While John had no idea what the others were doing to prepare for the Assignment, he simply decided to call his trusty partner.He activated his magic."ExBeast Summon, obey the contract and come forth Cactus-cat!" As soon as he said the first word of his Command, markings symbolizing the Contract appeared on the ground in front of him. By the time he was done with the Command, the markings had faded away and the Cactus-Cat had appeared in their place. Careful not to hurt himself on the animal's thorns, john scratched the cat behind the ears."Good to see you again.The sight of an Ex-Beast did draw some attention as the two headed over to the Teleporter pads, but they got there without any trouble. When the group found themselves in the bunker some of the researchers stared suspiciously at the Ex-Beast now in the bunker with hem. "Don't worry I'm a Summoner and he is with me."John quickly explained the situation before heading outside into the woods with the others with the others."Look out for monsters surrounding us but continue walking north-east without stopping unless you're sure you saw something." Not having any better idea's, he decided to go along with what the Striker said.

Haruka looked around the group at the others and tried to figure out their personalities while they were talking and introducing themselves. The first one to introduce themself was a girl that was about the same size as her. At first she thought it was a girl, at least he sure looked like one with his somewhat longer hear and size, but his voice and some of his manly traits gave it away. He didn't look please when both her and the taller boy next to her joined the group. The reason why he didn't like it was still to be found out, maybe she could figure it out along the assignment. She didn't drop her gentle smile and kept listening to the others introducing themselves. The girl with long blonde hair introduced herself to both the taller boy and her, the other two seemed to have met already before she joined the group, if they were friends was still unclear. After Winnifred had introduced herself the boy next to her did the same. She was curious to know why the boy had a weapon even though he was a mage, most mages didn't use a weapon except for staffs or wands and even then, they didn't hit enemies with their weapons. Something else that was interesting about the tall boy was that he most likely was around a 4th year student and would probably already have an S rank by now. Well she didn't have to rush to know about all these new group members since she gets to fight with them shortly after they accept the assignment. She waited for the magi next to her to finish talking and opened up her own mouth "I'm Hirasawa Haruka, second grade shade. Let's get along and finish this assignment with no casualties." Haruka folded her arms together and waited for them to finish up to start the assignment. The one to most likely lead them was the older magi who must have had a lot more experience with these assignments. Haruka stepped back a little from the group and opened her mouth again "I'll be going on ahead." She turned around and walked towards the magic teleporter without saying anything more. She walked through the big central hall with a steady pace and went into the first teleportation room that wasn't used yet. She entered the quest on the holographic screen already and waited for the other to arrive before she turned on the magic teleporter.

As the group moved across the clearing, Hayato took in their surroundings. This clearing hadn't always been such; stumps and piles of sawdust just beginning to sprout grass were clear signs that construction had only recently begun here. The bunkers looked too smooth for regular concrete, so they had probably been raised with earth magic. The way they just sort of melded into the ground at their bases cemented that theory. There weren't any paths leading into or out of the forest to this clearing, at least none that had been often traveled by anything other than native creatures. So the researchers probably had their own telepad, or had set up some kind of rendezvous schedule with the MMO Corps--the para-military organization that was basically the "grown up" version of the Academy. So they were, quite literally, surrounded. But if this place was so dangerous normally, surely they wouldn't have built an outpost here. Could something have caused the Exbeasts to become more aggressive? Were these some of the intelligent kinds who could coordinate attacks? Hayato and the others were no doubt keeping their eyes peeled with every step they took, but even as they crossed over the treeline into the forest proper, all they could see were the normal plants of the forest. Low, woody shrubs with spindly limbs clawed at their clothes as they pushed past, and thick tangles of snake-like vines hung from larger trees, obscuring their vision. Small conifer-like trees, their needles sharp and prickly, only grew about head height every once in a while, a stark contrast to the larger, oak-like trees that made up the majority of the forest. As he poked a group of the vines out of his way with his sheathed katana, Hayato sighed. "Did the things see us coming and run off or what?" he began to ask, but his stride was brought to an abrupt halt when his sword refused to come out of the vines. Grumbling, he started trying to untangle it and pull the sheathed weapon free--only for one of the vines to suddenly lash out at him! As Hayato reflexively ducked and yanked his blade free of the sheath, leaving the scabbard in the monster's grip, other strange figures began to rise up out of the very earth, all around the group...

