The alarm blared through the speakers, making me wince. 

"It's all right," Oliver said, looking around. "It's probably nothing. Probably just someone who can't control their Gift yet. Come on, let's get to the orientation."

I nodded, and we continued on along the hallway towards the auditorium. Along the way we saw a gaggle of guards charging toward a separate room. I glanced at Oliver. 

"Shouldn't you be checking it out, professor?" I asked sarcastically. Oliver gave me a flat look, but followed the guards anyway. I trailed after him, curious.

"It could be dangerous," he said.

"Then you'll be glad I came," I replied. We followed in the direction the guards had gone. They all converged on the same door at the end of the hall. I glanced inside, Oliver at my heels. Inside there was a boy, probably not much older than me. He was staring the guards down. He looked stressed, sweat beaded at his forehead, his eyes darted around, taking in the threats on all sides. I stared at him curiously. He didn't seem like much, but then again, I didn't know what he'd done to set all the guards on himself. 

Suddenly he closed his eyes and breathed deeply. All around him the guards began to wobble, listing to the side and then shocking themselves forward. His eyes scrunched tighter, and his nose wrinkled as he concentrated. One by one the guards began to drop, their guns falling from their hands before they followed them down. I stared in awe at the display. It had to be more than a dozen guards, all taken out at once. All except one, one who was sneaking up behind the boy with a tranq gun pointed at his back.

I surged forward, ignoring Oliver's grunt of protest, and ran quickly into the room. I waited until I was right behind the guard before speaking.

"Not bad," I said. Both the boy and the guard whipped around at once. I put my hand to the guard's neck and he turned his temperature up as high as I dared. He dropped to the ground as the moisture was pulled from his throat, and the heat boiled his brain to unconciousness. "But you did miss one."

"Thanks," he said. I could tell he was trying to hold back rolling his eyes.

"No problem, what happened here anyway?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I was trying to be impressive." 

I snorted a laugh, and finally Oliver came strolling into the room.

"I'd say you succeeded. Professor Oliver Payne, welcome to RGAZ. And you are?"

"Bryan," the boy said, shaking Oliver's hand hesitantly. "Bryan Cole."

"Nice to meet you Bryan Cole. I'd say this about qualifies as a passing grade. Why don't you come with us to the orientation ceremony. I know everyone's supposed to have their own teacher with them, but we can always find you one along the way."

Bryan nodded, and together we followed Oliver back out the classroom and down the hall.

"I'm Mia Hammond by the way," I said, holding out my hand to shake. He glanced at it warily, but I just rolled my eyes and took his hand to shake. He snorted a laugh.

"Nice to meet you Mia Hammond, cool trick with the passing out thing. What was that?"

"I control temperature, I just gave him heat stroke. What about you, mister make sixteen people unconcious at once?"

"It's sort of hard to explain," he said wryly. "But the gist of it is I told them all to go to sleep, and a nice little lullaby sang them all the way there."

I raised a pointed blonde eyebrow. "Impressive," I said. 

"I try," he replied, a small smile creeping onto his face.  

Rune~

I've passed the test with flying colors, the man said. He said it clearly, and yet I can't see how. All I did was use almost... All... Of my powers but who cares? Oh, I did use a lot of the powers I didn't put on the info sheet, so they weren't expecting it. I silently curse myself for being hypernatural. I have so much power, but I know it'll destroy me someday. My steps echo down the hallway as t I follow the giant man who told me I had passed. He points to a pair of swinging doors, supposedly made of titanium.

"That door leads to the training area, specifically the Hyper Room, designed for the most powerful students. I trust you understand that, since your powers are so... Intense, you will always be watched. We cannot have such a talented student slip into the wrong hands." I blush at his choice of words. I don't feel very talented. Just powerful, and I hate it. I wish I had gotten some thing simpler, or more pleasant, like Bryan's power. I sigh. I look past the huge man, and I see Bryan... Floating. He waves at me and I wave back, VERY confused. He laughs quietly at my puzzled expression. The old man guiding him shushs him and Bryan bites his lip. I smile mischievously.

"So, what's your power?" I say to the man guiding me.

"I can control people's emotions, which is why I have the job that I do." He replies.

"Which is...?" I ask. He turns around. His nut-brown facial hair bobs as he speaks.

"Hyper Room Instructor and Overseer. My name, by the way, is Georgio Redpool. You call me Georgio." He smile kindly. "Can't wait to train you!" I smile back. He is the first adult in this entire Academy who hasn't treated me like an instrument of war.

