Skid the Hedgehog: School Survival/Act 1

== Chapter 1: I’m Late! ==
Our story begins as Skid, one of our protagonists, is oversleeping.
The alarm goes off and Skid would slam his fist on it as he would talk sleepily. "Shut your face, or whatever you have." He'd get up to look at the clock, then have the moment of realization when you know you messed up.
"Oh no..." Skid would say attempting yet failing to contain his worry and fear.
He'd rush to brush his teeth, take a shower, get dressed in his own, specially made gi, and as he was finished with all that, he grabbed his bag and dashed off towards Station Square. He knew that he was late.
Meanwhile, some other students are waiting impatiently for the opening ceremony to start.
“Ugh! Why must we wait much longer?! Don’t these people know to hurry up?!” A fox girl with pyrokinesis would yell.
“Y’know, Andy, maybe they’re preparing the best opening ceremony in Kaio-Ken history!” Another fox girl would reply cheerfully.
Andy crossed her arms and put a sour look on her face.
"Ok, if I transform and get up high enough, I could go as fast as I need to. Especially with only about 10 minutes left." Skid looked at his watch, then proceeded to go Super, and fly up to about cloud level, blasting off towards the academy.
“Look! It’s a bird!” The fox girl shouted.
“It’s a plane!” Another hedgehog shouted.
“Look, Platinum! It’s you if you decided to do something useful!” Andy said as she nudged Platinum’s shoulder.
“That’s not very nice,” Platinum responded.
“Deal with it, dude. I was born and taught like this. We have free will, right?” Andy snickered.
Skid began to decend as he could hear the voices of people down below.
"This has to be it. And I got a few minutes to spare, good for me." Skid would land and return to base form, walking into the crowd to make himself "un-noticed".
“Well, look over here! It’s the new kid!” The fox girl shouted with excitement. “Hi! My name is Rosebud! These are my friends, Platinum, Andy, and Lilly!”
“You’re making me feel left out...” A wolf girl said.
“And this is Eve!” Rosebud continued. “We’re so excited to meet you!”
“Well, they are. Not me,” Andy snarked.
“Yes, you are excited to meet him, too!” Rosebud, Platinum, Lilly, and Eve scolded Andy for her rude comment.
“Sure...nice to meet you.” Andy said sarcastically.
"Well, nice to meet you all too! Name's Skid. Skid the Hedgehog!" Skid would say in his generally cheerful voice.
As soon as that conversation finished, the opening ceremony was finally ready.
“This is so exciting!” Rosebud said cheerfully.
Skid would slowly breathe in then out. "Here we go."
A tall and imposing cheetah in a suit walked onto the stage, cleared his throat, and began projecting the introductory speech in a deep voice.
"Greetings, one and all. It has come time for our new and glorious school year to begin, and for our not-necessarily-as-new but equally glorious students to join in for another round of enhancing the existing powers of our students and developing new ones within them. No matter what one's powers may be, I am sure that all students of eligible age shall find something both enjoyable and invaluable to themselves within our prestigious Kaio-Ken Fighting Academy." He paused for effect, then continued, "And, with all that out of the way, the bus to take you to the school is to the left of the stage and will depart in three minutes. No jostling. Cheerio!"
As the cheetah left the stage, a hedgehog-penguin hybrid student behind Rosebud spoke up, somewhat nervously. "Headmaster Vibratus didn't even tell us his name. How are we supposed to find out who anyone is here if they won't tell us?"
Platinum stared down, not saying anything.
“Well, that’s the fun in getting to know each other! I’m Rosebud! Who are you?” Rosebud greeted, cheerfully as always.
"I'm..." the hedgeguin started, but then stopped, remembering something. "Oh, I'm so sorry, I forgot! I have to go now so I'll catch the bus. Can we talk more on the bus?" The hedgeguin started moving towards the bus, still looking at Rosebud as if awaiting a response. If anyone had been paying attention, they might have seen the hedgeguin's clothes get darker, as though they were in shadow.
”What’s the point of a bus when you can windsurf?” Rosebud asked herself. “Come on, Platinum! Readyyyyyyyy, go!” She threw herself in the air, as Platinum let out his aerokinetic powers.
“That’s impractical,” Lilly stated, “but fun!”
The hedgeguin grinned anxiously. "OK, then I'll talk to you at the school," she said, getting on the bus.
Skid looked in the hedgeguin's direction. "Oh, that must be the bus. Lemme get on before I end up running another marathon." He would go ahead and get on.
==Chapter 2: On the Bus==
The bus driver, seeing that all of the students had either gotten on the bus or flown away, left to go to the school.
On the way to the school, the bus rolled to a halt at a bus stop. The doors opened to allow anyone waiting at the bus stop to get into the bus.
Terra Marvel the Ocelot was very excited as she walked onto the bus. Her large family of eleven (two parents, nine children) were very excited for Terra due to her natural prowess, and her face showed her confidence. She tried not to look arrogant as she sat down and studied her "teammates." I must hope that these people all have skill. I would not like incompetent teammates... but I suppose that's the negativity in me talking. I pray that all of my teammates can carry their weight. Despite her high hopes, looking at the other people of Team Chaos, she wasn't too impressed, because they generally looked like pushovers, but she tried not to judge them on their looks.
Skid would eventually fall asleep, setting an alarm to wake him up when they would arrive.
The bus's doors closed, followed by an announcement coming over the bus's intercom: "Sorry everyone, apparently we're going back to the opening ceremony ground. The Headmaster says that there's another batch of students who he's just finished giving the speech to and who need the bus, so, I need to bring the bus back there. Apologies for the delay."
The hedgeguin looked worried. "There's a definite lack of planning around here," she said. "First the Headmaster didn't tell us his name, then we're turning around the bus mid-trip...Other awake person on the bus, do you know if this is a school for testing reflexes or something like that? I can't figure out how this would work otherwise."
Terra looked at the hedgequin, listening to what she was saying but also studying her. She seems observant, able to come up with conclusions by looking at evidence she already has, but checking with another person to see if their facts line up. She seems useful to our team. "As far as I am aware, the Kaio-Ken Fighting Academy is about learning how to use your skills properly. Testing reflexes might be included in that mix, but that's all I know."
"That makes sense," said the hedgeguin, nodding thoughtfully, "but then I wonder why everyone has so little forethought...I guess I have more forethought than most people, and hindsight is an exact science?" Then the hedgeguin remembered something. "Wait, here I am talking to you, and I haven't even told you my name! My name is..." At the point, the bus rolled to a stop outside the ceremony ground and opened its doors, allowing the next batch of students to get in. The hedgeguin facepalmed in frustration. "Why does this keep happening? Madison. My name's Madison. Got that?"
A dark red female hedgefox wearing a lime green cap, grey jacket, black short pants climbed onto the bus, looking down at her black and red school shoes. At her back was a light blue arctic fox, wearing a galaxy colored jacket, and dark grey boots. The two quickly sat at any empty seats that were available, and rummaged through their backpacks, checking whether they got everything they needed.
Behind the duo, a blue-furred droopy-quilled hedgehog arrived, the temperature lowering by a large amount after she saw the driver. She was wearing a black headband with a white snowflake insignia on it, a short-sleeved purple shirt with large pockets, light-blue leggings, a belt that carried several brown pouches, and she donned white tennis shoes. Mumbling a faint "Hi..." to the driver, Alexia got into her seat, not aware her second cousin Terra was also on the bus.
Skid, who wasn't fully asleep yet, woke up to see the three who just got on. "More students, eh? Just means more potential teammates to me," he had thought with a grin.
The dark red hedgefox looked back, and saw a bunch of talking students, before looking back at the arctic fox beside her. "Hey, Kaiira," she called. "You nervous?" She was answered by a nod, and a sigh.
"Welp, sleepy time for me." Skid would say as this time he would go straight to sleep.
At this point, the final student, a green hedgehog, entered the bus, waving cheerily to the bus's occupants. Turning to the bus driver, she said (lisping slightly), "Bus driver, you can start the bus now. Sorry I took so long; I got stuck in the doorway." She then waved to the other students and sat down as the doors closed and the bus continued on its way to the school.
Madison stared at the hedgehog as she sat down in her seat. "I don't mean to be rude," she said concernedly, "but how did you get stuck in the doorway? I didn't get stuck in the doorway, and I'm not much narrower than you are. Is there something with the bus's doors that needs to be fixed? Are they malfunctioning, maybe due to your elemental power type?" From the look on Madison's face, she was clearly concerned about the hedgehog's well-being and the safety of the bus, not just trying to satisfy her own curiosity.
The hedgehog looked uncomfortable. "There's nothing with the bus," she said, "I'm just...let's say I'm a lot larger than I expected, so the doorway is really hard to get through. I kept banging into the doorframe."
Madison, realizing that she had made a conversational mistake, said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"It's okay," said the hedgehog, her lisp briefly becoming much more pronounced. "Let's talk about something else. Your name's Madison, my name's Milssa, and—hey! Other students on the bus! Who are you?"
Madison whispered to Terra, "How does she know my name?"
