A/N: I cannot offer excuses at this point for how late this chapter is, it's almost a week past where I normally post, but let me at least implore to you readers that I wrote every chance I could.

That also includes on other story ideas, which to me is no excuse but still necessary to put out there. I have recent ideas for stories in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Kingdom Hearts, and even a crossover of Pokémon and Last of Us, as well as two old ideas of a crossover with World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy X/X-2 and a normal fanfic for Warriors.

Do you people see yet how difficult my mind can be? But as I've stated in the past, Disney Academy comes first and foremost, and only one-shots have been cleared for publishing. So if you want some material from me during my off time I recommend looking out for two one-shots by the name of Anachronism and Transcendence on my profile.

I know that the polls at disney-campus, or otherwise known as the DA website, said you guys wanted a chapter with Emmaline and Xiu, and I thought the perfect way to set up my idea would be with Sienna. So today's chapter is all about those female minor characters, because they actually rock! They may not stand out in this crowd but they're just as lovable as any of the other submissions I received. A story is only as good as its characters with the smallest of roles, after all.

And no, I know next to nothing about sports and their terminology so I'm trying my best. The next couple of chapters with tryouts in them might not make any sense to people who do know or play these sports.

Disclaimer: I own no copyrights affiliated with any Disney film, characters, or items thereof and therefore do not have any monetary gain in writing and publishing this story. I do, however, own the rights to my own OC's to be mentioned in this story: Leanne Hawkins, Arthur Robinson, Renak, and Mitzi, as well as any others I may create as the story continues. I do not own the rights to any OC's submitted and used in the story, I only have expressed permission by their creators to exploit them.

Enjoy!

Sienna Evanden

I guess you could say that life at the Academy was fun. Once the ominous feelings set on by Mrs. Tremaine began to fade life moved on as normal. Tryouts were occurring over the next few weeks, it then being the final week of August, and I waited outside the Saber girls' dorm for my friends to accompany me in watching. Not because I didn't want to go alone.

Oh no, never that.

Classes had just let out around a half an hour ago, but it didn't take long for Emmaline and Renée to come marching down the sidewalk linked by their elbows. They both spoke in hushed, giggly whispers and it brought a smile to my face. "Hey you two."

"Sienna, come quickly you must hear this story!" Renée ran towards me with Emmaline in tow, eliminating any need on my part to approach them. "Tell her Emma, dear."

Emmaline opened her mouth but the sound that split the air - a screech that made me jump out of my skin - definitely wasn't her voice. When Emma herself and Renée were tackled out of nowhere, it finally dawned on me that Leanne had arrived. She crept up behind the two and pounced, and the brunette hung over their shoulders laughing.

"I hope you gals weren't planning on leaving me behind."

Renée shoved Leanne off of her shoulder and onto Emma, scoffing. "Of course not! But we might have had to if you were going to take any longer."

Emmaline smiled at her darker haired friend, obliged to link arms with her instead. "Where are Xiu and Raquel? They both mentioned coming to watch with us."

"Xiu won't come out of our room." Leanne said. She stuck out her tongue, looking over at me. "And Rocky is practicing for martial arts tomorrow. She told me you should be too, Sienna, so you can both be on the team."

"Oh I don't know, I'm pretty sure I'll do fine." I brushed some hair out of my face, a bit nervous to be the subject at the time.

Thankfully Renée reminded us that we would be late if we didn't go right away and we began the march across campus. We made it to the plaza in the center of the school before another distraction made itself known. Barking pierced the air and a medium-sized dog flashed by, our good friend Sahar on its heels.

"Kalbi! Slow down!" Sweat drenched parts of her clothes I noticed as she passed, and we as a group stood stunned at the sight - though who wouldn't be a bit surprised? It was never made apparent if pets were allowed at the school, since a little less than half of us were animals.

The first to react was Emmaline, taking off after Sahar despite their lead. "Don't worry, I'll help her out. Don't wait up!"

Leanne looked about ready to follow her friends but a sudden shivering in her shirt pocket made her stop. "Oh no, Morph!" A pink gelatinous blob shot out from the pocket and circled our now three woman group, chirping. "Morph, c'mere this minute!"

