The wind whipped past his head. It buffeted against his body, the ear-breaking sound held at bay by the head gear. His eyes opened wide, the clouds were getting closer, he could see them just ahead. His body accelerated, faster, faster, he could go just a little faster. Just to the edge of ‘unch’. Just before ‘stage ohe air started to press in front of his face, a ripple f at the edge of the bubble of air that was taking shape around his body. Heat that should have been scorg his skin was dispersed into his surroundings. The clouds were right here. A wall that seemed so very solid.
Impact.
A rumbling.
Whiteness.
An endless sea of pure blue greeted him oher side.
“WOOO HOOO!” Val shouted into the mouth guard, throwing his fists into the air and stabilizing as he came to a rapid stop. Something in the gear attached to his body shifted with the abrupt halt and he felt it spread the force across his body, terbang before releasing it as a bst of air in all dires. Explosive force tio rush out of the base of his feet as he stood in pce, above the clouds, above the world, above everything for just a few moments. He tilted his head bad soaked it all in. He wished he could feel the sun, but it was a small price to pay.
A faint buzz sounded in his ear and a voice came ihe headgear, “That’s seven thousa, Val, how’d it feel flying through a cloud?” Dr. Carter asked.
Val spun around and looked across the sea of blue and white, “That was fug amazing!” He ughed and did a flip on the air, nearly losing band stabilizing himself. “Woah.”
A sed voice chimed in with a ugh, “That’s wonderful! Just try not to go overboard with the crazy stuff until you do some more practice closer to the ground, mm?” Miss ovna chimed in.
He chuckled, “R-right, got it,” He snickered and gnced up above his head towards another set of clouds, “My max altitude is eight thousand right nht?” He asked.
“Best I could do,” Dr. Carter said, “Eve's a bit fuzzy, you’re best staying there. Push it too hard and the headgear might crack. You’ll lose sciousness really quickly after that.”
Val ched his fists, “What about nding? How much it take?” He asked.
There ause, “I wouldn’t suggest a full speed nding right now,” Miss ovna said, “As amusing as that sounds. e in slow.”
Val clicked his tongue, “I got a better idea,” He said and angled his body down ahe openings in his limbs begin to heat up again. The heat spread out, not burning his skin but instead being absorbed by the gear set up around each spot. The rocket booster-like funnels started to glow just a little as the pressure built, he took a deep breath and with o grunt he pushed, Launch! He ordered his ability, starting the cycle of his power ain. The opening in his back fred, palms, elbows, feet, ahey all screamed to life as he turned into a bullet heading straight for the ground.
“Oh jeez,” Amos muttered into his ear, “Really?”
“Why not?” Val ughed, “Gotta put it through its paces somehow!”
“Just don’t end up a smear, you punk, that gear took a lot of work to make!” Amos grumbled.
Val passed through the clouds again, ing out the other end and looking over the wide green grassnd dotted with gray buildings that was the Green Bank location. He could see the remains of the old telescope dish and the simuted battlefields. It looked like Axel was teag another rescue course. He spotted a few duels going on at the ditioning fields, they were being observed by Madame Rouge if he had to guess, since Bck Lotus was suspended. More instructors were showing up every day now, the first month of Orientation was over. It’s time for the real shit, Val thought before g his armored fist, Just in time.
He hurtled towards the ground, closer and closer to the designated red mark that had bee out for him as a nding spot.
“You’re pushing it,” Amos warned, “The pensator I put in there only take so much.”
“It handled my stop going up!” Val challenged.
“Yeah but now you have gravity to tend with,” Amos pointed out, “Slow down a bit.”
Val clicked his to ultimately agreed, “Alright,” He grunted and altered his trajectory to less a direct dest and more a corkscrew, ing down at a looping angle as he threw his hands out to ter the force released by his feet. He was still ing in really fast, but it would slowly redutil- he whipped his body around mid flight and shoved his feet out, putting a bit more force out through the openings there. He felt the shift in his gear again as the pensator endured most of the feed by the abrupt stop. He hung there as the force was released as another pressed bst of air before finally nding on the ground.
A series of whoops and shouts sounded out from nearby. He turned and reached up to pull the visor out of the way of his eyes, red hair stig to his face a bit. He turned and grinned as his friends practically charged him, then his eyes went wide as they picked up speed. “Oh shi-”
Lillian, Greg, and Alex bowled him over without an ounce of hesitation, tag him to the ground.
