"It's closed?!" the group shouted in unison after finally reaching the front gate of the museum only to be met with a 'Closed for Maintenance' sign just outside.

"Are you serious? Man, that's bad timing," Jack commented as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Do you think Azul and the Leech brothers knew about this? I notice we haven't seen a trace of Jade or Floyd since we got here," Deuce observed.

"Wouldn't surprise me in the least," Ace grumbled, crossing his arms.

"So what now? We just tuck our tails between our legs and go back empty-handed?" Jack asked. "Kind of a waste after comin' all this way."

"Actually…," Ace began, "come with me. I have an idea." He led them over to a large rock on the seabed and urged them all to hide behind it. "Okay. It should be just about time for a new pair of guards to take over for the ones out there now."

The group carefully peeked out from behind the rock to keep an eye on the museum entrance and sure enough, two new guards arrived a few minutes later to relieve the old ones of duty.

"Mrah! So merfolk society has merfolk security guards too!" Grim whispered as he watched the security guards swim gracefully through the water as they took up their posts.

"Umm…way to state the obvious, Grim," Deuce remarked dryly.

They waited a few more moments. After a while, the guards exchanged words before one of them swam off to patrol the museum's perimeter while the other remained stationed at the front entrance.

"Okay. I'm gonna head over there and distract that guard," Ace told them. "While I'm keepin' them busy, you four sneak in the back entrance and nab that photo."

"Are you sure you can handle that on your own?" Jack asked.

"Jack, you're too honest for your own good and Deuce would only be able to last a few minutes at best before he gave himself away," Ace reasoned. "Don't worry about me. I've got this!" He made his way back toward the front gate of the museum and made a big show of reading the sign out front before letting out a loud, "Aww man! You've gotta be kidding me!"

"Hmm? Is something wrong, young man?" the guard asked.

"Oh, my bad. I didn't mean to make a scene," Ace said apologetically. He shook his head dejectedly and let his shoulders sag. "I just can't believe the museum is closed today of all days! I was so pumped to come and visit…"

"Hmm…," the guard hummed as he looked down at Ace's legs. "That tailfin you've got… Are you a land-dweller, by any chance? Did you come all the way here by yourself?"

Ace nodded with a smile. "Yessir! I've been fascinated by merfolk society since I was a little kid. I saved up for months so I could buy a potion to let me breathe underwater because I wanted to come down here to learn more. I mean, wow! I can't believe I'm actually getting to meet a real live merman. I'm pretty sure this is the best day of my life!"

"Dude has absolutely no problem lying to a complete stranger's face, huh," Grim commented from where the rest of the squad was still hiding. "He ain't even battin' an eye or nothin'!"

"Hurry now!" Deuce said, motioning toward the back of the building. "We need to get in there while he's got the guard distracted."

After sneaking into the museum through the staff entrance-which had been conveniently propped open, likely so one of the employees could sneak off on what was probably an extended meal break-, the four freshmen crept along through the hallways until they came across the main room. The room was filled with all sorts of exhibits, including a large statue of a distinguished-looking merman, but they didn't have time to stop and take a look.

"Okay, it looks like this is the right room," Jack said as he looked over the small map of the museum in a brochure he had picked up along the way. He nodded toward a large pair of doors at the other end of the room. "That should be the main entrance there so the panel with the photo Azul wanted should be right in front of it."

"Easy enough," Devon replied as they moved carefully toward the doors, making sure to listen for an indication that someone might be approaching; tailfins couldn't make footsteps, after all. She was slightly taken aback by all the photos on display once they'd reached the panel in question. "Dang! Just look at all these."

"How are we gonna find the right one?" Grim asked.

"Looks like they've got descriptions written underneath each photo that tells you what it is," Jack supplied, leaning closer to read them. "Let's see… Looks like this one's supposed to be commemorating a visit from court musician Horatio the twelfth… Here's one of a visit from the fourth princess… Man, there's a ton of these. Guess he wasn't kiddin' when he said nobody would notice if we borrowed just one."

