harmonize_rpg | Training Exercise #1

Chloe always made it a point to be on time, early if she could help it. Today was one of those days where she could help it. Since this whole thing began, the German had been surprisingly tight lipped about it. She didn't like to talk about it outside of the class itself, even among those that were involved in the fiasco itself. Just thinking about the whole situation made that familiar anger threaten to rise in her chest and spill out for everyone to see. So instead, she ignored it, pushed it down. She would deal with it as it happened.

They had been instructed towards the lab today, which could only mean one thing, and she was sure the others knew it. A part of her was slightly interested.... but most of her was nervous. Was nervous the right word? Scared maybe? She wasn't sure, but the first year knew that they would probably have to summon their Persona in front of everyone. She wasn't looking forward to that at all.

When she arrived, she appeared to be the first student there. Looking around, she knew that whatever they were doing today was the real deal; the military folk were completely suited up it seemed. Great... as if that wouldn't set them on edge. Crossing her arms over her chest, Chloe waited for the others to arrive so the 'lesson' could start. It was once everyone was gathered that they began to speak, the cheerfulness of the female Corporal making her want to frown though she refrained from doing so. Her icy gaze moved from face to face of the gathered staff and military personnel, her Evoker grasped tightly (almost too tightly) in her hand. Chloe remained silent.

Mirai came late. One minute after the last student. A dead-on-time arrival based on his own timekeeping would cause at least some frustration to Yachiyo-sensei and friends - and it was utterly deliberate. There was enough time for him to make them fuming. He had left it till the death so that Yachiyo could only grow angry. It was no fun keeping people comfortable and safe from anyone and their particular brand of fun.

He uttered a loud sigh. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed at his waist and a bored smile on his face. His eyes were staring at everything he could perceive, from the uniforms to the various equipment lying about.

For him, there was something about playing with the concept of time that reminded him rather strongly of being a young kid again. There was enough entertainment in that to keep him happy for a while.

Miyume arrived just before Mirai, more by chance than design. One just had to look at her to tell she was having a bad day. Her noisy shuffle walk had seemed to become the norm, as were the dark circles under her eyes. She avoided making eye contact with anyone and her lips were twisted in a way that suggested she was in some sort of pain or she was on the verge of crying.

Miyume didn't even bother speaking, much less asking for permission, when she wheeled a chair away from a console to a spot closer to the other students. She sat down, face utterly expressionless.

Haruka had arrived about half a minute late. She already had an idea of the route from the previous trip but she appeared less chill and relaxed as she usually did. Instead, she seemed more like she was going through the motions as dictated. Even as their senseis for the day started talking, she didn't seem to have a particular interest.

However, hearing the distinct shuffle caught her attention. She seemed to pay more attention to that before she heard a chair being wheeled.

Turning her attention, back to Araragi and Komatani, she simply asked,

"Practical training as in?"

Miyume's appearance and behavior drew a bit more attention this time. Yachiyo drew her lips into a thin line in that way she had, Suwa looked distinctly pained and ready to hover...

And Komatani gave the girl a very strange look. A brief, wordless conference with Araragi followed, mostly expression with a few small gestures--from the way they still understood each other with so little to go on, they'd likely been working together for quite a while--before she called out to Yachiyo. "Requesting Hazama be excused from today's exercises, ma'am."

Yachiyo grimaced, but nodded. "Granted," she sighed. "It can't be helped. Ishichi-san, take care of her. Horaoku-san, you'll be taking over her data recording."

As the nurse moved over to Miyume to examine her condition, Komatani picked up where she left off. "Today, practical training means getting used to the shinmen. I know they're more of an extension of you than any weapon could be, but that doesn't mean you don't still need to learn to use them, and use them well."

"There won't be any combat today," Araragi added, adjusting the goggles. "We'll just be observing their capabilities."

Edited 2013-09-09 10:39 (UTC)

This time Himeko arrived pretty much at the right time for their ‘hero class’, as she liked to call it.
Today’s lesson was inside the laboratory, which got her hopes up that they would finally see some of the mysterious monsters, they had to hunt down and do something more exciting than boring theory.

