Big Bad Bang

The next participant in the Mana Trials was Mary Stellar, a mouse that was gray except for a few scattered patches of black fur. Mary was about a meter and a half tall making her the shortest applicant besides Rain. Having seen only a few Mana wielding mouse Anthros before, Rain wondered if she would have trouble transporting the heavy mannequin. Once Mary took off her collar and began her run, Rain could see that his concern for the mouse was unfounded.

As soon as the trial started the girl ran and jumped and hovered over one of the course obstacles towards her first target and touched down. She ran for several strides before repeating the feat once more. Arriving within arms distance of the Metal Velop dummy, Mary made a pulling gesture with her hands, and a metallic ping emanated from the new bulging dent in the dummy’s armor. Mary rubbed her hands together then motioned up with the same pulling motion as before. This time the Red Net Key came bursting out of the Velop dummy’s canvas face and flew into her hand. Mary completed several jump hover combinations to get over to her next target and retrieved the Blue Key from the leather dummy in a similar fashion.

Before Mary reached the raised transparent pool she held her arm out, and the Red Key shot out and perfectly impaled its matching lock then turned itself and opened the lock holding the net in place. The key shot back to Mary’s side as she landed at the edge of the pool and flung the net away with her Mana. Mary dove into the pool and about a dozen seconds later Wolfey the mannequin emerged from the water followed by the soaked mouse. Mary climbed out of the pool, turned around, and flicked her hand at Wolfey. Mary, apparently unable to float herself and Wolfey, ran back to the starting area with Wolfey hovering behind her while she circumnavigated several obstacles. Mary’s consistent pace earned her a respectable time of: 1’ 54”.

After the last participant’s score was written on the scoreboard, Noir’s amplified voice could be heard through the shabby stadium telling everyone that there would be a short intermission. Cory shifted his large form towards Rain and said under his breath. “Well, I’m not afraid of curses, real or no. And… sorry about your parents.”

Rain smiled and allowed himself a ration of hope. Maybe this place would be better than the last. “Mind if I ask you your strategy for the course?” Rain changed the subject politely. The lizard’s demeanor dipped as he said, “Yeah uh I have some ideas I guess. I’m, um well… I’m worried I won’t get a good time cause I can’t run fast or fly.”

“Speed is only one factor,” was Rain’s retort to Cory. “Impress the judges with a feat of strength that makes them forget the trial is even timed,” Rain said enthusiastically.

Cory tilted his head to the side and raised an ear. “Like what kind of foot er, I mean feat did you have in mind?”

Rain suppressed a laugh and said, “Well, I do have one idea…”

Rain whispered his idea with Cory and the two Anthros spent the rest of the intermission discussing different ways Cory might approach the trial.

By the time the intermission was over and the name of the next trainee announced, Cory was in a visibly better mood. The next applicant was Randal Fen, a green-scaled Anthro lizard. After his trial started Randal grabbed a sword from the weapons rack on his way towards the first dummy. When he reached his target Randal’s sword began to glow, heat and energy dancing on the blade. Randal coiled then swung at his target. The dummy’s bulky metal armor offered no resistance to his glowing blade, and the top third of the dummy fell away revealing its hidden key. In the rest of the trial, Randal proved himself to be an excellent climber and a good swimmer, gaining himself a time of 1’ 49”.

By this time, Rain felt the mood in the stadium had shifted significantly. He expected the trials to feel like a procedural formality. The kind of thing only attended by nuclear family and friends, and indeed the first hour of the event matched that description, but now what had grown around him was the largest crowd he had ever seen. The Anthro count had surely swollen to thousands, and now the Copper and Paper Citizens were being dispersed to non-optimal viewing sections of the Arena. When the course was reset, the speakers projecting Dean Noir’s voice struggled to shout over the din of the crowd.

The next trial belonged to a gray-furred boy rabbit named Geode Grey, and it was only the second Anthro rabbit Rain could remember seeing in his life. This wasn’t unusual, as their clan originated from overseas. Rain didn’t know much about the Anthro rabbit clan; he only knew that some of them were merchant traders that could navigate ships across the great oceans that separated Thromerica from the other continents.

The speed at which Grey exploded across the course was nothing like Rain had ever seen. The rabbit lost some time using his daggers to tear through the Velops to find his keys and wasn’t particularly graceful hauling Wolfey during the final leg of the journey, but the rabbit still scored a competitive time of 1’ 28”.

