Season 1, Episode 5 - The Boxtops XX - "The Belief"

The mercenary – who also served as one of the town’s police officers – directed them toward the site of the Combat Simulation, then gave a wave as he returned to his guardhouse. Teams Red and Blue and company followed a dirt trail that led out of the town and into Cushing State Forest. Academy workers kept a specific section of the forest maintained and well-taken care of for the purposes of combat simulations. Isaac heard that the Pond Free Corp mercenaries themselves often performed training missions in here as well.

They headed down the trail deeper into the forest, then arrived at the entrance to the Combat Simulation grounds, marked by a thin strip of forest completely emptied of trees that stretched around the entirety of what would be their interior. A metal fence also provided a boundary for them; Clayton led Team Blue through a gate while Hanai led Team Red. The teams went their separate ways, Audrey and Lynn laughing and sticking their tongues out at each other, Demetrius and Dan flexing their arms at Isaac and Coleridge, Babs giving Reed an arrogant wave, and what seemed like Mackenzie giving Alfie an encouraging smile.

Piper, Oksana, and Mogami stayed behind on a set of bleachers constructed behind the fence that let them see into the forest. They quickly disappeared from view as Hanai led Team Red toward their side of the arena, a flagpole with a big red flag attached resting on one of his broad shoulder. Right before the forest got too thick, Isaac spotted a wooden watchtower near what must’ve been the arena’s center.

“So, this is the arena we’re fighting in,” Coleridge said with a whistle as they passed underneath tall trees, fallen pine needles now shaded orange crunching beneath their shoes. “I know they gave us some sort of diagram on the handout, but it’s different seeing it in person. This whole arena must be the size of a few football fields.”

“A few more than a few,” Hanai answered. “But don’t think you can avoid my watchful gaze. Clayton and I will be positioned in the watchtower. I’ll be meditating to keep an eye on all of you. Should any fight get too dangerous, Clayton will swoop down and wring both of your necks!”

“Clayton wrings necks?” Reed asked, not looking very impressed with Hanai’s warnings.

“...no,” Hanai admitted. “But he’ll break the fight up with no hesitation. And should he break up a fight, he has the authority to disqualify a fighter for going for the kill and or maiming. He can also disqualify the fighter that needed his assistance as well, since he needed to intervene on their behalf. Essentially, win your fights, fair and clean.”

Isaac nodded. Seems easy enough. We know a couple of their powers already, and we’re all Class 1s that can do more than just little sparks in our hands, so it should be an even fight, all things considered.

But me and Audrey and Reed all have experience in fighting already. Real fights with real people (and an aggressive microwave). This experience should give us the victory. We haven’t lost before.

Isaac shook his head. No, what’s the word...hubris. It’s good to be confident, bad to be overconfident.

“Aww, is our little Isaac giving himself a mental warmup?” Reed asked, an amused look in her eyes.

“Mental warmups are good!” Audrey exclaimed before Isaac could answer. She tried to narrow her eyes. “Right now, I’m trying to imagine what I’ll do next time I see Mackenzie. I bet she’s getting all real close and snuggly with Clayton...maybe I’ll punch her face in, that’ll keep her away from him!”

Isaac almost forgot about Audrey’s crush on Clayton. It had been a while since they last interacted, and as far as Isaac knew, it’s not like she had made any moves. But Audrey always liked to go at her own pace.

Audrey’s angry glare melted into laughter. “Ah, but Mackenzie’s my friend. I can’t just go and make myself get mad at her.”

“What about Babs?” Coleridge proposed. “She’s not our friend.”

That actually got Audrey to frown. “That’s right. Friends don’t do things like that.”

Hanai whipped off his glasses and a glare erupted out of his eyes, so bright the members of Team Red had to avert their own eyes.“Did something happen? Did someone do something to a precious student of mine!”

Rddhi energy exploded out of him volcano-style.

Audrey kept her eyes averted, looking anywhere but at his face, which sported a mixture of righteous fury and genuine concern. “...it’s nothing. We can handle it ourselves.”

Isaac frowned. I guess chocolates are just a temporary bandage. It’s rare to see her get down like this, I never like it.

