"Well then…" Iolas took the word. They had given the kids another ten minutes after all, but still, most weapons were at best usable for a few swings or worse a danger to anyone using them. Itzcali from the Head Hunters was snickering nonstop with Votzaak and Nerrocean. And the gawkers growing in numbers had begun to place some bets in the ranks. Not that the students had noticed so far, but the teachers surely did.
The kids' ego already had taken a slight blow and it showed. This was the fourth test and still, they hadn't aced or even passed one together, not even one. Although they had been so sure of themselves and their teamwork after two months of surveillance stakeout. Iolas let his gaze wander along the students, "The next test is about your abilities in first aid and healing magic. In total, you are thirty-three students. As students, you won't always be on the frontline. An important job is crowd control and triage. Or even first responds in responding to the outskirts of Kingdoms and planets. It might be your job to take care of patients and in crisis heal and support them until they can be evacuated." Iolas walked up and down the student lineup. 'They are nervous and eager… oh boy, knowing Votzaak that Gremlin…ahhh…I know we are testing for stress and team competencies but…' He stopped as he crossed his arms behind his back his helmet feathers and hair waved in the breeze. "We have prepared dummies and a fake environment spell." Iolas pointed towards a rune circle Grandmaster Votzaak was currently activating. A view of broken-down houses, a meadow, the edge of a forest and a small stream. On closer inspection, there was a whole bunch of dummies. Metal robots in humanoid form were currently dormant.
"Oh great… there are more than us…" Kitty rolled her eyes, this wasn't her forte at all. And it wasn't just her, who already feared the worst or lost their enthusiasm from the get-go.
Tessa sighed, "If they just want to fail us again…" She tugged at her dark blue skirt.
"Guys," Tasu addressed them with a harsh tone and nodded to the front where Iolas had given them a few seconds.
Iolas stood there unphased and expressionless just like in the hearings. 'With that attitude, they'll fail no matter what Gremlin prepared.' Yet he simply continued his explanation. "You'll take care of the dummies in this test. Any question-"
Votzaak done with his work sauntered over and interrupted, "They are the latest models used to train REAL physicians. They can talk, walk, scream and shout." He grinned abyssal. "So, all the needed information you'll have to get from them." A dangerous smirk.
'We said we tell them the planet's name,' Iolas addressed the Grandmaster in the psi chat.
'You asked if they had questions. In a crisis, unexpected interruptions do cause the information to get lost if not requested. Besides it should be an easy first question so they understand how to use our line-up, so chill goldy locks,' Votzaak snorted amused.
Iolas breathed out loudly and continued with the official test limits as none of the students used their second to ask anything. "Since we don't want you to waste time on actually gathering herbs and other materials today you can simply request it from the test advisers. Remember though that we won't hand you over finished high-grade potions for free. So, the request has to be within reason." He paused shortly. "The setup is that this remanence of a village is the triage checkpoint, checkpoint get running and oversee. A choke point that often is flooded by patients."
"Oh boy…" The guys already knew how much work that would be. Specialists often were used as the runner boys. They normally transported equipment and medicine to those triage checkpoints and not one had been calm.
"If a patient dies the dummy will display a skull sign upon death. Use your own knowledge and capabilities." Iolas gave a nod to Votzaak who cast his spell and the metal robots activated and projected skin and clothes injuries and of course sound. "Begin."
Votzaak snipped his fingers and a dark border rose from the runes creating a cage, it was similar to the simulator room. Yet less sophisticated, the area was still impressive and they could see the Order members and teachers outside of it and they them.
The kids stared at the damn test ground trying to take it all in. Some students in the ranks stared wide-eyed at that little trick. The higher classmen already looked worried, while the younger ones were joking around and not all too covertly. The Kids for the first time noticed their fans.
As from the dark glowing border, a dummy appeared, limping, his skin half burned, "Help… help…me…"
A jolt went through the student group. "Shit…he said begin…" Julius now realised they had been so stunned by the complexity of the spell that they just had stood there for seconds.
In horror, the kids watched as the dummy stumbled forward. Exhausted it fell unconscious.
"NO!" Blade and Mercury darted forward infusing magic into their bodies. Not only did they crash halfway into each other but were also too slow.
The dummy, or rather the man in his thirties smacked his head open on a sharp stone, that had been ducked up prior to some explosion. In general, the ground looked like there had been some kind of explosions or impacts all scorched like that. And not a moment later as the dummy had hit the stone and blood pooled and the two students came to a hold next to him a skull symbol appeared.
Blade and Mercury looked at each other, "Fuck…" Too fucking slow.
"WHAT!?" A few Sorceresses already turned around to Votzaak angry, no, furious.
"What the heck is your problem?! How are we to pass your damn test if – if!" Breeze had no words.
Polarissa shared her incentive, "Yeah, dickhead!" She bared her teeth ready to stomp over to give him a real piece of her mind.
