Raising an eyebrow at the first year's exuberance, Raule supposed that it was better than a nervous wreck. He gazed at the three transports flying in from a distance and raised his arm to shield his eyes just as they came to a halt, kicking up a cloud of snow as they did so. Brushing the white powder from his clothes, he nodded towards the transport at the group of four that were “technically” under his supervision. Technically because he was the eldest of them, but it wasn’t as if Raule had any desire to be seen as a leader. Not waiting to see if they followed, he strode on forward and climbed onto the Eagle, claws clinking as they tapped against metal. Dagny was pretty tuned out to the speech and blabbing, her eyes wandering around at the other students. "[i]Dweeb, dweeb, dweeb,[/i]" she thought mindlessly as she silently judged each one. Her gaze fell on the excited first year, watching boredly as his mouth continued to move. "[i]Definitely dweeb,[/i]" she decided to herself. Then, as demonstrated by the fifth year, it was time to board the Eagles. She took that as reason enough to get on the thing, and followed up by hesitantly stepping in, slowly allowing more and more of her weight onto the ship. Satisfied that she wouldn't be dragging it down, she stepped in, rolling her shoulders. Loreal looked around at the other students, her ears tuned in on the first year speaking to everyone via microphone. After a whole break away, she was regrowing accustomed to the technology and she adjusted it at her ear as her green eyes found Varren again. "Whats a senpai?" she whispered curiously to Jeremiah as the first year wrapped up his speech. Then, she watched as the fifth and fourth years boarded the Eagle and followed suit. Over her shoulder sat her long bow--emphasis on long as it was nearly as tall as she--and quiver. At each side of her slender figure was a short sword. Jeremiah admired the transport they had been given for this mission, He had never ridden in something like this. "I'm not positive, but I think it's just a term of respect." He said absently petting Kasha as she napped on the seat beside him. Jeremiah looked around again at the people he would soon be fighting along side, it would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous. He looked around again grasping for a distraction, "Do they normally take us to missions on ships like this?" He asked Loreal, "I don't know why but I thought we would be riding the griffons again." He smiled thinking of that. Ark was the last one on the transport. This fact didn't matter much, but it gave him a quick view of his team. Of course, there was him and Dagny. The Draconic Archer and the Dragon girl who could probably punch a wall to pieces without even noticing. Then, there was Raule, a brawler of some sort who looked like a reliable bad-ass. There was also Loreal, the second year who was also an archer. Lastly, there was the guy with the cat. Cat guy. That is what Ark would call him. Cat Guy. He took his seat, making sure he had everything with him. Ark wasn't wearing a huge coat like he was during the last few days, instead, he was wearing less restrictive clothing, as he couldn't shoot with the damn coat on. Seeing that all four had followed after him onto the Eagle, Raule rapped on the door to let the pilot know they were ready. As the entry doors slid shut with a hiss and the transport began to lift off, he turned to face the four that were his team members. He waited patiently for the first year to finish his transmission before saying, "I don't know if you've picked partners yet, but figure it out amongst yourself. I'll be acting as support if either team finds themselves in trouble, or as the vanguard if possible." Given what he could make of his team, he was probably the best individual to act as a scout once inside the hive. With that said, he walked over to the window and peered outside, watching as they flew towards their destination. "Well it wouldn't make sense to use griffons for individuals since we're all going from point A to B together, y'know," Loreal explained as they boarded. At the mention of partners, Lorael's attention shifted to the other young woman on the Eagle. Though, the blonde was already turning to the Draconian and Loreal bit her lip. She had preferred to team up with someone older for the first mission this year, but if the fourth years were already partners... Her eyes turned back on Jeremiah and she grinned. "You, Kasha, and me, then? For this mission, at least," she added, not excited to be paired with a newbie for the rest of the year. “That sounds fine to me.” Jeremiah said with a smile, He was glad to be working with someone who knew what they were doing. Jeremiah knew he would be able to handle himself when it came to fighting, but he was determined to do his best to keep from holding the other students back. Looking for a distraction, he pulled out his pistol and began to clean it. Jeremiah was not sure if the condition of the gun actually affected its strength but it calmed his nerves nonetheless. --- Once on the ground, Dagny nodded in recognition of the chatty first year's praise and looked over to the fifth year as it was suggested he could throw a party later. She chuckled, smoke still filtering out from between her teeth from her mob-clearing breath. Shielding his eyes from as the raging inferno quickly died down, Raule quickly hopped off the Eagle. Feeling the dried ground crack underneath his feet, Raule scrunched his face in a grimace at the horrible stench. The burnt husks left behind didn't exactly add a pleasant aroma to the mix either, but he quickly got over the moment of distaste. Nodding at the other two still left inside the transport, Raule quickly stepped forward and towards the entrance in front of the others. While the dragon girl's breath had no doubt been powerful, he wouldn't have been surprised if a few had survived, shielded from the worst by the others' bodies. So it was a failed attempt of an ambush when two creatures burst out from underneath charred corpses. Lips twitching in displeasure as ash sprayed into the air around him, he