Chapter 30: Savanaclaw Finale

Time has passed, and Briar is still unconscious from Grim's little throw. She soon wakes up to find herself in the school infirmary. She sits up and lets out a grunt and groans to feel bad pain in her head.

Suddenly, she hears Grim's voice, "Hey, Briar's awake!"

Briar turns her head to see Grim, and the others, including Ace and Deuce.

Briar groans in pain in her head, "Where am I?" What happened? And why does my head feel like it's going to split open?

Then Ace explains, "At the start of the second half, Grim threw the disc right at your noggin and knocked you out. You don't remember?"

"I was tryin' to steal our victory with a shot from way downfield…" Grim explains.

"But you ended up hitting Briar on the head," Sereia sternly says.

"And kind of hard," Tanzanite adds.

Jack crosses his arms and says, "You amateurs gotta work on your disc control."

Deuce then says, "I'm just glad you're awake. You were out so long that I was starting to worry the hit had caused some real damage."

"Yeah, you even missed the closing ceremonies! They're taking everything apart right now," Ace adds.

"Oh. I see…" Briar says.

She rubs her head and says, "Ow. It feels like I got hit by a truck."

Then asks, "By the way did the tournament go? Who won in the end?

Suddenly, everyone hears Leona's voice, "The grand champion was Diasomnia House."

Briar and the others look to see Ruggie and Leona are both laying on the medical beds as well, and look worse for wear.

"In the end, there was nothing we could do… It certainly didn't help that we took a beating from every other dorm on the way to the finals. What a miserable tournament this year was," Ruggie says.

"I'm guessing you guys didn't do so well," Briar replies, concerned.

"Hmph," Leona replies, "Everyone we played was ignoring the disc and throwing everything they had at US.

"We were dead on our feet by the time we faced Diasomnia, so they ended up taking first place," Ruggie says.

"Housewarden! Ruggie!" Jack says.

Leona scoffs it off, Tch... Bein' stuck in an infirmary bed for anything other than a mid-day nap is about as lame as it gets."

"And what's worse? Not a single Diasomnia student ended up here," Ruggie says.

Then Ace says, "I'd heard the rumors, but man, seeing Diasomnia's housewarden in action... That dude does NOT mess around."

"Yeah, he was incredible. You wouldn't have believed it, Briar!" Deuce says.

"Now I get why everyone thinks he's invincible. I can't even imagine taking him down," Ace says.

"And with that attitude, you never will," Jack points out, "You've let him beat you before you even face him. I haven't, though. Next year, I'm taking Diasomnia down. And I'll win by givin' it everything I got."

"Does 'everything' happen to include your capacity for evil?" Leona questions with his arms crossed.

"Have you learned nothing from all this?" Briar questions.

"Pfft. I didn't realize we were in an after-school special here," Leona says.

"You aren't feeling remorseful at all are you?" Briar sternly questions.

That doesn't sound like remorse to me.

"Remorse? Who says I gotta have remorse?" Leona questions with a smirk.

Briar crosses her arms with a frown.

Then Leona says, "I'm givin' next year's tournament all I got, too. And I am gonna do whatever it takes to win.

Ruggie snickers, "Shyeheehee! There's the Leona I remember."

"I can already tell this isn't gonna end well," Jack replies.

"I agree," Jasper says.

"Next year, I wanna be in the tournament for real!" Grim says, excited.

Then Deuce says, "We need to practice so we can make the cut too."

"Yeah, no kidding," Ace says, "No way do I wanna embarrass myself in Grim's kiddie league again."

Suddenly, the door opens and someone calls out, "Unca! There you are! I finally found you!"

Everyone turns their heads to see a small boy, probably around five years old. He has light brown skin, short red hair with yellow tips. He has large brown eyes and a pair of lion ears. He wears a yellow tunic with a triangle pattern around the collar and brown pants, as well as a beaded necklace (with a feather and a GPS tracker attached) and bracelet. His sandals are a bright green color with the same triangle patterns.

"Myah? What's a kid doin' here?" Grim asks.

"I don't know," Seriea replies.

Trinket shakes her head in reply.

The little boy turns to Leona and happily says, "Unca Leona!"

And runs up to the medical bed Leona. Leona however, is stunned to see the little boy running to him.

Then Leona becomes more annoyed than usual, "Baaah. The screech box found me."

"'Unca' Leona...?" Jack says, confused.

Then Tanzanite asks, "Leona, do you know this little boy?"

Frustrated and annoyed, Leona says, "That furball's my brother's son, Cheka. You know...my nephew."

"Your nephew?!" Everyone exclaims in shock.

Ruggie grins and says, "So this is who's next in line for the throne...?"

Excited, little Cheka shouts, I saw you play, Unca! You were so cool! Next time I visit, teach me how to play!

