Author's Notes: Just a heads up, but this chapter and the next couple following it are probably going to be a little bit shorter than what I normally post. There are a couple reasons for this, but the biggest one has to do with finding a good stopping point; I've run into this problem in some of my other stories where I try to cram too much into the chapter and it just becomes exhausting to write…and probably to read. So this chapter will be the No Brain Cell Squad's meeting with Crowley, the next will be the dorm leader meeting, and the one following that will be Devon and Grim playing Spelldrive (yes, I went with the localization for this one; it just flowed better to me than Magift did) with the Ramshackle ghosts and getting voluntold by Crowley to investigate the…incidents around campus and trying to figure what the heck is happening.

The second reason is because I will be going on vacation later this month and I won't be writing during that time. I normally try to post at least one chapter a week, so I'm trying to make sure that I have something I can post both before I leave and after I get back. You guys have been so supportive and amazing and I don't wanna leave you hanging.

"Pardon the intrusion, headmaster," Deuce said as he, Ace, Devon, and Grim walked into Crowley's office that afternoon.

"S'cuse us," Ace echoed.

"What they said," Devon finished, Grim perched on her shoulder.

Crowley looked up from the papers he was pouring over. "Ah good, you're all here. Let's get right to the matter at hand, then." He set the papers aside. "There's something of the utmost importance I must discuss with all of you now that things at Heartslabyul have calmed down. If you are to become proper mages, you need to know more about the berserk state Mr. Rosehearts fell into. As such, a proper debriefing is in order."

"You said it was called…Overblot…if I'm not mistaken," Deuce recalled.

"Yes, quite right," Crowley confirmed.

Ace rubbed the back of his head. "My older brother told me about Overblot before but… To actually see someone build up enough blot to become-" He gestured vaguely and shuddered. "that… Well, I guess Cater wasn't too far off the mark when he called it a "dark, berserker state", huh?"

Devon raised her hand. "Hey, hi, hello, I'm new here so I hope you don't mind my asking but…what exactly is blot, anyway?"

Crowley blinked as if suddenly remembering that Devon was, in fact, not familiar with magic in any way, shape, or form. "Ah, yes, Devon and Grim will need a rundown on blot as well." He stood up from his desk to pat Devon's head. "Never you fear, hatchling! I'll tell you everything you need to know!" His standard self-congratulatory smile was back. "Ah, I'm so very gracious, aren't I?" He cleared his throat. "Blot is a type of waste created after magic is used, similar to how a vehicle creates exhaust when it burns fuel to run. Spells burn magic to manifest and create blot at the same time. That should be easy enough to understand."

"So…blot is basically magical exhaust," Devon reasoned. "That sounds…not so great."

"That's correct," Crowley replied. "Research on blot has been conducted since the dawn of recorded history, but there is still quite a bit of work to do to unravel all its mysteries. What we know for certain is that blot is a toxin and building up too much can cause considerable damage to a mage's mind and body."

"Oh yeah. My grandma always used to warn me about using too much magic too quickly," Ace recalled. "She'd always say, "Don't you go casting magic however you please!" Here I thought she just didn't want me to break stuff."

Crowley nodded. "With great power comes great risk. One cannot use magic infinitely, no matter how powerful a mage they are."

"Hang on," Deuce interjected, turning his gaze to Zephyr as they hovered nearby. "Zephyr and the rest of the Ramshackle Wisps don't seem to have any trouble using as much magic as they want. Wouldn't they be building up blot too?"

"We went over this before, remember?" Ace reminded him. "The Wisps are made of magic, so they don't accumulate blot, but they do run the risk of running out of energy and disappearing completely if they use too much magic outside of the type they're made of and don't take care to recharge. That's why New York brought both Terra and Aloe to fix our rose maze; theoretically either Wisp, or even Zephyr if they wanted to, could've done the whole job themself, but a big job like that would've caused way too much strain once they moved outside of their specialty. The only real exception so far is Regina, but that's only because they're made of multiple types of magic." He smirked when he caught sight of Devon's surprised expression. "And you assume I never listen when you tell me stuff."

Devon snorted before punching him gently in the arm. "First time for everything, right?" She turned her attention to Deuce. "Ace pretty much has the gist of it" She reached into her bag and pulled out her staff. "And that's why they wanted me to have this bad boy: since it's imbued with magic already, it can either add an extra kick to Wisps' specialty magic or it can lessen the amount of lifeforce they have to expend when they use other types of magic."

