Monster High - The School Grounds

[Ronan Aalto]

"So... what now then?" Ronan asked, looking around and hoping someone, anyone would take the lead here.
Some of the students had started to pick up the rubbish in a sort of daze, others will milling about in the doorway and corridor uncertainly.

Both Meme and Ascreama shrugged.

Harry Herne

Ronan shook his head and caught sight of Harry. Harry seemed like the sort to take the lead, least, he had a loud voice and a tendency to rant. Maybe he had some ideas.

"Harry!" Ronan called him over.  

[Perry Hartley]

Clawd Wolf seemed to finally settle on what to say, addressing the rest of the team as he paced in front of them.

"We're not gonna let this wreck our team spirit, our dedication to win are we?"

The team all shouted in unison "NO!"

"We're gonna CRUSH those Luna High guys" Clawd continued

"Total decimation!" the team replied.

"They think they can break us? hah, they don't know Monster High!"

"They don't know who they're messing with." Perry muttered.

"Yeah... we gotta show these werewolves, make em pay!" Manny snorted.

"Oh we'll get back at them alright."

Clawd looked unsure. "No... we can't just start a whole..."

"Prank war!" one of the guys yelled

"YEAH!" the rest of the team shouted.

Clawd sighed, but inside he too wanted revenge.

Urged on by the enthusiasm of his team mates, Perry set about scheming. Luna high wanted a war? a war they'd get.

The team returned to the locker room in an excited chatter, brainstorming ideas.

"Itching powder"

"nah, too lame."

"Rotten gargoyle eggs!"

"Water from the bog of eternal BO!"

"If we're gonna do this guys, we need a proper solid plan."

For the first time, Perry was actually quite comfortable being the centre of attention, he smiled to himself and ticked off a list of things they'd need in his head.
Standing around him, the team listened intently as he explained his plan. It was almost like he'd been planning something on this scale for a very long time.  

[Harry Herne]

Harry's mind had been a chaotic mess for the remainder of his classes before the pep rally. He had gotten the chance to help Atomica but she didn't seem to even notice. Then the evil Not-Centaur Girl had gotten him hit with a Saturday deadtention! Woestock was in danger. He needed a spare hour for some Translyvanian meditation to get his zen back under control. Unfortunately, he had to go to a totally square pep rally. School spirit encouraged unhealthy competition as far as Harry was concerned.

Harry strolled into the destroyed gym after most everyone else. Monsters wandered around in a daze amid the violence masquerading as school spirit.Harry sighed. It was a sight played out at every school every year. Maybe he could encourage the Monster High students to renounce violence and competition. That would show the Luna High students what the power of peace and love....PEACE AND LOVE!....could do.

"Peace out, Ronan. All this destruction really disturbs everyone's aura."  

[HH Bloodgood]

"Your attention, students!" The Headmistress's voice rang out as Nitemare lept up on the stage, sending balloons flying everywhere. "I know you are all confused and upset! Please be rest assured that we are contacting Luna High right now-"

"Ahem!" Mr. Rotter cleared his throat near the stage and handed the Headmistress an iCoffin. "Principal Rover, demanding to speak to you."

"One moment, students." The Headmistress stepped off the stage and held the iCoffin to her ear. She instantly pulled it away again, as the sound of loud snarling and barking were heard.

"Yes. But that can't be-...Very well. But rest assured, I WILL be bringing this up with the school board!" The Headmistress handed the iCoffin back to Mr. Rotter and stood back up on the stage.

"Well, students...according to Principal Rover from Luna High, there is no way that the Luna High Wolfpack could have done this prank, as they were all at a team creepover last night and the coach says they were all present for the entire night."

"NO WAY!" Heath Burns called out from the Graveball team. "It was totally those guys, they've been giving us grief all week!"

"Yeah!" Someone else shouted. The Headmistress held up a hand to silence the team.

"Unfortunately, without proof or at least their coach's word, there is nothing we can do about it. For now."

The Graveball team all exchanged looks with each other, as if to say 'There's something WE can do about it.'....

"Now, I am afraid I have no choice but to cancel the pep rally." The Headmistress informed everyone to a chorus of boos. "But do not let this act harm your ghoul spirit. Remember that Monster High is about coming together and rising above strife and prejudice. I encourage EVERY monster to come to the Graveball game tonight and show Luna High what Monster High is truly about!"

Although it was a rousing speech, and the students were perhaps a little happy to get out of school early, there was a dark cloud over the student bodies. Some of them stayed to help the Fear Squad clean up. But others had different ideas...  

[Nero de Sphinx]

Nero sighed as the students began to mill laconically towards the door, their pep crestfallen. He turned back toward Kai, who was still gazing around blankly, his lower lip quivering ever so slightly, mumbling, "the colors, the coloooorsssss..."

