Tension Rising - Main thread [Fight or Flight]

"I agree with the both of you," Jon nodded at their deductions, wondering what kind of bizarre and potentially nonsensical curveball the arrival of the illusionist would bring to the challenge, "though getting everybody to work together is easier said than done. Man, I'm loving this challenge already." He grinned, examining the course from their distanced spot. You hear that? Teamwork, working together. Jon told himself, but his body didn't listen. He'd set himself up for it now: there was no backing down. And the only definitive solution would be to talk to the other boy afterwards and apologise. He decided that was a definite course of action now, but first, he had to prove himself worthy of that debate.


Briefly he wondered how Emily would cope being around a bunch of sweaty, noisy people. She didn't look terribly athletic, he thought, and she'd probably struggle with the challenge. He found himself looking over at her; she was still stood alone at the wall, false headphones atop her head. He sighed. Of more importance than his childish challenge with Gray was his tutoring buddy's well-being, and he would potentially have to sacrifice that victory for the sake of his friend.


"Guys, I have to go help a friend," he turned with a warm smile to leave. "I'll see you all when the challenge begins!" He mimed an elaborate bow, and then walked off confidently into the crowd, arms in his jacket pockets. It wasn't too long before he'd completely merged with the tide of the crowd.


@The Out Of World
 
"There goes a brave man." Zebediah said to no one in particular. "He lives as few people dare to dream. Hey, can any of you hold my foot in place?" He asked, shifting the topic of his rambling. "I really need to stretch my hammies."


@Shura


@Alex Phalin
 
Sen Harper


Sen noticed a spark of something in Jons eyes, she wasn't sure what it was. Probably ambition? She smirked slightly pumped to give the course a good run before seeing his gaze shift to the distance once again. This time towards a girl who stood apart from the rest. She looked back to Jon as he spoke up watching as he walked off. She was a little disappointed though. It seemed their race would have to wait another day. She looked back to Zeb and Gray "Guess that leaves us then." she smiled slightly before looking over to Zeb once more as he asked for some help stretching. "Yeah sure." She muttered holding down his foot.


@The Out Of World @Alex Phalin
 
His stretching finished, Zeb stood up, relieving Sen from the task. "Thanks for the help, I finally feel confident about this! Best of luck to you, Sen!" He said as he walked off to nowhere in particular.


@Shura
 
Mica, finished with his stretching, cracked his knuckles and neck, then rolled his shoulders. All of these kids in their gear specifically designed for exercise, and him in a suit. To them it probably seemed hilarious, and drastically unfair for him. But of course, they would be wrong. His suit was specially made of a breathable, movable material that allowed him freedom of movement similar to if he were wearing nothing but boxers. It was rather nice actually. He removed his hat, placing it on Morgan's head for safe keeping, and ran a hand through his hair before walking off to the start of the course.


@Shura


@Everyone Else
 
Morgan Winford


Morgan smirked slightly seeing Mica ready to go and Nikolas looking slightly unnerved at the sudden change of plans. She chuckled softly as Mica put his hat on her head and she tilted it back slightly before looking over at the rest of the students who were ready to go. She smirked and stepped out of the way of the impending rush. "Alright guys! Mica and Nikolas you have a ten second head start!" She announced before pulling a stop clock out of her pocket. "Alright guys Go!" She called out watching as the two graduate students took off.


Sen Harper


Sen stood nodded slightly "No worries, See you later then." She replied as he walked off. She shook her head slightly starting to stretch on her own not wanting to hurt herself while trying to complete the challenge. She stayed seated and stretched for her feet. For a fairly petite girl she was relatively flexible which would help when it She looked over to Gray and smirked slightly. "Should be an interesting challenge." She grinned.


She saw the rest of the class line up and motioned for Gray to follow. She found a spot that wasn't crowded and set herself to go. She took a deep breath calming her nerves and focused in on the challenge ahead of her.
 
Nikolas


Nikolas looked to Morgan who said that he had a ten second head start a bit confused. "Why would I need to run through this?" He spoke mostly to himself before realizing how pointless his argument ever would have been. Going through the course again was a flashback to the days when he couldn't teleport without exhaustion or even finish the entire course. Back then he was a skinny wimpy kid who couldn't do much of anything other than keep to himself. The course was almost memorized in Nikolas's mind as he went through it before he even realized it was over. Standing at the end of the course he waited for the first student to finish so the chase could begin.
 
