I don't know why I'm uploading this. I guess I just don't want all 8,700+ words of this to go to waste, especially after dragging multiple people into my naming issues. I started this more out of boredom than anything and fuck did it grow. Trust me, though, it's more interesting than 'characters that are now inexplicably children go to school.' More info at the end, so those who don't get through it doesn't have to wade through my bolded A/N.
I'm still flying by the seat of my pants here, I'll admit, but I am being much more thorough with planning this time, so if you are familiar with my writing, trust me, it's much better than my other stories on the SK list, I'd have to say. Queen Propeller's more funny, though.
Shovel and Shield stared at their new classmates with worry. One person had her head down and was seemingly fast asleep. Another was gazing out the window, seemingly staring at a nearby bird flying in circles in the air. Yet another was fixated on a book, at least giving off the impression that he was researching for another class, of which appeared to be a science class, completely blocking out what the teacher was saying. Others were simply there, not doing anything in particular, and all had bored and borderline vacant expression on their faces.
The teacher sighed as she glanced at the two. "I'm so sorry, you guys."
"Don't worry, we're not bothered," Shield told her. "We weren't expecting a parade."
"I know," the woman replied. "They could at least look at you, though." She suddenly switched gears and snapped, "Plague, stop doing your physics work; this is not the class for that!"
"It's not homework," the boy who had been reading the science book said, glancing upwards. "Besides, this isn't physics. I don't have that class. It's chemistry. You're mixing me up with Tinker."
"I like machines," a short student said, his tone and crossed arms indicating he was somewhat indignant despite his face remaining almost frighteningly impassive. "Doesn't mean I like physics, nor would I sit around studying it while I'm in another class, Plague."
"Do I look like I care?" The teacher questioned, an annoyed expression on her face. "Oh, and since I'm already on your case, stop doing Mona's work for her, would you? One more time and I'll have you taken out of this period. I don't care how full the other class is."
The student whose head was down left out an annoyed groan.
"I write whatever she tells me to; I don't just do it for her," Plague replied as he gently pat the head of the half asleep girl beside him. "She's just too lazy to write it all down, and frankly I don't blame her; you make us write a lot in here."
"I do not!" The teacher argued childishly.
"Would it kill you to quit bickering?" A boy dressed in black questioned with a cold glare, crossing his arms.
"Black, be nice," the guy who was still staring absently out the window muttered.
"I just want to get my work out of the way as quick as possible," Black replied.
"As you always do," Tinker said.
"Seriously, you need to learn to take a chill pill, Black," Plague piped up with a small, amused laugh.
"Oh, you're one to talk," Black snarled. "You're the one who can't stand in front of the class for 2 minutes without bursting into tears."
"S-shut up!" Plague yelled indignantly.
"Plague, don't let him drag you down," the girl who had previously not bothered to so much as lift her head muttered as she finally glanced up from the arms she had been using as a pillow.
"But Mona…" Plague protested quietly.
"No buts. You're better than that," Mona replied softly but sternly. She rather lazily put her hand on his shoulder.
"Alright, Mona," Plague said with a small, almost embarrassed nod.
"I cannot believe that you buy that crap," Black snarled.
Mona glared at him. "Do you want me to kick your ass?"
"Could you even pull yourself from that chair to do so?" Black mocked.
"If you continue to annoy me, yes, I will," Mona hissed.
Shovel frowned as he listened to the bickering. "I feel like we're out of place."
"Haha, that'll happen," Shield giggled.
"It's probably better for you to be out of place," the teacher informed them. "I would hate for you to be tainted by the chaos of this class."
"Half of our time in this room is over and we haven't even managed proper introductions," Tinker yawned as he attempted to block out the nearby arguing.
The teacher sighed. "I can never keep them under control."
"You don't have any tactic?" Shovel asked, somewhat befuddled.
"Is this your first or your second year of teaching?" Shield joked.
"It's my fifth, and what works seems to change every year," the teacher groaned.
"Have you tried moving them away from each other?" Shovel suggested. "Plague can't do Mona's work inside of class if he's not right beside her; I think Black would benefit from being either in the front or the back, not the middle where you have him now, and," he pointed to the guy who was still staring out the window, "you need to move that guy away from the window. He has not looked away from… I think that's a bird since the moment we walked in here."
The teacher stared at the current seating arrangement critically. "Gods, you are right," she groaned. Raising her voice, she called out, "Alright, new seats!"
This got the attention of the people, as they all stared at her silently.
"Plague, you are to trade places with Halberd! Propeller, you're moving with Sword, and Black, take the back vacant seat."
Everyone who was ordered begrudgingly did so.
The teacher gazed at the new arrangement for a moment before deciding, "Actually, Mona, you take Plague's spot. Halberd, you might as well move over to where Mona was. There's no point in confusing Plague next class."
Mona groaned, but did as ordered. Plague, however, felt the need to question this. "Why?" He asked.
"Because she's closer to me, which allows me to wake her up when she falls asleep," the teacher answered, to which Mona huffed in annoyance.
"Ha! Finally getting what you deserve!" Black laughed.
"I am out of my chair right now; do not give me reason to go over there and beat you up!" Mona snarled threateningly, turning to glare at him.
"I'm not scared of you," Black informed her uncaringly.
"I would be, if I were you," Plague said, looking as though he were recalling a suppressed memory.
"Black, I thought you wanted to get your work for the day," Tinker said. "Doesn't that take priority over antagonizing your classmates?"
"Oh, what's she going to do, suplex me?" Black mocked.
"Black, don't give her ideas," the boy who had been looking out the window suggested.
"She isn't strong enough to hurt me!" Black laughed.
"And you know that how?" Plague questioned. "I have seen her do some impressive things when she's angry."
Shovel frowned. "You know, I honestly thought that would work. I think it may have just made things worse."
