Point-of-View: Alexis Tucker
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Ugh, this is so exhausting...how much longer is this training going to continue for, anyway? About a week had passed since we were first brought here to Antarctica, it was currently the 13th of May, 2025, and we'd just finished up another training session.
All three of us had fully mastered Aura control at this point, we could both suppress and unleash it flawlessly. I managed to get to that point about a day after Zoraiz did, and Inoka got there about half a day after I did.
In between training, eating and sleeping, I tended to spend my free time gaming with those guys, which was, admittedly, more fun than I'd have expected it to be. Not that I'd tell them that.
Anyway, as for what we've been doing in the four to five days since we all fully mastered Aura control, well...nothing much, really, we still haven't moved on to the next stage of training.
For the last few days, we've just been fine-tuning our Aura control, stuff like only unleashing a certain amount of Aura at a time and whatnot. The only new thing we learned was how to see the Auras of others, which is done by focusing a bit of Aura into our eyes, a technique called Appraisal...all three of us mastered it within a day.
It turns out that, even when fully suppressed, the Aura surrounding us doesn't completely disappear. Suppressed Aura can still be felt within a small radius, of about five to ten meters, though it's easy to miss it since there's almost no pressure at all when it's suppressed, it feels like really mild humidity or something.
Also, Auras look really cool. When using the Appraisal technique and focusing a bit of Aura into the eyes, you can clearly see a person's Aura. When suppressed, the Aura looks like a dense bluish-purple flame surrounding the person you're looking at...and when fully unleashed, it looks like an absolute inferno, blazing all around the area.
The weaker the Aura, the closer the hue is to blue. And the stronger the Aura, the closer the hue is to red...Inoka, Zoraiz and my Auras were reddish purple, while Mike and Kiyana's were a dark blue with a hint of purple.
Anyway, after we learned the technique used to see Auras, the training got boring and tedious as hell. It's been really tiring since then, and we it doesn't really feel like we were making much progress, having already mastered it, it was hard to stay motivated. Apparently, we'd be moving on to the next stage of training tomorrow, finally. So, that's something, at least.
"You know, what, guys...I haven't seen Tara at all since she fucked off after she was satisfied with Zoraiz's Aura control progress," Remarked Inoka, as the three of us lay sprawled on the floor of the training room.
Mike and Kiyana had been taking turns in this Aura fine-tuning training, and we'd just finished up a session with Mike, who'd left about a couple of minutes ago, while we stopped to catch our breath.
"I don't see the problem, the less we see of that bitch, the better," I huffed in response.
"Wait, uh, I think I get what he's trying to say...are we only going through this seemingly pointless training because the person who's, uh, supposed to be training us is delaying the next stage?" Surmised Zoraiz with a frown.
Oh, shit, I didn't even think of that.
"That had better not be the case...," I muttered with a growl.
"Yeah, well, even if that is the case, it's not like we can really do anything about it. Bitch or not, she's still stronger than us at the moment," Pointed out Inoka with a grimace, before adding, "Look on the bright side, at least we got our Aura capacities measured, right?"
"Okay, yeah, that was pretty cool," I admitted as I recalled it.
Four days ago, Kiyana brought a device to us, one that could measure a person's Aura capacity, though it could only do so when fully suppressed. She waited till we'd all fully mastered Aura control, because otherwise, any unsuppressed Aura would interfere with the accuracy of the reading.
The sensor was a large, clear crystal, which was inserted into a machine with a numeric display. When someone touches it with their Aura suppressed, the crystal starts to glow with the same hue as the Aura of the person touching it, which is then measured in a numerical value.
The Auras of Category 0s and high level Category 1s generally result in the crystal glowing with a hue that's purple or close to it.
In the past, Meta-Humans could only estimate someone's Aura capacity based on the hue of the crystal, but more recently, they've created a device that can give accurate readings of the crystal, converting the hue of the glow into a numerical value.
Typically speaking, the Auras of Category 0s generate values of above 450, and that also affects the distance from which they can be sensed. The value of the Aura capacity can be directly linked to that distance...specifically, by dividing the Aura capability value by 100 to get the radial range within which it can be sensed, in kilometers.
