Sooo. Guess what I forgot last chapter? Hehe...I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor do I own the PPC (referenced multiple times in this fic) or the concept of Fanfiction Universities. I do own my OCs, Lupe Hernandez and Agent Karen Elaine DuLay. But you yourselves own the characters you've submitted! :D
Lupe woke up to fall out of bed. "Ow! What the—?" She rubbed her sore head, looking around. When had her room transformed into a metal compartment with bunks? And when had those other people gotten there? And…and…
Why was the floor rocking?
"Nnn…what…?" A girl on a bunk next to Lupe's propped herself up on one arm, rubbing at her eyes blearily. "Oh man…how much sugar did I have last night…?"
"Who are you?" Lupe cried, now sitting against her bunk. "Where are we? What's going on?"
"Ugh…dunno…but I had this really weird dream…the Freedom Fighters burst into my room and made me sign this sheet…" The other girl yawned, then stretched. It was at this point that Lupe realized that she was wearing an outfit extremely similar to the girl's, instead of her usual bedtime tank and sweatpants. "Oh, I'm Meep, by the way. Meep Megdalene."
"I'm Lupe…Lupe Hernandez…" Lupe looked around the room. Other than the bunks, built into the walls itself, there was nothing. No decorations on the wall, just a large metal door with a very obvious locking mechanism that seemed to have no release from the inside. "Where are we?"
"Aaah!" Another girl fell out of her bunk, and straight onto Lupe. "Owowow…sooo sorry…wait, how'd you get into my room?"
"Ooh! Who's room is this, now?" A final girl sat up in her bunk, looking around with interested eyes. She noticed the others in the room, and her eyes lit up. "We-ell now…"
"I think we're locked in!" Lupe panicked. Meep sighed.
"Okay. Names, now." She instructed, then pointed to herself. "I'm Meep Megdalene. That, that's Lupe Hernandez. And you a—WHAT ARE WE WEARING?" Ah, she too had noticed the matching clothing they all wore.
"Umm…shirts, skirts over leggings, jackets? Ooh, armguards. Or are they sleeves?" The last woman to wake up—the one who kept making everything sound suggestive—examined her sleeves with interest. "Oh, I'm Andy. Andy Roseanne. Hey, did you guys get a visit from the Kyoshi Warriors too? At least, I think they're the Kyoshi Warriors…they were wearing clothes. Weird."
Lupe started to get to her feet, looking at the woman who hadn't given her name yet. She seemed to realize the disadvantage the others were at, and quickly introduced herself. "Sofia. Sofia Jayne Owens. Is it just me, or is the floor…rocking?"
There was a pause as everyone realized that yes, the floor was swaying gently beneath them. It was slightly disorienting.
"Um…" Lupe looked at her three bunk-mates, Meep, Sofia, and Andy. What in the world had she gotten into?
"Why are there so many Firebenders?" Sokka grumbled, resting his chin on the railing of the Auditorium's stage-balcony. That had been Toph's idea, making the stage from which they all spoke and addressed the students from a balcony with barbed wire lining the sides and bottom. Everyone had agreed, especially Karen, who was finding the University grounds very much to her liking.
"I still can't believe you turned the Boiling Rock Prison into a school." She said dreamily, stroking a wall lovingly. "How'd you manage it?"
"Well, we figured the cells could easily be converted into rooms by just adding desks." Zuko shrugged. "Then we converted the guard quarters into a heavily-fortified Staff Section, like the PPC suggested. And finally, for classrooms, we took one wing, wrecked it—Toph did most of the work, and she was laughing like a maniac all through—then added in some lecture halls and a few smaller classrooms. Oh, and we turned most of the yard into a survival course field."
"Did you leave the lockdown mechanisms?" Karen turned from the wall to look at all the other characters standing on the balcony. "We'll need them for the enforced curfew."
"Don't worry. We left it in." Mai chuckled, drifting over from her conversation with Ty Lee. She took Zuko's hand and entwined their fingers. "And the coolers. Can't have those Firebenders attacking my prince without punishment—oh, sorry, Fire Lord now." Her and Zuko smiled at each other. Mai kissed Zuko quickly, then left to stop Azula from throwing Hu of the Foggy Swamp Water Tribe off the balcony (something about him not wearing pants).
"Are the lemurs fully trained?" Karen asked, glancing about. About fifty feet below the balcony, and twenty feet in front of it, the seats for the students began (the first row didn't even have a floor, just a huge, dark hole nobody could see the bottom of). Around the hall, large lanterns filled with fire and glowing crystals from the Earth Kingdom cast a mix of red-yellow and green lights, giving an effect not unlike that at a rave, only much more morbid due to the deep shadows cast eerily about. Several levels of rails were hung all about the hall. And on those halls…
Were flying lemurs.
"Yup. Momo's ready to lead the fight against fangirls and misspellings." Aang rubbed his little flying friend's head fondly. "Ang and Moomoo are the best so far. They figured out how to use knives to pin fangirls to walls! Thanks again for the dummy-fangirls, by the way."
