Devon caught an earthy scent before the dream even completely unfolded before her. "It's been a hot minute, but it looks like we're back at it again with another Lion King dream."

Sure enough, the scene opened up to show Scar lounging inside Pride Rock with Zazu trapped in a cage made out of some poor animal's ribcage. Scar demanded that Zazu entertain him, while Zazu lamented that he never would've had to do this for Mufasa. Scar was about to tear into the hornbill for daring to mention his late brother's name, but everyone's favorite hyena trio showed up before he could. They complained that they were hungry; the lionesses refused to hunt, but even if they did, food and water were already scarce. Scar dismissively told them to eat Zazu, clearly not willing (or perhaps not able) to do anything to actually rectify the situation. Banzai muttered to the other hyenas that things were better when Mufasa was king, causing Scar to yell at them to get out.

"I don't get it," Devon commented as she watched the hyenas run off. "Scar got what he wanted, so what happened to all that motivation he had before he became king? Makes me wonder if it was really about the crown after all…"

"Oi. Get up," a deep voice ordered, pulling Devon and Grim out of sleep.

A blurry figure with a head of silver hair stood in the doorway of the room. Devon rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and Jack came into focus. "Jack?"

"What're you doin' in our dorm?" Grim asked sleepily.

"I passed by during my morning run," Jack told them. "I was about to knock, but the doors opened on their own."

'Ah right. Jack was at our final strategy meeting for the Operation: Stop Savanaclaw,' Devon recalled.

"Anyway, today's the day of the tournament," Jack continued. "I had to make sure you didn't oversleep."

"Oh, right!" Grim exclaimed, suddenly alert. "We gotta catch Savanaclaw red-handed so Ramshackle can get on the tournament roster!"

"We got this," Devon agreed as she stretched.

"Hmm…," Jack said, crossing his arms and looking at them skeptically. "See you guys at the coliseum. Don't you dare go back to sleep."

"Bitch, I do what I want," Devon said playfully. Jack glared at her, but she just smiled and stuck her tongue out at him. "Don't worry, we're up."

"Mmhmm. An excellent turnout again this year," Azul commented as he and the Leech twins made their way down the street leading to the coliseum, watching as students and guests alike milled about. The area was lined with stalls and the vendors were selling everything from snacks to souvenirs. "I must make sure to keep an eye on the sales numbers for the food stalls. We can't have vendors underreporting their earnings, after all." He chuckled to himself.

"Dorm leader," Jade interjected, pulled Azul from his capitalistic musings. "Preparations for the player's procession to the coliseum have been completed. They will be making their grand entrance in ten minutes."

Azul nodded. "Understood. Thank you both for your hard work, Jade, Floyd."

"Hey, hey, Azul," Floyd chimed in, poking his dorm leader in the shoulder. "Why are the players entering the coliseum from the east building this year? There's already people crowdin' that entrance like a buncha barnacles on the hull of a ship. It gonna be real hard for the players to get through."

"That was a request from a client. I'm afraid I'm not privy to all the details," Azul supplied.

"Oh? Does this request have anything to do with the potion you were brewing the other day?" Jade asked. "The one that increases the strength of one's magic?"

"What do the procession and the potion have to do with each other?" Floyd asked. "I'm not seein' a connection."

Jade pressed a finger to his lips. "Shh… Please lower your voice, Floyd. We can risk someone overhearing."

An amused smile spread over Floyd's face. "Hmmm~? Is somethin' shady about to go down?"

"Even so, that potion will only last for 30 seconds, at best," Azul mused. "I have to wonder what he plans to do…"

Jade chuckled. "There's no need to play coy, Azul. You already know exactly what's about to happen, don't you?"

Azul shrugged dramatically. "Who can say?" He chuckled as well. "I can't wait to see how this plays out…"

"C'mon, tell what's goin' on, already!" Floyd demanded, sounding much like a child eager for a birthday present.

"I was planning to get some of the equipment in the lounge refurbished anyway, so this request came at a most fortuitous time," Azul said. "Now then, let's put a pin in this conversation, shall we? Time is money, as they say, and we still need to check on the drink stands."

"Myaaah! Look at all this!" Grim gushed, perched as usual on Devon's shoulder as she, Ace, and Deuce walked toward the coliseum. His head swiveled this way and that as he tried to catch a glimpse of everything, though most of his attention was focused on the food stalls. "There's so much food! Hot dogs, funnel cake, and it looks like there's some smoked chicken too!"

"Tch," Ace scoffed, ignoring Grim's ramblings. "Even after all that work we put in, we still didn't get picked for the Spelldrive team."

"I know," Deuce agreed. "This really sucks."

