It had been two days since the first stage, and although she wasn't at 100 percent, Vertiya was out of the recovery room. Yimesz was right though – as soon as she was wandering around the academy grounds, she was getting bombarded by people about battling the Nevermore, the next stage, what ability she used if her semblance was invisibility, and a whole host of things. At one point, Vertiya, in order to escape everyone, used her semblance again, and made her way to a more private location. She was glad her father made her the armour he had just before she left for Atlas – it worked alongside her semblance, rather than just leaving her as a bunch of clothes floating through the air. Besides, there were only three people she could see herself doing the next stage with: her brother for obvious reasons, Fen because she was the closest thing Vertiya had a friend to at the moment, and the Saffyer girl for her sheer talent. No one knew how the pairing system would work, however, so Vertiya was just hoping that however it worked, she wouldn't be stuck with someone she didn't get on with or would otherwise have to carry. After all, from what Ironwood had said when they first started, it was pretty obvious whoever the pairs were would end up in a team together. Vertiya had little more time to think about that though, because it was at that point that an intercom told all students to make their way to the air dock, and on her own, Vertiya made her way towards it, soon bumping into Fen on the way.
"Good to see you're back up and at them," Fen said to her, as they walked through the Atlas academy corridors together. "Your fight was definitely impressive. Guess I should keep an eye out for those cards."
Vertiya let out a small smile, flipping a card through her fingers as she usually did. "Yeah, I surprised myself by doing that. I've fought Grimm before with the cards, but never a Nevermore, let alone by myself. I was hoping to leave the trump card for a later date, rather than use it in the first stage."
"Puns aside – under the assumption that that was a pun and not the fact that your white card is literally called a 'trump card' – it was a pretty nifty ability. However, I'm guessing that you have access to that ability outside of your semblance? I did see you go invisible a few times," Fen asked, curious.
Vertyia hesitated for a moment. The only people who knew about the Hylae were the Hylae family themselves, and a select few other individuals. Vertiya decided to just leave it a little vague. "It's a family thing, some people in my blood line have access to strong power in a pinch," she explained. That kept it vague enough.
Fen caught on to the fact Vertiya didn't go into detail, but decided to leave it be. "What I'd give to have two different abilities," Fen said, smiling. "Had any thought about the next stage yet?"
"A little. A race sounds a little… unorthodox. I reckon it'll be more something like we'll all start in different locations, and have to get to some location," Vertiya replied. "You know who you're gonna try and find in there?"
"I know more about who I'd rather not find, than who I would," Fen responded, and to be honest, Vertiya agreed. Sure, chances were, finding someone you wanted were low with the amount there were, but one could hope. "Not that we can consider it much anymore," Fen added, nodding in front of her, and Vertiya looked up to see the other students, near a huge air carrier.
Vertiya had soon found herself in a rather claustrophobic glass capsule, with glass underneath to see down below. It was not particularly comfortable – they were a long way up from the ground, and although it was impossible to see the ground with the enveloping mist that covered it, there was still a level of anxiety.
"Now you all know the basis of this. Get to the end with someone else before everyone else, and you're through. Be one of the last pairs to get to the exit, and you're out," Ironwood explained, strolling up and down between the row of drop pods the initiates were in. "However, how you're going to be paired is a little different. First person you come across when you're on the ground will be your partner, and yes, although it is similar to what goes on in Beacon, it's a tried and trusted formula. You're all going to be dropped off at random intervals into the 1000 acre forest below us, and it's your job to get to the clearing in the centre of it, which you'll recognise by the large fountain stood in the centre. I hope you all have landing strategies."
Vertiya gulped. She didn't actually have one yet – she'd only had the cards for a month or so after all, but she was coming up with ideas.
"Good luck," Ironwood said, dropping the first capsule. Vertiya looked down, to see a boy with a rapier in front of him dive straight down, spinning so fast he made a torpedo effect. Vertiya was still contemplating how to go about it as initiates dropped down left and right of her, before she slipped a few brown cards into her hands. It was most likely the best option.
