The Academy

Kai

"Do you remember what you're supposed to do once you're down there?" Aerrow asked, handing over the supposedly unstable Chroma crystal. Cautiously taking it, I examined the odd color.

Those butterflies returned. The argument of excitement entered my mind. Fear? I sighed.

Piper managed to searched the entire ship and found yet another Chroma crystal for Finn, luckily. The next day, we visited the bazaar and found some interesting stuff. Aerrow picked up a few supplies for my Switchblade and I had time to find something that constitutes as a uniform. The boys may think otherwise, Piper may as well, but it was all they had! And I quite like it…

Though they have yet to see it, of course. I have to show up to the academy in my casual clothes. I'm supposed to be responding to fliers, Aerrow said.

I whined, nodding.

"Look, don't be afraid," Aerrow laughed. "The crystal won't hurt you… I promise."

Though his smile reassured me of that, that wasn't what I was worried about. "I'm more worried about going in alone…"

"Finn's going to be with you!" When I only glared in response, he nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Just rely on your instincts. We can't use a Hypnosis crystal on you, sadly. You won't remember much or be able to remember enough to have the trip be worth it."

"How do I look?" Finn asked, walking in.

Turning around, I glanced at Finn's new appearance. His surfer-blond hair had turned a gruesome black, his eyes a menacing red.

I scratched at my scalp. "I... don't know."

Aerrow sighed. "Evil, yes. Convincing? A bit too much so."

Whining, Finn spoke up, "But I like this…"

Grasping the Chroma crystal tighter, it activated, changing my appearance in a blast of light and crystal energy.

"Nice hair," Aerrow smiled, though when his eyes moved to scan the rest of my body, I knew something had changed… Especially when Aerrow looked shorter.

Finn forced himself to look away.

Grasping the end of my braid, I noted my golden orange hair had lost all color, taking on a white shade. "Sweet… What else changed?" I knew something was different. I didn't feel so small anymore…

"Don't worry, you still look amazing," Aerrow laughed nervously. After realizing what he said and the infliction used, he looked away, blushing.

Finn laughed. "Now that's the truth!"

Aerrow continued once he'd recovered from the embarrassment, "Looks like the unstable crystal had some… unforeseen effects," he laughed, leading me off to a room with a mirror.

My expression turned to worry. "Why? What happened?" Once in front of a mirror, I was sure something was different. My eyes had turned bright silver—in fact, they were glowing. But that wasn't all… "What… what happened?"

"Looks like the crystal grew you up a bit," he smiled. "This is good. This'll give you an advantage in the academy. You'll be training with the older group…"

"I look like I'm…"

"About twenty sounds right!" Finn smiled, peeking into the bathroom

I smiled. "I'll be driving," I told Finn. "Aerrow, how far out are we?"

"You have a few kilometers to fly, but it's not that far. It'll take you five minutes, maybe."

I nodded. Finn quickly left to the bridge to ready any supplies Aerrow had set aside for us to bring.

Aerrow stood there in silence while I stashed the Chroma crystal in my clothes. Once it was hidden, there seemed like there was nothing left to say. That is, until Aerrow moved.

Stepping forward, he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close. "You have to promise to be careful, alright?" Aerrow and I were about the same height, now.

Stiff in his arms for a moment, I misunderstood his purpose.

"I… I can't have you hurt. I won't live it down if you get hurt… You've only been on the team for a few days now. Please, Kai… just be careful."

This was unlike him… In any case, I hugged him back and soon evaded his grasp. Though he was giving me conflicting answers, I reassured him with the positive one. "I'll be fine. You said it yourself!"

Unsure of his own answer, Aerrow nodded softly. "Here… Use this in a case of emergency, and only in an emergency, all right?" He handed me some sort of metal device encasing a crystal.

"A Messenger crystal?" I muttered, examining the strange device.

"Keep it on you at all times, you understand?" he said seriously.

I nodded. "I promise."

That would be the last I'd heard from Aerrow for quite some time.

ooo

"You know… you really do look much older now!" Finn interjected, holding onto me tightly.

I nodded. "I wonder what our excuse is now! I look like I'm twenty, but you're still fifteen!"

There was quite an advantage to looking older—being a kid, I got less respect. Being older, I had that much more power behind anything I said, even if I was a freshman at the academy.

"I'm a bit scared, I have to admit," I told Finn.

"The best advice I have every gotten about the Talons was… They always blink first. Always. Talons would rather not kill you if it meant saving their own hides. However… The Dark Ace is different. Rumor has it that he wasn't trained as a talon, and even if he was, someone favored him.

