Noisy Monster's Cage, Friday, September 26th

[The Ending]

Today was Friday. And for St. Marina's that meant it was Pep Rally time. While some may think it was a bit early for such celebrations, the students and staff of Alameda's only private school thought differently. The roar in the gymnasium was practically deafening as the cheerleaders cut pretty backflips and did well-rehearsed cheers to get the crowd going. The football team stood in the middle of the gym, dressed in their jerseys and doing their best to help the cheerleaders pump the crowd up even more. Faculty and staff stood on the sidelines, clapping their hands and joining in on the fun while making sure things didn't get too out of hand. Typical Pep Rally fare one would say.

With a cold, calculating stare The Ending watched the scene unfolding before him. So many young bodies filled the brim with precious energy. And here they were wasting it on something as inane as this. It angered him so, and only made him want to speed up his plan to destroy this pathetic planet. He chuckled to himself, switching his view to the minion he'd recently created. The humanoid had no other purpose than to fulfill his dark desires. So perfect. She stood outside the doors of the gymnasium, eyes wide and unblinking as she waited for her master's orders.

"Go forth, my precious, and collect that precious energy for your master!" The Ending spoke in a booming voice that only his loyal servant could hear. Oh, he was looking forward to all of that delicious energy ever so much. And as far as he knew, absolutely nothing stood in his way of obtaining it.

"Yes, Master. I’m happy to." The woman spoke in an almost robotic voice, tilting her head to the side and moving forward through the double doors.

[Autumn Michaels]

Autumn had joined all of her fellow students in the gymnasium for the pep rally. Normally, she wasn't a huge fan of large crowds, in fact, the previous year she had decided to skip pep rally altogether. For some reason, however, she felt she had to go to this years. She brushed it off as it being her final year, and final chance to go. Maybe it was because she had friends on the football team. Either way, whatever the reason, she was there, sitting, or rather standing, in the first row of bleechers and clapping for the team. Her friends chatted idly next to her about the cute guys around them, and she shook her head. Only they would be at the Pep Rally to discuss the football player with the cutest butt. Something told her that was what she would hearing about all day.

She looked around the gymnasium, at all the familiar faces, and from the corner of her eye noticed the doors open and close, but she didn't see who had entered. Shrugging her shoulders she ignored it. Who would think twice about someone entering the gym on Pep Rally day? But something wasn't sitting right with her and she frowned. She figured it was just her discomfort at the claustrophobic nature of the gym at that moment. So she turned her attention back to the football team. She could see her friend Ryu and waved with a smile, trying to ignore the growing discomfort in her heart.

[Ryu Kurosawa]

Standing in the middle of the gym with his football jersey, and his helmet in his right arm, Ryu was happy that the football season had started again. This was what he had been waiting all summer for, and now the pep rally was finally happening. Watching the cheerleaders jumping around, he had also tried to get the crowd excited by pumping his fists into the air, and heard the cheering had grown. He had promised himself that this year would be even better than the last, and that they would bring a fourth championshipship for St. Marina's. It had almost felt like he needed to do it with all the privileges that the football team was given to make sure it remained that way. He also intended on being the MVP of the team for the fourth year in a row, which had never been done before, and intended to set a few other records for the school before he graduated.

Looking around the gymnasium, he had seen his friend Autumn. She had looked a little worried, or possible sad, but he could not tell why. They had been very close to each other, so her not talking to him about having problems made him think that it was probably nothing. That was when he had wondered if the reason that she did not talk to him about it was that it was about him, but could not remember doing anything that he thought would make her mad at him for. He decided to try, and cheer her up. Seeing her smile, and wave at him, he had smiled back at her, and winked. That was when he was given the microphone by the coach to say something. Taking the microphone, he looked at the students in the stands. "My fellow students, this is going to be the best year for St. Marina's football team ever. We are ready for any other football team that wants to play us. Our upcoming game against Polk High is going to be the proof of this. With all of you behind us, we will bring a fourth championship to St. Marina's." When he gave back the microphone, a lot of the students had cheered even more, and pumped their fists along with the football team, and chanting 'St. Marina's'.

[Autumn Michaels]

The screams around her were becoming a unanimous roar. Even she was getting into it. Listening to Ryu, she grinned at his wink, shaking her head a little bit. He was so into the team and so very proud of it. It made her appreciate her school, and the time she was wasting in the sweltering gym that day. She joined in the cheers, chanting their school name over and over again with those around her, a smile now on her face. She had almost forgotten the dread that had welled up within her. Her friends hooked elbows with her as they began to chant louder and she found herself having more fun than she thought she would have had. Nothing could ruin the positive energies that flowed through the air, through every body and every breath that was taken and let out. It was a bit overwhelming for her, she could only imagine what the team felt.

