---

---

Jonathan stood and gave Freyja and Yuki a short bow. He was still reeling from the idea that Yuki could be a teacher - and that he was a 'lord' - was this really a guy? Or was this all just some sort of elaborate prank? He didn't put it past the Institute's staff to try to have some fun with that sort of thing, if the previous year was anything to go by. Still, best to introduce himself. He had been asked his name, after all. He would have extended his hand for a handshake, but basic hygiene told him that most people didn't appreciate that sort of thing when he had any amount of dried blood on his hands.

"Jonathan Walker. I've been here for roughly a year and a half, training under Professors Pavlov and Khan. I'm pleased to meet you, Professors Leden and Hisakawa."

Alexei Pavlov was, so far, one of his favorite teachers partially because he had the chance to go all-out while sparring. Habib Khan was until the end of last year his least favorite teacher, and thankfully, Khan had retired to return home to his family overseas. The man was very strict and very much into the 'textbook method' of teaching Alternate channelers. Hopefully Jonathan wouldn't need to take any more 'textbook' type Chanelling courses this year -- while he hated Khan's classes, Khan had successfully taught him the precise nature of his own power. Understanding one's power was the first step to learning how to use it, and now that that was over, Jonathan felt as though he were ready to move to more creative outlets for it.

Ryuuto had decided to wander off, no doubt to meet some of the less explosive students. To each their own. Jonathan stayed standing to get a better view of what was about to happen.

@Hammerman@Cu Chulainn

---

---

"Doesn't really matter how the school is hidden. Could be invisible, could be a magical fuckin' sky castle, could be underground. Hell, we could all just be having a really weird dream, courtesy of that creepy old man over there," Brock said, lazily rolling a coin about between his fingers. At 'old man', he jabbed a thumb towards Daler Ghumman, who was again fast asleep in his golf cart. Daler had been the one to retrieve him from the Chicago Corrections Department after his sentencing to probation and rehabilitation at the Institute. Brock had also caught the monotonous, borderline icy tone of Daisuke. Trey, from his old gang, was the same sort of guy. Didn't seem to like his intellect being insulted one bit. That little tidbit went down in his repertoire of ammunition.

"Either way, man," he continued, "doesn't matter how it works. They're not about to tell us and we'll see soon enough."

@Mercurial@blumenk@Cu Chulainn

"Ooooh, this must be about the language of flowers, right?" Sumiko looked the book over. It must have been either brand new or very well-taken care of, as it didn't look like it had even been opened once before now. The language of flowers wasn't a subject the energetic girl was too familiar with. She knew some of the basics, like how cherry blossoms meant kindness and gentleness, clovers were obviously luck, and cactus... well, the meaning of cactus flowers was really embarrassing but she still knew about it! Regardless, it was pretty interesting. It seemed like it would be fun to talk about, too!

"I don't know too much about that sort of thing, but it seems really interesting!" the brunette cheerily continued, giving the shy girl a bright grin as she did. Sumiko hoped she wasn't scaring the girl or anything like that, but she really did think that she looked like she needed someone to talk to! She just hoped that she hadn't come on too strongly and intimidated her, but it looked like everything was going fine!

"My name is Natsuki Sumiko, what's yours?"

@tipssyCalibrator

HANA

Hana gave a simple, meek nod in response to the girl's question, still having trouble even forming full sentences and not wanting to speak any more than was absolutely necessary. The girl then told Hana that her name was Sumiko and asked for Hana's. It took her a full three seconds before she could even get the sound out. "...H...Hana..." she finally replied in the same whispery voice. During the entire conversation, she was also not very good at keeping eye contact, her eyes usually looking down at the floor or at her hands, rarely ever looking Sumiko in the eye

@VitaVitaAR

Sumiko's smile broadened. She'd gotten the shy girl to introduce herself! Even if she still seemed pretty nervous, that was a step in the right direction! The purple-haired girl was just so adorable, too. She deserved to be smiling, and hopefully Sumiko could help her open up and smile! That was her ultimate goal, here. She was so shy and nervous, and it was kind of sad to see someone so cute look so lonely. Therefore, the best way to help her out was to become close friends.

