NEW WORLD — THE WORLD OF SIKALIA

Chapter 61: The Brightest Day

The Next Morning

“Whoa! Look! Spike, check it out!”

“I know, I know, I see it…” Spike replied groggily, and then stopped to stretch his arms and yawn. He then continued down the short set of steps in front of the hotel, where he stepped up next to Sky and joined her in looking up at the fantastically decorated city around them. The glass buildings and surrounding trees were swathed in bright yellow and pale blue drapery, with hints of green strings dangling from the massive banners over the streets below. Holograms of the sun, surrounded by a slowly moving dial that seemed to track the amount of remaining daylight, hovered over every street, separated only by a few blocks — and the streets themselves were filled with large stalls of all sorts, ranging from a variety of food stalls whose aromas were already drifting past the hotel, to a flower stall or two with entire bouquets of summer flowers on display, to dozens of sun- and sky-themed carnival games, all with dozens of people gathering around despite the clocks reading barely an hour past sunrise.

“…The Nimalians really like the summer solstice, huh,” Austin deadpanned as he and Twy approached Sky and Spike, though his words were almost lost amongst the background noise of the distant crowds.

“As much as I dislike big events like this… you have to admit, this is all pretty impressive,” Twy remarked, her head slowly sweeping from side to side as she took in the sights. “None of this was up when I went to bed last night, they must’ve done all of the setup in the early morning… how could they even do that?”

“The answer to that question is obvious if you know someone like me.”

“Pierce…” Austin muttered, glancing off to the side as Pierce and Conrad approached. Conrad walked with a slight hunch and his hands in his pockets — not too different from his normal posture, in fact, yet he still looked more miserable than ever before; while Pierce confidently strode up and planted his hands on his hips as he stared down his nose at Austin.

“A Velocitechnic could set all of this up hella fast,” Pierce remarked, gesturing over the street in front of them in a sweeping motion with his right hand. “And if they have multiple Velocitechnics, then it’d be even faster!”

“You don’t need superspeed to set all this up, just a bunch of volunteers…” Spike muttered.

“Sure, but a couple of Velocitechnics could put everything up faster than volunteers ever could.”

“Cities are still big, you know!” Sky countered. “Can just a couple of Velocitechnics really set up an entire city’s worth of decorations? I don’t think so!”

“You only say that because you haven’t actually seen me — or any other Velocitechnic — in action,” Pierce countered.

“We saw Davídrius fight back in Treséd,” Conrad pointed out.

“That was just the one time, it still doesn’t—“

“Hey, Kestrel,” Conrad commented, ignoring Pierce’s reply to nod toward Kestrel as she joined the group. Following closely behind her was Phoenix, who Conrad acknowledged with a nod, and then Arn to her side — who Conrad simply passed a blank look before turning back to Phoenix. “…Brought your boyfriend?”

“Of course I did,” Phoenix declared proudly, and then slapped Arn on the back with her left hand as she gestured at the rest of the group with her right. “Arn, these are my friends — I’ve told you about them, remember? Everyone, this is Arn!”

“…Hey,” Arn replied, offering an awkward wave as he slowly looked at everyone.

“Hmph…” Pierce snorted dismissively and crossed his arms before glancing over at Phoenix. “Not going to run off on your own today, huh?”

“Oh, c’mon. I just wanted to introduce my boyfriend to you all,” Phoenix replied with an innocent smile. “You haven’t forgotten how relationships work, have you, Pierce?”

Pierce offered naught but a spiteful smile in response.

“…Well, uh, nice to meet you, Arn!” Sky eventually said, staving off the awkward silence that threatened to set in. “You’re a Nimalian, right? Maybe you could show us around!”

“…I’ve never seen Brightest Day celebrations like this,” Arn replied.

“Oh. Uh…” Sky passed Spike a pleading glance, as though asking for him to step in, but he merely responded with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Wow… looks like everyone’s here.”

“Hey, Luke,” Spike greeted, turning toward the Captain and Mark as they excited the hotel. More and more WCU students were beginning to flow out of the hotel doors as well, prompting the group to move off to the side as Luke opened up a large brochure in front of them.

