A tall girl leaned casually against Spirito’s Cen storage locker, one he gained as his training with Doha Aliq progressed further. It held study books and some additional clothing, such as boots for hiking, and an overcoat for the rain. Doha Aliq did not care what weather occurred during those days he strolled into the hills.

She was as tall as Spirito but slender. Obviously, older and had the confidence of an experienced warrior. That muscular frame flowed with strength as she flexed her arms and legs. The primary ruff of her hair, starting from between her ears, and down her back into her shirt, held a loosely looped braid that was colored purple. He wondered if that was to match the wisdom track of Fuad Way. 

He recognized her right away. She’d been the fierce fighter in the pit competing the day he came for recruitment. Alesta Newbui is the youngest daughter of the corporate magnate Cal’s Newbui. Her father ran one of the largest shipping companies on the planet. And it was the oldest. In an industry of transportation, her Great-Granda actually began with a solo water ship over a century ago, building up a fleet and then, through his eldest son, another. The Newbui Shipping of today transitioned with the times to include land hovercraft and spaceport delivery and exportation of goods. The primary headquarters were just outside of the capital city to the north. His eldest and middle daughters were also graduates of the Proev’l Grounds Academy and Spirito would be stupid not to have heard of her in this school’s cesspool of rumors. The student body regarded her highly as a fighter.

“I understand you have a few skills my team is looking for.” Alesta Newbui straightened to a stand as he walked up to his locker. She moved aside and gave a half-smile.

He considered her words, and his ears twitched.

“What team is that?”

“Come on Deshik. You’ve been here for over ten months. My team is the reigning pit leader, and I aim to keep it that way.” Alesta didn’t seem to brag but conveyed her leadership abilities. 

Knowing that his Fac instructor mentioned stretching his abilities in more realistic situations, he expected the pit would come his way. He just never dreamed the leader of one of the advanced teams would stop by and invite him to take part. He furrowed his brow ridge. “You are inviting me to compete in your team, right?” 

Alesta gave a toothy grin. “Straight up, yes. My crew is skeptical of noobies since we are such a tight group, but we want to step up to the big leagues of five, so we need two new people who will defend our flag.”

Spirito frowned. “Five on five? I thought the pit was three on three.” 

Alesta nodded. “Yes. The pit is the three in the arena. But the true battlegrounds take place in the Trench and the Crater. They made the arenas larger and increased the battle teams from three up to five or ten.

Spirito knew his eyes were wide. His jaw opened, then closed. Those places were completely unfamiliar to him and he skeptically looked at Alesta, daring her to play a trick on him.

She held up her paws, pads facing him. Giving a chuckle, she flicked an ear, and a gleam of confidence entered her eyes. “I’m officially letting you in on the top-rank stuff, Deshik. I know about you chasing five ways. Who doesn’t? And I’ve seen you use some of it myself. Nothing I’ve been told has said you wouldn’t be a perfect teammate for some advanced combat. Don’t let me down and chicken out now. If you have just a quarter-hour to check it out, I’ll take you into the Trench. And you will see the true power of this academy.”

Spirito stared at the older student and tried to calm his whirring thoughts. Was she telling the truth? She looked like she was. He couldn’t sense any bluffing in her voice or posture. Was he curious? Heck, yes. Could it hurt to look? Why didn’t Shasis tell him about this? He glanced at his chrono and knew he had the next two hours for Sune meditation and studies. He could take a few moments and confirm if she could back up her words with some actual proof.

He made the call and quickly shoved his belongings into his locker. “Let’s go.” 

Alesta nodded as if knowing he would choose the tour regardless of his commitments.

Spirito noted her cockiness and shook his head. “It doesn’t mean I’m jumping into combat.”

“Hmm-hmm,” she hummed, with no doubts.

As they walked down the same hallway he’d been coming to for the last six months, they turned the same corner and Alesta casually reached out and touched his upper arm as she spoke. “Let’s go to the Trench.”

Spirito almost swallowed his tongue as they turned the corner and were in a completely unknown hallway. He stopped and looked around and noted similar structures of high walls with carved arches and light streaming in, but an immediate difference in the classroom windows told him he’d never been in this place. There were none. 

