“Okay! What the hell is going on here?!” Rey shouted at Aiden. Sana, Rey, Krystal, Prince, Neil, and Heer were all strapped tightly to seats as they found themselves in a dark classroom where Aiden stood before them. Aside from the blackboard, the walls were plain black and there were eerie looking cobwebs that could be seen on the ceiling.
“This is detention,” Aiden replied.
“No! This is a horror movie where the monster is about to eat the innocent kids!” Krystal cried.
“You think you’re all so innocent, don’t you?” Aiden asked. “Well, you’re in my world now. As long as you cooperate, you’ll be fine.”
“Man. Your brother is nuts,” Rey whispered to Neil.
“Why would you do this to us?” Sana asked. “Or at least me, Heer, and Prince, considering we did nothing to get into detention in the first place.”
“Hey!” Krystal exclaimed.
“Way to be a team player!” Neil told Sana.
“Please just let us go and they’ll never bother you again,” Heer pleaded.
“I don’t do the easy way. Headmaster Devil appointed me in charge of detention. So, I’m doing things my way. There’s only one way for you to get out of here. But you’ll have to figure that out on your own…if you can use your heads,” Aiden replied. “So, until then, class is in session.”
With a slam of his pointer on the blackboard, Aiden sent each and every member of the gang down an opening of the floor, separating them from each other. Once they were all gone, he stood back.
“This will be amusing,” Aiden said.
***
As Sana fell downward, strapped to her chair, she screamed as she landed into another classroom. Once she landed, she drew out her wand, tapping it to transform it into her trishula and used its sharp blade to cut the straps off. After doing so, Sana got up from the chair and was startled as Rey landed in the same room.
“Oh, you’re here too!” Rey exclaimed. “How’d you get out?!”
“I used my trishula. Can’t you transform and get out?”
“I tried! But it’s not working! Get me out of this!”
Sana rolled her eyes as she went ahead and slashed the straps of Rey’s chair off, releasing Rey. “Man! It feels good to be able to get up!” Rey exclaimed. “Now where the hell are we?”
Rey and Sana looked around to find themselves in a classroom filled with desks that had chemicals and a variety of tubes on display. “Figured as much. We’re in a chemistry room,” Sana said.
“What the hell is that guy’s problem?!”
“If it wasn’t for you and Neil, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Hey! It’s not my fault that Neil’s crazy twin brother decided to put us in some horror movie of a school! I don’t even know why he separated all of us. Besides, it’s just a normal classroom.”
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a catlike dark beast came and broke into the classroom, heading towards Sana and Rey. “You were saying?” Sana eyed Rey.
“Oh, shut up,” Rey said as he then transformed into his tiger form.
“Hit it into the wall!” Sana ordered Rey. Rey moved forward, leaping onto the dark beast as he pushed it into the wall. As he tried to hold it down, the dark beast bit Rey on his neck, pushing him to the ground. As Rey tried to get up, the dark beast launched a dark energy beam attack directly towards Rey.
“Quick! Counter it with a fireball attack!” Sana ordered Rey. Rey nodded and let out a roar, emitting a fireball which hit into the energy beam. As both Rey and the dark beast put in as much force into their attacks, the dark beast was able to push the energy beam harder, which hit Rey along with the fireball attack. Rey was slammed into the wall, falling to the floor.
“Are you all right?!” Sana asked Rey, concerned. Rey slowly got up, nodding.
I need to think of something! This one is too strong! Sana thought.
“Try to hold it off with an energy beam! I’ll come in then!” Sana told Rey.
Rey nodded as he then emitted a fire energy beam from his mouth, which hit the dark beast directly. Sana drew out her trishula, spinning it in the air as she then plunged it into the ground, which released a fiery path that combined with the energy beam attack. The attack was enough to hold off the dark beast, but it couldn’t destroy it.
Sana turned to the table with chemical tubes and looked around. She then picked one up. “Liquid carbon dioxide! This’ll work!” Sana exclaimed. She immediately released the chemical into the fire, which slowly released its acidic effect on the dark beast, melting it into nothing but ashes. And at that moment, sprinklers in the classroom came on, spraying water to put out the fire, which got both Sana and Rey wet. Sana turned to Rey, who transformed back. Once the sprinklers stopped, Sana ran towards Rey, who slowly managed to get up.
