Part 6

Part 6

Caith saw one of the Devil's Sanctuary students prepping an air assault vehicle.

"Going for battle up there," asked Caith just to make sure.

"Yep," said the student.

It was designed to seem like a fiery demon. Though it used fans to hover, the balloon was ready to go. Flames came from around the ship. Caith always wondered why they never lit on fire. He shrugged and jumped on.

In most journalist jobs, it is wise to simply watch and not do anything. You are paid to be the observer, and keep safe. Caith's position had none of this. If Caith was in the middle of a battle, he was forced to fight back at times. Jumping from blimp to blimp was a requirement. His job was entirely based on getting the best action scenes, and his little recorder only went 20 feet in radius around him.

The ship rose up and headed toward a nearby viking vessel. It was difficult to see beyond the flames and smoke. Each attacker held a trident ready to go.

The viking vessel fired at them. Caith was not wearing any gear. The ship rocked from the cannons. The Devils fired back. The vikings began to try to escape, but the hook was already sent out.

After waiting for the safety net to pull forward, the attackers began to climb the rope to the viking's ship. Caith waited for a plank to move forward. The ships bean to circle around each other.

A plank was put down for more attackers to cross. One viking, a tall young man with dark dred locks, charged back on this plank. His swing hit Caith directly in the chest.

Caith did not double over. He leaned back and let the sword move off of his chest. His hand went up and grabbed the hilt of the sword. Using the momentum, Caith threw the viking overboard.

A very manly sounding scream came from the viking as he hurtled toward the net. Caith ran forward to get the full battle.

Swords and tridents were clashing, cannons were being moved to fire, and gun fire was whizzing about. The captain the Devils ship yelled to grab the ribbon in the captains quarters.

A short freshman ran into the quarters and came back out with a yellow piece of plastic. In an instant the Vikings stopped and admitted defeat.

Another Viking vessel saw this and came forward. Caith saw it coming. It was rising up directly. The net was already out. Caith jumped out for about 20 feet to meet a chord tied onto the blimp. He locked himself onto it with his rope, and then moved down to the main deck.

The Cannons were being prepared, and the men began to chant.

"Low before us,

our demons shall we smite,

Odin stands before us,

His right hand we will rise!"

The cannons from the Devils were ready to proceed. The viking ship kept under as long as possible and rocked the Devils with gun fire. Many young men, dressed in red paint and armor, fell over board. They landed on the safety net with skill, and made sure to keep a hold of their tridents.

The Devils still on board, jumped onto the attacking Viking ship. They found themselves on the safety net instead.

The attacking Viking ship was headed straight for the school still. It had used this moment of heroics to sneak toward the school.

The mighty guns of Devils Sanctuary destroyed this boat, it was held off and considered conquered in an instant. But the men aboard had planned for this.

They threw out ropes before hand. As their ship was rocking back and forth, they shimmied down to the roof of Devils Sanctuary.

Lyndsey had a sweep of the area go out. There were no ships coming to save these lost vikings. Why did they charge for the pendant of the Devils Sanctuary.

She didn't care, she had all guards go out even those in mid school project, to defend.

The vikings knew where to go. The guards found them coming up from the very lowest dungeon with the Pendant in hand.

Caith wondered what was going on. Then he looked out to the East. A Viking fleet had snuck around and was coming from the rear. Caith made no comment on this matter. He wasn't allowed to. He simply followed the vikings as they made the charge. They had the school memorized somehow.

Charging forward, Caith saw that the guards were being dodged at every turn.

This held only one truth, DS had a spy of some kind. Whether it was a transfer student, or an actual spy, the result would be the same.

The Vikings grabbed the pendant with very little challenge.

Caith saw the stairs were filling with guards.

The Vikings went to another room. It was dark, so Caith didn't know what it was. He looked and realized that they were near a door to the bottom level engineering department. A ladder led back up to the next level. It was unguarded.

Aerick saw his brother. He knew there was only one reason for this. With a quick shout, the entire room was filled with sirens. The Vikings charged up.

The Pendent was kept in the head vikings hand. She yelled out orders to capture the engineering crew until needed.

Caith realized that he had to go back to the roof. He charged up the ladders and stairs he knew about quickly.

The Viking Fleet on the rear was close by, but the gunners were busy watching and shooting at the front. Caith ran back down to see how the Vikings below were doing things.

