by Katie Pottle
“Headmaster Tripharian announced it before you came in. This one is blue. Instructor Kade is going to give us the details,” Sun answered, forgetting to keep her voice down.
“Which I will be more than happy to do once you all have finished your reunion,” Instructor Kade said from the stage. This time the entire assembly turned towards them. Sun blushed bright red as she issued another apology.
“As I was saying,” Instructor Kade continued—hesitating briefly upon seeing Cadin. “Welcome back from break. I hope you are all well rested and ready for this next challenge. This Qualifier will test your tactical skills alongside your speed, agility and overall teamwork. Note that the Blue Qualifier has been historically difficult for green angels in the Calvarian Games. This is a good test for how well rounded your training is, and how good your team dynamics are. The details!” Instructor Kade said loudly to quiet the talk between students. “Speed and teamwork are the two main ways to earn points. This is essentially a race to the finish line with many obstacles in your way. Don’t worry, second years; this is not the type of race you can win by simply flying to the end. There is a ceiling on this obstacle course and flying will only get you so far. The goal is for all four of your team members hit the end statue with your weapon of choice in the fastest time possible.
“You can also earn extra points along the way by hitting any of the other teams’ statues set up throughout the course. Note these statues are meant only for extra points and you should not get too lured into hitting these targets. You must find a good balance to place. Four teams will be running the course at one time. You may check in at the Yi Field desk at noon to pick your weapons and learn your start time. Good luck!”
The check-in went well and Cadin was relieved they didn't know anyone in the three teams that were running with them.
“Before we go to the school armory, I want to give you all your gifts that I made while I was visiting Air.” Cadin led them to the lone tree in the field where they sprawled out in the sparse shade.
“I hope you got me something cool,” Lep said, craning his neck over the brown packages.
“Then I will start with your present.” Cadin handed over the medium package. Lep’s smile faltered for a moment until he opened the brown paper wrapping that held his stunning dagger.
“Wow! You made this?” Lep said, his mouth hanging open.
“I am the son of a metal-smith.” Cadin smiled as Gur jumped down from Cadin’s shoulder and started banging his personal red cloud-stone on Lep’s new dagger.
“Cut it out, Gur!” Lep said, pulling his dagger into his lap and polishing it with his shirt.
“Who is next?” Cadin asked.
“I have to admit I am very curious,” Bart said. “However, ladies first.”
“Okay, Sun it is,” Cadin said as he handed her the smallest package.
Sun delicately pulled back the paper to reveal the many arrow heads. Yes had even helped him to make a convenient carrying case before they left.
“Oh, these are beautiful, Cadin,” Sun said as she picked one up to examine the etching detail. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” Cadin was pleased with his friends' reactions so far.
“Okay, Bart, here you go.”
Cadin handed Bart the biggest package which was the length of Cadin’s arm.
Bart opened his package and examined the four pieces.
“It is only this way for traveling. Here.” Cadin started assembling the double-sided spear.
“Holy crow!” Bart said when Cadin had finished. “This is amazing.”
“Yeah, I figured this would be a good weapon for your style of combat; and it leaves you less open. You can trade out the bottom blade for a blunt end when you want to.” Cadin said as he handed him the last piece which was shaped like a fist. Grandpa Marvin had several end pieces already made that Cadin could choose from. “The fist was weighted for balance and the weapon should spin well.”
“Thank you so much…I have never…I mean this is great.” Bart was starting to tear up a bit. “I mean to say that no one has ever given me such a wonderful gift. Thank you.”
Cadin was touched by his sincerity. “No problem, Bart. You're a good friend.”
“Hey, Bart has some too.” Lep pointed to Bart’s spear.
“Oh, you mean the cloud-stones. Yeah, we stopped by Mira’s place and she sold me some cloud-stones for your weapons and she helped me to set them too. It should give the weapons an edge. The cloud-stones on the spear make for ergonomic hand-holds and somehow help the holder with balance. The green ones on your dagger, Lep exude energy that ensures focus, or so Mira says. Which reminds me…” Cadin fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a necklace with the small arrowhead attached.
“This is the second part of your gift, Sun. It wouldn’t have worked well to set cloud-stones into the arrowheads that you would shoot, but this one was ruined by a bubble so I set this bright orange cloud-stone in the hole for you. I also blunted the edges and point of this one so it should be safe to ware…if you want to.”
“Last call for weapons!” The young man behind the school artillery desk yelled.
“Oh, we better grab 'em.” Cadin said as he hopped up. Gur tickled Cadin as he scampered up his leg. “When are you going to learn to fly, buddy?” Cadin asked Gur affectionately as he rubbed under his chin. Gur responded with, “gurrr…squeak,” and a quick head butt to Cadin’s chin before resting on his shoulder.
“So, you didn’t make a weapon for yourself while you were on Air?” Lep asked.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you. Grandpa Marvin gave me a gin-blade as a present!”
“Wow!” Sun responded excitedly, and then pondered for a moment. “Ahh, what is it?”
Lep and Bart wore confused expressions.
“I’ll tell you later. We have to check out our weapons now.”
