Super Hero High: Prometheus Rising (IC, Open)

[Altruistic Paladins]

"Go aleph-null team!" Bramwell said after he was assigned a team and before he checked-on Cassie telepathically. Bramwell thought before he ran to Cassie. Not able to pay attention in the rush, Bramwell triped, sending Bramwell face-first into the sand before the inertial force completed the improvized roll onto his back before the rest of his body caught-up. "Why do I have to lack empathy!" Bramwell yelled in frustration as he got back-up and devaluated his self-image. Makoto could hear that his modal voice was lower than it traditionally was, becoming a low tenor. Bramwell muttered one word constantly---cold. Bramwell continued this as he checked Cassie's pulse for speed and strength.

[Corrian]

Cassie nodded in agreement to Tyler's plan, even though separating worried her, because she was worried about practically everything you could think of, apparently. Overall to her it sounded like the best plan, to get everything over with in this town as quickly as possible, so they could move on with their mission. She just hoped nothing went wrong, and everything went smooth.

When Tyler came over to make sure she was okay, she smiled a little, before she nodded. 'I think I strained myself by using my ability too much, because I was too worried about the position of the creature....' She told Tyler, and had to avoid the urge to try to find it again. Just because she was so worried and scared about everything, she was endangering herself by using her ability too much. Then her mind went into thoughts about wondering how that actually works when you are just laying in a pod, and if you are actually logically using your abilities in the real world, and then her brain just got confused and she moved on.

Then, seeing Bramwell trip like that, she looked worried for him. She hadn't realized entirely what made him trip, and she started to worry that maybe he was straining himself by using his powers too much too....even though she didn't think Bramwell used it much. And when he checked her pulse, he would find that everything seemed to be pretty normal, other then the fact it was going faster then normal. That could easily just be from her being scared, worried, and quite alert.

When Tara said that she was staying with Tyler and Sarah in the village, she seemed to let out a sigh of relief, instead of complaining. She was literally defenseless. It's not like her punching would accomplish much on something that just wanted to rip her to shreds. Especially with her punching as weak as it was....or as hesitant as it was. "No offense taken, Tara" She said to Tara, but she didn't say to Tara that she was actually relieved she wasn't going with one of the teams to wander off into potentially dangerous areas, and she just stayed close to Tyler. By now, she had recovered from her little bit of fatique earlier, since she wasn't straining herself anymore. Though, her head still hurt a little, and that worried her, because the whole thing with her future visions causing her headaches made her worried everytime her head hurt.

'Where should I go?' Caitlin asked Tara, because she was one of the more leaderly people. Though, she was willing to be leader of one of the other teams if that was alright, because she didn't mind being somewhat leaderly as much as, say, Cassie, who panicked anytime she was in any sort of leadership position...or in any position related to this stuff. And Caitlin could take possibly letting her team down better then Cassie. So, she just waited for Tara's opinion, and then, depending on what she said, she would take leadership of whoever, or wouldn't.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Sarah walked into the town warily, still keeping Tyler's blood inside his body as she looked around for any signs of people or the creature. There were clear signs that people had been there recently, but, as far as she could see, no sign of the beast, which could be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on whether or not they found it.

When Tara took a role of leadership once again and stated what they would do after hearing out Tyler's idea of splitting up, Sarah listened to what she said her role would be, and nodded once Tara was done explaining. It made sense that the wounded and those not quite capable of fighting stayed behind in a relatively safe area while the more capable people went ahead and tried to find the package, and, while she wasn't wounded and could probably put up a good fight, she agreed that she had to stay around to keep Tyler from bleeding out.

Afterwards, however, she had an idea she could use to protect Cassie and Tyler should the occasion come. Sarah walked up to one of the houses, and used shadows cast over its ceiling to take a small part of it. Now possessing a piece of steel, she discarded the pebble she had picked up earlier and returned to Tyler and Cassie. "I guess we'll just have to wait, then." She said, and then simply sat down cross-legged, watching the others.

