Private/Closed The Oscillation: Fractured Skies (RP Thread)

[~Patriot~]

"You seem to be compensating pretty well considering how drastic your change was," Marcus replied in hopes of consoling his once again scaly acquaintance. "And I can think of something worse." The angel's thoughts flashed back to the talk of Zola's meltdown. "Getting called crazy when you were right about everything." Everything that I heard she had said came to fruition...so what about anything I didn't hear about? Marcus preferred to be ahead of the curve, and right now he was uncomfortably behind it. His wings twitched anxiously, and a slight feeling of dread began to take root in his subconscious.

The feeling was exacerbated by the passing presence of the black dragon, Kirin. The sparks shooting off of the boy made the hair on Marcus' body stand straight up, but there was something more about the dragon that seemed to put him on edge. It's like when we'd show up to a meet and size up the other teams, the angel pondered as Kirin dropped a teasing comment about Orm's lack of appendages, As if something in me considers him a threat, or maybe a rival? Either way, the guy's a bit of an asshole.

Marcus watched Kirin make his way through the conveniently parting crowd to another group of transformed students. From what Marcus could see there was a girl with feline features, a guy wearing some sort of Asian-looking robes, and some poor sap that got hit with the short end of the ugly Oscillation stick all deep in conversation. Kirin produced a sheet of paper from his pocket and handed it to the cat-girl, but that was all Marcus caught before the crowd closed around them again. They might know something I don't, the senior reasoned, and if that's the case I need to get over there now.

Marcus turned to voice his concerns to Orm when he witnessed possibly the strangest interaction he'd ever seen with his own two eyes. The white haired girl, apparently lost in thought, had tripped over Orm's tail and fell straight forward. On its own this would be a perfectly reasonable turn of events given the fact that until twenty minutes ago there was no need to watch for large serpentine tails as one walked, but when the girl got up she seemed...annoyed? The girl managed to force out an apology as she picked herself up, but her tone was incredibly curt. It's like she's pissed off even though she's the one who stepped on him, Marcus thought as he shot Orm a quick "What the hell is this chick's problem?" glance.

If he had been taken aback by the girl's behavior towards Orm, Marcus was completely dumbfounded when she rounded on and greeted him with a downright chipper tone that in no way matched her previously dour disposition. Still a little stunned, Marcus replied with a short, "Hi, Marcus Kosika," as he extended a hand to her.

 

[kyuukestu]

"Freeze...?" Catherine's ears twitched.

The mutters of boy and the subtle crunch of frost stood out to her among the crowd. She couldn't see where he was, the crowd was too thick for that, but she noted down a possible ice-user to seek out afterward. For now, the problems at hand.

"How do you suppose we do that?" Catherine looked askance at Jonah. His evacuation plan was good; but, the logistics... "Maybe we could talk to some of the teachers. They might be willing to listen to us since we have Zola's letters and Zola's been right so far."

The cat-girl shrugged. She felt the the most direct option was also a pretty good one.

"How about we split up? Jonah and I will talk to the teachers while Kirin and—" BOOOOOOoooom!


Catherine's attention snapped away from the group, the drone of an explosion ringing from the school's front gates. A minor panic erupted on the field: screams and gasps filled the air, the student body frothed uneasily. All at once, every student's attention had been drawn to the direction of the school's front yard. From their location—the school's rear field—the only indicator of the sudden explosion was the billow of smoke that rose into the air.

"Uhhhhh...I think we're too late."

Hackles raised, the girl's ears and tails seemed to puff up slightly. Catherine half expected to see a bunch of hoodlums and ruffians burst onto the field, totting an assortment of knives and guns, steel pipes and Molotov cocktails. Instead, what appeared before them was downright mystifying. Quite literally.

A thick mist roiled across the field, surrounding the students in a matter of seconds. Through the mystifying fog, Catherine could make out several small, glowing orbs—like flickers of candle-light—which danced in the mist. The Nekomata watched them, noting that there was something...odd about them. The balls of fire seemed almost...ghostly.

The sound of footsteps pulled her gaze away from the wisps of fire and instead to the visage of an—admittedly quite handsome—man, with an amicable smile. His voice was carried a compelling magnetism to it, smooth like milky chocolate and exceedingly pleasing to the ear; but, his words were anything but...


"Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen. My name is...it doesn't matter; but, what does matter, is that you are all going to become precious benefactors who'll secure me and my lads a life in the lap of wealth and luxury! I'm going to have to take you hostage for just a bit, but don't worry, if I get what I want then no one has to get hurt. Don't do anything stupid, I wouldn't want to have to get...nasty."

The man reached into his pocket, casually flaunting what Catherine recognized as a small hand-gun. He waved it around a bit, just for emphasis, before smoothly tucking it back into his pocket. Now complete with his 'speech', the man once again flashed an ingratiating smile.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance."

 

[DarkHydraT]

"It's bullshit, don't recommend it." Orm spat at Kirin, clearly annoyed at his situation. As Marcus gave his two cents about the whole situation and a worse fate, the boy thought about Zola. The person that got accused for taking drugs by those freshmen and the one who predicted this whole thing. "It's a bit sad, no? She predicted that we'd transform, but she couldn't predict that she'd be sent home." Just as he was about to chuckle despite the circumstances, an unpleasant feeling ran over his entire body. Someone had touched his tail and it did not feel good in the slightest. Twisting his body to see who touched him without asking, his eyes locked onto a girl he'd never seen before. He didn't know her, but the anger and resentment he felt was as if he'd been wronged horribly by her in the past. The junior was no stranger to these emotions, but this amount and intensity was unlike anything he'd felt before. The serpent wasn't above holding grudges, but the girl didn't do anything inheritently wrong to him. If anything, it was merely amusing that she missed the giant snake in the field.


"Orm Skau. Don't make that a habit." Orm replied in the same tone as the girl talked to him, the hostility in the air was astounding and would be explainable if he could place the damn girl. She seemed familiar as in that cousin twice removed you were forced to talk to at a family meeting, but that would not explain the seething rage swirling behind his eyes. Orm was staring so intently at the girl that he didn't even notice Marcus trying to make eye contact. Something deep inside of him wanted to tear her apart before something happened, but what could she even do aside from trip over his tail? It just didn't add up.

An explosion made Orm break his gaze as he reared his head up to look around. "We've got company, and plenty of that. This day just keeps on getting worse and worse."

 

[Red Gallade]

Adrian was surprised by the sudden turn of events, first he and his schoolmates transformed from humans in to creatures only heard about in myths and legends, next was a sudden loud explosion from somewhere followed by a group of unknown gang members who seemed to take the school hostage, but why them? Was it ransom? Was it just to torment him? Many questions flooded the vampire's mind as he silently joined the other students as to not cause any more trouble than they were already in, although seeing so many people with the audacity to harm or take advantage of innocent people disgusted him, he wanted to attack them, to scare them off, but he didn't have much knowledge behind his own power and knew that he couldn't do much on his own.

 

[sSoul]

Jonah ruminated on Catherine's question for a while, since he hadn't put much thought into how they were to evacuate the student body. Hearing her suggestion of bringing the teachers into the plan was admittedly promising, but before any conclusive action could be made, the high schoolers' conversation was cut short by an explosion.

Well that can't be good...

Like the rest of the student body, Jonah turned his gaze to the front yard in hopes to get a glimpse at the source of the explosion. As he was doing this, a supernatural fog slithered its way onto the rear field, partially obscuring Jonah's vision. Given the explosion followed by the strange steam, Jonah became suspicious and pulled out his phone to dial 911. In the midst of the fog, a handsome and charming man had began to make a speech about how he and his associates would be taking them hostage to secure money, confirming Jonah's suspicions of them being the thugs that Zola had prophesized about. Without wasting anymore hesitation, the transformed senior went to his phone, which he had already dialed 911 into, and called the emergency number.

"911, what's your emergency?" An operator asked Jonah in a calming tone.

"Hello, I need to speak with the police department." Jonah responded hastily to avoid being noticed by the new arrival.

"Could you hold for a couple of minutes? The department is getting a lot of calls right now." The operator asked gently as they could hear the haste in Jonah's tone.

"I don't really have much of a choice..." The high schooler looked around to see a few of the other students calling people on their phone, causing him to connect 2 and 2.

