My Superhero Academy Crisis of Infinite Reboots - The Revisit
Summary: Another day at Saint Academy as an old friend comes to visit.
First post: Omake Below.
Tropes
Story
Lucy couldn't help but feel a little trepidant at the prospect of returning to Saint Academy; even if it was just for a visit. Hei had taken the opportunity to drop her off, but she couldn't help but tremble at the sight of the entrance. Nonetheless, she swallowed, gathered herself together, and walked through the doors.
It was different. She could tell. Maybe not visually, but in terms of the atmosphere. The students she could see mulling about weren't any she recognized. A couple of seemed to recognize her, though. Inkwell had made quite an impact back in Sweden, after all—so maybe her reputation had made it overseas at least a little.
She realised very quickly that Class 1 would have changed drastically since she last saw it. She wondered if any of her old class had remained. Hopefully so. She'd made sure to pick a free period to arrive at—so hopefully they'd be coming out of class by now.
A Revisit
Sam had managed to somehow remain awake and in one piece during all the class, so he'd say it was a success, but that was just him. Who knows how others would judge that. Making sure to enjoy the free period, he was looking forward to jam until his arms couldn't move.
Of course, those plans were set aside as he saw a familiar face.
Could it be?
Approaching silently, he gave the girl a poke in the shoulder.
"Hello, Luce" He smiled.
Lucy – A Revisit
Lucy gasped in surprise, immediately whirling around at the voice and grinning broadly at the cryokinetic when she saw him.
"Sam!" she cried—throwing her arms around the boy in greeting. "Oh, god—I was thinking you'd all gone by now! I missed you guys so much! Are... are the others still here? In Class 1, I mean," she asked anxiously, momentarily relieving him of her death grip.
Talk about surreal. And making me feel old. It's not even been a full year yet! she realised, looking him up and down a little. I guess you grow quicker here... what with the supervillains and existential crises...
Revisit
"Hey, easy" Sam chuckled "Good to have you around again, by the way, hope Sweden is really treating you well" He poked her in the forehead.
"Well, the class is mostly new, but our favorite demon couple is still in, as is Mahvash, and Rebecca and Ever are back" After a second, he added "There is also Vicky, but she is probably sleeping in some dark corner again" He chuckled.
Lucy – Revisit
"Oh, thank god for that," she smiled, seeming to perk up a little at the familiar names. "I saw a couple of things on the news about the flak this place is getting. As well as empowered in general. I'm glad to say it isn't as bad in Sweden," she frowned. "Or at least, we've been dealing with it okay. How are you guys dealing with that? It's not putting you down too much, is it?" she asked, concerned.
Lucy – Revisit
"Oh, thank god for that," she smiled, seeming to perk up a little at the familiar names. "I saw a couple of things on the news about the flak this place is getting. As well as empowered in general. I'm glad to say it isn't as bad in Sweden," she frowned. "Or at least, we've been dealing with it okay. How are you guys dealing with that? It's not putting you down too much, is it?" she asked, concerned.
Lucy – Revisit
"Nice to see you haven't changed much, Sam," Lucy chuckled in response to his admittance of his own recklessness—a teasing smile flickering across her face for a moment. "Hei's been supportive. As always, bless him. But there's a decent response back home, and a fair group of heroes as well. So we're doing... okay. For now, I mean."(edited)
Revisit
"Good to know you are gaining confidence, Tiny" Sam said, giving her a light pinch in the cheek "Give my best wishes to Lin, and how about we see the rest? At least there are a couple people you could like" It could help with my failures as a friend last year(edited)
Lucy – Revisit
"I'm not that tiny," Lucy griped—which was true enough. The girl looked more filled out than she had been, and had gained a few inches in height—a far cry from her nigh-skeletal appearance the year before. "But... yeah. I'm getting better. I'm still... I'm still trying to track them down, y'know the..." she trailed off, looking left and right before dropping her voice down to a whisper. "...those kids, but I feel like if I could just say I'm sorry for... for doing what I did to them, then... m-maybe I could move on from it, you know...?"
The melanokinetic was silent for a little while, lost in thought, before shaking it off and forcing a smile onto her face. "But apart from... that, yeah. I'd like to see some of the new guys. Doubt they were as bad as we were," she joked—trying to at least somewhat lift the morbidity from her earlier statement.
Revisit, old and new
"Don't worry, I know you can make up" Sam said, placing a hand on her shoulder "If not, you have your life to be the best you can be, and that would have to be enough" Hopefully, I can let go too
Wincing as she commented on how the new class couldn't be worse, but he tried to be brave "Hey, we had our moments, but Class 1 is still a group of mostly lovable weirdos"
"Hey, Zach" He called to the tattooed young man "There is someone I want you to meet" He said. One shy ink kid with issues to another, makes sense.
