Chapter 1

Gushiken Shinsei:

WOOSH!

A young boy with combed, light blue dyed hair flew past on the road on a board of sorts. There was a faint glow on his feet, which helped him fly the board.

"Be careful Rai. Have a nice day at school!" an elderly lady yelled from her market. She has helped us a ton and we buy her products a lot.

"Thanks Miss." The same boy, Gushiken Rai, responded back. I waved slightly at the lady and followed Rai's path of dust. Suddenly, he slid his back leg backwards to the tip of the board, and pushed down, whilst increasing his energy output. Some of it was invested into a wind affinity to push him upwards. He released the technique as he floated onto a house.

"Hey Rai, what did I say about parkouring in my house! Now you have a damn Energy Board too." an elderly man, the market owner's husband, scolded Rai. Rai replied with a wide grin, "Sorry old man, but we are trying to get to school fast. Plus it's safer for you guys when we are up here so we don't run you over." The old man just let out a long sigh in response.

WOOSH!

I heard his clothes flutter, as I flew past him. He shot me a look then sighed again. "And you be more careful, Shinsei." He waved at me. I nodded and looked back ahead. "Hey, Shin, get up here, it's a lot more fun." I looked up to see Rai gesturing to me to join his roof jumping. I looked down at my board then looked back up. I slid my foot back, but hit the board's side to make it spin. As I did I jumped and used my other foot to lift the board and flip it upwards toward the house beside me. I used energy to alter the course of the wind around me in order to make it land on top of the roof. After I did I used the same technique in order to lift myself up and land on the board. "Show off." I heard Rai grumble as he watched me come up to join him. "How much time do we have?" I looked down at the band on my wrist, and sent some energy to it. "About thirty minutes." I responded before adding, "Way too much." Rai smiled once more at the challenge. "Alright the-" He looked up in a rushed state. "Energy fluctuations." He sent energy to his eyes, which was visible, and I followed suit. "Wait, isn't that an Energy Board course?" Rai asked, his eyes going wide. "Why haven't we noticed it before?" I looked down at my band as it calculated how long the course was and where it led to. Without looking up I answered, "I heard we can only see them and feel them if you have an energy board. Once you enter one, people without a board find you invisible."

"Where does it lead to?"

"It's actually a longer route to school."

At this, Rai started to grin again. "You know what that means."

"Yeah, yeah. You get to let loose a bit more. Let's just get this done and get to school. Didn't you want to see Fu?" I asked in a nonchalant tone. "Oh don't be like that. Come on, let's go." He said this for nothing, since we were already entering the tunnel. We spun around the insides until we saw light at the end. We increased our energy output a little bit, as we flipped and spun around the obstacles outside the tunnel. Rai was laughing the whole time, having a blast. "How much time do we have?" He asked, turning his head to me.

"Fourty-five minutes until the assembly. Fifteen until planned arrival. We have about ten miles to blast through until we get there." His grin somehow got bigger at those words. I picked up what he was starting to do and followed his lead. Lightning started to crackle around his legs as he looked forward. His board's markings lit up and crackled with electricity as well. He let out a deep breath, and steam came out as he did. Energy concentration. I thought to myself before Rai's next movements snapped me back to reality. I followed along, and felt my body start to heat up. A fire started and blazed at my legs, revealing markings there. I let out a long breath and steam came out and my fire grew and blazed even fiercer. In front of me, Rai met another obstacle. But instead of dodging it, he flew straight to it. He jumped up, but just barely high enough. At the last split second, he released his energy output, and pressed the flat of his board against the obstacle. Then he released all of his stored up energy at once.

FWOOM

He used his lightning to propel himself outwards and forwards. The path he left behind was of crackling lightning as he kept flying. I started to condense my flames in my feet and felt the board take it and concentrate it on the bottom of the board. I found another tunnel, and this time instead of going through, I flew to the right side. I flew up the wall and onto the top. Rai was way ahead of me, but his pace slowed a bit after his condensed energy was finished. I then got to the end of the tunnel, and the edge released my energy. As soon as the flat hit the wall, I shot out the condensed energy. I caught up to Rai and was about to surpass him when a sharp pang rang through my legs. Condensed it too much. I thought to myself as I kept flying. Rai looked back at me and nodded. I looked down at my watch and put up a certain finger before putting up four more. Rai gave me an annoyed look and focused on what's in front of him. I looked up to see the exit of this death maze. We condensed our elemental energy once more and blasted it all at once to finish this last leg of the race.

