[center][b][color=007FFF]Abel Fulgurate – Grimm Studies[/color][/b][/center]

A fusillade of bullets, combined with a plethora of furious, adrenaline-empowered attacks, did not bode well for the Megaladeus.  Through the Grimm's rage boiled its blood, too much of its ebony-colored vital fluid spilled out into the water to evaporate like smoke.  Ultimately, it would have been able to work up the wrath to go berserk if it had not been for a high-caliber round straight through its control center.  After that, all the ferocious shark could do was slump down into the water, turn belly-up, and become chum.

Quite abruptly, Abel's energy fell.  In the pool, the last few charcoal chunks of the beast were melting away.  Spent rounds floated to the bottom of the murky water, promising to give some poor filter technician a downright awful afternoon.  Some of the students cheered, some posed dramatically, and some, like the guardian- simply remained still.  To engage such a powerful monster in its own territory ignited primal instincts of fear and self-preservation in all, but in Abel they beat with a particular fervor.  No matter how good he got at it, he supposed that he would never enjoy fighting Grimm.  To him, it seemed like taking some medicine to calm a cancer: satisfying and necessary, but never free of concern for the fate that lay ahead.  Solemnly, Abel dressed himself, and at Port's prompting seated himself along with everyone else back in the lecture hall to digest some intelligence about aquatic Grimm.

Whether due to fatigue or lack of focus, the time passed quickly.

[center]-=Evening=-[/center]

Another day of classes had gone.  Not for the first time, Abel remarked to himself as he sat on his dorm bed, bespectacled and reading, that the expectations Beacon placed on the students was huge.  Aura could only take people so far; at the end of every school day, the student who didn't feel like a sack of wobbly potatoes on legs drawn magnetically to bed was a lucky one indeed.  And to think that he'd be expected to fulfill this routine for four years!

Ah, well.  Even if it did call for more energy Abel didn't know he could muster, another event lay on his schedule.  His teammate, Gren, and his friend, Grane -[i]what an odd coincidence...[/i]- were throwing some sort of bash, to which the guardian had been invited.  Supposing that he might as well try this thing called 'fun' while the opportunity presented itself, Abel heaved himself from his bed, placed his book and his glasses on a table, and reached for his favorite jacket.  Time to get ready.