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Zeke the Hedgehog

"You have all gathered here for a single purpose. You strive to better yourselves. For most of you this means increasing your strengths, minimising your weaknesses and improving your ability to defeat your enemies. For some, it means you have strayed from the path of light, and wish to return to the right side."

Out in the back of the crowd, a turquoise-coloured hedgehog was listening with a certain amount of apprehension. He hadn't "strayed from the path of light", mind you, but this whole experience was just terrifying.

It was a month ago now that his parents had suggested coming here. They'd kept leaving subtle hints about how he'd make loads of friends (so what if his only friend back home was an immortal who had been an ally of his grandfather?) and learn about all kinds of things. In the end he'd submitted just to get away from their badgering.

But today had seemed like an eternity away from that day. Last night he'd panicked and hidden under the covers, begging that tomorrow would never come. But tomorrow did come, as it is known for doing, and here he was. He shook his head and looked back at the man on the podium. Dominic Kent. Apparently he was descended from a really famous superhero in his world... Ultraman? Mega Man? Something like that.

"... a nemesis. When you defeat him, he returns. When you think he's dead, he isn't. That's the burden of a hero. But real heroes do not give up. They prove themselves assets to their cities and their worlds. This is the purpose of our establishment, and the reason you have all travelled so far to be here now."

Dominic cleared his throat impressively.
"Welcome to the Academy for Heroes-In-Training."


It's up to you whether your character was present for the speech or arrived later.

Orelia Carmeline-

"Welcome to the Academy for Heroes-In-Training." said the principal, Dominic Kent. I was exited.This school was already better than the normal one I had been in in New York. Nobody there had been special like me. Here, I saw tons of other kids, including a turquoise hedgehog and a few kids with elfish features. Here, I could be myself, make some friends. And if what Mr. Kent was saying about enhancement was true, maybe someday I would be powerful enough rule the school itself. And once that happened, maybe even the world. For now I leaned back in my seat, listening to the increasingly boring speech.

~Jaunie~

"Welcome to the Academy for Heroes-In-Training." I was practically bouncing in my seat. This was so exciting! I was going to train to be a superhero! Wait, my bad, superheroine. This is going to be an awesome year! I looked around, seeing other people with special gifts like mine. But I was unique. Did anyone else here have wings? Nope! I smiled to myself. Again, I repeat myself, this is going to be an awesome year! For the rest of the speach, I sat and listened. Not hearing a thing.

Kumo

Kumo stood in amongst the cheering crowd, the reasurring weight of her sword resting on her shoulders. Her eyes seached the crowd, her spiked white hair flickering in the light wind. She was bored, restless in the heat and paying no attention to the speech. A turquoise hedgehog caught her eye and she raised an eyebrow, wondering if he would be the oddest hero she would ever see. There was an african woman standing near her with her hair tied into a practical ponytail, looking equally bored. Kumo did not let her gaze linger long enough for the woman to catch her eye, but instead raised her chin. The man speaking may be right about others here, but she was there for one reason- she came from a line of warriors, and she was strong. She had the tools, the strength, the will- this academy was going to be another step on the road to living up to her forefathers.
In the meantime, however, Kumo was hungry. She wanted to eat, put down her bags, and stretch her legs. She stared up into a sky that was bluer than home and smiled, one hand reaching behind her to grip the hilt of her sword. Then she put her head down and pushed her way through the crowd, towards the Academy itself.

Bart Bishop

"Blah Blah Blah, grow and prosper, blah blah blah, become heroes, blah blah," that's all I heard as Mr. Kent dragged on and on about the same things. Seriously, I hated these speeches, I mean this was a school where we were going to learn to take action. Not learn to make inspirational speeches. Let us go punch some stuff, start firin' our laser beams!

