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

[Krylo]

She wasn't responding to speech. It was a gambit, Dalbach knew that, but he had really hoped things wouldn't have to escalate to violence--after all, for all he knew, she was only like this because of what he did. Mortal or not, white or not, it didn't sit right with him to murder, or allow the murder of, a woman when her actions were as much his fault as her own.

Unfortunately, it looked like Jo was of murderous intent and far closer, and in danger as well. He had to try to stop any fatal blows from either of them. Or at least he felt he did.

Dropping from the sky, Dal's feet landed on the ground lightly, acid hissing through the air above him, passing through the space he had been in moments before, and before the worms could get off another spit, he charged forward, his wings beating and propelling him forward like a rocket along the ground as he shot out to the side of the firewalls, and then zigged back in toward the taloned Jo. Hunkering down he put his shoulder forward, meaning to smash bodily into the jotun's ice clone and send her stumbling into the the white. Hopefully knocking them both down.

[SinrXIII]

Kohana blinked, head snapped to Diana.

"What?!" His ears laid back against his head, and he growled low.

"What the hell would I have to say to your fans right now? If you didn't notice, I'm a little busy trying to stop my cousin from going crazy!"

He stepped towards the redhead, shaking his fist, when he heard Hie's "Bombs away!" He turned towards her just in time to have her dagger skim his shoulder, ripping his jacket and causing a spurt of blood to shoot from his wound. He snarled, hand clapping over his shoulder.

"Fffffffffuuuuuuuuck!" The fur on his tail bristled, and he glared at Hie, fingers twitching.

Then, a claymore dropped to the ground in front of her, and began to take on the form of a black dragon. Then, Diana was yelling at him again.

"Koh, this is really, really important! It's the most important thing ever!! I am going to tell you to do something and you have to do it. No hesitating, no questions, no getting stabbed, you get me?!? Everything hinges on this! It is without a doubt the most vital instruction you have received! Ever!! In your life!!! So I hope you are listening!! I'm going to tell you now, are you ready? Ok, here we go!!" She took a breath. "Oh, incidentally, what are you two studying here? PE?... Right! Listen close! The plan is: Follow me!!!" And with that, she turned and ran down the hall.

Kohana opened his mouth to object, but looked back at the dragon hissing at Hie's feet, and muttered under his breath before taking off after the redhead.

"You got a plan, girlie? Like, a real one? Cause if not, I'm really not sure why we're runnin' away!"

[Teal Mage]

A teapot hurtled toward Jay.

Thinking quickly, the baseball player kicked his dress boot into the air. Deftly snatching it up with his throwing arm, Jay fell into a pitcher’s stance.

"Here comes the wind up!" The youth self-narrated, arm tensed behind his neck. Chartreuse light flared, as Jay slammed his now shoeless foot down - "And the pitch!" He launched the shoe forward!

It looked like it would strike the pot head-on.

Trusting in his own accuracy, Jay quickly turned his attention back to Teanne. Repeating his motions from before, Jay kicked his remaining boot high into the space before him. Hands snapped to his bat’s grip and he fell into a batter's stanc -

Tumbling end-over-end, Jay’s boot struck Teanne’s pot with a brittle crash. Green liquid, filled with foam and pouring thick gouts of steam, exploded outward. It formed a rapidly expanding sphere, several times the pot's size. Already close to the baseball player, that explosion's edge crashed down on Jay's side, dousing the young man in scalding, pressurized heat.

Thrown off balance, Jay suddenly found himself falling. The tide of scalding heat carried him to the tiles below, cutting him off from air for precious seconds, and threatening to rip his bat from his grasp. Water crashed to the tiles around him, throwing liquid and steam in all directions. White coils of vapour rose lazily from the baseball player's form, as the tea slowly spread itself out.

The slippered feet of Sao Opallios arrived a moment later.

"I'm not done!" Teanne's computerized voice declared, heralding the launch of two new tea bombs. Twin pulses of force sent hurtling toward the students.

Teanne herself swept into the bomb’s wake, black hair billowing at her back, and steak knife glinting in the silvery digits of her dominant hand. It appeared that she'd reach Jay and Sao shortly after her newest set of bombs had exploded.