Revisit
Zach looked up at the utterance of his name, looking over at Sam and some new girl he'd never seen before, smiling and giving the two of them a quick wave.
Someone he wanted to meet? Oh, yay! New friends, he liked making new friends.
So, after putting all of his various amounts of crap away, he walked over, the smile never faltering from his face as he brought up his right hand, and began to write in the air, leaving trails of ink as he did.
Hi there! It's a pleasure to meet you. Any friend of Sam's is a friend of mine. Name's Zach!
Oh, this would be a fun meeting for the young melanokinetic.
Lucy — Revisit
...Huh. Another ink user. That's rare.
"I'm Lucy. Lucy Livingston. I was in Class 1 for last year," she greeted with a smile, reaching out and lightly shaking the boy's hand in greeting. "Hope it's been crazy enough for you. If there's one thing I learned, well... it leaves an impression."
She had to forcibly hide her grin for the next part. She pulled back the sleeves of her hood slightly, raising her arms and focusing on them. They seemed to stain over with a black substance from beneath the skin, before a liquid of a particular (and very familiar) scent seeped out from her pores and stretched out into a small collection of tendrils. She let them coagulate together—telekinetically drawing their mass into one big clump and pulling it away from her arms and into the air above her—before proceeding to mimic Zach's floating letter effect as a version of her own.
Looks like I'm not the only melanokinetic in the room now, huh?
Revisit
A moment of silence as dawning realization suddenly hit him like a trailer truck, and his eyes went wide with recognition. He snapped his fingers, nodding his head.
Right! Oh, I remember you now! Mahvash and Sam told me about you a few times! I though you looked familiar. Oh man, another Ink User, this is so cool! You have to show me what you can do, I'm so curious!
A genuine excitement in his movements as he wrote the words, before he chuckled and rubbed the back of his had.
Sorry, I'm probably coming off too strongly I just got excited.
Lucy – Revisit
Ah. So he knew of her. She'd have to meet up with Mahvash as well now that she was... well, saner. She could probably handle her a lot better.
...A bit better. She didn't have that much faith in herself.
"No, it's okay. I appreciate it," she smiled. "I'll uh... give you a quick rundown, I guess..."
Here was just as good as anywhere, she supposed. It wasn't like she was about to go all Entity and explode into a mass of ink or anything. So, she concentrated—her form seeming to ripple as detail and colour vanished from her features and was replaced by the slight sheen of jet black ink. She promptly collapsed into a puddle.
After it had fully splattered, it dragged itself into a more substantial mass; forming tendrils out of itself and rapidly pulling itself to a spot behind them. After that, it stopped again—raising up and morphing itself back into Lucy's shape before rippling again and regaining the appropriate colouration.
"Ink transformation's one. I can generate ink from excess... uh, fat in my body as well. And change pigmentation," she mumbled as an afterthought—scratching the back of her head awkwardly as she absently generated some more ink from her hand and shifted it into a multicoloured state. "Other than that it's just imagination, I guess. Though I'm guessing your powers work a little differently. They're rarely identical. And you're kinda the only other melanokinetic I've met, so..."
She was rambling, so she clamped her mouth shut and shrugged in an attempt to alleviate her embarrassment. "You get the idea. I'm here basically for the rest of the day, so... are the training rooms still open?"
"Good to see you are getting better" Sam smiled, as he showed himself back, laughing at how she rambled "I think they are, unless some idiot did something, but let's go see"
Revisit
That's incredible. He wrote numbly, watching as she disappeared into a puddle of ink and then did SOMETHING, before reappearing. He doubted he could ever do the things that she could, due to the fact that his powers came from a straight demonic source inside of his body, and he couldn't exactly do...THAT with what he had.
But anything he COULD learn would be AMAZINGLY useful.
You mean, assuming Van or Ash didn't completely obliterate the place. He said to Sam, the buildings of a grin starting to spread. And I think they got banned for a week or so after the last time...so I don't think they're gonna risk it again.
Lucy – Revisit
"Lemme guess. Resident troublemakers?" Lucy grinned. "There's always one. Or two, I guess. Ah well. The crater where it used to be will be good enough anyway. Still... as much as it sounds weird for me to say, I kinda wanna see Mahvash now," she admitted, her smile shrinking into something a little smaller and more genuine. "I... I've had a lot of time. To work her out, I mean. Namely that I can't work her out. But it's better than a hopeless scramble, I guess. Don't wanna turn into another Laurie, y'know?" she shrugged. "Crazy enough anyway."
Revisit - Training Room/Improvised Magic LabMahvash technically watched her own paper, making a decorative sheet of notes, partly in Avestan, partly in runes. It was shorthand to her, but eventually she'd drop it in some random library and enjoy the journey of whoever tried to follow random class notes to some ancient treasure.
