Scene 1: Bright New Day at Unmei (Morning 1: All)

You each wake up in a room you do not recognize. It's appears to be around 10'x15' in size. You rest upon a soft full size bed. Looking around the room see a floor to ceiling black-out curtain covering a sliding glass window. It is hard to see outside, but through the small separation in the drapes it appears to be a bright and sunny day. Continuing around the room you see a student desk with a couple shelves above, various tchotchke give you clues as to the owner's personality. Some of them strike you as interesting, something you would find interesting enough to have in your own place. A computer monitor stares back at you, black and blank. Your eyes continue to scan the room, you note a door that seems to lead out of the room. A small two person couch and easy chair make a small sitting area with a 20" flat-screen TV. Next your eyes fall on a closet door upon which hangs a full length mirror. In the mirror you see something that you likely find very shocking. The face that stares back at you is not your own, though the shocked expression is shows reflects perfectly the alarm you feel as you watch this strange visage move in tandem with you.

Before you have a chance to think, a soft electronic bell chimes. You look up at the ceiling and see a small speaker wired into one of the tiles. The gentle noise gets progressively louder without getting deafening, as though it were mean as an alarm. A gentle female voice follows the sound.

"Good morning students. Welcome to the first day of school at Unmei Academy. This is Principal Howell and I want to wish everyone a wonderful start to a wonderful year. Your futures burn as bright as this morning's sun. Your fates as yet, unwritten. Remember to let that potential Shine Always! And a reminder, all students are required to attend morning assembly in their dormitory courtyards in 10 minutes. You will meet your homeroom teacher for your daily schedule, then be dismissed to enjoy a healthy and nutritious breakfast in the dining halls. Have a great day everyone, and remember Shine Always!"

You start to hear doors open and shut outside your own. A murmur of voices starts to build. The snippets you catch all seem to be people greeting each other, small talk about how they slept and how excited they are for the first day of class, or what they hope is available at breakfast.

At the first sign of waking up in a strange room Akira is already reaching futilely for the gun she always keeps under her pillow; When the bell chimes, as though it was a signal to start a race, Akira sheds the blankets as efficiently as possible, and makes to roll under the bed, but is stopped awkwardly by drawers installed under it to save space. A second later she's wracked by pain - absolutely none of her muscles were in shape for a move like that and they were letting her know in the most agonizing way possible. She would have cried out except that was surely what the enemy was waiting for. She listened, her heart pumping vital adrenaline, as Principal Howell introduced himself, becoming more confused by the minutes. Finally, as the announcements ended, she picked herself up off the floor and looked around.

It looked like a perfectly ordinary... her mind supplied "dorm room" though it would have been years since she could have seen one, and then only on TV. Her education was a little more... hands on... and she had rarely watched TV.

As she looked around the room her eyes fell on the mirror, and on her new face, and a whole new layer of threat embedded itself in her mind.

Is this some kind of deep cover assignment? Did I get plastic surgery?

A voice deep inside her head says,

Your present bodily health is inconsistent with the possibility of plastic surgery

Who said that?

I am your assistant

Ahh. My handler. What are my orders?

You are required to attend morning assembly in the Dormitory courtyards in... 5.1341 minutes and counting

Akira shrugs. Ok. That's manageable. She dresses hastily with a uniform she found in the closet, and checked the ID on the desk for her cover identity. Mirai LeBelle. She notes the similar structure of her name to the cover name. Lazy....

While she still has time, she takes a look around the room. On her desk next to the computer, there's a collection of pills. She'd need to ask her handler about them later. The room is decorated in shades of green, with solid looking hardwood furniture that, while not exactly looking like a jungle, do kind of remind her of the outdoors, and surprisingly appealed to her tastes. She was more used to hastily constructed tree forts and jungle canopies, but if she needed to live indoors she supposed this is how she'd decorate.

She steps out into the hallway and follows the other students, trying to look like she belongs...

And finds herself unexpectedly winded as she reaches the courtyards...

Oh... Oh no...

Having had vivid dreams before, Josh is not sure if he has awoken or is still sleeping. Further he is not sure how to wake up if he is still sleeping, of course usually he did not want to wake up. This train of thought though was not one he usually had when dreaming, and he certainly felt awake but if he was awake... things were just all wrong. However, he also felt suddenly excited about this inexplicable prospect. This excitement caused him to sit up and decide okay he was awake. Now where was he?

And almost if on cue the sound followed by the voice came over the speaker in the ceiling. Okay that explained somewhat where he was, he was at Unmei Academy wherever that was... but why? He began to look around and the mirror caught his eye and created yet another and perhaps more significant question. Who was he? For the person in the mirror looking back at him was no longer the person he had been which meant that he was most likely one of these students... but how? The whole concept was completely mind boggling and rather unnerving as it was way beyond anything he could even remotely explain.

Almost as if he were moving in a dream, he got up and moved over to check the Id, 'Dan Pierce' and it appeared to be a student id so that affirmed that suspicion. Well at least this person he now seemed to be had a normal seeming name, even though it was not his. Still considering the body was not his that kind of made sense. Again he found that last concept quite unsettling. He moved to the window and reached out to pull the curtain aside and noticed his hand was shaking. He clenched his fist tightly and closed his eyes as he tried to settle his nerves. Then once slightly calmed he moved the curtain aside and looked out to see what lay outside noting the location of the sun in order to determine what direction he was currently facing.

The sounds outside the room reminded him that all students, which he appeared to be now, were expected to go to a meeting and while all he really wanted to do was get back in bed and close his eyes so he could once more wake up in his own bed, his own room, his own body he had a sense that would be how that worked. So the next logical thing to do was attend the meeting, perhaps some answers could occur there. Moving to the closet he noted that apparently Dan like dark colors or more specifically black as all his shirts were black. Further they were all pull over collared short-to-the-elbow sleeved knit shirts which made that choice rather easy. Looking around he found, of course, black jeans as well as black high-top sneakers. Once dressed he slipped the id into his back pocket and then again slowly looked the room over before stepping out into the hallway.

First order of business was to locate the restroom and then the meeting place while not appearing that he was unaware where these things were. Just in case him not being who he once was ended up being even more unsettling for this world. As he had no desire to become an item of scrutiny or some test subject. Of course, he realized he would most likely need some help with the explanation of it all, if that was even possible. So first find out more about the situation and then decide how to proceed.

The first thing Lotte's nocturnal eye picked up as it cracked open was the faintest slat of light leaking through the bottom of blackout blind. That alone was enough for her to groan and roll over, a hard 'nope' on any form of activity before at least six pm. Of course, her attempt to continue sleeping didn't go as planned.

For a start, there was something in her face. It was ticklish and soft. Her hand came to brush it away, finding it to be hair. Except it wasn't hers, it couldn't be. She didn't have this much hair. Annoyed, she sat up and blew the remaining strands out of her face. Now that she looked around, this was certainly not her apartment. Seeing no one else in the room, she sighed and got up, begrudgingly winding the blind up to take a look outside...

Her eyebrow lifted befuddled. That was not her city. Just after noticing that, she became aware of an unfamiliar reflection in the website and spun around, only to see no one. It did, however, let her take in the rest of the room. It reminded her of her old student digs, all neat and clean and sharply organised. That still didn't explain where she was, though.

She crossed the room to the mirror, being met with a clearer view of the same reflection from the window. This was... Her? She was fairly certain she hadn't blacked out yesterday - So how did she not remember a makeover this extensive? It was more than that, in fact. Her features were softer, her hair was a bluish-silver and reached her waist. Tying it up in her usual pigtails would feel like a waste...

She shook her head of the thought of doing anything with it and checked the desk just as the announcement went out. She didn't even react this time. Academy. Sure. She already had enough questions, what did a few dozen more matter? Supporting this announcement was a student ID on the table with 'her' face on it. Chou. Chou Aiba. Well, cute name.

Against all her sensibilities, she figured she should get dressed and head out. The sooner she got some answers, the better... Although she had a morbid feeling that there would be even more questions before the answers started coming.

Oxana, had been awake for what felt like hours when the announcement was made. Her brain and body simply hurt too much for sleep, twice she’d almost thrown up in the tiny waste basket next to the bed but there was nothing in her to throw up and so she sat on the floor next to the bed with her head on her knees.

*Where the hell am I and why does it hurt so much?*

It wasn’t the first time she’d woken in a different city but this felt different, this felt more like drugs than alcohol, like someone had slipped her something. Oxana hated not knowing.

