The man clinched his fist, and brown, glowing aura had slowly swiveled around his muscular arm. He shot forward, bringing a punch towards the young officer's face!
The young woman's green eyes slightly narrowed and pivoted her foot, swiftly letting the mans fist slip right pass her by the tip of her nose.
The woman quickly maneuvered, swinging a heavy hook right onto the mans gut, lifting him from the ground.
Skysin gave an approving nod, thinking to himself, 'that was a good punish…that guy let his guard down completely.'
The muscular man had groaned, holding his stomach as he moved back, "that…was a nice shot…Lucky, but nice…" He growled, raising his hand, spreading his fingers apart, "let's see how well you can handle yourself."
The man hastily balled his fist, and spears of terra had molded and fired right to the female officer.
Yet she kept a calm expression, stoic, and eluded past each spear with ease, flipping, spinning, lunging over one and the next, already above the man!
The woman's obviously more skilled, and faster than the man, and she was about to end this match, sending a fist right to the man's chest!
'I gotta block!!' The man had yelled in his head, attempting to raise his hands to guard. But he was just too slow. The woman's fist collided onto his chest, the force strong, heavy, knocking the air right from his lungs.
The man was sent into the ground, trailing through the grass and dirt like a giant rake, laid out before the other contestants, unconscious.
Everyone looked dead at the now slumbering man, dirt and blades of grass sitting all over his body. To think that after all he spouted, he was now splayed across the floor like some sleeping toddler.
Crim had cringed in his head, 'damn… two hits and he's laid out already?'
Nebula merely raised a brow, looking down towards the man, then eyed the following examinees, "that's one down." Nebula spoke up, "who'd like to go next?"
Skysin already stepped forward.
"Good luck man," Crim grinned, "try not to get molly-whopped."
"Yeah-yeah, whatever…"
When Skysin got to the middle, one of the officers was about to join him. However, a certain man had met him halfway instead. Zeris, who had a slight smirk on his face, "let me try."
Nebula was a bit confused, showing a bit of concern, "what Zeris? You're not even technically apart of this test, y'know? You don't have to do this…"
"I know, but I think I'd be more of a challenge for him is all – to make it fair," Zeris replied, although he certainly had other thoughts, 'to teach this guy a LESSON. He thinks he's so cool? We'll see about that.'
Just as Nebula was going to rebut, Skysin spoke up, shrugging, "fine with me. One minute, right?"
Nebula turned to face Skysin, "uh…yeah, one minute is the limit."
Skysin rolled his shoulders, "perfect, let's have a good fight then, Zeris."
Zeris merely huffed, already preparing himself.
Nebula's face showed that she was uncertain about this match up, does he really think he can beat him?' Nebula asked herself, raising her arm, speaking out loud, "begin!"
Skysin slightly tilted his head, tapping the tip of his shoes onto the ground, "so uhhh…what made you wanna fight me?"
Zeris chuckled, slowly unsheathing his broadsword, "oh nothing, really. I just figured I'd personally find out how strong you are."
"Really?" Skysin asked, "ya sure you're not jealous…?" Skysin cackled lightly, sticking his tongue out while shaking his head like an imbecile.
Skysin's already starting the foolery.
'Oh Malerenz…' Nebula sighed in her thoughts from Skysin's remark. If she could slap her face right now, she would've.
Zeris was pissed, slightly flinching, "watch yourself, boy!" Zeris' blue aura swiveled around his body, and the man unsheathed his blade, lunging right to Skysin.
Zeris twisted his arm, his sword sweeping towards Skysin's head. Yet Skysin bobbed, barely dodging the blade as it went over the bristles of his golden hair.
Skysin quickly swept a kick to Zeris' knee, making him lose balance, close to falling back. As he did, Skysin leapt above, patting his elbow, and slammed it down to Zeris.
Zeris hastily leapt into a roll towards his left, just barely dodging Skysin's lethal elbow as he crashed into the ground, making grass and dirt uplift like a small explosion.
