Musashi listened carefully as the rules were explained, then as some of his teammates started trying to pick offensive or defensive roles. An older boy started talking strategy, only to weirdly trail off in the middle of his sentence for some reason. What an odd guy. At least he seemed to have a plan, though maybe that really excited girl had some secret skill she was concealing that'd make her rush for the ball more effective?

Anyways, according to the rules, making someone fall down or immobilizing them put them out of the game, so Musashi knew exactly what side he wanted to be on. When the nice seeming older girl asked who else wanted to be on defense his hand shot up.

"Ooh ooh! I'll do it! I dunno what kinda grabby-grabby power you have, but I'll totally be on the defense team. I'm good at making sure nobody sneaks past me, since I'm a ninja! Oh but-"

Musashi waved his arms up and down and hopped in place, trying to get Asa's attention

"Miss Teacher, Miss Teacher! Do I have to give up any of my weapons before we start? I promise I didn't make any of 'em sharp!"

Musashi could see another boy with a sword on the other side of the field, but what if they were allowed just ONE weapon? What if hidden weapons weren't allowed?

Well, he could do just fine with his bare hands. If he could make a bear submit, a bunch of superhumans was just the next step up, right?

@CondorTalon @tipssyCalibrator

---

---

Jonathan moved to stand next to her, a bit more than an arm's-length away and facing the field. Personal space and all. So far, Mina didn't seem nearly as unpleasant as he'd heard, and he almost regretted not saying hello the previous year. Almost. But perhaps that would have ended poorly -- he didn't have the same sense of tact before, as evidenced by his very lengthy medical history. He couldn't help but smirk at her crack towards the day's earlier, erm, 'learning experience'. His nose definitely still stung, but it felt like the nerve endings were finally dying off from the repeated injuries. The nasal bandage was almost part of his regular wardrobe at this point.

"The same as last year, I'm afraid. But who knows, maybe it'll heal straight this time. That'd be an improvement."

He decided then that he'd view any future facial injuries as 'impromptu plastic surgery', considering the skill of the school's nurses and doctor. Last year's brawl with Taro had left his nose slightly twisted to the left. A glance her direction revealed that she was holding a notebook and rather nice pen, prompting a low-key eyeroll. That was the sort of thing Ryuuto would undoubtedly be doing, and given how long Jonathan had been away, it was likely that the other upperclassmen had already spoken.

"I suppose Ryuuto roped you into note-taking. Is there anyone in particular you're keeping an eye on?"

@Silver Carrot

ASA

"No, weapons are allowed. Just don't kill each other with them...obviously..." Asa said to the small kid in the panda outfit, muttering the last part under her breath. If Asa saw anything at all that looked like it would cause death, she would have to step in

Asa then walked up close to the arena and held her hand up. "3...2...1...START!" Asa shouted as she threw her hand down, signalling the start of the round

AKIKO

Less than a second after Asa shouted start, Akiko immediately took off and made a beeline for the opponent's flag. Due to either her confidence or stupidity, she was just simply running in a straight line and not even making her direction hard to predict. Just run in, take the flag, run out without anyone catching you. This was gonna be easy as hell, she was thinking as she made her first few steps over to the opponent's side

"So... killin's out, but hurtin' people's fahne? Ah kin work with that!"

Terri takes up a spot on defense, stretching and getting into a grappler's stance- leading with her right foot and grinning like a maniac.

"Ah'm Terri Bronco, an nothin's gettin' past me!"

---

---

The instant Asa's countdown started, Brock got his game face on and took his sunglasses off. It's STRATEGERY time! Almost like playing ball with the guys back home, but with more deadly superpowers. Unlike his power flexing before, Brock threw more energy than ever into leeching the heat from the air around him, coming to a glow in a matter of seconds and only growing brighter as time went on. Meanwhile, the air surrounding him took on a chill. Five seconds per ten feet would be enough to frost over the ground by Brock's reckoning, and he started walking slowly to make a swath of crunchy and slippery grass in a line along the middle of his team's side of the field, shouting towards his allies the whole time. Everyone would be able to hear him with ease including the other team and the spectators.

