Skaia

Lana looked back curiously as Leo was suddenly interrupted by someone appearing. Watching the antics unfold between both Hector and Leo, Lana couldn't help but smile and chuckle at it. As Leo made his comment, Lana smiled saying, "yeah, it's a wonder." Then the girl let out a sigh, leaning forward and propping her head up on both of her hands as she rested her arms on the table. "But seriously though, here I was all excited to get dungeoning again, and he leaves before I even get here. Well, I guess I should just wait here, he's bound to show back up right?" Looking towards Hector she said, "and if that's the case, I'll get something to eat while I'm waiting. I'm starving and the food's pretty good here." After placing her order with the man, the girl simply sat back in her chair and waited.

Ryia watched as Reinaan had gone onto the stone dais, clearly finding the large crack in it as intriguing as she did. However, she wasn't quite sure what to make of what he did next. She looked at him curiously as he started jumping on it, but this curiosity gave way to alarm as she could hear a cracking noise coming from the dais. Looking at it with concern, seeing the cracks start to enlarge Ryia was growing more on edge that something bad was going to happen if Reinaan were to continue. Naturally, she thought he would think the same and get off, but instead Reinaan continued to jump. As the platform broke way underneath his feet, Ryia was able to react in time to his fall, grabbing at his hand before he fully fell. The girl let out a huff as she held onto his arm, struggling a bit with the sudden weight she found herself holding onto. "I...I got you..." Ryia got out. Thankfully, she was strong enough, with some assistance, to pull him out from the hole. As it had turned out though, the danger that he had found himself in wasn't quite nearly as fatal as she had originally thought it to be. With Madelyn showing them that the hole wasn't nearly as deep as they might've thought, and was in fact more a tunnel then anything else, Ryia looked to the Draken. A confused smile on her face, unsure how she should feel about the discovery due to its method, she still said, "um, good uh...good job, Reinaan. I guess I'll uh, go down first then?" She looked to the others, as if to confirm, before going down the hole. After a bit of walking, Ryia marveling at the strange underground passage they had found, the group came to a crossroads. With the two paths before them, Ryia looked at each of the options. The dripping of the water down the left path gave it a more ominous feeling and the girl couldn't help but feel like there was some form of danger down there. Yet the right path seemed far more cramped and she could only imagine how much worse things would be if they were attacked in such a situation. So, looking back to the others, Ryia gestured in the direction asking, "left?"

Also Cherry Heart - Stuff in blue is new

sure, note me down for interest for now.

Stella furrowed her brow at the answer her teacher gave, making sure to take the lesson to heart. It wasn't something pleasant that she wanted to think about and not really having a true right answer bothered her to begin with. But, they were training for war and though Stella wasn't personally experienced with it, she knew that war was nothing good to begin with. With the rather unpleasant note to end class on, Stella looked towards Kelsey as the girl suggested going to get something to eat. Before she could respond, though, the two were interrupted as Bianca came to cart her away. With a small wave, Stella simply watched Kelsey get dragged away saying, "it'll probably do her some good," to Blossom. As her partner then commented on what to do next, Stella shrugged. "It's not like I have much to do today anyway, so we can go look for stuff to research. Even if it is the first day of school, with all that's happened I don't really feel all that tired. If anything doing something normal would be refreshing. Besides," Stella gave a confident smile, a sparkle appearing at the corner of one of her eyes as she said, "I too like to get my projects done early."

The green haired boy chuckled again at Laurie giving one of her various snacks to the Horizon girl, smiling at her as she asked who he was. "Me? Well, you're looking at the Vice Captain of Ocean Coast's duel team, Luan." Throwing his hands to the side emphatically, as it emphasize his introduction. As the giant Black Dragon appeared on the battlefield, Luan looked over to the duel saying, "oh, things don't look good for your boy genius." "Laurie won." A small smile on his face, the boy said, "well, that's not really surprising." Laurie turned her back to Peter letting out another sigh of relief as she managed to pull out the win. The girl internally admonished herself for being a bit off of her game at the start at the duel. She always had trouble with decks that made monsters that were consistently stronger than her own and feeling flustered in the face of them wasn't exactly the best look in her first duel as Captain. Walking back, ruminating on the duel, the girl looked over to her teammates, seeing Leila with a half eaten bagel in her mouth and both of her hands raised. Going to high five with both of her hands, the girl smiled. "I'm back." Leila mumbled something through her bagel. "Come on Leila it's not like -" looking to the side she suddenly noticed Hana. "Oh, hi? What are you...?" "She wanted to watch with us." "Right." Laurie didn't seem to understand, but then looked to the side calling out, "Letty, you're up." Looking back to Hana she said, "well, normally you're supposed to stay with your team during these duels but, I guess it's a practice?" As she heard the call of the Horizon coach, she looked back over to Hana saying, "are you sure you want to stay over here though?" "Tsk." Clara frowned at the loss, though since the end of Peter's last turn she had been expecting it. Putting a hand to her chin, the woman tried to think about the duel and what as a coach she should say to the boy. She couldn't imagine telling him that he just do better next time would work; when she did that in the past it only seemed to infuriate others so she had no basis to really think it would work now. Similarly, scolding for what they did wrong right as they lost never seemed to work well either. Furrowing her brow, the woman realized that coaching really was a difficult beast. As a result, she decided to not say anything to him instead giving him a confused look - unsure of how to actually address him - and then looked over to the others. "Alright, Terry, you're up." Looking back across the field she remembered that someone else was directing her frustration and so she shouted out, "Hana what are you doing?"

Ryia let out a sigh of relief as the group had managed to evade the Minotaurs assault, nodding in thanks to Keres at the display of her magic yet again. With their haste, the bull men soon had vanished from sight and with any luck they hadn't figured which way they were going. All the same, she knew that they'd have to be fast in solving this demon gate problem just to be certain that no issues would arise. Thankfully, it didn't take much longer for the group to get to the Ruins that Madelyn had been leading to them, the area itself seeming to be something akin to an old village or encampment from long ago. At Lindow's comment, Ryia nodded as she remembered the first demon gate they had found. The lack of monsters and mages as well added to a less dangerous and off putting feeling, making the whole area seem incredibly tame to the ruins in the desert. Of course, it was too early to tell if this was place was actually abandoned or not, and even if they couldn't see the demon gate she didn't want to rule out that it or something dangerous was still here. So, the girl looked to the others saying, "I'll uh, I'll go on ahead. It still might be dangerous so um, be careful. Guys." With that, Ryia walked forward towards the dais, cautiously looking from side to side to make sure nothing was waiting to ambush her. Nevertheless, she managed to make it the dais without any complications and examined it. Looking at it, the girl noticed that there was a set of large cracks in it that seemed deep. Ryia herself wasn't sure if this was just a product of age or if something had actively attempted to break it, and if so how long ago that might've been. As she thought about this, the girl looked at the pillars. Looking at them more closely, the girl looked back between them and the dais, noticing that they seemed different from each other somehow. Though both were still quite old, the dais seemed to look far more weathered then the pillars surrounding it. She was no archeologist and didn't really have a clue what this meant, so she elected to ask the others. Calling out to them Ryia said, "um, I think I found something weird. Or strange. The pillars and dais aren't really, uh, the same. And the dais too is really um, damaged. Yeah." She pointed between the pillars and dais, motioning for the other to come check it out.

