More Nova Than Human
Chapter 2
"I hope you realize, the only reason you're winning is because of your Stigmata." Andre said as Adrian checked him the basketball.
"Wah wah wah, just check the damn ball." Adrian replied lazily before Andre bounced the ball back to him. It was 0510 hours and they had headed to the gym to play a game of hoops before class that day.
It was three days after Adrian and Galiana had transferred to West Genetics. During that time, Galiana and Adrian had found fast friends in Andre Francoise and Ganessa Roland. All in all, things seemed to be going well...
As soon as he had the ball once more in hand Adrian wasted no time before jumping back as he tossed the ball clear from his position three quarters of the way down-court and sinking the shot with a swish, as it hit nothing but net.
"Eighteen nothing, my lead." Adrian finished with a smirk.
"God damn man, you gotta be cheating." Andre said as he ran to retrieve the ball.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Mr. can't-make-a-free-throw-to-save-his-life. But I haven't used my stigmata at all today. Not even for a Volt Texture." Adrian finished as they took their places at half-court once more.
"How are you so good, then?" Andre remarked as he tossed Adrian the ball once more.
"I guess I'm just built of superior stock." Adrian replied half-jokingly.
"Whatever man, since I think it's safe to say you won, let's go grab breakfast and get ready for class." Andre said with a sigh.
"Sure thing man." Adrian finished as he threw the ball into a nearby bin before heading for the showers.
After they finished showering and changing into their respective uniforms; in most respects, their uniforms were identical. However, Adrian's coat was a dark red with his vest and black and red shirt underneath. The Headmistress had allowed him to keep his typical attire, as he was the first male Pandora and they had no standardized uniform on file for a male Pandora.
On their way into the Mess Hall, Andre and Adrian caught sight of Galiana and Ganessa, also on their way to breakfast. Ganessa caught sight of Adrian and Andre before waving them over to their table. Adrian and Andre each grabbed themselves something to eat out of the large buffet the school normally had.
"Hello ladies, how does today find you both?" Andre asked suavely as they took their seats across from the girls.
"Andre Andre Andre, I believe you meant to say lady and Galiana, as my sister is far too mannish to be a lady." Adrian teased as Galiana speared him with her gaze as a vein in her forehead began to pulse.
"Well I would rather be viewed as a man then comport myself like a child, like some people insist on doing." Galiana growled back. Adrian simply grinned back at his sister in reply.
"Alrighty you two, let's get breakfast in us before you start bickering." Ganessa chimed in as they began to eat.
"So'd you guys hear there might be another Carnival be happening soon?" Adrian commented as he spooned eggs into his mouth.
"Yeah, some people think it's going to be off site." Ganessa replied with a nod that set her twin tails jumping.
"So, your first Genetics West Carnival, you guys excited?" Andre asked, trying his best to be excited for his friends.
"Hell yeah, I have 5 years in Muay Thai, 3 years in Capoeira, and 2 years in Aikido. I am more than prepared for this." Adrian said as Galiana nodded an affirmative to Andre.
"Oh, so you're a close combat type, huh? Good to know." Ganessa said, her interest piqued by Adrian's comment.
"Actually that's not totally true. Both Adrian and I can engage an enemy at any range. Our Volt Weapons are extremely versatile." Galiana chimed in as she continued to elegantly eat her breakfast as Adrian shoveled it down as soon as his gullet would allow him to.
"Well, while we're on the subject: what are your guys' Volt Weapons? Mine are four chained flails, each one comes out of a different one of my stigmata." Ganessa bragged proudly. Adrian and Galiana shared a look of bewildered incredulity before Galiana politely cleared her throat as she asked,'
"So, you're saying you have four Stigmata implanted in your back, correct?" Galiana clarified politely.
"Yeah, why? How many do you have?" Ganessa replied with condescension. Galiana put down her silverware before dabbing a napkin at the corner of her mouth before replying,
"Well, not to brag but I have fourteen stigmata implanted in me." Galiana said, trying not to sound condescending.
"What? You have fourteen? How many do you have Adrian?" Ganessa asked, obviously alarmed at the large number.
"Me? Oh, I have twelve, but they used to belong to Kazuha Aoi, so they're each like at least 2 normal ones."
"What? I thought they limited the number of stigmata you could have after the incident with Kazuha to lower the risk of entering Nova Form." Gannesa said, utterly baffled by the news.
"I guess Germany didn't get the memo." Adrian said with a shrug.
"Well, how high are your sync ratios? I've got seventy-eight percent with my four."
