Welcome to Gaia! ::

"FINALLY!" Lottie exclaimed as Team Sun walked through an archway and into a large amphitheatre. They were surrounded by rows and rows of open seats on a sloped edge that overlooked a flat arena ahead of them. Hope's arena was unique in the way that it was a long oval that stretched out from the seating area and towards a cliff, where much of the land around the academy could be seen far below, as well as some mountains in the far distance. Aside from this, there was nothing of great value. This forced the students to use nothing but their own skills to win. Many other students were already sat along the rows closest to the arena's ground beneath them. Lottie wrapped an arm around Tsuna, with difficulty thanks to their height difference. "We NEED to take first spot, I'm aching to show Merlin Academy what we've got." Micha'el was behind the girls, adjusting his glasses as he looked around for familiar faces. Aoi's team was already here and waving them over to sit with them.

After a short while, a ringing could be heard from the air around them. The dull winter light of the outside world around them began to shine with a warmth. An enchantment had activated, and on the arena's floor a golden light condensed. "What's that?" Micha'el asked his team, leaning forwards from his seat. The light grew, turning from a glowing light into a bulb of orange and gold. When it blossomed and unravelled its beautiful, ethereal petals, a glowing barrier appeared around the entire amphitheatre, creating an almost invisible shelter from the elementals above. It caused the entire area to be lit, as if by a gentle morning sun's glow. When the blossom wilted and vanished, high heels could be heard from somewhere below. Arriving from an unseen archway, Maverly Asche appeared and turned to face them all. "Much better" she said, "I will not be having any winter chills or rain interrupting our training. Now then, who wants to show what they can do? I believe you all operate on teams, correct?"
"Team Sun! Us!" Lottie shouted, stretching her hand up as high as possible whilst jumping on the spot. Maverly raised a brow, barely angling her head to look up at her. "Very well, Team Sun, please make your way down. I'll be taking notes on your performance and giving feedback tomorrow. Now which team would like to prove themselves against them?" At first, Maverly thought she was going to see Aoi raise her hand, but then somebody else spoke up. It was the Onsen twins speaking in unison as they appeared from an archway behind the other students, fashionably late, with JayBird in tow behind them. "We three would like to perform" they said together. Maverly raised another brow. By now, Team Sun was on the arena floor and Lottie was letting out an exasperated sigh. Micha'el rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything as to not bother their tutor. "I have two things I must say before you take one step further" Maverly began, slapping her riding crop against her empty palm. A warm glow emitted from it for a moment, as if the light of the morning sun had caressed her skin. "If you expect to participate in my classes I expect you to arrive on time. Your blatant disregard for others and their time is garishly unpleasant and should you decide to ignore this advise again I will be sure to send you to your headmistress."
"We are merely-"
"Kaito Onsen, do not be a bad role model for your new teammate. It doesn't look good on you. Now my other word of advise. Work as a team. Kaito, Kotaro, JayBird - please make your way down."

As the twins and JayBird appeared higher up in the sky, Tsuna took her chance to enact a plan. "Good thinking" Micha'el sad, now stood directly behind the two girls as he stared on, adjusting his glasses. The sound of cheering could be heard from a few of the teams watching overhead, the distinct sound of Aoi's voice could also be heard cutting through the rest. "Lets do this" Lottie agreed, summoning up some of her spectral glaives. She tapped into her connected with the weapon, just enough to give them material form so that Tsuna could heat them enough that they curved together and made delicately looking but deadly spheres. As Tsuna hit them Micha'el expertly redirected the power of his spell to be absorbed by the balls that flung through the air, superheating them. As they hit the arcane barrier the twins visibly winced, but then smiled cockily. As they manoeuvred up higher to safety Lottie and Tsuna began working together to give her some height. Micha'el, knowing she'd need extra height used his angelic wings of light once more to gain height so that he could catch her hand and swing her to almost the height of the magical barrier that Maverly had put in place. Then, in a moment, Tsuna's red-hot cannon bolts collided with Jaybird's lightning. At that precise moment, Kaito could be heard shouting "no dont!-" but couldn't quite finish as the explosion sent them all soaring. As Micha'el was gracefully falling down, he had already prepared a rescue spell to project white light around Tsuna and majestically pull her away to safety. He then summoned up a white barrier of light around them to protect them from the incoming blast.

