Start of the Test

Icarth woke up feeling refreshed and sleepy at the same time, his hair a tangled mess of bed hair.

"Huaaa," a yawn erupted out of him despite feeling more energetic than usual.

Icarth blinked and sat up, running his hand slowly through his hair while staring through the window at the sky outside. The early morning sun peaked out from the heavy clouds that hung all over the horizon.

"You're awake already?" Sefir exclaimed while exiting the bathroom. Sefir moved to the wardrobe to get a change of clothes, his hair wet from the bath.

"...what's the time?" Icarth asked, his voice low and groggy.

"7 am," Sefir answered, putting on his sportswear.

"Ahhh," Icarth let out a low sound, 'it is early...oh well.'

Getting up, Icarth stretched, his body tensing and relaxing as he moved.

"Get ready first," Sefir advised, "then you can stretch all you want."

"Mmm," Icarth looked around for Jade and found him still asleep a small distance from his bedside.

'I guess I'll let it sleep for a while longer.....' Icarth went to his own business and got ready slowly.

Brushing, taking a dump, a bath, and finally wearing the appropriate clothes, Icarth was finally ready, while Sefir waited impatiently at the doorway.

"Come on quick," Sefir tapped his foot nervously.

"...time?" Icarth drawled while picking up Jade who had woken up a while back.

"7:50," Sefir retorted sourly.

"Oh, it's fine," Icarth stifled another yawn.

"We need to gather at the arena by 8," Sefir glared at Icarth.

"....just run it," Icarth scratched his neck as both the boys exited the building.

"Obviously," Sefir stated and took off.

"Hmph," Icarth started to run behind Sefir, both of them beelining it to the arena.

-----------------------------

At the arena, a small crowd was already gathered all the students were already there, the last ones to join being Sefir and Icarth.

"Sef! Ica!" Emmia called out cheerfully at the sight of the two.

"Hey,"

"Mmm,"

Sefir and Icarth returned their greeting as they joined the group.

Emmia was standing there with Luna next to her.

"Hey there Jade!" Emmia patted Jade's fluffy head with stars twinkling in her eyes to his purring.

Icarth let Emmia do whatever she wanted and took a look around.

The first thing he saw was Ragnar towering over the rest of the class, his natural height taller than the rest. Sensing the gaze, Ragnar turned to face Icarth and sparks started to fly between the two.

Icarth was the first to turn away, getting bored from the mental confrontation, Ragnar humped and turned away as well.

Scanning the rest of the crowd, Icarth spotted Vollax standing in a corner looking extremely bored, his bandana tightly secure over his head like always. Finally catching sight of who he wanted, Icarth's eyes settled on bright fire red hair which belonged to none other than Shui.

'Looks like,' Icarth narrowed his eyes at the sight of his friend. While on the outside, she looked fine, but Icarth could see her nervousness from where he was standing.

'Something happened....' Icarth was about to step in her direction when the temperature around the area dipped. His hair stood on its ends alerting Icarth that Gavin Ruth had arrived.

"Settle down," With a couple of words, Gavin silenced the chattering group of students. His snow-white hair covering his eyes like usual, Gavin started to take roll call to confirm the presence of all the students.

"Anoalii"

"H-here!" Tea replied, a little too loud for her liking.

"Ardet"

"Present sir," Vollax answered from the edge of the crowd.

----

"Garine"

"Present sir," Hanna replied trying to keep a straight face while Tea buried her face into her back.

"Gneisti"

"Here," Ragnar bellowed, standing proudly.

"Kires"

".....present," Luna raised her hand to make sure her presence was noted.

"Lavington"

"Here sir," Chase replied with a small smile, his blue eyes sparkling, at the sight of which, the girls around him almost swooned.

"Maxwell"

A silence ensued, as some whispered among themselves, 'This person hasn't been here since the start, so why does he keep calling the name?'

'I don't know man, but it's pretty weird...why does he keep expecting this person to show up?"

----

"Rint"

"Present sir," Sefir responded standing next to Icarth, trying to keep him from falling asleep.

----

"Struze 1"

"Present sir!" Emmia responded cheerfully, Jade still sleeping in her arms.

"Struze 2"

"...present," Icarth finally responded after being shoved awake by Sefir at his side.

"How do you manage to fall asleep while standing?" Sefir whispered to his roommate exasperated at his actions.

"Mmmm," Icarth started to doze off once again, the whole roll call making him bored and extremely sleepy at the same time.

----

"Vari"

"Here sir," Shui responded at the last, as her name was the one at the end. All this while, Shui had been stressed about the whole exam, while it was not the final exam, it was still important to decide her performance. To call it just pre-exam stress was an understatement, the poor girl was wringing her hands together in an attempt to control her nerves.

'I need to do well...no wait, don't think like that, it just makes me more stressed....ugghhh....'

'Ms. Nozec has high expectations for me...'

'The shop isn't doing too well.....'

'I need to do well on this exam....'

'Arghh, just stop thinking,' Shui ruffled her fire-red hair in an attempt to clear all the chaotic thoughts swirling in her head.

"Shui you okay?" Tea asked suddenly, her usual cheery voice layered with worry and nervousness.

"Huh-uh..yea-I'm okay," Shui gave her best smile, trying not to worry her friend.