Deuce nodded slowly. "I think I get it. I guess there's always a risk when using magic, whether you're an organic being or not."

"Wait, wait!" Grim spoke up. "Us organic creatures don't have a recharge function like the Wisps do! So you're saying the more we use magic, the unhealthier it gets?!"

"Not…as such," Crowley replied. He tapped a finger to his chin in thought. "Hmm… It might be faster to show you rather than try to explain." He looked up toward the ceiling and called out. "My dear ghost friends! Would you be so kind as to come here for a moment?"

Almost instantly, two of the campus ghosts materialized next to them. "You called, headmaster?"

Ace jumped back in surprise. "W-Whoa, whoa! What's all this about?"

"Please lend me a hand in helping to temper these young ones," Crowley beseeched the ghosts.

Deuce blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Sure thing!" the second ghost agreed. "We'll go a round or two with 'em!"

"Get your magical pens ready, everyone!" Crowley ordered. He looked over at Devon. "You're free to use your staff for this, hatchling. I'm quite curious to see how you and your Wisp companions work together."

At the headmaster's words, the orb at the top of the staff began to glow a bright red. It elongated itself just in time for Zephyr to sink into it, causing the orb to alternate between red and green.

"That color…," Ace began as he watched the colors change. "Hang on, has Flapjack just been hangin' out in there this whole time?!"

Devon shrugged. "They like being inside the staff, what can I say?"

"Focus up, everyone!" Crowley called out. "Your special lesson with the headmaster isn't over yet!"

"Okay, but like, does anyone even know what the point of all this is?" Devon asked as barrel-rolled away from one of the ghosts' attacks.

"Ya got me," Ace replied as he deflected the second ghost's attack with a wind spell.

"I'm startin' to think people around here don't like givin' straight answers," Grim commented as he blew his signature blue fire, causing one of the ghosts to yell out in pain.

"No kidding," Deuce agreed, dropping a cauldron on the ghost Grim had burned and trapping it. "Look, Grim, we got one!"

Devon smiled. If this had been a normal fight, they likely wouldn't have been able to banter like this, but this was a "special lesson" (apparently) and they didn't think the headmaster was trying to kill them. "I've got an idea," Devon said to Ace as she backflipped away from another attack. "Flapjack and I have been working on something and I think now might be the perfect time to try it. Follow my lead?"

Ace smirked in response. "You know I'd follow you anywhere, New York."

Devon smirked back as she pointed her staff. The orb at the top began to glow red again and a burst of magic fired from the top of the staff…only to hit the wall behind the ghost, leaving a cloudy-looking oval shape on the wall.

The ghost blinked in confusion. "That was your big move?" The ghost laughed. "All that talk and you missed-"

They cut themself off when Devon quickly pointed the staff at her feet and another burst of magic shot out, leaving another oval shape on the ground that Devon subsequently fell into. The ghost glanced over their shoulder just in time to see that the oval on the wall was no longer clouded…and that Devon had just popped out of it.

"You sure about that~?" Devon asked mockingly before blasting the ghost with a wind spell, the top of her staff now glowing Zephyr's signature green color. The blast knocked the ghost towards Ace, who immediately dispatched the finishing blow. Devon smiled as she bounced over to Ace. "And that's how it's done~!" she cheered as they shared a high-five.

Crowley clapped twice to get everyone's attention. "Alright, everyone, that'll be enough." He turned his attention to the ghosts as they one Deuce had trapped floated up through the cauldron it had been stuck underneath. "You both have my thanks for the support. Great work out there!"

"Anytime, headmaster!" the ghosts chorused before fading away.

"And great work to the four of you, as well," Crowley continued as he turned back toward the group of freshmen. "It's nice to see that you all have no qualms about working together."

"Yeah well, after our little field trip to the mines, I think we've all learned that there's safety in numbers when it comes to this kinda stuff," Ace replied. "Even if you're confident in what you can do, it never hurts to have backup."

"Mmm. Would that all my students were as open to such notions," Crowley commented before looking over at Devon. "And as for you…" His face lit up in a bright smile as he clapped his hands together. "That was an even better showing than I expected! To think that you've grown so confident using that staff despite only having it for a few days!"

"Thanks, I guess, but I can't really take the credit here," Devon deflected, rubbing the back of her head. "Zephyr and Flapjack did all the work; all I really did was point the staff in the right direction."

