Part 2: Chapter 1

xxx ONE xxx
A Dog Woofs to Not Be Harmed

"I can't believe that damned prick would use my body to do whatever he wants! Talking to my mom about climbing a dumb fucking tree and whatnot - it was a pain to try to fix the explanation he gave her!"

I grumbled in my mind as the milk bottle in my hand got crushed and imprinted with my fingers. "What did he even do while I was out cold?! He didn't piss anyone off, did he?!"

"Mortal. I'm right here. Stop talking as if I can't hear you," Lucifer denotes.

"That son of a bitch shit-eating demon! That violent fiend with rocks for brains! That annoying red goblin looking ass!"

"I DON'T LOOK LIKE A RED GOBLIN!!! THAT'S SLANDER!!!!" Lucifer wailed as I succeeded to push his buttons.

My soles still hurt all thanks to the great demon king, but the wounds on my hands have already completely healed.

"That's all thanks to MY powers! See, I'm not just a mere troublemaker or a useless freeloader! I contribute too!"

"So you admit you're a troublemaker and a useless freeloader?" I snicker before rolling my eyes. "The amount of trouble you cause outweighs your measly 'contribution'," I give air quotes. I could hear Lucifer click his tongue at me.

I dunk the crushed-up bottle of milk into a nearby trash can on the side of the street. I flap my hands to get the drop of milk off my hand. 

Lucifer interrupts me with his nagging. "That's a waste! You could've just licked the milk off your hands!" Lucifer advised.

"Gross" I irked.

"Hey, I've never drunk anything that good before in my life! Wastin' somethin' so good like that in front of my eyes is unacceptable!!" I recall he took over for a second just to get a taste.

"Never? Really?" I ponder for a second. "Aren't you the king of Hell or something? Aren't you used to luxury?"

Lucifer takes a second to respond before laughing his ass off. "BWAHAHAHA!! THAT'S BAFFLING!" His vexatious loud laugh rings in my head. "Is that how mortals view me?! Listen here, mortal! Let me give you a personal lesson from the Devil himself! As the king of Hell, I suffer more than anyone else. I don't live in a fancy castle made out of fancy rocks. I don't eat the highest quality meat. I just live like any other sinner, sufferin' the same fate. The only difference is I'm just hated more by God, I guess."

"Huh? How interesting," I say in a deadpan tone. I do think it's intriguing, though.

My curiosity about the Hell that Lucifer is accustomed to is itching to pry for more information, but my train of thought stops as I reach the front gates of my school, Plum Highschool. The name derives from the town's stupid name, Plum Town.

it's an old and cheap school filled with problem kids or just poor students in general. It has a bad reputation for its poor quality. There are so few students enrolling here that my grade has only one class. I'm pretty sure this school is going to get shut down by next year. Though I wouldn't miss it as every day is just endless torture and pain. I can't even recall what I learned from the last material.

"Wait, where are we? What is this place?" Lucifer wondered.

"What? Never heard of school?" I snicker. "Is that why you're so goddamn dumb?"

"'Skyul'?! I've never heard such a thing!"

"It's a place where kids study to learn about how the world works. At least that's what it was initially made for," I explained. "Do you not have schools in Hell?"

"Of course not! Why would sinners need to study after they're dead?" Lucifer whined. Huh, makes sense.

I walk up the stairs to the second floor where my classroom is. The entire 11th grade only has 23 students. "Out of all the 23 students going to class every week, I am friends with none of them."

"What? Even I, the devil, have pals," he flexes. I couldn't help but get pissed at that sentence.

"It's all thanks to my bullies that always make sure I stoop as low as a turd on the side of the road. The other kids would just watch me get beaten up, doing nothing to help."

I could feel Lucifer's confusion. "What? Isn't this place to study or whatever? Why does this sound like a gladiator battle?"

"That's why I said it was INITIALLY ATTENDED to teach kids," I huff. "Other than myself, there's another kid who's also a victim. He's usually called Dane although it isn't his real name. He's a total coward, wouldn't even resist if anyone wanted to shove rusty nails down his throat. I thought maybe I could befriend him since losers have to stick together, but he wouldn't even consider my existence for fucks sake."

