Reviews :

Lyssdoodle : Woohoo! It's real! :D

Burgie : He does have a good first day! Sam's solid.


*Chapter 49*

Due to Arcadia Academy's sheer size, it was housed inside the station's own, built in outlet hub, making it technically its own secure game world. Arcadia's massive, white corridors were lined with bright sky lights, lovely grey tiles, and in the maze of different class, age and subject halls was a never-ending quad of a courtyard. Kissed with the bluest sky and the fluffiest, towering white clouds, Gideon's golden eyes gently trailed from the grey tiles that dribbled into a grassy, cobbled mess, of which eventually sagged to pure bliss of green scenery. A seemingly never-ending field hugged by Arcadia Academy's incredible, pristine, palace-like campus, said field was filled with all sorts of kids on full recess. With bare feet that felt the velvet of cold grass, the kiss of a warm breeze that flit Gideon's clothes and hair around, he narrowed a gaze and felt an excited smile broaden on his cheeks. Although securely dipped into puberty, and well on his way to being an adult, the little kid in him absolutely burst with joy of the full show of fun to be had before him, new friends to make.

"Academy's bell rings, but Pre-A's bell rings a half an hour later," Sam's deep, raspy voice so kindly ushered down to Gideon as the two stood side by side. He narrowed his gaze and glossed the sunny sea of gamers. A healthy mixture of jungle gyms and sand pits for the younger gamers easily mixed with lovely, more matured sitting areas for students that were nearing their coming time to attend proper Academy, Sam was well aware Gideon's new guidance counselor was somewhere in the thick of kids. He rubbed his chin and continued to search, "Hmm... Usually Flint is over there by the swings. I hear he tries to make clear he's the highest swinger, poor guy doesn't seem to know how to sit still."

"My cousin comes here, too," Gideon mumbled cutely, though his heart began to pang in hot nervousness over the raw idea of so much as seeing Callum; would he approach Callum and have it be reciprocated with joy? Gideon swallowed hard and pondered the notion of maybe just sneaking Callum a simple wave and nothing more, given the chance he actually finds Callum, "H-he's... A nine month, though, he won't want anything to do with me."

"Why not?" Sam wondered sorrowfully, "Surely he would."

"Well," Gideon started with a sigh, and though he opened his mouth to begin revealing the depths of his heart, the sting of his sorrow, he flinched in solid surprise as a figure to their left erupted from a nearby bush that a few younger students were snooping about, as if to look for something; everyone loudly screamed and ran away in chokes of excited laughter as an older adult held up his clawed paws and bared his fangs in the act of a playful scare.

"Ha-HA! Get's 'em every time," Flint grinned; Gideon raised his eyebrows in a sting of excited surprise to find this incredibly shifty, excitable individual to be a black fox of sorts. A coat as black as the night sky and eyes as piercing as glistening honey, Flint dusted off his hands, perked his incredible, beautiful fox ears high and peered his grinning, excitable gaze into Sam's in a brief moment of bliss; he scrunched in hot shock the second he realized just who he was peering back at, and thus the sheepish scrunch of shoulders and shifty saunter over to Sam and Gideon was apparent, "Heh, sorry..."

"Flint," Sam started, his voice lilted in mild, authoritative defeat, though he finally blurt an annoyed chuckle and rubbed his forehead in further defeat; Flint, also a bipedal anthropomorphic, gestured his velvety black paws of hands out before him in hot defense.

"What! They love it, c'mon, it's funny!" Flint argued with a cheeky smile, though he finally sagged his hands into the gape of his loose faded black jeans and eased his sweet, playful gaze straight into Gideon's. Standing about a foot taller than Gideon, he perked his ears higher and brightened the second he realized just what this little union was all about, "Oh! Are you my second addition, then?"

"Flint, this is Gideon," Sam instructed, he gently rested his hand to Gideon's becoming-broad upper back.

"My middle name is Fox," Gideon rushed in a boyish squeeze of excitement, though his heart squeezed in further remembrance that Finch was missing.

"What, no way!" Flint gestured his hands to his chest, he wore a tidy, light brown button down shirt, though due to hiding in the bushes, a few twigs stuck out of his chest pocket, "My name's Flint. I'm your's and Chase's guidance counselor."

"Speaking of which," Sam's voice drummed in a further show of gentle authority, to which Flint scratched the back of his head and looked about in confused searching.

"I mean, I don't know where he ran off to, he MIGHT have been in that batch of kids I just scared," Flint muttered cutely; a fresh, lively being, Gideon immediately rested assured he had a fun, excitable friend out of Flint, even if he was an adult in charge of his well being. Flint perked up and firmly pointed with a widening grin, causing Gideon and Sam to flinch in surprise, "Oh, there he is! C'mon, Gideon, the bell's gunna ring shortly, let's get some sun while we can. Walk with me, my guy."