He saw one of the Vikings coming back up. He held the pendent on his armor. But he acted like he was some kind of messenger. Caith was forced to keep running downstairs. The Vikings held the engineering department hostage. The leader claimed she had sent a scout out to check on the fleet. The Devils slowly moved forward, but did not attack.

The engineering rooms had very expensive equipment. Some of which powered the entire school, which included the guns and equipment used to defend against the attack. To be killed in battle meant that the person could not participate in classes fully for a week. They could work on things, but could not finish them. So money was on the line.

The Devils waited for security guns to get a lock. These guns were in every room, sitting silently above the head. The looked like security cameras, but had guns connected.

In the control room, 5 sharp shooters picked out the most dangerous Vikings. They picked them off with ease. They simply kept going until all 23 vikings were down. The guards searched the vikings but did not find the pendant.

"They sent a scout out," said Aerick, "He must have the pendant."

Lyndsey called to her fleet and asked for where he was.

A voice came out.

"We have more to worry about than that," said one of the captains.

The Captain had a camera aiming to the East. Lyndsey saw the fleet. She wanted to panic and scream. She bit her lip and ordered a full reversal.

Caith ran to the rooftop. He yelled for a ride. One of the ships descended and sent a rope down. Caith climbed aboard, as the ship rose and sped toward the rear attack.

The Vikings surrounded the Devils. Although most of the West fleet was captured, the East fleet was ready. The Guns boomed out at the fleets. The Vikings would not back down with such a close score on hand.

Part 5

    Lyndsey Jare the Head Student of the Devils Sanctuary paced. Her spotters were working to get cameras up and ready. The power suits were being put on by the JROTC. The PE students were manning guns, and the many different classes were each doing their important job.

    She cursed to herself that she didn't know about the attack. She had been spying on all the other schools for so long. She was expecting a big attack from Wapato. Any day now, she thought, they should arrive.

    So far though, the Wolves stayed at bay. Their blimps were not being spotted moving forward.

    Mr. Bautze had of course known. As did other members of the staff, but Lyndsey was not. She had to be prepared for an attack at any time. This was a difficult job even now. She cursed again for not knowing.

    The first cameras began to pull up. She saw the attacking fleet. Most of it was moving forward. Only a few stragglers today.

    The art class was the highest up. They were usually on high patrol anyway.

    She switched to their voice link.

    "Advanced Art this is Head Student please respond."

    "He's so dreamy," came Vyska's voice from the background.

    "This is advanced art," came another voice, "we have everything cued up to follow."

    Lyndsey tried to remember the voices name. It was a girl. But whose, she should know this. All Heads know their body parts. She said to herself.

    "Can we get a close up of some of the head vessels," asked Lyndsey?

    "Vyska already has a bead on one," said the voice

    "All is good here," said Vyska, "especially him."

    It was obvious who Vyska was talking about. Lyndsey already knew who Vyska was. The year before, as a sub head student, she had to deal with Vyska's illness and hospital time. The love of Asian boys was well known.

    This particular Asian held a flamberg beautifully built and crafted. The pads seemed sharp yet cushy. The young man didn't wear a shirt, his muscles showed well on him. Lyndsey lost her thinking for just a moment. Just a small moment. She didn't have time for moments like this, but she allowed it.

    "Vyska," said Lyndsey, "keep your bead directly on him."

    "Will do," said Vyska happily.

    Lyndsey touched the orb for the ground guns.

    "Aim at the lit up vessel, it seems to be the head ship."

    "Yes Ma'am," came a clipped response. She knew this was Sam. He loved to talk that way.

    The gun was aimed directly at the point Vyska showed. It moved slowly but surely. The scope showed that the vessel was within range. Lyndsey was ready to attack. Then she had a better idea.

    "Vyska," she said touching the Art Class orb, "I have a deal with you."

    "Yes Ma'am?"

    "If you help target every ship," said Lyndsey happily, "I will give you permission to go look for Asian boys in other schools."

    "Really?!"

    "I promise," said Lyndsey, "I look forward to talking to you about them in fact."

    Lyndsey meant it. Two birds with one stone. She got information about the other schools, and she could get pictures of hot boys. She purred to herself.

    Vyska kept her aim.

    "Gunners," Lyndsey said going back to the PE department.

    "Yes Ma'am?"

    "Prepare for new targets at every light up."

    "Yes Ma'am," said Sam.

    The vessel with the hot young asian boy lit up and went down in mere seconds. Then the next ship lit up, and it went down just as fast. Vyska was a useful girl with a good eye. So long as she was persuaded.