---

Raymond had remained near the back of the group, though of course he moved forward a bit when Tara took the rear instead, believing that she was probably a better choice to guard the rear than he was. However, he still kept his senses on high alert just in case the beast tried to sneak up on anyone else, as he was fairly certain that he could send it right back, getting rid of the surprise factor and hopefully stunning it for a little bit, just so that the others could take care of it if the beast turned out to be foolish enough to attack the group.

This proved to not be the case when they arrived at the town Dominic had mentioned. Looking around, Raymond didn't see much out of place, save for the lack of people, but he supposed that it must have been because of the beast. They probably fled without even taking the time to pack or set things right. He had read about some place where the same happened a long time ago.

When Tara stated that he and Bramwell were to accompany her, making up one of the groups of three that Tyler suggested people split into to find the package faster, he nodded. "Right." He said, and walked over to her, not without first getting himself a sharp piece of broken wood. Hopefully it would serve as a good enough weapon in combination with his power, in case he had to fight.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"It is probably not heat illness. If it were, your pulse would be weaker than my grasp on humanity," Bramwell said in the same lower register. "Cassie, just tell me or somebody more qualified than me if you need help." Bramwell proceeded to stand-up and walk away, both hands in side pockets. "Tara, just tell me which building and door to stack-up on and I shall do so," Bramwell said as his eyes slowly moved from one outlying structure to another.

[Kershya]

Infirmary Room

"That was just, wow." The Russian said. "How do you know that?" She asked Gregorio.

"I'm the Duke of Repetition. Of course, until the appearance of the dragon, people thought my power was some perception altering form of foresight." Gregorio said.

"Oh, I heard of that, your cousin did that right?"

"Well, yes and no. His body was under the control of Shade." He then look at the door. "I due hope they didn't do anything idiotic like putting Raijin behind bars. As the manifestation of Antonio's desire to be free, he'll go crazy if he gets boxed up somewhere."

"What happens if he goes crazy?" Tobias was almost afraid to ask.

"If he did go crazy, Its likely for him to kill himself, or get killed, which is bad. Since he's technically living lighting, he'll simply reform somewhere else. He'll then starts to act like a crazy anarchist, causing EMPs, electrical power shortages, blackouts, even overpowering power plants to explode by preventing the electricity from going out. Destroying places deemed by him to be the 'Enemies of Freedom'. The Big One in a possible future was that he became powerful enough to affect the electromagnetic field of the Earth itself. Unhinging the poles and messing with Earth's protective shielding from the harmful rays of the sun. Humanity ended up living underground eating recycled dead bodies and wastes in an authoritarian police state that is under constant threat by the so called 'Defender of Freedom'. And that's just him being crazy. Antonio has at least eleven different personalities, including Raijin." Gregorio ranted.

They were shocked when they realize the potential Holy Shit Quotient.

"Since Raijin is out, and he seems to be sane. I need know what's going on inside Antonio's head and I also need to purify him to prevent him from going crazy. Alexandra, I need some sort of wheelchair to bring me to him. I'm still sore from all the wacking you gave me. Steve, I need a knife. Tobias, I need a pair of scissors, big metal ones. What are you all waiting for, the sequel saga of Twilight? Believe me, I've seen all 28 versions, and they're all much worse that the first saga." The three then run off.

Gregorio can only rub his forehead. "Bella's half-vampire daughter and Jacob getting married while escaping from renegade fundamentalist vampires in the streets of New Orleans while Bella's new werebear friend is helping in tracking down her and Edward's missing daughter. Only that My Immortal movie, based on that fanfic, was even worse. I mean, come on Hollywood, you run out of ideas to make movies that you're using the worse fanfics on the internet. I mean, back in my day, Hollywood used to be THE Mainstream. Now its Hipster Central. Kids these days." You would probably have realized by now that Gregorio is now reliving a possible future memory.

Brig

Raijin wakes up behind bars and notice a guard on the other side.

"U-uh, where am I?" He rhetorically asked as he put on the sweatpants.

"You're at the brig, and there's a permanent power suppressor in there that would stop you trouble makers from causing more trouble." The guard said. The moment he said that, Raijin fell into despair, kneeling down while looking at the floor with the thousand-yard-stare.

