Luminary Institute

51: Stretchy Arms!

Nyssa finished her two laps around the training field after twenty minutes or so. By the second lap, she had decided to increase her rolling speed to not keep everyone waiting. Her intentions ended up not mattering though, as Angelica had used the opportunity to make the Class Zero graduate students go through a half-workout. 

“I guess it does even the playing field a little,” Titus leaned against the wall as Nyssa sat beside him in frog form. Nearby, Celeste, Albion, and Conrad all sat around while waiting for the students to finish up. 

A couple minutes later, once the workout had finished and the five graduate students had caught their breath, Angelica corralled everyone to the dodgeball pitch. Nyssa, back in human form, stood in the back next to Celeste as Angelica explained the rules. 

“If you’re hit, you’re out. Out people leave the pitch and come stand next to me. I’ll be the referee in case any disputes come up. People can catch a ball to ‘revive’ one of their teammates from being out. I’ve marked out a pretty large area for both teams, and you’re not allowed to cross the line. However, verticality is allowed so be creative with how you maneuver. Any questions? Also, yes, using your powers is allowed for movement, not for creating a wall.” 

“What if we cross the line in the air, but don’t touch the ground on the other side?” Albion raised his hand, a clear idea bubbling in his mind. 

“... Hmm,” Angelica pondered out loud as she looked to the other side. “Isolde, what are your thoughts? If you allow it, then I’ll let both of you do your thing. Otherwise, I’ll ban it for both teams.” 

“I don’t think we should do it, it gives us a slight disadvantage,” Isolde shook her head, shooting down Albion’s gleeful smile. 

“Alright, that settles that, any other questions?” Angelica spread her hands. She scanned the faces of all the students a couple times before motioning towards the pitch. “Then, let’s play. I already have the balls on the centerline. Start from the back of each of your sides. Once I finish counting down you all can rush to grab them.” 

With Angelica finishing her speaking, everyone dispersed. Yawning, Nyssa wandered to the back of their side while transforming her arms. “Okay, so you just want me to grab as many balls as I can? What are you all doing?” 

“Yep, that’s all you have to do, once you do that you can transform into a leaf if you want. Or you can just get out. Do whatever. But grab as many balls as you can because you can out speed everyone except for Electra.” Conrad stretched his legs. “I have the best all-around physical abilities, so I’m in charge of matching Ashe.” 

“I’m in charge of countering my sister,” Ryker cracked his knuckles, unable to hide the immense amount of sweat pouring down his face.

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“Thalia is going to force herself to evolve super speed, so I’ll be in charge of matching her,” Electra sighed as arcs of electricity jumped across her skin and ran down her hair. “We’re pretty sure Thalia will do speed since that’s the big weakness on their team right now. There’s a chance she does something else though.” 

“Yeah, so that’s where I come in, I'm just in charge of helping whoever needs it,” Celeste shrugged. “Probably Titus and Ryker if I’m being honest.” 

“I’ll need it more than Titus,” Ryker clenched onto Celeste’s shoulder as his legs shook. “I’ll definitely need it the most. Help me, yes.” 

“You have the easiest job,” Titus laughed, “You have better physical capabilities than your sister! You can use your powers to accelerate the ball and make a smoke screen while she can’t at all, why are you worried? I’m literally going against the Sun’s Apostle, Orion.” 

“Trust... she’s... she’s just built different. I don’t know how, but she always finds a way,” Ryker shook his head, the ‘younger sibling’ trauma clear in his eyes. 

“Anyway, I’m in charge of Isolde, as was made clear earlier,” Albion shrugged. “Alright, ready everyone? Angelica’s about to start counting down.” 

“THREE!... TWO!... ONE!... START!” 

Electra and Thalia both disappeared from their spot. Yet, because they met in the middle, they began sparring to counter each other from taking any balls. Nyssa, in the meantime, shot her arms forward like two bullets to outstrip Ashe and Conrad off the line. Standing still, her arms stretched outward like two ropes. 

Crack. 

Her arms split into fifteen branches each and swept all of the balls at once before dragging them backward for her team. 

“Eugh... that was a little... disturbing, I’m sorry,” Albion shuddered a touch. “Why, out of all the transformations you could’ve done, did you do that one?” 

“That was a tame one though...” Nyssa mumbled as she transformed into a leaf. “I kept my arms looking like arms. They weren’t like tentacles or something.” 

“No, I think that just made it worse,” Albion shook his head as Celeste tossed in her agreement too. With the balls now on their side of the pitch though, Albion reached down and pinched the stem of the leaf before shaking it a few times. “Thanks for your help though, kind leaf master. We’ll make you proud.” 

A mouth opened on the leaf causing Albion to leap back in surprise. “You got this.” 

“Maybe I don’t got this...” Albion muttered as he skated away on ice. “Why are Nyssa’s transformations so horrifying sometimes?” 

The battle, though, began in earnest after Electra and Thalia disengaged. Albion summoned, then manipulated the ice on their side of the field to distribute the balls. As he did though, the other side showed their powers in full. 

Thalia had a... pseudo-transformation ability. She could force herself to evolve... mildly. But when faced with conflict, her body would change to fit the needs she had with inane efficiency. Even faced with Electra’s electricity boosted, near-instantaneous movement, she kept up with no problem. 

“You okay?” Ryker asked as Electra stopped next to him with a face full of sweat. 

“She’s... getting faster than me every time we engage, I have to get faster,” Electra choked out before grabbing the ball from Ryker’s hand and disappearing once more. 

Isolde, on the other hand, demonstrated her bone manipulation abilities to their fullest extent. Her hands burst open as she summoned an entire field of bone on their side of the pitch to counter Albion’s field of ice. Not a second passed before she summoned a wave of bone needles and punctured Ashe from all directions. 

Ashe cackled as the pain flowed through his system. Drenched in blood, he disappeared from his spot and began blitzing Conrad. 

“What the-” Conrad fired his powers to life as red and blue rings and panels began appearing around his eyes. By tracing the trajectory of each ball Ashe threw, he managed to weasel his way out of an immediate elimination. 

“The sun calls for me,” Orion laughed as he floated into the air. His body began glowing as the entire room brightened. 

“I summon thee, the Spear of Iapetus!” Titus called out as his fire coalesced to create a brilliant silver spear. “The spear of the moon from the titan of the west, I’ve been training to summon this one just for you Orion.” 

“Well, it won’t be enough,” He laughed as he wrapped a few dodgeballs in fire and began rocketing them in Titus’s direction.