So much for class... (Open/sub plot)

"Goodbye snow, ello spring!" Alex said with a smile as he rolled his right shoulder to loosen it up a bit. He took in a deep breath through his nose and then slowly let it out through is mouth. The brisk air moving through his lungs felt great, and the air was cool enough to keep him comfortable but warm enough that he didn't need a coat. There was still some snow on the ground but it was slowly melting. The Finnek forest, famous for it's blue coloring, was starting to sprout it's shrubs again, though no blue leaves were visible yet. That was fine, trees needed time to wake up. However Alex always liked this time of year. For some reason he just felt more alive during this time of year. He guessed it had to do with plants waking up int he spring, and with his semblance being control over plants he wondered if a part of him was waking up as well. In a way he was since he had regained a large portion of his old skills and he had remembered how to channel his semblance again. It wouldn't be long before he could be considered the Knight of the Forest again.

However he had more to worry about then some title. In an hour he was going to have another class for his students and he wanted to give them a challenge since most of them did a great job in the last class. Because of this he had sent out a message to the students who made it clear they wanted to take his next class, and that message contained information on what to prepare for;

To whom it may concern, the next survival class will be taking place in Finnek Forest. While I'm doing it in a part of the forest that isn't known for Grimm activity there is still a possibility that a Grimm will show up. However you're all hunters so working together and we should be able to handle any stray grimm that come our way. Anywho this class is basically an obstacle course to help you learn how to move through several different types of environments. Wear something that you don't mind getting muddy, but be sure to bring all of your combat gear.

Quickly tilting his head side to side Alex was rewarded with a very satisfying crack, he got to work with using his semblance to grow the obstacle course. He tossed out a few seeds, and the ground began to glow with an emerald light while Alex's emerald aura began to swirl around him like fluttering leaves. Soon trees and flowers that were glowing with an emerald light began to emerge from the ground; with the trees forming into platforms, walkways, and narrow planks, while other plants started to dig trenches that the flowers started to squirt nectar into to form makeshift water hazards. Vines grew to form ladders and swinging ropes and 'fake' platforms. Soon Alex had grown a massive jungle gym that was covered with an emerald glow. He glanced at his watch, and saw that it would still be another 45 minutes till class started. Any students that showed up now were going to be really early.


Meanwhile, high in the skies above the Finnek Forest an private airship flew threw the skies, angling towards the emerald glow that was coming through the trees. Inside an elderly man dressed in a black suit and had a scar caused by a burn on his right cheek looked down at the emerald glow and smiled. "I've found you, Knight of the Forest. You have something that belongs to me." he said to no one in particular. The lone pilot was out of ear shot so he didn't hear the suited man talking, and the last occupant of the airship remained completely silent and stood motionless next to a large pod like object that was just big enough for her to fit inside. Every single one of her features were hidden thanks to her black ninja outfit and mask she was wearing. Even her eyes were covered up by a blindfold. The only noticeable feature one her was the fact that she was female thanks to her hourglass figure and her considerable... assets. A katana was strapped to her back and it had a black blade to match her black outfit.

The suited man turned away from the window and walked over towards the motionless woman, a cruel smile spreading across his face. "Ah, my lovely pet. My magnum opus is so close to being complete. So close I can taste it. Do you have any idea what it's like to have your greatest achievement torn away from you by a man who can't see passed his own selfish ideals?" he said to the ninja as he ran his hand along her back, but she didn't move or respond. "It's heartbreaking. The pain caused by it is enough to make me cry. And only Alex can help me finish it. Without him I can't recreate my greatest gift to the people of Remnant. So, your job is to bring Alex to me." The man continued, this time his hands were running along her arms but the woman still didn't respond in anyway what so ever. "However my little pet since I don't want to lose you to him we need to figure out just what is his current state of being. There's no telling how much power he has right now without seeing him in action, so that's where you come in today my pet. I want you to head down there and face him till you've had your fill, then come back to me. Don't let him see your beautiful face though. Not quite yet. I will be watching from here." The man finished as his hands cupped the woman's head and he pulled her for a kiss on the mouth, to which the woman still didn't respond at all to.

The man then pointed at the capsule which opened in response to his hand motion, and finally the woman reacted by stepping into the capsule. "I know you'll do a good job my deary, but if you can really shake Alex up I'll reward you tonight. What do you think of that?" Still no answer. The capsule closed and the elderly man looked at his watch. 5 minutes till drop. This was going to be fun to watch.

Lazu saw the message the teacher had put up for the survival class which he was interested in as he sat there on his scroll in his dorm. He put on his armour got his sword and strapped it onto his back. He opened the door to his room and he used his speed and sped out through the corridors past people wind flying behind him and he ran to the forest to meet the teacher. This would be Lazu's first class so he wanted to make a good impression. Lazu noticed the obstacle course the teacher had set up in the middle of the forest and he stopped himself and skidded to a halt behind the teacher sliding along the ground a little bit. "so are you the one who is tacking the class today? also what are we going to be doing in the survival class?" Lazu drew his sword ready for what ever he had to do.

