Chapter 65: A Course Debate

I said goodbye to Feli after we both stood up from the bench. We went our separate ways for the night. I walked around for a bit before I found Lemres sitting down on another bench. "Yo Lemres, there you are!" I called out to him. "Yo. Looks like ya had a fun time." He smiled. "It wasn't perfect, but me and Feli were both happy with how it turned out, man." I said. "Glad to hear that, man. Do ya wanna go back to Suzuran, Dave?" Lemres asked me. "Of course." I nodded. "Well, here's the portal. Remember Dave, we go to Primp Magic School tomorrow. Don't keep me waitin' in the mornin' before we go. Although, Ringo will prolly jus' smack ya sideways until ya do get up. *chuckle*" He said after making. I jumped in the portal and came out just outside Ringo's home. Honestly, it was technically my home as well at this point. I noticed just how deep the snow has gotten around here. "Damn, has the snow really piled up this much since I was gone...? Wait, it looks like some of it on the top melted... Maybe it was just the sun here doing its work. Either way, this area seriously needs to be shoveled." I jumped to the door's frame and clung to it as I turned the handle.

The door opened and I slipped inside, sofly landing on the shoe area. I obviously didn't want the floor to get wet. "Hey, I'm back." I made my presence known. "Welcome back, Dave. I got the thing Risukuma made for me." Serilly smiled and told me. "He brought the device to you? Now this, I have to see." I got curious. I took off my shoes and made my way over to the mermaid. I saw Ringo standing next to her and the cute redhead saw me. "I got Ris to come over and give Serilly the device, Dave." She told me. "Ah, so he came here himself? ... That would explain how Serilly has it now." I nodded slowly. "And, I got clothes for Serilly as well. Now she won't feel embarrassed when she's not using the tail…" Ms. Ando added. "Oh-! Well then..." I was surprised.

Ms. Ando's words brought me to the conclusion that Serilly's area by what would be her legs was bare naked before I came back. "Now I'm comfortable with giving myself legs. …" Serilly said before closing her eyes. "Th-the bracelet on her arm...!" I observed. I watched as her tail changed into legs as well as clothes that covered them. At this moment, I saw that she was now wearing a pair of shorts. I found the shorts to be a bit odd, considering that it was almost winter at the time. And so, she looked like a normal human in a matter of seconds. "How... are they?" Serilly asked me. "Um... you look natural with them, as much as how your tail is." I put it bluntly. "Th-thank you! … Um... Can you help me stand up? I need to have a feel for this." She requested. "Certainly." I said. I held up the mermaid's shoulders to help her stand still. Even with that though, she was struggling to support her own weight like this. "Don't worry, Serilly... it'll just take some time for you to walk normally, like us." Ringo told her. "... I know. I need to keep relying on these legs, should I want to be like all of you." The mermaid kept trying. "Dave, dinner for you is still on the table." Ms. Ando pointed out. "Ah-! Thank you for telling me that, Ms. Ando." I bowed, then sat at the table to eat for a bit. Thankfully, it was still warm and delicious.

As I ate, I overheard a conversation between Ringo and Serilly. "Serilly, wanna come into the bath with me? It'll be a good way to keep your body clean." "Um... sure. I want to see how it turns out, since I've lived my whole life as a mermaid." "Unfortunately, that means Dave will have to bathe without me tonight…" "You really love him... don't you, Ringo." "Yeah. It should be obvious at this point, Serilly." I saw Ringo slowly guide Serilly to the bathroom. After they had their bath, I decided to hurry inside and wasted no time to clean myself. When I was done, I immediately went into my room and laid on my bed. I knew that I needed to wake up early on the next day to go to Primp Magic School for the debate on reintroducing academics to its curriculum. I drifted off to sleep a few minutes later in peace. I woke up early enough in the morning, as did Ringo. We got ready to go to that faculty office and Lemres was already outside, waiting for us. "Yo, I'd suggest we get goin'." He said, urging us to hurry into the portal he made for us. I quickly checked my phone, and it was 8:15 A.M. This was forty-five minutes before the debate was supposed to begin. Luckily, much of the snow had melted since the previous night took place, so it didn't get in the way of us and the portal. Me, Ringo, and him all jumped in as it took us near Primp Magic School.