I looked around, tapping my foot faster than most people could see. My right leg is like that, I couldn't run as fast as it could twitch. A loud crack and sizzling noise broke the silence. I saw a pink thing float into the air...holy crap...this place was weird. It took me awhile to realize everyone was staring at me, my foot had made a crack, and a bit of my lightning slipping out with it, whoops. The hairs on my head lifted up, as they always do we I'm embarrassed. "Hehe, sorry, nervous habit," I say, Mr. Kent waves a janitor over, who melts and reforms the broken floor. Even the Janitors were super here, I mean they were janitors, but still.

Edit: Hit enter before I was done, sorry

I looked around, everyone starring at me still, you would think a bunch of super powered kids wouldn't stare. I mean this couldn't have been that abnormal to them. Oh, and for future reference, for a relative of the fast men in time, I am pretty slow in the head, so it wasn't till after I felt the cold rush of water hit me that I realized it. I was on fire. Great first...what had it been, five minutes?

Caroline

Caroline stood amongst the crowd of students, watching the man speak. he had introduced himself as Dominic Kent. She was sure he was lovely, but speeches were not her kind of thing, and she wondered why she had to be present.

She looked around at the rest of the students, the words of the speech registering somewhere in the back of her mind. The other students were united by one characteristic: the obvious boredom that registered on their faces. Caroline turned back towards the front and sighed. She had so hoped that her boredom would make her distinguishable in the crowd.

From the corner of her eye, she saw someone looking at her. She looked to the side to see a girl with short, white hair. The girl turned her face quickly to the side as Caroline looked towards her. Caroline admired the girl's hair, wondering why she had never cut her own. It would be much more convenient if she came into any situations where she had to fight others directly. For now, though, her ponytail would suit her fine.

The speech ended, and the students began to disperse, mostly in twos and threes. Some of them walked away by themselves, and Caroline smiled. In her home, it was rare for anyone ever to be alone. It made it inconvenient for her, as she loved to be in her own company. This place was completely different from her home. It would be a good thing.

Caroline spotted the girl who been staring at her, and decided that now would be as good a time as any to stalk her. The girl was halfway across a field by now, so Caroline stayed back and began to follow her.

Dierdrie Rose~

The large creaking noise of rust screeched through the hallway as I pushed back the large door leading into my dorm room. Squinting nervously I walked in, my heart pounding at the sound of people coming up the stairs.

Walking around to the bed under the window, which I had victoriously claimed, I flopped onto it sighing as the glow-in-the-dark stars tacked on the ceiling stared back at me. Parade had been boring, well; I guess parade was always boring.

Classes would be on soon, I could tell that as much as the people frantically getting to their lockers or rooms to get prepared. Picking myself up, I walked towards my cupboard pulling out my schedule for the day.

“Hand-to-Hand Swordplay and Other Weaponry,” I grinned. I love sword fighting; this was going to be a very fun lesson. “Hello?” I heard a voice croak. I looked up to see Zeke standing in the door way. We had met each other late night when all the students were supposed to settle in. “Just me Zeke,” I said loudly pulling myself out of hiding.

He nodded stepping into the room, “What have you got now?” I asked trying to start a conversation. He looked around the room; it was obvious he would have to get a heater if he ever wanted to have a nice, warm sleep.

Grabbing at his schedule he brushed his hand against his nose, frowning as he flickered through a large amount of pieces of paper. “I think I have…” He began biting into his bottom lip.

** I hope this is okay?

Nolan Lehnsherr - First day of class, right after the speech

For the briefest moment Nolan considered locking his dorm mate out of the room or, at the very least, scaring her away by putting Liam in her trunk.

If that pink thing was even a her.

Her half of the room was messy and it had been making him twitch for the past hour. He had to get out of this room before he rearranged everything. Already he'd put that ratty bear of hers in the closet, away from his sight. Then his gloves were dirty so he had to change those too.

Footsteps invaded the hallway outside. That must mean the speech was over. Nolan had skipped it, knowing that it was nothing important. Speeches were hardly ever important.

He stood up and Liam's weight shifted as he moved around his master's arm. Liam ought to be heavy, as 8.5 meter long pythons often were, but enchanted so that he would shrink when it was Nolan carrying him. It made things plenty easier, and it made Liam harder to steal as well.