Lana walked into the tavern, a bit surprised at how empty the tavern seemed compared to yesterday. Not nearly as many people seemed to be here, and no one seemed particularly like conversing. Not to mention the barkeep himself wasn't here yet. Lana sighed, figuring it was early, and wondered when the others would get here. Figuring that, since she was already here she may as well wait, Lana walked over to take a seat at the bar and idle the time away. As she did, however, a handsome man made his way over and sat down next to her. The girl was curious as to who he was introducing to himself at first, but upon realizing that there was no one sitting down at the bar but them the girl blushed a bit at his greeting. Letting out a giggle she'll return his handshake saying, "name's Lana. Nice to meet you too, Leo." "A strong handshake, impressive. Especially for someone with such a pretty smile." Feeling a bit embarrassed at his compliment, Lana only tightened her grip on her handshake as if to further prove it. "Wellll, I work out a lot and stuff," punctuating her statement with another giggle. "You're uh, you're pretty pretty, too." He smiled, moving a bit closer. "Why thank you. So, what're you doing in this kind of place anyway?" "Oh well, just uh, waiting for a friend and all. I'm gonna go adventuring and stuff later." "A friend? Is she as pretty as you?" Nervously scratching her cheek Lana said, "well, one of them's definitely prettier then me, and the other..." Lana thought for a moment, her nervousness breaking way into a somewhat serious thought, before nodding saying, "he's good looking enough." "Quite the group you've got there..." Leo looked over Lana's shoulder, eyes going towards the large resting near the girl. "Did you say adventuring?" Lana nodded, "yep. We're going to the dungeon." "Ahhh, the dungeon." Leo says with a sigh and leaned back. "Such a shame." He muttered. Lana tilted her head, confused for a moment before going back to normal saying, "yep. What about you? Do uh, do you do adventuring stuff?" "Not anymore. Well, not the kind you mean." He chuckled. Still more curious, Lana started to press, "does that mean you're retired now? Did you strike it big?" "Oh, don't call it retired, that makes me sound old." With a smile on her face Lana leaned back for a moment saying, "but that'd make it even cooler right? Retiring is for old folks, so doesn't that make you amazing if you can do it earlier then them?" "Oh so you think I'm amazing do you?" Giggling again, Lana said, "um, well, maybe. I don't know all that much about you, but you seem pretty cool Leo."

As the minotaurs began to make their way closer to the group, it became more clear to them that they were definitely aggravated by the presence of the chosen. She wasn't quite sure if they wanted to just talk or if hostilities would break out almost immediately, but if they did want to talk it would likely not be on any favorable terms for the chosen. And worse would be if decided to check the direction they were going in. So, Ryia figured that they would need to do something about the bull-men and not just wait for the problem to resolve itself. But, their options were limited and so Ryia looked to the others and said, "we uh, we should flee." Ryia did not want to engage in combat with them at all. If they were going to go to the demon gate today, she figured they needed to have all the strength they could keep. And as the minotaurs were not weak foes, she didn't want to think about how much energy they'd spend fighting them. More to the point though, Ryia wanted to avoid any and all confrontation and harm to both sides. But firstly they needed to avoid leading the Minotaurs straight to the demon gate by accident through their retreat. Pointing away from their trail, the girl said, "should we uh, try to lose them. And uh, come back later?"