Morph whimpered, choosing my head to hide behind. I had to stifle a laugh at the creature - having no real idea what it was but knowing it had to be harmless - before gently picking it out of the air. "It's so cute."

"Cute but mischeivous." Leo crossed her arms over her chest, smiling at the blob.

"Sounds just like someone I know." Renée commented wryly, coming up behind the two of us to push us forward. "Let's chitchat on the way there, shall we?"

We had to give in then, with whistles and other sounds echoing on the wind, but Leanne explained the whole deal with Morph on the way to the field. Apparently he was a shapeshifter - hence the appropriate name - and all while Leo talked he changed into various small images to emphasize her points. He had been in the family since Leanne's father was young, and she joked about how lucky Morph was for being a long-living species.

Eventually we reached the field where a hefty crowd had gathered, both participants and viewers. I still half expected football goals and ten meter markings, even though Renée explained that this kind of football would be the European sort. We sidled into an empty section of the bleachers and I tried to pick out who was trying out. I knew David was, and I spotted him chatting with another boy in the center of the crowd, and along with him were a kid from my history class and Mason. David turned away from the guy he had been talking to and apparently spotted us sitting there because he waved in our direction.

"You can do it!" Leanne's cheer was on a new level for her, and with it directly in my ear I had to block it out with my hands. Renée screamed something similar, that I could tell even without my hearing intact, and I couldn't stop a smile growing on my face.

David must've thought we were crazy, but all he did was turn to the coach - his own dad, Eugene, no less - with a grin. The athletes all gathered around for the speech Eugene was giving, boring in the eyes of spectators.

Leanne was the first to speak, holding Morph in one hand and stroking him with the other. "So, what are our plans for this weekend? I'm thinking we ask that cafeteria guy, Kronk, to cook up a whole bunch of food and have a party."

"It's only Monday, Leo." It was silly to try and argue, but sometimes she got carried away. "And we don't have enough room for a party in one dorm."

Renée lounged in her seat, propping her feet up next to me. The wind blew at her orange curls and it hid what I guessed to be a glint in her eye. "Besides, we're not allowed to have parties."

"So? You wouldn't come just because of a few rules?"

"Kronk may be a fool, but even he might question ordering extra food. Say, enough to feed five or six extra people."

Leanne and I turned to look back at her. The brunette beside me let her head slump into her hand and blew out a large huff. "So... Are you for or against a party? Because if you're not coming then maybe I pegged you wrong after all."

Renée chuckled and muttered something under her breath, though I managed to make out "connard" as my French teacher in 8th grade made sure we were as street smart as we were book smart. That little tidbit made me giggle and it left Leanne looking more confused than ever. "Of course I'm coming! But if we're planning on making this a real event we need to approach the right people, make sure we don't get found out. I think we can trick Cookie easier than we could Kronk and-"

"No!"

I hadn't realised Leanne had yelled at the same time as me until other spectators - and yes, even some of the prospective team members - were staring in our direction with mixed looks of confusion and shock. Morph had been squished in Leanne's hands and his pink form dismembered itself to fly around her head. I cleared my throat, turning back as the team dispersed to start practicing and praying that I looked less awkward than I felt. "H-He's just a terrible cook. I'm pretty sure he only gets to clean the kitchen."

"Yeah," Leanne followed up with less enthusiasm than before. "I've heard stories from Milo. He says it's enough to tear your stomach apart. Personally, I like mine just the way it is." And for added measure she wrapped her arms around her beloved tummy.

Renée rolled her eyes, letting her head drop back as she relaxed. "You might as well be trying to convince Horst..."

"Isn't he the guy who works at your father's restaurant?" I asked, still trying to place a face to the name.

"Worked, but yes he did. And he's not likely to help so don't even think about it Leo."

"Damn." Leanne hissed, cuddling Morph once more as though nurturing her broken dream of hosting a party. The shapeshifter chirped and changed into the form of a brown haired man in his late thirties wagging a finger at her. "Oh quit it, Morph. Dad would be yelling at me anyway if he heard that."

