Skaia

Jacklyn's upbeat attitude was slightly downtrodden as Belle seemed to not want to climb up the stairs, but all the same it was the girl's loss. So instead, she followed behind Ivan with a smile on her face. The two climbed up the spiral staircase, seeing that the lighthouse itself was actually several floors high, with the ground they were walking on getting a bit narrower as they made their way up to the first landing. Traveling, was made only more of an issue as the light from the doorway started to vanish the higher they went. Thankfully, as they reached the next floor up, there seemed to be window like slits to let light through. Jacklyn seemed to be on guard as they made their way up, though, the light also revealing a few Murkrow perched around. The girl walked closer to her traveling companion whispering, "wait up Ivan." Gesturing to the bird pokemon that were around, the girl said, "I've seen specials on TV where birds heckle mountain climbers as they pass them by. Think we should do something about them?"

With the big day having been upon them, Yuuka had been nothing short of ecstatic. On the bus ride to where each group was going, the girl simply swayed back and forth in her seat, humming to herself as they made their way to their destination. As the stopped at their first destination, Yuuka merely waved goodbye to her fellow students and the new hero that had been with them, as the group made their way to the next destination. As she got out of the bus, the girl looked with stars in her eyes to the district they had ended up in. It was run down. It was old. It looked poorly maintained and like it was almost forgotten by the rest of the city. All in all, the district didn't look like a place anyone wanted to live in. Which meant that it was probably the perfect place to find any amount of villainy. And with villainy there was need for heroics. Yuuka was quite thrilled to see both professionals and her fellow students at work, and was even more so to see actual thugs walk up and try to intimidate them not too shortly after they got there. The girl had an almost dreamy smile on her face as Ms. Hitotsume told them to deal with the thugs, and even more so as she saw Hibiki go to speak with Herc about a plan of attack. Yuuka was quite interested to see what they would come up with, but she knew that the two of them also had more up close quirks. The other two in her group probably weren't much more ranged themselves. All the same, the girl looked towards the beetle and the bat expectantly, awaiting to see what they would pull out against the thugs.

Ross looked, humorlessly, at the witch girl as she began her introduction. Likely catty and tactless, Ross could already tell that this Morgan was someone who knew exactly how not to make a good first impression. As the girl mentioned Ross trying to get her into sports, the girl bluntly said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about that too much." Next came the tiger elf - or lion elf as he had corrected her - Cyan. He certainly seemed the boastful type and like he one would expect from the "Lion Sin of Pride," but still seemed to be amiable enough. Her first impression of him was definitely better than that of Morgan's, but that was hardly a tough act to follow up on. Soon enough, two more people had joined the introductions crew. Both Aurora and Gavin, as she had learned their names, seemed to be ordinary humans. Not only did they seem to be regular humans, but unlike the witch they had also seemed to be from a similar time period to her. Granted, she wouldn't have been surprised if she saw someone in the DHG dressing up as a witch, so she instead briefly wondered when Morgan was from as well. This thought was broken up as she looked to Gavin, now confused about her assesment of him earlier. He had a talking virtual person in his watch. And he was a star pilot. That was certainly new. She figured he could've just been really into video games, and confused some kind of starship simulator for real life but the artificial intelligence that accompanied him made that a bit hard to believe. Which only left the white haired girl as the only one she was certain from a similar time as her. And she seemed nice enough at that. Though, she also seemed to be the busy body type, and Ross wasn't too keen on getting into any sort of "hero" work too quickly herself. Ross looked to the two of them, giving a short wave and saying, "well. I'm Ross. The new kid...you already knew that...but nice to meet you." Her attention turned back to Cyan as he had offered to take her around the place, if only to cure his apparent boredom. Still, with nothing better to do herself and this still being part of a "getting to know you process," the girl nodded. "Sure. If I'm gong to live here, should probably get to know what's around here." After a brief pause, the girl looked to the other four saying, "so what is around here?"

Xia continued to watch the match as it seemed to be reaching its climax. She wasn't sure how Cam could hit the ball as hard as he was and still manage to make it go different places each time, and so she simply watched how he played, impressed by the display of skill and strength. The match, however, seemed to reach and abrupt end as the two tennis players paused and looked towards a cloaked figure. Xia wasn't sure who that was, but even she understood that they were up to nothing good as they let loose a torrent of fire around the arena. Confusion was what was on her face most of all as the crowd erupted into panic, with Xia's eyes locked onto the figure that had caused it all. She couldn't fathom why the figure did it. She didn't understand why they would cause such destruction when everyone else was having a fun time. The girl started to grit her teeth and clench her fists, only to then refocus on the situation at hand as someone familiar passed by and told her to help the others. Seeming to snap out of whatever focus she had just had, the girl merely nodded and said, "right!" Looking to the people, she ran through the crowd shouting, "everyone! Follow me! Don't fall! Watch your step!" As she did, the girl tried to direct people who needed direction or doing her best to help those who had fallen or were stuck in some way out as she tried to get everyone out of the arena.

