Chapter 3(Lee): Strange way to get started

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"Ah, there you are, shouldn't you go back now? The teachers will think something's up" In a way, it felt real....like I was talking to my younger self, yet why was I keeping my distance? Like I was afraid.

"I don't want to...I despise that class"

"Yeah...I remember"

"Why do people have to be so loud?"

"And I despised it because I realized how alone I really was"

"Everyone is always having fun playing games, and yet...

"It always felt like I was getting targeted because of how weak I was, and made me realize how useless I truly am"

"I hate teachers...

"Because they always ignored me, giving me detention for standing up for others, which only made me an outcast even more because others thought I was a delinquent. I hate talent shows because it made me realize how talentless I was, after all, who cared if I was good at writing, it was a useless skill in the end, and my eyesight only became worse as the days went on causing even more problems...I never once made a happy memory there"

"Nobody needs someone as talentless as me....Hey...If the present and my future are both bleak....then can't I just die?

"......Honestly, you should hold off on that...If you decide to live just a little while longer you'll meet a girl who may be annoying at times... but is overall great company, you'll meet two twins, one of which is so obsessed with fixing a drone he broke his wrist, the other may be a realist but she always tries for the best outcome in the end, and although you probably won't meet face to face you'll meet even more people, someone who likes the stuff you do, both character and games, someone who acts like your dad and listens to your annoying problems, someone who makes games fun and tolerable when you're mad....And even better, they'll be like the happy family you've always wanted, they'll cry alongside you when you need it, they'll fight alongside you when you're weak, they'll make all the suffering and fighting you've been through worth it, they'll make you feel like you finally have a place you belong...so just hold on.......just a bit longer

Day of Graduation

That dream, it was then first I've had something like it. It felt so real, to the point it was startling, it really was my younger self, the self I resented so much.

"Come on slowpokes, you all gonna sleep in the entire day!" Nicholai was banging on the door, Kenneth, Kyle, and Matt were already up.

"Yeah..yeah, we're coming" I got up from my bed and changed, walking out the door when I was done "Thank god we're gonna get our own rooms after this, it's cramped in these ones"

"Agreed" Kyle, unlike him, agreed We all stretched and started to make our way to the central building, where our graduation would take place

"So? What do you think it's gonna be like? Our new lives as DTs, I'm personal excited" Sam was pretty hyped for it, I was too, put as everyone kept talking, I kept thinking about that dream. Why did I have it now, and not back then when I was human.

"So just hold on....Just a bit longer" Why did I say that, I guess, I said it because I wanted to hear it, I gu-

"Hey! You paying attention? We're here" Nicholai snapped me back to reality, If she didn't I'd probably go through an existential crisis.

"Oh, sorry, my bad, I was just thinking" I gave a sheepish smile and looked up at the building. "Huh, this thing looks cool I'll give it that"

"Thinking about what?" Sam, ignoring what I said except for the beginning asked that question, which I knew she would sooner or later

"I'll tell you another time Sam, let's get this over with first" I walked in front of them opening the door so they could get through "Come on now, don't wanna keep them waiting"

"Ah huh..." Nicholai was suspicious, right, they didn't know what I was like in middle school, there was a period in time where we were separated, and it was the worst two years of my life, so I didn't want them to know

We all walked in and noticed multiple people standing in the center, and Raymond, Neal, Alice, and Kai were standing on the stage...Kai, I don't know why, but I feel like I recognize him, I feel like when I was alive, I wanted him dead. Shoving my feelings aside, we all went and joined the crowd

"Everyone, I would first like to apologize, during the trials a corruption outbreak happened and because of that, not only were you rushed to use your powers, most likely causing pain to your brains, but many people also died. In the end, though, you people standing here prevailed, in a matter of two days, or even one for some, you learned magic and how to summon your weapons, I couldn't have asked for better cadets" Everyone standing in the crowd were quiet, either that or sadly sobbing from losing their loved ones or friends, honestly, a part of me wants to forget this and leave, people's family and whatnot, died, and this sure as hell ain't a good apology, just saying sorry and making them to DTs earlier, what a pathetic excuse for an apology.

"Me, Kai, Neal, and Alice, were deployed into the arena to see what everyone is capable of. We'll be announcing everyone's regiment placements now." The seven of us in a way stood out, either because maybe our age, or because of how we look standing together Me and Sam with bright colored hair (White-ish pink and just pink), Nicholai and Kenneth being blond unlike everyone's darker hair colors here, and Kyle and Kayla's dark looks, mostly wearing all black with brown hair. I practically blocked out every name until I heard ours

"Kayla, Sam, and Kenneth will be assigned to regiment 3" Hold on, what happened to, if you win together you're on the same team, even if basically everyone won, wouldn't you still realize who went in together? I could tell Kenneth and Sam were pissed off in a way as well, Kayla didn't really mind, after all she used to be a mercenary with her brother, so it only made sense.

