---

---

One week ago...

The active sounds of footsteps outside the door helped bring her to consciousness. "Wha... what?" Michelle said as she opened her eyes wide - and was immediately bombarded with the light rays. On reflex, she closed her eyes. She groaned as she put her hand onto her head, and tried to get up. Her head hurt like hell, her vision was shit, and - she felt like she was missing something? Like, what the hell happened? Where.... Where the hell is that monster?! She needed to... figure out.... Something. She didn't know where she was. She felt like she was on a bed of some sort, she tried to gather the strength to lift her upper body up until she was in a sitting position. Michelle opened her eyes with success, and her eyes better adjusted to the light. It just hurt a bit. She put her hand on the side of her head - wait, what? She couldn't feel her fingers, only a pain in her hand. She put her head down to look at her hand - and her eyes shot wide open. "... My h-hand! What the hell?!" She stared at it. Wrapped in gauze, it was merely a fingerless stump of what it used to be. She tried to flex her fingers, with no success.

The door she hadn't noticed before opened, she saw someone stepping one foot into the room. She wasn't paying attention before, it was hard to discern one set of footsteps from another. Michelle's gaze immediately went to the door, and through it stepped a tall, European-looking, woman. With a head of curly hair, and a labcoat over hospital scrubs. She had a clipboard, and... a syringe in the other hand. "Oh, you're awake!" The woman said, quickly putting that syringe in her back pocket and taking steps towards Michelle. "Hello, I'm... Agatha Crest. The other doctors did some medical work on you, and I just came in to... check up on you." Agatha smiled at Michelle.

"Where am...." Michelle trailed off, but she took a look around - her eyes having adjusted to the light. She was... in a hospital room. A small one. She was sitting on a hospital bed, she bounced a little bit on it. Wearing a... extra-large hospital robe. Nothing underneath it. Normally, she would be horrified that someone striped her, but she was apathetic to it at this point. There were other, pressing concerns she had to get it. "What happened to my hand?" Michelle asked, putting her hand stump on display.

"I don't know exactly, but...." Agatha looked at her clipboard, flipping through a few of the pages. "... They say it was bitten off." She flatly said.

"... And I know exactly by what." Michelle hissed underneath her breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing." Michelle answered. She crossed her arms over her chest, and let out a sigh.

"Well, I should let you know," Agatha started off, "Your hand should be back to normal in a few weeks... You have an impressive healing factor, perhaps it could be amplified if you're exposed to the powers of a healer."

Well, at least her hand will be back soon. Still, that didn't answer her questions. She let out another sigh, and put her hand on her chin. "Doubt I'm going to get an answer for this, but do you know what happened? How did I get here? What happened to the monster...?" Her eyes shot open, and she put both hands on the hospital bed. "Wait! What happened to that boy?! Is he okay?!" She asked her. That child... the boy who got his leg bitten off. If she got saved, did he? He was bleeding a lot, she was worried about what would have happened if she got there later.

Agatha merely shrugged, before she answered, "You know as much as I do. Adam Blackmore called in the hospital to help you after he handled whatever caused all of this." She put a pen in between her lips. "How about you go ask him? Other than your hand missing, you're in great condition."

"Maybe I will..." Michelle got up from off the hospital bed, and started heading towards the door - Agatha stepped in the way of Michelle, and put her hand on her chest.

"... Just put some clothes on first."

---

Present Times...

A boy was rushed through the doors of the Medical Wing on a stretcher. He was young (At least fifteen), blond-haired, and his injury was far too obvious not to notice. The right side of his body were covered in pitch-black, third degree burns. He was twitching, and groaning. Barely conscious - but in a ton of pain from those wounds. Two people were rushing him to the ER. Agatha ran until she had caught up to their pace, and ran alongside them.

"What happened to him?" Agatha asked.

"Severe accident using his power." One of the doctors responded.

"His power?"

"Electrokinesis, he misfired while attempting to practice."

"Get him to the ER, pronto!" Agatha said. They ran through the doors and immediately rushed the boy into the room. Hooking him up to several machines and more. They were prepping him for surgery. Agatha pulled a syringe full of a green fluid out of her pocket, and called out to the doctors, "Administering sedatives." She stuck it into the boy's neck, and pressed down and released all the drugs into his young body. The boy's eyes closed as he was prepped for surgery.

"It's all gonna be better soon..." She whispered into the boy's ear.

---

---

"So I take it you're into tentacles?"

Sarah coughed, and nearly dropped her coffee. She looked to Henry in surprise, the reptile grinning back at her from his chair. "I mean, you are working with Dr. Octagonopus..."

Sarah threw her coffee mug at Henry and walked out.

Henry laughed turned around as the coffee mug hit the back of his chair to do some research. Tobias hadn't given him any names so, for the time being, he was going to narrow down subjects who went to the academy who also had abilities that could've spawned the hellhound thing that killed Casper among the other two. Either they were incredibly smart- a cerebral type, or had a biological power of some kind- a super system type of some kind. Those were his guesses, at least. So there he sat, reclining in his chair as his went through his PIP. His first step was to scan the cerebral section. They were less diverse than super system and it wouldn't be hard to pick out the weirdies capable of doing something like this.

'ERROR 404: Data Not Found' was what displayed on the screen.

"The fuck?" Henry said, banging the device with the palm of his other hand. Okay, maybe try the super system first. Fate was telling him to check it obvio-

Fate was telling him to fuck off, obviously because the super system meta humans were also 404'd.

"The double fuck?" Henry said, standing up waving his arm around in some futile attempt to get wifi. His voice overshadowed Selena's introductory words of 'Knock-knock' and as he turned around and saw her figure he let out an all too embarrassing, high pitched squeal. Then, with the grace of a thousand swan, proceeded to slip in the coffee that had pooled on the floor that Sarah had thrown at him, causing him to fall face first onto the floor and shake the whole damn building as he hit the ground with the force of a train.

He did nothing but lay there for a moment as Selena proclaimed she was ready to go out and hunt some creatures when he was. He made no sound, more of just laid there and tried to process what had happened in the last half a second and how he had gone from sitting down to face planting. Selena probably thought he was dancing or some equally stupid shit and then committed seppuku when he was caught in the act. He groaned and slowly picked himself off the ground, until he was in a sitting position. He held up a hand to silence the up and coming laughter and jokes made at his expense from Selena.

"Selena!" He said, his hand raised to in greeting. "Shuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut your orifice now please. That TOTALLY DID NOT HAPPEN."

He slowly picked himself back up, his face contorted into a grimace. "...Lets just go and get you a room before I embarrass myself even more." he said. He wasn't making any progress here. He'd had to ask Tobias if any of his tech was getting screwed up too. But that could wait.

Astrid stood at the front of the deck feeling the spray of the sea against her face. Giggling at it she stuck her tongue out, just as if snowflakes were falling. Immediately she regretted her actions as the salty taste of the water hit her mouth. Gagging she coughed over the side of the boat and spit, trying to rid her mouth of the bad taste. "Bad idea, real bad idea dummy." She spoke softly to herself. Not that she really had to. As far as she could see there was only three people on the entire boat; the captain, an older fit platinum-haired women, and herself. The other woman hadn't said anything to her, seeming content to just sit and watch the waves. Astrid was fine with not introducing herself right away, they were both going to the same place, so chances were high that they would run into each other again.

She just hoped that she wasn't going to be too behind. After missing who knows how much it stood that she wouldn't be at the same level as everyone else. Too bad she was late, but she had trouble explaining to her conservative father that she was moving to alaska to go to an all-meta academy. Besides that, she also had to explain to him how she was a meta. That was tense to say the least.

But at least she was here now. Looking out over the edge of the boat she realized that they had docked. Excitement bubbled up in her chest, along with the butterflies of something new. Practically shaking with excitement Astrid quickly teleported to the bridge that connected the boat to land. A sharp crack followed as the air was displaced. Another crack followed as she grabbed the bags she had packed. A bag nearly the size of her along with a suitcase that she felt weighed as much as her. The rest of her stuff she needed had been shipped over earlier so she didn't have to carry that much. Like a huge bag and a giant suitcase wasn't "that much." Rolling her eyes Astrid tried to push the bags and suitcase. After managing about a dozen feet she was exhausted and out of breath. "What the hell am I doing, I can fucking teleport..." Cracking again, she appeared twenty feet in front of where she just was. Grinning she looked back at where she just was and then back forward towards the reception room. Shaking her head she pictured the place she wanted to be. Imagining herself, she floated up from where she stood. Underneath her feet the world tilted just for her.

