Chapter 67: A Frosty School Day

The next day came and I prepared to go outside to see how bad the snow was. Thankfully, since me and Ringo only go to Primp Magic School these days... we didn't have any classes until later in the day. Back to the icy dump situation, to put it in a few words: There was a lot... and it was somewhat wet. The snow kind of felt like slush… in well, a slushie. As you could imagine, I didn't want that shit to stick. If I didn't shovel all of it off, then it would freeze into ice. When that happens, it's a pain in the ass to get rid of. So I quickly shoveled the mess away from the front door, and then took care of its leftovers. I never liked to go and work early in the morning when it's freezing outside. I'm somebody that likes to stay warm until I become fully awake for the day. But, I knew I had to do this because I was the only one who could. Ringo wasn't physically strong enough to lift this stuff, nor was Serilly, and Ms. Ando wasn't fit to do something like this. I heard that Mr. Ando was the one who shoveled for the family in the past, since he was fit to do so. Now that he had been dead for a while at this point… yeah, I had to do it. Thankfully, it didn't take too long and I did it well. The pathway was cleared and no more snow was falling. This prompted me to return inside to warm up and eat breakfast. Me, Ringo, and Serilly enjoyed Ms. Ando's cooking, as usual. After that, me and Ringo waited about until we had class at Primp Magic. Lemres came by every time to take us there. And then Ringo usually waits out more, since she's just in Accord's class with me at the end of the school day. And thus, I was in Potions with Lemres and Feli for until then.

The bell clapped and Witch settled the students down, so that she could start the class. "Okay children, we've been only doing one-off assignments since returning from Fall Break… but now I'm ready to give you guys a project of sorts. It took me a number of days to set up, so that's why it didn't come sooner." She said to us. A lot of the students spoke amongst themselves, trying to figure out what this might have been. "Children, please. I will explain what this project is. Remember when I had you all go out and fight for potion ingredients? Well, this time will be similar… but instead of using your magic and stuff to fight and protect ingredients, you guys will use snow to… temporarily subdue each other. I thought it would make for a fun challenge… and it's also rather appropriate, since it's basically a winter wonderland outside. So yeah, if I catch any of you using magic for this, and I will… you'll be getting an automatic zero on this assignment. However, anything else that is used to promote snow-like projectiles or traps is fair game, such as raw muscle strength. ... Lemme see... Did I leave anything out that you all should know about? ... Nope, can't think of- Oh, wait wait wait! I forgot one other critical difference here compared to last time, and this might be the most important one: This time, you're able to group yourselves with up to three other classmates and form a team. Just make sure that your whole team gets back with the needed ingredients before this time you see here." Witch continued and showed us.

Oooh! That means I can team up with Feli and Lemres for this! I'm definitely not complaining here! ... I see Feli and Lemres, they're smiling at me. Oh yeah, this is gonna be... cool. ... Why did I just make that pun in my mind? There's snow and it's cold outside, sure... but I'm NOT a pun maker by any means. "Other than what I've just told you all, this is the same as that other assignment from the past. Any questions?" Our instructor finished. "Nope." We all shook our heads. Thus, we were immediately teleported into the woods with our self-chosen groups after getting our coats and stuff. Being within the wilderness while snow blanketed it was kind of harsh. The wind was chilly and snow swirled around in the air. Me, Feli, and Lemres definitely felt the cold as we slowly wandered about. "Man... how are we gonna find these things when the snow's so thick?" I wondered. "Dunno." Lemres shrugged. "They must be around somewhere... why else would Ms. Witch have us do this assignment?" Feli squinted. It was clear to us that the falling snow became an issue as soon as we appeared here. We needed to be able to see what was ahead of us in any direction, but we couldn't. Even if we COULD see through the snow, the bunch that was already on the ground would slow us down.

I won't lie, it was pretty deep and up to me and Lemres' thighs. We were both decently tall guys, so that came as an initial shock to us. Meanwhile, Feli couldn't even walk through the snow without being mostly in it because she was on the shorter side. And since Witch prohibited magic, me and Feli both knew that if she tried to use the ring… Witch would probably still call her out on it. And that also meant that I couldn't use my armor, technically. It would just give us such an unfair advantage compared to other groups. So instead: I decided on doing something else to help Feli out of the snow. Damn... the snow's so high that Feli can't even properly walk in it. And, if she stays in it like that… she'll get wet from some melted snow and probably catch a cold. "... Feli, I'll carry you so that you don't get engulfed by this deep-ass snow." I offered. "B-but... what about you, Dave? You won't be able to defend yourself…" She pointed at me. "Heh. I won't need to defend myself, Feli... I have you to chuck snowballs at anyone who dares to swipe any ingredients from us. You'll be like a sentry that I can also duck down with, should I need to." I told her. "... Yeah... I think that can work. Hehehehe..." Feli slowly smirked and giggled like some villain. She quickly scrambled up to my back after I picked her up from the snow. Of course, as I held on to her legs… they were already cold and wet. I really hope she doesn't get a cold from this…

