A few weeks later, the major sports seasons were beginning for the indoor sports, with the most popular one being Air Hockey, the sport Rohan and Sriya had been training together for months. They never once broke their morning routine, and they even took extra time they had between classes or after to do extra workouts just to tune themselves.
Now however, their training had come to its climax, as today was the day of tryouts, which would decide what team, if any, a player would be rostered into. While the school had multiple teams for differing skill levels, some teams were given more benefits than others, and even then a good amount of players every year wouldn't make it to any.
Among top academics, the Superversal Academy of Tomorrow was well known to hold some of the strongest sports teams, and so the bar was set high for the players to be good enough to be a part of such teams. A player who had played a good amount in grade school and kept in shape should be more or less able to get into the lower leagues.
However, to reach the top division team required far more, as many students were being brought into the school simply because of their elite performance, and were attending the university to play in its team.
To compete in getting into the top division meant to compete against near professional players, students scouted from a hundred worlds to be in the best team.
But Rohan and Sriya both were committed to fighting their hardest to be among that elite.
It was a Monday, however the tryouts were after all the classes, so all the students who wanted to try could make it anyway. Rohan and Sriya had to ditch the rest of the group, who were all working on a unit assessment in the form of a project, to make it to the building. According to what they found, they didn't need to bring gear of their own, as they would be supplied basic gear for the tryouts, and they'd receive more professional gear depending on what team, if any, that they got into.
In the sector among the gym buildings, a path led to what seems to be an enclosed stadium, standing as easily the largest building among already colossal facilities. The stadium was oval shaped and had a smooth roof, with its own dedicated parking lot as it was a known fact that the team would get its own outside viewership as well.
Outside of the main door was a large group of students, with most of them being taller than the average student, as it was clear the majority were not first years nor close. They almost all looked like adults, with defined facial hair and sharp muscles, players that already seemed identical to the professionals that would be broadcasted online.
Farther back in the group was Rohan and Sriya, who walk side by side, with Sriya being more alike the other athletes in build, but Rohan significantly smaller and skinnier.
Rohan looks at the different men, and he sighs to himself, seeing just exactly what his competition was. He had heard the stories of how bulked they were, but this was the first time he saw them firsthand. He was among titans, and he was starting to question his goals, as he expected to be among them, something that looked even more preposterous now that he could see who he had to best.
He lowers his head, wondering if he overestimated himself, as while he knew he had solid chances to be among the best for a mental sport, he wasn't so physically superior.
Sriya looks down at Rohan, noticing that he was feeling anxious, and he frowns to see that at the last minute he was second guessing himself. Sriya was the opposite of Rohan, he was completely unsure about mental power, but he was more than capable of participating in a hands on sport.
Yet Rohan would cover Sriya for his vulnerabilities by helping him through work and teaching what Sriya couldn't understand, and for that, Sriya had to be able to cover Rohan for his vulnerabilities too.
It would be wrong for him to take a spot in the top division and let Rohan sit in the rookie benches.
Inside the building's main lobby were multiple screens which had lists of numbers and codes, which was meant to help organize all the players trying out. Each student was given a code, and each code had a correlated rink number to head to in order to meet with the instructor and begin the evaluation.
Rohan and Sriya look at the screens, trying to find their code among the sea, which isn't too hard as they knew their code and the codes were organized in alphabetical order.
Rohan locates his code, and sees that he was designated to rink #5, so he turns to Sriya and waits for him to find his code, hoping both of them would be in the same rink.
Sriya's eyes catch his own code, which was designated to rink #5 as well, and he turns to Rohan. The two nod to each other, relieved that they wouldn't need to be separated.
After taking the elevator pad through the complex tunnel system, the two find themselves in the area for the fifth rink, which has its own lobby leading up to the entrance to the rink. There were more students walking down the area, however it was considerably less than the bunch in the main lobby, as it was clear that the distribution was working.
On the other side of the door, a commanding voice was barely audible, as it seemed instruction had begun.
Rohan and Sriya enter the rink, which is a massive stadium that surrounds an enclosed cylindrical arena, with a transparent wall to protect the seats from the arena supposedly. On the far side of the arena were two rooms of sorts connected to the arena, which house the benches, and were protected from the arena as well with what seems to be a door to get in and out.
