She ran up, bugs flying off her heels, grabbed Rosaleen's hand and pulled, "Hurry! Come on! We need to leave. NOW! We-we're, uh, gonna miss orientation! Let's go!"

Rosa blinked for a moment at the sudden rush before feeling her body being yanked away. There was a slight blush on her cheeks though and she silently admitted to herself that she really enjoyed the sound of the woman's voice - she adored accents. Trying to catch up with Rhian, she pointed to the right of where they were heading. "I think that way.." she replied, glancing back and then to Rhian for a moment.

Her gaze was torn though as she heard the squealing of some creature and then a man yelling after them. Rose pursed her lips and smiled slightly as she heard the frantic question of their pursuer. She honestly had no clue why Rhian was in a rush - she doubted it was because the woman wanted to miss the first day, even though Rosa herself was a tad worried about that. However a funny thought did occur to her. 'Maybe because Rhian hates men?' She smirked amusingly for a moment before yelling back as the man clearly came into sight by now.

"We're trying to make it to orientation!" Despite calling back, Rosa was perfectly happy letting the cute Irish punk lead her by the hand, a soft glow on her cheeks. Though she wondered what might happen after they reached the school. The woman didn't seem particularly keen before feeling frantic - maybe it was the creature she heard screaming before. Well, she might as well enjoy the pseudo-dream for just a little while longer before the punk girl realized they were still holding hands.

"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The sound shrouded the cicada's chattering for a moment as Rhian ran. What the hell was THAT? Rhian didn't want to find out. The girl was running too slow. The cicada-- or whatever that was-- was going to catch them. What was she doing? Was she distracted by something or--

"Ey why you runnin'?! Ain't gonna do nuthin' to ya, was just chillin' up the trees!"

Suddenly realizing the buzzing had stopped, Rhian slowed down and turned, still holding Rose's hand in a vice-grip. She stared for a moment-- piecing together what had just happened. She looked at the ground. She looked up at the trees. She looked at her hand.

"Tch-!" she withdrew her hand sharply, wiping it off on her shorts.

This guy... he was....

"You were sitting up there this whole time?!" she grilled, "What are you? Some kind of creep?" She squeezed her coat shut over her chest and crossed her arms angrily.

Holy fuck! I haven't even reached the school yet and I'm already having to put up with shit like this. Rhian stared at the boy-- awaiting an answer. Her face slightly flushed as her mind ran away with all the different reasons he could have been sitting up in that tree above her.

Watching her.

Yuck.

Donovan stepped quietly through the newly whitened mist, checking occasionally to see that the nerd was still behind him. Only an idiot would have gotten lost, considering the fact that Donovan currently had two glaring lights on his person. Donovan didn't put it beneath the guy. However, those lights, as much as Donovan found them to be a comfort, were going to be a dead giveaway if left unchecked. He glanced back at Nico.

"Jacket." Donovan said out of nowhere.

"Huh?" Nico looked up at the asswipe--quickly correcting his mental designation for the guy to "Donovan," the name he had overheard earlier.

Donovan scowled in annoyance.

"Give me your jacket, idiot. Are you deaf and stupid? I need to hide my chest, I'm a walking lighthouse here!"

"What?" the tone of Nico's voice hardened a bit at the sudden verbal jab, but he stopped himself from continuing, blinking confusion away from his own reaction. After a brief moment, he shook his head as if to clear something from his thoughts and nodded hesitantly at Donovan, shaking hands fumbling slowly over the brass buttons of his black jacket.

Donovan rolled his eyes and snatched the jacket right off the smaller teen. What kinda casual jacket had buttons these days? Isn't that what zippers were invented for? He inspected it for a second, thinking how he was going to cover both his hand and his chest with it. He briefly considered wearing it backwards, but Nico was such a shrimp that the sleeves would have probably only reached halfway down his forearms. In the end, he wrapped it around his glowing hand and covered his chest with it. He only needed one hand to punch anyway, no biggie.

As they walked, Nico's breathing grew more ragged and his gait more unsteady. He had followed Donovan's example of hiding the glowing sigil, though in his case Nico had simply covered the back of his left hand with his right hand. Thin rays of vermilion light still peeked out from the small gaps between his fingers, but that was the best he could do with just his hands.

Worried about the slivers of light, Nico tucked the thread he had been carrying into his pocket and tried tugging at the long sleeves of the white dress shirt once hidden beneath his jacket, managing to pull the starched cuffs further towards his fingers. This covered up the sigil a bit better and he sighed quietly in relief as he laid his right hand over the glow again, a looming wall of exhaustion threatening the back of his consciousness even as he did his utmost to focus on the task at hand. He couldn't fail this trial, but he was reaching his limit. A quick stumble that he recovered from told him he wouldn't last for much longer.

Donovan noticed Nico starting to lag behind. What, was this guy so weak that even walking around with low visibility would tire him out? No, this was an unnatural looking fatigue. He looked at the sigil on Nico's hand. It was still glowing strongly.

"What's keeping you?" he demanded.

"...Huh?" Nico replied, his normally quiet voice barely audible this time.

Donovan grabbed the boy by his wrist, and inspected his mark of magic. It seemed to be fading ever so gradually.

"If you're tired then you need to tell someone. This rune is draining you, right?"

Nico blinked at Donovan, not quite processing what he had just said for several seconds. Then his eyes widened and he jerked his wrist away from Donovan's hand with a gasp, a flash of fear running across his face before he murmured something mostly to himself, looking at the ground.

"I don't want to be useless."

The taller boy frowned. Obviously there was some tragic backstory behind that statement, considering this guy's general demeanour, but Donovan wasn't interested in that at the moment. He sighed and scowled even further.

