Chapter 12
Jeff was all prepared to go with his pockets full of cookies, his glasses placed firmly on his nose, and wrench held for protection. The boarding school he attended had many kids his age of fourteen through seventeen, but everyone knew who Jeff was. He was the son of Doctor Andonuts, with, although a slightly laughable last name was one of the most intelligent of everyone in Winters. He held a lab down south of the building, and that's where Jeff was headed as he planned out his route on a map on the table. His room, which had scattered tools and metal scraps lying on the carpet, the two beds on one side of the wall were unoccupied, as him and Jeff and his roommate/best friend, Tony, were out of bed late at night. He lived far from his two soon-to-be friends, across the oceans in fact, but he knew just what he needed to get there.
Tony, with his red hair, black hat, and same outfit was nervously pacing as Jeff was gathering supplies. He had to tell him something, but he couldn't quite spit it out.
"Alright, so I guess I should go down the south-east cliffside to keep my body from the wind that should be blowing through west at forty-five miles per hour." He said to himself as Tony bundled his hands together. As Jeff continued to talk, his friend was trying to find a way into the sentence so he couldn't interrupt, but if felt as if his mouth was shut, and would not say a word. But then, he managed to blurt out a question.
"How long will you be gone?" Asked Tony in his high pitched vocal range. Jeff sighed, and replied with, "I'm not sure. By hypothesizing the amount of time it would take to get from here to a town named "Twoson", well that shouldn't be too long, but it could take a couple of days to-"
"Just tell me you won't be long!" Tony yelped. He tried to cough up an apology for yelling, but again, nothing. Jeff positioned his lenses once more, and said, "I'm afraid not. Heck, considering the force this said "being" is claimed to be able to inflict on me, and the distance it would take to get there, I…might not come back."
But as Jeff lowered his face to the green and red pattern repeating on the brown carpet and straightened his bowtie he wore on his uniform, Jeff put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "Hey, chin up. I can contact you through phone if I have to. That way, we'll still be together. As friends."
It made Tony smirk a bit, but he then finally was able to speak; "But that's what I wanted to talk to you about." Jeff was just about to grab his bag when he turned around to see his friend blush in front of him.
"What is it?" Asked Jeff curiously. Tony knew it was his chance to speak.
"I…I…" Tony repeated as he took in a big gulp. Jeff's eyebrows lowered, as he glanced outside to the snow that began to sprinkle across the fields of white that was hard to make out from the darkened sky that was night.
"I…just wanted to say that we," Tony continued, "won't ever…stop, being friends. Isn't that right?"
Realizing what he said, Jeff answered with, "Oh, of course!" He then went back to Tony, and said, "We will never stop being friends, got that? No matter what the distance, we're gonna be buddies forever. It's been, what, ten years since we've met? Has anything ever changed our friendship?"
Tony laughed and said, "No, I guess not." Jeff then used his second attempt to walk out the door, but he was stopped momentarily by you-guessed-it.
"But you have to promise me one thing." He said. Jeff rolled his eyes quickly, and said, "And what it that?"
"Promise me you won't get hurt." Tony said nervously. Jeff laughed to himself, and replied with, "Well, my odds aren't exactly in my favor, but I'm pretty sure there isn't much of a chance that I could be beaten by such entity. Brains can be stronger than bronze, am I right?"
Jeff then tried to get an inch closer to the door, and was successful in opening it, and stepping out into the hallway, where all of his friends were asleep. As they crept down the hallway, hearing nothing but the sound of creaking wood and the faint music of snoring from many rooms, they were getting close to the stairway that led them downward, leading them into the main hall, where many classes are held. Science class, math class, even music class had each separate room to attend to, and he needed to check into one. He proceeded to go into the chemistry room, where his teacher Maxwell was in. When they entered, all they saw was a tired old man with red hair, and regular attire, not something a professor teaching class would dress in, sitting on a lab table with much other equipment such as flasks, burners, and test tub racks that were either filled with liquid, or in pieces.
"What in the blazes are you two doing up?" He said in a groggy voice. "You should be in bed, dreaming of…oh whatever the heck you guys dream of."
He was in the process of scheduling the weekly times of classes, which had many notified events of occurring things to discuss in class, and the piles of homework that were planned to be given out.
"We were just trying to find Jeff's science project." Tony butted in, as he quickly found it in one of the cupboards. Max's eyes flashed, and then replied with, "Oh, you mean his pop gun? Oh, that thing is dangerous. You added so many modifications that you could blow up this entire school! Why do you need it anyway?"
"No reason. And we promise that we won't make the building "go boom", or whatever." Said Tony. "Now can you please give us the gun?"
Maxwell sighed, and slowly replied with, "Alright. I suppose you guys can play with it." Max then opened the cupboard, and slowly pulled out the wooden shotgun shaped rifle that contained extra large bb pellets, a metallic scope, and an armor-piercing blade that hung off of the end of the barrel. It was perfect for whatever task was ahead of him…well, for now. Jeff was then handed the pop gun, and him and his friend simultaneously replied with thank you, and they left the room, and ran down another hallway, much skinnier, with many portraits of basketball, soccer, and baseball teams with their coaches, but not Jeff or Tony were in either of them. They were too busy making new inventions, fixing computers, and even pick locking the principal's office for supplies.
