“Ultimately I think it’s best that we make an entrance.” Lumi said. “This place really doesn’t teach much that can’t be learned on the job so to speak, and if safety is all we were worried about we’d just shuffle Elijah around a bunch of the SSS facilities. You should make a splash and try to make connections.”

“That’s shortsighted.” Bianca Replied. “If we make a scene it just paints a target on all of our backs.”

“But we can’t just roll over and give in to their every demand.”

Once it had kicked off, the argument had been going around in circles for the majority of the flight. Elijah sat back and gave some serious thought to his options. On the one hand he could agree with Lumi’s bombastic plan. Present himself by piloting the GM right out of the gate. Flying to the Academy’s front gates, Frozen Apollo and the three GM units in formation around him. All of them bearing the symbol of Solstice Security Solutions proudly before he banished his suit to reveal his status and ability beyond a shadow of a doubt.

His mother wanted a decidedly different approach. Her opinion was to have them arrive via convoy, enter through the private hanger the school was providing him with and discreetly notify the contacts she had informed before hand of their arrival.

Regardless of which approach he decided on there were apparently a plethora of tests he’d need to participate in culminating in a mock battle using a borrowed VG against a faculty member.

“This is mostly a waste of time guys.” Sunny finally cut in. “Lumi!”

“What?” She said raising a single eyebrow in Sunny’s direction.

“Why would they let four GMs and Frozen Apollo approach with no IFF clearances?”

“…”

Lumi’s silence was refreshing.

“Mama!”

“Yes, dear?”

“What exactly did your contacts tell you to do?”

“They’re running late and we’re a touch ahead of schedule, but after we land and load our cargo we’ll take the train and meet an old friend of mine onsite.”

“See Elijah? You’ll be fine. Let’s just do what you think is best, yeah?”

Elijah smiled gratefully at Sunny.

“I still think there are aspects of what Lumi wanted that we can do with no hassle.” Elijah said. “I don’t have a pilot suit yet so I figure we all rep company colors? The schools code of conduct says that as a pilot I’m allowed a firearm for self defense and as a proud citizen of the Holy Republic of Varalfa my culture demands a blade...”

Their landing was smooth and soon they were greeted by a woman bearing the Academy’s crest. Once it was ascertained that the shipping containers were meant for the Academy a team of pilots bearing the stylized VG of the school began to load their cargo onto a maglev train. The woman lead them to a car towards the head of the train and once they were all seated introduced herself.

“Hello My name is Karen Cross and I will be your escort to the Academy today.” She introduced herself in a very no nonsense manner, her hair parted in the center framed her face but was short in the back. She toyed idly with a pearl necklace that Elijah suspected was a well disguised key fob and her cream colored blazer bore a stylized VG on the left breast.

“Which of you is Miss Winter?” She asked.

With matching smirks Sunny, Lumi, and Bianca raised a hand. As they did Karen noticed the purple collars around Lumi and Bianca’s necks and her face flashed with disdain for a moment before she could rein it in.

“Ah, I assume this young lady is our prospective pilot?” She asked indicating Sunny who let out an amused snort.

“Oh, what makes you say that?” Bianca asked.

“Even in the fourth generation of Vain Glories psychics with any pilot affinity at all are rather rare.” Karen said.

“My Daughter Lumi seemed to have had no issues in her brief stay here.” Bianca stated with a proud smile. “But before that could you tell me whether or not Ms Carter has arrived? I was assured she’d be handling my child’s intake personally.”

Karen mentally scoffed as Bianca name dropped Ms Carter. It was her experience that the upjumped self import types always tried to imply that they knew someone or another who had promised them the moon, though in this case name dropping literal lunar royalty was absurd. While Elizabeth Carter was in fact one of the school’s founders and on the school board she hadn’t personally been involved in the school’s operations in over a decade. And who could blame her? The woman had a literal empire to run, as far as Karen was concerned as long as she continued to bankroll the Academy the woman could do as she pleased.

“Well ma’am I was uninformed of her schedule for the day but I can certainly check with the main office once we arrive.” She said, fishing a tablet out of her inner coat pocket. “It says here that you’ll be using and maintaining a private Vain Glory, a Great Machine? Though you’ve also requested an additional maintenance berth for a custom unit? I’m going to need some details regarding the unit before we can grant the request.”

Bianca flared her power, closing her eyes to mask their glow.

“This woman is potentially going to be a pain in the ass. Humor her for now until Lizzy or her assistant arrives.” She sent to the group.

“That’s for me. Esperanza Alonso at your service. I’ll be in charge of our maintenance crew and my Vain Glory Salvia will need it’s own berth. The stats should have been sent along with the admissions forms.”

“I see, and this is the maintenance crew?” She asked gesturing to the group around her. Esperanza nodded in response noticing the woman’s gaze lingering on Elijah. “Interesting. I’m sure you’re confident in your team but should the need arise we have an abundant and experienced staff on hand to handle any unforeseen… personnel issues.” She said, not taking her eyes off of Elijah.

Elijah maintained the easy smile on his face as he adjusted the cuffs of his suit. Vantablack with matching pants and shoes. His cufflinks were a shining silver in the shape of snowflakes and his ice blue shirt and pocket square stood out in stark relief. Besides being in his opinion incredibly stylish his outfit was made of carbon nanotubes and the vantablack outer layers concealed his side arm and dagger beautifully.

He looked at the group around him, all dressed similarly aside from Sunny who outright refused to wear anything other than her jumpsuit with the company logo large on the back for all to see. Seeing as Ms Cross hadn’t actually addressed him he was content to let her stew in silence. Turning to look out the window he was impressed at the speed the ocean seemed to pass by.

