Blue: Quick warning before you start. This episode is a little strange…even by Cliché’s standards. It didn’t go as originally planned, but it still worked well even if I myself am not that fond of how it went.

Episode 15:

“War is a Fairy Tale” – Storybook Cliché

Cliché 1: Fairy tales…

Cliché 2: …always start off with ‘once upon a time.’

Once upon a time…Next!

Cliché 3: Fairytales take place in kingdoms or places far away.

…in a kingdom far away…

Cliché 4: Beautiful princesses

…There lived a beautiful princess…There. Lived. A. Beautiful. PRINCESS! …

“Billy! Get your behind out here!”

“Hell no!”

“Why not?”

“You’ve made me do some embarrassing things, Blue. But this is crossing the line!”

Blue rolled her dark brown eyes from her director’s chair. “Billy, if you don’t come from behind those curtains, I’ll have Munkfurt drag you out.”

Munkfurt had a sly grin on his face. “I use a stun gun.”

Suddenly, Billy shot from beyond the curtains onto the stage. He must have really had to suck it up to run onto the stage voluntarily in what he was wearing. The poor boy had a long blonde wig forced onto his head with a gold tiara rested on top of it. It was really brought out by one of those lovely yet fluffy princess gowns—which happened to be pink. It was a shocker the kid hadn’t tripped on the hem when he bolted on stage.

Billy’s face was Christmas tree light red and he glared down at Blue with pure loathing. It made it even worse that she was smiling back at him in an attempt to look innocent. “I. Hate. You.”

“Really?” Blue blinked her big eyes, obliviously. “But you look just so cute.”

Billy growled to himself. “Why are we doing this anyway? This is stupid!” He vented and folded his arms over his chest so he could fume.

They were in the Blue High auditorium on a Saturday. So Billy was right; this was stupid. Blue had stormed his house, abducted him and his sisters and brought them all to the school. While Billy had no idea where his sisters were, he was forced into a room with Andaline and Kona Jemson. The girls forced him into the very abomination he was wearing. How could Andaline betray him so and not even bat an eye in the process?

“I wanted to play the game today,” Blue told him simply.

“So why do I have to be the princess? Maria could have done it!”

Blue’s gaze fell on Munkfurt who instantly looked away. Drat! She’d have to answer that question on her own. She may as well be completely honest. “I wanted to see you in a dress.”

Billy’s glare grew fiercer in .1 seconds. Blue almost yelped when it did; she didn’t think he could look any meaner, yet here he was proving her wrong. “Why?”

Blue’s mouth hung open then. Give her a moment to get the Jeopardy music out of her head. 3… 2… 1… “Cuz yer pretty.” There we go!

“I’m outta here…”

“No you aren’t little boy!” Blue held up her hand dramatically. “Our cliché today is fairy tales. If you help me out today, I’ll leave you alone for a week.”

Billy stared at her for a moment. “This isn’t any of your word play, is it?”

Blue laughed as she asked, “When have I used word play?”

“When you bet me you could take a skateboard and make it across the street with it! You ended up carrying the damn thing.”

“I don’t remember that…”

“You made me dress like a cat the next day.”

Blue laughed so hard that she could’ve cried. “Oh yeah! That wasn’t word play! Just you having a dumb moment. A really dumb moment!”

“Screw you!”

Blue hurriedly climbed onto the stage and hugged the boy. Though it wasn’t much of a hug, it was more like she was trying to keep him from escaping. “Don’t worry, freshman! I’m not tricking you this time!”

“Fine! Just get off of me!” He pushed her away. He figured he’d may as well give into her now since she was just going to force him to do it later. He couldn’t win.

“Goodie!” Blue cheered. “Alright Lynar! You may continue!”

Once upon a time in a kingdom far way…

“HOLD IT!”

Now what?!

“Blue, who in the hell is Lynar?”

Blue’s eyes shifted back and forth. “Uh…Lady Narrator…Our narrator person…”

“Forth wall, Blue,” Munkfurt warned, but she waved him off.

Billy seemed lost. “W-We have a narrator?”

Blue nodded. “Yeah. A very omniscient, brat of a narrator who commonly lies.”

I don’t lie! When have I ever lied?!”

“Multiple times!”

No I haven’t! I don’t know why I’m even arguing with a girl whose entire being is made up of cats.

“See? She’s dumb too.” Said Blue who then walked into a wall. “So dumb she forgets that’s she’s merely an OBSERVER!” DAMN!

Billy looked terribly confused. “So how come I can hear her now?”

Blue held up a little black remote control. “I took her off of mute for the sake of today’s cliché. We needed a story teller, so may as well use our own.”

The boy looked lost, but instead he chose to ignore it. All of it. As in everything Blue had said. That was kind of hard to do though since he could hear me. Is my voice eating into your brain yet, young man? “Shut the hell up!” I guess it is.

“Uh… I think I’ll lower her volume a bit,” Blue said. “She gets a bit obnoxious when you can hear her.”

Blue, you bitch.

“What was that? I can’t hear you!” The jerk cackled. Always bullying the little person. “Alright, so let’s start this over.”

Once upon a time in a kingdom far away, there lived a beautiful princess.

Billy let out an exasperated huff…Princesses don’t huff. Especially not beautiful ones.

“Billy! Smile!” Blue encouraged.

Billy stared at her. Then he stuck his tongue out at her in rebellion. That was really what Blue asked for, right?

“Don’t you get an attitude with me, young lady!” Blue raged.

“Whatever you say, mister.” Top that off with a quick curtsies, and Billy was well on his way to pissing Blue off entirely.

Blue grinned in an attempt to suppress her boiling anger. “Glad we’re at an understanding,” she growled out. “Let’s continue, shall we?”

Cliché 5: The princess has a beautiful voice.

For some reason, Billy looked less happy than usual.

Now Blue’s grin showed she was genuinely amused. “Come on, Billy. Let’s hear your beau~tiful voice!”

While Billy was trying to give Blue the best glare he could, he also looked really weirded out. Could you blame him? Let’s take a look at all of the things wrong with the situation: Boy forced to dress up as a girl for the sake of principal’s game who was expected to be able to sing. Hm. Never mind. This entire situation was wrong.

Munkfurt smiled. “Kid, just open your mouth.”

Billy’s eyes shifted about. He didn’t know what his principals were planning, but when his role-model told him to do something, he couldn’t say no.

So he did it.

“La, la, la, la la la!” Came a heavenly voice. Wait a minute. What?!

And Billy freaked out at that voice too. As a reaction, he quickly covered his mouth with his hands. That was a girl’s voice! A pretty one too! That hadn’t come from him. And he was sure of that because after his hands had shot to cover his mouth, the voice kept on singing anyway. Treachery was afoot here!

“KNOCK IT OFF!” Billy barked. The singing stopped. That did surprise him a little, but he didn’t think about it for long. “Blue, whose voice was that?”

“Ko~na!” Blue sang. “Doesn’t she have a pretty voice?”

“I hate you.”

“WHAT?!” Blue laughed insanely. “Because I don’t think you have a heavenly voice?”

Those black eyes were glaring daggers.

“If it’s any consolation, your voice could totally pass for a girl.”

…D-Did Billy just squeak? OH MY GOSH! HE TOTALLY DID! Sure, it was an embarrassed one since he was bright red and had covered his mouth with his hands, but it had been a squeak nonetheless.

Blue couldn’t stop laughing. She was getting a real kick out of this. More of a kick than usual.

