CRUSHING WEIGHT

"Push-ups ready!" ordered Herbert. The cadets, who are now just in their uniforms and in a gym of sorts, all got on all fours and started doing push-ups.

Carl confidently maintained his pace. "This is easy," he thought, and so did the most of the cadets. After all, to even qualify for the selection course in the first place would dictate that they need to be of top physical capabilities.

This attitude soon caused them to start getting competitive among each other, racing to see who could do more, thinking that it will help to differentiate them from their peers and avoid being washed out.

Louis too, joined in this race, but he stopped upon seeing Sean doing push-ups at his own pace nonchalantly, oblivious to the surroundings. This caused him to frown, puzzled.

Noticing Louis, Sean smiled. "You are wondering why am I not doing things to the best of my abilities?"

Louis nodded.

Sean looked aside, making sure that no one can see or hear them.

"Those jerks aren't interested in seeing how many we can do. What they want to, is to wear us out and then immediately throw the next task onto us, that is how they fail us, so the smart move is to not give your all," whispered Sean.

Louis nodded in realisation. He then slowed down too, deciding to heed Sean's advice.

With that, the 2 did their push-ups slowly, intending to just hit the 50 minimum requirement for the UNSSD Tier 2 special forces units: the Special Recon Brigades of each UNSSD Corps, the Assault Pathfinders of the UNSSD Airborne forces, the Space Marines Shock troopers, and the UNSSD Commando formation.

Clara is also doing the same, having independently arrived at the same conclusion.

Sean's intuition soon proved to be right. Very soon, the remaining cadets started to waver.

Vera is close to collapsing from fatigue from doing so many push-ups. Seeing her, Nanami grinned, walking over.

"What are you? A bridge?" Leaning down slightly, she winked. "C'mon, sweetie, keep those legs closed. A proper lady wouldn't spread herself out like that."

Vera's face turned crimson as she looked away, too embarrassed to respond.

Nanami then noticed Eddie slowing down. She immediately stepped on him.

"Uh oh, seems like someone is getting too comfortable~," she mused.

"Hell…" grunted Eddie, feeling the crushing weight of her 150kg body mass. "Why are you…so…heavy?!" He did not expect her to weigh more than triple of what her body size suggests.

Nanami frowned, still keeping her smile. She stepped on him harder. "Oh, Number 74, don't you know it's rude to ask a lady her weight?" she purred, her voice mockingly sweet.

"So, baby, let me ask you again, am I heavy?" she cooed. This ironic as Eddie is in fact older than her. "No…ma'am…" groaned Eddie.

Nanami smirked. "Liar," she increased her force further, prompting Eddie to scream in pain. Erika grimaced seeing Eddie in such a state. "Yikes…" she muttered.

 It did not take long for the cadets to start collapsing one by one from the fatigue. Seeing that, Sean, Louis and Clara too pretended to collapse from fatigue, all 3 having done around 50 push-ups.

 Herbert then ordered everyone to stand up. "Pull-ups ready!" he ordered. The groaning cadets got ready.

 This is where the difference between those who went all out and those that conserved their energy is shown. Sean, Louis and Clara did 10 pull ups each, the bare minimum of elite units, while the rest struggled, many unable to do the 10.

 "8…" Ariel grunted, pulling herself up. Her hands are limp, barely holding on to the pull up bar.

 "Number 31, what is your malfunction?" asked Herbert. "If you have no more strength, then get the f*** down!" he roared.

 "AHH!" Ariel grunted, using all of her strength, doing 3 more in rapid succession, doing around 11. She then fell from the pole, worn out, with all of her energy gone.

Compared to the rest, Carl is a complete powerhouse, doing more than 70 push up and more than 20 pull ups, which would give him perfect scores for physical assessment if that was the intent.

Franz and Jay watched this from their office. Jay is utterly impressed by Carl 's strong physical prowess.

"What a stud," Jay exclaimed, impressed.

Franz shook his head. "Number 23 has an overly competitive streak; this may be a problem for him and his teammates in the long run. I am more interested in Number 9."

Jay chuckled. "Typical veteran using his experiences to game the system, what is there to be impressed by?"

"Not that, but those around him," said Franz, pointing to Louis. "He is clearly taking care of Number 42 and pulling him along."

Just then, Maia entered, having finished her reflection, overhearing the conversation.

Jay frowned. "It appears that Number 42 lacks much autonomy on his own, he is like a little brother being pulled along. Do we really want pampered people?"