"Skid." He'd raise his hand to show where and who he was, but said it in a sleepy voice.
Terra whispered back to Madison, "She must be a telekinetic. Psychics are very useful, but also could be untrustworthy, for they know all of your secrets. If she is a psychic, she could possibly blackmail all of us. I'll proceed with caution - actually, scratch that, I'll ask." Terra looked at the new hedgehog and asked, "Are you a psychic or a telekinetic?"
Milssa looked confused. "I'm not a psychic or a telekinetic," she said.
Madison spoke up: "Then how did you know my name?"
Milssa chuckled. "I couldn't help hearing what you were saying very loudly while I was trying to get into the bus," she said.
Madison looked embarrassed. "Oh, sorry," she said, trying very hard not to audibly reprimand herself for not having noticed that.
"Anyhow," Terra started, completely discarding her previous hypothesis, "My name is Terra Marvel the Ocelot. I have no powers myself, but I am especially gifted in physical ability. I came to this school in order to hone my skills and possibly learn a couple of new ones."
Skid would be in deep thought as he was still conscious enough to hear the conversations of the other students. Almost everyone I've seen has some kinetic ability, he thought. I guess the wisps allow me to do that too but it's just not the same. I doubt that anyone will question me though.
Milssa, not having seen Skid's thoughts (after all, she wasn't a telepath), responded to Terra. "That's funny," she said. "That's almost exactly why I'm here! I have no powers, am unusually good at hand-to-hand combat, and am just here to get better at that! I wonder if we're anomalies..."
Madison, suddenly feeling incredibly awkward (as she herself had superpowers and wasn't sure how to say so without sounding rude towards Milssa), decided not to respond to Milssa.
Skid would finally doze off, dreaming about what or who he might encounter when they get to the school.
== Chapter 3: Disciplinary Actions ==
Platinum would look down as he feels the wind blow across his fur.
“Y’know, this doesn’t seem so bad,” He would say as he made sure that he had enough power to keep going.
“You have to stop thinking negatively, Platinum! Isn’t this the most fun you’ve had in your entire life?” Rosebud asked.
“Yes, it is,” He responded.
Andy would enter deep thought as she was flying for the first time in her life. This reminds me of when I played near the river banks as a child...but how would I end up where I am now? Why am I playing with fire instead of water? What happened? She thought to herself.
As they got near the school, Platinum started to get tired. Eventually, he would become powerless.
“This was a bad idea...” He said with a sigh.
As everyone fell, they all wondered one of two things; if they were going to die, or what the school would be like. Fortunately, they all landed safely, but Platinum fainted due to fatigue. However, someone was waiting for them. A tall, metallic humanoid with a plum-colored robe, four booted legs set at right angles to each other, and a stern expression on his three-eyed head (complete with a mohawk of cobalt-colored hair) strode over to the group. "What do you children think you're doing?" he said, glowering down at them. (Being almost twice as tall as the average member of the group, this was easy for him to do.) "Your misuse of powerful abilities is a direct violation of school policies! If I catch you doing this in the school building, you will be sɔθəŋd post-haste!"
“Y-y-yes, sir!” Lilly and Eve responded.
“Sir, we’ve done this before! We know what we’re doing!” Rosebud said, trying to slip away from the administrator.
Andy facepalmed. “Platinum almost got injured. YOU KNEW IT WAS A BAD IDEA!” She yelled.
“We’re sorry, sir! Gomennasai!” Lilly and Eve begged.
“Will you two stop?” Andy asked in a rude tone. “And why should we listen to him? That one word wasn’t in English or Japanese!”
“Wow, you were really brave to say that IN FRONT OF HIS FACE!!!” Lilly yelled.
“Oh no...” Eve shaked, “what have you done?”
Skid could hear yelling outside of the bus as he overslept and everyone, including the bus driver, had left. He woke up to find what had been the situation outside as he looked out the window. He stepped off the bus, walking towards the administrator and almost immediately regretting his decision.
"Excuse me, if I may," he'd say with a steady voice, unlike his heart, thoughts and nervous system.
“Hi, Skid! Are we blocking your way?” Rosebud asked.
“Looks like we’ve found poets for the next generation!” Lilly said with excitement.
"Not at all," he'd say, staring directly at the administrator looming over them.
The administrator's eyes were spinning in circles. To be precise, spirals had appeared on the displays of the two outer eyes. The central eye had a scrolling bar of text that read: CONTACTING BACKUP PROTOCOL. NULLIFYING KIRK MANEUVER.
Madison, noticing the administrator's plight, walked over to him and tapped him lightly on the arm. "Excuse me, sir," she said, "can I help you with your technical difficulties?"
Exclamation points appeared in the administrator's eyes before they returned to normal. "Never mind," he said. "I believe that I have currently dispensed enough warning for the actions of these rule-defying students. They have all either apologized or completely ignored me—" An image of Andy flashed across his center eye with the ominous caption "ADDED TO LIST" as the administrator continued, "—so I see no purpose in remaining here. I will warn you, however," he said, looming over Andy, "that you must pay attention to the rules! I have now installed backup plans in my short-term access data for dealing with your ilk, and I will be far more prepared next time!" Straightening up, he walked back to the school.
Madison clutched her head. "Why do I feel like he told me that his name was Landon?" she said.
Milssa, who had been heading towards the school, but dodged to the side to avoid banging into the administrator, said, "Maybe he's a telepath?"
A message appeared in the minds of all present: "Indeed, I have telepathic computing abilites. Very observant. Disengaging." The telepathic connection then disappeared.
Madison, confused, looked to the others pleadingly, as if asking for help. Milssa, meanwhile, simply shrugged and continued going to the school.
Am I going to die? Is he gonna murder me? What’s going on? Andy thought. She knew what she said was wrong, yet she doesn’t regret saying it. She felt like what she said gave her a boost of confidence. She headed towards the academy like nothing ever happened.
Rosebud just shrugged. “Eh, alright.”
Terra was already off the bus with her head high, having watched the scene and rolled her eyes on it. Such talent... and they used it for a mere game? There are people who've died because they didn't have that ability, and here you are, using it for your playtime. How immature. Terra walked past them and tried to cut off Landon from his path to the school, about to offer him her hand, but scared he'd be in a bad mood, she decided to just walk past him.
Alexia, meanwhile, was simply walking past the others, the area around her reach forty degrees. Looking down at her feet, she tried to find her second cousin Terra, but she seemed to be talking with a teacher (she just happened to catch Terra walking by Landon, and thus made the assumption). Sighing, Alexia kept walking before noticing the ground she was walking on was turning into solid ice. As Alexia noticed this, she slipped.
Scarlett and Kaiira hopped off the bus, blending in with the crowd, trying to avoid the scene.
Well that guy was being a bit of a prick. I mean, last time I checked, we didn't get any student manual before we came here, and plus it's the first day, so he could do the least and dial it back a bit. Skid would say in rather angered thought although the situation he saw before him wasn't that serious.
Lilly looked down, only to realize that Platinum wasn’t awake. WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP! She thought. “What the hell?! He won’t wake up!” She said.
“Drag him,” Andy responded. “Why not?”
“I’ll gladly carry him!” Rosebud responded, slightly freaking out about what Andy had said.
While Rosebud was carrying Platinum in her arms, Andy, Lilly, and Eve went into the academy. They were looking forward to the future.
No time for that now. I'm here. I'm where I want to be and that's all that matters. Skid would say with a smile on his face.
== Chapter 4: And Up Next Is... ==
As the students headed inside the academy, the headmaster was waiting for them, sitting at a desk. Waving at the students to acknowledge their presence, he said, "Just a minute." He resumed his previous task of shuffling through a large stack of papers, remarking under his breath, "Lots of lines here that don't belong to me."
The headmaster? He must be here for our initiation, Skid would think. I could only guess what's up now. If worse comes to worse, he'll probably push some button and send us all into some hidden underground dungeon as a test. But to test what? Our abilities? Oh, maybe he's doing this to see what we're made of. If that's the case Headmaster, I'll give you a show you'll never forget! He'd think, rather feeling extremely confident.
Alexia sighed before the headmaster spoke, nervous about this as a whole. Why was she, Alexia Clarisse, of all people decided to be in this strange "Awakening Project?" She thought she made it clear she didn't like violence... She guessed that that didn't stop her parents and teachers to see her so-called "potential" and put her in these classes.. What was her potential, anyway? She always felt like a useless hindrance... maybe it was a ploy to up her self-confidence? With a groan, Alexia though If it's that, then it's surely having the opposite effect. I hope Terra is having a good time, at least... She just wanted to go home and watch her favorite anime, but she knew that was simply a fantasy.
Alexia's second cousin definitely was enjoying things, even though she hadn't seen anyone she knew besides Alexia and nothing had really happened yet. Terra was legitimately hyped up for the headmaster's speech, hoping that'd it make her feel confident and powerful. She was going to do well this year. She was going to prove that there was no way she'd disappoint anyone. She'd reach their expectations... then go farther, past the limit. She hoped that by the end of the year, she'd be at least three-quarters as strong as an instructor.
