Hi everyone. Hope you're all well.
In case some of you aren't aware, I had stated that I was only going to work on two chapters each for 'Sky Havoc in Remnant', 'Remnant of Shadows' and 'Fairy Tail: Dark Void'respectively, but after getting some writer's block on the second chapter on 'Remnant of Shadows'. I decided to work on a story I hadn't done in a while to try and clear my head. Just in case you're all wondering.
Right, I won't say anymore, only that I hope you enjoy this chapter.
After the whole incident with the Witch's Hill, which surprised many of the students in Yokai Academy after word spread, things were slowly getting back to normal.
After the newspaper club had arrived back, the Chairman gave them a few extra days off before they went back to class. He could tell that it had been a rough experience for them, and he knew it was best for them to take it easy, to help them recover, before they went back to work.
Ruby was the main concern of the group. Having lost her master and her home, and having to go against everything she was taught to believe in since she was young was such a traumatic experience for her. The Chairman promised that he would help, but… whether or not he could succeed would be another story in itself.
Ethan and Mizore weren't as severely affected as the others, Mizore since it was in her nature to stay cool, and Ethan because he expected this to happen after Ruby sided with them, so they did their part to make sure that the rest of the gang would be alright.
Of course, Ethan thought it was best to make sure that Mizore didn't get too close to Tsukune during that time. Unsurprisingly, though, when she did so, it prompted the girls to start fighting over him again.
It turned out to be the best way to distract them from what had happened, though it also served two more purposes. Distracting Tsukune with the dilemma of having a number of women swooning over him, and the misfortune having well entertained Ethan, much to the point that he almost broke his ribs.
Needless to say, things were finally back to normal.
….
"Uuuughh…"
Tsukune was currently resting his face on one of the tables of the cafeteria, trying his best to recover after Moka had helped herself to some of his blood. It resulted in the poor boy feeling more exhausted than usual.
Ethan, on the other hand, was sitting beside his suffering friend, enjoying a fried chicken sandwich he made. Part of him wanted to try and cheer his friend up, and perhaps try and get Moka to cut down on the blood she's been draining from him…
But where would the fun in that be?
"You doin' okay?" Ethan asked before taking another bite from his food.
Tsukune slowly raised his head, struggling to move. "Yeah… I'm fine. Just give me a little more rest and I'll be okay." He said.
Ethan shook his head. "Seriously. The one girl you fall for and she's literally draining the life out of you." Ethan stated. "You sure know how to pick 'em, don't you?"
At that, Tsukune raised his head, his suddenly rejuvenated blood rising to his cheeks. "Huh? Uh, w-wait, what do you mean!?" Tsukune exclaimed, worried that Ethan was saying ehat he think he was saying.
"Don't play dumb with me, Aono." Ethan said while keeping his sights on his food. "I know for a fact that you're swooning over that girl… literally. Every time she drains you dry you've got that big goofy grin on your face and you keep whispering her name."
Tsukune's blush increased, not expecting himself to be so obvious. He sighed and rested his elbows on the table, followed by resting his head on his hands.
"Yeah… I do like her, but… I don't know what to do to get her to like me back."
Ethan was halfway close to taking another bite from his sandwich when he heard Tsukune say that. The pyromancer was close to smacking himself in the forehead from disbelief. The girl latches onto him every chance she gets, provided Kurumu doesn't beat her to it, and he couldn't pick up on the feelings she had towards him?
He was actually close to worrying about Tsukune's love life. Which was a first, since he wanted nothing to do with it.
Deciding not to spill the beans, since it wasn't his place to tell,he simply sighed.
"… Well? What are you going to do?"
Tsukune didn't answer at first. He began to think of various gestures he could do to confess to Moka, but he couldn't think of anything.
"Hmmm… Let's see…" after a moment of extra silence, he said "What kind of gift do you think she'd like?"
Ethan shrugged his shoulders. "Why are you asking me? She's your girlfriend."
Tsukune turned his head away, forming a pouting look on his face. "You're not helping."
"Who said I was trying to?" he asked.
Tsukune ignored him, trying to think of the different things he could do. Then, as fate would have it, his eyes caught the sight of a poster stuck to a nearby wall. He got up from the table and went over to it, curiosity getting the better of him. After reading the poster, his eyes soon began to sparkle.
"YES! This is what I was looking for!" he suddenly exclaimed.
Ethan got up from the table and walked over to Tsukune. "What's got you all happy all of a sudden?" he asked his friend.
Tsukune stepped to the side and pointed at the poster. "Look! One of the teachers is holding a baking class this Saturday. It says we'd learn how to make a cake of our own choosing."
"Class? On a Saturday?" Ethan asked, dumbfounded. "Feck that!" he said as he began to walk away.
"Don't you see, I can make a cake, something love themed, I think… would that be appropriate? Anyway, I can show her how much I feel about her through the cake. Genius, right?"
Ethan stopped and thought about Tsukune's idea for a moment. For once, it was an idea coming from Tsukune that he didn't particularly hate. Nothing says romance like sweets. However, there was one problem he noticed about the plan.
