Open Black Moon Academy - School for the Gifted

~Reneé

Reneé found himself feeling rather alone, what with Raisa chasing after Brighton as he went straight for Moriarty, and Aimee becoming as unresponsive as Internet Explorer. With a small huff, Reneé stormed off into the forest his wisps illuminating his surrounding area sufficiently. He knew that it wasn't Raisa's fault that she left him, Brighton clearly has some kinks to have fixed, and thus ensuring that he didn't cause too much a problem was her number one priority. But that Aimee. There was clearly something up with her, and Reneé hated that he didn't know what it was, and clearly she wasn't planning on responding after Raisa had ran off. Also Reneé found the Bullshit from the Monobears irritating, and was the closest he ever had been to let loose a fireball for the pure need of wanton destruction.

In Reneé's grumpy trudging through the forest, he eventually came to a small clearing, where a rather flat boulder sat in the middle. Intrigued by the seemingly relaxing area, he pulled out his phone and marked the exact location via GPS. He figured that if he needed an opportunity to get away from the potential stuffiness in the Academy, this'd be a nice place. With a resounding ping of conformation, Reneé looked up in satisfaction, only to see a Hunter watching him. Reneé carefully and casually averted his gaze, as he knew that the only reason he saw the Hunter was because of the minor amount of night-vision his right-eye possessed, and thus couldn't make out much of his(?) appearance.

"So, given what those...butt-bears said, essentially every figure has a Hunter watching it. Which means there's one in the immediate vicinity." Reneé thought as he looked about looking for a rather obvious spot to put the figure. A small glint caught his eye and there sat a figure in a nook between to branches slightly below eye-level. Reneé made his way over, rejoining the three wisps into a small ball of fire, noting that as soon as he had the trinket he only had a small chance for a head start.

Reneé retrieved the trinket from the nook, taking care to read the base; "Native American Shaman" it read. "Ironic? Coincidence? I suppose I'll talk to Raisa about it later..." Reneé thought as he heard a rather gravelly voice address him.

"Hand o'er the trinket, or prepare for the consequences." Reneé looked up to see that the Hunter had moved to a position immediately above him. The Hunter's mask was more of a cowl, one very similar to that of Batman Beyond.

"Nice theme...you use gadgets, have a cape? Or a pre-pubescent buddy that helps you fight your enemies?" Reneé blurted without thought.

"Kid, I have little patience for your bullshit. You have two choices, make your decision. Now."

"Yeah...are each of you directly assigned to a freshman, or a trinket?"

"Not any of your business, and my patience is wearing thin kid, make your decision."

"Ok...so then do you have any clue of what each freshman is capable of?"

"Answer, now."

"Oh for fucks sake, no! Obviously I'm taking it, how else am I supposed to complete the exercise?" Reneé retorted in frustration, pivoting on his heel and bolting. With a split second a shriek whizzed past him, and with what time he had, he saw that it was a bat-shaped object. "Really playing a Batman-esque theme here buddy." Reneé thought to himself as his right eye flared to life, and his fireball shrinking slightly. "Yep, one D-class soul should do. I personally don't care how well trained you are, if your body, mind, and soul are weakened, you have a hell of a harder time pursuing someone. But damn if I have five minutes before this one is consumed, and then I have to somehow get a new one..." Reneé bit his lip as another bat-shaped object nearly missed him.


((OOC: Holy...longest post in, maybe ever? Yeah, lessee if Reneé makes this work...))

Priam and the Hunter both had been on the move for a good twenty seconds or so before the Monobears started their... Priam guessed that it was supposed to be a song of some kind, but to call that music would be denigrating to just about every form of music in existence. They also suddenly appeared on the surrounding branches, convulsing in what Priam guessed was their version of a dance. The sight was bizarre enough for Priam to break out of his sprint and stare at the Monobears, bewildered. He was also vaguely aware of the sound of the Hunter's jumps and landings ceasing, implying that he'd been stopped short by the Monobears' sudden appearance.

Perhaps fifteen seconds had passed before Priam remembered that he was trying to flee from a trained killer, and broke into his sprint again, hoping to put as much distance between himself and the Hunter before the Hunter remembered that he was supposed to be chasing Priam. He didn't make it all too far before he heard the sound of the Hunter jumping once more, barely even audible over the screeching "song" issuing from the Monobears.

Doubt that they would've made much of a difference, Priam thought, starting to slow down from exhaustion, suppose I just got further than I normally would have, but he'll catch up to me before I can get anywhere close to the return point. Doubt I can fight him; there's no way I could ever get in close enough; he's got his knives when all I have is-

Wait.

There was a way, Priam realized. One single way he could deal with this Hunter. It was unlikely that it would work, and if it failed, all he'd succeed in doing would be making the Hunter angrier, but if it did succeed, it would give him a much-needed window to escape the Hunter. All he'd have to do in the meantime was wait for the Hunter to catch up.

As it turned out, he didn't have to wait for long. He'd made it to another clearing when a knife landed in front of him. Seconds later, the Hunter landed right near that knife, with another knife in hand. The other hand was the same as it had been earlier: extended with an open palm.

"Fine..." Priam panted, "fine... you got me... nowhere for me to go," he cut himself off, only half-faking a shortness of breath, "before I give.... you the figure... allow me a moment... for a drink."

The Hunter tilted his head to one side while Priam unclipped his flask, "not very... fit... as you can tell... due to illness..." Priam paused to cough a few times, "drinking medicine helps... with that... among other things. Just a small drink... then figure is yours." The Hunter paused, then said in a hoarse voice: "Make it quick."

"Thanks," Priam brought the flask to his lips, knowing he'd only have a small window for what he planned to do next. He took a big drink from the flask, but only swallowed about half of it. The other half, he swirled around in his mouth for a few moments, and then - spit it right in the Hunter's face.

