Young Writers Society

Walter Rogers:

It certainly had been an interesting first few hours at the academy, and it certainly gave promising to be an entertaining school year if nothing else.
He had met his roommate who felt is really important to tell him his sexual orientation, he had been stared at by some kid in the hall who looked like he had seen a ghost, Found some girls necklace which apparently wasn't a bloodstone but REAL blood- freaked him out a bit. Then to top it off he had been bombarded with some girl with inhuman proportions who looked like she stepped out of a Japanese cartoon and not real life, he honestly didn't know people like that even could exist.

"How does her body support her head?" He mused walking through the halls. He had to get away from all the buzzing activity, just giving himself time to think, to adjust to this new place and all the new faces. What troubled Walter is SO many of those faces seemed unhappy. He thought they would be excited coming to this school, people like them, people who understood being different in one way or another... instead they all seemed miserable or just angry.
He ran to his room and grabbed his swim-trunks and stuffed them in his gym backpack and headed back down- his dad had told him about the amazing facilities here and Walter was keen to try them out.

"Oh Lord...." He reeled at he walked into the boys locker room, it stunk, well... like a boys locker room. He quickly changed into his trunks and headed to the pool room, it was a long deep lap-pool, multicolored buoys separating the lanes. Walter grinned, apart from running with his dad on the trails around Taughannock park, swimming was one of his favorite things to do. He walked over to the bleachers and kicked off his shoes, setting his bag down- he noticed one of the girls and waved.

"Hi! Hows the water?" she didn't even react, Walter sighed, "What is it with the girls here?" He murmured as he stripped off his shirt, and stretched before diving into the water. He came up shaking the water from his hair and began doing laps, getting rid of some of the energy he was constantly infused with. The water felt nice, not too cold but then again not to warm. Walter dived and started back down the pool- mind wandering to the more mundane things of life.

If his dad had checked him in with Ms Prince? if he'd meet anyone he might make friends with? if any of the girls here at school would maybe talk to him?


"Good form."

Walter stopped abruptly and looked around,
"Wha-?" He noticed he wasn't alone in the pool, the girl he had passed in the hall, with the mask on was bobbing behind him, head on one side. "Oh, Hello Miss." Walter turned, treading water and smiled.

Tahl

Jorah has apparently felt the itsy bitsy earthquake and was determined to be assured that she was still okay.

/Did you feel that? / He asked his sister.

/Yeah, and I think I saw who caused it. Some girl having a tantrum. No worries./

Some mental sparring went on as Tahl explained that the vaguely oceanic girl had gone through some sort of minor melt down and told him not to bother coming down to check on her. Meanwhile she headed up to the surface again to see who was disturbing her now.

As it turned out, the company wasn't entirely unwelcome. A boy roughly her age was treading laps, and looking amazing doing it. Softly she slipped under the water again to get a good breath while she swam over and surfaced quietly beside him.

"Good form."

He turned, expectedly startled. But he recovered quickly enough to greet her properly.

"Nice to meet you," she said. And it truly was. Him and his abs.

"I'm Walter Rogers, Walt." He offered his hand

"Tahl," She answered, shaking it. "Where'd you learn to swim?"

"My parents. Mom taught me first- one of those "Mommy and me" swim classed, but then dad started me the strokes."

"Pretty impressive. I guess you have the build for it."

/Tahl what are you doing? /

/I'm busy. Don't you dare show up now. /

Walter laughed good naturedly and bobbed slightly in the water,

"I guess, It's from my dad, swimming tires me out faster than running.... Is, is your dad Aqua man?" He seemed almost shy asking

"Maybe. Who know?" She tossed back lightly, choosing that moment to duck back beneath the water again.

Explaining her origins was turning out to be a bit awkward. In a school full of kids related to someone special, it was difficult having to clarify that she wasn't anyone’s kid. Just a copy. A copy that wasn't as good as the original even.

She surfaced again, but only enough to glance at Walter and check his expression.

"D-did I offend you? I didn't mean to."

Well at least he was concerned. She offered him a smile, not entirely forced. "No. I just need to breathe properly every little while. Ignore those."

"You don't breathe air?" He clearly looked shocked, "Wow... so that mask- is it, a water filter?"

"It coverts air to water yeah. I guess Jorah and I are more human than Atlantean? They couldn't get a kid with powers and proper lungs." Walters eyes widened, clearly awed.

"Wow... that's amazing." swimming closer he seemed to want to get a closer look, "What sort of powers do you have? I don't have any myself."

Tahl backed off a little, wary of anyone touching her with scientific intent. "Mostly what I am. I can communicate telepathically though. And do cool stuff to water, but that’s harder."

"Holy cow.... that’s amazing!" He grinned like a small child, ear to ear, "I’ve never known anyone who could do that! That's amazing Miss Tahl, it really is!"

He surprised her into a laugh. "Miss Tahl? That's cute.” He flushed and looked down,

"J-just how I was r-raised.... Do you want me to call you something else?"

"Whatever you like, Wally," She said, pulling herself up on the edge of the pool and wringing her hair out a bit. She could sense he brother circling despite her suggestion to step off, and she wanted to catch him before he got irritated.

"Are you going? I'm sorry I hope I didn't offend you... I, I'm just excited to meet people with real powers... and just meet people like me, I didn't have a lot of friends at my old school..." He looked down,

Tahl splashed him playfully to get him to look up. "You can meet my brother of you like. But he’s in a sour mood so he'll probably just glare at you. "

"Where is he?" Walter swam to the edge to look around, does he wear a mask too?"

"At the moment he's....in the hallway," she said, concentrating to get a better fix. "And yeah, we’re pretty much the same." Walter pulled himself out of the pool, sitting on the edge,

"Is he coming in or is he just going to stay out there Miss Tahl?"