“Surprised to see everyone’s up, honestly,” Luke remarked as he scanned the brochure. He then passed Austin a glance and a cheeky smirk as he added, “thought you’d just spend the whole day cooped up in your room, Austin. You always do.”

“H-hey! That’s, uh…” Austin started, catching Pierce throw him a haughty smirk out the corner of his eye. “…Shut up.”

“It’s good to see that everyone’s excited, though,” Mark commented, and then looked up at the bright decor himself, and the nearby sun hologram. “All these decorations… the atmosphere is so much more festive than I expected!”

“Well, there’s a lot goin’ on,” Luke said, his attention back to the brochure in his hands. “According to the Deans, we have the whole day to ourselves, so we can look around at our leisure. Hmm… oh, here’s that talent show Kaoné talked about. Looks like it’s on top of city hall.”

“I wanna check that out!” Sky declared, “I won’t miss watching Chaotics do cool shit for the world!”

“Well hold on, this isn’t a Chaotic talent show. They have other stuff for most of the day. Singing, dancing, baking, uh… holographic pyrotechnics?”

“Sounds like a rave,” Phoenix commented. “I’m in!”

“And I’m out,” Conrad stated, with Kestrel offering a curt nod in affirmation. “Crowds, loud noises, and flashing lights? No thanks.”

Luke chuckled in response. “Well, there might still be stuff for you around here. …Ah, here! It looks like the NSD Chaotics aren’t going up on the talent show until late afternoon.”

“We have the whole day, then,” Spike remarked.

“Perfect!” Sky exclaimed. “C’mon, Spike, Austin, sis! Let’s go check out the stalls! Oooh… that one pastry stall over there smells amazing, and I haven’t had breakfast yet!”

“I’m more interested in the games,” Pierce remarked, and then cracked his knuckles as his gaze fell on one of the larger stalls down the street. “Hey, Phoenix, that one looks like some kind of javelin toss. Bet I could kick your ass!”

“Ignoring how I kick your ass in the regular javelin toss all the time? Typical,” Phoenix retorted with a roll of her eyes. “But if you need to learn this lesson again, then be my guest!”

“Ha! Good fucking luck!” Pierce countered as the two began walking off down the street.

“Uh…?” Arn stared after Phoenix in confusion.

“Heh.” Conrad shook his head and passed Arn a glance. “Welcome to the group, bud.” He then looked back at Kestrel and nodded toward Pierce and Phoenix’s retreating forms. “Let’s go, Kestrel. You know how they get when we aren’t around to hold ‘em back.”

“Mm…” Kestrel grunted in acknowledgment as she and Conrad began walking off as well, with Arn following uneasily.

“What a weird group,” Sky remarked as she watched them leave.

“Well, what works for them, works, I guess,” Luke replied with a shrug. “…Though Conrad has a point. Mark, mind taggin’ along with them? Just… make sure they don’t get into trouble.”

“No problem!” Mark answered, offering Luke a quick salute before jogging off in pursuit of Conrad and Kestrel.

“So it’s just the five of us, then?” Twy questioned, looking around at each of Austin, Sky, Spike, and Luke.

“And we’re just standing around, burning daylight!” Sky declared. “C’mon, already! Let’s go see the festivities!!”

“’Burning daylight’? It’s not like this is a celebration set on the longest day of the year, or anything,” Austin retorted.

“Oh shut up, asshole, you know what I meant. Now let’s go!” Sky began marching off into the street, opposite the direction of Pierce and Phoenix. The rest of the group followed her lead, finally stepping out into the decorated streets of Ilia for Sikalia’s Brightest Day.

Several Hours Later

“Hmm… maybe… you turn this one…?”

“But we did that already. We only got three turns left.”

“Yeah, but those two mirrors at the top are turned the right way, now! If we turn this one, we’re almost there!”

“That ain’t the right one, if we do that, we’ll end up hittin’ the side.”

“Uh…” Twy spoke up, raising a finger as she did. “I think the correct move is—“

“Shush!” Sky and Spike interjected in unison, both of them turning around to pass Twy disapproving glances.

“We already know you’re smarter than us, sis,” Sky continued, “just let us figure this one out, all on our own!”

