Lycia tilts her head. He looked… normal. Well, maybe a bit less than normal, but certainly not the figure she had built up in her mind. The kid looked between twelve and fourteen, and was well below average height. He was good looking enough for a kid, she guessed, with shaggy brown hair, clear black eyes and a bright smile on his face. He was wearing clothes that were a couple of sizes too big for him, and his tail wagged behind him.

"Hello!" He greets happily, looking up at them. "My name is Joey Waffles, and I am very polite!"

He's like a puppy. Lycia thinks to herself, amused. Just happy to be here.

"Hello, Mr… Waffles." Michael greets back, hesitating on the name. "You've been informed that this is the last Trial, the Combat Trial?"

Joey nods vigorously. "I was told I would get to fight?"

Gael and Lycia glance at each other, the former raising an eyebrow. Get to? He mouths and Lycia shrugs, while Michael nods. "That is correct. As you are a class four, you will be facing a class three entity. Your safety is guaranteed, though you may sustain injury. We have a medical team on standby and will be ready to take action if your life is deemed to be in danger. However, if it is deemed necessary for us to intervene, it is an automatic failure of the Trial. Though should you succeed, the Core of the entity you kill is yours. Are you prepared?"

Joey nods once again, and Lycia pauses as she sees a cloud of tentacles slither out from Joey's back. Each one is lined with serrated, barbed teeth, as well as dozens of eyes that roam around the arena.

Interesting.

Lycia notices everyone else has leaned forward as well, clearly intrigued by the tentacles and no doubt wondering about the categories that Joey belonged to. In all her time as a Bounty Agent, she had only ever met two other category sixes. Crimson Flash, someone who completely eclipsed her in terms of power, and…

"Very well. Release the Mutant." Michael declares, and soundlessly a door opens from the other side of the arena. A mutant mountain lion prowls forward, its fur bristling as it sees Joey. Lycia studies his expression, expecting to see at least a hint of nervousness, and does a double take.

She could have sworn he just licked his lips.

The two figures in the ring, man and beast, circle around each other. Joey's ears swivel as the mountain lion begins to stalk forwards. His tentacles fan out around him, each eye opening wide as they stare directly at the mutant. For a few moments, it reminds Lycia of a mix between a peacock and a blooming flower.

The mutant's ears press flat against its head and it hisses, yowling as its fur bristles. Its gaze darts between each eye on the tentacles and it backs away slowly.

When Joey corners it against the wall of the arena, the mutant has nowhere to go but forward. And it does so, fire erupting from its paws as it leaps towards him in a pounce. Joey doesn't even move, his tentacles exploding forward with blinding speed and wrapping around the mutant mid-leap. It shrieks for just a moment before a sickening crack resounds in the air, the mountain lion going limp in the tentacles' grasp. They then twist, serrated teeth slicing through mutant muscle as if it were tofu, ripping it in half and showering the arena floor with blood and gore in a visceral display of power.

Joey's tentacles blanket the two halves of the mutant mountain lion, and as the sound of wet squelching meat and crunching bone echoes in the air, the judges watch in morbid fascination when they realize that the tentacles are devouring the mutant.

"Thanks doc!" Joey calls happily. Lycia hadn't been mistaken, she realizes, as she sees him lick his lips again. His tentacles twist around each other and retract back into an unseen part of his body. The only remains left of the mutant are the blood splatters quickly drying on the ground. Not even its Core can be seen.

The judges look at each other, a mixture of horror and astonishment on each of their expressions. Until finally, Lycia's smile gradually grows, and she turns back to Joey. "Full marks!" She exclaims, while Joey tilts his head in confusion.

Her fellow judges slowly nod along with the assessment, and Michael laces his fingers together as he leans forward. "Well done, Mr. Waffles. Very well done. Summarily brutal, but extremely efficient. You pass the-"

"Wait." Gael holds up a hand, and Lycia notices the play of a smile on his lips. "A class four easily dispatching a class three is no surprising thing." The other judges look at him warily, while he rests his cheek on his hand. "Don't we have a class four Rift Entity for this exact event, courtesy of Androtech?"

Michael seems to catch the implication, a frown of displeasure crossing his features. "You can't possibly mean to test Joey with it? He's already done far better than the other candidates."

Lycia mirrors Gael's body language, her own smile widening. "I believe we do, actually." She replies lazily, while Michael turns a glare on her. "I must admit, I'm interested to see how a mutual class battle would play out."