(OOC- is anyone else going to post here?)

[Tallulah Gosh]

Tallulah really did hate pep rallys. So it was no surprise that she was standing up in the bleachers with a frown on her face while virtually everyone else yelled their brains out. Well, not everyone. Lydia stood next to her with a blank expression, looking as if she wasn't even there. Zoning out from time to time seemed to bet yet another of her many mysterious talents. How lame that she wouldn't teacher her how to do it. Perhaps she lacked a well-crafted mind or something. Yeah, that was totally what Lydia would tell her if she asked. 'Bitch.' With little else to do she clapped her hands a few times, muttering "Go team, go." every so often in a deadpan manner. A girl next to her gave her a funny looked which she returned, causing said girl to quickly return her gaze to the cheerleaders and football players on the court below. 'Yeah. That's right. Look away, blondie, before...'

Her thoughts suddenly came to a stop as the hairs on the back of her neck stood inexplicably on end. What the hell? For some odd reason a sense of dread washed over her being, causing her to stumble back a bit into the knees of the students above her. She didn't notice the gazes of annoyance cast down at her, nor did she really care. Grabbing Lydia's arm she pulled the girl closed as her eyes darted about, "Did you feel that? Or am I just tripping balls or something?" She needed validation from her best friend about what just happened; validation that she was hopefully just imagining things. Lots of people got the chills... but these chills were anything but normal.

[Lydia Zakharov]

Friday! Friday meant that there would be pep rallies, and while Lydia had never been too hip on the idea of mandatory pep, she always thought of it as a good way to get out of her first class. Skipping classes without getting into trouble was a nice thing; she recalled skipping class ONCE with her friend Tallulah and had regretted it ever since. What could she say? Lydia was a good girl at heart, despite having a friend that one could consider to be part of the 'wrong crowd'. In truth, Lulu only acted like she ran with the wrong crowd but she was just as good as Lydia was, her morals were just a lot different which made for a wonderful dynamic for the two friends. Currently the two were walking in line with the rest of their class. Tallulah had been outwardly bitching about the pointlessness of school and team spirit, as well as stupid cheerleaders and jocks. Lydia felt the same way of course, though less so; all of her thoughts of annoyance were kept on the inside though since she saw no point in outwardly arguing. She knew that no one would listen to them, thus it would be pointless.

The thought to skip the pep rally had, of course, never occurred to Lydia, especially since she knew that she would most likely get caught just as she stepped foot out of the door. For some reason she seemed to have that sort of luck when it came to run-ins with authority figures; being a good girl would most definitely be in her best interests. Nothing like a phone call to the parents to make anyone's day go sour as hell.

Soon enough Lydia, Tallulah and the rest of the class were in the gym, scrambling around for seats since classes never had to sit together. She held her friend back and waited, and once everyone else was seated pulled Lulu along to the available spaces near the edge of the bleachers. As always, Lydia wanted to be one of the first students to get the hell out of the gym once all of this celebration bullshit was over. She spotted Ryu, a boy she vaguely knew of, attempting to whoop the crowd into a frenzy, which was working somewhat, though neither she nor Tallulah were too intent on showing their school spirit now or ever. Like the tall girl beside her, Lydia clapped her hands, obviously unenthused about the whole thing and now mildly amused when she turned her head to find her best friend intimidating the hell out of some girl that they didn't know.

"Huh!" Was all Lydia could say as a shiver ran up and down her spine right about the same time that Lulu pulled her close. "Must you be so rough?" She asked jokingly, quieting down when a question was asked. "I dunno," Lydia said with a shrug. "I just had what felt like a pee shiver, but that happens all the time doesn't it?" Leave it up to her to try to rationalize any and every situation.

[Adrienne Vesta Quade]

Being that Adri was on the cheerleading squad, she was of course one of the first people in the gymnasium for the pep rally. She loved cheering – really, she did – but she still felt like an idiot chanting and spazzing out even before the other students had filtered in, slowly taking their place at the bleachers. Cheering was only fun if you were cheering *for* something, in her opinion. Cheering your football team on toward victory. Or maybe some amazing gymnastic-stunt routine for national cheerleading championships? But literally just standing in the middle of the room cheering while people sat in the stands and watched and also cheered – people cheering cheerleaders, uh-huh – just seemed pointless.

