Young Writers Society

Zeke
Week 1, Friday, 2:00 pm
Re-entering Bart's "HQ"

"I got the list," Zeke said as he strode inside. Bart scowled.
"What about the password?"
"Yeah, yeah, Bart is awesome, blah blah." Zeke held the door open as a few more students came in. "I rounded up some more of the guys, too."
"Cool," Bart said, obviously not fascinated by this. Zeke closed and locked the door as Kiat waddled in last.
"Right," Zeke said slowly as he scanned the roll. "We've got Corda, Bart, me, Nolan and - well, we had Alexis. Did she ever come back?" Nolan, now standing by the window, shook his head. Zeke continued.

"And now we have Caroline, Kiat, Alicia Foley, Red Ketchum and Kumo," he finished, ticking off the new additions he'd brought back with him. "According to the schedule and Kumo, the last class that actually took place was Spellcasting, so that may lend a clue to the whereabouts of -" he paused to look back at the list "- Arthur Gravesend... and Jen Preacher. Knowing Samantha and Gratian, they could very well be in the infirmary - which, hopefully, the staff have barricaded. As for the rest..."
Zeke dropped the list in front of Bart and Nolan, who had stepped forward. There was a huge list of names that hadn't been ticked off or marked with an asterisk - for all the group knew, they could be dead, or captured.

Corda broke the silence. "Do you guys need anything?"
She was talking, of course, to the five that Zeke had brought in, whom up till now had been lurking awkwardly in the corner. They quickly followed her over to the corner in which a kettle was sitting, still steaming slightly from the lunch Corda and the others had had earlier.
"So, what was the point of this list, anyway, Zeke?" Bart asked. "I thought we were just gonna go smash up these blobs, now that we know their weakness."
"Uh," Zeke faltered for a second, "Bart, there are hundreds of those things across the campus! We got lucky escaping the ones that ambushed us in the forest, but these students -" he jabbed a finger at the list "- might not have. And who knows whether the blobs will take prisoners or just kill on the spot?"
"What does it matter?" Nolan interjected from behind Bart. "If they can't protect themselves from something as pathetic as these slimeballs, what good are they? I can't see any conceivable reason to stick my own neck out for them."

"Gee, I dunno, Nolan," Zeke shot back. "Do you think maybe because we're enrolled at the Academy for Heroes-in-Training? Emphasis on heroes? Or is the concept of heroism something completely foreign to you?"
Bart coughed. "Call it the cabin fever if you want," he said, "but for some reason I'm finding myself agreeing with Headcase over here." He tilted his head towards Nolan. "Look, the sooner the things are gone, the sooner we can start looking for survivors. It makes sense, right?"
"The more survivors we find, the better chance we have to take out all these invaders," Zeke pointed out.
"Yeah, and that means less that I get to kill," Bart muttered indignantly.
After a brief silence, the three turned to Corda. She was looking from one side to the other. "What do you think, Corda?" Nolan asked.

"Well, I -" Corda hesitated. Will she take Nolan's side because they're friends, Zeke wondered, or actually base her choice on logic and reason?
Corda finally stepped across and stood next to Zeke.
"I vote we rescue." Nolan's eyes widened, and Bart let his head drop onto the desk in front of him with a dull thud.
"You think we should refrain from destroying these sons of bitches, Corda?" Nolan asked incredulously. "Why? Why show any restraint against these bastards that are trying to kill us?"
There was a pause as Corda thought before she spoke. "Because," she replied. "Like Zeke said. We're supposed to be heroes, so let's act like it."
Nolan paused again. Then he stared at both Corda and Zeke, and with as much force as he could, said loudly, "We are going to eliminate the invading force!"
Zeke twitched, as did Corda. But Corda's will was stronger than Nolan's: she stepped forward and glared.
"I was under the impression that you were never to use that power on me." Zeke shook his head vigorously and glared at Nolan as well.
"Anyway," she muttered to Nolan, "don't you want to find your precious fangirls? Alexis," she sneered especially hard on that name, "and Elizabeth... and whatever other girls are fawning over you," she added, crossing her arms.

Nolan stood stock still. Behind him, Caroline, Kiat, Alicia, Red and Kumo snored. Finally he turned to Bart.
"We rescue, then."
"Oh come on!" Bart shouted. Nolan stared into his eyes before he could say anything more.
"We are going to go and search for survivors," he stated clearly.
"Good idea," Bart said amiably.

Bart Bishop|Friday, 2:15 pm| Familiar Stables

"Well, I don;t know about you guys, but I think me and Zeke should go and check out the grounds," Bart said. "We can double back and direct the rest of you to the most needed places."