* * *

The faint whine of her whirling bandages filled the air around Astarte, as the fire-haired mummy advanced on the prone form of the puma. Next to her amber aura, the stains that marred her dark dress were almost invisible, obscured by contrast in colors. Similarly, the bright yellow of her aura seemed to wash out her skin tone; at a distance, she looked pale as a corpse.

White tuxedo ruffled, Sean cautiously moved to flank his classmate. Orange energy, tightly controlled, began to build around his frame, as he slowly gathered his demonic power; faint sparkles of ice appearing in the air around him.

"Is it dead?" Jack called, still near the south-west pillar. On his knees, the drained Wizard was busy divesting his suit and tie.

"Nah, it's still alive," Astarte called, standing over the mountain lion. Indeed, it was clearly still breathing. "Seriously, where the hell did all these things even come from?" She asked, perhaps rhetorically, "Y'think they're actually Shuyin's students or something?"

Expression impassive, Sean kept whatever thoughts he had to himself. Instead, the pale Canadian Sean raised his hands. Bitter winds began to stir the edges of his white dress-clothes and a corona of orange began to build around his forearms. Around him, glittering motes of frozen air multiplied.

With no response forth-coming, Astarte clapped her cheeks, nodding firmly.

"This!" Her drill picked up speed, as the amber of her aura became a raging inferno. "Is!" The fire-head drew back her arm, angling it at the puma’s hind flank, "Love and Fighteology!"

She thrust forward - !

* * *

Blood spurted into the gold tinted air.

"Ah!" Letting out a yelp of pained surprise, Hannah stumbled backward. Her right hand flew to her face, covering her damaged nose. Red fluid leaked through her fingers, and the blond let out a frustrated growl. A perfectly linear diagonal cut had shorn the fabric at her dress’s hem, revealing her ankles to the gold tinted air. In her left was a shattered haft of a stone spike. Black flecks suddenly filled her vivid blue aura, before she vanished.

Hannah reappeared, panting, beside the floating form of Professor Shuyin, several feet away from her foe.

"Excellent!" Standing on the opposite side of the tower’s platform, Professor Landry spread her bare arms wide. "I am pleased to report that your skills have not suffered under two years of Shuyin’s fanclub!" Her black dress, unlike Hannah’s gown, remained pristine. The Professor brought her hands together in a decisive clap. "In fact, your martial arts have improved tenfold!" Her finger snapped toward Hannah, the silver knuckles upon the extended hand glinting in the gold light. "B+!"

Greens eyes widening, Hannah staggered back, incredulous. Righting herself, "Wha - !" Nose bleed forgotten, she dashed her bloodied palm through the air. "I'm not your student any more!" She snapped her right hand to her necklace, "And," Hannah tore the necklace free, aura flaring blue, as the necklace began to writhe and enlarge, "I don’t need your approval!"

"Nonsense!" Professor Landry gestured dismissively, tossing her auburn hair. Sparkles filled the gold tinted air, "Once a student, always a student!" Her hand moved to her face to straighten her glasses; only to realize that she'd thrown them to Adeline before the battle began.

"You -" Hannah's necklace, now nearly as tall as the girl herself, had transformed into a shape reminiscent of a Japanese longbow. "- horrible woman!" Her bow was levelled at Professor Landry, and she brought the broken haft of her stone spike to it – pulling it back on an imaginary string.

At Hannah’s side, the many winged azure haired Professor floated calmly. In the course of the woman’s exchange, he’d barely even cracked his golden eyes open, and seemed content to sip his tea quietly.

"Professor Shuyin may have been defanged by whatever it is you do, but!" Her aura curled and swirled around the broken rock shaft. As if it was organic, the haft of dark brown stone was lengthening. Slowly, the stone spear was reforming. "I can't be beaten so easily!"

Professor Landry merely grinned.

* * *

"- Love and Fighteology!"

Golden brown eyes snapped open.

Chunks of brown and black marble sprayed into the air, as Astarte's drill punched solidly into the stone tiles in front of her. Uncoiling in a rush of bestial strength, the Puma had flowed – almost quicker than Astarte's eyes could follow – into a great leap, narrowly escaping her strike.