A shrill whistle, "HEY!" Lion scolded them. "Get your ass over here, complain later! We don't have time for slacking!" Poor Lion got instantly hit by a bunch of glaring eyes.
"Okay, everyone, gather the patients, Dean, Seth, Marble and Dalilah, check out the housings, stabilise them. We got to get them inside. Keith, you are in charge of the medical stuff." Julius took command as well.
Keith went pale, "In charge - why me!?"
"Cause you are the healer!" Everyone exclaimed as if that was the only obvious answer.
Alyssa shook her head, "Did you learn nothing, come on, you are the key to get this shit done." She pushed Keith over to the closest patient. "Do your job."
Keith perplexed stared at the dummy, an older woman sitting there crying and moaning.
"Mercury, Blade, bring the patients who can't walk on their own inside the cleared buildings. Misery, Serina, Max check for, well, – get some herb medicine supplies," Julius pointed to the grownups.
Iolas's entire team was already positioned at the sidelines together with Aithlin; Votzaak; Professor Palladium, Avalon and Codatorta; as well as Apex Predator Itzcali and lastly Sanari Cei. All of them were grouped according to their Order and schools, slightly apart.
Faragonda looked to Griffin and Saladin, "This will go horribly wrong…" They had stepped a bit back and kept an eye on the test as well, besides not playing an active role. Hagen was currently bringing the weapons back into the armoury with some boys Saladin had commanded from the stances.
Sanari Gwaine nodded unseen, "Indeed, they are all riled up and way too hectic." His Grandmaster Parcival could only agree.
Griffin shook her head. She now could see what her Sorceresses were missing the most, "My kids are like headless chickens in groups with no true leadership they respect…and venting none stop. Great…" What an eye-opener, when she had joined the Company of Light, that had never been a problem. She had respected them from the start and had faith in their capabilities. Not to mention she was in a high rank herself so there were more below than above her.
Nabu puffed, "This is terrible… they have the wrong priorities. They're not going through the standard checklist. I thought you taught them the protocols. We learned this at Red Fountain. Have you changed the curriculum?"
Saladin glanced up at his old student, "No, but the first dead dummy from the get-go threw them off. Votzaak surely made that happen on purpose." He was a bit annoyed himself. This was making everything harder. He tightened his grip around his golden dragon staff.
Riven activated his sword to lean on his purple two-hander, "Well, I saw quite a few triage checkpoints myself. And when shit gets real… Desertia was one big mess. Let's put it that way. One dead from the get-go is nothing. Reality IS crueller than that."
"That might be, yet, you lot never had to oversee a triage checkpoint alone, EVER. You were busy fighting Black Magicians and still are," Saladin reminded the two kindly his wandering eyes grasping the severity of that little test setup. "It's a completely different task. Most we test today have nothing to do with the stakeouts they are so used to by now. Triage isn't so obvious once you are in the middle of it. It's easy to judge from the outside…" The boys already got the message. "Well, and each checkpoint normally has at least one healer that is fully trained. Keith will go under," Saladin rubbed his forehead and dug his shoes into the sand a bit worried.
Predator Karim smiled, "Have some faith, they'll pull through. They have the right spirit. Surely, they'll figure it out after a few beginner mistakes. You all should be more optimistic." He was a chirpy fellow. Already saw the best in the kids, a truly kind person with lots of patience, unlike Councillor Shiri.
Griffin shook her head as she crossed her arms and snorted, "You wish. We're talking about Votzaak here. They'll go under, they already are a submarine. They'll implode." She ground her teeth hard.
"Now, now," Faragonda tried to reassure her, "They'll figure it out. Your Sorceresses are smart after all." The Headmistress eyed her friend's new hairdo with some subtle smirks flitting over her lips for a few days now.
Griffin picked up on it instantly, "Oh, shush you. Queen Stella wouldn't shut up about, - as a Sorceress you need a new image on the inside and OUT.- " She huffily imitated that runt. She wasn't quite used to the hairdo yet.
"Really? Looks graceful," Karim noted on the side, "Like two tiny yet impressive dragon horns. I bet your glare comes across even more daring now. Truly dashing, that Queen knows how to push an image." He was such a sunshine, which made it even worse for Griffin. He meant it.
Sanari Gwaine chuckled, "Don't start to blush now, Headmistress Griffin. People might think you are growing soft on them." A deadly stare hit him, which shut him up, yet he continued to smirk inwardly. 'Seems like Mr Alfean Sunshine has a new contender for the title if Karim can even make Griffin slip up.' Griffin's aura was priceless.
Grandmaster Parcival didn't comment on it before the Headmistress would change it back out of spite. Yet sighed as he refocused the conversation, "Still our assessment so far isn't wrong. They haven't even requested a healer backup or called in that they reached the checkpoint and need standard supplies. They think it's their job and theirs alone. Are you sure it was a good idea to state the test limits and goals so openly and vague?"
