Time Trial Time

Rain’s attention remained on Dean Noir as he took his seat amongst the other four judges. The dean shuffled a few papers then called the name of the first contestant into a standing microphone that conducted his amplified voice through the arena. “Atlas Varpath. Please make your way to the starting area.”

A gray-furred Anthro wolf teen with a green spikey mohawk who was seated in the middle of the front row stood up with a celebratory yip. Atlas got the show started with an impromptu acrobatic demonstration doing a forward flip over the railing in front of him. The Anthro landed with grace on the dirt field two meters below, enticing the crowd’s approval. Maintaining his momentum, the wolf jogged to the starting area all the while punching invisible assailants. The overeager teen reached for the shiny Null Collar key but before Atlas could touch it the mildly exasperated voice of Dean Noir boomed out of the stadium speakers saying, “Do please wait to remove your collar until when it is that you are told. This is going to be a long day for me and repeating myself is getting old.”

Atlas, who up until this point had been surfing on waves of confidence, was now wading through a pool of embarrassment as a murmured laugh from the crowd and applicants flooded the stadium. The laughter transformed into an awkward silence until a shout from a female wolf in the stands pierced the uncomfortable moment shattering the silence, “Awwwoo. You got this Atlas! Show them what you got!” Rain could see the owner of the voice was one of several Anthro wolves sitting together towards the front of the spectators section. “It must be nice having a family to root for you,” Rain thought, sparing only a moment to indulge in self pity before going back to worrying about the trial.

After a disciplinary minute, Noir gave Atlas permission to remove his Null Collar. Atlas did so then waited for the trial to begin. Rain watched intently hoping to gain insights about the challenge he would soon face.

When he heard the starting bell, Atlas grabbed a sword from the rack and took off towards the first target at an impressive rate of speed. When Atlas was three meters away from the target, he leapt, and flipped over the Velop dummy, landing behind it. Rain thought the long heavy blade looked too large for the wolf to handle; it being almost as tall as he was, but Atlas made the weapon look light as he turned around and slashed the back of his target. His well aimed strike avoided the thicker parts of the metal armor and found an opening. The dummy’s back ripped open and straw flew everywhere.

Atlas stabbed his blade in the mock Velop’s leg, freeing his hands to look for the key. After a few frantic swipes he plunged his furry arm into the Velop’s torso rooting around for a key. A few moments later he gave a yip as he found the key and yanked it from the Velop’s body. Rain strained to get a good look at the key which was bright red and on a loop ten centimeters in diameter. Atlas clipped the key onto his belt as he took off running towards the next target able to move even faster now that he had left his sword behind.

After a dozen or so seconds of sprinting and vaulting, Atlas reached the scaffolding surrounding his second target’s tower. Never slowing down, he jumped from platform to platform making it to the tower in three massive leaps. Rain knew the impressive strength and speed the wolf displayed were Mana enhanced.

A furry gray blur, Atlas easily ripped the leather armor off the target and dug the sharp nails of his hands into the Velop dummy. He quickly found his prize and ripped a blue ring bound key from the figure, causing it to crumple into pieces.

Atlas’s belt received the keyring from his fuzzy fist before he vaulted over a railing dropping over two meters to the platform below, the slap of wood informing his impact. From there he was able to run along the platform jump and push himself off a wall in the direction of the netted pool.

Reaching the lock holding the net in place, the wolf was tall enough to quickly use his key to unlock the net without having to remove the ring from his belt, then run to the other side so he could pull the net free. Atlas heaved, and with a strained grunt he pulled the heavy net back and to the side. It took him several tugs, the final one causing him to stumble backwards, to get the net clear of the pool’s surface. The silver wolf boy took a moment to detach the Blue key from his belt before running and jumping up the three-meter height of the pool. Now that the pool was uncovered, Rain could barely make out a distorted shape that must be the mannequin-filled cage at the bottom.

In a single breath, Atlas swam down and unlocked the submerged cage and pulled out Wolfey the mannequin. Rain, still unsure of how to manage the burden, was relieved to see that the rubber of the mannequin was at least buoyant. Atlas effortlessly pushed Wolfey ahead of him as he swam, his once coiffed mohawk now a tangled green braid. Arriving at the back of the pool and finding no footholds or ladders, Atlas had to push himself up and out of the pool before taking hold of Wolfey. With a grunting heave Atlas lifted Wolfey out of the pool then tucked the dripping luggage under one arm as he headed towards his final destination.

