The Amber Island came into sight and weapons were drawn hastily. Hammers, axes, spears, daggers, a wide variety of bladed weapons were gripped by shakey hands - confident - but anxious. Strangely enough, only Jack seemed to hold a sword. Peering into the water, he could see fish swim by, and calmed himself with identifying them in his head. Although, the further into the island's waters they came, the less he began to recognise them. They began to look uglier, hungrier, where he saw few. He knew this meant trouble. A slow creak came from two boats to Jack's left. Identifying an electric eel, a tall, blonde male warrior-in-training moved to the front of his boat. "We need to speed up, that eel will bring others." He informed his boat mates. They looked to one another, and one stepped up, or rather back, to the end of the boat. She had another student hold a trident she'd been clutching close like a childhood toy as she dug both her hands into the ocean. There was a violent bubbling toward the back of the boat, then they shot straight into the shore and were catapulted into the sand. Some jumped to their feet instantly and ran into the woods to find their item, others stuck around to recover the boat for leaving. Jack watched the other boats copy the idea. One of the rich girl's, the one in blue, bended the air around her to float the rest of the journey, creating a disturbance in the waves they rode in on, meanwhile a boy and a girl, twins, worked together to propel their boat ahead by connecting the girl to it. She pushed off with her feet, and the boat flew ahead of the rest like a speedboat, the rope that connected her like a harness yanking her along behind, riding a long hammer borrowed from one of the other boys on the boat, water skiing her way to the island. Jack knew he needed to board the island soon, the disruptions they'd caused in response to the slight indication of threat bound to have awaken something much more dangerous. Some students on the other boats recognised this at the same time as Jack, and selfishly kept their powers limited to get themself ahead. Acting on impulse, the sword wielder got up to scan the strangers, who did so in return. Suddenly, a push had rocked the passengers on their feet, a pair of adult dolphins so close to dangerous waters pushing them along put of the blue. They definitely didn't belong here, and as the boat hit sand and shrugging teenagers unloaded onto the beach, the brunette in blue spied the rich girl in red he'd seen before riding aboard a dolphin of her own, giving it a wave as the trio she seemed to command receded into the ocean. Her wave was followed by a friendly smile specifically towards him as she passed his baffled face.

Jack Blue was after a sabertooth tiger's front two teeth, something that didn't seem completely impossible. At least he wasn't after something from a bear, nor something mythical. Still though, there wasn't going to be a saber-tooth alive to let him take it's teeth. He'd have to brave that situation when it gets to it, he thought. But even that came faster than expected, one pounced at him out of the bushes to his left, only a few minutes into his deep journey in the greenery. Together, human and tiger tumbled down a dip and into a small clearing at the foot of the dirt hill. A lucky swing would knock the predator away with the hilt of his weapon and Jack could strategize. It was back up again quickly, the hench beast charged and Jack felt it's skull smack him down. It pounced once more and there was a moment of weakness in which Jack only yelled and curled up.

There was a squawk and a painful crack following a roar and animalistic whimpering. Jack opened his eyes, he wasn't dead! Instead of a bright light to lead him to the afterlife, a boy in black and dark red twirled the saber-tooth's tooth between his fingers. His body was practically covered in black leather padding, noticably more expensive than Jack's style as it covered more, but no metal padding over the chest and joints to suggest he was too rich. He boasted a clean scar across his cheek that was almost covered by the bushy black hair and fringe over his eyes. Meaningless grey eyes gave him a depressed and edgy rage feeling about him. With a heavy sigh, Jack got up. "You after a pair, too?" He questioned his first new teammate.
  "Don't bother, I'll get the other for you." He only took a quick glance at Jack as he spoke formally, very little emotion in any of his demeanor.
  "Uh, sure, but isn't that cheating? I can't let you carry me, that goes both ways--"
  "You'd only get in my way, I have this." He'd leapt into a tree and skilfully swung away before Jack could reply. Getting on his good side could prove difficult. As he did his best to keep up with his teammate, he tried to keep a look out for other students he could team up with. Maybe one of the other, more open-looking guys.

