(AN: Well, I updated before one month before the last update? Well, I tried my best to keep up but uh... as you can see, I got REALLY carried away with this chapter and made it WAYYYY longer than I thought it was going to be lol. Oops, well, I always think that these long chapters are my consolidation gifts for taking so long to release each chapter

Anyway, one of the reason these chapters going forward might be a little longer is that we're going to have a LOT of plot progression and major events coming soon, literally as soon as next chapter, which I cannot wait to write. All I'm going to say is there there is going to be some HEAVY hitting stuff and you're gonna wanna strap in.

I somehow managed to release this at work because of how light things are, even if this mobile site is total shite for editing, so yes, I'm back to uploading at almost 1am. Regardless, I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter and I'd love to hear any feedback about the story, how its progressing, and your predictions for the future! Now be sure to set some time, we got a long chapter that's going to start quite a FEW things for the future! Enjoy the chapter!)


It was the next day at the Advanced English Literature lecture hall, and Vector and Espio sat centimeters apart as they worked on their study guides for the class' midterms, since Advanced English Literature wasn't an elective course compared to something like Creative Drawing or Advanced Weight Training. Valdez stood above the two, helping Espio with certain words and looking through the book to help the chameleon find the answers he needed.

As they got done filling out the answer to question 13 ('Read Lines 10-14, what tone was the author intending to show here?'), Vector looked over at the chameleon and topped his elbow.

"So… I didn't ask yesterday but… how did yer thing with that jewel beetle go?" he whispered.

Espio looked up at Vector then down at his study guide. "Jewel w-was…"

"Was?..."

"Jewel sa-said sorry."

"She apologized? Her? I dun believe it. Probably just doin' it to get on yer good side."

Vector watched as Espio shook his head. "No… Jewel said sorry. A-And… and she… she got… got…"

"What did she say?"

"She said… fo… fo… give?"

"Forgive? Wait, does she… does she want yeh to FORGIVE her?"

"Y…Yes? I… I could not a-understand her well…"

"Hell naw, don't forgive her! She's given yeh crap all semester! If she was REALLY sorry, she wouldn't have treated yeh like that all year! She dug her own grave, she's gonna lay in it whether she likes it or not!"

"Vector, focus on your work," Valdez sternly said. He felt like he was being talked down to, but frankly, he probably shouldn't have been tearing his focus away from what he was doing. He turned back around to his work but continued to look at Espio just seconds later.

"Really? She wants him to forgive her after all she's done? Talk 'bout a drama queen…" he thought to himself.


After the class was over, Espio found himself… conflicted.

Though he didn't quite understand much of what Jewel was saying, he did pick up a few words, notable the word, 'forgive' (That Vector had written down after Valdez turned around). It seemed to be English for 'yurushite' according to Valdez, and everything made sense upon learning that. By not giving Jewel an answer, she was made to believe that Espio wasn't going to forgive her for all she's done all semester. But Vector said that he shouldn't… what was he to do?

His next person to ask for an opinion was Mark, during Algebra 101 after parting ways with Vector. After a point where the two were discussing a problem on today's lecture on linear functions, Espio looked up at Mark.

"Okay, so this says…" said Mark. "…that we need to graph X equal to or greater than y 3. So, I'll show you on my graphing calculator-"

"Mark," Espio suddenly said. The tapir looked up.

"What's up, Espio?"

Espio looked over to see Valdez sitting in the corner, tablet in front of him as he was busy with his own personal work for the college.

"I want to… to…" Espio put his finger on his chin, trying to remember what to say. "a-a… ah…"

"Ask? Are you confused about the question?"

"N-No. It is… d-diff… differant?"

"Different?"

"Ah… different. I see… It is different."

Mark set aside the calculator. "Well, what is it?"

"I talk with a… fr-friend and she says s-sorry…"

"What friend?"

"Jewel."

"Jewel? Who the heck is-"

Suddenly, Mark stopped as it clicked.

"Wait, HER?! The girl who called me a, and I quote, 'incel looking anime Poindexter', and who didn't even want to look you in the face when we went to Club and Organization day?"

Espio nodded.

"And you're her friend now?"

Espio nodded again.

"…huh… and… why was she sorry?"

"She said so-sorry… and she a-also said… fo-for… forgive?"

"Forgive? Sorry and… forgive… wait… sorry and forgive… so, if I'm getting this, she apologized for how she was, AND then said, if I have this right, that she wants you to forgive her?"

"Yes!"

"I mean… I don't KNOW this Jewel too well but from the way she was when I first met her, I can just TELL she's trouble. You know, those people who love to play pretend nice with you to fool you into making a total ass out of yourself? I had PLENTY of people act like that towards me in middle school. It was honestly embarrassing looking back. I think she just wants you to trick you likely because she hasn't gotten a kick out of treating you like that. I say don't forgive her."

Espio frowned. It was the second time today he was told not to forgive Jewel, and by now, he was starting to become conflicted. What should he do? Jewel DID seem very emotional yesterday, even if he couldn't understand her. And the constant begging she did too…

"Okay everyone, start wrapping up cause in three minutes, we'll discuss all the problems and I'll have you come up to the board to show your work!" Professor Quack said.

"Let's just focus on this for now, Espio," Mark said as the chameleon tried to forget about Jewel.


