Cress was used to his daily morning routine, wake up at five, brush your teeth take a shower, get dressed, play guitar. At six get ready for class, go to get breakfast, sit down at the same table, near some people you kind of like. But it was becoming tedious and repetitive, he would have to break free from his over organised lifestyle sometime soon. As the school day was finally coming to an end he headed to his room where he would change into his uniform and begin practice drills. He was on one of the buffer teams at the school, and he was good at it.

Today he was looking forward to practice, not for any particular reason. There was this girl though who had been showing up at the practice's often, Cress saw her help out many of the players. She was very passionate about the sport. People had been calling her coach as a joke because she was nearly taking over the role. He intended to find out her name today, hopefully he would make a new friend.

After getting changed, he stepped out into the gymnasium, where many of the other players were ready. He was the last to show up in fact.
"Rick is gonna have my ass for this." He said with a sigh. Rick was the current captain of the silver team, and him and Cress didn't have a good history together. While being scolded by the captain Cress's eyes wandered around looking for a glimpse of the girl.

Classes were boring, and that was a fact. Esther could have slept through all of them and passed all the tests if she had to. Frowning lightly, she leaned back against her bed and stared at the ceiling. Buffer practice in thirty... She had enough time to get ready and get a quick bite to eat on the way. Frustrated with her tight schedule, the blonde hopped to her feet and changed into her uniform. Rick, the leader of the Silver team, had taken it upon himself to get her a uniform that fit her feminine build, and she was greatful for that.

With a slight sigh upon her lips, she headed down the hallway in her skates, expertly weaving between the students. Many students nodded to her, smiling, while others avoided her piercing emerald eyes. Esther smirked a little. Some of the students prefered to avoid her just because of her abilities, and because of her reputation with the buffer team.

She pushed through the gymn doors, slowing to a sturdy stop. "Rick!" she called, tilting her head a little. "You ready to start practice?" The blonde put out her hand, and one of the players tossed her the needed equipment. "I'm supervising today. I hurt my ankle during my training with French yesterday."

A couple of the players chuckled. Esther was one of the few girls who took agility, aka, battle training with French. She figured it helped her playing when helping the buffer teams. Then again, it hadn't helped when she sidestepped the wrong direction and her ankle twisted awkwardly. It hurt just to stand in her skates, but it wasn't like she was going to let anyone know that...

"Good Morning August, it's five a.m., this is your wake up call."

Auggie rolled over, further tangling himself with his jungle of blankets as his arm snaked out from amidst the mess to pick up his phone. "Yeah, yeah. Thanks Whisper." He mumbled, still groggy as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. His hand ran up his face as he yawned, rubbed the sleep from his eyes and continued back until he had successfully tousled his hair, adding to the disheveled look of bed head he was already sporting. It didn't take long for the grey eyed male to fall into his natural morning routine. He threw on a pair of running shorts over his scooby doo boxers, shrugged on a hoodie and slinked out of his room for a quick twenty minute jog around the indoor track, before climbing into the nice warm shower. Next thing Auggie knew, it was time for class.

Class dragged on excruciatingly. Especially Math as usual. But with a decent amount of that time spent doodling in his notebook, soon it was time for buffer practice. Auggie geared up in red class buffer equipment, and headed out into the gym. He wasn't so much known for his power on the court, rather his speed, and quick reflexes. Waiting patiently, the brunette rested his lacrosse styled stick over both his shoulders letting his forearms and wrists hang limp over the stick as he leaned casually against the wall.

Coach was cool, as far as teachers went. Both the actual coach, and the girl who had gotten the nick name coach. Auggie always wondered, why not let her join the team? She was more than qualified for it. Besides, she was more into the sport than some of the guys. Rolling his shoulders back in a shrug however, he proceeded to chat with a few of the guys on the red team until practice started.

GET UP!

Xenophen rolled over facing her alarm clock, she glared at the little black machine that screamed at her. She had personally set her alarm clock to say that, it was a sure fire way to get her up...but recently it had just become annoying. "Kuso." She spoke in her native language. She reached over and pressed the off button and listened to the machine power down. Stretching, Xenophen slowly sat up, shaking her hair out of her face and placing her feet on the plush carpet.

Xenophen dragged her self across the room to her closet, grabbing a pair of black and pink plaid shorts that reached past her knees and grabbed a plain white T-shirt. Grabbing her underwear she left to jump in the shower, one of the things she enjoyed the most

.....

