Monday came by as Kimura came outside in the early morning, seeing Korvos, Suharu, and Erudis standing at the front of the fountain chatting. Kimura walked over waving at them as Suharu was the first one to notice, waving at him as the other two turned to look.
"Kimura! Morning!"
"Hey Kimura, Morning."
"Yo' Mornin' man."
"Morning you guys, what are you guys standing here for?"
"Waiting for our guest." Korvos responded.
"Guest?" Kimura questioned.
Just as he said that a small gravitational pull began emitting not too far from them, then a slit within space and time was opened as a portal opened diagonally, an individual stepping out of the portal.
The man stood at 5ft 6in, his hair being a turquoise color as he stretches a bit with a small yawn. Looking at them he gives a tired but soft smile. What the hell…I've never seen that ability before… Kimura examined it, seeing that behind the slit in time and space was a vortex-like swirl that was horizontal instead of vertical.
"Korvos, Suharu, Erudis, and…huh, who's that behind you?" The man pointed at Kimura.
"That's Kimura, one of our new guys."
"Huh, then who are those guys?" He points over at the group behind them.
"Huh??" Korvos turned around as Kimura looked as well.
"H-Hey guys."
Wei-Hu waved nervously with Ayameko and Naoki standing beside her with another girl, looking somewhat like Naoki but has seemingly baggy eyes and wearing some kind of oversized academy jacket.
"Ayameko? And…Naoki?" Kimura said surprised.
"What? Got a problem?" Ayameko snapped back, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms.
"No not really…"
The turquoise haired boy sighed, looking at Korvos with raised eyebrows. Korvos shrugged his shoulders as he didn't know what was going on either.
"Hey, don't look at me Furin."
"Alright." Furin sighed, "I'll have to make two trips back and forth, Haven is always excessive huh."
"No, just this time we have a bit more than expected."
"Y'all better be lucky that the others brought a couple more contestants. C'mon, I'll take the main group first."
"Oh, alright."
Ayameko scoffs a bit as she looks away a bit annoyed, Naoki just lightly chuckles as the girl beside him was already dozing off a bit. Korvos sighed as Kimura looked back, seeing Korvos grabbing onto his hand as Suharu and Erudis put their hand on a shoulder, Suharu has her hand on Korvos's shoulder while Erudis has one hand on Suharu's shoulder.
Kimura followed along as he puts his hand on Erudis's right shoulder as Furin puts his hand on the rippled portal. Within a split second we were swept in, everyone holding on as I looked around, the in-between world.
While they traveled at light speeds, it felt like the time around them slowed down just enough for them to get a good glimpse at the world in-between worlds. It had a bright nebula purple hue mixed with its complementary colors, swirling around us as if they were in the middle of a storm, Kimura was astounded and mesmerized by it, it was unique and looked pretty at the same time.
However, it was cut short as they arrived on a low grass-like plains, the nebula-like stars flowed above us as there were trees, Trees that seemingly never aged nor ever drop their leaves. Kimura began to feel myself becoming dizzy as he stumbled over to a tree and vomited near the base of the tree bark, looking down as he threw up his morning meal.
"You'll get used to it, always happens to first-time travelers." Furin didn't seem surprised at the slightest.
"Alright, I'll pick up group two."
Furin told the group as he vanished into his rippled portal, Kimura pulled out a napkin as he opened the small plastic package, taking out the napkin and wiping his mouth and lips clean of the vomit. He then tossed it onto the ground as the napkin quickly burst into embers and quickly died out.
"Is there like a water source I can clean my mouth and throat…?"
"Up ahead, there's a station for newcomers to clean their mouths."
That didn't sound sanitary, but it was the only way his mouth didn't smell awful, heading first towards whatever he was getting himself into. Kimura then climbed up the small hill to look down, seeing designated dirt-like plains with trees surrounding it, a couple of large lights shining down as people were sitting near the trees.
Kimura began going down the hill as he walked through the forest to reach the designation, upon reaching it he saw the fountains as there were a couple cleaning their mouths. Kimura wasted no time as he walked over quickly, cleaning his mouth using the provided mouth cleaner and a couple of gargles of mouth rinse.
***
Korvos, Suharu and Erudis shortly arrived as they waited for the other group. But like Kimura's first trip, Ayameko, Naoki, the nebula-haired girl and Wei-Hu also vomited nearby their ripple portal.
The other group bolted towards the mouth cleaning station as Korvos, Suharu and Erudis all sat down nearby Kimura as he was sitting at their designated station. The station within this place was a small outdoor patio with a circular table.
"They're practicing over there, why don't you go practice while we wait?" Korvos Suggested.
"Huh? Why?" Kimura replied.
"You seem bored already, not what you were thinking of?" Korvos chuckled lightly.
"Not really…I heard…hmm…" Kimura paused for a second.
"Just go practice Kimura, the guys here should be fair play."
"Fine."
Kimura got up as he hopped over the patio railings and began heading down the small hill, stretching a bit to loosen himself up as he headed towards a group of people sparring.
"Huh? Haven? Are you kidding me?"
"Not those Haven fucks…"
"Hey hey, be nice you idiots, it's not even that bad."
"You haven't seen how bad the last Middle Grounds session went huh."
Kimura became skeptical about Haven's Reputation within this small realm; however, he shrugged it off and approached the group.