#summit arc

She always found something unique about the sight of nature growing over a rusty piece of metal, letting plants take over the husk of a metallic corpse.

But alas, she never really got the chance to see this mechanically natural marvel in person.

That was until right now, within the labyrinth of the summit trial.

She had just defeated a bot with the help of her magic; with its mangled corpse now lying lifeless, slouched on the floor with its “head” down.

And Iris can’t just let an opportunity like this slip by her so easily.

She can feel the joyous euphoria overflowing from her soul as she happily raised her staff up as magic continued to flow through the area within the labyrinth.

As the magic flowed, plants and crystals sprouted from the ground, the walls, the ceilings, and most especially of all, the mangled bot. Flowers & leaves, crystals & geodes, all of varying colours filled the area.

And it was beautiful.

Even though Iris is still confused as to how she was teleported unexpectedly into the very labyrinth her friends would forcibly brought into alongside her arcphone & staff, albeit separated from her friends & Macy, this felt like a special moment to her.

She instantly brought out her ArcPhone, shaped & modified to resemble a polaroid camera, to take pictures of her whole area. Most especially of all, the mangled bot, now overflowing with plants & crystals.

As she looked back on the photos she took, she can already feel the memories this moment, and the photos she took of it, would last forever-

“HOLY SHIT. Did you do all this, Iris?!”

Macy’s bubbly voice brought Iris out of her trance. As she turned around to greet her, Iris can feel the joy on her face grow in the sight of her girlfriend,

“Yeah, I did. I always wanted to take a photo like this. Shame about how we got here though. Any clue on where the others are.”

The joyousness in Macy’s voice & overall emotion instantly changed over Iris’ question as she sighed, “No. I still dunno jack shit about how we got here. I’m pretty worried about how all the others are handling this. I mean; Cameron, Mercy & Geno have clearly made peace with what happened in the caverns, but I can’t say the same about the others. It’s clear that all the others are still pretty affected from what happened back there.”

Iris instantly grasped Macy’s hands with her’s as she finished speaking, “We’ll find them Macy. And we’ve seen what they’re all capable of, I’m sure they’ll be okay.”

Macy smiled back at her, “Yeah, we will.”

They both went in for a kiss as magic continued to flow through themselves & the area they both stood in.

Atlas just finished pulling out one of his swords from the mangled remains of a bot when he spots some type of ghost stalking him from the corner, which he immediately chases after.

Once he catches up to the ghost, he even finds its “owner”; another student, with green skin, what looks like a very oversized jacket, grey hair, some weird black hat, and the ghost encircling him as they held out a card in one of their hands.

An awkward silence filled the area for a couple of minutes until Atlas cleared his throat,

“Soooooo, how has this whole labyrinth been treating you?”

The other student quickly answered, albeit with a sense of confusion,

“It’s been an experience? I guess? I’ve mostly just been summoning some undead friends of mine to help out with scoping the place for wherever my friends & partners might be. I’m worried about the possibility of them getting hurt, but at the same time, I’m sure they’re all capable of fending for themselves.”

“What do you mean by ‘summoning undead friends’?”

The student’s eyes lit up over Atlas question, “Well, the main ways I cast magic are through cartomancy & necromancy. Cartomancy’s basically just casting magic with the help of a deck of playing cards, but some people usually just use it for fortune telling. & Necromancy’s the usual summoning dead spirits to do my bidding. I usually use both of those interchangeably since I think they’re both pretty fun, and I just realized I’ve been rambling for the past couple of seconds to a complete stranger, and-.”

Atlas giggled, “It’s alright! I like learning about new things! Y’know, a lot of people say the undead are bad & all that superstitious shit, but something about the ghost you summoned felt… friendly. Do ya know why that is?”

“Well… to put it simply, I’m undead myself. I-it’s complicated, but I died in the past, my parents brought me back to life through necromancy, and here I am still in the flesh. I’ve made my peace with it, and I think that fact is why most of the undead spirits I summon are so friendly to me. To be fair, I’m friendly back to them, & that basically leads to all of ‘em having a friendly-ish personality outside of whenever I bring them out to fight.”