"Tsukune. Just one question." He started, which got Tsukune's attention. "How would the other girls feel if you try to do that?"
At that, Tsukune paled, his mind suddenly picturing an angry looking Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore respectively, all of which seemed ready to kill him. Seeing the look of panic on his friend's face, Ethan placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"Relax. Look, if you really want to do this, go ahead. Love's all about taking risks, after all." He quipped.
Tsukune couldn't help but smile at Ethan's joke. He then raised his brow when he realized something. "Wait. So, what will you do this weekend?"
"If I'm lucky, avoid anymore fights with some maniacal student." Ethan said as he began to exit. He waved the back of his hand at Tsukune. "Later."
Tsukune, despite knowing wouldn't see him, nodded in response. "Later, Ethan."
As Ethan walked off, his expression suddenly became much more serious. "Plus… there's something I need to check anyway."
….
Saturday eventually came. When it did, Tsukune had arrived at the designated classroom for the cooking class. He was looking forward to it but he was also nervous. He had only baked once before, and from what he could remember, it hadn't ended well… then again, perhaps his cousin wasn't the best person to be getting lessons from.
"Okay… here I go." He said to himself as he slid the door open. When he entered, he was surprised to see so many other boys in the classroom. There were a couple of girls there. But not as many he had been expecting.
Deciding not to ponder on it, he looked for an empty seat and sat down, looking down at the station to see all the things he would need.
"Hey. Here to bake as well?"
Tsukune turned his head and, much to his surprise, he saw Gin standing beside him.
"Huh? Gin? Why are you here?" Tsukune asked.
"Why do you think?" Gin said. "What guy wouldn't want o be here, considering who's teaching this thing."
At that, Tsukune became confused. "Huh? What do you mean?"
At that, Gin's eyes widened in surprise. "Seriously? You don't know?" he asked, as if he had caught Tsukune committing a serious crime.
Tsukune was starting to get fed up. "Okay, Gin, would you please speak some sense. Who teachi-"
"HI EVERYOOOONE!"
As soon as Tsukune heard that voice, his heart momentarily stopped. He slowly turned around and, much to his horror, he saw Kurumu standing at the top of the room, apron in hand. Tsukune managed to put all that he knew together.
Needless to say, he was petrified.
"Alright, everyone." Kurumu started. "For those of you who don't know, the teacher who was supposed to give the lesson had to drop out for some reason. And, seeing how I had no plans, I kindly volunteered to take her place."
"I hope she didn't actually take the teacher hostage instead." Tsukune thought, already well aware how far the bluenette could go sometimes to get what she wanted.
"So, for everyone here…" Kurumu then shot up a fist which held a whisk. "Who's ready to bake!?"
At that, the whole room cheered, filling the room with energy. The only person who didn't cheer was Tsukune, who was now dreading about what he should do next.
Kurumu walked down the classroom, making sure that everyone had all the ingredients they needed. If not, she took the liberty of bringing a lot more with her, just in case, so no one would be short. However, her thoughts of baking were immediately dashed when she saw her 'Destined One' standing in the room.
"TSUKUNE!" she cried, before jumping onto him and hugged him tightly. "Oh, Tsukune, I can't believe you're here! This is so amazing!"
"Yeah… super… cool…" Tsukune said, his face becoming blue and his voice becoming higher in pitch as he spoke. Fortunately, before she could squeeze the life out of him, someone tapped Kurumu on the shoulder, gaining her attention.
"Um, Kurumu? You're kinda crushing Tsukune."
At that, Kurumu released Tsukune, now rapidly apologising to her love interest. Tsukune told her it wasn't a problem, making sure that Kurumu wouldn't get upset. He looked towards where he heard the voice of his savior, only to smile when he saw who it was.
"Oh, hi Rebecca." He said.
Rebecca smiled and waved at him. "Hey, Tsukune. How are you today?"
"Well, I'm alive, so that's something." He quipped, followed by a small chuckle when he saw Kurumu pouting at his joke. Kurumu ignored it for the time being and gave Rebecca a friendly smile.
"Great to have you here Rebecca. I hear you like to bake as well." Kurumu said. She was being geniunly nice to her, unlike back during their trip to Mononoke Arcade when everyone mistakenly believed her to be in love with Tsukune. The Succubus couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed about it.
Rebecca blushed slightly before speaking. "Uh, well, I used to bake when I was little, but I haven't done it in a long time." She admitted. "I was hoping to get back into it at some point."
Kurumu wrapped an arm arounf Rebecca's shoulder, surprising the latter. "Well, don't worry. I'm gonna help you get back into the grove. Just you wait, all the boys will come flying towards you, unable to resist the delicious treats you'll be able to make."
At that, Rebecca's face was entirely red. "W-What? Really!?" she said, the image of her offering a cake to Ethan now present in her mind.
"Yep. So let's get to it." Kurumu said happily before returning to the top of the room. "Okay. First of all, everyone wash your hands at the sink at your work stations."
…..
Surprisingly enough, as the class went on, everyone seemed to be getting on really well.