The first thing she noticed when entering the lab, was a huge, blond girl, she had never seen before.
She figured that this was probably the German, she heard some girls gossip about earlier.
Curious as always, Himeko kind of wanted to talk to her. She didn’t really care much about her origin, but the fact that this girl could probably speak a whole different language, when she herself wasn’t even able to pronounce some English words correctly, made her seem cool somehow.
Unfortunately, everyone else arrived quite in time with her and the introduction to today’s lesson started immediately, so she had to save the conversation with the ‘foreigner’ for later.

For a moment Miyume, who had arrived after her, caught her attention. She watched her with a slightly concerned expression. The other girl seemed to be in terrible shape and Himeko couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for her. Miyume was one of the people in this room she did sort of like, after all.

After concentrating her attention on the staff members again, she listened to what they had to say without really reacting to any of it. There was this feeling that today wouldn’t be as much fun, as she had hoped it would be. How disappointing! Additional to that, she didn’t really feel like stabbing herself again. But there seemed to be no way around this necessary evil.

When Miyume arrived and looked like the grave, a peculiar and almost pained expression flickered on the German's face. Over the past few days, her neighbour had not been looking very well at all. She wasn't certain what kind of affliction she had, but she was certain now that it was a bit more than just being sick. Before she could really stop herself, she began to move across the room towards Miyume. The German merely stood next to her. She didn't say anything yet, but she did want to have a talk with Miyume after this whole training thing... and keep an eye on her kindly neighbour during the procedure.

It was then that she noticed Himeko was glancing at her occasionally. It was... a different kind of look, one she wasn't used to. The young girl's eyes held no malice towards her, or at least, none that she could detect. Her icy gaze stayed fixated on Himeko for a few moments longer than was probably necessary before turning back to view the staff. No combat today, hm... it sounded like they were just going to summon their Personae and figure out more about them... great... at the back of her mind, Garmr let out a soft and sympathetic whine.

The situation was increasingly curious right now. There was something in his mind that gave him more than human power. But the adults around him were treating it - and him - as something that was to be used for their benefit. He hovered at the back of the room like a vulture, and observed which students were happy and which looked like they wanted to get off.

This kept his gaze off Miyume and her sombre expression. But at that moment he was becoming so focused on her that he went on obsessing and paid little attention to what was changing. He took full notice of the fact she seemed to grow more ill the longer she stayed and found he was not quite satisfied with these adults passing judgement on both of them.

Chloe, however, would find that he was not quite happy about her arrangement either. He stood there casting them both glances at every other moment, but made no move of any kind.

Ryuta was one of the first few people to make it to the class. He may not have shown it, but he was eager to test out his persona's capabilities. Mainly because he simply wanted to know, a small mystery about it that he was anxious to solve. He was confident that he would not be disappointed.

He quietly read a book as the others marched in. He noted when the others came in, counting off all the members of the group. Best to know his allies as well as his enemies. He would have to come up with a way to gather them in a single place to discuss everything. It had to be someplace they could all relax without the staff's prying eyes...

As he watched the introductions unfold, Ryuta noticed out of the corner of his eye how Miyume seemed rather off today. He didn't seem to react at all, but when she was excused from today's training, his expression softened a little.

After hearing the details of today's practice session, Ryuta eagerly raised a hand to grab the military personnel's attention. "This may seem off topic, but might I ask what your weapons are for? I thought that you said conventional weapons had no effect on these monsters."

Kisa had been early as well, only beating out Ryuta by a narrow margin. Her Evoker was tucked away in one of the inner pockets of her blazer, ready for use.

Nearly all of her attention was on the proceedings, though she, too, couldn't help but wince at Miyume's state. She could at least take some small comfort in the fact that her kouhai wasn't going to need to go through with all this; it was very physically taxing, after all.

But her focus needed to remain on the lesson, and so she stood semi-consciously at something like loose attention.

Shizuru was around as well--particularly noteworthy since she hadn't been in class much over the last week or so, though she'd at least caught most of the "critical thinking" classes.

She'd staked out a position near the back, not far from Mirai, her spindly frame swaying slightly as she took in everything with her usual sleepy gaze.