It was after class when Espio parted ways with Mark, walking with Valdez down the steps of the A building.

"Valdez-san… you are the last person I can ask about this…" he said.

"By the by, I suppose you can tell me why you weren't paying attention in class much today, right?" Valdez replied. "It's getting close to your midterm and finals season. You ought to be paying far more attention in class."

"I know. However, something else is on my mind."

Espio turned around and looked at Valdez in the eyes. "Valdez-san… I… I'm very conflicted and I need advice. And you're the last person I can go to."

"The last person? Espio-kun, what's wrong?"

Espio stared down at his feet before looking at Valdez after reaching the bottom steps of the A building.

"I had a talk with Jewel yesterday. I couldn't understand her much, but she said sorry a lot. And she also said the word forgive in English too. Vector taught me the word after I just only heard the sounds. And… and I don't know what to do. I was so confused, and Jewel was sad because I didn't reply."

"Sorry? Forgive? What is she sorry about?"

"She… she hasn't been treating me good at all this year."

"I've gotten that vibe from her that she hasn't been treating you well. She didn't do anything, did she? I've been meaning to take her aside some time ago…"

"No! Of course not! It was after our group project that she stopped being rude. B-But… but I don't know what to do… I want the fighting to stop but… but she did treat me bad, and Vector and Mark don't want me to forgive her because of her being rude. What should I do?"

Valdez stared at Espio for a couple of seconds before sighing, putting his hands on hips before turning his head to the left. His horn shining in the sunny, late November sun.

"Well… I suppose I do have my thoughts… while I wasn't present for a lot of what you describe, I believe that everyone deserves a fair chance to explain themselves if they're willing to change."

"But… even if I didn't understand a lot of what she said, I could see it in her face and the way she said whatever she said about me."

"Well, in that case, I'd like to propose a question to you, Espio-kun. Do YOU think you should forgive her?"

"What?"

"I think the reason you're conflicted is because you want other people to answer for you on whether or not you should give Jewel another chance. You said you don't want the fighting to continue, but you also recognize that the way she treated you wasn't right. So that's good that you recognize that what she did was wrong. Now, while you recognize that what she did wasn't right, do you agree that maybe you should give her another chance?"

"I… I'm not sure… But… but she did say sorry and she looked very upset yesterday. I don't think it was fake."

"Then in that case, it's all up to you, Espio-kun, to make the final decision. Recognizing all of that, do you think she should be forgiven, or do you reject her apology because it isn't an excuse for how she was towards you?"

So many thoughts went through Espio's head in that moment. Unlike someone like Connery or Jet, Jewel was willing to come forward and apologize for how she acted. It didn't change how she was originally towards him, but he knew the jewel beetle had a much higher level of maturity. His mother always taught that someone who always is forward with how they speak, someone who does not hide how they feel or what they've done, or someone who seeks redemption and is willing to admit personal fault, is an individual with a strong mind. Of course, it didn't change how his mother was always the right one no matter what, but then again, the Bride was NEVER wrong…

Looking back at Valdez, Espio's face changed. "I want to talk about it tomorrow with her. I think I know what to say."

Valdez smiled. "That's good. Now let's go and have lunch, okay?"


THE NEXT DAY

It was around 5am on December 1st, with darkness still surrounding the dorm room. Outside from the closed blindfolds, snow was once again starting to fall onto the ground, only much heavier after the relaxing mostly cloudy yesterday.

However, at that exact moment, an alarm went off on the nightstand next to Vector's bunk. A large, green hand grabbed the phone and turned off the alarm as the crocodile got out of the bunk, yawning while stretching. From above, Espio turned in his bed as Vector turned around.

"Sorry, Espio!" he whispered. "Tomorrow's our first game of the Winter Playoffs, and I'm gettin' in mah first personal trainin' session. Coach expects us each to do our own, and this is how I'm doin' mine. Sorry fer wakin' yeh up."

Espio simply rolled over in bed as Vector turned back to the mini fridge.

"Ugh… my LEAST favorite part of this."

However, just before he opened the fridge, he walked over to the window and opened the blinds, seeing that it was snowing outside.

"Okay, maybe SECOND least favorite part."

Bracing himself for what was coming, Vector opened the mini fridge and pulled out what he prepared last night courtesy of the blender Coach Augustus let him use in his office while reviewing the practice schedule: carrot juice.

Sighing, Vector grabbed the bottle and taking one deep breath, he took a large swig of the bottle. He could feel the… rancid, chunky tasting liquid go down his throat and how… revolting it was. But he tried his best to ignore his taste buds, thinking about how much the juice would help him. After he was halfway done with the entire bottle, he stopped drinking and shuddered, wiping his lips as he tried not to gag.

"Gaia, why does Connery keep pushin' this shit on everyone…" he said. "Well, time to head out…"

After changing into winter appropriate clothing, including now long pants and a sweater, as well as his workout gloves, Vector started his personal training with leaving the dorm and running down West Hall and down the steps to the very bottom floor of the Hall, exiting the door leading outside as he began to stretch his arms, his legs, and his overall entire body. Cracking his neck, his knuckles, and his knees, Vector started his 7-lap run around the entire campus. Thankfully, the concrete and asphalt of the campus had all been salted, and the snow hadn't sticked to the ground, allowing Vector to run at the best pace that he could without getting tired or slipping on the ground. Snow raised into the air and fell off his shoes as the only noise the crocodile could hear was the sound of his booming rock music from his headphones. He breathed in and out of his nostrils, his chest softly rising as his feet continued to hit the ground.

