Private/Closed The Oscillation (RP Thread)

[sSoul]

Due to being the only student who wasn't in some sort of conflict with the White Vipers, Jonah was able to notice the muscle of the aforementioned gang approaching him. Although the situation was bad already, it was made worse when the Ryujin-esque kid noticed that the snake-man Samson was fighting previously was now on the ground squirming aggressively.

Well then, so much for sudden pacifism. It was worth a shot.

Of course, Jonah had more important things to do besides muse to himself, such as plan an escape from the brute that seemed eager to plant him into the ground. At first, he tried to fire yet another blast of water, but he restrained himself beforehand; given his previous track record, all his water would do is annoy the man at best or actively help him at worst.

What I need is something that'll hurt him...

However, Jonah didn't have time to think about a list of things that a giant sea lizard could do in order to hurt a hulking beast. Therefore, he did the one thing any rational human would do when facing an opponent significantly stronger than them: make a tactical retreat. The transformed high-school student didn't bother with an attempt to goad his opponent into following him since he knew that he would be pursued anyway if his opponent was persistent enough.

Time to play to my win condition...

 

[~Patriot~]

As Samson waded through the chaos, he noticed his target notice him. "What's it gonna be," he thought, studying the fish-boy. "Pitifully attack? Or flee in terror?" Samson frowned slightly as the fish-boy literally turned tail and began running away. "Flee in terror it is!" Samson bellowed, quickening his pace to catch up with his quarry.

"Let's put you a little off balance," Samson schemed, stomping his feet especially hard as he ran. Two simultaneous earthquakes began to shake the ground, and while they were individually much weaker than any he had previously produced, Samson had enough control over them to place their epicenters in the fish-boys path.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Letting go of his tail, Orm spotted someone running away. The same person who previously shot water, was he ditching them? The stomp of Samson didn't exactly mean anything positive though and he had a pretty solid idea of what his target was. "Hey, meathead! Pick on someone your own size!" The boy slithered into Samson's line of sight and tried to give Jonah a way out. He was unsure what Jonah could do, calling the police didn't seem all too logical right now, but it was worth a shot. "What are you all trying to accomplish here? Trying to feel big by beating up some kids? Huh? Is that it? You pansies!"

 

[Sky_]

Still up in the sky, Alex's eyes darted around, before locking onto William as he reappeared and attempted to hide among the mud. Though an appropriate place for such a dirty excuse of a person, his vision was easily enough to pick him out as he ran through a break in Alex's flames, presumably created by Parsia, then threw himself into a puddle.

Lucky, but not lucky enough. Alex drew together another ball of fire into his hands and dropped down into a dive, wings igniting as he shot towards the prone archer

"Good luck dodging this, bow boy"

 

[kyuukestu]

The captain was very much of the same opinion as Marcus. This wasn't a simple 'fish creatures attack a cruise ship that is full of people with anomalous abilities', after all that situation itself was the furthest thing from simple. There was no small amount of unrest among the crew as the world around them was literally and figuratively, thrown to the fishes. It was only the combined muster of their professional training and greater worry for the safety of their passengers and fellow crewmates that allowed the crew to keep their composure.

"You've got a good head on you, boy. You're spot on. Whatever caused all this also took out the ship's electrical systems. We're sailing solo for now, but...I don't like being on the ocean. We don't know when those fish creatures could attack again and with the ship's engines down...we're sitting ducks."

The Captain waved over to the Navigator, who pulled out a bundle of maps from beneath his desk.

"They're for emergencies," explained the Captain, as the Navigator spread a few maps across the table and took over the discussion.

"We've worked it out and we're somewhere around...here" The Navigator circled a stretch of water. It was tens of miles off the coast. Not extremely far, but far enough to cause worry.

"We're drifting now. At the mercy of the ocean; but, she's a cruel and unpredictable mistress. If we stick around, there is a chance that the currents will carry us further out to sea. That would be bad. We'd be exposed to more attacks from the fishy folk and who knows what else. If that happens then we'll all be sleeping in Davey Jones' locker."

The grimace on the Navigator's face betrayed his unease at the possible worst-case scenario, however, he didn't appear panicked or desolate. Instead, there was some hope and anticipation in his eyes as he turned to look at Marcus and Iris.

"Look here." Once more, he circled something on the map.

It was a small island only a few miles away from the ship.

"We've been watching you guys deal with the fish folk and we're hoping that you can nudge the ship in the direction of that island. If we can make a crash-landing on that island, I think we'll all be in a better position."

---------------------------
​

"What. Are. You. Doing!"

Hackles rose and Catherine's twin tails roiled in fury, her voice a sharp hiss as the combat around her persisted. Her eyes flickered between the abrasive bird—dive-bombing the murderous gang leader, who swiftly rolled out of the way and allowed the phoenix's fireball, upon contact with the puddle, to explode into a cloud of steam—and the rampaging serpent—who in concert with his foe, seemed hell-bent on reducing the school to rumble. She could hear the screams of her fellow school mates as Orm and Samsom rocked the ground with back-to-back earthquakes.

It occurred to Catherine that, as far as the safety of the school and its students was concerned, her 'companions' were just as threatening, if not more, than the gang members actively trying to take them hostage. Truly, the last few minutes had drawn Catherine to one, singular conclusion.

'Oh my god, they're going to kill everyone.'