In other words, an Aura capacity of 300, if fully unleashed, could be sensed from upto 3 kilometers away. That's why Aura control and learning to suppress your Aura is so important, otherwise you'd literally be attracting Monsters and other Meta-Humans from several kilometers away.
Zoraiz had been attacked by Monsters before Neo found him, and I'm honestly surprised that Inoka and I weren't, considering how far our Auras are supposed to extend when unleashed. Sure, there wouldn't have been much of any intensity or real pressure, but our uncontrolled Auras could still very much be felt.
After all, our capacities were literally off the charts, all three of us possess unprecedented levels of Aura capacity...
"You would think it's cool, wouldn't you? Especially considering the fact that you have the highest capacity of the three of us," Remarked Inoka dryly, as he stood up with a worn out sigh, wiping his brow with his sleeve.
"True, but it's not like it was that much higher than yours," I responded in a mockingly humble tone, before smirking smugly at him.
"It doesn't really matter, uh, the differences between our Aura capacities are neglible. So, what if you're the only one who, uh, has a capacity of less than 1000? It's no big deal," Added Zoraiz, standing up and patting Inoka on the back patronizingly.
He'd been pretty awkward initially, except when arguing, but now, he was starting to open up and seemed a lot more comfortable. His speech was a lot less awkward than before, and while he did occasionally stutter a bit and sound a bit robotic, he was definitely a lot more talkative than before.
"Less by one! And if anything, that's a good thing! Think about marketing, people are always going to be more willing to buy something priced $9.99 than something priced $10! So my capacity of 999 will probably have enemies underestimate me more than they would against you two, meaning that I'll have a higher chance of winning-," He began to defend himself.
So, yeah, his Aura capacity had generated a value of 999. Zoraiz's was 1035, and mine was at 1068. To put it in context, the previously highest recorded Aura capacity value was 600. That said, the numerical measurement of Aura was introduced in 1990, so we don't have a great historic sample size to work with.
"Dude, it's kinda sad when you get so seriously defensive about it," I interrupted him, starting to kinda feel bad that I might have taken it too far.
"Hey, uh, since we're done with training for today, how about we continue our last gaming session in a bit? I'm going to go take a shower, so, uh, let's regroup in like an hour or something?" Suggested Zoraiz, clearly trying to change the subject.
He's really not at all subtle when it comes to this, but I gotta say, it's kinda adorable that he's trying so hard-...wait, hold up, did I just call someone older than me 'adorable'? I mean, I don't know, that seems like the kind of thing you'd call someone who's younger than you.
"Sure, sounds good to me," I replied affirmatively, before getting up onto my feet.
"You little brats...," Muttered Inoka, before letting out an exasperated sigh.
"Hey, you're only three and five years older than us, grandpa," I countered in response.
"Yeah, well, I'm still older than you."
"What, you gonna tell me to respect my elders?" I replied with a raised eyebrow.
"What? No. That'd be hypocritical, I don't respect a person just because they're older than me, so I won't tell someone younger to respect me just because I'm older than them...brat."
"Dick."
"...I'm, uh, gonna go now," Sighed Zoraiz, walking away with a shake of his head.
Damn, did he just 'I want no part of these childish theatrics' us? He probably didn't intend it, but that kinda came off as condescending to me...
"Huh, somehow...," I began with a frown.
"...that really pisses me off," Completed Inoka with an irritated expression.
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Point-of-View: Inoka Fonseka
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"So, I've been meaning to ask this all week...why do we always have our gaming sessions in my room?" I sighed in exasperation.
"Hey, my internet is really slow right now...what about you guys?" Inquired Alexis with a frown.
"Yeah, same here, even Google is taking forever to load," Agreed Zoraiz with a nod.
"Guys, are you listening...could we do this in one of your rooms next time? It's kinda annoying to always have to host this," I repeated myself.
"Let's play a different game, one that doesn't need a strong internet connection, we'll have to deal with a whole lot of lagging with this unstable speed," Suggested Zoraiz, as he tapped away on his phone.
"Good call, how about a card game?" Responded Alexis.
Huh? These little-...are they ignoring me!?
"Sure, give me a sec though, I want to browse my news feed a bit first, all the, uh, Meta-Human posts have finally stopped trending, I've barely seen any normal memes in ages," Said Zoraiz, opening up his social media.