Munkfurt, on the other hand, looked amused but he didn’t let out an actual laugh. “Don’t listen to her too much,” he told the freshman. “She’s just screwing with you.”

While Blue kept making her stomach hurt from laughing too hard, Billy let out a breath and calmed down a little. ‘That was a low blow, Blue. A very low blow.’

Blue wiped her eyes and took a deep breath, regaining her calm. “Okay,” she breathed out. “Let’s continue.”

Cliché 6: Evil step-mothers

Or

Cliché 7: Wicked witches

Then the princess’s evil step-mother, who also happened to be a witch, appeared before the princess…

“Really?” Billy asked skeptically. “This is my witch slash step-mother?”

Boque cackled wickedly, trying to do the best witch impression she could. She was dressed from head to toe in a black and purple witch costume, and even held a scepter to top it all off. “What’s wrong, princess? Do I intimidate you?”

“No.” Billy said flatly which agitated Boque somehow. “I was just expecting Andaline to play the witch.”

“Tch! Like I’d do something so obvious!” Blue told him from below. “She has to help Kona with costumes anyway.”

“Uh huh…”

“Silence princess!” Boque snapped and waved her scepter. “As the prettiest person in the land--”

“Not in this story, you’re not.” Billy was quick to correct her. It was weird since as soon as he had, he saw a bright yellow arrow impale itself in the back of the girl’s head. “I’m supposed to be prettier than you today.”

“THAT’S MY LINE!” Boque barked as she slammed the arrow to the floor. She erupted into a tantrum on stage, stamping her foot angrily. She pointed at Billy and faced Blue. “WHY DOES HE MAKE SUCH A PRETTY GIRL ANYWAY?! EVEN AS A BLONDE!”

Blue shrugged, but she couldn’t help the smile on her face. “Dunno. But, Boque, it is a well-known fact that guys make better looking girls than girls do anyway.”

Boque’s face turned so red at that, that Billy was almost certain she’d blow her top like she was having her own volcanic eruption in her brain. “THAT’S NOT FAIR! I’M SUPPOSED TO BE THE PRETTY ONE!” She yelled.

Blue shook her head. She walked over to the stage and climbed onto it. Blue held out a frying pan and handed it to Billy. He didn’t know why she had given him a frying pan, but he didn’t think too much about it. It couldn’t have been for a very smart reason, he knew that for sure.

As Blue was climbing off the stage again, she said to the two kids onstage, “Well Boque, as the witch, this is your chance to try and kill the princess. But if she…uh, he beats you, he’ll escape and it’ll make you look bad.”

Boque seemed to like that idea. When she grinned and glanced over at Billy holding the frying pan Blue had given him, she could see him tense up.

Boque cackled again. “Well then princess. It looks like I have to kill you now. It will be just like the last time I whooped your ass. Oh ho ho ho! Don’t worry though, I promise to go easy on you. Now, prepare to die!”

Incoming frying pan attack!

BAM!

Boque hit the floor. “Ow!” She screeched.

LET’S SEE THAT AGAIN!

Boque boasted about how she’d beat Princess Billy. So, Billy saw his opening and swung the frying pan at her head. BAM! Boque hit the floor.

REPLAY!

BAM! Epic frying-pan attack!

Replay!

BAM! Epic fry-pan attack!

Replay!

“Blue!”

“Okay! Sorry, I couldn’t help it!” Blue laughed. Then she yelped and ducked out of the way of a flying frying pan. “H-Hey! Not cool, Billy!”

Munkfurt chuckled. “You kind of deserved that.”

“Hush!”

Billy shook his head. He looked down at Boque just as she was sitting up. “You okay?”

Boque was startled by the question. She looked up at him while gripping her left cheek where she had been hit. “Y-You’re really asking?”

“Yes.” Billy growled out, irritably. “Don’t sound so surprised, moron.”

That snapped Boque back to her senses. She sprang to her feet. “No! You hit me with a frying-pan!”

“Sorry,” Billy shrugged. “But it’s not like I wanted to get attacked by you again.”

“YOU’RE A BOY!”

“AND YOU’RE A MAN!”

“UGH!”

“Hey, hey kiddies!” Munkfurt tried to calm them as he climbed onto the stage. He took Boque by the shoulders as he prepared to guide her away. “You two can continue to exchange your loving banter after we get through this story.”

“Fine,” Boque pouted. Then she glared at Billy. “Girly-boy.”

“Ugly.”

Boque growled before she stomped off stage. Let’s assume that Billy won that one then.

“Don’t worry, Boque!” Blue called as the blond walked away. “You can totally get him next time!”

Boque smirked at the idea. No boy dressed as a girl was going to slap her with a frying-pan and get away with it. With that in mind, Boque waltzed off the stage, cackling the whole way. That gave Billy bad vibes…really bad vibes.

As if this isn’t confusing enough, in continuation of this fantastic fairy tale, Princess Billy escaped the wrath of his evil step-mother slash witch-queen-lady. He then escaped into the forest…

Cliché 8: Forests

Billy jumped with a start as a giant painted on forest backdrop fell to the stage behind him. Perhaps it’s okay to give the kid a heart attack so long as he doesn’t pass out or anything.

THUMP!

Oh no, he totally passed out.

Cliché 9: Little Red Riding Hood

“BIG BROTHER!” Maria cried in her Little Red Riding Hood costume. That red hood was apparently too big for her as it kept falling over her eyes and tripped over the hem of it when she ran onto the stage in such a big hurry. The instant that happened, Blue, who was already laughing uncontrollably, laughed even harder.

“You okay, kid?” Munkfurt asked Maria while he helped up Billy (as Munkfurt was still on stage). Billy looked really lost when Munkfurt sat him up.

“EEK!” Maria squeaked when she sat up, her hood completely over her eyes. “I-I can’t see! I’ve gone blind!”

While Blue hit the floor, laughing, Billy shook his head in an attempt to recover from his prior shock. Fully agitated by Blue’s joy brought on by their expense, he stood up, ignoring Munkfurt and marched over to his sister who flailed and cried about ‘being blind.’ He pulled her hood down to reveal glassy sapphire eyes. When she saw him, she squealed and latched onto him like a baby monkey.

“Big brother! I’m so happy to see you!” she cried.

“Get off.” Billy growled.

Maria didn’t obey. Instead, she cocked her head as she stared at him. “You look pretty.”

Billy let out a defeated groan. If only this wasn’t his sister…

Munkfurt climbed from the stage and effortlessly stood up the still laughing Blue. When she was back on her feet, she started taking deep breaths until she was calm again. “Okay…” she breathed out. “Billy, did that backdrop scare you?”

“Shut up, Blue. That would’ve happened to anyone,” Billy groaned while Maria climbed off of him.

Blue chuckled. “But it happened to you first.”

Billy didn’t think it was possible for Blue to irritate him so much in ten minutes. Usually, it took her almost an hour to piss him off this quickly. She was getting to be a lot more skilled.

Cliché 10: The big bad wolf.

Before he could get so angry that he was seeing red, Linda walked onto the stage in a big, furry, wolf costume. She took one of her big paws and pat her brother’s head. “There, there…” she said in her monotone between pats.

Billy waved his hands at her in frustration in order to get her to stop. When was she going to learn that she couldn’t calm him down by patting his head like he was some kind of cat? Wait a minute… SHE ALWAYS DID IT ON PURPOSE, DIDN’T SHE?!

Blue waved a finger at the boy. “Now Billy, you need to be nice to your sisters.” Who was she trying to kid? “Now it’s time for some fun with Little Red Riding Hood.”

