Toby locked his stuff away and left the change room. He was wearing the rental gym uniform, a white shirt with black rims, a big number 00 and the writing "PARTICIPANT" on the back. The pants were short and black, though as no shoes had been provided, he kept wearing his own. On top of that, he was also given pads for his knees and elbows.

The other two wore the same uniform, same number, same color.

Charlotte greeted them when they returned.

„You will now be guided by our AI assistant. Once you‘re done with all three challenges, you will be notified whether you‘ve passed the entry exam or not. So.“ Charlotte nodded. „Good luck to you.“ She turned around and left, and as soon as she was gone, a female voice was heard from the speakers.

„PARTICIPANTS: PLEASE MOVE TO YOUR DESTINED TRAINING ROOM.
YUNAN TEBERITZ: ROOM 01
RANDALL DOYLE: ROOM 02
TOBY WILLIAMS: ROOM 03“

„Good luck you guys!“ Toby waved, but got no response from the other boys that directly went to the rooms they were called out to.

„Okay-“

Toby also went to the room he was called to. A metal door with a big 03 written on it.

„FIRST CHALLENGE: START“

The metal door opened, and Toby gulped as he entered the room.

It looked like an indoor studio version of a street. There were fake buildings drawn on the walls and trees, cars standing around, a phone booth, a hydrant, and even a fake construction site. Overall, it looked like a very convincing scenery.

„Hello?“ Toby looked around. „Is anyone here?“

„THE FIRST PARTICIPANT! MARVELOUS! A VICTIM AT LAST!“

„Wha-?!“ Toby jumped when the loud voice suddenly echoed from the walls. „Who??“

„Allow me to introduce myself!“

Someone jumped off the tree and stood in front of Toby. It was a tall man with long, white hair and piercing red contact lenses, who wore a similar uniform to Toby’s, except that it had a purple theme and the number 44, paired with knee-high heeled boots and a red cape. He had red horns coming from his head, though they were obviously clipped on.

„My name is Mr. Gregory Franklin! But you may also refer to me as the Demon Lord of the Underworld!!“

„... I‘m sorry- what?“

„I am the famous and very skilled teacher of Morphology in this sublime establishment! And this here is my partner Rufus!“

A green turtle-like Morpho Mon slowly made his way to the two.

„Uhm-“ Toby shook his head. „I‘m- I‘m here for the entry exam challenge!“

„Yes indeed you are, my mortal child!“ Mr. Franklin crossed his arm. „And you shall take the challenge, for I am the one who will decide your fate on this quest!“

„And- what shall I do?“

Mr. Franklin rubbed his chin. „Easy, my mortal child, for I am the one to tell you now.“ He nodded. „Yes, yes. You know one job of a Morpho Defender is fighting Morpho Mons that are a threat to the poor mortal souls of this world. While usually you will not go out on a mission without your loyal sidekick partner, you still have got to be able to fight a Morpho Mon on your own.“

Toby listened. „So, I will fight a Morpho Mon now?“
He got nervous. He never fought a Morpho Mon. He‘s only ever seen Defenders do it on the news, and it looked very difficult. His last encounter with a „wild Morpho Mon“ ended... not so well, after all.

„Correct! You will need to fight a Morpho Mon! But... not any Morpho Mon.“

Mr. Franklin approached little Rufus and stood over him. „Show them what you got.“

Suddenly, Rufus began to glow and grew rapidly to a much larger size, with his tail and horns becoming much more prominent. When he stopped growing, he was easily the size of a car.

Mr. Franklin, now sitting on Rufus‘ back, began to laugh. „LET YOUR CHALLENGE BEGIN! FIGHT ME, MORTAL HUMAN!!“

Rufus roared and the air seemingly exploded around him.

Toby perked up quickly as the floor began to move, he hid behind a fake mailbox that was set up there. What the heck? This was a grown Morpho Mon just making the earth shake, what was Toby supposed to do about it?