The whole room was nothing short of magnificent, with a holographic spherical scoreboard in the middle, and what seems to be a spot high up on the back of the room for announcers.
Inside the room was a man speaking in a loud, rough, and commanding voice, among two other men who stood beside him. He stands in front of the sea of other students, which seems to be about fifteen or so.
As Rohan and Sriya approach the group, they listen in on the man, who says "-just because all of you are here does not mean all of you will stay! Some of you will fail to get in any team, and you will most definitely feel bad about it for the next few weeks! And any seniors here, if you fail to get into the first division, that will also be embarrassing! Now, all of you will be handed dummy equipment for the tryouts, and if you are lucky to get into one of the teams, you will be given something maybe better! Do not damage the gear either, or I will see to it that you're punished accordingly, is that clear?!"
Rohan looks around at the different silent students, and then back at the man, who seems to be more or less the coach, judging by his demeanor and authority.
The coach resumes, "Good. Now, I expect each and every single one of you to know how to use this gear, and if you don't, then good luck figuring out how the hell you're going to last through today! If you have never used the gear before, announce yourself, or forever hold your piece!"
The students stay silent, all but for three students, who walk forward, raising their hands up to grab the coach's attention. The coach notices them, and he trains his eyes, not expecting anyone to actually walk up.
One of the students, who was a short boy in a hoodie, says "Uh, me and my friends just came here because it sounded fun, but we never played air hockey before. So we never used the gear…."
The coach looks down at the three students, and he then bellows, "Then go find a club or little league, I'm not here to teach you how to fly, you're wasting your time and my time just standing in front of me! This tryout is not for new players to play around and bump into each other, we are real teams made of real soldiers! Get out of my sight, unless you want to test your luck and hope you're just natural enough to function!"
The student frowns, and he lowers his head, disappointed by the harsh answer. One of his other friends tugs his sleeve, and says "Come on, we're not going to get anywhere like this, we can find something else to do."
The third friend offers, "We can find a club maybe, I wanted to play too, I guess I should've seen this coming…."
The three students nod to the coach, and they walk back into the crowd before leaving the room, as it seemed some players were already failing the tryouts before beginning.
Rohan looks back at the sad students, and then at the coach again, once more feeling the creeping anxiety that he wasn't cut out for the tryouts, as the bar was clearly set high even for the lower teams.
The coach continues on speaking after the departure, "Now, I want you all to split yourselves up into two groups and go into one of the two locker rooms!"
The coach holds his arm out right in front of him, pointing to the middle of the crowd, and giving a visual representation of a split to guide the students to their respective groups.
He says, "There will already be a handful of suits in the locker rooms, there should be more than enough if you go to the wrong room. I want all of you to put a suit on, and then come back out, and the rink will be open to enter. Start practicing loops around the rink to get adjusted to the gear, and we will start the drills in a couple minutes. And let me just add before I send you off, any horseplay will get you kicked right out of this building, do I make myself clear?! Good, now go, stop standing in front of me."
All of the students begin to disperse, with the students on the left side of the coach's arm walking to the left of the rink, and the students on the right side of the arm walking to the right. On both sides of the rink are doors to the locker rooms, which they head towards as per instructed.
Rohan and Sriya are on the right of the arm, and so they walk with the rest of the group to the right side of the room. As they walk towards the locker room door, Rohan looks up at Sriya, surprised by the rather strong start the coach put on.
Rohan asks, "So uh, I guess they're a bit strict here, huh?"
Sriya turns to Rohan, and he shakes his head, saying "As long as you can keep your head up, you'll be fine. Any good coach will be intimidating from the start, it'll rule out people who aren't willing enough to play, and help sharpen those who take the burn. Just keep fighting and you'll be all good, alright? You got this."
The locker room doors as one of the other students enters the room, letting the other students walk in as well. As the group of students walk in, Rohan and Sriya manage to slip in, looking around the dark blue room.
Rohan's eyes widen as he looks around the spacious room, which has benches along the edge, with each bench having its own personal space with individual lockers. However, what encapsulated him more were the gray helmets with an open face on each of the seats of the bench spaces. They were a bit dull, yet it was still a delight to see them again, as he was worried he would've never played his favorite sport again, or the only sport he actually took interest in.
