After her discussion with Miss Rachel, and the incident in the Science department, Alice had quite a bit to think about. After a night of fitful, restless sleep, she charged through her morning routine, buried her frustrations and put on a brave face for the students whose safety and training was now her priority. Opening the door to the Darren Archive Club room, she found that several people had already arrived. Basil, of course, stuck out like a sore thumb. While Alice generally avoided bothering him (partly because he obviously preferred it that way, but mostly because Phora might decide to pick on him), she couldn't help but smile at how easy to notice he made himself by sitting in the same part of every classroom every day and wearing strange clothes to school.
Figuring Basil would be observing the students from the back, she took a seat across the room from him, in the front, and calmly waited for Miss Rachel to arrive.

"Well I don't know either, it's probably one of the better 3rd years, at least first dan if we're lucky. Otherwise, it might look like we're just bullying them."

It was customary to spar with most of the martial clubs not part of the association, not to show dominance but to ensure that both parties were serious about their use of the dojo space. As an association without official approval, the only way to be able to use the dojo was to ask the other clubs during their time, time that said clubs may or may not give. To an outsider it may just look like bullying the other clubs to relinquish the use of the dojo for personal use.

As the thought crossed his mind, senior Alice came in and sat in front of the assembled younger students. The clock was ticking closer and closer 10 o'clock. He did a quick scan of the room and found junior Douglas, good, at least he wasn't late. Unlike the club supervisor though given her status, he assumed she could arrive when she felt like.

Miss Rachel walked into the room at a quick pace and the door closed behind her, as if blown by wind, most likely the work of Sir William. She surveyed the room, and her eyes rested on each student before moving on to the next. Finally after what seemed like a moment of silence as she stared at the group and the children stared at her expecting her to say something, she finally smiled and introduced herself to the class.

"Hello everyone, my name is Doctor Dawn, though you may all call me Miss Rachel. Welcome to the Darren Archive Club!" she paused momentarily "Before I begin I would like to quickly introduce you to this year's co-club presidents, Alice Pearson and Basil Petran. Their knowledge and experience to this club will be beneficial to all of you who have joined us for the first time!" Her expression changed from a smile to a much more grim expression indicating a change in the mood of the topic. "Some of you may be wondering why you have been invited to this club," she began "The answer to that quite simply, your omnividence" She meandered in front of the room back and forth with her hands behind her back as she spoke. "Every single person in the room has the ability to not only see, but also interact with spirits of all kinds, and this club's purpose is to develop your abilities as well as train you to protect humanity from the spirits that seek to harm them." She paused momentarily to allow this to soak into their minds before continuing.

"Sir William, if you don't mind?" she said with a sly smile.

"None at all, my lady" replied a voice which was then followed by the appearance of Sir William at the front of the room in his usual armour. "So many young ones this year" noted Sir William out loud, though not in a condescending tone.

"I present to you Sir William, protector of this room," stated Miss Rachel while Sir William bowed formally, his ghostly armour clinking as he did. "Now I realize that not all of you may want to participate in this club, and that's fine; you're free to leave now. However, you freshmen will need to take sessions with Miss Shields to ensure that you have a firm control over your abilities and that you are adjusted to seeing spirits. That being said, for those who are staying," she turned to Sir William "The s**** please"

"Ah, yes, the s****" replied Sir William excitedly and then disappeared, there was a click in the back of the room and a bookshelf slid out of place revealing a staircase leading downwards.

"Alright everyone who's staying, follow me" said Miss Rachel as she headed for the back of the room and walked down a very long flight of metal stairs that seemed to go several feet underneath the school opening up into a very large and long room. There was another click as a generator whirred to life somewhere unseen and fluorescent lights overhead flickered to life.

