Kicking Dust/Episode 3

Kicking Dust Episode 3 - Sculptures and Conscriptions!
We get a closer look at what Nimbus does on an average day. As for Duster, she takes a risk and sneaks into one of Fractus's many missions, intent on seeing how they go in hopes of further honing her skills. It doesn't quite goes as she expected, though...
==Scene 1==
:Duster: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!
The episode opens with Duster punching a sandbag with a lot of force, before reeling back and taking deep breaths. However, she proceeds to punch it several more time, uttering a word with each punch.
:Duster: Why - can’t - I - be - like - mom?!
She then finally delivers a powerful kick to the sandbag, taking more deep breaths.
:Duster: Why can’t I ever win…?
She steps back, before she hears light footsteps, causing her to turn, the camera revealing a concerned-looking Nimbus.
:Nimbus: Dustie…? Are you okay…?
Duster takes some deep breaths.
:Duster: Yes and no…
Nimbus tilts her head.
:Nimbus: You went to another tournament, didn’t you?
:Duster: Yeah, pretty much…
:Nimbus: Anddd, you lost.
:Duster: Yeah.
Nimbus shrugs.
:Nimbus: Why do you, uhm, keep entering those tournaments, anyhow? Like, uhm, you always seem to be really angry after them…
Duster pauses to think.
:Duster: I guess I want to prove myself to my mother. Even though… I guess I don’t have much to prove.
:Nimbus: Awww, don’t say that! Um, uhmm… why don’t you…
Nimbus poses.
:Nimbus: Learn from your masters?
:Duster: …?
:Nimbus: Like, from Fractus! Maybe, um, watch how she fights or something…
:Duster: Hmm… that… that actually does give me an idea…
:Nimbus: Glad to hear that!
She bounces up, before hugging Duster. The latter seems surprised at first, but quickly hugs her back, smiling.
:Nimbus: Welp… you seem happier now! Goodnight!
:Duster: Goodnight!
Duster pauses for a bit, as Nimbus leaves the room.
:Duster: … I should probably go to bed.
And so Duster goes to bed. Unlike Nimbus’s, Duster’s bedroom appears to be on the bottom floor, and is noticeably smaller.
==Scene 2==
A noticeable timeskip occurs, as Nimbus is now shown to walk through the halls of a cool art school, with various Flydevins in similar outfits, most of which are boys, walking alongside her. Some ice sculptures are exposed, but aside from that, the halls look rather barren.
Nimbus soon enters a classroom. She shoots a glance at a storage room the classroom is connected to, with the camera shortly after displaying various sculptures of strong-looking Flydevins in poses emphasizing strength and power, most of which appear to be women. She then sits down at a desk with a storage compartment, and looks around shiftily.
After noticing no one appears to be watching, she begins making small ice sculptures of Kotomo with accessories in the lower compartment, smiling. This includes an Ashela, a Shamini and a Nimbud.
The camera then changes focus to Nimbus, smiling at her work, with a Flydevin teacher being visible in the blur in the back, speaking mumbled words. She seems about to make a fourth small sculpture, but then hears a voice, freezing.
:Teacher: Nimbus?
Nimbus sits up straight, with a similarly straight face. The teacher walks over to her desk, and checks the compartment. Upon noticing the small ice sculptures, he looks at Nimbus in the eyes, who promptly look down.
:Nimbus: … sorry.
The teacher sighs, and goes to the front of the class.
:Teacher: Anyways… today, we’ll be sculpting Flydevin Warrior Teliru Tei. I trust you all have reviewed her history and checked the refer…
The teacher’s words begin muddling up, as Nimbus focuses back on her personal ice sculptures, making a Nettrop. After a bit of difficulty, she finishes it, only for the teacher to approach her.
:Teacher: HEY! Nimbus!
:Nimbus: Waugh!
She hops back in position.
:Teacher: Were you paying attention, Nimbus?
:Nimbus: Y-yeah?
:Teacher: Alright. Just to make sure, can you tell me who’s Coarbel Lignate?
:Nimbus: Coarbel Lignate! Lignate, um… uh… isn’t he, like, um... Teliru’s rival…..?
:Teacher: … no. He’s Teliru’s husband. An excellent medic.
