Meilin Hua

"Perfectly well Daler, I went to china to visit the temple I grew in. Its a very peaceful place, you should go there one day, i'm sure that the elders would greatly enjoy your company."

"It's been slightly calmer than usual this year, Meilin. A student made a grave social error and was punched for his troubles, but there has been no fighting. Skyblue is up to his usual antics and has come up with a fresh 'introduction'. He's really outdone himself this time. Oh, and if you would like to join me and the others for tea after scheduled events, I would love to have you."

"Oh! So its pretty much the same as every year!" she said, giggling.
"I am actually surprised that we passed through the opening ceremony with only a punch. Normally the students would be throwing themselves at each other's throats..."
"Also, I cant say i'm surprised about Skyblue. I know that sometimes he goes overboard, but I think that the Institute would be a little less lively without him here. And yes! I would love to join you for some tea!" she said with a smile.
Skyblue was in fact a very interesting person. Sometimes he was a little inconvenient, and could be a little irritating, but he surely was a very cheerful and lively guy.

"Hey, Daler, aren't you curious about the new students? I wonder if they are interested about eastern martial arts..." she said after a while, watching some of the students as they went to the woods.
"Well... It would be nice if they were interested not only about the fight, but the teachings that the eastern martial arts pass..." she said to herself, lost in her own thoughts.
"Oh, sorry if i'm bothering you with my thoughts... I am actually anxious. I'm expected to find a pupil this year, and i'm really looking forward to it."
"Would you like to accompany me to watch the first year students' assessment test?"

@Azereiah

---

"Thank you Jonathan." Freyja smiled at his compliment. "It's nothing special though. An Architect has to understand the objects she created throughoutly after all. And you have mastered creating the standard version of your object, you can expand and evolve your power by finding out new ways to create said object. I create bombs so I study the various chemical reactions that can be used to make a bomb. I find the concept easier to understand when I try making it myself instead of just reading it off a book."

"So yes, please do not touch any of the equipment there. They're really quite volatile."

She then bend down a little to look at Jonathan's broken nose, her face hovering right in front of his face. "Hmm, doesn't seem like it's anything that serious. I believe you can participate in the assesment test just fine."

She then took out the cooling bandage from her pocket and put it on the wounded nose. "There, the wound should sting less now." Straightening herself once more, she then took out the anti-inflammatory pills and handed it over to the young man. "Take these three times a day and you should be fine. Make sure to contact me or Asa if you still feel sick afterwards though."

She glanced at the clock on the wall. 8:45. She should get going to the assesment test as well as she would be supervising the students there.

"How about I escort you to the testing grounds? Unless, that is, if you have something else to do first before going there," she offered to the boy.

@Azereiah

HANA

Hana hesitated when the boy asked her about flowers. She tried to think of something, but she couldn't think of anything to say. She knew so much about flowers, there was so many things to start with. Where would she even begin? It took Hana a couple seconds before she finally replied "...I...don't know where to start..."

@Cu Chulainn

Yasu Hirabayashi

Yasu appeared at the test site at a leisurely pace. She had never been one to be overly excited about showing up to some school event, even if it was her first day at the magical institute. She had no idea what to expect from these people, but she wouldn't be surprised if they just turned out to be the same pack of stiffs that made up any old school just with magical powers backing them up. Of course, there was that one moron that had shown up drunk just earlier, but even her old school had its quirky teachers. She just hoped there would be plenty of power teaching and minimal 'ethics' and other lame stuff.

She decided to approach Brock upon arrival, since he was the only person she knew that wasn't at least partially touched in the head. "Sup?" She opened with as she came closer. Then she noticed a weird chill in the air, and she swore she saw Brock glow for a moment. "Uh, is that your...power or whatever doing that?"

@Azereiah

Musashi was once again up a tree and hiding, though this time on a much lower branch, watching as people arrived. There was supposed to be a test or some sort of game going on? Either way he was way way way too excited to get started! The school was invisible even to his enhanced eyes before it appeared during the opening ceremonies, so who knew what other kinds of powers existed in the world.

So, he was trying to observe some of the other students as they showed up, trying to get a grasp on any of their powers or skills before the game proper began. He knew at least some of his own powers, now he just had to know his 'enemies' so to speak and he could much better assure his own victory going forward. That said, he hoped that he could make some friends in the battle, so he was also scanning the area for a likely target to befriend.

