Votzaak watched Misery walk back. She had finished updating the crisis headquarters and supplies were sent via teleportation circle rather quickly. After all, it was just by the snap of his fingers. 'Well, well, look at that. After twenty minutes they managed to get the supplies they should have gotten from the get-go. Amazing. One might think this wouldn't end in a total failure.'
Virion didn't like Votzaak's overjoyed tone, 'One might think? Their start wasn't stellar, no question there. But they enforced the quarantine pretty quickly. They finally found their footing.' He had calmed down a bit as the kids made some progress.
Master Aithlin glanced over to the Leprechaun, 'What else did you include in this test? You went off the perimeters we decided on, didn't you? We want them under stress however not utterly destroy their confidence.'
'Oh, come on, you make me sound like some villain. I always stay within the rules. You know that' Votzaak smirked as he ran his fingers along his hat.
Sanari Cei only needed one glance to read this kind of aura, 'We said curses, natural environment hazards, normal wounds, an attack, more patients and force a quarantine. If I remember correctly we limited the curses to max three.'
'Indeed, we did, I was even so nice to leave it at two, well, one depending on how you count it.' Votzaak still was chipper as a dragon hatchling.
Virion grumbled already fearing the worst, 'One or two? What is it? Wait, needed? What curse grade did you use, Grandmaster?' Worried he gazed at the students.
'That's need to know and you as standby support for checkpoints can't know, since you are supposed to help them diagnose eventually,' Votzaak snickered pleased. 'And where would the fun be in knowing the decease beforehand?'
Iolas deadpan stared at the gremlin, 'They haven't even figured out they can ask for a real healer. They still see it as a test for them alone to solve. Dummies are still dummies to them. And they aren't half as scared as they should be of the quarantine. There are still other tests to do. What were you thinking…' The Elf already could think of at least twenty curses with slime or blue spots, that weren't that easy to cure.
Codatorta, Avalon and Palladium looked equally worried at each other. The kids already had made mistakes and four just had fallen out of the race stuck in quarantine, while Cei was as quiet as ever analysing those fluctuating auras of the children.
Griffin with the other grownup group further away sighed deeply, "My students are more of a hazard than…"
Faragonda squeezed her arm slightly, "They are getting there. You never had the time to teach that. Volcano is doing just fine."
"Great and the rest is more or less a headless chicken… I shouldn't have focused solely on solo missions…" Griffin ground her teeth. She would need to change a lot if she wanted to achieve the change the kids had worked so hard for.
Saladin had a watchful eye on his Specialists, "My boys are making a lot of mistakes as well."
"Hmmmmm," Sanari Gwaine pondered, "You mean the priorities? Well, it was a very hectic start. It's hard to apply theory when everything goes off the rails. Especially if they are so young and have never seen it before."
Fane, the vampire, puffed unimpressed, "They helped rebuild Desertia, they should know better. They are sloppy."
Grandmaster Parcival disagreed, "They had grown-ups calling the shots and weren't in the hot zones. Are you telling me, you, Marksman Fane, never made a mistake in your training?"
Nerrocean snorted, "Ha! The good old days… ah, too good. Come to think of it, do you remember, Fane, when you-"
"SHUT. IT." She growled at the Merman as she bared her teeth at him.
"Do I need to pound you into the ground?" Nerrocean gave one stern warning as his tattoos flashed up.
Fane considered it for just a second. This was so boring and it was so infuriating to watch the students and she was itching to do something fun. Yet promptly flinched and averted her gaze as Nerrocean squinted his at her as she hadn't backed down already.
"Thought so," Nerrocean looked to Nabu, "Hey Nabu, give ten of your lessons to Fane. Just choose some you don't like."
"What?!" Fane's head darted around again. "SLAYER Nabu, if you dare to give me those…"
Nabu chuckled, "No way in the Shadowlands would I put the lives of the students above my vacation." He remarked with a straight face.
"Good. Wait! Are you saying I am a hazard to their lives? I-" Fane got even more pissed now.