We explored around to see if we could find the things we needed. Thankfully, we only had to get four ingredients from this frozen forest. These were: Some holly berries, a medium-sized pine needle, a fruit star, and a poinsettia. The last thing was actually something I knew. I already knew that a poinsettia was basically a plant with a bunch of red leaves. Back in my world, it's a plant that becomes widely available around Christmas time. I was honestly surprised to find out that this world had poinsettias, just like mine. Pine needles are from coniferous trees, so that wasn't a surprise at all, considering that there were a lot of that kind of tree in this forest. I had no idea what the hell holly berries were, and when it comes to a fruit star: I heard of starfruit before, but certainly not a fruit star. At the time that we got the short ingredient list, I just assumed that this was what they called starfruit. Anyway, we trudged through the thick snow and struggled to get far. The only thing that Lemres could realistically do was use his cane as a snow shovel, which the cane itself wasn't very good at doing.

As we progressed, we didn't find anything that resembled anything on the list. We didn't see any of the other students either. For a while, this had been the case. We looked at the time and we only had thirty minutes left. "Fuck, you mean to tell me that we've wasted twenty-five minutes just wandering around here? Do we even know where we are in this forest? Everything here just looks the goddamn same…" I sighed. "'Lax, Dave. I'm sure that the other students are havin' the same issue as us." Lemres said. "I think it's about time that one of us does something about this... Dave, toss me up to that tall tree ahead of us. I might be able to see the surrounding area and stuff." Feli told me. "O-okay." I nodded. We got to the tree she was pointing to and I threw her up to a branch there from where I stood. Feli tried her best to cling to it and eventually climbed on top of it. She observed the area for a couple of minutes, getting a general sense of direction. "Hey, I see something round and red over there, guys. It might be a few holly berries... or a poinsettia." She said and pointed. "Well okay, see anything else?" I asked. "Yeah, there are some pine needle trees around that area too. We should be able to find one that's medium sized." She replied. "'Kay, let's go." Lemres moved on ahead. I managed to catch Feli after she jumped off from the branch and she scrambled onto my back again.

When we got to where Feli pointed to, there was a poinsettia and a few coniferous trees. "I've never been so close to a poinsettia before… Back in my world: These would only be around for a specific time of year, like around now." I said. "Huh… your world has poinsettias, Dave? That's interesting… And it's funny that you just said that last bit, because poinsettias only come during this time of year in our world." Feli told me. "An' I've also heard of 'em bein' a thing in Ringo's world as well." Lemres mentioned. Well, that makes sense... Ringo's world is similar to mine, so it would only be natural for poinsettias to exist there as well. That makes me think... Is Christmas a thing in both this world and in Ringo's? If so... then it'll feel like I'm in my own world again for that. And there's no Thanksgiving in Ringo's world as far as I know, since America doesn't exist whatsoever. "I must ask you two this: What makes the poinsettia such a special plant for this time of year here?" I asked my friends. "It's the signature leafy plant of Christmas, a holiday." Feli answered. "Ya can't complete any sort of decoratin' without it; it's a staple." Lemres added. "Well... Good thing I'm already familiar with what Christmas is, it's a major thing back in my world." I smiled. "...! You've celebrated Christmas before?!" They reacted. "Yeah. Looks like there are some things that match between worlds." I nodded. "I-it'll be great if we and our friends get to celebrate it together! I've never done so with anybody outside my family." Feli imagined. "Same. I've only ever celebrated it with my family before, back in my world anyway. This year though... that'll change." I said. "*chuckle* Well, we can talk about it some other time... We have somethin' more important to do now, so let's get collectin'." Lemres got us to focus.