"I-I was free, and now I'm trapped again." He mumbled. He then stand up and starts to shake the bars. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! I WANT MY FREEDOM! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" His face shows a great amount of desperation, and slow increasing madness.

[Mighty Asgard]

Infirmary Room

"That was just, wow." The Russian said. "How do you know that?" She asked Gregorio.

"I'm the Duke of Repetition. Of course, until the appearance of the dragon, people thought my power was some perception altering form of foresight." Gregorio said.

"Oh, I heard of that, your cousin did that right?"

"Well, yes and no. His body was under the control of Shade." He then look at the door. "I due hope they didn't do anything idiotic like putting Raijin behind bars. As the manifestation of Antonio's desire to be free, he'll go crazy if he gets boxed up somewhere."

"What happens if he goes crazy?" Tobias was almost afraid to ask.

"If he did go crazy, Its likely for him to kill himself, or get killed, which is bad. Since he's technically living lighting, he'll simply reform somewhere else. He'll then starts to act like a crazy anarchist, causing EMPs, electrical power shortages, blackouts, even overpowering power plants to explode by preventing the electricity from going out. Destroying places deemed by him to be the 'Enemies of Freedom'. The Big One in a possible future was that he became powerful enough to affect the electromagnetic field of the Earth itself. Unhinging the poles and messing with Earth's protective shielding from the harmful rays of the sun. Humanity ended up living underground eating recycled dead bodies and wastes in an authoritarian police state that is under constant threat by the so called 'Defender of Freedom'. And that's just him being crazy. Antonio has at least eleven different personalities, including Raijin." Gregorio ranted.

They were shocked when they realize the potential Holy Shit Quotient.

"Since Raijin is out, and he seems to be sane. I need know what's going on inside Antonio's head and I also need to purify him to prevent him from going crazy. Alexandra, I need some sort of wheelchair to bring me to him. I'm still sore from all the wacking you gave me. Steve, I need a knife. Tobias, I need a pair of scissors, big metal ones. What are you all waiting for, the sequel saga of Twilight? Believe me, I've seen all 28 versions, and they're all much worse that the first saga." The three then run off.

Gregorio can only rub his forehead. "Bella's half-vampire daughter and Jacob getting married while escaping from renegade fundamentalist vampires in the streets of New Orleans while Bella's new werebear friend is helping in tracking down her and Edward's missing daughter. Only that My Immortal movie, based on that fanfic, was even worse. I mean, come on Hollywood, you run out of ideas to make movies that you're using the worse fanfics on the internet. I mean, back in my day, Hollywood used to be THE Mainstream. Now its Hipster Central. Kids these days." You would probably have realized by now that Gregorio is now reliving a possible future memory.

Brig

Raijin wakes up behind bars and notice a guard on the other side.

"U-uh, where am I?" He rhetorically asked as he put on the sweatpants.

"You're at the brig, and there's a permanent power suppressor in there that would stop you trouble makers from causing more trouble." The guard said. The moment he said that, Raijin fell into despair, kneeling down while looking at the floor with the thousand-yard-stare.

"I-I was free, and now I'm trapped again." He mumbled. He then stand up and starts to shake the bars. "LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT! I WANT MY FREEDOM! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!" His face shows a great amount of desperation, and slow increasing madness.

"Shut up!" the guard yelled at the increasingly annoying prisoner, looking at him through the small viewport on the heavy cell door. To him it looked like the annoying bugger was contemplating suicide, he'd seen that same look on the faces of POWs in Africa, and a detainee committing suicide would obviously be unacceptable. If being locked up made him so uncomfortable as to consider suicide, clearly there was only one way to handle this particular prisoner. The guard signaled to his five colleagues stationed in the same corridor, just so he'd have plenty of backup when he opened the cell door.

"Alright, be ready, I'm opening the door," he said to the others, and they took up positions to intercept the prisoner if he tried to cause trouble. The door opened with the soft hiss of hydraulics and Raijin would get a glimpse of freedom. And then the guard hit him right across the nose with the butt of his nightstick, knocking him to the ground. While he was down the guards cuffed his hands and feet, making sure he couldn't move enough to be a threat to even himself, and then dragged him back into the cell and closed the door again.