Nerrocean who had been silent so far a keen eye on the kids and their interactions coldly answered, "Yes. They need to get smart. Think. This track isn't just school where everything is chewed out for you. Staying calm, thinking things through, using what you have, requesting backup, doing everything you can and noticing the point where your abilities hit their limits. Summed up, making tough calls. You either learn it on the battlefield the hard way OR we throw them into the cold water here in a secure environment and they'll hopefully take their lessons with them. If that dummy at the start had been a real person they would have let him smack his head open... How do you think they would feel? He was saveable if they had moved faster. Yet it is also true, that you can't save everyone. It's the hardest lesson to be learned in life. And some know that and still live in the fairy tale of - if I just get stronger, it won't happen again – a foolish notion." His eyes fixed on Blade as he spoke those last words.
Fane was equally invested in taking a good look at the Chaos that already unfolded before them.
Shanna sighed the elven lady created herself a plant chair for comfort, "Yes, a test. Nonetheless, this IS stressful. I am worried… we have more tests coming up even after this. If you go too harsh now, you might end up losing a student for the Joined Track."
Saladin clung to his staff, "If that is the case, they aren't ready to put in the work this Track demands. They would be better off leaving." A bit unexpected for him to state this. "They'll surely need some form of pep talk and a break after this, though."
Keith was overwhelmed with so many questions at once. "We need to, wait- no first. - Asses people…but what about critical…" The others already rushed off to do something. They wanted to help but only chaos ensued because of it. Julius and Lion took care of some logistics first. Which wasn't bad just not what Keith needed from the get-go, even if a dry place to lie to patients was important, first they needed to know who would need them. "Julius," Keith called out to his frieat, who looked to him ready to listen. However, Keith promptly addressed Tyson, his brother, and Seth, "Wait, you can't just," his eyes fell on their patient and many more already was moved towards the first house ruin cleared by Steela and Dean for usage just seconds ago. Steela had fixed it with her steel magic rather quickly to Keith's surprise. And the Sorceresses with less severe dummies quickly pushed them inside the house.
Irritated Tyson looked at Keith as he held the arms and chest of a dummy of a middle-aged man and Seth at the leg's end. "What? We can't leave him outside. The ground is cold. It's wet grass. He'll cool out and he is unconscious. I did check the spinal and rips first. Not to worry."
"Yes, but…" Keith searched for words.
"HEY KEITH! Come here! That one looks bad!" Alyssa shouted out to him as she towered over a dummy.
"Yours is just fine," Dusk complained as she used her shadow binds to pluck some flesh wound. "This one is bleeding out, that's way worse. Come here first."
"No way, mine is breathing, well, not really, he is the worst!" Gilliana pointed out as she kneeled next to another dummy.
"I asked first!" Alyssa hissed at her.
Amber rushed to them, "Calm down, girls. This isn't about first come first serve. This has nothing to do with favours." She tried to reason with the Sorceresses.
"I AM CALM!" Steela hissed as she tried to use her magic to create some metal bars to cask a broken leg. She didn't understand Dean's instructions. They postponed to check the next house because a dummy had held them back. Dean tried to stay cool yet wasn't sure how to handle the upset Sorceress. Steela was nervous. She didn't want to make a mistake.
Keith stared at the commotion of his friends. He couldn't be everywhere. He needed to prioritise. But with more dummies than people and everyone screaming his name. 'No one's listening to me…shit.' But all the symptoms described were bad and critical. Dean and Steela weren't the only ones hurrying tasks, plucking wholes. Suddenly he got dragged in Dusk's direction by her shadowy rope that had wrapped around his arm. She wanted his help, NOW.
"Guys!?" Marble shouted out, "This one has a tree stuck in his…SHIT!"
"Where is she!?" Michael looked around but saw nothing. He had kneeled before a dummy cleaning a head wound with his drink water and bandaging it to stop the bleeding until Keith would have time to permanently heal it. His red hair bounced around as he searched for Marble.
Kai pointed behind the building. He had seen Marble go check out the back of the next house, "There!" He was diverted from another dummy since Marble's voice had sounded dire. He sprinted to her around the corner.
Marble already stared at another dummy with a skull projected above. She had frozen in place. The test had barely started but now there was the second dead. 'Or was this the first one?!' She clenched her fists as Kai arrived, "WHAT THE FUCK!?" Marble ruffled through her light green hair pushing it over her shoulders.
While all that chaos broke out inside the rune circle. Serina, Max and Misery had walked up to the stand by grownups. "So… what do we need? I know first aid but beyond that…" Max looked at Serina and Misery. The sun reflected from his dark skin.
"Don't look at me, herbs are her speciality," Serina simply pointed with her thumb at Misery.
Misery promptly stemmed her hands into her hips, "I make poisons. Not medicine. Besides without knowing what we need…" She shook her head clueless.
"HEY GUYS, WHAT DO WE NEED?" Max shouted so loud over to the rune circle that the girls' ears rang.
