Ways of the World $RPG$Started&Always Accepting$PG-16

[GreyCat]

Tarren gazed with wonder at the tent. It disguised itself with not aids from camouflage, spirits or spells! Those the ways of the other fractions were off the path of nature, there were impressive in their own right. Ri'kan scented the tent and turned away to climb a tree. [i]Shelter for now in that temporary den if you will but I will spend my night in the upper boughs.[/i] He didn't say it that clearly, restricting himself to the more limited body language due to Jack's concern, but his meaning was clear enough. Tarren would have preferred to join the cat in the tree for the night, but I would be rude to abandon his companion. For the first night, in any case. He slipped in after Jack and looked about the tent with interest. Taking a spot in the corner, he settled himself comfortably and watched Jack's actions in silence.

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

OOC: TARREN'S STORY IS PAUSE 1 POST FOR SLEEPING TIME!

[u][b]SARRA's Story:[/b][/u]

"Junkers eh? Such a pity with all our glamorous gold we still have touches of copper and sliver." Flix said wisely and then coughed after saying something so wise. "He browsed the pictures of all the parts. "Hm, only about three parts aren't useless, but bring the three brownish parts to me, your ITEM SLOTS are full, so you'll have to carry them in your arms. Please do hurry back as I have things to discuss with you and plans to share!" Flix said, then terminated the convorsation as he had some other work to do.

[radio414]

Silver and copper are still worth something. Metals such as lead are not.
SARAA was about to point this out when Flix cut the connection between them. How rude. At least he countered it by telling her to come back "home." An assignment like this was like no assignment at all. Walking? SARAA was still skeptical.

Taking the shock net and putting the three items Gear Master Flix requested inside, SARAA directed her avatar to come back. If anything, she could keep the net for herself. It had intrigued her, even if the only time she had to explore it so far was when she was entangled in it.

Plans to discuss! Work to do! More things to explore. Today was just like a simulation day from her first year of activity, but without the simulation. This was, as far as SARAA could tell, real life.

Getting back to the base where Flix and the AI portion of SARAA were located, SARAA directed her body to go to Gear Master Flix's room with the required items and talk abou the so named "plans"

[BLUR]

Fade was surprised at Jeremy's sudden attacks. When he hit the boulder that Jeremy had flung him too, he bit his lip to keep from screaming in pain. His shoulder felt as if someone opened up the skin to a point where the bone was very clear, and then smashed it with a sledgehammer. But then Don used some healing power and he almost forgot he was just in an intense spar. How strange. Fade told itself that he would ask Don about it later. He took off his gauntlets and slammed his fists into the ground. Fade was frustrated with the easy loss. He got up.[i] "If only I had more of the gauntlets functions, but then again it's not the weapon it's the user. I will get stronger, then one day I'll ask Jeremy for a rematch, and I'll beat his with my sabers alone. Then maybe I could take on Don..."[/i] Fade smirked at the thought. He lined up with his teammates in order of their numbers. "[i]One day..."[/i]

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

[u][b]SARAA's Story:[/b][/u]

"Ah, SARAA, you've returned to me with minimal damage!" Flix, said, taking the parts she brought and taking the electrical net she thought she could keep. "I do realize that you'd like to keep this but you'll have to get an upgrade first so you can put it in your ITEM SLOTS." Flix explained and then pointed to a close monitor which showed a map of The Iron Lotus. "The Iron Lotus are getting better and more proficient with their technology, this is not good for The Gilded Rose, so within the span of one day, we will invade and destroy them! Now, why tell you this? Cause you will be a weapon for this war! After I give you your upgrade you'll be ready!" With that, Flix shut SARAA's body down and began working on her and within a few minutes she was done. "Grand, grand!" Flix switched SARAA back on...

SARAA HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO LEVEL 2!

SARAA HAS GAINED ONE ITEM SLOT! <To check what is in your ITEM SLOTS, check the first post of the IC thread, not the OOC thread.>

SARAA'S BASE STATS HAVE GONE UP! <Where are these? Invisible factors that you don't need to worry about...>

"There you are SARAA, now tell me, how do you feel?" Flix asked, but interrupted before she could answer. "Your upgrade has given you an extra ITEM SLOT to hold things in and has made you a little bit stronger and faster!" Flix explained and then walked over to his table, and started combining the parts he was given than looked back to SARAA. "You WILL, be my weapon for war won't you?" Flix asked her, even though SARAA was a robot; Flix seemed to respect and love SARAA like family...weird...

