“Ahh! How is this even optional!”
Amanda palmed her head as she screamed at the air, trying to figure out what little sense she could gleam from the point of today’s class. It had been less than a half hour since she was rescued and then dropped from the sky for the second time in only half a day.
Most embarrassing of all was how she had balled her eyes out. So much stress, so much anxiety, it roiled around and finally leaked out. God! I can’t believe I did that!
She mentally scolded herself for going along with this, she stared up, the brown clothed roof of a tent filled her sight with the reminder of dirt, a lot of it was on her, covered and caked, the brown dust and smudges on her hands were evident of the long turmoil she had gone through.
At least after she had landed safely with everyone, they were all carried to the safety of a medical tent. It was set up in a slapshot fashion due to the temporary nature of the situation. Officially, the place Amanda’s group found themselves in was the frontlines rearguard outpost.
The little comfort of the cot’s stretched out fabric did little to help her quivering will to go on. It at least lessened her fatigue but by an amount so small that she would still rather stand, yet her body unconsciously wanted to do little with moving.
Sighing, Amanda turned on her side. As she did, their eyes met. Chisuke, her valiant savior, of underwhelming sorts, glared dagger like eyes at her. The dude sat on a cot of his own with some kind of drink pack in hand as he sipped away. He noticed her.
“What are you looking at?” He hissed.
“Hah, nothing..” Amanda languidly paused thinking she shouldn’t say anything but, she couldn’t stop herself. “It’s just, what is up with today!” She complained, a notion Chisuke could relate to with a long past and younger self of his.
“First.” Amanda began listing. “That whole dropship commotion, then the sudden skydiving, then this stressful war game, and now! Now I’m sitting here, resting my ass for god knows what else to come next! And it’s been only half a Day! Half! A Day!”
She isn’t wrong. Chisuke thought as he crushed the gel pack in his hand and threw it into his bag beside him.
“Well, this is the Practical Training Class, so get used to it.” He reached, rustled inside his pack, and grabbed two gel packs. Tossing one to Amanda, Chisuke watched as she fumbled with it.
“Th-Thanks.” She said and eyed that brown duffle bag of Chisuke’s. So that’s what he had in there. Recalling her time in the dropship, the minor question of why Chisuke and the rest of the upperclassmen were carrying extra stuff with them for this class, now made sense.
She sipped away at the gel pack, letting the sugars restore some amount of energy inside of her. As she did she gathered a little strength to sit up and look around. Cots were laid out under the large brown roofed tent. In lines and rows, injured students and trainees were being nursed, or recovering what little stamina they could.
Core energy was also a priority, everyone here likely had run low and needed time for their natural biology to work on replenishing their stock.
In the distance, echoes of battle flew over to her ears, always reminding her that she may have to jump into that chaos once again. But can I do it? Do I even want to anymore? The half day of continuous mental and physical exertion had torn at Amanda.
She didn’t know how much more she could take, but she had long realized that that was the point of this class. This Practical Training Class taught the real application of what explorers did in the field with their powers. Professor Cyno’s Autobiography added to her proof of why.
Ceaseless war that left millions awake to dangers ahead. No rest, no respite. None for the heroes who call themselves explorers. Running and Running, towards dangers, towards adventures, towards all this world had to offer.
Amanda thought the last part of the excerpt was overly played up. She contemplated other lines that she could remember from the text. There wasn’t much to do, so why not?
“Uh Umm. Ex-Excuse me, but do you need additional healing?”
A trickle of a voice called out. Turning her head, Amanda saw a recently met and familiar face.
“Nah, I’m fine Dahlia. Thanks for checking.”
“It.. It’s not a problem.” Dahlia said sheepishly. “Just let me know if.. if there’s anything I can.. uh? Do to help.”
“Yeah, I will.” Amanda reached a hand out to show her thanks, but Dahlia recoiled, stepping back and bumping into someone she hadn’t known was behind her. For a second, Amanda watched as the scared beast girl trembled and turned to see who she had bumped into.
“Woah! Dahlia, calm down, it’s only me.” Mana patted Dahlia’s head with a gentle hand. “Heh, don’t mind her Amanda, my friend here is a bit shy and doesn’t really have it easy with getting along with people.”