As soon as we reached out for the poinsettia in front of us though, a snowball slammed against Lemres' face. The comet warlock fell over from being surprised by this sudden attack. "...! Lemres!" Me and Feli exclaimed. "D-don't worry, I'll be fine...! Just who's throwin' snow at us?" He said, then asked. Me and Feli both looked around for a bit, but didn't see anyone else. "... Do you think this was just a trap that we triggered?" Feli asked me. "I-I don't know… … … I think someone's watching us right now... When we reached out to grab the poinsettia, that timing with the snowball seemed too precise. I'm not inclined to believe that this was an automatic trap." I spoke my mind. "No matter what it may be, somebody's got this protected in one of those two ways." Lemres got back up. "Then let's swipe a medium-sized pine needle and this poinsettia, so that we can get the fuck outta here!" Feli insisted. "I agree, it's better than not taking it…" I nodded.

Lemres reached out for the poinsettia and another snowball was chucked at his face. "Oof-!" He uttered. "Yeah, it's safe to say that somebody else is here... Lift me higher up to that pine needle, quickly!" Feli pointed up. I dashed over to the closest tree with pine needles and lifted her more to where one was. Lemres took the poinsettia as we did so, and the snowballs only multiplied from here. "Sh-shit-! Another group must be assaulting us. Where are they though?! The trajectories and origin points keep changing on- Ah-!" I went before getting hit. "I don't know, Dave! Gyah! … … ... I got it! Let's run, guys!" Feli got hit before grabbing the pine needle. "Don't need to tell us twice!" Lemres joined up with us as we began running through snow with pure adrenaline, dodging snowballs as best as we could. "Hold up, you three! You're not going anywhere with those, we're gonna get them for a good grade!" We heard a random male student shout out. A group of three students started to chase us. "Yeah, right! Think again, dude! You're dealin' with arguably the best three students in this class! Ha!" Lemres threw a quickly-made snowball at them. "Woah!" They went. "Let me get on this snowball throwing train, Dave." Feli said. "Okay. Give 'em snow hell, Feli!" I cheered her on. She lowered herself to the snow as she formed a good snowball with her hands.

Before long, she had really become a snowball sentry of sorts and shot down our pursuers. "H-hey! No fair, she's elevated thanks to your back!" A female student in that group called out on me. "Hey, we're not using magic, so it's completely fair in our book." I smirked. "Damn it all, they're gonna get away!" The male student feared the worst from us. Feli continued to pelt them with singular snowballs for a bit. "I got them, don't get so worked up, guys." Another female student in the group told him. I couldn't really see what was going on behind us, and that was a big problem for what was about to happen next. "D-Dave, look out!" Feli warned me. "Huh?" I went. "Gotcha." This second female student managed to land a snowball in my eyes. This caused me to not see anything and I also fell to the snow, dropping Feli in the process. "Wooah-!" Feli uttered as she fell in the snow. "Fuck-!" I cursed before my face hit the snow below. I began to wipe the half-melted snow off my eyelids and saw this whole thing become bleak. "Dave! Feli!" Lemres looked back at us. The other group of students slowed to a stop as they surrounded us.

At this point, there was no escape and we were trapped. I got back up and faced our "competitors" who had all slowed to a stop. Feli at this point was trapped within the deep snow, unable to get out on her own because of her height. "Ha! There's now no escape for you three, since we've all trapped you. If you give us the poinsettia and pine needle, then we'll spare you from being hit by any more of our snow." The male student grinned. "Look man... we're tryin' to get a good grade here, jus' as much as you guys are." Lemres told him. "And let you get that when you're already the three most standout students in our class? I don't think so... You all may work hard, but that doesn't mean you're the best. Lemres, you should know how hard WE work… right?" He spoke back, pointing to his teammates. "I'm not gonna deny that… ...Ya got us in a position where we can't escape…" The comet warlock sighed. "Then you've lost; give us the poinsettia and pine needle." The male student demanded.

Me, Feli, and Lemres all looked at each other silently. "I-Is there nothing we can do...?" Feli remained stuck in the snow. "It's tough to figure out what to do without the use of magic, Feli... Honestly, I think we're screwed." Lemres told her. "W-what...? Are you seriously thinking that we've failed this assignment, Lemres?" I questioned him. "Unless you have a plan here, then we are indeed screwed." He waited for me to say something. "... Okay... I may have something, guys." I told him and Feli. I whispered my plan to them as the other team waited on us.

In the middle of whispering my plan, the male student from the other team was getting impatient. "I dunno what you three are whispering to each over there, but hurry up and decide! Damn… Making us wait here like this…" He paced back and forth. With that, I quickly whispered out the rest of my plan to my teammates and they nodded. The two gave me the poinsettia and pine needle, so that I could lure the other team to me. "Alright here they are… Just let my friends out of this circle, and I'll give these to you." I showed them. "Very good. Girls, let Lemres and Feli out and keep this guy in." The male student told his teammates. They complied with that and allowed Feli and Lemres to get out from this trap. Lemres picked up Feli and walked away from the circle formed by the other team, then made it look like they were leaving the immediate vicinity. "Now, give us the items. We fulfilled our part of this bargain, so now it's time for you to do the same." The male student reached out his hand to me.

