[IC] Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren Orchid

Gren was the last to enter through the portal, debating if he should leave behind The God Eater. One should never go into these situations unprepared, but as far as survival went he knew that he would be too reliant on his weapon. This class was suppose to teach him how to survive in some of the most extreme conditions, one which may include being defenseless. Still he took his weapon with him: if he truly had to learn how to survive without it, than the teacher and nature itself will have to learn how to take it away from him. Once the second-to-last student went Gren barrled forward into the teleporter, appearing on the other side with a thud. As usual he was able to land on his feet, but by the time he appeared the teacher was already started the next part of the lesson. "Damn. I shouldn't have waited so long."

The first task they were given was simple. Gather some wood and make it into a fire. Gren was experienced with making fires, though that was in a more urban environment. The likelihood of him finding tin cans or spent batteries in the forest was slim. Still he could improvise and at worse he'd simply light up some dust from The God Eater.

Gathering the materials was simple enough. He wasn't sure how large of a fire the teacher wanted, but Gren found enough sticks to comfortably keep himself warm, which was to say he found a lot. But he also collected some dry leaves for tinder, and a few familiar flowers. He actually pocketed these flowers so he could drain them of their moisture, and when he'd throw them into the fire later they should help keep the insects away from them. It was no powerful propellant, but if Gren had learned anything about survival in the past it was that Grimm could be killed, but misquotes are much harder to shoot down. As for making the fire itself Gren actually grabbed two fairly large rocks, one smooth and one rough.

"Friction creates the heat, but these plants only need a spark. Let the energy from a mere spark spread to the tinder, and use the friction to spread it's influence." Gren rambled quietly to himself. Once he had his kindling in place Gren began to dash the two stones against one another. His first strike actually produced quite a bit of sparks but nearly cracked the stone he was using as well. He had to be more careful and started to dash them together more gently, creating a smaller but steady shower of sparks. By the time the stones broke apart he had created a few small embers. Than he tossed a few dry leaves on top, which took the embers and turned them into a small fire. After that it was just a matter of adding more leaves and twigs until a steady flame formed. But that wasn't enough for Gren: this fire would last him maybe ten minutes if he just kept putting small twigs and such into it. He needed to add more fuel to keep the flames going. And with that end he went back into the forest to gather large branches, most which where on the ground but a few he was more than willing to break off of trees. he'd put them near his fire to dry them out, adding them to the flames once they were sufficiently ready. That would take some time however, but by the time he returned to his little campfire he had gathered a few nice size tree branches. They were being baked by both the sun and the fire place in preparation of being used as more fuel.

[SevenStormStyle]

Sepia - Practice

Sepia nodded, mostly just happy to have finished in under five minutes. Just then, one of the other students literally seemed to blow through the course. Sepia watched in amazement as he finished without even exerting himself. "Another faunus?" she thought, once he finished and she could see him clearly. Sepia noted his strange look and smiled at him, hoping that she hadn't unknowingly done something to offend him. She then swept her tail up into her hands and straightened out where it had gotten hung, glancing over at Shiro every few seconds to see his reaction.

"I wonder what my team is like..." she hoped that they wouldn't resent her for replacing one of their friends.

[Lugubrious]

At last! Abel's solemn heart practically soared to see his humble bundle of twigs and branches finally go up in flames. After taking ten minutes or so to fully conclude that his semblance was utterly useless when it came to starting fires, the guardian had managed another way. Upon wishing internally for flint and steel to get the blaze started, his mind fixated on that word steel. With enough steel on him in the form of armor to forge an entire weapon, Abel was quick to put the idea to use. By rubbing the metal knuckle-caps in his gloves roughly against his greaves, the guardian finally succeeded in getting a spark, and the rest, as they say, was history.

Now having a merry little campfire going, Abel set off to look for more wood, leaving the Ampere behind so that he could ferry more fuel in a single trip. Abel guessed that, with his classmates' fires also in the process of converting dead plant matter to ash, more fuel would be a fairly scant resource. A quick foray into the surrounding trees confirmed his fears: all the easy pickings were gone. Of course, there was now only one action to take, and without a moment's hesitation Abel advanced deeper into the forest.