"A commemorative photo of a visit from Prince Rielle that was taken ten years ago," Deuce murmured as he scanned the pictures as well. He gasped when his eyes alighted on one of the photos and he carefully read the description. "I think I found it. This is it, right? "A visit from Prince Rielle and his schoolmates," huh?" He leaned in closer to get a better look. "Kinda looks like they're on an elementary school field trip."

"Some of these merfolk are barely bigger than me," Grim commented.

"Out of all the pictures here, why would Azul ask for this one specifically?" Jack wondered.

"You're guess is as good as mine, but once Devon brings it back to him, Grim, Ace, and I can finally say goodbye to these anemones," Deuce replied before turning to Devon. "Hurry and grab it so we can get outta here."

Devon slowly reached out toward the latch on the display case, holding her breath and closing one eye as she braced herself for an alarm to sound as soon as she opened up the case and plucked the picture out. Much to her surprise, nothing of the sort happened. Everyone listened even more closely for the sound of guards rushing to their location or any other sign that they might have tripped a silent alarm, but nobody appeared.

"So this thing isn't even rigged with an alarm? Looks like Azul was right about these pictures not having any historical value, either," Jack observed as Devon slipped the photo into the pocket of her school blazer. "I'm not gonna lie, that kinda threw off my groove a little bit."

"Hey! Who goes there?!" demanded an approaching voice, causing everyone to freeze.

"Ah, crud! It's one of the guards!" Grim whisper-yelled.

"So we ended up tripping an alarm after all," Jack said as he lowered himself into a fighting stance. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I guess I'm gonna have to get that guard to take a little nap."

Devon held up a hand to stop Jack as she pulled out her staff. "Hold on there, tough guy. I think I've got a better idea; one that won't require any unnecessary violence. Just stay close, don't say a word, and do not move." She winked at the orb on top of her staff. "Let's do it, Mirage!"

There was a pulse from the staff and immediately Devon, Grim, Jack, and Deuce were cloaked by Mirage's illusion magic, making it look as though the room was empty right as the guard swam in. They remained still as statues as the guard looked around warily and swam through the room trying to find where they were hiding, passing over them a few times in his search.

"Is something wrong?" asked another guard as he swam into the room. "I thought I heard you shouting."

The first guard scratched his head, his expression puzzled. "No, I think everything's okay. I thought I heard voices in here so I came to check it out but…" He gestured around the seemingly empty room.

The other guard made a quick lap around the room. "I don't see anyone else in here."

"Yeah… I guess I must've imagined it," the first guard replied as he followed the second guard out of the room. "Oh well, back to making the rounds."

Mirage dropped the illusion after waiting another minute or two to ensure the guards were gone. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief.

"Looks like we didn't trip any alarms; we just forgot to keep our voices down," Devon explained in a whisper.

"Good call lettin' Mirage do their thing, Dev," Deuce praised, "but I think that's a sign we should dawdle here."

Devon nodded. "Agreed. We got what we came for, so let's grab Ace and get back to campus."

Back at the front entrance, Ace was still effortlessly keeping the guard occupied while subtly keeping an eye on the direction Devon and the rest would come from once they'd left the museum. "And I've always had a soft spot for the story about the human prince and mermaid princess. My grandma read it to me a lot when I was a kid."

"They actually made a movie out of that story, you know," the guard told him. "My wife and I went to go see it when we first started dating. That came out about…thirty years ago, I believe, and that scene of the princess hugging her father still makes me tear up."

"I know, right?!" Ace exclaimed. "That's gotta be the most iconic scene of the whole film!"

The guard smiled, looking a little impressed. "I'm surprised someone your age has even watched it."

"Heh," Ace chuckled. "Well, my brother's a pretty big movie buff. But even if he wasn't, that movie's way too good to pass up. Soundtrack's pretty legendary too." His smile became a little more mischievous, though still good-natured. "Actually, that reminds me-is it true that all merfolk are good singers?"

The guard let out an amused chuckle. "Sorry to disappoint you, but that's just an urban legend. When I was a boy, one of my own classmates was so tone-deaf it was like listening to nails on a chalkboard to hear them sing."