Michael lets out a sigh of exasperation. "You both-"

"I would like to observe this test as well." Marie says quietly, both Lycia and Gael raising their eyebrows in surprise. They hadn't been expecting to find an ally in Marie, but they were welcome to it. "I will personally step forward if there is any indication of danger."

Michael opens and closes his mouth, fury on his features, before he slams the table with a fist. But the trio wears him down silently with their expectant gazes, and he lets out a long, pent up breath, his features going blank. "You three will be the ones to answer for this if it goes wrong."

Gael fist pumps the air, turning to look back at Joey, who had been watching the four judges with mild curiosity. "Alright Mr. Waffles, there will be a second phase to the Trial. You will be facing a class four entity this time. If you feel you are in danger at any point, say so and we will step in to stop it. Do not worry, failure in this portion of the Trial will not affect your passing score."

Joey nods, his tentacles once more slithering out from behind his back and blooming in the air. Mmm… More like a flower than a peacock, Lycia decides with a smile. He licks his lips again, clearly eager. Perhaps eating the entities he kills is a part of his Core Ability?

Michael sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before waving his hand. "Release the Entity." He calls, and once more the soundless sight of a door opening greets their vision.

Dark black fog roils out from the doorway, slowly blanketing the ground as it coils past Joey's ankles. He looks around at the fog suspiciously, his ears flattening against his head and a deep growl rumbling from his throat. The judges wait with baited breath, until a piercing shriek tears through the air.

A pitch black figure comes dashing out of the doorway, four yellow eyes locked onto Joey while two long arms that end in scythes scrape on the ground behind it, sparks flying out from their contact with the arena floor. But while they were distracted by the figure, only Lycia noticed Joey's form go through several changes.

First, his skin seemed to bulge outwards, then condense inwards. She could see the skin tightening around the cords of muscle now straining around his body, before it became layered with thick, chitinous plates of armor that gleamed in the light offered by the arena. The teeth on the tentacles retracted, the eyes closing as the edges of each tentacle become razor sharp.

These changes took place in mere moments, startling the other judges when they finally seemed to notice them. The Entity sliced towards Joey in a long, whipping arc. He ducked just as the scythe threatened to cleave him in two, bending backwards in an impressive display of flexibility. The entity sliced downwards with its other arm, perhaps hoping to catch him in his evasive maneuver.

Joey launched himself to the side, a few of his tentacles stabbing into the ground and forcefully twisting his body around to face the Entity while the rest whipped forwards. Nearly two dozen tentacles converged around the Entity on all sides, before constricting around like a large net to slice it into ribbons. But just before the tentacles could make contact…

The Entity puffed into the same black fog that blanketed the Arena, leaving behind an echoing scream that faded into a cacophony of whispers. "A Mist Dancer." Gael hums, his eyes crinkling with his smile. "Now Mr. Waffles, how are you going to deal with this?"

Joey looks around, his tentacles sweeping the area in large arcs, slicing through the fog. But all it does is disperse it momentarily, before the black mist settles back onto the ground and curls upwards, hundreds of wispy fingers grasping for their next prey.

A rumbling growl sounds from Joey once again as his ears twitch this way and that, while he sniffs the air. Suddenly he leaps up and gracefully flips backwards, as the Entity reforms from the mist with a scream, its scythes already swinging towards Joey's previous position. His backwards jump places him directly above the Entity, and his tentacles stab into the ground all around it. The Dancer hurriedly glances up while Joey yanks himself downwards with his tentacles, its form dispersing just as Joey is about to crush it underneath him. Instead of flattening the Entity beneath him, Joey's armored knee cracks the ground of the Arena, the force of the strike creating small spider webbing fissures around the point of contact.

Gael whistles at the show of force, while Lycia's heart begins to thump in her chest. Michael looks as though he's on the edge of his seat, his expression teetering between panicked concern and fascination. Marie watches on with a placid face, though Lycia notices her hands tightening underneath the table.

The whispers grow menacingly louder, while Joey's ears continue to swivel. He rolls to the side as the Entity emerges with another shriek, its scythes slicing nothing but air. Joey's tentacles again explode forward, threatening to pierce the Mist Dancer, but again he's just a moment too slow.

Over and over this happens, Joey expertly evading the shrieking Entity's scythes, but being just a beat too slow to catch it. Though his face is covered with chitinous armor, in a way that oddly resembles the power armor given to the RCO officers, Lycia can tell he is getting more and more irritated as time passes. His movements become more erratic, and every missed attack leaves his tentacles thrashing along the ground with rage.

Until, finally, the Mist Dancer catches him.