"It's nice to meet you, Hana-san!" Sumiko cheerfully declared, "I hope we can get to know each other more and become good friends!"

@tipssyCalibrator

"Aaaaugh, my heaaad..."

From the tall weeds to one side of the field came the tortured moan of a man who'd had a long night. Some light rustling followed, with a few high clinks hinting at the presence of glass bottles. The rustling abruptly stopped as a blue helmet poked through the top of the veil of weeds.

Shakily, the helmet continued to rise. A muscular torso immediately followed the helmet, attached to it via a thick neck. Small red marks decorated the now-visible upper body of the helmeted man, likely a product of thorns somewhere in the weeds.

The helmet looked left, then right, then up, searching to get a bearing. Finally, the visor zeroed in on the motley group forming across the field from it, and the helmet and torso began to sway unsteadily through the weeds toward those gathered. As it reached the edge of the patch of weeds, a pair of legs, equal in build to the torso and likewise scratched, became visible. So did the pair of light blue boxers patterned with pink hearts that adorned them.

Fully revealed to the world, the shabbily dressed figure continued upon his path toward the group. He seemed to be slowly getting steadier upon his feet as he approached, but no improvement seemed imminent for his wardrobe.

HANA

Hana let out a small sigh as Sumiko made her goodbyes and walked away from her. Whew, the conversation was finally over. Not that she disliked Sumiko of course, she seemed like a very nice person. The stress was just getting to her was all. If Sumiko didn't leave when she did, Hana probably would've come up with an excuse for leaving and run away

---

Suddenly, while everyone was looking away, a beautiful woman was suddenly standing in front of the crowd. She had very fair features, long, black hair and was wearing a purple turtleneck sweater along with a very bright and sunny smile. No one would've seen where she came from, even those who were watching. "Hello everyone, may I please have your attention for a minute?" said the mysterious woman to the entire crowd in a warm, inviting, almost motherly voice

@Azereiah@Silver Carrot@MacDuffy@VitaVitaAR@Dragonsinc@Western Robot@Cu Chulainn@Dblade26@Hammerman@Mercurial@Yuuta@SaberClass4242@blumenk@clanjos@Sodium

@Yuuta@Mercurial

Terri looks up at Alexei, blinking a few times. She's obviously a little intimidated... but sheepishly sets one of her smaller bags on the ground. As she does, it's clear there's a lot of metal in that bag. She sets the heaviest bag down and... well, there's a little bit of zipper moved out of the way. It's just full of dresses, but it still kicks up a sizeable dustcloud and lands with a heavy "thud."

"Thanks, sir. Ah can carry 'em, it's just... alla this junk gits a lil' heavy affer a while. A girl kin only hol' so much."

She turns to Ryuto next, scratching the back of her head. She already looks a bit more energetic, having ditched the two heaviest bags.

"Eh, alla' that technologic mumbo jumbo kinda perplexes me... Never learned much 'bout computers on tha ranch. Oh! Ah'm Terri Bronco, and ayuh, this'll be mah first year here!"

She grins, takes his hand in an extremely firm grip, and shakes it with gusto.

@Azereiah@VitaVitaAR

"I think I'll take yo up on that offer, Daler. I'm sure Clarebelle would benefit too," Mako replied to Daler's offer, taking a brief moment to concentrate on thinking the sentence 'Thank you for extending a hand. I feel like I'm going to need some help with this one.'

@tipssyCalibrator

Mako then looked up. Her fellow teacher, and, in a way, friend, had arrived and had asked for everyone's attention. Finally, she'd be back in her office soon.

