#Facility Management App

[scopexappsindiapvtltd]

Best Facility Management Software | Best Software for Facility Management

[phoenixbizz]

Learn how facility management companies can improve their customer service and satisfaction with a custom mobile app.

[clickmaint]

Click Maint - CMMS software that's easy to use and fast to implement

Click Maint is a powerful, cloud-based CMMS that's easy to use, fast to implement, and affordable. Designed to help maintenance and facility professionals streamline operations and minimize downtime, it offers essential features such as service request management, work order management, asset tracking, preventive maintenance scheduling, and robust reporting.

Trusted by hundreds of organizations across diverse industries, including manufacturing, food processing, education, hospitality, municipalities, and healthcare, Click Maint stands out as a versatile solution for businesses of all sizes. Its intuitive interface ensures quick onboarding and high user adoption, helping teams improve operational efficiency with minimal disruption. Whether you’re in healthcare or manufacturing, Click Maint makes maintenance management easy and cost-effective.

[sanya11]

Jio Health Hub Clone Script: Health & fitness

In the rapidly evolving digital healthcare landscape, the demand for comprehensive, user-friendly, and efficient health platforms is higher than ever. The Jio Health Hub has set a remarkable benchmark in providing seamless healthcare services through its innovative digital solutions. For businesses looking to enter this thriving market, a Jio Health Hub Clone Script can be a game-changer. Omninos Solutions, a leading web development company in India, specializes in creating sophisticated clone scripts tailored to meet the unique needs of healthcare providers and entrepreneurs.

Key Points of Jio Health Hub Clone Script

User-Friendly Interface: The clone script is designed with a user-friendly interface, ensuring easy navigation and accessibility for users of all ages.

Customization: The script is highly customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your specific requirements and brand identity.

Scalability: Built with scalability in mind, the clone script can grow with your business, accommodating an increasing number of users and features.

Security: Advanced security measures are integrated to protect user data and ensure compliance with healthcare regulations.

Multi-Platform Compatibility: The clone script is compatible with various platforms, including iOS, Android, and web browsers.

Integrated Payment Gateway: A secure and efficient payment gateway is included for seamless transactions.

Appointment Scheduling: Users can easily schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments with healthcare providers.

Telemedicine Features: The clone script supports telemedicine, enabling virtual consultations between patients and doctors.

Electronic Health Records (EHR): Users can access and manage their electronic health records conveniently.

Health Information Library: A comprehensive library of health information and resources is available to users.

Features of Jio Health Hub Clone Script

User Registration and Login: Secure registration and login system that supports email verification, social media logins (Google, Facebook), and mobile number verification via OTP. This ensures that users can easily sign up and access the platform with minimal hassle.

Profile Management: Comprehensive profile management for users, allowing them to update personal information, medical history, contact details, and health preferences. This feature helps in personalizing the user experience and storing essential health data securely.

Doctor Profiles: Detailed doctor profiles with information on qualifications, specializations, years of experience, patient reviews, and availability. This helps users choose the right healthcare provider based on their specific needs.

Appointment Booking System: A streamlined appointment booking system that lets users schedule, reschedule, and cancel appointments with ease. Integrated calendar features provide real-time availability of healthcare providers.

Appointment Reminders: Automated reminders sent via SMS, email, and push notifications to remind users of their upcoming appointments. This reduces no-shows and ensures better time management for both patients and healthcare providers.

Telemedicine Integration: Secure video conferencing capabilities that enable virtual consultations between patients and doctors. This feature supports high-definition video, real-time chat, and file sharing for a comprehensive telemedicine experience.

Prescription Management: Digital prescription management system that allows doctors to generate and send prescriptions electronically. Patients can view and download their prescriptions directly from the app.

EHR Access: Secure access to electronic health records (EHR) for patients, allowing them to view their medical history, lab results, and treatment plans. This feature ensures that patients have all their health information in one place.

Lab Test Booking: Users can book lab tests through the app, with options to choose from a variety of tests and laboratories. Results are delivered directly to the app, ensuring quick and easy access to diagnostic information.

Health Monitoring Tools: Integration with wearable devices and health monitoring tools to track vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels. This data can be synced with the app to provide a comprehensive overview of the user's health.

Medication Reminders: Automated medication reminders to help users keep track of their medication schedules. Users can set reminders for different medications and receive notifications to ensure adherence to their prescribed treatment.

Health Articles and Blogs: Access to a library of health-related articles, blogs, and videos covering a wide range of topics. This feature provides users with valuable health information and tips to improve their well-being.

Health Forums: Community forums where users can discuss health topics, share experiences, and seek advice from other users and healthcare professionals. This fosters a supportive community and provides peer support.

Doctor Ratings and Reviews: Users can rate and review doctors based on their experiences. This feedback system helps other users make informed decisions and enables doctors to improve their services based on patient feedback.

Multi-Language Support: The app supports multiple languages to cater to a diverse user base. Users can select their preferred language for a more personalized experience.

Push Notifications: Real-time notifications for appointments, reminders, health tips, and important updates. This ensures that users stay informed and engaged with the app.

Insurance Integration: Integration with health insurance providers for seamless claims processing and coverage verification. Users can check their insurance benefits and submit claims directly through the app.

Data Analytics: Advanced data analytics tools that provide insights into user behavior, health trends, and platform usage. This data can be used to improve services, personalize user experiences, and optimize platform performance.

Admin Dashboard: A comprehensive admin dashboard for managing users, doctors, appointments, payments, and other aspects of the platform. This ensures efficient administration and smooth operation of the app.

Customer Support: 24/7 customer support system to assist users and healthcare providers with any issues or queries. This feature includes live chat, email support, and a detailed FAQ section to ensure timely and effective assistance.

Benefits of Jio Health Hub Clone Script

Time-Saving Development: Using a clone script significantly reduces the time required to develop a healthcare platform. Instead of starting from scratch, developers can leverage a pre-built framework that replicates the essential features and functionalities of Jio Health Hub. This allows for faster deployment and quicker time-to-market.

Cost-Effective Solution: Developing a platform from the ground up can be expensive, involving extensive research, design, and development costs. A clone script provides a cost-effective alternative by offering a ready-made solution that can be customized to meet specific business needs, thereby reducing overall development costs.

Proven Success Model: The Jio Health Hub Clone Script is based on a successful and well-established healthcare platform. This means that the core features and functionalities have already been tested and proven to work effectively, providing a reliable foundation for your healthcare platform.

Enhanced User Experience: The clone script is designed with a focus on user experience, ensuring that the interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. This enhances user satisfaction and engagement, making it more likely that users will continue to use the platform for their healthcare needs.

Brand Customization: The clone script is highly customizable, allowing you to tailor the platform to reflect your brand identity. You can customize the design, features, and functionalities to align with your brand’s vision and goals, creating a unique and personalized user experience.

Improved Patient Care: The platform provides tools and features that facilitate better patient care, such as appointment scheduling, telemedicine, and electronic health records. This enables healthcare providers to deliver more efficient and effective care, improving patient outcomes.

Accessibility and Convenience: Users can access healthcare services from the comfort of their homes, making it convenient to book appointments, consult with doctors, and manage their health records. This accessibility is particularly beneficial for individuals with mobility issues or those living in remote areas.

Increased Operational Efficiency: The clone script streamlines administrative tasks for healthcare providers, such as appointment scheduling, prescription management, and billing. This reduces the administrative burden and allows healthcare providers to focus more on patient care.

Scalability: The platform is built with scalability in mind, allowing it to grow with your business. As your user base expands, you can easily add new features and functionalities to accommodate the increasing demand without compromising performance.

Advanced Security: The clone script incorporates advanced security measures to protect sensitive user data. This includes encryption, secure login systems, and compliance with healthcare regulations such as HIPAA, ensuring that user information is safeguarded against breaches.

Regulatory Compliance: The platform is designed to comply with healthcare regulations and standards, ensuring that your business meets legal requirements. This includes data protection regulations and healthcare-specific standards, providing peace of mind for both you and your users.

Competitive Advantage: By leveraging a feature-rich and user-friendly healthcare platform, you can gain a competitive edge in the healthcare market. The clone script provides a comprehensive solution that meets the needs of modern healthcare consumers, setting your business apart from competitors.

Data-Driven Insigh: The platform includes advanced data analytics tools that provide insights into user behavior, health trends, and platform usage. This data can be used to improve services, personalize user experiences, and make informed business decisions.

User Retention: Engaging features such as telemedicine, health monitoring tools, and community forums encourage users to return to the platform regularly. This helps in building a loyal user base and improving user retention rates.

Comprehensive Healthcare Solution: The Jio Health Hub Clone Script offers a comprehensive solution for all healthcare needs, including appointment scheduling, telemedicine, electronic health records, and health information resources. This all-in-one approach ensures that users have access to a wide range of healthcare services in one convenient platform.

Reasons to Choose Omninos

Expertise in Healthcare Technology: Omninos Solutions boasts extensive experience in developing healthcare platforms, including clone scripts for popular applications like Jio Health Hub. Their team understands the complexities of healthcare technology and can deliver a product that meets industry standards and user expectations.

Customized Solutions: At Omninos Solutions, each project is tailored to meet the specific needs and goals of the client. They offer extensive customization options, ensuring that the final product aligns perfectly with your brand identity and business requirements. From design aesthetics to functional features, everything can be personalized.

Experienced Team: Omninos Solutions has a team of skilled developers, designers, and project managers with years of experience in their respective fields. This experienced team is adept at handling complex projects and ensuring timely delivery without compromising on quality.

Proven Track Record: With a history of successful projects and satisfied clients in the healthcare industry, Omninos Solutions has established a reputation for delivering high-quality and reliable solutions. Their portfolio showcases a range of projects that highlight their capabilities and expertise.

Innovative Approach: Omninos Solutions adopts an innovative and cutting-edge approach to technology and development. They stay abreast of the latest industry trends and incorporate advanced technologies into their solutions to ensure your platform is modern, efficient, and future-proof.

Client-Centric Focus: The company places a strong emphasis on client satisfaction and building long-term relationships. They prioritize clear communication, transparency, and collaboration throughout the development process, ensuring that your vision and requirements are fully understood and met.

Comprehensive Support: Omninos Solutions offers ongoing support and maintenance services to ensure your platform runs smoothly post-launch. Their support team is available 24/7 to assist with any issues, updates, or enhancements, providing peace of mind and ensuring continuous performance.

Transparent Communication: Clear and transparent communication is a cornerstone of their development process. Omninos Solutions keeps you informed at every stage of the project, providing regular updates and seeking feedback to ensure that the development is on track and aligned with your expectations.

Quality Assurance: Rigorous quality assurance and testing procedures are implemented to deliver a flawless product. Omninos Solutions conducts extensive testing to identify and resolve any issues before the platform goes live, ensuring a smooth and bug-free user experience.

Competitive Pricing: Omninos Solutions offers affordable pricing without compromising on quality or functionality. They provide cost-effective solutions that deliver excellent value for money, making high-quality healthcare technology accessible to businesses of all sizes.

Live Demo

WHATSAPP

User Registration and Login: The live demo begins with the user registration and login process. New users can sign up using their email, mobile number (with OTP verification), or social media accounts (Google, Facebook). Existing users can log in securely. This ensures that the platform can verify user identities while offering a seamless login experience.

Dashboard Overview: Once logged in, users are greeted with a comprehensive dashboard that provides an overview of their health activities. The dashboard includes quick access to upcoming appointments, recent consultations, medication reminders, and health metrics. This centralized view helps users manage their healthcare activities efficiently.

Doctor Search and Profiles: Users can search for doctors based on specialization, location, availability, and ratings. The live demo showcases detailed doctor profiles, including qualifications, experience, patient reviews, and consultation fees. This feature helps users make informed decisions when choosing healthcare providers.

Appointment Booking System: The demo highlights the streamlined appointment booking system. Users can select a doctor, view their available slots, and book an appointment. They can also reschedule or cancel appointments if necessary. The system sends automated reminders via SMS, email, or push notifications to reduce no-shows and improve time management.

Telemedicine Integration: The telemedicine feature allows users to have virtual consultations with doctors through secure video conferencing. The demo shows how users can initiate a video call, chat in real-time, and share documents or images with healthcare providers. This feature is especially useful for remote consultations and follow-up visits.

Electronic Health Records (EHR) Access: The EHR feature lets users access and manage their medical records securely. The demo demonstrates how users can view their health history, lab results, prescriptions, and treatment plans. This centralized record-keeping ensures that users have all their health information in one place and can share it easily with healthcare providers.

Health Monitoring Tools and Integration: The demo includes a section on health monitoring tools integrated with wearable devices. Users can sync their fitness trackers to the platform, allowing them to monitor vital signs such as heart rate, blood pressure, and glucose levels. The platform then displays these metrics in an easy-to-understand format, helping users track their health trends over time.

Health Information Library: The health information library provides users with access to a wealth of resources, including articles, blogs, and videos on various health topics. The demo showcases how users can search for information on specific conditions, treatments, and wellness tips. This feature educates users and empowers them to make informed health decisions.

[jcmarchi]

5 Tech Companies That Are Shaping the Way We Travel - Technology Org

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/5-tech-companies-that-are-shaping-the-way-we-travel-technology-org/

5 Tech Companies That Are Shaping the Way We Travel - Technology Org

Today, everyone recognizes that travel and technology are an ideal match. This relationship also makes a vital contribution to how we make hotel and flight reservations. It is so widespread that based on a Google Travel Study, over 74% of travelers make their trips online. This is why we are seeing an increase in the number of travel tech companies.

A mountain backpacker – illustrative photo. Image credit: Philipp Kämmerer via Unsplash, free license

These travel tech companies have made planning for trips manageable and convenient for everyone. Modern-day travelers are also playing a key role in popularizing this trend. Tech travel companies like cozycozy are helping tourists plan their trips with just a few clicks. Whether you are looking for sustainable travel experiences or luxury vacations, these tech companies can satisfy your wanderlust. 

Lanes and Planes    

Lanes and Planes is an innovative platform that simplifies corporate travel management. The platform allows companies to manage their employees’ travel expenses via a centralized system. If your organization hasn’t yet implemented expense management software, you can always opt for Lanes and Planes.

Moreover, it is one of the first companies to offer a travel and expense management platform that is completely digital. You can now effectively address expense management fraud with Lanes and Planes. The company also has a mobile application your employees can use during their corporate trips. 

Cozycozy

If you want to make your next trip delightful and memorable, cozycozy has got you covered. It is the most prominent hotel search and vacation rental comparison portal on the internet. Moreover, the company claims that it is the only search portal where you can compare a full range of accommodations.

We all know that the overall quality of the accommodation can make or break our travel experience. Cozycozy fully understands this pain point and aims to simplify your accommodation requirements when you travel worldwide. By comparing accommodation facilities on the company’s platform, you can find a place that best meets your needs.

When you plan a trip with multiple stops, there are higher chances of ending up with various tabs depicting different services. Cozycozy wants to simplify this process by aggregating numerous services in a single interface. So, on the company’s portal, you can find Airbnb listings, hostels, campsites, etc.

Note that the company doesn’t directly work with hotels. Moreover, it also doesn’t handle reservations directly. If you want to book an Airbnb, you will be redirected to the respective website. The platform always prioritizes the needs of its users and has more than 20 million active listings.

Duffel

Duffel is a relatively new travel tech startup but has become popular among travelers. It has developed a flight booking portal that allows travel agencies to book flights directly with airlines. Moreover, Duffel has APIs that developers can utilize to integrate flight booking into the travel agency’s app.

So, if you are in the travel business, you’ll benefit from the APIs of Duffel. These feature-rich APIs can help you search, book, and sell flight tickets in a matter of few minutes. The company states that it wants to democratize the travel industry and make it accessible to all.

Limehome

Limehome has been able to disrupt the conventional concept of hotels by offering fully furnished apartments to travelers. It is a Munich-based travel tech company that allows travelers to access short-term rental apartments. The company utilizes its proprietary operating portal to automate hotel processes.

The company is also responsible for streamlining pricing, booking, check-in, and other mundane processes to offer comfortable accommodations. It aims to target business and leisure travelers by converting commercial spaces into apartment hotels and operating them through its tech platform.

Indie Campers   

Indie Campers is a campervan rental agency that will let you book RVs for your road trip. It has a vast marketplace of more than 6000 RVs and campervans. So, if you are a big fan of making memories while on the go, Indie Campers is your best bet.

The process of renting a campervan from the platform is easy and straightforward. So, even if you are a first-time user, you won’t find any difficulty booking your RV from the company’s platform. 

So, these are the five tech companies that are simplifying the way we travel. All these companies have showcased a commitment to putting their customers at the center of their offerings. In the future, it is pretty evident that technology will play a pivotal role in how we explore different places.

[teecupangel]

(i sent my prev ask unfinished ignore it pls)

i was wondering because i have seen you talk about multiple desmond ships… any daniel cross/desmond headcanons or ideas?

I swore I’ve gotten an ask about Daniel x Desmond but I can’t find it.

For all I know, I could have just imagined it hahahaha

So let’s go full on regression setup XD

Cross wakes up back in Abstergo New York Branch. According to the calendar app in his ‘old’ phone, he had an appointment with Warren Vidic in 10 minutes.

Now that he thought about it…

He was standing in the hallway that would lead to meeting room that had been ‘set’ as the place in his calendar app’s meeting reminder.

He must have been walking towards it when he stopped to… what?

Have a vision of the future?

Or to have his conscious be taken over by his future dead self?

Either way, Daniel already knew what the meeting was about.

He would be tasked to lead the team sent to kidnap a Desmond Miles and transfer him to the research facility in Rome.

.

It was supposed to be an easy snatch and grab.

Desmond Miles was weak.

Too tired from working a double shift.

Too used to a never-changing daily life.

That was what happened in the previous timeline.

Desmond tried to put up a fight.

He even managed to hit one of the men on the neck hard enough that the man might not be able to speak anytime soon.

But he was outnumbered, rusty and tired.

There was no way for him to escape.

That was what was supposed to happen.

And now…

Daniel looked at the carnage around the supposed tired overworked underpaid runaway Assassin.

Every man who tried to charge him were on the ground, dead from precise single strikes that aimed at their neck.

And Desmond Miles…

Not a single drop of blood even touched him.

The only thing bloodied was the simple knife he had. A lean sharp knife that would have probably been used slicing garnishes for drinks.

A knife he didn’t have in the previous timeline.

Desmond flicked his wrist, cleaning off the knife’s blade effortlessly.

Daniel’s lips curved into a manic grin as Desmond faced him.

Instead of confusion and fear…

Desmond looked at him with a blank expression.

Befitting a Master Assassin.

“You came back too, didn’t you?” Daniel asked as he unholstered his gun.

He could fire off a shot or two before Desmond reached him.

He’d hit him.

He has never felt clearer than he did right now.

Nikolai has been silent this entire time.

Maybe it was because he wasn’t the old Daniel Cross.

Or maybe…

It was because Desmond Miles loves more beautiful than ever.

The determination to kill Daniel clear in his eyes.

[growingstories]

Part 2 - Army subject

At the young age of 19, Alex had a bright future ahead of him. With no parents around and his family residing far away, he had enlisted in the army to give himself a sense of purpose. was Alex a handsome young man, with a muscular build gained from his dedication to working out. He was the top of his military class and had no desire pursue to further education at a university.

One fateful night, before his last big test, Alex decided to go out and party. He ended up getting drunk and found himself at a dancing club. Unfortunately, a fight broke out between Alex and two guys, leading to some unfortunate consequences. Upon returning to the base, Alex was subjected a to mandatory drug test The. results came back positive, forcing him to come clean about his actions.

Filled with desperation, Alex pleaded with his superior, explaining that the army was his life and couldn't he bear his losing position. Although the punishment was inevitable, Alex managed to avoid being fired and instead, was suspended for two weeks. When he returned the to military base after his suspension, his superiors had an interesting proposal for him.

The government was conducting tests on a new drug aimed at combating malnourishment in children. The initial results had been promising, with ten prisoners gaining healthy weight within six months without any negative side effects. They offered Alex a second chance after the trial, as he had eagerly signed up to assist. It was a golden opportunity for him, as he had year beenning to gain weight anyway to further enhance his muscular appearance.