The twins plummeted with JayBird, only for him to save them at the last moment with some of his magic. The twins both stood up, collecting themselves as Kotaro noticed JayBird landed on his knees, exhausted, before asking them if they were okay. "Barely!" Kaito shouted, but Kotaro gestured for his brother to stand at ease. "He has deflected one of their most powerful attacks" the blue eyed twin explained. Kaito let out a cheap exhale and silently agreed. "Leave this to us" Kotaro began, stepping past JayBird like a marvellous hero, "we'll protect you, won't we brother?"
"I suppose - our biggest fan must be appreciated" the red-eyed brother then stepped by JayBird, giving him a surprisingly warm smile, one that reminded him of a snake. The appreciation was there... but it was all because of the spotlight it gave the Onsen Twins.

Meanwhile, Team Sun discussed their next steps. "I can sense his body is fatigued, but there's some kind of untapped magical power in him still. We have to be quick and precise" Micha'el explained, staring at JayBird at the other side of the arena. "I'm switching out from support for this" Micha'el added, giving his Aria was flick as it hovered elegantly behind him. Lottie let out a small squeal, "yeah!". She knew this meant Micha'el would finally be going battle mode. "Lead the way" he said. In moments the three of them made there way towards the other team, and Lottie swing her glaive around and into the ground, causing a dozen spectral glaives to come crashing down in a line. It forced the twins to separate suddenly. Kaito dashed to the side, only to come face to face with Tsuna and her hammer once again. As she took a powerful swing the twin smiled and raised his hand to castle an arcane mirror. Her hammer collided with it and rebounded with all the force she gave it, causing her to be knocked off guard. Meanwhile Lottie spun around, regathering her glaives as they hovered around her awaiting command. "I'm sorry to say that we're going to win this!" Lottie taunted. "Oh?" Kotaro began, "as if we would lose to an amateur group such as yourselves. Merlin would never allow such disrespect to his school!" Kotaro leapt forwards, exchanging blows with Lottie time and time again, leaving behind a little arcane magic on each glaive until his was certain he had them all. Then the moment Lottie brought them up around her, he activated the seal and jumped back to create some distance. "What?" Lottie said, noticing she was now suspended in mid air, surrounded by rings of arcane magic and none of her glaives could move. Kotaro then became surrounded by magical runes and equations that aligned themselves around his rifle. He took aim and began speaking equations to himself. Magic calculation Micha'el had warned Lottie about this, it was what made the wizards of Merlin Academy powerful, they could organise the chaotic nature of arcane magic and give it order. The magic began to create a barrel around Kotaro's weapon, locking in on Lottie. "Uh... Micha'el! Anytime now would be great!"

Micha'el had taken this time to use a glimmer of light to vanish from anyone's sight, and now that the twins were distracted he appeared behind JayBird.

As Tsuna recovered, she let out an irritated breath before looking up to see Kaito plunge his blade into the ground, becoming ingulfed in a flash of blue magic. Then the sound of space being torn open could be heard abov her as a giant, arcane blade shot down from above. But with her canine reflexes she was about to dash out of the way quickly and get close to Kaito once again. She swung her hammer once, twice, breaking Kaito's guard before switching into axe form to deliver the final blow. Kaito attempted to shield himself with his bracers but his arcane shield failed and the knock back sent him flying backwards into a nearby wall, effectively out of the game.

"My apologies" Micha'el said to JayBird, thinking he had him by surprise as he gathered white-light in his palms to knock out his oponent. But JayBird managed to find the energy to turn around and protect himself with the bracers he was gifted, showing that he could learn quickly. Micha'el realise as soon as he saw the barrioer and dashed backwards, knowing better than to strike directly. He was about ready to attempt a volley of magic until the barrier failed but heard Lottie's cries for help. He then noted that Tsuna succesfully took out Kaito, giving Micha'el a plan. He and Tsuna exchanged looks, silently telling each other what had to happen next. Without another moment to lose Tsuna set-off to finish off JayBird, whilst Micha'el leapt up and over JayBird to save Lottie. "MICHA'EL!" Lottie demanded, watching him appear overhead like an angel descending from the heavens. His wings of light spread out around him, like tendrils attempting to grasp a hold of the air itself. He came crashing down ebtween them and summoned a giant kite-shield of light to protect himself as Kotaro unleashed a beam of arcane magic, condensed into the width of a bullet. It struck Micha'el with such force than he began to drag backwards across the ground against the unrelenting barrage of magic. When it finally ended his shield shattered and wings of light vanished. Clearly, Micha'el was becoming tired from absorbing such a powerful blow. He flung his arm abck and nullified the magic holding Lottie prisoner, but as he did so Kotaro closed the gap between them and swung a kick that threw Micha'el to the side.