God. Fucking. Dammit!

 

[Sky_]

Alex frowned. "Terrible ordeal? If you're Raphael, you sure that's not just, like, something Raphael and Gabriel had to deal with a thousand years ago or something? Either way, guess it's good to be on your guard. I don't know what the principle was thinking putting that many students together in the field if they all ended up like us, but I can't imagine it ending well." Alex assumed the 'ordeal' would most likely be the result of a student transforming into some nuclear monster or something along the lines, but anything could happen.

Hearing footsteps near the door to the cafeteria, Alex's feathers rustled as he felt a buzzing near the back of his neck. He twisted round in surprise at hearing a voice, then had to resist taking a step back at seeing its owner.

'Kirin', as he introduced himself, had a wingspan that came close to rivaling his. However, Alex's wings didn't look like they'd been plugged into a power socket, and he hoped Kirin had at least some handle on them. Regardless, he's prefer to keep an eye on him and his club-like tail.

Stepping outside, Alex had accustomed to weirdness enough that he barely flinched when the angry-sounding white cat contorted and grew back into the serpentine junior. However, at this point his focus was placed solely on the angel, who after muttering something about a hoodie with a shiver, made a somewhat lopsided attempt at flight, and managed to keep himself in the air for a while. Though Alex didn't know why he was complaining about the cold; he felt just fine in his T-Shirt, he was interested to see how well he could fly with his newfound wings. The majority of the other people on the field seemed preoccupied with some piece of paper or discussing among themselves, so he felt safe in assuming he wouldn't draw too much attention.

Doing his best to suppress a snicker at seeing the girl he's seen in the cafeteria trip over Orm's tail, Alex walked a short distance away, before stretching stretching his wings out to their full length and giving them an experimental beat in the air. The air felt heavy as he pushed against it, and Alex felt himself pulled up slightly. Right, this doesn't seem too bad. Let's just...

However, as Alex was steeling himself to make his first real flight, his head suddenly snapped to the front gate at hearing the ringing of an explosion, and a billow of smoke. Quickly making a sprint back to the small party of snake, angel and white-jaired girl, Alex turned towards Marcus and asked,

"Hey- you have any idea the fuck that was?" However, before Marcus could get an answer in, a thick mist swept across the field, enveloping Alex and the students. Panicked, Alex looked around wildly, before seeing the outline of Orm a few paces away, illuminated in a gentle... Red glow?

Alex spun around, hoping to catch the source of the light, before making the startling realisation that the light was coming from him. Though it wasn't strong, combined with his new extra strong eyesight it was enough to see by. Thinking fast, he unfurled his wings and began beating at the air and before long he's cleared the area around him of the oppressive fog. However, Alex could hear a voice coming from the group of students he'd last seen around the front gates, and it sure as hell didn't sound like any student he'd ever heard, not did he recognise it as a teacher's.

He only heard a few snippets of words-"life of luxury.. no one has to get hurt," but that was more than enough for Alex to want to check it out himself. Under normal circumstances, maybe, Alex would have given it a second thought, but even he was surprised by the lack of resistance he felt at running straight towards the voice.

As he got closer he could see small, glowing lights glimmering from within the fog, though whether they were the doing of this new adult or a student. As he reached the edges of the crowd he pulled his wings close to his body and pushed through the crowd of students to face a tall, handsome looking man wielding a handgun. However, instead of turning tail and running, (Alex suspected this may have been due to his new form), his first instinct was to let out a surprised "Huh."

 

[kyuukestu]

The students reeled from their abrupt bondage, but the gang leader hardly cared. Pulling out a small handkerchief from his pocket, he lovingly wiped down the muzzle of his good, appearing to take some time to admire his reflection in its slick, reflective surface. The students began to murmur. It was only one guy, yes; but, the gun was very intimidating. Maybe they could swarm and overwhelm him, but who wanted to get shot for the greater good? A few teacher's seemed to consider that very course of action, but their hesitation was clear.

It wouldn't matter either way though, the gang leader had no intention of giving them much choice. He could see a few students whipping out their phones, presumably to call the authorities; but, that was exactly what he wanted. Once the police had arrived he could begin negotiations.

While the boys in blue took their time, the savvy shepherd decided to corral his cattle.

"Alright boys, round 'em up!"

The shuffle of feet could be heard as other members of the gang seemed to magically appear through the fog. Evidently the mystifying weather had been cover for their movements, and they had surrounded the students at this point. A swift count would reveal the gang had just shy of 70 members, to their quarry of near 500 students and a nearly 50 members of staff.

"I'm not a savage, so I won't stop you from continuing on with your day. You have a right to an education after all; so you'll return to your classes."

Though it was spoken in a 'merciful' tone, the gun's pointed at the students clearly implied that it was an order. It was a simple strategy, divide and conquer. The students and teachers would be functionally imprisoned in their classrooms, where 2-3 members of the gang, armed with guns would watch them from the hallway.

"Get moving kiddos!"

 

[Sky_]

Alex's mind was reeling from the sheer quantity of things happening at once. The fog wasn't to hide them, it was to hide a whole swarm of what Alex could only assume were gang members, judging by the uniformity in their dress and the guns in their hands. The man with the gun started throwing out orders, making a semi-sarcastic remark about 'continuing their education', but Alex had stopped listening by then. He'd already made up his mind: be anywhere else but here. He felt cooped up, surrounded by gunmen and students crowding him, and fight or flight quickly kicked in.

Against a small army he'd have no chance at a fight, so Alex chose flight. "Yeah, sorry mate, I think I'm gonna dodge this class for today," he muttered to himself, before he drew his wings out to their length, pushing away the students around him, and jumped into the air. "Not the most ideal time for a test flight- let's just hope this works."

After the first flap of his wings, some deep-rooted instinct kicked in and Alex pushed himself upwards, climbing skyward. Of course, he was running on nothing but instinct and adrenaline at this point, and instinct hadn't evolved to deal with guns. Heart racing, Alex glanced down to see at least ten of the gunmen's fingers moving what he recognised as the safety off, and Alex could even see the orange glow of his wings in the reflection of their gun barrels as they pointed towards him.

Panic was replaced with a tense, focused calm; all Alex wanted was to not have those bullets hit him. He realised that for the first time since his transformation he actually felt warm, and as he soared further into the air he felt a dull impact upon one of his wings, as if somebody had thrown a rubber ball at him. Then more. Then a small hail of what Alex figured out were bullets, and as he flex higher, he saw small licks of fire trailing around his wingtips.

"How?" Was all Alex could think, somewhere in the crevasse of his mind not decicated to screaming about being shot or getting as far away from that field as possible. But, of course, he already knew the answer in his mind.

Passive/Active ability: Flame Body

Alex couldn't help but crack a grin at his good fortune, though maybe that was just the excitement of everything making him slightly manic. It's not exactly like anything happening was funny, it was all just so surreal to him. He felt he'd reached a reasonable height at just above the top floor of the school building and levelled out, making note of the tiny adjustments his wings made to keep him going forwards steadily, and fast. As he looked down, he was still slightly amazed by the ease with which he could pick out everyone's faces, whether it be thug or students. However, at this point his gaze was fixed primarily on the man with the handgun

 

[kyuukestu]

The Phoenix's sudden flight had startled many members of the gang but a call from their leader soon steadied them and they ceased shooting. Despite the 'escape' of one of the students, the gang leader still held a non-plussed smile.

As Alex soared, the Mists begun to shift, obscuring him from view. The wisps within the mist seemed to dance with additional vigor, and mere seconds after Alex had left, sounds of shattered glass and a faint crash could be heard...

The gang leader chuckled lightly and then stepped aside, offering the students a free path into the mist beyond.