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

After having endured what seemed like a never-ending assault from mobs of fish-men, Erik was beyond exhausted; his nasal cavities were also attacked by a hellish stench capable of incapacitating him, so the fatigue from extensive use of his newfound abilities as well as the crippling odor wafting around the cruise ship did more than enough to weaken him. He barely maintained a loose grip on his trident, now heavily bloodied with the bodily excrement of mutilated marine beasts as Erik gasped for breath, inhaling through his mouth to avoid passing out due to the smell.

A handful of fish-men had been approaching him, sealing off any opening for escape as they menacingly squelched closer, and Erik attempted to get into a battle stance despite his exhaustion, the light in his eyes considerably dimmer than when the fight had begun. However, his weariness was soon replaced with confusion when they -- along with others on deck -- came to a halt before sharply changing course and diving off the ship. Though desperate to collapse onto the floor and relax, Erik remained wary of his surroundings in case a few strays lingered on deck, but the several minutes of silence that followed confirmed for him that no more were present on board. From a window in the captain's quarters, he could barely make out the captain conversing with a muscular man -- which wouldn't have been confusing if not for the wings -- and a girl with green-skin and pirate garb. Though their dialogue was inaudible, Erik assumed they were discussing what to do next, now that everything had calmed down; he would have joined them, but his constant involvement in the entire duration of the fight had left him nearly unable to move.

Dropping his trident, Erik finally fell into a weak sitting position against the wall before covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve, taking slow and deep breaths. He did his best to remain alert from his position should another attack happen, but something had drawn those fish-men off the ship and back into the water; they were gone, but whatever the cause was, Erik had a feeling it wasn't anything good. Another realization occurred to him in the form of a familiar girl with vulpine features, and after forcing himself back up, he walked back out and scanned the deck, feeling concern for his newfound acquaintance's safety during the recent clash.

 

[sSoul]

In any normal circumstance, Jonah would've been extremely grateful for the snake-man's second wind. Although in this scenario, Orm's second wind wasn't nearly as helpful as it should be on the account that Jonah's plan hinged on Samson chasing him. However, Jonah wasn't one to complain about unintended assistance, especially since he had to deal with an earthquake in his path. While he was shaken, he refused to let that prevent him from reaching his goal. Eventually, he got to the entrance of the boys locker room, where he gave himself some time to think.

Should I really try to flood the locker room..? For pros, it'd probably be the most effective in getting the big guy to piss off, but on the other hand, that probably wouldn't do me any favors with the rest of the guys...I could flood the girls locker room instead, but I think I'll run into similar or more problems. Yeah...flooding a room would be a bad idea, there's gotta be a better way...

With his old plan of action discarded, Jonah ran back to the main room of the gym to come up with something different.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"May I give my own two cents?" Iris spoke up after assessing the situation. "Our location is not pinned down, but we have an idea of where we are. How about we make two groups of people? One of them goes to see if the island is nearby and the other stays here to protect the civillians in case of another probe. I'm willing to go on the scouting team, I have the old captain garb already so the sea might be helpful. Key word being 'might', as I have no clue what other effects that...thing had on me aside from sending me back to the seventeenth century and allowing me to create a skeleton to do my bidding. Of course, do feel free to come up with your own plans or ask questions. It is not much, I'll be the first to admit it, but we need to do something as we're sitting ducks right now." Looking over at the maps, she tried to calculate a plan of action. "How many lifeboats are on this ship and how many can we afford to miss?"

 

[~Patriot~]

"We are actual very fortunate in the lifeboat department," the captain began, "A couple minutes into the attack, I sent a member of our security detail up from the residential levels onto the deck to assess the state of them. While you all-" he gestured to the pair of teens "-fought off our invaders, he ran around the ship and found that the fish folk failed to scuttle any of our eight lifeboats."

"We have a head count going below deck," the captain continued with a grimace, "And it's looking like we lost around twenty five passengers in the attack. That leaves us, hypothetically, with an empty lifeboat that a scouting party could use. I can spare that same member of the security detail to accompany you to the island. I'll send word to have him wait for you at the deck entrance."

**********
​

Marcus felt as though one of the fish folk were clubbing him over the head when the captain told he and Iris how many were missing. I saved so many, Marcus thought despairingly. But it wasn't enough? In that moment, the full weight of the day's events crashed down upon him like the colossal wave upon the deck.

The angel stared into space as he replayed the carnage in his mind. It's impossible, he thought frantically, How could any of that have happened? Trident wielding fish creatures boarding their ship, his transformation into some kind of angel- no not just some kind of angel - Raphael the Archangel. That was the name that flashed across Marcus's vision when he transformed. He could see it even now, clear as day, burned into his retinas. He could see the blood on the deck, too, dark and red as it poured from the wounds of fish and people alike.

Marcus's breathing began to quicken. His body strained as though desperately wanting to escape the ship, and his wings began to sway nervously, like those of a goose staring down a potential threat. Just as he felt as though he may burst, Marcus was snapped back to reality by a familiar voice, deep and rich.

"MARCUS!" It boomed. Suddenly, as quick as it set in, the panic and fear left Marcus's mind and body like a village swept away by the rush of water from a broken dam. The angel could see clearly again, and he realized that the other three present were staring at him.

"Marcus?" The captain asked, eyebrows raised. Judging by the navigator and captain's body language, he and Iris had been dismissed. Marcus apologized for zoning out, and the captain lowered his eyebrows. "Well, like I said, we've got a mission now. Please see to it that yours is successful." With that, the captain and navigator turned from the transformed teens and walked to the other end of the navigation room.

