TFF Academy - Story Thread

[Zenithos]

"What now?" AMM asked the people all sitting huddled together in the small, walled space next to the ice rink.

"Shut up." Zeni said, his eyes closed.

"It's coming this way." Eterna reminded them, leaning out from behind the wall to look at the gigantic cosmic somethings.

"Shut up." Zeni said again.

"I doubt a few doves could help here..." AMM sighed as he shook off the doves perching on his head and shoulders.

"I said, shut up." Zeni said, slightly louder this time.

"I do hope you're thinking of a plan cause talking's the only way I could suppress panic." AMM added.

"All I wanted was to play hockey." Legacy sighed.

"Hey, what's this fella doing here? I could swear I saw him turn into some sort of giant insect." Unknown-Common said, poking Epsilon with a fly swatter. "You're with those blackies, aren't ya?"

"And I thought you got out somehow..." Eterna said.

 

[Unknown-common-827]

"Hmm... must be one of them weird insect-o-thingies I've read about in my old biology classes" said Unknown, who still had a leery eye toward Epsilon. "Anyway, who are the rest of you guys? I remember seeing you in the halls, but we've never really met."

"I'm Zenithos, people call me 'Zeni' for short," said Zeni.

"I'm Legacy, big fan of The Calgary Flames...Caps, eh? You bird brains ain't got nothing on the Red 'C'," said the semi-cocky Flame jersey wearing teen.

"Aaron, but just call me AMM, cool?" said/asked AMM.

"Eterna, no nick name... but who are you?" asked Eterna.

"I'm Unknown Common, just got here today. Late move-in, unfortunately. Is this some sort of a weird 'alternate universe'? Reminds me of some weird structure I was around a few months ago." said Unknown.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

David stuck the fingers of his left hand in his mouth and whistled sharply.

"Oi, kids! Off the ice!" he called, holding his M1911A1 in plain sight now as he rose to a standing position.

 

[Legacy|iB]

Looking over, Legacy couldn't help but notice the new guy was a Capitals fan as he came in and the introductions began to take place.

He was slightly mixed. While his pride as a Flames fan told him his usual, logic (a rare lapse for Legacy) made him remember the 4-2 loss to Washington earlier in the season. Oh woe, how that empty net goal felt as it went in...

"You bird brains ain't got nothing on the Red 'C'" Legacy said after introducing himself, stating a bit of the obvious from his point of view.

"Oi, kids! Off the ice!"

Abramcyzk barked his order, his handgun in the air. Everybody slowly trudged off the ice.

"Hey, we oughta play some hockey when the rink get repaired" Legacy said to Unknown.

Between alternate dimensions, folded space, giant insects/humans, mysterious organizations, and all the rest Legacy had witnessed so far, seeing another hockey fan was a relief. Despite being on an opposing team, Legacy felt relieved that there was at least somebody here that understood the magnificent game on ice.

 

[Unknown-common-827]

"Hey, we oughta play some hockey when the rink get repaired" Legacy said to Unknown.

"Aye, I'll be waiting for that matchup. I got a good throwback jersey that I've wanted to wear for a game," said Unknown.

"What the hell you kids talking about?" blasted Mr. Abramcyzk.

"We're just talking about hockey. Nothing to be worried about" said Legacy.

"Yeah, although I think he's still hurting from the beating ol' Alex Ovechkin and Company gave them earlier this season" said Unknown with a smirk. The duo walked by the coach and continued their little challenge/conversation.

"You really want me to kick your ass, huh?" asked the Flames fan.

"No, just giving light to a dark past few years. Although, I won't be an easy fight for you if you try anything" said Unknown.

The rest of the group never knew what the hell they were discussing as the past events were weird enough.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

The big bluish-white thing lumbered towards the gathered students, but Mr Abramczyk stepped inbetween, holding his pistol ready at his side.

"I wouldn't, if I was you." he said, and fixed the thing with a steely parade ground glare. The air between man and beast-thing slowly seemed to start crackling at the intensity of the staring.

 

[Zenithos]

"Ms. Campbell! If you please!" Zeni heard Abramczyk-sensei bellow as he stood up to regard the closed space barrier around them.

