And, finally the last member of Team MILE reported her presence at the ruins, or better, at long last her teammates came to the the assigned rendezvous point. One would think that second year students were more orderly, but it seemed that Team MILE always had something that kept it from doing things the way they were supposed to. What could that be?

Anyway, "At last you three have arrived. I was beginning to ponder if I should send some dolls to search you." Emilia said with a dark smile gracing her fine lips as she gleefully observed two assault drones fighting one another under her command, taking joy in seeing the steel dolls falling apart. "So, what was it now?" She asked, cradling the steely skull of one of them in her arms while she contemplated the fact that the ultimate fate of all things is to break.

"Anyway, what's it now, Lucy? If you really want to help the first years, I guess I can help you, but", Emilia gave a step closer to Lucille and touched the green-haired girl's soft face with her right hand, lifting Lucille's chin, so that they could look at each other's eyes, "for someone such as you to ask for that. I wonder if this is a sign that you're finally growing up?"

"Either way", Emilia turned to the Oi siblings next, "You know that Team DIE is behind this uproar, right? What do you two plan to do?"

After a goodnight of sleep Kaida had followed the rest of the group towarss the abandoned city were they would have to search for cards and survive till they reached the end. Kaida was trilled to see the task ahead and was already preparing herself for the fun she would be having.



Kaida was talking quite annoyef at her spirit and was shaking on her legs to even look at the city full of shadows and evil. It was definitly not something that she would erase out of her mind in a whim.



Kaida madly stamped her foot on the ground and definitly had gathered some sights of the students around her. She had gotten used to being seen as weird. It was a common thing when you had a spirit living inside of you.

They were forced to walk into the town, with a few others Kaida had been at the back of everyone the whole time. She had not moven much from the starting till she was the last one. She was on the verge of crying and didn't look so hyped about it either. She forced herself to slowly walk into the town all alone and would pay attention to every sound around her. She carefully turned corner and would hide as quick as when she would see a mouse.

Sooner or later it would happen, Kaida had gotten stuck. She was hanging upside down from a tree, the trap was so obvious yet she didn't notice. So, there she was, hanging upside down, firmly keeping up her skirt while crying in terror on how to get down. At least someone was cheering her on.



Michiru began laughing quite hard as the girl continued to keep squirming.



The rope suddenly snapped as Kaida fell onto the ground headfirst. A card was lying underneat her, the trap must have triggered something, Kaida picked up the card as she painfully rubbed her head, she knew that this was what she needed so she got up and continued again to find the exit.

A short while later Kaida was conronted with something far greater. There was a giant robot moving in the midst of the town. It was yelling out things yet Kaida could only stare at it with open mouth taken away by its power. She knew for sure that she was gonna die today.

A roar of fury blasts through the ruined streets, as a sickening screech of metal skids across the floor, with its mechanical guts and wires all over the floor. A large squad of drones, containing of both β and γ variants, were trying to keep what appears to be a unusually tall, female student down with everything they got. FLUX guns rattle in place as they fire volley after volley of rounds with the canine drones circling the student and trying to make quick ambush attacks. Yet the bullets simply bounce off her skin as they clink against the ruined asphalt. Even as a canine attacks, the student would simply grab it with a bare hand and throw it towards another drone, destroying the two of them. The drones continued to fight back, but with their AI's only programmed to attack and kill, they all did not retreat. The student continues to attack the drones, ripping them to pieces one by one and... issuing a tail-whip to smack the remaining ones down?

While it is clear that this is indeed a youkai, her power was unbelievable for a stature like her! She was a tall specimen, around 6 feet and 7 inches, with luscious black hair, an interesting black outfit that turns into a dress, maple-leaf-like spines, and a massive tail that is slightly longer than her said height. It appears as if this was some sort of lizard-hybrid. However, this was no such thing. She is the host of an ancient Youkai spirit, who was a god-like creature known simply as Gojira, the King of the Monsters. His host? An eighteen year old girl named Tatsu Hiroshima, whom has earned the title of "Gojira-San".

Now she usually hangs around by the coast, or even fighting off evil spirits, but she wasn't seen in the last two years by any mortal eye. In addition, she's miles away from the sea anyways. It was only recently when she resurfaced and found herself in this ruined city. She has the potential of destroying a whole city area, but fortunately none of this was her doing. What drove her here was the sense of a magical presence, accompanied by gifted-human wielders. It was a presence she hadn't felt in a long while, but while trying to find these people, she was attacked by these drones. Are these created by these humans? Are they created to be issued in war? Whatever the case, she didn't like the situation at hand. If these "mages" created these robots to be issued for war, they'll have to go by her first.

Little does she know... she appeared right in the middle of a test provided by the Akatsuki Academy...

It seemed Makoto was an interesting individual. She was different from Gil, but not in an offensive way. He could just tell they looked at things differently. Even after she said her peace and departed with a smile, Gil couldn't help but chuckle to himself. "I guess you wouldn't understand how I feel about this," he muttered to himself before continuing forward. "It doesn't matter how strong I seem if I'm not strong enough to get what I want." He made sure to keep her name in his memory, as not only was she getting into the Academy but she would certainly be a good ally later. Her speed with a sword, from the one time he saw her draw, was a good indicator of her skill. Even if she didn't believe herself to be strong she certainly has potential. That and she seems like nice company as it is.

The gunslinger couldn't make it very far before he heard some commotion coming from the direction Makato had gone. By the time he lazily turned to look over his shoulder Makoto had already approached him and grabbed him by the arm. He was surprised but he didn't resist as she dragged him along on her escape from several floating drones. I could break free from her grip and take care of the robots, Gil thought, returning his attention forward to watch his new friend. Or I can get a glimpse of what Makoto can do. After she finally released Gil and began dispatching the robots with her sheathed sword it seemed that she had some good strength as well as speed. She didn't just knock the drones out of the air but ruined them like they were just fruits. Gil just watched silently as she began to wind down, having dispatched the drones. But then she rummaged through the first one she destroyed and revealed a card.

"Now we're pretty much even, right?"

A grin replaced Gil's stoic expression as he reached out and took the card. "Pretty much," he repeated, examining the card in his hands. It was the King of Swords. Not sure if that's fitting or not, he wondered, placing it in his right pocket. Then he returned his attention to the girl that gave him the card. "You didn't have to come back to give me a card, but thanks. Now we can just head to the exit and get everything figured out with the Academy." Before Gil could start to lead the way he heard the explosions and cannonfire. It wasn't exactly close but it was close enough to see the explosions and debris. When the loud announcement echoed across the city like a declaration of war, Gil's smile faded away. And with it went his good mood. "Eh, is some lunatic blocking the exit? Sounds like they've got some firepower too." He looked back to Makoto before striding forward, approaching a nearby building that was mostly intact despite having a slight tilt. Coils of electricity wrapped around his entire body for a second before disappearing, vitalizing his muscles. In a single bound he jumped up to the rooftop. Sparks flew from his body when he slammed onto it and he continued sparking intermittently as he scanned over the ruined city.

A large, tankly robot that was more like a gunship was stomping around and firing missiles and cannons at various locations. Gil could also make out the figure of a white-haired girl standing atop the behemoth, likely the source of the feminine voice that gave the call-to-arms for the drones. What is that girl thinking? Is she actually crazy? Gil's left hand rested on his Aerok hand cannon while he briefly contemplated a few things. He gripped it as if he was about to draw but then quickly released it with a sigh. With that he jumped back down, landing next to Makoto with a resounding thud and arcs of lightning coiling his legs. Of course it was gone by the time he stood up, but it didn't matter how close to Makoto he was because his control was too precise to let her get shocked. "There's a big one up ahead," Gil remarked, before beckoning Makoto to follow him as he started walking towards it. "A girl seems to be in control of it. If she gets in our way I'll just knock her out with a small dose of electricity. The battle... tank thingy shouldn't be a problem either. I'll just shut it down like any other robot. And the missile shouldn't be a problem either."