    The vessels began to fall back as wounded. But more were coming.

Part 4

The Devils Sanctuary has a very long military history. This part had stayed the same no matter what type of school it was. The JROTC was legendary for their skills and athletics. The girls in particular were cunning warriors that few expected.

    Vyska was a member of the JROTC, but at the moment, she was in art class. This meant that she and her fellow students would man the observation decks and report back to the schools head students.

    The field guns on the roof were loaded and ready before the dirigibles were even in range. The blimps began to maneuver for position.

    This is when Caith was woken up.

    His boss Scott called him up in the middle of a very nice dream about Caith being the Pink Ranger. The room shook, and Scott's voice could be heard.

    "Caith," said the voice, "Time to wake up and head to DS, they have a battle going on against Selah. Looks like they were caught off guard."

    Caith moved quickly to the bathroom. He showered, dressed, and was ready for the day. He jumped into the hall closet to get to work.

    The newsroom smelled of the last days popcorn fight. Caith didn't have much time to notice. He signed up for his air car, grabbed a camera, and headed out.

    The camera was actually a remote sensing device. Everything Caith would do would be recorded as he tried to get interviews and good shots.

    The air car was ready within 20 minutes of Caith's wake up call. It rose up to 800 feet above the ground and then toward DS at a rapid speed. Caith new it was aiming for the lunch area on the roof. He knew this very well. But he checked everything out to make sure.

    Ever since he landed on an apple tree in the middle of a zombie outbreak, he was cautious.

    The guns had already begun to fire. The loud explosions from the big guns could be heard for miles. They were all fakes. The guns were actually specialized cameras. They were aiming at the ships, and the computers downstairs estimated what was being hit. The clearer the shot, the better the gun aimed. So many of the engineers at the school worked hard to update the lenses and feedback mirrors.

    Vyska saw Caith, but paid no mind. She knew her brother would be there. His job was to record this kind of stuff. She knew he would get a shot of her, but not really show it off.

    That didn't bother her at all. She was busy spotting the different blimps, and what they had loaded up. A large hook and anchor was on one. She knew this was the invasion ship.

    She got a closer look, just to see what the warriors were doing it. This was how she saw him. A hot asian boy stood in Viking skirt and paint. His bare chest and lean figure made her swoon.

    "Do you have a read out on the invading party," asked the art teacher.

    "He's dreamy," said Vyska.

Part 3

The Devils Sanctuary actually improved a great deal from its previous school building. The new building had an underground sewers motif. There was flaming pits around every area, and a giant aquarium right in the middle. Students would look at this and desire to be quenched by all of the water. The cafeteria served on the roof of the building and was entirely open and joyous.

    The large difference between the old and new school was the opinions on windows. The previous school had very few, and most of these were covered up entirely.

    "The students look out too much," was the common reason for covering the windows.

    The new school had plenty of windows. In fact, the teachers demanded more windows. Everywhere you looked, there was something interesting to look at. The aquarium had passageways that would go to many different parts of the school. In reference to how badly students would freak out in the school, they kept large displays with live animals everywhere. This included such things as chickens, goats, cows, horses, snakes, rats, several forms of beetle, and a few odd animals that didn't make any sense at all.

    Near the JROTC room was a family of penguins. They moved and bobbed around the glowing red barcodes for shooting practice. The guns were actually specialized cameras, so no penguin was harmed.

    The tiger was kept near the biology lab, as were the snakes, and the pig.

    If a student looked to any given wall, they would see into some animal areas, and then into another classroom.

    The doors made noises on purpose. They opened into the classroom though. The walls were rounded and red brick. It always seemed to be oozing something.

    By and far, the school looked like a prison, or the very entrance to hell. Inside though, the windows and animals, and sense of adventure kept the students coming to the school. No parent or teacher could deny a transfer if a student felt it wasn't worth it. East Valley nearly lost every single student in one day after the first attempt to restart the school. This was a harsh lesson for the teachers and the faculty.

    The school held an adventurous spirit, and those wishing for daring and fun, applied their services to the school.

    Vyska was an artistic type. She enjoyed sitting and drawing in the school art room. It was large and ready for take off. In fact, sometimes it did. It was discovered early on that building and maintaining dirigibles was a much better and affordable practice and constantly adding onto the school.

    One could tell where a school was, by the many dirigibles circling about in one area.

