The Megaladeus was still in the water, and keeping his distance and watching was a good idea. This thing didn't have a lot of openings fighting it from the surface even, and being in the water seemed to be even worse. No one so far seemed to do any meaningful damage to it too. Honestly it didn't look good, but now that the Megaladeus had shown itself, he managed to begin tracking its movements. He jumped up onto the pads and began splashing the water with the flat side of his dagger, and moving from pad to pad, trying to get its attention, while keeping mobile and alert, better enabling him to avoid any sneak attack it may somehow mount.

There was no chance of dealing any damage to it now, he felt the key was if everyone was in the water, some of the other students equipment ought to be useful underwater after all, and everyone else would act as pressure and assault the shark, or defend the members who could fight it underwater. For now though, just make sure he kept the Megaladeus occupied, to buy some time for everyone else.

@HereComesTheSnow

"Well it all depends on how you want it to work and how you want to set it up. The first thing would be setting up the basic framework you will need this will range from a durable lens to act as a way to showcase the information than finally a ear peace of sorts to attach to the lens and hold on your ear. From there you will need the hardware/software needed to hold the needed information that will be processed onto the scree as the info you want." Cian said as she crossed her left hand to hold her right elbow as she pointed explaining what was needed as she crossed her legs. "For example my idea I need to get the basic goggles as you can see plus a headset to relay everything. From there I will need the required software and a way to synchronize Byakko to the headset so it can display the information I want." Cian continued as she looked at Luke lecturing him on what was needed. "Still I suppose all that said if you really need help I will be willing to aid you. N-n-not that I want to anything just you look so helpless without it." She said with a slight blush crossing her face.

He nodded silently and attentively, absorbing the font of information--

Then the ahoge found reason to stand at attention.

"O-Oh, er, yeah, thanks!" he sputtered, feeling his own cheeks and ears burn. Tsundere Cian, borne that moment of embarrassment and vulnerability after giving such a thorough explanation on a topic she had such avid passion for...

cute

Cute

CUUUUUUUUUUUTE!

He tried to play it off, in spite of how much he simply wished to scream it aloud.

g u l p

A-hem

He cleared his throat, eyes leaping back to his schematics and away from the light rosy tinge that'd suddenly appeared on his teammate's face. Where had that come from? He'd always sort of assumed her to be less stoic than she could sometimes seem, but where did this sudden, heartstopping overload of cuteness come from?

"I-I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Cian. And yeah, I totally get it. Thanks again."

The words continued to spill out of his mouth before he could stop them.

You need to stay cool, Luke!

"Given that you've basically outlined all the steps for me, I think I'll be able to handle it. People can only help themselves, right?"

A start on the road back, if nothing else. Being blindsided like that had lasting effects, to say the least. As a young man, he simply couldn't help being thrown for a loop, and simply tried to remain a consummate gentleman in spite of it all.

Scooting his seat out, he made for the scrap pile for any materials.

Gratia Mindaro - Armoury

From an aesthetic standpoint, the Frankensteinesque contraption she had sketched out was an utter failure. It was an ugly mass of polymers, metals and threads, a mishmash of several different devices into a single helmet that would, if Gratia's plans bore fruition (and they would, because she refused to do any worse), significantly reduce the burden placed upon a sniper, as what would have originally been several distinct and separate devices would have been combined into one. Originally brainstormed to consist of a laser rangefinder, binoculars, LED torches, she had, during her planning, also thrown in the possibility of thermal imaging and night vision as well if the right materials could be found. It was a chaotic mess of a device, but if she was successful ...

No, she would definitely be successful.

Fiordilatte owes me fucking big-time for this shit.

And so, the Mistralese huntress found herself standing in the middle of the scraproom, impassively surveying the shelves for anything that looked like it would be of use for her future horror of a creation. An old helmet, bearing similarities to those utilised by Vale's conscript armies, was hanging loosely from her hand, clearly soon to be used as the main structure of what she was making for her bastard cheese-eating team member. Everything else, however, was proving somewhat difficult to find.

She crossed her arms.

This would take some work.

Fighting class, huh? The cheery senior flicked back a few strands of his silky hair, now dyed a glossy silver. Taidan had, since the end of Aura Control class, changed up his style quite a bit, now clad in a garb that could barely be considered a school uniform. As a self-proclaimed "master of disguise", it would be totally boring if he were to wear the exact same thing all the time, and so military dress-esque outfit had been replaced, switched out for a tight, hooded and orange blazer, as well as grey jeans with hems that had been tucked into his boots. And it would be this new set of clothes that he would be wearing into the fight he had been assigned.

He didn't (to much disappointment) know his opponent too well, though from his vantage point against the railings of the arena, he could see that Jorie Ngo (located on the other side of the field), was a Faunus girl with a ... oooh, giant claw arm. He'd never seen something like that before. Would really be exciting to check out.

Fire lit beneath his boots, and Taidan ascended over the rails, his wind and fire wheels carrying him onto the battlefield. He wasn't the big fighty-fighty fellow on his team, but he was going to do well! Maybe. Possibly? He was going to have fun at least! Not every day that you fought someone with a giant claw arm. Was she a squid? Or a kid? A kid that was a squid.

He pushed the rambling thoughts out of his mind. What type of character was he today? A punk? Some other type of weirdo? It was always hard keeping in-character with new and original costumes.

But that was the fun of it.

"Hello there!" he said in greeting, leaving the questions of identity while in costume to a later date. "Shuai Taidan, nice to meetcha!"

Jorie was feeling anxious, there weren't too many places to hide within this area, and fights with other people wasn't her specialty. She preferred to stick to the back, allow her teammates to distract the monsters and fire at the most opportune times. Fighting other people, or fighting alone did seem to negate her strategy as the little shrimp would be the only target. She moved her tongue around her dry mouth, Jorie wondered who her opponent was supposed to be, she hoped it was someone that fought far away as well.