Zeke nodded, as did a few others. "Okay then, I'll see you guys in a bit."

They were not going to see Bart in a bit.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Whoooo!" Bart screamed as he slid around the room. The Super Power Channeling room had been crammed with the blobs, and Bart was having fun with it. "This little piggy went to the market," Bart said as he jammed his fist into a blog. "A market in hell."

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Bart was starting to get rid. He only had a few left by now, still he would have to do it all at once. He dashed backwards and corner himself. All the blobs slowly crawled towards him. Bart charged himself up with electricity, his body glowing faintly, slowly intensifying. They were almost there. "Aaaaaaaaaaargh!" Bart cried and spun around. His spins made the electricity move, making a top around him.He almost got to the blogs when he suddenly collapsed.

His leg had given way, he had dealt with the pain until now, but he had been straining it from the start of this madness. He figured medical rules don't apply in the apocalypse. "Dammit," Bart murmured.

Suddenly a bright light flooded the room, the blobs fell, and Bart was tickled by it. When the blobs fell Bolt, and Pichu, were standing at the entrance. Red and Zeke were there. "You said we were looking for students."

Nolan Lehnsherr - Hallways - Friday, 2:17 PM - Level 3.3

Sore at Corda, furious at the blobs, annoyed with himself.

Nolan was, simply put, quite pissed off at the moment.

The world around him danced in fiery reds and oranges. Embers leaped into the air, calling to him, distracting him from the world around. The black blobs were nowhere to be found, leaving him alone with the living fire devouring the school. And every time the flames sizzled he turned around, swearing he saw her.

He left the canteen with Corda by his side and lost her along the maze they called a school.

The further down the hall he got, the hotter the flames. They melted from vibrant oranges into noble blues, and finally, they disappeared from sight, present only through the intense heat they gave off. None of the blobs were here, and black goo covered the floor. The flames hungrily stuffed itself with oxygen, stealing the precious little left in the air. Nolan wheezed, backed away into the cooler hallway and gasped for air.

There would be no blobs there, no survivors if ever. How could anyone survive in an inferno? They would rather be dead than slowly suffocate while waiting for a savior.

But every step he took towards the hall was right, and in his gut he knew there was someone there. There simply had to be. Over the intense roaring of the fire he heard desperate murmurs, and even sobbing sounds drifting towards him. Calling to him for help.

Nolan shook his head, walked away. It was the lack of oxygen gnawing at his sanity, making him hear things. No such thing as someone alive in there.

Then he heard his name, clear as day and cold as night. "Nolan..."

Glanced back at the fire, wondered if it was what called him. He couldn't afford to waste time. With each minute he stood still, pondering about whether or not there was someone behind the veil of fire, other people lay waiting for someone to come and drag them out of hell.

He arrived at a decision and with a burst of energy pushed aside the fire, walking past it without getting scathed. Every step stole his breath, making it harder for him to breathe. Why was he here? He didn't know. He didn't know why it was so damned important for him to actually risk baking himself just to check the principal's office. Principal Kent would know enough to haul himself out of the mess.

So why was his conscience so intent on dragging him to the cross?

Maybe because he know she was somewhere in this building. It was the only one on fire.

When the voice pushed at him, he shoved back. So Nolan stuffed his conscience in a box and flung it far from himself.

He entered the principal's office. There was no one. It was empty. Empty, like he expected. Nolan turned around to leave. But no, he couldn't. His body refused to leave the room until he checked every corner, because heaven knew he just had to listen to his stupid conscience.

Then it came again, the murmur. "Nolan..."

It came from under the table, a soft cry for help. Nolan wanted to take a deep breath so badly, but his head was already spinning from the lack of oxygen. He couldn't afford to. A wooden beam crashed to the floor in front of him, blocking the way to get behind the table. Nolan cursed under his breath and got on his knees, crawled under the beam and towards the back of the office.

And there she was, sleeping, or unconscious. It didn't matter either way. Her long red hair covered the lower part of her face and she barely breathed. She needed oxygen as much as her flames did.

The effort of dragging her out alone would be too much, so he grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to shake her awake. No effect. They had to get out soon, or else they would both be cremated before their time. He gathered her close to him as the building thundered, unable to handle the fire.

Nolan didn't believe in God, but he muttered a prayer anyway. Figured that if God was to help him, now would be a good time. The smoke was thickening, and it was taking more and more effort for Nolan to keep it at bay. He stood up, straining under her weight. He was never too strong.