"Would anyone else like to try?"

~~~~~

The world of illusions faded around the Phoenix, revealing that he'd not flown quite as high as he'd thought and what lay before him had not been open sky but one of the school's many classroom windows. His entrance had shattered the window to bits; and, droplets of molten glass painted his landing zone. Luckily for him, the desks had 'cushioned' his fall.

"Wow! That looked like it hurt!"

A tingle of laughter filled the classroom as a fair-skinned woman floated through the hole Alex had created. Her hair danced with wisp, willowy flames, and her body appeared, at once, both ethereal and solid. She alighted on one of the desks, crossing her strikingly beautiful legs as she sat.

 

[~Patriot~]

Marcus dropped his hand when he heard an explosion come from the front gate, whipping his head around to watch the column of smoke waft up into the air as his heart began pumping harder. He barely even registered Orm's comment about incoming company or Alex's question, too busy analyzing the situation as his newly-enhanced eyes began catching on to a slowly encroaching mist. What the hell is this, he thought as the mist slowly weaved its way around and into the group of gathered students, The forecast didn't call for fog and there's way too much for this to be from smoke bombs.

The angel's sharp eyes caught sight of a blue light flickering within the mist, then another, until his attention was pulled away when he saw the first gang member step into the mist. "Oh shit," Marcus said aloud as he watched several dozen men and women all armed in one way or another begin to make their way across the field. "You're right about the company, Orm." The angel was surprised as how casually they approached the group, with most of them not even having their weapons raised. Do they think we can't see them? He thought rhetorically. Marcus looked at the students around him to see their reactions, but they were all just staring into the mist as if they didn't know there was a small army of heavily armed individuals a stone's throw away. He looked up at Orm and even he wasn't reacting even though he would have had a better view than him.

Marcus barely had time to think through his apparently exclusive status as a witness to their doom when one of the men stepped out of the mist away from the rest of the group. With a start the angel realized that he'd been so invested in watching the events unfold that he didn't even comprehend their implications until the man began to speak.

"Good Afternoon ladies and gentlemen-"
Heed my warning. Marcus' heart began to beat harder in his chest.
"-what does matter, is that you are all going to become precious benefactors who'll secure me and my lads a life in the lap of wealth-"
The trial draws near. Subconsciously, Marcus began to nervously flap his wings.
"-I'm going to have to take you hostage for just a bit, but don't worry, if I get what I want then no one has to get hurt. Don't do anything stupid, I wouldn't want to have to get...nasty."
Don't let yourself or your allies die in the coming struggle. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, and the blood began to roar in his ears.
"-Pleased to make your acquaintance."
Don't let yourself die in the coming struggle. His legs began to shake, aching to fight, to run, to do anything besides stand there stupefied. He was vaguely aware that Alex must have had the same feeling, given the heat quickly departing from the air.
"Alright boys, round 'em up!"
Don't let your allies die in the coming struggle. Gabriel's voice resonated from within the core of Marcus' psyche, ripping him out of his hyper focused state and redirecting him to the big picture. As the rest of the gang members emerged from the mist, panic began to set in among his classmates. So they definitely couldn't see them before, he realized. But I could.

The gang's numbers barely scratched an eighth of the student body's by Marcus' calculations, but the rest of the students knew just as well as him the kind of damage even one of the armed gang members could do. They won't all fight back, he concluded. But will any run? The angel got his answer a moment later when Alex, now at the front of the student body, shot up into the air in a brilliant display of fire and flame. "Fuck," Marcus cursed, gritting his teeth and planting his feet. His tracked Alex with his enhanced eyes, watching as the bullets sent his way by the gang melted before they even reached him. For a moment it seemed as though Alex would get away until he diverted course almost immediately after entering the mist that had gathered above them, and Marcus stifled a gasp as the Phoenix crashed straight through one of the upper-floor school windows.

"Don't let your allies die in the coming struggle," Marcus echoed through gritted teeth. The angel spread his wings out to their fullest extent, knocking a few students over in the process, then pointed them straight up into the air as he instinctually bent his knees slightly and leaned forward. Marcus put all of his strength into a single flap of his wings, propelling himself straight up into the air high enough to nearly breach the mist. The angel caught sight of a few gang members aiming their guns at him, but Marcus figured that if they managed to hit him he could heal the bullet hole. Marcus flapped twice more, gaining more and more altitude, but when he braced himself against what he figured would be a chill from the mist he found that there was...nothing to brace against.

Brushing the discovery aside, Marcus spread his wings to catch the air in order to glide towards the window that Alex had smashed through. Hopefully they aren't already in the school, he thought with a brief feeling of reservation, but he quickly concluded that even if there were gang members in the school that would just mean Alex needed backup even more. I'm sure the rest of the crew can handle themselves.

Approaching the window fast, Marcus tried a maneuver he'd seen a winged superhero use in a movie and leaned back so that he was essentially standing up but leaning slightly back mid-air with his wings unfurled. The move worked and Marcus slowed down enough that he was able to plant his feet on the bottom of the broken window sill and grab on to the top. "Alex?!" Marcus called out as he alighted, only to realize that Alex was in the room all right, just not alone. A woman with flaming hair the same color as the lights outside was sat on top of a desk, and Marcus would be kidding himself if he said she didn't strike a beautiful figure. Is she the one who made the mist?

 

[kyuukestu]

"You can see?"

Rather than Marcus' abrupt appearance, the Ignis Fatus was more surprised that the boy had effortlessly navigated her illusions. Her lips pressed into a line as she pushed herself off the desk and floated freely amidst the scattered desks. A ghastly fire-ball sparked to life in her hand and, expression serious, she leveled her gaze at the angel.

"I don't want to hurt you, don't force me."

~~~

"Mmmh, yes. Charming."

As another of the winged students took off to the skies, appearing to test their luck in the Mist, the gang leader seemed to have finally run out of patience. With a gun in one hand, a coil of golden chains manifested in his other hand. He cracked the chains in the air like a whip and the sound caused some of the more timid students to whimper.

"Would anyone else like to abandon their friends? Well, you can do it on the way to your classrooms. Get moving!"

With that snappy line, the members of the gang closed in, their guns ushering the students forward.

 

[~Patriot~]

"You referring to the mist outside?" Marcus asked, gesturing behind him while maintaining eye contact. Alex couldn't see through it, he realized, glancing down at the stunned Phoenix from his windowsill perch. What did he see that he was tricked into smashing through a window? "I don't know what it was supposed to do, but if it's anything like what happened to him-" Marcus pointed at Alex. "-Then it seems like I don't need to force you to hurt anybody. You and your gang are already doing it." The angel practically growled the last sentence.

What's her ability? Fireballs? Marcus crouched down on the windowsill in such a way that he gave himself more room to use his wings without expressly choreographing this intention. If that's what it is, I still don't know how fast they travel. She could hit me with several by the time I even reach her. "Why are you doing this?" Marcus asked in a more neutral tone, still maintaining the eye contact. "Your boss -I figure that was your boss out there- said something about us becoming his...what did he say?...precious benefactors! He said we were going to become his precious benefactors to secure y'all a life of wealth and luxury." Marcus leveled his gaze with the ghostly woman's. "How?"

I won't be able to stall her forever, the angel thought as he waited for the woman's response, And I don't know if I can even take her in a fight.

 

[Clite of Dragonbow]

Sudden fog... Sudden attack... It already began...
When Tommy found Sam and was about to tell her his discovery, the school got attacked. Seems they won't attack neither him or his friend as long as they listen, but he was really mad that he didn't manage to tell Sam on time... Well, gotta think about it later.

He suddenly saw Alex leaving into the fog and was about to yell for that boy back, worried that he may get killed, but a Titmouse landed on his shoulder and chirped.
"Milord! Please don't do this! There is more of them than you think.. If it wasn't like that you don't know your powers then I wouldn't be against of you fighting, but you don't know anything! Just stop!"

Tommy's mind procceded slowly, he didn't saw Marcus following Alex as he looked at the bird now... That spoke to him.

Passive skill-" Nature comunication" , part of the Crustel skill "King of Nature"

Tommy grabbed his head as sudden voice, like a whisper hit his head.. He had more questions.. What "King of Nature" means, what does give to him...
Another two skills names appeard in his head.

Forest ruler (manipulation Animals and Plants by magic)
Teleportation (only in forest)

Those names didn't tell him as much as he wanted, but he felt that those things may be a thing... Teleportation was really situational, but didn't seem like bad ability... But he couldn't use it now...
Nature manipulation.. He could use it to protect Students and Sam if he knew how to use it... How to use magic of his skill...

