Today was the day. The day of the final decisions. The day of the official results of the most recent poll. The day in which it'd become clear which king from Card Kingdom would be proven as the best one of them all.

Everyone from Card Castle sat outside in the castle courtyard, and despite them all forming an almost massive crowd, it was eerily quiet minus the sound of the distant, empty wind.

The four kings stood at the front, and they all felt equally nervous about the final results of the most recent poll.

Queen and Cathy stood across them, with the latter handing the poll papers to the King of Diamonds in nervous silence.

"M-me?" the King of Diamonds stammered almost quietly.

Cathy quietly nodded, taking deep breaths as she stood back next to Queen, who caressed her shoulder reassuringly.

"A-alright, alright…" The eldest of the four kings cleared his throat and looked at everyone else. "D-dear Card Castle peers… as it turns out, th-there has been a poll recently r-regarding… wh-whom of us is the best k-king of them all? Oh dear, I have a b-bad feeling about this…"

"Just read those papers" the King of Hearts said in a somewhat snippy tone.

"O-okay…"

"I'm concerned…" Cathy whispered to Queen as she somewhat huddled into her. "I'm afraid th-the kings will get angry at us…!"

"Don't Be Concerned Cathy Sweetums" Queen said in a quieter volume than usual, "It Will Be Alright, Mark My Words. And If They Do Get Angry There's Always: The Guards." She petted the nervous Hathy's head and rubbed her back to calm her back down.

"Y-yeah…"

"Our head servant has t-told us about this poll only j-just a few hours ago" the King of Diamonds said as he occasionally read the papers. "N-now, the final results… the King of Clubs gets about 19 per cent of the votes, wh-whereas the King of Hearts merely gets… my, my, 9 per cent. Dramatic."

"What could possibly make me a bad king?" the King of Hearts asked, obvious sadness increasing in his voice tone.

"Hell if I know. Okay, the King of Diamonds… th-that's me… 32 per cent of the votes, huh? And the King of Spades gets 40 per cent of them?! Holy sock puppet in a sausage factory! I… I can't… compr…" The King of Diamonds suddenly passed out, falling on the ground so hard that some earthquake-like tremors were briefly felt underneath everyone else and scattering the poll papers almost everywhere as he did.

"Wh-wh-what does this possibly mean?!" the left head of the King of Clubs frantically exclaimed.

"I promise I've been working hard enough to improve myself for the last few months!" the middle head said.

"Everyone just hates me, don't they…" the right head fretted.

"Guess you're all high and mighty now, Spades" the King of Hearts said with a shrug as he gathered the poll papers back together. "What do you want the rest of us to do?"

"To obey me" the King of Spades said. "It's actually been confirmed that I'm the mightiest king out of you lot!"

"Who told you that?!"

"Let's just say that someone among us overheard a little Hathy with a high IQ recently."

Cathy and Amore, the only two Hathies involved in the aforementioned poll, looked at one another in confusion, then simply shrugged.

Queen smiled widely from the inside, for she was that 'someone among us' who accidentally eavesdropped on Cathy and company the previous day.

"What doth thou wanteth me to do, mine Kinge?" Rouxls asked as he stepped towards the King of Spades. "Shalt I praiseth thou more often, and hazeth the rest of the Kinges?"

"If you could" the youngest of the kings said, "'pretty I pray you', or so you often tell us."

"Good now." Rouxls turned himself towards the crowd and cleared his throat. "Mine own peers! It hath been declaredeth that the Kinge of Spades art the mightiest one out of allst of the Kinges! He led us to perfection, and a fineth future ahead of us! The Kinge of Clubs art simply too psychopathic and narroweth-minded despite his three minds. The Kinge of Hearts art too smug-eth to even keepeth up whitst! Naught to mentioneth the Kinge of Diamonds… thinking he art the mightiest forth he art the eldest of the Kinges! Unacceptable! The Kinge of Spades aboveth all of the others! He shalt determine the Dark Worlde's future!"

