It was finally September 5th. Although Camo had only waited ever so patiently for this day to come for a week, it had felt like forever as the last seven days had passed by. And now that the day has finally come, Camo no longer had to wait. The possum was very excited for today. Even though the carnival was going to be in town for a remainder of three days, Camo had discussed with Sodo the day earlier that he wanted to go on the first day, mainly because he was so excited to talk with Sodo yet again.

The possum eagerly ran out of his bedroom and went to go knock on Sodo's door. The hyena didn't open it, but the opossum was aware that Sodo was indeed awake, since he could hear his relaxing music from outside the room.

"Hey Sodo, today's the day, remember?" Camo asked loudly into the bedroom door.

"What?" Sodo said, unable to hear what the possum was trying to tell him since his music was a bit too loud.

"I said today's the day we go to the carnival," Camo clarified. "It's today!"

"Oh shoot you're right," Sodo responded. The hyena got up from his bed and opened the door, instantly being greeted by an excitedly jumping possum. "You seem more happier than usual, hehe."

"I've waited a week for today to happen," Camo said. "I just wanted to let you know so the both of us could get ready as soon as possible, so come on, let's go!"

"Wait, h-hold up."

"What is it?"

"I'm still in my pajamas, and, uh, the carnival won't open until five in the a-afternoon," Sodo explained. "And besides, it's still early in the morning."

"Go put some clothes on then," Camo told him. "I'm gonna go get prepared and all that. Pick new clothes, attempt to shower, all that stuff. Ahh I'm just so excited and I want to be ready to go by the time the carnival opens!"

Camo's excitement weirded out some of the other Criterion members, like Nono, Peb, and a few of the Raggoons too. The rest of the Raccoons didn't seem to care however, as they were preoccupied with their horseplay. As for T.O and Sodo, they had both smiled. For some particular reason, it made them happy that Camo was filled with so much joy, which was something they hadn't seen in the aggressive possum for a long time now.

"Alright, you, er, get to that then," Sodo said. "I'll just be in my room and wait until we have to leave."

"Sure, bud."

Sodo went back to his room and closed the door, only he didn't lock it this time. Either Sodo could've forgotten to lock it, or just decided that locking his door wasn't necessary. Despite the reason, Camo had the opportunity in his paws to peep in on whatever Sodo might've been doing. On the other hand, though, Camo didn't want to take advantage of the unlocked door, and decided to respect Sodo's privacy instead.

The possum decided to head to the bathroom before getting back to his own bedroom in order to change. Looking into the smudgy mirror, Camo took a hard look at his appearance, which didn't appeal to him very well. His hair was messy and his clothes had wrinkles. Changing his attire was a must if he wanted to look at least a little decent during his hangout with Sodo.

"Yo, Camo!" a voice yelled out.

"Huh, what? W-who called me?"

"Me, T.O, my dude. You don't recognize my accent?

"No, I do, I do, it's just," Camo stammered. "Look, I'm sorry, I've just been focused on this day for so long and my mind is all over the place."

"Well, can you at least try focusing right now?" T.O asked of the opossum. "It's your turn to do yard work."

"Wait what?" Camo blurted. "B-but today's a special day…"

"Yeah, I'm aware of that," T.O interrupted. "I know today is the day you go to the carnival with your crush, so yesterday I did you and Nono a huge favor and decided to clean up the yard… a lot."

"Wait, you really did that for me?" asked Camo.

"You and Nono," T.O clarified.

"I-I don't know what to say…" Camo gasped. "Thank you!"

Camo proceeded to hug the black panther standing in front of him very tightly, almost lifting the surprised cat into the air.

"De nada," T.O blushed. The panther walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind him. In the meantime, Camo walked outside into the yard that they had. Despite the yard looking like a cemetery, the opossum couldn't help but acknowledge how tidy the perimeter of it appeared to be. And, by the looks of things, cleaning up whatever stuff was there wouldn't really take so long.

The possum had quickly finished cleaning up the yard, and he took a moment to gaze at the clean sight before the yard would go back to being a mess again, most likely the next day. He sat down for a while, exhausted from the work he had just completed.

"CAMO!"

The possum yelped, falling back against the shriveled grass. Looking upward, the possum saw the face of a small jackal looking down upon the big lug.

"Peb, what the hell?" screamed Camo. "Why are you yelling? You could've just said my name normally."

"I wanted to frighten you a bit, ehehehe," Peb explained. "Did I scare ya?"

"Nah, of course you didn't scare me," Camo said with a manly tone. "I never get scared. Ain't scared of nothing."

"Why are you on the floor then?"

"I'm just lying down, relaxing, ya know?" said Camo. "Cleaned up the yard a bit and all that. A big guy like me deserves a break from all his work, y'know?"

"What work?" Peb asked loudly. "T.O cleaned up most of the yard just yesterday. I even watched him do it."

