Chapter Twenty-Five
Next day all twenty-four first year students found themselves lined up in the gym hall. This was different from the training hall as it was less for combat and more for physical sport like training like running laps and jumping hurdles.
"I don't understand why we have to train in our uniforms." Nathan mumbled to Damian while trying to make it look like he was standing alert. Ironwood stepped forward to the six teams.
"Students I have you all here today to do some physical tests. If you can please follow the second years and staff with me, we can start." A short green haired girl that Damian recognised from the other day walked up to his team.
"Good morning first years I'm Myrtle nice to meet you." She said as she shook Damian's hand. She pulled out a tailor's tape from her pocket.
"If you just rise your arms I'll take down All your measurements." Placing an a lot of enthuses on that one word. They all did as they were told though and Myrtle whipped around all of them in no time at all. After noting it all down she grabbed she out the tape on a table and took over a scale, a stethoscope and a stop watch.
"Are you qualified to use that?" Nathan asked. Myrtle looked to the stethoscope and frowned.
"Yes I'm a surgeon. A shotgun surgeon to be precise, so not really but I can read a heartbeat." She replied. Nathan's face went from nervous to calm and back again with amazing speed.
"Nathan it's just a stethoscope calm yourself." Ryu said patting him on the back.
"I don't like the doctors." He mumbled.
"That is quite the extreme phobia for a huntsman to be." Myrtle said as she placed the scale at Nathan's feet.
"I fear anything I can't fill with pellets and you can't shoot a germ." He said defiantly as he hopped on the scale.
"Oh you a shotgun hotshot two?" Myrtle asked, "oh can you take off your shirt." She said waving the end of her stethoscope in her hand. Nathan gladly chucked off his blazer and slid off his shirt. Myrtle whistled.
"I didn't actually need you to take off your shit, was just wanting to check you out." She said bluntly causing Nathan to turn red and jump back.
"Hey back on the scale I'm not done with you." Myrtle said as she pulled Nathan back on and placed her equipment to his chest. He shivered but didn't move this time. Myrtle started to jot down some notes.
"Subject appears to have extremely high plus and temperature, may need attention."
"What!" Nathan exclaimed.
"I'm just screwing with you," she said lowering her glasses so she could look at him eye to eye. "You're as healthy as you are fit." She finished and pushed her glasses back up. Nathan looked quite unnerved at this point and hurriedly put his shirt back on. Myrtle quickly breezed through Ryu and Gagana without too much incident.
She then dumped her equipment on the table and picked up two small black devices and walked over to Damian.
"Put this on your wrist please." Damian did as he was told but then asked. "Is that a taser?" When he got a closer look at the other device.
"Correct." Myrtle replied cheerfully.
"So why are you going to electrocute me?" He asked calmly.
"I will send a set dosage of electricity through you to attempt to break your aura, which we assume all students have active at all times, and then we measure how much your aura has depleted to determine how high your total aura as a numeric value." Myrtle replied while adjusting her glasses so the light caught them.
"As you do." Damian said bracing himself. He felt a small prick when she shoved the taser into his chest.
"Well that wasn't too bad."
"Oh I haven't shocked you yet." Myrtle said apologetically.
"Seriouslyyyyyyeeeeeeeee!" Damian attempt to respond.
"Wow only ten percent depletion." Myrtle said excitedly, "well you know what they say about a guy with a big aura." She said giving Damian a wink.
"What do they say?" Gagana asked innocently. Myrtle paused then walked over to Gagana and whispered something in her ear causing her to go redder then Nathan. She then walked back and tested the rest of the team.
"So how did I do." Ryu asked trying not to sound like he cared too much.
"Well little man you did okay for someone of your stature." She replied sweetly.
"What the hell does that mean!" He shouted. Myrtle unfazed responded with "You're the lowest in your team so you can put your pride back in your pants and stop shouting." Ryu looked gobsmacked.
Ironwood blew a whistle.
"That should be all the tests finished gather round here for the next part." The students filed over Ryu still fuming.