"Take care of that kid coming at us for me -- I'm prepping the field! Pirate Boy, get your ass out there! Go, go, go! And be careful with the girl with the massive rack, she's really fuckin' fast!"

Annoyingly, he'd take at least a minute to get up to a white-hot burn. He hoped he wouldn't be interrupted before then.

"Hold on now," Ryousei said to Akiko, "we can't just..."

But then the game was suddenly starting and Ryousei was caught off guard by Asa abruptly signalling the start of the round.

And Akiko suddenly dashed away.

"Wait don't just... aghh!" Rousei shouted after her, in vain.

He muttered under his breath before looking over at the defensive line.

"Alright, well, I'm counting on you guys," he said, before turning back to the other side. "Terremoto," he said, summoning the massive broadsword.

Of course, he summoned it with a blunter edge than he normally would have. You know, don't kill anyone and all that.

He took a closer look and good god was she really just running in a straight line toward the enemy?

He gave an exasperated sigh, before following suit.

@Zero Hex@clanjos@Dblade26@tipssyCalibrator

---

Well. People were apparently clambering to be on defense with her. That was nice. She looked to the people she was with. The big guy? She'd have to see to make sure, but he looked like his power was physical, so maybe grabbing onto him might not have been the best.

The little girl looked to be about the same way. Someone physical, didn't really need someone grabbing onto her.

So she knelt beside the boy.

"A ninja, huh?" she said, smiling, "What kind 'f power d'ya have?"

@Dblade26

@Azereiah

Mina smiled, properly, this time. Her weak spot was self-deprecating humor. Maybe because it saved her the trouble. She didn't like insulting people because it seemed quite childish and required some effort and imagination she could put to better use. She was attracted to the concept of it, though.

"Ryuuto didn't 'rope me into' Anything. He suggested the idea and I agreed for my own reasons; namely the Power Training mid-term and the Tournament. Last year I failed the mid-term and lost in round one of the Tournament. This year, I want to know who I'm fighting against, what they can do, and how they fight. I want to know their weak point. I want to know their personalities. What buttons to push, so that if I face any of them, I'll step on them as I journey towards my goal this year; to get a clean sweep of top marks," she states, coldly. She was even scarier when she tolerated your presence and opened up than she ever was as an aloof ice queen. Who knew?

As Brock takes time to charge up, she scribbles. As Akiko blindly rushes in, she scribbles. Two valuable bits of information right off the bat. This was going well.

"I wrote my strategy against you shortly after the tournament last year, if you're interested in such things, but I might add 'Go for the nose' at the end." She left a brief pause, then smiled almost cruelly. "That was just a joke."

Once the sign to start was set, Bradley waited behind a tree, around the middle of the field. The lad with the shade was starting to get on his nerves however...

"Oi, you best be careful who yer callin' pirate here, else I'll serve your arse on a silver platter!" Bradley called back to Brock as he went into his place. Pirates might be a joke to this lad, but Bradley knows just how bad those murderous scum actually are...

Eh, no need to dwell on the past, Bradley thought. He made it to his destination, still around their half of the field, but near the middle. The way he ran was between trees, in order to not be so easily spotted. He wanted to make sure he can get that lass running straight towards 'em off-guard, and once he heard those tell-tale signs of grass crunching under his feet, Bradley braced himself for his attack.

Bradley jumped up, pointing both legs in where the lass would be, practically throwing his full body weight into his kick- he was going for a dropkick, to bring that hot-headed lass down.



@Azereiah@tipssyCalibrator

Musashi decided that this girl definitely seemed nice. She didn't laugh or look at him like he was weird when he announced he was a ninja, after all! In fact she was all smiles! Musashi smiled back at her, though he wasn't sure she could tell through his half-mask. Having noticed the others already, he was pretty sure most if not all of them were close-in physical fighters. In that case, it might be a good idea for one of them to do some work at range, since the other side was likely to have ranged fighters as well.

