[IC] Fractions: A New Age

[chukklehed]

Caroline wasted no time following her instructions, and soon stood where she had been in her combat suit. She had decided she didn't need the jacket, since it just added an extra layer for her to get overheated in. Finding herself facing off against a training dummy, she hesitated. She had never really used her Phorros element before, and actually only knew one way to. "Might as well start off with what you know," she mumbled to herself, and closed her eyes. Phorros didn't come to her easily like Elpis, she had to concentrate to find it. Once she had, she opened her eyes and approached the dummy. Bringing her arm back like she was going to punch it, instead she hit it square in the face with her open hand. For an instant nothing seemed to happen, then with a low rumble the shaped of the dummy seemed to waver, and the whole thing suddenly back flipped. It landed upright thanks to it's weights, but tilted backwards slightly. Letting her breath out, Caroline shook her hand to dislodge the pins and needles in her fingers. "I should probably learn some new ways to use Phorros..."

[wonderful_wolf_wizard]

Across the training hall, Mason saw someone using Phorros. I guess we can start then? Mason turned towards the dummy, and frowned. Even when he had sort of glided earlier, he had relied mostly on viper. Lucen wasn't his strong suit. Nothing to do, but to do it. He thought with a grin.

Mason held out his hand, facing the dummy. He closed his eyes, and pictured himself pushing. He felt a disturbance in the air. Yes! I did something! With that small victory, he continued to train.

[Nytem4re]

That made a lot of sense. He didn't think anyone would want to try manipulating fire again if that had happened to them. Cass had almost killed herself and maybe her family by accident.. She'd hurt her uncle as well. He wanted to console her.. Cass seemed almost close to tears "You're stronger than you think Cass. Even attempting fire manipulation after that inci-"

The announcement shocked Ryan a bit. No preparation, no training? This Z man must believe really believe in the theory baptism by fire... That'd be literal to the ones using Elpis though. Ryan got up and walked next to Cassandra. "You going to be okay? They're asking you to use Viper... " He gave a solemn look. Z would probably not stop a fight if someone was seriously injured.... or even about to be killed most likely. And with her Viper powers being a bit on the weak side, he was a bit worried. "Just remember you're also an Elpis. You know their weaknesses too..."

[MarshiestMallow]

Nessie sighed, and feeling she couldn't' very well disobey, she went to the changing rooms, picking the suit that virtually covered her completely. She changed, finding it easy to move it, and headed out. Once more she tried to not bring attention to herself, looking down instead of about at the others around.

She tied back her hair, biting her lip, and shaking slightly. Something caught her eye, and she watched a girl attack a dummy, making it back flip. She frowned, having no idea what to do.

Viper, she had to use. She sighed, and went off to where she was meant to be, staring at the training dummy. She didn't like to use fire. She didn't like to feel of it-uncontrollable.

She grimaced, reaching out for the power inside her, and let fire form in her hands. Somewhat disgusted with it, she attacked the dummy, trying to go to punching it with fire, but merely ended up headbutting it as she tripped. Embarrassed, her face reddening to match her hair, she stood, giving a quick glance around.

[SomeoneSomewere]

Austin's eyes snapped open, narrowed in annoyance. He stood up slowly, exiting the room. At a brisk pace, he walked to the arena. He listened, a small smirk appearing on his face. This would be no difficulty. He grabbed his suit and quickly changed, stretching slightly. He walked to the phorros section, where he found a free dummy. He crouched on the ground and closed his eyes, concentrating. Rock then began to flow over his fisted hands and up his form arm. Then he stopped. He wasn't sure about the possibilities of using earth to his advantage, but no reason to not try things. He stood, where he began to punch the dummy with a fury. His teeth were bared, an almost feral look to him. His main goal, dummy or not: kill it. His hands felt nothing, the rocks creating a layer of protection. He then jumped, a trail of earth following it, where he kicked, the earth slamming straight into the dummies chest with a dull thwack. He felt his control of the rock slipping, and it fell from his hands, gathering in small piles on either side of him. He could only keep the earth in control for a short time before it slipped from his grasp.

[Emmeltine18]

Cassandra listened to Z nervously, she had never fought before. Ryan was asking if she’d be okay but he’d made one mistake. “He said your even element is the one you grew up with so for me that’s Viper. If we’re using our odd elements that would be Elpis for me... So I guess I’m just really lucky!”