"The Dark Ace won't blink, and you can be sure of that."

I lowered my eyes as I retracted the wings, hitting the ground with full force. I'd never flown with anyone else and my bike had sure shown no mercy with the added weight. After pulling the bike to a stop, gathering my things, and shoving Finn off the vehicle, we entered the main building and collected the required forms.

Finn sighed, "Please sign here to hand over your soul to Cyclonia."

"Make sure you write the correct name," I laughed.

"Right, right…"

Filling out the form completely, I signed the false name and simultaneously felt my spirit being drained. I was here for the long-haul, and no matter how long it took us to gather the information, we were stuck from then until we could escape.

I never knew how grueling and life-changing an experience could be until this was all over.

Once we handed in the forms, our aliases belonged to Cyclonia.

We were escorted into a large training area where young Talons were already getting the brunt of their force. Once our escorts had left, we were soon spotted by a group of boys who soon took over the initiation process.

"Well, well… Now, who might you be, shorty?" an older man walked up to me, pointing out our large height difference. Even with the few inches the unstable crystal had given me, it wasn't enough to call a considerable change. Now I knew that being older wasn't going to change the fact that I was short.

"…Zaria. Now piss off, I'm tired and I want to go rest." I pushed the man aside, only to have him grasp my arm and pull me back into my place.

"Get your hands off of her!" Finn demanded, futilely prying his hand away.

In one swift move, he knocked Finn back. "Oh? I don't think you have much say here, little man."

Though little details weren't the main priority at the moment, my mind couldn't help but wander. The man seemed about my apparent age, which would give him motive to over power me.

Men…

Finn hugged his arm, tending to a new bruise. He muttered to himself a few profanities, never taking his eyes off of the elder man.

"Now… What do you say? How about we get to know each other a bit… better…" He inched his way closer.

I stood silent for no more than a split second before making a potentially dangerous move. I dropped my pack and spun around, pulling an energy blade from a holster on my back, and held it to his neck. "How about I pull your insides out and you get to know them a bit better?"

His friends instantaneously took about ten steps backward.

The man stared at the charged blade held to his jugular and smiled. "Just wait 'til the chief hears the new chick has a weapon!"

Finn released his grasp on his arm and cheered, "All right, K— ...Zaria!"

Before I knew it, the boy's cheers cut to zero and the man's smile grew wider. A warm, rough hand was placed on my back with a thud and I released the trigger on the blade.

Oh, shit…

I glanced over my shoulder with a nervous smile and let the man go free. The man hovering over me didn't entirely seem too thrilled that I had arrived with a weapon.

"Promiscuous, eh?" He pulled the secondary blade from my back and retrieved the one in my hand. "Odd crystals…"

I backed up and turned around, my head lowered from the authority figure. I was going to play dumb here and try to make it out alive.

"You think you can just waltz in here with a weapon?"

"Look, I didn't—"

"Shut up, I'm talking."

I pressed my lips together and looked away. Who was this? Upon looking for support, I noted that Finn had conveniently disappeared. I sighed, rolling my eyes.

"What was that?" The man looked up, holding my chin in his hand so I couldn't look away. "You have a lot to learn, rookie." He took my jaw and threw it to the left, releasing it from his grasp.

I held my jaw in one hand, rotating it back and forth in protest. "I may be short, but at least I can fend for myself!" I soon covered my mouth, realizing speaking possibly meant my life, or at least my spirit, in this situation.

Grabbing my upper-arm, the man drug me through the training area—a form of humiliation as the students stood by and laughed—and into a bunker, pushing me to the ground. Before I had a chance to catch my bearings, he ordered a student to get a bucket of water and a cleaning utensil. I was supposed to clean the men's bunker?!

"What?!" I shouted toward him.

"You are the most protestant student I have seen yet! But don't worry…," he laughed. "We'll break you."

The student quickly returned, slamming the bucket down next to me. As I was still partially lying on the ground, the water that slopped out hit me and I winced. God only knows what was in that water.

I spit off what had landed on my lips and slowly rose to my feet, glaring at the persistent instructor. "Just you wait…," I muttered to myself, picking up the rag to throw it into the bucket. I picked up the bucket and carried it across the room, setting it down next to a bunk.

I sat down, sighing.

"Oh, by the way…," the instructor called out. "Have a good first day, rookie."

I huffed, blowing my bangs from my eyes.