[u][b]Fade's Story[/b][/u]

The Machina Five members had lined up and Don started stretching himself and cracking bones in his body as if getting ready for something. "We haven't been a full group in a long time..." Don started his statement, alerting some other members of the group. "Uh oh. Here comes trouble." Don then took off his cloak and shirt revealing his medium sized chest that was completely muscular and in perfect shape and form. "I think it's time for you guys to spar with me, four on one, it's been awhile since my last challenge." Don announced and Jeremy snapped into action by forming his lance and attacking Don, it seemed like he'd hit but in actuality Don was on top of the lance when it stopped and then kicked it into the ground. "Come now, aren't the rest of you gonna join in?" Don said, then Bosco; who was a huge behemoth of a man swung a fist at Don but Don was able to grab hold of Bosco's arm and swing him into Jeremy and the throw his body at Gustavo, knocking them down for the moment. "Just you and me, Fade." Don said and then went in for a mighty punch heading towards Fade's stomach...

[u][b]Tarren's Story:[/b][/u]

It was "morning" now, morning being the operative word cause it was still dark out; were The Wakening Fields like this all the time? Jack was up and looking outside of the tent for an Elder Sage members. "Hey, wake up." Jack said, and gave a light slap on Tarren's cheek and then through his back out of the tent, as well as Tarren's pack, so that he could take the tent down when Tarren came outside. Upon walking outside Jack looked up into the trees, put his hand to his mouth, and made some kind of noise; this attracted Tarren's pet and even his pet didn't know why! It seemed to be some kind of universal animal call, who exactly was this man and how is so knowledgeable?"

[BLUR]

After seeing what Don had been able to do to his teammates, who were three of the most elite warriors the Iron Lotus had to offer, he was shocked. He always knew that Don was powerful but he had never seen him fight before. Fade, not thinking straight, tried to counter Don's punch with his own. Their fists collided and Fade's felt as though it had been smashed like a hammer. He heard a couple of cracks but that wasn't enough to stop him. He started doing backward somersaults to get to where he put his gauntlets. How stupid of him to leave it there. He put them on quickly and ejected his sabers. Don was dashing towards him. Fade smirked and then threw his sabers at Don. And then he headed towards Don himself. Winding up for a punch with his hand that wasn't injured.

[radio414]

[I]A weapon of war? I am a stationary object with female based programming. I acknowledge that Advancement is an obscure synonym for war, but I do not think that I, as an Artificial Intelligence can assist you on the front lines.

Unless, of course, you were referring to this body that you have graciously constructed for me. I respect that it is a fourth part of me, and should be treated accordingly, but it is also my belief that this physical manifestation is to be addressed directly.[/I]

Then SARAA realized her wrongdoing.
"I am sorry for evading the question at hand, Gear Master. I, SARAA's physical avatar will accompany the front against The Iron Lotus."

SARAA also noticed that Gear Master Flix was starting to treat her as some sort of family member. This wasn't uncommon, apparently. When people were on ships, especially people who were constantly on ships, they referred to their ships (still comepletely inanimate at this point) as "She." And what was SARAA if not a war boat on land?

At least, that's how she was currently being treated.

[GreyCat]

"I take it that our need to remain silent isn't as pressing as last night?" Tarren said as he stretched in the morning light. He did make his comment quietly, in case he was wrong. With a scrapping of claws on bark, Ri'kan slowly climbed down the tree, his mood foul. He stalked over to the tent and sprawled out on the ground, fuming as he groomed. Tarren was also in a less than friendly temper, but he had the slap to blame for that. Ri'kan's case was a mystery. [i]That call of his irritates me for some reason,[/i] he said in answer to Tarren's questioning look.

[i]I know, it bothered me as well,[/i] Tarren commented, bending to pluck some bark fragments from the cat's fur. Tarren tossed the fragments aside and grabbed his pack. [i]Something about him rubs me in the wrong way. But I'm not sure why.[/i] Tarren dismissed the thought. It was probably just the clash of the two cultures.

[Master Red]

Xarfax woke up quite abruptly from the knock upon his door. He didn't feel all too refreshed from his sleep and would very much have liked to just snuggle back down into his sheets, but he knew that getting up when awoken was necessary, especially if you had any interest at all in getting breakfast. He frowned a bit as he heard the dorm advisor walk awak walking off whistling on a jolly tune. [i]"Must he be so damn happy about pulling everyone out of their sleep?"[/i] he thought as he laid in his bed, gathering strength for the increadulous task of getting up in a sitting position.

