Kyle

“Come in, Omega. We’ve arrived at the marked location, but there seems to be no sign of any bandit activity here.” Kyle’s voice crackled through the comms. “We’re gonna do quick run through of the zone, and then we’re heading back.”

Kyle was walking carefully through the icy plains of the Frontier beside his fellow Battle Scouts. They were here to investigate reports of banditry against those peaceful people living in the Frontier, and this was supposed to be where the bandit camp was.

Alpha, Zeta, and Omega Squadrons had left the Academy on a joint patrol, the first time they have done anything like this in the entire semester. They were supposed to patrol designated zones of the Frontier during their patrol, but at the end of the first day, they encountered a small settlement of peaceful Frontier dwellers that pleaded for their help to defeat the bandits that were extorting them.

“Please,” Their elder had begged. “The Allied Territories have kept the peace in the wilderness of the Frontier for generations.”

Agreeing to help them, the Squadrons had travelled to where the supposed bandit camp was, with Alpha and Zeta Squadrons taking point while Omega remained behind as backup. But when they arrived here, the Squadrons had found nobody.

“Maybe they packed up and left after they heard we were coming.” Emilia’s voice came on the radio. Emilia was one of the new members of Alpha Squadron and a second year student.

“It can’t be.” Logan’s voice crackled. All three Squadrons were sharing a single communication channel, and so cool hear each other. “It wouldn’t make any sense, they wouldn’t have been able to know. Zeta, keep your eyes open.”

“Same goes for you Alpha.” James said. “We cant let our guard down until we’ve secured the perimeter.

Side by side, both Alpha and Zeta Squadrons traversed through the icy plains, with nothing but a deserted wasteland stretching out for miles and miles ahead. Surely, there was nothing here, and Kyle had begun to get bored. Small talk wasn’t allowed when they were on their missions, and so it was easy for Kyle to get bored and begin to space out.

As he and the others hiked through the Frontier, Kyle thought about his first months here at the Academy and how exciting everything had been. Though the school year had initially started pretty rough with what happened to Max, things started to return to normal as the days and weeks passed.

Sure, most of the members of Zeta would still antagonize him and Max whenever they passed by each other in the school hallways, but those behaviors stemmed simply from the rivalry between the two competing Squadrons.

Of all the members of Zeta Squadron that Kyle was the most irritated by, however, it was Jade that really tested his patience. Sure, Logan seemed like an asshole and a bad guy, but Kyle had never actually tried to talk to him, and he in turn did not bother Kyle. Jade meanwhile, seemed to try to irritate Kyle at every turn, and after months of confrontations between the two, they seemed to have developed a kind of rivalry. Jade was no pushover, and her skills as a Battle Scout were extraordinary, and the two were constantly competing to see who could outdo the other.

But of course, besides all of that, Kyle and his friends have found themselves adjusting rather well to life in the Academy. The students were mostly nice and the teachers were supportive and tried to help each and every student as much as they could, with the exception of the rather nasty Colonel Mackath of course.

And outside of classes, Kyle has found himself excelling in his Squadron activities, and getting along quite well with his teammates. Already, before this, Kyle has went on three patrols out into the Frontier, though the worst they had encountered so far was dangerous beasts mutated by the lingering radiation.

In fact, this was the first time Kyle was supposed to be dealing with any sort of human activity our in the Frontier, and while it had scared him a little bit at first, Kyle had become bored out of his mind when it became clear that they were just wasting their time here. Or so it seemed.

Guttural screaming and shouting filled the air from a distance, snapping Kyle back into the present. Before he knew what was going on, a blast had exploded on the ground right beside him, missing Kyle by only a dozen meters. The shockwave was enough to send him flying back onto his ass, and all nineteen other members of Alpha and Zeta Squadron quickly scrambled into battle formations.

The Sappers set their shields and deployed their drone to dig a ditch deep enough to use as cover. The Snipers dropped to the ground and began scoping out their enemies. The Assaulters returned fire as they covered the Medics, and the Battle Scouts dodged swiftly out of the way as they jumped into the ditches for cover.

But Kyle, meanwhile, had been too stunned to even react, and merely laid there on the ground with mouth agape as metal bullets zipped above his head, fired by their attackers. He could see them now, about a hundred of them advancing in their white camouflage from the icy canyons, firing at the students with their primitive metal weapons. Surely, their ambushers were outgunned, but the sheer numbers of them could just prove to be dangerous.

As Kyle was thinking that, though, a bullet zipped by his ear, very close to his helmet, and Kyle felt a strong hand grab at his collar.

“Are you trying to die?” Logan’s visor and outraged voice was unmistakable as he heaved the first year student up, before tossing him aside into a nearby ditch for cover.

Landing with a loud thump, Kyle yelled as his helmeted head struck the ground hard, and had to take several seconds to gather himself. Logan had jumped back inside the ditch too, joining Colin, Emilia, and Jade.

“What the hell were you doing Kyle?” Emilia screamed as she rushed to his side. “Are you alright? Why did you just sit there?”

“Looks like some people have difficulties performing like they do during practice on the field, huh.” Jade sneered. “Don’t worry, I’m not one of those people.”

“Cut the chatter.” Logan commanded, and peeked out of the ditch to see where the others were. “Zeta, sit-rep. Any wounded?”

“No sir.”

Kyle’s comms crackled with James’ voice. “Alpha is secure too, but we’ve accounted for everyone besides Kyle. Does anyone have eyes on him?”

“He’s with us.” Logan grabbed Kyle by the shoulder and gave him a quick look through. “No injuries visible, but slightly stunned.”

“We’ll have to work with that. Omega should be flanking them anytime soon, and then we’ll have our chance to counterattack.”

“Copy that.”

Kyle watched as Logan peeked out to survey the enemy advance toward them once more. “They’re advancing too quickly. At this rate they’ll single each one of us out before Omega can arrive. We’ll have to lay down suppressing fire to slow them down.”

“Colin can help.” Emilia said, glancing to their squadmate with the completely white armor and dark visor. “He’s good with the sniper.”

“Alright Colin, see if you can scope them out and take out a couple.” Logan said. “That’ll be sure to slow them down. The moment Omega Squadron comes around, the rest of us will have to launch our counterattack.” He looked to Kyle. “And I mean all of us.”

Kyle nodded and shook his arms and legs out. He didn’t know what came over him the moment the fighting erupted, but now he was confident that he wouldn’t freeze up again.

Watching as Colin crawled into position and began taking down their attackers with well placed plasma bolts, the comms began buzzing with confirmation that their attackers were slowing down in their advance toward their fortified positions. And to make things even better, the sounds of plasma weapons discharging from far in the distance signaled the arrival of Omega Squadron. This was it, they were going to win.

Following Logan’s lead, Kyle and Jade leapt our of their ditch, propelling themselves high into the air with their thrusters. The other Battle Scouts all did the same, and the twelve Battle Scouts of Alpha and Zeta quickly zipped across the icy plains, peppering their enemies with plasma fire. The ten Assaulters quickly followed as they dashed madly across the icy plains with their heavy armor, decimating the enemy with their high powered plasma weapons. Before long, their ambushers were in full retreat.

“Got another.” Kyle said as a plasma bolt seared into one of the attacking men’s thighs, dropping him. That was the fourth he had downed so far.

“Good.” Came James’ reply in the comms. “Everybody start pulling back now. Our ambushers are fleeing, there is no need to risk ourselves any longer by giving chase.”

“Agreed.” Logan said. “Zeta, pull back.”

“Affirmative,” Came Omega Squadron’s leader, Claire’s response. Claire was a fourth year and probably the only female Assaulter in the school right now. “Pulling back, rendezvous at Falcon’s Peak.”

A point in the map of their helmet’s HUD was marked red, and Kyle quickly spun around to fall back as the others did the same. But as he made his way across the plains, Kyle spotted Jade still fighting, shooting her plasma blasters at the fleeing enemy. Having ignored orders, she was shooting down helpless people who were desperately trying to crawl away into safety, all the while laughing as she did so.

“Jade, stop it!” Kyle screamed as he instead leapt up beside her, pulling on her weapon arm so that the blast discharged into the ground instead of an already wounded man crawling away. “What the hell do you think you’re doing.”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Jade yelled, yanking her arm out of Kyle’s hands. “I’m giving these barbarians a very stern warning not to attack Allied Territories forces again.”