Getting out she got dressed in a hurried fashion stopping in the mirror to look at her hair. "Oh well." She brushed it pulling it into a loose ponytail letting her bangs frame her face. Xenophen decided to leave out her contacts today, it's not like they didn't already know her eye color. Grabbing her bag she bounded out the door towards gym class.

Walking in She looked around as she munched on a bag of chips, she already saw Esther playing and smiled and waved, taking a seat near by she'd wait till the game was over, or maybe play herself...for once.

After the scolding, Cress began the regular work out, nothing too hard, just some stretches and push ups.. Warming up was somewhat tedious and boring, but he finished up soon. They would have practice matches with the other teams today, he was a little worried, there were some rumors about the new students and their abilities. He wondered if any of their skills could compete with his own. He returned his attention to the team, Rick was explaining the game plan, but Cress was un-interested. He knew exactly what plays Rick would choose, he was a predictable guy, and Cress had much more skill and experience than him.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw a particular figure. They were dressed like a player but had a strange "stumble" to the way they moved in their skates. HE payed closer attention and noticed it was the girl he was looking for. He made his way slowly to her, going over what exactly he should say to her in his head.

"Hey," he began once he was close enough to her, "Are you alright? You're moving kind of strangely."

It was a little difficult to skate around with her ankle throbbing in her skate, but Esther managed to circle the gymn several times before having to sit. She noticed Xeno out of the corner of her eye, and she grinned a little, though made no other motion to wave back. She was sitting on one of the benches when one of the buffer players joined her. The blonde looked up at him at his question, tilted her head slightly, then gazed back down at her ankle.

"It's all good. I messed up my ankle the other day while training, and it's been bothering me since. I should probably get Nurse to look at it... Anyway.." Esther stood, stumbling a bit, though alright none-the-less. "Now, shall we?" she added with a slight smirk as she pressed to the center of the gymn.

Training went rather fast, not that she had expected anything else. Sighing a little as it finally came to a close, she skated over to her bag and sat once more on the bench. She pulled off her skates, examining her swollen ankle. Could she still...? Yes, she'd be alright. She'd been planning sneaking out tonight for days, and a small injury wasn't going to slow her down.

The blonde rubbed her ankle as she shed her uniform, leaving a tank-top and shorts to cover her. Her emerald eyes flickered up to Xeno. Would she ask the girl to go along? Esther bit her tongue. She could come back for people once she escaped... Frowning once more, she stood, leaning against one of the walls to support herself, and slung her pack over her shoulder.

Practice done, and cress tired he changed and left the locker rooms on the way out he saw a player from the Red buffer team.
He was yet another student that Cress had managed to ignore, until now. The practice game they played was great somehow he managed to keep up with him the whole time. Cress walked after him and put his hand on the student's shoulder.

"That was a good game, wow. I've never had so much trouble trying to score, It's like you knew where i was going to be before I did sometimes." Cress tried to calm himself, he tried to remember his name but he was unsure of what it was in the first place.
"It's Adam right? No wait.. August?"

Xeno watched for awhile until her eyes caught a glimpse of her skating. "Hmmm?" She could see that everytime she placed the hurt ankle down on the ground her leg would bend a little more and she would wince in pain. 'So something happened hmmm.' She got up brushing the dirt off her pants from where she was sitting.

"Esther-chan....hey are you ok, did something happen?" She got a bit closer and noticed another player that was talking to her or something, she gave him a friendly smile and went back to Esther. She waited for an answer, using her powers she could easily get the answer , but using it on one of her friends was against her little code on conduct. Biting down on the sucker stick she took it out replacing it with pocky.

Esther looked up, startled, her form stiffened, though when she noticed it was Xeno she relaxed. "Oh, it's nothing, Xeno. Really, I just hurt myself in training earlier today. Anyway, we should get going," she continued rather hastily, noticing the brightness of the sun beginning to fade. "I want to go to bed early. We do have a pop-quiz in Math's class tomorrow, and sleep always helps." She put up a smile and stood, wobbled a little, then leaned mostly on her good leg.

She didn't like pushing Xeno away, but she was going to get some answers tonight whether Headmaster wanted her to or not. Ever since she'd joined the school she's had a bad feeling about him; his pulse was different from most of the other teachers, though she couldn't help but notice how some others in particular were beginning to fade to a similar pulse. The blonde pressed past her friend, then stopped halfway across the court.

"Rick, if I'm not at breakfast tomorrow, just leave me be," Esther called, then continued. She'd known Rick for quite some time since they'd pretty much joined the school at the same time. He'd taken her under his wing, and she was greatful for someone to lean on, expecially when she'd been so depressed at the beginning of their ''adventure''.

