Once everyone was assembled outside of the hideout, Ayl split them apart into their groups once again.<br/>"Alright, earlier you fought each other as partners. Your teamwork dynamic is improving rapidly, as well as your ability to fight an opponent who you know nothing about. These are both exceptionally important traits; but fighting on your own is just as critical to your survival." He started pacing, putting his hands behind his back as he explained the exercise.<br/>"You'll be spreading out, each team using about a block of space. In that area, I want you to fight your teammates; not one on one, no secret team-ups, just an all out battle between every one of you. You know your partners powers, and you know how they use them; so now you need to find ways to counter them while utilizing your own abilities in ways they wouldn't expect. There are no 'dirty tricks' here, treat your team with the same ferocity and tactics you would use while fighting a demon.. with the added exception that I don't want you to actually kill each other."<br/><br/>He walked over so that he was right in front of the group, and unhooked the pouch that was around his waist. This he unzipped, and held it forward to face the rookies. "Spent all night searching for these. I was going to wait to give these to you, since I only found a few, but they'll be useful here. I want one person from each group to come forward and take one." The rookies started talking amongst each other after it was clear he was done, deciding who from their team should go. After a minute of deliberation, they each came to a decision, and soon one person from each group was holding one of the objects in their hands, watching Ayl expectantly.<br/>"These are simple communicators we can use to talk," he said, tapping his ear to indicate the small object that was sticking out of it. "You just hold the button on the edge to turn on the mic. We'll be too spread apart for me to speak to each of you individually, so once I feel like the exercise is done or have any particular comments to make, I'll broadcast it over 92.5."<br/><br/>Seeing that the group understood his words, Ayl nodded and stayed silent for a moment. Nobody did anything, just watched him. "..Exercise begins<span style="font-style: italic">now,</span>for the record," he added with a sigh, watching as they each scattered away promptly, taking their group off in different directions. There was a relatively tall building nearby, so once the rookies were all on their way, he quickly shadow-jumped over to it. He climbed up the side with relative ease and took a spot on the edge of the rooftop, giving him a reasonable view of the nearby blocks. It wasn't high enough for him to see everything, but it certainly gave him a better view than ground level.<br/><br/>*************<br/><br/>A good while passed, the rookies training hard as usual. Occasionally one of them would pipe up over communications to ask a question, but aside from that all seemed to be going well. 15-20 minutes in, a sight over to the north caught Ayl's attention. He peered over in that direction, and soon found a smile crossing his face. Placing a finger on the communicator, he spoke; "Change of plans, rookies! Looks like your exercise for the day is gonna be some real action! Regroup outside of HQ ASAP." He leapt from the rooftops, landing on the ground with a rather loud<span style="font-style: italic">crash.</span>The impact seemed to not phase him at all, and he took off through the shadows, reaching the hideout in a matter of seconds.<br/><br/>The other Hunters soon started running in from various directions, each with a few cuts and scrapes and a puzzled expression of their very own. Ayl stayed silent, instead choosing to convey his observation through action; he held an arm out, pointing to the north. A few moments later, a group of demons about as vast as the Hunters began storming out, claws and fangs bared. It was obvious some of them were lesser demons, but there were a few more powerful ones scattered around as well. Nothing the rookies couldn't handle, but some of them would come out of it with an injury or two. No pain no gain.<br/>"Bon appÃ©tit, my little Hunters," Ayl said with a smirk, stepping to the side and watching the battle unfold.<br/><br/>-------------------------------------------<br/><br/>Merle's eyebrows rose in unison at the bloody torrent that shot forth at Levin's command, a high pitched whistle of admiration coming from her lips. "Gore fountain, niiice," she commented, though the odds of him hearing (or rather, caring) didn't seem very high. "Use your i-frames or you totally won't stand a chance, Gabriel!" she called, cupping her hands around her mouth as the rain of blood molded itself into spears and fell back to the ground. She was well out of harm's way, but it would be interesting to see how Gabriel fought an opponent like this.<br/><br/>She watched the battle go on for a minute before her eyes were drawn to Coronis. She could feel the bird suddenly become restless, and its actions reinforced that feeling. It was twitching around more than usual, though its eyes were intensely focused on one spot. "What are you up to?" she thought aloud, closing her eyes and peering through the birds vision. There seemed to be some disturbance happening far off in the distance, barely noticeable even through the birds heightened senses. It was enough to drive her demon crazy, though, so perhaps it was worth further investigation. With a nod of Merle's head, Coronis took off from its perch, dashing through the air at a blinding pace in the direction of whatever had interested it so much.