Kicking Dust

Kicking Dust is an adventure-themed animated television series focusing on Flydevins in the desert planet of Silanex, specifically on Duster Zhantom.

While Kicking Dust does not have any direct sequels or prequels, it has a spiritual successor in the form of Unchained: The Rise of Onyx, which takes place in an alternate version of the same planet and features some familiar elements.

Synopsis

Hundreds of years ago, on a planet known as Silanex, a group of humans had to survive in the world's hostile desert environment while fending off aggressive raiders. They found a solution to this by infusing themselves with wind magic, which started off an entire subrace of humans, the Flydevins, with the ability to manipulate magical winds. Through these winds, they found they could manipulate other elements - thusforth came the Wind Arts, divisions of the magical winds allowing Flydevins to specialize in given elements. Droplet Wind adepts could produce water on a whim, Mineral Winds adepts created buildings with stones, Powder Wind adepts created snow to cool down Flydevins from the harsh weather... Eventually, the different groups of Flydevins spread into various smaller, rather unorganised tribes.

However, this will soon be no more. Monarch Gilderoyde Morluda has given the mighty General Fractus Zhantom the task of uniting the tribes, in order to form one big Flydevin civilisation - quite the ambitious task in the Wasteland, where large-scale civilisations aren't really heard of. However, Fractus Zhantom's sheer power and mastery of Mineral Winds has allowed this task to go by without too much hurdles, and Gilderoyde Morluda's dream is looking closer and closer to be reality...

Duster Zhantom is Fractus Zhantom's elder daughter, and is working to improve her mastery of Mineral Winds, hoping to one day live up to her mother's strength, training with her best friends Beruli Tei and Trida Kyrjan. Will she be successful... or will she find out things are not quite as they may seem?

Episodes

Kicking Dust has 10 episodes in total.

Episode Name	Synopsis
1. Kicking Dust!	We meet Duster and her friends on an average day, and witness one of their sparring matches. Meanwhile, Fractus conquers a tribe, uniting more of the Flydevin civilisation!
2. Battle Tournament!	Fractus gives the monarch, Gilderoyde, a report on how things went during her latest mission. Soon afterwards, Duster enters a Flydevin fighting tournament! How far will she get?
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...
4. What They Saw	Duster talks to her close friends about the horrors she saw during Fractus's missions and learns much about the real nature of Flydevin society.
5. Mother and Daughter	Duster and Fractus have a heated confrontation between mother and daughter, to the horror of Nimbus. It doesn't end well.
6. The Spark Princet!	Duster meets Gampa, the child of an enemy of Fractus's. They teach her how to survive in the Wasteland, though they have to fend off an ambush. As it ends up turning out, Duster may have a few things to teach Gampa herself...
7. Mission Nimbus!	Duster and Gampa infiltrate the former's hometown to fetch Nimbus back, though there may be some unexpected hurdles in the way.
8. Rainclouds...	Nimbus learns to live in the new environment she's been thrust in, while trying to get a handle on all of the recent developments in her life.
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.
10. Rock Bottom	Everything comes to a head.