A torrent of frigid air, snow flurries and ice shards slammed into the Puma's face. Letting out a yowl of indignation and pain, the mountain lion's head was snapped back by the force of Sean's charged blizzard, and knocked from the air.

Thrown backward, the Puma seemed to turn a flip in the air, before landing firmly on its paws several paces back. Its tail flickered mere inches from the firewall. Glittering flecks of ice had formed on its face, interspersed within larger patches of frost. One of its eyes appeared to have been frozen shut.

A low growl escaped the creature's throat. Its one good eye snapped toward Astarte.

Pale green aura flaring, the creature surged forward, throwing itself into the air once more. A heavy paw lashed out before it, the sharpened claws at its tip aiming to rip open Astarte's pale throat. Then, it would trap the girl beneath its greater body weight - and finish her off.

It was rather unfortunate for the mountain lion that Astarte was undead. Even if her throat was torn out, she'd survive. In fact, the danger of a broken bone from the Puma’s on-coming pounce was far greater than what was posed by its darting claw.

But even magic mountain lions were pretty dumb.

* * *

Shin dripped blood.

Short by female standards, her dark hair hung around her face in blood and sweat matted strands. Illusion dissolved, she had returned to her Oni form. Her kimono, shredded by countless knives, appeared to be even tighter across her chest than before, if possible. Against her scarlet flesh, the cuts that covered her body were all but invisible.

Around her were countless fragments of china. Some tipped with blood – most, just shattered. Giving off periodic grunts of pain, Shin plucked more of the shards from her body, dropping them dismissively to join their brothers below.

Darkness flickered around her for an instant, a faint peal of laughter reaching her ears. Without warning, a wellspring of heat opened within her. Spreading outward, she felt it suffuse her limbs – as if her blood was on fire. Though she could not see it herself, her aura had become a shade more yellow. Slowly, the blood leaking from her body stopped.

And the cuts covering her began to recede. More shards fell to the tiles – pushed free by Shin’s body, as it healed itself.

How…fortunate.

* * *

White dress swirling around her ankles, the Sorceress Marisa rounded on Johanna's clone. Her white gloved hands came up in a guard before her breasts, as she assumed a stance that appeared, vaguely, martial. Her white aura pulsed and flowed around her, as the soft sound of her binary chant escaped her mask.

"…zero, one, one, one, one, zero, zero, one."

Jo surged forward, high heels carrying her straight for Marisa's masked form. The white haired girl's talon-hand scythed out, glinting gold in the Field's ambient light. Responding quickly, Marisa's own hand snapped out, striking Jo's wrist. The parry revealed deceptive strength on the blond Sorceress's part, as she – almost surgically – knocked aside her assailant’s strike. Slippered feet flowing forward coolly, she was suddenly inside the Jotun's guard. Her second hand thrust toward her opponent's gut -

- before a dazzling explosion of pure light erupted behind her. The incandescence, from the newest firewall, cast everything in nearly blinding white, collapsing the myriad of fragmented shadows created by the Field's ambient glow into single monoliths of darkness.

Calling the bluff of her Sorceress Foe, the original Johanna had slammed headfirst into the firewall before her. Aura – now a shade more yellow – flared bright against the multiple shafts of lights that speared it. White and black pixels blew backward into the air behind her, falling thickly as snow in a blizzard. Soon, flecks of red joined the mass.

That was probably bad.

On the opposite side of the chaotic show of light, Dal arrived in a rush. The Fae slammed hard into the second Jo's back, sandwiching the girl between Marisa’s thrusting palm and his own shoulder. Through Marisa was driven a step back, and her chant had stopped, it appeared that Jo's clone had taken the brunt of the damage.

Still, Marisa was backed into a corner - literally. She stood a pace or so from where her two Firewalls connected.

Victory was in sight!

* * *

"The plan is: Follow me!"

The mist shrouded hallway blew passed Diana, as the redhead raced to the east. In her hand, the curved silver shape of a dagger glinted sharply. A step behind, and just off to her side, Kohana kept pace. It appeared that his shoulder wound was far from enough to slow the tailed youth down.