“It is just a carnival game,” Spike admitted, “but we can’t just let ya give us the answers!”

“Right…” Twy deadpanned, watching as Sky and Spike turned back to face the stall in front of them, on which a dozen small mirrors were mounted, such that they could rotate. A small yellow laser shone out of the top of the stall; the goal was to get the laser to shine into a receptor at the bottom by swiveling the correct mirrors around. A simple puzzle, in concept — though one that Sky and Spike had spent nearly five minutes trying to figure out on their own.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure y’all can do it,” Luke cheered from off to the side, and then took another bite out of a circular pastry in his hands, topped with a red and yellow sauce.

“I have doubts, personally,” Austin remarked, glancing over at Twy as she backed up to join him and Luke before returning his attention to the mirror puzzle. “Pretty sure I figured out the solution a couple minutes ago.”

“The stall does claim that many people can figure it out within a couple minutes,” Twy pointed out, a cheeky grin playing on her face as she added, “hey, Sky, how long has it been since you started?”

Sky whipped her head around to make a face at Twy, only to then turn back and continue gesturing at the mirrors. “Well, Spike, what about that one?”

“That’ll just turn the laser in your face,” Spike refuted.

“Oh c’mon, the stall is clearly built to stop that from happening. I was talking about turning it the other way, anyways!”

“You ever wonder if your friends are dumbasses?” Austin questioned, his voice just low enough for Sky and Spike not to hear him.

“Ah, give ‘em a break,” Luke replied. “Solving carnival puzzles is hardly the pinnacle of intelligence.”

“It’s a good symbol of the floor, though,” Twy remarked.

“Ha! Maybe, maybe.” The Captain smirked and shook his head in amusement, and then happily finished off his pastry. “Mm… that was surprisingly good. Never thought to put spice on a baked good before.”

“Huh? Oh, those little… what were they called? Kivas?” Austin asked.

“The spicy doughnut-looking things were called a ‘kifa’,” Twy corrected, gesturing toward a stall down the street as she did. “It was on the sign.”

“…Bah, that sign is so far away, now. There’s so many people in the way, you can barely see it.”

“Speakin’ of people…” Luke glanced over at Sky and Spike again, and at the small line forming behind them. “Hey, you two,” he called out, “maybe you should wrap up soon, there’s a line formin’.”

“Huh?” The couple glanced behind themselves; as soon as they spotted the line, sheepish smiles crossed their faces.

“Guess we should finish this soon…” Spike muttered as he turned back to the puzzle. “We only got two more turns. Uh…”

“These two!” Sky exclaimed, impulsively reaching out to flip two of the mirrors. With one 90-degree turn, the yellow laser shot straight down into a mirror at the bottom, which reflected the laser into the opposite side of the stall as the receptor. Then, with one turn, Sky flipped the mirror to direct the laser in the same direction as the receptor — and an additional mirror that was in the way.

“Oooooh… looks like ya didn’t quite make it,” the stall manager commented with a wry smirk. “Better luck next time!”

“Hmph…” Sky impetuously crossed her arms as she and Spike vacated the area in front of the stall to join Austin, Twy, and Luke. “I think that puzzle was just too difficult.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me,” Austin quipped.

“You turned the wrong two mirrors at the end,” Twy pointed out. “You should’ve done the one—“

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, look, there’s still tons of other things to see around here!” Sky exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air as she began marching off into the crowd. “There was another game around here I wanted to try! C’mon!”

“She never slows down, does she?” Luke remarked, and then glanced up at the sky, where the sun hung high over the western horizon. “Aside from our break for lunch, she’s been all over the place!”

“Ah ha ha! That’s Sky for ya!” Spike replied with a grin as he began moving after Sky himself. “She ain’t wrong, though, some of the games around here are pretty fun!”

“If only there weren’t so many people around…” Twy muttered as she, Austin, and Luke quickly followed after Spike.