She thought it was really sweet that he was worried, but she should be okay... Well she hoped. She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek and muttered “good luck!” before she ran off to grab a uniform.

After a quick visit to the changing room, she stood anxiously in her red and blue uniform, the top half consisting of a crop top. She would be starting off using water, phew, she was better at that any way. She wondered about Z mentioning killing each other and hoped it was a sick joke. She could never kill anyone.

Cass slowly walked over to her dummy while looking around the room. She spotted the back-flipping dummy, but tried to forget about it so she could concentrate without becoming too nervous. She also spotted the girl who was trying to use fire but fell over and felt sorry for her. She jogged over to the girl and said “Hey, don’t worry about it. I was born a Viper and I can’t even do anything more than this” she demonstrated, making the tiny flame appear in her palm. “You’ll pick it up in no time”

With a shy smile, Cassandra left the girl and went back over to her own dummy. She’d love to chat, but she needed all the practice she could get. First she focused on making a ball of water appear in her hands, then she tried to spin it. It took a few attempts and her feet were soaked, but she managed it eventually. The next step involved flinging it at her opponent, the dummy. She managed it first try and jumped into the air with joy before she realised all she managed to do was make it wet... Cassie needed to think of a way to hurt/kill an enemy using water.

[CallaLily180]

With a sigh Forest walked into her training room. She had always worked with plants, never had she even thought about using her water powers alone...that could most definitely be used against her.

She sat there with her eyes closed, thinking of water...water..blood..humans were full of water, even blood was partially water. Could she manipulate them? No, that would be cruel. But why not? They were going to try to kill each other so they might as well have fun with it. As she looked at one of the training dummies across the room she suddenly realized that nothing here really had water in it. The compounds could be damp but other then that...

"Hello, my name is Luna. I will be training you in the arts of water." Luna said, she was like the image of grace...her posture beautiful and cutting. As Forest turned to face her her breath was practically taken away. "I see, hello. My name is Forest." She replied, Luna shook her head and walked over to Forest with a band in her hand. "You have to keep your hair up, out of your face. Now, let us begin. You should know that Elpis users are fairly powerful, especially against our counterparts. First, I will show you how to summon water, next we will work on moving thorough it, or making it lethal." After tying up Forest's hair she moved to the dummy's side of the room and got in a ready stance. "Come Forest."

Forest nodded and went over to her, she tried to get into the same stance but ended up falling on her face. She quickly got back up and clearing her throat got into a more simple stance. "What now?" She asked, Luna simply shook her head and straightened. "We will now work on stance."

[MarshiestMallow]

Nessie blinked, shocked the girl had come over. She turned to watch her using Elpis, then took a deep breath before going over. "If you help me with Viper, I can help you with Elpis" She said, her voice soft, looking down, her cheeks still red. She was shaking, waiting for wraith, or something.

Nessie wasn't a very confident individual. She was hopelessly shy, and didn't believe in her own abilities. She was the nicest person around, and very naive and innocent. She waited for the girls reply, biting her lip, feeling like she was just making a fool of herself.

[TheLastRunaway]

When Nyx walked in to the viper arena two girls had already arrived and seemed to have gone through a conflict, one had fallen and the other went to help her. She stayed where she was, would she had helped that girl or felt sorry for her? She didn't know what she was supposed to feel in this hell hole. She took a deep breath and walked over to her dummy before a loud but controlled voice came from one of the doorways. A women standing about 5'9 walks out from the shadow wearing a much or exquisite uniform compared to the training suits, her auburn hair laid across her shoulders in beautiful waves and her eyes were dark but she was stunning. She looked at the three of them with a cocky grin.

"Well don't you ladies look.. Lost." Her voice was silk but she clipped her words making her sound cold. She beamed over to the girl who had fallen with a curious look then the other girl then to Nyx. She froze when she looked at her. She then asked: "What do you know about fire?" Her voice echoed to the three of us.

[CallaLily180]

After fifteen minutes of falling flat on her face Forest managed a stance that was somewhat like her teachers, Luna gave her a nod and a small smile as she put out her hands, she moved them in a graceful motion and suddenly a line of water started to follow her hands. "You will do this next, it is simple. Focus on the water following your hand. It is already there you just have to will it to show itself. When we can get this done we will work on sharpening it." The line that followed her hand suddenly turned into something more precise, she thrust her hand at the dummy and the water followed, slicing the dummy's head in half.