Nine took a few deep breaths as he looked towards where Kura had once been. In spite of his strength and the power he had at his fingertips, it had seemed that their fight was finally done. The Godslayers had been bested, and their leader had been reduced to nothing more than a scorch mark on the ground. Their plans had fallen to ruin, and the creator god was no longer in danger nor was the world at any threat of being broken and remade. In the end, they had won. Nine relaxed his shoulders and let out a sigh of relief as this realization had hit him, looking to the ceiling as the unnatural feeling that had been prevalent through the room finally subsided. Looking towards the creator god, Nine took in her words and thought about all that had happened as she spoke. He thought about all of the people he had met, all of the legends he had seen, all of the fights he had undertaken. And then she proposed one final point to him. A wish. He didn’t quite know the extent of Arceus’s power, as she made quick notes of how she was not as “almighty” as some legends may have embellished, but she was still the strongest of them. And so he thought and thought. There wasn’t much he could think to wish for. Gwen was safe and healing. Juyu was rebuilt and Northshore was uniting as a people to rebuild for themselves. With Giratina and Raphael gone, the hostilities between Alpha and Omega were likely to quell on their own as well, though that was likely to take more time. Even the conflict in Adarid, caused by both the gangs and the king were likely to start to resolve themselves with the dethroning of the man in control. And so he was left wondering what he wanted. After thinking about it for a moment, Nine thought back to his meeting with Darkrai, the Lake Trio and Jirachi. About his conversations and what he had learned from them. And so, he knew what it was he wanted. Nine smiled and looked towards Arceus. A joking tone in his voice, Nine asked, "would you be able to grant it if I asked for World Peace?" "That's not something any one person, even me, can do." "Of course not, but I figured I'd try. Doesn't matter anyway, because in order to achieve that you've already stated you'd grant my wish." Arceus smiled at Nine. Silently asking him to continue. "Why is it you think this all happened to begin with? Personally, I think it's because the legends and regular folk had some kind of falling out in the past. I can't really tell who was at fault for all of it or why, but we started taking you for granted and you all started to distance yourself and scorn us. But neither of us can live like that, because if we split off from one another, all of this will just happen again. And I've seen what happens when we're together, and the great things that we can do for one another. So my wish is simple." Nine will smile throwing his hands to the side, "I don't want just you, I want all the legends to become involved with us again. I want us to live and coexist with one another, lean on each other and make the world better. Together. And though it might be a bit hollow to hear these words, I'll do my absolute best to make sure we all keep the strength we've gained in your absence, so as to not over rely on you all and not have a repeat of what has happened in the past. I don't know how much more attainable this is then "World Peace" but I want to believe it can work. So, that is my wish." She gave a small laugh. "I see you have a long path ahead of you. This was just a bump on the road...So be it. I would say that I hoped to do that anyway and you can ask for something else but I feel that wouldn't satisfy you. So I shall just agree to your words." With a bow, Nine said, “that only reassures me more, Arceus. So, let’s do our best for the future.” Marie stood still, awestruck both by the figure before her and the propositioned that they were offered. The creator god herself had offered all of them a wish - a wish! There was only one thing that Marie could possibly wish for at the moment, but as she heard Randy speak up it was clear that that wasn’t something that was so easily grantable. And so instead she thought more about it. What was it that she wanted? What was it that she didn’t have? What was it that she truly needed now? Marie grimaced as she had come to her answer. Taking a deep breath, the girl clenched her fists together as she looked down towards the ground, almost seemingly ashamed by what she was about to say. Her eyes went between most of the people who had spoken so far, the girl said, “there are so many wonderful wishes that people want granted here but...I’m sorry for asking something really selfish. I...I want to get stronger. I want to get stronger and to be able to keep getting stronger.” The girl paused before saying, “I’ve met a bunch of people who would bully and hurt others, and a bunch of people who needed help. And every time I’ve met them, I’ve always done everything I could to help my friends and stop the bad people. But...I’ve always just rushed in, never really thinking about everyone else around me.” Marie looked towards Nani, Keanu and Randy, before she looked back to Arceus. “But, every time I’ve had my friends - my ohana - come in to help me. They always stuck by me whenever I would start a fight with someone and I really am thankful for them. But I couldn’t - I still can’t do anything by myself. I’ve always acted tough but had to hide behind them and watch them get hurt because of my own selfishness. I want to help others. I don’t want to sit by and watch others suffer, but I also don’t want others to get hurt because of me. So…” Marie took a deep breath, before looking to Arceus with a determined expression in her face. “Could you please help me be stronger?” "I would tell you how you are already so very strong, where it matters, but I understand your desire. It's true we will need many whose strength of will is matched by their strength of body. So do not be ashamed of your wish. It is a just, and good, wish." “Really?! Th-thank you so much!” As the girl stated her thanks, she felt a swell of power surge from within her. It was a similar feeling to when she had evolved, though her form didn’t actually change at all. Outwardly, Marie seemed to be the same Brionne that she had been not moments ago. Inwardly, though she could feel it. She wasn’t nearly as strong as anyone she had just fought, nor anyone she was with right now. But that was fine. She knew that if she put in the work, she would definitely reach her goal one day. Looking to the others of her Ohana, the girl smiled saying, “one day, I’m sure I’ll be strong to help all of you, with everything you need. So just count on it.” On top of the volcanic mountain that lied in the center of Trailsau, a sight that had grown familiar to the locals these days could be seen. A giant column of lava matching to meet an enormous sphere of water. As the two attacks collided, a cloud of steam covered the mountain top as a slight rainfall soon followed after. A Manectric and Fearow were standing at the base of the volcano, looking up at the sight. The Fearow nodded towards the Manecrtic, asking, “so, you think it’s her loss again?” The Manecrtic chuckled, ”nah, not with the look that was in her eyes today. We’ll be hearing a different tune later, I’m sure.” The Fearow raised an eyebrow, but just looked back up in anticipation. Atop the mountain, there stood a young Primarina. Her normally beautiful appearance was obscured by the soot on her face, bruises across her body, her unkempt hair and the sheer look of exhaustion on her face. On the side of the volcano opposite her was a legend sprawled out on the ground, the legend known to all as Heatran. The Primarina looked at him still on edge, as if waiting for him to get back up and keep fighting. However, after awhile, confirming that he was spent, a wide smile crossed the girl’s face as she shouted, “I-I did it! I won!” The Primarina Marie had just claimed her first victory against Heatran. "Urgh...I guess you technically did." Heatran said and let out a low growl. "Pfft." Marie let out a chuckle, before fully laughing and falling back and landing on the rocky ground. "Ahahaha, ow...but I sure did...I won." Sitting back up, she smiled coyly at him saying, "but don't worry, you're still plenty strong Heatran. I'm sure there's still no one in this town who could beat you one on one fairly." Looking to the side she added, "when I'm not here, that is." "You got...awfully cocky didn't you?" Putting her hands to her hips, with a pout Marie explained, "I'm just celebrating my victory. I worked really hard to get this win you know. After all, I promised you that you'd always have someone to fight and help you do your job. And it's not very helpful of me if I keep losing all the time, right?" "You could've lost a couple more times still," he grumbled. Giggling again, she said, "don't worry, you'll have plenty more chances in the future, right? Because whenever my friend needs help, it's up to me to help them out." Crossing her arms and looking away she added, "and I'm only friends and families with troublemakers, so I'm sure you'll need my help a lot." He crossed his arms at the same time. "Who said we were friends anyway," he growled again. She wagged her finger at him saying, "I did. Are you saying we're not?" "I'm saying I didn't say we were." "Well tooooo bad," Marie stuck her tongue out at the legend before laughing again. "We're friends whether you say so or not. And I don't take no for an answer here." Thinking about it for a moment she said, "but if you wanted to deny it, then go make some friends yourself." "I don't need them." He grumbled With a stern face she said, "don't be such a child. Everyone needs friends. It's your friends that make up your Ohana, and your Ohana is what keeps you going through life. Which speaking of, I still have to go to Northshore soon to help out and a letter came for me too. So I'll be gone for a bit and I don't want you to get all lonely here up on your mountain." "When will you come back...I need to know when I can beat you again." Thinking about it for a moment she said, "a week? Maybe a few. I've got a lot of places to go." Tapping her finger to her chin, the girl said, "who knows, really? I'm not rich and the dragon air ride service is busier then ever these days." "Hm. Fine. I'm sure you'll have a fun time." "I will." She said matter of factly. Standing up, the Primarina looked off the mountain side saying, "which is why I want to make sure you're not lonely. And if you're itching for someone to fight, well." Marie gestured off the mountainside. "There's a whole town down there that's always ready and willing to scrap. And if you want to win, then I'm sure you'll mop the floor with all of them. And then they'll know just how strong you really are, and who knows, you might get more challengers up here too. And then you'll get stronger for our next fight." Smiling, she added, "so, the volcano should be calm enough now that we just finished our fight. So why not introduce yourself to the people below?" "Tsk...I haven't left this volcano in a long, long, time. Why would I do it now." Heatran said, looking uncomfortable. "Anyway if I went down there they'd just be afraid." "That's because they just know you as a grouch on top of the mountain. You need to show everyone how great a guy you are." Thinking on it for a moment, Marie said, "here, let me help you out." Walking to the edge, Marie shouted, "heeeeeyyyyy everyone!" "Heeeeyyy, Marie!" A chorus of people from below the mountain responded. "Heatran says he wants to get to know you all better! He'll even come down the mountain to do so! So come on, and give him your warmest Trailsau welcome!" As she finished this, the cheers breaking way into a brawl could be heard from