For both Rain and Cory the anticipatory nerves for the upcoming trial were amplified by the still growing crowd and the dwindling number of applicants still waiting. The boys made uneasy small talk as they waited for the next name to be called. “Do you think this arena has ever had this many endividuals before?” Cory asked aloud.

Rain, pleased with himself for knowing the answer, said, “If you’re talking about Anthros probably not. If you’re talking about back in the human era? This place used to regularly host over thirty thousand humans all celebrating different sports, games, music, and sometimes fighting monster cars.”

“Monster cars?” Cory asked incredulously.

Rain felt a twinge of embarrassment creep in as he racked his brain for more information. Reviewing his recollections through a more mature lens, he responded, “Uhh yea well I guess I’m less sure about that one. Maybe that was something my dad made up to scare me or something.”

“So your dad taught you all about human history stuff?” asked Cory.

“Yeah my dad knew all about human architecture and my mom knew all about their technology… stuff,” responded Rain.

“Oh, she was a uh… a crufter?” Cory asked.

Rain’s whiskers flinched at the unintentional pejorative. “Uhh yeah, but that’s uhh, not what they like to be called. They prefer the term Techno-Archeology or Technologist.”

“Oh sorry yeah. In Barzlow, the farm town I grew up in, we almost never saw any cruf…” Cory corrected himself, “I mean any technologists. And if we did they were just passing through. Probably because it’s in the middle of nowhere and all the human-made buildings are already picked over, the ones that are left standing anyway.”

Rain didn’t have anything to add to Cory’s statement, and the two sat in silence for a moment returning to their worried thoughts.

Noir’s voice saved them from their contemplation, announcing, “Cory Multan, please make your way to the starting area and wait to begin your trial.”

Cory, and the row of seats he was sitting in, lurched when Cory’s name was called. Rain snapped his head towards Cory and said, “You got this Cory, it was nice to meet you. Remember what we talked about before, show them how strong you are. Go tear up the course!”

Cory smiled grateful for the encouragement and said, “I’m sure you will do well too I’ll be seeing you around.” Cory’s seat groaned goodbye as he got up and made his way to the steps that lead down to the arena.

“Well, I hope most of the Anthros going to Shader University are nice like Cory and not brats like Rodney chair-kicker,” Rain thought to amuse himself. He then noted, “I will have to work on my name calling skills if I’m going to have a nemesis.”

Now that it was an Anthro he knew and cared about, Rain was even more invested in the event. It felt like it took forever for the judges to sound the bell signaling Cory to begin his trial.

At a mediocre pace, Cory jogged towards the Metal Velop zigzagging through the trenches and around obstacles in his path. With his long tongue hanging out of his panting mouth, it was apparent that the effort had already started to strain the boy’s cardio.

“Come on Cory you can do this,” Rain thought anxiously anticipating the lizard’s next move.

Cory grabbed the large metal-clad dummy and with a strained grunt tore the Velop dummy armor and all from its stand. Holding the majority of the dummy’s weight with his right arm, Cory took two large steps then extended his right arm rapidly launching the dummy like a shot put. The crowd gasped as the dummy rocketed through the air. It soared over six meters high at the zenith of its arc before crashing down to earth. The metal dummy made a loud thumping clang as it impacted on the surface, skidding, and coming to a halt just inside the starting area.

A murmur spread through the crowd at the teen’s unusual actions. It was an impressive feat of strength but the boy hadn’t retrieved the key like every other contestant had done. In a sing-songy voice that did nothing to disguise his glee, Rain heard Rodney say, “He screwed uh-uuup.” Even though Rain was still nervous for Cory, he allowed himself a smile. So far everything was going to plan.

After more jogging and climbing Cory was visibly winded by the time he made it to the base of the tower. Cory grabbed the dangling end of a thick rope that was wrapped around a section of scaffolding that was also bound to the top of the tower’s supports. He leaned back as he pulled on the rope with obvious effort. The tower groaned and shifted but remained upright. Rain saw Cory adjust his posture and close his eyes in concentration before once again pulling on the rope. The tower lurched towards him, a feat that seemed physically impossible, even for a teen his size. Cory pulled on the rope and brought his back hand forward and kept pulling end over end. The tower began to tip towards him and Cory was able to lean back and use his tail to support himself. The tower groaned and a shower of splintering wood sprang from the tower’s buckling legs. With a final crack the structure succumbed to Cory’s might and came crashing down towards him.

Cory, who had to take several steps back to restore his balance now that the tower was no longer offering resistance, was enveloped by dust when the tower impacted into the soft earth. The crowd who was cheering for Cory to topple the tower grew silent with anticipation as seconds passed with no sign of the large Anthro.