She struggled to her feet, opened the closer and regarded the stranger in the mirror critically. *Hair, pink,* she cringed running her fingers through the layered bob, *short, practical, almost demands to speak to the manager. Cut is alright but the colour has to go, maybe something more red.*

The girl in the mirror frowned back at her, *Shoulders, strong, well defined, arms, long and muscular, hands lean kind of banged up.* Oxana looked at her hands carefully.

*Was I in a fight? Might explain the tenderness,* she thought.

Reaching down to her waist she took hold of the bottom of her tank top and pulled it up over her head.

*Wow.*

The bruising down her right side was fresh, black and ugly. It stretched from, just above the blade of her pelvis to just under her arm. There were other jaundiced yellow bruises spread across her abdomen and other side.

*Think think think, what is the last thing you remember?*

Nothing.

"God damn it!" She yelled, throwing the top on the bed, the bottoms quickly followed suit. "What the hell did they give me?"

It took Oxana a moment longer than expected to pull on a sports bra and adjust everything. There was a fair amount more to deal with there than she was accustomed to and the bruised ribs didn’t help.

A pair of black boyshorts, plaid skirt, white blouse, tie and blazer. Light dusting of makeup quick check of her seams in the mirror and she was done.

"Ten minutes," she grumbled grabbing the student ID from the desk, "I can not even make a decent cup of coffee in ten minutes."

*Annika Koshkin,* she frowned, *Ana it is then.*

Her brain hurt a lot more now as she joined the commotion outside. One decision split into two which in turn split into ten.

Following the flow in the hall she let the crowd guide her to the courtyard, the other students avoided her as she moved, a teardrop opening in the crowded hall allowing her free passage. The cacophony of possibilities simplified as she approached until only one remained.

Stay away.

As each of you step out of your room, you encounter a crowd of about 15 students also coming out of their rooms, some a little more put together than others. You also note that your hallway appears to be filled with fellow students of your gender presentation, when you can see enough to make that kind of judgement. Most seem normal, but a couple wear some weird gear that covers their faces and hair.

Dan/Josh, as you look around outside your room, you note the presence of a bathroom sign pointing around the corner. It seems your floor shares a communal bathroom. You head away from that sign and find everyone headed down a stairwell. You are on the second floor of the building. From above you

Lotte/Chou, as you exit you see people giving a pink haired girl make her way down the hall. She seems bothered by something, like she has a migraine and the lights are to bright. Every other girl gives her a bit of a wide birth.

Oxana/Annika, you exit your rooms and see what has been described to the others. You make brief eye contact with another girl with light bluish-silver hair. Her expression is one of confusion (by comparison to the other girls who chatter about whatever.)

As the two of you find yourself at the stairs, you note that you are on the third floor.

Akira/Mirai, to make matters worse, you live on the fourth floor. On your way down you get a good look at nearly all the students. You note one girl seems to be very popular, but you can't figure out why. Instead of hair, she has a large mushroom like growth. She is very pretty and fit. She seems nice, but more than a few girls avert their eyes. Some sort of power hierarchy exists that has mushroom head at it's apex, but you can't pick it out just yet.

Each floor is basically a 'U' with 15 dorm rooms per 'arm' of the structure. In the back is a communal bathroom for each floor, in the front is a communal space with a kitchenette; sink, microwave, stove, cabinetry, and a seating area for 20 people among various couches and stools. The stairwells each have a key-card reader. A reasonable guess is your student IDs open them.

On the first floor you see the same basic setup but there is a vestibule and a 'main entrance' to get in and out. Passing through the wide double doors you see what the principal meant by courtyards, there is a MASSIVE structure in front of the dorm building. Several doors are marked by numbers. You see 15 through 18. The building has wings that jut out and create a semi contained area. Beyond those wings of the school you can see other buildings that are identical to your dormitory. Five adult individuals stand about halfway between the dorm and the school. Students who seem to know what is happening gather in loose lines in front of the adults.

The same voice you heard over the speaker comes from a black woman with her hair pulled into two puffs.

"Gather around students. I know I don't need to introduce myself, or your teachers, but I am Principal Howell. Better known to some of you as Darkhound. Next, Ms. Gillian Asami, aka Victory. Mr. Al Chemy, aka Alchemist. Mr. Vincent Taylor, aka Owl-Bear, and Mr. Tyrone Smith, Psychopomp." Darkhound pauses as a short round of applause that breaks out among the students.

"As the principal at this esteemed institution, I take it upon myself to welcome the freshman class personally. Like I said during my morning announcements, I believe in each of you. You ALL have so much potential for greatness. We, the faculty of Unmei Academy, are honored to be given the chance influence and guide you on your journey. It is our goal to instill in you the ability to Shine Always!"

Another shorter round of applause starts but is stopped short in it's tracks. Psychopomp steps forward, glowing with pink energy, suddenly he and his chimp stand 30 feet tall and a nearly overwhelming sense of dread and fear washes over you, then suddenly it is over. He speaks at a normal volume and is easily heard because no one dares make a sound.

"Quiet down. Ms. Howell would have us coddle you. Shine Always? Sure, that's a bright and sunny ideal to live up to. But in order to find your Shine, we are going to pound you into the dirt. Make you crawl through the mud and dig yourselves out in order to find it. The senior class has about 20 open spots in it this year. That's after the transfers in. Those openings are there because those students flunked out. I guarantee the number will be larger for your graduating class."

A round of murmurs rises and dies while Psychopomp takes a breath.

"That being said...that's the future, this is now. Listen for your name. These will be your homeroom teachers and classmates for the year. Once we get through the list, you check in with your teacher to get your syllabus, then you can head to the dining hall for breakfast."

Psychopomp reads off 15 names. All your "new identities" are on that list, along with a girl with a bunch of mushrooms growing on her scalp. With the business of the morning apparently over, the freshmen class is released to do whatever they need to do.

Handler? Which one of these clowns am I here to assassinate?

You have no orders to assassinate anyone at this time. I advise that you talk with some of the other students. Maybe they know something about the situation

Good idea. Have to keep it low key, though

Akira approaches the mushroom haired girl, and says in a voice that sounds like it was meant as a whisper, but is definitely loud enough for anyone nearby to hear.

"Hey, did you wake up in a new body this morning too?"

Oxana / Annika took in the gathering in silence. She noticed as the other students slowly shuffled away, leaving a noticeable void around her.

*What the hell is going on?*

The headache began to fade as the teachers spoke and the multitude of possibilities shrank.

When the gathering was over the possibilities exploded, thousands of decisions, eventualities, branching, uniting and bifurcating again.

Ana went nearby planter filled with chrysanthemums and leant against it letting the concrete box support her weight and took a deep breath. The girls near the planter all moved away.

*Yeah, that is right, get lost girls. Okay, I am in Japan and I am at some weird ass comic convention.* Closing her eyes she took another deep breath she forced down a wave of nausea.

*None of this makes any sense, Reykjavik I was in Reykjavik, at a guest house on ... Sunda ... Sunda something.*

The memory was tenuous and it vanished as she attempted to draw it in.
Ana opens her eyes and turns to look at the girl who asked about a new body, she watches the interaction carefully somehow knowing the answer before the mushroom haired girl had even opened her mouth.

When Akira approaches the girl with the mushrooms on her head she is surrounded by three girls and they are talking to some cute boys. After she asks her question, the group of teens stares at Akira with blank expressions. Then Mushroom head gives a cute little snort, then a chortle that sounds like bells, then a full belly laugh. As she does so a flurry of sparkling flecks fall fromthe underside of her caps. Everyone else in the group starts laughing

"What a freak." Mushroom head cackle and walks away.

Dan/Josh noted what direction the other students were headed as he made a pit stop in the communal men's room. After he relieved himself and examined the bathroom and washed his hands he headed out and on down.

Things just kept getting stranger and stranger. With the display it was fairly obvious that these adults were some kind of costumed vig... no wrong word... heroes. This made the prospects rather intriguing but if he was at a school such as this did that mean he had some kind of power? He glanced at his hands, moving them so he could see each side in turn. He did not feel like he had powers nor did he appear to have any powers. Maybe that was what the school did. It instilled or brought out the powers from within potential candidates such as this individual he now was. As he heard the name on the id called out he began moving towards Mr. Smith.

He then heard the statement made by a female student and while he noted who made that statement he also noted the response it got. So it appeared that maybe, assuming that individual was having a similar experience to his own, that he was not the only misplaced soul. Still that was only theoretical until it could be validated and he was not quite ready to do that at this point. He would wait to see what was on the syllabus.