"Turn that damn thing off." he commanded, indicating at the sigil. "We'll need to save it for the big guy."

He paused for a moment, unsure if he needed to add anything else. But Donovan Horska had never been the self-doubting type. So he let it out.

"And you're nowhere near useless. But you will be if you just pass out while we're trying to get to Varus."

Nico's frown matched the severity of Donovan's scowl as he heard the other boy's words. Donovan was completely right, but...

Wasn't he supposed to be the universe's number one douchebag...?

I hate him. Right?

You hate that you can't be him.

Turning away from Donovan to hide his thoughts, as if he was afraid the irritated stare could read his mind, Nico looked down at his left hand, almost glaring at it. Cowed into submission, the sigil flickered off.

Now examining Donovan's shoes, Nico gritted his teeth, trying to resist what came next.

Fucking unfair.

"Thank you," he said, voice lower than a whisper.

Donovan rolled his eyes and looked ahead, pretending that he didn't hear Nico's last comment. Now that his hand glow was taken care of, he tied the jacket around his neck and tucked it into his shirt, concealing the glow from his chest. It would probably dim after Nico removed his buffs but he didn't want to take any chances.

There were a lot of new factors to take in. Despite the moisture in the air, small fires had started appearing around the place, preceded only by the sound of some guy running around in panic. The need to go around the fires might throw them off course, so Donovan made sure to stay extra vigilant about their path to Varus. Hopefully the changing colour of the mist wouldn't give away their position too much. Soon enough, they had made their way to Varus. Donovan crouched, gestured to Nico to do the same. Shapes moved around in the fog, making it uncertain whether or not their target was actually in proximity. Then suddenly, a roar resounded through the air and two dark figures leapt at the one they suspected was Varus, confirming it for Don and Nico. Mikhail could be heard, spouting something about justice. Strange choice in distraction, but it probably did its job.

Clive's plan had executed relatively smoothly. Mikhail's distraction was the signal to charge and that was all that mattered as Nico watched Donovan prepare to rush in for the punch the moment the smaller boy indicated with a quick nod that he would activate his sigil on Varus.

Come on...stop him or something...

The sigil shone feebly on Nico's hand, not even appearing on Varus at first.

Fucking stop him.

The circles flared up, both on his right hand and on Varus's left hand and for a brief moment Nico almost grinned.

Then a wall of fatigue slammed into him with as much force as the panther girl had earlier, surpassing the adrenaline that had been keeping him afloat throughout the entire plan. Already leaning forward, Nico's legs gave way as he collapsed onto his stomach, focusing the last vestiges of his consciousness on keeping the sigil activated on Varus. It remained steady, draining the last of Nico's energy far faster than before. Something like his gut told him it was the distance from Varus.

We have to win.

Please.

I want to stay here.

Donovan wiped his mouth and grinned, ready to charge in for the group attack, when he spied Nico flat on the ground. Wha- What did he fucking tell the guy a few minutes earlier? He grabbed the smaller boy by the shoulders and held him in a sitting position.

"You're being real useless on the ground right now, buddy." he snarled.

"...Too far...can't..." Nico breathed out, the words barely forming on his lips. The edges of the world were fading into a terrifying black and he held his failing gaze on the red rings still gleaming on his left hand.

Fuck. Not ideal. Donovan lifted the guy, holding him in a rough bridal carry. Far out, even the weekly groceries felt heavier than him. If Varus regained his powers, they would all get wiped out in a second. Nico needed to be closer, right? With Nico in his arms, he started towards the melee before stopping himself.

Aw hell no, he wasn't going to carry this little shit all the way to a fistfight. For one thing, it would place both of them in a vulnerable spot with little mobility. Secondly, Donovan Horska was no packhorse. He had a fucking reputation to uphold. He wasn't going to let his first day impressions be tainted by him carrying a wimp around (not that it wasn't already ruined by him getting jumped by a panther). He contemplated his course of action while adjusting Nico in his arms. Damn, did this guy eat properly? He was so bloody ...light. Oho, he was very light.

Donovan flashed a content smile, as gentle as Mother Theresa's and as horrifying as the Devil's.

"Say Nico, do you remember what I promised you at the entrance?" he beamed, "Your nose might be safe if you perform the right procedures. Head between your knees and all that. You did mess with my powers again after all."

Without further explanation, Donovan took a running start towards the battle, before hurling the weight in his arms towards Varus with a grunt of exertion that doubled as a battle cry.

Nico had only just wrapped his exhausted mind around the fact that Donovan had decided to carry him to Varus when he heard Donovan mention the threat to break his nose. Confused, he tried to gather the extra breath to speak again when a sudden shout from Donovan preluded a horrifying sensation of lift and wind.

I hate this guy.

Only sheer weariness kept him from screaming in terror as he realized Donovan had fucking thrown him at Varus.

The dumbest part of him noted that at least it relieved the spell's strain as Varus's face now came closer with every passing millisecond and the glow from his sigil increased in direct proportion.

Donovan watched for a second, marvelling at his own genius before joining the fray. Nico couldn't possibly blame him for anything. He was just lending the guy a chance to show off his powers after all. Donovan mentally saluted him.

Your sacrifice shall not be in vain, Glasses.

He rolled his shoulders before running in and launching his own magical barrage of power, this time trying to induce an apathy into Varus that would hopefully incapacitate him. And just for good measure he decided to take a swing at Varus too, while he was still distracted by Nico's...entrance.

"All right people, get in there!" he hollered.

@Scio

"Well, here we are at scenic Mount Fuji."

