fandomhigh | Fandom High Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2008, Saturday Afternoon (Part II)

After the last diploma had been handed out, the graduates were sent back to their seats, and Principal Washburn returned to the podium, to give her final speech and end the ceremony.

It was then that the rumbling started.

Odds were, if you asked the average citizen of Fandom to describe the town, they would tell you about the school, and the shops, and the beach and preserve, and all the areas of the island that existed above ground. But what they wouldn't describe was the island's biggest secret - beneath the ground, hidden from all of the town's inhabitants, was a city of ancient machines, designed to keep Fandom connected to every dimension it has ever touched, allowing people to continue to come from all over to live and grow on the island.

Although the existence of the underground city has always been hidden from Fandom's citizens - a safety measure, to ensure that none of Fandom's more power-hungry students or teachers try to use the machines for harmful purposes - it has not been a secret to everyone. During the night, fae and faeries of all sizes and power had come to make their way underground, and seize control of Fandom's machines, determined to have the unparalleled dimensional access for themselves. Although they were followed, the Wild Hunt had never caught its prey, and while the people of the town were occupied with graduation, the faeries struck, beginning to activate the machines.

But what the faeries didn't realize was that not all of the machines controlled access to dimensions. One machine in particular, one of the first to be activated, controlled the access to the city from above ground. As the machine chugged along, a section of the island lowered a few feet underground, allowing access to the city, the machines, and the faeries.

Of course, it just so happened that this section of land was where the platforms had been laid before graduation, and where the graduates had all been seated. As the platforms sank, a clear bubble covered the area where they'd been, allowing the audience to watch, but preventing them from being able to interfere or help. It was up to the graduates to defend themselves, and get rid of the fae.

[~~Wait for the OCD, please!~~ OCD is up! Have fun!]

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"Ew, ew, ew, this is very much Freudian nightmare fuel, EW!" Willow said. She struggled to get out of her robe, figuring that if the faerie was caught in the cloth maybe she could trap it inside the whole garment.

It hissed its displeasure and flailed harder, only tangling itself more in the robes, which only made it struggle more, which tangled it more, which...well, you get the idea.

This particular faerie really wasn't very bright.

Free of the robe, Willow scrambled to put some distance between her and the faerie.

"Okay, okay, icky and gross and not exactly a bug but still icky and gross so there are some similarities," she said, talking mostly to herself. She then realized she could handle this in a manner very similar to bugs: viz. squishing it.

So she picked up a chair and began to try to beat the faerie into a smear.

It squealed and squirmed and gave off disgusting smelling smoke, kicking and biting at the robes, until it dissolved into a spreading pool of mud, twigs and leaves.

"Oh yeah," Willow said. "Seriously gross."

She went off to see if she could be useful elsewhere.

A tiny bouncing snappy thing followed her and tried to bite her ankle. It was tiny, but its need for vengeance was mighty!

Also, Willow had really tasty looking ankles.

Willow gasped with surprise, because she wasn't expecting an ankle assault. "Hey! Cut that out!"

It bounced around Willow and stuck out is tongue, blowing a raspberry at her. She couldn't stop it and it was going to eat her ankles all up!

Willow glared. "You're being very rude!"

It blew another raspberry then spun around to show her its bottom, waggling it in her direction.

Okay, now she was going to teach it a lesson. She concentrated and tried to use TK to grab it and hold it still.

It squealed and tried to get away, but it couldn't move! He gave her a wounded look that clearly said that that was cheating.

"Are you going to apologize?" Willow asked.

It wrinkled its nose and blew another raspberry, waggling its tongue at her in a manner meant to convey that, no, it wasn't, and it was so going to bite her ankles at the first opportunity.

"Last chance," Willow said. "Say your sorry."

It crossed its eyes and stuck its tongue out at her.

"You can't say I didn't warn you," Willow told it. Then used TK to thwap it against the nearest hard surface, going for a velocity that, if it connected, would result in discovering a new paint color called 'inside of faerie.'

"Not," Willow admitted, "that I warned in any kind of specific fashion. But still."

It connected, and indeed the wall was now covered in a rather fascinating colour - if by fascinating, one meant disgusting - and an extremely pungent odour.

The others closing in around her stopped, staring from Willow to the wall and back to Willow. It's possible they were a little bit smarter than their now defunct brethren.

"It was suicide?" Willow suggested. "I tried to talk him out of it?"

They pulled into a huddle, grunts and squeaks and squawks floating up, glancing at her occasionally, then they shoved one of their number at her.

It tentatively waved its club at her, then jumped back, arm raised to fend off sudden explodey doom.

Hmm. "Or you could run away?" Willow suggested, pointing in a random direction. "Before I make you all 2D? Which means two-dimensional, in case you didn't know. By which I mean flat."

With a definite air of 'we don't get paid enough to deal with the threat of explodey doom', they scampered off in the direction she'd indicated.

If asked later, they'd claim they were doing reconnaissance. Or hunting a fleeing student. Or something. Not being rendered two dimensional was worth a little wrath of the lords and masters.

Fandom High Graduation Ceremony, Class of 2008, Saturday Afternoon (Part II)

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Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!

Re: Graduates: Oh hai, it be fighty times now!