AKIKO

Akiko stormed her way towards her side of the arena with a sour expression and grumbling under her breath, clearly not happy with the way her attempt at getting the flag played out. As she reached the rest of her team members that were still on their own side, she crossed her arms in frustration and sighed in annoyance. "Alright, I guess maybe we should try to come up with some kind of plan or something..." Akiko said with a reluctant tone to her voice

Capture the flag, huh?

Weird. Though, he guessed he didn't have any right to be surprised. When he came to the institute a few years ago, he had to go through something similar. Not CTF, but something in the same vein.

Jun-Sang wasn't really a fan of it.

As the teams were decided and the game started, Jun-Sang wordlessly slid up beside the group of teachers watching on the sidelines.

"Don't mind me," he stated flatly, "Just gonna observe, if you don't mind."

@13org@Azereiah@Hammerman@tipssyCalibrator

---

Why did she come to the school?

It didn't take her long to come up with a response, to be honest.

"Why not?"

It was true, in a way. It's not like Rumi had given it much serious thought. It might be fun, right? And what could go wrong? This is what Rumi thought.

And then they were walking to the flag, up next to the big guy.

Musashi greeted him with an energetic gusto, and Rumi couldn't help but giggle at that. She gave a small wave to Zeke.

"You doin' okay?" she asked him. He seemed a little out of it, if she was going to be honest.

@Dblade26@Zero Hex

---

One does not simply try to punch someone in the chest after that someone just saw someone getting kicked in the chest. As Ryousei moved, he saw a flash of movement and leapt backward, just narrowly avoiding the other boy's punch.

"Not bad!" he said, thumbing his nose, "If I hadn't just seen someone fall the exact same way you might have gotten me."

He straightened up.

"I don't suppose you're going to let me slip through, huh?" Ryousei said.

Without waiting for an answer, he got into a fighting stance.

"Don't worry, the edge is blunt... well, relatively speaking."

Then he charged, aiming at the boy's legs in a wide swipe.

@Western Robot

Zeke took stock of the teammates that were left around him playing defense. One little girl that couldn't have been older than 12 at most, one little boy about the same age dressed like a panda carrying around swords (right, of course, what else would he carry around) and a perfectly normal looking girl of about his age. Who talked about powers and making them stronger. Right, powers. He had no powers! All he did was punch people! By some miracle, he didn't openly shout this out but he did clench his fists and grind his teeth. Only a little. He was starting to come to terms with the fact that he was dead and his afterlife was anime as fuck.

"Right, Musashi, I'm Ezekiel but you can call me Zeke. No need for the oss stuff we're not at a dojo or anything", he said to the boy who waved at him kinda absent-mindedly. It wasn't uncommon for people to notice he wasn't exactly a regular person, even before he started training in earnest he always had that look about him, and talking martial arts gave him some of his swagger back. "Yeah, eight years training in practical karate but nevermind that. Look kid, you really shouldn't go about carrying swords n whatnot, that's dangerous for you and others, you could get in trouble with the police", he trailed off, noticing he was being adressed by the other girl, Rumi.

"No I'm not okay this whole thing's messed up. Why does this kid have swords? Why does everyone have a weapon? Why is this place putting some primary school girl up against people our age?" he pointed over at Terri, who to his surprise at least seemed to have a solid stance down. A good stance is the foundation from where you work your offense and defense, or so he had been drilled many, many times. "This shit just don't make sense. I've been to juvie and it wasn't this bad, kids had to hide their sharp shit there". He stopped once more, taking a long, deep breath and exhaling forcefully to clear his head.

"And all that talk about powers or whatever. There's some cult shit going on here or I've lost my damn mind or I died and this is some crazy dying daydream or a really weird afterlife". Before he could go on with his rant, however, the one girl that was trying to get into a fight with the other kid with a sword walked up to them with footprints on her chest and asking for a plan. Hadn't she run off real fast before? "I don't have to plan nothing. I've a headache and I'm upset and my plan is to sit here and take it out on whoever gets near. You want a plan? You keep running for their flag fast as you can and don't get hit when you do".

