A/N: Now, I know what you're going to say. "How come Tiera's getting so much screentime?" Well, little Billy, Master Tiera in the show only had four episodes as her true self, the personality of a shiny ornamental glass egg, three different plot twists stuffed into her, and a veritable smorgasbord of conflicting character motivations. "Okay, but why are all your OCs girls?" Uh... *throws down smokebomb*
(Speaking of OCs, check at the very end for something special just for you readers)
Today was not Master Tiera's day. Her fuse was seconds away from going off, from one little problem.
She had been caught (along with Takahashi) in her civilian clothes when a sudden flash 'natural disaster' occurred, completely annihilating a banking building from the inside out. They both knew it had to be a creature related incident, but were unsure as to how and why it occurred. Takahashi thankfully had his gauntlet on him, but Tiera was more or less stuck with only a 'borrowed' first aid kit and her wits.
She looked around the first floor of the area, scanning for any humans or creatures in danger or otherwise, stepping over debris and holes as she tried to analyze the situation. And that's when she heard sobbing, coming from another room on the floor. She rushed over to the sound, and felt sick to her stomach when she discovered the source.
It was a woman, a few years younger than her, with tears pouring out of her blue eyes, mostly covered by her messy ginger hair. A massive gash had been torn in her right leg, and it was slowly oozing blood as she tried to get her ankle unstuck from the debris. She looked up, nearly hyperventilating and whimpering at Tiera.
"Easy, easy. It's alright," Tiera said, kneeling down. "I'm here to help you, just breathe." She opened up the first-aid kit, and pulled out gauze and antiseptic. The woman attempted to slow her breathing, but mostly what came out was more tears. Tiera could obviously see the fear in her eyes, and tried different tactic. "What's your name?" she asked, in a voice that she couldn't quite tell if it was soothing or condescending.
"Piper," she gasped out. "My name is Piper, I don't know what's going- what's going on, I don't want to die, and I don't want him to die. I just want to go home- home and away from this…" Her heavy breathing and crying sort of faded out with her talking, and Tiera listened intently, as she gently dabbed the wound with antiseptic. "Do you know where he- he is?"
"He's fine, I'm sure of it," Tiera said, not knowing who Piper was talking about as she began to bandage up the wound. A 'borrowed' walkie-talkie on her belt buzzed, obviously from Takahashi. She sighed deeply, and nudged the answer button on a rock, her hands being a bit occupied at the moment. "Takahashi, please say you have something good to tell me."
"I'm afraid that I would be lying," he said. Takahashi had taken the low route, and was currently walking through the basement of the building with Headstrong Wanderer as his tracker. She sniffed the air, and held out a hand in front of him to stop him from moving forward. Takahashi spoke into his walkie-talkie again. "Though, our luck may be starting to change."
"He is here," Headstrong Wanderer said, narrowing her eyes to slits. "And he is terrified. Move with caution, and make no sudden movements." Takahashi nodded, and put his walkie-talkie back on his belt. They both slowly crept to the room with the creature, as scraping and mechanical whirring got louder and louder until the finally beheld a horror show of a creature.
It resembled Guardian Akhal-Teek, a light and nature hybrid that Takahashi had dueled with before on occasion, but it barely looked up to fighting anything now. Its once shiny gold exterior was now mottled and a sickly green tint, and there were electrical cables tied around its legs that it had just barely been able to snap. Its wings and horn were torn to pieces, and bent in horribly wrong angles.
Worst of all, it had a gigantic hole in its chest, exposing wires and its internal organs. The poor thing was completely unable to float anymore, and was stationary on the ground with its chipped hooves and currently smashing its head into a wall, sending shockwaves throughout the building. It temporarily froze from its destruction, sensing that there were living beings behind it.
And then, it turned and charged straight for them. Headstrong Wanderer quickly jumped out of the way, while Takahashi dodged the angry creature. "I thought you told me to make no sudden movements!" he called over to her.
"And I did," she coolly responded. "For I can be brought back if I am torn in two." Guardian Akhal-Teek roared and charged again straight at her, but the cables around its legs tripped it. The creature fell down, skidding to a halt on the ground, gasping for air. Takahashi walked over to it, as Headstrong Wanderer gently calmed the beast down, reassuring it that he would be fine.
Takahashi steadied himself, and then performed a spell kata, proclaiming "Essence of earth, draw forth swift regeneration!" All at once, the spell worked its way into the creature, reviving it and healing all of its injuries, as well as polishing up its armor. The second that the spell had finished, Guardian Akhal-Teek snapped the cord with ease, and lunged straight for the hapless duel master, ready to kill.
And then it stopped, seconds away from gauging out Takahashi's eyeball. It realized that this man and this creature weren't here to harm it, but to rescue it. It floated backwards, and bowed graciously. Takahshi gently smiled and bowed right back.