Cast

Name	Statistics	Description
Duster Zhantom	Female 5'0, 21 Mineral Winds	Duster Zhantom is the main protagonist of Kicking Dust. Being very short for a Flydevin, and having to live up to the expectations of her mother at the same time, Duster is quite insecure and is quick to anger or embarass as a result. However, her friends know she's actually a mellow person if she doesn't feel like she's being mocked. She's additionally very protective of her younger sister Nimbus, though her relationship with her mother Fractus is shaky at best. She often hangs out and trains with her best friends Beruli and Trida. Her friend group has given her the nickname Potato, though she gets flustered if it's heard in public. She fights at a very close range for a Flydevin, coating her arms and legs in rocks in order to deliver powerful punches - as a result, she is quite muscular. Should her foe attempt to make a getaway, she'll simply use winds to hurl herself at them.
Nimbus Zhantom	Female 5'1, 14 Powder Winds	Nimbus Zhantom is Duster Zhantom's younger sister. Unlike most female Flydevins, which traditionally train to be warriors or at least fighters, Nimbus is merely an artist. Despite this, Fractus seems to care deeply for her - perhaps even more than Duster. She is very naive, innocent, and ultimately, quite spoiled, but she's nice and amicable to the people she meets. Nimbus doesn't actually use her Powder Winds for fighting at all, and has little to no fighting experience. Instead, she uses them to create ice sculptures. Usually, she creates ice sculptures of "Flydevin Warriors" - which consist of Fractus and the Flydevins she commands. However, she secretely would rather create sculptures representing things from her own imagination.
Fractus Zhantom	Female 6'1, 47 Mineral Winds "Dark Magic"	The mighty Fractus Zhantom is best known as the lead general amongst Flydevin society. Slightly less known is that she is the mother of two daughters, Duster and Nimbus. She is very strict and does not tolerate nonsense. She's also extremely patriotic as far as Flydevin society comes, and she's not exactly open to it changing. Considering her dangerous and hard work, she commands respect everywhere she goes, with very few Flydevins being brave enough to disrespect what might be the strongest Flydevin of all. Fractus Zhantom has mastered Mineral Winds, being capable of conjuring meteors to crush foes from above and being able to easily wield massive rock weapons she can create on the spot. Her armor is incredibly durable, making most penetration attempts futile, and she is incredibly strong. Her one weakness is that she can be slightly slow when attacking, but even then, one should not underestimate her mobility, which is just as good as any other Flydevin. Oddly enough, Fractus Zhantom seems able to conjure some sort of dark, poisonous cloud when in a pinch, which does not correspond to any of the known Wind Arts.
Beruli Tei	Female 5'4, 20 Mineral Winds	Beruli Tei is a happy-go-lucky Mineral Winds adept, who seems to have made it her main goal in life to cheer up other Flydevins. It's not revealed why exactly this is the case yet, though she does conceal a more serious side. She is one of Duster's best friends, and is often seen training with her along with her other best friend Trida. Her friends have given her the nickname Broccoli. Beruli Tei's fighting style consists of creating weapons with her Mineral Winds, usually dual lances. She can quickly create more weapons on the spot if they're broken, and she can use Wind Arts to launch them at high velocities and then correct their trajectory. She's also rather physically strong, though not as much as Duster.
Trida Kyrjan	Female 5'11, 20 Mineral Winds	Trida Kyrjan is a cool, casual Mineral Winds adept who seems to prefer to just go with the flow. She enjoys cracking jokes in the company of her best friends Beruli and Trida, sometimes embarassing the former. When not hanging out with her friends, she's usually taking care of her younger brother Erifa. She has been given the nickname Radish by her friends. Trida Kyrjan has a fighting style that is best described as "cheap" - simply flying away from the target, out of their reach, before conjuring rocks towards them, correcting their trajectory so that they almost never miss. As a result, she can just stay away from them and slowly whittle them down. This does result in her being less muscular than her friends, however.
The Drizzler	Male 5'2, 54 Droplet Winds Spark Winds	Drizzley Pararain, better known as The Drizzler, was the leader of a peaceful Flydevin settlement separate from the main city Kicking Dust takes place in. He was known to be a kind and fair ruler who looked out for his population's sake while keeping their honor at heart. However, he was knocked out by Fractus during the first episode, and it's unknown when or if he'll recover. The Drizzler fights with a combination of Droplet Winds and Spark Winds, using the Droplet Winds to enhance the conductivity of his lightning blasts. When they failed on Fractus, he was shown to engulf her in water and try to compress her with said water, though it failed to work and he ultimately got defeated.
Gampa Pararain	Non-Binary 5'11, 23 Spark Winds Droplet Winds	Gampa Pararain is the child of The Drizzler, and will be a major character in the second half of Kicking Dust, though they make sparce appearances in the earlier half as well. Little is known about them so far, although they appear to dislike Fractus for knocking out their father and conquering their village. They fight with a combination of Droplet Winds and Spark Winds, similar to their father, though they appear to focus more on the Spark Winds. They also have a weaponized umbrella, though its utility and abilities have not been displayed yet.