“How did you do that?” he demanded, his normally deep voice coming out higher pitched and strained.

Alesta burst out in laughter, her pleasant tenor becoming a cackle of high-pitched squeals and huffs at his stunned expression. “It’s the hall portals,” she finally said. 

Spirito glared at her and gave a slight headshake.

“The hallway portals,” she restated, pointing to the light blue marker on the seam of the hallway and confirming it was in a Fac training center, as well. “Almost every hallway has a link to a portal, and you only need to think about where you need to go on those specifically marked hallway corners. Those who are watching will see you turn the corner from behind, but those in the new hallway will see you come around the corner in the new hallway.” She gave him a slap on the shoulder. “See. You didn’t know everything.”

His mouth gaped again, twice in less than 10 minutes. 

“Come on.” She urged him.

They started walking again and when they arrived at a double doorway entrance, Alesta paused and shook her head in his direction. “There is no way to explain this to you with any less shock than what you are going to see, so try to keep your mouth shut and your eyes in your head.” 

Spirito gritted his teeth in exasperation and doubt as she opened the two doors, pulling the handles apart. Instantly, the brightness from within bathed over him. Walking forward, his eyes were pulled to the vista rolling out before him. A vast expanse of orange and brown hill and rock, covered land, an arid dryness was in the air, and it all spread across a cavernous room with overhead lights shining down. He stepped onto a carpeted balcony that, while only ten steps across to a clear wall-enclosed viewing screen, ran a circuitous route to his right and left, around the entire room. It hugged the wall all the way. And far across the 200-meter distance, he could clearly make out a few individuals standing on the opposite side looking across like he was doing. The length aside, the width had to be at least 120 meters wide, from side to side. Overall, it made the Pit look like a couple of sparring mats squished together.

Spirito rubbed his eyes and blinked. It was the size of an entire spaceport landing site. In his wildest dreams, he could never have imagined this within the school grounds.

“The Trench is approximately 25000 square meters and elevates from -300 to 500 meters in depth. The deepest portion is over there.” She pointed to a vicious gouge over 150 meters long that had been ripped from the surface. “That’s the actual primary trench, although there are many others that you have to cross to get to that one. And they are all difficult. But that one…” she paused, a curious hardness in her tone. “That one can make or break you and cause many-a-havoc with your strategy if you use it unwisely.”

She tugged at his shirt sleeve, and they began moving left down the balcony.

“I’ve been watching battle footage, and most of the winners have incorporated the trench as a final front to combat against the opposing team. It’s got so much opportunity for almost every way to be utilized. Rocks and grappling for Chu, divots, and flats for Fac, and slides and trees for Tao are just a few of the elements someone can use in different ways to effectively conquer others. And you also have Sune and Cen? I can only guess we will just have to see how you use those ways.” She grinned and bounced on her toes.

Spirito stopped walking, forcing the older canid to do the same. He narrowed his eyes her way. While the landscape was definitely right up his alley to use his skills, she sounded like she knew something about him he’d not provided to anyone except his instructors and, of course, Me-ume.

Alesta looked down and away at his direct contemplation. Then she grimaced and cleared her throat. “Sorry, Spirito. I haven’t told you the whole truth.”

Spirito waited, his patience not as solid as he wished. Was it possibly a rumor about himself? His family? Because he knew Me-ume would never speak about him without asking.

Alesta gave a tight smile and shrugged. “I overheard my sister talking about one of the sub-Doha’s grading you in a course. She has access to the documents because she is administrative to a Doha. She was on a video call with him talking about entering notations for your coursework. I couldn’t help listening. It’s my power.” Alesta sighed. 

Spirito blinked. “Your power?”

Alesta gave a shrug. “Yes. I can hear things from a distance that I focus on. It is my power under the Cen way. 

For the first time since actually meeting Alesta, Spirito dipped his eyes down to examine her belt. While she held two completed black circles with a single line within for Fac, telling him she was only a few levels above him, he also noticed behind the black symbols, actually her first to be received was the single yellow S on its side with three small parallel lines vertically crossing over it. She was not yet a master, but she’d passed into second-degree training at the academy levels. And she was only a fourth-year student.