Once in her room, she quickly made up her bed so it looked like she was sleeping. Just to add to the effect, she put her laptop under her pillow, leaving it on a mode that sounded like soft breathing. Satisfied, she turned to the wall. "Always hated these tunnels," she grumbled, then pushed aside one of the pannels and crawled through, but not before closing it back up.

Practice flew by as usual. After stretching and warm ups, they got into things pretty quick. Shooting drills, passing drills, and a lot of skating around, ultimately finishing with a scrimmage match between the teams to get everyone's blood pumping. Auggie was always pretty focused during buffer, his mind never wandering far from the game. But he couldn't help but notice a player on the other team. They were pretty much toe to toe the whole match. It gave for a good workout and the brunette male was still catching his breath a little as he shed his gear in the locker room. A quick shower, and he had slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, ready to head back to his room when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hm?" He murmured upon glancing over his shoulder. He grinned at the guys remark and gave a nod. "Yeah. You definitely made me work hard to defend the goal today." - There was a pause. - "August." He added secondly. "Auggie for short" He ran his hand back through his hair in thought, but still couldn't put a name to a face. "Chris?..." He asked awkwardly with a short chuckle thrown on the end. He started walking away however, checking back to see if the guy was following before continuing out of the gym.

"So, what amazing talent got you mysteriously sent here? If you don't mind me askin'" Auggie questioned, stuffing one hand in his pocket as they strode down the hall.

"The name's Cress Edwards. Good to meet you." Cress shook the guy's hand, before continuing. "My skill, huh. Well, to put it simply I can think and react at incredible speeds for short periods of time. The last part is very important, short. If I try to push it too much bad things happen."

Cress followed the guy out of the gym and into the hallways, right now his schedule was pretty open, so maybe he would stick around this guy for a while. It would be nice to make a good friend, he didn't have anyone he could really trust in the school. They continued to have their conversation as they walked. Something was strange though, there was a strange amount of people. It looked like there was something going on outside. There was a large crown near the edge of the woods. More and more people were coming out of the building.

"Hey let's go check it out." Cress said to Augie before taking off to where the crowd was. The student's were are mumbling and whispering to themselves. There was something very distressing going on. Before he reached the crowd two guy's from security ran past them making their way through the jumble of students. They forcibly pushed aside the crowd so that they could get in. Then he saw it, it looked like a robot of sorts(one of the gnomes). The security guy's began speaking into their walkie talkies, asking for a medic.

"What happened?" he asked one of the students.

"He's been attacked. Clarie Miller, she was walking by here this morning. She said she saw something in the bushes, but she was running late for class so she ignored it. Then just now she came back to check it and found him out here."

Cress let it sink in. The though of someone being attacked was frightening, would someone who's trying to escape leave a trail like that? Maybe they weren't trying to break out, they were trying to get in.

After dressing herself in a dark jacket, Esther climbed through one of the panels in the side of the school, looking left and right. She could feel a crowd of people to the left, but otherwise there were so many pulses she couldn’t tell exactly who was there and why there was such a commotion. Frowning lightly, she began forward, going to the left just a couple steps so she could see clearly of the commotion.

She immediately ducked against the shadows as Headmaster shooed the students away. The blonde cursed lightly before quickly racing across the clearing and into the trees. She wasn’t sure if anyone saw her, but for now it didn’t matter. Nobody could possibly follow... could they?

Without pausing, she continued to press through the trees, eyes scanning her surroundings. A way out? Who knew if there really was a way. But there had to be a way. There had to!

Xeno respected Esther's space and let her be. Nodding her head as a form of goodbye she walked away. She looked over and noticed Cress and August talking. She had met both of them a few times but not of a talking level. Turning away she walked out of the practice room heading to her next class, math.

Xeno usually took a shortcut but she felt like walking and that's when she saw it. The crowd of people and the body...well that's what it kind of looked like. She grabbed the near by guard turning him around. He was shocked and glared at her. "What happened here, tell me what has happened here." She looked in his eyes and she could see the pupil start to get wider. Her power was working. "Come on, don't be afraid..it would be helpful."

"The guard sighed. "It was a gnome, one of the test went wrong...we are not sure."

A frown made it's way across her face. She got enough information, for the moment, any longer would make her look suspicious. She quickly blended back into the crowd, watching the guard shake his head a few times and walk away. "Test...what test..." she mumbled to herself. 'What, exactly is going on?' she glared at the ground and the body.