"He’s staying out if he knows what’s good for him, but he often doesn't," she said, glaring at the exit.

"Oh. Okay..."

/He's not some sort of predator. You don’t' have to go all alpha male. /

Jorah didn't answer, but she could feel him being miffed. She got up, sighing. "It was nice talking to you."

"Nice to meet you too Miss Tahl, see you around maybe?"

Tahl nods, stealing another once over. "Do you have Physical training first class? Or are you skipping that because it's redundant?"

"Uh no, I'm taking it- I'm hoping to learn some more maybe weapons training..."

"Then I'll see you there," she waved to him, bouncing off to fetch her mask before she started having problems. As she slipped her clothes back on over her swim suit she contacted Jorah again. /So what's this about? Can't I talk to a boy without you hovering? And don't say you were worried about me, you can tell I'm fine. /

/...But I was worried about you. /

That stopped her. Admittedly, it was nice to have a chance to just flirt and hang around with someone her own age, and irritating that her brother was hanging around while she was doing it. But there had been plenty of times when it hadn't been safe.

Carefully, she tied up her hair and went out to confront him. Jorah actually did look concerned. And A little surprised when she hugged him.

/I thought you were mad at me?/

/I am. You're a big jerk./ She told him. Jorah just shrugged, getting a laugh. /Come on. Lets go get something to eat before too many other people do./

Isi/The pool (mostly)

I slam the door behind me when I get to my room. Pacing anxiously, I try to think of a way that I could communicate with the sirens. An idea strikes me, and I change into a bikini quickly. Running all the way back down to the pool, I prepare to dive into the water, but the sight of the girl who glimpsed me screaming gets my head to turn. She points at me and talks to the boy standing next to her, who looks like her twin brother. Oh well. I'll wipe her memory tonight, anyway.
Heeding my father's advice not to walk around naked, I wrap a towel around my hips and shimmy down the bikini bottoms. I let the towel go and dive into the water, changing almost immediately. After a few laps, I come back to my corner in the deep end and concentrate. I touch my syrena necklace and a hint of a song flows towards me. I sing a note and then plunge into the music. The song dies away, and I stop singing. When I open my eyes, there is a watery image of the queen, Elena Ravynsdottir.
I communicate with her telepathically.

Your majesty! It worked. I offer her a mermaid curtsy and stand back up.
Yes. It did. Your powers are growing, Isi.
Thank you, your majesty.
Now, I imagine this is about your father and the war he declared on us? Do you really support him?
I shake my head. Of course not.
Elena nods. Good. What can you tell me about his strengths? His weaknesses. Can we even defeat him?
I swallow, and answer. No. A hundred sirens will not beat him. Even a thousand are no match for him.
Her face falls.Then what can I do to protect my people?
Nothing. Pursue peace with Thor, and keep moving. He cannot attack if he doesn't know where you are. My voice breaks on the last sentence as my grief overwhelms me again. Elena glares at me.
A princess and the heir to the throne does not show weakness.
Have you forgotten that I am no longer a princess? Or even a lady? I look Elena in the eyes before breaking her gaze and apologizing. I apologize, your majesty. That was too forward.
Elena smiles sadly. No matter what your father says, Isi, you will always be the syrena princess. And someday, you will be queen. I swear it.
Thank you, your majesty. I nod at her gratefully, and her form shimmers, and goes away.

My mind feels empty without her presence and I am exhausted from my work. I let myself sink to the bottom of the pool, drowsily promising myself that I would wake up in an hour.

Victor Shang | Luigi Hall Room 203

Victor blinked. "Well, of course I'd like to see if you can light things on fire. Just, if you're planning on shooting some blazing infero out of your finger, I'd like to not be in the way of that."

Snorting wickedly, L stopped pointing and flopped over onto the bed. He raised one arm up towards the ceiling, and a column of fire burst from his hand. Even from across the room, Victor could feel the heat, and see its light distortion too.

After a few moments, L let the flame die. His everything about his face seemed way too into the whole 'burning' thing. Lucky Victor, getting stuck with some pyromaniac. Well, it wasn't that bad, as long as he didn't end up destroying the precious radio jammer Victor kept in his bag.

L broke Victor's thoughts by laughing. "What did you think?" he asked.

"It was impressive," Victor said, "Is it some kind of pyrokinesis?"

"Um, no to whatever pyrokinesis is. It's a common thing at home. We call it firebending. Or to our non-bending friends, instant lantern-lighting!"

Victor let a few hoarse laughs escape his mouth, but was cut short when someone threw their door open. It was a girl. Eww. Not to mention she was Victor's age, and also looked kind of punk and scary and... eww.

She glanced around the room for a moment, her eyes lingering on L, before her lips curled into a gleeful smile. "What's this about fire?" she asked.

Groaning like the socially-awkward teenager that he probably was, L heaved himself back to a sitting position. He pointed a long finger at the girl's face and, very seriously, said, "If you want to find out, I don't mind showing you."

The girl's eyes gleamed with challenge. "Go ahead," she said.

A tongue of fire flicked from L's hand, faster than a chameleon's tongue. It froze at the girl's face, and Victor couldn't help but scream. He sounded so icky when he screamed. Like... a dying donkey or something.

Both of the other teens sent him a look that meant 'seriously?'

"It's about ten centimeters from my face," the girl said evenly, "What are you screaming about?"

"N-n-nothing. That just scared me for a moment." If he had to be honest, it still scared Victor. He was very glad he'd declined the fire-in-the-face business. "So, uh, what's your name?"

From across the room, L looked ready to murder Victor. Maybe he had actually been trying to shoo the girl away, not show of his fire-bending or whatever it was. Maybe both at once.

"I'm Rose, and I guess you"--she glared at L--"are the boy who destroyed the headmistress's chair. Thanks a lot."

"You're welcome."