Ryousei had been sitting next to a tree at the meeting site, watching the grorp of people. The institute appearing out of thin air had been a spectacle, for sure, and Ryousei was definitely impressed. But that had passed and he was brought to the woods for some test.

And now apparently the tester was late? Or something? Ryousei was sitting and looking at the group of first-years.

There were quite a few cuties here.

One of them was pacing around impatiently, though, complaining about the tester being late. Ryousei watched her pacing around for about a minute. As he did, the shinai that had been resting on his shoulder began to move up and down.

He was fidgeting.

He sighed loudly, and stood up.

"Alright, now you're making me antsy," he said, approaching the girl, "Could you be maybe calm down a little?"

@tipssyCalibrator

AKIKO

Akiko suddenly stopped in her tracks as she heard the words of someone asking her to calm down. As she turned around to look, she saw that it was just some random kid. Who was this brat, telling her what to do? She gave an irritated expression and crossed her arms. "No, but I can give you a fist to the face!" she said sarcastically in response, before continuing to pace just to spite him

@CondorTalon

This was going to be great! They were going to get to show off all their different abilities and have a fun game of capture the flag! Really, honestly, Sumiko couldn't wait. There was no way she could be patient in the face of something so awesome. As she stretched and adjusted her outfit, she couldn't help but notice that kid from the for, the one dressed up as a panda. That was pretty cool! Not that the outfit in and of itself was particularly awesome or anything, but that was what contributed to the coolness in a way. Anyone dressed up so ridiculously had to be at least a little cool to successfully pull off such a goofy look.

... Or he could just be a silly kid, but if that was the case it was just kind of adorable and he could still be pretty awesome, right?! Either way, he was going on the befriending list!

The girl cheerfully approached the younger boy, waving.

"Hi there! I'm Natsuki Sumiko!" she introduced herself.

@Dblade26

---

Clarabelle stood quietly. Only now, she wasn't alone anymore. No, she had brought her friends. Around her drifted her dolls, each dressed in lovely, frilly dresses. Snow White, Cinderella... ah, the list went on, all her lovely friends were here now, drifting around her... capture the flag? She had never played before, let alone with any other Channelers. But she didn't care. Oh no. This was truly one of the few things that Clarabelle looked forward to doing with her fellow students.

Her face was alight with a rare smile.

She wanted to introduce her fellow students to her Ballet of Terror.

"Oy geez," he said, raising his arms up, "No need to get hostile."

He turned around, and started to walk away. Then, something stopped him. Maybe it was an impulse. He turned back toward the girl.

"A bat, huh?" he said quietly.

"You know," he continued, louder now, "If you're really itching to do something, really rarin' to go, how about a spar?"

Yep, he'd gone and said it. He couldn't take it back now. So he brought his shinai down, then forward.

"Just to get those muscles moving," he finished, winking.

@tipssyCalibrator

AKIKO

Akiko opened her mouth to say something, but then suddenly hesitated when she started actually thinking about it. That actually didn't sound like a half bad idea, and a grin started to form on Akiko's face the more she thought about it. Akiko paused for a second or two before finally responding. "...Y'know what, alright. You're on!" Akiko said with a fire in her eye before cracking her knuckles and stepping closer to the kid

"Heh, now we're talking!" Ryousei said, before scratching his head.

"But, ah, give me twoooooo seconds," he continued.

The shinai stayed with him and kept him calm and focused. Almost like a lucky charm, really. But it wasn't useful for actual, non-kendo related fights. Sure, it could do some damage, but it was a shinai.

And shinai were explicitly designed not to deliver serious injuries.

So it went against the tree.

"Sorry about that," he said, before holding his arm in front of him. "Yuurei," he stated, and the katana materialized in front of him.

He gripped it, then got into a stance.

"Hope you don't mind," he finished, grinning.

The last thing Zeke remembered as the school building thing just...magically showed up right outta nowhere was thinking: "What the fuck". After that it was kind of a blur. There was a lot of wondering about brain damage and if he'd fallen asleep watching a Harry Potter marathon, and considering everyone around him insane for not questioning the invisible building in the middle of nowhere. There was also a lot of running in the opposite direction from everyone else, knocking people aside left and right, before being caught and dragged towards the "school" by two nameless, faceless goons like the ones that'd driven him there.

