The Vanguard Oath: SkyVault Heroes!

[OPENING SCENE - REBUILT VANGUARD HQ, TRAINING ARENA - MORNING]

The dome-shaped arena pulses with artificial sunlight. The air buzzes with anticipation. Kael, Yuna, and Jax stand on a platform above the reinforced testing floor.

Kael (into comms): "Initiating Trial Protocol. Begin Phase One."

[SCENE - INSIDE THE ARENA, TRIAL ROUND ONE: COMBAT SKILLS]

31 recruits stand in a wide ring. Holograms flicker around them — simulated environments begin loading: collapsing buildings, wildfire zones, an alien ruin.

Yuna (to Jax): "We're not just testing strength. We need instinct. Grit. Precision."

Jax (grinning): "And maybe a little flair."

The horn sounds.

Action erupts. We get a montage:

Turok cleaves through a collapsing structure with shockwave punches to protect two virtual civilians.

Lyra uses gravity wells to create safe landing zones as simulated debris rains down.

Vox bends soundwaves to disorient rogue droids.

Zenari flashes through the ruins in shadowform, striking swiftly, vanishing just as fast.

Inari loses focus and accidentally knocks herself out with a ricocheted plasma bolt.

Kael (muttering): "Down to thirty."

[SCENE - TRIAL ROUND TWO: STRATEGIC COORDINATION]

A new arena loads. Six recruits are grouped into a team — a fake hostage scenario inside a neon-lit space station. Meanwhile, Kael, Yuna, and Jax observe from above.

Team One includes: Turok, Neya, Dendric, Fae, Jaril, and Caen.

Fae (to group): "We have to flank the snipers on Deck 4 before we breach."

Jaril: "I'll cloak and disable the alarms."

They move fluidly. Caen uses his time-warp blink to intercept enemy AI, stunning them mid-motion. Dendric roots attackers with bio-metal spikes. Neya manipulates light to blind their escape route.

Yuna (impressed): "That team flowed like a real unit."

Jax (watching screen): "Team Three failed. Again. Someone tell Delta that setting the room on fire isn't a strategy."

[SCENE - TRIAL ROUND THREE: ETHICAL SIMULATION]

Now the recruits sit in isolation chambers. They face AI-generated moral dilemmas:

Eloi chooses to save the child over detonating the bomb, sacrificing herself.

Kastri chooses the coldest logic, sacrificing 10 to save 1 powerful diplomat.

Zayne refuses to pick, breaking the chamber door instead.

Kael: "The hardest trial is never the battlefield."

[SCENE - EVENING, HQ WAR ROOM]

The original trio review holograms and dossiers. The room is dimly lit, cluttered with reports.

Yuna: "These five stood out — Lyra, Turok, Dendric, Vox, and Zenari."

Jax: "But we can only pick two."

Kael: "Then tomorrow, we test them harder than ever."

[POST-CREDITS SCENE — UNKNOWN LOCATION, OFF-WORLD]

In a dark chamber of cracked stone and floating obsidian cubes, a figure kneels before a burning map of Skyvault.

Shadowed Voice: "Vanguard rises again... we shall send thunder to greet them."

A hand touches the burning map — and it erupts into black smoke.

[TO BE CONTINUED...]