Magical Teacher Professor Landry! - Episode 2: In Polite Company

[Dracorion]

The first thing Jackson noticed as the duels began was his confirmation that Jay was taking Hannah far too lightly. She may not be an expert, but the girl clearly knew how to fight.

The second thing he noticed, was that Hannah's aura was black where it had been blue the day before. That didn't even make any sense. And as with Professor Landry, he couldn't read it. He had no idea auras could change, or why.

Before he could begin to fatho anything, though, the center of the Field erupted in black light so bright he had to shield his eyes, and the music started, as did Professors Landry and Shuyin.

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WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCK

He held his head as his senses were assaulted by gibberish. His aura reading was going haywire and it was giving him a headache.

After a moment, he stood up straight again and took a deep breath. That was... goddamn, the headache and the gibberish were making it hard to think. He tried his best to watch the duels without looking directly at the column of black light. The Professors' insane dance apparently included trying to disable each other by any means possible, he noted, as Shuyin threw a freaking dart at Landry.

Said dart grazed Adeline Fletcher's neck and struck the tree behind her. Now that was just blatant irresponsibility on the part of the teachers and the school, letting students witness duels like this without proper protection.

"Are you okay?" He asked, approaching Ms. Fletcher. "I don't believe it." He muttered, inspecting the tree trunk to find that it was a wooden dart or a knife.

"This school used to be on the far end of eccentric, what with Landry and the Grim Reaper and having duels on a big slab of stone." He said, apparently to no one but himself, though Adeline could hear. "But now it's just officially fucking crazy."

"I will trade like a kidney or a lung for something that makes sense in this place, honest to God."

With a resigned sigh, he turned toward Adeline. "Can you tell how screwed they are?" He inquired, nodding toward Jay and his group.

[Teal Mage]

"Gorgeous, I think we're out of our league here..." Astarte breathed, green eyes wide as she watched Professor Shuyin and Landry begin their dancing duel. Like the Mummy held in his arms, Gorgeous too watched the pair of Teacher's performance - though his expression was impassive. He didn't reply immediately.

Soon, Professor Landry and Shuyin fell back into their starting position. Movements slower and more controlled, the pair moved into the steps of a more traditional ballroom dance. They seemed to be following the sounds of the string heavy music that was suddenly filling the field. Above that, the voice of a woman still sounded, now higher and more delicate in its wordless tone.

"Hrmph." His gaze returned to Astarte, not looking half as impressed as the Mummy did. "We can do better than that." Gorgeous stated firmly, "You've nothing to fear Astarte," His smile was dazzling as the sun itself, "your beauty alone would steal the show."

* * * * * *

Near Astarte and Gorgeous, a large rectangle of stone had risen from the nearly formed hole in the Field of Honor; it was something like five feet high. Slim, faceless, metallic figures were arranged in three semi-circular rows atop it, each carrying an instrument in their delicate silvery hands. Violins and cellos seemed most prominent, but a handful of castanets, drums and arrays of silvery chimes were also visible – in addition to a grand piano set in the arrangement's center.

A woman, tall, with fine, straight, white-pink hair and pale skin stood at the stage's front, it was from her that the wordless melody emanated. Luxurious red fabric covered her from the waist down, taking the form of a ball gown. Above it, silvery panels, cut into random asymmetric shapes, formed something that was best described as a cross between a solar panel, a suit of armor and a broken mirror. It appeared she was trying to pass it off as sleeveless top. Long black gloves made of gossamer-like cloth covered her hands, but left her middle fingers and thumbs bare. The gloves ran up her arms, ending in jagged silver spikes just below her shoulders. Oversized square-lensed sunglasses dominated the woman's face, completing her strange outfit, while obscuring her eyes.

She suddenly stopped singing, snapping her fingers. Behind her, the orchestra of faceless robots halted their music.