Staggered towards the window, glanced at the three-storey drop. Wondered if he would make it if he jumped out. He certainly couldn't use his telekinetic powers to float them to safety - he wasn't that strong, and straining himself that much would probably result in a coma.

But there were thick, thick bushes under the building, and if he jumped right then maybe the two of them would survive with a few broken limbs and nothing more. But aiming for it was harder than it looked, with the world spinning and his vision blurring.

Any longer and he wouldn't be able to carry her anymore. And maybe it was a hallucination, but he saw Corda walking nearby, probably wondering what was taking Nolan so long to check out the building.

So he held Alexis close, prayed her skull wouldn't shatter and jumped out of the building.

Arthur, Potions room, Time-who knows? By the way, guys, it has come to my attention that the present tense is confusing people, so I'll be writing in the past tense.

"Okay, Jen, is that barricade secure?" I asked her. I was still angry, but didn't want to show it.

"Yes it is. But could you stop ordering me around?", she said to me. It was an order, not a question, "What are we even doing here?"

"Do you remember when I told you about my experiment in the Dorm?"

"Yes. Wait a minute, you're not saying that you'll do it again?"

"Precisely. It should make a big enough blast to eradicate five of them at a time", serves them right, I thought, they shouldn't have burnt the books. I will see them in the fires of Hell for what they did. They weren't even a threat to them and they burnt them anyway! They will pay. They had burnt and killed the books. They were to be burnt and killed in turn. An eye for an eye, I thought, rage filling my mind.

"You were nearly killed last time you made that potion! You should really think this through!"

"Look, either we destroy them, or they destroy us! It's either kill or be killed, we must do this!"

"Ok, as long as you know what you are doing", she said, uncertainly.

So it began. We first got a massive couldren from one end of the room. Then, we put a screen around it, so if anything went wrong, at least one of us wouldn't be hurt.

"Jen, could you give me the mandrake extract? It's the one that looks like a gingerbread man", I said, shakily.

If this didn't work, the whole room could blow, I thought, but I had to try.

"Now, pass me the Dragon's blood, it's the purple one", as I poured it in, the colour of the potion changed from green to blue.

"Now, very carefully, get a jar and fill it to the brim. But be careful! It is a highly volitile potion".

As she had filled the first jar, there as a tentitive knock on the door. We both froze. The only sound in the room that could be heard was the slow bubbling, coming from the potion.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" said the voice from behind the door.

"Who is it?", Jen replied. I was scared. Was it a trap? Or was it a rescue?

"My name's Corda and I'll be your rescuer for the day!" The voice replied.

Zeke
Week 1, Friday, 2:20 pm
Familiar Stables

"Right," Zeke said, "how about this. Now that the familiar stables are cleared out, Red, do you think you can hold them? Lock the doors, take care of the familiars in here, keep the blobs out?"
Red reached into a nearby stall and took out two Poke Balls. He dropped them on the floor and in an explosion of light the enormous Arcanine and a mid-size bird stood before them alongside Red and Pichu.
"Arcanine, Swellow and Pichu can handle whatever those things throw at us," Red grinned.

Zeke flashed him the thumbs-up and turned back to Bart. "You and I'll go search the other areas. Let's start with... the cafeteria. It's a large area, but relatively empty since they stack the chairs and tables outside of mealtimes. We can go look inside and mark it off quickly."
"Works for me," came Bart's reply.
"Cool. We can run if we need to - we're practically untouchable then - and remember to only attack if it's really urgent," he added strictly. Bart rolled his eyes and nodded. They made sure to close and lock the stable behind them, then raced south towards the mess hall buildng, Bart a little slower than usual.

Blobs turned to look at them, but the sluggish things were just too slow to make out the blurs that passed them at blinding speed. Zeke glanced into the window as he passed: yep, the place was full of blobs.
"The roof!" he called to Bart, who nodded and sent a surge of electricity from his hands down towards the ground; the blast pushed him up as he prepared to land on the roof. Just in time, Zeke made a giant leap and grabbed Bart's shoulder.

They flew a metre or two past the roof before they stopped and fell towards it. Bart was prepared to land, but as his legs made contact with the cement one of them buckled; he collapsed onto the roof and clutched it. Zeke admired his ability to hold in a gut-wrenching scream.
"Oh crap... Bart, are you OK?" he asked, wincing at the pained expression on the redhead's face. "What happened?" Bart squinted up at him.
"That's the leg I took a knife in last week," he growled, not out of annoyance, but sheer pain.
Zeke swore under his breath. "Can I do anything?"
Bart surrounded the leg with an electrical aura. "I might be able to ease the pain in a bit," he muttered. "You should check the cafeteria."