“So why aren’t you using your ‘chimplate’?”
“Gin-blade. I can’t use it until I practice more with it. I left it with my parents today. What are you going to check out, Bart?”
“Are you kidding? I have this awesome weapon,” he said as he stepped out of line and started spinning it around. He did look pretty good, but Cadin didn’t want him losing a wing, and cautioned him that maybe he should practice a bit first. Bart said he would practice a few moves while the rest of the team checked out their weapons. Bart walked back to the little tree, spinning the spear along the way.
When their team reached the front desk of the armory, the attendant explained that weapon selection was essential, as each person could only bring in one weapon of choice. Lep checked out the traditional Guard long sword, while Cadin searched for a short, light sword. It took a while but he found one that was suitable. Feeling the bulky little blade in his hands made him long for his refined katana. Sun had walked through with them, but she had her own bow, and didn’t need to check anything out.
The attendant marked down their selections and told Lep he would have to leave the dagger with one of the instructors before entering.
“And what is Bartholomew’s weapon of choice for this Qualifier?” The attendant asked while reading off the group list in front of him.
“That two-sided spear he is swinging around over there.” Cadin pointed to Bart under the tree.
“I see,” He said while squinting. Cadin and the attendant cringed as Bart lodged the back end of the spear into the tree by accident. The man shook his head before looking back at his list. “And what will…Sun be using.”
“My own bow,” she answered.
“Of course, another bow,” he said to himself as he wrote next to her name.
“Excuse me. What do you mean another bow?” Very few angels in Glade High School claimed a bow as their weapon of choice.
“This Qualifier is the fastest team to hit the end target. I imagine they all think projectile weapons will give them an edge. Good luck no name team,” he said in an uninterested tone. “Next in line, pl
ease.”
“I didn’t even think about choosing a distance weapon for this. Maybe we should have strategized more, rather than handing out gifts. I’m sorry, guys,” Cadin said.
“Don’t be,” Lep said as they reached the little tree and he went to cheer Bart on in his spear wielding. Bart was already looking much better with it.
“Yeah.” Sun added, “Lep is right. The presents set us up on a good note for the day. And I really don’t think the tone of ‘your weapon of choice for this Qualifier’ was to pick a distance weapon. I have a feeling this course is set up for everyone to utilize their best skills with weapons when we have to, but the challenge will lend itself more to our overall strategy of speed and teamwork.”
They were in the third wave and they squeezed between a couple of other teams to witness the first scores being presented on stage. The first team was a large group of third years that all had their feathers quite ruffled. Cadin guessed they tried to fly straight to the finish and found it as difficult as Instructor Kade said it would be. Everyone took their place on the stage with two light boxes in front them. Instructor Kade announced that the blue light box indicated the time that each person struck the end statue, and the red light box indicated total damage inflicted on statues throughout the course.
Instructor Kade pushed a button and numbers started to show up in the boxes. The blue numbers popped up instantly. This team did not finish close together at all. The red numbers started to flicker and they kept counting up, as if tallying numbers from each statue along the way. When the red boxes reached their final number, a sharp ring echoed through the field. The final number lit up on the large team board mounted on the back wall of the stage.
Cadin leaned in to the rest of his team to tell them that the final score was more heavily weighted for time over targets hit when he bumped into the person next to him.
“Hey, watch it!” A high-pitched voice reprimanded. Cadin cringed a bit.
“Sorry about that,” Cadin said quickly, hoping to avoid any further involvement.
“Oh, look, ladies. It is the little first year who is going to owe me three betos!” Ariana said with a nasty little laugh.
Cadin took a deep breath and turned to her. “Hi, guys. And we are second years now. Look, I really don’t have time to get into it with you right now; so, can we please watch the results.”
“Oh, scared of not placing again. I understand; three betos is a lot of money.”
Cadin turned, ready to say goodbye to the brat beauty, but stopped short after taking in her team.
“You all chose bows?” Cadin’s mouth dropped open and Gur raced to put his red cloud-stone in it. Cadin spit the stone out before he continued.
“Whose idea was that?”
“Mine!” Ariana spat back at him. Some of the other girls in her group were looking uncomfortable when Cadin mentioned the bows.
“We are going to win this race in a landslide with our whole team able to shoot the end target without having to go through whatever stupid obstacles they have in there.”
“Well, good luck with that strategy,” Cadin said and turned back towards his group. Gur was polishing his cloud-stone on Cadin’s shoulder after retrieving it from the dirt.
“Don’t turn your back on me, you little punk!” Ariana grabbed his shoulder. A huge vein pulsed down her previously smooth forehead. Gur was not happy having an angry girl’s hand encroach his territory and quickly bounced on the offending limb to tear it away.
“Ouch! Stupid lizard!”
Cadin was about to say something, but instead heard several people from behind him speak up.
“Calm down.”
“You need to step off.”
“Save it for the Qualifier.”
Cadin turned to find his defenders to be Xeno, Vincent and surprisingly Freddy, the cool third year guy that he had met at the first Qualifier.