Sure enough, there it was. The path snaked upwards through the forest in a vaguely threatening fashion, like the trail of some great and terrible lizard. The edges of the path were dotted with jagged deposits of glossy black stone which, for normal people, would be at the perfect height to cut up an ankle or two. The few existent patches of grass along the side of the road were the color of pitch, and a number of the trees had scars and warping reminiscent of screaming, pained faces. It was the sort of path where you'd expect some kind of spooky old guy to limp out from behind a boulder and say "ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER THIS BLIGHTED LAND!". The place had an atmosphere more foreboding than a Waffle House at 2 AM.

Pochi barked furiously, as if to say, "We should turn back, this mountain reeks of evil and corruption! Nothing good can come from such a place!"

Sadly for the both of them, Layla could not speak dog. Honestly, even if she did, the next path up was over a mile from here and walking was stupid.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it. You're hungry, right? Think I got some leftover rations in here..."

Layle reached into a slot on the side of her shoebox, withdrawing half a strip of beef jerky. She broke off a corner for herself and fed the rest to Pochi, whose canine brain was instantly overloaded with the promise of food and forgot all about the foreboding atmosphere. All in all, it was very pleasant. The pair rested in the shade for a short while, confident that they were making pretty good time.

"...I'm gonna have to haul dog food all the way up this mountain, aren't I?", Layla mumbled, "Aw man, that's gonna suck. You think I can rent a golf cart or something? Maybe a wagon."

Pochi barked.

"Oh, right, you're a dog. Anyway, guess we'd better get a move on."

A whine, this time.

"Don't worry, I'll walk by myself for a while."

The pair continued on their journey.

Rosaleen pursed her lips in a slight huff as the other woman pulled her hand away in almost disgust. 'Okay then.. that was short lived.' Not that Rosa really expected anything to happen anyways - nothing ever did after all. Either people were put off by her personality quirks, her unstable magic, or more often than not, both. She figured both of her current 'companions' would soon discover a way to dislike her and distance themselves, no matter how friendly they were or how unfriendly. A simple sigh escaped Rose's lips as she briefly revisited her past.

"I don't think he meant to be a creep... though he kind of was being, huh?" she mused out loud to herself, glancing between the two. She had to admit, it was a bit creepy with a guy just sitting up in a tree and not saying anything until they were leaving. Though she had a feeling that he hadn't meant it that way, but there was no telling until he replied. Instead, Rosa just stood where Rhian had left her, biting her lower lip in thought.

Alex Kaplan

Interacting with: Alais Méténier
@Nanashi Ninanai

---

---

"A-aah! I-I mean...I'm Alice. It's...nice to meet you, Alex."

Alex raised an eye brow, caught off guard by her sttuttering. He waited until she collected herself, staying quiet until the awkward girl started talking again.

"Err...say, could you perhaps lead us to rush towards Varus' direction? I think I have an idea, but that'd require you and me to be close to him...

And well, I need you or someone you know to either throw me or my jacket high enough above. U-uh! I don't mean to push you around r-really, I just thinking that perhaps what I am planning can work."

Alex listened patiently before smiling again. He shifted his ability so that both his arms turned into steel, leaving his chest normal again. He lifted both of his arms confidently, showing her his magic.

"yeah, getting close should be easy. Plus, the fog is dissipating. Follow me please."

Alex gripped the small girl's hand daintily, due to the steel state they were in and lead her to Varus' loud voice. With the fog disappearing, he could make out his instructors shape soon enough. Stopping, he turned back to Alice.

"So... What's your plan exactly?"

Mikhail Suburov-Tachibana

"AUGH!" Mikhail screamed as Donovan threw Nico at Varus, barely noticing that the calming aura had faded. "Why, I ought to -"

But when the boy began his charge, it was still at Varus, not Donovan, and Mikhail was crying out, his aura flaring:

"Nico! Nico!" He would notice the others rushing at Varus, the others making their own attacks, but only enough to get out of their way, find his own empty spot, which would ideally be on Varus' front. He would then crouch down, and, with a fist that glowed with magically-resistant energies, try to punch Varus in the stomach, investing as much power as he could.

I am Mikhail Suburov-Tachibana, my power may not be the most impressive, but it's the best bet against yours! It was the best bet because it can resist direct magical attacks like Varus seemed to favor, heck, it can even resist the fires being lit all around the place...

@January@KOgaming@Ayemdar@Nanashi Ninanai@Scio@banjoanjo@hagroden@RoflsMazoy

Visibility had improved considerably as the thick fog turned into the less-obstructing mist. Finally something lining up with common sense. Alice saw how some people in the distance was seemingly grouping together to attack Varus, and she also saw the guy that was spreading fire everywhere, getting chased around by the gaskmask person. The situation was becoming more favorable. Perhaps she could start actually doing something this time.

"yeah, getting close should be easy. Plus, the fog is dissipating. Follow me please."

Without resisting, she let herself be dragged away by Alex's firm grip. It was blissful, but she had to focus herself on figuring out what should she do now. It wasn't that clear, but perhaps she could try pulling Varus' legs to the ground using her portals? From this distance, she seemed to be capable of doing that. She didn't doubt by a bit that Varus would probably dodge it, but perhaps...well it's either her acting as distraction, or those people ends up being the distraction.

Granted, she had little interest just being a supporter here.

"So... What's your plan exactly?"

"Hm...gotcha, I think I've figured it out. First thing first, I'll create a portal underneath him in the midst of this confusion. It would be small enough for his legs to fit in, just a way to disorient him and screw over his mobility. Then, I'll..."