Kiyoko had simply sat there in silence, for the remainder of the time that she and Hypatia had spent there. She didn't talk to the woman, nor did she seem to do much of anything but sit and mull over her own thoughts. This did not break as the food was being set around them, nor the plates being set at the table, though Kiyoko's gaze could be seen drifting towards the food as she sat there. Eventually, the rest of the signers had entered the room as well as Mr. E and, at his prompting, the group began to get their food. Grabbing her own plate, the girl filled it out with an no more or less than what would normally fit on the plate. Sitting down, the girl silently began to eat her food, slowly but steadily as had the rest of her comrades. Not quite looking to anyone else, the girl's expression didn't seem to waver and didn't seem to offer any insights as to what she thought of it. She merely calmly, and silently ate. When she was finished, the girl stood back up from the table, and filled out her plate yet again before sitting back down. Beginning to eat once more, the girl then looked to the rest of the signers. As there had been nothing but silence so far, the girl looked to Zirco and Leiko. "So, how did things go?"

Marie kept climbing down the volcano, and Heatran's continued proclamations that he needed to fight someone did not stop. She did not at all feel spurred to take action, having already sav- kept the kids from fighting the legend. The mountain being on the precipice of erupting didn't exactly inspire her to stay either. However, as she tried to tune out the legend's roars, the girl could not tune out the challenge coming from below. Letting out a sigh, the girl knew who it belonged to, but still looked to confirm that it was indeed Randy scaling the side of the mountain. As he made his way up there, the Incineroar informed them both of the state of the kids as well as his clear intent to go and fight Heatran. The girl looked at him like he was crazy, just saying, "wait. Randy what are you - Randy!" The girl groaned as she hit her against the mountain's side. Looking to Nani she said, "why did I tell him he could do this?" The girl knew that she did stipulate that he could fight unless she thought it was going to be too dangerous, but at this point there was probably no talking him out of it anyway. And, knowing that he was probably going to get himself killed or over do it, Marie couldn't actually just leave him to his devices. "Ahhhhhhhh!" Yelling to the topic of her lungs she shouted out, "fine! I'll fight you, you big hot head!" With fierce, annoyed, determination in her eyes, she looked to Nani. "Come on!" With that, the girl went back to scaling the mountain. Nine was glad to see that Kayla was free from her near execution, and even more so that they wouldn't have to be dealing with anyone as strong as the man before them. He didn't actually know how strong the Enforcer was, but that he was able to keep an entire village wary from attacking to begin with probably spoke enough about it. As such, Nine gave a small smile as the job was given to them saying, "don't worry. When it comes to dealing with legends and legend issues, you won't have find a better group." From there, Nine waited for the others to get their business done before beginning the travels out. The travel itself was, unfortunately, perhaps among the more dull that he had been on. All around them, there was nothing but gray, dead land. The flora was shriveled and decrepit. The wind was but a breeze yet still cold. As such, the travel was boring and almost monotonous from the lack of new or interesting landmarks around them. If anything, Nine was more impressed that two large villages could live and thrive here for so long. As Gwen made her comment about the legend, Nine curiously looked between her and Lok saying, "oh, I thought you guys would've known who it was." Putting his hand on his chin, he said, "well, if it's like its residents there aren't many ghost legends I can think of. Only one that comes to mind is Hoopa, and I doubt people would put their hopes on a prankster to win a war." Smiling towards Gwen he said, "but, we've had a pretty good track record of meeting friendly legends so far. So, I bet we can make good with this one too." Nine's eyes briefly glanced to Kayla, who had seemed troubled, but didn't quite know what to say to the girl. While she had a lot on her mind, he couldn't help but feel that she didn't want to talk about it in front of the ghosts, and so he made a note to ask her later.

Stella was glad to see that the other students had managed to finish off the rest of the bandits. The girl was still curious about the bandits, but as the fight seemed to over and both of her talking companions didn't seem to think much of it, she simply nodded and said, "yeah, you're right." As the boy mentioned going to see the others, Stella simply looked at Bianca as she made her response with no comment, and then turned to the boy. Nodding, she said, "yeah, let's go." As the two began their walk, Stella looked to the boy. Knowing that he was a fellow student of the same grade as her, the girl felt it prudent to get introductions between the two out of the way. And as he was both cheery and an optimistic sort, she felt like he wouldn't be bad company to have around either. "By the way, I didn't catch your name earlier. Mine's Stella." Once introductions were out of the way, the duo eventually made it to the hangar. As the mech's were beginning to dock in the hangar, the girl looked to see her friend getting out of her mech as well. Waving an arm to her, the girl approached towards her and, in a quite level tone she said, "congratulations on your win out there." Her level tone, however, betrayed the actual excitement and relief she had felt for seeing Kelsey come out of the encounter unscathed.