I saw Lemres and Feli for a split second, I knew that they were ready to go. They we're far enough away that they could get out of the other group's sight. At the same time, they weren't so far away that I couldn't catch up. I had better running legs compared to Lemres, so that's why I opted to be the one to "give" the items rather than let Lemres do so. "Sure, here you go... NOT! Feli, catch!" I spoke before hollering. I threw the poinsettia and pine needle out to her, hoping that she would be able to catch them. "...!" The other group gasped. "I got it, I got it...!" Feli held out her hands. Lemres was helping her line up with being able to catch the items. "... …! Got them!" Feli exclaimed. "Excellent! Time to get outta here! It's been fun, you guys… but me and my friends have to get going." I grinned. "D-Damn you! Girls, after those two!" The male student ordered. "Sorry, but you three won't be chasing us any time soon." I told him and his group.

I chucked large packs of snow at their eyes and lightly shoved them to the ground. That made them immobilized long enough for me to book it and regroup with Lemres and Feli. Before we knew it, we had escaped from the other group with the poinsettia and pine needle in our possession. We kept running back to where Feli thought the school was at. We panted, but carried on with getting ourselves closer to the school. Lemres ate some candy to regain stamina and passed Feli back over to my back. Along the way, we managed to grab the other two needed ingredients; the holly berries and a fruit star. And by some miracle, we were able to get back to the classroom just before time was up. When the other groups came back, they mostly either lacked the needed ingredients... or they simply didn't get back in time. I couldn't blame those students, it was practically a frozen wasteland out there.

In the end, we were only one of two groups that made it back with the ingredients on time. And no, the other one wasn't the one that persistently tried to get the poinsettia and pine needle from us... it was a different group. It felt so good to come back inside a warm building after freezing outside. "Well, this is surprising… It seems that only two groups today managed to get back here with the goods on time. I may have to change things here… ... Okay. Children, I have decided for this to give you extra credit and not allow it to negatively affect your grade. I now realize that this might've been too tough for most of you to handle as an actual assignment. So here's what I'm going to say for those of you who didn't complete this: Instead of making the potion tomorrow, I'll allow you to have study time for the whole period. This will also allow me to focus on the students here that actually completed the ingredient collecting on time. Other than that, the two groups who did this successfully... give your set of ingredients to me so that I may hold on to them for tomorrow. And I do believe that class is almost over as well…" Witch spoke to the whole class.

The other successful group gave their set to her first and took a seat in their chairs. And then we gave our set to her, where a discussion suddenly popped up. "I will say, that was rather clever... I didn't expect you to get out of their circle trap like that. I mean, as soon as I heard you request them to let Feli and Lemres out, Dave… I knew that you had a plan, but I didn't think it would work. I'll admit, it was exciting to watch that very plan play out. And shoot, you ran so fast that you gave them the slip. That was all without magic or that armor of yours... I'm impressed." Witch smiled. "Well, I've always been one who thinks up good plans, Ms. Witch…" I lightly blushed. At this point, the bell clapped and class ended. "See ya, Dave." Lemres waved. "Yeah, see ya." I did the same.

I made my way to Ms. Accord's room for my second and last class of the day. There, I met back up with Ringo and said hello to my other friends as well. "Dave, how was your time with Lemres and Feli today?" Amitie wondered. "Well, it was... interesting to say the least. We had a tough assignment that we worked on together... In fact, it ended up being so tough that it was changed to extra credit work, after we were done. We had been only one of two groups that were able to complete it on time. And even then, we barely made it in time. Basically, it was a bit of ingredient collecting outside in that frozen wasteland without any magic." I said to her. "Oh wow, that does sound rather difficult... I'm shocked that you three actually completed it on time. As much faith as I have in Lemres, there's no way that he could have done it alone. I suppose you're the reason how you all pulled it off?" Klug was surprised, then asked me. "Yeah. I had a plan that saved us from not completing it. That, and I had some good spring in my step... even with all that snow you see out there." I nodded and pointed to a window. "Sheer determination…" Ringo spoke. "Yeah. Sheer determination, Ringo." I nodded once more. "W-well... were you three okay after getting back to that classroom?" Lidelle asked. "It felt relieving to return somewhere warm after staying outside in the snow. I'm just so happy that Feli didn't catch a cold, because she was practically buried in snow at times." I said before smiling.