“What kind of fun can be had with that?” Billy asked.

Maria took it upon herself to answer that. “Nothing’s more fun than a girl who becomes friends with a cute doggie and goes to see her grandmother!”

…Silence.

Billy pulled Maria’s hood back over her eyes and covered her ears. “Oh no! I’m blind! … And deaf! Help me!”

Blue laughed. “W-Who told her that story, exactly?”

Billy huffed while Maria flailed beneath him. “Linda did a long time ago…”

“I didn’t want to taint her innocence.” Linda admitted.

“That’s rich! Why wouldn’t you tell her the truth? The wolf eats Red.” Blue questioned.

“Because that story implies rape, Blue.” Linda defended. Billy’s head fell. How he wanted to knock himself out…

“What a noble thing you’ve done; lying to your sister to preserve her innocence.” Munkfurt joked.

“Indeed. We salute your nobility,” Blue said as she did just that.

“Indeed. Salute we shall.” Munkfurt imitated.

“R-Really?” Linda blinked, her inner fangirl prepared to kick into high gear.

“NO!” Billy shouted. That made Linda flinch and the principals snicker. Billy pulled back Maria’s hood and let her squeal about being able to see and hear again while he admonished his sister. “Can’t you tell when they’re playing you?!”

“Oh, Billy’s no fun, Munky,” Blue pouted.

“What a stick in the mud,” Munkfurt agreed.

Billy grit his teeth. Anger level rising…

Blue shrugged. “I suppose boring Billy can’t be helped. How about we progress the story a bit now?”

In an attempt to progress the story, little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf told Princess Billy that her…his stepmother was awful and that they’d help to hide her—him! UGH!

Cliché 11: Seven dwarfs

And then the dwarves came…

“Really? Dwarves?”

“Yay! Dwarves are adorable!”

“…N-Not these ones…”

On cue, Howler, Radar, Brandon, and Toya walked on stage wearing pointed garden gnome type hats, frowning. Frowning despite how they lucked out and didn’t even have to wear the full costumes. They stood before the Thorne siblings and huffed. Just…huffed.

Linda stared at the boys. “…You’re not dwarfs…”

“We know…” They answered.

“And there’s only four of you,” Billy added.

“Actually,” Blue interjected. “Howler counts as three people.”

Maria gasped. “There are three Howlers? Really?!”

“Don’t think about it too hard, Maria-chan.”

Howler sighed. “Yes, yes. Lay on the fat jokes. I’ll have you know, I’m far too mature to let such things upset me.”

“Whatever, fatty,” the principal grinned.

“I’M NOT FAT!” Howled the boy. “I’VE GROWN INTO MY WEIGHT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”

“Okay, big boy,” Blue sniggered. She could tell Howler was really agitated when Radar began to intervene. Blue laughed again. “If only I could get something so enjoyable out of Mizu as well.”

“Is it just me,” began Brandon to Billy, “or is our principal a little whacked?”

“Oh geez, you’re just noticing?” Radar questioned.

“I’M DRESSED AS A FRIGGIN’ GIRL, BRANDON! OF COURSE SHE’S WHACKED!” When Billy roared at him, the other boy shrank back a little.

Toya rubbed his temple. “Billy-san, you and your friends are really loud. It’s a bit annoying.”

Billy had prepared to snap on the younger twin until his obsidian eyes realized something was missing. “Wait, where’s Takuya?”

Toya shrugged. “Blue-sama said she had a much more fitting role for him. I haven’t seen him. Why do you ask?”

“It’s just a little off-putting to see you two not attached at the hip for once.”

The look Toya gave Billy when he had explained himself was a vacant one that lasted for about ten seconds. Even so, when someone is given a look like that, it can still be pretty excruciating which was how Billy felt as he looked back at him. When those vacant chocolate eyes shifted in some other direction, and he let out a simple, “Whatever,” Billy actually felt a little relieved.

Then again, these dwarves were meant to make Princess Billy feel a bit intimidated. For you see, they were the evil queen’s evil henchmen sent to kill her—him!

“What?”

“Ohhohoho!” Cackled the wicked queen slash step mother as she made herself known. “Did you really think you could escape me so easily, princess?”

“I just saw you!” The princess growled.

Her evil step-mother cackled once again. “I recover quickly. Now, my dwarves, kill them!”

The dwarves looked amongst themselves with questionable expressions. “W-Why are we taking orders from you?” Asked Radar the dwarf.

“Because it’s how the story goes!” Snapped the queen. “Now kill them!”

Brandon the dwarf sneered. “This fairy tale is all messed up.”

“Sorry Boque-chan,” Toya the dwarf apologized. “I can’t hit girls.”

“Schookie’s not a girl!”

“When he’s dressed like that, he is!” Toya told her, only further upsetting her.

Somehow, Billy was glad for the dress.

“Don’t look so relieved, Billy-san,” Toya spoke again. “I actually do want to kick your ass.”

“Yeah, I was never able to figure that out myself, Toya.”

The evil queen slash step-mother felt her anger boiling up inside her. Her dwarves were refusing to follow her orders. It was time for her to take matters into her own hands. “Fine! I’ll kill them! And this time, there will be no frying pans for you to hit me with!”

Just as the wicked witch slash step-mother approached the princess and her—his companions, the lighting dimmed dramatically, pausing the witch in her tracks. Everyone was then alarmed by the booming, manly voice that exclaimed, “EEEEEEEE!” … Wait, that wasn’t manly. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

When the lights brightened again, the characters looked around in attempts to find something out of place. The first to find this out of place thing was Billy. And this thing he found was on the cat-walk hanging over the stage. His eyes widened at the sight of it. “T-Takuya?!”

Cliché 12: Robin Hood

The others turned around to look at where Billy was looking. On the catwalk, holding a rope as if he were expected to swing from it was Takuya dressed up as a mock Robin Hood in green tights. A cowardly Robin Hood at that who had Andaline behind him, struggling to push him over the catwalk.

“Aniki!” Toy shrieked.

Billy thought it was understandable for Toya to freak out over this. He had heard from Linda that Takuya was terrified of heights. And from the looks of the situation, Andaline was trying to force him to confront this fear.

Blue furiously climbed onto the stage beside her students and looked up. “What is going on here?!”

Andaline continued to struggle with pushing Takuya. “Sorry! But he won’t jump! I’m trying to push him like you said, but he won’t budge for some reason!”

Boque cackled again. “I wonder if that means you’re incredibly weak, Andaline.”

“That or this chicken is really strong!” Andaline growled as she turned red in the face from her struggling.

“Blue-sama! Make Black-chan get Takuya down from there!” The younger Yaashiin begged.

“No!” Blue snapped. “Robin Hood is supposed to swing in and save the girls! He has to jump!”

“Blue, that’s too much.” Billy gestured back to the cat-walk. “I mean, look at him!”

“What do you care? He’s jumping!” Blue turned back to the cat-walk. “Jump, Takuya! You girl!”

“Then call me Taeko because I’m not jumping!” The boy whimpered. Meanwhile, Andaline had given up on pushing him.

Billy couldn’t believe this set up. He knew Blue was a jerk, but this really got under his skin. He motioned for Toya and Linda to follow him and together, the three of them walked off stage.

“There goes your moral support, Takuya!” Blue heckled. “You must really want to kill yourself now.”

“Taeko will not be treated like this!” Takuya continued to cry. “She just wants Blue-sama to know that she’s an evil bitch and that she’s still not jumping!”