Franz shrugged. "He hasn't done anything worthy of being washed out yet, right now in selection our goal is to get as many people as possible, it's in the ATC where we wash out the unsuitable ones en masse."

ATC, or the Advanced Training Course, it the second phase of the selection, in which the cadets will be trained on the true requirements and skill sets of Tier 1 operators.

"Besides, he has already shown a huge positive trait: loyalty," said Franz.

Little did the 2 of them know that Maia is actively listening to this detail, and formulating an idea…

(Gym)

The cadets finished the set of back-to-back PT, leaving 2 people eliminated when they failed.

With the exception of Sean and Carl, the rest of the cadets are basically out of energy.

The instructors did not give them any time to rest however, Herbert soon blew the whistle, and all of them fell in.

He then instructed all of the Lita cadets to step out. Louis and Eddie promptly did, and they and the rest of the Lita cadets followed Nanami elsewhere.

The remaining cadets are then brought into another room, which housed an Olympic sized swimming pool. Next to the pool are helmets and other items.

"Swimming test!" yelled Herbert. "For this segment you are required to first dive swim for 10m, then 90m of frog stroke, and finally another 90m of freestyle swimming! All of you are to wear a helmet."

"First row, step forward!" yelled Herbert.

Ariel, Clara, Erika and Vera stepped forward, putting on the helmets.

Herbert blew his whistle, and the 4 of them jumped into the pool.

Looking at them, Sean could immediately tell that Erika is a bad swimmer. For those that are experienced, they would know that it is hard for someone to drown when dive swimming for 10m.

Thus, Ariel, Clara and Vera all expelled the air in their lungs, effectively stopping their bodies from floating up too much. This allows them to conserve energy, as it is now easier to keep their bodies underwater. In fact, the 3 of them are actually so deep in the water that they are effectively touching the bottom of the pool.

Erika, on the other hand, did not do so. Thus, while her head is underwater, her back is not, which prompted Herbert to give her a lower score.

After all of the cadets finished this segment, the next swimming segment begun. The objective is to swim with their hands tied up behind their backs.

Sean, Carl, Albert and Giorgio jumped into the pool first as the first 4 cadets to take this course.

Sean chose to enter the pool swimming with back stroke. This allows him to breathe as he swam. The other 3 instead chose to swim facing down, which they soon realised was a stupid decision as it is extremely difficult for them to raise their heads out of the water to breathe, Sean, on the other hand, can comfortably breathe and swim at the same time. Thus, while Sean easily completed the segment, the other 3 struggled, all 3 coughing up water when they finished.

(Deep pool)

Louis and Eddie looked down at the giant pit in front of them. The entire pool is 100m deep, with devices mimicking the choppy conditions of the sea, generating wild waves. The pool is also designed to be a mini-ocean of sorts, even sporting several realistic looking animatronics of sea animals.

Nanami removed her uniform, revealing that she is wearing a one-piece swimsuit underneath. She gracefully leaped into the water, threading, keeping her upper torso on the surface.

"We Litas are amphibious," she said, pointing to the gills that rang along her neck. "It's only natural that we are the best when it comes to underwater operations."

"Can any one of you tell me how deep can we dive on average?" she asked.

Louis raised his hand. "Number 42," said Nanami, acknowledging him.

"We can dive to slightly more than 1000m, bordering the twilight zone of the ocean!" replied Louis.

"Excellent," replied Nanami. "This pool is a mere 100m, so it should be nothing for you! Each of you will be shown a unique set of alphabets once and you are to memorise it within a minute! Your task is to dive into the waters and find a placard that has your alphabets pasted on it, you have 15 minutes!"

Nanami looked curiously at the cadets. She smirked upon noticing where some of the male cadets are looking at.

"Eyes up here, gentlemen," she said with a teasing voice. "I hope you won't remember your alphabets to be 2 Ds"

Some of the cadets hastily averted their gaze, faces flushed with embarrassment.

A set of alphabets soon popped up the cadet's smartwatches. Louis's letters are "AFTY", while Eddie got "CGDO"

It did not take long for the 1 minute they have to end, and the cadets soon jumped into the water, threading together with Nanami. Louis frowned, with how choppy the waves are, he can already see that both threading water and actually diving down later will be extremely physically challenging. One by one, the cadets are ordered by Nanami to begin, diving down.