Rohan approaches one of the closer seats, and Sriya follows him, taking the one to his left. Rohan picks up the helmet on his seat, examining it to see that it was rather oversized, but that was to be expected for universal fits, and it seemed to partially resemble a classic hockey helmet albeit far slimmer and smoother, as it seemed to be a single piece that went down to just above the neck, and lacked a mask.
As Rohan admires the rusty yet still fascinating design, Sriya picks his helmet up, and throws it slightly in the air before catching it to get a feel for it. He then looks at Rohan, and smiles, asking "How much did you play before? Looks either like you're looking at your hand or you're looking at alien tech."
Rohan turns to Sriya with wide eyes, realizing his inspection may have looked awkward from the outside, and he smiles innocently. He opens his mouth, and says "Oh, I've been playing since…," however, before he gives an answer, he pauses, as he realizes he spoke before actually contemplating for an answer, as he had anticipated that it would come to him as he spoke, but now that he was at the word, he didn't have it.
While he had memories of playing air hockey before, he wasn't as easily able to pinpoint when he started.
He felt as though he had played for a while, as he was relatively good and had long term experience, similar to that of someone who picked up the sport at age 10. He played in his last grade school's team, which he got into when he was 14, and he remembered having the skill to play well enough to show that he had experience prior, and yet, he couldn't remember playing at a time before highschool.
He knew he was no natural at athletics, he was not one to spend all his time working out nor did he easily get into the zone unless he had more than enough time to master every basic move, and for something as complex as air hockey, a player for the first time would no doubt crash enough to cause them to have to leave early.
And yet, the earliest he remembered playing was when he was 14, and he had no better answer to give, as anything else would be a lie. Perhaps he was a quick learner and simply forgot where he started, or maybe he just took extra lessons to speed his progression. Whichever one, he didn't have any better answer.
Rohan repeats himself, "I uh, started playing when I was 14."
Sriya's eyes widen, and he nods slowly as if in surprise, before responding "Oh wow, if you get in then I'll be impressed, most people here started when they were like ten. But you got this, everyone ages differently, maybe you were born a god. We'll see when we get out in the rink, so let's get set up."
Rohan nods his head, and he looks back at his helmet, staring at it for a few moments, as his confusion still loomed, for he didn't understand why he couldn't think farther back. Maybe he was just too focused on the tryouts, and he could remember the answer later.
Rohan places the helmet firmly on his head before letting go, and moving his hands out.
Firstly, the helmet begins to automatically tighten on Rohan's head, as it was initially too large, but it closes the gap to fit comfortably. Once it secures itself, the bottom edge of the helmet starts ejecting a metallic sleeve that crawls down his neck, as though the helmet was spreading itself to cover the whole body. The sleeve spreads down Rohan's chest, and as it does, more covers his arms, moving all the way to his hands before creating a glove.
The sleeve runs down his legs too, reaching his feet, and thus covering his whole body in a complete gray body sleeve, all originating from the helmet.
Once finished, the suit begins to start hardening, as the slim sleeve morphs into a tough armor, creating larger boots and pads up the leg. Slim gauntlets formed with long bent pads wrap around his arms, and solid plates form on his torso to better protect his body where it could be dealt the most impact.
As the suit finalizes, with small fixes to the position of plating on the shoulders, an energy shield comes down from the top of the helmet down to the chin, acting as a mask.
Rohan looks at his gray hands, and then around the locker room, seeing everyone else putting on their suits, and those who already have walked out to get in the rink. He then turns to Sriya, who has his suit on, smiling in excitement.
Sriya nods his head to Rohan, as if making sure he was ready, as now there was nothing left to do but go. Rohan looks up at Sriya, and he gives a soft smile before nodding back.
Out of the locker rooms, students now in full gray gear walk into the cylindrical arena through a new large opening that lets them walk in. As the students walk in, they fly up into the air, and seemingly begin flying around the rink, as though their suits have such capability.