Snow was still somewhat light around Primp, as we saw it. Amitie, Raffina, Klug, Lidelle, Tarutaru, Feli, and Yui also arrived. They were apparently already there by the time we came. "So, how are things looking at the moment? I'd say we came right on time. Were you all waiting for us?" I asked them. "Yeah. There's no way that we would ditch you... we go into everything together. Things are just fine, Dave." Klug answered my questions. "Great, then let's go in. … I actually don't know where the faculty office is, so this will be interesting…" I approached the entrance. I went inside and the others followed me. "I know where that room is, Dave. I'll show you." Klug offered. "Thanks." I smiled slightly. Once I saw the door, it was obvious that it led into the faculty office; words were written directly on the door. I opened the door and we saw Accord, as well as other instructors, and another face that I wasn't familiar with. "Ah, there you are. I was worried that you all wouldn't make it here today. Go ahead... have a seat, children." The unfamiliar figure spoke. This person was a man who looked and sounded like he was in his mid twenties. "Um, I don't know if I'm being rude here, but… who are you?" I asked. "Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen you around here before…" Amitie nodded. The others followed with their own silent nods.

It seemed as though none of us knew who this man was, outside of Accord, Rulue, and Witch. "Ah-! Forgive me for not introducing myself; of course none of you would know me. … I am the principal of this school, Mr. Zier. I have never really shown myself to the student body in any capacity. I realize that this sounds suspicious to at least some of you, but I am not a shady person. To prove it: I was the final nail in approving this debate in the first place." He introduced himself, then said. "You were the one who ultimately approved it after all the instructors gave their input on the idea?" Feli looked at him. "Yes. I preferred to have the rest of the staff say how good they thought the idea was." Zier explained. "So, this was a majority rule sort of vote…" Raffina guessed.

We can only assume that this WAS a majority rule sort of vote... "Correct, Raffina. And yes, I do know who all of you are to a good degree; this includes you, Dave. Over the past few months, you have been an interesting student and I had my eyes on you. … However, I digress. What we are going to discuss here today is this: Which courses are going to be added to the curriculum next semester? This semester ends in a little over a month from now, so we have to plan this out now and prepare. And so, I wish for all of you to suggest courses to us that would best fit this school for the near future. If this becomes successful... other things might become available, as well from input from the entire student body. For now though, please try to stick to mostly basic subjects. Our students are not exactly the most competent when it comes to academic education; please do remember that, children. Here's this paper with all the possible general courses." The principal continued. "Y-yes, sir." We collectively stuttered.

"Well, any good adds to the list of academics and stuff, guys? I've got nothing…" Amitie admitted. "This shouldn't be too hard, we have the normal core consisting of the following: Math, English, Science, and Social Studies." I said. "Uh... Isn't that a little too broad, Dave? All of those have many different sub-classes, especially mathematics and science." Klug pointed out. "Well, Mr. Zier did say that we should stick to mostly basic subjects for now, Klug… If we bring up the more specific and advanced stuff, it's not going to have a good effect on most students." I told him. "Then what else?" Lemres scratched his head. "Uh... is P.E. also a part of this?" Ringo wondered. "I'm not sure… I'll ask Mr. Zier. ... Hey, will you consider P.E. to be added?" I said, then turned around to ask.