The girl's brief moment of respite as she met with a new friendly face to join their group was interrupted as Lindow and one of the council members seemed to be at odds with each other. The girl just looked between Lindow and Braxus, as the two seemed to have a stare down with one another, nervous about what could come from the two were they to go to blows, yet calmed a bit as they seemed to settle down. She looked to Saleh as he gave his own advice, which the girl couldn't help but agree with. She didn't want to have to go through the troubles of walking over the hot desert stand in armor all over again. While she had this idea, the girl didn't really say much as the rest of the group began to fan out to get their own individual needs taken care of. That left the three of the female chosens just standing there, and with a somewhat awkward atmosphere in the room, the girl felt it best to simply drop out and discuss the issue of where to go next after she had done her own tasks as well. Looking to the new chosen she said, "well, um. Pleasure meeting you." She then turned to the council and bowed again, "if you'll, um, excuse me." And with that, the girl went through another newly opened portal. Once there, the girl was met with the sight of a large draken man manning an impressively large forge. With her mace bent, her shield dented and her armor having taken a chunk out of, the girl simply presented all of her gear to the man for him to repair. Once finished with that, all of her gear now perfectly repaired much to the girl's delight and surprise, she gave a bow and thanks to the man before going to get her wounds treated. When all was said and done, the girl had returned back to the others, seeing that both Reinaan and Lindow had stepped out elsewhere. The girl felt ready to go once again, but didn't really know where to go, mainly due to her own lack of geographical knowledge. Thankfully, there was someone much smarter than her when it came to these things. Granted, she felt like just bluntly asking about the matter was a bit rude and so the girl just stepped over to her saying, "um, Keres. About where our next destination is." Of course, this wasn't really all that better of a way. "I'm um, not really great with maps so I uh, don't know what's similar to here. So, would you um, be able to teach me about them?" The girl simply looked to Keres as she finished awkwardly stumbling into asking for advice.

Stella felt a bit awkward as Bianca had made a point that was all too true. "Yeah, I suppose I am," the girl simply muttered. As her companion n this endeavor made her next comment, Stella couldn't help but think that there was some merit to it. After all, they were just a disorganized bunch of people in mechs fighting an equally disorganized group. As she was about to make a comment, the two were interrupted by a boy who walked towards them. Looking to him, then back to the screen she said, "yeah, I guess we are all amateurs." Looking at the screen, the girl then just said, "but why do you think a group of bandits like this attacked a ship like this?"

Leon was about as confused as Layne was as Edda seemed to insinuate something towards Rona, as the two had finished their talk. The girl, however, looked to the trio with a look that seemed to be filled with its own confusion mixed some manner of condescension. "Trouble like...I'm Jouran. She's Jouran." Gesturing between the two of them, she then gestured to Layne and Leon saying, "last I checked, your kind would gladly kill us on sight." Leon raised an eyebrow at this and said, "that's a bit extreme." Sighing, he looked to the other two and said, "but the general idea is about right." Looking to Edda he asked, "is there anything that you've done to the Aeoran people that would make you more wary of them." The girl simply looked to the side and said, "I worship a dragon. That's about it." Leon looked at her, though she didn't seem to keep eye contact with him, as he simply said. "Alright." Thinking about it for a few more moments he said, "well, if we're going to take your job, we are mercenaries. Do you have some form of payment?" The girl looked surprised and confused at the boy, as she said, "uh, sure- yeah?" Rummaging around in her pockets, the girl seemed to examine a few things in there before pulling something out. Within her hand was a simple red gem, one that the group was quite easily able to recognize as valuable. Her expression returning to its original stoic, if not slightly annoyed, face the girl said, "this." The boy looked skeptical at the gem but from his, admittedly amateur, eye seemed like it was legitimate. While this only managed to raise more questions for the boy, he didn't seem to press further, and instead looked to his two companions. "Do either of you have objections or more questions for her?"

The closer they got to the lighthouse, the more she was sure that Ivan had made the right choice in adventuring area. The building itself was old and seeming to lose out in its fight against nature. Add to that, it was both massive and probably abandoned, which meant that people weren't likely to stop them on their journey up it. Looking at the ladder, it seemed to be the newest thing about the lighthouse, which definitely peaked the girl's interest. However, she was one to go the most direct route first. Looking to Ivan and Belle she said, "well, let's see what this place has for us." Walking over to it, the girl saw there was a metal bar on the door barring her path. Spitting onto both of her palms, the girl rubbed her hands together as she took a deep breath and pulled the bar off with enough ease. The door was another story, as she attempted to brute force her way with it, pulling as hard as she could against the door. Though it definitely took some effort, of which Jacklyn was quick to tell the others to stay back and that she had it under control, she eventually managed to pull open the rusted door. The door itself squeaked loudly as its hinges moved, but once it was fully open, the girl took in a deep breath and let out a, "got it!" Which echoed greatly across the walls of the building inside. Looking in, there was a spiral staircase that lead up, with a ceiling that was about twenty feet high. The air inside was musty and the room itself was dark and hard to see in, with very little light filtering in. All the same, the group was able to see a few pokemon taking shelter in the building, though whenever they were spotted they seemed to be doing their best to avoid the people instead of attack. All the same, gesturing inside she looked to her companions as if waiting for one of them to go in first, she said, "shall we, team?"