Zeke patted him on the back and headed over to the ventilation duct that sat right above the stove inside. He squeezed inside and poked his head through the bottom. The blobs, of course, were still there. But - he may not have noticed this were he not so familiar with speed - were they moving a little slower than the ones outside? They all seemed to be moving, slowly but surely, towards one spot in the corner. As he kept watching, a girl crawled out from under the table stack in the opposite corner - a very familiar girl - and everything made more sense.

"Dierdrie!" he called, dropping onto the stove. She looked up at him, shocked. The blobs turned, now noticing the two of them, and began trudging towards them instead.
"Zeke, what the heck are these things?" Dierdrie shouted. Zeke shook his head.
"When I count to three, release them! I mean... turn the heat back up!" he called. Dierdrie nodded, staring at the advancing slimeballs.
"One..." he muttered, "... two... three!!" He took off like a rocket towards the nearest blob as he felt the temperature rise: Dierdrie had lifted her power. Rolling into a Spin Dash, he shot right through the slime that he couldn't have passed through so easily had it been semi-frozen still, grabbing its core as he passed. He continued through as many blobs as he could until he had come full circle, returning to Dierdrie with an armful of round cores.

"What do we do with those?" Dierdrie asked in confusion.
"Destroy 'em," Zeke responded simply. "The question is how..." The answer fell headfirst through the vent Zeke had come through himself and landed on the stove with a loud "Ow!!"
"Bart!" Zeke exclaimed, celebrating inwardly. Bart climbed to his knees.
"Sup?" he grinned, trying to mask the pain of his aching leg... and now head, as well.
"Bart, heads up!" Zeke called, tossing the cores into the air. Without missing a beat, Bart began throwing pulses of electricity at the airborne orbs. Not a single one fell back to the ground. All but one of the blobs in the room splattered onto the ground. Dierdrie immediately held a hand out to it, lowering the temperature directly around it, and froze the thing solid.
"Orelia!" she called. "It's ok, you can come out." The girl that Zeke recognised as the saviour of the group from Dawno's hidden office appeared from under a table. She glared at the frozen blob.
"If my powers were just a bit more developed, I'd smash you up," she growled.

"You know, we should probably have someone hold the cafeteria as well, like Red's doing at the stables," Bart noted. "There's a lot of food in here, we might need it."
"Good point," Zeke agreed. "But we'll figure that out later. We cleared the cafeteria once, we can do it again. Let's take these two back to HQ."
The group locked up the cafeteria as best they could, and began making their way back to the dorms. Between the speed of Bart and Zeke and the sluggishness of the blobs due to Dierdrie they didn't have much trouble, until -

"Is that Nolan?" Orelia pointed out. Zeke followed her gaze to where two figures lay on the grass, one of whom was indeed Nolan. He swore once again and raced across to them.
The other figure was Alexis, who even as he neared was beginning to wake up. Nolan didn't look so good: he lay still as stone, and a tiny river of blood had begun to dribble from his nose. Zeke was too appalled to speak - Bart's was the next voice heard.
"Ok... Zeke and Dierdrie, stay here with them. You'll be able to fend off the blobs the same way as you did inside. And, uh... Orelia, we'll go back to the HQ. Guys, if anyone back there is awake and can kill a blob, we'll send them down to assist." With that he took Orelia's arm and began limping, albeit very quickly, back towards the dorms. Zeke looked on after them as with a gasp, Alexis sat up, wide-eyed.

Elizabeth|Week 1, Friday-Somewhere near A Block Dorms|2:30pm: (level 0.8.)

I had no idea how I'd ended up here with all these stupid blobs attacking me. And it wasn't good, since She wasn't helping. When I want her around, she's off doing whatever. Grr, I guess I'll have to do this myself.

The blobs had circled around me, barring my way. How was I supposed to escape this? I looked around, starting to panic, and saw the Familiars Stables off to my right. Well, that could work....but then there were all those blobs.

Frantic, I watched as they closed in, and then I saw it. The break in their ranks. This is it, Liz. That's what you need. I smiled and the blobs all got a step closer, making the break open wider. Wide enough run through without touching them.

And then I ran for it, brushing past the odd blob that tried to stop me. By the time I got to the stables, I was covered in black goo and panting.

I banged on the door. "Hey! Is anyone in there?" I called. I thought I'd seen Bart and Zeke near here earlier but I wasn't sure... "Hello?"

"Who is it?" someone asked.

"It's me, Elizabeth," I gasped, glancing over my shoulder. The blobs had moved to come after me. Great. Just what I needed. I glowered at them. "Come on, open up. These stupid things aren't going to give up!"