The man frowned and started making angry gestures and screaming, and while it looked pretty serious the killing factor in the display was the fact that Morph seemed to not want to repeat any foul or angry language, so all he did was chirp very loud. Renée finally let the urge slip and laughed, though in her attempt to cover it up she made a snorting sound which didn't make the situation any less awkward.

After that point a whistle blew marking the first mock game, and as my companions continued their debate on plans for the following Saturday I made an effort to cheer on my friends in the group. David and my history friend were on one team and Mason was on the opposite. I felt relieved that during most of the game they weren't against each other, because then I'd have no clue who to cheer for more. And even so they might be on the same team next time, or even if they both made the team.

It turned out that watching tryouts was far inferior to participating in them, and eventually we three decided to wait for David at the cafeteria. We sat in our normal spot and bought small gelatin packs from the deluxe vending machine around the back of the building. It was normally reserved for staff and seniors but with Morph transformed into a key card Leanne managed to snag us a snack.

"Why don't we just tell Kronk that it's a study party?" Leanne offered up the idea with a mouth full of gelatin, and some of it falls back out of her mouth into the cup. "At least then we can have some of that... what was it, pizza? That stuff was pretty good."

I had to laugh at her tone about the cheap knock off the school fed us - better than public school lunch but still very unlike the big corporations. It was times like this that I missed having Hungry Howard's or Pizza Shack. "That might work. Hey, have you even figured out who to invite?"

"Dean." Renée hummed, dodging a piece of flying gelatin sent by Leanne. "Don't try to deny it. After all we French are supposed to be masters of love. You know there's something more than-"

"We're just friends. And that's a maybe." Leanne held up a spoonful for Morph to eat, pretending that he was a more important part of the conversation. "He thinks I'm an eccentric weirdo."

"You don't know that." I tried to reason with her.

"He told me those exact words."

"Yeah, after you told him he had a stick up his arse." Renée was giving her a firm glower, as if she couldn't possibly be thinking what she was. "And you both promptly started laughing about what David did in Engineering that day. At least come to terms with the idea that you two have something more special than you realize."

Leanne refused to speak after that, staring into her gelatin cup as she finished it off. I'd known her for a few weeks by then, and this seemed normal for. A wild child like her having normality seemed like such a strange concept.

Emmaline Westchester

Perhaps it hadn't quite dawned on me until it was too late that I most likely wouldn't be able to catch up to Sahar. But as I caught a flash of dark hair and tan skin I reaffirmed to myself that I wouldn't quit. I had to put in an extra burst of speed but soon I saw my friend turning a corner towards the Administrations Office. I rounded the brick wall and nearly collided with Sahar, who was crouched with her arms tightly wrapped around the dog's neck.

She looked proud of herself and looked back over her shoulder to smile at me. "I finally caught the little rascal."

"Congratulations." I said with a smile, approaching the two slowly. The dog, Kalbi if I remembered correctly, was panting in a manner that spoke of satisfaction, likely in getting its owner to chase after it. "Do you want some help getting him home?"

"Ahem." Kalbi's jaws parted awkwardly as his tongue swiped over his whiskers, and he shook out his fur and ultimately out of Sahar's grasp. "This 'little rascal' can walk himself back to that chicken coop of a prison."

Sahar was still getting used to this new development after entering the Academy apparently. She stood up and smiled sheepishly at her pet. "R-Right. Well c'mon Kalbi, that coop is your home for the next few years so get used to it."

"Yes, master." Kalbi snorted - or in the way that closely resembled a snort - before trotting away. As Sahar and I followed I heard him muttering and saw him sniffing around at everything.

"He's such a strange dog." I commented quietly. He was nothing like the graying bloodhound that my mother had when I was small. Bayard would follow her orders to the word and was always curled up at her feet while she read by the fire.

Sahar huffed as Kalbi paused momentarily by a bush to mark his territory. "He's usually so much nicer. I think he just wants to aggravate me for bringing him here..."

"Why did you bring him?"

"He's my best friend!" Sahar snapped, crossing her arms tightly. "We go everywhere together and I wasn't going to leave him at home. Now I'm not sure if that was the best idea."

I turned to look at her, a small frown forming on my face. "Maybe you just need to compromise."

"Compromise?"