Gilderoyde Morluda	Female 6'11, 33 Gilded Winds	Gilderoyde Morluda is considered to be the monarch of the biggest Flydevin tribe. She has made it her goal to unite all Flydevin tribes, a goal started by her mother, the previous ruler, which died under mysterious circumstances. She's known to try and make Flydevin society as good as she can, though she has issues understanding the issues most Flydevins face seeing as she's never had to face them in the first place. Gilderoyde fights using Gilded Winds, a rare type of Wind Art that can supposedly only be used by the royal family. She's capable of creating gold with it, easily being able to create sharp weapons at will. However, she's actually not that great of a fighter, hoping her status and imposing height will turn off most people from fighting her.
Erifa Kyrjan	Male 5'5, 17 Solar Winds	Erifa Kyrjan is the younger brother of Trida Kyrjan. He appears to be a tad edgier than her in comparison, not really taking others seriously and being implied to enjoy making fun of other people. He does, however, usually tone this down in the company of his older sister, which he does respect a lot. Erifa is a Solar Winds adept, though he generally does not fight. He picked up Solar Winds because he liked their looks, though it left him unsure of what to do with them. He seems to be getting a passion for metalworking, however, especially when it comes to making fancy weapons - though he does not want to provide these to the Flydevin army either, however, not wanting to support them.
Ravitie Dawne	Female 5'7, 24 Twister Winds	Ravitie Dawne is a Twister Winds adept that made an appearance in the Battle Tournament in Episode 2, where she fought against Duster. She seems to be a rather relaxed and casual lady, and entered the tournament for fun and to show off her battle prowess rather than for any deep reasons. Ravitie Dawne uses her Twister Winds in order to push people away. Her signature tactic is to push people down so as to limit their movements, and then dive kick them, pushing herself downwards with her winds to amplify the power of her blows.
Bruno Incrisp	Male 5'6, 26 Solar Winds	Bruno Incrisp is a stoic Solar Winds adept that showed up in the Battle Tournament in Episode 2, where he fought Duster. He takes the battle tournament very seriously - he wants to cement the idea that male Flydevins can be just as effective in fighting as female Flydevins, which are traditionally the warriors in Flydevin culture. Bruno Incrisp's main strategy in battle is to create a forcefield of flames around him, effectively limiting approaching measures, and then to chase and pin down his target so as to scorch them with the flames. He can also project the forcefield towards other and release powerful blasts of fire.
Teliru Tei	Female 5'6, 53 Mineral Winds	Teliru Tei is a Flydevin Warrior, a member of Fractus's army, and Beruli Tei's mother. That being said, her main reason for participating in the army is not out of choice, but because of pressures from the likes of Fractus herself and the Flydevin culture. While she used to be happier, similar to Beruli, years of fighting have rendered her bitter and stoic. Teliru Tei, similar to her daughter, fights by creating rock weapons with her Mineral Winds. But rather than lances, her specialty is hammers. She can create big hammers to thwack her enemies with, or she can create dual hammers, usually for throwing purposes. She's also physically strong, being able to lift even her large hammers with one hand.
Coarbel Lignate	Male 5'3, 52 Mineral Winds	Coarbel Lignate is another Flydevin Warrior, though rather than fighting directly, he's a medic that focuses on healing others, especially victims of Fractus's army. He can also take time to recomfort afraid Flydevins. The battles have left him blind in one eye, though he keeps healing others anyways, hoping a miracle will end Fractus's conquests one day. Coarbel Lignate manipulates Mineral Winds, though he's not a fighter. He generally just uses Mineral Winds to create bunkers in case fights grow particularly intense. He's also skilled at first aid.
Markrose Hortica	Female 5'8, 29 Twister Winds	Markrose Hortica was the young leader of a Flydevin settlement dedicated to the development of Twister Winds. While she emphasized warriorship, she focuses more on defense than offense. Unfortunately, it proved to not be good enough to repel Fractus and the settlement was conquered, having been beaten up by her. Markrose is skilled at Twister Winds, though she is not necessarily the strongest Twister Wind adept either. She does, however, make up for it with great commanding skills as well as impressively strong physical strength, to the point she managed to make Fractus flinch, which is more than many can say they've done to Fractus.
Diamond Hallion	Male 5'1, 32/46 Powder Winds	Diamond Hallion was once a notorious Flydevin Warrior known for his great agility and incredible precision when attacking, but most importantly, for the fact he was Fractus Zhantom's husband. This also makes him the father of Duster Zhantom and Nimbus Zhantom. However, he was killed during a battle sometime before the latter's birth. Little is known about what he was like at a person, but it was known he wanted his daughters to follow thier own dreams. Diamond Hallion was a Powder Winds adept. His main combat strategy was to create ice chakrams, and then strike foes with create precision using them. He could also use his winds to make it spin extremely fast, causing it to act similar to a sawblade. He was extremely agile, but he was physically weak, and unlike what his name would suggest, very fragile.

Gallery

Various Flydevin outfits corresponding to the main Wind Art divisions.

A rare image of General Fractus Zhantom in a slightly more casual mood.

Trivia

• Kicking Dust's title references it's main protagonist's name, Duster Zhantom, as well as her fighting style, while is more of a close-combat style involving punches and kicks. It's also a reference to the growing chaos and tension within Flydevin society that occur during the show.
• Kicking Dust was part of Fantendoverse τ until the cancellation of the later, where it became a standalone entry. It originally took place in The Wasteland, rather than its current setting.