"Well Galiana's is one-hundred-twenty-five. Mine clocks in at one-hundred-forty-four." Adrian commented with a shrug.
"You two will probably end up placing within the top five at your next Carnival." Andre chimed in as Adrian resumed stuffing his face.
"Well, that ashide. We shtill on for choonight?" Adrian asked around a mouthful of eggs, referring to their newly-formed study group which was as much just for them to hang out as it was to work on homework.
"Yeah, I'm free." Ganessa replied as Andre nodded his assent.
"Well, that settles that. Now, however, I suggest we get to class before we are late." Galiana finished as she restrained herself from beating Adrian to death.
"You guys go on ahead, I've got a few things I gotta do first." Adrian said as he made for the opposite end of the mess hall. As soon as he made sure his friends were gone he began to scan the mess as he wondered aloud,
"Now, where did Chiffon get off to?" he said before moving to chase down a familiar head of hair...
After Adrian concluded his business with Chiffon he jogged quickly back to his first class to avoid being tardy before sliding into his seat not twenty seconds before the bell rang. The day passed uneventfully until they headed to lunch...
They grabbed themselves their respective lunches before heading to their now-typical table. However several minutes into their lunch period, they were joined by two other Limiters from their year. One had messy blonde hair, while the other had long black hair worn in a ponytail they were pretty unremarkable Adrian immediately noted. They stood at the end of the table and waited silently until Galiana spoke up,
"Can we help you gentlemen with something?" Galiana asked politely of the two Limiters.
"Our mistress, Miyabi Kannazuki, wishes to speak with Mr. Kaiser." the blonde one replied before Adrian replied,
"Wow Galiana, you got popular fast." Adrian joked as Galiana glared daggers at him, none too amused by his joking.
"No sir, we were referring to you." the other replied. Adrian rolled his eyes with a sigh as he replied,
"What does your friend want with me?" he said as he rubbed his eyes with one hand. Being overly literal was his thing.
"I'm sorry sir, but you'll have to come with us first, our Mistress wants to do the explaining herself." One of them replied. Adrian sighed as he replied,
"Where is this mistress of yours?"
"She's just this way sir, if you'll follow us." the black-haired one replied. Adrian sighed once more before standing up as he followed them to the other side of the cafeteria to a table that held almost an obscene amount of cake and sweets. At it sat a woman of Japanese descent with short blue hair and a sizable bust, she seemed to be enjoying the cake with a delight that was almost vulgar.
Adrian didn't wait to be invited before taking a seat across from the woman. She continued to eat for a few seconds before setting her plate down slowly
"Hi I'm second-year student, Miyabi Kannazuki. They call me the Liberator of Chastity." Miyabi said in what she obviously thought was a seductive purr.
"That's nice. But my chastity is fine where it is. Now, what do you want?" Adrian asked, eager to get back to his friends.
"I want you, plain and simple." Miyabi said as she rubbed her foot up and down his calf. "I saw you with Chiffon your first day here with and I just had to have you. Then, I found out you're a
Pandora too! We could be unstoppable together, and I'm sure I can make it very enjoyable for you." She said as she slid her foot up until it was less than six inches from his crotch. If Miyabi had been any kind of observant she would have noticed Adrian's clenched jaw and throbbing forehead vein as he tensely replied,
"Miyabi, can I tell you a secret? You know, just between you and I..." Adrian said, his voice curiously even. Miyabi smiled slyly back at him as she purred,
"Of course, dear. You can tell me anything."
"Good." Adrian began as he stood up and slammed his hands down on the table with a BANG! right in front of Miyabi.
"Between you and I, what pisses me off most in this world, is when Pandora get nice when they find out I'm a guy. So do me a favor, take your cake and your pies and shove them so far up your ass they end up behind your eyes!" Adrian said, his furious face less than an inch from Miyabi's. Miyabi took a minute to process what he had said before replying,
"Looks like I'll need to teach you to respect your seniors. Boys, hold him steady." Miyabi said as she vaulted the table as the two Limiters grabbed him by the arms and pulled him back, holding him as tightly as they could as Miyabi strode closer.
"Since this is your first offense, I'll just help you rethink your decision. Maybe this will help." Miyabi said as she delivered a swift kick to his groin. Adrian grunted in mild discomfort as he replied.
"Gosh, no Pandora has ever tried to kick me in the sack before." Adrian replied sarcastically. "If only there were some sort of protective equipment for my dangly bits, like some sort of cup." Adrian finished with a roll of his eyes.