Faragonda charmingly intervened, "Not to worry. My staff is more than ready and willing to teach you the ways of a Professor. We are an elite school after all and have more experience. You'll be up to speed in no time, Marksman Fane. I heard you are a quick study and one more student makes not much of a difference to us."
"Ts," Fane simply clicked her tongue a bit offended and outgunned. But she respected the Headmistress and even if she wouldn't admit to it openly Faragonda was right, she had trained people, a LOT, but not kids at this age or lack of knowledge.
The others only had listened with one ear but preferably scribbled down some notes on their tablets. Especially Shanna took a lot of notes nonstop.
The quarantine went well. Dahlia or Marble used their earth magic to pass on requested supplies underground into the quarantine house. Alyssa used her plant magic to communicate inside and keep the air supply steady. Still, there was lots to do outside. And with four people out of the race. It didn't become any easier. They simply did not enough knowledge to save all those critical patients. The Sorceresses were eagerly trying to figure out the curse they had found but nothing made sense so far. The Fairies attempted to break them and often did, but they kept coming back after just a minute or so or not at all. There was no rhyme or reason to it, old, young, male, and female all got hit. Nonetheless, other dummies still awaited their first aid treatment for minor injuries.
Blade went to Julius, "We got a problem…"
"What now?" He wasn't keen on hearing any more bad news. Slowly Julius moved the finger from left to right and the dummies eyes followed it as he pushed away his blond hair. He was aware of so many patients with worse injuries but he like many others would do more harm than good. Plus, now everyone needed to be checked by the girls first to prevent others from getting infected.
"Nebula, Snow and I asked around as we helped. These dummies were attacked by some… how to put this… anemone. The description was lacking so I didn't get anything from a quick search on my bracelet that fits though. Might be a summon. But that thing was fast and huge. We should build some defences, Julius," Blade made her point.
Julius looked around, "We're even more short-handed now. We need to wait for the others to figure out the curse so we can order the right medicine. Or we'll break them ourselves – permanently… somehow... Keith's not enough…" He looked at the dummy, that kid looked at him with big scared eyes.
"We're going to die, aren't we?" The little one trembled in fear.
Blade smiled, "No darling, we're doing our best. It will be fine." She pulled out her protein bar, "Here eat something." The boy nodded and ran off to his presumably parents.
"If this wasn't a test, I'd…" Julius shook his head, "They said nothing about requesting personal… We have to get this done. We have lost more patients than I liked but…most sitting outside will be just fine."
"So far, not that it is, but this is too easy…" Blade ground her teeth. "They got more in store for us. I'll go see if we can get at least more information about those anemone things. Just in case." Blade stood up.
"No, Blade, we have no time, we need to figure out that curse who knows who else gets infected? We haven't even found the source," Julius objected.
Blade bit her lip, "But."
"Peeps… we got another…" Tessa stumbled backwards. She had bypassed a green card dummy and just by chance had noticed the blue dots on the arm. "Marble, come here!"
The dummy looked at its arm, scared jumped up and all the shadowlands broke loose. "NOOO! I'm just fine! No, I'm not going in there!"
Suddenly Dummies ran away, stumbled and fell into other people and patients, pushing and shoving. The crowd had in silence watched the students enforce the quarantine and since they had been so swift and decisive they had stayed where they were and let them handle it. Being confident in what one does always found respect after all. And of course, no one would like to have infectious people to run around. Yet all of that didn't matter any longer since the spots had spread outside.
"What in Magix?" Mercury looked up from his patient to the stampeding crowd.
"Please. We have to quarantine you or-" Seth had rushed to stop the man.
"Freeze!" Polarissa reached out with her hand and pinned down the robot with her magnet-magic her two pigtails stood up from the static field that got created around her in return.
"Ehm…" Glad that the man couldn't run into more people Sienna leaned over to Breeze. "Is she allowed to use her powers like that?"
Breeze shrugged, "I see no one complaining…" The two watched as with some good amount of magic Polarissa lifted the robot and pressed it against the wall of the quarantine house, and Marble simply enclose it and pushed it inside.
Keith had rushed out from one of the other houses to see what the commotion was about, "What is going on?" He just got a glimpse that someone had gotten pushed into the quarantine as the earth wall just stopped shifting.