“You can’t do that!” Kyle insisted, grabbing her by the shoulder. “They’re already fleeing, just give it up!”

But suddenly, Jade’s other pistol came down hard on the top of Kyle’s head, knocking him backward. “Do you think they would’ve done the same had they gotten their way with us?” She yelled. “Do you know what would have happened if they’d defeated us?”

Angered at being struck, Kyle screamed as he came back at Jade with his own kick, using the thrusters on his feet to add extra power to it. The kick landed flush on her stomach and knocked the air out of her, but Jade was quick to drop into a roll, and raised her weapons at him.

Narrowly dodging the plasma bolts, Kyle leapt into the air and fired back, his plasma fire mostly missing, though one managed to strike Jade in the shoulder.

“Kyle!” A voice suddenly came, and Kyle felt a hand roughly snatch him down from the air. “What are you doing?”

Turning to find James there, Kyle tried to explain himself, but was quickly pulled away by his Squadron leader.

“We don’t have time for this,” he helped Jade to her feet. “Get up, we’ll all have to catch up with the others now, before any more enemies decide to show up.”

••••••••••••••••••

Max

Max waited outside the headmaster’s office, fiddling with his fingers as he sat on a seat. It was getting late, and Max was starting to feel tired. Alpha Squadron, Omega Squadron, and Zeta Squadron had ventured out into the Frontier for patrols over the weekend and had gotten into a small firefight with some of the nomadic tribes living in the Frontier. Things went okay, but in the aftermath of the firefight, there was a little disagreement between two of the students.

Both Kyle and Jade were in there with the headmaster now, and their respective Squadron leaders, James and Logan, were also there to give the General their reports on what happened. They had been in there about almost an hour now, and Max guessed that they were taking so long because the headmaster was deciding what punishments to mete out to both first years for the little scuffle that happened while they were out on patrol.

Another several minutes passed, and finally the door to the headmaster’s office creaked open.

“Kyle!” Max jumped up to his feet. “How’d it go? What did the General say?”

Kyle seemed irritated, probably at the punishment the headmaster had determined for him, but also surprised to see that Max had actually waited this entire time for him.

“General Zantar went easy on me.” He glared at Jade as she passed, who bumped shoulders with him. “Jade will be suspended from Zeta Squadron for two weeks, and have to stay behind to clean up the classrooms for a month.”

“What about you?”

Kyle sighed. “I got off easier, but a punishment is still a punishment, right? I’ll be serving detention for an hour every evening for the next month at General Zantar’s office.”

“That’s terrible.”

“At least I’m not suspended from the squad.”

The two boys stepped aside to make space for General Zantar, James, and Logan as they stepped out of the office too.

“The punishment has been decided, and I have been as fair as possible to not parties involved in this altercation.” The headmaster looked to both James and Logan. “A fight breaking out between Squadrons is a very serious affair, especially when it happened during patrols out there in the Frontier. I hope you both understand this.”

“Yes sir.” Both Logan and James replied.

The headmaster gave them all a content smile. “If that is so, then you are all dismissed.”

Max watched as Jade simply huffed and stormed off. Meanwhile, both Logan and James nodded toward each other before taking their leave too.

“I’ll see you two tomorrow at practice!” James called back.

“Oh, before you go, Max.” The headmaster suddenly said, and Max turned to face him. “I wanted to speak to you about something else too.” He placed a hand on Logan’s shoulders, who seemed confused. “I hear that you’ve been getting really good grades for all of your classes.”

“Yes sir.” Max nodded meekly.

“According to your teachers, you’re extremely gifted and smart. Perhaps even among the top performers academically in your entire year, even given your activities with Alpha Squadron.”

Looking at the General, then at Logan, Max raised a brow. He did not understand where this conversation was going.

“Which is why, I think you are the best person I can ask to tutor Logan.” The General said.

“Wait, what?” Max and Logan both said in surprise.

“Logan’s academic standing is… not very good.” The general sighed. “He lacks the fundamental knowledge of even first year topics in classes, making you the perfect teacher for him to catch up on his first year knowledge.”

“If you want this kid to be my tutor, then you can forget about it.” Logan tried to pull away from the general’s grip. “I’m not gonna be taking lessons from a first year student.”

“You have no say in this, Logan.” The general tightened his grip on the second year’s shoulder. “Not this time. You know that to be a part of a Squadron, your grades have to reflect a good academic standing.” He glared sternly at Logan. “I managed to let you scrape on by last year because of your deeds during the Great Wars, but what message would that send to the other students? The nation’s hero receiving special benefits in school? No, we can’t have that, that’ll be terrible news for the Academy. Either you pull your grades up, or Zeta is getting a new leader.”

Max frowned and looked to Logan. While Logan had been nothing but mean to him since he first tried out for Zeta, Max realized suddenly that he didn’t want for Logan to lose his place as Zeta’s Squadron leader. As much of an asshole as he was, Logan had proven to be a very capable leader. Taking it all away from him just because he was terrible at listening to his teachers would be an absolute pity.

“I’ll do it.” Max spoke up. He looked into Logan’s eyes and was met by an angry glare. “If Logan doesn’t mind, of course.”

“Oh, he doesn’t mind.” The general laughed, shaking Logan by the shoulder. “Does he?”

After several seconds of quiet, Logan finally obliged to the proposition, shaking his head.

“No, I don’t mind.”

“Excellent.” The headmaster seemed pleased. “Starting tomorrow, you will both meet in the evenings then, after your classes and training is finished for the day, everyday until your teachers are satisfied with your grades, Logan.”

Managing another “yes sir”, Logan groaned and stalked off, not managing to hide his irritation very well. The General too wished them a good night and disappeared back into his office, leaving both Max and Kyle alone.

“Dude,” Kyle seemed impressed as they began to walk back to their room. “Even after everything you say that Logan has done to you, you agree to take time out of your day to help him?”

“The headmaster asked me to.” Max rolled his eyes. “Didn’t have much of a choice, did I?”

“Looks like I’m not the only one who got punished tonight.” Kyle giggles. “Except you didn’t actually do anything to deserve it.”

“Ugh, don’t even talk about it,” Max groaned. “Today’s been way more tiring than I expected. I’m gonna crash the moment I touch my pillow.”

••••••••••••••••

Max sat in the empty classroom by himself, tapping his fingers impatiently on the desk. Kyle was in detention now, and Max was supposed to be tutoring Logan. The only problem is, Max had been waiting for a good twenty minutes now, and Logan still hadn’t shown up.

Just as Max began to wonder if this was a waste of his time, the classroom door opened. There stood Logan, changed out of his Academy uniform and wearing a grey shirt and dark pants. Max was still wearing his uniform, since he had been fresh out of training with Alpha Squadron before this. The fact that Logan had managed to change before getting here really showed that he knew he was running late, but still didn’t care.

“If you’re not gonna bother showing up on time,” Max frowned. “You shouldn’t bother showing up at all.”

“Don’t get snappy with me, kid.” Logan did not sound like he was having a good day. “Let’s just get the remaining forty minutes over with, then we can both leave.”

He pulled out a chair and set it down next to Max, seating himself beside Logan.

“Let’s not act like either of us wants to be here.” Logan grumbled.

“I do want to be here.” Max said. “Do you think there’s some sort of a hidden motive for me to want to sit here for one hour everyday with one of the most unpleasant students in school?”

Logan scoffed. “Heh. Whatever. Let’s just get this over with.” He pulled out a tablet. “I need help with some homework for my classes.”

“History.” Max noted as his eyes scanned the words on the screen. “Can I see?”

Taking the tablet from Logan, Max scrolled through several pages of the homework document. None of them were answered yet, and it seemed like Logan hadn’t even began to try.

“Logan, these are very basic questions.” Max frowned. “Who were the Five Heroes of the Badlands? What year did the Great Wars begin?” He shot Logan a questioning look. “These are some of the harder questions on here, and they’re not even that tough. Have you even read any of these yet?”

“I’m not good with dates.” Logan shrugged uncaringly. “You’re here to help me, right? Well, help me.”

“You need help pinpointing the exact date that the Great Wars began?” Max exclaimed in disbelief at Logan’s uncaring attitude. “I’ll give you a hint: when did the bombs start dropping? When did the skies grow dark and nuclear winter start setting in?”

Logan smirked at each of Max’s attempts to elicit any sort of interest in his own homework. “You tell me.”