"Next will be a simple exercise in speed and dexterity, run around the course laid out in front of us. First a hundred-meter dash, then a five-meter pit jump followed by a ten-meter vertical wall-climb and finally another hundreds meters, fist we will do a normal round then those with semblances they think can aid them can go again for a second time. Now line up." Eight students at a time lined up and took position. Damian cleared his head and looked forward. Setting a good time definitely couldn't be a bad thing so he'd give it his all. Also his depleted aura would make activating his semblance easier he thought.
"Go!" Ironwood shouted and the students set off. Damian bolted down the track but what he had in size he lacked in speed as Ryu, Scarlet, Nathan and Gagana overtook him. As he approached the pit he started counting his steps so he could jump from his dominant leg. He Leapt across and cleared with an extra meter or so to spare allowing him to overtake Nathan. He continued for the wall trying not to slow. And jumped landing half way up the wall. using his momentum, he was able to power up the remainder of the wall and vault over he could see Ryu and Scarlet in front of him, he knew he couldn't catch up but a third seemed okay.
They were greeted by Ruaridh at the finish line who was holding bottles of water. Damian took a gulp and then sat down so he could watch the next two runs. Next up was teams URCA and BLNC.
"Man I almost feel sorry for Bianca's team," Scarlet said to Damian, "she's gonna get racist ass whooped."
"Yea pretty sure it's going to be something like Ulrik, Cheshire then Ross not sure about Amber, she doesn't look the over athletic type." "I agree now let's see how this goes."
"Second round GO!" Ironwood shouted and the students bolted out. Ross rocketed ahead reaching the pit within seconds and crossing it with no effort and was at the wall just as quick. He made a little pre jump before he was at the wall and then front flipped strait over the wall. The other students shouted and whistled with excitement. The main body of the racers had only just crossed the pit and surprisingly Lyssa was managing out run Cheshire and keep neck and neck with Ulrik and she stayed equal with him, nose to nose until the end of the race. Ross's team ran over to him as he has already sat down and congratulated him on his domination, even Ruaridh and Ironwood seemed impressed. Last was teams BLYD and BRRO. "What do you think will happen here?" Scarlet asked.
"I don't know. They're pretty evenly matched but I don't actually know how fast Brett's team are on foot as they all have alternate forms of transport.
"Third round GO!" Ironwood shouted as the final group headed off. As they thought it was pretty even win Ramona and Yuki narrowly leading everyone else in a pack close behind. Only when they reached the wall did the formation change, with Rylee climbing up as if it was horizontal allowing her to finish tied with her sister and Yuki. As the thee of them crossed the finish line the students cheered again.
"Now for the main even." Scarlet said gleefully.
"Now that that is over will any students wanting a try with their semblance please walk forwards. Damian walked forward and was surprised that only two others joined him, Ramona and Ulrik.
"You have a minute to make any preparations." Ironwood said as he took a seat.
"Oh yea this'll be too easy, sorry guys but you just lost." Ramona said confidently as she started jogging on spot, her legs starting to visible glow. Ulrik's team quick rushed over and locked their hands, Ulrik was now also starting to glow and his hair stood on end. Damian decided he'd better get read and let out a defiant roar and dropped to all fours.
"God you two look pretty beastly." Ramona said quickly, still running on the spot.
"3…2…1…GO!" Ironwood shouted. Damian and Ulrik where knocked to the side and Ramona shot around the whole course before the two could even recover. They looked to each other, now it was their race. The two boys bolted down the track, Ulrik slowly inching ahead. He gained even more distance on the jump. Damian approached the wall. He jumped and barged through wall leaving a pile of rubble and caused Ulrik to fall off the top. The crowd cheered and Ironwood moaned as Damian got his respectable second.
"That was a sly move." Ulrik said once he caught up to Damian at the finish. "I mean I wouldn't call it that." Damian said with a chuckle. Ironwood approached the three racers,
"That was a good attempt, all of you improved your times and distances by in some cases immeasurable amounts." He said looking at Ramona.
"Thank you." Ramona replied.
"No I'm thankful to have such promising students." Ironwood said with a genuine looking smile.
"Oh I didn't think you thought that highly of us, well me specifically." Damian said awkwardly.
