Akashic Arcana Disciplinary Division Interview: Jayden Williams

Boxaman

Active Member
It was a cold day at Arcadia Academy as the winter air kicked in full gear. Student hurried and either speed walked or jogged to their destinations, eager to get out of the chilly air. All except for one Jayden Williams.

Jayden wore his usual attire: a black suit as dark as midnight. His black hair was the same hue, making the boy stick out like a sore thumb against the snow. His deep blood red eyes glowed ominously as he walked at a leisurely pace towards the Student Council building with his hands in his pant pockets.

Almost time for my Disciplinary Division Interview. It is about time, its the perfect place to hone my combat skills besides sparring with that pathetic princess. Jayden thought. He winched slightly as he remembers the bruising from the last melee spar they had. One day I will lay the hurt on HER.

Jayden's thoughts were interrupted as he walks into the building. The massive, impressively decorated building broke him away from his thoughts as he looks around. Noticing a rather lovely secretary in the lobby, he walks up to the check in desk. He ignores the imposing DD Security guard as he speaks. "Jayden Williams here for his Disciplinary Division Interview.
 
The receptionist gave Jayden a tired look, and absentmindedly wrote something down on a notepad off to the side. "The Commander is currently in an interview at the moment, so you will need to wait, Mr. Williams." She gestured down the hallway, "His office is down that way on the left. Take a seat and he will be with you after his current appointment."

At that same time, Jayden's ORB would ring out, notifying him of an incoming text. If he were to check it, the message would be from someone very unexpected.

"Meet me at the supplied coordinates within the hour. Do not be late." The ORB marked it as from Amatsu, the Student Council Vice President. What could he possibly want? The coordinates were marked on his map, and showed his destination to be at a building not too far from the Student Council building. Marked as off limits to those not in the Disciplinary Division. Despite this, the gate to the area around the building would be unlocked for him, and nobody on the premises would stop Jayden. In fact, if he were to ask anyone, they would direct him to where Amatsu was waiting for him; the Situation Training Arena.

The STA would be a large closed off area dedicated to exercises involving campus-wide emergencies. There were several large buildings simulating the city center, with several signs that it was recently used for a combat simulation. Rubble littered the streets, more than a few of the buildings completely demolished. As Jayden entered it, he would see some of the DD members injured and being carried off by their comrades, and Amatsu would be floating in the air above them.
 
Jayden would look quizzically at his ORB. Amatsu? What does that creep want? Another bruised face? He thought as he turned and walked out of the building. He walked at a brisk pace towards his destination, deep in thought. Maybe HE is my interviewee for the DD. I always wonder why the hard as rocks Amatsu was passed over for the DDC compared to the squishy and rather weak Christian.

His musings continued as he walks into the walled off area of the STA. Jayden paused briefly to get a sense of where Amatsu may be. Look for the signs of destruction, and you are sure to find Amatsu. he thought as he chuckled. Jayden followed the path of destroyed environments and injured DD officers. Jayden was completely unfazed as he enters the area where Amatsu was. He simply kept his cool and walked forward, his hands still in his pockets. He stops a good 20 yards from Amatsu, looking up at him with his intense red eyes.

"Amatsu." was all Jayden said as he nods his head slightly in respect. After Jayden spoke, the two didn't say anything for a few moments and nearby soldiers could swear they saw sparks fly during the staredown. Jayden simply waited for Amatsu to speak first, for he is the one who summoned him.
 
"A disappointing display." Amatsu sighed, nodded respectfully to Greg as he walked off to tend to the wounded. As he passed by, Greg clapped Jayden on the shoulder, muttered "Good luck", and walked off.

With his attention caught by Jayden's presence, the Vice President turned to face him with a grin, and descended down to greet him with an extended hand. "Jayden Williams. Under normal circumstances, I would put you through quite a trial to prove your worth in joining this.." Her glanced to the other DD members with a disgusted look. "*esteemed* group of soldiers." The sarcasm in that word was so thick you could cut it with a knife. He shook his head and looked around to the destruction around them. "However, I've already seen your abilities firsthand, and can vouch for your capabilities in a fight. So we can skip past that part, at least."

"There are still some parameters you must meet before I can sign off on your application. I'm sure you know that the Disciplinary Division is more than just being able to crush your foes in battle. Some situations you might find yourself in are rather delicate, and require such a response to resolve it without... unpleasant results." He gestured to one of the DD officers, as though indicating for the man to start one of the exercises. "Before we begin, do you have any questions?"
 
