*Beep* *beep* *beep*

  *slam*

  Sharp as the alarm beep, Yuna swung her hand over the alarm button to turn it off. She stretched on her new bed for a few seconds before rising up, scratching her messy hair with heavy eyelids. Her drowsiness didn’t last long, for she immediately jumped off her bed and headed to the bathroom as soon as her brain finished booting up.

  She showered up, dressed up and walked out of her room to the dining room, where Mrs Ambersap and the robot maid were only finishing up the breakfast for her family.

  “Oh, Mornin’ Yuna! You’re very early!”, Mrs Ambersap greeted, holding a plate with a short stack of pancakes to the table.

  “Oh, good morning, Mrs Ambersap! I hope I didn’t disturb you coming down to the table so early”, Yuna replied.

  “It’s okay, my dearie, you’re just in time”, Mrs Ambersap said. “After all, you’re going to be a vanguard, so of course you need to wake up earlier than others…”.

  “Ehehe…”, Yuna grinned, a little embarrassed, but also fully agreeing with Mrs Ambersap.

  Suddenly, she was tapped on her right arm. Turning her head around, she saw Catarina, smiling brightly in her school uniform.

  “Oh, hi, Cat!”, she immediately said.

  “Hey, hey, look how ready our trainee Vanguard is!”, Catarina playfully praised as she looked at Yuna’s training jumpsuit up close. Although its design was simple, with its deep turquoise colour and a Tachyon emblem on the chest with the word ‘VANGUARD’ written below it, seeing her old friend in this highly respected outfit in Tachyonian society made her feel very proud.

  “Y’know, it’s hard to believe that after all this time, I ended up befriending a Vanguard, who also happens to be my old friend”, Catarina expressed.

  “Is there something special about befriending a Vanguard?”, Yuna asked.

  Catarina answered: “Well… Vanguards are a little bit special compared to the likes of the PEC (Public Enforcement Corps) or the military. Although they are all respected as serving for Tachyon, Vanguards have this… how do I put it… celebrity status among the people”.

  “Celebrity status? Why?”, Yuna asked more.

  Catarina continued: “Um… to put it simply, since Vanguards are very powerful in combat, they were usually regarded as ‘superheroes’ that the people could place their hope on”.

  “Some Vanguards fully embrace it and have a large, dedicated fanbase behind them, while there are others who prefer to be obscure. As for you, it’s up to you how you want it to turn out to be later”.

  Yuna was a little surprised to learn about that from Catarina, especially as she imagined that becoming a Vanguard would have her become another faceless warrior of the United Federations of Tachyon. But after listening to everything, she started to dream of the fame she might gain in the future.

  Suddenly, Catarina’s father walked up to them from behind, telling them: “Girls, stop just standing in the hallway. Go sit and have breakfast now”.

  Yuna and Catarina both turned to see Mr Ambersap in his office attire, with Catarina politely responding: “Oops! Sorry, Dad, for blocking the way”.

  As the Ambersaps and Yuna had their breakfast together, they lightly chattered as they finished their meal. Mrs Ambersap noticed how Yuna took only a little amount of the pancakes she cooked, which led her to ask:

  “Yuna, surely you’d need more for your training, no?”

  “Um… thanks for asking, but I can’t be eating too much in the morning before training. That’s what my previous trainer told me”, Yuna replied.

  “Come on, honey, Yuna is going to be jumping and running in the Simulatrix, not sitting in class like Catarina. It’d be bad if she started throwing out in front of her trainer, Hahaha!”, Mr Ambersap badly joked.

  “Hmph! Whatever, dear. If she’s not eating them now, she’ll eat them later”, Mrs Ambersap stubbornly responded. She then lifted her hand to call their robot maid and told it: “Ena, put a couple of slices of pancake in a container for Yuna, please”.

  “Yes, ma’am”, Ena obediently followed. “Is there anything else?”

  Mrs Ambersap continued: “Yes, and please also do—”

  As Mrs Ambersap meticulously gave instructions to Ena, Yuna continued the conversation with Mr Ambersap and Catarina. She asked:

  “By the way, Cat, this cute dress you wore, what is it for?”

  “Oh these? This is just a school uniform. I’m going to school after all, right?”, Catarina frankly answered.

  “Oh, school... wow…”, Yuna muttered in amazement.

  Catarina replied: “Why did you say—Oh right, I forgot to mention this earlier, but…”

  “School in Tachyon is for everyone, not like how it was in Everbloom”.