Far behind them already, Hie raced after the pair. The short haired girl had wasted precious seconds sputtering indignantly at her apparent dismissal, and now was forced to play catch-up. Though she was gaining ground, Kohana and Diana had a very comfortable lead.

As they neared the sharp turn that connected the North-Hallway to the East one, six figures seemed to resolve from the mist, perhaps intent on blocking their path.

The five closest were identical – clad in black tuxedoes, silver skinned and slim. In the low lighting of the hallway, they had been all but invisible from distance. Behind the group, a sixth - pale - figure lurked in the stairwell that connected the first floor to this one. Wrapped in a bulky robe of fur, and with snow-white hair, there was something familiar about her...

Johanna?

Whoever it was, it did not appear the ninja-like figures had noticed her. The five all faced toward the quickly advancing Diana and Kohana.

As one, the closest three shifted their stances, spreading their legs for balance. Silvery hands folded together before them, as red auras flared around them. "Broken China!" Shards of bone materialized around them, suspended in the air by supernatural power.

Wind swept up behind the robots, blowing forward in a powerful blast. The knife-like shards were swept up, turning the gusts into a torrent of jagged daggers, racing forward to meet Diana and Kohana.

Was this all part of Diana's plan!?

* * *

Blackness flared, before Johanna was thrown back from the wall of flames. The Jotun struck the marble floor, her thick robes cushioning the impact as she slid and rolled across the eastern platform, stopping just shy of the edge.

Around her body, a translucent red liquid began to pool.

The white light from Marisa's firewall had corroded her pale flesh like acid, and reducing what it touched to steadily bleeding masses of tissue. The bulky sleeves of her robe had shielded much of her face, but the damage had been particularly bad to on her scalp. Her white hair looked like it had been hacked with knives, and shaved in places. Parts of her head were entirely bald and bleeding profusely. While others sported uneven strands of white. Shallower gashes had managed to find their way to her face - forgetable, in comparison.

Her hands and feet had faired worse, each limb was surrounded by their own, slowly spreading, puddle of blood. Shallow cuts ranged up her forearms and ankles, where lucky shafts of light had found their way past the edges of her costume, but much of her body remained untouched. It appeared that her bulky robes had protected her.

Except in the side.

The hole created by Marisa's summoned worm had allowed the knives of light to flood inside, raking deep gashes in a crazed starburst on Johanna's back. Formed by the worm's acid, the original wound had enlarged and deepened, and was now bleeding profusely – supplying much of the pool's blood. White shapes of bone were visible, just faintly.

Oddly, none of the wounds hurt – unless she tried to move them.

Her amber aura danced and swirled over the damaged skin – only the supernatural make-up of her body – Living Ice – kept her alive. Her translucent blood was being restored, nearly as quickly as it was draining.

Given time, her body would recover.

But it was a gruesome sight, at that moment.

[Astral Harmony]

"I!" Astarte shouted, glaring up at the puma.

"Have had!" Her drill stopped.

"Enough!" The wrappings returned to her body.

"Of you!" Fists clenched, Astarte charged that son of a bitch. She couldn't jump with all the power of an anime character, but she was intent to try. And with her aura flaring, she at least looked like an anime character ready to pulverize her foe.

But, even if she looked ready, she didn't feel ready. She was exhausted, mentally and physically exhausted. It was her anger and desperation that spurred her into action. She had no choice but to try and finish it off if possible. She was simply too tired and pissed off to run away.

[Girasol of Chaos]

Somewhere in plucking herself free from the procelain shards the bleeding had slowed. This small detail wasn't really noticed until it seemed her consciousness was in question, mostly losing vision for an instant. Laughter followed, and Shin's...blood? innards? the oni had a hard time telling, but fire contained within was painful. Even her cries of pain were getting more pathetic, downgrading to a loud "Auurgh". In a rising act of stubbornness, the sweaty, bloody and probably stinking ogre stood up to join combat again. Whatever hurt *now* was on the inside and wouldn't leave.

Wanting a distraction from the current pain, Shin collected herself and trusty kanabo to charge. She looked up enough in time to see the robot launch two more tea bombs. Being dismissed as a threat re-sparked the oni's rage, allowing for another roar to announce her return to the fight. Mustering her strength she willed her legs to propel her into a sprint.

