“Alright folks, here we are at our first match of two, for our first event!”

Of course, they had a damn commentator for the matches. I could barely make out the noise of the crowd, as I was deep in the forest. Sheltered from the sun and wind, there were still patches of snow under the trees, and where there wasn’t the ground was soft and muddy. No chance of keeping our clothes clean for this, it seemed.

“Before they set out, we split the apprentices into four teams of eight. Sixteen of them are waiting for their turn, but right now, we have two teams full of promising talent ready to shine!”

More muted cheers from the crowd were carried to us on a delay. I glanced around the trees, wondering how they were watching us. There was no sign of cameras. My teammates, which unfortunately included Kanda Okoye, were gathered in a small circle. I didn’t recognize any of the others, but that was hardly the problem. Kanda was still glaring at me out of the corner of his eye as if waiting for me to commit a crime.

“These teams will be competing in a good old game of Capture the Flag!” The commentator said with glee. “No weapons allowed, for safety’s sake, but this should still prove interesting, especially for those betting on the match!”

“Of course they’re betting on us,” one of my teammates said. He was a burly fellow, but not all that tall. “Vultures.”

“Well, at least it’s still in character,” I said, privately agreeing with him. “It’d be weird if they suddenly went honorable when they pit us against each other.”

“A good Reaper is always honorable,” Kanda muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. “They do not insult their comrades.”

“Maybe in Kenya,” I said irritably. “But every Reaper I’ve met is a sarcastic bastard. They’re still good people, but nobody’s as stuck up as you.”

He opened his mouth to reply furiously, but the commentator interrupted him. “Alright, ladies and gentlemen! Time for our first match to start! On your marks, get set, go!”

“You four, come with me,” Kanda said at once, pointing to the leanest of our teammates. “We will move forward and take their flag. The others will defend.”

I glared at him for half a second, then realized it was good sense. Still, I didn’t want to be outdone. I pointed at the burly guy and my other remaining teammate. Together, they might be able to hide the flag from view with their combined bulk. “You stay next to the flag. You as well. I’m going to patrol, to keep an eye out for sneak attacks.”

Surprisingly, there were no arguments or disagreements with the orders we issued. Everyone moved as we’d suggested. I didn’t stay to look amazed but moved out to the line of trees at once. Kanda for his part led his group in a straight line towards the enemy’s side. I clambered up a tree once I was a decent distance away, and sat as still as I could.

Watch your breathing. Immerse yourself in your environment, and your aura will change to match it. Master Tamotsu had stressed this in my training, where he’d taught me the essential skills of stealth. A still body calmed the soul and made it much harder to spot. It helped a lot that I was wearing such a dark coat, which blended nicely against the darker trunk of the trees.

It was nearly ten minutes later that I finally heard the sound of approaching feet. Tensing suddenly on my branch, I slowly turned my head and saw two apprentices creeping forward. They moved carefully, avoiding large sticks and piles of leaves. But they didn’t avoid any of the snow, which made a soft crunch as their boots compacted it. To make matters worse, they were talking to each other just loud enough for me to make out the words.

“I think we’ve got that honor-bound idiot distracted,” one of them was saying. “His help won’t be able to get our flag in time, and our defenders should take care of those chumps he’s got with him.”

I realized he was talking about Kanda, and rolled my eyes. I thought my opinion of him was low. Always nice to know someone else shared your opinion. Inching forward silently on the branch, I studied their path. With a grin, I noticed that they would come right under me. Too easy.

“What about their defenders?” The other one said. He had a nasally voice. “That Silas fella looked pretty strong. Not to mention they’ve got those two brutes.”

Oh nice, I thought to myself. I’ve got admirers. Come on, I wanted to hiss. Just a little closer now. But I held my tongue, and forced myself to breathe silently. My body was tense, but I couldn’t do anything to change that, and up here, they weren’t likely to notice any small movement I made.