Thirty seconds of sustained walking later, the guardian happened upon a felled tree, much of it lying in splinters on the leaf loam. Luckily for him, a formerly-nice tree reduced to kindling was exactly what Abel needed. He had already gathered a heap of wood when the hairs on the back of his neck bristled like the hackles of a dog. An uneasy feeling settled over him, and on instinct Abel bolted upright and looked around. He caught sight of a pair of red eyes perched in the fork of a nearby tree, and at that moment decided that disarming himself in favor of hastening the work load had been one of his dumbest plans in weeks. Abel took off running, and the Grimm, knowing that it had been spotted, pounced down from its roost and shot after the hunter-in-training as if it had been fired from a cannon.

Mere moments later Abel burst into the clearing. "I've got wood!" He announced, tossing said branches onto the grass. Flinging out a hand, he summoned the Ampere back to him, just as the sound of crashing could be heard in the vegetation. "And something else!"

Into the tranquil clearing burst a young Ankou, half running and half flying. It spewed a burst of fire in Abel's direction, out of the way of which he jumped. It screeched, realizing it had been led into an ambush but unwilling to allow the humans' greater numbers to intimidate it. With little else in the way of ceremony, it launched the entirety of its bulk at the two nearest students--Gren and Daniel.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald Connoly- Survival

As most of the students went off on their own, Oswald nodded towards Ineko, hoping the suited boy would follow him. "I'll get the wood, you watch our surroundings. I don't like to be caught off guard by Grimm." With his temporary partner hopefully covering him, Oswald made his way around the river, taking care to observe the life in the water. He noticed a few fish, as well as a few patches of moss, and some aquatic plants, filing away the information in his mind.

When he had gotten sufficiently into the forest, Oswald set about collecting fuel for their campfire. Making sure to gather enough small sticks and twigs to start the fire, he found a spot near the other students to start piling his collection. He cleared a radius around his pile to make sure the fire didn't spread, and made a circle using some nearby rocks before making a quick second trip to gather larger logs of wood as major fuel sources once the fire had started.

When he had gathered a sufficient amount of wood to keep a fire going for at least a small time, Oswald got to the dirty work. Looking at his hands, he sighed and chuckled. He could always wash them off later. Digging a small pit into the ground with his bare hands, Oswald tossed the tinder in first. He followed his tinder with the smaller branches, forming a pyramid with the wood before stepping back and drawing his sword. Carefully grabbing a red dust crystal from his pocket, he loaded it into the hilt of his weapon, pointing the sword at his pile of wood. Pressing a small button hidden on the side of his handguard with his thumb, Oswald smirked as a beam of energy instantly set the wood ablaze.

After returning the dust crystal to his pouch and sheathing his sword, Oswald took a moment to relax and look around when Abel burst into the clearing, a Grimm following shortly thereafter. Oswald's eyes widened a bit as he realized that he was looking at an Ankou. What in the hell kind of place where they that such a monster would just casually come across a group of students making campfires? Well...this certainly isn't boring.

The firey breath was enough to terrify most civilians, and he'd known plenty of trainees who shuddered at the mere description of the creatures. Oswald was among those people, he was ashamed to admit. Taking a deep breath as he moved into a combat stance and drew his sword, Oswald cursed when he realized he'd already put his dust away. Gren and Daniel were already under attack, and he was in no position to get between the Ankou and his fellow students with his broken wrist. Instead, he hoped to distract it, instantly transporting himself to its side and taking a wide slash at its flank, which was deflected by the Grimm's scaled arm. Leaping a few feet backwards, Oswald tried to grab his enemy's attention, his eyes narrowing and a guttural growl coming from deep in his chest.

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren Orchid

Gren had managed to gather some more tinder for himself after finding some logs to dry. He had formed it into a quaint teepee and had a nice fire going. He was thinking that he should try to find some mushrooms to roast, or maybe even forest creatures. Surely the God Eater was a bit too... Much to do something like that. He may need to resort to trapping. Looking around Gren wondered where Abel had went. He figured he could work with his teammate to hunt or gather food. He wasn't here however, and Gren figured he had simply went to gather more wood himself. Fine by him, there were plenty of others to work with.