The rest of the art class didn't look much better, though Layla was occasionally hissing viciously at the hanging creep paper. The other students were slowly trying to edge out of her line of sight.

"Come on, I know what we can do," he said.

Nero picked Kai up bodily. His bluddy was so frozen in his madness that he didn't bend or flop at all, so Nero hoisted him onto his shoulder and walked out of the grimnasium, down the hall, to the left, and into the art class.

Layla, following Nero, swished her tail back and forth in front of Kai's face a few times.

"It ssssseems nobody issss home."

Nero propped Kai up in the middle of the classroom. They all watched Kai intently.

"The embossing....it's ruuuuuuinnnnnnned...."

Nero grabbed a fistful of painbrushes and stuck them in Kai's hands. Nothing happened.

"He needs more art!" Nero proclaimed.

The students dashed around the class, pausing only to jam more supplies into Kai's prone frame. A load of watercolor tubes was dumped down his shirt, a can of tempura balanced on his head! Somewhere a stash of leftover creep paper was found, which Layla artfully wove around Kai's horns. Slowly, Kai began to twitch.

Nero opened a bucket of neon plaid fuschia, one of Kai's favorite colors. Nero's lips pursed he stoked his chin, starring at his beast bro.

"Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm...."

Finally, he shrugged, grabbed Kai's hands and stuck them both into the bucket.

"Is it working?"  

[Hellene Harpie]

Hellene flipped through her camera menu, looking for photos for the school paper. There were a few winners for the front page, particularly the ones of Layla destroying a table. The balloon caught the light in just perfectly to capture the drama of the moment!

"Look!" she cried, pulling Draconia over, "this is a shoe in for a half page spread!"

There was Kai, mid-collapse, arms raised toward the sky with his face upturned, screaming artistically at the universe.

"Cor, that's a good angle. Very dramatic, but, er...why is it upside-down?"

"I dropped the camera and it went off when I caught it. Half of photography is luck."  

[Layla LaMia]

"Jussst a moment." Layla said, staring hard at Kai. "I have an idea that jussst might snap him out of thisss."

That being said, the lamia princess slithered out of the classroom, leaving the rest of her friends from the Art Class wondering what she might have in mind that could snap their bluddy Kai from his state of artistic shock.

They did not have long to wait as the door to the class room opened slightly only moments later and Layla slid back inside, softly shutting the door behind her. She approached Kai who was propped up, frozen like a statue, his lips wobbling in a repeated murmur of "Contour..." ... "Classicism..." "Oeuvre..."

And from behind her back she revealed one of the large, silver balloons painted with a cartoonish wolf face from the grimnasium. She held it up with one hand at Kai's ear and rubbed the palm of her other hand down the balloon, creating THAT noise...!

Kai's left eye twitched....

She did it again, making the rest of the kids present cover their own ears and cringe, and Kai's tail rattled...

She was prepared to do it a third time and just started to make that clawful sound when Kai twitched and fell back against the desk, almost toppling over the side of it and to the floor before he caught himself!

"STOP!" Kai cried, holding his claw out pleadingly! "Not again! NO MORE!"

Layla turned and smiled at the gathering.

"Works every time!" She stated proudly. "Now, what are we going to do to address this little ... situation?" And that being asked, her nails extended into full on sharp claws which she used to pop the balloon.  

[JD Leeds]

Draconia St George

"Bros." Hellene cursed the word again, under her breath. "It's ALWAYS bros!"

Speaking of bros...

JD stood off to the sidelines with the rest of his casketball screammates, slowly processing the damage that Luna High had done to their mural... This was so not cool, he thought, and those werewolves were going to pay for this! But, first... his eyes fell upon Draconia across the grimnasium, who was looming over Hellene's camera with a grimace on her face. That, JD thought, was the face of a damsel in distress! She looked ughhterly heartbroken over the destruction of their hard work and dedication! Surely there was something -- anything -- he could do to lift her spirits? He grinned, thinking of just the thing, and strolled over to her.

"Hey ghoul," He nudged his shades up the bridge of his flat nose and flashed a cheeky half-grin. "I know this is just claw-ful, but a boo-tiful face like yours should never look so sad. Let me try to make you feel better... what do you say after we crush Luna High at the game tonight, I take you out for eye scream? Just you and me, and a boo-nana split? Whadd'ya say, bootiful?"

He winked behind his shades, too wrapped up in himself to notice little twirls of smoke beginning to come from Draconia's flared nostrils.  

