I adjusted my hair in the strange, strange teleporting white changing room I'd come to associate with classes for knights. The fancy side braid hairstyle Stella did up was gone, transformed into a strawberry blonde side-ponytail and a hair clip. It was a bit odd to have it like that.

  I had no idea how my transformation actually interacted with things like hair, clothing, or makeup, and the rules of how that worked was still a mystery to me. I certainly hadn't conceived of the red ruffled dress with the pink heart emblem that was part of my 'natural' transformed look.

  The alternate dress provided with my Nexus device was a bit more practical in combat, and felt more fitting to me.

  It was still a red, short and flirty ruffled dress that reached mid-thigh. The front of the dress was decorated in a pattern of red and gold trim, which was echoed in the sleeves. It had a corset-style waist cincher which gave me some shape and a bit of protection, and the boots were a bit thicker. The skirt itself had some pockets and I had a small pouch on the back of my waist, though it wasn't obvious because of how it was concealed.

  I took a deep breath as I felt a shiver go down my spine, before turning around and exiting the stall I'd been teleported into.

  The white hallway was the same as it'd always been. There were four other cadets there in their transformed states. Forest Willow was there as well as a blonde girl with a vaguely Greco-Roman theme that I remember had a name like.... Nova Victoria or something like that.

  The other two, however, were new - and I hadn't met them in any of my previous knight training sessions. One of them was an Asian girl wearing an outfit that was covered with black straps and buckles. She had short black hair, pale skin, and a black eyepatch.

  She was short — around my height. Maybe even two or three inches shorter, and she looked a bit nervous. She wore a black cloak with a subtle purple lining bunny ears on top of her head, and was carrying a small, black sword. She was tapping her feet against the floor, her fingers playing with the hilt of her blade.

  "Hi." I said.

  The girl glanced at me and looked away, a nervous blush creeping across her cheeks.

  "H-Hello," She replied.

  The other knight looked a bit more confident than the others. She was wearing a light blue hoodie, and she was the only one of us that was barefooted. She was also wearing a set of headphones, and had teal green hair and tan skin, with some sort of Latin heritage.

  I nodded at the two of them.

  "I haven't seen either of you here before, are you first years?" I asked.

  "Kinda, you could say that. It's technically my second year at Kaleidoscope, but my friend here is in her second class," The one in the headphones replied.

  I turned on my aura sight, giving Forest Willow and the blonde a nod as the two of them quietly spoke with each other.

  The nervous girl with the black hair had a dull, hazy black aura around her that I couldn't quite make out. It was tinged with specks of silver light. The one with the headphones and the hoodie, meanwhile, had a vibrant and dense green aura with a light-blue inner layer.

  "Cool." I said, smiling. I extended a hand to the hoodie-wearing girl first, who accepted my handshake with a firm, if relaxed grip.

  "Magical Girl Harmonia Lux."

  "Nice to meet you." The hoodie girl smiled as her hoodie morphed in a flash of light into a form-fitting black tanktop, showing her midriff and a black and green short skirt complete with fishnet leggings. She'd gone from lazy casual to something that looked like a ninja girl. "I'm Magical Girl Zephyr Nivalis. My friend here is an emergency contractee, Magical Girl Luna Noirette. We go by Nivalis and Luna, for the record."

  The black-haired girl in black gave me a small wave and then returned her attention to her hands, twiddling her thumbs nervously. The aura around her seemed to shift slightly as her mood changed, from dull to bright.

  "I've heard about you, by the way." Zephyr Nivalis said, grinning. "You were the emergency contractee that took on the big roaming giant moth thing downtown, weren't you?

  "Eh?!" I exclaimed.

  Nova chuckled, walking to form a circle with us. "Sorry, Lux. It's been getting around. You blew up the warehouse district downtown and got some press for it. After it slipped out during the training exercise Miss Tesseract ran, people began to look up the incident and connect some dots. It was all over the news for a few days."

  "A lot of people are talking about how cool that shit was," Nivalis continued. "That you took on a giant bug with the Garden Dreamers in some sort of last stand over at Refuge Zeta, and then you took on some sort of giant tentacle thing on top of Refuge Zeta and practically blew it to kingdom come."

  "Oh, uh. I barely got out by the skin of my teeth there..." I blushed.

  Forest Willow stepped forward, and spoke. "Hey, for what it's worth. It's a lot cooler than what I did. So, I'm happy to have someone a bit braver than me to hang out with!" she beamed.

  "It's always the small ones," Nivalis said with a grin, shaking her head and wrapping an arm around Luna in a hug.

  The waifish girl squeaked as Nivalis pulled her close. "Luna here got trapped in Kaleidoscope Utopia Mall downtown. That place is practically a small city, and she was all on her own with no adults or other knights to help. She managed to keep all the survivors safe on her own. With nothing but her own guts and wits!"