@CondorTalon @Dblade26 @tipssyCalibrator

---

---

In two short minutes, Jonathan had witnessed more personality pouring out of Mina than he had in the past year -- from the unusual openness to the sudden petty competitiveness. It wasn't like she had much to worry from him in terms of grades, since while he consistently had made it into the top five, he wasn't good enough in areas outside of physics and fighting to come anywhere near her, Ryuuto, Jun-Sang, or Hondo on test scores, and he was certain that she knew that. Which meant that her shell was cracking when she snapped at him. He opted not to reply at first and merely continued scribbling notes with his signature shit-eating grin on his face when something completely unexpected caught him off guard. Was she laughing? Woah. That's new.

A quick glance around the field revealed that her mid-gigglefit observation was indeed correct. There wasn't a single upperclassman who wasn't observing and probably taking notes, which on its own was only a bit amusing, but what sealed it was the resurgent giggle fit. Jonathan caught the laugh-bug and found himself giggling like an idiot right alongside her. He managed to catch himself for a moment and respond.

"I think we're all taking after Doctor Maxwell now -- PFFFFT."

The laughing started again. At least his ribs weren't broken, or this would really hurt.

@Silver Carrot

---

---

Brock had made it most of the way across the field uninterrupted somehow. Was the other team just too busy to bother with him? Ho-lee-shit. At least his own team seemed competent, judging by the boy he'd missed on roll-call earlier throwing himself at swordy. He quickly stepped past Yasu, intent on not distracting her from dealing with Sumiko, and made a short comment to her on the way past.

"I'm moving up to probe their defenses. We can go on offense after."

The cudgel had dried into a solid brick of newspapery wood from his ever-rising body heat, and was effectively being baked the whole time. It was ready for real action and wasn't likely to fall apart at the first swing anymore, so when Brock was finished frosting over a strip of grass covering his side of the field, he turned and started running directly toward the other team's flag. He was glowing brightly, and air shimmered around his exposed skin. It'd take a little while before he got anywhere near the flag, but the other team looked like they were a little bit too comfortable, and he intended to break that up.

@CondorTalon@Mercurial@VitaVitaAR@tipssyCalibrator@clanjos@Dblade26@Zero Hex

Well, this Zeke guy seemed pretty nice, but maybe a little bit silly?

"You take the dojo with you after you leave it, though. I have swords because I have enough training to know what to do with them. Also, you wouldn't want me to face crazy guys with swords unarmed, right? I mean, I might be really, really, really good, but I'm also in the 'under twelve' category, y'know?

Musashi tilted his head as Zeke got pretty upset about all the unusual stuff. But they were at a superhero school for magic people, right? Weirdness was normal here.

"Does it matter too much? I mean, you're here now. But I guess maybe you could be crazy or dead but I dunno what that'd mean about me. I never thought about if I was somebody else's mind-ghost or anything!"

Any further thought on the subject was interrupted by a sight Musashi didn't need superhuman vision to see. Specifically a guy charging right for the flag while glowing and shimmering. As far as Musashi could tell, the older, glowy boy's skin was the source of the heat so fighting him at grappling distance would be a bad idea. Fortunately that had never been his plan!

Musashi threw the shuriken he'd slipped up his sleeve, aiming for the glowy boy's weapon hand, then following up with two more aimed at trying to strike each of his feet.

They shouldn't cut very much at this distance, but he was confident in his ability to maintain accuracy at high speed against a moving target with enough force to inconvenience.

That said, the others might not notice he was radiating heat, and nobody seemed to know what to do. Well, he at least had some basic idea of how to fight, might as well try taking charge.