The fiery hedgefox and arctic fox stood next to each other, eyes darting around the place. Scarlett now looked hyped, while Kaiira was still as nervous as ever. The two foxes then walked closer to the headmaster, waiting for what the headmaster had to say. I hope this goes well... Kaiira trembled nervously.
"Good afternoon, new students of the Kaio-Ken Fighting Academy!" Headmaster Vibratus stood from behind his desk and looked around at his students, taking in their nervous and excited faces. "Team Chaos is here. You are the next generation of magical versatility and excellence. You will be held to high standards; you are here to improve. Welcome, Team Chaos!" He paused long enough for a half-hearted round of applause. "And half of Team Chakra is here! You are the future of magical innovation and creativity. You will be continually challenged (starting with being a unique position of limited resources and later having to adapt to new teammates); you are here to open your minds. Welcome, Team Chakra!" He paused again for another smattering of claps. "And, of course, I, Headmaster Vibratus, am here!" he said, grinning, "I am the mastermind behind this truly revolutionary school. I will hold myself to the highest of standards in dealing with the challenges which will inevitably arise in the management of this school. Welcome, me!" This time there was laughter to go along with the applause, and a rumbling of chatter started up as Headmaster Vibratus took a cheeky bow and left the room.
Rosebud was laughing harder than anyone else. I like the headmaster! He’s funny, nice, and cheerful! Wait...that sounds like me! Ha ha, she thought.
Har... Har... Har... Kaiira puffed, fear overwhelming her. Although Scarlett was smirking at the retreating form of the headmaster, Kaiira wasn't very happy at all. Taking tiny steps forwards, the arctic fox held her backpack strap tightly, and moved forwards, Scarlett not far behind her tail. The two wound up exploring the room they were currently in, until they came back from going to every corner of the room.
Skid had listened to the speech so carefully it was like a youtuber analyzing a trailer for a new game. Hmmm... No sign of any test yet... those papers he had before send up a red alarm though... he thought in suspicion. Here goes. Remember Skid, you cannot, under any circumstances, go all out, unless your life -or anyone else's- depends on it, he thought.
Rosebud smiled. Ha... I’m ready for this, she thought.
Madison, who had politely clapped after every part of Headmaster Vibratus's speech (clapping somewhat harder when everyone else did so during the final part of the speech), stopped and looked around at what everyone else was doing. After waiting for a few seconds for a few seconds for somebody else to do something, she thought, Hmm...let me ask someone what to do. Rosebud doesn't look too busy...maybe I should ask her? She scanned the room for someone else to ask, eventually returning to Rosebud. I think I'll ask her. Everyone else looks too busy or too intimidating, so I'll ask her. Following this decision, Madison walked over to Rosebud, waving. "Hi Rosebud!" she said. "Do you know what we're supposed to do here? I would have assumed that we'd leave the room after the speech, but nobody's come to tell us what to do next—"
Milssa, overhearing this, interrupted Madison, saying, "Yeah, I would have expected that too. Let me ask." Milssa turned to the center of the room (where Headmaster Vibratus was before, but had now left) and yelled, "HEY, WHERE ARE WE SUPPOSED TO GO NOW?"
I wouldn't have gone that far... thought Madison, wincing at Milssa's volume.
“To class!” Rosebud incorrectly answered.
Andy facepalmed. “No, it would only make sense if they were to show us around,” she answered.
Skid walked over to the group, knowing they were confused. "That would make sense. But I got a feeling this isn't a regular initiation." He'd say.
“Then what is it?” Rosebud asked.
“Something weird...” Lilly continued.
“And stupid?” Rosebud asked.
Andy and Lilly glared at Rosebud, as they weren’t expecting her to say that. She put her head down.
“Sorry. Gomennasai...” Rosebud apologized.
Skid just glanced around like nothing happened. "Anyway, what I mean is that I have a suspicion that the Headmaster is gonna put us in something like a pretest. So he can see what we're made of."
All three fox girls nodded. “Of course! It makes so much sense now!” Rosebud remarked.
"It's the waiting game now." Skid would say, looking back to see where the Headmaster had gone.
"Well, I'm not waiting," said Milssa. "I'm going to go find someone who knows what we're doing. Bye," and she walked out of one of the doors that was not the one that they had come in by. Scarcely had she left, however, than she returned with the Headmaster by her side.
"Ah, yes, I knew that I'd forgotten about something," said the Headmaster, returning to his desk. Then, shuffling through the papers, "Looks like these papers will be useful after all." After a second or two of doing this, he faced the students, cleared his throat, and said, "Attention, students! It would seem that there's one very important item on our to-do list that had somehow slipped my mind. Since our school is, after all, the Kaio-Ken Fighting Academy, it wouldn't seem proper to have an introduction to the school without a combat test. So, students, let the test begin!"
== Chapter 5: The Test of Skill and Ability ==
The moment that Headmaster Vibratus finished his speech, he pushed a button on his desk, causing the floor beneath them to shake, proceeding to split open until there was nothing to stand on, causing the students to fall down into a dungeon, filled with combat robots to test the speed, agility, and pure combat power of the students, as well as containing another four students who had apparently already been dropped into the dungeon, but had been seemingly just been pushed into this room through a different door, which promptly closed behind them.
Because the students fell without a proper cushioned landing, Skid landed on his feet, immediately regretting his decision as he tried to keep his cries of pain from being heard while holding his ankles.
"I called it." He said as he struggled to stand up.
As the twelve students fell through the dungeon's ceiling, one of the four students already engaging the robots, a young flamingo in a pale buff coat, stumbled to the side, clutching her head. She narrowly missed being brained by a large mace swung at her by one of the robots, but didn't even notice the danger she was in. "So... many... powers," Adelaide muttered, swaying where she stood.
Near Adelaide, a grey tiger with red stripes was blasting fire at robots, melting them while laughing. "I'm going to step on your ashes, measly programmed fools! Know that it was Kasai Ozaijolt that ended your pitiful existence! Hahaha!"
After some had fallen, Kaiira and Scarlett fell in too, except that they were far away from where the group was. But once they saw the robots, the two had strayed further into the dungeon, fighting the mass amounts of robots side by side. We can do this!! Kaiira yelled mentally, her eyes shimmering with determination.
Terra had also landed on her feet, feeling a bit of ankle pain, while Alexia landed on her face. Terra rushed to Alexia and helped her up before seeing the flamingo in danger. Does she not realize the situation?! Terra thought before rushing over. Terra got in front of the flamingo and seemingly ran through the robot before it exploded. Terra looked back. "Are you okay, miss?"
"Heads up!!" Another female voice would call out from nearby as a pink mobian suddenly ran towards the two, spin jumping over them before getting to close.  From the air, the girl suddenly uncurls herself with her arms crossed then quickly spreads them out in the direction of four more robots that were closing in on their position, releasing a swift flurry of light-blue shurikens from her hands at the robot horde.  Each of the shurikens pierces into their metal abdomens before promptly bursting into small explosions of aura energy, destroying the robots on impact and them to explode themselves.  The girl gracefully lands onto her feet, revealing her appearance as a slim, athletic echidna, wearing a white headband, a light-blue tank top that exposed part of her yellow tummy, blue sweatpants, and green sneakers with white tips.  She looks back towards the two girls behind her with a slight, friendly smile. "That was a close one, huh?
Adelaide looked up at Terra and Rosie and attempted a weak smile. "I've never been in a place with such a high concentration of people with magical powers... earth, fire, water, ice, energy, shadows, and even more... the only thing I can think of to do right now is gravity manipulation." Extending a hand and concentrating, she made two robots fly together and smash into one another. Unfortunately, a strong gravitational attraction towards that random spot in the middle of the room affected the entire dungeon, and Adelaide winced in embarrassment as she herself was pulled forward and into the other two girls.
“Excuse me, ma'am,” Rosebud interrupted, “but how did you know about what powers we had?”
Adelaide regained her feet sheepishly. "I don't know about anyone specifically, I just know that I'm within range of someone with each of those powers." She wiped her hands on her coat and extended one to the three other girls. "I'm Adelaide. Who are you?"
Skid watched from the back of the group, collecting his thoughts as he stared in awe of all the robot parts on the floor that could've been his to claim. Oh.... Well ok then. Wait, she said that she knows someone had some form of telekinesis or something of the sort, because she just used it. Does that mean she could use the-- it's... certainly possible. I guess I'm rather lucky to have some interesting classmates. Enough about that, the next robot I see is mine for the taking! He thought smiling, as he walked toward the front of the group.
The echidna girl smiles and promptly reaches out her right hand to accept the flamingo's, having no problem with introducing herself, first. "Well, my name is Rosie. I'm a martial artist from the Hidden Emerald Dimension."
Adelaide smiled back. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rosie. I'm a... well, I'm a high school student, now, and I'm from Red Gate Bay."
Terra looked around the three of them, making sure that no more robots were approaching. "I'm Terra Marvel. Glad to make of your acquaintance. I assume you-" Terra didn't get to finish. One of the robots grabbed her from behind, clutching her arms, while another one punched her in the stomach multiple times, knocking the saliva out of Terra's mouth. The robots suddenly turned into ice, however, and broke.
