SMT: Reflections Prelude

Zephyr Arc - Chaldea, Vanguard Barracks | Training Hall

Cherry took a seat on top of a weapons wrack as Zephyr took up his stance, grin adorning his face. It still looked harmless enough. Bringing up some imaginary demons, he began swinging with practiced ease.

It began with precision and grace, strikes flowing one after another. To a viewer, perhaps it might look like some sort of dance. The movements and skills chiseled into him by the master over the years shone through briliantly.

Then, a practiced eye might see, his movements slowly but surely became faster, more frenzied. Eventually, they became disjointed and rough, like a wounded beast thrashing about. His eyes showed a glint of madness as the imaginary demons morphed into imps... and then the imps grew to massive proportions.

Zephyr swung wildy at them with desperation, cutting down one after another. When he cut one down, ten more sprung up, more ferocious than the last. His expression twisted, his breath ragged as he swung with a vengeance... and then the world shattered as he felt the force of a tiny fist clobber him right in the jaw.

Zephyr fell to the floor in a heap, drenched from head to toe in sweat. "Shift, now!" A familiar voice commanded. He complied unconsciously. Next he knew, his vision was filled by a mop of green hair. "You just have to do this before every important test, don't you?" Cherry said as she hugged him. He slowly calmed down as he returned her embrace.

Amira POV
______________________________

The dim light of a candle casts the shadow of its owner onto the walls of the room. Despite being late, the occupant still standing waves her arms wide as if greeting or saluting someone. "I'm telling you, I'm just slightly nervous." She speaks to someone, despite there being no one else inside the room.

"I'm not scared! Even if I fail, it's not like I'll die. Life continues and I'll just keep walking forward." Not only that, her attention seems to be focused on a specific section of the room. With her back turned away from the candle and her eyes turning into the darkness that covers her bed. "Besides, it's hard to imagine me failing... though if I had to imagine, I would probably be pretty shaken."

The room is simple in design, there's a bed, a table, and a chair in terms of furniture. There were a few books around the floor, some open other closed, it impossible to say what they were about in the darkness, but Amira knew that they were fantasy and romance literature. There was also a window to the outside although the curtains were open wide as Amira enjoyed waking up early when the sun bathed her face. The single candle provided limited vision to her room. However unless someone else had moved the books on the floor, she knew exactly where each one was.

"What I'll do after? I guess I'll hunt for demons... I guess I haven't thought that much after that..." Amira continues to speak by herself despite there being no other voice in the room. "It's healthy to go one goal at a time! I'll think of something else after I graduate." Although Amira is usually someone who pays great attention to detail, due to her energetic talk she didn't notice the room temperature going down.

Gad, Vanguard Barracks - Garden

'You know, there's a saying that had been passed down by my demon tribes, when we die, we are born as stars. To be free from this conflict once and for all.' Said Eins, Gideon looked at him, 'You are not going to become a star, I won't let you.' Gideon said with seriousness, Eins smirked, 'Yeah, I guess, until you grow too old for an adventure, I will stick around.' Then Gideon grinned. 'Ha! As if!! I am not going to give up adventuring the world, it takes more than death to make me give up!' Then the both laughed about it so.

Gad sighed, and smiled weakly. He stretched himself, the cold air pretty much calmed him down. The frustration he had been feeling and the bad mood that got hold of him was lighter.

He did start to wonder though about this chillier air. Vayu, the summoner he had met earlier sounded like it was not significant, but to Gad, he felt something strange about this chill.

Something was off.

"Perhaps, I should check on the boilers..." Gad muttered to himself, "I don't want participants to get sick and screw up my test." Then he looked at the moon, at the stars. He smiled nostalgically, and slowly walked towards the barracks. He was going to check on the boiler room.

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

- Vayu -

Vayu, still standing in the courtyard, watched as Zephyr left in a hurry.

He shook his head. Well tomorrow would certainly be interesting.

His eyes fell down on his gauntlet. Hopefully he could pass, not for his sake, but for Catequil. It was their chance to become stronger.

"Argh, what have I gotten myself into?" he asked the sky and ran his hand through his hair.

After staring at the clear sky for a few more seconds, he turned around and started to walk back.