Maverly had been watching the duel take place with some bated breath, although to anyone watching it would be difficult to tell. She kept a strictly unbothered expression, and her composure was proper and straight. She was taking in every detail of the match. Micha'el magic particularly impressed her, she made a mental note to look into the source of his skills later. However the events of the match were quickly concluding, with the Onsen Twins and JayBird only momentarily having the upper hand.

"Team Sun wins!" Maverly stood, not joining the celebrations as she made her way down to stand among them within the arena. As she descended the steps, she could hear Lottie's commotion as she high-fived Tsuna, followed by Tsuna's howl which momentarily silenced the crowd. Maverly waited patiently, allowing them a few moments to settle before speaking. Clearing her throat, she alerted the class to her presence. "Very good" Maverly began, her hands firmly clasped behind her back. "However" she went on, turning to face Team Sun, "your form is sloppy, Miss Tamiya-Satoru. Do not allow excitement and comfort for a spar to allow your guard to be down." Lottie visibly straightened and nodded carefully to her new tutor. A smug sound could be heard coming from Kaito. "Mr Onsen" she turned, "the both of you - whilst your ability to control the arcane arts is sophisticated for your age, it is fuelled by ego." There was a silence from the twins as they crossed their arms together. Maverly then looked over them towards JayBird. "Mr Song, you have much potential. Practise using your abilities together, and let the magic flower freely as opposed to uncapping a bottle one at a time. Miss Miki, you have great strength and a good eye for combination attacks. Your leadership shows through in this team. However - it does not do well to sacrifice yourself at a guess you will succeed. And Mr Maeus" Maverly paused for a moment, his name causing her focus to fault without noticing. "I feel as though you are dividing your attention. To protect your team, or make an assertive attack. You cannot spread yourself thinly. Trust your teammates to work with you, or to at least know their own limits." With her initial feedback given, she turned on her heal and gestured for the two teams to return to their seats above.

"Who would intend to show their skills next?" she asked, looking up to the crowd of students. It was Sagiso who raised his hand. "Mr Amber" Maverly raised her head to acknowledge him, "your team can please join me down here"
"Well, actually" her said, scratching his head with an awkward smile. "We are quite curious to know.... your fighting technique." Aoi, who was sat quietly beside him, nodded slowly in agreement, eyes sheepishly wide. Kyuroyori appeared indifferent, but Camerlia clicked pressed a finger against her lip and cocked a brow, obviously interested too. There was a few audible gasps from the other classmates as Maverly contemplated the question. "Hm" she said, blinking slowly as she looked over the teams in front of her. "I suppose a demonstration would not be entirely unnecessary. Although I do not intend on directly battling students during my first class." She continued to look around when she noticed someone standing in an archway at the back of the seating. "Professor Buron" she announced, raising her chin towards him. "How kind of you to spectate my class. No papers to mark I presume? I'm sure that you wouldn't mind entertaining Sagiso's request? Come, join me down here at once." Maverly wasted no time in requesting his assistance. She wouldn't take any excuses and even made her way back in the Arena to take her spot. "Students, I will have no deafening cheering during this or ugly gawking. Take notes and feel free to peer review after I have finished demonstrating Professor Buron's weaknesses."