Alexia had her hands out, and they were glowing a light blue hue. "Force Freeze!" Seeing more robots approaching, Alexia sighed. "Why does this all have to be so violent?" she said before creating five snowflake shurikens in her hand. "Snowflake Shuriken!" She fired them all at the three robots, causing them to all stop before they could reach her. Then, they were all decapitated, and Terra appeared behind them.
"Good job, Alexia," Terra said, giving her cousin a thumbs-up. "You're getting better control of your - wait a second." Terra quickly turned around and roundhouse kicked another robot, sending its head flying to the wall. "Let's try to finish off all of these bots, everyone!" Terra yelled to everyone.
"It's about time!" Skid replied, going into his super form although this time it was blue, like the turquoise chaos emerald, contrary to when He went super before when he rushed to the academy. This was on a whole new level. He then stepped toward the robots, got in his fighting stance, and said, "Well now I have fix breaking my own promise. Weird, right?"
"At least you're better off than my team!" yelled Milssa, so as to be heard from the other side of the room. "I'm stuck with a guy with three arms and a girl who keeps hiding the guy's third arm for some reason..."
"It's creepy!" complained Madison.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that you have to keep hiding my arm with your umbrakinesis..." retorted the three-armed boy.
"Anyway, we all need to just shut up and fight!" yelled Milssa, charging at one of the robots.
Rosie quickly snaps into a battle-ready stance, ready to take on more of the robot swarm with her allies.
"Bonzai!!" She didn't waste any time jumping in as she fearlessly dashes into the heat of battle, leaping towards one of the robots with a hard, flying side kick, smashing right through its head with great force. Upon landing, the echidna leaps straight up with a stretching front kick, knocking off the head of another robot while propelling herself in the air where she quickly curls up into a spin and darts towards three more with rapid homing attacks, locking onto their electrical auras as she smashes into them and bounces off accordingly.
Shut up and fight, Adelaide thought, well, I guess I can try. She reached for the nearest robot and used metal manipulation to push it down until it was lying flat on the floor.
Will it electrocute? Rosebud wondered. She decided to take a chance and let out her hydrokinetic powers.
Skid would dash toward the robots, punching and kicking about seven as bounced off them with every kick, but then they grabbed his arms and legs, keeping him from moving. He would begin to yell as a burst of blue light came out and destroyed the robots holding him. "Phew. Was in a bit of a pinch that time." He said, dusting himself off.
"Super Kid over there is making us all look like jerks due to our own powerlessness," observed the three-armed axolotl.
"Well, there must be something that we can do, Dave," said Madison, "or at least something that you could do. I only have umbrakinesis, but...wait! What if I turned you invisible? Then you could hit anything!"
Dave, noticeably impressed, said, "That would work. Let's do that." Madison promptly made Dave invisible (or rather, surrounded in shadows on all sides), and within a few seconds, he was barely noticeable, allowing him to simply walk over to some robots and take them out from behind without anyone noticing.
As Rosie was taking on her chunk of the incoming robots, she began to get surrounded by metallic enemies. Though, she didn't let that intimidate her as she continued to fight on, swiftly smashing off the head of one more robot with a spinning hook kick. Doing her best to pay attention to several directions at a time, the echidna thrusts her right foot behind her to strike another robot with a hard back kick to its abdomen, leaving a big dent into its body while knocking it back towards two more robots and crashing it into them. Rosie then moves her right foot to the left, pivoting clockwise on her other foot to change to a wider stance before extending both arms at her sides to release two separate blasts of aura energy from her hands, blasting another two robots away with force. The echidna ducks an incoming punch from a robot in front of her then rises back up with a jumping uppercut, smashing it into the air while twirling into an elegant spin. She decides to make use of her spin, while in midair, and swings her right leg to slam a roundhouse kick into another robot's head, which eventually results in Rosie throwing herself into a gravity-defying spin, throwing a flurry of kicks to multiple robots around her while alternating legs. As her share of the swarm was beginning to die down, the echidna was appearing to enjoy herself with the little 'test' that was thrown at her and her allies, as indicated with her audible kiais. "Hyah, hyah, hyah, hyah!!"
Adelaide was bowled over by a decapitated robot flying her way, and lost control of the one she'd been pinning to the ground. When she managed to regain her feet, she was on the outskirts of the melee. "I guess they call it the Kaio-Ken Fighting Academy for a reason," she said, wryly, to no one in particular, "though my classmates don't look like they need any more education to do this." She was steeling herself to plunge back into the fray when she noticed a brown and pink hybrid running down the hall she, Dave, and Rosie had been directed along, the next stop after the Headmaster's welcoming speech. She went to open the glass-paneled door to let him in, smiling cautiously. "Hi there! You're Team Chakra, too, right? I heard there were going to be four of us here before some people joined us through the ceiling – I guess you got delayed?"
Skid was tirelessly fighting the robots coming at him, although that flew out the window as the next robot he hit wasn't remotely phased by his attacks. He hit it harder, and nothing happened. He hit as hard as he could, but took that to make a hole that just barely formed in the robot's abdomen. That, is super disappointing. I have one thing left to pull out, but that's... risky. More for the safety of my self rather than the others. He'd think, debating whether to go even further, at a cost for if it was too much strain, or too long a time frame. I mean... not really... I could handle these things easy, but... I'm just forcing myself at this point. I'm undermining myself, I can do this. I can do th-- Skid was then hit by the robot by its strongest hit, and because he was caught off guard, he proceeded to get absolutely beaten into a mildly wounded state by the robot. He was then flung into a wall, moving in and put of consciousness before he blacked out.
Terra glared at the unconscious Skid, rolling her eyes afterwards and looking awfully unimpressed. "Pathetic. Is all you do sleep and lose fights?" Terra growled, not liking Skid already, but she knew she had bigger fish to fry. Yelling to everyone in Team Chaos and Team Chakra, Terra said "Everyone! We need an attack plan!"
"Uh-huh!" called back Milssa, then began almost rapping an ad-libbed attack plan. "All right, you two go over there hit that thing you three could hit that thing while the two over there could hit that thing and the other eight of us could go and hit the big thing I'll spearhead the thing on the big thing while you three sub-groups hit those other things sound good everyone yeah let's go!" Milssa then promptly charged over to attack the large robot.
Dave and Madison looked at each other. "Did anyone have the foggiest idea who's supposed to be hitting what?" said Dave.
"I think that we were supposed to be hitting the robot over there?" suggested Madison.
"Sounds good," said Dave, and the two of them went off to hit one of the robots that Milssa had seemed to be gesturing them towards.
“You’re confusing, you little runt,” Andy blurted, not knowing what the hell is going on.
“Do you even think before you speak?” Lilly asked, obviously annoyed.
Milssa stopped in her tracks, then moved away from the big robot and back over to the group. "Since that obviously wasn't clear enough, let me elaborate. The red and blue guys were supposed to hit the robot with the triangular head, the two ones who are actually do anything got it right but are hitting the wrong robot NO DON'T STOP, THAT ONE'S BETTER THAN NOTHING and the pink, yellow, and crimson ones were supposed to hit the one with the square head while everyone else comes with me. Got it?"
“Can you be more specific?” Rosebud asked. “More than one of us are blue, y’know.”
Having executed a Spin Dash technique to smash through another robot's abdomen, Rosie conveniently flips her way to the rest of the group, landing to her feet just as the robot topples over and explodes.
"I might have an idea we could try!" The echidna suggests, wanting to contribute the team's attack plan. "I can take a high-up position from the air and throw down a few Kunai Traps at the surrounding robots to keep them in place, long enough for seven of us to take them out. Meanwhile, Terra, Alexia, Adelaide, and I, plus the remaining three can take on the big one. Terra could use her speed to draw its attention and avoid its attacks while someone strikes it from the top, which would give Adelaide a chance to point her gravity powers underneath it to drag it to the ground. From there, Alexia could freeze it in place, giving everyone a chance to attack it, all at once, and finish it off! How does that sound?"
Adelaide, who had been completely confused by Milssa's frenzied orders, took a moment to reply to Rosie. "Sure... I can do that," she finally said. She focused on the point under the largest robot's feet, increasing the gravity of that piece of floor more and more, even as it reached and passed the point where it began to drag other people across the floor towards that point, and, by extension, the robot.
Milssa's eyes widened. Oh...so that's how you get people to do things, she thought.
Feeling her feet beginning to slide across the ground, Rosie noticed that her friend was activating her gravity powers earlier than she was anticipating.  As she widens her footing, trying to firmly planet her right foot onto the ground to resist the pull, the echidna calls out, "Whoa, hold on!! I didn't mean right away!"
Skid would slowly wake up, noticing the ground shaking got him up for sure as he hurried yet struggled to stand up. He was slightly hunching over, holding his left arm, which was badly wounded, more than the right. Although, everything hurt. It hurt for him to twitch. He looked on at the scene before him, and limped toward everyone else.
So much for helping. I let my guard down and knocked out. Not to mention that I'm in a lot of pain. I'm positive that the others held their own. That just means I have to step it up, no more playing around! He thought. "Hey, so... what exactly is our game plan? I kinda missed some stuff." He asked, trying to crack a smile.