"He's complaining about being left in your dorm all of the day, and you're upset that he takes off every chance he gets." With each point I held up a hand, and I placed them gently together. "Perhaps you can take him to visit the other students when you have the time. I go and visit them almost every day."

Sahar took a moment to contemplate this. The thought crossed my mind that many of the human students weren't particularly fond of their animal compatriots. If Sahar agreed with them I might have insulted her, which wasn't first on my agenda.

"Okay." Sahar nodded slowly. "That sounds fine. Maybe we should head over now. Kalbi, c'mon boy!"

The brown and cream dog had been bathing himself up until then, but he snapped to attention at his master's voice. When he saw her walking away from the dorms he leaped to his paws, trotting after her. I'd never seen a dog's tail wag so rapidly before in my life.

It didn't take long for us to reach the animal dorms at all, and most of the faculty we met along the way seemed to think Kalbi was just another student they hadn't met yet. It wasn't a solid confirmation that he was allowed to stay, but any bit of positive news was welcomed. We had just reached the main plaza of the animal section of the school when a few familiar voices rang out.

"Emmaline!"

I looked off to my left to see little Brayden sitting on top of Renak's back, and when the grizzly bear stood up to see me he had to cling onto the bear's neck fur just to stay on. Mitzi and Thyme were seated at their table and they each waved me over. Sahar followed a bit slower, although I did take off in order to give Renak a giant hug. The grizzly chuffed and wrapped his large paws around me so that I effectively disappeared fron the neck up.

"I wondered when we might see you today." Mitzi commented, picking Thyme up in her hands. She walked over and gave me a one-armed hug. Her smile was brightened as she noticed Sahar. "Oh! Who's this?"

I climbed out of Renak's embrace to lay a hand on Sahar's shoulder. "This is my good friend Sahar Masih. Her parents are Aladdin and Jasmine. And her dearest friend Kalbi."

Sahar smiled at them, petting her dog as he approached the group cautiously. Thyme seemed to be upset on seeing the dog and climbed onto Mitzi's shoulder. Mitzi herself was pleased and placed a gloved hand on her chest. "I'm Mitzi, Minnie's daughter. This is Thyme, Remy's son. He's usually a bit more social but dogs make him nervous."

"I am not nervous."

Renak fell back down onto his four legs and dipped his head to let Brayden down. The young chicken laughed as he slid over Renak's snout. "Brayden Little. My dad's Chicken Little. Renak here is Koda's son."

Said bear leaned forward to sniff at Kalbi, and the dog shrank back with a growl. Renak huffed at this reaction and stepped back to where he was. "I'd say the dog's as nervous as Thyme is."

"I am not nervous!"

Sahar blended in with my animal friends much more effectively than I ever hoped she would, and by the time the sun began setting we had been including her on our own secret phrases and jokes. Kalbi even made friends with Thyme, and whenever he stepped out of line Renak was there to keep the peace. But eventually it was time to return to our respective dorms.

"Sahar, sweetie, you've gotta promise to visit again!" Mitzi was the most enthusiastic of the bunch and she waved with both arms as we left.

Sahar waved back at them with a grin. "I promise!" Kalbi barked directly after her in mirror of her vow, but as they receded into the background he looked up at Sahar expectantly. Sahar and I both looked back down at him, confused. "What?"

"Oh nothing really. I just wanted to say thanks. You know, for letting me have my way once and awhile." Kalbi looked as grateful as a dog could get, but I still detected a small trace of criticism.

"You could do something for her in return." I suggested. "After all we had to chase you down earlier."

Sahar sneered at the thought and she didn't hesitate in taking advantage of the prospect of being listened to. "How about you stop marking your territory all over Raquel's clothes?"

"But she called me a fleabag that one time!"

"No one else heard her say that. And besides you're covered in them."

"Maybe you should clean me up then."

I decided that today, just this once, I would let them continue bickering.

Xiu Li

Normally homework isn't a huge problem for me. I am studious and I retain most everything I read or learn. But one topic I had never researched or had the chance to explore was the history of other nations, mostly Western. I had heard very little of Greece and Rome before coming to this academy and while one of their biggest heroes happened to be teaching the class I still didn't seem to understand much of what we were learning in this unit.

