I own nothing, not the characters, the space where this story exists, or even the eyes that you are using to read it. This is for entertainment proposes only, no money involved.

Over the following weeks the students were required to go around in pairs, much to the frustration of Sam how snuck out whenever she could to go alone to the Sanctuary. The faculty and older students volunteered for patrols and as escorts for the younger students.

Several agents showed up at Rowan seemingly overnight. The students were told that they were there for their safety but that they were not to be approached or bothered. Most of the students were afraid of the agents, especially Cooper with his heavily burned face and black ski cap and it had become a kind of dare among them to walk past him at night while he was making his rounds with his lantern.

This made them all the more ashamed when Danny and Jazz went up and talked to these people with smiling faces and acting as if they were only ordinary people. Seeing how Danny was acting around Cooper, Sir Weasley gave him extra credit for his edict class.

Two weeks into the new way of things Danny and Jazz were working in a study group along with David, Max, Connor, Cynthia and Lucia. Even with everything that had happened, the faculty decided that they would still have the semester midterms the same as usual, and Danny was struggling with all the names of the different Greek gods and heroes and always glared with disgust every time he came across a question about Pandora. The legend of Pandora didn't do his aunt justice if you asked him.

But another name also stuck out to him, though he didn't understand why. Prometheus, the Titan of foresight, who was said to have given fire to man and damned for doing it. The more he read about the rule breaking trickster god the more he pitied him, after all, Prometheus was only trying to help protect humanity from the tyranny of the other Greek gods and goddesses. The unfortunate god was strapped to a stone cliff and left to have his innards eaten out by vultures for all of eternity because he gave fire to mankind so that they could protect themselves. Danny could feel somewhere inside him that the fire that the legends spoke of was the same spark that gave them their mystics.

Danny skimmed though the legends that were told about Prometheus looking for some salvation to the poor Titan's plight. He finally found one in which a Greek hero descended into the underworld and freed Prometheus from his suffering. Danny was surprised to find that the hero was Achilles.

Max on the other hand was struggling through his math test booklet and groaned when he reached the end only to find that only half of his answers fit what was in the master key. He looked at the clock which read ten thirty and started to pack up his stuff.

David looked over his book at Max. "You heading out?" He asked. David and Jazz were both reading casually instead of studying for their tests. They were both the best in the classes and everyone was just glad they came to the study session to answer their questions.

"Yeah, I got to feed Nick." Max said as he slung his backpack over one shoulder.

"You should get an escort to go with you." David said returning to his book.

"I'll go with you." Sara said getting up and smiling at Max. Everyone but Danny and Max gave a knowing smile.

"Can I go to?" Danny asked grinning.

"No!" Jazz said sharply and then hesitated. "Kurama is already asleep and it's already past your bed time." She added. Danny grumbled a little.

"Just let me get my coat." Sara said and stepped out of the room to go and grab a jacket for the autumn night air. Connor giggles and David struggled to pretend he was still just reading. Cynthia hadn't even noticed that her book was now upside down as she whispered with Lucia.

"What are you all snickering about?" Max said confused.

"Come on Max, she likes you." Connor said rolling his eyes.

"Wait, she does?" Danny said in surprise and the girls all chuckled at his ignorance.

"No she doesn't." Max said defensively.

"Sure she does." Cynthia chuckled. "That's why she sits next to you in every class and always picks you first during the games. She's only slightly less obvious about it than Danny is about his crush on Sam."

Danny blushed and his head dropped. "Can we please stop pointing that out all the time?" He mumbled to the delight of everyone but Max who was too distracted by his current predicament.

Then Lucia started talking. Lucia had gotten used to speaking in English but Danny found it exhausting to listen to her at the sheer rate that she talked. And apparently so did Max because he stopped her and asked her to go back. "What was that about the festival?" He asked.

Lucia glared. "I said that Sara is too good for you and that you are very lucky to be going her to the Halloween festival with her."

Max's eyes widened and he through a glance over towards the door. "What are you talking about… Sara is going to ask me to be her date for Halloween?" He said in a slight panic.

"Of course not silly." Cynthia said and Max gave a sigh of relief. "Sara is way too old fashioned for that. She will simply let you know that she wants you to ask her."