Jayden nodded as he shook Amatsu's outstretched hand. "Understandable, wouldnt want to embaress you with more burns again." He smirked as he playfully jabbed at Amatsu.

Jayden's eyebrow shot up as Amatsu mentioned delicate situations. "I would ask some questions about the excercise to increase my knowledge but I doubt you will reveal it before I even start. One moment." Jayden closed his eyes and centered himself, inhaling and exhaling as he mentally prepared himself for what is coming. HE took note of Artoria's suggestion of stretching before, lifting his arms up and stretching them well before twisting his neck. POP went ones of his spinal bones before he opens his intense eyes. "I am ready."
 
"Oh, on the contrary, our duel was quite... eye-opening." Amatsu's eyes seemed to glean with a spark of energy. "And you're quite correct. The only information you will receive is that you will be tested on your ability to react properly to harsh situations."

Waiting for Jayden to finish his stretches, the VP raised an eyebrow while watching the kid prepare himself. Once he signified he was ready, Amatsu nodded and floated off. Once he was out of view, a hologram would pop up in front of Jayden giving him the summary and objective of the exercise:

A powerful foe has attacked the Academy. One of your fellow officers has been injured trying to fight him off, and needs to be rescued. Friendly reinforcements are incoming, and their ETA is 5 minutes. There is an armed bunker in the area that will provide protection.

Objective: Keep the injured officer alive for 5 minutes

A green beacon of light shone some distance away, marking it as the DD bunker, and a red one marked the injured officer. Once Jayden made his way there, he would find that the "wounded man" was in fact a robotic dummy garbed in a torn DD uniform. And Amatsu would still be nowhere to be found. Around him would be very little cover, as they were in a large crater. His surroundings would comprise of several tall buildings, some of them collapsed at the halfway mark. Most of their windows were blown out, and the far distance was masked by a layer of smoke. The red beacon was now gone, but the green one was still active.
 
At the instant he was given a direction, Jayden took off at a solid jog. Remembering Artoria's advice to pace himself, he made sure to save plenty of energy as he rushed towards the officer. He frowned slightly at the dummy before checking it over for obvious injuries. Once he found them, he used his training from his father to prepare a series of lower power flares and burned the fake wounds on the robot to simulate that he was cauterizing the wounds. Snap Snap Snap....

After fixing the wounds, Jayden would realize that he could not carry this dummy on his own, he was too physically weak. Thinking fast, Jayden found a pair of metal rods sticking out of a broken building wall. He used a small flare to super heat the bottom of the rods and rips them out of the wall after they are melted enough to break easily. He then takes off his fire proof jacket. He ties the sleeves to one rod each, spreading it out wide next to the dummy. He then drags the dummy over inbetween the rods and onto the jacket in the middle. He then rips the sleeves of his dress shirt and adds them to the bottom of the rods near the dummy's feet. After doing all that, he grabbed the top half and lifted. The result would be a makeshift drag sled that allowed Jayden to easily drag the injured "officer."

He quickly dragged the officer out of the area and straight towards a empty building. The sleeves on the bottom would help reduce the noise as he does so. Jayden quickly dragged the officer, using the building as cover. I cant fight off enemies and drag him, so stealth is my best option. Must stay moving... he thought as he continued to move. He would use the cover of blown out buildings and alleyways to move unseen, if he could.....
 
Amatsu was watching from above, in a dark room at the top of a ruined building. He smiled at Jayden's quick thinking and wise strategy. He muttered to nobody in particular but himself, "Avoiding combat and keeping a low profile. Not a bad choice, but let's see how you adapt to the situation." With clouds of dust and smoke everywhere, Amatsu would have lost sight of Jayden, but this also meant that he would be concealed as well. Tracking his path, Amatsu slowly floated from his hiding hole, and eyed the still-standing building that Jayden's path would take him near by. A cruel smirk formed on his face.

"Time to adapt, Jayden Williams!" His voice rang out across the arena, echoing off the buildings and masking where his precise location was. Shortly after, the building nearest Jayden started to shift, until several blasts of red light punched through the side, sending rubble raining down on him. If he was paying attention, he would also know that the entire building was starting to crumble. He better act fast, or the entire thing could fall on him and his "ally".
 
Jayden gasped out of reactionary impulse, but was not surprised. Knowing the building would fall straight down onto him and send debris everywhere (which could kill them), he dropped the dummy summoned his mana, channeling as much as he could reasonably spare while staying combat functional.