Shield laughed. "Wow, this is bad. I think you just need to move Mona to another class. Black seems to annoy her more than anyone else, and she does have that partnership with Plague you also have to worry about."
Mona paused in her bickering, mouth open for a retort. Slowly, she rotated her head to look at the new students, her face contorting in a scowl.
The teacher stepped forward, barring her from approaching the two if she dared to try. "Calm, Mona, you won't get moved! I've tried that when I found out you people were all going to be together nearly a month ago; the other class is even fuller than this one, and no one can be moved. To your seat, now!"
Mona huffed but did as demanded. Plague stared at her with a worried gaze. He couldn't do anything, though, and so just gave her a light pat on the back before returning to his seat.
For the first time in several long minutes, there was complete silence. The teacher sighed and said, "Shovel, can you go sit by Axe?" Shovel nodded and did as requested. After a moment of thought, she decided, "Shield, I'm slightly hesitant to do this, but it's the only other open seat without moving more people." Shield didn't wait for her to continue and just made her way to her new seat, which was by Mona, who had already placed her head back in her arms, but was glaring at the other female as she took her seat.
"I'm sorry," Shield apologized softly. "I just wanted some order to the chaos."
Mona sighed. "Yeah, it's pretty bad. I usually keep to myself; I just let Black get to me."
Shield cocked her head to the side. "Does he always do that?"
Mona nodded slightly. "Yeah. He loves either bothering people or just getting his work done. I swear he doesn't know what fun is."
"I think bothering people is his fun," Shield said.
Mona smiled. "Ah, probably."
Unknown to the two of them, they were being watched by the teacher as she went about making sure she had everything. Normally, she would have snapped at them by this point for all the time wasting they had done, and the current chatter was not helping, but it was good to see one of the new kids get along with someone, especially the most asocial of all her students. Thus, she allowed it until she started her lesson.
A minute before the bell rang for the end of the period, Shovel felt a tap on his shoulder. Confused, he glanced behind him. It was the boy who had been looking out the window before. "Uh, hi," he greeted.
"Morning!" The student said happily. "Have you gotten the tour of the place yet?"
Somewhat surprised anyone would even offer, Shovel replied, "Uh, no, not really. We actually got lost trying to find the room, as embarrassing as that is."
The boy laughed. "Well, then at lunch, meet me outside this room, and I'll show you and your girlfriend around!"
"She's not my girlfriend," Shovel informed the boy. "But, regardless, thank you. Uh, we never actually did get through the introductions, did we? I'm Shovel, in case you missed it."
The boy smiled and nodded, holding out his hand, which Shovel shook. "Nice to meet you, Shovel. I'm Propeller! I'm actually a grade above you; I just failed this class because I was stressing about other classes that I ended up neglecting this one. Haha! Wow, was Magicist pissed about that!"
Shovel frowned. "Who's Magicist?"
"Oh, that's what everyone calls the teacher," Propeller informed him, pointing to said woman.
Shovel was silent for a moment before asking, "Why do you do that?"
Propeller shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure myself. I think someone called her that in her first year, and it just kinda stuck. Something or other about how she got excited over the idea of magic."
"Huh," was Shovel's confused reply. "Well, okay then. Ironically, I think that's the most I've learned thus far today."
Propeller smiled. "Happy to be of service!"
There was a shrill ringing sound signaling the end of the period. As they made their way out of the class, Shovel asked as he glanced down at his new schedule, "Hey, where's the… uh, accounting? How did I get into accounting?"
"At least it's not Horticulture," Shield said as she approached, looking at her own schedule with dread.
"It's not that bad," Mona commented as she passed them with Plague. "If you can get past the initial semester, of course, since you can't get into the greenhouse otherwise. Natural Resources, now that's a bore."
"I thought you said Floral Design was the worst?" Plague questioned.
"Yeah, but at least you do something in there, since, you know, I'm not allowed to sleep around Estoc anyway, the obnoxious pet," Mona replied, her voice gradually fading out as they got swallowed up by the cluster of students running for their next classes.
"Accounting's over there," Propeller said, seemingly unperturbed by the random interruption as he pointed to the right. "Tinker's in there too. Follow him and you'll be golden. Isn't too hard to find, though, the teacher always stands outside the door."
Shovel nodded and started his trip as Propeller pointed Shield in the direction of her next class.
Shovel yawned as he walked out the door, waving a goodbye to the teacher as he did so. He noticed Tinker was gazing critically at his advanced accounting paper as he walked along, muttering about how the numbers weren't adding up correctly. 'Nut,' was Shovel's only thought on the matter as he returned to the initial room, finding Propeller was there waiting for him.
"Do you know if Shield has this lunch?" The older male asked.
"There are different lunches?" Shovel questioned, feeling somewhat dumb.
Propeller shrugged. "Yeah, we don't have that many kids here, but enough to need two separate lunches so we don't all crowd the place. You saw passing time, right? Uh, let me look at your schedule." Shovel handed the paper over and Propeller gazed at it for a second. "Yeah, you got this lunch."
"Hey guys!" Shield yelled as she appeared.
"Yo, you got this lunch?" Shovel asked.
"Not a clue!" Shield replied happily. "I didn't even know there were two different lunches!"
"Neither did I, up top!" Shovel yelled, holding up his hand, which was promptly slapped in the manner requested.
Propeller laughed at the interaction. While she was distracted, he reached forward and took Shield's schedule. He frowned. "You have next lunch."
Shield glanced at him and deflated. "Aww," she sighed. "Fine, where's history?"
"I'll show you, come." Propeller started walking, with the two new kids walking closely behind him. "Don't be too down, though. Tomorrow you have the same lunch as me, and I think I saw Shovel has bio third period."
"Meaning…?" Shield asked, already lost. "And what do you mean tomorrow?"
"This place runs on a Day One and Day Two system, remember?" Shovel reminded her.
"Yeah, and your third period dictates if you have lunch one or two," Propeller added. "Tomorrow you have math third, and Shovel has bio, both of which have lunch one."