A small, calculating part of her brain concluded that she did not have the energy to fight the robot herself. Leave that to the people who are still very much alive.

Instead Shinobu cut in front of Sao and body blocked her, striking at the incoming bomb with her club. It was rather late, so the ogre braced herself for the remaining wounds to cauterize. Instincts overridden, she refused to close her eyes to ensure she could soak the attack. It was better than her new friend getting hit.

At least she'd smell nice.

[Riin Whitewind]

"Jay!" Horror crossed over the swimmer's face, before determination steeled her features. Casting it from her, the sword dissolved into harmless sparks, drifting upwards on flash-heated air. She charged forward into the shallow, spreading pool of still-hot tea, clenching her teeth against whimpering. Not that anyone would have been able to hear it. For his part, Jay seemed to have come to terms with his new set of injuries very quickly.

The terms being, of course, screaming.

Her slippers were undoubtedly ruined by the tea, not made to withstand such a soaking. She kicked them off before they could rub against the already-reddening skin on the bottom of her feet. Brilliant blue light flaring around her as her aura spiked, a kneeling Sao hooked Jay's arm over her shoulders, hissing in pain at the heat radiating off of him.

"Shin! Cover me!" Fighting for traction on the slick floor, Sao could not spare the time to fight Teanne as well. Muscles straining with the effort, she lifted Jay's prone form to her side and began to drag him away. "Work with me, here." His steaming, sodden clothes raised more painful heat blisters on her shoulders and side, forcing her to relinquish her grip.

"Fuck!" She caught him before he crumpled to the floor, hooking her arms under his shoulders. She resumed her drag, with better results - but she still wasn't making much progress, and it sounded like Teanne was pressing her assault. A deep, throaty roar signaled Shinobu's intervention in the matter.

"We could use some help, here!" The singer pitched her voice to carry, sending the request for aid over the battlefield. She didn't expect a cavalry to miraculously show itself, but surely one of her classmates could be spared from their melee long enough to help carry Jay over to her medipack. And if not..? Well. She wouldn't waste the muscles being an avid swimmer had given her.

Her purpose giving her strength, Sao glowed like a small, blue sun. The light spread down as she dragged, laboriously pulling the young man away from further tea-related adventures. Jay began to shine as well, rivulets of healing light pouring out of her aura to sink below and insulate him from his still-steaming finery. Even removed from the tea blast radius, his own clothes were attempting to work against the both of them, the drenched material keeping scalding heat over his already-injured form.

Once she reached her pack, she could start serious treatment. Until then, she had the litany of curses and pain from Jay to keep her company.

[Overcast]

To Jay there were two ways to deal with pain. Explosively or stoically. Now when it came to basic physical pain, like getting your ass beat, scraping your knee, or something like that Jay was usually one to adopt the latter. Getting burnt on the other hand typically made him respond as the former. As such when the mass of tea fell upon him he responded as follows,

"FUCK! Shit, fucking hot! Why the fucking, Jesus, some fuck dammit! Shit! AUGH!"

Which were the prime details that poor Sao got to deal with as she helped him out of the blast zone. Altogether it wasn't very helpful, but at least he was fighting the pain just well enough not to hamper her moving him. Still the damned worst thing about liquids was they were very absorbent. So when he was out of the worstpart his clothes were still being a bit of a bastard to him. As such he found it absolutely necessary to fight through his pain as best he could under the healing light and remove a part of the equation.

His outer garments.

How Sao would deal with the fact that Jay was ripping himself out of his clothes in front of her would hopefully be in a very medical fashion. Because by the time he had finished he was down to his still dry boxers, trying desperately to get up and finish this fight, and yet still responding quite fervently to his injuries.

He could not let some no-name ass-clown robo-ninja get him down. He would finish this if it was the last thing he did.

[Steel Shadow]

"You got a plan, girlie? Like, a real one? Cause if not, I'm really not sure why we're runnin' away!"

"We are not running away! She had damn well better be following us!" Diana responded hotly. "And of course I have a plan! I always have a plan! Everything that has happened in this battle since we first began has been according to my design!" She raised a triumphant fist, the camera bangle dangling from her wrist glinting with ominous light. "Though I did not expect those guys," she continued, looking ahead to where their path took a sharp right.

