---

Conventionally speaking, the death or expulsion of students en-masse would be a time of mourning for an scholastic institution.

For Umbra Academy, it was an invitation to celebrate with bombastic enthusiasm, those who passed given a reprieve to revel in their success while the compost heap by the greenhouses got a bit of freshening up. The skies were dotted with fireworks, only to be swiftly overshadowed by actual explosives and displays of bombastic sorcery, and the grounds bellowed carried the heavy perfume of freely flowing wine.
As this chaos swept across the campus there was a circle of relative sanctity amidst a structure styled in the vein of a Roman senate. Tiers of seats arrayed before a central speaker, one who commanded the respect and envy of all who gazed upon her diminutive visage.

”Congratulations to all who have surpassed their limits and rose beyond the success and failure of days gone past to continue to exceed my expectations!” The Headmaster of Umbra declared, her voice echoed through the gaping maw of the demon at her side like a living loud speaker, providing a rumbling cadence to the speech. ”I do hope you can forgive some of our more botanically and necromantic-ly inclined staff for bearing a small grudge to you surviving students, but such is our lot in life. Truly, you aren’t making progress if someone isn’t trying to stick a trowel in your backs.”

She chuckled at her attempt at humor, something which was then distorted to sound more akin to the grinding of metal upon rock till one was born to dust. The Headmaster retrieved a heavy tome from its chain dangling at her side, the leather wreathing in flame upon her touch and roiling with infernal energies only a warlock such as she could find pleasant.

”As a reward for your exemplary performances I’ve arranged for the rest of the day to be open to you off campus. I’ve found you an…interesting playground, so please, enjoy it to the fullest.” Her words warped from congratulatory to sadistic, snickers of impish delight passing between words. The incandescent warp fires of her tome flashed brightly at the apex of a silent spell and disgorged a torrent of flame into the air above her. It drew itself into a thin line, hovering level in place without issue, before spreading open like reptilian eye with a yawning void of inky darkness betwixt the walls of flame.

"Go forth my students, and let your revelry bring the darkness to the hearts of all!" The Headmaster cackled, her open palms raised to the hellscape above with dramatic flair undercut by the put upon exhalation of the demon bound beside her. As the warlock lost touch with reality it shooed them towards the portal with a flicking of its claws.

Among those settled in the archaic designed amphitheater was the Malicious Missionary of the Church of Voguish Rogues, currently his position was among the nose-bleed sections. Fortunately for him that name was not simply a silly nomenclature, as many individuals present among these rafters were bleeding from their noses. This effectively meant that Gary had a free tap of succulent blood to imbibe from, which he was currently doing.

At this moment he held two items, a silver chalice which was filled with blood in his right hand and then underneath his left shoulder he had The Dastardly Book of Dick. The blackened covers bound the profane pages, pieces of human flesh which had the most unholy words etched into piece by painstaking piece by sinister scriveners locked away in solitude until the manuscript was complete. Each page was immeasurable in its value, as they all contained the diabolical doctrine of what it means to be truly evil.

It was no wonder then why Gary kept the book so close to his heart; well that and you never know when some arrogant upstart might try to drive a stake into your heart.

While the speech progressed, Gary allowed his mind to wander of the future work he was destined to do. After all many people were so cursed that they had not even heard of the Dastardly Word of Dick. The Malicious Missionary could not stand to see so many people unenlightened and letting their minds rot under false knowledge leading them astray from the true word of evil. Gary gazed down upon the contents of his chalice and gave it a nice swirl.

The contents of the chalice moved sluggishly as it was an aged blood. Slowly he brought it up to his nose and wafted in the smell, before placing the chalice against his lips and sipping upon the ichor of life. Shortly thereafter Harding began swishing the contents around his mouth before swallowing it.

"Hmph." Gary remarked keeping his thoughts about the blood to himself before placing down the chalice and adjusting his cravat and opening his infernal tome.

"So many are lost, unwelcome and without a purpose. They have not heard the Unholy Word of Dick, and as a result their lives are left deject and destitute. I shall show them, I shall preach from the very mountain-tops and spread Your Word. Amen."

Sporting their favorite outfit, a magenta tracksuit with a matching newsboy cap over their armor, Captain Endemia sat in the highest row of the amphitheater. They had learned early on that students were fond of throwing things, often sharp things which could slip between Endemia's armor and unleash their gifts on the school. While the idea excited the captain, the faculty made it very clear that such an accident would result in expulsion... Out of a cannon... Into the sun. That idea was not exciting.