The dark streak of movement that emerged from the dust cloud captured the stadium’s attention as it flew across the arena. Only when the object crashed and tumbled into the starting area did its form become distinguishable as the mostly intact Leather Velop dummy.

The crowd’s mixed reaction of gasps and murmured questions created an organic hum as Cory began his measured jog towards the final raised pool obstacle. Cory walked right past the lock holding the net in place and grabbed the closest section of the coarse woven web. Cory yanked on the net, took a step back then yanked again. As Cory pulled in the net it came free of its poolside anchors with a series of snapping sounds that reminded Rain of logs crackling in a fire.

Another step back and another heave and half the net was released from its bindings and thrown clear of the pool. Cory made his way up the ramp and stood at the edge of the pool, apparently catching his breath before jumping feet first into the water.

“Ha, he jumped in without the key!” Rodney said, celebrating the perceived misfortune, “It’s going to be hilarious when he has to get back out and go get the key. His time is going to be sooo bad.”

Rain hated that there was any chance Rodney would be right. “I wish I had never even brought up that thing about the cage. What if he isn’t strong enough or something goes wrong? He might fail the trial or worse… It would be all my fault, and everyone would say it’s because of my ‘curse’. What if I am cursed?”

It was hard to tell what was going on in the pool as the water slightly distorted the shapes, but it looked like Cory had swam down and grabbed the cage at the bottom of the pool.

Rain’s worries were pierced with the water of the pool as a heavy metal cage, replete with mannequin, ejected itself from the pool. The stadium collectively gasped. Even Rain, the architect of Cory’s maneuver, was startled by the noisy clash of metal and concrete.

A moment later a dark shiny mass named Cory grabbed on to the ledge and pulled his long self out of the pool. Cory finally swung his lengthy black-scaled tail out of the water, rose to his feet, and took hold of the dripping metal cage with both hands. Making the immense weight look manageable, Cory lifted the cage in front of him, and began to trudge towards the starting area, his heavy footfalls and tail making deep unique gouges in the sand and wet earth as he traveled. Cory carried the unwieldy cube around a sandbag obstacle and over a soft soiled hill then picked up pace as he traversed more even ground.

With labored breath the lizard reached the starting area with his heavy burden, then set the cage down as gently as its weight would allow. Cory’s shaking hands came close to dropping his Null Collar as he picked it up and attached it to his neck. Time seemed to slow down as Rain waited for the double bell which didn’t follow. Rain’s eyes shot over to Noir who was talking to a fellow judge as his hands hovered near the pull rope attached to the bell. “Come on, what are you waiting for? Technically he finished,” Rain thought.

Another weighted second passed but the next brought with it validation as Noir gave a nod to the judge next to him and rang the bell twice signaling the end of the trial.

The crowd was torn between camps of acceptance and incredulity, the resulting vocal feedback prompted Noir to comment on the match. “The applicant has successfully completed the match and met all finishing requirements,” Noir announced to the stadium which hushed as it absorbed his information. “Both the keys and Wolfey are in the starting area. Yes, the key objects are still encapsulated in their Velop mediums but the only requirement is their presence in the starting area, not their freedom. Furthermore, because I failed to sound the bell in a timely fashion the applicant’s time will be reduced by three seconds.” The disapproving noises of the crowd were swallowed up by acquiescent adulation.

The usual Anthro mouse student ran up the ladder and delivered Cory’s amended time to the scoreboard. It read: 2’ 21”

“Yeah, Cory! Not a bad time and you got a chance to show off your skills,” Rain thought in contrast to Rodney who spoke loudly behind him, “Whatever, you’re strong we get it, your time sucked who cares.” Rain felt the urge to turn around and defend his new friend but resisted it, clenching his fists as his ears tucked themselves back in annoyance.

Cory looked too exhausted to react to the crowd, his time, or the judges as he trudged away from the starting area and towards the exit.

The restoration of the course took less time than Rain would have expected after something like Cory’s tower demolition. The Shadernaut proctors, apparently prepared for the tower’s destruction, pushed another identical tower in from another part of the arena floor. Rain was taken by the speed and coordination of a mouse wolf pair of Anthros moving the replacement tower. With a smooth lifting gesture the soot gray mouse woman caused the tower to lift itself into the air a few centimeters just as a brown wolf ran over and started pushing the lengthy structure. The pair moved together along a circuitous path made by the course obstacles to the location of the previous tower, which had already been cleared away by several Mana strong Anthro wolves. Within a minute of the tower arriving, ropes controlled by the Anthro mouse sprang up and tethered themselves to the tower, scaffolding, and grounding spikes, giving the new tower a striking resemblance to its fallen predecessor.