"Keith! I can't heal-" Tasu stopped as well. Her gaze fell on a woman with a scarf half drawn over her face. She squinted her eyes. "Is that?" She stepped closer.
"What do you want?!" Defensively the woman rose.
"Mam, if you are ill we need to-" Tasu tried to calm her down.
The woman fletched her teeth, "IF I have to go HE has to go, too!"
"Oh, shut your trap, Mariam!" The Farmer rose and pointed his finger at her, "You're just jealous that-" Shocked he gazed at his hand where now spots had spread as well.
Keith wide-eyed stared around, "CHECK EVERYONE. This is for the good of all. Please, if everyone gets infected everyone might fall unconscious. I understand your fear, but how will we…" His hands shaky, thoughts flooded his mind, he had to stop this, somehow - anyhow. There had to be a solution to all of this, everyone was counting on him to fix this. His breath sped up and he could feel the building headache.
More farmers rose, "You have no clue what you are doing! Let's go people, anywhere is better than here!" A few more packed up their stuff and walked to the edge.
Kitty jumped in front of one of them, "Oh no, you won't spread that stuff to all of this … this… theoretical planet! Answer my call, Terror Wolf!"
The massive shadow of the Terror Wolf rose from her summoning circle and pinned one dummy down. By chance, it had been one with clothes wet from slime. The same slime that Rise had on her fingers minutes ago.
All the shadowlands broke loose yet again – of course. Not only had that stunt scared kids and other citizens. It riled some up to fight back and others moved back to the Specialists and Fairies to seek their protection. Yet dashed away from any Sorceress at the checkpoint and not just Kitty.
"It spread…" Snow was shocked, "But we…broke so many of the sleeping curses… and had checked them all over. I am sure I checked those at least. Or Tessa did do? Who was it?"
Blade bit her lip, "Shit, how is it spreading? … this is more than a simple curse."
"Michael!" Kai exclaimed as his teammate had suddenly crashed into him unconscious.
Keith darted over, "Don't touch him." He flared up magic to cover his hands and then pulled up the sleeve of Michael's suit. Blue dots all along it. "Shit." He stood up. "Everyone will strip. Marble Dahlia makes some makeshift changing rooms. Julius, we'll check us first. And then you will take over checking the men. ALL OF US." He thought about it shortly. "The women…"
"Come, Blade, we check each other," Nebula volunteered. "I'll check the rest afterwards. KIDS FIRST." She was so confident or at least projected as such. So luckily at least most women nodded. The crowd wasn't happy at all though and scared, impatient and somewhat antagonistic.
It had cost them precious time to keep the riled-up people in check and from leaving the camp. While most were scared they did understand after a few more speeches. Especially, those who had neither sign of blue spots or slime. Yet it became more complicated by the minute.
Julius and Nebula were busy checking people.
Kitty, Blade, Mercury, Polarissa and Dusk had to secure the camp from anyone sneaking away.
Tyson, Sienna, Tessa and even Marble had shown signs of slime and therefore spearheaded a new building only for patients with the same symptoms.
For the blue spots they had Michael, Gilliana, Serina, Damon and Alex in another big house, they were infected themselves but still felt fine for some reason. Yet the blue spots were spread so far and wide it was laughable that it hadn't shown up earlier. And although they had found a good way to break that curse. Everyone had wasted so much magic on breaking them, which was rather easy, however, the curse came back again to some and others it didn't so for the time those cured stayed inside the quarantine house.
Keith was fatiguing, he was overwhelmed nothing they did worked as planned. Although they did everything to the best of their abilities by the book. The number of dead grew exponentially. He could not organise flesh wounds while also keeping up with the blue spot curse and slime. He was frustrated and low on magic as well. He and Tasu couldn't save all those criticals and many died simply because they had run out of time.
Virion breathed out deeply in the teachers' psi-chat. 'They should have called for backup a long time ago… What are they waiting for?' He was itching to get in there and help.