"I'll tell you what doll-face. You have your little boy band let me go and you all get to live." Adrian taunted as Miyabi's Limiters replied.
"Hah, you couldn't possibly defeat our mistress." they said with a shared laugh of derision.
"Fine, remember that I warned you." Adrian said before swinging his left leg up almost ninety degrees straight up and behind his blonde captor's head as he brought his leg down, slamming the Limiters head through the table in front of him. Miyabi dodged out of the way as Adrian deployed his Volt Weapon: Wailing Dark as a black sand-like substance appeared floating around his hand before resolving into a long, thin blade extending from below his wrist before he shoved it through the black-haired Limiter's knee as the Limiter roared in pain as he released Adrian's arm.
"Seems that I need to carve you out a little respect. Homing Daggers!" Miyabi proclaimed as 4 floating daggers appeared in the air around her before soaring towards his face. The black sand began to swirl around Adrian before covering him in a dark gray material. That particular material was Graphene, a material 100 times harder than steel(real fact, check it out) and about the density of pencil lead.
With an unbelievable feat of dexterity Adrian gestured grandly as the daggers soared towards him. But in the 1.3 seconds it took to reach him, more of the black sand flowed out from behind him before resolving into a dome shaped wall about 6 inches from his hand. The daggers struck the wall with a CLANG! before flying off in all directions. With another gesture, Adrian shifted the black sand from a wall to six very long pointed spikes pointed at Miyabi as he said,
"My skin is iron, my bones are steel. You cannot bring me down to heel." he said in a monotone, as he sent the spikes flying at Miyabi with a flick of his wrist. Miyabi jumped to the side as she tried to dodge the spikes. However, one was successful in carving a long gash out of her thigh as it shot by into the nearby wall.
"You bastard! Ereinbar Set." Miyabi growled as Adrian saw the familiar honeycomb patter appear on Miyabi's eyes. The blonde one was fighting back a concussion as he stumbled to his feet while the black-haired one was slumped against the wall clutching his damaged leg as it spurted out yet even more blood. They both weakly held up a hand as the standard green honeycomb Freezing shot towards him.
Adrian smirked as he decided not to "play with his food" as Galiana so eloquently put it as his body became enveloped in a powerful crimson aura he cast his own crimson Freezing field. The crimson honeycomb easily blasted through row after row of their own field as they quickly faltered under the additional dimensional compression of his field.
"Oh come on now, don't be shy. Get over here!" he called as the black sand shot from his wrist in a cable before slamming into Miyabi's chest before spreading out to form a crude harness over Miyabi as Adrian yanked back on the cable, yanking her towards him before the black sand streamed out to form a crude blade over his other arm as Miyabi hit the blade with a raspy SHUNK! Before he was startled out of his blood-lust by the sound of someone calling out,
"Disarm your Freezing field and kiss the ground, asshole!" Park Se-Mi said as an enormous black mace appeared in her hands before she took an offensive stance. Adrian hesitated for an instant before his Freezing flickered out and the black sand evaporated as Miyabi hit the ground like a sack of potatoes with a THUD.
"Hands behind your back, Kaiser!" she shouted as he slowly put his hand behind his back as Park put a pair of zip cuffs on his wrists before seizing him behind his collar as she hoisted him to his feet.
"Off to the Headmistress with you." she said as she led him out of the mess hall, every single pair of eyes in the room on him as everyone gossiped about who the new freak was exactly. The looks varied between abject terror, utter shock, severe interest, and more than a few of heated arousal. Just as Adrian knew she would, Galiana was the only face in the room that was a face of resigned disappointment as he was led out of the room. At the very least, this would make this school year very interesting...
Later in the Headmistress' office...
"You can't possibly expect me to believe what you're saying, can you Konrad?" Sister Margaret asked in utter disbelief to his adoptive father seated across her desk from her.
"Adrian has a hormonal imbalance of testosterone that makes him highly aggressive, it isn't his fault Sister. It's one of the many reasons I was sent here to watch him." Konrad replied, the line obviously memorized beforehand.
"I'm sorry but I have to punish him.-" Sister Margaret said before Konrad replied.
"Actually you can't, I've been given given control over all facets of Adrian's education by Chevalier. I didn't want to do this but you leave me no choice Sister. This conversation is over. If you have a problem, take it up with Chevalier High Command." Konrad said before he turned and made for the door,
"Come along, Adrian." Konrad finished as Adrian hopped out of the chair he sat in and followed him out.