  “Huh?!”, Yuna was shocked, nearly choking on her food, as schooling was normally associated with the children of the nobles and merchants of the major cities in Everbloom.

  “I know, I know, that sounds crazy, but it is really how it has always been. The moment we moved here, Dad quickly enrolled me at the local school”, Catarina told her.

  “And to be honest, it was quite hard for me in the beginning. Every kid of my age had learned a lot by the age of 7, and I even had to take extra classes and study twice as hard just to catch up to their level”.

  “But you did catch up with your peers after all, no?”, Mr Ambersap added.

  “Yeah… eventually…”, Catarina hesitantly agreed.

  “Honestly”, Yuna spoke, “despite getting to become a future vanguard, I wish I could have gone to school like you do. It must be fun doing activities and meeting so many friends of your age”.

  Catarina was taken aback by Yuna’s expression, interrupting her meal. While she secretly loathed having to go to school, having her old friend wish the exact opposite gave Catarina quite a sobering reflection.

  She swallowed down her food and said: “Well, it’s too bad now that you’re already 17. Even if you insist on learning now, you’ll be placed in a special class of your own. You wouldn’t get the fun activities like the kids do”.

  Mr Ambersap interjected: “I mean… if you just want the education, I had contacts who could arrange a special class for you. We could adjust it to fit your Vanguard training”.

  It left Yuna thinking whether she would want to resort to the consolidation prize or none at all. But unfortunately for her, as she watched the clock while pondering, she realised she had little time left.

  “Oh wait! There are only 10 minutes left. I'd better get ready to head down”, Yuna said as she finished the last bites.

  “Wait for me! I’ll go down with you. I’ll also need to catch up to my tram later”, Catarina replied.

  The two girls stepped out of the unit and took the lift down to the ground level. As both of them approached the tram station, they saw the special armoured black van already waiting for Yuna at the side, while all the other tram passengers watched it curiously as they waited for their tram.

  “Isn’t that the military’s van? Who is it waiting for?”, one of the passengers gossiped.

  “Do we have a new vanguard living nearby?”, another one said.

  Catarina said to Yuna as they watched from afar: “Oh well… looks like everyone is about to know about you now”.

  “Argh, damn it! Do they have to make it that obvious to everyone?”, Yuna complained. “Now everyone is going to look at me riding into that imposing vehicle…”

  “Don’t be too bothered. Just ignore them and you won’t feel awkward”, Catarina advised.

  Catarina and Yuna split ways as Yuna immediately went for the van while Catarina joined in with the other waiting passengers at the station. As Yuna waited for the door to slide open, she started to hear the passengers getting rowdier with their chatter and amazement:

  “Wow… is she the new Vanguard here?”

  “She looks so young… and pretty too”

  “Hey, Miss Vanguard! Do you have a Heythere account? What’s your username?”

  *Whimpered internally* “Oh please… stop looking at me for a moment, please…”, she felt a little embarrassed having too much eyes on her.

  As the door fully opened, she immediately jumped into the van and took a seat. Looking out to the tram station, she focused her gaze on Catarina among the passengers and waved to her friend:

  “Bye-bye, Cat!”

  “Bye, Yuna!”

  The door slid closed, and the van immediately drove out onto the road minutes before the tram arrived.

  .

  .

  .

  At Leeman High School, Catarina walked into the class with a prideful smile on her face. Lyulika, Aniena and Miranda, already at their table, stopped their chatter and looked at Catarina with wonder.

  “Hey, guys, look at Caty. What’s with her today?”, Aniena was first to notice.

  “Ooh~ perhaps her crush texted her?”, Lyulika mischievously guessed.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  “No way! Her crush is too dense for that”, Miranda joked.

  As the girls giggled amongst themselves, Catarina sat at her table without caring what her friends might have just said behind her. Seeing how odd Catarina was, they surrounded her table and eagerly inquired about what was going on.

  “Caty, why are you smiling like that?”, Miranda asked first.

  “Try to guess…”, Catarina teased.

  Lyulika took the shot: “Ooh, I know, I know! It must be about Adrian—”

  “Hey! Hey! Don’t just say his name out loud!”, Catarina quickly stopped her. “Also, it’s not about him this time around. It’s something none of you would see coming…”

  “*gasp*, What is it, Caty?”, Aniena intrigued.

  “Come closer. I can’t have everyone know this…”, Catarina whispered.

