Mei, watching Ivy, halted her descent the same way. Unsure if she could be any help to Aphrodite, and furious with the feline, her hands and eyes were alight with fire, as she followed behind Ivy. The anger and searing blood coursing through her veins kept the fear of what this woman could do to her away, as well as gave her faith that Ivy was a more than competent partner. This is it, she thought. All that practicing and mumbling and testing. Let's just hope it works. "What she said."

16.

Jade lowered herself lightly on to the ground before running over to Aphrodite and kneeling down, checking to make sure she was still alive. She turned and glared at Bastet and stood up, dark magic rising from the ground and forming a small dome over Aphrodite to keep her safe in the mean time.

"Two on one?" questioned Bastet, stretching as if she was about to embark on a serene jogging session. "That isn't fair, is it? Same rules apply. Pick one fighter."
"Already done." said Ivy, holding out her hand to stop Mei from following her. "Stay with Jade."

Ivy kept walking towards Bastet; the only thing she was aware of were Bastet's position and the sounds of her own, ragged breathing. Was this fear? Ivy's eyes narrowed and her breathing stopped as Bastet disappeared from where she had been standing. Before she knew it, her own hand had shot out into the air and grabbed an oncoming fist as the rest of Bastet's body materialised in the air. She looked momentarily stunned at Ivy's reflexes.
"Like I said... you're dead." whispered Ivy.

Ivy swung her elbow sharply and hit Bastet square in the nose, bringing both of her feet down to the ground. Seizing upon the opportunity that her opponent's distraction presented, Ivy grabbed Bastet's wrist and twisted it, then lifted her foot high into the air and axe kicked straight through Bastet's elbow. The feline-like monstrosity shrieked in pain as the bone snapped with a sound like a gunshot.

Ivy turned to her side and smashed her heel straight into Bastet's stomach, sending her into the air. Bringing both of her hands together, she cried out as the great power emanating from within her manifested itself in the form of a dark magic beam that released with a massive roar, completely consuming Bastet's body and sending her crashing against the cold, unforgiving ice whilst the entire arena was bathed in an ethereal light.

"We're free to go." she called out confidently to her companions.

"You fucking wish." hissed Bastet, a note of finality in her voice.

Ivy didn't even have time to lose the look of triumph on her face before she felt a sharp, searing pain rip through her abdomen. She felt herself being lifted into the air and looked down at Bastet helplessly, then at the icy sword sticking straight through her body. Blood dripped down the blade copiously, but Bastet was not done yet. She threw Ivy off the sword and straight up into the air, throwing the weapon roughly to the side and creating two sais in her hands instead.

As Ivy fell back, Bastet's hands worked like pistons, repeatedly thrusting the sharp ends of the sais into Ivy's stomach as she screamed and screamed, blood splattering grotesquely on the ground and on Bastet's face, a macabre scarlet shower.

Bastet retracted the sais and let Ivy fall hard on her face, coughing up blood at Bastet's feet and moaning in pain as she clutched at her stomach, fingers slipping in the crimson liquid that was pouring out profusely.

#17

"I mean, she wears a helmet like I do, but that doesn't mean I know her or anything!" Cancer said, flailing his arms. Nearby students, irritated at Cancer's commotion in the library, shushed him again, and he turned to them and give them the finger. And then gave them another with his other hand.

He turned back to Carolyn. "What about her is so interesting to you? And me, for that matter!?"

Mei took a few steps back, allowing the fight to commence. Ivy looked tough. She felt a since of relief after the first attack, but that relief turned into stone cold horror as she watch Ivy get impaled. The repeated stabbing was enough to shake Mei from her intiial stupor into blind fury. She started quick stepping towards the two, sending fireball after fireball careening towards the feline bitch. "YOU. Back. The fuck. OFF!!!" Screaming the last line, both hands flew up, casting a pillar of flame right between the attacker and Ivy's bloody form. Mei separated her hands, the pillar forming a several foot tall wall. "Someone! Grab the girl! Now!" She continued stepping forward, all concentration on keeping the wall of fire alive.

16.

Jade relaxed as she saw Bastet get her ass handed to her. At least for a second.

She gasped loudly and screamed when Ivy got attacked by Bastet when her back was turned, tears forming in her eyes. "Ivy!!" Her yells turned into shrieks as she ran over, using black magic to help lift her and take her with Aphrodite. "Fuck, fuck, fuck." She turned to see a giant wall of fire blocking her view of Bastet.

Bastet turned towards the source of the flames and waved at the man standing behind Mei.

"Surprise." whispered the leader, striking Mei hard in the neck and knocking her down to the floor.