Rohan and Sriya walk towards the opening, and as they do, they look at the flying students. Rohan looks up with some anxiety, as his mind is still lingering on his confusion, and now that he has the suit on and is ready to go, he felt himself second guessing if he even knew how to operate it.
While he has the memory of flying around the arena battling other teams, he didn't remember the training to use it, and he forgot the more technical techniques. Yet if he was able to do it before, there should be no reason why he couldn't now. Oddly, it felt as though he was starting to regress, forgetting what he was doing, which would immensely hinder his chances.
The coach had already announced that he wouldn't tolerate people with no experience, and even though Rohan initially thought he did, now he was worried he fit in that category.
Sriya turns to Rohan with some confusion, as they were already in the rink by now, and should've propelled off. However, Rohan seemed more lost to Sriya, somewhat worrying him.
Sriya asks, "Hey buddy, you good? You seem uh...out of it."
Rohan turns to Sriya, and he gives an innocent smile before awkwardly asking, "Uh...I haven't done this in a while...I might've forgotten how to. I don't know if this will work."
Sriya frowns, and he shakes his head. He then answers, "You'll be fine, if you're just a bit rusty then I'll give you a quick overview, and once you're up in the air the rest should come back to you. Remember, in air hockey, you're always pulling and pushing, and that goes the same with how you dance. You can pull and push yourself in different directions and different ways by making the motion of thrusting yourself whichever way, like the most basic way is acting like you're grabbing and pulling at the air to propel yourself with your arm. But you can do the same with your body, legs, feet, really anything if you get good enough. I guess for now while you try to remember, just make grabbing and pushing motions to go forwards or backwards, and that should be good to get you up. Follow my lead anyways, in case you fall or something."
Rohan opens his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, Sriya holds his hand out to the upper corner of the arena, and jerks his arm back, triggering a hum sound before his body is flung upwards and in with the loop.
Rohan looks up as Sriya flies off, and his eyes widen in fear, as he still feels inadequate. However, now he had no time to wait, as every second he stood made it harder to eventually catch up with him.
Rohan takes a deep breath, and in an attempt to imitate what he saw from Sriya, he holds his hand out above him. He then makes a pulling motion, and the moment he does, he feels a quick tension on his hand, as though there was truly a rope in his hand.
He then suddenly flies straight towards where his hand was, where Sriya had aimed, which causes him to initially freak out. His hands fly all over the place as he realizes now he had to keep moving, or he'd fall, and the drop looked extremely painful. He looks up at the other students already making their rounds, watching students glide through the air, seeming to boost themselves forward with their feet before pulling themselves either with their arms, or even a lot seems to use their chest, which propels them even greater.
Rohan takes a deep breath again, and he aims his hand all the way down the rink, expecting it to pull him from one far side to the other, however when he jerks his hand back, he feels no tension, nor does he feel a pull. Instead, he continues flying chaotically, and begins to descend.
Rohan starts falling down, flailing his arms wildly, as his mind was completely scattered, for he thought he had done the right move, and yet in response he wasn't moving anywhere.
He looks down as the ground gets larger and larger the closer he gets to it, and he shuts his eyes in fear, bracing himself for impact.
However, he doesn't feel anything, as instead rather than feeling like he was falling, he feels as though he was flying forwards. He opens his eyes slowly, only to find himself along with the rest of the students, circling around the arena. Confused, he feels a tension all around his body, however rather than feeling as though he was pulling himself somewhere, it felt like he was being pulled somewhere.
He looks next to himself to see Sriya, who has his hand aimed towards Rohan, however wasn't touching him. Instead, on the arm that was stretched to Rohan, a gauntlet seems to be now visible, which has a launcher attached that seems to be firing a sort of tractor beam on Rohan, which seemed to be what was holding him up.
Sriya sighs in relief, and he turns to Rohan, saying "You know, this is meant for pucks, but if I didn't use it then you would've hit the ground. Sure it wouldn't kill you, but you'd probably get some bruises, and also, well, the coach would probably kill you instead."
Rohan looks down below to see more students circling the arena, and he lets out a sigh. He then turns to Sriya and says, "I did what you said, I tried to make the motions, but nothing worked. Is there an issue with my equipment maybe? I know they give us cheap ones for tryouts, perhaps mine is defective?"