…

"That was awesome! Those blades made it a lot more fun." Rai exclaimed once we made it to school. "Another one in the bag for me though." He laughed proudly.

"Yeah, you're special, I get it. It's not a me problem, you're just gifted when it comes to speed." I shot back.

"Ouch, talk about hitting me where it hurts." He said as he tucked his board under his arm. He looked up and sent energy to his eyes to scan the school. "I don't see Fu ye-"

FWOOSH

Wind blew past us, but unlike a backlash from board speed, it was condensed. It was obvious from the force of the wind, that it was elemental energy, and not just normal atmospheric wind.

"Speak of the devil," Rai grinned. "Sup, Fu."

Saito Fu was a bright yellow haired kid, with emerald green, yet piercing eyes. He narrowed his eyes on Rai. "Someone hasn't been following the rules we set." He said in a scolding manner.

"Oh, c'mon, it was like the one time we could let loose." He said while rolling his eyes. "I won't do it again, I swear." At this, Fu just sighed. "You say that but last time you-" He started but Rai cut him off. "I was twelve okay. I have an excuse. For your information Fu I have matured by leaps and bounds since then." He said with his chest puffed out, and a haughty expression on his face. "Matured by leaps and bounds in the opposite direction." I muttered. Both of them heard, and Fu laughed, while Rai stuck up a specific finger at me. "So Shin has a sense of humor? Are pigs flying or something?" Fu got out between his laughs, as he tucked his board under his arm just like me and Rai. We started to walk to the side of the school, where we randomly assumed we could place our energy boards. Kids looked around with a confused expression, so we started to walk away. But then-

"Hello there! You guys don't seem to be confused, so I was wondering if you have a general idea where to put our energy boards?" A girl with her hair bobbed, down to her shoulders, walked up to the three of us. It was yellow, and silky, and she had round brown eyes. Rai and Fu just looked at each other. I didn't bother looking back at the girl once I saw her. I instead looked at Fu and Rai and left the decision up to them. I've known them forever, and I could tell that they knew where to put the boards. As a matter of fact, we all knew. We also knew it was actually a challenge of sorts. The curious thing, however, was Rai's expression. He would jump at the chance to interact with a girl, and possibly get a girlfriend. But he didn't have the expression of joy he usually would have. 'That means she has some kind of ulterior motive. What does she gain from talking to us? She seems pretty smart, might even be smart enough to figure out the challenge.' I watched as Rai and Fu pondered this over. Then, finally, Fu looked back at the girl with a smile. "Sure." He responded.

The girl's name was Yoshida Kikyo. It was pretty obvious she was a first year, just like us. She was an earth user, and her mark on her board was a small rock, covered in an outer layer of decaying earth. I couldn't make out what it meant, but I brushed it off. It was a bit troublesome that I couldn't make out what the mark meant, considering they represented a person's personality by using their element. Rai's was a zigzag of lightning, which fit him, as he was a funny, joyous guy most of the time, but he can be deadly when he gets angry or serious. Fu's was a tornado of wind with a storm inside. This represented him, since, like Rai, he seemed to be a chill, but leader type of person. But once that outer layer bursts, he can be deadly as well. They both decided against showing Yoshida their marks. The request was then pushed on to me. I myself was curious, as I completely forgot to check my mark before. I flipped my board in my arm so the side that's down, was now facing upward. I looked down and studied my unusual mark. Both Rai's and Fu's expressions widened at the sight of the mark. Yoshida just tilted her head in confusion as she looked at it. I stared deeply at it. 'Do they know.. Nah that's impossible.' I looked back at Fu and Rai, who both regained their composure, after the instant they had with the sight of my mark.