even at the top of the volcano. Marie looked back to Heatran saying, "see? Now you've got nothing to worry about." "H-hey, what do you think you're doing?" Heatran growled again, scratching at his cheek awkwardly. “Me? I’m just putting in a good word for a friend. The rest is up to you though. But, I expect to hear some stories when I come back.” With a smile on her face, illuminated by the sun, the girl said, “I’m looking forward to it next time, okay?” Soothing Torrent - Marie END 7 Years Ago There the young Houndour lied. Sprawled across the dirt, staring at the clear sky above him. Today it was clear, not a cloud in the sky to obstruct the sun. And as such, the rest of the world around him was clear to see. Not that there was much to look at. His world was filled with the same brown colored ground, the land being livable enough yet just shy of a proper wasteland. The only large cast was by the nearby mountain that his home had surrounded. It was around this time that the sounds of a brawl could be heard, not that he was actually close enough to hear it. He just knew it was happening, because of course it would be. He hadn’t been fighting recently - he didn’t see much of a point. He would beat the same people as always. He would lose to the same people as always. Neither getting weaker nor stronger. Simply remaining the same as always. Just as the ground around him had. Just as the volcano’s shadow had. Everything, the same as always. That was his life. Something he could only describe in one single word. “Boring.” As the man voiced his complaints to the sky, the neutral expression on his face gave way to a smile. Sitting up, he pulled out a map and layed it across the ground as well. What he had seen was his world, but the map provided to him something far bigger - far more interesting. Towns, villages, cities, all different kinds of civilizations surrounded by all kinds of wonders. Canopies of trees and walls of grass, buildings that stretched higher than even the volcano and water as vast and blue as the sky out on the horizon. But above all else, the most wondrous thing to be found in the world was them. Something not on any map and only told of in story books; the legends. Beings of immense power, age and knowledge. They were all over the place, hidden yet waiting to be found. Waiting to be challenged. It didn’t matter how far they were or how long it took. The Houndour knew they were out there, waiting to be found and he would find them. Standing up, he looked to his map, seeing that there was a town due south of his own home. It wasn’t the closest or safest walk, but it certainly seemed like it’d be the most interesting place to visit. And if it was interesting, then there was bound to be something legend related there, right? So, with a smile on his face the Houndour declared, “alright, Nine, the whole world’s waiting for you. So let’s go and see it!” Present-ish Day As Nine strode into the literal ghost town of Alpha, a smile was very clear on his face. Looking around, seeing the occupants of the town Nine couldn’t help but feel chipper after all. He wasn’t quite sure if it was because whatever off feeling the village used to give him was lessened, it was actually livelier here, or if he was just getting used to it. Regardless, after his long journey was finally reaching its end, he couldn’t help but feel a little at home here. Following the final fight with the Godslayers Nine, ever the restless type, had elected to restart his Chaser challenge, trying to duel the legends for real. Without any form of Godslayer intervention and with no pretense of having to save or help others, Nine wanted one more proper go at them. “I matched wits and wills with the Lake Trio. Tested my might against Regigigas. Learn to keep in tune with Meloetta. Got great gardening advice from Shaymin. Traversed Rayquaza’s vast palace in the sky. And got to tell Darkrai ‘in your face.’” Nine reminisced about his whole journey to himself as he continued to walk down the streets of Alpha, before stopping in front of one building. “Yet, here I am, standing in front of my greatest challenge yet." Reaching into his pocket, the Houndoom pulled out a ring and smiled at it. Then, grasping it more tightly in his palm, the Houndoom took a deep breath before beginning to face forward and walk to the house. Years Later The sky was clear, allowing the stars and moon to be seen to any who looked up. And they in turn shined down on all down below in the, though there was seldom a person to be illuminated here. The wastes of Trailsau were desolate as always, save for a young Charmander and a group of thuggish gijinka. The leader of the group, a Magmar had grabbed onto the young Charmander, shaking him a bit as the boy said, “I- I’m telling you I don’t have anything!” “And I’m telling you it’s not nice to lie.” The man continued to rough up the Charmander, before pulling a necklace off of his person. “You already had food, and this here certainly looks like it’s worth something.” The Charmander’s eyes began to tear up as the Magmar grinned at the necklace, examining it before an unfamiliar reached out and grabbed at it. “Oh. This does look important.” The Magmar let go of the jewelry immediately in shock, as he turned around to suddenly see a cloaked figure standing behind him. “H-how? When did you-?” The man gave a cheery wave as he stepped away from the Magmar. Nodding at the necklace in his hand, he confirmed, “yes, yes. This definitely looks like it’s valuable. And you were just going to take it away from this kid like that?.” The man shook his head. The Magmar, growing irritated now that his initial shock had disappeared shouted, “we were just relieving it from people who don’t know it’s true worth. Like we’ll be doing with you too!” The man nodded to the others, as they ran towards the cloaked man, ready to punch at him. He nonchalantly kept walking away though, his body suddenly becoming cloaked in shadow and vanishing. As the two other gijinka’s fists struck nothing but air, the three of them looked around confused until the Magmar felt two fingers tap the back of his head. “And you’re going to tell me that he doesn’t know the value of food either, right?” The Magmar turned around to see, the cloaked figure standing behind him, shrieking in shock and jumping away yet again. “If you’re really strapped for food and like to brawl, Trailasu’s not that far from here. I’m sure if you can hold your own against anything other than a child you’ll be fine.” The man stepped forward, now face to face with the Magmar locking eyes with them directly. “Unless you’d rather try to take from me too.” The Magmar couldn’t help but feel a strange offness about how the man was moving and coupled with the intensity of the man’s glare his body could only respond in one way. Dropping the food, the man began to make a full sprint, with the others looking confused at the spectacle but following in kind. Letting out a sigh as they retreated, the cloaked man said, “I swear. With people like those still around, she and I will always have work. Oh well, at least things didn’t have to get violent. Hey kid. Here.” The man tossed the necklace to the Charmander who, recovering from shock, accidentally swatted back into the air several times before finally catching it with both hands. Still awestruck at the display, the Charmander stammered out a, “wh-whoa. Th-that was incredible, Mister. Wh-who are you?” The man waved away the compliment saying, “me? No one in particular. Just someone who happened to be passing by. More importantly,” the man bent down and looked at the Charmander more closely. “Who are you?” “Z-Zehn.” The Charmander answered nervously, looking away as the man looked towards him. “Zehn...I see...And what are you doing this far out in the middle of nowhere, Zehn?” “I...I’m just going for a walk.” “That’s quite the walk you’re going on. Do your parents know you’re out this late Zehn?” The boy clutched his necklace more tightly as the man asked, prompting him to simply nod. “I see. Trailsau wouldn’t really be a place that good for a kid like you.” Standing back upright, the man started to think on this more. “Well, I’m sure there’s a place in Northshore for kids like you these days, if not then - “ “I don’t want to go there.” The man cocked his head to the side. “I... I still have a place there but, ever since...everything just feels so wrong...I just feel out of place. Like I don’t belong anymore. Anywhere. It’s terrible and scary and I hate it! I don’t want to go and stay somewhere else when I’m just going to feel the same thing again. I don’t want to keep feeling trapped somewhere I shouldn’t be.” The man remained silent for a moment after the Charmander’s outburst, prompting Zehn to look to the ground and mutter, “um...sorry about that.” Yet still the man remained silent, looking to the sky as if thinking. “Well, that’s how it is sometimes. Don’t worry, that feeling will stay with you for awhile, but eventually you’ll know where you can really call home. It’ll come to you one day, trust me. But first, you have to find it. So how about you try adventuring?” “Adventuring?” The boy looked confused by this sudden suggestion. “Well, it’s not like you aren’t already doing it anyway, but it’ll give you a purpose in doing so. Like trying to explore new towns or see new sights. You’ll see so many wonderful things you’ll wonder just how big the wide world really is. And then, you’ll stop feeling like you don’t belong in one place and instead, like there’s so many more places then one to be. A restless feeling, an urge to keep exploring. Along the way you’ll meet all kinds of unbelievable people and make friends with the most interesting of them.” The Charmander pouted saying, “I don’t need friends.” The man chuckled, bending down and poking at the boy’s forehead before standing back up. “Don’t be such a kid about it. Of course you do. Everyone does. And along this road, those friends you make will be the most important people you’ll ever know. But first things first. If you’re going to adventure, I can’t be with you the whole time as I have many places to wander to. So, you’ll need to learn how to get stronger first.” The Charmander looked at him curiously, saying, “stronger? Like...strong as you?” The man waved his hand chuckling, “nah, you don't want to grow up to be like me. Hardly a good role model with a lifestyle I only hope isn't necessary in the future." The young boy looked confused, but said, “what do you mean?” “Don’t worry about it. Instead,” Looking back to the boy he raised a finger saying, “you should find others to look up to. People who know how to use their strength for more than just wandering and playing hero from the shadows. You're looking for the kind who are out there putting smiles on the faces of all kinds of people. For instance, there’s a certain fire type in Adarid who's plenty strong, and quite the entertainer too. So, I’m sure you could pick up a thing or two from him. Or, I hear tales of a ship that moves across the continent always searching for more wayward souls to join them too with a pretty fierce captain. And don’t even get me started on the people of Deku. Just as there are stars in the sky, there are so many interesting people out there. People for you to learn from and grow stronger watching. So, what do you say?” The young Charmander looked to the man, wide-eyed at his descriptions before looking into the horizon himself. Nodding he looked back saying, “then...I want to see what’s out there. I want to go and adventure!” A gust of wind blew by, blowing off the man’s hood and showing the cheery smile of a Houndoom under it saying, “glad to hear. Then, if that’s the case, the whole world is waiting for you. So let’s go and see it, kid.” Eternal Chaser - Nine END