Victor watched as the two went into a verbal face-off, but a sudden change in the radio signals prompted him to ignore them. It had gone from fuzz to warbling, but a quick burst of concentration told Victor that this was the same frequency he'd been listening to earlier, the one that promised reception outside. A few silent--or in Victor's case, warbly--minutes after Rose left, Victor did the same. He wanted to know where the signal came from, if it came from anywhere. And not only that, but why it would work in a separate universe, and who was doing such a terrible job of jamming it. Hadn't they heard of the capture effect?

Isi/In the Pool and then Isaac's room

I wake to a strong pair of arms encircled around my waist, dragging me upwards. I slap the boy away and push away, spluttering with anger. "What do you think you're doing?!"
The boy raises his hands in the universal 'I'm backing off' gesture. "I thought you were drowning! You weren't moving and you were at the bottom of the pool!"
"I was sleeping! Besides, I have a fish tail! I can breathe underwater!" I let my tail peek up from under the water and wave it in his face to make a point.
"Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean to do anything wrong." He looks at me earnestly and I roll my eyes.
"Whatever. It's fine." I drag myself out of the pool and cover my tail with the towel that I let hang over the side of the pool. Wrapping the towel around my waist, I walk to the girls locker room and change into the clothes that I brought along with me. I meander back to the dorms, mulling things over in my head.
I needed help. There was no doubt about that. But from whom? I pinch the bridge of my nose in exhaustion. I rifle through the life of my dad's enemies, and I think of my uncle, Loki. There would be a price for his help, but it wasn't like I could choose to be picky. Deciding to enlist my cousins' help, too, I go upstairs to the boys' dorms and try to figure I which is Isaac's. I simply go in order, knocking on Room 202 first. There is no answer, and I pray that Zac is in. Going to 203, I knock on the door and wait.
The door swings open, and Isaac's annoyed face greets me. He studies me for a second, and then says, "Aren't you that naked chick from room 103?"
I roll my eyes and shoot him the bird. "Where I come from, coz, nudity isn't a big deal. And I have a name, you know. Isi." He flinches at my nickname. "Or you could call me Narcissus."
"Why are you here?"
I sigh. "Can I come in?"
"I was-" I push past him anyway and sit down on one of the beds. "Okay then, come in, I guess. Why are you here again?"
I take a deep breath and begin. "I need to talk to your father, Loki. My sirens are about to be murdered by my father, and your father might be the only one who would help me."
"Wait, what?" Isaac sounds shocked, and I huff in impatience.
"Loki is your father. He is a god. His brother, Thor, is my father. That makes us cousins, yes? My dad wants to murder all of my sirens. I have to save them, they're the only family I have!"
"What?"
"I said, Loki is-"
"I got that part. Jeez, shut up, would you?"
"Fine." I sit in silence for a while.
Zac breaks the silence. "So why are you here? I can't help you talk to my father."
"Well, there are other things you can help me with. Please." I lick my lips. "For the record, I wouldn't even be here if my entire race wasn't facing extinction."
He considers it for a moment. "I'd help, but you have nothing to offer that I'd like."
I control my anger. "I'll do anything. I swear it."
He pauses and gives me a once over. "Fine, but you'll owe me something."
"Anything."
He smiles slowly at me, and the skin on the back of my neck pricks up. "Very well. I'll help. But you owe me a huge favor now."
"I'll give you anything." I pause and reconsider. "Except for giving you my syrena necklace or killing myself, that is."
He blinks slowly. "Why would I want either of those?"
"You'd be surprised at how many people would pay good money for my body." He snorts. I get up and start to leave, but turn to add something. "You do realize that I could have enchanted you to help me, right?"
He narrows his eyes. "I'm considering rescinding my offer."
I take a threatening step towards him. "You do that, and so help me god, I will not hesitate to enchant you and make you do whatever I want."
He meets my gaze. "Fine. Just don't make me regret it."
I flash him a wicked smile and step out the door. "No promises, coz." I slam the door behind me and turn to leave, but am met with the sight of the male Dyre. "'Scuse me." I step around him and make my way back down to my room, deciding to stay there until nightfall came and I had to alter that girl's memories.

West | Science Club

West strolled into the lab, a duo of much younger looking students already there, examining the equipment with pure awe. It seemed too precious to interrupt, so West took a nice spot by the back of the room, quietly looking through the hazardous chemicals. Every passing label only got him more excited, it felt like the world was at his fingertips, substances he never dreamed he would see, and even more that he had never heard of, lining the cabinets so casually. he was so lost in the rainbow of danger he didn’t even notice the, apparently grand and one of a kind, entrance of their fourth member, she probably would have made a bigger deal, but some shiny robotics dragged her attention away.

Minutes passed by , the four members barely acknowledging each other's existence as they buried themselves in their topics of study. “Are we allowed to start?” West looked up, the younger looking member of the awestruck pair was glancing around the room. “Shouldn’t someone be introducing us?”

“That would be me, and me may have lost track of time." The room filled with a blur of red and yellow, an older student appearing in the center of the room as the colors died down. Without missing a beat he pulled out a flashcard, launching into a very prepared speech.

“Welcome, my scientific amigos, to the science club, where you shall explore new adventures of scientific exploration, through the aid multidimensional collaboration. It is my utmost pleasure, along with school mandated requirement, to be your senior adviser.” The Adviser tucked the flash card away, slouching back into his chair. "Basically I’m here to ensure none of you murder each other in supernatural rage, but I can also tell you what a button does if you need. Like this button, it turns the lights on, which are very useful for science, because reading is good for you. Read some books, enlarge your brain and your horizons, that’s a tip right there.” The Adviser nodded, seeming pleased with himself. “Any questions? Because I got a bag of tacos and the box set of Xena Warrior Princess waiting for me in the back office. Yes, you with the pouty face and blond hair.”