The majority of the crowd cheered and loudly chanted "King of Spades!" in response, throwing their fists in the air and rhythmically 'punching' the air above them.

"Guards!" the King of Spades eventually shouted in between the chanting. "Incarcerate the others! They're worthless by now! They shall remain jailed for a decade!"

Apparently, this command has woken the King of Diamonds back up quite roughly, almost letting him pass back out, even though his nerves didn't let him since he was now completely frozen in shock.

"In… incarcerate the other kings?" a Head Hathy named Larry asked in an unsure tone.

"Just do it, you twit!" a Rudinn Ranger named Boyd snapped. "The King of Spades will highly disapprove of us if we don't!"

"But wh-what if…"

"No ifs, no buts!" Boyd harshly grabbed Larry by his wrist and yanked him towards the scared King of Hearts.

"Well… y-you heard the King of Spades. A-at least a decade of jail f-for you, m-m-mister!" The reluctant Head Hathy grabbed both of the wrists of the King of Hearts and 'cuffed' them behind his back. "You guard his front, Boyd. C'mon, t-to the basement!"

Two Rudinn Rangers named Arnold and Rupert swiftly made sure that all four of the arms of the King of Diamonds were restrained at each side before mercilessly guiding him towards the jail in the castle basement, not letting him budge any further.

Two familiar Rudinn Rangers, Ruby and Leon, made sure that the King of Clubs would hold as still as possible in especially the latter's powerful grasp while mercilessly escorting him to the jail in the basement.

The three pairs of guards almost rhythmically went down the old stone stairs that led to the dark, cold and humid basement, where the eerie silence would soon disappear in the sudden presence of the three royal inmates, who were all locked up together in one of the four circus cages in a big room.

Some of the animals that were previously in said cage were now moved to the utmost right one, along with those in the other two cages, which were now reserved for future inmates… if there'd be any anytime soon, at least.

"This cage is way too small for me!" the King of Diamonds complained. "I need more space, for this cramped thing makes me very claustrophobic!"

"Oh, stop complaining, fatso" the King of Hearts said, "you just invade most of the space here with your oversized chub, and that's that."

"Hey, move aside, fatty!" the left head of the King of Clubs snapped.

"Come on, now" the middle head said, "he needs his space."

"Why must we not get our space?!" the right head moaned. "We need it, too!"

All of the negative comments fell on deaf ears by now, since all of the guards now headed their way back upstairs.

"Wow, that felt… weird" Arnold said, "locking up the king whom my two children praised the most. On the other hand, it… somewhat feels good?"

"I s-second that" Larry said. "To lock up our very own kings? Th-that story was u-unheard of until th-the knight appeared recently! Still c-can't believe it actually came t-true!"

"The King of Spades will indeed ensure us all of a brighter future" Ruby stated, "contrary to how my son somewhat obsessively praised the King of Clubs, who, in fact, is probably the biggest psychopath that I have ever gotten to know."

"Ugh, I hate these way too steep stairs…" Boyd groaned. "My foot muscle hurts!"

"J-just move on and stop complaining, Boyd! It's n-not that an engineer w-will appear out of nowhere t-t-to build us an elevator or something!" Larry somewhat pushed his polar opposite's back in an attempt to shove him forwards.

"In all honesty" Rupert said, "that'd be a dream come true. I mean, some of us guards will have to provide the inmates with food and water. Do you lot think those circus animals have died throughout the one-and-a-half-long decade of their incarceration? Do you think the other guards' feet or foot muscles didn't hurt at least thrice a day?"

"Those are some very legitimate arguments you got there, Ru" Arnold said. "I remember first locking those animals up when I was only aged 26, and then that court jester about three years later. Those steep stairs have hurt my foot muscle even more often than my own children could bruise my body when they were still one terrible duo of tantrum-throwing two-year-olds, no matter how hard I tried to stop them!"

"The incarceration of those animals is what inspired me to start following the guard education eight years afterwards. You did such an awesome job back then, Arn! Who were those other guards you did that with again?"