Mako and Asa's relationship began pretty much as soon as Mako first arrived. Back then, students would often get the two mixed up because at the time they had similar hairstyles, and the same warm motherly vibe. Mako, over time, had changed her hairstyle multiple times, relaxed into her position so she was no longer in 'teacher 101' mode but found her own unique methods and style, and had garnered her fearsome reputation as a teacher you don't even want to make lower her voice even once, as opposed to the drill sergeant shouting of an angry Aso on an almost daily basis. They occasionally had a friendly conversation in passing but had never met outside of school hours. Then again, Aso was a good girl, but once she clocked out, Mako liked to party, so maybe that was for the best.

---

Standing beside a butler, was, for her second year at the academy, Kasuke Mina, already dressed in her school uniform last year, hair styled pristine, not that she needed to look any more sickeningly beautiful. 'Finally', she thought to herself. 'How long were they going to keep me standing in the middle of a field?'

---

Ah, there he goes again, talking about his art club. He has always been quite obsessed with the arts, even when he was a student.

Freyja reminisced the days where she just started her role as a teacher in this academy. Yuki was just one of the students back then. She didn't get the chance to teach him seeing how he was, and is, a wavecaster, but he quickly became famous in the institute for being one of the brightest students in such a young age. When he graduated, he was only 14. At that age, she hadn't even started her education yet as she still lived in her village with her parents.

"Pleased to meet you too, Jonathan," she replied to the boy's introduction. "So you are Alexei's pupil? I was under the impression that you are a new student, since I never saw you before. Well, I do hope you become a good pupil to him. Even if he looks intimidating, he's really a warm-hearted person. He will be sad if you disbehave," she said with a light chuckle.

She then saw Ryuuto leaving to chat to another student. A girl, hmm? It would be nice if they were to get along. She had to sigh once more however when he opened the conversation with an advice for her to switch to e-books. Really, the boy needed more tact for sure.

"Ah, there she is. Finally, we're about to begin," she announced when Asa appeared. Loud enough so Jonathan could hear since he had been asking when the entrance ceremony would start.

@Azereiah

---

---

Daler fell out of his seat sideways when Mako sent a thought his way. It was like a damn megaphone in his ear. People always focused too hard on their first try, but that didn't stop it from being any less incredibly surprising and unpleasant. Daller irritably snapped a thought back at Mako.



When he'd pulled himself back upright, it hit him that he was being a grumpy jerk again, and he followed up with an apologetic and much softer voice. "...Sorry. Sunlight and waiting bother me, so I'm a little bit out of it right now. Could you please concentrate a bit less when you're talking to me?", he thought. He felt pretty bad about 'shouting' at the young woman. She didn't know any better -- it wasn't like there were any textbooks or articles on telepaths out there, after all. On a more cheerful note, it seemed that the event was finally starting up. Perhaps he'd be able to go back to his office for a calmer meeting soon.

@Silver Carrot

The world was spinning too fast.

Normally a man like Skyblue wouldn't be worried about the world spinning. After all, men had evolved to stay anchored to the spinning behemoth. No, this was something entirely new and menacing, and those kids over there needed to be saved. Skyblue ran as fast as he could - which, presently, was a shambling stumble - to warn them of the impending danger, not once wondering why none of them seemed to notice what would normally be quite obvious.

Closer and closer he drew, the miles of field between him and his quarry melting away before his blistering speed - in his still-sleep-ridden mind, at least. As he prepared to make the last final leap, a purple monstrosity suddenly showed up in his path! It was too late for him to correct his course, though, so he braced himself for impact.

As the final meters were crossed, the beast roared a warm invitation to do battle. Wait, 'warm'? queried Skyblue's addled mind moments before the final impact. The world shook, unable to continue its spinning under the sheer force of Skyblue colliding with the monster at a breathtaking quarter of a mile per hour. Stars flew before Skyblue's eyes, surely a sign of the monster's magical blasts flying past him harmlessly. He grappled the beast to prevent its escape - his hand settling onto the woman's shoulder for support - and felt a sudden sting - as sensation returned to his thorn-torn body.

Poison!

