Faytl

Gray wished often that he had a handler that was easier to work with than Luciano. The young man had told him about the ToSoft advertisement fifteen minutes after the posted time, and his single response to Gray asking why he hadn't been informed sooner had consisted of a rude remark and a ruder gesture. Still, Gray had endured it and set out onto the city streets, walking slower than he would have liked due to his knees having started falling apart seven years ago. He hadn't had the chance to go into the doctor about it yet; Doctors cost money, and he certainly didn't have enough disposable income for one of them. On particularly bad days he would tap into his ESPer abilities, appearing many meters away in an unobserved back alley, always feeling slightly guilty that he had used these strange abilities for something as simple as a quick jaunt to spare his failing body. Today was already feeling like one of those days. He was tired, even moreso than normal, and a wedge of a headache was building in the space behind his eyes. That strange dream he had had that morning. So unsettling, so bizarre... And at the very least it was different than the dream that had played in his head for the last six months. For that he was almost grateful. This one was easier to endure, no matter how horrific the screaming was. Somehow his own was still hard to take. There was a single guard posted outside ToSoft, a guard who looked very much like he had drawn a short straw to be there that day and was none too happy about it. Gray could feel his eyes on him from halfway down the block, see every twitch of his eyes that went to his suit, nice but rumpled, to his shoes, slowly scuffing across the sidewalk, to the tired shell of a face that surmounted it. He could feel the narrowing of the eyes. He didn't like Gray, the man could tell. Gray always felt like very few people liked him. Perhaps even these normal humans (he noted absolutely no trace of PPL from the man easily) could feel the tingle up their spine, the strange itching at the back of their eyes that meant Gray was watching. "Answering the advertisement," he said simply, standing back respectfully from the guard and inclining his head briefly. The guard was all too eager to get rid of him, ushering him inside with a wave of his hand. Gray saw the impressions of footprints on the floor, around the stairs and elevator, and there was something here... No, something that had once been here. Almost like remains. None physical, no blood, no viscera. It was all psychic in nature, like trails of blood traced upon the stair wall in invisible ink. A lot of it, too. Someone's showing off, he mused to himself quietly as he stepped down a small hallway. His target was not the higher floors. Luciano had been very clear on that. You're not there to make friends, Gray. Figure out how many of these guys are crackpots wavin' 'round a buncha' herbs an' shit, and how many are like YOU. Preferably someone who can actually pull a trigger for me. Gray wasn't too keen to place himself in the fray regardless. He was confident the average human posed little issue for him. Ghosts he had much less active experience with. And until he had more than a straggling handful of ESPers at his back he was rather keen on keeping it that way. His target wasn't the ghost. His target were the ones removing it. And there were easier ways to see those than to place himself within their sphere. Even eyes like mine can use a pair of glasses sometimes, he observed to himself as he rounded the corner towards the security room. The door was closed but of course someone was inside. He could see all that they saw, see the screen they were observing and the figures that moved across it. Could sense that they were an ESPer as well. Not a high PPL but that mattered very little; She would feel the itching behind her eyes and the sense of someone looming behind their shoulder that Luciano always complained about eventually, he knew. He didn't bother with subterfuge. After all, Luciano wanted the best of the best, and this one had been the only one to try and employ the same tactic Gray had. He knocked lightly on the door, just a handful of light taps. The gaze inside swung around to face the door as he slowly opened it, very quick, very sharply. Alert, this one. Shortly thereafter he had no need to see through her eyes as he gently opened the door, gazing in to see a young woman, rather short, somewhere in her twenties, if he had to guess. "Apologies if I surprised you," he said quietly. As Mei heard the knock, she turned. Some old man. Pretty finely dressed, too. It didn't seem like he was an ESPer though, which prompted a bit of an issue. "S..." But what if he was some kind of hitman!? No no, that would be ridiculous. But this guy was super suspicious! New people were scary. "Sorry... building's closed." "I know, don't worry... Place is deserted, course I wouldn't walk into the heart of the camera system without good cause... The advertisement was rather unusual, don't you think?" Gray didn't move from his space in the doorway. The woman at the computer was looking at him with distrust in her eyes, clear as day. Best not to chance spooking her by stepping in any further, not for now at least. "Seems you had the same idea I did... Always pays to get an eyeful of what's in store for you, right?" So he was one of those exorcists who saw the ad. She didn't see him on the cameras at any point though. He wasn't here to kill ghosts, then. Which this man was either a charlatan... or a particularly dangerous ESPer, if she couldn't even pick up that he was an ESPer in the first place. Mei hesitantly nodded, able to at least agree that seeing what was in store always paid off. "The only promising person in that bunch is dead," she plainly announced. A bit of a lie, that. There was one other figure that showed some promise as a new recruit, but the line between "person" and "monkey" was so thin yet also so very distinct. "If you're some sort of talent agent, this job is a total bust." "Dead?" Gray couldn't hide his dismay. "So it's serious then, is it?" A sinking feeling in his stomach was born. Something that could kill an ESPer... Was this the same thing that had killed Lucy? One quick glance over Mei's shoulder at the screen at the very least dissuaded that worry for the moment; Whatever had taken his wife had not left nearly that much blood in its wake. "Looks like our caution payed off... If this is something capable of killing someone 'promising', as you put it, I don't think I belong anywhere near it." He put a hand out towards Mei, palm open for a waiting handshake. Still not entering the room. Still something in the back of his mind telling him to let her make the first move. "I'm Gray," he said, ignoring the alias Luciano had yelled at him to use; If he was ever going to get other ESPers on his side lying to them about the most basic things about him was not the way to start. "I would like to watch what happens with you... After all if things are as serious up there as you say... Somebody should, right?"

