Gray and Laine, alongside many others (not the 'others'), made their way into the café. It was an awe-inspiring sight. The café was huge, red, blue and purple. The entire café had floating tables and chairs which you could grab from anywhere and attach it magnetically to the floor or ceiling. One side of the café was a large semi-circle purple-tinted window that people could look out from.
Some rumors say that the purple tint on the windows was to keep some certain creatures from noticing people on the other side of it. Neither Gray nor Laine or the 'others' had never met them yet though.
As they walked through the café, Gray and Laine found a few chairs up for grabs and took them before sitting down while placing a free-floating table down. Both the floor and ceiling were made of a specially made magnetic material that attaches to specific metals. The result was that anyone could sit down anywhere.
After sitting, Gray and Laine waited until a screen popped up on the table. The entire menu was on there, allowing them to order food from there and have it delivered by a cyborg waiter or AI controlled robot.
While ordering, Gray was still trying to remember who would be at such a level. Even when the food arrived, Gray absentmindedly participated in the conversation with Laine and nodded while eating at times. Some time later a few of Laine's friends joined their table and chatted.
After a while, just as a certain person began walking towards their table with all eyes on them, Gray remembered someone that fit the bill to make him notice them.
'Anastasia Fae.
Ninth Granddaughter of the Half-Ascended Master of Chiron. 3rd Root understanding of Lightning. If I remember right, during the trip she was the target for capture. Other than that... ah, there was that time she tried to recruit me into Chiron. I wonder why. Wait, wasn't that when I was eating that she tr-'
"You."
Interrupted from his thoughts, Gray turned to see a girl with dirty blonde hair and brown eyes with a white ring around the cornea. She was about 4'8, not short but not tall for their age.
"Join Chiron."
Forks, spoons and food was dropped as the result of others being utterly shocked at this request while a few who looked like her siblings simply raised an eyebrow.
As everyone looked at Gray knowingly as if he would accept the proposal almost instantly. They were instead met with silence.
Gray then...
Of course, refused.
"I'm eating."
Frozen with shock and surprise, everyone glared at Gray as he continued eating nonchalantly. Even Anastasia had her mouth agape.
After a few seconds or so, her twin brother charged at Gray saying.
"YOU BASTARD!"
The entire table was crushed in the next second and food splattered on the floor but Gray sat there, his mouth open and his spoon empty with his food completely gone.
The twin brother continued.
"REJECTING HER IS A SLAP TO OUR AND CHIRON'S PRESTIGE! YOU REALLY THI-"
He was interrupted by two cold eyes. A simple, deadly stare from Gray. The worst thing Gray could've said to him was said.
"Didn't your mother teach you not to waste food?"
Furious and remembering memories that were buried for a reason, the twin charged at him, aiming to kill Gray.
Gray watched it in slow motion before running lightning through his veins and muscles.
In front of everyone there, Gray disappeared. The twin stopped, shocked. Gray re-appeared. He punched the twin's abdomen, launching him into the entrance.
The next second, Gray was suddenly on the floor, eyes wide open from the pain of hitting it and being hit. There was a larger boy with glowing dark red eyes above him, their brother or bodyguard no doubt. With the feeling of death emanating from the sudden punch coming towards him, Gray did the only thing his instincts allowed him.
A Discharge.
The sudden burst of yellow lightning whipped and rampaged throughout the area, electrocuting hundreds of appliances and shocking people unconscious.
Not a single person in the café escaped it.
Almost everyone passed out from the sudden electricity. Even those with low to mid level resistances passed out. Only Laine, Gray, Anastasia and most of her brothers were awake. The brother on top of Gray was unconscious but soon pulled off by another of them.
The one who pulled him off had dark green eyes with his dirty blonde hair and he gave an apologetic smile and left with the others, even Anastasia followed albeit reluctantly.
All Laine had to say was.
"Was that worth your food?"
For Gray, it was a question that had already been answered before.
"Of course. Food is absolute."
Laine found himself once again puzzled by the food addict that was Gray. So, he left. Laine picked up Gray and dragged him to the infirmary on their side of the cabin.
Gray laid there for the rest of the trip, waiting for his energy to replenish.
For some of the rest of the trip, quite a lot of people came in and out of the infirmary, they were recovering from Gray's outburst.
During the duration, Gray thought about the immediate opportunities on the trip.
'First up, the kidnapping. Anastasia is the target for capture so I should stay away from her for most of it. For me to do that I'll definitely need to occupy myself helping the crew and use that as an excuse not to talk.
Second, if I time it right, there's a reactor explosion that can get rid of 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵. If I do get rid of 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, the rest of the trip should be okay.'
An annoying thought crossed his mind.
'I won't be getting much sleep I guess.'
With a sigh, he went to sleep.
As he slept, the bandits began to move. From near the bottom of the Venlier all the way down to the residential area where the students would stay. They were preparing. Only one of the 'others' knew that they were the reason the reactor went off.
This time... who knows what'll happen.
A few hours later they arrived at their means of transportation.
The Venlier.
As the Eaglet entered a hanger of the Venlier, the sight was breath taking. The entire space was around a few kilometers width, length and height wise. Staff began to usher people into lines at the entrance.
As they entered they were directed into separate groups of five lines consisting of the five hundred students and five teachers respectively.