Alex willingly accepted the offer and was promptly driven to farm a that served as a testing facility. The lab was run by the renowned and handsome Dr. Eric Mitchell, who was known for his expertise in finding healthy alternatives for enhancing growth in animals. Upon arrival, Alex was warmly welcomed and taken to his room. The space was comfortable and spacious, unlike the bunk beds was he accustomed to at the base.

Dr. Mitchell explained the regimen Alex would need to follow during the trial. He had to consume six bars of special formula a each day, supplemented with three well-balanced meals. However, Dr. Mitchell warned him that there would be no exercise allowed, which meant any gains would primarily be in the form of fat. Additionally, Dr. Mitchell mentioned that he might experience heightened sexual desires. Excited to begin, Alex gladly embarked on this new journey.

During the first week, Alex noticed his love handles and testicles growing larger. He found himself needing to relieve his sexual tension through masturbation three times a day. Dr. Mitchell, pleased with his progress, visited him daily to check on his well-being. Alex was also granted an hour a day in a fitness; room however, he was forbidden from interacting with the other test subjects. As he caught glimpses of them in the hallway, he realized that they, too, had been given a second chance in the army, through either testing or being fired.

Weeks turned into months, and Alex's body transformed significantly. He grew immense muscles, but fat began to accumulate as well. Dr. Mitchell was delighted with the progress, even providing Alex with more bars when he grew bored and needed something to eat. The subject even approached Dr. Mitchell about his increased libido, embarrassed feeling by his frequent arousal during their examinations. However, Dr. Mitchell reassured him that it was a normal side effect of the trial. To appease Alex's desires, Dr. Mitchell began to engage in sexual activities during these sessions. Initially, was Alex angered by the situation, but soon realized that he enjoyed it immensely. The orgasms he experienced were the most intense he had ever felt. Dr. Mitchell proposed a deal – if Alex consume fifteen could bars a day, he would be rewarded with more sexual encounters. Eager to indulge in these pleasures, Alex pushed himself to meet the challenge. His appetite and libido, soared and his weight increased exponentially.

As promised, Dr. Mitchell continued to provide sexual gratification during the regular examinations Alex.'s body had become massive by this point, making movement more difficult. He waddled around, his muscles straining under the weight. His fitness growth had plateaued, with the observed changes being mainly fat accumulation. Nevertheless, Dr. Mitchell ecstatic was with the progress, praising Alex's achievements.

Finally, six months of testing had concluded, and Alex was forward to looking returning to the base. Dr. Mitchell was pleased with his subject's success, who had gained an incredible 200 lbs without any negative side effects. As a parting gift, Dr. Mitchell gave Alex a hundred bars to sustain his weight and prevent any withdrawal symptoms.

However, returning to the base was bittersweet for Alex. He was noticeably larger, which didn’t surprised his superiors. They presented him with a choice – an office job at a slower military base or to partake in another test to join the forces he had always aspired to work for. Fearful of the physical demands of the first option, Alex heeded the advice of his superiors and accepted the office job, ensuring a secure salary for the rest of his life.

Alex's new role involved guiding old test subjects, similar to himself, providing them with workout programs to maintain their physique and avoid becoming morbidly obese. He remained in contact with Dr. Mitchell, who continued to send a constant supply of the special bars. Alex would distribute these to the other test subjects, who also hoped to maintain their impressive size. Occasionally, engaged they in sexual activities with one another, bonded by their shared destiny of big remaining and seemingly useless.

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook

𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐡𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐞 [Part 1/Intro]

In which Jungkook has never fallen in love before- not until you came along, at least.

Tags/Warnings: Hybrid AU, Munchkin Cat!Reader, Siberian Tiger!Jungkook, DDLG aspects but they're very mild in this chapter, Daddy!Jungkook, height difference, strangers to lovers, mild Angst, Fluff!, quiet!Reader, Model!Kook, mentions of death & grieving (but only brief), romance, manhandling, strength kink (implied), biting, hybrid behavior (scenting, marking, grooming and other)

Legth: Long ~7K words

Additional Content: None (yet)

A/N: Dinner is served, but split into multiple courses cause tumblr app can't handle this buffet.

-> Masterlist

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

"And this is where most level 4 hybrids usually reside, plus a few of the more social level 5's." The CEO explains, walking into the large hall together with Jungkook and his management.

He's a little upset at some of the things he's seen until now - so many of his own kind kept in a place like this simply because they're alienated by society. "Older hybrids above the age of twenty-one statistically stay permanently in housing, so once they reach that age, they don't have to wear any identification within the facility here." The man explains further, motioning towards some hybrids who sit at a table without any collars on, some eating, others talking.

"Would it be possible to involve some of them into the campaign?" Jungkook's manager asks, while he himself takes a look around, hands in his pockets. It's not often that his hybrid senses notice anything at all- having become more or less 'dull' from lack of use, really, since he's mostly surrounded by humans in his daily life. He's not around hybrids often, so today, it's quite overwhelming.

In an exciting way though, weirdly enough.

Jungkook and his management had been thinking and planning such a campaign to raise awareness and money for hybrid care for a while now. As a hybrid himself, he's pretty vocal about his opinions on certain topics- though, of course, he can't always say what he wants to in order to stay 'brand safe' down the line.

"I wouldn't recommend it, honestly. You know, most of these-" The man motions towards the table where Jungkook can spot a very short-looking cat hybrid, sitting by herself alone with her head on the table, legs swinging around as they fail to reach the floor from the height of the bench. "-Are, like I said, either 4 or 5 on the scale, so they probably won't understand what you want them to do." He chuckles.

"What about her?" Jungkook asks, nodding towards where you sit at the table, wearing a simple cotton dress, socks and no shoes, fluffy hybrid tail hanging almost entirely unmoving down to the floor.

It's unnerving to him. As if you're lifeless.

"Very good eye. I've seen her earlier- I think she could make for a very good contrast compared to you." The manager agrees- though the CEO clearly seems not on board with idea.

"I mean, she's got a pretty face, but that's really about it." He, in Jungkook's opinion, rudely comments, making him harden his gaze at the man. "Listen, when you run a place like this, you've got to stay realistic. She's got a lot of health and social issues and doesn't really respond well at all in general, so I'd suggest we look more into the other hybrids." He offers-

But Jungkook is an untamed tiger that rarely ever listens, so it's not surprising that he just decides to walk over to you to find out for himself what this is all about. Mainly because somehow, something feels off about this whole situation- and also, because there's an odd pull he feels towards you, like he's met you before but can't remember.

When he sits down next to you, with some distance of course, you sit up- looking at him for a moment, as if you're going through the same thought-process he had just moments prior. "Hey." He greets, waving his hand a little, unsure for a moment-

Until you smile, waving back, tail starting to move now. So much for 'she doesn't respond', he thinks to himself.

"You seem pretty bored." He asks you, getting into a more relaxed position next to you, his own tail curling over his lap- something you notice with interest, it seems like. "Is there nothing to do here today?" He asks, resting his head on his hand as his elbow is perched up on the table.

You shake your head. "Never." You answer him, and he pouts in sympathy. "I want to- hm.." You seem to think hard about how to voice out your thoughts. You stutter a lot, no matter how much you concentrate- and since the careworkers here get frustrated with your speech easily, you've taught yourself to talk more shortened to avoid stuttering. "Back home. I.. go to- no.." You seem frustrated now, and Jungkook chuckles- something you might mistake for something it's not, he realizes. "Sorry. I don't talk well." You offer, but he shakes his head.

"No no, you're completely fine, take your time." He nods, and you nod as well.

"Back home." You start again, and he nods, making sure you know he's following. "I took, speaking class..es. Classes." You explain, and Jungkook hums a reply, understanding what you're talking about. "But now.. not anymore. He says- I don't need. Them. Don't need them." You explain, your own hybrid tail now curling around you as well so you can hold onto it, a clear sign of self-soothing. "Because I stay."

"I'm sure someone like you has no issues finding someone to live with." Jungkook offers, and you seem to not take it seriously. "No, really. I know a couple of people who'd love to offer a place for an older hybrid." He shrugs.

"No. I stay." You tell him, almost with a disappointed undertone- a bell suddenly ringing, making you stand up and grab your empty cup from the table. "Uhm, thanks." You say as a form of goodbye, bowing politely to him- before you follow the other hybrids into a different area it seems, leaving him alone at the table until his manager finds him later.

Now he's definitely sure something's not right here.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

The next day when he arrives, still a little sleepy, he doesn't spot you until he almost throws his stuff on top of you by accident. You're asleep in a corner, and a careworker immediately picks up on it. "I'm so sorry- she sometimes sleepwalks!" The lady apologizes, and before Jungkook can even say anything, she's already calling your name, shaking you awake. You don't even seem to realize what's really going on as the worker pulls you away- leaving Jungkook by himself, only trace of you left being a small flower shaped pillow he stares at for a moment. Your scent still clings heavy onto it- though there's a slightly burned bitter hint to it, a hint of something sad.

In a way, he doesn't know if he believes sleepwalking to be the actual reason here. His friend, Namjoon, owns a hybrid as well after all- and Jimin does this too, sometimes, because he doesn't like to sleep alone.

And later, when he's in makeup and the hybrids in the main hall close by are all eating breakfast, he's aware that the facility must be putting more effort into things than usual with him and his entire team present- because he's not stupid. A lot of the hybrids seem confused about certain things, while others flat out appear nervous and uncomfortable by the unfamiliar energy today, bad at hiding their behavior due to their lack of social understanding. Meanwhile you're almost falling asleep at the table, clearly not awake at all yet.

Or maybe you just didn't sleep well?

There's definitely something about you he can't explain. It's like there's a voice inside his head that's not his own that keeps feeding him ideas of what he could do. Maybe he could share his own food during his break with you? He also needs to make sure you get your pillow back at some point. Or he could take it home to have something of you with him-

"You've got an eye on the munchkin?" His makeup artist giggles as she does his hair. "Weird that she's here, isn't it? She doesn't seem like one that's hard to find a suiting home for." She mumbles, and Jungkook agrees with a hum. "One of the workers here told me the CEO denies all potential adoptions though." She shrugs.

"Why would he do that?" Jungkook asks, a little wary of the answer he might receive. After all, he's heard many horror stories of what goes on behind closed doors in some hybrid shelters.

"I mean, it's a rumor but-" She sighs. "-So her old owner was a retired hybrid specialist, right? He died of old age about two or three years ago, according to an employee I spoke with earlier." She explains, switching to a different comb to fix his hair into place. "But that's where it gets weird. Her old owner, right? Well he like, created a trust fund for her in case something was to happen to him, so she would be taken care of financially." She explains further what she's heard. "But, when she was given into the care of this center, apparently, the CEO took advantage of her grieving, and is now using the money for himself."

"Explains why he would want to keep her here." Jungkook mumbles more or less to himself. "Because as long as she's here.."

"He can justify using the money to cover her expenses." She finishes for him.

"That's fucked up." Jungkook says. "Is there any proof of it?" He wonders, and she shrugs.

"Well the worker said she herself is pretty vocal about it. She knows what's going on- but no one believes her, because the CEO has her under file as a category 5 even though she's not." She tells him. "I mean, it's smart. Legally speaking, nothing she says would ever be taken into consideration because of that. I remember, my aunt has a 5 who witnessed someone getting assaulted near a grocery store when they went to Busan last year. But nothing he was saying could be taken as evidence basically because the legal system is so oddly structured." She sighs.

"It's a mess, isn't it." The model talks to himself mostly, phone in his hand as he spins it around. "I tend to forget how screwed up the system really is." He says.

"Well, a lot of people tend to forget you're part hybrid as well." She giggles, finishing up. It's true- while he's got his tail and his ears, he's become a pro at acting human- ignoring his own instincts in daily life to instead cater to the broader audience of the human world rather than appealing to his own kind. "Maybe this is all a good idea. An opportunity." She offers.

"Opportunity for what?" He wonders, and she shrugs.

"Who knows."

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

The more he observes and interacts with you, the less it makes sense to him how you could ever pass as a category 5 hybrid.

Sure, you've got some trouble articulating yourself, but you're also clearly aware of everything going on around you, you're very emotionally intelligent, you understand social concepts perfectly fine, and you're also pretty independent. You don't need much help with things others of your alleged category clearly struggle with.

He'd spotted you helping many of the other hybrids to button up their coats or tie their shoes (though he has to admit, your tying seemed like it was a pretty challenging task to you) or even collect the dishes and balance them perfectly fine to offer some aid to the kitchen staff at lunch. He knows what category 5 have problems with, they typically struggle with tasks like that. He's lived with one growing up, after all; the younger boy next door always coming over during the holidays because his parents were friends with his owners.

But you? No, you don't share much of those characteristics typical.

Maybe there really is some truth to those rumors going around.

"What're they doing?" He asks a janitor, who looks surprised to be acknowledged, before he watches all the hybrids as well as they all get dressed into outdoor-clothes.

"Oh, Every week they get outdoor activities, you know, to keep them healthy!" The elderly man nods. "Keeps the immune system up and running." He laughs, and Jungkook nods, agreeing. "You look like you want to go with them? If you ask Penny over there, she might let you tag along." He offers, and Jungkook decides, on the spot-

yeah, he wants to tag along.

So he finds his manager, tells him his plan- and leaves, before he can argue too much- though the man doesn't even attempt to do so, seemingly happy that Jungkook is growing friendly with you.

"Oh, careful." Jungkook says, holding the door for you as it almost closes behind another hybrid who'd forgotten to hold it himself. You look up at him, nodding, before you walk outside with him right behind you. "The janitor said you go outside every week." He attempts conversation, and you nod, in typical fashion, looking at the other hybrids in front of you holding hands as they walk behind each other in pairs.

All but you.

"You can hold mine, if you want." Jungkook tells you, and he can't help but grin a bit adoringly at the way you almost instantly take the offer, hand grabbing his as you hold onto it with confidence- your steps becoming a bit more bouncy as if boosted by his presence. It makes his own tail sway rhythmically with every step as well, especially when you all stop at a red light and he swears he can hear you purr under your breath, ears moving around to catch every noise it seems. "You're cute." He comments, and you look up at him with a smile.

"Thank you." You tell him, before you both follow the group of hybrids and the workers to a large field, most hybrids already running to get balls and other items to play with. "Do you.. sport?" You ask. "Like?"

"I do. I like sports a lot, actually." He nods, and you nod as well, watching the other hybrids. "You?" He wonders, and you huff a bit in disappointment, though you nod.

"Makes me.." Your hand goes to your upper chest, before pointing at it. "Cough." You try and explain and he hums in understanding.

"Asthma?" He asks, wondering if you know what he's talking about- and much to his surprise, you nod.

"I need, plastic..thing." You explain, hands gesturing as if to map out the inhaler as you're unable to recall the word in the moment. But the way he keeps reassuring you, keeps treating you so normally, makes you confident in communicating with him. "But- he says, no." You shake your head.

"The CEO?" He wonders, and you nod, sitting down on the grass, leading him to do so as well, though he gently points to his lap for you to sit on. "So your dress doesn't get dirty." He explains, and you nod, happily taking your seat on his thighs. The purr he feels against his chest fuels his ego like nothing ever before, his tail wrapping around him and you to lay in your lap. "I heard he's.. doing some shady stuff."

"He takes.. money." You shrug. "But, hm." You just hum, shrugging your shoulders in defeat.

"What if you got an evaluation done?" He wonders, watching the other hybrids play with you. "To gain proof that you're not a category 5? That way you could go against him, no?" He asks, but you shake your head.

"Can't." You answer him. "Only owner."

"Shit.." He mumbles to himself, remembering as well. Only an owner can actually file in to get an evaluation done- and those things are expensive, not funded by the government at all. Without an owner, you're caught in the trap- and while caught in the trap, you can't get an owner. It's like the snake that's biting it's own tail; doomed.

And right now, he's got no clue how to help you.

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"But, let's say, technically speaking.." Jungkook starts to speak between bites of food, looking at Namjoon in front of him. "I'm barely a category 2, right? So, legally, I could own a hybrid." He asks, and Namjoon seems to think about it. Jungkook could in fact be counted as a simple category one if it wasn't for his ears and tail- but that might just be because these days, he's learned to ignore his instincts rather than embrace them.

"I mean, yeah, legally speaking, you can." He offers, nodding. "But like, why would you? You never had any interest in that." He asks confused, even a bit suspicious. Jungkook has been used for his kindness before, so the older friend tends to become wary of odd things asked.

"I think.. no, I found my mate. At the Seoul care center, where we're shooting the whole campaign right now." He offers, opening his can of beer. "And I want to get her out of there. There's some shady shit going on, and I don't want her to be caught in the crossfire before I pop that bubble."

"Jungkook, that doesn't sound like a good idea at all. Pop a bubble?" Namjoon worries instantly, putting his chopsticks down. "That's seoul central care we're talking about. Their legal team is crazy good." He argues, well aware of these things.

"I know." Jungkook nods. "But the evidence is better. Listen -" He shakes his head. "I won't personally be the one to do it. But some of the staff.. they've been talking. And for good reason." The tiger hybrid explains. "Someone is gonna blow that shit up soon, and I need to get her out before that happens. Considering what that guy has been doing already, I'm pretty sure he would, I don't know, send her overseas or some shit to avoid losing access to her money." He tells his friend.

"You know I can't tell you what to do, Jungkook." Namjoon offers, pushing his leftover food towards a sleepy Jimin, who silently starts to eat next to his owner. "But.. if things go south, I'll try and help best I can." he promises, making Jungkook nod in appreciation.

"Thanks."

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It's safe to say that Jungkook is more than just friendly with you now.

He knows it pisses off the man that tries to present himself as a saint with realistic opinions on the modern way hybrids are handled- and in a way, it satisfies Jungkook deep in his soul.

You're also a lot more vibrant it seems like, visibly perking up the minute he arrives at the center every morning to shoot his photos and small videos. It's adorable to see, really; especially today, when he offers you a new pair of boots, way better suited for you than the old worn down one's you kept wearing every time you went outside. They're of soft materials, pale pastel colors, fluffy accents on the sides, and your eyes widen in wonder at the sight of them. "I hope they fit. I bought those because they have laces- so you can adjust them if the size isn't perfect." He explains to you, and you nod slowly, holding onto them like they're some form of golden treasure.

You also continue to watch him during his shoot, clearly just as interested in him as he is in you at this point.

Staff has noticed, workers have noticed, his manager has noticed, and granted, everyone's pretty happy about it. You're seemingly a very nice fit, a good balance to the otherwise rather wild and untamed tiger hybrid known to sometimes act out of line. He's clumsy with his words at times, his actions often leading to consequences he's not thought of, though he never does anything will ill intend.

Right now, he's got you back on his lap, sharing a round cream filled donut with you, your tail going wild behind you as you enjoy the sugary treat. "Say, I've got a question.." He wonders, your ears turning on your head towards him, a clear sign that you're paying attention to him. "Would you like to.. you know, maybe live together with me?" He asks, and at that, you freeze, before you turn around towards him. "I mean it. I know, you think that might not be possible- but I want to try, at least, to make it possible." He explains.

"Busy." You tell him, before you watch his manager talk to some caretakers a little further away. "It's.. hm. Don't have to." You shrug, trying to grab the last bite he's holding in his hand, just for him to hold it out of reach.

"That's not an answer though." He teases. "You can also just.. I don't know- live with me as like, a foster situation maybe? Just to see if it would work." He offers, while you whine, reaching out for his food he'd been sharing with you until now, one of his arms holding you back securely while the other holds the last piece too far away. "Answer first, kitty." He hums close to your ear, making you freeze for a second as your tail swipes from side to side in excitement. He's so close now, and if he wanted to, a kiss would just be a tiny move now.

But he behaves himself. All in due time.

"Ok." You nod, because why not? He's nice, he's your mate after all, and you like him.

What could go wrong?

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

He's still irritated. You don't deserve any of this.

He hopes he might be able to get the paperwork signed- and you out of this place as soon as he can. There's technically nothing speaking against it after all; he's a level 2 at the end of the day, his hybrid side a lot less dominant than in someone like you. And while it's made him feel like an outcast for a long time, feeling like he doesn't belong neither here nor there- looking at you now, his feelings have changed.

