It was now mid-august, and the American schools once more started back up for the year. Schools were once more packed all-across the American continent. Starlight academy was no exception, either. It housed a plethora of students in all academic departments and professional staff to handle the amount. The school bells had yet to ring while students pulled up to the academy through their cars, by walking, or with others dropping them ouff. Alexia herself walked through the academy entrance in her school uniform; the past two months were quite bewilderment for her. A sense of tiredness and urgency was always about her ever since she was given the black suppressor still attached to her wrist and Abbey's encounter.
All she could do was yawn and get ready for this lazy day of school. Unexpectedly, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around, saw a girl similar to her in age with short brown hair and green eyes, fitting perfectly into the school uniform, wearing the long skirt just like Alexia. Glasses were positioned neatly on her face above a few visible freckles. There was no indication of a suppressor on this girl; an average human.
"Hey Alexi, you're an idiot, you know." The girl gave a smile.
"The biggest one!" Alexia, with confidence, smiled back as both of them started to chuckle with each other.
"How was your summer vacation, Matty?"
"Heavenly! It was quite majestic. Finally, getting to go to Europe was both awe-inspiring and thrilling!" Matty reached into her pocket, taking out a small notebook. Inside of it were photos of her vacation spots.
"Look at this! I managed to snag a photo of the queen!" Indeed, Matty was right. She showed one of the photos to Alexia of Queen Elizabeth.
"You said you were going to snag an image of the real one. Not a statue!" Indeed, it was a statue of Queen Elizabeth II. It was in good condition at the time of the image being taken outside Buckingham Palace.
"It counts still. Besides, those guards were scary. Some of them even had bracelets similar to you." Matty quickly grabbed Alexia's left hand, trying to see her old worn-down suppressor. Only to find it was no longer there. Glancing over to the right side, she noticed a black suppressor.
"When did you get a new one? Aren't these things expensive? I know you don't have a job to pay for it monthly." Matty grabbed Alexia's other hand, beginning to look over the black suppressor. To her, this was like someone showing off the latest car to the neighborhood—a flex of wealth. There was no way Alexia had the funds to get something like this. Only the celebrities or scientists of the world could dream of even having a system like this.
"I got it back in June from Professor Reynolds. I also joined the school's singularity club."
Matty was dumbstruck at the announcement of both prospects. Matty quickly grabbed Alexia, beginning to shake her in the process of explaining.
"Are you daft woman! Why would one of the teachers have something like this?! And the CLUB?!" She shouted, causing a few students to glance at them from the sidelines.
Using her free hand, Alexia covered Matty's mouth slightly. At the same time, beginning to pull her into the academy.
"Hey, hey! I'll tell you more about it during lunch."
Matty removed Alexia's hand from her mouth, letting go of the suppressor in the process.
"Look, you have to use your brain for once! He's a new professor here, right?
"Right. He transferred at the end of our junior year. But I know he's been affiliated with the headmaster for a while. He has too many connections everywhere." Alexia replied.
"Exactly! Also, of all the clubs, why singularity? I don't think water control is something that's gonna give you a win."
"Listen, Matty. I have a chance at life!" Alexia began to grab hold of Matty's arm and tugged at her.
"A chance at embarrassing yourself!" She replied in kind and tugged back at Alexia in the middle of the academy plaza.
"Would you two honorary seniors kindly move out of the way." A familiar voice leaped up from behind Alexia and Matty. Deveron had just arrived at school; he always gave off a confident aura as usual. Matty was freaked out by Deveron merely talking at them and letting go of Alexia stepping aside for him.
"We're seniors now, so you kindly move around us." Alexia barked back with a smirk. Deveron only returned a similar facial gesture before doing just as Alexia asked. Of course, he'd pat her head because he had the height to do so on the way out. Alexia wasn't bothered by the patting and merely fixed whatever he messed up in the process. Matty was flabbergasted. Yes, flabbergasted.
"What?! Since when did you become friends with him? Isn't he like a rising athlete in that sport?"
"I wouldn't go as far as to call him a friend yet, but two months ago. Honestly, I wouldn't even go as far as calling him a rising athlete. I see no media or paparazzi after him."
"What happened while I was away?"
"...Like I said. I'll tell you later during lunch. Come on, the bells going to ring." Alexia turned to enter the academy. Matty quickly follows suit. Her senior year's start was only beginning to make matters worse; she had to keep her grades up in time to graduate while attending the tournaments. It was a challenging hurdle to tackle, but she knew the worst wasn't going to happen with Matty by her side.
