Chris hated speeches. He hated listening to them. He particularly hated having to sit in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end while people gave multiple speeches. However, the biggest sin of speeches was that the person talking never actually said anything! Oh, a lot of words came out of their mouth, sure, but it never meant anything, or at least, it never meant much. It could take someone half an hour to give a speech that could be summed up with a simple 'Y'all just signed up to risk your lives fighting monsters for a living. Commendable, but don't be stupid about it, alright?' Also, if you're going to have multiple people giving speeches, maybe have them talk to each other beforehand? Coordinate a bit? So they aren't all giving the same exact speech over and over?!? Suffice to say, Chris was not enjoying the graduation ceremony.

Finally, David stepped up to the podium, shooting a quick smile at Beth and Chris, before clearing his throat. "Today we welcome a hundred and forty-four fresh recruits into the Scouts. We welcome them as brothers and sisters, comrades ready to stand beside each other against any threat that comes against us. As soldiers who will brave the many dangers of the Maze to keep the City safe and secure. I will not say it is a glorious task you take upon yourselves this day, but it is an important one. I wish you all the best, and I hope to see you all retire old and decrepit, ready to spend the rest of your lives enjoying the rewards of your service." He smiled as a few cheers went up at that, before waving his hand to calm everyone down. "But that is for the future. Now it is time for you all to choose your future squads, the men and women who will venture into the Maze alongside you. And as always, the recruit who has shown the most promise will go first. Private Vincent, if you would please join me on stage?"

Chris sighed, getting to his feet and walking up the stairs and onto the stage, looking out over the applauding crowd. He frowned slightly as he noticed Jo waving excitedly, while a much more reserved Dichonius applauded with a satisfied smile on his face. The two weren't exactly sitting together, but there was apparently a section for the political crowd and they were both in it. He absently wondered if they were here because they had to be, or if they were here for him… probably a little column A and a little column B.

David shot Chris a bemused look, probably something to do with the fact that he was standing there frowning instead of looking excited or nervous, before clearing his throat again to get everyone's attention. "The competition for the position of top recruit for this batch was fierce, I must say. There were three others who, if they were in any other batch, would have taken the position easily. However, Private Vincent here is something special. I'm not one to say any ability is better than another, simply because I believe every ability has a role to fill, a place where it shines, and our problem is that we often compare abilities in situations that suit one but not another. However, every now and then there comes along an ability that seems to shine in every situation, and let me tell you, Private Vincent's ability is so bright it's blinding!" David paused for a moment to look over the crowd that had fallen so quiet you could hear a pin drop, before turning to Chris. "Private Vincent, how about you take a moment to tell the good people about your ability?"

Chris nodded, stepping up to the microphone as David stepped back. He paused for a moment, before leaning forward and mumbling into the mike. "I own my own world… and I can connect things to it."

Captain Nefred let out a loud laugh, while Sergeant Callista covered her face with a groan. The two of them were sitting in the section with the other squad captains and their assistants, all of whom were waiting to make their case for why the recruits they wanted should join their squad. Captain Nefred had actually been rather nervous, because now that Chris was the top recruit, there was no guarantee he'd actually join his squad. He'd have to make his case just like all the other Captains. He'd forgotten that Chris was Chris. Even with that incredible ability of his, he wasn't one to make a big deal out of it. As long as he kept underselling himself, the other Captains wouldn't fight as hard, and Nefred would have a better chance of getting him.

Nefred froze as David shook his head. "My boy, you have to give them a little more than that. Come on, how about a demonstration?"

Chris cocked his head. "A demonstration?" What was he supposed to demonstrate? There really wasn't much he could actually do outside the Immortal World… well, except transform… and die. Oh, and make portals. Couldn't forget those. He considered it for a bit, before shrugging. Might as well start simple first. "Since I own my world, I also own the things connected to it, giving me some level of control over them. This includes myself. As such, I have the ability to transform." He carefully shifted, turning into the Elf-like version of his transformed state, simply because it was the only one that could talk. "Like so. I'm about three times stronger in this form. But the advantages of being connected to my world don't end there. The biggest advantage is that if I'm ever-" Chris cut off as a bullet ripped through his skull!

Jo screamed in horror as half the room exploded into activity, some looking for the assailant, other's jumping in front of the politicians, warding off any further attacks with their bodies and barriers created by abilities. Sergeant Callista had covered her face, muttering something about 'every damn time' under her breath while the recruits all looked around nervously, a few throwing up defenses of their own as they wondered whether they'd be next. Essentially, the whole place had devolved into chaos.