Alice paused for a bit. She realized that her internal confidence was leaking into her speech and removing the trace of the shyness that she's trying to maintain. Though, perhaps it wasn't really that important for now. She doubted that Alex would find her odd anyway even due to that. She's sure that his route would still be available. Letting out a sigh, she took off both her jacket and her cardigan. The other group had launched their attack. And so, Alice decided that it would be the best time to do what she had in mind. She touched Alex's clothing, and designated the entrance to be on her cardigan. She also got one of the pages she tore off from the notebook to cover her fists, holding it a bit awkwardly while she carried the rest on her left hand.

"Alright, I think, rather than doing something too reckless like asking you to throw my jacket up high and attacking that guy with a complicated maneuver, we'll combo off each other instead. I'll do what I said earlier, and I'll get you to get close to Varus from a place he wouldn't expect. I'll follow up with my own thing after you go there, and you can do your thing there too.

Anything you might want to add to this plan? We have little under three minutes before the portal collapse, so let's do this fast."

After waiting a bit for Alex, Alice prepared herself to execute her plan, and made the hole she promised to make on the ground near here, with the exit being just underneath Varus' legs. She saw that guy over there had...wait did he just throw Nico? That's unaccepta- Alright, Alice admitted that it was actually pretty hilarious, but she couldn't afford to be distracted now. Varus might notice her from this distance, and she needed as much opportunities as she could to sucker punch him. With the leg portal done, she made another portal by touching the ground near Alex with the exit being...uh, there should be someone that she could, ah screw it, she made the exit to be on the ground a bit behind Varus, the furthest she could make a portal.

Alright, that should be a good start. She had made seven out of twelve portals she could make per day so far, and it's tiring her out already. Her chances wasn't really that bad so far. Though, she felt that perhaps she would be pushed to use the rest of the five sooner or later. After all, a heroine would need to be pushed into the brink to shine at her brightest, right?

@BassDropp

"What, you never slept up a tree? You too good for skipping school and climbing up trees?!" Rey yelled back, spreading his arms out in a quasi come-at-me-bro pose and looking clearly surprised someone would consider climbing up trees, sleeping or skipping school something a creep would do. He had been taking a nap up there, content to not go to some crazy japanese reformatory all the way over in Mount Phoogee and enjoying life away from the less savory parts of big cities when a very veyr loud buzzing sound not unlike a saw stirred him into action. You learn to pay real close attention to any odd noise if you live in certain places.

"Esto es una mierda, y a esta que carajo le pasa" he muttered under his breath, rubbing some more cicada juice off his boots and into the dirt before waving both girls off. "Whatever man! You go to that weird as crap juvie if you want! Just don't tell 'em I'm here!". And with that Rey shrugged, considered the matter settled and turned to climb back up a tree, digging his fingers hard into a couple places he thought would make for good grips and kicking about the trunk, testing his footing.

@lydyn @Baklava

@Baklava@lydyn@Zero Hex@Thecrash20

Every time children, from all across the world, headed to Four Winds, a select few always managed to get lost along the way. This wasn't much of a surprise given the location of the academy. This occurred more frequently than one would think, forcing the academy's management to deal with this issue. Sadly, not much attention was directed towards the addressing of the problem since the paperwork required to alter the landscape and ambient magical energy of Mt. Fuji, was probably as tall as it was. So instead, they opted for a simpler solution.

As Rey, Rhian, and Rosa continued "getting to know each other." The eerie silence shrouded the forest, was suddenly broken.

In Japan, owls were considered to be symbols of good luck; did this mean that they were going the right way? However, encountering one in the wild, was quite a rarity.

Soon, the hooting of several other owls filled the forest.

One by one, they appeared circling above the three, slowly moving in closer, creating a cacophony that was nothing but annoying. This was definitely strange, but to add to the confusion, for some reason, all the owls were somewhat...pink.

Rhian rolled her eyes as the guy threw up his arms and shouted back at her. Ohhh, he was SLEEPING in the tree. Right-- as if she was going to be stupid enough to believe that. This Rose-chick gave the boy too much credit-- coincidences like this didn't exist. In any case, what annoyed her the most about the Macho Tarzan Cowboy Kid was his prerogative to stay out here in the woods and not go to the school at all; a luxury she was vehemently envious of.

"Why even come all the way out here if you're just gonna loiter around in the woods?" she griped under her breath, turning around and flipping her ponytail irritably. She decided she was going to tell the first member of faculty she ran into all about this creep in the woods. If she was going to be forced to go to Four Winds, so was he. Kicking the bugs off her boots again, she motioned for Rose to keep leading the way.

"Come on," she muttered halfheartedly. "Let's--"

That's when the owls attacked.

Well, they weren't really attacking so much as flying around above them and being obnoxiously loud. After pushing back her initial concern of being pooped on, she glanced between Rose and Tarzan. These weren't normal owls.

"Who-- who--" she stammered a little, feeling like an owl herself as she realized she needed to adjust her volume in order to be heard.

"WHO'S DOING THAT?"

Alex Kaplan

Interacting with: Alais Méténier and Varus
@Nanashi Ninanai @Scio

---

---

Alex's eyes narrowed as Alice began to confidently explain her plan. He was slightly caught off guard by how fast she seemed to change her demeanor. She had gone from a shy school-girl persona to that of a confident one. Maybe she was just really good at making tactical plans? Kaplan also noted that groups were beginning to gang up on Varus, an attack from the back would probably be the best route, given all the confusion going around him. He had asked for a bunch of magic users to impress him, hopefully they were doing just that.