  I turned to Luna, who was staring down at the ground.

  She was shaking, her shoulders hunched and her head lowered.

  "I didn't know what to do." she said in a quiet voice, her eyes quickly becoming wet with unshed tears.

  "Hey. C'mon, Luna. You did great, you know that? Shit, I just wish we got there a few minutes earlier." Nivalis said.

  Forest Willow, Nova Victoria, and I shared a look.

  All of us were emergency contract holders. We'd both seen the same kind of thing in that situation - the desperation, the horrors pouring out of the portals, the despair, the fear. It was something that would never go away. The memory of those events were burned into our minds, and it was a part of who we were now.

  "You're a real lifesaver, you know that Nivalis? I owe you ad your team so much. I could never pay it back..." Luna mumbled, wiping the tears away with the sleeve of her cloak.

  "Hey," Nova said. She walked over to the other side of me and gave Luna a hug. "You saved all those people, that was something special. Don't talk about anything like paying us back, you hear? You're being silly."

  I felt my heart go out to the young knight, and I gave her a warm, reassuring smile. She was the smallest out of us all. And she was already doing the best she could in a terrible situation.

  "You've all got to be pretty badass to survive that, honestly." Nova said. "But let's get our minds off this whole Cataclysm business. Let's head on over for class?"

  "Yeah. Let's." I agreed. The others nodded, and we all made our way down the white hall to a set of double-doors.

  I glanced back at the teal-haired magical girl and the eyepatch-wearing girl curiously.

  I wondered, sometimes, about what stories the other people who'd survived out in the field that day had to tell.

  From the sounds of things, this Luna girl had an experience that was probably just as harrowing as the one I had in Refuge Zeta.

  When the doors opened in front of us, a flash of light engulfed me.

  My senses were overloaded with the sound of wind rushing past my ears and a warm, gentle breeze against my skin. When I opened my eyes again, we were in another grassy area surrounded by purple barriers. Leaves swirled through the air and the scent of pine trees wafted on the breeze.

  "Lux!"

  Claw Strawberry's familiar voice cut through the wind.

  I looked up to see the pink and red-clad figure of Strawberry running toward us.

  "Oh! Hey!" I waved, as she jumped up and hugged me, wrapping her arms around my neck.

  "Heck yeah! I'm glad to see you, buddy! You ready?" She skipped back and grinned.

  "Ready as I'll ever be."

  A boy in green armor followed Claw Strawberry with his helmet off and his green hair swaying in the wind. His armor was... interesting to say the least.

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  He was wearing a green chest plate with gold accents and a green helmet with a gold crest. It reminded me of a beetle or a mantis. The visor on the helmet was black, and the overall appearance of the suit was sleek and aerodynamic.

  "Hey there," the green-clad knight said with a smile and wave.

  "Niv," he greeted.

  The two shared a fist bump and a handshake, and the boy turned his attention to me.

  "I'm Zephyr Kuuga, another of Nivalis's teammates." he introduced, nodding as Claw Currant, Claw Yuzu, and another girl with a red hoodie approached from the back of the group. She was wearing a gray skirt with a white t-shirt and red sneakers.

  "This is Zephyr Inferno, our third and last member. Everyone calls her Infi."

  "Hello everyone!" the red-hooded girl gave everyone a small smile and wave. She was short and petite, with long red hair tied up in a ponytail.

  I looked around, taking in the crowd of first-year cadets in the training field. There were a few dozen students here, all transformed and ready for the day. The field wasn't too large, but it was spacious enough to accommodate all of us comfortably.

  I recognized a lot of them, having met them before. 'Ace' was here with her team, as were the Knights of Summer Melody. Aurora sat in a corner next to the purple barrier with a small group of girls including Screen Dream. But I only recognized about half the people here.

  "BWAAHAHHAHAHAHA!"

  A booming laugh cut through the crowd. Everyone's heads snapped to the center of the group where a massive, imposing figure in red, white, and blue spandex stood on top of a podium.

  "ALL OF YOU! SETTLE DOWN AND GATHER AROUND!" the figure boomed.

  The figure looked like he had stepped right out of an old superhero cartoon, with a pair of red, white, and blue gauntlets and boots that glowed with energy, along with a pair of stars over the chest and an American Flag cape. His mask and hair looked like something a football quarterback might wear. The figure's spandex were taut over his muscular physique and he had an American flag printed over the front of his crotch. The stars and stripes were everywhere, along with his blue skin.

  He had a muscular, chiseled body with broad shoulders and a jaw that looked like it was chiseled out of granite. The man had blond hair streaked with gray and blue eyes, with a strong nose and a wide grin.