Someone sighed and I heard a click, but the door the didn't open. Something inside growled and I cringed. Things that growl are usually bad news, Liz, she murmured. Oh, so now she shows up? Typical.

Orelia- (level up! Woo.)

I supposed I was lucky. I still hadn't leveled up, and my weak blasts didn't do anything to the blobs. Where had they even come from? It didn't matter. For now, I would have to team up with everyone else. I wasn't any good on my own. I helped Bart to the HQ, and sat around idly. There wasn't anything I could really do. I just let a little ball of energy grow in my hand until I felt drowsy, and then waited. I had yet to get them bigger than a softball, but I was still pretty happy with myself. It was a new power, and anything new was good to me. I found that I could also turn invisible for a bit longer. I could usually only flicker for a minute or so, but I was able to hold it out for over two now. I sat pondering, waiting for something to do to present itself. Or for more attackers to show up. Something about this just screamed Dawno to me.

Kumo, HeadQuarters, sitting in the corner feeling sorry for herself, 2.20pm

Kumo was sitting in Bart's makeshift HQ, feeling sorry for herself. Her sword was on her knees, and she was staring moodily at it. Slicing blobs had not worked, and much to her disappointment she had been forced to sit in HQ while the magic users cleared out the school so she stopped getting in the way. One blob had almost stolen her sword and to add to her humiliation, she had almost been attacked from behind while trying to get it out.
"They said one day you would not solve my problems," Kumo gripped her sword's handle tightly, "I said that day wouldn't come." She sighed. "Were they right?"
"I think you are being over dramatic."
Kumo looked up into the wide eyes of Caroline, who was standing over her with a wide smile. "The kill always rose my blood. Nothing better than fresh meat from the hunt."
Kumo relaxed a little, and frowned. "Caroline, the only meat you would get from the blobs is something that would possibly not be good for you at all. And people are dying out there."
"People are always dying out there. Can you not feel the excitement of life?" Caroline's grin was wide. "It is all around us."
Kumo looked around, but no-one was paying attention to them. "Shhh. Someone will hear you."
"And? Let them hear!"
"People don't like it when people die."
"People are stupid."
"Point taken." Kumo rolled her shoulders. "What kills me is sitting in here doing nothing."
"Oh. Then let's leave."
"But I can't kill the blobs." Kumo's shoulders tensed in agitation. "It doesn't work."
"You can make it work, if you were meant to win." Caroline shrugged. "But you can't win in here."
"...Fine, but what do we do once we leave?"
Caroline considered, looked around, and shrugged. "Not everyone is here."
Kumo looked around, and then back at Caroline. "Duh."
"Why don't we go looking for the others?"
"Because..."
"It's better than sitting in here."
"I don't know, those blobs were fast. Except... I hear the stables are clear." Kumo stood, making her way to the door. "Stay here, I'll be right back."

Outside HQ things were a mess. The hallways were fairly clear, but Kumo had to check each corner before she passed them, in case the parties tramping to and from HQ had missed some. She kept her sword handy out of habit, but she knew she couldn't risk losing it, not now.
Eventually she came within sight of the stables. It had been only a few minutes, but it felt like a lifetime, and Kumo wouldn't have admitted this if she wasn't alone, but she was shaking not entirely from tension. Being so helpless scared the daylights out of her.
Stepping out into the courtyard, Kumo made a run for it. She barely registered the girl banging on the door of the stables until she was right next to her, slamming shoulder-first into the wood. She didn't even realise there was growling until it was above her, staring down at her lying in the now swinging door through an orange and black muzzle.
"Arcinine, easy. What are you doing here? You shouldn't be running around outside."
Kumo swallowed, letting out her breath slowly. The orange and black muzzle stopped growling, but didn't move. "Pez?" Kumo wasn't sure if it was an answer or a plea, but it was answered all the same. There was some rustling and a bang, and the muzzle was shoved out of the way by a beak. Kumo sighed with relief, touching the feathers of Pez's head gratefully. She sat up, raising her eyebrow at the guy behind the massive orange and black dog, suddenly feeling more empowered with a sharp taloned chocobo standing by her side. "What is that thing?"
"Arcanine, and you be careful, you almost lost a little more than your eyebrows. He doesn't like surprises."
"Sorry. I needed my Chocobo."
"Is that was that was? He sure is noisey."
"He doesn't like being away from me."
"Um. Hello?" They both turned, staring at the girl in the doorway.
"Oh." The guy frowned. "Come in, shut the door. Hurry."
"I need to get ou-"
"Then hurry up."
Kumo nodded, stood, patted Pez once, and swung onto his back. "Bye, I guess."
She kicked Pez into a run, heading back for HQ.