The flames dissipated and Ivy's body was once again back in view. The leader clicked his fingers and caused massive stalagmites to rip through the ground, causing Jade, Ivy and Aphrodite to crash into it and become separated. With another click, the bodies of all the students except Ivy were slammed into the wall closest to Bastet and held there via sheer telekinetic force.

"You took your time." he growled at Bastet, picking Ivy's limp body up by the hair.

"I enjoyed myself. That's all that matters. Any sign of the Guardians?"

"No. What do we do with these three?" he asked, pointing his thumb at the girls against the wall.

"I can kill them now." offered Bastet, twirling the sai in her right hand and lifting it over her shoulder.

"Wait." he said firmly, before Bastet could throw the sai at Mei's forehead. "We only need this one, her dark magic will have to suffice. Kill the others and it'll draw too much attention."

"What about her? No family? No friends?" she asked, watching with disdain as her companion began healing Ivy's wounds.

"It's an orphan." he explained as the tendrils of light emanating from his fingers began to stitch Ivy's gaping wounds. "No one cares for it. The rest of them have families and friends."

"Don't we run the risk of them telling others about us?" she persisted, clearly eager to add more kills to her list.

"No one of importance will believe their story. They'll be considered insane."

The two began to laugh together, blatantly finding cruel amusement at the idea of the survivors explaining their story of a group of murderous, Egyptian deities, willing to attack their fellow wanderers.

"Ahhh, it's waking up." remarked the leader, still holding onto Ivy by her hair.

"Who... Who are you?" she demanded in a dazed voice, weakly struggling against his grip before her voice became stronger."Which one are you, then? Horus? Osiris? Anubis? Set?" she screamed each deity's name at him, her legs flailing around wildly.

"I am the king of kings." he replied to her simply, a cold and cruel smile curving his lips. "Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."

Ivy stopped moving, a bewildered look on her face which soon turned to mocking scorn.

"Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare. The lone and level sands stretch far away." she finished the famous poem, reciting the continuing lines verbatim, her superior cadence implying that the man before her had misunderstood the nature of the poem.

"And that, my poor dear, is exactly the point." exulted Ozymandias, his bark-like laughter echoing at the sight of Ivy's horror.

In the blink of an eye, all three were gone.

-Bastet, Ozymandias and Ivy have left Scenario 16-

---

#17

"Don't flatter yourself." she spat at him. "Consider this a pet project. The real reason I'm here is to give you notice; you've got detention in the kitchens tomorrow at 6am."
Carolyn, to add further insult to injury, flipped him off in his signature style before turning on her heel and leaving the library.

-Carolyn has left Scenario 17-

"Wait, wha.. I didn't do anything this time! That's an abuse of power! You.. You can't do that!", Cancer stammered.

He fell on his knees, hands to his sides as if he were carrying a dead body of a loved one, and looked upwards. "Nooooooooooooooooooooo!"

/End of Scenario #17/

Mei hit the ground with a thud, freed from the force that held her in place. She scrambled to her feet, limping over to the point at which Ivy and the others had left. She started looking around for any evidence of....something. Damn. Her head was killing her. Mei knelt down, holding her head and closing her eyes.

After a few moments of righting herself, she remembered there were others, and an injured one at that. Getting back to her feet, Mei limped towards her, falling to her knees. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on her vitals. Good. She was alive. Probably in better shape than the other girl...wherever the hell she was taken. Placing her hands over this girl, Mei concentrated as best she could on reviving her. She couldn't fully heal her wounds, and she'd be in some pain when she awoke, but at least she'd be awake. She could even offer an explanation on what kind of nightmare Mei just walked into.

Dark blasts through the night combining fire, and telekinesis to propel him towards the area of where he last sensed Aphrodite before it fades away again. With Snake, and 3 other guardians on his trail. What seems like an eternity he finally makes it to the alley in where they lie, they land and run towards the three female to check on their status, everyone but Jade seem hardly conscious, Aphrodite on the other hand is still lying down, her body mangled.

Dark looks on as the white mages begin the healing process, Aphrodite lets out a grunt as her bones begin to go back in place and heal. Tears flowing down her face as the process is amazing and painful at the same time. She passes out again once everything is done, Dark heads over and gently picks her up. Walks away with the Guardians and speaks to the two before leaving. "Babylonian Gardens first thing in the morning."

Dark takes off in the night along side Snake, while the white mages stay behind and fully heal Jade and Mei.

Dark and Aphrodite left the scenario.

Mei begins to look around, confused. She feels like she should be asking questions, but she doesn't know where to start. Were those...Guardians? How did they find out about this? What is this anyway? And the one that insisted on meeting in the Gardens...that was the guy that visited Kyo in the hospital. What did he know about this?