  “I have a Vanguard friend now…”,

  “WHAT?!”, the girls exclaimed together.

  “Caty, you've got to be kidding with me, right?!”, Aniena in disbelief.

  “No way, no way, no way!”, Miranda squeaked.

  “How, Caty? You must tell us the full story!”, Lyulika urged.

  However, before they got to indulge in Catarina’s story, their teacher entered the class, and everyone quickly returned back to their seat. Catarina would then keep the story up for later during recess, where she completed the long story for all three of them.

  Completely up to date, they were now all aware of what Catarina’s story was with Yuna. It was an emotional rollercoaster for them, listening to the story of their happy childhood in Tragula to the unfortunate circumstances Yuna find herself in before being brought into Tachyon. Gossip, sympathy, and denial were all juggled around as Catarina told them everything she wanted to tell.

  After school ended, the four of them gathered at the tram station and discussed something.

  “Caty, you said that Yuna is training at the Simulatrix, right?”, Lyulika asked.

  She proposed: “Should we go there and take a look at how her training was going?”

  “Hold on, would we even find her there? Surely, they’ll be using the prohibited section of the Simulatrix, right?”, Aniena said.

  “Unless… Caty could get us special access?”, Lyulika looked to Catarina. “How about it, Caty?”.

  “Hey, I might be her friend, but I won’t be able to just barge in! Not even with my Dad’s privilege!”, Catarina stressed.

  “But hey”, Miranda spoke, “Even if we didn’t get to see Yuna, don’t you guys wanna go hang out somewhere? There’s no homework, and it’s been a long time since we visited Dydinium Street”.

  “Oh yeah! And I also read on Heythere that there is a new slushie store opening there”, Aniena mentioned.

  “Oh, you must’ve meant Happy Jellyseal, am I right?!”, Lyulika added, “After the actress Maya Kallina visited that shop, people have been flocking in there!”.

  “Well, what are we waiting for…?”, Catarina said. “Let’s go!”

  “Yeah!!!”

  .

  .

  .

  Within the prohibited section of the Simulatrix lie several Virtual Environment Simulation Units, also known as VESUs, which differ from the ones used by the public outside. These special VESUs, modelled as ExVESU-3, were highly more visceral in their simulations, with extremely realistic sensory simulations that mimic real scenarios.

  Yuna was in one of those VESUs, undergoing a very stressful combat simulation module given by her new trainer, a sergeant from the Triple I.O. Vanguard Unit. Despite knowing that everything she saw and felt was a simulation, the brutal realism of the battlefield greatly wore her down, mentally and physically. She breathed heavily with her heart pumping hard, as she took cover behind a ruined building from 7 battle golems volleying fireballs and vomiting heat rays at her position.

  “YUNA! YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES LEFT. STOP HIDING AND START CHARGING AT THE GOLEMS!”, her sergeant yelled through the speaker.

  “Y-Yes, sir! I… I’ll do it!”, she exhaustedly responded before poking her head out to check on the golems, only to be greeted by a near-miss heat ray over her head.

  “AAHH!”, she screamed, pulling herself back behind the wall.

  “What in the world are you doing?!”, the sergeant sternly scolded. “You want to lose your head, huh?!”

  “No, sir…! I don’t want!”, Yuna timidly answered.

  “Then GO!”

  Out of desperation, she gathered all the courage and energy she had and left her hiding spot to sprint toward the golems. Harnessing the power from the resolite in her hand, her supersuit gave her legs extra explosions with every step taken, pushing her to be as fast as superbikes across the charred ground.

  Fireballs were all volleyed toward her, raining down like a meteor shower. Yet she evaded them all with extreme agility, strafing and sliding before closing in with those gigantic stone creatures. The battle golems, perfect virtual replications of the ones used by Seirionians, quickly adapted to her approach by stopping with the fireballs and readying their fists with enchanted gauntlets with a misty aura.

  They looked at her fiercely with beastly grunts, and the moment she entered their range, they thundered the ground and swarmed her from all sides, leaving her no room to escape.

  “Okay, now’s the time to do that thing!”, she said in her mind.

  Firmly gripping her shining sword, she leapt up into the air and dove onto one of the golems at the back, splitting its hard head in half and down its body; Flawless in execution. However, downing one golem wasn’t enough, for the other six were already onto her right as the first one dropped.