"Rumi, I'm gonna need your power. This guy seems dangerous and I might need to make harder shots from long range. Fast girl, do hit-and-run attacks on the people engaging our other offensive fighters, but keep moving. Clotheslines, superman punches, sliding tackles I guess. Wrestle-girl, Zeke, don't let this guy touch you. He's dangerous up close. Ignore my advice if you like though."

@Azereiah @Zero Hex @Clanjos @tipssycalibrator @CondorTalon

---

---

Three stars came hurtling towards Brock out of the huddled group near the flag. He didn't see any of them, but he certainly felt them. Thuck. The first had buried itself a centimeter in the end of Brock's Millwall Brick. Thump, thump. God damn that hurt! It was like getting punched in the legs! The first star bounced off of Brock's shin as his leg swung forwards, followed by the second hitting him in the top of his following foot, sending him stumbling. He didn't fall, but when he finally caught his balance, he stood there with his arms wide and with the biggest 'what the fuck, man?' look on his face he could manage. Then he turned his free hand over and flipped Panda Boy off. After shaking the shuriken off of his cudgel, Brock started his run again, slightly slower.

So Panda Boy was a ninja. He'd have to keep an eye on him - catching a star to the face would be really, really unpleasant. The impact points on his shin and his foot would definitely be bruised later too.

@CondorTalon@Zero Hex@Clanjos@tipssyCalibrator@Dblade26

Meilin Hua

Meilin was watching carefully as the test started.
"Well, this is going better than what I thought it would be."
"Last year I thought they were going to kill each other." she said, laughing.
"Thinking about it, it has became almost a habit for us two to come to see the new students each year, hasn't it Daler?" she asked, looking to him.

But before she could hear his answer, a boy approached them.
"Don't mind me,"
"Just gonna observe, if you don't mind."
It was Jun-Sang. Meilin didn't know him very well, but she knew that he was very smart and helpful. Many teachers liked him because of that.

"Oh, sure! I don't mind." she said to Jun-Sang
"I'm still a little worried about the big guy though. If he continues like that, he is going to have problems at the institute...

@Azereiah@CondorTalon

Freyja may have wondered why students bothered taking notes during the match, and indeed for many students, it was a pointless endeavor when they could just watch the new students and get a sense of their abilities. However, Ryuuto didn't just want a sense. He wanted to dismantle and dissect what the players were doing. His fingers fluttered over his phone with frantic precision, flying between apps like they were notes in one of his rhythm games. CLICK! Snap a picture of Bradley's epic drop kick. Flick back to notes, dictate the strategies being employed complete with time stamps. Switch to video to catch Natsuki's dash. He'd be able to calculate her speed based on distance traveled over time later. CLICK! Snapshot of Yasu's electric burst. More dictation. And, best of all, his point of view in the tree gave him a point of view that nobody else, not even the professors, was seeing. His info buddies would provide him with the standard POV later.

Anybody watching Ryuuto in the tree would probably think he was playing some bizarre cross between piano tiles and Wii Tennis with the way he frantically tapped, swiped, and whipped his phone left and right. Things were starting to get heated up, though. He would have to make sure that no stray attack took him out of the tree... or just straight-up took the tree out.

@Hammerman

@Azereiah

Just when Mina was finally starting to calm down, Jonathan starts laughing to, and this sits her off again. After probably a minute solid of them laughing at each other, Mina finally manages to stop. Her hand is on her aching chest, her breathing's heavy and ragged, her face is flushed red ad she's wearing a very sour, indignant expression on her face.

"That was embarrassing," she stated, trying very hard to keep the emotion from her voice. "If anybody comes to know about this, I'll know who told them. I'm going to go and wash my face, and get a drink of water. Have fun note-taking."

With that, she stuffs her notebook and pen in her satchel and leaves i a manner which could be described as half 'storming off' and half 'getting out of there as fast as possible'

---

Shinichi knew he was in trouble when the boy avoided his first attack. This guy obviously had more fighting experience. He was even talking during a fight! Before Shinichi could respond, his opponent moved first into a fighting stance, then fluidly into a strike at Shinichi.

