"Why are you sitting on my chair?"

Everyone in the cafeteria turned to her, then quickly glanced back to Dale. It was clear they were wondering what the confident recruit would do.

Dale’s peripheral vision caught the reactions of those around him. He wasn’t stupid; something was clearly wrong with her, but he wasn’t going to react.

If he backed down, it would be worse than if he had been humble from the start but if he instead acted more callously, it would only make him seem proud, earning him the ire of everyone around him.

So naturally, he chose indifference.

The girl in question had heterochromia — her right eye was blue while the other was red. The tracksuit she wore was two sizes bigger than her, forcing her to fold her sleeves. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

Her hair was a vibrant orange... with the black and bronze tracksuit, she seemed like an unorganized mesh of colors.

She walked slowly to Dale and Austin whispered in his ear. "I’ll advise you to get up. That’s Sarah Song."

Dale raised an eyebrow and whispered, "And I’m Dale Green. We all have names."

Austin slapped his forehead and continued. "No. I mean that is one of the awakened people in our year... her and her cohorts."

Dale turned to the short girl who clearly didn’t go past his shoulders. Time and time again, it was proven to him that size didn’t matter.

So with no choice, he stood up but didn’t move from the seat. He waited until she was close enough to him.

’Guess I have her too much credit, she doesn’t even reach up to my chest.’ He thought as he stared her down.

She craned her neck to stare at him with her red and yellow eyes.

’Wait, weren’t they red and blue?’ He stared deeper into her eyes yet found no trace of the original color.

Sarah tilted her head slightly and spoke. "You aren’t scared?"

Dale smiled lightly. "Why would I be scared?"

She giggled, "I don’t know, maybe because I’m awakened and I could kill you in a near instant?"

His eyes darkened sinisterly as his smile turned into a ferocious grin, "Oh? So you go around threatening people than you’re stronger than? Have you no shame?"

The attention of the entire cafeteria was on them. More than a few were expecting Dale to turn into a cadaver by the end of the confrontation.

Sarah opened her mouth but before she could reply, the door opened and two more people walked in.

One was rather tall with black, medicated glasses. The other had green hair and even greener eyes.

"The other awakened!" He heard Austin gasp.

Sarah smiled brightly and skipped to them, wrapping her arms around their necks. "Hey!! Where were you guys?"

Glasses tilted his head to look at her, then at Dale. "Never mind that." He spoke calmly and took a step forward.

"Freeze." His voice cut through the air and a strange feeling washed over Dale.

’What was that?’

He tried to move but it felt like he was walking through gelatin, each movement took extreme effort.

Everyone else in the cafeteria seemed unaffected.

Glasses walked to him, ignoring everyone else. "Hello there, you might not know me but I am Trevor and while I am not sure what happened before my arrival, I won’t take any threats or challenges to my friends... is that clear?"

Dale gritted his teeth, staring at Trevor’s eyes through his glasses, and moved a hand closer to him.

’Like hell I am going to take this disrespect!’ He wasn’t sure what would happen but it was far better than doing nothing.

Austin wanted to speak but swallowed his words.

Trevor watched as Dale’s hand came close to him but didn’t bother reacting. What was the point? It wasn’t like anything could happen.

The moment his finger made contact with Trevor’s clothes however, a green wave ran through it, shattering with the sound of breaking glass, and the other boy — the one with green hair — fell to his knees.

"Gary!" Trevor yelled placing some distance between them and gripping Dale by his collar.

"What did you do?!"

Gary — the one with green hair — waved his hand, forcing a smile. "It’s nothing much. Just shattered the shield I placed on you."

Sarah who had remained unfazed throughout suddenly seemed reinvigorated and ran to Dale, poking his near-frozen body. "Ohh, I like this one."

Trevor let go of Dale’s collar and turned to Sarah. "Really?" He asked, his disappointment audible.

She nodded and he drew in a long breath and let out a sigh. "Fine."

Immediately, Dale found himself able to move. Before he could though, Sarah sat beside him and wrapped her arms around his, pulling him down to sit.

Trevor sat beside her. Gary forced himself to his feet and sat on the other side of Trevor, leaving only the space beside Dale which Austin quickly took up.

The five of them sat in an awkward silence before Sarah coughed breaking it. "No hard feelings by the way. It’s just that Trevor gets a little emotional when I’m involved."

Dale turned to her briefly but did a double-take. Her once orange hair was now a vibrant red while her eyes had turned blue and orange.

’Just what is going on today?’

Gary reached out to him from the table, extending a hand. "Well done, you broke through the shield I placed on four-eyes over here. How?"

Trevor scoffed, turning away from them but it was clear he was paying close attention.

Dale just stared at them in silence. He had no intention of holding any prejudice against them... he was far more mature than that yet he also had no desire to spill his secrets.

’But what is the point? The military has it anyway and will most likely divulge the info.’

So, trapped by systematic rules, he spoke. "My ability can basically disrupt objects."

The others on the table — Austin excluded — seemed intrigued.

Sarah smiled. "Well I control elements, Trevor can issue commands, and Gary can create shields and force fields. There, the intros are done."

Dale’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. ’Elemental control, commands, and force fields?! What sort of broken set of people are these?!’

Trevor could command an enemy to die off and they’d be dead.

’Tch. How unfair.’ He kissed his teeth as he dug into the served food.