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Fierce Fox's magnificent blimp landed on Big Nate Island. The first thing I noticed was the art style. It was much more newspaper-cartoon-esque. Definitely not Poptropica style.

I held out my feet, landing on a wooden surface. Right next to me was an old, pale blue building with a dark blue tiled roof, sitting on cement ground. I walked up to a boy with spiky, black hair standing near a bench. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt, the top part highlighted in blue, stretching across the tips of his shoulders. He also had jean shorts and white sneakers.

"I'm supposed to be on my way to school, but I…" he trailed off, staring at Fierce Fox. His cheeks went bright red. "Oh… um… never seen you around here before. A-Are you new here?"

Fierce Fox stared at him, blankly. "Yes…?"

"Oh, um…" Nate kept stuttering. "Wow, um… I almost feel like I've seen you before, but now… now you're so…"

"Are you okay?" I asked him.

Nate shook his head, returning his gaze to me. "Oh, um, well, I'm hoping to find some clues about the capsule here on Main Street." He went back to staring at Fierce Fox, stars in his eyes. She didn't return the gaze. I quickly led her away, into the Pop In Shoppe.

Nate followed us inside, smiling at Fierce Fox. Not really paying attention to him, I hopped up a few red platforms to the attic. Only then did I take in the shop's surroundings - most things were very simple. They seemed to be stripped from a comic book, like the rest of the island. The attic seemed kind of cosy, with a plump green couch and lots of junk surrounding it.

I walked up to the couch and picked up a piece of illustrated paper on it - part of a Big Nate comic.

"What's that?" Fierce Fox asked, entering the attic.

"Part of a comic," I answered. "There's more we need to find. We can start by getting out of here." I leaped down and out of the Pop Shoppe. Fierce Fox followed.

"Okay, so what's the deal with this island?" she asked, giving me a glance.

"In a nutshell, we're doing a bunch of stuff to find a time capsule for Nate." I explained.

"Who's Nate?" Fierce Fox asked.

The guy who was ogling you, I thought.

"The guy who wants to find the capsule and become rich," I explained. "He's the guy we saw before. However, everyone else wants to fix the school." I pointed up at some power lines. "Go up there and find a piece of paper. Meanwhile, I've got some photography to do."

Fierce Fox gave me a weird look.

"It'll make sense, I promise," I chuckled, anxiously.

I headed to a little place called the Photo Studio. It was literally shaped as a camera; the lenses were the circular, blue doors. I opened them, entering a room which reminded me of the Tardis; the room was much bigger on the inside, and shaped like a box. The interior was yet again simple, with a small wooden desk, checkered wallpaper, and a yellow screen for taking photos. On one of the lights was a comic strip. Using my enhanced jump, I reached up and grabbed it.

Fierce Fox and I bumped into each other.

I grinned. "Got it?" She nodded. "Great, now let's continue!"

She followed me as we ran past the school (I could see why they wanted to fix it - it was a mess), and entered the playground. It sort of reminded me of school camp, with a rock-climbing wall, monkey bars and etc. Above the great grey climbing wall was yet another piece of flying paper.

"I'll take care of this one," I told her. "Go to the lighthouse and catch the one there."

Fierce Fox nodded and rushed off.

"WAIT!" I cried, before she was completely out of sight. "Don't forget to look through the telescope, get the comic on the roof - like I said - and pick up the flying picture, near the ladder there."

She nodded and left.

Once she was gone, I climbed up the wooden frame, gazing at all of the slides and monkey bars. Next to the peak of the climbing wall was a bridge, with coloured, plastic lumps. I ran up to it, Nate following behind me, a grin on his face.

"Hey, so, um, about your friend," he tapped his fingers together. "What's her name?"

"Fierce Fox…" I replied.

"Wow, what a beautiful name," he gushed. He coughed. "I mean. Um. So, what are her interests?"

"Uh…" I made a face. What were Fierce Fox's interests? I realised I didn't even know. Did Poptropicans even have interests?

"She likes… being badass," I got out. I focused my attention on the illustrated paper flying around in the sky; I soared upwards and grabbed it.