By now, the rest of the freshmen had successfully snuck back out of the museum without alerting anymore of the guards. They peeked around the building to make sure Ace was still doing okay.

"Look at him. He's on a roll over there," Grim commented with a flat look.

"The fact that he can keep a conversation going this long with someone he just met is a type of magic all on its own," Deuce added.

"Alright, alright. No more standin' around. We need to get moving," Jack said, catching Ace's eye and giving him a quick signal as they made their way over and behind a sandbar away from the museum.

"Ah man, would you look at the time," Ace said once he'd locked eyes with Jack. "I should probably get goin'."

"So soon?" the guard asked, clearly disappointed. "I wouldn't mind letting you take a little peek inside the museum since you're such a big fan of merfolk culture and all."

"That's really cool of you to offer, but I don't want you gettin' in trouble on my account," Ace politely declined. "I'll make sure to check the museum hours more carefully before I mosey on down here again." He turned to go but glanced back over his shoulder first to wave goodbye. "Later, man."

"Come back anytime!" the guard called after him. He smiled to himself. "What a nice young man."

"How'd everything go on your end?" Ace asked once he rejoined the group.

"That photo's as good as ours! Myah ha ha! Couldn't have been easier!" Grim boasted.

"Nice! Let's get back to school, then," Ace replied.

"Yeah. I can't wait for Devon to shove that picture right into Azul's smug face," Deuce agreed.

They started to make their way toward the spot where the Dark Mirror had dropped them off but they hadn't gone more than few steps when Jack froze in place. "Hold up. Somethin's comin' this way."

Everyone's stomachs dropped as two shadows, both long and ominous-looking, passed over them again, causing them to stop in their tracks. "Anybody else gettin' a bad sense of déjà vu?" Devon asked despite knowing the answer. She instinctively reached toward the photo in her pocket and covered it with her hand as if trying to shield it.

"Theeeeeere's our Lil' Shrimpyyyy~!" Floyd called out from above them as he and Jade swam down to their level in their eel forms once again.

"Greetings, everyone," Jade said, his usual placid, polite smile on his face. "I see you didn't learn your lesson the last time you paid a visit to the ocean floor."

"You two…," Jack growled.

'Don't look at the eel abs, don't look at the eel abs, don't look at the eel abs,' Devon thought as she frantically tried to keep her gaze anywhere else. 'Just stay focused and-' She glanced down. 'Dang it. I looked.'

Jade kept his eyes on Devon, noting the way she was covering her pocket. "Judging from the way you're covering your blazer pocket, Devon, I assume you were able to get your hands on the photo Azul requested."

"Very nice~!" Floyd chirped, an unsettling smile on his face. "Pretty smooth of ya, Shrimpy. There's a small problem, though: it's a little too early for you to bring it back. So why don't you play a little game of tag with us until sunset?"

"Well that's typical," Ace huffed. "I knew this was going too smoothly. Lemme guess: you two are plannin' to stall us here until sunset then beat us up and make off with the photo. That way Azul gets the photo he wants and he doesn't have to remove the anemones."

Jade chuckled, a cold smirk on his face. "Heheheh. Maximum profit for minimal labor is just good business sense, after all."

"Wha-?! Just how crooked are you guys?!" Jack exclaimed.

"Well?" Ace asked as he looked over at Devon. "What's the call, New York?"

"I know you, Dev. There's no way you didn't come up with some kind of contingency plan in case these two showed up," Deuce added.

"Looks like a game of keep-away is in order, boys," Devon replied as she readied her staff, the Wisps inside causing it to crackle with energy.

"Nice and simple. My kinda plan," Deuce said with a smirk. "I'm not sure how long the three of us will last without our most powerful magic but…"

"We're so close to victory! We can't just give up now!" Jack shouted.

"Mmkaaaaay, I'm getting pretty tired of this game of tag," Floyd drawled. He and Jade had been menacing Devon's for quite a while now and it had long since lost its appeal. Currently, he was coiled around Devon, effectively restraining her and using his Unique Magic to deflect any magical attempts to rescue her.

"Try to hang in there," Jade replied. "There's not much time left."