"What was that thing with the circles that you did before?" Deuce asked, gesturing to the spot on the wall where one of the ovals had been placed, though there was no trace of it there now that Flapjack had released the spell. "I don't think I've ever seen warp magic used like that."

"That was an idea I got from watching Dominic play video games," Devon explained. "For a while, he was really into this one where the player had a special gun thing that could make portals to travel through to get to hard to reach places in the games and solve puzzles and stuff like that. I thought it'd be interesting to see if we could recreate something like that with Flapjack's magic and they agreed."

"And how did you communicate what these portals would look like?" Crowley asked. "I found it interesting that the first one you placed remained clouded and unusable until you'd placed a second one."

"It's…hard to explain," Devon replied. "I think the easiest way to tell it is that when I'm holding the staff, a link forms with the Wisps that are currently enchanting it, so they can see what I'm hoping the end result will be. In my brother's game, you have to open two portals for them to connect to each other; you can't travel through one if it isn't connected to another one. That's what I was trying to recreate here. Figured they might come in handy since you can set 'em up in advance. Riddle actually offered to teach me more about using the staff, so hopefully the Wisps and I will learn to utilize this baby to its fullest potential."

Crowley hummed in thought. "I see… I know I've told you before that a vivid imagination is the key to effective spellcasting and it seems you aren't lacking on that front." He smiled. "I look forward to seeing what else you and the Wisps can accomplish."

"I still can't believe you took him up on that, New York," Ace commented. "You know how strict he is…"

Dominic jerked to a stop as he and Harper walked toward the latter's car to head home from school for the day, an unexplained feeling of pride welling up in his chest.

"Dom? You good, man?" Harper asked.

"Yeah, I'm good…I think," Dominic replied, though he sounded a little distracted. "I can't explain why, but I have to weirdest urge to hug my sister right now."

"Oi, headmaster!" Grim interjected as he perched back on Devon's shoulder. "You still haven't explained what fightin' those ghosts has to do with blot!"

"Ah yes, we really should get back on track," Crowley agreed. "Grim, if you would take a look at the magic crystal around your neck…"

Grim looked down at his crystal and his blue eyes widened in shock. "W-What the-?! What are these blotches doin' on my crystal?!" He rubbed at the crystal in an attempt to wipe them away, but to no avail. "I can't wipe 'em off with my paw!"

"There should be small black smudges on your magic crystals that look like drops of ink," Crowley explained. "Those are the blots created when magic is used."

Deuce held his magical pen close to his face as he checked his own crystal. "If I look closely, there's small smudges on my magical pen too!"

"Blegh, this looks so gross!" Grim cried as he kept trying to scrub the blots away.

"Those blots aren't permanent, right?" Devon asked as she looked worriedly at her friends. "Is there a way to remove them?"

"Why, yes," Crowley replied.

Grim heaved a sigh of relief. "Whew! You had me worried for a second there!"

"Most blots will vanish on their own so long as the mage in question makes sure they're getting enough rest," Crowley elaborated. "Those magic crystals you all have are not only handy in helping to cast spells, but they also keep blot from accumulating directly within the caster's body." He smiled. "Isn't that great?"

"I think I get it," Deuce said, still looking at his magical pen. "So if we notice that our crystals are starting to darken, that means it's time to ease up on the magic for a bit."

"That's right. Take care of yourselves, make sure you're eating and sleeping well, and normal blots will disappear on their own," Crowley confirmed.

"Well, how 'bout that!" Grim exclaimed with a smile. "So when I become a top-tier mage, I'll be able to fire off awesome spells one after another with no problem! After all, I always eat my fill and sleep like a rock."

Devon nodded. "Can confirm."

"The amount of mana an individual has can vary from person to person, but generally speaking, the difference doesn't really affect the amount of blot a person can tolerate," Crowley replied. "There are exceptions, of course, but those tend to be rare."

"What do you mean?" Grim asked.

"I mean that even someone with quite a bit of mana, such as Mr. Rosehearts, need to be careful about how much blot they're accumulating. In fact, I'd argue that those with greater amounts of mana need to be even more careful than the average mage," Crowley clarified.

"So you're sayin' that if we aren't payin' attention and overdo it with our magic, we're gonna end up covered in blot, too," Ace summarized.

Crowley gave the group a scrutinizing look. "Well…with the amount of mana you lot possess, I don't think there's any serious danger of that. Isn't that wonderful~?"

"Woooow, that compliment only sounded slightly backhanded," Ace snarked with a frown.