caught the creatures' clawed arms mid-swing. Before the monsters could even realize their ambush had failed, Raule had already drawn the two close to one another and stabbed on with another. The pair collapsed, twitching, with their claws buried into the other's skull as Raule moved on past. Loreal hopped off the ship, her nose wrinkling at the ground beneath her feet. Then, from the ashes two of the reminaing creatures lept at their fifth year. Loreal gasped, reaching for her bow, but before she could even draw an arrow, they were dead. She blinked and sighed in relief, resting her hand over her heart for a moment. "Nice job!" she complimented Raule. Dagny blinked at the girl and crossed her arms. "Nice job? He only killed two," she pointed out, her arm swinging out to the burnt area. "Um. Nice job?" the elf offered to the dragon girl, raising a thumb. Dagny crossed her arms and snorted smoke from her nose. "Whatever," she mumbled with an annoyed glance at Raule. Ark gave no response to the events unfolding before him. Dagny had burnt a good number of those creatures to death, and Raule had ended the lifes of two more. There was still a long way to go. "Whatever, let's keep moving." Ark walked towards the entry point, bow readied, arrow already nocked. Of course, Ark didn't get too close to the [whatever the exact description of the entry point is], rather, he stayed really close to the group, waiting for Dagny and the others to move ahead. Confident that she was probably the sturdiest of the group--and a glance at Cat Boy and Knife Ears reassured her of that--Dagny moved for the entrance. She wrinkled her nose as she walked in, scales starting to rise on her arms and her nails extending into claws. She was quiet for once, her shitty eyesight forcing her to depend on her ears. Loreal followed behind the Draconian, readying an arrow as she stepped quietly. Jeremiah stared into the cave [hole?] hand clamped firmly over his nose, "Anything that could make a place like this home needs to be dealt with." He said smiling to suppress his gag reflex. Ark looked at Jeremiah "I've smelt worse. Though, this is pretty bad. Let's just get going, stop messing around." Ark followed behind Dagny, a good distance between them for safety reasons. "That is a truly terrible thought." Jeremiah said looking around the cave. "[i]Quit whining, your room in the bar was almost as bad as this."[/i] Kasha said poking her head out of his bag. "It was not nearly as bad as this." Jeremy said reaching down to pet the cat. --- Dagny led the group through the hive, scowling down at the ground as she stepped over the soft surface. Every now and again she would spit fire at a minion--maybe slash at it with her claws. Or one of the elf's arrows would fly by her head and kill one. It was overall a dull process, especially for the older students. Until they grew close enough to the queen's headquarters to encounter knights. Dagny, who wasn't paying attention when the first year was explaining the overall mission, was the first to say, "The fuck are those?" "Those must be the knights," Loreal suggested after peeking around to the front of line. "So, we must be close to the queen's chamber." She knocked two arrows, took a moment to aim, and exhaled as she released them at the two knights... only to have them bounce off their armor-like exoskeletons and drop to the ground. She really only succeeded in grabbing their attention and flushed in embarrassment. "Nice going, Knife Ears," Dagny hissed, stepping forward to meet them, arms up to block the first strikes. The white scales on her arms started to extend up to her neck and down to her legs, though most of it couldn't be seen under the school's uniform. "Second year, don't waste arrows on something your not going to affect. It should have been obvious that those thing are too tough for arrows." Ark was only trying to give a tip to Loreal, though he sounded like a complete asshole. While Dagny led from the front, Raule hung by the back of the group behind the ranged students and took care of anything the others had missed. He guessed it had something to do with the dragon's bold advance, but the creatures had quickly given up on frontal assaults which were melt by a raging inferno every time. Instead they hid and tried to ambush the group whenever possible, but the lowly minions were simply too weak to really pose a threat. In massed numbers they were simply burnt to crisp, while in smaller groups, Raule shredded them in moments. Eventually though, after a fair bit of wanton slaughter, they came upon a junction that seemed to join with the Queen's chamber. Given there were two large creatures that looked like they'd actually pose a challenge, Raule was fairly confident that they were at the right, or at the least an important, place. Before he could say anything though, the elf of the group loosed a duo of arrows at the creatures, creating pleasant pings and failing to do much else. Sighing, he stepped past the others and fell in step with Dagny to meet the two Knights. "So these are supposed to be a threat to fifth-years, huh?" He murmured as a faint white aura seeped out from his chest to cover his entire body. Unlike Dagny who decided to endure the blows, Raule chose to lash out first. The hive flooring essentially exploded as he kicked off and flew towards the insectoid monster. Smashing into the creature's chest as it raised its scythed arms to attack, Raule kicked off and flipped away into the air. Landing at the same time the Knight managed to come to a halt, Raule raised an eyebrow. While he'd managed to push the monster back, it didn't really seem any worse for the wear. Maybe a bit angrier, but its exoskeleton showed no damage from Raule crashing into it at high speed. "Interesting," he murmured as he stood up, some shadowy substance beginning to cover his hands. Ark hadn't been doing anything notable throughout the groups journey. He killed a few enemies here and there, burned a few things to death, and given some snarky comments to the others. Ark nocked 2 arrows, aimed, and muttered a spell under his breath. The arrowheads began to glow