The captain watched as the other students filed in, and despite their best attempts at subtlety, it was incredibly obvious they were looking. The suit, for all the good it did everyone, had a few flaws such as the helmet being connected to the torso. To look to their sides, the captain had to twist at the waist and the bulkiness of the suit combined with the bright colors naturally drew eyes to their direction. Deciding that it might seem less weird if they spoke to the passing students, Endemia cleared their throat and made an attempt. "Hi... Hello... There's a seat here... Hey..."

Perhaps it was their mysterious aura, or the sound of the speaker, or maybe even their fashion sense; but whatever it was, people seemed to walk faster when passing by the kind and generous captain. Eventually Endemia noticed just how empty the seats around them were, and they slouched into their seat, hoping to make themself less visible. Hopefully the speech would start soon and they could be spared of further embarrassment.

Almost as if their thoughts were heard, the speech soon started and Endemia forgot their shame. The headmaster promised all sorts of fun and excitement but were soon followed by sinister laughter, which honestly was expected. Perhaps the fun would involve lava hot tubs or an eight hour bus ride to somewhere fun, immediately followed by an eight hour bus ride back since the field trip is only a day long.

"Fun. Woohoo. So excited." They struggled with feigning excitement, but even if they managed to pull it off, the suit's speaker would have made it sound the same as this feeble attempt. "Into the portal we go."

Justin and his entourage took up several seats of the area surrounding the lecturer, roughly 4 to 5 rows behind the front row. He was currently accompanied by the Xaphan, the Tarrare and all three of his Albion units, while the pixies remained inside of the device on his back. All of the Albion Units were relatively unequipped, with all of them wielding oversized maces or hammers. Justin's eyes darted around constantly, his disposition clearly paranoid and nervous - he rarely came to the lectures in person, usually sending his pixies to several at a time and reviewing the data they collect later. He only bothered coming this time because it was the end of the midterm - a time for him to see what this horrid place actually offered for reprieve, especially after they had promised the students a field trip.

Pandora was tasked with both recording the speech take place, as well as recognizing any students, and compiling them into a list of those who had passed and failed their midterms. Justin planned to confront one of the professors about what would become of those who had failed, but that would have to be saved for later.

Justin had seen the Headmaster when he had first entered the academy, as well as once of twice on the rare trips he made out of his dorm, and every time he saw her was just as puzzling as the last. He had never seen her not being followed by the massive demon at her side, and she looked roughly around his age - of course, with the supernatural activities underway here, he had no doubt that she had somehow altered her aging process.

The woman proceeded to speak to the students in the same tone of voice he was so familiar with after coming to this academy - lathered in false pleasantries, ranging from a slight to blatant condescending inflection, and doing their best to show off their abilities and talents to a group of impressionable youths. The cackling laughter at the

"Recording paused - Synopsis has been completed. Headmaster, true name unknown. Possesses magical capabilities, seemingly assisted by a spellbook. Effects of spellbook on casting unknown. Accompanied by a large demon, strength and abilities are mostly unknown."

"Thank you, Pandora. Resume recording." Justin muttered, hiding his mouth with his hand.

He wanted to appear like the cool kind of crazy, the mad scientist kind where you lacked morals and lived risky - not the kind where you talk to yourself. The Headmaster quickly adopted a pose, something that the Justin a year ago would have found tacky and pathetic. The Justin now, embarrassed heavily, had done similar poses a number of times before.

"Note: Portal creation has been added under the file titled 'Headmaster.'"

Justin rose, the cold electronic buzzing of Pandora's voice echoing in his ear piece. Even with the Albion's poor AI, they remembered to follow Justin wherever he went, awaiting further orders. All of the robots surrounding Justin quickly followed, forming a tight circle around the boy and mirroring his movements. A small number of students avoided him because of this, but this was less from fear and more from not wanting to be ran into by one of the metallic creatures. Justin ignored them - most of them would end up monsters like the professors at this school, so there was little incentive for Justin to be buddy-buddy with them. Justin's labcoat, the primary aesthetic aspect of his person that denoted his status as a mad scientist, fluttered behind him as he walked at a brisk pace.

A small wire extended from Pandora's box, connecting to one Albion Units neck. the wire fell limp, no longer controlled autonomously - Pandora shifted herself into the Albion unit, and would keep the others from falling apart mentally once they crossed the portal. Justin hadn't designed them to act in foreign environments with no supervision, and he didn't want there to cause a fight. Finally, they were at the portal, and the group walked in, Justin slightly more paranoid now that he didn't have Pandora analyzing everything going on around him at all times. Especially with dozens of villains surrounding him.