Standing up, Mei tried to think of others she could discuss this with. Alvarez was an obvious choice...maybe Professor Hanraiden? Surely something like this wouldn't be too farfetched, especially with the wounds - there was no pain in the back of her head. No wound, then. Sighing heavily, Mei held her head as if the coward that clocked her in the back of the head did so a dozen times. This was bad. After requesting leave from one of the white mages, Mei went to hail a cab, holding for the Jade girl, sure she would follow.

/Mei leaves S16/

18

Dark waits patiently for the group to show up in the Gardens, he talked to Ashlynn and didn't take long to convince her to show up as well, despite it being early in the morning. He let Balthazar know that he would do double training the next day, for how important it is that he gets every bit of information of what happened last night.

#18

Ashlynn arrived at the specified meeting place in the Gardens, and while she agreed to show up, she was not too happy about it. She crossed her arms and stood across from Dark, his face reflecting back at him through her visor.

"Why am I here again?"

18.

Jade walked over to the gardens, her hair put up in a messy bun and wearing a hoodie a size bigger. She kept her composure serious until reaching Dark, her façade breaking as the questions began porting out and she walked quickly up to him. "Is Aphrodite okay? Have you heard from Ivy? Is the other girl okay? How'd you find us?! Have y'all found anything about those people?" She shook slightly as she asked the questions, crossing her arms over her chest.

"The other girl's fine," Mei said from behind Jade, obviously tired. Her pixie cut was spiked upward from tossing and turning, eyes darkened from lack of sleep, and her same clothes from yesterday clinging to her body. She kept her head down, avoiding the glare of the sun. "We...I...deserve answers. From all of you."

"First thing is first, we're going to exchange notes. There was another attack last night, the latest victims were Aphrodite, Ivy, Jade and her." Dark says as he turns toward Mei.

"Aphrodite fought against Bastet, she said she tried to get you guys out of the orb in the sky but got stopped by a squid or octopus, or something. You and Jade were there after she got defeated, please inform us on what happen next."

Mei was a little surprised that she was on the spot like this. Wasn't she supposed to start asking questions? She felt like she needed something more specific than "There was another attack." Though a complete stranger, another person was nearly hacked to pieces right before her eyes, and Mei herself almost died. "Um...some woman, she...she looked like a cat. She, uh, fought Ivy next. I tried to help, but she kept going on about some shit about rules and honor, so I was forced to watch. That's when it happened...she started hacking Ivy apart with ice daggers, I think. I tried to get her, the er, cat woman, away from her. The wall of fire worked long enough for another girl to grab her, but someone else cracked me in the back of the head...the rest was mostly blurry because of that. The woman held the rest of us back, then she and the guy that snuck up on me disappeared with Ivy." Mei closed her eyes, wincing as she began to audibly discuss what had been running over her mind all night.

18.

Jade frowned at Dark when he didn't answer her questions but she kept quiet, letting the girl fill him in on some things. "She's right for the most part. Ivy fought Bastet after Aphrodite couldn't. She did good too until the bitch tore her apart. There was another man there too. I'm not sure if he was the 'leader' but he seemed like it. I couldn't get to Ivy in time. They mentioned how her dark magic would suffice and how she wouldn't be missed.... They also said something that sounded like a chant or a poem of some sort." Jade stayed quiet for a brief moment, her eyes blank as she tried to remember some of the words. ""Nothing beside remains....something, something.... The lone and level sands stretch far away." She rubbed her temples as she closed her eyes, trying hard to remember the rest of the words.

18

I was leaving my dorm when I saw a group of familiar faces and helmets in the garden, by the looks of them these people were anxious and worried about something. I thought it might not be best to intrude on their conversation but I really wanted to find out what was going on.

I thought of a plan to make my way into the nearest bush undetected. Undetected was the hard part being 6 ft tall doesn't really make you very stealthy I've found, but going from bush to bush I managed to make my way in earshot . I caught parts of the conversation something about an attack with a cat woman and glowing spheres and octopus and ivy taken by someone? Some people from the first attack were there, although there were a few unknown faces to me.

‘Oh hell this is deep,i need to move before i hear something i don't want too’I thought, but I couldn't just leave now. I would be noticed to easily, I needed to wait for them to go, the problem was that I couldn't just wait ,some of them were Psions and could probably sense me already.I made up my mind and descended to risk staying, what was the worst they could do to me? they couldn’t kill me? right?

Mei looked up, the line suddenly very familiar and clear to her. "Nothing beside remains...round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare....the lone and level sands stretch far away. Ozymandias. It's the poem." Why was that guy reciting it? Pretentiousness? Was it code for something? Was he just a Breaking Bad fan?