Tuesday flew like a breeze, as while Rohan did make sure to pay attention to his classes, his focus was still on the tryouts. It was clear that Sriya was too, as while the group was together, Rohan and Sriya talked nonstop about the tryouts, and about what was to come.
During dinner, the two spoke between bites of their burgers and salads, which were on plates and boxes branded with 'NicRobbers', trying to think of the type of drills they'd need to do the next day, and how to shine above the rest in them. Ara and Ari still spoke to each other, and Vrey spoke to Shuraj, however Shuraj's attention wasn't on Vrey, but instead Sriya, as he seems to dawn a more serious stern expression as he watches the two talk in silence.
It was unclear if it was either interest or possible jealousy, but either way, Vrey continues talking as though he is being listened to, while Shuraj gives the lightest ounce of acknowledgement, while still focusing on Sriya and Rohan.
The group sits in one of the more quiet dining rooms of the large food court that Ara had scouted for, which had nicer seating as well, and after the first day they went there, they hadn't gone back to the main hall ever.
Lucky for Rohan, Shuraj offered to pay for his lunch as long as Rohan aided him for his classwork, which was an easy tradeoff. Rohan still wished he was able to have enough money to pay for his food, but Shuraj claimed that his parents had nothing else to do with the credits, so he might've as well spent it for a friend.
After their dinner, Rohan was called up to help another friend however, and so once the group gets to the dorms to relax at the lounges, Rohan detaches from the group to head to the 49th floor. There, he meets with Erica, who as usual wears more informal resting clothing, as she couldn't be bothered to dress up even though she would most likely fall asleep right after Rohan would leave.
There, he spent a few hours helping Erica through any issue with assignments from their class, but even extended his hand to her other classes, even if they were ones he wasn't taking. Lucky for both of them, Rohan studied for any topic he had ever taken a course for, and so he was versatile in helping her with any other classwork she might've been confused on, even when it made no sense that an alien to the class was still able to help someone who's been taking it.
While to Erica it might've seemed odd that Rohan still knew so much, regardless if he was just smart, the truth was that he had been researching the classes she would ask questions on, preparing himself to help her later when she'd ask.
Of course it was more work for him to take on, but that was never a bother, and he found a strange drive to want to study it anyways, in effort to help Erica with her work.
When all the work was done, they said their goodbyes, and Rohan notified her that he wouldn't be able to help the next day, as he had tryouts. Erica wished him good luck, and gave him a goodbye hug, something that had become a norm that Rohan never spent another second trying to analyze.
He'd then go to his room to sleep, where Dexter was fast asleep as usual, and after changing he would lay in bed, and the next day would come as usual.
The next day went the same up until the end of the second class, and when the group met up, both Sriya and Rohan diverged together to head to the rink. Soon enough they found themselves amongst the horde of other players who towered Rohan in height and bulk, but Rohan kept his eyes off them, trying to stay determined.
They went inside the lobby, remembered their rink number, and headed to that rink. On the second day, the coaches didn't bother to make an introductory announcement, leaving the students on their own to set themselves up and begin practicing, as the rink was already open to enter.
Rohan places his helmet on his head, and the suit expands over his body before hardening. He turns to Sriya, who's helmet finishes its hardening at the front and back, and his energy mask activates.
The two leave the locker room and get in the rink, where they fly up, and join the rest of the students as they circle the rink to get accustomed to the gear before getting practice in.
A few minutes later, the coaches get in the rink, and they call for the students to regroup with them. Once all the students hover in front of them, the main coach reveals a box in his hands, and lets it dissolve open in a similar effect to the doors, as the lid combusts into a nanite cloud to reveal a massive group of floating disks, which all the students find excitement over.
The main coach explains, "Don't be too immature with these, or you'll get the boot, got it? Now, everyone, take a puck and make a line."
The students oblige, as all of them start to activate the same gauntlets that Sriya had made to save Rohan on the first day, but rather than using it to grab someone, they used it to grab one of the disks before making their way to the end of the rink to form a line.