I arrive at my class and walk to my designated seat; the seat in the last row. I expected to arrive at school with nothing, but the space of my desk was already filled with the bag I previously left behind intentionally.

But it wasn't in the condition I left it in - it was a mess.

The bright yellow color was tarnished by the dirty shoe prints all over it. Inside are all my belongings messily put in. My notebooks that were already doodled by were ruined even further with the reek of sewage water soaking up on my notes. Everything I wrote was muddled and illegible. My pencils were all cut short and my pens had no more ink in them. My old and cheap outdated phone seemed to be in fine condition, but I just know they've been tampered with.

Without warning, an arm suddenly weighted onto my shoulders. I took a deep sigh as I recognize whose arm it belonged to.

"Hey, little Yoel. Where were you yesterday? I missed you so much!" Pier closes the gap between our faces, "we gave your bag a little makeover while you were gone~ Hope you like it." He shoves my back before backing away.

The whole class ignores us while Pier's underlings take turns laughing at me while slamming my desk.

"Yo mortal, I don't know what their deal is, but they're startin' to piss me off! Want me to help throw some hands for you?"

I take a glance at my bullies to see them ready to gang up on me. They outnumber me. "No, not now. I don't want to make a scene at school. If we're gonna kick their asses we'll do it later off school grounds," I lecture.

One of Pier's cronies grabs the collar of my uniform and raised me off my seat. "What was that glare all about, you son of a bitch?" They get so aggravated over the littlest of things.

"Settle down kids," our homeroom teacher came in at the right time. "I've just had about the worst nights of my life, so you all better behave or else."

Our homeroom teacher is a pretty big and intimidating guy, so Pier and his minions were forced to comply and take their seats. He looks around and notices a seat empty. A student is late, but he decides to brush it off without absenting the class.

"What?! You're just gonna leave 'em like that?!" Lucifer protested.

"I told your ass already! If we're gonna give them a beating, we'll give it to them later. Now is the time for me to study."

Before Lucifer could ask further what Yoel meant, he witnessed the teacher in front start babbling strings of incoherent paragraphs that strains his limited brain. 

"Is... is this the 'study' you speak of?!" He wails and cries, "NOOOO!!! I CAN'T DO THIS MORTAL!!! THIS IS A NIGHTMARE!!!! LET ME OUTTT!!!!!"

xxx

The bell echoes across the entire school, signaling all students that their 20-minute break has started. Lucifer's fried brain is finally saved, even if for just a moment.

The teacher walks out the door, leaving the classroom unsupervised. In a matter of seconds, the groggy atmosphere in the classroom flipped upside down into a bustling, hectic mess. Some were taking out their packed lunches, rearranging their seats closer to their friends, leaving the class, talking loudly without concern for others, and so forth. 

"It's FINALLY OVER!!! Now let's go home, mortal!" Lucifer scabbed. 

"You know there is still about 5 more hours worth of classes. We're barely done with the day." Lucifer groans and whines once again.

I stood up from my seat and walked to the exit door with wary eyes concerning my oppressors. Without me noticing, Pier the scum was already in front of me with his usual repulsive smugness plastered on his face. He leans over the door frame to block the exit. His friends corner me from behind like some street thugs.

"What the hell do you want now, asshole?" I growl. He walks over and rests his arm on my shoulder. I immediately shove it off while glaring at him.

Suddenly, one of his goons puts their arms over my armpits and raised me from the floor, leading me to get beaten up. Our size difference was evident from our 2-inch difference.

I struggled to get off as one of them tried to punch me. Before I could get beaten, I elbowed him in the face which let me escape from his arms and dodge the attack.

I immediately rush over to the exit when suddenly a punch from outside came flying to my face. It knocked me back into the classroom. I cower on the floor with a bloody nose.