"There's always next year," Devon said reassuringly. "Besides, we've got bigger fish to fry today."

Deuce nodded. "Right. We've got to stay focused."

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Ace agreed. "Let's give it our all and all that."

"What's this takoyaki thing?" Grim asked, hopping down from Devon's shoulder to scamper toward one of the stalls. He inhaled deeply through his nose before licking his lips. "Devon, buy me some of this stuff! I wanna eat everything!"

"Eat. It. Later!" Ace said as he struggled to pull Grim away from the stall. "We gotta go!"

Back at Savanaclaw dorm, the residents were gearing up for a mission of their own.

"It's almost time for the players to make their big entrance," Leona observed.

"We're all set and ready to go," Ruggie confirmed. "Just say the word."

"The previous year's champion is always the first to enter the stadium. Diasomnia should be heading out any minute now," Leona said with a smirk. "It's enough to get your heart racin', ain't it?"

Ruggie snickered in response. "Shishishishi! Sounds like it's time for me to mosey on over, then."

Meanwhile, back on the main campus, the PA system crackled to life as the tournament announcer's voice sounded over the chatter of the crowd. "Ahem! Welcome, everyone, to Night Raven College's Interdorm Spelldrive Tournament. We thank you for your patience! It's finally time to welcome our competitors to the field!"

The crowd erupted into thunderous applause and cheers.

"First up, we have last year's champions!" the announcer continued, hamming up the introduction as much as he could. "Can lightning really strike thrice?! Give it up for the reigning flash! DIIIIAAAAASOOOOMMNNIAAAA!"

The crowd's cheers and applause became almost deafening as the Diasomnia players came into view, making their way to the coliseum. They were so preoccupied with celebrating the start of the tournament, they didn't notice the lone hyena beastman at the rear of the crowd.

Ruggie couldn't help but smirk as he took in the huge number of people. "Hmm…not bad. Not bad at all. This many people should be plenty…shishishi!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial of liquid. "Alright, first I need to take this potion Azul cooked up…" He pulled the cork and downed the potion in one gulp, his face twisting into a grimace once his tastebuds registered the flavor. "Blegh! Damn, that's so gross! Tastes like rotten stew someone aged in an old gym sock!" He shook his head, slapping his cheeks to refocus himself. "Okay, get it together, Ruggie. Time for my Unique Magic!" He could feel the magical energy welling up inside him as he focused. Thankfully for him, the noise of the crowd was too loud for anyone to overhear him. "Now, run like a herd of wildebeests! [Laugh With Me]!"

A low rumbling sound started coming from the rear of the crowd, causing those closer to the front to turn toward it. "Hmm? What's that sound?" one man wondered. He squinted to get a better look, only for his eyes to widen in shock. At first, all he could see was what looked like a giant dust cloud, but as it got closer he realized that those at the back were rushing forward and forcing those ahead of them to start running as well to avoid being trampled. "W-What is that?! Why are all those people running down the street?!" He could make out various expressions of confusion and fear on the faces of the runners and as they drew closer still, he could just barely make out what some of them were saying.

"Uwwaaaahh! I-I can't control my body…! Get outta the way! Move! MOVE!"

"Ack! Don't shove me!"

"We can't stop! Get away before you get caught up in this too!"

"Eeh?! What exactly is happening here?!" the announcer called, though he could barely be heard over the cacophony. "It appears the audience has started running headlong down the street and dragging in those who can't get out of the way fast enough! Calm down, everyone! Please remain calm!" But the announcer's attempts to allay the charging crowd were drowned out by even more panicked screams.

Ruggie couldn't help but laugh from his place at the very end of the crowd, making sure to maintain his speed as his Unique Magic caused the crowd to continue running forward. "Man, Azul's potions are no joke. I've never been able to control this many people at once!" He began to pant slightly as both the physical exertion and the prolonged use of his amped-up Unique Magic began to take their toll. "Phew… It's taken a lot outta me… But I can't stop now, not when we're so close. Just a little more…" He angled himself so that he was now running in the direction of the Diasomnia players, the crowd mimicking his motions. "Whaddaya say, Malleus, O Great Prince of the Fae?! You could easily use magic to stop this, couldn't you? Oh, but you wouldn't dare risk usin' those fancy powers of yours on innocent civilians. Just think of the potential diplomatic issues it could cause!" He couldn't stop his smirk from spreading. "Guess you're just gonna have to get flattened, then! Ahahahaha!"

"And now it seems the audience is heading straight for the Diasomnia team! Get out of the way, everyone! Please get away!" the announcer pleaded, only to be drowned out by screams once again.

