Status: Edited

"He's actually been happy these last couple weeks."

"No, I wouldn't say happy, but he's gotten better."

"He would be fine if you just. . ."

"Alright, Anderson. Enough."

"If you're going to transfer her, it has to be now. She could make him the best commander this school has ever seen."

"Call him in, Anderson."

"Will you, then?"

"I said call him in."

. . .

Two weeks later, I woke up one morning to find that a transfer slip had been tucked neatly into my locker sometime during the night. My heart skipped dangerously in my chest as I read it silently.

Name: Lara Flinn
Instructions: Report to Dragon Army barracks immediately. No items necessary.
Commander: Andrew Wiggin

My hand shook as I stared in disbelief at the slip of paper. This had to be some sort of sick joke, I thought darkly. But it couldn't be. The official IF stamp sat neatly at the bottom of the paper, confirming that Ender really had been given an army.

It was as if a heavy load had suddenly been lifted off my shoulders. No more running around hoping to catch glimpses of Ender around corners. We at last would be able to have a normal friendship. Or at least I hoped.

I was practically glowing as I made my way towards Bonzo to give him my paper. "Sir." I held it out for him to take.

Giving me a curious look, he accepted the transfer slip. I watched as his eyes skimmed the paper, features quickly turning hard. "Report to Dragon Army barracks immediately," He read aloud, continuing to scan the paper. His eyes froze at the bottom of the page where I could only image he was reading my new commanders name. A scoff escapes his lips as he looked back at me, barely concealed anger simmering just under the surface. "There's no such thing as Dragon Army."

I wasn't sure how to respond, seeing as he was right, so it was a miracle when one of the other soldiers spoke up. "It's got to be new," he said, his gaze flicking between Bonzo and I. "There's a code sequence flashing in the corridors that I've never seen before."

Straightening, Bonzo's gaze landed coldly on me before he handed back my paper. "Well? Get out of here then." His shoulder knocked into mine as he harshly brushed past me. "I'll see you around, Flinn."

Not looking back, I quickly made my way out of the Salamander barrack, glad to be away from Bonzo's dark presence. Following Dragon's color sequence, it lead me on a dance down the corridor. Twisting down halls and around corners, I jogged after the lights as excitement rushed through me.

Ahead, the lighted sequence stopped at a wide doorway. My nerves buzzed frantically as I approached. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I at last entered the Dragon Army barrack.

The second I'd passed through the doorway, my eyes drank in the scene before me. All around the room were boys I'd never seen before, dressed in the canary yellow jumpsuits and probably fresh from their launch groups. There only seemed to be a handful of veterans, and though I recognized a few of them, there were no truly familiar faces.

I continued to take in my surroundings before silence fell over the room, all eyes looking past to the entrance behind me. Quickly, I spun around and found myself face to face with the very person I had been most excited to see.

As I stepped out of the way, Ender flashed me a quick smile, relief blatant in his eyes. I gladly returned it, the corners of my lips turning upwards. A moment passed before he drew his attention away from me, facing towards the crowd of soldiers and gave his first ever order as Commander. "Veterans at the back, newest soldiers at the front," he said, unable to suppress a small grin from creeping onto his face at the sight of all of us.

"But, sir," one of the smaller boys in a Launchie uniform piped up fearlessly. "Every other Commander has their veterans at the front."

Ender flicked a glance towards me as he responded. "Well I'm not like every other Commander."

Without another word of protest, we dispersed to claim our beds. I picked past a cluster of boys and made my way to the back where I snagged a bottom bed, two bunks from the back. From there, I surveyed the room once more. It looked as though there were only five veterans, including myself. The rest, it seemed, were nervous looking Launchies. I also quickly gathered that I was the only soldier there that had ever attended Ender's extra training practices.

As my mind circled back to Ender, I watched the way he observed his new soldiers. He didn't convey any emotion as he watched the boys, but I could tell he was analyzing the amount of work we would have to do in order to become a formidable army.

Once everyone had found themselves a bunk, Ender's voice once again resonated throughout the room. "Get changed into your flash suits, soldiers. We've got the morning schedule." There was a groan from one of the veterans, which Ender ignored. "Practice first thing with a half hour before breakfast." His eyes once again found mine and I made sure to give him another grin.

With that, we all turned to our lockers to quickly slip into our suits. I was one of the first to be ready, making my way to the front to get into the normal march line formation.

Regardless of whether everyone was finished changing, after three minutes Ender signaled for us to begin our jog to the battle room, veterans at the front and Launchies at the back. Some of them hadn't been able to suit up fast enough and were forced to run naked, carrying their suits in their arms.

When we reached the gate, Ender let whoever needed to finish changing do so before moving on to his next instructions.

"Alright, grab the top bar above the gate and swing into the battle room. Meet on the far wall." There was a pause in which everyone stood frozen as Ender stared each of us down. Then, "Well? Move!"