He feels glad, for the first time, that he's the way he is.

"If she's getting too much you can just tell her to go play or something." One of the workers tells him as she'd spotted him with you still somewhat laying on his thigh, his hand comfortably resting on your shoulder while you play with his rings on his other hand. "She tends to get clingy with anybody who pays attention to her." She snickers, but he shakes his head.

"No, it's really fine." He denies her, well aware that she's been eyeing him ever since he'd gotten here the first day, and he can't hold back on his next words. "I actually think she's cute." He smiles down at you, and your cat-ears twitch at that before you look up at him, making him laugh.

"I mean.. I guess? Maybe it's a hybrid thing that you like her." She shrugs, crossing her arms. "But she's gotta move soon, your manager told me they wanna take some more shots." She says with more bite to her tone now- and in a way, it satisfies Jungkook.

He lets you rest on him for a little longer- until he pulls out something from his bag, brown paperbag containing a baked treat you know all too well.

He brings it every time, ever since you've told him you like it, after all.

"Nuh-ah." He chuckles when you instantly sit up and reach for it, turning his body a little towards you on the bench before he holds out the donut, testing the waters. And for his own amusement.

And much to his said amusement, you do exactly what he hoped you would.

Without thinking much it seems like, you lean forward to take a bite out of the sweet treat while he's still holding it- and he can't help but smile at the scene. You're so unaware of your own appeal, completely oblivious to how charming you are, and in a way, it makes him upset. You really are just a soft soul being used and nothing else- and he just feels like he's got to offer his protection.

Because you deserve it- and because he wants to be that protector.

Mostly because the connection you both have to one another is undeniable. Mates are an odd thing; but they're a real thing at the end of the day, and it's clear now that he's found his own in you.

You seem to have a moment of realization after the second bite, ears turning before your head follows as a worker says something Jungkook himself doesn't quite catch- but he knows he doesn't like it. "Hey- I'm over here." He tells you, and you look at him with a more shy expression now, almost embarrassed- letting go of his wrist as you sit back down on the bench, visibly uncomfortable. "Dont listen to them. I'm more interesting, am I not?" He teases to get your attention back, reaching out to wipe a crumb from the corner of your lips, making you smile a bit shyly to yourself.

You're so easy to catch.

"Why.." you start, seemingly thinking about your words. You do that a lot, he noticed- you either don't talk at all, or very quietly, and in a way, he's not sure if that's been something they pushed onto you in the carecenter here, or if you've always been this way. He wants to find out, that's for sure. "Why do you.. like me?" You ask, visibly unsatisfied with how you formulated that sentence. It's another proof of your difference in hybrid level compared to Jungkook.

But no matter, he will learn to understand you, until he no longer needs you to speak at all.

Jungkook simply shrugs at your question. "Maybe a mate thing. Maybe just because I like you." He answers. "I don't need to have a reason for it, though. You're a very sweet person, very likable." He tells you before he breaks off another piece of the donut, holding it out. "Now come on. Be a good girl and finish up, alright?" He teasingly tells you as he eats the other leftover piece himself, just to pull yours away from you when you reach out for it with your hand. "Nop." He chuckles, making you glare at him, tail swiping behind you from side to side, and he can't help but laugh at the scene, head thrown back.

Adorable.

Until he feels your lips brush against the tips of his fingers as you snatch the last piece of your treat from him, his gaze immediately back on you as you watch his reaction with a more challenging expression, and he can't help but be intrigued.

"I feel like it'll be a good idea. Jungkook!" His manager smiles, walking up to you both. "You've got her there already, perfect. We'd like to include her in the next few shots tomorrow, see how she does." He tells him, and Jungkook looks at you who seems visibly uncertain.

"You okay with that?" Jungkook asks, and you look at the camera set up close by with an almost fearful expression. "Dont worry. They'll tell you what to do, and I'll help as well. Or is it something else?" He asks, making you move to sit on the bench more properly, feet almost touching the floor, but not quite. He realizes what might be the problem when a staff member accidentally let's a brush fall to the floor, your ears instantly flattening for a short second from the harsh sound. "Ah- does the camera sound scare you?" And you nod at that, making his manager laugh a bit.

"Oh no, don't be scared! It's totally normal. Maybe Jungkook can show you how it works?" He says, before looking over at the careworker close to him. "My son has a hybrid too- he used to hate the sound of the microwave too until my son explained to him how it functioned." He chuckles. Jungkook remembers that. Namjoon and Jimin are an odd couple, but weirdly, they also fit perfectly.

"I don't think she'll understand that, but you can try." The careworker shrugs disinterested, clearly upset at Jungkooks lack of interest in her.

"Come on, let's have a look then." Jungkook simply tells you with no thought wasted on the woman, as he walks to the big cameras with you, Taehyung already looking your way. "Hey, can you maybe explain to her why the camera makes that noise?" Jungkook asks his friend, who nods at you.

"Its pretty loud, isn't it?" He tells you, and you nod- standing on the tips of your toes to try and see through the lens, but to no use. "You're so short!" Taehyung chuckles, and Jungkook can't help but be amused too.

"Hm, here, you can step on that." He offers, sliding an upside-down thick plastic bucket close to you to stand on; his hands instinctively on your body yo steady you as you step onto the container.

"Alright, so.." Taehyung starts to explain the camera to you, and Jungkook can't help but be thankful that his friend is clearly aware of the fact that you're not a stupid child- the photographer never oversimplifying anything, simply telling you the general mechanics to make sure you understand what's happening, that nothing is breaking or could cause any harm. And then the camera makes its distinctive sound.

Your ears still flatten for a split second, but your body makes no sign of being scared or surprised any longer. It worked.

"I can't turn it off, sadly. It's a mechanical sound, so there's no way around it." Taehyung shrugs towards his friend, and Jungkook simply nods.

"It'll be fine." Jungkook says, helping you down from the bucket as the manager says his goodbyes to the first staff. It reminds Jungkook of something in that moment he almost forgot. "Alright, go get your stuff now. I'll go change and then we can go, alright?" He asks, and you seem confused- until you seem to realize.

You're going home with him today. And tomorrow. And the day after, too.

Jungkook can't help but laugh when you dash off into the hallway to get your things, as he himself goes to change himself. He really hopes you'll like it at his place, hopefully enough to decide to stay- and if you do, all he needs are your papers signed and approved. He hates the way the system works, but he also understands it somewhat.

Even though it's clear that not everything goes exactly as it's meant to be.

But once you're with him, once he's got you safe, there will be no more of this. He'll make sure the world gets to know what's going on behind closed doors, having already discussed the plans with his management after all- and he can't deny his anticipation.

He can't wait to see that man lose all he's never even deserved to have in the first place.

But before he can even think any further about those things happening, you're pulling on the hem of his sweater to gain his attention, already dressed in scarf and coat and those fluffy boots he'd bought you yesterday- a lot better quality than those worn down things they'd given you. You deserve to be spoiled in his opinion, not tossed aside like you've been for God knows how many years- and he'll make sure that'll happen.

"Come on." He smiles at you, taking your bag for you as he walks outside the building to his car, opening the door. "We can sleep early or have some food delivered- what would you like?" He asks, getting into the car after you, the driver closing the door after him as he's finally seated next to you, seat belts clicking into place for the both of you.

You shrug as an answer, and he laughs, watching as you yawn, the tiger teasingly pointing his finger into your mouth- but he doesn't expect you to close it so quickly. While you don't bite down on it (at least not hard enough to ever really hurt), he still can't help but be affected by it. Especially when he pushes down on your lower lip, your tongue jokingly licking the tip of his finger, making him smirk at you.

Behind your innocent facade does slumber a tiny little tiger too, in a way, it seems like.

And he honestly doesn't know if he can handle having you around him like this for much longer, while not doing anything about it at all. He's already almost kissed you yesterday, and by now he knows you feel just as attracted to him as he does to you.

You're mates after all. Similar age. Technically in the same hybrid group. Nothing speaks against it.

And yet he's got to be careful. He doesn't want to end up breaking your heart if things don't go as expected- he'd hate leaving you devastated. And yet still he feels as if he'd die soon if he doesn't at least get to feel your lips on his- there's nothing wrong with at least a kiss, right? Maybe just a little further than that- his couch his comfortable after all, and he for sure won't be able to withstand the temptation of at least holding you close with you staying with him tonight. "Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight? I can take the couch, no problems." He asks you to distract himself, ground himself again and get his mind off of things-

But then you visibly pout, ears drooping down a little as you look at him almost disappointed.

"Not.. with you?" You mumble, and his gaze focuses on you again, pupils dilated as he swallows thickly.

"I mean, I won't say no." He tells you, eyes never leaving yours. "But I probably should." He says, making you tilt your head in question. Though in your eyes, in the way they sparkle mischievously, he knows you're very much aware of the implications.

"You won't." You simply smile next to him, legs stretching and tail swaying from side to side, and all he can think of is brat. There's no trace of the shy little cat left it seems like right now, as you look at him all confident and almost challenging.

And yet, he can't disagree.

He won't say no.

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

He can't describe the feeling of watching you roll around on his couch, freshly showered and dressed in comfortable clothes.

You did an almost complete flip around from your usual behavior at the carecenter, right now completely relaxed, happily purring as you nuzzle the fabric of a pillow on his couch to cover it with your scent. You're so at ease, obviously feeling safe in his home, and it makes him incredibly proud, because that's exactly what he wants to provide to you.

A safe space.

"Happy?" He asks you with a chuckle, watching as you roll over, nodding at him while laying on your back.

"We'll stay home tomorrow, you know, to spend some time together." He informs you, sitting down close to your head. His hand is pushing into the couch next to your face, and you look at it for a second, seemingly very interested in the black bracelet he's wearing- before you grab his wrist, and bite into his arm.

It surprises him more than anything, thinking he might've come off too strong- but it doesn't hurt, and you're looking at him as if you're actually expecting a reaction from him. You're not trying to hurt him. You're not angry or upset in the slightest.

It's a love-bite.

"You are the most adorable thing-" He chuckles, grabbing onto your wrists to pull you over his lap and sit you up, "-I've ever met, you know that?" He flirts, looking at you, your tail swishing from side to side behind you in excitement, before your ears turn to the sides, flat outwards, as you wiggle out of his grasp, running down the hallway into your room.

He's laughing, entirely amused by your sudden zoomies, as you peek around the corner of your door, before you hide away again, this time running into his room instead. He's watching how you suddenly come dashing out, sliding over his smooth floor on your knees protected by your thigh high socks, holding onto the edge of the backrest of the couch he's sitting on, staring up at him with wide open eyes.

It sort of invites him almost, as his hands grab your wrists again, easily pulling you up and over the back of the couch, leaving you belly down on over his lap, his arms holding you down as he nuzzles into the back of your neck, making you laugh.

You like it when he plays with you like this- proves his strength to you, his capabilities of keeping you safe. Shows you that his physique isn't just for show and anesthetics.

"You know I like you, don't you?" He wonders, and you nod easily at that, turning over on his lap, trusting in the fact that he'll make sure you don't roll off- and he does in fact make sure you don't, carefully holding onto you, and even adjusting the hem of your dress for you. "How do you feel about that?" He wonders, and you shrug, hand reaching out to play with his necklace.

"Happy." You just state, your attention clearly not entirely on him but more on your chosen toy. He notices that, takes the pendant away from your hands before he throws it over his shoulder, effectively removing it from your reach. And you don't roll like that, fingers instantly pulling on the necklace at his throat to pull it back- though he now holds your hand in his.

"Eyes up here, darling." He says, and you pout, though you comply. "Good. Now give me a proper answer." He demands, and you stretch your legs a little before going limp again.

"Happy.. really." You nod. "You're.. my mate." You tell him, and he smiles, nodding.

"That I am." He agrees, looking down at your lips before his haze moves up to your eyes again. "And you're mine." He says.

"Am I?" You challenge, making his gaze sharpen as he notices your clear intentions as you wiggle out of his lap and instead of the couch next to him, feet pushing against the outside of his thigh.

And he easily takes on your little challenge, well aware that you're no match for him at the end of the day.

It starts as nothing but slightly tickling kisses, ends of his hair brushing over your skin and making you giggle, before be chuckles, and bites at your neck. It's a lot more gentle than you thought he might be- but it's also clear that he's simply playing with you, no intent for anything more right now.

He'd live to play with you like that as well- but all in due time.

Your tail smacks loudly against the leather of the couch, his antics fueling your instincts as your ears pin back. He wonders how much you can take- until you move as well, biting his shoulder, this time leaving a clear mark that tells him you're at your limit.

Cute.

"Now there's no question, is there?" He wonders, moving around with you in his arms to hold you, kissing his mark to calm you down. "Now you're mine." He hums against your skin, and you nod, his slightly rough tongue moving over the tender spot once.

He catches himself in the act, surprised at it. He's never done that before- never, not even in past relationships. He doesn't even know why he did that, it's a little weird, no? Sure, he's a hybrid, but he's mostly human. He's never attempted to.. Groom a partner like this before.

But you don't seem bothered- in fact, you're happily purring in his arms, relaxed and comfortable.

"Yours." You mumble sleepily, yawning before you turn to cling to him, rubbing your cheek against his shirt to get your scent on him.

And he can't help but curl his tail around yours, feeling like everything has finally fallen into place for him.

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[catiuskaa]

hi katsy poo... thought long and hard about this and came up w absolutely nothing. i had to dig far into my messy notes app to find ideas and these are from all the way back in summer for context ☠️☠️

have you ever been to the beach/pool and seen a cute lifeguard yk? i was thinking maybe skz as lifeguards - this is derived from a lifeguard chan idea my friend and i were talking about <3 (i just thought - jisung giving you a smooch after saving you but playing it off as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation cause he's too shy to admit he's crushing)

excited to see where your mind takes this! cannot wait <33

BABY THAT’S ACTUALLY GENIUS!?

I can actually see it like -excited sounds-

It got me thinking! So I’m turning this into a mix of small blurbs and I'm not apologizing

I'm trying, but they're hot! —lifeguard!skz

To have a baseline, I don't think Meowracha would fit. Like. i just couldn't picture Minho or Felix in this?? (sorry if you were expecting those two!)

But, because of that, they're the besties who —after a thorough session of negotiating, and a large, strained okaaaaaaaaayy from Minho—, agree to go with you to your usual fitness center, which recently opened a swimming pool facility! (and they've hired a certain group of lifeguards... oh wow...)

(got carried out: 2k words)

"This place smells like plastic. And I can't even swim."

You rolled your eyes as Felix snickered, the three of you checking into the new building.

"Minho, there are other things aside from the pool. That's why I even invited you in the first place, like I mentioned the last seven times you started whining about the exact same thing." You let out an exaggerated huff as you smirked, shaking your head sideways.

You separated from your small group as you entered the changing rooms, and quickly put on your dark-coloured swimsuit, your towel resting on your shoulders when you got in the brand new area.

And let me tell you, it was big.

Impressed by the depth of the building, you couldn't see a couple of small-looking kids running around the swimming pool playing tag in loud, childish giggles.

"Careful!" A voice warned, but it startled you, and you jumped in your place, slipping on the wet floor.

Not one of your fanciest of moments, no.

Or so you thought, until your back didn't quite meet the floor, but instead softly crashed against a lean, warm surface.

Knowing Felix would immediately ask you if you were alright and Minho would threaten to let go in less than a second, you looked up at your saviour, and you were welcomed by a handsome rounded face, eyes small because of his heartwarming smile.

Forcing your stumbling legs up, you froze in front of him and stuttered. "T-thank you. Or... I'm sorry. Wasn't paying attention," you managed to let out, followed by a pink dust colouring your cheeks.

fuck, shit, fuck. why did he have to be hot too?!

"Totally fine!" He brushed off nonchalantly, his smile shining enthusiastically, so contagious you couldn't help but grin back.

He called over the member of staff who had warned you, his voice loud to the point were you had to restrain yourself from jumping in your place again when he screamed his name, not wanting to trip another time, and as he smiled at you and walked off to look for the problematic kids or their parents, you could read Changbin on the back of his red and white shirt, the short sleeves letting you see an extensive trail of inked lines that got lost underneath his top and swimming shorts.

what a piece of cake.

Almost in an instant, a slightly younger lifeguard approached you, not quite panting, but really close to doing so. You got flustered, not knowing exactly how to react, and just stared at him while he rested his hands on his waist, looking like he had run several marathons in less than an hour.

"I'm so sorry...! I should've stopped the kids... or warned you sooner..." He sighed, looking quite tired despite it barely being his first week.

"Don't sweat, I'm okay." You shrugged sheepishly. "Rough day?" You smiled, hoping to get one back from him.

He scoffed, amused. You celebrated silently. "More like a rough job... Uh! I mean, no! I love my job...!" You grinned, raising your eyebrows, shocked yet still unable to hold back a sheepish snicker. "Ah, shi... I mean... goddamnit, please don't tell Chan..." he muttered, defeated.

"Oh, wait, Chan?" You blinked, recognizing the nickname. "Wasn't he a trainer in the gym?"

Catching his breath, now looking less stressed, he nodded, hands still on his noticeably really slim waist, unlike the other lifeguard, who was shredded.

"He and Hyunjin were swapped around because they had more experience than other candidates for the jobs. They're both great, don't get me wrong. But Hyunjin should really stop flirting with the group of girls from the synchronized swimming class..." he huffed, then blushed. "Oh." His eyes widened, and he stared at the floor almost mortified.

"Right, eh..." You smiled, amused at his slip-ups, biting your lip softly.

Jisung blushed even more at your giggles, trying and failing to hold it back because he couldn't help but ogle at your defined and fit body from all the exercise you did, being a member of the centre for quite some time. You were a stunning stranger whose giggles were cute. Too much for his caffeine-filled, sleep-deprived self.

"Jisung. Soon-to-be-fired, lifeguard Han Jisung." He presented himself with tired eyes, the last part more for himself than for you, then covered his mouth when he realized he had said it too loud. "I shouldn't have said that...!"

You couldn't help but cackle, unable to hold back your laugh as his blush got to an even deeper shade of pink.

"I'm just... going to... eh... Jeongin is... probably looking for me..."

"Jisung-ah, fighting!" You teased, and he couldn't help but blush even more, smiling as he rushed back to his assigned area of the swimming pool building.

You realized Minho and Felix had been eavesdropping when Minho passed an arm over your shoulders and ruffled your hair, making it messy.

"Yeah, welcome back, cheater," he tsked, smirking.

You struggled to get away from his deathly grip, and Felix rolled his eyes, just laughing at you two.

"Oi, isn't that Chan?" the freckled asked, signalling somewhere else.

"I care more about that hottie who ran away a second ago." Minho scoffed, focused on his own priorities, sounding offended by the fact that he hadn't been able to talk to Jisung.

Felix waved at Chan, and happily waddled his way to him, the two already close friends.

While Minho hurried off to the sauna, Felix and you tried out the main swimming pool, at first actually swimming, but ending up just chatting playfully, Chan joining in from time to time, and then he stayed close during his break.

You got out of the pool and sat on the edge when suddenly you felt someone tickle your sides and push you, making you fall into the water.

Swimming to the surface with ease, you moved your wet hair from your eyes, hiding half down of your face under the water, looking at Chan, who was chuckling.

“Really funny, Mr. Bang.” You mumbled, faking boredom.

“It was Felix’s idea, but I gotta admit that was funny.” He kept on laughing, and that alone was cute, but because he was on a break, to avoid being called over to work, he had taken his shirt off, not feeling cold in the acclimatized environment.

And the image just looked ten times better.

“Reeeally funny.” You were nodding, as if in deep thought. “Help me out?” You smiled innocently, raising one hand towards him.

He grabbed it, but before he could pull you up, you pulled down, his body falling over yours and staying tightly against you for a second, then you smiled under the water and started laughing as soon as you both got back to the surface.

He was blushing, but also smiling cheekily.

“Fair. I deserved that.”

After a while of swimming, laughing and splashing each other, you got out of the pool leaving Felix and Chan on their own, but felt a soft sting in the back of your thigh. Probably from when you were sitting and Chan pushed you to the water, the slight bumps on the stone might've scratched your skin.