On cue, Ms. Campbell came forwards and pulled a notch, aiming it straight at the bluish white giant's orb-for-eyes.

"Ahh...and this morning I came in with the hopes of a normal school life..." Zeni sighed.

"I believe Reimaru-san or Epsilon-san should have capability of bringing down this barrier." Eterna said.

"If they did, why are we still here?" AMM asked, looking around in panic. More of those giants were closing in on the rink. It was only a matter of time now...

"Data collection." Epsilon shrugged, watching as Abramczyk-sensei and Ms. Campbell squared off against the giant in a fantastic display of might and magic.

Reimaru, on the other hand, remained silent.

"Or....Zeni, maybe?" Eterna suggested. Everyone turned to Zeni.

"Why can't you people look to the one who can pull bunnies out of his hat?" Zeni sighed before turning around and diving into a hole in the ice.

"...." Everyone could do nothing but stare in disbelief.

 

[Unknown-common-827]

"Oyi, ya ignoramus. Why'd you go and do something like that, Zeni?" asked Unknown.

"He's like that, I guess" said AMM.

"Definately a weird one" said Epsilon.

"Well, we may have a very interesting fight on our hands. Going into it one man down won't be good." said Eterna.

"Hey! Zeni's in the water, but I'm here. So in reality, you're not in a penalty killing mode." said Unknown.

"We've never seen you in action, thus why we are thinking we're a man down." said Eterna.

"Oh really? You want a demonstration of my abilities?" asked Unknown, with malice lacing the eyes.

Unknown brought his spear to a fighting position and began to attack Eterna with a barrage of parries, thrusts and odd angle attacks. Eterna wasn't really fazed at this display of martial arts, but with three swift motions, she had drawn the spear away from the martial-artist/ hockey nut and had her sword at his neck.

"Well, this is an interesting situation" said Unknown.

"...." was everyone's thoughts as they figured Unknown wouldn't be around for the upcoming brawl.

 

[AyanamiRei2]

"Master, my mission here is done."

"..."

"Understood."

All this was spoken by Reimaru in a very soft voice to a small communication device on her left ear before diving into the hole behind Zeni. The others did not noticed as they were all occupied with Unknown's display.

 

[Mereo Flere]

"That...can't be good," Mereo said, peering down the hole that Zeni and Reimaru had gone into. "I mean, it's got to be freezing down there. After all, it is pretty much a frozen lake masquerading as a Hockey Ice Rink. Not to mention holding a weapon down there. And can they even breathe?"

"Hi sensei!" Eterna called out, waving at him while still holding the sword to Unknown's neck. "When did you get here?"

Mereo looked up, and smiled. "Oh, me? I just arrived. After Nagato-san repaired the stadium in the real world, I came to check why the closed space hadn't collapsed on itself yet. It's sure a damn fine mess you found yourselves in. And what's with all the damn birds?"

"Oh, that? I think they're pretty, don't you guys?"

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Unnoticed by anyone, Mr Abramczyk headed towards the stadium office, whistling "It's a long way, to Tipperary" as he went. As he walked inside, he drew out a set of keys and approached a large steel cabinet.

Unlocking the cabinet, he pulled out a black, full-body dry suit, flippers, an oxygen tank and a facemask. Stowing them on the table, he opened another cabinet, and drew out a vicious looking speargun.

"Rock and Roll..." he said, as he began to change into the suit.

 

[Zenithos]

"All righty...." Zeni thought as he swam further down into the dark, murky depths of the lake. "Wow...this lake is freezing....Thank you Kami for hostile environment protection spells."

There was nothing but inky darkness down here. Thankfully, the Dovescape spell didn't extend under the ice. Truth be told, Zeni took a gamble there. Had the Dovescape really extended below the ice, he'd have turned popsickle vampie within seconds.

Why had he taken such a perillous gamble?

Simple answer - it had to be done.

"Now....where is that....ah..." Zeni noticed the faint patch of green glowing eerily down in the darker depths of the lake.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Heading back onto the ice, Mr Abramczyk put on his flippers, oxygen tank and facemask, then jumped into the water with a loud splash, grabbing his speargun from his back and switching on the attatched searchlight as he descended into the murky depths...