They made their way to the elevator where Adrian hopped into the first available car with his father and beginning the ride to the ground floor. As soon as the doors were shut Konrad angrily turned to face Adrian before saying,
"Dammit Adrian I can't do this for you whenever you feel like starting a fight. I should not be drawing attention to myself for either of our sakes. I thought after your stunt with the gypsies, you'd be done with this juvenile behavior."
"I didn't ask for your help. You don't have to do squat for me. Now let's just skip the BS and agree I'll keep to myself and you'll shut up. Now are we done? I have to go meet Chiffon for something, later." Adrian finished as the door dinged open and he headed back to class...
Later that day, after class..
"Don't forget, same time tomorrow. And stay out of trouble darn it!" Chiffon scolded Adrian as they approached his dorm room.
"Okay Mom. Well this is my stop, tell Ticy I said hi." Adrian said as they reached his dorm room.
"I will and remember to take it easy. Don't try any of your new material in Carnivals until you've mastered it, otherwise you could hurt yourself."
"Heavens to Betsy, Chiffon. Yeah, I got it. I'll tell you what, you keep that worrying up and you won't have to wait till you're married you'll already be a mom!" Adrian groaned in response before Chiffon angrily pouted,
"How dare you. I'm not motherly, I'll have you know I'm just as young and irresponsible as you are, Adrian Kaiser!."
"Why are you bragging about this exactly?"
"Because... Oh shut up, you!" Chiffon finished pouting as she stomped off steam practically coming from her ears.
Adrian chuckled to himself as he opened the door to see Ganessa, Andre and Galiana had already made themselves at home in his room. Galiana was on his chair, her textbook opened on the armrest. Ganessa was fishing through the mini fridge he had put in the common area while Andre had taken a seat on his couch.
"Where have you been?" Galiana asked sharply as soon as he opened the door.
"Wow chill, I just had to help Chiffon with some stuff." Adrian replied as he put his hands up in surrender.
"What happened to you after that fight in lunch? And what's with that Freezing you cast?" Ganessa chimed as he swiped one of his sodas.
"It's complicated." Adrian said evasively as Galiana interrupted,
"No Adrian, don't keep us in suspense. What sort of punishment did they give you." Galiana asked condescendingly before Adrian narrowed his eyes at her as he fired back.
"None. 'Cuz our old buddy Konrad is working here now." he said as he watched Galiana's smirk vanish.
"What? This Konrad fellow must be quite influential. Galiana how do you two know this Konrad person?" Andre asked from the couch, astonishment in his voice, plain as day. However Galiana was spared having to answer the question by an announcement come on over the PA.
"All First-Years please report to the Helipad out by the Training Area for transportation to your next Carnival. Lift off is in ten minutes."
"It can wait, sorry Andre, guess we'll finish this later." Adrian said as tossed his bag inside before turning and making for the exit, Andre, Ganessa, and Galiana right behind him...
Four hours later...
Adrian closed his eyes as he concentrated hard and his regeneration kicked in, the numerous little cut over his body healing in a few seconds. The training exercise was almost over, with he, Galiana was down to the last twelve cadets, with he, Galiana, and Ganessa all serving under Marin and Ingrid in the exercise, he was fairly certain that they were in the lead, having killed three of the eight dummy NOVA. Adrian was distracted from his healing, however when he felt a familiar ache in his Sacreds on his back.
He was in the middle of a forest somewhere in Japan, his visibility was fairly poor due to the pouring rain and the numerous trees but as he turned towards the source of the feeling when he saw a strange blue glyph appear in the air above what was undoubtedly a real Type-S Nova. Adrian saw another blue glyph appear just after that at, as soon as he saw the familiar design, he instinctively manipulated Wailing Dark into a small sphere before enclosing himself within it like a protective shield as he felt the aftershock of a massive shock-wave as the mighty trees were blown away like so many matchsticks. Adrian immediately noticed he was for the moment alone. So, he resolved to do the only thing could...
He had to get to Marin Maxwell, he was sure he'd find the rest of his platoon then. Then, all he had to worry about was the NOVA; but, one problem at a time...
Author's Note: Alrighty, here you go, everyone. I'm still interested in your opinions on the story and any feedback you have. Also, I still need Titan OCs for the seven titans not yet officially added into the story line for the future. I still need four more female titans codenamed: Mnemosyne, Tethys, Phoebe, and Themis. As well as three males:Oceanus, Coeus, and Crius. PM me with any questions or submissions or leave your questions and comments in the review section. This is The 19th Angel, signing off...