"But…" Max stopped as Sara re-entered the room with her coat.

"Are you ready?" Sara asked as she walked to the door to the orchard. Connor chuckled as Max silently nodded and followed her outside. Once the door closed behind them Danny turned to his sister.

"So… do I really have to go to sleep right now?" Danny asked. Jazz gave him a look and he sighed before dropping his books into his bag that he had expanded using Mystics as soon as he found the book on how to. Throwing the backpack over his schooler he climbed the stairs up towards his room.

He flew up to the clock tower and was thinking about the Halloween Dance. Danny went to his writing table and pulled out a piece of paper. Writing a quick message he pushed it into an envelope and then put the envelope in an empty cardboard box, one of many that he had saved from when the older students had came back to campus. Then he waved his hand and a small green portal appeared in the air and he pushed the box through before it closed. He knew that Uncle Boxy would find it and that he would deliver the letter for him. He yawned felling tired from his day of studying so he climbed into the open coffin and went to sleep.

Three days later on a Saturday Danny went down the stairs in his normal t-shirt and blue jeans that he wore whenever he didn't have to wear the school uniform that he felt made him look like an idiot. All of the students in his section were whispering excitedly about the visit that was scheduled that day to go to The Course. The Course had usually been reserved for only third years and up but the resent events had called for a change in the rules.

After hearing about Ms. Richter's decision, Bob started to pile extra food onto the first years' plates and ignored any protests. Not that Danny ever really protested. The other students were wondering just how much the boy could eat.

Max had just managed to get way with only a bowl of cereal and came over to the table. Lucia glared at him the moment he sat down. Max had not taken Sara's hints that she wanted him to ask her to the dance. And ever seen then most of the girls gave him cold glares whenever he entered the room. Sara herself still seemed friendly but less outgoing than she used to be.

Finally Max sighed and got up and walked slowly over to Sara who put down her spoon. "Sara." Max started as if he didn't have a clue how to do this. Everyone at the table had stopped talking to watch. "Would you go to the All Hallows Eve dance with me?" He finally said.

The table burst into whistles and cheers. Sara smiled but kept her cool. "Thank you for the invitation Max, I will… consider it." She said.

"Ok." Max mumbled and walked back to his seat as some of the guys gave him pats on the back as he went. He sat down and looked at Lucia. "Am I out of everybody's dog house now?"

Lucia scoffed. "You might be out of there, but not mine. If anything that was even worse, asking a girl out to prove a point, and in front of everyone to." She said angrily.

"Wait… so he couldn't win… I don't understand girls." Danny said before taking a bite out of his toast.

"Danny-boy, no one understands girls, not even girls." Connor said patting him on the back. "But since Max went out and asked Sara, are you going to ask someone." He said his eyes shifting towards Sam. Danny didn't notice.

"I already have." He said taking another bite out of his toast. The table went silent to the point that Danny's bites sounded like bomb shells. Danny and Sam looked around not understanding what was going on. "What?" Danny asked.

"So you… who did you ask?" Cynthia said giggling as she glanced at Sam. "Did she say yes?"

"I asked someone from back home, Dora." Danny said. "And yes, she's coming."

Jazz broke out laughing as the students were stunned into silence. "It's tradition that we always invite Dora to any party. She gets really upset if no one invites her." Jazz pulled out the laptop that they still had from home and opened up a picture of Dora. "Here's a picture of her from the Christmas party last year." Jazz said.

The first years' jaws dropped. "Wow…" Connor said slowly. "She is stunning." Dora was in a white dress that seemed to flow naturally with her pale skin, her straw blond hair was done in one long braid over her shoulder and she was smiling softly at the camera with her bright amber eyes. She looked to the world like a normal thirteen year old girl. No one would have guessed that she was a forty foot ghost dragon. Connor leaned over to Danny. "Trying to make Sam jealous are you?" Connor said with a grin. Danny flushed and shook his head.

Breakfast went on. Sam had left to see to her charge since her section of second years would be visiting The Course before Danny's group. Danny left with her to go and tend to Kurama just as Connor came screaming out of the kitchen running from Mum who was trying to force him to be her date to the dance.