“I see.” Amanda cocked an eye around. An odd sense of pressure seemed to be focusing on Dahlia, in fact, pressuring eyes found themselves honing on people like Dahlia, Beast humans. A few nearby students were glaring at Dahlia, the poor girl. Amanda glared back, getting cowed and irritated reactions from a few.
Others were keen to be confrontational, or.. interested? Suddenly approaching, a man garbed in a Blue Chinese Style robe waved to her. He then struck a somewhat odd posture, as if thinking a halo of light would shine around him.
He came off as prideful, arrogant, and a bit foppish.
“Hello, you seemed to be looking at me. Has my beauty beguiled you?”
Creep. Amanda thought and truly wanted to plant her fist into the guy’s face. Yeah, it was a violent first reaction but the guy had a face that was asking for it. He had, begrudgingly, a perfectly featured androgynous face, smooth skin, and pretty blue eyes that were enticing, if not for how lustful his air was.
With his looks, Amanda almost believed he was a she. Her two senses won out in finding the truth, and the telling disgust from the man’s presence was enough to make her want to hurl. Amanda swallowed and scrutinized the guy again.
That disgusting air of his was further enhanced by the pompous and gaudy attire. The man was likely from Chinsui, nowhere else could you find clothing like the ones he had. Patterned with silver and gold thread, it was inlined into the weaving fabric, the sleeves struck a shining amount of wealthy dignity, but an arrogant nobleman was the more accurate interpretation.
Like, really, this is the 21th century, not some feudal era where nobles and serfs exist. Though Amanda had to reprimand herself for being close minded about being so judgmental. Chinsui was its own nation, its own ecosystem of people. Her time there was enlightening.
They had a class system, segregating explorers from each other depending on role and.. other aspects. Aspects Amanda could understand from how the gaudy man was looking at Dahlia with those eyes of contempt.
The man’s lips twitched, wanting to curl into a sneer at the sight of Dahlia’s antlers and Mana’s wings.
“Disgusting.” The man mumbled, not realizing he had said it aloud. Everyone went tense, yet the perpetrator was oblivious, as if he didn’t think he did anything wrong. Just as Amanda was about to shoo the guy away, Chisuke stood up.
“Hey!” He shouted. “Get back over there! Now!”
“What!” The gaudy man snapped. “I will go where I want, peasant! You just sit back down and do as you are told, mindless oaf.”
For a second, Amanda thought Chisuke would bite the guy’s head off. Surprisingly, he didn't. Instead, Chisuke continued to glare at the gaudy man, daring him to throw a punch because when he did, Chisuke had plausible cause to dice him up.
“I said, Get! Back! Now!” Chisuke’s punctuation made the gaudy man want to bark back. As the man opened his mouth his senses felt the pressure of Chisuke’s core energy. It was murderous and thick that the man trembled.
“Hmpf! Insolent cur. No wonder the Western Bloc is only filled with a bunch of brutes. You and those wind-up soldiers, what a joke.” The gaudy man flashed a smile to Amanda, as well as to Mana and Dahlia. His latter smile at them seemed odd.
In fear, Dahlia buried her face in Mana’s chest, as if to hide away. Mana bared her teeth, looking ready to draw blood.
“You heard him, get lost, or I’ll be the one to remove you.”
Her threat made the gaudy man leave, stomping away as he mumbled to himself. Mana sighed and sat on a cot nearby, clutching Dahlia’s back to reassure her and to get her to stop trembling.
“He’s gone now, you can come out.”
“N-no.. please.. No.. Not yet.”
“Alright, alright, but don’t sleep on me. We might have to sortie soon.”
“What?!” Dahlia tilted her head up in Mana’s chest. “Can’t I stay here, I can do more good here than out there.”
“I know you can, but the injured aren’t going to come to you. The goal is to get to the point past the enemies. So you can’t stay behind.”
“I.. I..” Dahlia went silent and leaned herself closer to Mana’s chest. A hand rubbed her back, soothing the young beast girl with the familiar touch of her shared kin.
“Wow!” Another voice cut in and Chisuke took a swing at the source. “Woah! Easy dude, why the heck are you so uppity.” The man that was the source of the voice that irritated Chisuke to no end, ducked effortlessly out of the way.