"DON'T KNOW YET! JUST GET WHAT YOU CAN!" Julius answered promptly before focusing on getting a search party ready. After all, Marble had found another dead one, dead because they hadn't found him in time, so it became a necessity.
And Keith was pulled from one patient to the next by the Sorceresses once again, without getting a word out. And every patient the Sorceresses had pulled him to were in fact in dire need. But that also meant he had no time to set up a useful routine for everyone.
The three students outside the circle shrugged and walked up to Votzaak, "We need herbs! Now, give it." Serina simply demanded a bit pissed and itching to fight, to vent her frustration. She was so over this already. 'Where's the damn point to this. I'm no healer.'
Votzaak saw her deeply into her eyes, he wasn't flinching on bit, "Do I look like a pharmacy to you? I am busy battling on the frontlines!" He roared back before he crossed his arms and made more than clear that he would give her nothing.
Serina was so fed up, that she wanted to battle, do something useful for once. She didn't need phanto-weapons or planned on becoming a medic at all. "What!? BUT- Asshat…" She growled. "Tests my ass, let's just let them all die and get a move on."
Even Misery had a shiver run down her spine. Those gazes, piercing, judging. "Now, now… stop joking around…" She glared at Serina.
"I'm not jo-" Serina complained as her split cape flung around in her wild gestures.
Quickly Max had her in a choke hold and laughed out loud, "Good one…Ha. Ha." He was sweating buckets and whisper-hissed to her, "Do you want us to flunk!? Get a grip!"
"They said we get herbs we just got to ask! They lied!" Serina pushed him off and they started a squabble right then and there since Max wasn't one to simply let himself be pushed around either.
Misery rolled her eyes and simply walked on pretending that wasn't her problem. 'Blade always said Avalon is helpful…' So, she walked up to him. "We need herbs for base potions and hmm…disinfection. Oh, and bandages…" She looked over her shoulder where she could see the others trying to move another critical patient into the second house. "Make that a lot of them." She sighed. At that rate, theirs would run out in no time.
"Sure thing, Alfea will prepare some, does next week sound good? Or Griffin can pick them up when she comes over for her meeting with Fara-"
Misery blinked, blinked some more. Looked up and down the row of teachers. Remembered Votzaak's words, "Are you kidding!? No, we need them right now, at… at…" She stopped. "Fuck. PEOPLE on which FUCKING PLANET are we!?"
"What?" Alex from Team A looked confused at the others. He squinted his bright red eyes while scratching his dark purple hair. "Eh…Ah, shit, I wanted to… disinfect…" He mumbled to himself and cleaned his gloves again. The Specialist's armour was easily disinfected with the right solution particularly made for this, yet still, every second was counting. They were swamped.
"Well, a planet with grass…" Rise stated the obvious as she stepped into the third house the others had built up from scratch with stone magic she lit up the houses with a daylight spell.
Alex smacked his hand against his head, "Like that helps. And pick up the pace and stop dilly-dallying!"
Rise puffed offended, "I'm not- I just don't know what else to truly do…" She was lost, this made her all clammy. These were only dummies, lifeless, but one day…Desertia… Her hands shook, and her heartbeat had not calmed down from the initial first shake.
"Well then, come here, I show you how to…" Alex pulled her down grabbing her red body suit. "Ahhh, damn it… I keep touching stuff…" He complained once more.
Volcano pouty as a Sorceress could be, watched Keith fix what she had messed up with her cauterising incorrectly.
Misery was still waiting for an answer and no one answered.
So, Volcano simply shouted back, "Just choose one! Damn it!" She was beyond annoyed. "One with grass!" No one had told her that with too much heat cauterisation could do more damage than good.
Keith looked up at her he had been so focused on healing that burn wound, "Grass? Never mind that. Now listen! As I told you, not too hot not long and most certainly not double as big as the original wound. Along the edges only." He had managed to calm the dummy down. Yet it was still fearful of Volcano. 'I need her to do this right. That will save me so much time…'
"Fine," Volcano flared up fire in her hands glaring at the next open wound of the dummy before her.
"NO, NO, NOOOooo!" The dummy started screaming again as it was faced with a grim glare.
Keith stopped her hand, "I said carefully. Will you listen? I don't have time for your bullshit!"
Misery was lost for words, her mind racing, "Pick one?! Urgh. As if I had the money to visit a shit ton of planets. Is that even how this is supposed to-" Max and Serina still had a pissing contest running and it grew a bit louder as Max tried to get Serina under control. But in return, she constantly taunted him.
Avalon looked at her, "You still there? Where are we supposed to send your team's medical supplies?"
Misery tried to figure out what to say. But with the constant yapping that was impossible.
"Fine, then go back and do SOMETHING," Max walked up to Misery and left Serina standing in the rain, "Just pick the planet with the best herbs. Or at least plentiful in numbers." He commented aggravated. He had listened with one ear yet couldn't come up with a good one himself.
"Fine…" Misery nodded, "Domino." She addressed Avalon.