His eyes fell on a girl named Sangue Naga. He wasn't sure what about her caught his attention. Perhaps it was because her hair glowed with the same radiance of her flame. Either way Gren went over to her. "Excuse me, do you have a moment? My name is Gren Orchid. I was thinking that, now that we have a fire going, we should see about collecting some supplies. I'm fairly decent at identifying wild plants and fungi. However I feel that my weapons are also inappropriate to hunt. I was thinking you and I should work together to hunt and gather food. What do you think?"

Gren didn't get his answer however. Soon Abel came back with a guest: a young Ankou. Gren cursed under his breath: He didn't have his weapon. But he couldn't let this thing cause too much trouble. He had no doubts that everyone here could easily slay this grimm, but they worked so hard making their fire! Gren decided it was time he showed the fire within him. And that wouldn't have been hard since the creature charged at him. ""Hmm! Looks like the prey has come to me!"

Bracing himself Gren was steadfast as the massive beast plowed into him. His feet dragged against the dirt but he did not falter. Nay, instead he had grab hold of the beast, wrapping his arms around it's maw so that it could not breath fire all over the forest. It's own smaller arms clawed at Gren's arm, but could hardly put a scratch on him. And as it reared it's front arms to thrash Gren, he grabbed hold of it's head to assist in throwing the beast over his shoulder, on it's back, and onto the ground before Sangue. He continued to keep the grimm pinned, to allow other hunters to finish it off.

[NaraK]

Sangue Naga - Survival

The red-haired woman who stood still in front of her fire soon woke up from her aloof trance as she turned to a man who went up to her. Interestingly enough, the man claimed that his weapons were inappropriate for hunting. A bit ironic, considering how her weapons were specifically designed to hunt different kinds of things, but she decided not to think too much of it for the sake of being respectful to the man known as Gren Orchid.

"...Sangue," she spoke softly. Before she was even able to accept his offer, however, someone interrupted her.

Actually, something interrupted her.

An... Ankou popped out. Sangue's open eye squinted at the sight of Grimm within the class. Though it was to be expected that Grimm would eventually show up, she preferred not to have one appear right before her. Thankfully, not only was the Grimm alone, but every other hunter seemed capable of apprehending it. Gren, for example, immediately entered a wrestling match with the creature.

Sangue did not want to leave him wrestling with the creature, however, so she unsheathed her blade.

With the katana in hand, the woman violently threw her Apophis Claw at the Ankou, letting the claw forcefully smash itself against the Grimm's belly. With light scars caused by the claw, Sangue twisted herself around before slashing at the wounds she inflicted, cutting open the Grimm before raising her blade. Using the strength she could muster up for one arm, the woman drove the katana down on the Ankou's head, twisting it twice to ensure that it would no longer cause much of a problem for the man who wrestled it.

Though she let the blade barely miss Gren, everything she did was intentional. She knew that she would not miss, so she felt quite confident that she would not make an amateur mistake of accidentally stabbing random strangers. The woman took her katana out of the Ankou, wondering if the job was done.

"..."

Sangue remained still, now wondering if they could just cook the Grimm like a chicken or something. Weird thoughts were, perhaps, one of Sangue's hidden specialties.

[Lugubrious]

No amount of developing forehead armor could protect the young Ankou from the blade stabbed through its jaw. Though mortally wounded, the creature still struggled, its frantic slashes and spurts of flame growing weaker until the creature was still. It lay with its various limbs in disarray, as if it had been in the middle of an intense fight and suddenly dropped dead. The tension in the clearing dispelled, sliding out of the various students after being so suddenly stoked by the monstrous Riesen's unexpected appearance. Abel poked one of its hind legs with his Ampere, wondering if he ought to apologize for leading the creature here, or remain silent. He had just about made up his mind when the voice of professor Vorosky, not yet devoid of urgency, broke the silence.

"What are you doing?" He asked. From any other teacher, such a statement might have seemed demanding and highly critical, but Vorosky seemed oddly content. Before a single soul could respond to his rhetorical question, he continued as if he were giving a classroom lesson. "Can you not see the beast is not melting? Cut its throat, before--!"