"Being badass?" Nate asked me, tilting his head. "So… she likes tough guys?"

"I really don't know, honestly," I shrugged. "You might have to ask her yourself."

Nate went red. "Oh… um…"

He swayed from side to side, cheeks burning. Now I was starting to feel a little queasy.

"I've… got to go," I leaped away from him.

I made my way down the playground, paying short attention to a trio of chatting girls. Underneath their feet was the capsule, but of course we weren't meant to know that.

Sighing, I exited the area. Fierce Fox came up towards me, grinning proudly.

"Where next, know-it-all?" she teased, crossing her arms.

"Know-it-all says this way," I joked back.

We returned to the crappy, red-brick school, which was literally leaning like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Wooden construction frames were on the sides, littered with wood planks and paint buckets. I jumped up the square-shaped wooden frame, reaching the top. There, through my bulging eyes, I saw the next comic piece. I snatched it up, then hopped back down to the ground.

I faced Fierce Fox. "Ready for school?"

We pushed open the old, frail wooden door of the school. The doorframe said 'Knowledge', with a drawing of a lobster above it. Inside wasn't much better than outside. The red and yellow tiled floor was cracked, pieces of the wall were missing, water had been spilled all over the floor and the P.A was hanging out by a wire.

"Whoa," I observed. "This makes my school look like a palace."

I climbed up the semi-destroyed brown stairs to the busted P.A. A comic strip was hanging off the wire. I grabbed it, not receiving one electric shock. My feet landed on the second platform, in front of the door to the Science Lab. Fierce Fox and I went inside.

The Science Lab was probably the least damaged place in the entire school, although some of the blue and yellow floor tiles had been stripped up. The posters were pretty old-school, one showing a picture of a fish, going through stages until it became Nate. No wonder the guy had a big ego, honestly. He was everywhere. Not to mention the island was named after him.

I trotted up to a little stove, which had a conical flask on it. Three test tubes were nearby, each separately full with the three infamous primary colours. I gestured Fierce Fox over to be my 'lab assistant'.

"Now," I instructed. "Pour about a seventh of the yellow stuff into the conical flask." Fierce Fox picked up the test tube, and did such thing. I did likewise with the blue ingredients. Then, I turned the little dial underneath on, heating up the concoction. I almost felt like a mad scientist… although I had done similar in my own school.

The olive-green liquid began to smoke. The stench made me want to puke.

"Wow! A stink bomb!" Nate exclaimed, popping out of nowhere. "Now that's what I call a science project!" He blushed when Fierce Fox stared at him. "Oh, hi, Fierce Fox…"

"Hey," Fierce Fox raised a brow at him.

"Definitely stinky..." I commented, thankful once the object vanished into my inventory. I turned to Fierce Fox. "Run to the end of this room and pick up another piece of the comic on the Solar System model." She nodded, grabbing it before I could blink.

She followed me out of the science lab and to the locker area. One of the orange, metal lockers - Nate's locker, specifically - was stuffed full of fruitless papers. I held out my hand.

"Comic pieces," I said. "All of them, please."

Fierce Fox handed them over. With all of the comic pieces in my clutches, I began to piece them together, like a puzzle. The white boxes around the separate comic strips had a code - more specifically, Nate's locker code.

I faced Fierce Fox. "Would you like the honours?" I asked, gesturing to the locker. "Put these numbers in, column order: nine, three, zero, five."

I took a few steps backwards while she did that, a grin appearing on my face. Suddenly, Nate's locker flew open, and many papers bombarded Fierce Fox, sending her flying across the room. I snickered into my palm.

"Hilarious..." groaned the dazed Fierce Fox, rolling her eyes at me.

I trotted up to the locker; in front of it was a big pile - scratch that, MASSIVE - pile of papers. My hand reached in like a scavenger and pulled out the school blueprint. God knows how Nate got his hands on that.

After Fierce Fox finished pulling paper out of her hair, we left the school and returned to the Photo Studio. However, instead of going right to the screen, we turned left to where a middle-aged man stood. He was near a lime green wallpaper with many photos on the walls. Behind him was a stand with a scuba diving costume.

