Vitalani's Upbringing: An Aradace Smith Side Story

[xlArisenRoselx]

Ok, so I forgot that I had posted in this area before, but someone brought it up to me that if I have any more, I should post it. So, that's what I'm doing. I wrote this as a side story, so you can get to know the characters I'm getting to introduce in the next chapter of my main story. Anywho, here it is:

 

[spoiler=Vitalani's Upbringing]

                      Vitalani’s Upbringing

                     An Aradace Smith Side Story

                                                      By Kyumi Niusuki     

 

  Vitalani and Raiden were walking to school. It was a beautiful day with birds chirping, the sun shining through the few clouds in the sky, and fresh morning air for them to breathe.

 

"Ah. Don't you just love the fresh air Raiden?" Vitalani asked.

 

"Absolutely. It's so clean and crisp, it's breathtaking!" he replied.

 

  As they neared the intersection in front of the school, Vitalani thought she heard something. It sounded like a bike bell. She turned around, but only to see Mistral riding her bike down the path they were going. When Mistral got close to them, she said this, "Of course you would walk to school with your boyfriend. Typical of a girl from uptown."

 

  Vitalani tried to defend herself, but by the time she mustered up the courage to, Mistral was already out of earshot.

 

"Don't worry," Raiden comforted, "She's just being Mistral. You just need to be brave enough to confront her about it."

 

"That's my problem Ray. I'm not brave" she replied.

 

  The two arrive at her classroom shortly after. Mistral was already there sitting at her desk. Of course, Vitalani's desk is right next to Mistral's. Raiden, being two grades higher than her, has to attend elsewhere in the school. Raiden wishes her luck, then heads to his class. As soon as Vitalani sits in her seat, Mistral does exactly what she was hoping wouldn't happen.

 

"Typical of you to be late. You have no sense of time."

 

  As lunchtime approached, Mistral kept teasing her. And all the while, her group of "friends" kept agreeing with her in a manner of breaking down the poor girl's mind. Vitalani hoped that during lunch Mistral would leave her alone.

 

  Lunchtime arrived and everything was looking good. Mistral was in the back of the line talking about makeup, and Raiden and Vitalani were in the front getting their food. Every day at lunch Vitalani plays Yu-Gi-Oh with Raiden. It is a fun little card game that involves monsters, spells, and traps. Vitalani was taking her turn when Mistral walked past.

 

"What's this?" Mistral said in mocked curiosity. "A card game of sorts?"

 

"Actually, yes." Vitalani replied. "It's called Yu-Gi-Oh. Care to watch?" Vitalani asked, completely unaware that the tone in her voice was fake.

 

  Mistral looked confused for a moment. Why would she ask if she wanted to watch the game if she clearly was making fun of it? Obviously she didn't make it clear enough. She decided to teach this uptown girl a lesson.

 

"Sure. Why not?" Mistral said with faked enthusiasm. All of her cronies were shocked at this. Not even Raiden could understand what was happening.

 

"This is my favorite card." Vitalani began explaining. "Stardust Dragon. It's a Synchro monster that can continually revive itself, if the right criteria are met. Here, let me get my Instruction manual so I can teach you how to play."

 

  As she reached down into her backpack to get the small booklet, Mistral took action. She grabbed Stardust Dragon, and ripped it into tiny pieces, rendering it unusable.

 

"Hey!" Raiden yelled, making Vitalani rise from the depths of her book bag to see what happened. She was devastated at what she saw.

 

"Whoops. My bad. I thought you said it could revive itself. Why didn't it "revive" when I killed it?" Mistral said with a smirk on her face. Then, her and her group of followers walked away, leaving Vitalani in tears.

 

  Raiden was trying to calm her down.

 

"Hey, hey. It's okay. You can have my copy of Stardust Dragon."

 

  Vitalani just responded with, "No. You keep it. I'm never gonna Duel again." With that, she ran off. Away from school, away from Raiden, and especially away from Mistral. She ran so far away, she wasn’t sure where she was anymore. She appeared to be in some sort of abandoned, forgotten part of town. Mist laid heavy in the air, trees casting no shadows as there was no light, and the pleasant birdsong that had filled the air earlier this morning had disappeared without a trace.

 

  What is this place? As she was asking herself this question, she saw a small body of water nearby. It was hidden behind buildings and trees. Vitalani stared down into the depths of the water expecting to see little fish swimming by, but none were found. Instead, she saw her reflection rippled in the water like a crinkled piece of paper.

 

  She continued to stare at the reflection until her eyes seemed to be playing tricks on her. Was that really an orb of water rising above the surface as if to greet her? That’s impossible.

 

  She dismissed the thought at once, and the orb instantly dropped back into the pool. Stupid daydreams. At a time like this too. She reached down to put her hands in the cool, refreshing water, but as she did, it turned to ice. How in the? She pulled her hands away from the ice and it melted. Vitalani decided to put her hands up to the water once again. This time, instead of freezing, the water around her hands evaporated, making the steam hit her frigid hands.

 

  I’ve got to be dreaming. Come on Tali, wake up! But she was not asleep. She pinched herself.

 

“OW!” She screamed, her voice echoing off the sides of the abandoned buildings in this empty, dark place.

 

  Nope. Not dreaming… She decided to test something. She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the slow, rippling water. She thought of cold thoughts. Glaciers, icebergs, snow. Opening her eyes, she saw that the water in front of her had turned to ice. Incredible!

 

  I have to tell this to Raiden! As she started running, she continued to think about her powers. She thought about manipulating water and doing all sorts cool things with them. This should be fun to play with!

 

  When she arrived, she immediately went to Raiden. She was ready to tell him all about her new ability, but he was not so happy to see her.

 

“Where the hell did you run off to?”

 

  Vitalani was not expecting this. Raiden was never mad, at least never at her. Then again, she had never left him in that kind of manner before...

 

“I… I don’t know.. But, Raiden--”

 

“You don’t know? How can you not know where you went? You are the only person who would know!”

 

“I know it doesn’t make sense, but listen--”

 

“No, I don’t want to listen! At least, not right now. Just leave me alone for a while, ok?”

 

  Vitalani wasn’t sure how to handle this. Not only was this new, but she also wanted to tell him what she discovered. She felt he had to know.

 

“Raiden,” She gave her last attempt, “Please.”

 

“Leave me alone Tali”

  Vitalani gave up. She got up, turned around, and hesitated before moving. Then, she stormed off. Why? Why won’t he talk to me?

 

  She kept going, all the while thinking about what was happening. She turned right, left, stayed straight, even ventured onto different floors. Was it something I said?

 

  She reached a corner, secluded off from the rest of the school, with only a flickering ceiling light illuminating the dark space. Locker doors hung open, posters hung sideways from the walls, and papers were scattered across the cold, hard floor.

 

  Vitalani crouched down in this dim place and wept.

 

  Why do I screw everything up? I even lost my best friend whom I’ve known since kindergarten. I’m sure he’ll never speak to me again.

 

  A voice broke her from her depressed thoughts.

 

“Hello there. You look like you’ve had a bad day.”

 

“Wh-who are you” Vitalani said through her tears, trying to muster up some courage.

 

“Why, I am Orion, and I am here to help.”

 

(This is the end of the side story. What ends up happening is that Orion does the same thing he did with Aradace by explaining that she has powers, and that there is a school for those same powers. She ends up going, along with Raiden, who also has powers, and yes, they do make amends. This is where the next chapter of my Main story takes place.)