Chapter 22: The Honey Bear
Bree watched as her class began moving the plants they had made outside, having shown them how to properly pot them she was now going to have them plant them in the ground. As Kipos plant had run away, Jaspers was too bloodthirsty to touch, and Lester's had been a bomb the trio had instead been tasked with helping B lug his windmill out of the building.
The rest of the class gathered on the other side of the building with their plants in hand, across from them they could see the seventh-year honor students in the middle of a lesson with Professor Sweets.
"...as you can see, this enchanted honeysuckle produces Sickle honey, while very sweet this honey is known to attract dangerous ferals like Honey Bears, as such if you ever see one on the school grounds report it at once so it can be removed properly, improper removal attempts will result in the plant spraying you down with the very honey it creates,"
A Man with a pair of rectangular spectacles was standing before a planter box with a glass dome around it, showing off several examples of golden flowers dripping with honey. His students had a mix of interest and boredness as he spoke in long uninterrupted sentences with no one asking any questions.
"Not looking forward to that come year eight," Jasper muttered at the bored look among the students.
"That's only the honor class," Kipo noted "I'm fairly sure us being put in the troubles class disqualifies us from honors courses in our seventh and eighth years,"
"Maybe for you chumps," Leroy chuckled.
"You know you're not the only person of royal persuasion in the school," Bellamy said irritably "I'm pretty sure most of the students here are royalty or nobility and some of them come from bigger and more important places than Oasis, and they still have to repeat a grade when they fail," Leroy made no noticeable notion that he had heard Bellamy and continued leaning against the wall of their greenhouse.
"I hate him," Bellamy said to Chancy irritably as the duo worked together to move Bellamy's armored bush "I hate him so much,"
"Some people are just jerks because they find it funny to be a jerk," Chancy told him simply "He was born a jerk, and when he's held back a year he'll find a way to be a self-righteous jerk about that to,"
Bree watched and stood on stand-by as B's Windmill made it to the side of the building and into view of the Honors class.
"Professor Sweets," The Corgi girl Bree had seen at the sword fight called out, she raised her hand and Professor Sweets ignored her as he continued his lecture on the enchanted honeysuckles "Professor," She repeated to no avail, the third time she called out Sweets pointed at her.
"Interrupting the teacher," He said without care "See you in detention, Miss Heather,"
"Yeah sure who didn't see that coming," She said with an eye roll "What is that thing and why have I never seen one before?" The honors class turned to the trouble class and B didn't hesitate to explain.
"It's a windmill made out of magical flowers," He declared proudly "Ain't it spectacular!?"
"Not nearly as spectacular as my electrical picture plant,"
"The windmill's better! it doesn't try to taser and eat you," B countered.
"Yours has no use in a fight," Jasper countered.
"Of course not," B agreed, 'it's a flower windmill for heaven's sake,"
"I dunno you could probably chuck it at someone," Bree pondered, imagining herself dropping on on Odrin "That would be kind of funny, although it would most likely destroy the windmill,"
"Our Bonsai Trees are the best," The Twins countered, jumping into the conversation out of nowhere, "They are the most visibly pleasing of all the plants to look at,"
"This thing is just a bush-shaped hunk of metal," Bellamy muttered as he looked at his metal shrub "I guess it could be used as a short mace?" Bree took a step back and watched as most of her class fell apart trying to decide whose plant would win in a fight.
"Excuse me," Professor Sweets called out, Bree turned to him while her class continued arguing.
"Oh you must be Professor Sweets," Bree noted "Nice to meet you, I'm…"
"I'm attempting to conduct a class," He cut in "Please leave,"
"Not even surprised anymore," Bree muttered in response to his casual rudeness in cutting her off, "I'm afraid I'm conducting a class as well, that one, right over there with all the students,"
"First-year students are not permitted to handle plants," Sweets informed her "They watch, they learn, they study, and mid-way through year two they are permitted the use of basic magical plants," He pointed towards the windmill as he spoke "That is at least a year four level of study, to hand out rare magical plants with so little care is an inexcusable display of incompetence and…"
"Then it's a good thing I didn't hand them out," Bree cut in, "I taught them how to grow them and they used their natural magic to bring those plants to life,"
"Nonsensical drivel," Sweets bit back, giving Bree the feeling he just likes to use long complicated words to sound superior "Such a poor subterfuge will get you nowhere in life,"
"They fuck is a Subterfuge?" Bree demanded.
