It had been a long time since Codi felt like a child, but standing alongside Gareth in the office of Battlecast's head instructor was like being transported back to her school days. They'd been shut in separate rooms while Thradd explained the altercation, but now they stood before Bronagh Llewellyn, and her wrath seemed poised to come crashing down on them both.

She kept her eyes downcast, jaw clenched tight as they waited for the woman to speak. Although nothing in Bronagh's appearance stood out, there was an indefinable aura that seemed to make her fill the room from behind her desk. Her office consisted of nothing more than that grey desk, a chair, a wall mounted tele-screen and a shelving unit filled with folders and data. The Spartan furnishings only added to the sense that within this tiny chamber Bronagh Llewellyn was judge, jury and executioner.

When the head instructor stood up Codi sucked in a sharp breath and raised her head. Whatever happened next she would take it like an adult and accept whatever punishment her transgression merited. And she wasn't going to apologise.

"This is...remarkable," Bronagh said, her tone low and measured. She walked round the desk and paced back in forth in from of them. "Two veteran fighters, both potentially in line for a space in the first team and this is how you act?"

"What did I-"

"SHUT UP!" Bronagh roared, shaking with rage. Her eyes blazed and Gareth dropped his gaze to the floor. Codi, however, kept her chin up and met Bronagh's stare when it passed over her.

"I'm well aware of your track record, Miss James," Bronagh continued icily. "And it was made abundantly clear to you that while some of your disciplinary shortcomings may have been tolerated at Brax-Delta, they will not be tolerated here. Do you have anything to say?"

Codi shook her head. She had the distinct feeling that if she tried to defend her actions she'd only make things worse. Bronagh glared at her for a long, uncomfortable moment before moving on.

"And you, Gareth. You know the ropes here. You competed under the Battlecast colours last year for God's sake. We have no time for petty grudges. Miss James may have been out of line, but your conduct in the training spar was equally inexcusable. I don't know what you were trying to prove, but you can count yourself lucky that the girl did not sustain any serious injury."

"I didn't mean to hurt her," Gareth forced out.

"A moot point." Bronagh's tone could have frozen a river. She pressed her lips tightly together and returned to the seat behind her desk. "Whatever problems you two have, I suggest you put an end to them. I don't care how you do it – short of killing one and other I don't care what it takes, just sort it out! On the basis that you are both Gauntlet veterans and skilled combatants I will overlook this incident. If it happens again the consequences will be severe." She glared at them and motioned towards the door with her head. "Get out."

Codi let Gareth lead the way out of the room. When they were back out in the corridor he made to walk away but she wasn't about to just let the matter drop that easily.

"Gareth," she snapped.

He stopped but didn't turn. "What?"

Codi walked up to him and spun him round by one arm, forcing him to look at her. His face was locked tight with emotion and his body was rigid.

"She's right you know," she said undeterred, pointing back at Bronagh's office. "This can't go on."

"What can't? You taking cheap shots at defenceless people?"

"Don't talk to me about cheap shots." Already she felt the urge to hit him again but fought down the sensation. "You could have ended Leela's competition today."

"Better for her if I had," he snarled. "You know as well as I do that she hasn't got a hope in hell. She'll be knocked out in the mayhems for sure. That's if she even makes the team in the first place."

"Well let her find that out for herself. You only did it because you know she looks up to me. But you didn't have the guts to make a point to my face – you went after her instead."

"Get a grip."

"I have. If you have a problem, take it up with me."

"I have a problem with the fact that you don't belong here."

"Give me one good reason why not."

"I watched you through last year," he snorted. "You were lucky to even get to the groups. You're one big fluke. I don't think Battlecast should be handing out guaranteed team spots to people who still have a lot to prove."

"And the knockout rounds? Were they flukes?" she shot back.

"Your draw was a gift. You avoided almost all the people who would have wiped the floor with you. You ended up matched with people you had a chance of beating."

Codi bristled and dug her nails into her thighs. She could have thrown caution to the winds and unleashed her fury on him there and then, but that wouldn't solve anything. They needed to put their differences in a box, and kick that box off the proverbial cliff.

"We can argue about this," she growled, "or we can put an end to it. I'm open to suggestions."

Gareth looked at her silently for a moment, then his face seemed to light up. "We get Friday nights off around here."

"So what?"

"You ever played tackle-ball?" A grim smile crossed his face.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

"Then find yourself a team and come to the main gymnasium, seven o'clock."

"They let us play contact sports?"

"They trust we can play a game without injuring each other," Gareth sneered. "Get a team, come to the gym and we can settle this within the rules."

"Suits me," Codi said after a moment. "I'll be there."

*

She made it through the next two days of training without incident and Gareth, for his part, seemed pacified by their arrangement. As things progressed through Friday, however, Codi found she still needed one more person to fill out the tackle-ball team.

Convincing Ripple and Chris to help hadn't taken much once she'd explained the situation. They wanted to see the dispute settled as much as she did. Together they'd brought another boy from their group which left them needing two more players for a full team.

The fifth came in the form of Cardle North, the boy in group Cyan she'd noticed during the sparring sessions. A second year fighter, he picked up everything Thradd taught with an almost mechanical precision and he fully subscribed to the view that Battlecast fighters won and lost together. Besides that, she discovered he quite simply loved playing tackle-ball. Apparently the games were a regular occurrence on nights off, and those who weren't playing usually came down to watch. She came to the realisation that it was a great way to build a sense of community within the walls of the academy: their own private tournament.