"Strictly speaking," Araragi noted in response to Ryuta's question, "that's not quite what was said. It is true that fighting them without the shinmen is extremely hazardous. Conventional weapons have far less effect than your abilities, but more importantly, we have no defenses to speak of."

"But!" Komatani broke in. "That's why we're trained to work with limited resources. Shinmen or not, you're talking to the world's best Shadow-fighters--or you wouldn't be talking to us at all. Right, Major?" She grinned and threw a friendly arm around his shoulders, to no particular response. Undaunted, she went on.

"As for defenses, that's what these are for: the Demountable Next Integrated Capability Armor--" the name came out as a quick string of largely indecipherable Engrish "--or Demonica suit." She thumped her chest as if to demonstrate. "Once it's on, it gives us a couple minutes of resistance--but that's it. And you don't even wanna know what it takes to power these things," she added, making a face. "Pretty sure a chunk of Kobe blacks out every time we put it on charge--"

"Corporal." Araragi's tone was gently admonishing, though he didn't look the slightest bit fazed.

"What? They know I'm kidding!"

"I'm not sure they do," he replied, sounding perfectly serious.

Miyume kept quiet during all the talk, though she seemed to smile slightly with relief when she was excused from exercises. She was only half-listening, her attention split between Ishichi's examination and the discussion. She answered the nurse's questions truthfully, careful to keep her voice soft so as not to disturb class anymore than she already had.

If Ishichi had acquainted herself with Miyume's file, the symptoms she complained of would sound very familiar but not as severe as ones experienced in the past. Fatigue, aches in her legs that rated a six on a pain scale of one to ten, her arms felt a little weak, and she'd been experiencing pins-and-needles sensations off and on since that morning. If Ishichi checked Miyume's reflexes, she would notice they were more sluggish than normal.

In contrast to previous classes, her eyes didn't stray once toward Mirai and it wasn't clear if she was even aware of the looks he kept giving her and Chloe. Miyume had, however, glanced briefly at Chloe long enough to flash her a small, reassuring smile.

Edited 2013-09-11 03:10 (UTC)

Ishichi was asking the sorts of questions that made it clear she was very well acquainted with Miyume's case. Despite her apparent youth -- she couldn't be much older than her college-aged assistants -- she went about the examination with a brisk efficiency.

All seemed normal until she asked one question that seemed utterly out of left field, delivered in the same near-monotone she used for everything else: "Did you feel any improvement while the shinmen was active?"

Miyume's many experiences with hospital nurses left her prepared for Ishichi's professional manner. Up until the question about shinmen, at least. It visibly caught the girl off-guard and her eyes clouded over with confusion.

Had the shinmen helped? Miyume tried to recall back to when she was awakened. She remembered the pain from cutting herself with the Evoker, of course, but had she felt anything else? There had been that bizarre sense of being divided into two. It'd been such a surreal experience that none of it had felt quite real, least of all herself.

Miyume wondered if feeling detached from her own body counted as improvement.

"I suppose I did. I don't remember too clearly and my symptoms weren't as bad then so I can't be completely sure."

"That's not unexpected. You were understandably preoccupied. Please try to keep it in mind for the future."

Ishichi had largely wrapped up the physical examination by this point, and took a few moments to review her notes thus far. "How long has this decline been going on? Ihoji told me you came to the office on two occasions this week, and Suwa-san noticed a visible difference as early as Wednesday."

And there was the question Miyume had hoped no one would ask.
So far, she'd successfully managed to avoid it and limit her contact with those who might probe too deeply into the issue and find out something she didn't want them to know. She waited until all of her classmates were out of earshot before answering.

"My symptoms first started around the 15th or 16th," she confessed with a heavy sigh. "At first, they were extremely minor, they didn't hinder activity at all so I thought it was simply stress. This is my first time away from home. I thought that after a few days, they would stop."

She sighed again and closed her eyes.

"I felt fatigue the day the shinmen were awakened, too. But it wasn't until -"

Miyume broke off suddenly biting her lower lip. Flinging accusations, no matter how well-deserved they might be, wouldn't change anything. Not what was happening now or what would happen in the future.

"After the shinmen were awakened, I started gradually getting worse. Extreme amounts of stress and anxiety increase my symptoms substantially," she explained patiently, tone and expression completely neutral.

