i OPENER
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| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
"Well, that was fast." Mr Conrad says, surprised.
Everyone is staring back and forth between Morales and the wake of the massive explosion he made to send me and my whole team out all at once. A chill of intimidation has made its way through every spine.
That quirk was— I'm still not even sure what he did, and I got hit with it.
The area floor has been torn up and Miyala, the guy on my team with the human boulder quirk, is still being attended to, having taken the full force of the blast. Perci and the rest of my team look so beaten, in more ways the one. We didn't even touch them.
"Alright, it's time to tally up scores, remember that the best you can do on any evaluation is achieve a score of zero. " Mr Conrad announces to the class once were all gathered up.
"Now, obviously winning is zero points, losing, on the other hand, is an automatic three points. All points will of course be added to your initial ranking."
Mr Conrad looks toward Shrike and his team.
"Now team Shrike, don't think that just because you won you're getting a perfect score. In this challenge you get one point for being eliminated. Master Amuna, as captain you bear the heaviest cost and will get one point for every teammate you lost, giving you four points."
Mr Conrad then shifts his gaze onto Mikey and his team.
"Master Darama, your teammates will each receive a total of 4 points, one for being eliminated plus the 3 for losing. While you will get 1 point from each elimination, including your own, plus the 3 points you receive for losing the challenge. Totaling to 8 points."
"Now moving on to the second match," Mr Conrad says, and I hear myself and my whole team wince.
"Master Dotti, for winning without a single elimination you and your whole team receive perfect scores of zero." Morales smirks blowing a strand of his hair out his eye, while his team jumps up in celebration giving each other high fives.
"Lady Bruden," Mr. Conrad says ominously towards me and my team, "each member of your team will receive a total of 4 points for being eliminated and losing the challenge. While you, as captain, receive 5 points for your whole team being eliminated, and for not only losing, but against a perfect score, you receive an additional…"
The words come out of Mr. Conrad's mouth and you can hear a pin drop when all the air is sucked out.
"10 points."
..||./..°..
..||.\..||..
New Rankings.
1. Morales Dotti— 1+0=1
2. Shrike Amuna— 2+4=6
3. Elan Tamanga— 6+1=7
4. Kapercia Kashana— 5+4=9
5. Mago Lemba— 9+1=10
6. Kay Kaladi— 7+4 =11
7. Michael Darama— 4+5+3 =12
8. Samantha Amaka— 11+1=12
9. Jasper Sekai— 8+4=12
10. Oketos Mumiya— 12+1=13
..||./..o..
..||.\..||..
New Rankings.
11. Taiya Konkosha— 13+0=13
12. Mandy Kuziba— 10+4=14
13. Leon Malite— 15+0=15
14. Jack Tambo— 16+0=16
15. Frank Mishi— 14+4=18
16. Lucy Bruden— 3+15=18
17. Calata Intao— 19+0=19
18. Kul Makasa— 17+4=21
19. Peter Miyala— 18+4=22
20. Chimney Akuguila—20+4=24
. . . . . . . . . . . .
After the first evaluation the class becomes a lot more alive. All the Lower and Town kids fall behind Morales, dubbing him the'Baddest of 1-A'; which is odd considering in the beginning Shrike was the more popular.
Shrike still keeps a little of that pull with his now close-knit crew of Mago, Elan and Sam. Perci is still his closest friend but to my surprise and absolute happiness she sends a lot more time with Kay and me; though I don't know how pleased Shrike is as he still glares at me all the time.
After a few weeks of training and studies, the next evaluation has nothing to do with heroics and is the Statedom exams, where Mandy sets the class curve and thankfully lets me move up the rankings to thirteenth. But then the next evaluation after that is about stealth.
The stealth challenge is to move through a three storey building to the top and back either without detection or by taking out all the robot guards and trying to set off as few alarms as possible—in a mock rescue mission of a kidnapped teddy bear.
Perci predictably gets a perfect score thanks to her camouflage and being able to scale walls. She's so good not even the cameras that are supposed to monitor her performance pick her up and she's in and out with the dummy victim in under five minutes along with a new school record.
Shrike is scary good as well, and moves through the building like a ghost, earning only a 3 point penalty for the minutes he's over Perci's time.
The next best, to most people's surprise, is Jasper. By waiting till all the robot guards lined up in his vision, he switched with each one in rapid succession up and down the building. His transitions so seamless that he doesn't raise a single alarm and he almost matches Shrike's time as he sprints out.