Shield nodded in understanding as they came to a stop.
"Here you are, my dear," Propeller said, gesturing to the nearest classroom.
"Please don't call me that," Shield requested as she walked inside, waving to them a short moment later.
"Alright, onwards to the tour!" Propeller said happily as he watched Shovel start munching on a granola bar he got from seemingly nowhere. "I'll focus mostly on what to watch out for. First… school lunches. Honestly, they shouldn't be considered food. Or safe enough for human consumption for that matter."
"That's why I have this," Shovel said as he held up the bar he was eating. "I may not have a lot of money, but when I have any, it generally goes towards something to replace those."
"Right, good," Propeller nodded approvingly. "Smart kid. Okay, so now. First off… watch out for Treasure."
"You guys have treasure here?" Shovel questioned.
"No, that's his name," Propeller corrected. "Although I wish we had enough treasure just lying about that we could tell anyone who comes to keep an eye out for anything that might be shiny. Anyway, he will fuck you up. Like, no questions asked. Just for making eye contact. Luckily, he's never in school. But still. Do not fuck with him. Under any circumstance. You piss him off, run like hell and do not look back. He's slow, so that shouldn't be too hard."
Shovel nodded as he thought about this. "Right, okay, stay the fuck away from Treasure, got it. Anyone else I should fear?"
Propeller thought for a second and suggested, "I would try to stay away from King if I were you. His family believes they're royalty, and are kind of assholes that all have a couple screws loose. I mean, King, really? Who names their child that?"
"You're asking someone named Shovel," Shovel reminded him. "While you're named Propeller. I don't think we have much right to make fun of him."
Propeller snickered. "Oh, right! Ah, anyway, moving on, now. Another thing to look out for is the spook brothers." He pointed toward a person red hoodie with the hood up as he walked past. "There's one now. Most of them are pretty much completely identical with what they wear."
Shovel stared at the boy as he passed them. "Yeah, now that you mention them, I noticed one in accounting. I thought that he was just an introvert. Now I want to know which one it was."
Propeller shrugged. "Wait for the teacher to call him out, and then try to memorize how he acts. Until you learn their speech patterns and small quirks, it's best not to refer to them by name, lest you make yourself look like a fool. The only ones you can tell right off the bat are Chibi and Banana, and if you're close enough, Living."
Shovel snorted. "Living? What are the rest of them, vampires?"
"Actually, that's Wimpy," Propeller replied.
A confused look spread onto Shovel's face, accompanied by a befuddled grunt.
Propeller laughed. "You'll figure out what I mean eventually."
"I should hope so, for the sake of my sanity," Shovel said. "Anyone else?"
"But of course! In fact, there he is!" Propeller pointed towards a large boy in red.
"Him?" Shovel questioned. "What about him?"
Propeller waved to the guy as they passed by him. "That's Mole, the sweetest guy in the school. And the only one that could potentially stand up to Treasure in a fight, mostly because of his size. Like I said, though, he's sweet, so he wouldn't do that unless he's protecting someone that's in major shit with the guy."
"Right, now I know who to run to when I tick someone off," Shovel commented.
Propeller grinned. "Don't rely on him too much. You never know when he's going to realize what he has and starts charging!"
Shovel nodded. "That would not be pleasant."
The rest of the lunch period was rather uneventful, as Propeller could not come up with anyone else to talk about, and so he went on about the school. Sadly, however, despite its age, the school was beyond boring as shit, and it was almost a relief when the end of their lunch came.
"Wish me luck in math," Shovel said as he left the older boy's company.
"Good luck, bud," Propeller said as he waved a goodbye.
"Shovel!" Shield yelled, suddenly appearing and crushing said boy in a hug.
"Shield?" Shovel questioned. "You have Lang & Lit now?"
"That I do!" She grinned.
Shovel let out a sigh of relief. "Good, I'm not alone! Especially with this nutcase of a teacher." He glanced over to the person who was currently taking about her high school adventures playing water polo. It was innocent enough until she started talked about how she would just appear to just float there when in reality she was more or less drowning another girl under the water's surface with her legs. "Sounds evil to me."
"It's not that bad." Shovel jumped in surprise and whirled around.
"You're one of the spooks," he realized, looking at the hoodie that was actually a blue, although the overall look was still the same.
The spook cocked his head to the side. "And you're new around here. You're right, though. I'm Living. Anyway, the teacher's fine. It's the homework you have to look out for."
"Is it that bad?" Shield asked, already clearly dreading the work.
"Depends on how much you like to cry," Living replied swiftly.
"Let me guess, you failed this class and that's why you know, huh?" Shovel guessed.
"Nah, this is my first time," Living replied. "It got my older brother to cry, though."
"Which one?" Shovel asked. "Don't you have a lot of brothers?"
"Actually, it got three of them to cry," Living informed them. "Wimpy, I'm not surprised. Scary and Sexy, however… yeah, that's bad, they're way tougher than Wimpy."
"I'm going to die here, aren't I?" Shield asked, seemingly already on the verge of tears.
"If Wimpy can get through it, so can you," Living told them. "You just have to be careful, and study with someone who's willing to let you bawl on them."
"That's not helping," Shield muttered.
"She gave us homework on our first day…" Shield complained as they exited the room.
"Technically, it is a couple weeks into the year, so we shouldn't be too surprised, especially after what Living told us," Shovel reminded her.
"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Shield muttered. "We're going to have to talk to someone who actually knows what's going on in there, aren't we? Ugh, human interaction."
"Hey, I thought you were the extrovert here? What's this dread for interaction about?" Shovel questioned.
"I'm fine with talking to people, just not asking them about what I'm doing. I thought you would have figured this out by now. It makes me feel stupid," Shield replied.
"Yeah, you and me both," Shovel replied. "So let's just go find someone who knows!"
Shield groaned.