"Alright, we'll have it there in about twenty minutes," Avalon nodded and turned around to leave and stepped away from the line-up.
"Twenty minutes?!" Max went pale, "That's not fast enough! We-" Shocked he looked at Misery. "We got to get back to the others!" He already pulled Misery with her.
Virion yelled in the psi-link of the teachers, 'Are they kidding me!? Pick a planet?!… Suuuure, I also would like to always be on Do urgh They are…urrgh, please let me just - One hint. Just one.' He was rampaging since the kids had started their triage if one could call it that. 'What are you teaching them!?'
Ilrune snorted, 'Well, normally you would know the planet from the get-go…'
'That was the plan... But Votzaak is right that would be the first question that should have been asked in the briefing. Where are we stationed, where do the patients go, and when does support arrive approximately… basics,' Ararel stated dryly.
'Maybe we did make it too hard…' Palladium sighed. He was worried alright. 'Obvious things often get overlooked.'
Votzaak snickered, 'No, no, let them, in twenty minutes they'll know at the latest. Ey, Codatorta?' He hid his grin under his big mage hat.
The Drillmaster had a hard time staying composed and not charging in there, 'Twenty minutes was generous from our Lord Angel. With that request and no statements of severity, wrong planet and no numbers named. We'll send not only the supplies to the wrong planet but also the wrong amount. I know the Witc-Sorceresses have no clue, but Max…so sloppy. Serina threw him off focus, not to mention they see dummies, not people.'
'They saw the robot husks first… bigger problem is that Keith has no control over the Sorceresses. They do what they want. He doesn't have the time for a one o' one with each of them. And Lion and Julius are too fixated on logistics,' Iolas remarked.
Aithlin sighed, 'Well, at least we know what mission type they won't get any time soon. But if we don't want a total disaster… how long till check in from Crisis Headquarters?'
Thallan checked his clock, 'Five minutes. And boy, do they need it.' To him and the others, it was obvious what big mistakes they already were making. But even the students in the ranks were shaking their heads or laughing, yet the students were swamped and so tunnel-visioned that they didn't even notice. 'Their amusement could have been a good clue…ahhh.'
Since Apex Predator Itzcali and Senari Cei did not have much to do at the moment they for one were more focused on watching than talking, taking some notes at the side as well.
Serina, Max and Misery re-joined the group inside the rune circle. "Twenty minutes for base medical supplies." They were pleased with their success.
"Great," Julius smiled relieved. "Misery can you prepare some fireplace or cooking station or something… look around for herbs. I think… we can't have enough…"
Misery looked around, "Dude, there is nothing here but grass. I would need to go up to them, again. They said they don't want us to waste time on actually searching. I barely got back…and they'll say, welp, you found grass and I squander five minutes." Nervously she picked on the dark red stripes of her dress.
Blade passed them by on her way to the next patient, "Forest edge? I mean we are in a destroyed village on the edge of the forest? Did they state the planet by the way?"
"We decided on Domino," Misery stated as she went through her head what she could possibly find in Domino's forests.
Blade frowned, "Decided? We could decide? Why not say Magix? Shortest supply route. But…" She looked to Julius. She had been too focused on caring for patients. This was more or less the first time she had a mini breather while she had asked around for more bandages from others who didn't require them right now.
Julius also got a bad feeling about this, they had just finished securing enough buildings. "One can't choose a planet… you get sent there. Is this part of the test? Iolas didn't say anything…wait Votzaak interrupted and… I thought it made no difference. We forgot to ask." He smacked against his head.
"Oh, no. Avalon concretely asked me for a destination for the supplies," Misery already turned her head to the grown-ups, who watched them keenly.
Julius' eyes widened, "Fuck. Guys! What planet are we on? You Sir," he walked up to a dummy they had not approached so far as it was sitting on a rock only in shock. "What planet are we on?"
The dummy looked up. "Meadownia, don't you know? You have no idea, do you? We are DOOMED! They have no clue!" He jumped up and stumbled backwards and all the other dummies in better condition got riled up as well by his words.
Julius got the jitters, 'Wait, they can interact with each other?! I thought...' he raised his hands to calm the man down. "No, no, I mean which town so much was destroyed. And also, what other towns got hit in the surroundings? How many more will come?"
Misery had already run off with haste. "Shit..." But Avalon indeed was nowhere to be seen right now. 'To whom do I go? Votzaak said battle on frontlines. Alfea… Alfea. Palladium!'
'Thank god they noticed...' Palladium noted in the psi-link. "Red Fountain nearly is ready to fly the requested squad supplies to Domino." Palladium addressed Misery.
"Yeah, well, we need them in Meadownia," Misery corrected.
"Are you pulling my leg? Who are you?" Palladium crossed his arms.
"What? No. You know who I am," Misery tilted her head in confusion.
"Right, because there is no way to use a catastrophe to fake IDs in a crisis. If you have no way to identify yourself. I see myself in need to inform-" Palladium started a bit harshly.
