Luminary Institute

34: Younger Sibling Revenge

Called to the center of the pitch after a couple minutes, Nyssa followed the rest of Class Zero down. They didn’t have anything like a fancy entrance planned—it was just ‘walk down and don’t trip.’ A true high standard of excellence if she said so herself. 

“Welcome, welcome,” Slade smiled while walking down towards the Class Zero students, “Nice to see you all. In fact, there are some familiar faces.” 

Once in front of the Class Zero students, he began moving down the line and shaking everyone's hand while ignoring the murmurs breaking out due to the ambiguity of his statements. As for everyone in Class Zero, they knew of Nyssa’s family situation, but, out of consideration for her nap-filled school life dreams, they kept their expressions neutral. 

Nyssa, herself, gave Slade her best ‘youngster sister scowl’ while squeezing his hand as hard as she could. Shapeshifting her arm to have an extreme density of muscle fibers for just a moment, she broke into a bright smile as Slade grimaced. 

In the stands, those who could see her smile broke into fierce murmurs. 

“Woah... the new Class Zero student is smiling so brightly...” 

“Isn’t she pretty beautiful?” 

“Maybe she’s not crazy like the other Class Zero students?” 

“Bro, you have no chance, can’t you see the admiration just beaming off of her right now? It's clear Slade is the only man in her eyes. You’re not even a tenth as handsome as him!” 

After Slade made his way through all the students, he rejoined his crew. Under Kaiser’s guidance, both groups began backing off; they had to keep the show on the road after all. Nyssa, surrounded by everyone else in Class Zero, tried to feign innocence as Celeste leaned into her ear. “You weren’t really showing Slade a smile of admiration weren’t you? Do you know why he was grimacing in pain?” 

“No... not at all,” Nyssa coughed while looking away. “Maybe he’s developed some sort of illness.” 

“I’m sure you’d know if he developed an illness though, Ms. Ravenstein,” Celeste teased while getting into battle formation. 

“A... Ah... yeah...” Nyssa shook her head before looking down at her feet. “I may or may not have transformed only my arm to be extremely strong for a second.” 

Covering her mouth with a hand, Celeste broke out into breathy laughs after Nyssa’s confession. The others, who had also been curious—and eavesdropped—also felt laughs escape under their breaths. 

“Alright, let’s focus up though,” Ryker cleared his throat as everyone gathered around him in battle position. A serious expression appeared on his face for the first time in what everyone felt like forever. “Stop talking and calm your thoughts. We have a period of chaos coming up. Let’s dazzle everyone who doubted us.” 

“I’m pretty sure no one doubted us,” Electra retorted while lowering herself to the ground. “It’s just some friendly competition.” 

“Hey, let me have my inspiring leader moment,” Ryker harrumphed while crossing his arms. After a few more whispers though, everyone did quiet down. 

In fact, everyone in the stadium quieted down. The afternoon sun shone onto the pitch, its intense rays sparing no one as a referee named Kaiser walked to the center of the pitch. He raised the starter pistol towards the sky as both groups gathered together. 

As the headmaster, he, of course, knew about the bet between the two classes; he, a ‘neutral’ party, held no stake in the fight, but how could he not cheer for Class Zero deep in his heart? Dearest Nyssa had just enrolled. 

Between Slade and Nyssa, he had no true preference though. As much as he liked to dote on his youngest, he loved all three of his children with every corner of his heart. Today Slade would win, his experience and power far outstripped the students, but it’d be a fun to see how it might change in the future... 

Nyssa has an undeniable amount of potential; ultimately, more than both Slade and Roxanne... She has far less drive though, does anything but her bed drive her forward? 

Mystified as alwaays by his youngest daughter’s skewed life goals, Kaiser realized he’d drawn out the dramatic silence for a few moments too long. Turning in a slow circle, he scanned the crowd. With bated breath, the ocean of statue-like students—and faculty—had their eyes bolted to the starter pistol. 

... BANG!

Shooting the pistol and disappearing from the stage, Kaiser chuckled as cheers began pouring in from all directions. “All the planning is worth it for moments like these.” 

The battle itself, though, got off to a slow start. Like snails in the sand, both sides kept in their groups. Slade and the others were content to let the others have the first move while Class Zero seemed to be... waiting?

Ryker had run forward. He then... slid and began laying on the ground like a dead fish long before he made it to the opponents. Face-down on the dirt pitch, he... just laid there! 

The others had backed away as well, leaving a certain white-haired girl in the center alone. Nyssa, once given a wide berth, spread her arms, closed her eyes, and began glowing. Her eyebrows furrowed before the light swallowed her. 

It grew. 

The light kept expanding. 

Slade, on the other side of the pitch, began laughing. His teammates turned towards him, worried he had lost the last screw in his head. “She’s doing it! Watch! This is the younger sister I keep bragging to you all about!” 

After about ten seconds of blinding radiance, the light faded. A gleaming white dragon stood in its place, towering over a section of the pitch. Though gargantuan, the dragon didn’t fill the stadium—because Kaiser’s predecessors had too much money and built an intensely oversized pitch. 

“Hop on,” Nyssa’s voice came out of the dragon, now loud enough for everyone in the stadium to hear with clarity. 

Electra, Celeste, Titus, Conrad, and Albion all hopped onto the back of the dragon. 

“MY GLORIOUS STEED! FLY FORTH!” Conrad roared, swept up in the moment. 

Thump. 

Conrad now laid face-down on the ground.

“Let’s go,” Electra sighed, patting the dragon below her. 

“Sounds good,” Nyssa leapt off the ground, her wings pumping through the air as they soared first forward, then upward. As she ascended, she grabbed Ryker in one claw and Conrad in the other. 

Kamikaze time. 

“Are you ready, Ryker?” Nyssa asked as they soared through the clouds. 

“Ready as ever,” Ryker cackled as he looked down at the stadium beneath him. “I was born ready. This is my dream.” 

After taking a banked turn through the clouds, Nyssa broke into a wide grin of her own—one unsettling in her dragon form. Swooping downward, she hurtled back through the clouds and down at the pitch. She crashed through the weak attacks sent up in the air towards her as the crowd’s frantic shouts—and Conrad’s screams—entered her ears. 

“Oh my god...” 

“A DRAGON??” 

“Who is this new girl...” 

“A... Are we safe here?” 

“SAVE MEEEEE... WHY COULDN’T I BE ON THE BACK? I’M SORRY FOR WHAT I SAIDDDDD...” 

She tuned out the sounds as they neared the ground. Her now-golden eyes squinted. Once close, she let go of Ryker, like a plane would to a bomb, towards Slade’s group. 

And Ryker soared. His adrenaline junkie shouts filled the stadium as he neared the ground. Before any attacks from Slade’s group could connect with him though, he raised two middle fingers, shouted “TAKE THIS,” and let loose an explosion using his entire body as fuel.