Pantheo High: Enrollment

Fight or Flight. Why Not Both?

As they were surrounded, Psyche noticed these 'dragons' were nothing like B:

In terms of size, they were a bit larger, with rough, coarse, pond scum green scales that resembled the creases of mountain ranges. They had crusty looking beaks, beady black eyes and a small row of teeth on the bottom half, with yellow eyes that glowed like lanterns and facial features that resembled crows. They had the same body frame as B, but with a few key differences.

Their wings were more avian than reptilian, with jet black feathers that occasionally fell as they flapped their wings. They had four legs, with the hindlegs resembling some kind of wild cat that had dirty grey fur with black spots, and forelegs that resembled the legs and talons of an eagle, the claws gleaming ebony black. Their stench was akin to how stray dogs smelled after a rainstorm. As Psyche and B were confronted with the rabid creatures, Psyche held onto B's goat horns to keep herself from falling off her back as B flew upward into the sky. As the air around them thinned, the four beasts tailed them, snapping their beaks, swiping with their talons and making a noise that sounds like a cross between the caw of a crow and an elderly man's wet cough. As they speed closer to B's tail, she curls up and spreads her wings to stop herself. Psyche felt the sudden stop and got flung up into the air. She flails her arms looking down and seeing B's back and neck light up a dim shade of white, her mouth fuming with black smoke before spitting out a white-hot fireball. As the bright flaming projectile flew through, the creatures scrambled away, flapping their wings away as the fireball passed by them, leaving them with singed wings and manes. They cawed in protest and flew upward as Psyche landed on B's back, barely gripping on her horns as the dragon darted to the side. As B flew at increasing speeds, Psyche was screaming, her legs flailing about as she made sure to grip on her horns. As they flew, B looked behind and saw that the creatures were gliding with their singed wings, courtesy of B. But they were still tailing them, the only difference now being they look even more terrifying with their slightly flaming feathers, and a lot more pissed, cawing angrier with a slight growl. She turned her head back as Psyche clamped her legs on the dragon's back, shouting to make sure B could hear her. 

Psyche: WHAT ARE THOSE THINGS?!

B: Gryphons!

Psyche: I thought gryphons were half eagle!

B: Uh, new update? 

Psyche: What?!

B: Any suggestions?

The gryphons start closing in on them, flapping their wings even more to gain speed. Psyche looks down at the forest, filled with interconnected burrows. She points down.

Psyche: Dive there!

B nods and descends into the forest, where she does her best to dodge and turn the trees that were blocking their way.

Have you ever played a flyer simulation? Where it was in your point of view as the pilot, and you had to navigate through the obstacles in front of you without smashing into any of them? The faster you go, the harder it is to keep track of the obstacles, as if they were being flung in front of you, when in fact you speeding up to it. Got a picture? Now imagine doing all of that, with the loud whistling wind blasting on your face amidst all of this? And all while dodging and overtaking ATV's with dwarves flashing out their smartphones to take videos. That's what it was like. 

As they dodged and weaved through the forest, the gryphons appeared at either side of B and started ramming their bodies onto her like bumper cars, all while scratching at her and cawing. B growls and snaps at them. Psyche climbs up even further up B's neck using her horns. She pulls herself up and looks ahead, just to see a forest, littered with burrows that are barely the heights of pick-up trucks. Psyche squinted to look at the situation, and her eyes light up. She then looks down at B and starts shouting at B's right side.

Psyche: B!! ON MY COUNT FLY INTO THE FIRST BURROW YOU SEE!! ONCE WE'RE INSIDE, ON MY MARK, MAKE A SHARP TURN AND FIRE!!

B: WHAT?! NO, WE ARE NOT-

PSYCHE: JUST CATCH ME WITH YOUR LEGS!!

B winces as she takes the damage from the gryphons, being bumped around like the ball in a pachinko machine and getting her scales scratched and pecked at. She grunts in frustration.

B: FINE!! THIS BETTER WORK!!

Psyche squints her eyes and sees a burrow up ahead, right underneath a pine tree. Psyche takes a deep breath as she scoots up B's neck, leaning forward like a motorcycle racer as she whispers under her breath.

Psyche: Three... Two... One... NOW!!!

B clips her wings and dives into the burrow, with Psyche letting go of the horns and slips off the left side, falling down as the gryphons blindly followed inside the burrow. As she fell, B's body sped through, with her feet barely catching her by the claw, pinching her black jacket by the hoodie. As Psyche was dangling literally by the cloth of her jacket, she saw the burrow in front of her:

The walls were all dry earth, littered with glowing stalagmite/stalactite looking gems, with ores of gold, silver, iron and copper, lined as if they were rocks, gleaming from the glowing gems. The gems were small,  but numerous, glowing in shades of bright red, white and purple. It would've been a really nice place to walk if they weren't chased by a pack of gryphons. As they flew in a straight path, the gryphons clipped their wings and started running towards B and Psyche, their beaks drooling and their eyes glowing reddish brown from the light as they cawed and snapped their beaks. As the gryphons started running even closer, Psyche sees a white light at the end of the burrow. As they inch closer, Psyche grabs unto the claw and starts steadily climbing up to B's leg, gripping her scales and using B's knee to step up to B's back. Once she got up, she grips a handful of B's back scales as they burst out of the burrow.

Psyche: TURN NOW!!!

B's body glows and her scales start to warm up as she reached her claw out to the ground, and her body drifted like a car, her feet and her right claw being the tires. Psyche screams at the sheer speed of them drifting, all to face the exit of the burrow. As the gryphons emerge running out of the burrow, their bloodthirsty expressions quickly shifted to terror as they squawk and scramble to get back inside the burrow. B whips her head back and whips to the front as she opens her maw and spits out a big, white-hot fireball, blasting through the burrow and melt the entire tunnel from the inside, making a tunnel full of glowing hot, melted ore, steaming as it creeps around the walls. Psyche's eyes were wide in shock as she slipped down B's back and looks around. They just scratched through the middle of a basketball court, with a couple of players in green and black jerseys looking at her like she just committed murder, and from the skies, a black figure descends. At first, it looked like a demon, what with its leathery wings, slender, cloven hooves and the small bull horns that jutted from its head. But as it descended, it was more human than imagined. She had a slim, curvy figure that went with her grey, white striped pantsuit. Her hair was a nest of black snakes, albeit constricted to a tight bun. Her skin looked deathly pale as her eyes were glowing red. Those hooves that landed on the concrete were beige wedges with grey laces. Her nails were well done, all shiny and polished. Her face was very regal and beautiful, with the features of an actual princess. Her horns jutted from either side of her head like a crown, with long pointed ears and sly lips that curled menacingly, as if she was hiding something. She looked at Psyche with a kind, cheery smile. 

Albedo: Hello there. I'm Albedo, Vice Principal. In other terms, you're screwed.