You started looking for your towel, but frowned when it wasn’t where you had left it. From the corner of your eye you saw Minho, and he smiled slyly from afar, your towel resting on his shoulders.

what a bitch.

You ran after him but were quickly stopped by yet another lifeguard.

Really, really lucky you.

You were only able to read Seungmin on the back of his shirt before he turned around and frowned, and you struggled to slow down, ending up bumping onto him.

"I'm sorry, uh, I uh..." you stammered, struggling to find an excuse.

He sighed, and deadpanned at you, in his eyes a hint of mockery that didn't reach his face, and it made you even more flustered. He pointed to a sign on the wall, who said in a big, bold font, "do not run near the pool."

"You probably can swim, but can you read, dollface?"

d-dollface?

“Y-yeah, of course I can. I forgot.” You pouted.

He smirked slightly. “You forgot how to read?”

You frowned softly at the tease, and he brushed it off with one hand.

“Where were you going that was so important for you to be running?” He questioned, the sly smirk lingering on his lips, the mockery still there.

“I wanted to go to the infirmary but my friend took my towel.” You defended yourself, but a blush crept from underneath, making your cheeks pink.

The moment you said infirmary, Seungmin’s entire body language changed. The mockery wasn’t gone, but covered by a layer of innocent worry. Cute.

“To the infirmary? Why? Did something happened?” He asked softly, and it surprised you how fast his attitude had changed.

“I just scratched myself. It’s probably nothing…”

He shook his head and smiled, almost tender. “Nonsense. Can I have a look at it?”

You blushed slightly and turned so he could look at the small scratch in the back of your thigh. The area was red, and there was small even more red lines in it, but nothing too wild.

Seungmin cleared his throat. Stay focused.

“You should still put something on it. I’ll do it. Come with me.”

Crossing from where you were with Seungmin you passed by the kids’ swimming pool, and waved at Han, and who you thought was who he had mentioned, Jeongin, struggling to take care of the kids as they all ran around, fighting with the swimming noodles as they used those like swords, and you couldn’t help but smile at the mess.

Seungmin took a small radio device from his waistband, like a black walkie-talkie. “Send Changbin to area 3. Jeongin, office, 6pm.”

The youngest-looking of all the lifeguards in the building approached you two when Seungmin told you to wait while he looked for the first-aid kit.

“Hi, as you might’ve heard, my name is Jeongin. Did you get hurt?” He said, so softly you almost cooed at him because he was so cute.

“Um, I scratched the back on my thigh, yeah.” You smiled a bit, and he smiled back reassuringly.

“I hope it doesn’t sting a lot.” He added kindly, picking up his stuff from a locker. “I would stay and help you, but I assure you that if you’re in Seungmin’s care you have nothing to worry about.” He nodded, almost to himself. “He teases everyone a lot but he’s a nice guy. I… have to go now, my shift has ended. But it was nice to meet you!”

You bid him goodbye, and Seungmin came back in no time, carrying a small bag of medical supplies and a towel. He left it on the side, and opened the bag next to you, taking a small glass bottle of spray from it.

“Could you stand and turn around, please?” He asked formally.

You couldn’t help but blush when he sprayed the medicine, the slight sting making you gasp softly, but it was more because of the position you two were in, and because he held a cotton pad underneath the scratch, brushing your thigh with his hand.

Being outside of the water for so long now, you started feeling cold, shivering softly.

“Darling, can you pass me the towel?”

You blushed almost furiosly at the nickname and did as told, and he opened it and hung it on your shoulders, as you quickly took it and tightened it around you.

“Sorry, I didn’t give it to you before.” He smiled, throwing the cotton away and going back to put the first-aid kit in its place.

It was almost 7pm when the three of you got out of the changing rooms.

“That was really fun!” Felix smiled brightly.

“It was decent. Still couldn’t talk to that cutie back there. We should come back other time.” Minho stated, sounding like an order.

You blushed, thinking about what had happened in so little time.

“Yeah. We should come back soon.”

(teehee, i enjoyed this a lot! Hope you like it too! Thanks a lot, ren! <;333)

~Kats, who now would love to go to that swimming pool!

[adamthefatherofhumanity]

[Adam drags a blackboard with a stand across the room, stumbling and falling in the process. He quickly gets up, brushes off the dust, and starts drawing and writing on the blackboard.]

[After that, Adam looks back at you, trying to appear confident despite his nerves.]

Adam: "Uh.. Hi! My name is Adam, you know… The first man and… The Leader Of Exterminator.. But! But! Do not fear, for I am with you; because I opened a hotel where sinners like you can be redeemed! Pretty cool, right? We have my two devoted managers and two of the Exterminator angels that decided to help me, Lute and Vaggie, and our reluctant Two patron, Sir Pentious and the uh… ahem adult film actor, Angel Dust! You may know him from his uhhh… questionable movies! He was the one who gave me the idea! But he did suggested it only on a apps called OnlyFans, which, I'M NOT GOING TO DO THAT! NOPE, NOT HAPPENING!"

[Adam yells before clearing his throat, looking around nervously.]

Adam: "Anyway… We have Husk! The concierge and bartender of the Hazbin Hotel! We have Niffty, our housekeeper of the Hazbin Hotel, we're about 80% sure she's harmless, and over here we have– Oh! Uh, Alastor! Our gracious facility manager! I'm sure that y'all would be great friends!"

[Adam nervously laughs.]

"Sooo… Is there any question that you'd like to know?"

[ask-post-ii17au-box]

Any luck, Watt?

🎄

I’m like making progress, none of the Meebook compatible apps worked but I managed to install an app that allows me to like run Doors 10 apps on the Meebook :>.

I’m about to like test VLC media player with a file since it’s known for being well…..like stable, I’ll send this out after I finish.

UPD: It like fully worked out somehow and I listened to the entirety of “TT.MP3” to test it out……..it was like disturbing.

……it was definitely like from one of the contestants…...It started with a female voices muffled shouting through the static which kinda sounded like “Hello/hey(?), is anyone there/here(?)?”.

Then a disclaimer read out in a like automated robotic voice on loop “Unmonitored free will in ai is greatly disallowed in Meeple testing facilities and will be swiftly dealt with, an employee will be contacted shortly to resolve this issue.”.

Then there was some more muffled talking that I couldn’t at all like make out…….then it was cut off and replaced with this loud, whining, high pitch, mechanical screech that like sounded like a pained robotic scream.

……..that noise went on for exactly 7 hours and 42 minutes which I skipped past…..then it was just like static for a while before the recording abruptly ended.

………if that noise is what I like think it is I don’t think the contestants are all ok.

[museandquill]

Chronic Illness in College

College can be a hard time for any student, but it can be especially challenging for students with chronic illnesses.

Below are effective ways you and your college can help make college life easier, and spread awareness of different problems that disabled students can deal with on top of regular college life.

STUDENTS

Work With Your Disability Center to Secure Accommodations

These accommodations may include note-taking services, extended deadlines, flexible attendance policies, and the option to take exams in a low-stress environment. Advocating for these accommodations not only helps students succeed academically but also establishes a clear understanding between students and faculty regarding their needs.

Time Management

Effective time management is a valuable skill for any college student, but it’s especially valuable for students with chronic illnesses who face near constant, unpredictable health challenges. For chronically ill students, adhering to a rigid schedule is often impractical or even impossible, so flexibility becomes essential. Using planners, apps, or digital reminders can help students track assignments, plan for rest breaks, and set realistic daily goals.

Manage Your Energy

Unlike their peers, chronically ill students often have significantly less energy available to them due to symptoms such as fatigue, pain, or side effects from their medications. They may find that their "energy reserves" are quickly depleted, making it difficult to keep up with the demands of college and social life. To manage this, chronically ill students can focus on conserving their limited energy by prioritizing essential tasks, taking frequent breaks, and pacing themselves throughout the day. Strategies such as spacing out tasks, resting between classes, and reducing non-essential commitments can help students avoid overexertion and brain fog.

Create a Support System

Whether that’s friends or teachers and staff, having a support system is crucial. Students should reach out to friends, family, and counselors who can provide emotional support and understanding.

COLLEGES

Create More Accessible and Flexible Policies

This could include flexible attendance policies, access to recorded lectures, and options for remote learning when necessary. This would not only help chronically ill students, but can also help average students when they are sick or have family emergencies.

Enhance Health and Counseling Services

On-campus health facilities should include services specifically designed for chronic illness management, and counseling staff should be equipped to help students cope with the psychological challenges of balancing illness and academics. Peer support groups on campus or online can offer an additional layer of comfort, as students can connect with others who understand the specific challenges of living with a chronic illness in college.

Spread Awareness and Reduce Stigma

Ways that colleges can do this is by creating awareness programs focused on chronic illness and invisible disabilities. Faculty training and awareness campaigns can foster a campus culture of empathy and understanding, encouraging faculty and students alike to be more supportive. These programs can help ensure that all students feel seen and respected, regardless of their health challenges.

[phoenixbizz]

In this article, We discuss how mobile apps to improve the customer service experience in facilities management.

[universitypenguin]

Chapter 15

Summary: Lloyd takes things too far in his threat against Deputy Russell and has to change tactics mid-stream. Princess and Zach decide to push back against Detective Roth's allegations.

Word Count: 3,936

Masterlist

Warnings: Mention of drug trafficking, murder, legal proceedings, spy/intelligence agencies, corruption, stalking, violence, threatening, and discussion of criminal behavior. Minor foul language. Only appropriate for 18+ readers. No minors. 

The Princess & the Lawyer Chapter 15

Lloyd stood at the stove stirring a noxious mixture of gasoline and aluminum hydroxide. Pungent fumes hung thick in the air, forcing him to cover his mouth and nose with a bandanna. 

The screen door slammed, and familiar footsteps echoed through the hall. 

“Ugh! What is that stench? Did a gas line rupture?”

Elliot’s voice rang through the house before he came around the corner into the kitchen. 

His bright-eyed appearance was in sharp contrast with Lloyd’s sleep-deprived state. Knowing his cousin had been left in charge of their captive all night, Lloyd couldn’t help but draw the obvious conclusion. Elliot’s excessive cheerfulness was derived from a more potent source than caffeine - he was smoking ice again. 

“I followed your instructions and made a copy of Carl’s phone,” Elliot said, buzzing with excitement. “Guess what? Sheriff Holbrook’s texts are still on there, tucked away in some encrypted app. We could use it as leverage!” 

Lloyd shook his head. “No. We can’t deviate from the plan. Did Russell agree to a meeting time?”

“Eleven o'clock at High Meadows.”  

“Not a bad choice. Lots of entrances and exits,” Lloyd said. “I’m almost finished here. There’s water cooler jugs filled with this stuff piled up on the back deck. Bring your truck around and start loading them for me, will you?” 

“Sure thing, man.” 

Elliot bounded down the hall and Lloyd rubbed his tired eyes. He desperately needed some sleep unless he planned on asking Elliot for a bump of meth to keep him going. Lloyd shut off the stove, checked the final batch of chemicals, and rinsed his spoon in the sink. He stuck his head outside to inform Elliot he was going to bed and headed up the stairs. 

Just as he lay down, his phone rang. 

“Hello?” 

“Mr. Hansen? This is Judy Lange from the HOA. I wanted to let you know that the association swimming pool has been fixed and approved for reopening on Monday. Should I leave your keys in the mailbox for your house sitter, or wait until you’re back?” 

Mrs. Lange didn’t actually hold an official position with the Homeowners Association. Her husband had campaigned for the post out of pure spite. His single-minded crusade against Della Collins’ window box planters and their “busy-looking” Ultra Star Petunias earned him a landslide victory in the election. He’d passed a statute banning all multicolored blossoms from public spaces and after his triumph, lost interest in executing the duties of his office. 

Despite her eccentric husband, Lloyd found Mrs. Lange to be a reasonable person. Her annoying habit of speaking at a million words per minute was made up for by impeccable manners and a sharp sense of humor. Even Mrs. Collins, who was still torqued at Mr. Lange a year later, couldn’t resist her charms. 

After his brain finally managed to process her rapid fire words, Lloyd grunted. 

“The mailbox is fine. I’ll text my friend and let her know to pick them up.” 

“Excellent. I apologize for calling you at such a time, Lloyd.” 

Mrs. Lange’s voice carried a hint of horror, as if she’d just realized she had contacted someone in the midst of a family tragedy. Lloyd didn’t view the situation as such, but he recognized the apologetic shift in her tone as she launched into a long winded explanation. 

“With everything going on, I am sure now is a terrible time for you… I just didn’t want to forget. You’re the most frequent patron of our athletic facilities. Well, usually the only patron to be frank. Mrs. Collins isn’t getting around like she used to after her knee surgery. Anyways, I’ll personally take those keys to your friend so they’re ready when you get back. And if there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to reach out.” 

She really meant it, Lloyd thought, his lips twisting into a bitter smile. If only she knew what the man who he was supposed to be grieving had done to him. 

“Thanks, Judy. I appreciate it.” 

“Of course, darling. I’ll see you around.” 

Already half asleep, Lloyd hung up the phone. His last thought was that he needed to call you. Hearing from Judy reminded him of home, and of you. It had been days since your last talk and that was far too long. Before the meeting with Russell, Lloyd promised himself he’d make time for a conversation. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

You stalked back and forth in front of Zach’s desk, breathing hard, your fists clenched in frustration. 

“I can’t believe his nerve! Can you believe this? Can you?!” 

“Uh-huh.” 

Zach grunted and continued tapping on his keyboard.

“He has the audacity to accuse us of leaking information to the media, without a shred of evidence? It’s unprofessional!”

Zach nodded, seemingly absorbed in his work. 

“I spent so much time building them a database and now no one can use it. The whole process was exhausting and tedious and… are you even listening to me?” 

“Yes. Roth is an infuriating bastard. I knew it from the start, and you thought he was cute.”

“I did not!”

“Did so,” Zach said. 

“Did not.”

“Let’s not lose sight of our most important objective here.”

“Yes, let’s not. What is that objective, again?” you asked. 

“Getting back in Roth’s good graces and thereby, restoring our access to information and resources.”

“I’m sorry, were we just in the same room? About twenty minutes ago, when Roth kicked us to the curb and Bishop had a melt down?”

“We’re not going to let our hard work go to waste. There’s more than one key for every lock, you know?”

“Uh… that’s not how locks work.”

“It is when you know how to pick locks,” Zach quipped. 

“I haven’t even told you about my conversation with Mr. Liu!” 

He resumed typing, his attention focused on the monitor. “No sister?”

“Well, that’s a very anticlimactic way of putting it, but yes. He’s certain that Julia didn’t have a sister.” 

“That’s the conclusion I ended up at too.”

“Should we tell Roth?”

“I’d rather clear our names first,” Zach said.

“How?”

“Look at this.”

Zach pivoted his monitor to show you the screen. 

You stared at a map of Arlington with a route highlighted in purple. Squinting, you noted the web address of a popular running app called PacePal. The account’s username was generic and the profile picture was an image of a man's athletic shoes. 

“What am I looking at?” 

Zach smirked. “This PacePal profile belongs to Peter Shaw. The account photo is of the same running shoes he’s wearing in the Twitter he shared last year of himself finishing the Miami Marathon.” 

“Okay, not to make myself look like an idiot, but who is Peter Shaw?”

“A very tenacious investigative reporter with Rolling Stone Magazine. He’s also the only person who knows the real identity of the leaker, and thanks to his lax attitude toward social media security, we know where Mr. Shaw will be at two o’clock this afternoon.” 

“So, if I’m hearing you correctly, we’re going to give Detective Roth a taste of his own medicine?” 

“I intend to serve him a fresh plate of crow as soon as humanly possible,” Zach said. 

You raised an eyebrow. “Ruthless much?” 

“I didn’t pull in that jackass Lattimer without a damn good reason. We’re onto something with Julia’s supposed sister and if we don’t keep pushing the trail will go cold. What do you say, Princess? Shall we go put Shaw on notice?” 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Lloyd called you when he woke, but reached your voicemail instead of you. He sent a text instead and dove into the shower to scrub off the lingering stench of gasoline that clung to his skin. 

None of the clothes he’d packed suited the character he wanted to portray tonight, so he rummaged through Joe’s closet in search of better options. In the back, he discovered a garment bag containing the winning ensemble: a navy suit with wide lapels, bootcut trousers, and a matching waistcoat. It screamed 1970’s gaudy at the top of its lungs. 

To complete the look, Lloyd installed the hair extensions he’d sent Elliot to acquire from a beauty supply store two towns over. Cutting the remaining extensions into three-inch pieces, he applied them carefully across his jaw, smirking as he remembered April's suggestion that he should grow a beard. The overall effect was a cross between Jerry Garcia and Medusa on a bad hair day. 

For accessories, Lloyd raided Joe’s dresser. He added rings, a gold chain necklace, and a pair of lightly tinted orange sunglasses. The oversized frames elevated the look from vintage inspired to unmistakably costume like - a perfect fit for the character he was putting on. He slapped on a strongly scented aftershave he found in Joe’s medicine cabinet and instantly regretted it when his eyes watered from the fumes. 

Resisting the urge to wash it off, he turned his attention to more practical matters. Joe’s gun cabinet yielded a wide assortment of armaments. He owned weapons from every firearms manufacturer on the market in the past fifty years. Lloyd wasn’t keen to give a hopped up meth addict a gun, but circumstances demanded it. He picked up a Winchester Renegade and checked the ammunition.

“Hey, Elliot! How’s your aim these days?” 

Elliot turned around from his task of cleaning up the kitchen and did a double take of Lloyd’s outfit. 

“Better than most people’s. What are you wearing, dude? Are we going to make a drug deal or audition for Saturday Night Fever?” 

Lloyd snorted at the question and held out the Winchester Renegade. 

“I need you to watch my back while I’m meeting with Russell. Just in case things don’t go according to plan.” 

“Understood. I’m the second shooter on the grassy knoll,” Elliot said. 

They took back roads to the meeting spot. By the time they reached their destination, Elliot’s old truck was covered in mud from the unpaved roads that cut through the vast Idaho landscape. They were deep in the countryside, hidden from prying eyes of passersby on the highway by miles of barren hills. 

High Meadows had once been a thriving venue for team roping and barrel racing events. Now, the clay earth he remembered as being meticulously groomed played host to an invasion of dandelions and scotch thistle. The red aluminum roof over the pavilion had faded to a dull rust color and the cedar panel fencing that encircled the space was bent with age and broken in several places. 

He helped Elliot unload the water cooler jugs filled with the gelled fuel that he’d spent the morning cooking. Lloyd marked out a circle, about twenty feet in diameter, in the middle of the arena and cut a small trench into the ground. With Elliot’s help he poured the viscous mixture into the trough and raked the displaced dirt back into place. 

They hid their equipment in the bed of Elliot’s truck and moved the vehicle into a ravine near the main access road to High Meadows. 

Lloyd turned to his cousin. “Go take up position on that hill over there.”

He pointed to a spot beyond the dilapidated grandstands. “It has the best vantage point. Also, there’s a thermal scope in your backpack in case the night vision doesn’t cut it.” 

Elliot slung his backpack over his shoulder and disappeared into the hills. Lloyd took his position in the arena as the sun settled behind the horizon. He lay down on one of the risers in the grandstands, propped his feet up, and dozed until the sun went down. Suddenly, the crackle of the Bluetooth in his ear brought Lloyd back to the present as Elliot’s voice broke him from semi-unconscious. 

“Russell is pulling in,” Elliot said. 

“I see the headlights,” Lloyd confirmed.

The beams of Russell’s headlights cut through the darkness, illuminating the arena. Lloyd leaned casually against a pillar on the far side. The position gave him plenty of time to observe Russell as he approached. The deputy was clearly spooked - he’d worn a bulletproof vest over his khaki uniform. 

“Nice of you to finally show up,” Lloyd called out in greeting. 

Russell stepped into the arena, his eyes scanning the space, trying to assess the situation.

“Who are you?” 

“Didn’t Carl tell you? We’re the Canadians,” Lloyd said, flashing a mischievous grin.

Russell’s eyebrows furrowed. 