Milssa, feeling embarrassed for having tried so forcibly to get people to follow an ill-thought out plan, said, "Rosie, what's the plan?"
Terra groaned, annoyed by the fact that Milssa hadn't been listening to anything Rosie had been saying earlier. "She throws daggers. I distract it with my speed, while gravity girl takes it down to the ground. Alexia freezes it, and then we use a group attack to finish it off."
Milssa, realizing by Terra's tone what Terra was thinking, pulled herself over to the part of the room that Terra was in and whispered to her, "I heard Rosie. I asked for Skid's gratification, not my own. Sorry to seem so clueless, I'm just trying not to take charge because you all hate me when I do."
“Wow...you must be either deaf or stupid, and I believe that you are indeed stupid. Try listening next time, okay?” Andy shot back. Milssa reminded Andy of her younger sister in some ways, which she hated.
“Forget about Andy. She’s all bark and no bite,” Rosebud assured.
"You specifically asked, 'Rosie, what's the plan?' with no mention of Skid at all. Why did you need to call Rosie if you were listening, anyway? I explained it just fine, I don't see how you couldn't have done it. Was that a slip of the tongue, or what?" Terra fired back, ignoring Milssa's passive-aggressiveness. "But anyway, I just explained it to him, so no big deal." Terra was talking to Milssa with an extremely large of amount of passive-aggressiveness in her voice.
"Well, if you all are done, I'd like to get this over with so ponder my recent fighting choices and then go sleep it off only to wake up later tonight to train for an hour or two so I can better myself." Skid would say, slightly impatient. He'd strain a little, but got back into his fighting stance.
With Skid's remark, Rosie chuckles a bit before turning her attention back towards the robot armada. "In that case, let's not waste any time!"
Taking charge of her role, Rosie dashes forward just a bit before leaping up high into the air, positioning herself to where she got a good view of all of the robots in front of her team. With a smirk on her face, she crosses her arms, focusing aura energy into her hands before she suddenly spreads them apart in front of her, releasing a rain of several light-blue kunai knives down towards the robots as per her part of the plan. Instead of hitting them directly, the knives stick into the ground near the surrounding robot's feet, excluding the biggest one, with well-trained precision and form light-blue spots of aura right underneath them. The aura resonates with the electrical energy of the robots to bind them all in place, keeping from moving for a little while and marking the successful application of her Kunai Trap technique. Rosie then flips her way back to the ground, landing onto her feet while the majority of the robots where left vulnerable to attack.
"Oh, okay. So, are you sure there aren't any specific details I need to know before we go with the group attack?" Skid asked. His face was calm, but he wanted to make sure he didn't mess anything up.
"My turn!" Terra said, bursting forward before baring her claws. Smirking, Terra yelled "Over here, you disgusting heaps of worthless trash!" and swiped at their legs with her claws, trying to rush them so that they'd keep their eyes on her. At this point, she was running around so fast, she looked like a yellow blur going in a disjointed figure eight. Though it was muffled, the group would be able to hear, "Adeladale - never mind, apologies - Gravity Girl!"
While Terra was performing her part of the plan and keeping the robots busy, Rosie would turn back to Skid, answering, "Now that you mention it, think you can slam that big robot on the head so Adelaide can drag it down easier?"
Skid nodded, dashing off toward the robot, jumping up its back, and grabbing its head, choke-slammin it so hard he made a small crater in the ground. He then jumped up high above it, and fired a few energy blasts to hopefully stun it long enough for Adelaide to keep it there for a while.
Milssa, realizing what Skid was about to do just before he did it and really wanting to make herself useful, ran over towards the big robot, then hit it in the side just as Skid shot the energy blasts at it. Milssa then tried to return to where she was before, only to bounce off of something invisible, bounce off of the robot, and go flying through the air towards Terra, yelling, "WHAT'S GOING ON?"
A voice that sounded like Dave's came out of the spot that Milssa had bounced off of, saying, "I have no idea. No, wait. Madison, could you make me stop being invisible?" Dave then sighed, realizing that Madison was at the other end of the room and couldn't hear him, at which point he started to move back towards her end of the room (although no one could see him, as Madison was still focusing on making him invisible).
Terra, seeing Milssa fly through the air growled with hatred in her eyes. She quickly stopped her path in order to grab Milssa by the leg, swing her around in order to hit and destroy one of the robots, and threw her to everyone else. "YOU IDIOT! What are you doing, you fool?! We're trying to win, you know! We can't have nuisances like you running around and-" While Terra was ranting, a robot came from behind her and punched her in the stomach without even moving from its place, but Terra simply strangled its head off and threw it away.
"You're going to get us all killed!" Terra yelled, pointing to the decapitated robot. "I wouldn't have to do that if you hadn't thought that you were 'too cool' for the plan and just went rogue! How did someone so useless-"
Before Terra could continue, Alexia interrupted "Terra, that's enough!" in a moment of sheer bravery. Then, Alexia threw three more ice shurikens at robots, causing them to explode. "Let's not try to antagonize each other! Y-Y-You go back to the plan! I'll make sure Milssa doesn't try anything f-funny!" With a growl and a glare at Milssa, Terra went back to going in her yellow blur pattern and distracting the robots.
Milssa sighed, trying not to move in the slightest to avoid Terra hitting her. "I'm trying to help you people," she said. "The plan didn't say that I couldn't do that. I'm just trying to make things easier for you." After a few seconds of silence, she continued, "Trying to be tough and take charge didn't work. Trying to help and be submissive didn't work. What can I do? Is lying here on the floor and doing nothing really helping? Or...do you all just want me to go away?"
"Please do!" Terra yelled.
"T-Terra, that's unnecessary!" Alexia replied.
Milssa cautiously sat up, then whispered to Alexia, "You're one of the two people who's accepted me in the slightest. What do you think I should do? Should I just..." At this point, the effects of being slammed into a hard metal robot by an expert martial artist kicked in, causing Milssa to start coughing and crumple over forward, holding her chest.
Skid landed back on the ground, looking back to see Milssa on the floor. "That's... not good."
"Karma," Terra said, taking every opportunity she could to take a shot at Milssa. "She should've stayed back. How did she get in this project, anyway? Seems like the type of person whose papers got confused. And to think that I could've gotten a competent teammate instead of her... Anyways, we're better off without her, we can treat her later unless someone has a way to heal her. If not, let's not waste our time."
While Terra was speaking, Milssa managed to stop coughing and get to her feet, albeit shakily. Mentally resisting the urge to walk over and punch Terra, she turned to Alexia and whispered, "Alexia, will you remind me of the plan again so that I won't mess it up and make your—" Milssa pulled her mouth shut to avoid swearing. "—teammate hit me?"
"The A-Adele girl - sorry, I'm not sure of her name - needs to use her gravity manipulation, but in order for that to happen, s-s-someone needs to strike it from the top. Any volunteers?" Alexia called out before her eyes widened and she looked at Milssa. "P-P-Probably not you, you're a little shaken up right n-now and you need some rest... Y-You should probably w-watch."
"Yeah, I'll wait," said Milssa, sitting back down.
“Me me me!” Rosebud and Andy cried in unison. Then they looked and pointed at each other. “You do it! Not me, you!” They cried again.
“I’ll go, if everyone’s okay with it,” Lilly replied, looking at the indecisive duo.
Adelaide had let go of her hold on the gravity of the ground beneath the robot when Terra banged into her, and it began to slowly revert to normal as the laws of physics reasserted themselves. She had just regained her balance when she had to drop to the ground to avoid being hit in the head with a flying Milssa. As Terra began to berate Milssa, Adelaide picked her way over through the robot debris which littered the floor. She reached Milssa and Alexia right about the time the latter called her "Adele," and she decided the mistake wasn't worth correcting as she knelt down beside Milssa's prone form.
"Hey," Adelaide said, checking and making sure that nobody in the vicinity could heal before she laid her hands on Milssa's shoulders and began to mend the hedgehog. "People can say you're not worth anything. The truth is, nobody is worth anything to the great cosmic whatever. We're all fictional characters, you know? But that doesn't mean you can't be worth something to yourself." She frowned, not at the progress she was making – Milssa was almost entirely healed – but at her thoughts. "I suppose that didn't come out as comforting as I meant it to. The truth isn't usually good at comforting, but I'm no good at not telling the truth."
"Touching, truly it is, but we kinda need to finish these things! As in now!" Skid yelled as he watched the robots to make sure they didn't get up.
Milssa, confused at Adelaide's speech but happy that Adelaide was healing her, said, "Thanks for healing me," then turned to the others and said—trying to keep her emotions out of her voice—"Am I going to help?"
Meanwhile, Dave and Madison had finished off their robot and were personally awaiting further instructions. Upon hearing Milssa asking for help, Madison started to ask something, but stopped out of nervousness. Dave, guessing what she was going to ask, said, "What about us?"
"Ok, how about this. I'll go and attack the big robot at the top, which will weaken it. Then we finish it off with the group attack as planned. That sound good?" Skid would say, looking back at everyone.