"I'd explain it to you but I feel no need to bother with a sub who shan't be here come the next morning, I'll be writing a scrupulous report to the headmistress and shall be requesting your immediate expulsion from the grounds,"
"Yes she told me how you went crying to her when you heard I was going to be teaching one of your honors classes and had me moved to the troubles class," Bree shrugged "So if I am teaching them things too high for their grade it's because you had me shoved down to them and it's all I had prepared," Bree smiled "So this is all your fault,"
"Excuse you," Sweets looked at Bree angrily and Jasper cried out with a woot.
"Teacher fight," He demanded "Knock the big words right out of his mouth,"
"Detention for you young lad," Sweets said sharply.
"Do you even know my name?" Jasper countered, Sweets gave no reply and the rest of Brees' class joined in upon realizing Sweets didn't know any of them and would have a hard time serving them a detention and forcing them to attend it.
"Look at this," Sweet said motioning to her class "Your class is a pathetic example of your own leadership skills, as a respectable instructor I must put you in your place," Bree watched as Sweets rolled up his sleeves only for the Corgi girl named Heather to cry out.
"Professor Sweets," She called only for him to turn to her with a glare in his eyes, she shivered fearfully under his gaze but continued on her determined path to warn him "I hate to alarm you, but that lady participated in a fight with Swords master Marcus, and proceed to mop the floor with him using only grass and flowers,"
Sweets stood his ground for a moment before slowly rolling down his sleeves "I do apologize for bothering you ma'am," He said with a bow "Please forgive my interruption to your class," Bree was impressed at how casually he admitted defeat and walked away.
"Points for not being petty about it," She decided before turning back to her class and watching as they began digging into the ground, B attempted to use his wind magic to dig a hole and promptly lost his lunch and his footing.
"Whoa, Lizard Perv down," Jasper called out, The Two twins looked to B and then went back to their plants while Chancy and Bellamy helped him back up.
"Wha happund?" B asked, his eyes swirling with nausea as he barely managed to stay standing.
"You over-drew your reserves you mook" Chancy chuckled back "You know, on the Windmill, you'll be magically out of it for at least the rest of the day,"
B's reaction to this was about what Bree had begun to expect from the Lizardman as he simply got to his feet and began digging with his claws, in no way deterred about the temporary loss of his magical powers.
Bree left B to his determined digging and instead looked out across her students before frowning, noticing that she was down two parts of a trio.
"Lenny," She called out in an exasperated tone "where are Lester and Leroy?"
The only remaining triplet looked up, having been trying to figure out a way to use his light magic to help him dig.
"Oh no," He said in despair when he saw his brothers missing. "Not again," Bree shook her head.
"Never mind, just go back to digging, I'll find them myself," Bree walked away from her class and looked around for her two troubled students, she quickly found them thanks to her hearing, and walked casually to Professor Sweets.
"Um, Hello Ma'am," he said, immediately cutting off his lecture mid-sentence "Is something the matter Ma'am?"
"Two of my students seem to have snuck around us when we were having our little argument and have made off with several of your plants," She said as she opened up the planter box with ease, showing the built-in lock had been picked open.
"I see," He said before turning to his class "Everyone please evacuate to the school immediately and inform the caretaker that we are in danger of a feral Honey bear attack," He pointed to the school as he spoke "Move fast and move now please," Sweets class showed no hesitation in rushing towards the castle.
"Do you know where they are?" Sweets demanded "Sickle honey has a faint succulent sent and those boys will be seen as just as succulent to any Honey bear as the honey itself,"
"I'd put them at being just at the shore of the lake," Bree responded her ears twitching slightly as she honed in on them "there planning to sell it for some coin, and are seemingly unaware it attracts Honey Bears from the sounds of it," Bree was about to move when a putrid sent hit her nose.
"What smells like rotting meat and sewage?" She demanded, holding onto her nose to try and block out the sent as her eyes began watering "It burns,"
"Have your class fall back now," Sweets said as the earth at his feet broke from the ground and he made a throwing motion before he and his chunk of land was sent hurtling towards the lake.