As classes started in Starlight Academy, two individuals would be stationed inside a rather large stadium within Boise, Idaho. It was as large as four football fields in total; the entrance lobby was the registration center. Both Reynolds and Cheveyo would be present there at the registration desk. All around them would be affiliates of the singularity tournament, along with a few media stationed inside prepping cameras.
"Is there going to be an important meeting?" Cheveyo asked, glancing over at the media.
"Not that I've heard of." Reynolds informed, filling out a sheet with his team's information onto it. "You can never be too sure, but maybe a pro is here?"
"That's odd. You usually know what's going on all the time."
"I'm not a psychic." Reynolds continued to fill out the information. They weren't the only new school participating in the singularity tournament. In fact, there were several other schools, with each one representing their teams.
The media in the lobby began to scurry, getting their cameras ready, all of which pointed towards the entrance. A black limo pulled up outside the stadium and from it stepped out three individuals. Two of them were in school uniforms; one was a girl looking to be around seventeen with red curly hair wearing a white oxford shirt along with a monogrammed vest and a plaid skirt that blended well with her uniform. The other was a boy who looked more adult-like; he had no hair, merely bald at the top, wearing the same clothing as the girl, only minus the skirt was pants. On each of their uniforms, the symbol of saint mary was printed onto their vests. The third individual that got out of the limbo was a chubby old man looking to be in his late 60's. While he was big, he seemed pretty hearty, bits of his hair fading away due to age at the top, yet that didn't stop the old man from reaching into his pockets and taking out a comb running it through his hair. He was also in the same uniform as the other male.
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"Look! It's Saint Mary's Academy!" One of the cameramen shouted. They all began to record in awe at the people that just arrived. Saint Mary was a powerhouse school. After all, it wasn't uncommon for the media to go crazy over schools doing well across the country.
It was really the popular ones that always caught their attention or those that stood out the most.
"Oh deary me, I do say we might have garnered too much attention." The old man finished combing his hair, looking at the media in front of them.
"I do apologize for the inconvenience, Sir. Shall we go in the car next time?" The girl asked.
"Not at all, This is wonderful for us, Angela. With our arrival first, we can garner the attention away from East Bridge this year. Sir Lennox, shall we?" The bald boy gestured towards the entrance.
"Oh! But, of course. Right this way, Quinn. And Angela, please be on your best behavior." Lennox advised before all of them walked through the building. The media proceeded to record them entering and some even taking pictures.
"So, this is what fame will get us in the future if we win?" Cheveyo continued to watch, not really impressed, but he did feel an odd sensation coming from Quinn. Cheveyo's eyes flashed green for a brief moment, and his suppressor began to go off on a silent alert as this occurred. He saw a blinding aura around, specifically Angela and Quinn. Nothing out of the ordinary about Lennox. Those two in the uniform were singularity users, that's for sure, but he couldn't tell exactly what they could do. His eyes returned to their normal coloration, and he merely turned back around to Reynolds, who finished the paperwork.
"There! We're officially in the tournament!" Reynolds shouted with excitement; he was finally ready to show at least a part of America what his team was capable of.
"So, we have one more month to prepare?" Cheveyo looked at the information before the receptionist took it.
"Well, you all are already prepared. It's really getting to know your competition now." Reynolds pointed over at Saint Mary's, who was now situated a few inches away. Lennox was giving an interview with one of the reporters. Quinn and Angela were waiting for him to finish. They weren't here to register but for something else entirely.
Angela took note of Cheveyo, whose uniform was new to her. She had never seen any school that wore blue, white, and bits of gold. Even on the national level, it was rare for a school to have that color scheme in America.
"Hey, Hey. Quinn" She tugged at Quinn's shirt.
"What is it?"
"What school is that?" Angela pointed over at Cheveyo's uniform.
"I'm not sure myself. There are a lot of new schools this time around. This might actually be a fun tournament." Quinn wasn't that interested in the school itself. Yet, indeed, this tournament was going to be one of the biggest in Idaho's history of singularity. A total of all 44 counties within the state of Idaho were participating in the tournament. Four years ago, Idaho only had half of the schools registered for this one.
"Now that registration is out of the way. Wanna have a look at the stage?" Reynolds turned to Cheveyo.
"We're allowed to see it? That's not normally something we can do." Cheveyo was interested now. This was honestly his first time participating in the tournaments as well. Seeing the newer model Singularity Machine's were a sight to behold. Reynold's small team were a bunch of unknowns to the world's eyes, excluding Deveron.