Madison looked at Mark, realizing that he was fine, that she was a complete idiot for thinking he could be in any kind of danger. What was she thinking? That the dream could have somehow hurt him? "I... Well..." Madison searched for a decent way to explain it. "I... I had a bad dream... You were in it... I... I wanted to make sure you were okay." She hit herself on the forehead. "I'm such an idiot. I should have known you weren't hurt." She leaned on Mark's door, closing her eyes and sighing. "Sorry for waking you up..." In the back of her mind, she saw Mark being ripped apart, and cringed. She really hoped she could get that image out of her head.


@Alex Phalin
 
Mica remembered the course well. He held the record, had since his second year. He laughed as he raced through the course, flying through the different obstacles as if he were enjoying a jog with an old friend. He flew through the vault and duck, made his way through the tunnel with ease, and the ladder steps he took three at a time. He finished about eight seconds before Nikolas and shot him a grin as he finished, eagerly awaiting the chase. He prepared the Mica doubles and the giant purple tyranosaurus in his mind.
 
Note* There are 3-4 of each obstacle lined up next to each other to allow for easier flow instead of everyone trying to get past the same challenge.


Sen Harper


Sen watched as the two graduates too of watching as they pretty made their way through the course making it look a lot easier than it probably was by the time ten seconds had passed the two were already well into the coarse moving along with expert grace and speed. Her eyes remained glued to the duo as she tried to see if there were any tricks she could pick up on, at least from her vantage point.

"Alright, Go!"

​



The assistant principal called allowing the students to start. Sen waited for the initial rush to go past not wanting to be trampled or blocked at the first obstacle. There was a minor jam at the first challenge which was the low wall. It took a few seconds for the small crowd to sort them selves out and fall into an order of sorts with the fast sprinters in the front and the more cautious meandering behind. Sen held back until most had gotten over the 5ft low wall then sprinted forward not quite hitting full speed but enough to get some traction as tried to run up the wall or at least get a step or two in and throw and arm over the top of the wall pulling herself up onto the 6 inch or so ledge.


She looked down making sure it was all clear before jumping down and rolling as soon as she hit the ground then bolting for the next part which was fairly easy. She slowed down slightly and measured her steps to make sure they were even. Beside her another kid let his speed get the better of him and ended up stepping into one of the gaps. Sen chuckled softly jumping off the last block and made her way to the next part which was a much lower wall but she also had to duck under a pipe. She jumped the wall easy making sure to take a knee as she landed to make sure she was low enough not to smack her head on the bar then repeated this process for other few parts of the challenge. Sen overall was making decent time while pacing her self managing to catch up so some of the students who had bolted head of her.
 
Gray glanced over at Sen and smirked a bit, tilting his head just enough for his neck to emit a long series of cracks.


"This should be fun." he said, watching as Jon walked off. He smirked a bit to himself and slid his headphones on, letting out an odd sounding sigh that almost sounded like a low hiss. He was ready to take on this challenge, and he knew that Jon was going to make it a competitive one. Of course, that meant that Gray would have to put his all into it.


When the signal to go was called, he shot forward in a sprint. He wasn't using his powers, but he was still awfully fast for his build. As he reached the first of the obstacles he jumped, climbing easily towards the top. It was obvious he had parkour experience with how smooth he was navigating the obstacles, occasionally having to dodge or change course because of other students.


@Silent Justice
 
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(going to bed for the night)


Madison wrapped her arms around Mark in return, comforted by his closeness. "I know you're there, I just..." She sighed. "I don't want anything to happen to you." She was surprised when he suggested that they skip class. She'd never done anything like that before. She had always tried to follow the rules whenever she could. She was about to open her mouth to refuse, but stopped. Maybe... Maybe Kiara was right. Maybe she shouldn't always conform. Or maybe she was just looking for an excuse to be with Mark. "Yes!" She said, maybe a bit too eagerly. "I mean, uh... Sure, if you want to."


@Alex Phalin
 
Jon took a deep breath and sighed deeply. He glanced back over his shoulder, already half imagining Gray's sinister smirk, teasing him with forbidden knowledge he was unsure he wanted to know. He hated conflict; that was why he had gone to great lengths before to build up his confidence and thus avoid any arguments through being so friendly. This had rubbed off infectiously on his very core being and he had inahbited the traits, but the roaring determination inside of his cast his mind back to childhood fights and spats.