'Votzaak you overdid it…' Aithlin scolded the Grandmaster. Aithlin wasn't one to create easy tests either for their aspirants. But it was more than clear to him, that Votzaak without going out of bounce of the limits they had agreed upon, had created a test as hard as a real Order selection trial. However, this test was ONLY equally hard, because the kids thought of it as a school test, one to be solved on their own. It would be so easy with the help of Iolas's team, who still stood by eager to help. Yet the Leprechaun knew the kids wouldn't take the easy route, because it went against their training. Normally, tests were to be done by the student, otherwise, it would be cheating, and cheating will get you a bad grade. A concept they couldn't break free from. The essential lesson Votzaak wanted them to realise was that this wasn't simply a school, they always should come to their teachers at all times, otherwise, the consequences would be dire and people might die.
Sanari Cei sighed, 'They're growing agitated. Their auras are a mess. Not to mention the crowd – those robots are truly advanced technology. Astonishing that those robots emit fake auras; they aren't the real thing, of course, as everyone has the same patterns. Nevertheless, they bear resemblance to the real thing.' He noted on the side before he refocused on his actual point. 'It was a bit careless to enforce a blockade of all things by sheer force.'
'They don't know better…' Iolas remarked. He knew at least Blade's Specialist class well enough to know how they were doing even without aura reading and they were exhausted mentally, all of them. He was worried about Keith the most though.
Votzaak grinned like a child on Christmas, 'I think, I did very well. They got everything at once and I stayed in our set limits for the test. Besides they are holding out since…?' He knew exactly what Aithlin was playing at.
Ilrune checked the time, 'Nearly half an hour. Next check-in should wake them up, Keryth get ready.' This at least gave him some hope. They had built all tests for stress or normally other secondary things like group dynamics, and magic management among other things. The kids thought the primary task, first aid, was what was mainly tested but that wasn't the case. It was easy to grasp who had medical knowledge and who didn't and to what extent, there were no big surprises there.
Votzaak snorted once amused as he glanced at the ticking timer.
'What. Did. You. Do?' Palladium growled at him. He already had a solid idea of what that slime could be. 'And are you crazy to use-'
'Psssh,' Votzaak calmed him down. 'I got the medicine ready. And it's also requestable from Red Fountain or Crisis Headquarters. Nothing to worry about, dear Professor.'
Avalon was so focused on aura reading and taking notes as was Itzcali, that the two seemed not interested in debating this, but in getting as much information out of this as possible. They had understood Votzaak's intentions to force the children to reevaluate their mentality and procedures. Any lingering disagreements could be solved later.
Codatorta checked his list instantly and scrolled through, 'Really? Those? You got to be joking. You set them free in MY ARENA just to see some nobles covered in slime? You will decontaminate the whole arena on your own time! This isn't some playground no one else uses.' He was pissed.
'Is it that obvious?' Ararel frowned. 'Set free…'
Keryth made himself ready for the check-in call. 'Glad someone knows... Time to give them another needed-' On the second, timed with his check-in call the ground vibrated.
Iolas glared at the gremlin, 'Now?! Seriously, we're not trying to make them quit…' He continued to disagree with Votzaak. 'They're not ready-'
Everyone in the circle felt it. The ground shook, and the pebbles hopped like oil in a pan. All the attention was drawn to the outer blackish border of their little test side.
"What is that?" Mercury drew his axes.
"Fairy of Blades! Piercing Spear!" Blade jumped into the air. "Nothing good…"
"TOO ARMS!" Kai shouted out his green hair ruffled because of the magic pulsating in the air.
And not a second later a horde of robot dummies came rushing in screaming from the black border storming the camp hysterically plopping up like daisies.
"RUN!"; "We'll all gonna die!"; "SAVE US!"; "FAIRIES!"
A massive tendril emerged from the shimmery darkness and clawed around a bolder with a cracking noise. The pattern on the tendril looked like tree leaves and mismatched the stone. Another tendril dug into the ground. They had a smooth texture, fluctuating in their colour before they matched the ground and rock.
"Shit," Blade hissed and loaded her spear with magic, "PIERCE!" She didn't wait.
"Camouflage?!" Kitty wide-eyed rushed in as well, "MOVE IT; MUD!" She commanded her Terror Wolf summons.
