Combat

At around 6 o'clock there was a loud ringing noise that forced them to wake up. It was safe to assume that almost everyone was groggy from the lack of sleep after the incident from the day before. Most of them were hoping that they will be excused for the day after yesterday's incident but unfortunately that wasn't the case.

All the four roommates of Kaze managed to drag themselves out of bed while Kaze simply pretended that it was hard for him to blend in. After the breakfast at 7:30am they were headed off to the floor below. They didn't know who were supposed to go where so they noticed a huge crowd surrounding the bulletin board. Kaze stood outside the crowd while the brother from the sibling duo and Xander forced their way into the crowd to see the notice.

The notice was a bit eccentric as each team was distributed to the respective rooms unequally. While Team A and Team C were assigned individual rooms each, that is room 7 and Room 12 respectively, the other groups were divided and sent to other rooms.

Either the training situation varied from mentor to mentor or it was a different task for the different groups on a single day. They both exited the crowd and told the rest of the situation after which they were headed off to room 12.

Upon entering, even before they could look around or take anything in they heard a familiar voice say, "You are late by 3 minutes". The members looked at the corner where Mr. Roman was standing, clearly pissed at their irresponsible attitude. "It's just three minutes". Xander mumbled to which he received a sharp reply from Mr. Roman. "Three minutes is enough for you to suffer a life threatening injury"! Xander blinked for a moment, confused at how did Mr.Roman hear them from that far. Indeed he had excellent hearing and to say that he would be their trainer for the day scared them.

Everyone remained quiet as to not infuriate their mentor further. Mr. Roman took a quick glance at them before he announced today's task. "Today we will focus on hand to hand combat. Before we begin our training I want to see where each of you stand."

Everyone looked at each other as they tried to figure out what he was exactly planning to do. Their guess was either he will ask them to fight with each other or fight with him. None of them wanted to fight with Mr. Roman knowing well enough that they would definitely suffer some serious injuries. Which is why they were relieved when Mr. Roman said, "each of you will pick a card from this box. I have made a chart here… " he pointed at a white board where he drew a diagram, "... According to which you will fight".

They took out a card one by one in the order of their standing. When they were done they matched their numbers with the board and the results were like this:

•Xander (1) with S.Sanders (5)

•W. Sanders (2) with V. Kane (3)

•Winner of either match against Kaze. 

Seeing the pairing W. Sanders smirked, "I volunteer for the third combat" he mumbled. While Mr. Roman simply chose to ignore his comment, his opponent V.Kane who also heard him didn't, "Win against me first you moron".

"It will be a peace of cake" He smirked, quite proud of himself.

"Why? Because I am a woman"? She challenged him. "Nope, I was in the military, I am well trained to take any one of you down here". He boasted with pride.

"Bold of you to assume that I wasn't". She smirked. The smug smile he had disappeared as soon as he heard that, "Wait, were you"? He asked skeptically to which he received nothing but silence. 

"ENOUGH"! Mr. Roman shouted at them. "Sanders and Greene, take your positions". He ordered them. Both stood face to face and assumed a position of fight with their fists in front. 

"3,2,1...Go" he ordered and S. Sanders jumped on Xander. She tried multiple punches and kicks at him which he either avoided or blocked thus nullifying her attempts to pacify him. Xander did not throw a single punch but he was busy dodging hers. After few missed punches and kicks she retracted herself to take a moment to breathe. The next moment she tried once more to attack him this time however it did manage to hit Xander and he fell on the ground. She smirked proud of herself that she finally managed to het a shot. In the background her  brother smirked proud of the training he gave to his sister. 

But what no one noticed, except Mr.Roman that even Xander who had a terrible pain on his shoulder thanks to her crushing blow, smirked before he used his leg as a leverage to make her lose her balance. 

The moment she fell on the floor he stood up, "I am not comfortable hitting women, but right now, Screw that". He declared.  She got up as well to fight again but her punches were comparatively more feeble than the last time. After putting most of her energy in the first half of the fight she did feel quite tired.