Besides, this was a test right? With instructors and other students watching them, so it might be good to show off a less-than-usual application of his powers that wouldn't give him away completely. So he stuck hands into his pockets and pulled out a pair of shuriken, one in each hand, to show to Rumi.

"I can throw super-accurately! I figure I can use these to trip people up an' pin their clothes to stuff, plus they're mostly blunt so if I throw 'em super hard I can maybe knock people over?"

It was totally true, even if it wasn't his whole power set explained in one go. Let the other fighters deal with things close up for now. Maybe that way if he had to fight close in he could take them by surprise.

@CondorTalon

AKIKO

Due to Akiko's tunnel vision, she failed completely to even slightly notice the boy coming up to her, and just kept running confidently. Yeah, this should be easy, totall-

'WHAM'

Out of nowhere, Akiko felt a pair of feet slam into her chest. The drop kick unsurprisingly caught her completely off guard, and she took the full force of the attack. She flew through the air before sliding a couple feet as she landed face first on the ground. Akiko just stayed there for a couple seconds, trying to process what the hell even happened. Once she pieced it all together and realized that she was out, she finally climbed back on her feet and immediately walking back to her side of the arena with a frustrated look on her face, not even bothering to look at the boy as she did. Maaaaaybe this was gonna be a little harder than she thought

Ryousei had been keeping an eye on Akiko, trying to catch up with her before someone else got to her first.

But alas...

As the guy landed his feet on Akiko, Ryousei facepalmed, before turning off between the trees. Hopefully, the guy had been so preoccupied with bringing Akiko down that he didn't notice Ryousei dashing off in another direction.

Of course, Ryousei had to be more vigilant than Akiko was. So his eyes scanned the horizon, looking for any threats that would come his way... or that he'd have to meet.

---

"Ooh, that seems helpful," Rumi said, "especially since everyone else seems to be more close-ranged."

She looked around. No one from the other team seemed to have even crossed the line yet, but it paid to be vigilant. Who knows what crazy powers they could have.

"Alright," Rumi said, "Let's get next to the flag. That way we have the most time to react to someone coming."

She held out her hand.

"My name's Rumi," she finished, "I can make other people's powers stronger as long as I'm touching them."

She nodded, then smiled.

"What's your name?"

@Dblade26

Nice! Bradley brought the lass down, after all! That was easy! Now all he has to do is get the landing right, or he'll be out...

Once the kick connected, Bradley concentrated on curling in his body so he could land in a roll, continuing the movement so he could roll to his feet. That way, Bradley won't be considered out.

All he had to do was focus on his landing, and with a roll, he's now back on his feet, crouched down and behind a tree. Bradley grinned as he pulled that landing off, drawing his cutlass. He took this time to get a breather while waiting for more of the opposing team to arrive.

inb4 the pirate is the ninja

---

Shinichi was not excited. He'd thought they were just going to show their abilities to the instructors in a controlled environment, but capture the flag? And they were expected to fight? Someone could get seriously hurt! Well, Shinichi couldn't, but the others didn't have his regeneration.

While his team was forming a plan, Shinichi continued lamenting the situation. Before he realized it, they had started. Shinichi decided to head off into the woods. Hopefully he could just wait until the game was over without encountering anyone.

Shinichi's hopes were quickly dashed when he spotted a person walking in his general direction, towards his team's flag. And it was just Shinichi's luck that it was the guy who had created the sword earlier, in his attempt to spar with Akiko. He could probably soundly beat Shinichi in a fight. However, he hadn't seen Shinichi yet. Maybe Shinichi could get the drop on him, and knock him out with one punch.

With his plan set, Shinichi waited for the guy to get near then leaped out, bringing his energy to his fists and launching a strengthened punch towards the boy's chest.

@CondorTalon

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

Musashi took her hand in his smaller gloved one and hung onto it, taking her encouragement that they go closer to the flag as he cue to march over to it hand-in-hand with her.

"Your power seems super useful, y'know! Why'd you wanna come to this school?"

Even as he talked like nothing was up, he'd started using his powers and visually scanning the area for any threats in case they were ambushed.