:Nimbus: Ohh… um, right.
:Teacher: You are the general’s daughter, Nimbus. You should know this information right away. Like, snap!
He snaps his fingers.
:Teacher: These are the warriors that grant us prosperity. These are the warriors that defend us. These are the warriors that allow you to sit in this classroom and eat food. You should know them by heart by now!
:Nimbus: Okay… okay.
:Nimbus: She looks down.
:Teacher: Maybe you would know if you weren’t always focusing on your fictional characters…
:Nimbus: I-I get it…
Her eyelids are shaky now. The teacher sighs again, as he returns to his place at the front. Some of the students look concerned or scared, while others look indifferent or simply surprised.
:Teacher: Anywaysss… is everyone ready to sculpt?
:Classroom: Yes!
Nimbus’s response comes with a slight delay.
:Classroom: For the Flydevin Warriors!
The classroom begins to get to sculpting, as the screen cuts to black.
==Scene 3==
The camera shows a rocky canyon, with twists and turns, showing various angles of this place, with the occasional few Flydevin walking or flying through it.
Eventually, however, marching footsteps can be heard, and the camera pans to reveal a fully-armored Fractus, followed by her army. It keeps focusing on the army’s walk through the canyon for a good few second, before focusing on a specific warrior in the army, who looks rather small, with their armor noticeably not put on very well, as if it was oversized. It zooms onto their face, revealing this warrior to in fact be Duster in disguise.
Duster: (Learn from your masters…)
The army keeps walking through the canyon, eventually reaching a Flydevin village hidden in the canyon. Flags with the colors and patterns of Twister Winds can be seen, and soon after their arrival, the army is met with another army, mostly consisting of Twister Wind adepts.
At the front of the opposing army is its leader, which has poofy green hair with teal highlights, a large bun adorning the top of her head. She wears a Twister Wind adept outfit, along with light green shoulder pads and teal artificial wings. She appears to have a stout build. Small wings can be seen on her shoes.
:Leader: Fractus. I am Markrose Hortica. You shall not be stepping further!
Fractus sneers, taking another step forward.
:Fractus: You seem quite young, for a ruler. What a shame… attack.
:Markrose: Blow them away!
Fractus’s army begins to charge. Meanwhile, Markrose and her troopers proceed to charge up a massive blast of wind.
:Fractus: Up.
Fractus’s army soon takes to the sky. Most of them fly in sync, with exceptions, Duster taking longer than average.
Soon after, Fractus’s army begins throwing projectiles at Markrose’s - mainly rocks, but also icicles, flames and even a few lightning bolts. Markrose’s army attempts to rebel these with more wind blasts, through some of the lightning bolts get through.
Afterwards, some of Fractus’s army begins flying down, the rest staying up and still assaulting the army with projectiles. The army that went down charges at the army, many of them wielding weapons - in the case of Powder Wind and Mineral Wind adepts, improvised weapons like icicle spears or rock maces.
They begin to brutally fight against Markrose’s army, and while some of them have brought elegant rapiers to the battle, it’s clear Fractus’s army is more skilled, many of them getting quickly disarmed before being relentlessly attacked.
Duster, who is amongst the flying troops, looks horrified at the battling going down. She looks back, and sees a few Flydevins who stood behind, seemingly medics, treating some wounded Flydevins. She decides to rush towards them.
Meanwhile, the camera zooms to show Fractus herself with a large rock club, effortlessly charging and knocking away troops of Flydevins to get to Markrose.
Markrose herself responds by charging towards Fractus, before delivering a strong kick towards her face, one that actually gets Fractus to flinch. However, Fractus soon follows with a roundhouse kick of her own, through Markrose dodges it and flips behind Fractus before delivering another kick to her back, though it still seems to only make her flinch.
Meanwhile, Duster flies next to a blue-haired bearded Flydevin in Mineral Winds attire. It appears he has several scars, including one across a closed eye, which appears blinded. She is still shaken and horrified from what she saw.
:Bearded Flydevin: First time…?
:Duster: … probably… the last too…
The bearded Flydevin looks at her in the eye. Duster looks a bit worried at this action.
:Bearded Flydevin: Duster…?
Duster steps back, surprised that the Flydevin knows her name.