"You ready for action?" he nodded to Emily, who gave a small smile to the horizon, not turning to face him.


"I'm ready for hell," she stated without obvious contempt. Her voice held a knowing tone that conveyed an accepted fear, like she had given up all hope of a bumpy ride.


"That's cheery," Jon lined up on the wall alongside her, "Has Timestorm given you his slip yet?" She nodded. "Look, if this is so difficult for youm then why don't you just..."


"People will fuss," she cut him off with her earthy, celtic voice, a little monotonous but equally as precious as Sen's. Or so he had thought, but now he found it a little grating. "I don't want people troubling over me. I need to learn. I can't hide forever."


Whatever brief conversation they had held was interrupted by a call for the start of the challenge. The two graduates dashed off onto the course, and Jon turned back to Emily. "I'd love to stay and help, but I have little bit of friendly competition to quash. So I'll see you on the other side." She acknowledged him a little begrudgedly, and as he made to join the bustling huddle that made up the start line, she still remained on the wall behind.


The call was given, the verbal gun was fired, and a group of over ambitious metas set off at a blistering pace towards the first obstacle. Jon chuckled to himself, jogging allong at a more steady pace ahead of the unwilling backmarkers. However, he clenched his teeth as he noticed Gray dashing along with the front-runners. He'll tire himself out at that rate, Jon noted, but he certainly wasn't expecting the boy to be so naturally quick. Strong legs for hyper-speed, I guess. Didn't expect it from someone made of skin and bone like him, I guess he has spindly fast legs like Sonic. He had little doubt that he would be able to beat Gray in a straight out endurance test, but as Gray expertly vaulted the firs obstacle, he knew his lack of parkour experience would let him down.


Jon refused to give up, even though it seemed likely already that he would lose, and surged forward with a newfound rush of adreneline. He threw himself at the walk, thumping his body slightly as he struggled for grip. It took him much longer than Gray to eventually reach the top, and his knackered right arm was almost stinging, but he forced himself to ignore the pain and ran onwards still. Next came stepping stones, and had Jon been his normal self, he'd have suspected his clumsiness would betray him. But with a focussed mission in mind, he leap in huge confident strides from stone to stone. Gray was still up ahead, and Jon kept his eyes on the boy's distinctive silver hair, using it as a hare for him to chase. Once again he lost a bit of time on the rubble section, but would not give in. He glanced back and saw Sen behind him, running with the same sure-footed confidence as Gray and now making progress on him. He wished he were faster, but knew the importance of pacing himself, and pressed on steadily. That would behis main chance; if Gray were to tire himself out into slowing down a little.


@Shura


@Alex Phalin
 
Sen Harper


Sen vaulted over the last wall and started to jog around the curve. She had been keeping a steady pace which worked to her advantage. She could see some of the front runners starting to slowly fall back as they reached the other challenges. As she scanned ahead she spotted Jon not to far in front of her. She managed a mili-second of eye contact as he glanced back before smirking slightly. The teen pushed her self to at least catch up with her friend along the curve to the next challenge.


She almost caught up but the next challenge came which would scatter the small cluster of people that had grouped up during the run. Focusing her attention on what was in front of her now she sped up just slightly while most of them slowed down to a stop to drop and crawl Sen relied on a slightly different tactic. low clearance wasn't something she was new to and when trying to escape it wasn't possible to stop. She dropped into a baseball slide the due from the morning grass giving her an extra inch or two of distance but not really clearing the tunnel. Thankfully her smaller stature made it easy for her to get to her knees and be able to crawl the rest of the way.


Mud and dirt had streaked its way across Sens worn and faded jeans mixing with the hints of green from a potential grass stain but she didn't much mind. She stood up pausing only to brush the dirt from her hands before she ran forward once more. The next obstacle was much easier though she slowed slightly running through the narrow corridors. Her worn sneakers didn't provide the best traction on the grass which was slowly becoming muddy as serious student dug into the ground to turn. She slid slightly which each turn but managed to keep a decent speed.


Sen spotted the next challenge and her confidence dropped a good bit as she paused at the rope climb. What she had in speed and agility she severely lacked in strength. She cursed under her breath and wiped her hands on her shirt before grabbing the rope and starting the slow climb.