---

The aftermath of midterms in Umbra Academy was always hectic and rambunctious; or so Pucca had been told. The imp had only attended the prestigious school for villainy for about a year, so what did she know? Still, a year was plenty of time to gain a reputation for mean streaks. Maybe that was why there was a considerable circle around her sitting spot…pfft, as if! A lot of students had their isolated pockets about them and she was no different. That’s just what was expected for Umbra Academy’s best and brightest.

“But today looks like a total snore fest,” she sighed, hardly paying attention to the Headmaster barely taller than she was. Legs crossed and gaze unamused, Pucca had more fun looking at the chipping paint on her nails than paying any heed to her sad group of peers. But a field trip was still a field trip and all things considered, it was a great way to get some fresh air. And mess with the puny mortals who were just asking for it too.

This brought a grin to Pucca’s lips and she would be among the first to hop on her feet once the Headmaster had finished her speech. “Yeah, sure thing teach. I’ll make sure we’ve got loads of fun for the day~” Skipping down the perilous steps down from the high seats was a daunting task….so Pucca chose to not do that. Instead, she put those wings of hers to use with a dainty float spiraling downwards before landing on solid ground once again.

She didn’t care much if the Headmaster heard her words, or even the tone in her words. It was more liable the villainous bitch would portal them all to the heart of a volcano anyway. Or maybe a front row seat into the blast-zone of some far-off nuke being blown off. But thrill and dangers were no less part of the fun. Walking in eager stride, Pucca casually entered the fire-rimmed portal, wondering how best she could shit on people’s lives today.

---

"Now that I think about it, this certainly was an interesting semester," Eris thought as she sat down for the assembly, trying to remain a safe distance away from any of the biggest weirdos around. In fact, the young Valkyrie isolated an area around her seat to make sure that she wouldn't get in contact with any undesirables as she waited for the Headmistress' speech while fidgetting with one of her feathers.

Immediately after it was concluded, Eris wondered what kind of surprise could be waiting for them. It was very likely to be some kind of practical joke from the faculty; in which case, she didn't feel the least obliged to participate. That said, Eris was even less willing to be reprimanded by not doing so. However, it stood to reason that she waited for some more gullible individuals to bear the brunt of anything on the other side of the opaque portal before doing so, which is exactly what she did, going in right after an impish looking girl.

---

---

"Aah~mm!" Her lips eagerly wrapped around her fork as a small sliver of cake vanished from the untarnished metal. A crumb sticking to the corner of her mouth before immediately being dabbed away with her cloth resting in her other hand for just such an occasion. Truly, nothing could keep her from her devilish dessert as she was hurried along to the auditorium. She walked slowly, cake in hand. Savoring each bite and she followed along the mass of beings eager for a good seat. But she didn't care so much about them; eventually making her way to the side lines sometime in the midst of the demon loli's speech.

Another satisfactory sound escaped her lips with another bite. There were many reasons why each of them were gathered. Some, their bloodlust was easily detectable as they eagerly awaited for their next chance to enjoy themselves. Some were by all accounts bored by the formal speech rewarding our very deeds, and some were filled by a sense of duty or accomplishment. Whichever their case, it was almost of no concern to the cutest little girl in the school. Almost.

One by one, she eyed her peers; watching them traverse the portal into a mystery land of untold pleasure. There was definitely no shortage of variety when it came to her peers. From the unlife, to the demons, to the horrors of the universe; there were no end of the imagination from which these horrors came. Even a few from the human world itself had weaseled themselves into the darkness. Princess was looking for someone unique, someone exciting. Even if it was only for the rest of today, she decided it best to find another to become best friends with. She had grown a bit tired traveling with only Roosevelt at her side. And there was always tomorrow should the person she picked today met with a terrible fate whilst in her company. She had a record of causing misfortune to those she took an interest in; albeit none so far had as much charm as a few of the peers she landed her eyes on in this quick gathering.

With a cheery tune, she skipped into her world of recess through the portal, eager to find her new friend.

Bethany was glad to relax after her midterms. Granted, most of that relaxation was done in the infirmary with second-degree burns, but the nurse had given her permission to go up to the mortal realm, and the demoness was happy to take full advantage. As the portal opened, she thought about how best to create havoc. Her powers were useful, but not very flexible. Conjuring Hellwater wasn't easy- she'd need a rainstorm or more permanent source of water to reach her full potential. Not for the first time, Bethany reminded herself to sign up for the Evil Magic elective and get a broader power base.