As he expected, most of the substance just splashed on the Hunter's mask. But there was enough of the substance that some of it managed to make it through both eyeholes, and that was what Priam was hoping for. He didn't know what was in this substance, but he knew that the human eye didn't particularly react well to any liquid entering it, and whatever this was, the drugs in it would have a particularly nasty effect on the eye.

Yelling in pain, the Hunter stumbled backwards, and Priam took this opportunity to down more of the substance before clipping the flask, grabbing the knife in front of him, and then running from the Hunter as fast as he could manage; he'd gotten the window he needed, and he wasn't about to waste as much as a second of it.

The hamster boy didn’t bother to finish their conversation, choosing instead to call for his hamsters and … well, some sort of loud declamation. But that no longer seemed like it would be a problem—the marshmallow necromancer girl had claimed that even those who couldn’t receive messages from her network could still talk through it, and it seemed that, in any case, these bears could get a message through anyway.

It hadn’t been as if grouping up had been the best idea ever in the first place anyway, had it? No matter, then; she was quite sure she’d identified the locations of the figurines anyway. As the hamster boy continued going on about something about a champagne flamethrower shell burner, she walked away in the general direction of the nearest elevated warm body she’d sensed.

The bears began to speak again as Priscilla neared the—well, it would probably be a tree; by the time she reached it (and, looking upward, saw parts of a person through leaves), they had started singing—well, really, it both sounded and probably was more like playing a song than singing—

Hope and hopelessness become one
It’s all meaningless we’ve already begun

Someone set something on fire somewhere in the woods; probably a student holding something, since it was connected to a warm body moving ahead of another warm body.

(The bear had said they’d become the hunted after they’d been the hunter, hadn’t it? If she dealt with the hunter in the tree before finding a figurine, that would give her a head start, wouldn’t it. That could help, couldn’t it?)

Conveying a large amount of heat from the magically-controlled fire in her diving cylinder, Priscilla set the top of the tree on fire.

We walk a thin line between hope and despair
Running from the truth but it’s already here

A moment passed, and the person in the tree ceased to be in the tree, and, despite neither saying nor doing anything more, made it quite clear that this exercise wouldn’t be quite that simple.

Heads or tails? Do you even know what side you’re on
And does it really matter if it’s on the same coin?

A moment passed, again.

Still, the hunter was here, so a figurine was quite likely here to be found—shouldn’t there have been?

Just got to chase the pain away
Let it fade away

She looked around, but didn’t see any figurines. There was, however, some sort of black cloth bag in a hollow of the burning tree. That seemed unlikely to be natural—the figurine would probably be in it. She walked over, watching the "hunter" no longer in the burning tree.

There’s a ray of hope beyond despair
Move on, look for the truth in this world

Before picking up the bag, she carefully pointed her umbrella in the opposite direction. Upon opening the bag (to find a figurine, as almost expected—a silver "Fallschirmjäger"), the now-hunter extended one hand, nodded, and raised the other.

Break through the confusion
Find a solution

Priscilla set off an explosion behind her umbrella.

Beat the twisted evil things

This time, she’d dissipated the heat from the tree she’d set on fire. She hadn’t expected to set more trees on fire, but she hadn’t exactly been careful with that burst, either, so she couldn’t say she was surprised.

Just do it, go for it

The more pertinent problem was that her hunter was, rather than dealing with burning trees, flying behind her. Probably faster than her, even.

(An unhappy choice, that she’d taken.)

Never

More trees burned as Priscilla set off more explosions between herself and her pursuer. (Rocket jumping, it turned out, was even less comfortable than she’d expected. She wasn’t sure she should take that to mean that it would need work or that it wouldn’t be worth the work, but she wasn’t exactly in a position to make an actual choice at the moment.)

Well, she didn’t really need a trail of burning trees, but, well, this way was easier.

Break through the confusion

The umbrella broke apart as the air did an impossible thing and sliced through it.

Moriarty kept looking between Pope and a Monobear clinging on a tree trunk. "What... What the hell was that?"

"Have you already forgotten the students from last year? It's Quitterie's Monob-"

"I KNOW WHAT THE DAMNED BEAR IS." Moriarty snapped. "I mean the speech. God, she made the school sound like a cult! 'Protect the sanctity,' what a load of bull." He scoffed. "And did you hear her? Saying the Hunters are lethal? Tch. If the Hunters wanted them dead, they'd be dead."

Pope cocked an eyebrow. "You think Quitterie is just trying to scare the students? Because if so, I would think you'd be all for that."

"Oh, I love it when they start shaking in their little booties. But it has to be my way. I prefer leaving the intentions of the Hunters a mystery."

"Maybe you should have told Quitterie?"

"Briefing her was your job."

"Organizing the trip was yours."

"Go soak your head." At this point, Moriarty and Pope ceased conversation. The bears had something else to add. A song.

"Hm. Sounds like some of the other students. It seems Quitterie did some planning." Pope mused.

"Impressed, are you? I imagine she's impressed with herself. I'll have her working Tarquin's forge for a month for this." This prompted a laugh from Pope, a sound rarely heard by anyone.

There was a buzzing sound and he ignored the ball for a moment while he checked his phone. A call. He answered with a simple, "Oi."

"Priscilla Messina set my post on fire. Requesting containment assistance. Sector 8."

"Did she now? Assistance will be arriving momentarily. Sit tight, focus on the objective." Moriarty hung up and hit a button on speed dial. "Fire team, dispatch to Training Sector 8 immediately."

"Right away, sir." He hung up the phone, trying to ignore the dancing bears and the singing. He preferred Red Hot Chili Peppers, most times. Not this. A little red orb floated up to them, and Moriarty stroked his chin thoughtfully. "This must be the Technopath's little toy. Raisa." He stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Interesting. Most Techs don't have anything like this for a couple of years. And it certainly is unique. First time seeing one flying that smooth." He gave it a wave and grinned. If Raisa was building something like this, she probably had cameras in it. "Hey, flip the bird." He told Pope.

"You really are a child, aren't you?"