"Hey Plague!" Shovel called out.
Plague glanced up from his book with a scowl. "What?" He spat.
Shovel tried to ignore the cold behavior as he asked, "You know anyone that can help us with our Lang & Lit work?"
"Are you insulting me?" Plague asked. Shovel frowned in confusion. "Saying I'm not smart enough in that class, so you have to ask someone else?" He suddenly grinned and let out a small laugh. "You'd be right, of course; I'm terrible at literature. Almost as bad as Tinker, in fact. Honestly, I recommend talking to a senior. Why did you ask me, by the way?"
"Because you were the first guy I saw that I recognized," Shovel replied sheepishly.
Plague shrugged to himself, seemingly intrigued by the fact that the new children would so willingly approach and interact with him. "Lovely. Thank you very little for reminding me that I have homework in there, by the way. I have to deal with that class tomorrow and I am not prepared at all."
"Plague, you ready to go?" Mona asked as she appeared.
Plague nodded and tucked the book he had been reading under his arm. "Yeah. But why are you asking me? I was waiting on you."
"Because you're the one who was busy chatting it up with these weirdos," she said, gesturing to Shovel and Shield with a lighthearted grin that showed she meant no offense.
"They talked to me first," Plague informed her.
"About what?" Mona questioned.
"Lang & Lit help," Shield answered.
Mona stared at them for a moment. "Good luck with that," she said. "I don't think anyone can help you with that shit. And that reminds me I never finished my homework."
Plague laughed. "Neither did I."
Mona sighed. Despite this, she didn't look particularly unhappy. "Your place or mine this time?"
"I went shopping yesterday," Plague answered with a grin that was teetering on being maniacal.
Mona adopted a similar facial expression as she questioned, "You got the toothpaste?" Plague nodded. The grin grew. "Then let's make some shit explode!"
Shovel looked to Shield in fear. 'You can make things explode with toothpaste?!' He mouthed.
'I didn't think so!' Shield replied.
The two other students started talking about what exactly they intended to destroy as they walked away. Among the list was a teddy bear, a cat (hopefully not a living one), and a packet of candy. This last option was quickly scratched out because it would be a waste of perfectly good sugar.
"And I'm frightened of them now," Shovel commented.
"You and me both," Shield replied. "Wanna just forget that just happened?" Shovel nodded. "Probably the wise thing to do. Let's go find your friend who told us about the lunches."
"Propeller?" Shovel questioned.
"Yeah, him, I suppose," Shield muttered. "He'd be of some help, right?"
"Well, he is a senior," Shovel replied.
Shield paused midstep. "Why was he in a class for our grade, then?"
"Because I failed," a familiar voice informed them.
Shovel and Shield whipped around.
"Propeller, morning!" Shovel greeted. "Do you think you can help us figure out what we're doing in Lang & Lit?"
Propeller frowned. "Did you not ask the teacher?"
"She scares us," Shield replied softly.
"And she was surrounded immediately after class," Shovel added.
Propeller laughed. "I'm afraid I can't help you there! I don't know where the class is right now, and frankly, I'm not sure you know either!"
"You can't try?" Shovel asked, deflating somewhat.
"I have… something I need to do," Propeller told them.
"Oh… what is it?" Shield asked excitedly.
"Shield, don't go bothering him," Shovel said.
"It's a secret," Propeller said with a smirk. "Tell you what, when I'm sure you aren't going anywhere, I'll show you."
Shovel sighed sadly. "Oh trust us; we won't be leaving anytime soon."
Propeller shrugged. "That has yet to be seen."
"Don't tell us you're making an active effort to get us moved out of the town," Shovel said, dreading the thought of another move.
"Not a chance," Propeller reassured them. "I'm quite fond of you; I wouldn't do that."
"Yeah, we should hope not," Shield said. "Not after what happened in the other town."
"What happened?" Propeller asked, unaware of the incident.
"Some asshat kid at our school decided he didn't like having a bunch of orphans in his educational facility, so he burned down the orphanage," she informed him, quite bitter about the event.
"Oh…" Propeller breathed. "So that's why you," he pointed to Shovel and then to Shield, "and you and… ah, I got it now. Huh."
Shield giggled. "Yeah, pretty much."
"Uh, speaking of which, we should probably get back. We need to get working on that homework," Shovel reminded her.
Shield sighed and began looking for a suitable window to throw her out of.
Shovel and Shield walked through the door of their new residence and were greeted by, "You two are a little later than I would have anticipated. Did you already make some friends?"
"Y-yes, actually, Mr.-" Shovel started, but was cut off.
"No mister, kid," the man told him. "It's unnecessary and just takes up time."
"Uh, alright… Polar," Shovel replied, feeling quite strange referring to the man in such a manner.
Polar nodded. "Good enough. Run along, now, I need to make sure dinner is made."
The two nodded and walked away.
"He still scares me," Shield said.
"Yeah," Shovel muttered. "Seriously, how did he get to be in charge?"
"Well, he is kinda a big teddy bear," Shield replied. "A very big and kinda scary teddy bear, but a teddy bear nonetheless."
"I know, but first impressions mean everything, and my first impression was 'I'm going to die here, aren't I?'" Shovel laughed.
"Mine was a simple 'holy crap'," Shield grinned.
"Yeah, seriously, who thought it was a good decision for him to be the first one we would meet in this town?" Shovel shrugged to himself as he let it drop. "Ah, anyway, so… our work?"
Shield nodded and took off her backpack, pulling out her new notebook. "Right, right, so do you know what an FOA is?"
Shovel and Shield walked silently, feeling dead inside after an hour of trying to figure out their homework in language and literature, not to mention any other work they got trying to keep up with the rest of the classes they were now in. In front of them, Mona and Plague were talking about whatever it was they were doing the day before.
"You did buy the off-brand, right?" Mona questioned.
"Are you implying I bought the on-brand?" Plague shot back.