That was only for a moment though. The fun part was experimentation. She'd set the training room to create a multi-character opera and spent only a small amount of time recording her results. Oi, she put her voice and moves to work in the performance too. The big lad spinning her at the moment knew it, well 'knew' it.
Setting magic performances on hardlight images is different from working with flesh and bone subjects. Who would be a nice volunteer?
Vivian came walking in on her hands, somehow whistling an uneven tune. After entering, she turned around so that she was now facing Mahvash, though still upside down. "Hey. Whatcha doing?"
"Making bards," Mahvash answered, not missing a beat and spinning an overly tan, very alto man away to grab another. "Or practicing."
"Bards? What's a bard? And how does one make a bard?" She's still upside down, and now doing slow handstand pushups.
Mahvash tilted her head before snapping, pausing the opera cold. "...not that way. And I stole it from D&D. Also, I have no idea. I'm working on it right now.""Well, I have some idea, but I have to feel out where experiments go."
"So it's a...thing? A musical piece? A kind of dance?" One-handed pushups, now.
"They are... interesting" Sam said, with a shrug "Most people here are, at any rate"
Shaking his head at her wish to see Mahvash, he shrugged "Sure"It's your sanity
[Mahvash]"No, the kind of performance you're heckling is an opera..." she curled her fingers around her chin. "A bard is a captivating master of arts. And they tell great stories. I just have to figure out how to infuse literal magic into their steps and notes, giving them a nice, basic way to call on me through song and poetry and all that jazz."
Vivian put her feet down and turned around again to face Mahvash. "Hmm. And sorry, I haven't introduced myself properly. Rude. I'm Vivian."
Revisit (Training Room)- Sally"Hiya." Sally walked into the room. She saw what Mahvash was putting on."This looks interesting. Can I stay a minute and watch? Well, technically I shouldn't ask since we are squad mates but, still want to be polite." She said, smiling a bit.
Vivian pointed at Sally. "See? Polite. How to be."
"Keh," She gave a short snicker. "What are you trying to do? Talk to me? Well, you're forgiven," she made a shallow curtsy. "I have the name Mahvash Matten Mattiuza. Hi."
Mahvash nodded at Sally. "But, of course."
Realizing there was a new girl, Sally extended her hand for a handshake."Hi, my name is Sally Martel. It is very nice to meet you."
Revisit
Oh boy, there's people here. Zach wrote to Sam and Lucy, before he gave a defeated shrug. Guess nothing can be done. At least you can meet new friends, and even see Mahvash again!
Vivian shook Sally's hand. "Vivian Courthope. I'm new here, just trying to meet everyone. Interesting crew here."
Lucy – Revisit
Lucy looked momentarily perturbed at the activity in the training room (notably moreso the people than Mahvash's hardlight play) before she shook the feeling of awkwardness off, deciding to lead with the one she knew out of all of them.
"Long time no see, Mahvash. Thought I'd come on by today. See how everyone's doing," she greeted with a small smile—walking right up to the daeva and giving her a short hug. "So what's this? Hamilton, or breaking in the newbies? Or both?"
"She's...trying to make bards? That will dance and call on her for power?" Vivian supplied, still looking a little confused.
"Don't worry" Sam said "I don't get half the stuff that comes out of her mouth, and I'd rather stay away from what passes through her head. I am Samuel, by the way, Samuel Everett, Sam for everyone"
Vivian turned to him and waved. "Howdy. Maybe I should wear a nametag until I meet everyone. Vivian."
zach! It’s really nice to meet you!
Mahvash momentarily looked away from the girl hugging her to twist her head toward Vivian, making a strained creak. "...Yes." More or less right. And not her squad or her responsibility anyway.
"No, I'm not breaking the newbies." Between the Wii training lass, all the new company, coming down from the mood and being clinged on by—she felt Zach's ink-words and he did not address her by name—this other girl, she just gave a thin smile. "And I got this one from Looney Tunes."Did she come with Vivian? I distinctly recall Kilgore announcing one new student.
Vivian shook her head, grinning. "Yep, new kid in town. Feels familiar," she muttered to herself. She turned in a slow circle, taking in the room and the people in it. Ok, so Mahvash was a little...odd. Sam and Sally seemed friendly. Lucy clearly either knew Mahvash more than the other liked or had made a mistake, but she was obviously affectionate. Interesting.(edited)
Lucy – Revisit
...Huh. Typical Mahvash.
"Don't remember me?" she queried, breaking away from the daeva and momentarily shifting into a shorter and distinctly more unhealthy-looking version of herself with a ripple of ink. "Lucy? Girl who wouldn't stop crying, went #$&%ing insane at one point? Nearly tried to kill you and was generally an insufferable ass to you? That Lucy?"