Chisuke began to hiss. “Because I know you’re here to mouth off Osamu.” He had a computations to beat the living hell out of him. Gen stayed Chisuke with a shake of his head.
“It’s not worth it man.” At that, Chisuke settled down but not really.
“Don’t forget Osamu, I’m going to be on you, and Gen, after class today.”
“Well you can’t blame us.” Replied Osamu. “You got three ladies sitting next to you and you just stood up to a creep, talking about a knight in shining armor moment.”
“Indeed.” Gen said, pushing up his glasses as they glinted a hint of his growing interest. “So? Which one?”
“What?” Chisuke had no idea what Gen was on about.
“I mean, which one are you gunning for?” Gen said.
“Yeah.” Osamu added, chipping in his opinion. “I’d say Amanda’s your best bet, but Mana’s more your type. You know, violent and such. But Dahlia’s still in the race, you know, with how you kept looking out for her earlier.”
“Oh for the love of.. I will literally cut you if you keep talking about this!” Chisuke stepped toward Osamu, taking another swing at him. Osamu ducked effortlessly again, his purple highlighted hair shimmering in a blur.
“Hah, gotta be faster than that.” He taunted, which inevitably led to Gen jumping in and adding fuel to the already raging anger in Chisuke’s eyes. The trio went on and on, and the nearby students began to jeer and laugh, even applauding as Osamu deftly dodged and danced around Chisuke, while Gen added a comedic commentary.
Amanda laughed as well. While embarrassing that she was reminded of how Chisuke had held her as she bawled her eyes out like a kid to him, the trio’s banter helped to lighten the mood. Even Dahlia giggled, though she kept close to Mana and tensed when anyone looked at her.
“Oh Amanda, glad to see you’re cheering up.” Stella’s voice was a nice addition. Returning from camp watch duty with the others, Amanda’s group sat where Chisuke was sitting earlier. Joining her was Ikki, Shisuki, and Richard. As Ikki went to sit next to Stella, Shisuki got in between them and took her sisterly duty in precaution for her little brother. Stella took it to heart.
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“Hey, move over and stop clinging to Ikki like that you washboard. Are you trying to grate his arm?”
“Hmph.” Shisuki pressed closer to Ikki, eliciting a wince from him who couldn’t say much or deny his older sister’s stalwart grip. “At least I’m not bewitching him with your lumps of obscene fat. Be a good girl and stop getting in between me and my brother’s love.”
“L-Love?! How impure! Ikki! Do something already! Her behavior is already pushing the limit of decency!”
“Oh.. I umm.. I.. alright?” Ikki nodded and pressed Shisuki away. “Big Sis, come on, let’s not make a commotion here. We’re all on the same team.”
“Oh I know.” Shisuki said. “But a little longer, I rarely get to spend time with you compared to that fat chested bimbo over there.” A month, it had been a month of constant worry for Shisuki who had to cope that her precious little brother had to room with a vixen. She sighed. “If only we could be roommates, then I could save you from her dastardly clutches.”
“Wha!”
Stella had many words to say at that but Ikki gave her a look, telling her he’d handle it.
“You know that we can’t.” Ikki replied. “Stella wants to be my roommate, and I don’t have a problem with her. I also don’t think she has caused any trouble.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Well, Am I any different than before? Have I ever complained?”
“No you haven’t. And well, yes, a bit. You’ve changed, you’re taller and you’re more independent, not to mention stronger, but that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about her, this girl.” Shisuki glared at Stella. “She’ll wrap you up and do god knows what to you and.. And.. and..”
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Calm down Big sis. I know you’re over protective of me and I’m glad that that part of you hasn’t changed from our younger days, it makes me happy.”
“You mean it?” Shisuki looked up to Ikki with her happily glazed eyes. “You really mean it?”
Ikki pressed a hand to her head, ruffling her short cut aqua green hair.
“Yeah, of course I’m happy about it, but what’ll make me even happier is if you get along with my friends.”
“But.. But.. She.. She’s..”
Shisuki pouted and turned to look over to Stella again. For a moment, a heat exchange of fiery hot and icy cold looks were shot. Invisible to the naked eye, only Amanda and Richard could see the sparks flying the seat on the cot across from them.
“This never gets old.” Mumbled Richard.