He spoke of it so casually but didn't even consider that Makoto might describe the situation a bit differently. Normal people would worry about things like missiles and gunships. Gil was strong but he knew he wasn't the strongest. But he also knew his capabilities and weaknesses. Things like this were fine for him. Man-made objects and enemies were naturally weak to him for they all required electrical signals to operate. Even the fancy new stuff that used FLUX still required a flow of electricity to function. And because of those natural requirements it was equally natural for Gil to sabotage these devices and take their power for himself. It didn't matter if it was a big, missile-bearing gunship or a small floating drone. As Gil walked closer and closer to the exit, and accordingly Eos and her gunship, he showed no signs of caution or concern. He would continue walking even if they stood directly in his path. Enemies like this were not a true test of his skill, strength, or ability. "No machine will stop me."

@Jay Kalton



This ox-demon was a rather pleasant person to be with, in Erisa's mind. She could relate to her and they had a mutual understanding. It wasn't easy being a Youkai in the midst of humans. Surely Gyuuki had it worse being she had horns and hooves whereas Erisa was passably human. It was actually enjoyable to spend time with her despite the pressing situation at hand with the exam and the time limit and all. Something that became evident really fast when the two girls heard a different explosion in the distance. Gyuuki's ears must've been better than Erisa's because the ox-demon had the sense to grab Erisa and take cover behind a car. The building complex they were in before bore the brunt of the bombing, being reduced to rubble in the resulting explosions. "Whoa," Erisa remarked, looking over the car at the smoke and debris raining down. But what made it worse was the toxic cloud that was coming in from the blast site.

As the two girls began to run a voice rang out across the city, claiming that everyone needed to stop destroying robots and that they were all evil. "But they attacked us..." Erisa remarked mostly to herself. When Gyuuki suggested she hop onto her back, Erisa looked confused. What with her legs it seemed like she'd only weigh the ox-demon down and make it harder to get away from the ominous cloud. Then she realized that Gyuuki suggested she jump off of her back to reach a floating card above the two. "Oh, okay." With a surprisingly rapid hop, the incredibly light Erisa leapt off of the demon's back and into the air rather effortlessly. It was a piece of cake to snatch the card, and due to her light weight the landing was rather soft and didn't hurt her in the least. In fact she was ahead of Gyuuki now after this daring catch. "I got it!" Erisa called back, holding the card up for her friend to see it. "Let's find another one then!"

Without any warning Erisa manifested her Twin Dragons from her back. Surely this might surprise Gyuuki, who had yet to see it up until this point, and it would surprise her even more so when this fibrous dragon-looking plant matter reached out to her and clamped its jaws on her. However she would realize that it gripped her firmly but gently, latching onto her without causing any harm. While one Dragon grabbed Gyuuki the other one extended forward and grabbed onto the wall of a building. With a mighty tug, the pulling motion of the Dragon provided enough momentum to fling Erisa (and thus Gyuuki as well) forward through the air at much greater speed. While the dangerous cloud was only several meters behind them before, it was now over a block away by the time Erisa touched back down on the ground and continued running on her own. She did, however, keep her Twin Dragons active for a brief while longer.

It wasn't until they she had managed to get several blocks away and the cloud seemed to stop following them did she set the ox-demon down. "Sorry about that," Erisa apologized as the jaws released Gyuuki. She was perfectly unharmed, something unusual considering the track record of things that have ended up in the jaws of her Twin Dragons. "I just figured you were still hurt and all. But we have a card now." Without a second thought she simply handed over the card to her friend, not even considering holding onto it herself. Gyuuki had spotted it so she naturally felt it belonged to her. "We'll just find me one really quick. Hopefully before that voice finds us." This was an obvious reference to Eos, though Erisa had no idea where she was or what kind of weapons she was using. "Your card fell out of the sky, right? Maybe we'll get lucky and another one will fall from the sky as well."

@Double Capybara

Eiko cocked an eye brow not knowing the girl's name when she said that she should know it, she didn't understand what she was meaning when she said she should know it." No I do not know it ? Have you told me the last name before a long time ago ? Because I don't remember it. But thank you for sharing Erys, your name is nice and sounds orignal besides mines." Eiko complemented the four eyed girl.

Suddenly the girl went silent and didn't comment on the card Eiko had, XXVII put the card into her back pocket and patted it while keeping their back covered. When a small drone appeared, Eiko called it out when she heard it whirrel before them," Drone take cover !" The clone quickly drew her short sword, Erys managed to dodge the flux dart beams that came at her, but Eiko simply used the small sword to defend herself from the darts, XXVII used her sword to deflect several of the small darts and took her eye off the trail behind them.

After Erys took care of the the drone, Eiko gave her a thumbs up,"Nice work" But when Eiko's eyes met back with the back of the trail again, she notcied that they were surrounded by the drones.

Standing back up and recoiling her blade, Erys looked back to Eiko. Her eyes immediately focused not on the girl, but behind her, where she saw the slight shake in the space.
"Eiko, theres a wolf right behind you." she said, turning to the side and dodging a fourth wolf; hitting it on the white armour plating covering it's back, causing it's legs to buckle under it.

In a second movement, she twisted her blade into an ice pick grip; bringing it across the side of a charging, unmasked wolf - causing it to roll off to the side, immobilised for the most part. She then dropped the key like dagger out from her sleeve and began drawing some runes into the ground, before realising that she would not have time to complete it by the wolfs arrival.

stabbing the blade into a gap between two road tiles, she flicked the dagger over the her right hand - sticking the key like object into the eye socket of the drone. It squirmed slightly, as if it felt pain, but immediately stopped doing so as a bolt of electricity rushed through its head; causing it to spasm, before dropping still.

However, Erys saw the flicker of disengaged camo too late, as as she stood, a fifth wolf barrelled out from behind her. The drones teeth punctured her arm, eliciting a slight cry of pain as the wolf and herself rolled of to the side; Erys on top - holding the wolves head down to preventing it from biting any further.

When the wolves began ambushing the two, Eiko instictively pulled out both her MP7s and began firing on a couple of wolves that were around her trying to pounce on her, as she fired on and injured a couple of the wolves. While she fired on the wolves and ran around in a large circle to keep them from jumping on her, she once in a while glanced at her partner who was doing a good job defending herself from the wolves with her sword.

The moment when Erys stopped and more wolves began coming around to fight them, Eiko tried to do her best to shoot some of the wolves on Erys' side and got most of them to disperse before they could get her, Eiko reloaded her two Mp7s while a single wolf managed to pounce onto Erys and bite her arm.

XXVII instantly went to her partner's aid and got behind of the wolf that was sinking it's teeth into Erys' arm, she began using her gloved hands to slowly open it's maw so Erys could get her arm out of it." Hurry get arm out now ! " Eiko yelled, she could feel her fingers slipping and her hands shaking as she held it's maw open.

"T-thanks..." Erys said through clenched teeth, pulling her arm out from the wolf's jaw as more converged on the two. Her eyes quickly darted around the field, searching for her dagger, and eventually spotting it next to a pile of debris.
"Please, cover me" she looked up at Eiko from a kneeling position, slight pleading in her eyes.

Eiko nodded to her partner." Okay." she confirmed that she would aid her.

Lifting her shirt, she bit down onto it hard - revealing part of her body to the open air - before placing her left hand onto the wound. A slight red glow eminated from the area, and Erys began to scream; the sound muffled greatly by the fabric. The wound scorched closed, the flesh boiling and her shirt burning from the heat. She wobbled a little as she let go, feeling faint and almost keeling over.