"Lee, Kyle, Matt, and Nicholai will be in regiment 13" This guy is trying to piss us off, just get rid of the ten damnit, we're meant to stick together.

"sam!" I heard Nicholai give off a whispered shout. I wondered what the problem was, when I turned I noticed Sam had, without us noticing, left our group and made her way onto the stage

"The hell is she doing" Kyle Sighed, probably still not used to the weird antics she gets up to. When Sam did make it on stage she whispered into Alice's ears and Alice gave her a thumbs-up as to not disrupt the "Graduation" although I saw her saw a few words.

"Ohayo! I'm back, Alice says after this is over she'll put us in the same regiment" Sam had rejoined our group, smiling. Nicholai took a long breath out and Kayla started to speak up after being silent for the most part

"Alright, makes sense, she was the one who focused on our team after all"

"Exactly!" We all gave a motion for Sam to be quiet "sorry, but yeah, we're a team till the end, and I didn't want that to change"

"Well" I scratched my head a bit, I hated crowds, it always made me feel hotter than I usually am "I guess it's fine then, we shouldn't worry too much from this point onwards, of course, don't be stupid, or cocky" I was referring to mostly Sam and Kyle, as back then those two were the most reckless ones. We spent the rest of the graduation mostly talking to each other, after all, people may have died back there but there were still many of them left.

After graduation, we were assigned our own houses, which I thought was pretty extreme, but something didn't sit right with me, although it was probably because I wanted to treat it like a school graduation, it honestly didn't hit me until now, I won't technically ever graduate high school until this is all over.

"Lee! Come over here" I heard Sam call for me, I turned and noticed everyone grouping up "We're gonna take a graduation photo!"

"Heh, alright, alright, let's get this over with" I stood in the center of them all smiling. Kayla and Kyle stood at the far right side, Matt was right beside my right, Sam was to my left with a clicker for the camera, The two twins were to the far left with a robot flying above Kenneth, I guess he got it working after all.

"Smile everyone! If I see someone being depressed I'm gonna suffocate you with chocolate" She was teasing but, it was an enticing offer to be fair, the others found it funny too, laughing with her. It made my heart feel warm, these days where everyone got along, where we didn't have a care in the world, I was glad that at the very least, we were going back to those days.

After we took the picture we all departed to our homes, we got a message through our hud earlier talking about how we can change it all we want by using the hud as well, honestly, this hud was the best thing ever. Not only that, but Alice had assigned us not only in the regiment and team but our roles as well

Bravo Team's current chain of command

Lee Anc-Sam Cal-Kenneth Brok-Matt Ca-Nichola Brok-Kayla Towa-Kyle Towa

It made sense, for the most part, I didn't have an issue with it whatsoever, after all, the others wanted me to be the leader so what's the harm in listening to them.

Weirdly enough, our homes were decently close to each other, it'd take only about 10 minutes to walk there, in a way though, it felt comforting, knowing I could easily get to anyone if I needed them. Each team or platoon depending on how big it is is also assigned a hideout or base of operations so if you're in a different dimension you'll be fine, I feel bad for whoever had to go to all those worlds and dimensions to build them though. It just hit me that I didn't check the roles we had. Before I went inside my home I opened the hud and looked at a team composition

Lee Anc (Leader, DPS)

Sam Cal (Recon, DPS)

Kenneth Brok (Technician, Support)

Nicholai Brok (Medic, Healing Support/Mage)

Matt Ca (Tank, Support)

Kyle Towa (Tank, DPS)

Kayla Towa (Recon)

Damn, they even used game terminology for our roles, I didn't mind though, it's just more familiar ground for me to deal with.

I entered my new home and it was entirely empty...yeah, about right. I followed Raymond's instruction message and used the hud to change everything, the furniture, the color, literally everything.