 

[Epsilon]

Normally, anybody with strong enough magical senses would have picked up that there was something unusual beneath the ice. That only left one likely explanation..

The ice itself had a protection enchantment attached to it at the minimum. Better yet, it could probably be a protection enchantment itself masquerading as ice.

That made sense. On to other things... such as the number of Shinjin that kept popping up in the Closed Space created by Mereo-sensei. Although the negation of Closed Space could easily be handled by Epsilon, he opted to let the others get a little combat practice against the Shinjin.

At least, that was the plan.

It sorta went a bit astray with Zeni immediately diving into the cavern below, most likely to provoke Emerald Weapon into using its power to blast open an escape route. As for Reimaru, he was aware that she had her Master's agenda to fulfill but at this point, she would need a great amount of resources just to retrieve the treasure safely. She won't be able to accomplish anything for now other than data collection.

The Shinjin had actually been disposed of fairly efficiently by Abramczyk and his Servant. There weren't too many at this time since Haruhi was in a good mood for the day probably because of how well her SOS Brigade Recruitment Drive went.

Since there wasn't much to do other than to collect some data, he decided to at least help in clean up. And that meant removing the Dovescape enchantment.

He summoned a Temporal Adept which had a natural talent for teleporting any known physical and mystical object back to where it originally came from. In this case, the Dovescape enchantment was returned to Epsilon's spell library. This move however did not cause the Birds to dissipate so now the students had a small personal army of Doves at their disposal.

He pondered whether it was a good thing or a bad thing before shrugging and ordering the Adept to teleport itself back to limbo. If anything, he could simply summon a Phyrexian Ghoul to devour the Birds since they are practically willing to eat anything.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Mr Abramczyk turned his searchlight this way and that as he descended into the depths of the lake Small shoals of fish darted away as he swam down towards them.

 

[Epsilon]

Mereo slightly flinched as he felt the energy discharge at the bottom of the lake. 'Just what are you doing, Abramczyk?'

"Looks like Zeni will have his hands full, ne?" The teacher glanced to his right where he saw Epsilon standing there with his hands in his uniform trouser pockets.

"True. Something on your mind?"

"Somewhat. I used the free period to look up some more information on the Grail War and spoke with a few contacts in the Church. I've found that my proposed solution to simply destroy the Grail is flawed."

"Oh?"

The Chinese youth nodded. "The physical incarnation of the Grail had been destroyed previous times and yet the same events keep occurring. You can see it now as certain events are being put into motion even though the Saber-class Servant destroyed the Grail in the Fourth War."

Come to think of it, Mereo should probably have kept a better eye on Grail events after he had made his wish. "So what's your revised plan?"

"We need to properly deal with one of the ingredients used to bring forth the Grail or at the very least determine a proper way to seal the window of opportunity that can be used to bring forth a Grail."

Mereo did some quick math in his head. "Normally, that would be a two week period once every sixty years from what I can determine from records of the previous Grail Wars."

Epsilon nodded. "But a fifth one has started only ten years after the fourth and this time, the path to the Grail is open for at least six months."

"I don't suppose the resident time travelers can help out for that objective..."

"Doubtful. We're talking about attempting to seal multiple elements that would interact with a vessel filled with mana and defeated Servants attached to mystical soil. The way I see it, we may as well concentrate our efforts on the actual materials themselves being the vessels, mana and the land."

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

Mr Abramczyk saw a faint light from below, so he slowed his pace. Whatever it was that was down there, he didn't want to blindly stumble into it. Reaching to his belt, he took a spear, and a CO2 charge. He loaded the charge, and then the spear, before cocking the speargun ready to fire.

 

[Unknown-common-827]

"Umm... excuse me for speaking, but could you or someone else remove this blade from my neck?" asked a nervous Unknown.

"Give me one good reason" said Eterna.

"Enough, Eterna. Let him down. I saw his fighting abilities. I'll admit he's a wise-guy. However, he does have some qualities that may help in our impending fight" said Mereo.

"*phew* What do you mean 'impending fight'? Also, who the hell are you?" asked Unknown as he glanced over at Mereo and Epsilon.

"Forgive my carelessness. However, you do not need to know my name as of now" said Mereo.

