The inner metropolis of Atlas was glowing with excitement, a buzz of enthusiastic anticipation hung in the air as many of the freshly-qualified combat school students ventured towards the city's main arena, earnest to qualify for one of the world's Hunter's Academies, many with a wish to attend the prestigious Atlas Academy, while others had set their sight elsewhere to institutions like Shade, Haven and Beacon.
Among the commuters of the bustling city, students and those going about their daily business, were two hopefuls making their own way to the trial ahead of them. One, a boy, stood a head tall above the other, slender with form fitting body armour highlighted with bright cyan cloth, his neat and dark brown hair rustling slightly with the breeze as he spoke to his companion; a girl, shorter but with similar features to him, dressed in a lightweight silver-tone plate armour, with a milky-white scarf and cape. Her mousy hair tied into a neat bun.
"…and then I said, rectum? Damn near killed him!" He said, chuckling as he delivered the cheesy punchline. The laughter was short-lived, however, thanks to a sharp jab in the ribs.
"You are the worst! I was starting to find that interesting too." She snapped, pouting and withdrawing her rib.
"Okay, okay. Just warn me the next time, please Nicky?" He replied, groaning as he caught his breath from the hit; reaching a tram stop, the two sit down on one of the empty benches, cars gliding by, the soft hum of dust engines resonating in the air.
"Fiiine." Nicky sighed, glancing down at her metallic boots, the pearl-coloured trim glowing slightly. She sighed again, relaxing her posture and leaning back on the bench. Turning her head towards her companion, she continued; 'So Cyrus, you nervous? Big day ahead of us." He glanced back at her, biting his lip as he thought about it.
"A bit. I did fine on the test, just got to survive the practical… you decided where you want to go yet?" Cyrus asked, turning his body to face her slightly, resting his head on his arm.
"I think I'm going to try and get into Beacon, if I can beat my opponent I should score the right grade to make it." She replied, timidly, looking back down and nervously twiddling her thumbs. After a moment she felt his hand rustling her hair, and she looked up in surprise.
"You'll be fine, you're one of the best fighters in our year. If anything I should be worried about getting into Beacon." Chuckling the last part of the sentence, he rested his hands on his legs and looked out into the road; before having the chance to zone out though, he felt the familiar bump on the shoulder from Nicky.
"Are you kidding? You'll be fine, you'd probably be able to coast in just on your test score! Not many people score 98 percent. I mean, I got 84 percent and I'm still in the top fifteen of the year." The warm words of encouragement flowed from Nicky, as she rolled her arm over his shoulders and gave him a one-handed hug as she got up from the bench. "You'll be okay, Cy, now come on, the tram's about to get here."
The stands of the Atlesian Colosseum bustled with life, as the last-years of the several Atlesian combat schools waited for their turn to fight in one of the various fights happening on the stages. Many of the students were conversing, discussing strategy and plans for the future; however, there sat a sense of nervous anticipation in the air as everybody waited for their turn.
Returning from one of the centre kiosks, Cyrus threw himself down into the seat next to Nicky, put his feet up on the chair in front, and tilted his head back with an exasperated sigh. "That line was so long… who needs a line that long to get a number from a desk?" he groaned, grabbing a bit of the popcorn that Nicky had purchased. "What's your one, anyway?" Nicky gave him an irritated glance, before looking at her own ticket.
"53, you?" She replied, showing him the number on her screen, indicating when her turn would be to fight.
"47; guess I'm before you then." Cyrus said, glancing down at the stage, the varying terrain pieces holding eight other applicants, all in a vicious fight to prove themselves; looking up at the screen overlooking the area, he could see the aura indicators of each one in varying states of depletion and the number in the corner of the panel showing the number 46.
"Did you manage to get it working last night? You were still in the workshop when I went to bed last night." Nicky asked, motioning to the metallic cyan case that laid at Cyrus' feet, the digital lock glowing faintly in the leg-area.