Danny was feeding Kurama his daily helping of berries while Sam gave her Forest Sprite some water and dried leafs. "Danny…" Sam said slowly. Danny looked up to see her looking at him. "I just wanted to say… thanks for saving me from those wolf things." She said with a smile. Before turning her head back to her charge.

Danny smiled back. Then he realized what she was implying. "I um… don't know what you're talking about." Danny said glancing around.

"Danny please, we're friends." Sam said calmly. "I won't tell anyone."

Danny sighed. "How long have you…"

"I guessed within the first week. It isn't like there are a lot of people your size around Rowan. Seeing your apple helped." Sam said with a shrug. "I assumed that you would tell me when you're ready but… I guess I just want you to know that you don't have to be afraid of telling me."

"Thanks…" Danny whispered looking down so she couldn't see the tears in his eyes. "Thank you." He said a little louder.

Sam reached up and ruffled his hair. "We'll always be friends, Danny. You don't have to be worried about something as silly as this." Sam said laughing. "Danny Phantom. Now that has a ring to it. Now come on we should get back to the Manse before everyone heads out without us."

They started walking out of the Sanctuary. "So… are you really a Steward?" Sam asked curiously.

"I don't know." Danny said with a shrug. "I don't even really understand to well what a Steward even is. They say that they were like gods, but I don't know what a god is like either." Sam laughed and Danny blushed. He was glad she had figured it out and still wanted to be his friend.

Jazz was a mixture of frightened and relieved when Danny told her that Sam had figured out that he was Phantom. But she assured Danny that it wasn't his fault and that he had done nothing wrong. Jazz didn't think that Sam would do anything that would hurt Danny in the long run.

Their group all arrived outside of the Smithy's doorstep a few minutes before they had been scheduled to go in. The door opened and Ms. Boon and Mr. Vincenti were standing there with a stack of blue binders that were labeled, 'The Course, Operations Manual'.

Mr. Vincenti looked over the group. "Good good, everyone's here, let's get started. Welcome to my neck of the woods, my beloved Smithy. Let's get you inside." He said and motioned for the students to move into the Smithy. "It goes without saying that you will not touch anything in here. Your key cards and pin numbers are enclosed in your binders. Now here we go." They walked down a long entry hallway with a large mental door with a keypad on one side and a large elevator at the end of the hall.

Then Ms. Boon handed out the binders. "That door leads to the workshop. No reason for you to be there until you take Devises in your third year. This elevator is what you want. It will take you down to the courses main level. In you go." Mr. Vincenti said pushing the students into the elevator. The elevator probably had mystics done on it to expand the inside. "Hold on tight." The instructor muttered as the elevator quickly accelerated downwards. Most of the students closed their eyes against the queasiness as they plummeted downwards. But Danny and Jazz merely granted slightly.

Soon the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened into a large octagonal room with a high ceiling and walls of polished granite. On the opposite wall was another elevator that had the Rowan seal on its brass door.

Danny wondered around and looked at several old looking objects in glass cases that were in the room. Danny stopped in front of one and his eyes widened. "Jazz come look! This gauntlet, it looks just like Uncle Frost's!" He shouted back to his sister.

Jazz came up beside him and looked over his shoulder gasping in surprise. In the case was a large battered gauntlet that was made for a hand much larger than your average mans. It was the left handed gauntlet. "I don't believe it…" Jazz thought as she looked at the plaque next to the display that read 'The Gauntlet of Beowulf, awarded for courage' followed by a list of names of people who had been awarded it. It looked identical to a right-handed one that Frostbite had kept in his trophy room. "Uncle Frost never told us how he lost his arm."

"Let me show you my favorite." Miss. Boon said with a smile as she led Danny and Jazz along with Max who had been nearby, to the next display. It was a charred and blackened stone. "This is the Founder's Stone. It is a corner piece of our last school and was retrieved by the refuges that fled there at great cost. Were the other awards are given to students that show one quality, the Founder's Stone is given to that rare student that personifies many."

"Wow." Jazz said shortly though her thoughts were still on the Gauntlet. She became more interested however when she spotted the last name on the much shorter list of recipients. "Ms. Richter was the last one to win it." She said with a smile.

"Yes. Ms. Richter was an outstanding student and agent before she became Director." Miss Boon said a bit of admiration in her voice.