The next trial belonged to Trent Zarp, an Anthro wolf teen with black and brown fur who Rain thought resembled a famous wolf his parents used to watch on screens. Rain was so preoccupied with thoughts of Cory’s performance and his own trial that he wasn’t even following the one unfolding in front of him. His reverie was interrupted by communal gasps from all around him followed by the bell ringing three times.

Alerted, Rain brought his eyes up to the stadium floor where he spotted Trent the wolf. The wolf was holding his leg and rocking apparently in great pain. Based on his location, Rain guessed that the boy had tried to climb the tower and had fallen. At first Rain felt concern, then sorrow for the wolf, as proctors rushed towards him.

“Ha ha did you see the look on his face when he fell?” Rain heard Rodney ask his row behind him, receiving mild encouragement from an Anthro a few seats away. “I don’t need any more reasons to hate you Rodney but you keep giving them to me anyway,” Rain thought.

It only took the Anthro docents a few seconds to reach Trent. A pair of male wolves carried a stretcher while a pair of female mice, one of which Rain had seen before, hurried over to Trent and knelt beside him. They made the boy take his hands off of his leg and that is when Rain saw something that turned his stomach. Jagged pieces of Trent’s broken tibia had pierced his flesh, the white bone clearly visible against the black of the wolf’s blood-soaked fur.

The next thing Rain saw was equal parts horrifying and captivating. The white mouse woman placed her hands near Trent’s head, and the boy went from writhing in pain to lying back looking up at the sky with a new bemused look on his face. The gray mouse woman held her hand over Trent’s leg and his leg straightened out, his bone disappearing beneath his skin. The white mouse held her hand over the wound, and although Rain couldn’t see any change from his distant vantage point, he imagined that she was helping to heal the wound. “Poor Anthro, his leg will still take weeks to heal,” Rain thought, remembering the time he broke his arm in gymnastics when he was seven.

As Trent was taken off the field in a stretcher, he held up his hand in a wave to the crowd, which clapped and cheered for him. “Were they cheering that he was okay or to thank him for the bloody spectacle?” Rain wondered.

The course was quickly reset as all that was required was to replace the Metal Velop dummy and to kick some dirt over the small pool of Trent’s blood. So it was only a few minutes before Rain heard Noir’s voice say in an unusually polite tone. “Sally Montaz. Please make your way to the starting area where your trial is about to begin.”

The white-scaled lizard sitting behind Rain exclaimed, “Finally!” as she got out of her seat. Rain, admittedly biased from overhearing she came from nobility, expected to sense opulence in her. Rain’s assumption was validated by Sally’s walk, posture, and the sway of her tail, which all moved with the deliberate presence of nobility. Rain didn’t even notice himself reflexively sitting up and fixing his posture.

The Montaz name was one of the most well known names in Thromerica, synonymous with production and industry; the Montaz label could be found in most stores regardless of Citizenship Tier on things like appliances, work tools, and canned goods.

Thromerica had Tiers of Citizenship based on commonly perceived merit. The tiers descended from Platinum to Gold to Silver to Copper with a Paper Citizenship Rank being the lowest and most default of statuses. Having experienced everything except Platinum at his young age, Rain was in a unique place to judge such a system. The founding logic had been that it appeared all human societies that came before had hierarchies of wealth, even when they had a “free” market. The Thromerican founders decided to try and codify these wealth gaps at a federal level. The most famous historic line Rain could quote, as could most adult Anthros; “Humans needed money to prove their worth. Anthros that have worth don’t need money.”

While Rain’s opinions were still malleable, he often tried on theoretical disdain for these financially striated institutions, but some part of him was still drawn in by them. He knew that one way to judge a society is how it treats its criminals, and on that he would give his country a passing grade. There were few prisons in Thromerica and they contained only the most heinous of offenders. Nonviolent crimes were all punished with Citizenship penalties and quotas. Having lived in a Paper district, Rain saw firsthand how this pushed the least scrupulous Citizens to the fringes of civilization where they would have to contribute to society greatly if they wanted to return to a metallic district.

Rain was searching for communal belonging more than he was for Citizenship Rank. He had felt more sad and alone in his Copper district stints than when he lived in Paper districts. Thanks in part to Shadernaut food distribution sites, Rain never went hungry. He found that the Papers were more accepting of him, and that made it worth tolerating extremes of hot or cold that the developing districts had little means to combat.