She headed into the portal, looking around at the other students who joined her. One in particular caught her eye- a spirit in the form of a little girl. Hime-sama didn't look like evil incarnate, but Bethany had several classes with her and knew that behind the cute exterior lurked a creative deviousness. Just the thing Bethany looked for in a teammate.

"Good to see you, Hime. Shall we work together? I'm certain we can cause more mayhem as a pair than we could apart."

@Oni chan

"Did you hear that, professor? Golly, a field trip just for us!"

"Didn't we agree you wouldn't talk to me?"

The midterms hadn't ended Dr Dreary's relationship with the creature, much to his chagrin. Still, the passing grade had meant he had officially forsworn all responsibility for the thing, so long as he wasn't looking at it when it was doing something stupid. Both teacher and student had the misfortune of sitting in the front rows. Dreary, because he was obligated as a member of faculty to sit in the lowest seats and suffer through the Headmaster's obnoxiously loud speeches. Maricola in the row behind him, because... Well, he guessed it didn't know any better. Speaking of which, hadn't the little monster been a bit too quiet ever since the speech ended?

Dreary looked up from his papers just in time to see Maricola's legs vanish over the railing. "Nothing.", he mumbled as he went back to grading, "I saw nothing."

But wait, he thought to himself, maybe it's not that bad. Maybe it was just trying to reach the portal and forgot that stairs exist. He furtively peered over the railing and oh, yes, it really was that bad after all, why did he expect anything else.

Maricola, dressed in puke-green spandex tights and a white tank top with the words SPACE MONSTAR emblazoned across the chest, was currently trying to force itself down the loudspeaker demon's throat. It was making surprisingly good progress, actually, having already gotten most of it's head and one arm in the mouth.

"Hey~, where does the sound come out? Is there someone insiiiiide~?"

Annatar sat in the audience in rapt attention. While the 'tiny girl with monstrous power' was a worn out, familiar trope, it was Annatar's favorite. Some might call it 'gap moe', but to Annatar, there was nothing more appealing than seeing a cute, tiny, innocent body with the ability to commit atrocities. He loved this school. He loved the headmistress (figuratively, not literally). Though thinking on his semester, he had struggled, though he would never let it show. In the end, in RPG terms, he was a cleric-type: he was at his best when empowering others and providing support. Though his mastery over contradictions and blatant disregard for physical laws let him perform his own brand of magic, he could never hope to challenge the raw talent he had seen in some of his peers. But the synergy of giving them just the push they needed to be truly great, to be truly unstoppable! He thought about his classmates for a bit. There were many promising candidates. He had come to this school with a two-fold purpose. The first was to ascertain if he, by himself, could become powerful enough to take vengeance into his own hands, and his second was, in case the first proved impossible (it did, Annatar wasn't o arrogant as to not see it), he would find allies to exact his revenge for him. After all, no enemy is greater for a magical girl than a dark magical girl. He thought about his classmates for a bit. There were many promising candidates, and he wasn't going to be so conservative that he didn't consider boys as well. The only ones that he probably wasn't going to consider were the vampire, the demoness Angela, the space being, and the walking plague. They were either too old, too enigmatic, or too dumb.

As the speech finished and the portal opened, Annatar transformed into his creature form and hovered over. The dark valkyrie, Eris Reinhardt, caught his eye. A suitably gothic, edgelordy young lady, perfect material for a dark magical girl. Following her through the portal, he meowed to try to get her attention. Girls love meows.

@KoL

---

---

For all these festivities and cheer over making it out alive, there were a few people that had other issues that were impeding them from enjoying this event at its full extent. One of these individuals was Angela. She had managed to pass with just barely enough after one or two sleepless nights writing an essay about her mid-term, fully detailing all the things she did. Thankfully, it was enough to pass, but she would kill for some cof-wait, what was that?

As the headmaster spoke, she straightened on her seat and glanced at the being a couple of rows ahead of her. A goblin, small and green like the rest of his peers, but he didn't matter. What mattered was the plastic cup of the black, energy filled brew. Apparently, they had managed to get into one of those human coffee chains and get that before the meeting. The demon girl had tried one of those before, and they were acceptable.

When the portal opened, Angela stood up and began to move towards it, much like everyone else. She hurried her pace, though, so that her targets wouldn't get too far away and the dark elixir be lost in whatever the headmaster had prepared for them. But she reached them in time. She got closer to the goblin gang and to her target, she lowered herself so that her lips hovered above his ear, and her hand holding the creature's cup by the top part. When she whispered to him, she coated her words with magic: "You don't want this..."