They then wondered over to David how was staring at a golden apple that was in another case. "Bram's apple, awarded for sacrifice." David read. "Elias Bram, he's the one that sacrificed himself against Astaroth, so that others could flee." Jazz looked down at her younger brother's lower back, as if she could see through the shirt to the scars his fight had left. The fight that drained him of his life-force. The fight that nearly killed him. "He was the last Ascendant." David said sadly.

"That's right David." Miss. Boon said quietly.

"Miss. Boon, what is an Ascendant?" Max asked.

She looked down at Max but her eyes seemed to glance at Danny and David. "An Ascendant is every rare Max, especially in the last millennium. Our long departed Bram was the last we know of for certain. Ascendant's had great stores of the old magic in them, they were very powerful." Miss Boon explained. Danny was absent mindedly kicking his feet against the ground. He had already heard this. Ms. Richter told him it when she asked him to keep quiet about his old magic from everyone but his sister who he refused to keep secrets from. They believed that David was an Ascendant, and that Danny might also be one to.

"Alright children gather up." Mr. Vincenti called out. "Well now you know why our older students try so hard. They all want to win one of those awards, never won one myself. You win one of those awards, and you've done something." Mr. Vincenti said and grinned at Miss. Boon. "Isn't that right, Miss Boon? Don't let her modesty fool you kids. She won two awards during her time here at Rowan. What were they again?" He asked acting as if he didn't already know.

Miss. Boon flushed. "Macon's quill… twice."

"Well, as your adviser I selfishly hope that there are some awards in store for all of you." Mr. Vincenti grinned. "But we didn't come here to appreciate museum pieces. We're here because the Director believes that your safety requires The Course." The class's whispers stopped. "The Course is a training tool. It is designed to apply and build upon the skills that you have acquired in the classroom." Mr. Vincenti led them to the other elevator door. "You are granted access only to those levels and settings commensurate with your skills. As you improve you can pass on to new scenarios and stiffer challenges."

Rolf raised his hand. "What kind of scenarios do we have?" He asked.

"The scenarios you encounter are dependent on various inputs." Mr. Vincenti shrugged. "The most important input is the floor you choose here in the elevator. The floor indicates the difficulty level, and at Rowan we have nine. Very few progress beyond level six. Once you are on the appropriate floor you can program up any number of scenarios variables; environment, objectives, opponents, etc. The possibilities are endless."

"Cool." Muttered Connor.

"After each scenario you complete you will receive a score based on your performance." Mr. Vincenti said. "That score is calculated from various factors; strategic approach, objectives achieved, time elapsed, and such. Scores range from zero to one hundred. Score above a seventy and the analysts might store your performance in the Archives and use you as an example in the screening room."

Mr. Vincenti paused as the elevator doors opened. Several sweaty students stumbled out of the elevator, followed by Cooper who was breathing heavily. "Ah, as you can see The Course is a busy place. Students, faculty, and alumni can use it at any time. How did it go ladies and gentlemen?"

"We got creamed." Moaned a boy among a group of third years, Danny recognized him as Matt, a boy in his Games class. "Level three is a killer, they got us right before we solved the Mayan puzzle. We couldn't even use Mystics!"

"How about you, Cooper?" Vincenti asked smiling. "Haven't seen you down here in years, good to have you back."

The agent just nodded in greeting before looking at Danny and Jazz. "Just practicing until you arrived. I have been instructed to take Daniel and Jasmine Fenton off our hands for the morning." He said in his gruff voice.

"Well… we were going to be showing them the Cours…" Mr. Vincenti started but Cooper cut him off.

"I will show them The Course." Cooper said seriously and motioned for Danny and Jazz to step out of the group.

As they moved towards the display cases to talk Danny could hear one of the other students say. "He went down to level eight. I asked one of the analysts, she said he got like a 75."

"Well, what do you expect from one of our finest agents?" Mr. Vincenti said. The students from the elevator went to the elevator to go back to the ground level will Danny and Jazz's class went into the elevator to go down to the scenario rooms.

Only once they were alone did they talk. "I have been instructed to take the two of you to level six so we can get a true test of your abilities." Cooper said his face remaining expressionless.

"But I thought we had to climb the ranks or something?" Jazz said a little confused.

