Challenger

Ren reached his room and took a quick shower. His wounds were all healed now and laid down on his bed.

"This month needs to go faster," thought Ren.

He sat back up and looked out his window. It was now later in the day and Ren realized he was hungry. He decided to go and eat at the cafeteria on campus.

The cafeteria had all the food stations along the walls and the seating area was located in the center of them all. After grabbing some food, he sat down and began to slowly chew the chicken breast he grabbed.

'Lennon?"

Ren froze and slowly turned around to see Lorraine standing there.

"What's that about?" she asked.

Ren didn't know how to respond as she took a seat next him.

"What are you talking about?" questioned Ren, trying to throw her off.

"During your fight with that guy, what was his name...? Stanley something?"

"You saw the fight?"

"Well, yeah. It's all over the internet. Not the whole fight is there, but towards the end he called you Lennon. Is it some kind of nickname?"

"Maybe, I'm not sure." Ren tried as hard as he could play it off as some sort of coincidence.

"By the way, you really took it out of him. Most think that you went overboard."

"Well, the way I see it, is that I immobilized him so he couldn't attack me anymore. It was nothing the healers couldn't handle. I walked by where we fought before and they already repaired the grounds," countered Ren. Ren was relieved the subject changed.

"Well, I thought you should know, lots of people are looking to dethrone you from the top." Ren looked a bit confused after this statement, so Lorraine continued, "Lots of people think you're cheating somehow. They don't think that you should've been able to shoot to the top so fast."

"Well according to you, they saw the fight between me and Gardel. What reasons do they have to doubt me?"

"Well, most fights are flashy, but only the ones who were actually there can sense the actual power you two gave off. Most of everyone that believe you cheated only saw the video and use the reasoning that since you were struggling with a low rank, you cheated your way to the top."

"What do you mean I struggled with a low rank?"

"You said his last name was Gardel? Well, Stanley Gardel was only rank 4899," Lorraine pointed out.

"That's right, he was a core soldier. That means he used something to give off some ability power to fool the device," Ren hypothesized silently.

"Let them come at me, more experience for me," Ren declared.

"What do you mean experience?" Lorraine asked confused.

Ren hesitated. "For the war, can't be too prepared."

"I guess." Lorraine stood back up. "Well, I'm going off to sit with my friends. Enjoy fighting to keep your position!" Lorraine turned and walked away towards another table.

Ren finished his food in silence, then stood up and returned his silverware and plate.

Back in his room, Ren decided to turn in early and fell asleep.

Ren woke up earlier than usual and decided to go for his run and then went to the weight room on campus. After his workout, he looked on the app to check the current standings. Ren saw that Lorraine was now ranked eighth.

"Good for her," Ren smiled.

Bing!

Ren received a text from Lorraine. It read 'Hey, I gave your number to someone who is really insistent on fighting you, so don't be surprised if you receive a random call or text from an unknown number.'

"Looks like I hooked a fish," Ren commented. After reading this text, he texted her back and requested she not give his number to anyone else without his permission, then headed back to his room for a shower, then back out to the cafeteria for breakfast.

Bing!

He got another text message as he finished his breakfast. It was from an unknown number and read 'Meet me at 12:00 noon in the stadium.'

"Challenge accepted," Ren grinned as he texted the unknown number back.

At noon Ren walked into the stadium to meet his challenger. Ren saw a yellow flash of light and suddenly someone was standing before him.

"I didn't think you would actually show," said the man in front of him. Ren recognized him as the rank two who was closest to scoring near Lorraine. He had the same blonde hair and now noticed that his eye color was a bright yellow. This man was taller than Ren and had a muscular build.

"I never back away from a challenge," Ren stated.

"How did you beat Lorraine?"

"I fought her."

"Don't give me that crap, everyone knows you cheated somehow. I came here to prove that you don't deserve the top spot."

"I've come to prove that I didn't cheat. I may not be able to convince everyone else, but I can definitely prove it to you."

The man scowled at Ren. "What's your name?"

"Ray Lynch, yours?"

"Eric Sykes." Sparks began to crackle around Eric as he sent his power flowing through his body.

"He is definitely not as powerful as Lorraine, but power is not everything. I can tell that Eric has more battle experience with that look in his eyes." Ren observed.

"You challenged me, so I'll set the condition." Ren pointed out. "The loser has to do one favor of anything that the winner asks of him at any point in time."

Eric scowled again, then nodded in agreement to the terms.