Mei nodded at Nathan, affirming his belief of this being the place to sign up for the competition. [color=#a789ab]"Yeah, around here is the right way to put it. Just give me a moment."[/color] The teacher un-crossed her legs and started opening an array of drawers, ruffling around in them to try and find something. [color=#a789ab]"Forgive the slowness, I forget where I put these half the time..."[/color] the teacher groaned. It took a few minutes, which Hayato gladly used to chat up Nathan a bit, before the redhead found what she was looking for. With the care of an angry bull she slammed down a creaked piece of paper on the table and took out a pen from her breast pocket. She also took out her D-Ceiver and scrolled through it. [color=#a789ab]"Nathaniel Waverly and Haya...to Ray, right?"[/color] Mei asked the two to confirm their names, being a little confused on the samurai's. She only really noticed it was him because of the Earth uniform on his person. Whilst any responsible adult would have waited for a reply, Mei simply scribbled down their names on the forms. [color=#a789ab]"I'm glad to see some people signing up. We do this just about every year, and the talent show is always the least popular. Well, I guess I won't have to worry about that now, huh?"[/color] The teacher gave a wry smile to the both of them, then relaxed in her chair again.[hr]Dunk master Maisy sure left an impact on the room. Her one-in-a-million shot left the third year students in awe as they watched the ball soar in the sky, and fall right into the hoop without so much as a hit of stuttering on it. A perfect shot with the perfect angle. [color=#cd3d11][b]"WHOOOA!"[/b][/color] Melchior screamed into his microphone. [color=#cd3d11][b]"It seems we may have a new basketball star on our hand here in the form of Maisy McKellen![/b] Not only that, but she offered to be in the game! Could this be the game-changer either team needs...?!"[/color] Melchior commentated as if it were a duel, proving that old habits die hard. Melchior composed himself within a few moments, but the students didn't. [b]"Aaaand she's on my team. We're down someone, after all."[/b] The female named Celice grinned at the other team captain in the room, who's face went pale with dread. The older girl quickly scooted over and dragged Maisy into the field, giving her no time to take it back, and immediately resumed the game. Meanwhile, Melchior was looking back at the two male first years who were looking to sign up. [color=#cd3d11]"Ah, yes, the course. It's actually done in three stages. The first will be a short solo parkour on the outskirts of the academy, then we have a high-jump competition and we round it off with a race in the Action Duel arena. While the first parkour was in how well you'd do it in how short of a time, the second will be all about outsmarting your competition and taking risks. You won't have time to prepare for the parkour race, since the field will be randomly generated."[/color] 

The explanation was maybe a little over-simplified, but Melchior didn't have much time. He had a game to commentate, damnit! The commentator took out his D-Ceiver in his pocket and fiddled around a bit with the screen. [color=#cd3d11]"Alright, you're set! All three of you are registered for the competition! Now join me in this [b]SPECTACULAR[/b] game!"[/color] Melchior couldn't hold in his excitement as he said that, looking back to the field. Apparently, Maisy had scored a three pointer since last time he checked, and was going on the offensive again by dribbling past all those taller students. [color=#cd3d11][b]"What's this?! It seems our sudden guest star really was a game changer!"[/b][/color] Melchior continued to shout, giving live feedback on the game in progress.[hr]Ethel stared at Ignia whilst waiting for a reply, though it didn't seem like she was going to get one. [color=7ea7d8]"Ignia?"[/color] Ethel asked, her tone of voice a bit impatient. The girl from the Wind dorm still wasn't replying to Ethel. The blue-haired one of the two felt frustration welling up inside of her chest. They didn't have a lot of time throughout the week to spend with her, quite frankly only, friend and now that she [i]did[/i], said friend is clamping up harder than an actual clamp. Ethel tried to poke Ignia a few times in vain, before getting up and dusting off her skirt. A bit of a frown was on Ethel's face, hating the fact she was just ignored. [color=7ea7d8]"Fine."[/color] The girl was about to leave, but she then heard something buzz from her hand bag. Blinking twice, Ethel ruffled through it to find a message from Angelo on her D-Ceiver. Apparently he was finished with the modifications, and Ethel needed to rate his work. [color=7ea7d8]"...I'm going now,"[/color] the older girl informed her friend, then briskly walked off to the changing rooms. She emerged a few moments later, completely dressed up in her riding suit and helmet. 