As if on cue, the subdued Ankou let loose a skull-rattling screech. Evidently it had stopped fighting to save up enough energy to do so. Immediately afterward, the Grimm began to dissolve into smoke around Sangue's katana, but the damage was done. Abel groaned ominously, but he let the professor cheerfully explain what was in store. "The cries of the Ankou call other reptile Grimm to their aid. In moments we will be surrounded by Itzamna, and after come the Salamanders. It will be a good lesson in survival!"

A few moments raced by, with several students scrambling to make preparations for the incoming assault. While not very threatening, Itzamna were often deadly in large packs, and in this unidentified forest only Vorosky had an estimate of how many there would be. Fishing poles, crackling campfires, and marshmellows were either forgotten or quickly put to use as the steady tramp-tramp-tramp of many feet brushing through underbrush grew louder. All the while, the professor was happy to toss around some advice. "Don't let one clamp down on a limb! It will start pulling, and just like that, others will clamp down on other limbs and do the same. Make clean strikes with weapons! If your weapon sticks in one and it jumps away, you will be facing its brothers and sisters unarmed. Stay with the others! Even if you are not teammates, the person at your side might save your life."

The woods turned eerily quiet. Abel stood behind his campfire, Ampere in staff mode ready to electrocute the firs.t raptor he saw. Other students had assumed similarly defensive positions. There came a sound like the call of a sore-throated bird, and at once around twenty Itzamna appeared. The first wave rushed each student in twos and threes, but it was obvious by the now-constant noises among the trees that there were more waiting in reserve.

[Scarifar]

Daniel wondered what he should do now that he managed to create a fire. The answer came in the form of an uninvited Ankou that came bursting through from the forest, breathing fire and charging straight for him. Daniel was not in high alert, pushing himself off the ground and away from the Grimm. Fire was something he could handle, but not the resulting smoke.

"Jeez, why'd you have to bring this thing to us!?" Daniel yelled out to Abel as he landed, not sounding angry at all, but rather pleased. "Now we gotta kill it!" Daniel never managed to do anything useful or exciting in his previous period, and now it was time to make up for it.

Daniel drew his two blades, which then started to absorb nearby flames being spewed by the Ankou, minimizing the damage to the area while increasing the power of his blades. Before he could deal any blows himself, however, others had managed to beat him to it, ruining the fun for him.

"Dammit you guys, save a bit for me next time," Daniel said as the Ankou went down. However, it seemed the Ankou still had a trick up its sleeve, screeching its throat out before dying for real.

As Abel described what was about to happen, Daniel's grin came back. Turns out he would have a bit of fun after all. As the first several Itzamma charged out of the forest to attack everyone, Daniel shot out a fireball from his short sword, burning down one of the Itzamma charging at him, and spun to slash at the other as it opened its jaw to bite Daniel. Daniel's longsword sliced through the Itzamma's jaw, slicing off the top part of its head, and the rest of the Itzamma's body collapsed past Daniel, quickly dissolving away into nothingness.

[Jangel13]

Greyson decided he wasn't going to be able to partner up with anybody so he went out and started to look for some dead wood, Greyson just laughed a little at his own thought "ha, dead wood" Greyson said to himself as he walked and went to gather some more branches unsure of how many he would need but was confident that once he got some he could use his bullet to start the fire, which meant he needed to make sure he didn't start a forest fire and do it on some dry ground.

Greyson had to go deep into the forest to find any wood that wasn't already picked so When Greyson finally got all the wood he needed he decided to go ahead and make his fire but like he thought it would need to be somewhere that wasn't so full of greenery, very flammable greenery. Greyson moved through the forest and he heard a low growling and he pulled out his sword knowing that a grim might be nearby in which case he needed to be extra careful now. When he heard the noise get closer he immediately dodged to the side to find out that a grim was here, the teacher wasn't lying about dangers but seriously this ankou wasn't the only one and it seems one already screeched which meant more reptiles were on the way. Greyson charged at the Ankou hoping to silence this one before it did the same and Greyson would find himself outnumbered fast...