The guards went back to their stations, the one outside Raijin's cell having a rather satisfied grin on his face.

Tyler
Tyler knew that Tara was right when she said that he should stay with Sarah and Cassie while the others searched, but he still didn't like it. Though he couldn't help search for the package he was still determined to be at least slightly useful, so he kept an eye on the trees for any signs of the creature.


In one of the buildings on the outskirts of town, north of the town center, a brown parcel was placed neatly on top of a table. It was rather unimposing, a brown cardboard box held shut with a neatly tied string, but from the weight of it one would be able to tell that there was something inside.

On top of the parcel a few words were written: "To the Academy for the Empowered, from Dominic Moreno."

[Procastitania]

Declan reappeared, so as to neatly disturb the evenly split teams. Hopefully he would at least mildly surprise the others with his appearance, but they were often tough to startle. "Hey guys! I'm here too if you want me on a team. I could also go scout invisibly if you think that would help."

[Altruistic Paladins]

As Bramwell eyes panned over the city, Bramwell became focused on looking for anything of note. He looked for bent light, outlines, odd shapes and colors, shadows of the hostile, and any other things that would be helpful. To say that Bramwell was focused would be a lie, as he was not in a state of inattentional blindness. In his search, he saw the box. Wrapped nicely and with a name tag sticking-out to create an outline Bramwell noticed, it became of interest to him.

"I see a box with a tag on it in that house," Bramwell said as he pointed to the faded-blue house. "That is as good a place to start searching as any. Let us move to investigate," Bramwell said, his modal voice still lower than usual for him as he slowly walked in the house's direction

[Corrian]

Caitlin and Cassie
When Declan appeared out of nowhere, being Cassie, she responded about how you'd expect her to respond. She 'jumped' like you do when you get startled, then closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm herself from being so jumpy. She was already on edge, so him showing up like that just made her nerves worse. After a bit, she exhaled and opened her eyes again, then looked over at Declan, listened to what he said, and looked away. She felt no need to say anything. It wasn't really one of those circumstances where you had to say something. And being quiet and shy like she was, she felt really no need to just exclaim 'you startled me!' out of nowhere for no reason.

Assuming Caitlin lead her own team, she waved Declan over. 'You can join my team' She said to Declan. With that, she headed off with whoever was part of her team to go look in her part of the village to scan. As they walked, she continued. 'I don't think invisibility will be needed right now, so don't worry about that Declan' She told him. Assuming that Bramwell would tell the team leaders in their heads if he or his team found the package, she just looked around for a little while. For her team, she didn't really have any way to tell anyone, but she would just go and look for the other teams or someting and tell them that way.

[Mighty Asgard]

Soon enough the parcel that Bramwell spotted had been retrieved and the group had reassembled. Tyler was quite pleased that they had found the package so fast, both because it meant they would finish their task sooner and that he didn't have to stand around and feel useless for too long. Now they only had to go to the finish, a port north of their position.

"Let's get moving then," he said to the others, "Dominic said that we had to go north to a port to deliver the package." Moving through the forest would be hard work, especially for him who had been injured, but he felt rather optimistic about their chances of reaching the goal without getting killed by the creature along the way. As he was about to lead the group away from the town he realized something though, so he stopped and turned back to the others again.

"Does anyone know which way north is?"

[Altruistic Paladins]

"I can tell you two directions it is not in currently. Since I do not have a bung, we will not be able to find magnetic north the way I would prefer. Instead, it looks as though I will have to go with the simple method," Bramwell said, picking up a stick and erected it in the ground, marking the top of it's shadow on the ground. "Now we just need to be vigilant for ten minutes," Bramwell said as he set checked his watch. "If you wanted to not do things in an even simpler manner, this island is small enough that we could just walk either one of the two directions I am not currently pointing," Bramwell said.