 

[sSoul]

Despite the extended amount of time that this confrontation had gone on for, both Orm and Alex continued to fight their respective battles against members of the White Vipers gang. Jonah on the other hand, had found himself detached from this conflict, since the vigor to fight that he once had was soon extinguished when he saw that even the fire-using member of the gang outmatched him. Of course, that didn't stop Samson from targeting him, but if there was any thought that was going through Jonah's mind at this moment, it was this:

This has gone on long enough...

As he looked around, he noticed that the cat girl from before had also given up her stake in the conflict, which gave the transformed high school student the comfort of having his mindset shared with someone else, or at least a thought process. The difficult part was making a compelling argument, but he had to at least try.

"Alright, that's enough!" Jonah shouted, his statement primarily being directed to Orm and Alex. Once he let his initial exclamation settle in for a little bit, he turned to address William, the leader of the White Vipers.

"I think it's clear to both of us that your faction is the winning one out of this ordeal, so on behalf of my peers and the rest of the student body, I would like to issue a surrender. State your terms and intentions so we may comply as efficiently as possible," In truth, a part of him hated himself for saying what he did due to the fact it that not only hurt his pride, but it made him come across as something of an arrogant, traitorous jerk. Still, he felt that he was doing the right thing, and very few people in history stuck to their guns and came out smelling like a rose.

 

[Sky_]

Alex's fireball disappeared into a cloud of steam, as did his target. The archer must have started to tire by now, and it was only so long until he scored a hit without Parisa being able to take the hit. He didn't miss the distressed catgirl yelling from the corner of his eye, though he didn't give her much thought; his focus still set squarely on the roasting of William. He swooped down once again, coming to a stop above the cloud of steam. The smokescreen quickly cleared from the downdraft leaving the archer lying openly in the mud, and, after doing a quick check around him for Parsia, Alex was ready to burn a hole straight through him.

However, as the first flecks of a fireball began to form between his hands, Alex heard a yell from behind him and turned to see a boy running up to them.

"Alright, that's enough!"

Alex let his fire die down, recognising the person as Jonah from a few of his classes. As much as he wanted to grill William to a crisp, he wasn't willing to do so in front of a fellow student, especially after a plead for him to stop. So, deciding to humour the interruption, he dropped to the ground. He might have some sort of mind control ability, like persuasion? But wasn't he shooting water earlier? I guess he's got some superpower we haven't seen yet- hell, he might just go and cut bow boy up with a blade of water or something? That sure would solve one of my proble-

Alex's train of thought was abruptly cut off as Jonah turned to speak to William, and Alex's opinion towards him immediately took a turn.

"Jonah, what the fuck?" Alex stood, wings glowing with barely contained rage. "Firstly, when did you ever speak for me, or speak for anyone else? Why would I ever want to give in to them? What, they blew up a roomful of us and you just decide that we're all gonna roll over and leave them alone?" Alex arced his wings above his head, fuelling a fireball to the size of a basketball between, the air around him shimmering in the heat. "Listen, I'm going to tell you exactly what his terms are. He's going to lie there, and you're going to back off. Then, I'm going to barbeque him, the rest of us are gonna kill every last one of those murderous fuckers if they don't leave, and no more of the innocents will have to die. Got that?"

 

[DarkHydraT]

Orm's neck twisted around so fast that the rest of his body turned with it, miscolored eyes glaring at Jonah with such intensity that it was a wonder that Jonah didn't die on the spot. "What the fuck? Why are you surrendering? Did you forget what these bastards did? They killed a teacher! They killed students! They killed friends!" The snake literally hissed at Jonah, tempted to bite down on him right here and now. "Are we just going to let their sacrifice go to waste? Did you go insane? Why are you surrendering when so many lives have been taken by them? Tell me!" Orm rose to full height, towering over Jonah in spite of the latter's height increase. Rage bubbled up behind the serpent's eyes as fangs bared and patience thinned, waiting for an answer.

---------

25 casualties. 25 lost souls. 25 humans perished during a presumed probe. Iris felt the crushing weight of reality on her back and shoulders, but she couldn't falter now. She had a mission and it had to succeed if they wanted to keep the casualty counter at 25. "Markus, we need to round up everyone whose been transformed and make two teams. One stays here to protect everyone whilst the other goes to find that island. You are less scary than me, so could you find them for me? I'll stay on deck in case of a second wave." The Flying Dutchwoman asked the angel, hoping that he'd comply. Just because she looked like a captain didn't mean she had the right to order people around.

 

[sSoul]

As expected, Jonah's decision was met with strong, negative responses from both of the sources he was worried about. While Alex just decided to bark orders at him, Orm had gotten in his face and angrily demanded an answer. Now that he put himself on the spot, the Ryujin-esque high schooler would now have to answer to both of them for his offer to throw in the towel.

"For starters, my sanity remains intact," Jonah started with a somewhat sarcastic tone, but he let the sarcasm die out as he continued to speak, "I haven't forgotten what the White Vipers had done, how could I when I'm the main reason this all happened? I lured them in here, and because of my attempt at surprise attacking William, he was able to murder a whole classroom of kids. But enough self-pity, the reason I'm surrendering is pretty simple: fighting them would be a suicide mission. The simple fact of the matter is that we're just figuring these powers out as we go along, while our opponents gave themselves time to figure out their abilities and prepare for this assault." As he began his next point, he turned to Alex to let him know that he was getting his "concerns" addressed as well.