Lycia starts forward in a panic as the scythe strikes the armor on his side, but breathes a sigh of relief as she sees it bounce off. The armor cracks, but maintains its structure, though the force of the blow sends Joey tumbling to the side. The entity disperses into mist once more as he launches himself upwards with his tentacles, and then reappears to slash at his now exposed back, once again sending Joey skittering across the ground.

Michael looks as though he's about to step down into the arena, but Gael holds up a hand and Lycia looks at him questioningly. Truthfully, she was just about to launch herself down into the arena as well. His grin is still wide on his face, almost coquettish in nature. "Not yet." He says quietly, gesturing towards Joey. "Look. He's figured it out."

They both turn to look, and notice Joey's form is… wiggling slightly, on the ground. His tentacles hang limp, but the glow of his eyes is bright yellow beneath the visor of his chitinous mask. His ears continue to swivel and twitch, and his eyes suddenly snap to look at a certain point in the fog.

And sure enough, the Dancer emerges from exactly the place Joey is looking, scythes swinging downwards.

His tentacles erupt towards the Entity just as its scythe is about to make contact with his head, the Mist Dancer screeching in pain as dozens of tentacles pierce its body. They then begin to vibrate, the Entity thrashing in place as Joey springs to his feet and punches through its torso.

Joey's fist erupts out of the Entity's back, gore showering the arena as he wrenches his hand out and grabs the Mist Dancer's arms. With a savage snarl he rips both scythes out from their sockets, the Dancer emitting a blood curdling shriek as dark fluid gushes from its stumps. Then he wraps it up into his arms while his tentacles tighten around it, and the Dancer wails, frantically kicking the air and squirming in his grasp.

But there is no escape from Joey.

His tentacles rip outwards from inside of the Dancer, cutting the screams short as the Entity falls into neatly sliced parts, collapsing to the ground with wet slaps of minced flesh. The mist fades away, while Joey's armor retracts into his body to reveal pale skin, the corded muscles relaxing their tension. And in Joey's hand is a shining purple Core, about the size of a baseball.

The judges look on in stunned silence, as Joey's tentacles cover the creature once more. With another echoing round squelching meat, Joey looks up at the judges with a bright smile on his face, his teeth pearly white compared to the dark blood staining his features.

"Thank you for the food!" He says happily, and Lycia erupts into a cheer, her heart thumping as her face flushes in excitement.

"FULL MARKS!" She squeals, girlishly ecstatic.

Gael chuckles to himself as he glances at his friend, resting his chin on a hand. Marie slowly claps her hands, letting out a shaking breath. Michael once again laces his fingers together, clearing his throat. He glances at Lycia, who hurriedly sits down, her face still flushed.

"Again, masterfully executed Mr. Waffles." He says in his even tone, though even he isn't immune to the slightest tremble of excitement in it. "We will inform you of our decision on whether or not to invite you to the Academy at a later date. Please exit the arena."

Joey nods emphatically, his tentacles once again contracting underneath his clothing. They are stained with blood, but otherwise remain undamaged as he walks out, burping loudly. The doors close behind him, and BA employees emerge from side rooms to mop up the remaining blood on the arena floor, pausing to look at the cracks and gouges in the ground left by Joey's battle.

Lycia puts a hand on her chest, her heart still pounding. "I haven't felt like this since I was class four." She breathes, fanning her face, and Gael smirks at her.

"Careful now. He's only fourteen, still a few years away from being legal." He teases, and Lycia flips him off.

"Shut it." She snaps, rolling her eyes.

Marie nods slowly. "He did very well." She says, and Lycia turns on her.

"Very well? That kid is fucking monstrous!" She exclaims, slapping her palm flat on the table. Her violet eyes gleam as she looks at her fellow judges and future instructors. "When he gets to the Academy, he is mine."

Gael looks as though he's about to protest, but a sharp glare from Lycia causes him to close his mouth with an audible snap. Instead he only grimaces, genuine concern on his features.

"You know, I was only joking before, but…" He mutters, pursing his lips, but he receives only another glare in response.

"It is not a matter of when, but if." Michael corrects. "He failed every other Trial we have."

Lycia snorts in derision. "Please, it's when he's coming to the Academy. No way we're not recruiting raw talent like that." She then turns back to the front, placing her face in her hands with a considering smile. "Now, I have to think about what present I'll get for my cute new protégé."

Further down the hall, Joey feels a slight chill run down his spine. He warily looks around, but sensing no immediate danger, shrugs and continues walking.