"We've changed it so that your IDs will allow you to go down to the sixth floor." Cooper responded. "It was decided that after your performance against the Vyes level one though five would be far too easy for the two of you." Cooper seemed to cock a smile. "Don't worry. You will do fine and there are no consequences for failure here."

Danny and Jazz exchanged looks. "Ok then, I guess." Jazz said and they followed Cooper to the elevator again and Cooper punched the number six.

"Now then." Cooper said as the doors opened. "Let's get started."

Thirty minutes later Cooper entered the screening room where the rest of Danny and Jazz's section were sitting in front of a monitor watching a video of Sara's first attempt in a level one scenario that involved moving across a room with conveyer belt floors while dodging balls.

Mr. Vincenti was congratulating her on scoring an eleven and assured her that it was pretty good for a first attempt. Then he spotted Cooper walking towards them and his jaw dropped. The other first years around them followed his gaze and then started to murmur loud enough to get the attention of Sam's section of second years and some other people who had been visiting The Course.

Cooper was carrying the two sweating and panting forms of Danny and Jazz Fenton. He placed them down on benches near there group and pulled out some bottles of water. "Cooper, what happened?" Mr. Vincenti said wide eyed. No one had seen Danny some much as pant for real, so to see him sweating gallons of water was frightening to some of the children.

"I was showing them The Course." Cooper said simple.

Before Mr. Vincenti could say anything else the elevator doors opened and Ms. Richter entered the room. "What is the meaning of this, Cooper!?" She shouted furiously as she approached. "Why did I get a message that the Fenton siblings were doing the level six, death's grasp, endless hordes scenario with all known enemies turned on and that you unlocked it for them?"

Miss. Boon and Mr. Vincenti looked shocked. Cooper dipped his head respectfully towards Ms. Richter but didn't offer any explanation.

"I ordered him to, Gabrielle." A man said from the far side of the room. He was a tall formidable-looking man with silver hair and flat black eyes.

Ms. Richter turned to the man. "Commander Vilyak, what are you doing here?"

"I heard from some of our agents about two rather promising apprentices and wanted to see what they could do." Vilyak said with a slight bow. "I did not mean any harm."

"You mean you came looking for future agents." Ms. Richter said angrily. "We do not send children into those kinds of simulations. Rowan was founded to teach our children to do the best that they can, not to breed soldiers."

"Now don't say that. Not before seeing how they did." Vilyak said smoothly as he walked up to a control panel and punched in some keys. The main projector hummed to life and displayed the information on the scenario and the score they got.

"I don't believe it." Mr. Vincenti muttered as the room erupted in whispers. "They scored a ninety one. That was a simulation that was designed to be next to impossible, and they got a ninety one."

"Why don't we watch how it went?" Vilyak said before pressing a play button.

A video showed Danny and Jazz exiting a cave, the mouth of the cave turned into a see through red wall behind them. There were two timers over the entrance, one on top of the other, and they both read zeros. They were standing in a large semicircular clearing that had a wall of trees standing around fifty feet away from their position.

"In this scenario you are to guard that cave enters from waves of enemies that will be taken at random from the Rowan book of known enemy, with the frequency of each type determined by their frequency in the field." Coopers voice said from over an intercom. "After the scenario starts you will have one minute until the first wave. After that, waves will be appear every thirty seconds regardless whether or not you have beaten the earlier waves. The air around you is being jammed for Mystic energy so you will not be able to draw energy from the air easily. You are permitted weapons, what weapons do you want."

"I would like a double headed spear, four and a half feet in length, and some claws, blades on sides rather than from the knuckles." Danny said sounding like a kid at a candy store. A pedestal appeared with the asked for claws on it and the spear leaning against it. He picked them up and tested the weight of the spear and spinning it around.

"I need a left handed sturdy broad sword, two and a half feet in length and a right handed rotated kite shield." The weapons appeared. "I don't suppose you would give me a gun would you?"

"Fire arms are not permitted in this scenario." Cooper's voice said flatly.

"Well, we will need something for airborne enemy, so how about a crossbow?" Jazz asked. The weapon appeared next to the shield. It was a large cross with brass locks. Jazz picked it up and check it. "I need something a little lighter, we need speed and accuracy. This model is better for range and power." Jazz said. The crossbow disappeared and was replaced by two smaller ones and a quiver of silvery bolts. "That should be good." Jazz said confidently.