"Good enough, for the time being. Now what were you saying of this 'impending battle' you stated a minute or two ago?" asked Unknown.

 

[Epsilon]

The teacher addressed Unknown's question. "I'm certain you all have at least some degree of familiarity with the infamous Cold War between the USSR and the USA. During that time frame, the world was unaware of the secret intelligence and strategic battles being fought underground. It was only by the end of the conflict that people were able to learn about how deep tensions ran between the States and the Soviets. The conflict that I speak of has some similarity to that but there will be actual physical battles fought in addition to intelligence and strategic battles over the prize that is desired by all... the Holy Grail."

"The Holy Grail? You mean that thing everybody was after in that Da Vinci Code novel?" asked the Calgary Flames fan.

"That's right, Legacy. But the novel only presented one interpretation of the Grail and there are many theories on what the Grail actually is. The truth is that the Grail is in a spacial flux and a ceremony has to be performed to give it a physical vessel. Once it materializes into reality, it is supposed to be said that it can grant a wish to the winner of the conflict."

"... I don't suppose that I can use the Grail to wish that the Flames instead of the Lightning got the Double Overtime goal for Game 6 of the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs?"

Eterna just looked at the boy in disbelief. "You would use your wish on something like that?"

Just as she finished that statement, the group all felt a minor quake from underneath. Both Mereo and Epsilon could now feel the increased activity down below. 'Oh boy... Emerald Weapon's not happy... I don't think I want to be Zeni at this moment,' thought the teacher.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

The shoals of fish darted around in panic from the turbulance in the water, and Mr Abramczyk had to tread water to stop from being knocked back. Shaking his head slightly, he began to close in on the light source, aiming his speargun, ready to fire.

 

[Legacy|iB]

The quake rumbled for a moment and slowly faded off. After it finished and after Legacy managed to take in as much as he could, he looked over at Eterna, in response to her question.

"Well, it's either that, or wish that they'll win it this year. One way or the other, the Cup is comin' back to Calgary."

Despite Legacy's lofty ideas about what to do if he gained such an item, he could not help but wonder about it - about everything so far. How deep was this entire war, this entire struggle for such a goal? It made the Stanley Cup Playoffs look like a cakerun, and that was terrifying enough already. To think, it was like losing the Cup to another team. What would happen here if the Grail was lost to somebody else?

Looking towards the ice, Legacy could remember the distinct rumble. Zeni and Abramcyzk were still down there. Turning his attention towards the others, in particular to Mereo. He seemed to have the biggest idea on what was happening.

"So, what do we do now? What's our strategy? What play are we gonna do?"

 

[Zenithos]

"GASP!" Everyone looked around upon hearing the sodden gasp and watched as a figure broke the water.

"Oh...it's just Zeni." Eterna shrugged, before looking back at Legacy. "As for a strategy..."

"A little help here..." Zeni gasped, throwing over a stone tablet over the edge before scrabbling on the frozen icy edge for a hold. He suddenly gasped once more, struggled for a bit, before dissapearing again in a flurry of bubbles.

"Shouldn't somebody go help him?" AMM asked, lookin from face to face. Nobody seemed to be the least bit forthcoming in terms of help.

This was Emerald weapon, after all...

"Meh, Abramczyk-sensei and Reimaru are down there somewhere, so no worries." Eterna shrugged. "Besides, we're here watching their backs, right? Who knows, one of those big blue thingies might decide to take a swim." Everyone nodded quickly in fervent agreement.

"But....can they swim? Besides, they've been next to docile so far..." AMM pointed out, before shrinking under the collective deadly glares.

"Don't you have any faith in Zeni, Reimaru, and Abramczyk-sensei?" Eterna cried. "Shame on you! What kind of a friend are you! Knowing them, they've probaby got Emerald Weapon down on the lake bed now." She said confidently.

Another tremor ran through the ice.

A speargun floated up to the hole in ice.

"That's Abramczyk-sensei's spare speargun..." AMM pointed out.

"Yeah, see, they're doing so well that the great sensei even decided he didn't need his spare speargun." Eterna continued on.

"And that's Zeni's blade thingy...it floats too...." AMM said, pointing out yet another object that had surfaced.