Silence filled the room once more.

“…I could see why you’d think that’s… weird. I haven’t really told anyone outside of Postmythical about it, but-.”

“Wait, you’re in that team? Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“Well, you didn’t really ask me for my name & stuff… but I’m Amos.”

Atlas gladly replied back, “Well then, I’m Atlas of Team Spunk! Damn it feels kinda weird to know someone that has the same first & last letter of their name as you…”

Amos giggled, “Spunk. That’s a funny word.”

“Ok to be fair, our team name was Emily’s idea, & she said it meant ‘courage & determination’. Anyways back to what I was gonna say, I actually have 2 close friends on Postmythical. & considering the fact that our teams’ leaders teamed up during this whole thing, you probably know who they are right?”

“Yeah, Edan & Skadi said you guys were trustworthy, but they didn’t get to introduce you guys.”

“Trustworthiness is kinda the vibe my team of friends wanna give off, & at the end of the day, we want what’s best for others & ourselves.”

Amos smiled, “I dunno what it is, but you have this sort of vibe that’s let me talk about all this stuff with you. I’m not saying that I have some kind of romantic feelings for you or something, since I’m not really interested in the stuff but like-”

“You’re aromantic too?”

“Yeah that probably might be it-.”

A fiery blast emitted behind Atlas, instantly making him unsheathe his twin swords whilst Amos prepared to summon another spirit with his cards.

The flames settled to revealed a tired Madeleine scratching the back of her head with one hand, while holding her trusted cleaver in another.

They sighed, “Finally! Something positive!.. Hey Atlas, how’s it been?”

Atlas shrugged, “Pretty fun, besides… well, y’know.”

Madeleine immediately noticed someone shyly hiding behind Atlas,

“Who’s this?”

Atlas peeked behind him, noticing Amos shyly clutching his cards as two spirits circled around them forming a sort of barrier.

He skittered to the side to introduce him to her,

“Oh! This is Amos. He casts magic using cards & summons undead buddies of his to support him. Also he’s chill, and I’m not just saying that ‘cause they’re in Edan & Skadi’s team.”

Madeleine hummed as she calmly put away her cleaver and walked closer towards the both of them,

“Well, any friend of those two is a friend of mine. It’s nice to meet you Amos. My name’s Madeleine, I’m also a member of Team Spunk just like this dorky bird. I’m assuming you also must be worried for the rest of your team, aren’t you?”

Amos nervously replied, “Uhm… yeah, I am. This is the first time I’ve been separated from them, & the fact that I can’t call them for help’s starting to make me worried. I’ve mostly just been avoiding other people & bots, and trying to find them.”

Madeleine softly put a hand on their shoulder, surprising Amos with an almost foreign sense of comfort,

“Well then, the three of us will look out for our team members together.

But first things first, you & Atlas must be a bit hungry, aren’t ya?”

“Yes…?”

Amos looked to Atlas in confusion, who shrugged it off,

“I dunno man, she’s just like this. In a good way.”

Madeleine strutted towards a more open area, taking off their large backpack to reveal its actually a compact fridge filled with many fresh ingredients,

“I’ve been cooking for a while. It started out as a personal hobby, but as I got older, I started to enjoy helping others through it, especially if they’re a friend of mine.

So what would you two like to order?”

Atlas quickly whipped up a response,

“Maybe something simple, like a sandwich. I’m not that hungry Maddi’. What about you Amos?”

Amos was positively stunned. Every time he thinks he’s gotten used to the warmth & kindness he’s received, they get thrown another curveball.

And this moment was no different, not that he was complaining.

Said bad news immediately broke down the barricade they all collectively created to protect them, with a gang of hostile bots appearing out of nowhere to ambush them.

Having gone through what felt like a week of this, the five leaders immediately defeat them, all through the power of friendship repeatedly landing powerful magic-infused attacks onto the bots blocking their way.

———

After finally being given the chance to rest, Emily curiously asks Parker a question whilst Aaron, Lance, & Emmet relaxed nearby,

“So what’s up with your hair covering part of your face? ‘You hiding something in there, or is it for aesthetic purposes. Cause either way, I’d understand it.”