The girl ignored Ignia as she walked past her again, heading straight for the garage. She'd have to ask Angelo to hand back her spare key later, but the guy wasn't in the area from the looks of it. Ethel frowned as she opened up her garage and found that her Duel Runner was under a sheet. She never liked unwrapping things, and getting something like that off was a pain. It took her a few seconds of messing around before she managed to get it off and toss it into the corner. Her new frame looked... pretty much exactly like she expected it to. Instead of the weird, flat W-shape the ALPHA frame had, this one looked more futuristic and daring. It was a bit shorter and taller, but made up for it with odd breaks in the frame that looked like it exposed the technology underneath, though was just part of how it was modeled. It had her favorite two-toned dark and light blue colors, though with a long black streak on the front. The wheels looked almost detached from the machine as they were connected by two simple beams on both ends whilst the runner seemed to float above them. There wasn't a support for the back of the rider, but with this particular model it would have looked out of place. The handlebars were two flat, raised ones that were located at the front, rotated vertically. Both ends looked sharp, and the frame didn't really use any round shapes except for when it tried to replicate the machinery inside. The slot for the duel disk was empty, as she'd hoped, so her own could fit in. The screen to keep track of the duels was built into a windshield, raised at a bit of an angle since the duelist is supposed to bend forward. The buttons to scroll through the runner's menu were located underneath the slot for the Duel Disk.

Ethel was satisfied with the appearance of her runner, at least. But the question was; Did it run as well as it did before? Ethel took her machine out of the garage and rolled it over to the inside track, seeing as it was unoccupied. She didn't bother to drag it all the way to the starting point, instead opting to drive as soon as she got the chance to. She jumped on her Duel Runner and had it start the engine, taking off in the blink of an eye. Due to not revving it up earlier she had a bit of trouble getting speed, but that wasn't really the issue. Her acceleration seemed to be on par with what it was before, as it should since the same engine is being used, though her steering was a little off. Ethel didn't blame her Duel Runner for that, though, it's because her handlebars were different from what she was used to. She'd probably have to ride for a while to get used to them, so it was probably for the best to practice now before the race. Ethel managed to finish one lap and briefly parked her Duel Runner on the side of the track, walking back into the building to report to Angelo on its performance.

It took the girl a little while, but she eventually managed to find her D-Ceiver and tapped on her contacts list. She only really had two, Ignia and Angelo. She clicked Angelo's name and started to type a message; [color=7ea7d8]"Yep, yep! Job well done, 5/5 (・ω・)b! You replaced the frame like I asked, so I don't have much reason to complain (✿´꒳`). Thanks for doing this for me (≧∇≦)/! Let's duel casually next time, without something like a stupid bet hanging over our heads, m'kay? I think we'd both do better with a clear head!ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ"[/color] After having finished typing out the message, Ethel went back onto the track and kicked off her Duel runner again, trying to get some practice in with riding the thing. Even though she was friendly to him in the message, Ethel really didn't want to lose a competition like that. She had to be at the top of her game. People back home were expecting results from her, and she can't come off as weak to everyone after building such a reputation.[hr]Haas found himself on a bench on the sideline, gazing in awe at Megan as she smoothly raced from one end of the pool to another and then back. [i]This[/i] was his competition? He had to go up against [i]that[/i]? Haas was screwed completely! The red-headed girl finished only a single lap before floating off to the corner, presumably to relax a little after warming up. Wait, that was a warmup? [b][color=aba000]"Just... lovely..."[/color][/b] Haas complained with a sigh, pushing himself off the bench. He looked back at the pool and its length. Seems like the boy was going to need to practice a lot if he wanted to stand even a semblance of a chance in the swimming competition. He took to one end of the pool and dived in again, racing the fastest he could muster to the other side, but felt like he wasn't anywhere close to the speed Megan was at. This was going to be a long week, Haas imagined. Well... Megan was here now, anyway, and she wasn't doing much. Haas figured he may as well just go over and talk to her. The boy got to the edge of the pool and climbed out, brushing his wet hair to the side a little. As Haas was walking to the corner of the pool, he suddenly had a flash of clarity. A mischievous grin crept up on Haas' face, and he tried to stay out of the girl's line of sight.

One Haas had gotten behind Megan and he knew she wasn't looking at him, he suddenly yelled [b][color=aba000]"Surprise!"[/color][/b] The next moment, Haas lept over Megan's head and splashed into the water in front of her, knees inside of his arms and back first. It made a huge splash, surely hitting Megan and whatever poor sod happened to be on the side of the pool. Unfortunately for Haas, the water was only about a meter deep in this part of the pool and his momentum caused him to hit the floor with a bit of force. Nothing that'd cause any sort of major injury, but it still stung. He rose out of the water swiftly, standing up and having the water come to just above his stomach. [b][color=aba000]"Ow, ow, ow...."[/color][/b] he complained with closed eyes, then sheepishly grinned at Megan. It didn't seem like the colonel noticed, because otherwise the both of them would've heard the wrath of his mighty whistle.