  I wasn't a total geek about the big players like Al was, but I'd definitely seen him before.

  "Wow," I breathed, and he grinned wider at my words, flexing and making a muscle as if he'd heard my comment from all the way on the other side of the field. "Is that?"

  ...

  "In the flesh," a familiar voice whispered in my ear.

  I let out a yelp and jumped. When I turned around, I saw an all-too familiar girl with platinum blonde hair and deep brown eyes standing behind me with a serene smile across her face.

  "E-Elysia?! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

  Elysia giggled. "Hey girl."

  She curtsied for the small circle of people around us, and winked at me.

  "We should be in good hands. Instructor Strike is a very well-liked member of the Justice Brigade."

  "Alright, everyone!" the hulk of a man called. He stood tall, and grinned at the crowd as if we were all his long-lost children. "I, the Supreme Crusader of the Constitution, the Bombastic Sentinel of Freedom and the Justice Brigade's greatest champion, the Star-Sprangled Thunderstrike, have been tasked with teaching the art of magical knight battle, and to guide you to glory."

  The man grinned wide, showing his pearly-white teeth, and gave us a thumbs-up. "You may refer to me as 'Instructor Strike' or 'Professor Thunderstrike'. But call me what you shall! For I will answer! For it is not I who is great, it is our world, which I protect!"

  He gave a boisterous laugh and pointed at the crowd of knights. "For all of you are the next generation of magical knights that will stand against the forces of darkness, and you are all equal in my eyes!"

  There was a murmur in the crowd of students. I could tell most of them were a mix of shocked, embarrassed and a bit confused by his loudness and enthusiasm.

  His aura was overwhelming.

  It was a fiery red, tinged with golden light, and it radiated with energy that made my skin tingle. It was almost painful to look at directly and I could feel it even from where I was standing in the middle of the field. I deactivated my aura sight.

  "Geeze..." I muttered, holding my head.

  Elysia giggled at the spectacle.

  "Strike has always been an... enthusiastic man." Elysia noted. She looked over at him, a fond expression on her face as she stared at the spandex clad superhero.

  Luna Noirette made a whimpering noise, hiding behind Astra Nivalis. "He's... he's loud."

  "I know." Elysia sighed.

  I nodded. The guy had the biggest, most powerful presence I had ever seen.

  "Today," Strike announced. "We aren't going to do anything too fancy. Just an open sparring session. Those of you who were in my evaluation session earlier in the week already had a taste. This will be a more casual, but more thorough session to see how well you all fare in close combat situations. You are the best and brightest young knights of your generation, but that doesn't mean you are invincible. Come, gather around!"

  I felt a hand wrap around my arm, and I turned to see Elysia smiling at me.

  "C'mon, let's get up front."

  "Hey, wait up!" Strawberry yelled as Stella dragged me through the crowd. The rest of the group we'd been standing with followed as Stella and I pushed our way to the front.

  When I finally reached the podium where the instructor stood, he was already surrounded by a bunch of other cadets, and it seemed like the group I was in wasn't the only one who wanted to get up front.

  "Come now!" Strike announced, grinning widely as he crossed his arms. "Show me your mettle!"

  The crowd murmured in agreement as he struck a pose that reminded me of the Bravehearts.

  Strike was one of the most iconic and recognizable knights in the world. He'd been active for decades, and his presence in a room demanded attention. Unlike Tesseract, he was actually known for his chops as a mentor and teacher. Strike was known to take a hiatus for a couple of years at a time to teach at both the academy here and the university on the other side of the academic district.

  I was honestly amazed that we'd been selected to be trained by someone like him, and it made me feel... important.

  A chorus of 'oohs' and 'ahhs' followed as he scanned the crowd.

  "Now, I'll be borrowing Miss Tesseract's little sorting spell to pair you with your starting opponent. Those of you with blue tethers will go first, and those of you with no tether will wait with me near the center. We will go in five minute rounds, and when I call time, the person who gains a new tether will rotate out to rest."

  He grinned, his cape fluttering dramatically. "Now!"

  A burst of rainbow-colored light flashed, and a blue tether erupted from my chest.

  I turned, following the line to where it was attached to the other end.

  It ended just a couple feet from me.

  "Hi." I said, smiling awkwardly. I could see Elysia in the background paired with Nova Victorias.

  "Hey," Forest Willow smiled sheepishly. She was dressed in a Robin Hood-style tunic and pants, complete with a bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back. "Looks like we're sparring partners."

  "Yeah," I replied. "Looks like it."

  She nodded, giving me a bright smile. I couldn't help but return it.

  I'd only really talked with her a bit here and there, and we were more acquaintances than friends.

