Zteel

The first annual Lunanova Cadet Sparring Tournament is set to begin!

A two-day event, the first day begins with special ceremonies and shows, then hosts the entire first round of sparring matches.

The second concludes the event, featuring the second and final rounds of the tournament.

Under normal circumstances, there are twenty-four cadets participating total. Each cadet team consists of three cadets, meaning there are a total of eight teams.

Only cadets from the top four squadrons of the respective hosting Lunanova cadet campus, being Sub-District 101 in this case, are participating in the event.

Each of the four squadrons has the opportunity to identify their six best fighters and send them into the tournament to represent them.

This time around, however, there are twenty-one cadets and seven teams participating total, as Trifon effectively failed at organizing his squadron's representatives.

The first round consists of four matches and four victors. This round is where it is decided which single trio of cadets will represent each squadron.

The second round consists of two matches and two victors.

The third and final round consists of the final match and the winning cadet trio of the entire tournament.

Through three rounds of fighting, only one trio of cadets can come out on top. Any draws that may occur are decided by the audience in attendance by ear.

The commentator will ask the audience to cheer for whichever team they believe should be the victor of any said match.

Whichever team receives the most feedback is the team that will either advance to the next round or be crowned the tournament victor!

The rewards for winning the tournament include bragging rights, as well as cadet priority in being placed in each cadet's agency and faction of choice the moment they graduate.

Oftentimes, cadets choose to graduate into the police force faction to work within the District, rather than the military where they would do much work internationally.

However, year after year, room for applicants for Electric Path Spies in the police force, let alone the police force at all, is filled to capacity, meaning excess applicants will be required to apply for a role within the military faction or as a Red Stone Assassin, or both, both synonymous with harder and more rigorous work.

Regardless, the chance of catching Noriko's eye, let alone the eyes of other higher-ranked EPSA and RSAA agents in attendance of the tournament, reap greater returns, as the chances to attain agency and faction-selection priority are raised tremendously.

Since partaking in the event is already a rare opportunity as is, all cadets in participation will attain said priorities.

However, this won't stop the most competitive of the bunch to fight for the title of "Tournament Victors."

Of the twenty-four cadets participating in the event, the main teams to watch out for are as follows:

Cadel, Faris, and Shiloh of Jora Newman's Squadron 1-B…

Raphael, Colt, and Khafra of Trifon Keane's Squadron 1-D…

Enki, Tatius, and Idalia of Airrion Nesmith's Squadron 1-A…

And finally, Nyota, Sage and Kilo of Squadron 1-B.

Now, all of the participating cadets are preparing to finally be introduced to the massive crowd before the first batch of matches begin.

Raphael, Colt, and Khafra are set to be automatically admitted into the semi-finals, as there is no set first-round opponent for them to face.

In the final moments leading up to their introductions, Nyota tried to wish his first-round opponents Cadel, Faris, and Shiloh a good match, but they cared not to immediately showcase much sportsmanship.

Alongside Sage and Kilo, will young Nyota Atar manage to defeat them in battle to advance to the semi-finals? Or, will Basilisk be defeated by their inter-squadron rivals?

And how will the Big Three fare in their match with whoever they are set to battle?

Let us find out, in the next chapter of Zteel!