“Yeah, no kidding.” Amanda added and slumped her shoulder. It was funny to see Ikki fumbled about as he tried to get a handle on Stella and Shisuki. Humorous as it was, the faint echoes of battle still reached everyone.
A sudden boom caught everyone off guard, it was more than just loud, it shook the air and ground. Many first years tensed, while a few others were unaffected. Mana, Chisuke, Gen, and Osamu were the latter, owing to their additional experience as upperclassmen.
“Looks like the battle is getting closer.” Mana said and she separated from Dahlia slowly. “I’m going to take a look, you can stay here Dahlia, or you can come with me.”
“M-Mana.. I.. But.. I..” Dahlia looked around at the unfamiliar faces around her. Yes, Amanda and a few had become acquaintances but there was a level of distance she kept from Amanda’s kind.
Coming to a decision, Dahlia held Mana’s hand. “I’m going with you.”
“Alright.” Mana replied and waved Chisuke over, who was giving Osamu and Gen each a headlock. “You three.” She barked. “Come with me. I think you need to take a walk Chisuke, you get all wound up when you’re not fighting, so it’ll do you some good.”
“Hah.” Chisuke scoffed. “Whatever.” He let the two idiots go and the trio left, taking their duffle bags with them as they slung them over their backs. Mana waved goodbye to Amanda as she led Dahlia by the hand. Watching them go, Amanda’s attention drew to the hollowness in her stomach. She should’ve asked for another gel pack.
A growl came out and another from Richard, who put a hand to his stomach.
“Man, we really should’ve brought lunch with us.” He said tiredly.
“Yeah, but hindsights twenty twenty.” Amanda said. “Guess that's why the upperclassmen had those bags. Emergency food and all that.”
“Not only that Amanda. But both the trainees and upperclassmen brought equipment with them. Hand held terminals, laptops, binoculars, all kinds of things. Some even brought the tents and cots we’re using.”
“Huh? No way, I thought the CDU and CAU provided all this.”
Richard shook his head at her.
“Nope, I think this belonged to one of the students. Odd right? It’s like they were prepared for this.”
“Yeah, Do you think they knew about today?” Amanda couldn’t help but frown. If the upperclassmen had known that this would’ve happened today, then they could’ve at least given her and her fellow first years a heads up.
“I don’t think so.” Richard said. Shisuki then cut in.
“You would be correct young Richard. I had thought to tell everyone a piece of information I found about today but I believed it had no bearing.”
“What? You knew something like this but willingly chose not to tell us!” Stella shouted, accusing Shisuki with a fierce look. The gesture was returned with a cool and straining smile.
“If you would let me speak, I can explain.” Shisuki huffed and continued, giving no semblance of respect to the apparent royalty that Stella had, by birth. “Ahem! As you all know, the practical training class occurs once a month, and in the last week of said month. It lasts for 24 hours. After combing through rumors and the like, I’ve found that there is no uniformity to the class.”
“As in?” Amanda asked, hoping she would elaborate.
“Each 24 hour session is different.” Shisuki further explained. “One group of upperclassmen described an outing to one of the outposts in the Western Bloc, or taking on simulated exploration trips into conquered stardepth. The kinds of activities additionally vary from simple sparring, to large scale events like today’s war games.”
“So how does this loop back with why the upperclassmen didn’t think to warn us?” Amanda again asked, but Richard seemed to get the answer.
“There isn’t any point.”
“Huh?” Everyone besides Shisuki and Richard were befuddled.
“Don’t you get it?” Richard explained. “The warning would’ve served no purpose. Not even the upperclassmen know what to expect and I’m guessing some of them chose to not give any advice because they didn’t feel like it.”
“Oh come on!” Stella groaned, a sentiment that Amanda shared.
“The practical training class is going to be harder than I thought.” Amanda said. “Do you think we should pack supplies like our upperclassmen in the future?”
“Probably.” Said Richard. “If the upperclassmen are doing it, then we should ask them some questions after today. Though, it’ll be hard.”
Like Shisuki, Richard had also been trying to gather intel or advice from the upperclassmen, but their responses were mixed. Sifting through all of the hearsay was difficult.
“Do you think we’ll make it?” Amanda abruptly asked, and was replied with two kinds of looks from everyone. Stella, Ikki, and Shisuki had no qualms with the question. They were ready to get back into the fight.