----

Nick got absolutely no help from Quitterie. She didn't say so much as a word, meanwhile the Carebears from Hell were making their own speech. <You are such an ass!> He made sure to send her that bit. He didn't care if everyone heard it or not. As long as she was aware. The Bears were singing, and good lord they were dancing, it was terrible. He had to ignore them, though.

The Hunter was still gaining ground. He couldn't outrun him, not like this. He had to hide, to get away, but first, a distraction. He threw his arm behind him, and the Shade burst out, ramming headfirst into the Hunter (who was much closer than he'd thought), and slamming him against a tree. He recalled Shade immediately, and dove off to the side, laying down in some thick brush. He did his best to breathe quietly, and to mask his pain. His skin burned all over, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He heard the Hunter groan as he picked himself up and cracked his neck.

"Not bad." He purred. "But you can't be far. I'll find you." His steps were slow, deliberate, calculating. Nick spied him between the leaves of his bush, carrying a white knife. Or, maybe a more accurate term would be "spike." It was just a pointed tip, really, no cutting power at all. There was already a bit of blood on it, but whose? Nick couldn't feel any wounds on himself.

The Hunter was getting closer to his bush. But it didn't seem like it was on purpose. What am I doing? Hiding in a bush like a kid. But there was nowhere for him to go right now. He froze as a boot planted itself right in front of him, visible through the leaves. He was... Humming to himself. Twirling the knife around in his fingers. He wondered how much truth was in the whole "Hunters are lethal" thing.


The Hunter stopped moving, just staring at the sky. "You smell that?" He was talking to Nick. "Something's burning. The last time I burned something, the results were rather anticlimactic." Nick held his breath as the Hunter took another step towards his bush. "... That's a lovely singing voice." He commented as he stared at the Monobear nearest to him. "You really should come out. I've played this game before, and the end was so disappointing. I've hunted and been hunted plenty. We don't need to do this..." Nick felt his stomach drop as the Hunter turned and stared straight into his eyes. "...Do we?"

It had been a simple idea, in theory: incapacitate the Hunter, and return to the clearing before that Hunter recovered or another Hunter spotted Priam. However, Priam was beginning to realize that his idea had a large flaw: he had no idea where the starting point was in relation to him. The Hunter's pursuit had forced him to change direction, and in the midst of that chase he'd forgotten the route he'd taken to the tree where this fiasco had started.

At this point, he had slowed down since running from the Hunter, and had resumed his movement strategy prior to discovering the figure: moving from tree to tree, constantly looking around to see if a Hunter was on the move. So far, Priam was as alone as he'd been when this had started, but that offered little consolation, given that he had no idea where he was. It was, after all, only a matter of time before he crossed paths with another Hunter, and he doubted that the trick with the substance would work twice.

The trees widened out into a new clearing; hoping that this was the starting point, Priam ran towards the clearing, only to slow down again when he realized that this was another dead end. Grimacing, he turned to exit the clearing from a different direction, and was surprised to see several pillars of smoke rising from the forest; he could also faintly detect the smell of something burning.

Meaning there's an conflict of some kind, Priam thought, turning the opposite direction of the presumed forest fire, another of those here likely encountered a Hunter, and this is their way of repelling them. Going to make things difficult if the return point is in that direction. Can't assume that it is for time being. If wrong, run the risk of entering inferno. With this in mind, he ran out of the clearing and back into the forest, simply going in a direction that was neither towards the fire nor back the way he came.

He'd gone a decent distance before a new sight caught his attention: There was a Hunter, standing - yes, merely standing - next to a tree, looking down at... something, or perhaps someone. It looked like the Hunter was holding something in his hand, though Priam wasn't sure what it was.

Priam's first instinct was to bolt from this area; the mere presence of a Hunter signified that sticking around was going to be detrimental to his current plan; if he ran now, perhaps he'd be able to escape this Hunter's notice. Then, he remembered what the Monobears had said once the Hunters revealed themselves: "Until every one of you has achieved safety or is taken out by one of the Hunters, this activity is not considered over." Meaning we'd be out in forest until either of those conditions are fulfilled. If that is another student, likely that the Hunter has them cornered. If the Hunter offs them, they'll come after me next. Outcome of that encounter likely my own death. However... He gripped the knife that he'd stolen from the prior Hunter, if enough of a distraction is provided for that student to retaliate...

It was a risk, yes, but it was a risk of potential death near another student versus a risk of almost certain death on his own. And between those two, Priam knew which risk he'd prefer to take.

Unsteadily, he took aim with the knife, and then tossed it, intending for it to fly right at the back of the Hunter's neck. Naturally, his toss was far from a good one, and the knife instead flew at a downward angle, where it was more likely to hit the Hunter's back at best, or legs at worst. Hopefully, either would provide the necessary distraction for the Hunter's quarry.

She mumbled to herself as she frantically tried to gain control of Brighton. "Brighton, c'mon you gotta be in there. Cease! Stop! Override!"

The deep voice came back through their link. "OVERRIDE NOT AVAILABLE. TARGET IN SIGHT."

"Override not available my ass," she cursed. "End function, mission abort." She was running out of fancy ways to say 'stop doing that right now'. "Brighton! Sit!"

The drone had reached Moriarty and Pope.

"Damn it." Some technopath she was, her tech was controlling her. She watched helplessly through the feed as the drone buzzed around Moriarty. She noted the teacher's hands in his pockets. He must have it in his pocket still.

Did he just?

Raisa wasn't sure if she believed that a teacher had just flipped her VI the bird. Really? Really?

Apparently Combat Brighton wasn't having any of it. Moriarty was just about to say something else, when Brighton buzzed around to his back and released a torrent of electricity into the teacher. She gave the guy credit. She'd been tased by Brighton once, and she was flat on her back instantly. Moriarty, however, remained standing, if a little uncomfortable looking. In the distraction, Brighton floated to Moriarty's pocket, activating a containment field, picked up the little statue before the teacher noticed, buzzing away toward Raisa as fast as the little guy could go.