"Damian I have never thought you were bad. I've seen potential in you ever since I received your application to my academy six months ago. You're currently a lump of coal who makes a mess of whatever he touches. But I believe there is a diamond inside, I just need to work on it until it shines." Ironwood said proudly. "But just so you personally don't grow to big headed you should know that I only accept students who I see potential in, so like everyone one else here, you are destined for greatness." The three students grinned as they looked from Ironwood to each other.
"Now we must get to starting the next event." Ironwood said as he made his way back to the other students.
"Hey what was Ironwood talking to you about?" Nathan asked when Damian returned to his team.
"Stuff about me being coal and making a mess but having potential inside." He said still grinning.
"Maybe he does have a heart after all." Nathan said sounding impressed.
"Or he's just using his mind to find and farm the best resources." Ryu said taking a sip from a juice box,
"Always got to kill it don't you!" Nathan said losing the ability to be angry at Ryu.
"Students I hope your still ready to go as there is more to do. Now we shall be doing a strength test, those who specialise in raw power, here is your time to shine." Ironwood said
"Why do I feel he was aiming that at us." Nathan said sullenly
"And why do I feel it was also derogatory. Ryu added equally so. Ironwood walked over to a row of simple looking machines.
"These little contraptions are nothing more than force meters so all you have to do is deliver a punch or kick hard enough that the light goes green. Any volunteers." Damian and Richard stuck up their hands.
"I think we better leave you too for last, don't want to lose any more equipment before the rest of the students have had a shot." Ruaridh said forming a large cross with his arms.
"These machines can be broken that easily?" Ryu asked.
"Well they can be calibrated for higher forces we just keep it at a set point that the average student should be able to deal with." Ruaridh answered.
"Can we use our weapons?" Brett asked.
"Not for this no, but don't worry that comes next." Ironwood reassured him. With that the students lined up and stated to batter the machines one by one, some like Nathan and Brett doing simple punch combos and others like Ryu and Scarlet doing more impressive things like dive and cartwheel kicks. As Richard and Damian stepped up the crowd started to gain excitement.
"Ruaridh, sorry Mr King why don't you and the headmaster give it a shot?" Damian asked.
"Is that a challenge?" He replied.
"I think he's challenging you James." Lafayette said egging him on.
"Well I guess students learn by example." Ironwood said as he took off his coat and handed it to Marian. Scarlet and Cheshire whistles in delight.
Ironwood took paused, deep breath. Then darted forwards at surprising speed for his build and and landed a direct punch causing the machine to shudder. There was cheering from the students.
"C…Can we use your semblances?" Damian asked.
"If you feel it necessary, Damian you can," Ironwood replied gleefully, "but remember you can't waste all your aura yet we still have more to do."
"Got it." Damian replied eyes now set on the test rig. He growled and his right arm was engulfed in his red glow.
"Only need one punch." He said determination like fire in his eyes.
"Don't forget me," Richard said, giving his arm a few test swings. "Overdrive!" He shouted and his arms servos sped up and the who thing grew in size.
"Good thing I have clean-up crews on standby." Ironwood said clicking his fingers, summoning a band of small robots.
"Come on Damian beat that bucket of bolts!" Nathan shouted.
"You better win Richard! You can't be making team STRM look bad!" Mary shouted as well.
"You guys always look bad though." Nathan said cooly. Ryu pulled him back to avoid Mary's rapidly flailing limbs and scarlet tried to hold her. Damian looked to Richard then them they both nodded and looked back to their targets. They both charged and punched the machines. There was an explosion followed by a cloud of dust. Ironwood's robots immediately began to hover up the debris. Both the boys had managed to lodged their arms in the machines. Ironwood clapped slowly and the other students laughed out loud. Richard disconnect his arm and walked back to his team.
"What about me?" Damian cried.
"learning how to get out of one's own messes is a great life skill." Ironwood replied to more laughter.
"Nathan fetch me Fenrir!" Damian shouted.
"Oh dear." Nathan replied as he grabbed Damian's missile launcher. Damian grabbed it off him with his spare hand.
"Fire in the hole." He shouted before blasting himself away from the machine and leaving only a smouldering wreck.
"your aura really is marvellous, however is it so strong?" Ironwood asked.
