2 Days Later

— Sundia, Aldredath 19, 8054 —

(Wednesday, December 14, AD 2129)

“Eugh…”

With a groggy groan, Austin slowly awoke, his eyes fluttering open to reveal a dimly illuminated stone ceiling. He stared at the ceiling for a couple moments, letting himself adjust to his new wakeful state before turning his head to the side and squinting his eyes. Thick curtains over the lone window of his dorm room at WCU suppressed most of the sunlight that would otherwise be shining through, but enough light managed to skirt around the curtains to let Austin know that morning was now well underway. Another groan escaped his lips as he sat up and rubbed his eyes, before throwing the covers off of his body and turning to stand from his bed.

Looks like a bright day today… he thought to himself, moving over to the curtains to peak outside for just the briefest moment. He immediately recoiled from the bright sunlight, pausing for a second while blinking rapidly in an effort to dispel the temporary imprints on his vision. As he did, he stumbled over to his room’s light switch and flipped on the lights, creating a less bright — though still clearly illuminated — environment for his eyes to first adjust to.

“What’s today… Sundia, right? Ugh…” Austin muttered under his breath as he began rummaging through his room’s closet for his morning affects. “Fuckin’… Sundays on Earth are part of the weekend, but Sundia here is the first day of the workweek… don’t think I’ll ever get used to that… at least today is the first day of Spring Break, here…”

While he continued grumbling to himself, he grabbed his toothbrush, a wash cloth, and a facial towel before trundling over to his bedroom door, throwing it open, and stepping into the dormitory hallway beyond. Without paying much heed to his surroundings, he walked down the hallway to the coed bathroom and pushed his way in, prepared to begin his morning wash-up routine.

“…Oh. Hey.”

“Huh?” Austin glanced up, his eyes widening in surprise as he spotted Spike standing in front of one of the bathroom sinks. “…What’re you doin’ up?”

“What am I doin’?” Spike echoed incredulously. He paused for a moment to wipe off his face with his own towel before turning to face Austin directly. “I should be askin’ you that. What’re you up so late for?”

“’Late’ my ass…” Austin grumbled as he setup at the sink next to Spike. “The hell am I even late for?”

“Damn, don’t tell me you fuckin’ forgot.”

“Forgot what—?”

“Oh! There you guys are!!”

Austin and Spike both glanced toward the bathroom entrance, where Sky now stood, holding the door open as she glared inside. She opened her mouth to speak again, only to stop herself as she glanced toward Austin, and the items he held with him — at which point a scowl formed on her face.

“Oh my god— Austin, did you really just wake up?!” she exclaimed incredulously.

“Uh…” Austin stared at her cluelessly. “…Yeah? So? We have today off, right?”

A weary sigh escaped Spike’s lips as he shook his head in disappointment. “Damn, you really did forget.”

“How rude,” Sky remarked. “You were the one who signed us up for this shit, after all!”

“I what…?” Austin continued staring at Sky, at first in confusion — though realization hit him a moment later. “Oh, shit, that’s right—!”

“Now you remember. Sheesh.” Sky made a show of rolling her eyes. “Spike, make sure he gets his shit together, please? I’m going ahead with sis and Phoenix.”

“Sure thing,” Spike replied, passing her a nod of acknowledgment before she retreated from the doorway. He then looked over at Austin. “…Well, I’d ask if you were ready for today, but given how late you woke up…”

“Yeah, yeah, fuckin’ whatever…” Austin muttered as he placed a dab of toothpaste on his toothbrush and began running it under some water. “…Guess I oughta get ready for some fuckin’ training, then…”

“Not just any trainin’. Trainin’ for the Annual Chaotic Tournament!” Spike declared, heartily slapping Austin on the back as he did. The latter spluttered in surprise, but managed to keep his footing as he shot his friend a glare. “…Heh,” Spike chuckled in response. “If you can’t even take that, then you’re bound to cost us our qualifyin’ match tomorrow!”

“Eugh… right, right…” Austin sighed warily. “…Today’s gonna fuckin’ suck…”

---

1 Hour Later

“Steam cloud!!”