Stella listened as the teacher began her explanation, feeling like she had been close on the mark to what the woman was getting at. As it turned out, both of the mechs that went to fight were ill suited to go after the recon mechs they fought with just a standard rush down tactic. Or, if they were, their mechs needed to be nimbler and more suited to evading the attacks in the first place. Conversely, Vivian's mech was neither fast nor was she doing anything to evade the attacks in the first place. But, at the same time, her mech was far bulkier and far more suited to the initial situation then the other two mechs. Putting a hand to her chin, Stella thought on it for a moment asking, "so, if there was no cover and their mechs weren't suited to fighting long range, should they have focused on just making a full retreat, or fully focus on moving away their opponents. Until a, an opening showed up or something?"

Clara was watching the duel intently as it begun, but was then stunned as Hana had ran over from their side to their opponents. She looked at the girl, somewhat dumbfounded her actions. With the duel already underway she didn't feel like shouting to interrupt the flow the both of them had going on at the moment. So she glared at the girl, sighed, and looked back to the duel, ready to shout when it was all over. Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Leila waved over to Hana as she made her way over, with the green haired boy laughing as she came over. "Hi Hana. Did you come to watch the duel with us here?" The girl paused for a moment before going wide eyed saying, "oh, did you want to join our team instead?" "Leila, I don't think that's possible." Looking to the boy, the girl gave an understanding nod. "Just watching is fine, then." The green haired boy gave a soft chuckle saying, "I'm still not sure if that's the case." Shrugging and then smiling, he stretched out a hand to the girl saying, "Hana, was it? Welcome to the Ocean Coast's seating booth, where you can watch our glorious Captain duel from her side." Laurie smiled and both quickly and shortly pumped her fist into the air, happy to have weathered the first attack from Peter. Collecting herself, she then said, "alright, my turn. Draw!" Adding the new card to her hand, the girl took a moment to look them over, mulling on the cards. "First I activate the spell card, Cards for Red Stone. This is like your Cards of Consonance, but instead of a level 1 tuner, I get to send a Level 7 Red-Eyes from my hand, and also one from my deck too. So Both Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Red-Eyes Flare Dragon are going to the graveyard." As the girl sent the two cards to her graveyard, she then drew two more, nodding as she seemed pleased with what she got. "Alright, now I summon the Black Stone of Legend I got last turn. And its effect lets me tribute it to summon a Red-Eyes monster from my deck. So, I'll be bringing out Red-Eyes Archfiend of Lightning!" As Laurie summoned the black stone, the stone began to crack open as lightning burst out and from it the Skeletal demon burst out. "And that's not all, next I can activate one of my face downs. Return of Red-Eyes! This lets me summon a Red-Eyes normal monster from my graveyard, and since Red-Eyes Flare Dragon is in the graveyard he counts as one. Now my field has the same number of monsters as yours. Though, that's not going to stay the case. "I'll use the spell card Fusion Substitute, to fuse together my Archifiend and Flare Dragon." As she called this out, the two monsters turned into a swirl of purple energy, mixing together. As they did, a pillar of black and red flame erupted out from the ground, a demonic black and red dragon stepping out from it letting loose a powerful roar to match the Blue-Eyes's. "So here he is, my fusion summoned Archfiend Black Skull Dragon! Finally, all that's left is to show my other trap card, Red-Eyes with Chain. While it has two effects, only one of them matters right now, that being that I can take a monster of yours and equip it to a Red-Eyes Monster of mine. Then, my monster's attack becomes equal to the attack of the equipped monster. So, that Blue-Eyes of yours is Gearfried's now." As she finished explaining, the blade ended chain appeared in Gearfried's hands. Twirling the weapon around, it tossed the weapon at one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons, hooking around it before the chain glowed red, absorbing the monster into it. Gearfried: 1800 ATK → 3000 ATK. "Now, with a monster bigger than yours and one tied, there's only one thing left to do. Let's battle. Both of my monster's will go and attack both of yours. Any response?" Peter grimaced. “Well, I’m not happy about it, but yeah, I guess that’s happening.” Laurie grinned at his remark. "Good to hear. Go! Gearfried, Black Skull, take those dragons on!" At her command, Gearfried began to spin his chain weapon as the second Blue-Eyes White Dragon began to charge up its breath attack. As it let loose a burst of white lightning Gearfried tossed its chain, snaking around the attack and the two attacks colliding with their opponent at the same time, destroying both of them. Meanwhile, Black Skull Dragon had a much easier time, letting loose a blast of dark flame that completely consumed the Alternative Dragon and left Peter's field empty. Peter: 8000 LP → 7800 LP "With the end of my battle phase, Black Skull's effect activates too. I can return a normal Red-Eyes monster from my grave to my deck, and deal damage equal to its attack to you. So Red-Eyes Archfiend comes back and your life points go down." As she grabbed the card and placed it in her deck, Black Skull flexed and let out a roar as a blast of flame erupted from its body. Peter: 7800 LP → 5300 LP A pleased smile was on Laurie's face as she clenched her fist in joy. The girl continued to smile as she looked to a card in her hand and nodded. "Next, I'll set one card face down, and with the first damage going to me, I'll end my turn."