Before she could though, one wolf ran in front of Eiko - feinging an attack - before dodging away; a second coming in from behind to flank the girl. Her body flared, with the thought of Eiko being mawled to death, and she lept up - trying her hardest to ignore the pain - and she punched the wolf cleanly across the jaw. The head of it crumpled slightly under the increased weight of an ice covered fist, and exploded in a burst of electricity, shattering the ice.
"E-Eiko, I n-need my sword..." she crouched back down again, a second wave of nausea hitting her like a fist.

Eiko jumped away from the wolf that tried to attack her, she hopped away and brandished her Mp7s, she fired on the wolf that bit Erys pumping a lot of ammo into it, she was surprisingly accurate with the two submachine guns, XXVII immobilized the wolf with both her magazines of ammunition.

The clone girl began to look around as she reloaded her machine guns, she was looking for Erys' sword and trying not to get jumped by one of wolves, she noticed that Erys had protected Eiko from one of the wolves by punching them with a ice covered fist.

When Eiko had her empty magazines in her back pockets, and full mags in her guns, she looked aroud and noticed Erys' sword being chewed on by two wolves, XXVII slowly left her partner to get over to the two wolves covering her own back and ready to fire on a wolf that might pounce onto Erys.

Each step Eiko took she felt like was slower than the last as the wolves chewed the scabbard of the blade and the handle. The second Eiko was close enough to the two wolves, she fired on both of them with one of her smgs getting them to drop the sword onto the ground.

The second Eiko had the sword in her hands she felt the teeth marks on the scabbard and on the handle of the blade through her leather gloves. She hostered the two MP7s and worked her way back to Erys, she had both hands on the handle of the sword.

Eiko held the sword in front of her in a strong two handed stanced and felt a little wobbly with the sword being bigger than her smaller short sword. one of the wolves started charging Eiko at full speed and lunged at her, using alot of her energy Eiko hit the wolf with the blade knocking it to the ground.

The clone stabbed the wolf in the gut then lifted the blade above her head and decaptated the wolf in a single swing, after taking out the single wolf, Eiko returned to Erys' side running back to her slowly and returning her sword to her.

Erys sat crouched, watching as Eiko tried using her katana. She seemingly struggled, but managed to use it with deadly effeciency, just like herself. Standing once again, the feeling in her arm slowly returning, she took the blade.
"Thank you, Eiko." she allowed her arm to lower against her side, and slid the scabbard over the blade. Both the hilt and sheath were slightly nibbled, but the marks were clear and it gave the girl an uncomfortable feeling.

She began to walk across the field, to a small pile of rubble - dodging a couple of wolves as she went - and picked up the dagger. Then, she picked up a piece of rubble, and began scratching symbols into it.
"Come here, then, wolves!" she taunted, and a few wolves fell for it. Two flanked from one side - another coming from the opposite. Blood dripped from the fangs of one, as it ran up in an attempt to take a chunk from her leg. The other two lunged as well, leaping from a standstill.

Erys crouched once again, and dashed forwards. As she ran, she threw the chunk of rock at the wolf with bloody fangs - it connecting across it's jaw - and she slammed her sheathed blade up against the solo wolfs jaw. She fell into a roll, landing at Eikos' feet, as the rubble exploded, causing the two wolves next to it to lose large chunks of their armour, and the other being flung against a wall.

The last, active wolf lunged for Erys first, faking an attack, and then a dodge, before rushing for Eiko.

Eiko stood her ground as the wolf began coming at her charging at her full speed, the second that it jumped at her it, Eiko ducked and began swiping the robo wolf's belly with her short sword, she then kicked the wolf into the air and jumped onto her feet, while the wolf began coming back down to earth she looked to Erys hoping that she will jump in and finish the wolf off.

She glanced up, seeing the wolf flying towards her, and took the hint. Using her thumb, she flicked the sheeth off the blade, before stabbing it back into the ground. Then she jumped up, landing on the hilt of the katana, and lept off - her dagger falling from her pocket once again.

Flicking it to her other hand, she rapidly approached the drone, and twisted around so her head would collide first. Then, she brought the blade round - the sharp edge impaling through the white armour, causing the would to spasm slightly. Twisting the blade into a different grip, she angled herself to land feet first; and began to drag the blade around the wolf's head. Her momentum took the wolf along with her, and the force ripped it's head clean from it's neck - both parts landing a distance from each other as Erys touched down.
"There are a couple left alive, and I think one of those such is relatively unharmed..." she warned, turning away and motioning the girl to follow towards a pile of rubble.

Eiko followed behind of her partner while checking the ammo in her guns making sure she wouldn't run out of ammo after she fires her first couple bullets." We don't have to destroy them, did you find a card ? " Eiko asked.

XXVII looked around wondering if they would find a card as she kept up with her partner, she holstered both her machine guns." I wonder who's idea was it to have the year for a school open like this ?" Eiko asked." This seems a bit long for an entrance exam." Eiko spoke her thoughts aloud.

Erys turned back around, still walking towards the drones, and remembered where she had seen one.
"Uh, yeah, there was one on one of the wolves I blew up." she turned back, her face slightly panicked. What if, in the blast, the card had been destroyed? She'd have to find another, and given how long it took to find this one - it would be a pain in the ass.

She started a slight jog, before breaking out into a slow run.
"Give me a minute, I have to find it..!" her voice had a slight note of desperation. Upon reaching the now dead drones, she dropped to her knees and began searching through the debris. Her face grew more and distressed, and she eventually began running to the other.

As she reached it's rubble pile, the drone lunged out from underneath. Flicking her blade around her hand in an ornate and fancy style, she switched to an icepick grip and slid across the ground; bringing the blade underneath the airborn wolf and gutting it. Bits of machinery and wires dropped out as it sprawled across the groud, dead, but it didn't have a card.

"E-Eiko, it isn't here... I-I think I..." there were slight tears in her eyes as she walked back, defeated, ripping her katana out of the ground as she approached and sliding it back into the scabbard that too was lying on the ground.

While Erys was starting to lose hope and fall into a pit of despair, Eiko sat on top of the bloody wolf that bit Erys and held it's mouth open as she stuck a gloved hand into it's mouth without thinking about losing her arm.

The wolf that XXVII was sticking her hand into was actually a wolf that the two didn't kill, the clone remembered that Erys killed the other bloody wolf, the wolf that Eiko was sticking her hand into must've came from another fight.

Eiko looked around wondering if they would see who this bloody wolf attacked, she realized that the student that was wounded probably wondered off after injuring the wolf. As she dug her hand around inside of the wolf, she wondered if she was looking in the right place as she pulled her hand out, XXVII then stood up and found that she was sitting on the card that was badly tapped onto the wolf's body with duct tape.

The clone girl peeled the tape off carefully, she then removed the card from the tape the most carefully she could without damaging the card. Eiko took the card and held it up yelling to Erys." Erys I found it, it was on a straggler wolf !" Theh clone girl called out to her partner.

Erys ignored the girl reaching into the wolves mouth, and she also ignored all the dead people around her. Even if she had seen them, she would probably have just seen them as hunks of dead meat. No chance of saving, no chance of bringing back.

"W-what..?!" her face lit up slightly, glancing up at Eiko who was holding the card - the Queen of Swords. Her face brightened significantly, and the tears that crossed her eyes quickly disappeared with a wipe of her hand.

Then, in a sudden movement, she began running. She ran up to Eiko - dropping her blade onto the ground - and lept up; wrapping her arms around the clone's chest in a hug.
"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyo-" the remaining words were cut off as she stepped away, face lit like a red christmas light, and began looking away.
"U-uh, I... T-thanks..." she said, taking the card from the girls hand.