Oh no. Akira had been shot, stabbed, water tortured, lit on fire, but one thing she'd never been is ignored.

Catching up to mush-head and placing a hand gently but firmly on her shoulder, she says loudly, "I'm sorry, that big thing on your head must be making it hard for you to hear me. I'm Ak- Mirai. I asked you a question. D'you need me to say it again?"

Akira ignores the pounding in her head and darkness growing at the corner of her eyes as details that can be dealt with later.

So far, today was turning out pretty friggin' weird. At least it seemed there was someone else having just as bad a day as her, she thought as she considered the pink-haired figure who looked like she was begging for death. She'd seen a hangover before. Honestly, Lotte was kinda looking forward to finding out where she'd got it so she could follow suit.

But between everything that happened in the courtyard, Lotte didn't have any time to feel fully... Terrified? By her situation. No doubt, it was there - deep in her stomach, a twisting and churning primal fear - But it didn't manage to make it to her face or any other part of her body. Perhaps because it knew things were only going to get weirder, and it was waiting for the peak to have a complete and utter nervous breakdown.

It was only then that she clocked the girl who had asked about waking up in another body. It wasn't just her? She watched the exchange and tutted when she heard that classic schoolgirl response that oozed cliche so much it hurt. She never could be assed with the teenagers constantly trying to get drinks to prove they were the biggest badasses in their class, and although she didn't have a bar, she still didn't care for that attitude at all.

However, the motion that followed set off some kind of sixth sense. She didn't like the other girl's body language. She'd seen that kind of faux-friendly interruption before and it came before barfights. Barfights messed stuff up and were a pain in her ass and--

"Okay, you two, let's just step off before we do something we regret..."

Oh, crap. She'd already stepped in. Lotte was the one regretting something now.

Mushroom Head stops and turns back to look over her shoulder. Her eyes are narrowed in anger. Those standing near her stop and look confused. Then another puff of orange dust puffs out of her hair and they look at Miari with harsh glares of anger. A large boy steps up to Miari, placing himself between her and Mushroom Head. Miari sees that a bit of orange dust has settled around his mouth and nose. His muscles ripple as he flexes his arms.

The two other girls also put themselves defensively between Miari and Mushroom Head. Then the alpha girl speaks. "I heard you just fine. Who do you think you are asking a question like that?"

Akira regretted that she didn't have a grenade to hold in her hand. That always made these kinds of conversations a lot easier. Still, she wasn't going to be intimidated by a bit of muscle. Or being outnumbered four to one. If push came to shove, she felt like she could avoid muscle-boy long enough to make mushroom-head regret snubbing her

"I guess you're the secret service?" she says to the boy. "Why don't you you go wait over there while the big kids talk."

To mush-for-brains, who obviously wasn't getting it:

"I only needed a yes or no. Did that mushroom grow so far into your brain that you forgot how to answer a simple question?"

Ignored, and the situation had escalated. Again, not a situation she was unused to. At this point, she was acting on pure reflex. "Hey, hey, hey! Will the lot of you just cut it out?" She grumbled, stepping in between the two parties and extending her arms, pushing the small girl back by her shoulder and the boy away by his chest. "It's way too early for a dust-up. Lay off, the lot of you."

With a glance toward the teachers, Mushroom Head gives a shake and a pale pink dust sprinkles down. Her tone shifts to something closer to dismissive than angry. "I don't care. I'm going to have my breakfast. Leave us alone, weird kid."

With that she saunters over to Psychopomp apparently content to collects her syllabus and head to the dining hall. The others start to follow but keep an eye on Mirai.

"Uh huh, you'd better run." Akira was hyped, ready to throw down. She had already planned how to dodge around Lotte, use her as cover to dodge Muscles, disable miss-right-guard, and pop mushbrains in her big stupid face. But now that mushbrains was walking away, there was no one to punch.

Akira stood for a few seconds, almost confused. Her heart rate slowed, and she began to calm down.

She began to see Lotte as a person again, instead of a barrier.

"Oh. Hi. Did you say something? What was up with those girls? Weird huh?" It all slipped out as a stream of consciousness as the last bit of adrenalin keeping Mirai's body awake faded. The world spun and Akira fell to her knees.

Having paid attention to the goings on as well as many of the other things taking place Dan/Josh asked the teacher in a rather casual off-handed manner as he got his syllabus, "So you guys actually allow students to use their powers upon other students or is manipulating other students how you weed out the weak from the strong so that only the strong end up ruling the school?"

"Yeah. Weird." Lotte sighed, knowing well by now it was better to just smile and nod to most people. She actually didn't find anything weird about this, typical highschool interaction... Save for the tiniest girl around prepping to deck the queen of the castle. "Hey, you mentioned something about waking up in a different body, right?"

Psychopomp looks up toward the top of the dorm building, clearly making it so his gaze could not see the exchange Dan is asking about. He lazily holds out a packet of papers like he has been giving the other students. "Don't know what'chya talkin' 'bout kid."

Dan/Josh took the packet saying, "Ah right, thanks. Always good to know how things really stand." He steps away letting others get their syllabi thinking to himself, 'Well so much for morality this was definitely no hero academy perhaps vigilante was the correct word for it but what kind of world am I in now where this kind of behavior would be considered allowable.' as he began looking through the syllabus he was now wondering what they might be teaching here but he was also paying attention to the conversations taking place around him.

DeJoker - give me a notice roll.

Ana watches the interaction carefully, the realm of possibilities collapsed and her headache began to recede, as she stands up mushroom heads minions fall in to defend her.

*Typical, queens always have soldiers to do their dirty work.* Ana had been a queen once, in a previous life, she knew how these things worked.

An she began to move towards the not quite an altercation yet, cold liquid black smoke began dripping from her hands to the ground. It pooled behind her eddies of cold spreading across the flagstones away as it slowly dissipated. People in the courtyard moved away as though the smoke was somehow dangerous.

Ana pulled back just before blue haired girl stepped in between the adversaries, causality shifted and the future changed. The inky dark smoke from her hands receded, not collapsing entirely but to a point where only the faintest tendrils remained.

*What the hell?*

As the mushroom queen and her squad departed the possibilities began to multiply again overwhelming her mind. Ana closed her eyes and took another deep breath.

A couple more quick steps brought her to the tiny tough girl and the blue haired one, *Just focus, one thing at a time.*

"Anika," she said offering a hand to the girl on her knees, darkness swirled lazily around her fingers drifting slowly towards the floor. Possibilities collapsed and she withdrew the hand almost as quickly as she had offered it, "Perhaps not."

"We are neighbors," she says smiling to the blue haired girl. Her accent was soft, Slavic, Russian, perhaps Ukrainian. "I saw you this morning, leaving your room. I ah, I like your hair."

She smiles again, "Oxana, Ana, you can call me Anika, Ana." She looks about quickly pushing her hair back behind an ear, "I should go, get my books and some toast before I throw up again. Do you like toast?"

Ana looks back at the girl on her knees then at her hands, "Look I am sorry I would help you up but that would not be so good. In any eventuality."

"That's ok". Akira tries to stand up on her own, but her swimming head prevents it. Instead, she just takes a comfortable seat on the grass.

"Right. Bodies. Yeah, I got a new one. Seems broken though. My old one was way better"

Lotte saw the new person approaching - The one from this earlier - And breathed in, preparing for whatever absurdity was about to take hold. "Oh, yeah. You ditch that hangover already?" She replied casually, before looking slightly taken aback and twirling a strand of hair around her finger. "Oh, yeah... It's nice, I guess. Thanks. I'm L... Hang on." She didn't care how suspicious or stupid she looked. She wanted out of this fever dream. She'd probably taken the bad choice to share a drink with a customer. Right? And they'd spiked it. Somehow. Her drink. On her watch. A bartender.

Honestly she wasn't sure which explanation she hated more.

"... Chou." She sighed.

She looked aside to the small girl. "Oh good. So I'm not the only one. I had blissfully forgotten what being a teenager was like. Ugh."

"Teenager, what are you... oh. OH! Yeah. I didn't really get the typical high school experience, so this is kind of neat. But I'm kind of just waiting to find out what I'm here to do... Do either of you have any ideas?"

Ana looked at the other two, "Not here, not know," she hissed, "to many ears, possibilities, it all splits, comes back together, splits again leads to too many places. Makes my brain hurt."

Her hands moved as she spoke sending wisps of freezing darkness swirling in every direction. "Later, books, breakfast. I need to focus, to many things, to many possibilities."

She pushes her pink hair back again and tries to smile.