When Brighton dropped the Praetorian in her hands Raisa froze for second. Her VI attacked a teacher, mistakenly of course, but still, it attacked, tasered, a teacher. Then to top it off, it stole from him.

Raisa was pretty sure this was cheating, but the guy did say it was a test on their resourcefulness right?

Raisa glanced at the goal, the large oak tree, but a few feet away.

She ran for it.

She nearly dived as she placed her hand flat on the trunk, Brighton hovering closely behind her, once again taking on his bright blue color.

"Uh," she started. "I win, right?"

Gundam turned invisible.

The Hunter (or Huntress; she was a girl, with short black hair), of course, had been watching before he picked up the figure; however, even with the announcement, Gundam and his hamsters simply becoming not there was a bit off-putting for a moment. Even moreso that a song and dance began shortly afterward: the Monobears'. Reality slips far away, and a knife did too, through the air; the Hunter had recovered, apparently. Sun-D's illusion had made the group invisible to her, but judging from the lack of sound, they hadn't moved yet.

Gundam turned, stepping out of the way just in time. The knife flew through the center of his group, and just at that moment, a Monobear appeared. Finding it necessary to emphasize how hope is no more, it appeared dancing right in front of where Gundam was, then turned in confusion.

The knife had stuck itself in its stomach.

The Monobear started fuming, looking from Gundam to the Hunter back to Gundam again - until it seemed to decide on the Hunter, to whom it extended it claws and pounced.

Gundam didn't wait any longer. Gesturing to the Four Dark Gods, he started running... which was a good thing, too, considering that it was at that moment the forest started being on fire. Predictably, this made him run much faster. He heard an explosion off in the distance. The Hunter still hadn't caught up to him, and he didn't care to investigate why.

He arrived in the clearing with the goal tree without much more problem. Raisa was already there; so he hadn't been first. At least he had witnesses. "Jum-P," he called, a few yards away from the tree, "let our illusion pass. We must let our glory be seen!" So the mirage faded, and Gundam strode towards the tree, grinning boastfully.

"Technological one! So you too have also braved these testing trials." He handed his Praetorian to Sun-D, and she took it in her mouth. "Star-Destroyer Grey Fox Sun-D, take the Praetorian in your hold! Make the Leap of Deceit and deliver unto us... victory!"

Sun-D made a running jump, soaring through the air and landing in the oak tree. Laughing, Gundam walked up to Raisa and slammed his palm on the tree. "Fuahahaha! I have succeeded! God favors Gundam Tanaka alone!"

((Blech, rushed catch-up post. Just take it.))

~Reneé

Reneé flinched slightly as the forest suddenly became engulfed in flame. He checked his own fireball which seemed unaffected and still there. "If it wasn't me, then who? No one else in the sparring session seemed to exhibit any skill or ability when it came to flame. Hehehe, I rhymed..." Reneé thought to himself as he dissipated the fireball and dived headlong into the region of burning trees. "Thank-you Mom for suggesting I wear my fire-proof clothing the first day, this would've been a horrendous idea otherwise!"

The Hunter seemed perturbed, this freshman was not only keeping him at a distance with some sort of ability, but now was effectively unreachable because of the fire. The best he could do was go safely along the edges of the blaze and hope to cut the freshman off when he emerged.

Reneé looked up as he dived under a blazing branch and saw the umbrella girl rocketing forwards ahead of him, her umbrella keeping her aloft. "Her!? Oh, but wait...an umbrella? Heat? And that dirigible upon arrival? Maybe something to do with thermodynamics? I suppose I'll ask once all of this is done..." Reneé thought to himself as he decided to take control of the flames themselves and intensify their heat. Reneé hadn't even noticed her umbrella tear as he hopped another branch. "That Hunter has proved that he has no resilience to heat by not directly pursuing me in here, so there's no sense in allowing him even a safe perimeter. Sadly, there's only so much I can do with my limited soul count, even more so following the burning of one in order to keep a safe distance away from that guy..."

The Hunter leaped in surprise as the general heat of the flame suddenly intensified. "That kid is smart, keeping further away from this fire so that he can emerge with a significant lead. Damn..."

Reneé emerged from the blaze within rather short time, perhaps there was something about fire that allowed him to exhibit greater physical capabilities? Probably not, adrenaline was certainly pumping and he knew that once he reached the goal he would likely collapse. But that tree was now in plain sight, with Raisa and Gundam both resting at it.

"Hah!" Reneé cried out as he launched into a full sprint. Reneé was twenty yards from the tree the Hunter landed in front of Reneé with a slight grin.

"Good try kid, nearly beat me but- woah..." The Hunter proclaimed only to stumble and drop to his hands and knees.

"Closer you are, the more intense it is." Reneé called out as he ran past the Hunter as he looked up in confusion, "Be thankful it isn't lethal!"

All the Hunter could manage was curse as he managed to get to his feet, watching as Reneé made contact with the tree. Reneé quickly slumped to the ground, exhausted from both the run as well as manipulating such an enormous field of fire.

"Ha...made it...ha...oh man...that...was...hoo...certainly exhilarating..." Reneé managed between breaths as he looked upon the fire. "I...suppose I could help with that...just...whoo...just give me a minute to catch my breath..." Reneé's head slumped to his shoulder as he made efforts to manage his breaths, a bemused grin as he saw the Hunter who had been pursuing him walk by with a slight scowl.

"Dirty, rotten, no-good tactic that was..." The Hunter muttered under his breath, not that Reneé could hear him anyways, the roaring of the fire was much too loud for that.


((OOC: Hah, so Priscilla's mess ended up being a serious boon for Reneé!))

"Attacking the supervisor is against the rules," Monobear declared, and dove at the Hunter with claws outstretched.

"I don't have time for this," the Hunter said. She grabbed Monobear out of the air and tossed it behind her, then turned to chase after the American PMC Praetorian that Gundam had taken off with. But instead of going forward, her foot lashed out and connected with the head of a Monobear that had been going for the back of her leg. The Monobear went flying and collided with another tree trunk. It stood, as did the original Monobear with a knife in its stomach, and both raised their claws as one.