"Ask him to trade that old photo you found at the lighthouse for the scuba diving costume," I told Fierce Fox, letting her go in front of me.

And so she did. The scuba gear floated into her inventory.

I nodded. "Perfect. Let's go."

We headed inside the 'Krazy Komix' store, which was a parallelogram-shaped, orange building with huge doors, with an imprint of Nate's face right on the front. Once again, no wonder the guy had such a big ego.

Inside was a variety of comics, pictures and information about the island. The first thing I noticed apart from the blinding colours was the teacher standing near a table of books. I simply approached him, and he said-

"Holy cow, you found all of the pieces of the comic!" he beamed. "I'm glad I could finally see it! You can keep the comic, and here's a little something for all your hard work!"

A packet of stale bubblegum flew into my inventory. I turned back to Fierce Fox.

"Now make a choice," I offered, making her raise her eyebrows. "Detention or scuba diving?"

"I have the scuba thingy..." she said. I shrugged.

"Good point," I said, my hands in my pockets. "This is what you need to do.."

I returned to the broken-down school, feeling a little... guilty. I barely ever got in trouble - heck, the worst thing I had ever done was be a few minutes late to class. I had never been late before so I got a late pass, and it wasn't really trouble anyway because of my legs.

But I, Alice Manchester, had never ever been to detention. Ever.

Until now.

I groaned, trying to get over losing my innocence.

But once you've destroyed it, there's no getting it back, a wary voice in my head warned.

Oh come on, I groaned. There's way scarier things in Poptropica than freaking detention. Get over it.

Sighing, I placed the stale gum in my mouth (which tasted blander than tofu) and reluctantly chewed. I blew a few bubbles, which was abnormal since blowing bubbles wasn't my strong suit. A door was thrown open, and a grumpy teacher stormed out, glaring at me.

"I smell bubble gum!" she commanded. "Get over here!"

As if they could move on their own, my legs carried me over to her and into the detention room. It was a simple wooden room, with a few columns of desks, and a teacher's desk at the front.

"No gum in school!" the teacher hissed. "And no talking in detention!"

I stood there, nonchalantly. My inventory flew open, and I placed down the stink bomb, holding my nose.

"Eeewh!" the teacher cringed. "What is that awful smell?" She raced out of the room.

Perfect.

I rushed past the teacher's desk, to a few seafoam coloured drawers. Of course, they weren't really drawers. I opened the bottom two, revealing a ladder. I slid down this ladder, which was broken at the bottom.

The area I snuck into was as dark as night, covered in dust. I found a light switch, which enlightened the area. It was like a little garage, with many tools you'd use in a garden or on a car. I passed the tools, which were hung up on the lavender wallpaper.

A boy was at the end of the room. He was just standing there, gazing at nothing. A bit creepy if you ask me. Anyway, I spotted a bronze bell clapper hanging from the ceiling. I reached out my fingers with a leap and grabbed it, watching it vanish into my inventory.

I left the crappy school, heading to the lighthouse. I prayed that Fierce Fox hadn't drowned and had retrieved the items. Luckily, that was the case.

"So, what now?" Fierce Fox asked, as we stood near the grey rocks of the white and red lighthouse. Our feet just emerged in the water, near the Oyster Beds. I grinned at the Jet-skis floating nearby us.

"We're going to ride," I told her. "Give me the keys."

She handed me the keys, and I climbed onto the rough rocks. I jumped onto the jet-ski, keys in hand.

Suddenly, Nate appeared out of nowhere, a competitive beam across his face.

"Whatever's out there, I'm going to get to it first!" he yelled, making his way over to the jet-skis.

"Well, Fierce Fox actually wanted to get it first," I told him. "She wants it really bad." I winked at Fierce Fox.

"Oh…" he trailed off. "She did?"

"Uh, yep," Fierce Fox shrugged.

"Well, Miss Fierce Fox," Nate scratched the back of his head, "I can get it for you, if you like…!"

"Sure," I told him, patting Fierce Fox's shoulder. "She'd love that."

"Yeah, uh huh…" Fierce Fox grunted.