" Dōitashimashite..Your welcome." She told the girl twice.

Then, she picked up the blade and made her way to a nearby house. She climbed the crumbling wall, heading up to the roof, before motioning Eiko to follow. From there, she got a better look at the War Machine that was ravaging the town. Her head had already begun formulating an attack plan from what she could see directly, but everything just swam around at the increasing amount of variables that had to be counted in.

Eiko followed behnd of Erys as she walked over to a nearby house, once she noticed that Erys was climbing up, Eiko got a look up the girl's skirt nearly blushing when she spotted her underwear, Eiko clung to the wall like a spider and climbed up without much effort, she leaped to the roof that Erys was on and looked to the war machine in the distance.

" We should go to finish line, or the exit to ruins." Eiko told Erys." We haven't got time to fight with that...Battleship.." Eiko struggled to come up with a word for the quadpedal war machine.

"I suppose you are right. Although I would love to, it does seem like it might make for a waste of time. However..." her eyes diverted from the machine down to the ground, "I believe that to be the exit." her vision fixed on an area at the edge of town, that seemingly looked like a path out.

"We are going to have to go through it either way, and-" her hand moved over to touch the scorched flesh that was once a wound, and winced slightly in pain, "I do not think I am in much of a state to fight..." she looked to Eiko with eyes swimming with ideas, as well as slight frustration. The girl really wanted to fight, even if only for a bit - since it would help with experience - but her expression showed a slight fear.

Eiko sat on the roof of the house they were on hoping that the roof wouldn't collapse, she looked up to Erys and knew she wouldn't need to make the choice if they would fight or flight, Eiko looked over to Erys' arm and saw how bad the injury looked, after seeing it, Eiko knew what she would have to do." I'm a hero." She whispered to herself.

" Erys. Your not in good condition to fight, we will run by it, I will use shadow clones to distract it." She told the girl the plan." If you need it I'll carry you to the exit of the ruins on my back." Eiko told her partner.

Looking back across the town, she felt that making a break for the exit was the most beneficial plan, even though she hated to admit it.
"You are right, we shall break for the exit. You shant need to carry me, friend - I am able to walk fine. Though, we should get going now. Before that dreadnaught gets any closer to the exit and we lose our escape."

With that, she lept from the building - sheathed weapon clutched in her hand - and motioned for Eiko to follow. When the clone had jumped down as well, she took off in a sprint towards the exit; or at least vague direction of the exit.

Eiko jumped from the building and rolled when she came in contact with the ground, she started catching up with Erys quickly, she made four of her shadow clones that looked like black featureless masses of Eiko, while she sprinted and ran a head of Erys her hair glowed a bright cobalt blue.

"Things have escalated in an unpredictable way, as far as I can see, most of the students won't make it back on time, or even find a card at all." Ellie said to Reiko who waited by the finish line. Three and a half hours had passed already, but only one student had reported so far, curiously enough, it was one with least chances of getting through this test.

Fate certainly has weird ways of doing her thing.

"Do you think we should interfe- What!? Where's she?" Ellie looked around, trying to find Reiko, but it was of no use, since the Scarlet Sage was long due on her way to the proving grounds.

"Well, whatever happens happens." The demon girl shrugged, before turning to the petite form of Shinobu and the ever present (almost literally) troublemaker, Dana, and asking, "Now, would you like some hot chocolate? I even got some marshmallows, if you want."


Reiko on the other hand, was so very displeased at how things turned out that one could almost spot a blaze behind her glasses framed glare. The Scarlet Sage walked to the test are with large strides clutching what looked like a magic wand in her hands to the point that it almost snapped.

"That's enough for today", Reiko said upon stepping at the line that marked the exit, her voice being broadcast all through the ruins by a series of magically conjured orbs of light that acted as a PA system. "All the applicants, report back to the academy, I'll give my final assessment of you there."

After that, Reiko dismissed the communication spell and at the same instant all the drones who were still fighting disengaged and went back to their storage facilities, not offering any kind of resistance even if they were to be attacked. "I'm disappointed with you, Eos. Your teammates I already expected trouble from, but you seem to deserve some extra disciplinary measures if you can't understand that these drones are not like you. Come to my office later, I have a... fitting punishment for you."

Having said all she had to, Reiko turned on her heel and walked back to the school, or at least until she retrieved her motorcycle.



Back at the academy...

Reiko was already waiting for the students on her place over the entrance stairway. When enough of then had gathered in the stone courtyard, sighed deeply, before saying, "First of all, to finish my answer to yesterday's question. A Chaser is... anything, but what I'm seeing before my eyes. The whole of you, except for a single person, are failures, utter failures, in fact."

"Did, any of you thought that the test was a walk in the park? I've some of you acting with arrogance, needless fear, confusion over such simple conditions. Even the ones who displayed some measure of actual skills failed in some basic assessments that would have got you killed, were that a real mission." As she said so, Reiko's harsh words sapped the will of more than one student, soon enough cries of protest and complaints about they being treated like soldiers echoed through the stone hall.

Reiko was unamused.

"To those who are raising their voices, I ask. Who's forcing you to stay? The doors are open, so serve yourselves. But, for those who choose to stay, know that it's my prerogative to accept or not any of you. The doors to the inner hall are open as well, if you choose to cross them, know that your lives will be mine to do as I please, until I have molded you all into what a true Chaser is." With a gesture of her wand, Reiko dismissed the rose vines that were keeping the door to the academy's interior closed. Despite the failure of this year's test, she decided to give them one last chance to prove their worth. Any who crossed the threshold would be accepted as long as they knew that what stood before them was nothing short of a trip through hell.

"Being a Chaser is not about justice, nor heroism, or any other of those romantic lies. It's a job to keep those who can't fight safe, just that. Think well before making your choices." Reiko walked inside the academy, ignoring any further protests. Now it was up to the students to decide their own fate.



Kurenai couldn't say that she was disappointed with how things turned out. Life had chewed her for long enough, another scar or two wouldn't be that bad. Especially when Crowley had already told her how the "Red-eyed Demon" was harsh; Kurenai couldn't expect anything less of Reiko.

Before going in, though, Kurenai spotted both Juniper and Gyuuki hanging around some corner and approached them, doing the best she could to avoid the crowd, despite that a random student pushed her aside causing Kurenai to stumble and seek a nearby wall for support. Some people instantly recoiled or made faces when they noticed the mechanical arm that laid underneath her cloak, but this didn't fazed Kurenai at all, she was way too used to prejudice because of that to even care, anymore.

Anyway, "Are you two going to join?" Kurenai asked her recently made friends, if she could have the luxury of calling them that way. "I have no choice but to do this, if I want to find my master, Crowley. I guess you can say he's the closest thing I have to a father, even though he never liked me calling him that way. But, will you two as well?"

Independent of them coming with her or not, Kurenai would ascend the stairs and be one of the first to enter main hall.

~Aria~

---

Aria sighed as she moved through the twisting hallways that would lead her to the stone courtyard out front. A pink doughnut was held gingerly in her hands, the sound of her soft footsteps and gently munching filling the hallways. That was of course barring the constant snickering coming from Null, who seemed to walk by her side as if finding great joy and amusement from this whole situation.

The Head Director gave him a glare, to which he merely shrugged, phasing through the walls to go off and fulfill some dark purpose. Honestly, the things she had to put up with for her familiars…Aria perked up when she saw an annoyed and disgruntled Reiko walk right by her. Well that could only mean that the Mage had given the First Years a piece of her mind.

Stepping out into the open space facing all of the students, Aria blinked to see many more than a little discouraged. She didn’t know what Reiko had said to them specifically but she had enough context clues to figure her former apprentice was being cynical again. So quickly finishing her doughnut, Aria clasped her hands together and smiled down at the group of students.