Zephyr Arc - Chaldea, Vanguard Barracks | Training Hall

Zephyr woke some time later to his hair being stroked. He found himself in the lap of a familiar girl, who was humming a nostalgic tune. He closed his eyes again for a moment, soaking in the melody. "You're finally back to yourself I see." The girl said, before returning to her humming. Opening his eyes back up to look at her, he caught her gentle smile. "Yea... Sorry about that. I thought I'd gotten a better handle on in lately." He raised a hand and rested it on Cherry's head. "Hey, Cherry... I've always wondered, but why is your name Cherry?" He asked, perhaps still in a bit of a daze.

Still stroking his hair, she let out a short giggle before she replied. "I'm not quite sure either. The master said my parents must've been pretty eccentric..." The topic of parents was always a sore spot for the both of them, as they'd lost theirs in the same incident. The master seemed quite certain she had an uncle or aunt wherever the Pixies called home, but he'd always been cryptic about the whole thing. She herself had never made an effort to return either. After all, most of her memories were here, with Zephyr and the master.

Zephyr had closed his eyes again, reveling in having his hair stroked. He nodded as she answered, her bell-like laughter music to his ears. She returned to humming, and they spent a while longer like that.

*set my suitcase and backpack down along the side. goes to get bowls, pans, bring out the ingredients I need and set the temperature on the oven* “This will help me find every one with the aroma of food”

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

- ? -

As Gad began to walk back, a sudden gust of cold rushed past him.

"Hee ho!!!"

In a blur, something white and round spun through the air and landed before him. The small figure straightened up and whirled around, brandishing a katana at Gad, the blade crystalline like ice.

Spoiler:

"I've hee ho arrived!" it declared. "I'm Van Frost, The first demon Vanguard, a champion of all the weak and down-trodden! I'm Van Frost, hee ho!"

There was a moment's pause as he looked up at Gad, bouncing on the heels of his feet.

"How's that? Are you impressed, hee ho? Good, no?"

Van Frost glanced about, taking in the sights of the Vanguard Barracks and gave a little titter of excitement.

"This is the hee ho place, right? The Barracks where they train the Vanguards? Well then."

He once more dramatically struck his pose, pointing his katana at Gad.

"Here's the hee ho deal. I beat you, and you have to let me into the Vanguards. If you beat me... well, that isn't going to happen, hee ho. So let's not worry about it. Now then, let's go!"

With that, he leaped toward Gad, spinning his katana about in a furious whirlwind of slashes.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- Komori -

"Argh, what have I gotten myself into?" Vayu asked the sky and ran his hand through his hair.

From behind, the sounds of footsteps caused him to turn.

"Something on your mind?" Komori smiled at Vayu and folded his arms. "Seems like a lot of the trainees are feeling restless tonight."

Gad, Vanguard Barracks - Garden

"What the-?"

Said Gad, the sudden chill and appearance of the demon caught him off guard. However, what shocked him was the demon itself was trying to be a vanguard.

"Do you really know what Vanguard is....?" He asked, the demon, who had introduced himself as Van Frost, looked like it did not hear Gad's question. He was excited about the place and looked at Gad's direction; Van Frost struck his pose, and pointed Katana at Gad.

"Here's the hee ho deal. I beat you, and you have to let me into the Vanguards. If you beat me... well, that isn't going to happen, hee ho. So let's not worry about it. Now then, let's go!"

Gad sighed, "You got to be kidding." But before he could say further, the demon rushed to attack. Gad quickly dodged out of way of its spinning attack.

"Force Bolts" Gad casted his spell at the demon, sending speedy meta projectiles to its direction. the demon's attack looked serious than he initially thought. This demon really wanted to fight to prove himself, and Gad was not going to let that seriousness be wasted.

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

- Vayu -

Vayu looked up when Komori suddenly appeared before him.

"Seems I have some pre-exam self doubts," Vayu admitted.

"The last training session with Catequil didn't go quite as well as I hoped," he shrugged.

"And after meeting some of the other trainees that will also take the exam tomorrow I'm asking myself if we shouldn't have invested in more team training," Vayu said. "I hardly know what they can do..."

His eyes locked on Komori. "Of course, telling you this, can work out to be a disadvantage for us tomorrow" Vayu crossed his arms. "Then again, I suspect you already knew."

"Why are you even still up at this hour? At your age, shouldn't you make sure you get a decent amount of sleep?"

Zephyr Arc - Chaldea, Vanguard Barracks | Training Hall

Eventually, the tune came to and end, and silence descended. Moments later, Cherry gently shook Zephyr out of his daze. "It's time to get up. Let's go back to sleep."