The spear hit the tendril, which was wrapped around the stone. The rock shattered. The spear pinned the appendage to the ground. Blue soupy blood pooled out. And a deafening screech rang in everyone's ears as the tendrils stretched backwards nonetheless and in the blink of an eye, like a slingshot, a massive wobbly creature shot through the black border and clashed with the flaming Terror Wolf mid-air.
Wide-fletched jaws sunk into the monster and ripped away a piece before a bunch of tendrils grappled the wolf and simply squashed it in one go and the dark magic evaporated.
"No way…." Alyssa couldn't believe her eyes. The Terror Wolf was one of Kitty's biggest and strongest summons. "WILLOW'S GRASP!" She hammered her hands down. Vines spread out burrowing through the earth like fish surfaced just to dig in again.
Yet the monster squished down and jumped higher and higher and higher and … higher.
Alyssa shouted a war cry infusing more magic, "Come on!" She reached it but her grasp on some kind of anemone was short-lived. It was gelatinous and with one spin the anemone freed itself just to clutch the vines itself and slung shot downwards. Now one could easily see its full body before the skin began to adapt to the sky behind it.
"WATCH OUT!" Dean roared readying his phanto-shield. 'How are we to stop this!?'
"SETH!" Dahlia called out to Jewel's brother. Her hands were shaking from the adrenaline.
Seth already had drawn his new Paladin weapon, from Luna Steel, and had gone into position at the border of the rune circle. They had to create cover for all these people, fast. Originally, the students wanted to keep those weapons hidden till the fight test, but this was not the time to hold back. Seth with his golden two-hander hilt at hand activated the blade, shimmering in a bright greenish white, the energy blade filled with magic partials creating the imagery of a sandstorm raging inside. The Red Jade embedded in the pummel lit up. "ARRGH!" Seth went into a spin and a tidal wave of sand built up behind the blade's movement before Seth sent it off.
A wide-spread blanket of sand shot across their triage point.
"WHITE FOG! SOLID FOG!" Nebula raised her hands the two needed more time. But her shield promptly shattered as the anemone clashed with it in its rapid descent, but it got slowed down at least. "Shit." She looked to Dahlia holding her breath.
Dahlia dashed upwards all her magic drawn to her fingertips she hit the sand and pressed against it. "SOLID GROUND!" She infused everything she had. One of the tactics they had tested in their lone-time practices away from the schools.
The sand dome shook as the anemone slammed into it. Fine cracks spread, every dummy that could run scattered to the edges of the barrier and some vanished in its border. Others frozen in place fear and despair written on their face.
Tasu flew up, "Giant Water…" Water swirled up amassing into one huge blob.
"DAHLIA RUN!" Kai shouted out to her. Dahlia was still up there infusing her spell into the sand, hardening it. Yet the sand began to ripple down beside her efforts.
The magic tingled in her fingertips. "No, they need... the-y…" Dahlia's sight blurred as the dome began to crack like eggshells. She gave it her all, blood pumping through her head, adrenaline in her veins. 'One more second, just one more… one more! Just an-' She pleaded with herself. Held on to her spell with all she had, to will herself to hold the line as besides all her exertions a tentacle smashed through the dome. Her purple butterfly wings flickered shortly before she dead-dropped towards the ground and her Winx transformation dissipated.
Julius rushed in with Dean. "Give me a lift!" He jumped onto his shield, threw his boomerang to divert the tentacle off its course and just barely reached Dahlia in time. A cutting gust over his head by the tentacle swing that missed them. Julius wrapped his hands around Dahlia's head and they hit the ground hard and overturned.
"…SPHERE!" The water masses shot straight as an arrow at the anemone. Tasu aimed at the opening in the dome, where it was squeezing through. Her giant ball of wobbling water raging currents inside faster than one might expect raced towards the intruding anemone and splashed all over it. The anemone so far was unimpressed by being splashed, while its skin tried to adapt to the sand dome, which barely held for the moment.