  She leapt again, this time directly into a golem’s chest, leaving the golem with a gaping hole in the middle while she emerged on the other side unscathed. Unfortunately, this was where her ace ended, for when she was still in the air, one of the golems jumped up to her and slapped her to the ground like a volleyball, cratering the ground upon impact.

  As a final blow, the golem then hurled down toward Yuna, aiming to flatten the girl with its feet. Yuna, exhausted and battered, looked up in horror as the golem crashed down faster than her muscles could move—

  “ARGH!!!”.

  Simulation abruptly ended. Reason: user’s sudden death.

  The screen all around her turned red, with the death message popping right before her, seemingly mocking her failure. There she trembled at the bottom with tears, still fearing for her life despite nothing truly happening to her. All the pain from bruises and broken ribs had also vanished, as it was all just state-of-the-art simulations by the VESU.

  The hatch opened out from up top, flooding down lights from the real world. Her sergeant climbed up the metal sphere and looked down at Yuna, who looked all too helpless after the scenario he had given her.

  “Yuna, Yuna!”, he called her.

  Hearing his stern voice brought her mind back to reality as she quickly got herself together to respond:

  “U-uh…*sob*… yes, sir!”.

  “Congratulations, you’ve done a great job on this module”, he commended her, seemingly satisfied with the result. “Now, climb out, and get yourself some rest. We’ll continue with two more modules this evening after lunch break”

  While the built-in ladder unfolded down, Yuna asked her trainer: “Sergeant Kurkowski, could you lower the difficulty next time? I didn’t expect you to throw at me 7 battle golems right after the tutorial”.

  “No”, said Sergeant Kurkowski, “You’re a Vanguard, not some lowly grunts”.

  “Grunts train on how to sustain a fight against other grunts in a long fight. Vanguards, on the other hand, train on how to eliminate dangerous targets within a short time”.

  “That horde of golems you fought: that’s the easiest task we usually give to a Vanguard. If it’s just a lone golem, a normal fireteam could easily handle it by themselves with the right weapons”.

  “That’s the easiest?!”, Yuna exclaimed.

  “Consider yourself lucky you got to become a Vanguard. You have the strongest weapon amongst all the fighters, and you would only need to be on the field for one task at a time”.

  “Alright, enough chit-chat for now. See you at 3 pm, sharp”, Sergeant Karkowski said as he climbed down.

  “*Ahem*, Yes, sir!”, she replied before climbing out.

  Feeling the need to ease herself out after such brutal training, she requested to leave the prohibited section and head out to the wider, more vibrant public section of the Simulatrix complex. Here, there were more types of VESUs open to the public, where people could come in with their friends and family to enjoy fascinating simulations together. These VESUs were less sophisticated than the ExVESU-3 she used, but could fit multiple people at once.

  As she walked down the central pathway, she saw a family exploring a coral reef together, with their youngest child all too excited, seeing fish swim around him. His joyful scream somehow escaped the soundproof glass hatch, which Yuna found rather amusing and endearing.

  There was also a group of boys exploring a spooky building, giggling with a mix of fear and excitement. Then there was also a couple who were dating in a snowy place with penguins waddling around them, a teacher teaching about farm animals to a group of kindergarteners, and an old man reliving the nostalgia of Netrino City back in his time.

  Looking around, she could feel the livelihood of average Tachyonians, expressing their emotions and feelings within the spheres of the VESUs. Though merely simulations they were in, their reactions were all genuine human behaviour.

  It made Yuna ponder for a moment, for while there was a brutal war ongoing between Tachyon and Seirion on the far side of the United Federations’ land, the people here seemed not to have their lives remotely affected by the brutality of it. A sense of envy emerged as she considered that her homeland was not so fortunate as theirs, and yet, strangely enough, she felt tenderness toward these people.

  She monologued: “So, all the Tachyonian soldiers fighting tooth and nail against Seirion, it's all to defend these luxuries and comforts they’ve built by themselves, for themselves”.

  “But, doesn’t this feel a little hypocritical? Here, the people all get to lie back in peace, while Everbloom gets to listen to their explosions every now and then off in the distance. Or was it out of necessity, so that average Tachyonians don’t have to go through like we do?”.

  “Ergh… what am I saying? Their enemy is Seirion, not Everbloom! They should’ve just left us alone! Ugh, felt disgusting thinking like that…”

  “But at the same time… I wonder what these people think of the war. Surely, they’ll feel the same, right?”