Breathing heavy, Atlas could only manage a brisk off kilter jog while carrying the mannequin’s weight. When Atlas neared his destination he gave one last push of effort and jumped over a small trench instead of going around it, picking up pace before crossing into the starting area. Atlas not so carefully dropped Wolfey at his feet and quickly grabbed his Null Collar and secured it around his neck. A pull string bell chimed twice signaling he had successfully completed his trial. Atlas raised his arms in triumph and the crowd ignited with applause, cheers, and howls. Rain could see and hear the group of wolves that had encouraged Atlas earlier standing and howling loudly for him. The touching display rekindled Rain’s feelings of isolation, which he once again had to stuff down inside himself.

Rain watched Atlas leave the arena through an opening next to the judge’s box on the arena floor. A teenage mouse boy dressed in Shader student attire caught Rain’s eye as he scrambled up a ladder attached to a raised platform containing a large chalkboard with an empty set of gridded spaces, their imperfections providing proof of their hand-drawn provenance. Reaching the elevated platform the teen mouse wrote ATLAS in large block letters then in the next space. 1’47” to indicate his time.

It was an impressive time to be sure and Rain had expected that some of the others in the group, including himself, had what it took to beat such a time. But what were the chances of someone doing so well right away? Was everyone this talented?

Movement from the center of the arena drew Rain’s attention. He saw at least a dozen Anthros, mostly wolves, moving through the course. Some carried replacement Velop dummies while others carried tools for construction or cleaning. One mouse held out his hands and pieces of one of the fallen dummies sprang to life and floated themselves into a wheeled trashcan pushed by a redheaded wolf. With the Mana wielding Anthros working together, it only took a few minutes for the course to be reset to its original state.

Rain was even more impressed with the next applicant’s display of Mana manipulation. Aspen Freon was a blue and white furred deer that Rain, judging by the length of his antlers, guessed was also about fifteen. As the family name would suggest, Aspen, like others in his family, had the ability to use Mana on nearby water, either causing it to freeze, melt, or propel itself through the air. Aspen’s motions felt well practiced as he used the water surrounding his first target to create ice projectiles that pierced the Velop dummy’s metal armor on multiple sides. Aspen successfully speared the Blue key and easily plucked it off one of the meter long ice spikes protruding from the dummy. Aspen was properly compensated with cheers from the crowd.

Unlike the last contestant, Aspen appeared inoculated to adulation. Consumed by some arcane kata, the deer’s hooves dug a hole in the sand as he spun around slowly. Water from the moat rose up to meet the level of his hands and began to rotate with the teen deer. After a full rotation, the deer’s open hands turned to fists as he punched the air in front of him. The water rushed out in front of Aspen and solidified, forming a raised ice road that stretched over several obstacles in the direction of the leather clad Velop in its tower. With a quick pivot then a forward stride into a jump, Aspen leapt onto his newly fashioned road of ice and began to slide forward with a blob of floating moat water still chasing behind him. The frictionless interaction of hoof and ice propelled the boy faster and faster, and, using the water pursuing him, he created more ice road which formed into a ramp at the end. Aspen used the last of his water to create an ice blade on his hands as his ramp propelled him up and towards the faux-Velop in the tower. Aspen used his frozen blades to pierce the leathery foe and retrieve the Blue Key, but his lack of water meant that his exit from the tower was much more pedestrian than his arrival.

When Aspen got within a few meters of the pool, water leapt out of it to meet him. It gathered him up, raising him in its watery column. Aspen held his palms open in front of him, then flicked his fore and ring fingers up towards the sky. Angry ice swords leapt from the pool, slicing the net free on one side. With a swing of his arm the water removed the net from itself, spitting the heavy net out and away from him.

Aspen dove into the water and was immediately brought to the locked cage below. He remained underwater for a moment presumably using the key to open the cage, then the pool water began to swell, then jet into the air! Shooting through the watery column was Aspen with Wolfey in tow. They quickly arrived at the top of the watery pillar, now a dozen meters high. The water morphed and fell into a slide that sent Aspen and the dummy rapidly sliding over the many obstacles as they were ramped right into the finishing area. The few ice constructs still left standing disintegrated into water and mist when Aspen put on his Null Collar and the double bell sounded ending the round.

With Aspen casually walking towards the exit the crowd had to celebrate his victory for him. His time of 1’ 16” was written on the scoreboard. Rain found himself impressed by the teen’s speed and demeanor, but sadly Aspen’s approach to the trial wasn’t one Rain could emulate.

With the moat and pool mostly drained, the cost of time and effort to restore the arena was higher than in the previous round. While Rain waited in his seat, he tried not to overhear the conversation Rodney, his cervid antagonist, was having behind him. Rain rotated his ears away from the chatter, but despite his efforts he overheard Rodney saying to the Anthro lizard next to him, “Sally, if you end up going before me, you should hang back and watch my run. It won’t take long, and it will be very impressive.” Rain thought the deer’s tone sounded like he longed for her approval.