“I’m not really sure what Ms. Reiko had to say to you all…but please remember that she’s only doing what she thinks is best for you. A Chaser is more than a job description, more than a paycheck. It’s a way to make your voice known into the world. Please, let’s all do our best to uphold that vision,” Aria announced cheerily. “Your classes will begin soon so please, feel free to enjoy yourselves until the start of the school year tonight.”

Nearby, someone in particular couldn’t share Aria’s enthusiasm. Lucille sighed to herself, muttering that she had basically ruined her team’s first day back on campus grounds. And they had missed their own Second Year initiation. Aria had insured her personally that it was no big deal…but still…more than a little down, Lucille touched her cheek, remembering Emillia’s touch…

Further into the crowd, another special individual was walking around with nothing better to do. As the leader of Team DIE, Dana was ecstatic about another year spent in Akatsuki. Sure Eos had to get punished for almost ruining the entrance exams this year and she was being watched for hijacking the Secret Boss fight too, but all in all it was a good day. And it wasn’t like anyone in Akatsuki could very well catch her either.

So Dana wondered around, bored out of her mind when she suddenly bumped into someone that towered over her. It couldn’t be her cute little Shinobu because Shinobu was a midget…no, this girl was hulking creature compared to her. Looking up at the new person, Dana titled her head…before a wide shark’s grin graced her lips.

“Ruuuuuuun! It’s Gojira!” she said loudly, pointing and shouting for the fun of it.

---

By the time Shinobu toppled over onto the finish line, where the red-haired assistant of Headmaster Aria was, she had fully expected that at least a couple of other students would have made it there as well. The young girl didn’t have a super accurate internal clock, but surely there would have been others who also found their way to the end, right?

Turns out that she was first, and that the giant mechanized beast that she had hypothesized and did her best to avoid was finally laying waste upon the ruined city. Even though she was a few kilometers away from the explosions, the very fact that she could still feel the violent rumblings of the ground made Shinobu glad that she had avoided that thing to the very end.

All the stress and tension melted away as Dana got off her shoulders, and the petite girl collapsed on the ground, arms hanging loosely to the sides. Letting out a long, long breath, she looked at the plastic card crumpled in her tracksuit’s pockets, before grinning. The first step was taken after all.

“Congratulations, dearie! See? You definitely could do it!”

Yeah, guess I did.

“The first one to get there as well!”

Ehe, guess so.

“Don’t get too confident though!”

I know.

“After all, overconfidence is a s-”

-low and insidious killer.

“Good luck and give your best!”

I will.

Despite her plethora of injuries, and how Ari’s present had more than just a few holes in them, the girl pushed herself up, standing once more. She looked up at the red-haired demon girl and said, “Yeah, lotsa marshmallows, please.”

It tasted of saccharine dreams and bitter reality, and it scalded the tip of Shinobu’s tongue, but she drank it down in anyways. Because, regardless, it was pleasantly, deliciously warm. The taste of success, after five years of inadequacy, huh?

Feels good.

---

That pleasant feeling disappeared when the test concluded, and a very displeased Reiko greeted them at the stone courtyard. In the faint light of the morning, her angered figure had a particular sense of gravitas around her, a choking, suffocating feeling that cut through the sugar-high, sleep-deprived, hungry state of mind that Shinobu found herself in. Swaying side to side at this point, the little girl fought against the urge to yawn, trying not to make any worse of an impression than she already had.

Other than a single person, they were all failures, huh? Shinobu bit her lower lip, hanging her head. Looked like, even if she was one of the two who had made it to the finish line, she was still a pathetic sack of shit, huh? That made sense. She could understand that. After all, she had basically avoided all contact with the drones they should have been fighting, killed only a single one of them, and then made it out of the Downtown Ruins only because she managed to get some pity-mercy from Dana.

It made sense, but her stomach still felt like it was getting cut into pieces.

Shinobu took in a deep, shuddering breath. Others were rightfully indignant, what with the test ending early and a bunch of supposedly ‘unexpected’ factors popping up, but she ignored them all. Her heart was pounding, anxiety rising, exploding. Her hands were shaking once more, violently, frightfully. As the rose vines disappeared, opening up to the interior of Akatsuki Academy, Shinobu narrowed her eyes.

She was still trash, but she was too damn close at this point, just to give up and be discouraged because she had been found wanting in the eyes of one of the teachers.

“A Chaser doesn’t protect the weak.”

She slipped through the hesitant, chaotic crowd.

“A Chaser is simply strong enough to do so.”

Once again, she found herself before the flight of stairs heading up.

Once again, she found herself as the first one there, uncaring of whether or not any others were heading up alongside her.

And once again, she took that step forwards, alone except for the voices in her head.

@TheWindel



Another α drone comes rushing towards Tatsu and with a swift and powerful swipe from her arm, she was able to grab it clean from the air, hold it for a second, and ultimately crush the drone with her tremendous strength. She then throws the mechanical remains as it slams into a building, creating a decently sized hole. Surely some humans have to be around controlling them... for whatever reasons, weather good or for evil. Yet as some more drones come rushing at her, they suddenly begin to turn off or turn the other way. Now she was confused. She makes a guttural growl as she looks around her surrounding area, trying to figure out where she should go next. All she finds are just paths that make up a maze throughout the surrounding ruins. Anyone can be hiding... and they can be hiding just about everywhere.

She then finds a group of humans who are traveling back to some location. Knowing that she'll grab attention if she gets to close, she follows them from a safe distance, hoping not to get spotted by any of them. Eventually, she finds herself at the entrance of a building, which she finds out as "Akatsuki Academy". So this must be where those drones were operated from, and perhaps there was some sort of test going on that utilized them. Interesting. Regardless, she pretends to act like one of the academy students, as she goes inside, curious on what is actually going on.

Suddenly, she feels something bump into her leg. Something... organic. With a surprised grunt, she looks down to see what appears to be a small girl, who was blonde and filled with shark-like teeth when she grins. She may be either completely harmless or perhaps someone trying to take her on.

“Ruuuuuuun! It’s Gojira!” she said loudly, pointing and shouting for the fun of it.

Well shit. For some reason she knows her name. And now her presence is known throughout the surrounding area. She issues an annoyed growl as she eyes the girl with suppressed anger. Then with one arm she's able to pick up the little girl and lift her up to Tatsu's eye level, with teeth exposed. And for the first time... in a very long time... She speaks.

"How do you know my name?" she asks, nay, orders, Dana as she continues gripping her by the scruff of her shirt.

Gyuuki

“Thanks… Uh…” Gyuuki was still catching breath from the experience of being almost swallowed up by the odd plant blade thing “I guess I would end up falling behind with all these wounds, I owe you one”

She took the moment to take the look on the card, which was now hers “Page of Pentacles huh? Well, lets rush them, we need to cross the line and get you a card…”

Suddenly however another voice was broadcast over the city, not the same as before though "That's enough for today. All the applicants, report back to the academy, I'll give my final assessment of you there"

“Uh-oh, I don’t like the sound of that…” the fact the drones started to disengage and march to somewhere else further confirmed her fear “Sheesh, I think we failed the test…”

---

Back at the academy a long scolding waited the entrees. It was actually the first time that Gyuuki ever got someone this mad at her, considering the people of the village were somewhat afraid of talking harsh to her. She felt mixed, on one side she wanted to talk back, say how much she fought, on the other she agreed with Reiko, they did fail.

She looked at her still wounded hands, it was disappointing that she got so wounded she couldn’t help others anymore on the test, but she reassured herself that this was an one time thing and that with youkais it would be better, not even considering asking others for help or equipment.