"Then the countdown begins to the start of the scenario." Cooper said. The two clocks above the cave entrance started counting the top one down from one minute and the bottom one starting to count up.

Jazz turned to Danny. "We will need something for field advantage. They haven't given us much to work with though." She said looking at the completely flat clearing with nothing that could be easily moved. "He said that energy will be hard to pull in so you won't be able to just overcome everything with Mystics, but if we can freeze some of the ground to get rid of the enemies footing we can get a leg up." Jazz said. "Do you think you can do it?"

Danny walked forward and placed his hand on the rock ground. "I can still lower the temperature without costing me any energy, but there isn't any grass for me to get moisture from. It will take a bit of energy to get the water I need for the ice out of the air." Danny said looking over at his sister.

"How much?" She asked as she checked her shield's straps.

"I don't know, about five percent of my reserves. I can still pull in a little energy here, but it would take a while to replace what I would be using." Danny said with a shrug.

"Yeah, I noticed that there is still some energy in the air that can be used." Jazz agreed then scratched her chin. "I think you should do it. It will be a good investment of energy." Jazz said. Danny nodded and placed the claws on a belt he was wearing. "Make another semicircle fifteen feet out from the cave entrance. That should give us another room to move without making holes between us that they can slip through." Jazz instructed.

Danny walked out and placed one hand on the ground. He moved the other hand and said some words and ice began to form and spread out in front of them until there was the semicircle of ice that Jazz had asked for, six feet wide and completely flat and slick.

"Not much of a barricade, but it will have to do." Danny said as he got up and claimed his spear. Just then a buzzer sounded as the top clock hit zero before being set to thirty seconds. Danny took up a position next to his sister and brought up his spear as three four armed masked creatures wielding clubs ran towards them from out of the trees.

The Oni slowed as they reached the ice but one attempted to jump over it only to be slashed across the check by Danny's spear and fall to the ground before disappearing. Another took more tentative steps and swung its club and Jazz who easily parried with her sword before sliding forward and bring up the edge of her shield cutting across the creatures body. The third tried to move in and attacked Jazz as its predecessor disappeared only for her to deflect the club with her shield will Danny got him in the neck with his spear.

"This isn't so bad." Danny said with a shrug.

"Don't jinx it, Danny." Jazz said as the last body disappeared. The buzzer went off again. This time two Vyes came out of the forest. "This isn't over yet."

Fifteen minutes into the scenario and both Fenton sibling were panting heavily having just taken down a dozen reptilian crows the size of large dogs. So far they had gone through twenty nine waves of enemy, the hardest of which was a group of three golems that had taken the siblings over two minutes to beat and they had to fight off the other creatures that were materializing will they did it. It wasn't until Jazz realized that they were powered by mystics and that they couldn't have been drawing in energy from the air that they final got them by having Danny drain them like batteries. But the golems had broken Danny's spear and Jazz had used up the last of the crossbow bolts on the birds.

"I don't… I don't know how much longer I can keep this up." Jazz panted.

"I've… I've got a little left." Danny said standing up straight but his knees were shaking.

The buzzer went off signaling the next enemy. Jazz steadied herself when a man whose body was completely covered in fire stepped out of the forest. The siblings felt shivers go up their spines as the thing screamed as if in pain from its own flames.

"Danny… I think we need your Mystics now." Jazz said staring at the thing with wide eyes.

Danny nodded and moved his hands giving a sharp command that should have been able to put out any fire. The fire on the things body flickered and shifted but didn't die. It gave another scream of pain and the fire grew. It then raised its arms and sent a torrent of fire at the siblings.

"Danny behind me!" Jazz said quickly pulling up her shield. "Shelra!" She shouted as Danny got behind her. Out of the shield came ripples of light that the fire seemed to get caught in and followed backwards to the wall behind them. The fire had been so hot that it melted the frozen ground as it passed. Jazz dropped to one knee panting. She had been storing up the energy she was gathering from her surrounding inside of her shield in order to use that one spell, but it still took her own energy to activate it and left her completely drained. "Danny… you got any tricks?" She asked.

Danny was gasping from his own earlier attempt to put out the flames. "No." He said simply.

