Magical Teacher Professor Landry! - Episode 3: Bad End?

[Teal Mage]

One of three Johannas strode peacefully through the transformed Field of Honour. Marble tiles clicked softly under her high-heels, as she moved toward the north-east pillar - and more importantly, the stairs it contained - fulfilling the much sought after role of reconnaissance.

Walk, walk fashion baby...

Coincidentially, this was a good opporunity for Jo to appreciate the in-battle entertainment.

Work it! Move that bitch crazy.

At the base of the spiral stairs within the North-East Pillar, Jo finally found herself close enough to get a better look at the pair of statues nearby. The standing one appeared to be male, by his broad shoulders and flat chest, and something in his stance seemed protective. While the other one, lying on the ground, and seemingly facing away from Jo, appeared to be female. This close, she was able to make out the marked difference in the colors of crystal making up the statues - bright pale blue, and muted blue-grey, respectively.

Walk, walk, passion baby...

Off in the distance, the mysterious singer floated on top of a piano bench - she was still going at it.

Work it! I'm a free bitch baby.

All of these details, alas, would not make the climb to the second floor of the Field go any quicker. Judging by the angle of the stairs, it would take a fair amount of time to reach the top - best start now.

* * *

Amber light surrounded the dark clad Astarte, as the undead girl cautiously approached the puma menacing her classmates, stiletto-boots tapping lightly on the tiled marble beneath her. Around her right hand, a mass of bandages spun and whirled, causing a low hum to fill the air. The puma's ears twitched softly, though there was no other sign that the creature had noticed her presence; it was still watching Sean and Jack.

Both in Tuxedos, one white and one black, the boys had yet to move from their positions on the marble tiles they sat on. Teeth clenched and eyes angry, Sean's lips moved softly, as he tried desperately to figure out how to handle this new threat. At his side, Jack seemed to be in a, slightly afraid, daze. Perhaps he had not quite recovered from the shock of the setting change?

Around the puma, black supernatural light rippled. A low grow issued from the creature's throat, as it halted, eyes pinned on the two young men in front of it. Pinpricks of color - a shade of blue-green so pale, it was almost white - blossomed inside its aura, spreading outward gradually. Moments after, the creature's aura had completely changed. The more artistically experienced Astarte might have recognized the color, it was called Magic Mint.

Claws clicking sharply against the marble tiles, the Puma's gaze whipped south - toward the chaotic void that surrounded the field. Muscles tensed, as the creature's pale aura flared. Several paces away, a new wall of stone shimmered into existence, running parallel to the field's edge. Connected to the pillar Sean and Jack stood against, and extending past Astarte, it was not a small wall either.

The creature launched itself toward it.

And passed through as it wasn't there - the structure didn't even ripple.

An instant later, three spheres of lime-green energy erupted, in quick succession, from the place the Puma had passed through the wall. Each was the size of a tennis ball, and moved swiftly - one aimed at Sean, Astarte, and Jack.

That was bad.

* * *

Another Johanna stood before the tall scarlet barrier that ringed the center-most structure of the transformed Field of Honour. The bulky white fur of her overrobe had slid back from her raised arm, revealing the razor-edged ice claws that now capped her hands. With delicate curiosity, the pale girl pressed her index finger against the shifting red wall before her.

Red energy flared, rays of white supernatural light bursting out from the point of contact her finger made. The heat from the wall, originally very weak, intensified. One of the beams of supernatural energy light fell upon her cheek, spraying pixels of white dust into air and painlessly cutting her cheek shallowly. Surprised, the Jotun's hand flinched back - and the light show abruptly faded. Quickly, the girl's eyes fell on the finger that she'd poked the barrier with.

The tip had vanished completely.

Opps.