"Rah, rah, ramamah!" Voice high, the woman started to sing again - almost using words this time. Behind her, the robots in the orchestra picked up the cue, starting to play once more - the string instruments sounding distinctly distorted, as if a synthesizer was modifying them.

And so, the real song began.

* * * * * *

"Maybe," Astarte began, seeming uncertain as she was once more guided by Gorgeous's strong hands into the dance's starting position. "we should let our auras flare as well?" The mummy's green eyes rested on Gorgeous' own clear blue ones, seemingly echoing their owner's uncertainty. Behind them, the bizarre dressed woman snapped her fingers, beginning a new song - one that Astarte, being a club girl, would clearly recognize.

Gorgeous frowned. "Let our..." Understanding dawned on his handsome features, and his expression turned into a conspiratorial grin. "I had no idea you were into stuff like that." Black supernatural light flickered at the edges of Gorgeous' figure. The arm clinched around Astarte's waist seemed to pulse, before going firmer - muscles becoming more defined. Simultaneously, Gorgeous's other clothes seemed to bulge - growing tighter, as the well built young man's muscles became more defined.

He was flexing.

"Just follow my lead, ignore the music for a moment." Gorgeous instructed, allowing his muscles to soften as he took the first step. "One..." The youth counted slowly, from one to three, matching the numbers to a simple sequence of steps - hopefully simple enough for Astarte to follow. It wasn't that difficult!

But could she do it?

* * * * * *

Hannah's thrown peg missed Dean's face as the brown haired Dragon Rider twisted his body. Some distance behind Dean, the thrown object struck the newly rising wall at the Field's edge, falling into a patch of grass with a faint clatter. It was probably safe to ignore.

Leaping forward, Hannah swept her staff low along the ground. Dean reacted quickly, jumping away from the slim length of wood and landing firmly on one of the field's winding cement paths. Attack failing, Hannah turned the momentum of the swing into a spin, putting a few paces more distance between herself an Dean, as she fell into a wary guard.

"Yer good." Dean admitted, a grin spreading on his face, "This’ll be fun." Tightening his grip on the two-handed longsword in his hand, Dean stepped forward, lashing out in a vicious overhand chop.

Hannah slipped back a pace, narrowly avoiding the strike.

Anticipating the dodge - such as it was - Dean quickly took a second step, closing the distance between the fighters. The sword's tip wavered momentarily, as the brown haired jock altered the attack's motion. Reacting quickly, Hannah shifted her staff to her side - dropping her remaining pair of gardening pegs to the lawn below in the process - in time to block Dean's side-sweep attack.

Holding the staff with two hands, the wooden blade of Dean's sword cradled in the pole's center, Hannah threw the Jock beside her a grin.

"We're gonna redefine fun."

Her bandage clad foot moved in a rush, lashing out in an unbalancing kick aimed for the side of Dean's ankle.

She seemed intent on tripping him!

...how strange.

* * * * * *

Zet's fist connected solidly with Jay's face. The base baseball playing ring-leader of Team Landry was thrown back, falling heavily to the concrete path behind him. Smirking, Zet crossed his arms and widened his stance, waiting for the inevitable.

Jay let out a loud groan of pain, before pulling himself to his feet.

"Nice fucking cover you pricks!"

Behind his dark sunglasses, Zet's grin broadened.

"Come get it," Grumbling his frustration, Jay took a batting stance - a few paces away from Zet. "big boy." The baseball player offered - clearly waiting for Zet to enter his batting range.

The muscular youth let out a short, condescending, chuckle. "Why don't you just give up Pee-Wee?" Zet asked, offering a heavy, dismissive, gesture in Jay's direction. "You're out of your league here." He grinned, showing off his twin rows of perfect white teeth again, "And my next punch will really hurt."

If Jay had been able to see Auras, the raging corona around Zet would have worried him.

* * * * * *

Shin feinted, driving Al back a few meters. Red irises filling with a nearly predatory hunger at the faint sensation of fear she felt from her foe, Shin charged after him. Her club gleamed in the afternoon sun as she brought it forward before her breasts. Knitting both hands together on the back of the weapon's spiked head, the Oni closed the distance between herself and her prey, and shoved her club toward him.