Between his MVP performance in the first evaluation, his solid exam scores and now this, Jasper climbs the rankings to fourth and no one is laughing when he spikes the teddy bear into the ground and declares he'll be number one by the end of the year.
It really shouldn't be as big a surprise anymore. Jasper might joke around a lot but he's always had the best tutors money can buy, that and he's had his quirk longer than anyone I know and he knows how to use it.
After Jasper is Mago, using his ink like a dark shadow. Mikey is the first one to go the offensive route and rips out the gold in the robot's electronics. Next is a guy named Leon Malite, whose quirk is literally talking to machines and would have done better but isn't very mobile. Morales follows, taking out the robot guards by hurling burning rings of fire and sparks quickly enough that he stays number one even with the penalties he gets.
When it comes to my turn, I can't decide to try taking out the guards or to try to be stealthy. I still don't know how to fire blasts which means if I go heavy, it'll be noisy. So I go with stealth only to have every alarm to go off when I try to fly up the elevator shaft and my aurora lights light up the whole building. All my penalties knock me all the way back to sixteenth.
| Shrike Amuna. Quirk: Palm-munition |
I wake in the middle of the night with a headache. Getting up from my bed, in my sweat pants and no shirt, I open the door of my dorm. The barrel of my palm scratching the doorknob.
I head to the ground floor commons to get a drink of water. When there I notice an empty glass on the counter, still sweating a drop of milk. Looking at the clock, it's four am, who could be up at this time?
I head to the training arena on the basement floor, a huge mostly empty gymnasium with padded walls and dummy mannequins. Before I push open the double doors I hear the sound of something crashing. I slowly push one of the doors open and spot the Bruden girl, in casual gym attire getting off the floor, throwing her golden blonde off her face. I watch silently as she activates her quirk, the walls, floor and ceiling lighting up with a wash of bright colours.
I'll admit, it's pretty eye-catching, if she doesn't make this hero thing work she could be a model with a light show quirk like that.
I keep watching as she points her hands forward and aims at a dummy target before the energy blows up in her face, and she goes colliding into the wall.
Haha, great quirk but you can't buy skill. I turn to leave but for reason I stop, running my finger over the rim of my barrel.
She's getting up again and hasn't noticed me walking over.
"The dummy is laughing at you, you know." I say making my way over.
I think if she wasn't so tired she might have been startled. She turns her head and gets a look at me before looking away again quickly.
"He's not the only one. I'm sure everyone is laughing at me today." She gets up to her feet. "Some Bruden, right? Getting ready to drop down to the B class."
Lucy ignores me and walks in front of the dummy target again and activates her quirk, pushing her hands toward each other. Her face grimaces and her feet leave the floor… before she deactivates, her feet hit the mat, and she lands with a sigh.
"I'm sure you're loving this."
What? "Why would you think that?"
"Uh, you hate me," Lucy says a matter of factly, "because I'm from the Upper South Side, or maybe just because I'm a Bruden."
I stay silent as she goes on.
"I don't know, maybe because I'm friends with Perci! Or because I have a flashy quirk! I don't like coffee, maybe you hate me for that too Shrike!"
She falls onto her butt, and grunts when she shoves out shields in every direction, the dummy target finally gets hit.
I stare in shocked silence. Have I really been that cold to her?
"Lucy, I don't..." Or do I? She is from Upper Side, just like Darama. But she isn't like most Uppers, even I can admit that.
"Yes you do Shrike," Lucy responds to my unfinished thought. "You're always glaring at me like I did something terrible to you, and I know you don't like that Perci and me are friends."
Lucy folds her legs in front of her and hangs her head.
"Right now what you're feeling is pity."
I think about it and I realise that she might be right, I have been a little edgy, but it's not because of anything she did. And, I definitely don't hate her.
"Stand up Lucy." I walk past her and pull the dummy target back upright.
"Shrike, I really just want to be alone."
"Ha, if only if was that simple." I stand over her and extend my hand to help her up. Her eyes look up at my hand then up to my eyes, and I wish I couldn't feel my head getting warm.
"It won't go off." I tell her, shaking my suspended palm.
Lucy finally reaches for it and I pull her up to her feet.
I point to the dummy target.
"Try again."
Lucy sighs, "I can't do it Shrike. It's just going to blow up in my face again."
"I know."