More students were dropping out of the pods, and Vertiya saw a couple she recognised: the Saffyer girl had used her bo staff like a helicopter to glide down safely, Fen had used the hooks on her fans to extend them out, creating a wingsuit for herself, and Yimesz had curled up into a ball, rolling downwards but using his revolvers to slow his descent. Soon enough it was just Vertiya left alone – again.
"You still sure you're ready for this?" Ironwood asked. "I can drop you closer if it makes it any easier for you."
"As much as I know you want to train up a Hylae, I'm not going to be doing myself any favours if I get special bonuses," Vertiya responded. "Plus, favouritism wouldn't look too good anyway, and I need to keep my game up. Grimm won't go easy on me just because I'm exhausted."
"Very well. I'll see you at the end of this," Ironwood said, dropping the pod.
Vertiya felt the rush of wind as the pod exploded, but carried on falling. She knew full well she had to reach enough speed before she could activate her idea, and once she was at what she considered to be terminal velocity, she chucked the six brown cards up in the air, followed by an assortment of pink cards. The brown cards almost immediately expanded, and the pink cards caught onto the gaps and stuck them together, creating a makeshift parachute. There were enough pink cards coming from the sides of the parachute that Vertiya could hold onto them like string, and thanks to the pink cards' sticking mechanism, they stuck to her hands, making it easy to hold onto them when she suddenly lost most of her downwards momentum. Drifting safely towards the ground, Vertiya had enough time to look out for where the centre of the forest is, but she had no obvious bearing. Everything just seemed to be trees, and any clearing that was meant to be visible was hidden from her eyes. Coming close to the top of the treeline, Vertiya disassembled her parachute mid-air, and dropped onto a thick branch of a tree, stowing the pink and brown cards away before hopping down to the floor. Once she was down, Vertiya pulled out a pink card, holding it in her hand briefly until it floated up a few inches from her open palm, spinning in the air. Although she did often prefer being on the offensive, the amount of varying abilities her support card offered made it one of Vertiya's favourite cards to use. The pink card started to slow down, converging on one direction, until it stopped, pointing in the direction that Vertiya was now heading in.
Vertiya's journey had been, well, pretty easy. Granted, it was freezing, and Vertiya could see her breath form clouds of vapour in front of her, but she hadn't come across any Grimm yet, so the only thing she really had to deal with was terrain, and that wasn't hard to traverse with applications of various cards. She was almost under the impression that the lack of Grimm was deliberate, until she passed by a tree, and a small clearing revealed a small horde of Grimm – Beowolves, Ursas, and a Deathstalker to wrap it all off. Vertiya tried to backpedal quietly, but the Grimm had sensed something in the air, and all turned to look Vertiya dead in the eye. Vertiya knew she couldn't go invisible long enough to completely avoid them, so whipping out a couple of red cards, she knew full well it was a fight situation, and chucked the cards in her hand at the Beowolves. If she got rid of the weaker ones first, she could concentrate more effort onto the bigger ones after. Sure enough, the red cards were enough to wipe out the Beowolves, but Vertiya hardly had time to celebrate as she had to pop her semblance to get out of the way of an Ursa charging at her. Repositioning, Vertiya appeared and threw a brown card, followed by both a blue and red card through it, creating a massive ice boulder that flew at the Grimm horde, knocking them over like skittles. However, although most of the Beowolves were down, there were still a couple of Ursas, and the Deathstalker was hardly injured. Vertiya had to backwards roll and kick up as a Beowolf jumped at her, kicking it past her head, but in that moment of brief vulnerability the Deathstalker caught Vertiya with her tail and chucked her into a tree. Winded, and briefly stunned, Vertiya just about got out a green card and threw it at another Beowolf charging at her, causing it to disintegrate before her eyes. The Grimm were getting smart though, and rather than attack one at a time, they started rushing. Vertiya was struggling to fend off three Ursas all furiously swiping at her, and although she was kiting relatively well, she caught a tree root and fell backwards, with little time to get up, resulting in an Ursa roaring and clawing down. Vertiya was paralysed, and shut her eyes as the inevitable came… which never did. Opening her eyes, Vertiya could just about make a figure above her, who, in a flurry of moves, knocked all of the Ursas away from her.
