[GEN POV]
Morning naturally rolls around as the sun's bright rays naturally brightens the once darken black skies to a lighter blue hue.
Alarm clocks were loudly ringing in order to raise the early risers and even the sleeping dead to a brand new day.
It is a new day to some but to the teenagers that presently occupied the rooms in the Darbney Hotel, it was the first official day of the Dragon Fist Martial Tournament.
Today was Opening Day.
Excitement and buzz always surrounds the tournament. There are those that have to defend their crown from oyhers that hope to stake their claim and snatch the title away from them.
Reputations, fighting skills, and bragging rights were the main objective for the students, who were seeking victory through potentially harsh battles.
Nevertheless, it is still a competition that only the strongest can win.
[POKH]
"First day jitters, Butter?" Butch teasingly quips upon the sight of the raven haired girl, among her roommates, repeatedly taps her right foot.
Her light green eyes roll at the jab while she verbally retorts, "Ha, you wish. It's basically a free day for us."
"Oh yeah that's right…we do have a bye. Man and here I was itching to punch someone." The teen boy dramatically grumbles after his jaw tics from the ideal of a battle with a fierce opponent.
"You'll find the perfect punching bag if you look in the mirror." Buttercup implies as she repeatedly points to her face for extra emphasis.
"Aw, you think I'm perfect, Butter?" Butch cheerfully gushes while he lovingly traps her within his arms and gently sways her left to right.
The young lady was placing the palm of her hand against his chin, pushing her weight against him, and exclaiming, "Ew! Get away from me, Butch!"
"Alright you two, line up so we can get a count." Midori's voice breaks through their conversation as the raven haired duo cease their argument and fall in line behind their respective siblings.
The red head physically points at each one of them and verbally counts them by numbers twice.
She then walks back to the front of their line to announce, "Everyone's not here, but as long as the fighters are here then we should be good."
"So Princess isn't here yet." Blossom stated the obvious since the red head teen has a tendency to arrive late, which jeopardizes their qualification status.
Buttercup loudly groans at the revelation when she irritably proclaims, "See…this is exactly why I didn't want to bring her snobby ass in the first place."
"Luckily, we have a bye so our attendance isn't really quite necessary. However, we will discuss her truancy later on. Right now we have to focus on representing Pokey Oaks High School as well as showing others the reason why we're the champs." Midori deliberately redirects their concentration back on to the agenda.
"Bubbles," The green eyed teen calls out to the blonde Utonium in order to inquire, "Did you managed to get the school flag from the van?"
She was then lifting the clear circular plastic carrying case containing their school flag before removing and unraveling it for the others to see.
"Our school's mascot is a wildcat?" Butch astonishingly questions once his eyes slowly process the image of a wildcat in the middle of a gray circle with Pokey Oaks at the top portion of the arc and High School at the bottom portion in red against a white backdrop.
"I'm surprised you didn't notice. It's was on our PE uniforms and the hallway." Brick jaws after he witnesses his brother's in complete awe at their school's mascot being a wildcat.
His green eyes instantly cut over to his red haired brother when he honestly jeers, "As if I cared about what I had on when there were hot babes in volleyball shorts in front of me."
Boomer loudly coughs in order to capture his brothers' attention as he secretly attempts to signal them about the girls.
"Butch Shaw, you're a pervert." Buttercup proclaims as she roughly pinches his ear and drags him back to his place in line.
"It's time for the parade." Blossom reveals after one of the teens, who work security, recently informs her as Midori quickly places them in an order.
[BALLROOM]
"Boss, we've secured this area and patrol hasn't encountered anything yet." One of his subordinates dutifully informs him about any recent updates in their poles.
"Good. Keep all radios on radio silence until I order otherwise." Drake issues out a set of orders right before a raven haired girl approaches him from the side.
"You seem to have eased in your position pretty quickly." Athena sincerely compliments as her obsidian eyes closely track the movements of their personal security throughout the ballroom.
The brunette simply folds his arms in front of his chest, deeply sighs and remarks, "This is the easy part. I have some serious making up to do for Midori to even talk to me again."
The young lady lovingly pats the side of his arm while she coyly states, "Aw, poor you! Like the old saying goes there's plenty of fish in the sea."
He deeply sighs this time before he sternly asserts, "That's my fish! Then again...I really suck at fishing."
"Well, got to go." Drake comments after he reads the time off the face of his watch and jogs over to the doors of the room.
She was watching in silence as he was quickly disappearing behind the doors and out of her sights.