Neither did Hanai, since Audrey’s words just made his volcano explode even further. Reed stood next to her friend.

“It’s alright, big fella,” she said to Hanai. “We know what we need to do.”

That got Audrey to look back at them, her face looking a little more relaxed.

Hanai let out a deep breath and the Rddhi volcano retracted. He placed his glasses back on. “I see. Very well. I believe in your friendship.”

Having reached their destination, Hanai planted the flagpole deep into the ground, the top end of the pole just about as tall as him. The flag itself, colored a deep red color, fluttered behind Hanai and he stretched his arms and chest out and bellowed for all the world to hear-

“I BELIEEEEEEEEVE!”

A flock of birds scrambled out of the nearby treetops, flying away in shock.

“That’s nice of you,” Reed supposed. From the way she tried to play it cool but was slightly fidgeting, Isaac guessed she wanted Hanai out of there so they could get this show on the road. Team Red was now in a small clearing, tall trees forming a circle around a patch of grass, the flagpole in the center.

“Through long hours, this flag has been infused with traces of Rddhi,” Hanai explained. “So has theirs. When you get closer, you should be able to sense the trace of Rddhi and track their flag down. Of course, they’ll be hunting for yours as well.”

Hanai pointed in the direction of the watchtower. “Roughly ten minutes after I depart and take up my position in the watchtower, Clayton will fire a flare gun that indicates the start of the match. Remain at your flags until then.” He looked at Reed. “I’ll notice if you depart early.”

Reed gave a mock salute. “Aye-aye.”

“If they steal your flag and you retrieve it, you must bring it back to this location,” Hanai continued, ignoring Reed’s sarcasm. “Enough traces of Rddhi will be left behind to find this location in case you don’t remember it. Either bring their flag back to this location or incapacitate the members of the enemy team. I understand that there is a gray area between incapacitate, maim, and kill, and since this is supposed to a simulation of real combat, I’ll allow fights to go on until things become unreasonable.”

Hanai raised his fist into the air. “Now that the road to your victory has been laid out for you, all you must do is pave that road with your blood, sweat, and tears!”

He suddenly grasped Coleridge on the shoulders, the impact making such a loud clapping sound that it scared away another flock of birds. Coleridge yelped, feeling Hanai’s eyes bearing down on him.

“Lionel,” Hanai said. “We haven’t worked together that much yet, but I believe in you.”

“...uh, t-thanks.”

Hanai then grasped Alfie’s shoulders. He kind of looked annoyed with it, but he also kind of didn’t.

“Alfred,” Hanai said. “You’ve proven to be both a valuable ally and friend when we busted the smuggling ring. I believe in you.”

Alfie just nodded.

Hanai then grasped Isaac’s shoulders. Isaac had to admit, he was glad he was next.

“Isaac,” Hanai said. “You’ve come a long way this semester. Your progress has been good. I believe in you.”

Isaac felt himself swelling with pride. “I won’t let you down.”

Hanai then grasped Audrey’s shoulders. Audrey gave him a wide grin.

“Audrey,” Hanai said. “You’ve improved so much as well. I’ve seen you work hard every day. I believe in you.”

“I believe in you, too!”

Hanai then grasped Reed’s shoulders. Reed recoiled from the touch, then equally recoiled from the tears streaming down his face.

“Reed,” Hanai said. “We may have our disagreements, but you are capable of great things. I believe in you.”

Isaac had to stifle a laugh, because ever since Reed started opening up to them more, she also started blushing more.

She looked off to the side. “Yeah, yeah.”

Hanai stepped back from all of them, wiping the tears away. “Team Red, I did not say all that just because Clayton conned me into joining the Class 2-B betting pool. I said it because it’s true! All of you are capable fighters, capable men and women, worthy of fighting for this Academy, worthy of a hundred dollar bet on your victory, worthy of a fifty dollar bet on the under of students knocked out! All of you are my fellow equals, and I believe in all of you. Godspeed!”

With that, Hanai built up Rddhi in his thick legs, then hopped to a low tree branch on a tall oak, then hopped up to another, then hopped up through a thick layer of leaves, sending him out of sight.