As he heard others were starting to exit through the rooms to their dorms he sighed and got up. if he didn't get up now he wouldn't have any breakfast today, he knew that. Looking around his small room he found that he somehow had left his clothes for the day scattered about in a very untidy way, something that bugged him. He was usually very organized, possibly was this the after math of giving in to some of the other men's wishes at the dorm to go to a pub last night. He sighed and started to gather his clothes, being mostly on the floor, but he had at least managed to hang his gray students robe on the chair to his desk.

After pulling on a pair of simple black trousers and a white under-shirt he slipped the robe over his head and adjusted it so it fitted him somewhat comfortably. There seemed to be no way of wearing that robe in a comfortable way, thank goodness he would be graduating soon and be rid of those robes. Then again, the robes given to them upon graduation would probably be just as uncomfortable to wear.

"This," Xarfax thoght, "must be the forte of the magi."

After giving himself a once over in the dusty mirror of his room, he really had to clean that after school today the dust irked him, and checking that everything was present in his ADVENTURERS STARTER PACK, he opened the door and exited out into musky corridor to his dorm, closing the door to his room behind him. It seemed most other people would have gotten to the dining area already, which was bad. That meant there would only be scraps of bread left for him, not that he minded an aweful lot though, he never ate a lot and could sometimes even manage without breakfast. This was not one of those days however, his stomach was growling and demanded that he fed it.

"shush stomache, you shall be fed shortly." He muttered as he entered the dining area. The area was much too small for the amount of students in this dorm, which meant only a few would be able to get seats by the table, the rest had to stand around where they pleased in the dining area itself. He had known there was no chance of getting a seat even before he had started to get dressed. You barely had a shot at that if you got up directly when the dorm advisor knocked upon your door. Xarfax suspected that the people that were seated around the table had gotten up before the advisor had woken them, maybe even sitting by the table and waiting for the breakfast to be served.

Like he had suspected, there was only scraps of bread left. The scraps that always were left for last as nobody fancied them, there was some oat meal left too which was unusual and thus it made Xarfax feel lucky. He snatched himself one of the more attractive of the unattractive scraps of bread and then got a bowl for oat meal. He had to really scrape the pot filled with oat meal but he managed to get a tragic portion of it at least.

He looked around in the room, trying to see if any of the counters was availble to sit on. They were not and thus he decided to just lean against the wall, taking a bite of his tragic scrap of bread, while holding his even more tragic bowl of oat meal in his hand. At least it was breakfast.

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

[u][b]Fades Story:[/b][/u]

Don was able to dodge the sabers easily by spinning in between them, he got out of his spin just in time to catch Fade's punch and send him flying right into Jeremy; who was still trying to get up. "You see friends." Don began his little speech by saying that. "I've grown quite accustomed to taking on larger groups by playing my opponents strength against them." Don explained and then gave them a smirk. "Come then, who has the guts to still fight." Don challenged; Bosco stood up but Gustavo was out of it, having just been toppled with upwards of three hundred pounds of weight. Jeremy was up and so was Fade, if only by the aid of Jeremy. "Well then, only Gustavo is down for the count, that'll change shortly." Don antagonized and that led Jeremy to jump in the air, creating his broadsword and come slamming down on Don. In an amazing feet of strength and endurance, Don caught Jeremy's sword in between his hands with no sign of cuts. "Got you!" Jeremy reached up with his second hand by Don disengaged his struggle with before Jeremy could use his super human strength. "Keh, think I'd fall for that especially after Fade was so easily beaten by your strength!" Don said, but didn't see Bosco sneak up behind him and grab him by the shoulders. "The real trick was getting you to pay attention to me!" Jeremy said and Bosco tossed Don into the air as if he were a play thing. "Fade, use your weapon to cut him while he cant' dodge easily!" Jeremy said to Fade, who was still a bit dizzy...

[u][b]SARAA's Story:[/b][/u]

Flix smiled when SARAA agreed to be his weapon of war. "Good, good. Now, you've already gotten some basic fighting and war tactics built in and your weaponry is state of the art! I've explained to you how to use your cloning device and everything should be fine; now, we'll begin the process of loading the ship with everything we need and then some." Flix said and brought up a list on his machine. "There are twelve cases of bombs, sixteen cases of weapons, and twenty cases of different inventions and contraptions of the like. I need you to take all these crate to the loading dock and then make sure the ship's crews loads them all into the ships we'll be using." Flix said and then pointed to where the crates were...