“JUMP, GIRL-MAN!”

“Shut up, Blue!” Billy pushed her off to the side as he, Toya, and Linda returned, lugging a large tarp. They unraveled it onto the floor. “Everyone, grab an end.” Billy ordered and the others obeyed.

Blue blinked at the situation, confusedly. She didn’t understand why her students were stretching out a tarp amongst them as they all lifted it off the floor. “What’re you doing?”

The kids held the tarp as they formed a large circle that instantly made Blue think of a firemen’s trampoline.

“Jump, Takuya!” Billy ordered. “We’ll catch you!”

Takuya only continued to whimper as he looked down at the others. “B-But it’s so far down!”

“Don’t be scared, Aniki!”

“It’s not as far down as it looks,” Linda assured him. Kind of made it sound like she had actually jumped from it.

“W-What if one of you drops me?”

“We won’t!” Boque tried. “We all have pretty firm grips! Right Maria?”

Maria nodded. “Yes! I’d never let go if you could get hurt!”

Takuya sniffled. “Y-You guys promise?”

“Yes!” Billy told him. “And if anyone does let go, I’ll hit them!”

Takuya stared down at all of his friends, nervously. He flinched when Andaline pat him on the back lightly from behind. “Just close your eyes. You’ll feel a little better.”

Takuya’s eyes shifted from her back to the tarp everyone was holding beneath him. He gripped the rope in his hands tightly and prepared to step over the cat walk.

Billy’s eyes glanced over the other seven people who held the tarp along with him. “Make sure you all have a firm hold on it.” They all tightened their grips on the tarp and watched Takuya.

The older twin took a deep breath, but did not exhale. He clenched his eyes shut like Andaline had advised. Then, he stepped from the catwalk, released the rope and fell forward. Andaline watched Takuya fall forward and land smack in the middle of the tarp with a single bounce. No one had let go. She sighed in relief.

Takuya’s eyes remained shut until he felt himself be lowered gently by the others to the floor. The instant he was sure he was safe and let out that breath he’d been holding in the entire time, his younger twin tackled him to the floor; clearly Takuya hadn’t been the only one holding his breath the whole way down.

The entire time, as she watched, Blue had worn a questionable look upon her face until the very end when the kids were relieved that Takuya was safe. Then, she smirked slightly and walked over to the edge of the stage. She gestured for Munkfurt to hand her something, which he did.

While the others rejoiced and got the twins to their feet, Blue cleared her throat in order to gain their attention. Once they faced her, she snickered. “As adorable as this little moment is, we do have a story to finish.” Blue handed Takuya a bow and two arrows. “These are yours. This is the moment when Robin Hood saves the princess and her companions from the witch.”

Takuya interchanged glances between the bow and arrows; just looking back and forth between them. “Blue-sama, I can’t use these.”

Blue waved it off as she climbed off the stage. “It can’t be too hard, right? Just wing it.”

Takuya and Toya stared at each other. Apparently the same thought was going through their minds: ‘Wing it? This can’t be winged!’

“Oh ho!” Boque returned to being in character. “If you don’t make a move, then I shall!” With that, she lunged.

Now sure, Boque didn’t really think things through well. She had lunged without thinking much about how she was going to attack or fend herself against two karate black belts. Heck, she had acted so irrationally, that she hadn’t even noticed Billy had snatched the bow and arrows from Takuya until she had felt the arrow stick itself square in the center of her forehead. Boque stumbled back. “O-Ow!”

Billy lowered the bow. “Looks like I beat you again.”

Boque’s jaw fell. The Yaashiins were just as surprised by that as the blonde was. All this time, they all thought Billy had poor reaction time and that he sucked at every sport outside of skateboarding.

Well, that was all true. As far as how Billy had been able to react so quickly o Boque’s movements, he had simply seen it coming. After all, the celebrity girl was very predictable to him. As far as him actually hitting her went, that had been due to a skill the other three Cliché Crew members never knew about. Billy actually had really good aim and archery was always the only thing in P.E. that he got excellent grades on. Hey, he never thought it was anything important so he obviously wouldn’t have told the others about it.

Boque yanked the suction cup arrow from her head and glared daggers at Billy. “You haven’t beaten me. That wasn’t the only thing in my arsenal!” Boque raised her prop scepter over her head dramatically and exclaimed, “Come out my dragon!”

The remaining kids on stages all slapped themselves in the forehead. Except for Maria who simply awed at the idea of a dragon.

Cliché 13: Dragons

On cue, a rather poorly composited dragon waddled onto the stage. It was big, pink, and box shaped. It’s arms were stuck in a high up ‘threatening’ position and from the looks of it, the thing’s legs didn’t even move. Heck, the feet didn’t even touch the floor. It was more like they hovered about an inch or two from the floor. The costume looked like it was made of cardboard, paper machè, and paint. As for the sorry person who had to wear this thing…he didn’t look sorry at all. The mouth was pretty much the costume’s window since the kids could pretty much see all of Mizu Nomi’s dumb face as it stared back at them with a big dumb smile plastered onto it.

“Rawr!” Mizu said. “I is the big mean dragon.”

“Dude, you’re pink.” Brandon the dwarf noted. Look who’s talking.

Mizu Nomi cackled. “Pink is scary. Now fear me in my pink glory. Rawr.”

Well, it was time to seriously work those acting skills of Boque’s. “Oh ho ho ho~ Now, Mizu, incinerate the princess and her friends!”

“Rawr.” Mizu peeped before he began to waddle toward his targets…which he did very slowly…so intimidating.

“Pink dragons are so cute!” Maria commented as she and her siblings waited for Mizu. Linda folded her arms over her chest and Billy shook his head.

“Yo!” Blue snapped her fingers at them. “Robin Hood, slay the dragon!”

The one in question was too busy tugging on his pants when Blue spoke to him. “R-Right…” Takuya muttered in Blue’s general direction. “That’s a great idea. Here’s a better one, though. Let’s not make Robin Hood wear tights! They. Aren’t. Comfortable!”

The principal scoffed. “Robin Hood always wears tights, Takuya! Get over it!”

“Who’s rule is that?” The twin argued back. “I keep getting wedgies! What the hell am I supposed to do?!”

“Something! Be a hero!”

“Rawr.”

Mizu the pink dragon continued to go ignored by the rest as all of the kids erupted into arguments about the whole situation. They argued over this and that. Meanwhile, Mizu continued to move forward. Billy was getting more and more agitated with the scenario by the second. He couldn’t take anymore. Therefore, he did the only thing left to be done.

After noticing a soft spot in Mizu’s piñata like costume, Billy whacked it with his bow. Mizu’s panicked scream snatched the attention of the others, all of which went quiet in time to catch Mizu spew candy from the new hole in his costume and him screaming, “NO! I’M BLEEDING! BLEEEEEEDIIIIING!”

Billy stood straight and glared down at Blue. That glare made the principal tense. “Consider the dragon slain. Can we go home now? I’m getting a headache.”

Blue’s eyebrows furrowed slightly. Her dark orbs scanned over the scene in front of her before she returned her eyes to Billy. The odd thing was that she didn’t say anything; she merely stared at him.

Munkfurt walked up beside her and with his typical calm smile, he said to the students, “But we haven’t brought the prince out yet. What kind of fairy tale would this be without our prince charming?”

“Oh boy!” cheered Maria. “There’s a prince! So then he and big brother get to live happily ever after!”