Sally reached the starting area and examined her nails as she casually waited for her trial to begin. When the bell sounded the pale-scaled teen’s actions were swift and efficient. After removing her fancy gold Montaz made Null Collar, Sally took the now predictable route towards the Metal Velop dummy.

Stopping several meters away from her metal-clad target, Sally tumbled her open hands over one another. An orb of yellow and white danced between her rotating hands and grew with the rhythm of her movements. Sally broke her limbs’ repetition and pointed her right hand towards the Velop dummy. The orb, a blur of orange and yellow, sped through the air maintaining its mass. The sphere looked like it was made of both fire and energy, that chased and spiraled around one another as it arced towards the Velop. The radiant globe collided cleanly with its target’s armored chest and a loud explosion echoed through the stadium.

Rain wasn’t afraid of fire itself; a simple candle or a roaring bonfire didn’t bother him at all. What terrified Rain was fiery, violent, uncontrolled, terrible, deadly, explosions. Not an unusual or unreasonable thing in itself, but the scars on Rain’s psyche, as well as his body, made him uncommonly upset by the blast.

Reactions of the stadium’s spectators varied, some gasping, flinching, or even jumping a little in their seats, while others clapped or hooted approval for the spectacle. Rain’s reaction was as singular as it was severe. As the fiery orb exploded, he shot back in his chair like the blast had hit him directly. Rain, who had been rather collected up to this point, fractured into fear. He could feel the dread shoot from his core and travel out to his extremities causing his hair to bristle from toe to tail. Rain’s mind began to play his least favorite show. He stared blankly, no longer taking in the events of the outside world.

Rain’s daymare was only interrupted by his body’s demand for breath. Rain closed his eyes and let his lungs fill with air. “No, not now. Not when I’m about to go on,” Rain pleaded to himself or whatever human gods would listen. Rain exhaled slowly and deeply, forcing out as much air as he could, imitating a technique taught to him by Noir.

Feeling fractionally better, Rain willed himself to open his eyes. His gaze was immediately drawn to a fiery orb streaking across the arena and slamming into the base of the tower. This much closer explosion shattered one of the four beams holding up the tower. Splinters of flaming wood made small craters in the soft dirt and flames took refuge on the nearby scaffolding.

Rain was only slightly more prepared for this explosion. Again Rain jerked back in his seat. His movement was followed by a scoffing from behind him. When Rain realized that the noise belonged to Rodney, his tormentor, he added a garnish of shame and a sprinkle of sadness to his heaping plate of terror.

A third flaming ball sailed through the air and collided higher on one of the tower’s legs, pulverizing the wood and sending flaming shrapnel in towards Rain’s section. Flaming debris sped towards Rain and the rest of the waiting participants.

Flaming bits of wood and metal were about to reach the stands but were suddenly repelled by a field of force projected by one of the Shadernaut proctors. Rain had a front row seat for the spectacle of colliding debris that impacted on its invisible wall with a noise like electronic springs.

Unprepared for this spectacle, Rain lurched back in his seat just as Rodney maliciously kicked the back of his chair causing it to lurch forward. The combination of input caused Rain to tumble out of his seat and crumple into a kneeling ball on the floor. Most of the other Anthros nearby were too enamored with the fiery spectacle to notice his fall, but a lack of audience didn’t stop the stream of embarrassment that poured down Rain’s spine as he immediately scrambled to regain his chair.

Rain closed his eyes. All he could hear was the crackle of the besieged tower accompanied by a snide chortle of the Anthro deer behind him. When Rain opened his eyes once more he saw the crackling tower topple forward and crash to the ground. The audience and the few remaining participants near Rain all erupted in cheers. Through the crowd’s din of approval, Rain could make out the sound of poorly restrained laughter behind him. Rain’s fear and embarrassment shrank to make room for anger as he pointed his rage towards the Anthro deer who had successfully startled him.

Having recently sampled a number of emotions, Rain found anger to be his preference. Ideating on delivering an acrobatically delivered double-legged kick to Rodney’s stomach was the most comforting thought Rain had allowed himself since the explosions started. For a moment Rain was consumed by rage and he bent his legs and planted his feet on his seat preparing to launch himself into the seat behind him so he could pummel the chortling cervid. Traveling on a rushing river of anger, Rain was diverted by a swell of purpose. He reminded himself of his secret, his duty, his burden. Petty vengeance on the deer behind him faded in the light of context. Rain unfolded himself, unreadying himself for battle.