Jazz looked around them and saw the fire from the monsters attack, it was burning on solid rock. "Danny… this fire is Mystical… can you… use it?" She asked.

Danny looked around himself and shrugged. "I can try." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The red and orange flames started to be drawn to him and they turned green and blue as they approach. Danny's body glowed with the energy he had pulled in from around him.

The creature screamed again and sent another wave off fire at them. "Avarinza Traos!" A wave of Danny's icy blue light rushed towards the creature. As it went, the light turned the ground under it into solid ice before it hit the fire spout dead on and dissipated the fire. It pushed onwards until it came into contact with the fiery monster, freezing it were it stood in the middle of one final scream. The creature disappeared leaving no trace just like the others.

"That was… tough." Jazz said slowly. Danny collapsed onto the ground next to her. "Danny, are you ok?" He turned his head and gave her a look. "Sorry, stander question." She said with a shrug. The buzzer went off again. Jazz turned her head and looked at the woods wondering what was next. "Oh fudge." She said softly as half a dozen twelve foot tall creatures came out of the forest. Despite their unkempt appearances and their rags for clothes Jazz could still she what they were because of their lumpy texture of their yellow skin. "Ogres."

The ogres quickly made their way over the large quantity of ice had been created by Danny's last effort. They were completely unhindered by it since they were native to Siberia. Danny tried to push himself to his feet but only managed a kneeling position. Jazz was supporting herself by using her sword as a crutch.

The ogres were on them in seconds and Jazz barely had the strength to lift her shield as the first ogre swung a massive club at her. He was knocked aside and a red x appeared over her. Danny tried to throw himself at the ogre but fell short and just landed on the ground. The ogre kicked him aside and an x appeared over him as well. Then the group of ogres moved to the cave entrance and another buzzer was heard and the bottom timer stopped at fifteen minutes and forty seven seconds. The room faded around them until they were in a blank white room and the doors opened up and Cooper walked in to pick them up and carry them out.

"Simply incredible." Vilyak said staring at the screen as murmurs went through the gathered students. Vilyak grinned at the surrounding students. "The level six, death's grasp, endless hordes scenario is the one we send our junior agents on after they graduate from Rowan. It is a tactical nightmare; you have a terrible position, very limited resources, no initiative, little flexibility, and no information. On top of that the constant time worry and uncertainty of your next opponent as well as the knowledge that there is no end, eats at the moral of the group. It allows us to see if the rookies will break under the pressure or will stick it out, and how well the stick to the strict leadership system."

The student's looked amazed. "We usually send in around five people in at once and they usually survive for seven minutes before breaking down and being completely over run, usually getting a score of about a thirty." Vilyak said grinning. "But these two first year apprentices survived for over fifteen minutes. They beat the system; the environment didn't allow for a strong position so they changed the environment, they made the initiative worthless for the enemy with their ice floor, Jasmine pulled the little energy she could from the air and stored it in she shield will they were fighting to be used as an emergency supply, and they picked a wide range of weapons to cover all the major types of enemies." Vilyak looked over at them lying on the bench. "Their speed and stamina is on a higher level and they managed to use high level Mystics under great stress and limited power. Their fighting styles are unique and support one and other. They will make fine agents."

"Stop right there, Commander!" Ms. Richter's anger shocked all of the students out of there fascination. Wisps of gathered energy were coming off of the director who looked ready to tear the man's head off. "These are young and impressionable minds. You cannot turn children into agents, it's not right."

"Children do not fight like that, they are natural born agents. And they will not always be so young, Gabrielle. The Red Branch could use skills and talent like theirs." Vilyak said coolly even as the students backed away from him out of fear of the angry Director who was making Bob look like a poodle. All the students but David filled out of the room as fast as they could.

"This is why you were voted out of being Director, you can't tell the difference between people and tools." The Director said. "They are not old enough to make a decision like that and I will not let you force it on them. The boy is only eight years old for Pete's sake."

"And our Danny is over a hundred. Antonio is almost three hundred years old. Neither of them can preformed their jobs anymore, but unlike them the boy will someday in the future be a young man." Vilyak said starting to lose his composer. "We need new blood."