"Skid, you just got beaten into unconciousness," Adelaide said, matter-of-factly. "That pretty much proves you have at least a mild concussion. I'm no doctor, but I'm pretty sure dashing off into battle yet again is the last thing you should be doing." She hesitated a beat. "I could try to heal you. Healing isn't something I have much practice with, but nobody else seems to be able to do it. After this all is done, though, you really ought to see somebody with actual medical knowledge and make sure you have no lingering brain damage."
Platinum turned away when he heard the word “brain damage”.
"I appreciate your concern, really I do. But I'm fine. I think I can use a heal when we're through, because I'm hurting in a lot of places." Skid said. He got back into his fighting stance. "Also, I'm kinda tired, and I know you all are too, so let's get a move on!" He said, a smile of determination on his face.
"Actually," Rosie would speak up, looking towards Skid. "If I jump up into a spin, you can try slamming into me like a volleyball for a team attack. That should knock down that big lug for sure!"
"Yeah, I can do that. Let's do it!" Skid said, enthused.
Adelaide laid her hand on Skid's arm for a moment, healing the worst of his internal damage. Letting go of him, she shook her head and said, "Go ahead. Hopefully now you won't kill yourself fighting."
Smirking eagerly, Rosie nods in acknowledgment then darts forward towards the big robot.  She didn't get too far before she suddenly leaps up high into the air, her sights locked on her target.
"Let's rev it up!" The warrior says before she quickly curls herself into a sturdy spindash, revving up her velocity at a consistent rate. The Mobian volleyball as all set for slamming.
Skid dashed off after her, jumping into the air as he attempted to predict where the shot would hit. He then went for it, kicking Rosie towards the robot. The hard impact sent the echidna ball rocketing right for the giant robot's abdoment with great force, causing it to slam into the hunk of metal, leave a considerable dent in its armor, and push it back with enough force that it began to fall back and lose its balance. Before they knew it, the biggest was now crash landing on the ground as Rosie lands back to her feet, having rebounded away from her target upon impact.
Upon hearing the group fighting the robots, two foxes, one being light blue, and the other being wine red, came to watch them.
==Chapter 6: Chill Time==
Adelaide pushed open the glass-paneled door and walked out into the hallway with shaky steps. Now that the action was over, her knees felt weak, and her hands were trembling. She clenched them into fists. This is a school for fighting, Adelaide. If you can't handle one little encounter with robots which are almost certainly programed to stop short of actually harming the students, you should just go home. Since Adelaide knew what a disappointment it would be to her parents to turn down a full scholarship to a well-respected private high school, she found it a useful thing with which to goad herself. She wasn't actually scared, but her body didn't seem to agree. Adelaide concentrated on taking deep breaths, and gradually her fingernails stopped biting into her palms.
Skid followed Adelaide, not saying anything. I want to go lay down, and enjoy some pizza and orange juice, while I catch up on Dragon Ball Super. But we all know I can't do that. He thought, an exhausted expression on his face.
Madison and Dave followed after Skid, only for Milssa to cut ahead of them, looking anxious. In truth, this was because Milssa did not want to be in the same part of the line as Terra, but Madison and Dave had no idea.
"Some people," muttered Dave under his breath. Milssa paid no attention to him.
After waiting a second, Madison started to speak, only to be cut off by Milssa, who made a noise like she was about to start speaking but then stopped. Madison waited for Milssa to resume speaking; when she didn't, Madison said, "So, what are we going to do now?"
Rosebud and her friends, who were behind Madison, didn’t know how to answer that question. Well, except Rosebud, of course, who replied with “Things! We’re doing things!”
“Gee, that’s helpful,” Andy replied sarcastically.
“Maybe we’ll be going to class now...” Lilly suggested.
“Or we’ll cross paths with that crazy headmaster,” Plat responded.
"Shouldn't we be... just... maybe regaining our energy first?" a timid voice from a light blue arctic fox came from behind them. She waved a tiny wave, whereas the wine-red hedgefox beside her grinned sheepishly.
"Yeah, that makes sense. I'm sure they wouldn't thrust us into classes after we just fought off a seemingly endless amount of robots. Unless, we'd just go to meet our teachers, then head to our dorms. Yeah, that sounds about right." Skid said.
Rosie had walked up next to Adelaide and Skid, a fair amount of sweat casually sliding down her face. Although the robot swarm they had tackled earlier proved to be a good workout for her, as well as the rest of the group, she didn't seem all that tired. In fact, someone could drag into a fist fight right now and she'd have no qualms about it. Being a Mobian that's used to living an active warrior lifestyle for nearly her whole life has that kind of effect on an echidna.
"Well, you'd think someone would be around to give us our next dose of instructions after that..." Rosie criticizes, wiping a chunk of sweat from her face before putting both hands onto her hips. She was just as confused as everyone else.
"Oof," Scarlett muttered, sweatdropping. She stood by Kaiira, waiting for the rest to say something.
"Wait. When are we gonna eat? I haven't eaten all day, and it's really starting to come back on me." Skid said, looking at his stomach.
Rosebud looked confused. “You didn’t have a good breakfast? But that’s the most important meal of the day!” Her four friends simply nodded.
"I woke up late and had to rush here in order to not miss anything important. I had no time to eat breakfast." He said, an unintentional comedic look of hunger on his face.
Rosebud looked concerned. “I have...a popsicle!” She pulled out an orange popsicle and waved it in front of Skid’s face. She eventually got careless, and dropped the popsicle.
Eve shook her head. “Here’s a tomato I didn’t eat!” She tossed the tomato to Skid.
“Stop giving him food! If you don’t, he won’t have room for lunch!” Andy whispered to Rosebud and Eve.
“God, Andy. It’s only a tomato,” Eve sighed.
"I'll try to hold out. I really don't like tomatoes anyway." Skid said, trying to prevent anymore food being waved in front if him. It'd only make him more hungry.
“Oooookay,” Eve whispered to herself as she put her tomato back into hammerspace.
"I think we should move... You're all right... We should probably meet the Headmaster..." came Kaiira's not so confident voice.
"Okay then, let's go!" Skid said, pointing forward. He was eager to rest, which was his main motivation.
Scarlett and Kaiira both nodded their heads, and started moving in the direction where Skid had pointed in.
Rosebud started marching in the direction Skid pointed towards.
“Why are you marching?” Platinum asked.
“Because it’s fun!” the optimistic blue fox replied. “If anyone wants to march, follow me!” Lilly started marching, while Platinum, Andy, and Eve continued walking normally.
Skid walked alongside, wanting to jog at least, but he couldn't put too much stress on himself.
Adelaide snapped out of her internal monologue and fell into step with the others, too tired to bother trying to find out if anyone actually knew where they were going.
"Hey, wait up, kids!" a voice behind the group yelled. Then, in a flash of yellow electricity in front of them, a brown tiger appeared. He was obviously much older than any of the students, about in his late 20s. He wore a black shirt with a skull cracked open by a lightning bolt along with jean shorts. "So, you guys actually made it out. I was worrying, you know. What took y'all so long?"
"When there's an endless amount of enemies, it can take a bit to finish them all off. Plus, some of us-" Terra gave a hard glare towards Milssa. "-had made some mistakes that really slowed us down."
"Oh, I saw everything. I just asked because I wanted to see who would answer and what their answer would be. Y'all are an interesting group, that's for sure." The tiger scratched the back of his head before continuing. "I'm Mackenzie Hyde Deimos, but y'all can call me Mr. Deimos. Or Mr. Mackenzie. Ah, screw it, just call me Mac, 'kay? I'm the teach for Team Chaos. Speaking of which, where are all my Chaotic folks?"
Well.... he's certainly an interesting character, Terra thought as she raised her hand. It doesn't mean anything if he isn't skilled, though. I'll have to wait for classes to begin.
Rosebud, Plat, Andy, Lilly and Eve raised their hands. “We are!” They all cried in unison.
"You're our teacher, huh? Nice to see that they put someone in charge who can relate to the one they're in charge of." Skid said, walking toward the others.
"No prob, kid. If you guys are gonna have school to deal with, might as well stop myself from being a pain in the heinie, y'know?" Mac replied.
“Right...” Eve muttered. Can I take this guy seriously? She thought.
Madison, noticing that the seven other Team Chaos members had all announced their affiliation with Team Chaos, raised her hand. "I'm also a member of Team Chaos," she said, trying to sound polite. "So I suppose I'm your student, Mr. Deimos?"
"Aw, aren't you a little angel, Madison?" he replied, waving to her. "And yep! I'm Team Chaos' instructor! And I must say, you guys have a lot of potential. Now, let me just bring you to Vibratus to see what he wants to do with y'all. Come with me!" He walked forward, expecting everyone to follow him. Terra and Alexia did as planned, followed by Madison and Milssa. Rosebud and her four best friends followed. Kasai, who didn't have much to say, followed quietly. Skid followed close behind everyone else.
After being sure everyone was following him, Mac walked forward, taking turns here and there before coming to a brown door. Then, he knocked on it. "Vibe?" he prompted.