Mona frowned. "Is that even a thing? And I'm just saying that you might have. That was far less spectacular than it should have been, and everything else seemed right."
"There is the chance…" Plague muttered.
"Let's look at it after school," Mona suggested, to which Plague nodded.
"Man, those two are weird," Shield whispered.
"Tell me about it," Shovel replied. "And to think I used to believe the people at our other school were odd."
"Are you calling us crazy?" Asked a voice from behind them.
Shovel let out a small shriek of surprise while Shield jumped. They looked behind them to find Tinker had been walking not far behind them.
"O-oh, well, I mean, not in a bad way," Shovel said, placing a hand over his heart in an attempt to calm it.
"You're still calling us crazy," Tinker pointed out.
"Yes, but I'll admit that we are also pretty nuts ourselves," Shovel muttered. "So, I mean… yeah."
"You are terrible with people, aren't you?" Tinker guessed.
"Beyond terrible," Shield answered for him with an amused grin on her face.
Tinker rolled his eyes and feel silent, merely walking beside them.
Shovel let out a sigh and looked to Shield. "Thanks," he muttered, unsure himself if it was meant to be sarcastic or not. "So, what's your first period today?"
Shield held up her finger as she looked for her schedule. She pulled it out and glanced at it. "Bio," she muttered with dread. "Well, that's draining. At least I have art afterwards, that's not too stressful, right?"
"You don't know the teacher," Tinker said.
Shovel looked at the smaller boy. "Please don't make her feel worse."
Tinker shrugged uncaringly. "It's true. Teacher's a nut. Of course, the actual projects are pretty cool, but… That doesn't help too much."
"You're making me more stressed out the more you talk," Shield said.
Tinker raised an eyebrow at her. "You have no clue how to handle stress, do you?"
"Not a clue," Shield sighed.
Tinker grinned, and it almost came off as evil. "I can give you something that might help. Shovel, too."
Shovel, somewhat unnerved by the grin, replied, "Thanks, but, uh, no, I don't think we should take you up on that offer. We should, um, learn how to… deal with it ourselves."
Tinker frowned. "Alright. Suit yourself, I suppose. If you ever need it, though, the offer is open." He spotted a nearby friend and approached them, leaving the two orphans alone.
"Why did you turn him down?" Shield questioned.
"I didn't like that grin on his face," Shovel answered. "It made me think he was up to something."
"I feel like you're just being paranoid, but that was a creepy face he made," Shield agreed.
The two walked for a while before Shield seemed to realize something and looked back down at her schedule.
"Ah shit," she muttered.
"What's up?" Shovel asked, leaning slightly to look at the paper.
"I have PE today," Shield whined.
"At least it's the last period," Shovel replied. "And hey, don't feel too bad. I have that too."
Shield let out a soft sigh. "Ah, well, that makes me feel better, at least."
"Hey Shovel," Shield called out upon locating him at lunch. Upon seeing him look at her, she asked, "Did you learn anything in biology when you took it?"
"I haven't taken it," Shovel answered.
"Oh, oops," Shield muttered.
"Why?" Shovel questioned.
Shield shrugged. "Well, the teacher just sat around talking the whole time to Plague. I think it was on their exploding toothpaste experiment."
Shovel frowned. "So you didn't learn anything."
"No," Shield said. "I get the distinct impression we have to do the actual learning outside of class, which is really confusing."
Shovel laughed slowly. "That's beyond confusing. Why is that class there in the first place?"
Shield shrugged again. "Fuck if I know. So, mind giving me some kind of tour, since I wasn't there for it yesterday?"
"Propeller's probably better at it," Shovel said. "So I think we outta find him first."
"Well, good thing I'm here now!" Propeller said, popping up out of nowhere.
"Gods, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Shield questioned, whipping around to glare at him.
"Nah, but it is fun to mess with you," Propeller said with an amused smirk.
Shield sighed. "Can we just get on with it?"
Propeller nodded. "Sure, come now!"
Shovel proceeded to then ignore the next 10 minutes of seemingly aimless wandering. They finished a little earlier than he had anticipated, though, and Shield ended up snapping in his face to get him to return to reality.
"Uh, what?" He asked.
"Propeller asked us a question, dummy," Shield informed him.
Shovel chuckled nervously. "Um, sorry, I was tuning you out. What now?"
Propeller laughed, greatly amused and seemingly not particularly surprised. "I asked, no one's offered you anything strange, right?"
Shovel frowned as he recalled his time with Tinker on the way to school.
"Well, Tinker did," Shield replied.
"He offered some kind of stress relief something or other," Shovel added.
"Did you take him up on it?" Propeller asked, almost as though worried.
Growing confused, Shovel replied, "No, we didn't. I didn't trust the look on his face. It looked evil."
Propeller nodded happily. "Good. Do not take anyone up on any similar offers."
"Oh? And why is that?" Shield asked, voicing the question that Shovel was just about to ask.
"Because it'll ruin the surprise I have for you," Propeller answered. "Which apparently I'm now going to have to bump up some."
"But because you just said 'don't take anyone up on their offers', shouldn't we not take you up on yours?" Shovel asked.
Propeller seemed taken aback by the thought. "I didn't mean mine. Besides, it's not an offer."
Shovel looked to Shield, worried, and found that she was giving him a similar look.
Propeller laughed nervously. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad! It's… uh, kinda like a game. You'll see. I can't have anyone else stealing you away."
"And if we don't want to join your game?" Shovel asked.
Propeller appeared to have been equal parts prepared and caught off guard by the question. "You won't! Trust me." He let out another laugh.
"Tinker!" Propeller yelled when he finally found him during passing time.
"What?" Said boy asked irritably.
"They're mine," Propeller said simply.
"Oh?" Tinker raised an eyebrow. "And just when did this occur?"
"Earlier," the older male replied simply. "Point is, stay away."