"How much longer are we gonna have to-augh!" Floyd shouted in pain as Devon suddenly bit down on his tail.

"Oh my," Jade said calmly despite his surprised expression.

Floyd's grip loosened just enough for Devon to get one arm free only to tighten even more intensely a second later as he glared at her, his pupils shrinking until they were nearly pinpricks. "If I didn't know better, Shrimpy, I'd say you wanna be squeezed even tighter."

"Kind of, actually," Devon grunted out as Floyd tightened his grip. There was an audible cracking sound an instant later and Devon sighed in relief. "Ahh, there we go." She relaxed as much as she could before catching Floyd's confused look. "What? I've been tryin' to get my back to crack since before you guys showed up but nothing was workin'. Figured I might as well give this a try if you were just gonna squeeze me anyway."

Floyd stared at Devon blankly for a moment and the rest of the freshmen were afraid he might try to kill for real…when he suddenly burst out laughing. "Ah man, Shrimpy~! You really are a riot, huh? Tell ya what: you've put me in a good mood so I won't break ya in half for bitin' me." He unwound himself from to let her swim back to her friends. "Ya know, it's really too bad you're gonna end up as one of Azul's, ah…employees in a little bit. You seem like you'd be cool to hang out with."

Jade nodded. "Yes, it really is a shame we didn't officially meet under better circumstances." His lips twisted into a sinister smile. "Though I suppose we could put in a request with Azul to keep you close to us."

"You guys haven't won this thing yet!" Jack growled before looking at Devon. "They do have a point, though. It's nearly sunset."

"Are you positive this plan's gonna work, Dev?" Grim asked uncertainly.

"Hey, don't go gettin' cold feet on me now, Grim. I know our plan will work," Devon assured him. "They'll come through for us. Just you wait and see."

Back at Mostro Lounge, Azul let out a content sigh as he settled back in his desk chair in the VIP room. With sunset fast approaching, he was in quite a good mood. "It seems that Jade and Floyd are taking care of everything on their end." He smirked. "Both that photo and Ramshackle dorm will be mine in barely more than an hour." He steepled his fingers as another chuckle left his lips, eventually blossoming into a full-blown evil laugh.

There was a knock at the door and one of the Octavinelle residents stepped inside. His dorm uniform was slightly disheveled and he was panting as if he'd been running around. "Pardon the interruption, dorm leader!"

Azul bit back a glare. He always hated it when people interrupted his alone time; how else was he supposed to practice his monologues and maniacal laughter?! "What is it? And don't shout. This is a fine dining establishment, after all."

"R-Right. Sorry, sir," the dorm member stammered. "I-It's just that we've got a bit of a situation in the lounge right now…"

"What kind of situation?" Azul asked, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"We've got some rowdy customers on our hands," the student explained. "We can't rein them in and since Jade and Floyd aren't here right now…"

Azul sighed heavily. "Honestly. What sort of boorish oaf makes a scene in the middle of a restaurant?" He stood up from his desk and straightened out his dorm uniform before reaching for his hat. "Very well. I'll take care of this mess. I'm sure Jade and Floyd can handle things well enough on their end." He sighed again. "A manager's work is never done…"

The dorm student hadn't been joking about the influx of unruly customers. Azul could hear the cacophony of voices before he'd even stepped out of the VIP room. He nearly took a step backward in shock when he entered the main dining room and saw that it was nearly over capacity. "Wh-What is the meaning of this?! We've barely opened our doors for the day! How is it this crowded already?!"

He was so surprised at first that it took him a moment to notice that all the customers present appeared to be beastmen and nearly all of them were Savanaclaw students, but they gave themselves away soon enough as they barked out orders to the wait staff.

"Hey! Hurry and bring our drinks over here already!"

"Meat, meat, meat! Hyah hahahaha!"

"That's my meat, you ass! I was the one who ordered that!"

Azul adjusted his dorm uniform again before nodding resolutely to himself. "Nothing else for it, I suppose. I'll just have to get this under control myself." He began weaving his way through the crowded lounge. "Please clear the way. Manager coming through!" He was jostled slightly as he felt himself bump into someone. He paused for a split second to offer a nod and a quick, "Pardon me," before continuing on his path with barely a glance at who he'd run into.