Sriya shakes his head, and he says, "No, I watched you move, the problem was that you aimed at something way too far away. Think of the pulling mechanism as a grapple hook of sorts. If you throw a grapple at the sky, do you think you'll grab onto anything? These suits have a limited range to how far you can grab something, you can't jun your way like that so easily. That's why you need to do a combination of pulls and pushes, and use other references. Like I dunno, use the walls, I mean really maybe I should've talked more about the push since it's sort of the primary way to move, since you'll need to use it if references aren't so easy to get, usually pro players though get to the point where they hardly need the boosts though. But I guess push with your feet more, I guess like swimming maybe, I don't know if that's a good analogy. Maybe we should've tried to find a place to do this before, sorry, but I guess we have to start now. Ready for me to let go?"
Rohan takes a deep breath, and he looks around the rink, watching everyone speed past him. He then turns to Sriya, and nods his head, saying "Okay...ready."
Sriya nods his head, and he wishes, "Okay, good luck, don't die!"
Rohan blinks twice, and he asks, "Wait, could I-," but before he could get an answer, Sriya detaches himself from Rohan, and Rohan once more begins falling downwards again without the aid.
Rohan flails his arms for a second again from the quick fear of being dropped, however this time, he tries to pull himself together quicker, realizing he had to move on his own sooner or later or he'd have no chance even getting on a team.
He looks up at the crowd, and then bends his knees before thrusting them down, as if trying to jump, which causes him to suddenly thrust forwards in the air, flying up among the group.
Rohan's eyes widen with relief, and finds himself near the wall, so he holds his right hand to it, and then makes a pulling motion, which causes him to be shot forwards again, this time far stronger than the kick.
It was true, the pulls were far stronger than the pushes, however Rohan knew he wasn't at the point where he could only use one or the other.
Rohan looks to where Sriya is, and he kicks off again, pushing himself towards his friend. He then makes a pulling motion again with his right hand, which propels him again, and he manages to get himself side by side with Sriya.
Sriya turns his head to see Rohan, and the two smile at one another, before Sriya says, "Ai well you're not dead yet, just keep it that way. We have a few more minutes before drills start, I'll race you."
Rohan says, "If you overlap me a third time then just call it a win, I don't want to be humiliated that much."
Sriya shakes his head before responding, "True, the coach will do more than enough anyways."
The two then continue making rounds around the arena, pulling and pushing, along with the rest of the flock.
After a few more minutes of practice, Rohan eventually gets into the flow of the suit, as while it wasn't superior in any way, it was at least manageable. Still, he knew he had quite the challenge ahead of himself if he wanted to reach the top division.
Soon the coaches enter the rink, wearing shinier and sleeker suits, clearly more advanced and expensive than the trash bins that the students had received. It took no time for them to pause the circling, and begin the rounds of drills.
The first half of the tryouts were dedicated to movement, as the coaches hand out different drills that force the students to maneuver carefully yet quickly through the arena.
Points were set up throughout the arena, and students had to circle each one before zooming to the next, all in a line one after the other. Students raced past each other in an attempt to show their superiority, while other students fell behind realizing they weren't off to a good start.
Rohan watches as students in front of him expertly use the walls around them to propel themselves in different directions, and some even seem to use the pulling feature to swing themselves around, something Rohan didn't understand was possible. When it is his turn to go, he tries the best he could, boosting his way towards the first circle, only to have to slow down dramatically as he figures out how to do a tight circle, which was tricky when he only recently learned how to circle the whole rink.
Many students pass him, with at least one getting ahead of him at each circle, making it clear that Rohan isn't exactly better than the other players.
There were three coaches, who were all hovering in the air stationary, observing the students, including Rohan, who was falling behind.
The coach on the left eyes Rohan with deep annoyance, and he grunts "That kid isn't doing anything. Is he even good enough to go in our bottom teams? This guy would never be in the right zone at the right time."
The coach on the right seems more empathetic and worried, suggesting "Maybe this is just a rough start or today isn't a good day for him, don't be hard on the kid. We'll see where everyone goes at the end of scrimmage, no need to judge now."