"This is bad," Silver said as the crowd quickly closed the distance. He and Sebek looked around for an escape route, but there was no way to get away before the stampede reached them. "We're going to be crushed at this rate. We must protect Prince Malleus at all costs!"

"This way, Prince Malleus!" Sebek shouted. "Prince Malleus!" He tried to fight his way toward the Diasomnia dorm leader, but it was too late. The front of the crowd had already reached them and almost immediately cut off any attempts to move. Sebek could only shout in frustration as he got swept up in the crowd. "Ggaaaah! We won't make it! We're going to be trampled!"

Silver could only watch in horror as Malleus disappeared into the sea of bodies. "AAAAAAHHHHH! PRINCE MALLEUS!"

Ruggie smirked as Silver's shout reached his ears. "There it is." He slowed to a stop, but the momentum of the crowd kept it moving. "I did it. Victory's as good as ours now!" With that, he slunk off toward the Hall of Mirrors, heading back to Savanaclaw without anyone the wiser…as far as he knew.

"F-Fgnya…" Grim and Devon could only stare wide-eyed and slack-jawed as they watched the stampede of audience members. The two of them, along with Jack, Ace and Deuce, had been keeping an eye on the procession from a safe distance as soon as they'd heard the players would be entering from the east building. Now that they knew who they were looking for, it didn't take them long to spot Ruggie at the rear of the stampede as he drove the audience members on. "W-We knew they were plannin' somethin' big but…"

"Yeah," Devon muttered. "I wasn't expecting anything like this…" She winced and hugged Grim tighter as they watched the crowd overtake the Diasomnia players, the familiar green and black of their dorm uniforms disappearing a moment later. She couldn't keep her thoughts from straying to Horns…

"You guys okay?" Deuce asked, putting his hand on Devon's shoulder and pulling her back to reality. "You know those were-"

"Yeah, we know. We're fine," Devon assured him. "It's just…jarring to see that happen right in front of you." She looked back to the end of the crowd to see Ruggie breaking off from the stampede. "Besides, we've got bigger fish to fry." She pointed in Ruggie's direction. "Bogie spotted at 11 o'clock!"

Jack gave Devon a flat look. "Y'know, "look over there" works just fine."

"You have your way, I have mine," Devon replied with a shrug.

"Looks like he's headed for the Hall of Mirrors. Let's get a move on before we lose him," Ace said.

"I'll text Riddle and Cater and have them met us there," Deuce offered.

Ruggie huffed and puffed as he trudged his way to the Spelldrive stadium located in Savanaclaw dorm. "Well, Leona? Did ya see the broadcast?"

"Yeah. That was great work out there, Ruggie," Leona replied, crossing his arms with a smirk. "Farewell, Malleus. I'll be taking the throne this year."

"Heh heh," Ruggie chuckled as a smirk of his own spread over his face. "Long live the king."

"Long live the king!" a crowd of Savanaclaw upperclassmen echoed before erupting into cheers.

"Well, I believe that's a confession if I've ever heard one," said a nearby voice, causing Leona's and Ruggie's ears to flatten in surprise. Everyone turned in the direction of the voice to see Riddle standing there, accompanied by Ace, Deuce, Devon, and Grim. However, the upperclassmen (barring Leona and Ruggie) were most surprised to see Jack glowering at them as well, his arms folded across his chest.

Leona recovered the quickest, his usual indifferent expression back on his face almost instantly. "Well, well, if it isn't Heartslabyul, descending from on high to mingle with the commoners." His eyes landed on Jack. "And you've even got one of our freshies with ya too." His green eyes narrowed into a glare. "What, did you transfer to Heartslabyul or somethin'?"

"I can't believe you honestly expected me to stand by your side after everything you've done," Jack retorted.

"You're nothin' but a damn traitor!" Leona growled.

"Your selfish actions have sullied one of Night Raven College's time-honored traditions," Riddle announced, sounding every bit like a judge about to pass down a verdict. "As the dorm leader of Heartslabyul, a dorm that values both order and tradition, I cannot turn a blind eye to this appalling behavior!"

Leona let out an exasperated sigh, putting his fingertips on his forehead. "Save your hero of justice act for someone who cares, brat."

"I gotta say, though, it takes some serious stones to intentionally come into our territory with such a small number of people," Ruggie pointed out deviously. "It's almost like you're asking for a beatdown!"

"How's about it, dorm head?" one of the Savanaclaw residents asked. "Want us to take 'em out?"

Leona smirked again. "Why not? Go have some fun."