"I think so, it was hard to keep the dust stabiliser operational with the change in energy demand, but I think I got it to work." Gingerly wrapping his fingers around the handle, he glanced down at the lock, running his spare thumb against the lighted panel. Pulling it onto his lap, the blue light turned green and flashed 'Hello!' before pulling up several icons, one of which indicating an opened padlock; tapping the unlock, the case hissed and hinged open.
Inside was a modular rifle, pulling out one of the two dust stabilisers from it, Cyrus held it up to the light, looking at all of the individual connectors and capacitors within it.
"It looks alright, nothing different from when I finished last night, so it should hold up." He remarked, clipping the stabiliser into the receiver of the rifle and sliding up the shield plate on the side to cover it. "Actually got it to work more efficiently than I planned, it won't kill a dust capsule in a few shots anymore."
"Well look at you! My big genius of a brother!" Nicky laughed, ruffling his hair with a big smirk on her face; pulling back, she kicked her legs out and rested in her chair, putting her hands behind her head and looking outwards. "You'll be fine, don't worry about it, okay?"
"What makes you say that?" Throwing a knowing glare his way, Cyrus's eyes widened as we understood the look. "That obvious, huh?"
"Yeeeup… It's normal, though, focus on Beacon. That's what you're fighting for."
"Alright. Yeah. I'll try. Thanks sis." Cyrus said, holding his fist out.
"I try; good luck, okay?" Nicky replied, returning the gesture, as the call for round 47 appeared on the big screen.
The soft humming of working motors filled the stage as the eight podiums rose from under the arena, each one holding a combatant; poised for combat, Cyrus braced himself for the rush of warm air that hit him as he crested into the hot, fiery terrain of the arena. Glancing in front of him, he could see the peeking canopy of the tree biome that filled the other half of the arena. He looked at the display on his scroll, showing a timer count down from ten.
Nine. Check the bracings. Cyrus ran his fingers over the rifle in his hands, ensuring the components were mounted correctly.
Eight.
Seven.
Six. Check the drum. Pulling down a switch on the side of the the rifle, Cyrus gave the weapon's drum a brief rotation, the caps of the loaded dust cylinders glowing green indicating their full capacity.
Five. Cyrus secured the drum back in place.
Four.
Three. Power on. Flicking the main switch next to the trigger, the gun hummed faintly as it turned to life, the lights on its accents glowing a bright cyan.
Two. Choices. He cast his eyes over the terrain around him, deciding the optimal direction to take.
One. Brace. Tensing his muscles, Cyrus poised himself to enter battle.
"Begin." The announcer called, and the barriers surrounding the podium retreated down; Cyrus bolted to right, climbing up the rocky knoll in an attempt to gain the high ground. No sooner did he make it behind the cover of the hill did a large cross-blade whir past his head, the power of the throw brushing his hair. Having looped back, Cyrus readied his rifle and peeked over the edge to find his attacker; a tall girl with form-fitting mint-coloured armour, and a scowl on her face.
"Oh for f-" Cyrus sighed, yelping as the blade's trajectory interrupted him again, barely ducking in time. Once it cleared, he jumped up once again, aiming and opening fire at his opponent; the barrel glowed as bolts of ice dust arced towards her, forcing her to take cover. Fully stepping up from his cover, Cyrus turned the drum so that the orange dust canister was loaded, his suppression turning into an explosive barrage, chipping away at the rock face she was hidden behind. Easing up the attack, he peered into the smoke to try and find her; much to his surprise, his assailant came flying out of the fire at full force, winding him with a swipe in the lower chest with the blunt part of the blade.
"The heck is your problem with me Speare?" Cyrus winced, backtracking to avoid the sweeping attacks while he tried to recover. "I know you don't like me, but this isn't a fight to the death."
