it says "whenever you are ready to start, press the button on your right hand. i press it. so does Autuum. the voice speaks again. "Your game will begin in 3... 2... 1... go!!!!!" we circle each other. she eyes me up and takes a swing at my chest. I block her with my forearm and take a punch at her head. "DING!" my eyes widen in surprise. I got a point! My body fills with a new energy. "DING!!!" I feel I push on my back. she got a point. time to step up my game.I lose control of my self. I start kicking and punching every bit of body I can feel. "DING!!!! DING!!! DING!!!!" I can hear so many dings, but I don't know if they are my points or hers suddenly, a hear a sad little beep, and the mechanical voice speaks again. "Game over! Score: Jinder Hope- 10 Autuum Lancaster- 6. winner- Jinder Hope. congratulations. play again soon." Autuum takes of her helmet and walks over to me. "That was impressive!" she says. "How did you do that?" I shrug. Drellin comes over to me. "Well done." he says without feeling. "He turns to the rest of the group. "you are dismissed." he tells us and stalks out the door. Violetta and Arix run over to join us. "Who won?" I ask them. Violetta puffs up her chest. "I did!" she says proudly. "Yeah by 1 point." replies Arix exasperated. "Come on, let's go to the sector house." the 4 of us walk down the hallway that will lead us to what we call "home". I feel like I'm being watched. I turn around and see two eyes in the shadows of a door frame. my eyes widen. "Go on." I tell my friends. "I need to take care of something." Arix nods "meet you there." as they get farther down the hall, I approach the figure. "Who are you?"