"And that's another thing, the White Vipers had a plan going into this, we don't. Alex, for all the strength you do have, what you don't have is a strategy. Just so I can be blatantly obvious, 'I'm going to barbeque him, the rest of us are gonna kill every last one of those murderous fuckers if they don't leave, and no more innocents have to die' doesn't count." The transformed high-schooler took a pause since he didn't want his argument to turn into a sarcastic rage fueled rant, "On paper, it sounds good, but the main problem with that is that there's no real logic behind it. In order to 'barbeque' your opponent, you would have to hit them, and I know for a fact that you can't guarantee an attack of yours hitting because if you could, this fight may have ended a bit sooner. While we're at it, how do you plan on killing any member of the White Vipers? Sure, you can throw your strongest attack at these guys right now, but what happens if it misses? What happens if they just shrug it off? As it stands, if you just kept on attacking with no sort of plan, you're just going to get yourself killed. However, if we choose to throw in the towel right now, we have the chance to regroup and think of a plan later. There's no shame in knowing when to quit, and right now, this is that time." While he was in a talking mood, Jonah decided to turn to William, the leader of the White Vipers, to make one last statement.

"As for you, there's something I'd like you to tell me. In the event of our surrender, would you spare the other innocents?"

 

[kyuukestu]

"Of course..."

While the children had been monologuing, bickering between themselves, William and his gang had regrouped.

"What use is a hostage situation with no hostages? Though...was monologuing your entire 'regroup' strategy wasn't really necessary, don't you think? If you surrender I promise no harm will come to the other innocent students, though you lot will have to be confined...separately."

"I would suggest it, actually. Did you really think there were only four of us? While we were fighting you our comrades had already slipped into the school. We've already captured the other normals students. Look,"

He gestured to the classroom winders, now absent of students, "their lives are in your hands now, surrender peacefully and you won't have any more blood on your hands."

 

[Sky_]

Taking a deep breath, Alex did his best to step back and consider what William had just said. If what he said was true (and he didn't have much reason to lie), there wasn't anything Alex could do. Killing Will would just result in the deaths of thousands more, and a quick sweep of the windows matched what he heard. What can I even do? Killing the archer will just get the rest of my friends killed; hell, Connor's probably with them. Like hell I'm gonna get the rest of them murdered

However, if Alex was going to surrender, the least he could do was hold his composure. The fireball spluttered out above him, and he folded his wings back behind his back.

"So, how do I know you're actually going to keep to your word and leave the rest of them alone?" Alex asked, his head tilted slightly

 

[kyuukestu]

"I wasn't asking for your trust kid," William snickered and sneered.

It didn't matter much to him whether the kids trusted his word, they didn't have that luxury.

=====================

Yuying finagled around with the glowing blob of light in her hand, it rippled unnaturally as she tried to somehow bend it to her will. She could feel the glob of light as if it were some extension of her body, horribly numbed and lacking in its senses. It was difficult to control, but she seemed to be slowly grasping the hang of it.

With the fishmen gone, the Vulpine found herself curious about the nature of her...changes. Her ears twitched alerting her to a new presence which she quickly identified at Erik.

"Glad you're still alive," she giggled, "since those things are gone...maybe we can catch a break."

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

"Yeah, likewise," Erik responded upon locating Yuying, managing a weak grin as he made his way to her, continuing to take slow, shallow breaths through his mouth. "A break would be nice, for sure, but that stench is killing me; wonder where it's coming from."

Glancing at the captain's quarters, the teen noticed that the captain and navigator were out of sight from the angle he had, and the angelic figure now conversed with the green-skinned girl. Having also recalled both a fiery demon and a contrarily icy girl that he had seen in the fray, Erik scanned the ship for their figures as well, rather puzzled to see that they were nowhere to be seen, either. This whole ordeal doesn't seem over yet; maybe I should go approach that angel guy and pirate girl, see what's up, he internally murmured, still feeling an ominous aura compared to the calm before a storm; the silence aside from the docile waters around him seemed to grow in volume with every second.

Suddenly, Erik turned back to face Yuying, head tilted ever so slightly to the side.

"Think we should meet up with anyone else who's been transformed? I saw two others who were discussing something with the captain, so it might be good to get caught up on that too..."

As he waited for an answer, however, the teen was hit with a sudden realization.

"...also, I don't think I ever caught your name, did I? I'm Erik."

 

[Cmeriwether]

Augustus had been following Marcus with Ashley in tow.

"Hey, Ashley, how's your wound?"

"It's as if it didn't exist." Ashley responded to Augustus.

The two walked around and found two people, a girl and a boy, the two conversing slightly as the two decided to take a seat, Augustus spitting a hairball every so often, because he was a bear for a while. Ashley was trying to figure out what her form can do, she got Aife, and he was Loki, for crying out loud. He shapeshifted into a bear again as Ashley walked up.

"Hi, is this were Transformed people meet?" Ashley asked, "If you need to know, I got Aife."

Augustus transformed back to a person and sat down, still dealing with his issues of shapeshifting. Ashley was looking in her book for different Mythological characters, to maybe find out more information about Her transformation, and Augustus's.

 

[Red Gallade]

Adrian knew that there wasn't much he could do without risking the lives of the remaining school students, all he did was remain where he was. Although when he looked up to see William, his crimson eyes burned with clear hatred and his very aura seeped with the strong desire to kill, contrary to the kind and friendly human he once was. As he went to open his mouth to speak, the voice that came out didn't sound like his own.