"Born under a blessed star or something I guess." Damian said nonchalantly
"Or born with seventy percent explosive resistance." Ryu added.
"Now is our weapons testing stage. You'll enter a ring of targets shoot all of them as quickly as possible, once all are destroyed another ring of targets will appear at melee range, deal with them accordingly."
"Can I demonstrate?" Lafayette asked putting on a childlike voice.
"You mean brag to a bunch of students to help your shattered ego then sure."
"James you have no chill in you at all." She responded shocked.
"The other day you did say I had no heart, merle an ice cooled processor. In your words." He reposed.
"Why do I work for you." Lafayette responded exasperatedly.
"Well because you have to remember." He said plainly.
"That was rhetorical!" She said as she stomped into the circle of targets.
"Oh Mary and Anna at least you understand me." She said drawing her rifles. She pointed one to each side the spun around shooting all the targets in rapid succession. The targets fell and the inner ones rose up to fill the ranks. Lafayette in one fluid moment ejected the ends of her rifles revealing two swords and spun in the opposite direction decapitating all the targets. She picked up her rifle parts and walked back now looking slightly better.
"Anyone who can get even within three seconds of my time will win a little reward." She said more confidently.
"Winning the favour of the students I see." Marian said coolly.
"Just cuz no one likes you, you shroud hag!" Lafayette shouted practically spitting in Marian's face.
"Ladies please," Gwynn said creating an explosive force knocking the two away from each other. "The students see us, all of us, even Lafayette. As role models so give them something to desire."
"Can I go first?" Ryu asked Ironwood ignoring the teacher's drama.
"Sure be my guest." Ironwood replied his attention drawn away from his staff. Ryu walked into the circle. He stood their silently for a while looking at the best way to approach the problem of dealing with a whole ring of enemies with his slow rifle. After a period of relative silence and still while the rest watched on curiously. Ryu jumped over the targets and started running around the outside shooting bullets from the back of the targets through the middle and into the targets on the others side. After he finished his little half loop he jumped back into centre in time for the second wave of targets to appear. In a similar fashion to Lafayette he spun Zang Jisuh over his head and decapitated all the targets around him. He walked out and towards Lafayette with a huge grin on his face. They both looked at each other than Lafayette sighed.
"Don't think we're equals yet you still have to shave off another two seconds until you're on par." Lafayette then bent down and kissed him on the cheek.
"Good job, little fighter." She said as she got back up and patted him on the head. Ryu stood their stunned then smacked her hand away.
"WA wa wa what do you think you're doing." He stuttered going bright red. Lafayette actually looked a little shocked but she recovered quickly.
"Sorry dear didn't know you were gonna be such a baby about it." Ryu clenched his teeth and stormed out of the room robotically.
"Damian you can your team better finish up so you can find Mr Lu." Ironwood said plainly.
"Aren't you going to complain about him leaving?" Nathan asked.
"It seemed warranted." Ironwood replied.
"Okay double time." Damian said as he ran into the centre of the targets. He pointed Fenrir at floor.
"Please tell me your just rel-." Nathan tried to say before his leader blasted himself to the ceiling and destroying all the ground targets. The students from who hadn't seen him in combat before gasped. He then roared flattening the newly popped targets and landed with a crash to finish them off."
"Your next." He said as he walked away with barely a mark on him.
"Aye Aye." Nathan said as he walked into the arena. He clipped in a magazine and sprayed at all the targets leaving non standing.
"Okay Thrawhammer let's play whack a mole!" He said as his weapon transformed and he started to overhead smash the targets. The jogged out of the arena and Gagana darted in before Damian could even ask her two. She chucked four of her dust cards into the air and teleported them into her gauntlets and sandals. The crowed of students owed as none of them had really seen her semblance at work. She then punched sending out bolts of electricity at the targets. As the second wave speared she used a flaming spin kick to knock them all down.
"Damn girl your making me look bad." Nathan said as Gagana left the arena. "I feel like I'm the only one not one-shoting entire groups."
"This'll only take a few minutes." Damian said as he left to find Ryu.
It didn't take long to find Ryu. He was just sat on the floor outside the door. Damian walked over to him on his own while Nathan and Gagana stood aside.