Shinichi knew he didn't have a chance at beating a guy with a sword in a straight hand-to-hand match. He needed to take things to the ground. He tried to jump over the strike and tackle his enemy, but he didn't manage to avoid the sword. A wave of pain blossomed from Shinchi's shins. That had definitely broken the skin. Even being struck, he kept his forward momentum. If his tackle connected, and he was able to knock the guy over, Shinichi was confident he would win.
@CondorTalon

Rumi tilted her head as she listened to the big guy speak.

Poor guy. He seemed so confused about what was going on. It was easier for Rumi, who never really took things too seriously, but this guy didn't seem like the guy who could just take things like this at face value.

She looked down as Musashi said something about needing her power, and only then did she notice someone approaching them.

"Alright," she said, "I need you to take off your glove. Grab onto my hand."

Rumi couldn't fight. If she went up against this guy approaching them, she'd be sorely outmatched. Of course, she was planning on doing no such thing, so that didn't matter.

@Dblade26

---

So. The strike had connected. That was good.

The guy was still coming at him though. Less good.

Ryousei had less than a second to react before the other boy made contact, sending him falling backward and fuuuuuuuuuu

Wait... as long as he didn't hit the ground he was good... so he shifted his sword and used it as a stand to keep himself from falling. Then he shifted, moving backward, and repositioned his feet under him so that he could stand again.

At the same time he pushed the other boy backward... hopefully far enough so that he'd be the one falling this time.

@Western Robot

"Look kid, you don't take the dojo with you, you take what you learn with you...ah why am I even bothering" Zeke said, throwing his hands up in the air before going off to lean on his team's flag, body language just screaming "yep, I'm not gonna do jack unless I absolutely have to". The kid was, on some level, right. He was here, dead or whatever, it was time to accept it. This was all insane and stupid and dangerous, but really hadn't his life basically been just that till that point? What really was the difference? And as he pondered all these things, some glowing guy looked to charge right into their side of the field. Oh right, the game.

And much as he hated to admit it, there had to be something about the kid. Whatever it was he threw at Shiner over yonder (he probably would've freaked out had he actually seen the shuriken as such), Panda Boy did so very, very well, with practiced ease and remarkable accuracy for the distance and motion. The effects, however, weren't quite as clear-cut as he probably hoped they were and the guy resumed his run for the flag. He had to agree with Musashi, something was off about him and he wasn't in the mood to figure out what it was with his own body. He could probably take it but why try and risk his health over this fucking game.

"Kid, nevermind the weapon, keep going for the legs. Go mostly for the thighs and knees, the shin is solid bone. Aim where you don't want him to be and where that'll put him at. Make him step on whatever you're throwing if you can, change up rhythms and throw a few to the body mixed in to keep him guessing". Basic strategy, but it worked for personal combat with or without weapons. It didn't even occur to Zeke he was telling a child to potentially cripple someone else with weapons, but apparently no one here cared either.

@Dblade26 @Azereiah @CondorTalon

"Oh, I missed with one. Well, he was at my outer range."

Musashi nodded to Rumi but didn't slip off a glove, he needed his hands free to fight. Instead he loosened the strap keeping his panda hat ontop of his head and shrugged it down around his neck, then took Rumi's hand and placed it ontop of his head.

He was watching Brock as he did all this and- Oh, well that was really mean. In fact Musashi was pretty sure that hand gesture was super rude! Well, no sense going easy on him now. Musashi took out a whole around five Shuriken, pushed his powers to the limit and struck.

Zeke's advice was probably the best longterm strategy, but at the moment Musashi just wanted to teach the rude glowy boy some manners and a little healthy fear. He sent one spinning toward each eye, slow enough that he might see it and duck if he were fast enough. Those were mostly a distraction. He threw two more at the same spots on his leg and foot, again, slower to control his motions but enough that they'd still hurt stacked up on the previous hits.