For the most part, no one was outside that day to watch the crocodile run past one section of the campus to the other, missing the incredible feat of a cold-blooded reptile forcing himself to run in the middle of the snow. And yet, it took 37 minutes for Vector to finish his run. When he was done, Vector arched his back, took a few breaths before spitting onto the ground. His body both burning with adrenaline and pain due to the cold, he knew he wasn't done just yet. In fact, this was just his warmup…

"But time fer a bit of a break before I head to the I buildin'…" Vector said as he forced himself to jog back onto campus and towards West Hall. Upon reaching the first floor of the hall, some students were finally starting to wake up, however, Vector passed by each of them as he quickly returned to the dorm.

Scanning his card and opening the door to the dorm, he saw that Espio was now finally starting to wake up.

"Hey," Vector said. "Sorry fer gettin' ya up so early. I'm gettin' in some trainin' fer the Winter Playoffs. And our first match is tomorrow. This is gonna be a big deal, so I'm headin' to the I buildin' gym fer probably the next hour. Wanna join?"

He saw that the chameleon rubbed his eyes, looked at the crocodile, who had just grabbed his duffel bag, and just… stared.

"What? Do I got somethin' on mah face?" Vector said, scratching it. "It's fine if ya dun wanna go. I know ya got yer art class thingy first thing at 8. So-"

Just then, there was a sudden hit on the ground as Vector was about to turn around. Moving his head back, he had seen that Espio had got on the floor and was now standing up.

"Huh? So ya wanna go?"

Espio nodded. "Yes."

"Alright! Although… I wanna ask ya a favor… Coach mentioned it to me a few days ago, but ya dun have to work out. In fact…"


Fifteen minutes later, dressed down in a white tank top, basketball shorts, workout gloves, and a pair of black shoes, Vector handed Espio his phone.

"Now, ya know how to use a stopwatch, right?" asked Vector. Espio nodded surprisingly.

"Yes. I… I have one."

Vector raised an eyebrow. "Ya do?"

"Valdez gi… give…? Gave…?" Espio put a finger to his chin. "Valdez… give… no… gave… me…"

"Mr. Valdez gave one to ya?"

"Yes! It was for… tr-tra... training…"

"Ya said that really well. I remember when ya had a bit of trouble sayin' that word. Oh, speakin' of which, I got practice tonight so I likely will be gone fer some time after 6. We need to have our English lesson early, 'kay?"

Espio nodded.

"Alright! Now, let's get this shit started! I already warmed up, got everythin' I need. Now Espio, when I say go, I need yeh to start up that timer and wait until it reaches one hour. And dun just stand there either! Give me the best motivation ya can, and I dun care if ya say it in English or Japanese or whatever! I'm gonna need to go as hard as I can!"

Sitting on the bench set in front of them, Vector got into position as he laid back, putting his hands on the barbell.

"Countta three… one… two… three!"

Espio pushed the button as Vector began the main part of his workout. He began with weightlifting, immediately grabbing the 200lb barbell and raising it up and down repeatedly. Espio watched over the crocodile as more and more people began to enter the I building gym. Three reps turned to six, six reps turned into thirteen, and as more and more of the clock continued to count on the stopwatch, Vector could feel the muscle in his biceps kick into overdrive as he had to reach his goal of three sets of twenty reps, culminating to a total of sixty reps before moving onto what was next.

This continued for most Vector's workouts. After bench pressing, Espio helped Vector place leg weights on his lower legs as he got to four sets of fifty squats. Around the third set, the crocodile could feel beads of sweat starting to form, and despite how much he's worked out this year, this set of workouts were proving to be the most difficult he's done.

"Vector! Ganbatte!" he suddenly heard, seeing Espio stare at him holding his fists in the air. Finishing up rep thirty nine, he lowered his eyes at the chameleon.

"Thanks, Espio…" he thought mentally, knowing he couldn't let the chameleon down. This motivation helped him as moved from squats to pushups, then pushups with one leg raised in the air, then back to the bench for incline presses with a pair of fifty-pound dumbbells that took Espio some time to get to the crocodile, then overhead presses with the same barbell he used to weightlift. Romanian deadlifts to work out his hamstrings, dumbbell crunches for abs, and with Espio's help, the two reptiles lined up the same dumbbells for Vector to run zigzag through as fast as he could.

Those, alongside many other workouts, set up the two's next hour, and by the time the clock on the stopwatch had hit 58:45.87, Espio was helping Vector with his cooldown exercise, helping his reflexes by throwing an exercise ball for the crocodile to catch. It was finally one minute later when Espio checked the phone and saw that the stopwatch hit 1:00:12.56.

"Vector!" he said, quickly running to the crocodile and showing him his phone. Vector held his phone, grabbed a dirty white towel next to his duffel bag, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"Huh, wouldya look at that! Looks like I'm done 'till practice tonight! We still got a bit of time before breakfast," the crocodile said. "But before that, there's somethin' I wanna do! Follow me!"