"Sure, I think I'll do the same," Replied Alexis with a nod.
"Hey...listen when someone's talking to you, you little shits!" I snapped, struggling to keep myself from smacking their heads.
"Tch, my app just crashed...," She muttered with a frown.
"Alright, fine, ignore me if you want, but next time, I'm locking my door so that you brats can't come in, so there!" I declared with a huff...what am I doing, letting them provoke me so easily?
"Sheesh, we get it already...fine, next time, we'll hang out in Zoraiz's-...," Began Alexis, finally responding to my indignation.
"Hey, uh, guys? You might wanna see this...I think someone's found another Meta-Orb," Suddenly interrupted Zoraiz, as he scrolled on his phone.
Huh, I was just starting to wonder why he'd gone a bit quiet for a while, looks like I have my answer.
"Oh, for real?" Responded Alexis, scooting over and peering over his shoulder, causing him to stiffen up a bit.
Heh, great reaction there. But also, I was too fascinated by what he'd just said to focus on his awkward reaction to feeling her boobs on his shoulder.
"What kind of person is it this time?" I asked curiously, as I looked over his other shoulder.
"Well, uh...here, let me play one of the videos that were uploaded," He replied, as he tapped on the Tweet and began loading up the video.
"Looks like a concert or something," Remarked Alexis, as the video began playing.
It was a video taken by someone in the audience, and on the stage was a girl, who looked kinda familiar. She had medium-length pink hair, a blue right eye and green left eye, pale skin and an orange colored tattoo of a star under her right eye.
"Isn't that that new Mexican pop star that everyone's talking about lately?" I inquired as I recognized her.
She goes by the stage name of Astra, if I remember right. Her music isn't really to my taste, but I remember that I found a couple of her songs to be kinda catchy. The video seemed to have been recorded after the performance, and the singer was thanking the fans for coming and whatnot.
Hm, but I don't know, her words seem kinda forced and shallow, as if she's putting on an act. Then again, maybe I'm overthinking it, it's hard to tell through a video taken by a random amateur. And besides, it's probably normal for performers to exaggerate their personalities a bit in order to appeal to fans.
"Uh, sorry, I don't recognize her," Replied Zoraiz with a shake of his head.
"Me neith-...oh, actually, her voice is kinda familiar, I think I've heard some of her songs, actually," Added Alexis, though she looked a bit uncertain.
"So, what does this have to do with a Meta-Orb?" I asked Zoraiz.
"Keep watching," Came the response.
Hm? I turned my attention back to the screen, right as the singer's speech was suddenly interrupted as one of the fans jumped onto the stage and approached her.
"U-um, please return to your seat, sir, the meet and greet is after-...," The singer began, her voice clearly straining, before trailing off as the guy pulled out a gun, pointing it at the security guards that had rushed onto the stage.
"He's got a gun!"
"What is he doing!?"
"Oh, no, get out of there, Astra!"
Screams were ringing out from the audience, but the guy who rushed the stage ignored them, and was instead saying something to Astra. Based on his expression...he's bad news. We couldn't hear what he was saying, but there was no mistaking that it was probably something stalker-y. He's definitely a bit crazed, no doubt about that...
"Woah...," Muttered Alexis, as the guy took a step closer towards the idol, inadvertently pressing her chest up more firmly onto Zoraiz's shoulder as she leaned in to get a better look at the screen.
Heh, his uncomfortable expression is hilarious...but also, I'm super jealous. Then again, she's still only seventeen, so I probably shouldn't be.
"It's about to happen," Suddenly remarked Zoraiz with a grimace.
The guy in the video then fired the gun into the ceiling and yelled something, the entire audience going quiet...I could just about make out what he was saying, something about blasting the audience if they start screaming or running away. And then, a clear, disdainful voice cut through the silence, dripping with disgust and scorn...
"Tch, you repulsive worm...," Growled Astra, her tone of voice drastically different from the way she usually sounded, before suddenly, flames burst forth all around her, spreading out and engulfing the guy who'd invaded the stage.
But it didn't stop there, the flames roaring out of control and settling the stage and curtains ablaze, the fire rapidly spreading into the audience as panicked screams rang out, and that's when the video abruptly ended, leaving us stunned...
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