“…nah I’m fine.” Hyght said nasally as he held a dark red rag to his nose. “It’s hardly the first time you’ve blooded by schnoz.” Though the portly baker used humor, the senior student’s face took on a more woeful expression. Hyght noticed the sour look on his face and playfully introduced his shoe to Bart’s shin. “Stop it. You don’t get to feel bad for hitting me like I deserve for leaving myself open…again.”  The blooded cook felt a small pop in his nose and let out a moan as relief washed over him.  

After a moment Bart nodded though he didn’t seem convinced. “I just hate how carried away I get at times.” He said and absently rubbed at his shin. “You’re improving though. Slowly but surely improving.”

Hyght sighed and climbed to his feet. “Bart, relax. I’m fine. It’s good you don’t hold back much. I’m not a good fighter and to be a hunter I have to get good at it. Someone’s life may depend on it someday. ”

“True but still, I damn near broke your nose last time and your wrist the time before that.” It was noticeable how bothered Bart was by this and Hyght wasn’t in the mood to try and console him. The pudgy youth felt annoyed by all the complaining and remorse Bart was going on about. They were quiet for a few breaths before a faint buzz drew Hyght’s attention toward his scroll. Without word he stalked to his scroll and opened the device. The scroll parted, revealing an approximately six inch translucent screen that showed him the icon of his email, an old envelope with an exclamation point that blinked over it.

The scroll gave off an inaudible vibration when his finger pressed the icon. The envelope opened and a digital letter popped on his screen. He read it with mild confusion and looked at the name of the sender. “Hey, who’s Alexander Davis?” Bart thought for a moment before his eyes widened in acknowledgement of a memory.

“That’s the grounds keeper and, I guess you could call him a survival instructor.” Bart answered with a single shoulder shrug. “I’ve met with him around campus couple times but I haven’t had many classes with him. Why?” Hyght read the message off to Bart, whom shrugged again. “Maybe he somehow sent it to you by mistake?”

Hyght took his turn to shrug but shook his head. “Doubtful.” He peered at the letter for a few more moments before he closed it. “Whatever. I’ll go check it out anyway.” He said and began scooping up his gear.

Bart leveled an appraising look at the boy and cocked an eyebrow at him. “You’re exhausted and your Aura is already near half and you had P.E. before this.” Bart made a gesture with his hand. “You need to take time and relax, man. You’re doing an awful lot of physical training. Does this have to do with that dream? How much sleep have you gotten lately?”

“No it's not and it's none of your business!” Hyght snapped, his tone ablaze with hot fire, and quickly regretted it. Bart’s expression had changed to one of a neutral mask but his eyes were a strange mix of care yet hard resolve. They reminded Hyght of the eyes of Bart’s father, Professor Samos.  A groan of frustration later and Hyght poured some water on his red rag and cleaned away the dried blood from his face. “Later.” He stubbornly said and left Bart to go see Alexander Davis .

Hearing foot steps, Alex glanced over his shoulder to see three students approaching the area that he was setting up the obstacle course for class.  They were widely spaced apart so clearly they were arriving individually instead of arriving as a group so Alex guessed that they weren't friends.  The first one to reach the obstacle course was a faunus of some sort though Alex couldn't exactly place what type of faunus this young man was.  However he was moving quite quickly so clearly he had some sort of speed semblance or his aura gave him extra speed.  That would come in handy for this young man, hands down.  He was also arriving armed so clearly he was ready.  When the young man finally skidded to a halt and asked him a couple of questions, Alex smiled before replying.  "Dang you're quick, but yes I'm the survivalist professor, Alexander Davis.  This class I'm going to be having move through this obstacle course so you can get familiar with a variety of different terrains that aren't on this island.  Afterwards I'm going to be instructing you all on how to track Grimm.  The class is going to end with you all getting a chance to try out your new tracking skills by trying to track down the semblance constructs I'm going to make."

The professor then glanced over to see a rather familiar face.  It was Kei, a student that Alex had gone on a few hunts with.  The young man was very capable on the battlefield even though he normally fought unarmed.  His choice of weapons were great for mixing the battle up but not really for head on combat... unless he had upgraded his weapons.  The guy did have a new belt that looked like it held some sort of weapon array but he was a little too far to get a good look at the belt.  Since Kei had chosen to stand off to the side Alex chose to give the man his space, only acknowledging his presence by giving the cloaked man a respectful nod.

The last person that was arriving, another young man, was a distance away yet so Alex really couldn't tell who it was.  Because of this he turned back to the only student that was close by, Lazu.  "You're really early by the way.  Class isn't starting for another hour.  So if you want you can relax a bit." Alex said as he tossed a couple of seeds onto the ground and soon the grew into several different types of trees and produced several different types of fruit, ranging from apples to oranges to pears.  Vines had grown around the trees as well, yielding both red and green grapes, strawberries, razz berries, and a few other fruits.  "Help yourself."