Akira looks around, as if noticing the other people for the first time. The warrior part of her mind had classified them quickly as either a threat or a non-threat, then moved on.

"Ah, yeah, you're right. Better keep it low key. I'll uh... I'll be right here, for right now"

Having heard enough to know he wanted to be near this group, Dan/Josh did not necessarily want to tip his hand to those that might still be watching and or listening that he was one of the displaced so took the opportunity to instead be chivalrous. He tri-folded his syllabus and pushed it into his back pocket as he walked over. Then once in easy ear shot says to Akira, "Well I could not help but over hear and it would be a shame that such a damsel would need to stay her in distress, if you would not feel it was to forward of me I could carry you. Perhaps some breakfast will help you get back up on your feet. Will that be okay with you?"

"Hmm, that is forward... You're cute, but I usually date men to trap and kill them, so I'm not used to how this works otherwise... Plus you look a little too young for me. I'd never turn down free food, though." says Akira, clearly reading too much into the situation.

Wait, do I need to kill him?

You have NO orders to assassinate ANYONE at this time. Perhaps you should find a doctor?

"Smooth, bozo." 'Chou' deadpanned to the newcomer, one eyebrow raised. "That said, yeah, I think we could all do with some food. Anyone know which way to the cafeteria?"

Dan/Josh appears unphased by the insult and just simple ignores it continuing to focus his attention on the one on the ground, "Well if carrying you would be to forward perhaps I could simply give you a strong arm to help you to your feet and help you move. Also I am sorry if my intentions were misconstrued I was not asking you to date me, I was just merely trying to help you in your current situation is all. Although I do thank you for the candid warning about dating you, I will endeavor to not make such a mistake."

Ana points in the direction many of the students are wandering off in, "Cafeteria and toast, did I already ask if you liked toast? Sometimes I did, some times not."

She looks at the boy, "I should have warned you, in all possibilities she rejects you, maybe later. I do not know, to far away, to many paths."

"I need the books and some toast, with butter, you should stay away from me as well," Ana holds up her hands watching the darkness slowly fall to the floor, "apparently I am dangerous."

Ana turns and heads towards their professor, "Will the books answer my questions?" She asks quizzically, "No, of course not, the answers are within us and only after we’ve been ground into dirt and remade will we find them. That is a silly fortune cookie logic professor and it is not very helpful."

As the crowd vanishes the possibilities come crashing down to something more manageable, Ana shakes her head and looks at Josh, "Why do we need to hurry?"

"Oof, no offense but it looks like they did to your head what they did to my body. Don't worry, I'll get them back for you."

While Dan/Josh waited he let the information he had gathered roll around in his brain. Mentally viewing it in different ways. Was there a significance to the words if isolated from the rest of the content. What if they were grouped by types or styles. Was the time really a mistake, he had a suspicion that might not be. "Well if the syllabus is correct we," he checks his watch, "only have about three minutes before the first lesson begins which means it will be occurring during are scheduled breakfast time." He glances up in the direction of door, looking directly at the teacher standing there. "So can I help you or do you simply wish to remain here?" He then glances down at Akira for her reply. "I would rather not miss the lesson, in case the syllabus is correct."

"What kind of monster schedules a class during breakfast? Uuugh, ok, help me up, but don't tell anyone, I'll lose rep. And no carrying"

"Alright," Dan/Josh reaches down to give Akira a hand, but instead of grabbing her hand he grabs the inside of her forearm in order to more easily help lift her to her feet. Once she is on her feet he positions himself in a way that allows her to easily grasp his arm for extra support as needed as well as provide assistance as needed. Once Akira is ready to walk he looks at the others still there and asks, "Shall we go have breakfast?" He will then proceed to the dining area at a measured pace according to Akira's abilities.

"No we'd better not miss our first day"

Akira tried her best to walk on her own, but kept wobbling and ended up holding Dan for support.

"This is ridiculous, " she muttered, "Stupid body"

Right before they got to the classroom, she pushes off Dan with an apologetic "rep" to a... Well it wasn't a run, more of a controlled flop, enters the classroom and literally collapses into the first available desk.

After Akira gets seated Dan/Josh steps up and leans down and whispers, "I am going to get some food, is there anything you would like me to bring back for you? Oh and me serving you might help with your rep." His tone is lighthearted and joking

Ana looks at Mira as Josh helps her up, "It is easier now, fewer people, less choices, chaos, easier to see, think. My head hurts less."

"You probably think I am mad, is okay my family thinks me mad too." She took a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment before offering a hand to Chou and quickly withdrawing it a trail of inky smoke falls slowly towards the floor.

"Sorry," she mutters, "force of habit. I usually have someone with me and now I, well now I do not know anything."

She follows the others to the classroom and sits at a desk.

Her face on the table, Akira jokes, "Ah, yeah, you could be my servant, just like mush-head has. If you want to carry me we could get you a litter. I'd look like ten times the queen as her. But in all seriousness, some toast. And maybe eggs. And papaya juice."

To Oxana, she says, "You're not mad, you just need to pick a choice and stick to it like everyone else"

Hmm, that didn't feel like a thought she would have, nor did it sound like her handler. Something funny was going on.

As you all enter the dining hall, the first thing you notice is probably the size. Based on what you saw at your dorms, and what Psychopomp said about the senior class having open spots, each class has a maximum of 60 students. There are at least 200 students in the room, additionally some people who seem to be faculty (based on apparent age) and the obvious requisite staff to prepare and serve the food. However, the room is large enough to host at least 500 people at a time. So either something is off with your estimations or the architect overcompensated. The hall is set up in a 'T' shape, seating found in each wing and a large food court set up at the convergence. If anyone goes to the food court you can find basically any kind of cafeteria food at any given time. Six stations are set up this morning. There's classic American breakfast with bacon, sausage, eggs. Next, a vast assortment of pastries (from danishes to donuts to cinnamon rolls). Next is another selection of many varieties of bread and jams, not every type of bread & jam, but you find your favorite. Rice in a number of varieties. Fruits from all around the world. Finally, a barista station, branded with a regal griffon called Cometcoin. Their menu is also pleasantly extensive.

As you make your way to a table, you start to pick out some of the faces you saw at morning assembly. Most seem to be going about their morning with little concern for anything but eating and chatting with their fellow students. You notice three people from your class specifically are not looking happy. They are scanning the room, trying and failing to do so with subtlety. Mushroom head has added to her 'court' and is now seated with six fellow students, the original four form the courtyard and two others from different classes. May people look in her direction and whisper, but she seems not to notice.

Dan/Josh was about to go and get the requested items when he stopped and instead, pulled the syllabus out of his back pocket and sat down. He unfolded the syllabus and flattened it upon the table while he was quietly talking trying to keep it low enough so that only those close by could hear. "Okay I am not sure if any of you got the syllabus but I did and I also read it. There appears to be a message hidden within that is very important. I have not quite fully sorted it out but it appears that there is an assignment that involves 5 students perhaps acting as villains or doing villainous things, along with that maybe some kind of potential attack, I think we are tasked with identify them considering that this part of the lesson I believe is called Threat Assessment. I will leave you the syllabus to look it over just pay attention to the printed anomalies, basically words not printed correctly, words bolded out of place, words missed aligned, words faded, and words in a slightly different fonts. I am going to go get some food for myself and Akira while I continue to mull these words over in my head. Maybe I will have a clearer message once I return or maybe you all will have it deciphered by then. Back in a bit." Having said that he gets up and heads to get the food Akira requested along with something for himself, leaving the syllabus on the table for the others to look over.

"It is not my choices that make my head hurt," Anika says Akira, the Slavic nature of her accent becoming particularly thick, "is your choices."

She looks at the crowded room and takes a breath, *Focus on something simple, the small not the large. One step, one breath, simple.*

Anika pulls her syllabus out of her rucksack and begins to compare it to Josh’s book. Checking to see if the text is the same in both books. If they are she pulls out a highlighter and begins marking only the bold words.

Akira lifts her head momentarily off the table to look around.
"Threat assessment? There's no one threatening here. Except Psychopomp, that dude is very threatening". Akira points to the three shifty eyed people. "They are hiding something".

To Anika she says, "Hey, don't worry, I'm just laying here", and sits her head back on the table.

And now Lotte was starting to get a headache. She sat down at the table and slumped, head on her forearms. Could someone just say something... Normal? Or act normal? Please? The closest thing to it was the tiny girl sitting across from her, but there was even something clearly wrong there, beneath the surface. "Who cares? I wanna go home. I've got customers."