“Do they have anyone more competent?” The kid asked, West found it hard to stifle a laugh, their adviser found it harder.

“For sure, but they stuck you with me. But, before I take my leave, there will be a guy stopping by for TJ, that’s what I call the Trail Golem, I want to say in an hour, but I...time is not my area of expertise. Send him to that closet over there, but please don’t touch her, yes TJ is a her. It took us a the entire school year to fix her after the last trial." The Adviser opened his bag of tacos, smiling wide as he wafted the smell. "Right! Now, go and science, I need extracurricular credits.” Another flash of red and yellow, and their adviser was gone, the sounds of noble battle cries and taco shell crunches signaling his location in the back office.

The four of them glanced at each other, a sinister science grin creeping around their collective faces, all eyes pinned to The Golem’s closet.

Amandine Mercator - Principal's office and Science Club
My hair was moving, twitching nervously, and I wish it would stop. Even on the rare occasions that I managed to keep my expression somewhat calm, my hair always betrayed me. I was keeping somewhat calm though, looking at my hands and focusing on keeping that power away from my hands, as I always did. I glanced up at the principal as she handed me a few papers.

"Your schedule, your room and a list of rules that I expect all students to follow." I hesitated before taking them, and smiled slightly when they remained whole. "There's no need for you to worry, miss Mercator." Her voice was very soft and calm, contrasting her slightly harsh expression. She's a nice woman, no need to worry. "There are plenty of students here that don't know how to fully control their powers yet, so you'll fit right in. When I talked to your father he sounded fully confident that you would eventually graduate with flying colours."

I nodded slightly. My parents had always believed in me, especially when I wasn't doing the same. "Yes, he told me that too before I left," I mumbled, still looking at my hands.

"Alright then. If you don't have any other questions you can head to your room and get settled in." I nodded. "And if there's ever anything on you mind, don't hesitate to talk to me or one of the teachers. Okay?"

I nodded again, and then got up and thanked her before I left her office and headed to Luigi's Hall. I had a good feeling about all of this. I had been told that I'd have a roommate, so maybe I could make a friend there, and the principal had been really nice. Dad was right about this place.

***

I had unpacked rather quickly, both disappointed and relieved to see that I had apparently not been assigned a roommate yet, so I couldn't talk to anyone, but on the plus side - I got to choose the bed I wanted. When peering out from my room someone more or less pressed a flyer in my face, and as it turned out to be a flyer from the science club I thought I might as well go. I'd need to know more science to be able to use my powers properly, and the science club was the perfect opportunity for that. So, in good spirit I headed towards the place where the science club was supposed to meet.

When I got there I realized I was either late or early, since everyone was sitting down, but there was no teacher around.. and for some reason they were all ogling a closet. I looked around, not knowing if I should try to sit down next to someone and talk to them, or if it'd be better if I sat down by myself, but then decided that I should sit down next to a friendly-looking guy. Stay calm. Calm is good.

"Hello," I said with a slight smile as I sat down, the tips of my hair twitching. "I'm Amandine. Um.. Did it already start? Did I miss something?" My heart was beating a bit faster, but other than that I felt unusually relaxed talking to a total stranger.

"Hi." He grinned, looking almost a bit too happy. "The name's West. You didn't really miss much, no. We're allowed to do pretty much what we want, it seems."

"Oh.." I had to admit that I was slightly disappointed. I needed to learn, and I wouldn't do that unless I had someone to teach me. I looked around a bit, and then down on my hands again for a moment. "Wh-what's in the closet?" I tensed as I stuttered, but then forced myself to relax again. Don't get stuck on it. Everyone stutters sometimes.

"Some kind of magical robot, I think. We're not supposed to touch it."

"Come on, we can at least take a look, right?" said a blonde guy suddenly, leaning so far towards the closet that it was a wonder he didn't fall off his chair. "He didn't say anything about not looking at it.."

I opened my mouth to protest, but then looked down on my hands again. I didn't want to be the one to spoil their fun, and even if I though that they should probably stay away, I wasn't quite brave enough to say so. Don't worry. You'll get there.

Evatt Elric

"Come onnnnnnn!" Evatt groaned and rocked back and forth on his workstation stool. "It's just a robot in a closet, and I don't even know what a robot is!"

The other guys and girls looked between one another, and continued doing so for several painful moments. Finally, Evatt jumped from his stool and slapped a hand on the closet door. "Mister Robot! It's time to meet Evatt Elric!"

He swung the closet doors open and blinked, unimpressed. Others joined behind him, all blinking to take in the tiny robot.

"I thought...this was supposed to be for combat."

The speedy black guy shrugged. "Maybe it's like that freaky baby from that one Pixar movie where there's a freaky baby with superpowers."

The others began to nod in agreement. Evatt, however, was disgruntled. "Freaky baby or not, I'm going to find out what makes this thing tick!"

Amandine put a hand to her chin. "I doubt it could hurt much if he took it apart, like, unless it was an atom bomb waiting to go off."

Evatt grinned. "Yexcellent!" He missed a beat. "That's Yes and Excellent together--yexcell--nevermind." Evatt hauled the compact robot out into the laboratory and took out his array of tools, wasting no time in going to work on the chassis. Wade came to his side and took a screwdriver, twisting the tiny screws out faster than Evatt could count them. Before long, the innards were exposed--and in the center was a big glowing crystal.

Evatt's eyes sparkled with the exotic mystery. "It's so blue! And angular! I wonder how many facets it has!"

Hebi looked on in awe as well. "It has more than six facets, at least!"

Everyone nodded to one another in agreement that having more than six facets was, in fact, impressive. Evatt reached inside and took the jewel in his hands, feeling the static energy spreading through his veins. "It's charged with power!"

Hebi suddenly seemed uneasy. "Okay, we've seen the robot and the cool power crystal with more than six facets--" The room once again agreed audibly that more than six facets was a good number of facets. "We should put it back before things start exploding and causing pain--" he took a breath, "--to me."