It would be shocking if that ISN'T considered… "Yes, don't worry. We obviously considered that one as well. So, I presume that you want that to be added in?" Zier waited for an answer. "Yes, do so. Also, let's get the obvious general picks out of the way: Math, English, Science, and Social Studies." Klug answered. "Okay. Oh, and it's fine for you all to also suggest a couple of electives if you feel like you can't think of other good starting academic courses." The principal nodded. "S-so, what else...? I-I was thinking maybe suggesting... one of the non-academic classes since we can't come up with basic variations of the normal academics..." Lidelle stuttered. "Well, let's see here… … … Huh. Choir is listed here? It would be one course that I want to see developed… I am a bit of an advocate for it." I noticed, then said. "Really?" Klug was intrigued by my choice. "Perhaps Band too as the other potential elective? Either way, we should stay on track with what we should be suggesting." Feli thought about it, then got us back on track a little.

After a while, we finalized our suggestions and presented them to the staff. "Alright, the academic suggestions are as they should be… Are you sure that's all you want to suggest? We DID put down other forms of those basic courses for you." Mr. Zier looked at us curiously. This caused the rest of the staff to turn their attention to us. "It is as you said, Mr. Zier: We stuck to the most basic of basics for a reason. Because of that, we decided that we had to add in a couple of… elective suggestions. It could give the students something to look forward to each day." I told him. "Hm… Fair points, Dave. … What do the rest of you think?" He nodded, then faced the staff. "I suppose it's fine for now, Mr. Zier." Accord gave her thoughts in a nutshell. "Yeah, these kids made safe suggestions an' stuff." Witch nodded. "... What about the rest of you?" Zier faced the other members of the faculty. Most of them nodded their heads in agreement.

A couple of them opted not to agree to the elective choices, but quickly gave up when they noticed the vast majority agreeing to them. "Excellent, then we are in agreement. Now that we have that out of the way... Children, I want your opinions on each of these choices. What are your feelings toward these courses? Amitie, I will start with you. So, how do you personally feel about these courses?" Zier surprised us with more to do in this meeting. "Um... … I dunno... I've only really learned how to use magic in more recent years." She admitted. "*chuckle* I suppose that is the kind of answer I would expect coming from someone who wishes to be a true magician… ... Raffina, what about you?" He laughed a little, then moved on to Raffina. "Well, these courses will make society better over time. If the younger generation is educated, AKA us, it will have a positive effect on everyone else." She said. "I'm with her." Klug agreed. "Very well then, I don't have to ask you now, Klug. … Lidelle, your thoughts?" He said, then eased Lidelle into answering. "M-Mr. Zier, I think these courses will make students curious to see what they are all about…" She stuttered.

This process continued until I was asked last. "And finally, Dave… What do you think of- ... Wait, you were the catalyst that sparked this meeting, correct? I shouldn't need to ask you, because I heard from Ms. Accord that you were so passionate about bringing academics to the students of this school." He started, but stopped his question regarding my thoughts. "Hehehe… Well, you know... I wanted these courses to stick with the former half-students, Mr. Zier. I don't want them to struggle later in life… I'm not a fan of all the academics, but I recognize that they're extremely important." I felt a little embarrassed as I told him. "I see, I can easily understand that. You truly are a wonderful young man, Dave." He smiled. We all looked at the time, since this went on for longer than we anticipated. It was now afternoon and we were surprised that it was that time already. "We will have these courses set for the next semester, I assure you all. I suppose we don't have anything else to discuss, do we? ... If we are all done here, then this is where we stop and leave. Children, we will see you again soon, since school is returning quickly. Have a nice day and enjoy the last bit of your break." Zier ended the meeting. All of us said goodbye to the instructors and exited the room.

We left the school and went outside."Dave, that principal was an interesting guy…" Ringo came to my side. "Yeah. None of us have ever seen him before… but yet, he was just as bright as the rest of the staff here." I agreed. "He definitely seemed to know just as well as us that academics were needed here." Feli said. "He's nice, that's for sure…" Yui chimed in. "Yeah, he's quite the fellow." Lemres smiled. "Kiddies, I will see you for training in due time. After all, we still have threats approaching us." Accord ran out to say to me and the rest of her class. "Of course, that still won't change for a long time, Ms. Accord." Raffina acknowledged. "We'll be there when the time comes." Klug fixed up his glasses. "Great. Dave, please do prepare as well. You know why…" Accord smiled, then looked at me. "Yes, I will…" I promised. She nodded and left to go back to her home. "Well, I guess this is where we part for the day... Bye." Feli said to me and Ringo. "Yeah. Bye, Feli." Ringo hugged her. "Bye, Dave." Feli hugged me. "Bye." I said back to her. "See ya, dude." Lemres waved to us as he made a portal, sending me and Ringo on our way back to Suzuran.