There was a really big guy already guarding the flag, and he looked pretty capable, thankfully! He had proper battle scars and Musashi's eyes were able to spot his hands, toughened from conditioning and fights. Maybe this guy was a martial artist, then? He wasn't sure if it was true, but the thought brightened up Musashi's day significantly! If he remembered right, this guy had been pretty freaked out by all the weirder elements of the school- given that Musashi's parents were the type to subject him to harsh wilderness-based survival and combat training, it all seemed pretty standard to him - so maybe it'd be good to be super friendly and normal, like at a non-superhero school! The boy gave Zeke a big wave after slipping the shuriken he was holding up his sleeve.

"Ossu! It's nice to meet ya! I'm Musashi Sakai! You seem like a real competent guy! Are you a martial artist, or just a freeform street fighter?"

@CondorTalon@Zero Hex

As everyone picked their roles, Sumiko knew exactly what she was planning on doing. Her abilities weren't really suited for defense, right? They weren't particularly subtle, either. So there was only one thing for it!

That was getting in as fast as she could without stopping and getting the flag. She felt a little bad about not being able to help anyone who was downed, but that was the rules, wasn't it? Taking a deep breath, Sumiko squared herself up. Into each of her limbs a warm sensation flowed, a glow forming as she provided twenty-five percent of her power into each of them. The brunette girl gave herself a firm nod, smiling... and then she was off. The additional power in her legs boosted her physical speed quite enormously, and she was ripping up the soil beneath her feet as she went. She couldn't do subtle, but she could throw her whole self into everything and give it her all!

Ideally, she wouldn't end up having to hit anybody, but it's not like it was against the rules, and she was prepared for it if she did!

---

Defense made sense. It meant she could surprise people with her friends. And so, Clarabelle sat quietly down, near the flag, in plain view. Her dolls drifted outward and to the sides, hiding themselves in the nearby foliage silently. She positioned them in staggered lines, widening the further they went away from the flag. She smiled pleasantly to herself as she did. Scissors, knives... oh, she'd had to blunt then unfortunately, but the fascinatingly sharp edges of her dolls' weaponry could still take her enemies by surprise even if they wouldn't hurt them particularly much...

So, for now, Clarabelle sat and waited.

---

---

Jonathan couldn't help but laugh at Mina's joke, even if it was at his expense. He had a sense of humor about these sorts of things after all, and it probably didn't help that he was a borderline masochist. All throughout the previous year he hadn't stopped smiling in battle, even with his arms and legs having been broken during the second round of the tournament. Mina had fared much worse than he had, which he attributed to a poor matchup. Jonathan had made it three rounds running entirely on brute strength and coin shots until in an epiphany he tried launching something other than a coin. Namely, his opponent. It hadn't been enough to win, though.

He seemed completely oblivious to the morally dark grey concepts that Mina had put forth. To him, it was simply pragmatism, and he had no problem with other students exploiting every weakness possible. He did it himself to a limited extent, though it took a long time to work out how to deal with some people for him, and the extent of his studies on Miss Kasuke's powers had only led him to carry a handheld mirror and polarized sunglasses in his briefcase. Woefully insufficient no doubt.

"Hah, yeah, 'Sucker punch Jonathan in the face' should definitely go in your notes. I'd like to see what you've got on me at some point. If you don't mind, I think I'll borrow your idea. Every possible advantage is a good thing, and I'll be aiming for the top of my classes as well. Perhaps we could work together."

Jonathan knelt down and flipped open his briefcase to retrieve his own notepad and a BIC ballpoint pen. His family was wealthy, sure, but not so wealthy that they avoided good deals at the local Staples. Pen and notepad in hand, he stood and begun taking notes himself, clearly inspired by his partner's work ethic.

The glowy guy in red had some sort of charge-based power and was calmly walking and barking commands - some sort of strategist personality? The girl who had punched him earlier was even more absent-minded than he was judging by how easily she had gone down. The sailor had a hell of a kick behind him, so he'd have to protect his solar plexus and groin against that guy. And... Some kid was hiding behind a tree, perhaps setting up an ambush for the boy with the sword? The thought of cowardice never even crossed Jonathan's mind. He had difficulty comprehending anyone not liking fighting.