"It's time for a showdown.", Joe smirked. Looking around he discerned two types of enemies. A sort of bush/plant type where one had needles and where one didn't and this smaller, quicker looking plant type. "I see three types. Including the summon we're with six, it's best if we split up in groups of three. Each one of us attacking a different type of enemy. Summon boy and his ex-beast would count as one team, leaving four of us.", he suggested. "It's best if I don't fight needles since I don't use a weapon and I'll get cut with every hit.", he got himself in position. All of them were kind of deceptive, sometimes he would lose track of them just to appear back in their vision when they moved slightly. Looking at the first bush close to him that moved slightly he would just simply jump in the air and perform a downwards aerial attack. Attempting to hurt it with combos of powerful strikes before it even was able to get into a human form. Giving him the advantage of the first few strikes without the bush being able to do much about it.

As the forest around them sprung to life Hazel raised her sword. She heard Joe's plan, but she didn't pay it any heed "Who cares, these guys are pipsqueaks, let's just cut them up!" She charged straight for the creature covered in needles, sword raised. As she met it she began to slash quickly, hoping to whack the plant to pieces.

Soka saw as the surroundings began to move. Well, I guess we found out what was moving in the bushes earlier. Soka and a creature exchanged glances. Soka: Hi.... Vine Blight: ... The Vine Blight sent a vine like a whip toward Soka. "Whoa!" Soka exclaimed, jumping to the right to avoid the vertical attack. The attack grazed his left shoulder. After getting his footing again, he stared in surprise at the nature-based creature. "You don't seem too bad," Soka said aloud. "At least you're not a dinosaur." Soka stayed in a ready position, waiting for any sign of another attack so that he could evade it again. .... Soka thought the Vine Blight was about to make a move again, when suddenly a burning pain splashed against his back. Turning, he saw three more of the monsters baring down on him. Two Vine Blights and a Needle Blight. His back burning in pain, Soka clenched a fist. The metal that was stored in his sword case oozed in liquid form toward Soka's hand. "You really shouldn't have done that."

"Nice to meet you, Haruka-chan." She was greeted with a friendly nod of the head after she had finished. Ryouta looked at the board contemplatively foR a moment, he seemed deep in thought then after a awhile he turned back to the group. "Give me a minute to get my equipment." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was a brisk walk from the assignments area to the armory, placed conveniently for students who were in a hurry to participate in missions. When Ryouta returned he was in a new outfit, one that was ready for combat. He wore a bullet proof vest of dull-grey and matching trousers softly glowing neon blue stripes that interlocked at the sides, imbedded with mana circuits - these were made for the spell using population of the academy. He also wore a visor that displayed holographic Imagery in front of his right eye, alongside a matching glove on his right hand, pressumably his sword wielding hand. His sword still sat by his hip as usual, it's elegance a stark contrast to the rest of his appearance. Making his way to the Launch pad where Haruka was waiting, he tapped the screen of his watch, it seems he has found more and more uses foR it these days. A file titled "Rooster's Crow .mp3" appeared and he began downloading it immediately. Now all they had to do was wait foR everyone to gather and he (or someone) would input the coordinates into the console.

