Monster Hunters ch.7
By Quinn Ireland
Ben stared in awe as the trio entered the bright glowing swamp. It was as if they had been hit by a huge storm of light after stepping out of the dark staircase. The swamp was full of mushrooms with odd twisty vines that grew out of massive trees. Neon blue plants clung to the rich soil overlooking the water. The tips of the leaves were hanging over the edge of the dirt, touching the unnaturally clean swamp water. The trees were growing out of bright crystal-clear water that made up most of the swamp. They almost looked like roots that were connected below the water’s surface. Continuing roots. From the underwater soil to the sky. Roots that resembled the strings on a guitar. Stringy water trees. Although these trees looked fascinating, the sky caught Ben’s eye the most. It was full of weird floating three-legged creatures with beady eyes and bright red exoskeletons like a beetle. These creatures were lighting up the whole sky with their three legs. Kepler noticed Ben’s wonder of staring at the creatures; “Krinkoff’s, fascinating, aren’t they?” She said, staring into the bright white sky. Ben recognized this swamp from the view by their treehouse, although it was much brighter than in the swamp itself. Ben then thought of his past in little league Baseball several years before. The Krinkoffs seemed to replicate Baseballs flying towards him at full speed. He had never been able to catch anything, this resulted in standing in either standing in right field, or sitting on the cold, hard, bench. He quit after one year. Their staring was interrupted by a very tall woman standing beside them. “Excellent, you two are partners!” said the woman, “Oh, hello Ben, I’m Mrs. Abbingstone, I am the Magic Plants teacher here at Monster school.” She smiled and handed him a long sheet of paper. She had bright red hair with brown eyes that were red themselves. She wore the same cold-proof suit that the students wore. Ben liked Mrs. Abbingstone the most, the reason being that she introduced herself right away, and she knew his name, although Ben knew that a lot of people had come fermlir to his name as the so-called Sword slayer.
Soon, everyone had a paper in their hands. Ben looked for a place to sit down but found no desks or tables. “You can always use a grass stump,” said Kepler pointing at a small mound of grass, “Mrs. Abbingstone thinks that if your brains are working, your legs should be too.” Ben didn’t really understand this concept but went along with it. “Is everyone in groups?” asked Mrs. Abbingstone. Everyone muttered and murmured, which usually translated as a yes, according to Ben’s studies from school anyway. “Now, everyone listening, no… Wade, put away that whoopie cushion… Viola, save the Dangerous Forests homework for later, listen up Hannah!” The class didn’t seem to care about the teacher’s comments, so Kepler yelled, “SHUT UP PEOPLE!” Everyone stopped their chatter and stood quietly with their hands behind their backs, like a group of people from the army. “Thank you, Mrs. Kamoni.” said Mrs. Abbingstone. “Wow,” Ben whispered, “How’d you do that?” “People fear me, I am a Foristite, this means that I can find a way through any forest, this goes for humans too.” “Woah, cool… so you can see right through people too?” said Ben, making sure to keep his voice as low as possible. “I can, but not very well,” continued Kepler, “I am better at using my power in a forest, you know… in case I ever get lost.” “Do you think that I have a special pow…” “I said enough chit-chat!” Mrs. Abbingstone cut them off, “Now, just because you’re new here doesn’t mean you can slack off and talk to your friends all the time, Vinkenhut!” Ben was startled by her change in tone, he had always hated getting yelled at in his old school, mostly because the teacher would pick him to answer a question that he did not know. “Understood?” She spoke. “Yes, Mrs… Adi… Addingstone.” He said in a quiet voice. Kids snickered at him for not saying the teacher’s name right. “And it’s Abbing-stone not Adding, well unless you’re talking about math.” She said as she smiled and walked away, “Why do those schools even teach math?” She muttered to herself. “Today we are learning about a special type of moss that only grows on the underwater trunks of these trees in this swamp.” All the students looked curiously at her, as if they were on their first day at this weird and wacky fantasy school. Although they had all been here since they were… Ben raised his hand. Mrs. Abbingstone rolled her eyes and pointed at him; “Vinkenhut! And make it snappy!” Ben hesitated. He was mad at his shyness at this moment, so he waited a few seconds to calm down before asking; “How long has everyone here been at Monsterschool?” “I thought that your friends would have told you this by now, nevertheless everyone has been here since they were in Badger.” “What is… Badger?” responded Ben. “Mrs. Abbingstone sighed before continuing; “Badger is the first level of being a fully licensed Monster Hunter, the levels that follow are Coyote, Wolf (you are at the Wolf level.) then Bear, Black bear, cougar, Werewolf, and then you can be a Monster Hunter.” Ben stood in shock, another three years stuck at this school with level names that sound like woodland walkies community pool (a local pool that is one block from his house) “Um… pardon me Mrs. Abbingstone, but do we have to spend another three grades here?” asked Ben “What is a grade?” She replied. “Um… it’s a way of sorting different ages into… groups.” explained Ben. “Weird humans!” said Mrs. Abbingstone with no attempt to hide her voice, “To answer your question Ben, everyone’s level will change every four months, so you will only be here for a year.” Ben’s expression relaxed a little, but his eyes remained wide. Noticing this, Mrs. Abbingstone continued; “You will resume your old, boring life after… never mind.” Ben noticed that the teachers were keeping quiet about the ” Mission” Ben had to do, but this failed because all the students already knew. “Enough of this rubbish talk about weird humans, let’s get to our lesson!” said Mrs. Abbingstone. Ben asked, “Oh, and one more thing.” “Spit it out, Vinkenhut! I want to start this lesson!” “What will we be learning about today?” “I was just about to get to that,” she replied, “Now, sit down class.”