The bell soon clapped and all of us quickly got into our seats for this last class of the day. Accord, Rulue, and Ex walked in before greeting us. "Alright kiddies, I have something special planned for you today. It won't be training, but rather... We will be tracking something down today. You see, we have heard that a far away village has reported there being odd smoke around the village itself. This came to us this morning and they requested that people from here should investigate what's been causing the smoke to appear. From what we know so far, it hasn't gone away since this morning. ... Yes?" Accord said before noticing a raised hand. The raised hand was actually mine, because I had a question worth asking. "Do you think it's a wicked seed that's causing the smoke to appear?" I asked her. "We don't know for sure at this moment in time, Dave. I believe there is a good chance that it is a wicked seed. However, we won't know for sure until we look into this." She answered. "If it is one… then it means big trouble. I'm not sure if we're ready to fight another one of the Yogs like this." Rulue added. "Um... why didn't you two fill me in on this?" Ex asked them. "Ex, it is because you would have alerted Dave about it beforehand and he might have acted reckless on his own. I didn't want him to worry when he had another class before this one. And besides... we need all the help we can get, should this happen to be another Yog's doing." Accord told him. "... Good points, I suppose…" He admitted.

If the smoke IS being produced by another Yog… then how will we go about defeating it. As for how this whole thing's been so far, we have defeated two of the eight. There was the water-related Yog that had this weird wicked algae, and then there was that Yog that made a cellar super cold. It's possible that the next Yog is one that is specialized in elements like wind or fire. But then there's also the one that Vyle mentioned... My mind went into a daydream sort of state where I was remembering what Vyle specifically said on the day that we killed him off for good. I decided to speak it out in my head to make sure I wasn't going crazy. And, it just so happens that one of them saved me from being ash forever... The Yog of Life: It was able to revive me to how I was before you sent me ablaze, Demonic Dragon. This happened roughly a day after you did so. And since that day, I recovered and grew my own power to how it is now. ... That's what he told me on that day... he mentioned there being a Yog of Life. Now, why is there such a thing as a Yog of Life? Aren't these things supposed to be stirring up chaos, destruction, and death? This one didn't sound like it fits with the others at all. ... Maybe it revived Vyle because it knew that he could cause those three things for it… … … This is just a theory, but...

Before I could think about it further, I was literally snapped back into reality by Accord. "...?" I reacted. "Dave? It seems as though you were spacing out. Are you okay?" She appeared right before my eyes. "I-I'm fine, Ms. Accord. Was there anything I missed?" I said before asking. "Not much, we were just about to go and meet up with our help before going to the village. Ms. Arle has agreed to help out and bring her pet. Meanwhile, the dark mage agreed to this after some convincing. Unfortunately, Satan is too busy at the moment… but that new sword should prove to be effective. And that also means from this point onward… the dark mage is now a chaos mage, whether he likes it or not." She told me. "Oh cool, Schezo has that new sword now? That'll be a big help if that ore is anything like how it was described to be…" I got up from my seat. Then, we all left to go meet up with Arle and Carbuncle by using a portal made by Ex. While we're traveling there, I was wondering how Schezo would handle this new sword of his. I mean, I knew he wouldn't take kindly to the change… but it's the only weapon that he was able to use at this point. Schezo has no choice but to use it... I know that he'll be whining and complaining, so I'll need to prepare for when he DOES start bitching. He decided to help us, but I'm damn sure that he's doing this for himself. I remember what he said to me before winning in that card game... He essentially said that he would help us, only for his own benefit and enjoyment. I just hope that he's okay with receiving a helping hand now…

Author's Notes: Dave, Lemres, and Feli managed to barely complete a tough assignment, which ultimately turned into an extra credit thing after Witch noticed that only two of the teams in total managed to get it done on time. As the last period in the school day rolled around, Dave told Amitie how tough that assignment was. After the class started: Ms. Accord told her students what they were going to do for the day, and it was unconventional. They needed to investigate this odd smoke that had been enveloping a village as of late. Dave was worried that this could have been the work of a Yog, but no one knew for sure what the cause of this particular smoke was at that moment. So now... the class heads off to go meet up with Arle, then with Schezo to have them help out in the investigation. Is this smoke really from another Yog… or is it from something else entirely? Next chapter, Chapter 68: Smoke Detectors.