"I'm in shock! Shock! Attacking your supervisor not once, but twice! Chronic rulebreakers like you must be removed from society, for the safety of everyone who keeps to the rules!"

The Hunter stared, raised a hand to the metal rod strapped to her belt, then shook her head and said, "Take it up with my superiors. I've got to—"

She dodged three simultaneous drop kicks from behind and landed on another branch, hesitated, and kept moving after Gundam instead. If she focused on the mission, she could certainly outrun any clumsy toy bear...

...unless it could teleport. And meet her in midair with a swipe at her mask. A steel rod tore through it before its claws connected, though, and it stared at her, impaled on the spear, before popping out of existence. Two others ("I won't give up even against a fearsome enemy! The rules must be enf—!") were taken out in the same way, but the second had been struck at just the wrong angle, and was intact enough to slash through the spear. The Hunter glanced at the remaining metal in her hand, and tossed it through the Monobear's head to disperse of it. The next Monobear she caught by the back of the neck, where it couldn't slash at her, and she flew through the air, already assessing the angle she'd need to throw this Monobear to get rid of the next one, and—

The Monobear was limp in her hand and there were no others coming.

"...ugh!"

-

(Technically, the professors had forgotten to tell Quitterie that there were definitely no explosions allowed.)

-

A bead of sweat trailed down Quitterie's temple as she stared into the distance. The Hunter had survived that and the damage wouldn't even be that difficult to heal. This wasn't really the first impression Quitterie had wanted to leave on them. Oh, well. That had been fun; brief, but if it had lasted much longer, she would've lost interest anyway.

Anyway, it didn't matter now. The battle and song had taken up most of her attention so she'd had to drop various threads of conversation and even the chance to punish a student (there were bears in some of those trees that were ignited) just to manage this. But now that the one thing was over, she could return her attention to the most important part...

-

The only Monobear in the clearing that wasn't dancing or playing the song had picked up Quitterie's camera while no one was looking and had captured a few precious memories, such as the attack on Moriarty, a ten second video of one of its clones dancing, and the three students triumphantly reaching the goal.

It looked up from its camera at the students. "Congratulations on overcoming the restraints placed on you by the school! You've successfully hunted without being Hunted yourself and have now achieved safety in a greater power. You are now untouchable to those who would pursue you." It tilted its upper body and blushed. "With such great power, you could truly achieve absolute freedom! You truly are the 'hope' of this generation. What will you accomplish next?"

As if to punctuate its words, it abruptly vanished, and a knife dropped to the ground where its body had been. At the same time, a seriously singed-looking Hunter leaping out of the trees. She glanced at Gundam, who was standing and definitely not still diving for the tree. "Ah..."

(Faintly, inaudible due to the distance: "God! It's already over! You've got to stop doing that!")

A group of five supernaturals bounded about the flames created during the test. They were methodically putting out fires as the first students were finishing their tests, and while they clearly took their job seriously, none of them seemed worried anything would go wrong. In truth, for as much flames as had been produced, a freshman was a freshman, and they had seen much worse. Each had an ability that helped the fight, be it over water, air, or some obscure aspect of life. Meanwhile, Moriarty was laughing at Brighton, if only for a moment. Until he zapped his arse.

Pope seemed too amused to help. It wasn't part of his job, anyway. Moriarty, after regaining his full facilities, gave a chuckle. "Using your head, are you?" Raisa slapped her hand on the tree and asked if she won. Moriarty scoffed. "Sure. You won." And then he drove his fist into her leg, right on one of the nerves. "But fair's fair. You tased me, bro. So you get a dead leg." He laughed. "Congratulations, you get an A for creativity."

Gundam and Reneé touched base next. "Reneé, congratulations. Gundam, I'd have expected a bit more flare for someone who is supposedly chosen by gods." He stepped on Gundam's toes. "By the way, the artifact has to be in your hand for it to count. You technically still haven't passed." He grinned. "That hamster passed, though."

---

A knife came whizzing towards the Hunter. Something alerted him to it, and he snapped around and deflected it with his own knife. He took a careful look at Priam. "You aren't the one I'm looking for... But then again... I suppose that ultimately, it doesn't matter." Nick's breath was still caught in his throat. The Hunter rolled his head on his shoulders, his neck cracking. He paused once more, scrutinizing the scrawny boy before him. "I know your eyes." He took a slow step forward. "I remember when my eyes were the same..." With a small laugh he took another step toward Priam.

Nick had to get away. But this Hunter had a screw loose or something. He couldn't leave Priam alone. He barely knew the kid, but he was raised better than that. And whether or not the God he was raised to believe existed or not, he couldn't just leave someone like that.

The Hunter began twirling the knife in one hand casually. "I suspect, my friend, that you and I are very similar." He told Priam. Nick tried to jump from the bush, but ended up more rolling out of it. As he picked himself up to his feet, the Hunter turned nonchalantly to look at him over his shoulder, not the least bit surprised. He said nothing and only turned back to Priam. "I know your eyes." He repeated.

Nick had thought for sure his reappearance alone would give Priam a chance to escape. But the Hunter was fixated on Priam. "Give me your name." He ordered. "And then," He said, "Why don't you make good on that knife, and kill me?"

This was far from how things were supposed to go. Priam's attempted diversion had succeeded, but instead of temporarily drawing the Hunter's attention, this Hunter was now fixated on Priam. Adding to that, the student that this Hunter had targeted (Nick, was it?) hadn't tried to launch any sort of attack on the Hunter after diving out of the undergrowth.

Then there was the matter of the Hunter himself. He was staring at Priam even more intensely than the previous Hunter had been staring at Priam, and his words... Priam felt a chill go down his spine at them. What does he mean, "I know your eyes," Priam thought, how could I be similar to a Hunter? Best-case scenario this Hunter is trying to simply go to unnerving me, but seems unnecessary. Unlikely. ...Suppose, like the students here, the employees have skeleton or two of their own in the closet. But then... no, can ask them about that later. Need to focus. Focus on surviving.