"What do you do before all this? I mean in real world?" Ana asks not looking up from the book, her accent remains heavy as she concentrates on the book. Focusing helped, took the edge off the pain.

"Is hard to recall, details out of focus." She chewed the end of her pen a moment flicking a tendril of icy black smoke in Lotte’s direction. "Do you suppose this Ana is in my body?"

Ana glanced at Akira, "I notice them too."

"Me? Mix drinks and listen to people talk about their problems." And some other stuff on the side, of course, but... Well another time. The thought of 'Chou' being in her body for the time being sent a shiver down her spine. "Shit, I didn't even think of that... Ugh, I hope not, for her sake."

Finishing with the bold words she switches to italics and a different coloured highlighter.

"I was on hiking trip in Iceland, poor girl must be terrified. No smoke, no brain ache, no ..." Ana rubbed her ribs absently as she continued to highlight.

"I wonder what Ellie thinks of new me, or did I just disappear in middle of night?" She waves a hand dispelling the thought spreading darkness around as she does so.

"You come, mix drinks for us tonight," Ana says to Lotte, "listen to our problems and dispense timeless wisdom."

"That, I will gladly do. If only for the normalcy... Pssh. Provided I can get a steady supply of liquor between now and tonight that is. Maybe if I can find the delinquent crowd."

"Sounds good on the drinks. My commander said I'm not allowed to drink anymore after the incidents, but it doesn't look like he's here, is he? Getting alcohol here might be a little tough... For me? I blew up bad guys for money. Well, not really for money, I just liked it. And guns and ammo aren't free. Plus I needed to eat. But I'd have done it for guns and a square meal. If this is a body swap situation that poor girl is in deep trouble"

Ana looks at Akira and snorts, "Not in that body you are not blowing up nobody, no wonder you is so angry."

Smoke swirls around her hands, "This is very annoying. How about smooth man? What you think he does on the outside? I got "

"You know, is a lot like being in prison, bed and food are much better though. Not so cold."

Having gotten the food Akira requested and something for himself he returns to the others, "Here you go," he sets a try down next to Akira and then sits down himself, noting what Oxana is doing he asks, "So discover anything as of yet? I have not been able to piece the fragmented words together in any semblance that would make clear sense but still working on it."

"Huh?" Ana look up from her notebook at Josh, "Oh ya, is um word pattern cypher, my sister and I used to leave each other notes like this."

Grabbing a fork she stabs a piece of toast from Josh’s plate before spinning her notebook around for the others to look at.

"Five of your fellow students have been given an extra assignment. They are planning villainous attacks. Your assignment is to identify which students are planning. Do not directly engage them. Be prepared to report this information at the beginning of class."

"What?" She asks looking at the others as she starts munching on the impaled toast, "I am not eating anything these hands touch."

"So, which ones?"

Akira picks up her head and rest it on one hand, so she can eat with the other "Obrigado.... I mean, thanks. So like, if those guys are supposed to be villains are we supposed to like... Stop them? Do you think anyone else has figured it out?" She looks around. "I'll bet mushbrains is the villain. That explains why she's such a b-.." she cuts off, apparently lost in thought.

Hey, handler, do you know who the villains are? And what does this have to do with anything

"Well perhaps not all of the villains have read their new assignment and I might opt that the three unhappy types might be that way because they have been tasked with being villains of course they could just be unhappy because they are some of the few that figured out the cryptic message. Further fungus head was acting that way before she got the syllabus so most likely her in the dark grows on waste mentality is home grown. Further she has a crowd of six now making her group seven of course it was five before the two extra upper class-folk joined her. Maybe she's started her villainy by corrupting more students. Lots of variables." Dan/Josh says quietly then grabs a couple strips of bacon off his plate and shoves the entire tray towards the middle and then stands up. "I am going to go get some more food any specific desires from you two that's not already on that tray?"

"No," Anika says to Akira, "identify and report is what message says."

Ana jams the last bit of toast into her mouth before spearing two sausages, "Is there coffee? Mmmmm American breakfast sausages."

"I does not like fungus face but she is to interested in building her own kingdom," Ana starts to look about again, "perhaps I should go for a walk, see who I can scare up. What I can overhear."

Ana starts eating the sausages and heads off in the direction of mushroom head and then the uncomfortable three in the corner.

"Maybe I'm a villain, I didn't read the syllabus..." Akira says, munching on some toast

"I do not think you got your syllabus so I doubt you are a villain. Be back in a bit again." Dan/Josh heads over once more towards the food casually paying even more attention to things as he goes this time.

As you all contemplate the situation, you do see more of your fellow classmates beginning to move around the dining hall.

Akira bursts out of her stupor suddenly.

"What, SERIOUSLY? MUSHBRAIN IS ONE OF THE VILLAINS? AHAHAHAHAHA! I WAS JOKING! I DIDN'T REALLY THINK! AHAHAHA"

She is making less than no effort to be quiet. In all likelyhood, everyone in the cafeteria can hear her.

You did hear the part about "potential threat", right?

Yeah, I did. "Potential" means like, big. Lots. Right?

Incorrect.

"If the teachers had the slightest bit of brains, they wouldn't pick mushroom head. She's the most divisive figure we've seen so far. Casting suspicion on her would be the obvious choice... Ugh, why do I even care?!"

"haha haha... Haha... Heh... Hah...", Akira has a hard tune catching her breath after laughing so hard.
"Haah. No... She's definitely one of them. My handler said so." Akira taps her ear, indicating an earpiece (that isn't actually there). "He's being real cagey about the others though"

If it is the mushroom queen her plan is simple, send out her minions, pick up loners and bring them back for dusting with spores. Ana watches for this kind of action as she moves through the room.

*Just like a match, circle your opponent, find their weaknesses.*

Focusing helps, reducing the possibilities, keeping causality in check.

The other moving students tend to keep their distance, Ana drifts closer to the uncomfortable three to check them out.

"Your... Handler. Right." Seriously, which God did she have to pray to for something sane to happen at this point. Anything, really. She didn't even care if it was bad. Like a mugger, or an overly affectionate drunkard. Just... Something she understood would be nice.

She gives a long sigh. "So what, you some kinda soldier back home, tiny?" Lotte asks, entering into bartender mode and just preparing to listen. That was the best she could do to achieve normal right now.

"Yah. Mercenaries. We are called Kaze Noir. Dumb name if you ask me, but I'm not in charge of naming things. We were on a mission in Brazil before... Whatever you'd call this. Trying to take down a big Cartel"

Having scouted the room a bit by not taking an exactly direct route to the food and back but taking one that would not seem to overly odd, Dan/Josh returns to the table with a fairly loaded tray and sits down. He then picks up some bacon and toast and asks, "So anything new."

He then combines the toast and bacon and adds some egg to it and begins eating the sandwich. As he does so he closes his eyes and begins to digest his mental food. Going over slowly and in detail everything he had seen, heard, and smelt. It was impossible to tell in this situation exactly what might give an insight to any aspects currently taking place.

Oxana makes her way around the hall, trying to observe the three students she noticed earlier. They also notice her. The first student is a female, she has green hair up in pig tails, and wears white and gray striped shirt, and a pair of short shorts and shiny thigh high stockings and heavy boots.

As Oxana approaches, the girl's hair snakes up and forms two fanged maws like venus fly traps that quietly hiss at her. The girl turns and mugs at Oxana, as if saying, "Yeah your tough, I know it, but I ain't scared." The hair plants undulate menacingly.

The next student is hard to read. He wears what looks like a black suit from the front, with a bright blue tie, and giant rubber yellow rain boots. On the his back are six evenly spaced rings that seem to be made of the same yellow rubber. On the seat next to him is a giant, gun metal gray, bell diving helmet, that when worn completely obscures his face. As Oxana gets closer she sees that his hands aren't hands at all, but five octopus tentacles wrapped around one another. His "fingers" twist and writhe in disturbing directions to grip his eating utensils.

His expression is cold and calculating. He gives Oxana a once over as she passes, but seems to dismiss her as important and goes back to peering at the next table, not quite as inconspicuous as he might hope he is.

The third student she noticed earlier is wearing a completely green super hero suit that includes a cowl and high collar. His eyes are covered in yellow goggles that seem to have been fitted with high tech yellow lenses. Oxana can hear then whiring as they seem to focus on things around the room and then her.

He has a notebook that he is writing in with the cover half closed. When he notices Oxana coming near he closes the book and puts his pencil down. He does not turn to look at her as she goes by though.

Ana leans on the table and looks the girl in the eyes, "Your hair, does it just do that or are you in charge? Because, truth be told, it is pretty cool. Mine is Just this awful shade of pink, and it does not do anything."