[KabenSaal]

Mokuren was late. She knew that. But, she had to eat someone, and that took a lot of time. Finding, eating, cleaning, getting back. It was all terribly consuming. But, she knew where the class was, and so headed out to them, springing from tree to tree and using the height as an advantage to see where she was going. The forest was a nice place, very green, and full of Grimm to be slaughtered and maimed and destroyed. But, then she heard a terrible scream, and quickly took off in that direction, thinking it might be one of her team mates that was making the scream.

As it turned out, it wasn't. She arrived a the group, all ready and preparing for something, but they must have already dispatched the Grimm that made the scream, and so now where preparing to deal with the oncoming creatures. So, Mokuren dropped out of the trees, tail swishing and sword - full of the blood of the man she had just eaten - at the ready.
"So...what's coming?" She asked, before one of the Itzamma leaped at Mokuren. The fox-girl swiftly turned on her head, and pointed her sword at it, a small needle of blood shooting out and sinking into the creature's head. It dissolved a few seconds later, and Mokuren nodded. "Them, then"

[harinezumikouken]

Esther Vanhomrigh - 5th Period, Practice Class

Esther removed her Scroll from her coat pocket and expanded it, checking the time. With a quiet sigh, she turned to the other students who had successfully completed their run through the obstacle course the first time, save for the few stragglers. Collapsing and pocketing her Scroll, she figured it was time to move on with the class. Unless they outright broke the instated rules or quit of their own accord, they couldn't really fail the students for sucking at life. A few of them would just have to work harder to catch up with the rest of their peers, or break in the process. Clearing her throat quietly, her voice boomed as she barked out further instructions to the awaiting students.

"For those of you who have already completed the obstacle course, congratulations. You don't completely suck at life. Though, many of you have plenty of room for improvement. Gather your shit and start making your way towards the Rifle Range. For those of you who do not have a firing mechanism built into your weapons, grab a stock rifle off of the table. As you come near the table with your Scroll on you, they will unlock for you to take one. If all of them are taken, there will be more rifles at the Range."

Striding over to the table, there were rows of neatly aligned clear glasses and what looked like headphones. Grabbing a pair of glasses and one of the headphones, she donned them and turned back to the students to continue.

"I strongly recommend you all grab a pair of ballistic eye protection and hearing protection. We wouldn't want to ruin your precious hearing and vision early. Keep in mind, however, that in battle you won't have these comforts."

Turning away from them, she began to walk towards the treeline.

"It'll be a bit of a walk to the range. There's a path through the forest, but I don't doubt for a moment that some of you can still manage to get lost. If you do happen to skillfully lose your way, your Scrolls will have directions. Now, hurry the hell up! Follow me if you can keep up!"

Turning to Professor Rowan, she nodded once. The Professor would oversee the stragglers completion of those who failed the obstacle course the first time. It would be her duty to move things along so as to not burn up their class time. With those final words, she briskly walked off and quickly disappeared into the treeline. Leaving the students very little time if at all to digest the instructions given and gather their items.

Shiro Kuhaku - 5th Period, Practice Class

Shiro frowned, his request to know his course's completion time ignored. As Ms. Vanhomrigh continued to instruct the other students who had passed, he was a little confused. Had he passed or had he failed? Looking at course and Professor Rowan, he safely assumed that he had passed and shrugged. At the very first mention for them to grab their equipment, Shiro grabbed his combined sword and shield and slung them onto his back. He had the feeling that if he didn't immediately take her advice and heed it, he'd quickly be left behind. Grabbing a pair of clear ballistic eyewear and donning them onto his face, he looked at the headphone-looking things and tilted his head. Curiously, he wondered how they would fit seeing as how his Tiger Faunus ears weren't exactly shaped or positioned like human ears...

Thankfully, taking notice at a few other pairs of hearing protection, he realized that some of them were specially shaped according to generalized species of Faunus. Grabbing a pair that seemed to be meant for feline-type Faunus, he sat them on his head and jogged after Ms. Vanhomrigh. As he caught up to her, maintaining his distance, he couldn't help but smile. Though the Professor and her aide seemed a bit...uptight, he was enjoying himself. He looked forward to getting some range time and popping off a few rounds.