The bitterness and profanity probably wouldn't help refresh her memory anyway. She shifted back.
"But... yeah. Been thinking. A lot. If I can't understand how you think, then screw it—I won't try anymore. No point," she shrugged, before frowning in contemplation. "I'm sure we had a link at some point... is that gone or is it still there? Didn't... like, lose reception while I was in Sweden, right?"
Revisit - Training RoomOne Face Fault later... "Oh, that's grand..." Mahvash mumbled into the floor. "I have not forgotten a link in..." that'd give away my age wouldn't it? "a long time. Now I can tell mother she's doing too much."
The daeva flipped, getting to her feet and shaking her head. "That's my entire set of social encounters..." she put a finger to her chin. "ever. Except for girl and Lucy. " She wiped dust off her chin before putting her hands behind her back. "I do remember a modest link with a girl who crossed space and time and led an entire crop of the academy's finest out of the Abyss." Now..
Lucy – Revisit
For the first time in a few months, Lucy blushed in the manner she used to—though didn't cave in on herself self-consciously as much as awkwardly scratch the back of her head.
"I mean... I-I didn't really do much... I just kinda showed up and said what was obvious, really..." she stammered, before clearing her throat. "Haven't... tried that again. Puny human brain and all that. But hey. At least it's a better thing to remember me by than the alternative..." she muttered under her breath.
Crop. I love it when someone refers to humans by group names like that. A gaggle of students. Mark of a real people person. Vivian kept smiling, though. Puny human brain. Oh yes, very interesting. I'll have to write all of this down later. She silently walked out of the room, pondering everything she'd seen.(edited)
Revisit - Training Room"Eh, practice makes perfect. The worst that happens is grey matter leaks out of your nose and you end up on the same wavelength as Nasu..." she trailed off a moment, imagining a mind meld with big sis before banishing the thought as soon as metaphysically possible.
"Oh don't play yourself down like that," she waved as if literally pushing the thought down. "Besides, if anyone thought of you the other way, you wouldn't have arrived here with an entourage."
Lucy – Revisit
"Oh. I was wondering what that giggling was."
Probably shouldn't have said that out loud.
"Anyway– wait, entourage? I didn't arrive with an... entourage..." she frowned, looking all around the room. "I mean, Hei dropped me off but he had something to do... something about a bus, I dunno..."
"First off, I did not hear that," Mahvash delicately turned Lucy round, now treating the girl like the something between the White Mouse and the finest porcelain for the slimmest chance that she had anything to do with Nasu.
"I mean the gaggle of students you gathered. You even gave Samuel energy."
Lucy seems pretty nice."Hello, Lucy. My name is Sally Martel. I am one of the new students here this year. I have heard about you before. It's nice to meet you. I think I have heard of you from Mother and Mahvash." She extended her hand out for a handshake to Lucy.
Dante – RevisitDante was just strolling around, until he saw a group of people. There are two that he didn't recognize."Hi, miss, I am Dante Precossini, your Carnival Prince...", Dante introduced himself to Lucy.
Lucy – Revisit
"...Oh. Right," Lucy blinked, still looking a little confused. "I wouldn't call it a gaggle though–"
And then Sally and Dante decided to directly contradict that statement by walking up to her and introducing themselves. Ah well.
"Yup. That's me. Hope I'm not too infamous now. Last year was... well it was something..." she mused reminiscently. "Still, nice to meet you all. It's weird to see guys like Sam and Mahvash still sticking around with all these new faces. So tell me. What uh... typical class activities have you been up to so far? I'm curious."
"So far, we actually managed to get some hanging out time" Sam commented "Mostly small groups, though, stuff like hitting a club, or making a movie night. Not that many... explosive interruptions" He looked at the side "Kinda makes me feel guilty about last year, to be honest, I spent too much time ignoring everyone else"
Well, at the very least you're making up for it! Shoot, you're still pretty bad, I can't imagine you being worse. Zach teased with a smile before he looked between the...veterans, seniors, would be the right term for this and scratched his head. Geez, it was worse last year? And here I thought having a nuke dropped on us was pretty chaotic...
Lucy – Revisit
"...Honestly I was about to say ‘just a nuke?’" Lucy murmured after a lengthy silence, rubbing her temples as if an old and familiar headache was beginning to return. "Last year we had an accident in the training room. Interdimensional portal showed up, sucked us all in, next thing we knew everything was gone. The school was empty. And there were..." she paused, glancing between the others before taking a shuddering breath. "...b-bodies. Everything was dead. I don't even think we heard birds. And then..."
She had gone rather green now, but she powered on nonetheless.
"...we saw... we saw me."
Sam knew what she was talking about, and moved to support Lucy. Putting a hand on her shoulder, looking extremely grim.
