BRIEFING ROOM.

Makoto tapped their foot against the floor, the sound reminiscent of drums. Riddled with nerves, they stuck their finger in their mouth and started gnawing at the skin around their nail.

"Ew, stop!", demanded Raphael, pulling Makoto's arm away from their mouth.

"They're going to kick us out!
Or worse—kíll us!
They're definitely kílling us, oh my g–"

"Calm down!
They're the one's that are in the wrong, remember?"

But it was no use.
Makoto had fallen victim to the whirlwind of guilt they were experiencing.
They obsessed about the worse possible outcomes, their heart thumping rapidly in their chest as they did so.

They couldn't go back home a failure.

They couldn't face their family.

They couldn't do it.

"Hey!", called out Raphael, his hands placed firmly on Makoto's shoulders. "Get it together or I'll shake you.
Hard."

Makoto's eyes darted back and forth, their breathing quickening and their mouth becoming drier than a desert.

Raphael's face softened when he saw the pure panic on Makoto's face.

"Look at me.
You're going to be ok, alright?
I've got a plan."

Makoto's eyes widened and they shook their head.
"N-No, n-not another one of y‐your plans!"

"This one will work, ok?
And it's fool-proof."

"Wh-what is it?"

"When I was younger, I needed an excuse to get out of doing a mandatory sports class.
I built a device that creates the appearance of an injury, without the person having said injury at all. It's really quick and easy to use."

"That's... incredible.
But how can that help us?"

"Use it on yourself.
We'll say you got injured in a previous session and you didn't want to miss out, but you also didn't want to be pushed hard on an injured leg or something."

"Ok, ok... that sounds doable."

"It won't get you off the hook completely, but it's a much better excuse than skipping because you didn't want to do the sessions."

"How can I get it though?"

Raphael reached into his pocket and got out his keys and ID card.
He handed them to Makoto.

"They'll call me in first.
As soon as I get called, run to my room. The device is a deep blue and has '39871' engraved on it.
Enter where your injury is, and how long it's been there for.
Then scan the area of your body—let's say your right leg, and wait a few seconds."

"Will it hurt?"

"Not at all.
You might feel a slight tingle but that's all.
It's vital that you succeed, Makoto.
I'm going to tell them what happened, so you need to come back here with the same injury.
Remember, it's your right leg, and the injury happened in the session before we started the hologram, ok?"

Makoto nodded.
"Wait, what about you?"

"We need the device to stay in my room. 
There's not enough time for me to use it too, so I'll just have to hope they take pity on me."

Makoto frowned.
"Raphael—"

The door swung open to reveal a tall man with a stern expression and muscles in places muscles shouldn't
be—a possible relative of Finian's, or atleast, that's what Raphael thought.

"Raphael Yuan-Ko, Head Guard Aoife and Head Guard Calihan are ready for you", boomed his low voice.

Raphael turned to Makoto, lowering his voice a considerable amount. "Remember, you owe me."

★★★

Finian stared at the ground, his nostrils flaring as he clenched his fists.
There was an intense anger in his eyes that only seemed to grow as time went by.

"Uh–oh, is Furious Finian making an appearance?", remarked Imelda.

"They've been wasting our time, Imelda!", he yelled.

The venom in his voice startled Imelda, and she stopped trying to find the humour in their situation.
When she saw Finian twisting his arm, she rushed forward.

"Hey...stop that", she said, her face softening when she saw the sadness in his face.

She placed a hand over his arm, and for the first time since the hologram reveal, Finian relaxed his body a little.

Imelda looked at Finian's face, contemplating something.
After a few seconds, she put an arm around him and rested her head against his.

"We'll sort this out, ok?
I promise."

After a few seconds, Finian pulled away from her.
He stood up abruptly, his anger returning.

"He's not going to get away with this!"

He stormed out of the room.

"Finian!", called out Imelda, before standing up.
"Come back!"

★★★

Makoto felt like the world's most evil criminal when they made their way to Raphael's room, hiding in random empty rooms to avoid being caught.

They emerged from a storage room, only to bump into a familiar face.
Their eyes widened when they saw who it was.

"Rhiannon?"

"Makoto?
Oh my gosh, are you ok?
What did they say?", she questioned.

"There's no time!
I need to get to Raphael's room."

The pair ran to Raphael's room, with Rhiannon pushing Makoto into rooms and standing in the doorway to hide them whenever senior looking agents walked past.

When they finally made it to Raphael's room, Makoto unlocked the door and hurried inside, with Rhiannon following after them.

"What is going on?", questioned Rhiannon, as she joined Makoto in searching Raphael's room.

"Raphael came up with a plan to get me off the hook for skipping combat sessions", they replied.

Rhiannon stopped, a frown on their face as they looked down at their hands.

"Rhiannon?
What's wrong?"

Rhiannon sighed.
"Why didn't you tell me about the hologram?
Do you not trust me?"

"No!
That's not it at all!
I just... I don't know.
I can't explain it.
I just felt like Raphael was the only one that would understand."

"I could've understood if you told me.
If you let me in."

Makoto's face softened.
"I'm really sorry, Rhiannon.
We get on really well, but... we still haven't known each other for that long."

"Yeah well you know Raphael even less!"

"Rhiannon, I... I really need to find this device.
You're not going to tell anyone are you?"

"What do you take me for?
Of course I won't.
Let's do this logically.
You check the room and I'll check the drawers."