[Lucius Cypher]

Gren Orchid

Gren figured it wasn't going to be over so easily. Right after Sangue stabbed off the beast, it let out a death cry which the teacher said would alert other grimm to this location. No doubt that together they all could handle most grimm that come to them, but being over runned was till very much a possibility. If everyone fought alone they would die alone. Gren went back to retrieve The God Eater near his campfire. Looking around Gren knew they were sitting ducks. One grimm for each and it would be no problem. Two might complicate things. But entire hordes of Itzammas would just crush them all, not to mention what'd happen if Salamanders arrive. They needed a tactical position, not just being on the defensive. They needed high ground. Good thing they were in a forest.

The more Gren thought the less time he would have to prepare. He had no authority to order everyone else around, but that didn't stop him from communicating with them. "I'm heading to the high ground. If you have a gun I'd suggest you do the same." Activating his semblance Gren zeroed in towards the largest tree he saw, which rose a good thirty feet into the air. He dashed towards the tree until he was close enough to jump onto it. And when he did he used his Friction Semblance to plant his feet on the side of the trunk, allowing him to effortlessly run up the side of the tree. Once he reached the highest spot with the best vantage point Gren switched The God Eater into it's Destroyer form.

Soon Daniel cut down the first of the Itzammas. Then Mokuren finally showed up and killed one, the a faint scent of gore coming from her. Gren would have questioned it but right now was not the time to be concerned about that. And he already had an idea of what she did anyways so there was no point in questioning. Gren simply began to set up his position for the waves: he not only used his Semblance to stand on the side of the tree but he was also channeling his Friction through the tree to prevent other grimm from gaining a hold on the same tree he was on. The only ones getting to him were ones that could fly, jump high, or attack at range. And these were the ones that Gren were going to deal with first.

[MULTI_MEDIA_MAN]

Oswald Connoly- Survival

Watching in awe as Gren single-handedly wrestled the youthful Ankou, Oswald nodded at the Boar Faunus. Once Sangue killed the monster, Oswald spoke to Gren. "Impressive, that was." Vorosky's warning came too late, and nobody was able to prevent the Ankou from summoning other Grimm to their location. Grunting, Oswald sheathed his sword yet again, this time replacing it with his shield as the Itzamna showed up in force. While the other students started eliminating the raptor-like monsters that had started to attack them, Oswald found himself outnumbered and surrounded.

"Good." All three Itzamna moved at once, screeching angrily. Oswald moved between two of them, blocking the closest Grimm's claws with his shield and smashing at its arm as he moved to its side. While his simple feint didn't have the comical effect of making the Itzamna crash into each other, it had bought him a few moments, in which he took the initiative on the nearest Grimm. Tackling it with his shield in front of his body, Oswald raised the steel armament before savagely bashing it down onto the raptor. As he did, he heard a sickening crunching noise from the creature's broken skull. With a final screech, the first of his trio died.

However, there was no time for celebration as Oswald was immediately pounced by one of the others, an oversized talon tearing into his cloak and stabbing into his brigandine before getting stuck. Standing, Oswald toppled the beast, whose claw was still stuck in his armor, before breaking its knee with his shield, followed by a second blow which severed the limb. Letting go of his shield, Oswald spun and drew his sword, taking a combat stance against the third Itzamna, which had grabbed his left arm in its jaws during the struggle, trying to pierce through the protective barrier his Aura was creating.

Yanking his arm back, Oswald stabbed at the monster, which jumped back carefully. Screeching, it took a leap at Oswald, who countered it by simply stabbing his sword diagonally forward, impaling the Grimm through its ribcage. A weak swipe at his face was the raptor's final action as it dissipated into dust in front of the warrior, who took a deep breath and grimaced. "Sloppy. But about as much as I can manage with one arm." Carefully returning to the one-legged Itzamna, Oswald shook his head before putting the screeching creature out of its misery with a careful slash. Feeling the light weight on his back dissipate, Oswald reached up to his cloak and undid the clasp, draping it over his left arm. He could at least use it to blind one of his enemies in combat. Immediately after, he grabbed his shield and replaced it on his back, getting ready for the rest of the battle.