"You just decided to look at him working? You couldn't have helped him or anything?"

"I'm too lazy for stuff like that.

"Hmm, but when it comes to video games or sewing unnecessary clothing you're so energetic for that right?"

"Shut up," Peb told the possum.

"Ask nicely."

"No."

"Anyways, why did you come out here?" Camo finally decided to ask. "Did you wanna watch me too?"

"You already asked me why I came out here earlier, and I said it was because I wanted to scare you," Peb began. "But, there was something else I wanted to tell you." The little jackal sat down beside the possum.

"Hm?"

"I did talk to Nono about the whole video game thing," Peb mentioned. "He asked me to play a couple days earlier and I did explain my problem to him."

"And how'd he take your response?"

"It went better than I thought it was going to turn out like," Peb shouted excitedly. "He actually understood, and we did talk for a while, and then I just went back to sewing while he continued playing video games. So, what I'm trying to say is, t-thank you for the advice. I really appreciate it."

"No problem, Peb," Camo told him. "If you ever need advice I'm the guy to talk to. Or you can ask T.O as well."

"What about Sodo?"

The mere mention of Sodo's name alerted Camo.

Crud, I just remembered about the hangout with me and Sodo. I seriously need to stop forgetting about every single thing today. Can't keep my darn head straight.

"Oh, oh right Sodo!" exclaimed Camo. "Um, I'm not sure if he could give advice to you, mainly because he doesn't talk much to other people. You know how he is…"

"Yeah I get what you mean," Peb added on. "Like whenever I decide to sew beside him and patch up his clothes, he's always so down in the dumps and he doesn't say a word to me. He be looking as angry as Jack in that one Ripper movie."

"Y-you also watched that movie?"

"Yup, it was pretty nail biting at some moments, especially around the end," Peb elaborated. "I saw that it said it was a musical, but personally didn't feel like it was one, since there wasn't even that much singing. I did feel bad for the kid because he thought Jack was his friend and all that, but he got involved in his shenanigans."

"Me and Sodo watched that film recently," Camo told the jackal. "He actually liked the movie, especially the gothic-looking setting. I liked it as well, and yeah, I did feel really bad for that kid."

"I didn't sleep that night because his mask just creeps me out and all the screaming in the movie was too much," whimpered Peb.

"Sorry to hear that," Camo politely apologized. "How long ago did you see this movie exactly?"

"A couple months ago," Peb answered. "The Raggoons had dug it up in your bedroom and I watched the movie with-

"Wait wait wait wait wait," Camo repeated. "The Raggoons dug up the movie from my room?"

"That's exactly what I just said. Oh, and for the record, you might want to lock your bedroom door more often. Not like that'd stop them from getting inside your room anyways. They could just pick the lock."

"I think I'm gonna have to put all those Raggoons on a big leash or something," Camo said to himself.

The opossum decided to stop lying down on the grass, which started to feel uncomfortable against his fur. Brushing off the pieces of grass that stayed on him, Camo began to walk inside.

"Ay, where ya going?"

"Heading back inside," Camo replied. "Sorry to cut the conversation short, but I'm just so exhausted from all that hard work that I did."

"You're tired?" Peb asked obnoxiously. "You only did like thirty minutes of yard work though."

"Yeah," Camo stretched his arms out wide. "It might not seem like a lot, but anything could happen in thirty minutes, y'know?

"Mhm."

"I'm what you would call one of those grown adults, hehe," Camo winked. The possum entered the house, and proceeded to take an hour long shower before picking out some new clothes for his hangout.

Camo exited the shower he had concluded. The shower was rather hot and steamy, yet for some reason Camo came out of the tub very cold. He quickly grabbed some towels to wrap himself up with so he could exit the bathroom as carefully as he could.

"Geez, why is it so cold?" Camo shrieked.

The possum quickly ran to his bedroom, locked the door, and jumped onto his bed, and he could've sworn he heard some bed springs snap. Nonetheless, he threw the blankets on his bed on top of him and decided to lie down for a period of time so that way his fur could dry and his body would warm up. Glancing at the new alarm clock next to him, the time read 2:05 PM.

Oh geez, it's not even that close to five o'clock yet. I might as well try to take a nap while I dry off.

While Camo tried to doze off into a small time period of slumbering, he was startled by someone making a slight whisper inside his twitching ear.

"Who's there?"

Camo opened his eyes and saw a familiar coyote friend of his,

"Oh, it's just you Nono," Camo suddenly realized. "Geez, why does everyone keep sneaking up on me today?"

"Hey there."

"H-how did you get in my room?" asked Camo. "I locked the door."

"Nono was in here the entire time."

"And why is that?!" Camo exclaimed.

"Nono heard you were going to the carnival with Sodo and ONLY Sodo!" Nono yelled. "Why aren't you taking us with you guys?"