"My turn." the rebellious kid said.... He then unleashed a series of snaps, sending sparks flying up the building. The sparks stopped at key parts of the building before exploding into a number of flares. The flares exploded with enough force, and in specific positions, to cause the direction of the building to fall towards the source of the red Rifts Amatsu fire. In addition, the resulting explosions destroyed the building into several pieces, denying Amatsu the ability to send it back towards Jayden. After doing so, Jadyen put up a rudimentary barrier over him and the dummy as the building falls, protecting them from flying debris.

Finally, the building exploding and crashing down caused a huge amount of smoke. Instead of charging towards another building, which would result in round 2 of the same thing, Jayden used the dust cloud (and sound of debris falling) as cover to bum rush across the street with the dummy, re-positioning on the opposite side of the street from where he was to throw off Amatsu's search for him. After crossing the street, he would move quickly, but quietly towards the green beacon.
 
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The resulting explosion of Amatsu's borderline murder attempt being blasted to smithereens made him need to shield himself from the scattering debris. "Tch. Clever." Now with the dust and smoke even thicker, Jayden managed to slip away from his vision. Chuckling, Amatsu floated back up to the rooftops, scanning around for movements. Times like this he wished he had at least dabbled in wind magic, to deal with the pesky fog of war that was occurring here. Still, he was impressed with Jayden's quick thinking. Then an idea came to mind. Instead of trying to track his movements, he would have to limit them.

From the ground, Jayden would swear there was an earthquake going on, as several buildings were toppled over in quick succession. Amatsu was cutting them down like trees, blocking off entire roads. Now for the Vice President, it was a waiting game. There was only one clear path to the bunker, and he was watching it very closely. He was also keeping an ear out for explosions that gave away Jayden's position. One would wonder if there was even going to be an arena left after this exercise.
 
Jayden would have to stay moving to dodge the falling debris around him as Amatsu destroyed the buildings. He panted heavily as he manages to safely get closer to the bunker while emerging unscathed. All that was left was for him to cross the street and enter the bunker. He goes to take a step forward out of the smoke from the buildings, but stopped.

He is going to be waiting, watching that open spot. Thinking rapidly, Jayden formulated a plan, summoning mana to do it. Breathing in deeply to calm his raging heart and unrelenting nerves, he has to forcibly stop himself from snapping as he sends a series of five low-light sparks. The sparks travel low to the ground, zipping under the smoke cover as they go around to the opposite side from where Jayden is. Then they shoot into the open area before exploding in set series. The first one explodes close to the cloud cover, extending it. The second, third, and fourth were each slightly bigger than the last as they exploded to create more cloud cover. The fifth one overshot the bunker and exploded in a slightly bigger explosion, creating more smoke that covers the entire area.

The purpose of this was to cause Amatsu to think that Jayden was on the opposite side from where he is, as that is the direction the sparks and explosions shot out from. The fifth explosion was the true one that was purposefully "overshot" created just enough cover for Jayden to dash through. It wouldn't give him that much cover, but the point was to distract Amatsu to shoot from his distraction location and focus on that area for just long enough for Jayden to dash into the bunker while dragging the dummy behind him. The fifth one would hopefully be ignored by Amatsu, as it could simply mean Jayden was too "blinded" by the smoke to aim properly.
 
The resulting explosions caught Amatsu's attention. While he wasn't able to directly see Jayden, the Flares were seemingly travelling from a certain location. "Found you..." A few dozen Arcane Rifts formed around him, forming a thick firing line. Much like artillery, the shots were unleashed, and fired upon the spot that Jayden pretended to be hiding in. The sheer firepower demonstrated would be terrifying to witness from Jayden's perspective, for he knew that if that hit him, he would have surely been out of commission. The numerous impacts caused the ground around him to rumble, and debris was flying everywhere, some of it threatening to pelt the firebrand in the head.

The firing eventually stopped. Amatsu was confused, as it wasn't indicated that Jayden was injured enough to stop the exercise. But how could he have missed? He descended to the ground to search for signs of him, casting away any sense of caution. Still floating through the air, the VP continued to search for him. However, while this meant that Jayden's path to the bunker was no longer under his overwatch, Amatsu was now close enough to hear him. And sure enough, Amatsu would hear the sled dragging across the broken road... but too late. he spun around and fired 3 Rifts near the bunker's entrance. All he had to do was avoid being struck and he was home free.
 
