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Neopia's Fill in the Blank News Source | 19th day of Running, Yr 26
The Neopian Times Week 94 > Continuing Series > Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Two

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Two

by battlesunn

One thing that really irked Mr. Bronston about these Neoschool camping trips were the early, very early, departure times. The Draik yawned and massaged his sleep-ridden eyes, blinking blearily as he tried to focus the world around him. The students, on the other hand, hardly seemed affected by the early times at all. On the contrary, they were jumping around and screaming, bopping each other over the heads with their pillows and cuddling the toys or plushies that they had brought along for comfort on the cold, dark nights away from home. Mr. Bronston smiled slightly as he slipped a claw through the bars of the small portable cage that he held at his side and stroked the soft fur of his petpet Doglefox, Buck, who was napping softly inside.

     Mr. Bronston had brought Buck along for a number of reasons. The first, and probably foremost, was for companionship. He didn’t have many, if any, friends among his co-workers; the Draik’s nasty temper and poor social skills had made him somewhat unpopular with the other teachers. The second reason was for protection. Buck was ferociously loyal to his owner, and would defend him against just about anything, and the Haunted Woods were full of potentially dangerous creatures. And as for the third reason… well, Doglefoxes had an amazing ability to charm young pets. Often, all you needed too keep rambunctious students in line was a cute, fuzzy animal. So, Buck was coming along.

     The bus was late. Mr. Bronston had tried to deny it at first, but after ten minutes post the scheduled departure time; he began to get concerned. It wasn’t long before the concern turned to anger, as it always did. The students were becoming increasingly restless. One of the Lupes was gnawing his Chia plushie to shreds, and an Aisha was running around in frantic circles, chasing her elusive tail. Mr. Bronston tugged nervously at his tie. The Draik racked his brain, trying to remember what his teacher’s manual had said about entertaining young Pets. Then he remembered.

     Buck! Of course, what a perfect time to deploy his fuzzy defense. Mr. Bronston unlocked the Doglefox’s cage and slid him gently onto the dewy grass. Buck smiled lovingly up at his owner and wagged his tail happily. It wasn’t long before the students noticed him.

     "Oooh! Look at the little Doglefox, he’s so cute!" a Jubjub cooed.

     In an instant, all of the pets were crowding around Buck, patting him and spewing out senseless babble as though none of them had ever seen a Doglefox before. Mr. Bronston fought back the urge to roll his eyes, peering discontentedly over the horizon, scanning the road for the bus. It STILL refused to arrive. The Draik was becoming increasingly antsy. He thumped his spiked tail against the ground, glanced at his watch about five times per second, and chewed agitatedly on his claws.

     Finally, something happened. The principal of the Neoschool, an over compassionate purple Poogle, came waddling down from the school and tapped Mr. Bronston on his shoulder. The Draik sighed.

     "What is it, Jared?" he asked. The Poogle frowned.

     "I’m afraid that we’ve got a small problem with the busses," he replied, wringing his tie distractedly. Mr. Bronston stifled a smile.

     "What’s wrong with them?"

     "They can’t come! The head mechanic accidentally pulled a wire or something while checking the busses over before dispatching them."

     "So the trip’s cancelled?" Mr. Bronston asked eagerly. The Poogle chuckled.

     "Of course not! We’re just employing some teachers to drive the students over instead. We’ll do it in groups of five… your car has six seats, right Andy?" the Poogle replied. Mr. Bronston groaned.

     "Oh, come on Jared… I don’t want those little hooligans in my car, they’ll ruin her!" the Draik complained. The Poogle shook his head.

     "We aren’t calling off the trip, Andy. Look, you’ll only have five kids in your car, it isn’t like they’re going to be making clay sculptures in there, you know."

     Mr. Bronston whimpered, casting a worried glance at his beloved car. "Oh, all right, but only five pets!"

     Jared laughed and clapped him heartily on the back. "Thattaboy, Andy! Here’s the list of pets that’ll be in your group."

     Feeling somewhat humiliated at having been called, "boy" by someone three years younger than him; Mr. Bronston accepted the list and peeked gingerly at its occupants.

     "Hmm, well, I suppose this isn’t too bad. Poloroe, Muerte, Kybalt, Atyur, Mrkrawk and… Zarrelian?! Oh come on, you’ve got to be kidding." The Draik looked pleadingly at the Poogle. "Please, not Zarrelian. He’ll destroy my car, drive me insane, and ruin the entire trip for every student unfortunate enough to be in that vehicle!"

     The Poogle frowned. "Can’t you be a team player just for once, Andy? Now get those Pets into your car and drive to the campsite, and no complaining!" he shouted. Mr. Bronston glared at the principal and muttered some nasty things under his breath, but complied. He scooped Buck back into his cage and rounded up his group, stomping to his car, students in tow. The Draik shoved his key into the car door’s lock and pulled it open, ushering the Pets inside. He put Muerte, Atyur and Kybalt in the back row, Mrkrawk and Poloroe in the middle row, and, with some trepidation, had Zarrelian sit in the passenger seat. It would be easier to keep and eye on him that way, Mr. Bronston rationalized.