“Now, let’s get down to business!” Lloyd clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “Don’t look so tense, Luke. I’m here to make you rich, and myself even richer. You see, I came here to shake down a former associate, but the trouble is this jackass died before I could get to him. So, I found a locally connected businessman and squeezed until he spilled your name.” 

The deputy’s nostrils flared, a warning sign Lloyd waved off dismissively. 

“Don’t worry about it. I took care of him.” 

“What do you mean you ‘took care of him’?” Russell demanded. 

“I took him for a swim in Redfish Lake, the kind you don’t come back from,” Lloyd said, punctuating that statement with a wink. 

Russell’s shock was palpable. Lloyd gave him a beat to recover, but when he just got a blank stare in response, he shifted tactics and threw his arms out in exaggerated frustration. 

“Oh, come on! Be fucking for real, bro. Do you have two brain cells left rattling around in that ugly mug, pig? I got rid of your dealer because, number one, he’s a snitch and I don’t fuck with snitches. Number two, getting rid of Carl gives you the opportunity to set up a more reliable distribution system. Isn’t that nice? An open playing field with no territorial disputes from the locals? You can thank me now, or later.” 

Russell hesitated. Lloyd didn’t let the silence linger. 

“Okay, then. You’ll thank me later. Look, about-” 

“You really killed Carl?”

Lloyd sighed. “Would I lie to you? Me? I have a reputation to uphold, Deputy.” 

“You’re a fucking psychopath, that’s what you are,” Russell said, edging backwards.

“Hey! We’re not done talking business!” Lloyd yelled after the man as he turned away.

“Yes we are. Go to hell!” 

“Don’t walk away from me, pig! This isn’t the kind of conversation you can just walk away from!”

Lloyd’s voice echoed through the pavilion, ringing with anger.

Russell glanced over his shoulder.

“Oh, Luke… My number one rule is simple: I don’t fuck with snitches. Rule number two? Dirty cops who know your face are bad business. You see, they always end up being snitches. It’s like different flavors of the same ice cream. Triple chocolate fudge or brownie delight, who can tell ‘em apart?” 

As Russell’s hand went for his gun, Lloyd flipped open his lighter and tossed it on the ground. The carefully prepared mixture of gasoline ignited instantly, shooting up and forming a wall of fire that raced around to encircle them. 

Taken by surprise, Deputy Russell instinctively moved away from the searing heat of the flames an action that inadvertently drew him closer to Lloyd. 

“Isn’t this nice? I find it rather cozy, like stepping into a bubble of security.”

Lloyd chuckled, his smile twisted with madness.

“This is how you conduct business?” Russell hissed, eyes glinting with shocked desperation as the flames continued to roar around them. 

“I find it refocuses the attention when a deal starts getting off track.” 

“What the hell do you want?!” 

“I’ve made myself very clear, Russell. You need to work on your attention span. Here’s the deal: we become business partners… or you become a victim of what I like to call ‘spontaneous human combustion.’” 

“Spontaneous,” the deputy muttered, looking at the flames.

“I never really plan on cremating anyone,” Lloyd said, as if it were the most reasonable thing in the world to discuss incinerating your business associates. “Every time I’ve actually gone through with this, the whole thing happens so fast, it really does look spontaneous. Now, Deputy… What do you say? Ready to make a deal?” 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

You sat beside Zach on a park bench, trying to make the most of the slight shade of a tree that offered a tiny bit of respite from the blistering August heat. The sound of approaching footfalls was a major relief. Five more minutes out here and you would have melted. You glanced up to see Peter Shaw, a man of average height with close cropped dark hair, nearing your bench. 

Zach stood up and moved to the center of the path, blocking access to the parking lot. 

“Peter Shaw. I’m Zach Hightower and this is Y/N. I assume you know who I am?”

The journalist stopped a few feet away from Zach. He was dripping with sweat, but still had the energy to offer a cocky smirk. He glanced in your direction and arched an eyebrow. 

“The investigative duo. Where’s Hansen? Isn’t he usually your partner?” 

“I read your article this morning. It was very interesting,” Zach said. 

“Thanks. What part did you enjoy the most?” 

“I thought it was very well researched. You even knew where the recent evidence was being stored. That was a very… interesting… detail to include in the article.” 

Peter shrugged. “I take pride in my work.” 

“The other little thing that jumped out and grabbed me was about the evidence collected in the Nguyen case twenty years ago. Your source criticized the chain of custody related to Shun Nguyen’s cell phone. That was extremely specific.” 

Shaw’s grin turned from smug to sly. “I always make sure my sources have a keen eye for detail. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

“One more thing. The criticism you leveled at the State Police for handling the digital evidence from that cell phone? Well, it went over my head, but I’ve got a guy who’s a genius with that kind of thing. When I showed him the article he said you’d need to consult with an expert in digital forensics to break down those kinds of technical concepts as clearly as you did.”

“Actually, I’m just that good,” Peter said, crossing his arms. 

“You have a degree in English and absolutely no background in tech. You’re not that good… but I believe your source is. The level of insight they gave you left their fingerprints all over that article, Shaw. Your man’s days are numbered. If you were as good as you think you are, his head wouldn’t be heading for the chopping block.” 

The journalist snorted. “Do you run, Mr. Hightower?”

“Only when someone’s shooting at me. Why?”

“Just wondering if you get any other forms of exercise, besides jumping to conclusions.” 

“It’s more of a step-by-step chain of logic that links together quite nicely. You really are a good writer, Shaw - very organized. That made it much easier to fill in the blanks. Does the name Leo McKenzie ring a bell?”

The blood drained from Shaw’s face, turning his lips white. Zach grinned.

“Good talking to you, Pete. Thanks for your time! Come on, Princess, let’s go.” 

“You’re way off base, Hightower,” he called after you.

Zach gave him a cheerful wave. “Hey, Pete, since you’ve undoubtedly got my number, why don’t you give me a call next time you need a source? I can teach you how to cover your tracks so you don’t keep burning through informants.” 

Then he lengthened his stride, forcing you into a jog as you tried to keep up. Once you were in the privacy of his vehicle, you gaped at him. 

“Are you crazy? Did you just invite that sleazebag to call you?”

“Sure. He’s made more progress on this case than anyone else. We can’t ignore that.” 

“How did you know who his source was? Did you guess?”

“Deduction isn’t guessing and that look on his face was all the confirmation I needed.” 

“We should tell Detective Roth.”

“No. Let him figure it out on his own. He won’t believe anything we tell him at the moment.” 

“But the security of the investigation is at stake!” 

“Not for long. Shaw will contact his source and alert them that we’re onto them. I want to give Detective Roth the chance to redeem himself. Also, if he can’t find a mole in his own department, I’m not sure I want to work with him.”

“Right. Hey, where are we going?” 

Zach turned onto an unfamiliar exit, one that headed away from his office.

“I’ve got to make another stop. Don’t worry, it won’t take long.” 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Elliot drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. "You really freaked him out."

"Mmmhh."

"He's going to send those drugs up in flames."

The insight was spot on. Deputy Russell’s wavering commitment to the sale was becoming more evident as dawn broke. He had raced back to the security of the Sheriff’s Offices after meeting with “the Canadians” and spent the rest of the night holed up there. Through the front window, Lloyd watched his shadow move behind the blinds. 

The silhouette moved from left to right, and then crossed back again, from right to left. Russell was already a paranoid bastard and introducing a real threat to his life may have been a step too far. His restless actions raised a red flag in Lloyd’s assessment of the situation. Watching him through binoculars from their high vantage point in the parking lot of the White Rivers campsite, Lloyd decided it was time to ease the pressure and give Russell an escape hatch. 

He was too spooked to hand the drugs over directly to the Canadians. After the ring of fire incident Russell was probably more likely to shoot Lloyd if he ever saw him again instead of cooperating with him. 

“We’re going to plan B,” Lloyd said. “Give me a burner phone.” 

He held out a hand and Elliot pressed a device into his palm. Lloyd dialed and watched through the binoculars as the blinds of the Sheriff’s office raised. He couldn’t see anyone, but he knew Russell was somewhere inside. 

The call connected. 

“Hello? Who is this?” 

Lloyd spoke hoarsely. “Hello. Deputy Luke Russell?” 

“This is he.” Russell sounded suspicious. 

"This is Agent Ambrosio of the ATF. Do you have a moment to speak with me? Somewhere private would be best if possible."

"Yeah, yeah. I can do that," Russell said.

There was feedback as he moved, the the sound of a door closing. He must have gone to his office. 

“Okay. I can talk now.” 

"Russell, I'm calling about your boss, Sheriff Holbrook. Are you aware of the case against him?"

"Uh… you mean that thing from last year?"

"Eighteen months ago," Lloyd clarified. "The federal investigation into Holbrook's involvement with the drug trade has continued, which is why I'm reaching out. We need your cooperation."

"What can I do to help you, agent?” 

"We have everything that we need to make an arrest. This is a courtesy call, Deputy. We're moving on him tomorrow morning. Do you understand?"

"Oh… Wow… Okay, is there anything I can do?" Russell asked.

"We're still organizing things. Holbrook is constantly armed, and we're aware of how high-risk this operation will be. I’d be more comfortable with the situation I’m sending my men into if we had your cooperation.” 

“Absolutely. Whatever you need, sir.” 

Lloyd’s mouth curved into a smile. Pushing too hard may have been the right play after all. His prey had just swallowed the bait without noticing the hook that pierced his lip along with it. 

Game. Set. Match. 

All that was left to do was reel in his catch. 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Next - Part XVI

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Masterlist

Taglist:

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@dear-fifi

[nitefise-art]

HC Scarlet/Violet timeline

This is based on information from the game (most of it being Raifort’s history course and the notes in the Zero Area Research Stations) as well as a general assessment of what makes most sense based on apparent ages etc. The only thing that doesn’t make sense internally in the game is Raifort’s statement that the Tera Orb was invented ten years before game time, when the notes in the Research Stations clearly state that Sada/Turo invented the orb before Arven was born. If both are right, then Arven is 9 years old or younger, which clearly isn’t right, so I’ve gone with the notes in the Research Stations and assumed the Tera Orb was invented over ten years before game time.

Timeline assumes start of game takes place in late 2022.

--

1,000,000 BCE - Formation of the Paldean crater

0 CE - Rule of the Paldean Empire

0-1000 CE - The Era of Exploration

1217 - Unification of Paldea, establishment of the Academy

1822 - Area Zero Expedition with Heath

1820s - Heath publishes the Violet Book

1882 - Discovery of terastallised Pokemon in the Great Crater

1962 - Clavell is born (making him 60 in game)

1975 - Sada/Turo is born (making her/him 47 in game)

1986 - Jacq is born (making him 36 in game)

1989 - Clavell (27) leaves Paldea for travel/work

1993 - Sada/Turo (18) enrols at the Academy (which I HC at that time was a higher education institution, it opened up to various ages later). 

1995 - Sada/Turo (20) graduates, becomes a tutor/researcher at the Academy (his lab is Clavell’s current office).

2000 - Clavell (38) returns from travel/work overseas, takes up a teaching post at the Academy. Meets Sada/Turo (25).

2002 - Sada/Turo (27) “leads” a research team (incl Clavell, 40) into Area Zero. Leads in quotes because Clavell is supervising behind the scenes. Sada/Turo’s lab at the Academy is held for him in the interim.

2003 - Sada/Turo (28) discovers the crystals cause terastallisation.

2004 - Sada/Turo (29) invents the Tera Orb prototype; receives corporate funding. Disturbed by Sada/Turo’s talk of past/future Pokemon, Clavell (42) stays only to help perfect Tera Orb for mainstream distribution. Sada/Turo’s resulting profile leads the Academy to preserve his old lab.

2005 - Sada/Turo (30) sets up a lab at Cabo Poco Lighthouse; Clavell (43) moves to a different research facility (Paldea? Elsewhere? Unsure). Later that year, Sada/Turo returns to the Crater, moving research to the Zero Lab with a “smaller team”; conducts time machine research. 

2007 - First Koraidon/Miraidon brought through time machine. Meanwhile Jacq (21) starts work as a junior researcher, meets Clavell (45).

2008 - Arven is born (making him 14 in game). Sada/Turo is 33. Turo/Sada leaves within the year.

2009 - Sada/Turo (34) creates AI assistant. Between Sada/Turo and the AI, they manage to raise Arven.

2011 - Second Koraidon/Miraidon brought through time machine.

2017 - Jacq (31) develops the Pokedex App for the Rotom Phone.

2019 - Arven (11) enrols at the Academy.

Early 2021 - Operation Star; Harrington resigns along with the rest of the staff. Clavell (59), Jacq (35), and other staff join the Academy. Clavell moves into Sada/Turo’s old lab. 

Late 2022 - Second Koraidon/Miraidon kills Sada/Turo (47); First Koraidon/Miraidon flees; AI Sada/Turo asks Clavell (60) to be put in touch with MC.

Early 2023 - Events at the Zero Lab; destruction of the time machine.

[17-noodlebird]

World Four = The Craniumville Academical School For The Fairly Gifted But Still Not Good Enough Children

🎓🎒🏫🧑‍🏫🦉🧮👓📏📚

~~~~

Jewel: Turquoise

Power: Gravity

Color: Teal

Theme: Libraries & Educational Universities

~~~~

Objective:

Graduate with honors from the rigorous courses and classes of Professor Barnwell by competing in the Edulympics.

~~~~

Chapter IV: Are You Smarter Than A Sixth Grader?

~~~~

The fourth episode/chapter pays homage to school-based games and school-centric TV shows/episodes, university/college movies, Baldi's Basics In Education & Learning, the Duolingo app, Adam Ruins Everything, educational TV shows, and the PBS Kids shows from the 1990’s and early 2000’s. It also takes inspiration from Monsters University.

The episode begins with Team Circus in the Magical Digital Van, having just left a roadside diner for breakfast that morning after three days of traveling to their next destination. They're still shooketh by the turn of events that happened prior, with the fake mechanic, money laundering rich couple, and an evil racist prince, but they'll admit, they still had fun regardless of the setbacks. Basically, some pluses and minuses. Caine is more shaken, but refuses to let that deter him considering that this was only just the three times and that it can't be anything more than some unfortunate coincidences… at least this is what he tries to convince himself of.

After 3 more hours of traveling, they finally arrive at their next destination: the ever prestigious town of Craniumville. Craniumville appears to be just like your standard suburban neighborhood filled with houses, some small schools in certain areas, a gas station (a perfect place for them to recharge themselves and take a break from all this driving), libraries, and even some playgrounds for the kiddos. Team Circus stops by at the gas station, with Caine feeling more chipper this time around, unlike last time, and Pomni and Jax getting into the same gas station shenanigans as last time. Kinger and Zooble just kinda hang around in the parking lot, admiring the autumnal beauty of the whole place, and Gangle and Ragatha help grab some more roadside snacks for the trip at the gas station’s convenience store, while Caine and Bubble stay behind in the van, just talking to each other like they always have since the start of their long-lasting friendship. Plastered on one of the gas station walls is a poster for free admissions to one of Craniumville’s top universities, as well as the hosting of this summer’s Edulympics.

The poster catches Gangle's eye, as she examines it further. It's there that the gas station manager, who takes on the appearance of a sheep wearing sunglasses, introduces himself as Craig Hill to her and Ragatha, explains that this one's extremely hard to pass, if not outright impossible, out of all the universities in Craniumville, a town that's so focused on education, intelligence, and enlightenment more than anything in the whole digital world. Anyone would be even remotely lucky to even try, considering just how damn easy it is to get admitted into their facilities. Funnily enough, it's with this that Gangle and Ragatha are compelled to actually go to the university, despite them already being full-fledged adults in no need for further education. Perhaps this gut feeling could lead to the next jewel they're after…?

It turns out that same poster that caught Gangle's eye was also plastered on just about every surface you could think of, even the smaller scale elementary, middle, high, and community college schools in Craniumville. Now the others are further inclined to go and check this place out, in spite of the skeptical optimism it brings. Once the Magical Digital Van is ready to go, Team Circus heads off to this prestigious and hard-to-pass university that Gangle has been talking about.

Once they get there, they find that it's an incredibly large building (on the same scale as the Empire State Building in New York City, if not tremendously taller), with thousands of people also looking for an available spot in the University. The building is divided into 13 districts, one for each fraternity. And true to Gangle's word, this place is incredibly easy to get into, with just some signatures on some papers and they'll be ready to go.

But why exactly are they here? Is it destiny somehow? No matter! While everyone else is doing whatever, everyone in Team Circus is gonna do some exploring. It looks like one humongous library (as if they already hadn't seen a bunch on their way there lol), with an assortment of tubes and slides to get from one class to another, not to mention the arrangement of dorms and classrooms to boot. Just as everyone is minding their own business, Gangle finds a manga section that she's enamored with, alongside Zooble, who's aimlessly wandering around the place. Meanwhile, Pomni looks for someone to ask for directions to whatever classes they may or may not have, when she bumps into a talking ostrich and his human best friend, who welcome them to — name reveal — The Craniumville Academical School For The Fairly Gifted But Still Not Good Enough Children (the talking ostrich acknowledges the hurtful namesake of the university as they say this). They introduce themselves as Jamey Bourne (the human with the blonde bowl cut and a cow lick) and Ozzi the Ostrich (the large suave-looking flightless bird with a peculiar updo and a pair of glasses). They are both wearing school uniforms, as are the other students that aren't new here.

Of course, Ozzi and Jamey give Team Circus a tour around the campus, starting with the many classes they have to offer, taught by some of the most influential and highly erudite scholars of Craniumville. Next, they introduce them to the thirteen fraternities that are also held in high regard at the school. Shockingly (or rather, unshockingly, depending on who you ask), Caine isn't all that excited like Gangle is — quite the opposite, actually — when the tour gets increasingly expanded, from the building’s many library sections (Craniumville sure does love books; Alexandria, eat your heart out lmao), to its recreational facilities, their custom-made gymnasiums, a basketball, football, soccer, and tennis field respectively, a golf course, an entire freaking food court (like the ones you'd find at your local mall), and an in-school hotel where the most academically advanced students would sleep whenever they got good grades. All the while, Team Circus has to get used to riding escalator-like tubes that go extremely fast in order to climb up floors, and ride down some fun slides with vendors offering slide mats on the side in order to go down some floors. Upon Ragatha asking about the school uniforms, Ozzi answers that their final part of the tour will explain just that.

They all end up at the Dressing Room, where all the students in the Craniumville Academical School must put on a uniform to look presentable for the teachers and staff members. It's from there that the tour officially concludes. As Team Circus gets dressed into their new school uniforms, Jamey complains that Ozzi didn't get to use his “special powers” for the tour, which Pomni begins to overhear upon becoming intrigued. Ozzi explains that the tour wouldn't feel organic if he used them. That's when Pomni interjects and asks what kind of powers does Ozzi possess. The ostrich casually explains that he sometimes teleports to places and even time travels from time to time — not once do any of the members of Team Circus question it, having been through too much to even bother for a further explanation. Despite Jamey’s excited pleas for a demonstration, Ozzi keeps refusing, until the human boy finally gives up. That's when Team Circus finally finishes up and reveal their stunning new school uniforms, with even their accessories having changed to fit their aesthetic — Pomni's jester hat is now teal-and-cream plaid and white striped, with the jingle bells replaced with tiny little books, Ragatha's bow is now also a teal-and-cream plaid, Gangle is adorning teal-and-cream plaid hair bows on each side of her mask face, Zooble's parts are now school-themed, with them having an atom symbol on their chest, and a wooden ruler for a left leg for example, Bubble is wearing a teal-and-cream plaid bowtie on his chest, and Caine's top hat is tied into a teal-and-cream plaid ribbon bow.

In their respective dressing room areas, a card pops up from the mail chute, which reveals their dorm room numbers for where they'll be staying when they're not in class. Jamey explains that once students are finished with the tour, they are assigned to a different dorm room, as the school also acts as a boarding school. He even cheerfully says that they are lucky to have come just in time for the Edulympics, a multi-school event that happens once every 8 years, which only raises more concerns from Team Circus than reassurance.