Parker chuckled over their partner’s question, “Well, I guess you could say the answer’s both; I think I look great like this, but it also lets me hide my birthmark.”

Lance & Aaron replied in unison, “What?”

The elemental happily sighed as they showed the hidden part of their face;

Part of it, including their left eye looked just as it does when they’re in their elemental form, with small little cracks encircling it.

“I wouldn’t actually say it’s a birthmark, but more of a birth defect. I’ve actually thought about switching up my hairstyle to show it off since I think it’s pretty cool.”

Emily eyes sparkled over their appearance, “And you’re right! I think it’s really pretty, Parker!”

Parker blushed as they readjusted their hat as it started to tilt on their head after her compliment, “Thanks Em.”

Emmet quickly glanced between the two of them slowly realizing what happened during the prior night,

“WAIT, EM DID YOU AND PARKER-”

A loud explosion immediately cut off Emmet’s question as it alerted them and the other 4.

It was then even followed up by countless other explosions of varying magical power, and an even more shocking familiar voice,

“Jeez, this shit’s getting out of control.”

The five leaders immediately turned with their weapons pulled out to greet a confused Jadeyn who slowly put their hands up as some form of surrender,

“Damn, can you guys relax?

…Ok, on second thought I can get why you guys probably won’t relax, but you probably know what I said that.”

Lance (and also Aaron by proxy) was surprised over Jadeyn coming out of nowhere,

“What- Jadeyn what are you doing here?! Aaron & I told Macy & Iris to tell you & the others to-“

“Yeah, just spectate the whole trial shit. But APPARENTLY, whoever the fuck’s running this thing decided to teleport academy students in here. Cameron & the all the others are probably somewhere in this fuckass labyrinth fighting for their lives.”

“And you’re going to go find them all on your own? I mean you are pretty powerful if we go by how passion fuels the power your magic has & the fact that you have an infinite amount of mana at your disposal, but are you sure you want to risk your life for this?”

Jadeyn playfully scoffed at Aaron’s question,

“I’ll be fine guys, trust me. It’s not like I’ll casually pick a fight with every single bot I come across instead of evading them. And by the looks of it, you guys’ve been struggling to fight these things off so I won’t drag the two of you with me.”

Parker happily sighed, “Well good luck finding the rest of Chaosmos. And say hi to C for me.”

Jadeyn chuckled, “Gladly.”

And so, they summoned a portal and backwardly fell into it, warping away to another area within the labyrinth,

Lance, Aaron, Parker, Emily, & Emmet all combined their magic to create a magical barricade around the area they were in to protect themselves just in case another group of leaders decided to ambush them in the night.

They were all tired from what happened today, with all the fighting and magic that took a lot of energy and mana out of the 5 of them.

———

The next time Emily checked their phone, it’s 2 in the morning. She’s been trying her best to fall asleep, but just can’t.

They sighed as they turned to their left to see Emmett comfortably sleeping with his head comfortably resting atop a pillow they created for them.

“Can’t sleep either Em?”

Emily’s ears perked up, bringing her to face Parker, who similarly looked like they couldn’t sleep either.

“Not really. ‘Dunno why”

Parker chuckled, “Well, if we can’t sleep, there’s gotta be something we could talk about to pass the time.”

A smile, and a very faint blush, slowly grew on Emily’s face over Parker’s invitation, quietly walking towards where they sat to sit beside them.

“Well… where did ya find your entire outfit? I think it looks freaking awesome.”

“Got it thrifting. Granted, I gave most of what ‘m wearing a paint job since I didn’t like the original colours, but I still got my attire from thrift shops from Arcana City’s shopping district. You wouldn’t believe the type of stuff they’d have in those stores.”

Emily scoffed in a positive manner, “Trust me, I do. I found a whole-ass statue in one near Coven’s Mall. We should totally go thrifting together once this whole trial thing blows over.”

Parker smirked “Is that your subtle way of asking me out on a queer-platonic date?”