"Uh, Flint," Sam interjected as Gideon eagerly stepped out with Flint; the two gently scuffed to a halt and peered back at Sam, to which they noticed a dainty crowd gather loosely around Sam, mostly older female students that politely wanted Sam's attention, "Gideon's big sister is a professor on Academy side, so she might pop in later in the afternoon."

"Oh, awesome, family all'round," Flint bobbed a nod and gave Sam a wave and a smile of understanding, though as Flint and Gideon turned to fervently step out into the grass, after politely giving Sam a swathe of concluding gratitude, Flint cutely nudged Gideon's shoulder and lazily sagged his hands into the gape of his baggy jeans, once more, "Alright, Mr. Fox, tell me a little bit about yourself. You excited to be here? And so soon, too. You and Chase are gunna be best buds, I can already feel it."

"I-I'm a little nervous," Gideon mumbled, though his happy golden eyes glinted with sparkling wildfire as the two finally stepped into the sunshine. Flint's gorgeous, dark pelt immediately showed all sorts of kisses of browns in his undercoat. Gideon squinted and continued to nervously look about the shadier sitting areas, hugged by trees, near the main structure of Pre-Academy's beautiful white buildings, "My older cousin is in Pre-Academy, and, well..."

"Uh oh," Flint's ears gingerly sagged, his honest and tender eye contact gripped to Gideon's, it was here did Gideon immediately feel Flint's training, as a counselor, coat Gideon's shivering soul with a proverbial embrace of care, "Do I hear some contempt in that statement? Maybe I know your cousin, what's their name?"

"Callum," Gideon mumbled gently, though Flint harshly tsked a noise and flagged his hand.

"BAH, Callum Reese, love the kid to death, great guy, he just hangs with a pretentious crowd," Flint shrugged, "I'm glad you told me... Probably best to keep your interactions with him to a minimum, while you're both here, sounds like you have a sore spot with him anyhow, right?"

"Yeah, how... How did you know?" Gideon wondered innocently, to which Flint grinned as the two continued to trek across the grass to an area that had a handful of basketball courts, all properly aglow in Arcadia's gorgeous sunshine.

"Well, you didn't seem to thrilled to tell me you had a family member here, you don't seem as if it's the first thing on the agenda to go rushing off to find Callum," Flint shrugged, he gave Gideon a friendly smile and leaned in a little, "In my experience, at my previous counseling job, it's not always the best thing to hang with your family members, while you're in school. You see them enough at home, y'know? Gotta meet new people and make new friends."

"Yeah," Gideon gently agreed, he felt a weight come off of his shoulders, as if someone finally understood. He smiled and bobbed a heavier nod, "He just kind of ignores me. He's two months older than me and thinks he's the coolest thing ever."

"Well, you'll get to nine months and probably think the same, Fox, you're in a weird in between where you have younger kids looking up to you and older kids to impress," Flint smiled, and though Gideon was getting frustrated that Flint wasn't adamantly staying on Gideon's side of the fence, he felt an after feeling of gratitude that Flint was a fair, potentially unbiased individual, "It'll iron out once you two actually GO to Academy, y'know? Pre-A is difficult for different-aged cousins or siblings. I'll introduce you to Chase, you'll have your own circle here, it'll be great! Not to mention, you have me."

"Thank you," Gideon bobbed a nod. Although in his heart he desperately wanted to be noticed by Callum, to be introduced to his older friends, to fit in and somehow show up feeling like a million bucks, he sagged and felt as if Flint had a point. Focusing on a life outside of the palace, as well as the people that'd include, was his new adventure, one of which he was increasingly excited to embrace. Gideon finally looked up to Arcadia's vivid blue sky and added a sweet notion as the two walked side by side, "I'm tired of being left out, hopefully that won't happen here."

"Nah, not a chance, not while I'm alive," Flint's garbled, cute, deep voice eased in nonchalant dismissal before he cupped his hands over his longer snout and mouth and inhaled a deep breath to emit a yell across the basketball courts, "Chase! Get over here, yah looney, I got someone I want you to meet!"

Gideon perked up and assessed the very busy basketball courts. His eyes dart about all sorts of different gamers to see just which one was gunna come running out of the crowd. He fixated on a few individuals that were looking Flint's and Gideon's direction, though Gideon flinched in solid surprise the second he could see a smaller being eagerly begin scurrying across the court. An adorable scurry of what looked to be a desert lizard, lightning quick reflexes that easily dart about the legs of scampering kids nearby, the second Chase reached within a dozen feet of Flinch and Gideon, he popped up on his two hind feet and stepped closer with his hands tucked to his chest in shy uncertainty. Upon proper inspection, Chase had big, dewy blue eyes, scales that were kissed with sharp blacks and pops of oranges, his nervous, smiling eyes dart between Flint's and Gideon's.