Rohan turns to Sriya, and he gives a nervous chuckle before asking, "Wait uh...how do we do that?"
Sriya turns to Rohan, and he holds his hand out in front of him. He then closes his hand to a fist, which causes a gauntlet to form on that arm. He says, "Just like that, make a fist. I'm surprised you haven't done it already, it's good if you haven't been tensed enough to ball up your fists yet. But you'll need to do that today."
Rohan nods, and he asks, "Like this-?" before closing his fist, and as he does, he notices the band on his arm seems to start expanding, as plates harden and mold to create a similar gauntlet to everyone else's. His eyes widen in surprise, and he turns to Sriya, to which Sriya nods with pride.
Sriya then opens his hand, aims it at one of the disks, and closes it again, causing the gauntlet to grab the disk in his tractor beam. He then says, "Do that, and follow me to the line."
Sriya flies off, and Rohan does the same thing, holding his open hand out to one of the disks, and closes it, causing his gauntlet to project a beam that grabs the disk he aims for, and holds it to him.
He smiles in the pride that he managed to succeed, and turns to the line, propelling himself off after Sriya.
The drills once more begin, as the coaches start off with similar drills to the first day, which focused on maneuvering, but this time with the addition of carrying a puck with them. While at first this didn't seem too complicated, Rohan quickly realized that with one hand holding his disk, he couldn't use it to pull himself anywhere, hindering his movement.
He watches as students race off with their pucks, clearly putting less dependency on their arms, and more on their feet or body, thrusting their body forwards in replacement of using their arms. Rohan however hadn't fully developed such skills, which worried him more, but he tried to stay calm and collected.
When it was his turn to go, he was significantly slower than the others, as he only really had his legs and feet to rely on, simply boosting himself off with kicks, as he wasn't able to utilize his whole body for thrusts in the ways other players were.
The coaches observe Rohan suffer to try getting through the drill, and the one on the left complains, "Get this kid out of here, it's clear he's no player, he's just messing around."
The coach on the right then defends, stating "We're not disqualifying anyone until the last day, remember? Maybe he'll be removed, maybe he'll somehow make it to one team, but we can't make the decision just yet."
The coach in the middle however, wasn't focused on Rohan, as instead he was focused on Sriya, who excellently pushes his way through the course, letting his body bend forwards as his limbs glide back to maximize both his thrusts and boosts, clearly signs of a veteran player.
His eyes contract, as he finds interest in the player, noting him to be surprisingly good, and possibly someone who could make it into one of the upper teams.
As the students continue their beginning drills, the coaches deploy two large goals of sorts on both sides of the rink, as the coach on the right vanishes off to access the controls. The goals were shaped as trapezoidal prisms, wider at the front but skinnier in the back, and hover in place halfway up the rink, and in the middle.
The next drills were centered on target practice, as students lined up to fly one by one towards one of the goals, before firing their disks straight into it, with most of them entering the goal.
As Rohan waits, he looks at his gauntlet, wondering exactly how he was supposed to fire. He then looks at the other students, noticing that right as they close in on the goal, they pull their arm back, and then shoot it forwards with an open hand, which seems to cause the pucks to fly into the goal.
The more force put into the thrust, the faster the puck seems to fly, and so Rohan guesses that the motion was the way to fire. He takes a deep breath, still nervous however, as it seemed that even with the slight memories of playing at 14, he still had no recollection of how exactly to play.
In a sense, he was playing for his first time during the tryouts to get into the top team.
The odds weren't in his favor.
When Rohan was at the front of the line, he made a dash for the goal, using his boots to boost himself. Once he gets relatively close to the goal, he pulls his arm back, his eyes on the goal, ready to fire. He then thrusts his arm forward, opening his hand, and he watches as the puck fires off of his pull. He begins to smile, satisfied that he was able to shoot the puck on his first try.