"This is the main base for the Darren Archive Club, and only Sir William has the ability to let anyone into the s****. It is here that you will have your abilities honed, as well as conduct research, obtain weaponry among a myriad of other uses that this place serves. Today however, Basil, Alice and our seasoned veterans Li and Adi will be accessing your abilities. She turned to the older four, "Have Sir William conjure up a few ghost knights, and split the group here into two teams. Basil will have command over one unit with Adi serving under him, and Alice will have command over the other unit with Li serving under her. Got it? I've got to stay in the classroom in case any other students arrive. Ok?" With that said she turned on her heels and walked back up the long flight of stairs disappearing from sight.

When Logan arrived at the scene, a small group of students had already convened. Quite a few were first year students. He quietly took his place as Miss Rachel began by introducing herself and the club's co-presidents. To his surprise, one of them was the girl he had crossed paths with the day prior. He supposed that explained why she had taken so long in the counselor's office. The other, Basil, was a quiet type. Logan wasn't sure what to think of him.

After much explaining on the part of Ms. Dawn and the knight, Sir William as it were, a bookshelf on the far side of the room slid away from the wall to reveal a staircase. Miss Rachel bid the students who wished to remain to follow her to the s****. Logan, enthusiastic to finally receive formal training, didn't hesitate for a second before getting up to follow. A good many of the other students followed suit, making their way down the long, claustrophobic stairwell.

"This is the main base for the Darren Archive Club, and only Sir William has the ability to let anyone into the s****. It is here that you will have your abilities honed, as well as conduct research, obtain weaponry among a myriad of other uses that this place serves. Today however, Basil, Alice and our seasoned veterans Li and Adi will be accessing your abilities." The counselor continued once the group had reached the bottom. This all sounded very intriguing. The junior had wanted more than anything else to learn properly how to hone his abilities and use them to their fullest extent, but never had he imagined that the Darren Archive Club would be his means to that end. Rachel turned to the eldest of the group and gave them some instructions. What those instructions were, Logan wasn't particularly interested in. From what she had said, it sounded like today was just going to be a simple assessment of their abilities. The counselor returned topside to greet any students who might arrive late, leaving the four upperclassmen to carry out her orders.

As a mysterious lady walked in, Johnathan had a feeling that this the head of this club. She then takes a look at all the faces, seemingly taking in every detail. She then goes to the front of the room, and waits for what feels like forever. "Hello everyone, my name is Doctor Dawn, though you may all call me Miss Rachel. Welcome to the Darren Archive Club!" Johnathan then raises an eyebrow, wanting her to continue.

"Some of you may be wondering why you have been invited to this club, The answer to that quite simply, your omnividence"

"So this is what this club is about." Johnathan whispers to Carter after Rachel was done with that little part. "None at, all my lady", the first year student looked around the room but didn't see anyone. A few moments later he sees someone appear, Sir William, Johnathan thought. We must be going somewhere for that exercise now, and suddenly a bookshelf was pushed to show a staircase. Johnathan decided, which didn't take long, that he was going to develop his newfound abilities.

As the staircase revealed itself, Johnathan followed the other students downstairs. "This is the main base for the Darren Archive Club, and only Sir William has the ability to let anyone into the s****. It is here that you will have your abilities honed, as well as conduct research, obtain weaponry among a myriad of other uses that this place serves. Today however, Basil, Alice and our seasoned veterans Li and Adi will be accessing your abilities." She continued when Johnathan reached the s****. Johnathan took a good look at the four people would be coaching him today, and the main base. She then gives the upperclassmen some orders, and Johnathan was only paying only half attention. The other half excited. So that explains everything. He thought, as he recalled yesterday. Rachel then turns and leaves to tend to the other people who might come late. After she left, Johnathan then turned to the higher ups who were given the instructions.

Not taking a second to think, Carter knew he is in the right place. "So this is what the club is about" Johnathan whispered to Carter. Amazing, Nicholas Flamel put me here for a very, very good reason. I'll not let him down. Following Ms. Rachel, Carter tapped John's shoulder. "Hey... Did you pick this school because of whatever spirits you're connected to or is it just... Luck?" Carter hoped John wouldn't take offence to the obvious reference he made. "In any case, what powers do you know you can preform, anyway? I'm an achlemist, you see. I can change things, and I can al- Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a piece of paper, would you?"

