[center][b]Morella Cinder[/b][/center] Morella jumped back as the hold began to fall, waiting to see how the other students would react Some of them were relatively calm, moving with purpose to the exit without going crazy, though a good majority of them were in a bit of a frenzy. They were soon getting control of themselves, though, and in the partial lull, Morella took the chance to move to the exit. She trusted Tarkus to take care of himself, nodding at his remark to her, as she ground her boot on the floor. The Dust cylinders in the boots spun, as the power lines glowed light blue. She could’ve started spinning them just by using her Dust reserves, but this method saved a small amount, and who knows how much she’d need. She jumped to the wall and tapped her foot on the metal. [b]DASH GATE – 2 STEP[/B] Below Morella, parallel to the wall, appeared a large circle, white, with an ornate arrow made of criss-crossing lines converging. She shot off the wall, above the crowd escaping from the back end of the hold, as another circle appeared above them. When Morella hit that Gate, she shot out the door, leaping above the students jumping out, as she streamlined into a freefall. She barely squinted against the rushing air that whipped her hair around, partially shielding her face with her hand. She looked around, as bodies flew in various directions. She spotted a clearing a little ways from the forest, and flipped in midair to ready herself. Her boots light hadn’t faded yet, as Morella kicked downwards in front of her. [b]JUMP GATE –3 STEP[/B] Below her, and in a diagonal line down from her, the round circles of light appeared again, but this time the lines looked like they were moving out from the center. She hit the first Gate, which sent her bouncing forward through the air, falling a bit before she hit the second. She could set about three gates per kick, and though she could kick more to summon several more, they wouldn’t last till she got to the bottom. So setting three gates at a time suited her just fine. She flew threw the air, gracefully leaping from gate to gate. It took nine for her to reach the clearing, not a substantial amount of Dust wasted, but it was borderline significant. She touched down lightly, quickly getting a bearing on her surroundings. She retied her hair back into a tight ponytail as she looked around, not seeing anyone readily there. She checked her watch, seeing several dots of students flying in an out of her range. However, she saw a cave entrance near on her map, no doubt with some sort of Grimm within. She debated with herself, they didn’t have any readings on caches until they got to a partner, where their watches would automatically sync, but Morella wasn’t sure if she really needed a partner as of yet. [i]If I can get my hands on a cache myself, they might allow me to go at it solo, it’d be easier for my training if I didn’t have to worry about anyone else…[/i] she thought. Even if there wasn’t a cache nearby, she was sure they’d have put caches in some of the places underground, all she’d have to do would be to find it. It wouldn’t be extremely difficult to maneuver, her Glyph Gates could get her out of a crowd if she was swarmed, and it’d be unlikely that she’d randomly run into another student down there. She reasoned the pros outweighed the cons for her long term goals, she had a feeling that being part of a team would be distracting, which was something she couldn’t afford. She checked the cave location once more and set off in that direction, keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings. LOCATION: G4 --- --- [center][b]The Jerks[/b][/center] Christophe quickly took stock of the situation. He checked the walls, doors, and surroundings that they were falling toward. He listened, in between the screams, he heard the sound of industrial hydraulics, synchronized with the spinning jerky movements of the hold. [i]Some sort of catapult system, no doubt, to give us some lateral momentum to utilize on our way down,[/i] he thought, preparing to relay his plan to the rest of the team. He was going to have Ashton lash them all together when they jumped off the catapult, and have Jonah use his Hammer Jets to aim them to the lake. Lorelei could shoot her gauntlet’s grapple at the water, using her soundwaves to agitate it enough so their impact wouldn’t be that strong. That, coupled with Tibbers shielding their fall in the water, should’ve been a relatively safe landing that kept everyone together. What [i]actually[/i] happened, however, was Christphe and Lorelei being accosted by a girl with waist length red hair. [i] "Well what are you guys waiting for? Let's get going!"[/i] she said brightly, taking them by surprise and running them out of the door. “What, wait, no no no!!” Christophe said, as he and Lorelei were thrown from the ship. The two quickly clasped hands as Lorelei shot her gauntlet, Silent Seduction, to grab the edge of the ship. They swung along it as she drew it close, but it was out of view from the hold. Christophe breathed slowly, patting Lorelei on the shoulder. “Woah, thanks. Okay, okay, we can still save this, I’ve got a plan. We just need to get Ashton’s attention before-“ “Christophe!! I’ve got ya’, par’dner, don’t worry!” Ashton came shooting out of the hold, apparently using his Laser Lassos to slingshot himself out of the hold. All too quickly, he was too far to lasso back up to them.. Christophe sighed, slapping his forehead. “Ugh, I don’t know why I even bother,” he said, rubbing his face while the air rushed through his hair.. “It’s okay, it’s okay, Jonah’s got a cool head. We’ll get him up here, he can direct us to-“ “Ash, you moron! Wait up!” Christophe grumbled, as a dark blur shot out of the ship. Jonah had swung one of his hammers by it’s strap, using the force to leap out of the ship, as jets along the handle and hammer