Caroline, HQ, bored out of her skull. 2:30 p.m.

I paced from one side of the room to the other. No one else was awake yet. I tried to keep my footsteps tired, but I couldn't keep myself from pacing in my boredom. There were no sounds apart from distant noises of combat in the distance and a couple of people snoring nearby. I sighed and was about to sit down when I heard the approaching steps.

I opened the door to see Kumo sitting astride her familiar. "You brought your chicken." As Kumo coaxed the creature on, it moved closer. As it approached me, it stuck its head out, staring at me.

"Chocobo," Kumo said. "Haven't I told you that?"

"Possibly. I don't talk to many people here, so when I do, I tend to tease. I'm sorry. I probably seem strange to you. I don't know much of - well, people, really. I've learned almost everything I know from books and what I've seen since I got here."

"I'm not much of a people person myself," Kumo said.

"It's really quite pretty, when you look at it closely. Is it a boy or a girl?"

"it's a boy. Pez."

I held my hand out, and the creature moved closer. "Hop on."

"I can ride with you?"

Kumo rolled her eyes. "Of course you can. I don't want you slowing me down."

I walked around the bird, its eyes following me as I did. After hesitating, I ran a hand along its side. He tensed for a second, but relaxed again and I smiled. Kumo held a hand out. I considered disdaining it and trying to mount on my own, but I realised that that would end in me making a fool of myself.

Once I had mounted, Kumo instructed me to wrap my arms around her. "Excuse me?"

She laughed. "Pez can go pretty fast sometimes. I don't want you to fall off."

"Oh. Okay." I resisted my urges to protest. My desire to prove my own independence had gotten me into trouble before, like the time my elders were trying to teach me to control my emotions. I didn't have a choice anymore when a lightning strike came out of a blue sky and lit a tree on fire.

The two of us began riding and surveying the combat that was going on. "Shouldn't we help them?" I asked.

Kumo shrugged. "I'd only get in the way. And no offence, but I don't think you have enough control to destroy this things at the moment."

I sighed. "The one time strong emotion would do me some good, and I can't feel anything but apathetic. I cannot take blobs seriously as an enemy."

Zeke
Week 1, Friday, 3:00 pm
Next to some burning building

"Where the heck is Bart?" Zeke muttered, stepping on another core. "I don't know how much more of this I can handle."
He was literally engulfed in black sludge, having employed the same strategy as in the cafeteria but with Alexis blasting the cores with fireballs - "Pyrospheres," she insisted. "They're called pyrospheres."
Their task wasn't made any easier by Alexis' distraction. After every blob attack she would sit back down next to the unconscious Nolan, holding the cold compress Dierdrie had helped her make against his head. He was breathing, at least.

The words had hardly left Zeke's mouth when a red beam of light shot past his face. He shouted and fell backwards. The red light flew into the centre of a blob he hadn't seen to his right.Zeke's eyes shot to his left. Bart?
No. It was Mr Kent, the headmaster. He ran towards the group.
"Sorry, uh... I don't know your name yet, Mr Hedgehog. Is that Nolan?"
Alexis nodded. "He needs the infirmary, Sir, but... I don't know whether we should move him." Her voice was shaky. Kent nodded.
"Celeste!" he called. A winged lady with a crown atop her head appeared in a puff of smoke. "Please take Mr Lehnsherr to the infirmary, and try not to let him move too much. We need Chris to take a look at him."
Without hesitation, Celeste held up a stick with a large golden star on the end - A wand, of course, Zeke thought. The star glowed bright yellow for a second before both Celeste and Nolan disappeared with a poof.

"Now... the admin building." Kent muttered. "I should be able to handle this."
He inhaled deeply for nearly thirty seconds, then, without warning, began blowing hard into an open window of the building where an orange blur could be seen. Within a few seconds smoke billowed from the window. The fire was, for the most part, out. Dierdrie, Alexis and Zeke stared.
"Now... what are you all doing out here?" Kent asked, suddenly strict. "Those QM minions are crawling about everywhere. You should be locked up in your dorms."
Zeke immediately launched into an explanation, telling Kent about the makeshift headquarters in the vents, how they had gone out to look for surviving students and in the process had cleared out the Familiar stables and the cafeteria. He was in the middle of describing the scene in the cafeteria when Kent held up a hand.
"So, you guys have managed to destroy some of these things?"
Zeke nodded. Kent stroked his beard. "I see... that's actually quite impressive. When we've been attacked in the past the teachers have had to take care of them."