Zeris stood back up, both hands on the grip of his sword, blowing strands of lose hair from his face. 'Okay… so he can back all the crap he's been spouting… but let's see how fast he is…' Zeris growled in his thoughts.
As Zeris looked forward to Skysin's position once more, something strange had smitten him. 'What the—where is he???' Zeris asked himself, his senses were put in high alert. Zeris was just looking at the cocky young man, and now he's gone? As if Skysin was just swept into the wind and disappeared.
Something tapped onto Zeris' shoulder. Zeris had clicked his teeth, hastily spinning around swinging his sword, yet he didn't hit anything.
"Over here."
Just as Zeris turned to face the voice, a fist came crashing right onto his cheek, sending him rolling through the ground like a ragdoll.
Nebula, the examinees, and most importantly Zeris, were all baffled by what just occurred. Zeris, clutching onto his sword, struggled to stand, using it as support as he forced himself to his feet. 'How…how'd he do that?!' Zeris' thoughts were in complete shambles right now.
Crim, on the other hand, kept a chill expression, 'he's…definitely something. He moved fast enough for a seasoned officer to not follow em.'
Nebula silently watched from the side, 'even trainee officers can follow speeds that exceed the speed of sound… But Zeris couldn't follow him… how fast is Skysin?'
Zeris stood, his teeth gritted, "that…was a nice hit, I'll give you that. But that's all you'll get from here!" Zeris released a multitude of water lances, firing them towards Skysin.
Skysin simply waved his hand, a heavy gust of chilled winds was released, freezing and making all the water lances disappear near instantly.
'Skysin has an advantage in affinity…' Nebula thought to herself, 'Zeris can't really counter him… he'll have to fight in close quarters.'
Zeris lunged in, swiping his blade towards Skysin's neck. But Skysin quickly weaved under, swinging an uppercut straight to Zeris' chin.
Zeris hastily bobbed his head, narrowly dodging Skysin's fist as it sped past him. Zeris fixed himself, pivoting his foot, sending a back kick to Skysin.
Skysin raised his knee, blocking the attack easily.
'Shit!!' Zeris cursed to himself.
Skysin sent a punch, landing a clean shot right onto Zeris' stomach, knocking the air straight out of his lungs, sending him back.
Crim gave a nod of acknowledgement, 'he's using Zeris' weapon to his advantage… But did Skysin notice it yet?'
Nebula looked at the clock ticking on her tablet, frowning, 'thirty seconds left…and Zeris still hasn't managed to land a single hit. C'mon Zeris…'
Zeris glared daggers towards Skysin, the cocky speedster looked as if he was falling asleep, almost, and Zeris was growing furious. 'That conceited asshole!! He doesn't even look entertained!! FINE!! I'll show him…'
Zeris held his sword before him, his free hand pressed against the tip of his blade, blue aura pulsating around his body like a heartbeat, beginning to flow like flames.
'I haven't mastered it yet…but I'm close enough to it. Let's see how this idiot handles a false mass effect!!'
Nebula's eyes slightly widened, 'is he trying to unleash mass effect?? Even I haven't learned it yet, can Zeris do it?'
Mass Effect is a state of advanced transformation, where an individual becomes drastically more attuned with their chaotic energy, affinity, and mental faculties. It's not merely a physical enhancement, but a complete elevation of the user's mind, body and chaos, in harmony.
While Yumans don't have the ability to quite literally transform, unlike other races when activating mass effect, or have other transformations at all, unless a yuman is a special case. Mass Effect does have the ability to allow them to reach, keep up, or possibly surpass their adversaries. But that all depends on their determination, capabilities, and talent.
Skysin's attention was brought back to Zeris, making a light hum, '…his aura grew a lot…'
Zeris took off once more, landing before Skysin in a split second, his blue aura slowly drifting from him, his sword brandished.
"Twelve o' clock…" Skysin grinned.
'What does he mean…?' Zeris asked himself, it was easy to tell that Skysin's words left him a bit confused. However, Zeris didn't let that stop him, and followed through, slashing a horizontal attack to Skysin's stomach.