It looked like the unlikely duo of the wimpy kid and the guy who was bullying him earlier had teamed up. At the moment it looked like the bully was... Throwing the other kid? He wasn't sure what type of attack that was but the bigger guy rushed in afterwards and started fighting Varus in hand to hand. An attack from behind would probably be overwhelming. Varus only had to hands, there was only so much he could do against two opponents. Hopefully the guy with the orange looking hair didn't get his ass handed to him by the time Alex got there. Kaplan also made a mental note to help up the smaller kid after the trial, he had already been beaten that day he didn't deserve to be thrown at their instructor, poor guy.

"Anything you might want to add to this plan? We have little under three minutes before the portal collapse, so let's do this fast."

Alex observed Varus for a moment longer before nodding his head. "Sounds good, I'll try to make it quick then. If you have anything else planned I should be able to distract him for a while. I'm not sure how strong he is in combat but I'm assuming he'll probably beat my ass easily enough seeing as he is our combat instructor of sorts. I'm just going to try and hold my own for as long as possible. That should be enough to impress him right?"

Without waiting for a response, Alexander slipped through the portal entrance, and in a flash he was behind Varus. Alex activated his magic and both arms were once again transformed into steel. He moved quick, running up behind his instructor with surprising speed. At the last second he leaped into the air, aiming a flying punch to the back of the man's head. He threw his whole weight into the blow, his magic enhancing his strength.

Was that impressive enough for you?

The final seconds before the two would execute their own plans to impress Varus, and it was hard for Alice to not feel a tiny bit of anxiety on that last moment. Would her plan even succeed? Did she make too much preparations without being sure yet on what she's supposed to do, or did she make too little? Most of her plan relied on other people right now, and in the end it boiled down to the ever-simple "use the situation the best that she could to find a way to make a sucker punch look special."

Well, even then though, it's not like she'd do anything other than moving forward right now. And Alex was eager to move forward too, so of course she couldn't get herself outstaged by him. After all, it's also important to impress him too, right? Alice nodded at Alex's question on whether it should be enough for now to show him her opinion, but however he was already rushing towards the portal when she did that. She let out a bit of a sigh, before focusing back on what she's supposed to be doing now.

There were just way too many possibilities! Too many places she could make a portal of, and while only a few places would allow her to do this effectively, it's not like they're actually showing which place was which. To not double-up on where Alex come from, even if his portal was still up for a few more moments, Alice made another one near her that connected her to around a bit on Varus' side. And with little regard, she ran towards Varus as everyone else converged on him.

The first thing she did once she went close was to throw her jacket towards Varus' head in the hope of it managing to cover his head as yet another distraction. Wait, wait no, that was not supposed to happen! Alice started to panic, she accidentally threw her cardigan instead that she was meant to use as a backup surprise plan, and the Window there would mean that it's possible for Varus' head to dangle oddly on-

Oh well.

She continued with her attack. She opened a portal near her, and since the fire from the person earlier was still widespread enough, she encased her paper covered palm using those fire, before she continued her rush towards Varus with her flaming fist. It hurt like hell and it's not like it's making her puny punch any more effective, but for Alice a flaming fist sure looked pretty impressive. If the punch hit his body, she would follow it soon by opening another portal on contact, connecting Varus' clothes with one of the places that were still on fire nearby.

Whatever the result of the punch was, Alice wasn't satisfied yet. While knowing that doing what she's going to do would be a pretty bad idea in the middle of Varus getting attacked by more than three other people now, Alice made a portal underneath her, and the window opened on Varus' abdomen area of his shirt. Using any free hand she could get to prevent herself from fully sinking in, guided by her sight, she bent her legs, and aimed a rush of kicks with both legs towards his kneecaps. Granted, it wouldn't really look that impressive due to the awkward angle.

And then, for the grand-

"...Damn it!"

She was going to finish it up by making one last portal using her jacket then throwing it into the air as she entered it from the other side for a finale of an aerial attack, but a simple miscalculation was made: she was a bit too tangled now in her portals to do that. Despite of that though, she refused to be stuck in her currently defenseless situation, and chose to fully sink in into the portal under her and fully emerging from Varus' abdomen, trying her best to not being caught in the others' attack.

At this point, there was only one thing she could do. As she was not in a position to make another portal, she realized that there was only one weak point she could attack...

"Take thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!"

Yelling at the top of her lungs to hide the embarrassment from what she's going to do, Alice did an uppercut from her crouching position. There was only one target in her mind. Just imagining that vulnerable spot between the legs made her face redder, but she went on with the attack anyway.

Well...after all a part of being a heroine in this kind of setting would be to end up in an awkward position, right? And so, her fist continued its way towards Varus' dignity, with the power of the wishes of a thousand shut-ins behind the punch. Or perhaps, only one. Alice closed her eyes. She would never live this down, wouldn't she?

@Scio@BassDropp

Gale stared forward at the path in front of him. Nothing but trees and a path that gently sloped upwards. To his left was a cliff and to his right was a nice view of the surrounding area, though it didn't do much good for him now. He wasn't entirely sure, but he thought that he'd been here before. The path looked somewhat similar to one he'd been on half an hour ago, but then again, everywhere looked kind of the same.

Gale Stood and stared at a tree nearby. He thought he recognized its bark pattern a little bit and surmised that perhaps he had indeed been here before, before noticing that it had too few branches.
"Guess that means I'm lost." Gale said casually to no one in particular.

But that was the least of his worries.

Gale glanced backwards at the direction he came before turning to his right.
"If I want to get to the top then I should go up, right?" Gale said, a tad too loud to be talking to himself.
He paced up to the cliff and jumped up, grabbing a handhold on the rock face. The cliff was pretty short as the path ahead simply looped back around and kept going up. As Gale climbed the cliff he looked back to the trees, scanning their branches as if looking for something. The trees were remarkably empty, like they had been for quite some time. Gale frowned and turned back to continue flying. Perhaps he was just being a little too paranoid, but ever since he climbed up Mt Fuji, he felt like he was being watched by something. Gale climbed to the top of the cliff and glanced behind him at the trees below, and he saw something he was looking out for.