Jayden was moving at the fastest speed he could muster as he worked his way towards the door. He almost froze when he sensed the familiar opening of a nearby Arcane Rift portal, but managed to stay level headed. He knew Amatsu would likely cannot see in the smoke, an therefore was firing blind. With no other option, and no way to see them coming, he just..... stopped.

Jayden was extremely lucky he stopped. Two of the Rifts passed by him inches away, but the third managed to catch him slightly across the face. Jayden screams as his face is brutally hit on his right side as the rift slides across it, just barely hitting him. The pain was almost enough to knock the boy unconscious, his mind was befuddled by the pain. His mind flashed back to his father using that damnable metal twitch on his hands, brutally cutting and scarring him for life.

"You are a loser, boy. Only fit to get your men killed." Said a voice in his head. Jayden almost fell forward, his knees weakening from the pain. "No im not." he muttered as he managed to catch himself from falling, regripping the drag sled as he does so.

Out of pure will power, he managed to hold onto the drag sled and stumble forward into the bunker. The door shuts behind him before telling Amatsu he made it. Jadyen falls face first before he finally goes unconscious from the pain.
 
The slamming of the door, followed by the prompting hologram over the area, announced the end of the exercise once Jayden was inside the bunker. Amatsu had conflicted feelings on this. Anger at himself for being fooled so easily, and greatly impressed at Jayden's creative thinking and clever usage of his environment and skills. Once Jayden was unconscious, he was promptly teleported out to the medical area of the STA as per regulations.

About an hour later, Jayden would be waken up by a DD healer. He would feel a numbness in his face where Amatsu's rift had struck him, though the nearby mirror would show the spot had been healed up. Speaking of, the VP is also in the room, apparently waiting for him to regain consciousness. With a smirk, their red eyes met, and Amatsu snarked, "Well, this seems like a bit of deja vu, doesn't it?" With a chuckle, he added "You performed more admirably than most Disciplinary Officers would have. Speaking of which..." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a badge, setting it on Jayden's chest. "You've earned it."
 
Jayden woke up with a start, thinking he was still in the combat area. He quickly sits up, his hands outstretched and ready to snap. Thankfully, he realized were he was at the last second and disperses the mana he summoned harmlessly via heat around his hands as the DD healer calms him. Jayden sighs as he looks in the mirror. He begins working his numb face and stretching the stiff muscles. Least it wont scar. Unlike these. He thinks as he looks down at his, thankfully, still gloved hands. Did I pass? He wondered as he continued his activities.

His musings were interupted by Amatsu arriving. Jayden smirked, but winced a bit as his face still tinged with a slight bit of pain. He still manages to chuckle "Seems like consistancy is our big thing, we meet and at least one ends up in the hospital." He takes the compliment, saying "Thank you." His eyes then go wide as Amatsu pins the badge to his ragged and torn shirt.

Jayden looks down at the badge, running his finger over it. He then looks at Amatsu with a sense of pride and accomplishment. "And I am just getting started! One day, I'll surpass you, Amatsu-Sensei!" he finishes with a half-smile half-grimace from the pain.

Jayden would have likely shocked Amatsu with that honorific, with Jayden's eyes showing he truly looked at Amatsu as something of a mentor.
 
Amatsu's expression barely changed, though it was still visible that he was caught off guard by Jayden's last comment. A faint smile, a rare one of sincere happiness, showed for a second, but quickly was replaced with the usual smirk. Getting up from his chair, Amatsu chuckled lightly, and responded with "We shall see."

There was a faint glint in Amatsu's eyes as he looked over Jayden's current state. One could only guess what he was thinking, as he said nothing for the longest time, mulling over that one line in his head over and over. He was used to being feared. He was used to being respected, mostly due to his station and his power. However, the clear admiration that Jayden showed at the moment, thinking of him as a mentor was unfamiliar territory. "If you think of yourself as my student, just know this." His smile widened. "I have very high standards." He glanced out the window, and turned around to leave. "Feel free to explore the compound. As a Disciplinary Officer, all of the Division's facilities are now available to you." He exited the room with a final statement. "I'll keep in touch."
 
Jayden chuckled "And I will surpass those expectations." The boy had a fierce look in his eye, almost as if he welcomes the challenge.

As Amatsu walks away, Jayden plays with the badge on his chest. He chuckles again and takes a picture of it with his ORB before sending it to his friends.... and then to Artoria with the caption "I got mine first! Freeloader!"

FIN~~~~~~
 
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