Vector headed towards the non-machine exercise room, with Espio following behind. The crocodile remembered how Espio's archer friends always hanged around here when they weren't in class in the times that at least one of them would be there during Advanced Weight Training, or in the times he'd come to the I building to work out due to it being mandatory for a football player. When they entered, the entire room was empty, sans for everything out for display for people to use.

"So, I was doin' a bit of readin', and apparently, some professionals recommend doin' reflex trainin' fer football. While passin' an exercise ball is fun and all, I wanted to take it one step further. I talked to coach 'bout it yesterday, and he mentioned that since yer gonna be like, mah trainer, he mentioned that there was a sport done in Northern Mobius that would be perfect fer reflex trainin'! He called it like… kendough?... I dunno how ya say it…"

"A-Aah!" Espio perked up. "Kendo, yes! I… I did that!"

"Wait, ya did?! Well, then this is gonna be even better!" Vector then turned around. "Now, let's see if there's anythin' we can use…"

Looking around the room, Vector looked to see if there was anything he could use as a substitute, as according to what he researched, kendo was done using wooden swords. However, there naturally wouldn't be anything like that here, and after searching around for what felt like forever, the crocodile settled on a pair of plastic poles used by the university's gymnastics team.

"Here ya go…" said Vector as he handed Espio the pole. The chameleon looked up at it, seemingly confused. No doubt, he wasn't used to sparring with something like this. "Ya got it, Espio?"

"Yes, but it is…" the chameleon replied, feeling the pole.

"Different, eh? We dun got wooden swords here, so I hope that suffices. Anyway, let's get started! So… if I remember how this worked."

Vector stood in front of the chameleon and held the pole with both hands in front of him. Despite being sure this was how he did it, he could see Espio shake his head.

"Am I doin' this wrong? Sorry, I'm not used to this…"

The chameleon walked over and spread apart Vector's legs, putting one foot in front of the other, relaxing his shoulders and correctly positioning the pole at the right angle.

"Is it like this?" Vector asked when it was done. Espio finally nodded his head and returned to his position, getting ready as the crocodile lowered his eyes.

"Ya better get ready, Espio! Just cause yeh've trained like this all yer life doesn't mean I'm not as strong as ya! On the count of three… one… two… three!"

Just as Vector started to move forward, Espio already shook his head and was waggling his finger.

"Huh?! What am I doin' wrong?!"

"No run," Espio replied.

"Then how the heck do I move?"

"Watch."

Vector was, once again, being demonstrated as the chameleon showed out how to properly move, almost in swift movements without much leg movement. It was FAR different compared to something like football, and it was showing more and more how that was the case the more Vector continued to be lectured, but he was starting to get it now…

"Okay… I think I got it…" the quarterback said. "Okay, one more time…"

Back into position in front of each other, the two reptiles stared each other in the eye as Espio bowed. Remembering everything Valdez told him, Vector returned the bow.

"Alright, let's do this fer real! Three… two… one!"

At the count of one, Vector began to sidle forward towards the chameleon, but Espio continued to hold his position.

"Gotcha!" yelled out Vector as he swiped from the side. But that was all it took for Espio to quickly strike back, moving forward as he blocked the strike and slashed his pole against Vector's, swinging the pole forwards and to both the left and right.

"W-Whoa! Espio! Calm down! These ain't actual wooden swords!" Vector yelled as he tried his best to block each move. He only stepped backwards more and more as Espio's strikes only got faster, and in no time flat, his hands were held towards him as Espio disarmed Vector in less than ten seconds. With Vector's pole falling to the ground, Espio held the tip of his pole to Vector's throat as the crocodile simply stared back.

"How…" he breathed. "…didja do that?"

Espio didn't respond, he only kept the same serious expression he sometimes held when he got deep into his training.

"Yer really badass… ya know that? One more go? Please?"

Espio swiped away the pole as Vector could pick up the pole on the floor, getting back into position.

"Okay, THIS time I won't botch it up! I think I'm gettin' the hang of this kendo thing!" the crocodile said. "C'mon! Gotta train mah reflexes as best as I can fer the game tomorrow!"

But the end result was still the same. Despite Vector finally making a swing and Espio defending, the chameleon was able to find a weak point and once again, disarmed Vector in no time flat.

"…guess we're gonna need to train, huh?" he asked after Espio held his pipe to Vector's throat again. "Okay, I think we had a good workout, eh? Ya hungry? Then let's head to the showers, bolt it outta here quickly, and eat some breakfast before yeh gotta go to yer art class."

With Vector grabbing the pipes and placing them back where they were, he walked back to his friend.

"Gotta say, ya sure know how to work yer way 'round poles," Vector said. "C-Course, I dun mean it like that…"

"Gaia, Vector… do ya REALLY gotta compliment yer friend with a sex joke…" he thought to himself. Ignoring his thoughts, he turned back to Espio.

