The couple of days that everyone had gotten between the last stage and the final stage had been used up in various ways by the 32 initiates that were still remaining. Some had taken the time to recover from the mental strain that they had to go through during the aura stage. Some were taking the time purely to relax. Vertiya, however, knew full well that some teams would be unprepared if her group already knew each other's strengths and weaknesses, how to fight together, and if they gelled well together as a team, and as such she had her team training straight from the day after the aura trial. She more or less had everyone worked out now – Yimesz used a combination of speed and explosive force and was best for drawing attacks, plus he could use his semblance to recover; Plutonine was a little slower than the rest of the team, but could take a hit and was by far the strongest in the team and was the best for setting up group attacks; Ruzovi was easily the most skilful fighter in terms of actual combat ability and was probably the best at picking off anyone who would be otherwise difficult to handle – and now, the evening before the final stage, Vertiya had decided to call an end to the training scheme she had devised, much to the thanks of the other three. They were all damp with sweat by this point, but Vertiya had been careful to not overdo it, and none of them were exhausted to the point where they wouldn't be able to battle tomorrow.
"You know, I had hoped that becoming a huntsman would result in me not having to do as much exercise than being at sea all the time," Plutonine, or Pluto as he preferred, said as he collapsed onto a chair. They still didn't have their own dorm yet as Atlas Academy only held enough dorms for four teams of each year, so they were currently resting in one of the main lounges.
"Nah, this probably isn't representative of complete huntsman training," Yimesz replied, leaning back on the sofa he was sat on, arms up. "This is just V. I would know, she was like this at home."
Vertiya glared at Yimesz, before turning back to Pluto, pushing some damp stray strands of hair out of her eyes. "I know I've been pretty intense on you all, but I wanted to make sure that we'd be at least partially ready for tomorrow. I didn't want to go into a team fight where none of us knew how to fight with each other."
"You bring a good point," Pluto said, taking a swig from his hip flask. Vertiya wasn't entirely sure what it was he was drinking – as someone who didn't drink herself, Vertiya didn't know what smell of alcohol was what – or more importantly, how he got so much drink or where it went when the flask changed into a hammer, but she didn't bother asking. "Does anyone know anything about tomorrow then?"
"Other than what General Ironwood said on the first day, no," Vertiya admitted. The only people who ever knew about the Atlas trials were those who had done them themselves, and as Vertiya and Yimesz were the only members of the Hylae family currently alive who had been to Atlas Academy. "Yimesz and I are the first to be at Atlas in our family in a long time, and there was no one I could ask about the trials."
"I know a little bit," Ruzovi said with a quiet voice, speaking up for the first time. Vertiya had picked up on the fact she was reasonably shy, and with good reason seeing how she was so much younger than everyone else purely in the team, let alone the school. However, when she perked up, she managed to get everyone's attention, surprisingly enough. "It's kinda similar to the Vytal festival fights, if you've ever watched those before. The arena will become, like, representative of a random environment, only one though unlike the tournament, and it just becomes a case of being the first team to get the other team's aura to 15% or less. At least, that's what it was when my dad went through Atlas."
"So it isn't just a flat fight," Vertiya said out loud, more a statement than a question. Vertiya was fine going into fights in different environments, but normally only if she knew what said environment was and how to act around it. "Do you remember what landscape types there are?"
"I know a few, but there's probably more than what I can remember," Ruzovi admitted, thinking back. "Dad said his one was in some form of rocky, mountainous type terrain, but I'm pretty sure there's a beach one, an abandoned town one, a swamp one, something jungle related, and that's all I can think of. I'm not sure if you'd be able to prepare for all of them."
"Hey, you can't plan everything," Yimesz said to Vertiya, yawning a little as he stood up from the sofa. "I am going to get some sleep. And you, Miss Hylae, I expect to be getting some shut eye soon. You won't be any use tomorrow if you can't keep your eyes open."
"To be honest, I might call it a night there as well," Pluto added, as he pushed himself up from the chair, draining the last of his flask. Vertiya was still a little against Pluto's drinking, but it worked for him, so she couldn't really complain. And she still wasn't sure whether what he was drinking was just alcohol or something else that gave him something of a buff. "You two girls coming yet, or you staying up for a bit longer?"
"I'm not tired just yet, I'll probably be going to bed in a short while though," Ruzovi replied, before turning to Vertiya to see what she was doing. Vertiya still had her eyebrow raised at Yimesz's comment, but she didn't quite look that exhausted yet.