* * *

Atop the eastern platform, Dal allowed his glamour to lapse, feature's becoming narrower and more delicate, as he assumed his true form. Deftly, the Fae spun forward, the gossamer skin of his wings swirling around him as he evaded the gapping mouth of the leaping worm - which suddenly found itself in the path of the acid jets from the other two stationary ones. The creature shrieked, and began to writhe as its bodily fluids leaked from the two gaping holes along its length - it appeared that the worms were not resistant to their own acid.

The masked Sorceress showed no reaction to this.

"Excuse me?" At the top of the stairs to the eastern platform, the final Johanna had appeared. Swathed in white furs and surrounded by supernatural chartreuse light, the path skinned girl faced the masked woman, dark eyes serious. "Is this structure the Amaranthium machine?"

"Jotun, Johanna Imirsdotter," The white eyes of the Sorceress watched the girl, as Dal charged toward her - evading a new barrage of acid jets from the remaining worms in the process. "You will be deleted." The Sorceress flicked her wrist in the girl's direction, and another of the ball-segmented worms appeared a few paces north of the white haired Jotun. The creature hissed, before leaping at Johanna - its acid spewing maw seeking to cut right through her robes, and get at the girl beneath them.

Reaching the the Sorceress's barrier, Dal pirouetted in place, rounding on the two original worms, looking ready to dash away at a moment's notice. One of those worms was inching closer to him - movements jerking and slow, while the other was on the move toward Jo's position. Their fallen comrade had grown still, surrounded in a pool of its own blood. "...perhaps we can fix that." Dal finished, glancing over his shoulder toward the Sorceress.

The masked woman's head cocked, and she spread her arms, flicking her wrists to either side. "Abnormalities will be deleted." She stated, a hint of confusion entering her flat tone. Two new worms appeared, one on either side of Dal. "Zero, one, zero, one, zero, one, one, one...." Her hand raised itself over her head, and a second wall of scarlet energy formed - connected to the top edge of the first, it formed a scene to shield her from above.

The worms launched jets of acid toward Dal, one from either side. "...zero, one, one, zero, zero, zero, zero, one..." White supernatural energy began to fluctuate around the woman's body, as the low sounds of chanted numbers floated from her mask. "...zero, one, one, zero, one, one, zero, zero..." Her hand was raised toward Dal.

That couldn't be good.

* * *

A jacket struck the robot menacing Shin. "What!?" Shocked, by the attack, he dropped his knife. Silvery hands went to the outside of the black coat, which effectively covered his faceless face. "Who turned out the lights!?" His hands tugged futilely at the obstructing suit.

Sao, decked out in finery, surrounded by an aura of blue light, and gripping a blade of light, appeared. Unmindful of her dress, the swimmer threw herself into a slide-tackle. The smooth marble floor served as a perfect conductor for her improvised attack, and the robot found its feet knocked out from under it.

"Oh!" It let out a cry of surprise.

It's cry was quickly silenced, as Shin's right fist lashed out, striking the robot's jacket hidden face with a solid crunch. Jay joined the assault, swinging his baseball bat powerfully, and striking the torso of the machine as it dangled in the air. The robotic butler was sent flying toward the wall of red energy to the group's east, and took Jay's coat with it.

"The humanitttttty!" Was the robot's last word, as it passed through the red barrier, leaving ripples in its wake. It struck the side of the large structure beyond the barrier's edge.

Then exploded.

A suspiciously easy vic -!

"My husband!" A female computerized voice cried out, filled with as much sorrow as a computerized voice could muster. "You monsters!" A series of thumps sounded around the trio of Sao, Jay and Shin, as five new robots, all dressed identically to the one they had just defeated, landed on the marble floor. "In his memory -"

The apparent speaker was the furthest from the group and had - what appeared to be - long black hair hanging from the back of her (?) face-less head. "- we must Kung-Fu fight!"

At her words, the four silent robots surrounding them brought their silvery fingers together in strange handsigns, and red auras flared around their forms. White shards, sharp as blades, filled the air in front of butlers, before a strong gust of wind swept up from their backs. "Broken China!" Their computerized voices cried - before the fragments of bone china flew toward the group in the center of their formation.

