darkSpyro

"What my plan and goal for this school is my secret alone, I doubt it conflicts with your plan on corrupting the system through I do not see the point in it...but I suppose raising students to be killers would be a big profit for war funds and gaining power" He was no directly in-front of her and personal space wasn't a word for him. "But that isn't the point, I can be a very valuable ally or a wrench in your gear and my price for my loyalty is just...." He tried to get as close to whisper to her as he could "Reward me beautiful".

"a 'maybe' is not an acceptable answer, Rodu. I want a straight 'yes' or 'no' answer from you. Although I already have my suspicions. I could send you straight to the office right now for burning my book, but I can't exact punishment without proof or a confession. Otherwise, I'd have to punish the entire class. Lying to me will only worsen the consequences for you. So I'll ask you again. Did you burn my novel?" Mr. Nightdoom asked sternly.

Scarlet's gaze turned back to the groundskeeper, ignoring the strange dragon that had just approached. She looked into his eyes with a sly smile.
"Well, you drive a hard bargain, don't you?" She said coyly. "So I'm to understand that you would swear loyalty to me for a.... Simple reward?" She asked, lowering her voice to a near whisper. "Well then, so as long as this plan of yours does not interfere with mine, I suppose I could comply and reward you for your loyalty."

He made a gesture of acknowledging she was now the higher up by bowing, "You have my loyalty and my following mistress".

Scarlet smiled. "Good. So long as you are loyal to me, I will keep up my end of the deal. You will be rewarded for your services."

A sinister smile forms on Alzandor's face.

"My, such a fire you have in you, dragoness. I like that very much," he says stroking her with his claws. One with your fire could do so much. Such strength and determination is exhilarating to be around. You have great ambitions I presume, well one of your fire should have no difficulty in succeeding. He continues to stroke her with his claws as he examines her with his icy cold blue eyes. His tail flicks back and forth as he licks her neck and smiles. Such a beauty you are, dragoness. I find it hard to fight these feelings that I feel. Never have they been as they are now, but I care not. For one such as you, I would do anything. Such a ambitious and gorgeous dragoness, like you must have a name now, he says stroking her. There is no fear in his eyes as he continues his actions.

ooc: Wyrstel, what are you doing? How is your character in two places at once? I understand you stated on your character sheet that he has the power of illusions, but an illusion is just that. It's not real. It's like a hologram or something. It can't actually do anything, which includes physical contact and magic. And you didn't answer any of the questions that D-o and I asked you from the previous page. What is your character even doing at the school when he's too old to be a student? How does he know of Scarlet and your other character? I don't understand what you're doing at all.

Scarlet growled and engulfed her body in flames to burn Alzandor and get him to back off. She took a few steps back to keep her distance and turned to face him fully. She kept the flames going to keep him from coming any closer.
"I don't know who you think you are but you have no right to be here." She snarled, glaring daggers at him. "Tell me what brings you here and what you are after. Otherwise, you will have to be removed from the school grounds by any means necessary." She hissed venomously.
Be prepared to serve me, for I may already have a job for you. Scarlet told the groundskeeper telepathically. One way or another, this strange dragon needed to be dealt with. Plus, the groundskeeper could be tested to see if he really would be loyal to her.

"Three evil auras, you say? And the groundskeeper and the principal are two of them? I see... I will surely bring this to Mr. Silverdash's attention. If the meeting is still on for this afternoon, it will surely be up for discussion then." Mr. Leafstorm said.

"Typically meetings like these are only for the teachers and other staff members that may be involved. But it depends on what Mr. Silverdash wants to do. He may want to speak with you in private after the meeting, I'm not sure. He's the one in charge of the meeting, so I'm not really the one to ask about that." Mr. Leafstorm replied.

Aretis blinked. "His name......h-his name.......is Kobalt the Culler. He......he is the dragon responsible.....for murdering m-my mother." Aretis was visibly shaking, tears streaming down his face. "He's from a group known as the Blackest Day........the very same dragons who.....who slaughtered my people.......and.........t-they followed me here.....they're going to kill me...." He whimpered.