Skyblue had to get it out of his system. The longer it stayed, the more likely his doom - and then who would save those children? Warning sirens wailed in his ears as he forced himself to experience nausea. The world spun once more, but he wouldn't let go no matter how hard it tore him from the monster - his body bent forward with his hand still holding the woman in purple for support. And then, finally... Purification.

Skyblue heaved for a good five seconds straight as the foul substance that would have destroyed him poured from his mouth... and onto the feet of a woman. That's strange, he thought. What happened to the monster? He slowly righted himself, trying to make sense of what had just taken place, and idly used the cloth held in hand to wipe the last of the vile substance from his mask. Realization slowly dawned upon him as he looked up from the soiled purple cloth.

"Oh, shit."

@tipssyCalibrator

ASA

Asa, fully focused on addressing the new students, was interrupted by someone clumsily brushing into her side. This left Asa confused for about a second, but was able to address the situation relatively quickly and realized what was going on. Oh...it was that guy. Asa was very unfamiliar with Skyblue, but she had seen him around and heard rumors. He was...an odd one to say the least, and needless to say that this moment did not exactly dispell any of the things that had been said about him in the past. Asa decided that, even though she was a little bit annoyed at the...incident that just occurred, she was willing to forgive him for this and politely tell him t-

Then he puked on her shoes. ...Alright, that didn't exactly make things any better, but she was still willing to take the high road and look past it for now, considering she was in front of the new students. However, Asa then saw him reaching his arm out towards her shirt. Alright, even though Asa didn't know what he was attempting to do, she refused to let this fiasco go any farther. She immediately grabbed the man's hand and gave him a steely, cold glare. "Don't" she said simply under her breath, with all the motherly warmth completely gone from her voice and instead replaced with a cold, stern voice

@Sodium

---

Shinichi stood up. This woman had called everyone to attention. Shinich took a glance around the group. It didn't seem like anyone had really notice his cowering. It didn't even look like a real fight had broken out. There was just the big guy nursing an injury and the girl who had punched him still looking annoyed.

Shinichi took a moment to think about what he had done. This was supposed to be a school for channelers to learn to fight, and here he had gone acting terrified the moment someone else got in a fight! It was a good thing nobody had noticed him, or else everyone would have already dismissed him.

He looked back over to the staff member who had called out to everyone. She seemed busy with some weirdo, almost naked except for his underwear and a mask. Was the introduction actually starting?

Terri damn near dislocated Ryuuto's shoulder with her vigorous handshake, but Ryuuto didn't hold it against her. If anything, he should have expected it, given that she was strong enough to carry all that luggage on her own. He also had a bit of difficulty understanding her through her thick accent. "Ranch, eh? I guess you've got plenty of other things to worry about there, but you don't want the 21st century to leave you in the dust. You'd be surprised how much easier your life can become once you learn how to properly use technology." He grinned and took out his new phone, relishing in the chance to show off his techno-wizardry. "Here. Let me show you--"

He was cut off though as the welcoming ceremony began. "Ah, guess I'll show you another time. Best of luck with your classes though."

@clanjos

Alexei Pavlov

Alexei was pleased to see he was joined by Ryuuto in assisting the girl. Even if today's initial spat set a bad tone, they still had some students with promising attitudes around. As he took on the bags he had been handed, it became apparent that Asa had arrived on the scene. "It seems things are about to get started. Let's hurry along to the rest of the group, shall we?" He motioned for Terri and Ryuuto to follow along, though he got the feeling they would realise what was happening. Between the three of them, they surely wouldn't be late to join up with the rest of the crowd.

Although as he turned his attention to Asa, he partially wished they could have been late. From out of nowhere, Skyblue appeared, clearly out of his mind and far from appropriately dressed. Worst of all, he stumbled up to Asa, bumping into her and then puked all over her shoes. It couldn't have been a more embarrassing moment for the staff. Alexei could only hope that the new students weren't all passing quick judgement on them for having the man as a staff member. They were going to need to give him another talking to. If Alexei were a harsher man, he might have recommended having him dismissed, but he still believed even their own staff could be reformed.