Revisit
The silence was heavy and thick, and he didn't think he liked it. Blinking a little bit and looking between the two of them, one hand reached over and rubbed his other arm slowly. Finally, one tendril snaked its way out from under his shirt to continue his thought process, his hands suddenly feeling prickly and uncomfortable.
Saw...you?
Lucy – Revisit
Lucy violently shuddered, before taking a breath and nodding as Sam placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
You've dug your grave this far, Luce. Might as well finish it.
"...I... we saw me. An... older me. She was... wrong. Insane. See... not too long before I'd... snapped. I'd lashed out at Mahvash, and she got a shot on me. She said "I don't care", but I didn't realise until later she wasn't talking about me. She was talking about the fact I tried to kill her."
Damn her and her selective vagueness.
"Hei... my boyfriend... he got me out of there. But I don't think he came for her. Maybe he got caught up. But... I know that I... I'd started to think."
She moved to sit down—primarily because she was trembling so much she was afraid she was about to fall over—before continuing.
"I felt... like I was alone. I... I wasn't in a good place. I-I think Hei not showing up for her broke her. She... she killed everyone. She tortured Mahvash. She... she #$&%ing assimilated Hei, and..."
She groaned, burying her head into her hands.
"...a-and I was so close to being her."
Revisit
...oh.
The story came loud and clear to him, staring down at her silently and keeping his hand on his iron-tight grip on his arm. He did remember Sam telling him a little about Lucy. How he was her friend. How she could use ink. How she left after going to a dark place.
He really didn't realize that dark was the proper word for the what-could-have-beens.
He didn't know Lucy anywhere NEAR well enough like Sam, like Mahvash and a few other people in his class. He didn't know her enough to try to justify anything to calm her down. He felt he didn't have the right to say anything even remotely close to "But you're not, and that's what's important", because those words came hollow from someone who didn't suffer like she did.
So all he could was apologize.
God...I'm so...so sorry... His ink wrote slowly, flitting through the air before hiding back in his shirt.
Lucy – Revisit
Lucy could only issue a small nod of acknowledgement before she drew her hands away from her face and leaned back with an exhausted sigh.
"...I'm... she's gone. For good. And I swear to god she's never gonna come out in me. She... wasn't real. Not here, at least. She was just a ‘what-if’."
She didn't sound entirely convinced of it, though.
"I'm sorry I... I dumped this on you. I should be over it by now, but... no, I shouldn't have dredged it up. I'm sorry."
"Hey, don't worry about it" Sam said "Facing something so close to home is no joke, hell, I am not over attacking a Lucy like that, even if isn't you"
"I got my own screw ups I am still not over, but as long as I can move forward, it's what matters, I think"
Revisit
That's the important part. What Sam said, we just need to move forward from the stuff that we've done in the past. Especially the scary stuff.
He tried to offer a little smile, still feeling incredibly out of place about the whole thing.
I mean, you're here now and you have a lot going for you. That's what's important right? Friends, someone who loves you, a fresh start...
Lucy – Revisit
"I... I guess so..."
She raised her head back up, returning Zach's smile with an equally small one of her own.
"Thanks. I... probably still haven't made a good first impression though. Oh I'm better. Honest," she said almost bitterly, before shaking her head. "No. Enough of that. Thanks, guys. That means a lot to me," she smiled a little more genuinely.
Sally - RevisitRealizing just how much had unfurled, she calmly says to Lucy:"Hey, it will be okay. I have heard good things about you and while I don't know you to well, you are a nice girl." Sally says, hoping that would help.
Vivian hadn't gone very far before stopping to listen to Lucy's story. As if went on, she began leaning against the wall, then sitting.When it finished, she got up again and continued walking, her face thoughtful.
Sam felt the heavy moment, and felt like he had to say something to lighten the mood
"But leaving that aside" He said "Didn't you want to show off a little, Inkwell?" He said, teasingly.
Lucy – Revisit
"Well... okay," Lucy relented, smirking up at Sam before getting up and lightly punching him in the arm. "Why not put something on from the simulation? We're already here, I mean. Unless you wanna spar or something? Kinda... don't wanna just be a sideshow by myself or anything, you know? Wanna have some point to it," she added hesitantly.
Still, should be interesting. They haven't seen me in a while, after all. Though I haven't exactly been able to top meteor-punching a turret with normal muggers... much as I'd want to.
Revisit
Oh! Yeah, I'd love to see a veteran with ink powers and what they can do. Maybe give me some ideas on what I can do with my own ink powers. Maybe let me have some insight. Zach's grin only grew as he quickly went off to one side to watch the show, ready to take mental notes about this sorta thing.
This is gonna be GREAT. He thought to himself.
Sam pressed a few buttons himself, as the room changed into...
A Rolling Stones concert "Ah, no" He said, sheepishly "That was for when I got bored" He pressed some others, and the training room changed once again.