Zephyr lifted his head from her lap and got up lazily. He offered her his hand for her to get up. She took it gratefully and stood aswell, standing at half a head below him. Her wings were nowhere in sight, causing her to look human save for the strange clothing she wore.

They walked out of the training hall hand-in-hand as they made for their room.

*goes about mixing and stiring. Scoop it up and put dallups on a tray and places them in the oven.*

“Now we will wait. This will be good.” With a smile.

*then walls over to my stuff and pulls out my hammer, axe, and wrench. I look them over, polish them, check the balance, and sharpness. I finished with them and put them away. I go and look at the oven. Open it up and pulls out the tray*

“These will taste so good.” *goes and places them on the table*

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

“You’re pretty hee ho quick,” Van Frost chirped as Gad dodged his attack. He readied himself for another attack when Gad sent his force bolts flying through the air.

“Hee!” he cried out in surprise, falling flat onto his back to avoid the projectiles that sailed over him. “If it’s projectile attacks you want, try this on for hee ho size!”

He rolled backwards onto his feet and wound up his arm like he was going to pitch a ball. “Ice Bullet!”

Van Frost sent an icicle hurtling at Gad, then took off in its wake, katana primed to slash whichever way Gad would try to dodge.

————————————————————————

- Komori -

Komori nodded and stroked his chin. “That’s natural. I’d be more worried if you didn’t have doubts. Only a careless person goes into a high-stakes battle with no fear.”

The lack of team communication... that was a problem, and it tended to vary among batches of trainees. Some were much more group-oriented and took to studying and practicing together often. This group, on the other hand, were among some of the most isolated he’d worked with, and that would definitely come back to bite them in the exam tomorrow. One on one, none of them stood a chance at passing. It would only be through coordinated efforts that they’d be able to make it through. And if they didn’t... that just proved they weren’t cut out for this. Teamwork was as vital for survival out there as any battle skill.

“Of course I knew,” he said, shrugging. “I haven’t been training you all for years without noticing. As for you, it might have taken longer than it should have, but at least you noticed. It might be too late, but then, it might not. You know what to correct now, so do it.”

Vayu had the makings of a good Vanguard. Hopefully, it wouldn’t go to waste.

"Why are you even still up at this hour? At your age, shouldn't you make sure you get a decent amount of sleep?"

At his age? Komori barked out a laugh, his mouth widening into a white-toothed grin. “Don’t despise age, young man. A lot of good comes with the years, as I expect you’ll find out tomorrow. Speaking of which, I think it’s you who could use some sleep. You’re going to need to be sharp as your blade if you want to pass.”

He passed by Vayu and nodded. “Trust your teammates, trust your demon, and trust yourself. You’ll make it through.”

With that, he disappeared back inside the barracks.

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

- Vayu -

Vayu's eyes followed Komori as he disappeared. His words still ringing in his ears. He clenched his fist.

How? How was he supposed to correct this in one night.

"It doesn't seem like anyone is interested in team work," he muttered to himself. And he wasn't keen on pulling people together.

Slowly he walked back to the barracks. Suddenly he saw a glint of light from a room. His eyes widened when he realized who the occupant was. A grin spread across his face.

Without any hesitation, he knocked on the door and slammed it open, uninvited.

"Tell me what you know!" he demanded quite loudly, staring down a startled Bastion. Vayu crossed his arms. If anyone would know about strategy, it was this guy.

Zephyr Arc - Chaldea, Vanguard Barracks

As they walked along, Zephyr heard a commotion. Being naturally inquisitive, he tracked the sound to its source, a room that was still lit. With his brazen disregard to social conventian, he casually threw the door open and waltzed in, finding a familiar face and another person inside.

"What's going on here?" He asked. Cherry had fallen asleep on the way, and had reverted to her proper size, asleep on his shoulder.

Gad, Vanguard Barracks - Garden

Van Frost managed to dodge away Gad's Force Bullets, was it a luck or was it a skill? Gad could not be sure.

When the demon decide to send out bullet of his own, Gad smirked, he liked the guts that this demon had. It was time to show his own, "Force Bullets!" Gad sent out another flying projectiles to the incoming ice bullet.

Then rushed at Van Frost, meeting Van Frost's katana with his scythe. "Hey, you are not bad, maybe if you speak with Komori, he might let you in." Said Gad, his eyes not wondering off from his target.

Gad then use another end of his scythe to slash Van Frost, time to show this demon that he was being serious too.

