17th June, 1970 SR
Riko waited outside stadium 33. He was watching the screen which showed a view inside the stadium. A number of crystal balls were placed on podiums throughout the wide stretch of area. The scale of the crystal balls was not coherent till the participants entered the area. They were huge. Crystal balls? They were more like a large crystal spherical boulder.
Rin's chance was on the first day and first batch. As Riko was free and had nothing better to do for thee day, he went to see the test. He was accompanied by Zen, who too did not have a test that day. Teo was outside stadium 9 where Oromi was to appear for the test that day at the same time.
"I wanted to support Oromi too." Zen said wistfully.
"Nothing can be done, they both have test at the same time. Besides, Teo is there; he will do our share of supporting for sure."
It wasn't that big of a deal. Yet the one whom Riko deemed as the most sensible among the four was acting rather unreasonable. Although he had not spoken much to convey what he wanted to, it felt as it pierced through him.
"Do you want to go there? I will stay here."
"... I will take you up on that offer. We will meet right after their tests end at the gate of the Colosseum."
"Sure."
'Quite quick on the uptake wasn't he? What was the matter? It is not like they would get to know if we are here outside or not.' Riko confined his dazed thoughts to himself. 'I'd rather not get into their personal lives.'
Every participant in the screen looked tiny compared to the huge area of the stadium, so much so that they were barely visible. The screen's image resolution was very high, and therefore they were visible if looked on through binoculars. 'What an amazing piece of technology, using binoculars on a screen.' Riko though tot himself.
At around the center of the area, he could see Rin standing in a line at one of the crystal balls. Riko was so used to seeing gorgeousness around him lately that it took him that moment away from her to comprehend how beautiful Rin really was. She was the quarry to quite a few stares around her. A beautiful distraction I would say.
The tests began. The tension was so evident that it was visible. It barely took any time for the first part of the test, that is to determine the element affinities. It took a little while to get a hold on what to do for the second part, and even that didn't take much time. 'The Big Moment' for many lasted just a minute or two.
Just a little while later, it was Rin's turn. It was the first time Riko had seen any sort nervousness leaking from Rin. It felt as if the burning gazes were impacting her furthermore. The lively and careless Rin was feeling the gravity herself.
'Worrying isn't your style play.'
She held the crystal ball. A tint of grey swirled around the predominantly sparkling white. The supervisor seemed to make an announcement. Undoubtedly, it was wind and ice elements that were indicated.
The main part was yet to come. As the trial was already performed in front of her, her first try was to commence.
The first try: Rin glued her hand to the crystal ball, closed her eyes and focused all her energy into the ball. *shrrr*... Just before a score could appear, her hand shocked out of grip and she was pushed a step backward. A score appeared on the crystal:
FINAL SCORE: 783
The score wasn't worst, yet not the best of the ones so far. More worryingly, Rin was considerably shocked. What was that jolt?
The supervisor took a prolonged look at her hands and after a bit of hassle, asked Rin to try for the second try.
This time around, she was looking completely vulnerable. She had never looked so helpless before.
'Come on Rin, get a grip on yourself. This is totally not like you.'
The anxiety blew off the charts. It was so noticeable that it became contagious. Regardless, she held herself together and went for the second try.
*shrrrrrrdum*... this time, it was so loud that the entire stadium felt it. It evident from far apart that an accident had occurred. A thin veil of smoke covered the area and rendered the view invisible. Riko was ready to dash into the stadium in case of a mishappening. The smoke cleared and there she was, thrown away from the shock, still standing bent and exhausted. She clearly wasn't fine.
Supervisor came up and was certainly against the idea of her attempting the third try.
A score came up on the crystal and it read:
FINAL SCORE: 690
It struck him finally as to what was happening. 'Surprise for a surprise.'
Riko leaped onto the tall wall of the stadium. It appeared as if Riko was taking a picture of Rin with his hands.
*Memory Transfer*
A sound rung in her mind.
'Believe in yourself Rin. The next chance is your last chance. I know you are dreadfully drained, but trust me, this time, nothing will happen to you. Don't give up and make it count. Act like yourself, confident and careless. Riko.'
'Careless?'
Although still baffled and intrusive about the situation, she realized that continuing to give her best was the only thing she could do.
She humbly declined the supervisor's request to give up on her third try and went on much more confidently than her previous try. 'I will haunt you if I die here, I swear.'
Rin focused her entire energy yet again.
*Lightning Bird*!
*dummdammm* the loudest and seemingly the deadliest of the three, this time it nearly blew everyone away. Dust and smoke covered the entire arena. There was no way the center of that impact could survive.
The supervisors were definitely sure of the cause at this point and surrounded the culprit in a whisker. The masked person was paralyzed themselves. "Some one had already detected its position and launched some kind of lightning paralysis attack." Just as a supervisor took a step toward them, it vanished, into thin air.
'Someone took him, don't let them away at any cost, whatsoever.'
Dust eventually settled and the view cleared.