⛭ Chapter 10 ⛭

Chelbie and Hisa were now waiting with The Chadstorm Brothers inside of the station after having submitted their applications like the rest of the groups which had teams of three or more already assembled.

Of course, the exception of being the only two groups left meant that joining with other established teams would pose more questions that neither of them could necessarily prepare for.

After waiting for what was around thirty minutes in complete silence, Chelbie’s thoughts shifted when she stood up at the sight of what could only be described as four team representatives that were chosen to oversee who could potentially be joining them.

Cyphra led the team representatives over to where they were sitting, as each one of them eyed the two new groups with a serious yet inquisitive nature.

“Now, here are the team leaders that have decided to come forward and add new members into their group,” said Cyphra as she started to list each of the established teams individually.

“Shank Khrome, leader of The Neon Mohawks.”

“Kaido Oricion, leader of The Cybernulls.”

“Lucila Vanderhilt, leader of The Holo-Girlz.”

“Trax Conell, leader of The Flaming Cones.”

After Cyphra named the four different teams, The Chadstorm Brothers were quick to decide which one best fit their interests.

“We’re going with The Cybernulls man. All of the others look like garbage,” said Broskl.

“Yeah bro. Their names sound like ass,” added Brosxi.

The other teams took their trash talking as inferior with Lucila stepping forward to criticize their insults.

“How profoundly stupid. Let’s see your mouths make up for your lack of skills. Oh wait, you can’t even pull that off. What a shame…”

The banter intensified between the two sides as Brosxi’s inflated ego grew.

“Try us kid. You don’t know who you’re messing with.”

“What a pleasure it will be when you both lose.”

“Nah, it doesn’t work like that.”

“Does too.”

Heated words overlapped each other until Cyphra came in between the both of them.

“Please settle your rivalries outside of this station. Now, Captain Oricion, take the new recruits to your team lounge.”

Kaido nodded a solid yes as he guided the Chadstorm Brothers to meet his other teammates.

Now it was just Chelbie and Hisa left.

It was becoming more tense as Chelbie’s hands were tightly fisted, trying her best to avoid staring at Lucila. Even though she knew full well how much had changed drastically up to the point that Lucila wouldn’t be able to recognize her identity, there was nothing holding back her inner feelings.

That was until Lucila suddenly spoke up after noticing the avoided glares at her.

“Interesting taste of style there with those armbands. We could use someone like you with your unique flare. Want to join us?”

Time stopped in Chelbie’s brain as the words Lucila said rang hollow to her.

She was lost as to how this change of personality was happening right before her eyes. Her old rival who had crushed so many of the dreams she had, now saw a potential teammate in her?

It felt off.

There wasn’t a chance that Lucila would apologize for her actions back then. Why would any of that change now? If Chelbie told Lucila about their actual past in an attempt to get an apology out of it all, what would that even do?

Then there were other concerns to address involving if this was the same Lucila from her home world, or if it was an alternate one that was originally born in Revv.

Regardless of which Lucila this was, she decided that her best bet was to respectfully pass up on the offer, even though she wanted to sling slurs at Lucila really badly.

In favor of choosing a spicy team name, her final choice was set as she sighed to herself.

“I’m gonna go with The Flaming Cones.”

Lucila, who held a small grudge against the decision, instantly left the station alongside Shank who also looked pretty pissed after feeling as if he wasted his own time by being there.

As Chelbie and Hisa walked up to Trax Conell, they noticed plenty of details about what he was wearing that made it look as if he had made it himself.

While he had white skin and blonde wavy hair, they couldn’t see his eyes which were hidden behind fiery-colored shades. Although Trax wore dusty brown pants and black timberland boots, the most interesting part of his appearance was the wool hoodie he wore that had a cone pattern design to it. The bright orange also had a sort of darker gradience to it that reached the bottom part of his front pockets.

Speaking with a country-like accent, his youthful voice still had a deepness to it in a sense.

“Thanks for choosing this team. We’ve been waiting a while to get that edge on the others after we lost a few people at the last round. I hope we can work together to keep our team intact this time around. But anyways, yeah, let me show you where we stay.”

Trax began to walk Chelbie and Hisa far over to an exit door that led them outside into the bustling streets of Hypercity itself.

Foggy skies could be felt across their trip as they passed by intimidating mega corporations that owned giant skyscrapers. Holographic trees with these digital red leaves pretended to simulate a natural environment. Glowing advertisements flashed around with a noisy presence almost everywhere they went. Even walking through tunnels and up onto a train station started to stage the reality of how the living standards of this place were from day-to-day life.

The gloominess trumped Chelbie's memories of the brighter days she had spent in Animearth.

“Damn, who knew that walking around this city could be so depressing. Like what the hell happened here?” asked Chelbie while they were waiting for the train to arrive.

Amidst the question that was raised, Trax looked at the two ladies with a silent stare which reflected his mood concerning the hidden tragedies that had occurred here.

“It’s a long story,” he said as a dangerous thunderstorm was approaching their area.