Pantheo High: Enrollment

'Who you gonna call?' Anyone but us. PLEASE.

Rose: After all that, Hades' Furies flew us back to our homes to pack up and leave for good. After we arrived in the afternoon, a few hours before the orientation, we were given our first task.

Psyche: The Shih Tzu?

Rose: ... No.

On the shores, east from Pantheo High...

Rose, Bragi, and Loki were a foot away from the campus miniature beach, at around 6 o'clock in the morning, wearing their more modern clothes: Loki wore his black t-shirt, brown pants, and boots, Bragi wore his signature black leather biker jacket with bear skull shoulder pads, ripped jeans and combat boots, while Rose wore his black, three buttoned blazer, reddish-pink long sleeves, black tie, black trousers, and black leather wingtips.

The sand was fine, yellow, and littered with trash. Plastic bottles and cola cans stuck out from the surface and shined from the burning sun. Inside them, were hermit crabs and snails that made themselves right at home. Amidst the trashed beach, right in the middle of it was a giant black and grey cat. 

Resting at about 15 feet tall, its fur coating was grey with a pattern of black stripes when its eyes opened, they glowed yellow with two black slits in the middle and when the cat opened its mouth, it was lined with rows on rows of canines. Its tail was furry, but whipped around like a serpent, scattering sand and tin cans everywhere. The giant cat growled as it swiped its claws into the sand and pranced in circles, growling at anything that got near it. Loki gulped and laughed nervously as he tried swallowing down his fear.

Loki: Um, anyone got a boat and a giant bag?

Bragi propped his ax/guitar on the sand and squinted as he saw the giant cat. It was clear from his annoyed expression that this will be a long day.

Bragi: Is ever that simple?

Rose looked at the cat, shifting his weight nervously. They've fought monsters before, just, nothing this big. The biggest they've faced was a minotaur and that lasted for two days. He bit at the tip of his right thumb, trying to think.

Rose: We have around 3 hours, maybe less until the orientation, so we'll have to get this thing out before anyone sees it. Bragi, try scaring it away. Loki, check the bestiary. See what we're up against. I'll try and make a distraction.

Bragi: I tried, but, it just ate me and spat me out.

Psyche: Even in this world, this is making lesser sense by the second.

Rose chuckled.

Rose: After he came back as the cat's chew toy, Loki checked the bestiary and found out our problem's species is a Yule Cat. 

Bragi: Other than a useless tale of a cat that eats children who don't get new clothes on Christmas, it has no known weaknesses. 

Loki: Besides, the cat wouldn't take any food, not even milk. It would just hiss at us every time we tried approaching it. Eventually, we got tired of playing nice.

They tried to attack it on all sides, in hopes of confusing and damaging the creature into submission. Bragi brought down lightning and heavy rain by playing Ride the Lightning by Metallica, Loki casts Hagalaz and summons a tornado from the sea that started drawing closer to the shore, while Rose reached under his sleeves and threw seeds at the giant cat. The Yule Cat hissed at the lightning and rain, and once the seeds touched the creature's fur, it started to grow into thick, thorned, dark green rose vines that wrapped tightly around the cat's body. The cat struggled and tore the vines with its claws and teeth. But not long after, the tornado came ashore and swooped the creature up from its feet. The three ran away from the tornado as the cat swirled around it. Lightning repeatedly struck the cat as it swirled, scratching the wind in anger, all while the rain splattered everywhere. After a few minutes, the tornado dissipates, the skies clear, and the cat falls down on the sand with a big BOOM, causing a giant wind gale of a sand cloud to blast through the three. 

After the sand settles, Rose, Bragi, and Loki slowly approached the cat, weapons raised. As they approached, they saw a large, 20-foot deep pit. from that pit, jumped out the Yule Cat and landed right behind them. Its fur was damp like a rag after a thorough cleaning, with wet sand grains dripping from the ends of its hair. Before the three of them could react, the cat turned around and smacked the three of them with its tail, knocking them into the pit. The cat then slept right at its original spot, despite the bottles and cans that accumulated on top. 

Meanwhile, Rose and Bragi were trying to dig their way out of the pit, while Loki stayed down with his hands on his stomach.

Loki: This, is totally rigged. He WANTS us out!

He said, pointing up in the air. Bragi stopped digging with his hands and lays his guitar on the side.

Bragi: Stating the obvious there, buddy.

Loki: So, what now Rose?! What's your next 'flawless' plan?!

Rose stops digging, pulls out a pen and a ¼ pad of paper, and starts crossing out his plans.

Get rid of a giant cat:

X Thunder-Not Afraid

X Lightning-No damage

X Bear Trap-No bear trap

X Rain-Doesn't care

X Tornado-No damage

Then, Rose widened his eyes as his mind came up with probably the most unethical plan he ever made.

Rose: Loki, Hand me the bestiary.

Loki hands him a brown leather pocketbook with the symbol of a black Western dragon in mid-flight. He then flips through the pages and stops at the Chinese section, where he sees a myriad of beasts, both summonable and otherwise. As he flipped through the Chinese section, only one caught his eye.

Roses: Maybe we can't get rid of it. Maybe, something else should.

Bragi: Rose, please tell me you have a better idea than throwing the elements at it? 

Rose: ... Have you ever heard of Pokemon?

2 hours in...