Nolan locked the door behind him and checked his class schedule. Liam, wrapped all over Nolan's arm, lifted his head. Liam was only a meter long now, but people still walked away from Nolan whenever they saw the snake.

Huh. Care of familiars was up first. Nolan glanced at Liam. He didn't need to go to that class. Look at Liam. Hell, did classes even begin today?

"Nolan!"

Nolan looked up, eyes widening as he saw the pink blob skid towards him. Oh crap. He braced himself and Liam for the impact but...nothing.

The blob was standing right in front of him, grinning. Its name was Kiat. Yeah. That was it. Kiat.

What a weird name for a weird thing.

"Hi," Kiat chirped.

Liam hissed and Kiat took a half step backwards. Nolan patted Liam's head, urging his snake to relax even though he felt the same way about Kiat. Why wouldn't this monster leave him alone?

"Kiat," Nolan said, granting her his most gracious smile. Mother always told him to be gracious to everyone. That way they'd all think the best of you. "How nice of you to come all the way here when you live in dorm block B." That ought to get rid of Kiat. At least, for a little while.

"I was just stopping by on my way to class, but now that you mention it, I should go back to my room. I have to get something."

Kiat skipped away towards dorm block B and a smile wormed its way onto Nolan's face. Kiat couldn't have found anybody to trust yet. There was no one to break Nolan's little bubble...for now.

Kiat - Also right after the speech.

"How nice of you to come all the way here when you live in dorm block B." Kiat forced herself not to raise an eyebrow.

I live in A2, not somewhere in block B. That's kinda why all my stuff is here.

She thought, staring blankly at Nolan for a moment.

"I was just stopping by while taking a look around, but now that you mention it, I should go back to my room. I have to get something." She finally said, turning to skip through the room and the hallway. She paused once she left Nolan's sight, and looked around. She could see some dorm doors were partially open, and inside Kiat could see people arranging items and talking to the dorm mates they were assigned. Once she made it passed all the dorms, Kiat began to look around at nearby halls in the academy, every now and then seeing more people, since most of them were in their rooms still. She had earlier spotted a turquoise hedgehog along with some other strange things.

Out of all colors, the poor thing had to be turquoise? I wonder what other strange people are here.

She thought, continuing down the halls.

Kumo

Kumo dumped her bags into her room- are sparsly decorated two-share room that smelt slightly of mothballs, and rotated her shoulders. Looking around she could spot a few things that obviously didn't belong with the room, which she took as confirmation of existance of her roomate. She frowned slightly, moving closer to the unclaimed bed. She wasn't used to sharing anything, let alone her personal space and time.
Kumo flicked a few buckles on the large leather harness she almost always wore, swinging it with practised ease onto the bed. A large pouch that usually sat at her hip was bulging, and she opened it to reveal half a dozen multicoloured, polished orbs.
"Hey, what are those?"
Kumo jumped, spinning around to look at the intruder, one had clutching the orbs to her chest while the other reached for the hilt of the sword, which was inconveinantly pointing in the opposite direction on her bed. The guy standing just inside the doorway was about her age, maybe just a little younger, wearing blue jeans with large black burn marks on them. He was twitching constantly and his gaze was locked onto kumo's arm, which tighted around the orbs.
"They are materia."
"Materia? What's a materia?"
Kumo narrowed her eyes. "Materia is the compressed energy of the planet itself. When a person dies, they go back to the planet. Sometimes this energy is compressed. SO in reality, these are compressed souls, full of knowledge of the planet." Kumo's tone was meneacing, but her roomate didn't seem to notice.
"Creepy. Not that I believe in voodoo mumbo jumbo. Why would you carry that stuff around?"
"Used correctly they can release- ugh." Kumo stopped, turning away. "What's the point. Just know that they are dangerous and not to touch them." She started putting them away, after careful inspection of the surface of each one. When she looked up the guy with poofy reddish hair and burnt blue clothes looked quite annoyed. He was also twitching like mad.
"This is going to be a long year." Kumo muttered.

Gratian, around the very end of the speech.