Quickly Misery searched for her Cloud Tower badge. " No, no wait...I, here, CT4831. Misery. Password ... Eh...hmmm... It was either mushdoom321 or...poisoncrusader..."
Palladium raised an eyebrow, "Either?" He was short before scolding her big time.
'Professor, don't. They're here to make as many mistakes, as well, they would alone...' Iolas reminded him kindly.
"Ahh come on, we have people dying I got confused last time. We were a bit in a hurry, okay?!" Misery went for a Hail Mary.
Palladium looked at her, a short moment of silence. "What are you doing-"
"We got assigned a triage point," Misery cut him off. 'Fuck stop wasting time damn it!'
Palladium got stern "Triage point, wait- Dying?" He theatrically got more serious. "Who in your team is dying?! You haven't reached your checkpoint yet and someone is dying? I'll get the-" He tried to give her an important hint to the dislike of Votzaak grumbling in the psi-chat.
"No, not us! The farmers at the Checkpoint," Misery facepalmed, 'Really, why is he playing that dumb?'
Palladium changed his posture yet again, "Are you telling me you already reached the checkpoint but forgot to request the checkpoint supplies from Red Fountain once you established camp? And instead requested Alfea to send-" Palladium rigorously lectured her and raised an eyebrow at Misery who on the one side was utterly confused and on the other ruffled through her short-trimmed hair like crazy. 'She's out of her element…'
"Urgh. What do you mean? Checkpoint supplies? We already were dropped on site," Misery asked with an uneasy feeling.
Palladium was about to answer as Keyrth whistled loudly the five minutes were up, "Checkpoint Z delta 36? Hello? No answer."
Ilrune turned to some of his team. "Guys, checkpoint Z delta 36 has not called in for help or cleared for supply drop." He informed them. "We'll update the area to a black zone and-"
Misery left Palladium standing. "Wait!" It was only a few steps but she was already out of breath when she reached Ilrune. Her heart pounding in her chest, she gasped for air.
Keryth sternly called out to Ilrune. "Hold it. Incoming message." So, Misery had to walk further onto him. He waited a bit impatient. "Checkpoint Z delta 36, what's your status? You've been off the grid for about fifteen minutes..."
"Yeah sorry, we, I... Ehm…" Misery started. "We… found a lot of folks and we got a bit…anyways. We do need the supplies for the checkpoint as soon as possible. We need lots of bandages and... well," She was sweating buckets as she looked over her shoulder. 'What the heck am I supposed to do here!? I have no idea how this runner stuff works… Just great.' She could hear and see that some sort of chaos ensued but for now, she was stuck with this duty, if she wanted to or not. Because all the shadowlands broke loose behind her.
The rest of the students had gotten the worst patients inside the three houses they had repaired with earth magic, and also the prematurely broad in out again, while some boys used their personal supplies to bandage people nonetheless their supplies were nearing their end. Julius with more Specialists and Fairies tried to calm the mop ready to leave the checkpoint because the dummies still didn't believe the kids to be competent enough to heal them or even protect them.
Keith had finished explaining cauterization to Volcano and she had the hang of it now and she in return grabbed Amber to teach her. Keith had thought the triage point with a little more than their student numbers to be manageable but on the second inspection, so many patients needed immediate attention. And he hadn't found the time to set up proper rules on how to solve their time crunch. He was too slow and needed at a hundred places at once. They needed more than one healer and had none, at least not a REAL healer. 'How am I supposed to do this!? Even if we were better organized I don't have enough magic…' He thought to himself as he moved on to the next critical patient, and there still were a dozen more at least. Then it hit him, he had totally forgotten. "Mercury! The three-stage cards!" He quickly shouted as Kai sat down next to him.
"What do you need me to do?" Kai asked his buddy a bit tense.
"Just let me concentrate a second," Keith breathed in and held his hands above the unconscious patient trying to assess his condition. 'Okay, okay. You can do this.' He felt the magic flow, into the wound some vessels had broken down. He focused on the blood leaking out and traced it back to the wound…
"So?" Kai asked a bit impatient.
Tyson bashed him against the arm he just brought the potions he had collected from everyone. Specialists always had at least one with them after the Elves during the task force had strongly suggested it and Lion wanted them all with Keith as he could make the best judgment calls of them all. They already had lost more patients since some of the boys had been too overwhelmed and unsure what to do. So, they had chucked down their potions down patients' throats with moderate success. Not every patient's condition bettered afterwards, "Dude, let my brother work. He's as fast as he can be."
"I know. It's just we already lost five patients…" Kai bit his lip. This was so bad.
"Six… something is off…" Blade sighed, "We don't even know the cause…" She had come to update Keith and wanted to know how to determine the source properly.
"GUYS! I'm trying to concentrate here," Keith grumbled. He was way too nervous for fear of overlooking something. "Everyone shut up for a moment."