This time, as the room darkened, before starting to glow in a red light, as an alarm started blaring, signaling the escape of a dangerous specimen.
"Is this to your liking?"
Lucy – Revisit
Lucy stretched a little, before nodding.
"Yeah. Perfect."
With a slight ripple of her form, she moulded a sleeker variant of her initial suit around her body—the physical version of which she had quickly found to be redundant on the field—and one that was now entirely jet black with a few grey highlights; most notably in the form of the peace symbol emblazoned on her chest. The melanokinetic swiftly liquidized and pressed herself against the floor, shifting pigmentation so as to match the pattern while sending up a duplicate of herself shortly after.
Unknown situation: scout ahead. Rely on cunning. Figure out your opponent, while making sure it can't figure out you. Be everywhere. Be Batman.
...
Okay, don't be Batman. Be better than Batman.
Vivian stopped, suddenly. Why was she walking away? She wanted to learn more about these guys, right? So why leave.? She hurried back to the training room. Vivian sidled up to Sam and whispered, "What's she doing?"
Sam kept his eyes on Lucy, as she started making her way into the base.
"She wanted to show what she could do" He said, to Vivian without really turning "She can turn into ink, create it to an unknown extent, control it, and change colors, so far, she basically camouflaged herself and is using a duplicate as a decoy, anything beyond that remains to be seen" Good luck, Luce
Of course, it wasn't long before she ran into something, as a few drops of came down to the floor dissolving it, as an horrible, twisting abomination stared at the duplicate, so far, it looked mostly flesh colored, but several spots looked like they are rotting, two big rows of fanged teeth adorned its mouth, making a strange, growling, abominable sound. Its hands looked like claws of an animal, as its thin fingers were making holes in the roof, and several on the walls, and its feet were oddly shaped.
How the encounter will go, one can wonder?
Mahvash did not bother continuing the opera when the others showed and Lucy was on a roll, so ...eh. "I'll show you the whole stageshow later, Sally." She nodded at the girl.
"Interesting." Vivian was watching intently, shifting from foot to foot. This place was amazing. She'd known thay had some kind of training facility but this....
Lucy – Revisit
Oh, great. Starting off small, eh Sam? Lucy sarcastically thought, subtly rippling her main mass out further along the floor and letting it split apart into patches. Alright. Let's try...
Around six ink dolls rose up from the puddles on the floor as Lucy worked on further spreading her ink across the walls and roof; aiming to get as much usable ground as possible. The creature looked like no joke, and so she caused the dolls (which were noticeably less sporadic in movement and distinctly refined in detail than when they had last seen them) to siphon off part of their mass in the form of tendrils—which weaved their way toward the creature in the intent to restrain (or at least irritate) it. More tendrils began to sprout from other surfaces; passively waving about as if in waiting.
Let the opponent(s) get the first strike. Encouragement allowed on risk of counterattack. Ascertain skill level compared to brute force.
Well it looked pretty #$&%ing brutish at least.
The creature looked at the shadowy figure, and, placing behind it, leaped, claws ready to cut something big. The arms twisted in ways they shouldn't, popping and cracking sickeningly.
"It's interesting to see the scenarios one can make with this" Sam commented.
Lucy – Revisit
Well, Lucy most certainly didn't let her dolls just stick around. The one targeted by the creature leapt into the air with an accompanying burst of ink as the rest simply collapsed into the floor; having failed to restrain the creature and thus deemed redundant. Lucy herself reformed from behind it while her single remaining clone shot rapid pellets of hardened ink at its eyes in attempt to distract it—the actual melanokinetic attaching a tendril to the ceiling above it and forming a hardened spike on her other arm.
Back of the neck, she decided as she propelled herself into a swinging arc—aiming to spear at the creature's neck with her high velocity as she shot forward towards it. Efficient subjugation means less collateral, and by extension less chance of someone getting hurt. Full power when going for the final strike.
Vivian nodded in approval as she watched Lucy. "Yep, she's pretty damned good. I know you guys have had some rough times, but clearly you haven't gotten sloppy."She folded her arms. "Is this a realistic scenario, or just out of your mind?"
Revisit
Zach, meanwhile, watched with silent awe at the sight before him. This was a whole new LEVEL of power he never even heard, nor thought of, for ink. He was almost kind of jealous! She was capable of SO MUCH it just made him want to train that much harder. He was silent to the side of Sam and Vivian, taking in everything Lucy was doing, an dhow she did it.
"Yep, she is amazing" Sam said, with a smile, but shrugged at the question.
"It depends" He said "Someone creating a feral being and it coming back to bite them, perhaps literally? Seems fairly common. But the specifics were just because I was messing around, so I put stuff like 'big', 'strong', and 'twists unnaturally'" He paused.