"Colorful!" A voice from behind startled me, I turned and looked down to be met with a small kid

"Oh...hey, don't do that when someones focused, you scared me" I couldn't even hear the girl's footsteps, the hud showed me every room so I just stayed in the doorway as I changed it all

"Sorry...." Taking a closer look, she seemed to also have an abnormal hair color, hell, I didn't even know young kids lived here "I just think that the cadet clothes are cool..." After graduation, we were also handed uniforms, which showed that while we did "pass' the trials, we were still recruits. In the future, when we fully become DTs, we're allowed to pick and make our uniforms

"I think so as well, it really does look either cute or cool, no in-between" The outfits were dark-colored with badges and symbols, there were a few exceptions though, if your hair, like mine and Sam's, were bright-colored, then you would be given a lighter version of the uniform, and in all honesty, it looked cute, of course, I did my best to make it look cool other than cute....I've been called a girl way too many times for me not to try and change it.

"Well, see you again mister!" The girl waved me goodbye

"Yeah, goodbye kiddo!" and I waved back. So, there were children here, I guess that makes my future easier, knowing I'll be fighting for families and children, makes it a lot better.

TTS Active

Alice-"Hello everyone!"

Kenneth-"Oh, Hi"

Sam-"Hello!"

Alice "Listen, everyone, from tomorrow on you seven will be certified DTs, remember, DTs don't get breaks that often so you have to make the most of your breaks. You guys will be deployed on your first mission tomorrow, so rest easy for now"

Kyle-"Alright, we'll get some action soon"

Kayla-"Yeah, because yesterday wasn't enough"

"Lee-"Alright, we'll be ready then"

Alice-"I know you guys will, of course, since I'm the regiment leader it's my job to make sure everyone is okay, so I'll go on missions with you guys every now and again"

Sam-"We'll look forward to it!"

TTS Deactive

I don't understand why but I smiled, I guess its because my body just caught up with the fact that this is real, and I'm with everyone again

"You look happy!" I opened my eyes again to see Sam and Nicholai, with Sam the one talking with me

"That's odd. You two together, at your own will?" I was skeptical, it was weird seeing the two being together on their own accord

"Yeah, don't get used to this, this is just a rare occurrence"

"But don't worry , we're not clawing at each other's throats" Sam tried to say something that resembled optimism but, it only made me think what they'd do if they were stuck together the entire day "We were gonna check out one of the hideouts so we can get used to them, since we'll be stationed in that world soon, they decided they'd kill two birds with one stone, get us used to the new dimension we'll be staying in, and get us used to our new hideout."

"Supposidly, the stuff we put in this hideout will transfer to all our different hideouts" Nicholai leaned against the fence the surrounded my house "It's cool I'll give it that, but I wonder to what extent it goes to with transferring. LIke an example, it shouldn't transfer food since it can rot, and it shouldn't transfer us due to the fact that then we'll have multiple version of us, and we might try killing each other."

"You know, if it works then we really shouldn't be giving it much thought" I remembered the kid, jeez my memory was getting shotty "Ah, did you guys know there was children here? Like 5 to 10 year olds?"

"Well" Sam began to think "I doubt that DTs wouldn't have families, and there is an option to not become a DT or a DT Fighter, so, it does make sense on why'd there be kids, you know?" She looked proud of herself for saying such a thing, so me and Nicholai, just by looking at each other, agreed to let her have it.

"Yeah, I guess it does make sense, I was just more surprised that they're allowed outside since literally a day or two ago a giant corruption attack happened" When I said corruption Nicholai perked up

'Heh, you know Kenneth calls them creatures? I don't remember him calling them corruptors or corruption once." I didn't realize that until now, but Kenneth did call them creatures instead of their normal name. In the end though, I guess it makes sense for someone like him

"So! Wanna tag along?" While she asked for me to tag along, she was already walking past me

"You don't ask someone a question and then start leaving" I caught up to Sam while Nicholai followed shortly

"I did it on purpose, I mean, it's easier to keep walking then stop, turn around, and start walking again especially when you're already walking with your friends you know?" While Sam sometimes seems childish, she for some reason gets an IQ boost (Not all the time though) whenever she wants something.

"I guess you have some sort of point, although, it's kinda illogical if you think deeply about it" I pulled up my hud once more and used it to message the others

Wanna Tag Along
Recipients: Lee, Kyle, Kenneth, Matt, Kayla

Hey guys, Me, Sam, and Nicholai are going to
check out the hideouts, and the dimension
we'll be stationed in
wanna tag along?