The Perfect Observer

Leiko spent the drive to the grocery store in a daze. The wind blowing her hair out behind her fully exposed her face, which was distant and lost-looking. She had barely spent a full minute outside in getting to the facility that morning, it felt like a prison transfer. A stark contrast to now. As she sat in the truck she found herself marveling at perfectly ordinary things she hadn't had a chance to see for months. People riding bikes, smoke rising from chimneys. It all seemed so unreal, not having seen it in so long. As they walked up to the store, she was shocked to realize something else. This was really happening. She was allowed to walk around outside. I could just run away if I wanted. "What about you?" Leiko didn't snap back into reality until Barbatos had separated from them and Octavia directly addressed her. She blinked, surprised, looking wildly between the two. How on earth they were so cam she didn't know. They had been in these experiments far longer, hadn't they? "Um... I uh..." She faltered for a second before she realized what it was they were actually talking about. "Oh, I don't really want anything," she said simply. "I just..." she looked around the store, absently following after the other two. It suddenly felt strange to be here. The people all moving around them, the tall aisles. Smaller. Claustrophobic. "I just wanted to be out of the facility for a bit," she admitted, scratching at her ear, tilting her head away so as not to look at them. "It's... I'm not sure why it's so strange to me, being out here. And not you guys."

Romy frowned as the details on Devimon were spilled to her. Ob's eyes were widening, and he scuttled about nervously. "D-D-Devimon? He's a bad d-d-dude, Romy, real bad. He's way stronger than me, and meaner!" "But the only way out is the roof?" Romy asked quietly. "That means we'd have to do something about Devimon at some point anyway..." Ob shuddered. "Oooooh, not me, I don't think. He'd have me for breakfast!" Romy allowed herself a small smile. "Don't you think your fire would give him heartburn, Ob?" "Maybe," he mused, distracted briefly. "Devimon's not a fire Digimon, so- Zubamon! Hey!" Romy turned to see the new arrivals, arching an eyebrow at the arrival of yet another Digimon. "We're collecting these guys real fast all of a sudden," she commented, crouching down to reach eye level with Zubamon. "Nice to meet you, Zubamon, I-" The sound of Devimon's laughter echoed through the hallways, causing Romy to freeze. Ob started to panick, scuttling behind Zubamon. "Oh no... Is that Devimon?" he asked, voice small. Romy was already running, the second Devimon threatened to kill she was going. "Everyone!" she shouted, rounding out the library door. "Everybody, run-" "ROMY!" Ob bit at the back of her ankle, drawing blood as he yanked backwards. Romy tripped, falling forward to the floor, slamming into it with the breath coming out of her lungs. She turned over and froze, breathing hard as two great beams of energy shot over her body, inches from her, humming with destructive power. She could feel their force pressing her into the ground even now. The next few seconds were a blur for her. Her hearing was temporarily shot, dulled by the humming force of the energy blasts even after they had ebbed. Ob's frantic calls barely reached her as she lay there panicking. Finally she managed to sit up, dazed. She heard somebody yelling at this new beast, Machinedramon, a weird green figure. She looked to the new arrival, confused. Then she heard it speak. "... Theodore?" she asked, now thoroughly sure she had died in the laser strike. "Romyromyromyromy!" Ob was pulling at her sleeve with his teeth, trying to pull her back to the library, quivering. "Th-th-that's Machinedramon! He's a Mega Level Digimon! We gotta go!" Romy stood unsteadily, looking at Machinedramon... and past him. Out the huge hole he had created. "... Ob. He cleared the way out. We can leave that way." His eyes widened like saucers. "Are you crazy?!" he yelled as Romy scooped him up, staggering towards the gym. "HE'S there! We can't go through a Mega Level Digimon! I'm just a Rookie!" "I don't know what that means," Romy explained softly, patting him on the head soothingly. "Basically HE'S the h-h-h-highest t-t-tier there is and I'm-" "Not the time, Ob," she assured him. "We don't need to go through him. We just need to go around. Can you use your fire breath for me? Please? I promise, I'll keep you safe." She looked with worry to Mackenzie and Kokoro, who weren't looking to be speedy either. "We have to try to keep them all that way." Ob was quiet for a second, then took a shuddering breath. "Um... I'll try?" he said, voice squeaky. He then opened his mouth, aiming it at Machinedramon. "Petit Flame!" A spiraling ball of embers spat from his mouth like it had issued from a potato cannon, spiraling through the air to impact on the heavy armor this thing wore. Romy turned and sprinted into the gym the second it hit, one eye over her shoulder at the beast. Come on... Give them an opportunity... Come after us! "MR. HENDERSON! Take the safe route... SHIELDS UP!"

"I've only learned recently how to race," Leiko stated simply, shrugging. "It's natural I'd be useless at it. I'll just have to do it more. Not today, though... Our duel really tired me out." She reached down to self-consciously touch the mark on her arm again. Why did it seem to hurt her so much more than Zirco? But one thing in particular stood out to Leiko: What Barbatos had said. "We can go outside?!" she asked suddenly, loudly, not realizing for a second that she was yelling in her surprise. She quickly put her hands over her mouth, reddening, clearly embarrassed. She was quiet for a moment, before eventually asking timidly: "Can... I'd like to go. Please?" She felt herself looking over to Morodate again, almost silently asking for permission. He scowled, but didn't look up to meet her gaze. She suddenly felt a huge, enormous desire to leave, to get out of the room away from him. She stood abruptly, pushing her plate away. "Yes, yes... I would like to go with you, please, Barbatos," she said, forcing calmness into her voice. She fell in beside Natsumi, visibly losing tension in her body as she moved to leave the room and follow the man. Follow him out into fresh air.

"Oooooooh," Ob intoned, craning his head to look across the room at Wormmon. "You found a partner too, huh?" He puffed his chest out, snorting proudly as two thin trails of smoke issued from his nostrils. "Is she as cool as mine?" Romy shook her head, still trying to take in everything around her. The other Digimon in the room had thrown her off, and even that was secondary to Henderson's arm. "Well, Ob, we're not really 'partners,' are we? We just met each other. What do you mean by 'partner' anyway?" Ob looked up to her, seemingly dissapointed. "Aw, really? But I wanted you as a partner, Romy, you seem like the best one!" Romy smiled good-naturedly, trying to process that one. "Well, um, thank you Ob, but I assure you that really isn't true. Here." She moved further into the room, setting Ob down on the librarian's desk. "He's REALLY friendly," she assured Ms. Grace, Ob energetically giving a big grin that seemed stretched and nervous in the presence of the two adults in the room. "Mr. Henderson, these things are apparently called 'Digimon,'" Romy explained, pulling up a chair and sitting in it backwards, legs on either side of the chair's back. "That one is Vor... Well I call him Ob, but he was with a few others in here. The others ran off after them, I don't know where they are." She looked a the wound, biting her lip. "Mr. Henderson... What CAUSED that? There are so many more Digimon in this building than I thought and I'm scared... Okay? Now PLEASE, tell me..." She looked into the teacher's eyes, a touch sternly, but silently pleading. "... WHAT caused that, and what are we going to do about it?" Ob watched with wide eyes, slowly leaned over on one leg, and whispered out of the corner of his mouth, very loudly and audibly, to Ludomon: "She is SO cool, you guys." He then overbalanced and slipped off the desk, slamming into the ground with a cry of dismay and a shower of smoke.

