Brighton was running at full speed now, no longer caring about the thick smoke still piling into the hallway, nor the desperate and panicked screams of the people in the town above, or the light mage behind him.Glancing over his shoulder, Brighton pressed on even harder, hardly aware his surroundings, "If there's that much smoke coming from the clinic... it can only mean..." Brighton raced through the smoke towards the training grounds, finally whipped up his staff and with a violent burst of magical energy, the thick smoke around him cleared until the end of the hall "She can't be awake yet... We're not ready!" panic was almost over taking him by the moment he reached the elevator that would take him to the training grounds below. Brighton quickly went to it and pulled the lever before the smoke could fill in around it again, "Luminous will be fine up here, I have to hurry though." The moments that passed as the elevator creaked and started to make its way down to the Training Ground B seemed like years to Brighton, anxious to find out what had happened, if his friends and students were safe or not, if Orchid had woken up and attacked them. Brighton closed his eyes tightly thinking about all the possibilities, as the elevator creaked loudly and shuttered to a halt on Training Room B. He only dared to open his eyes after it had stopped moving completely, greeted with an angry girl wielding a crossbow in his face and an even angrier black jaguar behind her, Brighton stood frozen for a moment, the only noise filling the air was a low threatening growl coming from the large feline, made only louder by the suspended breath of all the room's inhabitants.
The girl let out a sigh and lowered her crossbow weapon, the jaguar in tern straightening up, fixing it's posture and silencing itself, closely viewing Brighton in detail. "Brighton, I thought you were..." Belle stuttered in an annoyed sort of tone as her jaguar, Black Jack, brushed past her and approached Brighton lightly. "Did you see anything up there?" growled the large cat, staring right into Brighton's eyes as he asked, Brighton shook his head and looked past the wild hunter towards Claudine, "What happened? There's smoke filling every room upstairs and there was an explosion in town" Brighton finished, shaking slightly, Claudine looked up as if she were trying to see through the ceiling of the training room and into the town far above. She slowly looked back towards Brighton and Belle before speaking, seeming almost hesitant to announce her speech, causing everyone to hold their breath while waiting for her response. "I think..." Claudine began, she looked around and opened her mouth, but then the elevator suddenly creaked again and lowered into the room once more, carrying Luminous, Checky and Xenon, all looking rather pale and stiff muscled. Some of the crowd behind Claudine started to whisper in frightened tones, others could only gasp in shock. "What happened to you three!?" Claudine flung herself towards the three arrivals, tightly hugging them all and shaking, Checky looked down at Claudine then looked towards the crowd, which was staring quietly at them, "The Black Wings have launched an attack against the town, I suppose they're looking for us" gasps filled the room as panic started to rise, some of the weaker recruits started to cry, others huddled together trying to sooth one another while the more experienced members seemed ready and willing to fight whatever lied above them. Checky looked around once again before shaking his head and looking back towards Claudine, "What are we going to do Claudine... we can't let them discover our hideout", "We can't let the wreck the town either though!" Claudine snapped, turning around quickly towards the crowd and slammed the head of her cane on the floor, causing everyone to go completely silent and stare at her quietly.
"Everyone listen up!" Claudine raised her voice so everyone could hear her, "I need the more experienced members up top immediately, everyone else I need to stay in the base, protect it if the Black wings get in, let none of them escape!" a roar surged from the crowd as members started to divide up amongst themselves, gathering in groups based on experience and class when suddenly, the elevator creaked as it lowered yet again, this time it was the Head Master and Elex. Everyone fell silent as the Head Master raised his hand and looked around, "I need everyone to stay here in the base, they're after Orchid, we cannot let them take her back, we have to protect her." Another gasp swept across the room as angry voices started to rise from the crowd, "We can't protect her!", "She's our enemy!" the Head Master looked around at the angry crowd with a look of loss coming across his face, Elex cleared his throat loudly before letting his voice boom across the room. "You WILL stay here and protect her, just as the Head Master said to!" Elex looked across the crowd who had fallen silent quickly, as if looking for any challengers towards his opinion. A hand rose from the middle of the room, a newer member of the wild hunter branch stood shaking in place, but his hand raised with determination, the leaders all looked towards the young member quietly as the head master nodded towards him, giving him permission to speak. "Why are we going to protect our enemy... she's caused all of us a lot of pain hasn't she?" the whole room fell silent at the young recruit's words, everyone stood looking towards the ground not daring to answer, as if it where forbidden to do so.
Xenon kindly walked forward and looked at the young boy, nodding and then raising his own hand causing everyone to look at him in surprise. "Because, Gelimer want's her back, he's a dangerous man and we can't allow him to further his power sources!" Xenon's words echoed around the silent room, sending a shudder through the crowd, but a nod of agreement followed closely behind. The Head Master had a twinkle in his eye as Xenon passed him returning to where he was at originally. Claudine shuffled uncomfortable at these new orders, but nodded and walked forward again. "You heard the Head Master... S-stay here and protect Orchid at all costs."