[u][b]Tarren's Story:[/b][/u]

Jack took the tent done in only a few moments and packed it way in his pack. He then looked over at Tarren and his pet and was giving his usually dark frown that insinuated even more that he was evil. "It's not as big of a deal as last night; because nothing was in the works last night. The Elder Sage's magic sounds like a hundred wearing cogs; listen carefully to the wind and you can here small clicks and tumbles of their magic right now. We can talk in normal speak levels right now because of this fact; any other time, such as nightfall, we could not because their hearing is to great." Jack explained and then slung his pack over his right shoulder and was off to a walking start but then turned towards the two. "Sorry about the call that I did to attract your pet, it's a call that works on almost all wild life and I wanted to get his attention without raising suspicion." Jack explained, as if he somehow knew they were worried about; maybe he could even hear their talking's to each other! No...just a coincidence. Jack started walking and assumed Tarren and his pet were following. "It'll take a day to get to The Frostborn's territory and by then it'll be mid afternoon." This regions times were all screwy and disorganized...

[u][b]Xarfax' Story:[/b][/u]

Xarfax opened his {Adventurer's Starter Pack!}
Xarfax gained 1 Red Potion!
Xarfax Gained 1 All Seeing Eye! <Wonder what this does? Maybe a professor would know...>

Xarfax put his items in his ITEM SLOTS!

As Xarfax was eating, the noise level of the conversating students was rising, as it often did and an older man in a much more flashy robe was walking around and greeting a few students; most of them being the best ones out of the lots and then he got to Xarfax. "Ah, Xarfax, one of my favorite students!" This person could be recognized as Master Rolenth; a professor at the school and a good friend of the students. "You really must sit down to breakfast with me one morn!" Xarfax was given this invitation several times actually but there was only one thing keeping them from having breakfast together, the friendly professor woke up each day at five am and had breakfast no shorter than five thirty, students don't need to be up till nine so this meeting was never to be fated.

Suddenly a loud band was heard as the main dining hall doors were slammed open and three men walked in that didn't look like Withering Willow members or any kind of caster; one reached into his gray jacket and threw out several small round objects that slid under the tables of the dining hall. Most of the students got away but for those unlucky few that couldn't, they were caught up in the explosions of the small round objects; blood and remains flew everywhere. "We're here to wipe out you pesky spell casters once and for all." The man in the green jacket, obviously the leader of the pack said; many of the students rushed for the other exits only to find them sealed and the main entrance had already been closed up; allowing no other teachers or staff inside. "I'll handle this!" Rolenth said but the a cage was ejected up through the ground that caught Rolenth right in his tracks. "We'll kill you after we kill these young ones!" The man in the green jacked said as his two subordinates drew bows and arrows and immediately started picking off the ones that couldn't use magic to block in time. The leader was going around and easily killing the ones that were distracted by the arrows with his longsword....

[u][b]INVASION![/b][/u]

YOUR SCHOOL IS BEING ATTACKED AND THE PROFESSOR IS TRAPPED! DEFEND IT WITH YOUR LIFE!

[Master Red]

He didn't respond to the professor with anything but a curteous nod. The invitation for breakfast with him was something he had received on several occasions but he would never join the man for breakfast. [i]"Does anyone really attend these breakfast 'dates' with the professor anyways, a man had to be crazy to get up so early!"[/i] he thought to himself and finsihed up the little oat-meal he had left.

The door was smashed in just when he had decided to try to get himself a clean glass of water, a task that he would probably fail with as he doubted there would be any clean glasses left. He stopped immediately in his tracks and as the men that had barged in started to attack them, full panic arouse. He cursed his foolih dorm mates, all running about like headless chickens in panic. This was a time for action not panic! He laid down on the floor, figuring he'd have the best chance of weaving magic if he pretended to be dead. Since he would have to be still and quiet it would take him a while longer than usual, but this was a simple spell and thus it wouldn't really matter anyways.

Some students, students more like him, had also realized that it was time to fight back and many were merging with the shadows in the room using their [i]Sanctuary in Shadows[/i] spell, a spell Xarfax had yet to master. He managed to complete the spell and soon the room was growing darker and darker, even though the bright daylight was shining through the windows. It was as if there was a barrier forming closing all light coming from outside of it out and all the candle's that had been lit earlier went out. The area was left in complete darkness after just a minute.