Lucy scans my eyes, before sighing and getting into position.
I watch as she activates her quirk, her lights a little dull and not as bright as before. I see the flow of energy make it's way to the space between her palms and build, then she looks up at her target and takes a deep breath.
"Stop!" I tell her, and she deactivates. "What are you doing?"
Lucy raises her arms frustrated, pointing to the dummy.
"I'm trying to fire a blast."
"By building a bomb?"
"No, I'm trying to focus the energy and release it out of a single point."
Why? That won't work at all.
"You ever poke a hole in a balloon that was too tight. That's what you're doing."
"If you're saying I should use less power I already tried that."
"And do what, light a bulb? Anyway, it doesn't look like you have that option." I walk around to face her, "But the real problem is that you're breathing in at the moment of release. Power comes from your breath." I point at the exposed skin beneath her tank top. "Um… if you breathe in, the power follows."
I turn around and face the dummy with my right palm, I concentrate on a light round, exhale and fire. The round hits the dummy between the eyes and rocks it back and forth.
"Okay..." Lucy says while thinking about it. She concentrates her energy again and exhales, a little too hard, before releasing. The energy explodes again but this time she doesn't fly backward.
"Hey!" Lucy exclaims delightedly. "I didn't hit the wall!"
"Yeah, I'm sure the villains are having nightmares already."
Lucy lets out a good-natured laughed that bounces her shoulders, and she brushes a loose strand of hair out of her eyes.
"Okay, now this whole condensing your energy thing isn't going to work. Tell me how you're able to push out shields."
"Well, I just kind of tense my body and when I relax I push out at the same time, it's the same thing I do when using my blinding light. It's like..." Lucy trails. "Like breathing out a breath." She finishes solemnly, clearly ashamed that she never made the connection.
I chuckle a little beside myself.
"Okay, I think I get it now." I walk around to her right side and raise her arm.
"Your energy flows like water." I trace my finger from her shoulder down to her hand.
"With your shields you compress yourself and springboard the energy off your body. Now, that won't work on a small point like your hand, but the concept will."
I open her palm and face it to the target. "Try using your energy as both the spring and the bullet. Okay?" I say taking a step back.
"Yeah, okay. I'll try," Lucy has her palm out but doesn't do anything. "Could you say that last part again?"
I guess I could have explained that better.
"Keep sending your energy to your palm, while at the same time bringing it back in on itself, like how your thumb holds back a finger before a flick. Then exhale and release it all at once."
"Right, okay."
I watch as she activates her quirk, the lights a little brighter. The energy builds and gathers in her palm, like half of a bubble, swirling forward and back. She exhales and fires.
The energy flies in a tall beam taking off the whole left side of the dummy and then going into the wall and part of the floor, leaving a tall deep dark hole.
I don't realise my jaw is hanging until I look at Lucy, whose jaw is also hanging.
"I did it." Lucy says stunned.
"Yeah." I reply. "Way to go, Bruden."
| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
The next couple of days are actually pretty great. Kay, Perci, and I spend lots of time hanging out, when Perci isn't with Shrike and Kay isn't hanging out with her friend Sam, and we become even closer friends; enough that we find our own little table at lunch to sit together, which doesn't make Shrike glare at me.
In fact every now and again we meet eyes he gives me a smile that draws one from me before I know I'm doing it.
Before the next evaluation we finally tiredly stumble into a long enough weekend to travel home. Perci is the first to say goodbye wrapping me in a tight hug before she and Shrike head to the bus terminal, off to see Shrike's mum who, strangely, lives in a Border town.
Kay's parents seem to be utterly lovingly obsessed with her, and drive all the way from their town to pick her up, happily giving Sam a ride too.
Most of the other Lower kids like Mago and Elan stick around, and for some of the Upper kids home is a walk or bus ride away so it doesn't really matter.
Jasper is picked up by a crew of his Upper Side friends, carrying along Oketos who, despite our prejudice, is actually an Upper kid as well.
Mikey has his car driven to school for him. When it arrives Alistair jumps out and wraps both me and him in individual hugs. Mikey has bought—or his family has bought him a new car, a bright gold coloured sports car. He and Ali speed off to spend the day together.
Mandy and I both come from within so we don't feel a huge urge to go home, me especially considering Dad and mom are off to Helderon City to meet with the Paramount Chief.