The residents began charging at Riddle's group almost as soon as the words had left Leona's mouth. Unfortunately for them, none of them even reached the group before a quick [OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!] from Riddle stopped them all in their tracks, some dropping to their knees as a familiar-looking collar materialized around their necks.

"Grr… He's stronger than he looks…," one of the residents growled.

"No kidding," another agreed.

"Hmph," Riddle sniffed disdainfully. "You lot aren't even worth the effort." He turned to the freshmen. "Is everyone alright?"

Ace did a quick once-over on everyone. "All good here!"

"They never even touched us," Deuce added.

"Tch… Yeah, that's about how I figured this was gonna go," Leona said. "These chumps don't stand a chance against Riddle."

"Shishishi! Yeah, maybe. But even if they manage to take these guys out, they're still too late to help Diasomnia!" Ruggie gloated.

"Oho~?" a new voice asked. The Heartslabyul group jumped as Lilia appeared next to them in a sea of green lights, completely unharmed. "Is that a fact? I'd be quite interested in hearing more about that."

"Seems they were right on time to me!" Sebek said as he and Silver, both unharmed as well, entered Savanaclaw's Spelldrive field with Cater bringing up the rear.

"It's true," Silver agreed as his group came to stand beside Riddle's. "Thanks to all of them, there's not a single injury among the Diasomnia players."

Ruggie gaped for a moment, his blue eyes flicking back and forth between Riddle, Leona, and the Diasomnia boys. "Wha- I- How?! I saw you! I saw you caught up in the stampede!"

"Yeah, no," Cater chimed, that strange, unsettling smile back on his face. "What you saw was a bunch of my clones in disguise thanks to my Unique Magic, Split Card~! Better luck next time!"

"Huh?" Leona snarled as he shot the group the most venomous glare they'd seen from him yet.

"I've always wanted to try on the Diasomnia dorm uniform too. Guess this was my lucky day~!" Cater chirped as if Leona hadn't said anything, ignoring his glare completely. "I took so many awesome selfies and I can't wait to get 'em up on Magicam!"

"You should have said so, Cater. I would have gladly lent you my uniform," Lilia said.

"Awww, you're too sweet, Lils," Cater replied. "I think yours might be a little tight on me, though."

"Oi," Leona called out. "Somebody better tell me what in the name of the Seven is goin' on here."

"It's quite simple, really," Lilia replied. "Riddle's group told us that you were planning some sort of stunt to take Diasomnia out of the game, so we decided to put on a little performance of our own."

Ruggie's eyes widened. "Th-Then… Malleus is…"

"Naturally, he is in good health!" Sebek announced. "He even managed to guide the panicked crowd to safety using his magic!" He leveled a glare of his own at Leona and Ruggie. "YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL!"

"A-Are you serious?!" Ruggie shouted. "How is that allowed?!"

Leona exhaled through his nose, his expression one of resigned apathy. "Ah, whatever. I'm done."

Ruggie's head whipped toward Leona so fast that Devon was concerned he might get whiplash. "H-Huh?"

"It's over. I'm done," Leona repeated, his voice devoid of emotion.

Ruggie could only stare at his dorm leader in disbelief. "L-Leona…? What are you saying?"

"Do I really have to spell it out for you? If Malleus is going to play at top form, there's no way we can win," Leona clarified. "There's no point in puttin' in all that effort for nothin', so I'm done."

"Wh-What?" Ruggie stammered. By now, the other Savanaclaw residents were giving Leona similarly reproachful looks. "Malleus stuff aside, we still took out all the other star players from the other dorms, didn't we? Even so, if you aren't going to play, I'm not sure we could even make it to the top three. What's gonna happen to our dream?"

"It doesn't matter how well we do in this tournament," Leona replied dismissively. "At the end of the day, we're still just a bunch of students playing around. Goin' along with this little fantasy of yours amused me for a little while, but there's no point in putting in all this effort if it's not going to amount to anything in the end."

"But… I thought we were gonna turn the whole world on its head," Ruggie pressed, his voice becoming increasingly desperate.

"Damn, your nagging's annoying," Leona snarled, leveling a glare at the hyena. "It's time to wake up from this little dream of yours, so let me give you a reality check. I hate to be the one to break this to ya, but even if we win the tournament, you'll still be a worthless hyena from the backend of nowhere and I'll still be the loathed second prince who'll never be king! There is nothing, no amount of honest effort or underhanded tricks, that will change that!"

Ruggie stared slack-jawed at Leona for a moment, clearly blindsided both by the speech and the amount of bitterness in his tone. His surprise quickly gave way to mixture of despair and anger, however, and it didn't take him long to find his voice again. He attempted to reach out to grab Leona, but the lion beastman caught him by the arm before he could. "Dammit, Leona! Why are spoutin' this garbage all of the sudden?! You can't quit now; not when we've come this far!"