“Yeah it- wait was it that obvious? And how did you realize it’d be queer-platonic?”

“Well, you said it yourself Em; romance isn’t your thing, the same thing’s true for myself, and I don’t see what’s wrong with seeing if things could work between the two of us.

And hiding your emotions probably isn’t gonna work on someone who decided to study Mind to boost their empathy & people perception.”

“Literally most if not everyone that studies mind wants does so for those reasons. But yeah, I guess I get what you’re coming from.”

Parker started to blush as they continued to talk, “Y’know in all seriousness, I really never thought I’d end up where I am right now; a leader of an Academy team, a group of team members that’s practically family to me, and also having gotten to meet you. I always thought you & your magic looked pretty after all.”

Emily chuckled as they spoke, “Um, yeah! S-same here! And speaking of team members, my entire team’s definitely gonna lose their minds once they find out about us being a thing.”

“Yeah, my team’s probably gonna be shocked; especially Edan & Skadi, I remember telling them one time that I thought Unicorns were overrated.”

“Eh, that’s understandable. I feel like other mythical creatures should be brought up more in little girl merch beside us.”

Parker gently clasped both of Emily’s hands into theirs, “Well, I’d consider you to be an exception.”

Emily was almost too stunned to speak, “Damn… you’re really charming. Y’know?”

You two are soulmates, said soulmate bond you both had got tarnished after you got separately jumped by entities which led to Lance becoming an android & Aaron losing his wings albeit temporarily, you reunited two years ago via sheer magical spite, & that led to Aaron regaining their wings, Lance voluntarily gave up her left forearm in favour of a cybernetic one that you collaborated on, while Aaron lost his actual right forearm & had it replaced with ANOTHER cybernetic arm you collaborated on, and that was because of another entity that ambushed both of you while you guys were stuck in the caverns, which then led to that week-long break we had back in fall…

Jeez, I had a feeling you two were hiding something that happened that you didn’t wanna bring up. But I didn’t think it was THAT harsh.”

Aaron exhaled as they continued to re-attach metal plating onto the exposed part of Lance’s face,

“Yeah well, the rest of our team mainly felt the same way when we told them about our past. They’ve actually managed to figure it out prior to us telling them about it.”

Emmet sighed, “It doesn’t change the fact that you two keep flirting with each other during class. I get that you two are basically making up for lost time, but I feel like you guys should be more considerate towards everyone else. No offence.”

Lance chuckled whilst Aaron still operated on their face, “Trust us, Jadeyn called us out on that back when we’re in the caverns. That whole incident gave both of us a huge wake up call when it came to being joint leaders of Chaosmos. Entities like the ones we encountered in there are all drawn to & powered by a person’s mental state and trauma. And low & behold… they were drawn to all but two of our teammates.”

The area they were all in fell silent for what felt like more than a dozen minutes.

As Emily glanced around the room, she decided to continue the conversation with a sigh,

“Either way, it’s nice that we ran into you guys, and not another hostile bot or some other dangerous thing. We got ambushed by a horde of them literal minutes before this, and it took a lot of mana out of us. Technically as Unicorn hyrbids, Emm & I have a large amount of mana stored in us, & Parker presumably has an infinite amount of it as an Elemental, but it was still exhausting by the end of it.”

Parker was on the lookout for any danger that came their way as the other four continued to talk about their current predicament and their teams.

Lance & Aaron immediately shot up from their rest at the alarms continued to loudly blare for the next couple of seconds.

After the alarms passed, the two of them got a new message from their cybernetic arms’ phone interface,

“Phase two of the summit trials has begun. Environmental effects; including terrain and weather alteration, are now in effect. Along with the same hostile bots you have all encountered during the prior phase being set to a more higher difficulty, making them more powerful.

And as a reminder to all other students who are watching this trial as of currently, if you do decide to interfere with this trial, you will be met with consequences.”

The two of them stared at each other with worried faces as they finished reading over the message, before ultimately standing up to continue traversing the labyrinth,

only this time, with extra caution.

———

The only audible thing that could be heard as Lance & Aaron traversed the labyrinth was their footsteps.