That’s it. Max had come here to try and help Logan, but not only was he extremely late, he didn’t seem to want to even try cooperating with the younger student. Putting the tablet down on the table, Max swiveled in his seat so that he faced Logan.

“Logan, I’m not just gonna spoon feed you answers to every single question here.” Max said, trying to sound firm. “I’m here to help you with your homework, not do it for you. If you want me to help you, you’ll have to help yourself first.”

“Wow, like I haven’t heard that before.” Logan rolled his eyes. “Where’d you get that line from, Major Gardner? Lieutenant Minerva?” He scoffed. “You sound pathetic.”

“Really? Insulting the help?” Max spat back. He wasn’t going to back down; Logan needed him, and Max wasn’t gonna just let him step all over him like he did to everyone else. “I’m the only one willing to help you in this entire school because you’re probably the biggest asshole I’ve ever met. Like it or not, you’re stuck with me.”

Max tried to keep a straight face as he watched Logan glower at him. In the end, Max was right; Logan needed him, and there was nothing he could do about it. And so the older student remained silent.

“Alright then,” Max cleared his throat. “Let’s start again.”

•••••••••••••

Kyle

Approaching the General’s office, Kyle cleared his throat and knocked on the door.

“Sir? It’s Kyle. Can I come in?”

Several seconds of silence passed before the door finally opened, revealing General Zantar standing at the doorway.

“On time once more.” The headmaster said, pleased. “Please, come on in.”

Kyle entered the room behind General Zantar, who went ahead and sat at his desk. As he usually did, Kyle would sit at one of the spare desks in the office to serve his detention while watching the headmaster work on things on his computer. It had been a while since Kyle started serving his detention with the headmaster, which surprisingly was not as boring as he’d thought it would be.

Even though the headmaster was working at his desk, he made time for small talk with Kyle and the two had come to learn quite a fair bit about one another. So far, Kyle had really enjoyed his time spent with the headmaster, who seemed genuinely interested in getting to know him more personally, unlike the other teachers who tried to keep their relationships with students more professional.

“So, Kyle.” The headmaster said after several minutes of initial quiet. “Besides your little rivalry with Zeta Squadron’s Jade, how are you getting along with your classmates so far?”

“Very well, sir.” Kyle responded with a smile. “I’ve made quite some friends already, everyone is just really great.”

“That’s good to hear at least.” A curious look appeared on the headmaster’s face. “What about the girls, Kyle? Have you got your eyes on anyone yet?”

There were many pretty girls in his year, but of all of them, Kyle thought of Hailey first. Immediately his face turned red as he shrugged, scratching his head.

“I dunno…” Kyle found himself stammering. “They’re all really pretty I guess.”

Seeing the young student’s embarrassment, the headmaster laughed. “Don’t worry, I get it. It’s probably a really awkward thing to talk about,” He winked. “But you know nothing that we talk about leaves this room, right? You can talk to me.”

“Well, I guess there was this one girl I was interested in.” Kyle relented. “She was cute, with very pretty hair and eyes, and I should have known right away that there was no way she’d pick a guy like me to date.”

“Hey, don’t say that about yourself.” The headmaster chided gently.

“But it’s true.” Kyle sighed. “She was way too pretty for me. In just two days she’d already had her eyes set on this older boy who’s smarter and better in every way than me. I stood no chance.”

The headmaster, frowning, gestured for Kyle to come to him at the table. “Hey, come here for a little bit, will you Kyle?”

Getting up, Kyle made his way to the headmaster’s desk and stopped a foot away from it. The headmaster’s eyes were fixed on Kyle, and the boy thought that he must have been studying him very carefully, moving up and down across the length of his uniformed body.

“Listen to me Kyle,” The headmaster said finally, leaning forward on his desk and looking up to Kyle’s bright green eyes. “You’re a very special, handsome, and smart boy, and you can’t every forget that, okay?”

Kyle felt his face redden even more at the compliment, and he was unsure how to respond. “Um, thank you sir.”

“Of course.” The headmaster smiled. “At this age girls can be a very confusing thing for many young boys like you, and they can make you very self conscious while you begin to discover more about your own bodies.”

He smiled playfully at Kyle.

“I mean, we’ve all been there, jerking off in your bed at two in the morning because you can’t get rid of all those dirty fantasies in your head, right?”

Not able to maintain eye contact with the General while knowing that he was guilty of exactly that, Kyle averted his gaze and shrugged. It was true, Kyle did have some really lewd fantasies about some of the girls he went to class with, and just the thought of someone else knowing that made him want to die of embarassment.

“I just want to make sure that you know that there’s nothing to be ashamed of, Kyle.” The headmaster continued to say. “Listen, you’re a very, very cute boy.”

Still unsure of how to respond, Kyle merely nodded and responded with a meek “Yes sir” once more. The headmaster, however, simply say back in his chair and continued to study Kyle.

“What exactly did you like about this girl, hmm?” He asked.

“I’m sorry sir?” Kyle asked, unsure about what he meant.

“You heard me. This girl, what about her did you like?”

“I guess she was just really pretty,” Kyle scratched his head. “And she had a great personality, and-“

“-Lets cut on the bullshit, Kyle.” The headmaster interrupted with a laugh. “A great personality is a big plus, and a pretty face is sure to catch the attentions of young boys like yourself, but what was it really that you liked about her, huh?” He leaned forward and a strange smile spread out across his face. “What was it that went on in your head when you laid in bed at night?”

Shocked by the headmaster’s line of questioning, Kyle wasn’t sure what to say. “N-Nothing sir, really. I was just attracted to this girl, that’s all.”

Kyle’s face had gone completely red and he began to feel a gentle stirring in his loins as he thought back to that first night at the Academy, when Kyle jacked off to a fantasy of Hailey.

“I can see you’re slightly embarrassed.” The headmaster chuckled, and Kyle though he saw the general’s eyes flicker down to his crotch area. “I guess I should stop questioning you now, then.” He winked at Kyle. “And you don’t have to worry, everything that goes on in this room stays a secret, right?”

Kyle swallowed nervously and nodded. “Yes sir.”

••••••••••••••••••

The days passed, and as evening came once more, Kyle found himself sitting at a desk in the headmaster’s office once more. As usual, the headmaster was at his desk, working on important administrative duties, though he still found the time to chat with Kyle every now and then so that the boy didn’t get bored.

Today, the two had been silent for some time before the headmaster suddenly looked up to Kyle.

“You know, you never really answered my question the last time. About what you liked in that girl.”

Kyle looked up at him and immediately found himself blushing again. “Oh, I really don’t know what to say, sir.”

“It’s not a difficult question.” The headmaster shrugged. “Simply put, are you more of a tits guy, or an ass guy, Kyle?”

“I-I’m sorry sir?”

The General crossed his arms, and his unfaltering gaze was overwhelming. “When you jerk off at night, do you imagine yourself cumming on the tits or the ass of the girls in your class?”

His face turned a deeper red, and Kyle found himself struggling to find words to form a coherent response.

“I-I…” Kyle cleared his throat. “I mean, I guess I was more of an ass guy, probably.”

A naughty look flashed in the headmaster’s eyes as they glanced down to Kyle’s hip region. “Ah, yes. I myself would like to think of myself as that too.”

The headmaster paused, as if to think for a second, and then went to look something up in his computer.

“Come here for a moment now, will you Kyle?”

Getting up off his seat, Kyle stepped over to the General’s desk, only for him to wave the boy around to stand beside his chair so that he could see what was on the computer screen.

“If you do think of yourself as more of an ass guy, I’m sure you’d enjoy these.”

On the screen of the General’s computer was a wide selection of varying types of pornographic pictures, with each one of the girls easily being one of the hottest females Kyle had ever seen in his entire life.

Kyle was speechless, and his eyes were glued to the screen. The headmaster, noticing this, simply smirked at him. “Awesome, right?”

“Wow,” Kyle finally managed to say. “How… How did you get through the web restrictions on the school’s network?”

“I’m the headmaster of this Academy, Kyle.” The headmaster looked up at Kyle and winked. “You’ll find that, with me, there are a lot of things you can do.” The headmaster got off his seat and stepped around the chair. “Here, take a seat and scroll around for yourself.”

Jumping at the headmaster’s invitation, Kyle sat himself down on General Zantar’s seat and clicked on the many pictures of sexy women in suggestive poses. There were different types of them on this website, both the curvaceous types and slimmer types, but they were all thick and curvy in the right places.