“Forget him, he’s nothing. I’m here to save everyone, even him,” Rain told himself. Once again able to refocus on the active trial before him. Rain squinted to see Sally picking through the rubble obscured by the smoke rising off the smoldering toppled tower. She seemed immune to the flames that smoldered around her as she searched for the key.

Rain closed his eyes and took a few more steadying breaths. When he opened his green eyes white-scaled Sally had retrieved her second key from the smoldering dummy and was sprinting her way towards the netted pool. When she arrived she didn’t move towards the lock as Rain expected, instead she went directly up the ramp and extended her arms palm out towards the net and pool. Streams of flame leapt out of the air in front of Sally’s hands and engulfed the net. Steam erupted from the net and the surface of the pool followed by smoke as the net began to catch fire and burn. Sally continued to feed her flame and it only took a few seconds for the ashen net to disintegrate into the pool.

Sally equipped her Blue Key and dove into the pool and in her absence Rain faded in and out of reality as he was scorched by intrusive thoughts of fire, pain, and loss. The trial moved on without Rain’s scrutiny. Sally’s match ended, all Rain noticed was the sting of smoke from quenched fires. The trials rolled over Rain in muted waves. Another trial began, then was replaced by another as Rain’s trauma coiled around his thoughts.

After making only interest payments on his psychic debt, Rain regained enough focus to once again concentrate on his breathing. A dozen slow exhales later Rain found himself present enough to look up at the scoreboard above the judges box. Five new names had been written in since Rain last appraised the board.

Sally Montaz	1’ 33”
Swirl Strung	1’ 54”
Drake Feather	1’ 29”
Aurther Montaz	1’ 39”
June Grafter	1’ 58”

“No matter what. It will be my turn soon,” Rain thought as he noted that there were only two other applicants left. Rain, wanting more time to collect himself, was grateful not to be called next. A red and black striped Anthro cat named Toby Krin was the next applicant called into the arena. Toby looked lean and muscular and was on the tall side for a cat Anthro, something that nurtured Rain’s envy.

“Great, now it’s only me and Rodney,” Rain thought, feeling anxious about what the deer behind him might do now that there wasn’t anyone else in the waiting area.

Rain’s mood improved with each passing minute as he watched the other cat traverse the course. He took particular interest in the way Toby was able to manifest and wield his blue plasma blades. The blades Toby produced were over thirty centimeters, far larger than anything Rain had been able to create, and had a cleaner conical shape. The metal armored dummy offered Toby little resistance as he cut his target into thirds vertically. Finding the key quickly, Toby was able to vault over and between several obstacles saving himself time on his route.

Rain was once again envious of Toby when he saw the boy reach the base of the tower, summon his blades, and with a jabbing motion send them shooting in azure streaks at the Leather Velop. Flying for over five meters, the blades diminished in size as they traveled, losing about half of their volume before slicing into their target. It took a second volley to slice the railing the Velop dummy was perched on to cause it to fall to the ground a meter away from Toby. Rain was impressed with Toby’s Mana manipulation; he had never been able to throw his blades more than a meter. “How much practice did it take him to learn how to do that?” he wondered to himself.

Being allowed to practice Mana manipulation was something Rain had to fight for. In the Copper and Paper districts he had been living in, there were few Mana Practice areas where he was allowed to remove his Null Collar and practice with Mana. On top of that Noir had convinced Rain to keep his teleportation a secret and only practice it when they had a private Mana Practice area. So while most of the other applicants his age had hundreds of hours of Mana coaching and practice, Rain had only been able to work on his Mana control a dozen or so times in the five years since his parents died.

Rain’s parents had taken him to a special youth Mana Training course at Furlang University a couple of times, but the curriculum focused on control and safety not the application of his powers.

Even though he almost burnt down his tree house, Rain remembered the day he learned he had Mana abilities as a happy one. His dad had been visibly pleased that Rain had inherited his mother’s ability. “Plasma Blades have excellent utility for so many different professions. They rely on the skilled plasma welders to do all sorts of things. Craftsmen, welders, plumbers, tunnelers and miners, even doctors and technologists like your mother,” his dad had said.

Rain remembered his response had been, “What about the Shadernauts? They can use plasma wielders too, right?” His dad had replied, “Yes, them too.” Though his dad hadn’t said it, Rain, a student of his parents’ emotions, inferred from the slight droop of his ears and brow that he didn’t think much of the vocation.