[Draconia St George]

"JD...." Draconia started. "Now is not really a good time-"

"It's the perfect time!" He cut her off. Clearly, she needed to get away from all of this dismal, downer atmasphere. Possibly in a tricked-out, fast car with the top down. "C'mon, let's you'n'me make like bee people an' buzz off right now! It'z gona be H-A-W-T, HAWT! I'll even pay for the boo-nana split, how can a ghoul say no?"

JD adjusted his leopard-print jacket, licked a claw and ran it across his raised, expectant eyebrow.

"A ghoul can say 'no' just like this, NO, JD!" Draconia hexclaimed, a blast of hot air coming out of her mouth and wilting his spiked 'do a little bit. "My friends on the Fear Squad just had all of their hard work destroyed and there is no way I'm ditching them to go have ice scream!"

"But-but-" JD stammered, a bit at a loss. "Our date! It should be on like King Kong!"

Draconia sighed, giving JD a piteous look.

"It WAS on...yesterday, when we were supposed to HAVE the actual date. The one you stood me up on, and never told me why, JD. I'm terribly sorry, but there's not going to be a second chance for that to happen."

JD blinked, stunned at being turned down. Hellene was fiddling with her camera, and Draconia wondered just how many pictures she'd just snapped of the speechless JD.

She turned to Arillena, feeling terrible about neglecting her during all of this.

"Ari, would you help me bring all of this creep paper down to the art room? Maybe they can recycle it for a project." She handed a heaping handful of the creep paper to Arillena, and the two steered towards the door.

"Goodbye, JD." Draconia told him, flatly, but with a hint of regret. She had really hoped he would have given her a reason to say yes, but suggesting she ditch her friends in their time of need was no reason at all.

As Draconia walked out, JD turned to Hellene, who was very, VERY busy with her camera settings. He let out a long, long sigh and pulled off his sunglasses.

"What'd I do wrong?" He asked, almost to the air. Hellene spoke up still looking down at her camera.

"Do you want a full list, or just the annotated version?"

"The full list. I'm super-serious! Give to me with both barrels. Spare no feelings, least of all mine!" He answered, with a sincerity that actually caused Hellene to look up from her VERY important camera calibrations. She raised an eyebrow.

"You bro'd your way over here, didn't lift one finger to help anyone clean up, you asked Draconia about a date in the middle of a crisis, you're matching leopard print with leopard print, you smell like you BATHED in Hax Body Spray, and you STOOD HER UP yesterday without explaining why." Hellene rattled off succinctly. She would have counted on her fingers, but she didn't have enough fingers to inform JD how badly he'd messed up with Draconia. "Your spray-tan turns your orange hue into something that doesn't occur in nature, even MONSTER nature, you're mixing silver and gold jewelry which is a MASSIVE fashion faux-pas according to the Fear Eye for the Fate Guy, and Draconia is the nicest, most forgiving monstress in the world and you DIDN'T. EVEN. GIVE. HER. AN EXPLANATION."

JD winced. He actually winced.

"Ouch. Okay, yeah, I mean...wow. I asked for both barrels. Didn't realize they were both gonna be loaded with TNT! But I get it! I do, I do. I mean....actually, I mean, I dont get it. You see..."

JD took a deep breath. He was about to do something he'd never, ever done before. He was going to confess.

Arillena

JD Leeds

 

[Kai Merha]

Layla LaMia

"Now, what are we going to do to address this little ... situation?" And that being asked, her nails extended into full on sharp claws which she used to pop the balloon.

*POP!*

"Revenge!" Kai slammed his hand down, forgetting that it had been in a bucket of plaid paint and splashing Nero and Layla with it. Jewels, having the foresight to be behind him, was spared any splashback. However, she did have to deal with the crushing disappointment that she could no longer attempt to bedazzle Kai back into consciousness. "Revenge for the destruction of our art! The most heinous crime of all!"

"The most heinous crime of all." The other three art students agreed solemnly. They had all put so much effort into that banner. It was no wonder Kai had become so unhinged!

"Butum....how do we do that, exactly?" Jewels asked, timidly. "I mean...none of us are graveball players,althoughifyouaskME, Nero totally COULD play graveball..."

"You think so? I tried out, but they tried to make me take off all my bling on the field - said I was blinding the Fearleaders." Nero gave his necklaces a hearty shake, and they rattled and sparkled appropriately. "But I don't think we need to play graveball to avenge this...this TRAVESTY, bros! I think that we need to strike back - an eye for an eye!"

"Yesss." Layla agreed. Her mother had been so impressed with the digital pictures of the banner she'd seen, she'd even agreed that Layla could have hung it up in the embassy for her Howliday party. Now, of course, those plans were ruined. She couldn't imagine hosting a ball with the words "MONSTER OH HI PLEASE TAKE THE DIVISION TROPHY FROM US CUZ WE SUCK" spraypainted on it. "We will ssstorm their palace...I mean, ssschool...and do unto them as they have done unto us!"