The coach in the middle, who was the one who ordered the students at the start, only looks forward with determination, before saying "Right, right now this is just a practice. The scrimmage, like always, will funnel students into the right teams. For now, we need to cut any mold with these kids."
He then boosts forward as the final kid gets to the far side of the rink, leaving the students to wait in a line for the next drill. The other two coaches fly behind the main coach, still observing the students.
Eventually, the coaches start setting up courses for the students, placing devices that shoot a beacon up to create a rod of sorts, and then requiring the students to circle the poles or use it to guide them down a path. Still, not one student had to worry about pucks yet, as the first of the three days of tryouts was merely reserved for movement.
The coaches observe as students take the course, and while many of them get through it successfully, a number of students fail to make the tight turns necessary, and some resultantly smash into the walls of the arena, groaning in pain.
The third coach's eyes widen in worry, while the first coach simply stares in judgement at the failures he witnesses.
Rohan watches the line move up as some of the students bash into the walls, and he tenses in anxiety, scared that he would make the same mistake.
However, Sriya stays beside him and puts his hand on Rohan's shoulder, comforting him. Rohan nods his head to Sriya, and tries to calm himself.
Rohan then takes the course, significantly slower than the ones before him, but careful to make the right turns without bad mistakes. He did successfully get through the course unscathed, however it was clear that he wasn't masterful enough to complete it quickly, which was the point of the exercise.
After a few hours of more drills and students gradually tiring out, the coach finally wraps up the last drill, and calls for all the students to meet with him by the wall of the arena.
Rohan, Sriya, and the rest of the students make their way to the coach, and they then use their boosts to suspend themselves in the air, using the fact that their suits allowed propulsion from any angle to keep them in place.
The main coach announces, "This is the end of the first day of tryouts! Remember, the next one is on Wednesday, and the final tryout is on Sunday. If you can't make it to one, you won't need to worry about making it to any more practices or games. There are only two more left, if you don't have time to attend them, then make time. Wednesday will focus on shooting, so we'll start using the pucks, since I can tell a lot of you were so bored not having one to play with. So remember, same time Wednesday, am I clear? Get out of my sight, and remember to leave the suits in the locker rooms."
All the students disperse, heading down to the opening of the rink. The students lower down before standing on their feet, and walking out of the rink, with some already starting to grab at their helmet, which starts causing their suits to collapse as the heavier armor plating seems almost to evaporate, and the sleeve is absorbed into the helmet.
Rohan lowers down gently, his hands out in front of himself, making sure to stick the landing. Luckily enough, he just barely touches the ground, but not before stumbling forwards from the awkwardness of standing on a floor. He stops himself before falling, and as he regains his standing, Sriya lowers down beside him, before walking with Rohan back to the locker room.
Once inside the locker room, Rohan pulls his helmet up, causing his suit to shut down and collapse back into his helmet.
He then takes the helmet off, and places it on the bench he had taken, looking at the helmet with a soft smile, as if it was a fun first day.
Still, he was worried, as he knew that he was not even better than half of the students, and it was near impossible to fathom getting into the top division.
He sighs, and turns to Sriya, who places his helmet down. He says, "I don't know about this anymore, I'm not good like the rest of you guys. I don't even know if I'm bottom barrel material. I've never been athletic really, and I don't know if I can get to your level in a week. Sorry...I might be letting you down."
Sriya turns to Rohan, and he shakes his head, refuting "No no, you were fine, believe me. A lot of these guys are trained and have been training for all their life, many are only here TO play. So for an average player, I'd say you're pretty decent. Besides, today we hardly did anything, the next time will show what you're really made of. And we can still work out everyday and take our best shot together. I'm not letting you down, and you aren't letting me down either."
Rohan sighs, and he nods his head in agreement. He says, "Okay...I'll try. Sorry if I might've given you the wrong idea of the type of player I am, sure I've played but I was never really any good. If you thought I was some king, well, I'm not."
Sriya shakes his head, and he reassures, "My guy, don't worry about it, if you worry too much you'll choke up. Just do the best you can, and see where that takes you."
Rohan nods, knowing Sriya was only speaking the truth. He then looks up with a soft smile, and says, "Okay, let's go."
The two leave the locker room, their first day of tryouts completed.