But not everything was bad news, Juniper and Kurenai were safe and sound, which was very good, a youkai like her or Erisa was always bound to have a harsh time with people, having a group already was comforting.

“I mean, I have nothing else to do anywhere, I can't just return to my home, and I don’t want to leave like this" she said to her cloaked friend "You are coming too, right Jujun?” She said to her armored friend before following Kurenai into the main hall.

@Brithwyr@KoL

Juniper couldn't believe what she was hearing. Failure. Failure! Yeah, sure, the boss told everyone that they had failed, except one. So one person out of all of them was worthy of being a Chaser. That made her feel even worse. If she said everyone had failed, she'd shrug it off as the Boss-Lady being a grump, but whoever this one successful schmuck was, Juniper felt hatred for them like no other. They had shown the rest of the potential entrants up, and were personally responsible for making her feel the way she felt.

"Fail... failure..." she whispered to herself, her voice catching in her throat. How would she explain this to Dad? Yeah, I did what the Boss-Lady said but she told me I was a failure anyway and nothing at all like a Chaser. Happy Homecoming! She'd get put in the fields without a second thought. Anger quickly joined sadness. The way she saw it, she had done all that was asked. She got the stupid card - she managed to find a second card on the return journey and all - so if anything she was twice the winner, yet that still wasn't good enough.

No, this... this was wrong. When she was normally punished, she laughed it off. This stung. She'd been through worse than this, yet this really hurt her. What was wrong with her?

Boss-Lady #2 told the gathered First Years - Failure Years, more like - to look up. That Boss Lady #1 was only looking out for them. That there was a vision to be upheld, whatever that meant. That being a Chaser was more than a job.
"Then what is it?" Feeling decidedly miserable, Juniper sat down on the floor, staring at her armoured hands intensely. What was she even doing here? She didn't want to be a Chaser! Her Dad sent her here so she would be a better warrior, not so she would become a professional demon hunter. That had been their first mistake. The second mistake was screwing up their entrance exam. The third, she assured herself, would be walking through that hallway and being locked behind those gates until Boss decided that they were good enough.

A voice addressing her surprised her and shook her from her thoughts. "You are coming too, right Jujun?" a familiar ox-demon asked of her.
"I... I don't think so. I should just go home." Juniper's voice was drained of it's usual cheeriness. She sounded downright depressed. "This ain't my scene, you know?"

She gathered what she owned and joined the small throng of students who were taking the easy way out. She could see what was going to happen already. She would go home. She would offer her father a tearful explanation of what happened. He would sigh and cluck his tongue and send her into the fields to keep an eye on the slaves. He would look for another facility to send her to. If she was lucky, they'd find somewhere that was a little less harsh and she'd return home a champion. If she was unlucky, she'd spend the rest of her days fighting of raids and uprisings, dull and predictable.
But... there would always be that feeling in the back of her mind that she could have been something more. She stopped just before she crossed the threshold. Despite her supposed failure, the Boss was still willing to let her in. Why? Juniper didn't have an answer to that which satisfied her.

There was also the matter of Gyuuki and Red and Gaz. She didn't want to say goodbye to them, but if she left now she would never see them again. And the third thing, her stubborn pride. Of course, that was the very thing telling her to leave, that she would never be as good as that student who got it right first try, but it would not let her go out the door entirely. If she left, she was a coward. If she stayed, she was a failure. There was no third option.
"Darn it!" she growled, walking away from the exit. Her hands were tied in the most uncomfortable way. She felt like hell warmed over and she couldn't cope with the stress of having to pick her favoured inadequacy. She sat by the wall and thought over it again. And again. And again and again and again. Students left the stone courtyard one way or another, yet she was no closer to picking whether to stay or go. There were very few students left by the time she stopped thinking it over.

"This is some pickle we got ourselves into, eh Juni?" she told herself. In the back of her head, a line from an old book came forth. "To be or not to be, that is the question, whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. Whatever that means."

Gaz

For the first time Gaz listened to Reiko completely without ignoring whatever she was trying to say, he pushed himself past Juniper and Gyuuki, he looked livid." Yo sage bitch ! That test was a crock of shit and you fucking knew it !" Gaz insulted the woman not caring what she'd do to him." Who fucking sends their fucking students into a fucking forest to find cards, then fucking just blocks the fucking exit with a war machine and say get by it ?! I don't care if 9 people got by the god damned mecha and passed the finish line on a time limit, the test was against us from the start and nobody was gonna pass because one mother fucker got lucky ! Fuck you, your test sage bitch !" Gaz yelled at her.

Gaz turned around and was about to just leave but kept his guard up in case he actually pissed off the second or third in command of this weird ass academy, suddenly when he got a look at Juniper and heard her say she wasn't going to go with the others, it seemed to piss him off to another level." What the hell did you just say ?" He asked her as she began gathering her things and started walking towards the exit." Oh hell no you don't, you were way to fucking hyped up and ready to fight to be in this school then you just say fuck it when some dumb bitch in head of the academy your going to calls you a failure, You better be screwing around with me because if I were you, I'd be ready to show that sage dike bitch that I was the best there was, or be ready to punch her in the ovaries." Gaz tried to tell her hoping she listened to him even though she seemed deep in her own thoughts.

When she turned back to the stone courtyard and was talking to herself, Gaz sighed." Fuck this your coming with me, call yourself whatever you want, but your Juniper those two need teammates and I don't feel like letting that four eyed bitch in charge be right." Gaz grabbed Juniper and put the girl on his shoulder." Let's show her what a failure can do, also I really want to punch that bitch in the ovaries no jokes." Gaz told her as he caught up with Gyuuki and answered for Juniper." Yeah we're here, and personally if being a Chaser means I get to punch monsters in the face with fire gloves then I really don't give two fucks what a Chaser is." He told Aria

@Brithwyr@TheWindel@KoL

---

Eiko XXVII

Eiko made a fist with one of her hands and wondered who actually made it, she turned away from the scarlet sage as she berated them, she didn't like being called a failure, it reminded her of the old days in training, the clone girl crossed her arms and noticed that the sage kind of contradicted herself when she said that a Chaser wasn't a hero, but someone who stood up for others. Eiko glared at the woman feeling that the sage was wrong about what called them and what she said, suddenly the smaller one, the vampire turned up to speak with them, she told them that being a Chaser is to have their voice heard, the door was opened for them to go inside of the school and still attend the school.

Eiko put one of her gloved hands up to her chin before saying." I starting to get impression that people know not of what Chasers are, even staff and teachers." Eiko said aloud, she looked around seeing some students leave; she noticed that one girl seemed like she was going through something internally, she didn't bother the girl as the boisterous boy began trying to give her a pep talk then threw her onto his shoulder." So the others are gathering." the clone girl turned around to her partner that was with her during the test." Erys, what is it you think about this ? We are branded as fails here, what are you going to do ?"

Eiko wondered if they should team up with other people in a group like how Gaz and Juniper were doing, she wasn't sure if her and Erys would have people join them or would be able to join others." This teaming up, it reminds me of being home, with the first generation, even this part being called a fail again." Eiko said to herself not really knowing if someone was listening.

@TheWindel@Vocab

"Ugh, that test was pretty tough too bad I didn't get through it in time" Marith said as she entered the courtyard of the school her clothes were a wrinkled and statically charged mess. As she passed by a few students her hands brushed against them which caused them to jump from the static shock, though some reactions would be more extreme than others. After the fifth time of accidentally shocking another student She began to keep her tails down and close behind her because of the fact that most of the charge was stored in her fur at the moment. When the speech had started Marith basically zoned out and had begun comb her hair in an attempt to get rid of the rest of the static though did catch some key words throughout the spiel.