Something pink.

Ever since he'd begun climbing Mt Fuji, he'd felt like he was being watched. A little while into the climb, he'd caught sight of his avian watcher for just a second. A strange pink owl apparently had been following him the whole time. Over the next hour he'd seen it a few more times, and Gale was starting to be discomforted by it. Animals normally stayed away from Gale, and if he ever learned anything in school (which he didn't really) it was that when someone went against their habit, they were up to something.
Weren't owls nocturnal anyway?

Gale frowned at the pink bird and turned back, continuing up the path to Mt Fuji. He had no idea why the owl was following him or why it was pink, but Four Winds academy was reputedly a strange place. A shame that it was a strange place 12000 feet above the ground, because he was making very little progress.
"How high up does this mountain go?" Gale muttered as he trudged up the slope.

The trip had been a grueling one, especially for someone who didn't speak Japanese. Through false starts and misunderstandings it'd taken him a long time to get to where he was, and he was starting to miss the company of people who understood him. That'd been very few people to begin with, but he missed them all the same. He'd started getting into his own back in his old school, he'd settled down in his place and people were beginning to warm up to him. But he couldn't go back now. It was water under the bridge, as his father had said, so all he could do was keep moving. He'd get a new life, maybe, some new friends, if he ever got to the legendary 4 winds academy. That was what he hoped, at least.

As Gale turned a corner he glanced back to see if the pink bird was still following him. And indeed it was, only now there was 2 of them.He turned back around, only for a girl to suddenly appear in his path.
"Oh, sorry-" Gale began, taking a few steps back before noticing the figures in the trees.
There were many, many pink owls, and the two behind him soon turned the corner to follow their brethren. They landed on a nearby branch, their eyes focused on Gale. On his arrival, several pairs of owl eyes turned to his direction.

"...That's a lot of birds." Gale said.

@January@GreenGoat@Riffus Maximus@RoflsMazoy@Mercurial@Masaki Haruna@KOgaming@banjoanjo@Nanashi Ninanai@hagroden@hagroden@Letter Bee@BassDropp

It had been a few minutes since the black fog had thickened and spread across the field, but the only things that Varus had noticed, aside from the fluctuating magical energies, were eerie glows scattered all over the area along with a significant amount of noise. Neither did anything to rid him of the boredom that had already came over him.

Despite the sound of footsteps approaching him from various directions, Varus couldn't help but cover his mouth as he let out a lengthy yawn. Most were at the peak of what could only described as a combination of anxiety coupled with feelings of excitement and thrill. The auburn-haired instructor on the other hand, had deemed the entire trial dull at this point.

With his vision still obscured, idle thoughts soon drifted in his mind, his attention slowly heading off to elsewhere.

"I wonder what they made for breakfast." he wondered. A few hours had passed since he had gotten out of bed; it was about time he had something to eat.

Before Varus could decide what he was going to have or had made, his focus returned as the darkness that had enveloped them had reverted back to its previous color; he was a bit surprised with what he had seen. He was surrounded with blurry figures and silhouettes coupled with various lights; he knew that they were approaching him, but he didn't expect them to already been this close.

"Damn, I guess I'm getting a bit rusty." Varus thought as he began counting exactly how many he had to deal with. A faint pulse of magic rippled from where he stood, and in an instant, he knew the location of those that near him.

"Nah, false alarm." An arrogant smirk had suddenly appeared on his face.

Akasha sneaked around Varus until she reached his back, then roared a call at the top of her lungs soon before aiming for instructor's pants. She was hoping to pin him down, allowing Nihiri to strike. Unfortunately, her pounce met nothing but fog. She had realized where he had went after hearing a boom from right above her. Before she could even look up, Varus came crashing down on her. Gripping Akasha's neck, she was left helpless as she was pinned down to the ground by Varus. The amount of strength he was displaying was probably something the young amazon didn't expect.

"No wonder that beastly presence felt so familiar." he said with his grin still remaining.

A clawed hand clenched into a fist suddenly came crashing down behind Varus, but despite the force that was accompanied the blow, the red-haired man simply caught Nihiri by the forearm, immediately stopping his attack. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down, buddy."

Nihiri was caught off guard. He wasn't sure what was more surprising, Varus receiving his attack like it was nothing, or the fact that he couldn't break free from the man's grip. Either way, it was clear that he was definitely impressed. He was amazed at Varus's strength and proud that someone had easily overpowered him.

Among the group, Varus came to the conclusion that, in terms of strength and speed, Akasha and Nihiri were a notch above the rest. As much as he wanted to idly chat with the two, someone had decided to make his presence known.

"Hello, Mr. Instructor, Panther Girl, Darkness-Arm Boy! Sorry to interrupt, but I have a few questions to ask!"

The grin on Varus' face had vanished and was replaced by a look of genuine confusion. "Was this guy serious?"

"How many of the people you trained ended up being mass murderers, thieves and other types of criminal?! How do we make sure that the same thing won't happen to us?! Does Four Winds really teach anything resembling responsibility?! It seems you're just toying with the student body!"

Despite Mikhail's ramblings, there was only a single thought that was in Varus' mind. "Man, how can someone talk so fast? Magic?"

"The fog is clearing! Rank upon rank of outraged students are organizing for their counterattack! Flames are spreading! Tell me, Mr. Varus, how can you manage this sort of chaos?! Sins hang over you like a veil! The people you've trained who ended up adbicating their responsibilities, you had your own part in shaping them! Judgement will come upon you!"