Firefly was quiet for a moment, still taking this all in. "Aretis.... I...... I'm so sorry......" She muttered, her voice just barely audible. Another moment of silence passed. "We have to get help.... We have to tell Mr. Silverdash.... H--he'll do something..... He'll find a way to stop them.... The teachers will help us..... It's their job to make the school safe for us..... We have to tell them what's going on...." She insisted.

OOC: I changed it so that it makes more sense. As for why he is at the school is unknown save his attraction to death. He does not know who Scarlet is but he is for some reason attracted to her. Also he only has one element: Death.

Drawing himself to his full height Alzandor, glares at the two in front of him. Everything grows dark and the mist around him swirls around and around before beginning to spread. His icy cold eyes gaze into theirs. Soon the mist engulf the two and they find themselves in a strange new land alone without any guide. A skeletal hand seizes Scarlet's leg and holds tightly on. Alzandor himself however is nowhere to be seen.

ooc: How does he even know someone died, though? Does he sense it? And even if he does, there are surely other deaths in the world that would get his attention. And what's he doing now? Is it an illusion? Because if it is, it should simply be a trick of the mind, something they see that isn't really there. It shouldn't be something tangible that can grab them. Unless the skeletal hand is part of his ability to raise the dead, then that's different.

Scarlet looked down at her leg, seeing that something had grabbed it. She growled and diffused the flames on her body, as they seemed useless against the bone structure. Then she formed the end of her tail into a large, durable, sharp blade and attacked the hand, cutting it off.
"What trickery is this?" She asked loudly, as if demanding an answer from the mist itself. "Whatever you're trying to do, it won't work! There's nothing you can do that will scare me!" Scarlet growled.

"I suppose you could, but if I were you, I wouldn't expect to be allowed to attend the meeting." Mr. Leafstorm replied.

Rodu studied Mr. Nightdoom, trying to decide what to say. Finally, glaring at him, he said simply, "Yes, I did burn your book. So what? You're supposed to be teaching us, aren't you?"

OOC: Yes it is an illusion, but a very real illusion to both of the two that are under its influence. The groundskeeper is lost in his own illusion, while Scarlet is in another. Normally he would be but since he was passing by near the school the recent deaths attracted him here instead. As for the skeletal hand it didn't really grab her, it just felt like it. It too is an illusion.

His been unfazed by the recent events, he yawns as he focuses one arm to morph into one slender blade like shape, unlike shape shifting he cannot assume forms but can modify his body provided he has energy. He was impressed though as he had never really seen a death dragon this adept in it's element before but respect and admittance was quickly overtaken by jealously as his primitive aspect saw it's attraction and treatment to Scarlet as a threat and competition for her affections.

"It seems your old age has affected your mind so badly a skag-beast would have better manners, your powerful in your element indeed but that is no excuse to treat a lady"

ooc: Hmm, I see. Alright. Just keep in mind not to go too overboard with your powers.

Mr. Nightdoom narrowed his gaze and scowled at Rodu. "That does not give you the right to burn a novel. And since it is only the first day of school, I am not required to teach anything substantial. That is the way the school has always been. The first day is typically more relaxed and teachers 'teach' as they see fit. I personally rather have a peaceful reading time." He explained. "However, since you have admitted to burning my novel, you will have to suffer the consequences." He stated. Then he thought for a moment. "Ah, I know, you'll get detention and have to replace the novel yourself. And Mr. Silverdash is in charge of detention. Tomorrow morning, meet him in the cafeteria for your punishment. I would keep you after school, but there's a meeting this afternoon."

"Enough of these tricks!" Scarlet growled. "I have better things to do than waste my time here. There's lots of work to be done. So stop this nonsense so I can get on with my plans."

ooc: I still don't like the idea that he has no purpose in this school. Not to mention, the whole Element of Death thing always bothers me. Death is a natural process of life in which bodily functions stop working due to age, wounds, or disease. It isn't some sort of controllable substance like Water or Earth. It isn't some sort of manipulative piece of matter or energy.