That is, until a portal opened up and Chris stepped out, sending the old body away. "Well, that was unexpected, but as you can see-" Another bullet immediately tore into him. Several, actually, getting him in the head and chest this time. Chris simply reappeared on the other side of the portal and stepped out again. "As you can see," He continued, an edge of annoyed frustration in his tone as he glared in the direction the bullets were coming from, "I don't die. I simply get returned to my world and come back. It is very convenient, particularly in a situation where you could be attacked at any given moment." He paused, waiting for the next attack, which never came.

David put down the phone he'd been hissing furiously into for the past few moments, stepping past his guards to address the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the inconvenience. I have our best men searching for the assailant, but they have yet to be found, which means we will unfortunately be forced to pause the proceedings for now. Once we have ensured everyone's security, we shall continue."

"You know, we could just move everyone into my world." Chris offered. "I can make a copy of the amphitheater and it's literally the safest place you could be. The only thing would be I don't have a sound system in there… but it would give me a chance to show off more of what I can do."

David paused. The offer was tempting… the assailant had escaped already, which meant an investigation, specifically into how the assailant had even gotten in! This was all military controlled land which was under constant surveillance! No one should have been able to even break in, let alone bring in a gun and shoot someone! They were lucky that the assailant's target happened to be the one person here who couldn't actually die. Which wasn't exactly a secret either… It made David wonder why they would be so interested in killing Chris while knowing literally nothing about him. Unless they did know? Was this some sort of statement? "That… Yes, let's do that." David finally nodded, before turning back to the crowd. "Change of plans! We will be moving the ceremony into Private Vincent's world! Please form an orderly line down to the front!"

"You must be joking!" A man scoffed from the political section. "Do you really expect us to willingly run right into a space where we have no escape unless your soldier allows it?!? Where anything could happen?!? This seems like the perfect way to remove some political rivals."

David paused. "Then let me make this clear. No one has to come. The only people who need to be present are the recruits and the squad Captains. The rest of you are free to do as you wish." He stated firmly.

The crowd took that in as Chris opened a portal and the recruits began to file in, followed by the Captains. Parts of the crowd quickly followed after, including Chris's friends, as well as Jo and Dichonius, while others hesitated and some directly left. Eventually though, most of the crowd decided to move through the portal and, ironically, the man who'd made a fuss was one of the first to enter. Several of Chris's selves were waiting on the other side of the portal to help direct people to their seats, making sure everything stayed organized. Admittedly, he could have just moved people, but he felt that might have been a bit too much. It took a good half hour before everyone was settled again and David retook the stage.

"Now unfortunately, we lack a sound system-" David began, before Chris interrupted.

"Actually, since everyone was taking a while, I went and bought some speakers and what not." Chris explained, handing him a microphone.

David paused for a moment, before shaking his head and taking the microphone. "Alright, I believe we were demonstrating Private Vincent's ability. As you can see, he has a significant amount of space in his world-"

"Infinite." Chris interjected.

"I'm sure but you can't prove that, now can you?" David replied, raising an eyebrow at him. "But the space is very large."

"It has stars. And planets." Chris nodded.

"Yes, well, unless you can throw one at someone, how about you show us what else you can do?" David chuckled.

Chris nodded. "Right, so, transforming, unkillable, big world… oh, and multiple selves." Chris listed off on his fingers. He wasn't going to talk about the other world, so that just left… "Okay, so as you can see, I can make whatever I want within the world, but if I connect something to my world, I can also turn it into whatever I want. So anything we kill just becomes food or whatever else we need." Nefred sat in his seat, praying to whatever god would listen that Chris would just stop there. "And finally, there are my subordinates."

*Fuck!!!* Nefred groaned.

A goblin suddenly appeared next to Chris. "This is Dyrdek. He was my first subordinate, kind of an accident really. As you can see, he is a standard goblin from the first level of the Maze. Weak ability, weak body, all that. However, after I got my hands on him…" Dyrdek suddenly shifted, returning to his mutated form and rolling his shoulders with a grin. "Boom. He's stronger than I am now. And I can do this for all my subordinates. Of which I have over a hundred."