…

Gushiken Rai:

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Neither could Fu, and I swore for a second, I saw a glimpse of surprise on Shin's face. Marks were always just there. You had the bottom of your board, and then the mark. But Shin's mark was different. He had a circle of black. With an eye in a cyan-blue flame in the center. It reminded me of something I saw a while back. 'How could they know about that though. Then again, I heard the marks were created by the government.' I looked back up at Shin who was staring deeply into his mark. Suddenly Yoshida snapped us out of our daze. "Is there something I'm missing? I don't understand. Why is your mark so.. Nevermind." We continued to walk towards where we were supposed to get our Storage Rings. It was a little shaft, of which I remember passing by on the way here. I saw the rings, and judging by how close it was to the school, it seemed to be the answer. Before we thought of this, we tried using our bands to store the board, but it only seemed to be a key for it, and not storage.

We arrived at the shaft after another ten minutes of walking. "We are here for a Storage Ring please." Fu spoke up once he entered. Suddenly, I felt a threatening presence to our right. Without even looking back at my friends, I dashed forwards and behind the man, gripping his wrist, in which he held a kitchen knife, and turning it to his backside. I was in a position where his other hand wouldn't be able to reach me. I looked down on the man, and saw his old face, covered in wrinkles. He laughed and flicked his wrist, which I loosened my grip on, and set himself free. The old man dropped his knife, turned towards me as if studying me, and laughed. Once he finished snickering, he shifted his gaze back upon me. "Gushiken Rai, right?" He asked. Then he did something that proved my suspicions from earlier. He set up a sound barrier. Yoshida was knocked unconscious, and the old geezer looked at Fu and Shin. "Saito Fu, Gushiken Shinsei, this old man would like to have a little talk with you." He gestured for us to sit down. Then I realized, this wasn't a sound barrier, this was a space time rift. He created a separate dimension just for us to talk?! I'm not buying it. Time around us has stopped, as we were talking in a different place, but the same place. It was hard to explain how it worked. In real time, this powerful of a space-time rift could probably be enough for us to spend one month here, being one day in the real world. I looked back at the old man and grinned. "You're from the government, aren't you?"

…

"Wake up." I muttered as I shook Yoshida whilst trying to wake her up. Her brow twitched a couple of times before deep brown, almonds shaped eyes revealed themselves to me. "Finally." I stood up and smiled. "We might be late, so we should start heading back." I said whilst giving her my hand to help her up.

"Okay, but what happened?" she asked as he gripped my hand and lifted herself up.

"The old guy did some weird type of attack, which left you and me unconscious. Fu just woke me up a little bit ago and explained that the geezer just left the second he saw Fu and Rai withstand his attack." Shin explained from behind me. Fu snapped his head in Shin's direction with a "what the hell did you do that for" expression, but it left as soon as it came, so Yoshida didn't notice.

"Ah, okay." She said with a smile. Then as if she had a sudden realization, her smile was immediately wiped off her face and replaced with a thoughtful look. "But what about our boards.." She muttered.

I quickly handed her a slip of paper. "He gave me this before he left. He could have just said it, but I guess he was the school shooter type when he was our age." I remarked.

Yoshida giggled at this, before unfolding the slip. "In our dorms?" she asked after reading the words on the piece of paper. I nodded my head at this.

"Anyway we should head ba-" I started while turning around to bring Fu and Shin in tow with us. However what I saw - or I guess what I didn't see - was nothing. "..." I stared blankly at the void of where Fu and Shin used to be. I felt lightning start to surround me and crackle ferociously in response to my emotions. "THEY LEFT ME BEHIND!" I yelled as I made a mad dash from the store.

...

"Bastards.." I muttered as I gasped for breath. Fu just snickered while Shin was being his usual emotionless self staring blankly at me as I panted grasping on the last bit of air I had.

"Stop pretending, I know you're fine." Shin said in response to my act. "Also that wasn't me, that was Fu. I'm not fast enough to just dip right in front of you." He added.

"I did it because you guys were having an intimate moment" Fu said whilst snickering. I felt my face start to get hot out of rage. Fu later regained his composure - well as best as he could - and asked "Speaking of-pfft-which, where even is Yoshida?" He said while laughing. Out of spite, I gave him a quick gut punch, before cooling down. "Yoshida is-" I felt all the color drain from my face as I realized what I've done. 'I LEFT HER BEHIND!? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!?' I bonked myself in the head out of this realization a couple of times but just as I was about to stop and run back to go get her, I heard a soft voice.