Cress was pushed away by the security, they were clearing out the area and student;s were required to move inside. This was strange, the last time something like this happened it didn't end well half the freshman class was sent to Headmaster's office, and a handful of student's never came back. They were sent to the west campus, and haven't returned since.

Cress tried to get one last look at the gnome before going back into the school. He still wanted to know more, something felt odd about it. He needed to leave Tower, it felt wrong simply being there. The attack would most likely raise security measures. It would be tough to escape now, he would have to wait it out.

"Hey August, I'll see you later I guess. I uhh.. I need to go back to my room." Cress waved farewell to his new acquaintance. He left to return to his room. To think about things, he needed to make sure that escape was what he really wanted.

Esther tried to push the commotion to the back of her mind as she waided through the underbrush and piles of leaves. It was odd... why would Headmaster make such a small deal about it? Or... did he have more plans? Frowning lightly, she pressed herself into a run, heading for the edge of the school. The only time she'd been out here was when they had done a ''field-trip'', but otherwise, nothing.

"What is that..." the blonde groaned, abruptly stopping as her eyes fell on a giant metal wall. "So much for escape..." Still frowning, she moved to turn, then froze. Both her ears and her power could tell that gnomes were already on their way. Panting a little from her run, she turned and pressed along the side of the wall, going in the direction of the school, but also trying to find a break in the wall.

Off in the distance, six gnomes were headed towards her location. Their glowing green eyes flashed around the brush and trees in search for their escapee. One of their own hadn't returned from their earlier scouting. But this time, Tower was the one who was to lose a student.

"Hey let's go check it out." Cress, not Chris suggested. Auggie's eyes were already locked on the commotion, and narrowed with both curiosity and suspicion. "Yeah.." He murmured in response, following his new acquaintance over to the growing mass of students trying to find out what happened, and teachers trying to quell the gathering. So many people, and with this much going on...it was a great chance for escape, yet the door of opportunity was quickly closing...if not already gone. Despite knowing there might never be another chance like this, he had to pass it up. There was far to much at risk, and he didn't have enough information, or anything planned past just running for that matter. Especially with the gnomes out there....not to mention Red Fang.

"Hey August, I'll see you later I guess. I uhh.. I need to go back to my room."

Cress' words broke August from his whirlwind of thoughts and brought him back down to reality. He wasn't going anywhere, not yet...but definitely not today. He had a lot more to figure out first. Speaking of which, Cress' mention of going back to his room easily transitioned into Auggie doing the same, and once he was there, why not try to paint something...see if he had one of his visions, see if it gave him any insight to what had really happened to today, not what the teachers will ignore, or pretend happened when tomorrow rolled around.

"Alright, Cress. - Later." He waved, quickly stuffing his hands in his pockets after and heading the opposite direction and passing by Math just as he was arriving to help his fellow Tower Teachers to herd the lingering students. With a small cringe, Auggie strode by and made it back to his room in minutes, shutting and locking the door firmly behind him. In an instant, he was pulling off his sweatshirt, and tugging on one of his crappy and already paint splattered t-shirts before grabbing his sketch pad, pencil, pen, and paint supplies and positioning himself by the window. Flipping his pencil around in his fingers for a moment, he took a breath, licked his lips and simply began to create lines. As if it were fate, his pupils soon dilated and the whites of his eyes got much bigger as his pencil, pen, and soon brush strokes were no longer his own as a vision came to life on the canvas in front of him.

What is was however, would have to be deciphered.

Cress walked towards his room. As he moved through the hallways he couldn't help but think about that girl. She had left in kind of a hurry, so he figured that there might have been something bothering her. He figured maybe he could sneak in one more conversation if he tried to get some coaching from her. He knew where her room was, it was only a hallway down from his, and he had seen her step out in the mornings on multiple occasions.

He arrived at her room and knocked. There was no answer though. He waited for some one to pass by and asked them if they had seen Esther. One person said they saw her go into the room. He tried knocking again, but this time the door fell open. He hesitated before going in but finally he opened the door and stepped into the room. No one. He looked around, her things where there but she wasn't.

Then he saw it, a familiar yet strange sight. The loose panel on the wall, he had seem it before, in his room. He had never taken the time to look, in fact he had actually avoided it. Now though, he found that it called to him. He poshed the panel back and slid in, closing it behind him before proceeding into the dark tunnels. He looked around and figured that they probably ran through the school.

He picked one direction and began to walk.