John, Snow, and Ollie walked up behind them. John shoved his hands in his pockets as Val looked his way and nodded, his pcid straight-lined expression curving upwards a full three millimeters. He let out a ugh and fell bato his back as the others badgered him with questions.
“That was so cool!” Lillian ughed, beaming down at him.
“Dude, what was it like?” Alex pressed, “All the there, going through a fu’ cloud! Shit that was amazing!”
“You feel better, bud?” Greg added, pulling off of him.
Val just y ft on his bad stared up at the sky for a moment before looking down at his friends again, “It was better than I could ever describe. Up there, in the clouds, was so… freeing,” He said and ched his fist in front of his face before opening it to look at the dark hole that had been disguised by the gloves to look like a rocket booster, “Makes it all worth it.”
The three aggressors looked at one another and grinned before hopping up and pulling him to his feet. He gasped as Alex and Greg picked him up before they helped Lillian throw him onto her shoulders. “All hail the rocket man!” Alex shouted.
“His first und return! plete success.” Greg ughed.
“Eat your heart out, Husk!” Lillian chimed in as she paraded him around.
<”You guys are idiots,”> Snow said through that text window thing of hers. Val had a hard time reading it because the others kept jostling him around.
“I think it’s sweet,” Ollie said with a big smile, “It’s good to see you happy, Val.”
“Mm,” John grunted with a nod, his voice sounding a tiny bit shaky. Everyone looked at him again and he cleared his throat, “What?” He asked, his expression going utterly deadpan again.
“Could have gone easier,” A voice called out and Val looked over with everyone else to see Amos walking over, scratg at his messy brown hair. He had one hand in the pocket of his bcoat and was grinnie his words, “Not bad, Val, good flying.”
o Amos, Sonya walked over in a delicate looking sundress and wide-brimmed hat. She smiled at them all before looking up at Val, “How are you feeling?” She asked.
Val looked at her face for a moment, setting his jaw a bit. He pat Lillian’s shoulder and she picked him up before setting him down. He nded heavily and marveled for a heartbeat at how strong Lillian was getting. He took a few steps forward before g his hands to his sides and bowing fully at the waist, “I ot thank you both enough!” He shouted at the ground, “Thank you so muaking this dream of mine e true! I’ll use it well!”
Amos snorted, “an, it’s just a prototype.”
“Amos, be nice,” Sonya chided him before Val heard a few light steps walk over to him. He felt a small hand nd on his armored shoulder and looked up, Sonya looked down at him with a brilliant smile, “Just bee a good hero for me, then, work hard.”
He stood up straight and cleared his throat, “Right!” He barked before g his fists and looking down at them, “Man, I do all the stuff I’ve been practig outside now!” He ughed and bounced back a few feet. “You guys thought my tricks during the spar were crazy, just you wait!” He kicked off the ground with a short rocket boost and flipped backwards. One hand released a shot of ford he was fag the opposite dire. In an instant he was fag away from where he was and ing down with a rocket propelled kick from above. He hit the ground and grass, dirt, and dust flew up before he stood and marveled at the tiny crater he’d made. He punched his palm and looked over his shoulder at everyone, “You’ve got yourselves a high mobility striker.”
Sonya cupped her cheek and chuckled, “I imagine an excellent rescue specialist too.” She tilted her head thoughtfully for a moment befng at John, “Oh, John, about what we talked about, I spoke with Blue-”
A crack of thunder shattered the sky, the earth shook, and everyouro face it.
–
Sonya moved fast, putting herself between the sound and the aspirants while Amos reached up to grab his wrist. She looked up at the sky where a dark cloud had formed in the midst of the nearly clear sky above a spot deep in the woods. From it, a stream of lightning dowlessly over a single spot. She blinked and frowned before dialing out mentally.
<”Yo! boss?”> Kera’s voice came through.
<”Kera dear, where are yht now?”> Sonya asked.
<”Eatin’ sausage.”> Kera quipped back, <”?”>
Sonya made a deadpan face, <”I didn’t ask for the gory details, I asked where you are.”>
<”Hey! You’re the dirty one, we’re still in Germany!”> Kera chimed back.
Sonya rolled her eyes and stood up straight, <”Right, of course, nevermind.”> Sonya grunted and hung up. I wouldn’t have assumed if that wasn’t half of what you talked about, Kera. She thought with a shake of her head before crossing her arms and gng at Amos, shaking her head a little bit. He nodded and tapped his temple twice. A moment ter a small stream of metal objects swarmed into the air as the Aspirants began to calm down behind them.