After several minutes of salivating at the tits and asses on the computer screen, Kyle could feel an erection poking out of his Academy uniform shorts. Hoping that the headmaster wouldn’t notice, Kyle simply continued to view the large gallery of pornographic pictures.

Meanwhile, as Kyle sat on his seat and looked at the pictures on his computer, the headmaster had stood himself up directly behind Kyle, both his hands resting on the boy’s shoulders. As the minutes went by, however, General Zantar’s hands had slowly begun to slide down a little bit, venturing past Kyle’s shoulders.

“Do you like it?” He asked as his hands slowly and carefully began to roam around Kyle’s chest.

Unsure of if he should say anything about the hands touching his chest, Kyle simply remained silent and only nodded at the general’s question, allowing him to continue caressing his chest.

Several more minutes went by, and Kyle found himself becoming really hot and bothered by the pictures. His erection was now painfully pressing up against his shorts, and at the same time, the headmaster had begun to allow his hands to venture slightly lower toward the boy’s navel. Starting to breathe heavily, Kyle swallowed as the headmaster seemed to take that as an invitation to let his hands drop lower. Just before the older man’s hands touched anything too intimate, however, there was a knock on the headmaster’s door.

“Who is it?” Called the General with a slightly irritated tone at being interrupted.

“It’s Colonel Mackath.” Came the voice in reply. “I have the reports that you requested.”

Kyle looked up to the headmaster, then back to the computer screen. “Should I close this window and sit back down at my desk, sir?”

Hesitating for a moment, the headmaster eventually sighed and stalked off toward the door. “Yes, do that.”

•••••••••••••••••

Max

While Max had known from the very beginning that tutoring Logan was not going to be easy, nothing could have prepared him for just how frustrating it would be. Weeks had passed since they started, and yet Max was not seeing much improvement.

Every single day, Max was expected to take the time out of his already very packed schedule and sit down with Logan for an entire hour, pushing and prodding the year older student to even look at the questions on his homework.

And whenever Max’s attempts to make him try to do his homework annoyed him, Logan would mutter insulting or belittling remarks directed at Max.

It was driving him crazy. Max barely had enough time to hang out with his friends or get to know his classmates outside of his classes, homework, and Squadron responsibilities. And yet, he was still trying to help an ungrateful second year answer basic questions about history.

Slamming his locker door shut, Max slung his bag around his shoulder and hurried off to meet Logan. He had taken a quick one minute shower after Squadron training and now was running off to be on time for his appointment with Logan. And yet, he was still running late.

“Hey, Max?” A girl’s voice called out as Max passed by a crowd of first years roaming the hallways of the Academy.

Screeching to a halt, Max stopped and turned to find Hannah standing there. She was a pretty girl with cute brown eyes and a uniform skirt two sizes too small that showed off the shape of her developing ass quite well. Max recalled that he shared a couple of classes with her and had talked to her a few times before, though he never really got to know her that well.

“Hey,” Max tidied his hair a little bit. Of all the girls in their year, Hannah was one of the cuter ones and usually hung out with a bunch of other popular girls. “What’s up?”

She twirled her long, wavy blonde hair with a finger. “I was just wondering if you wanted to work on homework together?” She shrugged shyly. “We could grab something to eat afterwards too.”

“I-I wish I could,” Max said hesitantly, biting his lip. The chance go sit alone with a pretty girl was not something many fourteen year old boys could resist, but Max knew he could not just give up his obligations to the headmaster and Logan. “But I’m supposed to be helping Logan with his homework right now.”

Hannah seemed surprised and cocked her head to a side. “They asked you to help out Logan Meier with homework?”

“Trust me,” Max laughed. “He’s not as cool as everyone says he is. In fact, he’s kinda an asshole.”

“I figured.” Hannah giggled. “Girls talk a lot, you know.” She glanced left and right, and then leaned in to whisper. “I also heard that Natalie broke up with him over something weird.”

“I’ve heard a little bit about it.” Max chuckled. He wondered if maybe that could be why Logan was never in a good mood these days. “But hey, I’ve gotta go now, I’m already running late. Maybe we can try to hang out another time?”

Hannah smiled. “Sure, another time. I’d love that.”

Waving goodbye at Hannah, Max turned and quickly began to jog away. His short conversation with Hannah replayed over and over again in his mind, and with all his thoughts still with his pretty classmate, Max arrived at the classroom to find that Logan was already waiting there.

“Logan?” Max said in surprise. “You’re on time today!”

“And you’re five minutes late.” Logan grumbled. “This is what I get for actually trying.”

“Don’t say that.” Max quickly took his seat next to Logan. “That’s a good thing.”

“Whatever. Let’s get this over with.”

The two began to go over Logan’s history homework assigned to him for the week, and they went through a slow, but bearable pace through the rather easy questions. As the minutes passed however, Max found that he could not stop thinking about how Hannah had said that Natalie had dumped Logan over “something weird”, especially since he was sitting next to Logan.

“Are you even listening?” Logan said suddenly, bringing Max’s thoughts back to the present. “I said I have absolutely no idea how I’m supposed to answer the next question!”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” Max shook his head, looking down to the tablet to read the question. But as Max read the question, he began to frown. “Logan, have you even read the question?”

“Obviously.” Logan replied with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

“Then how can you not know what the Blitz Offensive was?” Max shot Logan a questioning look. “It was the final push into Canada that led to the Charter’s signing during the last years of the Great Wars. You were part of it.”

“Oh.” Logan seemed surprised, but shrugged simply. “I never knew that’s what it was called.”

“How couldn’t you?” Max chuckled. “You were one of the fifty thousand Little Eagles that crossed the border. It was a historical event.”

Logan scoffed. “So? Did you think I enlisted just so that I could tell everyone for the rest of my life that I was a part of this huge attack?”

Max was a little shocked at the pointed retort.

“I didn’t mean to…”

“Let me ask you this,” Logan interrupted before Max could finish. “Did you grow up anywhere along the northern territories, or anywhere close to the heart of the fighting in the Frontier at all?”

Max shook his head. He had grown up privileged in an upper middle class lifestyle and lived in the west coast all his life up till now. He knew only of the Great Wars from the television and had never even been affected in the slightest by it.

“That’s what I thought.” Logan sneered in contempt. “You have no idea what it was like, living so close to the border. The town was poor, and young men and women were taken from their homes every single day to help in the war effort. Would I really need any more reason to want to fight?”

Max was speechless. While, before, Max had always seen Logan as a hero of the Allied Territories, and now saw him as one of the most menacing people in the Academy, he never had thought about Logan as an actual person before, with both a past and history. Where was he even from? Where were his friends and family? Did he even see them anymore?

“I’m sorry…” Max began to say. “I didn’t mean it like that-“

“-Forget it.” Logan said as he got up. “I’m tired of this anyway, I think I’m gonna call it a day.”

“Wait, what? But we’ve only been here thirty minutes!” Max called after Logan as he slung his bag around his shoulder and began to leave the classroom. “If the headmaster find out, he’ll…”

“The headmaster can kiss my ass.” Logan retorted crudely. “Huh. I bet he’d like that.

Unable to say anything else, Max simply watched as Logan left.

•••••••••••••

Lying on his bed, Max sighed. He had wasted his time today, sitting with Logan accomplishing nothing much in half an hour, and then having to sit there and take Logan’s verbal abuse all over again. Sure, it was Max’s fault for accidentally touching on what must’ve been a sensitive topic for Logan, but Max was just trying to get to know him better, that’s all.

Sighing, Max wondered if it might’ve been a better idea to just have left with Hannah. Hannah was one of the prettier girls in their year, and just the thought of her possibly being interested in Max was enough to make his heart race and butterflies flutter in his stomach.

These sensations were all new to him. Max had never experienced feelings as intense as this before, and even his barely pubescent cock was stirring in his pants. Getting up to a sitting position on his top bunk, Max let his feet dangle down. He suddenly wondered what Hannah would look like naked, how her breasts would look like and how sweet her pussy would taste.

Just the thought of Hannah stripping off all of her clothes was enough to pitch a stiff tent in Max’s pants, and Max had to shift uncomfortably as his erection pressed against his boxers. A mixture of curiosity and wanton lust overtook him, and the young boy quickly climbed off his bed as he looked for something to satisfy his adolescent urges. The Academy’s system blocked any and all pornographic networks, so Max couldn’t use his tablet to look for images online like he used to do back home, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have other means to do it.