Evatt began to replace the crystal when the door to Science!Club swung open, a dude with a scruffy beard and serious sideburns leaning against the wall, toucan on his shoulder. "Name's Will, I'm here to pick up..." He fixed his eyes on the cluster of students around the golem. "The robot that you've clearly dismantled beyond repair. Dammit. WEST!" He barked. The guy actually barked.

The adviser appeared in another blur of colors, stopping beside Will With Sideburns. "Sup?" He burped. Taco breath.

"Your nerdgasms took apart TJ."

West produced a bingo card and stamped the final place in a row with a grin. "That's five years in a row that TJ has been slaughtered before the Welcoming Ceremony. I think Wonder Woman owes me a free dinner or something. I got the BINGO card back when Doctor Headmaster was Headmaster, but Headmaster Headmistress is a Headmistress of her own. Maybe I can at least get a coupon for Denny's."

Will nodded. "I'm sure she'd give you a coupon for Denny's."

West stowed the card and returned attention to his predictably delinquent club members. "Alright. You have five minutes to reassemble TJ before you get teleported to the arena for The Welcoming Ceremony."

Evatt began to sweat as he worked with the crystal to get it to fit back into the robot's mainframe. "There are too many facets! It won't fit!"

Wade grunted and shoved Evatt out of the way. "Just shove it like this!" The crystal slammed into the mainframe, branding the room in a blast of aquamarine energy. When Evatt and the others opened their eyes, they weren't in the science club room, or any room. They were in the field of an arena.

An intercom blared as the arena seats began filling with upperclassmen, and as the field finished populating with each new student. Wonder Woman's voice came over the stadium speakers.

"Students! I want to know you more! Welcome to your Orientation Ceremony! Survive this battle, and you will surely succeed in The Fifth Academy For Heroes In Training!"

The upperclassmen roared with applause. Evatt stumbled around before catching sight of the golem a ways down the field, only it wasn't the tiny thing that was jammed into the closet.

It was growing.

And moving.

And before long, The Golem towered over the entire arena.

Pizza Villa

"My God, this house is freakin' sweet," Bea announced, walking down the hallway of her surprisingly intricate pizza box house. "I should just live here instead of the dorms."
She pushed a door open and was surprised to find no room on the other side.
Ohh! This is where I ran out of building materials, she realised. I'll have to add an extension next time I have lunch with West and Walter.

It took her a moment to notice that the ground outside was no longer the familiar concrete outside the Luigi Lounge's back door, or the grassy terrain of the oval behind it. It was sand. A large expanse of sand surrounded by a stone wall. While Bea was contemplating this abrupt change, someone came through her front door. Not the good kind of "came through her front door" which involved the door opening on its hinges and a voice saying "good day, miss, i'm selling cookies", but a rather unpleasant sort of "came through her front door" in which a large stone golem smashed apart the door and much of the frame, casting them aside as if they were made of some very flimsy food-packaging material.

"Hey! You didn't knock!" Bea shouted, outraged. Then a thought occurred to her. "Do you have any cookies?"
The golem responded by raising an arm, knocking down some of the ceiling, and bringing it down towards her. Bea rolled backwards and glared at the invader. "You could have just said you were sold out!"
Bea's humble abode was crashing down around her, along with her newly-found hopes and dreams, and the perpetrator was standing in front of her, watching her malevolently. Well, it seemed malevolent, despite not having a face or any form of emotional output. Bea, on the other hand, was livid.

She sprang up, now eye-to-weird-crystal-thing-that-probably-was-an-eye to the golem. Reaching into her Hammerspace Inventoryᵀᴹ, she drew out a pair of pointy shurikens and flung them towards the golem. The golem didn't react at all as the steelies bounced harmlessly off of its solid rocky exterior.
"Huh!" Bea muttered. "More solid than the Henesys Golems, I'll give it that."
She dove under its legs and rolled around onto her back behind it, hoping to gain some time to strategise while her opponent turned around in its slow golem manner. But in very little time the golem's torso had swivelled around, and its legs straightened out and then bent the other way, towards her. She was back where she'd started.

The golem raised its hand again. Bea, taken by surprise at the golem's - actually, just calling it "the golem" is boring, Bea thought, and decided her opponent's name was now Trevor. Trevor raised his hand again and Bea, taken by surprise at his recovery, scrambled about on the ground, suddenly at a loss. Her hand hit a wet patch of sand and, instinctively, Bea scooped it up and hurled it at Trevor. With a wet splat it hit Trevor's crystal-eye, covering it in brown goop. Trevor lowered his raised hand and reached for the sludge - he didn't seem to have taken any damage or suffered any pain (if he even could), but he was momentarily blinded.

Bea finally made it back onto her feet and narrowed her eyes at Trevor's blue magical-looking joints. They were a different colour from the rest of his body and glowed; obvious weak spots to any gamer. Or any native of a universe that functioned very similarly to a game. Bea unleashed a flurry of steelies in the direction of Trevor's right elbow. They clinked and thudded as they came into contact with Trevor's brown armour, then with a loud wersszkfleisjfnf (Bea made a mental note to write that one down in her magnum opus, The Big Book of Obscure Onomatopoeia) one of the shurikens pierced the blue joint, sticking there.

Bea had no time to celebrate or make her next move before she was suddenly surrounded by rock. Trevor's left, undamaged hand had shot forward and seized her, pinning her arms to her sides: as his right hand wiped the last of the sand away, his left lifted Bea towards his non-face and began, slowly, to squeeze her. Bea's face scrunched up with effort as she struggled to remove her arms, at least, but Trevor wasn't giving her any leeway, and the amount of pressure he was applying was now really beginning to hurt. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Headmistress Prince in the stands, along with several upperclassmen and resident advisors. Ms Prince had her hand slightly raised - it looked like she was right on the cusp of ordering the resident advisors in to rescue Bea.