After registering with the front desk worker, Astrid was quickly shown to her room in the Domestic-Wing. She was on the top floor with a room that had a balcony overlooking the island. The room was built for three people, one bunk bed and one bed over a desk with a computer. Already someone had moved into the room, evidence by the clothes scattered across the floor. Yanking on the suitcase, she dumped it at the door, along with her other bag. "Dibs on the bunk above the desk." After getting situated with the room, the rest of the tour commenced. She saw the Garden Plaza, and where she would be taking her classes in the administration-wing. After the visited the Training-Wing. Looking in one of the windows she saw a sort of boxing arena, where a redhaired giant was attacking some kid that had flames coming out of his hands. "Dude. That's so sick."

Leaving the hallway, Astrid and her guide finished the tour and headed back to her room. The guide gave her a map to get around in case she got lost, like that was going to happen, and told her when her classes would start before leaving. Astrid sat in a the room for half a second quickly becoming bored, and teleported out of the room. From the hallway she moved down the stairs towards the lounge, hopefully she would meet some new people there. Stepping into the room on the second floor, she came across one of the strangest sights she had seen so far. A tall seven foot giant woman was talk to a near-four foot child. Standing next to the tall African-American woman would have made Astrid look tiny, but next to the other girl, she was practically dwarfed. Waving at both of them she quickly teleported forward. A loud crack rang out before she introduced herself, "Hey, I'm Astrid, new here."

Selena Wodan Chilver

"Christ," Selena muttered. "You people can't even walk without me around. Get up, c'mon." Selena walked over and extended an arm to help the lizard, helping him upright with a grunt. "And orifice? You already forgotten how people work? This is a mouth, not an orifice." Selena waggled her lips. "These are feet." Selena shook one of her booted feet. "These are fists." The same for her hand. "Pray neither of them get anywhere near your scaly ass."

The banter was, of course, good natured. She and Henry enjoyed a pretty solid friendship, founded on mutual respect-they'd crossed paths a while back in Black Fall, and Henry was one of the few NEST agents who didn't make Selena consider illegal thoughts. Decent guy. Let being a musclebound freak get to his head sometimes. Selena figured her trash talk was probably helpful in the long run-even amongst metas, there was a bit of hesitation around Godzilla, Jr. Somebody being abrupt to him was a refreshing change of pace-or so imagined Miss Chilver. She wasn't the best when it came to emotional stuff. Selena was a problem-solver, a fighter. Not a thinker. If there was a problem, she fixed it. Nuances be damned. The bags were starting to wear on Selena's shoulders a bit-the girl was tough, but the load was heavy and duffel bags weren't exactly optimal hiking gear. Her steel-toed boots fell near-silently on the tile floors as Henry walked her towards her room, wherever that was. Selena had a pretty intuitive knack for directions and learning the lay of the land-wherever she went, she felt a kind of...ease with the surroundings. A sanctum invocation with each footstep. A day or two and she'd have the layout of the Academy down pretty well, an advantage of relying on all her senses equally as opposed to simple sight. The smell and sounds and feel of a place helped cement it into memory much more quickly, and made finding her way back around a lot easier.

"Glad to see you're doing well, though. Looks like you've lost weight, I guess you shed or whatever." Selena shifted one of the bags as she jogged up a flight of stairs. "So gimme the deal on these monstrosity things. I-" She paused and subtly glanced around to make sure there were no meddling kids around. No brats to be found. "I'm guessing at least one of them bit the bullet to merit a NEST agent-well, make that two-being sent out here. From what I remember of those pictures-real professonal, by the way, Skypeing that stuff. Glad to see you're not letting NEST turn you into some dead-eyed loser-these things look tough. Unnatural." She paused as a girl ran out of a nearby wall, going perpendicular across the hall until she phased through the wall opposite. "...but there's a lot of that going around. My gut says lab rats. I mean, shit, if I was going to genetically engineer some shit, I'd do it here. Somebody gets 86'ed and you pass it off on some kid who's too poor to pay for a lawyer. But I'm sure NEST would never do that. Either that or we've got some little asshat who can mess with stuff. Like Eva, but...malignant. I can help with whatever you'd prefer, killing them or bagging them. I brought some toys-" Selena nodded her head towards the bag over her right shoulder, which had the amusing side effect of making her hair flop over to the side before she righted it. "To keep them busy. Don't think it'll be anything we can't handle. Or me solo if you don't have ass-kicking clearance or whatever. I don't get how this works."

They arrived at Selena's room and Selena nodded her thanks as Henry opened the door for her. Selena favored boots to tap shoes and jeans to skirts, but there was no point in getting up in arms over polite gestures. Selena threw her stuff down on the bed and unpacked pretty quickly-her clothes got organized into dressers (while Selena was generally messy, she took her work and gear seriously, and this was a mixture of both) before she moved onto to the fun part.

"You need me to help run security or anything, lemme know. If someone is engineering these things, they're stupid to do it in the middle of summer. I'd have waited until winter, picked off the ones who slip outside. No, wait, that's why they're doing it. Constant daylight, people lose track of the time. Wander outside at 3 in the morning thinking it's evening. More tired they realize. Hmm. Smart. Assuming it is a person doing this. Hell, I'm talking to a giant lizard, I wouldn't bat an eye if these things just turned up out of the blue." Selena pulled her bow out of the bag and checked it for damage-once it had passed her brief but thorough exam, she laid it on the bed along with a Mongolian horde's worth of arrows. The tips were barbed, wicked curves and razor edges. Selena didn't fuck around. "If I can get you one I'm sure you can science it and figure out what it's deal is. I dunno enough about that to be of any help there, but I'll let you know anything I see from observing them. I can go out and track a few later if you need me to." Next out of the bag came a shotgun, a Benelli. Selena ran her hands across the weapon for a moment, inspecting it. The barrel was illegally short, the stock entirely removed. No serial numbers, and a black, military-issue strap for carrying it. "Heh. Your friends at NEST? I requested this stuff, I think they're worried this shit might get traced back to them, eh? Selena Chilver, a PR nightmare. Tsk tsk." She laid the shotgun down, barrel facing the outer wall and placed the box of shells next to it. "Got some specialty orders. Rock salt, ball chain, a few dragon's breath. Don't know if any of it will slow them down but I've yet to run across anything that doesn't squeal like a little bitch with ten ounces of salt under its skin." She continued perusing the bag, pulling out several of her knives-a few unassuming blades that featured prominently in the nightmares of many a rabbit. "We'll figure out what pisses them off, have a little fun." She out a bright orange, plastic device. "Flaregun's in here, good. And the bear spray." She paused, looking over the canister. "Damn. NEST doesn't fuck around. They issue us some, in Denali, but this shit's...actually, I'm confident like half of this is illegal. They may be trying to frame me. God I hope they're trying to frame me. My life's gotten boring lately." Selena rolled up the duffel bags and tossed them at the foot of her bed. "Can you get me in with the school's security team? I'd prefer a vest or something to strap all this to, but I can go without if necessary."

She paused, mentally running through all her belongings, making sure everything was in place. Abruptly she whipped around, a mischievous grin lighting up her bronze features. "So....when we heading out?"

The thought of more of those beasts lurking out in the woods sent a shiver down Beth’s spine. They had just been so… foul and twisted that it was hard to imagine one even existing in the first place, let alone two or more. As Michelle rose to her feet, Beth slid off the end of the couch and stood up as well, listening intently as the taller woman explained her thoughts concerning the staff of the school. Beth didn’t really agree with the idea that the staff were against them or incompetent, though she could see how their desire to keep the students out of the situation would come across as such.

While Beth wasn’t exactly fond of Michelle’s plan to hunt down and exterminate the monsters that had attacked the school, she couldn’t deny that she didn’t want anyone else to get hurt either. And so, she found herself nodding her assent despite her better judgment, though she had come up with another possibility. ”I’m all for helping protect the school, but if there are too many of them or we find their nest or whatever, we should come back for help,” Beth suggested, hoping that Michelle wouldn’t just shoot her down. ”I know at least four people that would be able to help out if we needed them.”