"You heard the man," She said as she fell to her knees, the horrible stench making her eyes water themselves to near blindness "Move out,"
"Let's move," Jasper said, he, B, and Hana being the only ones not affected by the horrendous smell that was beginning to encase the school grounds. Bree forced herself to her feet.
"You three get your classmates to safety, I have to go make sure my other two students don't get themselves killed," Bree hovered wobbly in the air and shot off towards the lake.
"And she can fly," Hana noted as B gleefully helped the two twins to their feet "Man she knows like every kind of magic, it's crazy,"
Bree flew towards her destination wobbily, hit the ground a little too hard on landing and falling over in the process due in no small part to the smell burning away at her nostrils causing her eyes to wetten to the point of near blindness.
"Oh I hate this so much," She decided as she cleared her eyes as best she could and found Leroy and Lester laughing, they came to a stop and Bree blinked, the horrible smell suddenly gone as she got closer to them.
"Hey, I found these on the ground," Leroy said immediately "Fair game, you can't take them or I'll have my father arrest you for stealing from royalty,"
"So what? You gonna have him arrest the Honey Bear when it eats you?" Bree questioned as Professor Sweets landed behind them.
"And you beat me here," He noted "Incredible speed ma'am, you two drop those now,"
"No way," Lester laughed "We're gonna be rich, I mean even more so than we already are of course,"
"No idiot would every buy Enchanted Honey Suckle from two kids, if anything they'd just scream and start running because unprocessed enchanted HoneySuckle is like a giant red flair for Honey Bears,"
"That's just an urban myth," Leroy chuckled.
"I think the term is an urban legend," Bree noted.
"If there was a Honey bear, I'd just kill it," Leroy punched the air "Because as prince of oasis, I am the strongest, fastest, smartest, and overall better than a couple of smuck pesents teaching at a dingy school, now move aside peasant,"
"There aren't enough words in the Tricontinental Dictionary to describe how much trouble you two are in," Sweet said simply as the ground began shaking slightly. "It's coming," He noted.
"What does a Honey Bear look like?" Bree pondered as she looked to the forest, after a moment she turned her ring back into a staff and encased the two trouble makers in a barrier as they attempted to sneak away.
"They look like nothing," Leroy chuckled. "Cause they ain't real, I've never seen one and I ain't never met someone who has seen one," None to far from the group the edge of the forest began shaking as the thick grove of Trees were slowly smashed away.
"We don't have much time," Sweets said as he rushed to the barrier holding the two twins in "The enchantment hiding the school won't keep it at bay for long," The water from the lake formed a hand and Bree dropped the Barrier and Lester and Letory where forcefully dunked beneath the water in an attempt to remove the sweet smell of Sickle honey from them, Bree meanwhile used levitation to swipe the Enchanted Honey Sickle and made sure to avoid touching it, not wanting an atomic lake swirly herself.
Upon being thoroughly soaked Sweets tossed the two parts of a trilogy onto the shore.
"Leave now," He demanded "We'll deal with your punishment after the Honey Bear is taken care of," Bree ignored the two boys as they lay on the shore when a Tree was flung at her, she moved out of the way but the Enchanted Honey sickle was knocked away and with it gone, it's sweet scent was replaced with the Honey Bears Putrid scent, Bree and Sweets both fell to their knees as the beast approached, it had the body of a bear, the head of a bager, and a massive skunks tail, it was easily three times larger than Orion, and had two sets of upper arms.
"Lox Lotum," Bree gagged out as she put her hand to the ground, thorned vines shot from the ground and attacked the Honey Bear, it didn't react to the piercing vines and instead sniffed the air before plowing through the painful thicket.
"Honey Bears can't feel pain," Sweets notified her "It doesn't stop until it's died,"
"One part Grizzly bear, one part Honey Badger, one part Skunk, and one part Nake mole rat, what an odd creature," outloud Bree said nothing and instead took a deep breath and spat out a torrent of Golden Flames, hoping to burn it enough to cause muscle failure, instead the fires only made the smell infinitely worse, now accompanied by the smell of burnt rubber.