The suited man smiled as he watched the countdown till the pod that the female ninja was in dropped from the airship.  There was only 30 seconds left on the timer.  In truth he was having trouble waiting for the countdown to hit zero, but he had to wait.  Deploy too soon and Alex would have time to prepare himself for combat before his pet arrived.  Too late and Alex might get caught int the shock wave of the pod landing and get killed by it, and he needed Alex alive for his dream to become a reality.  He was so close he could taste it... but he had to make sure that his pet could capture Alex first.  So first things first; test his pet's current capabilities against Alex, make the needed changes to her so she could beat him, then send her back again to spy on Alex to see if there was anyway to lure him into a trap.  Then finally, lure Alex to the trap and have his pet capture him.  It was a brilliant plan, and he had even provided his pet a means to put Alex in an unease state so she could escape if he was going to overwhelm her today.  At the last second the suited man remembered something and turned to looked back at the table next to the pod, where he had set down a device that looked like a flute.  He quickly grabbed it, opened the pod, shoved the flute into the woman's belt, and closed the pod before he could drop with his hands inside of it.  "Almost forgot to give you your trump card my dear!"

5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

"Drop!" he commanded, and the pod dropped from the airship and headed towards the forest below.  With a smile the man looked through a pair of binoculars to see how Alex would react to hearing his pet approach... only to see that he wasn't alone after all!  "Oh dear... I didn't expect this..."


The pod hit the ground half a mile away from Alex and the rest of the students with a massive thud that could be heard nearly a mile away and it shook the ground enough to make everyone at the obstacle course lose their footing.  Even Alex nearly fell to his knees from it.  "What the hell was that?!" he exclaimed as he looked around, but saw only an airship circling overhead and a plume of dust expanding upwards towards the south.  The trees and dust in the distance made it difficult for Alex to see what had happened, but his gut told him it wasn't good.

A moment later Alex started to hear something coming from the dust cloud, but it was the last thing he had expected to hear; music.  Or to be more specific a [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7AFnFGGBus]flute song[/color] that Alex had tried to forget.  "That tune... I know it.  Last time I heard that was..." Alex's voice trailed off as he turned pale.  The last time he heard it was almost six years ago... when his world had turned into a nightmare.

as Lazu skidded to a halt and the teacher made his comment he smiled at the teacher and nodded at him and Lazu thought the training course looked really cool with all the vines making up all of the course itself. Lazu understood it had something to do with the teachers semblance where he can control plants. "oh I didn't realise I was early I sorta shot of at speed this morning" he laughed and then he looked around awkwardly with the other students. He thought the most fun part sounded like the tracking down Grimm part which he wondered how they would do that and if they were going to kill some or capture some.He noticed the teacher used seeds to make the vines grow which meant that he had a limited number of them which was something to note for if they ever fought. He noticed the grapes and other fruit that grew on the tree and when the teacher said help yourselves Lazu said thank you to the teacher and picked of some grapes and ate them.

Lazu was thankful there was hardly any snow anymore because he hated it due to the fact it melted and turned to water on you when it hits you and he hated water too. Lazu had noticed Kei was there who he had been on hunts with before and he just noded at Kei and said "sup" and there was someone else there who he hadn't met before but who he would probably get to know soon enough. Lazu found it nice that he could relax for a bit and he decided to lay down on the grass for a while and as he sat his cat tail moved back and forth calmly and his ears twitched. Lazu noticed there was another guy coming up to the class in the distance and as he came closer towards them Lazu asked "so who might you be then?" curious to know who the other guy was coming up.

Then all of a sudden he looked up and saw the pod crash into the ground and it shook the ground so violently from about a mile away as he tried to stand up to get on his feet again he wobbled.So it seemed like the course idea was going to have to wait. He pulled out his rapier sword but waited to see what the teacher would do first. "what are we going to do sir do you have any clue what that was?" Lazu could have easily shot of at speed to investigate the pod but it would probably be stupid to go running off without the others.

Hyght's journey to find Alexander Davis led him to the thickly wooded forest that surrounded the Academy. "Finnek Forest." Hyght breathed wordlessly, his eyes fixated on the dark shadows of the tree line. "Friggin' figures." He ground his teeth and forced his hands into his jacket pockets with more force than necessary. The green hooded sweater he wore hugged his rounded frame as the wind blew and caused his eyes to water. He blinked several times before he wiped away the tears. He continued walking toward the forest for nearly ten minutes before he found a small clearing that had been claimed by some green and brown structures. Around the structures were three people though he was too far to make out much detail of any of them. He had hope that one of them was the man that had mistakenly sent him that email.

The portly baker was only a few yards from the trio by the time a man made a tossing gesture and, mere breaths later, had successfully grown his own orchard and vineyard. Hyght found his feet stuck in mid stride which placed his balance off and gave him a very surprised look to his body language. He was speechless for a few breaths of his own before he took another step. Or would have if the earth hadn't suddenly trembled and stolen his balance from him. The heavyset trainee met with the grass below and felt the unexpected impact knock the wind from his body.

Hyght's head jerked from the green field in his surroundings. He took notice of all three of the others had met the same fate he had, however, they were already moving again. After a moment he climbed to his feet and took notice of two of the people with their eyes skyward. Hyght's followed suit and he noted the airship and a grey trail of smoke or dust that wafted upward. Despite his weariness Hyght slid his simple round shield from his back and into his right hand and used his left to draw his gladius style sword. The action had become a well rehearsed motion over the past two months with almost no sign of novice-like hesitation in the movements now. The young baker would have felt that as an improvement but the sudden tremor and lack of any real sleep had clouded the revelation.