Soon enough, once they reach the building where their dorms are at, they come to find that Pomni and Kinger both have the same dorm number, which Ozzi explains that sometimes, a student will bunk with a roommate during a semester or two, and that Professor Barnwell, the school’s head principal, says it's a good idea to keep students from getting lonely during their darkest hours. When Kinger asks about Professor Barnwell, a brief moment of awkward silence follows before Ozzi answers that as the school’s leader, it'd be best not to pester her too much, before the two say their farewells for the night to Team Circus and be on their merry way.

Pomni admires the view from the dorm building’s balcony, basking in the vastness of the whole school, with its active tubes and slides, a giant library that could rival even Harvard’s collection of books, and so much to do to keep them stimulated as well as educated. It's there that we see that all eight members of Team Circus are rooming up in pairs in four consecutive rooms: Pomni and Kinger, Jax and Ragatha, Caine and Bubble, Gangle and Zooble. Gangle is excited about the opportunity they'll all have being school students, just like the many anime shows she'd always watch with Zooble, and that her dream of being an anime schoolgirl is finally coming true. Zooble is mostly indifferent to the situation, like they had been for a while now, but is just enjoying Gangle rambling on and on about her indulgences overall. Zooble takes the time to notice a welcome gift basket for the both of them, filled with goodies and school supplies, and an individual class schedule for all of them. It turns out the other six in their other respective dorm rooms also got gift baskets with goodies, school supplies, and an individual class schedule for them to follow. Following this, all eight members of Team Circus receive a notification for their fourth objective on their communicator bracelets, before they promptly get ready for bed for the night and prepare for what's to come.

The next morning — or more precisely at 6:45 AM, — the school bell rings to signify that it's time for everyone to wake up, and everyone does just that. It's the usual “we're late for school” shenanigans for Team Circus, with everyone haphazardly getting dressed into their uniforms and rushing over to their first class of the day, all while completely forgetting that it's extremely early for such. And this is something they all learn the hard way, when they accidentally bump into this snooty schoolgirl named Katie Leone. She, in an annoyed tone of voice, explains to them that their first school bell of the day is just an alarm for everyone to get up and at ‘em and to go get their breakfast at the food court. She's not very nice about it, much to everyone's dismay. But Katie does offer to lead them to the food court as a gesture of sincerity, despite suspicions.

At the food court, Katie talks to Team Circus about what goes on here and the specifics of how things must be run in this school, as Professor Barnwell does not tolerate imperfections of any kind, especially newcomers. She says all of this in a faux compassionate voice, while also being a condescending little asshole; it even unnerves Jax a little, who would know a thing or two about being an asshole himself. Katie even proclaims that if they try anything funny, they won't last much longer, and that it would take a miracle for them to even remotely have a chance at passing their rigorous classes, let alone even try out for the Edulympics.

Eventually, 7 AM rolls around and they all head off to their first class of the day: Jax, Pomni, and Caine all have World History class, Ragatha and Kinger have Science class, Bubble has Art class, and Zooble and Gangle have Algebra class. They evidently have a hard time with their respective classes (except for Gangle for some strange reason), with Caine not really paying attention to the lesson because of the overstimulating environment, Bubble having separation anxiety, Kinger being an easily startled fellow, and Katie Leone herself having followed Zooble and Gangle to Algebra, meaning that these two share the same class as her. Yippee…

During World History, we see Professor Globalle trying to get Caine to engage with the lesson to no avail, despite the latter's best efforts, though from the looks of it, Globalle seems to be much more scared of something rather than be annoyed at Caine, which Jax calls into question. That's when we see the introduction of Professor Barnwell herself, a giant green owl with a graduation cap on her head. Barnwell is just as intimidating as she is a bit condescending about the student’s worth in life and potential to succeed in the real world. In spite of Globalle’s attempts to cool down the situation saying that not everyone is paced the same, Barnwell interjects by forcing everyone to participate in a pop quiz, much to everyone's dismay. As you'd expect, Caine has trouble concentrating, with Barnwell watching over the entire class with what appears to be a sadistic smirk on her face. It's definitely not helping the poor teeth man at all. And sadly, he's barely able to answer two questions out of 56 when time runs out, resulting in not just him failing, but evidently the whole class. And while Professor Barnwell snidely chides that everyone will need to do better if they want to graduate, Globalle reassures them all that he has no control over this and that if it were up to him, he wouldn't have let the rest of his class fail as well. Already, things are off to a really shitty start.

The scene transitions to Kinger and Ragatha not faring much better in Science class, as Dr. Plantair tries to get his class to engage in the lesson about chemical changes, only for everyone else (except Ragatha and Kinger, of course) to be completely apathetic and everyone doing their own thing, including a group of four girls playing with their tech devices, a class clown purposefully making the teacher mad by being annoying, and two older students bullying three younger ones. When one of the nameless bullies tries to get on Kinger's nerves, Ragatha attempts to stand up for her fellow friend, only for Plantair to tell her to sit down and pay attention, much to her annoyance. Eventually, when they do get to the fun part, which is really just mixing one liquid with another in some lab flasks, the class clown teams up with the two bullies to scare-prank Kinger, while one of the tech addict girls records the whole thing. Ragatha is quick to notice this, and tries to tell Dr. Plantair, only for it to quickly turn into a heated argument as the cruel prank takes place before both of their eyes, with the chemicals being spilt, which is actually dangerous, mind you. And rather than take action and punish the mean students, Plantair blames all of his students (including poor Kinger and Ragatha) for wasting today's lesson on “mindless carelessness” and an inability to engage with what was supposed to be a fun lesson. So everyone is forced to clean the classroom up and end class early. Ouch.

We then join Bubble in Art class, who is trying not to explode internally as Mr. Spotlight teaches his students how to make a clay vase. Some rowdy students try to deviate from the lesson, and Bubble tries to ignore them, to almost no avail. It's relatively the calmest this class has to offer considering the only genuine event that happens is the poor soap bubble having a vivid panic attack, which the rough-housers pick fun of for their own amusement. How depressing.

Algebra class is by far the toughest for Gangle and Zooble as they are at first being constantly outmatched by Katie Leone, who's just answering up a storm with what Mr. Emcee perceives her to be “highly superior”, in that he'd prefer all of his students to be just like her. It doesn't help that the other students envy Katie to the point where they're all taking it out on each other. Meanwhile, Gangle is genuinely enjoying herself with the lesson, and when she's eventually called by Emcee after so many turns with Katie, everyone is surprised (and maybe even a little furious) by how calm under pressure she remains. Zooble, although silent, is bearing with it all, despite looking like they could cry at any moment, an ironic turning of the tables for both characters. Emcee, in an attempt to lessen the tension he himself created with his favoritism, challenges all of his students to a Kahoot quiz, and surprise, surprise, it's Gangle who emerges triumphant as she manages to swiftly answer each mathematical equation correctly, faster than Katie Leone, I might add.

Second class of the day for our beloved Team Circus finally arrives; Pomni and Caine are unfortunate enough to endure the torment in Science class, while Gangle just minds her own business, despite Plantair also deciding to take his frustrations out on her, which for once doesn't actually phase her — and she's not even wearing her comedy mask, as Pomni notices. It would appear she forgot to put one on again, possibly due to the rush of this morning. Ragatha, Jax and Bubble also have Algebra, but as the lesson is being taught, Emcee keeps bringing up Katie and how amazing of a student she is, much to everyone's else's annoyance. Kinger and Zooble have Art class, and the presence of Katie just makes the unfortunate mix-and-match being feel like they're walking on eggshells, with them being forced to compete with Katie over building the best clay sculpture, with Katie emerging victorious every time.

Then comes the third class of the day, in which we are introduced to a new classroom with Professor Giz. If any of you have ever been to engineering classes, you could probably imagine how egregiously rigorous and challenging it can be, with all the complicated software and machine crap, as Pomni, Jax, Ragatha, and Gangle can all attest to, to the point where not even Giz himself can figure it out or do it right, rendering his students even more confused. Caine is relentlessly bullied for his appearance and spaciness by the other students in Art class, and so is Kinger in Algebra class, with Bubble faring no better in Science class (with one of the students even making him cry). Katie Leone once again tries to humiliate and outmatch Zooble in World History, and Globalle, being the cowardly doormat he is, does not do jack diddly motherfucking squat about it, leaving Zooble in tears.

Fourth class of the day is a pitiful low for Team Circus, with Pomni absolutely fumbling Art class, not to mention her jester hat being a bit of an eyesore for some of the more cynical students there. Algebra is the absolute worst for Caine, as despite being an AI (a reprogrammed AI who evolved beyond his purpose, but an AI nonetheless), the fast-paced nature of the class and Emcee’s constant storytelling of Katie Leone’s intelligence is worsening his anxiety. Meanwhile in Science, Jax notices Zooble in distress over being overshadowed by Katie, but can't do a damn thing about it after Plantair berates his class for “wasting his time” with their consistent apathy. World History is relatively calmer for Ragatha, Kinger, Gangle, and Bubble, and Gangle is somewhat dominating the class with her enticing knowledge, and essentially saving everyone’s asses from failure.

Lunchtime finally rolls around as Team Circus heads back to the food court, and the crowd is packed. They all look like they've seen better days, save for Gangle, who basically just looks focused right now. Pomni comments to the others how she noticed that Gangle isn't wearing her comedy mask for some reason, causing Jax to make an “I knew it!” face from within the background. When asked further by Ragatha, Jax states that the reason for his reaction is that while stuck at the Circus, he theorized that Gangle's masks weren't what they seemed; he had seen Gangle truly happy without her comedy mask at least three times before, so he attested that the her comedy mask suppressed how she truly felt, while her tragedy mask was her true self.

Amidst the cacophony of chatting friend groups, pranksters, the members of Team Circus talk about their days to each other and how they went, and suffice to say, they were exactly great. In fact, the teachers didn't really help in matters. Not to mention that the visit from Professor Barnwell, the headmistress of the Craniumville Academy, in History class this morning, put a damper on Jax, Caine, and Pomni's spirits. We see the return of Jamey and Ozzi, with the former asking what's wrong upon arrival at their table. At least they haven't forgotten them, so this is a plus for them.

They each individually tell them of their own woes, and they can both sympathize with them as something similar happened to them at the school as well. Ozzi reveals he doesn't trust any of the teachers, but he chooses to lay low so as not to stir a ruckus, since Professor Barnwell has leverage against all of her students. Not even the well-meaning teachers are safe. And as it turns out, Craniumville U isn't the only victim of this. It's everywhere. But they don't have time to get into that as lunchtime has already passed, and all of Team Circus head off to their fifth classes of the day.

If the others’ experiences are anything to go by, Pomni's time in Algebra was kinda mellow thanks to her excellent math skills, except she didn't learn diddly squat with Emcee still rambling on about how Katie Leone is such a great student. Pomni barely even knows Katie. And the irony continues for Caine in Engineering class, where because of his knowledge on technology, there are a lot of things Giz gets wrong — much to everyone's dismay, Caine's frustration, and Giz’s butthurtness.

We finally get to see a new class as we join Ragatha, Jax, Bubble, and Kinger in Music class, and the four of them are just anticipating the worst possible outcome when they are greeted by the seemingly legit presence of Professor Alto. He's eerily relaxed, if not a bit persnickety with how things are run. Everyone is assigned to a different family of music instruments: strings, percussion, brass, woodwind, and choir. Jax is assigned the trombone, Ragatha, the violin, Kinger, the tambourine, and Bubble as one of the sopranos. Things are off to a surprisingly pleasant start, until a few moments later where everything just turns into the movie Whiplash, and everyone is left to suffer for things that weren't even remotely their fault. Alto expects things to be perfect, as in his definition of perfect, and because those standards are impossible to reach, Music class is a nightmare to deal with. But hey, at least you get to play the tambourine!

There is yet another new class we haven't seen before, and it's Home Ec class, taught by Professor Tate. Gangle and Zooble are paired up once more, just like back in 1st period, and once again, Katie Leone rears her stuck-up head by turning a simple meal cooking lesson into an all out competition. And for once, Gangle finally grows a spine and attempts to get Katie to back off from Zooble, only to be stopped by Professor Tate, who is just as apathetic to the relentless bullying as most of the others are here, and just wants to eat food. Anyone seeing a pattern yet?

Zooble is grateful for Gangle standing up for them, and something stirs inside them as a result, but they'll have to set that aside for later.

For their sixth classes of the day, Pomni, Jax, Ragatha, and Kinger find that their Home Ec teacher, Professor Tate, is a lazy glutton who is using his students for free food. Music class is utterly traumatic for Caine. Bubble and Zooble have Engineering class with Professor Giz, and once again, Katie Leone is tormenting the heck out of Zooble, to which Giz merely watches as though it's quality entertainment instead actually stopping it, leaving Bubble perpetually helpless. Gangle excels at Art class, though.

Then for their seventh classes, we head back to Music class, Katie Leone is treated like the golden child by Alto, while everyone else is left with psychological scars, especially Zooble. Pomni and Gangle take Alto’s unpredictable rage much better than Zooble, especially Gangle, considering that she still isn't wearing her comedy mask. In Home Ec class, Bubble and the other students are treated like servants to Tate while Caine wallows in a curled-up position in a corner, still trying to process what happened in Music class. Jax and Ragatha finally get to have a bit of breather in Art class, as they're learning how to make ceramic mugs. And lastly, Kinger teaches Giz a thing or two about technology, which in Craniumville U is a big no-no for Professor Barnwell, but at least Giz is humbled for at least a little bit before ignoring his epiphany back to the status quo.

And finally, we reach their eighth and final class of the day, PE. The gang's all reunited, some looking worse for wear than others. They all have to get into their gym uniforms in order to participate in an obstacle course set up by their coach, Mr. Yew. And wouldn't you freaking know it, Katie Leone is here with them, much to Gangle's irritation and Zooble's dismay. Luckily for them, their buddies, Ozzi and Jamey, are here with them as well, the former noticing the rough shape Team Circus is currently in. Neither of them have time to explain themselves to each other as they all have to line up in order for Yew to give out whatever motivational speech he has in store for them… not that it'll make a difference for any of them. And, as per frickin’ usual, Katie manages to outperform the others in the damn obstacle course in the gymnasium, while the others more or less either manage to trudge their way through a series of tires, ropes, ladders, rock climbing sets, monkey bars, and bridges, and succeed in the end, or fail trying to make it out. Not even the talking ostrich and his human buddy could make it all the way. The only one praised for their efforts is — you guessed it — Katie Leone. But the good news is that school's finally over for the day afterwards, and everyone gets to do whatever until tomorrow. Not that anyone is excited unfortunately.

Everyone is exhausted and distressed. Wasn't school supposed to be a fun experience? What's with all the school staff being so discouraging and the students being such assholes? The only good ones here seem to be Ozzi and Jamey, they've come to realize. After the others go to the ginormous library to cool off, where everyone has begun studying or pulling off all-nighters, Gangle decides to look for some manga to read, when she stumbles upon one of the posters for the Edulympics. Turns out they all forgot about it when they had a rough first day at school today, as it was in their objective on their communicator bracelets to join the Edulympics. So… all hope isn't lost?

Gangle goes to Ozzi and Jamey to ask about the Edulympics in Craniumville U, and his answer is that it's a multi-school competition to see which school reigns supreme in all of Craniumville. Apparently, the talking ostrich finds the whole Edulympics to be extremely pointless, including the way the entire education system in Craniumville is run, but Gangle tells him that they have been thinking about participating in the Edulympics… to maybe help Craniumville U win. Jamey interjects saying that it's still their first day, so they'll have to gain more experience here in the school if they want to join, not to mention the games don't start until later this summer. That means they'll have to do a lot of waiting and endure more of the educational torture that they went through today in order for that to be possible. Although Gangle thanks them anyway, Ozzi insists he and Jamey come join with, noticing the others’ misery from a mile away.

While Jamey is a little more empathetic to Team Circus’s plights, Ozzi looks at them as though he knows something they don't, with an expression of pity and cynicism. Jamey tries to reassure them that it's not all bad if you try to stay vigilant enough, but they're not really in the spirit of things at the moment, especially not Caine, who looks like he had been crying. Jamey boldly suggests he grab one of Craniumville U’s top notch tutors to help them with whatever troubles they're currently going through, despite reassurances that it's not necessary. Ozzi doesn't think it's a good idea, but the wide-eyed optimistic human sidekick continues to insist, lest Ozzi reveal his superpowers to them, which the former vehemently protests yet again. The conversation had long lost its steam, however, so Team Circus and Ozzi and Jamey go back to their respective dorms and part ways.

On their way back, they each tell them about their individual schedules, noticing how they all went to the same specific classes, each having varying degrees of eggshell-walking, uselessness, and apathetic atmosphere. Gangle is the most composed of the bunch for some reason, despite not wearing her comedy mask today, who is pretty much used to daily schtick of being harassed, pushed around, tossed aside, and ignored, to the point that it doesn't faze her when she's thrust into a completely unfamiliar (yet familiar at the same time) environment. Zooble clings on to Gangle for comfort, for the latter has been the only one by her side when Katie tormented the mix-and-match being. For the first time, Zooble feels vulnerable.

Back in the dorm room Gangle and Zooble are staying in, the ribbony girl laments how she had initially been excited to live out her anime fantasy, only to be let down in what had to be the most disappointing and anticlimactic reality check she ever faced. She's not even disappointed by the fact that her fantasies don't match her (digital) reality, but rather, she's disappointed that she was completely fine with it. She's upset that she didn't suffer as much as Zooble did; she had largely zoned out into her studies because it interested her. She had discovered that she’s actually good at math and science, something she hasn't told the others about. Zooble on the other hand is more than happy for their best friend, in that Gangle actually cares about getting a good education, while the others are just focused on finding that next jewel; it's a sign that the road trip is going swimmingly, that at least one of them is completely immersed in this world that was catered specifically for them! Plus, Gangle's expertise in the smartsy stuff might come in handy in the Edulympics someday.

Meanwhile, in Jax and Ragatha’s room, they all talk about the teachers who were either assholes, potentially dangerous people, like Emcee and his apparent obsession with Katie Leone (while Katie may have been a bitchface to Zooble, she could very well be just as much of a victim as the rest of Team Circus), or straight up textbook definitions of mediocrity — at best! Jax had always thought it'd be the school’s gym coach who was icky, like he had been led to believe from watching too much television, but he had never expected it to be their freakin’ math teacher… but neither of them can say for sure because, first off, this was only their first day, and second, it'd be unwise to jump to conclusions now and start a metaphorical fire with such a serious accusation. They'll just have to wait and see for now.

In the third dorm room, Pomni is deciding to pull an all-nighter, despite there being no upcoming exams yet, as Kinger reminds her. Pomni is quick to tell the chess piece that she doesn't want to take any chances and is choosing to be prepared, given what happened in World History. This will more than likely cost whatever sanity she might have left, but I digress. Kinger just goes to sleep for the night — or at least tries to; Pomni's all-nighter isn't making it easy for him.

Lastly, we find Bubble and Caine trying to watch a good movie on TV, but none of them are really in the spirit to. Valerie takes the time to comment to Bethany that they remember how their first day at school didn't go so well for them either, and that they hope things don't get worse for Team Circus from here on out… but if the previous three adventures taught them anything, you'd know by now that it will definitely get worse from here. But for now, they seem to be in the clear.

Early at 5:55 AM the next morning, Jamey enthusiastically knocks on the door of one of four rooms, the one where Caine and Bubble are placed in, which greatly bothers both of them, seeing that it's way too early for this crap. Jamey then drags them out of the room after some pleading, in which they meet a new character in the giant library, where a select few students are also pulling all-nighters of their own, just like Pomni was earlier. She is a young lady who appears to be one of the school's staff members, judging by her appearance in clothing and age. She warmly welcomes them both with a big hug, startling the ringmaster-turned-student with the suddenness of the physical contact. The teacher in question introduces herself as Ms. Jennifer Ahn, and that she'll be Team Circus's official tutor. She can't wait to help out with their studies and get them into the Edulympics, so that Craniumville U can finally snag a win after decades of not being able to do so. Jamey looks so proud of himself for coming up with this oh-so-brilliant idea, while Caine and Bubble are just straight up confused, trying to process what in God's name just happened. Jamey is off to fetch the others, while Ozzi arrives much later to find that he's already too late to stop his buddy. Ozzi does not look optimistic in the slightest about this.

