"... I can't believe you haven't seen through all this crap yet, Ender. But I guess you're young. Theses other armies, they aren't the enemy. It's the teachers, they're the enemy. They get us to fight each other, to hate each other. The game is everything. Win win win. It amounts to nothing. We kill ourselves, go crazy trying to beat each other, and all the time the old bastards are watching us, studying us, discovering our weak points, deciding whether we're good enough or not. Well, good enough for what? I was six years old when they brought me here. What the hell did I know? They decided I was right for the program, but nobody ever asked me if the program was right for me."-Dink Meeker
These chapters cover Ender's first two armies, Salamander and Rat. He is transferred from his 'Launchie' group into Salamander army a year and a half before most boys. This causes resentment from his new commander, Bonzo Madrid. He is ordered to do nothing in the Battles, to wait as long as he can until he enters the game, and then sit there out of the way and not fire his weapon. Eventually, he can't stand it anymore, and he saves the army from losing a game by breaking the rules and disabling several of the other team's players. His position is at the top of the school standings, because he is never flashed, and as he hadn't been allowed to shoot, he had a perfect no-miss record. This catches the eye of Rat commander Rose, and Bonzo trades Ender to Rat.
In Rat army, Ender is placed in Dink Meekers toon, the small subgroups with toon leaders, the officers of the army. Ender likes Dink, who has a fresh perspective on how to play the Battles, promises to use Ender in battle, and has refused two promotions to commander because he doesn't want to be the pawn the teachers want him to be.
Ender also discovers about himself in these chapters that he is eerily similar to his brother Peter, he hurts people to save himself. He has a lot of self doubt and self hatred.
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