"What the hell was that?!" Hyght called in synchronized confusion as he shuffled briskly over toward the man whom made the food. The man was younger than Hyght had originally thought, he was perhaps in his early to mid twenties, though there was something about the look in his eyes that made him categorize him as older-than-he-looks. Hyght's eyes scanned the man for a moment and given the ability to grow plants as he had mere moments before and the class being Survival, he took a gamble and place this man as Alexander Davis.

Alexander had no weapon that Hyght could see but that hardly meant anything as he'd seen many weapons that folded from small objects or would spring forth from the emptiness of someone's sleeve. Near Alexander was a young looking boy with dark ears atop his equally colored head. A Faunus then. A slight twinge of worry tried to take root in Hyght's belly but the baker ignored it. The Faunus boy had a slim blade in his hand that Hyght recognized as a rapier, a weapon used primarily for thrusting though he had seen some with a edge to their slim blades.

"Professor, I hope this was part of your plan today." He said with mild sarcasm and took notice of the look on the Professor's face, a haunted expression that gave no warmth to Hyght's gut. The look on his face seemed to be due to the sound of a flute, though it was somewhat difficult to hear through the thick trees. "Professor?"

Alexander kept his eyes locked in the direction of the dust cloud and the source of the playing flute. The song that was being played was tugging at what had once been Alex's most wonderful memories of his life but were now only a source of pain of what he had lost and a reminder of the worst day of his life. Shutting his eyes and quickly shaking his head to get his mind focused again, Alex glanced over at the faunus student that had come and then over at the 3rd student that had arrived early for class. This new student was another one Alex didn't recognize, though he was glad to see the young man was ready for a battle if it came to that. "No... I have no idea what that was, nor did I plan this..." he stated flatly to answer both students' questions at the same time. Rolling his right shoulder, Alex glanced in the direction of the expanding dust cloud that was now starting to fade. "On one hand it could be a new student that reeeeally likes to make an entrance. In which case I'll simply tell 'em to not startle us like that again." Alex began as his aura truly came to life in the form of an emerald glow that fluttered around him like swirling leaves.

"However there is a possibility that we could have a trouble maker... in which case..." Alex let his actions finish his sentence as he took the metal backpack of his shoulders and transformed it into his weapon Oblivinator, a duel-headed meteor hammer that had spheres that were 2 feet in diameter. "Just take a deep breath guys. You've earned the right to be called huntsmen. If it comes to it we'll fight together against this threat. However if it does get bad enough I'll cover you all while you three head back to the academy." Alex stated calmly as he stood with his feet a shoulder's length apart and his knees slightly bent.

Soon a single figure walked out of the diminishing dust cloud, or the cloud had vanished enough for the group of huntsman to see through it. Clearly a woman, though she was completely clad in black from head to toe so nothing of her was visible. The only features of her that were identifiable was the flute tucked into her belt and a katana strapped to her back, which she then drew to reveal a golden blade that seemed have a slit going down the middle of the blade so it looked more like two katana blades sitting side by side. Alex was about to ask the woman a question but he was cut off before he could even open his mouth... by the woman seeming to rush forward almost faster then his eyes could track, vanishing into the forest.

Glancing down at the ground, Alex let out a sigh. "Alright, quick tracking lesson; while in a forest it's common for the leaves you step on to get flipped over when you lift your foot. Since the underside of leaves are normally damp while the upper side is try, you can follow someone's trail by following the trail of turned over leaves. Broken twigs are another way to identify a trail." Alex quickly said as his eyes scanned the area, but he didn't see any sign of the woman. Then a leaf fell down and floated in front of the huntsman with the sword and spear, which made Alex look up. "Up."

Sure enough, there up in the trees was the ninja that had arrived in such spectacular fashion, and she wasn't moving though she did have her weapon poised to strike at either him or one of the students with a drop attack. "If you came here to take the class you're giving the wrong impression." Alex stated calmly while moving so he would be the one directly under her instead of someone else. If he was the target then no one else would be. The woman didn't answer. Alex couldn't even tell if she was breathing, but considering that the only way she could stay on that branch she was on was to maintain balance so she was clearly alive. "Spread out. Let me be the target." Alex muttered under his breath to the students. He wasn't sure what the faunus and the sword & shield student were capable of, but he knew that Kei was very capable. If a battle broke out he could depend on him. For now though it seemed to be a waiting game since the woman was just staring at them from her perch, not moving and not speaking, but constantly at the ready to attack.


Up in the circling airship, the suited man was standing by a TV screen to watch what as happening, and frowned. "So much for surprising him. Clearly his tracking skills haven't diminished at all. Plan B then..."

