RRRUUUUERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

RRUUUEEEEERERRRRRRRRR!

“What the hell is that!” Axel said jumping out of bed.

“I don’t know, but its gonna scream a lot louder when Im through with it!!” B said sitting up.

The rest of the gang had woken up save for Reggie who was still fast asleep through the roaring.

“Wake up sleepy head!” Lily said, sprinkling some dust onto Reggie’s nose.

“A…. AAACHUU!” Reggie sneezed coming to. “Wha.. what's all that noise?” He said joining the others.

RRRUUUUERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

RRUUUEEEEERERRRRRRRRR!

As they opened the door leading into the hallway, the sound of the animals' cry got extremely loud, nearly blowing out their ear drums.

“And what in the hell is this!” Lance said yanking his foot out of a puddle of purple slime.

All the way down the hallway, purple slime was covering each of the dormitories of the cadets. It gooped and dripped from the ceiling forming random puddles along the corridor.

“How is no one else awake right now?” Reggie said stupefied.

“Tsk says the one who just woke up…” 6 sighed shaking his head.

“Its probably because of that slime! It's acting as an insulator to sound!” Lily remarked.

“I see… and we just happened to be the only door without slime on it…” Lance said “Whoever did this is gonna-”

For a moment the lights went out, turning the slimy infested corridor pitch black. The screams of the deranged animal suddenly became silent.

“Is everyone Ok?” Reggie said turning on his flashlight

“GOOD GOD!!!” Reggie screamed, as the face of a middle aged ghost appeared in his light.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

“GHHHOOOSTTTSSSSS!!!!”

“LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!” The group screamed as they ran to the common area.

As they ran the lights came on leaving a the middle age shifter and Lance alone in the corridor.

“You... “ Lance said, coming face to face with the middle aged man. “You were staring at me earlier… What's your problem?” Lance said getting ready to fight.

“Lance Nozuka age 15, recent graduate from SCS, The only person known to come into contact with the rogue assassin Raven”

“Raven!” Lance exclaimed “How do you know about him! How do you know about the man who nearly killed my mother!”

“I am not permitted to discuss him any further, I have come on orders from SPA headquarters.”

“What does that have to do with me?” Lance asked.

“I’m here to tell you that that man, Raven, is here, and tomorrow your opponent will be me. ”

“What the hell is going on here!” Reggie said leading the others into the common area

“First that animal sound now ghosts are-”

“Careful Reggie!” 6 cautioned.

As Reggie walked into the common area his leg hit a small trip wire. Instantly, he was whisked off the floor suspended in midair by a trap made of string.

“Don’t just stand there! Help me!” He cried to the others

Jumping into the air to slice the string, B came face to face with a strange cadet who looked like a spider.

“Not so fast!” He yelled, shooting a spider web at her.

“Damn it! There aren’t any rocks around here!” Yelled B as she did her best to dodge the attack. The web ended up hitting her arm, saving her from becoming captured as she returned to the floor.

“AX!” She screamed

“I’m on it!” Axel said drawing water from the bathroom stalls into the common area.

“Roaaaaddddkil!” A voice screamed from behind Axel.

A huge man moving at seemingly warp speed smashed Axel from behind with a lariat sending him tumbling across the floor.

“ERRRRRRRRRR!!!!” His shoes screeched from the friction on the floor as he came to a halt.

“Ax!” B said Reaching for him.

“GOOOO TIMMY!” A girl cried. A giant teddy bear smacked B across the face sending here spiraling to the same place Axel had gone.

“Axel! B!” Lily cried. They were both too far away to reach now.

“Wax Kingdom!” A man shouted from the bathroom. A stream of Purple slime burst through corridor.

“AHHHHH!!!” Lily and 6 screamed. Within moments the purple avalanche flow into the common area enveloping Lily and 6 in wax. Frozen in place by the wax, they helplessly gazed at Axel and the others.

“Lily! 6!” Axel cried.

Before Axel could react, the large Teddy bear swung at him again. Ducking under its huge arm he met an array of spider webs that were tossed at him. Using the water around him to deflect their trajectory, he dodged passed them until he was within a foot of 6 and Lily.

“Monkey Fist!”

Axel was hit in the stomach by a huge gorilla fist blasting him back to where he had started.

“ROOOOADDDKILL!”