Elian, Pier's right-hand man and the one who punched me, walks in while rubbing his fist. He's the second strongest after Pier. "Hey, Pier! Sorry for being late. I see you were busy with Joel."

They do their usual ritualistic handshake before Pier pats Elian's shoulder. "I thought you were skipping today," Pier asks.

"That was the initial plan." He takes a glance at the wall before reaching his hand over and grabbing a skinny boy with familiar oversized thick glasses. "Also, look at what I found while walking up here. Your dog was trying to escape." Elian throws him to the floor where I'm at. "You should tighten his leash."

"Oh, Dane? Well, I was planning to only fuck Yoel up since he was gone yesterday, but I guess the more the merrier, right boys?" Pier riles up his goons. They all surround me and Dane in a circle, closing any opening for me to escape.

Suddenly, Lucifer buts in. "Hey mortal, let me take over. I can beat them all up in a second!" Lucifer says with a pissed-off tone. "Seriously, that guy with the blue hair punches so slow. It's so obvious his weak spot is his legs!"

I hesitate to give Lucifer an answer. I look over at Elian as he said that, trying to analyze him. I guess Lucifer is skilled as I don't understand a single thing he said about him.

As much of a ruckus as it would make if I let Lucifer out, I don't want to get beaten up any longer. I know he could do the job. Should I risk him biting off one of Pier's ears or should I stay put?

Before I could make my decision, Dane got into a pleading pose and started woofing like a dog.

Everyone started laughing at him with one of them even kicking his sides. "Want a treat, doggy?" "Woof louder, idiot!" "This stupid dog is better off being put down!"

A smirk of amusement stretches across Elian's face. "Looks like he's really sticking with the dog act you taught him, Pier. What about Joel? He looks just like a dog. I think he'd do well as one."

My forehead starts to fold at his sentiment. The other goons just mindlessly agree to the idea, cheering like idiots. You already have a 'dog', why would you want another?!

"Che, if I were to be your 'dog', then I'd have to stoop as low as you gunk fuckers," I growl.

Everyone who was cheering before slowly quiet down as their fangs began to show. Not only them, but even Dane is giving me the stink eye, telling me to stop aggravating them. Unfortunately for you, I don't bow down to people just because they're stronger, nor do I listen to some coward's pleas.

Before anyone could spout insults and act physically, Pier shuts them up and walks towards me. He raises me by gripping my jaws and tosses me to my feet. As I balanced myself, I immediately initiated to punch him in the face, but the hair that I haven't properly groomed obstructed my view, leaving me in a blind spot. With power stronger than Elian, he pounds my stomach as I fell back to the floor.

Although saliva was pouring out of my mouth constantly, I couldn't afford to just lay there. I attempted to stand up to no avail as Pier crushed my left hand. The sudden pain made me jerk backwards. No matter how much I attacked his foot with my right hand, it wouldn't budge off.

While I whimper in pain, he takes the arrogant liberty of lighting a cigarette from his pocket.

"That's it, I'm taking control!" Lucifer yelled. Suddenly I felt an uncomfortable burst in my body. I suspected it was Lucifer trying to take over control, so I tried my hardest to suppress it.

"STOP IT!!" I accidentally panicked aloud. Everyone takes a glance over me, surprised by what I blurted out before laughing at me.

"You want me to stop, little Yoel?" Pier bends down and blows the smoke to my face. "Why don't you try to beg like good boy Dane over there? Beg until you piss and shit yourself, then maybe I'll consider it."

Once again, the uncomfortable burst came again, this time with more power and force. My body cringes from the odd sensation. "LUCIFER!!!" I shouted. I made sure it was just in my mind this time.

"What is it that you're scared of, mortal?! You know just how annoying this smug kid is!!! This will benefit you anyways!!!" He keeps pushing to take over control.

The pain made me let my guard down for a second and instantaneously, all feeling in my body disappeared.

It felt like the bleeding on my nose and bruising on my body escaped my body. I could feel a grin make its way on my face.

Lucifer had taken over my body.

xxx TO BE CONTINUED xxx