Still, she knew she had to do it, and she couldn’t very well stand in the middle of the room whining or pouting about it, so she plastered her best fake smile on her face and bounced away, looking like an overenthused kid on Christmas morning, shouting the things she was meant to shout and waving pompons and then clapping her hands and doing a little stunt routine that they’d thrown together just for his pep rally.

Mid-shout, Adri felt something… weird. She couldn’t put her finger on what it was exactly or why, but suddenly she felt a wave of cold sweep over her, and she broke into goosebumps. She glanced around, missing a beat but getting back on track with her cheers and shouting – none of the other cheerleaders seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary, so she continued on, figuring maybe it was just a breeze. But wait, a breeze in the middle of the school? How did that make any sense? Then, it happened again, stronger, and she felt a tingling sensation in her scalp as if the roots of her hair were trying to stand on end or something. And a deep, cold feeling in the pit of her stomach. Surely that wasn’t normal. She began to feel immensely uneasy, but as she looked around, she couldn’t figure out why. But something wasn’t right.

After a moment, she was nudged hard in the ribs, eliciting a stern ”Oww, fuck off you bitch!” as she glared at the perky blonde that had jabbed her. Then she realized, she had stopped cheering – or moving at all – for a minute, as she had surveyed the gymnasium, and must have looked like a complete idiot. Sighing in frustration, she got back into character, but her eyes were scanning the stands and the entrances, looking for whatever had made her feel so weird all of a sudden. And it was then that she noticed a couple of people in the stands who were looking a bit bewildered themselves..

[Katherine Tolbert]

I HATE pep rallies.

That was the only thing that Kat could think of as she plunked down in one of the stands. She'd even worn a special shirt for the occasion...at least until her teacher had confiscated it and forced her back into the uniform. Honestly, where was the freedom to express yourself? Not in St. Marina's, obviously. She crossed her arms and legs and leaned back against the wall as she watched the cheerleaders do their thing and all the jocks get into the "school spirit" they were trying to generate. So instead, Kat pulled out the newest copy of Pink and stuck her nose in it. Her article had been submitted in time for next month's issue, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to buy this month's. It was important to keep up with the times.

Kat didn't know how long she sat there reading, but then something happened that made her skin crawl and her stomach drop. She glanced up from her magazine and looked around but...everything seemed normal. What was going on? She never had weird freak-out moments like these. At least, not since the night the full moon turned into a crescent. But I thought I put that behind me...apparently though, the cosmic forces that be had other plans. Something, or someone, is probably trying to screw with my day. That's when it happened again. Cold seeped into the very marrow of her bones and she shuddered.

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?"

[Autumn Michaels]

Something was definitely wrong, and now she knew that she wasn't the only one who felt it. A cheerleader she didn't recognize had suddenly stopped her routine and was scanning the gym. Autumn followed suit, gazing around the stands across from her position, seeing two others stop and one pull the other towards her. They both looked as though something other then pep rally was catching their attention. Turning completely around, she saw Kat who she'd run into at the mall a few days before. She saw a visible shudder run through the other girl and she shook her head. Something weird was going on, and she wanted to know what it was. So she left her seat and made her way up the stands to where Kat was sitting, ignoring the questions and protests from her friends.

As she walked up the steps to the other she scanned the crowd for anyone or anything that didn't seem to belong. However, with all the faces that screamed and moved around, it was difficult. Everything seemed a bit skewed and it would be easy for something ot hide. She shook her head. Alright, she was beginning to freak herself out. She never though about enemies hiding out in large crowds, maybe she was just becoming paranoid. Yet, the more she thought about it, the more it started to bug her. Something was bugging her and those others. as she came up to Kat she heard;

"Okay, what the fuck is going on?"

Plopping herself down beside the junior Autumn turned to her, a frown on her face. "I feel the same way. Do you have this chill running down your spine to, almost like something's... I don't know, got this really bad vibe or something?" She hoped she didn't sound like a crazy person. Maybe Kat had just been cold, but she doubted it by her response. "It's like something bad's about to happen..." she said almost to herself, looking out over the crowd and down at the two teams on the floor. The cheerleader had started cheering again, but her focus seemed more on the crowd. The football team, including Ryu seemed oblivious to the weirdness. It was as though only the few girls could sense it.