"Aside from Ruby, I don't exactly remember anymore, to be fair…"

"Yup" Ruby confirmed, "I was indeed one of those who assisted in incarcerating those animals. Furthermore, I think Aurea and Tobias also helped us?"

"Ah, yes, it indeed regarded Aurea and Tobias, our equally strong Head Hathy counterparts."

Meanwhile, back in the castle courtyard, the majority of the crowd was still very happy with the definite primary coronation of the King of Spades.

"Congrats And Kudos To You Kingy Wingy For Emerging Victorious Like It Had Been Foreshadowed!" Queen cheered in between her many kisses on King's cheeks.

"Told you all I'm the mightiest king of them all" King said with a smug smile pasted on his face. "I knew it all along, and so did you!"

"You Even Radiate Might Like The Biggest Boss In My Favourite Game."

"Like a final boss?"

"Yes Exactly."

"Ooh, you just boosted my confidence by a hundred just now! You're a true champion at this!"

"By A Thousand Or Even A Million Perhaps, I Can Clearly Sense That." Queen, smiling widely, then swiftly locked lips with King and somewhat roughly made out with him, the both of them needing to release some unnecessary energy in at least some way.

From the still frantic crowd, three managed to get out of the mass and seek a calmer spot in the hallway of the entrance of the castle.

It regarded Clover, Milo and Nico, of which the former was obviously heartbroken after her father had been incarcerated so mercilessly.

"Who will take care of us now?" Clover's left head wailed. "Daddy is out of the picture!"

"As long as that caretaker isn't mean" the middle head said, "I won't be too concerned."

"I wish Mummy was still alive so that she could take care of us!" the right head cried. "She died way too early!"

Milo and Nico felt Clover's sadness very hard, and mostly just cuddled and hugged with her in an attempt to comfort her.

"We're still too young to take care of her on our own" Milo said, "aren't we?"

"I agree" Nico said. "Ever heard of a 15-year-old parent beforehand?"

"Not quite, since most of the parents are aged at least 20 when they have their first child."

"Queen only just turned 21 recently and she and King never even had their first child yet!"

"But that's because those two aren't even married yet, silly. Common sense, remember?"

"Oops, sorry, I indeed forgot about that."

Eventually, the six guards who incarcerated the three other kings happened to pass by, and out of them, Arnold swiftly noticed Milo, Nico and Clover just sitting there.

"I'll be able to take care of this" Arnold said to his fellow guards with a reassuring nod before turning to his twin children and the Princess of Clubs. "What's wrong, sweet Clover?"

"Nobody will be able to take care of me now that Daddy is jailed!" Clover's left head cried.

"And nobody has decided to be our caretaker yet either" her middle head said.

"Will we be orphans soon…?" the right head sobbed. "I don't want Daddy to die either…"

"Hey, your Dad won't just die out of nowhere" Milo said as they gently dabbed at all three pairs of Clover's teary eyes with a handkerchief.

"Since he and the two others will just continue to get fed" Nico added, "even in jail."

"Dad, who will take care of Clover now?"

"It won't be the two of us, in any case. We might be mature, but just not mature enough."

"Ooh, that's a tricky question you just asked me" Arnold replied. "It won't be our main King and Queen, though, since those two are obviously not ready for children yet, let alone a mere eight-year-old one."

The twin Rudinns then looked at one another with their heads cocked, and subsequently got a simultaneous idea, both of their faces immediately lighting up at the same time.

"Dad!" they beamed in unison. "Why won't you become her foster dad? We've already known Clover since she was only just a newborn, you know?"

"Me? Are you two sure that I can handle… three children at the same time, even if the two of you are growing more and more independent of me and Mum every day lately?"

Milo and Nico eagerly nodded with a cutesy 'aww, please?' kind of glimpse in their eyes.

"I… I'm not sure if…"

"Please, Dad? We'll help you and Mum out, we promise!"