He saw a chain in the gang leader hand, he was about to hurt them if they didn't listen.
"Let's follow to class for now..." whispered Tommy to Sam. "Better if we don't get others hurt anymore by sudden actions"

 

[DarkHydraT]

Orm looked around, chuckling as he heard the breaking of glass after Alex got caught in the fog. Sure, it was weird to see but he felt a sick sense of satisfaction knowing that the paper tosser got hurt. Marcus flew away soon after, leaving the snake and the girl alone after they clearly showed their distast for each other. "This is some sick shit, why does he have a chain?" The junior muttered, not feeling like giving the gang leader the desire to show him be in fear. He always had been prideful, but it seemed to have been amplified by eleven ever since transforming into the giant snake that he is. Attempting to make eye contact, Orm glared at the person responsible for this situation. "Hey, mister genius! Yeah, you with the golden chains. I don't know if you lost eye sight for that fancy jewellry, but I clearly can't fit through the fucking door! Does your genius plan have any solutions for that or are you just going to have me bash through walls until I enter a classroom? Come on Chain Man, don't have all day!" The drop-out was clearly seething with hatred and was practically hissing at the criminal, not noticing that his tail swayed left and right, hitting Sarah totally on accident.

 

[<Inkscape>]

As soon as he heard the explosion, a head-splitting headache immediately washed over Kirin, which caused him to fall to his knees and yell out in pain. His sight got dim and fuzzy, with everything becoming unfocused. He could barely hear anything anymore, it felt like he had gotten flash-banged point-blank. He grabbed his head, trying to cope with the over-stimulus, but to no avail. He unconsciously put away his wings and tail, possibly a survival instinct, or his senses being scrambled.. He couldn't mull on that, because of the mental pain he was experiencing.
wha.... what in the hell?
He tried to signal to someone, anyone, but he couldn't manage to reach them. He tried to stand up, but he could barely move his arms.
Time seemed to dilate. Everything around him slowed down.
He called out, trying to get any sort of help, starting to hyperventilate, his mind panicking. racing. Trying to do anything. The pain was unbearable, barely able to choke in any sort of air.

Calm down, Child of Bahamut.
Kirin looked up, but couldn't place the voice. the voice felt familiar, safe even.
wh-where am i? wha-whats even happening- i can'ttt bear the-
the last thing he could see was someone standing over him.
someone who looked alot like himself, with violet eyes that seemed to gaze into the inner of his soul.
He fell over, fully unconscious, time seeming to resume as he fell.

 

[sSoul]

After several minutes of waiting on hold, Jonah finally managed to get in touch with a police officer. After sighing due to exasperation, the high schooler proceeded to inform the officer about their situation.

"Hello Officer, I'd like to report something." Jonah whispered audibly enough for just the officer to hear in hopes of keeping the thug unaware of the plan.

"Lemme guess, it's something bout the explosion at Zenobia High?" The officer sounded disinterested, as if he had heard the story before.

"Yeah, how'd you-" Before Jonah could finish his question, the officer on the line cut him off.

"Other students called earlier. They said something about a strange fog covering the field and an armed man walking out of the fog with the intent to take all of you hostage. Don't worry though, we're making preparations based on what we know now and we intend to gather more information independently. Until we get there though, just cooperate with the gang members." After saying that, the cop hung up, much to Jonah's frustration. Then again, with the reveal of the true magnitude of the gang's membership, the disappearance of two winged students into the magical fog, and the leader's dwindling patience, temporary cooperation suddenly became a favorable option. With no other options left, Jonah walked up to Catherine to state what he had heard.

"The police are on their way, but until they get here we gotta bide our time and cooperate with the gang," The senior whispered to avoid drawing the whip-lashing, gun-toting gangster's ire, his somber tone masked by the quietness of his voice, "I don't like it either but we don't have any other options at the moment." After delivering his warning, Jonah soon joined the growing crowd of students being ushered into their classrooms.

We were so close...if only we had more time...

 

[Sky_]

"That's-ow-a pretty good question," Alex winced, as he clambered to his feet. "Why are you doing this?"
He did his best to hold his composure, but he was beyond confused. What just happened? He'd been flying- flying! Free! Then he'd hit something in the middle of the sky... no, it didn't appear out of nowhere, he flew into a window, except he was too high to...

Alex didn't dwell on it for too long. Whatever this strange new women did, it'd fucked with his head. Some sort of illusion? He didn't know, but at least he'd hit a window instead. He saw shards of glass around him, the ones that had come too close to his prone form liquid on the classroom floor. Of course, he hadn't missed Marcus, and it was a comfort that somebody else in the room could help him, though he felt somewhat bad for dragging the angel into this. Either way, he wasn't just going to lie on the floor without at least asking the strange hot ghost lady what was going on

 

[kyuukestu]

The will-o'-wisp looked at the two boyss incredulously. Did she look like a cartoon villain? Why would she spill her plans just because they asked; but then she thought about it.

"Well...since you asked nicely..."

The will-o' stretched her captivating legs, hooking a finger to pull the boys in closer.

"The truth is..."

BANG!