"When the opportunity arises that you become poisoned by your own disgusting overconfidence... I am going to make you watch as all of your comrades are torn to bloody pieces before I make you scream for every last soul you snuffed out. And in the end, you will plead me to put an end to your pointless existence just to escape the agony I will inflict upon you."

The voice that Adrian spoke with was a lot deeper than usual, a strange eerie sensation seeped from every word as if Adrian's body had suddenly been taken over by a completely different individual.

 

[sSoul]

As soon as Jonah made the realization that he had blurted out a possible plan within earshot of the White Vipers, he attempted to restrain himself from facepalming, but he ultimately ended up failing. Once he removed his hand from his face, he noticed that Alex had calmed down to a degree where he would actually talk to William, which gave the transformed high-schooler a small ounce of pride. Once he noticed that William's comrades had the rest of the student body, including his friend David, Jonah felt that he was justified in trying to convince a surrender.

I should say something to Alex, but he probably doesn't want to hear it coming from me...

"I have no other reason to dissent, I'll surrender peacefully," Jonah's voice held little emotion save for contempt and disgust towards William, with a portion of those emotions directed to himself. While there was much to be said to the sadistic archer, the transformed high-schooler thought that everything he could say would be best summed up within a spiteful glare directed at the leader of the White Vipers.

 

[DarkHydraT]

Orm growled, Jonah made some good points he didn't think of. As much as he hated to admit it, he was right. Whilst he was bigger than anyone around, probably stronger than anyone save for that herculean guy and was a giant snake at the core, he couldn't flat out beat all four gang members in front of him alone. "Just cause your surrender is the right thing, it doesn't mean I have to like it." He lowered his body down to Jonah's height, casting a glare upon William that rivalled that of the Gorgons. "I'll surrender too, but don't think that I am doing this out of fear." The World Serpent boy hissed as his eyes narrowed. This was not his day.

 

[Sky_]

Alex sighed, not expecting much more from the mythikin. Like it or not, this was his best bet at getting the most people out alive, and if that meant giving up his pride for a while, then so be it.

"Fine." Alex held up his hands, "I surrender."

 

[kyuukestu]

Catherine

It had been a few hours since the group's surrender and Catherine had been confined to a small, dusty broom closet with a pair of guards. The gang members apparently didn't think she was much of a threat since they'd only bound with a few jump-ropes from the gym's supply closet and had saved the heavy-duty things for the more...troublesome fighters. She'd seen one of the gang members ripping apart chairs and desks, bending the metallic legs into make-shift handcuffs. Maybe those were for the snake-man?

All by her lonesome, all she could do was guess about the situations of the others. She imagined they had similarly been restricted in solitary confinement, but finding their locations would be difficult let alone communicating with them, let alone communicating with them and making some sort of plan to save everyone.

"Ugh...it's all that fish-guy's fault..."

 

[~Patriot~]

"I'll get to it right away, then," Marcus decided, cracking his knuckles unconsciously. "I'll track down the other transformed people that were fighting on the deck, and convince half of them to go along with you and that security guard that the captain mentioned as the island team." In Marcus' mind, it wasn't a question of whether or not he would be able to get people to agree, but rather it would be who to send. "I figure that if they were fighting the fish instead of fleeing to the lower levels with the common passengers, then they'll be willing to go."

"Good luck!" Marcus said with a wave of the hand as he turned away from Iris. As he stepped through the threshold, he opted to find the girl who's injury he had healed at the end of the battle. Who knows where she ran off to, though. He thought with an mental groan. He didn't have to look long, however, as it turned out she and her companion had come to him.

"We're actually going to be meeting on the deck," Marcus informed the pair, and gestured for them to follow him as he walked down the stairs from the nav-center. As he walked with the pair, he filled them in on the conversation that he and Iris had had with the captain, and on the plan that they had come up with. "It's our best shot at getting out of this," the angel concluded as the trio came across the lightning user from the battle, along with the vulpine-esque girl whom he had met more towards the start of the battle.

He filled the two in on the nav-center deliberations as well, shaking hands and introducing himself as he described the plan to the two. They joined the trio, making it a quintuplet of sorts, and the group made their way towards the passage that lead out to the deck. Marcus eyed the hole he had busted in the wall semi-warily, but walked by quickly. Hopefully the two elementals will still be on deck, the angel thought as the group emerged into the light.

**********
​

Marcus flapped his wings in anticipation as he watched the island team's boat disappear into the distance. From where he stood on top of the nav-center, the angel had a full survey of the deck and the waters around them. He watched as the rest of the ship team, Axar, Ashley, and Yuying, came and went as they made preparations for whatever may come their way. The security detail was hard at work fortifying the lower levels, but it was completely up to the small team of teens to defend the deck.

We're the first line of defense, Marcus thought with a slight feeling of trepidation. But defense from what? The whole day seemed surreal, from his transformation, to the battle, to the feeling of acceptance with his new fate. He thought back to when he first transformed, when that name had flashed across his vision. "Rafael the Archangel," Marcus murmured, settling into a crouch. He also thought back to the voice that had hissed in the back of his mind whenever he encountered Iris' skeleton. Was that him? Marcus pondered.

The angel was snapped from his thoughts by a low growling emanating from his stomach. Oh shit, Marcus realized with astonishment, I haven't eaten all day. As he stood to his feet, he realized just how sore his body was from the day's events. "I need a bite to eat and some shut eye," he concluded, leaping from the nav-center roof and gliding down onto the deck to join his teammates.