Toby finished the rest of the trial with few complications, the most notable being when he almost fumbled the Blue Key into the pool as he unclipped it from his belt. The key had bounced towards the pool and came close to falling in before Toby grabbed it. The now very large crowd had all gasped and cheered when the cat avoided calamity. Toby’s size and strength saw him through with a time of 1’ 37”. Toby looked deservedly pleased with himself waving to the cheering crowd as he exited the arena.

“Well, they are definitely not saving the best for last!” Were Rodney’s snide words as he heard his name called for the penultimate trial. Rain now had a last name to go with his bully’s first: Stilspek.

Rain’s ears tugged themselves down towards his skull. He recognized that name. It belonged to one of the most famous Mana families in Thromerica. Rain had heard the Stilspek name, in discussions he had mostly eavesdropped on, used in the kind of reverence that only a sports legend could garner. Rain wasn’t sure what the nature of his Mana power was, or how many Stilspeks there were, but he knew he didn’t like at least one of them.

Rain rolled his eyes and chose to not react as Rodney Stilspek gave his seat a parting kick saying, “Enjoy the show, little guy,” then clopping away.

“Enjoy losing to me!” Rain shot back in a mocking tone. The verbal barb had the desired effect as the deer stopped in his tracks and turned around to glare at Rain. Rain met his gaze and gave him a wicked grin. Rodney gave a somewhat convincing laugh and said, “Dream on little loser,” then continued his walk away. Rain noted that even the deer’s hooffalls were annoying as he listened to Rodney’s heavy metallic footsteps stomp their way down the aisle and then the stairs that lead towards the starting area.

Rain wondered what Rodney’s Mana powers might be. Given how cocky Rodney had been, Rain guessed Rodney’s Mana let him do something powerful, something rare.

Rain didn’t have to wait long to discover the nature of Rodney’s powers. The moment the bell sounded Rodney lifted off the ground and began to hover towards the Metal dummy. “So he has telekinesis?” Rain thought not convinced he was right because they had already seen Mana manipulation of that sort today and he had never heard of a deer having that ability.

Unlike the hovering mouse girl before Rodney didn’t land between obstacles, instead making his way directly towards the Metal Velop, picking up speed as he went. When Rodney was about four meters from his target, he slowed then stopped midair and held out his hands. The air began to crackle with electricity and the Metal Velop shook. Somehow defying gravity the heavy object, rose into the air towards the boy deer. Rodney pivoted midair towards the starting area and the dummy turned with him. A throwing gesture, then an electric pop and the dummy was suddenly repulsed away from Rodney. The dummy flew over thirty meters before impacting the ground a meter short of the starting area. Tumbling, its heavy armor now dented from the landing, the dummy came to a grinding halt inside the starting area.

Rodney didn’t wait for the dummy to land to start heading towards his next target. As the brown-furred deer floated towards the leather dummy, Rain noticed a glint of metal coming from Rodney’s hooves and remembered the metallic clank of his footfalls earlier. “He must be able to control metal somehow,” Rain thought, “He lifts his metal shoes and that allows him to hover,” Rain further deduced.

As Rodney passed by the Leather Velop in its tower, he held out his brown hand. The Blue Key, flanked by small arcing strands of electricity, removed itself from the dummy. Rodney grabbed his obedient prize and attached it to his belt as he glided down towards the netted pool.

Rodney came to a halt above the middle of the pool then slowly brought his hands over his head. The water began to churn, then with a gasp from the crowd, the metal cage broke the surface of the water. The mass of metal continued to lift itself towards Rodney, and it was nearly completely out of the water when it was stopped by the net anchored to the sides of the pool. Rodney floated a few feet further away from the cage and the ropes began to creak with strain. Rodney made a pulling gesture, and with a series of loud snaps the net gave way to the metal cage which sprung up and obediently followed Rodney’s flight back to the starting area. The stadium, whose attention had been divided during some of the previous trials, was completely focused on Rodney and his impressive display. The place echoed with approval for the deer and his incredible pace through the course.

“Wish I had thought of that,” Rain said to himself sarcastically, noting the similarities between Rodney’s and Cory’s run. Rodney, followed by the occupied metal cage, finished his jog paced glide to the starting area. Rain rolled his eyes when Rodney held his hands out like a superhero on a screen. Landing at his destination with a smug satisfied smile, Rodney casually waved his hand in the air, and the Null Collar rose up and snapped itself around his neck.