Several of the students had decided to try out baking something other than a cake, such as cookies or pies and the likes. Kurumu was able to help every one of the students present who were doing to their own thing, giving them helpful tips and tricks to improve the quality of their treats along the way.
Gin had, eventually, made the mistake of trying to hit of Kurumu. As he did, the Succubus, kicked him in the groin and, while grabbing his head, threw him out of the nearest window and in to the swamp that was near the school.
Rebecca also seemed to be getting on well, having decided to stick with making a cake. Hers was going to be chocolate fudge, a personal favorite of hers. As she was putting the first layer of fudge on the first half of the cake, her mind began to wonder slightly.
"I wonder what Ethan's been up to since I last saw him?" she thought. "When I last saw him, after Mononoke Arcade, he looked pretty serious… did something happen? Did he find what he was-"
"Rebecca?" Tsukune said, interrupting Rebecca's train of thought. "I think that's more than enough fudge on the cake."
The young woman wasn't sure what Tsukune was talking about, until she looked at her cake and saw that there was practically a mountain of fudge where her cake should've been.
"Oh no!" she cried. "Oh what did I do? I gotta clean this up." She said, now feeling silly for her mistake.
Kurumu appeared beside her and grinned. "It's fine. Let me help." She offered, picking up a bowl and gathering as much of the excess fudge as possible.
After seeing Kurumu again, Tsukune began to worry. Thankfully, she hadn't asked him why he had decided to do this class. If she had learned that Tsukune had joined to make a gift for Moka, the Succubus would probably stuff him in an oven and bake him alive.
He laughed nervously at the image, hoping it would never come to be. Rebecca noticed his laugh.
"Oh, is something up, Tsukune?" she asked.
Tsukune shook his head. "No, nothing at all. Just couldn't help but notice that Kurumu's actually a pretty good teacher."
Kurumu looked at him and winked. "Well, it's easy to teach when you've been at it since being a kid." She said.
At that, Rebecca widened her eyes. "Oh, you've been baking for that long?"
Kurumu nodded. "Of course. I needed to keep my skills sharp so that I could impress my destined one when I meet him." She said. she quickly put the bowl and spatula on the table and raced to hug Tsukune again, who now seemed to be quite blue in the face… literally. "And I finally found him too!" she cried with joy.
"Uh, Kurumu? You're doing it again." Rebecca said, her eyes wide with worry.
As Tsukune was losing oxygen, he was beginning to wonder if whether or not he'd be able to get out of this cooking class alive.
"Maybe… Ethan had…the right idea… not to come." He said, finally fainting after the last word.
Seeing her beloved unconscious, Kurumu panicked. "OH NO! TSUKUNE, DON'T DIE ON ME!" she roared.
"Oh no, not again." Rebecca said, seeing this happen every time the other girls fight over him.
As this was happening, the rest of the boys in the class looked on at the scene with looks of jealousy on their faces. One of the students, a familiarly chubby-looking boy was visibly shaking with anger when he saw what was going on.
"That Damn Tsukune Aono, thinking he can keep Kurumu all to himself." He mentally exclaimed in anger. "Well I'll so him. I'm going to make a tray of cookies so delicious that she'll fall for me in an instant." Gouzobura, leader of the Kurumu Kurono fan club, thought menacingly.
Despite Ethan Drake's… strong reminder to stay away from the girls, Gouzobura couldn't help himself, and was continuing to try and win the Succubus' heart… at least, that's what he was telling himself.
Drake's reminder made it so that it would terrify the chubby teens to even speak to her. As such, he decided that if Kurumu was to talk to him directly, then he felt that Drake would have no reason to stop him.
Unfortunately for him, as he was staring at the busty bluenette, he didn't notice that, instead of the small bottle of vanilla extract he brought with him, he grabbed onto a vial of green liquid. Without looking at the vial, he took off the lid and poured the contents into his mixture. He stirred the liquid for a while, continuing to do so until, by the time he had actually looked at the bowl, the green liquid couldn't be seen, having been mixed in with the cookie batter.
…
Eventually, Tsukune managed to recover from the death-hug, to which Kurumu was dancing around the room in joy over. She bounced back to the top of the room and clapped her hands together.
"Okay, everyone. Now that we all have our cakes made, we just need to put them in the oven. Keep in mind, they'll all vary in time, but it'll be well worth it, and you'll all be able to enjoy the fruits of our labors."
Kurumu couldn't wait to see how everyone got on. She had also baked a cake during the class, which she intended to serve to Tsukune. She had thought about adding a love potion to the cake, but she knew that if she did that, Ethan would be driven up the wall, and he was already on a short fuse with her. Best not to set him off.
She, admittedly, knew that Ethan was serious when it came to his friends, and she did tend to rile them up every now and again. She had already made up with Yukari, but Ethan's temper was not one that was easily quelled. It would be some time before he could forgive her.
She went over to everyone individually, checking to see if everything was alright. When she wen over to Tsukune, she saw him adding something onto his cake before he put it in the oven.
"Hey, Tsukune." Kurumu said, causing the boy to jump two feet into the air.
Tsukune landed on his feet, turning back to face Kurumu with beetroot-red cheeks. "Uh, sorry, I didn't see you there."