"Nono, I can't really explain why," Camo began to reason. "I just wanted to hang out with Sodo. Get to know him better. And hanging out with all of you guys would be chaos."

"What do you mean?" Nono whined childishly.

"Remember that time we went to the grocery store like a week ago?" Camo said. "You guys would be running around touching everything and everyone, and all of you never listen. Only Sodo and T.O are the sane ones in this group."

"Nono thought you cared about us, but you won't even let us come with you," Nono scoffed. "Some gentleman you are."

"What made you think I ever cared about you in the first place?" Camo asked rudely.

Nono did not answer Camo's question. Although he didn't want to sound like he was hurt, the gloomy expression on his face had displayed it all. Ears down, all the shirtless coyote could do was just look at Camo's terrifying face. Even though the possum looked silly in the towels and blankets he was wrapped in, his eyes possessed much intimidation.

"Get out of my room," Camo spoke deeply. "Now."

Nono quickly exited the room. Camo wiped his face with the white towel that was on him to dry his fur a bit quicker. Making sure the blankets and towels were wrapped all around him just right, Camo once again lied down on his bed.

Now I can take a nap...

"Hey, Camo, you gotta wake up," a voice said to the napping possum.

"What?"

"It's me, Sodo."

"Oh hi Sodo!" Camo jumped. "Um, how did you get into my room?"

"The door was open, but don't worry, I locked it," Sodo explained.

"Okay, thank you for that," Camo said back. "I appreciate it. Um, I feel kinda awkward."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know, it just feels weird with you in the room."

"Uhh, is it because of what happened last time?"

"What? Do you mean when I hit you on the nose with that can?"

"No, not that," Sodo clarified. "We're p-past that. I'm talking about what happened about last time on the boat."

"Hm?"

"Y-you don't remember?"

Camo tried to think to himself as to what Sodo was talking about. If the event of him and Sodo kissing on the boat was a dream, then how could the real Sodo know about that? Then Camo realized...

Ohhh, this is another dream I'm having. Well, since that most likely is the case, I might as well enjoy this moment while it lasts. It may not be real, but it's… something.

"Oh right, yes, the boat," Camo repeated. "N-no worries, bud, I ain't gonna make another scene."

"Oh, t-that's uh, that's great to hear!" exclaimed Sodo. Sodo proceeded to lie down by the possum and started snuggling with him. In return, Camo had done the same. They booped each other with their noises and continued the snuggle session.

Just like in Camo's previous dream sequence, Camo and Sodo proceeded to touch lips. The memory of the possum's kiss with the hyena had all started flooding back to him. It was such a gentle moment that time, and Camo finally got to experience it again, despite this being all in the possum's mind.

"Hey, you're not freaking out this time," Sodo pointed out. "That's nice."

"I'm still sorry about last time," Camo reminded him. "If I made you feel bad, I just wanna let you know that I didn't intend to. Everything was just… surprising, at the time."

"Ah no worries," Sodo said. "I should've warned you beforehand. I didn't warn you like before right now, but I'm glad your reaction wasn't as bad as by the lake."

"A heads up would be greatly appreciated," Camo stated. "Not to be rude or anything, but you get what I mean."

"Mhm." The hyena kissed Camo again. "I, uh, still remember that you mentioned that the, uh, the corgi was still bothering you a bit. Is that still bothering you by any chance?"

"It sorta is," Camo answered. "But I have thought about it less and less over time, mainly because of you."

"Aww, how nice," Sodo replied. "You still wanna talk about that though?"

"Not really," Camo lied. "I mean, there ain't much to talk about anyways."

"It seems like such a big deal to you though," Sodo noted. "You were embarrassed and angry. You broke your bedroom mirror and you've just been all grumpy lately, so I want to help."

"I don't know why it bothers me," Camo confessed. "It shouldn't disturb me in the slightest but it still does for some reason. H-have you ever had like, something that you thought you've gotten over, but unfortunately it always just keeps coming back? I feel like this is what is happening. I think this memory might stick with me forever, like many other memories…"

"There have been memories that do keep coming back to me and all, but at the end of the day, I have to remember that those memories and past events don't define the person I can become right now," Sodo advised the opossum he was on top of. "I'm not much for giving advice, but I, uh, do wanna tell you this. You can't keep living in the past, because unlike right now, the past can't change. You see, the time I said that sentence, the time, err, the time just passed, and I can't change what I said now, can I?"

"Nope."

"Exactly. You see, this, uh, this moment we're having together right now is a gift. Anything could happen, and, umm... who knows what could happen? We won't find out until we end up making that decision ourselves. And then, those decisions will become the past. So since this moment is our gift, it's up to us to appreciate this moment."

"Is t-that why right now is called the present?" Camo asked.

"I guess you could say that, yeah," Sodo agreed.