As she waited for Michelle to respond, Beth walked over to the nearby vending machine, which she had noticed was the same model as the one at her high school had been. Double checking to make sure that no one was paying her any attention in particular, Beth sent a brief charge through the machine that caused it to dispense a twenty-four ounce bottle of root beer. Fairly certain that no one had seen her, or would care at least, Beth returned to Michelle with her prize in hand. ”So, where we going to start looking?” she asked before twisting the cap off and taking a drink.

---

@TaliPaendrag

---

Hmph. Finding a nest might be exciting - but dangerous. This time, Michelle would do better against them since she wouldn't have a distraction... Her vision went over to Beth. Oh, yeah. Right. Right. She has someone to defend. In which case, Michelle was going to follow Beth's suggestion - but, not before she gets a rematch with one of them! She wondered how well she'd fare against one while fully transformed. Though, she told herself not to get too excited. Excitement means she's more likely to get off and do something stupid. Michelle crossed her arms and looked at Beth. The little girl stated that she knew a few people who could help - which is great. Michelle didn't know too many people here (That she liked, everyone she knew would have been whiny or useless), so perhaps tapping into someone else's network of friends would work better.

Before Michelle even had a chance to respond, Beth walked off suddenly. She shrugged, as she watched the little girl walk up to a vending machine - she didn't know what Beth did, but she made the machine give her something to drink, some dark brown liquid. Michelle saw the label that said "rootbeer". Huh? Someone actually likes that stuff? What a surprise. Beth walked back over, and asked her where are they gonna start. Pretty simple actually. They needed a team. She didn't know about Beth, but she knew that she was strong. However, there was only so much they could do.

"First..." Michele started, putting her hand on her chin. She took a few steps off to the side until Beth was right behind her. She rubbed her chin a little bit. "... First, we find some people to help us. Dunno who will, but I'm certain we can get somebody by saying "you get to punch monsters in the face"." It made Michelle smirk, but she turned halfway back towards Beth, and pointed a finger at them. "Then, with my powers, finding them shouldn't be too hard. They're obviously in the woods - probably in a cave or another location they can use to rest." Then she turned all the back way towards Beth. Well, they might as well get this out of the way. Better now, than in the middle of a fight.

"By the way... What's your power?"

---

The beach lodge was never a frequent spot for Harmon. It was just the tiniest bit too lively for him. But something about today just… made him change his mind. After a bit of a stroll, he was situated before the building. Funnily enough, he was dressed for a beach scene – save his coat, though. There didn’t seem to be too many folks populating the exterior, in any case, which brought up Harmon’s hopes that the interior wouldn’t be too loud, and he could get his work done. Not much left, but still.

He entered through the doors and looked around. Not as few people as he’d hoped, but it seemed relaxed anyhow. Around the first floor there were some folks sitting and chatting, others taking up the consoles by the televisions, all having a generally good time. Some of them glanced at Harmon as he entered, but they didn’t make any fuss at his appearance. So, that was good.

He walked forward, towards the stairs. Only to be stopped by an extended hand.

“Hold up.”

Harmon paused and aimed the small camera clipped to his coat’s collar upward to behold the man blocking his way. Pale skin, dark blue eyes, not a strand of hair on his head. He was dressed in a staff uniform. The identification card tucked into his lapel displayed his name in small, black letters – Lawrence Barnes. He looked directly at Harmon’s camera like he knew right away where the student’s vision lied.

“You Ruben’s lab boy?” Lawrence asked, in a rather hushed, stern manner. Harmon simply nodded in reply, admittedly a little frightened. The man sort of looked like… well, him. Lawrence leaned forward a little bit and spoke, directed at the camera still, “_{The dogs have jumped the fence.}” And with that, he gave Harmon no further attention and walked past him, exiting the lodge. Harmon turned and watched him leave, still quite lost. A moment of stillness passed, and he turned back towards the stairs, ascending to the second floor.

The dogs have jumped the fence...

---

---

As Diego rolled out to Titus' way, Titus skidded to a halt. Unfortunately for the big guy, skidding doesn't happen instantly for a 480-pound giant. He slid nearly to the end of the platform, only finally stopping when he drove his fist into the ground. He ducked as the burst of flame soared over his right shoulder. Then he got up and charged again. This time, just as he got to Diego, Titus crouched down and, redirecting his momentum, swung his right leg out roundhouse kick-style.

'Dodge this.' Titus thought.

---

---

So the park was boring. After laying in the grass for about fifteen minutes, Spencer got up and began to walk back towards the library to finish his homework. On a whim, however, he turned and decided to walk towards the science building. The night's genetics homework was incredibly confusing, and the doc had office hours tonight. He walked across campus to the science building and began to walk down the hall. Three doors down from the main hallway, Spencer opened the door and walked into Doctor Wright's lab.

Dr.Wright's lab was unlike any other. It was a long room, about thirty-five feet long and twenty feet wide. Black-topped lab tables were organized in rows around the room, and the front wall was covered in cabinets containing scientific instruments from microscopes to hot plates to bunsen burners. A large centrifuge sat in the far right corner on the front wall. The back wall, from the perspective of walking in, was covered in windows, and Brassica rapa plants were growing there (apparently they were part of a biology lab in one of the classes). The wall to the left contained a chalkboard and Dr.Wright's desk, which was always covered in a variety of things. The wall to the right was by far the most interesting. Dr.Wright had converted this wall into a massive saltwater aquarium, complete with a real coral reef, real sea anemones, and a variety of exotic ocean creatures; cuttlefish, wrasses, black lionfish, fiddler stingray, even an anglerfish swam through the waters of the tank. This wall contained Dr.Wright's massive, rather impressive computer. Near this computer were two people; well...one person and a lizard...thing which was lying on the floor.

"Um..." Spencer began "Is Doctor Wright here?"

---

"No, that's not what I meant." Creed said, obviously more worked up than Adam. "You're putting words in my mouth here. I'm not saying that we're destined to become the dominant species. I just know for fact that it's bound to happen. Survival of the fittest." Creed went on, pointing at the computer screen. It was a live feed of a court case. A metahuman, named Taylor Domin, in Tulsa was being accused of using his powers to create counterfeit bills. "I mean, look at this guy. He knows he has a gift, he's living off food stamps, so he uses his gift. Survival of the fittest." Creed repeated.

Ah, the age old debate. Adam just never tires of it. He was still leaning up against his desk, reading the book. With Creed being the next person in his office. Every now and then, a Meta-Supremacist comes around the school, and shares his views. "Settle down, Creed," Adam started off. "Domination is not the way. Equality, and understanding, is. Even if you believe in survival of the fittest, this is simply more proof that these Metahumans need helping. This man would have never resorted to this if NEST offered more than regulations..."

"Yeah, but," Creed paused for a second. This wasn't the first time he and Adam debated about their political views. Creed wasn't sure if Adam put up with his debates out of interest, or a sense of duty as a teacher. Or maybe just boredom. "He wouldn't have to resort to that if those backwoods hicks wouldn't deny him jobs." He stood from his seat, throwing his hands up. "So this guy grows up backwards-ass Oklahoma, living off food stamps and getting discriminated against at every turn, and then he starts supporting his family with his power." He paced around the room, continuing his wild gesticulations. "Now look, he's getting hit with 30 years. And I'll bet the same guys arresting him were the same ones beating him up as a kid. They build this system up, so that, that," He took a breath, with a bewildered look on his face. "They're always at the top and we're at the bottom, and that's just because they're afraid of us!"

"... Have you considered the fact that they have a reason to be afraid of us?" Adam closed his eyes at the same time he closed his book. "No, it isn'r far. No, it will never change - it's a fear that some people had from the start. But, the best everyone can do is work to change that perception that we're a threat. That we're monsters out to destroy. After we, as a people, accomplish that, then incidents like this will stop cropping up." Adam looked Creed dead in the eye. "... Your... "Metahumans will become the dominants" belief, is not helping.

"Trust me, I know about people thinking you're a monster to destroy." Creed barked. He paused for a second, letting himself cool down. "But they're, not," He struggled to find the right words. "But, but, we..." Adam's words had a strong point, but not strong enough to pierce the armor of resentment Creed had built over the years. "Whatever." Creed said, making his way to the door.