Kurumu couldn't help but giggle. "It's fine. How's the cake doing?"
"oh, it's… um…" Tsukune tried to think of something to say, only to come up short.
Kurumu noticed his discomfort and was becoming concerned. "Is everything alright?" she asked.
"Oh, uh, I'm fine. Just, uh… wanting to wait until the cake's done before I show you." He said.
"Why's that?" Kurumu asked.
At that, Tsukune began to panic. He had written a love message on the cake, which read 'You are the world to me, my heart and soul belong to you'… granted, he knew Ethan would mess with him until eternity if he saw him giving the cake to Moka, but the main problem was making sure Kurumu didn't see it.
"Why the heck was I stupid enough to write that on the cake!? I'm so screwed if anyone other than Moka sees it." Tsukune thought, afraid of what might happen.
"Come ON! Stay in there, would you!?"
Tsukune and Kurumu turned to where they heard the voice, only to look shocked when they saw a familiar chubby-looking teen.
"Oh no, not him again!" Kurumu cried, hiding behind Tsukune.
Tsukune quickly recovered, seeing that Gouzobura was struggling to keep the oven door closed form some reason. Deciding to put his… to be honest, he wasn't sure what to feel against this person, or his two friends. Nevertheless, he decided that, since he was in difficulty, he would at least check to see what was wrong.
"Uh, hey. Are you okay?" Tsukune asked him.
"NOOOO, Tsukune! You're too nice!" Kurumu thought, not wanting to have anything to do with at creep after what happened last time.
Gouzobura looked at Tsukune with a dark look. "Love rival…!" he said menacingly, causing Tsukune to sweat nervously.
"Uh, yeah, I'm good too. Are you okay, you seem to be struggling."
Gouzobura looked at he oven, seeming confused himself. "For some reason the oven won't stay close. I keep pushing it but it clicks back open every time."
At that, Tsukune raised an eyebrow. "That weird alright. Let me take a look."
Gouzobura didn't like the idea of his nemesis helping him… but he didn't want to have wasted his time making failed cookies. So, he allowed Tsukune to look.
"… Uh… are they supposed to be green? … And moving!?" Tsukune asked with worry.
"What are you tal-"
Before Gouzobura could finish, the oven door burst open, revealing a mass of green dough burst out, landing on the ground and moving like a slug along the ground. At that, several of the students quickly backed away, unsure of what they were seeing.
"What the HELL is THAT!?" one student yelled in horror.
It didn't help when the mass of green, living dough was starting to expand.
"Uh oh." Tsukune said simply.
…..
Outside the classroom, Moka and Yukari were walking outside, dressed in their weekend clothes. Yukari was drinking a bottle of orange juice, while Moka continued to sip at her tomato juice. As they walked, Yukari seemed to be explaining something to Moka.
"And THAT'S why the sky should be considered the longest river in the world." Yukari said, seeming to sum up whatever it was she was talking about.
Moka smiled before speaking. "It always amazes me how you know so much." She said to the young witch, prompting the younger girl to smile from the praise.
As they walked, both soon caught the sight of a familiar pyromancer resting at one of the outside tables, seeming like he was reading something.
Yukari decided to call him. "Hey! Ethan!" she yelled.
Ethan looked up from his book, seeing Yukari waving to him, while Moka was giving him a friendly smile. Smiling back, he motioned his head to tell them to come over, to which they did.
"What are you reading, Ethan?" Moka asked as she was sitting down.
Ethan brought his gaze back to the tome, but he answered the vampiress all the same. "It's a tome I got back at Mononoke Arcade, giving information on monsters or beings the everyday monster encyclopaedias don't tell you about." He answered. As he turned to the next page, he seemed to sigh, which surprised the girls. "And a lot of them are said to be either rare or extinct."
"I'm not surprised." Yukari stated. "With the development of the human world, a lot of the more ancient and powerful monsters have begun to die out, since the humans had taken the areas that they would've considered… home."
At that, Ethan gritted his teeth, and the girls soon began to look more solemn. That sentence reminded them of the events at Witch's Hill, and, in turn, what had become of Ruby's master. Deciding to change the subject, Yukari decided to speak up.
"So… any good ones?" she asked.
"One or two." Ethan answered. "One being these things called 'Espers'."
At that, Moka widened her eyes. "Espers? They're said to be really rare. They can generate a lot of magic power and use it to fight. They don't even need a magical item to channel their magic." She explained. "They are also said to be able to read minds and unlock hidden memories."
Ethan raised an eyebrow at Moka. "How do you know that?" he asked, surprised.
"I read about them in my old home, the library had a lot of ancient books that talked about a lot of things." She answered.
"These 'Espers' being one of them?" he asked to which he received a nod. He looked back at the book before speaking again. "Well, like you said, they're rare. The only way to recognise one is that they're the only beings to have…"
"… Have what?" Yukari asked, waiting for Ethan to finish what he was saying.
The Pyromancer didn't speak, however. Instead, he slammed the tome shut and got onto his feet. "Sorry, guys, gotta go." He said quickly.