:Bearded Flydevin: Ah! Don’t worry, don’t worry… you’re… you’re Beruli’s friend, aren’t you?
:Duster: … yes?
:Bearded Flydevin: I’m Coarbel. I’m her dad.
:Duster: … ah…
:Coarbel: What… would possibly bring you here?
:Duster: I… I felt weak, so, I… thought I could learn from Fractus… but…
She glances at the battle for a bit.
:Duster: I… I wasn’t expecting this…
Coarbel places a hand on Duster’s shoulder, while inviting her to sit down.
:Coarbel: It’s terrible, isn’t it?
:Duster: … yeah…
:Coarbel: Well… you are one of the General’s daughter… you may just have the power to stop this meaningless violence…
:Duster: …
Coarbel points to a muscular blue-haired Flydevin wielding a large hammer.
:Coarbel: That’s Teliru Tei… my wife. Forced to fight, like many others…
Duster stays silent, closing her eyes.
As for Fractus and Markrose, the former is shown to intercept a dash from the former with a swing of her club, slamming her down to the ground.
:Markrose: GRARGH!
Fractus then proceeds to beat up Markrose, swinging her rock club towards her several more times, bone breaking noises being heard with each swing. Eventually, she is satisfied, and tosses away the club, before lifting her up and flying to the sky.
:Fractus: FLYDEVINS OF THIS VILLAGE! YOUR LEADER IS DOWN!
Duster looks towards Fractus in horror, followed by Coarbel and the two armies, which stop their fighting for the most part.
Fractus then flies down, and commands her army to take over the village. She then walks over to the medics, and tosses the beaten-up Markrose to them. She then takes a look around, and spots Coarbel and Duster. The latter locks eyes up with her, visibly shaking. Coarbel seems to prepare to intervene, but a quick glance from Fractus discourages him.
:Fractus: … Duster.
Fractus walks over to Duster. She looks about to run, but Fractus holds her hand out.
:Fractus: Wait.
Fractus proceeds to walk next to a shaking, whimpering Duster.
:Fractus: What’s all that fear for…?
:Duster: I-I… I-I… I don’t… I don’t like this…
:Fractus: You don’t like this?
:Duster: T-this violence… t-t-this carnage…
:Fractus: … look on the bright side. More of Flydevin civilization will be united.
:Duster: B… I… b-but… t-they’re… they’re all beaten up… s-some must be dead… some…
She looks to the battlefield - some Flydevins are still there, laying there, bloodied, and begins falling over, passing out. Fractus turns away.
:Fractus: … disappointing.
Duster’s vision then fades to black as her mother walks away.
==Scene 4==
Duster opens her eyes, if briefly, the camera being from her perspective. It appears the army is walking back, with clanking footsteps being heard. Looking around, she seems some injured Flydevins alongside her, most of which are from Markrose’s army.
She then looks up, at the gates of the village. Sculptures of stone and ice of the warriors from Fractus’s army are on full display.
:Duster: (Those warriors… those are the same warriors that were slaughtering their kind back then…)
Her vision appears to blur and fade to black again, an “eyelids closing” effect being applied to the screen.
:Duster: (Nimbus… is Nimbus being made to make these types of statues…!)
Duster then loses consciousness again.
==Scene 5==
The ruins of the village invaded by Fractus are shown, the camera soon panning over to reveal Gampa looking at them.
:Gampa: Another village ruined by Fractus and her army…
They hop from their spot, and walk into the village, observing it. It’s devoid of people, much like a ghost town. It seems that many valuables exposed through the village were taken away.
They enter a house. The furniture seems to have been knocked around, as if the houses were thoroughly checked.
:Gampa: They got the people, too… that's no good…
They shake their head, exiting the house and looking away.
:Gampa: Mark my words, Fractus. You will pay for what you’ve done.
They fly out of the village.
==Trivia==
*Much like Episode 2, a scene at the end was cut and retrofitted for Episode 4 instead. However, this time around, an extra scene featuring Gampa was made instead to take its place so as to better build them up.
*Markrose was originally not going to be a named character, but was given a name and an identity to humanize the village Fractus attacks in this episode.
Category:Episodes
Category:Poisonshot