Zozo tilted her head as she studied the rotating sigils. The others had chosen paths that matched their natures, but curiosity tugged at her like a current. Her Toy Frame, Bubble Pop Warden, shimmered beside her in hues no spectrum could name. The two had always embodied delight and defense—shields of laughter, color against corrosion.
But now she wondered what would happen if light learned to strike back.
"Let's see what happens when joy gets teeth," she murmured, and tapped the sigil of Xun'dral Fang.
You have chosen the School of Resolve.
Initiate Node: Co-op. Cost: 1 SP.
Status: Student of Xun'dral Fang confirmed.
At first, nothing—just a shimmer of air. Then the Warden convulsed, its surface rippling like disturbed water. One bubble popped, then a dozen, then thousands.
The command deck filled with the hiss of bursting spheres. Zozo gasped as her Toy Frame dissolved into a storm of color—countless bubbles spinning around her, each one reflecting the room in warped miniature. The light fractured, recombined, painting everyone in kaleidoscopic flashes.
It wasn't destruction; it was transformation.
The bubbles coalesced, drawn by some silent rhythm, fusing into new geometries. When they merged again into a single body, the Bubble Pop Warden no longer looked delicate. Its surface shimmered with razor-thin edges of refracted energy, and the cheerful pastel tones had deepened into molten hues—orange-gold and coral-fire, like sunlight boiling in water.
Zozo's HUD blinked a new notice:
Subroutine Upgrade: Offensive Adaptation Detected.
Emotion Vector Recalibrated: Passion → Purpose.
The Warden turned to her, voice bubbling with a strange, proud resonance. "You feared that offense meant harm," it said, its tone liquid thunder. "But sometimes to protect what you love, you must make the first move."
Zozo reached out, touching the Toy Frame's hand. Her palm tingled where energy met flesh.
"Then let's make beautiful chaos together," she said, smiling.
Around her, the air still shimmered with faint motes of bubble-light—proof that joy and fury could coexist, each making the other shine brighter.
Dagger's voice broke the tense silence like a firecracker. "Zis is in'cred'dible! You are all back!"
The crew of five hundred crowded the landing deck, craning to see. Before them stood the six young adults, each haloed by faint traces of etherlight. The Toy Frames beside them moved freely, no longer inert suits but living extensions of their pilots' spirits.
Tumbler and his twin tore around the clearing, laughing as their energy trails crossed in luminous arcs. Hexie stood motionless, eyes closed, feeling the hum of her new Zetrah Tuk focus through her fingertips. Zozo was testing something stranger—her Bubble Pop Warden had dissolved into a cyclone of glimmering bubbles, then reassembled itself as if nothing had happened.
Lacey, however, was the only one not distracted. She had opened her new School of Xun'dral Fang, its interface hovering before her like a crystalline web of choices. Every line connected, pulsing with soft light, each node branching into three more, the promise of endless evolution.
Her first node was active and attached to it where three distinct paths to other nodes. Each pulsed temptingly—three more connected pathways, each demanding 2 SP. Lacey hesitated. If she chose one, would the others vanish? Or would the system allow her to master them all, weaving the full tapestry of the Xun'dral Fang School?
She leaned closer to the interface, eyes darting between the options. The first icon displayed an intricate schematic—part cannon, part gauntlet. The text shimmered beneath it:
Toy-Force Panzer Amp — Fires the pilot's Toy-Force as a projectile attack. Cost: 2 SP.
The second was simpler, but its description was wickedly clever.
'Taunt' — "Forces an enemy to use a basic melee skill during their attack phase."
Lacey's tactical instincts tingled. A tool for controlling the battlefield—forcing powerful foes into predictable patterns.
The third node revealed a defensive art.
'Clockwork Parry' — "Allows the pilot to parry attacks, even from high-level adversaries, when timed perfectly."
Each skill sparkled with potential, but the Panzer Amp called to her first.
"Alright, let's see what you can do," she whispered.
She confirmed the unlock. Instantly, streams of multicolored pixels spiraled around her right arm, forming a glowing bracer that clicked and folded in clockwork motion until it settled into a sleek gauntlet—the Toy-Force Caster.
Lacey raised her arm, admiring the craftsmanship. "How cool!"
Then she noticed something even better—the other two nodes were still active. Their lines hadn't dimmed. She could keep going.
Excitement flared through her. As long as she had the SP, she could master every path within her new school—and maybe even redefine what the Toy Frames were capable of.
A shimmer rippled across the training deck as one by one, the Six activated their new nodes.
Bunk went first. His Amp materialized with a thunderclap of energy, the air vibrating around him. The gauntlet that formed on his arm was heavy, mechanical, a piece of industrial art bristling with gears and vents. He grinned like a mechanic seeing his first engine come to life. "Now that's what I'm talkin' about."
Pip followed, her Amp singing into existence with a musical chime. The bracer shimmered with iridescent light, almost alive—when she moved her fingers, faint notes of melody rippled through the air, harmonizing with her heartbeat. "Mine hums!" she laughed. "It actually hums!"
Lacey's clockwork caster gleamed beside her, already pulsing with controlled energy. She stood poised, analytical eyes scanning her readouts, already calculating angles and trajectories, already planning improvements.
Tumbler's Amp appeared mid-leap. He flipped in the air, sparks of Toy-Force streaking behind him like comet trails and landed in a crouch as the device snapped into place around his forearm—sleek, lightweight, tuned for speed. He smirked. "Bet mine shoots faster."
Hexie's was different again—etched with arcane fractal lines, glowing softly as though breathing. She turned her palm outward, and a ripple of Toy-Force bent the air like heat over metal. "Responsive. Very."
Finally, Zozo's Amp formed in a storm of glittering bubbles, her Toy Frame reflecting the swarm as it swirled around her. When the bubbles cleared, her gauntlet gleamed like something grown rather than built, its surface fluid and smooth. Bubble Pop Warden mirrored her movement perfectly, its hands forming the same gesture.
Dagger and the onlooking crew cheered, some clapping, some just staring in awe. The Toy Frames moved beside their pilots, no longer mere machines, but partners—sentient reflections of their pilots' will and focus.
Six Toy-Force Panzer Amps glowed across the deck, six colors, six styles, six temperaments unified by one evolving power.
And as the lights pulsed in rhythm, something ancient stirred in the system's code—an unspoken question, perhaps even a test, waiting for them all.