The wisp she'd held detonated in a blinding flash of light! With that as a cover the Ignis Fatus faded away, leaving only a single dwindling wisp behind. She seemed to have fled.

~~~

"Uhhh..."

Catherine watched with unease concern as Kirin, without warning, began to writhe on the floor. Her fur had risen in hackles, and her eye flittered rapidly between Jonah, who was calling the police, and Kirin who, in any other situation, she would've complimented for the authenticity if his dying fish impression. Ultimately, she decided to make her way over to the latter. While he might've chosen the worst possible time to have a heart-attack, that didn't mean the Cat girl was willing to hit him just kick the bucket.

She shuffled over to him as quickly as she dared, trying not to alert the armed gangster who could, at any time, decide to shoot her. Luckily, this was was made easier by the loud-mouthed snake-man who had the brilliant idea of cursing at and insulting the armed mobsters. Catherine wasn't sure she wanted to be next to that guy. If things went south, he'd probably get shot first.

Kneeling at Kirin's side she searched for his pulse which, to her relief, seemed pretty strong. Laying a hand on his chest, she confirmed steady breathing. If she remembered correctly from Health-class, the correct procedure was to tilt the person's head up and make sure they could breath?

Fortunately for Kirin, his safety was not reliant on Catherine's shoddy memory of proper first-aid procedures as within moments of his scream the health teacher had come jogging over. Breathing a sigh of relief, Catherine allowed Kirin's head to rest in her lap while the teacher did proper first aid.

The situation seemed to be steadily devolving with minimal effort from the gang. Between the comatose boy in her hands, the two winged boys who'd promptly flown off—and crashed, by the sound of it—, the armed gangsters intent on ransoming them, and the dim-witted snake that seemed to think it was a good idea to provoke said armed gangsters, the group seemed to be well on their way to self-destruction.

Catherine looked over at the gang leader, to find him looking back at her, or more precisely Kirin. The expression on his face seemed to be a mix of incredulity and exasperation. He took a deep breath, and Catherine's ears twitched, catching as he muttered under his breath about 'these dumb-ass kids'.

Completely ignoring Orm, the leader began to mutter aloud. "Maybe if I shoot some of them..."

Ignoring the jitters his words had caused, the leader stated plainly. "Kids like game, right? Let's play a game! Anyone who's still outside in one minute gets shot, capiche?"

Leveling his gun towards the group of students he let a warning shot sail over their heads. Screams of terror quickly drowned out the sound of the bullet; and, soon after it wasn't just screams, but the patter of feet as hundreds of students rushed to act at once.

Still kneeling in the grass, it was with abject terror that Catherine realized that the man had just sparked—a stampede.

 

[BurbleBurble]

So a lot had happened in the past few minutes.

For starters, serpent drop out was named Orm, came off as a total douche, that was a thing. Learned Angel guy's name was Marcus. However, then something bad happened. With a resounding explosion, mist filled the field, lead by another dude who did not look like good news for the students. Said he was planning on holding them hostage? He waved around a gun, but really, it seemed like this guy was all talk. There were so many students compared to the one guy, and all he had was a pistol! Explosives would only get him so far.

Until the mist lifted, revealing the student body had been surrounded by dozens of gun toting assholes.

Well, shit.

One of the acquaintances she had made in the orange winged dude attempted to fly away into the mist- followed by a crushing sound of glass. And the other acquaintance she had made in Marcus followed him, no shattering glass from him though. Leaving her with...snake boy.

His angry gaze had left Sarah and went towards the apparent leader. Who had done some neat tricks with some chains to catch the attention of the student body once more. Now, what Orm was trying to achieve was beyond Sarah, but he had also slapped her with his tail as he went to do it.

"Ow! Watch it, jerk off-"

A gunshot rang out. The gang leader had his fun. Wanted people to move, awesome! And now people were pushing past her, trying to all shove their way back into the halls of the school, obeying blindly. She was now wishing she had the guts to shout out and start a fight, but that would've definitely resulted in a lot of bloodshed...Why did she want that, deep down? Ugh, too many messes at once.

She looked to Orm. And then the gang leader. She wasn't sure whom she hated more in the moment. Though eventually she settled on hating the leader- after all, he had gotten in the way of her strange dislike. So she decided to get in a word.

"Are you stupid?!" She shouted at Orm, as she began following the crowds in. "Move, you're gonna DIE!"

It briefly occurred to her that the two of them together might've been able to take this guy out in the chaos- after all, he was pretty seperated from his other gang buddies, who were more concerned with corralling the students. But it would probably not end well once the rest of them noticed their leader being pummeled. Besides, she had fallen into the current of teenagers now, and fighting against that tide was not going to end well.

 

[<Inkscape>]

Kirin was standing on the sky.

It had taken a while to realize it, but there was a sort of glass ceiling- he could only guess- that he was standing on, realizing that he was no longer at Zenobia High, as it wasn't directly overhead for him, as it most likely should've been..
he thought.
He couldn't grasp the perspective due to never having stood on the sky.
He looked up, expecting to see Zenobia High, but instead saw a city, one which reminded him of the city of Santorini, but... different.
"where in hell's fucking bells am i?" he wondered aloud.
He wasn't expecting to get an answer.

You are in your own conscience.

Kirin looked around for the disembodied voice, but he couldn't see anyone.
"What do you mean? Who even are you?" Kirin asked, incredulously.

It was then when he noticed a small swirl of some type of shadowy substance growing in front of him.
He watched as it grew, the murky purple substance slowly taking shape.
It formed a silhouette of a humanoid, roughly Kirin's own size.
He watched intently as the thing stepped out of the shadowy puddle, revealing someone- or something, that looked a lot like him.
Kirin, startled, took a step back, with the invisible floor making a wave, as if he was standing in a puddle.

You are in your consciousness, Kirin. This is what you see it as.

"You aren't making ANY type of sense! And I STILL don't know who you are or why I am here!" Kirin yelled, unable to make sense of the situation.

The look-alike sighed, before looking at Kirin directly, obviously slightly irritated that Kirin didn't understand.

I am Null, Draconic God of Death, Brother to Bahamut.
I am known as the Guardian of the Lost.
You could say I am now your guide.

"Well, what about me being here?" Kirin asked, studying Null harder.

There isn't enough time to explain, yet.
Listen.
These next hours are critical.

Null sighed, before finishing.

Kirin.
I will be watching closely.
If you need me, just ask.

And with that, Null disappeared in a flash of purple.
Kirin couldn't dwell on that, because he was incredibly tired, stumbling and falling backwards, his vision darkening as he fell.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As soon as he had finished talking to Kirin, Null materialized into reality, taking on Kirin's features due to them being linked. He couldn't properly tangibly materialize, now being effectively a somewhat tangible ghost, but able to be seen properly. somewhat. There wasn't much he could do until Kirin woke up, so he surveyed the utter chaos that was unfolding for a while, until he felt a presence that radiated an overpowering Holy aura.
Well damn. Checking that out now, surveying the chaos later.

He re-materialized in the room that Alex and Marcus were in, immediately figuring that Marcus was the source of the holy aura.
Null studied the boy, knowing who he was from Kirin's memories, before musing out loud "Well now, Marcus is it?" he said, somewhat condescendingly.
"You seem to have taken becoming Archangel Raphael well. How is Gabriel doing?" he asked, taking the chance to mess with Marcus a little.
He slightly smirked, knowing that would unnerve the boy, which made him chuckle to himself.
Null looked at the broken window, before musing "Well, that explains a bit..."

 

[~Patriot~]

Marcus instinctually averted his gaze when the woman set off what he thought was just a fireball but was actually some sort of flash grenade, only to find she'd disappeared when he turned back. "Damn, she got away," he cursed as he hopped down from the windowsill, "But maybe that's a good thing." The angel eyed the remaining wisp warily, giving it plenty of room as he crossed over to Alex. She could've done anything with that fireball, he contemplated, At least it wasn't anything worse than a flashbang.

"Are you good?" Marcus asked Alex, still a little shaky from the slowly dissipating adrenaline rush. "I'm pretty sure I can heal you if you were injured..." He trailed off, disturbed by a sudden feeling of intense contempt that washed over him seemingly out of nowhere. Marcus spun on his heels at the sound of Kirin's voice if the unsettling dragon-boy hadn't had a glass of water in at least a decade, only to see a ghostly mirror of the dragon-boy in question had materialized in the room with he and Alex.

A second rush of adrenaline coursed through Marcus' veins in an instant, and his vision was practically tinted red as he laid eyes on Kirin. No, it's not him, he realized as he studied the apparition. Another illusion? Then why is my body reacting like this when I was fine in the mist? His entire body began to tremble, not out of fear but because of the sheer bloodlust that Marcus was slowly succumbing to.

"What...are you?" The angel growled.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

In what felt like milliseconds, Erik blinked, and the student body gathered in the field was suddenly surrounded by mist, flickering orbs of fire, and a large number of armed men, guns trained on the teenagers before them. A man had also appeared not a long distance away, speaking eloquently and amiably, though his words were much more sinister. Suddenly, two winged figures had dove through the mist, disappearing in the dense fog, and Catherine was knelt down next to Erik, tending to a now unconscious Kirin.

"....secure me and my lads a life in the lap of wealth and luxury!"

Wealth? Luxury? A confident grin plastered across his face, the man flaunted a handgun and golden chain as he motioned for students to file into the building as hostages.

"....if I get what I want...."