Creed stormed down the hallway, his hands clenched into fists. He wouldn't ever admit it, but Adam had a good point. He would've replied with his usual retort to the other students, but he knew Adam wouldn't listen to a word of it. They want us gone, so why not act first? he thought to himself. Not his words, but words he had heard repeated many times.

He pushed through the double doors that lead to the outside world, and quickly made his way down the path. He had gone this way many times before. Eventually, he made a turn off the path and into the woods that surrounded the academy. His hands still clenched into tight, white-knuckled fists, he brushed through most of the branches with his broad shoulders, grunting angrily at every few snags he would encounter.

Slowly, he heard less and less activity from the school, and more of nature. There was a buzzing cicada in the distance, and a few birds chirping. Although it was far more tranquil a place than the school itself, he hadn't been coming to the woods to meditate. Eventually, after hiking through the trail he had made for himself over time, he arrived at his destination. The ruins.

It was a circle of large buildings that had faced years of weather. Some were crumbling, and some only looked incomplete. Many had long clawmarks trailing down the side, which where fresh with silver streaks of untouched concrete that had been below the surface of the rust and grit. Creed had delivered those blows. He had come here many times before to blow off steam, and today was no exception. Nobody but perhaps a few wild animals were ever hurt during these rampages, allowing Creed a relatively safe way to vent his anger.

Quickly, he began to undress, throwing off his boots and socks. He only had a few more moments of holding his transformation off. He unclipped his suspenders, throwing them to the ground alongside his shirt. His jeans, as always, would stay on. They were usually torn to shreds from his legs growing, but allowed him a level of decency when he would inevitably come to. After all, his waist was unaffected by the transformation, so he'd just end up looking like he wore shorts that were very torn, and very short.
He exhaled, satisfied that he had arrived and undressed before transforming. He let his fists unclench, allowing the urge that he had been fighting to overcome him.

The first part of transforming was his skeleton -- He always hated that. He felt them stretch, audibly creaking as they pulled themselves into an unnaturally long caricature of what they were meant to be. He felt everything, from his marrow pushing itself into the tiniest crevices of his arms, to his toenails slicing his delicate pink skin as they pushed out of his feet. His muscles were next. His heart raced, pumping blood through his body with an alarming quickness, as his muscles engorged and grew. Huge blocks of muscles shifted together in his shoulders, his arms, and then his torso. He dropped to one knee as the process reached his legs, which hurt the most of the transformation -- Almost like the growing pains he remembered from childhood. His nails and teeth slowly fit into place, creaking as the pushed themselves out of his body.

The transformation was complete. He was still hunched over, realigning his footing. He stood up, and sniffed the air. His swollen facial muscles and tightened skin covered up his eyes and plugged his ears, but his newfound sense of smell made up for it. He could sense everything around him nearly as good as he could without his sight, and sensed some things even better. A fox had marked the tree behind him. One of the rabbits to his east was in heat. The wind even carried the smell of a cigarette.

None of that mattered, though, He came to let out his anger, not to smell out his surroundings. He leapt onto the side of one of the shorter buildings, and pulled himself up with ease. He dropped to all fours and bounded down the rooftop before leaping onto the side of a much taller, less ruined building. He climbed quickly, sinking his claws into the concrete, pulling himself up like a bear would climb a tree. He reached the peak, and looked into the distance. Nothing but the ruins and the trees. Just how he liked it.

He let out a roar.

---

@SepticGentleman

---

The conversation between Fiona and Kayla was going swimmingly! Fiona was ecstatic to make a friend! Still, they choose to take their conversation inside the Beach Lodge - the cool beach breeze was making Fiona a bit... uncomfortable. She walked up the stairs, while another man was walking down - obviously a staff member. He looked at Fiona all funny. Which made her a little uncomfortable. She tried not to stare back at him, just kept her eyes forward. People stared at her all the time. Just something she gotten used to. Not everyone was used to seeing a anthropomorphic Cricket, after all. Though, something about him just... irked her. Didn't know. She just kept walking with that smile on her face. Once she reached the door, she pushed the door open, and held it open for Kayla. Who happily skipped inside, before Fiona walked inside herself. Her senses told her that there isn't too many people at the Lodge. Perfect. Fiona liked small groups either way.

Though, she smelled a familiar scent. The kind of scent she hasn't smelled in ages. Who could it be? "Hey, Kayla, can you wait here for a moment?" She told Kayla. Her antennae picked up a scent, it was coming from upstairs. Her hearing picked up a slightly frantic heart-rate. She had little idea who could be up there - only people she knew were people from the Ivory Deer Community, and she doubted that anyone else there would be brave enough to venture out here. Well, only one to find out. Fiona looked up at the second floor - only blocked by a wooden railing. She bent her legs, and shot up off the ground up onto the railing. Landing with a loud bang as her exoskeleton collided with the railing. Without a noticeable mark at all. She must be getting good at this. She remained in a squatting position, as her eyes scanned the area in front of her. Requiring little head movements. Until her eyes zoomed in on one target....

It was Harmon! Tall as she was, white-skin, no eyes, and metal popping out of his head. It had to be him! People at the IDC were quite... distinct. "Harmon!" Fiona said, in her insectoid voice. She hopped off the railing and hopped over to him, ready to give him a great big old hug - she stopped herself once she entered his personal space. She clicked her mandibles, and took two steps back. Hoping that the situation wouldn't get too awkward. "It's so nice to see you here! What have you been up to?!" She asked him, arcing her lips upwards into a simple.

---

@Maxx

---

Christ. Diego missed, but worst of all, Titus wasn't even phased by the sheer heat the burst should have given off. Which further convinced Diego of Titus's toughness (Getting a chunk his leg bitten off was proof of that). He was so caught off guard, that he couldn't brace for his next attack in time. Titus's raw kick impacted Diego in the side, and forced out some spit and air as he was sent flying backwards until he slid against the ground into a stop. He groaned as he lifted his body up a little bit, putting his forearm down on the cold floor. Nothing was broken, per-se. But he knew there was going to be some bruising. Okay, he got it now. Titus was foolhardy as the Bellasquez duo thought he was. He was... like the beast. He rushed in without tactics and throws his strength around until he wins. And Diego needed to stop letting it work. Diego wasn't planning on using his special tricks until he got into a real fight (... And we both know that will happen soon.), but he needed to turn the tides on Titus, and make him think at least. This was actually for the benefit for the both of them.

Diego flattened his body on the ground, and placed both of his palms onto the floor. He shot a focused stream of flames out of his hands, strong enough to lift him up to his feet. He immediately dropped into a stance - sideways, head turned towards Titus, with his feet pointing straight (In comparison to his body). Time to try something else. All he has to do is play keep away. He waited for Titus to get close - then he suddenly outstretched both hands and shot fire out of both hands. The very fire that spun and shaped itself into a violent tornado. One that covered... quite a bit of ground. All without touching Diego's clothes. It rendered Diego very difficult to see - and that was the point. He nodded his head, and sent the tornado flying at Titus in a sudden movement.

Leaping through the flames, Diego's fist was cocked, and ready to deliver one hellova blow - a solid swing towards Titus's face. The tornado itself had stopped spinning and regressed to a simple shapeless mass of flames - that was heading towards Diego.

---

@TaliPaendrag@Wintergrey

---

A sharp cracking sound filled Michelle's ears, and she immediately came to attention and turned on it. Which prepared her for the chick appearing out of high-hell no where right before them. It was certainly a surprise for Michelle. She furrowed her eyebrows. "... Great of you to introduce yourself." She said, looking down at the chick. Both hands on her hips. This girl was pretty small (Well, a lot of people were compared to her), had red hair, and was overall uninteresting. Michelle shrugged. Should... let up on her a bit. If I'm going to get any help, I'm gonna need to act like it. She thought to herself. Well, what's the worse that could go wrong. Everything. She mused, before looking off to the side. "I'm Michelle, and this is my lil' friend, Beth. We're about to uh..." She looked around for a moment. Wondering if she should tell what happened or not. "... Go on a little trip!" She just said next.

---

---

"It..." One of the Surgeons said, "We don't know what happened, his heart just stopped."