“Are you okay?” Sana asked Rey.
“I’m fine, Sana. It’s nothing to worry about,” Rey said. But then, Rey slowly fell to which Sana immediately caught him. She looked at his neck, shocked to see the cut from when the dark beast had bit him. Sana sat Rey down on the floor against the wall to help him rest.
“Sana, I’m fine,” Rey assured Sana.
“There’s no need to be worried.”
“How can you say that? That cut hurt you real bad.”
“It’s nothing, Sana.”
“You call that nothing?! You can hardly even sit up straight!”
“Sana, quit worrying. There’s no need to-“
“Shut up! You’re always telling me not to worry! For once in your damn life, just let me worry!”
Rey was left stunned and speechless. He looked at an angry Sana, confused why she’s getting so worked up over this. Sana then relaxed, realizing what she had said. She removed her white scarf, which had been wrapped around the red collars of her black trench-coat. Sana came closer to Rey, using the scarf to wipe the cut on his neck clean. Both of them felt odd as the proximity between them was very close, while Sana continued to clean the cut.
“What was that you used to kill that thing?” Rey asked, trying to avoid the awkward silence.
“Liquid carbon dioxide. It was more effective to kill it off.”
“You’ve always known so much about chemicals?”
“Yeah. I like chemistry. I always found it fascinating to test out all the chemicals and stuff.”
“That’s where your nerd side comes from?”
“Very funny.”
Sana had finished bandaging the cut. “How do you feel?” Sana asked Rey as he slowly got up.
“Much better. I gotta hand it to you. You’ve got a magic touch with those hands of yours,” Rey smirked. Sana smiled, seeing he was better.
“So, now what?” Rey asked. “We still need to get out of here.”
“You’re right,” Sana sighed. “I just wonder how the others are doing.”
***
On the other hand, Krystal had fallen out of her seat into what appeared to be a gymnasium. “Ever heard of gentle falling?!” Krystal shouted as she got off, brushing off the dust that was on her dress. She looked around, surprised to see where she was.
“Out of all the places of a school they could put me in, they put me in a gym?!” Krystal asked. “This is not my thing!” Krystal was taken by surprise as a ball came towards her way. She ducked in time as the ball hit at the wall, leaving an imprint due to the impact of the hit.
“What the hell?! Do I look like a bullseye?!” Krystal shouted as she turned around. She was shocked to see a series of humanoid robots looking directly at her, each holding a ball in their hand.
“Dodgeball!” the humanoids said in unison.
“What?!” Krystal cried. The humanoids began throwing balls at Krystal, who tried her best to avoid being attacked. She struggled to run in her heels, while the humanoids continued to attack her.
“And I thought physical education was already horrible! This is my worst nightmare!” Krystal whined as she continued running. “And how dare you make me run in these shoes!”
As Krystal continued to run, she tripped in her heels and fell. But as she fell, she was caught by someone. She looked up to see Prince had caught her.
“You?! Oh now you decide to come?!” Krystal shouted.
“Fine then. I guess I didn’t have to catch you,” Prince said as he dropped Krystal to the floor, making her mouth drop wide open.
“Does anyone here understand the meaning of the word GENTLE?!” Krystal cried. Krystal got up, but as she stood, she was appalled to see the heel of one of her pumps had broken off.
“Those useless pieces of metal made me break a heel!” Krystal shrieked. “I was annoyed to begin with, but now I’m just angry! Hurry up and transform, Prince!”
“On it,” Prince nodded as he then transformed into his lion form. Krystal drew out her wand, tapping it to transform it into her sonic bell. She held her sonic bell with a tight grip as she looked at the humanoids that surrounded her.
“When you mess with me and my shoes, you go down!” Krystal exclaimed. “Now it’s personal! Prince, use your Sonic Roar!”