A half-second after Sky’s excited declaration, a large bubble of water formed in the air — which then immediately detonated in a forceful steam explosion, sending a small shockwave across the dirt below as a cloud of steam spread through the air. Tentatively, Spike approached the cloud of steam and reached his hand out toward it, only to grimace and yank his hand back a second later.

“Yep,” he remarked, backing away and passing Sky a glance. “That’s pretty hot, alright. Dunno what I expected, really…”

“Ha HA! We’ve got this down, pat!” Sky exclaimed, jumping in the air once before whipping around to hold her hand up toward Twy. “Way to go, sis!”

“I mean, I didn’t really do that much…” Twy replied, though nonetheless gave Sky the high five she was so obviously waiting for.

“Might not have been much, but it’s enough,” Austin remarked, stepping up to the two alongside Spike. “From everything I’ve heard, the ACT is all about bein’ showy and forceful — and explosions do both of those things at once! The only thing I’m worried about, is…” He trailed off, his gaze drifting out across the group’s surroundings. They currently stood on the side of one of WCU’s practice fields, with the bright mid-morning sun shining down upon them. Just a few meters off to the side of them were Pierce, Phoenix, Conrad, and Kestrel, practicing on their own, but aside from them… the entirety of WCU’s practice fields were occupied by a dozen different groups of student Chaotics, all getting in some last-minute practice before participating in the week’s qualifiers for the Annual Chaotic Tournament.

“…What’s to worry about?” Spike questioned, as he watched a Velocitechnic and a Forcetechnic engage in a quick duel across the field, flanked by a Metallitechnic manipulating a piece of metal into various geometric shapes, and a Cryotechnic covering their entire body in ice. “Folks are trainin’, just like we are.”

“Yeah, but it’s all in public!” Austin countered. “By practicing here, we’re basically givin’ away all of our moves and secrets!”

“Do we have any secrets?” Twy responded incredulously. “This steam explosion idea is pretty simple. All you need is a Hydrotechnic to gather the water, and a Pyrotechnic to rapidly overheat it… I’m pretty sure any Hydro-Pyrotechnic pair could figure this out on their own.”

“Well, maybe, but…”

“You should just focus on training yourself!” Sky remarked. “If you can master that Simulator stuff you have, then that would help us a lot, if we ever went up against a powerful Chaotic!”

“I mean…” Austin muttered, holding up his hands — over his right palm appeared a small bubble of water, while over his left appeared a mote of flame. “…It’s harder than you’d think, but I’m gettin’ there…”

“Well you better step it up, because our qualifying match is tomorrow!” Sky declared. “You better not make the three of us carry your ass!”

“If anythin’, I think it’d be Twy that’ll carry us,” Spike commented.

“…Huh?” Twy looked up at him in confusion. “Uh… why?”

“Oh, I think you know why.”

The four glanced over to their left, to find Phoenix looking their way.

Upon noticing that she had grabbed the group’s attention, she winked at them before continuing, “come on, Twy. It’s barely been two days since we went up against the Chaostechnic in Riverana!”

“Oh…” Twy adopted an uneasy smile as she glanced away. “That…”

“Yeah, I heard the story from Phoenix,” Sky remarked, stepping aside to make room for Phoenix as she joined the group — and Kestrel quickly followed. “The three of you, against a Chaos State Chaotic? Wow!” Sky continued, “I’m a little annoyed I didn’t hear the story from you, sis, but I guess you never were someone to toot your own horn, huh?”

“I didn’t even do anything, though. In fact, I just got knocked around a lot. I even had to go home in a cast…”

“A cast which you’re not even wearin’ anymore,” Austin commented, eying Twy’s bare lower legs as he did. “I dunno if the Nimalians are just really good at fixin’ bones or what, but the fact that you’re fine after just two days seems impressive enough to me.”

“Same to the two of you,” Spike declared as he nodded toward Phoenix and Kestrel. “I’m kinda sad I missed a fight like that, but it’s good y’all kept your wits about you and stood your ground.”

“Ah, that’s nothing. I could’ve done that.”

“I’m sure you could have,” Phoenix deadpanned, her hands on her hips as she watched Pierce — followed by Conrad — join the group.

“Always have to one-up people, huh?” Sky retorted.