 

[Sky_]

Though he'd gone down without a fight, Alex sure as hell wasn't happy with it. He'd managed to think fast and suppress the heat radiating from his wings before the grunts could restrain him, meaning he'd gotten away with only rope tying his wings together. They'd tried to use metal to tie them together, but it turns out finding a three meter long piece of metal in a school was a lot harder than it sounds, so they'd been forced to use rope, which Alex could easily burn away whenever needed. However, they'd fit makeshift metal handcuffs over his wrists, and Alex was unsure if he could raise his temperature that high

That was, if he could muster up any heat at all.

The cold of the freezer was oppressive. Alex wasn't sure if he could die from hypothermia and he wasn't excited to find out. Not only that, but he somehow knew that the oppressive chill around him wasn't just affecting him, but also weakening his fire. Perhaps outside he'd be able to melt his bindings, but in here he had a chance of burning the rope, nevermind a piece of metal.

His cell was nearly pitch black, the freezer having only a lone green light to give Alex any idea of where he was. He'd tried the door already, but unsurprisingly found it to be locked tight, and from the sounds it made when he pushed on it, they might have also blocked it with a chair or something similar.

Alex didn't have a plan, not expecting to have to surrender in the first place. Being able to free his wings was the best he could do, but he'd yet to think of a way to escape the freezer he was locked in. All he could hope for one of them to make a mistake. Or, if he was lucky, somebody else had a plan.

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

Shortly after Yuying introduced herself to Erik, the two were approached by the angel, who introduced himself as Marcus and filled them in on what would be happening next. He was accompanied by two others whom Erik hadn't recognized during the chaotic battle, but he introduced himself to them as well, shaking hands and discussing with the rest of the group. Everything was promptly decided; once the groups had been organized, Erik cracked his knuckles and neck before setting off with the rest of the island team. He turned back to wave to Yuying, a small grin on his face. "Try not to get impaled again, yeah? See you in a bit."

★ ★ ★

After identifying the direction in which the scouting team needed to go in order to find the island, Erik and the other three members now sat in an empty lifeboat at the mercy of unpredictable waters, the cruise ship now out of sight. In an effort to speed things up, he took a seat at the back of the boat and outstretched both arms out the side before firing up a strong but smooth current of air from his palms, propelling the boat further to its destination. Turning to glance at Iris, whom he assumed had taken point on finding the island, Erik broke the silence with a short inquiry. "So, are we just doing recon of the island and turning back?"

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Let me out, you bastards! I agreed to surrender, not to become a smoothie!" Orm hissed from inside a giant freezer he didn't even knew existed in the school. He could try slamming into the door, but it was probably too tough for him to bust through, not to mention the damn cold made him extremely sluggish. Right, giant reptile. Reptiles don't like the cold. Who thought that was a good idea? Sighing about his current situation, he curled himself up. Look at him, one moment he was lounging around with lollipops and the next he was locked up inside a freezer by a gang as a giant snake. What time was it? What would his mom think when, if she saw him again? She already was so weak, he was sure his appearance would be the final nail in the coffin for her. He had to get out of here, but then what? He had no plan and fighting them didn't work before with all the others, what was he going to do on his own with hostages? If only there was a way to look into the future and see what was going to happen....

---------

"You could say that. We're checking to see if the island is there, if it is big enough to house the survivors and if there are resources to sustain them for multiple days. We could very well be stranded here for that time, so shelter is a must. If this island meets the demands, we can give everyone wooden spears and other primitive weapons to defend themselves. I just hope they don't fight over leadership, otherwise I'll be the leader." Iris told Erik as she kept an eye on the horizon and a hand on the looted trident. "If the island is not enough for everyone, I'm afraid we'll have to choose who can stay on the island and who has to stay on the ship."

 

[sSoul]

Of all the ways that Jonah thought he would be spending today, bound to a wall would not his first guess. Then again, he never would've guessed that he would've been transformed into a tall, hydrokinetic, aquatic dragon-esque being, but life was full of surprises. Regardless of the events that had transpired recently, one thing was clear to Jonah: he needed to escape. Unfortunately, all he could really do is squirm helplessly since his hands were cuffed in a way that rendered him unable to use his water powers.

Damnit! I can't do anything...maybe if I were still human, I wouldn't be trapped like this.

Fortunately, it seemed that fate was smiling on the transformed high schooler. In a mirror of what happened previously, his body shrunk back to his normal height, the serpentine scales that once covered his body gave way to flesh, the claws that were once on his hands reverted back into normal fingertips, and the space between his fingers lost the fleshy substance that once webbed them together. Of course, he did lose the gills, but it was way less painful than his initial transformation. His hair reverted to its usual length and color and the bat wings retracted into his clavicles. Lastly, his eyes reverted to the greyish-green hue that he was born with, but he also lost the muscles he gained from the initial process. True to his speculation, the bindings were unable to cuff Jonah in his human form, rendering him free.

"I have...no idea what just happened...but I'll roll with it," Immediately after he found himself out of his restraints, he turned to the door to attempt to exit. However, he made a crucial realization that prevented him from exiting.

"I...don't have any clothes on. I should probably do something about that..." Without further hesitation upon his timely realization, he searched for something to cover himself so he wouldn't have to walk around naked. Unfortunately, the only thing he could find that was suitable was a bath towel. With a lack of alternatives, Jonah would have to make do.

