Schoolhouse Shenanigans!

by Dragonborne Fox

Chapter XI- Training Part 1

"Alright, kids!" Lance called with his familiar Nazi-barking tone of voice. Each child, save Blue Horn, was lined up in singile file in front of him. He was holding a checklist in his hand and the (other) original three party members stood behind him. Each had their respective,strongest weapons with them as well. "We'll give you a total of thirty-two tests!"

"THIRTY-TWO!!?!" The kids cried, jaws agape.

"Yes, thirty-two. However, you will each take one test per day under our supervision. Tomorrow, it will be switched around to the other adults, and in total for all of you, there's only eight tests. We also made negotiations with your teachers and they moved the project to next Friday, so don't worry about time constraints." Lance explained, his voice dropping to normal speaking thanks to Anna whacking him upside the head with her Fairy Bow. This made a bump appear on the back of his head.

"When do they start, Sir Barks-a-lot?" Matt asked, unamused. He was already leaning on Heaven's Gate and on the verge of falling asleep.

Lance rubbed the bump on his head. It was pretty swollen now. "Right now. We're already in the plains where the Beholder hoard swarmed us, so why not?" Lance sighed.

He was whacked with Natalie's Crystal Staff, as if she was saying 'do not remind me of that again.'

"Alright, I'll shut up now." Complained the Nazi, rubbing the bump that appeared on the first bump.

"You better, or we'll put you in the maid dress again." Anna scoffed in irritation.

'Not that! Anything but that!' Lance thought in horror.

Natalie and Matt shared hushed giggles. First time it happened, let's just say Matt needed a hospital and Natalie refused to take her hands off the video camera. Anna objected to it left and right, but soon saw it was quite an effective way to control his devious tendencies when they weren't needed.

_____

"Now, remember," Anna started as he helped her son aim his medieval French crossbow, "These things are nowhere near as effective as my variants of longbow or your dad's guns."

Nick nodded, taking steady aim at a Furry Slime hopping toward them. It was very far away but very large--as large as a Big Muddy Bush, to be accurate. Its four slime-paws helped it trudge to its target. It was, strangely enough, red with black furry ears and a really big fox tail. In short, a fox variant.

The ground began shaking as the huge adversary approached the trainer and trainee.

"Aim for the eyes and make it blind. After that, it won't turn you into a slime." Anna rhymed.

"How do you know I can be slimified by that?" Nick asked.

"Experience. Frankly, I want to try it again, but I won't because then Daddy will raise all sorts of Tartarus." Anna explained.

Nick gasped in shock, momentarily letting the crossbow slip in the process. But he quickly regained his posture and took aim again, this time without help.

The slime got closer, the earth trembling with each collision. The mini-quake almost became too much now, yet Nick's aim remained steady. A few bolts were already loaded.

The slime kept approaching.

And it screamed as two bolts landed in its eyes.

It started swinging its slime-paws in rage, Nick deftly dodging thanks to him casting Reflex in a fraction of a second.

The slime's paws kept flailing about, the earth shaking in response as another round of bolts was fired. It screamed again, a paw sending Anna flying into the air halfway across the plains.

That was it. That was final.

Nick screamed to the high heavens, and as if in response the Ion Cannon activated. It homed in on the Furry Slime before firing a solitary gold-white beam that instantly ended it. Don't worry, only the slime was felled.

Lance ran to Nick and picked him up before running to where Anna was presumed to have fatally landed. The others were there as well, worried looks on their faces. There was a dust cloud obscuring the sight of everything.

The Nazi thought they were too late, until he saw a silhouette in the flying dirt running amok. It...was as high as his shin. It was also fairly round and it hopped. The cloud blew away in the wind, revealing a hue of green and...!

"Not again!" Everyone cried.

"At least I didn't die!" The slimified Anna objected as Lance picked her up.