     The students adapted quickly to the car. Atyur, a burly orange Lupe, was quick to challenge Muerte, a striped Grarrl, to an arm wrestle. Kybalt, a fire Zafara and aspiring actor, propped his face upon his flame-licked paw and simply stared out the window. Poloroe and Mrkrawk, a Faerie Gelert and a blue Krawk, chatted happily to each other. (Though it was a somewhat one sided conversation, as Mrkrawk was a very talkative Pet). Zarrelian leaned back in his seat and stared contemplatively up at his teacher, thinking up plots to ruin the camping trip and get him fired. Mr. Bronston, like any responsible teacher, was concentrating on the road.

     Mr. Bronston should’ve enjoyed the peacefulness while it lasted, because it wasn’t long before his students, led by Mrkrawk, burst into a loud chorus of "10,000 bottles of Neocola on the wall".

     "TEN THOUSAND BOTTLES OF NEOCOLA ON THE WALL, TEN THOUSAND BOTTLES OF NEEEEEECOLAAAAAAAAAA…" they sang. Mr. Bronston dug his claws tighter into the steering wheel and did his best to block out the horrible, grating noise.

     Two hours later, the pets had finally worn the song down to one bottle of Neocola.

     "One bottle of Neocola on the wall, one bottle of Neocola, you take it down, pass it around… ten thousand more bottles of Neocola appear on the wall!"

     Mr. Bronston snapped. He whirled around, a large purple vein throbbing unpleasantly in his temple.

     "SHADDUP!" he screamed. At once, his students fell deathly silent. Mr. Bronston sighed happily and relaxed his shoulders, allowing one of his elbows to drape outside his open window. The pets were quiet for awhile, but it wasn’t long before they became restless again. Atyur leaned forward and timidly tapped Mr. Bronston on the back of his head.

     "Uh, sir?" he nervously began. Mr. Bronston narrowed his eyes, still focusing on the highway.

     "What?"

     "Can we have the radio on?"

     "Why?"

     "We’re bored."

     "No."

     "Please?"

     "No."

     "Ten thousand bottles of Neocola on the wall…"

     "FINE! Just don’t start that again," the Draik grumbled under his breath as he reached out a claw to switch his car’s radio on. Immediately, Mr. Bronston’s sensitive ears were assaulted by the loud and obnoxious voice of the station’s DJ.

     "Yeeeeehaw listeners! This is Crazy Ken the Jetsam DJ, kickin’ it on the real tip and bringing you EXTREME music from Mystery Island! We’ve got a great line-up coming so keep your radios tuned in and give it up for Lucille Silksong, the singing sensation of the seventeen seas!"

     Unfortunately, the occupants of the car never got to experience Lucille Silksong’s newest hit single, because at that very moment, Mr. Bronston switched the radio back off again. The students knew better than to complain, though they were still quite upset. Mr. Bronston sighed. Despite his crusty personality and icy heart, the Draik still felt somewhat sorry for his students. He knew what it was like having to spend hour after mind-numbing hour in a cramped, hot car, having been dragged along on many camping trips during his youth with his six brothers and parents. So, in an ill-fated attempt to provide some entertainment for his downcast charges, he offered a supposedly fun word game.

     "If you’re bored," he began, even though he knew perfectly well that they were bored out of their skulls. "We could play a game that my parents used to play with me and my siblings." Mr. Bronston managed to capture his students’ attention.

     "How do you play?" Poloroe inquired. The Draik smiled.

     "It’s a rhyming game. I say two words and you find a second meaning of those words that rhymes." He explained. The Pets stared blankly at him. Mr. Bronston chuckled.

     "So, if you take, ‘obese feline’ the answer would be ‘fat cat’. Do you understand now?"

     Mrkrawk grinned. "Oh, I get it! Here, I’ve got one. ‘Weird computer’."

     Mr. Bronston grinned. "Okay, so who knows the answer?" Obviously, no one knew. The Draik frowned. "Okay Mrkrawk, tell us the answer."

     The Krawk threw open his claws. "Kyrii tree!" He beamed. Mr. Bronston raised a brow.

     "No, Mrkrawk. That’s wrong. You see, the answer has to rhyme and, err, make sense."

     Mrkrawk crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. "Sounds like a pretty lame game to me, then."

     Mr. Bronston sighed, "Does anyone else have one?"

     Zarrelian quirked a brow and spoke up for the first time. "Delusional teacher," he sniggered. Mr. Bronston snarled angrily.

     "NO ONE ANSWER THAT! All right, fine. If you don’t want to play, then no one is allowed to have any fun on the remainder of this drive!" He roared. Kybalt frowned.

     "That reminds me. How much longer until we’re there?" the Zafara asked. Mr. Bronston concentrated on the winding road ahead of him.

     "About two hours," he replied stonily. Kybalt grinned sheepishly.

     "Oh. Well, um, I have to go the bathroom."

     Everyone in the car groaned. Mr. Bronston cursed sourly and pulled off into another lane headed for a small off-road restaurant. It was going to be a long day.

To be continued...

Previous Episodes

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part One

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Three

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Four

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Five

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Six

Zarrelian and the Fifth Grade Neoschool Camp of Doom: Part Seven

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