"But they do not want to be agents, Commander!" Ms. Richter shouted. "Jasmine wishes to be a psychiatrist and Daniel an astronaut. You can't force them to become… soldiers!" Then Ms. Richter's voice became cold and threatening. "Now I suggest you not approach these children again."

Commander Vilyak bit his lip. "Fine then… I won't try to recruit them yet, but let them have a real challenge. Don't wait until their fourth year, give then an agent as an adviser now and let them into Devices." Vilyak said.

"Absolutely not. Look what your advising has done to…" Ms. Richter started but stopped once she noticed that the siblings were gone. "Where did they go?"

"They left around fifteen minutes ago." David said from over near one of the monitors. "Jazz said she was going to take a shower and Danny needed to go feed Kurama again." David said a little jealously before coughing into his hand. "After they got out of the mystic restricted room they quickly recovered from their exhaustion." Ms. Richter and Vilyak simply stared in shock.

"Director… perhaps we should consider having Danny and Jazz advised early." Miss. Boon said slowly. "While it is true that we should not pressure them to make any decision, I believe that this is the same situation as when we decided to change Danny's Mystics training or move them out of the first years physical training classes. They simply are too advanced for those classes. Having a professional monitoring their development is not a bad idea."

"I'm going to have to agree with Hazel." Mr. Vincenti said from over by the monitor where he was looking at the finer details of the simulation. "That particular scenario is meant to be as hard as most level seven scenarios, maybe even some level eights. We can't just have them playing tag or chasing a ball and expect they to improve. And as far as Devises goes, I don't think it would be that hard to bring them up to speed. I know they have a lot on their plates already, but they really are bright kids."

Ms. Richter bit her lip and glanced over at Cooper who had been standing there quietly the whole time. "Fine. Agent Cooper, I want you to do this after your other duties, since you have already seemed to have taken the task upon yourself. But I want you only to discuss the children with Hazel, Joseph and myself, you will not recognize any orders from Commander Vilyak involving any students, do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Director." Cooper said in military fashion.

"Good, now Commander…" The Director said looking back at the silver haired agent. "Stay away from the students or I will see to it that you are as welcome here as your predecessor. It would be ironic if the children you tried to draft replaced you and are assigned to hunt you down."

Commander Vilyak glared but turned and went to the elevator in silence. Ms. Richter sighed. "I guess it was inevitable that the two of them would get the attention of the Red Branch." Ms. Richter said sadly.

"Director… my boys were not the ones that told him." Cooper said seriously.

Ms. Richter shook her head. "I know, but it doesn't matter if you told him directly. It is hard to keep events like those that surround the Fentons under wraps. Or the kinds of raw power that Danny and David both show. It won't be long until the witches and the workshop also try to lay claim to the children's futures." She sighed heavily and the age seemed to wash over her face. "Let's just count our blessings that he hasn't heard of McDaniels' vision or else it would take more than the threat of banishment to keep him at bay."

David's head dropped a little. "All this is happening because of our powers isn't it?"

"Please don't think of it like that, David." Ms. Richter said sadly patting the boy on the back. "We can only control our own actions. None of this is any of you children's faults."

David nodded slowly. "I… I got to go feed Maya." He said dismissing himself to feed his charge. Ms. Richter sighed and slowly began the track back to her office when she stopped in front of the elevator.

"I need to work of some stress." She said and punched the eight button.

This is all I wrote and all I will write. I lost my 'The Hound of Rowan' book and I don't feel like continuing the story since I wrote this three months ago. So please don't ask for another chapter.

On that note I would recommend the Tapestry books. It is like Harry Potter only they ditch the school after book one and travel around the world actually doing ****, more like Percy Jackson. (Spoiler Warning) instead of waiting for the characters to grow up they just send them to another world where time goes faster. (Spoiler Warning Over) And sorry to any Harry Potter Fans, but Harry is completely unlikable and average as a character, and Voldy ain't got nothing on Asteroth. Voldy talks a big game but Asteroth (Spoiler Warning) takes over the world in just the first few chapters of the second book and rules it with an army of monsters with everyone bowing at his feet. And he doesn't do that thing Voldy does with NEVER APPEARING FOR MONTHS AT A TIME! He flaunts himself in front of his enemy and openly teases them.(Spoiler Warning Over)