[Ularn]

Scott swallowed painfully. He didn't just empathise with Roxanne's pain; he also felt an overwhelming sense of guilt looking at her now. She would need someone to lean on - if not right now then later - and here he was getting ready to disappear back to Earth for who knew how long. He knew there were things he needed to do down there, but he could not pretend he did not have some duties here as well, even if he wasn't a teacher any longer. He had pulled Roxanne out of Kildare and now he was about to leave her on her own once more. Not for the first time, he wondered if it might have been better for both if they had never met again but then he remembered how she had been living until two weeks ago. Nothing would have been helped by her being left in Kildare and then she would have had no-one. At least at The School there were people to help, even if Scott couldn't be one of them much longer.
"If you're sure you want me to go, I'll go," he whispered, "I just hoped you'd want to talk to someone. They will find out who did it, Rox."

When Roxanne still gave him no reply, Scott lifted himself reluctantly from the bead and went for the door. As it slid open he paused on the threshold he looked back at her and whispered, "I've never said this before, Rox, but I love you, okay?"
Then the door slid shut behind him.

[Camicon]

"I can tell you two directions it is not in currently. Since I do not have a bung, we will not be able to find magnetic north the way I would prefer. Instead, it looks as though I will have to go with the simple method. Now we just need to be vigilant for ten minutes. If you wanted to not do things in an even simpler manner, this island is small enough that we could just walk either one of the two directions I am not currently pointing.

"No need," I said once Bramwell had finished rambling. "I've been keeping track of where the sun is since we started this thing. Force of habit. Come on, north is this way." I motioned with my head. "I couldn't see the port when I climbed a tree up on that hill back there, so we've got a bit of a climb ahead of us. Try not to breathe too heavy. It'll make it harder to hear if anything tries to sneak up on us. And make sure to watch your footing on the way down the other side. Tripping would be really bad with this thing following us."

As we started walking again, I stepped back and pulled the shape changing boy to the side. "Change into something with good hearing, and hang back with me. If this thing attacks, it'll probably be from the rear." I set myself up about ten feet back from the main group, like I had on the way here. "Tyler, make sure you stay in the middle of the group, alright!" I called up to him.

"Alright everyone, lets go, nice and easy!"

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Once the group he was in had retrieved the package, Raymond simply walked back towards the center of the village, glad but also a bit dissappointed that nothing had happened in the town. But at least now they could advance. When Tyler started trying to lead but stopped mid-way when he realized he didn't know which way North was, Raymond facepalmed, but said nothing about the matter.

When Tara started giving out instructions, Raymond simply followed the group and positioned himself on the rear, not as far back as to be with Tara and Declan, but at the very back of the rest of the group. He was fairly sure that Tara could handle the beast, but he also still believed that he could probably help prevent any surprise attacks if the beast did show up.

---

Sarah on the other hand didn't really do much while she sat in the middle of the village, simply making sure that Tyler was not bleeding out, but she didn't even need to be looking at him to do that, only pay attention to her 'blood sense', so she didn't really have much to do.

When Cassie was startled by Declan when he suddenly appeared from out of nowhere, Sarah, who hadn't really been startled, but rather put on alert, walked over to her and patted her on the back, giving her a warm smile, but not really saying anything. She wanted to make Cassie not feel bad, but she didn't think words were necessary.

When Tara's group came back and everyone started heading towards the forest, Sarah looked at the piece of steel in her hand, and then walked over to the group.

"Wait a minute please." She called out to them in order to grab their attention, before speaking again. "I'm fairly sure that I can cut down some of these trees to make a path for us. It would take more time for us to advance, though." She stated.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"Rainforests retain soil. Would it be nice if we did not clearcut anymore of what keeps this island above water, especially when the alternative does not involve downsizing the island?" Bramwell asked, his modal voice still lower than average for his standards. "I wonder what the rates for 'Hero Insurance' are?" Bramwell attempted to say sarcastically, though he was distracted enough for it to sound disconnected. Elsewhere, Sakura got that same impression from someone else.

"Mister Ryota, did I say something wrong?" Sakura asked. She was worried about what Ryota could be thinking, as he was silent for a decent amount of time by that point. She did not like the possibilities presented by that.