Tsubasa couldn't help but think for all the spectacle it could generate, that Yumi's quirk was a fairly troublesome thing to have. Then, when asked about her own quirk and its own deficiencies the cat girl tried to figure out what about her quirk had caused her trouble in the past. It wasn't like her quirk was something active like shooting lightning, and so anything she had for better or worse was something she always lived with. Not to mention, from what little she knew about comparing herself to other people, she was way more awesome at her hobbies then the average person. Though, looking back she figured there was one thing that was kind a of pain. "Well, I'm pretty sure my quirk is pretty awesome all around. But I guess when I was younger I had to learn to not keep my tail dragging on the ground while walking in a crowd. Let me tell you, it's pretty painful to be walking down the street and have someone step on your tail. And then you stumble and get stopped in place for a moment and everything just feels way out of whack! But now," the girl flicked her tail from side to side saying, "I'm an absolute pro with this now, nyahaha." As she finished her own explanation, the two of them went back to their game only for it to be interrupted as they heard their teacher call for them to return. Though the situation sounded urgent, Tsubasa couldn't help but feel a bit bummed, the displeasure clear on her face. "And just when I was getting used to the rancid smell of this dump." The girl grumbled to herself. Shrugging as she walked back, she looked over as Yumi said her score thinking for a moment. "Hmmm, I think I got nine total. Eh? Oh, that means I lost." She seemed surprised this conclusion, before smiling, snapping and pointing at Yumi. "Well, that was a fun match. Look forward to the next one!" With that, the girl made her way to the bus.

"Well, you're right that there's something fishy going on with Avenger. How does a servant like that even come to be? Too many questions and practically no answers to them right now..." I'll think for a moment before saying, "well, no matter. There's four servant left, and even if we got rid of some of the more problematic ones, each of them are still probably annoying in their own right. And we don't really know what the status of any alliances are. So, in order to further every goal we have at once, let's go find Avenger."

Ryia frowned as Lindow gave his answer to her. She at least agreed that with the demon gate gone there was likely a breakthrough to be had between the sides. It was the demon gate that started this whole mess, but once it was taken care of she wasn't sure what would happen as a result. Whether things would simply go back to how they were or if the minotaurs would only grow more aggressive as a result. The whole situation continued to nag at her, but she didn't speak up, content to simply keep things to herself and mull on the problem more. After all, the first step to be taken remained the same no matter what. They needed to destroy the demon gate. As they followed Madelyn's directions, Ryia looked to the side to see what Damien was pointing towards. The girl gulped and froze briefly as she saw the group of minotaur. Her first instinct told her that they had already found the demon gate and were moving towards it, urging her to try and stop them from reaching it. However, upon another second of thought, provided thankfully by their distance between them, that didn't make a whole lot of sense to her. The minotaurs were going a different direction then them and they needed Madelyn to find the ruins in the first place. So, it was likely they weren't going there. That didn't change the hostility she was seeing in them as they approached and tried to swiftly move their carriage away. Ryia looked to the others saying, "I uh, I think we should just, um, fall back from them. We uh, we don't need to fight them or anything right? So, uh, we shouldn't."

Stella awkwardly responded to Kelsey saying, "ah, right, yeah. That's a good idea." Stella as well hadn't thought to share contact information with Blossom, for reasons that would be obvious if one were to peer into the girl's contact list. All that was there currently was Kelsey and Stella's own father. In either case it wasn't Stella who had asked for their number either. And the two were people she was in contact with constantly, so giving someone else she had just met and hadn't talked with much her number was an entirely foreign idea to her. But, it was both practical and from what Stella understood very normal among girls and acquaintances. Pulling out her phone, she promptly and stiffly handed over her phone to Blossom with the page to add a new contact up. "Here you go," though her tone was blunt and she herself seemed awkward, there was also a hint of eagerness in her expression. Once they had finished, Stella looked proudly at the new contact in her phone list, though also thought it suddenly looked very strange to have a third number in there. Looking at it again, the girl blinked for a moment as she realized the names in there. She realized it probably would be prudent to get Vivian's number too. Once that was all said and done, the class had seemed to come to a close as their teacher had asked about the students that had done less than stellar. As she asked where they had messed up, Stella thought about it for a moment. First there was the girl in the sword and fire mech. Scratching her chin, Stella spoke up saying, "I think for Erica she wasn't quite aware of her surroundings, and never was able to fully close the distance with her mech against theirs. As for Kansuke..." Stella trailed off as she tried to figure it out. She wasn't paying the most attention to the whole fight, having been interrupted by Blossom so she wasn't too cognizant of any glaring errors that he made. But the end result was that he won, just heavily damaged. And the only reason he would've been damaged as much is because the enemies would've been hitting him over an extended period of time. So, Stella answered, "he took too long?"

