And now we move on to Lola's caste, the one caste primarily featured in the next major arc. Proto-Lola, Lindsey Sweetwater, Lola herself, if there's a character that plays a big role or somewhat of a role in there, then 3 out of 5 times they'll be part of Lola's caste.

Now, the subject chosen for this examination is... kinda interesting. Mostly because, if you were to look at how she actually looks, you wouldn't believe she's part of the Lola caste. I mean, she's not blindingly ugly, but she definitely wouldn't be seen as appealing in the eyes of Lola, or even most people in general. Still, it just goes to show how you can't judge a book of it's cover.

Who am I talking about? Well, read to find out.

Sometime after the last subject, Lisa was taking a little break to prepare for the next subject, whenever she came. She mostly spun around her chair while moving it to allow her to check on several topics of interest, including the Royal Woodroid 5000, before she stopped right back where she started. She then got off and walked deeper inside until she met Lily, then offered her a cookie.

For some reason, though, the baby seemed a bit... unsure, about taking the present. Lisa didn't give up, though, and she just waved it in Lily's face until the baby grabbed the cookie, but not before throwing a concerned look at the scientist.

"Hmm, you're normally ecstatic when I present you a cookie, Lily; particularly when I remember it's time to feed you," Lisa scratched her head in confusion. "Is being stuck in an enclosed area bothering you, sis? Do you wanna go out?"

The baby looked elsewhere, then turned back and nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Okay, listen, the next subject for the caste examination Lincoln requested is going to come at any moment now, so I don't have the freedom of letting you outside and potentially get hurt while I'm busy; even more so when taking into account how everybody else would react if that occurred," Lisa brushed Lily's hair. "Listen, once I finish with this subject, I'll take you out to wherever you desire. Or just right back into the house for a less sterilized environment, does that sound good to you?"

Just then, Lisa heard the elevator open up, probably meaning that the next subject had arrived. "That's my cue. Stay right here and don't try anything, okay Lily?"

The baby nodded, and Lisa went back to greet the subject. "Greetings, subject of a caste I don't know yet! Sit down and-"

As soon as the subject stepped out, however, Lisa immediately felt a chill go down her spine, a chill that immediately made her turn cautious as the subject walked to her.

The subject was a redhaired girl, with rather poofy hair at that, glasses like her own, but showing diamond-shaped pupils rather than normal dots, a pink sweater with the icon of an alien in it, a blue skirt, and brown shoes with lavender socks.

"Take your pen and clipboard out, little brat, 'cause I don't have all day," the redhead barked, slamming her fists on the table as Lisa obliged. "Make sure to listen, 'cause I'm only going to say this once: Name's Penelop Johnson, Lola caste, can generate crystals, change or cover parts of my body in different types of crystals, and can used said crystal for several different applications. You got all that?"

Lisa wrote on her clipboard at lighting speed, then meekly said, "I'm also going to need some visual examples of your powers, please."

Penelope suddenly turned her fingernails into crystal claws, making Lisa shriek as she said, "Does this work?"

"W-W-Well, it'll work for now," Lisa nervously wrote that down. "B-B-But I also need to test your other powers!"

"Oh, in that case, we're going to need something we can use as a target," Penelope turned her claws back into fingernails and scanned her surroundings. "Do you have anything small, unimportant, or useless that we could use? Like a paper weight or something?"

"Well, I could retrieve Bitey from Lana's bedroom, but she'd probably kill me if she found out I used him without her permission," Lisa hummed to herself as Penelope took the liberty of looking around the place. "And besides, after the last subject, I want to be a bit more conscious when convincing others that I'm not an amoral scientist like most of my caste are apparently supposed to be..."

Penelope stopped right in front of the view of the covered giant robot, and asked, "What's this thing?"

"Oh! That's a secret project I've been working on for a while now, my magnum opus if you will," Lisa answered as she walked to Penelope's side, and adjusted her glasses as she boasted, "It's the Royal Woodroid 5000! A giant robot built with whatever I could find at the moment. It has the potential to protect Royal Woods from any giant creature that may attack it for whatever reason! And not to toot my own horn, but I built this long before I discovered there were even more potential threats to our world!"

Lisa then narrowed her eyes and clenched her teeth as Penelope rolled her eyes and continued looking around.

"Sadly, it's the only one in it's kind, and it's still in a prototype state. I was planning to find some organization who would be willing to invest in it's design so it could be mass produced, but the first organization I found rejected the design and told me it would never work out as it was! And to further add insult to the injury, they actually took days to tell me this statement! But once this baby's completed, I'll show it right to their faces and-"

"Dude, I don't care."

Lisa flinched and turned around to see Penelope standing next to her, holding a little toy soldier on her hand. "I lost interest as soon as you started talking about how your giant robot would save the city from giant monsters and all stuff. I get the feeling you've been watching too much anime or something."

"Well somebody's got some sass going on!" Lisa snapped, before noticing the toy. "Where did you get that toy soldier?"

"While you were rambling, I heard somebody whistle and I went deeper inside to find a baby playing with some toys," Penelope shrugged and leaned the toy soldier closer to Lisa. "She handed me the toy soldier, and seemingly gestured me to use it, then hand it back to her in one piece."

