THe True Earth

Anselm sensed a presence coming up, something he immediately recognized as another hunter, almost instinctively. He snaps up the card from the hall monitor's hand and pockets it, then turned to Zero as he approached. He crooks his head to the side as he looks down at Zero. "Geez... ya look like ya been sleepin'n a broom closet," he mutters. When he hears that he is to be in gym, he crooks his mouth into a smirk, ignoring Yamir shuddering at hearing that math and science follows. Afterall, everyone adores an athlete. "Jus' got back, but startin' wit' gym... now that's jus' fine."

When he got to the locker room he caught wind of an odd presence but decided to ignore it. It wasn't a demon for all he could tell, and as such, probably not worth his time. The other students looked at him, befuddled and a bit concerned. The only thing missing was some kind of hook or cleaver. He shrugs off the glares and just went and got dressed for whatever gym had in store to throw his way, more amusing how literal that'd turn out to be. He was certainly out of place, taller than quite a few of the others, as well as more muscular than the typical student. Without his hat, his mangled hair just kind of does whatever it wants.

As he gets in with Zero's team, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly he catches that weird presence again, a lot stronger this time. He definitely feels it as it zips by and nearly strikes Zero that makes him nearly jump. "The hell was that," Yamir exclaims, popping out from Anselm's shadow and slaps his hands to his cheeks. "Demon expulsion magic in a dodgeball game?! I mean c'mon! That's... that's..."

"Exhilaratin'," Anselm says with a wide toothy grin, the game now held his full attention.

"Oh gee, here I had almost forgotten I was fused to a MADMAN, I mean geez," Yamir responds tugging at his own hair. "Anna, talk some sense into my partner here, he's doing that thing again where he does stupid stuff!"

"Relax, we jus' gotta out ol' Magical Trevor here before he outs Zero permanently," he says confidently as he cracks his knuckles.

Another ball zips by, it feels like a fire, grazing past him with its heat. Yamir seems somewhat impressed by Anselm's sudden concern for the well being of another. "That is... strangely thoughtful of you!"

"Sure, it'd 'flect poorly if one of my peers gets dunked in a school gym," he says, before dodging a ball that flew towards him, breaking his concentration. This one was normal, however. He looks towards the student who tossed it and he points a finger at him and takes hold of a ball putting it to the side as if it were a gun in an old western duel. The student, already regretting his life decisions, suddenly feels a chill run down his spine taking a mad dash to the side. With a snap throw Anselm sends the ball flying in his prey's direction hitting him in the back and the kid over-dramatically flops onto the floor with an "AH MAAAAAN!"

Anselm holds out his hands and struts cockily, and for a moment Yamir grinned as the students took notice until he realized they had just taken out a norm from play causing him to raise a brow. "Eh... didn't you say you were going to take out the magician?"

"Didn't say I weren't gon' feed the crowd a bit as well," he responds with a smug shrug. "An' I think I gave em another target t' worry 'bout."

Lance continued to practice with his guitar until he groaned and stopped playing altogether, it was getting tedious trying to memorize all the chords and getting his timing right. Of course he did not want to fail in front of the audience once they perform for the school but he had at least a few more weeks to get it perfect. Of course the question that could be asked was why on earth did he volunteer for a job like this? The short answer was he was forced to do it.

Since he was considered a king of delinquents in the school since he was so lazy all the time and seemed to not care for his studies the school decided to force the job on him since no one else volunteered for the position. He would have rejected the offer but the teachers made some subtle jabs about holding him back a year and he accepted it once he realized that they were serious. "At least once this is over I can graduate and stop cramming my head full of knowledge that I am not going to even use. Of course I can show the other hunters that I have some mad skills with a guitar, then I can probably perform on the streets and get some money just by playing music. I guess this is not that bad of a punishment..." Lance chuckled to himself as he encourage himself to pick the guitar again and began to practice it again, with a little more effort put into it.

While Lance practiced, he could feel a sudden rise in power. He began to sense a very faint trace of magic in the air and although he could have just concluded that it came from the other demon hunters, however no one he knew has the ability to use magic only tap into their powers. Whatever it was he could sense it coming from the gym, maybe he should take a look just in case but it could be resolved by the other demons hunters near the area. That and getting into more trouble was not what he wanted right now.

Lance just sighed and continued to practice, rather down since a fight sounded a little fun right now. Great, if he continued to think like this he would unintentionally get excited for the fight with Rue. Well he would still have to fight will almost everything he had so maybe exciting himself for the fight would get him ready? Lance just groaned and leaned back hard in his chair accidentally hitting the back of his head on the wall and causing people looking in his direction to burst out laughing. That made 2 self made accidents in a row, at this rate he was going to send himself to the school nurse before the day was out.