"So hey, can we keep doin' this? I still need to train mah reflexes for the comin' games, especially if I wanna be ready for tomorrow's game, which by the way, ya should ask Mr. Valdez if yeh can get a ticket! The Winter Playoffs are all Away games, and ya still haven't gone to one yet-"


LATER

It was coming to the end of Creative Drawing, and Valdez had been helping Espio compile his portfolio for the art gallery that was happening later this month. The two were deciding on whether or not including Espio's self-portrait from his first day, or including his anatomy study where he had to recreate the human anatomy with accurate proportions and having it be blended and shaded when Professor D' Coolette clapped his hands.

"Okay, I 'ave my next class soon!" he said. "Be sure to keep your portfolios with you at all times, and for 'zose with a canvas, absolutely don't forget 'zose either!"

"Espio-kun, it's almost the end of class. Before we head to Professor Longclaw's for ESOL, aren't you going to tell Jewel about what we talked about?" Valdez asked. Espio looked down.

"I know… but…"

He looked over to the jewel beetle, who seemed to be rather dejected looking compared to how she normally was.

"It's now or never. You said it yourself: you rather this bickering come to an end."

Espio sighed, realizing now that he never had to talk to anyone like this back in Gojo. But much like the hundreds of things in the Outside World, there always was a first time for everything…

"I'll wait when she leaves," Espio replied, the two chameleons later handing in the fuchsia chameleon's portfolio to the coyote and waiting for Jewel to make her move. She notably, took longer to clean up her workstation, with about 85% of the class gone by the time she grabbed her canvas and was set to head out. At this point, this was where Espio made his move. Getting up from where he was sitting, he walked up behind the beetle.

"Jewel…" he said, watching as Jewel slowly turn around and stare back at the chameleon with embarrassed and nervous eyes. "I… I can't u… understand you very much. B-But… I… that word… fo-fo… fo… give?"

"F… forgive?" Jewel softly replied.

"Yes! I… forgive you."

The jewel beetle's face slowly lit up as her eyes widened. "Y-You… you really mean it?!"

"Yes."

"I do hope you have learned a bit of a lesson, Jewel," Valdez replied. "I should have talked with you earlier, but well, I suppose you two learned to make amends without my input, huh?"

"O-Oh… Oh, Mr. Valdez… please don't let the staff learn about this…" Jewel said as her voice began to raise pitch and her eyes began to water. "I'm still so embarrassed realizing who I truly am and I-"

"Jewel, the most important thing you can do is realize how you acted was a mistake. And you clearly are doing that, right?"

Jewel nodded.

"The next thing to do after that? Improve yourself. Learn from your mistakes and be a better person than you were before. This incident has likely changed a lot of how you view Espio, so perhaps maybe you should learn how things are like from his perspective. Perhaps you might find that you and him are a lot more alike than you think."

Jewel sniffed as she nodded her head. "I promise…"

"You're in charge of a lot of things here at the university and you help out us staff members. Extend that same hand to Espio like you would us, okay?"

Valdez turned back around to the chameleon. "I have to meet Professor Longclaw about your midterm exams, so I'll go on ahead to the ESOL classroom. Meet me there, okay?"

"Yes!" Espio replied as Valdez adjusted his bag and left the classroom. Just then…

"Espio, Jewel, aren't you two going to be late for you next class?" Professor D' Coolette asked.

"S-Sorry, Professor! We're just… having a little talk…" Jewel replied. She then proceeded to buzz out of the classroom, with Espio following in toe.

"Hey… listen, Espio… I… I still really feel terrible about how I was towards you. I know you forgive me and you're… you're too nice for your own good. But maybe it's that niceness that made me finally look at myself and how I was treating you. Despite everything I've done, maybe you taught me something I refused to accept about myself: that the world doesn't revolve around me. I… I wanna do better going forward. And it starts with you, Espio. I dunno what else more I can say but…"

She then hugged the chameleon, rushing into his upper body and wrapping her arms around him. "Thank you for everything. I promise that going forward, I'm not going to be the same Jewel."

Espio smiled back at the jewel beetle, glad to finally see a smile without malice or sarcasm in it.

"Hey, if you're not busy, want me to walk with you to your ESOL class?" she asked. "My next class is actually Sociology III, and it's the next building over from the C building. It's the least I can do."

"Okay."

And so, Jewel began to flap her wings as she walked alongside the chameleon out from the A building and onto the back campus of Mobius U.

"Man… it's really cold today… not helped by all the snow…" Jewel said. "I'm sure because you're a reptile, you probably must really hate days like today, but even us bugs hate it too."

Espio shook his head, used to the cold due to how long he would train in the dead of winter back in Gojo.

"Guess you're more used to it than I am. Are you sure you're not cold? You're wearing that same… outfit… caught my tongue there. I told you I was going to stop with how I was acting, and changing my language first-"

Just then, Jewel hit someone from behind, not paying attention to what was in front of her due to her facing the chameleon. She grunted as she shook her head.

"Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry for not seeing you! Are you-"

But Espio gasped as he realized just WHO Jewel bumped into. That familiar long, shiny black tail and mane, large stature, heavy looking winter clothing, and brown fur…

"Connery…" he said to himself, seeing the horse turn around and look at the jewel beetle. He noted the extreme height difference between the two as he looked down at Jewel.

"Ah… Jewel, it's YOU…" he said. "Watch where you're going next time."

"O-Oh, it's you, Mr. Connery! I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I-"

Just then, Connery turned his head towards the chameleon, and like clockwork…

"You… you again…"

"Y-You know Espio?"