"I see."

For a moment, Ishichi simply stood there, regarding Miyume carefully, a peculiar sharpness entering her typically dull eyes.

And then the moment was gone, and she spoke in a tone as flat as ever. "I have all the data I need. I have to discuss the results with Yachiyo-san. Excuse me."

And off she went to do just that. The conversation, at least on Yachiyo's end, looked likely to be rather... animated.

Miyume watched the nurse go then slumped in her chair to wait. She could guess what would result from finally telling the truth. As much as she resented Yachiyo for saddling her and everyone else with unwanted responsibilities, she didn't feel the woman was truly heartless. Desperate to fill whatever shoes she'd been given, perhaps, but not heartless.

All she could do now was wait for a verdict to be given.

The exchange was fairly lengthy, anded was followed by Ishichi walking off to talk to some of the others while Yachiyo had a somewhat exasperated conversation with her earpiece.

Despite the distance, a few snippets from her end were audible as she paced.

"-- in her condition --" "-- under observation --" "-- extra personnel --" "-- not a matter of resources --" "-- it's not feasible --"

Finally, it ended, punctuated with an annoyed tap of the earpiece, and Yachiyo approached Miyume, with Ishichi breaking off from her own conversation and drifting behind as she noticed the move.

"... Hazama-san." This might well be the first time anyone in the group had seen Yachiyo looking the slightest bit awkward. She cleared her throat slightly, clearly trying to fill space as she worked out what to say.

"Under the circumstances, we've determined that it would be best to remove you from active duty. You will remain at Chitoku, under periodic observation by Ishichi-san. You may stay in the class if you wish, or you may return to your other specialty class."

So it seemed Miyume had been right about Yachiyo's heart, after all. To some extent, anyway. Even though she'd known that this would be the inevitable result after realizing just how much harm the Evoker had done after just one use, watching a rare opportunity to do something worthwhile with her life slip out of her grasp because of her defect still stung.

It was for the best, of course. For her, for them, for her classmates. She'd only slow them down if not endanger them completely by being a liability for whatever mission they might be sent on. She hung her head in defeat and sighed.

"I'd like to go back to my specialty class," she said, trying to keep the edge of tears out of her voice and maintain what little composure she still had left. "And if there's nothing else, I would like to be dismissed so I can rest, Yachiyo-san."

Yachiyo nodded stiffly. "Understood. I'll inform Kawakami-san that you'll be returning. Ishichi-san will be in touch in the next few days."

Another slightly awkward pause. "You're dismissed. Do you need assistance?"

"Yes, please. If it's not any trouble, that is."

Now that her secret was out, Miyume looked even more worn out and fragile then she had when she'd first come in. There was little point in hiding how much pain she was in now. And some cold, calculating part of her wanted all of these people to look long and hard at the results of their hasty pursuit of success.

Without waiting for a reply, Miyume stood up on legs that trembled so much it seemed like they might collapse beneath her at any moment. Cane in hand, she shuffled slowly and painfully toward the exit with a walk that seemed far more fitting for a weary old crone than an innocent young girl.

Edited 2013-09-23 21:18 (UTC)

With that bit of joking over, Komatani returned to relative seriousness. "Anyway, let's move along, we've got lots to do and not a lot of time to do it in. Any other questions will have to wait for the field. You're about to see the real thing," she added, unable to totally suppress her grin.

The machine that had made them all suffer so much last time was starting up again, if the flashing of the vivid blue lights along its sides was any indication. But nothing changed this time -- save for what looked like an empty door frame beside it, that was suddenly occupied by what could only be described as a hole in the fabric of reality, filled with the same swirling, ominous colors that had greeted them before.

"All right, head on through, single file. The Major and I will take point."

With that, Komatani brought down her helmet visor, and in they both went without a moment's hesitation.

Chloe caught the look that Miyume gave her, and she wanted to believe it. Wanted to, but couldn't. Not with the way the shorter girl looked at the moment. When this was all said and done she would definitely be at least checking in on her. Miyume was one of the only people who actually looked at her with kindness in their eyes.... she found it hard to just walk away from that.