August took a long, slow draw from his cigarette. It was just after eight thirty, and he had chosen to forgo socialising in the cafeteria in favor of a relaxing solitary breakfast in the grassy area behind the dorms. Both the buttered bagel and poached eggs, despite being simple fare, showed comforting evidence of a chef who knew what he was doing. Perhaps something could be learned in this sorry excuse for a school after all.

The ground was slightly humid, a testament to the light drizzle of the night before. Fortunately it was not so wet as to make it unpleasant, so August lay down, face skywards, enjoying the end of his smoke. Tossing the butt into a small plastic bag that served as his portable ashtray, he closed his eyes, intent on enjoying the rest of the morning doing very much of nothing. This lasted all of twenty minutes, for at nine o’clock sharp his somnolence was disturbed by the vibration of an object in his coat pocket. It was the PDA given him by the dorm mother the day before. A new message notification blinked on and off as an irritating jingle played and August cursed himself for bringing the thing along. Still, his curiosity was piqued and he tapped the notification, bringing the message into view. It was a rather vague invitation to a meeting for a club that he was sure he had not signed up for. No time was specified, nor a location.

August let his head drop back onto the soft vegetation with a moan. He shut his eyes again, but try as he might, neither sleep nor general sloth were possibilities anymore. Much to his irritation, curiosity had gotten the better of him. Odd, since there was nothing particularly interesting about an archiving club or whatever it was supposed to be. Still, his peaceful morning ruined and with little else to do, he headed back inside and made his way to the main hall. He remembered walking down a hallway dedicated mainly to club activities during the campus tour given the day before, so he headed in that general direction. It took more than half an hour, but finally he noticed a little unassuming plaque that read “Darren Archive Club.” Pressing his ear against the door, he could pick up only faint sounds. There was no crowd here, that was certain.

Testing the handle, he found it unlocked. He pushed the door open and scanned the room. It was rather plain, a standard “office-type” space. Seated at the desk was rather good-looking woman, attending to some papers. August stepped in casually and smirked, “Doesn’t look awfully busy in here. This the place for the dorks anonymous club or whatever it was?”

Johnathan sensed this was a sensitive question, so he decided to answer this truthfully. "I guess it was just....luck."

Sheepishly, Johnathan pulled out what seemed to be a quarter of a piece of paper. He was planning on saving that, if need be. But it seemed like he wouldn't be needing it anytime soon, so he hands over the piece, eager to find out what he was going to do with it. "As for my power...I, uh...don't know."

The hidden s**** was a familiar sight for Li, as it is his third year participating in the Darren Archive club. He noticed many new faces in the crowd, most of them looked lost and confused. Li felt as if he had quite an authority over the group, being one of the few seniors. Miss Rachel introduced the group to the s**** and it's use. She also explained why the message told them to prepare for some exercise, as everyone was demonstrating their abilities. Li started to roll up his sleeves while Miss Rachel continued speaking.

"Today however, Basil, Alice and our seasoned veterans Li and Adi will be accessing your abilities." She explained. This took Li a bit by surprise, as he didn't expect to be assessing anyone. At the same time, he expected it as no one aside from the four seemed above third year.

"Have Sir William conjure up a few ghost knights, and split the group here into two teams. Basil will have command over one unit with Adi serving under him, and Alice will have command over the other unit with Li serving under her," she continued. Li looked over at Alice who he didn't know very well but knew who she was. She lived up to her reputation with her long blonde locks of hair that almost appeared to be glowing. Li walked over to her to greet Alice.

"Hello Alice, I believe we have met before but I'm Li," he said as he reached out his hand for a handshake.