Huh, I guess that would be a nice thing to do
Alright, I'll meet you guys when you're almost there
till then-Ken

I don't see an issue,
sure, I'll be there to meet up with you guys-M

Sure, I'll be there soon-Kay

I don't see why not, hopefully, they show us how to use more
more powers as well-Kyle

I brought down the hud and continued to walk with the others, the two seemed to already be talking about something

"You think if we're trusted enough they'll let us use it?" Sam looked happy, probably thinking about whatever she was talking about

"That's if someone wants to link with you, I mean I know Lee is your best friend and all but using it is painful, even getting it is painful" Nicholai continued to talk Sam's ear off until I interjected

"What're you two talking about?" I remember seeing, or reading, something that resembles what they're talking about, it's mainly referred to as the partner-link, but some call it team link or PL and TL, supposedly it allows you to share your powers, at the cost of how efficient it works, but I never heard that it was painful "Are you guys talking about the partner-link?"

"Spot on! I was telling Nicholai that your power and mine work well together you know?"

"We both only used our powers once, I don't even think we know how to use our power yet" After I said that Sam got gloomy

"But-

"No Sam, I don't mind it as long as you actually learn how to use your power, also, don't you have to be close to the same strength" I install realized I should've chosen my words better

"Are you calling me weak? I held my own just fine that day! And during the apocalypse too!" Nicholai started to smile, almost ready to laugh

"I swear, you two are weird, I always wonder how you two haven't killed each other yet" It's been a while since I've seen Nicholai smile, maybe I was right, and things could go back to normal, and we can all be friends again.

"Yeah, honestly, I think we're friends by how much we annoy one another" I smiled while saying that, but deep inside me I had this terrible feeling and terrible thoughts, because I know in reality these days won't last, so I'm going to enjoy them the best I can

"Oh Lee! Now that we're all alive, we can make that Café that we promised to build" Sam turned around to look at me, walking backward because of it

"You and that Café Sam, does it ever hurt your brain because of how much you want one?" Nicholai went back to her stern and serious tone

"Hey, the atmosphere is always peaceful, we can make money on the side for whatever DTs buy, and we can use it as a meetup area when it's closing hours" Throughout her entire "Why I want a Café speech" which I blocked out most of, she made very detailed yet extremely bizarre hand gestures.

"How about we get this done first? The others are probably waiting for us." Sam turned around again

"Hmm..." Sam was deep in thought, which was never a good thing most of the time"

"There you guys are!" The four other members of this misfit brigade awaited us, standing near the building we were going to enter

"You guy's good to go? We won't be able to return for a while, so I wanna make sure you all are good to go" Kenneth held a bag beside him, when he noticed that I saw it he shook it a little "Food and water, if you're curious, Oh! One more thing" I walked up to me opening another bag, he took out a familiar hat and extended his arms to give it to me "Here, you, I don't know why I have it, but the real owner is you" I took the hat from his hands and put it on my head

"So" I backed up and got into a position where everyone can see me "How do I look? Does it still fit me? With my new hair color and all?"

"I say it fits all the same, if not better" Matt rated

"9/10! The Hat needs repairs, but other than that, perfect!" Sam gave me a wink and a
thumbs-up

"I think we all agree with Sam, your new hair color fits with the hat very well" Kenneth closed the bag and saluted

"Wha-what are you doing!" It caught me by suprise

"It's a pleasure to be fighting alongside you again Lee" I turned and saw the others saluting as well

"You know how stupid this looks?" I put my hand on my face, I guess, I was happy and also embarrassed

"We know, put now your title is official, you're our leader! And I hope it stays that way for a long time!" Sam as usual cheered on

"Alright...If that's the case, then I looked forward to fighting with you all as well" I put my hand down and walked past them, toward the building we originally wanted to go to "Well? I can't go without my team can I?" Everyone, besides for Nicholai, Kyle, and Kayla smiled, and they all caught up to me "But please, warn me before you do that, I'm glad you all did that but...I want to be warned first"

"Aww, are you embarrassed?" Sam began to taunt me, while the others just smiled in peace watching it unfold

"N-NO! I'm not, it just caught me off guard and scared me!"

"Hehe, whatever you say Lee" She continued to taunt me but I started blanking out again, this was bliss, even if they were taunting me, it was bliss. Even if we'll all part ways one day, I hope I can make it so we're together for as long as possible no matter the cost "You're totally embarrassed, hehe, do you hate surprises because I-

"Don't finish that story! I-I...." Yeah, this was my weird form of happiness, Onward to our new dimension, and onward, to our new lives as DTs

Short After chapter report

Sam Cal R5-R6

Kenneth Brok R4-R5

Nicholai Brok R3-R4

"Of course, they'll do their best, doing their best is all they've ever done, of course, they sometimes do stupid things but, the fact that they help one another, even if they just argued, in my opinion, their little family they've built throughout the years as children is sweet"