“We outnumber Silas,” the first guy was saying. “And the other two will be too easy. Besides, we’ve got-”

He got no further. As soon as they were directly underneath me, I sent my aura down at them in a thick cloud and wrapped it around them. They both looked up as I began my attack, and the first guy was able to jump back in time. Not so lucky for the second guy, though. I grabbed him with ease, yanked my aura back. He went flying skyward with a scream.

The first guy shifted just as I landed, already in Reaper form as well. His face still showed shock at my sudden ambush, but it was quickly replaced by a stubborn look as he lifted his arms into a defensive posture.

“Nice talk you guys are having,” I said with a grin. “Mind if I weigh in?”

He didn’t bother to reply, but dove at me, one fist extended for a mighty punch. It would have hurt quite a bit, I thought, if it had landed. Instead, I leaned to the side and let his fist sail past my face. My right hand jabbed into his stomach in a savage counterattack, but a solid wall of aura stopped me from landing the blow. We jumped apart, regarding each other carefully.

He stepped forward and swung another blow, with less power and more control. As soon as I parried it with my free hand, he lashed out with a kick. He had good form, and the casual power behind his attacks was enough to make me wary. But he was nowhere near as bad as Master Ivan, so I knew that this shouldn’t be too hard.

I went on the offensive now, peppering him with punches, kicks, and elbow strikes as I tested his defenses. None of my blows landed, either knocked aside or met with a thin screen of aura. Not bad, I thought. It certainly didn’t look like I’d be able to break through that quickly. Even if I could, that would leave me exhausted, and unable to deal with any other threats that might come my way.

I drew my fist back in imitation of his earlier strike, and he crossed his arms to block. It was a feint though, and my right foot was already lifting off the ground to stomp at him. He moved his guard to accommodate, and my foot smacked into the X formed by his crossed arms. But then my fist, which had been delayed by my kick, slammed into his face. His defensive screen was still up, of course, but as my aura exploded, he went flying back into a tree.

Before he could recover from the shock of the impact, I darted forward, getting in his face and grabbing his shirt collar. Then I grabbed his right arm as he tried to throw a punch at me, and, using my hip for leverage, threw him down to the ground. That was a bonafide wrestling move, and one I’d used many times. He hit the ground with an oof as the air was driven from his lungs.

He still looked like he wanted to fight, but I didn’t give him the chance. My aura swarmed over his body and locked it in place. He tried to fight it as his friend had done, but my training with Master Gene had strengthened my aura greatly, so they would struggle pointlessly for at least a few minutes.

I was beginning to run back to my teammates on defense and had just entered the clearing when I heard a horn blow. I skidded to a stop and looked over, spotting Kanda holding the enemy flag, his arm raised high in triumph. Two of the teammates who had gone with him were yelling in excitement, and I could see two opponents slumped in defeat.

“Well, will you look at that!” The commentator’s voice thundered again. Just over ten minutes and Kanda secures the flag for his team! What an inspiring display, as I’m sure you can all agree!”

A small visual played in my head to match the commentator’s words. It was probably caused by one of the Reapers, I imagined because this wasn’t my memory.

I saw Kanda dashing across a large open space, the enemy flag in his grip, when an opponent popped out of cover to stop his retreat. I saw Kanda jump, use the poor guy’s face as a springboard, and vault clear over the ditch that separated the teams, landing with a roll clear into our territory.

“Yes, excellent grace and coordination shown by Apprentice Kanda!” The commentator said amidst a round of appreciative applause. “But equally impressive was Apprentice Silas on defense, who stopped two enemies from sneaking up on his comrades!”

This time they played the scene of my ambush on the two guys, although from a different angle. It showed me yanking the first guy forward, then descending on the last one. The quick flurry of blows we traded looked impressive from this angle, as did my final attack. Even I winced slightly as I saw him fly into that tree.

“Let’s all give a warm round of applause for both teams! Mentors, you keep an eye on these youngsters. They’re going places!”

Happy as I was at the victory, I couldn’t help a flare of exasperation as I knew that Kanda got the credit for it. And, judging by the look of his dark eyes, he was none too happy that my ambush had gotten attention. Still, we both understood how to look like a good sport, and we nodded silently at each other. Well done, but fuck you. At least, that’s how I read it.