Marie watched in horror as the two larvitar began to fall from the mountain. And she could do no more than just watch as the two larvitar passed by her and Nani. Her hands were firmly gripping to the mountain, without any ability to keep them from falling to their doom the girl turned her gaze away as she braced herself for the inevitable hit on the ground. However, as a gust of wind made its way up the mountain, the girl couldn't help but turn her gaze back to the bottom, seeing Trevor with both of the kids in hand as he had managed to fly up and catch them. The girl let out a sigh of relief, figuring that she should apologize to Trevor when all was said and done. However, before she could begin her descent, the legend atop the volcano let out a roaring challenge at them once again. As the legend demanded for them to fight back, Marie couldn't help but shout out one word. "No!" As she did, Heatran let out another bellowing roar, causing the volcano to shake more. "Stop that!" Looking to Nani, she said, "we should probably get down now." With that, the girl started making her way down the shaking mountain. Nine was glad that they were willing to hear them out and not kill the deputy of Juyu where she stood. He was less glad that in order to make sure she didn't, they had to participate in some other village's war. Nine didn't know much about how Alpha and Omega got along with each other, other than that they didn't, but he was surprised to see things between them were truly this bad. All the same, the offer had stood and it wasn't like Nine really had a choice in the matter. Looking to the two he said, "well, if you'll exonerate my companion I'll gladly help you deal with your rivals." Granted, he probably would have said yes anyway even if the circumstances weren't so dire for Kayla. "And, she herself is a woman of peace keeping, so I'm sure she'd help as well." Looking to the Enforcer he then asked, "but just so I know what I'm getting into, how would you say you stack up against what we're against."

Any anger or agitation that Ryia had felt towards the initial scoffing at their curse was immediately replaced with both a strange sense of relief, confusion and concern. The girl couldn't help but feel relieved that they had never actually been cursed and that however callous the council may have seemed, they had not actually done something to them to hamper or kill them. This relief was even doubly so as they learned that the chosen of wind had never actually died, and instead was just an illusion that they had displayed to them. That she was still alive and free from this conflict had at least some comfort to the girl, though the lengths to which the council was willing to go to motivate them unsettled her all the same. Yet despite these conflict feelings, one thing stood out in particular to her. Were they never cursed what was it that affiliated Kha? That there was something else lurking inside of them, or at least just one of them, was enough to leave her unsettled. When all was said and done though, it had seemed that the Chosen of Wind had changed mantles, now belonging to the small dark skinned elf before them. The girl herself seemed bright and earnest, somewhat reminding her of their halfling companion with a bit less of their eccentricities. The whole idea that there was new chosen amongst them had taken the girl by surprise, and added to the fact that her draken companion seemed to be shaking with what Ryia could only presume was a great fury. Feeling greatly awkward, between her companion's frustration, the council before them, and the new chosen introducing themselves, Ryia was starting to feel like it would be best to leave the room sooner than later. All the same, she turned to the new chosen and returned her bow. "Um, a - um - pleasure to meet you. Pyrrha. I'm Ryia Mariote, Chosen of Earth. I look forward to um, working alongside you." Looking back to Reinaan, the girl said, "um right." Ryia looked back to the council and asked, "um, where should we take our friend?" As the girl asked, a portal had opened and a person had stepped out and come to take the halfling. Ryia was a bit surprised at this, but bowed gratefully to them as well for their assistance.

Jacklyn smiled as Ivan asked his question about shopping, saying, "of course Ivan. After all, part of adventure is seeing and experiencing new sites and locations. And the best way to get a feel for where you are is through its shops!" Turning to the side, she said, "or so I've heard." In truth, Jacklyn still was an avid window shopper and she was greatly interested in seeing what it was that every where had to offer. However, as she was ready to start going forward, she was stopped by Ivan's next question. While disappointed at first, the girl looked in the direction Ivan was and her eyes lit up. An old looking lighthouse that, while seeming grand at first, more interestingly seemed abandoned on further inspection. Knowing that a place like this was ripe for the exploring, Jacklyn turned to her male companion. "Good work Ivan! Your adventurer's intuition is really showing." Now excited to go check it out, Jacklyn pointed towards the building saying, "onward team!" And with that, she began making her way over, dragging Belle along with her.

Stella continued to watch out the window as Bianca had asked her about her own mech. Shaking her head, Stella said, "no, I don't think that I'd be much help out there." The girl was definitely worried, as their own mechs had been sustaining a good deal of damage. However, the sight of the dwindling banditos made her think that her decision was the right one to stay behind. That she didn't need to go out there. Even if she did go out there and pilot her mech and come to their aid, even if she could make it out there in time it wouldn't matter. The girl looked at her own shaking hand, trying to calm it, before looking back to the screen. "Things seem to be going our way though, right?"

Adjusting her hat, Jun was already making her way from one end of the campus to the other. Sure she had been bummed not too recently, as classes seemed to have started giving out a great deal of "mandatory readings" already, but that had all changed in light of other recent events. It was the first day of clubs, which also meant it was the first day of their team meeting up. Getting ready to start her third year, Jun was all the more excited to finally feel like a real upperclassman to all of the new members joining this year. And with her becoming vice captain, she could feel like one even more so! The girl's mood then suddenly took a downward turn as she realized what was most likely to happen. They were supposed to have a team meeting today. They were supposed to tell all the team members about what to expect, what to prepare for and then do some practice and advising. Of course, most of this was on the captain and his duty. And it was for that very reason, Jun's mood had dropped. "Knowing him," she started mumbling to herself, "he'll probably go like, 'oh sorry Hattie, but I got a hot date with a coffee machine that gets ornery when I don't brew with her. You can take over right? Hahaha' tch!" The last part came out much louder than the rest as the girl seemed upset, only to seem to level out again. Regardless of the work she'd have to do, Jun was still happy to be able to go and see the new faces there. And so, with a spring in her step and a smile on her face, Jun continued to make her way to the across campus to the team's meeting place.