(A quiver is an arrow container. It's those bags of arrows archers always have slung over their shoulder.)
"...which is why we must always be innovative in the heat of battle, even when hope seems at its most absurd..."

I was bored by the guy at the stand. The president, or whoever he was, was using a lot of buzzwords, which I could tell were buzzwords because I didn't understand most of them. I looked around. The speech seemed to be winding down, and no one seemed to notice me as they were all busy staring at a turquoise hedgehog. I snuck off, out the door. I hadn't wanted to go in, anyway. I wanted to crawl up the side of the building and try to find a less conspicuous way in, but apparently the driver knew about my "previous escapades" and had walked me directly to the door.

Man, it was unfair. I had done so well on the streets, getting by when everyone else would get caught or die. And then they take me in to some dead-boring orphanage where I'll never get adopted without talking to the strangers and there's no place for target practice? At least I hid my bow and arrow, and kept my old clothes. Apparently I was some superhero or something. I'd always been good at archery, I didn't think it was a superpower. Maybe I could ask one of the teache- whoa, big sword.

There was some girl with a huge sword walking across the grass too. I tried to avoid her. If she was mean, I didn't want to get on that sword's bad side.

It turned out we were going to the same dorm block, though, and so when she entered I hung back for a little while, to make sure she had entered her room before I entered mine. According to my student ID I was in dorm room A1. Closest to the door, easy for an escape, that's good. Hopefully I wasn't roomed with anyone too dangerous. I opened the door, but it seemed that no one was there yet. I put my bag with my warmer change of clothes and my bow and quiver by the foot of my bed and lay down.

And stared at the ceiling.

And picked my bag up, put it on the bed, got my bow and quiver out and left.

When I was outside, I looked around for a good place to shoot. Most of the trees were too thin, but I found one oak that had been there for a while. I took a rock and etched a few crosses onto the bark, then backed up and started practicing.

Zeke - O-Week, Monday, 12:56pm

Zeke was on the verge of panicking. He hadn't even been given a schedule, but not wanting to seem foolish, he looked at the blank piece of paper in his hand and tried very hard to pretend it was a timetable.

"Uh... I've got, um... Farming?" he stuttered, inventing a class on the spot. "And I guess I'd better get going if I'm going to make it on time..."

Dierdrie smiled to herself as, faster than the naked eye could perceive, Zeke rushed out the door.

As he raced from building to building, looking into windows, trying to find anyone that could give him some advice, Zeke wished he was back on Angel Island, where things were simple. He didn't need nonexistant timetables or empty classrooms (which was the only kind of classroom he was finding). Finally he collapsed at a table outside the cafeteria, panting; he was used to running, but he'd been to every room at least six times, hoping he'd at least find a teacher, and he'd caused a good few other students to drop everything in their arms. Breathless, he hailed a passing cafe worker and within seconds he was gulping down a Dr Pepper.

"You're really gullible, you know that?" he heard as he swallowed the last of his drink. Dierdrie slipped into the chair opposite him with a grin. "Class doesn't start till next week, remember? Mr Kent said so during the speech this morning."

Zeke was too embarassed to admit he'd had trouble paying attention. He let his head slip onto the table. At first he thought he should be annoyed with Dierdrie, but decided he'd settle for being greatly relieved.

Dierdrie giggled. "I'm sorry! I didn't think you'd take it so seriously." She ordered a drink of her own and added, "Pranks are kinda my thing, y'know?"

Zeke looked up at her and finally laughed. "Ok, you got me."

Bart- O-Week 1:02pm

I rolled my eyes. "Come on, they can't be that bad," I said.

"And you would know because you're the expert on my world?" she said, with a tone I called, stuck up.

"Wait...Wait your own world? What the hell does that mean?" I asked, she sighed, and just turned her back to med, putting her orbs away again. "Hey! I'm talking here!"

"I can hear, I just don't feel like answering an idiot," she said, and then turned to me, with cold eyes. "My words are wasted on you." Oh, that hit home, and it hit hard. She wasn't getting away with that.