"Unlikely that we're similar," Priam said, slowly, "you're a trained killer. I'm a mere student," a killer that perhaps takes too much pleasure in his work, he added silently, seeing that this Hunter's gaze was similar to that of a rabid dog. Then, the Hunter asked Priam for two things: his name, and for a fight. Priam weighed his options; at this point, running wasn't an option - Priam had the feeling that this Hunter was stronger than the past one, and would catch up to him much more quickly. And in a fight... hopefully Nick can assist there.

"...Priam Malack," he said in response to the demand for his name, "if you want a fight... will have it." He flicked his wrists, and his claws extended. Briefly, he glanced at Nick, hoping that the student would either act on this, or the Hunter would take the bait and think Nick would act on this; seconds afterwards, he ran towards the Hunter, slashing at him with his claws.

At that, Sun-D unceremoniously reverted to hamster, and, unable to grip the tree, fell back onto Gundam's arm. Praetorian in mouth, she crawled onto Gundam's hand and dropped it. The Praetorian balanced well, allowing him to keep his hand thoroughly planted on the tree. Perhaps, now that he had time, he could examine it... but someone was stepping on his toes, quite literally.

"... You may count yourself fortunate that I am wearing boots tipped with mithril," he said icily, turning his head to face Moriarty. "Otherwise the venom that makes it course through my veins may have seeped through the lorica, and you would have been turned to ash. Unlike a phoenix, however, your mortal body may not give unto itself the same kind of regeneration..."

His expression turned even more serious as he removed his hand from the tree, grabbing the Praetorian and Sun-D. The other three had already gathered, Jum-P on his usual perch, Cham-P next to him, and Maga-G staying on the ground. "The Four Dark Gods and I are companions in the deepest sense. Though you may attempt to say otherwise, our success and failure is shared. We work as one." He fumed inwardly. Not only at the invasion of his space, the criticism of his flair, and all the humiliation that came with it, but also the insult on his teamwork.

Meanwhile, a Monobear was hopping and fuming and ranting at the Hunter, though it danced around her to avoid causing her to destroy yet another one. She kept a wary eye on it, but otherwise didn't react. One arm was torn and charred, but she didn't seem to feel it.

The nearest Qbey had probably been standing in the oak tree, as it hopped down to a lower and less concealed branch. <I should congratulate you as well... Raisa Winters, Renée Crowley, and Gundam Takana! I don't have any prepared speeches for you, but you've surpassed expectations. Most students aren't expected to emerge victorious.>

Its voice was high-pitched and cheerful and did not resemble its master's.

<Some of those you count among your friends will not be as fortunate, so 'pride' in this achievement would be an understandable response.> It turned to Raisa and said, privately, <I do not believe your injury will have long-lasting effects, but if any effects persist when you have returned to the academy, Quitterie can arrange for your recovery.>

Raisa fell on her good knee as pain shot up her right leg. It was a strange feeling. On one hand her leg was numb and didn't want to hold her weight, on the other, it hurt like a bitch. When he'd hit her her 'screen' fuzzed out for a bit.

"Congratulations, you get an A for creativity."

"Thanks," she grumbled, standing slowly and leaning on the tree heavily for support. Don't let him think you're weak Rai. She pushed off the tree, standing on will alone. Her face did struggle to gain composure a bit. "Didn't really try for that though, it wasn't my plan."

Serena wanted to go after Nick and the Hunter, but she didn't want to fail on account of them. She and Katie still didn't have a treasure of their own. The warnings of the bears only made her more uneasy, and the singing was... Not comforting. She gave a sigh, and picked up a rock, and started following Nick and the Hunter. They'd long since disappeared from her sight, but maybe she could still find them.

Something caught her eye, though. A little black bag, dangling from a tree. Identical to the one Nick found his artifact in. With a smile, she climbed the two branches needed to reach it. After retrieving it and returning to the forest floor, she opened it. It was indeed one of the little silver men, this one dressed as an eagle. The inscription on the bottom read "Aztec Eagle Warrior." She smiled and stuffed it in her pocket, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she looked up.

Her hunter wasn't one for words, obviously, because he swept his leg into the air to deliver a hard kick. The first thing she thought, based on his mask, was that Daft Punk was trying to kill her. It was a shiny metallic silver, completely reflective, save for a section that appeared to be a respirator. She avoided the attack, and started running again, in an entirely different direction.

And then the hunter was in front of her. She skidded to a stop and turned, but he was there, too. Every direction she faced, there was another copy of the hunter. She was completely surrounded. "This can't be real..." She tried to reason. It had to be an illusion.

The hunter had a low voice, grim and grating. "No. But which one is the real me? And which ones are just reflections? Can you really take that risk? Hand it over." They all raised their arms, ready to strike at her if she tried to move past them. She bit her cheek, and tried to focus. She still had a rock in her hand. Her muscles tensed and she prepared to throw it. Something quite odd occurred. The vector went straight through him. Normally, she could see where it might bounce.

That meant this one wasn't real.

With just a quick scan, she found the one that was real. And she let loose the rock, tearing off in the opposite direction at the same time. She had missed, but it didn't matter ultimately. She heard him growl in frustration as he gave chase. He could fool her eyes, her hearing, or even smell, but he couldn't anticipate a sixth sense.

Whoever he was, he was much less the physical type than she was. Outrunning him wasn't overly taxing.

((DAFT PUNK WOOOOOO))

~Reneé

Reneé grinned happily at Moriarty's praise, for some reason the fact that he was the only one of the first three to finish not to be physically injured made him rather proud of his accomplishment. On the other hand Raisa had taken a rather nasty strike to the knee, and, as much as Reneé was impressed with her resilience, he could see that the strike was likely going to make it hard for her to get back to the dorm room under normal circumstances. Reneé winced as he heard the Queby speak. It's voice wasn't irritating, so much as it's pronunciation of his given name.

