[center][b][color=olive]Survival on the Rapids[/color][/b][/center]

Even with the pallets' favorable design, navigated the river without falling into it required a great deal of conversation.  Vorosky opened fire on the innocent riverbank in order to use the recoil to propel himself away from a outcrop of rock jutting up from the riverbed.  The unpleasantly familiar sound of rapidly-beating wings reached him from over the water, and when the professor looked ahead he was disheartened to see a small flock of harpies incoming.  Vorosky managed to bring down two of the avian Grimm with short, controlled bursts from his rifle, but the sharp-minded monsters split up after that, targeting students one or two at a time.  One harpy swooped down on Vorosky almost vertically, threatening to topple him into the rushing whitewater.  While he managed to block the thing's killer talons with his weapon, the harpy closed its claws around the gun instead and yanked hard, disarming the professor.  With a sigh, he pulled a pistol from his belt and unceremoniously ventilated the Grimm's mask.  

The scuffle had pivoted him around so that he was facing upstream; while not a desirable outlook for such a perilous situation, it enabled Rayna's questions to be heard.  “Anomalies have only one use!  The portal we came in by is one-way.  The closest way back is right in front of upcoming waterfall!  In just a few moments we will be there...” here the professor was interrupted by a brilliant light and a thundering [i]crack[/i], signaling that Abel had left a harpy thunderstruck and drowning in the river.  The guardian barely had the time to reset the Ampere to blade mode before an overhanging branch almost knocked him into the water.  If not for his low, kneeling profile, he would have been.  Vorosky continued, “And follow me exactly!”

A steady roar, growing in volume with every meter, heralded the dreaded waterfall's approach.  Abel cast a worried glance back at Oswald, the closest to him.  After Oswald came Daniel, then Greyson, then Sangue, then Gren, then Jack, then Rayna, then Mokuren, and finally Sarina.  The combat teacher's aide seemed to be dealing with the worst of it, having been the last to join the riverbound procession.  Though Abel could barely see them from his own position, Itzamna and Salamanders ran along the riverbank, with the former jumping across rocks and from trees while Salamanders spat caustic fluid at her.  Sarina, however, armed with the radiant red and blue light of her semblance, the Empress of the Stars.  Aglow with the powers of war and peace, she moved with enhanced speed and struck with augmented strength, all the while forcing the Grimm to concentrate on her.  Even Abel found himself oddly attracted to Sarina, despite the situation.  He shook it off -was that an effect of her semblance?- and focused on what came ahead.  A harpy came at him, shrieking, but he dissuaded it with a swing of his Ampere.  Looking for another target, it went after Greyson instead.

Up ahead, Vorosky had reached the waterfall.  He sedately produced a washer and threw it forward.  The air just on the precipice of the cataract shimmered, and Vorosky leaped into the anomaly.  Abel, next in line, brought out his own washer, and fingered it nervously.  He could honestly say that this was simultaneously one of the most frightening and most exciting experiences in his life to date.  The roar of the waterfall forced him to focus, and he lobbed his washer after the professor.  To his dismay, it sailed over the edge, and plummeted to the maelstrom far below.  Trying to keep his panic at bay, the guardian pulled off one of his gloves and threw it instead, hoping with desperation that the small metal chips on its knuckles would do the trick.  Abel gulped and took the leap of faith.  The world around him went dark, though whether it was the contortion of space that was teleportation, or the tumult of a raging river, he could not tell.

The world came back, and Abel realized that he was, in fact, underwater.  Bubbling and scared, he tried to swim, only to hit a hard surface.  Puzzled, he pushed off of it, and abruptly surfaced.  In an instant he realized where he was: the fountain right outside the front entrance of Beacon academy.  Smiling down at him was the scruffy, pitted face of an unmasked Vorosky.  “You survived!  A plus!”

If he hadn't been tired, or terrified, or tremendously relieved, Abel might have punched the may.  As it was, however, he wearily pulled himself out of the fountain to make way for the next person.  The bells signaling the end of fifth period started to chime as he did, making Abel remember that despite all that he had just gone through, there was still another hour of school.  “Ugh.”

-=-=-

[center][b][color=5F00FF]Coach Ahriman Agesander – PE[/color][/b][/center]

After a few moments in which Ahriman looked somewhat likely to erupt into a cantankerous discourse, the man's good nature won out and his treated Aurellius to a shrug.  “Works for me I guess.  Next time though, I will indeed be more specific.”

After a few more minutes of struggling on the remaining students' parts -Ivan, Jayden, Sapphire, and Victor never managed to get the newly-replaced medallion at all, while Benjamin and Geni got it only after tremendous effort- the passing bell resounded through the school and Ahriman dismissed the class.  “You kids didn't do too badly, for your first day, but remember this: if you want to make an impact on the world, nothing less than your best effort and your best dedication will suffice.  If you do not wish to give it your all, you've come to the wrong academy.”  Those ominous words echoed off the gym's walls.  Ahriman smiled.  “See you next time!”