"But....what if Mr. Silverdash is really a cohort for Scarlet in disguise. Who do we trust? Anyone could be a spy for Scarlet or one of her minions or whatever!" Aretis sighed, bringing up his dilemma. Meanwhile, he hoped Kiari was faring much better than he was.

Kiari was with her friends, when suddenly she had a really terrible headache! Some sort of ringing noise. For that, she excused herself from her friends with great difficulty and headed over to the nurse's office. On the way there, she curiously found a door open that looked like it went down below the gym. Something told her that that was the source of her headache earlier. Naturally, she was quite cautious, but she felt she was quite safe in the walls of the school, unlike the wide and ominous forests she and Aretis would be chased through. Plus, making a bunch of fast friends, she felt pretty confident in herself and pushed her caution aside, curiously peering in and going down, heading straight for Scarlet Hielfire, Zen, and Alzandor, completely unaware, but being the small quiet dragonness she was, she didn't really make much noise to announce her presence either.

Kobalt had a purplish crystal next to both of his ears, floating near them as he could mentally switch to listen in to any of the undetectable sensors he flung throughout the entire school. This school must really be a handful..... he sighed preparing his curriculum to adhere to the dark textbooks. Alright, I think I'll go to some of the forbidden archives and look up these two creeps. Once I figure them out, then I can talk with Scarlet on how to get rid of them. He looked at the sun, instantly seeing the time and looking away. Crap, I'm late! Boss probably won't be too happy...

"I see your point, but I seriously doubt Mr. Silverdash is working for her. He's worked at this school forever. He loves this place and he has dedicated his life to it. Plus...." Firefly looked down slightly and her voice grew softer. "Mr. Silverdash was the first dragon I met when I came here... He welcomed me to the school and made me feel safe here..... He was even the first one to find out about my Empathic abilities, and still accepted me for it, and actually seemed understanding of it and everything...... He also gave me a home...... He took me in, since I had nowhere else to go....." She nearly whispered. She then looked back at Aretis. "Believe me.... You can trust him...."

An image of the black dragon appears beside the groundskeeper and speaks.

"Perhaps I was a bit too forward toward your mistress. I apologize, the black dragon says. I will move more slowly and delicately. Now I release you from this world and return you to the school once again," the black dragon says before vanishing like smoke on the wind. With that the groundskeeper finds himself alone but back in the school once again.

Meanwhile Scarlet remains trapped in the strange world, alone without any idea where to go or what to do. The voices of the ones she slew echo all about her. Then all goes quiet as Scarlet finds herself before her office. All is quiet, too quiet. Even the areas around her are abandoned and darkness shrouds them. A single candle glows dimly within the office illuminating a form. From the distance it is hard to tell who or what the form is. The sign above her door as well as the office itself, however gives her signs to what may lay within. The sign on her door hangs by a single nail and is torn. As she enter the office she finds scorch marks as well as claw marks on the walls and furniture. However as she touches the wall her claws come back covered in fresh blood. A tiny figure stands by the form illuminated by the candlelight. Its midnight blue eyes glisten in the darkness. As the wind from the shattered window causes the flames to flicker and sway. Pure snow-white scales can be seen in its light. The figure kneels beside the figure and with tears falling down its cheeks it wraps it in a large thick blanket. It bows its head and speaks.

"I'm sorry mother, so sorry," the young dragon says clinging to the blanket with its claws.

Scarlet looked all around, unsure of what was going on. She knew this couldn't be real, but at the same time, she couldn't make sense of it. She heard the voices of those she had killed, but it didn't bother her. She hadn't killed too many, and she had her reasons for slaying each one. Plus, she was evil. She had no real conscience or morals. None of that mattered to her. Though this world still confused her. She didn't know what was happening. Did this mean that her plan would fail? Was someone to stop her? If so, who, or how many? Who were these figures she was seeing? What did they have to do with anything? Scarlet had finally had enough of all this. She had more important things to do than watch a weird movie that made no sense.