Leiko gave a half-hearted smile as Zirco clapped her on the back, and as Shannon kept interjecting with compliments. It was hard to remain down in the shell of positivity between them, but somehow she wasn't convinced they were right. We ARE chosen, though... Maybe not by these dragons, but by someone... She looked over to the corner of the room. Morodate was deep in note-taking, not looking at her. Yet he was still here. Watching her. Mr. E's presence was odd and completely inexplicable, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he knew something they didn't. Mr. Kaiba's people chose us. For some reason. Or at least they chose them, she thought, gazing around the room at all the other Signers. And Houki... I was just second choice. She grew a touch misty-eyed at the thought of her sister, quickly turning to acknowledge Natsumi through the race-driven pileup or Zirco, Jet, and Tora that she suddenly found herself in the middle of. "Zirco and the others can tell you, I can ride one, but, I'm not very good at it... I only just started to learn... Well." She shrugged, tilting her head meekly towards Morodate. The man raised his eyes briefly, scowled, then lowered them again coldly. Leiko flinched away, before resuming the conversation. "Never really learned much before now myself... Zirco's WAY better at it," she ended matter-of-factly.

Romy, upon returning to the cafeteria, had absconded to a corner of the room, assuring everyone that the creature in her grip was not dangerous and was in fact very friendly. Vorvomon had watched with wide eyes the entire time, occassionally commenting on there being "so many humans" here. Romy had set him down on the table, then sat down, lowering her head into her arms to look at him face to face. The two had been talking to each other nonstop since. "What's a Digimon? You said you were one." "A digital monster; I'm an example of a Vorvomon!" "Are there more like you?" "A few, yeah." "Are you all named Vorvomon?" "Mmmmmyup." Romy tilted her head to the side, thinking this over. "Well, if there are more of you, how am I supposed to tell you apart from the other ones? How does anyone?" Vorvomon shrugged; It was an impressive feat given his anatomy. "Uuuuh, I'm not sure. Maybe I should wear some sort of hat." "Maybe I could call you something else." "But that's my name." "Sure, I mean like a nickname. If you're okay with that." He perked up at that. "A nickname? Ooh, like what?" Romy looked the little guy over. His still slightly smoking jaws. The black, rock-like scales. She reached out and tapped him on the snout, feeling the hard texture. "How about Obsidian? You look a bit like it." Vorvomon frowned. "Ob-shid-een?" he asked, his blocky jaw struggling with the word. Romy giggled. "Ob-sid-ian. It's a rock; Volcanic rock." "Ob-sheed-ee-an?" "You know what; Nicknames should be shorter than your actual name," Romy interrupted diplomatically. "How about... How about Ob? Just Ob." A few seconds of mulling went by for the Digimon. Eventually he smiled ear to ear. "I like it! Should I give you one too?" Romy smiled cheerily. "Of course you can, Ob." "Okay, uuuuuh... Okay, give me a second-" Romy felt the ground shake imperceptibly beneath her. She flinched, turning around to look behind her. She realized with trepidation that the cafeteria had emptied out during her conversation. "What was that?" she asked, concerned as she stood, looking at the door fearfully. Ob faltered, his orange horns glowing slightly. "Um, I dunno; Maybe one of the bigger Digimon is passing outside? I usually try to stay away from them." "Theo? Conner? Kokoro? Touch?" Her voice gradually rising, Romy strode forward, eventually breaking out into a run, starting to breathe heavier. Ob squawked in dismay "H-h-hey, wait up! I don't wanna be here by myself!" He flapped his wings, flying a few feet forward before plonking back onto the ground, waddling after Romy awkwardly. The girl forced herself to stop, turning back around and scooping up the Digimon. "I'm sorry Ob," she apologized as she pivoted, running out the door and down the hall. "I'm just... Things are very tense out here and the slightest thing could be... Could be real bad." "Bad?" Ob gulped, sweating slightly. "Naaah, it'll all be fine; Everything's gonna be just-" "MR. HENDERSON!" Romy yelled in dismay as she stopped at the library door, arrested at the sight of their teacher inside, receiving treatment for the huge wound he was sporting. The sight of the blood had stopped her in her tracks, eyes wide and starting to slowly fill with panic. Ob gazed down slowly. "Yeah, ooh, I uh... Really jinxed that one, huh?"

Leiko looked like a little bit of a wreck. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot and she looked very small sitting next to Zirco at the table. She had taken a small amount of food, even though she was famished, eating it slowly and methodically, looking like she was about to fall over. She felt exceptionally tired. The duel had drained her, especially towards the end when Red Dragon Archfiend Hot Red had been summoned. She still felt phantom twinges of pain in her arm every couple of minutes, twitching at the sensation each time. It took her a second to even realize she was being talked to when Kiyoko inquired about their duel. She kept eating, spending several seconds before blinking in surprise and looking over distractedly, after Shannon had already begun speaking. Acting like it was a rousing success or something. "It wasn't simple as all that," she admitted, looking back to her plate. "I still surrendered, Shannon. I couldn't bring myself to face the Duel Dragon." She reached out to grab a bagel, turning it round and round in her hands as she slowly pulled it apart, eating each small piece one at a time. "Morodate is right, I'm not ready for this... Yet. I still have a lot of work to do to catch up with the rest of you. Even with Clear Mind."

