In Casinum, the capital of the Empire of Agrium:

  Vod wandered the halls, having roused himself earlier.

  It had been yesterday that he had woken up without memory, fought in the arena, and enlisted in the military.

  Today he was just waiting for an introduction to his team, walking around the hallways that showed a multitude of rooms.

  He found a training room, and opened the door.

  Walking into the room, he immediately noticed a small crowd gathering around two people. Looking around, nothing else caught his eye, so he walked towards the gathered people.

  A blonde woman and a brown-haired man were standing in a square of golden metal on the floor, facing each other.

  They raised their hands in fighting stances, and prepared to duel.

  The man dashed forward, attacking the woman.

  The man threw a series of blistering punches at the woman. Each punch was aimed at a different area, her face, stomach, and side, but she deflected or blocked every attack simply and efficiently.

  The man drew back for a more powerful uppercut, but at the last moment, the woman sidestepped, and shoved his body forward, making him stumble past her.

  She then swept at his legs with a kick, and he jumped over the attack, before grabbing hold of her. He pushed her, attempting to shove her closer to the edge, but instead she threw him past herself again.

  He put a hand under himself as he tumbled, and threw himself upward, sliding backward, stopping just short of the line.

  He dashed forward again, and she met him in the middle of the square. They exchanged punches, kicks, and other attacks that were so fast Vod couldn't distinguish where they landed, or even what style of attack they were.

  Another exchange ended with the man landing a solid blow, before the woman's gaze sharpened, and she punched him back, harder.

  He dug his feet into the sand below, stopping himself from crossing the border yet again.

  She was already directly in front of him, and aimed to ram him with her shoulder, hoping to send him over the line.

  He narrowly swayed out of the way before punching at her face in desperation.

  She dodged, then ducked under the reflexive uppercut he threw immediately after her dodge, put a hand on his back, and pushed him downwards at the same time her fist provided him with a devastating blow to the gut.

  He doubled over, then collapsed, groaning. The woman grinned, then picked him up and dropped him outside the square.

  "Looks like I win again. Better luck next time, Radoran." She said, then walked away.

  The fighter, Radoran, lay splayed out, unable to move. Vod noticed that none of the people watching were moving to assist Radoran, instead choosing to laugh at his utter defeat.

  Vod attempted to help Radoran himself, but one of the people watching, a tall, raven-haired man, stopped him.

  "Wait. Let him get up by himself." The raven-haired man said.

  "Why?" Asked Vod.

  A dark-haired woman spoke. "He told us that he was certain that he'd beat the captain easily this time. We're letting him experience the consequences of his actions. Again." She said, with a grin.

  "I see." Vod said, a smile of his own forming across his face.

  Radoran lay there for a while, arms laid out uselessly to the sides, before he at last caught his breath and sat up.

  "Thanks for the help, guys. I'm glad you didn't just let your good friend lay there uselessly like a dead fish."

  "Isn't that just what happens whenever you get into a fight?" The raven-haired man said. "You will have to get used to that inevitability somehow."

  "If we helped you all the time, you wouldn't learn, Radoran. Though I guess you don't anyway." A red-haired man said.

  "Thanks, Noram." Radoran said. He winced as he felt another wave of pain from the immense blow he had received. "I need to lay down for a while."

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  "Oh, come on. That doesn't sound like the Radoran we know and love. What happened to winning no matter what?" The dark-haired woman said.

  "He's still lying on the ground over there." Radoran said. He then noticed Vod for the first time. "Who's the new guy? And was he here to watch..."

  "He saw you get pummeled to a pulp, yes." The raven-haired man said. He turned to Vod. "What is your name? I didn't ask before."

  "Vod." He said.

  "You look familiar... I can't quite place it." Adrad said, contemplating. "Oh, right!" He said. "You're that prisoner who won in the arena!"

  "Is he?" Noram asked, then looked closely at Vod. "Oh yeah, he does look like him."

  "Yes. That's me." Vod said, then turned to go, not wanting to get into a conversation about his apparent treachery.

  "Hold on." The raven-haired man put a hand on Vod's shoulder. "I was just wondering. Actually, the reason I was curious is that you're apparently supposed to be the newest member of our crew."

  Vod turned around, surprised. "Really?"

  "Yeah." The raven-haired man said. "I'm Adrad, by the way, the second in command of this 'problem squad.' And that woman who absolutely demolished Radoran was our very own Captain Ilyana."

  "Hey! I put up a good fight!" Radoran interjected.

  "You couldn't tell?" Adrad asked, amused. "She was holding back on you, even after considering her weakening herself to be a match for you physically."

  Radoran's mouth dropped open. He stormed off, muttering about how he had expressly told her to fight as strongly as she could, and even her weakening herself to keep an even fight was something he hated, much more holding back on top of that.

