Team Havoc

Chapter 1
The Vytal Festival was over. I had enjoyed it immensely, but I was a relieved that the excitement was over. Now I could enjoy the rest of my time off from school spending time with my family. I was glad for it. I had always had a very strong relationship with my family, and a year and a half at a boarding school had taken its toll on me. I liked Signal, but I missed my family. I studied my weapon, Auraharpe. I was extremely fond of it. It was a pair of short swords which could join into a double-bladed sword or convert to two cool looking guns and was powered with powdered Shock Dust. I liked Shock, because it was powerful and extremely attractive in combat. I had gotten to show it off a little in the duels at the Festival. Being a student, I could not yet compete in the tournament, but I could enjoy duels with other secondary school students. Auraharpe flashed brightly when hit by a hard surface, such as another weapon, and it looked super super cool. I was quite proud of it.

I remembered when I had first made it, and had been showing it off to my friends. I remembered Hanna's collapsable staff, which used many kinds of powdered Dust, and was designed to help focus Aura-based attacks like a laser. Most memorable, though, was Ruby's High Caliber Sniper Scythe. It was so large, I did not see how she could hold a weapon so heavy. I was impressed that she had managed to design a weapon that dangerous. She confessed she had gotten a few tips from her uncle, but said she had come up with most of it herself. Those early days at Signal were what where going to shape our futures; it was when we designed our weapons and outfits, learned how to harness our Aura, and discovered our Semblances. In short, it shaped our identities.

Thinking of Ruby reminded me of the letter that Ruby had sent me a few months before. I had not gotten around to writing back, because I had been busy with school. I wrote a reply, and then fiddled with Auraharpe some more. Just then my mother came into the room.

"Ora, it is dinnertime," she told me.

"Alright, Mom. I'll be right there." I neatly put away Auraharpe, and went to the dinner table.

-

"So, Ora," my mother began, "How did you like the Festival this year?"

"It was a great as ever."

"What was your favorite part?" asked my father.

"The duels! I especially had fun beating Hanna." I laughed. Hanna was my best friend at Signal, and we liked to give each other a hard time.

"Hanna usually loses duels because she uses so much Aura," my older brother Sebastian observed. "But on the battlefield with team members, she would probably be the most dangerous."

"That's true," I agreed. "She is good at gauging her Aura, but she does not recover quickly. She just gets steadily worn out."

"But if she had time to recover, like if her teammates were covering her," my mother continued, "She would be a vital team member."

We smiled at each other. We were a very intellectual family, and it gave us pleasure to analyze things.

At that moment my baby brother decided to dump his food on the floor. "Oh, Ebenezer!" my mother exclaimed. We halted our conversation to clean up the mess. My thoughts wandered. I began to think of monsters, which made me think of fur, which made me think of carpets, which made me think of floors, which brought me back to the mess on the floor which was nearly remedied. Then I thought of the food Ebenezer had spilled, which made me think of vegetables, which made me think of plants, which made me think of butterflies, which made me think of birds, which made me think of the sky, which made me think of lightning, which made me think of Shock Dust, which made me think of Auraharpe. At that point I decided to think about Auraharpe for a while.

"Anyway, what were we talking about?" asked Sebastian. He looked at me, since I supposedly had the best memory.

"Ummm, hold on." I backtracked. I chose to backtrack out loud this time, because I found it more amusing that way; and also because I figured I owed it to them to have a glimpse of how my brain worked. "Awesomeness, Auraharpe, Shock Dust, lightning, sky, birds, butterflies, flowers, plants, vegetables, food, mess, floor, rugs, fur, Grimm, fighting, duels, Hanna! We were talking about Hanna!"

They all laughed and looked at me inquisitively. "Oh, yeah, and we were talking about how Hanna would be better at being a Huntress than she is at duels."

I was quite pleased with myself for surprising them. I liked surprise.

"Well, I was just about to tell you," said my father, "That I really like the lightning effect your weapon has. It impressed me a lot."

I beamed.

"You seem to show off a little more than necessary, though," Mom remarked.

"I do not need to show off," I said jokingly. "Auraharpe shows off for me."

They all laughed. Sebastian mocked me. "Oh my weapon shows off for meeee, blehhhh."

I laughed too. Sebastian made the funniest impressions.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Mom.

"I mean I'm so AWESOME that showing off would be redundant!" I laughed. "That's a joke, please do not analyze that."

We all laughed. Sebastian said, "Uuuh, it's 'cuz I'm awesome, that must be the reason."

Sebastian liked to be stupid "ironically". Actually, what he really meant was "sarcastically". I am convinced he misused the word "ironic" sarcastically.

"Seriously, though, Ora," Mom said. "If you get too distracted by trying to look cool, you might find yourself in a less-than-awesome situation."

Mom did that sometimes. She would occasionally say something serious in the middle of a silly conversation and drive me crazy. She was right, though. That was something I needed to work on.

"I think you did fantastically in the duels, Ora," said Dad. Then a thought occurred to him. "Do you want to be a Huntress, Ora?"

"Of course I do!" I said, enthusiastically.

"'Cause if you don't, that's fine."

"Why would I not?"

"Well, I just wanted to make sure that you did not feel like you had to be one, because your mom and I are. I mean, I'm not a Huntress, 'cause I'm not a girl; and you have to be a girl to be a Huntress; I mean, technically I'm a Huntsman--"

"Of course I want to be a Huntress, Daddy!" I stopped him. He could go on for hours saying nothing if I let him. "There's nothing cooler than slaying monsters and defending, uh, stuff!"

And that was basically how the evening went. Dad always encouraging, Mom always instructing, Sebastian always thinking, and Ebenezer making messes. That was my family, the people who shaped me.