But a fist was already in front of his nose.
WHAM!!
Zeris was sent back, quite literally hitting multiple flips as he flew backwards, his sword spinning from his hand, both crashing into the floor.
The alarm from Nebula's tablet had beeped. Nebula clicked a button turning it off, growing a bit disappointed, 'Zeris couldn't hit him at all… I guess that just goes to show who's stronger.'
Nebula hastily went to help Zeris up, "you okay?"
Zeris nodded, sitting up, "…yeah…" Zeris replied quietly, angered, pissed off, gritting his teeth. His fist clinched as if he was trying to squeeze a slime ball from existence, 'I couldn't hit him…at all! How?!'
Zeris turned to Skysin as the boy walked over to the other examinees, "hey!" Zeris called out, "what did you mean by twelve o' clock??"
"Oh," Skysin turned to face him, "I was talking about your footing."
"Footing…" Both Nebula and Zeris echoed.
Nebula's brain began to tick like a grandfather clock, then her pink lips parted, "wait…! Did you—"
"Study how he fights? Yeah," Skysin finished her sentence, shrugging.
Crim smiled, 'so he figured it out, huh? Not bad, not bad at all.'
Examinees themselves were pretty shocked by this.
"The kid doesn't look any older than seventeen…"
"Yeah, how the hell did he do that??"
"What's up with this new generation?"
"Every time you stepped in for a hit, your foot was always facing right at me, which is why I said 'twelve o'clock'." Skysin rose his index finger, "plus, whenever you swing, you're always going in for more of a horizontal attack too. How your elbow was directed gave that away too, maybe a few inches from your waist. Then how your breathed too, you let out just a small huff of air just a second before swinging."
Nebula merely eyed Skysin in disbelief, 'he figured all of that out in a single minute??! No, maybe even half the time of that…'
Zeris simply sighed, shaking his head as he gazed at the ground, his face stoic, 'it appears I was utterly outmatched… It's my loss.'
Nebula noticed Zeris' morale plummet quite bad, she gave him a light punch on the shoulder, "it's alright Zeris. Let's just get this exam done, okay?"
"R-right," Zeris had replied, slowly getting to his feet. Zeris went and picked his broadsword from the floor, merely gazing at the sharpened blade, wiping dirt from it. Zeris sighed, giving a huff, "twelve o'clock…" Zeris whispered to himself.
Nebula looked over to Skysin talking to Crim, 'interesting…' She pondered.
With Skysin's fight now over, it was Crim's turn. Crim calmly stepped up, hands in his pockets, relaxed and cool. His opponent, a tall young lady, short-cropped black hair and sharp hazel eyes.
"Begin!"
The girl wasted no time, already before Crim. She unsheathed her short sword, thrusting the blade right to his chest.
Crim turned sideways, letting the sword slip past him, and raised his arm forwards, shooting a jab towards her face.
The girl flinched back, quickly pushing herself from Crim's fist just as he nearly reached her nose. The young woman held her bearing, lowering herself, sword before her. 'He's quick… This guy isn't new to this; I'll have to play it smart.' She thought to herself, watching Crim calmly stay in place.
The woman shot forward once more, hastily leaping into the air and spun, bringing the blade to Crim's stomach.
Crim quickly hopped back and shot a knee forward at the girl's sternum. The young officer raised her sword, using the flat to block his quick attack. Her teeth grounded and was sent backwards.
Yet Crim didn't let off, making a small explosion white flames form under his feet, and fired himself right to the girl, moving at break-neck speeds.
'Oh!' Skysin acknowledged in his head, 'so Crim can use his flames to maneuver too?!'
Crim suddenly flashed from the girl's eyesight, appearing right behind her.
Her hazel eyes widened, 'he's behind me!!' She screamed in her thoughts but wasn't fast enough to react from Crim, sweeping a kick to her back, knocking her from him once more.
'Captain Tartervem said that we shouldn't worry so much about the examinees being strong,' the girl thought to herself, 'but this guy… and that other boy… they're too damn strong…!'