Aaron could tell Lance was more wary about whatever could potentially ambush them by the worried look on her face, and the way he tightly held his rapier with his non-cybernetic arm.

On the other hand, they similarly held out their bow whilst having an arrow pulled back.

Aaron broke the silence, “You also thinking about that memory we relived last night?”

Lance sighed before replying, “Yeah, I am. But… now doesn’t really feel like the time, Aaron.”

“I’m just trying to break the silence, Lance. Y’know I don’t see anything wrong with a little bit of banter. ‘Cause Creator knows we could use something to lighten the mood.”

Lance turned to face Aaron with a small blush on his face, “You do have a point. It’s just… there’s a lot on my mind; what with this whole trial, and the chance we might get attacked by a bot, or god forbid another Academy leader, the fact that our team might endanger themselves trying to get us out of this whole situation, and not to mention the fact that we relived a memory that’s more modern compared to the ones we usually get! IT’S TOO OVER-“

A hostile bot that looked more than 3 times Lance’s size bursted through one of the labyrinth’s walls, instantly knocking him to the floor face first.

“LANCE!”

Aaron immediately shot back towards the bot in anger. But as the announcement said, the bots were in fact more powerful, having tanked their arrow with relative ease.

He quickly dodge the bot’s attacks, immediately taking off the ground to swiftly fly towards Lance who was kneeling while clutching part of their face.

Aaron set up a protective barrier infused with Light and Soul magic as the landed nearby,

“Lance, are you okay? Did-“

“DON’T LOOK AT MY FACE!”

It broke Aaron’s heart to hear Lance say that. They could tell Lance was crying by the tone of her voice.

He could feel his heart break even more as he started to realize why Lance was tearing up;

They were looking at parts of his face’s metal plating that fell off.

Lance wasn’t really fond of the fact that he was an android, so a part of what covered his internal technological organs being forcibly ripped of his face would’ve definitely cause him heavy amounts of distress.

As much as Aaron wanted to comfort Lance, they couldn’t ignore what was currently happening, as the bot that was attacking them continued to pummel the barrier they set up.

He pulled out another arrow, this time infusing it with copious amounts of magical light to make it more powerful than ever.

When the bot finally broke through the barrier, Aaron instantly loosed the arrow, letting out a beam of light that enveloped the bot.

But to their surprise, the bot still clung onto some technological form of life.

Yet, before Aaron could shoot another arrow, Lance quickly slashed the bot into large bits, before immediately falling into her knees to cry once more.

Aaron ran towards Lance, finally given the chance to go ahead and comfort him. As Lance finally turned to face him, he finally got a look at his face;

What looked like half of Lance’s face was exposed, leaving his barren endoskeleton visible, while the other unharmed half showed his simultaneously shocked, and saddened face.

Aaron softly smiled as they caressed the exposed part of Lance’s face with their cybernetic hand, “I get that you don’t like the robotic part of yourself, but it still doesn’t change the fact that you still look beautiful.”

Lance’s smiled over his compliment as a blush slowly appeared on his face , “How do you always find a way to flirt in situations like this?”

“Did’ya forget when you said we now had matching cybernetic arms after an entity tore one of mine of?”

They chuckled, “You have a point there, love.”

Aaron smiled back at her as they went in to softly kiss Lance on the lips while still holding onto Lance’s face.

To Lance, it was a surprise considering… everything, but it was a welcome one, embracing it as they held onto Aaron’s back.

A loud heel click interrupted their moment, making them pull away as they were met with a familiar face;

Parker stood with a smirk on their face while crossing their arms. To their side, a pair of Unicorn hybrid twins stood close to each other, the female twin similarly smirked, while the male twin had some form of disgust on their face.

Terra sighed, “Okay, let’s lay out what we know; this trial’s supposed to test out the skills, abilities, & durability of every single Academy team leader, there’s some kind of consequence in store for students that want to interfere with this trial, there’s a bunch of challenges & obstacles waiting for the leaders, & that’s about it.”

“Well… on the bright side, the twins look like they’ll be okay. They got Postmythical’s leader with them, and they’re pretty strong from what Edan & Skadi have told us.” Chrome replied.

