The Poleman

"There's no way that motherfucker beat me!" Ariet yelled as he sprinted through the hallways. "Who the fuck is he!" 

He charged into the gymnasium after waking up in the nurses office, royally pissed may I mind you.

Their definitely was a sight to behold. A figure with a Pole was dashing around as a ball of purple lightning was being flung around the arena at supersonic speeds. And a realization hit Ariet.

'Have I... just gotten lucky this hole time?'

A girl that was enveloped with arcane lightning summoned a thunder beast which roared and soared towards Sine who bit back with 100% Cadence, incinerating the beast. A network of lightning filled the gym, none which hit the ground and all aimed towards Sine. 

He danced between the lightning, striking each one with The Pole, and slowly, Sine himself started to understand the essence of the lightning. 

Sine laughed, and a sinister grin crossed his face. His Pole cracked like lightning and sent himself at the levitating girl who was caught by surprise.

In a flash, the girl was falling from the air and Sine stood on the falling unconscious body of the girl.

'What... am I?'

Ariet looked at his hands. He didn't know what to do. His previous spars he had just gotten lucky because his flames had countered most of the powers he faced. He himself wasn't that skilled with sword mastery or with his Aether Engine.

"Fuck." Ariet whispered under his breath. 

'I guess... I'll just follow that guy and get some information off of him.'

Sine wiped sweat off of his brow and looked down. She was pretty, dark hair that ended in a violet color, her thick eyebrows really complimented her stern face, but it was somehow attractive. 

'I should probably get off her.'

Sine stepped off of the woman and stretched a little before yelling at Kael. "Hey! Who's the last one!"

"That would be me!" Sine turned towards the gym entrance to see a petite girl with black hair and black antennas that hanged off of her head.

"Why do you have black antennas on your head?" Sine questioned, genuinely confused.

"Some Magepunks are affected by their Aether Engine physically and are permanently transformed. Are you a new Magepunk?" She asked.

"Actually, yeah I am." Sine responded.

"Hmm... okay. I came here because there was a rumor somebody was taking down the leaders of the school, but you're new?" She giggled. "What a fucking joke."

A small buzz emanated from her. "Why don't you step onto the third arena and leave behind that body?"

Sine complied and walked over to the third concrete pad which was known as an 'arena' apparently. He stared at the girl who put her hands in her pockets and walked over to the arena he stood in.

"Alright ass-wipe, lets get this show on the road." The buzzing got louder and louder.

Kael had a worried look on his face, and raised his hand. "Start!"

The buzzing's intensity got so loud that it felt like the whole building was shaking, then it all went quiet.

--------

And shatter he did. His bones rattled and some splintered, his skin cracked and his muscles tore, and his mind fell apart.

'D-Damn' Sine thought as he flopped over, almost losing consciousness. The girl walked over to him, and another buzz started.

'Aw hecks naw'

Before she could do anything, Sine picked up The Pole in an instant and hurled it at her, impaling her in the stomach.

Blood spilled out of her mouth and nose, and the smile that she once wore proudly had turned into horror. She let out a scream and held her stomach.

'Hahaha'

Sine slowly stood up and walked over to her. "Sneaky little piece of garbage." Sine kicked her in the face, making her pass out.

'So she was lying about those antennas, those were her Aether Engine. Ahh, I'm so sore.'

Sine was indeed, in a terrible state. But he didn't care, he could get his money! He walked over to Kael who was sitting on the sidelines. Sine sat down beside him.

Sine's breathing turned heavy with greed as he started to question Kael. "Ahhh, that must be worth quite a bit right? Man I'm so sore, I think I broke my clavicle!"

"Y-Yeah haha, like, about 20 silver right haha?" Kael nervously responded. 

"Man, I think I might've snapped a ligament too! That girls shatter really took a toll on me! Ooh, my mind is so hazy right now!" Sine rubbed his temple and knee.

"3-30 sil-"

"50." Sine stared Kael down as he looked straight ahead, sweat dripping down his face.

"...I don't know about-" Kael was cut off once again.

"It be a real shame if the higher ups knew about this little... deal we made."

Kael gulped. "Okay... 50 silver." Kael brought 50 silver in total just in case, but he didn't really expect to give it all away.