@SkyGinge
 
Jon frowned a little at the tunnels. He wasn't very fond of getting messy and dirty, but he was going to be force to here. Begrudgingly falling to his hands and knees, he just caught sight of Sen performing an impressive dive slide into the tunnel, remarkably avoiding taking out any other students. So she has had experience in this field, though not literally this very field, Jon mused, now glad he didn't have his hat as he made slow progress through the tunnel in an awkward train behind those bunched up ahead of him. His lanky frame hardly helped matters, though he took consolation that Gray would probably be in a similar situation up ahead.


Thankfully the next obstacle was much easier, as Jon's body was surprisingly flexible and he imagined he caught up a little to those ahead in swiftly tackling the dodging panels. He'd always been good at dodgeball, although he didn't see how that translated properly to the excircise. The next challenge though looked a lot mroe difficult, and just thinking of the climb he'd have to pull off made his arm throb once more. He'd never been very good at climbing, especially with ropes involved, although he imagined this was one of the greter curveballs thrown in. He noticed the students had bunched up again now in front of him, their reluctance evident. Jon grinned as he leapt for the first rope, slowly hoisting himself up. For unlike them, he had a mission.
 
Boris had spent most of the night doing the little maintenance he could do on the Mannequin. He still had to contact Jon, whomever that might be, about the materials. Which, in his professional opinion, sucked donkey balls.


As he was done, he had a quick breakfast, consisting of half a bread and some chocolate spread again, with more wodka. Noticing the absence of students, he wandered around the campus, 'patrolling'.


He saw the students running a gauntlet, chasing after two of the teachers.


He decided he could do better.


"Robot, let's show them."


With that, Boris and his robot entered the competition, the robot quickly running next to the teachers, while Boris desperately tried to keep up. He roughly kept pace with the average group of students, sometimes lightly outpacing them.
 
<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2014_09/Kiara.jpg.ec6379cbbeef9ae09d114c5bb993f065.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="29738" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2014_09/Kiara.jpg.ec6379cbbeef9ae09d114c5bb993f065.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> Given the parameters of the test from the vice principal, Kiara peered through the group of students as she surveyed the portions of the course that were visible from their starting point. From what she could see, it appeared fairly basic. Kiara had no illusions about finishing first, but in this endeavor she was confident that she would at least finish.


Her years of swimming had toned her wiry muscles well. Kiara's strength wasn't completely invested in her physical ability; rather her wild-card was her endurance which hundreds upon hundreds of laps in the pool had built up over time.


She clasped Teru's hand, stood up on her tip-toes, kissed his cheek and said, "Don't wait up for me. I'll make it. Just go and do your best."


The start was signaled. Kiara leapt at the top of the low wall, gripped it and hauled herself over it. As she cleared the top of the wall and impacted the ground on the opposite side, the bruised ribs that had been blissfully silent screamed Kiara crumpled under the pain and gripped her side in agony.


After a few, short painful breaths, Kiara rose to one knee. She winced and clenched her teeth against the pain and steeled herself to continue on. With visible effort, she managed the stepping stones and struggled mightily through the rubble as the stabbing pain became relentless.


She crawled through the tunnel without much effort and as she worked her way through the dodging panels, Kiara slowed her pace and wrapped her arms around her middle as she took slower, longer breaths against the pain in her side.


Kiara stopped and surveyed the hanging ropes. Many of the students struggled with this as they didn't have much upper body strength. Kiara reached out, grabbed one of the ropes and looked to the goal at the top. If only I could get some relief from this pain, she thought angrily. Then, Kiara had an idea.


She glanced around to see who might be watching. Although she intended to now use her talent, she wouldn't be using it specifically against the course. Cheating or not, with the persistent throbbing in her side, Kiara realized she had no choice; otherwise, her run would end here.


She took a deep breath and centered her talent just inside her muscles that wrapped around the bruised ribs and lightly, ever so lightly, pushed them away to provide a small cushion of force between them. The intensity of the pain immediately vanished to a point where it was barely felt at all.


Kiara's confidence soared! She had never attempted to use her power in such a manner and quite frankly was surprised it actually worked. She hopped up and wrapped her hands and feet around the rope and, while still holding her breath, she quickly, nimbly ascended to the top. Once attained, she dropped to the ground. Kiara's landing caused her to exhale and the muscles, again, tensed around her bruised ribs. Kiara winced at the sudden pain, but bore it without complaint.


The rest of the course was easy for Kiara to conquer. True to her original analysis, she was nowhere near the first person through; however, she had managed to finish the run near the upper half of the students.