Louis inhaled deeply, trying to calm his racing heartbeat. "AFTY," he repeated silently, committing the sequence to memory. Taking a deep breath, he closed his nostrils and opened his gills, the shimmering surface below rippling ominously with the artificial waves.

"Cadet 42, ready?" asked Nanami, her eyes playful yet scrutinizing.

"Yes, ma'am!" Louis affirmed, trying to keep his nerves steady.

"Go!" she commanded sharply.

Louis took plunged into the pool, the shock of cold water enveloping his body, briefly disorienting him. Despite being a Lita with natural underwater adaptability, the aggressive churn of waves immediately pushed and pulled him in unpredictable patterns, testing his equilibrium.

Swimming deeper, Louis focused on steadying his mind. Remain calm, he reminded himself. Steady strokes, controlled breathing. Remember what Papa and Maman taught you. The visibility was murky, reduced intentionally to simulate night-time ocean operations. Placards were anchored at various depths and scattered irregularly, each with faintly glowing letters visible through the darkness.

Meanwhile, Eddie faced his own struggle. While he was a Lita too, he wasn't as naturally adept underwater, compared to Louis who spent his growing up years as a fisherman, and every stroke felt laborious. Panic gnawed at the edges of his mind as he struggled against the churning waters, all the while working on an active time limit. Yet, pride and determination pushed him forward. "CGDO," he repeated in his head, forcing himself deeper into the abyss.

On the surface, Nanami calmly floated, occasionally glancing down to observe their progress. "I wonder who'll crack first," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else, observing the cadets below, making sure that they are safe.

Soon, a few cadets resurfaced, holding their placards. "Not bad," commented Nanami, looking at her watch. The cadets still have 6 minutes left.

After another tense minute underwater, Louis spotted a faint glint through the murk—a reflective panel bearing the faintly illuminated letters: "AFTY." With renewed determination, he accelerated downward, muscles straining against the mounting pressure.

A sharp burst of pain shot through Louis's ears, reminding him how quickly he was descending. Slow down, you have enough time, he cautioned himself, slowing down Soon, he grabbed it and gently kicked upward, legs aching from the exertion and fatigue.

Meanwhile, Eddie surfaced, having found his letters, coughing and sputtering as the water left his gills. He quickly closed them while opening his nostrils again, gasping for air, face flushed red from exertion. Normally this process of changing from gills back to lungs would have been instant and subconscious, but because Eddie is too tired, he almost choked himself.

Louis is gracefully swimming upwards. Just like when I used to explore the deeper parts of the sea in Louisiana, he thought. Suddenly, a muffled scream is heard. Looking up, he is shocked to see that another Lita cadet had a collision with 2 shark animatronics, the impact had caused the cadet to get stuck in the 2 sharks. In his panic, he had accidentally opened his nostrils, water quickly flooding in from the sudden pressure change, drowning him, the pain of being trapped and choking on water, the clicking clock, all made him to lose focus and not properly use his gills.

Louis did not hesitate as he quickly swam to cadet, deploying his tentacles to add more grip instead of just his arms, he grimaced, pulling the sharks apart.

The cadet waved to him frantically, trying to remind him that he is running out of time, asking him to abandon him. Yet, Louis ignored him, stubbornly prying the sharks apart with all of his strength.

Maximum power!! Louis thought. With a loud clang, the sharks finally separated, He immediately hoisted the cadet up in his tentacle and swam up with all of his speed. Nanami, who is swimming down to them once she realised what is happening, taking the cadet from him, allowing Louis to swim up faster.

Breaking the surface moments later, Louis gasped in fatigue as he closed his gills. He hauled himself onto land.

Nanami meanwhile appeared next to him, checking the cadet, who had passed out but is still alive. She signalled for the paramedics on standby to bring him away.

She then turned to the panting Louis, with a coy smile. "Number 42! You took 20 minutes in total."

Louis gasped. "Worth it…" he said.

Nanami slyly looped one of her tentacles on him, pulling him close. "How cute~" she whispered in her sultry voice. "You do realise that he is an opponent to you right?" 

Louis shook his head. "He is not an opponent. He is a comrade, I would rather quit than abandon him" 

"To avoid the crushing weight of your conscience?" teased Nanami, pushing herself closer.

"I just want to do the right thing," Louis said unhesitantly, looking into her eyes. 

Nanami smiled approvingly. "Well done, Number 42. You managed well."