★★★

"So let me get this straight.
Raphael played you?", questioned Alessa.

"Like a fiddle", added Imelda.

Finian opened his hand and punched it, his breathing becoming erratic.
"He's not going to get away with this!"

"Finian, stop!", exclaimed Imelda.

"He's been through a lot as well, you know.
Try to understand it from his point of view", said Alessa.

"All I see is a d*ck that wants to die as soon as he steps foot in Agoraville.
Well I hope he does."

Imelda's eyes widened.
"Finian!"

"It's not your fault, Finian", said Alessa. "Don't beat yourself up about it.
It's Raphael's fault."

"No.
It's yours", said Oren.

Everyone glanced at each other as Alessa turned to face Oren.

"What?"

"It's your fault, Alessa.
You're expecting so much from them, and we feel that pressure too.
Raphael's experienced something very traumatic.
Imelda and Finian shouldn't have done that, but if you hadn't pressured them to do well, then they wouldn't have felt the need to use that technique."

Alessa felt her face get hotter as her friends looked at her.
She quickly looked down, unable to face her friends.

Never in her life had she been accused of something so terrible.
But what was worse was that it was from someone she used to call her best friend.

"Going forward, you need to make him aware that you'll support him if he needs to take it easy", said Knox.

Finian scoffed.
"We don't have—"

"You messed up, son.
Both of you did.
Yes, it will take a long time to earn that trust, but you must earn it.
It's the only way he'll stand a chance of surviving."

"And regardless of how we feel about him... he's an incredible inventor.
And he's so intelligent.
We need that if we're going to stand a chance against the creatures", said Minerva.

★★★

After speaking to them individually, Head Guard Aoife and Head Guard Calihan brought both Raphael and Makoto back into Calihan's office.

"Trainee Yuan-Ko, I've heard about you entering our annual tech competition", said Aoife.

Raphael nodded confidently, but their stomach started to tie up in knots when they thought about that being used as a potential punishment.

"A suitable punishment would be to pull you from the competition.
So—", started Aoife.

"We will review the incident and tell you both your punishments at a later date", interjected Calihan.

Makoto noticed Aoife's eyes widen slightly, but she remained calm and composed.

Aoife turned to Calihan, lowering her voice.
"We will?"

Calihan nodded.

"Raphael, your inventions are truly remarkable.
We are lucky to have you on our team. It would be nothing short of unfair
if we stopped you from making your invention."

Raphael's eyes widened.
"Really?"

Calihan nodded.
"Yes.
I'm sure Harrowford Industries would benefit greatly from your intellect if you were to win."

"Rest assured, we will be punishing both of you for the little stunt you pulled.
And Trainee Yuan-Ko, if you step out of line again, you'll have more than the tech competition to worry about", said Aoife.

"I'd also like to add that we are truly sorry for Agent Williams and Agent Shirvani's actions.
We are all under a lot of pressure to make sure this mission is a success.
I can personally vouch for both of them that they are incredibly kind and caring individuals."

Calihan walked over to the door and opened it.

"I only hope you give them the chance to show those traits."

★★★

The duo walked through the halls, a newfound sense of confidence adorning them both.

Makoto's eyes landed on Rhiannon, who was approaching the pair.
They gave her a half-smile, testing the waters.

She smiled back, but it wasn't as bright as her usual smile.

"How did it go?
Are Ashryn and I going to do this mission as a pair?"

Raphael chuckled, before playfully rolling his eyes.
"No.
They wanted to stand a chance of succeeding."

Rhiannon grinned.
"Can't believe I was missing your quips an hour ago."

"You were?"

"I know we're not a team team yet, but... I don't want to lose any of you.
We need everyone's skills if we're going to save Agoraville."

"Don't you think that was a big ask? Like, now that we're alone, let's talk about their standards.
Why couldn't they have asked us to slay every dragon in the world?
Or end world hunger?
You know, something doable", said Makoto.

After a brief moment of silence, the trio burst out laughing.

"Wait, where's Ashryn?", asked Raphael.

"I haven't seen her since our combat session.
She launched into this scathing attack on how they shouldn't have emotionally traumatised you.
Then she said something about finding Sophia."

"So they found a use for you after all then?", teased Ashryn, approaching the trio.

Rhiannon's lips formed a smile, which she tried to cover with her hand, and Makoto pressed their lips together to suppress a laugh.

All three of them looked like school kids who were gossiping about someone who had just walked through the
door—which was mostly true, actually.

Raphael gave Ashryn a small smile.

"Yeah.
I suppose they did."

___________

The HoloBot secret is officially out, and Finian is annoyed, to say the least. How will he deal with this anger?

Raphael took the fall! Could he be doing this out of the kindness of his own heart, or is he planning on using the favour he wants from Makoto?

Rhiannon's starting to question just how strong her bonds with her fellow trainees are. Could this lead to the breaking of some bonds?

We didn't see it, but what do you think of Ashryn defending Raphael?

Alessa really can't catch a break with Oren! We'll learn more about what happened to split the former best friends up, but does anyone have any theories as to what it might be?

Also, does anyone have any ships? Romantic or platonic! And are there any pairings you think would be interesting to see?

What are your thoughts on Aoife and Calihan?

What are your thoughts on this chapter?

DoodleYeet

LeMystical-Puffle

ruesbennett

SoniczurcX

bardsarethebest