Scribble scribble.

He glanced up towards Mina Miss Kasuke again. Were people really that intimidated by her? He couldn't really see why. She seemed perfectly nice to him.

@Silver Carrot

Daisuke Kanzaki

@tipssyCalibrator

---

As the game began Daisuke summoned his knuckle weapon and went towards his team flag. He had trust the rest of his teammates would hold back the other team while he managed to charge his weapon, it would just be a fancy brass knuckle otherwise and seeing how some had brought swords to the match, having a blunt weapon didn't seem too much of an advantage. Looking at the other side it seemed that Bradley had already thwarted and attack, but it seemed strange to Daisuke, only an idiot would run in a straight line into the other side unless this was a distraction.

Seeing who was with him defending the flag, Daisuke saw a doll-like girl, who predictably had a doll related power. Since she seemed to know what she was doing (and because she was kinda creepy) Daisuke decided to leave her alone; instead, he focused his attention on the other girl who seemed like she didn't want to be there. Approaching her he bluntly asked her "What can you do?" There was no time for formalities if he wanted to win against the other team, and knowing what she can do can help him to develop a strategy to successfully defend their flag.

Yasu Hirabayashi

As the fun began, it seemed like a lot of people started charging straight forward. Yasu had never been much for charging straight in; she preferred to take the subtle approach to her fun. Keeping a close watch, she saw her squad-mates pick their targets and engage with them. Amazingly, Bradley actually made himself useful and landed a hit on violence girl. She didn't pay too close attention, as she was looking for someone to engage personally. Eventually, an opportunity presented itself; one girl from the opposition started racing towards them, clearly fueled by some power or another.

Taking advantage of her position in the middle, Yasu moved directly between the girl and her destination. Then she unleashed a crackling brace of electricity from her hands. It didn't travel very far, but it didn't need to; Yasu was planning for this to either stop the girl's advance or see her crash right into the middle of her electric field with her momentum.

@VitaVitaAR

@Azereiah

Jonathan's laugh caught her off guard. She'd told a joke, sure, but nobody laughed at her jokes. They usually just told her she was a bitch, or sick, or walked away scared. She had no idea how to play this off, and that made her uncomfortable, and she wanted to take that discomfort out on Jonathan in her subtle ways, so she silently huffed and regained her aloofness. "I'm not showing you my notes on you. That would defeat the point!" she stated a little aggressively. "Also, you'd better not be serious about getting top marks."

So they scribbled for a while side by side. She could see Ryuuto and the South Korean boy from where she was standing, also taking notes. Suddenly, she put her hand to her mouth, looked down so that her hair hid her face, and shuddered. She was trying to hide that she was having a sudden giggling fit. She managed to get it under control but when she looked back up, her face was bright red and her eyes had gone puffy. "Sorry. It just dawned on me that all the second year here are standing round taking notes and how creepy that must look to anyone watch-" she stopped speaking as the giggling fit started again and she covered her mouth with both hands this time. What was happening to her? This was so ungraceful!

---

The match finally began, and the redhead who punched Jonathan earlier started it by rushing straight towards the enemy's flag. Not really a smart move, in her opinion, but it certainly suited her hot-tempered "think later act now" personality. And as she had predicted, her attack was immediately repelled by the opposing team, a blue-haired boy, with a strong kick using both of his legs and all the weight of his body. The girl was flung away, landing face floor to the ground.

That must have hurt, she thought.

As the battles were unfolding, she noticed some of the non-participating students scribbling away like mad, no doubt taking notes of all the powers in display. She herself didn't understand the point. She could remember all the powers being displayed just fine without writing it down. She usually only used notes during her research, where she had to write down a complicated chemical reaction to really understand it without confusing it with a similar yet very different reaction. Compared to that, this was quite simple to remember.

Well, as a teacher, she wouldn't scold a student for taking notes. But still, she felt it was quite rude to the ones in combat. She wouldn't be happy if she were to receive the similar treatment. She would feel like a lab rat.