Rain smirked to himself when he heard the teen lizard reply in a tone that was as sassy as it was dismissive, “Whatever, I’m only here to qualify. It’s really just a formality for me and my cousin. I hate that they make us sit here. I wish I was up in the spectators lounge with my parents. I mean why do they get all the catering? I’m the one who is about to exert herself.”

Rain imagined Rodney with a sullen expression after being so passively dismissed, and it gave him a hollow sense of joy. Sally, the lizard Anthro behind Rain, continued to catalog her discontent with the venue before starting to list things she would rather be doing. She was eventually silenced by Dean Noir announcing the next applicant. “Sora Daedalus please come down and prepare to start your trial.”

The avian girl sitting a few seats to Rain’s left stood up and did a box jump onto the railing in front of her, gaining a firm hold on the railing with her anisodactyl avian feet. Rain could see the blue-white feathered avian’s plumage puff themselves up as she unfolded her wings in preparation for flight. Her uniform was specially fitted and altered to allow the large wings coming out of her back, as well as her tail feathers, to move unimpeded through her shirt, pants, and well-worn jacket. Rain was close enough to see a name patch on the sleeve that read DAEDALUS in block letters. This struck Rain as unusual as no one else he saw that day had a personalized uniform.

Rain wondered if the uniform might be a hand me down as Sora spread her turquoise wings and jumped. With a wingspan of nearly two meters, wider than she was tall, her wings caught the air and she began to fly. Sora picked up speed as she descended towards the starting area doing a corkscrew around her destination before diving up and down into a fluid landing. Rain was excited to see Sora Daedalus’s trial as he had always enjoyed the avian spectacle of flight. “I wish I had wings,” Rain thought, “all avians get the power of flight at an early age and the government never tries to regulate that power.”

Rain wasn’t disappointed with Sora’s performance. On her mark, Sora flew up and then dove down on the Metal Velop sending a directed shockwave of energy that blew the dummy apart. While effectively destroying her target, the extent of the destruction cost Sora a few seconds as she had to sift through the hay and canvas “Velop” remains to find the Red Key. The avian made up for some of her lost time with a quick winged journey over to the next Velop. Flying up over the tower, her next diving blast on the Leather Velop dummy was more subdued, but not enough to keep her prize in the tower. As the dummy sailed towards the pool, Sora jumped and caught it as it fell. Sora glided the Velop towards the raised netted pool then landed on top of her victim which split open from the impact. Finding her second key, Sora unlocked the netted ropes then jumped up and slammed the ground, creating a small shockwave that brushed the heavy net aside.

With the obstacle clear Rain expected Sora to jump in immediately and was surprised as she paused. She rocked back and forth bobbing her head and gave a false start before finally committing to her dive. The avian moved through the water somewhat awkwardly as compared to her aerial grace. After an above average amount of time, the blue avian emerged from the water, her feathers wet and clinging to her body. Either because Wolfey was too heavy to fly with, or because she couldn’t fly when wet, Sora power walked the dummy to the starting area and completed her test, getting a time of 1’ 44”.

As Rain watched and waited he felt the seat next to him shift as the large boy lizard next to him got up and moved down so that he now had an empty spot on either side of him, his large arms now free to have their own seats.

Rain immediately changed positions now that he had the real estate to do so. Before Rain had only been acquainted with his large black-scaled uniformed arm and legs of the massive lizard teen, but now out of the corner of his eye Rain could see some of his scales were purple and they made swirling patterns down his thick neck.

After getting comfortable in his new location the large lizard Anthro turned to Rain and said in his elevated tone, “Sorry if I was crowding you before, I’m always too big for everything.” Rain decided the sound of the lizard’s voice would only have been a little higher than average for a fifteen-year-old, but coming out of such a substantial Anthro, it felt out of place.

Rain said, “Yeah, I’m always having the same problem,” while scrunching up into a tiny ball. Using sarcasm by reflex as it was often his default setting.

After receiving several seconds of blank stare, Rain realized his jest had overshot its target. “Uh, it’s okay as you can see I’m pretty tiny so I don’t need much room,” Rain explained his joke.

It took the lizard a moment to absorb Rain’s attempt at humor. The lizard teen tilted his head back as he laughed then said, “You’re funny Thro. My name is Cory Multan.”

“Uh, hi I’m Rain,” Rain said appreciating Cory’s friendly gesture.

“Ohh, like Rain, like the stuff in clouds?” Cory managed.

“Yeah, Rain, like the stuff that comes out of storms.” Rain sighed.

“Ha ha yeah. Storm. That would be funny if that was your name,” Cory said unknowingly. Rain thought it easier to move the conversation along rather than dwell on his name.