"Well, alright, alright, I'll do it, but only because the two of you succeeded in convincing me once again." Arnold petted each of Clover's three heads with a kind smile. "You hear that, Clover? My wife and I will take care of you now that your father is jailed. Do you know who we are?"

"Of course we do, silly" Clover's left head said. "We've seen you for years."

"Your name is Arn" her middle head said, "your wife's name is Matt, and your kids' names are Milo and Nico."

"Thank goodness…" the right head sighed, "you're one of the few families that we trust…"

"Don't worry about us suddenly not trusting you, sweetheart" the friendly guard said. "Why would we do that? We've all known you since you were only just there…! Now, why won't we all settle into the dining hall for a little something to drink, and perhaps a little snack? I think we could all use a well-deserved break at this point."

Milo and Nico eagerly nodded and gently escorted Clover to the dining hall, still protecting her even physically while they did.

"Guys You Are Not Going To Believe This!" Queen exclaimed as she sat at King's computer, dialling some of her peers via Spyke. "My Kingy Wingy Is Proven To Be: The Best King In Card Kingdom!"

"Oh?" Tasque Manager said. "How?"

"Well One Of His Peers Has Recently Conducted A Poll On Which Of The Four Kings Is: The Best Of Them All. Contrary To Everyone's Expectations It's None Other Than My Kingy Wingy!"

"A poll, huh? A poll about the four kings of Card Kingdom? And you're sure you didn't start drinking battery acid behind our backs since you've literally turned the legal age of drinking recently?"

"Sweetheart, you're not taking her seriously" Miguel said in a tone of obvious disapproval, "and she's the Cyber Queen, so we should. Now, my Queen, could you please tell us how that poll process went? I'm actually pretty curious about it."

"Yeah, me too" Swatch said.

"Did they get decapitated underneath a guillotine?!" Bowen snickered. "Oh my gosh, that'd be too funny."

"Bowen, please!"

"As A Matter Of Fact" Queen said, "No We Don't Have Guillotines At Card Castle So No Those Former Kings Did Not Get Decapitated. Plus How Would The King Of Clubs Have To Get Decapitated In That Case? He Has A Total Of: 3 Heads."

"Then, what did happen?"

"They Got Incarcerated In Circus Cages In: The Basement. However The Guards Hate The Steep Stairs To The Basement So Now We're Considering To Install Elevators There."

"They got jailed, huh? For how long? Or is that not known yet?"

"Kingy Wingy Mentioned At Least A Decade So We'll Probably Have A Child Already By The Time They Are Freed."

"Enough time to install those elevators in your castle, in any case."

The five 'Skittles' could no longer hold their laughter back in the meantime.

"They locked them in animal cages?!" Miguel laughed. "Oh my gosh, you're kidding me, right?!"

"What will they be fed now, bird seed?!" Fabio laughed, which was soon followed by a typical Swatchling scream.

"Or raw T-bone steak…!" Lemmy howled with laughter. "Oh my goodness, I can't imagine eating that! It should be rare for me!"

"Why was that poll conducted anyway?" Tasque Manager asked. "Did the King of Spades brainwash them recently?"

"No Sweet Tasque Manager" Queen replied. "Remember When I Told You All About That Mysterious Knight Three Months Ago? They Said Stuff To Those Three Kings That Even I Couldn't Grasp The True Form Of And Ever Since They've Been Acting: Hella Aloof."

"Ah, a suspicious creature, now I remember! What did that knight look like again according to you…? Didn't they have that purplish-black armour with a dark glow around it…?"

"Correct."

"Did they happen to have a small posture?"

"No Not At All. Ah Now I See The Connection With That Suspicious Creature Around My Mansion Lately. But No Those Two Are Different From One Another."

"Thanks, thought I lost it there."

"So now that those three former kings are now incarcerated" Swatch said, "what now? Are you and King fully in charge of the Card Kingdom now?"

Queen nodded eagerly.

"Then prepare yourself for a lot of stuff that even Mum found horrendously difficult."