"Fuck off Stahl!" Speare growled, kicking at his feet and tripping him; holding her blade up and resting her foot on his chest, she got ready to deal the executing blow. Taking the opportunity, Cyrus rolled to the side and in doing so knocked Speare off balance; tumbling down the hill, he turned to catch himself and brought up his rifle. Hitting a switch above the trigger, the barrel extended out and the sight's display changed; flicking the drum again and pressing the trigger, a three-shot burst of wind dust bellowed out of the gun. The shots crashed into Speare and threw her down the other side of the mountain.
Scrambling up the hill, Cyrus took a look at the large screen; three of the eight combatants were eliminated, and most of them were on around half of their aura. Except one person, and when he crested the hill once more, two things happened. On the one hand, Speare once again leapt at him, however just as she would have made contact, an explosive dust shell erupted against her abdomen, blasting her and Cyrus apart from each other.
Not missing a moment, the mid-air Speare clicked part of her cross-blade's handle, blades layering over each other to become two, then the centre ring split and began to form a stock as the blades unfolded into gun barrels. Now armed with a dual pair of double-barrelled dust cannons, she began unloading a volley of fire at the stunned Cyrus; who promptly staggered behind a rock to avoid the powerful wind dust shots. Sneaking a peek over the battle field, he could see seemingly random shots ring out at the various fights occurring, but no source in sight.
"Speare, l-" Cyrus started, interrupted as a shot rang past, just in front of his face. "SPEARE, there's a sniper!" Speare turned to check the battlefield, momentarily letting down her volley of gunfire. Bingo. Stepping out of his cover and spinning the barrel to a canister of a silver-blue colour dust, Cyrus took aim and let fly a burst of highly potent concussion dust; the dimly glowing shots slamming into her unsuspecting torso and sending her flying backwards, landing roughly into the flat zone outside the arena.
"Right, now let's see where our sniper friend is." Cyrus muttered, having taken cover behind his rock again. Clipping the attachable scope off his belt, he used it to survey the rest of the battlefield; after some searching, he noticed a slight glare from within the treeline. "Got you." Sliding the standard sights off, Cyrus clicked in the scope and aimed the rifle at the tree line. Pressing the trigger, a burst of fire dust erupted from the rifle, the spinning bolts pluming fire across the battlefield, the tree line where the sniper was erupting into flame. Glancing up at the scoreboard, he noticed the aura bar that had previously said 100 slide down to 92, continuing to tick down to 86. "A small aura, figures."
Sliding down the back side of the hill, Cyrus began to sprint along the outer rim of the arena, attempting to try and engage the now dishevelled sniper at a closer distance. Crossing into the burning trees, smoke began to reduce visibility and make it hard to navigate, watching as best as possible for the movement of the sniper, Cyrus moved cautiously.
Spotting each other at the same time, him and the sniper both fired and strafed to cover at the same time; leaping behind a scorched tree trunk, Cyrus took a moment to gather his bearings. Glancing at the scoreboard once again, he saw the match up; his 21% aura to the sniper's 84%. If I move out of cover, I'll get shot out. My only hope is if I can get him out before he hits me. Gazing curiously at his rifle, Cyrus made his mind up. Sliding back and going prone, he punched a hole through the dead log he was behind, using the hole to line up his shot.
Flicking the switch above his trigger once again, the barrel expanded upwards and downwards, the internal components sliding to form a brace over the interior barrel, lights within it started to glow bright as the stock expanded, and he turned the drum to the yellow shock-dust canister. Shutting his eyes and pulling the trigger, a ferocious roar of static erupted from his rifle, the larger shot of dust booming out the barrel towards his opponent, the electrical energy surging outwards as the shot blew through the tree the sniper was behind and sending electrical energy rippling through his body. Cyrus watched as his aura meter dropped by over half just from the shot alone, with the electrical shock dropping him below the minimum 15%.
"Please don't explode, please don't explode." Cyrus muttered, sighing with relief as the coil around the barrel of his gun dimmed down without incident. Hearing a beep from his scroll, he opened it to the realisation that he was out. "What? Why? Huh?!" He panicked, picking himself up off the floor as he realised that, in all of his adrenaline, he didn't realise he had rolled into a fire. "Damn it." He sighed, as he stood up and shuffled off the arena floor.