"Tea bomb!" The female voice declared, moments after, as the long haired Ninja-Butler made a handsign of her own. Painted with gold crane motifs, a white china tea pot appeared beside her, and she gestured toward Sao. "Get her!" There was a pulse of force, and the tea pot flew toward the sword baring Undine.

If that struck anything, it would explode in scalding hot green-tea!

* * *

High heels clicking sharply, Diana charged down the second floor hallway before her, straight toward the twirling and short haired shape of Hie. At her wrist, the slim black rectangle that had replaced her camera followed her actions, producing a third-person representation of the area around the red-haired directress. Kohana followed in the girl's wake, tail and hair billowing out behind the tuxedo'd dog-boy.

Taking to the air, Diana's leg lashed out in a vicious arc toward Hie. Pale-green aura flared bright around her, the dancing girl was caught full in the chest by the girl's kick, and sent flying down the hallway. A grin appeared on Hie's face, as she quickly turned the momentum from the kick into a back-flip, and landed in a balanced crouch, sliding back another few paces on the marble floor.

She grinned, flowing smoothly back to her feet. A pair of daggers appeared in her hands, drawn from sheaths secreted on her person. "Behind you!"

Hissing, the white and gold snake threw itself from the edge of the banister on Diana's right, toward the girl's pale neck. Mouth wide, the creature's blue fangs glinted sharply – it was going to bite her!

Hie's pale green eyes snapped toward Kohana. Her cousin had been charging toward her, before Diana's kick had knocked her further down the hallway anyway. Hie fell into a fighter's crouch, pale aura dancing brightly around her, and she grinned.

"Oh Kooooooh," Her grin broadened, "Don't let the City Girl do all the hard work!" Hie's grip on her daggers tightened, "Let's have some fun."

* * *

In the void to the west of the Field of Honour; Michael Jones floated on a cushioned chair arm-chair.

Seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, the artist's hands moved with deft precision over the sketch pad resting on his lap. Around his tuxedo clad form, an aura of magic mint light glowed. The pencil in his hand deftly traced lines that shimmered into existence every few moments, as the artist quickly created sketch-after-sketch of action scenes from the Field.

Around him pieces of paper floated, suspended in the void by whatever force kept Michael himself aloft. Pencil sketches of straight, sure, lines filled the leaflets, of Professor Landry dancing with Shuyin in the normal Field of Honour; Dal standing in front of a smoking machine; Shin breaking free of her vine-prison; Diana flipping over Hie; Jay striking Zet with his bat; Dal, facing down a masked woman and surrounded by giant worms; a door, set into a wall, surrounded by words; Sao, sliding to tackle a jacket-covered figure, a sword clutched in her hand; Adeline, holding a different sword, surrounded by ranks of robot butlers.

Michael tore his latest sketch from his pad, throwing it into the void to join the countless others. This one featured Hannah, in her new dress, holding a length of sharpened stone as she charged forward. Professor Landry, still in her original black dress, held a sword loosely before herself, a hint of a smile on her features. In the background, a winged Professor Shuyin hovered cross-legged, slipping tea.

Such a normal school.

[Overcast]

Jay reached desperately for the robot as it flew toward the outer barrier, trying to catch hold of his jacket before it was too late. But his hand only met air and he could only stare horrified as his stylish piece of clothing was lost to the explosion that consumed the robot. He clenched his fist, his form pained by the loss of such fine style as the other robots came to mock him about how the last robot's death was just the wasted form of another mook. He turned upon them as they summoned their china winds to cut his form and he pointed his bat at the one with the pot,

"You're all gonna pay for this!"

He charged at her through the cutting mass at the ninja butler his bat held high ready to bash her robo brains in! He might not have been able to stop the teapot, but if he could kill the robot that was making it go without throwing it like a normal person that'd have to stop it. It was time to kill a family of robots! Which was fine because they don't have feelings like people.