Everyone fell silent for a moment as Chris finished, before David stepped forward again with a grin, looking towards the Captains. "As I said, Private Vincent here is a very impressive recruit. However, I would like to address his ability from a different angle. Namely, the simple benefits of having access to his world." He pulled out a small remote, hit a button and… nothing. He frowned for a moment, before he suddenly realized his mistake. "Ah, I believe I left my slides outside… Well, no matter. I do not have the exact figures, but Private Vincent's training squad showed a remarkable amount of progress. Their physical fitness in particular progressed far beyond what would normally be expected. Additionally, their performances during practical exercises showed a level of adjustment to injury that was frankly a little disturbing. This is due to a feature of Private Vincent's world that he conveniently forgot to mention: in this world, no one can die." Chris smacked himself in the forehead. How had he forgotten to mention that?!? It was one of the biggest benefits of the Immortal World! It's why he called it the Immortal World! "This means that when you train or spar inside Private Vincent's world, you can do so without holding back! You can push yourself to the limit every day, and once you can no longer continue, you simply… well, kill yourself. I hear there is some debate over specifically how one should do so in the quickest, most painless way possible, which may be a matter of preference, but once you have, you are restored to perfect health, ready to begin training again."

David paused as the crowd took this in, hushed whispers of conversation erupting between the Captains and their assistants. He waited for a few moments, before clearing his throat and continuing. "I say this, not to emphasize how valuable Private Vincent would be to a squad, but to explain my decision to not place Private Vincent in a squad." The Captains froze and Chris was right there with them, looking at David in shock. He wasn't going to join a squad?!? Then why the hell was he here!?! "Instead, I believe the best use of Private Vincent's ability would be to use his world as our new training grounds. A place where recruits can be trained without worrying about injury or death. Where they can experience actual combat before venturing into the Maze, helping them adjust so they don't freeze in a moment of shock. I believe recruits trained this way will emerge stronger and better prepared for the dangers they will face defending the City."

"You know I can do both, right?" Chris commented, leaning closer. His involvement in the training grounds would essentially be opening and closing portals every now and then. It wouldn't keep him from participating in a squad as well.

"There are other considerations as well." David whispered back. "I'll go over the specifics with you later, but for now, return to your seat." Chris gave him an uncertain look, before nodding and returning to his seat as David turned back to announce the next recruit, which Chris was surprised to find was actually Derek. He knew he'd done well, but not that well.

"I guess this means we won't be in the same squad." Chris sighed as he sat down next to Beth. Beth nodded, frowning thoughtfully, feeling… weird about the surprise her father had thrown at her. She felt like she should be disappointed, but… the emotion she actually felt was relief, and that confused her. "But I suppose it isn't that big an issue." Chris continued with a shrug. "As long as you have something I own, I can be there whenever you need me." He paused. "Huh… I really should have all of you carrying something like that around. Shit, why didn't I think of that sooner?" He frowned.

"Like tracking chips?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow.

"More like a cellphone…" Chris replied. "Something we can use to contact each other no matter what, you know? The fact that I can use it to track people is just incidental. I mean, I definitely could have used a way to get in touch with Derek while we were in the Maze."

Beth frowned. "Why would you need to talk to Derek?"

Chris hesitated. "Well… when I noticed you were feeling down, I wanted to get his advice, but since I couldn't get in contact with him, I ended up talking to Debra, and she pretty much just told me to ignore it, which… was probably bad advice."

Beth blinked at him. "Who is Debra?" She asked, a slight edge to her tone.

"She's just this woman who accidentally got connected to my world." Chris explained dismissively. "I cured her cancer, she was very thankful, said the words that shall not be uttered, and boom. She's weird, so I try not to interact with her much, but well, she is a woman, so I figured she'd have some sort of insight." He paused. "Maybe I should have talked to Carol… I bet she knows a lot about what would make a woman upset."

"Who is Carol?!?" Beth hissed.

"Oh, she's Anthony's wife. He's an idiot, so I bet- I know he's done a lot to piss her off." Chris replied.

Beth frowned at him for a moment, before sighing and shaking her head. "Fuck it, I trust you. If you were cheating, you'd probably tell me."

"You're worried about Chris cheating?" Derek asked as he returned to his seat. "I'm still surprised to find out he's interested in you, let alone anyone else. I honestly thought he was asexual."

Chris frowned at him. "Hey, just because I have self control doesn't mean I'm not interested. I'm just waiting until I'm in a position to handle the consequences of expressing my interest."

Derek raised an eyebrow at him. "I hate to break it to you buddy, but I think you're there."

Chris shook his head. "I still need a house-"

"Chris, you have a world… I've talked to the other people in your squad, and I'm certain no house can beat this. Plus, where better to raise your kids than a place where they literally can't get hurt?" Derek pointed out.

Chris paused, considering it for a bit, before turning to Beth. "He's right. We should get married." Beth froze, her eyes widening. He was doing this now?!? "Also, it's your turn." He added, pointing to the stage, where David was looking at her expectantly. Oh, she was going to kill him! Then she was going to marry his stupid ass.