[Lady Seraphina]

Sapphire Rode - Physical Education

Sapphire expected a lecture from the teacher. If she'd been stronger Agesander wouldn't even have known she was injured. She'd have to work on that. Her ankle was still throbbing as well but thankfully that was a much smaller injury and at this point all but healed by her aura. Sapphire understood the bird analogy well enough but what Agesander didn't mention was that the type of birds that condoned that type of behavior were birds of prey, warriors. They put the rest of the flock above there own injuries to ensure their survival even if it meant death. And besides the bird that slowed to heal was left behind.

Sapphire watched as everyone else started in on the exercises that the Professor had asked of them. Victor with his robotic arm no doubt capable of hundreds of push ups and was displaying that fact openly. Ivan took off at breakneck speed around the track. Ultimately his velocity was unsustainable but clearly he wanted to make sure everyone else in the gym class knew that he was the man. Sapphire rolled her eyes unimpressed. It seemed to contradict his earlier remark about not going full out in Combat Class in order to keep his tactics a secret but then again she'd been pretty sure that he was just covering for his lack in combat experience.

Sapphire picked her water bottle up off the ground where she'd left it and took a hefty swig which was more than a little uncomfortable as her abdominal muscles contracted when she swallowed causing her rib to twinge with pain. With her thirst quenched Sapphire screwed the cap back on her water bottle and looked at the Professor. "I take it your not going to let me participate in those exercises?" she asked him without much hope on her face.

[Guess Who]

Robert Fallson - Practice

After being given his new time for completing the obstacle course, this time with a pass, Robert sprinted after the rest of the class. It took him a while to catch up, the only thing keeping him from getting completely lost being the directions that Ms. Vanhomrigh had sent to everyone's scrolls. "Ah, it looks like the ol' Fallson luck is comin' back," he said as he realized he had lost his way again, pulling out his scroll to see where he had made a wrong turn.

When he finally did reach the range though, he arrived just in time to see everyone picking out ear and eye protection. Robert only picked up ear protection since his visor, which he was now taking out of his pocket and putting on, was already more than enough protection for his eyes. He didn't want to ask Ms. Vanhomrigh if it was alright for him to use his own eye protection though, just in case she said no for some reason. Robert couldn't imagine having to fire his bracers without the visor, it wasn't like the things were built with iron sights or anything.

[Lugubrious]

Ahriman Kore Agesander

"Not this time. I'll let you in on a little secret: you should save your strength for my end-of-the-hour event. You'll be participating in that one."

Some time passed.

Unable to contain himself any longer, Ahriman broke out into a chuckle. Certainly, some of the students were distinguishing themselves with their seemingly endless push-up capacity, but there were a certain few who -for some reason or another- didn't quite carry the torch. The Professor's momentary merriment wasn't at those students' expense; rather, he was reminding himself of the trials he would have to go through to teach each student at their own wavelength. No single course of education would serve to get every future hunter and huntress that passed his way into tip-top physical condition. For today, however, he would stick to routine. It would be a short time before the adaptation could begin.

“Alright, enough push-ups for now!” He grinned. With a baseline of his students' physical limitations in mind, the class could move on. “I expect that each of you will continue to improve. The hour will soon be coming to a close, but before you get washed up and head off to your sixth periods, we're going to get to those 'few other things' that I mentioned earlier.”

With cheery, eager strides, he moved across the floor to an adjoining room. Moments later he returned with a big smile and a small piece of technology in his hand that looked very much like a remote control. “Your legs and arms and abdominals should be tired by now. That's good. On the first day, I think we ought to treat ourselves to a little competition. An omen of what's to come.” He quickly tapped several pads on the remote, and the floor of the gymnasium began to move. Panels began to slide down and away, revealing more platforms that rose to ground level overflowing with various objects. There were ropes with grappling hooks, poles for vaulting, and even two pogo sticks, but mostly there were blocks of various sizes and shapes. A noise from the ceiling of the gym akin to a wrestling bell alerted the class to a glinting, yellow, metal object suspended from another rope about twenty-five feet above their heads, situated among the horizontal beams that helped support the ceiling.