The untrusting fighter paused in his tree. "How did I lose it?" He asked himself shamefully.
  Jack sighed and held back a smug grin. He could prove his worth. "Get down here and work with me, we can track him." He crouched down to find a sign of their target.
  "Him?" The boy landed heavily at Jack's side.
  "Yeah, the saber-tooth."
  "Oh. Right." Definitely a challenge getting this guy to work.
  "Jack Blue. You?"
  "Black."
  "Really?"
  "Yes. Why?"
  "Nothing, nice to meet you."
  "Right."

It wasn't long before they got to their prey - thanks to Jack, of course. He'd be healing himself by a pond with the water. Black prepared one of his two daggers. Jack stopped him. Instead, he opened out his hand and sent an orb of light into the animal's eyes. It roared and struggled for a little, then passed out and lay unconscious on the grass. Black wouldn't admit he was at least a little impressed. In the brief moment they thought they'd done it, and they'd emerged from their bush, a ninja in white slid between them and tore the last tooth from the tiger's mouth without hesitation.
  "Other one. Now." A young voice came from the intimidating mask.
  Once Jack recognised the small height and identified the person underneath, he wasn't intimidated anymore. "What happened to the leather?" He inquired thoughtlessly. As a reply, he got a swift kick in the shin and the other tooth swiped from Black's belt.

The second the ninja stopped to celebrate, a hook sword materialized from the other side of the quietly flowing river and took him by surprise. It pierced the white robes of his outfit and continued on into a tree and he was left hanging only inches between his feet and the ground, wriggling cartoonishly to no avail.

The red rich girl followed her blade and snatched the teeth away, a superior smug look cast over her face, before she broke into celebration, punching the air in front of her, "Yes! What a shot, I didn't know I could do that-- I mean, greetings." Her posture fixed itself straight, and her tone reaffirmed her expensive look. Though, you could still hear the youthful joy in her.
  The childish assassin squealed in protest, "What a load of crap! Give them here, princess!"
  Jack was glad to see she didn't seem to be overly selfish or cold, a little immature though. "Thanks, uh...?"
  "Of course," clearing her throat, the girl curtsied gallantly before introducing herself, "Roselyn Scarlet-Fox. Just Scarlet is fine." The white spy's attire lit a green hue on their faces.
  "Jack Blue, Black. I guess we can head back now?" Proceeding his own introduction, he wanted to move things further before someone else came to interrupt.
  "I'm Alex Green, don't forget it either!" The smallest boy had finished glowing and had returned to a small ginger boy in green and little leather over the top. His new outfit was very similar to Jack's, with some small differences, which made it obvious both of them had come from out of the city. Jack couldn't for the life of him recall the boy's name - which was strange because he could be heard for miles, but he was just as poor as, if not poorer than him, so the two of them may have at least one thing in common. He'd only just fit in to the second year because he hadn't done too well during his written exam, as time would reveal, his time to shine would be the next two years. He was also picked on because of his background, height, and hair colour. He didn't seem to care he'd made quite a few enemies out of the people he may be allied with in just the first year. "Now hand over my teeth!" He'd make an amateurish attempt at snatching them from her dangling hand.
  Scarlet removed her weapon, freeing him, and tossed the teeth to Jack. Black caught them instead. He stuffed it in the space between his top and his armour this time for safer keeping. He was wearing considerably more leather than Jack and Alex, with few plates of metal dotted here and there. He seemed to have saved the money also. It was especially telling his leather was black. "You got neither of them, I was watching." Scarlet argued down at the shortest teen. "They already had one you just stole the second."
  "It's called a yoink and it counts!"

The arguing continued back to the beach. Six boats remained out of the ten that appeared on the shore, they were making good time. Black hadn't uttered a word since introducing himself to Jack, and Alex hadn't stopped. Scarlet seemed somewhat normal, just a little inconsistent in her mannerisms and accent, switching from a city girl with an stubborn attitude to a posh, eloquently spoken girl of high taste. There was a peaceful start to their boat journey back, tension had died down: Alex was moodily pouting at the back as Black was staring off into the distance and Scarlet and Jack helped each other row quietly. Somehow it felt like bonding to them. Then again, the bar was low.