“I’m with you there…” Austin responded in kind, his gaze slowly sweeping across the street as he navigated the crowds. As far as he could tell, most recently-built Nimalian cities were designed around using hover cars for transportation, so ground-level streets were entirely pedestrian. As such, the pathways were a bit narrower than what he was used to calling a ‘street’ at home, and the colorful banners and decor hanging over the street from the buildings above merely contributed to a distinctly crowded feeling. Bright blue skies above helped to counteract the sensation, however, and the local Nimalians were respectful of personal space, so he at least wasn’t bumping shoulders. All things considered, this could be a lot worse, he mused, and then turned his attention up to the nearest sun hologram. The dial around the glowing orb was now over halfway full, reflecting the mid-afternoon time.

“Wait, more food?!”

Austin glanced down, where he found Twy staring incredulously at the stall Sky and Spike were lining up for. A variety of meats adorned the shelves on the stall’s back wall, while a savory smell filled the air, not wholly unlike sausage — though with a hint of both sweetness and spice.

“I’m with Twy,” Luke remarked, though nonetheless lined up behind Sky and Spike. “We’ve been eatin’ all day! Aren’t you full yet?”

“Today’s a festival!” Sky countered, “you’re supposed to eat a lot!”

“That sausage smells real good, too,” Spike declared, momentarily closing his eyes to take a deep inhale through his nose. “…Man, fresh grilled meat. Looks a little spicy, too. Hope it tastes as good as it smells!”

“I don’t think my stomach can take any more of this…” Twy muttered.

“Yeah…” Austin commented. “…It does smell pretty good, but man, I just don’t have any room for it!”

“Hey, no one said you had to eat, even if you’re missing out!” Sky countered. “That Chaotic talent stuff is supposed to be soon, right? If you don’t want to eat, then go save us some seats!”

“I’m not your maid,” Twy shot back.

Sky shrugged. “Just a suggestion. …Oh, Spike, look over there! That’s pizza, right?”

“If pizza had plants instead of sauce, I guess,” Spike replied as he looked in the direction she was pointing, “but the Nimalians have a way of makin’ plants taste good, so I’ll give it a shot later.”

“Ugh, more food,” Austin muttered.

“I don’t think you’re going to convince Sky or Spike to stand down,” Luke replied cheekily, and then glanced between Austin and Twy. “If the two of y’all are really fed up, why don’t you go take a walk? I’ll make sure these two here don’t get into trouble.”

“They do often prove the need for chaperones,” Twy quipped; Sky stuck her tongue out at her in response, though quickly whipped back around to order food from the stall.

“I wouldn’t argue with a walk, though. Especially away from these crowds.” Austin glanced down at Twy. “You up?”

“Yeah. Let’s go,” Twy eagerly replied, stepping out of line and to the side of the street. “I think I saw a calmer street on the side over here…”

Austin quickly fell into step behind Twy, following as she navigated the street crowds. Before long, the two had reached a juncture and turned off onto a less busy street. Stands, decorations, and pedestrians still adorned the path, but Austin at least had room to stretch his arms to his sides and not accidentally hit someone — and the ambient crowd noise was much lower.

“Ah….” Austin released a relieved sigh as the two slowed their pace. “Wow… this is so much better.”

“I’ll say,” Twy replied, her hands clasped behind her back as they walked along. “The Nimalians really like to party, huh? You’d never see a city-wide celebration like this, back home.”

“To be fair, the weather is pretty damn nice, here,” Austin remarked. Despite being in the middle of summer, Austin and Twy both were more than comfortable in their normal t-shirt and jeans attire. Twy was even wearing a thin unzipped jacket, as the streets of Ilia were often swept by cool breezes that helped to dispel the heat the crowds created.

“Hmm… true,” Twy admitted, her ponytail fluttering softly in the breeze. “Texas is definitely way too hot in the summer for an outdoors festival like this.”

“I guess this is a perk of goin’ off-world, huh,” Austin mused.

“Well, don’t get too used to it,” Twy countered. “At the end of all of this, we still have to go back to Treséd — a desert. And believe it or not, but Treséd’s actually been in winter the whole time we’ve been there.”

“What? Really?!”

“Yeah. Spring for Nimalia’s southern hemisphere only just started earlier this week.”

“Aw, fuck. Treséd was already gettin’ warm enough to walk around in a t-shirt during the day, and you’re tellin’ me it’s gonna get worse?”