Rummaging in his bag, Max finally found what he was looking for and pulled out a crumpled old poster. He had found it lying face down in the locker room yesterday, and figured that one of the older boys had probably kept it in their lockers but dropped it by accident.

Displayed on it was a naked blonde haired woman with wavy locks of hair rolling down onto her shoulders and over her naked breasts, covering her nipples. Her legs were spread wide open, however, exposing her sweet pussy in all its fine detail.

Max craned his neck forward as he tried to get a better look at the spread pussy. The model on the picture was completely bald down there, and while Max totally didn’t mind a little bit of hair on a woman’s privates, he couldn’t deny that the woman on the picture was extremely hot.

Just as Max was about to unzip his pants to begin jerking off, though, the door swung open and he turned around to find Kyle, just coming back from detention, entering the room.

“Ugh, I can’t believe it have,” Kyle groaned, too far away to spot the dirty poster Max held in his hands. “Serving detention every single evening has to be some sort of special punishment only Jade deserves.”

He slumped down on his bed.

“Jade should’ve gotten this punishment instead, she started it. Besides, there aren’t any Squad patrols assigned for the next two weeks, so she isn’t actually missing anything.”

Max chuckled a little, but besides that did not say anything else. His eyes were fixed on the poster in his hands and his mind was screaming at Kyle for coming in at the most inopportune moment. Well, he did do the same thing to Kyle on their first night, so maybe it was only fair.

But then, suddenly Kyle’s head perked up from his bed as he tried to see what was holding his roommate’s attention, and his eyes widened as he saw the picture of the naked lady.

“Woah.” Kyle muttered softly.

Seeing the glimmer of interest spark in his friend’s eye, Max waved him over and let him get a good look at the poster. Max had to chuckle a little as he watched the normally reserved Kyle’s eyes remain glued to the picture of the naked woman.

“How did you even get this?” He asked, without turning away from the poster.

“Found it in the locker room.” Max snickered. “One of the older kids probably dropped it by accident. My bet is that they had this pasted inside their lockers when it slipped out.”

Nodding, Kyle continued to ogle the poster quietly. Max had figured out over the course of the weeks that his roommate, while not overtly shy in any way, was a little more soft spoken, especially with the opposite gender. He did not seem to be able to express his interest in the pretty girls he’d hang around, and often grew quiet when the boys in the locker room began making sexual remarks and jokes to tease each other.

And yet, Kyle was unable to suppress his adolescent lust now that the pornographic poster was in front of his eyes, and all signs of exhaustion from the day had disappeared from Kyle’s face as his boyish features perked up. Glancing down to his pants, Max noticed a visible bulge at his crotch and smirked.

If he had to be honest, Max was also quite horny, and seeing that he had been just seconds away from masturbating when Kyle came in, was now wondering if it was appropriate to continue. After all, he had heard of many boys jerking off while their friends were in the room, or even better, jerking off along with their friends.

And what better chance than now? Max felt his throbbing cock press against his briefs, and he could see that Kyle too was pitching a tent in his trousers. Given the context, it wouldn’t be weird at all for both boys to pull of their pants right here and just start jacking off. Knowing his roommate, however, Max knew that without any prodding from him, Kyle would never initiate such a thing.

“She’s beautiful, huh.” Max began to say as he shifted slightly. Because of this movement, Kyle glanced down and quickly spotted that Max too was sporting an erection. “In these times, it’s hard not to think of some of the girls here at the Academy and wonder what they look like with their clothes off huh.”

Kyle did not respond for a second, but eventually nodded. And even though Max knew that he wouldn’t say it, Kyle was probably thinking of Hailey right now.

“Do you know Hannah?” Max asked. “The girl that sits in the front of some of our classes?” A smile spread over Max’s face as he thought of her. “She’s wears her blonde hair in a cute pigtail and always wears that super tight skirt.”

“Yeah.” Kyle shrugged. “She’s kinda cute, I guess…”

“She talked to me today, and she wants to hang out.” Max nudged Kyle playfully. “I think she likes me.”

Kyle chuckled. “Man, go for it. I hear even some of the older boys have already asked her out.”

“I wonder if any of them managed to get her naked yet.” Max smirked mischievously as he let his thumb rub the poster girl’s voluptuous breasts. “I wonder what she’ll look like naked, with her legs spread and stuff.”

Just the thought of having one of the girls he knew naked was enough to drive Max’s horny teenaged mind crazy, and he knew the thought of a naked Hannah lying in bed with open legs must have had the same effect on Kyle.

“Shit,” Max said as he groped his crotch with a hand. “I’m so fucking horny now.”

“Hm, yeah.” Kyle said, trying to sound non-comital.

Glancing down one more time at Kyle’s trousers, this time making it more obvious that he was eyeing his erection, Max looked up to the green eyed boy.

“Do you wanna…” Max tried his best to say it without being awkward, but failed. “You know, jerk off?”

Kyle’s face immediately went red at that, and he simply shrugged without saying anything else for several seconds. But then, after seeming to consider his own predicament at his crotch, Kyle finally managed a nod.

“Okay…”

Quickly putting the poster down on the ground in front of them, Max stood up, unzipped his trousers, and pulled them off. With only his tight, bulging briefs on, Max glanced at Kyle to see he was doing the same. From only the outline of their erections, Max suspected that he was the bigger of the two.

Deftly, Max hooked both his thumbs on the waistband of his underwear, and his fully erect six inch cock came springing out. Kyle did the same and confirmed Max’s suspicions, revealing only a thin five inch cock that had none of the thickness or maturity that Max’s one had. Ceasing his comparisons, Max quickly settled back down on the ground. Kyle was the shier of the two boys, but that didn’t stop him from shooting glances at Max’s larger cock. He didn’t want to make things weird though, so Max refrained from teasing Kyle about it.

Focusing his thoughts on the picture in front of him, Max forced his imagination to work as he instead envisioned Hannah in the picture, moaning and panting as he made hot, passionate love to her. His fingers closed around the shaft of his cock and his hands began to glide up and down in a rhythmic motion that was all too familiar to any teen boy. Soon, Max found himself bucking his hips forward in pleasure as he began to approach orgasm, and quickened the pace of his strokes.

Beside him, Kyle was stroking his cock too, but in a much more subtle and reserved way. It seemed that even though Max was jerking off too, Kyle was still self conscious about doing it in front of somebody else.

And that made it all the more surprising when Max heard a soft grunt, and glanced to the side in time to watch Kyle’s body contract as orgasm shook the fourteen year old’s body. Max watched with a curious interest as a small puddle of semen spurt weakly from Kyle’s tip.

“That was quick.” Max chuckled before he could stop himself.

Kyle could only smile sheepishly as he gave his slowly softening dick a couple of more strokes as he reached for a box of tissues with his other hand. Max grinned at him for a short second, but made sure not to maintain too much of any eye contact before turning back to his task at hand. Orgasm was close, and it was going to be so much sweeter than those he has had ever since he came to the Academy, because this was the first time Max had something else besides his imagination to get him off.

After a few more seconds of intense stroking, combined with the sultry pornographic picture in front of him and lewd fantasies about Hannah, Max could not hold on any longer. Wanting to try something different this time, however, Max got up so that he was on his knees and pointed his erect tip at the poster as he continued to stroke it.

“Hey, watch this Kyle.” Max called to his roommate, who had sat watching both the poster and him with a softening erection.

Taking aim, Max quickened his strokes as he came into one of the strongest orgasms he’s ever had in his young life. Groaning in a dazed pleasure, Max shot a thick rope of white ejaculate over the poster girl’s breasts and mouth, covering her with his thick semen. It was extremely satisfying to finish all over the poster girl’s naked body for the horny adolescent, and Max let out a mischievous chuckle as the last few spurts of his cum dribbled from the tip of his penis.

“Cool, right?” Max laughed. “What I’d give to do that to a real girl.”

“Heh,” Kyle smirked. “It sure saves on the cleanup too.”

“Yea,” Both boys stood up and pulled up their pants. “I’d better save it too, to use next time.”

Taking a couple of tissues, Max wiped the cum from the poster and stuffed it safely inside on of his drawers along with a bunch of school papers.

“Anyways, how was detention?” Max asked as he laid down on his bed.

“The usual.” Kyle shrugged. Max noticed that Kyle had never talked about his detention sessions with the headmaster, though he realized that there was really nothing for his roommate to talk about. Detention sucked, and it was boring. “But I did overhear a conversation between General Zantar and Colonel Mackath.”