Jin sighed with relief when the Wailmer finally disappeared, Wisteria on the other side, looking back at him cheerfully, as if she had no idea of the chaos happening around her. "Wisteria!" He darted forward, seizing his chance to move into the open space Poro had left, his backpack slipping and almost knocking Rangi for a loop as he scooped Wisteria out of Cherie's hands. "Budew-Budew!" she exclaimed cheerily, nestling into the crook of his arm. "Why'd you run off like that? Someone could have stepped on you in here." He looked up to Cherie, looking a touch embarassed. "Sorry about that... I just got her, we're still figuring each other out. Ran off all excited-like." He caught sight of the bad-tempered Houndour, wincing back slightly before his interest was renewed. "Ah, Houndour, eh?" He crouched down to get a better look, not noticing Wisteria sticking her tongue out at Cerbi. He had been breathing hard, face red, but now that his attention was not on his missing Pokemon he definitely looked much calmer. "Fire and... Dark Type, right?" He tilted his head to get a good look at the Pokemon, very interested.

"Theodore, maybe now's not the time to..." Romy trailed off, slightly embarassed by how the boy was acting. He was always cheerful in times like these, which was nice, but the rumbling tile up above was giving Romy the idea that maybe now they needed to be a bit more serious. Luckily, Kokoro agreed. Unfortunately, her timing was slightly off. "Kokoro!" she yelled out, seeing Conner whip around the corner, but she was too late. In a whirl, the three creatures were knocked from the ceiling, cascading onto Connor like a rockfall. In a split second, the group was splitting, chasing after the creatures while Dominic tackled the dragon creature off of Connor. The black-skinned dragon beat his tiny wings furiously, jumping out of Dominic's grip and plonking directly on top of his head. "OW!" he yelled out, smoke billowing from his mouth as he panted for breath, trying to keep out of Dominic's grasp. His body was too heavy to fly properly, and he just kept dancing at the end of Dominic's reach, repeatedly falling back down to slam into him purely by accident. "Lemeegolemmegolemmegolemmego!" he called out desperately. Romy came to a stop by Conner and Theo, making a brief check of the boy to determine he was still conscious. "Conner, are you okay?" she asked, concerned. She looked back over to Dominic and the dragon creature, biting her lip. "Theo, I have to help him," she told the boy, raising her voice mid-sentence to talk over his ramblings. "Get Conner to the- Theo, he's ALRIGHT," she assured him, straightening. "Get him to the cafeteria, PLEASE, then... tell the others Kokoro and Chis might need help. There's more of these things." She turned then, dashing to Dominic's aid, jumping up and scooping the dragon creature into her grasp just as he cleared Dominic's reach. "OOP," the creature cried out in surprise as he was grabbed, squirming in surprise. Romy struggled to keep her grip, losing her footing. She fell forward, the dragon between her and the ground. She instinctively twisted her body, jerking the dragon so he faced upward, slamming her back into the floor with a loud gasp of air. She lay there, struggling to not release the dragon as she gasped for breath from the impact. "Wow..." The dragon creature perked up on her stomach, looking first to Dominic, then to her. Romy winced as the creature looked at her, massive jaws smoking. They looked big enough to close her entire head in them. "I... Please..." she began, unsure of what to say. "... You SAVED me!" The dragon leaped forward, nuzzling up to Romy affectionately. She blinked in confusion, unable to even flinch away from the heat emanating from this creature. "He's a tough one, that guy," he stated, turning around on her chest, the trails of smoke coming from his mouth ebbing away and watching Dominic warily. "Gonna try and get past her, tough guy?" he asked, his challenging tone uncertain, like he didn't use it very often. "Um... No, Dominic's not going to try anything," Romy assured the creature, taking advantage of his back being turned to give Dominic a meaningful glance. "You just scared us a bit is all, we can all just... help each other out now that things have calmed down." "Okay!" the creature exclaimed, stepping his surprising weight off of her chest to sit in Romy's lap as she straightened up into a sitting position, a little unsure of how to deal with this creature that was now sitting with her like a child. "Good thing, too; I was getting real scared up in the ceiling." "Was the smoke up there you?" Romy asked curiously. The creature looked away sheepishly. "Yeah... Fire breath isn't all it's cracked up to be. Hackmon kept telling me it was making it hard to see, but it's real TINY in there." "Hackmon? Is that one of the ones that fell out with you?" The creature nodded. "Well I guess that leaves the question... What's your name?" He straightened up, his orange horns glowing. "Vorvomon!" he exclaimed happily, lisping slightly on the first syllable. Romy looked up to the empty cieling tile, mulling on the revelation. "VorvoMON, HackMON... I don't suppose you're related?" "In that we're both Digimon, I guess." Romy looked down to the creature, raising an eyebrow. "Digimon? Well, Vorvomon, um... I'm Romy. And I think you should meet a couple of people." She punctuated her sentence with a smile to him, which he heartily returned.

Leiko's eyes slowly fluttered open. She saw the others standing around her in the garage. Saw Zirco. She turned her head away with difficulty, shame in her eyes. "I managed Clear Mind... And I couldn't summon a single dragon." "That's right. You couldn't." Morodate stood in the door to the garage, glaring into the assembled group. "I thought you achieving Accel Synchro was a sign you were ready to accept your responsibilities, Leiko... Clearly I was wrong." Leiko pulled herself up into a sitting position. One hand still held her arm, though the pain was only lingering, dwindling. She looked through strands of hair at Morodate, expression unreadable. "Who said I can't try?" "What?" Leiko took a deep, shuddering breath. "I... I owe it to these people... right? To try for what they've all been through... I used Accel Synchro." She looked over to Zirco, uncertainty in her voice. "I can... summon a dragon too, right?" She looked to him for reassurance, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be angry at her. Not again. "One day?"