The shrimp continued to look around, and at a distance, her eyes seemed to catch somebody at the railings! Jorie tried to determine the far away person, but her eyes couldn't focus too far without her glasses. The girl always tended to dislike her glasses due to the constant struggle to not accidentally break them with her other arm. She tried peering closer at the distant image, and was that... A human? Jorie let out an exasperated sigh, it seemed that her glasses were necessary for this difficult situation.

Making sure her normal arm was the one that was moving, she reached inside of her deep pockets within her large hoodie to pull out a large pair of glasses, the frames colored to a dirty white with the lenses fairly thin. Placing them on her face, she looked up to find the person flying in the air, that was't normal! Jorie quickly flipped over her hood, the piece of clothing enveloping her entire head.

Left in the darkness of her hood, she was feeling pretty nice, her little hiding place always seemed to calm her down, and it was always fluffy and warm! A few seconds passed, and in those few seconds her heartbeat stabilized as well as her breathing. It didn't take long for the other person to greet her, Jorie guessed that the person managed to find her hiding spot, so she had to reveal herself to the open once again.

Lifting up her hood slightly, the first things that popped out were her antennas. The paper thin appendages swinging randomly around the air trying to see if there was anybody close enough for them to feel. She continued to slowly lift up her hood, revealing her eyes to Taidan with a light pout to her face. "Hello," Jorie mumbled, "I'm Jorie Ngo, its nice to meet you as well."

Ah, so she was the shy type of person. That explained the hoodie and general awkward demeanor. Taidan fired off what he considered to be his most dazzling smile, gleaming white teeth almost radiating light and cheer at his opponent. Hopefully it was reassuring? Nice? He didn't know, but he was already sorta feeling bad about fighting this girl. Especially with the antennae. They were adorable-looking! Like a shrimp's! No wait was she actually a squid?

The ponytailed Hunter peered closer, leaning his body over. Yep, squid! Claws, check. Antennae, check. And ... didn't shrimps like the dark? Check?

He was going on tangents again. Needed to fix that.

"Looks like we know each other now," he chirped, posture springing back up as so to ensure that his back was ramrod straight. He crossed his arms together. "Awesome, sooo ... wanna get this shebang started?"

Taidan paused. Wait, he was forgetting something.

What was it?

Ah right, the gas masks!

With a grace that was most definitely brought about by practice, he slipped a gas mask out from his jacket, sliding it over his face. The nature of his weaponry meant that it was best to keep such things on-hand; aura was snazzy, but it was always better to be safe than sorry and rely on more than just the natural healing powers of his soul.

"Take this," said Taidan, voice tinny beneath the mask as he threw another mask towards Jorie. "It'll keep out the carbon monoxide."

The shrimp started to pull upon the excess fabric of her clothing as Taidan seemed to get closer into her personal bubble. Jorie wished that she wasn't alone in this fight, she always seemed to be the worst in these types of sparring matches, but at least it wouldn't hurt too much... Right? Jorie, still petting her clothing, looked over towards Taidan to find that he was smiling with quite a grand smile! Although, that wasn't reassuring at all, in fact, it most likely made her more anxious to get in this fight. Smiling before a fight? Do they like fighting a lot? Am I going to get beat up? The Shrimp lightly groaned, she didn't want to do this, not one bit.

She lowered her head down as soon as her opponent started to lean towards her, most likely inspecting her strange parts around her body. Jorie was fine with people looking at her, but if the person was someone that was going to beat her up, she was less gung-ho about the entire situation at hand. "Uh... I guess... soon." She mumbled once again, Jorie has always had the problem of being awkward when she was born. Her entire family was like this, and even though she knew that being sent to a school full of strangers would just make things bad for her, she thought that meeting new people would cancel that effect... It didn't. The Shrimp began to aggressively pet at her hoodie before her eyes caught some kind of sudden action by Taidan.

Looking up at the floating person, she found that his face had changed as well! She had half the mind to just hide again, but she managed to stop herself after realizing it was simply a mask. However, she didn't exactly know what type of mask that was donned upon his face. It looked slightly spooky, but kind of cool at the same time? She didn't know much about fashion, hence why she wears mainly just clothes that comfort her rather than trying to look better. Suddenly, in the middle of thought, Jorie had been tossed another mask in the same design. Fumbling to grab the mask, she managed to get a tight grip and hugged it to her chest. Tilting her head at the design, she looked at Taidan to discover that it was supposed to protect her from something, carbon monoxide? Sounds very dangerous... Jorie doesn't pay attention in school very much, it's a wonder how she had made it so far.

"... Thanks." The Shrimp said, failing to mumble this time. She donned on the mask, her face slightly uncomfortable due to her glasses pressing against her face. "Do we start now?" She shall regret saying those words.

"Sure. Early worm catches the bird and all."

Or was it the opposite? Taidan wasn't actually a Valian native, so his grasp of the more unfamiliar idioms was a bit lacking. Still, it didn't matter, because the ponytailed Hunter's wind and fire wheels activated once again, sending him rocketing upwards into the air. The rush of ascending was always so exciting. The feeling associated with flying even moreso. It was the adrenaline, maybe. But irregardless, he was in a fight now. An assessed fight. No recreational flying unless his grades kept up!

"Here I come!" he called out, the tinnied voice echoing across the arena.

His spear snapped to attention. Huojian, his mighty, dignified qiang of nearly twenty feet, seemed to glow blood-red and silver in the light of the room. This was his instrument of war. This was his beauteous tool of battle. And it was one with him. They were one. Their blood was burning, a crescendo of noise and heat that had reached its tipping point. The blade of his weapon shifted.

Chongli had arrived.

And the napalm began to fall.

"Huh?" Jorie questioned, right before Taidan blasted off into the sky. She instinctively held her arm against the wind to protect her face, even though it was already covered by a mask. When she lowered her arm realizing that putting it up was useless, she looked up to find her opponent high in the sky rather than standing on the ground. She fidgeted nervously as Taidan kept on rising, she wondered what kind of attack that this guy was going to bring into this arena.