“I’m not one-upping, I’m just stating facts,” Pierce countered. “Besides, it isn’t hard to one-up people who stop in the middle of training for idle chit-chat.”

“Chit-chat that you just joined,” Austin shot back.

“He’s got you there,” Conrad remarked as he passed Pierce an amused smirk.

“Look, I joined this little group chat for a point,” Pierce commented, shooting Conrad an annoyed look before turning back to Austin and pointing at him. “I know why you signed your friends up for the ACT, dweeb — same reason I signed all of us up: a rematch. Or, in a way, a proper match. But that match won’t mean shit if you don’t take it seriously!”

“Wha—? I am taking this seriously!” Austin replied.

“Please. You almost missed our joint practice because you overslept. That isn’t ‘taking this seriously’.”

“…You have a way of saying things in the most annoying way possible,” Phoenix muttered, only to pass Austin a wary glance. “But ultimately, Pierce is right, you know. If we end up fighting each other in the tournament, then we won’t be going easy on you. You know that, right?”

Austin returned Phoenix’s glance. “I know that, I’m just… warming up. We still have all day, you know.”

“You hear that?” Sky elbowed Spike’s side as she passed him a cheeky grin. “Austin just committed to a whole day of training!”

“I’ll hold you to that, dweeb,” Pierce remarked. “Beating your ass won’t be any fun if you aren’t bringing everything you have!”

“Man, sometimes I forget just how competitive you are…” Conrad muttered, with Kestrel offering a firm nod of agreement.

“Well, this is a competitive tournament,” Spike said. “Should probably expect to see more of this attitude from other folks.”

“And according to Karísah, some of the other tournament entrants are even worse about this than Pierce…” Twy said with a sigh.

“L-look, I’m prepared for that!” Austin insisted. “I signed us up for this tournament with the intention to win, and I do intend to win, damn it! Just let me move at my own pace!”

“Your own pace will never be enough to accomplish that goal.”

“What the—?!” Austin exclaimed in surprise, his attention — as with the rest of the group — snapping to the side, where none other than Mote was approaching, with Mark and Luke in tow.

“You?” Pierce’s expression collapsed into a scowl as he eyed Mote, who stopped a couple meters short of the group. “The hell are you doing here?”

“Huh? Could’ve sworn I sent you all a message via Relaynet…” Luke commented, stepping up next to Mote. “CSF-1 and the Eximius Vir are all here; we just arrived, in fact. We’ll be sticking around for the next couple weeks.”

“It’s nice to see that everyone’s been fine in our absence,” Mark said.

“Yeah, it’s certainly nice to see you,” Conrad replied.

“Specifically you,” Phoenix declared.

Mote shot Phoenix an irate glance. “What’s that?”

“Oh boy, here we go,” Pierce remarked with a roll of his eyes. “You’re going to try and boss us around again, huh? What, didn’t get enough of it back on Earth?”

“Y-yeah, our training here doesn’t have anything to do with you!” Austin added. “We’ve been doing just fine without you!”

“Really, now,” Mote deadpanned. “Because the way I’ve heard it, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Already, you all have been involved in two separate incidents, and not once did any of you assist in a material manner!”

“What?! I totally helped during that attack in Relédiaka!” Pierce countered.

“You clearly haven’t heard about what happened a couple days ago, either!” Sky exclaimed as she threw her arm around Twy’s shoulder. “Twy, Phoenix, and Kestrel managed to hold their own against a Chaos State Chaotic, you know! If that doesn’t show our progress, then I don’t know what does!”

“Wait, what?!” Luke’s eyes widened in alarm as he looked between the three women. “What the hell happened while I was gone?!”

“It’s… a long story,” Twy replied sheepishly.

“…Well, I will admit, that is a feat worthy of praise…” Mote commented, only to snap back to glaring at Austin and Pierce. “But it apparently involves neither of you — the weakest links of the entire group.”

“What the fuck, dude?” Austin countered irately, “that’s pretty fucking rude!”

“Did you really just come over here to talk shit?” Piece snapped. “Believe it or not, pretty boy, we have gotten better since we last saw you. If you still think you’re sooo much better than us, then how about you fucking prove it, huh, asshole?”

Sparks began wreathing Mote’s arms as he replied with a single word. “Gladly.”