When the soldiers began to speak again, her attention returned to them. The machine came to life again and she immediately tensed... but nothing happened. ALMOST nothing happened. That door definitely hadn't been there, never mind the fact it seemed to be one that lead to someplace between "what the hell" and "oh my god what". Single file, eh? Chloe's fists clenched uncomfortably. She had no idea what was on the other side of that door and wasn't sure if she actually wanted to find out... but what choice did she have? She had been 'drafted' after all. With her jaw set grimly, Chloe walked forward towards the door, her heart beating loudly in her ears as she followed the soldiers through.

Haruka heard the soldiers disappear through and then, after a while, someone else without a word.

She stood there a bit longer, head subtly turned in Hazama's direction, listening a bit longer. She took out her phone and quickly tapped out a text and promptly sent.

And then she felt ahead with her cane as she followed after.

Edited 2013-09-15 06:32 (UTC)

There definitely seemed to be something interesting with the whole premise that caught Mirai's attention - so he was following behind Komatani, staring at her demonica suit. There were also the weapons. He tried standing behind as many of the people as possible as he felt safer at the rear.

He wondered if those weapons were going to be used, although they would almost certainly would be. Quietly he had watched the shadowy hologram in class and rested his chin on his hand, shrugging as it glared at him and ran. Then the hologram had vanished without a trace.

So they could move then, he thought, eyes still on the demonica suit. He did not particularly look like he wanted to be there, either.

What was there was almost certainly not what the group might have expected.

Now there was the vertigo, the sense of strangeness, the peculiar energy they'd felt before--less intensely unpleasant now, but still noticeable--but it was no world of warped colors that awaited them. A field of knee-high grass stretched out before them, the color too vivid a green to be anything familiar. Neither sun nor moon was in sight, and the sky was tinged with a red far different from any earthly sunset.

To the south, it began to thin out, and the gleam of what seemed like it could be water was faintly visible on the horizon. Not far to the north was a dirt path, meandering off to the northwest to some large structure, too distant to make out any detail.

There was some equipment already set up there, though nothing whose purpose could readily be divined, aside from a number of shadow-shaped wooden targets scattered about.

Komatani greeted them cheerily, taking in the whole thing with a broad sweep of her arm. "Welcome to your training grounds," she said, her voice plenty audible but oddly hollow through the helmet.

Edited 2013-09-16 00:13 (UTC)

Mirai took the time to orient himself and stooped down to pluck a handful of grass. That funny feeling - the sickness - wasn't so bad when he forced himself to focus away from it. A glimpse of the red sky almost brought it back till he told himself it was like looking at the heavens.

They were a splendid place, rather filled with self-important gods who needed knocking down a peg or two. He wanted to bring them down from there on to the earth.

So he stood observantly and rolled the blades between his fingertips, acutely observant of what was happening around him.

Ryuta followed along obediently with the rest of the group. Stepping through the strange dimensional door without hesitation, he braced himself for whatever they had in store for today's lesson. That odd sensation from before returned once more after stepping through, now easier to manage than before.

Whatever he was expecting, a field of grass was not it. He looked around the otherworldly plain in idle curiosity and minor shock to see such a quiet looking area in what he thought would be a hostile environment. Ryuta examined the terrain as he awaited further instruction.

They entered into a field, the unpleasant sensation from the awakening present all around them. It wasn't as bad as last time, however, and Chloe's jaw clenched in almost paranoia. She didn't trust the people in charge here, not one bit. A part of her irrationally and illogically thought that this just might be a trap, but she reminded herself that these people needed them. They wouldn't do anything like that until they were certain they were disposable... and she thought she might be able to figure out by then if it ever came to that.

The ridiculously tall girl carefully looked at Komatani, her expression both grim and guarded. It was quite obvious what this place was to be used for, so she waited for the Military types to instruct them further on what today's 'lesson' would be.

It seemed like everyone was in, so Komatani stepped up to start the instructions; such as they were.

"This is as safe a spot as you're going to find here. We've set up a perimeter to keep out the shadows, so all you need to worry about is not hitting each other with the shinmen."