Spirito glanced down at his lonely Cen symbol, not yet marked with any completed levels, and suddenly he felt he was just a candle’s flame standing next to a burning lantern, his flame fragile next to the lantern’s glow. 

Alesta must have noticed his doubt and tsked, followed by a huff. “Come on, Spirito Deshik. Remember, you are the only student studying five ways. Five. That’s like you carrying five stones while we mere mortals carry two. Only you carry them higher and faster than us. So what, I have a Cen power of hearing. You are a traveler. We both have our strengths.”

Spirito regarded her and slowly nodded. He wanted to tell her why he pushed himself. He didn’t know if she knew who he would become—a protectorate of the royal family, a guardian to his friend Prince Tanue. But perhaps that wasn’t the more important thing that made him feel jealous of her experience. He knew his time was limited, and he wanted to pursue everything he could before they took him away. He looked back at the Trench and shook himself. This was definitely something that would offer him experience. “How does it work? This combat five-on-five?”

Alesta grinned slowly and clapped her paws. “Right. The organizers separate everyone who competes from each other, and they don’t know which door where will open to them.” She pointed at panels near the land within the space 15 feet below the balcony. Spirito could see doorways spaced every fifty meters. “So, it’s essential all strategies are adaptable. And the officials can change the landscape prior to the battle, so you can’t even memorize what you see. But the overall aim is to locate and capture the opponent’s flag. And not get taken out of the game.”

Spirito grunted. “How are you taken out of the game?”

Alesta lifted her brow ridge. Have you not watched any of the Pit challenges? They immobilize them or defeat them in battle, or make them tap out.

Spirito slid his paw across the length of his belt tie and puffed out his cheeks. He never even returned to the pit from that first day. He picked up many a story about the Pit combat during gym time but his interests lay in furthering his experiences in the four ways he needed to catch up to his Fac skills. “I don’t suppose you’ll go easy on me if I ask what defeated in battle means or how someone taps out?”

Alesta slowly shook her head, her jawline hardening. “I can’t tell you how the tapping out occurs, since I’ve never had to perform it. But the action is to slam your paw down on the ground three times or tap your combat opponent, which will cause immediate tapping out by the officials. Just like it’s done in mat sparring. The other is a little easier. I’ve experienced defeat before, and I have no shame in acknowledging it. Although, I’d like to say it was not a simple task by my opponent.” She casually pointed out it was only once. “This is when someone uses combat to take you out using a weapon, either from a distance or directly, or even weaponless in a hand-to-hand, and you never tap. Thus, defeating you in battle.” She ran a claw over a thin spot on her neck, where some sort of mark formed. It wasn’t very apparent, but Spirito got the idea she either got knocked out or chose not to yield. “Either way,” she continued, “it doesn’t exactly mean your team loses. The flag is the important goal here. Tap out or defeat still means other teammates are in the game to capture the opponent’s flag. In fact, sacrifices are sometimes the best strategy to occupy those that might stop another from taking the flag to the flag holder and winning the match.”

Spirito felt his blood pumping and an excitement about the challenge rose within. “This sounds like a very interesting game.” He used his first two claws to quote the last word. “I can see where I might gain more experience.”

“You have no idea, Deshik. Just think about that statement when you get to see the Crater, which is about the same size as this, but with a distinctly unique aspect.” Alesta shook her head as she spoke. Her smile was false, and her eyes were flint hard.

Spirito waited.

“The landscape is depth of -3000 meters up to 3000 meters. And the goal is to grab the flag at the bottom and bring it to the top. Ten-on-ten.”

Spirito felt his stomach clench. With that type of descent and climbing, that battle was going to take hours, and the participants would have to have serious skills.

Alesta stopped and turned to him. “With zero gravity.” She gave him that look he was starting to recognize as ‘heckyeahIllbedoingthatsomeday’.” 

His eyes widened in shock at the very idea of zero-gravity combat.

She looked satisfied at his reaction and grinned without remorse. “Come on, let’s go meet our teammates.”