The remaining snow had melted and the ground was wet with puddles filling the streets. It was still cold, but at least it felt like the temperature was above thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit. Back home, Ms. Ando and Serilly greeted us. "Dave, when will I go back to the sea? I want to go back there soon. Besides, Harpy misses me… I can feel it." Serilly wondered. "Well… unfortunately, Winter is coming and staying in the ocean now is not exactly smart. Ocean water gets very cold when the temperature gets low. I might try and see if I can arrange conditions for you to see Harpy from time to time. I want you to stay safe here, first and foremost. Do you understand?" I told her. "That's… a good point." She slowly nodded. "Also, this time will prove to be good for you. You're still not used to those legs, so walking around some more will help you get accustomed to them." I added. "... Yes. I'll continue to live here for winter, Dave." She decided. "So, it looks like I'll have one more mouth to feed for the time being. *chuckle* Don't worry, I don't have a problem with it." Ms. Ando smiled.

The rest of the day went by with me and Ringo relaxing together. We sat side-by-side as the lovebirds we were. I watched as Serilly made herself more accustomed to walking about. By the time that dinner rolled around, she was able to get to one of the dinner table chairs on her own. Once again, Ms. Ando's cooking proved to be excellent, and I could never get sick of eating the meals. I took a shower soon after, then turned in early for the night. Before I knew it, I drifted off to sleep. Another dream began that night and this was a WEIRD one, from what I remember. Basically, I found myself on the SS Tetra with Ex. He was calling out, trying to wake me up. "... Mm…? *yawn* what's going on, Ex?" "Dave, we need you in the cockpit. Something's going on here and it isn't good." "...?! Show me." I quickly got up and followed Ex. I didn't even QUESTION how or why I was on the Tetra, probably because I don't really control my own dreams. My dream self just rolled with whatever the situation was. When we reached the cockpit, I saw what was up. Some giant space monster clung to the ship and it wouldn't let go. "We tried everything, but it won't budge. Not even me and Tee were able to get it off." Ex elaborated. "Huh…" I observed. "According to my calculations: This ship will lose all of its power in about an hour." Ai said. "Wait, what?! But the power is perfectly fine for right now, Ai! Why are you saying that?!" I exclaimed.

It took a few seconds for him to answer my question. "Well, that thing... is sucking the Tetra dry of its power. We don't know how it's doing it, it just is and it's draining the power so quickly. If we don't shake this thing off, the Tetra will float around on its own and we WILL be stranded in space." He told me. "You don't say?" I felt frustrated. "That's why we wanted to get you, Dave. But then… I saw that you were asleep; I had to wake you up." The captain said. "Ex, I'm not sure if I can even rip that thing off the Tetra…" I sighed. "I could help you, Dave…" Yui suddenly appeared by my side. "W-woah! Where'd you come from?" I reacted. "*sigh* Nevermind, you should know what I'm able to do for you." She told me. "... Fair enough, possess me." I allowed her. When I felt something though, I woke up from my dream. I realized that it was a dream and scratched the back of my head. "What the hell was that dream…?" I quietly asked myself. I looked at the time, it was two in the morning. Fucking hell… ... What's with all these different dreams and shit? I know that it's normal for a human to have dreams, but that was a weird one. … Dammit, I should just go back to sleep… Which I ended up doing just that; I went back to sleep. This time though, when I did lose consciousness… I didn't have a dream. The next time that I saw something, it was when I woke up at the perfect time.