  "So, who's all in this 'problem squad?' And why is it called that?" Vod asked.

  "Well, we're basically the ones Agrium has no damned idea what to do with. That or no one could deal with us besides the captain." He said.

  "As for who's in it, well there's me, Noram," He pointed at the red-haired man. "Cyne," He said, turning his finger towards the dark-haired woman. "The tantrum throwing battle addict Radoran, and Seriel. Seriel... doesn't like interacting much. She's probably in her room right now."

  "Don't forget the captain, though." Noram said. "She's probably the one you should care about the most. She'd beat us all up at once if she wanted to."

  "Everyone seems to be steering clear of us. Is that because of the 'problem squad' status?" Vod asked.

  Cyne responded. "That, and they know that if they fought us, we'd crush them. On average, we're the strongest group. Good thing we've got Ilyana as our captain, or people like Adrad and Radoran would be unmanageable."

  "Come on. I'm not half as bad as Radoran." Adrad said.

  "You can be pretty close to that bad sometimes." Cyne replied.

  Adrad turned back to Vod. "Anyway, I have something to ask. Do you mind if I duel you here? I just want to see how good you are in a fight."

  Vod considered, then nodded. "Yeah, I think we can."

  "Great!" Adrad said, then stepped into the square. "First one to admit defeat or set foot on the ground outside of the square loses. No abilities, just hand to hand."

  Vod stepped into the square, then faced Adrad, raising his hands.

  Cyne counted down for them, and the duel began.

  Vod watched Adrad carefully for a moment, walking slowly sideways. He wants me to advance. He thought, as Adrad waited.

  Vod dashed forward, trying to punch Adrad in the stomach, but Adrad deflected it.

  Vod pressed on, punching at Adrad repeatedly as fast as he could. Adrad somehow managed to block or deflect every single one of the attacks, then caught Vod's fist.

  "You're too predictable." he said, as he threw Vod forwards.

  In that case, I'll try something out. Vod dashed forward, trying to punch Adrad, then feinting a kick, before planting his foot, and reaching for Adrad's block as soon as he reacted to Vod's punch. Vod grabbed Adrad's arm, and pulled him, extending his foot, and tripping Adrad.

  Adrad flipped himself back upward, then smiled.

  "Good, much better." He ran in, attacking Vod for the first time. He threw a flurry of punches, and somehow Vod managed to block most of them. A few landed, but they were light blows.

  Adrad nodded, smiling, then rushed in again with a single punch. This attack was too fast for Vod to dodge or block, and hit Vod's ribs heavily.

  Vod slid backwards from the force, and held a hand to his ribs, before taking a deep breath and raising his hands again.

  Adrad ran forwards, and punched again. Vod slipped sideways, dodging the punch, before he grabbed Adrad's arm, and pushed him off balance, sending him to the line.

  Adrad grinned broadly, and grabbed Vod, jumping over the line.

  In the air, Vod realized that the first person to hit the ground would lose.

  He forced the fight's end with one move. Vod thought, as he turned himself in the air, trying to bring Adrad down to where he would hit the ground first, but Adrad attempted the same.

  The fighters hit the ground, and Vod stood up.

  Adrad stayed on the ground, merely sitting up. "So? Who hit the ground first?"

  "Too close to tell." Noram said.

  Adrad grinned again. "Well done, Vod. You're adaptive, you're fast, and you can take a hit. You'll be a monster after the captain's done beating you into shape."

  He stood. "You still have a long way to go, though. Don't pick too many fights with too many people just yet. We can't bail you out every time."

  Vod nodded. "I understand."

  Cyne smiled widely. "You'll have to fight me soon. These guys are getting boring to spar."

  "Sure." Vod said.

  "By the way." Adrad said, putting a hand on Vod's shoulder. "We have a mission in a few days. The captain will want you to come along, to test your strength and ability in an actual battle setting. And train up, this one's a big one. The Emperor Himself is involved. We'll get going as soon as he gets back from Thece."

  "The Emperor?" Vod asked, surprised.

  "Yeah." Adrad said. "Like I said, this one's important."

  "Hey, how come you didn't tell us about this before?" Cyne asked, irritated. "I think a mission involving the Emperor Himself is a pretty important thing to know about."

  "Hey, I only found out today. And I didn't want to explain it twice, so I waited until I found Vod. Though I guess since Radoran isn't here, I'll have to track him down and repeat it anyway."

  He turned to Noram. "Can you tell Seriel about this? She'll understand it better from you."

  Noram nodded, then rushed off.

  "Anyway, I'll see you some other time, Vod. I gotta go find Radoran." Adrad excused himself, and Cyne followed.

  Vod was left alone, standing there for a moment, before he decided to start training, ignoring the dirty looks that sometimes came his way.

  Evening arrived, and Vod retired for the night, anticipating the mission to come in several days' time.