This time, Al didn't retreat.

Mirroring the Oni's grip, Al's hands came up - a blue aura fluctuating around his shoulders - and caught the spiked head of Shin's club. His expression surprisingly serene behind his glasses - despite the spots of dark liquid that appeared on the spikes in his hands, the red-haired youth's muscles tensed as he started to push back on the Oni's weapon. Al's bare feet sunk deeper into the dirt of the flower patch beneath both combatants, as he shut down the momentum Shin had gained from her charge completely.

Cooly, the young man bore his weight forward, forcing Shin's arms to contract as the scant distance between them terminated.

His leg rose in a power-filled movement, lashing out in a vicious kick toward Shin's shin - easily strong enough to knock her leg out from under her.

After that, he'd pin her under his blunk.

If he could, that is.

* * * * * *

"Are you okay?" Adeline glanced to the side in surprise, finally noticing the approach of the dark haired Jackson Hall.

Self-consciously, Adeline moved her hand to the shallow gash on the side of her throat. It was still wet. "The thing missed my neck." She offered, before shrugging - it might have been forced.

"I don't believe it." Jackson muttered.

"Wha?" Adeline jumped a little, as if she'd been caught in a lie - until she realized Jackson was looking at knife buried in the tree. At least, Adeline thought, allowing the young man his running commentary, I think its a knife. She couldn't see any metal on the weapon, and there didn't appear to be any guard. Just a straight, flat, and slightly rounded, piece of wood. Is Shuyin really that strong? She wondered, now realizing how strange it was for a knife to embed itself like that.

With a resigned sigh, Jackson turned back toward Adeline. "Can you tell how screwed they are?" He inquired, nodding toward Jay and his group.

Adeline followed the youth's gesture, a look of slight confusion on her face. "Well," She began, tilting her head to the side as she regarded the unfolding battle curiously. "I think they're pretty evenly matched." Adeline offered, "But Jay's kinda out of place." She crossed her arms, returning her gaze to Jack.

"Everyone else is, if nothing else, strong." She elaborated, gesturing vaguely to the fighters, "But Jay's only a baseball player - might be in decent shape, but he's up against bodybuilders and...uh," she paused, frowning in Hannah's direction, "some kind of martial artist, I guess?" Adeline's gaze returned to Jack.

"Why do you ask?"

She seemed politely curious!

* * * * * *

Around the Field of Honor, walls continued to rise. Already, the sheets of grey stone had surpassed waist height for most of the combatants, and now sat comfortably just below their shoulders. Methodical pace aside, it seemed that soon, any hope of escaping this battlefield would vanish!

"Rah, rah, ah, ah, ah!" On her newly created stage, the pink haired singer's high voice continued to form words that sounded like little more than gibberish, "Roma, romamah!" Especially to the non-humans on the Field.

Well, at least it was something to listen to.

On the far side of the Field, the mysterious blond, together with her equally mysterious beret, were once more typing at the keyboard attached to the strange - and still undefined - machine. Her motions, however, were far less intense than they had been when the battle begun.

What was she doing here?

Nearby, the scantily clad form of Vanilla Strauss lounged against the side of the machine. Though her eyes were on Professor Landry and Shuyin's slow - if graceful - dance battle, something about her posture said that she was quite bored with her place in this fight.

But!

At least there hadn't been any more collateral damage.

[Overcast]

Jay unfortunately(fortunately?) couldn't see auras. So he couldn't make out the corona that was threatening him. All he saw was a big bastard standing across from him with an equally big and confident grin,

"Why don't you just give up Pee-Wee? You're out of your league here. And my next punch will really hurt."

Jay laughed a bit at exactly how corny that last line had been before raising up his middle finger toward the gargantuan teen,

"Fuck you asswipe! I don't ever give up!"