Tinker scoffed, but did not reply beyond that, merely walking away before he caught the attention of anyone around them.
Propeller smirked. He knew the young man could not reply too much without drawing the notice of someone, namely a teacher, which could lead them getting sent to the office if their disagreement grew too heated. Explaining what was going on was not something either wanted to do.
He had won this round. He was in control of the new students' direction now.
"Shovel!" Shield yelled, running into her friend.
"Are you going to do this every time?" Shovel asked with a small laugh after recovering his balance.
"Sure, why not?" Shield said.
Shovel shrugged in acceptance. "Okay, sure. So, you ready for PE?"
"Not in the slightest," Shield replied with a grin.
"I don't think anyone is," Shovel laughed, looking around the room. In the far corner was Mona, who had curled up with her legs to her chest and seemed to be glaring at the room in general. Plague sat beside her, muttering something that was probably encouragement. Many of the boys were running around with a basketball they got from somewhere, and most girls had sat down and were doing whatever they felt like.
In the very center of the room, in danger of getting hit upside the head with the ball, was a boy who kept proclaiming despite no one actively listening to him, "What is this idiocy!? Royalty should not have to run or do anything that might make them sweat! I demand you listen to me!"
"It's several weeks into the year," Shovel commented as he gazed at the boy. "Does he yell that every day?"
"Unfortunately," replied an unknown person.
Shovel wasn't sure whether or not to be surprised by yet another person making themselves known by joining one of his conversations without any warning.
Calmly, he turned around and was greeted by one of the spooks. As it was PE, the boy had dressed down… somewhat. He still wore a hoodie and covered his face that way. He was wearing shorts, though.
"I'm sorry, which one are you?" He asked. Shield elbowed him.
"It's alright," the spook informed Shield. "I prefer you ask rather than pretend you know until you can get it right. I'm Wimpy."
"Oh, so you're Wimpy," Shovel muttered.
"You've heard of me?" Wimpy asked.
"Yeah," Shovel answered. "Living mentioned you in English."
"Oh fuck, don't remind me of that," Wimpy requested, looking as though he were reliving a nightmare.
"Righto," Shovel laughed.
Wimpy nodded gratefully. He glanced at their attire. "You aren't dressed down," he noted.
"Nope," Shovel said.
"We don't even know where the locker rooms are," Shield informed him. "We forgot we had this class anyway."
"Not to mention that we still haven't completely settled in, so anything that would be appropriate is probably still buried," Shovel added.
Wimpy nodded thoughtfully. "Okay, well, it's not like he's going to get too on your case about it. He's weird, not mean."
"Why is 'weird' the go-to term to describe someone here?" Shovel questioned.
"Because it's true," Wimpy said.
The teacher suddenly appeared and called for everyone to get into place for roll call.
"Here we go," Shield muttered.
"Hey, can we talk?" Wimpy asked as the teacher dismissed them to the locker rooms. "I can show you the locker rooms, too."
"Uh, sure," Shovel said.
The three walked down the hall until they got to the nearby rooms of destination. They paused outside the boy's locker room.
"Oh, right," Wimpy muttered as he realized something. "You can't come in since you're a girl, right. Uh, I suppose just wait out here, and I'll be out in a minute."
Shovel and Shield nodded and watched him walk in.
"Wonder what he wants?" Shovel wondered.
"Another 'offer'?" Shield suggested.
Shovel shrugged helpless. "Just what are these things they want to show us if we end up suspecting everyone of trying to get us to see it with them?"
"Guys, there you are!" Propeller yelled, suddenly at their side.
"Tell me something," Shovel said calmly, although inside he was recovering from yet another scare, turning to look at the newcomer. "Just how many years are you people determined to take off my life, exactly?"
Propeller stared at the younger boy for a second before replying with a straight face, "Five."
"Oh shit," Shovel muttered.
"Keep it up and you'll have surpassed that goal before the end of the week," Shield said.
Propeller smiled. "Great!"
"Not great!" Shovel yelled.
"Oh, come on, your death is inevitable anyway," Shield laughed.
"Doesn't mean I want it to come early!" Shovel complained.
"Good to know you aren't suicidal, then," Propeller commented.
"You know what? Fuck you," Shovel said.
"Same to you buddy," Propeller grinned. "So, are you ready?"
"For?" Shield questioned.
"Your surprise," Propeller answered.
"Oh, the one that we have no say in?" Shovel guessed.
"That's the one!" Propeller nodded happily.
Shovel sighed.
"Wimpy wanted to talk to us," Shield said.
"It's probably just another 'offer'," Propeller replied quickly.
"That's what we thought, but… what if it's something else? One way or another, I don't want to leave him," Shovel said.
"I'll go talk to him," Propeller told them, walking into the locker room before they could protest.
Propeller approached the spook as he gathered his things. The boy glanced at him in confusion, but otherwise did not pay him any mind.
Luckily, his locker was nearby, so he started fiddling with the lock, as though he had forgotten something in there a while back and needed to get it.
"Shovel and Shield are mine, back off," he warned the other senior while not so much as lifting his gaze.
Wimpy was taken aback, and stopped his packing up. "Why am I only just now hearing about this 'claim' on them? You had time yesterday to announce or at least subtly suggest you wanted dibs when we ran into each other."
Propeller shrugged. "I didn't think it would get to be a problem so quickly. I wanted to give them time to settle in, but then I found out Tinker tried to steal them today."
Wimpy clicked his tongue. "Bastard. I wasn't going to spring it on them today, you know. Scary says he wants them. That's what he gets. But he agreed it was best for them to get comfortable before throwing them in."
"I'm not risking another attempt," Propeller informed him. "I've warned them about the 'offers' and they seem to be doing well at avoiding them. Still, I'm initiating them, and you Cloaks… not you, nor anyone else, are going to stop me."
Wimpy frowned and swiftly finished up his packing. "We'll see about this, flyboy."