Wisteria moved from side to side, alternating between balancing on one leg, then the other, then back again. When Olivia bent down to pick her up, she bounced up happily, taking advantage of her lowered height to jump on top of her head. The Budew quickly lost her balance, teetering to and fro with no arms to help right herself. She fell off and directly onto the snout of the Houndour, who she had seemed blissfully unaware of a few moments before. Wisteria fell from Cerbi's face to the ground, stuck on her back like a Squirtle, waving her nub feet uselessly in the air as she was unable to right herself. She let out a cry of frustration mixed with sadness, one that drifted over the crowd to Jin's ears. "Wisteria?" he asked, turning his head over to see the snarling Houndour. "Oh geez," he breathed, trying to ford his way through the Trainers and make his way to his Pokemon. But his way was blocked by the biggest Pokemon he had ever seen, as Poro was rolled directly in his way. "EEEEEH?" Confused and surprised by the sudden arrival of the Wailmer, his loud reaction quickly turned to wonder. "Whoah, what Pokemon is that? That's gotta be the biggest one here!" He turned to Rangi, eyes wide. "What kind of Pokemon is this? Is it a Water type? How'd you get him to agree to rolling around on land so-" He then remembered what he was doing and defaulted back to worry. "Hey, wait, I gotta get Wisteria! Wisteria!" And he darted to and fro, trying to find a way through the Wailmer and the crowd to reach his Budew. It was not the easiest activity.

Romy smiled a bit as Touch left the room, talking about something she didn't quite understand. He was an odd boy, but at least he was a bit of a ray of sunlight in here, where it felt so dark all the time. As she listened to their teacher, she nodded slowly along to everything he was saying. His last words, about the creatures... Those intrigued her. What did he mean by that? As Kokoro outlined her plan, she contemplated her words, and Henderson's as well. It was only when Chris spoke up that she added her own opinion to the mix. "Maybe Mr. Henderson is right. Maybe we don't have to capture one... Maybe we can convince it to help us? Give it a little bit of food so we can stop a bunch of them? Maybe then it'd tell us willingly what exactly is going on... if they know themselves." She shrugged, taking a bite of the meager meal she had left after sharing with Touch. "I don't know, really. It's hard to figure out what's best if we don't know much about them. I-" She cut herself off as she heard a loud shouting sound from outside, further down the hallway. Coming from the bathrooms. "What was that?" she asked, rising and quickly walking to the doorway. "Did you guys hear that?" Her steps accelerated as she ran down the hall, whipping around the corner and backpedaling to stop herself from running into Theodore. "Oh! Theodore! Was that yell you? Are you okay?" She placed a hand on his shoulder, looking around the hallway for any sign of disturbance. "I heard someone shouting, what was..." She stopped, cocking her head, slowly turning it upwards to look at the ceiling. There was a serious of thuds emanating from above the plaster tiles. And she could see leaking from the seams slight traces of smoke. "... What's that?" she asked very quietly, tightening her grip on Theodore's shoulder and moving to slowly start tugging him back towards the cafeteria.

Kess sat there all day, looking at the front of the classroom, somewhat detached from what was going on around her. She could feel the eyes of every other student on her but she didn't meet their eyes. A scowl adorned her face as she sat there, one hand drumming fingers on the top of her desk. They struck with thudding force, drumming a slight depression in the wood, the girl not moderating her Quirk at all as she sat there, much quieter than normal, stewing. She was tense, holding herself back. It was insanely difficult. She wanted to lash out, kick the head in of everyone that was looking at her, like she was some kind of loser. They didn't get it. The teacher didn't get it. But she would. The end of the day saw Kess stand abruptly as the teacher left the classroom. She poked her head out the door, seeing she was speaking with Valerie. "Oy teach!" She called down the hallway as Valerie started to depart. "Wanna talk to you for a second." She strode down the hallway, not wanting to stay in the classroom with the stragglers. She walked directly up to the teacher, looking directly in her eyes. She still had a glare to it, but it wasn't the derisive one from before, it was just pure ferocity. "Rage you can't control, huh?" she asked abruptly, narrowing her gaze. "Here's the thing that confuses me... I didn't come here for you to do that." She looked around them, making sure they weren't being overheard. Her impatience got the better of her and she finished her scan of the hallway quickly, turning back to the teacher, the light of the setting sun outside not deterring her fierce gaze. "You think I want you to tell me what to do? Hell no... I wanted this school to teach me how to do it myself. You're a teacher, right?" She took a deep breath, her body visibly awash with force as she turned towards the window, leering out at the street outside. "How many of the heroes out there do you know? Cause I've met some pretty crap ones... Course I can't respect them. They'd have been kicked out today if they were in that room, goddamn guarantee it." She scoffed, kicking at the wall idly. Even without her deliberately putting any force into it, she came very close to denting it. "Heroes need to be better. That's what this damn school is for, right? Why you think I bothered applying?" She turned her gaze back on her. "They need to feel the fear I felt in that room. When you said I failed. Nobody else in there is willing to do that, make everyone around them good enough to be a hero. MAKE them be better." Her scowl deepened. "I'm willing to make everyone in there work their damn hardest to be at all worth anything to the people out there. Why aren't you willing to expect the same of me? That's what I wanna know." She waited, not breaking eye contact. For once she was still, not full of energy. No rage, but the intensity remained nonetheless.

Morodate was watching with rapt attention, eyes wide as he watched Lightning Gunner go up in flames. His hands were clenched into tight fists. Yamada sighed, shrugging. "He's a spirited one," she said apologetically. "Sorry he destroyed her Accel Synchro after so long trying to reach-" "This is fine." "Hmm?" Morodate shook his head. "She's been pushed to her limit so hard she broke it, right... Let's see if he can break one more." Leiko's head was spinning. She couldn't even get her D-Wheel moving again. Her arm was burning with pain. She shut her eyes, shaking her head. When her eyes closed, she saw another pair looking back at hers. A pair of silvery-blue ones accompanied by a deep, ringing voice. Leiko. The image of the mark on her arm was superimposed over it, pulsing into her. Leiko. It wanted to be brought out. To fight Zirco's dragon. Leiko could feel it. LEIKO. She drew a card from her deck, not even registering the warning beeps that were coming from her D-Wheel. She turned the card over, looked at it with one shuddering eye. She shut it again immediately, looking away from the card. Her hand slowly fell, the card slipping out of it onto her D-Wheel, not landing in a position where it registered as summoned. "I... I can't," she forced out. And she was gone, eyes closing as the gaze of the dragon and her consciousness faded. "... FINAL WARNING," her D-Wheel chirped. "RESUME MOVEMENT OR DISQUALIFICATION IMMINENT... DISQUALIFY." The same message flashed across Zirco's screen, a picture of Leiko's face superimposed over it. It was quickly followed by a picture of his own, with the word "WINNER" over it. Leiko laid atop her D-Wheel, one arm clutching at the mark on her arm that slowly faded out of sight with the Solid Vision. The duel was over. Morodate now was angry. He punched a fist aggressively into the window, the reinforced glass shuddering under the impact. "No... She had the chance, I KNOW it." "Maybe she didn't have any options-" "Request last card drawn, Kotodara Leiko!" Morodate snapped to his tablet device, which whirred briefly before revealing the image of a monster card. "I knew it..." His lip curled with anger as he turned the tablet for her to see. Yamada looked closer, squinting to see the screen. "Tech Genus Screw Serpent?" she asked. "Yes." Morodate turned to look out the window to his charge once more, a scowl etched into his face. "When it's summoned you can play any level 4 or lower Tech Genus monster from your graveyard... She had the opportunity to fight Duel Dragon with Duel Dragon... And she wouldn't do it."