Leon listened as the two gave their points about it, thinking on the matter more closely. He wasn't very keen on just letting someone leave and wander all their own, nor was he entirely comfortable with handing someone he hardly knew the authorities on the little pretense of her had. All the same, Rona's points were valid and if she were both a criminal and dangerous to them, then he didn't want to expose the rest of the falcons to danger on their behalf. Not to mention Rona's confidence in taking on the Aeoran army was both assuring to him yet also ominous all the same. As the two had seemed to reach a stalemate in both of their opinions, Leon stood up and said, "well, I can't do much about this when I don't know enough about our client. I'll go and speak with her myself," gesturing to those around him he said, "you're all welcome to come along with me and speak with her if you like." With that, Leon moved to the inside of the Falcon's base, where he saw the girl named Edda painting. Looking at it, the girl hadn't seem to have gotten that far in to it, merely creating what appeared to be a dark blue and gray arch towards the top of the painting. As he stepped forward, the girl paused and then looked around. Seemingly startled at the man, he looked curiously at her only for her to clear her throat and take on her sharp expression once again as she asked, "who are you?" Looking at the girl, the man sighed and said, "I'm Leon. Commander of this company. Layne told me that you were in need of an escort, but if I'm going to find you one, I need to know more about you. So?" The girl sighed at the mention of Layne's doing, muttering under her breath before she looked back. "Fine. If you won't let this go, what do you want to know?"

Ross stood there for a bit, waiting for someone to respond to her message. She wasn't really sure how long was a good time to wait, or if she was actually reaching out to anybody. But, she also didn't have anything else to do outside of talk to a doctor about getting blood donations - which now that she thought about it more confused her with the sheer impossibility of how that subject would've been not an hour prior. All the same, the doctor was probably more likely than not going to be at a hospital but her fellow fighters were probably not going to always be in this arena. So she stayed put and waited. Time had seemed to move slowly from then on, as the girl continuously checked her watch only to see that a few minutes had passed by each time she checked. She attributed this to the featureless-ness of the room, not even really giving her something arbitrary to count or pass the time ruminating about as she did so. She supposed that lack of something was its own thing in this case, but even the prospect of thinking on that was boring to her. Thankfully, it didn't really take all that much time, as something new entered the room. Looking at the curious duo - a witch and a...tiger elf? - Ross gave a small wave to them. "Yo." Putting her hands in her pocket the girl said, "I take it you guys are some of the other fighters here?" Taking her hands out of her pocket she pointed to her watch she said, "like I said before, name's Ross. I kind of just, woke up here and met the Boss lady. I guess you're also supposed to give a neat fact about yourself at these things so um, I like to run. That's a thing I do a lot." Shrugging, feeling kind of awkward now that she wasn't talking to what she could only think of was the god of Dream World here and instead regular(?) people, she said, "so uh, how about you two?" Xia watched the game with great intensity, practically leaning off the side of the stands in the arena. With a few "oooohs" and "aaaahs" the girl continued to admire the back and forth between the two. The strength with which Cam had hit the ball was not unfamiliar to the girl, but she was more impressed with how he seemed to keep up with Val even after she managed to hit it back. Feeling all the more riled up to play more tennis, the girl continued to watch their match with great fervor.