Inside the room the child that they had performed surgery on had suddenly died. They don't know what happened - everything was going well, then he died. The surgeons had placed a white cloth over his body, which was resting in peace on a cadaver carrier. Agatha Crest standing over the body, hands on the side of the table. Just staring down. "... It was the electricity... yeah." She simply said. "It stopped his heart." She arced her head towards the surgeon behind her.

"We should... get his body in the morgue, and contact his family - tell them about their loss." The surgeon took a step until he was alongside Agatha. "Andrew... Prace? I'll get his parents on phone now."

"...That won't be necessary." Agatha said, raising her head.

A group of footsteps filled the hallway, signalling a group of people making their approach to the ER. The group shoved the doors to the room open, and it revealed the Head Mistress, and two burly men walking at her side in suits (Her bodyguards perhaps?). The tall one opened the door and Miranda stepped through the door. She looked around the room, and turned towards the surgeon standing behind Agatha. She walked up to him, and got quite grabby. She grabbed his lower face tightly (Putting her hand under his chin, her fingers across his jaw). She asked him, hissing every word, "What happened here?"

The surgeon looked around, desperately. Feeling as if Darth Vader had him in the Force choke. "H-he hurt himself, his heart stopped mid-operation."

Miranda tightened her grip, and pushed him against the wall. "No," She started off, "Tell me what happened here?"

"I-I- I just told you, his heart stopped!" He frantically said.

At this point, everyone in the room was staring at her. Except for the two people that came with the Headmistress - they stood on both sides of the door. Arms crossed, and looking on point. The Headmistress smirked, "I don't think you understand my question..." She looked him dead in the eye. "... What. Happened... Here...?" That's when, strange things happened. The Headmistress released her grip and took a step back. Massaging her temples, as if a great strain was just exerted on her body.

The surgeon held his head, and looked around. "... I don't know." The same could be said about the rest of the room, save for a few key people. They just... forgot about the surgery and the kid they were trying to save. Groans of "What happened here?" and "Why am I here?"

"Oh?" Agatha stood straight up, and looked around the room. Before her gaze rested on the dead body obscured by a white cloth. "I think I'll just... get this out of everyone's way." She said with a cheery smile, putting her hands on the cadaver carrier and hauled him out of the room. With a smile. They looked at the carrier she hauled, but didn't raise a fuss. They just said hello to her and continued. No one dare questioned Agatha, nor did they ever attempting to check what may be under the cloth. Anyone who did suddenly came down with a case of amnesia. So, she simply hauled the body to the nearest elevator, and went to the basement floor of the hospital.

There was not a single light down here - but that didn't deter her. She pushed her load into the shadows....

Afterwards, everyone left the ER and went back to their business as if nothing happened. Simply forgetting why they were there in the first place. However, the forgetfulness hit the school like a plague. More and more people forgot about the boy. In less than an hour, the island would forget the name Andrew Prace. Not a single trace would remain on any computer, or in anyone's mind.

In a few days; the world.

---

Harmon turned his head away from his schoolwork, looking up at this newcomer, this... bug-woman. She greeted him by name as if the two of them were already firm friends. But he had no earthly idea who she was. He scanned over her with his camera, still clipped to his coat, and slowly began to reply. "I... I, uh... I-I'm sorry, I... don't... h-have we met? Before?"

Almost immediately, Fiona's antennae drooped, and she looked off to the side - putting a hand on her upper arm. "Oh! Uh. You don't remember me...?" Already off to a great start. He doesn't even remember her! She remembered him! And it's been years. Maybe she should try to refresh his memory - yeah, that's it. Just help him remember. "You don't remember? I'm Fiona. You know? From the Ivory Deer Community?"

"Ah... ah..." Harmon replied, cradling his head a bit. "Ivory... Ivory Deer, you were... one of the, uh... Barretts', children?"

Fiona smiled - clicking her mandibles together. Harmon got it! She resisted the urge to jump and clap. "Yes!" She nodded her head.

Harmon nodded. Well, this was a pleasant surprise after all. "I'm sorry, my... memory, is foggy... I, I haven't seen anyone else, from... the Community, here. A-are you new?"

Foggy memory? Oh, that explains it! Good thing that she reminded him. "Mhmm... I got invited here." It likely sounded strange that someone from the IDC got invited here - as one person there put it "They only invite pretty kids". Oh, that must mean I really am pretty, then! She thought to herself. Though, she had to force herself to avoid thinking about the incident leading up to it. "I got here last week.... but man..." She trailed off, standing straight up. "... This place is kinda weird. On my first day the power goes out and I hear this fight. Does stuff like that happen often around here?"

"Y-... yes... but, everyone... seems rather passive about it..." Harmon replied, folding up his schoolwork and placing the papers into his coat pocket. He slowly stood up to face Fiona directly. "I don't understand it much... I don't think most others do either..."

"Well..." Fiona didn't know what to make of it. Maybe the people aren't as passive Harmon thought they were? Who knows. Fiona wondered if she was passive herself. She didn't think too much about it. "... Maybe they're just used to it?" She shrugged. She hadn't seen the monster herself, so who knew.

"Maybe..." Harmon replied, lowering his head a bit. "I... I know I'm not, though..."

A short moment of silence passed between the two before Harmon continued, "So... how is the Community?"

---

---

"HAHAHAHA!" As Diego went flying, Titus skidded to a halt and admired his work. This guy was nothing! He looked so tough, but he was so weak! Titus brushed himself off and ran back in for another round. Then Diego shot up and...flame tornado. While Titus did admit that a flame tornado was impressive, it wasn't exactly dangerous either. The flames spun for a few moments and then decided to come take Titus' lunch money. It tore at impressive speed towards him, and then Diego leapt through the flames with his fist cocked, ready to dish out the most powerful punch of...

The fist bounced off of Titus' face weakly, not eliciting so much as a grunt from the giant of a man. Titus responded by throwing a punch of his own. In the moment that the punch failed, Titus dug his feet into the ground and drove his right arm up through the flames for the mother of all uppercuts. At this close a range, it was sure to be a one-shot end to the fight. Such a shame. Titus thought I could've gone a few more rounds.

Before Michelle could respond, there was a loud crack rang out next to them, causing Beth to jump about a foot of the ground as she turned to see what the source was, a look of surprise on her face as she realized that it was another girl. The newcomer was quite a bit taller than Beth, which was expected, with red hair much like Beth’s own. She introduced herself as Astrid and said that she was a new student, which probably meant that she had just arrived on the island, as they were all new relatively speaking.

Not having to worry about introducing herself, as Michelle did that for her, Beth turned to the large woman to answer the question she had posed before they were joined by Astrid. ”I can control electricity,” Beth said, generating small arcs of electricity between her fingers for a moment in case clarification was necessary.

”We could see if the group of people I know would want to join us, but I’m not positive that they will,” Beth continued, though she was careful to avoid being too open about what they were doing, having caught on to Michelle’s avoidance of the subject itself. ”I don’t know them that well, considering we just met last week and all.”

---

Kanajiro walked down the hallway after having just left his room, rolling his own cigarette and sticking it behind his ear for later. The academy had taken it's toll on his nerves, and despite not really having done anything so far, he'd felt quite stressed for no apparent reason. For that reason his face was furrowed into an even more so angry, frustrated look than it normally would be. God, could this day drag on anymore? He turned a corner and was met with a friendly, welcome sight. CAFÉ the sign above the doorway read, and Kanajiro felt like a cup of coffee would do him good at this moment. Besides, he had to ask for directions to the post office to post a card. His parents would probably be worried sick.

As he entered the smell of coffee entered his nose, along with whatever other aroma's roamed - the mixture was indistinguishable for Kanajiro. He eyed up and down the booths looking for a free booth for himself, but sadly saw none. They were all taken, some by individuals and some by groups. One girl in specific caught Kanajiro's eyes. She eyed asian, and more so wore popping colors that drew attention to her, unlike Kanajiro who wore nothing but black and white for the time being. Her skirt and shirt were a sharp contrast against his black pants, white shirt and black blazer. She definetely pulled off the schoolgirl look, that was for sure.