"SNOW!" Mercury called out to the Fairy as he reached back into his belt pouch. 'Do we really have to give up our trump cards? Shit. But…' He felt nervous shaken to the bones. They had trained a lot in Red Fountain for all kinds of situations, but this - This reminded him so much of the Yaorochi accident when Blade had come the first time to their school and they had nearly ended up snake food and that was with an army and teachers in the lead.
Tasu already arms spread wide behind her with two light magic water sickles at the ready shot her arms forward, "Water WAVE!" She slung them at the beast another bull's eye. 'Gotta drench it as much as I can!' She created the next sickles instantly.
Snow breathed in her lungs trembling as she joined her friend's war cry, "SNOW STORM!" A roar of ice and wind tunnelled out. The cone spread wide and hit the anemone freezing the water on its skin, all while more water splashed on it bolstering the effect.
"HIT IT!" Julius and Kai called out to all the boys and girls.
With all they had the students sent a barrage of attacks, all they could muster, at the currently stuck anemone. The frozen tendrils got hit and broke into a million pieces as the main body got scorched and torn to shreds. Huge parts slouched to the ground. Dummies ran trying to escape and that blue slimy blood drenched the ground and whoever wasn't able to evade.
A popping sound. Irritated the students looked around searching for its origin in the aftermath of their magic explosions as Steela wide-eyed screamed, "SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHIIIIIIIIIITTTTT!" Before she got swallowed up by some powdery blue cloud and not a second later fell from the sky with massive blue spots on her skin.
"What in Magix!?" Breeze raised her hands, "Roaring Wind!" She simply wanted to disperse that magic cloud.
"No, wait!" But Misery's warning came too late. "Volcano! Burn the curse spores, quick!"
Volcano just caught her breath, "Seriously!?" She flared up more magic, but she had wasted so much on cauterizing wounds and attacking that giant slouch. Her legs were shaking in exhaustion. "Heat Wave!"
"Ignite!" Amber joined her. Their spells lit up the sky as with a flour-dust explosion the scattered spores were set ablaze. A taint of red against the sand dome under the stress of being frozen and heated and generally bombarded gave completely in.
Dusk gulped up in the air, "Oh no…" She flared up her magic looking down she knew the dome that had just saved them would be their doom now or rather a toom for anyone not fast enough to find solid cover, "Shadow binds!"
"Willow's grasp!"; "Swirling chakrams!"; "SHIT!"; "Get the people out of the way!"; "Water Barrier!", "Ice Wall!"; "Remedy!"; "Solid FOG!"
It was calamitous as besides their efforts it wasn't enough, they had nothing as far spread as Seth's sand attack and he had not enough magic left to do another not to mention with Dahlia unconscious no one to solidify it. Dumps of sand smashed to the ground and into the quarantine houses like an asteroid shower and they all were stuck beneath. And on top of that, the ripped-to-pieces anemone came crashing down on them as well. Slough, frozen parts, hot burning junks…
In the face of this calamity, Polarissa with a wide stand sent a shock wave of magic out, "Gravity Reverse!" Her voice trembled so did her hands and body. It was a weird feeling as everything started to vibrate or rather the air above them all as something like a force field though more like an area effect fanned out.
The boulders rained down and hit Polarissa's spell's edges like raindrops on an umbrella and rolled off to the sides. Still, the ground shook when they hit the grass on the sides. Dust clouds of sand obscured everyone's sight. No one could see each other. One could hear the anguish growing from all around. Dummies stopped in their tracks angrily shouting, while others moaned on the ground, coughing. One could only guess how bad the anarchy was hidden in the sand haze.
"YEAH! GIRL!" Kitty rejoiced from inside the settling dust. "You rock!"
Polarissa let her arms hang out of breath, "Of course, I do…" She answered trying to pinpoint the Sorceress.
"Ahh, shitty sand…first stupid robots, then this damned curses and now that ugly ass slime-face?! Really…urgh!" Breeze nagged and with one blow the sand got pushed to the sides by a blast of wind.
Dean waved his hands before his face to get the dust away and spotted Polarissa. "Your nose!" Dean looked shocked at the Sorceress. "Are you alright?" He rushed over.