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

- Bastion -

Bastion sighed and rubbed at his eyes. It was getting late, and good sleep was just as important an ingredient for success as strategizing was. Besides, he was just obsessing at this point.

Standing up from his desk, he leaned over to blow out his candle when the door slammed open behind him.

“Aaaaahhhh!” he cried out, pitching forward onto his desk with a crash. Groaning, he turned around to face the intruder, who was staring him down almost in accusation.

“You’re...” That was Vayu, another one of the trainees. But what on earth was he doing barging in like this.

"Tell me what you know!" Vayu demanded.

“I don’t know anything!” Bastion denied before thinking through what exactly he was denying. “Uh, that is...”

Vayu didn’t give him a chance to finish, however. The other trainee took in his diagrams, charts, and notes and began to scrutinize them. Bastion shifted uncomfortably. This probably looked a bit strange and obsessive to the layman... Maybe if he explained...

Then another trainee waltzed in, a pixie sprawled out over his shoulder in sleep. Zephyr, of course...

“This is a private room, you know!” he protested as Zephyr just seemed to invite himself in and start snooping over Vayu’s shoulder at all Bastion’s carefully arranged calculations.

“Those are just calculations...” he explained, scratching at his collar. “Trying to prepare for the Mark of Mastery exam tomorrow.”

—————————————————————————————————

- Van Frost -

Van Frost squeaked in indignation when Gad countered his ice bullet spell with his own force bullets.

“No fair!” he said. “Trying to hee ho show me up!”

He countered Gad’s scythe swing, then leaped up and landed on top of it.

“Betcha can’t do this! Frost Bite!” He puffed up his little white cheeks and exhaled a gust of frost air, laden with sharp little icicles. As Gad tried to pull back, the cold breath hit his arm, icing over his skin.

Van Frost toppled off of the scythe at the sudden retreat and rolled backward onto his feet, katana pointed at Gad. “That arm’s hee ho useless! I hope you’re ambidextrous!”

He leaped and spun through the air, bringing his katana slashing down at Gad.

Gad, Vanguard Barracks - Garden

"Darn it." Said Gad as he realized his arm was being hit by chilli air. "So, you are the cause of this chill." Gad commented, but the demon did not stop at that and was ready to strike down Gad.

“That arm’s hee ho useless! I hope you’re ambidextrous!”

Said Van Frost, Gad grinned, quickly switching his weapon to the other hand "You bet I am!" Said Gad. This time, however, instead of meeting blade to blade, the scythe blade slashed horizontally, facing Van Frost's katana with its inner side, and by applying the force of it, it would have acted like a metal pole that pushes and changes direction of incoming attack; Gad hoped he could use the demon's own momentum to his advantage. Just like some old martial art called akido.

"Burden of Guilt" Said Gad casting his area spell. He was not so sure how effective it would be against this demon, but he had no time to think about it. "I am not going to give up!" Said Gad, spining his weapon with the other hand as freely as he did with the other, and slashed upwards against the demon, an attack that carried its own momentum.

As Caster took the bake goods off the pan and put them on the plate. Taking the rest of the tools he used to cook to clean in the sink. Closing his eyes and letting his ears focus. He can hear random sound echoing off the walls. “Well what ever goes on their will be some nice cookies, but they are best when freshly cooked.” Caster says out load as he finishes the dishes. Once Caster finished the dishes and went over to eat one of the cookies. “So good” smiling as he ate the cookie.

Caster-kitchen

Leaving the cookies to set out. Caster checks his blue jean pockets to make sure his wallet is still in his pocket. Then looks over his favorite metal band T-shirt (Lordi). “Oh! I am going to bring the noise and the power when the time Rises.” Caster says to himself. Goes over to his suitcase and back pack and put them on and adjust his self. Pulling out his note pad. “Let’s find my room.” He says out loud.

Chaldea – Vanguard Barracks

- Vayu -

Vayu glanced over the charts and diagrams. He scratched his head. This could be more complicated than he thought.

“I don’t understand half of what you wrote here,” he admitted and sighed.

“Look,” he said, “We’ve both been here for over a year. And while I don’t know if we’ll ever get along, I trust that you know what you’re doing.” He sat down in Bastion’s chair and held up Bastion’s notes.

“I know you’ve been studying everybody with their spells and skills for tomorrow’s exam. But you can’t execute a strategy by yourself. That’s why we’re here, to add another layer of teamwork. Please tell us what you came up with.”

“You do want to pass tomorrow, don’t you?” Vayu asked, “Because I know I want to!”

