2.

"Oh come on, where is everything," Elliot whined as he kicked a large leafed plant.

They had been walking for a few minutes and hadn't seen anything stir yet.

"Do you think it means anything that our powers awakened on the same day?" Sheree asked as they walked along the dirt path that wound through the woods.

"It's just a coincidence. I'm sure a lot of people's powers activated that day," Elliot said as he poked at another plant with his foot.

Sheree eyed an electronic scanner that was attached to a tree he passed.

The indicator light on it was green, that was good. That meant that there was nothing too powerful nearby. The university woods had been nicknamed the "baby greens" by a student years ago, because it was the place new students trained. There wasn't anything living in it that was ranked higher than a low F. At the moment a low F ranked monster would still tear Elliot and Sheree apart though.

"That may be true, but what about the fact that you can only gather corruption, and I can only purify corruption? It seems to me like we were....." Sheree trailed off as she searched for the right words to describe her thought.

Elliot thought about what she had said. It was true that his body could only gather corrupted energy, but it couldn't purify it into usable energy. While her body couldn't gather corrupted energy at all, but it could only use purified corrupted energy to gain strength. It had made training seem utterly pointless for both of them. Everyday they would go out and train, and everyday their bodies would collect energy they couldn't process into power. It was such a unique problem that the best solution the university could come up with was to stick them in a room together in the G rank dorm and basically forget about them. They were lucky to even be members of a team. According to Professor Klein, if they didn't show any growth by the end of the current semester they were going to be removed from the university. What would be the point of continuing to waste resources on people that couldn't get any stronger. That only gave them a few months to somehow get more power.

Elliot kicked a tall bush and it began to move violently.

"Yes, finally some action," Elliot said and cracked his knuckles as a two foot tall, black beetle crawled out of the bush. Its exoskeleton shined with a greenish hue, and its massive mandibles looked strong enough to shatter bones.

A yellow light passed back and forth over the giant bug as Sheree scanned it with her pendant. The word beetle became visible in the air above its large round head, along with the words common and rank G6.

"You picked the wrong day to be a G rank bug, you're goin down!" Elliot said as if he was about to attack the beetle. Instead of attacking it though, he stood dumbfounded. His right hand holding his left fist.

When Elliot yelled the beetle began snapping at him. Its mandibles made a sound like stones being slammed together when they closed. It ran at him, and Sheree had to use almost every ounce of strength she had to pick up a medium sized rock and smack the bug on the head with it.

"What's going on with you right now?" She asked. Her legs wobbled as she struggled to remain standing.

"I forgot my gloves," Elliot said. He suddenly looked as if he had received some terrible news.

The beetle focused its fury on the rock. It reduced the stone to dust with a single bite and then turned its attention back to Sheree and Elliot.

"Get over yourself and hit this thing," Sheree said, her normal flat tone was replaced by a shrill, panicked one.

"But what if its guts get all over me, that would be so gross," Elliot said and gave an elaborate full body shudder.

The beetle was just a few inches away from Sheree, it snapped and rushed at her as fast as its six legs would carry it. Sheree tried to back away but fell to one knee. She was face to face with the bug and had terror in her eyes when Elliot sprang into action.

"No, look at me, you shiny weirdo!" he said and punched as hard as he could down onto the top of the beetle's head. The creature's shell split where his fist made contact.

The punch didn't kill the bug, but it did disorient it. While the beetle tried to clear its head, Sheree used the last bit of strength she had to pick up a fallen tree branch, and drive into the hole in the creature's shell. The bug's tiny brain was skewered. It gave a pained squeal and dropped dead in front of them. Sheree smiled weakly and attempted to stand before her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out. Elliot ran over and caught her before she hit the ground. Resting her body against his, he sat down on the path with her and hoped it wouldn't take too long for her to wake up. He wasn't strong enough to carry her all the way back to their dorm.

"Some herculean I am, I can't even carry my roommate out of these stupid woods," Elliot said, yelling when he said the word stupid.

As his voice echoed through the canopy of trees he heard several sounds all at once. The first was a loud roar that seemed to split the air around him. The second was dozens of birds cawing and wings flapping as they fled the trees. The last was the electronic scanner attached to the tree a few feet away from him. It beeped furiously and flashed an unnerving crimson warning.

"Oh crap, we gotta go!" Elliot said as he shook Sheree by her shoulders.

The mountain lion stepped onto the path and growled as it slowly approached. Its sand colored fur was sleek and healthy looking. This creature clearly ate well. It bared its humongous, yellow fangs and roared at Elliot.

"Please, wake up now Sheree," Elliot said as he stood up and stepped between her and the approaching beast.

Elliot scanned the cat with his pendant and learned that it was a D8 rank.

"You shouldn't be here, I refuse to die because you broke the rules!" Elliot yelled at the crouching cat. It was preparing to pounce.

I can hopefully hold it off long enough for Sheree to be rescued or escape," Elliot thought as the mountain lion leapt at him. Elliot felt his heart pounding in his throat as he timed his punch. When the cat was in range he threw the hardest right jab he could. It landed on the cat's nose and sent it twirling backward through the air away from him. To Elliot's surprise it landed on its feet with a snort. It gave a quick shake of its head and then charged Elliot again. This time Elliot missed his jab, but the outstretched claw of the mountain lion dug into the right sleeve of his shirt and ripped it all the way down to his forearm. Luckily for Elliot, he only received a two inch cut on his bicep. The bad news was that too much blood poured out of his arm. It completely soaked his arm and hand and painted the dirt around him scarlet. Elliot shoved the cat away from him as his arm began to feel cold and heavy.

"I'm really gonna die, aren't I? I can't move my arm anymore and this damn cat is only getting angrier, well maybe if Sheree survives this they'll call me a hero and name something after me someday," Elliot thought as the beast leapt at his face.