Kiara paused to catch her breath against the aching of her injury and waited to see how the rest of the class would go about catching their instructor.

 

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Sen Harper


Sen grit her teeth as she pulled her self up making it half way up before her arms started to ache and burn. Perhaps she should put more effort into working out her upper body in the future. She made a mental note as she slowly made her way up the rope. She glanced over to see how the others were doing most struggling just as much as she was. Then she spotted John also struggling but doing better then she was. A rush of determination hit her clearing away any self defeating thoughts. She focused her attention back on the rope managing to make it too the top after a few minutes. Her arms were trembling slightly but it felt good to reach the top.


She glanced down feeling a small shock of fear and gripped the rope tighter. "Fuck... shouldn't have done that..." She grumbled under her breath before taking a deep breath and easing herself back down to the ground. A few nerve wracking seconds later she managed to get down. She shook off the pain from her arms looking up to see the others moving ahead, Jon among them. Time to play catch up. She pushed forwards to something more in her comfort zone. She charged forward with confidence once more clearing the gap easily in one leap and making her way to the corridor.


not wanting to lose speed she dived into a roll a little early curling up as tight as possible to keep from clipping the panels. She landed on her hands and knees and kept going ducking her head low to keep from hitting it. She approached the next obstacle and muttered a curse still she didn't have much of a choice, good thing it wasn't terribly high. She took another deep breath and took to the balance beam managing to keep her balance no problem as she kept her eyes forward instead of on the ground. A few hops at the very end and she was down. Only one more leg to go. She told herself as she rounded the next corner.


@SkyGinge
 
<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2014_09/Brittany_originalcrop.jpg.1ebe331714cf9ba353112ffe6a3b2a9b.jpg" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="29740" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2014_09/Brittany_originalcrop.jpg.1ebe331714cf9ba353112ffe6a3b2a9b.jpg" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p> Brittany arrived at the scene of the obstacle course. Yesterday's rain made the ground slick as it had been saturated for hours. She stepped lightly and with awareness to keep from getting any mud on her shoes.


She made her way around the assembly and came to where Morgan was standing and giving her instructions for the trial. Brittany nodded her head at the vice-principal when her presence was noticed, but did not initiate any contact with her. Brittany was surprised at how much Morgan had grown into her role and her respect for Iren's daughter increased.


The start was given and Brittany watched as the students mass-migrated to the first series of obstacles. Like a colony of ants, they climbed over, under, through and around the various things set before them – some quicker than others.


As Brittany searched for the students she had met yesterday, her attention was drawn to the black-haired girl who had fallen into a heap on the other side of the low wall. She waited a moment to see if the girl would rise and also to gauge Morgan's reaction. It appeared the the vice-principal's attention was elsewhere, so Brittany started to move to help the fallen student.


She had taken a few steps toward the field when the girl rose and slowly managed to continue on. Brittany could see the obvious signs of someone who had a rib problem and hoped that the student wasn't trying to run the course with broken ribs.


How had that injury not been on the reports that she had seen yesterday when she helped Alec to the infirmary? Brittany kept a close watch on the girl as she meandered through the obstacles. She seemed to be in no hurry, but with injured ribs Brittany could not blame the girl.


When the black-haired student arrived at the ropes, Brittany saw a look of disappointed failure wash across the girl's face that even her sunglasses could not hide. Then, to her surprise, the student climbed the rope with relative ease – easier still for someone with injured ribs.


Brittany was intrigued with this girl now. Somehow, she had resisted the pain and cleared what should have been an impassable objective.


She turned to Morgan and signaled to her before speaking. {{Who is that black-haired girl with the sunglasses?}} she asked.


@Shura

 

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Boring Stuff From Proc!

Yaaaaaaay! Because only losers like Proc self-interact! Have fun tooooottally not paying attention to this post, since it doesn't include anyone! Wheeee! Just here to fill my quota of posts! Whoohoo!