She waved toward the array of targets, fairly well spread out to avoid that precise problem. "The guys in the lab coats tell me that once it's out, controlling it is just like moving a muscle. You'll know what it can do, now that you're gonna be more conscious for it."

She clapped her hands together, the sound resonating dully. "All right, get to it! I know you're tempted, but try not to hit anything but the targets, all right? Don't push yourselves, go at your own pace."

Horaoku had come in behind them, and was fiddling with the pile of mystery equipment with a practiced hand.

Haruka listened, but she seemed more interested in the atmosphere and area around them. She felt the grass at her knees and her head tilted upwards.

It didn't feel too bad, compared to the last time.

Haruka couldn't see the targets but she stepped forward. Might as well get it over with? And she hadn't gotten too much of a feel for Inugami before anyway.

She pulled out her sword but instead of jabbing it to her chest, she placed it to her wrist and sliced vertically.

Despite the assurance it hurt less as it went on, it still really hurt. She gripped her arm and cried out, her knees shaking a little but she didn't fall this time. Again, the words came on their own, as though some automatic instinct inside her was pulling it out, "Persona."

And in a blue light, Inugami appeared at her feet - her red eyes flashing at the adults briefly with displeasure as she let out a harsh growl. However, as Haruka belatedly remembered to use her cane to get her balance back, she almost felt like there was another limb she hadn't been aware of till now. But pulling on it came naturally-

-And she felt a warm, furry, reassuring body back up a little, catching her. Despite Inugami's growls and snarls, it whimpered and nuzzled against her. Haruka couldn't help but smile and reach forward to scratch her ears, which her Persona leaned into.

Something stirred in the reaches beyond Mirai's mind.

There, beyond the conscious thoughts, waited a crimson snake, long and thin, lithe and hard, coiled and erect, and also extremely hungry. It had been quite some time since the time he had fed it last. It's tail vibrated and shook his thoughts all upside down, simply because he was uncomfortable; he was wanting to feed it all these people rather than accept their help instead.

So his eyes were turning to Horaoku-sensei quite slowly. Then he smiled quite nicely. A dangerous gleam came into his eyes, and he was flexing his hand. Clearly he intended to engorge himself at the other man's expense - for he was not so cruel that he couldn't feed it some more.

He coiled his fingers tighter around his Evoker and found himself getting to the unpleasant task of waking it up. Now the space behind his eyes began to fill, not with rising fear but unbridled rebelliousness. Then he was acting swiftly and thrusting the Evoker at his stomach, stabbing, cutting and sweating. He was struggling, but his Persona came, forcing its way into the world to circle its body around him tightly, like a ball puffed with air.

He had been keeping a wary eye on his handlers. Now he saw them in a different light, not in the figurative sense of the world but the literal. He stood in the middle of Varsavarti's coils and communed with it - which he felt was like being alone in the darkest woods at midnight.

Varsavarti was saying there was nothing remarkable about this man. And at that point he whistled to himself as he realised what he could do with this power.

"... Wow."

Edited 2013-09-20 23:22 (UTC)

For a few long moments, Kisa simply clutched the Evoker to her chest, feeling the beat of her heart faint against her knuckles, and the metal, warm from her body heat, in her hand. It was so hard -- the pain was far too fresh in her mind, and something inside her just locked up, fearing the feeling.

But she had a duty. And...

Her hand lowered, and the blade flashed to life. Before she could register what she was doing, before she could stop herself, she clutched the hilt with both hands, dropped to her knees, and plunged it in deep.

She gritted her teeth against the pain in her stomach and dancing behind her eyes, but feeling a faint breeze against her cheek, she looked up and her eyes met a golden glow.

Benzaiten.

It almost made the pain worth it; it was enough, at least, to coax out a faint smile.

Her hands were still clutched tight around the Evoker, but she could still move the apparition -- like moving a muscle, just like Komatani had said. With a thought she moved Benzaiten towards the nearest of the targets and --

Garu!

-- with a strum of the shinmen's lute, a swift wind picked up the flimsy wooden thing and tossed it a good several yards into the air.

Taue had been quiet for most of the proceedings, a rarity for him, but this much, at least, he felt deserved some degree of seriousness.