A bag full of small silver coins was handed over to Sine who then bowed, and left the room.

'Wait... did he just take a uniform as well?'

Kael dashed out of the room, but Sine was nowhere to be seen.

**

Humming happily, Sine was ripping off the badge that was sewn into the uniform. He made his way up to the central part of town, then slowly crept his way towards the edge of the city, where airships were rented to go to different capitals.

"Ah, hello boy! Are you buying a ticket? Which city are you travelling to?" A small but bulky man said with a pointy mustache. 

"Ah, yes. I would like a ticket to the capital of the Envy zone Lathersanction!" Sine said, pulling out his pouch of coins.

"Alright, that will be 5 silver for one ticket. You will have to sign a waver for any horrors that may overpower the Magepunks guarding the airship that may kill you." The stout man said in an eerily pleasant voice.

"Uh... okay." Sine gave the man 5 silver and wrote down his name on the waver before boarding the airship. 

As he walked away, the man yelled. "We leave in one hour!"

'Man this is gonna take a while.' Sine stumbled onto the airship, passing various people and made his way to the cafe they had on board.

He sat down at a stool and ordered a coffee with lots of sugar and milk because he couldn't stand bitter coffee. Once it was made, he grabbed the cup by the handle and started to wander around the hallways.

The halls were full of copper pipes that pumped steam throughout the airship, yet still a comforting environment that portrayed luxury and richness. Sine found a room that looked to be a lounge and sat down in a far corner, away from the few people in that room.

He closed his eyes and sipped on his coffee. 'mmmm, that hits the spoooot.'

He leaned his head back and relaxed.

Slurrrrrrp.

Sine furrowed his brow, but kept his eyes closed.

Slurrrrrrrp.

Somebody sat next to Sine and started sipping on their drink. But Sine was going to be the bigger person and let them do that because, of course, he was the bigger person.

Slurrrrrrp.

'Ah, almost put The Pole in their temple.' Sine raised his head and opened his eyes. He turned his head to see a teenager, about his age, with long white hair and blue streaks in it. His sapphire-like eyes were looking at him with a curiosity as he sipped on his coffee.

The first thing he noticed was that, of course, this was Ariet, the kid he had previously battled was sitting on the same airship as him, going the same way as him. The second thing he noticed, was that the coffee, was pitch black.

"Ew, you drink black coffee?" Sine had a disgusted look on his face.

"Uh yeah so what." Ariet responded.

"AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!" Sine stood up and pointed a finger at him.

"Well, people say losing is the best uh, what was it? Learning experience? Something like that. So I'm following you to learn from the person I lost to." He replied.

"I don't think that's what it means but... okay whatever." Sine said as he sat back down and sipped on his sugary-drink.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Steam was heard rushing through the copper pipes and a ticking sound that played every second. Chatter from the few people in the room made it more homey, and a melody resounded throughout the halls.

"So... where you heading?" Ariet asked, leaning back and looking at his drink.

Sine paused for a moment. "Lathersanction. Capital of the Envy zone." Sine tapped his fingers on the wooden chair.

"Glad you said capital of the Envy zone because I don't have good memory of geography." Ariet laughed. "It's ironic because I'm supposed to be a genius." Ariet sighed and looked at the ceiling, studying the copper pipes and wires, the few wheels and cogs that could be seen through the cracks.

"Yet, you come along, and ruin it all." Ariet huffed. "But, just letting you know, what you did, wont always be as easy as that. Y'know, coming in blindly and swinging."

Sine stared at him, and thought about it. He chuckled before answering, "Yeah I know, it was foolish on my part. But I had to get back to my town." 

"Oh that's where you come from? The Envy zone?" Ariet raised an eyebrow. "I heard those people were usually jealous, y'know, from being born in the Envy zone."

Sine sighed and crossed his legs in a criss-cross manner. "Yeah, I've always felt like I was my own entity for some reason."

An awkward pause filled the air before Ariet started back up. "Hey you wanna go train? They have a gym in these airships, it's pretty impressive."

"Uh, yeah sure!" The boys got up and started to wander through the halls, eventually running into a double-door with a sign above it that said, (TRAINING ROOM). 

They each found a mat to train on, and started to spar with their hands (with gloves and headgear). As they trained, a rumble shook the airship.

They lifted off.