Josephine was not at all pleased to see a student all the way back here, behind the school, seated on the curb. This was supposed to be her quiet spot, and it was now ruined by the presence of what could only be described as a rather rowdy-looking teenager. Decked in a black jacket with a fur-trimmed collar, she was munching on what Josephine could recognise as a chocolate energy bar, making loud chewing noises as she worked on the bar. Determined not to have her break ruined, Josephine stepped into the shade of the building. The student finally noticed her presence, and turned her way, taking off another chunk of chocolate as she did. She gave a look of surprise, which switched to one of inappropriate cheer, and she shifted slightly away to allow some space for Josephine to sit, and continued to work her way through her energy bar. Josephine dusted the curb and planted herself down a distance away from the student, and laid the white plastic bag on the ground. As she reached into the bag to pull out the can of alcoholic beverage and her sandwich, she caught sight of a similar looking plastic bag on the other side of the student. Through the slightly translucent bag, she could make out the brands of various energy bars. Did the girl really think that she could devour all of those? That's....insane.


Just as she thought this, the girl reached into her plastic bag and extracted one of these bars, and held it out to Josephine. She swallowed the chunk of chocolate she was chewing and grinned brightly. "Want one? I think I bought one too much. I need summa that energy, but phew, I don't think I need dat much."


It was rude to decline a kind offer, as stupid as it was. Josephine took the bar and uttered her thanks, and the girl beamed brighter with a "Yer welcome!". Both ladies sat behind the tall building at their backs, each eating their meals at a leisurely pace. The shade that the building cast over them and the gentle breeze that blew past made this a rather awfully nice place to sit and 'relax', as they would say. Josephine herself found it...chillingly enjoyable to sit by here and feel the wind caress her face as she thought about various things. No doubt had this student discovered this place as well as she wandered about the school. Josephine knew that this student was probably skipping off one of the classes, but in this haven, this sanctuary of hers, now theirs, she didn't feel like pulling one on the student. Josephine finished her own bar of chocolate and cracked open her can of beer. The student ignored her. She, too, seemed to prefer sitting by and enjoying the moment instead of crawling all over her. Josephine appreciated that. It was...'nice' of her. She raised the can to her lips, and let the bitter, burning beverage slide down her throat. She placed the can beside her and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and got to work on unwrapping the sandwich she brought.


"Hey, you ain't gonna ask what'm I doin' here?" The student suddenly spoke up. "Y'know, most of da teachers usually try'n leap on me when they find me slackin' off. Why ain't you doin' that?"


Josephine contemplated an answer as she peeled open the aluminium foil. After a moment, she responded. "The same reason why you are not going out there, telling everyone you are seeing an educational officer in training neglecting her duties."


The girl looked a bit stunned. Were her words too difficult for her? She didn't come off as the sort to be of large vocabulary. Not with that rather ditzy look of her face. The girl recovered and then chortled with a sort of mirth, and took out another chocolate bar. She had gone through seven of those already. She looked back down at her bar as her fingers worked on the red wrapping. She opened her mouth to speak, hesitated, and then pressed her lips together. A moment of silence, except for the crinkling of Josephine's aluminium foil and the girl's wrapper, rang around them. Then, the girl started. "I'm bored. That's why. D'you think that's a stupid reason?"


Josephine decided to humor her. "No. Why would I?"


"'Cuz usually, if yer bored, ya get to doing stuff, like goin' to the lessons an' all dat. The lessons ain't borin' to you, am I right?"


"I suppose so."


"Well, dat's the thin'. Everyone's so happy and excited about it, and I get excited too, see? But when I get excited, I...lose control. Like that day. I feel like a big loser, flunkin' that course. Couldn't control my...energy output or sommat like dat. Dese things ain't helpin' me much, and the other students, dey supposed t' be my friends an' all, but...dey keep me from keepin' calm. It's boring when I need to sit still and not do anything, and let dem do everything first. So my therapist, she sez that I have to find somewhere else to calm down whenever I get too...whassat word? Agi...aguh..."


"Agitated?"


"Yeah, dat's the word. Yer smart. No wonder yer a teach. See, so I didn't wanna go to class today because it gets borin' if I have t' sit at the back and do nuttin'. So I skipped it, walked right oudda dere. Bought a buncha energy bars t' keep me company. I burn a lot of energy anyway, so why not?" The girl sighed, and gets back to eating her chocolate. "So, dat's my story. I just wanna hit somethin' real, ya know? I wanna put dese powers a' mine to good use. I don't wanna...I don't need da training. I know how t' hit and how t' hit harder'n dat." The girl looked up at Josephine. Behind those steely eyes of determination lay something that seemed too familiar to her. A need for purpose. Right now, this school had no purpose for her, and she had no reason to do anything at all. In response to Josephine's silence, the girl slouched forwards, and went back to chewing her chocolate. "Plus, I don't think the other guys notice me. I don't stand out too much, and I think..I just wanna be known t' them as someone, and dat's why I did all those things I did. I shouldn't try so hard, I know. Maybe...it's better if I don't go t' anything from here on."