"What? What's wrong? Was there something in that book that-"
"I'll tell you later." Ethan said. "But I need to go now. See you later." He said before running towards the main building of the school.
As he ran, Moka and Yukuari looked on, now worried for their friend.
"Is he okay?" Moka asked out loud.
"I don't know…" Yukari started. "… Let's find out!" she added before sprinting after the pyromancer.
"Huh!? Wait, Yukari!" Moka said, trying to get the witch's attention, but to no avail. Seeing no choice, she followed, now curious to see what had the boy riled up.
….
"Oh man! This is bad, this is REALLY BAD!" Tsukune cried.
By now, the mass of green dough had begun to cover the floor of the entire classroom, trapping many of the students in place like some kind of sand trap. Thankfully, unlike quicksand, the students weren't sinking into the ground.
A number of the students, including Tsukune, Kurumu and Rebecca were quick enough to jump onto one of the far away tables as they tried to formulate a new plan against the now live baking mix.
"Maybe we can try and warm the room enough that it'll start to cook? Then it'll be stuck." Tsukune suggested.
Kurumu shook her head. "It might expand and fill the whole room. And, to be honest…" she pointed towards the still-growing dough "That doesn't look edible." She stated.
Rebecca thought about what to do for a moment, hoping that an idea would present itself. After a few seconds, a thought occurred to her.
"What if we freeze it?" she suggested. "It would stop growing and won't move."
At that, Tsukune and Kurumu smiled.
"Rebecca, you're a genius!" the Succubus cried, wrapping her arms around the black and silver haired teen.
Tsukune would've dome the same, had he not remembered a crucial factor. He looked back at the students trapped by the dough. "But if we do that, we might accidently freeze everyone the dough's pinning down." He pointed out.
"Don't worry."
Kurumu, Rebecca and Tsukune all jumped when they heard the new voice, turning to see a familiar snow woman casually sucking her lollipop.
"GAH! Mizore, stop scaring us like that!" Tsukune yelled.
"Where's the fun in that?" Mizore asked in genuine surprise. She then turned her gaze to the dough, which was starting to get closer to the table surface. "Anyway, I can freeze the dough without harming anyone else."
"Really? Are you sure?" Rebecca asked, not out of doubt, but surprise.
Mizore allowed herself a small grin before saying "Just watch."
Mizore summoned her ice claws and slowly raised them up into the air. As she did, the air suddenly became a lot colder. Lowering her gaze back to the dough, her eyes began to glow.
"Freeze."
Wit that, the dough was suddenly encased in ice, ceasing its growth. The ice had traveled around the students, making sure that they weren't frozen as well. After she had finished, she dispelled her ice claws and motioned for her friends to follow her.
"Let's get everyone out." she said, jumping onto the ice.
"Alright, let's go!" Kurumu said, jumping after her. Unfortunately, Kurumu forgot how slippy ice can be, and ended up slipping forward and landing face-first onto the ice.
"Whoa! Kurumu! Are you alriiIIAAAH!" Tsukune said, jumping onto the ice after her, only to fall as well.
What made it worse for Tsukune was that Kurumu had instantly rolled over onto her back, and Tsukune accidentally landed head first into her chest. Tsukune's panicked screams were muffled by the bluenette's chest, although Kurumu didn't seemed that concerned.
"Oh.. Tsukune… I didn't know you were so bold." Kurumu said, her blood rushing to her cheeks.
Mizore frowned at the two, jealous that Kurumu was in that position with Tsukune. However, she was snapped out of it after she heard the sound of something cracking. Worried, she turned to see that, in the center of the frozen creature, cracks were starting to form.
She turned to face Kurumu and Tsukune, who have managed to separate at least (much to the displeasure of Kurumu). "Quick! Get everyone out, the creature's starting to escape."
Tsukune nodded. "Okay." He simply said before rushing to the other students. Picking up an mallet and a knife that was nearby, he chiseled as many students as he could. Kurumu was helping by slicing at the ice around their feet, freeing them as well. Mizore, meanwhile, fought hard to make sure the ice would hold.
Unfortunately, it was proving itself stronger, as it eventually broke free from the ice. As it did, the ice encasing the rest of it also shattered. This proved unfortunate for Tsukune, Kurumu and the last student trapped in the dough, which immediately encased them.
"NO!" Mizore yelled in panic, seeing her club members trapped by the dough. Instantly, she sent a gust of cold wind towards the creature.
At first, the ice forming around it seemed to be slowing it down, but it seemed to be adapting, as the ice seemed to peel off the surface of the dough.
"Well, this is going to be a problem." Mizore admitted.
The living dough was stationary for a moment, as if it was observing the snow woman. As second later, the upright tip of the creature lunged at Mizore, forming jaws to swallow her whole.
As Mizore was about to act, a light shot from behind her and struck the dough down its throat. Causing it to back away. Mizore looked behind and saw Rebecca, the silver tips of her hair glowing, as well as her eyes.