Or maybe they had names and faces and rather than dragging him in they'd just gently guided him towards a nice, comfy office. He really couldn't say, he was so dumbstruck he didn't even try to punch them and just kinda sorta almost listened to the lecture about some magical force or another and how they were being trained to use it. He would've told them that sounded mental and dangerously close to some cult child soldier shit if he were functional. Maybe he hadn't dodged that asshole truck driver the other week and he was actually dead now. Yeah that was totally it. The afterlife was weirdly okay, it was like something out of a chinese cartoon.

By the time he was led back outside in what felt like a really rushed, impromptu situation, Ezekiel had taken several deep breaths and more or less centered himself. If he was dead he might as well see how this whole thing went, what was the worst thing that could happen? It didn't, however, mean he was exactly calm. It was all too much to take in all at once and he was still more or less on autopilot, going about like a man posessed. Feeling the need to confirm he still, on some level, existed as he knew himself, he walked up to a tree, took a deep breath, assumed a perfectly square stance and dug his fist right into the bark.

Such an action would likely not go unnoticed by the two other teens standing nearby, a short red haired girl carrying around a baseball bat and an equally strangely redheaded asian carrying around a shinai like a spaz. Who the crap just carries a wooden sword around? If the first impact and the sudden sound of splintering wood didn't get their attention then perhaps the following two did. Practiced strikes done for form rather than power, each thrust of the fist accompanied by a matching pulling motion on the other arm, aimed in order at an imaginary nose, sternum and stomach. Then another set for good measure, each set in the blink of an eye.

Everything checked out. Breathing was fine, posture was solid, same distance, same impact. Dying wasn't too bad, he got to keep his body as it was and everything. Hell, he didn't know if he could trust himself but he felt a bit stronger and tougher. Then and only then he really took stock of the situation and saw the one kid looked to be dragging an actual sword around rather than a fake one. "Hey! The fuck you think you're doing with that?!" he called out, stepping up to the little shit with his mind in full guard and already measuring a conservative maai. "Put that shit away before you do something you'll regret".

@CondorTalon @tipssyCalibrator

AKIKO

Akiko watched in surprise as the boy threw the bamboo sword against the tree and then suddenly materialized a real sword out of thin air right afterwards. This took Akiko by surprise, though less from the fear of the sword and more just in the astonishment that he could do that at all (she was still not familiar with channeller powers yet, after all). She then let out a light chuckle as she slung over the bat on her back and grabbed it. "Hope you don't think you're scaring me with that. I do my best with a handicap!" Akiko retorted as she prepared to rush forward towards the kid

ASA

"Just what in the HELL is going on here?!"

If all the students looked over at the source of the voice, they would see a tall woman with black hair tied up in a ponytail and wearing a black tank top, aviator sunglasses, a patrol cap, and a very, very irritated scowl on her face. She was looking over at them with her arms crossed, obviously very unimpressed by what was about to unfold

"...Who are you?" Akiko said, completely confused

"Don't pretend like you don't recognize me. You saw me give the speech in front of the school, remember?" Asa said before promptly pulling down her sunglasses and glaring at both of the students. "Now I'm going to give you ten seconds to explain exactly what in God's name you were about to do!" Asa demanded to the two kids, her voice filled with anger

Before the fight could actually start, however, some approached him. Someone huge.

"Whoa, there, big guy," Ryousei said, not moving from his stance, "Just a friendly spar. Two people consensually having a practice bout. So..."

He looked over to Akiko for confirmation, but was interrupted by another voice cutting through the scene.

He turned to the source of the voice and



To be honest, Ryousei really should have expected this. But, he didn't, and now here he was, caught red-handed and, from the look in Asa's eyes, about to regret everything.

He cleared his throat. Gotta at least try to be diplomatic.

"We were just... ah... warming up," he explained, looking over to Akiko, "Get those muscles moving, you know, just... ah... sparring, right?"

"Ah... sorry Kasuke." It seemed as though Mina intended to stay as distant as possible. But, that was fine. At least she agreed to join him in surveying the new students. And, another person decided to join them as well. He was a few years older,
but Ryuuto still had more time at the academy. He was yet another person that could be described as "smart as hell." Frankly, if the three of them were willing to pool their intellect, they could probably dominate any competition. However, as Sang-Jun pointed out, the tree of them seemed to have different priorities. Still, Ryuuto was more than happy to take advantage of this cosmic alignment.

