“Oh please, we’re already in space, where are you going to run off to? Besides, you’ve seen the claws on this cat-lady, I don’t believe you’re stupid enough to try something funny… Put on the collar yourselves, it’ll automatically shrink to your size.”

H’Mara then turns towards Ares:

“And you, Lunarian, have you already chosen a trial? Or were you also going to pick three like that idiot there?”

“Miss H’Mara, my name is Ares, and I’ve chosen the trial of nerve oiling. One trial will be enough for me, at least I’ll be able to endure my trials for 6 months.”

He then shoots me a mocking glare… This bastard, just you watch, I’ll endure all six trials!

“Just call me H’Mara like your friend over there, we’re pirates, not a 5-star hotel… Trial of nerve oiling it is then!”

After fiddling with Ares’ collar, she also frees him from his cuffs before instructing him to put his new choker on.

I already put mine on while H’Mara and Ares were talking, but to my surprise, nothing happened yet…

“Alright, to activate the collar just yell: ‘Trial start!’ And if you ever want to give up, just yell: ‘Trial stop!’, with that command, the uniform will deactivate. You could say that the ability to stop your training whenever you want to is also a trial on its own, a psychological one...

I nervously look at Ares who I can tell is also starting to have doubts… Without thinking about it too much, I yell:

“Trial start!”

…

Nothing happens.

“H’Mara, I think my suit may be broke-“

Suddenly a blue one-piece unfurls itself from underneath my collar and wraps around my body, going underneath the robe I was wearing, this process is accompanied by two metal rods impaling the back of my neck and an incredible amount of anguish.

I immediately drop to my knees from the sudden surge of pain. My bones are vibrating like crazy, it feels like they’re about to escape their flesh-prison, violently at that! Meanwhile all my muscles suddenly cramp up at the same time. Not to mention the fact that all my pain-receptors are screaming out in agony… Until… Everything suddenly turns black, the pain fading along with my vision…

…

“FUCK!”

I suddenly awake in the middle of the floor, my body still screaming out in pain... Seems like I can only escape those feelings while unconscious…

With a lot of effort and some help from the bars along the metal wall, I finally managed to somewhat stand upright.

Looking at the place on the floor where I took my involuntary nap, I can see a familiar puddle of drool, this time however, it’s mixed with blood… Shit, I should really close my mouth when fainting next time… Wait no, just don’t let there be a next time Ryder!

“Finally awake? It’s already evening, you missed Peli’s delicious dinner, sucks for you... Better try and sleep for now, tomorrow you’ll have to work early… Or while we’re at it, why don’t you just deactivate your training suit? Three trials from the start was a dumb idea anyways. Also, don’t faint in my command center, just search for a quiet corner or something next time!”

I tried turning my neck to face H’Mara, who was gloating behind my back, but gave up after realizing doing so would probably make me pass out from pain again… Luckily, speaking was just barely manageable.

“T-This is nothing, B-Besides, if I gave up now, I w-would be disappointing our cat-lady commander.”

Oh god, how I wanted to just give up here and now… The only things keeping me going were my goal and the feeling of wanting to spite H’Mara… When did I become so petty again?

“Sure, continue trying to act tough. We’ll see how long a weakling such as yourself can hold on to their sanity.”

With those words, she starts walking towards the door. When she passes me by, without warning, she suddenly slaps me on my ass.

“FFFFFUUCCKKK!”

I scream out in pain, barely able to not fall down by firmly grasping the metal railing that was holding me upright.

As H’Mara walks out the door, I can see a devious little smile on her face, I can only utter in response:

“O-Oi, T-That was sexual harassment.”

This time she flashes a genuine smile and giggle before presumably returning to her own room.

As I make my painful journey to the lower decks in hope of catching some sleep before having to work tomorrow, I spot Hooke smoking a cigarette underneath some kind of vent.

Hooke sees me struggling and asks:

“Don’t exaggerate brat, are you trying to evoke sympathy or something? I created most of those trials myself, they’re painful sure, but even that Chelou girl didn’t overreact as much as you.”

“W-Why did you make all of them so incredibly painful?”

“Which ones you talking about brat?”

“The bone breaking, nerve oiling and muscle tearing ones.”

“Well it’s simple, no pain, no gain. The bone breaking trial introduces microfractures into your skeleton by violently vibrating it using sonic waves, those microfractures will heal back stronger. The muscle tearing one, as the name implies, destroys your muscles by activating their nerves many times within a few seconds, think: 1000 push-ups in 5 seconds, of course, they’ll also heal back stronger. Now the nerve oiling one I’m proud off, it excites your neurons in a way that’ll make em’ adapt to faster pulses, of course that would also hurt, but nothing I can do about that. Which one did ya pick brat? I’m guessing the nerve oiling one?”

“A-All three… I picked all three of them.”

Hooke looks stunned, his cigarette briefly falling from his lips to the ground before he manages to catch it mid-air.