Deciding for himself that he'd rather face an awkward seating near someone he didn't know, and a cup of coffee rather than forcing himself to walk around or wait until a booth freed up, he closed the distance with a somewhat slanted but, strangely proud stride. “Excuse me.” He would assume her to be somewhat in touch with her Asian roots, although in this place there was no way to tell who was from where exactly. His head would bow lightly, though not too much. Just enough to make sure that she wouldn't be offended by the interruption, not too much to assure that she wouldn't get the idea that he thinks himself lesser than her. Ofcourse, the semi aggressive look in his eyes wouldn't fade, and his eyebrows remained furrowed inwards. His lips stayed straight and unmoved, unwilling to uncover the slight unease that Kanajiro felt. “I am new at this.. school. All the other booths are full. I'll sit in this booth?” He asked a question but didn't really wait for a reply, slowly sliding himself into the bench opposite hers. “Thanks.” His face was tilted slightly down towards the table, but his eyes were pointed directly at the girl whose name Kanajiro didn't know.

Slowly he eased into the bench, and laid his right fist into his left hand. Applying pressure he cracked his knuckles, for fun. Doing the same to his other fist, he would then rest his right arm on the backrest of the bench, letting his hand fall just over the edge of it while his left hand would make sure his cigarette was still behind his ear and then readjust it. “You look experienced.” Unaware of the innuendo of this sentence in.. more casual day to day usage of the sentence, he maintained a relatively serious facial expression and continued. “Can you tell me where the post office is? Or, in case this school is actually an actual school, when the first classes will be?” He looked left towards the café bar after he spoke, and mumbled something about 'or when someone will take our damn orders.' although that much would be harder to hear.

Looking back at the girl, Kanajiro took the time to assess her a bit better than his initial glance. She seemed nice, meaning she looked like a typical nice girl. Knowing a few girls from Osaka, however, Kanajiro had already learned that most girls are not actually nice. Not at all. He had to admit, he liked the flower that she kept braided in her hair. He looked at the flower longer than he probably could've gotten away with, but then again Kanajiro wasn't the type to care much about what her impression was - after all, this was his first day and he was still under the impression that he wouldn't meet most people he'd meet here ever again. She could think whatever she wanted and it wouldn't harm him.

Speaking of harm, he wondered what her power was. Something to do with her body? Unlikely... he had seen some people that had body-based powers, and most of them seemed to be insanely muscled. Maybe it was something else, and Kanajiro didn't care to spend more brainpower thinking about the infinite possibilities for her powers. He had barely a clue what his own was, except that it looked cool and that he could punch people in the face pretty hard with a crystal encased fist. But he had already walked past the arena once, and it made him realize that maybe there were people out there that were stronger. Not that he'd never take them on if they tried him, though..

Rationalizing in his head the entire situation, and realizing that it must be quite strange for her too, that is if she hadn't left already, he then decided he probably had to say something. “I like the flower. It goes well with your, um, clothes.” Smooth, Kanajiro. He mentally slapped himself in the back of the head, what a dumb thing to say. But all he did physically was drag his right hand through his hair towards the back in an attempt to get the strands of black hair out of his face and eyes. How did girls with really, really long hair put up with that he wondered. Looking away nonchalantly again, he silently wondered what was keeping the waitress so long. Any longer and he might just decide to start taking orders from people himself just to hurry up the process. Once again he mumbled to himself.. “Fucking baka's..”

---

"Oh hush, you."

Reagan had been fine after the first night. Generally sore for the first few days but, okay. Now, here she was in jeans and a t-shirt as if nothing had happened to begin with. Maurice had refused to do any digging on what had occurred that night, rather he wished to not hear an answer to something he didn't want to know. Reagan had yet to question him of it. Whether she even remembered the night or wanted to forget the event entirely even he didn't want to know.

"I'm sorry, am I not allowed to complain about the fact that I'm carrying BOTH of our fishing gear and tacklebox?"

Reagan simply hummed in response and walked away briskly, as if to taunt him in some way. He groaned and pressed on with the ungainly and overly complicated fishing gear. He had never quite understood why she liked fishing so much. It was so... meticulous compared to hunting to him. Sure you had to clean the gun and perform maintenance and follow safety protocol, coupled with being stealthy as to not spook they prey, but even so it was fun. Fishing was... boring to him. Something about the lack of activity always got to him because he was the type of person who always had to be moving. When they reached the spot on the dock Reagan had taken the gear from his hands and had set herself up so quickly that his head spun. He had never been a fan of lures so, rather than attempt a frequently failed activity, he decided to circumvent it altogether.

"I'm gonna go into the lodge and buy some bait.", he said, taping Reagan on the shoulder to make sure she was listening. She, very briefly turned and nodded to him, but her full attention was on the water by this point. Maurice sighed and felt for his wallet in his pocket, and seeing as it was there, took a stroll down to the building not too far from the beach's dock to get his essentials, and maybe pick up a trinket for Reagan while he was there.

---

@Maxx

---

As Titus' uppercut swung towards Diego, time slowed down. He didn't know what was happened. Where his plan went wrong. Did punching him really seem like all that good of an idea.

... Soooooooooooooo sad... Agni whispered into Diego's head. It sounded like five Agnis were talking at different rates, saying the same thing. Brought down to nothing in front of such a fool... Even though I loaned you my power without even objecting. Agni paused for a few moments. A fire appeared in Diego's eyes. Such a waste... such an embarrassment... But I have good news for you....

A whirling mass of flames appeared in between Titus and Diego, and quickly took shape into Agni. His demonic figure standing taller than even Titus. Muscular, and utterly flaming. Agni's body was coated in a wreath of flames, that only made him look like a silhouette underneath them. Only for a moment did the flames disperse and reveal his body - comprised of hardened lava and obsidian. It took him only a few seconds to materialize, Agni had one goal in mind. He swiped away Titus' fist with one hand, and slammed a flaming fist, aiming right for his center of mass, with the other.

It took Diego a few seconds to realize what was going on. His word came up to speed. He hit the ground, but immediately raised his head. He saw the light that Agni's firey form was giving off, and... Oh no... oh no, oh no, oh no. The thoughts rushed through his head as he realized what was going on. He quickly climbed to his feet. He can't let Agni free to do his thing. Especially with Cass and Lupe watching. He shook his head, and grabbed onto the creases of Agni's being, pulling him away (And attempting to absorb the heat that comprised him). Shouting, "Agni! No! Stop!" But did he listen? No.

He never listens...

---

@He Who Walks Behind

---

"... Uh, yeah, he's adopted." Lupe spoke to Cass, with an awkward smirk on her face. God damn it, Diego! You're making me look bad. She thought to herself. Crossing her arms, pouting comically. She thought that the kick was the worse of it, but now Titus shrugs off a punch like that?! Damn, either Titus is really tough, or Diego is a really big bitch (Heard prison turns ya' into one if you're not tough enough. Ha!). All Diego had to do was win! Win! Does he want Cass's booty or not? Lupe momentarily peered at Cassidy. Well, he better start fucking act-

... That flaming thing appeared again, and it made Lupe's eye widen. It's flaming visage... it reminded her of diablo himself. Lupe herself didn't have a clue what it was - but Diego did. If it appeared to defend him twice. Lupe rose to her feet, using a hand to provide support. She didn't take her eyes off it for a moment - even as Diego tried to pull him away. Shouting it's name....

... Agni.

---

@TaliPaendrag@Wintergrey

---

"Ah...." Michelle said, putting a hand on her chin as she watched Beth's demonstration. Arcs of electricity traveled through the little bit's fingers. She didn't know too much about electricity (Physics and all that jazz largely went over her head), but she did know that electricity was certainly something she didn't want to mess with. She was unsure if she could take Beth on in a up-front fight (Which is why I'll take her by surprise. She's small... weak.). She crossed her arms. I just hope it never comes to fighting amongst ourselves. We got enough problems with the monsters. She thought to herself. Long as they keep the monsters their sole enemy, then they should be fine. Well, looks like it was her turn to explain her power. Michelle turned her upper body turns Beth, and slid up the (short) sleeve to her shirt. Showing her upper-arm to the little girl. "I, on the other hand, can turn into Dinosaurs. Any Dinosaur. Love to demonstrate, love, but it'd be... a little painful." Most she wanted to do was turn her upper arm scaly, and rough. Like an alligator. "Though, should tell ya' that my power makes me big and strong outside of transformations."