“As you know the pilots all live on site with four break periods a year. The Dormitories are assigned by a combination of pilot affinity and rank. If at any point you feel confident in your skills you may request an exit exam which will be held by an instructor in a manner similar to the aptitude test that you will be taking today, the largest difference being that it will be conducted with live fire.” Karen explained.

In what seemed like no time at all the train had arrived to the front gates of the Academy. The school was located on a glittering series of artificial islands to the west of Hawaii and the east of Japan with a civilian population of 2 million all working to support the training and education of Vain Glory pilots The outer northern island acted as the official gateway to the area, housing both the docks and airport. The central and largest island housed the academy proper and the training and exhibition arena. On the southern half of the central island were the Hangers and testing sites, each hanger housing a comfortable dormitory for its crew. The western island was set up as the residential district for the support staff and various inhabitants not housed at the academy proper and finally the eastern island was styled as a tourist resort and commerce center with a myriad of hotels casinos and shops.

“This is our stop.” Karen said much to the surprise Bianca.

“I’m sorry there seems to be a mistake.” Bianca said. “We arranged to stop at the hanger first.”

“I’m sorry ma’am but that wont be possible. Until your daughter is officially enrolled in the Academy that won’t be an option and even once she is you’re not cleared to enter that area.”

“I see.” Bianca said, her tone dropping several degrees. She flared her power not bothering to hide the glow of her eyes this time and sent a message to Lumi.

“Danger sense?”

“All clear mom.”

Karen noticed the glow and took a step back before steeling herself. “I won’t be bullied by a cheap parlor trick. You can accept the rules or you can leave.”

“If I were to threaten you, you’d know.” Bianca said frostily.

Bianca flared her power further casting out for a familiar mind. It took a moment but she found it, and luckily for Karen it was in fact in the main building beyond the front gates. She let the person on the other end know that they were arriving to their location momentarily and was incredibly annoyed with the attitude of their guide.

“That is unacceptable. Our cargo contains five Vain Glory cores and I refuse to have them transported without our people present.”

Karen was startled at the news of such unorthodox and valuable cargo. If they were this well off why in the world was the student’s VG a Great Machine of all things? Still it galled her to bend the rules for someone she thought perceived themselves as above their station. Thinking quickly and taking a good look at the containers they had loaded she came up with an excuse.

“If you can remove the container with the cores and leave them in the courtyard past the front gates then your people can watch over them. If not then you’re more then welcome to ride the train back to the northern island and have the crew there load them back onto your vessel.”

The Containers were long and awkward for one Vain Glory even a custom maintenance model to handle themselves. A total novice in a GM wouldn’t be of much use she thought to herself, taking pleasure in the nuisance she was causing these outsiders. Unfortunately this group had come with more than amateurs and she could only stare in shock as the other Winter woman in a psychic collar stepped forward to summon her VG.

Frozen Apollo was a sight to behold, shining white with light blue accents. It’s hips and shoulders had large thrusters mounted that gave the Vain Glory an hourglass silhouette. As it moved an odd light blue starlight trail emanated from it’s back. Karen Cross could only stare aghast at what clearly was not a GM.

As it moved to one corner of the container filled with precious cargo Esperanza walked forward and summoned Salvia. She flexed all four bright orange hands, checking the multi tool function and finding all systems in perfect working order. She quickly set about releasing the magnetic clamps holding the container down before heading to the opposite end of where Frozen Apollo had stood.

“We’re gonna need a little more help if we want this done safely ma’am.” Esperanza broadcast.

Bianca made eye contact with Jenny and Benaiah and gave them a simple nod. They quickly summoned their GMs and made short work of the task. As the GMs and Salvia were banished and their pilots back with the group Bianca sent Lumi a message telling her to stay with the rest of their belongings. Wordlessly Frozen Apollo sat itself in the now vacant area that the container had previously occupied.

Shaking herself from her stupor Karen looked at the group and decided that focusing on Sunny and finishing her introductory speech would be for the best.

“Right, great. Moving on. All students will receive a monthly stipend while they are enrolled and a significant bonus for joining the Academy. Most students use it to purchase a personal Vain Glory unit and can even order a custom unit from Glory though in that case their stipend is reduced until the unit is paid off. Naturally we reward talent and effort here so there are various things you can do to increase your stipends amount, conversely the amount may be lowered and certain actions may incur fines and fees.” Karen explained. Unfortunately as she looked over at Sunny it seemed she hadn’t been focused on the conversation at all, instead chatting with a woman off to the side who until now had remained mostly silent.

“Excuse me but are you even listening?” She said.

Sunny paused her chat to turn to her and say “Not at all. Not one word in fact.”

“What, how on earth do you expect to succeed here with that kind of attitude?” Karen demanded with a petulant stomp of her foot.

“I don’t. I’m not even a pilot.” Sunny replied.

Karen sputtered uselessly in shock before turning and marching towards the entrance. Bianca told Jenny and Benni to guard the container as she followed Karen inside.

Naturally the sight of four Vain Glories at the front gates caused a bit of a commotion and curious students all gathered to see what was causing all the fuss. Elijah glanced at the crowd hoping that maybe Evona was nearby, unfortunately if she was he couldn’t tell. What did catch his eye however was a group close to the entrance. Two of the girls of the group were positively tiny, one with a pixie cut waving her arms animatedly while the other with medium length dark hair merely nodded her head and yawned while rubbing her eyes. The other two could have passed as siblings, the first with thick black hair, a phone on her wrist and a tablet in her hand looked to be disagreeing with one of the short girls. The other and the reason Elijah had noticed them was a face he had become recently familiar with. It was none other than the world’s first male pilot, Yukio Arai. As their group came closer to the group of four Elijah stopped and turned to introduce himself.