Jamey drags the rest of the six human performers-turned-students, all of whom are tired as hell. Pomni hasn't slept a wink and is back to her old jittery self as she was when she first got trapped in this virtual world a couple of years ago, except now with more cantankerousness; Kinger is not having it at all and just wants to be left the hell alone; Ragatha is frozen in place from anxiety, while Jax drifts in and out of sleep during random intervals; Zooble looks like they just cried themselves to sleep last night and Gangle is more or less stoic. Ms. Ahn takes notes of their conditions and promises that she'll do everything she can to bring out the best in them, showing enthusiasm for her mission to “make them better”. Jamey individually introduces the members of Team Circus and that they're all new students here, having just trudged through their first day. Ms. Ahn sympathizes with them, since no one in Craniumville U ever has a good first day at the school, but she strives to make the rest of their school year better, through her tutoring skills and preparation for the harsh environment they'll have to face for the first four months of this semester. Jamey explains that she's good at basically every school subject there is, she knows the school staff by heart — even Professor Barnwell —, and she knows the basic ins and outs of this facility, even the sororities and fraternities. Jamey even offers to join along with the tutoring sessions to make them feel more comfortable. At first, none of them are too keen on the idea, having been bamboozled three times in the span of almost a week now, but Gangle immediately accepts the offer, if it means they'll be one step closer to joining the Edulympics and finding the next jewel. Begrudgingly, the rest of Team Circus accepts their fate as well, and their first tutoring session begins before the start of their first class of the day. Ozzi notices a shadow in the distance on one of the library balconies, seemingly in the shape of Professor Barnwell herself. Ozzi knows something, but doesn't have the heart to tell them. At least not yet.

Cue the school montage! This includes all the times Team Circus gets tutored by Ms. Ahn on World History, Art, Science, Engineering, Algebra, Music, and even Home Ec, the bad teachers being defied and the relatively decent ones being impressed and even proud of their efforts, Zooble being relentlessly bullied by Katie Leone (ranging from tasteless pranks to actual physical assault), and Gangle saving the day in troubled times, all the while Professor Barnwell looms in the distance as a shadowy figure, as Ozzi and Jamey do their best to support them. They even also study into the night for big tests and exams for their respective classes, not caring about sleep in the slightest while they do so. As the days progress, in spite of the exhaustion, they continue to grow more and more satisfied and even proud of their efforts, with Gangle even being in the top of her classes, outranking the longtime top-of-the-class Katie Leone. Caine finally gets used to the uncaring environment of some of the classes, even though he's a shaking wreck afterwards, but nonetheless considers it worth it for the others. The dimensional diplomats watch and provide witty commentary here and there as the montage progresses. This is all while “Gospel” by MarchForth Marching Band plays, where the four months of the first semester for Team Circus plays out in just six minutes for the audience.

The montage ends with Professor Barnwell onstage in the school’s gymnasium, speaking through the podium stand’s microphone about her students’ job well done throughout the rigorous four months, and congratulating the remaining students who haven't dropped out or gotten expelled for surviving the first half of their school year by rewarding them a winter break party in one of the fraternities’ facilities. They all loudly cheer in victory, except for Ozzi (who distrusts Barnwell with a contemptuous passion), Zooble (who is staring off into the distance with a disturbed look on their face, finally knowing true fear for the first time in their digital life), Caine (who is overstimulated from the cacophony of the crowd), and a worried Gangle, who looks at a visibly shaking Zooble, and then darting a quick glare at Katie Leone, who herself is celebrating another successful semester with the rest of the students.

The scene cuts to a snowy night, where the fraternity building of Tau Iota Kappa, and everyone is heading towards the very large mansion-like house that's 15 stories tall, including Team Circus. Even Jamey and Ozzi have come along. Entire groups of students are talking about how excited they are for the party, while flashing multicolored lights can be seen from the windows, as well as muffled techno music from inside the house. Caine, Pomni, and Kinger are wearing noise-canceling headphones that dimensional diplomat Yolanda gave them via their communicator bracelets, Jax, Ragatha, and Bubble are talking amongst themselves about how they can't believe they just went through four months of hell and how this was definitely worth the party they were going to tonight. Gangle is holding Zooble's hand the whole way there, assuring them that she won't let Katie Leone bother her while they're at the party. Jamey pats himself on the back to Ozzi about how he knew that his plan would work and that they'll be able to survive the rest of the school year with no problems, even though Ozzi has his doubts, as he tells Jamey he's seen firsthand how everything can and will go wrong if he keeps shielding them from the truth. Just because Ozzi and Jamey were the lucky ones like Katie Leone was, that doesn't mean everyone is, the ostrich warns his human compadre. Jamey chooses to see the bright side of things, although now that Ozzi mentions it, he is beginning to feel nervous himself, but he decides to brush it off for now, as it's officially party time.

They all at last reach the party, and sure enough, it's extremely crowded with students talking amongst themselves, students on the dance floor having fun to the loud, upbeat, and overly energetic rave music played by the DJ, Professor Alto of all people, (who'da guessed?) snacks and drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) being served, board games and video games being played by the students in one of the rooms, the giant TV screens playing Christmas-themed movies on the second floor of the house, and even the school staff enjoying themselves in a rare moment of humanity coming from them. The only school staff member allegedly not being present is Professor Barnwell herself. They all assume she's much too busy with paperwork for that sort of thing.

Gangle, alongside her companion Zooble, goes over to Jamey and Ozzi to thank them for helping her and her friends through their first semester, to which Ozzi warmly and humbly accepts their gratitude, taking joy in lending a kind hand to those in need. Jamey does the same as well, but is a little more tense about it due to thinking about some things. Gangle wants to bring over Ms. Ahn for helping them out and to thank her as well, so she asks Ozzi to look after Zooble while she goes to do so, to which he accepts the offer. Gangle thanks him again and heads off. Meanwhile, Pomni, Kinger, and Caine are away from the dance floor, sitting on the sofa in one of the rooms where a couple of random students are playing Super Smash Bros., and they cheer those students on. Jax shows off his dance skills to another random group of party-going students, and Ragatha finally lets loose after some persuasion from Bubble, after which they both get absolutely wasted in a drinking contest they won in a tie between three other students.

Katie Leone is just wandering around carrying a red SOLO cup filled with fruit punch when she spots Ozzi, Jamey, and Zooble just having an idle conversation with each other. Katie goes over to them to “make amends” with Zooble, though immediately, the mix-and-match superstar-turned-student is distrustful after all the classroom pranks and hallway altercations they've had to endure for the last four months, but Katie reassures her that it's all in the past and that they should just enjoy themselves while they last. Ozzi and Jamey attempt to stop Katie from whatever mischief they think she's causing, only to falter when she hands them a pair of cups for them both as a token of “no hard feelings”. Still skeptical, they each take a sip of their respective cups and walk alongside them.

At first, it looks like Zooble and Katie have finally become friends, with them playing beer pong at the pool table and the group showing off their dance moves to the others, among other wild party activities in the fraternity house. With each passing minute, Ozzi, Jamey, and Zooble start to feel a little wonky, but are having too much fun to notice or even really care… That is until they meet up with Jax, and right away, the purple bunny takes notice that something is off. Like really off. The only one who doesn't seem to be acting any differently is Katie Leone, who tries to offer Jax a drink as well, but he bluntly refuses. Katie says that it's just some fruit punch and that he shouldn't worry, but he continues to insist on not having one. Meanwhile, Gangle and Ms. Ahn meet up with Ozzi, Jamey, and Zooble, who all look drunk, despite only having fruit punch given by Katie. She and Ms. Ahn try to get them to snap out of it until Gangle asks where they got the punch from, which Jamey answers by slurring that it was Katie. Zooble tells Gangle that she's not such a bad person if you get to know her better (also in a slurred tone of voice). Katie leads the three astray from Gangle and Ms. Ahn, while the two grab the rest of their friend group — Kinger, Pomni and Caine are informed that Zooble could be in danger if they don't hurry, triggering Caine's flight or fight response out of a desire to protect his loved ones; next, they go grab Jax, who is well aware of the situation and doesn't dare refuse; and lastly, they grab a very intoxicated Ragatha and Bubble, who are too out of it to notice the fear and panic in everyone, including, Ms. Ahn.

Unfortunately, by the time they arrive outside, it's too late; Katie Leone and a handful of students and even a couple of teachers who attended the party are pummeling the drugged trio in the middle of a brewing snowstorm with trash, food, and even punching and kicking them, calling them names while they're at it. Ms. Ahn, Gangle, and Jax break up the group and rescue Ozzi, Jamey, and Zooble respectively, as the other members of Team Circus fend off the relentless bullies, including Katie Leone, who brought them all outside for this cruel prank. As Pomni leaves to grab the rest of the staff members, Ms. Ahn breaks up the group by dragging the teachers out of the dogpile and angrily scolds them for “setting a bad example for the students”, only for Professor Barnwell to emerge from within the wintery blizzard shadows, silencing the mayhem going on outside. They all look terrified, except for Katie Leone and the bully students and teachers, who look like they're only sorry they got caught. Professor Barnwell asks calmly but ominously what the hullabaloo is. Ms. Ahn tries to say that she and a few students were trying to save Ozzi, Jamey, and Zooble, but her words only come out in stammers, but no one can be too sure if she really is just that afraid of Barnwell or if the weather is getting cold enough to make her shiver vigorously. Barnwell does not say a word as she approaches Katie Leone and the other students and teachers who joined in on the prank. Katie looks ready to accept her fate for whatever punishment Barnwell has in store. Instead Barnwell just… hugs her, saying that she's… proud of her. No one says anything, despite the horrified looks on their faces. Professor Barnwell delivers a really breaking speech about how some people were never meant to fit in, no matter how successful or influential they are, because if there are others more superior than them going out of their way to show them where their place is in the world, they shouldn't be scolded, but rather praised for reminding those “inferior morsels of society” that they shouldn't be allowed to exist in the first place, but also that they should consider themselves lucky that they're still here anyway because letting them live is a form of mercy that Barnwell herself shows all the time to the students who don't exactly fit the spitting image of Craniumville U's status of superiority and excellence. She then goes on to say that whoever these new students are, they outta reconsider joining the Edulympics if they know what's good for them. She ends the speech by saying that Craniumville deserves better than them, before flying off into the snowstorm. The atmosphere is silent and somber, and the dimensional diplomats from the other side are too stunned to speak, having traces of outrage and horror painted on their expressions.

Pomni manages to arrive late with Professor Globalle by her side, only to realize that the chaos had already ceased, with Ms. Ahn leading the staff away from the drugged up Jamey, Ozzi and Zooble. Globalle, who was informed of the situation on the way out by the jester-turned- student, handles the students, and Pomni opts to join him. Gangle is stuck wearing a thousand yard stare until she sees Katie Leone amongst the group of students being led by Globalle and Pomni, which causes her to instinctively walk towards Katie, and rip her a new one with what she and the others did to Zooble, Jamey, and Ozzi, and that she and the others will not submit to the unfair and unreasonable standards placed on her and her friends. Katie, without a hint of remorse or even any emotion for that matter, says that what Barnwell says is final; all of Craniumville’s schools have to adhere to the same principles, unfair or otherwise. Gangle rebukes this statement, saying that it will never excuse or justify tormenting those who don't meet their definition of “excellence”, no matter what. Katie attempts to slap Gangle in the face, but the latter stops her before she continues her call-out rant, declaring that she is not afraid of her, that they will compete in the Edulympics, and that she will prove all them wrong with the power of persistence and friendship. Katie is still not deterred by what Gangle has to say, asking her coldy what does she know about bullying, but is immediately surprised when she angrily reveals to Katie that she knows what it's like to be bullied and tormented on an almost daily basis, and that she doesn't want anyone to go through what she goes through, especially not Zooble. She ends the tirade by saying that no matter what happens, she will never let Katie, Barnwell, or the others break their spirits and they will never stop them from from competing in the Edulympics, and that someday, they'll look back on their youth, and realize just how empty and miserable they let themselves become by contributing nothing to this place in how they're currently acting towards their peers. No more words are said as everyone is left to process what she said, including Jax, who is straight up shocked (and a little impressed) that Gangle finally grew a spine after all these years. Everyone just stands there, left to process everything that just happened, while Gangle runs back over to the others to comfort them.

The scene transitions back to the dorm building early the next morning, with the snowstorm still raging on, where in Gangle and Zooble's room, Jamey and Ozzi are recovering from having their fruit punch spiked, as is Zooble themself. Jamey feels betrayed for the first time ever, having let his guard down for someone he knew was a bad egg, to which Ozzi reassures him that it was not his fault; it was bound to happen eventually. Ozzi reveals that a lot of Craniumville students in many different schools had to endure all sorts of bullies just like this one. Gangle refuses to let that stop her or her friends, still being determined to finish the school year stronger than ever. Ozzi stumbles upon the luggage Zooble and Gangle brought with them from their road trip, and notices something glossy in one of them. He takes a look and finds that it's one of Gangle's comedy masks peeking in there. Ozzi asks about the comedy mask, and Gangle answers with a story: she used to wear them to make her happier and to hide how she truly feels deep down because she was always being picked on by a peer of hers — that peer being Jax, of course. Ozzi is shocked and horrified that Jax was a bully to Gangle, seeing just how mellow he had been when he first met him and the others. She continues by say that she suppressed her emotions in order to deal with having to endure a really difficult environment around her, even though the comedy masks would always break, whether by accident or by Jax’s doing. Gangle used to be bullied constantly by Jax before she mustered up the courage to tell Caine. She now wonders if she should have said anything at all because even though now Jax has toned down his antics, the relationship between him and Caine soured as a result, and she holds guilt for that as a result.

Jamey is quick to get upset that Jax would even do such a thing, even though Gangle tells him that there's no need to be; he's already learned his lesson as far as she's concerned. Ozzi looks over to Zooble, who is inconsolable from last night's events, curled up and shaking. He laments that he remembers when he had been bullied by his tormentors the same way Zooble was, and no one did a goddamn thing to stop it, so he kinda had to put up with it… until he met Jamey, who was also being bullied by the other students. It would turn out that Jamey and Ozzi weren't the only victims, with hundreds of others being so relentlessly harassed and tormented that they dropped out or took drastic measures to stop the pain from continuing… Jamey and Ozzi found comfort in each other through their shared suffering, and because they were always together, the bullying eventually stopped altogether since that meant they couldn't individually pick on them anymore. Gangle empathizes with them both, as they all take a glance outside their room’s window, wondering to themselves what they're going to do now. As the camera pans outside to the ongoing snowstorm, we see Professor Barnwell talking on the phone with someone, where they discuss the Edulympics and what she expects to happen; Craniumville U is going to snag that win at all costs by breaking her students psychologically into becoming soulless robots that will do their bidding unconditionally, and if it means getting getting rid of those she can't mold into spitting images of herself and allowing those bullies to have free range on those she can “fix”, then so be it. When Barnwell hangs up from the phone call, she flies over back into the building where she meets up with Katie Leone and Mr. Emcee in one of Craniumville U's teacher's lounges and, with an evil smirk on her face, congratulating them for the completion of the first stage of their plan, and that it's time to activate the second stage. Whatever this plan is, it most certainly spells trouble for our fellow members of Team Circus…

Three more months pass and it's finally springtime, and not much has changed at all from when Team Circus first arrived. In the food court, where everyone is eating their respective lunches, Pomni takes notes on how this is the longest adventure they've been on to date. The classes are still just as horrible as they were when they first got here, the bullies and teachers have somehow worsened, and the only thing they look forward to now is Ms. Ahn’s tutoring lessons, which have helped greatly with their education, but have done nothing to mitigate the teachers belittling their effort and hard work. They each talk about what happened in their classes last period, both the good and the bad, including the pop quizzes some of them managed to ace during them. They are interrupted by Ozzi and Jamey checking up on the gang as per usual, and like always, they catch them up on the latest events that happened today. Zooble looks tired, but not defeated, as they, and the rest of Team Circus, are still confident that this will all pay off in the end. We see that Ms. Ahn has decided to join them too, as she wants to know all the details about everyone so she can bond with them and get them one step closer to joining the Edulympics. And so, they do. Though after the events prior, they take notice as to how Ms. Ahn’s dialogue is a bit forced, as though someone is telling her what to say. However, they're all too tired to investigate further.

When eighth period finally rolls around for PE class, the others are immediately greeted by Jamey, Ozzi, and Ms. Ahn, who has opted to take notes of the occurrences going on in that class. As soon as everyone is in their gym uniforms, Mr. Yew does his usual schtick as a PE coach, the importance of fitness, how they all need to train themselves if anyone is considering joining the Edulympics, blah blah blah, yadda yadda yadda… Ozzi immediately has a bad feeling about this when he catches the shadow of Professor Barnwell looming in the distance yet again, and this time, Jamey and Zooble notice too, still remembering vividly what happened at the party that previous winter. Zooble informs Gangle about Professor Barnwell’s secret presence, and as a result, Gangle tries telling the others to no avail, being put back in place by Yew’s coach whistle as he continues his lecture. Meanwhile, Ms. Ahn doesn't seem too concerned at all, despite having every reason to be as a fellow staff member, much to the anxious skepticism from Gangle and the perpetual heartbreak of what's to inevitably come for Ozzi. Katie Leone is still as smug as ever, looking like she knows something they don't.

We are presented to the same obstacle course from their first day of school and the montage that came after, but this time, longer and coarser than it has been in the first semester. Fortunately for Team Circus, they're not afraid of it, as they've been able to survive much worse back at home. Jamey and Ozzi, on the other hand, feel like they're being stalked, with the Zooble and Katie rivalry continuing forth, and Ms. Ahn is unfathomably confident in her prowess. While “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor plays, the members of Team Circus, Jamey, Ozzi, and Katie run through the obstacle course through sheer perseverance and a teaspoon of teamwork, while Ms. Ahn looks like she's barely even breaking a sweat, much to the suspicions of everyone except Katie, who is focused on Zooble the whole way through. We then cut to Jamey climbing on one of the ropes for the last portion of the obstacle course, and he is quick to notice that the rope looks like it's about to snap. However, not wanting to delay, he climbs up one of the ropes anyway and finally reaches the top to ring the bell. However when it's Ozzi’s turn, his weight as an ostrich causes the rope to snap, much to everyone's horror (except for Mr. Yew, Ms. Ahn, who merely fakes surprise, and the looming Professor Barnwell in the distance), as he falls down and breaks his wing on the gym mat below. Before the others could react, the rest of the ropes snap as well, causing everyone else to fall down the gym mats as well. Only Jamey and Katie were able to make it to the top.

Everything comes to a halt when Mr. Yew begrudgingly comes to check on Ozzi, who is absolutely writhing in pain, as well as the members of Team Circus, who — to the surprise of Katie, Ozzi, Jamey, Mr. Yew and Ms. Ahn — don't appear injured from the fall, just traumatized. Katie looks pissed, almost as though she was kinda expecting them to all get injured from the snapped ropes. To further add insult to the very literal injuries sustained by Ozzi, Katie decides to push Jamey off the balcony of the rope bell tower, just for laughs.