"Okay, what's the big idea here, huh? What's going on here?" She asked with a loud voice, looking all around for the dragon behind this world. "Why are you wasting my time and showing me all this? What does it mean? Are you actually trying to scare me or something? Are you trying to make me feel guilty for what I've done, or is this just some twisted joke to you? Answer me!" Scarlet roared, demanding answers.

He found himself on top of the school returning from that strange world like-dream state, needless to say he was quite convinced Scarlet could take care for herself since he himself was all out of energy. The archives would no doubt have some information on the death eater, convinced it had something to do with the sunwell under the depths of the school itself. He used his tail as a grappling hook to position himself down before making way to the archives.

Then the figure beside the form covered in a blanket turns toward her. As it sees her it rushes over and embraces her or so it feels like it. Swallowing I wipe my tears and gaze up at her before shakily speaking to her.

"Mom...is that really you, but I saw them kill you. You hid me from them, you protected me with you last breath. How are you here now," I say holding tightly onto her. As I touch her strange emotions begin to fill her, things that she has never felt before come to life within her, as everything here including the warmth of my embrace seems so real.

There was no answer from his office. The receptionist noticed Icestorm and sighed. "He's not here, kid. He's in the magic classroom. He's supposed to teach the class until we get a new teacher." She stated, sounding incredibly bored.

"W--what?!" Scarlet gasped. She was shocked that some child was hugging her and calling her mom. "I never died, and I am nobody's mother! I don't have any children, and I've never laid an egg! So get away from me!" She growled at the child. No matter how real it all felt, she had convince herself that it wasn't. She knew none of it was real. She looked around once more.

"Enough of this! Stop playing games and just show yourself already!" Scarlet demanded, looking around for Alzandor. "I know this world isn't real, so stop wasting my time! Just let me go! Let me get back to my work! I don't have time for this nonsense!" She growled.

Mr. Silverdash was currently trying to keep the students from destroying the classroom. The students were all used to Mr. Snakeeyes' method of teaching and weren't so quick to obey the rules of the vice principal. Mr. Silverdash finally made his way to the door and opened it.
"Er, young dragon, shouldn't you be in class? And I've sort of got my paws full here, so try to make this quick." He said to Icestorm. Then he quickly glanced back at his class. "The magic book is not a toy!" He yelled at one student. "No! Don't shoot a fireball at the curtains!" He yelled. Mr. Silverdash then quickly took a deep breath and blew out a gust of wind, was able to put out the fire ball before it hit anything. He sighed in relief and then looked back at Icestorm. "Er, did you need something?"

"Well, important meetings such as these aren't for the students to attend. It is our duty to protect the students and keep them safe, not the other way around. Everything will be discussed at the meeting this afternoon, and if there are any questions or concerns, I will meet with you personally. But this meeting is off limits to students. I appreciate your concern and dedication, but this is not something you need to worry about. Just let us deal with this." Mr. Silverdash said.

Aretis wiped his tears away. "But...what if Mr. Silverdash is already dead? I mean....when Scarlet killed Snakeeyes, she transformed to exactly like him to cover up the tracks and make a clean getaway. What....what if Silverdash is the same?" Aretis asked.

Kiari heard voices. Angry voices, and tentatively peeked around the corner. "h-Hello?" She called out.

ooc: It's only been like 4 periods. School can't possibly be over yet. We haven't even had a lunch break.

Laughter fills the entire place as Alzandor appears within the world of his making. He scratches my chin with his claws and embraces me before gently ushering me away with his wing. As he speaks to Scarlet very word that he says is truth.

