We all emerged from the pod simultaneously. I was more rested than I had ever been in my life.

Dania let out a laugh of disbelief. People walked past us as they emerged from their own pods. This was routine to them.

Sabine was the most affected. The bags that had inhabited her face under her eyes for the past two years had vanished. Her hair was brushed neatly and there was a glow to her.

"Shit," she cursed loudly, "My goth aesthetic, gone."

Dania and I laughed at that. It was funny. She was back. Sabine was finally back after so much time.

"Fuckin' cured my depression, too," she was just as much in disbelief as we were about all of this. She chuckled, "Who would have thought."

"Please make your way to the train station," a voice announced. It interrupted out moment of revelation, "It is located to the left of the campus entry doors on the interior."

Since we had no idea where we were going, we followed the students in the room next to ours. I held Sabine's hand. There was so much emotion running through me now, except this wasn't like other times. I'd purposefully not sleep all night and then drink so much coffee loaded with sugar, I'd feel myself flying through the air with emotion.

This was clearly different. I felt happy without needing to self-destruct. I felt happy with my friend and I was happy that she was happy.

All because of an entire day of sleep. Who would have thought that's what it took to be healthy.

We walked down the hallway on the side of the building. There were several different styles of architecture, starting from some sort of grey medieval stone type to white marble where the subterranean entrance to the train was at.

The station was enormous and so was the singular train that was stationed in it. We arrived just in time to see the first train depart. I stood on the crowded stairway and watched as a protective force field was put up to prevent anyone from being sucked up in the vacuum. In a short flash of light and a roaring sonic boom, the train vanished and in the next minute another train replaced it.

Just before the new train opened up ready to board passengers, Grady made an interesting remark, "We have been in the same clothes for a while and they don't smell. I'm guessing magic."

"I still want to change, though," Stacey gave her a side eye.

"How?" Dania gave her a side eye, "Into what?"

"We'll see. But for now," I scolded them, "Pay attention. There's instructions at the door."

As we moved closer to the triple decker train the faint announcements grew louder.

"You have been assigned a seat. Please find it and wait for the train to start moving before leaving your place."

I reached the door and a small holographic card formed in my hand.

Car 7, Level 3, Row 1, Seat 470.

We each got spots in different locations. I made my way to the topmost level in car seven to find I was on a window seat.

"Yeah!" I exclaimed as I reached my spot. Moments after that, a guy around my age took the seat next to mine. He was tall, lanky, and had brown skin and loose curls.

"Hello, my name is Benny Rolandine. I'm from Cima, Henderia," he said somewhat quietly, "You?"

"I'm Carlos Galván from Houston, Texas. Also how do you speak English? This is all new to me."

He was confused, "Where is that? Is that a Shadowrealm? Are you foreign? I don't speak English, I speak Henderian, it's just the Statusin translators. English is an Earth language. Are you from the Nanaima realm?"

"No, I'm from Earth."

"Like, your family is from Earth? Not from Nanaima?"

"I was born on Earth. I have been here a grand total of one day," I narrowed my eyes. Was it really that hard to understand? My good vibes wavered.

He was still confused, "Okay. I suppose you know what you're talking about. I have to study,"

Benny opened up a Statusin that enveloped his visual field, and I could see words and images flashing before his eyes.

I guess this is what studying is around these parts.

I made the hand movements to do the same thing. I opened up a Statusin, too, and I began learning about this whole place.

Dean Andrelos came onto the intercom and she began speaking, "Hello, students, this is a recorded message,"

"It's not," Benny rolled his eyes and looked at me with disdain, "She's doing this live from the station."

"Today we are embarking on our annual trip to the Competition Hall where we will test your combat skills. When we arrive, you should register for battles immediately as to take advantage of the time given to you."

The train departed as she finished speaking. We were in the underground tunnel for about a second, then we reached the ocean. The train zoomed past a whirl of colors.

"Whoa," I let out, "What's that?"

Holographic earphones formed in my ear and spoke, "You are aboard the Oonish Hypertain to Competition Hall. This train travels at more than a thousand miles miles per hour across the Crown Ocean. You are currently seeing the coral reefs that line the bottom of the southern regions of the ocean. You have now crossed into Atlantis waters. Your destination is approximately four hours away."

Everyone moved around in their seats and my crew gathered around mine.

We talked school stuff and bickered as if any of it would be relevant any time in the future.

Two hours into the trip we reached Coronne, the capital of the Atlantis Kingdom. It was enormous since it took more than a couple of minutes to pass through. I did manage to spot the Crown Palace with the help of the tourist program. It was a bit of a blur, but I could see the giant conch shells protruding with pride into the open water.