After the speech Marith ears drooped a little because of the lack of confidence that Ms. Reiko had in the student body, but she just put her comb back into her dufflebag that she had hidden up a tree in the courtyard and didn't let it bother her as much just like Ms. Aria said. When someone shouted to run Marith's first reaction was to duck deeper into the fairly sparse tree with her bag but after she realized it was not a massive threat but just a tall girl lifting a shorter one off the ground. "It's not my problem" Marith said to herself and climbed from the tree, She began to walk to the newly uncovered entrance to the academy.

Everything seemed to flash by Makoto's eyes in an instant. First she was shoving a card in her new friend's face, then an even larger clump of metal made its extravagant entrance, along with someone's extravagant speech.

And now she was in the courtyard, listening to one of the most frightening lectures she had ever heard during her sixteen years on this earth.

"Even the ones who displayed some measure of actual skills failed in some basic assessments that would have got you killed, were that a real mission."

Maybe I smashed down too many robots. Plus, I did run into that massive swarm in the first place... Distracted or not, that situation could've easily been avoided!

Well, there wasn't anything she could do about it now. What happened in the past can't be changed. It was a sad, but simple truth.

Note to self: Don't get distracted and don't make the Senior Instructor mad. Like, ever.

"The doors to the inner hall are open as well, if you choose to cross them, know that your lives will be mine to do as I please, until I have molded you all into what a true Chaser is."

With that said, the rose vines revealed the academy doors underneath. One more chance. One more chance for Makoto to make up for her mistakes.

One more chance to possibly make even more mistakes.

If she chose to stay or not, there would still be many, many outcomes, good and/or bad. Makoto didn't want to hold anyone down, nor lead herself to her own downfall either. If she crossed into Akatsuki Academy territory, who knows what would happen next?

"Being a Chaser is not about justice, nor heroism, or any other of those romantic lies. It's a job to keep those who can't fight safe, just that."

A job to keep those who can't fight safe.

'You'll fight all those baddies for us, right sis?'

Tilting her head down from everyone's sight, a smile crossed Makoto's face. Then, looking up, she walked towards the main hall, following the other soon-to-be Chasers brave enough to give this another shot.

'Mm. I will, Michiko.'

Makoto had strength. But not enough. Not yet. However, if she had the ability to change the world and protect everyone else in it, then she would fight for it no matter how harsh the conditions would be.

---

Charles expected something a bit more agitated to become a Chaser, something with a little spice that would make his jaw drop out of sheer awe. No such thing really happened, though he was impressed no one of significance got killed in the crossfire, because let's be fair here, some of these people were more dangerous than the units dispatched to stall the candidates. Stall being a very loose word for some, of course. All Charles had to do was abuse his Impersonator ability, giving the optical illusion that he was an entirely different thing. Because the form was merely a vision based illusion, smell, hearing and even certain advanced radars could betray out slick friend, but being inconspicuous was easier than he thought when the whole ruins were plunged into chaos, many explosions here and there. If need be, he'd take the appearance of a bush or a drone if need be, after all these machines apparently operated through visual sensors. Not that he couldn't handle the few that went after him.

The sneaky young man took his time, there was no need to hurry after all, once you start making haste you make a lot more mistakes. Though it wasn't like he was taking this all too seriously, there'd be other academies to join anyway. But eventually they'd all be called back, and just when he was about to return his special card. Oh well, may as well hear what his superior had to say about all this.

'What a charming young woman.'

He'd think upon receiving Reiko's scolding as did the whole bunch of wannabe Chasers that participated. Charles wasn't even being sarcastic, he found some form of delight by hearing such a need to belittle the newbies like any good adjutant would do. Though if he were to be fully honest, he was almost certain this was going to turn into some good cop, bad cop scenario where there was always this uptight, angry superior and the more laid back one. Efficient marketing strategy to recruit only the most useful, at least that's what he thought.

The obvious did happen and the midget of Headmaster cooled the playing field. Charles, sitting far at the back of the mass of people still whining about what they just took to the face. As many left, he'd notice one of the more outspoken males manifested his discontent for what the four eyed lady had to say. Now that was interesting, Charles didn't get to see any of this boy's abilities yet, plus despite his ridiculous macho demeanor, he appeared to have a soft side for a girl he adopted as his teammate. And as adopted, he meant having the girl being put directly on his shoulders.

"Oh I absolutely agree with our loud friend here, do not let the scare tactics get to you! _{They're not that good anyway~}"

He emerged from his little corner, now fully exposed as Charles Anderson, and not random bush in the battlefield. Warming smile accompanied with eyes that didn't quite go with a smile, almost as if he was just forcing it. Though that was his curse, he did try to be decent with these people. At the end, he'd hide his mouth with his hand from the Headmaster's general direction in order to whisper that last bit to the armored, cute young lady.

"Besides, if only one is considered good enough to be a Chaser then it appears humanity is doomed. They're stuck with us so joke's on them, right?"

A little too much positive energy oozed out of his being there, having his fist in a jolly manner as he tried to encourage this woman he knew absolutely nothing about, let alone the fact that any of this was unnecessary to his purpose here. Well, not quite, being friendly did help in actually surviving in this rat hole of a world. Hopefully these people actually had to assets to spare. Swiftly, as if a bubble just popped over his head, he snapped his fingers as he remembered something important.

"The name's Charles, by the way. Pleased to meet you guys."

As he proceeded to offer handshakes to both warriors he had just met, Gyuuki having not captured his line of vision yet, expecting them to send back the same greeting, the corner of his eye caught a glimpse of the leading figures having their attention clearly captivated by this guy's stunt. This was going to be interesting, and convenient too, for Charles had to give a little something to the child-like Esper chief of the establishment.

Listening to Gaz got Juniper thinking. She found herself nodding along and agreeing with what he was saying. That test was a crock. That test was against them from the very start. And she was so nervicited for getting into the academy - now that the doors were literally open for her to just step inside, she was going to walk away? That wasn't the Juniper she was. The more Gaz spoke, the less sad she got and soon there was that familiar fire burning in her eyes.

"You know what? You're right. What does that sage woman know? Like she could storm through it in one go with the equipment and knowledge we had. 'Oh you're all failures, only one of you passed'. Well, you know what? We're not Chasers yet, lady. That's your job. If anything, the fellow that supposedly 'passed' should be the one to leave. What a crock of..."

She was cut short as Gaz lifted her onto his shoulders, turning her potential curse into a squeal of delight.
"Let's start punching ovaries!" she yelled playfully, perhaps a little too loudly. "Erm, what is
an ovary, Gaz?"

Before he could answer, a nearby bush turned itself into a human, eliciting a coo from the armoured warrior. "Did you see that? He was a bush a moment ago, that boy!"

The bush-boy introduced himself as Charles and told Juniper that it was just scare tactics, not even good scare tactics. The girl nodded along with what he said.
"I know, right? It's like, sorry we're not Chaser's yet, lady, we only just started. And besides, Gaz here is a deadshot, Gyu over there is half cow, Red can move at, like, the speed of light, I took down a whole building in one hit and you can apparently turn into a shubbery, so it's not like we're total failures. We're still tough enough to take down a You-Kip anyway. She's just being mean."

Removing a gauntlet to shake the Bush-Boy's hand, Juniper extended her own branded hand to recieve it.
"Juniper. My valiant steed here is Gaz, Gyu is the horny one over there and Red is... hey, Gyu, have you seen Red anywhere?"

@Savato@Spriggs27@Double Capybara@KoL

~Dana~

---

Dana giggled in sheer delight as she was picked up by the bigger girl. The much, much bigger girl. Seeing the lizard bare her teeth, Dana grinned back to show off hers. A full row of shark teeth gleamed in the light, her grin increasing little by little with each passing moment as her eyes took in the moonlight standing before her. This would be fun.