The goblin turned his head towards her, his eyes going over to her face then to the hand resting on his cup of coffee. He gave her one final look, then shrugged and returned to the conversation he was having with his friends. Angela couldn't care less, however. She had what she wanted, so she continued towards the portal at her own pace. Cleaning the rim with her thumb first, she took a sip from the cup. "Capuccino...? Well, it could be worse."

What awaited the ambitious students of Umbra Academy beyond the oculus of the Headmaster's portal?

It was certainly no volcano plunging them into their imminent demise, however tempting that may be. There were a few regulations even the Headmaster had to follow and murdering the majority of the campus' student population was one of them. The fines alone would leave her subsisting on cup noddles for the better part of the millennium.

What awaited them was a night sky cut to ribbons before the arraying of phosphorescent lights rising from a decidedly eccentric city. The air was dry and the wind carrying a chill through the bones of the more brazenly dressed, faint grains of sand carried upon it's caress. This arid landscape was tamed beneath concrete and construction, water pumped from deep below to sustain ostentatious water works in defiance of the natural climate.

Most bizarre of all were the replicas of famed world landmarks in the distance, their forms luminescent in the dark. A great tower of interlocking metal struts rising from a base of four to a single peak. A sphinx molded after the original sandstone marvel. An imitation of Roman villa.

For anyone not born in Hell, it should have been readily apparent where they landed.

"Ahem." The Headmaster emerged from behind them, followed swiftly by the arm of her demon which dropped a saliva coated Maricola onto the unforgiving sidewalk before hastily retreating back to the academy grounds. "Viva Las Vegas."

"Now then, you all are free to roam about and do as you wish. No, I will not be providing you money for the casinos, find that yourself. You are all perfectly capable of lying, cheating, and stealing your way to some decent entertainment. I shall contact you when it is time to return, so enjoy yourselves to the fullest....Oh, and Ms. Endemia? No outbreaks infectiousness enough to cripple the entire city, thank you very much."

With a snap the portal closed shut behind her, and the Headmaster transfigured herself a fanny pack and straw hat to better blend in with the usual bustle of tourists destined to tour the Strip. Whatever the students got up to was none of her business for the near future.

"Heeey, no fair! You can't just leave!", Maricola shouted as the loudspeaker demon beat a hasty retreat back to evil community college. Maricola folded it's armlike appendages and pouted. Steam rose from the creature's epidermis, its three-dimensional flesh regenerating as fast as the loudspeaker demon's corrosive saliva could wear it away. Maricola licked it's hand-fingers.

"It tastes like burning...", the thing mumbled, disappointed. Pulling itself back together, Maricola looked for someone else to play with. None of the other kids looked really interesting, what with their humanlike physiology and hiding all their organs and lack of bioluminescence. But wait!

Was that...

Could it be?

It was!

Maricola's ancestral memory would recognize that ugly little mammalian mug anywhere. It was Uncle Coobie!

Maricola sprinted over and gave the creature currently calling itself Annatar a great big (and slimy, thanks to the loudspeaker demon) slap on the back. Granted, given Annatar and Maricola's current physical states it was less of a slap on the back and more of a volleyball spike directly into the pavement, but it was a friendly volleyball spike directly into the pavement all the same.

"Howzit going, Uncle Coobie? Papa wants to know if you're still working middle management for the kiddy fiddlers!"

@Stern Algorithm

The captain took in the sights and let out a sigh of relief. "Vegas? I know Vegas. This... Could be more exciting but there's no lava so I'll take it." Eager to brag about their knowledge of Las Vegas, Endemia scoped out the crowd to find someone that seemed willing to listen. However, fate often ruins the greatest of plans and two words stopped Endemia in their tracks.

"Ms. Endemia."

"A-Actually, it's Captain Endemia. Putting captain in front of things make them sound cooler. Ms. Headmaster ma'am." And with that, the captain could feel their chance at looking cool disappear. With utter defeat looming over them, they once again looked through the crowd of fellow students and saw someone much like them and the embers of hope were reignited.

It was a girl in an overly frilly dress who the captain had often saw sitting alone, even when people were all around. The pain she felt must have been tremendous as even the captain, who was used to it due to their gift, was hurt by the solitude. Jogging over to the girl, who was being followed by a strange dog (which in turn was followed by a strange child), Endemia waved and called out to her. "Hello! You have a-"

Before they could finish the sentence, the child pounced on the dog. "Err... Never mind that, but I do have a proposition for you." Standing in front of the girl, the captain put out their hand. "I have noticed that you too are unpopular with the other students. Perhaps we could be unpopular together so that we don't have to be alone."