"Oh, I KNOW him… I know you're very close to the university and its officials, so I'll tell you personally right now: this CRIMINAL right here has done much harm to the reputation of this campus as well as mooches off not just this university but also hard working, tax-paying Central Mobians' money to have him stay here, and he still refuses to act like a civilized person! If I were you, I would recommend that you ask the financial office or, Gaia forbid, the headmaster himself, to look into him, otherwise he'll just continue to run around doing whatever he pleases! I already have to deal with people calling me a 'racist' or 'xenophobic' just because I refuse to bow to whatever politically correct jargon they want me to believe with him!"

"H-Hey… I know that you're a huge part of the CCOCC branch of Mobius U," Jewel said, getting in front of the chameleon. "But whatever you're hearing about Espio, it's not true! Well, maybe the running from the cops thing is, but-"

"Ah ha! So, you admit that you see no issue with whatever he did! You know, it's ironic, despite knowing that you're one of the biggest liberals on this campus, I had heard you had your issues with him too. Normally, I would have praised you for dropping your little woke ideologies to deal with him, but let me guess, you 'changed your mind on him', obviously code for; 'I'm only defending him to virtue signal'?"

"Okay, Mr. Connery, that's enough! Look at Espio! You're already making him uncomfortable as is!"

Espio at this point, had only looked away and down at the ground. It was still hard to understand what Connery meant, but all he needed to see was his face and hear the malice in his voice…

"Now, I would recommend that we BOTH walk to class," Jewel continued. "…otherwise I will ask Harvey to make sure we don't have CCOCC booked for the next Club and Organization Day!"

"You wouldn't dare…"

"WATCH ME!"

Connery, rather than respond with anger, simply pulled his head back and stared at the beetle, snorting. "And there it is. I express simple concern without raising my voice, and in response, the liberal here feels the need to scream and threaten to cancel our group only because she doesn't like our presence and we're concerned about the lack of law and order being done to an obvious criminal as they usually do. Tch, so much for the tolerant left…"

With that, the horse walked past the beetle and chameleon, making his way to the A building. The only thing the two could hear was the sound of the chirping flickies and the sound of people walking past them as they headed to their next class.

"…sorry about that, Espio," Jewel said. "I dunno sometimes why we let Connery in on our Club days. I find he causes more trouble than I like, but he doesn't like it when I tell him to behave. Those conservatives, I swear… they wanna do whatever the heck they want without facing repercussions but sure does wanna be the judge and executioner of everyone else… but, I have no choice but to let him be. Otherwise, the Director of Student Activities here at Mobius U, Harvey Who, wouldn't be too pleased with me."

She looked over at the horse, who was opening the door to the A building now. "This really isn't the first time I've butted heads with Connery, but I usually ignore him. What's the point replying to some offhand comment he makes about what you decorate your laptop with? He seemed to know you though strangely… is he in one of your classes?"

Espio shook his head. "He is Vector's friend," he replied, giving her the same explanation he gave Mark last month.

"Vector's friend? Oh right, I forgot he's our running back for our football team… Hasn't anyone on the team disciplined him before? I might have to talk to Vector about that… well, don't worry, Espio. I'll try my best to make sure he doesn't keep bothering you. Now come on, let's forget that loser so I can take you to class and so I'm not late!"

Jewel began to buzz forward as Espio followed behind, hanging his head. He knew better now not to retaliate, but the chameleon was only getting more mentally angry at how much abuse he had taken by the horse. If Jewel could change, if Jet could even be shooed away by Alan and Munch, why couldn't the same happen to Connery?


LATER THAT DAY

After their English lesson and helping him study a few things for Espio's ESOL midterm, it was around 5:30 when Vector gathered his duffle bag and Valdez came into the dorm.

"Ah, hey there Mr. Valdez!" Vector said as he was packing up, placing a plastic water bottle into the bag.

"Are you getting ready to leave for practice, Vector?" asked Valdez.

"Yup! We got our next game tomorrow, so coach wanted us to come in fer practice. We're gonna have to come in every day this month since the Winter Playoffs start… well today actually! It's just tomorrow's our first game in the tournament."

Valdez nodded. "Ahh, I see. Well, just be sure when you return to finish up any assignments you're missing and study a bit before heading to bed. You should keep up with them just like you do practice."

"Now yer soundin' like coach, Mr. Valdez!"

"Well, Augustus and I do have a bit of a formal relationship outside of university related activities. Yes, he does hang around people that isn't George."

"Hey, ya should know that him and AD Sommersby have a lot of history," Vector zipped up his duffel bag and placed it over his shoulder. "Well, time fer me to head out!"

"Goodbye," Espio said from the desk. Vector walked over and patted the chameleon's shoulder with his large hand.

"Heh, yeh have a great night, Espio! Anyway, I'm off fer good!"

"Have a good time!"

With that, Vector took his leave and left the dorm, closing the door behind him.

"Now, Espio-kun, we should return to studying. Once we're done, let's have dinner together so I can drive you to Central City and you can work on your final for Creative Drawing," Valdez said in the chameleon's native language.

"Valdez-san…" Espio asked. "Vector says he has another game but he says it's… aw… away? May I be allowed to finally go?"

