Jonah shared a bunk with Alois, but he was laying on the floor while everybody rallied together for another training session. A rubber ball floated easily up into the air and back down into the boy's hand with a soft sound. He tossed it again... Three years and not one person knew where he got this thing, but he always had it. Once, he dropped it and it went bouncing away; he ended up with a rather nasty punishment for using his maneuverability gear and gas to catch up to it before it vanished into the tree line. The dexterity required to react and collect the rubber ball before its disappearance was impressive, but it didn't stop the drill instructors from being furious with him. The ball was confiscated on more than one occasion - some people thought that he had more than one, but it really just took a hell of a lot of sleight of hand to always get it back. One of the trainees swears on his life that he saw Jonah swipe the ball from Captain Schaeffer's own hand and replace it with a smooth river rock. Some of the instructors found it absolutely infuriating, but Jonah's apathy was the reason he could get away with... well, just about anything.

The trainees of Squad 3 were assembling for training, so he caught the ball and placed it in his zip-pocket, closing it up securely. He rose slowly, deliberately to his feet. Did Alois have any idea how insane it made him when his leg bounced [I]all freaking night?[/I] he wondered in slight agitation. It wasn't long before the other boy was rising off his bed.Tinker had a new thing-a-ma-what to test, but Jonah had a large preference for his blades and maneuverability gear.

Being the ever-present realist that he was, Jonah crossed his arms, "How about instead of focusing on showing people up, we practice for what comes after this?"

Ava looked to her squadmates and nodded, "You're all right. We can't let anybody think we were going for top ten so that we could slack off - but Jonah is too; pretty soon, 'practice' will be a word we can't use anymore... we'll be in the thick of it - no matter where we are, now that Wall Maria was compromised." She gave them all a small smile before heading out the door. They all gathered their gear, fastened firmly to their hips and thighs. Four pairs of Ultra-Steel blades each, two canisters' worth of gas, and an astounding amount of high-tension cable. Squad 3 was geared up and ready to go as they left the armory, all ready for their exhausting until-dark training session.

Suddenly, a booming voice sounded from behind them. "Ekkehardt!" It called, the girl stopping on her heel, pulling an instant salute, and pivoting a full one-hundred and eighty degrees.

"Yes, si-" She stopped flat, her arms dropped, and she let out a very irritated sigh. "What the Hell do you want, Elder?" She asked the boy who was named First in the 101st. Friedrich was notorious for sounding like an instructor - if you heard his voice, he sounded nothing like a fifteen year-old.

"I just wanted to say congratulations to your squad - you guys all making the top ten and whatnot... Was wondering where you were going after this," He said curiously, resting his hands on his hips. "I mean, everybody's spending tonight celebrating - we've got a party and everything that'll get started in a few minutes, maybe an hour. I thought you guys would all like to go." No he didn't. He wanted to know if Ava was going. The girl wasn't fooled for a moment as she brushed a bit of hair from her eyes before tying it back and clearing her throat, taking her good time replying.

"Oh geeze, you know, I would, but... Gosh, we've gotta get to training, I only made seventh place, you know, and we've got a lot of work to do. You're welcome to join us, but you're not really likely to keep up - I'm taking a guess that you're already wiping a lot of the training you got from your brain, now that you're moving into the Military Police," She pointed out cockily.

"Wait - you guys aren't going to the inner walls?" He asked in confusion, his brow furrowed in surprise, "I mean, I know you said the 72nd, but you're [I]from[/I] Wall Sina - so is Zero over there - I thought you were all kidding," The boy was clearly shocked. "You're all fucking nuts. Ava, you were only seventh place - first placers aren't even guarunteed survival."

The girl shrugged, "Hm... Too bad we don't really know our placements' accuracy - you should have seen us take the exams, not a moment went by where one of us wasn't taking some weight off another, or giving them a hand with their maneuverability speed. We got docked a couple of points when we got caught, so be check your arrogance." She confessed, "Are you done, yet? Really, you're wasting daylight that we kind of need."

Friedrich looked like he wanted to say something else, but took a step back, turned around with a roll of his eyes and walked off, annoyed.

The girl turned back to her team and didn't say a word, leading them toward the forest training grounds.

Jonah looked to Alois and pulled out his rubber ball, "Who's up for a bit of Catcher in the Trees?" He proposed, now speaking to the group with a devilish smirk.

Ava sighed, "God, can't we go one session without you guys acting like a bunch of idiots? It's a wonder we don't occupy the top six spots," She said, starting into a mini-lecture. "Think your game is clever, don't think I didn't see a few of you playing during exams..." The girl warned them again about her eagle vision...

Jonah furrowed his brow, "Of course you noticed - you were playi-" She cut him off.

"Enough. Fine, play your stupid game," She said, though they all knew she'd be participating within no more than a few passes.

Catcher in the Trees was a game that was initially Tink's idea, but the rules were modded over a hundred times by all of them. They used Jonah's ball to see how many distance-passes they could successfully have without dropping or missing the ball. They'd become quite skilled at it, and even some of the more carefree instructors had a fondness for watching them play the unique game. Holding the ball for more than ten seconds caused the count to be reset, so the game required clear and articulated communication between the six of them. The count also reset, obviously, if the ball was dropped or a catch was missed; they didn't point fingers for blame anymore - be it a bad throw or a terrible judgment of space - in order to keep the game moving smoothly. A normal catch counted for one point, a rebound catch counted for as many things as the ball bounced from except for the ground, and a batter (when a player hit, punched, or kicked the small ball to somebody else) counted for five so long as the ball was caught. The most important rule was that they stayed near enough to each other and kept their eyes on the goal: practice. They had to hunt down the "Titan dummies" and aim for getting the deepest cuts on the necks of the wooden silhouettes.

Jonah grinned as they neared the treeline. Few things in life brought him so much joy. He spiked the ball at the ground and it ricocheted straight up into the air. "Game on," He said, squeezing the trigger in his sword's hilt. He was off - darting into the trees as he waited for somebody to catch the ball and and kick off the round.

Ava didn't grab it, she shot off into the trees, passively waiting for the game to kick off as her eyes scanned the forest for their targets.