[ti]event[/ti] Mile High Club (Pre-Raid Event)

The V-shape (or Y-shape) was amazing! A little wobbly, but the slipstream worked exactly the way Yggy had hoped it would. She barely had to fire the jetpack thrusters at all before they reached the green beam, though maybe the Y got a little asymmetrical. More like a lowercase y. Or one of those "acute angles" that were always in Kenny's math textbook. Man, I hate geometry. Anyway!

Cygnus called out some more instructions. "Hahaha, that makes sense! I knew Cygnus wouldn't really hurt us!" Yggy said when the truth was revealed. "He's one of the good guys! We broke him out of an egg. Keg? Anyway, he's really smart."

Speaking of smart people, Aero already had a plan. Yggy grinned. "Yeah, that's great! It's exactly what our Y formation needs!" she said enthusiastically. "Plus, it helps us practice falling in case we get hit by red beams in real life or something, you know? Or like, hit a bird. I hear that happens with real airplanes all the time. Actually, they have to throw frozen gooses into jet engines to make sure they're up to code. Frozen geese? Maybe they're just turkeys, actually."

It occurred to Yggy she might be chattering because she was nervous. Me? Nervous? More nervous than a girl? No way, she thought, swallowing heavily. If Aero wanted to free-fall, they were gonna free-fall. She wasn't gonna be the one to chicken out! "I'll channel my inner Victini! Got it!"

...She'd never seen Victini's V-create, but she wasn't gonna admit that. That would be like Kenny admitting he didn't know about some cool new internet fad when his friends brought it up. He'd just go home and look it up later. No time to look it up! I'll just do what Aero did! Also, was @killian gonna be okay?

"It might be harder to free-fall with the scooter, Killian!" Yggy said, pivoting midair to face the third member of their trio. "But if you keep being the pointy part of the V, I mean, the vertice-- that's what they call it in geo--" she might have made that up, "--it should be okay."

Do or die!

Not gonna cry!

Yggy didn't have a particular fear of heights, but she had to close her eyes for a moment when she cut the thrusters and fell, spinning like a drill as they fell back towards the ground. Her eyes snapped back open. It was only for a second, but it felt like minutes as wind peeled past her face and the world tumbled like someone had dropped a first-person camera. "WOOOOOOOOO!" Yggy screamed, then hit the thrusters again and zoomed back up.

Her heart was still pounding. "Holy crap! That was awesome!" she yelled, looking around. "Where's Killian? Oh man oh man, that was so good!" She made sure the three of them were all together again before looking down to see what the three judges had scored them.

TEAMMATES: Aero @killian

"Okay great," Sarah said enthusiastically as they rose into the air again. "We'll set off a majestic display and you just sit there looking clean."

She clenched and unclenched her fists, getting the blood flowing. She breathed hard and fast, and slapped her face with her palms to raise some color. She felt the surge of blood, of fire, through her body. She may be going for a catalytic display, but she was a Kindler first and foremost, and what was a jet show without a little fire!?

Her breath sparked, and embers popped from her body like oil from a pan. The air around them shimmered with concentrated heat, and from the judging table they looked like a mirage, or an engine about to explode.

"Now time for a little color!" Sarah said with burning breath, and she enabled her Catalyst aesthetic. Rays of rainbow light sprayed from her body, catching on the heat haze and transforming their group into a soaring, kaleidoscopic mass of multicolored light.

They smeared through the sky like a womanmade rainbow, leaving a trail of errant rays like the remnants of a shattered color wheel. Shards of RGB. Moments of magenta. They bridged the gap from stygian blue to hyperbolic orange.

They were glorious. They were magnificent. They looked like a June 1st My Little Pony commercial.

They didn't just make pizazz happen, they reinvented the whole of fucking Italy.

Adarsa had never been so grateful to put his feet on solid ground.

...even if it meant that Mars wasn't there.

Adarsa sniffed, straightening his outfit as Tuesday went off about some... harebrained idea that involved falling nearly to their deaths. "Hi, um, sorry, quick question- I still don't know how these work!" He shouted, which wasn't a question. "Do you want me to fall? And break something? You want me to be in agony, Mars?" This was a question, but it wasn't quick.

With a huff, because no one cared or understood him, Adarsa turned away to try and figure out how the stupid little wings worked. There was only one button, which seemed to be "on," if also "i am a trained fucking astronaut and i love flying at mach five billion." How was this supposed to work? And the straps were weird on his shoulders, and it had been smacking him for the three seconds it was on-

Clearly, he had to make a concession. "... Saint ?" He called, fiddling with the hem of his cloak. "You... you won't let me die, right?" Saint was reasonable, and trustworthy, and very pretty. It would all work out.

Far, far too quickly, they all rose into the air. Now the even more scarier part. He pressed the "stop going mach five billion" button, and the wings responded instantly.

However it was by breaking an overflow somewhere, and the cute little sprkly wings ripped themselves off his back, and into the goddamn stratosphere. "W-" He didn't have time to choke out a noise, grabbing wildly at Tuesdag and Saint in a blink panic, because he didn't want to die here.