Ryuuto gave Jun-Sang a nod. He wasn't going to argue about the benefits of know the other students' abilities, as the assessment was probably going to start soon, so he decided to get right down to business. "Well, since there's three of us, I think the best way to go about this is split up and collect data on as many of the new students as possible. We can reconvene here after the assessment and trade information. And, let's make a pact right now. No withholding data from each other. This works best for all of us if we're open about our findings. Sound good?" He looked from Mina over to Sang-Jun to see if they were both on-board. He hoped nobody would waste time arguing while the assessment was about to begin.

@Silver Carrot@CondorTalon

AKIKO/ASA

Akiko didn't even register the boy's words, she was still having trouble even accepting the fact that this woman and the one from before were the same person. "But she wasn't...you can't...that's..." Akiko muttered with a completely shocked and confused expression on her face

"So you think it was alright to just start a fight without any supervisors around? Let this be absolutely clear: there will be NO fights being held on Institute grounds unless being watched by a staff member. You two got that?" Asa shouted, fully expecting an answer straight away. She also took note of the other kid who came in at the last second to try and stop the one with the sword right before Asa had gotten there. She was glad to see at least one of them was thinking straight

Akiko had finally stopped mumbling to herself and managed to nod her head in response to Asa's question

@CondorTalon@Yuuta

Mina turned round to see who the new voice belonged to. It was the South Korean student. He was also smart. He also had one or two grades higher than hers last year, but he embraced some sort of mentor role. Mina could not understand how you could cope with that. She did not have the patience to teach younger, or sometimes even, pathetically, older kids what they should be learning in class. He was right about this otherwise being a waste of time if it were not for the fact none of them had anything better to do.

She simply responded with his offer to join with a "Sure" and turned back to Koriyama, who had just thankfully offered to split up. Hey, he's learning. There's a slight twitch of a smile from Mina's icy countenance. "That does seem like the best course of action. I work best alone anyway. I will see you both back here shortly."

And with that, she strode off towards the area where the assessment test was held, arms folded and nose up; her default walk.

@tipssyCalibrator@CondorTalon@Zero Hex

Mako was sitting in her snug, warm office once again. She sighed contently, opened her minifridge, and retrieved a beer. (which she then preceded to drink, as this is a shounen battle school, like this; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygFOJKiftW0)

Her window overlooked where the assessment test was being held this year. She was truly blessed! Plus it hadn't even started yet and two students almost had a fight before Asa had to step in and get serious. Mako giggled, and leaned her chin on her hand and her elbow on the windowsill. A teacher probably wasn't supposed to get this much enjoyment from watching kids misbehave and get in trouble for it, but Mako couldn't help it. This was the person she'd always been. There was a sadistic streak somewhere in her mind, but at least it had shrunk since she was a student herself so that she no longer abused her power for entertainment purposes. She did take pride in her job and wanted all of her students as well-behaved as possible, and if there was acting up in her class, there'd be hell to pay, but when it's not her responsibility, she kicks back and watches gleefully.

---

---

Jonathan nodded. There were a few chemical labels that he was familiar with, like potassium nitrate and pure sucrose, but far more that he had never heard of. Middle school science class didn't go very deeply into different compounds, and it certainly hadn't taught anything about explosive development. In high school, he had opted for physics and mechanics courses instead of chemistry and biology, so he was still in the dark on most of it.

While Freyja applied the stiff bandage to the bridge of his nose, he stayed completely motionless. The bandage would keep it straight during the healing process - usually a couple weeks if he remembered rightly. He'd have to pick up a few of his own when he had the chance, but there wasn't much time for that at the moment. When Professor Leden was done, he quickly pulled out his phone and tapped out 'Box of Bandages' onto a new line of his ever-growing school supplies shopping list. In a second, he put the phone back away.

"Thank you, Professor. And yes, I think I'd like that. Even though I've been here a bit over a year, I'm not familiar with this part of the grounds."

@Hammerman

---

---

"Yeah. Just getting 'warmed up' before the event. Wouldn't want to do anything at less than top condition, yeah?"

