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 Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:17 pm
Quote: The Meteor Shower (3) : It wouldn’t be a star festival without a meteor shower! Right on time, a beautiful array of shooting stars graces the night sky. This time of year is unnaturally clear and it’s incredibly easy to see the stars. Most meteor fragments appear to be little white or yellow lights streaming across the sky, but if you watch closely enough you may find that some of them seem to be a whole rainbow of colors. The scientists have reported that it’s just different components burning up as they enter the atmosphere, but there’s something undeniably magical about it.
But Vyn was not relenting.
They found a semi-clearing in the woods just outside of the city. If they ran into any danger, they could just warp back home. But for now, it was important training time.
Knowing that Vyn needed a handful of seconds for his blaster to recharge, Aliez jumped out from behind the tree so he could run to another nearby. The goal was for either Vyn to shoot Aliez, or for Aliez to tag Vyn. So far he’d managed to somehow avoid getting shot.
When he knew the time was up for Vyn’s blaster, Aliez held out his arm to let the holographic shield appear around him.
And if it wasn’t for the faint reflection in the energy barrier, he might not have noticed the strange lights in the sky.
“Vyn, wait,” he requested, glancing up. He held the barrier up still, hoping for a momentary truce, but Vyn could be relentless when he had a goal in mind.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:21 pm
Vyn didn’t think there was much point in training if he wasn’t relentless. No one on Earth was under any obligation to be kind to them. The White Moon hadn’t been. The Negaverse hadn't been, either, despite the truce. As far as Vyn was concerned, the Vanguard was alone. They only had each other to rely on.
Which meant they had to be prepared for whatever Earth and its war might throw at them.
Which meant they had to take their training seriously.
Back home, he would have gone easy on Aliez, who would likely never excel at combat, but who proved his worth in other areas. On Earth, it was important for Aliez to be able to defend himself, at the bare minimum. Going easy on him wouldn’t accomplish that.
So Vyn shot at him. Vyn stalked him through the trees, his steps light, almost soundless in the grass — without the crunch of fallen leaves or crisp snow underfoot. He kept his blaster at the ready, waiting for Aliez’s shield to give out.
“What is it?” he asked without looking up. Maybe Aliez thought a distraction would work.
It wouldn’t. The shield puttered out, and Vyn shot at him again.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:28 pm
Aliez could tell that Vyn wasn’t bothering to look, so as soon as his shield gave out, he dove out of the way of the blast. Ugh, but that meant his uniform was going to get all dirty. That was fine, he still hadn’t been hit yet.
“In the sky. There’s meteors hitting the atmosphere, I think,” he gestured again above them, hoping that this time at least Vyn would look.
He knew that Vyn was taking this seriously, but so was he! Fine, if Vyn wasn’t going to believe him, then he was just going to hold up his arm and wait for him to try and shoot him again, all the while slowly inching his way closer (after hiding behind another tree).
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:32 pm
That Aliez managed to dodge was an improvement. It would be better if he developed other combat skills, but he had a shield to protect him now, which was more than he’d had when they first arrived on Earth. Maybe next time they found themselves stuck in the middle of a fight, Vyn wouldn’t have to worry as much.
Not that he thought himself much better equipped for it. He could aim well and hold his blaster steady in a crisis, but he was young and inexperienced still.
Since Aliez had done well so far tonight, Vyn decided to ease back. By the tone of Aliez’s voice, he assumed his friend to be telling the truth. (Aliez was, after all, a terrible liar.) So Vyn spared a moment to glance up, and watched a few stars streak across the black expanse of the night sky.
He was no stranger to stars. Neither of them were. They lived among them, adrift in space. A part of Vyn missed it. He missed home. He missed his parents. He missed the stability they had there.
Only it wasn’t stable, was it, when their synthetic world was dying?
“Suitable for the festival, I suppose,” he said. “The humans believe if you make a wish on a falling star, it’ll come true.”
But they weren’t really stars. Just fragments. Pieces. They had no power to grant anything.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:36 pm
“Humans do a lot of wishing,” Aliez said softly, maybe a bit sadly. They were on a planet that had so much and yet the humans didn’t seem to realize it. They could do so much with what they had, but they wasted their resources and didn’t take care of the lives of the creatures that lived on that planet.
The shooting stars were beautiful. They were also incredibly sad. He missed his home. He missed being able to see his parents and his other friends who didn’t join the Vanguard. How were they all doing? Would they be okay? Did they know about Velencya dying? Were they doing research, too?
They had to find a way to save their world. They had to find a way to save the Commodore. Aliez wasn’t just going to rely on wishes on shooting stars. He was going to train and practice and research and do whatever it took. He didn’t care how much energy he needed to use, as long as in the end they could save everyone.
He leapt forward then, making sure his shield had been raised as he reached out to try and tag Vyn while he was distracted by the lights.
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Posted: Sat Jun 25, 2022 7:38 pm
Aliez was faster than he’d been all those months ago when Earth was new, but Vyn was still quicker. He let Aliez think he had a chance, then ducked out of the way at the last second.
“Nice try,” he said. “Maybe it would work on someone who didn’t know you so well.”
Vyn ran through the trees, putting distance between them. Then he turned and shot, allowing Aliez the opportunity to test his shield again.
Wishes wouldn’t help Velencya, or their people. Wishes wouldn’t help the Commodore.
Maybe nothing would, but Vyn refused to give up without a fight.
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