"Don't touch anything," Riya warned. "Seriously. That vase costs more than your entire bloodline."
I pulled my hand back from the shiny chrome sculpture I was about to poke.
"I wasn't going to touch it," I lied. "I was just... sensing its aura."
We were standing in the lobby of Astra-Tech Tower, the tallest building in the city and the headquarters of the Malhotra Corporation. The floor was made of marble so polished I could see up my own nose in the reflection. Security drones buzzed silently near the ceiling like expensive mosquitoes.
I tugged at my collar. I was wearing my school uniform, which suddenly felt very cheap.
"Why are we here again?" I whispered. "I thought we were going to get burgers."
"We are here," a voice echoed from the mezzanine above, "because you look like a hobo."
I looked up. Vikram Malhotra was descending the grand staircase. He wasn't wearing his school uniform. He was wearing a sleek, tactical training suit that looked like it belonged in a Marvel movie. He held a tablet in one hand and a protein shake in the other.
"Welcome to my house," Vikram said, reaching the bottom step. "Or rather, my father's R&D division."
"You live here?" I asked.
"Top five floors," he shrugged. "Commute to school is a breeze when you have a helipad. Follow me. We have work to do."
Level B4: The Armory
The elevator ride went down. Deep down.
When the doors opened, my jaw hit the floor.
It looked like the inside of a spaceship. Walls lined with weapons, racks of glowing blue ammunition, and mannequins wearing futuristic armor. Scientists in white coats scurried around holding clipboards.
Vikram walked past a rack of laser rifles without glancing at them.
"The Inter-School Tournament—the 'Rookie Wars'—starts in two weeks," Vikram explained, walking fast. "St. Xavier's hasn't passed the qualifiers in ten years. This year, with me as Captain, we are going to win."
He stopped in front of a glass display case. inside was a suit.
It wasn't bulky armor. It was a bodysuit made of a matte-black fabric with orange hexagonal patterns woven into the chest and arms.
"For you," Vikram said.
"Me?" I pointed at myself.
"Yes. Do you know how much money I spent covering up the fact that you burn your clothes every time you transform?" Vikram sighed. "This is a Thermal-Weave V4. It's made of hyper-tensile carbon fibers. It stretches when you bulk up, and it's fireproof up to 3,000 degrees Celsius."
I stared at it. "It looks... tight."
"It is. Put it on. We're running a simulation."
The Simulation Room
Ten minutes later, I was standing in a large white room. The suit was, indeed, tight. I felt like a scuba diver.
Riya was in a glass observation booth above, eating a bag of chips she had smuggled in.
"Simulation sequence: Urban Guerilla," Vikram's voice boomed over the speakers. "Level: Intermediate."
"Wait, I didn't get a tutorial!" I yelled.
BZZZT.
The room shifted. Holographic projectors turned the white walls into a ruined city street.
Suddenly, three robotic drones floated out from behind a holographic bus. They had red laser sights.
PEW. PEW.
"Ow! Ow!"
I got hit twice in the chest. It felt like being stung by a bee. The suit absorbed the damage, but the impact still stung.
"Fight back, idiot!" Riya yelled over the intercom.
I gritted my teeth.
< AVATAR: AGNI >
WHOOSH.
Flames erupted over the black suit. The orange hexagonal patterns glowed brightly, channeling the heat away from my skin. It actually felt comfortable.
"Eat this!"
I threw a fireball at the center drone.
BOOM.
It exploded into digital confetti.
I grinned. "Too easy."
CLICK.
I heard a sound behind me.
I turned around just in time to see a massive, tank-treaded robot roll out of an alleyway. It had a cannon aimed right at my face.
"Oh."
BLAM.
A rubber shell the size of a watermelon slammed into my gut.
I flew backward, skipping across the pavement like a stone, and crashed into a brick wall. The hologram flickered as I slid down.
"Simulation Failed," the computer announced cheerfully.
I groaned, clutching my stomach. "I think I swallowed a lung."
The hologram faded. Vikram walked into the room, looking unimpressed.
He offered me a hand. I took it, and he hauled me up.
"You have raw power, Aryan," Vikram said, analyzing the data on his tablet. "Your Agni form has S-Rank destructive potential. But your defense is F-Rank."
He tapped the screen. A replay of me getting shot played.
"You rely on dodging (Vayu) or overwhelming force (Agni). But what happens when you fight someone you can't dodge? Someone who locks you down?"
"I... run away?" I suggested.
"In the Tournament, leaving the ring is a disqualification," Vikram said sharply. "The rival team from St. Lionheart Academy has a Captain named Isha. She uses Ice Magic to freeze the entire battlefield. You won't be able to run."
He looked at me dead in the eye.
"To win, you need to learn how to take a hit. You need to stop being a glass cannon and become a fortress."
My wrist buzzed.
I looked down. The Astra-Chakra was glowing faintly. Not Orange (Fire), not Green (Wind).
A deep, heavy Brown light pulsed for a second, then faded.
< COMPATIBILITY CHECK: PRITHVI >
< STATUS: 15% >
"Prithvi," I whispered. The Earth Avatar.
"Exactly," Vikram said. "And I have just the training regimen to force it out of you."
He smiled. It was an evil smile.
"Riya, set the Gravity Chamber to 2x Earth Gravity."
"Wait, 2x?" I panic. "Vikram, I just ate a samosa!"
"Endurance training starts now," Vikram declared, turning his back on me. "If you throw up, you clean it up."