CHAMPIONS (The Lost Chronicles of Eden, #1) [Published]

14: GETTING DOWN TO THE BUSINESS OF HEROISM

14: GETTING DOWN TO THE BUSINESS OF HEROISM

Following their rather humiliating punishments at the hands of the most ruthless commander in the Citadel, the Candidates made the most out of the remaining days to prepare for their first mission.

A few Council members had suggested to send the Candidates out immediately because they only had a few weeks left before the alignment, but Samson was quick to explain the reason behind the delay.

“We don’t go to battle unprepared.”

And that was that.

In the mornings, before the sun rose, the seven trained together in Samson’s restored training grounds. They had drills for physical conditioning, weapons mastery and hand-to-hand combat. Gabriel and Lukas, the only two who weren’t Guardians, had a bit of trouble keeping up with the enhanced skills of their fellow Candidates, but they held their ground.

Lukas had been trained in the ancient Eastern Arts and Gabriel had been active in different martial arts club since he was in elementary. It was his way of coping with the frustration of losing his memory.

In the afternoons they would go their different ways in the different towers to do the tasks handed to them by the Judges.

Samson and Solomon took care of their strategy and battle tactics. Solomon had graduated top of their class by virtue of being the best strategist that came out of the Guardian Initiative. His mind was sharp and his decisions were sound. He could outthink and outplay the opponent and predict their move before they could even think of doing it. Nobody dared to mention that if there was anyone who could read Xandros’s mind easily, it would be Solomon.

They used to be best friends before Xandros defected.

Mateo and Joana hunkered down on their respective stations and gathered all the intelligence they could get from the Net. Between the two of them, there was very little information they could not get. Mateo also took charge of the weapons. While at night he was scouring their net for any information, by day he was furiously overseeing research and production of tools, gadgets and weapons that the Guardians and Candidates could use.

Joana, not one to be outdone by Mateo, scoured the three-dimensional geomaps in the database to locate the puéstosthey could use, other than the ones already plotted in their system. Finding the puéstos was a bit of a challenge for the Beta researcher, because the portals were never in the same place twice, but she had finally determined a pattern in the movements of the trans-dimensional doors. Joana also had to make sure that those traveling via puésto would arrive before those traveling via the air mobiles. She drew up a location map of her own, complete with the puéstos’ shifting movements and locations.

Selina had wanted to join the anino — Zeta Division’s special unit — who had been tailing and spying on the enemy’s troops, but Deborah had denied her request. Dismayed at her commander’s orders, she took to the dungeons and joined the Underground Intelligence unit when she wasn’t forced to train with the other Candidates. The UI unit was in charge of… drawing out (for lack of a less graphic term) information from suspicious people, criminals, spies, and battle prisoners, humans and demons alike. Selina was their best interrogator. Much vital information on the movement and motivations of the enemy were gathered with Selina and the anino’s help.

Lukas, who was actually the apprentice of the best healer in the West in spite of his notoriety as a quack doctor, was put in charge of the Alpha Guardians’ health and welfare. In the weeks they were given, he checked and monitored everyone involved in the mission, much to Solenn’s dismay. He took all of their vital statistics and prepared customized training regimens for each Guardian. He forwarded the data to the commanders and trainers in the Guardian army and made sure they implemented his recommendations to the dot.