Kei

The sudden loud crash and shaking of the ground caught Kei off guard, causing him to lose his footing a bit. In order to avoid stumbling to the ground, Kei had to reach out with one of his hands and prop himself against a tree. Kei looked off in the direction of the crash to make out what the origin of the noise and tremor was, but the thick treeline made it impossible to view something that far away. The crash was then followed by unrecognized flute tune. The tune grew louder as if someone was approaching them while playing the song. Kei wasn't sure what to make of the situation, and quickly glanced around at the others who were there in the training field with him. All of them seem just as perplexed as he. Kei notinced that Alex's face was pale, almost as if he knew something terrible was on it's way. Wondering what Alex would have to say about the whole situation, Kei got closer with the rest of the group. Alex went on to explain his two theories of who caused the large crash, either a student or an enemy. Kei was pretty sure it was the second theory. There was something about the whole situation, some kind of gut feeling he had that something bad was going to happen. "Sorry," Kei casually replied to Alex when he told Kei and all of the other students to retreat if things turn extremely bad, "I'm afraid I can't just ditch if things are turning a tad bit sour. You see, I really need the credit for this class." It was very brief, but suddenly a woman clad in black with an odd katana revealed herself. Judging from the flute on her belt, Kei assumed she was the cause of the tune earlier. Suddenly, just as quickly as she appeared, the woman in black disappeared. She seemed to be crazy fast, as Kei hadn't the slightest idea where she disappeared to, and he completely lost sight of her movements in that one moment. Alex began turn the situation into a lesson with tracking from leaves. Kei was only half paying attention though, the rest of his mind was focused on where the woman in black went and just who she was. An Exalted Officer? Kei thought to himself. She definitely gave off that impression. It didn't make sense to him though. What would the Exalted want from them? Kei shook his head. He was beginning to get ahead of himself. He didn't even know what the woman in black wanted, much less who she was. She could have been anyone. Like maybe Alex's angry ex-wife, or- At that moment, cutting Kei off mid-thought, Alex said 'up', and Kei changed his focus to up in the trees where the woman in black stood. Her weapon was drawn at the group, making it quite clear she had hostile intentions. "I'm going to have to be blunt about this," Kei started with fear in his tone to the rest of the group, "I'm getting serious bad vibes about this. That being said, I'm out! Best of luck to you guys." With that, Kei turned tail and ran, retreating from the battle before it even started. In actuality though, Kei completely faked his fear. He was trying to make it seem like he was running from the battle. His goal was to take himself out of the picture for the woman in black. He wasn't the type of person who believed in fair fights. He believed in winning fights. He acted from the shadows. From a distance, Kei would be able to observe the flow of the battle. With this advantage, he could strike whenever he wanted, whenever there was opening, taking the woman by surprise. Appearing like he was running away, once Kei disappeared from in the treeline away from the soon to ensue battle, he used his weighted wire system on his belt to quickly hoist himself up onto a sturdy tree branch high up in the tree. From here, he would have clear sight of whatever was going on in the distance. He was bit too far away to do anything from here, but if a battle did begin to happen, he should be able to move closer avoiding detection. He was assuming that the woman in black would be too distracted to pay attention to what was going on high in the trees of the forest.

Mood: Casual, Combat Focused Condition: Healthy Health: 190 Aura: 150

Character Profile

Status, Health, Aura, Equipment Conditions:

Damage:

[OOC: Sorry for the kinda late post. Hope you don't mind me jumping back in.]

Lazu waited as the pod lay there and he scoffed at the teachers comments to say it may be a new student to say "as if" to the teachers comments on it being a new student because why the hell would a new student arrive in a pod that just wouldn't happen. He didn't like the teachers idea of running away while the teacher covers them as 4 on whatever it was would be a better chance than 1 on whatever was coming for them. "sir 4 on 1 seems more practical to me than us all retreating".

Lazu saw the pod open and the mist and dust faded away. A woman stepped out and she wore all clad and she appeared to have a katana sword.  "who is that do you know her mr Davis?" he asked then all of a sudden the woman ran off into the forest which was shocking considering she made such a dramatic entrance. Something was off there was an uneasy vibe to the area. He watched as the teacher drew his weapon but then lowered it as she ran off. "well that was anticlimactic". He still held his sword in one hand and got ready to use his speed if need be."so we are just going to ignore the woman who ran off mysteriously into the forest not chase her down or something and just let her attack us first?" he asked the teacher.

he listened as the teacher continued on with the class and took notes in his mind but it was still clear the teacher was pretty shook up about it all but he wanted himself to be the target as well. He noticed the one known as Kei run off and retreat "hey where are you going Lazu called out to Kei "it's a bit bold to run off after what just happened" but it was clear the guy probably couldn't hear him by now and he was long gone. Lazu

"Were this a new student I'd give them extra credit for the entrance." Hyght muttered as Alexander slipped his metallic looking backpack form his shoulders and activated it. The bag shifted and changed its shape and after a series of movements, that Hyght didn't track, two large spheres hung from a chain that the Professor held in his hands. This was a new one for Hyght, as he'd never seen a weapon shift from a backpack-like appearance before. For a moment he wondered how the transformation could happen and what sort of specifications were for it. He listed a couple of ideas in his head in the span of time it took for him to breath but was soon ripped away from his fascination and tossed back into the reality of their precarious situation.

Alexander offered them some words and a plan if things went south. Hyght was somewhat conflicted by the feels he had. On one hand he knew he wasn't experienced enough to really provide much help if the new arrival were a major threat. However, he didn't come to Syne to run from threats. As Hyght's moral dilemma roiled within him the new arrival appeared through the parting dust. Clad in tightly fitting black cloth, similarly to those of a shinobi from the old stories and holovids, the newcomer slowly walked toward them. Hyght took notice the way the newcomer moved, obviously a woman Hyght's libido noted, of the hilt of the sword on her back and the end of the scabbard that peeked from the side of her hip. "That seems impractical." He stated and watched in mild surprise as the new arrival pulled the blade from its station with ease. "How did she..." Hyght's words stalled in his throat as the woman all but vanished before his eyes.