"So what's up Ryu?" He asked taking a seat beside him. Ryu sniffed a little.
"I'm just a little home sick I guess." He mumbled.
"Well that sucks." Damian said stretching out his legs.
"It's my mum." Ryu said softly after a short pause.
"What now?" Damian asked.
"I miss her, and Lafayette surprised me because she was acting just like her."
"Oh I see." Damian replied awkwardly, knowing deep down there was little he could do for his teammate.
"I guess you could say I was coddled by my her, there was never a time growing up I wasn't at her side."
"What about your dad?" Damian asked curiously. He immediately regretted this when he got his reply.
"Never knew him." Ryu replied. "Not that I care to know him, she never talked about him so I guess it isn't a big deal." Ryu added when he noticed Damian clearly didn't have any idea how to react.
"Oh I see so we've got a little mama's boy!" Lafayette said nastily. Damian's jaw dropped, how could Lafayette say something like that, he thought. He snapped to look at Ryu who's expression had hardened.
"This is a place for FIGHTERS! Not BABIES who can't last half a week without their mommies." Lafayette shouted. Damian tried to speak but his words escaped him. Lafayette's tone shifted to that of malice. "If baby waits till the end of the day he can come with me when I got to ride the old bird."
"What the fuck!" Damian shouted, words finally available to him again. Ryu stood up.
"You leave my mother alone!" He shouted, still looking at the floor.
"Aww, is baby throwing a tantrum because I dissed on tavern girl."
"How do you know about that." Ryu said practically spitting fire.
"I told you she's a local delicacy from where you hail." She sneered.
In an instant Ryu Extended Zang Jishu to its maximum length and batted Lafayette away, sending her crashing through the double doors back into the gym hall.
"Ryu? W… What. No! Stop!" Damian pleaded. Ryu punched him in the gut and marched purposefully back into the room. Nathan and Gagana who had been waiting on the other side of the door ran in to get Damian.
"When Lafayette said she wanted to talk to Ryu I didn't think she was going to do that." Nathan said as he pulled his leader off the floor.
"Well let's see were this goes, I'm not who has bitten off more than they can chew but it will be something alright." Damian blathered as he headed back to the guy.
The atmosphere of competition and fun had been replaced with shock and aww. When Damian walked in he saw Lafayette and Ryu fighting in a bubble like dome. He ran over to Ironwood who was looking oddly clam.
"I'm sorry headmaster there was nothing I could do." He said still a little out of breath.
"Stand down Damian, I was pretty sure Lafayette was going to do something like this." He replied
"You where?" Damian asked.
"Yes it seems your teammate has had a rather odd emotional bond with her so she thought the easiest way to solve the issue was to make sure he couldn't see her in the same light again."
"Wait so you just allowed THIS?" Nathan asked sounding applauded.
"Ryu is a strong kid he'll recover soon enough." Ruaridh said wincing a little.
"What's wrong Sir?" Gagana asked.
"He's projecting that bubble like shield over those two." Marian replied.
"That's a cool semblance." Nathan said.
"They don't call Mr King the Stalwart shield of Atlas for nothing." Ironwood said rather seriously.
"Oh I totally forgot there was a fight going on." Nathan said as he turned to see Lafayette and Ryu fighting.
"That boys running on pure rage at the moment." Ruaridh said gravely.
"Well Lafayette definitely wound him up and sent him off the deep end." Nathan added.
Ryu was indeed fighting like something possessed. He propelled himself from one end of the area to the other with the force of his weapon firing and would the swing wildly at Lafayette who seemed to be silently taunting him the whole time by narrowly dodging and countering him.
"Damian you have your teams date available right?" Ruaridh asked.
"Yea why do you ask?"
"What's Ryu's aura at?"
"Let me check," Damian said pulling out his scroll, "twenty-seven percent."
"Hu, he's doing better than last time." Gwynn said thoughtful.
Ryu jumped high into the air and bounced off the roof of the dome, charging down towards Lafayette. She dodged it again but when Ryu's blade impacted with the ground it created a huge explosion filling the dome with think smoke and dust.
"What happened?" Ironwood asked finally sounding concerned.