As the Striker came down on the transforming Exbeast, its shrubby body had half warped into a humanoid form. His first attack came down hard, slamming it to the earth with a crackle; its body, though changed by magic, still held the natural properties of wood. Like a stick cracked across one's knee, Joe's attack had broken pieces of its body. However, the creature's skinny form and small size made it much faster and more agile than its attacker, and with a howl like wind whistling through trees it clawed at the ground to scramble away from his combo. When its legs had fully formed it jumped to its feet, and now at full speed darted back at Joe. Its claws raked across his chest, though with his own reactions it was only a glancing blow that failed to draw blood. The Exbeast kept up the attack, once more trying to claw him with sharpened woody fingers... Against Hazel's sheer speed and power the Needle Blight was caught off guard, and though it raised its thorny forearms to try and block, her sword came down with a sharp crack. The creature squealed as its arms dropped to the forest floor like so much firewood; whereas Joe's attack was blunt in nature, Hazel's was a cutting force, and thus more effective against these plant like creatures. [Discovery: Blights suffer extra damage from cutting attacks!] Falling backwards, the Needle Blight scrambled backwards while shrieking at its comrades, no doubt searching for help. In addition, it raised the stumps of its arms and fired a hail of softly glowing needles at Hazel, the projectiles moving equally as fast as she had before... [Needle Blight used Needle Spray!] One of the Vine Blights simply lashed out like twin whips with its arms, attempting to strike Soka's arms and legs. The other, gurgling some odd sound that might have passed for a language, sent its lower body's tendrils into the ground. A few moments later, new vines pulsing with a green magic, erupted from the earth beneath Soka's feet and began to wrap around his legs. Try as he might, he couldn't pull free! [Vine Blight used Entangle! Soka's Speed drops by 10!] The Needle Blight raised both hands with a laugh that sounded like a dead tree limb cracking under a strong wind. Its arms were just beginning to glow when Hayato darted in from the side, mimicking Hazel with both arms brought far back, as if he were swinging a baseball bat instead of a sword. Just as the Needle Blight noticed him, he planted one foot and torqued his hips for all the power he could muster. At the same time his sword flashed black and blue. "Flash Blade!" The Needle Blight tried to step back, but in an arc of light one leg was severed entirely from its body, the limb flying end over end before collapsing to the ground, spurting some kind of sap. "They cut easy! If you have any magic or Skills that do that, go for it!" Hayato shouted, moving in on the downed enemy...

"Really? They cut easy? Oh god damn it.". Joe complained comically. It was logical though, it wasn't his specialty and it was of the others. His opponent was fast so the way to win this one was to force it to trade blows with him. He awaited the next attack and stretched out his arms. Taking his next hit while grabbing his arm as he impacted. Forcing him to hopefully not be able to retract. If succeeded, he would use both hands so that the grip was stronger and it would be the twigs one hand versus two of his. After that was set up, he'd literally lay harsh low kicks attempting to sickly snap his legs and go for the kill if his opponent wasn't done already. Perhaps later he could improvise with his environment and use one of those shot needles to put them between each of his fingers as a fist. Changing his attack to sharp without sacrificing skill of not knowing how to work with it.

Hazel smirked with satisfaction. Of course her sword skills would show up the Striker. She started to move in for her next attack, but was caught off guard as the creature used it's now stumped arms as a weapon. The needles came with considerable speed. I can't let those hit me, I have no idea what they do! She dived to the right, rolling as she hit the ground. She raised her sword again, holding it at waist level as she charged the creature again. This time I won't let you live long enough to counter attack! When she reached it she swung her sword around, aiming for its 'neck'. This time she aimed to take its 'head' off.

Soka began running, strafing to avoid the attacks of one of the Vine Blights. As he ran, his metal was forming into a thin blade, razor sharp at its edges. After avoiding the vine attacks, Soka controlled his floating metal blade. "Metal!" The metal blade, powered by magic and not strength, cut through the air at the vines that had just struck at the metal adept. Soka's aim was off however and the blade didn't connect. "It's a lot harder with moving targets," he mumbled. Soon though, he could feel a spell being cast and roots were wrapped around his legs. "Oi, let me go!" he said, trying to call his metal back to him. The Needle Blight had turned its attention to him and Soka was still stuck. Not good, not good. Thankfully his new ally came and intercepted the Needle attacker before it could hit him. "Yo, thanks Hayato," he called out, while beginning to cut at the vines that had trapped him.

Watching as the two walked away Rian finally let out a sigh though he tried to keep any emotion from mixing in with the act. Glancing at Winnifred, who had yet to head off, he nodded in the direction Haruka had gone and said, "Guess I'll see you at the room." With that he followed in the same direction as Ryouta, having dropped off his belongings at the armoury the day before. He joined the others in the teleporter room a few minutes later, having not taken long to pick out and don his chosen gear. Gone was the flowing robe of soft fabric, and in its place was something that would have looked far more at home on an infantryman rather than a Cleric. There were some differences though such as the attire's coloration remaining beige, and the vest being for purely defensive purposes; no pouches or the like for storage. Armored plating was also woven onto the fabric in certain areas and while it did make the entire set heavier, it provided a good measure of defence and didn't hinder movement in the slightest. His footwear had also been swapped out for a pair of heavy boots that seemed to have seen a good amount of use given all the scuffs and markings on the material. In his right hand he held a plain and standard looking staff, this one ending with a two-pronged head. Nodding to the two he took up a position, leaning against the wall as he planted the butt of the staff against the floor, to wait for Winnifred's arrival.