Robots stood in their path. Robots wearing tuxedos, looking fancy. Diana snorted contemptuously. They were nothing more than mooks, pure and simple. Any longer than 30 seconds spent on them would be a waste of time.

Well, warm up fights were a part of the process... Sometimes the adrenaline flow needed to be ramped up. Keep the beat flowing, the pulse pumping. Demonstrate the abilities of the characters under pressure, without making them seem overpowered or lightweights.

Really, sparing 30 seconds wouldn't be so bad...

It was doable!

And...

She could...

...

Argh! No! No no no no no. She couldn't do it. She couldn't! Something was pulling her onwards, and that pull was getting stronger with every step she took. There was something she needed to film ahead, something she just had to get to, no matter how terrifying it was!

...Terrifying? That was an odd word to...

No time! She had to get there, right now! No hesitating, no slowing down, no delays, damnit! She'd just have to trust that Kohana and Hie could handle themselves for this one.

The robots attacked. "Broken China!" A wall of very sharp edges raced towards the charging duo. Diana just kept on charging, as her long ignored survival instincts just plain gave up on her and pulled out a newspaper to look for a job where their skills would be appreciated.

"Don't." Step - Step - Step - Shift -

"Try!" Lift up to railing - Foot down - Step Step Step -

"To Stop!" Twist - Jump - Fly -

"ME!"

Diana's lack of athletic and gymnastic ability has been mentioned before, and the Camera Girl showed as much regard to this weakness as she had at any other time it was brought up, which is to say none. Kohana had a few moments to wonder how freaking crazy this girl really was as she nimbly leapt up onto the railing and ran along the edge of the balcony, before she coiled her legs and leapt aside, jumping for the eastern balcony/hallway.

Di herself, already knowing exactly how crazy she was, didn't have to wonder as she landed on the other side with a graceful tap as her heels set down, spinning a little to bleed off excess momentum (well her aura couldn't very well have her smack into the opposite wall, could it?). Her hand lashed out as she spun, sending her stolen dagger hurling towards the crowd of robots, before she kicked off again, sprinting down the corridor at, if anything, a faster pace than she had been before. Hopefully that'd slow them down long enough for her to reach her destination.

"Koh! Hie! If you let those guys slow you down I'm not going to forgive you!"

[Dracorion]

Finally rid of the tie, Jack wobbled unsteadily on the spot, as his head spun from rising. He waited for the dizziness to wear off, then he started walking slowly toward Sean and Astarte as they prepared to finish the puma.

The animal dodged Astarte's attack, but not the Canadian's ice attack, and it was knocked back into the air. The creature recovered, and even though Sean had left his mark, it still looked ready for more. It leapt at Astarte.

Jack didn't think. He concentrated, aura flaring, feeling the air rippling and swirling around his right fist, taking shape. He threw the fist at the puma, the air bubble flying straight at the mountain lion.

The knowledge that Astarte was a mummy and would probably be unharmed from the puma's attack seemed to have slipped his mind.

[Krylo]

Dal flowed around to stand next to the injured Jo clone, one hand against her back to help steady the ice 'giant' after having done more damage than he had intended with his charge. That was the least of his worries for Johanna at the moment, however.

Marisa was a skilled martial artist, judging by the way she moved, and the way she knocked away Jo's attack... and Jo was not. It was an imbalanced fight, and the quarters were close enough that Marisa could take advantage of that fact even with Dal there. Not to mention the fire walls all around them... one wrong move and...

Dal's eyes darted to the eviscerated form of the other Jo before glancing back toward the clone next to him for just a moment to speak, "Listen, I can handle this. She's too good for you. Go make sure the others are okay."

With that he withdrew the hand that had been helping to steady her, and adjusted his stance toward Marisa, his empty arm stretched out behind him, the rapier held in front of him at a slight angle, his knees slightly bent as he rested on the balls of his feet. A duelist's stance, that matched the serious expression on his face. He was ready, he just hoped that Jo took his advice, or this may get even messier than it was already.