I can't lose this... I can't... in front of everybody! Bea closed her eyes and scrunched up her face - this time, she was focusing on her mana. She'd had very little practical training with mana, having preferred the hands-on approach in all her missions back in Maple World, but none of her physical abilities could get her out of this. She focused on building up energy in front of her, in front of Trevor's big stupid non-face that was probably making fun of her while she wasn't watching, and with a mighty effort she unleashed Flash Jump, propelling her away from Trevor with such force that he let go of her: some of his fingers even became dislodged. Bea flew backwards, skidded and bounced along the ground a few times, and came to a stop on her stomach, panting. She looked up to see Trevor, now quite a distance away, engaged in combat with other students who had finally recovered from the sudden change in location.

"Hey! Are you okay?"
Someone rolled her onto her side. She looked up to see a pair of quite big brown eyes - bigger even than hers - peering down at her. The eyes were attached to a blue-green face with a tiny black nose and very spiky hair. She stared back up at it in confusion.
"I'm Zeke," the face explained. "The Hedgehog. I'm one of your RAs. Uh, you took a bit of a beating there, and Prince says you've done your part, so I'm here to take you out of the fight."
"Zeke..."
"Yeah?"
Bea blinked.
"Zeke."
"What?"
She reached her arm slowly up and gently poked him in the nose.
"Do you... have any cookies?"

Jessa Grimm | The Arena

It wasn't as if Jessa was making any friends or doing anything interesting anyway, but for real Ms Prince that was rude. You can't just teleport people whenever you like. There were laws against it - or if there weren't, there should be. Because it was really rude.

Jessa tried to make sense of her surroundings. She could see Ms Prince's cloud of fantastic hair (seriously, at her age, how did she manage to keep that much volume in it?), and her RA who was typing something on a very small screen and beside her a tiny black girl who was alternating between cheering and clapping and doing handstands. They were all in stands, and then it struck her that she, Jessa, was not in a stand. She was in an arena.

And heeeeey, so were all these other people! Well that was something at least. Maybe these were her classmates.

But what was happening? Were they going to fight each other?

The closest person to Jessa was an unfriendly looking redhead, but she looked like she meant business. "Hey, do you know what's going on?"

The redhead looked at her and barely gave her a second glance. "We're going to be tested. I guess we'll see soon. I'm sure it's not that bad, compared to some of the SHIELD stuff."

"Your parents are in SHIELD?"

"My mother is."

"Who's your mother?" Jessa asked. The girl shot her a very Eastern-European dirty "- ooooh, I know who you are. You're Katarina Romanoff!"

Katarina Romanoff frowned. "How did you find that out?"

Jessa looked her up and down. "Great figure, wearing way too much black and leather, exotic accent, you're obviously Eastern European."

Katarina Romanoff continued to stare at her.

"I'm your roommate!" Jessa managed her biggest grin. Which was pretty big. Because Jessa was pretty big.

"Oh great," Katarina Romanoff said, rolling her eyes. "Well three guesses as to who your dad was."

"Yeah, he's pretty famous," Jessa said, brushing off the intended slight. "Hey, look, something's happening!"

In the middle of the arena, there was movement. A tiny girl - not tiny skinny, like tiny tiny was standing watching her approaching enemy. It got bigger, and bigger, and bigger.

But, it was important to mention, not bigger than Jessa.

Ms Prince wanted them to prove themselves? Well, there was no better time for Jessa to do just that.

The tiny purple haired girl - who seemed like the type of person Jessa should befriend, she made a mental note - retired and the other students looked around nervously to see who should go next. Well, most of them did. As always, there was a large proportion of them who looked bored.

And there, at the front of the crowd, a really cute boy. Like really cute in a very Abercrombie model kind of way. And beside him another really cute boy but this time in a sort of dark-prince-searching-for-the-Avatar sort of way. You know, if you were into really cute boys.

Which Jessa was. And here was her time to shine.

So before anybody else had the chance, she ran into the middle of the arena. Golems? Sure, Jessa was basically a golem! She was huge and made of stone! It's just she had a brain and not a slip of paper - at least she hoped she had a brain. Hospital scanners didn't fit her and she was not going for a CT scan at the zoo to find out. Besides, she'd already been exposed to enough radiation - she didn't want to up her risks of cancer yet further.

Jessa took a fighting stance opposite the golem and gave it an intimidating look. It launched towards her with a flying left hook which Jessa deflected, before she kneed it hard in the belly. She grabbed its left arm to bring it down the ground, but then it got a punch in with its right arm. Jessa spun round to its back and got it into a headlock and tried to push it to the ground that way.

But then, with strength even stronger than - well, a woman made of rock, it pulled her over its head and slammed her into the ground.

"ONE, TWO, THREE" and the buzzer rang.

The last girl didn't have a buzzer, what was that? Did they think Jessa was a pro-wrestler? Just because those were the only moves she knew! It wasn't like Dad was going to enrol her in ballet lessons now was it?

"Next!" called Ms Prince, clearly unimpressed.

Jessa had no choice but to walk back past the really cute boys, defeated and upset.

Astasia- Arena

As I walked through the halls, I found myself looking through a glass window. Behind the window, a large pool was being used by students.

"Ooh, maybe I could join them! Eek, I wonder if they have a swim team here! I could join that as well!" I squealed, quickly making my way back to my room to change.

But..wait, did I even pack a bathing suit?

Zipping open my suit case, I dug through neatly folded clothes, causing then to unfold and get messy. Down at the bottom, I found a bag that said: "Hope this is the right size! Oh, and I packed you some snacks. Love you, baby. -Momma"

I tore the bag open, and found all sorts of snacks, and a two piece bathing suit.