Icy black smoke from her hands spreads across the table and drips down to the floor.

"Sorry about that," She apologized removing her hands from the table, "Good luck."

The headache was beginning to come back and her ribs were throbbing as she walked past the mushroom squads table. Ana gave their paperwork a quick sideways glance as she wandered past.

Ana sat across the table from the others and down a spot, she smoothed her skirt out carefully, "Is not the three in the corner, they are working to figure it out too."

She winced a little leaning back and rubbing her ribs, "I think Regina George and the Plastics over there are the best bet, separate lone students from crowd and dust them."

Looking at the sandwich Ana frowns before rubbing her temples, vaporous shadows roll across her shoulders and across her chest. Pulling out her phone she looks for any kind of social media from her previous life, maybe there’s another Oxana here.

The girl with the flytrap hair smiles a crooked grin at Oxana. "The babies sort of act on my subconscious thoughts, so they can defend for me...sort of...or I can direct them to do what I need. I think you could go green if you wanted. That would be cool. We can talk more after class if you want."

She does shy away from the smoke but sort of makes a nervous laugh. "Sorry, its it's just...well we've all heard how much getting hit by that stuff hurts. It's not really personal." She gets up and takes her tray to the return station.

The boy with tentacle hands picks up his helmet and follows her. Catching up he stops to speak to her. He stands about a foot taller. Her hair snakes around to nip at his nose, but an octopus tentacle bursts from his back and slaps it away gently. She seems surprised but he brushes it off as no big deal. They speak for about 20 seconds then part ways. The boy scans the room as he walks toward the food court again while the girl with the green hair walks back to her seat with a confused look on her face.

Anika smiles, "I was thinking maybe blue, or perhaps going back to red, at least I think it was red once."

"I need to some soul searching after class, see if I have one or something like that."

"How about after dinner?"

"Sure." the girl replies.

Back at the table Ana continues to search for traces of her previous life, Oxana, online while flipping through the photos and personal things on Anika’s phone. Photos, taste in music, contact information, email history.

She looks at Chou, Mirai and Dan, her accent is suddenly brutally thick and her diction is off, "Before I bring up awful thought that crosses mind, what you think of Pastic’s as villains for this exercise?"

After Akira's outburst a lot more eyes were being directed at the table. Mushroom Head has gathered a a group of ten students by now and they are all chatting as if they were old friends. She shoots your group a look that is best described as halfhearted disdain and leads her group out of the dining hall.

A male student with a black helmet bearing the number 13 in white letters approaches. "So, I'm not sure what's going on. I've heard some other people talking, and it sounds like we are already supposed to be working on something? You seem to know what's up and given that you are on the outs with England, I'm willing to risk my reputation and just straight up ask you. What's going on?"The squid-who-walks-like-a-man comes back to the table and puts his diving helmet on and just sits. The kid in the green super-suit crosses the room and sits two tables away from the rest of you.

Dan/Josh looks up to guy with a 13 on his helmet, "Well if you missed it there is a coded message in your syllabus informing you that you are either a villain supposed to planning nefarious things or you are supposed to be trying to figure out who is and the teachers will be discussing this later with us. Akira here thinks that Mush for... uh... Ms. England and her four cohorts are those denoted five students that are being villains which may or may not be the case. She had an altercation with her prior to coming here so that could be part of that reason. Although as far as I know you could be one of these potential villains. The only way to know for absolute sure is if someone actually does something nefarious or you can look at the syllabus they were given assuming of course everyone's syllabus is not the same and the specific students were told outside handing out the syllabi. As for Ms. England if she is not playing the villainess then she sure does not have much of a heroic attitude so it lends credence to that suspicion. That is unless you can like read minds or have a way to sense villainous intentions, which would be extremely handy for this assignment."

"I'm still pretty sure Mushy is being too obvious for a villain. She's just got Queen Bee syndrome and thinks she's entitled to be a bitch to everyone who doesn't worship the ground she stands on." She noted the amount of people gathering at their table and her expression skewed. So much for addressing the elephant in the room - The fact that the four of them didn't belong here. There was no way their personalities matched up with those of the original owners of these bodies - They'd get found out eventually.

"Yeah well what I cannot understand is if she is not playing a villainess then why would the teachers allow her to so miss-use her powers upon fellow students like she's obviously doing. I would think they would curtail that kind of activity if not to help her understand what it means to be a hero at least to save the other students from her misguided abuse." While he talks with the others at the table, his mind is a whirl trying to solve the puzzle that had been placed before him. Surely there was some way to determine who was playing the villain roles otherwise why assign such a task to the students in general. Would they simply do this to mark the students as simple failures and begin that proverbial beat down that their teacher outlined. He does glance up to 13 and says as he gesture to spot near him, "Want to sit down and join us?"

"Umm, guys, she's getting away..." Akira stands up, hoping some food was enough to fix whatever was broken in her body, and heads out of the dining hall to follow Mushy.

13 replies, looking sheepish, "Oh, I uh...no I didn't put all that together. I hadn't really read the syllabus at all. Figured I'd look it over in the thirteen minutes or so before class..."

He continues talking to Dan "So, um just curious...I don't remember seeing you at Orientation last week. And since I only moved in last night, I was wondering, you know, who you are, what your deal is...all that. You give off a cool vibe, and you aren't brown nosing with the popular kids," he jerks his thumb toward the door where Mushroom Head went, "thought maybe that makes you someone cool I wouldn't mind making friends with. My names Ethan, Ethan East."

Josh/Dan noted 13's comment about doing something in just 13 minutes and doubted it was a coincidence. "Well nice to meet you Ethan," Josh/Dan glances at Ethan, "the name is Dan Pierce and I am just a student here like you. As for brown-nosing, well I am not all that interested in being fake or worshiping the ground someone else walks on. I have yet to meet anyone worth that kind of adoration since frankly we are all just people after all. Which means not a perfect one amongst us here. So sure, we can work on being friends cannot have too many of those, perhaps we may even become good friends." Josh/Dan gives Ethan a sort of gitter-dun expression accompanied by a thumbs up gesture.

"Let her go. I'm sure she won't be hard to find." Lotte looks over to the new kid, Ethan, and sighs. Well. She supposed it was kinda nice that they seemed 'cool' despite their copious floundering amidst trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the whole new-world fiasco. "That's nice of you to say." She responds, somewhat flatly. "We're probably as confused as you, though."

"Oh, and... Chou. That's me. That's... Me."

"Yeah, yeah... I just want to see what she's up to..."

Akira leaves anyways

Josh/Dan watches Akira leave and says, "I do not understand I think she's itching for an outright confrontation with... England and she does not like strike me as someone who would do well in a confrontation. So," he says to Ethan, "do have any ideas on who might be the sleeper students." He glances back at the others once more to see if anything has changed.

Ana wanders back after surveying the room a second time, she seems irritated, "This is, how you say, bullshit?"

"Could figuratively be looking for anyone," she stabs another piece of toast with her fork, "I am tired, angry, I hurt everywhere and feel overwhelming responsibility not to screw this life up."

She scowls sticking the toast in her mouth looking at the new guy, "Lucky 13 huh? Do not pay me no never mind, I am just feeling sorry for myself."

"Does not help that this girls phone is full of useless shit, cat memes, horse photos and a lot of long shots of various people as well as a lot of glamour shots of post Soviet era brutalism architecture from the Easter Europe. Not one picture of mom or dad or anything useful. There is also a couple locked folders."

Akira leaves the dining hall and finds herself in a hallway. Along the wall are a number of doors leading to classrooms. A brief glance inside shows this section is lecture halls, set up in a classic amphitheater style, broad 'steps' with desks for the students, podium at the bottom in the center of the room. A bigger desk for the teacher, a screen for slide shows, white boards, and a door marked 'office' and the teacher's name.

It doesn't take long to find Mushroom Head and her gang, now of 12. They have taken over one of the classrooms and Mushroom Head seems to be giving a lecture, or at least mockingly as she stands at the podium. The sound proofing on the walls makes hearing what she is saying in the room impossible from the outside.

---

"Nice to meet you all." 13 acknowledges all of the introductions as he watches Akira leave. "As for who the sleeper villains are...not really. That squid kid is acting funny though. He wasn't interested in talking to me at all. Something's on his mind, but I brushed it off as first day jitters. And the Green Meany over there is watching you lot's every move." He indicates the kid in the green super-suit. "I'm not sure which side of the spectrum that puts him on, but he's been making notes in that book he's got tucked in his belt."