The Faunus boy remarked of how "anticlimactic" the last scene was. Hyght wasn't exactly sure what he meant as he was still wondering where the woman had vanished to. It wasn't until the Professor finished his bit of fun fact information and spoke a direction that Hyght saw the new arrival. She was poised to engage, her sword's blade was a the color of gold and with the way the split in it was, it gave off the optical illusion that it was two sword blades side-by-side. While Hyght found that also impractical, if she was somehow able to unsheathe a blade that length from across her back, then he couldn't doubt her ability to make the impractical effective. Hyght froze in place, his eyes never moving from the perched opponent. Fear tried to take hold, much like the worry as earlier, but failed to find traction. Hyght felt far too weary for his fear to hold him but anger was a different substance.

The Faunus boy addressed the other student, whom had apparently turned and ran. Hyght didn't know him nor was he important right now. All that mattered was that he remember his training. With his legs kept in a relaxed state the portly baker did as the Professor instructed and gave him space and though he know he moved away from the woman's forward line of sight, he swore he could still feel the subtle weight of her gaze upon him. Hyght may had been exhausted and angry and inexperienced but his instincts were telling him to be on higher guard than normal.

Hyght made sure to keep his limbs relaxed as tight muscles led to fatigue and he already had more of that than he cared to admit. As he side stepped from the woman's frontal vision he felt a soft patch of earth shift beneath his sneaker and he lost his footing. Hyght's leg twisted as his knee hit the ground and, in the surprise of the fall, his eyes tore from the woman.

When Alex had mentioned that he would act as the distraction if worst came to worst so the rest of them could run, he had expected them to question him, or maybe frown but would agree because he was the professor after all. However the response was unanimous; a flat out no came from all three huntsmen. The response made Alex smile. "I expected nothing less from huntsmen." he said with a nod, then turned to face their opponent... whom was clearly not a student attempting to make a grand entrance for class. The situation was a curious one to say the least as Alex started to put pieces together that he had on hand; the woman was clearly here to cause trouble, that was a given. She showed up an hour before Alex class was suppose to start so for what ever reason she was here she had planned it around a time in where he would've been alone under normal circumstances. It was quite possible that Alex was the target but the question was clearly a why. Yeah he stopped many villains in the past so outside of Bellmuse he had a handful of enemies, but who would know that he was here? None of them. Besides, this person had revealed herself while playing a song that Alex held close to his heart, so clearly they knew something personal about him too. There was only one way that Alex was gonna get answers; defeating this woman and capturing her alive.

He had one thing going for him though; she had attacked when Alex would've been alone when in fact he wasn't, so this ninja came only prepared for him. The element of surprise was gone now and she was outnumbered 4 to 1, so she was cornered up in that tree. Or at least it was 4 to 1m then Kei decided to tuck tail and run! Having fought along side the man several times Alex had a good grasp of his personality; the man wasn't a coward. That was so unlike him! Either the guy saw something that Alex didn't, or his retreat was a ruse. Either way Alex had to stay focused on his opponent... so why was he started to get a bad feeling in his legs?

Another leaf fluttered down around the woman perched in the tree and when it seemed to brush pass her, Alex saw the stem of the leaf partly vanish and the leaf's falling path remained constant when it should've bumped off of her. It was such a small thing that anyone would've missed, and Alex had almost missed it, but Kei's sudden action had made Alex weary of everything instead of just the woman. [color=green]Wha... Alex thought, then he quickly looked down when he realized the feeling his was getting in his legs was most prominent in the soles of his feet. The ground was vibrating. "S**T!!" Alex yelped as he jumped backwards while growing vines from his belt that wrapped around the waists of Hyght and Lazu to pull them back as well.

Before even a split second of jumping backwards the ground that the three men had been standing on seemed to explode as the masked ninja jumped out of the ground. Her golden katana seemed to have split into a 'V' shape and were spinning rapidly, making it seem like a golden tornado is what was connected to the hilt that the woman held instead of a split blade katana. Her weapon could convert into a type of drill. Alex quickly glanced up, thinking the woman had some sort of illusion semblance, only to see that what had been the woman up in the trees flicker and vanish to reveal a small hovering device that seemed to have some sort of holographic projector on it. The professor was now wondering that when the woman's pod landed on the ground she had started to borrow right away and it had been another hologram that the group of huntsmen had seen earlier... which would explain how she just took of so quickly and vanishing without leaving tracks. Looks like Kei's bad feeling was on the mark.

Alex quickly looked back at the woman, the real one this time, as her weapon stopped spinning but was still in a V shape. The woman lunged at Alex with the weapon poise for his neck to get caught within the V, and he quickly leaned backwards to avoid what he expected to come. While this was happening Alex's semblance vines let go of the two huntsmen he had rescued. Sure enough the two blades swiftly came together the same way a scissor would've, stopping when they were barely a hair's breath apart so the two katana blades were now back to back, making it look more like a broad sword with a gap down the middle then a katana. At this angle Alex could see the blades slip into a locking meganisum so they would stay in that spot. That weapon of hers was getting weirder and weirder, but on the other hand it was keeping Alex off balance.