"You'd better not steal them like you did our last recruit," Propeller warned.
Wimpy smirked at the other teen. "Watch us."
Propeller narrowed his eyes and turned on his heel, stomping out of the room.
"Wimpy has been dealt with," Propeller informed them, walking briskly away.
Shovel and Shield looked to each other and dashed after him.
"Not in an evil way, right?" Shield asked.
"Probably depends on your definition, but rest assured, I wouldn't hurt him unless he was a legitimate threat to your safety," Propeller assured her.
"Thank you?" Shovel muttered.
"You're welcome!" Propeller replied brightly.
"So, what now?" Shield questioned.
"Now? We go to a world of imagination!" Propeller said.
"That sounds… like something a psychotic murderer would say," Shield muttered.
Shovel snorted, amused.
Propeller rolled his eyes. "I'm not a murderer, geez."
"Sure you aren't," Shovel muttered sarcastically.
"You have no faith in your friends, do you?" Propeller asked.
"We've known you for a little over a full day," Shield reminded him.
Propeller thought for a second. "Hm, fair. Don't worry, though, I'm not going to hurt you."
"Sure you aren't," Shield laughed.
"You really need to stop being so skeptical," Propeller told her. "Come, onwards to adventure!"
"So this is adventure. Huh, I thought it would be brighter than this. Or at least not have the smell of a dump," Shield commented.
"Oh hush now, would you?" Propeller requested.
"Dude, you're leading us into a smelly alleyway; I think we have the right to complain," Shovel said.
"Well, we'll be out of the smelly alleyway soon enough," Propeller told them.
"How? It doesn't go anywhere," Shield noted, walking to the end and tapping the stone for emphasis.
Propeller nodded in acceptance of this fact. "True," he conceded. "But that's not what's important. Gather 'round, you two."
Shield looked to Shovel, who stared back with a similar look. They rather hesitantly stepped closer to the senior as he did… something. Neither of the two orphans were entirely sure what occurred, because there was a flash of light that utterly blinded both of them.
Shovel hastily blinked his eyes, trying to regain his sight. He could hear faint murmurs. Or maybe that was his ears ringing. He wasn't entirely sure. He hoped it wasn't other people saying things, because that would imply he was suddenly surrounded, because that sounded like a lot of people.
When his vision cleared up, Shovel was shocked to find that he was no longer in the alleyway. In fact, he wasn't sure where he was. It appeared very grand, that much was for sure.
The room they were now in was wide open and spacious, easily supporting the frankly massive amount of people gathering within. The primary colors to take up the space were emerald green and a gold-colored yellow. Shovel felt a headache forming trying to look at it. Luckily, the brightness of the colors was toned down by the significant lack of light, as the main source of illumination came from torches that succeeded in providing the place a medieval feel. Although there were at least a hundred heads blocking his view, Shovel was able to count somewhere around 25 doors on the main floor alone, although that was not counting the second floor, of which there was a massive staircase on the end of the room leading to it.
'How big is this place?' Shovel wanted to question someone, but he kept his thoughts to himself, as he was already being stared at. He and Shield stuck out like sore thumbs, and it had garnered everyone's attention.
Every couple of seconds, there would be a small flash and another person joined the ranks of the crowd. All were wearing masks or helmets, and at least some sort of ridiculous clothing that had some bulk to it, indicating some form of protection underneath, if they weren't outright wearing rather unwieldy looking armor. All immediately turned their gaze to the newcomers, and it made Shovel feel like he was going to have a panic attack if they didn't look away soon.
Shovel looked to Shield, and found that, while she appeared wholly unnerved by the scene, she was somehow managing to remain fairly calm.
"Hey, coming through!" A voice called out as a body pushed its way through the crowd. "Stupid Crimson Cloaks and their scythes. I forgot I died yesterday."
The person broke through the crowd and stood before the two teens with a relaxed stance. With a gold-colored helmet and a green jacket, Shovel got the impression that either this person was the person who had this place painted, or he took heavy inspiration from his environment when deciding upon his outfit for the day.
"Sorry, I would have appeared with you, but something happened yesterday that prevented that." Upon seeing the confused and wary expressions on the children in front of him, the man laughed and pulled off his helmet.
"P-Propeller?" Shovel asked incredulously. "Alright, seriously, what is going on here!?"
Propeller snickered. "Where to even begin?" He looked fondly at his surroundings. "This," he gestured to everything around him, "is another world, far removed from our own. People were somehow allowed in, and slowly, a whole society came into being."
"Hey Shovel?" Shield muttered. Upon finding her friend was looking to her, she asked, "Do you remember taking any drugs before leaving the school?"
Propeller snorted in amusement. "This is no dream. Come, walk with me." He looked to the crowd before them. "Get to your duties, everyone. Wimpy implied war. The techies might come in as well."
Shield and Shovel looked to each other with shock. War? And Wimpy was the one to imply it?
This got the massive group's attention, and everyone scrambled to get prepared for a possible attack.
"Come," Propeller said calmly. "We must hurry."
"What do you mean? Someone tell us what's going on!" Shovel demanded.
"You will learn as you go," Propeller assured them, striding through the chaos around him with a particular ease.
Shovel sighed at the lack of cooperation. He looked to Shield.
"We don't really have much of a choice here, do we?" He asked, hoping that she would know.
"I don't think so," she muttered, shaking her head, visibly annoyed.
"Let's go then," Shovel said, slowly following the golden helmet wading through the sea of the masses.
As they walked, Shield muttered, "This is too many people."
"Yeah, right?" Shovel said. "I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack."
"I get what you mean, but no, not that," Shield told him. "They all appear to be at least high school age and not too much older than maybe a year beyond the final grade, though, let's be real here, it's kinda hard to tell, and yet this is at least half the school. It only has… 200, 300 people? And there's that other group, what was Propeller muttering about 'Crimson Cloaks'? And then he also mentioned the techies… Not sure who they are, but I imagine they've got a good bit of people, too."