She would figure out soon enough as Taidan yelled out something to her, and she stood to attention, the fight was going to get physical now. Jorie watched as the rather long polearm started to shine in a rather worrying manner. Was it always supposed to look this intimidating? The Shrimp swallowed her spit as the pitch from Taidan's weapon started to get higher and higher. Jorie should have already been on the move, but she was quite frozen in place, and things began to fall from the sky. That shook Jorie out of her shock.

The Faunus looked at the gelatinous falling down beneath her, assuming that the stuff was bad, Jorie instinctively yelled out her move, mainly due to the pressure surrounding her.

"Bubble Shield!" Jorie cried out, covering herself with both of her arms as the napalm was dangerously close, and right as they were about to hit her... They stopped in mid-air. Frozen for barely a second, yet another high pitched sound entered the fray. The globs of napalm almost as quickly as they fell down, went straight back up towards the sender. This was due to the high pressure bubble surrounding her, causing all projectiles to fling off of the shield.

Jorie, still rather nervous, uncovered herself to find that her shield had worked, and it was time to do the second part of the move. Raising her claw towards Taidan, the shield composed of tiny bubbles of pressurized air could only last for a few seconds, and she wasn't going to waste them. Opening her claw, she aimed at the flying opponent.

Click

Is what the sound made when Jorie closed her claw with blinding speed, a shock-wave combined with the force of pressurized air popping to give it that extra power to shoot down almost anything. It was a risky tactic blasting apart her own shield, but one on one fights needed to be ended quickly or Jorie would be overwhelmed. She opened her claw once again, opening took longer than closing, anyone could see that, and she fired yet another invisible shot towards Taidan.

The first lesson that Taidan had learnt back in his toddler days, flying on a magic carpet he'd stolen from ol' Kibro, was that getting out of the way of anything that looked like a projectile, whether it be invisible or not, was a really good idea. So it was with good cheer that he rocketed from spot to spot, his qiang continuously dropping waves and waves of napalm down below, the sizzling liquid burning away with great intensity as they crashed down into the arena. The presence of his opponent's shield ability meant that he'd have to change up his tactics, now seeking to flood the battlefield with as much fire as possible. At temperatures of over a thousand degrees Celsius, the mixture was already burning through the ground, flowing through the grooves and gouges to encircle Jorie in a ring of fire.

Smoke was already beginning to fill the air, the light of raging flames all that was visible through the clouds upon cloud of grey and black. Even from his position so far up in the air, the flying Hunter could feel the heat radiating from the ground. Hopefully Jorie had put on the gas mask properly. He didn't want her to asphyxiate in the CO-rich air down below. Oh yeah, and the fires. Getting burnt by napalm was really painful. He still had burns from the accidents.

Jorie was panicking, none of her attacks seemed to connect with her opponent and this stuff that keeps pouring down from the sky was starting to become even more troublesome than it first appeared. When she finally noticed the material starting to burn into the ground the heat was starting to become unbearable, and as her breathing become ragged from the blistering heat, the gas-mask that she wore seemed to only inhibit her breathing as the vision around her started to blacken. However, the darkness that was covering her eyes was the smoke bellowing from the fires, rather than her vision blurring from the lack of air.

Panicking, Jorie gripped at her mask, the fires raging outside of her decaying shield as her vision started to get even hazier. The idiot, without putting anymore thought into the action, tore off her mask, hoping that her breathing regulations would calm down the frenzy beating through her heart. However, when she took a big gulp of the tainted air, the soot that she greedily sucked in was viciously coughed right back up. Jorie soon realized her almost fatal mistake, and she stopped breathing all together.

A few seconds passed, the shrimp was just delaying the inevitable. Her mind was unable to think properly from the fires, the burning throat, and her burning lungs only added to the confusion raging through her mind. She had no where else to go.

Dropping to her knees, she looked at the ground, her eyes burning at this moment with her lungs unable to keep hold of what little air she had inside of herself. Suddenly, Jorie's mind came up with an idea, either from the large amount of adrenaline rushing through her veins or the oxygen deprived brain, her mind had come up with an idea.

In the sky, Taidan would watch the fire raging down below, a few seconds have passed after Jorie had fallen to her knees within the thick smoke covered area. The sound of fire burning through the field was the only thing to be heard, but as the seconds continued to count down a single snapping noise was heard.

Jorie, her face and clothes covered smoke came bursting out of the sea of the dangerous element. A look of fear and panic still etched on her face, she took a deep inhale of air as oxygen seemed to be rich out of the sea of death, and the Shrimp almost reaching the point of altitude turned towards his direction. And just by the look of her face, Jorie was still afraid, but at this point, all could see it in her eyes that it was her pure determination that made her get this far.

Just as she reached the vertex of her blast, Jorie and Taidan face to face in the sky, she leveled her claw straight towards the man, and fired.

Eh?!

Picture the situation. You're a pretty awesome guy, floating around in the air and setting the entirety of the arena on fire (hopefully the faculty wasn't going to get angry again). You're a bit worried for the safety of your opponent after that massive torrent of napalm you threw down, but the fight seems essentially yours. Nothing super rad is gonna happen. The cat's in your court of the bag.

And then to your shock, the girl's suddenly rocketing up at you like speeding bullet.

That was how Shuai Taidan was feeling.

Taidan could only gape at the sight, his expression of surprise hidden behind the gas mask still affixed to his pretty boy face. She'd ... she'd shot herself up after him? That was ...!

Her claw was aimed directly at the centre of his mass.

The hunter pushed, fiery aura rushing through his entire body to concentrate at his front. Jorie's blast slammed into him in an instant, and there was pain. It felt as if a typhoon was seeking to churn his insides into mincemeat.