So, instead, Mandy and I go visit the newly re-opened city museum, which is now sporting the Sekai Clan family crest on its header. Just another thing Jasper will probably one day inherit from his ridiculously wealthy family.
"Hey."
A massively overweight security guard with a big bushy beard notices my name as I sign in.
"You're a Bruden." He exclaims. "Oh, I'm just a huge fan of your Dad, you know he saved my life once. I was choking on some food and he was the only one who could wrap his hands around my gut."
He ends with a hearty laugh. "I wasn't even mad that he made me drop my sandwich, though I still think he could have saved it too."
"Thanks, I'm glad you're okay." I tell him
"Aw, is your cute little friend here with the kindergarteners visiting us today?" He says referring to Mandy standing next to me in her prim sweater and skirt, and who is now visibly boiling with rage.
"Listen here you fat, bloated-"
"Uh, No! She's actually of friend of mine we should get going though lots of things to see thanks now bye!" I put my hands on Mandy's shoulders and quickly rush her out of Pulse range.
We walk along and Mandy has her head down and is still muttering obscenities at the security guard under her breath.
"You know he can't hear you, right?" I say to her.
"Yes, so I'm going to concentrate on hating him and just hope misfortune comes his way."
We visit several new exhibits in the museum, then the gift shop where Mandy purchases a massive encyclopedia that looks like it weighs about as much as she does.
I shiver at the thought of how intense her Neural Pulse will be after she's done reading it, remembering how Mikey described it when I had asked. Being inside a baby's rattle doesn't sound the least bit pleasant.
From what I understand about Mandy's quirk, the smarter she is to everyone the powerful she becomes.
After walking around for a while Mandy and I buy some food, and I realise I don't think we've ever eaten together before now.
"Where do you go during lunch?" I ask.
"The library." Mandy answers while reading details about some fossils. "Jasper Sekai is hot but I doubt he'd make for the most stimulating conversation."
She isn't wrong, but I suspect that there's possibly another reason.
"You know we've all kind of broken off since those earlier days, I mostly sit with Perci and Kay now. You could come sit with us, if you wanted."
Mandy stares at the inscription on the plaque and I wonder if she even heard me before she replies.
"I'd like that. Thank you, Lucy." Mandy says before walking on to the next exhibit.
We sit down on the benches and catch glimpse of the kindergarten class running around while their teachers try to gather them all.
"And Shrike is okay with you and Perci sitting together."
"Yeah, he hasn't said anything anyway." Plus he has his own pose of Mago, Elan and Sam.
"You know, Shrike seems friendlier to you these days." Mandy says deductively.
"Yeah, well. You know."
"I don't actually, which is rare. So why don't you tell me."
"We're… good." I think we're friends, at least, though I'm really not sure.
Mandy stares into my face.
"Do you like him?" She asks, being painfully direct.
I… I might, I don't know. Though when he touched my arm while teaching me how to fire a blast my brain shut down for a few seconds. More importantly though, I don't think I should like Shrike, considering Perci really really likes him, it kind of makes him off limits, unless I tell her about it first.
"Well..." Mandy prods after I've gone silent for too long.
I don't know.
"I…" This is a really hot museum, "I… I heard Mago talking about you the other day!" I blurt out.
Mandy's eyes go wide and her face flushes. "What did he say! Was it good or bad! Where was I at the time! Where was he? Was he wearing his vest, the tight one?"
After a few deflected questions Mandy forgets about her Shrike question and we're almost ready to go when the ground begins to shake and everyone nervously reaches for the wall and something to hold on to.
"Earthquake?" I ask Mandy.
She shakes her head furiously. "Pendela isn't anywhere near any fault lines."
The shaking stops and cracks in the floor break open, sand begins to rise from between the cracks.
"Hello."
The voice is coming from a man standing in a long dirty coat his face covered, hidden behind a mask. More and more sand begins to seep from under the floor rising from hundreds of cracks.. Then the sand stops moving, and everyone waits with paused breath.
The man raises his hands, the sand suspended above the cracks begins to take shape and turn into hundreds of bodies the same size as the man in the coat. Their heads all rise and the holes where eyes would be glow red and their mouths open.
"For One who are many. For many who are God. For One Tribe of Man."
Then the army of sand attacked.
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| Lucy Bruden. Quirk: Solar Aurora. Affiliation: K.I Academy |
| Mandy Kuziba. Quirk: Neural Pulse. Affiliation: K.I Academy |