Rebecca stuck her right arm up in the air and spun it around in a full circle, a trail of light forming a perfect curve as she moved her limb. Pulling her hand down, she took a step back, causing the circle to decrease in size and become brighter. Using as much force as she could muster, she punched through the gap in the circle. Upon doing so, several tendrils of light shot out from the circle, all of the striking in random parts of the dough.
"Taste this!" Rebecca exclaimed, seeming much more confident than before, her voice echoing as she spoke.
The dough soon began to vibrate, causing it to weaken slightly. It may have been slight, but it was enough for Mizore to send another gust of wind at the dough. Upon doing so, it created a large hole, revealing Tsukune, Kurumu and the other student.
"Wha-Mizore!?" Tsukune cried.
Not wasting any time, Kurumu, grabbed a sleeve each from Tsukune and the other student, summoning her wings to quickly dash away from the dough.
They landed beside Mizore and Rebecca. When Kurumu released the two, she immediately started to try and wipe herself clean.
"EW! GROSS! OH NO, this is gonna take WEEKS to clean!" she shrieked.
Tsukune and Mizore looked at Kurumu with deadpanned expressions, unable to believe that Kurumu was allowing herself to get distracted again. This ended when they hard the sound of someone collapsing. They turned to see Rebecca on her knees, panting for breath.
"Rebecca!" Tsukune cried, kneeling by her side.
Mizore, equally concerned, squatted in front of her. "Are you okay?"
Rebecca nodded. "I'm okay. I… I think I tired myself out with that move. I never used it before."
At that, Tsukune, raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What move? What are you talking about?"
Rebecca was about to answer when Rebecca widened her eyes. Tsukune, Mizore and Kurumu (who recovered from her state of dough-induced panic) looked back to see the dough now looming over them. It was clear to them all that it was intent on ending them.
"This was not what I was expecting when I came here." Tsukune admitted, now pale with worry.
"MAGIC WAND!"
The dough was suddenly encased in a pink aura. A few seconds later, it was completely obscured by a light the same color, unmoving like a statue. The light then faded, revealing that the creature was now longer in the room.
"… Eh?" they all said simultaneously."
"You're welcome."
All heads turned to see Yukari standing in the doorway, her wand present and her face showing an expression of pride.
"Yukari? You make the dough disappear?" Kurumu asked, slightly awed.
"Is that what it was?" Yukari asked, followed by her receiving nods from those trapped by the previously present dough. "Well, I got it out of this room, but I had to place it where it could be… 'properly disposed of'." She explained.
"Where's that?" one of the students asked.
"Just look out that window and you'll see." Yukari answered.
Everyone zoomed to the window in question, to which all of them saw the dough, seeming to become larger in size now that it had the extra room.
Standing before it, was Ethan.
….
After Ethan had read something in the book that seemed to set him off, he, Moka and Yukari all rushed towards a certain area. The latter of the two were unsure where they were going, as Ethan was the one charging around the school.
"Ethan, wait!" Moka called. "Where are you going!?"
"I need to check something out." Ethan answered as he continued to move. "There's no need for either of you to be with me."
"Sorry, bud. You're stuck with us until you tell us what's got you like this!" Yukari exclaimed.
After Yukari's statement, Ethan came to an abrupt stop, causing Moka and Yukari to nearly crash into him. As they straightened themselves up, he had turned to face him, causing the girls to take steps back, startled by the dark glare he was giving them.
"I get you want to help. But this. Doesn't. Concern you." He said darkly.
That statement caused Moka and Yukari to shiver in fear. However, Moka quickly recovered when she remembered that there were two things that made him this dark. Either if he was in a fight or…
"You… you found a clue to what happened to your family, haven't you?" Moka asked, causing Yukari to forget her fear and look at the pyromancer with worry. After the reveal of what happened to his family back on Witch's Hill, she couldn't believe that a person who had lost so much could still go on.
However, it was clear that Ethan would not let it go, at least not until he found out the truth about what happened.
Ethan only glared at Moka for a few more seconds before turning away from her. "Just go. I don't need-"
Ethn was interrupted when they heard the sound of glass shattering, followed by the sound of someone screaming. Ethan turned to where he heard the sounds and saw someone flying towards him. Ethan simply held out an open hand, facing his palm towards the person in question, and grabbed him by the face.
When Ethan released his grip and allowed this person to fall to the ground, his already foul mood was further soured upon seeing who it was.
"Gouzobura…" Ethan said, his voice laced with venom.
Upon recognizing Ethan, Gouzobura scampered backwards. "I-I, wait, please don't hurt me." He pleaded. "There' something attacking the other students in the baking class!"
At that, Ethan's anger quelled slightly. "Baking class?" he asked, receiving a rapid nod from the chubby teen.
Ethan looked to where he saw Gouzobura flying from, his eyes seeing a classroom in which the students were panicking. Deciding to put his anger on hold, he turned towards Yukari. "Yukari. Can you cause things to teleport away to other places, by any chance?"
"Uh, yeah. How did you know?" she asked.
"Let's just say that you weren't very discreet when you were making Moka's underwear appear in your hat." Ethan answered with a half-smirk, half-scowl, causing Moka to gasp in shock.
"Yukari!" Moka cried.