A quick breeze past the library, poking her head in and giving her by-now traditional cheery morning greeting to the librarian. She wasn't sure if she could be understood by her, but it felt wrong to just let the flaming-haired woman sit there just the same. She spared a greeting to Todd as well, completely unfazed by his bristly demeanor. And after that, cafeteria for breakfast as Chris voiced his question to Kokoro. "That's a good question. For all of us." The silver-haired Romy breezed into the cafeteria, rubbing at an eye drowzily as she straightened her shirt. "Good morning, everyone," she said with a soft smile, taking a plate and pulling up a chair next to Kokoro. "If we can't stop them from stealing the food... Well, we're gonna run out eventually, right? Best not to have them make it faster." She idly tapped her fork on her plate, frowning in thought, brow furrowed. "I guess they don't want to take their chances outside... Which is fair, I guess." "Mr. Hederson, I know you and the other teachers are thinking about it a lot," she said gently, turning to meet Henderson's eye. "But we really do wanna know, see if we can help; Have you guys thought of anything? Like I said... we can't stay here much longer, right? Food won't last forever." She tilted her head, looking past Henderson into the corner, where Touch was crouched with his ration. She blinked in confusion, watching him for a solid thirty seconds. Eventually she gave a small giggle, standing and breaking her ration into two portions. "Especially if we feed the imp things," she continued, stepping lightly behind Touch and placing a hand on one of his shoulders, reaching over the other one to hand him half her portion, "and not ourselves." She placed it into his hand, smiling at him. "Itadokimas," she said brightly. A few seconds followed before she frowned, her eyes rolling up towards the ceiling as she fell into thought. "Is that how it's pronounced? I'm not sure... Itadami... No... Itadari..."

IDK what all this shit is but suh dude

"I like this city; How about you, Wisteria?" The thin young man sat beneath an Apricorn tree, having gone outside the Pokemon Center to get some fresh air. His freshly obtained Budew sat beside him, basking in a ray of sunshine. She was settled into the grass contentedly, a gentle smile across her face. She let out a soft "Buuuud," of agreement. Jin chuckled lowly, leaning over on his side closer to his Pokemon. "Do we really have to leave yet, you reckon? We could just stay here another day?" Wisteria let out a loud chirp of agreement. Jin laughed, reaching down and picking up the Pokemon. "Afraid not... We've got work to do, ya know?" Wisteria frowned as her position was disturbed, looking miffed, but quickly settling into Jin's arms in a new position of comfort as he went back into the Pokemon Center. "Now, where was the spike handout..." he asked himself, looking through all the hubbub. "It's gonna take forever to- Wisteria!" The Budew had hopped out of his arms, and was now hopping through the feet of the various trainers in the building, bobbing up and over feet and happily calling up to them, the Pokemon looking even more diminutive than she already was among so many people. "Wisteria!" Jin struggled to make his way through the crowd, almost tripping several times as he tried to get closer to his Pokemon.

Zirco was in silent awe, unable to speak for a few seconds, before he looked back to his field. He didn't have anything that could beat over her monster. “I… I end my turn,” Leiko was in almost as much awe as Zirco. She knew she had been close once before, but to succeed in it, to reach Accel Synchro… “Is this what it feels like?” she asked, no context for her question being given at all, as she looked back to see Zirco, trailing behind her. “I… I draw!” She arranged the cards in her hand quickly, picking out one that she held up. She examined the Lightning Gunner card on her Duel Disk quickly. She had never successfully played an Accel Synchro before, needed a second to familiarize herself with it properly. Her eyes scanned the card briefly, widening for half a second as she realized what she was capable of this turn. “Lightning Gunner can attack every monster on my opponent’s field once each turn,” she declared, the gun-toting figure above her raising the rifle, cocking it with a brief, efficient flick of the wrist, electrical discharge playing along the guns surface. “Every monster on my side of the… oh son of a bitch,” Zirco muttered. “Since it was Synchro Summoned during my opponent’s turn,” she went on, looking briefly at the Defense Position Ragigura on Zirco’s field, “It inflicts piercing damage when it attacks as well.” “It can do what?!” Zirco eyes widened as he looked at his low defense monsters. “Activate Equip Spell: Nitro Unit.” She placed the card in her Duel Disk, and a box of explosives appeared in midair… and attached to Zirco’s Faultroll. “The hell does this card do?!” Zirco called out, feeling more confused now then he had for a long time. He looked over it on his duel screen, reading it. “Equip only to a monster on your opponent's side of the field… I see… I see... When the equipped monster is destroyed by battle and sent to the Graveyard, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the ATK of the equipped monster.” He paused as he looked up. “Oh boy. Oooooh boy.” “I equip Nitro Unit to Faultroll. Battle!” She turned around the corner, Lightning Gunner floating slowly down towards the track, reaching out a hand to steady the girl’s ride as he raised the gun to point at Zirco’s field. “Lightning Gunner attacks Hyunlei, Ragigura, and Faultroll! Storm Shot!” As soon as she was around the corner, the Gunner leapt into the sky, spiraling as he flew above the track. He aimed down, pulling the trigger on the rifle as he raised his hand to steady the shot. With a loud succession of cracks, a hail of voltaic shot scorched down out of the sky, raining down on Zirco’s field. One by one his monsters were struck by the attack, Hyunlei exploding into shrapnel, Ragigura obliterated, the explosions battering at Zirco’s D-Wheel, buffeting it from side to side. Zirco 3900 But the biggest blast came as the line of bullets began to strike Faultroll. “Nitro Unit’s effect.” As if waiting for her to speak, Faultroll and his payload equipped to him erupted into a massive plume of smoke and green fire that roared high into the sky. “Zirco!” Zirco was swallowed in the massive cloud of smoke and flame that had erupted, blocking him from Leiko’s view. Zirco 600 Her focus broke, and she brought her D-Wheel to a much slower pace, craning her neck to turn and see where he was. “Zirco… are you okay?” It was a few seconds of quiet, before Zirco’s D-Wheel burst out of the smoke, the rider tightly gripping his handles. “That was a pretty good move, but not enough to keep me down!” Zirco’s voice rang out, brimming with confidence. Not only that, but there was a large grin on his face. If people didn’t know the status of the duel, they’d think he was the one that had just made the game changing play. Leiko breathed a sigh of relief. She coaxed the D-Wheel back into accelerating, reaching the same speed as Zirco as he caught up to her. She looked over to him, breathing hard from the turn she had just had. “Zirco… are you still mad at me?” The question came out of the blue. Even she wasn’t exactly sure why she asked it. His smile had thrown her off. She hadn’t expected it at all. It reminded her yet again of Houki. She too had the same reaction whenever she was cornered. And she had cornered him, she realized. She had the only monster on the field, with huge attacking power. How had she done this? She was just… Just Leiko, right? “Mad? Hmm…,” Zirco thought to himself. “I’m not mad anymore, no,” He looked over to her. “I can’t be mad at someone doin’ the best they can.” Leiko blinked in surprise. “I…” She placed another card into her Duel Disk, the last one in her hand. “I set a card and end my turn.”