Forest watched all of this with as much focus as she could possibly muster, as she watched her hands she nodded. She started to move her hands in a more simplified pattern then Luna's, focusing hard on the air between her two hands a small line of water appeared there. She smiled and waited for further instructions, but at the slightest movement of her hands the water faltered and hit the ground. "Oops."

Luna kept a calm smile on her face even though the water hit the bottom of her beautifully delicate robes. "We need to work on your focus, that is simple. We will meditate once a week from now on. But for now all you will do is think of water, that is it. Summon water once more, we will need to work on the lethal part of training soon." As she turned over to her other disciple she smiled. "You there, please come and practice with us. I am Luna, your trainer."

[Emmeltine18]

“You there, please come and practice with us. I am Luna, your trainer.” Cassie jumped, she hadn’t even realised they had a trainer. She felt rude for not introducing herself sooner.

“My name is Cassandra” she replied meekly, noticing the headless dummy nearby and wondering how that had happened. She realised her wet feet were starting to annoy her, and focused really hard on removing the water. It took a little while, but eventually, drop by drop, she drew the water out of her socks and trainers and back into her hands. Cassie threw the water to one side where no one was stood, then sat on the ground to remove her shoes and socks. She assumed her feet were going to get much wetter now the real training was starting, so being bare foot might just be easier. She stood back up and faced her new trainer, ready to begin.

[MarshiestMallow]

Nessie grimaced and looked down. "i..I-i-i Know that i-i-its unpr-un-pre-unpredictable. I k-n-know its n--n-n-necessary for l-li-life. And I know I do-d-d-on't like it" She stammered out, looking anywhere besides at people, her skin still flushed from a blush. She felt useless, and like a fool. She undid her hair, let it fall over her face. "I-i-..." She trailed off, shook her head.

[CallaLily180]

Luna smiled, it seemed that this girl had a lot of hidden potential. "Good, now let us begin. Since you both seem to be able to manipulate water well enough we can make it into a weapon. So first you will both get into your stance. Forest please get into yours while I position Cassandra." Luna smiled comfortingly at Cassandra as she walked over to her and calmly positioned her into a simplified version of her graceful stance.

Forest sighed and nodded, she felt slightly ashamed that she wasn't even able to work with water as well as a fire user. She got into her stance and managed only to stumble this time not fall. "What next?" She asked, remembering what Luna had said she started to think of only water.

Luna looked back over at Forest and smiled. "We will all summon water and then we will begin. Please make a ball of water this time." Luna got into her stance and quickly summoned a ball of water as she waited for the other girls to do the same.

Forest focused on her hands and summoned a small ball of water with a smile.

[TheLastRunaway]

All Nyx could do was watch the girl break in to nervous stuttering, her body looked as if she was ready to crumble and never get up. Nyx felt a cold shiver up her spine, would that girl make it? Nyx quickly looked back up to the mystery woman as she stared back at her. She held her breath realizing she still didn't give the woman an answer. She looked back at the girl before clearing her voice. "I.. Don't know anything about fire.." She said with a bit more strength than the other girl yet she too didn't make eye contact with anyone in the room.

She snickered. "My name is Althenez, and you'll get used to pronouncing it. Since you both are nervous wrecks, we'll begin with something easy." She turned back in to the shadows bringing out two large white candles and set them on the floor in front of us. "Light it.." She said simply while standing back and staring at the two girls.

Nyx wanted to shrug but then realized she didn't even know whow to call fire to her. She stared at the candle focusing yet nothing seemed to work. She continued to talk to herself while she tried to light the candle but she couldn't find the right feeling, water was so simple you caress it, what do you do with fire? She was stumped but didn't give up.

[Emmeltine18]

Cassandra had a little trouble getting in to the stance and had to adjust it slightly to feel comfortable. She decided she would practice it until she could do it as perfectly as Luna could, it looked so graceful. Cass summoned the ball of water as requested, glad that she had practised before and waited for the next instruction.