She sat in the fighter's mess, eating her tea she tried to consider who would make a good final member. There were a few in group Cyan that might qualify but none whom she really spoke to. There would probably be plenty of will participants at the game itself, but she wanted to find someone she could trust, at least to a degree. As she chewed thoughtfully a slender figure abruptly dropped into the seat beside her, causing her to almost choke on the current mouthful of pasta.

"Is it true?" Leela demanded, an uncharacteristic fire in her voice.

After taking a moment to swallow, Codi gave her a strange look. "What?"

"You're going down for the tackle-ball game tonight? Against Gareth?"

"How do you-?"

"News travels fast around here," she cut in. "Have you got a team together yet?"

"Err...well, not quite-,"

"Let me play!"

"Leela, do me a favour," Codi said, putting down her cutlery. "Shut up and take a breath. You sound like you've been wired to a caffeine drip."

"That...that scukket needs to know he can't push me around," Leela snapped back. Codi's mind stumbled before recognising the Earth word. Although still coming to grips with some of the vernacular she knew one thing – it wasn't a term of endearment. "He nearly tore a disc in my back with that little stunt."

"Leela, this is still between me and him. We'll play, knock the bells out of each other and hopefully put this whole stupid thing behind us."

"Oh, so it's alright for you to lamp him in the middle of a training session, but now I'm the one taking it too far?!"

Codi swivelled in her seat and grabbed the other girl by the shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Leela, calm, down. That's not what I meant."

"Well what did you mean?" Her normally soft features were twisted in frustration.

"I just don't want this to get more complicated. We can put an end to the whole business tonight."

"How's a game of tackle-ball going to solve anything?"

"We both need to vent," Codi explained. "Gareth won't be allowed to spar, at least not yet. This is the next best thing. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense but I know how he's feeling. I've felt that way too. A good few hours decking each other should clear the air, at least for a while."

Leela's veneer of anger finally cracked and her eyes glistened. "I know what people are saying about my chances. Everyone thinks I'm the wimp, the waste of space in the group."

"That's not true," Codi replied, and she meant it. Leela had a long way to go, but she had certainly seen worse candidates.

"It's alright for you," she continued. "You've got nothing to prove. Me? Half the people here want me kicked off the programme. Let me play. If they see me with you and Ripple and Chris...I'll look like I belong."

The pleading in her voice wrenched at Codi's mind. In an ideal scenario she wanted someone who knew the game, and was very, very physical. Leela was built all wrong for tackle-ball, a whippet of a girl.

"I'm not much of a bruiser," she admitted as though reading Codi's mind. "But there's one thing I can do better than anyone else here."

"What's that?"

A vicious smile split her features. "I'm fast. No-one can mark me."

Codi arched her eyebrows. "That's quite a claim."

"I can prove it. Just let me play. Put me in at Gunner and we'll win, whatever else happens."

She didn't want to argue anymore. She needed a sixth player for the tackle ball team. Maybe Leela would be as good as she claimed. If there was one thing Codi knew about Gauntlet competitors it was that they should never be underestimated.

"Fine," she said at last. "Bring your training gear to the gym at seven."

With a whoop, Leela shot upright. "You won't regret it!" She disappeared into the throng of other recruits, a revitalised blaze of energy. Codi turned her eyes skyward and returned to her dinner.

An hour later Codi made her way into the academy's main gymnasium, a colossal place more akin to a stadium than a training centre. To her surprise dozens of other Battlecast recruits were already waiting and a murmur of anticipation passed through them when she entered. Trying to ignore the staring eyes she instead made her way over to the closest end of the tackle-ball court where her team stood waiting.

The court itself was an oval shape, seventy yards long and half that at its widest point marked out with transparent blue gravity nets that would catch anyone or anything that fell through them. At either end stood a semi-circular goal, each with its own gravitic netting shimmering over the threshold. The open space in between would soon be the scene of a brutal physical confrontation.

"You ready for this?" O'Leary asked. "We play tackle-ball pretty hard around here."

"I grew up playing this game," Codi returned. "I can handle it." She glared across the pitch to where Gareth stood conversing with his team mates before turning to the others and outlining her plan. "I'll play torpedo."

"Codi-,"

"Chris, you're anchor," she continued over him. "Cardle, sweeper; Ripple and Joshua, you guys are flankers. And Leela-," she looked at the girl's eager young face and couldn't help smiling. "You're the Gunner."

Leading them out into the centre of the court she could suppress her surprise when some people in the crowd started whistling and cheering. Others shouted jeers directed at both teams in equal measure. It seemed the division between her and Gareth had also served to divide the phalanx of recruits right down the middle.

She shook those thoughts from her mind and took up her position on the red circle on her side of the centre line. Directly opposite her Gareth stood. He would be her opposite number. The person playing torpedo had a simple job: hit and hit hard.

"Good to see you," Gareth chuckled. "Time to show you how we play in Battlecast. Don't get left behind."

"Do you want to talk or do you want to play?"

"Okay!" shouted the girl standing between them. She was another veteran from last year's competition and had agreed to...referee the match to a certain degree. She held the solid polymer ball up in one hand. "If everyone's ready, what say we get this game going?"

Wild cheers greeted her announcement.

Codi watched the ball, closing off her mind to everything else.

"Alright...in three...two...one...PLAY!"