"It would seem he detonated his ammo pack." Gwynn said simply. Ruaridh then let out a howl of pain as the dome shattered and a body flew high into the air. It was Lafayette but she wasn't out yet as she recovered mid-air and sent a barrage of bullets into the smoke cloud causing it to dissipate and reveal Ryu lying spread eagle. Lafayette landed and collapsed as well. Damian was about to run over to Ryu before Ironwood put his arm out to stop him,
"I'll deal with his." he said then called for more of his miniature robots. The robots picked up the two bodies and speeded them out of the room.
"Maybe now we can return to the task at hand." He sighed then spoke aloud to the gym.
"We can now, after that little incident, continue to the final part of this physical exam with an endurance test." Gwynn walked forward pockets clinking with the sound of dust crystals.
"This is my specialty." He said with a grin.
"What does this test entail, Professor." Scarlet asked bouncing on the spot to try and get Gwynn's attention.
"I'm going to subject you to some harsh elements the longer you can withstand before accepting your limit the better. Oh I should add that bearing pain until you pass out is not actually useful for me gathering data so please leave when you feel ready, you won't be able to repeat this for an hour or so. So please give it your all."
Scarlet and her team pushed their way to the front of the students.
"Well go first!" They shouted, Timothy less in enthusiastically then the others. Scarlet turned to Damian.
"We can't have ya'll showing us up at everything." Damian shrugged.
"Wait till it's over."
"You should know I'm just going to do everyone at once." Gwynn said interrupting the conversation.
"Oh okay." Scarlet said her enthusiasm leaking a little.
"First sheer cold." Gwynn said slotting a light blue crystal into his staff. Immediately the temperature in the room began to fall. Timothy stood their proudly.
"You call this cold, I shit colder things then this!" He said definitely to Gwynn. Gwynn slammed his staff into the ground and hail stated to fall forming think lumps of ice. Everyone took this as a sigh to get serious. Damian Roared, Nathan armoured up and Gagana Prepared for the worst.
The hail fell harder and a wind formed around the group of students wrapping them in.
"You just had to ask!" Brett shouted as Timothy who still stood there without a care in the world. Brett huddled with his team, Oscar was shivering, Ramona less so and Rylee, she looked fine actually.
"How are you not frozen?" Brett mumbled.
"I ice climb every winter, this ain't much."
"Good for you." Brett replied. He rubbed his head as lumps of ice bounced of him comically.
"This is totally unfair to those without an ice affinity you know!" Mary screamed to Gwynn.
"Don't worry," he called "I'm about to turn up the heat!" With that another slam of his staff could be heard and the ice evaporated forming hot steam.
"Ouch, fuck you Gwynn!" Mary screamed.
"You can leave at any time." He said simply. At this point Nathan and Damian has sat down, pretty much protected and pretty bored.
"I think I'm going to set a record." Nathan said absentmindedly.
"Do you smell burning?" Damian asked.
"Yea," Nathan sniffed, "Smells kinda gamy." The both turned and saw Amber's spins had caught fire.
"Where'ed all this fire come from?" Nathan asked as he looked around seeing more students quitting and walking out of the effected zone.
"You too may have not noticed but it's a freaking oven in here." Gagana said uncharacteristically flustered.
"BLYD seem okay." Damian said point to the four of them meditating in the centre of the storm.
"I'm not sure they count as normal." Gagana said now sweating profusely.
"Why don't you take off your hood." Nathan asked. Gagana looked shocked.
"I can't!"
"Not even in a fire storm?" Nathan asked.
"Not ever!" She replied.
"Wait how do you shower with that?" Damian asked.
"This isn't the time," she sighed.
There was then a deafening crack from the sky and a dark cloud formed. The noise caused Damian and Nathan to jump to their feet.
"Guys, where does lighting strike first." Gagana asked.
"Oh you know tall or highly conductive things. Why do you ask." Nathan replied. Gagana started to edge backwards. Realisation hit Damian as his yes darted around.
"Fuck! Hey Richard." He shouted quickly an idea burning in his mind. The now wet and socking boy turned around.
"What's up Damian?" He asked looking a little bewildered.
"I just realised we didn't high five after that punch out earlier, and you know no time like the present."