The next few moments felt somewhat similar; his mind was filled with thoughts that weren't his own, but Erik felt a much more prevalent, much more unfamiliar rage boil within him. The glow in his eyes flared up with almost palpable intensity, the tattoos underneath his clothing radiating a bright, golden light. A curse in native tongue barely escaped his lips, accompanied by a growl of fury through gritted teeth. Memories raced in a blur that he couldn't recall, but the only thing that mattered was the barely suppressed rage that Erik desperately fought back. Electricity crackled faintly around his fingertips, wisps of flame danced in his palm, and amidst the ear-splitting roars of anger that echoed through his head, one word rang through with the utmost clarity.

Hubris....
Hubris....
Hubris.

"Who dares subdue me?!"

The last four words that resonated in his mind came abruptly from an unfamiliar voice, spoken in Korean as well with arrogant fury, and the sounds of howling wind, raging fire, and powerful thunder filled his ears. No matter how hard he tried to suppress the unknown force that nearly prompted him to lash out at the man holding the student body hostage, Erik's harnessed abilities only seemed to grow in power, but finally, a new voice intruded into his mind, only speaking one name repeatedly as the din faded and he slowly regained control over his body.

The Celestial King....
The Celestial King....
The Celestial King....

Snapping back to reality (ope, there goes gravity), the elements harnessed in Erik's hands dissipated as he shook himself out of his stupor. When he had finally regained composure, the students were in the process of sprinting toward the school building following the man's threat of shooting those who failed to get inside within the minute. Meanwhile, Catherine was still tending to the still unconscious Kirin, now with the help of the health teacher. Erik had recalled noticing Jonah, who had gone to the side and attempted to dial 911, but his friend was nowhere to be found. He hurried toward Catherine and Kirin in an effort to help take the boy and get him into the building as fast as possible before someone was actually shot, but as he ran, Erik's eyes were almost forced upon the man wielding the gun and chain by the same unfamiliar force from earlier, narrowing as they made contact.

They're not the same.... He isn't the same person as the one whose voice I heard just now. But they're similar... their arrogance. Their pride.

Muttering yet another curse, Erik tore his attention away from the man before finally reaching Catherine, and before attempting to act and get everyone inside as soon as possible, he turned to the health teacher with inquisitive eyes (within which the glow had also faded just slightly as Erik cleared his mind and focused on the emergency at hand).

"What can I do to help? Does he have any injuries that can't be exacerbated? I can assist in carrying him inside if need be."

 

[<Inkscape>]

"In a literal sense? A god." Null said, turning back to Marcus. "In the sense of right now? a manifestation of one," He said, chuckling to himself. Null crossed his arms, taking note of Marcus's reaction.
"You seem pretty aggressive for an angel," he said, mocking Marcus even further.
"Regardless, you've felt me before, haven't you? Always side-eyeing Kirin like that. Shameful behavior, if i do say so myself."
Null tilted his head at Marcus.
"From what i felt, you don't really have the best opinion on Kirin. I guess angels have a low amount of respect, eh?" He replied, studying the angel's demeanor.
Null couldn't help but mock the poor boy, it was deeply rooted in his nature. Null moved his gaze to Alex, wondering how he was handling the change.
"Nevertheless, you should probably get back to your friends, the gang leader," Null said, pausing to listen, "Just declared that anyone who is still outside in one minute gets shot. I don't know about you, but you should get on that, eh?" He said, nonchalantly.

 

[kyuukestu]

Fond of her tail—and even more so—of it not getting stepped on, Catherine quickly wrapped them both around her waist.

"I don't know what's wrong with him, but we definitely need to move. Help me get him up."

Through the chaos of the stampede, Catherine strained her vocal cords to be heard. She cued Erik to grab Kirin's legs, while she would grab his shoulders. Between the two of them they would be able to move the boy in order to avoid any unwanted altercations.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Following Catherine's gesture, Erik nodded and promptly crouched down to take hold of Kirin's legs. Despite the hefty tail and Large, folded wings, the teen found a strange force enabling him to lift the unconscious boy without much difficulty. As if to answer his question, the tattoos surrounding Erik's torso began to glow slightly brighter than usual as he counted down, "1, 2, 3", and the two classmates hoisted Kirin's body up.

They made their way into the building, carefully weaving their way through the gaps within the student stampede so as not to inflict any more injury onto Kirin's person. However, Erik's eyes were drawn toward the man one last time as they continued to carry the fellow student, and though he was able to suppress the bloodlust that nearly overtook him before, he sharply exhaled in irritation.

"Piece of crap," He muttered in his native language, eyes narrowed with anger before Erik finally peeled his attention away from the man and turned to Kirin. No time to focus on him anymore; just need to make sure Kirin's in a safe location while he's vulnerable as soon as possible.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Orm glared at the leader, he clearly was not listening to him and the desire to beat him up was immense. Oh, what he'd give to feel the bones of that jerkwad crush between his jaws. It wasn't the purest of thoughts, but he really couldn't care less. That scumbag didn't deserve any mercy for attacking a school and if possible, he'd take him down right there and then. The little braincell cluster he had left stopped him though, there were too many regular students around and many gang members with guns. Should he pull something, the gang members would pull their triggers in return. The casualties would not be worth the satisfaction, so the World Serpent turned around and followed the flood of student. "It's Orm, not Jerk Off. Watch it, girlie." Whilst he appreciated the fact she didn't leave him to die, he was still not a fan of her. Lowering his body so that he slithered on the floor, he tried to enter the building after the stampede of students entered and promptly got stuck in the doorway. "Even though I warned those oh-so-kind visitors outside that this would happen, here we are." The drop out complained, knowing full well that he could get out of here as a cat. He couldn't reveal all his cards though, or rather the one card he knew he had. Lowering his voice to merely a whisper, the serpent turned his head to the nearest student. "If you all can close the rest of the doors, they cannot come in."

 

[Nukas]

Sam was having trouble taking everything in. After going to the backfield, she had started to try and figure out what exactly was happening... besides the utter chaos of having everything in hi- her body change in an instant. She just needed some time to try and figure out what was going on, but it felt like no matter what she did there were always eyes that were drawn to her. She tried to ignore it, which became much less difficult when the mist rolled in.

As if the day couldn't get any worse, there was now a gang that they had to deal with. It was far too much for Sam. She was ready to try and get away like the other two winged-students she observed until Thomas leaned in saying they shouldn't be the cause of anyone getting hurt by making bold actions. He was right of course, but that didn't stop the uneasiness in Sam's chest. She and Thomas got inside in the middle of the large stampede, but it didn't really feel like people were pushing or shoving her as much as everyone else. She didn't really have time to think about that at the moment though, she wanted to figure out what was going on with her voice.

She split from the stampede and immediately sought some water. She wasn't sure if Tommy had followed her, but she would try to meet back up with him as soon as she was done regardless. She figured that her throat must just be parched, even though it had been an almost immediate switch from feeling completely fine to being completely hoarse. She found the nearest water fountain and started to try and moisten up her throat. After all, if this was all real and she had really become a Siren, she figured her voice would be an important asset to have. She finished drinking and sighed, already hearing her new voice once again. Wait, my voice is already back seconds after I drank the water? I don't think my voice has ever recovered that fast, does this have to do with my change? Within seconds her question was answered.

Vocal Depth (Cooldown: N/A; Cost: 5% every hour without drinking water; Duration: N/A; Range: N/A) Passive, Melodic-Type. The source of many of Sam’s abilities comes from her Vocal Depth. This can be replenished by keeping the voice hydrated and well maintained. If it drops below 25% Sam will become very hoarse and her abilities will become mostly ineffective. If it drops to zero, Sam will become effectively mute.

Current status: 30%

"Well, that's not going to get annoying at all..."

 

[Clite of Dragonbow]

Thomas went inside to the school and bird never left his shoulder. He noticed earlier how worried Sam was, but who could blame him... Her... He was quite worried himself. He manage to take a pencil and the piece of paper. He start to draw something without thinking and wondered what to do... Zola's message said that they are doomed to fail... Does it mean that Sam, rest of the students and he was about to die no matter what?...
Grandpa told him to practice Systema cuz a time like this may come... But did he know about being captured by 70 armed people?
He imagined as all those students he walked with were about to die... He didn't want that, why do even this school must get involved in those dumb thugs business anyway.
"You have power that can help them, Milord" Bird chirped as if it read his mind.
"I am alone... There is a huge armed group"
Tommy whispered back.
"There are others like you... They can help... And your power is needed, a flower can pierce through asphalt, brick, stone. Roots can crush humans constructions and bring civilazation to ruin. Think of us as seperate parts of you as entity, we will fight your enemies" Bird chirped again.
Tommy still felt like he can't do anything well... How could he help... A sudden idea came up and he left being lost in thoughts when he heard Sam's voice (who was now a voice a girl).
He looked at her for a while, could Sam not be harmed by a gun.. Probably it could still kill her. He looked at picture he made, it was a picture of Sam who was currently a girl. Tommy smirked and placed the paper with a drawing in the point where it would not get destroyed by the water.