Kent lifted into the sky, indicating that the group should follow him. "Let's go back to the staff room. I'll explain more there."
Zeke nodded, took one of the hands of each girl and shot after Kent, around to the entrance of the admin building. Kent lifted the enormous rock he'd placed at the entrance a few minutes ago, allowing them to enter, before entering the building himself and dropping the boulder back in place.
The group reached the staff room without incident. "Have a seat," Kent said. "I'm going to tell you all about QM."

After a few posts about goings-on elsewhere, I'll have Dominic tell all (that he knows of).

Bart Bishop|3:15pm| Out side the dorms

The dorm rooms were over run. The blobs seemed to be drawn to the locked down areas of the school. Bart doubted they had brains, so somewhere, he thought, there had to be a puppet master. He didn't waste long thinking about it, though, instead just pumping his arms with electricity, gritting through his throbbing leg and cutting a path into the dorms. By now he knew what he was doing, his arm just stuck out and zapped a core into nothingness, it was tedious at this point. So he spiced it up.

Instead of being smart and just getting to his room to retrieve some stuff he didn't want to be gone, just in case. But instead he backed away from the scene and went for a bigger picture. Literally, though not purposefully. Bart backed up and let the blobs fill the wedge he had made. It was like a fat flap falling. He almost ralphed. Bart pressed his hands into the first blob and gave a charge, hoping they conducted electricity.

They did, but weakly. By the time it got five yards away it was almost gone. He gave another charge and it pulsed through again. Once more, and then a final one. Electricity was spread all around the dorm building and it was time to use it. The electricity was part of Bart, feeling it thrive, a snake of energy weaving about the mass of goop. It was almost beautiful.

Bart took another moment to feel this, to be one with his powers, to be a snake. Trying to be the electricity, he closed his eyes and wasn't Bart anymore, but he was the power, he was the sparks. With the feeling of control he exploded. The small bits of power clinging onto the cores all blew at once. The blob rumbled but in its compressed state it didn't go boom like normal but rather seemed to just fall in a mess. Bart jumped backwards, trying not to get stuck in the puddle.

He smiled at his win. He wasn't surprised it had worked, but more that he had the time to do it. Why hadn;t they fought back when he attacks them? They could feel it, he knew it when he had become it, yet they just calmly sat there. As if it was good. It was exactly what they felt...but why?

Bart didn’t need to wait long for his answer. Under his feet the puddle lurched and groaned again and began to pull close. The spread puddle divided and clumped into five giant blobs of goop. Pulsating red cores showing through the darkness. Bart regrettably peed a little. Not at all in fear, because he was smiling like mad.

"Wooohoooo!" he cried as he summoned another bolt of lightning. He chucked the sphere at the closest one, it slammed against the glob and sunk into the core. There was a small explosion and a spout of sludge flew out towards him. The blob was fine, however, still standing, or whatever it did. Even after it had flown away the sludge crept back to its owner. Bart peed again, this time in fear.

"Bad move...." he whispered to himself and was about to turn tail and run. The blobs followed him, their huge physiques turned into balls and they rolled after Bart. One of them got close and imploded in on its self, making a puddle all around Bart. The speedster slipped and fell on his ass. The other four gathering around him. He was surrounded, and done for.

"Oh freaking god I am a dumbass," Bart told himself before he closed his eyes. He didn't want to see what was about to happen, even though it would be the same, drowning in darkness. He was ready to be engulfed, he held him breath, letting it run out before he was taken, let it happen faster. He didn't want to be tortured, waiting for help, there was no one ar--SPLAT!. Bart's eye shot open to see his was indeed covered in the same crud as his monstrous foes, but he wasn't drowning, he could see the light of day.

He looked up and saw a welcome sight. Dean Kent was above him, his eyes had a light steam around them, and were still glowing a bit. His suit was covered in sludge. Bart was saved. And he peed himself again. After all, why not at this point?

Zeke
Week 1, Friday, 3:05 pm
Staff Lounge, Administration Building

"Now, you students haven't heard of... QM, have you?" Kent asked. They shook their heads. The headmaster nodded. "And some of the newer teachers haven't, either. That's good news, at least, it proves he hasn't visited any of your worlds."

He sat down with a sigh. "Well, you know that the Academy, and all of us, are in a pocket dimension, consisting pretty much of the dwarf planet we're on now." This time Zeke was the only student to shake his head, noticeably embarassed.
"No matter, you know now. The dimension is an artificial one; it was created under the supervision of myself and our technician Benny; you'll no doubt remember him from when you were brought here."