"Oh sure." he said swinging his arm up expecting Damian to do the same but instead a huge bolt of electricity jumped down and through him. His eyes flashed and he fell and landed on his but.
Nathan started to laugh out loud. "What a dumb brick head, you sure got him Damian." Scarlet looked shocked.
"That was mean, you should have taken your lightning bolt like a man!" She said then turned to look to her teammate. Richard butt shuffled out of the danger zone now.
"Okay I will take my bolt like a man." Damian said to Scarlet as he stretched his arms high into the sky. Scarlet looked at him, she still looked a little taken aback by Damian's sneaky move. Damian stood there listening to the clouds very carefully and the instant he heard a rumbling he dropped to his knees leaving scarlet the tallest in the zone. Scarlet then grabbed the bold and mashed it into Damian's face. Nathan's laughter continued, he was now rolling on the floor.
"You forgot I can manipulate electric flow didn't you." Scarlet said sternly.
"YeeYes." Damian said still twitching on the floor. Timothy and Mart crawled out from behind her.
"She makes an awful good lighting rod you know." Mary said with an evil smile. Damian crawled to his knees and looked up to Scarlet.
"I'm sorry."
"No you're not, not yet." She replied coldly.
"What does that mean?" Damian asked causally.
"Mary bring me another." Scarlet said and Mary sent some steams of air spiralling into the clouds and scarlet raised her had to catch another bolt.
"Would you lot mind not screwing up my test!" Gwynn said angry.
"One sec!" Scarlet said before shoving another bolt of lightning into Damian's face.
"Okay all done." Gwynn visibly signed then changed his crystals again. The air cleared and for a second there was nothing.
"Ice, wind, fire and lighting. What else?" Nathan asked.
"I don't know or care." Damian said irately, trying to pat down his hair. His whole body then grew heavy, extremely heavy. Damian whipped around and saw everyone was being crushed into the floor by an invisible force. Gagana teleport out and remainder of STRM followed suit.
"You okay?" Damian asked Nathan who had physically sunk into the floor.
"Well imagine you were five times denser than normal and then imagine you had an uncontrollable desire to eat the laminate underfoot." He replied sarcastically. Damian slowly turned only he, Nathan, Ulrik, Newt and the whole of BLYD where left. Well it seems kind of obviously to him who the strongest team was now, which made him a little upset but even more determined to continue. Suddenly Damian's body felt as light as air. He jumped to his feet.
"Are we done?"
"One last environment to resist." Gwynn said before creating a purple cloud around the remind students. Ruaridh then sealed them in with his dome.
Damian felt his vision distorted. His skin then set ablaze and his eyes began to melt out of their sockets. He felt his bones crake and sharer and his teeth fade to mush. He screamed in agony and ran until he hit the dome and shattered through it. He blinked. He was okay. He sat their shaking for a few seconds before Gwynn walked over. Gwynn held out some chocolate.
"Have some it will help." He said snapping of a bit for Damian. Damian wolfed it down.
"What was that?" He asked, "Was that death?"
"No dear student it was something much worse, it's a form of poison that delivers complete mental destruction, similar to that people feel in times of absolute terror.
"I don't understand." Damian said his body now feeling very cold.
"In your travels you will encounter things you can't possibly comprehend so it's got to learn and accept when is the time to run."
"Did anyone pass that?" Damian asked
"Sure, you did, your friend Nathan did and so did Ulrik and Newt." Damian now looked even more confused.
"But we ran away."
"Which is exactly why you succeed. This was about knowing your limits and running in face of overwhelming adversity."
"Wait does that mean BLYD resisted it?" Damian asked. Gwynn's face contorted.
"I'm not sure you can count that as a win, they simply blocked all their sense to the point that they might as well have been dead. But Ironwood gave them the thumbs up so yes they did."
"Do you not agree with his judgment?" Damian asked.
"You are not in a position to ask me to think of such things like, disagreeing with the headmaster." Gwynn said remembering his position apparently. He got up and took a step before stopping again.
"Oh your teammate has lost his breakfast can you take him to the nurse."
"His what." Damian said Turing to see Nathan throwing up.
"Oh I see." He said as he slowly got to his feet.