@clanjos @Yuuta

---

At the entrance of the sentai warrior, Freyja could only bring the palm of her hand to her face.

Really, for all these years that she had been his co-worker, she didn't know whether to like him or hate him. Maybe it depended on what antics he was up to in the moment, since they could range from quite charming in a childish way to aggravatingly annoying.

This time, she didn't really appreciate what he was doing. From the fact that he barely wore any clothes to how he puked, it was simply unfunny and not entertaining in the slightest.

If it had been her standing there, she thought, she would've exploded some of her bombs in his face. He's an Augmenter. He could take it.

And so she crossed her arms as she glared at the man from a distance. This man really set a bad example as part of the staff. Most of the teachers had their own quirks, which she could understand, but his was simply too much at times. Many time she had the thought to recommend him to be dismissed. But alas, the institute was lacking in capable teachers, and his augmentation ability was no slouch in spite of his goofy attitude.

Rather than just magically appear walking across an empty field in the middle of nowhere, Ezekiel Williams was rather more sensically driven there. This wasn't happening of his own free will, however. As far as he was concerned he was simply being transported to some grand new juvie project, someplace where they might make the best out of dangerous kids without getting the police involved. He had no idea he was being taken to a literal magical school, and for good reason, since neither him nor his family would've taken to the whole idea of a parallel society well. Who the crap would just buy into that comic book shit?

So there he was, being driven to the first day of the rest of his life out by the boonies by two stone-faced, suited up spooks who weren't exactly given the gift of the gab. The whole situation made him tense and defensive. Where the crap were they taking him and what had he done that was so bad? He didn't deserve to get dumped with the arsonists, the pushers and junkies and the kids who cut and shot people. On the other hand, maybe he had gone a bit overboard on the whole fighting thing. The rush was just something else, and he wanted to do it for the rest of his life. He kinda wanted to do it then and there, truth be told.

Zeke's mind drifted along these lines until the car came up to what looked like some sort of weirdo hippy gathering thing. He'd seen something on TV about one of them or another. Without much ceremony, his handlers got him off the car, gave him his two bags and told him to join the rest. "Everything will be clear shortly", they said as they walked back into the vehicle and drove off. Oh yeah, how could this whole thing possibly go wrong? Grunting and in high alert, Zeke picked his things up and strolled through the crowd, taking the people in. This sure didn't look like no juvie crowd. Most of these kids looked like they might cry at a gym.

And then, as his attention was drawn towards what was clearly some sort of important ceremony, some butt naked guy in a mask came up and puked on the lady's shoes. Amid the relatively quiet atmosphere of shock and disgust, Zeke's reaction boomed out quite clearly: "Dahahahahahaha it's like I never left home!", he burst out loud, laughing heartily at the woman getting embarrased right on center stage. "Oooh, that was some funny shit, is this what this is gonna be like all the time?", he asked to no one in particular.

ASA

After a short pause, Asa finally released Skyblue's arm from her hand. She quickly stood up straight, let out a deep sigh, collected herself, and her expression went back to normal. "Now then, not that I'm not...happy to see you Skyblue, this may not be the...ahh...best time for you to be here. I think it would be best for you to wait over there with the rest of the staff members, and let me do my job" Asa said with the warm, motherly tone returning to her voice once again. She was attempting to deal with this as smoothly as possible while trying her hardest not to snap at the man and make even more of a scene

Asa waited a couple seconds for Skyblue to walk away, and then finally faced the students. "Oh wow, look at all the new students!" Asa said in a genuinely impressed tone, acting as if the previous incident never happened. "Well, we are very excited to welcome all of you to a new school year. This year, you can all expect a challenging program that will push all your energy controlling skills forward and help you reach new heights as a channeller. In particular, we believe our famed exams especially will be quite tough and exhilarating this year. However, we all have the confidence that you will all not only achieve our expectations, but even surpass them! Now, without further ado, I welcome you to..." Asa continued with the same cheery smile and warm tone of voice, before thrusting her arm out to her side dramatically. "...the Institute for Young Channellers!" she shouted