"Well, at least it's not on fire," Jacklyn added as the waiter left, poking at her own eggs with her fork. Scooping some up and taking in a mouthful, the girl looked towards her two new teammates. It had been a long and eventful day that she had had yesterday, fraught with peril and exploration but when all was said and done she was now journeying with Naomi and Nathan. Such was the nature of adventure sometimes. After shoveling in yet another forkful, she pouted saying, "but seriously, I was all ready to get the first big milestone of my adventure finished and now the gym leader's out." As she mulled on this for a bit longer, the girl thought for a moment before finally shrugging. "Oh well." Smiling, looking around the girl said, "that just means there's more time to go exploring the city! This place is seriously cool and weird, don't you think? I mean a whooooole city underground! Have you guys ever seen a place this before? The only cities I've seen before were built upward not downward - well, I guess Castelia does have its own labyrinth underground and the buildings here aren't upside down - but still! There's gotta be a bunch of cool stuff around here!" Realizing that she didn't know when her teammates had got here, she asked, "have you guys seen anything cool around here yet?"

Lana continued to look at nothing but thin air, before Anna had told her that she was looking in the wrong direction. Looking again, practically spinning around in a circle to try and see this mystery girl that Anna was talking about, only to find again nothing but thin air. The girl was again, not sure what to make of who this person Anna was talking about but only started to get more nervous as she started to feel a chill in the air. The girl's eyes darted from place to place, nervously looking back as she felt that she had seen something. The girl gulped as Anna made her comment about why she couldn't see them, stammering out, "ah- I see...that so? A, uh, a real shame then..." Lana then jumped, fully startled as a puff of air suddenly hit her ear. "I-I'm sorry for offending you!" Lana stammered out as she continued to frantically look around, only to look towards Anna who seemed to offer no comfort to her in this situation. Her hair only continued to stand on end as Anna told her that the likely spirit was going to come and haunt her tonight as well. Gulping, Lana started to walk away saying, "well, uh...hopefully I'll things more exciting then uh...rats, to talk about. Bye- later, Anna." The girl gave a wave, before stopping and spinning around waving in every direction she could saying, "bye to you too uh...Anna's friend?" Once she was done with that, Lana began to power walk out of the church, going in the direction of the tavern to shake off the haunted feeling she had just been inflicted with.

Ryia let out a sigh of relief as Geoff left, giving the man a friendly wave goodbye as he left. With that out of the way, all that was left was the group needing to go and find Damien, which as well didn't take all that long. The girl was glad to see that he hadn't managed to get himself into any trouble, though was somewhat worried about could have happened from sleeping outside. After all, even on the roads the island had proved to be quite dangerous so far. Yet still, the girl didn't voice said concerns to the man as he was both probably used to this and she could feel his relentless teasing of her occur if she did. Walking forward, the girl nodded as Madelyn told them to keep their wits about them for any monsters or the like they might find on the road. She knew Madelyn was a mage, and a confident one at that, but she didn't really know what she could do. As a result, Ryia kept herself nearby both of the mages, as she continued to look around. After all, even Keres was a talented mage but she knew that if an enemy got too close to her it would be very, very bad. As Madelyn made her next comment on the Minotaurs, Ryia simply nodded in agreement, thinking how problematic it would be if they had come to stop them. Not only were they strong enough to begin with, but she shuddered to think what would happen if they were too influenced by the demon gate. Yet still, if they didn't see them here, a thought did gnaw at her. "So...once we do this, destroy the gate that is, um...what should we do about them? The uh, Minotaurs, that is?" After all, if they destroyed the demon gate and especially without them knowing about it, it wasn't like the current tensions between them and the other people would just be solved.

As Kelsey made her comment about the other girl, Stella looked towards the monitor to see her engage the enemies in a frenzy, spewing flames all over the place. "She's uh, certainly a bit of a wild card." The girl's attention was then drawn to the other part of their monitor as the artillery batteries revealed themselves. Looking to the teacher, then back to Kelsey, Stella nodded along with the girl. She hadn't known much about Malkin but she was sure that she would consider this kind of a thing a prank. A lesson too, but also a joke. "Definitely." As she watched the mechs play out their combats, the girl looked back to hear someone else talking to her. "Oh, Blossom, right? Sure." Putting a finger to her temple she thought about it for a moment before saying, "well, I don't really many ideas myself; I don't really know what there is in the city," outside of a school supply store and a mechanic. "So, we can try exploring it later to find something? Maybe check if there's a museum or not, that's probably a good place to learn history." The girl felt awkward again as she had felt she said something entirely too obvious, clearing her throat, saying, "that's about all I've got figured out right now. I'm sure the report itself will come easily once we get our notes."

Lana curiously followed after Anna as she abruptly ended their conversation, instead opting to walk outside. Once Anna had made note that the person she was looking for wasn't here, Lana looked around realizing where they were. Seeing the familiarly haunting site of the graveyard, shocked and made nervous by the Anna's comment she asked, "w-wait, what? Someone lives," Lana gestured around saying, "here?" "No, not lives. But they're here most of the time anyway." "I uh, see." Lana looked around, instead wondering if it was someone who liked to make a regular habit of playing in a graveyard. "Is this like a...fun place to just, hang out and be?" "She doesn't have much of a choice." "That uh...that sounds rough?" "Hm. I don't know if it's rough or smooth. Maybe you can ask her." Lana blinked a few times, momentarily stunned. "What?" Anna glanced over Lana's shoulder. "Ah." "Ah?" Lana looked behind her, seeing nothing but thin air where she looked. Yet in spite of this Anna said, "There you are. Welcome home." Lana looked between the empty air and the girl, saying, "are you, uh, talking to someone? Is there someone here?" Lana looked back and started leaning different directions, checking to see if someone was hiding behind something. Anna nodded and pointed to an empty area. "She's right there. I guess you can't see her yet." "I uh...I see?" Obviously she didn't. Made a bit uncomfortable by the whole situation there was one of three things that was going on. The first was that this was all a joke by Anna, but the girl had such a poker face that Lana couldn't help but take her words somewhat seriously. The next likely thing was that it was an imaginary friend of Anna's, and the girl was just trying to introduce her. The third option was, given where they were and everything Anna had said so far, they were likely a...well, that wasn't possible either, right? "...Right." The girl affirmed this to herself aloud. Regardless of what it was, she figured it was best to play along, no matter how odd or awkward it was for the time being saying, "well, uh, person? Sorry that I can't see you but uh...hey there?"

