"Have you guys ever been to the millennium museum?!" I asked the two beside me. "Nah, wanted to go this one time, but I was ditched!" Owen replied. "I've never been there!" Tokito shrugged. Soon the vice principal finished his speech, "I wish you all a good trip!" he said and disappeared. "Alright listen up!" instructor Blake took the mantle as four staffs pushed in two portable portals into the hall.
"Find your group members, and stay with them!" instructor Blake ordered. The previously silent hall went chaotic as the cadets scrambled around. Though most were already standing with their group members even before the arrival of the instructors. My eyes searched around looking for Aurora. 'That's strange, I could have sworn I saw her there moments ago!' I thought to myself. "What are you looking for?!" I heard a voice dangerously close to my ear. My body acted on reflex, as I swung my elbow backwards, only for it to be held firmly in Aurora's palm, and she didn't even blink.
"Whoa! Aurora you scared us there!" Owen exclaimed. But Aurora didn't answer, Instead she looked at me. "What?!" I found myself asking. "Nothing!" she replied after a few moments. "Did you sneak up on me on purpose?!" I asked staring into those purple orbs. "No!" Aurora replied almost instantly, as she released my elbow. "Wow the rank 1 is in your group? you should have told me sooner!" Lara hit Tokito's shoulder while fan girling over Aurora. "Tch, fangirl!" Owen clicked his tongue making Lara glare at him.
Suddenly Jared stomped over to our group. "Aurora, I can't believe you joined the same group as these clowns!" Jared pointed to us, or Owen specifically. "Hey you were in the same group as me twice if I remember correctly!" Owen shot back. "Yes because I had no choice!" Jared countered. I sighed at their exchange, while Jared wasn't quite right, we really were a mismatch. Aurora, the expressionless one, Owen the clown, Tokito the less clownish, Lara, the fiery girl who turned to a fan girl in an instant, and last but not least, yours truly, the only normal one in the group.
As Owen and Jared kept arguing, I stepped closer to Aurora. "What about the surplus cadets that couldn't get in a group?!" I asked. "I incorporated them into some random groups!" she replied. "And won't there be friction with the members of the group?!" I inquired. "I already took care of that!" she replied indifferently. Soon the staffs finished setting up the portals, "Alright, when I call your group, you advance and enter these portals!".
Instructor Blake began calling the groups in two's. Soon almost every group had gone, and our group still hadn't been called. "Hey Adam, I thought you were the one doing this shit, why haven't we been called since?!" Owen groaned. "Relax! We'll be called soon!" I drawled. "And I think he's calling the groups in the order at which they were registered!" I guessed. Owen face contorted in realization, "Then doesn't that mean we'll be the last to be called?!" he exclaimed. "Genius!" I gave his shoulder a tap.
"Team Aurora!" Instructor Blake called. Since there were only a hundred and ninety–five groups, we had were the only group remaining since the groups were being called in two's. We matched forward towards the portals. "Enter through one of these!" instructor Blake gestured towards the portals. Aurora took charge and entered the portal at the left, so we followed through.
The same feeling of my insides being wringed out enveloped me, but a second later, I was at the other side. We appeared in what appeared to be a hanger. "Hurry up, you're the last team remaining!" A familiar voice urged breaking out of my reverie. It was none other than instructor Atlas, our alien races instructor. The bastard was smiling like a beacon of sunlight.
"Let's go!" he smiled turning to the exit of the hanger, where some cadets were climbing into some black thingy which I guess was a ship. It was so big that it was covering the hanger's exit.
But it was only when we got out of the hanger that I realized just how massive it was. To put it shortly, it was Colossal with a big 'C'. And for a longer description, the difference in size between the ship and me was like the difference between a regular ant, and a grown man, just that it covers a vast surface area. Yep, it was that big, I couldn't even make out it's exact shape. Our expressions ranged from sheer awe, to cold indifference. Except for, "Holy shit!" Owen exclaimed. "Language Owen! We have ladies with us!" Tokito chided. Owen gave him a look that said, "Do I look like I care about dem ladies?!"
"Hahahaha!" instructor Atlas chuckled. "My expression was also like that when I first saw it!" he said. "This is the Sky Bastion!" said the instructor as we started climbing onto the ship. "Though it's not a battle ship and not big enough to be a mother ship, it can withstand a single full powered strike from a transcendent rank. So don't underestimate it, and also, it's suitable for trips like this. There are only three of it in existence".
"How big is this thing?!" I found myself asking. "It has 50 floors minus the dock yard, thirty kilometers in length, and forty kilometers in width!" Instructor Atlas answered casually. 'To hell with 'it's not big enough to be a mother ship'. Then how big is a mother ship if this huge thing is not big enough? If not for graviton technology, I honestly don't see how the fuck this thing is rising into the sky!' "Whoa really? 50 floors?!" Tokito exclaimed this time around, while Lara had her eyes widened. Aurora... Aurora's face didn't change in the least. I turned to Owen who didn't comment, "What?!" he asked. "Nothing!" I shook my head.
The spaceship was sleek, mostly colored in black, we followed to where the other cadets were taken. There were many other ships there, so I guessed it was the dockyard. There I saw cadets stepping onto a teleportation matrix and being teleported away. Now teleportation matrix' are different from portals, how it's different I don't know, I'll have to investigate further, but I know that it works without any form of technology, and isn't a bloodline ability.
Soon it was our turn to step into the matrix. After we stepped into it, a man, or rather instructor, snapped his fingers, and well..... we disappeared. We found ourselves in an extremely huge cabin filled with comfy state of the art seats, with most cadets already seated. "Attention cadets, this is your captain speaking. We're set to take off in a minute!" A rather deep voice echoed from.... well everywhere.
All the cadets standing began to take their seats "Let's go there!" I gestured to a row of seats. I couldn't tell what floor we were on, but I take it that we were pretty high up since we had to be teleported here, and I could also see the roof of the hanger way below through the glass from where I stood. No one objected my suggestion, so we headed to where I gestured and took our seats. Of course I took the one right beside the glass. The cabin was more than spacious, since there were walkways between each and every seat. Aurora took the next seat after me, then Lara, then Tokito and Owen.
"This is your captain speaking, buckle up, we're clear for take off!" the captain announced. Silence reigned as most of the cadets including but not limited to myself braced themselves for the take off. I won't lie, I was somewhat tense, or rather nervous. It was my first time in a ship after all. But then a minute passed, then two minutes.
The cadets started voicing out their thoughts, but I turned to the person next to me. "We're already in the sky if that's what you want to ask!" Aurora stated indifferently. "What? no.... how did you know what I was gonna ask?!" I asked puzzled. "It was written all over your face!" she replied. "...." I was at a loss for words, I couldn't refute it. But I still like my face this way, instead of when I was expressionless.
Shaking the thoughts away, I looked outside the glass, we were indeed in the air, the hanger I was sighting was no longer in view. I would have realized it had I been looking outside the glass. But flights weren't supposed to be this smooth were they? No turbulence, no vibrations, nothing. I didn't feel a thing. It felt the same as it was when we were still on land. "Say how long do you think it'll take to reach the resort?!" I asked Aurora. "Around 4 hours give or take!" she replied. "Hmm!" I nodded appreciating the answer.
Hearing that, I reclined my seat to the back, and closed my eyes. Aurora wasn't much of a talker, and Tokito and Owen were three and four seats away from me respectively. And the reason I had also chosen this seat was to see landscapes, but all I could see was colorful clouds. It wasn't my fault, I blame the people in the slums who claimed they could see the various landscapes from the air.
///////
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Please drop dem power stones.