Cyrus began to approach the stands, his rifle hanging from one of his hands as he staggered to his seat with exhaustion. Dropping into the cushioned chair, his body went limp with relief, albeit a relief swiftly interrupted with an arm roughly wrapped around his neck.
"Loook at you, two eliminations. When did my big brother get so good?" Nicky teased, pulling his head closer and resting it in the nook of her arm, lightly resting hers on his. "What is the deal between you and Speare anyway?"
"Ah well, you know, she's… uh… competitive?"
"Stop dodging the question jackass." She replied, giving him a sharp jab in the chest with her fist.
"Ow! Damn." Cyrus cursed, wincing from the blow. "Some stuff happened, she's jealous of my success maybe?"
"You broke up with her, didn't you?
"Wh-wh-what?!" Cyrus stumbled, turning to face Nicky with wide eyes.
"I KNEW IT!" She exclaimed, probably a bit louder than she should have given the setting. "What broke up the perfect romance, then?"
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Oh don't give me that. I'll hit you again. You guys were the most adorable 'secret couple' ever, she was over for dinner every night and everything."
"Fine, fine. Just… shut up, alright?" Cyrus asked with a panicked tone, scanning the seats around them. "I think it was when I was like, 12? It was the normal kiddy stuff, a heart attack from hand holding and all of that stuff."
"Pfft, hand holding?" Nicky laughed, brushing her hand past her face as she feigned wiping a tear. "I distinctly remember spotting you two with your tongues down each other's throats at the Summer Ball that year."
"That wasn't me. Furthest we ever got was the hand holding."
"Look, I saw it, you can't den… oh." Nicky chuckled, catching on to his meaning towards the end of her sentence. "Ooooooh. Damn. That sucks. Why is she pissed at you then?"
"I called her out on it in school the next day."
"Yikes."
"So yeah, she wasn't happy about me 'humiliating' her." Cyrus sighed, pulling off Nicky and slumping in his seat, putting his feet up on the row in front of him. As he did, his scroll beeped with a new message. "Here, you look." Cyrus said, handing her the device. Opening it up, Nicky scrolled to the message and began to read the contents.
"Says here you scored a B for your overall fighting capabilities. Got an S for Resourcefulness and Opportunism though. Nicely done Cy!" Nicky smirked, nudging his arm affectionately. "Looks like you pulled it off! Beacon won't know what hit them when the new year rolls around, eh?" She continued, ruffling his hair as she handed him the scroll, a cheerful grin on his face.
"Alright; but don't leave me alone, okay? You've got to make it in too." Cyrus replied, patting her shoulder before turning back down to the combat breakdown on his scroll.
"You got it!" Nicky yelled, punching her arms into the air, before bringing them together and cracking her knuckles. Noticing the number on screen change to 51, she pulled herself out of the chair and grabbed the sheathed claymore resting beside her. "I'm gonna go and make sure I'm warmed up for my fight, okay?"
"Gotcha. Good luck!" Cyrus beamed, giving her a thumbs up, before returning to his scroll.
"They're gonna need it." Nicky chuckled as she walked off, sword in tow.
"They sure are, sis." Cyrus whispered to himself, glancing upwards at the figure walking away before returning to his scroll.
Right, there we go! First one done and three more to go. Really glad to finally get this one out, because it just kept going and going. The goal with the trailer series is to give a glimpse at the characters of team LILACS and also a few side characters (Nicky will be in the story quite consistently, but as part of the much more badassly-named Team PUMPKIN.). Unfortunately, the trailers likely won't be as long as this one, however the same thing could happen and it could drag on like this one did.
I'm completely open to feedback, as I want this to be as good as it can be, so anything that can make it better will be greatly appreciated!
Cheers for reading, and hope to keep you along!
-Nyx