The various looks of confusion given to Ahriman were met only with a conniving grin. “Here's how it's gonna work! Up there near the ceiling is a medallion. I want all of you to touch it. Once you've touched it, you can head out into the locker room and get cleaned up. How are you going to touch it, I wonder? Jump? That'd be a pretty big jump even if your legs weren't sore. Sling up a rope and climb? Touch stuff for kids who've just done fifty-plus push-ups. There are even less practical methods. Personally I advise using those blocks to build your way up, but be warned: the big ones, while easy to climb, are quite heavy, and the thinner ones are harder to stack and will require acute balance. The first person to touch the medallion might even get a surprise. Don't even think about using any special semblances; all I want is aura use to prevent ouchies if you happen to fall. Get going, children!”

[Kaithas]

IC: Rowan Iderson, Practice

That last straggler, as it turned out, was Priscilla... Who was still lying on the ground. "That's twice I've been forced to talk to you from a height of more than five feet above your head, Ms. Montgomery. I'd suggest you get up and head off to the shooting range. I can walk you there if you're going to get lost. God knows you don't need to wander off again." She looked down, the slightest flicker of concern in her eyes before she turned her attention back to her Scroll.

To: Kuhaku Shiro
From: Rowan Iderson

Mr. Shiro, your time was precisely 4:01. I apologize for not giving you your time earlier.

[Awesomoman64]

Trad Oak – Practice

4:59…4…50…..9. Trad couldn’t have been more disappointed at his time. True he did technically pass when several others had failed, but he was still trying to prove he belonged here. He was going to have to give it another go.

That is, until Vanhomrigh announced they were moving on.

Trad watched as nearly all of the class packed up their gear and headed out, with only a few staying behind due to unsatisfactory times. Taking a deep breath, Trad walked back to his gear and buckled the back on. He represented his team in this class, how would it look if he had to stay back and redo the course who knows how many times. Besides, 4:59 was passing, and he’d get plenty more chances to improve on the course. Checking to make sure everything was secure, he saw the tank driver walking past.

“Mind if I hitch a ride to the range?” asked mostly as a joke.

[Agent B52]

Chest heaving Marcus stood quietly at attention as the times were read off. He winced slightly when he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, but kept quiet. The teachers appeared to be the sort to respond to so much as a toe put out of line. So while his ribs painfully protested at movement there was nary a peep from the young officer. As it was the manifestation of his Aura allowed for an artificially calm expression to hide his discomfort. Were it not for his soul energy nursing and protecting his still healing bones, he would have forfeit before even attempting the obstacle course.

As Marcus grabbed a rifle and made sure it was still unloaded, he glanced at the newcomer who asked for a ride.

"Sorry. I'm not allowed to use it for this lesson. You would if I could though." he replied.

"You a transfer? Don't recognise your face." he asked. It was the same with that young lady in the other class. Was there some change to the schedule he wasn't aware of? Were these all that were left of a third class and as such mixed in with the more complete classes?

“Oh, and Shiro? Four minute one.” he rasped. Damn, his ribs ached.

“Your time, four minute one.” Marcus clarified further. He caught that the teacher apparently was too busy shouting at the others to hear the faunus’ request. Marcus himself had surreptitiously kept track of the other times as well so he could see where in the pack he himself fell, before Rowan called them out for all to hear.

“Bet you I can do better at the range though.” he added. It was more a statement of fact than a boast. The range rifle was the same design he used prior to constructing the Unsubtle. It had an iron sight adjustment that went up to 2 miles, and Marcus had actually tried it. Successfully. Of course to compensate it was so heavy that dropping it ten feet made the rifle more or less as lethal as the bullets it fired. Five feet with the broadsword masquerading as bayonet attached.

[paigesweetheart]

Priscilla suddenly stood up from the ground, quickly turning to face her instructor. "Alright! Alright. I am going to head there now, sheesh. And ....! I was not going to wander off anywhere....well possibly to get some food but that was it!" she spoke nodding to herself before following the other students, goodthing she caught a glimpse of the room they went too. Hopefully her instructor would follow right behind her.

Shooting Range. Now this was her cup of tea, her weapon was a gun so this wasn't gping to be a problem or anything to her. She grabbed the head piece and before putting on her ear piece she tie he hair up to a bun, just so it won't get in the way. As she started to put on her earing piece, Priscilla was looking around for Robert. Though, she stopped because then people would start talking stuff.about her.being obessed with him, even though she wasn't...!