As Aksaja stood around watching, listening to what everyone was saying - the protests, the denials, the shouting, arguing . . . the lightning dragon simply stayed quiet, fading into the background as a feeling very like depression settled over his heart. This school . . . had become something he loved, he was realizing. When he'd first come here, he hadn't known all that much about the world, he'd drifted along here and there. But somehow had ended up making friends.

Those friends were closer than anyone he'd ever talked to back home, these fellow students, all connected through the school and their experiences there. When he'd thought that they were dead, it had very nearly shattered him. Then they'd turned out to still be alive, and his world was bright again. Sort of like magic.

And after that, had come more field trips, more classes, the Scarentines Dance, the Floresctival . . . then he'd failed his exam and been called home by his father to answer for it. He'd been so afraid then, that he wouldn't be able to come back. But somehow, here he was again, except now . . . there was again, the possibility of never being able to come back. Because the school was going to be closed. It was all going to be over in two weeks . . . the end of his life here. It felt like the end of everything.

He was on the verge of just going back to his cave to hide or something when words cut through the fray. "A school, at any point in time, may partake in the annual Standardized Testing Examinations to assess the school's credibility and validity. Should the school pass the Standardized Examinations, it will be given the right to continue operating for another year until the next Standardized Testing Examination."

His head snapped up, staring at Arel as the secretary waved papers in the Boogeymen's faces. Did this mean . . . there was a chance to save the school? He immediately started pushing his way back toward the front of the crowd, trying to hear more.

Once he found that one of the tests had to do with Fear abilities, Aksaja wasted no time. Reaching forward, he grabbed one of the Fear meters and moved off a little ways with it. Setting the thing on the ground in front of him, the lightning dragon backed up a few steps.

Then he clenched fists at his sides and summoned up all of the things he'd been feeling for the past few minutes - building up the fear, the anger, the desperation and the sadness. Sparks flashed from his fists, slowly growing brighter. Until finally with a roar, he shoved both hands forward and cast all of that toward the meter, small bolts tearing up the ground around it and releasing the scents of charred earth and ozone.

Enough of them hit the meter, however, to make the needle pop up quite a bit, and Aksaja grinned, a fierce sort of expression. Walking forward then, he snatched up the meter and then marched over to turn it in, knowing for sure that he'd helped keep the school in business.

(( FEAR Y2 level: Multiple small lightning bolts hit the target from a lot of different directions (Swift Strike)
Damage done: 21.6 ))