"That's only a national rule. Primarily since the finals always have a bigger and better machine than the rest of the tournament. Come along." Reynolds began walking down the hallway to the left. The entire stadium had a few corridors leading towards both the audience stands, private viewing rooms, and of course, the stage itself.
Lennox finished the interviews, finally escaping the gripes of the media's attention. A few cameras were still on them from a distance.
"Oh, deary. They always bog me down with questions. But, never any of you." Lennox took out a handkerchief from his pocket, proceeding to wipe his face with it.
"Say. What school is that, Sir Lennox." Angela asked, pointing towards Cheveyo as they were leaving down towards the left halls.
Lennox adjusted his outfit and glanced down the hall at the two. He wasn't quite sure who both of them were due to the distance they had traveled, although upon seeing the uniform, Lennox was convinced of the school they were from.
"Oh, deary. That would be Starlight Academy. A new school in the region. I do say this seems to be their first time attending."
"Oh my! Their uniforms look quite stylish. I wonder what their team is like." Angela was becoming fascinated at Starlight Academy, along with the other schools participating.
"They're just going to get blown away like the rest. No need to be that fascinated." Quinn began to tug on Angela's vest.
"You said the same thing last year, and look what happened." Angela was now grinning towards Quinn and didn't seem to be happy about the situation.
"East bridge had Gabby, who decimated us completely last year. But this year, we have Maria." Quinn folded his arms, glancing over at a nearby ticking clock. It was almost noon.
"Oh yeah. Mary joined finally. So do you think anyone is going to hit her?"
"No. She's the perfect counter to Gabby. We just have to hope Gabby is still in the same position as last year."
"We can always change it during a match, ya know."
"Oh, deary. Could you two save the chit-chat for later? Let's get going, shall we?" Lennox butted into the conversation before proceeding down towards the right hallway. Quinn merely brushed past Angela, following along. Angela, of course, followed quickly after.
Reynolds and Cheveyo passed by a few private rooms a few doors to them were opened up to view inside. Upon closer inspection, this is where school teams would be housed during the tournament; it resembled a luxury hotel room inside. Some had tables, sofas, and a large flat-screen T.V. centered around them. The private rooms were closer to the arena, which neither of them were allowed clearance inside the rooms themselves, not until the tournaments.
"I didn't think we were living in a hotel and fighting in one, Teach."
"Nonsense, they're like living rooms, basically. No beds inside, sadly. I could go for a nap when you guys are fighting."
"Heh... That's not reassuring, teach."
"I joke. I joke." Reynolds waved his hand dismissively as both of them arrived at the arena section of the stadium. Opening up two double doors leading to the center, the overall arena resembled the usual football or baseball stadium. Stands all around, yet directly in the center, a significantly advanced Singularity Machine was situated in the middle of the field. It resembled the one in the club room, yet far bigger since it took up almost the entire center of the area.
Its shape was hexagonal, almost table-like due to the stairs leading up to one of the hexes. Within the large hexagon, it made up eight smaller ones with similar panels that made up the one in the club room fitted neatly into them. Four of these had a white outline around them, indicating they were the fighters' staging platforms to engage in battle; the remainder had no markings. On each of the four staging hexes, cords were leading outward into the nearby walls connected up to the stands. The central controller for this Singularity Machine wasn't directly on it, but somewhere else. Above the machine was a large viewing screen for all to see that dropped down from the ceiling.
Upon closer inspection, the cords led up to the press box. The room in which the announcers broadcast the event. Inside there would be a large control panel leaned up against the wall and away from the windows.
Cheveyo was taken back by the sheer size of this machine. The one they had barely could compete in size and power to this monstrosity. Instead of it being circular like the one they had, it was hexagonal; the new models didn't play when it comes to shapes. What made it even worse, in the back of his head, he knew that the nationals were even more significant.
"So… How much does it cost to maintain this one?" Cheveyo asked.
"It's state-owned. So the state government takes care of the maintenance. These tournaments pull in a lot of money, both in-person and online. So it doesn't surprise me that they'd keep it maintained. This is the model R variant. Powerful in size and processing. It'll take care of you guys." Reynolds informed, his eyes now fixated on two people near the machine.
One was a woman with brown hair and tan skin; her body looked well-built similar to Deveron. An athlete, perhaps? Her eyes were orange from the contacts she wore, which made them look fiery. Along with that, she had body bandages strapped specifically around her arms. The other was a male with slicked-back blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, and a similar build to the woman. Both of them were wearing a white jersey with red highlights all around it. On the back of their jersey's wrote out the initials in red 'E.B. 'with the better-known name East Bridge High underneath it.