Sodo placed both of his hands on the sides of Camo's head, while getting closer to his face. The hyena was preparing himself for something Camo really wanted to have, and the possum couldn't be any more happy. Camo put his hands on the hyena's cheek, slowly clutching it in the process.

"I can't wait to see what the future has in store for us," Camo said.

"Can't wait either…"

Camo's and Sodo's lips were about to meet once again, but the opossum's dream had suddenly concluded as a result of Camo's body being shoved back and forth. In the real world, it was Sodo who was pushing him, attempting to wake up the possum from his nap.

"Yo, Camo, wake up," the hyena whispered.

"Huh, wha-?" Camo muttered. The possum did not feel very tired, yet he couldn't manage to open his eyes as wide as he usually did. The hyena beside him was wearing a black and pink sweater, black cargo pants, and his casual glasses on his head, with a cherry-flavored lollipop dangling from the corner of his mouth.

"It's 3:30 right now, and I kinda wanna leave around four because the walk to the carnival is gonna be a bit long…" Sodo stated. "Soo… I wanted to wake you up."

"Oh it's 3:30?!" Camo asked loudly.

"Yeah, so, uhh, please put on some clothes so we can go," Sodo insisted.

"Will do, bud."

As Sodo proceeded to leave Camo's bedroom, the possum, with his towels in hand, closed and locked the door. He walked towards his closet in order to pick out new clothes. Skimming through his wardrobe, he mostly found pink shirts and other darker shades of pants. On the edge of the wardrobe however, Camo had found an outfit that ringed nostalgic to him: his old baseball outfit.

"Hey, I used to wear this back when I first met the other guys," Camo recollected his thoughts. "Heck, I used to wear this even before I met these guys!" Camo's baseball outfit consisted of a black baseball cap, a tattered pink shirt, a white and red jersey, and dark red sweatpants. Alongside that, he even found his old baseball bat that he used to equip himself with back in the day, whether it be for a nice ol' game of baseball or whether it be for good beatdown in the streets.

"This would probably bring back some of Sodo's old memories too," Camo thought to himself. "I just hope that somehow he remembers this outfit I used to wear a lot when I was younger."

Camo quickly proceeded to put on these clothes, and he exited his bedroom as fast as he could so he could meet up with him. The opossum almost bumped into the hyena as he ran out the room.

"Whoa, uh, careful there, bud," Sodo alerted. "Um, you don't wanna hurt me again accidentally now, do you?"

"No, of course not!" Camo exclaimed. "I would never want to, hehe."

Sodo chuckled back a bit. Taking a glance at the big possum standing in front of him nervously about, the hyena noticed something different about him, mainly the clothing he had on. Sodo recognized that outfit, the outfit Camo used to love to wear when he was younger before occupying himself with a gentleman's work.

"Ah, I uh, I see you're wearing that old outfit again, hehe," Sodo giggled.

"What-what's so funny?" Camo asked.

"It kinda looks silly," Sodo responded to him.

"That's a weird way to say absolutely amazing."

"Ehehe, okay then."

"So, are you ready to go, or…?"

"Yeah, let's, uh..." Sodo pointed to the front door. "...Yeah."

"I don't want to sound rude to him at all, but man is he terrible at forming a proper sentence," Camo thought to himself. "I get that he isn;t much for talking. Maybe that could be something I could teach him, maybe be a gentleman in that manner or something."

"Ayy, lookin' good, Camo," T.O complimented the possum. "Have fun."

"Why thank you," Camo replied.

Sodo quickly spoke to the possum yet again. "Hey, where's your matching baseball bat that goes with the outfit?"

"I'm not gonna bring it to the carnival with me, my fellow friend."

"That's alright then," Sodo clarified.

"Besides, why would I need to bring my baseball with me?" Camo asked Sodo. "It's not like I'm gonna beat up anybody or anything like that."

As Camo proceeded to head towards the front door to exit the house with Sodo, he caught a glimpse of the coyote he yelled at earlier, who appeared to be saddened, cuddling with Peb for comfort. Telling from the small jackal's facial expression, he was very concerned for his friend. Camo decided to just leave before he'd begin to actually feel bad.

"Why did I ever say that to him? Poor guy..."

"Well, here we are," Sodo said aloud.

Camo and Sodo were met by a really big carnival. Camo didn't think a festival like this would be so glamorously huge, but yet here he was. Colors of an entire spectrum shined brightly throughout the carnival, and the air smelled like popcorn. The carnival was pretty loud though; not surprising to Camo, but not very welcoming to him either.

"It's pretty," Sodo blurted.

"Yeah, pretty loud!" Camo exclaimed.

"Have you heard the way you've screamed before?" the hyena chuckled.