He hadn't expected that. Even as he spiraled away from the explosion, frantically attempting to exert control over his wind and fire wheels once more, he had not expected that shy shrimp girl to be so awesome.

He staggered, body rerighting itself as the rockets on his boots regained functionality. Taidan's entire body hurt real bad, but it was worth it. And the soreness was something he'd felt before. But man, that Jorie had- wait, where was she?

His answer came in the form of a falling crustacean, descending at a rapid pace towards the smokey earth. A lot like what he'd just been doing, albeit without any way to survive a fall.

The wind and fire wheels kicked into high gear. And Taidan was already in motion, closing the distance to catch Jorie in his arms.

"Yea- AHHHHHHH!" Jorie screamed out, her mind finally able recognize the trouble that she in after the rather dangerous stunt.

She looked up towards Taidan, he would save her! However, she realized that her previous attack had caused his flight pattern to spiral out of control, leaving Jorie to continue falling towards her doom.

His figure started to appear smaller and smaller, she was falling to her death and it was her own fault. Jorie was too tired to use her semblance at full power again, creating the shield and enough bubbles to blast her into the sky was hard enough, so she grabbed her hood and pulled it around her head, she wanted to feel safe.

The darkness didn't help her, the smoke had made her clothes smell horrible, and the soot still stuck inside of her hood started to fall down onto her face as she felt the wind on her back, continuing to descend. Well, it was a good run. Jorie closed her eyes, the darkness was starting to feel better before she lurched in mid-air.

The shrimp gasped, coughing once again as the soot latched onto the back of her throat. She thought hitting the ground would have been more painful, or maybe this is the afterlife? Jorie wondered if she would be able to see her family again as she started to slowly lift up her hood. Once again, her little antennas poked out first, they were just a little crisp from the fire that had surrounded her, but it would still be able to work. The two started to move around randomly, trying to feel the surroundings before hitting something, it was actually really close to her! Pulling up her hood fully, her eyes being blinded by the light for a moment, she realized it was Taidan... Oh.

Jorie stopped moving her antennas over his face, and started to rub her hands nervously. Her face was covered in soot as she tried to look down with her face flushing from somebody touching her. "Thanks," she hoarsely mumbled, almost forgetting that she was going to die without Taidan's assistance.

"You're welcome," replied Taidan with a sincere smile, though he was doing his best to hold in a few giggles (the antennae had been ticklish!). "I couldn't let you just fall, could I?"

The screen displayed the results of the round, and Ms. Goodwitch, writing quickly on a pad of paper, nodded her approval of the match whether someone was watching or no. However undignified or unprofessional they might have seemed at individual moments, Goodwitch did not fault them for it. By now, every senior had settled into their own style and knew what they were doing, after all.

He carefully and gently adjusted his hold onto Jorie, doing his best to ensure that she was at least somewhat comfortable as they descended down towards the benches. The arena was ... still covered in smoke thanks to his efforts (not that it wasn't awesome or anything) and also on fire, so the only place that they could safely land would be out of the bounds of the field proper. With extreme attention to their safety, he maneuvered them over a set of chairs, gently placing his opponent down upon it.

A second later, he too landed, the rockets of his wind and fire wheels deactivating.

Abel managed to pay a patchy attention at best to both Robert and his teammates, instead focusing on the aquatic monstrosity the class had been tasked to slay. Predictably, RPGD's leader was the first to take the proverbial plunge, dashing onto a pad and then taking time to call out a bet of all things. “How did this man ever beat me?” questioned the guardian in a depressed mutter as the Megaladeus delivered unto Robert a ruthless tailslap. The others, unfortunately, seemed to be following his example in terms of strategy, since the second to attack -Cobalt- lasted only a second before tumbling into the pool from Abel's perspective. At this, the guardian groaned. He, too, was a pretty big guy, and admittedly not all that smart either, but somehow he'd thought of not trying to balance on the little floating pads and placing himself in the perfect position to become chum.

Abel continued watching, waiting for an opening to throw the Ampere in for the kill, while Cobalt tore a gash in the Megaladeus's side. Bone armor aside, sharks were not renowned for their external durability, having only cartilage for skin. Though the wound bled profusely, sifting through the water and hinting at the possibility of visual obstruction, it did not cause the Grimm to go berserk. The moment that Sangue leaped into the fray marked the moment Abel realized that his heart was pounding, and the sight of BASL's swordswoman flubbing her rescue of Cobalt and delaying chowdown a mere second or two longer made him realize that he couldn't afford to simply stand at the sidelines and wait to attack—not while there were people he needed to protect. Lowering the Ampere, he ran past Sepia, who didn't seem to understand the immediate danger of the situation Sangue and Cobalt were in. Having produced and activated a water grenade, he lobbed it at the Megaladeus, bopping it on the nose and screwing up its electromagnetic sensors just long enough for the grenade to sink and explode. The resulting current pushed Cobalt and Sangue to the edge of the pool, and Abel knelt with hands extended and great strength ready to pull them both up. This came not a moment too soon, for the Grimm snapped its jaws closed in the spot occupied by the two teens just a second before. If I hadn't helped them up, I would have been in a perfect position to impale it. “Fighting it one at a time is suicide,” he snapped, not really sure if the Megaladeus -with its dulled teeth- could kill, but phrasing his sentence morbidly anyway for effect. “Sharks are vicious but dumb,” he continued, louder so that others like Robert could hear. “If we can get it to bite something, like a shield or a pad, it'll be open for attack.” His eyes tracked the dark shape, returned underwater now that all had left its domain.



The inside of the machine was still, dark, and quiet, save for the constant electronic hum that reverberated though every molecule of the blond boy's body. He tried to remain still, but could not keep himself from shivering. Beneath the unseen and immutable eye of the scanning device, he felt exposed and bare, just as he had so many times before. Now, however, this process of probing within him felt most scary than ever, for any second, any second now, they could find it.

“What's this?”