He nodded to a short guy in a lab coat sitting in the corner. Benny grinned and nodded vigorously. Kent continued.
"Basically, something went wrong when we put the plan into action. We got our pocket universe, of course, else there'd be no Academy. But another one appeared parallel to ours: one made entirely of darkness. Or, more accurately, out of the black jelly-like substance you've been fighting against."

He paused to let this sink in. "QM, well... spawned, for lack of a better word, from that universe. As far as I can tell he's been twisted right from the start, and first attacked this universe while we were building the Academy. We beat him easily back then - unfortunately, he escaped, and he was a quick learner. Since then we've had to defend ourselves from him from time to time, but -"

The reason for Kent's abrupt silence was evident to all as a loud splattering sound echoed across the campus from the dorm building.
"Damn," Kent muttered. "I'll go check that out. The rest of you, stay here, please. I want to do a head count as soon as possible."

Bart|Friday, 3:10pm|Staff Lounge, Administrator's Building



“What the hell are you doing, Bart?” Zeke stood over a half conscious Bart, gripping onto a lamp as if for dear life. Kent stayed out of it until Zeke kicked him. Bart shoot awake and his grip left the lamp. Jack gave him a weird look and Bart smiled. “What were you doing?”

“Oh, nothing,” Bart said. Zeke wasn’t done, though.

“You were holding onto that lamp as if it was the holy grail, you were knocked out, that is not normal, or nothing.”

Bart sighed. The jig was up, no point dancing around it. “Well, you see I have a little bit of a side ability I can do.” Zeke nodded. “Where if I say, touch a lamp, I can sort of redirect a bit of the electricity through me and into my noggin. After that I can sort of have my conscious follow it. So basically. I touch this lamp here, and I can use it to see, say, the lamp in my dorm room. Hear things too.”

“….so you can eaves drop using your lightning?” Zeke look a little stunned. Bart nodded and was about to grab the lamp when Zeke pulled the cord. “Wait, so you can go ands see any building in the campus?”

“Yeah, I was checking out the dorm room,” Bart lied. While he had been checking the dorms, it was to watch TV in his room.

Zeke glanced behind him, where Bart was staring outside the window. Globs of gook were slowly beginning the scale, or maybe pile, up to their room. “Can you use this to, say, click a light on and off?”

“Not yet,” Bart said. “If the power is off my power can’t get to it.” Zeke swore under his breath. “Can you find us an escape route?”

“I already got it,” Bart answered. He grabbed onto the lamp again and spaced out. “The entire building is surrounded by the blobs. We can’t go out the front, and the roof will just have us land in them.” Bart got up and opened a door. “We go down these stairs to the basement, there is a sort of hidden chamber, like the one under Dawno’s office. I don’t know why it’s there, but it can get us out of here and into the gym.”

Zeke nodded and sprinted around the room. Soon everyone knew the plan and Bart was leading their way out. They had some trouble opening the chamber, but eventually a teacher broke down the wall and revealed it. After that Bart went in. A moment later a black wave flopped into the basement, swallowing Bart, and headed to the others.

Arthur, in one of the corridors.

"The blobs are everywhere!" shouted Jen. Corda was fighting the best she could possibly do, but her strength was begining to wane. I was throwing my spiecially prepared bombs at them.

"Jen, another bomb!" I shouted and one appeared in my hand. I shook it up so that the inside of it was violently bubbling inside, turning into a deep purple as it did so,"Corda, watch out!" I screamed and threw it into the middle of the group of blobs she was fighting. The explosion melted all of the wretched things, leaving only the strange cores which gave them life. Corda proptly stepped on them, making them shatter like glass.

"How did you do that?" asked Jen, she seemed concerned.

"How did I do what?"

"Make the bomb float into your hand", she replied. What was she talking about? I thought she was passing them too me. I stared at my hands for what seemed like forever.

"We don't have time for this!" Corda exclaimed,"We have to get to the Headquarters!"

Suddenly, a blob appeared behind Jen, and before we could do anything, it picked her up and threw her against a cracked, burnt wall.

"Jen!" I screamed, as Corda took care of the blob, as swiftly as an assasin. I looked over her and found that she was out cold, a massive gash in the side of her head. I called out her name, hoping to get an answer. When I didn't, I picked her up and slung her over my shoulder.

"Where-are-these-headquarters-of-yours?" I asked, panting with anger between each word.

"Not that far", she replied.

"Good", I said, the anger rising inside me, like a unquenchable flame. First the library, now Jen, someone is going to pay!, I thought.