Polarissa coughed hard. "Of course! I'm not some-" Still, she was more than just a bit woozy.
Julius looked up from Steela sand tripled down his cloak as he straightened up, "Sit down before you smack your head." He ordered Polarissa firmly and let Dean handle it. "Keith can you, oh, shit…" Only now he noticed the extent of their little skirmish…
Keith stood there frozen, just staring. He looked at all the devastation while the rest of the students was more or less simply happy that they were fine and unharmed. But Keith saw the chaos. More injured dummies, with lacerations and whatnot. Buried ones were only detectable through their muffled screams. Worst off all when the dust settled and one looked beyond the dummies in front of oneself the damage to the quarantine buildings was obvious. "Shit…" He wanted to move but where to first? Before they already had lost a third of their team. But now they had spent most of their magic as well it was equal to losing more than half of the team within one minute, just one attack, just one. They would lose dozens of patients and more skull signs were already displaying all around him. 'What am I- Shit! Fuck! How – we. Damn it!' The damage was beyond what he had expected. They were safe from a monster and yet this was more distressing than when they had started off the test. The quarantine house with Lion and Rise inside was wide open, with a collapsed wall. Another one was drenched in slouch from the anemone's body parts softening the makeshift earth house. People crying out in pain…
The boys got a grip first as they located the screaming of some dummies stuck beneath piles of sand next to them. Julius shook his head, "Seth, Mercury, get them out of there!" His eyes wandered Polarissa didn't look good at all, neither did Snow, she was exhausted.
Snow pulled on Alyssa at her purple hoody, "Quick we need to get those quarantines fixed!" Snow squeaked in surprise as they reached the broken wall of Lion's quarantine house. Slime everywhere. Most blue spots were gone though, but there was a layer of that white sticky stuff all over each patient and Rise, Lion, Max, and Birdy. High as their ankles. All of them were unmoving. "KEITH!"
"KEITH! Over here!"; "KEITH, shit, what-!"; "KEITH!", "KEITH!..."; "KEITH!"; "KEITH!"; "KEEEIIIITTHHH!"
Yet the young Specialist didn't move an inch. He couldn't grasp it. All those distraught faces, all that pain… He didn't see robots any longer – just people.
Zhoron looked to Iolas, 'That boy is shutting down. That's too much.' He stated strongly the urge to jump in, and help. 'Grandmaster Votzaak, this isn't funny anymore,' he ground his teeth and a razor-sharp glare at that little menace.
'No, it's not funny,' Iolas stepped in before the gremlin could answer. 'That's the tragedy of life. He is safe. They all are, there are no lives on the line here. This is a test. Give him the chance to get a grip. It wasn't much different for us when we saw such a scene for the first time.' He calmed his youngest team member. 'Nothing can quite prepare oneself for that.'
Votzaak said nothing, his chipper retorts had vanished to a keen eye on the scene. He was analysing everyone at once darting eyes from one student to the next. Most had never seen him with such an intense stare. He truly didn't do it for the giggles even if he enjoyed riling up the grown-ups beforehand just a tiny bit. NOW, he was searching for answers to his questions.
Palladium had been ready to unleash a thunderstorm of rage upon the Grandmaster. Yet was a bit perplexed to see the Grandmaster like that. He was always one to joke around as many of the Hunter Division, but it was more than clear to him now this had a purpose and it wasn't for amusement at all. 'But-' Palladium still wanted to side with Zhoron.
'But nothing. Professor,' Virion stated firmly to the surprise of the Professors and Zhoron. 'He wants to be a field medic as dire as this looks, this isn't half as bad as the stuff some of us have seen over the centuries. He needs to understand this now. Too many leave that track cause they think it's all about bruises and plaster. If he really wants to go down this path and be a field medic, it's not a job out of convenience for a team; it's a job because of necessity. THIS is unavoidable in life. If he can't manage this in training, he will have a truly hard time forgiving himself if it becomes a reality. The lives that will be lost because one was inadequate to deal with the situation are the hardest to let go.' He sounded so sincere and harsh at the same time. A veteran healer.