"You're right," Propeller announced from behind them. "Half of our members are actually denizens of this world."
"So they don't appear in the real world?" Shovel questioned.
Propeller nodded. "Correct. But do not refer to it as the real world. Both are equally real."
"Then what the hell do we call it?" Shield questioned.
"Well, no one knows the real name of it," Propeller informed them. "Most call it 'Lazarus,' though." (A/N: I don't know, Lazarus was the first thing to come to mind when I decided I needed a name, then I realized it in some way fit because of revival and all.)
"Isn't that a biblical figure?" Shovel asked, cocking his head to the side. "The first zombie, or something?"
Shield glanced at her friend. "I didn't know you knew anything about the bible."
"I don't," Shovel replied sheepishly.
Propeller nodded again. "That it is. I'm not entirely sure who named it, but I think they had just read a poem on the guy and thought it fit because in this world, you can revive once you're dead. The inhabitants didn't have a name for the world, actually, so it was allowed to just stick with no real complaint."
Shovel cringed. "Ow."
Shield snickered. "Yeah, right?"
Propeller smiled. "It's not as bad as you would think. I died yesterday, but you don't see me complaining. Now then, let's go, we need to get you a respawn crystal."
"A what?" Shield asked as Propeller picked up the pace. "Hey wait, stop, hold on! Explain things for once!"
"What do you want explained?" Propeller asked in return, sounding borderline exasperated at Shovel.
"Everything!" Shield yelled.
Shovel frowned and decided to be more specific. "Why is this world here? What is our end goal by coming here? How was it discovered, and how long has this been going on?"
Shield looked to Shovel and muttered, "Yeah, what he said."
Propeller frowned. "Oh boy, that's a lot. Let's see, why…? That one cannot be answered. No one knows why it's here, not even its residents. It's like our world. Do you know exactly how we came to be?"
"Not off the top of my head, but I could find a book on the subject," Shield answered.
Propeller laughed lightly. "True, I suppose. But they don't have that. So they don't have a clue. Now then, end goal, end goal… To grow stronger and to sever the ties with this world."
"That sounds like it contradicts," Shovel commented.
Propeller paused in thought, before deciding. "It kinda does. You know those kids shows that include the other world that invades the real one and the heroes have to invade their world to stop it?"
"Maybe…" Shield muttered. "We don't watch a lot of TV, but I think I get the idea."
Propeller seemed satisfied with this. "Good, because it's kind of like that, only everyone's fighting each other all the time rather than getting together to fight the big evil. Competition is better for growing stronger than cooperation in this case, yeah? Anyway, how long has this been going on? At least since Sexy was in his first year."
The two younger teens were silent for a moment before both cocked their head to the side and questioned, "Sexy?"
Propeller couldn't help but laugh at their confusion. "The oldest of the spooks. He's out of school now. He's the second in command of the Crimson Cloaks."
"That's an interesting name," Shield commented.
"And there's another question!" Shovel yelled suddenly. "Who's the Crimson Cloaks; who's the techies?"
Propeller looked to Shovel and questioned, "Techies? Oh, right, the Tinkering Technicians."
"That's not what I meant, although it is nice to hear their names. Tell me who they are!" Shovel demanded.
"Why does it matter so much to you?" Propeller asked, honestly confused by the younger boy's insistence on learning. "It would be much easier, although not as fast, to learn by following along as we go."
"I hate being left in the dark, and just because you may have learned by just blindly pretending you knew what you were doing until you did understand doesn't mean I'll understand all the same!" Shovel argued.
"Just tell him," Shield advised.
Propeller sighed and opened his mouth to finally (hopefully, anyway) tell the orphans some explanations.
He was cut off by a blaring siren.
"Dammit," the senior swore. He ushered the two younger children to a nearby room. "Stay here, and don't move. I cannot risk you getting in the crossfire, not without a way to come back to life." He slammed the door.
"This place is brutal," Shield noted rather casually.
So, I decided to try something new for this story. A whole new dynamic in which it follows more a 'tell through the actions of the characters rather than have long paragraphs explaining things like I'm about to do,' which will mostly be used outside of Shovel's PoV, because he demands exposition, everyone else just says fuck it and rolls with it. This is rather new for me, (as is something akin to planning, so... hey) but considering I like to just start my stories off in the middle of something, I think it's actually a good way for me to write. Plus, I think this is the longest chapter I've made, so, clearly something is working here. Certainly the longest opening.
So, Shovel and Shield... these two are more or less there to act as the sane guys. They are the ones to ask the questions for the readers, because for everyone else, this is their reality, and they are not going to act surprised and require some form of exposition. However, despite this, they are not major to the extent of, say, Firestar in the Warriors books, which is who I think of when I think of the double S's roles in the story. Once the hype from 'new players' is gone, they are not going to be significant. They are just going to be a pair of faces in the crowd. By no means are they going to be ignored, but they aren't going to be, say, a group's go-to people for situations. Everyone can be revived in Lazarus, so that takes away any reason for them to spontaneously gain that role by death or injury of everyone better than them, and they will never reach a high enough rank fast enough before the end goal is reached.
I initially started this as a Persona/SK crossover, but then I realized I wanted there to be many spooks (of which only lkcsi will get, so just roll with it) and then it occurred to me that I cannot come up with enough even semi-unique Personas for all the characters, so I said 'shit' and just kept rolling with it until my mind formulated something better. I knew I wanted another world, but how to get people to join? I filled that gap by deciding that characters could join through the use of a one-time use power (fuck if I know how it originated) that healed any injuries (I had already decided that dying in the other world without the powers would not be a temporary death) and allowed that person to fight and revive in that world, with their own customized armor and weapon (read: their canon armor and weapons) And for some reason, I decided to make it so everyone had something covering their face. Meanwhile, eventually, the group thought evolved, and we have what we have now.