After that little demonstration, Michelle slid her sleeve down, and turned away from Beth - unintentionally turning towards Astrid. Aw shit, you're still here? She thought to herself - actually, she thought that Astrid would have pissed off by now. She didn't feel all that comfortable telling her power to a complete stranger (Who probably can only teleport). She narrowed her eyes at Astrid for a second, before just reverting to a neutral face and shrugging. Oh well, Michelle didn't feel the need to hang around here anymore. "Let's go, I know a quick way to get out of here, and right into the woods." Michelle explained to Beth, before she stepped around Astrid and started walking out the door. She heard her little group following behind her, as she went for the Garden yet again. It was easy just walking downwards until they reached the front desk. Michelle pushed open the front doors - and was hit with Alaska's summer breeze. She held it open for her lovely guests, before she stepped through them herself.

There weren't too many people out, Michelle's eyes scanned the docks, and she saw a few people (Two of which she vaguely recognized, but didn't care enough to look closer). She walked onto the docks, then walked alongside the docks, approaching the lodge. Yeah, that building. Michelle doesn't know the point of it, but it looked like a big ol' beach house. Might be someone's house. Who knows. It was just something Michelle was going to walk by....

"... to go back, and - oh! Wanna come to the ruins with me? It'll be fun?"

Her keen ears picked up just as she walked by. It was a familiar voice: Fiona. The cricket-gal she met last week (Before the monster nonsense). She wanted to go into the ruins...? Is this chick crazy. All the things that are out there... Christ. Michelle didn't want to think about it. Which meant there was only one thing for her to do. Michelle turned towards Fiona - and saw the strange tiny grey man with metal in his head. She didn't know if she could talk the Cricket out of it.

So, might as well just provide protection.

---

@SepticGentleman@TaliPaendrag@Wintergrey

---

The two talked for a little while inside the lodge. They discussed the Community. The state of it (How it's covered in various juices). In a way... Fiona and Harmon were similar. Two vagrants that can't meld with the rest of humanity. Though, through it all, they found their home in the Academy. The two walked out of the Lodge, with Fiona finishing her story, "... I was exploring the ruins earlier, before I heard something weird. I wanted to go back, and - oh! Wanna come to the ruins with me? It'll be fun?" Fiona's hearing picked up some people walking by (And their lovely heartbeats, of course). She didn't pay them any mind, she just kept walking. Simply excited to hear what Harmon has to say. She hoped he said yes. She really, really, hoped so.

Though, the rather heavy footsteps onto the stairs really caught her attention. Fiona's eyes turned from Harmon to the large woman before her. She looked very familiar, Fiona totally met her before. Michelle, yeah, that was her name. She stopped halfway up the stairs, with one leg a few steps up, and bent it strongly. Two of Michelle's friends were behind her - but Fiona, over than glancing over them, paid them little attention. It was all about Michelle. "Hey... You're not thinking about heading into the woods all alone, are you?" She said, rather quick to the point.

"Um, yeah." Fiona answered, shrugging. "Why? I go out there all the time."

Michelle stood quiet for a moment. Opening her mouth to say something - but immediately closed it. "... It's... pretty dangerous out there. We should come along... You know, just in case something pops up." She said, quick to the point. She knew she said that she was going to find the monsters - but protecting the students takes priority! She has to. No one else is going to.

"Oh? You wanna come along...?" Fiona hadn't expected it to become a big expedition, but the more the merrier! Well, she was offering protection, but Fiona knew that she just wanted to explore the place! "Sure!"

Michelle nodded her head... she had a few words to say to Beth as to her decision. "Hey Beth," She said. She walked over to the girl, and knelt down until they were (near) face level. It was awkward, but it was the best Michelle could do. "Think we should put our little monster hunt on hold, and stick with them... We dunno what's out there, and I don't want to find out anything happened to them later. So what do you say?" Michelle heard another guy coming up from the docks - he also smelled... vaguely familiar. Like someone she smelled for a moment, and paid little mind to him. Screw him.

Like Michelle, Fiona had heard another person coming up. Her eyes quickly turned towards him and recognized him... Oh, well. Kind of. He looked familiar, but couldn't quite put her finger on it. Maybe if he was cooler, she'd be arsed to remember him. Either way, she was going to be friendly as possible! "Hey!" She started off, waving at him. "Have we met before!? You look familiar!" Well, being quick to the point would never hurt.

---

@Partisan

---

Oh? Whom presented themselves before Mika today? She was just quivering with excitement. Mika took a sip of her tea as she looked at the newcomer. How delightful; the first thing that she noticed was that he was Asian just like her. Maybe he just approached her because they had something in common? This wouldn't be the first time. Though, he had that aura around him like he was some sort of tough. Mika could tell. It wasn't the look of somebody classy, it was merely the look of a Redneck. She isn't an idealist, she knows Rednecks come in every shape and form. Oh well. Looks like she'll humour him. "You may." It's not like saying no was going to stop you anyhow. Just a little. This Yakuza wannabe can't be too bad.

Or else he wouldn't be here.

He asked her some questions, saying that she "looked experienced". Hm. He isn't wrong. "You are correct... Am certainly not new to this Academy...." She trailed off, putting both hands on the sides of her tea-cup. "But, before I begin, perhaps we should get formalities out of the way." She nodded her head, and, with both hands, she sipped the cup of tea. "Mika Baozai." Mika said, in between her sips. She refrained from mentioning her family business. Rather than answering his questions. The quicker she answers his questions, the quicker he goes away! "As for your first questions; there is in fact a Post Office in the Adminstration wing. I don't know where. I usually don't stay here long enough to require anything be sent to me." She simply shrugged. Mika always conserved what she had, and didn't go around wasting it like a Redneck would. "Classes usually begin in the morning, an hour or two after they wake you up." Mika decided against warning him about the shrill horn every morning. Since, he seems to be quite new here.

Though, he chose to compliment her flower afterwards. She looked him straight in the eye - and kept her face cold and neutral. Mika didn't know if he was trying to flirt with her, or simply compliment. Either way... she wasn't going to reject such a compliment on a "what if". "Why thank you. I simply choose the best flowers before I go out about my day." She nodded her head. "If I were to return the compliment, I'd have to compliment your hairstyle." Literally the only thing that Mika would compliment. She would rather tell him all the ways he can improve. Like ditch that stupid outfit. And stop looking like some sort of gangster.

Though, there was a bit more pressing question on mind. Which part of Asia did this boy come from. She could tell from the accent he isn't quite America. Mika was born in America herself, but she was fortunate enough to stick to her roots. Though, she didn't want to be too direct. "I have a question, a personal one, it's entirely up to your volition if you want to answer it or not," Mika started off. "You are clearly new here, and I was wondering where you came from?" This should answer her question. Unless he's dumber than Mika thinks he is.

---

Kanajiro eyed the girl while she talked. Her voice was alright, but her way of speaking was kind of try-hard. The pretty outfit and her way of speaking made it click, however, and Kanajiro realised she must be well off. “First of all, I'm not receiving anything. I am sending a card.” She seemed awfully hostile, something that Kanajiro could appreciate in some ways. Atleast she wasn't a wallflower, because that's what her appearance would make you believe. He grinned slightly at her, but not because he thought anything was funny. “Second, I never asked for your name.” The way he said it would make him sound slightly rude, aggressive almost. Possibly because she had assumed about him that he was receiving something, something he would require? Assumptions like that give people the wrong idea, and people with wrong ideas were annoying to Kanajiro.

He moved his fingers slightly, never feeling at ease when he was just doing nothing with them, almost as if they started itching when idle. They formed motions of waves, then contracted and extended again at a seemingly random pattern. Kanajiro looked at his fingers for a second before looking back at Mika. “I'm Kanajiro Hanamoto.” Something made him change his mind about getting rid of the formalities, and he wasn't even sure what. He'd smile at her 'compliment' on his hair but not pay it any mind, only nodding his head as a 'thank you' to keep up the respect. She seemed more concerned with receiving compliments than giving them, so a compliment from her was next to worthless he imagined. He did, however, give some thought to complimenting her some more, just to see if she was very susceptible to it. Atleast his compliments were genuine, as he didn't find anything about Mika notably repulsive, and her style of dress was pretty. Besides that she had a certain charm, Kanajiro couldn't deny.