Of course, the building was on its last legs from being attacked, and quickly began to crumble all around the three of them. Headstrong Wanderer tugged on Takahashi's wrist. "We must leave immediately!" He nodded, and placing his hand on the light creature and banished Headstrong Wanderer before they could be crushed.
Meanwhile, Tiera had finished patching up Piper's leg, and was currently piggybacking her out of the crumbling building. She had just barely gotten out the front door when the entire place folded in on itself, knocking debris and shrapnel everywhere. Tiera cursed under her breath, and quickly ran towards the crowd, shielding her head (and Piper's, by extension) from any shards of glass or rubble.
By the time she'd turned around and helped Piper off her shoulders, the entire place was mothing more than a pile of twisted metal and glass. She felt a weight drop in her stomach, hoping that Takahashi had made it out of there. She turned back around to ask if Piper was alright, but she'd already limped-ran off and found the 'him' she was looking for, a business casual young man with brown hair and bright blue eyes.
The two of them embraced and cried, as Tiera looked a bit further in the distance and saw a veil breach open up and a friendly face come out. She casually made her way through the dozens of people in shock, and over to the side of the building from where Takahashi was hiding behind.
"You alright?" She asked, looking him over a bit. His hair and clothes were covered in the dust and rubble from the building, and he was busy knocking it out of his ears. "Did we find our little problem?"
"Yes and no," He said, as Guardian Akhal-Teek uncloaked itself, its bright green eyes lighting up as he surveyed his surroundings. Tiera gasped, as Takahashi motioned to the creature. "I found them left for dead and helpless, tied up in a basement. This Injured Order knows exactly what they are doing, and we need to find them and snuff them out permanently before this can continue into something much worse."
Kimora felt absolutely sick to his stomach. Whatever had happened to the building had to be something to do with creatures, he just knew it. Did the masters know about this? He sat down on his bed, putting his gauntlet and a few snacks into his pack, unsure of how to ask them or even what to say when he arrived.
He hopped off his bed and made his way downstairs, where his parents were busy watching the news report about the building. His grandmother, reading the paper, looked up at him with his backpack on. "Dearie, you know that schools been cancelled?" and it was true, the school was only a block or two from the destroyed building.
"Yeah, I know… I'm just… going over to Hawkins' place! Uh, his dad used to work there, so it must be really scary for all of them. Goodbye!" He slammed the door behind himself before his own parents could get a word in. He was really getting fidgety with telling all these lies, but he knew that nobody would believe him even if he did tell the truth.
Aaron was already waiting outside his house for Kimora, eyes wide and frantic as all hell. Kimora had never seen him like this before, and he knew that it was because of one thing. Needless to say, on their way to the dojo, their talks consisted of mostly screaming.
"Oh my god did you see-?"
"Yeah, it was all over the news!"
"I mean, you can't just blame that on, like water damage!"
"Yeah, it had to be-!"
"It's gotta be-!"
"Dude, I'm freaking out."
"You think the masters know?"
"They've gotta!"
They nearly slammed the door of the bookstore behind themselves, bolting down the steps and into the dojo. Once they'd caught their breath, and the shock from the attack had worn off, they looked at each other as an awkward silence rolled in. This was quickly broken when Nadia stormed in, almost out of breath herself.
"Am I late? I hope not, I tried to find a time that was not too early for you, and not too late for…" She trailed off as she saw the looks on their faces. "What is it, did something bad happen?"
Kimora, remembering that Nadia wasn't American, took a deep breath and said "It's a really long story."
"Master Ezra, it really means a lot to me that you were able to come on such short notice."
"Please. You know I can't turn a blind eye, Rojas!"
In order to help with the duel masters' current issues, Master Rojas had been brought in to help around the temple, while the others were busy investigating what was happening. She knew that she couldn't do it all by herself, so she brought in Master Violet Ezra, a Nature master stationed in Empire City. The two had been acolytes under the same teacher, so Rojas knew that she could be a valuable asset and trusted ally.
Ezra, on the other hand, was unsure about this whole thing. She considered herself to be a more 'studious' duel master, normally only visiting Civilizations and not really dueling much herself. What else could she possibly have to offer to this problem, other than state the obvious? Her feelings of tense anxiety quickly flowed into resignation when she saw Master Jaha waiting at the doorway.
"Master Rojas, good to see you," she said. "And who is this?" she asked, gesturing with her cane.
"Why, Jaha," Master Ezra started. "Don't tell me you've forgotten already. Why, I was one of the duel masters you hand-picked to become part of your little station in this city."
Rojas could sense the barely concealed rage inside of her and gently nudged her, wordlessly signaling for her to calm down. But, no. Ezra continued onwards, her words becoming harsher and her tone becoming more sickly saccharine by the second.