"Then what do you plan on doing?" Josephine was down to her last bite of her sandwich.


"I...I dunno. Maybe sit around and...wait for those 'rogue' guys to come on back. I really dunno, teach."


Josephine finished her sandwich and picked up her can of beer once more, and drank from it. After a few gulps, she lowered it and turned towards the students. "Well, if you don't exactly know what you intend to do, why don't you stay here and watch the clouds blow past? I haven't the foggiest why I still exist here either. Maybe it is because I feel indebted to the Winfords, chained to them by my heart. Maybe so. But it seems that all I do is run around and make sure everything is running smoothly, and that the janitors are doing their jobs."


"Hah! So dat's you, huh? The Master Janitor?" The student chuckled, already having worked her way through five more bars. She really had an appetite, Josephine admitted. She had an appetite that made up for an entire family of five, maybe more. She leaned back on the curb, onto the wall of the building, and looked up at the sky, through the gaps between the leaves of the tree that shaded over them. "Mmm. Sounds good, Master Janitor. Maybe I will sit around. Maybe the sky will fall down and I'll go an' hold it up, like dat one Chinese god guy."


Josephine let herself lean back on the cement of the building and cast her eyes upwards as well, taking periodic sips from her beer. She accepted the title the girl gave her without complaint. That did seem like what she was. A busybody. That's what. Josephine closed her eyes and let the burning bitterness take away that feeling of...resentment towards herself. The two stopped exchanging their words, but they knew, that within them, they were tied together as one mind, under the shade of the tree and the school, behind all of the main goings-on within, away from everything else. Also because they are of the same writer, duh.
 
Morgan Winford


Morgan remained on the side lines observing as the class made their way through the coarse. She had just shaken her head at Nikolas's complaints of having to run the coarse since it only proved more of a reason for him to do it. She knew he relied on his teleporting far too much but was past the point needing to be scolded for it. The vice principal kept an eye out on the whole group noting that most had more confidence in this task then the day before which was a plus. While it wasn't supposed to be a test she still tried to assess the type of training needed for future classes. Perhaps some lessons on movement with Mica were needed since most had issues transitioning from movement to movement stopping to crouch down or duck. It wasn't anything of huge importance but could prove to be useful and help conserve on energy.


Her attention was pulled as Brittney spoke up, she had been so focused on the student she had forgotten the graduate student had been standing near by the whole time. She filtered through the student before spotting the one in question. "Kiara Tyrel" She informed.


@Kharmin
 
Jon climbed with a primal passion, grunting slightly with every pull. His arm was unbelievably painful, and by the time he reached the top, he had started weighing mainly on his left arm, thus weakening that too. But he couldn't let down; Gray likely had an identical determination to him judging from his previous glances. Jon saw nothing but the course ahead of him, and barely noticed that he had repassed Sen.


Barely even noticing the slight burning in his leg muscles, Jon pressed on avidly to the ditch obstacle. His long legs gace him an advantage here, and he was easily able to jump each distance, alsthough had to steady himself each time to adjust to the incline. He sped swiftly through the corridors, keeping up a fairly quick half gallop as he ducked. Now he was faced with a balance beam. Without even thinking of the imminant challenge, he proceeded to run up the beam.


But as he might have feared before, his clumsiness and poor balance betrayed him. and rounding the corner he caught his foot on the underside of the beam. He flailed wildly for a long moment, but launched himself forwards. His head whipped backwards in impact with the next bit of the beam, his arms finding a tentative grip on it. He clung on desperately, arms still burning, wide-eyed and having been smacked round the face by reality. With an audibly pained grunt, he slowly hoisted himself back up and stood there, hands on knees, panting for a long moment.


You can't give up, he told himself, watching Sen approach the next obstacle ahead. Taking one last deep breath, he continued more cautiously and completed the obstacle. He had definitely lost time now, that much was certain. But he wasn't going down without a fight.