Summoning had become easy enough, but shaping water into a weapon would be much harder. It was totally against Cassandra’s nature to hurt anyone and she was extremely glad they were only practising on dummies for now. She was going to have to toughen up fast and she didn’t like it, but she wanted to do well.

[CallaLily180]

Luna smiled between the two girls and with a simple motion of her hand the water broke apart, it formed into small darts with pointed edges. She sent two at a dummy, one pierced the dummy's skull while the other went through the tissue of its neck. "Now, you may think that bigger is better but in cases like these you don't want to fool around with your enemy while he infiltrates your large system with the tiniest of bullets. Instead you will be precise, graceful in your killing. Aiming for soft and simple targets, like the neck, the stomach and sometimes the skull. You can go big when your dart or whatever you plan on using is inside. Like this." She looked back at the dummy and the dart in its neck suddenly expanded, it caused the neck to expand and fill with sharp water possibly causing immediate death. "For now you will focus on doing these things, I want to see grace and skill in each dart, aim for the lung, jugular, and stomach. When you have two in each place, no more then an inch apart we will continue and work on expansion. To create the darts focus on breaking apart the water and shaping it."

Forest started to make her darts, it was easy enough to break apart the water. But making the darts stumped her, she sighed and continued to try. "You first Cassandra."

[wonderful_wolf_wizard]

Mason tried his push thing again, unaware that he was being watched. Suddenly, from behind came "Your stance needs improvement. We will start with that." Mason whirled around, to see an Asian man in his mid forties in some kind of monk outfit. "Your stance must be more like this." The Asian man demonstrated a deep, firm stance. He breathed in, "Your breath is essential to Lucen. Breathe, the very air you breathe is where your strength comes from. Breathe in and picture that beath flowing through your arm and out through your hand." Mason emulated his stance and faced the dummy. The fiery haired youth closed his eyes and pictured himself pushing the air he breathed in, out through his arm and smashing into the dummy. There was an impact on the dummy. not very strong yet, but stronger than before. "Better, try again."

[Emmeltine18]

Cassie watched in awe as their teacher remained beautifully graceful and yet lethal at the same time. The darts looked amazing, but difficult to shape as she found out when she tried. She watched the other girl attempt and fail and was horrified when she asked Cass to go first. She realised this girl had heard her introduce herself to Luna and asked “by the way, what is your name? You can call me Cass or Cassie”

She turned towards the dummy and successfully attempted to separate her water into several blobs. As soon as she tried to shape them, they fell to the ground. She was glad now that she’d removed her shoes. She tried again, this time only trying to shape one of the blobs. The rest of them fell to the ground but the shaped one remained. Cassie couldn’t help but grin in triumph, at least it was something! She aimed carefully and let the dart fly. It hit the dummy’s left arm and smashed with the impact rather than pierce the dummy.

“Oh damn, I thought I had that one” she mumbled, gathering the water from the floor to try again. “Your turn?” she suggested to the other student.

[MarshiestMallow]

Nessie grimaced, staring at the candle. As much as she didn't want to, she reached out for the viper power in her, and sought to light the candle. She focused on the candle, focused on making the wick burn, and making it light. She struggled, feeling beads of sweat roll down her back, and stared unblinkenling at the candle.

She was failing. She knew that. maybe she could just give up and go home. Home...to her brothers...where they would smile kindly at her and welcome her back, knowing she had fail.

"NO!" She bellowed. She was done being the small mousey girl that everyone just seemed to look over. Done being the thing her brothers, her father protected. She was done with it all.

She stared furiously at the wick, "You. Will. Light!" She hissed, and the fire formed in her hand, and she threw it at the wick, watching as it caught and flickered.

[CallaLily180]

Luna observed Cassandra happily, what she had done was a major improvement. "Good, what you are missing is focus Cassandra. When you sent the dart it may have went for the correct target but you stopped focusing on it and it just went crazy, the particles may have loosened too which made it unable to pierce." Luna was still happy for her student and it showed on her face. "From what you have shown I can tell you have a good chance in the battles ahead."

Forest watched Cassandra's dart with a frown, Forest had no chance at all if she couldn't even make a dart! This time she focused as hard as she could and when the ball split she focused on two sections, the rest fell to the floor but she didn't acknowledge them. She had done it, she had made the two darts this time. As she sent them one pierced the skin of its chest just above the lung but as she started to celebrate it collapsed. "Oh.."