“Oh ho, so you’ve got huge teeth too! Hey, can I call you Big Tooth? Hiya Big Tooth! Anyway, I didn’t really know you’re name…but it’s nice to know you just confirmed it for me. Besides, you totally look like someone fun to hang out with, you know? I bet you’re a smash at parties,” Dana snickered before disappearing from Gojira’s grip.

The short girl had teleported, putting some distance between her and the other student who could probably cave her face in without trying. In truth, she was searching for someone else to bring to the fun-there she was! In little time, Dana appeared atop Shinobu’s head.

She spared a moment to look down at the girl, waving with a grin before teleporting the both of them…right in front of Gojira. Stepping down from Shinobu’s head, Dana wrapped an arm around the equally shorter girl as if they were the best of friends.

“Hey Big Tooth, this is my friend Wallflower. She’s just a piece of trash, buuuuuut so am I! That makes us perfect friends! Hey, that makes us Super Trash! Anyway, we should all totally hang out some time or something.”

---

After her ruthless declaration, Reiko stepped into the Academy's main hall, the vision of the Senior Instructor standing in the middle of the hallway would be the first impression the students would have of the vast chamber lit by magical lamps. In and of itself, the architecture was just like one would expect of massive Gothic style castle such as the one where Akatsuki Academy was located, statues and portraits of great Chasers of the past lined the walls and large crimson tapestries hung from the ceiling all way to the floor, a display of grandeur unlike almost anything left in this derelict Earth.

Only once the last student in the courtyard either got into the castle, or left to never be heard of again, Reiko turned to face the students and say, "First of all, let me congratulate you for your decision. Those who don't have the will to follow through the path they chose for themselves are not welcome in this place. You all should remember that, while your failure still stands as an undeniable fact, you chose to be here on your own. Don't blame anyone but yourselves for what might happen on your future."

"That said, I'll drop the pleasantries and get straight to the point. From now on you all will be paired with teammates, until you graduate they will be your new family and your primary allies, learn to work with them, for the defeat of one is the defeat of all and the same stands for victories." Reiko paused for a bit to take in the students reactions, before continuing, "Your accommodations have already been settled and dinner will be waiting for you once you have cleaned up and changed into your uniforms, consider this day a festival to celebrate your own wills and the beginning of your new lives."

"Tomorrow though, you'd better be prepared, for your training shall begin with a simple field mission under our supervision. Once Ellie announces your teammates and room numbers you're dismissed." Reiko said, before stepping away from the middle of the hallway and walking until she was right in Gaz's face and in a swift move grabbed his testicles, crushing them until almost breaking Gaz's precious manhood. A look of sadistic pleasure was stamped on Reiko's face as she said, "I have two things to say to you, Brainless Mongrel. First, for the duration of your stay here, you'll be helping the groundskeeper take care of the maintenance and gardening, mind that if my roses are damaged, or any other property dilapidated, you'll face an even harsher punishment. And second, if you ever use this sewage pipe you call mouth to insult the Headmaster again, I'll make sure you wish to never have been born. Are we understood?"

After this, Reiko shoved Gaz aside with a strength belied her appearance and went to her quarters, taking the time to throw away and ignite the gloves that she was wearing just a minute ago.



"Eh... hehe, erm..." Ellie half laughed in a tensed, uncomfortable, way and half cleared out her throat loudly to call for the students attentions, after being witness to Reiko's peculiar way of demonstrating her disapproval. Eventually, after clapping a couple times, she said, "Well, that was own very own Senior Instructor's crushing lecture for you. I guess someone will really like to avoid the scrambled eggs I've prepared, not?."

"Anyway, let's follow this through, I really don't want to egg you all too much." Ellie kept up with the bad puns, despite whatever reaction she might get out of it, all the while throwing a knowing look to the male half of the crowd before her.

"Pay attention, please, 'cause I won't take responsibility if you don't listen to the instructions and end up walking on Reiko while she's bathing or something like this." Ellie joked once more, before giving detailed instructions on how to reach the student dormitories wing, in fact, a whole tower was dedicated to this purpose with the higher rooms assigned to the best students, of course. Currently the top floor belongs to Emilia and Lucille's team, as it should be expected.

Once she was done with the instructions, Ellie gave all students a small guidebook containing important notes and a simplified map of the castle, as well as their In-Training badges, that would be required in case they need to prove their identities. And began to announce the teams composition.

"Team 1: Juniper, Erisa, Kurenai, Shinobu."

"Team 2: Lloyd, Gil, Marith, Makoto."

"Team 3: Gyuuki, Charles, Tatsu, Charlie."

"Everyone, you are now free to do as you will. Just mind that the food will not wait for you forever~" And, with that said, Ellie took her leave as well, allowing the students to freely choose what they would do next.

---

As Shinobu marched up the stairs, a familiar and unpleasant weight suddenly dropped on her head once more, almost causing her to stumble back, fall, and break her neck. Recovering her stance, she shot an annoyed glare up at Dana, before a sense of vertigo suddenly overtook her. One moment ago, she was looking upwards at the new school she was to attend. One moment afterwards, the girl was looking at two ginormous mounds of fat, placed upon the chest of someone that towered over her and Dana, even with their heights combined.

Taking a step back in surprise, Shinobu was about to simply turn and walk away, when the shark-toothed girl suddenly wrapped around an arm around her, pulling the two midgets together like conjoined fraternal twins.

“Hanh?” The girl’s large eyes narrowed. “When did we become friends? And stop dragging me along with this bullshit, Dana. I have places to be.”

With that, the petite girl held her breath, closed her eyes, and phased through Dana, before heading away. Maybe she wasn’t alone in this academy after all, but holy shit, it was even more infuriating, knowing that the only company she DID have was this goddamn overpowered midget troll.

Shinobu could swear that Saita was laughing at her as she ascended once more.

---

Akatsuki Academy’s main hall was as daunting as she had imagined, and Shinobu fought against her instinct to shrink into the background as Reiko continued to make her speech, appearing as if she was playing the good cop bad cop routine all by herself. It almost made the little girl smile, before she realized that, no, she should be keeping a serious, straight face. Ultimately, she was rather glad that the teachers would be assigning students in teams, instead of allowing students to choose themselves. God knows how terrible it’d be if she was the last pick, the scrawny one in a litter of failures that no one wanted on their team.

Or an even more tragic scenario, in which Dana picks her off the side of the road, and Shinobu would actually have to somehow WORK alongside that irritating midget. She shivered at the thought, before cringing even more when, suddenly, the Instructor grabbed one of the loud-mouthed students by the balls and crushed it. Though Shinobu didn’t have balls of her own, she could feel her crotch instinctively tighten, as the unfortunate student sorta just keeled over.

Ouch. It didn’t actually break, did it? Cause if it did, wouldn’t that be really bad for the Instructor as well?

After that particularly…uncomfortable incident, as well as the groan-worthy and totally inappropriate puns that spewed like sewage from the red-haired demonness’s mouth afterwards, Shinobu finally got more information that she could chew on. Doing the best to commit the directions to memory, she didn’t spare a single thought on who occupied the highest floors, instead deciding to think positively. If she was on the bottom floor it’d be much easier to get out of the dorms in the morning, right? So it was a good thing that she was trash, right?

Right!

…

Fuck, she was pathetic.

Well, for the time being, Shinobu received her guidebook, map, and badge, before heading off towards the cafeteria. She was hungry, after all, and now that the sugar had completely worn off, she really needed coffee and meat. Her team can wait. It’s not like they’re going anywhere, after all.

With that, she marched off, ready to fill her mouth with whatever meals were provided by the Academy.