head propelled him even farther. Very quickly, he intercepted Ash in midair. Christophe kept quiet, as Lorelei giggled, “Go on, say something about getting Naomi before she jumps off,” she said with a grin. Christophe barely opened his mouth before a call of, “Don’t forget me, guys!” rang out, as a small body jumped out of the hold. She was surrounded by orange lines of light, Tibbers surrounding her while she fell, so she’d be kept safe when she would hit the ground.. He didn’t say a word, just a restrained scream while he rubbed his face. “…Whatever, I’ve got a plan, hit the catapult switch when I give the signal,” he told Lorelei, pointing at the button on the handled. However, when she grabbed the handle, she accidently pushed the switch, sending them both hurtling through the air. “OH COME ON!!” Christophe shouted, as Lorelei loudly laughed, the two spiraling through the air towards the mountain range. --- --- [center][b]Arrun Tower[/b][/center] Arrun watched the hold of the ship slip away through the window, “Ah, takes me back to my first year…” he said to himself, turning to walk back to the cockpit. He stood by the pilot, asking, “How is the ship running?” “Running fine, sir, we have more than enough fuel, and controls are responsive. We are heading to the drop point to pick up the spare ship hold, we should be there in about ten minutes,” the pilot replied. Arrun nodded, steeping to the side. He looked at the console, at a detailed map of the First Test location, along with the markers for every student, and cache in the area. He crossed his arms, looking over all the readouts and statistics. [i]Alright, everyone’s alive, though some of the class has some fractures. Looks a few battles have started, though no caches have been found,[/i] he thought, eyes drifting towards a certain twenty-four students out of the others. [i]Hmm, not much results yet. These students have the highest expected ratings out of the entire Freshmen class, according to Luster’s calculations. I still can’t access his databanks and records, so I don’t know exactly [/i]what[i] calculations he used, but I’m still not sure why he believes these students will excel above the others…[/i] he thought, reaching forward and highlighting a few students to see their situation. His eye twitches slightly while he mustache bristled. “What’s with people shouting random things while jumping, and getting caught in the environment?” he said to himself, shaking his head. “Must be generation thing, this is much different than the First Test in my day, I might change it back next year,” he said, walking back to the main area of the cockpit. He took a seat, looking at the windshield with his fingers tented. He intently looked ahead, brow furrowed in thought. Something was bothering him about the test, he knew the Unicorn was a threat on the mountainside, but he felt there was something else by the mountainside that was cause for alarm. This was still one of the things that Luster had set-up before his death, so it was either go along with the directives or set up something completely different, which Arrun didn’t have the time for. He’d have trusted Luster to the end of the earth, but there’s been so many questions raised since he died, Arrun didn’t know if Luster knew everything that was going to happen or if he’d been blindsided himself. Arrun rested his chin on his thumbs, tapping his tented forefingers against his brow. [i]I suppose we’ll see what the year brings, maybe Luster had a plan all along…or maybe it doesn’t matter if he did. We’ll just have to trust the new generation…and ourselves,[/i] he thought, mustache curling in a slight smile. [i]No use getting worked up before the First Test is even over, I’ll worry about the future when it’s time,[/i] he thought once more, standing up and returning to the console to monitor the test. --- --- [center][b]Naomi Isadora[/b][/center] --LOCATION: Death Grip Forest – F6— Naomi closed her eyes tight, feeling pressure from all sides as Tibbers held her close. She was completely embraced by the large bear construct, so when she fell through the tree canopy of Death Grip Forest, she barely felt a nudge. When she hit the ground, which felt like hitting a mattress, she looked up, surprised by the tree beside her that she assumed she knocked down. “Oh my,” she said, picking herself up and dusting herself off. She looked around biting her lip and gripping the bottom of her hoodie. “Um, guys? Guys? Are you, um, around here?” she called out, only hearing the buzzes and chirps of insects. “Oh, okay…” she said quietly, huddling up in her hoodie. [i]I must have been too late, and missed them…[/i] she though, breathing heavily as she crouched on the ground. She rocked on her feet, as she realized that this was the first time since she’d joined Christophe’s group that she’d been in a combat zone alone. She didn’t like it. She held her hands to her ears, closing her eyes tightly, as the noises of nature around her seemed to increase in volume. Birds, bugs, beasts, even the far-off voices of people were too much, too loud, she didn’t like it. She didn’t like it. She hated it. She wanted it to stop, to stop, to stop, stop, stop, STOP, STOP!!! [I]STO-[/I] And she felt a pat on her shoulder. She looked up, eyes welling up with tears at the familiar form of Tibbers, the lines of light now a light blue. Naomi sniffed, wiping her noise on her sleeve, and stood up. “You’re right, I’m sure we’ll be fine,” she said, pausing. “Yeah, let’s go try and find them, I’d like that,” she said after that, her pained expression turning lighter with a soft smile. It fell slightly, though, before she said, “You know, I never brought this up to him, but we’re five people, and Mr. Tower said it would be teams of four.” Pausing once more, she looked up and said, “I guess so, maybe Christophe will have a plan, he always does.”