A couple of weeks passed by without much happening besides going back to Primp Magic School. I only had to deal with those two classes for what was left of the first semester. Suzuran High was not in a working status and it was likely that it wouldn't ever be again. This semester was almost over and it was a few days into December. The weather was really becoming cold and snowy now. So, my friends and I adapted to it by wearing coats and boots. The bigger amounts of snow meant that it was much more difficult to find a place to train during Accord's class. So, she decided to take things into her own hands. Accord found a huge indoor space outside of the school to teleport us to. With that, our training had resumed as each of us grew a little stronger.

When class ended and school was over, Ex found me and Ringo as he was about to take Yui back to the Tetra. "Hey, Dave." "Yeah, Ex? What is it?" "Tee's finally going to be released from his sentence today and he will resume his duty as Assistant Captain." "That's great. I hope that means he's able to help us fight the Yogs." "He should, especially after I've been constantly updating him with what's been happening since his sentence was shortened. He knows about the Yogs and he also knows about the tournament, as well as the surprise return of Vyle. So, do you want to see him?" After Ex asked me if we wanted to see Tee, I turned to Ringo. "... What do you think, Ring-" I was stopped by her. "Yes. I wanna see him." She answered. "Well, someone's eager… *chuckle*" Ex led us to the Tetra, which we then entered. Yui was going in there as well. We all made our way to Tee's cell.

When we arrived there, Tee noticed our presence. "*gasp* Dave! Ringo!" He looked happy to see us. "Tee, your sentence is over as of now; you're free to go and resume your duty." Ex freed Tee from his cell. "Thanks, Ex. Although... I should seriously take a bath." He said to him as he walked out. "Uh, yep… you definitely should. But hey, it's nice to see you back to being yourself." I covered my nose. He was smelling up a storm so to speak, with a horrid stench. "Tee... let's stay friends and never be any closer or further from that." Ringo covered her nose too. "Of course, Ringo. I'll respect boundaries from now on… This promise extends to you as well, Yui. I'll just be a good guy that carries the weight of an important duty on this ship." Tee smiled with pure intent. "I-I mean, you didn't have to say that… I know that you'll intend to keep that promise, Tee." Yui blushed while covering her nose.

Wow, even now… Yui is acting like a- I should stop, it's not nice to label her as one of those kinds of girls that I would see in anime. "Dave, I'll help you out as much as I can against these Yogs. However… I remember that something seemed to have happened to me while I was locked up here." He turned back to me with a smile before transitioning to a serious look. "Wait, "something"...? What is it?" I raised an eyebrow, showing concern. Ex was also in the same boat as me for this. "I don't know why... but it seems as though my archangel power has disappeared entirely. I don't feel it flowing through my body anymore…" Tee told us. "Disappeared…? That certainly can't be normal, Tee. Are you sure it isn't just the inside of the Tetra preventing you from accessing that power?" Ex doubted. "Well, let's see if that's truly the case... We should go outside of the Tetra, thank goodness that it hasn't taken off yet." Tee walked off and we followed.

Outside, Tee grunted as he tried to draw out his former archangel power. But no matter how much he tried, he remained as basic Tee. "What the hell…? I should be drawing out the power, but I have nothing of the sort." He felt frustrated. "This appears to be a mystery that we'll have to solve some other time, Tee. We should really get you prepared to perform your duty again. Dave, Ringo, we'll see you another time; there are things that we have to do." Ex said, then urged Tee and Yui to go back inside the Tetra with him. The three entered the starship and we watched it take off to the sky. "We should get going too, Dave. We don't wanna have Lemres wait for us, now do we?" Ringo grabbed my hand. "... Okay." I stared at the flying ship, then turned back to face her and nod.