"Welcome to the Darren Archive Club, Li," Alice said pleasantly as she shook the third years hand. "I'm looking forward to working with you." She chose her next words carefully. "While our presentation has been admittedly... Lackluster so far, I trust you understand that it only serves to highlight the gravity of the situation. The lives of all these students and potentially many others are at stake." The senior had experienced the truth in those words firsthand the night before. There was little the school staff could do for them; each and every Omnivident was on their own.

She turned to gaze at the assembled students. "There's no running or hiding from these spirits. Unless we can fulfill our responsibility and give them the tools they need to protect themselves, they'll live in constant fear until their luck runs out." Alice gave Li a more serious look. "Are you prepared to accept that responsibility?"

Basil caught Adi's eye and nodded to him, calling him forward. As he came over, Basil handed him a sheet of paper with the names of all the underclassmen in the club written on it.
"You have the list of students, you choose our group." He muttered.
With that he walked away and waited for Adi to finish and bring the group to him.

Senior Petran as always seemed disinterested with the whole affair and washed his hands of it by delegating all the work to Adi. For his part, Adi didn't mind, the senior had admitted to being little else but an observer since the start. The only thing he could probably hold against Basil was his dress code but it had always been that way so he assumed the whole school decided to just shut up about it.

Looking back at the name list he had been given, he decided quickly that he would deal those that had experience or knowledge of their abilities, if only slight, and leave the complete newbies to senior Pearson and Li as he knew they'd flounder under his instruction.

"First year Carter Gram, second year Logan Douglas, first year Evelyn Victoria St. Augustine, report to me immediately," he said in a loud and booming voice.

Alice greeted Li with a firm handshake. She explained Li's responsibilities to him. By the way Alice explained it, Li didn't expect the seriousness of the situation to be as so. As a way to conclude their mission, Alice presented Li with a question in a much more serious tone.

"Are you prepared to accept that responsibility?" She asked. Li paused for a brief moment then replied. "Yes, it seems that I must".

Meanwhile Adi seemed to communicate with Basil. Adi then called out a group of names. "First year Carter Gram, second year Logan Douglas, first year Evelyn Victoria St. Augustine, report to me immediately," he said in an authoritative voice, reflective of his arte. While those students scrambled towards Adi and Basil, Li then called out, "Everyone else, over here".

Logan was still awed by how overwhelming all of this was. The Darren Archive Club was just an elaborate cover for a secret organization of omnivident students tasked with fighting malevolent spirits. The idea was so amusingly novel. The amount of effort put into keeping it under wraps must have been astronomical, though on the other hand, who was going to believe something so preposterous?
The junior's speculations were cut short as Adi began calling names. The upperclassmen had split into two groups and were already selecting the students they were to "assess". Considering Adi was already aware of the full extent of the Logan's capabilities, he would have found it odd that Adi had chosen him were he not too busy being unsettled by Basil's demeanor. For the guy who was supposed to be the co-leader of the club, he wasn't very proactive.
In any case, Logan did as he was told and reported to Adi along with the two first years.
"Second year Logan Douglas, reporting for duty, sir." He declared a mock salute.

As soon as John gave Carter the piece of paper, Carter explained what he was doing. "Have you ever... needed a weapon to defend yourself? I learned that hard things hurt people. And I used that to my advantage." Watch. He took the paper and focused, turning it into stone. "You see. By focusing on the particals, I could duplicate the particles, making less room, which, in turn makes the particles try to buldge out, thus making it harder. And I also changed the chemicals to suit the rocks' need. Thus, making it into a hard rock. It's quite amazing what is possible. You see, alchemists learn new things. We try things, we explore. We use what we know and use what we don't. So that we do know. And once we know all... We search again. You see, something new is always there to discover. Something to ponder, to think about, to solve. We are alchemists, and we are pioneers to the unknown."


Afterwards, after hearing Adi calling on him, he decided to not waste any time, he shuffled his way to Basil. "Why, hello there. Carter Gram, first year."