And he took off running towards Zet but kept an eye on his distance. Once he was at the right range he wanted to fall into batting stance, lining his feet up like 1, 2, 3 and throw his body into a full swing worth putting at the front of the newspaper. This muscular gorilla didn't know the meaning of hurt! But he was about to find out.

[krogothwolf]

Dean’s sideswipe was blocked, a rather good one as well considering the force of the blow probably sent a shock through her hands as she blocked it. Dean was still grinning and chuckled at it all, it was rather fun. He thought it strange she would block it rather than try to parry it or dodge, as she seemed more of an agile fighter then a power fighter.

"We're gonna redefine fun." Hannah said to him.

“Ack, ye can count on it.” Dean said grinning at the girl, he noticed from the corner of his eye her sending a low kick at him.

As her kick went towards his ankle he did something he hoped she wouldn’t suspect, he stepped forward into her, throwing a nice hard and fast shoulder tackle towards her chest. He took the blow on his ankle, which weakened would weaken his shoulder tackle somewhat and put its aim off. He could still potentially put her on the ground if it hit just right, or at least put her on the defensive again. It also allowed him to push his wooden sword up closer into her staff, limiting her chances to use that and hopefully locking it in place as he tackled her. He wasn’t sure what the outcome would be but he was confident in his abilities when things got this close and personal.

During this whole time Filia had walked herself up and sat beside the wooden box Dean had brought and was staring at it. Probably causing people to wonder what the dog was doing.

[Dracorion]

"Why do you ask?" Adeline asked.

"Oh. Um..." He hesitated, an embarassed blush forming on his face. "Sorry. I was just testing you."

He chanced a glance at the fight, squinting. "Jay's the weak link. He doesn't know what he got himself into." And now Dean and Shin's auras were black. That wasn't a coincidence, nor, he was fairly certain, were they doing it themselves. Something was causing it. Landry, or the lady with the machine, he guessed.

A choir of robots (Robots?) appeared on the field, as well as an eccentrically dressed singer. The distorted, nonsensical music was horrible in itself, and listening to it did not help his headache at all.

He glanced at the knife in the tree again. It was still giving off a faint black aura. Screw it.

He grabbed the stupid thing.

[Bard The 5th LW]

"Is that Bad Romance?" Sean muttered to himself quietly, standing rather far on the sidelines. "This is dumb," he decided aloud, keeping to his position. Black auras as far as the eyes could see and robotic choruses singing Lady Gaga. He was out of here.

The Canadian was about to do the thing he does best at and remain in the background, until he came across Jack and.... Sue? He didn't actually know her name. The important part was the thing stabbed in the tree. What the fuck was up with that? He thought it was just a piece of wood, but it appeared to stabbed in the tree, and the girl was bleeding.

"What the hell," he muttered as Jackson removed it. " I" He briefly turned to check Adeline, "so... you're okay I guess?" She was talking to Jack earlier, so there probably weren't any severe problems.

"Whatever, thats irrelevant. The point is that this battlefield is filled with crazy people and bystanders are going to get hurt. I don't think I care to watch anymore, so how about we cheat a bit and end this prematurely?" He proceeded to cross his arms and wait for an answer from his potential allies.

[Astral Harmony]

Astarte was clearly new to the whole graceful dancing thing, but she caught on well enough. Still, Gorgeous found himself a little nervous to be dancing with Astarte with her expression all serious and focused on him. Weren't they supposed to be having fun?

All around her, everyone seemed to be glowing for some reason. Was it the horrible attempt at some woman Astarte didn't recognize singing Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance". Astarte preferred "Just Dance" herself, but whatever.

But back to the auras. There was a large black aura erupting from Professor's Landry and Shuyin. She saw even more of those black auras from Jay and Hannah. Even Dean and Shin had them, but theirs were more subdued.
Those weird men who came here with Hannah had faint blue ones. And she even managed to catch one from the dog that Dean brought with him.