"Fine, fine. Just stop screamin' in my ear," Leona says, very annoyed.

Then questions, "Where're all your attendants? They gotta be tearin' their hair out lookin' for you!"

"I couldn't wait to see you, Unca, so I left them all behind! Hee hee!" Cheka says with a giggle with a big smile on his face.

Seeing the annoyed expression on Leona's face, and hearing that the little boy is his nephew, they put a few pieces together.

"So...the source of all Leona's anguish…" Jack says, shocked.

"Is because of this cute little child?" Briar asks and lets out a giggle.

"The kid sure seems to love everything about him," Grim says, surprised.

"I know. He's able to approach Leona just fine," Jasper says.

Leona notices them staring at them, and gets even more annoyed, "Shut up, all of you! And stop gawkin' at us!"

Just then, his attention turns to Cheka as the little child begins to ask, "So when are you coming home to see us, Unca? Next week? And when's the next time after that? Did you read all the letters I sent you?"

"Look, I told you, I'll be back for the holidays—" Leona says, annoyed, but soon feels pain on his stomach as Cheka climbs on him, "Ow! That hurts! Get offa my stomach!"

Before Leona knows it, Cheka is now sitting on Leona's stomach with a big smile on his face, but Leona has a deep frown on his face.

"He's riding Housewarden Leona like a horse...?!" Jack questions in shock.

Soon, Ruggie is unable to hold his laughter any longer, "Pffft... Ah ha ha ha! This is priceless! So THIS is why you never want to go home to visit your family!"

Cheka turns to see the group and asks, "Are you all Unca Leona's friends?"

Ace begins laughing and says, "Heh heh. Yeah, sure we are! We're your Unca's besties! Ain't that right, 'Unca Leona'?"

"U-Unca Leona...!" Ruggie says, trying not to laugh, and soon begins laughing, "Ahaha—OWWWWW! Argh, it hurts so much when I laugh…"

Soon, Grim, Tanzanite, Jasper, Sereia, Trinket, and even Briar begin laughing or giggling.

This makes Leona angry, "Go ahead, laugh it up. I'm gonna remember this!"

"Sorry Leona, but it's kind of cute to see your nephew is clinging on to you," Briar says.

Cheka looks at Briar with curious eyes. He jumps off of Leona and walks over to her.

"Who are you?" Cheka asks.

"My name is Briar. Briar Hawthorne, it's nice to meet you. I know it's odd that I'm the only girl here, but I managed," Briar says with a smile.

"And your name is Cheka, right?" Briar asks.

"Yep," Cheka replies.

He then asks with sparkles in his eyes, "Are you Unca Leona's girlfriend?"

"Huh?" Briar says, confused.

This causes everyone to come to a screeching stop in shock, especially Leona, who is completely stunned.

"GIRLFRIEND?!" Everyone, but Briar and Leona exclaim in shock.

Cheka ignores everyone and asks, "Are you going to marry Leona? Are you gonna be my new aunt?"

"Hold on a minute," Briar says, shocked.

Leona is just as shocked, "Cheka! Don't ask people something like that. And that herbivore is not…"

But Ruggie cuts him off, "Briar is not Leona's girlfriend. They're just friends. And even if they are, I'm not sure Leona is suitable to be her boyfriend."

"What does that supposed to mean?" Leona questions with a frown.

"Yeah. Briar and Leona are only friends. They never dated," Ace says.

"I'm not sure if they're a good match," Deuce says, skeptically.

Briar groans as her cheeks are turning red. She then quickly covers her face with the sheet in embarrassment.

Sometime later, Briar and the others are at the Ramshackle Dorm to have a well deserved rest. Sereia, Briar, and Trinket are sleeping peacefully in their room. In the other room, Tanzanite and Jasper are sleeping as well, all except Grim.

He looks around as he sees the twins is fast asleep, "Hmm?"

He hops off the bed and says, "Is this coast clear? ...Heh heh. Finally, the moment I've been waitin' for!"

He secretly reaches under the bed and takes out another one of the black gemstones, like the one Grim has eaten before.

Grim is very excited, "I've been holdin' onto this baby since I secretly snatched it up at Savanaclaw House!"

He then begins to wonder, "I wonder what these things are?"

But then says, "Meh, who cares? Finders keepers, losers weepers! Down the hatch it goes!"

And with that, Grim plops the gemstone into his mouth and begins eating it, "Mmmmmm... This one's got a real mature taste—slightly bitter yet tangy on the tongue. Those dumb humans don't know what they're missin'!"

He then sighs in satisfaction, "Ahhhhh. Now that I'm full... I'm gettin' kinda...sleepy…"

And with that, Grim jumps on the bed, and makes himself comfortable.

Soon, Grim has fallen asleep, and begins to snore, "*Snooore*"