Rising Shards

”These things are terrible,” Corinani said, smacking her wristband. ”Never work when you need them to.”

”It’s kind of a relief they don’t work for teachers, either,” I said.

Corinani kept trying to get her wristband to send a signal back home, which held her attention. ”I’m still being your teacher here, I’m just...bad with technology. Well, no, that’s not true, I’m great with technology, you see my super glasses? I’m just bad with...bad technology.”

It took more effort than I thought we had in us, but we managed to convince Iris that we needed to leave the pool area if we ever wanted to leave this place. It was only after we did that I thought of an argument that would’ve been an easy winner, and some troubles that came up with remembering it.

”Frick,” I said.

”What, did you forget something?” Iris said. ”If you did, I’m totally down to find some more stuff to throw into the pool.”

”No, just, we really gotta go,” I said.

”Like...to the bathroom?” Iris said. ”Because we just passed one a minute ago—”

”Not that, I’m just thinking about everyone else who might be stuck here,” I said. Zeta might be in this mess, and I wasn’t by her side. What if she was still all hypnotized and in some dumb scenario like we just were?

”Oh,” Iris looked to her left. ”Well, Maia’s here, so I’m good if we take our time.”

”Just because you have your...whatever you two define yourselves as currently, doesn’t mean we can just relax through this!” I said. ”My girlfriend might be in danger!”

”When you put it that way, it kind of makes me sound like a jackass,” Iris said.

”Well, you can be one,” Maia said. ”You’re in a mood today, I get to say that.”

”Ugh, we did agree that when I get in a mood Maia can call me out on it,” Iris said. ”Fine, we can hurry.”

”Thank you for resolving this peacefully,” Lillia said.

”Was there...a non-peaceful option on the table?” Iris asked.

”Yes,” Lillia said ominously. Both she and I had very short fuses with Iris, but I managed to keep my cool this time. She must have been smolderingly angry the last few minutes, but you wouldn’t know it from her expression or tone.

”Hopefully my girlfriend isn’t in this,” Corinani said. ”Heh, I got a girlfriend now, can you believe it? Actually, you probably don’t wanna hear about your teacher’s love life.”

”I don’t, sorry, but congratulations?” I said.

”I’m a bit concerned about my various dates to the prom too that aren’t here,” Tay said. ”Could I possibly say I’m scared for my many girlfriends?”

”It wouldn’t be true, would it?” Iris asked. ”Wait wait wait, hold on, do we get wingmen points if you do have many girlfriends?” Maia flicked her in the back of the head. ”Hey, why’d you do that?”

Maia didn’t say anything, but Iris seemed to understand.

”Sorry...” Iris said. ”I’ll really try to focus now.”

”I’m worried about my friends, too,” Sai said. ”I mean, they can all handle themselves in a fight, but you never know what’s going on with these stupid things.”

A crackly voice came on over the speakers. ”Attention, students of Make-Good-Decisions School II that are walking down the hallway with the blue streak on the ground...Glump is on the way to you now.”

We were, of course, walking down that hallway, unless there was another one with a blue tile floor they were talking about.

”Case in point,” Sai said.

”Why does that sound familiar?” I asked.

”What, Glump?” Tay asked.

”No, that school name...” I said.

”It’s that training game we played,” Lillia said. ”That exceedingly difficult one with hilariously bad FMV scenes.”

”Oh, yes!” Corinani said. ”I played one of the kids in that, if you can believe it.”

I kind of wanted to hear the story behind that, but we didn’t have time. Up ahead, a neon green blob fell from the ceiling with a very wet thud. The sound was gross enough that I almost puked, but then the smell wafted over as the blob moved toward us.

”Dude, it’s Glump!” Iris said.

”Do you...know this thing?” Lillia asked.

”No, but she just said it’s Glump, so...woohoo!” Iris cheered, pumping her arms, but halfway through her ’woohoo’ she got embarrassed and slowly put her arms down, her excitement draining rapidly. ”Glump, everybody...” She scoffed. ”Glump kind of sucks, doesn’t he?”

”Glump does not suck, and he’s incredibly violent and will kill you if you insult him again,” The voice on the speakers said.

”How?” Iris asked. ”He’s just a stinky blob.”

The smell got worse and worse the closer this thing got to us. Like something rotting that had been left outside, then put in the cold, then microwaved.

”He’s got a gun somewhere in there...” The voice on the speakers said. Corinani yelped, taking a fetal position, rolling away to hide.

Lillia pinged her wristband, her eyes going wide when the scanning feature actually worked. It lit up the green blob for a second, confirming it was a void monster. A moment later, she opened her mouth, sending a massive burst of fire directly into the creature, turning it into dust. Fortunately, destroying it seemed to make the smell go away, not make it worse, the joys of void scientific laws barely being sensical.

”Oh my god,” Iris said. ”You killed Glump.”

”No, I destroyed a void monster,” Lillia said.

”I wanted to see the gun,” Iris pouted.

”No, you didn’t,” Maia said.

”Lillia’s power is incredible,” Tay said as Lillia casually brushed her hair aside.

”She really is something,” Sai said.

Tay puffed her chest out. ”Lillia, care to go to the dance with me?”

”You already asked, and I declined,” Lillia said.

”Oh yeah...” Tay said. ”So, did we win then? Is this over?”

We waited to see if we would zap back home, but after a second, the speakers fell down from the walls.

”Glump...” The voice on the speakers said in a bizarrely depressing and mournful tone before the speakers also turned to dust.

”So were they void monsters too? Or part of Glump?” I shook my head. ”I don’t actually care that much, we seriously need to find Zeta and the others.”

We looked around for any clues. Lillia checked the ashy remains of Glump, while I looked at where the speakers fell. Corinani finally got up after Maia and Iris poked at her.

”Er, good work team! I wasn’t hiding, I was just...letting you all...show your stuff!” Corinani laughed, but we all ignored her.

”You think when we win, we’ll just get to do the shopping spree, or will they let us go home?” Iris asked, kicking at the walls for some reason.

”Kinda hope they just let us pick some clothes out and then we leave,” Maia said.

”I’d rather that than them delaying, at least,” Tay said.

I noticed something glimmering in one of the spots where the speakers were before they fell apart. It was a brass key.

”Think this will help us move forward?” I asked.

Lillia took it from me, staring at it closely. ”Perhaps. Keep an eye out for any doors.”

It struck me then that we’d been walking down this long hallway for a while with no sign of any door.

”These imps have a really boring sense of structure,” Sai said. ”It’s always just long hallways. Can we get a maze or something?”

”I get lost so easily in mazes,” Iris said.

”Remember that time we went to Grumbelions and you got scared when you couldn’t solve the maze on the activity sheet?” Maia asked. ”You asked the waitress for help.”

”Shut up, I got really flustered there!” Iris snickered.

”It’s cool you two have known each other so long,” I said. ”That’s a nice childhood memory.”

”Oh, no, this was like two weeks ago,” Maia said. ”Maybe a week ago. No, it was Tuesday, wasn’t it?”

”It was Tuesday, yeah,” Iris said. ”But listen, I was in a mood.”

”When aren’t you in a mood?” I asked.

”That’s...a really good question,” Iris said.

Iris didn’t get a chance to reflect on that at the moment, because we were interrupted by the sounds of screaming from up ahead. There were multiple voices shouting, and I knew one of them. Panic filled me like a bucket of water being dumped into a small glass as I darted ahead, the sound of Zeta’s screams propelling me forward.