Damn it, what the hell do those auras mean? Nephthys, Astarte's mother, didn't tell her anything. Then again, Nephthys probably didn't know anything herself, leaving Astarte completely in the dark. As far as Astarte knew, neither of them had any supernatural ability until after their respective deaths. So she simply focused on dancing. Hell, if that was why she had to come to the Field of Honour, then the dance had to mean something, right? Otherwise, she'd just be dancing with Gorgeous...n-...not that there was a problem with that.

[Girasol of Chaos]

He...he gripped it. Not only that, but there was no more indication of fear. His eyes were visibile through the glasses, stunning Shin for a moment. She had expected almost anything else. "Fuckin..'"

Al knew his openings when he got them, and the oni cursed herself for allowing her guard to be let down. Her club was nearing her own body, coiling her arms back into a ready position-

-Thwak-"OH GODS" The ogre's roar was primal, angry, and somewhat pained. He freaking kicked her in the shin. Who DOES that?

Shin's roar was accompanied by her right-and strong- leg lashing backwards, planting itself at an angle, but the damage was done-her balance was skewed. Her back arched, and Al's continued pressure nearly toppled her over.

No, wait, it did. But as she fell, she allowed her entire right side to give way, focusing on stabilising her left so he could push past her a bit. The ogre's right knee hit the ground, but her left arm used the coiled force it had and lashed the club to direct Al to her right and downwards. The circular motion would likely flip Al over if it worked. If not, Shin was at a kneel, but was more stable than before. She would not allow herself to fall onto her back.

His force would hopefully land him in the dirt. If not, things would get desperate. It's very clear no one has tried this before on her.

The beat of the Gaga monster's song filled Shin's ears, but she barely noticed. There were slight protrusions on either side of her forehead.

[Steel Shadow]

"You may begin!"

To the untrained eye, nothing much happened. The duels started slowly. The breeze was respectfully mild, the sun was refreshingly bright, but not overly so, and the temperature was well suited to the time of year.

Really, Diana had no excuse for nearly falling out of her tree. But when the matches began, something within her went nuts. 'Film that, film this, no here, there everywhere why are youfilimgthatfilmTHISNOWNOWNOW!!!'

It was too much! She'd never witnessed such a filmable event! She didn't have the cameras! How could she possibly get multiple angle shots with only one camera? Everything needed to be recorded! The (Super) Director's buckled, and if it hadn't been for her securing arm, she really would have fallen. As it was, she just slipped onto her behind and sat, not really noticing she'd moved. From the teachers to the students to the audience to the mysterious bystanders to the dancers to the technicians to the band to the walls, Di's camera lens moved like smoothed lightning, pausing to take in as much as Di's experience said was necessary. It was difficult, especially since the instincts he had always relied upon were distracting her rather than helping, but she did her best. Time would tell if it was enough.

'Major, major, this is major...' thought the parts of Di's mind that weren't guiding the camera or trying to move her focus to another area of the field. 'This is the first major thing I've ever filmed...' Sweat began to bead up on her brow. 'Don't screw up don't screw up don't screw up.'

Then there was a flash from the centre of the field. Di's vision turned black for a moment as she gasped, trying desperately not to fumble her camera. Her free hand rubbed at her eyes in a panic, trying to massage away the spots in her vision. Fortunately, with or without her help, her sight returned quickly. A glance confirmed her camera hadn't slipped from it's tracking of Hannah and Dean. Good, then there was... nothing... to... What was that?

Down on the field of honour, little flecks of light has appeared. They spun around people like planets around a star. Black coloured lights floated around Hannah and Jay, while Shinobu was followed by a trail of Orange. Hannah's two henchmen sparkled with blue.

Professors Landry and Shuyin were in the middle of a galaxy of black lights, so much so that Di was surprised she could even make the two out.

But nothing showed up on her camera.