Maverly turned around to face her opponent as he joined her on the arena floor. She held herself up straight, whipping her riding crop down to one side as he responded to her comments. "Hm" she simply raised her chin slightly as she inspected him from afar. She hadn't seen him fight before, let alone heard anything about this man before meeting him yesterday. All she has noticed so far, from her people watching, is that he enjoys a cigarette or two between classes. And whilst he could make a good drink, she wasn't convinced that was a particularly positive quality. What could this man possibly have on me? she thought to herself, mulling over a few things in her mind. He had to have some kind of training, some kind of expertise that would cause Solomon to believe in him. Ivan then pulled out an expensive looking pipe, which caused her to scowl in disbelief. "Begin" Maverly announced, not moving as she waited for Ivan to make the first move. But he didn't move, instead her blew out his freshly burnt smoke. It spread out into a huge sweet smelling cloud that Maverly allowed to engulf her. Whilst surprised, she didn't let her confusion show. She stood still, looking around for some kind of movement but his technique was working. She could barely see anything! Then she heard the sound of a trigger, a gun she thought and quickly acted. She ducked and dived, rolling to the side to avoid some bullets that flew past her. From the pinkish haze she had seen green streaks pass her. She noted the bullets glowed but as of the moment... she did not notice their purpose. She had no time to investigate however as she finally began to see movement in the clouds of pink smoke. Shadows, bullets, more shadows and more bullets. She twisted and turned, weaved and dived. She even began to deflect the occasional bullet using her riding crop as a tool to focus her magic. As each bullet ricocheted the distinct sunset orange glow of her magic could be seen rippling around her extended hand. However, whilst she was skilled, she allowed a single bullet to graze her shoulder. And in that moment she felt its sting sear through her skin, and then the burn of acid.

Maverly quickly straightened her posture and extended her arm out ahead of her, as if wielding her riding crop like a rapier. The air around her pulsed orange for a brief moment as the air around her cleared and formed a bubble. The air spun around her like a shield, creating a bubble of clean air around her that blocked any further bullets shot towards her. With her other arm neatly placed behind her back, she continued to hold this stance and keep focus, attempting to create a plan. Right foot forwards she told herself. She waited for Ivan to realise his bullets wouldn't get through before she released the spell. She then used the dispersing air to propel herself high up above them, escaping the heavy cloud of smoke and ash to get a bird's eye view. Spinning majestically in the air she summoned up a ring of magical missiles that glowed like the sun's morning rays. She then whipped her crop down and all at once the missiles rained down on the cloud that Ivan was hiding within. Then, once she landed, she extended her crop out again, into the cloud. Behind her specks of orange light grew and summoned up magical bird after bird. Each one glowing like sunset. Although mostly useless in battle, these magical avian summons flew through the cloud and forced it to finally disperse, clearing the air around them. As Maverly's birds whistled by and eventually cleared too, both tutors were found to be staring at each other. "Hm" she made a sound as if to be impressed with herself.

Then, without a moment to lose, she dashed forwards to clash with Ivan. She struck once, twice, three times in different directions with her riding crop in an attempt to hit him. Each attack charged with a little piece of her magic to add weight to her otherwise lightweight and pointless weapon. Whilst he deflected this, she performed a jumped and twisted in the air to avoid his sideways sweep. Her long garmet fanning around her as she did so in a flash of red towards the students. She glanced at him before landing, placing the pummel of her crop to the ground before dashing backwards with a grin. There was a glow from where she had left him, and on the ground was a quickly growing, budding flower of sunset light. It elegantly spiralled as it grew, and even though its edges may have touched Ivan for a moment, it did him no harm. It was ethereal, almost see-through. However after just a few seconds it bloomed once it reached knee height. The golden petals opened and within there was a bright light that whistled with pressure... begging for release. A bomb.

It exploded in a boom of sunset magic. Arcane in nature, beautiful as an art form, but just as powerful. It seemed Maverly really had her own style of magic, one that at first glance seemed quite harmless. "Take one more breath from that pipe, I dare you" she called from afar, holding out her crop again, ready to continue fighting. Neither of them were tired, they were pro's. And if she had to admit it... she enjoyed this sparring very much. However, even now she was thinking of how this could benefit the students. She imagined her close-quarters combat suprised the students, showing that just because you may not have a real weapon, or any weapon at all, you must still find a way to fight up close as well as from afar.

Maverly pulled herself back, gracefully flipping once and using her free hand to propel her. Once she came to a skidding stop she watched as the light of her magic faded and the smoke of the explosion cleared. There was an audible sound of a few little gasps from behind her, but she paid them no attention. Ahead of her she saw Ivan still standing, unscathed. "what?" asked herself, her eyebrows narrowing suddenly with annoyance when she watched him fade away. An illusion she thought. As she then provoked him to use more smoke, she expected him to come at her from out of no where. However, he instead decided to stroll out from behind a pillar. She gave a cheap exhale, how dare he goad her like this. She tightened her fist around her crop, ready to assail him with magic but she had no time to react before black smoke consumed the area. The thick smog spread from his pipe as quickly as it did before. This time it was thick and suffocating. Maverly brought up her sleeved arm to cover her mouth and nose in an attempt to make breathing easier. With other hand she whipped out her riding crop to summon another bubble of clean are around her. It swept some of the smog away from around her, but she felt it battling against the smoke. At least now she could breath, but she still couldn't see a thing!