Then he shifted his stance so that his whole body's force fed into the throw and whipped the last, dullest one right at Brock's crotch.

Fast and Hard.

Nin nin.

And suddenly there was an electrical barrier in her face. With no other options she could think of, Sumiko proceeded to slam her front foot down into the dirt as hard as she could. This immediately left a small crater, and her momentum caused her to skid forward, sending dirt and debris up into the air in quite a messy shower of junk. However, even if it didn't stop her immediately, her move paid off in the end, even if she did almost smack into the electricity she did just barely manage to stop herself, leaning forward and waving her arms, and nearly falling onto her butt in the process.

But she did catch herself.

"Whoa, that was close!" Sumiko declared, before raising her fists. It looked like she wasn't going to get there without a fight... but that meant she'd just have to throw herself at it! Everyone was ready to fight, so it wasn't like they were just beating one another up for the hell of it! This was for fun, anyway, so it'd be fine!

@Mercurial

---

---

"It was nice getting to talk to you, Miss Kasuke," Jonathan said as Mina turned to leave. He sorta understood the need to clean up, since his ribs felt like he'd been hit with a baseball bat again. Despite that, her method of departure did sting a little. Perhaps the incident had touched a nerve? He wasn't entirely sure if he'd 'connected' with her at all, so there was only one thing to do really. Push onwards. And take notes, of course. But mostly push onwards.

He spoke up again before she was too far away to hear him. "I'll be waiting for you outside the cafeteria at lunch, then."

@Silver Carrot

---

---

The kid had thrown a few more stars. These ones, however, Brock saw coming, and he was more than ready for them. Or, at least, he thought he was. His right foot came down just as the first two stars came for his eyes, and he threw his momentum into getting the hell out of the way. A quick spin threw him to the right, followed by two more stars sinking into the ground exactly where his feet would have been. All was well -- perhaps the kid had misjudged how he'd move?

THUMP

Or not. Brock faceplanted and went into a full scorpion when the last shuriken miraculously seemed to home in on his groin. On impact, a massive wave of nausea surged through Brock's body and he retched into the dirt, his feet still well above his head. Holy shit the grass tasted bad, what the hell kind of lawn care gear did they use here? Oh. Baked grass, right. Hot and disgusting. He was still hot. Maybe... Oh. Right. Shuriken to balls. Probably ruptured one. What the fuck, kid, you're not getting away with that one.

Since he was going down anyway, Brock released his heat in the general direction of Panda Boy and his pals in a bright, beamlike flash. They were too far to take the full blast of it, and he hadn't yet been taught to name his attacks, but they'd at least get the general idea. Finally, Brock's legs finished going over his head and slammed into the ground. He was out and, when he finally got around to getting back up, he'd have to go back to his side of the field. Or, at least, that's what the rules said.

@Dblade26@Zero Hex@CondorTalon

---

---

"Keep watching. I think he's getting into the swing of things now, if his little chat with Mr. Sakai is anything to go by."

Daler nodded to himself as he spoke, opting to use his voice for the benefit of whoever else was around. One of the upperclassmen approached and placed some teacups and a full kettle on the golf cart as though it were a table, then the boy left as quickly as he came. Daler had forgotten about the testing event earlier, so he figured now was as good a time as ever to have tea with his students, and had given one of his older 'students' instructions to make some in exchange for relieving them of five minutes of hellish nightmares.

Being a detention counselor was good. It gave him leverage he could use to make his life marginally easier.

"I'm surprised. The new ones are taking their time, probing out eachothers' defenses. It's very promising. Care for some tea, you two?"