Oh no.

Around him, the air began to stir, vibrating in time to his quickened heartbeat. They'd seen it. Somehow, the rays coming from the dark, metal tube around him had pierced through flesh and bone and found it, and carried those images through little wires until they appeared, a catastrophic and revealing mural showing the nurse and the headmaster looking with that calculating, learned intensity over her shoulder, it.

Only one thing would remedy the situation. The boy labored to open his mouth, pulling on the elastic strings that pierced hid lips, and sucked in a stale, metallic breath. The next instant, he let fly the captured air as a single, high-pitched whistle, one the entire medical wing could likely hear. Afterward came a thorough and tranquil calm, stiller than the grave, except for a tiny muttering, synthesized from air: ”And the rest is silence.”

A few moments later he began the lengthy and difficult process of removing himself from the scanning machine. Afterward, though he didn't need to, he walked over behind the device anyway, nursing his new bruises and scrapes with shaking hands. In crumpled heaps there lay the nurse and Ozpin, almost sleeplike if not for the odd positions of their limbs. A wave of guilt flooded over the boy, and the air around him manifested the sounds of sobs. Through them broke a new voice, one not from his semblance: do it, boy. If you don't keep Beacon quiet, I'll tell the Phoenix you've been misbehaving.

Still sniffling, Jay nodded in muted terror. He crouched over the unconscious bodies, pulled open his mouth, and breathed out a singularity of sound to reside beside them. ”Nothing more than malnutrition,” the singularity would repeat, over and over, in a droning, voiceless tone that could pierce the ear and prick the brain. ”Nothing more than malnutrition.” Leaving it behind, the boy sidled over to the display screen for the scanning bed. On it was an x-ray of his torso, and he could see within the picture something he hadn't seen for a long time. Quickly, he looked away, shuffling out of this room and into the next to find a bed and lay down.

Though its influence flowed through every fiber of his being, and projected forth the tempo of his soul to move the silent air, Jay didn't want to be reminded of it.

Emerald Felicia - Armory Class -

Emmy pursed her lips, Oswald had a point about the whole being a leader thing. It didn't seem to be an easy task, and Emerald of glad she hadn't been picked to be the leader, the very idea terrified her. If Cobalt wanted to try being their team leader she could respect that. Least she could do was give him a shot.

Her inner thoughts were silenced as Professor Chatsworth got the students attention and gave them their assignments. Emerald grinned as the Professor explained what they had to do. Make a piece of functional headgear? That was easy! Emerald had suffered in math class, but when it came to hands on stuff like making cool gadgets she had a lot of fun. She had built her weapons herself after all, this would be nothing.

She thought about what she could create, the possibilities were endless really, but she decided what would be the most useful would be a goggles designed to interface with her scroll, so she could use her scroll without even taking it out! It was purrfect!

"Oswald I have an idea! We should make matching goggles for our team! We could have them all interface with each other and hook up with our scrolls! Don't you think that would be freaking awesome of course you do let's do it can't change your mind now!" Her sentences were slowly becoming faster and blurred together and she got pieces of paper out of her backpack and began to sketch a design with intense enthusiasm that could make you question her sanity, especially when she started cackling.

Well... Now that Jack was the only one in the pool, albeit on one of the pads so technically not, the Megaladeus appeared as a dark shadow from one of the pool after emerging from the depths, after recognizing the little ruckus he made by splashing the water. The distraction didn't seem to work too well before with two 'tastier' targets, but fortunately Abel was on the job and rescued them, now Jack can start doing his own job. Although, he had to reconsider... Luring it to the surface wasn't going to work, it moved too fast and unless they can get it to surface, they didn't have a chance, however he realized it had only one real weapon. Its jaws. He made a signal to everyone to prepare to attack, and then was on his way.

The Megaladeus pursued Jack across the water as he leaped from pad to pad, and after a few leaps he stopped when it was obvious it was going for a bite. It leaped forward out of the water, while Jack kicked backwards while on the pad, doing a front flip while carrying the pad with his feet, and managing to have it meet the shark's jaws, lodging the pad into its mouth. Although Jack in his surprise fumbled the front flip mid flip due to the shark's raw strength, the moment the pad and the shark made contact, it destroyed his balance, but landing into the water, he was going to be okay for the moment.

Now that the Megaladeus was going to be temporarily unarmed, it was their chance to strike.

Cobalt Chideta-Grimm Studies

Cobalt felt himself get kicked out of the way of the massive monster and let out a sigh of relief. He thought he was a goner for a second, that Megaladeus was two seconds away from swallowing him whole.

"Thanks man, now what's the rest of the escape plan?"

Cobalt's brain caught up to what she just said and a horrified expression bloomed on his face. This quickly became even more horrified as Sangue asked him for help.

"I thought you were helping me! You're so lucky I have problems with abandoning people!"

Cobalt looked around and noticed the Megaladeus turning towards them and opening it's mouth. It got bopped on the nose by what appeared to be a grenade, but hope was quickly lost as it sank into the water silently. He turned to Sangue and smiled.

"It's been nice knowing you."

The giant shark charged towards them and Cobalt prepared to throw Sangue out of the pool and away from danger, when a miracle happened. The grenade exploded and pushed them both to the very edge of the pool just as the Megaladeus chomped at them.

"Thank you so much!!! Thank you!!!"

Cobalt pulled both Sangue and himself up onto the platform and thrust his arms to the air.

"I live! I will never take the ground for granted again! Thank you... Abel right? Thank you Abel."

Cobalt was going to bow but didn't due to Sangue being on his back. He shrugged and aimed at the Megaladeus. Abel was right, one on one was stupid. He watched it sink back underwater and smiled, there was a clear method of attack now.

That's when Jack did what was either the ballsiest, or the dumbest move ever. The flip could've been slightly more graceful, but it was a solid 8 out of 10. Not bad.

Headgear, huh?

