School for Exceptionally Gifted Fighters

[SouperAsylum]

Aria sits in her history of Earth class, very bored, looking at her long blonde hair swirling curls all over her paper.  I never have understood why we have to learn the history of another planet that we don't belong to and that doesn't even know we exist. We should only have to learn about their present, so that we can live there as guardians. She really wanted to become a guardian, but not of earth, anything but earth. Her dream was to be stationed on Elthia after graduation... if I graduate. It's very hard to become an actual Guardian. Guardians are stationed to protect certain areas. sort of like under cover superheros. Aria's father was stationed on Earth in a city called San Francisco, so he has to protect in that city alone. Usually, after graduation, young guardians get stationed with an already established guardian as a side kick in order to learn.

Mr. Hasina drones on about some war from earth and Aria stares blankly at him until the bell rings to let us out. At her locker, Aria's best friend in the world, Alheyna, appears from seemingly nowhere. She has a short, pink, pixie cut with a black bow stuck in it to match their school uniform. 
"Are you ready??" She screams. 
"Um.. did I miss something?" Aria asks, unphased by her friend's loud behaviour. It's pretty normal to her now. Alheyna holds up a flyer in her face.
"For the competition! Remember?? I signed us up weeks ago. The fighting tournament! Only everybody is always talking about it." She seems annoyed. Oh ya... 
"Uhh I vaguely remember you telling me that while I was studying."  

"Hey Aria look! A fighting tournament! I bet you'd kick ass at that!" Alheyna says to a very determined studying Aria.
"Yeah, totally," Aria doesn't even look away from her book. 
"I'm going to sign us up!"
"Great. Sounds fun." Aria continues to study.


"Oh ya...." Aria looks deflated. "Right... I guess I wasn't really listening.." 
"Well It's tomorrow so you better be ready!" 
"Oh c'mon Al I don't want to be in some stupid tournament!" 
"Well I guess you should have thought about it when you weren't listening to me!"
"Ouch. salty." 
"Well now you have to! And everyone knows you're the best fighter in the whole school! I bet you could even win against the upperclassmen!" 
"I don't know..."
"Aria! You will do this whether you want to or not! It'll be good for you anyway!" Aria sighs, giving in to Alheyna's reasoning. 
"Fine, I'll get ready for it tonight."
"Yippy!!!!" Alheyna hugs Aria tightly. "This is going to be great!"
"Wait... didn't you say you signed US up?" 
"Yes! We're going to be a team!" Alheyna gives a big, wide grin of excitement. 
"Okay, is everyone in teams?" 
Alheyna nods, "Yup! And we'll be the best! Don't worry, I won't slow you down!" 
Aria laughs, "I didn't think you would." The bell rings, "Shoot! I'm going to be late for Use of Dust class! See ya Al!" She rushes off down the hall.

(dust is ground ingredients that have different effects such as flames, ice, invisibility. Kind of like potions...only dust."

[Nova]

"Rae! Are you going to that tournament tomorrow?" Jade stops in front of her best friend's desk, swiping her brown hair out of her eyes in time to see Rae roll her eyes.
"Not interested." She mutters, flipping the page in her novel and ignoring her friend huffing at her and crossing her arms.
"For god's sake Rae, you're attending a FIGHTING school, so shouldn't you be interested in FIGHTING?" Jade snaps. Rae lets out a heavy sigh and snaps her book shut, glaring up at Jade with a look that normally turned everyone away from her at school. Jade only stares back at her haughtily.
"Please. I only care about field experience, and you know that. Students fighting each other merely for the sake of fighting is pointless. Go ahead and watch if you're that interested, but please don't involve me." Rae snaps, shoving her book into her bag and brushing past Jade, black hair whipping the other girl in the face. As she walks down the hall, Rae wonders why she even agreed to come to this school with her brother. He's the one who's really interested in fighting, but her parents had trained both of them as young children and she can now rival her brother.
"Rae!" Speak of the devil. She turns around in time to see Ryder running at her full speed, almost barreling into his younger sister. His friend Mark, an Earth child, follows with a smile on his face. "Are you coming to see us fight tomorrow?! I know we're only in year 3, but I really think we've got a chance. I'd really like for my little sister to be there!" Ryder grins happily at his expressionless sister.
"Fine." Rae knows better than to argue with her brother. He pumps his fist and slaps a high five with Mark before the two of them stride down the hallway, Ryder ruffling her black hair as he passes. She wonders if Ryder ever gets embarrassed, since she's only 17, two years younger than him, but they're both in the same year. Ryder had finished lower school late, and then had decided to wait for his sister before he applied for top school, so the both of them could graduate together. Rae had liked that he'd waited for her then, but now she really wished he'd just gone in when he'd graduated lower school.
"I knew I could get you to come." Jade comes up behind Rae with a smirk, tossing her arm over the shorter girl's shoulders. Rae sneers at Jade, ducking out from under her arm and continuing her trajectory towards the library.
"Leave me alone. It's my free period and I don't want you ruining it." Rae calls over her shoulder, hearing Jade's beautiful laugh follow her down the hall.
"That whole bad-ass loner stuff might work on other people, but I know you love me." She calls after Rae, the library door closing on her last word. Securely in the library, Rae cracks a small smile and rolls her eyes.
"Hello dear, can I help you find anything?" The librarian, a nice lady who's worked at the school since before Rae entered and has gray hair, smiles kindly from the front desk.
"Yeah, I need books on the Earth's World War One. I have a history report due next week." Rae asks with a small smile, chuckling as the librarian lets out a small 'tsk' sound.
"I only ever see you coming in here for homework. Maybe someday you can just come read a novel for the fun of it." the librarian scolds jokingly. "The World War One books from Earth are in section D. Here's the exact location." She hands Rae a small piece of paper with a few call numbers on it before waving her away. Rae takes a few books off of the shelf and opens the first one, immersing herself into her favorite subject, Earth History. In fact, she immerses herself so much that in the next ten minutes, she's asleep on the first chapter of her book, snoring peacefully.