Danny was not happy.

Why was he unhappy?

The homework he "acquired" turned out to be planted on the smart student by ANOTHER kid who got it wrong.

This did not make Danny happy. And he was already feeling like shit cause of yesterday. Plus, when he heard it was dodgeball time in gym, he flashed back to the Nightmare Tower....he saw thigns there he would rather forget. Still, he looked back at Zero, to see if he was okay. He was, but then, he just barely avoided a supercharged dodgeball. "Holy shit, what the hell?"

He managed to dodge the next one, and he spotted the source, that new kid Jacob Bell. Barry appeared next to him. "Careful, taht kid is a magician, and it looks like he thinks your possessed....by me".

"Well, he isnt totally wrong" Danny mentioned. Suddenly, he summoned some strength. "But now, looks like we get to compete after all. Who can survive the magicians attacks!"

Barry shook his head. "This will not end well".

It was already too late though, because Danny was all fired up. What this meant, however, was still up for grabs.

(Sorry, couldn't do any more, writers block)

Daisy

As the clock struck it's the final minute class was over, time to start class. Packing her books she picked up her bag and begun on her way to class. Banished from her thoughts was the topic of her school work as all she could seem to think about was the new demon hunter in town. She wondered if she'd get along better with him than she had with the others. She wasn't on particularly bad footing with any of them but she couldn't say she was their best pals. Zero and Danny were best pals though they were rivals. It was a friendly sort of competition, something to be expected from boys their age. She liked to think she was more mature and perhaps it was true but there was something to be envied in their bond. Not like hers and Rue's which was... well...

That sort of train of thought led to remind her that Rue was in the hospital. After the injuries sustained from the last couple of floors she seriously needed treatment. It still tugged at her internally that Rue's condition was likely her doing. Thinking about it she could only wonder how she must of felt about her. She was able to read her mind but never to the extent of revealing anyone's true feelings about anyone. She could never really decipher just how Rue truly saw her. Given Rue's rather violent nature due to the demon within her reading her thoughts mostly revealed things that worried her about Rue's mental health.


On one hand Daisy was reticent to interact at depth with Rue but on the other she was rather guilty about not seeing her. She took part of the blame on herself as despite Rue's ways she didn't deem herself a particularly good friend to any of them. Though demon hunting was by no means easy it was too easy to use that as an excuse to remain aloof when she could be more present in their lives. It was a constant struggle for her just to try and not be forgotten.

Taking the time she had to spare before math class started she decided she would try and get in touch with her. Navigating the river of students that clogged the halls every class change she found a corner to stand in so she wasn't knocked over while she focused and tried to tune in with her telepathy. It was difficult to try and close out the sea of both voices and thoughts but with her mind put to the task and the fact that she knew Rue well enough she was able to pick her mind out at the hospital.

Hey Rue. She spoke into her mind. How have you been? Feeling any better?

Anselm continued to show off, dodging by leaning left, right, and completely leaning backwards. He could feel the ones shot by Jacob, even the missing ones sent a shock through his system. But it didn't scare him, no, it thrilled him. He thought the first day returning to school would be nothing but sour looks and the boring droning of teachers. The very thought of being a normal student was laughable. It was like a... public hunt of sorts. Just without the demon and... use of abilities. A challenging handicap.

He shot glances at both Danny and Zero, feeling something... different about them. They have achieved something he has yet to, even in his seniority. He wouldn't accept this... he couldn't, the very thought...

"Hey hey! Long time no see ya ol' Bart," Yamir cries out, popping up from Anselm's shadow, arms crossed, casting a wide grin. "Heard you guys had a hell of a time down here... all we had was getting frostbite from chasing cannibalistic Canadians in the freezing north... must say I'm green with envy." His head momentarily ignites with a green hair flame.

Anselm was fixated, it was a competition now in his mind, a game of field dominance. And he wasn't going to lose to anyone. He smirked as he picked up a ball, and beckoned Jacob to take a shot. To everyone else he was just being cocky, which was in a good part true, but he was finally fixated on taking the magician out of the game first, before Danny.

"Ey newbie, c'sider this my welcoming gift!" He draws back, giving it some athletic gusto as he sends the ball flying. He didn't expect it to hit, but he didn't intend to dodge the return shot either. He knew of another way to score an out, and it would hurt. Too bad it won't leave a scar...

"What... t-that look, that tone, could it be..? Oh this is just like old times," Yamir's tone is brimming with enthusiasm as his partner appears to be having fun for a change, especially since it was just a grab for power. "It is so good to be back!"