Headmaster Vibratus's voice came from behind the door. "I'm sorry, but Vibe isn't here," he said. "However, I, Headmaster Vibratus, am present. May I take a message for Vibe when he returns?"
Milssa giggled slightly, only to be sharply poked by Dave, who looked like he was having a hard time not laughing himself. Madison's expression remained completely neutral.
Mac smiled. "Oh, yeah. Can you tell Vibe that the kids are here, and that Mac found them wandering with nothing to do?"
Rosebud burst out laughing. “Stay away! Rosebud’s laughter is contagious!” Andy warned. Platinum, Lilly and Eve were already laughing.
A young, slim cat was walking by, trying to visit Vibratus. Mac glared at the cat before moving aside, allowing him to knock on Vibratus' door. He tried to ignore the laughing students. “Mister Vibratus, sir,” he said.
The door opened slightly. Vibratus looked out through the crack in the door, looking slightly frazzled. His eyes lit up upon seeing who was knocking. "Ah, Kyoto," he said. "Would you mind showing these students to their proper locations? I'm exceedingly busy at the moment with paperwork for the teams who haven't arrived yet, as well as managing the idiosyncrasies of our new year's curriculum. Now, if only we had a chartakinetic..." Vibratus sighed in a somewhat self-mocking fashion. "That still wouldn't help with anything. I don't need my papers flying around the room. At any rate, Kyoto, would you mind showing the students around?"
Kyoto looked shocked. He looked around for a few seconds. “Uh...sure! Follow me, everyone!” He answered hesitantly.
“Trust me and we will escape from the...” Rosebud sang.
“No escaping today!” Kyoto told the blue fox.
Mac gave a wave to Kyoto. "Bye, TP!" Terra and Alexia followed Kyoto, and Alexia ran in front of him.
"H-Hello, Mr. Kyoto! ...or is it TP? B-Because Mi-Mister Deimos called you T-TP, so I'm a l-lit-little confused," said Alexia.
“It’s just a little nickname.” Kyoto replied. He shook his head. It’s gonna be one hell of a year.
"I saw Mac glaring at you earlier," Terra said, appearing at Kyoto's other side. "I'm going to guess the two of you have some beef with each other?"
I hate his immature little guts. “Oh yeah, we had some beef alright,” Kyoto answered. “Enough to feed the whole country.”
"Mind sharing? Learning about his faults may help us as students," said Terra.
”Mac isn’t the most mature of teachers, that’s for sure. He also has strange methods,” Kyoto remarked.
“I like strange!” Rosebud yelled.
What a naive little girl. Kyoto thought.
At hearing the yell, Alexia went back to Rosebud while Terra stayed with Kyoto. "Mac isn't giving me a 'mature' vibe, that's for sure," she agreed.
Alexia, walking to Rosebud, said "H-Hello! I heard you say you weren't an enemy of the strange things in life... th-that's the kind of person I-I would like as an ally. Wh-What's your name, if you d-d-don't mind m-me asking?"
“I’m Rosebud! And you?” Rosebud replied.
"A-Alexia Clarisse the Hedgehog... I'm h-happy to make y-y-your acquaintance, Rosebud," she said with a bow. "What are your p-powers? I'm an aquakinetic, a hydrokinetic, and a cr-cryokinetic. I'm o-on Team Chakra, so I also have these pouches for carrying daggers, kunai and shuriken."
“I’m a hydrokinetic and cyrokinetic too! And I’m on Team Chaos!” Rosebud said excitedly.
"A-Ah, Team Chaos? Y-You're on the same t-team as my sis- no, friend, th-then," Alexia said. "It'd b-be nice to see you g-get along..."
“I always want new friends!” Rosebud cheered.
“Oh, shut up, Rosebud. You’re disturbing the peaceful atmosphere,” Andy scolded.
Alexia turned to Andy, gave her a slight bow, and smiled sheepishly. "H-Hello! What's y-y-your name?" she asked.
“This is Andy!” Rosebud pulled Andy to her side.
“Uh...yeah...” Andy followed along.
"Andy... th-that's a pretty name!" Alexia said, putting her hand out. "N-Nice to meet you, A-Andy. Are y-you also on Team Ch-Ch-Chaos?"
Andy nodded, causing Alexia to sigh. "I-It seems Team Ch-Chaos is the place to be... I hope Terra d-doesn't act u-u-uptight." Alexia looked at the two. "You two l-look so alike... but still so d-different. Are you sisters?"
“Cousins!” Rosebud corrected politely.
"Ah. I-I can really see the resemblance," Alexia said. "If I didn't kn-know better, I'd guess that Andy c-controlled fire, heh heh..."
“Actually, I do control fire,” Andy chuckled.
"O-Oh! That's ironic," Alexia said, scratching the back of her head. "W-Well, I hope we enjoy ourselves while we're h-h-here."
“I hope we do too!” Rosebud cried.
Well everyone seems to be making good conversation. This is nice. Now I gotta go say hi to people, because that'd be good. Or, let them say "hi" to me. Skid thought.
With uncharacteristically good timing, Adelaide chose that moment to walk up to Skid and hold out her hand. "I don't think I ever introduced myself. I'm Adelaide, a Team Chakra student from Red Gate Bay."
"Yo. My names Skid. Skid the Hedgehog. I'm on Team Chaos, from out in Emerald City." Skid said, shaking her hand.
Kyoto stopped when he saw the training room. This must be it. He thought. “Everyone. I welcome you to the training room!”
“Open the door!” Rosebud squealed.
“No,” Kyoto replied firmly. Rosebud looked disappointed.
"Why won't you allow us to enter?" Terra asked. "If you're going to show us it, we should also go inside. Excuse me for speaking out of my place, but as for as I know, there's no reason for us to not be able to enter."
Kyoto sighed as he opened the door. Rosebud quickly ran around the training room, staring at everything in wonder. Terra and Alexia also entered, and while Alexia was sure to check everything out, Terra looked at the punching bags, wondering how much force they could sustain.
Rosie followed the others into the training room with a widening smile on her face. As a martial artist, she was practically in her element right now and she loved it. Her curious light-blue eyes scan all over the room, taking sight of all of the equipment, especially the punching bags. Heck, the only thing holding her back from kicking her shoes off an throwing a few kicks at some of the bags was the fact that she didn't want to just rudely jump in and use the training room without permission.
"Very nice!" the warrior spoke happily. "I can totally see myself practicing in here!" 
Milssa, who had been hanging back and feeling unsure of what to do, decided to follow Rosie's example, since her thoughts aligned fairly well with what Rosie had just said. "Yeah!" she said, cautiously entering the room. "This looks like a pretty cool place!"
Scarlett and Kaiira had just stood outside the training room, watching the others go inside. “I’m not gonna go in...” Kaiira sweatdropped. “I’m not gonna annoy the teachers...” At this, Scarlett patted Kaiira’a back and stood by her.
Meanwhile, as the students entered the room or looked at its contents from the doorway, Vibratus walked over to Kyoto. "Hello, Kyoto," he said quietly to Kyoto. "I've finished the more pressing part of my work, so I can take over the tour now if you'd like. Otherwise, feel free to carry on."
Kyoto nodded. “You can finish the tour while I...check some papers.” He chuckled nervously and left the area.
Vibratus turned to the students and said in his usual cheery tone, "All right, students, follow me to the next part of our tour!" Vibratus then started moving down the hallway to the next part of the tour, moving slowly to ensure that the students could follow him.
Kaiira jumped backwards at the sudden announcement, causing her to fall on her tail. Scarlett sweatdropped, and helped her stand up, before dragging the poor arctic fox towards the where the Headmaster is heading.
Adelaide was one of the first out of the training room, having barely set foot inside. She felt totally out of her element, having never touched a weapon or piece of exercise equipment in her life. This is the Kaio-Ken Fighting Academy, dummy. Better get used to it. She caught sight of Rosie, the girl who'd demonstrated her leadership abilities earlier and now looked actually enthusiastic at the prospect of practicing fighting. Rosie had seemed friendly enough when she came over to introduce herself. Maybe – "Hey, Rosie?" Adelaide said softly, falling into step beside the other girl, "You seem really good at all this fighting stuff. Do you think maybe sometime I could come and watch you practicing? I don't even know what half of the stuff in that room is for."
Having heard the sound of her colleague's voice as she was about to leave the room with the group, Rosie turns to face Adelaide and, upon hearing her request, flashes a pleasant smile while nodding.  "I don't see why not.  Heck, maybe we could even practice together if we ever get the chance."
Giving her friend a cute little wink after her last statement, Rosie continues her way out of the training room with the other students.
==Chapter 7: In The Dorms==
After the hubbub from the tour had subsided, the students had some breathing time to explore their dorms, set things up, and meet their roommates...including the students from Knight and Zenkai, who, having been initiated elsewhere, were now able to integrate with their Chaos and Chakra roommates.