"Well yeah, I mean, but there's multiple people here screaming like that," Camo explained. "I'm just one, big guy screaming loudly. This carnival is like if the uh, t-the universe made clones of Nono, Peb's crazy side, and the Raggoons and put them into one place."

"Ah, don't complain, we're here now," Sodo told him. "So let's just go inside and have some fun, despite there being, y'know, other people…"

"Right."

Camo and Sodo had entered the colorful carnival together. The opossum was amazed at how many people there were at the carnival.

"A lot of people must've been excited for this thing. Can't blame them for that, though. This looks amazing."

He did expect there'd be a lot of people there, but nonetheless was still astonished that there were just so many people in there. Despite being big, he felt like he could still get lost within the crowd. However, Sodo was smaller than him, so he wanted to make sure that he didn't lose his crush during his hangout.

"So I had some plan in mind for us to follow, if you want to hear it, that is," Sodo said to Camo.

"Oh?" Camo wondered. "What is it?"

"I was thinking maybe you and I could split up for a portion of our time so we can each get some prizes at the games separately," Sodo began to explain. "Go to separate games, get different prizes, you get the gist."

"B-b-but I wanted to spend time with you," Camo said nervously. "I don't wanna s-separate myself from you."

"No no no, don't be worried," Sodo told him. "We can meet up at the table benches when we're done. And then, uh, after, we can get some food to treat ourselves."

"You know a lot about this place…" Camo said quietly. "How?"

"I went to this carnival last year like twice, which was why I brought home a bunch of plush toys those two times while sneaking into my bedroom," Sodo blurted out.

"Wait, you have plush toys in your room?" Camo asked whilst giggling to himself a little bit.

"No," Sodo lied. "I'm too cool for plush toys."

"Uh huh, yeah, and I'm straight," Camo scoffed sarcastically.

"Don't tell anyone about the plushies, by the way," Sodo whispered. "Especially the others. I don't want them ripping up my beloved emotional support buddies. You know how they get."

"Your secret is safe with me, my friend," Camo stated. "You shouldn't be ashamed of your collection ya know?"

Sodo nodded.

"I'm surprised you'd tell me this with confidence, though," Camo butted in.

"Well, I mean, I was gonna be getting some more plushies anyways, so I figured I might as well tell you anyway," Sodo confessed.

"Y'know, I've never owned a plush toy before."

"What?!"

"Yeah…" Camo groaned. "Held one in my hand once, but I never got it, even though I wanted it badly."

"Well, today is gonna be a special day, my friend," Sodo told the possum with a bright tone of voice. "Because today, you will achieve your first plush toy as you and I go on this adventure!"

"Okay, wow," Camo laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing, it's just that w-was a really distinct choice of wording you used there," Camo explained.

"Sorry, I just got into the mood a bit," Sodo apologized. "Feeling a bit adventurous."

"Yeah me too bud, me too," Camo coughed. "So uh, how about we go inside?"

"Sounds like a plan."

As the two proceeded to walk in, Camo got paranoid about the crowd surrounding him. The hyena standing beside him could see the discomfort on his face.

"What's wrong?" Sodo asked concerningly. "Is it the other people?"

"Maybe…"

"Hey, don't worry, we're here together, so no need to be nervous," Sodo attempted to calm down the possum. "The p-presence of other people can uh, bother me as well, so I understand how you're feeling."

Camo did not want to get lost in this crowd, and he especially did not want to lose Sodo. Soon thereafter, he came up with a bright, yet risky idea he could take: Camo decided to grab the hyena's hand and hold it tight along their walk.

"Why are you holding my hand?" Sodo asked grimly.

"Why not?"

"I'm just asking."

"I don't want you to get lost just in case we happen to split up," Camo elaborated. "I want us to stay together."

"We won't get lost," Sodo assured him. "If I do get lost I could just, um, easily spot you, ya know? Since you're, you know, big?"

"Yeah I get what you mean and all but still," Camo answered. "I just, I-I don't wanna lose you anyway, is all. Please just don't get mad."

"I'm not mad, like at all, I'm just, uhh…" Sodo had to think to himself. "Weirded out. Yeah."

"Oh I'm sorry," Camo gasped for air. "I'll let go if you want me to…"

"You know what, I'm fine with this really," Sodo said. "Pretty chill. But uh, remember, we gotta split up eventually for the prizes, my man."

"Yeah I know…"

Nonetheless, Camo and Sodo walked together towards the benches that Sodo wanted to show the opossum. Camo was well aware that despite the tender moment he was currently sharing with Sodo, this moment would eventually come to an end. In his mind, the opossum was hoping that maybe the benches would be far away from where they were now. He really enjoyed holding the hyena's hand. His paw was so soft that he just wanted to feel it forever.

"Hey, I can see the benches from here!" exclaimed Sodo.

"Oh, uh, are you sure about that?" Camo asked. "How can you, uhh, see them through the c-crowd? Hmm?"