~~

Hey, please don't cuss. I'm VERY surprised that a cuss word in Bryan's RP got through the Admins.  (:0  >:( 

Reed~

As soon as the alarm hit the old man's eardrums, he began to hobble almost three times as fast, from how it looked from in the air.

"What's happening? That's not the serious alarm, is it?" I asked him.

"No, but it's not something I can ignore. Please try to hold on."

"Hold on to what?"

The man didn't answer me again until we arrived, which was pretty quickly in it's own right. The flashing light above an open door told us that we had arrived. The man peeked inside, and I followed suit, seeing a dozen armed (or in this case, unarmed) guards either knocked out or struggling to get up. The old man mumbled a few words into his earpiece and began shouting frantically.

"Mr. Payne, you dimwit! What in the blazes did you do?"

I hadn't even noticed the man strolling down the hallway, a ways ahead of us. The man turned around and smiled.

"It's professor Payne to you, Doctor Holtzer." He had two other students with him, both ones I didn't recognize. A boy and a girl. A waved halfheartedly at them.

"Are you responsible for this?" The Doctor demanded, marching up to the Professor with me still by his side.

"If you were there, you'd have seen it was merely the work of these two students, not me," The professor replied with a smile. Dr. Holtzer scoffed.

"And you let it happen? Oliver, these are paid workers, not training dummies."

"And the treatment of our security is of equal importance to the opportunities given to our students."

"Oliver, that wasn't a practical exam, that was assault!"

The two continued to argue, as I floated idly behind the Doctor. I glanced to the two students I saw before. The girl seemed a little uncomfortable, and I think the guy was laughing a little.

"Hey, I'm Reed," I introduced myself.

Rune~

I get the reason why Bryan was floating later. He used his power to drive a security guard to sending out a security breach signal. Sounds like something he would do. I think to myself. Georgio had chaoffuered me to my dorm, in which I am to live with two other kids who are 'healing up' or something like that. I try to read the book I hold in my lap but my hair keeps falling from behind my ear.

"Ugh." I reach up and scoop my hair into a bun. I keep reading. It's a letter from some imaginary being to all humans.

'A Word, Please

What lives in the Imagination is quite real. Without the Imagination and its inhabitants, life in ‘the real world’ would be dull, conventional, lifeless. The Imagination holds all of the hopes, dreams, and loves of the world. The fantasies, daydreams, and Invisible Best Friends originate in this one place. It could be reasoned out that the Imagination is more real than what you humans call ‘real’ because the Imagination is the same as everything was in the Beginning. Happy, creative, and full of endless possibilities. Many people have forgotten the Imagination, and others insist it is childish and that everyone ‘grows out of it’ or whatever that odd saying is, but I implore you, readers, to reject this thinking. The Imagination is alive, and it misses the children, the budding juveniles, and the happy adults. What happened them? Where did our friends go? I know what happened to them. Nightmare came. Nightmare was, no IS (we are still resisting him) the one Imaginary who saw the wonderful world of the Imagination and wanted it for himself. He had to separate us, the Imaginary from the Real, in order to destroy the Imagination. So he sent you his Night Terrors. Small children are now afraid of the dark and going to sleep because of Nightmare. Juveniles have curfews in silent, unnoticed fear that Nightmare may come to the waking world. Adults are wary of dark alleys, straining their eyes to watch for movement in the shadows. Even you know his name. You call the bad dreams you have ‘nightmares’. You sit up in a sweat, and breathe a sigh of relief it “wasn’t real”. But every conflict in a story ends up in a happy ending, so please, DON’T WAKE UP. ' (This is actually the beggining of a book I am writing.)

A knock on the door startled me from my reading.

"Come in!" I shut the book and lay it aside. Bryan pokes his head in and smiles. I smile back. He slips in. 

"So, how did you do?" I ask.

"I passed, but only due to the fact that my power was convincing enough to make a security guard faint just after he sent out a security breach alarm." He flops onto my bed. "The lecture I got was SO LONG... Or at least it would have been if I hadn't given them a sense of urgency." I laugh. "What about you? I assume YOU passed with flying colors."

"Yes, I did, and apparently I'm going to have to train in the Hyper Room with Georgio Redpool." Bryan sits up so fast he almost falls off the bed.

"Hyper Room?! Geogio Redpool?! Rune you are held in the highest regard there is here!" I scrunch up my nose.