He finally turned to look at Zephyr, who had entered the room. Vayu gave him an irritated look when he saw the Pixie sleeping on his shoulder.

“What’s with the pet Pixie?” he asked, sounding irritated.

Zephyr Arc - Chaldea, Vanguard Barracks

Zephyr looked blankly at Vayu, then to Bastion, pointing at Vayu with a thumb. "What's with the loud pet human?" He asked before making his way to the papers.

"I like what you're done with these." He said while examining them. "Might increase your odds if you calculated co-operative formulations." He mused out loud, then stabbed a finger at one point. "Oh, you got this formula wrong here. Might wanna fix it." He looked back at Bastion.

Chaldea – Vanguard Barracks

- Bastion -

Bastion folded his arms and shrugged. "Well, it was designed for me to understand, not you. Err... no offense."

Vayu took Bastion's seat and tried to reason with him about sharing strategies and plans for the exam in the morning - mostly trying to bank on Bastion needing their help as much as they needed his.

Well, he wasn't sure that was entirely true. He'd already calculated for possible contingencies based on their actions without their input.

Still, he knew sharing strategies would raise everyone's chances. If they all passed, they'd likely be working together on missions, and teamwork and synergy would be important. They might as well start now.

"Very well," he said, nodding. "I'll try to walk you through it."

Before he could, Zephyr inserted himself into the mix and began examining his work. At first, his compliments caused Bastion to smile - it was nice to get some recognition for his work - but then he tried to point out an error in his formula."

"What?" he exclaimed, snatching them away and scanning. After a few moments, he sighed and set them back down.

"It's not an error," he said, scowling. "That's an ink splotch, not a decimal. Now, if you don't mind."

He cleared his throat and straightened up before pointing to a set of notes on the side.

"Here are all your weapons and their approximate attack distances, as well as Komori's. Over here, I have spells and their abilities, as well as their approximate reaches..." He pointed to a sketch of the training hall and various arrows and dots sketched all across it, as well as some formulas on the side. "So here are some various scenarios I sketched out, as success probabilities. Over here..."

He continued rattling on, becoming more and more animated and relaxed as he went.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chaldea - Vanguard Barracks

Van Frost cried out in surprise as Gad used his momentum against him, knocking him away. He bounced off the ground into striking position when Gad's spell hit.

"What kind of hee ho spell was that?" Van Frost complained, wobbling on the spot. It wasn't significant, but it felt like someone had attached training weights to his limbs.

"No problem! No problem! I can hee ho handle this," he said, more to himself than Gad.

Gad slashed his scythe upward, which Van Frost leaped into and blocked with his katana. He let the strike sending him hurtling into the air, where he twisted about and fired another Ice Bullet at Gad's back.

Gad, Vanguard Barracks - Garden

"Gotcha," Gad smirked as Van Frost used Gad's attack to lift himself into the air. Gad quickly turned around and sent his scythe like a boomerang to meet ice bullet that was fired at him.

Gad, then slide forward, aiming at Van Frost. "Force Bullets!" Gad fired his raw maga bullets at Van Frost before he could land on the ground.

Gad then quickly grabbed his scythe that fall to the ground, ready for another round. "You are one tough demon," He commented. "But, so am I."

Chaldea – Vanguard Barracks

- Vayu -

Vayu raised one eyebrow at Zephyr when he heard his response. He chuckled. What an oddball.

“For your information, I’m nobody’s pet. I’m not even sure I like this guy,” he said and gestured towards Bastion. “And if you find my voice too loud for your sensitive ears, feel free to leave.”

He shrugged and then pointed to the seat next to him.

“Your choice.”

And with that he turned back to Bastion, who nearly had a meltdown when Zephyr thought he discovered a mistake in Bastion’s calculations.

“Now, where were we?”

Bastion began to explain his theories, becoming more and more lively as he went on. Vayu mainly listened, throwing in a question every now and then.

Zephyr Arc - Chaldea, Vanguard Barracks

"Oh, it makes sense then!" Zephyr replied, outright ignoring all of Vayu's comebacks. "I could give you exact reaches for most of these weapons if you'd like." He offered Bastion.

After that, he weighted in with his opinions are a some possibilities that might have escaped Bastion's scope as the other man went on about his strategies, nodding and agreeing at various points while discussing the feasibility of some of the more outlandish ones. He wasn't sure Vayu understood, but he he threw in questions at various points as well.