Chapter 1: Arrival
The school year had just begun, and traffic was backed up for miles as parents drove their kids to school. One particular car, a large blue minivan with an impatient female driver, is the focus for now.
Frosty Adeline glanced out the window of the car and sighed.
“I don’t see what was wrong with our old school,” Koji, her younger brother, muttered, turning to the driver. Frosty saw her mother’s smile in the rear-view mirror.
“Oh, come ON, Koji. It’ll be an adventure! A new school, a new environment…and you’ll make all sorts of new friends! So what’s there to worry about?” the driver, their mother, said. Koji groaned and looked out the window. The trees whizzing by began to increase in number. A train whistle on the other side of the road sounded loudly.
“…fifty-seven, fifty-eight, fifty-nine…” he began counting dully. Frosty glanced over at T.J., her brother who was the youngest out of the three siblings, to see how he was doing. He was asleep.
“How long until we get there…?” Frosty asked. Mrs. Adeline glanced at the map.
“We aren’t that far…I’d say about ten minutes, at the most,” she said, turning her attention back to the road. Frosty tightened her grip on her schoolbag and continued staring out the window. Was there really anything to worry about?
Starlight Academy of Valiance was a school for mentally and physically gifted students from ages 10 to 21. “Gifted”, in this case, meaning they all had a special ability that kept them from going to public school. The occupants of the van had all known about their abilities since they were very young, but hadn’t heard about the school until very recently.
“…Neko and Miku are getting rides from Ms. Julie, right…?” Frosty asked suddenly. Mrs. Adeline nodded.
“Yeah…I offered to drive them, but she insisted on taking them. She hasn’t been able to spend much time with them, and she won’t be seeing them for another ten months or so…”
Ten minutes later, the car stopped. Frosty looked around at their surroundings. It was a concrete parking lot…it looked pretty normal. Koji nudged T.J. awake.
“Wake up! We’re here!” he whispered loudly. The blonde wolf stirred for a moment, and looked around sleepily.
“We’re here…?” he yawned. Koji rolled his eyes and pushed the door open. The building next to them was HUGE. It was made out of black and dark-grey bricks, and there were these telescopes at the top. “Probably for science, or something…” Koji muttered.
Mrs. Adeline motioned for them to follow her. Frosty took both T.J. and Koji’s wrists and pulled them along.
They walked through two black doors, looking around in wonder. The hallway was wide, with a somewhat lower ceiling than was expected. The tiles on the floor were silver, and a thin band of blue and white tiles ran along the walls. Again, not exactly what they were expecting.
“Are you here for registration?”
The hair on Koji’s neck stood on end as the four of them turned around. There stood a dark blue hedgehog with red eyes, holding a bag with one strap. He gave them a questioning look behind his red glasses. Frosty blinked.
“Oh…hello, Metal…” she said. Metal Sonic sighed.
“Greetings…” he replied. He motioned down the hall.
“You’ll need to sign the paperwork…follow me.”
Metal started walking down the hallway, the Adelines following him hurriedly.
“So, are Akoda and the others here..?” Frosty asked, trying to start a conversation. Without stopping to look at her, Metal nodded.
“Yes, they are all in the North Wing…” he said, “In a few minutes, everyone has to go to the auditorium...”
“There’s…wings?” Koji asked slowly. When Metal nodded again, Koji groaned.
“Crap. This is gonna be confusing…”
Metal stopped at an office door. He turned the knob and walked in. There was an empty secretary desk with several piles of papers. Metal rummaged through them, picked out a few, and handed them to the three siblings.
“Fill those out, and put them there when you are finished,” he said, pointing to a small shelf. Mrs. Adeline took Koji’s paper and examined it.
“Okay, so, this is just basic stuff…your name, age, etcetera…” she said, handing it back to him, “You shouldn’t have any trouble.” Frosty sat down in a nearby chair and, using a thin textbook nearby to bear down on, started filling in the blanks.