A few of my peers recommended signing up for a tutoring session, and some figured taking a break from work might do best and to accompany them to the sports functions taking place this week. But I had been told by Hercules that a nice study session in the school's library would do the trick.

"If you're sure." Leanne crowed as she opened the door leading out of our dorm. "I'll see you later Xiu!"

I counted out a few minutes before packing up my collection of notes and extra parchment. Finding the library was a bit more difficult than I had imagined, as no building seemed quite large enough to house the "millions of books on every subject" that I'd heard tale of. I had to buckle down and ask a wandering faculty member where to go.

Giselle - whom I remember as the secondary teacher of Musical Studies - was happy to help me and led me to a set of two ornate doors. It connected to the back of the Administrations Office and as far as I could remember there was no room for it to lead to. "Are you certain...?"

"Oh, silly. Everything in this school is run by magic. Just go on in and ask Fauna or Daisy to show you what you're looking for." Giselle waved me off with a smile and I gingerly opened one of the doors.

I expected to be swept away by the sheer notion that a massive library could fit in such a small space. But it never crossed my mind that it just might be the most beautiful sight I'd yet to lay eye on. Two stories of polished marble and grand bookcases. My brother had shown me artist drawings of personal libraries after he returned home, but this was magnificent in comparison.

"Dearie?"

I snapped out of my awed state of paralysis and looked down to see an older woman dressed in green floating before me. Her wings fluttered and caught my attention for a moment before I recalled why I was in the library to begin with. "Oh, yes I do wish to ask for assistance."

The woman nodded once and led me to the front desk where a finely dressed duck sat organizing the items before her. "Daisy, could you please help this young student I have here? Flora and I need to help Huey, Dewey, and Louie again. It seems that their store is fairly popular and they've run out of stock already."

Daisy looked between the two of us before letting out a soft sigh. "Certainly. But you can tell Merryweather that the next one is hers. Good luck Fauna." Fauna flew off to the far side of the library and Daisy stood from her seat, taking the pair of spectacles she wore off of her face. She eyed me expectantly, though I didn't notice any hostility, only impatience. "Alright, what is it you're looking for?"

"Anything about the Greeks or the Roman Empire." I shuffled through some of my notes, trying to find the list of points that I needed to work on. "Culture and the deities they worshipped. Perhaps a book about what they influenced."

"Right, I had another one come through asking about Greece." Daisy walked me up the grand staircase leading to the second floor and past several rows of shelves that seemed to have no end. We passed a small space where tables and chairs had been placed and she allowed me to leave my notes at a seat before showing me where to look. "Most of these date back a few decades, some are even hundreds of years old, so treat them carefully. If you still have a few questions just ring the bell at your table and someone will come and assist you."

I thanked her quietly and began looking over every book that even mentioned the two nations. By the time I returned to my seat I had filled my arms with books, some thin in width but most as wide as my palms, yet I still went to look for more. But when I returned a familiar flash of yellow hair stood out in my peripheral and I realized that Arthur was the one standing there, eyes scanning the rows meticulously. I wasn't sure if he noticed me until his head turned slightly and our eyes met. He smiled and motioned for me to join him, and I did so with little hesitation.

"Lovely evening to learn about the Greco-Roman times, huh?" He reached out to sidle a book from the shelf and glanced over a random section. I wasn't sure how to respond to the supposed question but he continued almost immediately, placing the book back. "I already know quite a bit about that time period, but this collection... It's so extensive! There are texts nearly as old as the Greeks are."

I nodded slowly, looking over the selection. "It is perfect for those who know very little on the subject. And if I may admit I fall into that category."

"Really? Well I could help you out. I'm no expert but between my prior knowledge and this galleria of books you could probably turn into one. C'mon, let's get started." Arthur snatched up one last book from the shelves - possibly the one he'd been searchning for - and headed back towards the empty section of tables. I figured that meant he was going to go out of his way and help me regardless of whether I wanted him to or not.

When we returned to the table I had been occupying we were both startled and Arthur even dropped the book he was holding. Almost every book I had picked up before, even the smallest of articles, was starting to fly back slowly to the section it came from. I took off after the closest cluster of them and had to pounce on top of them in order to stop them in their course. Arthur flew past me to grab the others and with our combined effort we managed to save all but one of the books.