"Oh regret," She decided "So much Regret about that," Bree attempted to get to her feet, only to be grabbed by a flaming hand, the fires did nothing to her, nor did the claws, but being next to its mouth was hell. The Honey Bear sniffed her and was about to lick her to see how she tasted, when a scream got its attention.
"Magic be damned," B screamed out as he slammed face first into the Honey bear's side, his axe-like horns cutting into its skin, running in behind him where Jasper and Hana, the only other ones immune to the Smell for reasons Bree had not yet figured out.
Jasper raised his hands and the water form the lake formed a chain and struck out at the Honey Bear, lashing it across the face, it did very little damage, but succeeded in gaining its attention as it turned to do an odd barking growl at the lake and dropped Bree, B was still screaming as he gripped into it's side and slashed away attempting to cause a mortal wound, Bree noted that despite his efforts he was barely breaking the top layer of skin past his initial momentum filled attack.
Hana helped Bree to her feet.
"How is that smell not bothering any of you?" Bree demanded as she tried not to gag, barely able to see Hana as her tears blocked her vision almost entirly.
"Hobgoblins can turn off their sense of smell," Hana replied sweetly, "Jasper was born without one, and B's race hail from Honey Bears infested swamps, they find the creatures to be a delicacy so the rancid smell only makes them ravenously hungry," Bree turned to look at B and noted he was just biting at the top layer of skin instead of using his horns for more devastating attacks.
Jasper snapped and filled the watery chain with electricity, doing nothing to the Honey Bear and causing B to shoot off like a firework, the Lizard man rolled across the ground, got to his feet, and ran back, still swearing magic to damnation for his inability to use it.
"You idiots done?" Hana asked as Jasper repeated his attempt to electrocute it and laughed as B was once again flung off.
"Oh come on let me launch the Lizard Perv once more time, it's hilarious," Hana took a deep breath as she gingerly put her hands around Bree's head to cover her ears, Bree was shocked to find her amazing hearing was completely shut off, she watched as both Jasper and B quickly dropped everything to protect their ears, suddenly the world around Bree began violently shaking and Sweets promptly covered his ears and rolled away from Hana as the Honey Bear started to frothing at the mouth, after a second the shaking stopped and Hana released Bree, now breathing heavily.
"Sub sonic scream," Bree noted as the Honey Bear screeched in rage as its ears began bleeding "I see you've defend it, meaning I doubt you screaming at it will do any more good," Bree watched as the Honey Bear swung around in confused anger.
"I was lead to believe this thing was dangerous," Bree turned to Sweets as she spoke "But that creatures only real attack is that putrid smell," Instead of an answer she found Sweets laying on the ground, feebly trying to get back to his feet.
"The Honey Bear's stench can cause paralysis if inhaled for too long," He managed to say before falling back to the ground "The closer you are the worse the effect,"
Bree looked to Sweets, then back towards the Honey bear before groaning.
"Annie," She suddenly realized "This thing is causing me emotional harm, could you…" Bree stopped talking as she felt Annie Run past her.
"Annie?" Hana asked in confusion when a loud thud drew her attention back to the Honey Bear, who had been relieved of its head and now lay dead on the ground.
"I apologize, my lady," Annie said as she flicked blood off of her needle "I was in the bath, please forgive me,"
"Oh I could never be mad at you Annie," Bree coued sweetly, "And no real harm came of anyone, thank you for your aid, you can return to our room," Annie bowed and shot off back to the room faster than anyone could see.
"What was that!?" Jasper demanded in confusion as he looked to either of his classmates for an explanation, B was busily devouring the now deceased Honey Bear, already finished with three of its four arms. While Hana was looking at Bree with a smug look.
"I suppose when you're lonely a Doll is a good substitute for company," She chuckled.
"I have many loyal followers," Bree replied "Annie is one of my oldest ones, used to be more street punk back in the day but the maid outfit is just adorable, now please get poor Sweets here to the aid of the school nurse or whatever fasimil you have while I go deal with the ones who caused this stupid problem," Bree shot off at high speeds and came to a stop in front of Lester and Leroy, who had made a break for it as soon as the Honey Badger had appeared.
The two ran into Bree at full speed, clearly trying to brute force their way past her, She proceeded to flip them both over her and had them land none too softly on their rear ends in a sitting position facing her.
"How about the three of us go pay a visit to Headmistress Mila?"