A man walked in from a door. He had dark brown hair with eyes to match, his square jaw and block face accentuated his bridged nose and his dry and crusted mouth. His aura was a pressure that seemed to demand respect and emanate experience. The man walked up towards the front and a silver podium rose from the floor. A microphone rose with it and the man began a speech.
Ten minutes later.
"...and that is all. You have received your schedules and I hope you enjoy the trip. Have a good day."
(A/N: What? Did you think I'd make you sit through the speech? No.)
As the speech finished, the students began organizing themselves, going back to their own social circles and preparing to go to their set rooms.
The section of the Venlier they were in had an easily remembered layout.
There were 7 layers throughout the entire section. The middle layer was off-limits, the top two were for staff while the other four were training areas above the middle and the entire fifth layer, the one below the middle, was dedicated to food and relaxation. The last two layers were meant solely for residential and lounging purposes.
Gray and the others had only free time to spend, so he and Laine decided to spar.
Making their way to the third layer, Laine and Gray went into an elevator tube and as the door was about to close, Anastasia showed up.
Gray stared blankly at the arrival and the twin and two other siblings she dragged with her. Deciding to not care, Gray just waited for them to come in and then clicked the [3] for the third layer.
*insert elevator music here*
The slow ascension began and the awkward silenced prevailed through the light instumenta music. Eventually, covered in a cold sweat from the glares coming from Anastasia's twin caused Laine to try to 'break the ice'.
Gray, however, beat him to it.
"Did you know that Laine invented a new word a while back?"
Puzzled glances were directed while the twin's glare didn't halt.
"It's Plagiarism."
The other two siblings stifled a laugh with their hand, Laine looked bewildered and Anastasia was laughing while her twin had a conflicted expression.
Gray stared at Laine's confused expression and simply said.
"You, do you even have a sense of humor?"
Laine's face turned to realisation, it then contorted to fury a few seconds after.
Laine leaped towards Gray with gritted teeth and aimed for his face, Gray jumped up and Laine missed but his momentum carried him into someone else.
The twin.
With a *CRASH* they collapsed to the floor in a hilarious position.
On top of one another.
The girl sibling that Anastasia brought had a sudden nosebleed as did the brother of theirs next to her.
Gray burst into laughter and Anastasia simply gawked.
The next second, the door opened and Laine and the twin stood with darkened expressions.
Gray then had a single thought.
'I should probably run.'
=--=(2 Hours of Running Later)=--=
As Gray, Laine and the twin all collapsed on the floor with the three spectators on a bench near them.
The room they ended the chase in was humongous, there were several hundred pieces of equipment for training from elemental platforms to punching bags made of different coloured liquid metals.
A minute or so of resting and Gray sat up and made his way to a flat metal platform with two short stairs either side of it while being observed by the group. Gray breathed in deeply and sat down with his legs stretched, waiting in place. A few minutes later, Gray looked refreshed and Laine stood up and went opposite Gray.
Their eyes met.
As if time stilled, the entire room quieted. The people punching metal stopped, the elemental platforms calmed down, every single gaze in the room was directed at the two who emitted a pressure that demanded a certain degree of respect.
A bead of sweat dropped, Gray and Laine's eyes closed as time slowed. They listened intently, waiting for the sound that would begin their fight.
The drop of sweat was above the ground and then,
*plink*
As if a signal gun went off, Gray and Laine launched towards each other.
Across Gray's body blue lightning danced from his toes to his eyes, his silver sky blue hair separated strand by strand, the air began to vibrate around them.
The platform itself began to shake as metal turned to liquid and rotated with Laine as the pivot, spinning faster and faster. Laine's purple necklace shimmered and rocks appeared, from granite to obsidian, they used Laine's torso as an axis and spun around it.
Laine was the first to throw a punch, his left fist going out for a straight as metal twisted into a fingerless gauntlet around it with green lines coursing through like veins.
Gray's head tilted left as he let it pass over his shoulder, lightning jumped between the metal and his skin before he straightened his back and performed a snap kick as fast as Laine retracted his left.
Laine launched a right fist as the same type of gauntlet formed except he was twisting his fist this time. At the same time he moved his left under his right to catch the ever-closing in snap kick by the leg surging with blue lightning.
As contact was made, a miniature shockwave sounded out. It was the equivalent to hitting a bass drum with as much force as possible. Eyes widened and jaws dropped in response to their disbelief at the sudden wave of pressure.
With Laine's right fist growing in his vision Gray tilted his body back and pivoted on his left hand, swinging his right leg in a crescent kick motion at Laine's head while ripping his left leg out of his grasp.
Laine blocked by changing the direction of his right punch to hit Gray's shin. The contact was made and Gray spun on both hands, aiming for a left oblique kick at Laine.
Laine jumped over Gray's kick left shoulder first and aimed an elbow attack at his head. The elbow entered Gray's peripheral and he responded with a sudden change of his oblique kick to a reverse axe kick at the elbow.
They made contact and a louder shockwave was emitted.
They pushed off each other and stared into the other's eyes. They lunged at each other and continued the spar. As their duel progressed, people flooded in, silencing themselves as they became captivated at the fight between the two as if it was the most intricate act in the world.
Hours and hours passed. Kicks and punches were thrown. Neither used their element to attack. It was the dance they would always perform.
The Dance of the Earth and the Sky. They always had and always would call it that.
Only after both backed off from each other, a wave of air forming from the disappearance of the pressure did they stop.
They stood and subconsciously moved their right arm to their left shoulder and their left to their right elbow.
A sign of respect to each other's strength.