Chapter 27:
Finally a Battle Scene

When OC woke up from her vision, a strange, foreshadowy thing occured... she couldn't remember it. Woah, she thought, that's weird. This could definitely become a big deal later. It sure would be irresponsible of me not to tell everyone!

As much as this distressed her, she was relatably eager to solve the mystery. "I'm fine now," she assured her friends. "False alarm! It was probably just an allergic reaction to something I ate. You know how it is."

Subzero clearly didn't believe her, and Hotness was romantically concerned for her safety, but there was no time left to lose. They raced back into the school, to Hopekiller's private study, where they found Expendable and Muddy waiting for them with the crucial evidence. It blew the case wide open.

"Wow, this guy really is the killer," Hotness said, showing OC the scrolls that their friends had found. Apparently the evil NightWing had just left them on his desk. For a crafty, secret murderer, he sure was bad at hiding his own murder plans away.

The first scroll Hotness showed OC was a list of names, topped by Boto and Islet. Several fan-favorites were included later on the list, like Anemone and Kinkajou. Thank goodness they had caught Hopekiller before he could get to them!

Other scrolls showed his evil brainstorming, with plans ranging from "slip tasteless, untraceable poison into her soup (note: must find poison first)" to "just hit him really hard on the head and hope nobody sees you". Hopekiller clearly wasn't exactly an expert assassin.

"It all makes sense now!" exclaimed Expendable. "Those notes even said 'I am the killer of hope'."

"Oh my gosh!" cried Muddy. Hotness and OC both nodded.

"Wait, wait, wait," said Subzero, frowning. "Fatespeaker wrote those notes. We literally just discovered that. Did you guys really forget?"

Everyone just kind of shrugged that off. No time for plot holes or loose ends now. "Well, it feels like a lot more time has passed, Subby," Hotness pointed out. "With all this mystery, and the deep character development..."

"What character development?" Subzero cried. "Also, Subby? Really?"

He sighed and lashed his tail, staring at the scrolls. Then his expression changed. His gray eyes became even more thoughtful and troubled than usual.

"Hold on," Subzero said, his voice shaking as OC had never heard it before. "This is wrong. This is all wrong." He grabbed one of the scrolls away from Hotness, holding it up to a light. "Look, the writing on the list... it doesn't match up with the writing on his plans. There's something fishy going on here."

Being part SeaWing, OC wasn't sure whether or not to be offended by that expression. She looked to Hotness, who was now studying the scrolls again. Even if the list is different, the SandWing reasoned, the plans themselves were by Hopekiller. Plus, he threatened OC. He has to be the murderer.

Trying to recall Hopekiller's real writing, Expendable thought back to the last history test he had received notes on. Three moons, I really blew that essay, he thought. Why are there so many SandWing civil wars and IceWing revolutions?

Muddy, who had been watching the door, started to stutter something. "U-u-um, g-g-g-guys..."

Then Hopekiller walked in.

Everything seemed to kick into slow motion, including everyone's dramatic thoughts.

Expendable tried to jump in front of OC, but tripped and fell down on his face. Oh no! he thought. I have to heroically sacrifice myself for OC! Also, owww, my face!

Muddy had some boring flashback to the war.

Finally a battle scene, Subzero thought sarcastically. You'd think in a story about dragons, there would be more fighting.

But it was Hotness's thoughts that were loudest of all. I MUST protect my new true love! he thought. They had just confessed their feelings, after all. Their new relationship needed some drama! Hotness dove toward Hopekiller in a seriously stupid move. The stupidity of it somehow made him seem even more attractive.

Hopekiller, who was much larger and stronger, easily threw Hotness aside. Even a dragon as attractively buff as Hotness was no match for Hopekiller's evilness. The murderous, murder-y NightWing lashed his tail and lunged for OC, clearly intending to murder her.

OC leaped back, relatably shocked. Though she was the most ridiculously overpowered dragon in the room (and probably in all of Pyrrhia) she was just too relatably terrified to strike back. This conveniently gave Hotness the chance to protect her.

"No! OC! My precious flower!" shouted Hotness, blasting more fire at Hopekiller. Or at least, that's what he tried to shout. All the fire he was breathing made it come out more like, "NOOOOCMEEPFLOR!"