"Likewise, I'll go to sleep a bit later," Vertiya said, looking over to Ruzovi with a small smile before turning back to the two boys. "Have a good night, we've got a heavy day tomorrow."
The two boys both left together, and once they had, Vertiya turned back to Ruzovi. She was curious about a few things after all – how she managed to get here aged only 14, what it was like growing up in the Saffyer empire and such – but Ruzovi beat her to the conversation. "I have to ask, when you were fighting that Nevermore on the first day, what was that card thing you did? Surely you can't have two semblances," she asked, causing Vertiya to smile.
"It's been something amongst my family for generations," Vertiya started to explain. "For some reason, all the females in my family have access to some power that is stronger than a semblance. There's a running joke that the woman with the most power in our family at any given time is called the Maiden because of The Story of the Seasons, but that's just a fairy tale, so I never really took it too much to heart," she continued. "It does take an awful lot out of me, though, which is why I don't often use it too much."
"Still, it's a good last resort," Ruzovi replied. She seemed less shy when just around Vertiya, which Vertiya did pick up on. Probably because they were both girls, after all, and Ruzovi was still young so would have been uncomfortable around a lot of people. "How come you chose Atlas, then? I would have thought somewhere like Haven would have been better for you, considering your weapon."
"I did consider Haven quite thoroughly, to be honest. Plus, my aunt went there as well, so I'd know a bit more about it," Vertiya responded. "However, I prefer to keep things ordered and methodical, and I felt like Atlas would have done a better job at that, plus I live here in Atlas anyway and I didn't want to travel too far. How about you, though? I've never heard of anyone getting into an academy so young, and although I saw your fight against the Taijitu which was really impressive, was there anything else to it?"
"There was a little bit more to it, yeah," Ruzovi admitted. "See, my parents have been supporting the Atlesian military for years, and General Ironwood and my parents are on good terms. But, there have been a lot of arguments in my dad's office for the last couple of years, which makes me think that our business isn't doing quite as well as normal, and General Ironwood was over a few months ago. I didn't really hear what was said, but Ironwood came out, spoke to me, and told me I had a place at Atlas," she went on to explain. "He already knew I could fight because apparently he'd seen how I did back at my primary combat school, but I don't know exactly what was said between my dad and General Ironwood because neither of them would say, but I was excited about the idea of going to Atlas Academy, so I took it."
Vertiya knew better than to pry into that. By the sounds of it, Ruzovi's family was going through some hardships with their business, and Vertiya didn't want to start off by trying to find out about something that would have been negative. Besides, she'd made it this far after all, so she clearly had talent enough to succeed, and out of her team, she'd definitely seemed to be trying the most. Yimesz was, well, Yimesz, and Pluto, although he was great with the team, had questionable ways of going about things. Plus, he was more or less always drunk, which Vertiya still disapproved of. "Well, I'm sure we can give your parents the good news that we've made it in to the academy after we win tomorrow," Vertiya told Ruzovi with a rare smile. "That being said, I think I'm going to go get some sleep myself. You coming as well or are you staying up?"
"No, I think I'm going to get some sleep as well," Ruzovi replied, getting up off the chair. "I… enjoyed talking to you though. It's nice to not feel like I'm being talked down to, for a change."
"I'm not gonna lie to you, I make my opinion on someone when I know them by their personality. And let's put it this way, compared to the other two in our team, you're definitely the most mature," Vertiya told her, getting a small giggle out of Ruzovi in the process. However she too stood up at this point, and walked with Ruzovi towards the sleeping area.
However, they were stopped by the sound of raucous, and to Vertiya familiar, laughter. "Who on earth could be making that much noise?" Ruzovi asked, a little confused. "I mean, aren't most people asleep?"
"I would have thought so too, but I can definitely recognise one of the voices," Vertiya said with a sigh, turning round a corner with Ruzovi to find Pluto and Yimesz. Yimesz was on all fours, banging the floor with laughter, and although Pluto was still standing, it was only just. "I thought you two were going to sleep?" Vertiya asked, in a loud enough voice that the two of them stopped their laughing and turned to her.
"We were, but Pluto suggested getting to know each other a bit better over a drink," Yimesz explained with a slurred tone, as he tentatively got to his feet. "Except we may have had a few more than one."
"Aye, your brother cannot handle his brew, it would seem," Pluto told Vertiya with a deep laugh, his voice sounding rougher than it was when he was talking earlier. "That being said, though, he is definitely the character."
Vertiya shook her head, covering her eyes with the palm of her hand. "Boys," she sighed, walking past them. "If you two have a hangover tomorrow I am going to kill you."