"It was most satisfying to beat them all into pulps." Katara added, cracking her knuckles and grinning savagely. Sokka should have inserted his typical sarcastic humor here, but at some point Suki had wandered over, and then the two of them had wandered off to who-knows-where. Nobody really wanted to know, as the reason why was fairly obvious.
"How were the students getting here again?" Karen asked lazily, peering down at the abyss below the balcony. "Oooh…this is really deep…anything living down there?"
"Hm? Oh, we transported the Unagi and the serpent from the Serpent's Pass. They should eat anybody that tries to cross the pit." Zuko gave the chasm a fond look. "Suki's pretty happy about it too—apparently Aang's been able to tame the Unagi so it'll only eat fangirls and elephant koi, not people. He rode it too. Nearly gave Katara a heart attack…"
"Before I made it clear to him that he wouldn't do it again, ever." Katara gave her boyfriend a pointed look. The Avatar, the most powerful Bender and authority in the world, had the good sense to look sheepish and apologetic. You don't mess with your girlfriend. Especially when she doesn't hesitate to pin you to a wall with icicles.
"Weird…I can't see water…" Karen frowned at the depths. "Hey Aang! Where's the water? All I see is darkness."
"Oh, it's a little ways down. Gotta make sure they can't reach the balcony." Aang reassured her. "Here, lemme show you something." He reached into a small pouch hanging on his belt, and took out a fish. Leaning over the edge, he dangled it from his fingers and let out a low whistle. There was a rumbling down below, and he quickly dropped the fish, jerking his body back so no part of him was beyond the safety of the railing.
A huge figure surged up from the abyss, stretching itself to the maximum and just barely reaching the bottom of the balcony, to snatch the fish from midair. Karen made a sound of approval, and started to applaud while everyone else on the balcony yelped in surprise. "Avatar!" the Earth King cried. "Don't do that without warning us first! You scared Bosco!" He wrapped his arms around his beloved bear, who looked up from a meal of salmon to make a low grunting noise. It was almost like he was saying, "I heard my name?"
"Nobody's answered my question yet." Sokka reappeared, an arm slung around Suki's waist. "Why are so many of the students Firebender? There are barely any Waterbenders or Earthbenders! And almost EVERYONE is a Bender! There are, what, two, three normal people? WHAT'S SO SPECIAL ABOUT BENDING, HUH?"
"Maybe we shouldn't have let him handle the registrations…" Suki mused, rubbing one of his arms gently. He gave her a smile, and Aang mimed disgust before Katara put a hand on his shoulder. The Avatar smiled at his girlfriend, and it was Karen's turn to gag.
"So…much…sugar…" She groaned, leaning against the rail. "Urgh…make it…stop…"
"Fire Lord!" A prison guard ran onto the balcony. "The ships are in sight! The students are arriving! What are your orders?"
"Everyone to your posts!" Zuko commanded. "And I told you, follow the new Warden—Karen." The agent grinned in delight at her title, and rubbed her hands together in evil glee.
"This," she declared, "is gonna be a good year. For us."
The door to the room opened with a solid thunk, and the four girls within looked up in surprise. "The ship is docking." A soldier in red armor said gruffly. His appearance tweaked something in Lupe's mind, but she couldn't place it. "Here are some boots to wear. You'll need them. Now get to the deck." And he left, tossing four pairs of boots to the floor.
"I think they're color-coded to match our outfits." Sofia remarked, glancing down at her yellow-and-orange themed outfit. "Plus, I'm fairly sure that pair with '7' on it is mine. That's my size, at least."
"Hey, the red ones look like elf shoes!" Meep exclaimed, picking up a pair that matched her red-and-black outfit. "Dude! Are we gonna visit Santa? Do we get to be elves-for-a-day? That'd be sooo awesome! Can I make a fire truck?"
"Is it just me, or was that guy wearing some really familiar armor?" Sofia wondered, handing Andy a pair of yellow-and-orange boots and giving the last pair, red-and-black, to Lupe. Everyone pulled them on, then Lupe cautiously peeked out into the hallway.
"It looks clear…" She told the others. "Are we going?"
"Do we have a choice?" Sofia shrugged. Andy opened her mouth, probably to make some sort of suggestive comment, but Meep chose that moment clap a hand across the other girl's face, silencing her and gaining her the approval of Lupe and Sofia, who were by now thoroughly sick of Andy's constant stream of suggestive comments. Beyond their room, several long, metal-paneled halls extended, almost a maze, but ladders and staircases here and there allowed them access to other levels. The four wandered until they couldn't tell which way they had come from anymore, until finally Meep discovered a staircase that led outside.
"Oh wow…" Lupe muttered as she reached the top of the staircase.
On a lower deck, almost a pen, nearly a hundred young men and woman, seeming to range from their mid-teens to early twenties, were wandering about. Everyone wore the same style of uniform, stiff jackets over shirts of a lighter material, with armguards or sleeves (she'd have to ask someone what they were later) underneath those, and either skirts with leggings or pants. There seemed to be a sort of color-coding going on, because aside from people in red and black like Lupe and Meep, or orange and yellow like Sofia and Andy (whose eyes had lighted up like it was her birthday upon seeing everyone), there were people in blue and purple or green and yellow. Admittedly, red-and-black and orange-and-yellow seemed to be the most common coloring.