"Oh, but dragoness, this is real, it is one of the two outcomes should you fail in your mission. Go see for yourself what lies beneath that blanket where the little one lays and you will see for yourself the truth. As for the feeling you are feeling here, they too are real, dragoness. Not only am I a prodigy of death by also of the mind. You may feel nothing toward the little one now, but soon, very soon, you will. All the paths you can take prove this. Even in the darkness of your failure to complete your mission, despite all others leaving you, the little one will not. He remains forever loyal despite it all, for you are the world to him, even if you do not believe it yourself. Now once you accept this truth for yourself, this world will vanish and you will return to your school. Before this world was my own and I could get rid of it, but now because of the conflicted emotions of the one within it and the world itself, only you have the power to escape this world. You may believe that little one beside you means nothing to you, but look deep within you, release those emotions that you have hidden with you all these years and you will see how much he truly means to you. Why do you think you and him met, dragoness? Think about this dragoness and once you come to realize the truth and accept the feelings that you know are real, you will be free," he says before vanishing like smoke on the wind.

"But she can't possibly copy everyone. Think about how many teachers, students, and staff are in the school. She can only shapeshift into one at a time, right? And we just saw her walk out of the school before us. Now with Mr. Snakeeyes dead, we're short one teacher, and Mr. Silverdash should be teaching in his place. She can't be him and be outside at the same time." Firefly reasoned.

Scarlet sighed in annoyance. To her, this entire world was only a waste of her time. If she was stuck here, then her plan would fail for sure, because she wouldn't be there to implement it.
"You're just wasting my time and your's!" She yelled to Alzandor, whether he was there or not. "I have no feelings for anything. There's nothing in any world that I care for. I don't even like children. I'm using them to my advantage because they're weak and impressionable. Easy to manipulate, corrupt, and make loyal to myself only. Then I would have an army of evil dragons to fight for me. Your words, this world you created, are both meaningless. I refuse to sit here and be bothered by this any longer. I have important things I need to be doing." She announced. Then Scarlet sat down and closed her eyes. It may be difficult, but if she focused hard enough, she should be able to teleport out of this world. She focused her mind on her office, the real one. She could see it in her mind. All she had to do now was teleport to it.

Alzandor snarls frustrated.

"Fine be that way, dragoness, but you will see just how wrong you are about how you feel toward the one that stand beside you," he says before returning her to her office. However as she is returned Alzandor is nowhere to be seen. There is not even a single sign that he ever was there.

"It could be someone else. Maybe she recruited more shapeshifters. If Blackest Day is working with her......then....they could've killed all the teachers and replaced them with copies!" He frowned, flicking his tail. ".....How long until the school day is done?" He asked.

"We should be almost done with fourth period. Then we have lunch during fifth period. And after eight period, the school day will be over." Firefly answered. "But the teachers haven't been acting any different from usual. I mean, sure, they don't like the curriculum change, but nothing seems strange or odd about them. They're not acting suspicious. And I've been attending this school for a couple of years. I know the teachers here. We can trust them." She insisted.

Scarlet opened her eyes and sighed in relief. The fake world was gone and she was back in her office. She could finally put that nonsense behind her and get on with her work. Scarlet then got out a scroll that had a list of tasks she was to complete. She sat down at her desk and looked it over.
"Let's see, hire a new magic teacher, done. He just needs his payment. He can take care of that himself. There is no remaining trace of the old magic teacher or the principal, so that's taken care of. The text books should all be passed out by now. I should double check to make sure they're being used, though. Otherwise, I can't fully corrupt the school. However, I still have a couple of troublemakers to deal with. And there's a new nuisance on campus that isn't even a student. He'll need to be dealt with. I can't have him interrupting my work with nonsense. Perhaps I should get the groundskeeper to take care of him." She muttered to herself. Scarlet then took a deep breath and shook her head gently. "Oh, dear, what a day. Who knew the first day of school would be so eventful and stressful. If every day ends up like this, it may be smarter to quit while I'm ahead." She muttered. Then Scarlet shook her head. "No, I came here for a reason. I mine as well finish what I started. I need to see it through to the end. Even if it kills me...." She sighed at the end.

"Okay.....well, I trust you........" Aretis closed his eyes. "So...well, what now?"