The brief glow dropped to nothing and a small patch of grass around Brock's feet went yellow-brown. All the moisture had been driven out by the momentary burst of heat. He wasn't really trying to show off, so he wasn't putting anywhere near as much effort into it as usual -- otherwise the grass would've been on fire. Capture The Flag wasn't really his cup of tea, but it was a good chance to see what the other students had to offer, and perhaps show what he was made of. He turned toward Yasu.

"You throw lightning bolts, right? How 'bout we team up or something, show these kids how it's done?"

@Mercurial

---

---

Daler nodded along with a smile at Meilin. He was familiar with the temple in question, as he'd traveled there in spirit once to observe a potential student during her training. The Temple elders were wise and old, and skilled in the ways of the body in ways that Daler himself had never achieved. He had never mentioned it to Meilin, however. She'd eventually remember a young Punjabi man in a familiar-looking turban standing outside on the Temple steps, leaning against a statue one day during a lesson. He had given her a thumbs up and turned to leave, satisfied with the Temple's agreed-upon lesson plan.

"I won't discuss the internal thoughts of the students, but I will say that there are a few whom I believe would very much be interested in what you have to offer. You'll see them in action, I'm sure."

Daler had been dreading the assessment earlier, but he couldn't help but nod in approval at Meilin's suggestion that they go to observe. He just wanted to go back to his room and take a nap, damn it, but his students took priority every once in a while.

"I think that's a lovely idea. Let's go."

The golf cart putted along as Daler drove off towards the CTF Woods, rather than his personal parking space outside his office. On the way, an idea struck.

"I keep forgetting that you're still a student. Time flies by so fast that I can't always tell the difference these days... I know that finding a spot may have been difficult without staff permissions, so I'd be willing to hold your classes in my old classroom if you need it."

The 'classroom' in question was large, unadorned, with simple rubber mats laid across the entirety of the floor and a large mirror across the back wall. Daler had been using it more recently to hold detentions, but for the majority of the day it was completely untouched. As an added benefit, students would be able to enter a calmer rendition of his dream world at will under direct supervision for full-contact, full-power sparring sessions.

@13org

"W-Wah!"

Musashi flailed for a moment and fell out of the tree branch he'd been sitting on as an older girl suddenly addressed him. He figured he wasn't really hiding or anything, but for someone with super-enhanced eyesight it was a little bit embarrassing to have been caught so totally unawares. He'd been so busy studying some of the other students that he hadn't even noticed one of them approaching him. Thankfully he was in a much lower branch this time and he hadn't sent himself tumbling to the ground, so with the added control this time around he actually caught himself in a handstand, his panda hat inexplicably staying in place.

Well, not exactly inexplicably, he always did up the little under-chin strap thingies really tight, but they were hard to see!

He gave the older girl a big, bright smile, keeping in mind what his parents always said about first impressions, even if it was probably hard to tell through his mask.

"I'm Musashi Sakai! I'm a ninja! It's nice to meet you!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Ryousei said, almost instinctively, "Understood!"

Ryousei hadn't been aware that he was holding his breath until he exhaled deeply.

What a mess, and it was all his fault. Oh well. Ryousei didn't get anywhere in life by playing it safe, after all, but he wasn't stupid. When someone of authority tells him to drop it, he drops it.

Ryousei rolled his neck, before demanifesting Yuurei. He walked over to the tree and picked up his shinai again.

---

Jun-Sang wordlessly agreed with the other two, and splitting up did seem like a good idea, anyway. So he headed along the path to the assessment test, which looked like it was about to begin.

Now who to analyze first...

Maybe it would be a good idea to start with any students that looked like they might be trouble, if they ever decided to get a tutor. Hmm...

That punk-looking girl with the pink hair might be a good candidate.

Making extra sure to stay away from the mingling crowd, Jun-Sang stood and began to observe.

---

Heh, how droll.

Rumi had been sketching the scenery of the woods around her, not really paying attention to the crowd, until she caught the movement of the boy in her periphery. Her eyes followed the movement to see the boy holding a real katana, squaring off against some other girl.

She looked down at the paper. She had room. She could fit this in. She looked up again suddenly the sword was gone and huh?

Wait... what was going on now?

Something... or someone, had seemed to get the attention of the two would-be fighters. She followed their gazes to see an older, very authoritative woman there that Rumi was... reasonably sure wasn't there before.

Was it... was it starting?

Rumi hummed, thinking for a few seconds, before standing up, putting her sketchbook away and moving toward the gathering of people.