"Don't Worry I'll Get Through It With Kingy Wingy By My Side My Sweet Stepsibling. How Else Did Mum Get Through It With Dad?"

"But Dad wasn't even that much involved in her leadership, sis. Or are you referring to your birth father?"

"Both."

"I indeed remember Mum telling us that your birth father had the upper hand back in the day, until he died and she was mandatory to take that baton from him."

"That Didn't Stop Mum From Being The Most Groundbreaking Queen In The History Of Cyber World Though."

"Yeah, you got a good point there. She was indeed known as a groundbreaking leader, and I'm sure that you can follow in her steps just as smoothly."

"You Bet I Can."

The conversation went on for quite some time, even to the point where Queen's battery was eventually about to notify its low status anytime soon.

It was almost 10 p.m. by the time King came into the bedroom and was somewhat annoyed by the sight of Queen still hogging his computer simply to video call her peers.

"Queenie Beanie?" the spadeling asked. "You know it's 10 p.m. by now, right? Don't you think it's time to shut the computer down and go to bed?"

"Oh My Circuits Is It That Time Of Night Already?" the cyber monarch gasped. "Dear Me I Should Indeed Quit Calling." She swiftly turned back towards the computer and the webcam. "Guys Kingy Wingy Says I Have To Head To Bed Since It's Late And Now My Battery Is Also Apparently Depleting From Having Yapped So Much." Due to her low battery power, she swiftly started nodding off a little.

"Ooh" Tasque Manager said, "then you'd better plug yourself into the nearest socket before King has to do this to you." She then held her hand in front of her mouth to yawn politely.

"I should've been in bed this entire time already…" Swatch yawned, with a slight albeit quieter hint of the Swatchling scream in his yawn. "Well, good night, sis, and I hope we'll see one another again soon."

"Good night, my Queen."

"Good Night You Guys I Love You." Queen blew a few kisses to her peers before ending the call and shutting the computer down soon after. "Phew I Didn't Even Look At The Time Anymore Sweet Kingy Wingy My Sincere Apologies For That."

"It's okay, sweetheart" King reassured her, "but it's never okay to just aimlessly deplete your battery power, right? Now, get plugged in and go into sleep mode, okay?" He gently nudged his fiancée from the desk chair.

"But I Haven't Told You Goodnight Yet." Queen stood up, tightly embraced King and briefly locked her lips with his. "I Love You To That Fountain Near The Roof And Back Sweetheart."

"I love you just as much." The spadeling planted several small kisses on the cyber monarch's two cheeks. "It's a humongous shame your cable can't be extended, though. I want you next to me so badly."

"Me Too." Queen then suddenly went a little limp in King's gentle grasp. "Oh Boy I Should Really Charge And Go Into Sleep Mode Now."

"Shall I help you with that?"

"Ooh Pretty Please."

The large monarch picked his fiancée up into a bridal carry, crouched down so that he sat on his knees, gently placed her onto the cushion near the socket and carefully plugged her cable into the latter.

"Thank You Sweet Kingy Wingy I Appreciate That."

King simply smiled as he cupped Queen's cheek into his right hand so they could exchange a few last lip kisses with one another.

"Good Night My Sweet Blueberry Darling I Love You."

"Good night to you too, my sweet Queenie Beanie. Charge and rest well, alright?" King then huddled into the bed, turned onto his right side and fell asleep very shortly afterwards.

At the same time, Queen also went into sleep mode. She wasn't in the most comfortable position now, but she didn't notice that anymore by now. Plus, she was of the rare computer-related species, so she wouldn't easily wake up with anything in the way of a muscle strain the next day.

About one hour later, it was completely quiet in all of Card Castle. Yes, even in the basement, where the three former kings, despite the fact that they now resided in a cramped circus cage, were also able to fall asleep fairly easily, with the kings of Hearts and Clubs simply using the King of Diamonds as some sort of surrogate bed. I mean, if this isn't a clever solution, then I don't know what is…