"Well, these are wasted on someone like you," I say, and before she can even register it, I grab two of her orbs, and run out of the room.

Kumo O week 1:03pm

Kumo's mouth fell open, but in a flash she grabbed her sword, and took off at a run. Her sword banged painfully against her shoulder as she swung around the doorframe, and swore.
"My father told me about people like you!"
Her roomate was a blur, disappearing down a corner. Kumo knew she couldn't catch up with him, and slid to a stop, swearing. She tried to remember which he had grabbed, she thought it was her fire and her barrier materias, both powerful as well as treasured by her father.
Keeping a solid grip on her sword, she made her way to the stables, barging through fellow first years and seniors alike. Most ducked out her way, avoiding her obscenely large sword and expression.
The stables were warm and smelled of home, and her eyes ranged through the stalls until she saw what she was looking for. "Pez."
She strode over, opened the stall, and jumped onto the black chocobo's back. She leaned forward into the warm feathers and muttered. "Come on, boy. He has a head start."
Yet more students flailed to get out of the way of the racing chocobo.

Nolan Lehnsherr - 12:54 - 1.06 PM

Disbelief. Pure and utter disbelief.

How could that pink monster have resisted his lie? No one resisted his lies. Unless it was a telepath, and he hardly believed that thing could be something so dangerous.

Even the school's staff believed him when he said he was a special case and that Liam was not dangerous. Believed him when he said Liam held sentimental value and came from his dead father. Not a sign of skepticism.

Nolan poked the cold food in front of him with his fork. He wasn't eating it, not now not ever. Did they even disinfect the plate before putting food on it? Did they wash it right? He didn't think so. From now on he'd have to request Mr. Kent for special meals.

A blast of wind hit him as a turquoise blur passed by. Damned speed demons. Liam tensed, ready to bite the next one to come by. Nolan stabbed the food on his plate, which clattered. A teal-colored humanoid looked up from her book and studied him from her table a few meters away.

Her papers were at his feet, blown away by the runner. Nolan took a deep breath, hearing his mother reminding him to be courteous - especially to women - in his head. He picked up the papers, walked to her table with a smile on his face and handed them over.

"They're annoying sometimes, aren't they?" she asked. "Put you in a bad mood." She petted Liam. "Beautiful snake, by the way."

Normally, Liam would preen. But today, affected by his master's mood, he didn't. No, Nolan was most definitely not in a good mood. He made his way back to his own table after thanking the girl for her compliment and paying her one of his own.

"Hey, watch it!" The voice was far away.

That must mean another one was coming. Maybe letting Liam bite this one wouldn't hurt. The staff would believe him when he said it wasn't Liam anyway. Already Nolan had a dozen lies to get him out of trouble on hand.

Five, the boy was getting closer.

Four, he should pass by soon.

Three, almost - be patient Liam.

Two, so close.

One - the boy never came.

"Oof!" The redhead crashed to the floor; the orbs he held rolled towards Nolan's feet.

Screw being courteous. This wasn't a woman anyway. Nolan tentatively picked up the orb.

"Watch where you put your snake!" The boy stood up, brushed dirt off his clothes and glared at Nolan and Liam alike.

Nolan's eyes flared. "It wasn't Liam." If it was, then the boy would have been dinner.

"Oh. Right. Of course it wasn't your snake," the boy mumbled. "But it was a snake. And give those back."

Nolan's eyes brightened. His powers weren't faulty at all. If they were, then this boy would have picked a fight with him. "No, this one's mine. The other one's yours."

From the corner of his eye Nolan saw the humanoid raise her eyebrow.

"Oh. Oops." The boy grabbed the one on the floor. "Hey, if you ever find out who put a snake on the ground, tell me, 'kay?" Then he was off again.

A snake...on the ground? Didn't the staff say something about snakes being dangerous and Liam being the only exception? It didn't matter. The icy orb in his hands was beautiful. A little disinfectant and it should fit in his side of the room perfectly. He granted the humanoid one last smile before ambling off towards his room.

This day wasn't so crappy after all.