    This particular morning, the dirigible lifted up. The Devils Sanctuary was on a hill near even higher hills. This always let the art classes to see amazing vistas, and all the rest of the magical Yakima valley. Vyska could see the many schools, and the many downtowns of Yakima.

    The Cascade mountains showed white still. The clouds over them, moved slowly forward, bringing a needed rain. It would keep up the mountains, but be empty by the time it reached them.

    She looked out and saw one of the blimps from Selah slowly move toward them. It had a Viking motif with shields and bucklers on its side. Vyska didn't mind it to much, until she realized it was coming to close.

    "Attack," yelled Vyska, "We are under attack!"

Part 2

    As any given weekday would show, Vyska woke up much earlier then Caith.   Early morning seminary began at 6 AM and Vyska had to be ready for it. She didn't want to be, but Mom insisted she wake up.

    A bucket of cold water hit Vyska. Mom stood over her, realizing she had lost her grip on the bucket.

    "Whasawhosat," yelled Vyska.

    "Time to get up," yelled Mom.

    Vyska stared out at the world. Wondering if she truly deserved any of this. Her bed was a 3 bed bunk bed, though she was the only one who slept on it. The other two beds were covered with stuffed animals of mostly rabbit form. Her clothes were lying on the floor, the clean pile and dirty pile was confusing her mind this early.

    She put on her clothes quickly, it seemed the thing to do.

    Aerick was in the bathroom shaving. The shaver rattled and hummed as it slowly vaporized his facial hairs.

    Mom was moving around, getting everything ready, with Piddles the dog following after her like a bored 3 year old. Mom reached for everything on the shelves, or grabbed buckets to stand on. She was after all a real life Hobbit.

    Aerick got out soon enough, and Vyska quickly jumped into the cleaner. It spat her back out mostly dry once again. Her make up had to be rushed, it was always rushed.

    Mom was in her best teachers outfit, and Vyska and Aerick tried looking casual but formal. Which they all failed at in some way or another.

    Dad wished them all luck as they hopped into the minivan. It didn't start until Mom threatened something under her breath. No one is willing to say what was said to it. It started right off and even seemed to move a little faster then usual.

    Mom taught the Seniors and the Freshman, which meant she had Aerick in her class. He didn't say much on what was being learned. The lesson was Acts 3-5 and was taught very well. Or so Mom says.

    Vyska's class was filled with bubbly teenage girls talking a million miles a second, rarely on subject.

    Finally, Aerick and Vyska headed to Hell.

Part 1

    One rarely ever see their own doom. Most expect some grand horrible struggle against something they saw on TV. The alien monsters, or strange illness that seem to be everywhere.

    Instead, the school system of Yakima was destroyed by a store in a mall. Said store was actually supported by the schools in fact. It was a great idea. A small videogame corner over here, with plenty of bowling and tennis for everyone. And the way to it was through the very polite and kind tutors that knew a great deal about a great deal.

    The student would be passing by the store and immediately desire to play the videogames. The tutors would offer help for classes, even offering to pay the student.

    All the student had to do, was pass a test on a nearby computer. If they did the work asked, they could get paid. The money would go directly to the videogames or something. But the tutors offered to help the student make even more.

    What no one really saw, was that the problems and questions being asked on the computer was actual work. The tutor was outsourcing the student's skills.

    A project needed the exact measurements for a building, what amount of lumber, what amount of logs. The tutor would contract the information, and the student would answer it with pleasure.

    The games were fun, and the students enjoyed going to this place. It was easy to study, when everything you needed was right there.

    The teachers never saw it coming. They even recommended the store. It helped the slower students graduate, and the good students stayed to finish work. The store began to grow in size every month.

    By the time the store had announced that it had gained accredation for classes, it was too late for the schools. All of the students had been using the store before hand, and no longer needed the schools.

    The teachers began to throw strikes and parades in demand of help. People wrote large letters to everyone. Yet, it didn't help. The school system was torn apart before the teachers could even scream.

    The truth be told, the store had been expanding, it needed more room anyway. It hired out the buildings at the schools, and even hired out some of the teachers. Only the contract was different from anything anyone had tried.

    Each teacher would make a tenth of what a student made. The teacher would choose out different projects to outsource. A larger school such as Davis was actually an asset to several companies. The school had a full drama class, stagecraft, film students from YV-Tech and writers for the entire production. All that was really needed was for the lead actor to appear, and for the money to be put in. Davis made billions because of this.