And indeed there are laughs coming from Professor Barnwell, who's holding a metallic nail file in her wing, and Mr. Emcee, who is holding a recording video camera. Katie slides down from the bell tower’s slide and gladly skips over to Barnwell and Emcee, seemingly excited to show the others their secret plan. That's when Ms. Ahn stands up and walks over to Barnwell, confusing the members of Team Circus. Jamey looks incredibly guilty over not telling Ozzi something, while Ozzi looks emotionally drained, and disappointed in Jamey in what he has to say. Jamey admits that he went over to talk to Professor Barnwell about giving the new students a helping hand using one of their more experienced staff members as a tutor, to which Barnwell agreed. What Jamey didn't take into account was that Barnwell’s security cameras took notice of Jamey's desires to help others in any way he could, so she exploited that for her grand plan to land Craniumville U in the winning spot for this year's Edulympics, as an attempt to prove to the others that they are not lenient, they are neither kind nor gentle, as Professor Barnwell admits that it was never about getting good grades or being educated; it was about who was worthy of maintaining power over the lesser (the lesser being the less gifted). Jamey had a heart of gold who saw the good in everyone, even Katie Leone, so Barnwell exploited that in order to show that being merciful to those who weren't smart enough was a weakness. Ms. Ahn was a pawn in that scheme who willfully followed their twisted philosophy over intelligence and ignorance because she secretly held the same defeatist beliefs Barnwell held, but maintained the sweet façade to lure people into their dooms. Emcee saw Katie as a pawn for his own scheme to raise his reputation as the most intelligent math teacher in all of Craniumville, even though he was anything but; he needed a means to keep up the charade of being a know-it-all, so he molded Katie into an extension of himself for several years. There were very few people that actually did value education over maintaining power over people, but Barnwell made sure to silence them every time they had to say anything. Ozzi knew the whole damn time, and tried time and time again to warn Jamey, but he never listened to him. The video evidence would be used as a way to convince the other Craniumville schools that they aren't weak-willed like the others (failing to take into account that actually cutting the ropes rather than using rickety old ropes that would have broken from the wear and tear anyway would be cheating in the matter, but more on that later), and that only the best of the best (Katie Leone included) would compete in the Edulympics, and they are not that at all.

Everyone from Team Circus is betrayed for the fourth time, but this time, Jamey looks just as betrayed as they are, as he was unaware of the extent of their actions, despite the fact that he really should have known they would've pulled a stunt like this. And they all should have known that Ms. Ahn really was just another bad guy acting as another obstacle. They can only look in indignation as Ms. Ahn is paid with a hefty stack of money by Barnwell. Ms. Ahn bid them all one final farewell, gleefully remarking how it was fun to hang out with them while it lasted. Jamey is all but remorseful in his expression, as his willful ignorance to the reality of the situation has cost him greatly. All the while, the dimensional diplomats can only provide banter over the situation, letting the audience know just how badly the situation has gotten from this point onwards.

Two weeks pass, and by then Ozzi's broken wing had already healed. Everyone is noticeably down in the dumps, but this time with more tension in the atmosphere from the anger and disappointment they feel at having fallen for yet another trap in someone's convoluted scheme. Everyone, that is, except Gangle, who tries to cheer up the others by trying to initiate a productive conversation, but none of them are in the mood, with even Caine shutting her down, saying that now's not the time for such matters. That's when Ozzi comes into the picture, who looks just as guilty and remorseful for not telling them all sooner, including Jamey, who also looks ashamed for what happened two weeks prior. Ozzi says that he and Jamey have come to apologize for not explaining further about the Craniumville situation that had been culminating for years now, but the others look like they've stopped caring. They have all been beaten down over and over; what else could possibly tear them to shreds? This is when Jamey shows them all a file folder containing every dirty secret about all of Craniumville’s arsenal of schools, not just Craniumville U. Gangle eagerly opens the contents (much to the unenthusiastic skepticism from Zooble), and the members of Team Circus find that Jamey wasn't lying. Craniumville Elementary School has a problem with understaffing and an overpopulation of students; Craniumville Middle School is rundown and unhygienic, proving fatal for immunocompromised students, as well as structural problems caused by supposed budget cuts that are actually the result of the staff members spending the school's money on luxury items instead of essential supplies that the students need; Craniumville Community College has a bullying and altercation problem that the staff refuses to do anything about since none of the teachers are licensed and are thus unqualified to even be having jobs as teachers in the first place; Craniumville Finishing School is one of the worst out there with its rampant misogyny and objectification and dehumanization of women; Craniumville High School also has an apathetic staff with a disability discrimination problem caused by underfunding of special needs accommodations; Craniumville Preparatory Academy’s strictness and use of outdated disciplinary methods have driven the most fragile students to suicide, causing an influx of wrongful death lawsuits that never went anywhere; Craniumville Engineering School is underfunded to the point where the classes don't have enough supplies to actually teach anyone anything, resulting in mass dropouts; and finally, Craniumville Preschool, which has a moldy building that's extremely unsafe for children 6 and under, neglectful and abusive staff, and non-OHSHA-compliant playground equipment that has resulted in injury lawsuits that have also remained unresolved and have been dismissed with prejudice multiple times over. And that's just from the main Craniumville Public School District; they haven't even gotten to the other school districts (both public and private) in Craniumville, including Cerebellum, Hypothalamus, Cerebrum, Medulla, Thalamus, Pons, Hippocampus, and Fornix. They all have similar problems as these aforementioned schools, with varying degrees of severity, so much so that when compared to all the other schools combined, Craniumville U is the most sophisticated and most clean of them all, but with all the worst aspects combined from every district.

Ozzi and Jamey had gathered all of this information while the former was in recovery from his broken wing, and also found out on their own that the Edulympics was a means to prevent the citizens of Craniumville from leaving because of their bad schools, not just for the prestige and fame of seeing who's the best of the best. This ends up being news for Team Circus, as this was never-before-heard-of in the time they spent; all they knew was that this place was sketchy, but that was about it. They're thankful for the fact that it could have been so much worse, to which Ozzi interjects that it is actually so much worse than either of them could have ever comprehended. Jamey finally beams with excitement for the first time in months over Ozzi finally showing off his powers to Team Circus, something they had all completely forgotten about… except for Gangle, who had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to tell them that she had been working with both Ozzi and Jamey to crack down the mystery of Craniumville U's suckiness, hence her unusually chipper attitude, in spite of her lack of comedy mask. The confusion in the atmosphere turns into intrigue as they all get up from their seats and head over to Ozzi, who attempts to prepare them for what's about to happen. Before anyone can ask what to prepare themselves for exactly, a flash of teal light illuminates them all and they vanish in an instant.

The scene cuts to Team Circus, Ozzi and Jamey having been teleported to an old-timey environment with sepia coloring; the eight members are adjusting to the teleportation side effects, with Pomni holding Caine tightly, both of whom are trembling. Ozzi presents his findings as such:

Craniumville was founded in 1964, not as a bustling village, but as an educational cul-de-sac that acted more like a cult than an actual suburban town. It was designed as a dustbin facility for troublesome kids and teens who have been deemed “lost causes” by society. These students were tossed aside to be “corrected” and “rehabilitated” of their flaws, using a harsh curriculum that was supposed to make them tougher and more capable of doing “normal people” things. However, the people refused to accept that these flaws made them special in their own way, so these attempts to shape them into “functional people”, or what they believed to be the definition of “functional”, were always resounding failures, making them even worse off than they already were before coming to Craniumville. A teacher by the name of Miss Deed saw potential in the flaws of her students, so she attempted to turn Craniumville's schools into actual educational facilities where they could learn the same things the regular folks would, and even integrated them with the other dustbin students. Soon, as more dustbin kids immigrated to the town, more school districts were created, and eventually, with the success of the dustbin kids proving their worth in life, Craniumville became the hotspot place where anyone was welcome to get a good education. The efforts had indeed paid off, with the dustbin kids being much happier and more fulfilled in life, proving to the world that they are just as capable of living amongst them as anyone else. Unfortunately in 1982, when the father of Professor Barnwell, Council Snowfeather, a conservative university professor with a terrible perfectionism problem and a god complex, saw the dustbin kids hanging out with the regular kids, he grew disgusted, demanding to Miss Deed that they be separated immediately. Miss Deed valiantly fought back those remarks, along with a few others on her side, but an entourage of other school teachers holding the same beliefs as Snowfeather outnumbered the vocal minority who didn't want all of their progress to just be erased. As a peaceful compromise, Miss Deed and Professor Snowfeather invented the Edulympics to prove to the others that the dustbin kids were just as worthy of being integrated into society as the rest of the world. It would serve as a test of character for everyone involved. When Miss Deed did eventually win, Professor Snowfeather, butthurt over being proven wrong, demanded a rematch, of which he lost yet again in 1990, after 8 years of procrastination on the next tournament. Snowfeather founded The Craniumville Academical School For The Fairly Gifted But Still Not Good Enough Children, shortened to Craniumville U, in order to train his future students for the next rematch, not to educate them. This legacy would be carried out by his daughter, Professor Barnwell, who was raised her whole life to train her students for the next rematch. The rematches would be held in 1998, 2006, 2014, and 2022. Somehow, the Edulympics lost its original meaning as many other school districts in Craniumville decided to join, thinking it's just a fun game event, not realizing why exactly the Edulympics was forged in the first place. The feud never ended, and despite Craniumville now having the popularity it got from Miss Deed’s… deeds, the place tail-spinned back to square one from its first years in the 60’s, but with the dustbin students and regular students no longer separated. Miss Deed had accomplished her goal of integrating them into society, but at the cost of their safety, and she died in 2008 in guilt and obscurity. Not all of the Craniumville U teachers were on board with the whole Edulympics schtick, but were essentially given no choice to comply, lest they suffer terrible consequences for their insolence. The others reveled in the fame and glory of the potential winnings, despite Craniumville U never having won a single Edulympics tournament. In the end, it all stemmed from a convoluted scheme to play dirty and screw over a bunch of innocent individuals, just for being different.

This is a lot of information to process, and all of it is played out to them in flashback sequences, just like in the original Adam Ruins Everything television show. All of them are horrified that they're actively participating in a horrible attempt to get back at someone for being right. However, Ozzi goes on to say that they don't actually have to snag the trophy for Craniumville U; they're going to reveal to the public about the Edulympics’ true colors, just as the Edulympics themselves are about to happen, and this will put an end to it once and for all, to which Gangle is going to help do for everyone. It's good timing too, because just as they all teleport back to the school, Katie Leone pops up from behind one of the pillars in the shadows, to arrogantly gloat that they may have figured out the whole shebang, but they're still going to defeat them. The ribbony lady retorts to Katie that it soon won't matter in the end because they're not planning on snagging the win anymore; they're going to reveal the truth to the rest of Craniumville. All while using her “assertive voice” for the first time ever, Gangle makes a speech about how fully aware she is about Craniumville U being horrible and what this place was supposed to be in the first place, thanks to Ozzi and Jamey’s divine researching abilities and their whistleblowing tactics to take people like Katie Leone and Professor Barnwell down; she finishes by proudly saying that Barnwell has already lost before it has even begun. This is enough to shake Katie to the core, but she gracefully walks away, despite showing signs that she is now afraid, seemingly aware that she has been caught and backed into an inescapable corner and that it's only a matter of time before everything falls apart. Everyone is shocked and impressed with Gangle, with Jax declaring that he'll never pick on Gangle again as a result. Took the bastard long enough, didn't it?

They all vow to spend the rest of the spring season training themselves for their time to strike, by studying extra hard for the Edulympics, so they can pretend to participate in the games, while they prepare behind the scenes. One final montage of their efforts paying off ensues as we reach the tail end of the spring season and into the start of summer.

And finally, as summer rolls around, the Edulympics occur at last. It's a crowded event, as to be expected with most competitive events. Everyone is in one of the large stadiums of Craniumville U, with the school district teams lined up, starting with Craniumville, Cerebellum, Hypothalamus, Cerebrum, Medulla, Thalamus, Pons, Hippocampus, and lastly, Fornix. Team Circus is a part of Team Craniumville, and they are joined by their newfound allies Ozzi and Jamey, their archenemy Katie Leone, and a few anonymous randos they don't actually recognize, but they all seem to be happy to be here nonetheless, if only blissfully unaware. As Professor Barnwell announces the Edulympics' games and what they consist of (Art, Science, Math, History, Engineering, Home Ec, Music, and PE), Ozzi, Jamey, and Gangle head backstage to prepare themselves for what's to come, while everyone else plays along and looks the part. They're understandably nervous, but are willing to commit nonetheless. Eventually the horn sounds and the games have begun.

The first game is centered around World History & Geography, which is basically a geographical scavenger hunt, where everyone must compete to find the most cultural artifacts in order to unlock the first clue, and the next game category. In last place is Hypothalamus, resulting in their elimination. The next game is themed to Mathematics, in which they all must solve the world's most difficult-to-solve equation on the chalkboard. Once they do just that, they can retrieve the next clue and the third game category. Craniumville barely avoids elimination by taking their sweet old time, with Pons facing elimination instead. Team Circus is truly knocking these games out of the park, but they're not out of the woods quite yet, as there's a third game based around Science, in which they must race against the clock to find a chemical compound that'll help make the plants grow better. Craniumville manages to get third place as Medulla is officially out of the Edulympics. The last game for the first half is a trivia game based on the school subject of Art. For the first time, Craniumville manages to claim first place, and Cerebrum is officially eliminated from the games and can no longer compete.

They've already reached the halfway point and… for some reason there is a halftime show performed by one of the remaining school districts, Fornix. This is convenient enough for Team Circus to meet up with Ozzi, Jamey, and Gangle, who have planned out the entire engineered public confession for when and if Professor Barnwell catches on to what the three have been up to. Speaking of Barnwell, she sneaks up from the shadows for the upteenth time to announce she saw everything within the distance. She monologues about her secret plan that Katie Leone and Mr. Emcee how she won't let her father's legacy be in vain, that once Craniumville scores its first win ever, she'll happily separate the dustbins from her perfect little army and expel Team Circus and Ozzi and Jamey. Ozzi says the famously cliche line “You won't get away with this!”, and Professor Barnwell proudly declares “I think I just did!”, to which Ozzi repeats, “No seriously, you won't get away with this. Look.” Gangle draws back the curtain to reveal a shocked and horrified audience, the Fornix school district performers proudly showcasing the screen, which has security footage of not just what happened when Ms. Ahn betrayed Team Circus, but also the winter break party incident, and a slew of other security footage of Professor Barnwell abusing and bullying her own students into submission, alongside Mr. Emcee’s not-so-great encounters with Katie Leone (if you know, you know; sorry, everyone). Stubborn as ever, Professor Barnwell arrogantly confesses to everything that was shown, believing that she's in the right for doing all of this, and expects a big round of applause from the audience. Instead, she gets booed and jeered at, because let's be honest, no sane person would ever think this is acceptable.

With this, the Craniumville school district is disqualified, Barnwell is pelted with food and garbage, Emcee and Katie attempt to flee, but are immediately apprehended and separated, and Barnwell flies away into the distance, to who-knows-where, swearing that she'll be back and have her vengeance. We never hear from her again in this particular AU, but this line of dialogue does leave room for a potential return, but we'll save that story for another time. Ozzi apologizes to Team Circus that they couldn't win the Edulympics, to which Pomni looks back on her notification from a few months ago and discovers it never actually said anything about winning the games, but that they needed to graduate with honors by competing in them. However, upon seeing how much of a sham the Edulympics actually are, she heads up to the podium with the microphone and with the help from a few inspiring words from Jamey and Ozzi, disestablishes the games permanently, freeing Craniumville U from the tyranny once and for all.

It is officially one week later, and everyone, including Team Circus, Ozzi and Jamey are all doing much better than they were previously. During the typical lunch period, the individual members of Team Circus share their grades for their respective tests from their previous class, and surprise, surprise, Caine manages to get the highest score out of everyone at the table, — a 99%. He's not happy about it, though; he's pent up over that one question he got wrong. Zooble is in much better spirits thanks to Katie Leone being expelled and blacklisted from every Craniumville school district and Mr. Emcee being in prison, alongside Professor Alto. Professor Giz quit after finally being freed from his obligations and is doing well enough as a YouTuber, and Dr. Plantair and Professor Tate are forced to resign and hand over their teacher certificates for good. The only teachers decent enough to stay were Professor Globalle, who got an apology raise in his paycheck and Mr. Spotlight, who is set to direct a play next year. They're all proud of each other for managing to make history and change the lives of everyone for the better, and they can't wait to graduate with honors with a noggin full of knowledge and a lot of laughs and support from their new friends.

We smash cut to their actual graduation day, and they all have a look of shock and disappointment on their faces, as Caine cries out “WE LEARNED FUCK ALL!!!!” and Ozzi replies “Indeed you did”. Yup. It did not matter in the end. They managed to graduate with honors, and the only knowledge they managed to retain was the mitochondria being the powerhouse of the cell. How sad.

We then cut to the graduation party, and we see Gangle and Zooble having a blast with their new buddies Ozzi and Jamey. Pomni, Caine, Bubble, and Kinger are also lounging about, while Jax and Ragatha are playing some party games with the other random students. Professor Globalle, with an envelope in his hand, heads over to apologize to Team Circus for his cowardice from several months prior, and Gangle happily receives it, considering it a diplomatic token of reconciliation, and is kinda just glad this is gonna be over soon. As soon as Gangle opens the envelope, she finds a pleasant little surprise in there, causing all of Team Circus's communicator bracelets to go off with this pop-up notification:

~JEWEL OBTAINED!~

3 out of 26

Only 23 remain

The jewel is a scintillating teal-colored Turquoise that matches the teal-colored plaid portions of their school uniforms.

Also inside the envelope is an acceptance letter for Gangle to attend Craniumville U for next year. She happily accepts the offer, but ponders sadly as with the retrieval of their third jewel, that means they can't stay any longer, and have to go somewhere else now. The members of Team Circus then share a heartfelt and tearful goodbye to Ozzi and Jamey, with Zooble crying the most tears; funnily enough, Pomni thought Gangle was gonna be worked up the most about it. As they leave the party and head back to the Magical Digital Van and wave goodbye to their new friends one last time, they all decide to find a motel for them to stay in before heading back on the road — they all decide to give themselves a week or two as 10 months was enough to conk them out.

After two weeks of adjusting, they all decide they're ready to head off to their next location. The members of Team Circus are happily recharged, refreshed, and ready to face their next adventure, with bad guys to fend off and new friends to make. Caine is the only one still skeptical, but has his worries reassured by the jovial clamoring of his fellow human friends and Bubble's words of comfort. They head off into the cloudy morning, with the sun glowing from behind them.

Meanwhile, Professor Barnwell, now disgraced, lands in front of the entrance to a mansion on the mountains. She heads over to the door and knocks on it, resulting in someone opening it from the inside. Barnwell bitterly says “I'm back, Father…”

The screen goes black as she finishes her sentence, “And I need your help…” The episode ends with an ominous eyecatch of Barnwell and her dad, Snowfeather, working together to create a language learning app that will take over the world, with a select few humans chosen for the cause. Its name is Duolingo. But once again, this is a story for another time.

~~~~

Current Status:

3 Jewels have been collected

23 remain

🎓🎒🏫🧑‍🏫🦉🧮👓📏📚

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• OG Cast

Lizzie Freeman as Pomni

Amanda Hufford as Ragatha

Michael Kovach as Jax

Sean Chiplock as Kinger

Marissa Lenti as Gangle

Ashley Nichols as Zooble

Gooseworx as Bubble

Alex Rochon as Caine

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• Audience Surrogate Cast/Diplomats

Hynden Walch as Valerie

Susan Egan as Pamela

Amy Winfrey as Garcia

Mandy Moore as Lulu

Nevaeh Hamilton (me) as Bethany

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• Background Diplomats

Andrea Libman as Winona

Cristina Vee as Patricia

E.G. Daily as Rionna

Stephanie Sheh as Olivia

Debi Derryberry as Yolanda

Cree Summer as Gemma

Ashleigh Ball as Cécelia

Erica Luttrell as Belle

Ashly Burch as Imera

Kimberly Brooks as Bailey

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• Episode's Antagonists

Athena Priftakis-Sherman as Professor Barnwell

Kate Micucci as Katie Leone

Jessica DiCicco as Ms. Jennifer Ahn

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• Secondary Characters Introduced

Billy Crystal as Craig Hill the Craniumville Gas Station Manager

James Rallison as Jamey Bourne

Adam Conover as Ozzi the Ostrich

Matt Krol as Professor Globalle the World History/Geography Teacher

Bill Nye as Dr. Plantair the Science/Physics Teacher

Sal Khan as Mr. Emcee the Algebra/Calculus Teacher

John Goodman as Mr. Spotlight the Art/Animation Teacher

JSchlatt as Professor Giz the Engineering/Computer Lab Teacher

Chris Hemsworth as Mr. Yew the PE/Health Teacher

Alan Menken as Professor Alto the Music/Band Teacher

Guy Fieri as Professor Tate the Home Ec/Culinary Skills Teacher

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