  As she was standing like a statue in the middle of the pathway, she suddenly noticed a group of girls in school uniforms leisurely walking up toward her with colourful drinks in their hands. They were not keeping their eyes on the road as they chatted, yet they managed not to collide with anybody walking in the opposite direction.

  One of the girls looked familiar to Yuna, and upon squinting for a while, she finally realised it was Catarina. Her eyes widened up as she tried to call her over while waving:

  “Cat!”

  Catarina’s ears picked it up almost immediately and directed her attention ahead, seeing Yuna standing and waving over to her.

  “Guys, wait, that’s Yuna over there!”, she excitedly told her friends before bustling over to her vanguard friend.

  “Huh, what?! Wait for us!”, they quickly followed behind.

  “Yuna! Didn’t expect to see you! I thought you would be training behind the prohibited section?”, Catarina greeted.

  “Well, yeah, I was... but now I’m on my lunch break. I only have one hour before I need to report back in”, Yuna answered.

  Catarina’s friends finally caught on and met Yuna in person. Their faces were all brightly excited as they looked at Yuna, which surprised her greatly:

  “Whoa, Cat! Are these your friends?”

  “Hehe, yep! This one is Aniena, this one is Lyulika, and this one is Miranda”, Catarina introduced them.

  “By the way, you can just call me Annie, Miss Yuna”, Aniena added.

  “Er… no need to address me as ‘Miss Yuna’. I’m only as old as Cat, so just call me Yuna, alright?”, Yuna expressed.

  “Oh really? That’s much better!”, Lyulika exclaimed.

  “Hold on… did she call you ‘Cat’, Caty? Pfft…”, Miranda held on to her laughter as she found it hilarious.

  “Hey…! What’s wrong with that?!”, Catarina frowned.

  After Yuna told them that she was looking for the cafeteria at the Simulatrix, they helped her navigate through the large complex and even sat together with her while she ate. Within the short 1-hour break, they managed to break the ice enough with her to know more about her while she asked them about theirs.

  “Oh my… pity you… You went through a lot, Yuna”, Lyulika commented after Yuna told them about how she was abducted to Tachyon.

  “Yeah, but luckily, you were found by our military, even though you might’ve had a little misunderstanding with them…”, Aniena added.

  “Hold on. Did you just say that shooting at me before interrogating is a ‘little misunderstanding’?”, Yuna felt slightly offended.

  “Oh, sorry! Don’t get me wrong, it’s still bad!”, Aniena quickly clarified, “What I was trying to say was: imagine it were the Seirionians who found you. Those mystics are said to be even less humane when dealing with innocents”.

  “Really?”, Yuna was sceptical.

  Catarina backed her up: “Yeah… even my Dad would say the same. In fact, he told me that the reason he chose to bring us to Tachyon was that the Tachyonians were nicer to deal with, and that he’s afraid that if Seirionians were to come to Tragula, they would’ve treated us severely”.

  Hearing that even her friend from Tragula said something along the same line pushed her to believe what Aniena said was true. It was hard for her to believe that she ended up being grateful for being abducted to Tachyon specifically, as if the action was benevolent in the first place. However, reflecting on all the special treatment and support she had received, she started to believe that Tachyon was the good side all along, and that their enemy is Seirion.

  Despite having personally faced Tachyonian brutality and harshness, she reiterated her view on it as a slight friction with the authority, not oppression, as a means to fit her new belief. Beginning from that moment, her loyalty to Tachyon was no longer circumstantial, but one with conviction.

  “So, I guess I finally see the reason to serve as a Vanguard…”, Yuna muttered.

  “Definitely! With you being a vanguard, you can teach those mystics a good lesson for all their evil doings!”, Lyulika hyped her up.

  “And… since you’ll become a Vanguard, and we’ve become your friend, so maybe… You could be our bodyguard when we go out shopping?”, Miranda suggested.

  “Miranda! Vanguards are the federations’ assets! You can’t just abuse her role for tiny stuff like that”, Aniena nagged.

  “I know, I know… Just kidding…”, Miranda jested.

  “But still…”, Yuna spoke.

  “Once I have the time, I’ll definitely want to hang out with all of you more often. I still have a lot to learn on how to live as a Tachyonian, and there are just so many things all around and once!”

  “Oh, sure thing, we’ll definitely help you!”, Aniena promised.

  “Anyway, lunch time is over for me now…”, Yuna stood up.

  “Now, it's back for me to become a Vanguard”.