Loki was just about done drawing a wide circle inside the pit, with the symbols of all the pantheons from the Council of Deities: The Omega, the serpentine Dragon, the Shinto gate, the Eye of Horus, the Valknut, and the Eagle of Rome. These six symbols were drawn to create a hexagon within the circle. From the left corner of the pit was the slope the three of them dug to get out. Bragi and Rose were standing over the edge of the pit, as Loki looked up and shouted.

Loki: I swear! This has got to be one of the craziest ideas, you've ever had since that time with the three gorgons!

Rose chuckled with his hands in his pockets.

Rose: Let's not dwell in the past! Is the circle ready?

Loki jogged up the slope and joined the two by their side.

Rose: Bragi, are you ready?

Bragi tuned his guitar.

Bragi: This better work.

The two backed away as Bragi started playing a tune from Metallica's 'Seek and Destroy'. The skies darkened as thunder boomed and red lightning struck the guitar, the red electricity coursing around the strings as he aimed at the circle and strummed hard, the red lightning flying out of the guitar and into the circle's serpentine dragon. the dragon symbol lit up in red flames, and so did the circle and the other symbols. The fire from the circle started to swirl as the dark clouds spiraled like a tornado and struck tendrils of red lightning at the circle before a red beam from the storm's eye struck the middle of the circle and blew up the pit, causing Rose, Bragi, and Loki to be launched 10 feet away and crash into the sand. Out from the smoke, was only the silhouette of a giant beast that bared its fangs. It emerged from the smoke and showed itself to be: a small white Shih Tzu, barking happily with a wide smile, its tongue sticking out and its tail wagging back and forth. Loki tried his best to contain his laughter, while Rose smirked.

Loki: Wow. Just, wow. So, this is the power of heavy metal, huh?

Bragi: Shut up.

Rose: Wait for it...

As the Shih Tzu climbed up the slope, it spots the giant cat and barks, baring its teeth as its fur started to steam. The Shih Tzu started growing as if it was given that red serum from Ant-Man, its fur being spread out as its cute little barks started deepening into the growling similar to a dire wolf. The beast's once fluffy little paws grew with thick, sharp golden claws. Its fur stayed the same, but its eyes turned from wide pupils to small dots, as if it was high on caffeine. The tail was fluffy but threw gusts of wind as it wagged it around. The Yule Cat hissed at the Foo Dog, trying to scare it off. In response, the Foo Dog growled and lunged at the cat.

The Foo Dog and the Yule Cat go at it, trying to tear each other apart with their claws and teeth. The three back up to give these giant beasts some space.

Rose: So, anyone hungry?

Bragi looked at Rose and slowly shakes his head. Loki squints his eyes and does a silent 'oof' as the Foo Dog pinned down the Yule Cat and tried to bite its head off, only for the cat to get one of its claws free and swipes at the dog's face.

Loki: Are you sure we can leave them there?

Bragi: Yeah, what if they get tired of fighting each other? It's not like we got anywhere to hold 'em.

Rose looks at the two duking it out and waves his hand.

Rose: Yeah-wait. How do we-

Suddenly, they hear the perishing meow of a cat, then a loud chomp and gulp. They turn around to see the cat's tail hanging by the Foo Dog's mouth. The creature pants and slurps up the tail as its injuries regenerate. Loki chuckles nervously.

Loki: I think it's too late for that.

Bragi taps Loki on the arm repeatedly.

Bragi: Loki, what now?

Loki: Um, truth? I don't know.

Rose: Loki, the circle.

The Foo Dog swipes its paw on the edge of the pit, covering the circle knee-deep in sand. Its mouth drooled hungrily as it approached the three.

Bragi: Plan B?

Rose and Bragi backed away as Loki cast Halagaz again. A tornado formed around the Foo Dog and started to lift the beast off the surface. But before it could even fly 4 feet off the ground, the Foo Dog roared in protest, its sheer volume canceled out the tornado in a loud blast of wind.

Loki: Yup, I'm out!

Loki bolted off, while Bragi and Rose stood their ground. The Shih Tzu growled lowly and roared at Bragi and Rose's face. The G-Force of the roar sounded like the bass drop of an EDM song, the power of the volumes just shaking through their systems. Bragi slung back his guitar and bolted in the other direction as Rose did the same.

Bragi: Oh, hell no! 

Rose: Run! RUN RUN RUN RUN RUN!!!!

The two of them started running away from the Foo Dog, catching up to Loki as the three ran out of the beach, hopped over the fence, ran right to the back of the school, all while the Foo Dog just tanked right through the fence and ran after them in a gallop, it's fangs bared and drool for delicious godly chew toys flew by the creature's mouth. Meanwhile, Loki was hastily picking the lock to the door with nothing but a pair of needles, as the giant dog galloped faster and drew closer with his teeth glistening white.

Bragi: JUST OPEN THE DAMN THING!!!

Loki: SURE!! SHOUT!! LIKE IT'S TOOOOTALLY HELPING!!

Rose: BRACE FOR IMPACT!!!

But just as it was about to reach them, the Foo Dog's speed got the best of it. The giant dog drifted excessively as its right side crashed into the fence and into the woods, where the mass rustling of pine and the smashing of wood could be heard. 

Rose: Huh, I guess the warning's not for us.

The three of them sigh in relief, and Loki stopped picking the lock. Bragi chuckled a bit. Then, his chuckling turned to laughter. Rose soon started to laugh, and Loki did as well. But, as they laughed, the snapping of twigs and branches resonated from the forest behind them. The sound of a low growl is heard, and their laughter turned to panic noises as Loki starts jostling the lock. The door gives off the satisfying click, and Rose immediately pushed the doors open as the three ran inside with him.