red. Ark extended his vision as Raule ran forward. The arrowheads began to burn. "Raule, Dagny, stay back for a second." Ark was farther back than the rest of the group at this moment, though Ark's ability allowed him to aim and fire confidently. Ark aimed and fired, the flaming arrows hit their marks suprisingly well. Well, one of them did. Of the two knights, the one that fought Raule was especially unlucky, as the flaming arrow landed directly in it's eye. That knight's head quickly began to burn. The other arrow landed in a gap between the segments of the other knights exoskeleton, and didn't really do much but annoy it. Jeremiah fired repeatedly into the shell of the knight, “I might as well be fighting the wall.” He said as he watched small dents form on the side of the creature. He had preferred the smaller bugs they were balloons compared to this monstrosity. Jeremy put his gun down to his side and raised his left hand, he could feel the shadows slowly rise and form small orbs in his hand. “Go.” He whispered as the orbs flew at the knight doing what they did best, [b]“HEY!” “OVER HERE.” LOOK AT ME!”[/b] The orbs flew around the knight’s head attempting to block the creature’s eyesight. Jeremy saw an arrow hit the other knight’s eye bursting it into flames. Smiling, he raised his pistol and began to firing again, this time aiming for the beast’s head. Thank you for the idea,” He called over to ark. “The eyes are a much better target”. Dagny found herself pulling away from the knight as her teammates attacked it from a distance. However, she never let herself move too far from its attention and she would step into fire to keep its attention on her, spitting flames or slashing at its armor. "That all you got?!" she shouted at it, grinning as it slashed at her scaled body. "Too tough for arrows, huh?" Loreal grumbled, raising her empty bow. As she pulled back on the string, a brillant yellow light started to emit from where an arrow should have been. Sand and remnant from the hive's floor started billowing away from her as the magic arrow extended. And when she had the string pulled back as it could go, she squinted her eyes against the dust and let it fly at the remaining knight, where it would slice through its torso like a hot knife through butter. A hiss of pain escaped Dagny's lips and she stepped away from the knight as it fell, her hand raising to her arm where she..she was bleeding? Her eyes squinted against the light, though as it faded, there was definitely a gash on her upper arm. For a moment, she scowled at the wound in confusion then her blue eyes flickered to Loreal, who she glared at. "Was that you? What the hell? Say something before you shoot somethng like that," she growled at the elf. Loreal blinked, looking at her teammate's injury. "I didn't mean--" "For fuck's sake," the dragon girl hissed, "you need to communicate--I'm up here to take their hits--not yours." She gestured to the empty space around her, save for the fallen knight then threw her arm in the archers' and shooter's direction, though winced as she extended it and quickly pulled back. Watching as the other knight dropped dead at the relatively miniscule wound it recieved, Raule couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. What idiot had thought these would pose a threat to the upper years? Turning his attention back to the remaining Knight with its head aflame, he figured it wouldn't do to hold up the others as their senior. As the heavily armored insect charged forward, uncaring of the fire burning it, the darkness seemed to deepen around Raule's hands. Catching the twin scythes that came downward to cleave him, he fought against the Knight's immense strength, aura flaring brightly, before the two came to a standstill. Despite its much larger size, the Knight found itself at a standstill with its smaller enemy. With a small grunt, Raule pushed and threw the monster's arms wide open. A sharp uppercut smashed into the Knight's mandibles with an audible crunch before the front half of its face just ceased to exist. Placing a foot against the open wound, Raule kicked off sharply and he flew back while what remained of the creature's head flew the other way. "Tenacious," he mumured as he landed and hopped backwards immediately as a pair of scythes cleaved through the air just in front of him. Even in its death throes, the Knight seemed to be intent of pursuing Raule. While it might have worked as a surprise attack against someone who thought the battle to be over, against someone who kept their wits about it was little more than an annoyance. While its combat ability hadn't degraded much, against Raule, who could hold his own when it was at full functionality, this "surprise" meant little. Finally, after about a minute the corpse finally collapsed and stilled, the last moments of its life spent. "Alright, looks like that is done with. Hopefully, the other groups figured out how to deal with those knights. Let's get to the queen's chamber as soon as possible." Ark moved forward, making sure to stamp on the corpses of the knights as he passed them. When he noticed what happened with Dagny and Loreal, or decided to aknowledge it, he simply looked at the second year "Be more careful. Mind your allies. You never know when friendly fire could kill. Oh, stop your complaining, dragon girl, your the last perosn I would expect to make a fuss about friendly fire. though.. you are pretty hot headed." Ark snickered and continued to walk, but at a slower pace, so that the others could get in front of him. "I'll show you friendly fire," Dagny snorted at Ark, body checking him as she passed to take the lead again. --- Dagny slowed to a stop and raised her arm to silently signal the group to stop, her eyes narrowing down the passage. They were coming upon an opening into a larger chamber, and the pupils of her eyes elogated then widened as she watched. She was able to make out the massive figure of the queen. "We're almost there," she commented before moving again. Then a crash echoed down the passage and the group could see students dropping from the ceiling of the queen's chambers.