School Shock
And the winner of the competition is... BarfireBanshee177! Congratulations! You win a written piece of my work dedicated to you! It's not the best you have ever seen, I'm still learning how to write but I'll give it my best shot. Just PM me what you want and I'll give whatever your heart desires! Unless it's something illegal.
This is the third last chapter. Sob!
"What are you— ai! I thought this only happens when I want to leave!" Terra yelped. His legs were invisible and his was rapidly disappearing into weird sparkles surrounding his waists. As the energy danced up his body, Len casually said, much to everyone's shock,
"It's because your molecules, which have been scanned because you are the relative of the Prom King or Prom Queen, are being rearranged and going to be traveling on a gust of wind back to school."
Len wasn't really the first person you would think was going to win the Maths Olympiad.
"How did you...?" Frank left the shock-filled words hung in the air.
"Easy. It's written over there. On that plaque!" Len pointed to the golden board. Indeed, the technical jargon he had rattled off was there along with five poignant words,
"Good luck, death awaits you!"
"Don't worry! You guys are probably smart enough to get out of here! I have to warn you, the doors can only be unlocked if you answer the questions correctly! I'll try to get a teacher to help! The principal is still in a meeting with most of the teachers except the trainees! Just remember...!"
And that was it.
He was completely engulfed in blinding light. Then, nothing.
"Great, now what? We don't have anything to mark our path. Only some crumbs." Skull Boy sighed, looking at the remains of the once-beautiful chocolate cake. Everyone stared at the winding paths available.
"As I have learnt from one of my ancestors, we have to believe we can do this!" Misery actually chirped in her gravelly voice.
Unfortunately, Lady Luck did not seem to like the cheerful Misery, knowing that Misery was feigning optimism for her great, great, great, grandmother's great, great, great aunt.
Soon, one of the dark clouds swirling above them floated over her and a bolt of lightning shot down. It struck Misery square on the head.
"Ow. I tried, Mopy, I really did. But, we're doomed."
And then, the cogs in Ruby's brain were churning up a crazy but brilliant idea.
"That's it! We're doomed! So, we'll let doom follow us!"
Everyone just stared at her as if she was a lunatic, uttering gibberish.
"I don't get it." Frank finally said.
"Look at what that lightning bolt did to Misery! It left some ashes and the ground is not even anymore." Ruby patiently explained, blowing away the mist to show everyone the small crater left behind.
"Hey, you're right! And it's not only lightning bolts Misery attracts! It's falling objects from the sky, swarm of hornets, tornadoes... but we have to make Misery's luck even worse... er... no offense, Misery." Skull Boy agreed.
"None taken. For once, my bad luck might help me."
"That's the spirit, Misery! Come on, we better go! The party's starting soon, and we don't want another riot, do we?"
Shivers ran through everyone's spine as they recalled the Late Day Party chaos.
"Okay, I'll lead. Misery, you have to go all the way back and do your thing." Ruby chirped.
Soon, they were exploring the network of passages, singing a song of ' Iris' s. Misery was even doing a solo of 'Ow' s and leaving remains of bad luck behind.
Tinkle, tinkle.
Iris giggled as she began tapping out a funky rhythm. If Frank and Len were here, they would probably jam along to this peculiar instrument.
Then she sighed.
It was a good instrument but not a good clue-giver.
She looked at her watch, trying her best not to scream at how late she was for the party. Everyone must be looking for her now.
"Oh, come on! Give me a clue on how to get out!" She whined, beating the leaves furiously. Instead of hearing a tinkling sound, she heard distant shouts,
"Iris! Iris!"
"Ow, ow." She caught Misery's low, gravely voice.
"Wow, I can almost hear them... especially Misery's cries of pain." Iris moaned, twiddling her thumbs and stretching. Sheesh, she had been sitting for an eternity.
"Iris, Iris!"
"Ow, ow!"
"Where are you?" Iris immediately recognized Ruby's voice. While it still held its trademark upbeat tone, there was a tinge of worry.
"Huh, they seem awfully close... wait a minute, that is them! They came for me! GUYS! GUYS!" Iris gasped as realization came to her.
"IRIS?" Len echoed. Everyone turned to where Len was. He was cupping his pointy ear, hoping to amplify the sound.
"YES! IT'S ME!" The one-eyed girl screamed back.
"IRIS! Oh, thank goodness you're okay!" Ruby smiled in relief.
"YOU GUYS GOTTA HELP ME! I'M STUCK!" Iris yelled.
"OK! JUST KEEP TALKING, WE NEED TO FOLLOW YOUR VOICE!" Skull Boy instructed with his loudest voice.
"FINE! ER... I AM HERE BECAUSE OF A DARE! I ENTERED A DOOR AND GOT STUCK HERE! AND... ER, I THINK TERRA SHOULD GET HELP! I ADMIT, SOMETIMES, I can't do things." Iris' voice gradually reduced to a mere whisper but Ruby's sharp ears caught the last few words.
"YOU'RE RIGHT, IRIS! SOMETIMES YOU CAN'T DO SOME THINGS BUT WITH FRIENDS, NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! We're there for you, especially in unfamiliar territories!"
Somehow, Iris sensed that Ruby was grinning and the cyclops couldn't help but break out into a smile.
"THANKS RUBY!"
"Ow, you don't have to yell anymore, I think we're behind the door." Skull Boy winced.
"Not a bad 'ow' Skull Boy, it's much better than the 'ow' I did when I was hit by a tree branch." Misery stated, dragging along said branch. Pieces of glass were stuck on her head and her face was smudged with soot. There were several black spots and tears in her school uniform.
"Don't worry, Misery. I'll fix you up in no time. Right now, we have to unlock this door."
They had came to a large uninviting door with big brass hinges and a giant knob. Ruby tried turning it, but it didn't budge.
However, when Ruby jiggled it, a screen was suddenly coming down from the top of the door. On the screen was a set of numbers. Very complicated numbers. There was even a button on the door knob and speakers suddenly surrounded it.
"Aw man, all of us suck at Maths. Well, except Skull Boy. And Ruby. And Misery if it's angles of depression. Out of all of them, Skulls' the best." Frank declared.
"Frank's right. Skull Boy, you're a Maths wiz. Think you can solve this equation?" Ruby asked. All she got was some mumbling from Skull Boy, something about algebra before he declared,
"The answer's 7."
Immediately, the door knob flashed green.
"Since it's green and there are no falling spiders, I assume that he is correct." Misery guessed.
Seconds later, they heard from the speakers of the door knob,
"You are correct! Now, on to the final contestant."
"Final contestant?" Everyone echoed.
Suddenly, the screen was rolled up and presented to Iris. An equation appeared in front of her!
(Er, anyone knows how to write the power of two above a letter/number? Just take the two as a power, Math Lovers and Wizards)
(X +Y)2
Expand this equation.
"Uh-oh, I gotta answer this question." Iris gulped.
"It's okay, Iris. We'll try to help you. Just read the question out loud."
"Er, expand this equation, weird curvy line, X plus Y, weird curvy lie again and a tiny number."
"Wha... Iris, I don't understand."
"Neither do I, though I think the answer's X square plus 2XY plus Y square... was I suppose to keep that to myself?"
A song of slaps was heard in response.
