If the words don't add up, so sorry, but you know, I don't exactly like following the rules either! ;)

-----------------------------------------

"Wow..." I looked around myself in amazement. "So many people..."

I had spent the majority of my life in the seemingly endless labyrinth that held Enne captive, so this many people was both overwhelming and eye-opening.

"I agree," Bam added, and I strongly suspected that the look on his face resembled what mine looked like right now.

"Humph! Turtles!" Rak grumbled. Khun had strategically sat on top of the gator, who was lying on the floor.

"Looks like all these people passed," Khun said, looking around.

"When will I be able to fight white and black turtle?!" Rak demanded, getting to his feet and consequently knocking Khun off his back.

"Hopefully never," I muttered under my breath.

"Fight me!!"

"No," Bam and I said at the exact same time.

Khun fished out... what was that? It was small and rectangular-shaped... from his briefcase. He tossed it to Rak. "Here, if you take this will you shut up?"

Rak took it. "What is this?" He took off the cover to reveal a similarily shaped brown bar inside. He tossed it inside his mouth and after a few minutes chewing demanded, "Give me more."

I watched in amazement as Khun literally produced a mountain of the same bars out of his bag, then as Rak sat down and started devouring them en masse.

Suddenly two Regulars started fighting. "Look what you did to my arm!" a brown-haired Regular growled, picking a green-haired Regular by his collar. His right arm was a stump and wrapped in bandages. "How are you gonna fix this, huh?"

Green-hair replied coolly, "Make me."

Oooo, burn!

"What was that?!" Brown-hair demanded, looking even angrier.

"Fighting is prohibited during breaks," an unknown voice interrupted.

The two fighting Regulars looked up. "Huh? Who are you?"

Good question, I thought to myself as quite possibly the most ridiculous man I've ever seen appeared. He was wearing a black-and-white outfit that also included puffed pants and sleeves, and had two black spots under his eyes.

He smiled. "I'm your Test Administrator. My name is Lero Ro."

Green-hair's eyes widened. "Test Administrator? Then you're a Ranker."

Huh? A Ranker?

"That's right," Lero Ro responded. Brown-Hair let go of Green-Hair. I really do need to stop referring to people by their hair color...

"That's amazing," Bam said. "He stopped the fight immediately."

"You don't know about Rankers?" Khun asked.

"No," he said.

"I don't either," I admitted.

Rak, still devouring those odd brown bars at a steady pace, paid us no attention.

Bam, bless his soul, was the one who asked, "What's a Ranker?"

"A Ranker is someone who's climbed to the top of the tower," Khun explained.

"The top?"

"Where King Zahard is," Khun said. "Only a handful of Regulars are insane monsters like them."

Insane monsters? King Zahard? Come to think of it, wasn't Enne's last name 'Zahard'? Does that mean she's his daughter? Or a princess of some sort? Ugh, so confusing!

But still... "That's amazing," I said.

"They must've been incredible," Bam said, looking just a tad bit dejected.

"More of you passed then expected," Lero Ro mused. "We'll have to do some culling."

"Culling?" A boy in a purple-and-orange tracksuit exclaimed.

Without answering Lero Ro simply smiled and held out a hand. As I watched in amazement, blue light gathered and formed into... water?... in his hand, growing steadily brighter and bigger.

Beside us, Khun gasped.

From that light, a giant wave of water crashed down on us, pushing the Regulars back. I struggled against its force. What is this? It's more solid than water but acts like it!

"Shinsu?"

Shinsu?

"That's right," Lero Ro said, increasing the water flow. I couldn't hold on any longer and got swept back, uttering a few curses as I did. The... Shinsu... flowed up, crashing into the ceiling, and then froze, becoming a giant solid watery wall between us and Lero Ro.

Wait a minute... that looks like the water Enne and I used to play with! When I was about six years old Enne started teaching me about this water. I used to love watching her play with it, though it was usually me that was using the water to calm her. So was that Shinsu, then?

"Shinsu is the source of the tower's power," Lero Ro said. "We're able to breathe thanks to this water. Everyone within the tower uses this water to fight. Any team that passes through this wall without succumbing to Shinsu's strength passes. Everyone else fails."

"Team? What if one of us can't get through?" Another Regular burst out.

"You fail."

"That's messed up!" They all said.

Lero Ro smiled knowingly, touching his forehead. "What you need most to climb this tower is luck." His eyes narrowed. "The luck to be born with exceptional brains or brawns. The luck to be born with wealth or good friends. You made it this far because of your luck."

My brain was busy turning. Luck? I certainly had absolutely none of it. I had been kicked out of whatever family I was born into when I was just a baby. I had been on my own since Day One. If anybody had luck, it certainly wasn't me.

Though maybe I did have some, if not a lot. It was lucky that I met Enne. It was lucky that I was allowed to borrow her weapon. It was lucky that I met these people and became a team with them.

"Excuse me!" All heads turned towards the voice. Bam!

And there he was, standing completely unharmed with a hand slightly up. "It didn't push me back." He smiled nervously.

Ehhhhhhh?!

Lero Ro looked surprised.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll go back..."

Lero Ro coughed. "No, you pass." 

Bam stopped and looked back, surprised. "Huh?" 

"Perhaps it's a mistake, but it would be luck as well." 

"What?!" "No fair!" 