"I-I-I totally agree, of course!" Jewels stammered a bit, fiddling with the bedazzler she had been using. "But....go to Luna High? That school is....well, intense isn't an intense enough of a word to describe their intensity. They're HYPERINTENSE."

"A plan...we need a plan." Kai replied, tenting his fingers as he'd seen his dad the mad scientist do whenever a particularly mad plan struck him. "We need a way to get in. We'll need someone who can get us access to the Luna High grimnasium. And we'll need a way to create a distraction, if at all possible."

"I can get us in!" Jewels bounced up and down, hexcitedly. "Luna High may be two towns over, but the tunnel system is really straightforward there. Werewolves like digging holes and then burying them again."

"I can lift things." Nero offered. It was what he offered to any plot, plan or caper, and it hadn't failed him yet.

"Good. The supplies we need are all here!" Kai pointed at everything he'd gathered for his collage. There was far more than he needed for the actual collage, and now the rest of it would have a worthy use. "You'll be the official pack-manster."

"Bro-dacious." Nero agreed, starting to pack things into Kai's duffel bag.

"Now...a way in..." Layla tapped one perfectly-manicured clawtip against her chin. "Rorrim Bludworth? His mirror power is hexcellent for infiltration."

"I don't think that's a great idea." Kai disagreed. "He's pretty jumpy, and we're going to need some brave souls for this one."

"What we need, is sssomone who can disguise themselves...." Layla started.

At that exact moment, Arillena Faedathanna and Draconia St. George stepped into the art classroom.  

[Harry Herne]

*Harry had begun to help with the cleanup effort and made sure everyone was reapercycling. It was so important to the enviro- GAH! EVIL NOT-CENTAUR GIRL! There she was, innocently picking up a banner. SHE WAS SUCH A SQUARE AND KILLER OVER ALL THINGS ZEN! Harry stomped over to Peggy.*

"Crimson and clover, you are so not cruel! I have deadtention because of you and Woestock is in danger! You owe me an apology of Cosmic proportions!"  

[NanoAer]

Draconia St Greorge

Kai Merha

Ari nodded and quickly grabbed the papers before following the dragoness to the Art room. "I don't understand. Why would someone do such a thing?" She asked shaking her head. Never before had she seen such destruction during a school event.

"It's just ridiculous." The Fae found herself muttering to herself all the way to the classroom. Her eyes still reflecting back and froth from ruby to emerald. "How could that have ruined everything so fast?"

Once through the doors Ari set the papers down on a table. "They can't get away with this. You all worked so hard." She looked up at those who had apparently been plotting in the art room. In her confusion and mild anxiety the ends of her hair were reacting to subconscious glamour. "Oh dear.." She quickly returned it to normal- but paused recalling what she heard as they entered.

"Disguise? What about a disguise?" The changeling asked curiously.  

[Chase Q]

Perry Hartley

Dashner Hawke

Coach Igor and team captain Clawd Wolf were not about to let this small setback to their big day undermine the Nightmares and possibly cost them the big championship game this evening.

They had not allowed the team to linger behind in the grimnasium to stew in their own angry juices at the mean spirited tactics of Luna High's graveball team. They would not allow them to become distracted and thereby lose their focus to walk away as this season's Graveball Champions. So, Coach Igor led the team out onto the Graveball field where they would meet Luna High in just a few short hours to run through some last minute practice sessions before they took a break to prepare to welcome the 'away' team to their territory.

While some team members such as Andy Beast and Heath Burns ran through some scrimmages, others like Chase Q, Dashner Hawke and Perry Hartley waited for their turns on the sidelines. Yet contrary to what the coach wanted, there was some plotting afoot!

"We can't let those Luna High losers get away with this!" Dashner stated. "If they want a prank war, we'll show them just who the best is with pranks!"

"Cha!" Chase Q nodded in delight, slapping Dashner on the back and almost sending him crashing into the turf. "And graveball! Problem is, the coach and Clawd..."

The three boos turned to subtly glance over to where Coach Igor and Clawd were watching the practicing team members on the field with a critical eye.

"How're we gonna get prank the Luna-ticks without the Coach catching us?" Chase wondered aloud, when a voice beside them took them slightly by surprise, as did a small splash of water...

"Oops, sorry werebros!"

Chase, Dashner and Perry turned to spot a familiar looking shadow, obvs the team's water boo Shad, traipsing across the field, carrying a water pail, sloshing the contents over the side, towards the bench.

Chase got a toothy grin on his face and turned to Perry and Dash and waggled his eyebrows suggestively.