To be honest, Amy was strapped for ideas. She still had a headache, and that was restricting how much she could focus on any one thing... Not mention that she had some old TV show theme stuck in her head.

Duh duh duh DUH INSPECTOR GADGET-

She couldn't get the image of that stupid hat with the propeller out of her head. The idea that anyone could fly with just a hat alone was ridiculous--she was a hawk, she'd tried to fly before, it didn't work--but it was kinda cool, she supposed... Hmmm. Maybe, with wind Dust, some electronics and a modified design... Maybe she could get it to work. It beat any other ideas she had, at any rate. Not that she had any. She reached for a tool on her desk--

Go go gadget SCREWDRIVER!

She needed to stop taking so much pain medication. Was getting to her.

Now, where was that Dust...

Robert Fallson - Grimm Studies

After getting what little pride he had utterly destroyed by the shark-like Grimm, Robert struggled to get himself standing on the pad once again. Try as he might though, it seemed physics wouldn't be having any of that today. Every time the teen struggled to raise himself up, the unevenly distributed weight would cause the pad to flip over and send him back into the water. Robert tried, and tried, and tried, and tried, and tried but he only kept getting the same result. It could have been because he kept doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result like an insane person, but that never really occurred to him.

It was a sudden pain his arm that finally put an end to all of the splashing and thrashing coming from Robert's side of the pool. He turned to look at his now bleeding arm and realized that at some point, while trying to get on the pad, he must have have accidentally cut himself with the blades of his bracers which he had not yet retracted. "Wait. Blood? Sharks? That's not a good combination," he said as he scanned the water for movement. And, sure enough, he saw it. A great big silhouette under the water and moving his way. Robert quickly scrambled toward the edge of the pool. If he could make it out of the pool in time, he could avoid finding out just how much Port dulled this thing's teeth. Too bad for him the Megaladeus was a lot faster swimmer. It really wasn't even a contest.

Robert felt the pad Jack had put in the shark-like Grimm's mouth make impact with his back before being suddenly accelerated around the pool. He looked back, surprised that he wasn't finding out first hand what it would be like to be Quint from that one Spielberg film. Then he realized that really didn't matter if he ended up drowning instead. His movements were extremely restricted thanks to how fast he was being pushed but he was, miraculously, able to get his head above the water. "I got him you guys! I got h-" Robert was suddenly pushed back under the water. Once he was above the water again he shouted, "Don't worry! I won't let go! I'm wearing him dow-" He was cut off yet again as he was dunked... yet again.

Sangue Naga - Grimm Studies

Sangue heard a feminine voice ask if she was alright. Right when she simply said "No," a powerful tide pushed both Sangue and the greatsword wielder away from the shark. Someone had intentionally blasted the Grimm and herself away from each other. Sangue tightly pressed her body against the greatsword wielder, thankful that she did not have her already-rugged robes on.

As the blue-haired man got out of the water, Sangue remained sticking to his back. She admittedly found a distaste with deep water. With her Apophis Claw shortened once more and her blade within her sheath, the Huntress turned to the pool, remaining still plastered on the man she divekicked moments ago.

"It's getting desperate," she said with her serious tone, though it was hard to take her seriously at this point. The red-haired man who was somehow getting slam dunked into the water repeatedly clearly represented not only his admirable courage(?), but also the Grimm's clear desperation surfacing.

@SevenStormStyle @floodtalon @Lugubrious @Guess Who

Cian rubbed her forehead she could feel the headache coming on. Still she had a job to do so might as well get started. First of all she had the basic materials but she still needed the items to make the headgear. So with that in mind she quickly followed Luke to the scrap pile and began digging for materials for her headpiece part of her little project. So far she found the basics of one a bit rough and probably not the greatest at the moment but with some time she was sure that it would serve her need. With that in mind she continued to shift through the scrap looking for any more pieces that she could use.

Kuhaku Shiro - Armory

Shiro frowned when the Professor announced the assignment for the day. Create a functional piece of headgear within a certain time frame? Sure, each student was allotted 10 orders for materials. That wasn't the problem, however. What could Shiro come up with in half an hour that wasn't already conceived? Protective helmets? Done already. Ballistic eyewear? Also done. Communication devices? Uh, done. Masks and rebreathers for environments that posed an immediate CBRN threat? Check, roge. The tech already present and in use by Hunters and the military alike to date was extensive and impressive. Was the Professor looking the students to potentially come up with something new? Or would he not mind if they were all to recreate something that was already in full production by companies and manufacturers being churned out by the second? So many questions, so little time to worry about them. Personally, Shiro would be dissatisfied to make something that someone else with a lot more resources, time, and Lien was already pumping out. He wasn't about to just slap together a hat or something and call it a day, it wasn't in him to do that. Sure, he has his lazy moments. But, today was not about to be one of those days in one of his favorite classes. Besides, he had other plans in mind and wanted to focus on the repair of Kladenets.

He'd concern himself with the class assignment once he at least made a little headway on his blade first. Shaking his head, Shiro got out of his seat and immediately began to search for protective mask and the Degreaser tank. Locating a pair, he affixed the mask to his face and pulled the elastic string behind his head. He already had gloves on, so he wasn't worried about that. Granted, he always had coverings on his arms but...

Setting the spine of Kladenets' blade into the Degreaser grate, he then walked over to the tank and filled it with the scrubbing solution that would remove any contaminants from his precious weapon part. Lowering the grate that contained the metal spine into the tank, Shiro pulled his Scroll out of his pocket and set a timer for 15 minutes. As the seconds began to count down, Shiro folded and crossed his arms as he stood in front of the degreaser tank. Silently conversing with himself, he set forth with organizing his thoughts. At least, attempting to anyways.