  But she'd made a good impression on me. She was sweet and kind, and had an aura of softness and tenderness about her.

  "Welp, get ready," Elysia yawned, before turning and winking at Claw Strawberry. "Let's just say we're in for a hell of a ride in a minute."

  "Alright!" Strike shouted. "The field will now divide into a number of one-on-one battlefields, isolated by barrier magic. Please restrain yourselves and keep it light. No killing blows, and no unnecessary violence! The barriers will cancel out all noise, smells, and excessively luminous light apart from what is generated in your own arenas, so that those of you with enhanced senses can use your abilities to your fullest. Now, let us get you all into position!"

  He flexed, taking a side pose that showed off his bulging pecs and a wave of power emanated from his body.

  "Huh?" Willow and I exclaimed at the same time as we suddenly levitated off the ground.

  The grass swirled, and suddenly I found myself flung into the air, connected to Forest Willow by a tether. I felt the world spin around me and my stomach lurch as I was tossed into the air.

  "Aaagh!?" I exclaimed. I looked down to see the ground rushing up to meet me.

  "Aaahhhhh!" both of us yelled as we were dropped unceremoniously onto a grassy field, our descent slowing down as the ground rushed to meet us.

  "Oof!" I grunted as I hit the ground, tumbling into a somersault.

  Forest Willow landed gracefully on the grass, standing with a look of surprise.

  The tether between us snapped and disappeared, and I could feel my body tense as I stared across at her.

  "BWAHAHAA!" I could hear the distant, boisterous voice of the instructor. "Now, take a moment to compose yourselves and I will announce the start of the match!"

  "Okay..." I muttered to myself, dusting off my skirt as I stood. "Let's do this."

  These instructors were serious psychos. I swear. Every time I had class with someone new I ended up in a situation that was shockingly dangerous. Wasn't training supposed to be... well... safe?

  Sure, this life was more dangerous than the civilian life I'd grown up with, and maybe they wanted to push me to my limits to help me survive. But their approach seemed downright batshit crazy to me!

  Forest Willow was about thirty yards away from me, dusting herself off. She looked up at me, her expression determined. "You ready, Lux?" she called out, drawing an arrow from her quiver. Her bow appeared in her hand. "I won't hold back!"

  I took a stance, smiling as I created a dome of luminary barriers around me in anticipation.

  "Ready," I called back.

  "Now let's see, what sort of terrain should we go with for this first round?" Strike's voice echoed across the training field, reverberating through the barrier as I saw him standing next to a terminal that'd opened up on the podium in front of the bleachers.

  The sky above me changed from blue to a dark purple, the sun fading as stars began to fill the sky. I looked around breathlessly as the world changed around us.

  The grassy field turned into a field of flowers, each one glowing with a soft pale blue glow. Trees began to erupt from the ground, their branches and leaves swaying as the wind picked up.

  A soft melody filled the air and I looked over to see that the forest was filled with a light, twinkling music.

  "That will do!" The Instructor announced. "Begin!"

  I looked back over to Forest Willow to start our spar, only to pause as my eyes landed on an empty clearing.

  She was already gone.

  Wait— what the heck?

  "Willow?"

  Silence hung in the air for a brief moment, and the next thing I knew, my instincts were screaming that I was in danger.

  "Oh sn—"

  I fell prone and rolled, sucking in a breath as a volley of green sailed inches over my face. I quickly renewed my barriers and stood up, assessing the damage.

  The first couple of projectiles had smashed harmlessly into my barriers, but the rest had broken the barriers right after before scattering into the field behind me.

  They slammed into a row of trees, shattering it with a deafening boom. Shards of wood went flying everywhere, and I quickly scrambled to regain my stance and reinforced my barriers with additional layers.

  I spun around to see a shadow darting between the trees. I turned on my aura sight out of reflex, but couldn't make out anything but flashes of movement in the distance.

  There was a flicker of something in the corner of my vision. I turned, but couldn't make it out. What was she doing?

  "You've got to be kidding me." I muttered to myself as I quickly turned around.

  I threw up a Luminary Mirage, diving into a leaping roll as dozens of sharpened wooden spears landed in a circular pattern where I'd been standing moments before, each of them barbed and razor sharp. I felt a prickling pain on my shoulder, but it was only a small scrape that quickly healed over with a shimmer of my aura.

  Forest Willow was an archer, and she was probably one of the grittier emergency contractees from what little I'd gathered of the Cataclysm. Then again, that was probably to be expected for those of us that wound up here through that route.

  Her powers seemed to revolve around being an agile, ranged fighter with stealth.

  I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach as I realized that she could be a lot stronger than I'd even anticipated.

  One thing was for sure. I was in for a hell of a fight.