Blade sighed, "Be right back…" They had no time to waste this could wait a minute longer. Hopefully.
"HEY!" Tessa thundered and a bolt of lightning flashed over the sky and everyone froze in their actions, dummies and students alike. "Calm your shit! This is a crisis situation. If you are fine, sit your ass down. If you are healthy enough and think you are better off out there alone, leave, but don't expect us to rescue your sorry ass. We are here for THIS checkpoint, not the outskirts. We got better things to do than argue with you!" She was so menacing it was scary. Her magic presence created a certain pressure in the air. The Fairies knew that tactic all too well from Griselda. Tessa straightened out her skirt just a second later again as she quieted down herself. 'Gesh…'
And indeed, that helped, a lot of dummies sat down again in a circle nagging there quietly. About three puffed and simply walked to the dark border of the rune circle and vanished in its light. And some dummies stood there watching the rest of the students or turned to their friends. Julius was so relieved the dummies in good condition made more work for him than the half-dead ones. Simply because of a carelessly asked question.
'Too slow… come on Blade think. People dying, potions not working… either it's internal injuries… but all of them? No way…' Blade whistled, "Tasu, Alyssa, Dusk, Gilliana, Rise, come here! Now." A firm voice yet calm but assertive. "Lion, Julius, you take the boys and fix normal first aid stuff. Severe once first. I'll manage the magic stuff with the girls. Keith needs more time." Blade simply decided. The two team leaders nodded. They already had tried. Yet to train the girls on top and everyone jumping around cost too much time and only ended in chaos.
Rise walked over to Blade, "I was taking care of…" She complained first aid hadn't gone all too well for her, besides plasters.
"I know, Keith is too slow. Yet we don't need all of us to do bandages. Now," She looked at all the girls she had called out. "Go inside the houses and use your skills to check patients. We have potions in use and six dead. Potions should heal people, but still, they died. There is no way all had internal bleeding. We got to get to the bottom of this," Blade sent them off.
"I'm not trained for that," Alyssa crossed her arms. "What am I looking for? I have no idea how to help here, Blade."
Blade laid a hand on her shoulder, "Just check the magic flow and see what comes up. You at least can detect if something is magically wrong. Not to mention we could use your plant magic. Maybe you can grow a plant or two that we need. We're just not there yet, but you WILL be useful."
"Fine…" Alyssa turned around to follow the others.
Blade looked around, "Nebula, Snow, take that group. We need a list of how many are injured and how severely, and specifically, where first aid is failing besides being applied correctly. Work with Mercury…" She scratched her head. 'What do we need…? Come on…this is pure logic.'
Mercury had collected all the triage cards from the other boys. 'Damn it, she's right, we are fixing wholes and not the system…' Mercury walked to Snow and Nebula. "Okay, it's a simple colour code. Red, critical; yellow, important; green can wait. Write down the number and mark if they are fine after the first aid treatment or still bad afterwards." He smiled at the two and nodded as he waved Michael and Dean to him to help assess people without directly helping them as well.
"Good, now we're getting somewhere…" Blade looked over to the grownups. "Supplies should come any minute. Bandages are so low, we'll run out. If something comes in between. Shit, we are overlooking something… something up. Damn it!" She ground her teeth as she stared at her bracelet.
Lion received the supplies minutes later per rune teleportation circle. Lucky them, the boys finally could do their first aid with enough supplies for everyone and handed out food and water as well or rather had set up a table quickly for self-service to please the on-edge crowd. Finally, the students were getting ahead of things and they could calm down a bit.
Tyson had moved on with Kitty. He had simply dragged her from one patient to the next. Because they were checking out criticals and he wanted a magic assessment simultaneously to his first aid, "Okay, I check the body, you the magic stuff…"
"Yeah, yeah, you said that the first ten times," Kitty rolled her eyes, "You should be able to do both yourself… you guys got magic too…" She pressed her hand on the barely rising chest and flared up magic reached out with her magic and promptly pulled her hand away. "Crap…" And bashed Tyson's away from the wound he was dressing at the moment.
"Crap?" Tyson looked at her. Yet Kitty simply stood up and moved to the next one and shortly to the next… and the next…inside the first house. "REALLY!?" She shouted angered, "Shit. I hate those damn Elves!" She thundered.
"What? Talk to me," But Tyson's question fell on deaf ears.
"Hey, Alyssa, do yours have it too?" Kitty screamed out of the door to the next house.
Alyssa sighed as she kneeled next to another dummy and heard her screaming. "Yeah!"
"What are you two talking about?!" Tyson annoyed requested once more and turned Kitty around to face him.
"Sleeping curses," Kitty nearly hissed, "They aren't hurt they are just sleeping! What the heck attacked you?" She stomped outside the building and glared at the dummies sitting outside.
The dummy stuttered as he was hit by the Sorceress's rage, "W-w-we don't know… I-i-it was huge, and b-bl-black and so many limps … so many…" The dummy shivered by just the thought.