"Alright, boys, you're Pre-Academy's ONLY two seven months," Flint urged as he put his hands on his hips and gestured to the two, including himself; they all squeezed a little tighter into a circle of camaraderie, "And YOU two are my little minions I've been assigned. We got a lot of crap to do, we gotta bust outta this place."

"Flint," Chase's nasally, sweet voice trailed in exasperated delight, as if this simply was a playful notion Flint was always on about.

"Gideon, Chase. Chase, Gideon," Flint gestured between the two, "You boys get acquainted, I gotta go check on something in my office before I take you guys to your class. Y'get an hour with me, each day, after lunch! Lucky you."

"Lucky us," Chase sneered as he lulled his eyes closed and stuck out his tongue, one of which was hot blue; it was clear Flint and Chase had already spent a little bit of time together due to their almost brotherly friendship.

"Stay outta trouble, kids, I'll meet you by the front corridor in a few minutes," Flint kindly called back to the two with a wave before he was off, for good, with a flick of his long, fluffy black fox tail.

"I'm Gideon," Gideon mumbled shyly, he held out his hand for a handshake and was thrilled Chase's bright, open and easy demeanor wasn't nearly as nervous as his.

"Chase," He sweetly eased, both boys shook hands, to which Chase bugged his handsome eyes and peered hard at Gideon's hands, "Whoaaa, you're... You're a wrecker, aren't you."

"... Yeah, how...?" Gideon huffed a chuckle and looked down to his hands in soft curiosity, Chase rolled his eyes and flagged his little paw downward.

"Who ELSE has kids with big, wrecking hands? You're clearly Wreck-It Ralph's son, right?" Chase grinned with an excited nod.

"Yeah, that's my dad," Gideon eased, he felt his head swim with confusion, the fact that his dad was known Arcade-wide; he was well aware he shouldn't be surprised, though somehow being faced with the raw reality of it all had him feeling delightfully dizzy. Gideon put his bigger hands on his hips and gestured to Chase with a curious smile, "What game are you from?"

"Digdug, my parents don't participate in game day or anything, but..." Chase shrugged, he rested his gummy lizard paws to his little chest and smiled, "We're gila monsters. Not nearly as cool as having racing and wrecking parents, though, that must be awesome."

"... How do you know who my parents are?" Gideon innocently asked with a confused grin, to which Chase gave the back of Gideon's bigger hand a friendly little nudge.

"C'mon, everyone knows who Ralph and Vanellope are," Chase argued with a cute little laugh and a shrug, "Especially Ralph, that guy's like... The biggest, coolest, scariest dude ever. Can guarantee no one would be brave enough to mess with you, having a dad like that."

"I guess I never thought that they were that well known," Gideon rubbed his chin and shyly looked off, "I... Don't really leave the palace much."

"You can come play at my place, could be fun," Chase encouraged, "I doubt I'd be allowed into the Sugar Rush palace."

"'Course you would, why wouldn't you?" Gideon grunted with an incredulous smile as both boys happily caught eyes; they flinched the second the bell rang and everyone in the field began to excitedly run to the massive, main front gape of a corridor at the entrance of said courtyard.

"I could come play at your house?" Chase asked in a hiss of shocked wonder, to which Gideon narrowed his gaze amidst a broadening smile.

"Sure, I don't see why not, I'd just have to ask my mom and dad, but I'm sure it'd be fine," Gideon shrugged, "I'll ask my big sister later, she's a professor here."

"Wow, you... Your family is everywhere," Chase barked a laugh as both boys happily began to march towards the front corridor.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Gideon muttered, his nervous eyes glossed the grass, "I also have an older cousin somewhere in this crowd."

"Oh, really? Y'think he'd get us in good with the older girls?" Chase quietly wondered, to which Gideon allowed a wide grin to fly in Chase's direction.

"He's the hugest jerk I know, so I doubt it," Gideon was lost in laughter as Chase grinned, rolled his eyes and joined in on a cute, boyish bout of shoves between him and Gideon, on their upper arms.

"Y'think girls like lizards?" Chase choked through laughter, to which Gideon's grin broadened, finally he felt secure in a wildfire of a blossoming friendship, as if his worries were now immediately dashed, he heaved a chuckling sigh and shook his head in grinning delight as he looked on.

"Probably as much as they like ham-hands," Gideon concluded; although Tessa's previous advice flit through his head, he cutely shoved it away and was thrilled to have solid camaraderie and security with a noble, fast friend.