Kicking Dust/Episode 9

Kicking Dust Episode 9 - Cloudburst!
Ideas of rebellion begins to rumble in Flydevin society. Meanwhile, Duster, Nimbus and Gampa get a visitor they didn't exactly want to see.
==Scene 1==
The episode doesn’t immediately starts where the last episode ended. Rather, it begins in the main Flydevin city, with Gilderoyde looking at crowds of shouting Flydevins who have gathered around her palace, seemingly distressed.
:Flydevins: END THE WARS! KICK THE WITCH OUT! STOP THE BLOODSHED!
The camera moves down to ground level, giving a closer look at the people protesting, which includes many familiar faces. Erifa is shown to be amongst the people shouting, with Trida keeping guard nearby. Beruli, Coarbel and Teliru are also present, with Teliru shouting and Beruli waving two signs about, both of which protest against the wars.
Gilderoyde then signals to the Flydevins that she is coming down, before simply jumping off the balcony and slowing down her fall using Wind Arts.
:Gilderoyde: So you are all saying… end the wars?
:Flydevins: YES!!!
:Gilderoyde: I see. I’ll… see what I can do. I’ll discuss it with Fractus when -
:Flydevins: ARREST FRACTUS! SEND HER TO JAIL!
:Gilderoyde: (Arresting Fractus… is that even possible?)
She takes a deep breath.
:Gilderoyde: I’ll be confronting her when she comes back.
The Flydevins seem to calm down, though many are still disappointed or dissatisfied.
:Gilderoyde: Do… do you think Flydevin unity can be achieved through diplomacy?
The crowd shouts a variety of answers, most of which amount to “yes”, or at least that it’s much better than the current “conquer by force” option. A significant chunk also questions the need for unity in the first place.
:Gilderoyde: I see… good, that’s what I hope, too. (Fractus says it is impossible… I hope she is wrong.)
:Flydevins: WHY? WHY THE WARS, THEN?
:Gilderoyde: … Fractus.
She chuckles.
:Gilderoyde: I wasn’t sure she was right or wrong… but if all of you say she is wrong, surely there must be something wrong with Fractus’s ideology. I, too, was always concerned about the bloodshed I saw…
She chuckles again.
:Gilderoyde: Fractus will not come back to good news.
The crowd proceeds to erupt in cheers. Gilderoyde smiles, before flying back up and thinking about how she should tell Fractus the news within her palace, visibly more concerned. The camera then cuts to Erifa and Trida in the crowd.
:Erifa: That was… much easier than I thought, Trida…
:Trida: I guess Gilderoyde is an understanding leader.
==Scene 2==
This scene picks back up where Episode 8 left off, Fractus being at the door.
:Fractus: Where. Is. Nimbus?
Gampa strikes a pose, taunting Fractus.
:Gampa: Nimbus? All I know are Rhombuses-
Fractus charges towards Gampa, who narrowly dashes to the side.
:Gampa: Sheesh, what’s wrong with you?! I d-don’t… know any Nimbuses?
:Fractus: Don’t play these games with me.
Nimbus is paralyzed in fear. Duster stands up, and begins coating various parts of herself in stone for protection. Meanwhile, Fractus walks intimidatingly towards Gampa.
:Fractus: I know that you know a lot about private family matters. And, Nimbus mysteriously went missing as you were taunting me.
:Gampa: Well… that’s your fault for not paying attenti-
Fractus proceeds to suddenly throw a punch at Gampa, who’s knocked against a wall.
:Gampa: GAH!
Fractus then grabs them by the face and bashes them against a wall. Gampa charges their umbrella before shooting a large, constant stream at lightning at Fractus, making her stop attacking Gampa as she observes it.
:Fractus: Pathetic.
Unaffected by the lightning stream due to her lightning absorbers, Fractus grabs the umbrella with a single hand and crushes it to piece with her mere grip.
:Gampa: NO!
Fractus then proceeds to punch their already bloodied-face again, knocking them out, but is then hit from the side by a very pissed-looking Duster, the impact of the sudden punch being strong enough to knock Fractus back a bit. She quickly regains her footing, however, and stares down at Duster, the camera angle emphasising how large Fractus is in comparison to her daughter.
:Fractus: So you’ve come to play, now…
She creates a massive rock mace and proceeds to swing it downwards at Duster, who dashes to the side. Upon impact with the ground, the rock mace creates a large crack in the floor. Duster then uses this occasion to deliver a powerful rock-boosted punch to the side of Fractus’s head as she lifts the mace back up.
:Fractus: Tss…
Her head is bent to the side, but she quickly swings it to its original orientation before dropping the mace and grabbing Duster instead.
Duster begins to deliver powerful kicks to Fractus’s armor, but to no avail. She chuckles, before beginning to headbutt Duster, the blade between her horns creating a large bruise in the middle of her face.
:Duster: GGGGHHHAAAAH!
Duster counters by releasing a burst of Smoke Winds directly at Fractus’s face, causing Fractus to step back and drop her as she evacuates the Smoke Winds away from her. Duster takes the occasion to fly behind her, before grabbing onto her stone wings and using them as a support as she repeatedly kicks Fractus’s head from behind. Fractus reacts by stepping back and bashing Duster against a wall from behind repeatedly, until she lets go, after which she turns around and grabs Duster’s head with both of her hands.
:Fractus: It’s time for me to get rid of you once for all…
She begins crushing Duster’s head, visibly causing incredible pain to her.
:Duster: GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
However, Fractus is then hit in the back by a large icicle, accompanied by a burst of snow. The icicle simply breaks on impact, but Fractus drops Duster before turning towards the one assaulting her from behind, gasping upon seeing… Nimbus?!