Cory reached his balled fist out to Rain clearly intent on initiating a fist bump. The lizard’s large arms stretched far enough that Rain barely had to move to reciprocate the gesture. Rain’s apple-sized fist softly collided with Cory’s melon-sized glove and brought a large toothy smile to the lizard’s face.

“Now I feel bad,” thought Rain, “Why did he have to go and be nice? It was so much easier not liking him.”

“Ohh looks like they are about to call the next name!” Cory said, his attention now belonging to the judges’ booth.

The next applicant to be called to trial was Trevor Daedalus, an avian boy with yellow and blue feathers. He wore shiny gold rings on his black taloned feet, one on each of his three forward toes and two on his one back digit. Trevor had an energy blast power like Sora, the difference being he could project beams of energy at his target. Trevor blasted his way through the dummies fast enough, but like Sora, he faltered on the watery rescue portion, leaving him with a time of 1’ 49”.

After Trevor’s score was announced and he walked off the field, Cory leaned over towards Rain. Rain couldn’t decide if his tone was one of condescension or the natural way he spoke. “So what is your Mana power? Plasma Spikes?” Rain saw his opportunity to avoid an uncomfortable subject and took it. “Yeah, you guessed it,” he lied through omission.

“How about you? I bet yours is strength?” Rain countered.

“You know it!” the lizard replied, punctuating his words with a flex of his hulking arms and giving a short hiss.

Rain couldn’t help but smile at the boy’s effusive enthusiasm. When the lizard named Cory was done flexing he leaned in close and beckoned Rain with his hands giving him the impression that he wanted to tell him a secret. Rain brought his star specked black ear towards the lizard’s snout. Either because of his size, or more likely due to his inexperience with whispering, Cory’s words were a loud enough pitch to cause Rain to pull back slightly.

“I was late getting to the trials today because there were so many Anthros trying to get into the stadium.” Rain absorbed the lizard’s obvious statement and grew concerned that more like it would follow. “I was supposed to be able to cut to the front of the line because I’m an applicant. Most of the Shader Staff were nice and helped me get through. They let me cut through all the lines, and one of them used his power to float me up to the second level. Can you believe it? Then I was rushing and I bumped into a few Anthros, and I had to stop and apologize, and that slowed me down a bit.”

“Well his Mana power isn’t story telling,” Rain snidely thought.

“But then I was stopped by some lizard in a suit with a gun, he said I had to wait for some royal lizard lady to go first because of ‘security’. Do you think that’s the parent of that girl Sally behind us?” It seemed an altogether likely conclusion to Rain, but he had no more information than Cory so he just shrugged. Rain mistook Cory taking a breath as a pause in the conversation. Rain attempted to say something but his words were immediately plowed over by the loquacious alto lizard.

“And while I was waiting I heard Anthros talking in the crowd about why there are so many Anthros here today. And they were all like; ‘cause there is a rumor some cursed orphan kid can teleport himself and everyone wants to see’. I wonder if it’s true, I have never heard of someone being able to do that before. Teleportation sounds kinda made up.” Rain barely heard the last of what Cory said. The twin shocks of the lizard’s story being about him, and the revelation that the crowd was here to see his powers on display, changed Rain’s appraisal of the boy’s story entirely. Rain felt his ears crease with anxiety and embarrassment creep across his whiskers.

Having delivered his hot gossip, the lizard leaned back and looked at Rain clearly hoping for a reaction of shock or intrigue. Instead Cory could only scry sadness? Anger? Which seemed to confuse him. “You okay?” Cory asked.

Rain took a moment to decide whether to try and change the subject or to give Cory the “official” story. After reminding himself that these were going to be his new schoolmates and that everyone was going to know all about him soon enough, Rain decided to tell the giant lizard the truth. Rain was hoping to surprise Rodney though, so he decided to keep the conversation private. Rain stepped on the seat between himself and Cory and barely had to bend his legs to whisper directly into the lizard’s ebony tympanum.

“I’m the one they were talking about,” Rain whispered. Cory’s eyes went wide. “I do have plasma blades, but I can also teleport. And just so you know, even though everyone says I’m cursed, I’m not. I was in an accident with a human relic. That is why I’m stuck at this age. I look nine but I’m actually fifteen. Please don’t say anything to anyone else yet, I’m trying to keep a low profile for now,” Rain finished his reveal and stepped back on to his seat and sat down.

He looked up at Cory and the Anthro lizard’s open-mouthed stare as he processed what Rain had told him. Cory turned to Rain and started to say something, but was interrupted by the announcement of the next participant. Distracted, the lizard turned his body and head away from Rain, and towards the arena. The two sat in silence watching the next match. Leaving Rain to wonder whether or not Cory was afraid of him and his “curse.”