Varus was shocked; he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He's not stopping. And how'd he get even faster?!"

Stupefied and distracted, Varus had loosened his grip on both Nihiri and Akasha, allowing them to break free from his grasp. They had distanced themselves from their instructor as the fog slowly dissipated and thinly dispersed while a portal out of nowhere had appeared in front of them; coming through it was Alex clad in steel, charging at Varus at full speed. If things turned out the way he wanted, a simple sucker punch would secure him a spot at Four Winds.

The perplexed look on his face soon contorted into a massive smile. Instead of blocking Mikhail's fist, he simply wrapped him around his arms as he finally saw everything else that was going on around him. Embers everywhere, a scrawny young man flying at him, a few others a charging towards him, and one other student who running in circles; apparently he was set on fire.

That was it; Varus couldn't contain it anymore. He suddenly began laughing out loud. Overjoyed by how ridiculous this whole thing had turned out, Varus payed little attention to the sigil that appeared over his left hand.

A crimson aura had suddenly covered Varus' entire body. This was a manifestation of the magic he utilized, Explosia. A straight-forward ability that allowed him to create explosions within whatever distance he's capable of controlling his magical energy. Usually, this was influenced by his emotions and when overwhelmed with anything that sets him in good spirits, causes his power to swell. It was unfortunate that he had heedlessly released it.

A massive explosion much larger than the previous one appeared out of nowhere, scorching the earth and leaving a cloud of its wake.

"Oops."

That was the only thing Varus could say as the dust, debris, and fog settled and fell to the ground. What caused him to lose what little focus he already had, was him getting forced to take a knee as a portal had manifested below him, consuming most of his right leg. The aftermath of Varus' little slip up revealed most of the students, who were relatively far from him, were rendered left lying flat on their bottoms. Those who were close enough received the brunt of the explosion. Alex was flung backwards, hitting both Akasha and Nihiri, forcing all three to the ground. The same thing happened to Nico as he was tossed back towards Donovan, causing the two to fall luckless Alice. Mikhail on the other hand, was still around Varus' embrace, unconscious and worse for wear.

Despite how grave the situation had looked, Varus couldn't help but feel satisfied with their morning activity. He got to know and messed with the students; for him, that was the best way to start the day.

Despite being roughed up, each one of them, at least those who were still awake, couldn't help but notice the thin layer of flickering translucent energy that lined their bodies. This was probably what had protected them from what had just happened. Despite the fatigue and aching that was slowly overwhelmed them, they were left without any visible wounds or injuries.

It was difficult to actually comprehend the specifics of what just took place. It was messy, chaotic, and most of which happened in the "dark". However, one thing was clear; It was probably Varus' win. He was the only one left standing. At least, that's what most had thought. Slowly creeping up from the ground, one student began dusting all the dirt off her body. Aside from looking worse for wear, she was definitely still in top condition. With everyone else practically out of commission, it was Valechka's turn to shine. With her paws drawn out, it was clear that she was ready to rumble.

With a raised eyebrow, a hint of awkwardness, and an unconscious Mikhail still in his arms, Varus just stared at the Russian girl. Varus just wanted to mess with the new students, not duke it out with someone who was still so inexperienced; that wouldn't be fun.

"Hmmmm. I'm out." said Varus as he raised both his arms up in the air, causing Mikhail to just fall to the ground. He walked over the unconscious young man and moved forward towards Valechka. "I'm kinda hungry, so I guess you could call this your win. You know, since you're the only one who's still kinda good.". He patted the bear girl's head thrice before heading back to the academy. With his back turned, he left the group of students with some parting words.

"Good job, the lot of you. Nice hustle.".

After much time spent panicking, Enver finally did whatever obscure thing it was he needed to do to turn off his flames. He appeared to be unharmed. He sighed one great sigh of relief. Then he realised he had spent the whole time spreading fire around. He turned around, expecting to see a field of flame, and instead found a gas mask wearing girl extinguishing his fires. "Well hello there." He said. "Didn't realise I had my own personal fire extinguisher." He knew the girl was probably just trying to stop the fire, but it wasn't going to stop him from making a joke.

What would stop him from cracking wise for a moment was the explosion that ripped through the area, knocking Enver and many others over. At first, Enver thought it hit him so hard it was making him see shit, because he could see a shimmery aura in his vision. But then, he started to wonder if this wasn't some magical mumbo jumbo, considering it seemed to be covering everyone in the same way. Whatever happened, it looked like ginger teacher was the center of it all. He told the only person left standing, some odd looking bear girl, that she had "won". Did that mean they had all lost? Teach didn't even stay around to explain, just up and left, saying they all did a good job. Enver didn't remember doing a good job, unless setting fire to parts of the field was impressive enough.

"So, uh, are we all expelled?" He said, trying to get back on his feet. His question was technically directed at Junko, but he knew she probably didn't have an answer. He was just voicing his confusion out loud. What the heck else were they supposed to do?

@GreenGoat

The plan had de-railed excellently. If they said no plan survives first contact with the enemy, then you could probably call this a re-definement. None of their plan survived first contact with the explosion. Maybe he should've been sadder about the failure of the plan, but he sort of wasn't. Normally he was the kind of guy that got sad like that, even though outwardly he always acted infallible.

Ah, that gas mask is pretty cool... @GreenGoat

Yeah actually, he was only thinking about Junko.

Gas mask and raincoat. Since she carried herself like she was wearing it out of necessity, it seemed like a natural fit. He felt like they were kind of similar in a way. She used her gas mask to hold her magic back, and the raincoat was part of the set. Clive used his sunglasses to conceal his magic, and his smiles were just a part of his set. There were only two differences between him and her, the first being Junko knew exactly how she felt about her power. Clive saw her relief when she discarded her gas mask, and a hint of resignation when she had put it back on.