===Rosie and Adelaide===
Able to find her dorm without too much trouble, Rosie casually strolls up to the door which led to her intended room, her blue duffel bag in tow.  Eager to see the place she would be resting in for most of the evening, she opens the door and steps inside for a closer look.  The first thing her attention was drawn to was a pair of separate beds next to an open window, leaking with soft sunlight through the blinds.  There were two dressers next to their appropriate beds, a door to the south of the room which granted entry into the bathroom, and a wide desk and a television on top of a taller dresser, on the west side of the room, near the door.  The whole atmosphere of the empty bedroom already seemed to provide a relaxing vibe for the warrior, as indicated by a calm sigh escaping from her mouth.  Rosie walks over to the right-most bed, closest to the door, and sets her bag down on it to unpack.  Looking up to notice the second bed across from hers, she couldn't help but wonder who was she going to share this room with.  She hoped it would be someone nice who could even train with her, once their classes were done, of course.
Adelaide shouldered open the door, walking into the room backwards as she struggled to tow her suitcase while carrying a stuffed duffel bag. She’d been relieved to find her luggage unharmed, somewhere in the large pile in the lobby of the dormitory, although she still wasn’t sure how the Headmaster had teleported it from where she'd abandoned it when she was literally dropped into combat. As she turned, narrowly avoiding whacking Rosie with her suitcase, Adelaide offered the other girl a small smile. “Fancy meeting you again,” she said, dryly. She dumped her duffel bag on the lefthand bed, propping her suitcase against it, then fell backward onto the mattress theatrically, putting off unpacking for the time being.
Upon seeing her flamingo friend once more, Rosie was pretty surprised to her carrying so much luggage. Normally the warrior was used to traveling light so she didn't really get why she needed so many heavy bags. Nonetheless, she was happy to see a familiar face as her new roommate. The echidna smiles warmly as she veers her gaze towards Adelaide's side of the room.
"Gosh, somebody's tired!" Rosie jokes, attempting to lighten the mood. "I guess all of the craziness of today worn you out, huh?"
"Yeah," Adelaide said. "I... I'm really not used to this sort of thing." She pulled herself up into a sitting position on the edge of her bed, and gave Rosie a tired but genuine smile. "I'm so glad you're my roommate. I know I only just met you, but I can already tell that you have this, this kind of aura of good cheer around you. It's like... it's like you're happy, or something. I've never been around anyone like that. And I don't know why, but it's making me feel sort of happy, too."
===Indrek and Rinnahssiah-2===
Rinnahssiah-2 drifted into her dorm room, using her electrokinesis to idly propel herself along. Barely paying attention to her surroundings, she placed her bag on a nearby surface and stared out a window into space, still hanging onto the bag. "Why can't I remember...?" she half-said, half-whispered to herself.
“What are you trying to remember?” a soft voice asked. Indrek was sitting unobtrusively on the end of his bed, a small pile of clothes beside him. “I don’t mean to pry, but perhaps, if you don’t mind talking to me, I could help?” He paused, then added, “I’m Indrek, by the way, Indrek Kalju. What’s your name?"
Rinnahssiah-2 turned to look at him. "I'm Rinnahssiah..." she said. "Rinnahssiah...2?" she said, adding the last part hesitantly as a look of incredible uncertainty came over her face. "I don't know why I think I'm the second one of myself...I don't even know why I'm here, honestly. As far as I can remember, I was just living a normal life back at Cobalt Village, and then I was here, knowing that I needed to be here and that I'm Rinnahssiah-2..." Rinnahssiah-2 relaxed somewhat, making an obvious and partially-successful attempt to breathe deeply before continuing, "I don't remember what happened in-between, why my name changed, or why I need to be here. I just hope it's not important."
Indrek was silent for a moment, contemplating. "It sounds like you have a door open behind you," he said, with the halting cadence of one trying to translate to a second language. "You can run forwards, away from it, always running from what may come through it after you. Or you can turn back, and seek out the door, and how to close it, and then you can walk forwards without fear." He smiled at her, the hesitant smile of one who is young and passing on old wisdom. "The choice is yours, my friend Rinnahssiah-2. The door may well hold dangers of its own; such are not to be approached lightly. But if you choose to go back down the road and seal the breach in your past, I will help you as I can."
Rinnahssiah-2 closed her eyes, a strained look overcoming her face as she tried to remember something. "Thank you..." she said. "I'll keep that in mind." She opened her eyes on sat down, incidentally on her bag (a fact that she didn't seem to notice). "It's good to know that...when I'm not even sure where I am...at least I have a friend here."
===Andy and Milssa===
Milssa walked into her dorm room, shut the door, and sat down on the lower bunk of the room's bunk bed. Time to turn on normal mode, she thought, a partial smile coming across her face. Milssa tried to stand up, but fell over onto the bed, exhausted from being beaten up. "I'll clean this up later," she said (just in case anyone was listening and felt compelled to chide her).
Andy, having entered the room, climbed up to the top bunk. "All we need now is a good nights rest to be prepared for tomorrow..." she replied.
Milssa, surprised both at Andy entering the room without her noticing (due to momentarily dozing off) and at Andy actually speaking in a reasonable fashion, was too stunned to speak properly before she fell asleep from exhaustion (despite it being no later than mid-afternoon).
=== Terra and Kadri ===
Terra sighed, finding the dorm that was said to be hers and looking at a well-made bed. She hopped into it, waiting to see who her roommate was.
Kadri burst into the room, a small sack slung over her shoulder, bouncing against the crossed sword and shield which hung there. “Hello!” she said, cheerfully, “I’m Kadri, Kadri Leelo. Who are you, roommate? And why are you here? Here as in the Academy, I mean. Not here as in this room. I assume you’re in this room because you’re sharing it with me, right, roommate?”
Terra gave Kadri a blank stare for a good five seconds. Great, my roommate is a chatterbox. Just my luck. With a sigh, Terra tried to not sound rude, but she obviously wasn't happy. "My name is Terra Marvel the Ocelot, thank you. I'm on Team Chaos."
"Oh, you're like my brother," Kadri said, without thinking. Then, "Great to meet you, Terra! I'll try to stay out of your way sometimes. I know that some people need space. I don't, but my brother does, so I'm used to leaving him alone. How long can I talk to you before you get annoyed? Am I annoying you right now? Don't worry, it won't hurt my feelings. I can go talk to someone else." She dropped her sack on her bed and headed for the door. "Should I go? Or do you want to talk more? Either is okay with me."
"I think I'm good," Terra replied, not thinking Kadri was one she'd like to have a conversation with. She jumped off the bed and began to unpack. "Glad to know my roommate isn't too easily offended, however. I hope you enjoy yourself."
"Thanks; you too," Kadri chirped, and jogged out of the room.
=== Alexia and Kaiira ===
Alexia shyly walked to her dorm after all the excitement and took out a backpack she'd managed to keep safe. She unzipped it, revealing a large amount of posters, a TV, and anime DVDs. She kept the DVDs on the bedside, hung up the posters on the wall, and put the TV on the dresser, not knowing what to do with it for the time being. 
Kaiira temporarily froze her heavy luggage, as she walked towards her dorm. Going inside, she awed at the dorm, and dragged her luggage to a table near her own bed, spotting Alexia unpacking. The arctic fox wasn't so sure what to say, but sooner or later, she felt like she would be thrown into a conversation. 'I'm very awkward in socializing! I wish Scar was here too. She's better at talking to people than I am,' she thought.
Kaiira caught Alexia's eye, and the blue-furred hedgehog blushed before looking away and beginning to put her stuff up again. Oh gosh, a roommate! I thought I was prepared, but I really, really wasn't! Alexia sighed softly before continuing. I'm not any good in a conversation... I'll probably get her to think I'm some sort of antisocial loser, which... isn't wrong, but still. I want her to have a good impression of me... but what if I act stupid? Argh! 
In the end, Alexia kicked herself, turned around with a reddened face, and finally gathered the guts to say, "Hello, p-p-partner - I mean, roommate! M-My name is Clarisse Alexia - n-no, I m-mean, Alexia Cl-Clarisse..." She then immediately looked at the floor and kicked herself again. C'mon, you dummy! You can do better than that!
Kaiira's face immediately brightened up. "I'm Kaiira, Kaiira Frost," she grinned. "I-It's okay, just breathe first. It's nice to m-meet you, Alexia." Kaiira bowed, her grin forming into a smile.
"S-Sorry, I'm just r-really bad at s-s-socializing," said Alexia. "I'm j-just always so awkward, and I a-always s-stutter..." Alexia sighed. "Well, i-it's nice to meet y-you, Kaiira!"
===Rosebud and Madison===
Rosebud opened the door and skipped around her dorm. “WE’RE GONNA HAVE SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER!” she cheered.
Madison, who had been entering the dorm at that moment, did a comedic double-take and froze in the doorway out of confusion, wispy shadows floating around her.
=== Skid and Corey ===
Skid walked into the dorm, noticing another bed across the room. Immediately realizing the horrific possibility of who could be his roommate, especially if the dorms were co-ed. He tried not to think about it, taking out some posters and began hanging them up.
Corey entered the dorm, looking reasonably happy. "Hallo there, roomate!" he said. "I'm not sure who you are, but my name's Corey Andover, what's yours?"
Category:Sub-pages
Category:Roleplays
Category:Free Join Roleplays