The woman made powerful gusts of wind swivel around her body, swinging her blade, sending crescent slashes to Crim. But Crim merely waved his hand forward, unleashing streaks of white flames, taking each one down, no problem.
As the girl shrouded herself in a powerful tornado, Crim did the same, covering himself in a tower of fire. That's when the woman had noticed something, the gusts were slowing down, diminishing, and fast at that. 'Wha-What's happening??' She asked herself, feeling the temperature enhance at a quick rate.
'Unbelievable…' Zeris whispered in his thoughts, 'even if flames have an advantage against wind…isn't this too fast?? It's like his flames are eating her wind away!'
Suddenly, Crim was already above her, shining like a white sun. The woman gnashed her teeth, creating a powerful gust of wind to cover her blade, "I won't let you get the chance!!"
White flames spat and roared on Crim's feet as he faced the woman on the ground. A booming explosion was let loose, and Crim shot down to her faster than the blink of an eye, crashing into the grass floor.
As the smoke dispersed, Crim's back was shown, standing over the girl as she laid under him. His fist deep into the floor, right beside her head, the ground uplifted, broken into pieces meshed with dirt.
The girl had slowly rose her hand, "it's…it's my defeat…"
"The match is done," Nebula relayed, "the winner is Crim Magmastiem."
Crim helped the young officer to her feet, gently taking her hand, "sorry about that. It was a good match."
The young lady had blushed a bit, staring at Crim, into his grey eyes. He wasn't ugly, far from it. She gave a nod, flustered, "…thank you…"
"No problem."
***
Soon enough, the exam was finally finished.
Nebula turned to the examinees who passed, "congrats to all of you that passed, you can now become rovers."
"Hell yeah!" Skysin cheered, pumping his arms in, "I can finally travel through the omiverse."
As the group made way to the exit doors, Skysin gave Crim a fist pump, "you're pretty good a hand-to-hand dude. How'd ya learn?"
Crim chuckled, "my old man taught me since I was like a toddler…and a lot of fights. What about you?"
Skysin looked as if he had seen a ghost, thinking back to his mother and Alzar training him. Skysin anxiously laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, "…just… eleven years of hell, almost."
Crim frowned, arching a brow, "jeez, the hell happened to you man?"
"Don't wanna talk about it…"
Entering a long corridor, Nebula spoke, "you all will be receiving your rover ids now, please follow me."
They walked through the threshold of another set of doors, entering an office-like area. Multiple cubes with workers that sat with a strange instrument, like a camera. A few windows perched in the back, showing the outside to the busy streets of Grazanopolis.
Nebula turned to face them as they all came to a stop, "you all will be taking a picture, which will be engraved onto your IDs. It'll also ensure for people that drive lucanaships in the omiverse to not get in trouble for illegal travel." Nebula gestured her small hand to the cubes, "well then, lets get started."
All the remaining people of the group had gone on to separate cubes, making lines, all finally happy to pass and become official rovers. Omiversal Explorers.
Skysin approached a woman sitting in the cube, holding one of the strange artifacts, 'that looks weird,' Skysin thought to himself. "Excuse me," Skysin spoke to her, "what's that… thinga-thingy called?"
The woman, wearing a pair of shades chuckled, "it's called a captuer. Pressing the large green button activates a gem inside of it, that sparks onto a specific type of paper made to handle the heat. We then use that to burn on your rover id card."
Just as Skysin was about to reply, the woman smiled, "say omiverse!"
Skysin made an awkward, dumb expression, obviously not prepared for the woman's hasty action. The lens on the captuer flashed, slightly blinding Skysin, and then the woman went to work. After a few seconds, she picked up the platinum ID card, laughed, and handed it to Skysin.
Skysin frowned, gazing at his own picture, making a weird expression, "I look like an idiot…" He couldn't decide on what he looked like, but it was oddly familiar.
"Pfft… why you look like that…" Crim laughed, "you look like a monkey!"