"Uhh, like I've said, I know this place well," Sodo reminded Camo. "And also, I was able to spot a glimpse of it, so we're getting pretty close. Come on!"

Grasping Camo's hand as tightly as he could, Sodo ran towards the benches he claimed to have seen. Camo ran along with him; the sudden rush in movement amazed the possum, but he did not mind the immediate surprise. Although he didn't want to let go of the hyena's hand anytime soon, Camo was at the least thankful for this experience. Camo could've sworn that he himself laughed a little bit whilst running through the huge crowd.

After a couple more seconds of running, Camo and Sodo made it to the benches.

"Ayy, we're here!" Sodo cheered. The happiness on the hyena's face brightened up Camo's facial expression even more.

"So excited for a couple of benches, huh?" Camo asked.

"Sorry, it just feels nice sitting on these things again, eating food, listening to all the noises, and cuddling with the plush toys I stole-..." Sodo paused.

"Hmm?"

"I meant to say all the plush toys I won, hehe," Sodo corrected himself. "The games were rigged so it took all night, but in the end, uhh, it was, um, worth it. Yeah."

"So I guess this is the part where you and I separate to go play different games?"

"Uh, yes, exactly," Sodo answered. "Like I said, meet up back here and we'll be set for later." The hyena proceeded to run towards the games area.

"How do I know when to come back, though?" Camo asked hurriedly.

"Just come back when you feel like you've got enough to carry," Sodo yelled out, his voice slowly diminishing the farther he got away from the opossum. The hyena was long gone at this rate, so Camo decided to go to the other side of the games area. He was excited to be trying out these games for once in his life, but felt really down because Sodo wasn't there with him. Camo felt alone.

From a good distant view, Camo was able to look at the varieties of games that were displayed right in front of him. On the far left, there was a water gun game where a person had to blast the water into a tiny hole, but it was already occupied by a gray platypus and a blue otter. On his right side, there was a booth that served as a whipped cream eating contest between three people. The three contestants consisted of a polar bear with a blue hoodie, an arctic wolf with orange goggles hanging around his neck, and a blue wallaby who struggled to get up to the food stand so he could consume the whipped cream. Unfortunately, he won third place, while the polar bear won first, the wolf coming in second.

In front of the possum stood a ball tossing game. Throw a ball into the bottle and Camo could earn his prize. Although it seemed easy at first glance, it wasn't just the other people who complained about it being too hard that threw the possum off. To add on to Camo's discomfort, the carnie running the ball tossing booth just so happened to be the same fox that Camo scammed a week earlier.

"Oh goodness no, it can't be… him?" Camo thought to himself. "Not surprised someone as stupid as him would take a job like this one, but this is such a coincidence. Maybe he won't notice me? Maybe he's forgotten all about me, with his brain that's the size of a peanut."

When the fox glanced at the possum gazing at him, the fox's ears perked up and his nose twitched a bit. The change of facial expression signalled to Camo that the fox did recognize who he was. Not wanting to run away from this possible issue, Camo walked towards the ball tossing booth.

"Greetings," Camo introduced himself.

"Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" the fox asked Camo with an obnoxious tone. "You look rather… familiar..."

"Do I?!" Camo laughed to himself. "Hm, I'm not sure about that, my f-friend." Camo nearly gagged at calling the fox his friend, but rest assured, this was only to make sure that the fox did not realize Camo's identity.

"Yeah, you're the guy who sold me that car at his own garage," the fox described. "The big rat who sold me that van, and I gave you all my money for it."

"Crud, he remembers."

"Ohh yeah, it's you!" Camo sarcastically played along. "Long time no see, bud!"

"It's literally been a week since I saw you," the fox corrected Camo harshly.

"Really? Already?" Camo asked. "Wow, how time flies! Say, how are you? How is the van?"

"Oh, me?" the fox said. "Oh, I'm good, I'm doing just great working this stupid job."

"Isn't it fun working here?" the possum questioned.

"No, actually, it isn't," the fox answered. "I took this job so I could make back the money I gave to you for that "deal" that you and I had."

"Sorry to hear that," Camo lied to him. "Hopefully they pay you well, with all of the uh, the hard w-work you're doing."

"Why'd you come here?"

"I wanted to play the ball toss game."

"Five bucks, then."

Camo handed the fox five dollars, and in return the fox had given him a ball to toss. The rules weren't explained to Camo, but he had a good idea as to what they were in mind. There was a single glass bottle that he apparently needed to knock over in order to win. The bottle looked durably rough, but that didn't bother Camo at all. The gentleman wanted to be as precise as possible, aiming for the center of the bottle so that he could succeed in earning a prize. Finally deciding to let go of the ball, Camo made a swing with his right arm and threw the ball towards the bottle. Although the impact of the ball was very firm, the bottle unfortunately did not fall, meaning that Camo had lost.