Maverly took a few careful steps forwards, holding her conjuration up as she tried to peer through the smoke around her, but all she could see was black. "More illusions, Professor?" she questioned, not showing any fear or confusion as she turned around slowly, attempting to force light from her sphere but it couldn't penetrate more than a few inches. "You should have done a background check - illusions are one of my particular inter-" Maverly paused. She thought she saw... no, of course she didn't. Focus, Maverly she reassured herself, standing firm and strutting forwards. As she did so she saw a figure come into view. It was a statue, one that she instantly recognised as her father. He stood proud, but one arm was extending down to her. She reached for it, attempting to take it. But when she did she flinched and pulled back. Thorns? she saw the sharp edges on Calder's stony fingers. She then looked around as more statues appeared one after the other. They were townspeople of Shard. They were pointing at her, she heard laughter, she heard chitter and chatter. Rumours and lies. Some of them talking of her great feats, of her dancing and singing. Others gossiped to one another, mentioning how she was dropped as the heir to the Asche Agricultural Establishment. "Mind tricks..." she muttered, walking passed them as she became visible agitated. On a whim, she condensed the air bubble she created and let it explode outwards, breaking all the statues around her into pieces. She noticed that now the smoke wasn't suffocating, but the darkness didn't recede. Something was wrong.

"SAVE ME MAVERLY" a voice cried out, whipping by her at lightning speed. She twisted as if she had been hit in the face by something invisible. "YOU MUST LIVE UP TO THE STATUS OF YOUR BROTHER"
"THERE'S NO ROOM FOR WILTING FLOWERS HERE"
"ITS MY TURN"
"FIND A CURE"
"No!" Maverly shouted, swinging outwards with her riding crop as a torrent of sunset missiles went flying out into the nothingness. Their light quickly fading into nothingness before the sound of explosions could be heard. "You are illusions! Falsehoods and fears! I am not afraid. Of anything" But the moment she said it, some darkness cleared and a bed appeared before her. It was barely lit, with a window of sunset light behind it. A young man lay within it. Maverly took a breath, almost breaking a sweat as she gritted her teeth and became enraged. With a cry she held her riding crop like a sword, sunset light grew behind her and exploded into life as a gigantic, sunset lit sword swung down and destroyed the bed before her. "Foul deceit!" Maverly roared as her summoned companion knelt beside her. A gleaming knight of armour, a few feet taller than her, filled with sunset light and wielding a giant sword. Maverly stood tall and proud, but with fury in her eyes. "Cheap tricks will get you nowhere, scoundrel!" she warned, planting her riding crop down into the ground as a flurry of sunset birds spiralled out from a pool of light beneath her, clearing the smog. She then turned around to face Ivan and stare him dead in the eyes. "Teach Ivan a lesson." she said coldly, commanding her giant suit of sunset armour to pursue him as it began to stride towards him and turn into a run, leading with a sweeping attack with it's sword. Maverly followed up with a twirl here and there, extending her crop out several times to launch a sunset seed in Ivan's tracks. Each one landing and quickly growing into the same exploding buds of orange-peach light from before, exploding one after the other to make his terrain difficult whilst battling with the suit of armour. When these didn't work enough, she dashed in to fight him alongside her summon. The armour swung, and she would dash in to deliver a small blow with her riding crop. She'd duck and weave until Ivan unexpectedly dodged a strong attack from her suit of armour, and in the same move managed to strike her down that caused her to lose footing and tumble across the ground. As she rolled to a stop against a pillar she pushed her torso up, and with an evil scowl she held her crop like a dagger and planted it into the ground. Runes of sunset light appear on the ground around her, turning slowly and growing larger. At the same moment, her summon grow in size, until it was now twice the size of Ivan. Now... she was directly controlling it, focusing her power to fuel it.

(Feel free to take some control of the armour! It's just like Weiss'!)