"Shut up you flame-headed bum!" Skysin squinted his eyes, pointing to Crim, "I don't look like a monkey!"
"Next!" The woman had spoke up.
Crim took his, showing it off to Skysin, "check it out," Crim grinned, showing off his picture, him keeping a smirk on it.
"Yeah-yeah," Skysin waved it off, "you're still fugly."
"Oh…looks like the monkeys mad…?"
"Shut up!!"
Skysin turned to the lady, making an innocent smile, "oh! Is it possible for me to get ano—"
"Sorry sir! No retries allowed!!"
"…Dammit…"
As Crim and Skysin bickered like idiots, arguing over their IDs, Nebula chuckled as her and Zeris approached them, "I'm guessing you two will be heading off?"
Skysin sat his hands behind his head, "yeah, it's 'bout that time."
Crim agreed, "same, gotta hit the road soon."
"I see, are you two sure you don't wanna join?" Nebula asked, "I'm sure you guys would fit right in, y'know?"
"Thanks, but I'll have to decline, Ms. Tartervem," Skysin denied, crossing his arms.
Crim nodded, "me too. Maybe when I'm older…maybe."
Nebula nodded, and Crim spoke up, "if you don't mind me asking, why is there rover exams?"
Instead of Nebula, it was Zeris, "well, it's actually used to ensure that not many criminals can roam around and have the ability to travel." Zeris answered, "our generals decided that while it's not the greatest method, it'd be better to sort of nullify other criminals who aren't as strong. But of course, we can't make it impossible for innocent people to pass either. Still, it's enough to stop weaker one's to get access."
Skysin acknowledged this, rubbing his chin, "hm…what happens if a stronger one does make it?"
"It wouldn't be long until they get apprehended, usually. If they're in one of our sectors, that is. But with the omiverse being so vast, we can't stop all of them, of course. But we have enough soldiers and manpower to at least stop stronger ones."
"Now it's making sense," Crim pondered.
Nebula nodded, "yep, but…"—She sighed—"we'll have to return to the other side. We'll have a new batch of examinees soon."
"Right…" Skysin gave his hand to Nebula's small one, "it was nice to meet you, Ms. Tartervem."
Nebula smiled, "please, just call me Nebula. And it was a pleasure to meet you as well, Skysin."
Skysin gave his hand out to Zeris, giving a slight bow, "I know we got off on the wrong foot, but I don't have a problem with ya. No hard feelings?"
Zeris eyed Skysin's hand, and shook it, returning the bow, "No hard feelings, Skysin."
Soon, Skysin and Crim headed off. Nebula watched Skysin's back as he disappeared from the door way, 'I can't help but stare…he just… looks very familiar.'
***
Skysin and Crim walked down the teeming streets of Grazanopolis, merely conversing. "Where do you plan on going now?" Crim asked.
"Gonna head back to Ternal island. My mom's still waitin' for me back home. You?"
Just before Crim could respond, a person in a black-hooded cloak had bumped into his shoulder, dropping a small, circular tablet, glowing a violet hue.
As Crim and the individual apologized, Skysin crouched, picking it up. Although he was a bit confused as to what it could be.
"Here, you dropped this," Skysin relayed, handing it to them.
"Oh—Uh thank you!" The hooded person quickly took it back and hastily walked away.
The two teenagers both frowned, confused by the person's odd behavior. Skysin's lips parted, scrunching his eye, "the hell was that about?"
"No idea," Crim shrugged, "must've been in a rush, seems like it."
Continuing their walk, as soon as they hit a corner to a lucanaship parking area, the yells and screams of people could be heard.
"The hells my ship??"
"Who took my damn ride??"
"That damn thief!! Who would do this??"
Crim's face had fallen, his grey eyes widening. Crim quickly ran off, heading further into the parking lot.
"He-Yo Crim! You okay??" Skysin asked, following behind.
Crim came to an empty parking spot, his fists clinched tight, knuckles cracking lightly. He glared at the ground, his teeth gritted, "my goddamn ship… it's gone…"
****