[Girasol of Chaos]

The pathetic butler had exploded after passing through the barrier, obliterating Jay's fine coat. He seemed rather distressed about this. No sooner had the trio breathed victory more robots appeared. Of course.

Leading the group, the female wife..robot thing declared battle, and Shin was trigger-happy enough to oblige. The oni began to charge towards the two left bots, particularly the one closer to the middle of the group. Their hand signals were largely ignored until the bone china came flying at her.

Shin's ensuing roar was out of fury and pain. Dishware shards sliced several cuts along her face and her left arm, which shielded her eyes. Blood trickled down her face- some into her mouth, framing her beastly appearance. Shinobu was no longer keeping her illusion in her facial features- her skin was now a bright scarlet, hiding the cuts that riddled her body.

As the tea pot flew past her head she swung sideways, right to left, hoping to knock one of the robot mooks into the next. Even as exhausted as she was, she managed a snarl, "That's not kung-fu, idiots."

Shin hoped she was the last thing this half of the scrap metal brigade would see. An enraged combination of burning eyes, proud horns and bared tusks.

[Bard The 5th LW]

On his feet now, Sean stood cautiously facing the Puma. No quick movements, don't show much fear, and don't turn your back on it. That was what Animal Planet said, right? The thing had an aura though, so Sean doubted it was your run of the mill school campus puma. Astarte seemed to be giving some aid, but Jack was flipping his shit. Sean turned and kept an eye on the puma as it began to move towards the wall. Between Jack, Astarte, and himself, it wouldn't attack, right?

Relieve hit when the feline suddenly jumped into a mysterious. Actually, confusion hit, but relief came shortly after. Sean's clenched muscles immediately loosened and he let out a sigh of relief. Now he just had to-

-fuck flying green energy balls.

There was really no fighting these one's. Like, Sean at least figured he could probably ice the puma if necessary, but this was different. He quickly gripped the frenzied Jack by his arms and pulled the man down to the ground along with him. He also made sure to make Jack on the top (no innuendo intended*) on the off chance they were followed to the ground.

*it was totally intended

[SinrXIII]

"Damnit, damnit, damnit!"

Kohana had to resist the temptation to turn and dash; that snake was just going to have to be the redhead's problem while he played hardball with Hie. He kept moving towards her, daggers be damned. He almost hated not bringing his with him from the village, but who the hell needs a knife in the city, right?

Silly Kohana.

Hie was crouched low, and seemed considerably more dangerous than Kohana remembered her being. Not that he cared; they'd practically grown up kicking the shit out of each other, what's a few stab wounds between blood?

"Hie, I swear if you call me that one more time, I'm gonna kick your arms off!" He drops to the ground as he reaches Hie, hands planted under him. He swung his legs at her side; who knew native Americans could breakdance? His legs circle under his body, and he lifts hands to avoid knocking himself down.

"You hear me? Now cut it out or I swear I'm gonna skin you alive!"

[Steel Shadow]

Up above the field of honour, something was happening. A strange and disturbing chain of events was about to unfold, a chain that could easily lead to a terrible fate for all involved. It was early yet, and maybe that fate could be avoided, but it was picking up steam the longer things were left unchecked. Perhaps, to understand what was happening, it would be best to take a look inside the mind of one of the key movers taking everyone towards destruction:

Diana had a plan.

Naturally, there would always be those who'd try to stop her. For example, there was that snake that was currently launching itself at her neck. How rude they were, to get in the way of her process. A good Director needed co-operation and space to work if they were going to accomplish wonders! When would they learn this? Would she and her like ever really be understood? Was she doomed to live a life of lonely despair, her great works only recognised after her death? Could it be that- Hold that thought.

At this point in her inner monologue, Diana broke off with the wangsting and leaned back, moving herself out of the way of the snake's fangs. The summoned construct's head sailed past her, snapping it's jaws in frustration as it's first attack missed. But it wasn't done yet! Still in mid-leap, the fake-snake twisted, it's tail coming around to strike at the girl, the spike on it's tip shining menacingly.