No more horror movies for a few days
Viv grinned. "Put in something to screw with her. Like a unicorn! Or a killer doll!"
Sam raised an eyebrow, but wondered what kind of enemy would be troublesome for Lucy. Well, time to improvise.
As the area changed, finding herself in a snowy field, in front of a tall, unnaturally pale asian woman in a white kimono, with a strange cold aura around her.
A Yuki-Onna.
Lucy – Revisit
Lucy blanched at the sight of the woman, feeling a sense of dread potent enough for her to expand her costume's cloak conansiderably—coating her in makeshift inky fabric and hiding her features beneath an ominous, wraithlike exterior.
I swear I've seen one of these before... not sure. She doesn't look right, though. I'm guessing ice powers? Sam, you sneaky bastard...
Deciding to play it slow, Lucy let a multitude of tendrils unfurl from the base of her tattered mimicry of robes, cautiously weaving them towards the yōkai in order to see what it'd do.
Only for them to stop.
After a pause of thought, she let them converge into a message instead.
Kon'nichiwa.
She severely hoped that was the correct greeting.(edited)
The Yuki-Onna waved at the ink girl with a cute smile, calling Lucy to come closer. Of course, she had her own traps ready to spring.
"Lucy, after this one, let's change places" Sam said, if nothing else, before he really did something stupid.
Lucy – Revisit
"Okay, Sam."
The girl's voice was displaced.
Her cloaked form complied with the yōkai's wishes, though. Tendrils sprouted beneath its robes as it crept towards the yuki-onna—one taloned hand slowly raising up as if to... shake its hand. Not strike. Despite the claws being clearly lethal. The wraith-like figure's posture was anything but tense. Lucy was completely, utterly relaxed.
The woman smiled, grabbing the hand, as everything beneath crumbled.
Lucy – Revisit
The Wraith fell with the yōkai.
But the rest of the ink remained.
The lack of floor didn't stop it. Regardless of the fact it was simulated anyway. It floated in place, as if it hadn't vanished at all.
It then began to gather, swirling into a sphere. The odd glimmer of light broke through it as it congealed together. The old, familiar glint of Livingston Willpower.
Lucy reformed—beating batlike wings more for show than out of necessity—before levitating out of the simulation and landing with the others.
"You're really wanting me to distrust cryos, aren't you Sam?" she asked in a humorous tone.
"Just messing with you" Sam laughed a bit. "Guess it's your turn to mess with me, isn't it?" He made a small statue of a pegasus and left it in front of her, jumping into position.
Revisit
That...
Was...
....
AMAZING.
It took Zach everything in his power to not overwhelm the girl and possibly frighten her off. He'd known such little in terms of his own powers, and to see them used in, well, the hands of a pro, was unlike anything he'd seen before. He was gobsmacked, awestruck, all that good stuff!
He turnd to Lucy and wrote excitedly, Do you-Do you think you could teach me a few tricks? I know I can't do EVERYTHING you could do but I'd love to learn regardless! A pause. After Sam I mean. only fair.
Lucy – Revisit
"Uh... sure," Lucy started, looking a little taken aback at Zach's excitement but feeling pleased nonetheless. "I guess I could show you a few things I've learned... A lot of it is control, I guess, so maybe..."
She trailed off, before nodding in affirmation. "Yeah. I'll do that. Now to get back at Sam."
Now... who should I pin up against him...?
Her brain whispered something, and her face fell into something unreadable. With a few button presses, Sam received his opponent.
A lanky, unkempt looking man in his mid-to-late thirties with a dull set of clothing and a cigarette between his lips. Not for long, though. He soon plucked it out with his fingers and crushed it underfoot—massive plates of slate sliding out from beneath his skin as lava spewed from the remaining uncovered surfaces. A man of magma. And one undoubtedly familiar.
Lucy's lips pursed with a forced smile.
"Kick his ass for me, Sam."
RevisitMahvash tilted her head at Lucy's choice. Oh that one... Good times. I finally got my fellows to dip into some bloodlust at the same time as I tried out diplomacy. And he fared that explosion better than I did. I wonder if she's thinking up the best ways to assassinate him?
Sam just shook his head at that "Have some unresolved grudges, Luce?" He asked. A volcano man? Fairly predictable choice for him, but there was some history he ignores. Well, not his place to ask, so he simply focused on the combat.
There was nothing he shouldn't be able to freeze, and pushing farther, that was soon to be a reality.
Let's see what you are made of
With a strong blizzard, he opened up, deciding to test him before going for the victory.
Lucy – Revisit
Sam's volcanic opponent met his freezing blizzard with a colossal heatwave of his own; matching the temperature in the opposite direction and causing a visible distortion in the air where the two drastically different climates impacted. With what began as a slow jog, the magma-fueled golem made to rush at the cryokinetic—picking up speed into a dangerously fast sprint before bounding into a massive leap that almost impacted the construct against the ceiling.