Yuuka shook her head as Katsurou commented on his notes on her and said, "not really, no. I apologize, but for the most part, I only have notes on things I've seen or the things you've all said. But I look forward to seeing what you can do in the future." It was then that conversation had turned to Kessandra and how she had done with her answer. Yuuka put a finger to her chin as she thought about it, and said, "well, you have a point there. Most of the other answers were about helping others in some capacity. Hers however was more in line of defeating others." Thinking on it for a moment Yuuka the continued, "I suppose the end result is the same, and she certainly seemed as passionate as someone like Ms. Clark was. But, that difference in mentality and selfishness in approach, well." The girl closed her notebook as she finished, "it either leads to the worst kind of hero, or the most dangerous kind of villain." Her somewhat grim expression from their talk had made way to a more pleasant one as she gave a wave to Katsurou. "Well, I hope I may be of service to you then. Pleasant meeting you Yamauchi-san." Once that conversation had finished, Yuuka stood up from her chair and packed her bags. It had appeared that everyone else had already done so, and as per her own norm, Yuuka was the last one to leave her classroom. Walking outside, the girl got to her bike, unlocking it and getting aboard it. Pedaling down the street, the girl began her long trek home as she had the thoughts of all that had happened today. Speeding along, the girl muttered to herself, "what does it mean to be a hero?" Kessandra's answer hadn't been the only one lacking, she had known, it was just the one that had stuck out the most. As the other's answers continued to play in her head, the girl eventually gave up on the line of thought and merely smiled to herself. She couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. Opening the door to her home, a much more mellow expression on her face as she did so, the young girl simply called out, "I'm home." "Oh, home already Yuu-chan?" Yuuka had a look of surprise cross her face as, after taking off her shoes, she made her way quickly to the living room where the voice had come from. Looking at the silver haired woman in a suit, seemingly exhausted as she was lying face first on a table, she looked over to the young girl with a smile on her face. "Mom, what are you doing home?" "Well, I couldn't just miss my precious daughter's first day at a new school could I?" Sitting up, the woman's smile broke into a sigh as she said, "well, that's what I'd like to say. Really, my meeting just got pushed back to tomorrow so I had some free time." Though her face briefly broke with disappointment, it quickly righted itself to her usual smiling expression saying, "well, glad that you're home." Sitting down on the couch, placing her bag there, the girl sifted through it before presenting her mother a pen and the paper. "Here, I need you to sign this. It's for a class field trip." Taking it, the woman kept her eyes on her daughter as she said, "oh my, a trip in the first week? And here I thought my daughter was going to a dignified private school." The girl turned her eyes away from her mother, yet despite her teasing, the woman signed it without really looking further at the paper. "Here you are." Presenting the paper, Yuuka took it and simply stowed it away. "Sooo, are you gong to tell your mother about your first day, Yuu-chan?" Putting her finger to her chin, the girl smiled as she said, "well, it was fun. We just had an introduction to most of the subjects we'd be learning about." Sighing, the woman said, "sounds like loads of fun." Perking up, she smiled and said, "oh, how about your classmates. Any of them...catch your interests yet?" The woman raised an eyebrow as she awaited her daughter's response. Putting a finger to her chin she said, "well, there's a beetle and a bat. The bat can scream really well too." The girl figured they were the most unique of her classmates. Her mother, however, looked shocked, simply saying, "Yuu-chan, I think we need to talk about your taste in men." Yuuka merely tilted her head to the side, confused. The day continued to pass by as the two talked a bit and watched television, only for Yuuka's mother to make her way to the kitchen, and come back with two steaming cups of ramen. "Here you go, mother's house special!" Placing it in front of her daughter, the two went about their business, slurping down the cup noodles before the woman started again saying, "sorry I couldn't make something more grand for your first day. But they gave me extra hours to work in the morning, so I've gotta be up bright and early." While she seemed to keep up her upbeat attitude, the woman's facade momentarily broke way to one of fatigue. Perking back up the woman said, "I'll be out long before you have to go, so do you want me to wake you up?" With a smile on her face, Yuuka waved the notion off saying, "don't worry about it. I haven't been tardy yet, and I don't plan on starting to this year either." The woman laughed as she made a pinching motion at the air next to the young girl's cheek saying, "of course, my daughter is so reliable after all. Well, I'll be heading to bed now. Good luck with school Yuu-chan." Getting up from her seat, placing the empty cup of noodles on the table, the woman began to make her way to her bedroom, giving a wave to her daughter. Yuuka began reaching out her hand, but stopping short she merely smiled and waved back to her mother. Once the door had shut, Yuuka merely let out a sigh and took out her notebooks, flipping through the pages of each of them. Yuuka was certainly eager to begin the quirk evaluations that were going on. Not necessarily because she was eager to show off her own quirk - in fact it most certainly did not seem suited to her at all. However, this did mean that she would be able to see all of the hero-to-be's quirks at full display. Of course, being on a field such as this, the girl couldn't exactly tote around all of her notebooks out here. As such, the girl had an intense look of concentration on her face as each student went up to the different trials, examining each of them and trying to burn everything about what they did and how they did it into her memory. As she felt the pat of her teammate Diana, the girl smiled and said, "well, I'll do my best." Stepping up, it didn't particularly matter which order she did them in, and so the girl went with what would take the least time to most. As such, the girl was punching bag test. Stepping up to the bag, the girl took in a deep breath, cracking her knuckles as she would her fist back up. Throwing an awkward punch, the girl hit the bag as hard as she could, and the results certainly showed it. Pulling her hand back, shaking it out a bit after punching the bag, it was revealed that Yuuka did...as expected. Results - Average (for a female her age) Next was the shooting range. Looking at the targets, Yuuka thought about how she would go about this. There wasn't exactly anything for the girl to use as she was just to rely on her quirk, and so the girl decided to give it her best shot with just that. Taking yet another deep breath, the girl focused on the liquid in her palms, as it slowly turned to mist and slowly gathered into a small ball. Winding back, and pitching it like a baseball, the girl through it at the mock villain targets. The ball itself wasn't aimed at any of them in particular, nor was it aimed that great, but it didn't have to be. As it got to its destination, the small ball exploded into a cloud of mist, that lingered around the targets as it enveloped a large radius. Of course, as they weren't living villains, her mist didn't seem to do anything at all, but Yuuka still seemed to have a satisfied expression her face. Results - Hit All of Them (but didn't really do anything to them) Yuuka brought herself to the final trial in this evaluation. An obstacle course. Without saying a word, the girl merely got into a runner's starting position and began to sprint up the hill before her. While Yuuka didn't seem to be the athletic sort, her body was that of the honed academic. Having never been one to use public transit to get to place, Yuuka had always elected to walk or run places then take a bus or train. As a girl who prided herself on a perfect attendance record as well, this meant that she mornings where she had not waken up at the perfect time (more often then she'd like to admit,) were filled mad morning dashes. As such, her stamina was forged by the fires of the academia, with her legs having been honed to cross many a hill in record time. As such, when she took off to run up the hill at the start, she had managed to rush up it and clear the first of the obstacles in surprising (but not too impressive) time. As the girl continued onward, she had but the second obstacle to clear next. One that required the person to walk between two walls, using the whole body to keep themselves balanced between it and shimmy through. Naturally, Yuuka had the body of a honed academic. And so with plenty of stamina to go, she was in no danger of getting tired between these walls. However, the majority of her arm strength had been built up from carrying copious amounts of notebooks where she went and always writing down in them. As such, she had something akin to noodles for arms in terms of raw strength, as she attempted to keep herself suspended between the two walls. Her first attempt, she botched it, slipped and fell. Her second attempt, she managed to get her hands and feet between the walls, but it was clumsily done and so she fell once more. Her third attempt, she managed to keep herself stuck between the two walls. While this was certainly a step forward in the right direction, Yuuka couldn't actually move forward and so just hung there. Until she started to slip and fell down once more. Result - Failed at the second hurtle (but hung on admirably)