OC blushed. So romantic!

Hopekiller scrambled away from Hotness, growling menacingly, and threw his wings up like he was about to surrender. I can't let them find out, he thought mysteriously.

"We know you did it, Hopekiller!" OC exclaimed bravely.

"Professor Hopekiller," Hopekiller grumbled. OC could tell from his thoughts that, despite being an evil murderer, he really did have a passion for teaching history. That really should have been a warning sign.

"Professor Hopekiller," she corrected herself. "Surrender now, and face the justice of... uh... the dragonets of destiny!" That was the best she could come up with, since all of the actual governments in Pyrrhia were either useless or corrupt monarchies. Maybe Subzero was right about that stuff.

For a second, Hopekiller bowed his head, looking like he had really given up. OC was so relatably excited to have finally solved the mystery that she didn't bother to look into his thoughts. What a relatable mistake.

OC stepped forward, hoping to bind his talons with some of Subzero's scrapbooking tape. Then, the moment she let her guard down, Hopekiller sprang back up, blasting his fire right at her beautiful face!

Subzero shoved her out of the way and blasted ice back at Hopekiller. Steam and smoke filled the air. OC slammed into Hopekiller's desk, overturning it, and burning papers flew everywhere.

"AAARG!" Subzero fell to the floor in a smoking heap. For once he didn't say anything sarcastic - that was a really bad sign.

No! thought Expendable. Why do I never get to save OC? Then he remembered that Subzero had just been blasted with fire.

As Expendable, who had apparently forgotten that he could also shoot fire, rushed to help their grumpy IceWing friend, Hotness and OC both cornered Hopekiller in the back of the room. They somehow managed to pin him down without getting clawed or burned.

"Why am I the only one realistically injured?" Subzero groaned on the ground.

"Someone, go get help!" shouted OC. Hotness romantically stomped on Hopekiller's wings to keep him from escaping.

Muddy finally recovered from her terrible flashback and, realizing that all of her friends were in danger, rushed over to help. She reached into Subzero's trusty book bag, searching for a makeshift weapon, then rose up with rage shining in her eyes. "L-l-let me at him!" she shrieked. "Let me gut that monster like a pig!"

Far too late, everyone finally realized how messed up Muddy's backstory was.

Subzero's eyes widened. "Wait, not my -"

Muddy raised Subzero's scrapbook high over her head. That thing was thick. Subzero sure did have a lot of memories, and all the glitter just made it even heavier.

"This is for killing my classmates!" snarled Muddy, so enraged that she forgot to stutter.

WHAM! She slammed the book down on Hopekiller's head.

"This is for traumatizing Expendable!"

WHAM!

"AND THIS!" Muddy screamed. "THIS IS FOR ATTACKING MY BEST FRIEND EVER!"

WHAM!

"O-okay," stuttered OC, "Muddy, I think that's enough." Hopekiller was already out cold, and Subzero was sobbing over his ruined scrapbook.

"No!" cried Muddy, practically frothing at the mouth. "Let me GIVE IT TO HIM!"

WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!

Eventually Expendable had to restrain Muddy, if only to make sure she didn't accidentally become a murderer. Hopekiller was obviously no longer any threat, so Hotness and OC got off of him. They both knew that they should probably go get help, or try to bandage Subzero, who was still laying there injured and annoyed, but first they had to share an intense, romantic stare. Expendable, Subzero, and Muddy all awkwardly tried not to notice.

"All that noise came from Hopekiller's study!" called Sunny's voice just outside the room. Obviously, the sound of their fight, plus all of Muddy's screaming, had alerted most of the school that something was wrong.

OC's heart filled with hope. Help was on the way. She and her friends had already solved the mystery and stopped the murderer. They were heroes!

Then, gazing around at the room again, at the toppled desk, the absolutely destroyed scrapbook, and all the burning papers everywhere, a terrible realization dawned on her. We just burned the evidence. She turned back to Hotness, desperate for a plan.

At that very moment, the dragonets of destiny (minus Glory) burst into the room. Sunny fainted, Clay finally stopped thinking about food, Tsunami started cursing, and Starflight stood there, blindly asking, "What? Seriously, guys, what's going on?"