[Procastitania]

Declan shrugged. "Sure thing. If I start, flapping, that means I hear something, okay?" He then proceeded to change into a bat, then quickly fly up and perch himself on Tara's head. He nervously shifted and looked around a bit. He first focused for a second to identify normal background noises and ignore them, before settling and listening intently for new sounds.

[Corrian]

Now when Sarah patted her on the shoulder, Cassie jumped yet again, but not as much this time. She let out a sigh and turned to Sarah, took a deep breath, and said, 'Sorry' as if she felt bad for being so jumpy, and as if it was her fault this was how she was. She also gave Sarah a sad smile. Her mind was thinking that at this rate, she would need to carry Calms with her everywhere she went. There was many times before in her life that she could of used it, but her dad never really bought it. 'Thanks for comforting me' She told Sarah, to not make her feel bad for patting her on the shoulder. And part of her seemed a little annoyed that Declan didn't apologize for startling them, or her, but she didn't really show it because it was Cassie we are talking about, who seemed to almost always hide her anger or annoyance, mostly because she didn't like to get on peoples cases.

Cassie was also not fond of the whole destroying the trees thing, because she was a very big nature-loving, environmental person. So that in it's own was enough for her to not like destroying the forest. She'd rather slowly trudge through it and not destroy it then destroy it just to be more efficient. Though, this was a simulation, so she didn't feel AS bad about it. Overall, she just listened to everyone else talk, and stayed quiet. So did Caitlin, who had pretty much nothing to say about anything right now, except she arrived back after finding out they retrieved it, and congratulated Bramwell's team. That was it, though.

[Mighty Asgard]

Tara had provided the direction they needed, so the group set out from the small town in the direction she had indicated. Tyler took up a position near the middle of the group as they moved, as Tara had suggested. From such a position, he thought, he could cover the rest more effectively, which was a sound tactical decision. Though how effective he'd be in a fight when he had to struggle to not slow the group down was anyone's guess.

The trek was rather slow, both the incline and the forest working against them as they moved up the hill, but the creature hadn't showed itself again. As they walked the leaves would occasionally rustle overhead, or a branch would creak, but whenever anyone turned to look there was nothing there. At times the disturbances seemed to come from more than one place at a time, but there was no sign of whatever caused them. Soon enough the students had passed over the top of the hill, walking down the side towards where the port was supposed to be. Their pace was much faster downhill than when they had climbed up, and soon enough they emerged from the trees near a small collection of buildings. Warehouses of corrugated metal, a wooden wharf with a rusted crane, and a small boat docked at the wharf all hinted at the fact that they had found their goal. Only a short walk across a field of tall grass separated them from the finish, no more than two hundred yards.

Tyler was trying to assess the situation but losing a lot of blood and climbing a hill made it a challenge to remain standing, to say nothing of formulating a battle plan. Someone else would have to make the decision, he decided, and he would focus on staying upright.

[Altruistic Paladins]

As the group moved, Bramwell followed. Bramwell did not exactly like hiking, but he did not mind it either. He noticed the extra disturbances, and always checked for sentient presences at all times. He hated that the sounds seemed to come from different locations. Even as he marched, he kept watch for the presence. The moment he reached the crescendo of the hill, Bramwell's countenance changed from a down appearence to shock. He saw tall grass, and he did not like it.

He was shocked that there would be a threat such as that. Bramwell focused purely on the fact that a horror trope was standing before him. He thought that was bold. He thought that it asked for him to enter blindly for the slaughter. He recognized the trope quickly and easily. He could imagine the threats lurking in it, congradulating themselves for being "clever". Bramwell could not take it.

"No, I will not be blind to your obvious genre conventions. Do I even need to say what is wrong with this picture? Tall grass is a firing range where we can easily be picked-off at this boss's leisure. Since I would prefer that nobody is 'Lost in the Maize', or at least in the tall-grass variation of that trope. This grass needs to be cleared as soon as possible. William, start uprooting the grass in a twenty yard-wide path to that building. The last thing we need is for Pokemon, utahraptors, bosses, or Jenny to get the jump on us," Bramwell said in an aroused state.