@13org@CondorTalon

AKIKO

Akiko heard the words of the panda kid, and nodded her head in agreement. "Alright, I can do that" she said confidently in response. She didn't really like the idea of taking orders from someone who was clearly even younger than she was, but it's not like she had much of a choice and he actually kinda sounded like he knew what he was talking about, so she was able to accept it

Akiko watched as panda kid launched some ninja stars towards the big scary guy, who fell over in pain as one of the stars hit him in the balls. Akiko laughed at the moment in her head a little bit, but also recognized it as a chance to strike. Akiko immediately took off as she saw the scary guy fall over in pain, and she reeled her fist back as she saw him throwing an attack at panda kid. She was hoping her position on the field, which was a couple feet away from panda kid, and scary guy's focus on panda boy would be enough for him to not notice her as she threw a running punch straight at his head

Meilin Hua

"I'm surprised. The new ones are taking their time, probing out eachothers' defenses. It's very promising. Care for some tea, you two?"

"Sure I would love to." she said to Daler as he offered her some tea.
"Being so popular sure has its perks." she said, noticing the boy who delivered the tea going away.
"Having other students bringing you tea... Maybe they are trying to get on your good side to avoid detention?" she said, with a giggle.
"Hmm! Its delicious! What is it made of?" she asked, after taking a sip of the hot tea, resting the teacup on the cart again shortly after.

It was true. The students were being careful, not just charging in mindlessly. Well, at least some of them. Meilin didn't noticed it before, but there were some promising strategist amongst the new students.
The big guy was really slowly adapting himself. Maybe everything he needed was to get together with other students. Maybe that would help him with his adaptation.
And the young boy wearing the panda suit, Sakai, as Daler said... He was a very interesting boy. He looked rather innocent and silly, but he actually had some pretty nice skills. If someone trained him the right way, he would be a very skilled martial artist.
The panda boy and the big guy, they were both incredibly different from each other, but somehow, Meilin could see something they had in common. She didn't knew exactly how to express that feeling in words, but they had the will of a martial artist. They seemed like they had an honest heart and a sincere will to get stronger, to surpass their limits, not on a quest for power, but for better understanding of their own body, of the world that surrounded them.
They had the pure heart, the fierce will of a warrior.

"Looking better at them Daler, the panda boy and the big guy, I mean..."
"I don't know how to express this in words, but I feel like they both have the spirit of a martial artist. The pure and sincere will of getting stronger not just for the power, but to know their bodies better, to surpass their limits, to learn about themselves and the world that surrounds them. I can feel in their eyes the fierce and pure will of a warrior." she said, carefully studying their movements.
"I don't know... Call it intuition, but they surely caught my atte-"
Meilin immediately stopped talking after seeing what happened.

One of the panda boy's throwing stars hit another student. A blonde guy wearing a hoodie and with a rather vicious and wild appearance. Almost like he was one of those thugs that Meilin saw on movies.
The throwing star hit him on his groin, making him fall on the ground, but not before letting out a very dangerous looking heat wave in the direction of the panda boy, the big guy and a brown haired girl that was nearby them.
She didn't knew if was because of how dangerous that heat wave looked, or because she had an particular interest on two of the three students that were nearby, but she had to do something.

---

---

Oh god. Yeah, he definitely needed to see someone about the almost quarter pound of metal that just smashed his groin. Brock rolled over and retched again, this time with a string of stomach acid and phlegm dripping onto the ground. Not cool, kid. Not. Cool. The nausea wasn't about to go away for at least another ten minutes, so he stayed on the ground a bit longer. Or he wanted to.

The sight of the red-haired girl who'd gotten dropkicked by Dumbass McPirate earlier coming at him brought him to his senses, though. Mostly. A surge of adrenaline told him he needed to get out of the way now, and his legs, with some difficulty, obeyed. He scrambled out of the way and tried to stand up again. What the hell kind of bitch would try to whack a guy while he's down? The rules didn't matter anymore -- he had a clear-cut reason to defend himself now, and he tried to retaliate by throwing a punch towards Akiko. He missed completely. Nausea, dizziness, and fighting don't mix very well, apparently. A moment later he remembered to start charging up again, and he began to leech the heat out of the surrounding air, with scattered bursts of weak heat escaping with each fresh wave of pain. Brock's dull glow was flickering like a bad lightbulb.

