If one could not get the synchronization to work after 3 attempts on a machine, they were given a final attempt the next day. If they failed after 8 tries on the two machines, they were eliminated from being candidates for the MTMs. No one was sure where they went, but over a dozen people were gone by that evening. We had started with 100 of us. There were now 73. After determining that we were able to pilot, the male voice on the speakers returned. We had not heard from him in days. "Well, well, well. It looks like you all indeed have what it takes to pilot the MTMs. Good work." he said as he clapped sarcastically. I just rolled my eyes at that. "From here on out, we will be here learning combat measures. Both hand to hand and with firearms. When there are only 50 of you, we will start synchronizing. Now follow the instructors and get to it." he said. Just like that, a week past. We practiced with rifles, shotguns, and handguns during the firearm portions. For hand to hand training, we were taught to box, do karate and judo. We were actually leveling up quite well by doing it. I was now Level 9.
Going through the motions allowed us to get proficient with guns and self defense. However, there were those that were better at things than others. I was really good a using the guns on the shooting ranges. I was constantly getting my ass kicked at the fighting though. My best event was the rifles. Shane was surprisingly good at judo. It did wonders for his confidence. Paul loved blasting away with shotguns. The twins were passable at everything. Being well rounded was pretty cool too. Kira was a real sharpshooter with a handgun. After the week was done, a boy asked how long it would take. "That all depends on you candidates." the voice answered. There was a pause. "What's that supposed to mean?" another boy asked. "When there are 50 of you left, we will move to the next stage. There are over 70 of you. That is all I have to say on the matter, but you should hurry. If we go on for too long, we will have to take... drastic measures to thin the herd." he remarked before going silent. I immediately got the message. We had to eliminate the other candidates ourselves. That was real bad.
There was a strength in numbers. That was not the only benefit of getting together. Loners, and especially all the girls here, were systematically picked on by the stronger and the more violent male candidates. The adults were always watching and made sure no sexual assaults happened. "Bad for the synchronization." they said in a matter of fact tone. They did not actually care about any individual candidate here. If anything like that was attempted, they would step in and save the weaker party. That was nice at least. Having all of this training, it was only easier to dominate opponents that were weaker or less skilled. With 6 in our team, we could dissuade most of the aggressive candidates coming to bother us. That was not to say we did not get people coming over to mess with us. Two in particular came to mind. Felix kept trying to flirt with Kira and me. Mark and his 2 cronies demanded that we follow him. I refused because I wanted to be independent. That was not okay with them. It led to a huge scuffle before we could repel them. From then on, they had been our main enemies here.