Before he could act on his thoughts she surprised him with a question that seemed rather genuine. Given her clothes and way of speech he hadn't taken her for a girl that could actually be interested in anything other than herself or a mirror. “Osaka, Neon City, 'Shithole'. Call it what you want. I came from the labour area. It's in Japan, if you don't know.” He contemplated his next move for a second, before taking his arm off of the backrest and putting it on table, leaning in slightly. “I'm poor.” he said it with a smile, but it was a smile easily recognised as fake. One can hardly be happy about being poor. His smile would dissipate slowly and he would squint his eyes a little, almost as if he was trying to see into her soul. Ofcourse, he had no power that could do that, that much was clear. Slowly he would lean back and rest his arm on the backrest again, his hand going through his hair before hanging from the rest and dangling as it did before. “Why the interest? I'm not important.” This girl suddenly seemed so much more interesting than she made it look from the outside, and Kanajiro couldn't help but smile slightly at her complexity. He had underestimated her, and he didn't even know about her powers yet..

”Wow,” Beth said as Michelle’s arm became covered in scales, a small demonstration of her power, nodding as the larger woman explained that a full transformation into a dinosaur form was too painful to justify using it as a demonstration. Though Beth could understand how a transformation like that would be quite painful, she couldn’t deny that she was looking forward to getting to see something straight out of Jurassic Park when Michelle did transform.

As Michelle made her way out of the lounge, explaining that she knew a quick way of getting into the woods, Beth nodded and began following, trusting that Michelle knew what she was talking about as she lead them towards the docks and lodge. Before the passed by the building, however, Michelle stopped and entered for some reason. After a moment’s hesitation, Beth followed her friend into the building and up the stairs.

When Beth finally caught up to Michelle at the top of the stairs, she turned to see who her friend was talking to, eyes widening and taking a step back at the sight of a humanoid cricket that looked absolutely gigantic from Beth’s height, even if it clearly wasn’t as tall as Michelle was. Almost immediately, Beth realized that what she was looking at was quite likely another student and so she tried to temper her surprise to avoid being offensive.

Not that she had a whole lot of time to dwell on her mistake, however, as Michelle walked over to her and knelt down so that she was more or less at eye level and explained that they were going to with the cricket person instead of hunting down monsters. ”That’s fine with me,” Beth said, fidgeting a little due to the awkwardness that Michelle’s kneeling down brought to the situation. ”Could you stand up now? You’re making me really uncomfortable.”

---

Astrid watched the little demonstration with deep interest. The smaller girl, Beth, had electricity flickering between her fingers. She made a mental reminder not to high five her. Meanwhile the giant's, Michelle's, arm turned scaly like a dinosaur. Her immediate thought was how cool would it be to ride on the back of a T-Rex. Or fly on a pterodactyl. Though from the expression on Michelle's face it would probably never happen. Despite just meeting she didn't seem to like Astrid very much. Oh well, it wasn't going to deter her from asking.

When Michelle mentioned a trip to the woods, Astrid was immediately interested. The campus was cool and all, but there was only so much you could do and she got bored very easily. As Michelle, the obvious leader, stepped around her, Astrid followed walking beside Beth. After reaching the Garden her eyes fixed on the thing in front of her. She didn't even know how to describe it, like some cricket hybrid. Michelle immediately went up to it and began talking, as if it could understand. And then it talked back. The fuck. She thought her power was strange, and now here was a giant talking cricket. Smiling inwardly she thought, welcome to the Academy.

Michelle walked back to them, kneeling down to Beth's level. It must have been quite an effort, judging on how Beth was even shorter than Astrid's self. Then she mentioned monsters. "Monster hunt? That's what the woodland trip is? Excuse me for a moment." Astrid teleported away for a few seconds. When she came back she had a stick in her hand. It was a flimsy stick, with not much weight to it, and almost no use besides making small whooshing sounds as she flicked it. "Mmm hmm. Yep, I'm taking this with me. Even if this 'monster hunt' is on hold." She realized that, while she didn't know much about this monster, the stick probably wouldn't do much because, well, the Academy's norm was a giant cricket person. And it was a stick. This monster was most likely a giant dragon-monkey hybrid with eleven arms and three noses. No, she mostly brought the tiny piece of wood as a joke, hoping to get a laugh out of someone. In reality if some monster were to attack her she would just teleport out of the way. Maybe into a tree. A really tall tree.

---

@TaliPaendrag@Wintergrey

---

"Great, glad to have you on my side." Good... Michelle at least has Beth on her side on this trip, and she didn't need a single extra person. Though, Michelle could understand why Beth was a little uncomfortable. "Oh. Oh, yeah, right. Forgot you liked people looking down on you." She smirked after her little jab at Beth. She too was uncomfortable too at this height! Michelle's gaze went towards Astrid.Then, she fucked teleported again. Coming back to the same position, with a stick. A stick. During this, Michelle choose to stand straight up, and by the time Astrid had "returned", Michelle was tall and mighty as always. Ah crap. Looks like Astrid was hanging over them like a vulture and heard about the monster - and naturally wanted to come along. Michelle put her hands on her hips, then stared at Astrid for a few moments. Shrugging, before simply letting it go. She couldn't get too annoyed, she wanted people to know (and help them). She didn't know how much good Astrid would do against a beast. But hey, best case she'd be great for teleportation.

"Yeah." Michelle simply replied to Astrid's question. "Bet you didn't hear about it.... but some monsters attacked the school a week ago. I wanna get some payback." Michelle put her fist to her other hand... which so happens to be the stump of a hand. Crap, doesn't look so fierce after all. Her vision rested on the stump of a hand for a few moments, before it slowly rested itself onto Astrid. Though, she tried her best to recover. She placed a hand on her hip, then pointed at Astrid's stick. "... Well, at least you could poke one of the monsters eyes out with that."

Though, naturally, she ran out of subjects to talk about. So, she merely leaned up against a tree that the Lodge was facing, then crossed her arms. Looks like the Cricket was recruiting people. Well, the more the merrier. Better than a small amount people going out into the woods. "Ready when ya'll are!"

---

@Partisan

---

This boy was certainly one for sending mixed messages, alright. First, he starts off very rudely by saying he never asked for her name (Ah.... Where ever you came from must have never taught you. anything about formalities, boy). Which was almost enough to make Mika get up and walk off. Then he gives her his name regardless. She narrowed her eyes at him, as she took one light sip of her tea. She wondered if there was hope for him to begin with. Kanajiro Hanamoto. His name is Kanajiro. She stored that in her memory - for later. That settles it, he's definitely straight from Asia. Japan, according to his (Very uncivilised account. "I am well-aware of many Asian countries. So you do not have to clarify too much." True, Mika visited many Asian countries. Including China, the country where her father was from (And sisters roots come from - Mika was technically closer to Japan herself due to her mother and how she brought Mika up). Osaka... Mika never visited there in particular, but she always wondered what it'd be like. In that one city... Maybe it wouldn't be as glamorous as she thought, if it was a shithole like Kanajiro described it as. Of course... Before she could finish her reverie, Kanajiro told her something that explained everything.

He was poor.

His mannerisms, his description of Osaka, and that gruff aura around him, all suddenly started making too much sense. "Ahhhhhh...." Mika exclaimed, giving him a simple nod of her head. This created such a contrast between the two of them almost immediately. The street rat thug (Do not lie, I've seen your type before. The way you look and act.... You've seen violence first hand, before you came here.) and the Rich-Girl princess. Complete opposites if you asked her. They would be more naturally seen fighting each other, rather than having a civil conversation like this. Yet, Mika would rather not turn it into the former. Unless he gave her a reason. Though, she felt a little sorry for him. He was simply born unfortunate. Not that he asked to be a Redneck. That's where her sympathies ended, however. "I'm very sorry to hear that." Mika said, trying not to sound overtly sarcastic - but certainly condescending. He came off as rude - which meant he deserves nothing more. Besides, he must be thinking something cruel about her. He probably guessed her as rich by now.

It all came down to his final question. Why the interest in him? She had a perfectly valid reason, she's the observer. She learns about the people around her, before moving onto the next person. Though, she knew that wouldn't be a valid answer to Kanajiro... She had to feed him something that he'd swallow. "... I am honestly not sure myself," Mika started off, a faint smile etched it's way onto her face. "There's something about you that makes me want to know more...."

Perfect. Psuedo-flirting. He'll swallow that one.