"Many limps?" Mercury and Blade looked at each other. "Great…" He just gave another dummy a green card.
"That's your problem?" Blade shook her head at Mercury. "How huge is huge?" She was rounding up the yellows who were still able to walk and sent the green ones to the open space on the meadow before the houses, she just helped one to stand up. 'Intel, we forgot the intel gathering from the inhabitants, shit.' She looked to the younger woman, "Have you seen that – that thing too?"
Rise and Max heard the commotion from outside they were in the third house with around ten dummies. Max had requested her to check the dummies for magical problems. Since after the debacle with Serina he was in no mood for another Sorceress bitching around. "So, can you break the curse?"
"There is no curse…EH! This one is slimy… though…but, but… since when I thought you checked this one for first aid?" Groused out Rise rubbed her fingers against each other and sticky strings slowly dripped from them. "I barely touched him… actually not at all…" Rise looked at Max as she took a step back. "By Solaria's suns, MAX!"
Confused Max looked up he just had checked the stomach of another unconscious dummy. "What?"
"What's wrong?" Julius came to the doorstep and couldn't believe his eyes, "What are you doing!? We told you to sanitise and…What? How? KEITH!" He stepped back and kept any of the other Sorceresses or Fairies trying to look inside from getting too close.
Keith just had stopped an internal bleeding wound with his basic healing spell, 'This took way too long…' The leaking Blood just vanished with his final usage of magic. All was well again, yet the commotion outside didn't forebode anything good. He bit his lip as he heard Julius in distress calling out. "What now!? – Can you finish this Tasu? His leg wound bleeding was stopped by Volcano, but I rather have it completely dressed, it's too big. And the cauterisation might not be enough to stop an infection."
"Sure thing, not to worry," the Crown princess of Streama nodded pushed her blue hair back behind her ears and kneeled next to him. "Moonlit Stream." She cast her healing spell.
Keith stared at her, "Since, when can you use a healing spell?" It had been a total surprise to him.
"KEITH!" It roared from outside.
"COMING!" Keith stormed outside. There was no time to wait for an answer and Tasu had to concentrate as well.
And Keith wasn't a second too late, "What in Magix? What did you do? Who did you touch?" Keith in disbelief stared at Max with something like blue spots on his skin and from Rise's hands slime continued to drip none stop.
"No one. Max did, for first aid. I just checked his cleared unconscious patients, who showed no other signs of injuries. I did not touch them, I used magic. Lion do something," Rise flicked her hands, "How do I make this stop?"
"Hey!" Polarissa and Breeze jumped to the side as the slime dropped everywhere. "Watch it!"
Keith stared at Rise, "Get inside stop contaminating everyone!" She ordered straight away.
"The heck I will, I got infected there!" Rise protested.
"Rise please…" Lion asked her kindly.
"NO WAY, I will not go in that breeding ground!" Rise protested. "Who knows what happens if I stay!"
Max rubbed his nose bridge, "It's not like we're going to die; it's a test." He stared at his blue spots, they weren't itching or doing anything besides being there. "Come on, quarantine is important, Ri- Ris…"
Birdy instantly grabbed Max's arm as he collapsed next to her in reflex, "Max!"
"NO! Don't touch him!" But Keith's warning came too late.
Birdy had him in her arms as she saw more blue spots pop up on his skin, "Ew!" Promptly she let go and Max smacked like a pancake to the ground.
"BRIDY!" Sienna scolded her, "What's wrong with you?! Now he's bleeding!" She rushed over and she grabbed a bandage from Michael's hand.
"Those spots just multiplied, I don't want to be next," Birdy groused out.
"STOP TOUCHING INFECTED PEOPLE!" Keith lost it as he took Sienna into a firm grip and pulled her away, "You three, back inside! Find out who gave Max the spots and Rise the slime stuff. NOW. Marble extends the room's walls and quarter of each patient. Dahlia, you help, and close off the entrance."
"What?!" Birdy was no fan of that plan, especially since Keith had looked at her as well.
"Keith!" Tasu called out to him, "Another is crashing!"
Keith was pressed for time, "Shit. Gilliana they need fresh water in there. And some plants for air, get Alyssa. Make it happen. They need to be able to do anything in there." Keith hurriedly tried to get this under control. "Volcano, scorch anything the slime or they touched outside." And then rushed off to Tasu.
Julius nodded, "Okay, people move back, quarantine is active."
"I'm not going in there!" Rise protested, yet Lion grabbed Max and dragged him past her before any Sorceress could float him in and made Rise step back inside as he had to get through. "I'll take charge of the quarantine house. Seth, you take my place outside."
Julius looked at him, "Lion! Are you?! …Great…"
Birdy sighed and walked inside, "We'll manage. Dahlia? Go for it."
"But…" It didn't sit right with Dahlia to incarcerate her friends like that.
Blade shook her head, "You want those symptoms? No. That's just how it works."