"Hey-pant-guys. I-pant- made it back." Yoshida remarked through pants. I put my hands together in an apology sign and bowed my head. "I AM SO SORRY YOSHIDA!" I apologized, a little too loud, as Fu couldn't hold back his laughter anymore, and random people started to look at us. 'I screwed up. I'm so embarrassed.' I thought to myself, but just stayed there for a couple of seconds. Silence ensued with the four of us as the other three stared at me. Finally, a cold voice broke the silence.

"Hey Rai, why do you have a watch if you aren't going to use it?" Shin's voice cut in while he started to walk away. I stood back up realizing that they all could see the time. 7:45.. SHIT WE ARE STUPID LATE. I looked back up just to see Fu and Yoshida had already caught up with Shin and entered the building. "Wait!" I yelled as I followed behind them.

…

We split up with Yoshida, as she went to her dorm to put her board away while we decided to tour the campus a bit. We started in the main building first. Then Fu spoke up from Shin's left, who was sandwiched between me and Fu. "Hey Shin, your plan is to not stand out right? Since you like, know our secrets and if we were to reveal them later you would also get some attention." Shin merely nodded his head in response. "That's cool, but even if you were to avoid us, what about your looks? You're going to be pulling just by sitting in class." I realized he was right, and turned my head and studied Shin, who was currently stretching his back while walking. It is covered by his uniform, but his muscles are well toned. His face is devoid of any imperfections, and was shaped well, with a defined jawline. He had long, silky, obsidian black hair that reached his shoulders. He opened his eyes after stretching his back, revealing emotionless, amethyst eyes. 'Pretty boy.' I thought to myself. Shin's looks have always made girls overlook me and Fu. Now that I think about it, Yoshida might have only talked to us because she wanted to interact with Shin. She did sneak a couple glances at him. Me and Fu's looks weren't bad, and that's me being humble. We both could easily be called pretty boys, but thanks to Shin, whenever he's with us, the girls look at him, not us. Snapping me out of my thoughts was the same pretty boy's voice.

"I'm fine, as long as I don't associate with you guys too much. You're forgetting the fact I'm average in academics and physical ability. I also won't be tying up my hair so it will cover my face." Shin explained pointing towards some of his hair that was already covering his face.

"Smart move." I responded to his explanation. Fu just sighed then asked "Your just saying that so you can try and get a girlfriend with Shin not being in the way anymore, aren't you?" I jumped when Fu saw right through me. I put my hand on the back of my hand and flashed him an awkward smile. He sighed "Speaking of which, Shin, how many girls did he try for while I was away?" Fu asked turning to Shin.

"Sixty." Shin responded in a nonchalant tone. I jerked my head back and looked at him with the same look Fu had from before. "Thats twelve more from last time.. What the hell Rai." Fu looked at me with a disguisted look. "WAIT HE IS LY-" I started but then sighed as I knew it was useless getting out of this situation. The three of us are basically brothers, so it is difficult to keep a secret from them. "Yeah, sorry.."

...

After that we made our way to our dorm rooms. I was with Shin, while Fu had a room two rooms away from ours. Me and Shin haven't met his roomate yet though. "This is the upgrade for the energy bands so they can be used for storage." Shin said, after tapping a card against his band, and tossing the same card to me. I did the same, and soon our bands started to glow. His was orange with a tint of red, whilst mine was blue. It stopped glowing, and the bands still looked the same. But the change was so big, that we were both easily able to sense it. Shin then tapped his finger on his band, and shoved his board into it. I followed suit. "How much space?" Shin asked me. "Quite a bit, but not as good as our rings." I said while looking at the rings the old man gave us. "Speaking of, you catch that geezers name?" I asked Shin. He shook his head and started to walk back out of the room. "Where you going?" I asked

"The assembly." He said while showing me the time. '7:59.. OH SHIT' I shrouded myself in lightning and grabbed Shin's collar. "LET'S GO!"