“Really? What did they say?”

Kyle frowned, and his face seemed serious. “Apparently, our Squadron leaders think that the ambush in the Frontier was orchestrated by the very same seemingly harmless villagers begging for our help. This aroused some suspicions, and Colonel Mackath also came today to give the headmaster a report on attacks on Allied guard posts and patrols along the Frontier for the past months. Apparently, they’re starting to see a pattern. They think that this wasn’t a one off attack, and that this whole thing may be an organized assault.”

“That can’t be true.” Max shifted on the bed so that he was looking Kyle in the face. “The United Clans of Canada would never do that. That is a breach of the Charter, by doing that they’d risk reigniting war.”

“Exactly.” Kyle replied. “I just don’t know why they’d do that. From what I’ve heard, the headmaster will be corresponding with Border Protection to resolve the issue with the United Clans.”

That only made sense. After all, nobody wanted another war, not even the barbaric Canadians.

“I hope it gets worked out soon.” Max said, then yawned. “But I’m probably gonna go to sleep. We have early classes tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I’m gonna go take a shower, then I’ll go to bed.” Kyle said, but then paused. “Oh, hey I have some homework that I need help with. Can you help me out tomorrow?”

“Sure, just grab it off my bag anytime, you can copy it all, but just make sure to change it up a bit so it won’t be obvious that you copied.”

“Cool!” Kyle said happily as he walked off toward the bathroom. “Thanks!”

“Alright,” Max said as he turned over on his bed. “Goodnight.”

•••••••••••

“On the eve of the Allied Territories’ tenth birthday, five brave soldiers crossed the border into the Frontier, entering into the unknown of the Canadian Badlands.”

Information like this was something Max thought Logan should’ve already known, but since he didn’t, Max had borrowed some old books from the library to teach the older student with.

“The five of them were a squad of the country’s most elite super-commandos, put together by the Patriarch of the Allied Territories.” Max continued reading from the text. “It was meant to be a one way trip, a suicide mission for them, and thus the details of their exploits have always been very vague and possibly exaggerated.”

“Huh,” Logan shrugged nonchalantly. “That’s strange, never heard of them before.”

“Really?” Max couldn’t really believe him. “None of this rings any bells for you?”

“Nope.” Logan insisted, and Max could only roll his eyes at him. There’s no way any boy who grew up in the Allied Territories has never heard of them, unless he grew up in the deep rural farming South. For the past two hundred years boys have drooled at the stories of the Five Heroes of the Badlands, and wanted nothing else but to be like them when they grew up.

But, not wanting to argue with Logan, Max continued. “Nevertheless, one thing can be said for certain, and that is that they toppled the Canadian Autocracy, which then dissolved into a system of warring clans. Since then, they’ve been known as the Five Heroes of the Badlands.”

“Okay,” Logan said, seeming bored. “But that didn’t answer the question on my homework. All you had to do was give me their names.”

“Once more, I’m not just here to give you the answers to your homework.” Max folded his arms, irritated. “Context is important, and that’s the only way you’re gonna learn.”

“Learn about what? Five soldiers who lived hundreds of years ago? Their story is a story for children. Nobody cares about them anymore, I don’t see how it’s at all important.”

Max could feel his temper flaring at those words. Besides being personal heroes to him, the Five were also heroes to many others. In fact, their leader utilized plasma weapons and thruster boots, and many considered him to be the first Battle Scout. Their legacy and the cohesive way they worked together in one small unit also did inspire the structure of the Squadrons in schools all around the country today.

“Not important?” Max repeated in disbelief. “Besides the sheer odds they conquered in toppling the Canadian Autocracy, the Five Heroes also bought a significant reprieve for the fledgling Allied Territories. The Canadian clans could only pull themselves together to form the United Clans years later, AFTER we’d already dealt with the Latin Powers.”

Nodding impatiently, Logan had begun tapping his foot on the ground. “Okay. And what are their names?”

Sighing, Max relented and finally gave him his answers, reading off a string of five names from the book. Sometimes, he wondered if there was even any point in trying to make Logan care.

“You were late today.” Max suddenly pointed out as Logan typed away on his tablet. “What happened? You’ve not been late for the past week.”

“Yeah,” Logan shrugged. “It wasn’t my fault though. If you had noticed, your Squadron leader had to leave training early too.”

Logan was right, and Max cocked his head to a side. “What happened?”

“The headmaster needed to meet with the Squadron leaders for a brief discussion. Something about a possible future field assignment.”

Max suddenly recalled what Kyle said the other day, about overhearing General Zantar’s conversation with Colonel Mackath.

“Did it have anything to do with the increasing number of attacks in the Frontier?”

Logan raised a brow. “Maybe. Either ways, you’re not supposed to know.”

“But I heard about it.” Max leaned forward. “Tell me about it, is there going to be another war?”

Logan seemed hesitant to say anything else, but Max just needed to know.

“From what I hear,” Logan finally conceded. “Probably not. The United Clans have denied any responsibility or involvement in the attacks, and are actually blaming a new coalition of clans called the Frontier Clans. They’re apparently so big that they’ve even defeated the main bulk of the United Clans’ army, pushing them out of the Frontier territories.”

“Really?” Max asked. “I find that hard to believe. Maybe they’re lying, and are just buying themselves more time.”

“Perhaps not.” Logan said seriously. “I was there when the Basilica of Montreal fell. The Clan armies were butchered by our men. There’s no way they could’ve recuperated from that in just a a couple of years, and it wouldn’t have taken much for the Frontier Clans to defeat them.”

“Oh.” Max said, keeping silent. Like most of the Little Eagles, Logan did not often talk about the war, and since Logan felt it important enough to mention his time during the war now, Max thought it better to remain quiet.

“But, how did you even hear about that?” Logan asked. “General Zantar only informed us hours ago, nobody could have possibly told you.”

“Kyle did.” Max shrugged. “He was in detention with General Zantar and heard him talk about it a whole week ago.”

“Oh.” Was all Logan said before becoming silent.

Max studied the older boy and frowned. He just didn’t get it, little things that he would say seemed to trigger Logan, and sometimes for no reason at all. It just didn’t make any sense. Many people didn’t like Logan, but all he really had to do was just try to be a little bit friendlier to people, and then maybe he wouldn’t seem like such an asshole.

“Kyle is your roommate, right?” Logan suddenly said, which brought Max’s attention back to the present. “I think you told me that once in the past couple of days.”

“Yeah.” Max nodded. “I did.”

Logan’s expression remained blank, unreadable. “If you really care about him as a friend, then you should really try watching out for him. General Zantar has been taking quite some interest in him recently.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing.” Logan said, then stood up. “Just keep your eyes open is all I’m saying.”

Max watched in confusion as Logan grabbed his stuff.

“Thanks for the help today, but I think I’m gonna turn in early.”

“Um okay,” Max called after him. “You’ve been making progress, so good work, I guess.”

Standing up too, Max sighed then checked the time. It wasn’t too late yet, maybe Max still had enough time to find Hannah somewhere and catch up with her. For the past week, he had resolved to try to get to know Hannah a little better by spending some time with her whenever he could. Max would rush out of Squadron training the moment they were finished and showered as quickly as possible, before hurrying out to look for Hannah. They’d walk together for as long as was possible and talked, before Max would have to run off to meet Logan for tutoring. Sometimes, and that was very rare, Max would still be able to find Hannah hanging around and he’d be able to sit and chat with her for a bit or grab supper to eat together.

Wondering if maybe he could still hang out with Hannah for a bit, Max rushed out of the classroom to look for her.

••••••••••••••••

Kyle

Sitting on the open grassy fields of the Academy’s garden, Kyle watched the butterflies flutter around him as the sun shone its warm rays down.

For a world supposedly destroyed during the Great Wars, Kyle had managed to find beautiful places wherever he went. He spent a lot of time alone at the hills back home, and now, Kyle was sure that he’d found a place he could go to just think and enjoy the scenery.

Footsteps in the grass behind Kyle suddenly broke the tranquility of the garden, and Kyle quickly spun around to see who it was.

“Logan?” Kyle asked, surprised. Of all the places in the Academy, the garden was the last place he’d expected to find Logan in. “What are you doing here?”

“I could ask you the same thing.” Logan said. “This is kinda my spot, you know.”

His spot? Kyle would never have guessed that the quiet and peaceful garden would be a place that the popular Logan Meier would choose to hand around in.