"I find that hard to believe."

"Hey, I may not want to be here very much but at least I know a thing or two about this place. There are five rooms according to potency of powers. The Training Room, the Super Room, Great Room, Ultra Room, and Hyper Room, in that order from least power to most. Rune, how did you do that? You're a first year and you're in the Hyper Room! Unbelievable!" Bryan throws his hands up. "I honestly don't know what to think!" I blush.

~~ 

Blue tipsHI GUYS, IM BACK FROM THE DEAD!!! Also I changed Troy’s gift a bit, now he gains power from darkness and he can suck the light from small areas but not without a cost. The cost is that he is even more susceptible to pain as long as he is using his gift(he calls it a curse).

~~~

I stayed in the back of the room while others are attacking one another until a kid ran at me and attempted to tackle me. I stepped through the shadows, grabbed his neck, and threw him at the wall, using my “curse” to amplify my strength enough that he went through the wall and out the other side. Then a teacher pulled me aside and directed me towards a room off at the side. I got accepted. I hid my wince as I rotated my shoulder, sore, stiff, not properly exercised but not wounded either. I’ll live. I strode over to a wall that was draped in shadows and watched the other initiatives talk amongst themselves. From here I was noticed but not specifically targeted as a area of conversation, that was either good or bad, and I opted for the latter. 

~~~

I’m on my iPad because I don’t have my computer so my posts might be a bit short. My iPad tends to like to watch me suffer recreating posts that it deletes.

Emma-

After my race, I decided to show off my ability a little, hoping to catch the pasing glace of one of the professers. I found a giant climbing rope that seemed to go up at least fourty feet. I jumped up, getting my feet on the starting knot on the bottom, lifting my hands, I pulled my body weight up, thinking about taking away from gravity from where I was-but I thought that might be cheating. so  I continued climbing, enduring the horrid pain, burning in my legs, I do not normally climb. 

the scratchy material rubbed agaisnt my hands, I could already see a raw read peaking out from my clasped palms. no matter I just had to get up to the top, just had to ring the bell.

I was over half way there now, and teachers and a few students had appeared, I tried not to think about the pressure on me. if I failed this, I would get kicked out before the school year even started, and that couldn't happen. 

my hand slipped and I felt myself slip, I lowered the gravity .2% just enough for me to regain my posture and continue up. 

The arms I thought would be able to carry me up, were geting close to giving out, and I was worried I wouldn't make it, so close, so so so close. and then finally, I felt the cool metle clasp beneath my hand, and I rang the bell as loud as I could, trying to draw the attention of the professers. once I noticed at least two trying to pretend to not stare at me. I let go, pushing off the rope. 

I the swirling wind around me, and I quickly change the gravity to 50% less, so I could slowly float down to the floor. and of course, because I'm a show off, I tried to do a few tricks, a few flips that people would do on the moon in cartoons, and I felt my feet, hit the hard wood foor with a quiet thump. 

"Ms. Luis, we need to speak with you, privetly," I looked around the voice comig from someone, the profeser. this was my chance. I gulped, changing the gravity around me back to normal.  and nodded following the man away. 

I'm drawing the uniforms. Probably will post them today but don't count on it. I'm lazy. XP

Top

Reed~

The professors continued arguing as we continued towards the auditorium. A team of medics were dispatched to take care of the mess in that room. Dr. Holtzer made Mr. Payne apologize to them, and Bryan was given a pardon. Speaking of, I learned their names were Brian and Mia. The students.

I decided not to get too attached though, I'd be leaving this place pretty soon, I thought. I thought.

We soon arrived to the auditorium, and a bustle of teachers and students struggled to fit back inside the doors. I noticed that everyone here looked relatively calm. All the protestors or unresearched students had apparently been weeded out in the exam. I didn't see that pain-gift kid either. Hopefully he got expelled for that stuff he did to me, that leech. Whatever the case was, it was time to find out which of us knowing students got accepted.

I sat down- er, floated down, thanks to Dr. Holtzer- next to Bryan and Mia. They were excitedly talking to eachother. They seemed like nice people, but I just wasn't feeling it right then and there. Even though I knew I got expelled, I just couldn't stop fidgeting. What was with me today? Mr. Levitski soon interrupted my thoughts.

"Welcome back, incoming first years! Or, some of you will be first years. A select 80 of you, to be exact." I looked around. A good chunk of students from the first session of orientation was now gone, yet there was still far more than 80. I swallowed. There was going to be a lot of disappointment after they announced the accepteds.

