"Pointing guns is a big no no," Pie shook a finger at the Ghosts that looked agitated and sighed heavily. An invisible pressure spread out with the tree being its point of origin and as a result, one by one, each of the ghosts that had their gun pointed at the robed Pie dropped to their knees as blood spilled out of their orifices ceaselessly. Bravo one, who had remained passive despite the unseen attack on his men, looked around at all of the members of Bravo and Charlie team and realized that it was not a mistake that he was left alone. Among the Ghosts, he was one of the few that had not raised his weapon.
"How are you doing this," Bravo one asked Pie as he placed his gun on the floor as a precaution. He didn't understand how but he knew that this man in front of him was responsible for how all of his and Charlie one's men dropped to the ground. The androgynous looking clone of someone named V shook their head and took a sip of tea.
"Would you believe me if I said that I am capable of remotely mapping and altering the electrical impulses and chemistry of someone's brain," Pie let out a little chuckle.
"And I left you standing because you are the team leader are you not," Pie raised a brow and smiled.
"How are you able to do that? Are you using some type of broadcasting tower of radio," Bravo one was a believer of impossibilities and thus took everything in stride as he questioned the supposed clone in front of him.
"In a way. I am using another world's science to my benefit but it would be more accurate to say that I am using magic," Pie's words resonated in Bravo one's mind for a long while before he managed to formulate his next question.
"Why is a magician such as yourself getting in the way of our mission," Bravo one narrowed his eyes as he noticed the subtle swaying of the tree at Pie's back. There was no wind to speak of.
"I told you before, you all have a mission that I cannot allow you all to complete," Pie sipped tea once again.
"Why did you leave me standing...", Bravo one couldn't understand something as he suspended his disbelief. If this person was truly capable of taking out Ghost as if they were flies caught in a trap, why did he leave him alone. Why was he allowed to speak?
"My men didn't raise their weapons as well," Bravo one furrowed his brow and tensed up. Pie placed the teacup down, stood up, and placed a hand on the tree that had been swaying subtly. A soft chuckle resonated in Bravo one's mind as shadows danced at the corners of his vision. The bodies of his men and Charlie team twitched and contorted inorganically. Popping and grating sounds resounded as the fabric of their clothing tore as bone cut through and muscled spilled out of the seams.
"Who said that I left you alone," Pie's figure elongated as Bravo one's vision distorted. He looked around himself only to find boneless arms coiling around his legs. Blood dripped from his nose and out of his eyes from ruptured capillaries. As his pupils dilated, a completely different scene was playing out in the minds of the rest of the Ghost.
Charlie one's face soured as her finger landed on the trigger and was about to pull. Before the bullet could be fired, the blood vessels in her eyes popped as veins appeared on either side of her forehead. She whispered, "Behind you," and a few other things before she dropped to her knees. All of the Charlie team aimed their guns at Pie and closed in on their Charlie one, closing the ranks. Everyone looked toward Bravo one for guidance but they all saw his raised gun drop to his side. In less than a second after that he relaxed before he fell backward, arms spread out.
The Bravo team spread out and raised their guns at Pie. No one fired, no one said a thing as they watched the person that they assumed was a man, drink tea. None of them knew how they were aware that Pie was responsible for the anomalous behavior of their team leaders.
"All of you, take a seat for me," with a wave of a hand, the tree creaked. Out of the cracks in the stone floor, wood grew at an accelerated rate and into chairs. No one moved. Seeing the lack of enthusiasm amongst the Ghosts, Pie snapped. The music, which had been soft and melancholic, shifted into something more upbeat, almost festive.
One more person on Charlie's side, to everyone's surprise, laughed like a maniac and bowed thrice before dropping to the floor with blood rolling down their eyes in small rivulets. Everyone else felt a natural compulsion to sit and did so. For whatever reason, their guns were still up but as they thought about it, why didn't they fire. Yet another Ghost dropped the moment that their finger pulled the trigger, but this time it was a Bravo team member that screamed out in fear before slumping out of her chair. The bullet's trajectory was a little closer as a scuff mark appeared on the stone just in front of Pie. The bullet did not ricochet into Pie or the tree.
The remaining Ghosts lowered their weapons seeing that neither time a casing fell that their target was hit and found themselves sitting at desks that were slightly too small.
"What is happening," A Charlie Ghost spoke on the channel that all of his team members had been on and scrunched his nose.
"I don't know," another Charlie member shrugged as he remembered to point his gun back at Pie. The same conversation was going on over the Bravo channel but it was apparent that they were more concerned with the falling of their team leaders. How were they incapacitated while they were not, was Pie actually responsible for their behavior, why hadn't anyone called this situation in when they were met with a stranger in a place that should've been a secret to even most people that lived on the island? All of these questions passed through the lips of the Bravo and the Charlie teams as they kept the conversation short and quiet.