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Understanding that her suggestion had been rejected, Sarah simply followed the group, not at all disheartened by this. She was merely suggesting that she could try cutting down the trees because it would help reduce the probabilities of an ambush by part of the stalking beast, but the others had chosen otherwise and she was alright with that too. She simply kept vigilant, in case the beast did try to ambush them.

However, they soon got to the other side of the forest without much trouble, and at that moment she was glad that she had not cut down the trees, as she now saw that she had no reason to do so. Of course, she had no way of knowing that they would not get ambushed, but she was glad nevertheless.

When the issue of the tall grass came, however, Sarah didn't waste time and stepped forward. "This might take a while, but it should work." She said to the others. She didn't walk too close to the tall grass, obviously. No, she stood at a safe distance, and then used her hand to cast a shadow over the piece of steel that she held in her other hand. She then controlled that shadow, which took on the properties of steel, and used it to create a large shadow blade that started cutting through the blades of grass.

Of course, during all of this, she also devoted part of her concentration to Tyler's wounds, in order to keep him from bleeding out.

[Altruistic Paladins]

"You have a nice idea, Sarah. Remind me to buy you a drink or several when we get back. These antagonists clearly think we are just redshirts and probably are drinking champagne to celebrate their victory prematurely. Their second plan must be to try catching us walking backward. I refuse to let us become slasher film extras. We are protagonists, the heroes of a thousand faces. What do these villains think? The last time I checked, this universe has superpowers in it. The odds would go that they will survive without accomplishing their objectives at best or be one-off villains at worst. Why the hell do they think they are going to be special?" Bramwell said in a rather confident manner, uncharacteristically dropping a less-than-pleasent word. Bramwell simultaneously felt insulted that the hostiles considered him to be genre-blind and satisfied that he was able to use genre-savvy to his advantage.

[Camicon]

"Bramwell, shut up and stay focused. Everyone, be ready to run. I doubt that we're going to be getting out of this Scot-free. Tyler, if you have the strength, could you help Sara out a little?"

While I spoke, I walked back and forth, back and forth, along the perimeter of our group, staying between everyone else, and the forest. I felt that the tall grass was more of a distraction, meant to lower our guard to the forest, allow these stalking predators to ambush us right near the end.

"Shape-shifting boy, fly above us, keep an eye on the grass. Any movement, you come back and warn us."

[Zarkenis Ultima]

"I agree with Tara, Bramwell. You need to calm down a little." Sarah said after hearing Bramwell's ramblings, a bit confused by his sudden confident and somewhat aggressive behavior, though thankful for the compliment also. When Tara finished speaking, however, Sarah turned to her and spoke as well.

"Tara, I don't think he should exert himself, that would only make my job harder. I can try to do this faster, though." She said, and afterwards, the speed at which she was cutting down the grass with her shadow blade picked up a bit, the blade soaring through the air a good distance away from her, quickly cutting down the tall grass. So far she hadn't seen anything threatening near the grass, so she felt they were safe, if only for now.

[Mighty Asgard]

"Tyler, if you have the strength, could you help Sara out a little?"

Tyler shook his head, "sorry, I don't think I'd be able to control the force well enough. Might hit something we don't want flattened." Accidentally destroying the place they were supposed to deliver the package to would be downright embarrassing when they were so close to the finish line, and he'd rather not risk it. Besides that, Sarah seemed to be doing just fine on her own.

He glanced over at Bramwell, wondering what exactly GI Wannabe was going on about with all that talk about pokemons and bosses.


Leaves rustled softly along the tree line, shadows seeming to move on their own under the canopies. But whenever anyone turned to look more closely it stopped, no sign of what had caused it. Something was moving about in the tall grass as well, quickly moving away from the students.

[Procastitania]

Declan, mildly perturbed that the needy girl who kept making him do stuff hadn't bothered to learn his name, flew out over the grass, quickly shifting into a hawk in midair. He would need sharp sight to see through the grass, and bats were practically blind. He circled slowly above the grass, keeping an eye out for baddies.