Whatever his qualms about the motivations of this academy, this was combat -- something that would keep him safe, and so his usual aloof demeanor was replaced by something akin to quiet focus.

His Evoker was drawn, the light blade humming softly as he turned it against himself, stabbing the blade inward and then wincing at the side-slice needed to bring forth...

"George Washington."

The first President of the United States was there, in all of his glory, and Taue tried to concentrate, through the pain, guiding the honest surveyor towards the targets.

It took Taue a few minutes to come to grips with his skill set, instinctively realizing that there was only one thing he had that could actually hurt the target -- or anything, for that matter.

"Magna."

A stalagmite came forth from the ground, impaling the wooden target and shattering it into several pieces, as Taue looked on, suitably impressed.

Hearing the others summon their Persona and spells go flying, Haruka's head turned intently towards where they were aiming, Inugami's head following. She didn't know exactly where things were but at the same time, she could almost feel where it was.

Inugami, however, seemed to know exactly where things were. She stepped away as Haruka drew her hand back, and Haruka's eye lids fluttered as she absorbed that sense of 'feeling' through Inugami.

It felt like her mental map was filled in by things remotely. It was a strange feeling....not bad, just different.

She lifted her hand at one of those points.

Devour

Inugami blurred forward.

She barely touched the ground as she sped across the tall grass and around obstacles until she reached one of the wooden targets. She leapt and turned her head as she ripped it in half with her teeth with a solid CRUNCH.

Seeing the others summon their individual Persona and demonstrating their abilities made Ryuta all the more excited to use his own. Carefully watching how the others used them, he felt he had a basic understanding of what to do next. He drew out his Evoker from his belt and activated it in one smooth motion. Now came the difficult part. The hurtle before the goal, as it were.

In one fell swoop, he sliced his left arm, the light blade passing through easily. The all too familiar pain rushed from his arm to his head, sending a wave of agony and power to his core. From the depths of his mind, he heard a voice. The voice pushed through his mind, demanding it's release, and forced it's way out of Ryuta's mouth. "Raguel!"

Blue light enveloped both Ryuta and the bronze, mechanical angel. It observed the area and the people before it, it's emotionless gaze finally falling on a target some distance away. Ryuta struggled at first, but regained his strength once more. Another word popped into his mind, less forceful this time. It felt more like a suggestion rather than a demand.

The word passed through his lips, commanding the angel to act out his will.

"Hama."

With a raise of it's hand, Raguel summoned a small circle of light around the target before it. The circle then shone with a brilliant light, completely erasing the wooden foe. Nothing remained after his assault as any sign of the target was completely destroyed.

She didn't want to do this. She would go so far as to say she reverse wanted to do this. The German watched as, one by one, her peers summoned their shinmen. She noted details about the ones that she hadn't seen before, so namely everyone's but Kisa's. Some of them seemed very fitting. Mirai's, for one. The fact that it was some sort of snake didn't surprise her. Haruka's as well wasn't too much of a surprise, hers being a canine form as well.

Chloe stood there and watched for a while, cursing the day that she had come to this godforsaken school. There really was no way of getting around it though, was there? There was no way out. With a grim and vaguely unsettled look, the tall girl brought the evoker to life. The heat came off it in small waves, just like last time. They said it got easier with time, right?

"Garmr."

After plunging the blade into her chest, she could confirm that it did not feel any easier. If anything, it felt worse. Everything was immediately on fire and she let out a small grunt that sounded somewhere between a wheeze and a sound of pain. The German fell to one knee as the ground opened up in front of her once more, the demonic form of her persona clawing his way to the surface. Once arrived, she noticed something she hadn't beforehand... the image of the bloodied beast flickered and wavered. Her connection to him felt weaker even... she couldn't quite explain it. Even so, she did her best to direct the beast to attack one of the targets.

"Cleave..."

She said, her voice coming out as a slight rasp. Garmr obeyed immediately, leaping at one of the targets and cleaving through it with the bone blades that jutted from the skull he wore like a helmet. As he circled back towards Chloe, the German reached out a hand to pet the beast and the image flickered more at her touch.

In her mind she heard a small whimper, and she understood it but at the same time was boggled by it. What was wrong...?

Training Exercise #1

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