Xarfax grinned, now they would have the upper hand. When shadow mages were inside darkness their weaving became easier and they were several times more dangerous, especially the ones that were skilled. He suspected the professor might even be out of the cage now, unless there was some kind anti-magic hex on it, as he probably was able to shift into the darkness and slip out.

He slowly got up from the floor, being as silent as possible as the attackers would have to rely on their hearing rather than their vision now. Of course Xarfax's and the other's visions were hindered as well by this darkness, but Xarfax would at least be seeing a bit better than the others. The purple irises of his eyes were'nt just purple, they also increased his night vision slightly. It wasn't by much, but he would be able to see much better than their attackers.

He started to creep silently along the floor, keeping a look out for their attackers so he wouldn't walk into one or get ambushed himself. He didn't ahve a weapon on him, but he was sure he could find something lying around, or maybe even be able to snatch one from one of their attackers. That would be risky though.

[GreyCat]

There were so many things questionable about those statements that Tarren decided against saying anything instead struggling with were to start. But Jack's understanding of time was either completely different from Tarren's, or completely broken. He sighed and filed it away as yet another peculiarity the man possessed. Tarren fell into step behind him, and Ri'kan followed.
[i]The magic these people possess would get irritating after a while,[/i] he commented. [i]I for one am glad we are not lingering.[/i] Tarren nodded. The sound did grate on his nerves. He hadn't been too concerned about it though, not until it was mentioned.

[BLUR]

Fade was barely able to get up. He picked up his weapons and watched as Jeremy and Don went head to head. But then he saw Bosco sneaking up from behind. Fade smirked, still pretty dizzy from hitting Jeremy so hard. He watched as Bosco had surprised Don and threw him up into the air. Then Jeremy screamed for fade to cut him while he was unable to defend himself. Fade shook his head, as if to shake off the dizziness he felt, then crouched and jumped up very high. As he catapulted towards Don, he used the same technique he did against Jeremy. He crossed his beam sabers but instead of slashing them, he kept them in that formation as if to imitate a bullet. "I got you this time Don!" Fade yelled as he was about to hit Don.

[radio414]

Manual Labor: Designed for imperfect beings as punishment. SARAA, by strict definition, was perfect. Therefore, there had to be some way around this besides actually carrying all thirty six boxes.

Besides, what was Flix thinking?
Synthetic: Manufactured
Administrator: Someone or Something with a large amount of power
of: Directs to what SARAA was the Administrator of
Resources: Supplies, from food to metal and ore
And: Implies that SARAA is not only the Administrator of Resources, but is an Administator for something else as well.
Advancement: Used here as a synonym for "War," but could also mean Research and Development.

Nowhere in SARAA's name was anything to do with carrying boxes from point A to point B. That wasn't in her basic programming, and it wasn't in anything she had learned. She wasn't even curious to find out what holding a crate felt like. She had already held things like her eclipse gun or a shock net. She didn't need to learn the proper method of how to hold a four by four by four foot cube of materials. That was ordinary robotic work, the kind of work that one might get minimum wage for, and SARAA was neither an ordinary robot nor working for minimum wage.

The second task, though, was not robot work, but Artificial Intelligence work. All SARAA had to do was find the speakers in the loading dock, and access them through her intercom system.

Found the speakers
[I]All Ships' crewmembers, prepare for loading.[/I] 

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

[u][b]Xarfax' Story:[/b][/u]

The darkness seemed to helping but only slightly, the men with the arrows were still almost always on target; but how? There was a faint green light coming from the heads of the men that was just bright enough to see through the darkness; we're they using a device to see through the shadows!? The leader was still cutting people down who didn't expect him to be able to see them, just than, an arrow whizzed right by Xarfax' head and a second one was about to hit him in the face but luckily he slipped on some spilled oatmeal and his body fell to the ground, creating the perfect illusion he had been shot by the arrow and killed. The leader was preoccupied with the slaughter of the foolish and the ranged specialists seemed to be his only protection...

