User: a_person66

Name: Loira

This is bad. This is really bad.

I knew that something big was going to go down, but this? This is just plain insane. Who the heck does this Kate person think she is?
I thought my life couldn't get any worse after the fire that changed my life. 12 years doesn't make the wounds hurt less.
I've just learned to conceal the scars better.

The door slides open, and a young man walks in.

"My name is Mikael. I'm going to help you." He says simply.

I stare at him-scrutinizing him.

He shifts uncomfortably.

"I just want to talk." He says defensively.

"Then talk." I growl.

I'm not usually a loud person. I tend to like to keep to myself. But right now-right now I'm so angry I could attack him

"I'm a member of the Guarde. Many years ago I was in the same position you are. I made mistakes. I'm here so you don't make the same ones." He says more confidently.

"How can I trust you?" I ask angrily. I haven't really been able to trust anybody really since the fire.

"Thomas sent me." Mikael tells me.

Thomas. Thomas my saviour. He practically raised me after my parents died. I trust him more then anybody else in this world.

I guess if Thomas sent Mikael, he can't be all bad.

"Fine. What do I do?" I ask grudgingly. Mikael smiles.

"You need to put yourself out there. Make friends-if you have allies you'll get farther in the Exams. I know you're shy. But be brave Loira." He tells me.
I nod and offer up a smile. What he says makes sense. If I have any chance at surviving, then I need to follow his advice.

I wander aimlessly around the complex. It's huge. I could easily get lost in this maze of rooms.
So far, there's not a soul in sight. It's hard to make friends if you can't actually find anybody.
This is just fantastic.

But in one of the rooms I venture into, there is somebody.
A tall Asian girl stands in the room. When I open the door, she turns around and smiles.

"Look who showed up!" She laughs. She strides over to me and sticks out her hand.

"I'm Chrysalis." She says cheerfully.

I take her hand tentatively.

"Loira." I smile shyly.

"Is this crazy or what! This is so weird." Chrysalis talks.

Finally. Something I can relate to.

"This is insane! I still can't wrap my head around the fact that this is happening to us!" I respond enthusiastically.

We stand in that room and talk for a while until Chrysalis grabs my arm.

"You know? I like you. Allies?" She asks. I smile. Who would have thought that shy little orphan Loira could have made a ally much less a friend?

I realize I'm still just standing there, smiling stupidly.

"Yea! That sounds great!" I say happily.

We talk strategy. We evaluate our opponents and talk about potential allies.

"What about that tall guy? The one with the blonde hair?" I suggest. Chrysalis nods.

"He looks like a pedophile." She says plainly. I burst out laughing. I haven't laughed in....I don't remember when. It feels nice.

"Get down!" Chrysalis whispers, clapping a hand over my mouth and dragging me into a crouch. I look around in a panic. Behind the sliver of open door, two large shadows walk by. A boy and a girl.
They don't notice us.

After they have passed, Chrysalis pops up.
She looks down at me with mischievous eyes.

"Let's follow them!" She says with excitement.

I don't have time to say no before we are running down the hall towards the strange couple.

They walk into a room. Glass walls slide around them. We hide just around a corner so we can see them, but they can't see us. The boy raises his hands, and they begin to fight.

"Wow." Chrysalis whispers.

"They are really good!" I murmur.
They continue to fight, but we don't stay and watch. Instead, we walk snack down the hallway we came from.

"The four of us would make a amazing team." Chrysalis says out of the blue.

I look at her.

"You think?" I say nervously. I'm not sure about the idea of more people in our little alliance. It kinda scares me.

"Let's ask them at dinner tonight." Chrysalis says excitedly.

Inwardly I groan. You can't just walk up to somebody and ask them to not kill you in a death match.

But Chrysalis can't be persuaded. So at dinner that night, we stand at the corner of the and scan the faces for the two people we are looking for.

"There!" Chrysalis murmurs, pointing to the two. I swallow the butterfly's causing havoc in my stomach and follow her to the table where the pair are sitting.

Chrysalis sits down next to the boy. I sit down next to her.

"We saw you fighting earlier." She says bluntly.

My face is so red I could be passed off as a tomato.

"And?" The boy asks.

"We want to ally with you." Chrysalis says.

"We don't even know your names!" The girl laughs.
Chrysalis glares at her.

"I'm Chrysalis and this is Loira." She says.

"Now will you ally with us or not!"

The boy looks at the girl, then back at me.

"Maybe. I don't believe you have powers. You have to prove yourselves." He says slowly.

"How?" My voice comes out stronger then I thought it would be considering I feel like I'm about to die.

"You have to fight. Then we'll decide."

I look at Chrysalis. She nods at me.

I brush my brown hair out of my eyes as I look back at the boy.

"Deal."

Looks like we've got a fight on our hands.

After dinner Chrysalis and I make our way to the room we saw the pair sparring in earlier. We found out at dinner that our potential allies had names. Jace and Sabrina respectively.

I turn and see Jace and Sabrina walk towards us. I spin and look at Chrysalis.

"You ready?" I whisper. She nods.

I gather my hair up in one hand and tie it back with a elastic band. I'm not going to lie-I'm nervous. I don't really want to fight my new friend.
Also.....Chrysalis definitely has the advantage. She is taller and better built.