"Oh, come on, Moka. You can't-"
"Teleport that monster out here." Ethan said interrupting them.
Yukari looked over towards Ethan for a moment, before slowly forming a smile on her face. "Oh yeah, more fighting!" she cried, suddenly dashing away from the group.
Ethan looked over towards Moka and pointed towards Gouzobura, causing him to shriek with fear. "Get him and yourself at a safe distance." He simply said.
Moka nodded in understanding and grabbed Gouzobura away, leaving Ethan alone as he coated his left hand with fire.
"Let's see what's in store."
A couple of minutes later, a bright, ink light appeared in front of him. After it faded, before him was a giant piece of green sludge, which Ethan guessed was some kind of dough, swirling itself around and expanding in size.
"You're certainly not the weirdest thing I've seen here." Ethan said to the creature, allowing the fire on his hand to crawl up his forearm. "But I'd go as far to say… 'second ugliest." He finished, the memory of 'Big Bro' returning to him after seeing the chubby teen that stalked Kurumu.
…..
Back in the kitchen classroom, all the students present all looked to see what would happen to Ethan. Would he win, or would the dough eat him alive?
"C'mon, Ethan. You can do this." Tsukune said confidently.
Part of the dough shot out from the main body, lunging for Ethan. The pyromancer responded by suddenly vanishing from where he was standing, only to appear behind it. The dough repeated the same attack, only for Ethan to appear on its left.
The other students were confused by what was going on, but Tsukune, Kurumu, Mizore and Rebecca all knew what was happening.
"Good thing he unlocked that super speed at the Arcade." Mizore said calmly.
"Oh yeah, Ethan's gonna kick its… uh… does that thing have a butt?"
No one answered Kurumu's question, instead they all focused on the fight, all seeing that Ethan has yet to go on the offensive.
That changed, however, when one doughy tendril shot out at Ethan, only for the pyromancer to catch it and summon a flame grenade, which he launched at the creature. Upon impact, it created a large gap in dough's form, making it seem that Ethan landed a solid hit.
"Alright, that was awesome!" Tsukune yelled, thrilled for his friend.
"… Uh oh." Mizore them said.
Tsukune looked at her, looking slightly confused. "Huh? Why 'uh oh'? he asked.
That question was answered when Mizore pointed towards the fight. Tsukune looked back and saw that the dough was… regenerating, soon looking like it hadn't been struck.
Tsukune saw a look of agitation on Ethan's face, showing that he wasn't happy with the trick the dough pulled. However, Tsukune could tell that Ethan wouldn't let something like that stop him. The pyromancer was about to act when the tendril that he was grasping suddenly expanded, remolding its shape until it was now encasing Ethan's forearm.
"Ethan!" Rebecca cried, now worried for him.
The pyromancer didn't show any fear. Instead, he stood stationary, while seeming to tense the muscles of his upper arm. No one was sure what he was up to… that is until they saw the dough trapping Ethan's arm was starting to smoke.
"What… what's happening to Ethan?" Kurumu asked.
Yukari appeared behind her, a knowing leer on her face. "Just watch."
A second later, the green dough was slowly chainging colour, becoming darker. Quickly, the dough became pitch black, followed by Ethan pulling his arm back and shattering the dough, having burnt it to a crisp.
"Whoa!" One student said.
"That's clever." Another said.
"Pretty awesome, dude." Came the voice of a third.
Ethan then stood still, observing his hand for a moment before looking back at the dough, another smirk forming on his face. he then rushed at the dough, his flame gauntlets and greaves forming, as the dough seemed to charge at him as well. Everyone was on the edge of their seats (metaphorically, as they were all standing), as they waited for Ethan to obliterate the Dough.
They were all horrified, however,when they saw that, instead of Ethan obliterating the dough, the dough swallowed Ethan whole.
Nearly everyone in the room looked like they had paled a bit, seeing the strongest boy in school suddenly eaten by a large piece of dough. If he wasn't able to do it, then who-
"Don't worry everyone."
All eyes turned to the person who spoke, who just happened to be Tsukune. "Just wait for a bit."
Yukari smiled in Tsukune's direction. "Oh? Figure it out yet?"
Tsukune nodded, which didn't help the several students surrounding him in understanding what was going on.
Kurumu was the first to speak. "Hey, what are you talking about? Figure what out!?" she exclaimed.
"Ethan's strategy." Tsukune simply answered.
Kurumu was about to ask another question when she heard more of the students suddenly speaking loudly. She turned to them briefly before looking outside, as she guessed it was the source. Her eyes widened after seeing that the dough was smoking.
"Ethan allowed himself to get eaten, so he could burn the dough from the inside like he did with that tendril." Tsukune explained. "That's actually pretty-"
Tsukune didn't get to finish, as the now blackened dough exploded, sending large, but brittle, chunks of burnt dough in several directions. In the center of the explosion stood Ethan, who looked none the worse for wear aside from dark ash on his clothes.
He looked around spotting the students looking at him from the classroom, and smiled.
"Everyone enjoy the show!?" he called out.
….
"PLEASE! PLEASE I'M SORRY!"
