Lesson One - A Monster School Fic

Chapter Seventeen - Combat Class (with a special guest!)

"I apologize for my absence yesterday, class." Herobrine said from the front of the classroom. "Something came up that I could not ignore. I trust that 303 was responsible in my place?" 303 coughed quietly from the back of the room. None of the class responded, however, as they were shocked into silence by the sight of your teacher's arm in a sling.

You hadn't put all that much thought into your teacher's disappearance until now. A lot of things that he did didn't make much sense to you. But for him to come back injured was... a little scary. He seemed so powerful that you hadn't thought that anything could hurt him.

Before you could ask, Cray's hand shot up, followed by him immediately asking, "What happened to your arm??"

"It's only a sprain," Herobrine told him cheerfully. "It will have mended by tomorrow. Open your books to page 139, please." You could tell that you weren't the only one still curious, but no one argued, and there was the sound of pages turning as you and your fellow students opened your books.

This morning's World Studies lesson was focused mainly on the oceans, meaning that it was a class that Kai and Silt excelled in, and your classroom gradually settled back into its typical atmosphere. You still wondered what happened to your teacher's arm, but you figured it was just going to be another one of those Herobrine mysteries. Soon enough, the bell went off for lunch, and you filed out into the dining hall to eat.

As you sat down next to the skeletons with your tray, Cray bounced up and down in his seat across from you.

"Today is fighting class!" He exclaimed. "You didn't get to be in it last week, Y/N!"

"Uh... yeah." You rubbed at your head sheepishly at the reminder of how you'd fled in a panic at the sight of Cray exploding. A twinge of nervousness hit you, worried that you'd somehow have the same reaction today, but you tried to ignore it. "I should be able to do it this week."

"I hope so. I wonder what we're going to do this time? The teacher said we wouldn't be fighting each other last week, but maybe we can do it this time." Cray paused, staring you in the eye. "Do you wanna fight me??"

"Not really??" You sputtered. "You can explode! I can't!"

"I wouldn't explode you," Cray assured you. "I'd probably just... I dunno. Wrestle you down."

"I assume, if Mr. Herobrine pitted us against each other, that he would find a way to even the playing field." Marrow piped up on your left. "Maybe give all of us a wooden sword. And armor."

"I guess that would work." Cray frowned, then popped a bit of moss in his mouth. You gave him an odd look.

"Cray, can you just eat anything?"

"Yeah." He nodded readily.

"Does that..." You eyed the moss on his plate. "...taste good?"

"Yeah!" Another, enthusiastic nod. "It takes like sunlight."

"Oh." You poked at your own food with your fork, trying to imagine what sunlight would taste like. If Herobrine did pit you against each other, he'd make sure not to match you against Jace... right?

You frowned at your carrots and potatoes. 303 had told you that he would talk to Herobrine about Jace... had he? You hadn't noticed any change in the slime's behavior. He hadn't attacked you or anything, but he hadn't acted any more friendly towards you either. Maybe you should talk to Herobrine yourself.

You glanced at the clock. You were given half an hour for lunch, with about 20 minutes remaining. If you hurried, maybe you could talk to Herobrine about Jace before class.

You finished your food as quickly as possible, politely turning down Cray offering to let you taste his moss, then told the skeletons you had to go do something and hurried out of the lunch hall. Herobrine would probably still be in the classroom, right? Where else would he go? Actually, since he could teleport, he really could be anywhere.