However, before the conversation could progress any further, Luke and Mark both stepped forward to stand in between Mote and Pierce, with Mark placing his hand on Mote’s shoulder and Luke extending his arms as if to calm everyone.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Luke declared. “We didn’t come here to start a fight. Right, Mote?”

Mote continued glaring at Pierce for a second before finally diverting his gaze and taking a deep breath, ceasing the sparkstorm on his arms as he did. “…I’m sorry, sir. That was unbecoming of me.”

“So that’s all it takes for you to back down, huh?” Pierce taunted.

“Pierce, cool it,” Phoenix quickly interjected.

“Why don’t we go get Kate and Danielle?” Mark suggested, baring a friendly smile as he addressed Mote. “I can show you all around town. It’ll be a fun time.”

“Yes… right. Let’s do that,” Mote replied, as he and Mark both turned toward the campus gates. Just before walking off, however, Mote glanced back at the group and declared, “if you all really think you’ve become skilled enough to participate in a tournament, then you had better at least succeed in your qualifiers!”

A tense, uneasy silence fell over the group as Mote and Mark finally left, leaving only the sounds of training Chaotics to fill the air.

“…Well.” Conrad eventually broke the silence. “…That was something.”

“Yeah, I’m real sorry about that…” Luke commented sheepishly. “I didn’t expect Mote to be so, uh… irritable. But I guess that’s on me.”

“What an asshole…” Austin muttered. “A total buzzkill…”

“He certainly seems to think he knows best,” Phoenix remarked. “Self-righteous pricks like him are always a pain to deal with.”

“Why is he like that, though?” Twy questioned, her attention directed toward Luke. “It seems like he’s friends with Mark, and Mark seems reasonable enough, so I can only assume that Mote is… at least kind of a good person.”

“He is, it’s just… well, everything about y’all’s circumstances seems to be pissing him off,” Luke replied. “He’s wrong to take it out on all of you, of course, but… eh.” He shrugged in resignation. “I’ll talk to the Colonel about it. But don’t worry, I’ll make sure Mote doesn’t bother you all much more.”

“There’s a lot about our circumstances that piss us off, too, but we don’t go around snapping at people,” Sky retorted, only for her attention to shift to Pierce. “Well… most of us.”

“I don’t snap at people,” Pierce countered, and then released a frustrated sigh. “But that goody-goody two-shoes showing up really put a damper on everything. Damn… I’m going out for a run. I’ll see you losers later.”

“Wait, Pierce—!” Phoenix started to shout, but it was too late; he had already disappeared in a cloud of dust. “Ah, damn it, what about our training?”

“Training while angry ain’t really helpful for some folks,” Spike pointed out. “If you’re the type to let anger get the better of you, then usually it’s better to cool off, instead of trainin’ while distracted. Could lead to bad trainin’ habits otherwise.”

“Tch, maybe I’ll do that, too…” Austin muttered. “What a fuckin’ way to start the day…”

“Wait, but what about the ACT?” Sky questioned, turning toward Austin as he began walking away from the group. “You were the one who signed us up for this! Why aren’t you sticking around?!”

“I’ll be back later,” Austin replied, without even turning around to face the group as he walked. “I just need a breather.”

“…I can’t say that I blame him,” Twy commented once Austin was out of earshot. “Let’s just leave him be, for now?”

“Probably for the best,” Conrad remarked. “With Mote coming in hot like that, I’m honestly surprised that a fight didn’t break out.”

“Mm,” Kestrel grunted in affirmation, and then glanced at Luke. “…Why Austin and Pierce?”

“Huh?” Luke returned the glance. “What, you mean why did Mote focus so hard on them? …Honestly, I think it’s just a clash of personalities. Mote’s never responded well to people with attitudes like Austin’s or Pierce’s.”

“Most people don’t respond well to people with attitudes like Pierce’s,” Phoenix declared. “Either way, the three of them aren’t here anymore, so I don’t see any reason to keep talking about them. Especially when we’re burning daylight!”

“Yeah, that’s right!” Sky exclaimed. “We have a tournament to train for! C’mon!”

With those two exclamations, the remaining six returned to their training, working hard under the bright morning sun to prepare for the next day’s qualifying matches.