Rising Shards

7th Period: Void Practice C3C3 ADV

The last room of the void trial looked like a reverse of a science fair; instead of a bunch of students with projects set up at card tables, a bunch of teachers and faculty waited for us to come to them. I was beat, but this was the last challenge of the semester. I wished we could all stick together for it, but it seemed like a bunch of the temple stairwells connected down here, and it wasn’t just our class, but a few others as well. They sorted us into different lines, and I ended up in one with a bunch of girls I didn’t know.

I started to feel a bit barfy, mainly nerves from facing this last test, some of it from being around people I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell what teacher I had waiting for me, but I spotted Mr. Soleri’s table and checked over his line to make sure at least Oka wasn’t stuck with him. Poor Marmalade and Michi were the only ones I recognized that had to deal with his wrath.

Students in front of me got through their projects, using their powers to show off some kind of creation for our judge. The line moved relatively quickly. My queasy feeling didn’t leave me, and I started to wonder what would happen if I got real sick and fainted in line or something. Then, as I do, I started panicking a bunch. It was almost a gigantic, run away screaming panic moment, but right before I really started freaking out, I looked to my left and saw Oka, in the same spot as me in her line. She waved at me, and I felt a lot better already.

“Alright, I got this,” I told myself.

“Ahem, excuse me!” Someone said, sounding like they were speaking into a microphone. I thought it was Caeda again for a second, but it was Kitty Kilander. “If you could pause your cute little finals for a sec, a little moment, a tiny teensy bit, I just want to make a little quick announcement! So shut up please!” Everyone started chattering, so Kitty screeched into her mic until she had all eyes on her. “Tee hee. Well, to start, as you know, I’m loaning my famous ass to all this schooling, and you’ll be feeling that a lot more next semester. Because of the exciting partnership I personally brokered between the schools here, I am excited to get the big competition! The recr…recrea…whatever it was called.”

I was bracing for this to be like the recent assembly Kitty held where she just rambled on for a while and didn’t say anything of note despite claiming to have an important announcement.

“To be honest, I kind of wanted to just be in charge of all the schools. But after all the incidents, Wildfire Hearts can’t do much of anything. Lawsuits, so dumb! I wanted to pay off all those lawsuits with the Kilander fortune, but turns out there isn’t much of that, either. so I have to play by the rules. but nothing in the rules says I can’t do this!” She snapped her fingers. I yelped as a bunch of pink hued robots dropped from the ceiling, landing beside Kitty. They looked like the drones we faced on Vita Coa a while back, but like they were dolled up by a pop star. Which they probably were.

“Don’t worry, they won’t attack. Not yet at least!” She snorted. “You better get ready because next semester you’re gonna be up against not just the other schoolios, but also my new squad. I wanted them to look just like me, Kitty Kilander. I even had some mockups ready at Kitty World before that was cruelly ripped apart. But then I was like, do I really wanna see some dweeb students beat up me’s? That’d like, cause issues. So I personally designed these bad girlies to look the part and kick ass. They’re more advanced than the batches you’ve faced before.” She made the robots dance and laughed really hard at that.

“And with that, I will leave you for now,” Kitty said. “Have fun with that last little test. I hope you enjoyed this preview of what’s coming your way.”

She got some light applause for some reason, I didn’t think she earned it. It felt like a desperate attempt for attention, which was just sad.

“Um, also excuse me!” Another teacher ran up beside Kitty. It took me a second, but I recognized her as the one that was for some reason dressed like a jester while working for Jeans. “My name is Ms. Corinani, also of Wildfire Hearts! And I would like to announce, as one of the signature teachers from Wildfire Hearts, one you’ll be seeing a lot of around these parts, that I would gift the students with copies of my smash hit book, which will be given to you on the way out! Don’t throw them out, you’ll need them next semester!”

“I did not give you permission to make an announcement,” Kitty said. “And after mine, too? That’s like stealing my thunder!”

“I’m sorry…but it’s really important to get these books out now!” Corinani said. “I want the students to have a chance to read them over the break.”

“Oh my god, stop talking already!” Kitty said. “I’m trying to come up with a good announcement so I get the last word in.”

“Maybe something about new Wildfire Hearts uniforms?”

“I told you to shut up,” Kitty said. “Now we’re going to go back to my office, and you’re going to go back to being a good footstool.”

The two continued bickering—well, mostly Kitty berating Ms. Corinani—as testing resumed.

When it was finally my turn, I tried to come up with a good greeting for my judge. It was an older woman, one with a big sticker on her shirt that said ‘VOLUNTEER.” I settled on my usual handshake intro, which she seemed to appreciate.

“I used to teach at this school a long-ass time ago,” the old woman said.

“O-oh,” I said, not expecting her to use a swear.

“Everyone said Mrs. Sip’s class was a good time,” She explained. “I’m Mrs. Sip, by the way. I did tend to go easy on the students and buy everyone candy, which may count as bribing them. I think it was my winning personality they liked. But I guess you’re not here for my stories of the good ol days, huh? You just wanna get this final over with, I can see it in your face.”

“Heh, maybe…” I said.

“Oh, dear, you don’t have to be so spooked, let’s get this over with so you don’t run screaming! I’ve only had five students run screaming from my teaching over my whole career, so I don’t want to add a sixth. So show me what you got. If you made it this far, you already showed all that jazz about keeping your powers in and out and whatnot, so I just wanna see the artsy fartsy business.”

I had been carrying around a bottle all day in preparation for this, checking it every five seconds to make sure I didn’t lose it or break it. Dr. Diast gave me the idea to use my lightning powers to literally hold lightning in a bottle for my power test. I had practiced it a ton, zapping myself a bunch before I figured out how to conjure a storm within the bottle rather than trying to fire a bolt and quickly put the cap on to keep it inside. It took a second, but I was able to make a pretty dang good looking lightning bolt that jumped around in the bottle like it wanted to be freed.

“Looks good, that’d get a passing grade in my class when I was still teaching.” Mrs. Sip said.

“Does it get a passing grade now?” I asked, unsure of her wording there.

Mrs. Sip strummed her chin. “Hmmm, I think I can say yeah to that. Maybe even hell yeah. Can I get a hell yeah for this project?” She pumped her fists in the air, looking at me expectantly.

“H-heck yeah!” I said, pumping my fist in the air.

“You’re precious! Don’t let this world mess that up, got it?” Mrs. Sip said.

“I’ll do my best!” I said.

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