Xander dodged two more hits before he grabbed her fist and flipped her over and held her down. She struggled to get out of his grip for a while until Mr.Roman announced "That's it"! They separated themselves both breathing heavily due to the tiring combat. "The winner is Xander" he declared. 

While S. Sanders did understand that he was basing his judgment on the final moment she did feel wronged. "He barely fought" she mumbled in a complaining manner. Mr. Roman who heard her mumbles decided to address her worry, "Being good in a combat doesn't mean who fought the most. In a situation of life and death it matters how long you can hold up. He saved his energy until you were tired enough to make his move" he explained to her. She blinked before nodding at him.

"Next, you two" he pointed at V. Kane and W. Sanders to fight. Both of them got into their respective positions and waited for quite a while for the other to make a move. Neither of them wanted to make the same mistake as S. Sanders did a while ago.

After a whole five minutes, between which there was intense staring between them and in the background suppressed giggles by Xander. "This is enough"! Mr. Roman shouted. If you guys don't start the match, not only your combat will be cancelled you will also receive negative points".

Startled by the sudden command both of them took charge at the same time. At this point they didn't care about win or lose (or maybe care a little bit) but they did not want to lose credit scores. The techniques used by them were pretty refined as of they were professional fighters. W. Sanders was genuinely surprised to find V. Kane was such a good fighter. There combat ran longer than the first one and during this time Sanders managed to pin Kane twice. Both the times she switched their positions quickly before Mr.Roman could declare a winner so he let those two continue. When finally Kane managed to pin him, she made sure she blocked his movements pretty well so that he won't be able to get out of her hold. "And Kane wins this round"! Mr. Roman declared which brought a tiny smug smirk in Kane's face. 

At this point, W. Sanders was frustrated that he was defeated, even more so because he wanted to fight with Kaze. "So, which one of you wants to fight with him" Mr. Roman asked the winners while gesturing towards Kaze. Both of them stared at each other for a moment. While Xander would fight if asked he wasn't keen on fighting with his only, sort of, friend. Kane however didn't care much, but she just fought so she wanted a moment to catch her breath. Seeing them reluctant Mr. Roman suggested, "Shall we toss"? 

Xander nodded at him but instead Kane spoke up, "If neither one of us want to do it, how about him"? She suggested at W. Sanders. "He would love a second chance I think" She mumbled knowing well enough that she would be heard. Mr. Roman's stern expression intimated almost all of them for a moment before he asked, "Do you want to"? As he turned his head towards S.Sanders. Taken aback by the sudden chance he nodded vigorously. He was not only delighted to get a second chance but also to crush Kaze.

He started at Kaze for a moment as if he would kill him, meanwhile Kaze just gave him an expressionless glance before they began their combat.

Kaze took there expressionless as he waited for the other to make the first move. When he didn't, Kaze took the initiative and as expected Sanders dodged it splendidly. Unfortunately at the moment, as if Kaze expected him to move like that, he took the other by surprise and flipped him over. He was stronger than human so it was not hard for him to hold him down. For him, the desperate attempts that Sanders made was too feeble to let it bother him. Kaze mused as he recalled the very first day he arrived in this planet. He wondered, given how weak the humans are, would he have won against them if instead of running away he fought with them?

Then again, if he did he won't be able to do his research in secret. For now he had a good enough grasp being a human being, however there was still a lot he needed to explore. His attention was brought back to the moment when after a few seconds Mr.Roman spoke, "The winner is Kaze".

While it didn't make Kaze feel that proud, given his strength and how he was top at his academy back in ZMR-47, it bothered Sanders a lot. While his expression depicted that he was agitated from inside he felt like a volcano on its verge of erupting. He disliked Kaze from the start, but now he hated him. He was determined more that ever, to surpass and beat him in the due course, so for now he just tried to keep his calm and focused on the training.