They then found themselves in the locker room, where he spotted his name on one of the metal boxes in a split-second. The tiled floors were slippery, and the fogged mirrors stated that someone was in here recently. When Jeff dialed in his locker combination, Tony quickly peeked down the hallway to check for any staffs that were wandering down them to find any late-night runners, which they were. He got it open with ease, and snatched his bubble gum, winter jacket, boots, and pocket knife, and cell phone in case of an emergency, which will most likely be Tony calling him to recall the password to the parental controls on the TVs, or the admin on the PC's.
As Jeff geared up, they nodded at one another that it was time to go, and they ventured forth to the outside, but instead of greeting the large windowed doors that were at the front of the building, they were run straight into a large body that was Jonny, and standing right behind him, Raphael. Jonny and Raphael were both twins, and their large chubby figures, and history of violence in the school was enough to make anyone run for their lives. Tony was the worst offender of them all, shaking like he had seen a ghost, as he was inches away from the two worst bullies in school, with ACDC and Metallica shirts with much coffee, donut, and other residue hanging off of it, the smell of grease and the hair of a five year old.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Asked Jonny with a wide smile almost covering his double chin. "Don't you know that we're the only ones that get to hang out down here?"
"We-we-we aren't asking for any trouble," whispered Tony. "We-we-we just want to leave the school safely, without you two pounding us."
"You're damn right about that." Raphael said gritting his teeth. "We can beat you two to a pulp pretty easily if you ask me." He then looked at his brother, and said, "In fact, I think that we should do it right now!"
They then proceeded to grab Tony by the shirt, and throw him to the wall.
"How 'bout it Jeff? Wanna join in on the fun?" Offered Raphael. Angered, Jeff insulted with, "Screw you two! Put him down, or I will use very lethal force!"
"Bullshit! What kind of "lethal force do you have on you?" Asked Jonny about to burst into a laugh. "A foam sword? Your stuffed animal?"
"Actually," replied Tony stupidly as he was hung to the wall by large fists, "he rigged my teddy bear with explosives a couple of days ago."
"Shut up, you!" Said Jonny. He then continued to harass Tony by clutching him by the fingers to his throat, choking him to the point of unconsciousness.
"LET HIM GO!" Yelled Jeff. He had enough of this, and went to his back pocket to pull out his weapon.
"Scream all you want, Jeff," said Jonny, "but everyone is sound asleep, and these walls can block out the sound of me breaking your friend's neck!"
Having enough of the bullying, Jeff whipped out the pop gun, and loaded it. As if it were a movie going in slow motion, Jeff reloaded the gun with a light bullet made of soft metal, easy enough to harm someone, but to no break human flesh, and pointed it at Jonny's large stomach, as once as his enemy's eyes widened to the sight of the darkness inside of the long barrel containing the bullets. Shocked, he tried to yell at his brother to move, but it was too late. Jeff had pulled the trigger, giving off a quiet burst of a bb gun going off, but instead shooting a modified round that made a ripple in Jonny's stomach, creating a yellow bruise almost instantly, slamming him into the wall like it was a miniature bowling ball. Tony was finally able to breathe as he slid off of the wall, and panted for oxygen.
Jeff pulled out his hand to his friend as they both laughed at Raphael running from his almost knocked out brother. They were then finally able to proceed out the doorway, ready for the winter blast that was expected.
The wind howled as snow flurried across the horizon, covering the once beautiful starry sky, but instead another reflection of the freezing snow covering their feet. The trees were bare of any leaves, but instead remain of the not-yet-frozen rain, and the fence in front of them was the only thing holding them back from leaving the Snow Woods Boarding School. They looked back at the purple bricked building, with symmetrical geometry, and fascinating structure to Jeff, which contained the same colors as the brick fence that contained the many children that he would probably never see again.
Almost with a tear in his eye, Tony said, "Let's get you over that fence." He put his hands in a cup formation for Jeff's snow boots to rest upon so he can grip the metal bars. The sweet smell of freedom was almost there, and as he was able to hold onto the slippery poles that stuck out like sharp knives, he tried pulling himself up, but needed help by Tony, who used his hands to throw him over. Safely, Jeff made it over, landing on his feet, with the exception of a supporting hand. He sharply turned to his teary-eyed friend who said chokingly, "I'm going to miss you."
Jeff smiled, and said through the bars, but before he could say a word, they both heard the shocking sound of footsteps crumbling the snow beneath them. A flashlight loomed in the distance, which reminded Jeff that he needed to go. Jeff dashed off into the distance, thinking for a minute that all of the worries of school, bullies, and what parts to attach to his rubber band grenade launcher were all behind him, but was it true? He knew that aspects of life-risking behavior were to unfold, but still, he could not comprehend what he was up against. No one did. Not even the four soon-to-be heroes had the slightest idea of the true horror of Giygas.
Sorry for the long break, guys! I've been busy with schoolwork, and I haven't had time to update anything. Not to bore you with a useless apology, I just hope that I can respond to my fans by releasing more awesomeness. I'm truly grateful for all the support! Thanks! -uberponyfantasy