"It's Reneé..." Reneé grumbled at it in annoyed tone. Reneé made a quick motion with his hand, and a fair sized wisp of flame separated itself from the now dying blaze. Reneé toyed with its size for a couple moments, determining how much the loss of the E-rank soul affected his manipulating abilities. "Not much, most people wouldn't notice it, that's for certain, but the subtle differences are there. *sigh* It was necessary though...but I suppose that's not the largest concern at this time..."

"Raisa, please sit down." Reneé asked with a concerned expression, watching her make efforts to stand without problem, "Pride is a fine thing to express, but you're more apt to hurt yourself than anything else by doing that..."

Find a solution

The umbrella had been damaged quite beyond repair, and while it had had a nice shape and its surface area had been very helpful, there wasn’t much Priscilla could do or would be able to do with it anymore. It didn’t matter anymore. She dropped the part of the handle she was still holding.

(Most of the umbrella continued to fall with her.)

The hunter she’d selected seemed to have the impression that she needed the umbrella to remain aloft—which, to be sure, was basically true; directing enough force at herself to make much of a difference to falling out of the sky also meant directing enough force at herself to splat herself if she did something wrong, and she really didn’t trust herself with that degree of precision, not with gases, not without something other than herself to push against.

In any case, her hunter was descending quickly, more quickly than gravity alone … and in roughly the direction of Priscilla’s own projected landing point. So this hunter seemed to have a fair sense for kinematics at least.

That wasn’t much of a surprise, of course, not from anyone who could fly.

Beat the twisted evil things

She was still carrying The Central Science; she could use it to slow down, even stop, her fall—the question was when: if she slowed herself down now, the hunter could notice and cut her off, and then there wasn’t much else she could do about things; but if she slowed down later, she would almost certainly have to land near that hunter anyway, and there wasn’t all that much she could do about that, either.

She considered, for a moment, handing over the figurine she’d picked up and finding another, hopefully one guarded by a hunter which wouldn’t be able to fly—but that was impractical, first of all because she couldn’t necessarily fly very effectively either, second because she couldn’t be sure they couldn’t all fly (it wouldn’t have surprised her too much to find out—she’d been surprised that the other students couldn’t all fly), but most importantly because given how much of the woods she’d set on fire, she couldn’t really be sure she’d even be able to find another figurine.

The fires were still raging. Priscilla figured that she could almost certainly better use them to serve her purposes—better than just explosions, at least—but she hadn’t really had the opportunity to consider that in the time since she’d set the trees on fire. Perhaps, if she landed somewhere the hunter wouldn’t be able to follow—

Just do it, go for it

It seemed quite likely that her pursuer wouldn’t be willing to follow her into her … disaster. It wouldn’t be much of a problem for her; she could mitigate the effects of the heat on herself, she could probably draw enough oxygen to herself to breathe—and even if she did meet her hunter, well, she would be most powerful there.

She just needed to get there, first, and, after all, the fires were still a ready source of energy for her, and as long as she was drawing on those, she probably didn’t need to care just how efficient she was being—so as soon as her hunter landed, Priscilla held out The Central Science, facing it slightly downward and opposite the fires, placed herself behind it, and directed the atmosphere to push agaist it.

Moments before she landed, Priscilla remembered to draw together a rough sphere of air around her and take conscious control of its convective behaviour.

Upon landing, she stood for a long moment, basking in the glory of the beautiful hell around her.

Two curious things came to her attention. Or rather, one curious thing, and one more or less expected thing. The latter: her fires were seemed to be beginning to die out all around the edges, as if someone were trying to stop them, or at least slow them down. The former: someone seemed to be trying to take control of the whole fire, and while it didn’t seem to be having much success in directing it, the fires did, on the whole, begin to burn … in an impossible manner.

Priscilla did not appreciate this; and with minor effort, she identified its source (which, it turned out, wasn’t exactly hard, since it was at the center of impossible phenomenon) and tracked as it left the fire and moved into a cluster of other people.

So that, presumably, was the site of the tree. She hadn’t even been close.

And now she needed to get to the tree quickly, avoiding her hunter.

After some consideration, Priscilla arrived at three possible courses of action; one, she deemed risky; one, she deemed impractical; and one, she deemed difficult.

The first, to walk a straight line to the safe tree, and hope that the hunter wouldn’t find her in time to stop her before she reached it.

The second, to walk through her fire and out near the safe tree, hoping that the hunter wouldn’t be find and stop her as she crossed that distance.

The third—and she was quite (perhaps excessively) proud to have thought of it—to improvise a pneumatic tube to propel herself into the tree. She thought she’d worked out a suitable mechanism for it which would greatly the necessary precision of her control, and the hunter was only likely to be able to stop her as she elevated herself.

Thus, in keeping with her general character, Priscilla determined to take the third option; and by the time she’d actually managed to set up a suitable near-vacuum, she’d put out most of the fires on the nearby trees and she could sense someone, not very far away—she guessed her hunter—moving in her general direction.

Thus she was perhaps rushing herself, which wasn’t necessarily the best of ideas when accelerating oneself at on the order of a kilometer per second.

But even if several of the tree’s branches had to be incorporated into her braking mechanism, well, even if she wasn’t particularly inclined to get down from the tree afterward, even if her diving cylinder now on the ground with a dent in it (which, admittedly, was probably a bit dangerous)—she’d certainly touched the bark of the tree, hadn’t she?

That seemed good enough.

Gundam listened to the Qbey attentively. Normally he would have taken the Qbey's advice to heart; he was never short on pride. That, of course, made the Qbey's mistake even worse. The creature had butchered his last name, and his previous anger only compounded...