@tipssyCalibrator@Dblade26@Zero Hex

---

---

"Actually, I offered him the chance to get out of one detention if he brought me some tea. You weren't too far off, though!", Daler said, with a sly smile. The tea was simple Earl Grey with extra bergamot oil, and seemed to be prepared well enough. The boy had steeped the tea a little bit too long, but otherwise was right on the money. He said as much. "Just Earl Grey with doubled bergamot. I usually prepare my own blends, but I can't do that when I'm not in my office."

"I think you're right about them. They're very calm for what's happening right now, and they feel like the sorts of students I think you would enjoy having, at least for one class slot."

Of course, the pleasant side of the conversation was cut short by a shuriken to Brock's groin. Daler had known it was coming, given Musashi's thoughts at the moment, but it didn't make the impact look any less painful. On top of that, Akiko was charging in to deal the knockout blow, which Daler wasn't entirely sure was within the ruleset. This looked like trouble, and thankfully Meilin was already readying herself to act on it.

"Go stop them before this gets out of hand. It isn't going to go well otherwise."

@13org

Zeke had never been too adverse to enjoying other people's misfortunes and his awful, awful day had only made him all the more open to watching a kid beaning some glowing guy on the junk with whatever he was throwing. Yeah, this kid was pretty okay. They were gonna have to have a talk about sharp things though. All that, however, would have to wait and now it was time to get serious. At least that was what every fiber of his body was telling him. He had been keeping a very close, very trained eye on Brock, he knew before that getting too close to him was probably bad news in some way and now he knew something was up.

It wasn't any conscious knowledge of what was happening, because Ezekiel still hadn't quite wrapped his head around powers and he had no idea how Brock's functioned. To him it simply felt like every time he fought. Maai, the distance of engagement, the angles of attack. It was like understanding that a punch or a kick or the stroke of a weapon was coming, where it was aimed at and how it'd reach that target. He had no idea this was his power, an extension of his dedication to the martial arts. He just knew that this was dangerous and he had to act, that there was no time to even scream at that other girl to leave the guy alone.

The thing about seeing an attack coming and understanding, on some level, where and how it'll hit you relating to your own ability to dodge it, is that it makes it much easier to react appropiately. You seem much faster than you are because you're not reacting once it's already happened, you're removing that split second lag that favors the attacker. And Zeke moved decisively, without hesitation. Before the heat beam reached the group he already had his arms around Musashi and Rumi. Before it had a chance to hit them he'd already dived with all his might and dragged them out of the way, throwing himself and the kids down to the ground away from the danger.

He felt the heat nearby, and only when he knew the danger had more or less passed he raised his head to look at where the group had been standing, near the flag. The pole looked a bit dryer but that was about it. Well. That had been an overreaction, then. Letting go of the other two, Zeke turned around, sat up, and screamed to no one in particular: "Hah, that was it?! No, wait, what the fuck was that?!".

@Azereiah@Dblade26@CondorTalon

Rumi was slightly surprised when, instead of giving her his hand, Musashi instead placed her hand on his head.

Oh... well, she guessed he'd want use of both hands, and she was proven right just a few seconds later when Musashi threw his second round of stars.

And then she watched as the other boy dodged all the stars, except one...

And then Rumi cringed as the final star made contact with the other boy's crotch.

"W'sat really necessary, ya think?" Rumi asked, but before she could hear a reply from Musashi she suddenly felt herself being flung to the side. She let out a yelp of surprise as Zeke forced the three of them onto the ground, just before she felt a faint warm wind passing her by.

Zeke stood up quickly, and Rumi followed suit, pulling Musashi up with her as she did.

"You alright?" she asked him before looking over to where Brock was facing off against Akiko.

"Hey!" she yelled, trying her best to sound authoritative, "You're out! Stop! You're out!"

@Zero Hex@Dblade26@Azereiah