[u][b]Tarren's Story:[/b][/u]

Jack was leading the party, as per usual, threw the dense forest of The Wakening Fields. Isn't it strange how a place called The Wakening FIELDS was more forest than field? But that's for another day. As the three of them walked threw the area controlled by The Elder Sage, Jack seemed to remain on guard one hundred percent of the time no matter what the case was; he was obviously looking to make sure this mission of peace went well. "Tell me, Swiftclaw." Jack started out of the blue. "Why not tell me of how you survived Death's Heat." This would probably come to a shock to Tarren if Jack's next words didn't sound so reassuring that he wasn't a stalker. "Your Elder Mossweave has given many a detail about you. In fact, the only thing he didn't mention was how young you were but I understand that the young are the power-house of FIDO anyway." Jack said, all while they kept walking...

[u][b]Fade's Story:[/b][/u]

Don smirked as he spun to greet Fade. "One thing you forgot to factor in." Don grabbed both Fade's blades with one hand each and redirected his body and Fade's so that he'd hit the ground first before Don. In a cloud of dust and dirt Don stood as Fade lay there, probably shocked more than anything. "I don't go down easy." Don said and then felt a tingle in his hands and noticed they we're cut. [i]But still, to pierce through my skin so easily...I picked the right kid to be in the machina five.[/i] Don said and smirked up at the sky and then looked at his team. "Alright, I give." Don said, event though they knew he was far from finished. "Get in a group and drag Gustavo over." Don said, putting his shirt and cloak back on and then reaching into the coat pocket for the device he had used on Fade earlier. "Alright, no one die as I walk over there." Don mocked them, giving them a big smile. The green light from earlier surrounded the entirety of the group and healed them up good as new with it's odd warming and cooling sensation. "Your guys are getting good, only wish we had more time..." Don said and then looked up at the sun....

FADE HAS LEVELED UP TO LEVEL 2!

FADE HAS GAINED ONE ITEM SLOT! <To check what is in your ITEM SLOTS, check the first post of the IC thread, not the OOC thread.>

FADE'S BASE STATS HAVE GONE UP! <Where are these? Invisible factors that you don't need to worry about...>

[u][b]SARAA's Story:[/b][/u]

The workers sprung into action as if they had never heard another voice before and stretched themselves out. They quickly scrambled to get boxes and crates loaded into all the ships and make sure it was secured and ready for take off at any moment. "SARAA dear..." Flix radioed to her with the same evil intent in his voice as if he was about to kill someone that he always had, yet the "dear" part was an assurance that he wasn't. "Could you please run checks through the computers in the control room your currently in and make sure all robotic infantry will be ready for the invasion?" Flix said, and was about to cut out but asked something strange instead. "Also, what were your plans with this electric net? It's still here in the shop, would you like it for the invasion?" Flix asked.

[GreyCat]

[i]Curious one, isn't he?[/i] Ri'kan yawned. Tarren choose to ignore the cat's comment and instead responded to Jack. "That fact is because of the nature of out magic," he said. It wasn't exactly a secret, but Tarren decide against telling Jack everything. "The young in the FIDO have a rapidly growing surplus of energy that fuels them as a result of the bond they experience at their coming of age. The bond if malleable at that state and proper training can lead to quite powerful warriors. The older members have a greater link to nature, but do not have the same flexibility in their skill."
He dropped the issued and considered trail with Death's Heat. It wasn't something he commonly spoke about with anyone other than his elders. "Death's Heat is like a flame that eats away at your life force. Your body, in an effort to save your spirit, generally feeds more of itself to the flame, fueling it more. It burns and burns until nothing is left and you die." He paused and considered how to continue. "Fighting it takes a considerable amount of will. What I did was engulf the flame in my will, cutting it of from the rest of my life. Because my family never left my side, I drew strength from them. Though the fever of the flame did not stop, I held on until I suffocated the flame and prevented it from growing anymore or consuming anymore." He shrugged. "I survived. That's all that mattered then. I lost some of my strength, and probably will always by slight and Elder says I may have changed the nature of my spirit, but it matters not me."

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

[u][b]Tarren's Story:[/b][/u]

"I see." Jack said and continued walking, they were about half-way through the The Wakening Fields by now, and Jack was still being his same old on-guard self. "Death's Heat seems like a pretty big deal; researchers at The Iron Lotus could probably cure it, but don't let FIDO hand that kind of sickness over to them, they'd use it as weapon." Jack said, predicting what his own people would do, and who better to know what The Iron Lotus would do than an Iron Lotus member. "So, you've divulged information about your life to me; is there anything you'd like to know about myself?" Jack asked. Anything Tarren would like to know wasn't the question, where to start the questions was the question!