"See, they're doing so well that even Zeni's decided to go up against Emerald Weapon barehanded." Eterna nodded sagely.

"More importantly, what's this?" Unknown asked, picking up the stone tablet as a few last bubbles broke the surface of the now still surface.

"Junk he found down there?" Eterna suggested, taking a look. "Hmm...runes...Hey, any rune experts here?" She asked, looking over the crowd.

What's left of the stadium rumbled as yet another tremor ran through the ice.

"....It's a good reason to say we're busy..." She added.

 

[David Alan Abramczyk]

There was a faint thumping sound sound from below the ice, and suddenly Mr Abramczyk appeared through a hole, scrabbing frantically at the ice.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND EVERY OTHER DEITY IN THE MULTI-VERSE, SOMEONE HELP M- Glug glug glug glug...." he screamed, as a tendril wrapped around his waist and dragged him back under the water.

 

[Legacy|iB]

Legacy watched in relative horror as something dragged Abramcyzk back down underwater. With all the stuff regarding the Holy Grail aside, he now had to wonder about whatever thing was under the ice.

Well, seeing how it helped a bit last time, Legacy turned his attention towards all the others - the people who seemed to be in the know.

"Alright, what the hell is that thing?!" he screamed pointing towards the hole in the ice where Abramcyzk had just emerged and fell back through moments ago.

This was getting ridiculous. Secret organizations, people with superpowers, creatures, more weird people, a Washington Capitals fan, religious artifacts, folded space, and now a monster-like entity under the ice dragging a teacher to certain doom.

 

[Zenithos]

ôThis rune here reads æNecronomniconÆ, and this one here reads æAl AzifÆ.ö AMM pointed out the runes in question. Meanwhile, a blood-curdling scream rent the air, ôFOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND EVERY OTHER DEITY IN THE MULTI-VERSE, SOMEONE HELP M- Glug glug glug glug...."

ôAndà?ö Eterna urged on, ignoring the screams of utter fear and pain.

ôWell, I canÆt read the rest, really.ö AMM shrugged. A few bubbles marked the spot where Abramczyk-sensei had disappeared.

ôAlright, what the hell is that thing?!ö Legacy demanded, pointing at said bubbles.

ôLet me put into perspective for youàö Mereo said, placing a helpful steadying hand on LegacyÆs shoulder. ôWhat weÆve got down there is something equivalent toàsayàa couple of enraged hockey teams in a brawl over a suspected foulàö

Legacy nodded. Now this was something he could relate to. ôWell, that does sound bad, but usually a few refereesàö

ôPLUSàö Mereo continued. ôàThe mobs of angered, blood thirsty supporters, all packed in a nutshell.ö He watched as understanding dawned on LegacyÆs face.

ôRightà.in a nutshellàö Legacy nodded. ôà.Then why are we still here?ö

ôBeats me.ö Mereo shrugged. ôTo see what happens, perhaps.ö

ôFrom what I gather, judging by the fact that Emerald WeaponÆs swimming about down there and that this tablet was found down there tooàIÆd guess that the Necronomnicon mentioned here, or at least something leading to it, is down there somewhere. This is merely speculation though, off course.ö AMM said.

A rumble, this time stronger than before, shook the very foundations of the ruined ice rink. Ripples broke out on the waterÆs surface, before bubbling and rising into a sodden mound, signifying the surfacing of something or someone from the depths of the lake.

ôIt must be Zeni, Abramczyk-sensei, or Reimaru.ö Unknown pointed out.

ôAaaghàit must be Zeni againàö Eterna sighed, straightening up while unsheathing her katana. ôDONÆTà.ö She stepped up to the edge of the water. ôEVERàö She raised her katana. ôSURFACE AGAIN!ö She screamed, slashing down.

ôAhà.itÆs not him...it's not even humanà.rather, itÆs something green, metallicàerràarmed to the teethà.emerald-weapon-ishàand itÆs definitely not happy about getting hit by the katana.ö AMM said, backing off, as the last of the ice cracked underfoot under the force of the ascending Weapon.

ôMereo-sensei!ö Eterna called out, leaping across the cracking field of ice. ôI think weÆve had enough sightseeing! Can we end this field trip now?! Please?!ö