We had Lemres take us back to Suzuran, where we arrived home. "Mom, we're home." Ringo came inside first. "Welcome back, you two." Serilly noticed. "My, how has today been?" Ms. Ando smiled. "It's been fine, we got to see a person that we made up with." I said. "That's wonderful." She continued to smile. A couple of hours went by and all four of us sat at the table for dinner. Just when I was about to dig in, I heard a knock on the door. "I'll get it." I got up. When I opened the door, I saw Ex standing in front. "Ex, why are you here?" "I thought that I would go and see how Ms. Ando has been." "Well, she is here... We're having dinner, care to join us?" "Sure, why not?" I led Ex inside and Ringo noticed him. "E-Ex?" She was a bit surprised. "Hello... again. Heh... I came to see how your mother was doing, Ringo." He explained to her. "I'm doing just fine, Ex. We have plenty here for you too if you wish to eat with us." Ms. Ando told him. "Yes, I'll partake in this; the food looks great." He took a seat. When he took a bite, it looked like he was taken aback. "This tastes amazing, Ms. Ando...! How did you learn to cook like an expert?" His eyes widened. "*chuckle* I have my ways, Ex." She answered. "I see... Either way, I thank you greatly for the food. You're very generous, Ms. Ando." He bowed his head. After all of us took in the food, Ex got a call. "Hm? ... My apologies, I'll go over there. I have a call to pick up." He got up and moved over.

A minute passed before any of us said a word. "Dave, Ex seemed to drop his smile pretty quickly…" Ringo whispered to me. "Yeah... However, I'm sure that it's noth-" I said before Ex came back. "... Dave, this is bad... I need you to come with me, right now." His movement suddenly appeared to have a level of urgency. "W-what's the matter, Ex?" I asked, feeling worried. "I'll explain it to you on the way, but we need to get inside the Tetra as soon as we can. Ringo, I hate to leave you here, but I must ask you to not come with us." He told me, then turned to face Ringo for a moment. "Can you at least tell me why? What's up?" She requested. "... All I can say is that it's something dangerous, possibly even more so than the Yogs that we've fought so far... when it comes to the safety of my crew, at least. Obviously, Yui is a part of the crew as much as everyone else there… my precious adopted daughter. She can fight, but I don't want her to be fighting alone." Ex said before stopping briefly.

Poor Yui... "And also, there's the loss of power that Tee had… He can still fight… but I know that he's significantly weaker now than he was before. Bah! Enough of this! We have to get going, lest we want the crew AND the Tetra to be destroyed." The captain finished speaking. He prepared himself and walked outside before I made my move. "R-right, I'm coming." I followed suit and he made a portal for just the two of us. "Dave, this will take us directly into the ship. Ai is waiting for my return, feeling absolutely scared. Let's go!" He grabbed my hand as he got both of us in the portal. "W-woooooah!" I wasn't prepared to be pulled in like that. As we made our way to the Tetra with the portal, I wondered just what this dangerous thing Ex mentioned could be in my mind. Seriously, how bad is this thing? If it's more damaging than the Yogs that we've defeated so far, then this must be really bad…

Author's Notes: Dave and his friends were able to get academic courses set up for the next semester in Primp Magic School, all for the entire student body. They did so with the help of the school's instructor's and the newly met principal, Mr. Zier. A couple of weeks pass over and Tee is finally freed from his cell inside the Tetra, thanks to Ex. Dave and Ringo got to see this happen. Tee then told them and the captain that his archangel power was gone somehow. He tried to have it manifest outside, where the Tetra's object can't affect it, but it still didn't come through. Ex told Tee and Yui to go back inside the Tetra so that they can take off. With that, Dave and Ringo went back to their home in Suzuran. Later that night, Ex made a surprise visit to see how Ms. Ando was faring. He ate some of her cooking, along with Dave, Ringo, and Serilly. The captain was impressed with the food and he thanked her. After that, a call came to him and he answered it. This call alerted Ex of something dangerous nearing his crew. He brought the news to Dave and Ringo, but wanted the latter to stay. Dave went with Ex through a portal to get to the inside of the Tetra, thinking about how dangerous this… thing could be. Just what is it? How will Dave and Ex save the ship AND its crew? Next chapter, Chapter 66: A Counterpart.