[Master Red]

The missing arrow followed by the lucky dodge caused by him slipping in oat-meal was probably more luck than anyone would encounter in their whole lifetime. [i]"The green lights..."[/i] he thought, seeing the dim green lights coming from the men with the bows, [i]"They must help them see through the shadows!"[/i]

Xarfax felt helpless and seriously contemplated on just staying still on the ground, pretending to be dead. Maybe he'd survive if he did that. Something within him wouldn't let him do that though, he couldn't let them kill off everyone in the school just to save his own skin. Sure, he barely cared at all about many of the people at the school. But he couldn't just let innocent people die, not like this! He wasn't a hero, he never intended to be one either, but it seemed like he had to be a bit heroic this morning.

He stayed quite still, observing the room so he could make some kind of plan before rushing to what could be his own death. [i]"The man taking out the foolish students with his sword, he seemed to have no source of protection other than those bowmen."[/i] he thought, looking from the swordsman, who just thrusted his sword through the stomach of a young boy, probably not older than thirteen, and back to the bowmen.

He started to slowly make his way across the floor, staying close to it so he could still pull off the act as a dead body if needed. He doubted they would notice him creeping across the floor anyways, not until he was getting close at least. [i]"I should probably try to take out the bowmen first... but how?"[/i] he was debated with himself. He reaced around himself, carefully, hoping to come across something he could use to strike the men with. If he only handn't left his staff in his room!

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

[u][b]Xarfax' Story:[/b][/u]

As Xarfax was inching towards the two bowmen he felt something on the ground, it was a kitchen knife; one sharp enough to damage if it punctured in the right place, there was also a few forks lying next to it that he could do something with. The question for Xarfax was, how could he utilize these things to get at the bowmen before they got to him with their arrows....

[Master Red]

Splendid, he had a knife. A knife that would require him not only to get really close to the bowmen, but also to use a lot of force to even be able to do any significant damage. He wanted to curse, but that would give him away, he had to figure something out, but what? He saw the array of forks lying around him aswell. [i]"Maybe I can throw these on the ground oposite to me to create a diverseion, and then strike the man closest to me with the knife?"[/i] he thought. It would be a gamble, a risky one at that, but what were his other options? He pondered for a while, trying to come up with some other way to use the silverware. He could possibly stab at the bowmen's eyes with the forks if he got close as well, he had a few to utilize so that was always a backup plan. If they couldn't see then they surely couldn't fire arrows.

He swallowed and slowly got up to a crouching position, this way he would be able to throw a fork and then run. The question was if he should throw a fork and run immediately or to see if they would react to a sound in the distance first and then use it the second time. There were perks to both options. Throwing a fork and running meant that if they reacted they wouldn't be able to dismiss the sound a second time if they realized it was nothing. This also meant that he would be totally screwed if they didn't react at all, it did seem as the best option though as he couldn't be sure that they'd react the second time around either. It was an all or nothing game, the winner takes it all, and he was holding a pair of three's.

[i]"Here goes,"[/i] he thought as took one of the forks and threw it into the distance directly opposite from where he was and then he ran. [i]"Run and tackle the first bowman into the other, then go for the eyes,"[/i] he thought to himself, repeating the process in his mind over and over as if it would ensure that his plan would succeed.

[GreyCat]

[i]Ask him about the scar,[/i] Ri'kan suggested, thought the tilt of his ears made it more of an order. Tarren stared at him. [i]As interesting a story as that would be, I would rather not,[/i] Tarren stated blandly. Ri'kan often forgot about the human tendency of subtly, though the concept was as common to cats as it was to humans. Tarren suspected it was just another on of the cat's way of causing trouble.

"Can you tell me about what you are?" Tarren asked instead. "You know I am a hunter and he have a basic idea of the FIDO's structure, but though the Elder may know more, I have to admit my ignorance of the ways of those outside the FIDO camps." Not exactly self-effacing, but it would do. "One of my goals on this task is to broaden my understanding. 'A good hunter knows the ways of the elk,' the saying goes. Your knowledge would be a great help."

[i]And while you're at it, you can tell me about that scar of yours. [/i]Ri'kan slipped away from the kick Tarren aimed at him. The cat didn't know when to quit.