Name: Frosty Adeline
Age: 13
Sex: Female
Date of Birth: 4/18
Species: Bengal tiger
Criminal Records: None
Additional Health Information: None
Gifted Ability:
Frosty hesitated. She glanced over her shoulder at her mother, who looked back at her and nodded. Frosty sighed and scribbled down her power in the blank.
The questions grew to be more and more complicated, and twice, Frosty had to ask her mother about them.
Once they had all finished, they placed them on the small shelf. After a long awkward silence, the four of them glanced at each other.
“So…now what do we do?” T.J. asked. Koji gave him a glare. That was his line.
As if on cue, the intercom turned on with a loud crackle of static. Frosty cringed. Koji even swore.
“All students are to report to the auditorium immediately,” said a low, robotic voice. Frosty looked up questioningly. That was…strange… she thought, frowning. The intercom shut off with the same crackle of static as before.
Mrs. Adeline motioned for her children to go out the door. Before departing, she gave them all a hug goodbye.
“Have a good time for me, alright?” she said, “And be careful.” With one last wave, she headed off down the hall. The three siblings were silent for a moment. Then, turning around in unison, they began walking down the opposite direction.
But…they got lost.
“How do we find the auditorium?!?” T.J. moaned, “Geez, I TOLD you we shouldn’t’ve gone down that hallway, Mr. ‘My Shortcuts Are Always Right!’” Koji rolled his eyes.
“Jeez! Just relax…” he muttered, “’S not my fault the people who made these maps were mentally retarded…” Frosty pointed to a large sign next to two large doors.
“Um, it could be next to the big sign that says ‘AUDITORIUM’…” she said. Koji and T.J. looked at each other, shrugged, and pushed the doors open.
They looked around. The auditorium had the same color scheme as the hallway, with dark-blue seats and silver walls. The other students were sitting in the seats, all engrossed in their own conversations. Frosty slowly made her way down one of the aisles, trying to see if there was anyone she recognized. A white tiger with pale brown hair saw her and began waving frantically in her direction. Frosty laughed and waved back. Motioning for her brothers to follow her, she headed towards the tiger.
“Frosty! You made it!” she exclaimed.
“Hi, Kira,” Frosty smiled. Kira grinned. She motioned next to her, where a blue kitsune and a white purple-striped tiger, both with long black hair, were sword-fighting with pencils.
“I met up with Zero and Tora, and they ended up in their pointless arguments, as usual…” she said with a small laugh.
“What about the others?” Frosty asked, looking around, “Akoda, Lyd, Dani, and Nik…” Kira frowned and looked around.
“I saw Nik and Lyd earlier, in the office…they were filling out paperwork…but I haven’t seen Dani or that…other person…” she murmured. Koji came up behind his sister and raised an eyebrow at Kira.
“Are you sure you SAW Nik, or were you stalking him?” he joked. Kira turned bright red and shook her head.
“No! I was just walking…” she said. Frosty hesitated, and then said, “…what about Neko?” It was Kira’s turn to smirk. Frosty’s cheeks turned pink.
“I-I just want to make sure he arrived safely…” she stammered. Kira giggled and pointed behind Frosty. Before Frosty had a chance to react, two hands went over her eyes, pulling her backwards in her seat.
“Guess who?” came a very familiar voice. Frosty laughed and pulled the hands off her eyes.
“Neko! There you are…” she smiled. Neko grinned and wrapped his arms around her neck in a loose hug.
“Hiya, Fross~”
Koji and T.J. started talking to him at the same time, and he turned around to face them. Voices from the other side of Frosty automatically indicated that the others had arrived. Nik started rambling on about one of his favorite TV shows, which was his favorite pastime; Tora was still pencil-fighting with Zero, and Dani and Lydi began their own conversation about something completely random. Metal sat in the chair next to a very quiet Akoda, watching it all silently.