Katou Megumi (Saekano) Sakurajima Mai (Bunny-Senpai) Nanami Chiaki (DonganRonpa 2) Tsushima Yoshiko (Love Live Sunshine!) Kisaragi Chihaya (Idolmaster) Hayasaka Ai (Kaguya-sama) Meltryllis (Fate/Extra CCC) Mash Kyrelight (Fate/Grand Order) Kirisame Marisa (Touhou) Olivia (Fire Emblem)

With their goodbyes spoken, the group of Chosen had made their way back to the councils tower. Ryia sighed as their new companion made an audible scoff at the grandiose structure before them, and the girl didn't exactly blame him for it. The council hadn't exactly been the most welcoming to them the last time they arrived here, and she wasn't sure how they'd treat them this time around as well. All the same, stepping up, the girl looked to the gate and announced herself, saying, "Um, Ryia, Chosen of Earth. May we um, enter?" The girl felt incredibly awkward with just announcing herself to a building, but it had seemed to be heard as a portal opened up. Walking inside, the Chosen were met with three of the council members. While she had recognized Saleh, the girl wasn't sure who the two other were nor was she sure she wanted to. They had seemed generally demeaning and discontent with the current state of the group, which Ryia couldn't exactly argue about as their numbers had dropped a considerable deal. Not to mention they themselves were still worse for wear from the encounter, and even still with the daunting fact that there were seven more to still defeat. While her own doubts and the doubts of the council before them were starting to weigh on her here, she snapped out of it as Saleh asked for them to explain what had happened. Between the five of them, they had managed to tell the whole tale of what had happened. Their arrival at the outpost that had been filled with bandits and being attacked by sand sharks. Their trip to Sol. Their defense against the bandits and their raid on the bandit camp. Their travels through the desert. Their fight with the scorpions, the abandoned building and the lamia underneath it. Their trip to the rock spire and ensuing fight against the sharks, the fire mage and the demon gate. Their reclamation of the sun stone and the night sky, their new ally and their trip back here. When all was said and done, Ryia looked to Saleh and said, "um, there is uh, something else. The mage we fought - I don't really know much about it because um, I didn't read it myself, but um - he was - used to be? Um, a member of the council."

Making her way up the side of the volcano, the young girl continued to grit her teeth as she was being pushed back by the sandstorm. She looked at the Larvitar and shouted, "no, we'll talk about it now! Your father was worried about you and Allie, and we're here to make sure that you don't do anything stupid or dangerous and - get this stupid storm off of me!" Annoyed and not making much progress, the girl took a deep breath and held a long and soft note as she seemed to sing. As she finished it, storm clouds began to form overhead as the sand and wind was quelled with a sudden drizzle of rain. With the path cleared she kept going, one hand after the other, as she said, "now climbing in the rain is very dangerous, so stop and get down here." Nine's feeling about what had happened was more or less correct. In hindsight, he probably should've tried to keep the girl along with them, but she was a slippery one and he hardly doubt he could've stopped her from doing what she did best. Unfortunately, it seemed like she was in quite a bind now, and Nine was now certainly on edge with her life hanging in the balance here. Looking at them, Nine tried his best to stay calm as he said, "well, I assure you, she didn't mean any harm. She only means the best and I assure you, she didn't mean to break any of your laws or customs. As you said, we're guests and well," Nine looked to the building saying, "to me it doesn't look like a shrine at a glance, just something curious and different from the rest of the city."