'Stupid, stupid, stupid,' Athena was inwardly repeating while mentally slapping herself in the forward over and over again.
"Smooth move there, kiddo." A familiar feminine voice teasingly chimes in once she stands next to the raven haired teen, who then irritably storms off as she shouts, "Shut up Ivy!"
The red head teen could only smile at her friend's visible frustration with the infamous Drake Pierce.
[KAYLEE]
Kaylee cheerfully hums and bobs her head as she patiently waits for the elevator doors to slide open once she reaches the Lobby.
A "ding" signaled to the orange haired teen that she finally arrived at her intended destination and walked out of the elevator.
Her blue eyes instantly catch sight of a wonderful piece of fabric when she cautiously approaches the person to say, "Excuse me but your skirt is so chic! Looks like…Calvin Klein."
"You know your stuff, huh?" A girly voices remark beforr she notices a girl around her age with long orange hair in a large plait.
"They are just one of the many brand designers we have to know." She proudly admits since she accurately guesses the designer based on a series of criteria for that particular brand.
"Are you from…" The girl briefly pauses to take in her outfit only to realize that it looks awfully familiar to her.
"The Maiden Fashion Institute, you can call me Kaylee." She cordially introduces herself with a curtesy and a smile on her face.
"Kaylee, huh? Are you all on a retreat or something?" The other teenage girl curiously poses since she was rather far anyway from the location of her school.
"Actually…" Kaylee speaks up only to hear her manager calls out to her once she finally locates their Top in the lobby, "Kaylee, you're already late. Hurry up!"
An expression of thought, then realization, followed by shock as she uttered to herself, "Oh my! I forgot!"
"Excuse me…" She politely excuses herself from the conversation before she catches up to their manager and heads in the direction of the ballroom.
"Who was that?" Prince inquisitively posed after he approached the teen age girl, who patiently waited for him in the lobby.
"Our way in," Bell boldly asserts with her sights still on the orange haired girl until she was no longer visible in her line of vision.
[EDWARD]
'I always hate this time of year.' A purple haired teen irritably grumbles as he casually rests his back against a wall.
His gray eyes roam about only to annoyingly surmise about the crowd in a few words, 'I'm surrounded by all of these brawn head idiots!'
'Why couldn't it been an art competition or maybe a Poetry Slam.' The young man ruminates about other potential avenues to explore other than a Martial Arts tournament.
He was silently musing at his previous idea, 'Oh…that sounds pretty good right now.'
"Yo Ed! How you been?" A friendly blonde greets him as he draws closer to the somber teen, who cantankerously groans, 'Of all the people, I had to run into…it would be him, Logan Rhodes from that that farce of an Art school.'
"I'm surprise you even showed up." Logan naturally and easily sliced through the one sided tension with his positive disposition.
"And you're still as horribly radiant as ever," Edward deliberately jabs at the blonde's personality.
"Ouch, I see you're still cruel as ice. Well I hope one of these lovely maiden's heat will radiate their warmth onto you that it will melt thine heart." The ruby red eyed teen was jokingly playing hurt before conveying his hope for his friend.
The only thing the purple haired teen heard was "thine". He then pushes his back off of the wall, points at him and alleges, "You really want to go Shakespearian or Old English? Either way, I'm fluent in both!"
"A joke Ed. You know like how you're supposed to laugh because it was funny. Or at least a joke for us, fine arts lovers." Logan playfully remarks to his friend with his palms toward him in a defensive position.
A "tsk" emits from Edward after he drops his head before he reminds him, "Comedy is dark remember not funny."
"O…okay then. See you on the inside Ed." The blonde politely dismisses himself from in front of the aghast teen.
[ARMADA HIGH]
"Hey Cap," One of his peers jogs up to their team leader as he addresses him by the moniker, Cap.
"Yeah?" Jayden promptly responds as he faces away from the ballroom doors and toward the young man, who then points in the direction of where the MFI girls currently stand in the hallway.
The problem soon surfaces in his thoughts so he silently counts the girls and notes all of them are there, except one.
The brunette was scratching the back of his head while inwardly weighing, 'That's strange. She's usually never late to anything, especially if its anything related to DFMT.'
The young man then quickly reaches in his pocket for his phone, finds her number, and sends her text that reads, "Ur late, what r u doing?"
His hazel brown eyes repeatedly peer over until he watches their leader finally arrive, who then removes her phone from inside of her shirt pocket.