"Okay...So, 15 minutes in the Degreaser. Afterwards remove it from the solution and let it air dry..."
Looking up at the ceiling, he cocked an eyebrow as he itched the side of his head.
"Crap, I may have to find some gloves after all. I'm certain my own personal wear gloves aren't sterile to handle Kladenets' spine after a dunk in that solution..."
Shrugging to himself, he recrossed his arms as he stared at the soaking weapon part in the tank.
"Now, about that assignment...What could I come up with that hasn't already been thought of?"
Grabbing his chin in a "Thinker" look, he focused his mental power.
"It can't be something complex, I don't have the patience for that at the moment. I'm sure my fellow classmates are going to come up with all kinds of craziness. I don't feel like messing with any electronics right now either..."
Furrowing his brow, he scratched at his ears.
"It has to be simple, but still functional. Headwear is a pretty broad and vague term. Nearly anything can be considered 'headwear'..."
He tapped his gloved finger on his chin repeatedly.
"Hmm..."
Pulling out his Scroll, he decided to distract himself by browsing the Web.
Mainly, what he looked for was gear that was currently being fielded by the military and Hunters presently.
"Simple, yet isn't really already in wide or common use."

Looking to his left and right, his golden eyes searched for his teammates Gren and Sapphire. What were they coming up with? What was everyone else working on? Gren seemed to already have some sort of breathing apparatus in the making. Sapphire had some sort of gloves in the works. The two of them collaborating, it appeared. Mind wandering, Shiro started to take note the diversity of his classmates. How many of them were human and Faunus? Each person drastically differing from the next.

Ears perking, Shiro started to feel an idea coming on. Inspiration creeping into his mind and body.
"Wait..."
The cogs and gears of his mental machinations began to turn.
"Faunus typically have advantages over Humans such as increased sensory acuity. Like sharper vision, keener sense of hearing, and noses sensitive to smell. Maybe I can make something relating to that? Bridge that gap a little."
Shiro began to tap his foot.
"Hmm..."
An imaginary light bulb popped up above his head, brightly lit. Shiro snapped his fingers.
"I got it!"
Opening up a drawing application on his held Scroll, Shiro began to sketch out a crude blueprint of what he was going to fabricate. As he furiously sketched, he pointed a finger at the Degreaser tank as if to tell it to stay there. Wandering away, he simultaneously searched for a pair of sterile gloves.

"I'll make a collar or choker of some sort! On its rear I'll put a little vial of glass filled with a glow-in-the-dark chemical! That way, in low-light situations, our hooman comrades can still safely locate other teammates without giving away out positions if we're in close proximity! Maybe even have some chemical that reacts to Aura levels to indicate current state of health and basic electronics to wirelessly connect to our Scrolls for hands-free comms! Simple, functional, and I don't think glow stick collars are in current wide use!" Pleased with himself, Shiro grinned underneath his protective medical mask. While most Faunus had enhanced night vision, his human counterparts didn't have that luxury. Something as basic as a glow-in-the-dark collar worn can help prevent blue-on-blue incidents in stressful moments on the field. As personal identifiers hell, it may even be a little stylish. Only problem was it may seem a little racy. After all, something worn on the neck could be seen as some sort of subservience or submissiveness from Faunus-kin to Humans. Ah, well. People could get over themselves.

---

I'm in a room.

I'm in a room with Gratia and Cian.

I'm alone in a room with Gratia and Cian.

I'm alone in this room, with both Gratia, and Cian.

Was fate doing this purposefully? Two girls, both of which he hadn't known for more than a few days in the grand scheme of things, but nonetheless were likely the closest he had to friends yet on sheer time spent interacting alone. Two girls, who had in less than half as many hours, thrown his psyche for a loop in ways it, arguably, shouldn't have been, but nonetheless was. Two girls that had punched straight through his affable, yet considerate nature, and brought out the panicked, awkward young man lurking beneath the surface through sheer force of their own personalities. Through mere conversation.

Sure, there were arguably some extenuating circumstances attached to each incident, such as their very different general demeanors, but the core of it remained the same.

These two both caught me off guard with little more than words.

It was High School all over again. A world where he had sequestered three quarters of his time away from interaction, and tossed himself into the fourth as if jumping straight into the deep end of a pool in winter. Despite being a perfectly reasonable and eloquent person, he didn't know what to expect, nor how to react. He found circles getting talked around him.

In any case.

Was there some poetry behind putting the three of them in the same room? Likely not. But in his own mind, he couldn't help but notice the coincidence. Whether he would act on it or not, that was a different story for a much less craven, and much more tactless man. Somebody who wasn't him, who wasn't Luke Schwarz.

Somebody who didn't make a big deal out of nothing, and nothing out of a big deal.

Taking off his Metaphorical Rose-Colored glasses for a moment, he observed the situation a little more objectively, even as he fished what looked like a decent earpiece from the pile his hands had sifted through on an almost subconscious level.

He shouldn't get ahead of himself. The Mistralese transplant, Gratia Mindaro, had merely scientific interests in his hair, and she was neither the first nor would she be the last to. Being surprised by her forwardness regarding it, however, wasn't quite as special as that particular conversation could have been. Anyone would be put off-guard by being ordered to meet somebody in their room after classes for their hair being subjected to the scientific method. There wasn't much need to romanticize that quite like he had.

As for Cian, that too would be unfair to be pinned upon her, despite that, yes, her words were almost classically tsundere in nature. He'd escalated it in his head by merit of his own reaction: That is to say, he was the one who freaked out over it, not her. She had presented him with her opinion and offered help in a backhanded manner, it was due to his own overreactionary psychology that it seemed as important and mind-blowing as it did. He hadn't done anything wrong, per se, but wasn't his reaction a tad overboard?

Maybe. That was the answer that he'd been coming to a lot lately. A solid maybe, one rooted between the two extremes of "These girls are driving me crazy" and "I'm selfishly using them as excuses for my own nature."

A lot of thinking for just standing in a room with two classmates. Perhaps he could chalk this up to willfully excommunicating himself from the Church of Society for so long, but nonetheless he had to admit that soul-searching like this over simply standing in the same room as two friends was...