Abruptly, Black shot up like a bolt of lightning. "Stop the boat!" There wasn't a gap between his warning and the boat flipping over, plunging the four into the open sea. An elongated, scaled coil encircled a few feet around them, locking in a perimeter around the teenagers and their boat. Pertruding from the moving snare trap, an aquatic blue snake head with sour eyes and a snarling hiss. Alex flipped the boat by himself and climbed on, followed by the others. Black was the first to take action, taking up both weapons and meeting the large head face to face. Intention or not, it kept the vast water creature from the other's, allowing their heads to clear of shock and fear. Alex went fairly quickly afterward, demonstrating his Power with another green glow, which caused the mystical materialisation of a metal suit of armour on his body. With large steel fists as his weapon, he'd surge past Black with a war cry to rival a dragon's roar. Jack made sure Scarlet was okay before assessing their situation. An ambush at sea had left him alone with a dysfunctional team and no support. Everything was going bad at once, and there was nothing but themselves in their immediate vicinity. What rivals of their attacker would've been warned off by the attack. No other creature in the sea cared if humans were claimed by the thing. Jack had to handle this with people he'd barely met, and barely liked. Somehow. It could come out with them on top if they would just listen.

He acted. It was better than nothing. "Scarlet, hook your swords up to the front of the boat and turn us around." She obeyed without question, thankfully. "Black, get Alex back here, I need the weight of his armour." There was an eye contact similar to that of Black and his opponent before he agreed to it with a nod. With the others in action, he needed to be as well, tying rope around the handles of Scarlet's swords and stepping to the end of the boat with her and the now grounded Alex. Using his weight and pulling back on the ropes, the boat began to tilt up to point into the air. The strategist ordered Black to taunt the humongous water creature, to which Black had to come up with something on his own. Pirched like a bald eagle on the raised head of the boat, he used a rapid spin on one dagger to build up Power all down his arm, expelling a football sized fireball as a projectile, having little affect on the cheek of the towering sea beast. A very important piece of knowledge from their first year lessons: these creatures are not stupid. Many are cocky, playful, downright nasty in the ways they feed off your fear before your flesh. An attack like that, especially as insignificant an effect, would only work to taunt a response from the creature, which would work in the teens' favour. One of the great predators of the ocean fired back a high pressured blast of water. A plan so randomly put together with few materials wasn't likely to work perfectly, but what made Jack special was that it almost did. The boat flung back toward the mainland, violently flipping in every which way back to safer water. Of course, much of the boat disbanded into the open ocean, and if it weren't for the natural instinct to cling for their lives, so had the occupants. There were a few metres left to swim after how far they'd been thrown, and they were safely met with towels and impressed looks from both Croen and Grudge when they washed up on the shore. No sign of the headmaster.

The team calmed in parallel with the water. The four that had been reluctantly thrown together sat voluntarily on the grass, in silence at first. Sick of it, Scarlet spoke up, "That, was the most insane and exciting thing I've ever done." She exclaimed, am unprocessed tone, but her eyes showed a sparkle of delight.
  To their surprise, Alex was somewhat nicer, in his own way, "Hah, you're welcome, by the way! I'll be honest, I thought yoo were jus' one of them average-at-everythin' idiots, but ya not half bad in the head!"
  "I agree. Nice work, Blue." Black also felt to add.
  "Thanks, it was nothing really." He deflected, but thought he'd deserved it really.
 

For a first test, Jack would've guessed it went fairly well. Sure, the team had yet to bond properly, but a clash of young personalities wasn't the worst that could've happened. Surely, another team would've had it way worse than them. When all the teenagers had returned in their own time, the two professors lead them all through the main entrance of their designated building. It was there, in a large hall that fit all forty-nine and more, and with enough space for them to be naturally segregated by the teams they'd discovered they were on. Upon a pedestal at the front of the room, the headmaster reappeared. This time, his smile was with great pride.