Clive couldn't envy her position. He didn't even know if he could relate to her position, because of their second difference. Clive was hiding his magic because of his whims and his whims alone, while Junko wore the gas mask purely out of necessity. Sitting next to her now, he honestly felt like he didn't deserve to compare himself to her, when it seemed like she had a much heavier burden than he did, or at least, that's what he felt from the colors.

As close as it looked like it was, he wasn't a mind reader so he didn't know why she was who she was, and he felt like she wouldn't appreciate him asking. But there was always one last thing he could do, and coincidentally, it was probably the thing he did best. If he couldn't figure it out from anything he could see, he could just guess.

"So, uh, are we all expelled?" He said, trying to get back on his feet. His question was technically directed at Junko, but he knew she probably didn't have an answer. He was just voicing his confusion out loud. What the heck else were they supposed to do?

@GreenGoat

"I doubt he'd expell us, he's in a pretty good mood." Clive said to Enver(@Mercurial), standing up. He turned to Junko briefly, and then gently patted her head. "Let's go grab breakfast."

---

@GreenGoat@Mercurial

Rosaleen was glancing between the two before gently hopping after Rhian, who was urging her to continue leading the way. She was happy to assist, but the apparent swarm of PINK owls sort of distracted her. Of course the biggest distraction was the out of ordinary appearance of such a large group, but it was also partially due to the fact that pink was her favorite color. While she wanted to marvel at the pure awesomeness of the sight, it worried her just enough to give pause and clench her fist. Her eyes glanced again to the others and the new comer to the situation.

She suddenly felt a mixture of nervousness and caution. She wasn't sure if the pink owls meant a certain danger or distraction but at the same time, she was somewhat afraid of releasing any magical energy. She had been judged so many times before in her life - even by other magi. It was unstable and hard to control, even if she had learned to keep it from randomly exploding now. It was enough to make anyone scared and she didn't want to alienate people from her. Regardless, she opened her hand and summoned just a tad bit of energy, the tiny ball swirling like a hurricane in her hand. It wasn't enough to make her hand shake - yet, but it gave her enough of a head start to shoot one off at a moment's notice if need be. ".. maybe.. someone is helping lead us to the school? Or this is a test?.." She hadn't a clue. She was only guessing.

NICO LEHMANN

The explosion burst from Varus just as Nico was about to collide with the instructor, the force of the point-blank counter blasting him backwards and into Donovan, the red sigil disappearing in the process as Nico completely lost focus. On the bright side, he was somewhat figuring out how to turn his powers on and off. On the not-so-bright side, he had just been hit by a massive magical detonation.

The impact against Donovan knocked the wind out of Nico and elicited a gasping cough that should have been a shout of pain. The ringing in his ears and the blurriness of his vision soon faded to a muted buzzing in darkness as he found he couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. Amazed that he had somehow survived something so powerful, and wondering how much of it he had even managed to affect with his powers, Nico's last thoughts before the darkness swallowed up his consciousness was a calm realization that his glasses had been knocked off for the second damn time that day.

They're probably broken, too...

And then he was out cold.

@banjoanjo

All hell broke loose around Akasha just as she was about to dig into Varus’ pants with her sharp fangs. As if he had already felt the presence of the panther behind him, the animal’s prey simply made an incredible leap in the air, enough to dodge both the black panther and her partner. No, it was even more surreal than that. The instructor simply took hold of the animal’s neck to control her and simply stopped dead in his track the boy’s punch aimed at Varus’ head.

It was then Panther Akasha felt a mix of bestial rage and fear. She had never met someone so strong that could simply manhandle a beast and someone who could topple said beast as if they were nothing more than a pair of brats. Her anger could only grow further as the man kicking their asses so ungracefully simply tossed the two away in a pile further from him.

With her partner being on top of her, Akasha struggled to get the boy off her, and repay the instructor back in kind. However, before she could even manage to get out, she was greeted by yet another victim of the instructor. This time, a partially metal-covered man came crashing down on Team Claws. This only fueled her bestial rage even further, but despite her attempts to struggle, metal-man was simply too heavy for her to shake off. At this point, the black panther roared in rage and frustration.

Then came the crimson wave. Akasha’s eyes widened and cowered behind the metal guy on her as the instructor exploded in red energy in response to the attacks aimed at him. The result was catastrophic: every single one of the students were lying down from the shock of the blast. Surprisingly, the panther felt only numb, bewildered by having not sustained any injuries from such. She didn’t notice it at first, but a red-lining had appeared all around her and the others. She did not know what sorcery caused this, but she began to be too exhausted to think about that now.

With her pinned down under the metal colossus and starting to feel exhausted from struggling so much, the black panther relinquished on the idea of vengeance when she saw the instructor simply raising his arms nonchalantly and taking his leave.

Panthera had no longer a need to be for now, and soon gave back control to the young Amazonian, returning to her human body. The weight shifted slightly because of the shape-shifting, and Akasha would use that moment to get off from the body pile, before the metal man would crush the demon-clawed man underneath him, previously where the amazon were.

Somehow, even though she tried her best, she could not shake off that feeling of defeat she just experienced now. If there really are stronger people out there just like Varus, then that would mean that Akasha still had much to learn about her powers, and much training was still ahead of her in order to become more powerful. Yeah, that was something she could live with.

Just like that, her enthusiasm returned as she got up on her feet, still a bit wobbly. She raised her fist to the sky and shouted “Just you wait, you’ll be the one under a body pile one day!”