All of them blinked after a minute or so of awkward silence and at different times after the minute of rapid fire communication. At some point during their talks, they all went quiet as they all noticed that they were in the middle of a classroom setting. All of them looked back and forth at one another as other seats filled the once empty room with each blink of the eye. Within a moment, each of the seats were filled by intangible figures that resembled children but were not quite exact. A solemn Mr. Pie sat at the front of the class sipping tea.
"Are you seeing this," A Bravo team member hesitatingly brought a finger up to his comm unit and spoke into the channel that the remaining members of Bravo were on.
"We are in a classroom? Right? Weren't we just at an underground temple," another member of Bravo almost couldn't wrap his head around the aberrant setting and looked toward the rest of his team as he slowly raised the muzzle of his weapon toward Pie. The Charlie team had a similar conversation as they whispered over the comms but they were more concerned with the civilian children that suddenly filled the classroom. To them, they couldn't tell if the kids were real since whenever they looked at a child, all they saw was the back of a head or a side profile.
A Bravo team member that was close to a Charlie team member inched over and said, "pst."
"Are you guys seeing this too," The Bravo team member spoke to the Charlie team member after getting their attention.
"We are in class, stop talking to me, you're going to get me in trouble" The Charlie member responded. The Bravo three's nose scrunched as he looked at his ally in a new light.
"Are you serious dude," Bravo three was about to speak up to the rest of the Charlie team when within the blink of an eye the rest of his team vanished. He even looked around for the Charlie team but they were just as gone as his team. In another blink, he found that his point of view was around half a meter shorter than before. When he looked down at his body, he was in a plain white tee with blue jeans and black shoes. When he looked back up, the once bland walls were filled up with pictures and projects that were assigned at one point throughout the school year.
"What is happening," Bravo three shook his head and stared at his small and gloveless hands for a long time before he looked up at the front of the room
"Now class," Mr. Pie smiled congenially and placed a hand on the desk. A bright red apple was in the corner of the desk while he held a mug that said, "#1 Teacher," in his hand.
"I will do role call, I would like you to raise your hand once your name has been called," Mr. Pie spoke out loud and turned in his seat so that he could grab a sheet with all the names of the students.
"What happened to my team and Charlie," Bravo three clenched his fists and ignored the names that Mr. Pie were saying. That was until his name was called.
"Vihaan Devar are you here today," Mr. Pie smiled as his head poked out from behind the paper in his hand. Cold sweat beaded Bravo three's brow as it pooled down his back. Even the members of the Bravo team didn't know his name so how did Mr. Pie.
"If you don't put up your hand, I will mark you as tardy," Mr. Pie said. It was then that it struck Bravo three, "of course he knows my name, he's the teacher." Bravo Three, or rather, Vihaan, put his hand up slowly. He didn't seem to notice that blood trailed out of his nose. Bravo three was not the only one coming face to face with the odd reality placed before them. Everyone in the Bravo and the Charlie teams tried to fight against putting their hand up but for some odd reason, they felt compelled when their name was called.
"Alright class. Now that I have called everyone in class, we will pick up where we left off on our film analysis of the movie Ghost Island," Pie smiled as he got up to the blackboard and wrote.
"Now, this is an open note review so make sure to look at what you have written down," Pie turned back to the class and noticed that a handful of students had looked down at their desks to find notebooks that were full of their own handwriting. Each one had a panicked expression either from realizing that they hadn't taken any notes or from the sheer absurdity of the reality placed before them.
The Ghosts that could no longer tell what was real or in their own heads, faced the blackboard that had writing on it. The words said, "Based on what you remember about from the film, how many Ghosts were on the island and how were they each grouped together." The same question was on a printout that each student had. Other than the Is of students that knew something was wrong all of the kids got to writing. Of those that couldn't accept reality, one slammed his hands on the desk and stood up.
"This is a trick. We are hallucinating, don't tell this monster anything," one of the Charlie team members yelled to the class.
"Shut up, you are going to get us in trouble," a faceless student whispered to the Ghost that managed to see through the facade placed before him.
"You are the only one hallucinating you idiot," Another faceless student admonished.
"I won't fall for this...", Before his words could get across his nose started bleeding as his vision blurred. When it came back, everyone was staring at him. He looked down to see that he was naked.
"OH CRAP, I forgot to put on clothes this morning," suddenly preoccupied, the Ghost seemed to have forgotten what he was talking about as he jolted awake.
"Mr. Cooper, now that you are awake, how about you come up to board and answer the question," Mr. Pie sipped his tea and pointed to the board that had a simple math equation and empty table. It was a simple solve for X, Y, and Z question where what was given was a table that had 10, 5, and 2, inputted at different parts. As he filled in the math, students in the back would yell out false answers that would make him double check his work. Unsure of whether that was allowed, he looked at Mr. Pie for confirmation.