"But, I guess there are better things to think about! After all, you did pass me up for some under-trained little flyboy, and passed over his own uncle for your student. But I can tell there's no bias thee, undoubtedly? Oh! Speaking of which, where is little Kenny?"
Master Jaha was more likely than not about eight seconds away from impaling Ezra with the sharp end of her cane. She was only prevented from doing this when August's voice suddenly rang out as he came into the hallway.
"Ezra! It's been forever since I've seen you, How've you been?" He pulled her into a warm hug. "Well, I assume we can talk about it later. After all, Master Brightmore needs you in the War Room. Oh, and Jaha, you're going to be observing the new acolytes… I'm sure they're already waiting. Come on."
As Rojas, Ezra and August went one way, and Jaha the other, Rojas sighed in relief and whispered "Thank you, Master August."
He winked at her and whispered right back "Frankly, I'm glad I got here before there was a murder scene."
Hector had already made his way down to the training area, and was busy practicing with Kenina. She seemed to love him, always singing and chirping whenever he smashed a target or when she gave off sparks after every command.
Aaron was pretty interested too, and he walked over to him to get a better look. Hector glared at him for a second, and then turned back to Kenina. "Go away," He said, blasting another target.
"I'm just seeing how you work, don't mind me," Aaron said, watching as Kenina darted around, molting feathers to and fro. He then nudge Hector in the shoulder and said. "Hey, rich kid. You're not doing it right."
"It's Hector," Hector said, yanking his arm away. Kenina responded to this and missed a target by an inch, and gave a rather confused squeak. "And I think I'm doing fine."
"Well, you're doing fine… but if you want to do great, just listen to me." Aaron stood behind Hector, and took his arm, steadying it. "You've gotta keep a firm grip and-"
"Whoa! What are doing?"
"Helping. Now c'mon, hold still and let me do this."
Hector grumbled under his breath, and let Aaron hold onto his arm. Aaron proceeded to gently move it upwards. "Okay, extend your palm a little bit." Hector did as he was told, and saw Kenina react, as she proceeded to move directly towards his hand and stop in front of it, flapping in mid-air.
Aaron let go of his arm. "Okay, now keep it there, and push forwards!"
Hector rolled his eyes, as he did that. "I've been doing that. How is any of it going to change no-"
Kenina proceeded to barrel roll, dart forward and unleash three different fire balls, all three of them hitting bulls-eyes in the center of the targets, without singing the sides. Both boys stood open mouthed and staring, until Aaron laughed. "Oh man, and I thought it was just a rumor! Nice going, rich kid!" He gave him a friendly shove on the shoulder, while Hector still wordlessly stared.
Kimora and Nadia, who were watching the whole thing from the sidelines, were a bit tense, for equal and opposite reasons. Kimora was floored by how much more Aaron and Hector knew, even if they were years more experienced, it still was overwhelming. He was worried sick he wouldn't be good enough with standards like those.
Nadia, on the other hand, didn't even know what a duel master was. All she cared about were the library and the creatures, and she more or less was given a gauntlet by sheer accident when he offhandedly admitted she didn't know where hers was. Battling with these beasts was way out of her comfort zone, and she was too shy to admit it.
Master Jaha seemed to notice their discontent, and appeared from the shadows to give a friendly bit of advice. Of course, not before nearly giving the two heart attacks at her sudden appearance. But, once their heart palpitations had halted, she imparted upon them her wisdom.
"You know, you don't have to make a big show of it all," she said. "If you're meant for this sort of life, you'll know it."
Kimora gulped hard. He knew she was only trying to be helpful, but all it did was make him even more anxious. He tried to hide this, and blurted out without thinking. "Well, in that case, let me show you what I've learned so far!"
He walked over to a more open spot in the area, and activated his gauntlet, but before he could do that, a veil breach crackled open behind him. Kimora slowly turned around, a veritable deer in the headlights upon seeing this monstrosity pound its way out.
It was a massive Rumbling Terrasaur.
Bonus: Character descriptions! Sorry about Ezra's being more... one note, there's not much I can reveal about her without spoilers.
Alexandra Rojas: Definitely in her older years, probably around Nigel's age in the current Kaijudo timeline. She has long brown hair tied up in a fancy bun, dark brown skin, black eyes, a stocky frame, very angular features, and wears usually only (black)lipstick and mascara. She wears a white ruffled blouse, a dark black knee length skirt, brown stockingsm, black dress shoes, and she has a teardrop-shaped red brooch on her neck.
Violet Ezra: In the physical department... she's literally just Tilda Swinton with long light blue hair. Lack of eyebrows included. She wears a light green and black shine maiden styled robe, and sandals.