Well beggars can't be choosers...

Now that he was sufficiently covered, the boy began to formulate a plan on how to escape. Eventually, he concocted a satisfactory plan.

"HEY, I NEED TO USE THE BATHROOM!" Jonah repeatedly shouted this statement and repeatedly slammed the door with his fists as hard as he could. Inevitably, the guard that was posted at Jonah's imprisonment room took notice and tried to silence him. However, Jonah reverted back to his Oscillated form to assault the guard out and render him unconscious shortly after the guard had closed the door to the room. Now that the guard was unconscious, Jonah took his appearance via shapeshifting and stealing his clothing. Once that was done, Jonah found the closet he used to grab the bath towel he used to cover himself with, put the man inside of the closet, and trapped him inside by blocking the door handle's movement with a chair. From there, all Jonah had to do was exit and act like he was the very guard he locked up.

Well whatever that was, I'm glad I can do it now...

 

[OmnipotentOnion]

With a slight nod of his head in understanding, Erik responded to Iris's answer with a nonchalant "Aye-aye, Captain" before returning his focus to propelling the raft forward to its destination. The longer he utilized his powers as such, the more lost in thought he became in contemplating exactly what had happened. Nearly everything seemed like it had gone by in a blur; the transformation, the fish-men, the fight.. it all seemed so surreal, and Erik, having been guided mostly by instinct and adrenaline, was now being hit with the full realization of what he had become. Not only that, but Marcus's run-down of the situation before Erik left had only served to exacerbate the other aching thought in his mind that had come up following the clash. If the entire attack that had claimed so many innocent lives was merely a probe of sorts, how much worse was the larger threat? Would Erik be able to make the most of his new abilities in time for what was coming? The anxiety and stress plaguing his thoughts had been reflected in his powers, as the wind being generated from his palms seemed to grew in strength.

Luckily, his thoughts were interrupted, and Erik snapped out of his stupor at the sound of Ray, the guard who had also been changed by whatever had happened and had tagged along with the island team, calling out, "I see it!" The announcement had kicked Erik back into focus, and he soon returned to providing steady wind power to speed up the journey. Turning to look over his shoulder, he saw the faint outline of an island gradually coming into view; eager to finally get out of all the blue he'd been seeing for what felt like hours, he put more power into his wind—a bit more smoothly, this time—and soon, the island team finally arrived. Once everyone had gotten situated after landing on the shore, Erik hopped out and cracked his knuckles, turning to glance at Iris as he waited for further instruction.

 

[DarkHydraT]

"Land ho!" The words were said before Iris could even begin to think about it, yet it felt satisfying to say it. Great, I'm beginning to lose my mind. Fitting, but still. Shaking her head, the girl clapped her hands to get everyone's attention. "Alright people, time to explore the island. I want groups with a minimum of two, no one is allowed to be alone. This island needs to have materials for shelter, a freshwater supply or coconuts, edible plants and a easily defendable place in case of an attack. I want two people protecting the boat so that we don't get trapped here. If the island meets all the set requirements, we can start thinking about how many people we can keep here. Do not wander off on your own and always inform your buddy about what you are planning to do, I do not want anyone to get seperated and get captured by those fish creatures. Am I clear?" The Flying Dutchwoman made sure to talk loud and clear, she could not afford anyone being in the dark about the plans.

 

[sSoul]

A couple of hours had passed ever since Jonah had escaped and impersonated the guard, although it felt much longer for Jonah. Eventually, the time had come for the guards to change stations, indicated by a few guards around the high schooler moving out from their hall to convene in the central intersection of the school. This gave Jonah an indirect signal to carry out the next stage of his plan, so he hesitantly followed the other guards to see what was going on. From his observations, it seemed that people were discussing who would take over who's station, cueing the transformed high schooler how he could best feign normalcy in his environment. After some time of walking around and listening to what each of the guards were overseeing, Jonah eventually heard something that caught his interest: one of the guards were protecting a freezer room containing a large snake-like boy and a fiery winged boy.

Those descriptions definitely match Orm and Alex, I have to get them out if I'm gonna have any chance at escaping with as many people as possible.

"Hey guys," Jonah said as casually as possible while he walked up to two people he's never met in his life, "I couldn't help overhearing that one of you guys were guarding two powerful prisoners. If you're okay with it, I can take that job off you guys hands. I could give you my station in return if that'll sweeten the deal." Although he maintained a confident façade, helped by the fact that his powers extended to altering his voice, he was secretly sweating bullets for fear of being exposed as an imposter.

"I mean, I don't mind. What about you, Gary?" The guard who was in charge of guarding Orm and Alex's establishment turned to his coworker to get his consent. When Gary indicated that he didn't mind by nodding his head no, that was all the information that the guard needed, "Alright, you can have that station then, and I'll take yours in return." As he said this, he lightly tossed Jonah the keys, making it easy for the high schooler to catch the keys.

"Thanks, though let me warn you about the guy I was guarding," Jonah started, his tone getting serious, "He attempted to escape, but I knocked him out and locked him up in the closet. He can also shapeshift and he tried to knock me unconscious and take my place. However, I could tell that he didn't seem to have a great grasp on his newly discovered ability, because he couldn't revert to his stronger form to properly punch me out. Essentially, he's stuck looking like me, so take anything he has to say with a grain of salt." While Jonah didn't pride himself on his storytelling abilities, he hoped that he was convincing enough to fool the guards.