"Go ahead Mr. Cooper, you can answer the question that is on the board. Everyone else, stop yelling out responses if you don't know the answer, it's distracting," Mr. Pie encouraged his student then waited with a gentle smile. Mr. Cooper or Charlie Five, turned back to board to find that the math equation that had been changed with the words, "Based on what you remember about from the film, how many Ghosts were on the island and how were they each grouped together." Mr.Cooper huffed a sigh of relief that he didn't need to answer a math equation and complied to the best of his abilities. He seemed to have forgotten that he was called up for a math equation.
To the other children that were fighting with what was real, they noticed that one of their friends that had hesitated to raise his hand during roll call stood up and approached the blackboard after jolting at his seat. Mr. Cooper bled from his nose as he wrote the number 31 number Ghosts, seven under groups, and then wrote that there were five teams of five and two teams of three under that. The three scrawled a little bit as his hand trailed off. Charlie five then dropped to the ground and spasmed for a long while before going deathly still. The remaining Ghosts shot up and said things ranging from, "Hey," or "What the hell," or "Mr. Pie, Cooper needs to see the nurse."
Pie, seemingly deaf to the pleas of his students, cleared his throat and said, "Next question. How many Whisps were there on the island that supported the Ghosts in the film. " The students that couldn't separate fact from fiction fought against their instincts to raise a hand and answer the question. They fought even harder to avoid forgetting about the boy that had fallen on the floor. In fact, three of the Ghosts directly forgot about the student the moment that their eyes left the body and directly sat down the moment after their outburst. The remaining few blinked uncontrollably and forced their heads to remain stable as the rest of their bodies turned away.
The Ghost with the most mental fortitude openly questioned Mr. Pie and asked, "Why is Cooper on the floor?" Mr. Pie, the janitor walked into the room and took the trash from a basket right beside the teachers desk. The body was swept up in his flurry of movement.
"Who is that you are referring to Ms. Lacrima," Mr. Pie raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of tea to settle his nerves. The Charlie team member who knew that this was all an illusion felt at ease as blood dripped from her nose.
"I don't know, I must have gotten confused," The Charlie team member forgot her life as a Ghost and found that she was more preoccupied with thoughts of winning the next meet for the debate club next week.
"Since you called out, how about you answer the question on the board," Mr. Pie waved a hand toward the paragraph that was written on the board. It was not the question about how many Whisps were on the Island but rather it was an everchanging tangle of prose that was full of simple grammatical errors that Ms. Lacrima had to decipher and count. She, without giving it much thought, counted 70 simple errors that ranged from punctuation mistakes to incorrect spacing and spelling. By the time that she was done, her shirt was drenched in blood and her skin had paled to a deathly shade. Before she had a chance to return to her seat, she doubled over and fainted.
The remaining Ghosts had no choice but to scream as two more of their allies gave away top secret information as they answered the question about the Whisps and another question about locations and plans. The remaining Ghosts weren't even capable of holding their own concentration for longer than a second. They all reverted back to children almost completely as they raised their hands for the next question.
"This one is a bit more difficult so I won't dock any points if you were to get this incorrect but how many Ghosts did the film say were in the world," Pie's spoken word turned into a written question on the board. The same question was on all of their papers. The Ghosts wrote down their answers but one of them was called upon to write it on the board for the rest of the class. With an answer, another Ghost fell to their knees and vanished from the classroom as they served their purpose. The next few questions were all related to the Ghosts and their structure. Looking at the now filled blackboard Pie couldn't help but smile.
"V is going to be very happy with all of this data," Pie said to themself. They were still sitting in front of swaying tree, completely unbothered by the pile of assassins that had all fallen over one another the moment that they got within a few meters of the tree. Throughout the whole ordeal, Pie did not move from the desk and casually sipped tea that never seemed to run dry.
"Its time to turn the tables," Pie raised an arm and from the shadow that was cast came limbs that oozed out dark. Coughing blood, Pie swiped the air and splattered that darkness in front of themself. Bodies grew out of shadow and turned into shades that walked toward the fallen assassins. There were a total of ten shadows, one for each Ghost. In seconds, the shadows stripped the Ghosts of their gear then touched their skin.
Like ink, shadow printed onto the bodies and dried them out at a visible rate. Within seconds, each of the Ghosts turned into a grey husk. The shadows themselves filled out with color and pigmentation to their dark forms as they turned into real people. They all resembled the person that had been drained, as if they were a shoddy copy of the original.
"Go incapacitate the other teams, I will be there shortly to gather some more information about the Ghosts," Pie wiped the blood that had gathered on their lips and turned to the tree as the shades returned through the tunnel that the Ghosts had come through. In mere moments, Pie's shadow enveloped the tree as its truck sank down into the inky darkness. The music had long since stopped and all that was left was an eerie silence.