B, attempting to catch him, was lariat again by the huge cadet who was moving at supersonic speeds.

Things did not look good. Reggie was still caught in spider web, 6 and lily were wax figures and Axel and B were barely standing.

“Haha I told you these guys were nothing to get stressed about!” The monkey cadet said. Turning the bottom half of his face into a monkey He let out a howl

RRRUUUUERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! He screamed, filling the room with the horrible sound.

“HAHA you were right Riley! And no sight of you know who!” The girl with the teddy bear exclaimed.

“Yeh I told you! No sound is getting through my wax!” The wax man said.

“So what do we do now?” The spider Shifter said hovering above Reggie.

“Now we finish them off!” The giant Cadet said.

“Why… why are you doing this…” Axel asked. “This isn’t fair!”

“Fair? I’ll tell you what isn’t fair!” The Riley said. “We 6 trained our butts off for 2 years! Day after day, night after night, all while eating punch after punch from that psycho Colonel Grant! And you guys just walk in?”

“I don’t know what kind of trick you used to get by him! But Ill be damn if you guys cheat your way out of the Gauntlet!” Riley said “By beating you here and now we can avoid any set ups you have in store! And, me and my team can stick together!”

“But we didnt cheat…” Axel said.

“Nice try! But I heard Grant say it himself!” Riley scoffed

“That Goddamn O’Brien! He tricked me! I don’t know how but he somehow knew this would happen! Now I’ve gotta send a bunch of kids into the gauntlet!”

“That has nothing to do with us!” Axel yelled.

“Save it!” Riley said pouncing into the air. “C’mon guys lets end this!”

The other 5 cadets quickly followed suit. Each preparing a finishing blow to Axel’s team.

“Tsk! Well now you’ve gone and pissed me off!” Alex said.

“Wait! When he got here!” Axel said,

Alex had somehow appeared in the center of the room. With his headphones still blasting rock n roll he held his arms spread apart towards either side of the room.

“Feather bomb!” He screamed.

Instantly, everyone was knocked back slamming into the walls of the common area.

“Godamnit.’ The monkey cadet said. “How did you hear us?”

The ten shifters that were all previously fighting stood against the wall blown back from Alex’s attack.

“Which one of you dumbasses” Alex said flexing his brows. As steam vicously puffed out of his nostrils, for a moment, it seemed like the temperature of the room had doubled.

“Covered my door in Wax!” Alex erupted. “I just woke up and needed to take a piss! And for some reason… I couldn’t get out of my friggin room!”

“Just our luck…” The Riley said.

“I’m going to close my eyes and count to ten, and I swear to god if there is a single person not in their beds The next feather bomb I throw is going straight up someone’s ass!!” Alex barked.

“1...2...3” Alex began

“Holy crap that guy counts fast!” Axel said grabbing Reggie and the others.

“5,6,7,8,9,10!” Alex finished. No one was left.

“heh “ Thats what I thought!” he said approaching a urinal.

“Hey where the heck were you! Tough guy!” B said yelling at Lance as she entered the room.

Lance was silent.

“Yeh we coulda used your help back there! Mr, I defeated a Captain.” Axel jived

Lance continued to look at the ceiling, not even blinking.

“Hey man what’s the big idea!” Reggie said throwing a pillow at him. Lance didn’t even react. As the pillow smashed into his forehead he didn’t even turn his head.

Raising his hand he tossed it back on the ground and repositioned himself, looking away from everyone.

“Lance?” Axel asked.

“Everyone…” Lance began. “Good luck tomorrow.”

Unsure of whether it was due to just pure exhaustion or complete and utter awe, the group returned to their beds and went to sleep.

A few rooms down in room 3337 the middle aged Shifter leaned over his chair looking into a hologram.

“Jade, did you deliver the message?” A voice asked

“Yes Lord Greenhawk” Jade replied

“Good just make sure not to kill the boy, I don’t need to tell you the implications of screwing that up do I?” The man said

“No sir not at all!” Jade answered. “But tell me sir… Why did we come all the way here just to risk it all during an exam! Have you lost sight of the goal?”

“No… quite the contrary are you forgetting our prime target will be at the exam?”

“I see…” Jade answered.

“Its time to put SPA Atlantica to the test, tommorow is the day they will come head to head with an unprecedented threat. Tommorow they will meet Raven.”