@KoL

So this was how things were gonna be like huh? Nero giggled to himself at the furthest back he could've chosen to sit. The midterms were an experience, I mean hell imagine every one of them here going through that? That would've been a treat to have watched. His eyes glanced at the classmates around him, slyly combing his hair into a better shape than it already was. This was all very alluring he couldn't lie, before his semester here he had never really dabbled with the voodoo and the hellfire creations and whatnot. Honestly this was right up his alley like something out of a book.

Leaping to his feet with a huge grin on his face, he waltzed through the portal with gusto and an excited giggle again. Passing through he stood proudly, looking out amongst his peers with a sparkle in his eye. He couldn't belive his eyes. His long dark coat and dark green sweater didn't really go well in this environment, hell even in hell he was considered to be overdressed and people were amazed he could cope in the heat.

"Yo! Who would've thought we would be allowed to go out here!" He did a little jig before calming himself down and looking between his colleagues in education. "Wonder how much time we got, anyone wanna hang and check this place out??"

"Perhaps, I should have waited a little more," Eris thought as a number of other students flooded the path leading to the portal, prompting her to step away from this rabble before they damage her clothes.

A disgusted snarl came to Eris' face when she caught a certain sight from the corner of her eyes. Angela, one of the few individuals on this school that Eris had a bit of respect for, stealing a goblin's coffee and drinking it. "What's the point of having a good sense of fashion if you are willing to lower yourself to the level of a mutt?" the young Valkyrie thought before she crossed the portal, unwilling to stand such a disgusting display for any more time.

Right after doing so and finding herself in a completely unexpected place, Eris noticed a strange looking creature meowling next to her feet. "What do we have here?" she said as she turned her gaze towards the creature. However, before Eris could reach forth and pick it up, a whole other retinue gathered around her, with one of them going as far as going out of his way to slander her before proposing an outlandish partnership.

"What in the world gives you the right to go out of your way to slander people like that? Don't come near me again if you know what's good for yourself," Eris said with an offended voice before turning on her heels and leaving. The silver-haired girl didn't even care for the critter following her; if it wanted something, it would find a way to reach her later. Now Eris had to think about what to do on a place such as this one.

"First things first, though," Eris thought as she snapped her fingers, turning her clothes into a more appropriate night dress, along with matching accessories and a shiny, black credit card. Being rich might not help you in battle, but it does have its advantages, as long as your parents don't ask why you were burning their money in a place like this when you aren't even old enough to go into a casino.

---

---

Surprise, surprise, the Headmaster hadn’t sent them careening off a cliff into oblivion. It made sense since Pucca saw the midget trodding along behind their class but she still would have preferred that alternative. It’d be a nice chance to see how many of these idiots could actually fly. And what a bunch of weirdos they all were, Pucca snickering as she took in the lot of them. No wonder the majority were a bunch of anti-social sociopathic freaks. Perfect for a night of mischief and mayhem.

Given the location they had been brought to, that was exactly what was planned, Pucca whistling sharply as the Headmaster announced their arrival. Vegas, huh? Yeah, she could think of eleven different ways she could start a party, twelve if she was being bashful. And since their Headmaster had decided to just plop them in the middle of busy Vegas, there was no doubt someone would be recording the random portal apparition on their phones. Well, at least she didn’t need a disguise. There were all sorts of strange people in Vegas after all.

“Nice going teach. Betcha you’ll fit right in with the locals for that fanny pack of yours,” Pucca sneered with a toothy grin, uncaring if the midget actually heard her or not. Insults only brought her so far in giving her amusement so the imp swiveled her gaze elsewhere, eyes narrowing under the harsh neons that shined and flickered in the city. What she saw instead was most of her class gathering around the resident prim princess and her promptly telling them off for personal space. Well, it was just one person but same difference.

Had that been the end of it, Pucca would have probably skipped elsewhere to find some lovely targets to mess with. But her eye caught the brief flash that informed her of a credit card. In no time, Pucca was beside the newly dressed Eris’ side whether she liked it or not, flashing the same grin Eris was no doubt used to dealing with. “Hey there, Edgelord. Couldn’t help but notice you’ve got a fancy little card there. See, demon eyes are used to seeing filth so I just wanted to let you know, you know?”

Pucca was grinning now, her teeth sported to show off the sharpness of her canines. All the same, she moved to wrap an arm around the other girl; if Eris allowed it, Pucca’s smile would only grow two times bigger. “I saw all the dirt and grime piled up on your credit card and I just know how much you despise unclean things. So why don’t you let a grinning trash can like me fix that right up for you, eh? I’ll clean it free of charge!” Her offer now in the air, Pucca waited for her plan to manifest.