Richard on the other hand netted his fingers together on his lap. He was likely viewing the HUD from his earpiece, trying to think on what to say.
“By the pace of the incoming orders and all the comms chatter, it's a back and forth. So maybe 50, 50?”
“Those aren’t good odds.” Amanda tiredly laid herself back onto her cot. “We still have half the day left and supposedly there's more class time after this. Do you think they’ll at least give us a break?”
“Maybe, but we’ll have to win this to find out. I think we’ll fail the class today if we’re beaten or taken out. That, or we get taken to the target until the next part of the class starts. We could give up and skip this.”
Richard’s suggestion didn’t ring well with everyone. Ikki and Stella both wanted to keep going, so did Shisuki, who wanted to follow Ikki. Amanda partially thought to secede to the easier path. Yet she didn’t like the idea of quitting. Richard was the same, he had a goal to reach.
They all had goals and giving up on this first obstacle just wasn’t in the cards for them. Ikki and Stella wanted to participate in the Star Royale. Shisuki wished to be stronger to protect her brother. Amanda wanted to be an explorer to answer the unknowns of the star depths. And Richard wanted to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps.
Such different paths were converging on roads that led them all here. Some might call it fate, others call it luck, but coincidence was the apt word to put to this situation. In any case, their futures were being crafted by their own hands through this class and the academy’s curriculum.
Minutes ticked by and terrible clouds began to blanket the sky, turning the once sunny, azure blue, and fluffy white clouded heaven above, into a pitch gray and drab coloring of heavy handed shade.
Worst of all, thunder and lightning cracked in the skies overhead. Booming bombs echoed and people swore they saw figures fighting in the sky.
“Hmmmm, the trainees sure have it tough.”
Amanda witnessed an aerial unit of trainees flying to engage a passing patrol of aerial robots who were likely going for a dive bombing run. With her HUD, she could zoom her view in or connect to video feeds with cohort ally’s earpieces within range.
The trainees fought valiantly for as young as they were. Amanda couldn’t get over the fact that all of them looked too young to be caught up in all this. Though, how could she argue? She was only 16 years old and these trainees were of similar or very close in age to her.
Man, this world’s really come to this. Children being taught to fight. Taught to be soldiers and use their powers to fight.
Unlocking your explorer powers at a young age could be seen as a blessing and as a curse. Amanda saw it as the prior but these trainees, these kids.
They would’ve been better off not unlocking their powers. They could live full lives as kids, teenagers.
Ring, Ring, Ring.
She sighed as a call came in on her HUD. In fact, the call came in for everyone in her group. All eyes looked straight forward, as if gazing upon an invisible image right in front of them.
The face of an adolescent man, his head capped with a hat decorated in brown camo, appeared in the corner of everyone’s view.
[This is S1, Commanding Officer of Division 1. I’ll cut to the chase, the remaining Divisions are to prepare for battle.]
A map appeared as highlighted and dotted lines painted across two sides of the picture. One red and one green. Amanda found her own icon, a dot with a string of letters and numbers identifying her. M8A1723F, it was her student ID.
[Divisions 6 and 7.] S1 continued. His voice carried the air of a military professional. [You are to dig in at our right flank, 2 miles due southwest of the frontline. We expect a heavy counter attack to come to strike at our flanks. Preempt them, and delay.] The map changed as numbered groups, a 7 and a 6, moved along an appearing trajectory.
As it did, students and trainees stood up from their cots and moved to action. Amanda, along with her friends, didn’t get up. They were part of Division 8 and while the idea of being the last group seemed like an insult, it wasn’t.
It was only a number.
[Now, for Division 8.] S1 smiled as he addressed them, and Amanda could sense an unseen force of anticipation on his smile. She thought it was her own imagination and focused on listening. [In response to Division 6 and 7, Division 8 will move through the center, advancing 3 miles ahead. Expect heavy pockets of resistance and fall back as necessary. Your goal is to act as a mobile strike and counter scout unit, report enemy activities and spread out. I’m sending waypoints and designated orders to each battlegroup.]
Pinging, data streamed across the top of Amanda’s vision. She’d go over it later since S1 made to speak about another pressing matter.