Strange. Strange was the word. How very strange of Luke Schwarz to hold such long-winded, sober, and disjointed thoughts, simply because he got excited about a couple of girls.

I'm in a room with Gratia and Cian.

I'm in this room, with Gratia and Cian, two helpful friends of mine.

I'm not in a room where I should worry.

"If either of you find a good blank screen for an eyepiece, could you please let me know? I think that's the last thing I'll need out of here, for now."

Gratia Mindaro - Armory

So it was Luke Schwarz that finally broke the silence that permeated the scraproom first. In this dusty, quiet chamber, the sudden intrusion of noise was impossible to miss, the vibrations of the air immediately received by her ears. Gratia spared not a single glance for the other teenager, for her attentions were focused upon the box of junk that she was currently crouched over. There was absolutely no need to interact with the boy, nor was there need to reply to him when she had yet to fulfil any of his criteria. She rummaged through the box, tossing to the side a pair of overly-large beanbags. Her own work was key here.

The huntress forcefully dragged out what seemed be a pair of working binoculars. Any hopes that could potentially have existed to get her work done early faded. It was simply a set of spare telescope parts taped together. The function was relatively similar, but integrating them into her final piece of work would have taken a greater amount of effort than what she had planned. So the stoic girl dropped them back into the box and returned to her search. There had to be binoculars somewhere.

You better fucking use this shit, Fiordilatte.

Quietly, the Mistralese girl rose to her feet, patting down some dust from her coat. That box was an absolute fucking bust, but this entire room had yet to be explored. Though it did definitely need some spring cleaning so it wasn't some jumbled, disorganised piece of shit. Still, it had provided her with some LEDs and a thermographic camera surprisingly quickly, so it wasn't particularly something she gave much thought to. Right now, all she needed to fucking do was grab herself an image intensifier and some binoculars, but this shitty chamber wasn't helping at all.

Her eyes traveled up a nearby row of items. Nothing was jumping out at her.

Wait.

Approaching the furthest box of items to her with powerful steps, Gratia Mindaro stopped and lifted the box up, the thudding of her feet against the ground stalling as she began to rifle through her newest acquisition. There it was. An image intensifier. Her side goal of adding night vision seemed as if it would be possible.

And ... there was also a blank screen.

She glanced over towards where Luke Schwarz stood. He was rummaging through the trash near the door to the room. She returned her gaze to the blank screen that had found itself into her hand. So she would be interacting with him once again. The Mistralese huntress had not expected to do so before their organised meeting later that day, but it seemed as if the Lord had different plans for her.

He was near the door anyway, so at least she wasn't going to waste any fucking time.

Gratia took the image intensifier and the blank screen, walking back out towards the door. Everything else that she would need was more ... complex in construction, and she preferred to rely on new materials rather than some risky old shit that had been lying in a scrap room for the Lord knew how long. It was still a fuss however, having to use her subsidised orders on goods that she would deliver to Napoli Fiordilatte of all people. She held in the annoyance that always arose when she imagined his face. Her face wavered not a single inch from its constantly bored expression. She could deal with the absurdity of the situation later.

"Luke Schwarz," said the Mistralese girl, tone utterly flat as she stopped next to the aforementioned boy. "Your screen."

Her hand was outstretched, offering the screen atop her palm.

"Hm?"

He turned, eyebrows slightly raised in both surprise and inquiry, and found himself presented with Gratia's eternally impassive visage, an outstretched hand, and one blank eyepiece-sized screen. Perfect.

"Ah, thanks! That's actually just what I needed. Right size and interface and everything." he said gratefully, swiping the screen and quickly appraising it, other materials cradled in his arm against his chest. Helpful friends indeed. Now knowing better than to expect anything out of her in response, such as a smile or anything more than maybe a small nod of acknowledgement, he looked back towards her.

"What are you looking for? There's a lot of stuff I've sifted through here. There might be something you need."

One good turn deserved another, after all.

Gratia Mindaro - Armoury

The teenaged boy wanted to repay her assistance. Had she been in his current situation (not that she would have bothered to ask), Gratia Mindaro would not have suggested such an offer in order to "make up" for the completion of such a simple task (one that had taken absolutely nothing out of her time and energy). It was utterly pointless to bother, a debt that she had already written off the moment the screen had left her hand for Luke's. Yet if he was offering, well, she was not somebody to shy away from free assistance, no matter how redundant it could be.

"Binoculars," she said flatly, crossing her arms beneath her breasts as her onyx eyes gazed into the teenaged boy's.

Most of the other materials she already possessed, but a simple pair of binoculars seemed to be constantly out of reach. It was irritating, irksome and infuriating to be kept from something so basic in construction. Gratia needed them for her helmet. And she had not found a single one.

What was Luke Schwarz' luck like, then?

As always, she seemed to be intent on staring a hole straight through him, arms folded and expectant and pushing her chest up slightly. An imposing sight, yet hour by hour he felt more and more comfortable with it, malleable and adaptive under her piercing gaze. Setting his pieces and bits down onto a free space on the shelf, he turned back to the box he'd been rummaging through previously.

"Binoculars? Okay, then they aren't here either." he noted, shoving the box back into it's shelf and pulling out the one beside it. Opening it up, he leaned back quickly to avoid the now-expected cloud of dust that burst forth from within, and waved it away with an arm where a moment before had been his nose. Peering in once the air had been sufficiently cleared, he began to dig.

Wires upon wires inhabited this box, a tangled mess of cords of every size, color, and purpose you could name.

...Even decorative lights? Really?

Nonetheless, between them and the LEDs scattered about he was almost ready to writ the box off, until he felt something smooth, plastic-y, and round within. Could it be?

He fished the object out into the light.

Caught within a mess of cord was a sturdy old pair of binoculars, as requested.

"There we are." he said, getting to work on untangling the thing. "Anything else?"