---

Flick’s eyes were unfocused as she sat in the middle of the auditorium near the back. Looking to all the world like a distracted school girl, Flick was ‘watching’ the rest of the auditorium. Antennae twitching the world outside her natural field of vision was indistinct, people appeared painted as if with watercolours and the colours themselves were washed out to match. Still, Flick took notes of each student that went through the principal’s portal to an unknown location. Trying to get some idea what their personality was from their actions and gait. Were any of them cut from the same cloth as her? Did they walk like someone who had brute forced their way through? Did they use guile? Did… did they just annoy everyone into submission? Flick turned her head and tried to discern the nature of the idiot trying to be eaten before just blinking and ignoring it. Watching the class bottleneck at the entrance to the portal, Flick elected to stay in her seat. Once the crowd had died down and she didn’t immediately hear people scream bloody murder from the other side, Flick walked down and stepped on through the portal.



A world of flashing neon appeared in front of Flick’s eyes and around her, outside most other’s vision, an animated Monet painting sprung to chaotic life. It was enough to make Flick wish they had been transported to a volcano. Turning on a dime Flick tried to walk back through the portal, only to find it had been closed off. Teeth clenched, Flick closed her eyes to no avail as he antennae continued to provide details of the world around her, forcing her focus their panoramic vision to overlap with her normal gaze, mitigating the headache a lot.

This town is just so damn loud and bright! I just need to… shut… it… up… Flick’s thoughts quickly coalesced into a plot. Clicking her tongue, Flick knew she couldn't get what she wanted alone. Eyes darting around, Flick’s face suddenly split into a wide grin and walked up behind the little imp all but begging the rich girl for her credit card.

“Hi there… you want to make some real money, Pucca? You see, I want to be able to look around this road lit by neon and not want to tear my eyes from their sockets. You want to make money. So, on my end, I’d love some help in knocking out the power for this entire strip of neon lit casinos. The lights go down and if there happened to be any back-up generators that ended up not working thanks to a mischievous imp… well that would be a shame. And if none of the power comes back on, I can imagine that we can figure out a way to crack some safes and nab some valuables.” Clearly speaking for any of the group to hear, Flick tried to entice as many as she could with the sole goal of getting the damn lights turned off. If things went well after that? Well, that’s just icing on the proverbial cake. If they didn't? Well nothing a bit of old fashioned 'smash and grab' robbery can't make up for. Getting in front of Pucca, Flick looked down at the imp summed up her wants in a simple phrase.

“Do you want to do a heist with me?”

As they exited the portal, Pandora was already moving before Justin had a chance to acclimate himself. The Albion unit quickly attached itself to Pandora's Box, uploading the AI back into it's original home. Then, a fraction of a second later, a headset emerged from behind Justin, gently placing itself over his eyes.

"Analysis complete: - Cross checked local landmarks and used your GPS location, destination of portal appears to be Las Vegas, Nevada. Note: 'Portal creation' under the 'Headmaster' file has been updated to 'Transdimensional Portal Creation.'"

Snapshots of the city flickered across Justin's eyes, before showing a computer-generated earth, quickly zooming into the location that they were sitting in. The headset was removed, and the entire process took less than ten seconds. It didn't really matter, since the Headmaster announced their location only a few seconds later. Justin sighed, happy that he managed to program Pandora to automatically search for information like this, but somewhat disgruntled that he was subjected to it every single time. Looking around revealed that every person at the auditorium was present in the city, albeit some were shaken and others were attempting to pair up with one another.

Under different circumstances, Justin would have been more than willing to update his files on his other classmates - they were woefully underdeveloped due to the lack of exposure he had with them, and knowing their abilities would definitely help in the event a test pitted them against one another. However, there were more important things at hand.

"Pandora, this is a rare trip to the Human world - Take the Xaphan and the Pixies, and collect as much material as you can - wiring, steel, concrete, gold, anything you can. Money would also be appreciated, but is not necessary. Be as inconspicuous as you can, and only land to collect resources. Use flight pattern Dalet, and dump any materials at a hidden location when you have lost those following you. I'd recommend the surrounding desert."

"Very well."