Suddenly, some kind of large object started to fade into view. It was very feint at first, and was wobbling and distorting as if it was on a VHS tape. A second later it stopped wobbling and snapped into its solid form. It was, of course, the building for the Institute. The building was incredibly large and almost appeared to stretch on for miles, though that was probably just because of how close everyone was to it. It was also quite tall, clearly being at least a two story building if not more than that. As the school phased into view, a couple fireworks also exploded in the sky right above the building's roof

@Azereiah@Silver Carrot@MacDuffy@VitaVitaAR@Dragonsinc@Western Robot@Cu Chulainn@Dblade26@Hammerman@Mercurial@Yuuta@SaberClass4242@blumenk@clanjos@Sodium@Zero Hex

Well, would you look at that. It was invisible, after. Bradley stared at the building, jaw gaping and eyes wide. How did he not run into it? Bradley just looked... dumbfounded.

"Neptune's fin, that's one big school." Bradley uttered. He still can't believe that it was invisible. And that's just it. At least the fireworks made the taste in his mouth less bitter, from being wrong. Well, looks like this is it. Bradley wasn't lost, after all. The large building was his destination...

It's the Insta-tute

@Mercurial@blumenk@Azereiah@tipssyCalibrator

---

---

_{"I see the town drunk managed to crawl out of bed on time..."}

Jonathan was less than impressed by Skyblue's conduct all throughout the previous year, and it didn't look like he was about to change this year either. The man brought shame to channelers everywhere. Still, it probably wasn't his fault he was (probably) a raging alcoholic, so Jonathan tried his best to forgive him. At least, until he vomited on Asa's shoes. That was just plain disgusting, and Jonathan's horror was obvious.

Asa was somehow able to keep her cool though. Major respect points for that. After she finished her speech, Jonathan watched the Institute appear from nowhere for the second time. It wasn't as impressive this time around, but he still didn't have the foggiest clue how the school managed it. Perhaps a cloaking device run by masses of hamsterwheels or something?

"I mostly just strongly identify with him. I'm not an Augmentor, so his classes just filled up the space between Khan's classes. _{Good riddance.} Oh, and Professor Hisakawa, I think I'm interested in your art class. I'm not very good at it yet, and I needed an elective course to fill out my schedule, so I'd love to work with you. Shall we head in?"

@Cu Chulainn@Hammerman

---

---

Brock hated alcoholics and addicts. They were weak and stupid. And, to boot, he'd lost a number of friends to drugs and drunk driving over the years. Skyblue's appearance pissed him off, but he was trying to make a good impression on people, so he kept some measure of restraint. "...I am not going to be in that guy's class if I can help it."

Just then, the Institute shimmered into view. Magical invisible castle, huh? I mean, I guess I'm not surprised. Been a weird couple days..., Brock thought to himself. Since yesterday, he'd already been exposed to Daler's dreamland once during the ride to the hotel he had to stay in for the night, and he'd been throwing flaming donuts at people for a few years prior. Comic book bullshit like this was starting to get normal somehow.

"Looks like you were right," Brock said to Yasu. "I'm Brock, by the way. Brock Van de Vate. So, what'd you do to get sent here?", he continued, this time directing it to the others in their group.

@Mercurial@blumenk@Cu Chulainn

---

---

Right on schedule, the Institute shimmered into view. Daler had learned to see it for what it was years ago - a simple illusion, but the sheer amount of power needed to hide a place like that from so many people never ceased to impress him. He turned his thoughts back to his current companions. The golf cart had three more seats in it, so he'd be able to take everyone back the easy way if they wanted.

"So, shall we go inside? Feel free to hop in the cart if you'd like. Plenty of room," he said, this time using his voice. It felt a little bit more inviting to him than the usual intrusive telepathy.

@Silver Carrot@Western Robot@VitaVitaAR