I don't stand a chance.

"Alright ladies, let's see what you've got." Jace says.

I look back at Chrysalis. She smiles apologetically.

I clench my fists.

It's show time.

Chrysalis throws a ball of water at me and traps it above my head. My lungs burn and I desperately shake my head to get loose of it. The water falls to the ground, and I take a second to catch my breath

The fight had begun.

It feels like hours although I'm sure it was only minutes. We charge at each other, fighting hard. My fist connects with her jaw, and she flings me into a tree. I feel a sharp stabbing pain in my leg and look down. My ankle is bent at a odd ankle. I cry out and slump against the tree.

'Stay calm Loira. You can fix this.' I tell myself. I take a shaky breath and run my hand over my throbbing ankle. Immediately the pain vanishes. I stand up, stepping gingerly.

I don't feel a thing. I'm fine.

With renewed energy, I lunge at Chrysalis. Within seconds I'm sitting on her chest with my hands around her throat.

"Impressive." Chrysalis chokes out.

"Thank you!" I respond, although I don't remove my hands. This is still a fight.

She try's to hit me with a bolt of lightning, but her judgement is off and she misses completely.

She is just about to pass out from lack of oxygen when the scene melts back into the training centre. The fight is over.

I won.

I get off of Chrysalis and extend my hand down to her. She smiles and I pull her up.

All sense of victory melts away as I realize that this is still a test. Jace and Sabrina are standing off to the side, watching us. Nerves rise up in my stomach, threatening to make me sick.

I look at Chrysalis warily as we walk over to the two of them.

"You guys did ok." Jace says.

A crushing sense of disappointment ricochets through me. They thought we sucked. There's no way I'm going to win this stupid Exam thing if I can't even fight properly.

"JUST OK?! Do you have ANY idea what we just did!!!!!" Chrysalis demands.

Jace laughs.

"Yeah-I watched! Anyone could do what you guys did." He smirks.

I stare at him. That jerk!! Maybe I don't want to be allied with that big headed, egotistical, smart as-

"Why you little-!" Chrysalis shrieks as she plants her fist directly into his jaw.

I gasp. You can't just hit somebody!!!!! And definitely not a boy that looks like he could crush me with his pinky finger.

Jace laughs again.

"You're feisty aren't you? We could use somebody like you on our team. You're both in." Jace tells us.

I blink in shock as Sabrina smiles kindly at me.

"It's late. I've got to go." Chrysalis yawns. I wave at her, then turn back to Jace.

"Me too. But I'll see you tomorrow." I smile at them before walking down the long hallway.

When I came here, I had no friends.

Now I do.

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User: alligator333

Name: Sofia Hart

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User: Jazzie878712

Name: Alice Crowley

 To be honest, it was strange fighting against someone other than Jaime.
 Ever since I was first brought here when I was five I had taken to following Jaime around like a lost puppy. Only ever fighting with her, eating with her, and sometimes, when I was having a nightmare, sleeping with her. But for some reason, when the girl in the blue shirt came and asked me to fight with her I went. Actually, I didn't just go. I went with the attitude of a cheerleader.
 Ripley and I were standing in a ruined city. My bare feet were pressed against the ground, feeling the icy cement like it was really there. I knew better, of course, but Ripley didn't. Her eyes were wide as saucers as they danced around the city.
 “Ready to fight?” I asked hesitantly. I already knew what I was going to do. It was something Jaime and I had been working on for months and it drained me of most of my energy, but I really wanted to make an impression on this girl.
 She nodded carefully and I felt a smile creep onto my face. “Great.”
 I didn't hesitate. It was like lifting a finger...I didn't even have to think about it. Of course, I would definitely be thinking about it later when I was lying sore in my bed for an hour. But I wasn't thinking about that right now. I was bringing life back to the dead. Even if they weren't really real.
Hands tore through the cement, flesh still falling off of their skin, I wasn't strong enough to bring them back all the way. Not so many of them. But I could bring up enough zombies to scare the hell out of Ripley.
 And she was scared. Anyone could see that. She stood frozen in terror, her face paling and her eyes going as wide as saucers. She turned to look at me, scared, but then I saw something click in her eyes. And suddenly I wasn't in the simulation anymore. I was back home.
“You stupid little brat! What did I tell you about picking up your shit?” My mom's hands tightened around my neck and I reached mine up to pry her's off. But I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough.
“Mommy..”
 I was back and on the ground in front of Ripley, tears streaming down my face. She was good. But she was new and didn't know the extent of her powers. She hadn't been working on them for eleven  years. I reached up a hand and wrapped it around her's, digging my nails into her skin. Poor thing didn't know what hit her. I could see the pain in her eyes as her skin turned green and her lips blue.
 She locked eyes with me and I was covered in blood. I let go, grabbing my side. It hurt. Everything hurt. I was lying on the ground watching mom hit Lucie over and over. The door slammed against the wall and daddy walked in.
Stupid. I'm so stupid.
  It changed and I was being kicked. Again and I was locked in the basement. Again and again and again getting worse and worse. It had to stop.
 I grabbed her hand again, this time holding on much tighter. I let loose everything I had and in seconds she was on the ground next to me, withering in pain. But before she was lost, the simulation stopped and we were back in the gym.