Prince nodded as he gave a mighty roar, emitting sound waves across the gymnasium. The sound waves forced the humanoids down to the ground as they were unable to counter the vibrations being sent by the waves. Krystal then rung her sonic bell, which further intensified Prince’s Sonic Roar, making the sound waves even stronger. And by then, the humanoids’ metal bodies slowly began to crack until they all finally broke apart in unison.
Prince transformed back into his human form. “That’s what you tin cans get for making me break a heel!” Krystal exclaimed.
“Really? You’re whining over a stupid shoe.”
“These aren’t ordinary shoes! They’re by Reshawna. Reshawna! Now it’ll cost a fortune to get new ones!”
“To hell with the drama.”
“And of course. That’s all you can say. I can’t even walk now that this shoe is unwearable.”
“Then walk…barefoot.”
Krystal was appalled. “Barefoot?!” Krystal cried. “You expect me to walk barefoot around here? I don’t even know where this floor has been.”
“Honestly, can you just shut up for once in your life?”
Krystal’s mouth dropped wide open as Prince walked ahead of her. She could only handle so much of Prince’s attitude.
“You can be so rude!” Krystal exclaimed as she followed Prince.
“I know.”
“So, where are we going?”
“We need to find a way out of here. We’ll have to see if we can find the others first.”
***
Elsewhere, Neil and Heer had both landed themselves in what appeared to be a history classroom. As they both fell, they were then seated at desks before a clone of what looked like Headmaster Devil.
“Devil?!” Neil said, confused.
“It’s not him. Everything here is just an illusion,” Heer replied.
“Welcome to history!” the clone said.
“Man, I hate history,” Neil whined.
“State the exact dates of when the Great Ringmaster War occurred!” the clone ordered Neil and Heer.
“Um…,” Heer mumbled.
“How should I know?!” Neil shouted.
“You don’t?! Time for punishment!” the clone exclaimed.
The clone snapped his fingers and two bombs had appeared on the desks that Neil and Heer were sitting at. The two gasped while the clone cackled, “See if you can get out of this! Good day!”
And with that, the clone vanished. “What the hell?! He placed actual bombs on our desks!” Neil exclaimed. “If my brother wanted to kill us, he didn’t have to send us to some other dimension to do it!”
“It’ll explode in a minute if we don’t do something!”
“Quick! Transform and use an ice energy beam on them! Then I’ll fire my arrows to destroy them!”
“Right!”
Heer transformed into her snow leopard form, letting out an ice energy beam at both of the bombs. Neil got up and drew out his wand, transforming it into his bow and arrow. He then pulled an arrow back on the bow and fired it at the bomb, destroying it, and then doing the same to the other bomb just in time. Heer transformed back into her human form, sighing with relief.
“That was a close one,” Heer said.
“My brother is so dead when I find him.”
“How do we find him? The others must be trying to get out as well.”
“Damn it! How are we going to find that scumbag in this place?!”
Suddenly, the floor under Neil and Heer opened, making the two fall downward into a tunnel. Neil gave his hand to Heer to which she held onto as the two then landed into a chamber room where Sana, Rey, Krystal, and Prince were at as well. The two got up and Neil said, “Well, that was easy.”
“I am really getting tired of the special effects!” Rey exclaimed.
“Where are we now?” Heer asked.
“Very good. I hope you all enjoyed class time,” a voice said.
The gang turned around to see Aiden standing before them. “You called that class?! I was attacked by dodgeball-throwing robots!” Krystal shouted.
“Humanoids,” Prince corrected.
“Whatever!” Krystal exclaimed.
“Enough with this! Just let us go already! I think we had enough torture for one day,” Rey said.
“Oh believe me…things are just getting started,” Aiden said.
Rey could see the others were just as puzzled as he was. At that moment, Aiden closed his eyes as he had suddenly transformed into the form of a human-beast. His beast form was that of a gray wolf.
“Of course he has to show off,” Neil said.
“So, we finally see his beast form,” Sana said.
“On second thought…I say I’m ready for a fight,” Rey smirked. “Right, Neil?”
“Hell yes,” Neil replied.
“Looks like we have no choice,” Sana said. “Time to see what this guy is really made of.”
The Ringmasters Society 