"Have to say that you are really pretty as a girl, so you can think about this as positive aspect, Sam" he said to her to cool down emotions and cheer her up a bit, but his voice was showing that he was worried too. "Gonna get everyone out of here.. I have an idea. Sam, could you please send a message by phone to people that you know from as many different classes as possible? I don't know anyone here. Just tell them to stay calm and if any of them changed to help those that didn't change" he said and then added "Gotta work fast, before those guys settle in our school for good and will get a good eye on us! Then they shall go to biology class... Sorry, I just got an idea, so if others want to be able to leave this place, then I gave them a possibility... Oh, and maybe you can go with me, if you want" he said and headed to biology classroom.
He searched around for a while then found seedlings of some plants. Tried to remind himself how long their roots can be, placed a few on the floor and opened slightly a window. He thought it is stupid, but he didn't have a better idea.. That thing in his brain said he can manipulate and communicate with plants.
"Grass, please help me! Tell me if anyone is somewhere close to hear and how far it is from this room to reach the outside of the schoolgrounds"
Tommy was schocked when grass answered him and when he got all informations he wanted, he imagined as if those seedlings start to grow their roots and pierce through a floor, making a tunnel, roots being a tunnel support so it wouldn't crumble and get destroyed and also taking new seedlings when previous ones roots reach their end of how far they can go.

One minute passed... Two minutes passed... Nothing happend. Tommy didn't gave up though... He wanted to be of help.
"Remember, think of us as part of your body, a part of you. You must feel that you can order us!" Bird chirped once again.
Tommy slowly was losing hope... But suddenly he started to think that it weren't roots supporting the celling, and digging the tunnel, but he, with his own hands, getting tired and dirty from the ground, sand and mud. Seedlings sprouted their roots and started to work and break through. Tommy looked outside, but it seemed that it wasn't noticable to see how roots are digging a tunnel, if you just look at the ground that is above. He tried to imagine as he do it as quiet as possible, but it also would take too long. Time was essencial.
"Now, Let's think how to get others be able to evacuate... And how I should take those thugs attencion"

 

[sSoul]

As Jonah was trudging along in pity, he noticed that neither Catherine or Erik had joined him in resignation. This, coupled with seeing try to get Kirin off the ground, caused the transformed high schooler to make a realization.

If all the normal students are inside, then the Oscillated can fight freely.

However, Jonah noticed that there was a stampede that was coming his way due to the gang leader making the threat to shoot anyone that didn't get inside. Without further hesitation, he broke away from the crowd that he was barely following due to his slow pace to avoid being swept up by the ensuing stampede. Now that he was out of the way, he had to regroup with his friends. Thankfully, he was able to get a good view of their location due to his increased height compared to the average student.

"You mind if I lend a hand?" Jonah casually asked to Catherine and Erik as he walked over with renewed determination to resist the gang.

 

[| Korutesu |]

"Okay-" As Yukiro got interrupted as the stampede of students ran past him. one question ran through his mind, Would the oscillated be able to win against the gang members? He wasn't certain, that was for sure, But what if nobody wanted to resist? what about his physical endurance? all of those questions started appearing in his mind. He noticed two students carrying Kirin, But Adrian was nowhere to be found. Was he hurt? And again, Yukiro didn't know.

Could this situation be avoided? He didn't want to kill, neither hurt anybody, but it was something the people who were going to resist were gonna have to go through. For now though, He'd play by the rules. He wouldn't attack just yet. He hadn't thought of a plan just yet, But at all costs, He had to be ready for anything.

 

[kyuukestu]

Once inside the school, the panicked students began to settle. A few teachers were inside at this point and they directed the students towards various classrooms; bringing some semblance of peace and order to this crisis-situation. Amidst the dense chatter and the all-too-frequent squeak of rubber soles against polished floors, another sound, one distinctly...odd, caught Catherine's attention. It was a heavy clattering, like the rattle of several plates against each other. The sound briefly confused the girl because her ear pin-pointed the sound's location to...

"Upstairs...?"

A thoughtful purr, throatier, and stranger than any noise the girl had ever made before, startled her out of thought; she was just in time to catch Jonah's offer of aid. Eyes and ears peeled, Catherine scanned for any unwanted attention and, after confirming there was none, beckoned Jonah to follow.

With Kirin as an excuse, she notified a teacher and then led the group to the school's infirmary where they could, at least for a while, have some privacy.

"Help me set him down on the bed."

After laying Kirin prone, Catherine turned back to Erik and Jonah. If you included the unconscious Kirin, then this was the original group, so to speak.

"We don't have long so I'll make this quick. I think there's another gang member inside the school, upstairs. There might be more, but I only heard one."

The senior brushed the idea aside with a careless gesture; clearly, it wasn't what she wanted to talk about.

"Did you see the two winged-guys? The ones that flew off earlier. Or the huge snake guy that was cursing at the gang? I think they're like us, some of the stronger Oscillated. The first bird-guy didn't even seem phased by the bullets...luckily, he crashed into the school. Otherwise, the ass-shat might've actually ditched us here." Her tails made bold swipes through the air, broadcasting her irritation. "If we want to get a jump on the gang, then we need to talk to the other Oscillated before one of them makes another botched escape plan or worse..."

She shared a heavy glance between her oscillated companions and let her words sink in. If the stronger members of the oscillated had all ditched from early on, then it made sense those who remained were no match for the gang. Maybe this was one of the things Zola had been trying to warn about. Regardless, Catherine knew that the group had to act quickly to prevent any worst-case scenarios, and so she offered a suggestion.

"Split up?"

 

[~Patriot~]

The apparition's words weren't lost on Marcus, even in his current state of nigh-unbearable bloodlust. So this is what I've been sensing in Kirin, the angel thought as he stared down the self-proclaimed god. But then why didn't I react this way to Kirin himself? Maybe this is like Kirin's Gabriel, come to taunt me? Contempt radiated off of the figure like heat from a bonfire, but there was something...deeper feeding into it that Marcus couldn't quite place until a flood of raw information appeared in his psyche.

Hell's Bane Marcus receives a 2 tier Penetration boost against all undead or otherwise underworld-originating entities (along with any entity whom he confirms through Heaven’s Gatekeeper has consorted with any gods of the underworld) within a 100 yard radius. Marcus also enters a state of bloodlust around any of these entities.

The angel was surprised at the information, though he had an innate knowledge that it was an ability connected to his transformation. He focused in on the second half of the description and realized that it was this ability that was causing his reaction to the apparition. I have better things to worry about than this guy, though, Marcus decided.

With great willpower Marcus forced himself to turn away from the apparition to face Alex again. "We need to get back to the rest of the group," Marcus said, "But we can't go back the way we came-" He glanced at the broken window and the mist slowly leaking its way into the classroom. "-since you're affected by whatever that mist is."

He paused for a moment to think through the quickest route to the backdoor, only to realize there was a steadily growing cacophony of voices coming from downstairs. Marcus slipped one of the earbuds from his ear and listened closely as he tried to determine how much of the student body was pouring back into the building. Sounds like at least half of them are already back inside, he thought, But I can't tell much more than that. He raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to better pick up on another sound he heard, a clattering reminiscent of plate armor coming from down the hallway. That can't be good.

"If we take the nearest set of stairs it should take us past the infirmary on our way to the rest of the students." He informed Alex. "But it sounds like there's something else on this floor with us."

 

[sSoul]

Taking Catherine's cue to follow him, Jonah eventually found himself at the school's infirmary to lay an unconscious Kirin down. Once he was on the hospital bed, he turned to the feline female once again, suspecting that she had noticed something given her looking around for others before beckoning him to join the group. As she explained her suspicion that another member of the gang was around, Jonah stroked his chin thoughtfully, benefitted by the texture of his scaly chin. However, she quickly brushed that topic off in favor of rounding up a group of Oscillated students to fight the gang, which was her plan going into this situation.

Well since evacuation is mostly impossible, the next best thing we can do is round up troops.

"I'm fine with splitting up, but if we are splitting up, we need to delegate destinations to people," Jonah began methodically in an authoritative tone, "I think I'll go upstairs to get the flyers on the same page as well as fight the gang member if need be. I think Catherine should go look for Oscillated people in the crowd and Erik should watch over Kirin so that when he wakes up, he isn't completely lost and confused." Once again, the transformed senior had to stop himself from getting too ahead of himself in his attempt at playmaking.

"However I am open to suggestions, what do you guys think?"

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Though he tried to listen attentively to Catherine and Jonah discuss their next steps after laying Kirin down onto a thin mattress, Erik had been lost in silent thought, lips pursed and brow furrowed in rumination as he only managed to catch snippets of the discussion between his classmates. Where had that strange sensation from earlier come from? All that rage, the feeling of bloodlust that made him want to lunge at the man with the gun and chain, using all of his newfound abilities to simply tear him apart and rip his eloquently arrogant tongue out of his oral cavity. As he had struggled against the force compelling him to lash out, Erik hadn't given a thought as to the destructive nature of the powers he had discovered; raging fire and wild electricity clearly spelled out disaster for any innocents caught in their wake, but Erik had nearly forgotten about the lives he put at risk, had he succumbed to the strange urge to attack.