Valdez turned towards Espio. "Well, I don't know… you really ought to be spending your nights studying, but I'm not sure if they want me on campus tomorrow. Usually, they don't make the staff go to those large events like those playoffs because they have their own security, but I'll see. But as I said, Espio-kun, you should really be using your time in the evenings studying."

"Valdez-san, I still have yet to go to one of those away games, and I feel like I must support Vector! It's the least I can do for everything he's done!"

Valdez sighed. "Well, I'll see. Promise me that you'll focus on studying tonight and nothing else!"

"I shall do that, yes."

"After all, I'm sure you want to report to the Bride about how well your midterm and final exam scores were, yes? I bet she'll be very proud of you."

"Y-Yes…"

But Espio looked back down at the desk, he wondered the same if she really would be proud of his scores. If he wasn't perfect, then heaven knows how she would react…

"I can't think like that," he thought to himself. "Just like supporting Vector with football, I must commit to my studies."

With that, Espio picked up his psychology book and got out his midterm review from his bag, with Valdez grabbing the sheet and reading off the first question.


LATER

It was around 11pm when Espio was in bed, the TV on for background noise. He had just come back from downtown Central City some twenty minutes ago, and despite being in awe at the massive city, never realizing how beautiful a place where people lived could look, Valdez had him focus on his drawing. And for about two hours, Espio stood in a public park with Valdez sitting by a bench watching over him, easel in front of the fuchsia chameleon as he sketched what he saw in front of him.

The easel lay in the dorm by the desk, still not completely sketched, but getting close to being finished. By now as well, snow had already started to fall outside, and Vector still hadn't returned from practice.

Despite being bundled up in his covers, there was something about how Vector could make a room, no matter how cold, warm up. Seeing that smile of his, the loudness but bounciness of his voice, heck, even his physical presence felt like the coldest of rooms could be lit without having to light a fire. He wanted to know if he was okay before he went to bed, and the fact that this was going to happen for the entirety of this month…

"I hope you aren't hurting from the cold…" Espio said, shivering as goosebumps formed on his scales.

But as if right on cue, the door to the dorm beeped and opened. Espio quickly got up from bed and saw a familiar frame at the door reach over and flip on the switch for the lights.

"Ahh, finally back inside with the warr… oh, okay, it is DEFINETLY not hot in this room," Vector said as the lights turned on, Espio hissing when the lights were suddenly turned on after his eyes got used to the dark. The chameleon then heard something drop and a sudden pair of feet running up and climbing the steps to the top bunk (but not before placing a bottle with orange liquid on the nightstand).

"Hey, yeh alright Espio?!" Vector asked, with Espio opening his closed eyes. "Aw, I get it. Was it the lights suddenly comin' on? Still not used to it, even after all this time, huh?"

And there he was, still in his football jersey but back in his usual pair of pants was Vector. Espio smiled again.

"Y-You're… back," he said.

"Sure am! Didja miss me?"

Espio looked down at the sheets. "Yes."

"Ha! Well, I'm back. Dun worry 'bout me, I'll be fine! I know I gotta game tomorrow, and hey, THIS time, ya better come! That way ya won't feel too lonely on campus! I always… ya know… felt bad leavin' withoutcha, ya know? Like, I really wancha to support me, especially for this comin' tournament. I wanna be as committed as possible to winnin', but I know I gotta put in so much work to do so-"

As Vector continued, Espio only just… listened. He simply listened to the crocodile fill his ears with that rough yet kind voice of his, the voice he had grown so accustomed to yet was always so incredible to listen to.

"…so that's basically our plan tomorrow, so I'm gonna head to-" Vector stopped, realizing that Espio was just staring at him. "Oi, is there somethin' on mah face?"

"No," Espio replied, his face changing when he realized Vector had noticed him.

"Well, regardless, I'm boutta brush mah teeth and call it a night. Didja do it earlier?"

Espio nodded.

"Good job! Well, time fer me to head out. I'll be back in just a moment, okay?"

With that, Espio watched as Vector turned around, took off his shirt, and went to the drawer to look for night wear. He could only stare at the crocodile's naked torso, truly noticing just how strong he looked. Maybe it was all the hard training he did today that really showed off his muscular figure more than most other days? Whatever the case may be, Espio could only stare but quickly flopped back onto the bed and turned around once Vector put something on and left the dorm, turning the lights off behind him. Espio could only stare at the wall blankly, the room around him quiet and the only light now coming from the moon.

"What… is going on?" he asked himself. "What's… happening to me? Why am I focusing on Vector so much? What… am I feeling?"


THE NEXT DAY

Vector woke up that morning doing the same routine he had done just yesterday. His alarm went off at 5am, he woke up, drank his morning carrot juice, gagged, got dressed, ran out of the dorm, warmed up, and got started on his 7-lap run around the campus. Then, after beating his time from yesterday by 31 seconds, he returned from his run, went back to the dorm, woke up Espio a minute after six. There, after waking up himself, the two went to the I building, as Espio watched over Vector during his workouts.

It was a lot of the same, and after an hour of working out his arms, legs, hamstrings, shoulders, as well as working on cardio, it was time for the second part of his kendo training. The two reptiles found themselves back in the extra room, with the same plastic poles they used yesterday.