“Did you guys know he could do that?” Coleridge asked. “You know, jump that high?”

Reed motioned the team into a humble. Coleridge joined in, and so did everyone else. Reed herself was actually the last to join, looking very reluctant as she brought her arms across Audrey’s and Isaac’s shoulders, but she did it anyhow.

“Alright, you heard the man,” Reed declared, determination in her face. “Let’s go out there and win.”

Everybody nodded and agreed.

“Uh, question,” Coleridge interrupted. “Your strategy has us form like a U shape, with me and Audrey in the middle and Alfie and Isaac on the wings. When Team Blue rushes in, me and Audrey stop them, then when the others commit, Isaac and Alfie will close the U and sneak up on them from behind. But how are we supposed to communicate over long distances? This arena is big enough where we won’t be able to see each other.”

That set off a round of murmurs.

“I guess you’d guys would be spread thin,” Reed realized. “Hmm...alright, I guess we should try to stick close enough where you can still sense someone near you in the Rddhi. That doesn’t really solve direct communication, but you should still know where they are. You’d have to rely on sensing your opponents to go and block their paths, anyway, so just keep your metaphysical eyes peeled and you should be alright.”

Reed looked back at the flag. “How about this? If they get past you guys and the flag’s in danger, I’ll send up a sound wave to let everybody know. I’ll use one sound to indicate that I need Audrey and Coleridge to come back. I’ll use another to tell everybody they need to come back.”

“What are the sounds gonna be?” Isaac asked.

“Can you make a trumpet noise?” Audrey exclaimed. “I like trumpets!”

“My sound waves are more rock-based, really.”

“What about that Scandinavian loud rock music?” Coleridge asked. “The ones Satanists listen to. I feel like those would really give off the right kind of danger music.”

Audrey shivered. “Those songs are scary. All that screaming! I’m never that loud! What about something more mellow?”

“That doesn’t convey a proper sense of urgency,” Coleridge said.

That set off another round of murmurs that lasted around four minutes until Reed groaned.

“Alright, alright. So, we all agree that if only Audrey and Coleridge need to come back, I’ll send off a dreampop sound wave, but if everybody needs to come back, I’ll send up one that sounds like shoegaze?”

The members of Team Red all looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“So, that’s that, then,” Reed supposed.

Things got quiet for a moment, Isaac taking a deep breath.

We already talked about being nervous. We already let that all out there. It’s kind of nice, understanding how we all feel.

Team Red broke their huddle and prepared themselves by the flag. A large shadow suddenly came over them; they spent so much time in that huddle that they hadn’t noticed the Academy airship passing overhead. It headed in the direction of the arena’s center, where the watchtower would be.

looked in that direction as well.

Let’s do this.

While Mogami fiddled with her medical instruments, Piper and Oksana ate two-for-five chicken caesar wraps on the bleachers.

“Hey, Oksana,” Piper said after a long moment quiet, as if she just realized something.

“..?”

“The simulation thing takes place in a forest,” she said, finishing the last of the wrap.

Oksana had to nod at that, since that was true.

“And we’re sitting on bleachers, outside the forest where they’re fighting,” Piper continued.

Oksana also had to nod at that, since that was also true.

“So...we can’t actually see them fighting or anything, can we?”

Oksana had to nod at that once more, since that was true – they couldn’t see beyond the first few rows of trees in the forest.

Piper chuckled and let herself slide further down the bleacher seat, almost laying on her back. Oksana finished eating as well and decided to join her.

“Just another day in the life,” Piper supposed. She looked up at the blue sky. “The days in a life are very much like a reuben, you know. The one they make up at Johnny’s in Kendall Bridge uses their odd kind of salami, Reggie’s back in the Pond uses too much cheese, and Cacciatore’s in Russet has this odd kind of crust on their bread. But they’re still all good reubens, just with little things in ‘em that make ‘em different. And sometimes those little things can also be little annoying things. But even then, I love reubens all the same.”

She pulled her scalley cap off her head and ran a hand through her air, enjoying the breeze. She looked over at her friend laying next to her. “You know what I mean?”

Oksana saw clouds rolling across the sky, the tree tops swaying in the breeze.

“...no.”