    It became a very important thing for a student to learn everything correctly. Screwing up would mean losing a job, which meant actual money for everyone involved. The leveling system the store had created allowed a student to build up to better paying contracts.

    The stress levels went rampant, as did the science classes. Every other week a new weird or strange monster, or zombie would be created by the student's very boredom.

    The schools began to transform the Yakima Valley into a set of city states. All of Eastern Washington followed. No one in the green part of the state of Washington even noticed. They were too busy trying to figure out where their jobs were going to. 

    The store had already prepared for this. A new form of sport had begun. The schools each had pendants, protected by the noblest of warriors. The size of the school would determine how many pendants the school had. Davis and Ike had four pendants each, where as little Zillah had only one.

    Vyska had never known about this. She was able to count her age on one hand, and did, when the battles began. She took it all in as a normal part of life. The air drills, the shooting practice, the science projects, and the work schedules.

    She had made a good name for herself in art, and was asked for by many companies wanting a picture for a wall. She obliged of course, it got her credit in art class. No one really explained how much she was making off of all of this.

    Her first year in Highschool was quite ordinary, if it hadn't been for her brain surgery. This happened halfway through the school year, and didn't end perfectly.

    Her family worried about her night and day. Her oldest brother spent more time at home to help her recover. He even built a portal between his house, and home.

    The real story didn't even start off until the second year.

    It started with a crush on a phillipino. Vyska pined for him and didn't know why. Finally it began to sink in, that Asian boys were obviously the hottest thing in the world. It was firmly set in her mind on this matter, so much so, that she actually told her brothers about it.

    She was being put to bed one night when she admitted this to Ceitalaatohaun her eldest brother.

    "I think I like guys," she said.

    "Well that makes life easier," said Ceitalaatohaun.

    "I think I like Asian boys," she said.

    "Well, that makes it a little more complex. Could you explain why you know this," said Ceitalaatohaun.

    "Well," she said, "all the boys on my list are asian, or remind me of them."

    "I see," said Ceitalaatohaun, "so you do have a list of boys you like."

    "Of course I do," said Vyska, "There's Bruce Lee, Anakin, Wotan."

    "You named them after mythological figures," asked Ceitalaatohaun?

    "And Ichiro," added Vyska.

    "Thats a strange Pantheon of boys," said Ceitalaatohaun.

    "It's not their real names", said Vyska, "It's who they remind me of."

    "Couldn't they be more modern," said Ceitalaatohaun, "like Renny or Hillderface?"

    "Neither of them are asian," said Vyska.

    "Wotan was a German God," said Ceitalaatohaun, "Anakin was from some weird cult, neither of them came from Asia."

    "So what," said Vyska, "I like them as nicknames Caith."

    Ceitalaatohaun smirked. His sister had such strange logic. She also mispronounced his name. The 'I' wasn't as strong. She had grown up saying both his full and shortened name, but never learned to say them right.

    Vyska was asleep before Caith could reply. Which was good, she had school in the morning, and he didn't.

    Caith walked down the stairs of what used to be his home. He looked over to the left in the dungeon area. One of his old computer systems filled a wall. Then slowly, he walked over to the storage area on the right. Inside of this was a portal, of which Caith never told anyone about. It lead directly to his home, and his crazy roommates.

    As he entered Der Casa from his hall closet, Tuan and Harod were talking about the wonders of marrying Dwarvish Women.

    "They know their way around a fire," said Harod.

    "And they can shave if needed," said Tuan.

    "You would never have dragon problems," said Harod.

    "Which is good," said Tuan, "Because the family would demand you live in a cave."

    "The best part," said Harod, "is that we have no idea where they came from. So that means very little chance of ever dating a cousin."

    "I can agree to that," said Tuan.

    "It's all listed in the holy book of Silmarillion," said Harod.

    "Which puts me at odds with your future in laws," said Caith.

    "Well, there are many things to be said of the Elves," said Harod.

    "Wait," said Tuan, "I thought your Mom was a dwarf?"

    "No," said Caith, "she is hobbit folk."

    "So your entire family is elves and hobbits," asked Harod?

    "I think Dwarf is in there somewhere," said Caith as he reached for the highest shelf to grab a snack.

     They all laughed.

    Caith went to bed, but listened to his roommates talk about the different groups worth marrying. The Norse like Caith and Harod, or maybe the Prits like Tuan. So many different groups mixed in to everyone. It was surprising how many there were.

    Caith fell asleep dreaming of ninjas and demons. Work would have plenty of those the next day.