Billy felt a tinge of anger at that comment. Even as he spoke, his eyes remained locked with Blue’s. “Let me guess, Vain’s the prince, isn’t he?” When Blue didn’t say anything, he added, “You’re so damn creative.”

“Bring him out, Andaline,” Blue ordered. Like Billy, her gaze did not stray from him.

On cue, Andaline walked on stage with Vain in tow. He was dressed in a blue prince costume complete with a cape and crown.

Cliché 14: A prince.

Andaline walked past the others and made Vain stand beside bill before hurrying off stage. Even though Vain had just been dragged into this bizarre equation, Blue and Billy were the only two to not pay any attention to him. The tension in the air being emitted by just the two of them made the remaining students feel like a huge weight had been dropped on them that none of them could support.

Blue’s shoulders relaxed a bit. “The story ends when you kiss your prince, Billy. If you don’t do it voluntarily, the story will continue until I make you kiss him.”

The boy sneered. “By dressing all of us up like idiots, you’ve pretty much taken away our dignity. Then you made us put on a show for your sick amusement. Your brother is bleeding candy, Boque got hit with a frying pan, Takuya jumped from a cat-walk, Maria keeps tripping over her costume, my friends look like oompa loompas, and now you want me to kiss Vain? This is where I’m going to have to draw the line.”

Blue blinked. Her brows crossed creating a look of pure disbelief and repressed anger. Then, she grinned wickedly. “You’re complaining now? You’re my toy, Billy. And as my toy, you have no dignity left to maintain. And if you did, I’m pretty certain it was all snatched from you in my play.”

Then Blue shrieked. She ducked in an effort to dodge the arrow that was sent over her head. When she looked up, she saw Billy lower his bow. “Sorry, Blue. But this toy is done playing your little game today.”

Blue’s eyes widened.

She wasn’t the only one shocked by Billy’s sudden attitude. The other kids were as well, that’s why they had all been so silent. Boque was especially awed.

“Way to go, Billy-san!” Takuya cheered as the first to break the silence.

Howler threw his dwarf hat to the floor. “He’s right! I’m done with this too!”

Blue noticed the reactions of the students as most of them began to side with Billy and rebel. Whose school did they think this was exactly? Last she checked, this place was called Blue High. “All of you, be silent!” Blue demanded, loudly. The boom succeeded in quieting the students. “So, you all think you have a choice in this? Really?” The principal snarled. “I’m the game-maker! These are my rules! What I say goes! On this game board, anything and everything I say is final! Anyone who defies me will be penalized drastically! If I say you can’t pass ‘go’ and collect $200, then that’s how it is! No arguing, no pouting, no boycotting! Have I made myself clear?”

The kids all stared at her. A couple were a little nervous, a few were irritated, most were confused and one looked like she was having a complete fangirl moment. Wanna take a guess which one that was?

Billy let out a long sigh. “Bite me.”

“Fine!” Blue snapped her fingers at Munkfurt. Munkfurt grinned before he turned around and left the auditorium. “You want to play games, Billy? Then get ready to lose!”

“Whoa…she’s really upset,” Boque muttered. She stared ahead at Billy who didn’t look the least bit intimidated by Blue’s threat. For some reason, her heart felt like it had skipped a beat at the sight of him.

Blue snickered. “How’s it feel to finally be a player rather than a pawn, Billy?”

Billy remained silent.

Blue grinned. “Too cool to speak?” Then, she smirked in an almost sadistic manner. “Our little princess is going to try and change our fairy tale by being a hero. Ha! But she’s still just the princess.” Blue’s dark brown eyes moved upwards towards a sandbag that hung from the cat-walk above Billy and Vain’s heads. She raised her finger and pointed towards it. “And as the princess, she must still be put to sleep, one way or another.”

As if she, Blue, had done it herself, the sandbag that hung above the prince and princess began to plummet; the two had been completely unsuspecting. They could’ve both been hit had it not been for the twins who shot across the stage and pushed them both out of harm’s way. The sandbag hit the stage floor making a loud THUMP before it was yanked back up toward the catwalk.

The boys sat up and noticed the sandbag when it was raised again. Billy’s eyes narrowed. “Traps.” He growled out.

Blue laughed insanely. “Yes, Billy! Traps! You see, I was afraid you’d try and defy me today so I had this auditorium specially prepared!”

“She is whacked!” Brandon exclaimed while Blue laughed further.

“Yes, but she’s so cool…” Awed the eldest Thorne girl.

The Yaashiins helped Billy and Vain to their feet. “Blue-sama has lost it.” Takuya whispered.

“Clearly,” Billy stated.

“Tell me princess,” Blue grinned. “What exactly was the princess in Rumplestilskin expected to do?”

Billy didn’t answer that, however he sensed that something bad was about to occur based entirely on the crazed look in his principal’s eyes.

“To spin straw into gold!” Blue thrust her index finger in the direction of the stage. “I thought you’d know that, idiot!”

Everyone on stage shrieked. Was Blue using some sort of strange magic? The instant she’d pointed to the stage, the wooden flooring collapsed and was replaced with piles and piles of straw that shot up from below the floor in place of the wood paneling that once supported them. All of the kids were relieved to have been caught safely by the straw, but their hearts raced when a giant spinning wheel shot up in the center of the golden mess. The wheel spun furiously, pulling the straw toward itself and produced golden strands. As the straw was pulled in, naturally, it carried each of the tangled students along with it. They screamed as they drew closer.

Blue laughed in devilish delight. “In Sleeping Beauty, the princess pricked her precious finger on a poisonous spindle and was put into an eternal sleep close to death.” Blue laughed even harder. “Sleep princess! Sleep!”

Billy couldn’t believe this. Blue had set up a trap that looked a lot more dangerous than any of the ones the others had told him about. Then, he noticed Boque across the way from him. “Boque, throw your scepter!”

Boque looked panicked trapped amongst the straw until Billy had called to her. Without thinking much about it, she gripped her scepter and did as Billy said; she threw it toward the spinning wheel. As Billy had hoped, the prop lodged itself into the giant wheel, making its spinning cease. Everyone let out relieved sighs and began to climb out of the straw.

Blue’s crinkled face loosened as disbelief and disappointment prepared to set in. But Blue didn’t like to quit. One way or another, she was going to win this.

Now free, Billy and the others stared down at Blue from the edge of the stage that was actually still stage. “Blue, you’ve clearly lost your mind,” Billy told her.

There was that laugh again. “I didn’t lose it. I left it at home. It was so heavy with all its conscience and reasoning nonsense.” Blue frowned again. She pointed towards the stage lights. “In Snow White, the princess ate a poisoned apple and was put to sleep. Eat the apple, Billy!”

As if the giant spinning wheel hadn’t been weird enough, a swarm of flying apples began to shoot at the students from above the stage lights as if they were being fired from some sort of canon. Billy hadn’t realized they had been coming until someone yanked him off the stage to take cover. While everyone else had taken cover the exact same way thanks to flying apples, Billy hadn’t realized who had grabbed him until he was already out of the way of danger. Once again, it had been Takuya who had saved him.

“Children really should eat more apples,” Blue waved her hand dismissively. On command, the apples stopped flying. “That’s why you’re so damn tiny, Billy.”

Boque pulled a bang out of the way of her face that had covered an eye when she jumped from the stage like everyone else. She never knew Blue could get this way. Perhaps it would be safest to play along with her. Especially since going against her was certainly a dangerous thing to do. She couldn’t help but admire Billy for doing so though. Wait. Did she just admit that she ‘admired’ him? No. No she didn’t!