At first John was planning to help out whoever needed it, but it seemed everyone had things under control. Given the Cactus-Cat armored tail it made sense for his Summon to attack one of the Needle Blights. "Go for that one covered in needles." Seconds after being given the order the Ex-Beast sent it's armored branching tail flying at the target. John meanwhile decided to try and hold the small imp like creature closest to his partner off. Knowing he probably wouldn't do much damage anyway, he simply attempted to grapple it so that his Summon could focus on its fight.

Joe's grapple was successful, and with his greater strength he was able to hold the Twig Blight's arms and keep it from clawing him. The creature struggled with shrill cries to try and get free, as it had no teeth to bite with and its legs weren't flexible enough to kick. As Joe pulverized its lower body with kicks, the twigs that made up its form were broken one after the other, and the creature slowly began to crumble from the waist down. It continued to struggle and screeched for help. [Twig Blight searches for help! Twig Blight B appeared!] Another monster ran at Joe from behind, swinging down both of its claws to rip into his back... The creature raised what was left of its arms and curled them tightly near its neck in an attempt to slow down Hazel's strike. The sword once again cut through its limbs, and even dug into its neck, but by that time it had lost enough momentum that the rest of the strike's power only threw the creature across the ground. It struggled to get up now, however, with only shoulder stumps left. It only managed to get on its knees, but with a crackling woody sound it opened its jaws wide, and unleashed another storm of needles at Hazel. [Critical Hit! Needle Blight's HP is low! Needle Blight used Needle Spray!] With his metal blade, Soka was able to inflict some light cuts on the moving vines, but as he had said moving targets were difficult to hit. Vine Blight A withdrew the tendrils, but didn't seem too concerned. Soka was, however, able to free himself from the Vine Blight B's Entangle spell--only for Vine Blight A to cast it again, and again Entangle him. "Ignore the foottrap and aim for the main body! Your spells don't need you to move!" Hayato advised, charging at one of the Vine Blights himself. He brought his blade down on the same one that currently had Soka trapped, cutting a huge gash into the tightly woven body. The Vine Blight screamed, its hold on Soka weakening, but its comrade cast another Entangle on Hayato--the Knight, however, was strong enough to kick the tendrils away. But he wasn't fast enough to dodge the Needle Spray that the other Blight cast at him, and a hail of the glowing needles hit him in the chest. He cried out and stumbled backwards, bleeding from a dozen places where it felt like he'd been stabbed with a pen. [Soka is free from Entangle! Vine Blight A took a Critical Hit! Needle Blight used Needle Spray on Hayato!] The Cactus-Cat's tail dealt the Needle Blight a hefty blow to the ribs, knocking the creature backwards. With a shriek it attempted to attack the Summon with its thorny claws. Meanwhile, John's attempt to grapple an oncoming Twig Blight was only partially successful. While he was able to stop it from going after the Cactus Cat, now its attention was on him, and it repeatedly began clawing at him with its one free arm...

He was getting attacked from his back. He knew that he should have punished his victims legs strongly and that his new opponent was a bigger threat. Thinking for a second he suddenly heard a cackling woody sound. Looking at that direction he would notice the mouth of a needle blight open. Perfect, In one swift movement he would accurately attempt to throw the twig blight in front of the needle sprays trajectory. Protecting Hazel from the attack while hopefully taking this one down. As his next opponent swiftly hit his back he would move backwards slightly to push the nails even deeper in his back. Forcing the twig to spend more time trying to take his nails out, hopefully giving Joe the extra time he needs to move while the imp couldn't and take down the speed difference once again. He'd react by using one hand to grab the hand that was stuck in his back. Turning around he would give a smile and throw his opponent into a bear hug. "There is one thing I know about sticks. Outside of them cutting easy, they snap easy as well.", from there on he would hug so hard that hopefully its limbs would break in half. While he did this he would load knee shots from this clinch position as a plan B to still hurt his legs if it didn't work out.