Tsubasa snickered a bit as Yumi had nearly missed the target, but quickly switched to a whistle as she managed to knock the can in. With a smile on her face, Tsubasa said, "please, this wouldn't be fun if I was able to show you up so completely." The girl paused for a moment and thought about it. "Alright, it might be. But I'm always down for a challenge. Besides your quirk isn't the only one that helps with accuracy." With a wide smile on her face, she had a "watch this" expression on her face as she picked at a few more scraps of trash; three in total were on her trash poker. Taking them off, the girl then quickly stabbed at one of them, and flicked into the air, launching it there. She repeated this process for the next, two, now having three airborne pieces of trash. Jumping towards the first one, Tsubasa's foot effortlessly hit the trash and knocked it forward. Landing on one foot, the girl swiveled and spun around, kicking the second piece had fallen in front of her. Then, keeping the momentum of her spin the girl kicked off her one foot on the ground and kicked at the third piece of trash as it fell. The cat girl landed on her hands, her legs doing a split mid air before falling back down to the ground. Pushing herself back up to her feet, a wide smile formed on Tsubasa's face as she said, "so how about that? My quirk might not be as literally flashy as yours, but I more than make up for it. Three points all at once." Only two had actually landed in. Waiting for Yumi to do her thing she said, "but I'm surprised, you know? That your all pin point accuracy and stuff. I thought you more like," the girl made a finger gun motion with heavy recoil saying, "baboooom! That kind of thing."

"Good job David," Clara had said with equal enthusiasm as she had to Makoto's win, seeming to take notes on the duel as well. As she stared at what she had written, the woman looked to the opposing team before looking back to her own. The woman nodded to herself, a smile now forming on her face as she seemed to be pleased. Looking at Peter who had Hana attached to him, though, had caused her to raise an eyebrow. "Well, you're definitely not carrying her anywhere anytime soon. You're up next Peter." After a moment, the girl made a shooing motion towards Hana saying, "you're also going to need to get off of him." "Ew, that was rough." Leila nodded alongside Laurie. Sighing the girl said, "well, good try out there Lilly." Laurie patted her teammate on the shoulder once she returned. "You had a good set up and board state, it was just a bit of a bad match up. Beyond that too, you made some decisions in the wrong order, so be sure to stay mindful of the field and not get too anxious when things aren't going your way. Cool heads prevail and all that." The older male of the group clapped his hands together adding, "right she is. Don't mind a loss here. You'll get'em next time." Looking to the male and her coach, Laurie then asked, "so who's up next?" The coach seemed to look pensive for a moment, a hand to his chin as he continued to think. Then, looking back to the male, the two nodded and then looked over to Laurie. Confused for a moment, the girl pointed to herself. The two nodded. "But, I don't really think - " the two smiled, nodding again. "Fine. Whatever." Giving a wave the girl said, "I'm off." As she walked to the field, Leila pumped her fist into the air as she spoke, "fight-o!" Taking a sigh, the girl looked towards her opponent saying, "well, looks like it's you and me. Here's to a fun match."

Lana had parted with the group after their feast had concluded. Stomach full and exhaustion setting in, it didn't take long upon her arrival at the church for her to fall asleep. Having slept soundly, the girl awoke with a small groan as she could feel the soreness from all the work she did yesterday spreading throughout her body. With her eyes closed and laying down on the bed, the girl started to stretch her arms and legs out, before finally managing to sit herself upright on the bed. Opening her eyes, still tired, the girl stretched out her arms once more and looked around the room. As she made her cursory glance she noticed that something was not quite right with what she saw. Snapping awake, the girl looked over to see someone simply standing in the doorway staring at her. With a sudden, "ah!" Lana, startled, jumped back in her bed. However, after hearing the mirrored response from the girl at the door, Lana let out a sigh of relief. "Oh, it's just you Anna." Before she could follow up with anything else though, the church girl started to speak with the vaguest hint of excitement before she quickly closed the distance between the two. Lana, startled by the surprising speed and silence with which Anna had moved, backed up further against the wall as the girl seemed eager to learn more about her outing the day before. She thought back, remembering the various encounters with the rats, the goblins that shot rocks and fire balls at her, the strange mushrooms too, a grimace clearly formed across Lana's face as she tried to figure out how to start explaining it. It was hardly the glamorous adventure that she figured Anna thought it was, but looking at the girl's eager face Lana couldn't exactly bring herself to talk about the dungeon in a purely negative way. So, clearing her throat she said, "well, it was really unique. Like a place that I don't think I've ever seen before. Like uh, a lot of places all at once. And there were a ton of monsters too, and me and my companions had to fight all the way through all of them. See..." Lana went on to explain the on-goings of the dungeon to the girl, all the different room and all the different monsters that she had managed to fight. In spite of not trying to make things less glamorous then they appeared, Lana was no actor. She didn't make any effort to hide her revulsion of the rats and talked with pride with how she had managed to fell them. Her frustration with the kobold's and the traps were also evident. Her unnerved attitude towards the mushrooms also showed. Yet in spite of that her overall attitude seemed to be positive and she enjoyed just rambling about it to Anna. Even going so far as to talk and praise her companions, between Chris's fleet footed sword play, Sergei's imposing strength and durability and how wondrous she found Estelle's magic. Then, at the end of it all, she said, "and that's how we felled the biggest, grossest rat of them all. And then after that a portal opened up and we were able to leave, and oh. I also got this." The girl showed off the blast powder to the girl. "It's apparently something magic that explodes and stuff. I don't really know how much it's worth, but it's treasure!"

Stella watched as the other students had volunteered to go and fight in their mechs. The girl let out a sigh of relief as their teacher had seemed to actually only want to take volunteers, knowing that she was safe for the time being. Making matters better, Kelsey was still next to her while everyone went out to go and fight. Though, Stella couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy about it, thinking it was a bit odd that Kelsey wouldn't jump at the opportunity to go and fight. All the same, she sat by and watched the other students paying close attention to the commentary that the teacher was giving about the various student's performances. Even if she didn't have any intention of going out there herself, this was still a class that she needed to pass and so she was going to learn as much as she could. Her uneasiness came back for a bit as Kelsey mentioned how much faster she'd have done it herself, though as she reassured Stella the girl simply smiled and nodded. "You'd tear them apart in a flash for sure." Looking away from the girl, with a more joking tone in her voice she said, "though I'd probably also feel sorry for your mech." At Kelsey's question the girl then started to forget any worries she had as she seriously thought about it for a moment. "Well, if things stay like this, I think Vivian's got a bit of an advantage. Distance doesn't really seem to matter to her mech...but if he can keep up on the enemies Kansuke might have it."