Instead of standing back up though Alex continued to go backwards, turning his leaning back dodge into a backflip kick, but he missed his opponent since she had moved on to attack Lazu while spinning like a ballerina with the weapon extended, so she had slashed at him at least twice while she spun around, followed by darting to the side and passed Alex to deal a horizontal slash at Hyght. Alex punched the right sphere of his meteor hammer, sending it straight at the woman's shoulder but she jumped backwards to avoid the hit... however she had left herself wide open when she landed as Alex quickly pulled his weapon back to his side with one good yank.

Ninja's stats:

he watched the girl with the sword and he noticed it was 3 on 1 now instead of 4 on 1 with Kei gone. He wondered if Kei really retreated and ran off or if he had plans of his own. He held his sword as he saw the woman up in the tree sitting there then all of a sudden he felt the ground start to shake "what the?" Lazu said confused. Then all of a sudden Mr davis swore and he used some vines which grabbed him by the waist and they pulled him back out of the way and the very spot he stood on exploded which shook Lazu a bit. The only thought that was running through his head was I nearly died.

He shook it of and he drew his sword and saw the woman with the golden sword which appeared to be a katana and noticed it was spinning fast and it had a v shape to it. Then it stopped spinning. He also noticed the girl in the trees had gone and had been an illusion or a hologram. He saw the device hovering above and wondered if Mr Davis and the girl had met before. He saw the v shaped sword form back into 1 blade and wondered why this girl was attacking them.

He saw the woman try to attack Mr Davis then she tried to attack him and she span like a ballerina and sliced at him 2 times and as she did he used his sword and he slashed away her sword after the first attack then he rolled out of the way of the second.

The moment Hyght's knee met with the ground something slender yet strong wrapped around him and he was pulled from the ground. Gravity was a Law that should almost always be followed. Almost. As Hyght soared through the air for a moment he saw the soft earth, of where he had been, erupt like a volcano. Bits of grass, clumps of dirt, and a cloud of dust blanketed the area. The golden sheen of the Shinobi's weapon stood out in bright contrast to the muted, more earthy tones of nature. As the rotary weapon slowed, Hyght noticed the strange diagonal positions of the blades that formed a V. It would take little effort for them realize the new arrival's weapon was able to become a drill. This fascinated and worried the young baker.

In almost the same instant as her blades slowed to a stop, the woman was on the attack once again. Her acceleration from a dead stop surprised Hyght and drove conscious thought from his mind. Their opponent bypassed Hyght and the Faunus boy and focused on the Professor. She moved with grace that likes Hyght had seen a small number of times. He wasn't sure when, but he soon realized the feeling of the strong, slender object that wrapped around him was gone. He took that time to scramble to his feet. A sharp sound of metal scraping against metal filled the air and drew Hyght's eyes to see the golden blades snap together before they locked into a double edged sword. Though impressed, Hyght brought his shield up in preemptive defense of the Shinobi.

The professor had avoided the attacker's blade and attempted a kick as he dodged but was unsuccessful as the Shinobi changed her target. With a graceful execution of a pirouette she brought the golden weapon in two powerful attacks against the Faunus boy. With more skill than Hyght though the boy might have, he parried the first blow and narrowly dodged the second. Hyght watched as her arms extended and pulled back, bringing the sword back into her controllable zone of attack and once again surprised the young man with her amazing speed from a dead stop. Hyght had been farther away from the professor than the other boy had been but that seemed to matter little to the tenacious and unyielding attacker. In the span of a breath she had crossed the distance between them and Her sword draw across her in a horizontal strike.

Hyght had little time to react but his earlier act, to make ready his shield, had saved him a grievous wound. The blow he received bit into the metal of his rounded shield and tore a gouge from its right flank. Had she not leaped away she might have committed further with her attack. However, her dodge had made the sphere head of the professor's meteor hammer connect with Hyght's shield. The blow was lessened by Alex countering the momentum of the heavy weapon by pulling back against it. Hyght could feel his arm trembling in horrible response to the woman's attack. She had tremendous power in her strike and whatever he weapon was made out of made his shield seem only a fraction more effective than paper.

Run. You can't stand up to this woman. You're not ready! Hyght's fear was starting to fight his weariness for control again as his life had become threatened. Despite his strength of will, Hyght could feel his legs shaking. However, he clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes at the woman. After all, he came here knowing his life would be on the line. And after all, there was no take backs on the battle field he had realized.

When the woman had attacked the two students that had remained with the professor, Alex was relieved to see that both students were capable of fending off the attacker's blows, however neither of them had tried to counter attack. It wasn't as if her blows were too much to handle, in fact Alex had momentary forced her guard down that both huntsmen could've taken advantage of. To his surprise though, neither young man tried to go on the offensive. All in all that might of been smart on their part, however after seeing a hint of fear in the eyes of Hyght Alex was wondering if this whole battle was going to be him trying to fight off this woman while trying to protect the lives of others that couldn't stand up against this woman. She was clearly skilled and had a good weapon... the only question was how skilled.