“It’s just ing down,” Lilliahed.
“Woah, it’s like rain,” Alex murmured, “The hell is that? Some kind of weird monster?”
“That would mean a dungeon break is ing soon and I doubt the instructors would allow the duhey’re maintainio get that bad,” Ollie pointed out.
Amos narrowed his eyes, “It looks like…” He frowned, “...Bck Lotus?” He blurted and stood up straight, “She’s just sitting there getting hit by it.”
Sonya blinked and raised her eyebrows, “Pull your drones bad leave it be,” She said and gnced back at the Aspirants, more of them were starting to gather as well as a few instructors who stopped to watch the show with them. Another crack of thunder sounded and the lightning intensified, there were a few shouts of fusion, Sonya raised her voice, “It’s fine!” Sonya called, “Hero Bck Lotus is undergoing a special personal training right now, she’s w hard, so you all go bad work hard as well!” She urged them before shooting Amos a gnce.
<”Call Marta and have her go stand guard near hua, she ’t defend herself in that state,”> She said through their teopathiion.
<”On it,”> Amos aowledged.
Sonya turned back when a single voice chimed in, “A heavenly tribution,” Ollie said aloud, “Is that what that is?”
Sonya gnced his way, Little smarty pants, She opened her mouth to give an indecisive answer but closed it, gng back at the lightning. She’d only seen it once during her past life but she k all too well. This one wasn’t as intense as the one she saw back then, though. Sed breakthrough? She raised her eyebrow a little, Does that mean she fought me as Ishtar with only her first breakthrough? She smirked, That cheeky little…
“What does that mean?” Lillian asked behind Sonya..
Sonya resisted the urge to flinch. Oh great. I hope it doesn’t scare her, that boy talks a little too muetimes.
Ollie cleared his throat while most of the aspirants dispersed, fortuhey were satisfied enough with Sonya’s response. “I’ve had a theory for a while that Miss Bck Lotus’ abilities are based on popur cultivation stories, a lot of abilities out there seem to be grounded in myths, legends, and well known tales,” Ollie said and straightened his gsses, “A heavenly tribution happens when one of those individuals has a break-through in their powers and achieved another level of enlighte. Heaven challehem, or something to that effect, and they have to eil the end of the tribution.”
Sonya looked back to watch Lillian a her mouth drop open a bit, the girl looked eted!
Lillian bounced on the balls of her feet, “She did it? That’s great!” Lillian barked, overjoyed. She turned and looked at the seemingly unending rain of lightning on that point in the forest and ched her fists, “So I will too-” She mumbled and squeezed her hands tight, “It’s amazing! It’s like the world is responding to her. Like-” She blinked, standing up a bit straighter and frowning a little, “Huh.”
Sonya narrowed her eyes, “Everything okay, Lillian?”
Lillian scratched her head as her friends looked at her with . The girl blinked a few times and looked at the ground and then up at the sky, “I uh…” She scratched her head again and furrowed her brow before clearihroat and spinning around abruptly to look at Val, “N-not gon some lightning steal your thunder, buddy!” She ughed and cpped him on the shoulders. Val tilted his head at her, a little fused.
“You kidding? Why would I give a shit?” He asked her.
She barked out a ugh as Sonya watched her carefully, “Right! Right! Hey, guys? I gotta go um… sit for a minute. I’ll be back soon,” Lillian said hurriedly. Snow gave her a look and Lillian broke into a wide smile, “I’m fine, promise!” She ughed before darting away at full speed. Sonya didn’t miss the serious expression that washed over Lillian's face. She watched her go and crossed her arms.
What oh did that girl just realize? She g the lightning where hua was. She saw the streak of light that was Marta heading towards it. What do you both know that’s so profound?
She shook her head ruefully and turo look at the remaining aspirants, “Well! Lillian ran off before I could make my annou!” She said with a ugh and the others turo her with grins on their faces, “First, gratutions on your new suit, Mister Kinton.”
Val shot her a thumbs up.
“,” She threw her arms out, “I made a special deal with the PC for a little down time for a day with you all!” She announced before slipping into a dramatic pause. She grinned impishly at them, looking at their faces before boung into aed pose.
“We’re going to the bea a few days!”