"As many of you know, there are 4 first-year classes of 20 students each. D, C, B and A, adapted in that order for increasingly more powerful students, class A being the most powerful of course. However, those of you who land in one of the lower classes, or no class at all, please don't be discouraged. I applaud all of you for simply attempting to get in to RGAZ. You are all simply wonderful students, and I wish you the best in all you future heroic endeavours."

Class D? I didn't know there was a class D, maybe I did have a chance of getting in. Maybe class C if I was lucky. Whatever the reason I was getting so excited about this I don't know, but it was a feeling I had never really experienced before.

"Well, without further ado, the 2044 class of the Royal Gifted Academy of Zelkova." Mr. Levitski dramatically revealed a giant, sleek looking holographic screen behind him. Class D suddenly flashed in bright letters, and students started appearing with their names and pictures. I looked and looked, but found no trace of Rickson anywhere. Class C was a no go too. People were celebrating their acceptance all around me, but I lost hope when my name wasn't even present in Class B.

I glanced at the extravagant Class A out of curiosity, reading down the list of names.

Elliot Anderson

Troy Brawnn

Bryan Cole

I saw Bryan's eyes widen in excitement next to me. He pumped his arms, confirming what he saw when Mia congradulated him.

Henry Durth

Izzie Glow

Mia Hammond

I could hear Mia follow suit, celebrating with Bryan at their acceptance, but it was almost soul-crushing now. Not just for my parents, but for me. Why did I care so much? I didn't care. Did I?

Rune Hyperkill

Emmet Jannis

Selkie Korbet

Emma Luis

Anthony Oscar

Clarke Putnam

Denise Quarry

I was trembling now. I didn't want to be here. Why did I even decide to come? Why did I let my parents convince me to do this? So they could be happy? What about me? Why wasn't I happy? I stood up to leave, when it hit me like a bullet.

Reed Rickson

Wren Thomas

Fiona Underwood

Gabriella Vesik

Damien White

Alynah Wilson

Karl Yurina

My name... was on the list. My name was on the list. The Class A acceptance list. The most powerful hero course in the entire world. I got in. Reed Rickson got in. I was so wrapped up in the news that I almost didn't hear myself scream into the crowd.

Yay! We're all in the Hyper Room together! XD

The guards drop. I honestly feel like doing the same. Why won't the world stop swaying? I grip my head in an attempt to push off the blurriness.

"Not bad," I suddenly hear behind me. I turn to see a blonde girl and the last security, about to painfully take me out, before she pushes him over somehow.

"But you did miss one." she observes with a smile.

"Thanks." I stammer. The headache's getting better but those intolerably annoying circles of light-

"...happened here anyway?", her voice comes back.

"Oh just trying to be impressive." I manage a weak smile. Then a professor walks in. I take a breath for the detention or expulsion or arrest I've been expecting since the alarms started. I guess I asked for it.

But instead it's "Welcome to RGAZ, Bryan Cole."

I'm momentarily stunned, pausing before I shake his hand. If all the staff here are as chill as this dude, I'm thinking this is going to be an awesome year. Then we're walking to the acceptance ceremony. The girl, Mia, explains her power (she can literally make a room hotter when she walks in, which is awesome).

But then we get caught by the explosion guy and another teacher, who I realize is the one I should worry about. The ensuing argument's pretty tough, but I honestly can't keep down a slight smile. I thought those guards would appreciate a break.

The other student floats over (does he want to hover a foot in the air?).

"Hey, I'm Reed."

"Bryan. You heading to the ceremony?" He replies in affirmative

"Think you’ll get in?" He shrugs with a zero change of expression.

“Same.” The conversation keeps on slowly while we walk down the hallway, trying to ignore the debating teachers. At the end, I’m taken aside to get a lecture which thankfully ends in being allowed to stay. I didn’t want to use my power again, but I realized I didn’t know where Rune was. Probably not in as much trouble as me. Hopefully not. My escort was cool though, told me where to go without me doing anything. Thankfully.

I’m stunned after talking to Rune. The Hyper Room. I know she has some crazy powers, but this is going to take her to the top of of all hero training, far away from her friends. Including me. I really don’t know what to think. Not about Rune, not about this school, and definitely not about my power. Because I can’t understand my gift.