It tied twice in the back. I'd already fallen in love with the pattern, for it was all different types of neon colors. The bottoms matched the top, too!

Slipping off all of my clothes, I put on the bikini, and admired it in my mirror. I loved it! And it fit perfectly!

Putting on a pair of shorts, and a T-shirt shirt, I slipped on my flip-flops, grabbed a towel, and took off out of the room, slamming the door behind me as I did so.
When I reached the pool, people were talking, swimming, and even some arguing. Though, I didn't know any of them.

Finding a spot, I threw my towel down, and pulled my shirt off, then pulled my shorts down, kicking them off afterwards.

Looking around, I noticed a few guys staring at me.

"Hey, have some respect! Damn." Some guy yelled to them. Immediately, they looked away.

I didn't see who it was, and was slightly disappointed, cause I wanted to thank him, but it was kinda like he just...disappeared. Or he just didn't stick out.

Without hesitation, I dived into the water, starting to do laps.

Once I surfaced at the opposite side of the pool, a voice spoke up, obviously talking to me.

"You were under water the whole time." They said. It was a girl.

I pushed my hair out of my face, and smiled up at them. "Yeah, I can't swim very well above it."

She had dark hair, and light pretty eyes. "Who're you related to?"

"Oh, um, Natasha and Frank. My parents." I replied, leaning on the ledge.

She have me a confused look, as if saying: "..who's that?"

"Sorry, they're more known as Black Widow and The Punisher."

Her eyes widened a bit, and she gave me a small smile. "Interesting."

"Oh! Excuse my rudeness,"I held my hand out, cursing myself for being so air headed. "the names Astasia."

"Wayne. Ruby Wayne."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ruby. I'll you you around?"
Ruby nodded, waved, then turned and walked away.

Well, she was nice!

Going back under water, I started doing laps again, enjoying the cool water that surrounded me.

Opening my eyes, I pulled myself up out of the pool, and shook off. Wrapping the towel around my body, I grabbed my shoes and clothes, and went back to my room.

*************

After showering, I changed into the clothes from earlier, and dried my hair with a towel.

Sighing, I plopped down onto my bed, and closed my eyes, enjoying the silence. Until there was no silence. I opened my eyes back up, and looked around me.

Was I dreaming? Maybe I'd fallen asleep..

I was in some type of..arena, I guessed.

Others were here, as well. Actually, a lot of people were here. What was going on?

There was a few gasps, and I looked as people started to point at something, their eyes wide. I looked to what they were staring at, and felt my eyes widen, feeling as if they'd pop out of my head at any second.

There was something in the middle...some ball of light, or something. But something was odd about it..

Looking closer, I could see it's size increasing every second.

Not exactly understanding, I looked around me, once again, and spotted somebody.

"Hey!" I called to them, taking a few steps closer.

They turned, and looked at me.

"What is that..thing?" I asked, glancing at the thing, which was now bigger than myself.

The person, a guy, shrugged.

"Well, that was very helpful." I muttered to myself, going back to my previous spot.

After a bit of watching, it finally ended up becoming this huge...monster thingy, which was face-less.

I didn't understand anything. This had to be a dream. But this being a dream wouldn't make sense, because Wonder Woman was here, and I didn't have dreams about her. She may be pretty, but I don't swing that way!

"Maybe this is a test?" I began to think to myself.

After being lost in thought, I was snapped back by Ms. Prince's voice booming though the arena: "Next!"

Mom talked to me about this. Er, about those. What were they called? Goblins? No, no. Those were the small creepy things. But it started with a 'G'..

"Golem!" I accidentally yelled, as it popped into my head.

Before I could think, I was running at the Golem, full speed. It's humongous feet aimed for me, and I could see from the corner of my eye it's giant fist heading straight towards me.

The only thing I could think of to do to dodge it's blow was to use my gymnastic skills, which were quite good, I might say.

While doing a triple front flip, it realized what I was doing, and brought it fist up quicker, catching my leg.

Tumbling forward, I landed on the ground, face first. "Okay, seriously? I just took a shower!"

As the Golem unclenched it's fist, it thrusted it's hand thing forward, most likely trying to grab me. I took this time to leap up, jump on it, and climb up it's arm thingy. It felt as if I was just running on a road, which was a bit bumpy, and oddly twisted.

I quickened to a run, sucking as I grabbed for me again, and reached it's shoulder. How was I supposed to take this thing down?

Looking back at my training with my father, I remembered something he told me: "Always be one step ahead."

The idea came to my head before I could even blink: one step ahead.

I wasn't sure if my theory would work, but it was worth a shot, right?

Standing still, I waited for the Golem to grab for me again, and when it did, I jumped up, and landed on it's lower arm, running the rest of the way down.

Thinking about what to do next, I knew I'd regret it, but I jumped the rest of the way down to the ground, landing with a hard 'thud'.

I groaned, and forced myself up, feeling my leg buck. Shattered kneecap. I could feel it, kind of. I had to heal it so I could finish this.

Limping, I went as far away as I could get without collapsing.

I stopped, a let myself fall to the ground, and immediately put my hands on my leg. Focusing on the last time I'd healed myself, I remembered the way it made me feel, and thought only that.

Calmly, I opened my eyes, and looked down. I couldn't feel the pain anymore. I did it.

I jumped up, cheesing, but then heard footsteps behind me.

Spinning around, I stared at it. Trying not to hesitate, I started running again, and went right through it's big boulder legs.

Circling around, I did the same thing over and over again, which eventually led to the thing stumble, and landing on it's stone butt, shaking the whole place. My legs slipped from under me, and I found myself staring up a the top of the arena.

I could hear distant clapping, and people talking. I wasn't sure who, though. Sitting up, I watched as a blurry person came towards me, talking. Something about how I was done, and if I was alright. I closed my eyes, and let the person take me away.