Gouzobura was now hanging over a large cauldron of boiling water, suspended by a rope which was tied around him and was left to cry and endure his punishment.
On the ground, Kurumu, Yukari and Mizore were all sitting on lounge chairs, each enjoying a bag of popcorn as they watched Gouzobura suffer.
"Why should we? You did add an ingredient to the dough that turned it into a monster." Mizore pointed out.
It turns out that the ingredient Gouzobura used was one called 'Live', a formula created by Ms. Ririko for some reason. The chubby teen found it not too long ago and mistook it for a sweetener, which lead to him deciding that he could use it in the upcoming cooking class.
Needless to say, when Kurumu found out about this, added with the fact that he did this to try and win her over, she lost it, as he essentially ruined the class. As such, it was her that came up with the punishment he was now suffering.
"Please, let me down! I've suffered enough!" be pleaded.
Kurumu turned to the rest of the girls. "What do you think? Has he suffered enough?" she asked.
"Nope." Mizore answered.
"Not by a long shot." Yukari stated.
Kurumu smiled. "My thoughts exactly." She stated before looking back at the chubby teen, who was now crying his hear out.
As this was going on, Tsukune and Moka were sitting together in the cafeteria.
"Are you sure you don't want to join the rest of the girls?" he asked, remembering how much trouble the love love alliance had caused her as much as Kurumu and Yukari.
Moka nodded in response. "I'm sure. I think they may have gone overboard a bit." She said, sweat-dropping when she remembered the evil faces they made.
Tsukune chuckled in response, to which Moka was happy to see. She was afraid that Tsukune had been scared by what had happened… but, then again, after everything that happened so far, I guess one would get used to it.
"Oh!" Tsukune suddenly said. "I just remembered something.
Tsukune lowered himself under the table, causing Moka to raise her brow in confusion. However, she looked to be both in awe and astonishment when she saw what Tsukune had to show Moka.
"This is your you." He said, offering her the cake he made in the baking class. Luckily, despite the madness, he had managed to complete it.
"…Tsukune…" Moka managed to say, still recovering from the initial shock. However, she was soon hit with more awe when she saw what was now written on the top.
To my first friend here. For helping through the year, for helping keep on a smile on my face, for lighting up my day
Thank you.
Moka was momentarily stunned after reading the message. She couldn't form the words to respond to this. Instead, all she could do was smile and allow a few tears to roll down her cheeks. She looked back at Tsukune, seeing him smile as well.
"Tsukune… I…" she still couldn't form the words. But after wiping her left eye, she let out a soft giggle and said "Y… your welcome."
With that, she sat beside Tsukune and pulled him into a hug. The human boy had no objections, instead wrapping an arm around Moka. The two then simply sat in silence, happy to be in each other's company. As they sat, both were thinking of saying the same thing to each other.
"I love you…"
…..
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
After the incident with the live dough, Ethan had managed to track down the thing, or rather person, he was wishing to talk to. After having done so, he and the person in question were standing outside the main building, resting on the bench.
Ethan looked up and stared at his companion straight in the face.
"Rebecca." He simply said.
"Uh, yes?" she said, unsure of Ethan's behavior.
"You…" he leaned in closer towards her, causing the girl to blush. "Have silver eyes."
"… Um…" If Rebecca wasn't confused before, he most certainly was now.
Ethan leaned back, his expression unchanging. "The eyes of the Esper."
At that, Rebecca felt her blood run cold. She grabbed her bag and was about to get up, when Ethan placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. Rebecca looked into Ethan's eyes. Upon seeing them, she saw a look that she never imagined she would see in his face. A face that always seemed so strong.
Desperation.
"I know the Esper have had it rough." He started. "I know the pain they were put through because of their power, but I am not wanting to hurt you." He stated.
Rebecca could also here his tone wavering. She wasn't sure what could be causing this, and, truth be told, it was frightening her.
"But… I need your help." He spoke once again. "You… you can refuse if you want, but I just want you to hear my request."
Rebecca sat still for a moment, unsure of what to say. Knowing Ethan who had risked his life to help the school over and over, and never asked of anything in return… it must be an important request.
"… What is it you need help with?" she asked, deciding to hear him out.
Ethan was silent for a moment, as if preparing himself for what was about to happen. When he was ready, he asked.
"I need you to use your power on me. Unlock my memories… help me find the one... the real person responsible for my Family's death."
Alright, ladies and Gentlemen, I'm going to leave it at that.
Well, Now that Ethan is aware of what monster Rebecca is and what she can do, one would have to wonder if she will be able to help him, eh?
And, in case you asked, yes, the Esper race is partially inspired by 'Final Fantasy VI', mainly because I thought the concept was cool and I wanted to try and add it in some form. Hope you all like the idea, and if not… well, I'll be sticking to it either way to be honest, sorry.
And, finally, now that this is done, I'll be getting back to that chapter for 'Remnant of Shadows'. Can't give a definite date when it'll be uploaded, but I'll do what I can.
Right, that's enough from me. Leave a review and give me your honest opinion about this chapter, i love the feedback, and I hope you all have a nice day and I'll see you later. Bye. ;-)