"Are you sure? You can tell us if something is worrying you...." Tea glanced at Hanna and then back at Shui.

"No- I mean I'm fine guys. It's nothing serious really," Shui clasped her hands behind her back and stood straight.

"Alright....but-" Tea started to say but was cut off by Gavin who finally finished his checks.

Icarth felt tingles run across his skin as his senses warned him of some unseen danger.

'What is....oh' Icarth activated his universal energy vision and promptly got engulfed in a red fog.

'Shui....what the heck is she doing...' Icarth thought as he flexed his fingers reflexively.

"Class, quiet down," Mr. Gavin exhaled a white mist as the temperature dropped a few degrees. Icarth hesitated for a bit before turning off his vision and focussing on Gavin. 'I'll need to keep an eye out for her I guess....'

"For the exam, you will group up in groups of three and take part in the test as a team. As a team, you will be taken to different starting points at the edge of the great Boan Forest and you will hunt the beasts found there. You will be assigned protectors from the upperclassmen and there will be teachers there to supervise the test. Of course, your performance on the test depends on your teamwork and how well you can work together. Any questions?" Gavin finally finished, sweeping his hand through his bangs, to untangle them slightly.

"How long is the test for?" Emmia asked politely while raising her hand.

"2 hours," Gavin nodded and paused for any more questions.

Hesitating, Emmia pondered whether she should ask any other questions that were floating around in her head like 'What was the scoring system based on? Would they be able to pick the groups? and.....' but then Emmia decided against it. While her teacher Melvin always advocated asking questions, there was a proper time and place to do so. And testing Mr. Gavin's patience was not a good thing to do either. Thinking so Emmia kept her questions to herself.

'I've changed the venue of the test....and I've ordered the wolves to be disposed of...I also have teacher's barrier orb to contain the test site...am I missing anything else?' Gavin thought to himself.

Originally, the test had been planned in the arena using the Gluttonous Wolves held in the Beast Containment facility. But his sixth sense kept telling him that there was something wrong with the wolves, but no matter how much he had them checked, he couldn't find anything wrong with them. But he knew better than to ignore his intuition, thus he had asked his teacher, Morin Esten, to change the test at the last minute. Surprisingly, his teacher was convinced easily, confirming Gavin's suspicions that there was something wrong.

'And if anything happens...I just have to take care of it...' Gavin thought as the upperclassmen arrived.

"Alright, here are the groups," Gavin called out pulling a notepad from his pocket.

A small wave of groans swept through the crowd.

"I thought he would let us make our own groups for this at least....."

"Shuush, he might hear you..."

"But-"

"Quiet," Gavin silenced the grumbling students and started to list out the students and their chaperones.

"Anoalli, Garine, and Vari together. Porter 1 is your chaperone."

"Ardet, Kires, and Struze 1 together. Porter 2 is your chaperone."

"Gneisti, Rint, and Struze 2 togehter. Dezir is your chaperone."

...

...

...

"Alright, Chaperones take your groups and head to the assigned start positions and only the assigned ones. Failure to report there on time will be considered as a failing grade," Gavin closed his notepad and headed off to his viewing point, leaving behind a wave of commotion as the upperclassmen tried to find their juniors as quickly as they could.

'Ah right, I should have introduced them face to face...oh well,' Gavin swept his hand through his hair once more. 'I need to assign teachers to guard the forest as well, and the task force has set out to apprehend the doctor.....Teacher is right, I feel like there's something.....'

Gavin lost himself deep in thought, his feet mechanically taking him to the meeting spot for the teachers overseeing the test. There, Jasmine Menor the Wildlife Biology teacher, Melvin Homes the Universal Energy Teacher, Lunid Koned the mathematics teacher, Lynn Nozec, and a few others stood.

Melvin stepped towards Gavin as the latter arrived and smiled softly, "Was there really a need to call so many of us here?" A voice that only Gavin could hear reached his ears.

"The numbers are on the move," Gavin responded curtly.

Melvin raised an eyebrow, "Confirmed or speculation?"

"There is an operation to put down The Doctor is going on right now."

"...I see," Melvin kept smiling and didn't say anything else.

Gavin cleared his throat signaling to the others that he was about to speak.

"The test will start in a few minutes, our job is to handle threats that the students cannot and to oversee their test," Gavin announced. "Stay hidden, and keep an eye on a wide area."

Gavin hadn't assigned groups for the teachers to oversee, just broad areas to cover the entirety of the test site.

Taking out the barrier pearl, Gavin checked his watch once more, waiting for the minute hand to strike 8:30 am.

"Let's start," Gavin muttered and crushed the barrier pearl infusing his universal energy into it. A frosty white bean of universal energy shot into the sky reaching a certain height and then expanding outwards covering the forest. Enclosing the entire testing ground, the barrier pearl crumbled and disappeared from Gavin's hands.

"The ones that didn't make it failed," Gavin announced coldly to the teachers present.

Some of the teachers muttered appreciative comments, while others set off immediately to their locations.

"Let's hope that nothing happens?" Melvin posed a question more than a remark to Gavin. Wearing his signature smile, Melvin wavered and vanished in front of Gavin's eyes.

Ignoring Melvin, Gavin set off as well. The feeling of anticipation growing stronger.