We were off in groups of four, swinging ourselves out into null gravity. As I launched into the room, I automatically positioned myself so that the bottoms of my feet were facing the direction that I wanted to go, just like Ender had taught us to do in his sessions.

I glanced around the space. Besides myself and one other veteran, no one could make a straight path to their target. Many of the newer boys were still having trouble grabbing the walls when they got near enough. Evidently, we had a lot of work to do.

Ender didn't mention the struggle that it had taken for many of the boys to finally reach the far wall. However, he did take a moment to assess everyone briefly. Besides myself, every soldier was still oriented the same way they'd been when they were in the corridor.

"Why are you all upside down?" Ender barked, watching as the others glanced at one another nervously. A few of the soldiers even begun to turn themselves to match Ender, but he stopped them. "I didn't tell you to move, soldier. I asked you a question."

Someone nearest to Ender spoke up. "It's the way we came in, sir."

"In zero gravity there is no up or down," Ender said. It doesn't matter how you were oriented in the corridor. Are our battles going to be in the corridors?" He gaze was hard and serious as he watched us.

"No, sir!" We chorused.

Ender continued, staring straight at me, the ghost of a smile whispering across his lips. "Remember, the enemys gate is down. Up is towards your own gate." I grinned in return.

"Now," he snapped back into focus. "What was that circus I saw when you came through the gate? You call that flying?" Some of the smaller boys visibly flinched. "Come on, form up at that wall!" He directed us to what would have been the ceiling had we still been in the corridor. "Let's go!"

We hurriedly followed orders and pushed off towards the ceiling. I was the first to arrive, followed closely by an abnormally small launch boy.

Ender didn't miss this, so after everyone had gathered, he asked him, "Which way is down?"

The boy responded quickly. "Towards the enemy's gate, sir." Ender nodded and asked for his name. "Bean, sir," he said.

"Right, Bean." Ender nodded again before continuing to teach. "When that gate opens," he pointed to our gate. "There is no time to waste. It used to be that you had fifteen, even twenty seconds, before your army had to come through. But now, you come through later than five and you get frozen." He turned to Bean again. "What happens when you get frozen?"

Bean hesitated a moment. "You can't move, sir."

Through his helmet, I could see Ender smiling maliciously. "Can't move! Stuck like a beanstalk!"

I frowned as the group laughed. It wasn't normal for Ender to make fun of someone like that.

Just like Graff had done to him on his first day, Ender had just set Bean apart from the others. Judging by how quickly he had answered Ender's questions and his ability, Bean seemed to be a smart kid. But Ender had just made a joke out of him.

Ender raised his hand for silence, once again turning serious. "Yes and no. That's what it means when you're frozen, but what happens?" he asked again. "Lara, tell us what happens."

I snapped to attention. "You keep moving at the same speed and in the same direction as you were originally headed, sir," I said.

"Good." Ender nodded approvingly. Suddenly he pointed at a group of boys off to the right. "You five! Move!"

They looked at each other, confusion unfurling on their faces, but Ender had already grabbed his gun. In a second, all five of them were frozen where they were against the wall.

Again, Ender pointed at another group of boys. "Move!"

These four reacted much faster, pushing off into the middle of the battle room. Still, Ender was able to freeze them after only another moment.

This, however, didn't seem to bother Ender. He pointed once more at the first five stationary boys. "See those soldiers? They're stuck where they are, uselessly frozen and getting in their own teams way." He then directed our attention to the other group of boys who were now halfway across the room. "But you see them? They were moving when they were disabled. In a real battle, they would be plugging up the enemy lanes." He paused, watching us sagely. "Frozen or not, if you're moving you're not useless."

Pushing forward, Ender proceeded to demonstrate bending his knees so that he reduced his size and protected the rest of his body from enemy fire. From there, he showed us how to shoot between our legs in that position. We practiced that form for a minute before Ender was shouting again. "Which way is the enemy's gate?" he called.

The entirety of Dragon Army was filled with a new exhilaration as we shouted back simultaneously. "Down!"

Ender smiles genuinely. "And what is your attack position?"

Some began to answer in words, but feeling a rush of excitement and confidence rise inside me, I pushed myself off the ceiling. Spiraling into the space, I bent my knees like Ender had, pulling out my gun and shooting from between my legs.

A reckless grin overtook my features as Ender called from behind, "Is Lara the only one who knows how?"

The room filled with the flashing blasts of guns and excitement as the rest of the army followed my lead. By the time we all reached the far wall, everyone was already itching for more.

From there, the real training began. Ender froze our bent knees to get us used to the position and proceeded to explain our next drill.

For the remaining half hour, we practiced pushing off the battle room walls with our legs frozen. It was difficult work that required a lot of concentration, but by the time training was over, it was clear that it had been one of the best training session any of us had ever received.