"Q-bey, messenger of the necromancer Quitterie!" He intentionally pronounced Qbey like he would one of the Four Dark God's names, putting emphasis on the bey. "It seems you have made grievous errors in discerning our true names. While mine is known to no mortal on this plane, you have even failed to learn the one I give out openly. The alias I am known by is Gundam Tanaka, one of my innumerable titles being Duke of the Demon's Delegate. Should you forget once more, I shall summon my colleagues and destroy you!"

At this, all of his hamsters squeaked at the Qbey, seemingly offended.

Qbey blinked at Reneé slowly. <Reneé,> it said, mimicking the exact tone of the correction—which jarred against its otherwise entirely cheerful demeanour. <I see. If that is how you pronounce it, then it is how your name is pronounced. I will refer to you correctly from now on.>

Barely missing it, something crashed into the upper branches of the tree and snapped off several branches, followed by a cylinder crashing to the floor. The Qbey did not seem to mind. <Hello, Priscilla Messina.>

Then it turned its expressionless stare on Gundam. Here, it paused, and then it said, <My apologies, Gundam Tanaka! My information was obtained from the list of names as entered into the Academy's databases and delivered into the hands of my master. Your information is clearly listed as Gundam Takana, male, aged sixteen, ability termed "cypher". I have no objections to accepting annihilation if required, but that won't be necessary. I was incorrect, so I will update my information.>

(Sorry if this is a bit long. My writing is rarely concise. It's a trait that I'm working on. I also had a good deal of catching up to do.)

Eilir gazed out of the window as her father drove. Hopefully to the right place, this time. She suppressed a sigh. They were going to be late. Hours late. She couldn't really blame her father, though. She had seen the map, and had been paying vague attention to where they were going, but, regrettably, her skill at following maps was just as terrible as her father's. So was her sense of direction, which, it would seem, was just as important, in such a remote area as the one they seemed to be in now.
What sort of classes, she wondered, would there be at the academy? It couldn't be said to have a reputation for academic excellence, seeing as it was rather obscure, and, in fact, seemed to deliberately hide itself (understandably, she thought, given how most perceive the supernatural), but it certainly didn't have a bad record in that respect if you looked further into it. Despite that, though, it accepted students from any academic background, provided they had a supernatural ability of some sort. In fact, from what she had been able to find out, “accepted” may not be the best word for it. In some of the cases she had found, it sounded like they had come very close to forcing the unfortunate bearer of the ability to join the academy. Those were all rather dangerous cases, though. Perhaps they were the exception, not the rule.
But due to the unusual nature of the academy, it seemed likely they would have rather unusual classes. Almost certainly ones on the possible origins and laws (if such laws existed) of supernatural abilities. Perhaps others, as well. And possibly some high-level academic courses for students who had abilities pertaining to their intelligence. She was sure she would be able to find something new, something interesting, something she hadn't yet learned, in way of classes there.
As her attention snapped back from her mind to the world outside, a set of ornately wrought iron gates carelessly left open, and, quite a way beyond them, a large building that she could make out in only little detail, loomed imposingly. Her father pulled up to the gate. “We're here,” he informed her, somewhat redundantly. It was a very noticeable location.
She got out of the car, and unpacked her luggage (essentials, some clothes, a teddy bear and all the books she could fit in what remained of her traveling containers) from the trunk. She tied the trunks and bags of books together with one of the bag's straps, and then hefted the bundle with telekinesis.
She walked over to her father, who was watching her with a distant, sad look. She took his hand. It was rare for her to have trouble expressing herself in words, but this once she didn't know what to say, couldn't think of any phrase that would fit her thoughts.
“Are you sure you don't want me to help you find out where the other new students have gotten to?”, her father asked her. She shook her head soundlessly. “I can help you carry your bags to the building, at least,” he continued. She smiled slightly, amusement added to the roiling mass of emotions figuratively in her heart, but shook her head again, and replied. “Dad, I'll be fine.”
He leaned down to hug her. “I know, little butterfly. I love you.” She kissed him on the cheek. “I love you too, dad.” She paused, then turned, and walked to, and past, the gate, vaguely aware of her mass of bags and trunks floating behind her, and, unable to bring herself to look back, for fear it would fragment her resolve further, she started down the long path to the academy.

– – * – –

Imposing is a good word for this place, Eilir thought, as she approached the door to the building. The pathway was quiet, even tranquil, but the academy itself was large, imposing and... Strong. Strong seemed an apt description for it.
As she entered the front room, she reaffirmed her analysis of the building. The colors, and the door with the chain across it... Strength was definitely something the designer of this building wanted to communicate.
There was a rather usual-looking man reading a book in the otherwise empty entrance hall. He stood out very effectively against the grand white marble, and the heavily contrasting everything else.
Figuring he probably knew where she was supposed to go better than she did (seeing as she had been informed to wait in the entry room, but, of course, had also been informed to arrive on time), she approached him, and asked “Excuse me, sir...”, a very vague, unhelpful question.
He looked up from his book. “I'm told to wait in the entry hall for late students, and I am, of course, very doubtful. Very few of the students invited this year didn't show up in time, and some of those who didn't didn't even have confirmed abilities. But the world never ceases to surprise me, and there one is! The rest of the new students have left on a field trip. I would recommend you go wait somewhere around the cafeteria. Dinner will start soon, and the field trip should return in some time within the fairly near future as well. If you need any further help, you can find me in the library, the main office or the cafeteria. Don't let me detain you.”
Slightly, if imperceptibly, surprised by this seemingly helpful monologue, Eilir replied “Thank you, sir,” and went off into one of the hallways. It took her only a few moments to realize she did not, in fact, know where the cafeteria was, and doing so prompted her to turn back, in order to ascertain this information from the friendly, talkative man in the entry hall. On returning there, however, she found he had disappeared. She sighed. This was going to be a long evening.

(And at this point, narratively, I'm going to have it jump to her reading a book in a chair outside the ballroom, having determined the location of the cafeteria.
And it's not amazingly clever, I know, but it's functional enough, and it's the only reason I can think of to have her arrival delayed by the amount of time that seems to have passed in the RP.)