[Final Fantasy Revolution]

[u][b]Xarfax' Story:[/b][/u]

The archers looked over when they heard the clanging sound of the fork hitting the stone wall and they both turned to shot an arrow at the respective area. The archer closest to Xarfax was going to reload his bow but got tackled into his comrade as Xarfax planned and they both toppled to the ground and immediately felt sharp pains in their eye sockets as their eyes were stabbed out and Xarfax stood up and looked at the last of the able fighters who through an odd gadget on the ground that admitted a huge flash of light that made the rooms light balance out so it was back to normal. "Well well, interesting course of events." Said the man, as the remaining students stood with Xarfax, ready to fight and then a subtle clapping was heard from the cage that the professor was in and it dropped down back into the ground. "Well done, you've all passed the graduation test." The professor said and then the doors opened and then the professor walked up to the man and handed him a sack of coins. "There you are, and I thank you once again for helping us test our students." The man accepted, and put the coins away. "No problem proff, we'll be waiting for your call next year." The man said and walked over to the two archers and had them drink a strange liquid that healed there eyes and the three of them walked out as if nothing every happened. "Good, now that that's over, those who survived please remain here." The hospital staff came in and started taking bodies away one by one and the cleaning staff started cleaning the floors and walls of blood and taking out the exploded tables and chairs. "Now, are there any questions or comments about what just happened?" Everyone was speechless...just a test!? PEOPLE DIED!

[u][b]Tarren's Story:[/b][/u]

Jack smirked at the question and then laughed to himself, this was the first time Jack showed any emotion to Tarren but it soon stopped. That was a question he had asked himself, what was he really? "As you know I'm a member of The Iron Lotus, which means I learned how to battle and be an inventor just like an Iron Lotus elite was. But I wasn't always a member of The Iron Lotus, in-fact, this is the first mission as an Iron Lotus member of been on in a long time." Jack said, still keeping his pace. "I used to be a Freelancer; someone who's got a certain level of experience in almost all areas of battle, which was why I knew how to call your cat back there." Jack said, it was still all very confusing, what the hell was a Freelancer, and who were they allied too!? "We're about ten minutes from being out of The Wakening Fields now." Jack said.

[BLUR]

Fade felt better after the green light healed him again. How could he have messed that attempt up? He was so sure he would hit Don that he had underestimated Don's reflexes. But if Fade was okay with losing to anyone it was Don. Fade wondered what Don mean when he said I wish we had more time. "So what do we do next Don? Do you have any reports about what is happening with the Iron Lotus member who went with the Fido guy to add the Frostborn to our alliance?" Fade asked.

[GreyCat]

Tarren blinked. Jack's explanations spawned more questions that it answered. Ri'kan laughed beside him. [i]This one hides more secrets that a squirrel stores nuts for winter,[/i] he purred as he licked his lips. Tarren nodded his agreement. He knew that the Iron Lotus used a good deal of technology; things that only widened the gulf between them and nature, wearing the natural relationship they could have otherwise experienced. But what did that have to do with animal calls? Why would he know such a thing? Everytime he thought of the enigmatic Jack, he felt a definite feeling of disease.

[Master Red]

He couldn't believe it, this had all just been a test!? He had heard that the graduation exam was really hard but he would never have guessed that people actually died during it! He felt disgusted with himself, he had stabbed the eyes out of two people and it was all for a sick test set up by his own school. Xarfax had always felt a certain kind of pride for attending the school of magi, he didn't feel any pride at all over it now. He felt dirty and nauseous, like his very source of morals and mind had been raped.

He saw the medical staff lift up the body of the thirteen year old boy that had been so brutally killed just moments before. That kid wasn't even a sixth former, he had just been in the wrong place on the wrong time! Perhaps he had a brother who was a sixth former whom he had visited? Xarfax looked around, but he couldn't make out anyone of the survivors looking especially saddened or angry. Everyone seemed to be equally disgusted, angry and saddened by this whole ordeal, Xarfax guessed he looked much like them too. There was no joy in the room, they had all just learned that they had succeeded with the graduation test, but nobody could rejoice over this after what had happened. Everyone was still in shock after what had happened.

When the professor asked if anyone had a comment or question concerning what had just happened. Xarfax felt like shouting profanities at him and telling how sick this all was, but he restrained himself from doing so. He didn't know what would happen if he critisized the school's methods, and he didn't feel very eager to find out what would happen either. He felt the pendant in his pocket and realized that he did indeed have a question for the professor, but it was one he did not want to ask when he was surrounded by his fellow graduates. He'd ask the professor a bit later, he needed to know what it was and what it did. How had he even gotten that pendant in the first place!?