"So if a mage uses too much magic and their crystal becomes completely black, does that mean they'll go into a dark, berserker mode like Riddle did?" Grim shuddered. "That evil monster spirit thing was really scary…"

"The amount of blot a person accumulates is greatly influenced by their mental state," Crowley explained. "Anger, sorrow, confusion, fear… Feeling those sorts of emotions for a prolonged period of time with swath the mage in negative energy and make it easier for blot to build up. This, in turn, results in Overblot occurring more easily as well."

"Negative energy…," Deuce repeated.

"You recall the giant shadow that appeared behind Mr. Rosehearts when he was rampaging, yes?" Crowley reminded them. "They say shades like that appear as the…incarnation, let's say, of negative energy that has fused with blot. However, the details surrounding what they actually are aren't fully understood at this time. As I mentioned before, there's still much we don't know about Overblot, due in part to there being very few cases of it happening."

"That's a good thing!" Ace huffed. "Who would want more of those things runnin' around? I know I certainly don't!"

"Yeah, I think I've hit my quota for giant, raging blot monster fights for the rest of…ever," Devon agreed.

Crowley nodded. "It truly is fortunate that Mr. Rosehearts was brought back to his senses. If the worst had come to pass…" He trailed off before suddenly shouting. "AAHHHH! I DON'T EVEN WANT TO CONSIDER IT! IT'S TOO AWFUL TO EVEN IMAGINE!"

The freshmen jumped at the unexpected outburst. "Geez! Don't just start shoutin' out of the blue like that, headmaster! You scared the crap outta us!" Grim scolded.

Crowley cleared his throat. "Ah, my apologies. I lost myself for a moment there." He brushed some non-existent dirt off of his coat. "This ended up becoming more long-winded than I'd planned, but the lesson I'm hoping you all take away from this is that using magic presents a unique set of dangers. You'd do well never to forget that."

"Yessir," the freshmen chorused.

"That brings your special lesson with your most gracious headmaster to an end!" Crowley concluded. "You all are dismissed."

"I've actually got a question before we head out, sir," Devon began. "Where exactly are we on the 'getting Devon home' front?"

Crowley stared at Devon, his mouth hanging open as a long awkward silence passed between them. "Ah…Aaahhhh… A way to send you back to your world…" His attempt at offering the girl a placating smile failed as she narrowed her eyes at him. He dabbed at his forehead with a handkerchief, finding a sudden interest in the papers on his desk. "Of course I'm diligently searching for one. I most certainly haven't forgotten or anything! It's just that my headmaster duties have had me so busy lately."

"Uh-huh. Try sayin' that while lookin' her in the eyes this time," came Grim's dry reply.

"I-I'm not lying," Crowley assured them, though his tone was far from convincing. "Getting ready for the Interdorm Spelldrive Tournament in October has had me swamped. I'm actually meeting up with all the dorm leaders to discuss it after we finish up here, as a matter of fact."

"A Spelldrive tournament?" Devon repeated. "What's that?"

Ace stared at her in shock. "Are you serious, New York?! You don't know what Spelldrive is?!"

Devon gave Ace a flat look before pointing to herself. "Girl from a magicless other world reporting in, homie. If something has the word 'magic' or anything related to magic in its name, odds are it probably doesn't exist where I'm from."

"I don't remember asking for extra helpings of backsass today, New York," Ace sniped back, his tone biting but his eyes shining with amusement.

Devon smirked, amusement dancing in her eyes as well. "Lucky for you, I'm giving it out for free. But seriously, what's Spelldrive?"

"Yeah, yeah! I wanna know too!" Grim added.

"It's a pretty famous sport here in Twisted Wonderland," Deuce explained. "There's even a pro league and world cup too."

"It's played with two teams of seven," Ace elaborated. "Basically, you score points by throwing a disk through the other team's goal. The team with the most points wins."

"Hmm…sounds a little like American football," Devon mused. "I bet DJ'd be into it."

Deuce tilted his head, tapping a finger to his chin. "American football…? Is that a sport from your world?"

Devon nodded. "Yep. DJ plays it." She smiled. "First game of the school year's probably comin' up too."

"I can't say I've ever heard of that sport myself," Crowley commented. "I'll have to look it up the next time I'm in the library. Who knows? It might even turn into a lead."

'Yes, I'm sure my way home hinges on a sport that literally no other country in my world plays,' Devon snarked inwardly.

"Ya know, it'd be pretty close to impossible for you or your brother to play Spelldrive, Dev," Ace said.