'They are students not trained soldiers, yet,' Codatorta clenched his fists. 'I get the test, but, this will crush them.' He knew they were right, but he wasn't sure if the boys were ready. Their combat drills and runner missions didn't cover such intense situations or the mental load that came with it. Schools were to train people, but…
'Exactly,' Votzaak answered shortly still focused on one student after another before he elaborated, 'And that's the problem with your kindergarten schools. YOU never have to deal with such tests. YOU make it easy on yourselves and leave US the work.' Grandmaster of the Black Magic Division Hunter interrupted dryly. He had done this a million times and knew exactly what to look for.
'That's not remotely true, though, most won't even see such horrors even if in an entire lifetime,' Avalon wanted to argue.
But Sanari Cei already shook his head at his argument, 'White Jade test differently and also other aspects, Curate Avalon.' He reminded him kindly. 'This is a frontline test. Not aftermath, or support, or cleansing in a secure location.'
Itzcali so far had never said a thing simply stood there pretending to do nothing, 'That's the simplest broken-down version of your test for evaluating aspirants for your Order?' She asked Votzaak intrigued. He nodded. 'Interesting… I gladly take a look at your instruction notes. I think ours needs an update. We're too easy on ours.' She agreed and found this informative and helpful for any of their Head Hunter trials.
'Both views are right. Problem is that as elite as your two schools are you have a lot of Nobles who don't need this training until they actually do. That's the root of the problem,' Master Aithlin sighed deeply, 'It be devastating for the average noble or prince and way beyond their capabilities. That's what the generals of their armies are for and trained personnel. But at the end of the day, nobody knows what one will face in life. The horrors or lack thereof off. If nobles end up in such a mess, MOST are utterly useless. Or worse, make horrible mistakes, just look at Desertia, most soldiers and army personnel survived if they weren't overrun, while the noble houses' losses were extensive or they were utterly whipped out. We didn't print it but that's the sad reality.' He paused thinking, 'Not to mention that THESE kids will run towards disaster not away. If we're not thorough now, they'll get themselves killed one of these days. Just look at Blade, Nebula or the Crown Princess… they already know the horrors, they keep their head in the game.'
It was undeniable. Blade, Tasu and Nebula took over straight away. The boys might have been the ones to move first, but they were headless chickens unable to prioritise. Yet those three, left everything on the side, which couldn't be helped right now, focused on those still reachable. Those they could help. Ordering the others around. Snow quickly at the behest of Nebula enclosed the quarantines with ice to re-establish the quarantines quickly together with her, but Snow was spent afterwards.
Blade grabbed Amber and Volcano, who were on their last breaths and tackled the anemone-blood, slime and spores that had fallen to the ground or spread.
Tasu on the other hand left Keith standing as he was out of it and simply took over his position. She wasn't anywhere as good as him in healing, but she got order back into the camp, rather quickly with the help of the still-standing Sorceresses and Specialists, well, as much order as was possible.
"All people to the right! We need to purge the ground now! You, Sir, help carry. You, mam, get the kids, NOW. Dear, not now, just go with the nice Lady, okay? …" With a strong tone, Tasu simply took charge of the dummies and sent the kid with a woman. "Julius, to the right all minor lacerations, let them check themselves. Others to the left."
"Right," Julius nodded a bit relieved. "Everyone make sure you got the cards ready. We got to get a handle on this!" He found his focus again.
Tasu pointed out the people easily reachable, which still needed to be cared for and the rest of the boys could handle, while she had to decide on whom she would use the tiny rest of her magic to save their lives. 'Shit, too many…' She could feel her hands tremble, this wasn't a decision she was keen to make. Yet she saw this still as a test and not reality. Her mind was focused on how to get the best grade out of this yet, so they all wouldn't fail this test.
Nebula had a hard time as she tried to establish who just been infected by the spores or slime, which was a tall task in itself. People ran around, left, and didn't stay in designated areas. "KEITH, stop dreaming. Help me, I need you to…" She simply dragged him along to get him out of his daze, yet relieved him of decision-making. 'Okay, so blue spots were because of anemone spores… so that's air born…Damn it, we wasted so much magic for nothing. Shit.'