“I’m sorry,” Kyle began to say as he got to his feet. “I didn’t know.”

“No, it’s okay.” Logan laughed as he plopped down on the grass beside him. “You can stay, it’d be nice to have some company, actually.”

“Oh, okay.” Kyle said as he sat himself back down on the grass.

“You’re that kid who was trying to die, right?” Logan asked with a chuckle, and Kyle remembered how Logan had saved him during the firefight out in the Frontier a couple weeks back.

“Uh, yeah.” Kyle laughed, scratching his head. “I’m Kyle.”

“And I’m Logan.”

“Yeah, I knew that.” Kyle smirked. “Of course, everyone knows about Logan Meier.”

“Heh. Must be a big disappointment then, actually getting to meet me huh?”

Kyle wasn’t sure what to say to that.

“No, not at all.” He began to say. “I mean, sure, you have a reputation, but you haven’t actually been mean to me, have you?” Kyle laughed. “In fact, you saved my life the other day.”

Logan smiled. “I guess I did.”

For several minutes, the two sat there quietly and simply enjoyed the scenery. Kyle, however, felt the need to break the awkward silence, and cleared his throat to speak.

“You’ve been taking lessons with Max, right?”

“That’s right.” Logan said as he continued to look off into the sunset. “You’re both roommates, right? I think he mentioned it once.”

“Yeah.”

“Well you’re pretty lucky then,” Logan chuckled. “Because that kid is pretty smart. He knows all the answers to every question on my homework. I bet you just copy off of him, right?”

Kyle laughed. “Ah, well he does help me quite a bit.”

Several more seconds of silence followed, but this time it was Logan who interrupted the silence.

“Hey, so you’ve been serving detention with the headmaster, right?”

“Yup.” Kyle nodded. “I sit inside his office for an hour and a half every evening while Max tutors you.”

“Oh.” Logan said, pausing for a second. “Does… Anything exciting ever happen during detention?”

Immediately, Kyle thought back to some of the more titillating conversations he and the headmaster has had, and to the time where he had shown Kyle those explicit pictures on his computer. Yeah, it was probably best not to say anything about that; Kyle hadn’t even told Max anything about that, and Max was his closest friend and roommate.

“Well, not really.” Kyle finally said. “We just talk a little bit here and there… nothing much happens.”

Kyle turned to Logan, and saw that the older student was merely nodding at him, without looking like he truly believed Kyle’s story. But there was also something else that the first year boy saw on Logan’s face, something that resembled worry. Was Logan concerned about something that he thought was going on in the headmaster’s office?

“That’s cool.” Logan said.

“Uh… yeah,” Kyle said then looked at his watch. “Hey look, sorry, but I’ve actually got to go. I have class in ten minutes and I don’t want to be late.”

“Oh, alright.” Logan said as he watched Kyle stand up. “You better get going then.”

“Yeah.” Kyle said, looking around at the garden then back at Logan. “Sorry for being so abrupt, but I’m actually just a little surprised that you’re here. I never figured you for the nature type.”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call myself a nature guy.” Logan shrugged. “But home was something like this, with lots of hills and snow. So maybe you could say that this kinda reminds me of home.”

Kyle laughed. Besides the profiles they did on Logan on the television, this was probably the first intimate thing he had ever actually learnt about Logan. It was just too bad he had to go, though.

“Alright.” Kyle said as he began to walk away, but then turned back to Logan. “I guess I’ll catch you next time then.”

“You bet.” Logan calmed after him. “And now, you’ll know where and when to find me.”

••••••••••••••••••••••

“Do you ever find yourself wondering if you’re ever gonna be good enough?” Kyle asked.

Both he and Logan were sitting in the garden again, chatting with one another as they enjoyed the peace around them. Though Kyle did enjoy his friends at the Academy, just being able to get away from the hustle and bustle of life to sit in nature for half an hour to an hour everyday was all that he needed to recharge from a tiring daily schedule.

“In terms of what?” Logan asked, looking to the younger boy.

“You know,” Kyle sighed. “Just in general.”

A momentary pause followed that sentence. Before he had come to the Academy, Kyle had been the best student his little mining town had ever seen in generations. And so, Kyle has become their great hope to one day make something great out of himself.

But here at the Academy, things were different. Even the normal students, the ones who were not interested in joining Squadrons, were among the top tier students in the nation, and those that Kyle was actually competing with in the Squadrons were the best of the very best. It made Kyle, who had been so used to feeling like something special, merely adequate. Whereas at home everyone would always be so interested in him, nobody here at the Academy would look at him twice.

“I mean,” Kyle eventually sighed. “I guess it’s not a question that I should’ve asked you, anyways. You probably wouldn’t get it, I mean how could you?” He smiled at Logan. “You’re the Logan Meier. You’ve done more for our home than anyone in this school will ever do, and you’re only fifteen. And becoming a Squadron leader in only your first year? You have it made, man.”

“Do I really, though?”

Kyle merely shot Logan a confused look, to which he chuckled.

“I’m going to be honest with you here, Kyle.” Logan said. “It may seem like I’ve always been this good, and that’s why I signed up to fight in the Great Wars, but that wasn’t always the case. I was only eight then, and like yourself, I was from a poor little town with no idea what the world was like beyond my village’s borders.”

Logan’s face fell, and Kyle thought he saw a little smile on his face.

“Things were simpler then, and I was a lot happier. I had many friends before I started fighting, and we had a lot of fun together. But at no single point during my four years with the army did I ever know for sure that I was gonna ever do anything significant at all. There was always doubt, Kyle. Even now, doubt hangs over each and every choice I have to make like a plague. You’ll just learn to stop second guessing yourself and go for what you think is right.”

Listening to the older boy’s words, Kyle nodded solemnly. Though Logan wasn’t even that much older than Kyle, he still had experience that far exceeded perhaps even General Zantar himself, and all because of a war he had decided to fight when he was only eight years old.

“I mean,” Logan began to say in a more lighthearted manner. “You’ve surely heard of what happened between me and Natalie, right? Not even being the most popular student in the Academy could save me from being dumped.” Logan smirked. “And at the end of the day, you’re left wondering whether you’re good enough or not. That’s just how it is.”

Recalling the advances Natalie had made toward him during his first days here in the Academy, Kyle suddenly felt very guilty about hiding the truth from Logan now that they were friends.

“Hey, about Natalie…” Kyle began to say. “There’s something I have to tell you about her.”

“You don’t even have to tell me. I already know.”

Looking to Logan in surprise, Kyle cocked his head. He knew? What did he mean by that?

“What?”

“I’m not stupid, Kyle.” Logan chuckled. “It’s like a well known secret that Natalie slept around a lot, even before we got together. Did anyone really think being in a relationship would’ve stopped her?”

“So you knew this whole time?”

“About you and Natalie? Of course, did you think I was too thick to understand what was going on when I caught you guys in that closet? Natalie might like to think she’s smart, but she underestimates many people’s intelligence sometimes.”

Kyle could feel his face going red as Logan said those words. “N-No, it was nothing like that Logan, you have to let me explain. We never did anything like that together.”

“You didn’t?” Now Logan seemed confused.

“No-I mean yes, we did some stuff, but that was all before I knew that you guys were a couple. I mean, come on, that was my very first weekend here at the Academy, I didn’t know anything.” Kyle found himself stammering. “P-Plus, we never actually did it… sex, I mean.”

Listening to Kyle closely, Logan couldn’t help but burst out laughing at that last part.

“Oh, come on now, you had me up until that last part.”

“Huh?”

“Really? No sex?” Logan raised an eyebrow at Kyle. “I know Natalie well, Kyle, and if there’s something besides food and water she couldn’t live without, that would be cock. She would never throw herself at someone if she wasn’t looking for sex, and in a school full of horny teenagers like this, who would ever turn down sex from a little psycho like Natalie?”

Kyle frowned. The extent to which Logan knew about Natalie’s cheating without doing anything about it was quite disturbing. Perhaps Logan’s reputation in the Academy really was exaggerated.

“I swear,” Kyle crossed his heart. “I never did anything with her, and not for a lack of trying on her part.”

Logan was the one to cock his head this time. “You turned her down?”

“The first two time, no.” Kyle admitted. “If it hadn’t been for interruptions, I probably wouldn’t have been able to resist. But after I found out that she was already seeing you, yes. I didn’t believe her when she said that she had broken up with you, and I turned her down.”