We dropped into the seats at our table and I asked Arthur what had just happened. He laughed softly and opened the closest book, looking down at it as he spoke. "The librarians have an organization spell cast on the library. If it detects any book left alone or unattended it automatically places them back in their place. I didn't know you had some left over here or I would have come back right away."

"Well, it can't be helped." I peered across the table at what he was reading, my curiousity bettering me.

He glanced up at me and smiled a bit brighter. Picking up one of my spare pieces of parchment Arthur placed it inside the book and closed it before facing me again. "So, what should we work on first? It helps to know the trouble spots."

I told him most of the material that had me stumped and from there we spent almost an hour working on uncomplicating everything. I could remember most of the gods' names and after awhile Arthur helped me come up with ways of recalling information on them. We both decided to walk back to the dorms together and Arthur quizzed me as we went. I actually got most of them right, only missing about five of the questions he asked.

As we turned the corner leading to the dorms I saw Emmaline and Sahar walking in the same direction, as well as a dog that I thought might be a student. Though he didn't look like any of the animal friends Emmaline always talked about.

"Hey Sahar!" Arthur called out to them and the trio stopped to let us catch up. "What are you guys up to?"

"Kalbi and I went for a 'walk'." Sahar looked down at the dog, Kalbi, with a smirk clear on her features. "Emmaline tagged along and we ended up visiting some of her friends. You?"

Arthur hefted up the thin novel he had checked out before leaving the library. "Just studying up with my friend Xiu. There were a few hiccups but I can proudly say we're ready for this next test."

Emmaline tipped her upper body to the side, trying to read the cover of Arthur's book. "'Humanity's Limitations'? That's an interesting topic."

"What? Oh, no this is for personal business. Leisure reading."

"It sounds like a heavy topic." Sahar looked at the book with a frown but it vanished once Kalbi barked at her. She leaned down to ruffle his fur, chuckling. "I bet you're hungry. Let's- Oh! Arthur would you mind coming with us?"

Arthur looked confused at the request but he walked over to stand beside her, nodding to me. "Not at all. What for?"

"The Wonder Watch, it keeps electrocuting things. Sienna says it's just shorting out. We had to bury it into the flower bed to keep us safe." Arthur nodded in understanding and the two walked off together deep in a conversation I couldn't fathom, leaving Emmaline and myself standing there.

She and I shared a fleeting glance before walking off to our own dorm. Emmaline had a smile on her face throughout and every now and then she would laugh under her breath. I wanted to ask her what she was thinking of but it would also feel too forward. It wouldn't be until we were both in our dorm room and Leanne had returned with Renée that anyone would ask the question.

"When I was visiting my friends earlier today in Animal Alley-"

"'Animal Alley'?"

"Yes Leanne, that's what some of the animal students are calling their section of the school. My friend Thyme came up with the name."

"I didn't ask for a know-it-all, Rini."

"Call me that again you wanna-be steampunk priss!"

"G-Girls, calm down."

"Xiu is right. Now, allow me to finish. Sahar and I were there and Brayden - he's a chicken, you know - he wanted to try out some of the comedy material he'd thought up over the years. One of the jokes he told us is this: What does a family of chickens do on Saturday? The go on a peck-nic."

"..."

"Nnh."

"Tch, hahaha."

"Now you know why I was laughing."

"Emma, I know you are great friends and all, but this boy has no future in a comedic career."

"Renée, don't crush her dreams like that!"

"It's not her dream, it's this chicken's."

"Oh I understand, that joke was the only one I understood."

"What were some others?"

"Leanne, no!"

"Well the one I really didn't get was 'Which day of the week does a chicken hate most?' Fry-day. I should think, based on his stories of home, that it would be the best day of the week."

"Oh my..."

I could only sit there and pretend to be reading while they spoke. What in the world could they mean? Days like this left me wondering what it was like being another person.

A/N: I actually made each section of this chapter come somewhat full circle. Or at least come to a point of being mentioned in the end, since Emmaline never mentions Xiu during her section. Don't forget to cast your vote at the DA website and tell me which Point of View you're most looking forward to next chapter!