Students all around the hall are starting to clear out. It looks like some of them are heading back to the dorms to get ready, while other are ready and are slowly moving toward their first class. "I'm curious, and like, I know this is rude to just come right out and ask it, but what do you guys do exactly? I'm usually classified as a speedster, but that isn't exactly right. I don't move any faster than normal, but I can compress time. 13 minutes at present," he points at his helmet, "but I'm hoping with practice I can get that number up, or learn to do it more often. Right now I have about an hour of cool-down time between uses. So basically, I can do in a second what anyone else would take thirteen minutes to do normally."

"And, I overheard that girl mentioning 'new bodies' at assembly? What was that all about?"

Hey, handler, you can see what I can right? Can you read lips?

"Wow nice, so time flow within this compressed time seems normal for you? I mean the 13 minutes seems like 13 minutes yes? Do you know if this has any side-affects like increased aging or are you physically not affected by adding additional time to your life by using your power?"

"Now as for your question I do not think it is rude, it is just a question. However I am not fully sure what my powers are beyond being able to notice things really well and recall what I notice extremely well. However, I do have a feeling I can do something more and I am hoping the teachers can help me figure it out or it triggers naturally in some way during the class instructionals. As for new bodies, you would have to ask Akira what she meant I suppose, I mean I heard her too but have no more insight to why she said it than you do or at least she did not mention anything to me about it."

Ana looks at 13 over the impaled sausage, she waves her hand sending some cold wisps of darkness in his direction, "I hurt people, seems to be my raison d'être regardless of where I am."

"So wait, you can do in 1 minute that which should take 13, I thought all men have this power?" She smirks a little, "I is kidding, if I ever has to disarm bomb or run up the score in second half of football match you is definitely the guy."

Ana takes a deep breath looking intently at the redness of her knuckles and the bruises on her forearms, *Something happened to her, but what?* Her head continued to throb, so many thoughts, so many possibilities.

Sticking the remains of the sausage in her mouth Ana looked back at 13 and shrugged, "Maybe she is body snatcher or shapeshifter, who knows."

"Ya wait, he raises good point," she runs a hand over her bruised arms. "Do you get older faster, because that would, how you say? Be in the suck."

"Time compression, huh? Maaan, that'd be handy. Could fill so many orders in those thirteen minutes." Chou mumbled, mostly to herself, but not inaudibly. She put her cheek in her palm, slumping lazily as she looked out over the canteen as it slowly emptied. In a weird way, it felt somewhat therapeutic to her - Like closing time at the bar, knowing she'd get to go home soon.

"Me? I... Uh..." Her eyes widened a bit. What did she do? She tapped her finger twice idly, then stared at her hand, then up to thirteen before breaking into an innocent grin. "It's a surprise! Girl can't share all her secrets straight off the bat."

Note to self: Figure out what you do before someone else asks.

"I perceive everything your senses take in, even if you are not consciously aware of the input, but I am limited to what your senses can obtain. Please focus on the target of this inquiry. " The handlers voice responds.

---

13 smiles at the praise of his ability then blushes hard at Ana's innuendo. He gives a nervous chuckle, " Heh...yeah...well, hmm...it's...uh," he turns to Dan, "Yeah, for me the time passes normally...like there is still that weird effect where if you're rushed it feels like less than thirteen minutes, but objects and people I am touching can experience the time compression too. My watch always tells me 13 minutes have passed. And so far, I haven't experienced any advanced aging or other side effects..but it's not like I can use my power all that often. Only once then I have to rest it for an hour. It would be hard to notice a couple extra hours in a few years time."

"But..I mean...you know what you do...it's how you got accepted to this school? I've never heard of anyone getting in that didn't know the basics of their Quirk."

He ponders for a second. "It's like flexing...but not...I'm not sure how to describe it. We could go to the gym and try to figure it out if you want. Its just down the hall."

Ana looks at her phone to check the time, "Thirty minutes, I is up for a bit of work out. My brain aches, maybe endorphins and dopamine help with the pain."

She gets up and quickly downs a mug of coffee.

"Lets go."

"Well I woke up this morning with a massive headache and a sense of nausea I think I might have walloped my head real good some how because for someone who can remember a lot of stuff I seem to have holes in my memory that I cannot currently access. I was working on that when I got this new puzzle and well I cannot get my mind off this puzzle now. I suppose once the puzzle is solved I can go back to working on my missing memories til then its do my best with what I do remember."

At the mention of going to practice he replies, "Well yeah, that sounds like a great idea might even help me remember other things as well but nothing too strenuous as I just ate." He stands up saying, "Just give a moment to take care these remains." He takes the tray with its mostly non-eatable remains to wherever he saw the other students deposit theirs and then returns to follow Ethan to the gym.

They Gym:

13 leads you down the hall and to the left at the first opening. He then pushes through a set of double doors. You all enter a small chamber with another set of reinforced doors on the other side. "Class will be straight down that hall. I can get us there as soon as the bell rings. We need to scan out IDs to be let in." He places his ID next to a small black panel on the wall. Four red lights appear on it, then one turns green. He steps back and indicates each of you should follow suit.

Once you have done so, the second set of doors opens up. Inside you see a huge room at least 300 feet long, 100 feet wide and with 30 foot ceilings. There are eight sections created by "speed bump" shaped metallic dividers that run along the floors and walls. The far end of the room has a group of six students. They appear to be playing some variation of H.O.R.S.E. in the far right section, except no one is touching the ball. Instead it flings itself at the basket periodically, changing direction wildly, seemingly at random.

13 takes you over to the second section on the left. He walks to the wall and touches another dark glass panel there. It lights up with a number of small orange 'buttons' and he taps in a sequence very quickly. Blue beams of light shoot out of the dividers cutting you all off from the rest of the gymnasium. One or two students from the other section glance over at you, but don't stop what they are doing.

"The gym is open right now. These force fields will allow us practice with some privacy. Hazard is the teacher on duty. He has been alerted to our presence but won't interfere unless it looks like we are in danger of hurting each other. From the outside the walls look like frosted glass, and are sound proof, so no one can hear what we are saying or see much of what we do. Just vague blurs. So, lets see if we can't help you figure out what you all do."

Touching the panel again, a three foot by two foot panel opens in the floor and a metal rack ascends. It holds twelve red and silver balls, similar in size to basketballs. 13 picks one up. "These are training tools. We can pretty much do anything we want to them so don't worry about breaking them or anything. They all have small telemetry computers inside them reporting back to this panel and the school's mainframe. So if your power is super strength or something, they can tell you how hard you hit them or how far they went...stuff like that. And they are made of an impact absorbing rubber, so they won't hurt a lot if you get hit by them." He slaps the ball hard and you hear a hollow 'whump' sound.

"So, stress is usually the best way to get someone to involuntarily trigger their abilities. If you don't object, I'll try throwing these balls at you and you guys react. But don't just dodge it, try not to think about it and let your instincts take hold. Got it? who's first?"

Ah. Ok. That doesn't sound very villainous. What do I do now? I don't think I'd be able to take her out on my own, unless we find some heavy weaponry

"You should not have told us they is not dangerous," Anika says with a grin, "takes the edge off."

She winks and straightens her skirt, "Go ahead tough guy, hit me."

"Guess you might have a point there. But I think I'll still surprise you." 13 smirks. He raises the ball above his head and spikes it at Anna hard. The ball starts a corkscrew flight path suddenly, causing the girl's brain to flood with options for a brief moment but suddenly perfect clarity strikes and for the first time since waking up, there is no pain. The pathe the ball will take reachingyou is so clear.

When the he is told its a force field, having never experience one, he walks over and touches it tentatively to see what it feels like and how resilient it was. Is it like a solid wall to a soft touch and if not does it kick in with pressure or do you need to hit it a bit faster than that. He experiments a bit with it while Ethan talks.

Then when Ethan goes to throw the ball he watches intently, wondering in the back of his mind how he might respond. The guy did not appear to have a costume in his closet so that led one to believe he did not need one. Maybe he changes into organic steel or some other such material, or perhaps he flames on. He was hoping it was something cool, but not necessarily literally cool. He chuckles at that thought. Still something else was now nagging at the back of his mind, but it had just started so he had not ascertained what that was quite yet.

Josh pushes his...Dan's?...hand into the force field. He feels a strange static sensation, like 10x the effect of laundry straight from the dryer. Not painful but not exactly pleasant. The harder he presses his hand against the wall, the higher up his arm the sensation extends. When he takes his hand away to watch the others interact, he realizes his hand feels a little numb, but feeling quickly comes back in that 'pins and needles' sensation one gets after sitting on their hand for a while.

