Jumping straight into the new stuff, it's good to be back.
...
It was the third day into the semester and everyone was excited to finally learn something new. Their excitement was only multiplied when they learned that only the first class of the day would be held at the Academy, and that class would be held at the school docks rather than a classroom. Since this lesson would be taught to three freshman classes and not just theirs, some students were forced to take the stairs, as the elevator could only fit so many people. Most of the teams decided to race each other down, but Team Blizzard decided to take their time, as classes wouldn't start for another hour. All three of them were excited, although Nina seemed to be the most excited, as she seemed to be skipping down the stairs, not caring at all that her movements were flipping her skirt up.
"You seem to be in a good mood," Alex noted.
"Yup," Nina giggled, "I know our teacher for this class."
"Right, I forgot we had non-hero teachers too," Dark commented, "I wonder what he's like?"
"He's incredible!" Nina jumped a few steps to emphasize her enthusiasm, "He taught me everything I know."
"Including how to use those runes and talismans you carry around?" Dark asked.
"You know about those?" Nina pushed the back of her blazer down.
"I was raised by cultists and monks," Dark stated, "I know how powerful they can be," he then noticed how defensive Nina was being, "wait, you're not carrying one now, are you?"
"No!" she stumbled when they reached the next flight of stairs, the movement lifting the back of her blazer up and giving Dark a clear view of a charm clipped to the waistband of her skirt. She looked back and blushed, "Yes." She waited until they reached the bottom of the flight before giving an explanation. "I'm still just an apprentice. I can make charms, and good ones too, not like those ones you pick up in shrines. But full blown talismans? those are still beyond me."
"There's no need to be embarrassed," Alex gave Nina a pat on the back, which almost made the raven fall down the stairs, "That's a great skill to have. It's like making your own luck."
"It's a bit more complicated than that..." Nina started to explain.
"Besides," Dark cut her off, "It's just another skill you bring to the team, right?"
"I suppose so."
As they continued down, another team pushed past them.
"One side slowpokes," one of them called out as they passed.
"Learn to pace yourselves!" Alex shouted back.
"Who was that?" Dark asked when they were out of sight.
"Team Sonar from Class B," Alex explained, "a bunch of arrogant, self-centered half-breeds."
"Woah!" Dark and Nina stepped away from Alex.
"You want to tone down the racism a bit?" Dark asked.
"Sorry, I just have a bad history with people like them."
"That's fine," Nina consoled her, "but please try to avoid letting it out like that again."
"Yeah, alright. they're not worth it anyways."
With nothing more to say on the matter, Team Blizzard made their way the rest of the way to the docks. Once they arrived, Dark immediately took note of the fleet of schooners tied to the docks themselves. The sight of the seafaring vessels got Dark excited. He then brought his attention to their teacher, a tall, well toned rat with cinnamon coloured fur.
"Hello students," he greeted the class now that he was sure everyone had arrived, "my name is-"
"Tesla!" Nina cut him off, waving excitedly at him.
"Yes," Tesla gave her a subtle wave in acknowledgement, "that. Now, before we begin," he looked at a clipboard, likely holding the attendance list, "Dark the Hedgehog from Class C, would you please come up here?"
Dark, a little nervous at being called out at the start of the class, edged his way through to the front and walked up to the teacher.
"There's no need to be nervous, you're not in trouble," Tesla explained, "Class A has simply voiced their concerns about me teaching them instead of a hero, I could think of no one better than the leader of my disciple's team to help me prove myself to them."
"OK?" Dark said, only feeling a little better knowing that he wasn't in trouble, "what do I do?"
"Nothing, just stand here," he gestured to a spot by a table with a number of navigational tools, which Dark readily moved to, still a little nervous, which Tesla took note of, "You might want to take a few deep breaths, this will be easier if you're calm." Dark nodded and took some some deep breaths while Tesla turned his attention to the rest of the class, "Now then," he pulled out a hunk of rock, "can anyone, besides Nevermore," Nina quickly dropped her wing, which she had up the whole time, "tell me what this is?"
There was some murmuring in the crowd before the girl wolf from Dark's class raised her hand.
"Yes," Tesla looked through the attendance sheet for Class C, "Abigail?"
"A Rune Stone?" Abigail guessed.
"Correct," Tesla placed the clipboard with the navigational tools while Abigail's team congratulated her on her guesswork, "This stone in particular allows me to, uh... let's say "read" someone's heart. I'll know everything about them up until the point I used the stone on them. Now I know what you're thinking, but no, I will not be revealing any embarrassing childhood memories from Dark," a number of students, least surprisingly the members of Team Amazon, groaned in disappointment, "I'm simply going to use the stone to determine whether or not Dark is a good person." He turned around to face Dark, "Are you ready?"
Dark nodded his head and Tesla moved to the other corner of the table. He made sure everyone could see what he was doing and started waving his hand over the stone, muttering in some ancient language that just sounded like gibberish to Dark. It took a few moments, but the stone eventually rose out of Tesla's hand and rotated so the symbol on it faced Dark. The symbol glowed bright orange and Dark looked down as his body became surrounded in a wispy white energy.
"That's Dark's life force," Nina explained so Tesla wouldn't break his focus, "Our life force is tied directly to our souls, it's the best way to learn what kind of people we are."
Dark watched his life force swirl around him before arcing over to the stone. The symbol turned white before it stopped glowing entirely, dropping back into Tesla's hand as Dark's life force retreated back into his body.
Tesla gasped as his focus left the stone. He took a few breaths before facing the class.
"Well," Tesla looked at the stone, "it seems as though Dark is just as pure as Nevermore, if not more so." The three classes clapped at what they had just witnessed while Tesla gave Dark a very strange look that only Nina noticed, "Now, onto the lesson."
...
As you can see, there are three freshman classes, meaning more room for OC's. From here on out, please consider my timeline when offering OC's. Other than that, have fun.