@Alex Phalin


@Shura
 
Morgan Winford


Morgan scanned across group seeing more and more students finishing the coarse and starting to give chase to the two graduates. She chuckled softly seeing them group up and try to chase after with no real tactic or plan. She wondered how long it would be before they realized that working together was much better than going it alone. She scanned back through the crowed in time to spot one of student slip on the high beam. She tensed ready to jump in to help the students, shadows beneath the beam quickly brought to her control in case she needed to catch. Thankfully it didn't come to that but she made a mental not to check on the student later. "Most of them are doing well..." she sighed.


Sen Harper


Sen felt her confidence in full swing as she easily jumped through the open window and kept running she saw a large stepping structure ahead of her and grit her teeth pushing forward. Being on solid ground that didn't waiver made it much easier as she took the steps two at a time to the top then quickly made her way down making. She slipped once or twice from the less than stellar traction on her shoes but managed to keep on her feet.


One more. She told her self as she ran forward up the incline stopping just short of launching herself off the ledge seeing there were steeper steps down that were much safer in comparison. She hoped down the last two steps to the ground crossing the make shift finish line where several other student were recovering. She came to a stop and leaned forward bracing her self on her knees. Her legs were burning something fierce and she could feel a tightness in her chest. After a few seconds she forced her self to stand up straight to catch her breath.


She was starting to regret pushing herself to hard in the coarse they still had to catch Nikolas and the white magician and had a while before the hour was up. "Okay... next time take it slower...." she muttered under her breath.


Sen watched as several other students ran after the magician who managed to keep a step ahead of them. Once or twice a student would lunge forward just to pass right through the man. A gleeful cackle shortly followed from a random direction as the real Mica would show himself. Then there was Nikolas who would just teleport a good distance away, wait for the students to catch up then teleport again. Several students were already sitting on the side lines trying to recover some energy.


Sen shook her head. "This isn't going to work..." she muttered tempted to call for everyone to scatter instead of making one mass group but she stopped herself from it. Would her even calling it out work? probably not... She sighed softly. She might have gotten more comfortable among a few chosen students but habits of wanting nothing more than to not be noticed kicked in hard keeping her quiet.


@Godman873 @King Of Imagination
 
A little shaken up, but still full of adrenalien and more, Jon reached the windows and began to vault his way through them. He was hardly graceful in his vault, and it took him a little longer to get over than some, but he persevered and got through. He was aware though that due to his fall he'd definitely lost time to a number of others, Gray likely included. Effectively he had already lost, but he had to keep trying. Who knows, perhaps I'll get another chance to prove myself, he mused dejectedly, If that's even what this all is.


Now relatively unobstructed, he made his way fairly swiftly to the end, overtaking a bunch of stragglers as in a desperate fit of energy, he dashed the final few obstacles, acing them and soon crossing the finish lane. He keeled over, panting heavily. Had he paced himself he'd have been less tired, but once more the exercise rekindled the fatigue he'd inherited over the previous few day's excircises. Now that the adrenaline was starting to fade, he could feel the heavy lactic acid in his leg muscles, and a tired tightening of his chest.


He straightened himself up, scouring the collected resting finishers with more intent than normal through his calmness. He managed a weak smile, noticing that Sen had finished just a fraction before him. She had certainly proven herself, with all her parkour experience, but he couldn't help but feel like he'd have beaten her had he not had his slip. Approaching her, he gave her an earnest smile, looking up over his fatigue and giving her a sloppy congratulatory pat on the back.


"Nice work," he said simply, reserving words through energy. "You beat me fair and square. Where did..." he took a large gulp of air, "where did you learn all those little parkour tricks? I didn't know I'd befriended the freerunning queen herself!" He chuckled to himself, still smiling at her. He honestly didn't mind losing to her: he'd tried his best. But she wasn't the main competitor. He glanced around once more at the finishers. He couldn't immediately see Gray, but in his absorbing tiredness he was hardly very aware or alert. Worse still, the challenge hadn't yet finished: they still had to catch the two graduates!


@Shura


@Alex Phalin
 
Nikolas


Watching the students go through the course was quite entertaining and it certainly helped with their stamina. "Yes, they are doing well." Then as a couple students finished the course they dove right after Nikolas who waited until the very last moment before teleporting five feet away. Keeping away from them wouldn't be particularly hard but teleporting in such a way to save stamina would be a bit difficult. After a few times of keeping out of range of the students he saw some of them already discouraged, keeping up their morale would be hard. "In the face in insurmountable odds use critical thinking! There is always a way!" Nikolas exclaimed trying to be encouraging.
 
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