Kess didn't flinch at the approach of Valerie, barely blinking in response to the wave of heat that washed over her as the girl approached. Even Misu joining as well didn't seem to rattle her. She sat insolently in her chair, arms crossed, looking up at the two girls with a lazy defiance. She sneered slightly as Valerie spoke to her, as Misu piled on. Not in a competition... Even they don't think that, she thought to herself, watching the two as they stood over her. She scoffed, turning her head away from the two, reaching into her mind for a sharp, biting retort. Or just some obscenities. Those would work just fine as well. Before she could get any out, though, the teacher arrived. Kess was at once thrown off by this woman. She seemed... Like she didn't want to be here. At all. She found herself grinding her teeth. Had they seriously saddled them with a reject teacher? Class 1-A got the Samurai and this was what they got? "What the hell..." she grumbled under her breath. "And make sure it's a good one!" She couldn't take this woman seriously. The threat of expulsion if she answered poorly, the one that had hovered over her head since the exam, felt like a plastic knife now rather than the guillotine blade it had been minutes before. This woman had no teeth. Neither did a lot of the others, she thought with irritation. Some of them didn't make an impression on her. Yuuka, Lesnar, the prick she had thrown the rock at. Some of them were obvious, like Hibiki and Diana. The easy answers. Katsurou was so out of left field that she tilted her head partway through his speech, mouth slightly open in confusion. What the hell was he talking about? She wasn't sure if she disagreed or agreed with him, she was having trouble figuring out where the hell he was going in the first place. But two really got under her skin. Valerie's pissed her off so much. Partially because she said a lot of things that Kess kind of found herself agreeing with. She couldn't believe she could agree on any metric with what that girl said. With her stupid grin, her nosiness, her irritating confidence she wore brazenly. But the biggest thing was the end. "And I'm going to be the best hero there ever was!" Kess's teeth grinding was audible. Herc and Yuuka could probably hear it from their seats next to her. She wrapped her fingers around the edge of the desk, the wood straining as she pushed down on it in her aggravation. She had to fuck it up at the last second, huh? she thought, very similar words echoing through her head, but deeper. The voice male. With that same, shit-eating grin. She stood finally, as Katsurou sat, stalking towards the front of the room. She didn't even look at Valerie as she moved through her heat cloud. Her eyes were fixed on the back of Misu's head as she moved between her and Hibiki's desks. And as she passed by, she spared the girl one look. One swift glance filled with pure, intense hatred, Misu's own words from the exam echoing through her head. "I don't wanna be a hero, I don't care who becomes a hero." I remember that, she thought fervently in that split second of eye contact. I remember that, and I won't forget it; You don't BELONG here. The words felt almost shouted in her head, a vein briefly pulsing in her temple as she approached the front, breaking her gaze with Misu to fixate it on the teacher. Unlike the others, she didn't face the class. She leaned forward, hands on the teacher's desk, staring directly into her eyes as the class was presented with her back. Nonetheless, her words were spoken loudly enough for them all to hear. "I'm Kess." It was short, quick. The feeling, the memory Valerie had stirred up in her made the idea of speaking her last name sickening to her in that moment. The idea that maybe anyone could tie her to that. "I've got a different idea of what bein' a hero's about." She looked directly into Ms. Hitotsume's eyes, fire burning within them. You're what I'm stuck with, she thought intensely, and goddamn it, you're gonna HEAR me. "Y'all are talking abut heroes being something to inspire... inspire what?" She raised her voice. She wanted t make sure everyone heard her clearly. "To be like them? Why the hell would I want to be like any of the other heroes... We're here to surpass them, RIGHT?" She rounded on the class now, one hand raised in a clenched fist as she swept her gaze out over all of them. "If I inspire anything, it's gonna be fear. Fear in any villain who thinks he's going to get in my way. Who thinks he can get up to any shit while I'm around. Fear in any hero that isn't up to snuff!" She was shuddering now, but it didn't matter. "We're the first in a new wave of heroes. I'm not gonna waste my time admiring any of the old ones. Or any of you. I don't care if any of you hate me, or are scared of me, or think what I'm willing to do to be a hero it wrong. I don't care if the people I SAVE are afraid of me, I'll break every bone in my damn body to fight for them just the same! I'm sick and TIRED of tryin' to follow in any FOOTSTEPS." This last bit came with a stinging glare at Yuudai as she echoed his words. "I'll make my own damn footsteps. Right before I use those feet to kick in the head of anyone who thinks they'll stop me." Her gaze turned over to Valerie, thunderous disdain in her voice as she spat: "Screw being the best hero there ever WAS... I'm here to be the best hero NOW. Those heroes before us don't matter anymore. What matters is what I'm willing to do. And I'll do goddamn anything." She tilted her head to the side lazily, scowling as she started her way back to her seat. "SOMEBODY has to, don't they?" As she turned to slide back into her seat, she spared a glance towards Herc, leaning back against the wall in her chair. "Goddamn responsibility, isn't it?" she muttered. Not loudly this time. Just a silent agreement. With the guy who came in the goddamn bee costume, for fuck's sake, she thought idly.