"That's my black turtle," Rak said proudly. 

What's going on? I thought, watching Bam run up to sit next to Lero Ro. We were standing right next to him and we weren't pushed back. Argh, I really should've studied up a little before coming here, I feel so clueless! 

"Um, so can we try our luck yet?" I asked as I watched the other Regulars start struggling. And yes, I mean struggling. That wall, it seemed, was super dense. 

"Not yet, I want to see how the others do it," Khun replied, grabbing onto the back of Rak's cape, who had started marching towards the wall.

I watched as Bam and Lero Ro started chatting, then they pointed to something, or someone. I followed their fingers and was just in time to watch a green-skinned, brown bob cut girl pass easily through the Shinsu wall. "Woah." Soon after followed a black-haired guy with two swords strapped to his side. 

"So, um, now can we go?" I asked again a few minutes later. 

"Impatient, are we?" 

"A bit," I replied, fidgeting. "I mean, why not just go now and get it over with?" 

When Khun didn't reply I sighed loudly and continued watching the rest of the Regulars-especially a pair somewhat nearby. I recognized the tracksuit guy from earlier and a short-purple-haired woman, who were both struggling really hard but arguing with each other as they did so. 

Another odd guy, who was wrapped in a blanket and seemed to sleep constantly, yawned, walked through the wall easily, crashed to the ground, and continued sleeping.

And then-

A gunshot fired into the air. We all turned around and I recognized the sniper who had tried to shoot me earlier in the field. He had weird teeth. It looked like they were one with his mouth and such. "We're just out because we can't pass this test? But that worthless shrimp got lucky and made it through?" 

That's rude...! I thought in Bam's defense. Sure he may look a bit weak, but it's not nice to just judge without even knowing the person first!

"Him," Rak said. 

"You know him?" Khun asked. 

Rak yawned. "I forgot." 

"I refuse to accept this!" Weird Teeth yelled defiantly. 

Lero Ro stood up and started walking towards us as Weird Teeth kept yelling. "I'm way stronger! I don't care if you're a Ranker! I could kill you easily!" 

Lero Ro stepped through the wall easily and stood in front of Weird Teeth, who was pointing his gun at his face. "Come to die?" 

Lero Ro stared with a hint of anger in his eyes down at the Regular. His hair started floating and he closed his eyes. "One last mercy." 

"Huh?" 

Shinsu started flowing around him. Amazing...! "Shinsu has no limits. It can make you immortal and grant you unlimited power..." The Shinsu thickened and all of a sudden it enveloped Weird Teeth in a powerful geysr. He looked around in half-panic and half-surprise. "If you can withstand it." 

Inside the water, Weird Teeth started screaming in pain. 

"On the 30th floor and above, you'll have to endure Shinsu of this concentration daily." 

Weird Teeth clutched his head. "This? Daily?!" 

"I won't deny your strength or effort," Lero Ro said calmly. "You were simply not chosen. That is-" 

Something inside me made me angry at the sight of Weird Teeth screaming. I barely even knew him-he'd tried to kill me, even-but nobody deserved to go through that kind of pain. "STOP!" 

Without even thinking I flung out my hands and to my surprise a powerful wave of Shinsu exploded out of my palms, ripping away Lero Ro's Shinsu and crashing into the Shinsu wall. When the water stopped, there was now a gigantic hole in the middle of the wall. 

Everybody's gaze turned to me. 

I sweat dropped heavily. What did I just do...!!

Lero Ro turned his attention to me. "What is your name?" 

"E-Eurasia," I stammered out. 

I braced for the worst, but Lero Ro simply smiled, waved his hand, and the wall repaired itself. "It would seem you were chosen as well. Please, follow me." he walked back through the wall. 

Hesitantly I followed, throwing a confused and apologetic glance back at my teammates, who were staring just like everybody else. To my surprise I passed easily through the wall. It was like it wasn't there at all, except for the slightest squeezing pressure before I passed through. 

Bam stood up and waved happily as I ran to sit next to him. "Bam!" 

"Eurasia!" He answered, smiling brightly. "That was so cool! How'd you do it?" 

I stared down at my hands. "I... don't know. What about you, Mr. The-Water-Avoided-Me?" I teased back. 

Bam blushed. "I don't know, honestly." 

"You are both lucky," Lero Ro said as he joined us. "And if you don't mind me asking, Miss Eurasia, but what family are you from?" 

"I don't know," I answered truthfully. "I got thrown out when I was a baby, and 'Eurasia' was the only thing I remember-somebody telling me that my name was that, anyway." 

"Interesting," he said simply. I shivered slightly. 

Soon, Khun and Rak passed through the wall as well. We lept up, waving at them. "Over here!!" 

"Bam! Eurasia!" Khun waved back. 

Lero Ro also stood up. "I look forward to seeing both of you again," he said. 

We looked up at him. "Thank you." 

Lero Ro looked down at us and smiled slightly. "And don't get too close to Khun." 

Huh? Why not? 

But he didn't let us answer before leaving. 

--------------------------------------

FYI, peeps, this is not an OC x Main Character story. So NO, Eurasia is NOT going to end up with Khun or Bam. 

Just so you know. 

I don't know if that'll change yet. 

-A.A.C

(yes, in this story I've adopted a slightly newer way of signing my signature, for more ease and to honor our dear Aguero-sama.)