[There are a sparse few of you that have yet to form into battlegroups.] S1 gave a keen stare, as if admonishing those stragglers across the call. [I suggest you form up, Battlegroup leaders will be sending out orders. Good luck everyone, I plan to see you all at the end of this.]
In a blink, S1‘s visage disappeared and Amanda’s ears now filled with Chisuke’s voice.
[I’ve got spots open for all your friends. Either join, or piss off.]
Stella’s brow twitched and she made to yell in an outcry. Shisuki stopped her with a pinch to her thigh, getting another fiery glare from her. Richard and Ikki sighed, while Amanda nodded and accepted on their behalf.
No sooner did they all begin to move out, leaving the comfort of the cots and tents to make their way to a rendezvous on their HUDs map. Only half a mile away, they bounded the distance in minutes, running with enhanced speeds from their renewed stores of core energy.
On approach up a slight slope, Mana greeted them with a wave.
“Hey, Long time no see stranger.”
The cheeky remark got a chuckle out of everyone. A good start to the ever tensing mood Chisuke was emanating as he stared out to the cloudy horizon. Amanda felt great killing intent from him and wasn’t sure if the murderous looking man had what it took to be a leader.
Ikki approached him, to the contrary of Amanda’s slight apprehension, he talked with Chisuke as if they were brothers.
“Nice to see you again cousin.”
Chisuke regarded him with a grunt and low voice.
“Yes, Nice that you’re alive, traitor.”
“So they still call me that?”
“What do you think?” Chisuke said, though not hatefully. “Our people despise those who leave their familial duties. You were bold to go against your father.”
“Was it? I thought I was being more of an idiot.” Ikki gave a small smile and scratched his cheek. In turn, Chisuke scoffed.
“Two sides of the same coin.” He mumbled. The comment got a laugh out of Ikki but not for Shisuki and Stella, who protested. Yet, no matter how much they glared and stared at Chisuke with eyes of deep condemnation, he didn’t buckle and instead kept his eye on the horizon.
Ikki did the same, along with Gen and Osamu, who all looked on edge.
“Ikki? Ikki! What are you doing? Do you see something out there?” Stella asked, coming up to him as she tugged his sleeve.
He shook his head. “I don’t see it, I..” He paused, unsure how to explain it. “I.. sense it.” Turning to Amanda, he asked. “Do you feel it? That pressure.”
“I do.” Amanda said, joining at Ikki’s side. “There are.. They’re.. People?”
“They’re explorers.” Mana quickly corrected. “I spotted them on my last surveillance of the area. They’re explorers who were employed by the academy to play on the enemy team.”
“What!” Everyone shared in Amanda’s shout. “Don’t tell me we have to fight them, we’re only students.”
“Not like we can do anything to change that fact.” Osamu said, glancing at Chisuke. “We’re going to fight them anyway, especially since we have this good old berserker here with us, he’ll probably want to charge in on his own.”
“Of course I would.” Replied Chisuke, as if he wasn’t insane. “We’re going to have to fight them eventually if we want to win.” He turned to face the assembled battlegroup. 9 people in total were fellow students he knew, while another 10 were trainees masked in military gear.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/SRL3HCxt/1703055343113.jpg]
[Standard Trainee Equipment - Pattern Taken from Pre Starfall Calamity War Design - Autofitting Feature Woven Into Kelvar Material - 100% Bullet Proof]
Dahlia, the timid girl she was, flinched as Chisuke swept his gaze over everyone. Their shut mouths kept closed. This.. this is a leader. A surprise brow rose on Amanda’s expression. She had led before and thought it too heavy a burden to do so. She thought she would have to do the same now, for her friends, for her aspirations.
But.. not now. A weight lifted from her shoulders and it now weighed on Chisuke. He hefted it well, standing tall, stout and unflinching. This was a given, he was her senior in experience. She could rely on him, so Amanda steadied herself for the next events to come.
A tight crease between lips pressed as she gazed on to the horizon. Chisuke hummed in small distress, and materialized his manifested weapon. He hefted the long blood stained Nodachi onto his shoulder and did a half turn to look ahead again.
He didn’t even need to say a word. Gen’s and Osamu’s sigh was enough to understand that they were going. That they would end the fight, and win.