Diana caught the tail with one hand absently, before swinging the entire creature around her head and tossing it off the balcony. She had more important things to focus on! This little distraction had already taken up to much time! Now where was she?

Hm. Blah blah blah, rude interruptions... blah blah, co-operation and space... blah blah, misunderstood... Tch, she couldn't quite remember. Why was she thinking all this anyways? She usually only got this melodramatic if she'd been on camera for an extended period. How strange.

In a normal person, the above train of thought would have led into the question "Where is my camera anyway?" smoothly and easily. If there is a definition of the word 'normal' that Diana fits, however, this writer has yet to hear it. As it was, the location of her camera never crossed her mind. Instead, she went right back to plotting, with some small complaints of no one understanding her work slipping in occasionally. In the interests of everyone's patience, these remarks will not be further illuminated in this post.

Kohana was on the attack, and complaining about his nickname! Hooray, a fun character trait to tease! This boded well for his future in Diana's films! Viewers liked that sort of thing. Sure, it was unfortunate for him, because now Di would never, ever forget it, but it added points to his on-screen value! Which reminded her...

This was supposed to be an interview! Hie would not escape her so easily! It would take more than going crazy, lighting up like a Christmas tree, and trying to cut her into ribbons to stop Diana Tear! It was time to get back to work.

She dashed forwards after the two cousins, unaware of the black aura around her enhancing her every move. Reasonable questions, like how did she keep her balance running in those high heels, were ignored! Letting Kohana attack, she stepped aside, hopefully taking her out of Hei's main field of vision, and gracefully scooted past them both, attempting to take advantage of Hei's dodge/counter/fall/??? to, um, test the girl's authenticity.

Which is to say, she yanked Hei's tail. Hard.

Hopefully done before the native American had even realised what had happened, Di slipped past the confrontation and further up the hall.

"So, you two know each other then!" She said brightly, turning to face the pair. "Where abouts are you from? Do you have anything you'd like to say to my fans?"

[Krylo]

Jetting up into the air on his wings, Dal allowed the jets of acid to fly harmlessly beneath him as he gracefully spun in midair to face down toward the masked woman, keeping the worms in his sight, as she began an... incantation? He didn't know what it would do, but it couldn't possibly be good with all this talk of deletions and abnormalities. Getting through her walls of flame, however, was a no go so that just left talking her down.

"Deleting yourself then, are you?" Dal asked, a confident grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Suicide seems a bit extreme, doesn't it? Sure, a human with powers like yours... well that's one in a million. Billion, maybe. Incredibly abnormal, I'd say..." he trailed off a bit, giving the words a moment to sink in, "But I'm sure that perfectly ordinary human girl is still in there somewhere. How about we just focus on getting her back?"

He stopped for a moment, as he flew backwards away from the wall of flame, to keep the worms in his vision, and distance himself from whatever was to come. "Oh wait, you wouldn't be speaking about Jo and I, would you? Couldn't be. After all, Jotun..." Silently wondering if Jo really were one, if they actually existed, Dal continued his attempt to throw doubt on the sorceress's actions, "Fae... we've been around since the beginning. As much a part of this world as the clouds in the sky. Downright normal compared to an 'abnormality' of your caliber."

All he could do now was hope that the hint of confusion he caught in her voice before meant what he thought it meant--that she was open to self-doubt and manipulation through it. If not... well he could still hope someone else would save his life.

[Arhra]

A worm suddenly appeared to her left, spraying acid as it lunged. Jo twisted, arms spread as she swished her bulky outer robe to hide the exact position of her body. Freed from her muffler, the giant frozen claws she'd transformed her hands into were revealed. The spray seemed to graze her, but then the worm was tangled in the coat, Jo dropping her arm to trap it in a headlock. Plunging the talons of her free hand into the rubbery ball segments of its body, she held it for a moment, until the resistance ceased, then let it drop.