"Why's that?" Grim asked.

"Spelldrive is a sport that uses magic. Players carry the disk using magic and defensive and offensive plays are done with magic too," Deuce explained. "Your magic is certainly powerful, Dev, but it seems like it can only be used for very specific purposes. If I'm being honest here, you probably wouldn't be able to make it work for a recreational sport."

"Making the flashiest plays you can with your magic is also part of being a top player," Ace continued.

"Precisely!" Crowley exclaimed happily. "That's why our very own Night Raven College has a reputation for churning out Spelldrive champions! Countless alumni have gone on to become professional Spelldrive players after graduation! As Mr. Spade pointed out, Spelldrive is not just a mere athletic sport, but one that utilizes magic as well. Our Interdorm Spelldrive Tournament is attended not only by talent scouts and sponsors from professional teams, but also representatives from different magical industries around the world. In just a few short weeks, our coliseum will be lined with food stalls and visitors from every country will grace the stadium." He closed his eyes and smiled. "And thanks to the world-wide live broadcast, courtesy of state-of-the-art cameras, the entire world will be watching!"

"Cameras…?" Devon repeated. 'It's just students from Night Raven College playing though, right? I'd understand if it was a tournament between a bunch of different schools, but all this fuss just for one? Even the games back home don't get nearly this much hype.'

Grim's voice pulled Devon back to reality. "A world-wide broadcast! So if I play in the tournament, I'll be the center of everyone's attention?!"

"But of course!" Crowley replied. "Those who play in the tournament will also have multiple opportunities to be scouted by the pros or land any number of sponsorship deals."

"In your case, Grim, I think the scouts would be more surprised to see a monster out there tearing up the field," Deuce commented with amusement.

Grim beamed. "That settles it! I'll start a special training regime today, join a team, and blow everyone away with how amazing I am!"

"Ah. I'm sorry to say, Grim, but you won't be able to compete in the tournament," Crowley chimed in.

"Huh?!" Grim exclaimed, nearly falling off of Devon's shoulder.

"I've already said that this is an interdorm tournament multiple times, have I not?" Crowley reminded him. "Your dorm doesn't meet the seven person requirement needed to form a Spelldrive team, so Ramshackle wouldn't even be able to register."

"F-Fgnya?! But why?! How am I supposed to show the world how awesome I am?" Grim whined.

"Come now, Grim, don't look so sour," Crowley replied. "After all, taking to the field as a player isn't the only way for students to be involved. Selling drinks in the stands on the day of, preparing the playing field beforehand…there are plenty of tasks to be done."

"No way! Nuh-uh! I wanna hear that crowd cheerin' for me!" Grim protested. "I wanna hear "Grim's so cool!" "Hey, did you see that epic play Grim just made?" That sorta thing, ya know?"

"His delusions are so simple it's almost sad," Ace whispered to Devon, who snorted in response.

"It can't really be helped since you don't have enough people," Deuce said matter-of-factly. "I'm sorry to say, but you might have to give up on entering the tournament this year and hope some freshmen get sorted into Ramshackle next fall."

"Yes, and if you'll excuse me, I really must be off," Crowley said as he stood up from his desk and began walking towards the doors to his office. "Ahh, I'm so very busy, busy, busy."

Grim continued to pout as Crowley walked out of the room. "Oh sure. Thanks for takin' time outta your busy schedule to crush all my dreams, ya big, feathered jerk!"

Ending Notes: I hadn't planned to write that surprise Dominic cameo, but I just missed him so much.

Let me tell ya, it has been an experience trying to piece together exactly what the heck the timeline is in this game. We're still in early September now and Crowley says the tournament is in October but never really gives us much more than that. Given that I'll be covering the first Halloween event (still on the fence about the second one) after this arc wraps up and I need Devon and Leona's relationship to start improving before that, I'm setting the tournament in early October. Octavinelle will be next, followed by the Ghost Marriage event (which I'm hoping will be out on the English server by that point), then Scarabia, then Pomefiore. That's all I really have set in stone for right now. Since Bean's Day is confirmed to take place in February (and the Pomefiore arc wraps up in mid-February before jumping right into the Ignihyde arc), I'm planning on covering it during the Pomefiore chapter. I'm mostly just slotting the other events in where I think they'd make the most sense, but even then it might have to change once the Diasomnia chapter starts dropping.

Thank you all so much for reading! As always, feedback and constructive criticism are always welcome. Geekinthepink, out!