However, his smile fades, as his puck misses the goal completely, and instead hits the back wall, causing some of the students to need to move to the side to avoid being hit.
Rohan instantly lowers his head as he shamefully returns to the line, questioning how he was the only one who missed the shot on an open goal that everyone else got with ease.
He looks up to see Sriya go next, as he is behind him, and he watches as Sriya strides towards the goal. Sriya then pulls his arm back before thrusting it forward, firing the puck with extreme speed, causing it to fly straight into the exact center of the goal and hit the energy wall at the back with a bang, however the wall suspends the puck from flying out the other way.
Sriya stops behind Rohan, and he takes a deep breath, proud that he still had the aim in him.
Rohan looks at Sriya, and he sighs, saying "I hope you didn't see my shot."
Sriya looks at Rohan, and he nods his head, responding "I did, don't worry, it happens. It looks like you led your arm way off, just make sure not to do a hook or anything, keep your arm straight ahead of you when you fire. It's okay, it happens."
Rohan frowns, and he says, "At some point, you won't be able to keep making excuses for me."
Sriya shakes his head, and he says, "Well good thing I don't have to, I'm not. You're just making some little beginner mistakes, once you patch it up, you're gold."
However, even with Sriya's optimism, Rohan didn't get much better, as while he tried to follow Sriya's advice, he still found himself missing the goal. He knew the coaches were watching him, but he couldn't do anything about it, as he felt like it was guaranteed that he would be thrown off any possible team.
Finally, the second tryout wraps up, as the coach once again asks for a regroup before giving his signing off statement.
The main coach says, "Many of you seem to be able to move and shoot, which is good to see, because if you can't do that bare minimum then you shouldn't even be here. However, anyone can throw their arms, what really matters is if those skills can be put to the test. That is why on Sunday, we will have our final tryout day, which will be in the form of a scrimmage. When you come here on Sunday, you will see your name next to the rink number, but you will also be given an assigned locker room, which is the locker room where your team will be. You'll also have new suits colored to differentiate yourself from your enemies, but don't expect anything too special, it's still training equipment. Sunday will be the day where you will be examined to see where you belong, and next week we should have the rosters posted on the page. So if you really want to get up there in the top division or at least something good, you better rest and eat well, and be ready for Sunday. You can all go now."
All the students return to the ground before leaving the rinks and heading to their locker rooms.
Rohan and Sriya enter their room as they take their helmets off to place them on the bench. Rohan sighs in defeat, saying "At this point, I don't know why I'd even go to Sunday. It's clear I'm not making it anywhere. Come on...why am I so bad."
Sriya looks down at Rohan and frowns, seeing just how anxious he was, and Sriya asks, "You said you started playing at 14?"
Rohan looks up at Sriya with a somewhat confused expression, and then nods his head, saying "I...think. That's what I remember. Why? Did I start too late?"
Sriya hums to himself, and he says, "No, it's just that I feel like maybe the issue is that you got too rusty or something, but even then I feel like a player like you should at least have some clue as to what they're doing."
Rohan sighs, and he says, "See, you do recognize that I have no idea how to play."
Sriya shakes his head, and he says, "No no, I'm not saying you're bad. I'm just confused a bit I guess, you have an odd situation that I don't really get. Maybe you should watch some videos on air hockey and try to learn from that, I dunno. We'll keep working out every morning, and I'm going to spend tonight trying to think up some good exercises that should help you with issues you're having, okay? But don't feel too scared. You gotta keep your head up, or you'll be crushed by what's ahead."
Rohan nods his head, exhaustingly saying "You're right, I just, I don't know. You're right, something is off. I just...don't know what."
Sriya shrugs his shoulders, and he says, "Well, we'll figure out how to get you ready for Sunday. Come on, let's go, the others are probably waiting for us."
Sriya walks out of the locker room, and Rohan follows, still feeling anxiety about what was to come, but ready to at least do everything he could to make it his best effort.
Maybe, just maybe, that would be enough.