"Hey!" Sofia grabbed the arm of a boy nearby. "What's going on here? And what's your name?"
"Huh? I'm William GP—or that's what I put on the registration." He looked shell-shocked, but was grinning broadly. "Can't you guess? This is gonna be awesome…so awesome…"
"If I could guess, would I have asked you?" Sofia demanded. William GP paused, then shook his head no. He was wearing red-and-black, like Meep and Lupe. Sofia waited for him to answer, but he just grinned at them, so she finally walked off in disgust, Meep and Lupe following. Andy, it seemed, had disappeared into the crowd to flirt.
"Maybe we can see where we're going if we look off the side of the ship?" Lupe suggested, glancing towards the railing on either side of the lower deck. "Think they'll mind if we do? 'They' being the people keeping us here?"
"Sure. Might as well try." Sofia led her two roommates towards the left-hand railing, where a few other students were lounging. A group of three were chatting enthusiastically as one of them, in yellow and orange, stood on the railing. "Hey! You guys! Where are we going?"
"That island over there!" One of the three, a boy in orange and yellow, pointed. "It looks kinda volcanic to me. And slightly familiar, but for the life of me I can't tell where I've seen it before…"
"What're your names?" Sofia asked as her group reached the three by the railings. "I'm Sofia Jayne Owens, and this is Meep Megdalene and Lupe Hernandez."
"That's Lauphen Staar on the railing there." The boy answered, pointing to his friend, who gave an enthusiastic wave that nearly cost her balance. "And this is Allison Allie Doyle. I'm [-]." He pointed to the other girl, in blue and purple, then pointed back to himself. "And I know, it's kinda weird. Not what I put on the form, but whenever I try to say what I put on the form, I just get [-] out."
"Huh? Wait, so…[-]. [-]. I know what you're trying to say, but I can't say it myself!" Meep freaked out. "OH MY GOODNESS THAT IS SOOO COOL!"
"Tell me about it!" [-] grinned. "Anyways, have you guys figured it out yet?"
"Figured what out yet? Where we are? We haven't, if that's what you're asking." Sofia scowled. "And it's been a bit hard getting an answer." There was a slight tremor in the ship, and on an upper deck a crew member approached the railing with what looked like a megaphone.
"Attention, students. We are about to dock at Boiling Rock Island. Please move away from the rails in case, during the process, you accidentally fall overboard. If you do, we will have to waste Spirit Oasis water to bring you back, and we really don't want to save any of your lives. Thank you."
"What does he mean—" Lupe began, to be cut off when the ship jerked to a sudden stop. Lauphen, still standing on the railing, fell backwards towards the water. Allison and [-] both reached to grab her, but couldn't get her in time.
Then, as the everyone who'd seen her fall began to run to the railing to watch her death (because people are just like that), the seawater below reached up and caught her easily, wrapping around the startled, falling girl and raising her up to deposit her safely on the deck. An old man on an upper deck, wearing an odd blue outfit that seemed more than a little familiar to Lupe, walked to the edge of the railing.
"I'd prefer it if you wouldn't get into life-threatening situations before we've even had a go at you." He yelled at the assembled "students." "Now please head to the boarding ramp about to be connected to the ship." There was a loud thunk as a huge metal ramp hit the other side of the ship, nearly taking out Andy and a few boys with her. "All right, get moving. To the trolleys."
Everybody began to shuffle towards the metal ramp, but the first people to reach it hesitated. More seawater shot up, and whipped their behinds so hard they tumbled head-over-heels down the ramp. All those after them quickly followed, hoping not to get the pain of a Water Whip.
"Master Pakku." [-] whispered. Lupe thought the name sounded familiar, but the fear of getting hit with magic water—Waterbending?—had her running too fast down the metal ramp to wonder much at things.
After getting off the dock, everyone was herded towards a series of large metal trolleys, then transported up a huge mountain, over the lip of a huge basin, and into a huge metal building on an island in the middle of a lake. "The Boiling Rock!" Several people, [-] included, whispered amongst themselves. Lupe was thoroughly confused. Everything was so weird…had that old man been Waterbending? And if he had been…that meant…
"Off the trolleys!" A guard shouted as the contraptions landed. Then they were guided into a huge room like the lecture halls at Lupe's college, only bigger, and with a balcony instead of a stage that was lined with barbed wire and had a huge, gaping hole at the bottom.
"Ahh, the victims—er, students—have arrived!" A tall woman in a long, black leather coat, looking like the stereotypical bad guy in a cheesy movie. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and a pair of sunglasses were nestled on her head, just above her hairline. "Welcome. I am Karen Elaine DuLay, head of Student Affairs and Punishment, and pretty much in charge of this place, second only to our illustrious Headmaster, who you will meet shortly. But, I would like to bid you all welcome to OFUATLA—the Official Fanfiction University of Avatar: The Last Airbender!"
Aaand...you'll have to wait for the next chapter to see what happens during the assembly! :D Submit those applications please!