A small wire connected the Xaphan to Justin, before falling limp and retracting once more. As this happened, the pixies escaped their confinement, quickly flying to surround the Xaphan, almost certainly Pandora informing them that they would use flight pattern Dalet. Soon, the Xaphan took off, the Pixies moving quickly to follow. Normally, Justin would worry about sending his precious Xaphan to do common thieving, but flight pattern Dalet involved losing law enforcement by simply flying above the clouds and high enough that ground level people couldn't make them out. Justin gently rubbed his finger against the recall button on Pandora's Box, careful not to press it - he was paranoid without her presence, and he just wanted the security of knowing he could call her back at a moments notice.

Looking to his classmates, he tried to analyze the situation on his own, something he had grown rusty at without Pandora whispering in his ear. He recognized the majority of them, but several seemed like the types to rarely ever show up to classes. One of the goblins, Noko, was standing around with several others of his kind. He was agreeable, kind even - almost certainly due to his weak physique and general lack of power. Still, he managed to make it halfway through the year, and Justin was far from willing to trust the creature with anything valuable. It had one time broke a Pixie and stole parts to fuel his coffee addiction...

One group seemed to be composed of several, somewhat polarizing beings - a small cat-like creature, the Dusk Valkyrie Eris, one of the imps from hell, Captain Endemia, Maricola, and a bug like girl. Justin had no clue who the cat creature or the bug girl were, and while the imp seemed familiar, there were just too damn many of them in hell for Justin to recognize them individually.

The Dusk Valkyrie had a pretty bad personality, so Justin did his best to avoid her - the main reason he remembered her was from faculty talking about a particular set of images that she sent to her professor rather than taking the midterm. Still, the card she held in her hands seemed to be making her especially popular at the moment. Justin might have been enticed, until he remembered he was a villain, and villains were not above stealing what they wanted. The Captain, however, had a weird place in Justin's rankings of his classmates - they were copying the super villains rather than the more supernatural, which Justin approved of greatly. However, Justin couldn't tell their gender, and not being able to use pronouns may have been easy for Pandora, but Justin found the practice too bothersome. Still, better than Eris insulting people - Justin had thankfully managed to avoid her scorn for most of the year.

Maricola was easy to deal with, and he had several conversations with her about Omegaman in the past. When Justin's brother got accepted into a superhero team, he always bragged about the missions where his team worked with the amazing hero, and Justin had built a decent collection of knowledge about the man. Still, this girl was almost obsessive over the man, and most conversations that they had about him were very one-sided. Still, at least she was nice. Probably the nicest of his classmates.

The other people in the class completely evaded Justin's acknowledgement - he had no clue who they were, and would have to hope that they wouldn't try to start trouble. With little motive to engage in conversation, Justin instead moved to an unoccupied bench and began to tinker with the Albion unit. It would likely achieve nothing, but it helped Justin ignore the large number of people surrounding him, and might dissuade the other villains from picking a fight with him.

Justin noticed Nero speaking to the crowd as a whole, and quickly made his way to avoid him - he was cautious of electric users, and had been sure to learn the names of any he finds. He ended up resigning himself to a nearby bench, tinkering with one of the Albion units in order to pass the time.

And so it had happened, the dark portal had brought them to their destination. Sin City. A place known for vice over virtue, where drugs moved as freely as the colorful chips people exchanged their materialistic currencies for in an attempt to obtain more materialistic currencies. It was a place full of dangers, both seen and unseen.

But for the Malicious Missionary this decadent ground of deviants was a veritable garden in which to convert others to the word of Dick. However even here there were dangers to his kind.

Born and molded by the darkness, Gary Profusmo Harding did not care for the gaudy neon signs. They would bend time in such a way that would cause patrons to forget day from night, and Gary wouldn't, no couldn't, make that mistake. Clutching his Unholy Book under his left shoulder he adjusted his flowing cravat which complimented his dark attire which was only chic many centuries ago. His crimsons eyes took stock of his fellow classmates while his mind wandered on the converts possible here.

With that he made his mental notes and progressed to the individual known as Nero. He offered a small and a nod to the boy as he opened up his unholy tome.

"We have as much time as the Most Malicious Power, the Truest Evil, He of the Dastardly Word of Dick, provides us. With that time we are blessed to live a life of pure, wholesome, unadulterated evil and to best serve out His Will. So yeah come on let's rock and or roll Sin City and the sights it has." remarked Gary as he threw his right arm around Nero's shoulder and began walking off towards the nearest door to some casino.

"I'll show you a good time which only a Missionary of the Church of Voguish Rogues can provide...Oh." He paused in his steps as he glanced around, "If you wish to bring others from the crowd along, feel free, I will wait before providing a full service. But do not dally I am most positive there are many others in this city who need the guiding Dastardly Words of Dick in their lives now so they can truly understand what it means to be evil."

@Scallop