[color=a2d39c][h3]Guiles Marmor[/h3][/color]


Guiles staggered into the lobby of the Grand Hotel Mohad. He looked like a homeless person that had just finished a Hell in a Cell match. What appeared to be splintered bits of wood were stuck in his hair, and his outfit was a mess. His plaid jacket was torn in several places, but he seemed dazed more than injured. A couple of bruises and small cuts, but nothing too bad, all in all he was lucky to get to the hotel without serious injuries, considering how his experience on the bullet train went, and then what went down immediately after that. Guiles lumbered over to one of the plush chairs they had off to the side, and plopped down in one. He tried to collect his thoughts, they were all a mess right now. His father [i]had[/i] told him that the exam was brutal, but he hadn't expected them to narrow down the selection in such a brutal fashion. No matter what he did, his thoughts kept drifting back to what happened.


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[h3] [b]Earlier That Day[/b] [/h3]

It started soon after Guiles boarded the train, apparently, the small village near his home was one of the last stops. So there were only a few more stops on that terrifying, fast moving train, before the announcement was made. [b][i]"Attention all passengers. While you are all bound for the exam, only a select few of you will be able to progress past this train. Until only one person in each train car remains conscious, this train will not stop moving. If you are feeling panicked, there are paper bags beneath your seats. We hope you have a wonderful ride."[/i][/b] At first, there was nothing but panicked silence, until everyone heard the doors to other train cars lock. Then, total chaos erupted. Guiles was quickly smashed in the head with a blunt wooden object, that was likely a baseball bat, to the attacker's horror, this did not take Guiles out of commission, it had hurt, a lot, and a hurt Guiles was a pissed Guiles. What could have been hours went by, as Guiles moved on from one fight to the next, swinging punches blindly, connecting with people who's faces all blurred together, while people attacked with their fists, and knives, and if his memory wasn't playing tricks on him, one person even had a flail.

Eventually, Guiles was the last man standing, in his train car at least. He was so pumped up on adrenaline he didn't even notice the gash on his forehead that was currently bleeding. Or any of his other injuries. The doors all unlocked, and the train kept moving. Guiles thought it was the end of it, and took a seat..after shoving a prone body off of it. The people who managed to be the last men standing in the other cars..had different plans. Taking out competition here meant dealing with less when the actual exam started, so they all individually decided to take each other out. The first two people to enter Guiles' train car quickly exchanged glances at each other, and then decided to take out the big brute first. One held a combat knife, the other used a bo-staff. They came at Guiles from either end of the car. The man with the knife swung, and Guiles managed to get out of the way with only his jacket being cut, before the bo-staff struck a nasty blow right on his left shoulder. He spun around, swinging blindly. Luckily, due to how hard it was to fight with a large weapon in a small train car, his fist struck it's mark. And the assailant was sent to the ground. He didn't get back up. Guiles whirled around, and avoided being stabbed right in the back by the other assailant, instead getting a gash across his side. The knife came forward again, this time for his chest. Guiles reeled back, tripped over one of the many other prone people on the ground, and fell into a seat. He rolled off of it, just in time to avoid the knife being thrown right into it. Now without his knife, Guiles made short work of his foe, bull-rushing towards him, and knocking him into the wall of the train. He was out before he hit the ground. Guiles decided to head to the next train car, and came face-to-face with someone who was likely a martial artist, based on their outfit. They ran at Guiles, leaped onto the wall, ran across it, and then kicked off, to send a flying kick. Guiles responded by lobbing some poor sap who had been knocked out cold earlier into the martial artist. Both of them fell to the ground, and before the Martial Artist could get up. Guiles dropped down and hit him with his elbow.

The rest of the fighting was all fuzzy in Guiles' memory. He vaguely remembered headbutting someone as they tried to attack him, but mostly it was a blur of flying fists, and weapons, and a lot of shouting. But he managed to escape without severe injuries, which was incredibly lucky. Then, right after the fighting ended, the train screeched to a halt. The doors to the other cars once again locked, but the door leading out of the train opened. Guiles walked out. Expecting to find his destination, only to be met with a large forest. The door closed behind him, and the train took off. And as if that weren't bad enough, when Guiles began making his way through the forest, using the moss on the trees, and what he could see of the sky to navigate his way to his destination. He nearly stepped right into a bear trap. Then he narrowly avoided a tripwire, and was nearly shot with an arrow. Guiles managed to deduce that either the test was still going on, or someone wanted him dead. Either way, he was being hunted.

After what had to be at least two hours of playing cat and mouse, Guiles managed to lead his hunter into a trap, he made it appear as though he had been cornered, and when he was attacked, he felled a large tree, and as his foe moved to avoid being crushed. Guiles tackled him to the ground. Afterwards, it was revealed that this person was a Navigator, and after laughing at Guiles for about five minutes, for how panicked he looked during the entire ordeal, gave him his VIP Card. He lead him through the forest, into the city, and to the entrance of the hotel, before informing him that the 101st floor was where he needed to go. Then, he left.

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So here he was, he somehow made it past the preliminaries, but the real exam hadn't even begun yet. Guiles was understandably, incredibly nervous. After some internal psyching up, Guiles stood, and observed the others in the lobby. Not too many people of interest, he figured most of them would probably already be at the 101st floor. But someone did catch Guiles' eye. Someone who seemed to radiate class, and beauty. She had to be the one of the prettiest girls Guiles had ever seen. Well, Guiles was pretty sure she was a girl. Guiles hadn't met many people, and was not able to properly discern the figure's gender, so he decided that the stranger was a girl. She appeared to be purchasing a regular room. So Guiles wrote her off as a regular guest, who had no intention of participating in the exam. He quickly turned his gaze to the receptionist, and hoped that he didn't stare long enough to be noticed, or come off as a creep. He was about to go over to the receptionist, before he noticed all of the artifacts up for display. He walked over to observe each artifact, one at a time. They were all beautiful. A jade sculpture of a lion caught Guiles' eye in particular. 

After getting distracted by the rare artifacts, Guiles made his way to the reception desk with a big smile on his face. [color=a2d39c]"Hello! I'd like access to the 101st floor, please! I have my pass right here!"[/color] Guiles said cheerfully, while producing his pass from a pocket, and likely far too loudly. He didn't really have an indoor voice. But it wasn't like anyone would take advantage of the fact that he just announced that he had a VIP pass...right? Guiles did not consider the fact that anyone would try and take advantage of him, and instead wondered if he could bring a guest with him using the VIP pass. Surely there was at least one would-be hunter here who didn't have a pass, and Guiles' mother always told him to treat others well if he wanted to be treated well. So he believed that he should help out the would-be hunters. [color=a2d39c]"With the pass, could I bring someone else up with me to the 101st floor?"[/color] He asked the receptionist with a big dumb smile still present on his face. He thought only about how he could help others, and not about how if the receptionist responded with a yes, and he went through with bringing someone up with him, he would have even more competition.