Versus (Parts I and II)

Chapter 12- No Pressure

I'm 21 :)

Calista uncomfortably twisted and turned in her combat suit. It was nothing fancy, just an elastic second skin that stretched over her body with protective padding stitched in, with the tougher parts covering the most sensitive areas. It was light and flexible enough to move around easily.

The color was torturing her. It was all orange, nothing like the suits she'd seen in the competition. Orange wasn't even part of the school colors! What were they thinking?!

She was in the second group of challengers, waiting in the hall for her turn. The first group had already been taken to the dugout, going out one-by-one to confront Lílitha Houdge in combat.

Calista's nerves skyrocketed with every fight that passed. Everyone was humiliating themselves by being smashed into the ground after five seconds, even the 'higher' species. Paeseoans, Seeyastians, Martians, Mercurians, and all sorts of mixed species had the glitches kicked out of them.

Lílitha was the most vicious fighter Calista had seen in her life. At first, she thought she was downright adorable, resembling a 7-year old girl with huge eyes that curled at the ends and a shining, innocent smile.

Now, she was her worst nightmare, her sharp teeth glinting threateningly each time she dug them into her opponents' armor. It was almost as if she wished the armor wasn't there.

She wrung her gloved hands together, sweating profusely. The cooling mechanism in the suit didn't help her. She felt helpless and completely alone. Her family had gone to a separate room to view the fights virtually, the Arena reserved for the students.

That was another thing: she thought she'd be fighting in front of the Versus school students. That was nerve-wracking enough. But it turned out that the entire school was watching, from every career in both the Versus and Technological Wings.

Every career offered by the Earth schools were related to the Versus, but the Versus Wing was more directly related to the fighters, the teams, and the competition. The Technological Wing worked to innovate new machines, applications, and artificial intelligence to improve the Versus as a whole.

The Versus Wing had other careers besides the Versus Fighting School. They had a Fighting career for those interested in fighting and the military, but not interested in participating in the Versus. They also had a Fighting Education career for those aiming to become coaches; Journalism for future writers and reporters following the fighters' progress; and Strategic Analysis for those wanting to become professors and evaluators screening the new fighters. Like Professor Estalen from her practical test.

The Relations career was for those aiming to deal with the business and legal side of the tournament, and the Medical Science school was for doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel treating fighters after being injured and helping innovate new tech to avoid serious lesions that could end a fighter's career.

The Technological Wing, on the other hand, was for designers, engineers, and innovators working to build new programs and structures to make the Versus more exciting and more incredible. The ones in the Design school were the most important, since they would be the ones custom-tailoring the fighters' suit designs for each and every fight they had.

Catalina would be amazing in that school. She deserved a chance there, but it was so expensive.

"Calista Medley to the arena. Repeat, Calista Medley to the arena. Your fight begins in T-minus 150 seconds."

Glancing at the other waiting candidates around her, she took a deep breath, trying not to spit out her stomach. It flipped over and over again like a pancake. She could hear the announcer introducing her as she approached the arena entrance.