A Nice Conversation and Some Kindness A Flaming Friend

Kess sneered as she rounded on Misu, shouting at her just as loudly in turn. "MAD YOU LOST, HUH? I DIDN'T RUN FROM THE FIGHT, I WON THE FIRST ROUND AND DIDN'T WASTE MY TIME WITH A SECOND!" She kicked at the cat she had obtained from Misu, barking out a laugh. "Glad to make it best of three, though. I'll cut you DOWN, you great big fuckin' tree!" Despite the difference in their sizes Kess was vibrating at a high speed, glaring straight up into Misu's face with no trace of fear. But Sharp Shogun caught her attention before she could escalate it further. She immediately turned away from Misu, eyeing the hero with rapt attention. Listening to the question he posed. "To be a hero..." she muttered. Then Misu complained. "Shut up," she said simply, not looking at her, still listening to Sharp Shogun. Her expression was different now... Frowning, not with anger, but contemplation. She was still thinking about it when Misu started screaming at her again. One eye twitched as the ragged-looking girl turned her head slowly to watch Misu's retreating back. "Bring it on, bitch," she called after her casually, cracking her knuckles with an explosive pop. "Would be a waste of my time," she continued, more to herself, as she ran her eyes over all the leaving students. "... If I didn't have somebody to challenge me at least a little." ----------------- Kess made the uniform look very delinquent, even though she was fairly sure she wasn't going to get dinged for a dress code violation. The blazer was slung over her left shoulder, the skirt at just a slight angle, and the tie was loose around her collar. Regardless, her parents didn't comment on it as Kess stalked through the house, refusing to look at them just as they didn't look at her, staying long enough only to grab a piece of toast before she walked outside. Her legs would occasionally shudder with releases of energy, hastening her steps every few dozen feet. She was going to school with her scowl ready on her face, brushing past anyone who was in her way. Clutched in one hand was the acceptance letter she had received. Her mother had seemed confused to hand it to her when the mail came in that day. Though she had known it was coming, Kess had been shaking as she took it, and had been rereading it every couple of hours. It felt strange to see her name there, though she knew it should be. Her brother so far hadn't contacted the family about it. She knocked the door to the classroom aside, putting a little more force than she intended behind it. She scanned the classroom, her scowl immediately turning into a resigned expression. "What the hell is this reject gallery?" she asked wearily, striding in to take a seat, her blazer thrown over the back of her chair. She ran her eyes over everyone, ignoring most. The only ones she acknowledged were Misu (with a glare), Herc (with a confused look at his bee getup), and Yuudai. That last one was met with a rock in her hand that she chucked at his head. "I brought that in from outside JUST IN CASE... FUCKER," she yelled at him, jumping from her seat and leaning over her desk to shout at him. She scoffed as she crossed her arms, turning to sit on the top of the desk. "You better have a good reason to be here when the teacher asks, What's-Your-Name... Else I'll kick you out the goddamn window. Have your head find another rock outside."

Ay yo wassup bro

Kess' Badges: 3 In the throng of people swarming her, Kess perked up suddenly, eyes widening as she saw Yuudai reaching into the trash can, spotting him out of the corner of her eye as he pulled out what SHE had put there- "NO!" She smacked somebody out of the way, running pell-mell towards Yuudai. But Herc got there first. The two scrambled up the wall, Kess leaping up towards them, lashing out with a hand, but she couldn't get high enough. Herc was too fast. She watched them both scramble over the rooftop and out of sight. "... I'm gonna kill that guy," she snarled, reaching into the trash can and yanking out her remaining badges, slinging the dummy over one shoulder as she turned back to face the others. Some of them had started fighting amongst themselves, the horde clearly several disparate groups attracted by the sound of Kess smashing into the car. But several were still coming after her. "IDIOTS," she barked, jumping forward and swinging the dummy bodily, knocking two of them into the wall with a harsh cracking sound. Several more jumped at her, and with a howl of anger she wrenched an arm around, slamming bodily into them, the group tumbling with Kess through an alleyway. She reached out, aiming for head, grabbing badge instead by some happy accident. She swung it, knocking it into the head she had attempted to grab, then started sprinting towards another, slamming a knee into his chest, hearing something break in him as her knee spiked with pain. She reached down, yanking a badge off his body. Kess' Badges: 5 "All you fuckers couldn't stop me!" she yelled, turning and forcing a tide of energy into her leg, ignoring the burning pain in her knee as she slammed her foot into the side of the boy she had kneed, sending him careening through the air to slam into the rest of them, knocking them against the alley wall. Kess, gasping for breath, was now the only one left in the alley. She was shaking now, but as the smile slowly appeared on her face it clearly wasn't fright or stress. I have them. I fucking have them! she triumphantly thought as she began to make her way back, running through the pain. Running to the gate. With a blast of air blown aside from her speed, Kess blew through the gate, digging her heels into the ground to stop her advance as she came to a halt. She was bruised, a little bloody, and clearly had exerted herself a lot over the course of the entrance exam, but the feral look in her eye had only increased. She raised her arms, dumping the five badges she had assembled on the ground. "Sorry I'm late," she said to the Samurai. "Well. Later than I meant to be. Had a couple of stragglers who thought they'd slow me up a bit. But don't worry... I weeded 'em out for ya." She raised a finger, pointing it at Yuudai. "AND YOU'RE NEXT, PUNK!" she shouted at the top of her lungs.