Upon hearing that the red lasers couldn't harm the players, Morpheus sighed in relief. He would have been mad at this deception, but he was too focused on keeping himself up in the air and trying to make sure Buzzster Hooperham didn't do anything stupid. However, the problem right now was the final test. Moving his character was easy enough, but trying to fly while doing aerobatics was like risking his virtual life on the line. Not to mention there was an idiot in his team. Well, "idiot" was a strong word to describe Zac, but his reckless showboating made him worry.

"Like I'm going to ignore this guy," Morpheus muttered to himself before turning to Zac. "Fine! But don't blame us if something goes wrong."

He shifted his jetpack's wings and flew to Zac as he called out his name. If he picked him up, he began to panic over what Zac was trying to do with him and @kallisto. He was losing his balance and he wasn't sure his jetpack won't be enough to make this trick work due to its weight. "Seriously?! Are you trying to cut our lives in half here?! Are you sure you know what you're doing?!" He questioned in panic.

Teammates: Buzzster Hooperham @kallisto

Laguna had gone back down to pick up Bergamot Gristleborg , only to immediately be confused by the sudden name change. What were they trying to pull? She genuinely had no idea, just stunned silent for a second. "... Why are you dirty Morgana, now? You know what, probably not important."

Regardless, the idea to use Trainer Subclass powers was a good one. Soaring back up into the sky with the others in tow, She kneeled low on the flying surfboard, balancing her weight just right for the proper move.

As the explosions of rainbows left a trail like a very prideful shooting star, Laguna leaped into action. Her Wand of the Winds twirled in her hands like a proper magical girl, and the winds picked up around them. Beautiful snowflakes and shards of ice floated about in the magical Tailwind, reflecting and refracting the glorious light of the rainbows.

"We might not be the best fliers out there, but one would be hard-pressed not to find us the most beautiful ones." She laughed to herself, standing up and twirling atop the flying surfboard, her Freezer abilities simply adding more snowflake particles to the sky, but she wasn't quite done yet.

As a Starlet, not only were her dancing skills quite fantastic, but she was immediately locked into the new Player class. Given that, the ability to manipulate her other class's type was hers to command. The floating snowflakes twirled with her movements, almost like magic, spinning around her and her teammates like some kind of protective aura. "Just let me know if you get cold, hah! Maybe I can loan one of you a coat!"

After a surprisingly successful second trial involving the powered wings, their team had managed to reach the green beams–only to find out it didn’t even matter, since Cygnus had apparently rigged it so there was never even any threat.

“Wait, what was that about infertility?” Kazuki asks, looking pointedly at Verai, but there’s no time to continue that conversation as the next phase of the lesson commences.

Jinx calls their attention, and the mention of the previous experiments pulls Kazuki’s mouth into a wide, ominous grin. It is made so much worse when she specifically requests the next one from him.

“Everything,” he breathes, like a child who’s been asked to choose from The Cheesecake Factory menu.

“To hell with innovation and planning. Science has brought us this far, science will take us out.” He spreads his hands out, one lit on fire and the other crackling with lightning. “We’ve got power and with the wings, control. All we gotta do is mash ‘em together and see where it takes us.”

Which could be the shrine, for all he knows. Some people may die, but that is a sacrifice Kazuki is willing to make.

And so it begins.

He first powers up the wings. The electricity surges through his teammates’ equipment, the lights on Jinx’s wings reaching a blinding intensity, and sparks dance between the feathers of Verai’s pair. Juiced until they’re almost pulp, and bright enough to rival Vegas.

Kazuk is laughing now, maniacally, as he raises his hands. He pauses for only a second to say, “Oh, I’m counting on you two to catch me, by the way,” before both his hands burst into flame and he lunges to the gr—

After touching the green beam, following after Tuesday’s scream of delight, Saint is thankful to return to the ground. And even more thankful once he hears the truth about the test; he’d been planning on running over to the affected players and checking on them, but it seems everything will be fine.

There’s a hearty pat on his back, and the praise makes the edges of his eyes crinkle. “It’s no big deal,” except that it is, very much so. He’s giddy to have been useful.

Then there’s the matter of the signature move. The excitement in his eyes dissipates at the thought of pulling such a risky trick, though he can’t deny that if he was a judge he’d be damn impressed by it. It’s become increasingly clear that Tuesday has a flair for these sorts of displays.

He’s not alone. Unlike him, starlitlover makes his reservations loudly clear. Saint’s eyes flicker between his teammates as they bicker, his shoulders tensing as Starlitlover turns to him, the look on his face piteous enough to tug his heartstrings.

“I won’t let you die,” he reassures him, because he’s taken care of every single one of his siblings and has a stellar track record of dropping zero babies so far. “Let’s do it. We’ve only got one chance to show off anyways.” And with any luck, this’ll be the only time they have to put their lives on the line for showbiz.

They ascend as one. Saint grips the control stick of the Masqueplane as its nose reaches the apex, before he flicks the buttons that shut off the wings and propellers.

They are falling. His back presses against his machine, his heart carried by inertia. The ground is coming close, it’s only a matter of—

And then he sees the wings fly off Starlitlover’s back, whatever synchronized elegance and acceleration their group has built up immediately going off kilter. It’s not nearly close enough to the ground, but Saint slams his glider into gliding formation, its eye–patterned wings shooting out like life preservers to his teammates.