"He's right! You can't do this to us, Leona!" a Savanaclaw student cried.

"You're gonna play even if we have to drag you out there kickin' and screamin'!" another threatened.

"Ugh, this is such a pain in the ass," Leona growled as magical energy began to swirl around him. "Just shut up, you damn bottom-feeders!"

The energy continued to build around Leona, kicking up a cloud of sand as it did so. It was all Riddle's group could do to shield their eyes from the tiny particles, but any attempts to avoid the sand were abandoned when they heard Ruggie and the Savanaclaw students closest to Leona start to groan in pain. Ruggie, in particular, looked like he would have sank to his knees had it not been for the grip Leona had on his arm.

"W-What's goin' on?" Grim asked, rubbing his nose. "My nose is all dry and…" He blinked rapidly. "My eyes hurt too!"

Jack looked just as confused as the rest of them before his eyes widened in realization. "Don't get too close, you guys! Everything Leona touches is turning to sand!"

"But how?" Devon asked, trying in vain to keep the sand out of her eyes and nose.

"I've…I've seen him do something like this once before," Jack told her. "I think it's his…"

"You got it, freshie," Leona confirmed. "It's my Unique Magic: King's Roar." He laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Pretty ironic, ain't it? Nothin' the savanna hates more than a drought and yet its prince was born with magic that can dry out whatever he touches and reduce it to sand."

"Leo…na… I can't…," Ruggie said weakly as he tried in vain to pull his arm away. It was then that the group noticed the steadily growing cracks in the arm Leona had grabbed.

"Look at Ruggie's arm!" Deuce exclaimed. "Are those…fissures?!"

"Hold up! You're tellin' me Leona's Unique Magic can turn people into sand too?!" Ace shouted, a horrified expression on his face as he took a reflexive step back.

"Cease this at once, Leona!" Riddle called out, gearing up cast his own Unique Magic. "[Off With Your Head]!"

Leona didn't spare Riddle a glance, even as the collar began to materialize. He raised his hand just as the collar began to close around his neck and knocked it aside with barely a wave.

"Fgnya?! He was able to repel Riddle's collar like it was nothin'!" Grim exclaimed.

Leona gave Riddle an arrogant smirk. "You have talent, I'll give you that, but that shouldn't give you cause to look down on your upperclassmen. Unfortunately for you, I aced my defensive magic classes practically in my sleep."

"Keh…damn it," Riddle grumbled.

Leona turned his attention back to Ruggie, the cracks in the poor hyena's arm growing even larger as Leona gave him a taunting smirk. "How's it feel, Ruggie? I bet it hurts, huh?" He was silent for a moment as Ruggie struggled to choke out a reply, still trying to get away. "What's wrong? Your mouth so parched you can't use that silver tongue of yours? Too bad. That's the only thing you were actually kinda good at."

"Guahh…ahh…," Ruggie grunted in pain.

"This is bad. If we don't do something soon, Ruggie's gonna be in big trouble," Jack said.

"Not just Ruggie," Devon added, gesturing to some of the other Savanaclaw students, most of whom were now on their knees and unable to move away. Some of them had fissures forming on their bodies too, but the ones closest to Leona were in the worst shape. She pulled her staff out of her jeans pocket and Zephyr flew into it immediately. "We have to get those guys out of Leona's range. Let's do this!"

Ending Notes: Hope you guys are ready for Overblot Part Two: Electric Boogaloo. And another Overblot means another journey to the center of the minds! I'm a little sad that the Savanaclaw arc is almost done, but I'm excited for the other arcs to come! Personally, I think we get more interesting Leona development in the vignettes and events anyway; I'm of the opinion that we don't see nearly enough of him in the Savanaclaw arc, even though he's supposed to be the focus.

I'm coming to the realization that Devon is turning out to be way more chaotic than I originally planned for her to be. When I first started conceptualizing her character, she was supposed to be more consistently level-headed to contrast the craziness around her as well as masking a number of insecurities. Looking at her now…she definitely can be level-headed when the situation calls for it and she does have some insecurities that I haven't had much of a chance to touch on yet, but she's pretty much embraced the chaos now that she's gotten over her initial shock and fear. It's funny because back in her world, DJ's considered the party triplet while Devon was generally the more empathetic and kind one especially since Madison is so…yeah. While neither of those is untrue, DJ's waaay more emotional and empathetic than he seems at first glance and Devon's much more of an adrenaline junky than she seems. Twisted Wonderland's bringing out Devon's true self and I am here for it!

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