"Oof, better luck next time," the fox coughed. "If you're willing to give off some more dollars I could let you try again."

"B-but that's not fair…" Camo stuttered. "The bottle d-didn't even move, and I threw it so well, too!"

"Just stop complaining," the fox complained. "If you want another shot, then just pay up another five bucks. It's that simple, man."

Camo proceeded to pay up another five dollars. His second attempt to hit the bottle failed, resulting in the possum desperately paying another five bucks to the fox. With each increasing attempt he tried to complete, his patience had swiftly diminished. Camo wanted to lash out and just scream, since his money and time was being wasted on an unfair game run by a stupid fox. But he was in public though, so he needed to keep his cool in order to not make a fool out of himself in front of millions of people.

"Uh, h-hey…" Camo began.

The fox looked up at him.

"Remember when I got you that car for a cheaper price that one time we met?"

"Yeah," the fox answered. "What about it?"

"Well, I was thinking that maybe you could do something in return for me?"

"Such as?"

"If I asked you for that big teddy bear that's hanging up there, would you give it to me?"

"Absolutely not."

"Why?"

"You know that van you sold me had broken down a day after I decided to take it for a drive on the freeway," the fox explained to Camo angrily.

"Really?" Camo pretended to be shocked. "Geez, what'd you do with it?"

"I didn't do anything with it, ya big idiot," the fox screeched. "A tow truck took it to a repair shop, and they figured out what was wrong with it. The engine barely worked at all."

"Sorry to hear that."

"I'm pretty sure you knew about the engine."

"I did n-not know anything about that," Camo lied whilst looking away from the fox's tempered face.

"You're lying to me, aren't ya?" the fox said. "You can't even look at me straight in the eyes. When we first met, I thought you were a fine, trustworthy person. But no, you're just as fake as these stupid plush toys. Go take your "business" somewhere else, because I would rather prefer it anywhere but here!"

Angered at the fox's backlashing remarks, Camo had grabbed the fox by his V-neck t-shirt and dragged the fox towards himself.

"Now listen here you waste of nine months inside of a womb, I have a friend here who would love to have that teddy bear, so why don't you just hand it over? Because I ain't leavin' until you give me that teddy bear."

While the fox was grunting and trying to escape Camo's viciously tightening grasp, he had luckily been saved as a familiar hyena who was carrying a bunch of plush toys in his small paws. He had interrupted the quarrel between the two enemies.

"Hey Camo, w-what's going on?" Sodo intervened nervously.

Camo looked directly at the hyena's worried face.

"I-it's nothing," Camo tried to speak. "Just arguing over how rigged this game is is all."

"Yeah I bet…" Sodo spoke quietly. The hyena looked over at the fox who although had a tough facial expression, was mildly shaking. "Oh hey, this is the fox guy you scammed before, remember?"

Camo signalled to Sodo to stop talking while the fox gave him a confusingly dirty look.

"Oh, so you're the friend this disgusting slob was talking about?" the fox asked rudely.

"Uhh…" Sodo tried to think. He wanted to answer honestly but got really shy about what was happening.

"Don't drag him into this, you mutt," Camo snarled.

"Look, we'll be going now," Sodo muttered. "Sorry for uh, bothering you. Sorry."

Camo and Sodo left the booth, while many people stared at them after the ruckus that had just occurred. The possum felt embarrassed about all those people looking at him in disgust and shame. Stopping by the benches, Sodo laid down his plushies on top of the wooden table.

"Sit down," Sodo asked him. "What the hell happened back there?"

"He noticed me, and he, as well as the game, ticked me off a bit," Camo answered.

"Uhh, a bit?" Sodo repeated. "If I hadn't interrupted things probably could've gotten really bad. You grabbed him by his shirt!"

"That's not the worst I could've done, you know?" Camo noted to him.

"Camo…"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, but control yourself, dude…"

They sat silent for a while before Camo looked at the pile of the plush toys residing onto the table. He was surprised at how many there were.

"How did you get all those plush toys though?" Camo whined. "The games are rigged! At least, from what I've seen, anyway."

"I definitely did not steal them," Sodo tried to wink.

"What was that? Was that a wink?"

"Maybe…"

"Pfft."

Sodo sorted out the plush toys one by one. With each plush he picked up, he hugged them as tightly as he could. Looking upward, he saw Camo give him a weird look.

"Don't judge me."

"Aren't you too old for plush toys, though?"

Sodo gasped. "No one is ever too old for having a little friend to cuddle with." Sodo proceeded to giggle, continuing the hugs he gave to the little toys.

While he did so, Camo couldn't stop thinking about what had almost happened just earlier. He felt embarrassed, and he wished he could go back in time to reverse what he did.

"Should've brought my baseball bat."

Intending to lighten the mood, Camo decided to share an idea with Sodo.