"Huh, that's oddly nice of Lily to do," Lisa focused on the soldier. "So, what power are you going to show me with this toy?"

Penelope smiled, then touched the toy soldier while her upper back started glowing pink. As soon as she touched the toy, it was covered in pìnk crystal, which shined as Lisa's eyes widened in amazement.

"Pretty cool, right?" the redhead asked. "I can do this to both inanimate and animate objects, but I prefer doing it to things that aren't alive for obvious reasons."

"So, how do you make prevent the object inside from shattering?" Lisa inquired as she closely inspected the crystallized toy, scratching her chin as she looked at it with an intrigued look. "Is it a subconscious, or do you need to manually hold back your strength."

"Well, to make sure you understand, I just put a crystal-like shield around it, so if it's shattered, the object inside won't be shattered as well," Penelope remarked, touching the toy again to free it from the prison as she explained, "If it was completely encased, however, not only would it look different, but the thing inside would shatter with it."

Penelope walked to some other artifact, a simple lamp, and covered it in crystal before she tipped it over to the side, causing it to shatter into a million pieces that soon dispersed into light that soon faded away from existence. And all that was left were broken lamp pieces.

"Okay then, so that's something you can do," Lisa wrote it down, with Penelope taking the chance to return the toy to Lily and then come back. "Before we move on to the next power, there's something I need to ask you, concerning those crystal claws you showed me earlier-"

Penelope took out said claws immediately and stated, with a menacing smile, "They're perfectly capable of slashing flesh, if that's what you wanna know."

"T-That I could guess!" Lisa flinched and backed away. "What I wanted to ask you was, how do they work? For example, if you break one of them, do you break the whole finger, or only up to where it would turn into a claw?"

The redhead flinched and got a contemplative look as she turned back to her claws, and said out loud, "To be honest, I don't know. These things are so dang strong that I tend to use them to brake, to climb, to do all sorts of things a normal pickaxe would do; but I never thought about what would happen if they broke. I guess, since these are my fingers transformed, if they broke the whole digit would go?"

Penelope and Lisa flinched at the thought, with Penelope going so far as to say, "L-L-Let's focus on something else!"

Sometime later, at the backyard...

Lisa and Penelope relaxed at the bench, taking a deep breath to try and forget about the things they almost imagined with the crystal claws deal. And, although Lisa had the feeling she had some research left to do, she could see in her eyes that she wanted to get out of there already. And, with her quite frightening tone, the Prodigy would be happy to tell her to go away, so...

"I think we're done for today," Lisa stated, getting Penelope's attention. "I may need to do some research on my own, but it's better than forcing you to stay here and do something you don't want to do. Thanks for your cooperation."

The redhead rolled her eyes, as if to say "finally," then got up and started to walk away, hands on her pockets. As she walked away, however, Lisa suddenly realized she forgot to ask something, so she got off the bench and shouted:

"Wait!"

Penelope stopped right on her tracks.

"What was up with your attitude before?" the prodigy inquired as took a couple steps forward. "I mean, you don't seem like the type to be... aggressive, you know? I mean, sure, by Lola's standards, you'd probably have the face of a thug, but-"

"I act tough for the sake of our kind, four-eyes."

Lisa stopped and turned back to see Penelope, her arms folded behind her back. She continued to speak as her and Lisa's blew in the wind, and the scientist listened intently:

"You know how it feels like, don't you? To be considered lesser because of how you look? You and I look like what most people would consider "nerds." Pure smarts, little brawn. People will think we're smarter than the rest, but when it comes to defending ourselves, there's nothing we can do. They think we're helpless, harmless, that a little bit of intimidation will be enough to convince us to serve them unconditionally."

The prodigy couldn't really claim to have experience any of that before. However, she also couldn't claim to not have seen such events take place: She was one of Lincoln's sisters, of course, and going to the same school as him meant that she would see sights similar to what Penelope describe. Lincoln was even the victim of such scenes.

"Which is why I have a goal that I plan to fulfill regardless of the obstacles presented against me!" Penelope exclaimed, clenching her fist and raising it as she declared, "I will let them know that we, "nerds," aren't just some random weaklings they can use to get what they want! We're people! We deserve respect!"

Penelope lowered her fist, then muttered with a murderous intent, "And they deserve to be taught a lesson they'll never forget."

"Who are these "they" you're talking about?" Lisa asked concerned. "Are they people we're gonna have to worry about in the future? Or are these just random bullies you refuse to call by name?"

"... The "they" I'm talking about are beings beyond what we could comphrehend, with a malice just as unfathomable," Penelope folded her arms. "My forces have already dealt with some of their avatars, but I still need to gather strength. Only then, can I make them truly pay for what they did to my friends... to my daughter..."

Then, with furious intent, Penelope opened her eyes and looked straight at the reader.

"To my Clyde."

However, it turned out she was simply looking at Lisa, who hit the ground soon afterwards.

"But anyhow, I'm done with you for today," the redhead backed away and sighed. "I'm gonna go back home before I suddenly start pulling even scarier faces at you."

Penelope walked away, and as soon as she was out of view, Lisa realized something:

"Wait, did she mention she had a daughter?!"