Rather than the whole troop head to Logan's room, Kattie, Dobin, Vorden and Lana went. Kattie wanted to stop by the beast pantry and get provisions and Sven wanted some fresh air. Lana let herself in and Quinn arrived before they even closed the door. Quinn was confused when he saw Vorden with them since Vorden had been missing all day. He had been worried based on previous events.
"Sorry to make you worry. Lana was captured and put in the dungeon last night."
"WHAT?"
Lana then explained everything that happened to him and Logan.
"All I can say is he said to tell you Truedream is an arsehole and that he's okay for now. Honestly, I was in panic mode. I had been attacked then I killed two people. I had never taken a life before. I know you want to rescue him but I really don't see any way. Had we been in the same cell, he'd have gotten out with me but that was not the case." She looked down at her hands. "I'm sorry Quinn. I wish I could have been more help."
"Don't do that."
"What?"
"I'm lucky you were even able to talk to him. That was plenty given the situation. You went through enough. Thank you for telling me."
Logan then asked, "So the portion you were in was close to the agricultural area otherwise your tree would not have been able to reach."
Lana nodded, "But which direction, how deep and how far away?"
Logan was thinking. "Maybe I need to invent something to find out?"
"Did you get any idea what Truedream has planned?"
She shook her head. "The guards came back."
"Thank you, Lana, truly. And you, Vorden, drop me a line next time!"
Vorden reached over to give him a fist-bump. "I won't be back tonight. I should be back tomorrow night, though if things go well."
"You have a choice?"
"Lana is running an experiment and I'm one of her participants though these last few days have screwed it up."
"Quinn, I'm testing something Logan invented. I require additional people to spend the night with us after the tournament. If you feel like camping, you are welcome to join us. Right now it's just my group. With what I've been through, Vorden is going to sleep near me in case I have trouble in the night."
Quinn looked at Dobin, "you're okay with that?"
He chuckled, "hey, I did it for 10 years. If he wants to help, I'll share the duty!"
After Quinn left, Logan looked at Lana, "mobile lab?"
She smiled. "Maybe even have the luxury field kitchen have a second door and link it to the lab as well. There are options that can be done there."
"I like what you're thinking. This is easy technology for me. But I will need a higher level crystal for both of those."
"I have a question. How hard would it be to add a small washer/dryer combo? And could it double as a dry storage for clothing and towels so they don't get wet while in the shower? Right now, such things need to be stored outside the door."
Logan waved his hand. "I'll take care of that tomorrow. Now, go get rest. I have work to do."
************
A week and a half later they were packing everything up that was in the luxury kitchen and taking it to their rooms. They were leaving for the tournament tomorrow and needed to get ready. She now had a field lab as well which was attached to her field kitchen. She would be fully testing everything once they returned but she had started using it in a cursory fashion. She didn't want to delve deep into the research until she could fully concentrate. Vorden had been selected as the fighter for his class and got called often to special practice as did Dobin. Lana really just spent the time reflecting and trying to get her emotions under control. Was she being the kind of person she wanted to be? Who was she?
By nightfall of that last evening at their base, the prototypes, except for the basic one which was going with her, were all stored in Logan's room because the some generals were staying behind and Lana and friends didn't trust Duke. Everything else was stored where it should be. Everyone's bags were packed. Both girls had enough provisions for their beasts to last the full week. Lana had two sandwich breads per day packed for Logan. Everyone was asleep by 9 if not before.
*************************
The next morning, everyone was lined up in front of their teachers. The first years were on the right side of the gate and the second years were on the left. In front of all of them were the respective generals and sergeants. General Mike was between them all. They were all told to cheer as the participants were called forward. They called the second-year students first. They had more categories they were participating in. When they got to Vorden, Peter was called instead. There was a wave of shock over that but Lana guessed that was Truedream's plan. It meant the monster was interfering in the tournament. She made sure to cheer really loud when Dobin got called.
After all the participants were pulled out, General Mike led the way around the plaza the off-duty soldiers hung out in, to the training field which looked just as bad as it did on the day they got there. They then went into a hanger and the doors were closed behind them. General Mike got up in front of everyone and told them goodnight, put a mask on and everyone fell asleep. Bags were placed over their heads and they were sent through a teleporter.
******************************
Lana woke with a bag on her head and lots of commotion. She looked around for her friends as they were no longer together. She could see them but they were ushered into a train that was huge. All 1000 students were loaded into this thing at once. The train was shaped like a submarine and the cars were about the size of a house to get all these students moved.
As the train started moving, they noticed the military base was twice the size of theirs and encased in a glass dome with a wall around the base surrounding the city. There were sections that had specialties such as mech training, beast training and research, combat and more.
The city center looked like a miniature version of the entire city. There was a poppy design on the top in remembrance of the old story of the poppy flower growing on fields that were watered by the blood of those how died in war; a concept most people today have long since forgotten. The government consisted of the leader, the eight head generals and the 4 family heads.
The train continued to the back of the city which was guarded but not busy with many checkpoints consisting of guards and mechs.
General Mike led everyone off the train and into the large arena where they gathered by class and the participants veered off to go below to their training area. The arena resembled an Olympic-sized ring with 7 buildings that rose high and were made of glathrium. These were hotels for hosting those from the seven different bases. The top of the ring was wide enough to host shops, venders, and games. Anything the students could ask for. But was also encased in glass so they could all use it as a viewing platform as well. If one was to look at the arena from a different point of view, the buildings made the area look like a crown.
The students were briefed to check into their rooms and unpack. Treat this like a holiday. Shop for the day and enjoy themselves. Tomorrow the events would start. Support your teams. Since they were back with their teachers, they were able to locate each other and found their rooms, swapping room numbers.
Lana was excited to see what this place had to offer and if she could boost her team even more with the local wares.