One moment she had been on a plane to Germany. The next, she hadn't been any where. And now, all that the girl knew was that as she opened her eyes, she was met with a blinding light to contrast the pitch black void she had just been in. Shielding her face momentarily from the light, the girl took a second to realign herself, trying to make sense of where she was. The room didn't seem to have very much in the way of features, but the most obvious of them was not a "what" of the room but a "who." Stepping back and seeming cautious, the girl looked at the dapper woman who had come to greet her. While on guard, Ross eventually seemed to calm down a bit as she came to understand the situation. Ultimately, she was some kind of magic lady that had teleported Ross to a city on a planet that was not earth to become some kind of fighter in an arena of sorts. It was a lot to take in all at once, and while Ross had very many questions about what was going on, she settled down as she figured one of three things was happening. Ross was going crazy. This was all a dream. Or she was summoned here by a magic entertainer to partake in a sport based combat. Ross figured that two was the most likely, though there was something telling her that this thought was wrong. All the same, when the woman had finally finished her introduction, Ross's usual level expression had returned as she looked to the woman at the screen. "Well, I held down the same job for four years, so shouldn't be a problem. All I have to do is fight right? Anything goes?" "Only in the Arena, and only who you're directed to, but yes just fight...oh and no nudity, please." Ross was taken off guard by the last comment, stammering out a, "wha-" but stopped herself. Collecting herself, the girl understood that it was basically the same job, just a different boss. Needing to make sure that it was just indeed gladiator-esque combat, she asked, "and just other fighters in the arena. You don't have any demons that need hunting or anything?" Mauvache smirked. "No, though there are events you can take part in. But nothing outside of the Arena." "Got it." Ross nodded. Having a good understanding of her situation, Ross stopped herself for a moment as she realized something about that comment. Looking back to the monitor she asked, "um, this is going to sound weird but everything else has so, you wouldn't happen to have demons around would you? I have a special kind of...diet, to keep in mind." "Ah, that's right, those creatures in your world are called demons aren't they? Unfortunately those creatures don't exist here but fear not, I've already contacted a certain doctor who will be able to give you a synthetic solution that will help." With an expression that read, "of course she does," Ross shrugged and then asked, "alright. Where can I meet this doctor?" "He should be at the hospital right now. Though would you like to meet your fellow fighters first?" "I've got nothing else on my schedule. So sure." Mauvache thought about it for a moment and the smiled wide. "Why don't you message them yourself? Introduce yourself that way and offer to meet up. It could be a good way to give your own first impression after all." Ross looked down to her newly acquired watch, saying, "sure." The girl marveled the device on her wrist, both in the strides that seemed to have been made in watch technology and that it seemed to be fine on her arm at all. Getting acclimated with the device, the girl eventually found a list of contacts that were filled what she could only assume were the other fighters. To: All From: Ross Hey. I'm new to this arena thing and the boss told me to do some kind of meet and greet with you all. So, yeah. I'm Ross. I'm at the arena right now. Hi. Finishing her message, the girl then looked back to the monitor. "Well, if I wake up tomorrow and this is all still real, then I guess I look forward to working with you Boss." "Oh, don't be silly." Mauvache said with a chuckle. "Who's to say what is real or not anyway?" The woman then gave a short bow, heading for the door as she did. Ross sighed as the woman made her way out the room. Ross had worked with a very strange collection of people in her time with the DHG, but she had a feeling that this was about to take the cake for that.

The ride to the next city had settled down as the boat continued on its track. Looking at the horizon, as it came into view, Jacklyn couldn't help but be in awe. Taking her camera out, the girl took a picture of the view as the city came into view. Looking at it once over, the girl smiled before pocketing her camera away. As they made touchdown on the docks, Jacklyn took in a nice deep breath before going downstairs. "Alright lazybones, it's time to get a move on." Grabbing Belle, the girl hoisted her off the couch to her feet and had to start dragging her along. As she made her way off the ship, she looked to the trio they were leaving behind and waved saying, "nice meeting you guys. Hope we see you on the road again. And uh," she looked to Naomi, then back to Belle, then to Oswald and Kanon saying, "good luck with yours." Dragging the girl off the boat, the adventuring team had entered the city proper. With her eyes wide and sparkling, Jacklyn turned back to the others of her team and said, "you see this guys, we're here! We're finally in a new region! Well, I guess we always were, but now we're here in one proper!" With more enthusiasm in her voice she said, "and when you're in a new city, the first thing to go do is shopping!" Pumping her fist into the air, the girl pointed forward saying, "let's see what they have!"

Marie continued to power up the mountain, only to stop as she heard someone else calling for her. Looking to the side, she had seen that Nani was scaling the volcano alongside her. Pouting at her comment, Marie replied saying, "no, he's not coming, because he's too busy "watching" them from down there." Continuing to scale up the mountain, the larvitar that they were chasing after responded to Marie's call, and did so by throwing sand down at both her and Nani. With the wind making it much harder to climb, in addition to her eyes stinging now, Marie could only grimace as Nani made her comment. "It's lovely!" She practically shouted, sarcasm as well evident in her voice as she then grumbled, "when I get my hands on those little.." Working herself up again, Marie kept climbing as best she could as she shouted out, "I'm Marie, and I was sent by your dad to make sure you're alright. And you clearly aren't!" In spite of the air that Gwen's father was giving off, Nine felt himself able to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of the house. This was soon disrupted as the a Ghastly came to inform them of something Nine could only assume was Kayla sneaking around. In hindsight, he probably should've seen this coming, yet he wasn't just going to leave his friend high and dry here. As the Dusknoir decided to go and check on the issue, Nine got up from his seat. "Apologies for the commotion, but I feel like I should go check on this as well. Was lovely meeting you all and I hope to be back soon." With a smile and a wave, Nine made his way out of the house to follow after the two ghosts.