Kiari blinked, confused that no one was there, and then walked back up to the nurse office.

ooc: Wait, he was never in her office, was he? I mean, he went to see Mr. Silverdash, but he wasn't there. I don't remember Icestorm ever snooping around Scarlet's office.

"Well, the bell should ring soon. I have a free period during fifth, so I could go talk to Mr. Silverdash then, if you rather be in class or in the lunchroom. or we could go see him now. I doubt he's in the office, though." Firefly said.

"Okay. I have to find my sister as well." Aretis nodded. "Can we meet here after school?" He suggested, flicking his tail and making his way outside the cave now.

ooc: Well, yeah, but she has so many other things to worry about right now. Not to mention the fact that she would sooner notice other smells from dragons that were in her own office.

"Sure." Firefly answered, following him out of the cave. "I have the afternoons free, unless there's homework, and there never is on the first day. And while in one of my classes, I heard the teacher mention something about a meeting this afternoon, with Mr. Silverdash and the other teachers? You know anything about that?" She asked.

And so it was done, after countless hours had passed he had obtained the information he required on the subject of rare or fabled dragon breeds. Though he wasn't any more the wiser, at the least he had gained some insight on the unusual death dragon along with some other urban legends.

He decided to test one theory of drawing out the dragon by releasing the little power he had left that was gained over the years defeating and slaying his foes, using the taken power of dead enemies was one rumored way of attracting one as the book stated, best of all because the power was gained by the dead it was more likely to not attract unwanted attention. It was hard at first but he had to recall the many slain foes over the years and piece by piece stern out the power taken from them during the final blows...he was sure that dragon would come.

Rodu couldn't believe it! Detention? He'd rather be expelled. Or at least sent to the principal. His plan had failed miserably. He frowned, narrowing his gaze. "Fine," he stated flatly, then slowly moved back to his seat. He looked to the ceiling, needing to come up with a new plan. The final words of Mr. Nightdoom hung in his head. What meeting was he talking about?

Just then, the bell rang. Fourth period was over. There would now be an eight minute break for students to get ready for class. And with fifth period, students would be served lunch. There was only one lunchroom in the building, and it was located towards the front of the school, by the library. Lunch was split up into three 'lunch periods' so to speak.

First was what the school called A Lunch. Students with A Lunch got to go eat right away, before fifth period even started. Then after the lunch bell rang, they would go to their class.

Students with B Lunch would go to class first and have lunch later during fifth period, and then return to class after the lunch bell rang.

Students with C Lunch had lunch last, having to wait until towards the end of fifth period to eat. After their lunch period was over, they would go straight to sixth period.

The lunch periods were divided up by the separate hallways, so students that shared a class would have lunch together and wouldn't miss any of class time.

English, History, and Biology were on A Hall, as it was called. Students in any of those classes during fifth period went to lunch first, before going to class.

Magic, Gym, and Flight were on B Hall. Students in these classes had B Lunch. They would go to class first and wait for the bell that would let them know when it was time to eat. Then they would return to class after their lunch period was up.

Band, Art, Drama, and Chorus classes were on C Hall. Students in these classes had C Lunch and would eat last. After their lunch period was over, they would go straight to their next class.

More advanced students that had been attending the school for a couple of years and had passed their required classes may have one or more free periods depending on their schedule. Students who had a free period during fifth could attend lunch at any time and could actually stay in the lunchroom throughout fifth period without getting in trouble, if they wanted to. (This applies to my character, Firefly.)

Aretis shook his head. "No...I haven't heard anything of the sort." He sighed. "According to my schedule, I also have a free fifth period." He blinked. "After that, I have History I think...." he blinked and smiled.

OOC: Maybe you've already said this, but how many classes do the students take in a day? I have to figure out if my characters have a free period during lunch.

Lily heard the bell and got up, her mind still lingering on the meeting after school. She left the Chorus room and headed down the hall to the Art room, where she waited for Starz.