Suddenly freed from pain Anika watches the ball as is spirals towards her, Josh was busy playing with the field, Chou seemed to be at least paying some attention. The cold smoke from her hands poured forth bringing a noticeable chill to the air, it seems to run forward along the edge of something of invisible before rolling to the ground. Ana snaps around suddenly, head dropping low as her left foot attempts to connect with the ball and redirect it towards Josh. "Heads up!"

The torrent of icy dark smoke stops as soon as she completes the movement. Win loose or draw she smiles suddenly before checking to ensure her skirt is down where it is supposed to be. "I knew where it would be and my head," she says excitedly, " it stops hurting."

The ball flies at Dan and strikes with a significant rubberized "ping" sound as it strikes his torso and hands, then falls through his hands as he transitions to a horrid wraith like form.

Anika squeaks a little jumping backwards as Dan transforms, she lands in a high, forward weighted stance. A pair of single edged blades of smoke and shadow coalesce in her hands. Anika’s hands and feet have both turned black with darkness and corruption that creeps up her arms and legs as far as her elbows and knees, icy smoke swirls about her extremities falling to the floor. Her have changed from green to black.

"Bozhe moy, chto, chert voz'mi, eto?"

"Scheisse," Ana says after a moment standing up straight, "you is a Dementor. No, wait, do not use that, you do not want to get sued."

She relaxed her hands and the blades evaporate, then she pulls out her phone and takes a picture of Dan / Josh.

"That is so strange, does it hurt?" Glancing at her still smouldering hands she steps forward and pokes his ghostly form with an elbow.

Dan/Josh was a bit stunned by what happened, the ball was inconsequential compared to the shift he just experienced. The girls comment seemed to echo how he felt and seemed to be seeing things, like he was some kind of dark demented thing even his hands seemed monstrous, long black bony claw-like fingers. "No..." and dang his voice sounded nearly as creepily hollow and empty as he felt. No that was inaccurate because truth be told he was not feeling anything, it was like all the color in the world just evaporated. No visual color and no emotional color, just shades of gray in all things. "No it does not... feel... anything."

Back in the Hallway with Akira...

Mushroom Head seems to be finished explaining her instructions and the conversation turns to what people expect the school year to be like, who they are thinking about asking out, other inane student chatter. Clearly none of these kids has ever seen any real action.

Making their goodbyes, two of the kids who you don't know start making their way toward the door. You need to act fast or they are going to find you.

---

In the Gym

"Ah...RAD! OK! that was cool. So you," 13 excitedly points to Anika, "you like, totally saw that coming! And the mist blade thing...well, we can test those out next. You don't have to worry about destroying the ball. The school goes through hundreds of them every year. You cut one in half the gym coach will ask you not to and that will be it." He turns to Dan. "And intangibility, very cool! The...uh...appearance change is a little...well VERY unsettling. Like...people are going to have a hard time seeing that and not calling you a villain. You aren't going to be winning any beauty contests, is what I'm saying!"

13's hand briefly passes through a wispy portion of Dan's new form. Suddenly Dan's...Josh's mind floods with the all the sensations he is missing out on right now. The lights and colors brighten then fade back to the muted gary. There wasn't much air moving before, but somehow, having 13 pass right through him causes Dan to notice what he was unconsciously aware of and feeling before.

And Anika, as 13 stands holding the ball thing in two hands, the headache returns. You see hundreds of images, shadows and phantoms of actions he could potentially take. The pain is not unlike jumping into a really cold swimming pool. The shock of getting in the water is sharp and floods your senses, but once your head is under you start to adjust. That's how it is now. The pain is back and now you can pinpoint what that means. Seeing every possibility at once is a little overwhelming, but knowing what it is brings some semblance of relief, if not an actual relief.

13 turns to Chou...Lotte. He gently tosses the ball up and catches it and makes ready to throw again. "Your turn?"

Anika looks first at Josh / Wraith and then at Chou, although the darkness in her arms and legs has begun to fade her eyes are still little more than obsidian black spheres. She smirks a little, "Oh, this is very frightening voice. Say, There is no Dana, only Zuul."

"You want to get hit by ball or surprise you?" Anika asks Chou, holding up a hand and flicking some swirls of icy shadow in her direction. "I mean he is pretty creepy but I is sure you totally has got this."

Akira isn't particularly worried about being seen. She mentally pokes her "handler"

Hellooooo? What do you want me to do now?

"I guess..." Chou says, rubbing the back of her head. She had said she was keeping it a secret, but at the same time, she did need to know what she could do. "Sure, hit me."

Anika takes a ball and pushes it slowly into Dan / Wraith with her shadow corrupted hands.

"So weird."

She turns suddenly and throws the ball at Chou aiming for her center mass.

The strange sensation caused by what Ethan had done made extremely curious was that a thing that happened when someone touched him or was that something triggered if he touched them. He reached out a hand intending to just pass it into Ethan and his body once again seemed to work on its own and the entire scene changed and Ethan was no long in front of him.

Unknownst to Wraith but what the others might have seen was the wraith-form seemingly disappear into Ethan. Meanwhile Ethan experienced a short sensation of the chill, but more than just a physical chill, the sort chill that some folks explained by saying it felt like someone had just walked over their grave. However that sensation only lasted a very brief moment and then like the wraith was gone.

In the hallway...

"Fallback. Rejoin your allies. Perhaps they have identified other targets and you will be able to complete your assignment." Handler replies.

The students are still walking to the door, and are nearly there.

---

In the gym

Chou has a ball aimed center mass. What will she do?

Hmm... Akira muses, somewhat disappointed. She heads back to the cafeteria, but finds the table she was at filled with unfamiliar faces. Well that's a bust

Instead she decides to go find Psychopomp. He's obviously the head of all the villainy afoot. If completing this assignment is really Akira's mission then she'll just cut right to the heart of the matter.

Lotte raises her hands to block the ball when nothing immediately seems to happen. However, it's at that moment that she notices black flecks rapidly pouring off of her body. They gather in front of her until a hand is formed, outstretched, then continue, forming and arm and then the rest of a creature.

Ana looks at the creature while unconsciously taking a step backwards, "Okay, that is super creepy and very cool. Remind me never to date either of you, I do not need to wake up in middle of night to either of those things staring at me."

She wrinkles her nose, "So you bring the monster, you become the monster and from the reactions I am getting I am the monster."

"We should find Mirai see what she has learned," Anika takes a photo of the creature and starts looking for Mirai’s contact information and shooting her a text.

*Where you at? Heading to class now. Learn anything?*

Akira nearly jumps through the roof as the phone in her pocket gives its characteristic buzz. She pulls it out and finds a text from Anika. She muses a moment before responding.

*Mushhead is definitely a villain for the assignment. Caught her plotting. The assignment is lame. I'm going straight to the top*

As everyone marvels at their new abilities, they feel a sudden rush of air. In the blink of an eye, 13 stands outside the force field. "Well that was fun. But I need to get to class. Good luck getting out of there by the way. Psycopomp is going to be mad if you're late on the first day. You won'tlike him when he's angry."

Anika adjusts her blouse, flattens her skirt and straightens her jacket before nodding towards the gym exit.

"Can we comes here anytimes," she asks 13 typing her reply back to Mirai / Akira, "is there fighting programs and can they really hurt someone?"

Ana thinks about all the bruises on her body and wonders if maybe this was where she got hurt so badly

*Mirai - Focus GF. Do not engage, ID, report plan to prof. BRT.*
*Inc us 2 if you need to hand in before we get there. Did you get vid of pix?*

Akira read the message, most of it in a strange code she didn't understand. She did however read "do not engage" loud and clear. Anika was not a superior able to give her orders, but then again, Akira was acting on her own initiative

*Confirmed. Where should we meet?*

"This is dick move kid," She calls after the rapidly retreating 13.

"Scheisse! Hinweis für sich selbst - Vertraue niemandem."

Ana glances at Josh as she starts to text Mirai, "You is prizrak, what is word, angry ghost now. You can go through floor or field maybe? I mean before we has to trash this place."

*Mirai - Come to gym ASAP. 13 trapped us in cage. Tic tock...*

*Ok, on my way*

Akira has no clue at all what Anika is talking about, but figures it couldn't hurt to head to the gym to find out

Anika flips 13 off as he disappears. "Govnyuk," shadows and smoke pour forth from her hands as the blades reappear.

Tentatively she sticks one into the force field, testing it.