There was a quick way to find that out though. Before the woman could go back on the attack Alex shifted his grip on Oblivinator so he was holding the weapon right where the chains attached to the spheres, where small handles were located. Alex pressed a button on the right sphere's handle, causing the sphere to open like a blooming flower to reveal the minigun housed inside. The minigun extended to it's full size of three feet long and two feet wide, it started to spin and Alex open fired at the ninja woman. Instead of trying to dodge the wall of bullets coming towards her the woman started to swing her golden sword at blinding speeds, blocking each individual bullet as they flew at her. Alex kept firing with the right hand minigun and let out an unpleasant grunt. The woman kept deflecting all of the bullets but she was pinned down. The woman was very skilled, to the point that Alex now knew that the students that stood next to him wouldn't stand a chance... unless...

"We work as a team and we can get her... but if you two don't think you can handle this battle then stand back." Alex stated flatly, now wishing he knew where Kei was. He wasn't a man that would run from a fight, but the odds here stunk if Alex had to protect these two huntsmen by himself. The woman suddenly jumped into the air while transforming her weapon back into drill mode, and kept deflecting bullets until she was underground. Alex stopped firing and turned Oblivinator back into meteor hammer form, but smiled. "Nope! Seen that trick!" he stated as he held out a hand to the orchard and obstacle course he had recently grown and they all turned back into seeds before growing down into the ground as a complex root system that expanded towards the group of huntsmen, making the entire ground glow with emerald light. However there was one spot where the ground was it’s normal color but thanks to the glowing ground it seemed as so something was casting a shadow onto the ground there, but there was nothing to cast it. It was the ninja underground; where ever she was Alex’s roots couldn’t go. She was still burrowing underground, but thanks to the fact that where ever she was the ground wasn’t glowing, those on the surface could clearly see where she was.

”You might be capable of underground combat, but I wrote the book on it!” with that Alex dove at the ground as if he was diving head first into water, but before he hit the ground the roots his semblance had grown into the ground opened up a tunnel for him to dive into, and the moment he was underground the roots pulled the dirt back into place so the tunnel was gone. From above ground it was easy to tell where Alex was as well since the ground was glowing even brighter where he was. Underground though Alex was inside a root that was burrowing through the ground, and he had some leaves wrapped around his mouth and nose to provide him with oxygen. It took him a bit of concentration, but Alex could sense the location of all of his semblance plants, thus allowing him to tell where the ninja was since she had to cut through his plants to continue to borrow underground with her drill sword. Smiling, Alex turned his burrowing root to the right and readied Oblivinator, holding each sphere where the chains connected to the spheres. After going that way for a few seconds Alex saw the emerald glow around him fade on his right side, and a moment later he thrusted outward with Oblivinator on that side. CLANK! Alex hit something that wasn’t made of dirt, wood, or rock… but metal.

Above ground, the bright emerald glow that was Alex was weaving through the ground as easily as fish takes to water, while the dark shadow that showed the ninja’s location seemed to be stopping before changing directions, clearly having trouble burrowing through the root filled earth. Suddenly the glow that represented Alex veered to the right and headed straight for the dark shadow of the ninja. Alex’s glow passed the ninja on the right side, the ground seemed to get pushed upwards, and then the dark shadow of the ninja seemed to be moving across the ground away from the glow that represented Alex. The professor had their attacker on the run! She wasn’t expecting a counter-attack from underground while she was down there!

Up in the airship, the well dressed man was watching and his jaw fell. ”What?! How is that possible? Alex is out digging my pet! It would seem as though Alex hasn’t lost his touch after all.” the man grumbled, but then he smiled. ”Well, at least that means when he helps me accomplish my dream he won’t have any trouble in doing so…”


Meanwhile the glow that showed where Alex was had headed off the ninja underground and slammed into her again, and again, and again. Alex wasn’t just out borrowing the ninja, he was completely owning the battle while it remained underground. The ninja didn’t stand a chance. This was all confirmed when Alex slammed into the ninja one final time, resulting in the ground exploding and the woman was thrown out of the resulting hole, propelled by the metal sphere that was stuck to her stomach, and slammed into a tree where she and that end of Oblivinator fell to the ground roughly 15 yards to the left of where the other two student huntsmen had been standing. The woman just laid there for a moment as the metal sphere was pulled back into the hole by its chain. A large root grew out of the ground and bloomed open like a flower to reveal Alex without a speck of dirt on him. ”And that’s how you root out a problem.” he joked as he walked out of the open root while several tiny roots closed up the hole that was in the ground which happened again when the massive root shrank back into the ground. The glow in the ground shrunk till it was right under Alex feet as he pulled away his complex root system made by his semblance, and then 7 vines shot out of the ground around him and connected to his magic belt where there were holders for his seeds. The vines pulled themselves out of the ground and retracted into Alex’s belt, turning back into seeds.

The woman was still on the ground and was moving slightly so she was clearly alive, but possibly to stunned or too hurt to get up. However Alex didn’t wait for her to get back up, using a vine that grew out from his left hand to grab her drill sword, yank it out of her hands, and pull it back towards him so it’s hilt landed in his left hand. The woman was disarmed, but Alex was still on edge. I practically took her apart down there, but here on the surface she had me on the defensive the whole time. Why does this feel like a trap? Alex thought.