Atlas cleared their throat as a way to grab the team’s attention, “Speaking of! I feel like we should be talking more about how that convo Em & Emm had with… what’s their name… Parking lot?”

Brooks & Mateo bursted into laughter while Madeleine looked at Atlas with a disappointed look on their face as she sighed,

“Their name was Parker. And yeah, I feel like there’s something to said about Edan & Skadi’s team being allied with Chaosmos of all-.”

Leo quickly interrupted them, “I don’t see what’s wrong with that! Yeah sure, that team’s pretty rowdy and, y’know, chaotic, but they all seem to have good intentions! Except the Angel & Demon, I dunno about them.”

Rowan nodded in agreement, “I’ll admit, for being a team that’s known for being chaotic, some of their members are pretty chill most of the time.”

Melody chuckled, “Yeah, I can vouch to that team. Especially Zac, they’re pretty chill & has great music taste.”

Sage hummed, “Now that mention it, isn’t that team also led by two people? Where are they? I literally can’t find any sighting of them even though whoever’s running this trial is letting us go through every single camera in its labyrinth.”

“Well, they both study the tech element, there’s a good chance that they might’ve disabled the cameras around them for privacy’s sake. Since they’re dating they’re probably taking advantage of that to make out-“

“Terra.” Chrome glared at him as she hissed at her

Terra chuckled in response, “What? You don’t think we’d do the same?”

The room goes silent after Chrome sighed

Their entire team, alongside their absent leaders, have known each other for a long while. Most of their lives were spent being a tight-knit group of friends, so any of them being put in any kind of danger would immediately worry the rest of them.

All they could do was hope the twins came out of it alright.

…

“Sooooo what’s for breakfast?”

“ATLAS!”

Both of them immediately brought out their weapons once they heard the clanking footsteps of a horde of hostile bots. Lance got into a battle stance, with their rapier in hand, while Aaron pulled back his elbow as he prepared to loose an arrow from his bow.

The speed at which Lance powerfully landed strikes whilst Aaron confidently stood in place as they shot arrow after arrow with their bow meant the ambush directed towards them was bound to fail.

They constantly stood back to back during the fight, protecting each other from any potential attack that might’ve come their way.

But alas, after minutes that felt more like an hour. The ambush came to an end, and it was announced that all the leaders were given leeway to rest up before the trial continued

———

Lance & Aaron decided to rest in an area with no visible cameras, because god forbid if they accidentally reveal anything they don’t want anyone besides their team to hear.

Both of them are laying down facing each other, but despite all attempts, neither of them could fall asleep,

So they start talking,

“You think Parker’s doing alright, Aaron?”

“They’re as powerful as us. I’m sure they’ll be fine. I’m more worried about if Macy & Iris got the latter part of our message.”

Lance sighed as she held Aaron’s hands with he own, “Me too… I just hope our team don’t do something reckless to the point they’ll get hurt. I really don’t want a repeat of what happened in the caverns.”

Aaron pulled Lance’s hands up to his face as he planted a kiss onto them, “I told you this before, Lance. You aren’t solely at fault for what happened back there, and you don’t have to hold that burden on your own. You’ll always have me.” He pressed their head together as they continued to speak, “And that won’t change, never again.”

Lance chuckled as a smile grew on his face, “I like the sound of that, love.”

———

They quickly fall asleep after that, clinging together as they tightly held on to each other.

As expected, the two of them found themselves in another memory. A constant that happened every other couple of days.

But to their surprise, this memory was more… recent.

It was from just before their first year at Arcana Academy, back when they reawakened their soulmate bond.

Neither of them had their cybernetic arms, their attire looked different compared to what they currently wore, and Aaron didn’t have their wings sprouting from their back.

At least, that was when they first encountered their past selves within the memory.

Lance & Aaron are all to familiar with this memory as they both bittersweetly smiled as it played out;

Them slowly realizing the bond they unknowingly had, their “first” kiss, the euphoria they had as Aaron regained his wings and the joy Lance had for him.