Maxim stood up straight as he and the rest of his teammates were lined up in front of Sydney, who was staring them down, not saying a word. The blue team had already been given their post-match talk and were asked to leave to the dorms to start their unpacking. However, for the past three minutes, Sydney merely stared at the red team.
"I must say, your performance was very disappointing to say the least." Sydney said flatly as she finally broke the silence. "When the teams had all been drawn, I honestly thought the blue team had no chance. Sure, they're talented and were chosen based on their potential, but as they currently are as a whole, they shouldn't have stood a chance versus you guys."
Sydney glared at Amanda. "I had heard about your sniping skills, how there are only a few in the military who scored higher than you at sharpshooting, but I didn't get to see even a glimpse of your skills. You focused on one target and one target only, not bothering to use your skills to assist your other teammates. You could have easily sniped Brandon when he was focused on fighting Melek and Kolten. Instead, you fell for an obvious baiting and concentrated on trying and failing to pick off Freya."
Sydney shifted her gaze to Eric. "I had read all about your family's extensive, and honorable, military background. Your father fought in the Great War and led a squad of infantry to reclaim and hold a highly strategic mountain pass that allowed countless civilians to evacuate and bought enough time for reinforcements to sweep through and liberate the area. Your brother and sister are both in the military as well, both stationed in two of the most inhospitable bases in the Republic trying to maintain order. I had hoped that maybe, during your training with them, that they would have taught you to keep an eye on the battlefield as a whole. Not only did you not know what was going on throughout the entire battlefield, you didn't even know what was going on in your own fight."
Sydney shook her head. "You tried to mimic someone else's fighting style instead of sticking to your own. While doing this, you completely ignore a combatant that had SHOT at you previously, allowing her to easily go in for the kill."
She turned to Melek and Kolten. "Melek, I'm actually pleased with your performance as a whole. You were one of the ones wanting to work as a team and, knowing that one of your teammates was in trouble, rushed over to try to provide support. That's very admirable and showed that you understood what was going on in the battle. My only gripe with your performance was you letting your guard down when going to deliver the killing blow so to speak. You lost track of the battlefield as well and allowed Freya to disqualify you without any resistance. Work on improving your focus and you should definitely see improvements almost instantly."
Melek nodded. "Thank you, Instructor."
"Kolten...I'm not going to lie, I am having some difficulty trying to break down your performance. On one hand, you and Melek tried to work together while everyone else tried to play the hero. Your teamwork wasn't the greatest, but that was a great first try, especially with someone you had no idea existed just yesterday. Keep that same mindset of wanting to work together and focus on improving your skills with your preferred weapon."
Finally, Sydney looked at Maxim, remaining silent yet again for over a minute before finally speaking. "Why did you hold back?"
"Um...what do you mean?"
"You held your own against three members of the other team, going toe to toe with their strongest member, and you knew exactly what was going on around you during the fight. You were able to effortlessly determine where Freya was going to dodge your first blast and fired a second blast at her, disqualifying her. Instead of continuing with both your saber and blaster, you holstered your blaster and fought Ellie and Aidan with a handicap. Also...I could easily tell you're well trained in the Steiger school. Sure, Aidan was also trained in Cedeno but you could tell that while he's skilled, he hasn't even come close to mastering it yet. You could have beaten him with ease, knocked out Ellie, and easily beat Lexi. Instead, you allowed Lexi to come to their aid and somehow overwhelm you. I'm very curious as to why."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Instructor." Maxim said, looking directly at Sydney. "As you said, Aidan was trained in Cedeno and provided enough resistance so that I couldn't defeat him quickly. As for Freya...I got lucky."
"Lucky huh?" Sydney sarcastically said, unimpressed with Maxim's response. "Well you should know what you need to work on then: making sure that 'luck' of yours stays."
Sydney stepped back and sighed. "That's enough lecturing for now. Just use this experience as a stepping stone and motivation to get better. I'll be seeing you two bright and early for homeroom. I expect each of you to be there on time, understood?"
Everyone nodded. "Alright. Dismissed. Make your way to the dorms and begin unpacking."
Maxim relaxed his shoulders that had, instinctively, tensed up during his short exchange with Sydney. She's definitely not the ace of the military for her skills alone. Maxim thought to himself as he began walking to the dorms, taking out a piece of paper he had placed in his shirt pocket. The paper stated what room he was assigned. As he entered the dorm, he walked into a large, lobby-like room that had a couple of couches, chairs, and tables. The room was brightly lit with some non-heat white lights on the roof, with a few laps scattered about. Sitting on one of the couches was Aidan, who grinned when he saw Maxim.
"There you are! Looks like our instructor finally let you guys go huh?"
Maxim sighed. "Yeah...she definitely wasn't happy with our performance as a whole. Though if I'm telling the truth, I had a feeling we would struggle, especially with you on the other team."
"Oh? Why would you think that?"
"I get the feeling that you're much more calculative than you let on. Not only that, but from what I can tell, you're charismatic and a natural leader. It wouldn't be difficult for you to get everyone on the blue team on the same page and develop a strategy for taking us down. Besides, only someone who knew that, for the most part, the red team would be fighting solo would try to develop a strategy to counteract it. That means you must have already known what the others were like."
Aidan chuckled. "You give me too much credit. I merely gambled that your teammates would try to win it on their own merits rather than working together as a team, and it paid off."
"Well either way, it's impressive."
"Not as impressive as your saber fighting! Why didn't you tell me you're a fully trained Steiger?"
Maxim smirked. "Because that's not something I tend to say to someone I just met. I could say the same about you being trained in the Cedeno style."
"Touche, though I'm not as well trained as you are. I wasn't able to complete my training before being sent here, so from now on I have to develop my saber fighting skills on my own."
The lobby door opened, revealing Kolten as he walked into the building. He immediately noticed Maxim and Aidan and walked over. "You're Aidan...right?"
Aidan nodded. "I am. You must be...Kolten?"
Kolten nodded his head. "Good job today, but if there's every a rematch with the same teams, I promise you we'll come out on top."
Aidan grinned. "We'll see about that."
Kolten sighed and walked up the only set of stairs up to the second floor, looking for his room. Maxim chuckled. "Looks like we got a friendly rivalry going on here. Can't say I'm surprised though. Sydney put us through the ringer. I'm also not surprised Amanda or Eric haven't arrived. Probably have to cool off somewhere."
"Eh they'll get over it sooner rather than later. Anyways..." Aidan looked at the stairs. "I'll also have to start unpacking my things. Hope to get that done before dinner. I'll be seeing you!" Aidan gave Maxim a short wave before going up the stairs himself.
Maxim chuckled to himself. He's definitely an interesting one, I'll give him that. Taking another glance at the piece of paper, Maxim went up the stairs as well and to made his way down a narrow hallway. Finding his room at the very end of the hallway, Maxim scanned a card that had come with the paper. He could hear the door unlock before automatically opening.
His room wasn't exactly spacious, but at the same time he still had plenty of room to place all of his belongings. There was a bed, a desk, and a wardrobe already placed in the room. His luggage had already been sent to the school beforehand and was waiting for him on the bed. As he stepped inside, the door shut behind him. "Home sweet home huh?" He said to himself as he took in his surroundings. I had better unpack first before reporting in. Something tells me I don't want to be up until midnight trying to settle in.
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