First it was simply ‘hearing’ a dope melody. Obviously, a depressing song would make you feel sad. But then the emotions became stronger, and the sound was all you could think about it. And with that guard… It was almost like he could see the danger, not just hear it. What is up with the world. I really don’t have much time to think about anything because I got to hurry to the auditorium.

I take a seat with Reed and Mia, though I caught sight of Emma and Rune. The names start flashing on the screen. I’m unconsciously tensing up as it goes through D, C, B… Woah, chill out man. You’re not in the Hyper Room, just get over it. But then my name’s there. Mistake or not, I’m in. I give a quiet whoop, echoed by Reed a bit later. Glad he was accepted, he was looking pretty shook up.

For me… I just don’t think I’m cut out to be a superhero. But here we go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a question. If orientation is in the summer, should we skip to the start of school?

Also, I'm really sorry for the cursing in a previous post. I wrote the word in my rough draft and was planning to substitute a more appropiate one, but I think I zoned out while copying the paragraph into Cricket.  

Rune~

"Hmm." I hold up a white tee shirt and white pants, both with the letter A on the tags. The uniform for RGAZ is quite bland. That's when I see a black choker neclace with a tiny silver plate in the middle of it. Upon closer inspection, the tiny plate has two crossed swords on it. I put on the clothes and the choker and pull on the (also white) combat boots Georgio gave me. I like Georgio. He's a good person. A Georgio's voice issues from a speaker in the corner of the room.

"All grade A students please come to the Hyper Room." I perk up. Training!

~~ 

Reed~

The rest of the orientation was kind of a blur.

"Class D, you will report to room 2004 with Mr. Crouth, Class C with Mrs. Safavi in 2011, Class B is in 3006 with Ms. Gold and Mr. Simeon, and Class A is in 3012 with Mr. Redpool and Mr. Mossman. Remember folks, that first day is September 3rd, so make sure you know everything you need to before then!" Even Mr. Levitski's commanding voice was lost in a waterfall of my thoughts. It was almost surreal, seeing my name up there in shining letters. It was almost like I was a professional hero already.

I shook the thought out of my head. I needed to get my composure back, that was all. I turned to Dr. Holtzer.

"I feel a lot better now, thanks. I think I can walk without any help." He almost looked startled at my sudden monotone.

"Er- right, that's fantastic. Your belongings are over in the recovery room, room 1049, if you need me to accompany you-"

"No, that's fine. I can find it." I turned to Bryan.

"Looks like we're all gonna be in the same class together , huh? What are the chances?" He said with a smile still on his face. He reached out a hand, and I shook it with a brief smile. Mia did the same. We filed out into the hallway, with Mr. Levitski's voice still powering over the crowd.

"And last but not least, be sure to grab your first-year RGAZ handbooks from the cases outside the auditorium. Trust me, you're not being cool if you don't take one. You'll need 'em for at least the first week. Anyway, you're all dismissed!"

We took turns plucking our booklets from the stack as the wave of murmuring students continued to flow out of the auditorium.

"Hey, maybe we could exchange numbers or something?" Mia suggested. I checked the time. Crap, the orientation went way late, it was past lunchtime. 

"I'm sure we'll get in touch," I replied dismissively, starting down the hallway towards 1049. I didn't have time for anything else anyway, my mind was still overflowing with new ideas and questions. What did this mean for the future? Could I really stay in RGAZ for the full 4 terms? What if I actually became a hero?

I kept thinking and mindlessly walking all the way to the parking lot.

"How'd it go honey?" I snapped back to reality. I was already in my mom's car, I was so wrapped up in thinking I didn't even notice. I shrugged.

"It went ok. We had a practical exam, that was a suprise."

"Oh, like lifting weights and running?"

"Yeah, something like that."

As we pulled away from the lot, I looked back at the academy. I guess I hadn't really appreciated it before, but it was really pretty. It almost reminded me of an emperor's palace, sleek and modern with no nook or cranny out of place. It was really intimidating, but also welcoming, like it was inviting me into the world of professional heroism.

I pressed my face to the window and let out a quick grin. Something was changing, something really big. And although I couldn't really put my finger on it, I knew my first term at RGAZ would be something for the books.

The academy slowly shrank as we turned onto a main highway, but it wouldn't be long until we were back again. Summer couldn't end faster.

********************

So yeah, everybody can conclude the orientation with their characters, then I think we're going to jump to the end of the summer, for efficiency's sake. We might make a little Special RP just dedicated to summer shenanigans in the future though.