"Hey, how's about I go and get us some lunch?" Camo offered. "What do ya want?"

"Whatever, really," Sodo replied. "I'm really hungry so I'll take what I can get."

Camo looked into his wallet, only to find that not much cash was to be found within.

"Crud, I must've spent so much on that stupid game."

"Hey Sodo, do you happen to have any cash on ya by any chance?"

"I have a twenty..."

'C-could I borrow it?" Camo asked, nervous of the response he was gonna get. "I'll pay you back when I get the chance, I promise."

"Okay okay, here."

Camo took the bill from him.

"I'll be back."

After a couple of minutes waiting in such a long line packed with annoying families and loud children, Camo had finally made it to the front of the food stand. With his money in his right palm, he attempted to decide what food he would order for himself and Sodo.

"Hello, what would you like to order?" the buff weasel asked Camo with a feminine tone of voice.

"Uh hi, I'd like to order…" Camo paused for a moment. "Five hot dogs and two s-soda pops, please."

"Whoa, is all that for you?" the weasel laughed. "Because, uh…" The weasel looked at Camo's body for a small while. "I could recommend better options, haha."

Everyone that was behind Camo in line started chuckling to themselves at the weasel's comment. The opossum felt ashamed that his body size was being ridiculed. He wanted to punch the smirking weasel that was right in front of him.

"Keep your cool, Camo. Just ignore them…"

"I-it's not just for me, it's also for a friend," Camo stated.

"Oh I see. Well in that case, here ya go!"

The weasel handed him five hot dogs and two small soda pops. He was offered a bag to carry the hot dogs in, and a tray for the soda pops. Camo placed the bag over his arm while he held the two sodas in both of his hands. He walked away from the food stand and proceeded to walk towards the benches, and he shed a tear as he made his way there.

"Jerk…"

After a few minutes of walking, Camo had returned to the location of the benches. However, he noticed something different. Sodo was not alone; he was talking with two different people sitting across from him. One was a big Kermode bear, while the other was a big, goofy looking Samoyed dog. From the distance, he heard chit chatting and laughter being emitted from the group.

"Uh, h-hello?" Camo called from a distance.

Sodo looked for where the voice had come from. "Oh, hey Camo, you're back!"

"Sodo, who are these guys?" Camo questioned him curiously.

"Oh, uhh, these two are some guys I talk with a lot online," Sodo explained. "We don't meet much in person but, um, I am friends with these two. I didn't expect to see them here at the carnival, hehe."

Both of his friends waved at the possum. In return, Camo waved back.

"My name's Pile," the bear said. "And this one right here, his name is Cori."

Cori clapped at the sound of hearing his name, and as a result Pile giggled at the emote. Sodo chuckled alongside the bear as well.

"So uh, Sodo, I brought back the foo-"

"Wait wait wait," Sodo interrupted. "Pile was just telling us about his day at work. So uh, go on."

"Oh I'm sorry…" Camo apologized.

"So we had this boring meeting with some of the guys, and I had fallen asleep through it," Pile proceeded to tell his story. "And when I woke up everyone was just like, really busy. And I'm wondering what's going on and why everyone is in such a rush. And I ask Coal what's going on, and he knows that I was asleep, but he still gives me such a snarky attitude."

"He's always giving you attitude, huh?" Sodo grinned.

"Well, Coal is a hard worker," Pile pointed out. "I can't blame him for getting frustrated like that. He takes his stuff seriously. But afterwards, I didn't really find out what was happening. So I just fell asleep again."

"I expected a surprise at the end," Sodo jested.

"Hey!" the bear shouted.

"I was just kidding, haha," Sodo reassured him.

"Yeah I know."

"You know, I'm curious as to why everyone was so energetic about work that day. Did you actually figure out what was happening?"

"Nope, but if I can, I could probably ask someone else, so long as I don't fall asleep again."

The trio laughed at Pile's remark. Camo overheard Pile and Sodo talking to each other about art related stuff, like sketching, coloring and even sculpting apparently. While this went down, Cori was simply being amazed at the stories whilst getting distracted by the beautiful, spinning colors that surrounded him. The opossum took a bite out of his hot dog, with his head resting on his hand.

"This did not go the way I planned it to…"

While he ate his food and drank some of his soda, Camo just looked around the carnival. Even though the carnival possessed such an enthusiastic and lively appearance, the contents didn't look so fine for the lonely possum anymore. He would rather go home than stay here, considering his crush was just fine hanging out with his other pals. He wanted to cry, but not in public. He needed to keep calm.

"I wonder how the others are doing at home."

His sad emotions went away however, after spotting something very familiar. Or rather, a familiar someone. Shocked by the sight, Camo wanted to see if he wasn't hallucinating what he was seeing. Rest assured, he was not. Far across from his point of view stood a small corgi. Breeze.