Boque shook off the thought before she rose to her feet. Her blue eyes went down the line to Billy. “ Just do as she says and kiss Vain! You’ve done it before!”

“That’s not the point here, Miss Von Gé,” reprimanded the sophomore.

“Whose side are you on?” Billy growled.

Boque looked reluctant. She glanced from Billy to Blue with uncertainty. “I’m on… I’m on Blue’s.”

Billy sneered at her. “You would be.”

“Be quiet.” Boque walked away from the rest to go stand at Blue’s side. She was a little surprised when Linda got up to do the same.

Blue smirked. “You can always give up now.”

Billy and the others on his side rose to their feet and continued to stand their ground. Blue’s smile dissipated as she took that as a ‘no.’

“Fine. Linda, go help Munky in the control room.” She ordered Linda. Linda eagerly nodded and ran off. “Boque, go back stage and change. Vain is clearly a failure as a prince.” The blonde obeyed and hurried back stage.

At that moment, Billy’s side had no idea what Blue had in store for them next since all she did was stare at them with heated eyes. Billy was the only one who was actually analyzing the situation. Firstly, Blue’s real competitive nature had become completely obvious and she no longer cared how she went about winning so long as she did. Secondly, he was certain she had all sorts of fairy tale related traps set up in this auditorium. It was her territory and she knew it like the back of her hand. The chances of them beating her seemed unlikely when one thought of it that way. But Billy knew the trick already, so there was a way to beat her. The key was when he heard her mention a ‘control room.’ That’s where Munkfurt was. That’s where his sister had gone. Obviously Blue wasn’t the one operating the traps. And since Billy had already pinpointed the cameras in this room, he had deduced that the trick was that depending on where Blue pointed, that was the trap put into motion by those behind the controls. All his team had to do was make it so the control people couldn’t receive their commands.

With that in mind, if Blue wasn’t ready to make her move, then Billy would have to take the initiative. Billy’s eyes remained focused on Blue. Even so, he was still able to whisper to the twins, “Cut the lights.”

The Yaashiins acted swiftly and leapt onto the stage. Blue suddenly grew alert when she caught them running back stage. “W-Where… Never mind! I’ll just assume they’re ditching you…”

“You know what they say Blue. ‘When you assume, you make an ass out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.”

Blue growled. She raised her hand and prepared to point in some direction but then she was cut off by the lights quickly going out. She shrieked. “YOU BRATS!” Blue attempted to move forward but wound up tripping over a chair. “Damn it!”

While Blue tried to move around in the darkness and fussed at everything she tripped over, Billy and the others hand moved around in separate teams in an attempt to get one of the auditorium’s multiple doors open.

Vain, Billy, and Maria had moved toward a door off to the side of the stage. They had tried everything they could think of to get the door open, but nothing worked.

“Why lock it?” Vain questioned.

Billy scoffed. “She would do something like that…”

“Yes Billy, I would!” The three of them turned around to see Blue holding up her cell phone with its illuminated screen as she glared at them. “All of the exits have been sealed. I suppose that if you want to beat me in this game, you’ll have to get the keys from me. Or beat my traps, whichever works best for you.” Blue hit a number on her phone’s number pad and initiated her speed dial. When she got through, she spoke into the phone. “Cut the lights back on.” As they were ordered, the lights in the auditorium were cut back on almost instantly. Blue hung up her phone and smirked at the freshman. “Out of moves yet?”

Billy’s eyes shifted downward, briefly. He smirked as well. “We just have to get the keys from you, right?”

Blue was taken a back. Billy just smirked. That wasn’t a good sign. She looked down…and she didn’t like what she saw. “HEY!”

Toya Yaashiin stumbled back after thieving a ring of keys from the unsuspecting Blue. When she tried to lunge for him, the twin threw the keys across multiple rows of chairs to Radar who stood open in another section.

“GET TO A DOOR!” Howler told him. Radar didn’t hesitate to make his way to the nearest door.

Blue pointed toward the wall Radar had been running for. “THORNS! THORNS! THORNS!” She screamed. As ordered, the floor against the wall collapsed and vines grew up, covered in thorns, against the wall and trapped the door behind them.

Radar stopped moving and threw the keys to Howler who had been nearest to him. When he headed for a door, the same thing occurred; more vines and thorns sprouted from the ground.

He threw the key ring to Brandon. Before he even got the chance to run to another door, Blue had it covered. But that was where she slipped up. Brandon didn’t even run for a door. He ran for the stage. He tossed the keys to Toya who hopped on stage and tossed the keys to Andaline who had been watching from behind the curtain.

The principal’s jaw fell. “Andaline, you traitor!”

Andaline grinned playfully. “It looked fun!” With that, the Wicca girl turned and ran behind the curtains.

Blue quickly whipped out her cell phone again as she ran for the stage. Once on stage, she had been able to get a hold the control room once again. “FOG!” She ordered. “TURN ON THE FOG NOW!”

Back stage, Andaline had found Takuya standing around. When she got close enough to him with the keys, she realized why the older twin had simply been standing there. Boque had been standing before the only backstage exit in the auditorium in her new prince costume. Andaline assumed that after she had changed, she had spotted Takuya and decided to stand guard.

“Why didn’t you push her or something?” Andaline asked him.

Takuya winced and tugged on his pants again. “I don’t hit girls.”

“THAT BIG HEAD CAN TAKE IT!” she shouted at him making him flinch a little.

Their attention shifted then. They heard the sounds of a sort of machine kick on and gears turning. The three of them turned to look in the corner towards the back of the stage to see fog make its way across the floor. Before any of them could ask, they all screamed when the fog suddenly exploded from wherever it was moving from and engulfed them.

“Big brother, what was that screaming?” Maria tugged on Billy’s arm.

Billy had a bad feeling after hearing those screams from backstage. Blue only worsened it when she began to laugh. “Billy’s eyes fell on Toya who was on stage already. “Toya, what did she do?”

Toya began to move to investigate, but then he jumped back in surprise when he saw the same fog begin to migrate from behind the curtains on stage.

“FULLPOWER!” Blue shouted into her cell phone.

That fog suddenly moved much more rapidly and before any of the kids knew, the entire auditorium had been overtaken by a dense fog resulting in all of their inabilities to see.

“It’s like Rudolph!” Billy heard his sister squeal. “If only I had a glowing nose.” Billy’s shoulders slumped.

Despite the fog, he was still able to figure out that the girl was standing close to him. He took her hand and told her to stick close to him simply because Maria was so…Maria-ish.

Blue glanced around. She couldn’t see anything, just like her students. However, she heard a few of them scream, “WHY THE FOG?!”

“YEAH! I REALIZE IT WAS A BAD IDEA NOW!” Blue screamed back at them.

Kona, who had been hiding out in the dressing room the entire time, finally decided to stumble out and find out what all the fuss was over. The instant she stepped forward into the fog though, she ended up tripping over the very machine that had created it and was still making more of it!

The second the fog had swallowed them, Andaline had pulled out a lighter. She lit it. The little flame wasn’t much, but she still decided it would be better to have its tiny light rather than to wander aimlessly in the fog with nothing at all. The fog annoyed her because, despite the lighter, she felt as though the fog was actually getting thicker the longer she stood around. At this rate, she knew, which she also knew Billy may have been aware of, that they’d never beat Blue in her game.