“Yeah. Though, to be fair, Tresnon is right on the shore of a massive lake, so I’m sure that’ll dampen the temperature differences.”

“That, or make the place really fucking humid.”

“That is possible…”

“Speakin’ of water…” Austin glanced down at Twy. “How’ve you been doin’ with your water powers, lately?”

“I’m… not sure.” Twy held out her right hand, into which a small bubble of water appeared, just smaller than a baseball. After a moment, she morphed the bubble into a flat sheet, the water so still and clear that Austin could see his own reflection in it. “I feel like I’m getting better, but I’m not sure if that’s true, or just because I’m…” Her eyes darted off to the side, catching the gaze of a handful of Nimalians who were staring at her water mirror in awe. Quickly, she allowed the water to fall to the ground and clasped her hands behind her back again, her face flushed red with embarrassment.

“…Yeah, guess we shouldn’t be tryin’ to draw attention, huh,” Austin mused. “But what were you about to say?”

“Ah… sorry.” Twy turned her head upward, taking in the blue summer skies as she released a lofty sigh. “I just don’t think I’m a good judge of my own abilities, you know?”

“I think that could be said of most beginners,” Austin replied. “But, for what it’s worth, I think you’re gettin’ pretty good. Hell, you were already good back before SERRCom scooped us up. I still remember that little show you put on in that pond.”

“Oh… ha ha…” Twy averted her eyes. “That was just a little showing off… and it wasn’t really practical, either…”

“You’re pretty good with practical stuff, too. You can manipulate a lot of water at once, and you can even control a bunch of different water bubbles all at once, like when you help people fly and stuff. Believe me, I’ve tried, and, well…” Austin held out his own right hand, his brow furrowed in concentration as a small sphere of water manifested in his palm. The sphere slowly transformed into a flat surface, similar to the mirror Twy had just created, but with uneven edges and a slowly rippling surface. After a couple seconds of attempting to smooth out the surface, Austin sighed and let the water all drop to the ground, at which point he shrugged. “See? It ain’t easy, even though you make it look the part.”

“Sure, maybe, but I also have access to my own water powers 24/7. You can only practice when I’m nearby. So, if anything, the fact that you’re able to do that much should be impressive.”

“Ha ha… if only. It is kinda hard to practice my Simulator powers, though, since I always have to have someone around… still, the range on what I can copy seems kinda big. I haven’t tested the exact range, but I bet you could be standin’ a building or two down and I could still copy your water control.”

“Really? That’s impressive!”

“Well, maybe. I don’t know how easy or hard it is for a typical Simulator to copy another Chaotic’s abilities, so… eh.”

“I suppose we both still have a lot to learn, don’t we?” Twy replied with a resigned smile.

“Ha, suppose so,” Austin replied in kind. “But, hey, at least we can both fly, right?”

“That is true. It seems like a lot of Chaotics can, actually. It’s kind of amusing to think about.” Twy’s attention then shifted to one of the sun holograms hanging in the air; the dial around it had filled nearly three quarters of the way. “…Well, as much as I dislike Sky bossing us around… she is right that those Chaotics will go on the talent show, soon.”

“Yeah… good point,” Austin remarked, his own gaze following Twy’s. Before he could respond further, however, he felt a subtle tinge of discomfort strike his lower torso, prompting him to wince. “Ah… shit. You go on ahead, I’ll meet up with you.”

“Huh?” Twy passed him a concerned glance, and then looked down at his stomach as he subtly grasped it with his hand. “Is something wrong?”

“Well, yeah, but it isn’t worth worryin’ about,” Austin replied sheepishly. “Let’s just say that, uh… I shouldn’t’ve eaten so much spicy stuff today, and leave it at that.”

“Huh…? Oh! Oh.” An amused smile crossed Twy’s face as she shook her head. “You never were good with spicy food, were you?”

“Oh, lay off. I’m headin’ back to the hotel. If you see the others before me, just tell ‘em that I’m, uh, busy.”

“Right. Don’t take too long, or you’ll miss the show!”

“No guarantees,” Austin replied, and then waved casually as he turned around and began walking down the street in the opposite direction. “I’ll see you later!”