"You know, I know you consider me the lazy one, but I would definitely have gotten up by now," a familiar voice said, and Vertiya, rolling her eyes, accepted the hand that was held down to her, and let herself get pulled up. "Also, a) you're welcome and b) you owe me two drinks now," Yimesz added.
"Well, it wasn't the worst person that I could be paired up with," Vertiya replied, pulling out more cards. "There's still a Deathstalker left, by the way," Vertiya added, a little tentative on her feet.
"Chuck me a pink then," Yimesz said, at which Vertiya chucked a pink card to him. Yimesz held it in his hand, glowing pink briefly, and grinned, before charging with massively increased speed, ramming a fist into the Deathstalker between the eyes with enough power to cause it to explode. "Ever considered being a support?" Yimesz suggested.
"Oh shut it," Vertiya replied, limping over to where Yimesz was. "Gimme the card back."
Yimesz rolled his eyes in a way that resembled Vertiya, before chucking the pink card back to her. Vertiya slapped it on her injured leg, and within a couple of seconds, it was back to normal. Sighing, Vertiya took the card off her leg and held it in her palm again, and after a couple of seconds it started pointing away from the direction they were facing previously. Now a pair, Vertiya and Yimesz began jogging in the way the card pointed, trying to make up for lost time from the Grimm horde.
They hadn't been going for longer than 5 minutes when a female sounding cry caused both Vertiya and Yimesz to skid to a halt, and turn to the left where the sound came from. Vertiya could spot it before Yimesz: the Saffyer girl was struggling to fight off what looked full well like two other initiates, and had just taken a nasty mace hit to her left leg, causing her to sink to the ground.
"Wait, you're allowed to fight each other in here? That seems a bit… unethical," Yimesz said, rubbing his head in confusion.
"I doubt it, but the only rules we were told was that we had to be the first to get to the end," Vertiya said, but there was a slow building rage in her voice. "But to pick on just a girl, let alone the fact she's by herself… They're getting what's coming to them," she added, pulling out a green card. Vertiya usually refused to use raw green cards on people, for the sheer damage it could do, but she was going off impulse. However, just as she was in mid throw, an ear-shattering boom came from their right, and the boy standing over the Saffyer girl with the mace was sent blasting into a tree, knocked unconscious. Neither Vertiya or Yimesz could see where it came from, but they saw another boy with a sword jump to the right, only to also get sent flying backwards alongside a loud thud sound. Not moving, Vertiya and Yimesz could only watch as the drunk initiate wandered over to the Saffyer girl, hammer rested over his left shoulder. He offered a hand to the girl, who took it, and attempted to stand. However, she let out another cry of pain as she put weight on her injured leg, and sank into the pirate-looking boy's arms. The guy said something that couldn't be heard by Vertiya or Yimesz, but the Saffyer girl nodded weakly, and as such he lifted the girl up onto his shoulder, before jogging off the way he came.
"I'm not entirely sure if that's a good combination or not," Vertiya said, stunned by the event that just took place in front of her. The pirate seemed to actually be better at fighting than Vertiya had originally given him credit for. Or at least, just ridiculously strong.
"Skill and power? Seems reasonable enough," Yimesz responded. "I mean, after all, it's what we run as a pair. Only difference is that I have both and you have neither."
"I will lace those drinks I owe you with bleach," Vertiya said, putting her face in her palm. However, thanks to their bickering, Vertiya and Yimesz didn't hear what was happening above them, and were caught unaware to the blast that hit Vertiya square in the back.