She heard a shriek followed by a WUMP. She recognized the shriek as being Kona’s. It sounded as though she had tripped over something. When she listened closer, she could make out the churning of gears of something like a generator. Without a second thought, the Wicca girl decided to make an attempt to navigate through the fog to where she’d heard Kona and the machine noises. With her lighter still lit, she moved forward.

Useless lighter! It hadn’t helped at all since Andaline had bumped into the form of another. The surprise made both girls, as the one Andaline had bumped into had been Boque apparently, shrieked as they were both knocked to the stage floor. Andaline’s eyes went wide when she heard the sounds of jingling keys hit the floor and skid across it.

“Black-chan,” Takuya called into the fog when he heard those keys, “Tell me you didn’t drop them.”

“I-I did…” he heard Andaline reply. “Help me find them!”

Takuya scowled. Unfortunately, it went unseen by her. “I would, Black-chan. But I can’t exactly see anything…”

“Takuya, why are you so useless!?”

“Oi, don’t snap at me! I’m the one in tights for crying out loud!”

Andaline growled to herself. She was going to have to locate the keys the hard way. She got up onto her knees and started to crawl along the stage floor, feeling around with her hands for them.

A feeling of dread overtook her when she heard the voice of a familiar blonde exclaim, “Yes!” accompanied by the jingling sound of keys.

“Big head…” Andaline growled through her teeth.

That anger of hers didn’t last, for right then, the sound of gears ceased. The fog machine had stopped. Then, there was a gust coming from the direction of the dressing room. With that gust, the fog began to clear. Before Andaline knew it, her pale green eyes were locked with blue ones.

Takuya blinked when the fog began to clear. The sight before him consisted of Andaline on all fours glaring at Boque who sat on her knees clutching the key ring. Further down, he saw Vain with a hand on the fog machine and Kona moving about with a large fan. “Roe-san, what’d you do?”

Before Vain could answer, Boque had sprung to her feet and ran for the stage. Andaline quickly jumped up and ran after her. Takuya and Vain’s eyes shifted to meet each other. They got it together and followed the girls back on stage.

Boque burst from the curtains with the keys gripped tightly in her fingers. She caught sight of Blue who, like a lot of the other kids, was confused about the fog that was clearing. “Blue-BAH!” Boque succeeded in getting Blue’s attention, but she failed in maintaining her grasp on the keys. She hadn’t been aware of Maria bolting onto the stage at her until the 8th grader tackled Boque to the floor by making her elbows and forearms impact with Boque’s side. Boque hit the floor hard with Maria on top of her. The fact that the younger had brought so much pain to her shocked Boque. To worsen it, Boque had dropped the keys with the fall. She had no idea where they had landed.

“M-Maria-chan! What was that?” Toya asked when he saw what had happened.

Maria sat up and pulled her hood down before she started to whimper. “I’m so sorry, Boque! Big brother told me to do it!”

Boque felt that hit a never (but she also felt pain when she tried to move). “That snake!” The blonde hissed.

Billy hurried onto the stage and glanced around. He couldn’t locate the keys from a glance. He started to wonder if they had fallen offstage into the chairs or under a curtain. He had figured that would happen since he had heard everything that had happened backstage from before. He was relieved he had told Vain to turn off the fog machine despite still losing the keys. It made things so much easier.

“Where’d they go?” Andaline asked him after she, the twins, and Vain had searched the stage for the keys.

Billy shrugged. “I didn’t see them.”

“Rawr!” Oh wow, he was still around? The forgotten Mizu who had been bleeding candy earlier (and during most of this battle had been eating said ‘life force’) had re-spawned on stage. He had tossed all of his hideously composited costume letting just the dragon head remain. He grinned as he jingled the very key ring the kids had been fighting over. “These are now the dragon’s treasure! Do not enter the fearsome dragon’s lair! Rawr!”

“Mizu, don’t broadcast your stupidity right now,” Blue reprimanded in a cold tone. “Hand over my keys.”

“I am not Mizu, you simpleton! I am the great ZUNINI the dragon! My fearsome power will make you tremble!”

Blue grimaced. She lifted her cell phone to her ear. “I’ll show you a real dragon,” she muttered before she spoke into the phone. “Bring me Janice!”

The kids repeated that name amongst themselves. Janice? Who in the world was Janice?

Well, they got their answer. And they did not like it.

Cliché 15: Real.

The auditorium ceiling opened up. Everyone looked up, shocked that the roof was capable of that.

Cliché 15: Freakin’.

Smoke began to pour down over them from the new opening. It was gray and puffed down as if whatever it was producing it was in an extraordinarily bad mood.

Cliché 15: DRAGONS.

Next, they saw talons; long, white, DANGEROUS looking talons. Then, there was the scaly, red, reptilian like skin that those talons were attached to. As if to ruin the dramatic tension throughout the huge room entirely, the beast quickly swooped down from the hole in the ceiling. Its eyes were piercing red with huge horns atop its head and spikes running alone its spine and it flapped ginormous wings, puffing smoke from its nostrils in anger.

The students weren’t left with much time to freak out or freeze up at the sight of it, for the dragon immediately began its attack by unleashing a huge blast of fire from its mouth, aimed directly for the stage. The kids scattered and dodged the blast safely, but that was a terribly close call for all of them.

“WHAT THE HELL, BLUE!?” Billy shouted at the principal after he, Maria, Takuya, and Howler had ducked under the stage stairs.

Blue grinned. “What? Don’t you love my pet?”

“Pet?!” Brandon exclaimed from his and Radar’s place amongst the seats. “That’s a friggin’ dragon!”

“I-It’s not real, right?” Radar stammered.

“‘Course Janice is real.” Blue told him. “I wouldn’t use him otherwise.”

“You’re a liar!” Billy exclaimed.

“B-But big brother, only real dragons breath fire, right?” Maria asked through her nervousness.

“That’s right, Maria!” Blue grinned again. “Therefore Janice is quite real!”

The dragon, er, Janice, began to breath its fire once again, unleashing panic and terror amongst the group again.

Andaline ran to a dumbstruck Mizu and snatched the keys from him. Mizu glanced at her but didn’t say anything since she had run off with them almost right away. She ran to an auditorium door and frantically tried to unlock it. When she got it open, she shot into the corridor.

A lot of the auditorium had been set a flame already, mainly the curtains. Upon noticing the smoke, Kona emerged from back-stage, shocked at the sight of what was going on before her.

Blue cackled. “Burn it, Janice! Burn it all!”

“U-Uh…” Kona eluded the flames and managed to get off stage safely without the dragon noticing her. She hurried over to Blue and gripped her shirt. “You do realize you’re setting your own school on fire, right?”

Blue froze. She had completely forgotten that fact, hadn’t she? She opened her mouth to speak. Nothing came out. That was solely because her brain was absorbing the situation. “Oh…CRAP!” The principal exclaimed. Kona quickly pulled her back when Blue started to flail and attempted to run away. “FIRE! FIRE BAD FOR BLUE!” She screamed.

“C-Calm down!” Kona tried to tell her.

Blue took a very, very deep breath but did not exhale. Her dark eyes locked on Kona as she stilled her body. “I’m fine,” she said in a low tone. “The instant the prince kisses the princess, I win! So I am fiiiiiiiine!”

“B-But the school…”

“WILL BE FINE!” Blue shoved Kona to the side and gestured to Janice who hovered over the stage while it huffed smoke from its nostrils. “J-Janice! Burn it!”