Aurora Ayers - To topple a giant.

Chaos ensued as everyone including Mia who I was yelling at earlier flew into the sky. I stood my ground and watched as it went after others I sighed knowing it was best to allow everyone else to fight it. I kept my sleeves in my arms and watched as others fought the golem, causalities soon began to arise as the fight continued anyone who got hit while flying were soon on the ground with a bad injury. I decided to play healer for this fight since people stronger and probably more skilled than me were fighting. Then I saw someone get thrown by the golum and land near me.

"Tell me where it hurts," I said kneeling beside him.

"I think- I think I landed on my arm," he said.

I prodded his arm until he jumped up with a howl of pain, "hey watch it!" he yelled.

"Sorry, sorry," I replied.

My hands glowed a bright green and I placed it over him and began healing the shattered. Three minutes later and he raised his arm, "thanks that feels a lot better!" he said.

"No problem, try not to hurt yourself," I said.

I looked up and the battle wasn't going to well I saw people strewn across the place. I spotted Walter and didn't feel that same stupid thing that happened the first time I talked to him. Now I decided it was time to fight I couldn't heal this many people that were spread all around us, my aura began to glow a bright yellow and I heard a second voice in my head.

"What does the yellow aura signify?" it asked.

"It signifies self-energy and will power, but it also means fear, fear of anything that might harm you or anyone else."

"Good, now what do you fear?" it asked.

"More people being hurt by this thing,"

Around me two giant hands appeared and I moved forward fully aware of the two yellow hands. I punched forward in the air and the left hand followed and smashed itself into the things torso sending it backwards onto the ground. Some were startled by the sudden attack on the golum and my aura turned red.

"What does red aura signify?" the second voice asked.

"Physical enhancement, the emotion it corresponds to is anger, anger at someone being hurt or yourself," I mentally reply.

I sprint forward faster than normal speeds. I soon come up the golum's feet and leap into the air just as the golum began to rise again and smashed it back down to the ground with force that should have killed me. I made a small dent in the plating right where I land and then my yellow hands reappear. I brought them down and began to pummel the golum slamming it them hard into it until cracks in the plating showed at the edges.

I grabbed those edges and pulled on them and slowly they moved, though my mind's eye I could see a giant glowing crystal that must have been the power source. Unfortunately I didn't see the golum's arm moving and soon regret not paying attention. It grabs me by my shirt and I'm whipped off it. The next thing I know I feel a searing pain in my right arm it hit the ground once and spring off it and then I land in the arms of another.

"Careful," he says.

I look and see Walter, the son of Captain America.

"Damn it my arm hurts like hell!" I cry.

He lowers me down to the ground and fight though the searing pain.

"You'll be alright, you'll be alright," he whispers.

I breath, "there's something glowing inside of it! I bet it's the power source of the thing if someone could get inside of it then you can stop it!" I said.

He looks surprise that I knew, "right, I'll go see if anyone could get inside of the thing you stay here okay?" he said.

I nodded, he takes off and I'm left to feel useless and heal myself.

Narration Post


HP: 830/1000
Energy: 89/100

The Golem recovers its energy and regenerates its supersteel chassis. It changes targets and locks onto Walter Rogers.

Isi/Arena

I feel a light breeze on my skin and shake myself awake. I rub my eyes and realize I'm in some sort of field. It looks like all the students are here, and I get up and watch the fight going on. A girl with rock skin goes and I shrink to the back of the crowd, hoping not to be picked. Physical combat outside of the ocean isn't really my thing. And singing to a stone machine would hardly do anything. Walter Rogers, the boy from the pool is called up, but is beaten. Finally, they call the next person up. Sighing, I step forward, eager to get this over with and get back to my horrible life.

The golem 'looks' at me when I step onto the field, and I meet its gaze darkly. I grasp my necklace, hoping to hear an idea of what to do, but nothing comes to my ears. An idea strikes me, but a little late. The golem reaches me and starts to swing at my face, and I instinctively duck. It catches my shoulder, and I fall with a cry of pain. Rolling to my feet and wincing from the sharp blades of grass, I take off at an unsteady run. I try to catch my breath to sing, but when I look over my shoulder, the golem is closer to me. I send a quick scream at it, causing it to fall over, but it does noting permanent except sap my energy. As the golem gets up, I start singing. My song weaves through intricate chords and directs the rest of the students to fight the golem. Too many of them are immune to my power, and they stand gaping. I keep singing as quickly as I can, but the world starts to spin around me as I put my energy into making the very grass trip the golem. The arena blurs in my eyes and the world goes black as I fall to the ground. Oh well. At least I was done with the test.

Kya | Arena

I had only just arrived at the school when we were all transported to the arena, and I was still disoriented. I had to get over it quickly, though, because my turn was coming up. I was put in to the arena with a few other people I didn't know - guess I would have to get to know them pretty quickly.

When I stepped in to the arena containing the Golem I quickly went through everything I knew about stones and rocks. What could defeat stone? What could wear it down?

The Golem locked it's gaze on me, and as it approached I had the realization. I had the power to do something the others didn't.

"Frost damage!" I shouted to the other girl. "Frost damage can deteriorate stone!"

It was worth a shot.

Drawing water from the satchel my aunt Katara had given me I directed it towards the Golem, freezing it instantly and hoping it would hold for at least a few seconds. The Golem broke free and continued on its path towards me, so I redirected the water and froze it once again. It wouldn't do much but slow down an unstoppable beast, wear it down, but at least it was something and it would at least give the others more of a shot. It broke free once again, but this time instead of freezing all of it I froze just its feet to the ground. Using the rest of the water, I sent a piercing slice towards it in hopes that it would cut through.

I didn't see if it did, though, because before I could even blink a searing pain jolted through my body as I was thrown in to the side of the arena.