Once at the peak of its jump, the magmakinetic pulled back its bulky fist and shot out a jet of intense liquid flame from its elbow—aiming to crush Sam under a high-velocity aerial strike. Lucy watched on in silence, not seeming to be watching either of them specifically.
She seemed to be off in her own little world.
The impact was quite strong, and had Sam been in that place, he might have not left much behind.
But on the floor wasn't the flesh and bone Samuel Everett.
But a statue of himself, making a stupid face. Only leaving the head as it broke and melted Going to impact the magma man's own.
"Nice try" Sam said, appearing right behind him, and trying to freeze and shatter the magma on his arms. "But I gotta show what I've got" A cold wind was the only hint that he moved at all.
Revisit
The magma man let out perhaps the slightest grunt of surprise. His arms shattered clean off at Sam's strike, and the head of his statuette clonked him on the temple just as he turned to glare at him through pair of solid orange jets of flame. The magmokinetic promptly slammed the remains of his slate-layered arm back into Sam in the form of a vicious backhand; simultaneously stomping his foot against the floor and sending an array of volcanic spikes up from the floor to follow his trajectory.
"...His name's Lucius," Lucy finally informed for the benefit of those unaware. "In the drug running business. Anger issues and smoking habit equals volcanic tendencies. Such is the case of a Livingston."
Her smile became saddened as she tore her gaze away from the man who only by technicality was her father.
"Awful with names, too..."
Sam knew he had to move fast, even if it was difficult, he used two platforms under his feet to stabilize and move out of the way of the spikes.
"OK, no more playing nice" And with that, the field was covered by a snowstorm, ready to freeze everything else, but he was moving around, without aclear pattern midair. Picking up several of the remains of spikes, and with his own ice, he formed fists, hammers and blunt weapons, sending them against Lucius from all directions, and so fast, it was a great impact for sure.
At least I can be somewhat impressive He thought I might have been a complete failure when I tried to be big brotherly last year, but at least, I can do this
Revisit
Lucius barely managed to brace himself and create a shield of slate in front of him when the barrage hit. The ice-coated constructs of volcanic rock shattered upon impacting his makeshift barrier—breaking into shards that pierced into the seams between the plates of his armour behind it and threatening to prise it apart. Lucius gritted his teeth as the attack finally ended; drawing in a huge breath before exuding a colossal stream of white-hot molten rock from his mouth towards the cryokinetic. Nonetheless, it was clear that he was staggering. The spikes embedded in his joints impeded his movements, and the now loose armour plating looked fit to be pulled right off of him.
Lucy caught Sam's eye, and nodded grimly; setting her jaw as she locked gazes with the hardlight form of her father. A minute nod spoke everything the cryokinetic would need.
Finish it.
Sam looked at Lucy, after ducking the stream of magma, disappearing in a blizzard, himself.
"Too slow" He said, making an arm go for the jaw. But he just looked at Lucy.
"Are you Okay?" He mouthed.
Revisit
The jaw-punch looked to be the final straw. Or would've been if the simulation didn't halt just after that satisfying moment where Lucius's head snapped back from the force. Sam's silent question to Lucy seemed to have snapped her out of her trance; and she shook her head.
"I-I'm fine. Yeah. Sorry. I... lost myself for a minute there."
She flashed him a short, distinctly forced smile. "Great job, though. Didn't mean to spring him on you, but it was all I could think of. You've gotten a lot stronger, Sam," she noted—not quite referring to his capabilities as much as the alternative meanings.
Sam wiped some sweat of his brow, looking at her worriedly. While he couldn't think of much to say, but he had to do something for Lucy.
So he hugged her. While it might have felt unpleasant for her., he felt like it was the best idea he could come up with.
Lucy – Revisit
"I... o-oh..."
Lucy was caught off-guard by Sam's display of affection, but nonetheless appreciated it. Smiling a little, she hugged him back for a brief second before pulling away.
"...Thanks. I... I needed that. I think I'm okay."
Shaking it off, she cleared her throat—turning back towards the others a little more cheerfully.
"So! Uh... what do you guys think?"
Revisit - Zach
Well, I feel like I'd be just repeating myself if I said I didn't think it was AMAZING. Zach wrote a bit more calmly after that little nerdgasm earlier, deciding to take things slower as to not scare the senior away.
Sam, I already knew was strong, I've only seen him work a few times but that.,..that was GOOD. And, well, I already know you're amazing. Is that the quota you reach when you're past a first year? I can't WAIT
Sam simply chuckled, before deciding to take her to meet the rest, with maybe a few warnings.
Class 1 might be something of a madhouse, but old or new, they had a way to take care of each other.