The dragon took that commend and carried it out. Janice bellowed a ball of fire from its mouth aimed into the chairs where the audience was meant to sit. It flew over Brandon and Radar and destroyed the chairs further towards the back of the auditorium. Thanks to that, the boys decided to move from the chairs for cover on the opposing end of the stage from Billy’s group where Boque and the others were.

“This is nuts!” Howler shouted at Billy. “If what she wants is for you to kiss that blonde girl, then suck it up and just do it!”

“No chance.” Billy told him.

Howler didn’t find that to be an acceptable answer. “Swallow your pride for once, dude, before our whacked out principal kills us all!”

Billy was about to say something related to this ‘pride’ issue that Howler was referring to, but he decided to bite down on it. He’d just remain silent and give Howler the illusion that he’d won.

“Pride hasn’t got anything to do with it,” Takuya told Howler, flatly. His comment surprised both of the other boys. “If it were really his pride that was in the way, Billy-san wouldn’t have done that stupid play, now would he?”

Billy felt embarrassed all over again. He was certain no one knew why he was in that play but, thanks to Linda, everyone had thought he’d done it because he actually wanted to. Thus, each time someone mentioned it, he was overwhelmed with the urge to bludgeon himself over the head with a big piece of metal.

“Yeah, well he volunteered for that!” He heard Howler say.

“Maybe, but I bet you he didn’t want to do it to begin with,” Takuya argued. That…was kind of a suspicious thing for him to say in Billy’s opinion though. Suddenly, he was under the assumption that Blue had told the twins the truth about that too. “Either way, this is different. It’s not about him not wanting to kiss Roe-san or Boque-chan. It’s about not giving Blue-sama the satisfaction.”

“E-Exactly?” Billy wasn’t sure if he was agreeing to that or not. Sure, that pretty much was how he felt, but why did Takuya know that?

Howler had opened his mouth in an attempt to push his argument, but his thoughts had been cut short by a high pitched battle cry. He and the others turned to face the opposing end of the stage where the others were. There, they took notice to one of the opened doors. Andaline had come charging through that door with a fire hose snaked behind her. She ran through the auditorium until she was standing face to face with Janice. “Howler, get your fat ass over here!” She shouted. “Why don’t you men make yourselves useful and help me out!”

Howler quickly shot to his feet at the order as did the twins, Vain, Radar, and Brandon. They hurried to Andaline’s side and each gripped the hose while the Wicca girl herself gripped the nozzle.

Blue’s eyes shot wide open when she took notice to what the younger girl had in store. “Where’d you get that?!”

Andaline grinned wide, revealing her full set of white teeth. “Found it…”

Blue repressed a growl. Suddenly, she regretted having nonsensical things like fire hoses installed within the school (but she was just oh-so-paranoid over a random fire breaking out within the school [as if she hadn’t just created that random fire on her own at this very moment]). “A-Andaline, put it down…”

Then Andaline turned the nozzle. As most things with nozzles on them tend to go, the hose shot a large jet of water in Janice’s direction. Blue screamed. Janice had been breathing more flames of fury throughout the auditorium when the water went down his throat. Andaline didn’t bother to stop at that point either.

Blue gripped her hair in her fists. “No good! No good!” She hissed. In the middle of her panic, her gaze fell on Boque who stood and gaped at the entire thing. Blue cleared her throat. When the blonde gave her her attention, Blue gave her a heated gaze as if she expected her to do something. Boque, with a feeling of uneasiness thanks to Blue, caught on and hurried off to complete the task assigned to her.

Billy stood and watched Andaline and the others spray water at Janice. While he observed, he took notice to a strange noise. It wasn’t a noise that any living creature, even if it was a dragon, should make. Just as he had realized what that sound was and was about to tell the others, a certain German girl had tackled him head-on.

The two hit the floor. Boque didn’t allow him much time to start his typical angry rant before she locked lips with him.

Cliché 16: True love’s kiss?

Billy quickly shoved her away, making that kiss short-lived. Strangely, rather than looking embarrassed and instead of blushing like Boque was, he wore a very annoyed expression. “Get off of me, idiot!”

Boque blinked herself out of whatever stupor she had been put in. “N-No! With this, Blue is the winner. S-So just admit defeat, Schookie!”

“You don’t get it, huh? That’s not a dragon!”

“…T-Then what is it?”

The sound of gears struggling to remain operational rang throughout the auditorium. Andaline shut off the hose when she caught wind of the noise.

Janice, the dragon, appeared to be having some kind of breakdown. It reminded the kids of a robot or machine somehow… At least it did until…

“EVERYBODY, DOWN!”

BOOM!

…it blew up.

Cliché 17: Slaying the dragon.

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“Hell to the yes!” Andaline laughed. As she brushed off the insane amount of dust particles and debris from her person. “Real life explosions kick ass!”

“Andy, is that you? I think I’m blind again!” Andaline took notice to the once red now gray Maria that stumbled about the newly made mess with her hood over her eyes. She chuckled a little before she went to assist the girl.

Blue sat on what remained of the stage covered in as much wreckage as everyone else. Everyone was gray and dirty, Janice parts had flown all over the room and lay smoking. The flames had been put out, leaving the auditorium to resemble an abandoned war zone. The principal huffed. She took notice to Billy who had been standing off to the side, staring at her for a while. She grinned, tiredly. “Boque kissed you, right?”

Billy shrugged lightly. “Unfortunately.”

“Whoo! I win!” Blue cheered, weakly.

“Congratulations. You only destroyed your school’s auditorium in the process though.”

That statement of his hit the older girl like a ton of bricks. She let out a nervous laugh. “T-That’s true. But, that’s nothing that can’t be fixed…” Blue’s dark eyes fell back on Billy and she offered a feeble smile. “Um… How about we call this a draw then?”

Billy raised a brow at her. However, he didn’t think about it for long before he smirked slightly. “Fine. This is a draw.”

Blue chuckled a little before she let out a sigh followed by a, “Man, I’m tired.”

Kona Jemson stepped over the presumably unconscious Mizu Nomi (she didn’t want to think about how he ended up that way) as she mad her way over to Andaline. She took the girl by the arm and pulled her away from the others who were either complaining or laughing. The senior then whispered, “I saw your blonde friend kiss him.”

Andaline blinked at her curiously, then she smiled. “So? It’s not like it meant anything.”

Kona gave her a doubtful look before she gestured to Boque who was sitting in one of the still-in-tact audience chairs in some sort of daze. “I beg to differ.”

Andaline caught sight of what Kona had been referring to. Disbelieving, she pushed past Kona and migrated through the parts all over the ground in order to reach Boque. When she approached, she mustered up the best mocking tone she could and called, “Hey Von Blonde! What’re you over here daydreaming about?”

Boque jumped out of her daze and to her feet. Her face erupted into a blush as she faced Andaline. She laughed nervously. “N-nothing! Not a thing! Hey, wasn’t that explosion something? I think one of those robot doo-dads hit me in the head. Man, did that ever hurt…”

The entire time Boque rambled to her about their situation, Andaline began to understand Kona’s suspicion, and she believed it.

Episode 16 Preview

“Don’t see this as a chance for revenge…”

“A double birthday?”

“We’ll handle presents then.”

“Out of curiosity, why do you look up to them?”

“What’s going on here?”

“…but rather as a chance to make amends.”

Look forward to it.

Blue: To answer your question, yes. This entire time, the narrator has been her own character. And yes, she has lied frequently. However, she never lies when it come to dialogue. And while I’m going to leave it up to you about what she lies about and what she tells the truth on, I will she say she lied quite bit in episode one. Uh huh…