Diana blinked, looking between her camera and the view below as her expression slowly morphed into a frown. What was this? Why couldn't her camera see what her eyes could? Was there something wrong with her? Had that flash done something to her? No, no, that didn't work, if it was her eyes then she'd still see the lights on her camera viewer... So was it her camera? Was something wrong with it? Had someone done something to it?

The idea that someone had vandalised her camera momentarily filled her mind with thoughts of a vengeance that would have scared even the most dark and twisted of souls, but she shook it off. No, that couldn't be it. This had to be another Mystery. Had to be!

The overwhelming need to film everything was dying down, becoming more of a dull throb in the back of her head, as opposed to someone yelling in her face. The pressure on her relaxed some, and she breathed a little easier. Her camera was fine. She'd checked it that morning herself. Tripple checked, even. Amazingly she hadn't lost track of what she was recording, her view now focused on the dancing professors, though her naked eyes couldn't make them out through the fog of black light.

'Just film. That's the important thing right now. Questions can-'

A peal of laughter erupted nearby, interrupting the thought. Diana's head snapped around, startled. Someone else was in the tree. But... how? When had they...

She looked up. Pale blue lights danced around the very top of her tree. That had to be them... And if they were being followed by those little lights, they had to have something to do with this Mystery.

Diana hesitated. This dual was her first big event here at Amaranth. Could she really afford to stop filming for even a second? She could miss something vital... She could miss everything!

But then again... Maybe there was something interesting up there to film as well. Or someone. Maybe there were answers to this Mystery. Maybe there was an explanation for why her camera had started acting crazy. She wouldn't be long...

The branches rustled as Di hesitantly lifted herself back up and began to climb.

[Krylo]

Dal sat up in an oak tree, fuming silently, as everything began. Someone had removed his traps and with the referee condemning interference and keeping her eyes clearly on the battle between Shuyin and Landry, and his powers sealed, there was little he could to tip the hands of fate. He was powerless to do more than watch, a feeling the fae was unused to, and disliked.

But watch he did. As the ground cracked open. As stone walls rose about the battlefield. As his strategy--which Jay had decided to follow--fell apart in the face of the enemy, as they are apt to do. As auras changed colors, and flickered across the field like lighting, he watched.

And as he watched his anger subsided and was replaced by... curiosity. He had lived a long time and never had he seen auras change color like that. Especially not to black, a color that was very rarely seen in the first place. And the color of the aura flickering over the field? He had never seen it before. And the music... he didn't know what to make of it.

But, though his fae sensibilities were certainly drawn to it, though he wasn't sure whether it was hate or love, there were more pressing matters to attend, and more interesting mysteries to solve.

His eyes locked on the mysterious girl and her mysterious machine, Dal summoned his rapier, out of sight from the other students, and slid it between his belt and his pants--not exactly a sheathe, but it would work for the time being. His blade fixed to his side he dropped from the branches and landed lightly next to Sao in a crouch, his legs bending to absorb the blow. Putting on his game face, he shot her a quick smile that he believed would be charming, before standing and walking directly toward the three way melee.

Dean was holding his own, and seemed to need little, if any, assistance, but Jay was most likely about to get cracked in the face. Unfortunately there was nothing he could do about that. Shinobu, however, had been forced to her knee and was attempting to throw Al. This, he could most likely assist with.

Just as she shifted her weight in an attempt to send the large man down Dal shouted, "Don't let the girl beat you too badly, Al. We still have our own game to play," if the large man was baited into looking his way he'd follow with another charming grin and a wink.

He'd been around long enough to recognize when someone was attracted to him... and when that could be exploited.

Without waiting to see whether his distraction was enough to give Shinobu the edge, however, he continued, his eyes still on the computer. He attempted to give off every sense of a relaxed and playful demeanor, as he had maintained thus far throughout his schooling--but someone perceptive enough might note a certain tenseness in his muscles and a more fluid, cat-like, movement to his steps than was characteristic of a man relaxed.

He wasn't certain what he would do, or if he would do anything at all yet... but he was on a battlefield.