The heavy metal cage immediately fell half a meter, crashing into the earth with a wounded thump of metal hitting sand. The stadium remained inundated with shouts and applause for the deer as he held his hands up in triumph. Rodney turned his back on the judges and looked right at Rain and gave him a dry smile. As the crowd continued to cheer for him, Rodney held his stare and rolled his fists together one over the other then moved them apart while spreading his fingers simulating an explosion that culminated into a finger pointed at Rain.

Rain doused the urge to make his own gesture back at Rodney, instead giving him a bored shrug and a yawn hoping to indicate his lack of concern. Rodney turned back and waved to the crowd eliciting another round of cheers as he walked off the testing field.

In contradiction to his assumed affect, Rain was concerned. Rodney’s record-breaking time of 53” would be a hard time to beat, giving him little leeway for error if he wanted to set the fastest time through the trial. With his new rival setting such a low time, Rain began to consider more dangerous, less tested strategies.

Rain’s ruminations were not aided by the thousands of onlookers all seemingly now focused on him, and he didn’t have to look around to know that he was the last contestant. The lack of chatter near him and the sound of the crowd echoing off of the seats around him all pointed towards a sense of solitude. The crowd felt… hungry. Like it had a giant psychic maw that wanted to swallow Rain whole.

Once the course appeared to be reset, Rain watched Noir waiting for a sign that his trial would finally begin. Noir was engaged in a conversation with the other judges in which he appeared to be doing most of the talking. “Please can I just go already?” Rain thought as the minutes dragged on. Rain’s anxiety eventually found its way to his legs and tail and both began to twitch restlessly.

Finally Dean Noir shifted his posture forward and grabbed the microphone to announce, “The final applicant for today is Rain Ström. Rain Ström, please make your way to the starting area.” The words amplified by the bullhorn bounced around the crowded arena, vibrated through the damp morning air, and found their way into Rain’s awareness. His black conical ear with white specks gave a slight twitch as his name was called.

“Why’d he have to say my name twice?” Rain thought as he got out of his seat trying to ignore the crowd’s dual factions of confusion and amusement. “Well at least with Noir announcing my name everyone here will have heard it correctly at least once,” he thought. Rain Ström was quite used to being called Rain Storm, a subtle distinction, but one that was often a signal between friend and foe. When he was a child being called “Storm” meant an insult or a pun was coming, but lately it had been an indication that he had been forced to lie about his identity to an Anthro.

“Hopefully I will earn a better name than the moniker ‘Sh*t Storm’ so carefully bestowed on me by that sad, cruel avian during my ‘cherished’ time in that Paper group home,” Rain’s inner monologue announced, using sarcasm to strum the dissonance of existence.

“I would like to take a moment to assure everyone in attendance that this applicant meets all the requirements to be here today.” Rain heard Noir announce to the stadium. “I guess he is trying to get ahead of all the confusion my condition causes. That’s probably what he was talking to the other judges about,” Rain guessed.

Most of his way to the starting area Rain wished he could use his power to make a flashy entrance. “No one is going to care about my size when they see what I can do.” Rain psyched himself up. “Hey, I can still show off my gymnastics!” he thought as he did a forward flip down the last flight of stairs leading onto the field. Rain crouched as he landed then sprung into a sprint towards the starting area. About five meters out, Rain spun around and did a series of six back handsprings stopping centimeters short of the chalk line marking the threshold to the starting area. Rain did a final big backflip with a half-twist landing him facing forward into the starting space. Rain was sure to land with good posture and with his hands over his head.

Rain’s acrobatics had the desired effect on the crowd which cheered for the unexpected spectacle. Now close enough to get a good look at the judges, Rain could decipher little from their stoic stares.

Rain let himself get caught up in the aura of adulation coming from the crowd for only a moment. He knew the task before him was a daunting one and would take all of his focus. Looking around at his immediate vicinity, Rain tried to memorize everything about the location. The composition of the dirt beneath his feet, the smell of the air, the swirl of the wood grain of the small oak table holding a Null Collar key. “This is the spot. Remember this spot,” Rain urgently repeated to himself.

Noir gave him a final notice, “The judges are ready to proceed. You may remove your Null Collar. Your trial starts at the sound of the bell.”

They were the words Rain had been longing to hear for more than a year. “This is it! For Mom and Dad!” he thought.

Rain, who appeared to most in attendance to be only nine years old, picked up the silvery Null Key and waved it near the thing that separated him from most of his powers. A small light on the collar flashed green, and the magnets in the device shifted. It took little effort for him to pull off the Mana damping device and reveal the Throtech glyph on the inside of the collar. Rain placed the stifling device on the small timbered table and tried to take one last mental picture of the place. Then the bell rang and his trial began.