Nimbus proceeds to run away, screaming. But rather than giving chase, Fractus, horrified by the prospect of Nimbus actually attacking her at all, quickly flees.
:Duster: … gyaaaaagh…
Nimbus runs up to the injured Duster.
:Nimbus: D-DUSTIE! Y-you… you look… oh dear, this doesn’t look good…
Nimbus is shown from Duster’s point of view - her vision, however, is blurrying. Gampa, meanwhile, is shown to wake up.
:Gampa: Aaaaaargh… geez christ, what happened…
They jolt up.
:Gampa: Right, Fractus. Uhhh… hey, we’re alive and she’s not there, that’s neat, uhhhh…
They then notice Duster’s state.
:Gampa: Oh. Oh dear.
:Duster: Ghhh...
:Nimbus: W-what do we do?!
:Gampa: There’s surely Flydevin tribes nearby… w-we can look for a healer there.
Nimbus tries to lift up Duster with difficulty, Gampa doing it for her instead after seeing this. The two then fly out of shelter, and look for nearby Flydevin tribes.
==Scene 3==
Fractus is shown flying back to her town, distressed.
:Fractus: (Nimbus… attacked me. She… actually went up, and… attacked me. My little Nimbus. What has Duster done to you, Nimbus…?)
While flying, she begins balling her fists.
:Fractus: (Duster… I’ll never forgive you for what you’ve done to our family…)
==Scene 4==
Nimbus, Duster and Gampa are in an infirmary. It seems to be a rather rudimentary infirmary, however. Nimbus looks worried, while Duster is sulking.
:Nimbus: A-at least you’re stable, now…
Duster nods.
:Duster: What do we… do? It’s… obvious there’s no way we’re taking down Fractus…
:Gampa: N-now, now, d-don’t give up, I’m sure w-we’ll figure out something…
:Nimbus: S-she did seem, uhm… afraid of me?
:Duster: I think that was more so the shock of you attacking her at all…
:Nimbus: R-right.
:Gampa: Well, uh… was there anything that seemed effective?
:Duster: Smoke Winds. B-but, uh… I doubt she’d fall for that again…
:Gampa: Hmmmm… this is tricky…
They scratch their chin, while Duster seems deep in thought as well. She eventually slowly lifts her head up, however.
:Duster: But perhaps… 
:Gampa: Perhaps…?
Nimbus seems intrigued as well.
:Duster: Our usage of Smoke Winds, as it stands, is very… basic. But if I were to develop the art… Fractus would have to deal with something she’s never dealt with before.
:Gampa: That’s… that’s actually very clever!
:Nimbus: Yeah! And I-I can, uhm, try to help! I know Smoke Winds too!
She creates a small cloud of smoke in her hand.
:Gampa: M-maybe not in here…
:Nimbus: … right, sorry.
She evacuates the smoke cloud through a windows, as Duster slowly gets up and stretches.
:Duster: I’m… gonna go train, now. See if these ideas can be put in application. Y’all… stand back. Smoke Winds are very dangerous.
:Gampa: Right.
Nimbus nods, as Duster walks out of the infirmary.
==Scene 5==
Duster stands in an open desert field, before focusing and holding her hands outwards, from which she begins to create clouds of smoke around her that swirl around her, soon growing in intensity, eventually forming a large smoke tornado. Quickly thinking, she then snaps her fingers, and rock shards begin to be formed in the tornado. She then swings her hand downwards, and the smoke crashes down with the rock shards planting themselves in the ground, as the smoke dissipates through the air.
:Nimbus: Woah…
Nimbus, meanwhile, standing at a large distance, creates a cloud of smoke, before freezing it in a ball of ice. She then throws this ball of ice at a rock, breaking into ice shards and smoke on impact. It does seem like the ball alone was heavy for her, however.Duster notices this.
:Duster: Hey, that gives me an idea!
She creates a cloud of smoke, before containing most of it inside of a rock and kicking it towards the ground, breaking on impact.
:Duster: I’ve gotta work on containing all of the smoke in there, but I can work with this…
Nimbus and Duster smile at each other, nodding.
==Scene 6==
Gampa is wandering around the streets of the Flydevin tribe, before discussing with a passerby.
:Gampa: … so what’s this about a revolution in the big city?
:Flydevin: Basically, the Flydevins grouped up and began protesting. They managed to convince the monarch to have a talk with Fractus - they say she said she’ll “come back to bad news” whatever that means…
:Gampa: Hmm… well, for me, that’s excellent news! Thanks for the info.
The Flydevin nods, as Gampa proceeds to fly away. They look for Nimbus and Duster, noticing them training with Smoke Winds and as such keeping their distance.
:Gampa: HEY! Y’ALL!
They create a lightning bolt upwards from their finger so as to be noticed, seeing as their umbrella has been destroyed earlier.
:Nimbus: Huh?
:Duster: Hmm?
:Gampa: Seems like revolution’s happening in the Flydevin city! Bad things are gonna happen to Fractus, it seems!
:Duster: Cool.
:Nimbus: What, uhm, bad things…?
:Gampa: … I don’t know that, Gilderoyde just said bad news. Either way, I don’t want to miss it! Y’all coming?
:Duster: Hmm…
She takes a moment to consider.
:Duster: Yeah, sure, why not.
:Nimbus: I-I’m not sure this is, uhm, the best idea. But, uhm, I’ll come too.
:Gampa: Fantastic! Let’s go!
They take off, and after looking around for a bit, charge towards Gilderoyde’s city, soon followed by Duster and Nimbus.
Category:Episodes
Category:Poisonshot