After a while more of talking we all fell into our own things on our Statusins. I guess we did for a while because we were underground again before I even realized that four hours had passed.

"I hope you guys have fun," Andrelos announced over the comm, "We'll be getting off now. Get ready to beat the living daylights out of each other! Academically, I mean, of course."

We stopped at the underground station with a flash of light. Everyone got off in a rush and our group used location services to meet up.

We held hands so we wouldn't get lost, and I led the group. The subway station had stairs just like the ones at the UM, and we ascended. Unfiltered sunlight blessed my face when we finally emerged from the underground.

This was an actual hall and I couldn't see the end of it. It was lined with different shops and kiosks, restaurants, and cafés. Signs on the walls guided us in various languages to the battle chambers.

From the studying I had done, the Competition Hall was designed for all sorts of combat battles. There were the cyber booths, the seemingly infinite amount of micro-arenas in a vast underground system, and last but not least, the main arena where major fights, battle royales, and ceremonies occurred. The whole thing was located on Vulca Island, a country of the Magai Empire owned by Dynacorp.

Students of the UM got anything they wanted here for free, and if they wanted anything that they chose from previous years, all they had to do was check off items from a checklist and it was given to them in the Preparation Rooms.

"The thing is," I called out to Dania above all the noise, "I think clothes are free."

"What?" I caught her off guard.

"I think you just have to go to the Life app on the Statusin and—"

"You're not making any sense!" she yelled over the roaring sound of excited people, "Let's find a place to sit down."

A Statusin pointed us in the direction of a café and I maneuvered my crew through the swaths of people.

We sat at a booth table and I explained how the Statusin would change our clothes for us.

Stacey immediately went in and figured out how to wear a super expensive designer outfit for free.

I went for a plain black t-shirt with grey skinny jeans. I was defs in the mood to combat.

We all got dressed in cute outfits.

"You look cuter than me?" I side-eyed Dania.

"When don't I?" she responded sharply.

"Fight me, you binch! Let's go! Come at me!"

"Let's go!" she she got up and we all walked out of the café to a transporter pod. They were five-person pods that traveled through elevator tubes to the Preparation Rooms.

"Statusin, Diana and I will be battling against each other."

"Confirmed."

"Hey!" Dania jumped in, "I want Daniela to fight with me against him two on one."

"Of course!" I replied sarcastically, "Bring Daniela into it!"

We play-fought for the few moments we were in there.

We stepped into a pristinely white room where we were told the rules. A moment later Stacey, Marco, and Jozeey came in, too.

The Statusin gave a monologue. "All battle arenas have individual rules. In this non-cybernetic combat room you are not allowed to exit the boundaries of the room. Exit equals forfeiture. To intentionally forfeit simply say, 'I forfeit.' You will be extracted from the arena. Death and severe injuries are possible in the arena, but we now have an atomic record of your body so we can restore you in a matter of seconds. The winners of a battle will win points towards the day's scoreboard."

"Are you ready, guys?" I said with a smile. I turned to the rest of the crew, "You guys should go, too."

"Press your button when you are prepared to battle."

A green circle hologram appeared in the air in front of each of us. We pressed the buttons simultaneously.

Cybernetic grids enveloped the three of us.

"Good luck!" Grady called out.

My vision blurred and then I was in an oak forest. The canopy was way high up and I couldn't see any walls.

The Statusin began announcing, "This is an Abilities Only, Two on One battle. Competitors: Dania Sousa, Daniela Volkswagen, Carlos Galván," our faces showed up on the screen, "Dania and Daniela consist of one team, while Carlos stands alone."

Then, the entire screen went red and began flashing along to the countdown, "Five. Four. Three. Two. One," the screen flashed green and beeped, "Begin."

The first thing I did was fly to the very top of the room to find my competitors. I felt something wrap around my ankle. They found me first.

I turned to see a shadowy tentacle gripping me and Daniela beneath me on the floor.

I made two poles, negative and positive, with my arms extended, and I pointed two fingers at her. An arc of electricity connected with her chest and I saw her fall from the branch she was crouching on.

A swarm of small shadowy bullets came at me from beneath the canopy and I was barely able to avoid them. One grazed my arm and I let out a yelp. That's when the whirlwind began.

The trees began to groan as their trunks began to lean in the direction of the wind and leaves got picked up and flung everywhere. I struggled to stay stable and upright in the wind. Dania was probably enjoying this.

I saw more of the shadow bullets coming towards me, but in a knee-jerk reaction I swatted them away from me telekinetically.

That's when I was impaled in the stomach by a flying branch. I guess Daniela hadn't seen it because she swatted me with a long shadowy limb, knocking me into the ground. I hit the dirt and I blacked out.