“Attention, students…” said the same deep, robotic voice from before. Frosty looked around.
“Isn’t there going to be some teacher or something speaking onstage…?” she asked, turning to Akoda. Akoda shrugged. The voice continued.
“Welcome to Starlight Academy of Valiance. Here, you will learn to cope with your surroundings, and you shall be taught to train your mind and body...”
“Crap…that means P.E.,” Kira groaned.
“You will each be divided into six teams: Hero, Dark, Rose, Chaotix, Metallix, and the Babylon Rogues. The classes you take will depend on the team that you are on, your ability, and your personality,” the voice said, “As you leave, walk to the Student Registration table, located at the back of the auditorium--” Everyone looked back to see two teachers sitting at a small table. They smiled and waved pleasantly. “--and the two staff members seated there will hand you a schedule.” One teacher held up a sheet of paper and waved it in the air.
“We hope you shall succeed in life in the aftermath of this school. Thank you and have a nice day.” The intercom turned off with that same loud static sound. As soon as it did, all the students stood up and immediately ran to the back. To avoid any pushing or shoving, the small group of friends waited until the crowd thinned out to get to the table easier. When they finally reached the table, the teacher asked for their names. Akoda was pushed to the front of the group. She gave them a dull look, and said, “…Miakoda S. Wythelmine...” The teacher flipped through some papers, pulled out one, and handed it to her. She looked it over, and then showed it to the others. It had her name on it, her classes, and at the top, in big bold letters, were the words “TEAM METALLIX.” Frosty hesitated, and stepped forward.
“Frosty Adeline…?” she said slowly. More flipping of papers. She finally handed Frosty a paper. The classes consisted of Elemental Training, Team Battle, Individual Battle, Physical Education, etc.
The teacher went through the papers and called out each name.
“Danielle Fedrake, Nikolas Hawkins, Kira Nightley, Zero Teishoku, Tora Teishoku, Lydia Parcs, Koji Adeline, T.J. Adeline, and Nathan Grayhart…” the teacher said, handing out each paper. She turned to Metal.
“I assume you have all of your classes already sorted out…?” she asked. He nodded.
The group started to walk away, talking about their classes. As she reached the door, Frosty heard the teacher call out one last name.
“Kimori Saikoro.”
Frosty froze. Ki…mori..?
But…no one’s seen Kii-chan since two months ago…why is he HERE, of all places…?
She turned around. Kimori stood there, examining his schedule. He finally noticed her staring at him and turned to look at her. He gave her a curt nod, turned, and walked away. Frosty stood there, blinking as she realized…Kimori hadn’t attended public school for years…not since the fire, anyway…
“Frosty! Come on, we gotta get to our rooms!”
Neko came through the door behind her.
“You comin’?” he asked. Frosty nodded slowly and followed him out.
Ten minutes later, they were lost again.
“Okay, so MAYBE that sign said ‘East’…it looked like ‘West…’” he said with a nervous laugh, “It’s not my fault the people who made this place were mentally retarded.” They turned around and went in the opposite direction.
“So, why DID you hang behind in the auditorium?” he asked, folding his arms and glancing over at Frosty, “Something wrong with your schedule?”
“Um…that’s…” Should I tell him? Frosty thought, biting her lip. She eventually decided against it and told him it was nothing. He obviously didn’t believe her, but didn’t protest.
When they found their rooms, Neko gave Frosty a small wave and disappeared down the hall. Frosty opened the door and walked in. After looking around for a short while, she flopped down onto the bed. She could hear the rain outside, tapping on the roof and windows. She began to hum a lullaby under her breath. It was the lullaby her mother used to sing to her as a child, and it was what saved her from drowning 8 years ago.
“The chirping of the birds is ceased, silent is the rustling of the trees…I stare at the stars, if only for now, shining brightly before me…See the waters, look how calm, watch the animals, sleeping soundly…The moon is shining ever so brightly, please gaze with me, Kimori…”
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