"'S'cool. You're pardoned. Shishishishishi…," the person snickered to themself as they slipped something into their pocket.

Azul continued on his way toward the lounge bar (which served only non-alcoholic drinks, of course), unable to hear the stranger's response to his apology over the din.

"Oi, waiter! Hurry up and get me a refill!" ordered one of the Savanaclaw students.

"Y-Yessir! I'll be right there!" called out a harried Octavinelle waiter as he rushed to get more orders out.

"Dorm leader!" called another Octavinelle student once Azul finally made it to the bar. "We've been so flooded with orders that we're nearly out of food for the day!"

"Drinks are about to run dry, too!" reported another.

"Already?! Well, there's no helping it. I'll go and get some cash from the vault. You make a run to the school store and…hm?" Azul reached into the pocket where he normally kept the key to the vault, only to find that it was empty. "Ah!" His eyes widened in panic as he checked his other pockets and found that the key wasn't anywhere on his person. "I-It's gone! The vault key is gone! I know I put it in my pocket when I left the VIP room, so when…?" The color drained from his face as he remembered bumping into someone earlier. "Oh no…"

Azul dashed back toward the VIP room, keeping his eyes on the ground as he retraced the path he had taken to get to the bar, hoping in vain that he would find the key on the ground. His heart sank further and further with each step until he finally stepped back into the VIP room, only to see a familiar lion beastman leaning against his desk.

"How's it goin', octo-punk?" Leona asked with a smirk.

"Leona Kingscholar…!" Azul grumbled. He did not need this right now.

"Now, what's got you whipped into such a frenzy?" Leona asked, his smirk widening. "You're usually so calm and composed, after all."

"That's not your concern," Azul replied in a clipped tone. "What are you even doing in here, anyway?"

"Glad you asked. Y'see…," He held out his hand and there, sitting in his palm, was the key to the vault, "I just so happened to stumble across this key here. I take it this is yours?" That cocky smirk never wavered. "I found on the floor outside and figured I'd wait here to make sure you got it back."

Azul's expression was a mix of shock and relief. "Th-That's the…!" He cleared his throat quickly and narrowed his eyes into a glare. "Hand that key over this instant. Theft is a serious crime, you know!"

"I didn't steal it, I found it," Leona corrected. "I'm bringin' it back out of the kindness of my heart and you go and treat me like a common criminal?" He shrugged. "Eh, whatever. It's all yours. Catch."

Azul fumbled to catch the key as Leona unceremoniously tossed it to him. He checked it over to make sure Leona wasn't trying to pull a fast one by giving him an imitation key, only to sigh in relief when he confirmed that it was actually the real one.

"That's all I came here for. Later," Leona said, offering Azul a mock two-finger salute as he left the room.

Azul's relief at getting his key back was short-lived. His looked worriedly over at the vault, a sinking feeling in his stomach. "My contracts… Are my contracts still there?!" His hands were shaking so badly that he was barely able to slide the key into the lock or punch in the verification code, but he somehow managed it. The door to the vault swung slowly open and Azul's heart dropped when he saw that it was completely devoid of all contracts. "Gh-! Th-They're gone!" He began frantically rifling through the other documents in the vault in hopes that the contracts might have just been hidden underneath something. Every second that passed without seeing so much as a scrap of golden paper caused the normally composed dorm leader to give in to his panic. "Gone, gone, gone! I can't find them anywhere! Don't tell me Leona actually…"

Azul didn't allow himself to finish his thought. He marched out of the VIP room, knowing that if Leona managed to leave the dorm with his contracts, it would be too late.

Ending Notes: Looks like it's about to go down in Octavinelle. I'm really excited to get to this arc's Overblot since I have some pretty interesting (I think, at least) developments in mind for the battle. I'm also excited for Devon to link with Azul because I personally think this heart-to-heart will be one of the sweetest she has.

The idea of Devon using Floyd's squeezes (both in and out of his eel form) to crack her back will never not be funny to me.

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