"You still haven't answered my question." she said, as if murderous worms were beneath her notice.

She adjusted her robe, now with two holes on the left side. A glimpse of something red was replaced by blue fabric.

"Strange woman, Marisa Grimaldi. You will be defeated." Jo said, in a fair imitation of the masked sorceress. She turned her head and brushed a pinched ice claw through her hair. Back at the firewall, Jo's copy dissolved into snowflakes.

The jotun exploded into motion, charging towards the other worm that was moving towards her, her footsteps a staccato series of clicks on the marble floor. As the worm drooled and worked up another mouthful of deletion acid, she tossed down a hair and vanished into the cloud of mist it created.

The acid punched a hole through the mist, the tear streaking downwards of droplets of it continued their work. Jo sprang out of the tattered cloud to the worm's right, another Jo exiting the cloud in an identical fashion to its left.

The two Jos covered the remianing distance and then suddenly swerved back in raising a splayed claw towards each other like mirror images. The pair thrust their palms together, clapping the worm's head in between the heavy claws.

Not pausing, the Jos ran on to flank the next worm in closer to the sorceress, intending to split up and repeat the same tactic on the sorceress herself.

[Astral Harmony]

Astarte didn't even have the time necessary to make a split second decision. She had hastily drawn her entire wrap around her arms and attempted to block the green energy ball, unable to muster the intelligence to attempt to dodge.

Hopefully, this green energy ball didn't follow logic, pretty much like everything else in this fight didn't follow logic. None of it made sense to her and that just made Astarte wish it all would end. Maybe the damn energy ball would knock her out and when she woke up, this silly battle would all be over.

[Dracorion]

As he prepared to throw a third air bubble at Shuyin, the magic violently rejected Jack's body. Dizziness overtook him and he staggered where he stood. Weakness came over him from overexerting his magic like that.

He was somewhat pleased to see Hannah on her knees because of his hits, but he would much have preferred to hit Shuyin instead of her, even if it did help Jay win their irrelevant duel.

Unfortunately, he didn't have long to bask in the minor victory, as something big flew into him from nowhere and he slammed into one of the tree planters along with the thing that crashed into him, which he now saw was a Canadian projectile. To make matters worse, a goddamn puma fell from the tree and landed in front of him and Sean, looking pissed.

Cut to black.

When Jack could see again, the world changed. The sky became a mix of colors, and the Field became black and brown marble, and the trees were gone. But more than anything, he noticed that... his clothes... were... Who the hell put me in a monkey suit?

He would've stopped to admired his black tuxedo with a matching bowtie and a golden vest over the shirt. For some reason he felt like he was going to the prom. He would've taken the time to vandalize the outfit, if the still angry puma hadn't decided to grab his attention again.

Jack tried to stand, but ended up just falling and sitting against the pillar behind him. He saw Sean next to him in a white tux, and Sao and the mummy girl behind the puma, wearing equally fancy dresses. And then there was the whole field transforming. A teleportation spell? No... it seemed to retain the same basic structure as the Field. They hadn't actually moved somewhere else. He didn't know any Barrier Fields like this, so... Plane shifting?

He decided it was silly to worry about such things when there was a hungry puma looking at you in a bad way, a black aura surrounding the animal, that he couldn't even read properly. A familiar? In any case, he wasn't in any condition to do anything about it. Goddammit, he had to think of something. Sean said something, but Jack didn't listen as he gulped.

Fortunately, Astarte took advantage of the anima being concentrated on them to stab it in the back. Before her hit could land, though, the puma ran off, into and through a wall that had appeared out of nowhere. That didn't mean they were in the clear, though, as three little balls of energy appeared from the spot it disappeared. Two of them headed for him and Sean, and before he could muster up the energy to do anything, the Canadian grabbed him and pulled him to the ground.

Goddammi-!