“WE CAN SEE YOU!” Mr. Franklin shouted. “YOU WILL NEED TO HIDE BETTER! The eyes of a Morphing Monster CANNOT BE FOOLED!”

“Grrhghhgh…” Rufus approached the mailbox.

“Ahh--!” Toby jumped up and ran away as the mailbox seemingly exploded as well. “W-What the--?? What is that?? How does it do that?!”

“Oh, mortal child~" Mr. Franklin laughed. “My loyal Rufus is of the mineral element~ He can destroy metal and stone in the blink of an eye!”

“Huh…” Toby looked around. Maybe there was something he could use to his advantage. The turtle-like Morpho Mon was different from Cinq, the dragon he encountered before. He was slow in his movements, but his attacks came extremely quick.

Toby ran to the nearby tree and quickly climbed up on it.

“OHOHO! Clever, mortal child!” Rufus with Mr. Franklin on top slowly turned around and walked towards the tree. “Yes, my loyal servant can’t bend the tree! However… THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU ARE SAFE!”

The tree began to violently shake and Toby quickly grasped the tree trunk. “AAHH--” He looked down and saw that the turtle-like Morpho Mon begin to ram the tree with its broad head.

What should he do? If he waited any longer, he would fall off, or worse, the tree would fall over.

Toby noticed he was sitting well over 12 feet over the enemy. He had an idea that could be just crazy enough to work.

The tree shook one more time as it was hit by Rufus, then Toby stood up carefully and jumped. “HYAAAHH!!”

“Huh?” Mr. Franklin looked up, but before he could even register what was happening, a foot kicked his forehead. “GYUH!!” A second flew by before he hit the ground.

Toby landed on the shell of the Morpho Mon and quickly grabbed onto his horns. “I got you!!”

“GROOAAHHH!!” Rufus growled loud and jumped up and down to shake the teenager off, but he held on tight.

“Ahh…” Mr. Franklin slowly stood up and fixed his horns. “That’s - THAT’S ENOUGH! HOLD ON RUFUS!”

The turtle Morpho Mon suddenly held still and looked up at his partner. Toby did the same.

“I’m…” Mr. Franklin sighed. “I’M IMPRESSED!” Now a big grin was spreading on his face. “THIS WAS MARVELOUS! Gorgeous! MAGNIFICENT! You - Sir Toby Williams, you impressed me!”

Toby jumped off of Rufus, who turned back into his smaller self. “I- I did it?”

“Let me tell you, mortal child, it takes a lot of courage for a student to kick his teacher in his face!”

“Uhm…” Toby looked up at Mr. Franklin, who had a visible mark of a shoe on his forehead. “I’m sorry - did it hurt?”

“Ahh, that’s nothing!! You know, I, as a humble Demon Lord of the Underworld, can take quite a blow.” He pulled out his smartphone. “Let me just… mark you as passed. And within the time limit as well~"

Toby smiled brightly. “Thank you, Mr. Franklin!!”

“Oh, mortal child, I am the one who has to thank you.” Mr. Franklin smiled back. “Nothing makes me quite as happy as a student with potential.”

„FIRST CHALLENGE: PASSED“

The female voice rang out again, and the door opened.

“Good luck for the remaining challenges.” Mr. Franklin gave him a thumbs up. “I’m sure you’ll do great!”

“Thank you, Sir! I’ll see you around!!” Toby waved at him and left the room.

He noticed that the other boys had also finished the challenges, as they exited their rooms at the same time.

„PARTICIPANTS: PLEASE ROTATE YOUR DESTINED TRAINING ROOM.
YUNAN TEBERITZ: ROOM 02
RANDALL DOYLE: ROOM 03
TOBY WILLIAMS: ROOM 01“

“Okay-” Toby took a deep breath, then turned right to go to room 01. He passed the other boys, Randall didn’t even look at him, Yunan gave him a high five. “Good luck, you guys! I’m sure you can do it!!” He shouted at the them.

“No challenge for me.” Randall still didn’t deign to look at him.

„SECOND CHALLENGE: START“