"Consider it done, miss!" Nate grinned, hopping onto the jet ski. He took off.

"You just… got him into doing work for us," Fierce Fox stared at me.

"Hey, jet ski riding is kinda dangerous," I laughed.

"Haven't we been through worse?" Fierce Fox raised a brow.

"Maybe, but still," I dug my hands in my pockets. "Plus, his ego needs to be knocked down a little."

Nate soon returned, offering Fierce Fox a scroll of paper. "For you, m'lady. Straight from the rocks."

Fierce Fox took the paper. "Um, thanks."

Nate fluttered his eyelashes at her.

"Come on," I dragged Fierce Fox before Nate could start speaking.

I ordered Fierce Fox to use her lobster (from diving into the sea) to rotate the light around at the top of the lighthouse. She did so; the brilliant white light shined on the school's bell, on top of the school. A seagull that had been nesting there squawked and flew away, leaving behind its nest.

Of course, we weren't going to the school just yet. There was something we - well, I needed to

take care of first. And that was going to Nate's kid club, back in the playground. I had an idea, especially since learning something about Nate's feelings.

I gave Fierce Fox the bell clapper and told her to go to the school bell and ring it. Meanwhile, I waltzed back to the playground, where Nate followed me again.

"So…" I turned to him. "You want to know the way to Fierce Fox's heart?"

Nate went red. "Uhhh! What gives you that idea?"

I stared at him.

"Yes, please, tell me," he dipped his head. "Any tips would be extremely helpful!"

I grinned. "Well… I found out something Fierce Fox really likes."

"What is it?" Nate's eyes lit up.

"Peanut butter crackers," I told him. "She'd love anyone who gave her some."

"Oh, I've got some on me right now," he blushed. Just like nothing, he held out a box of peanut butter crackers, which were way past their expiry date.

"I'll take those to her and say they're from you," I told him. "What say you?"

"Oh, that would be great," he nodded, bowing his head. "Thank you. You're a big help!"

"Of course," I smiled. Ah, the wonders of manipulation.

Suddenly, a noisy bell rung boomed through my eardrums, no doubt none other than the school bell. The girls who were chatting nearby swiftly moved away. I trotted over to where they were standing, opening the box of peanut crackers. I pulled out one of the expired crackers, placing it on the floor.

"He-hey!" Nate stammered, appearing near me. "I thought those were for Fierce Fox!"

"Here, boy!" I called, tapping my foot, swiftly ignoring Nate.

A pale red dog with an Elizabeth collar around his neck showed up, picking up the cracker in his jaws. He dug a spot underneath it, revealing some sort of grey box. I picked up the grey box, which was covered in stains. It seemed to be pretty old. My finger flicked up the lock. A shimmer in the box caught my eye.

Nate grinned, peering over my shoulder. "Wow, look at the pearl! That must be worth a fortune! Hey, maybe we can sell it and split the money!"

"Sell it, eh?" Fierce Fox walked over.

Nate went red, hiding behind my shoulder. "Oh, hi, Fierce Fox! You, uh, want some of the money as well?"

"Why not," Fierce Fox shrugged.

Then Nate's other crush Penny arrived, grinning at the pearl.

"Nate, you found the treasure!" she cried. "Now you can save the school! You're a hero!"

Nate's eyes scanned Fierce Fox and Penny, looking back and forth. He sweated up a storm.

"Uh... just... save the school!" he got out, face entirely red. "Yeah, that was my plan all along!"

He then leaped into a nearby bush, leaving the pearl with Penny and I. We gave each other a strange glance.

"Thanks to you, the school can remain open." The detention teacher congratulated Fierce Fox and I, handing her the medallion.

"Uh... and why exactly is that a good thing?" Nate asked, peeking out from the bush. He stared at Fierce Fox, blushing again. "Oh, hey Fierce Fox... sorry I couldn't split the money for you..."

Suddenly, I began to fade, due to Fierce Fox earning the medallion.

"Time to go," Fierce Fox said, walking away.

"NO, FIERCE FOX!" Nate sobbed. "DON'T LEAVE MEEEE!"

I sighed. Until next time…