Ariana gave Cadin a scathing look before turning around and pushing her way through the crowd. Her team followed in her wake.
“Thanks, guys. I’m sorry about that,” Cadin said while patting Gur’s scaly head.
“No problem. Good luck,” Freddy said as he turned his attention back to the scores. Bart waived at Cora who smiled and waved back.
“It’s been a while. Where did you disappear to over break?” Treven asked as he pushed in beside Vincent and Jade.
“I went to Air with my family.”
“Sweet,” Xeno said. “Did you go into the Himan Forest and find some purple moss?”
“No.” Cadin answered, nonplussed.
“Too bad. It’s really rare you know.”
“And what happened to your Aura…again?” Vincent asked as he waved his hand over Cadin’s head.
“Long story. But I never actually lost my mixed Aura. I was just suppressing it for a little while.”
“But, why?”
Cadin was saved the necessity to answer when Instructor Kade announced, “second wave, check in please!”
“That’s us,” Vincent said.
“Good luck!” Cadin called as they rushed towards the back of the stage.
“Go get ‘em!” Lep yelled.
“Oh look. Both Gregor’s group and Ariana’s group are in the second wave with them,” Bart pointed out.
“Sucks for Vincent’s team,” Lep said. “I would not want to run next to either of them.”
When the teams returned from the field, Vincent’s team was soaking wet and dripping all over the stage.
“They’re all wet. There may be a lake or stream we can use to our advantage,” Cadin whispered to his team.
“I don’t think it will be much of an advantage,” Bart said. “They don’t look too happy about the outcome of the being in the water.”
It was true, all four of them wore sour looks and had their fists clinched. Gregor leaned forward with a nasty smirk plastered across his large face.
Vincent’s team got their scores first. Cadin cringed when they left the stage with the lowest total thus far. Gregor’s team stepped up next and all puffed out their broad chests. They all had good times and great target scores, catapulting their team once again to the lead. A team of hearty third years went next and received amazing target scores, however their time scores were too slow to place. Ariana’s team was up last. Two of the team members looked down at their bows in disgust when they saw their non-existent target scores. Their final score landed them in sixth place with two waves yet to go. Ariana stomped off the stage yelling at her team.
“Wave three, you’re up!”
Cadin followed his team to the front. Behind the stage, they all bathed their weapons in the blunting light.
“Up here, everyone,” Instructor Kade said. Cadin climbed up a large platform to where Instructor Kade was standing. The scenery in front of them was a vast obstacle course with walls and a netted ceiling. There was also a limited waterway in the course and Cadin wondered how they could change the terrain so quickly from the first Qualifier to the second.
“They must have some amazing cloud-shifters,” Sun said next to him, obviously thinking about the same thing.
“Can cloud-shifting really do all of this?” Cadin asked as he waived his hand over the obstacle course.
“With enough energy—yes. Just wait until your cloud-shifting training at the Academy,” Instructor Kade said from behind them. He picked up his voice to address all four teams. “You have five minutes to examine the course from this platform before deciding the starting positions for your team. You can interact with other teams on the course. Choose your positions wisely. Your five minutes begins now.”
“Over here, guys.” Cadin said to his group as he pulled them to the far corner of the platform nearest the waterway. “Check out the water. It by-passes most of the obstacles.”
“That is because the water is an obstacle in and of itself. We will be defenseless against any overhead traps—it is basically a ravine.” Sun noted. Bart and Lep nodded in agreement.
> “I think that is why Vincent’s team did so poorly. I think Gregor’s team forced them into the ravine, and they spent precious time trying to get out, rather than swimming to the end.”
“There is a problem,” Bart said. “I am not a strong swimmer.”
“That is the beauty of it,” Cadin said, heart racing at the idea, “look along the ravine top. It is narrow and this course is not made for all four people to travel it together. We should break into pairs and watch out for each other. Bart, you could travel with Sun along the top, protecting us from traps and hitting targets along the way. Lep and I can swim and then there—where the ravine rises, we can get out of the water and meet up with you to travel to the end.”
“That might just work,” Bart said while taking a second look at the route. “But whoever gets to the end of the ravine first should go ahead to get faster times.”
“Instructor Kade said this course is about team-work. I feel like it will be better for all of us to be together to tackle whatever is at the end,” Cadin said.
“Can anyone see the end statue?” Lep asked.
“No, I think it is over that hill. Which is probably why Araina’s strategy didn’t work. They assumed that they would have a clear shot,” Sun said.
“What does everyone think of the plan?” Cadin asked.
“I’m in.”
“Let’s give it a try.”
“Yeah, I like it.”
“Time,” Instructor Kade said. “Follow me down to the starting bay.”
“Get to your starting positions along the red line.”
Cadin was fascinated where each team chose to start. They were the only ones at the waterway end. The others chose the solid land route, the tree lined route, and one team spread their entire team out along the starting line. One girl from the spread-out team was their closest neighbor, and she kept nervously glancing over at Cadin and his team. He saw the other spread out team members acting similarly. Cadin quickly called in his team for a private group meeting.
“What’s up?” Lep asked.