And yet, despite his confusion, the answer as to what could have brought about such a fierce desire was crystal clear in his mind. Whatever he had become, this creation myth, not only had it imbued him with elemental powers seemingly beyond his control, but it had also affected his mind somehow. As someone who once desired only to be a regular student, another face in the crowd, it was evident to both him and most others on campus who knew him that Erik was extremely modest and humble, often to a fault. However, with the accolades and academic prowess that he achieved in preparation for his long-term goals followed the attention that anyone with a modicum of talent exhibited in any environment received.

Most people soaked it in, relished in the reputation they enjoyed and continuously worked for more, but Erik? He hated it. And the feeling that had spurred on such bloodlust from a while back had come from a being with prominence completely outshining his. With the presence of a name bigger than his own residing in his spirit, his mind was also filled with the expected mentality that was displayed in those of such high status, and no matter how hard he fought against it, Erik only felt one thing when looking at those around him amidst all of the chaos: Superiority.

Suddenly, he heard his name, and Erik snapped out of his lengthy train of thought, briefly shaking away his stupor and returning his focus to the matter at hand. Upon hearing Jonah's suggestion, he shrugged and nodded, hands held behind his back.

"Sure, I can watch over him 'til he wakes up, fight some guards if I have to, keep the guy from slamming that big ol’ unit into everything. Some method of remote communication would be nice as well if we're gonna be split up, since it'll be hard to get help otherwise in case any of us are in tough spots. If Kirin wakes up soon, the two of us can also split up to either go somewhere else or accompany either one of you.”

 

[Sky_]

Still somewhat disorientated, Alex look a second to try and process the women actually agreeing to give him answers, completely missing the opening of her hand until a blinding flash filled his eyes the spots clearing from his eyes to reveal a noticeable absence of both women and answers. He gave himself a quick once-over, before giving the concerned Marcus a thumbs up.

"Yeah, I should be good. My fire shield thing melted the glass before it manages to cut me, just a bit of bruising from the fall was all." However, as Alex climbed to his feet, he was startled by the sudden apparition of the guy he'd seen earlier, though this time without electricity and significantly more translucent than Alex remembered him. The raspy voice that came from the apparition all but confirmed his suspicion that this was a different person entirely, though he hadn't spoken to Kirin there was an instinctual difference he could feel around the ghostly figure.

Marcus evidentially felt the same, but responded far more aggressively than Alex would've expected from a being of divine power. After a brief introduction from "null" Marcus made it very obvious he didn't want anything to do with the creature, and Alex sympathised. Besides, from what Marcus was saying, they had other problems on this floor.

Despite straining his ears, he couldn't hear whatever Marcus was looking for, but nodded in agreement nonetheless. "I don't know how that mist works, but it properly messed me up. Getting with the rest of the students would be good, but I'm really not liking the 'other person' on this floor." Pausing to ponder for a moment, Alex perked up upon having a thought. "Hold on, you can navigate this fog, right? That weird chick from earlier seemed to think so at least; what if you managed to guide me out of the mist? Just so long as you're, what, a foot in front of me in the air we should be all good, right? Just yell if I start going any other direction but forward". It wasn't a foolproof plan, but Alex's adrenaline was still pumping: he needed to do something. This sounded like his best bet, and at the least if it didn't work it would give them both an idea of how this strange mist actually worked

 

[kyuukestu]

"Thirty seconds left..."

The mechanical sound of cocks—cocked guns, that is—signaled the thinning of the gang leader's patience. Evidently, the man wasn't amused by Orm's cutesy act of getting stuck in the door; so much so that he decided he'd just shoot the tub-of-lard and be done with it.

"Twenty-Five..."

It would just be a matter of time.

========
​

Jonah's plan seemed sound; it was simple and logical. Divide & Conquer was a text-book stratagem and indubitable a good one. Its only flaw, as Erik had pointed out, wasn't much of a problem to Catherine. The Nekomata finagled with her pockets, and though she noted that her pants seemed a bit tighter than she remembered, eventually, she fished out her cellphone.

"We can make a group for it. You've got your phones, right?"

She tapped her way through the LCD interface with the practiced ease of a teenager.

"Uhh...what are you guys on..? Snap, Insta, Whatsapp...Facebook?"

 

[sSoul]

In response to Catherine's suggestion, Jonah fished out his phone to check any of his social media profiles. The transformed high schooler didn't own many social media apps and the ones under his ownership were scarcely used. Still, the apps he owned were large enough to provide a variety of options for the group to work with.

"I've got Instagram, Discord and Twitter, but I'd prefer Discord over the other two since I spend more time there" Jonah stated as he read from his phone before shutting it off to avoid the suspicion of potential onlookers, "However I'm willing to be flexible, what apps are you guys on?"

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Once it was clear that the group had reached an accord, Erik pulled out his phone as well, swiping around to locate all of his social media apps. "I also have Discord and Twitter; Facebook and Snap I don't use as much, but I can be flexible as well."

Letting his phone-hand drop to his side, Erik's eyes also came up at around the same time Jonah's did, and after looking across at both Jonah and Catherine, they fell onto the still unconscious Kirin at their side. While he was prepared to do his job and see to it that Kirin wasn't in danger with his rather vulnerable status at the moment, Erik hoped the boy would wake up soon so he could not only assist his friends more directly in finding reinforcements against the current assailants, but also accompany faces that were a bit more familiar. He wasn't quite sure what conversation there was to start, nor did he want to deal with that hefty tail Kirin had so recklessly swung earlier.

 

[kyuukestu]

"Discord then." The decision was made.

Catherine took a few seconds to set up a group, which she added Jonah and Erik to after getting their usernames and tags.

"There we go," Catherine was satisfied with the arrangement and had no other issues in mind; she would've left in that instant, but she didn't feel comfortable doing so without leaving at least a few words behind. Her eyes fell on Jonah, whom she figured would be in the most immediate danger, "Don't do anything stupid", then they shifted to Erik, "the same goes for you."

"The less the gang knows about us the better. If what Zola wrote is true then a haphazard fight will only get us killed. That strange Mist outside was already giving us trouble, and we don't know what else they can do."

She stepped through the door, pausing again to double-down on her advice.

"Don't get yourselves killed."

It went without saying that the Nekomata had no plans on getting killed either.

After leaving the infirmary, she hardly needed to search before her first potential-target appeared. Stuck between door frames was the foul-mouthed snake-man that had sassed the gang-leader earlier. Her brows jumped in alarm as she realized the gravity of the situation; the gang-leaders voice could still be heard counting down from 10 while Orm's serpentine body remained firmly lodged in the doorway.

A small panic set in as time ran out and Catherine rushed forward, wracking her mind for a possible solution. She thought back to Jonah's earlier comments on the Nekomata, they were known for death and...strange fires?

The information flowed directly into her mind and suddenly, the girl knew how to utilize her new-found ability, Ghost-Fire.

She zeroed in on the door's hinges; letting instinct take over. Her nails lengthened into claws, each burning with pale emerald flames. She pounced, casually performing a leap that would've broken world-records, and swiped at the door. Her claws sheared the door's hinge and Catherine made quick work of the others. The ease of the cuts surprised her but there was no time to admire her handiwork as the gang leader's count had fallen to 5.

The Nekomata turned to Orm and hissed with urgency, "Hurry up and get inside!"

 

[sSoul]

It didn't take long for Jonah to open Discord and see the group chat created between him, Catherine and Erik. Now that the communication barrier was addressed, the transformed senior was about to leave, but he stuck around to hear Catherine's advice. Nodding silently after she finished talking, Jonah walked to the door but he turned around to give his parting words to Erik.

"Make sure Kirin doesn't do anything stupid either," Jonah said before finally leaving the infirmary. Once he made his way into the hallway, Jonah scanned the corridors for the staircase while also letting his eyes peer into the other classrooms. Fortunately, there were only a few other students in the classrooms, meaning that the transformed student had minimal difficulty in getting to the staircase. After walking up the staircase, Jonah repeated the process of peering into the classroom windows until he found what he was looking for, Eventually, he found the winged students in a classroom together, but along with the students, he also noticed that a broken window was causing the fog to leak into the school.

"That's...not a good look," Jonah worriedly mumbled to himself. Shaking his head, he decided to ignore the fog until he could talk to the flyers and get them on the same page. Without further hesitation, Jonah opened and closed the door as fast as possible to minimize the amount of fog spreading to the rest of the hallway. Once he was inside, he was able to relax slightly since there wasn't a lot of fog in the room.

"Hey, you two! Do you mind coming with me?" Jonah said as he turned to Alex and Marcus to address them, speaking slightly louder than usual in order to get their attention, "My friend and I are trying to gather enough Oscillated students to drive these gangsters out of our school and we could use your help."