Logan seemed to be studying Kyle’s face for several moments, as if to see if he was telling the truth before he finally spoke again.

“Wow, Kyle.” He smiled and shook his head. “Right now I really I don’t know whether to hug you, or call you a dumbass.”

“What? How could I have trusted her after she lied to me twice already? I could never have done it, especially since she was already seeing someone. That would be wrong.”

Logan gave Kyle a firm but friendly pat on the shoulder. “Well, at least we know now that you’re legitimately a nice guy. But that does still mean that you’ve never gotten your dick wet, huh?”

Once again, at the mention of sex, Kyle blushed. “No, not yet.”

“Well, it’s not like you’re in any hurry.” Logan simply laughed. “Besides, your time will come sooner or later, it’s not like you’re in a rush or anything right?”

“No,” Kyle laughed. “I guess not.”

••••••••••••••

Max

“And is it really as cold as they say?” Hannah asked as the two sat at the desks inside the classroom.

“Oh yeah, probably even colder.” Max responded, to which Hannah giggled.

The two were sitting inside the classroom where Max tutored Logan, charring for a little bit before Logan would finally come in. As usual, he was late, and because Hannah had decided to walk with Max to the classroom today to chat, Max asked her if she’d like to sit and wait with him until Logan arrived, to which she happily agreed to.

So far, Max had really enjoyed the time they’ve spent together, and he’s actually beginning to think that Hannah really liked him. She’s called him cute a couple of times, and every time Max flirted with her and teased her playfully, Hannah would giggle and blush madly. She even asked to walk him to the classroom just so she could talk with him for longer.

“It’s just so crazy how we’ve all heard so many stories about the Frontier.” Hannah said as they continued to walk. “And now you, and so many of the other kids our age are actually out there patrolling it.”

“Ah, well it’s dangerous and all I guess, but we do what we have to.”

“That’s so brave of you.” Hannah said as she bit her lip.

Max looked to her and saw that those cute chocolate colored eyes were locked onto his, staring deeply into his hazel eyes.

“I guess it is.” Max laughed, trying to take the compliment as coolly as possible. Like all other fourteen year old boys, the cool and macho demeanor was the go to strategy for Max when it came to impressing girls. And luckily for him, the tactic seemed to always work.

Hannah, smiling, closed her eyes and began to lean forward, tentatively at first, allowing Max to see just how truly beautiful Hannah was. Her skin was radiant and flawless, and her puckered lips were pink and glistening in the light of the classroom. Max’s hand moved to brush hers, and he closed his eyes as he leaned forward to meet her in a kiss.

And when the two adolescent teens’ lips finally met, jolts of electric pleasure coursed through Max’s body. Her soft, tender lips seemed to melt into his, and Max couldn’t think of anything that could possible feel better than this. Their kiss became more passionate as Max pressed his lips deeper against Hannah, but before the two teens could do anything else, they were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

“Looks like you’re a little busy.” Logan stood at the doorway. “Maybe I should come back in an hour?”

“L-Logan!” Both Max and Hannah quickly pulled away from one another.

“Oh, don’t stop on my account.” Logan winked. “The both of you looked sweet together, maybe we could just take tonight off and you both could get a room?”

Max felt his face flush a deep red. He couldn’t imagine if there was anything more embarrassing than having your first intimate moment in front of someone else, and wished suddenly that everything would just go away.

“I-I better go now.” Hannah said, tripping over her words as she got up and left. She seemed to be just as embarrassed as Max was and he found himself suddenly worried that she’d regret kissing him.

“What’s wrong with you Logan?” Max asked angrily. “Why’d you have to go and do that?”

“Relax, I was just teasing.” Logan stepped inside the classroom. “It’s not like she’ll suddenly not like you anyways. Chill out.”

“Whatever.” Max grumbled as he pulled out some library books from his bag. They were a new set he borrowed this morning to help Logan with his studies, but suddenly Max wondered why he was even putting in so much effort when Logan wasn’t. “You weren’t on time either today.”

“Yes, but I have a legitimate excuse.” Logan said simply as he stopped behind Max. “And we won’t be needing those books, not today.”

Max frowned and turned around to face Logan. “What?”

“Put your books away.” Logan said. “The Squadrons have all been assembled at the Hall, and we’re just waiting on you now.”

“Assembled at the Hall?” Max repeated as he quickly began to repack his bags. “Why?”

Logan remained silent as he began to walk out of class, and Max quickly jogged forward to try and keep up.

“Let’s just say that we’ve decided to deal with those pesky Frontier Clan-members.”

••••••••••••

The Hall was bustling by the time Max got there. Almost all of the five Squadrons were there already, each of them with their own tablets given to them before each with important data and references needed for the briefing.

Logan had disappeared somewhere, probably to join up with his own Squadron, and it took Max a good couple of minutes to find Alpha Squadron in the big crowd, spotting familiar faces only after he had already bumped into members of other Squadrons accidentally a couple of times.

“Kyle!” Max called out as he joined his group of his friends. He turned to the others and nodded a greeting. “Hey Colin, hi Hailey.”

“Max, we’ve been looking for you!” Kyle said as he turned and smiled at his best friend. “The briefing is almost started, but you had rushed out off practice before the headmaster informed us all. James said that Logan was sent to get you.”

“Yeah, he came and got me while I was waiting for him in the classroom.”

“Oh yeah.” Hailey said. “You’re tutoring Logan this semester. How’s that going so far? I imagine it can’t be easy.”

“Don’t even get me started. Logan may be quick on the field but he’s slower than a tortoise in the classroom.” Max rolled his eyes, but almost immediately felt a pang of guilt from saying that about Logan behind his back. He wasn’t really that bad, was he?

“Anyways,” Max said, changing the topic. “What’s this thing all about? Why are we all here for?”

“All we know is that the headmaster is going to assign us our first actual full-scale operation for the year.” Hailey pulled out a tablet and tapped on its screen. “They’ve given us a timeline for our briefing, that’s all we know now. It’s supposed to start in another minute or two.” She glanced back to the podium as the headmaster and several other faculty members discussed something quietly. “They’ve been talking a while, but I think they’re just waiting for us to settle down.”

“Oh, okay.”

Colin, suddenly remembering something, pulled out an extra tablet and handed it to Max . He looked to their quiet friend and smiled.

“Thanks.” He said.

“I bet it’s gonna be about that thing I told you about.” Kyle said and folded his arms across his chest.

“What thing?” Hailey asked as Max watched the other teachers leave the headmaster alone on the podium. “Is it about the attacks by clansmen in the Frontier?”

“Yeah.”

“Then it’s probably gonna be serious.” Max said, noting the stern look on General Zantar’s face as he cleared his throat and began to speak.

“Squadron Leaders, please seat your respective Squadrons in two lines of ten each, and get them to settle down so I can begin.”

Hushing and shushing quickly filled the Hall, and the chattering students quickly dispersed to form the desired lines that the headmaster had asked for. Max followed the others’ lead and quickly sat next to Colin, behind Hailey and Kyle. All the way up in the front Max could see James sitting down next to his second in command, a third year named Diego.

“Alright, I’ll get to the point quick because I know we’re all tired,” General Zantar said. “And you’ll all need to get adequate rest before your the operation begins tomorrow.”

“Some of you might have heard the rumors already that there is a new threat against the Allied Territories at our borders.” The headmaster said. “A threat that have been officially confirmed by the Canadian Clans to be a rogue nation that has seceded from them.”

Kyle turned around and whispered softly to Max. “See? It’s about that thing.”

“These clans are comprised of those who have lived in the Frontier’s wasteland, and are the toughest fighters among the entirety of the Canadian United Clans. We call them the Frontier Clans, and they have already begun advancing toward our border.”

Simultaneously, all of the students’ tablets blinked to life with a map of the Frontier and a big red dot in the middle of it.

“This is where we know the main bulk of their armies are, and we are assuming that their main base of operations are somewhere behind that line. The government of the Allied Territories has decided that they will be a substantial threat if not dealt with quickly, and we have worked with them and Border Protection to coordinate a simultaneous strike to take them down.”

Whispering swept through the Hall as the student excitedly discussed the implications of the announcement.

“Yes, as you might have realized by now, this operation will comprise of all five Squadrons working together in a joint operation with the Army and Border Protection to incapacitate the armies of the Frontier Clans and halt their advance toward our country. We have called it, Operation Trident.”

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