The orange haired girl briefly scans the message, quickly types a response and sends it to him.
"Gossiping" Jayden unintentionally verbalized her text and shook his head all while he considered the real reason why she ran late. 'Gossiping? More like she forgot what time to report in again.'
Another buzz was felt when his phone lit up to show he received another message from Kaylee, "I'm still not talking to you. L8tr."
'Why do you have to be so freaking difficult woman?!' He irritably deems as he glares over at her only to see her temporarily smile before she frowns at him.
[GEN POV]
Each of the eight teams eventually files inside of the ballroom in alphabetical order. They were guided in by none other than Drake Pierce and Athena.
The sight of the pair prompts Midori to avert her eyes from the couple in the front of the parade line.
"Armada Reform School, Motto: He who is brave is free (Seneca), Top: Jayden," The boys from the Armada Reform marched in a military formation as one of the students hoisted their school flag: a silver Spartan shield and sword against a scarlet red backdrop.
"The Lyre Schools for the Arts, Motto: The purpose of art is washing the dust off daily life of our souls (Pablo Picasso), Top: Logan," The students from Lyre randomly promenades yet manages to maintain their position directly behind the school in front of them. One artist carries an orange flag with a yellow lyra that crosses at the neck, and a lyre in between the two.
"The Maiden Fashion Institute, Motto: Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions (Coco Chanel), Top: Kaylee," The Maidens from MFI strutted in a single file line so each of their members could be seen. Their manager totes a light pink flag with three elaborate white letters: MFI.
"Oceania Academy, Motto: What we think, we become (Buddha), Top: Chase," The students from Oceania leisurely trod in completely out of formation but somehow remains in an orderly fashion. One of them stretches out their sky blue flag with a shark breaching water in a circle
"Olympus Prep, Motto: Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success (Swami Sivananda), Top: Athena," The students marched in similar to the ARS boys, except their flag has an olive wreath underneath an Athenian gladiator helmet and an owl perched on top.
"Pokey Oaks High School, Motto: Change your thoughts and you change the world (Norman Vincent Peale), Top: Buttercup, Current Champions," Midori made sure that the Shaw brothers were in place while Buttercup carries their white flag with the image of a wildcat in the middle of a gray circle with Pokey Oaks at the top portion of the arc and High School at the bottom portion in red.
"Shakespeare's Schools for the Arts, Motto: The task of art today is to bring chaos into order (Theodor Adorno), Top: Edward," This cast of artists calmly enters as they exude a peculiar air about themselves all while one of their members tote an indigo flag with a white dove perched on a pile of books next to a white quill pen.
"Wayne's Research Institute, Motto: The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge (Thomas Berger), Top: Ivy," The scholars robotically fall in random formations as they proudly display a violet flag with a light blue ruler, a flat-bottom flask, and a microscope on top of a yellow circle.
"Woodland Prep, Motto: The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today (H. Jackson Brown, Jr) Top: Aubree," The group casually saunters in with smiles present on their face while one of the students cheerfully wave their forest green flag with a pink lotus, a brown deer and an Oak tree.
[DRAKE]
'Everything is looking pretty good.' The brunette inwardly affirms as his eyes closely scan each of the participants' faces.
The parade finally concluded with each school in their designated spot to form a U-shape along with their respective flag, faced toward the center, on visible display.
He quietly observed the teams scheduled to fight promptly emerged from the crowd, who then proceeded to fill in the seats around the venue.
'Well at least…not everything or better yet everyone.' That lone thought was constantly nagging at him, before deeply sighing to himself again.
A bob of red and additional movement in that direction abruptly catches his attention, 'Wait…is that?'
The brunette stealthily covers the distance until he was able to recognize that it was none other than "Midori!".
Yet he was finding himself temporarily pausing after noticing that someone, more specifically a guy, was conversing with her.
'Is she flirting?' Drake inwardly assumes since he spots a small smile on her face as she speaks with the guy in front of her.
His forest green eyes witnessed the dude had reached his hand out to touch her arm, which immediately earned an angry thought, 'Did he just freaking touch her?!'
'No one touches her!' Just as he was about to pounce on the man, the red haired woman politely removed his hand from her arm and faced the double doors.
So the brunette unintentionally hung back and quietly watched her head back inside of the ballroom.
"Are you alright, boss?" One of his subordinates was posing after observing their boss suddenly punching against the wall.
"I'm taking a ten minute break." He irritably grumbled underneath his breath with his hands tightly balled into a fist.
