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Either the teachers had been kind to hiht His ragged little group of veterans, utterly without honor in their previous ar into capable leaders So much so that instead of the usual four toons, he had created five, each with a toon leader and a second; every veteran had a position He had the arht-le coned as many as ten separateto do anything that had been done before, either Most aries Ender had none Instead he trained his toon leaders to use their soals Unsupported, alone, on their own initiative He staged e affairs in the practice room that left everybody exhausted But he kneith less than athe best fighting group ever to play the game

How iving hiive hie, because they knew the little boys were quick learners, quick thinkers? Or was this what any siroup could become under a commander who knehat he wanted his army to do, and kne to teach them to do it?

The question bothered hi or fulfilling their expectations

All he was sure of was that he was eager for battle Most armies needed three months because they had to memorize dozens of elaboration formations We're ready now Get us into battle

The door opened in darkness Ender listened A shuffling step The door closed

He rolled off his bunk and crawled in the darkness the two meters to the door There was a slip of paper there He couldn't read it, of course, but he knehat it was Battle How kind of them I wish, and they deliver

Ender was already dressed in his Dragon Arhts came on He ran down the corridor at once, and by 0601 he was at the door of his army's barracks

"We have a battle with Rabbit Aro Strip down and get to the gyo to the battleroom from there"

What about breakfast?

"I don't want anybody throwing up in the battleroom"

Can we at least take a leak first?

"No more than a decaliter"

They laughed The ones who didn't sleep naked stripped down; everyone bundled up their flash suits and followed Ender at a jog through the corridors to the gyh the obstacle course twice, then split them into rotations on the tramp, the mat, and the bench "Don't wear yourselves out, just wake yourselves up" He didn't need to worry about exhaustion They were in good shape, light and agile, and above all excited about the battle to coy tedious, was suddenly fun, because of the battle to come Their confidence was the supreme confidence of those who have never been in the contest, and think they are ready Well, why shouldn't they think so? They are And so am I

At 0640 he had them dress out He talked to the toon leaders and their seconds while they dressed "Rabbit Army is mostly veterans, but Cao, and I never fought theood soldier, and Rabbit has done fairly well in the standings over the years But I expect to see formations, and so I'm not worried"

At 0650 he made them all lie down on the ged along the corridor to the battleroo The boys all ju Their ribbon of color led to the left; Rabbit Arht And at 0658 they reached their gate to the battleroom