"Good to know, thanks Steve," The guard playfully tapped Jonah on the arm as if they were old friends from college. Although the high schooler was uncomfortable with how casually the guard treated him, he disregarded those emotions in favor of focusing on his escape efforts, "The room I was guarding is close by, just take two lefts from the hallway south of this intersection and you should be there in no time."

"No problem," Jonah replied with a grin littered with false familiarity and friendliness, "My room should be two hallways down, and it's the third door on the right." The guard who gave traded stations with him nodded as Jonah went to his newly assigned station, fueled by a conviction to get some allies on his crusade. Once he reached his destination, he had no problem using one of his recently-acquired key to open the door to the freezer room. The main qualities of the room were its darkness and its low temperature, owed to the two freezers that were in the room. Thankfully, Jonah left the door ajar so he could see what he was doing as he attempted to use one of the three keys for the left freezer. After spending a couple of seconds looking for the right key, he inserted the key into the lock, allowing him to open the door.

Don't know which one will be in here, because if its Alex I'm expecting he'll have some things to say to me. Well, both of them would considering my disguise, and even after my disguise both of them would probably be pretty angry at me, but I think Alex would be more at my throat than Orm...

 

[Sky_]

Alex was pacing around the freezer when he heard the click of a lock. He'd been trying to build up enough energy to melt the door, but could barely muster enough of a flame to burn the ropes binding his wings. That particular endeavour ended up being pointless anyway, since he'd just ended up wrapping them round his body to keep himself warm and, however irrational the fear, he still felt that if he sat down he wouldn't be able to get up again.

However, with the small green light and his enhanced vision, it wasn't hard for Alex to see the door slowly swing open, only to be greeted by the familiar face of his assigned captor. However, especially with the lives of everyone in the building at stake and his powers weakened, Alex wasn't quite ready to go charging at them just yet.

"Hm? What do you want. You're really risking my escape just to gloat?"

 

[sSoul]

Hearing Alex's response made Jonah realize that he was still in the form of the guard who imprisoned him previously, necessitating that he would need to switch back to his true form to truly be of assistance.

"I didn't come here to gloat, though the idea sounds appealing. But in actuality, I want you to escape, or rather, I want to liberate the whole school," While in the form of the guard, the high schooler took the time to crack a joke before resuming his business. After stating his desire, he closed and locked the door so he could revert to his normal state. Using the darkness to cover himself, he undressed himself before reverting to his larger, scalier form he gained as a result from the Oscillatiation. Once transformed, he turned his attention to Alex to resume conversation.

"I've recently discovered that I can shapeshift into the forms of other people, which allowed me to escape and pose as a guard. Now that we're together, we can form a plan to get outta here." Suppressing his urge to gloat over how he was right in choosing to surrender, he waited to see if Alex had any contributions.

 

[Sky_]

Alex sighed. Of all the people to rescue him, it had to be the lanky water lizard. "Well, it sure is lucky you managed to figure out how to shapeshift just in the nick of time, else we'd be shit out of luck." Ignoring the wisecracks from the other mythikin, Alex started towards the door. "First thing's first, I gotta get myself out of here. Turns out cold isn't all that great for me; I'm not sure how much longer I can stick around in here." As much as he didn't like it, the shapeshifting ability was helpful, and, if Jonah could free another competent fighter, they might have a chance at getting rid of big boss archer boy before he knew what was happening.

However, that wouldn't be as easy as Alex wanted without getting rid of their phoenix thing. Alex had no idea what what it was or how it worked, but he'd gotten frustratingly close to finishing their leader before being stopped by them. Invisibility, fire resistance and levitation all weren't ideal matchups for him, and if he wanted any chance at topping their gang, she'd have to go first.

 

[sSoul]

The snark that Jonah had gotten from Alex had caused his eyes to roll as he went to unlock the second freezer. Clearly, some people aren't as grateful as others. Putting that aside, the transformed high schooler had gotten the other door of the freezer open, revealing none other than Orm Skau. Troublingly, the giant snake man was curled up in a ball, neutralized by the cold temperatures. Jonah was never a big fan of cold weather himself, causing him to sympathize with the larger serpentine boy.

"Hey Alex," Jonah called out in a direct, if somewhat hesitant tone, "I know you're trying to fight the big boss, but do you mind heating up Orm? Not only would it be nice to have him back in commission but he looks kind of sad being curled up like that." Jonah hoped that the fiery hot head would take pity on Orm, because he suspected that Alex wouldn't listen to him under other circumstances.

 

[kyuukestu]

Catherine

The hall was quiet. The pacing steps of the gang members, presumably her guards, had gone still, their hushed conversations silenced. They appeared to be gone, but in truth, they were still present. With her feline ears pressed against the door, Catherine could hear the shallow cadence of their breathing. She counted three distinct rhythms; which meant there were at least three gang-members outside. She pulled her head from the door, crinkling her nose to remove the musty, dank smell of the old wood.

'So much security for lil ol' me? Flattering.'

The former human sighed, her tails swishing around the room. She wasn't going to attempt a jailbreak, if she got caught it would ruin the delicate impasse they'd achieved with the gang and, worse, would put their classmates at risk. Unless the gang could somehow be incapacitated or their classmates safely extracted, the hostage situation would only repeat itself.

The girl released a guttural groan, hoping silently that the others as well, wouldn't make any hasty decisions.

"What a pickle..."