"Alright, I think I'm gettin' this a little more!" Vector said as the two got into position, bowing together. "And I made sure to watch some videos on kendo before practice yesterday! Today's the day I'm gonna disarm yeh, ya hear, Espio?"

Espio's face stayed much of the same as Vector counted down, beginning to move as he held up the pipe up and high. As he swung from a diagonal direction, his attack was blocked as the two poles slashed against one another. However, Espio failed in disarming Vector, but managed to catch him off balance. Espio used this chance to strike, but Vector was able to block it while catching his balance, getting back onto his feet as he moved forward, swinging a few strikes before blocking a few hits from the left and to his feet.

Despite being able to block more efficiently, as almost a minute passed, Espio was able to gain the upper hand by swinging a repeated number of times in quick succession. Vector was able to block the first three hits only to run into a piece of equipment, and ultimately, had his pipe struck out of his hands. Espio once again, held his pipe up to Vector's throat, staring at him in the eyes.

Returning the stare, the quarterback finally broke the silence.

"…ya know, has anyone mentioned ya have… really good eyes?" Vector asked. Espio's face of seriousness changed as he lowered the pipe.

"What?" he asked.

"Ya heard me. I'm just realizin' it now, bein' held up at pipe-point like this but… yer eyes… they really are amazin' lookin'."

Vector was a bit concerned that Espio wouldn't understand him, but when he saw the chameleon touch his eyelid, he smiled, happy that the transfer student understood. After all, it… WAS the truth. It wasn't just amazing looking, they were also… really beautiful eyes. Many people had often commented on his own eyes, complimenting their lemon-yellow complexation, but the way his more yellow-ish amber eyes looked on Espio, the way it brought out his looks more and the way it made his face look…

Vector stopped himself, wondering where he was going with this. Why was his eyes the first thing he was focusing on? In fact, why did he mention THAT of all things?! Not that Espio DIDN'T have beautiful eyes, but-

"W-We should probably stop fer today," Vector said out of embarrassment. "We gotta shower and eat breakfast before headin out to English Literature, y'know?"

Espio nodded as he walked over, handing the pipe to Vector.

"Hey, ya did a good job today bein' mah trainer. Keep it up, okay? I think even though I haven't been trainin' this hard fer a long time, this really is helpin' me, ya know?"

Vector placed all the equipment back as he said this.

"Now remember, our game is tonight. Ask Mr. Valdez if he can take ya, we're still not allowed to let other people ride with us on the way, especially since this game is gonna be at a bigger stadium that has its own security and stuff. I also can't getcha a free ticket this time, sorry bud. You'll come, right?"

Vector watched as Espio stared at the ground, hand on his chin, and then.

"Yes! I… I u…. uu… w… will… will!" Espio replied.

"There ya go! Now, we might have to do nighttime trainin' tomorrow since it's a practice day, but if ya want, we can go out fer somethin' to eat afterwards! I just likely can't get somethin' TOO big. Also, yer gonna have to wait a bit, so try to ignore hunger pangs. Anyway, let's head out and shower."

As the two reptiles walked out of the extra room and down the hall to the locker rooms, Vector couldn't help but think back to all that occurred just moments ago.

"Why his eyes?" Vector asked. "Why was that the first thing I said?"


After breakfast, waiting around for Advanced English Literature, entering the class and then leaving almost two hours later, Vector and Espio parted ways as the transfer student and Valdez walked to Espio's Algebra 101 class. The news that Espio got however, wasn't what he wanted.

"I'm sorry, Espio-kun," Valdez said as they walked out of the D building. "They have me on campus tonight not just finishing work, but also on lookout for when the students return. The Headmaster expects there to be a party upon the Badniks' victory as there seems to be every year, and these tend to be more wild as they attract people that aren't on campus. I won't be able to take you to Vector's game tonight."

Espio frowned, disappointed. "Valdez-san… I still haven't gone to one of Vector's games! I… I must! I have to support him!"

Valdez sighed. "Look, these playoff things that Coach Augustus told me about, they're happening multiple times this month. This won't be the only time Vector will play. I'll see if I can manage to take you, and if I do, I'll let you know. But besides, you should still be using your time to study. As I told you, The Bride expects to see good marks from you."

Espio sighed, holding his bag and looking at the ground. Yet AGAIN he was going to miss another match. He felt like fighting back, but he remembered that doing anything of that kind was VERY frowned upon in Gojo. So, keeping his mouth shut, the two entered the A building and headed up to the second floor to head to Algebra 101. When they arrived, Espio already saw Mark in class, looking at his phone and texting as a look of clear confliction was clear on his face.

"O-Oh, hey, Espio," he said, pushing up his glasses as Espio took his seat. The chameleon took notice of Mark's expression, wondering why he looked like that. He wanted to ask, but it seemed like the tapir was busy. Looking over to see Valdez was getting out his tablet as well as a notebook, he turned to Mark.

"What is… wrong?" he asked.

"It's… it's something about my friends and I. I'll tell you after clas-" Mark said before stopping, staring at Espio. "Actually… never mind, again, I'll tell you after class. I don't have time to explain."

Just then, Professor Quack walked in, and Espio turned around, knowing that Valdez would get on his case if he didn't do so as soon as the professor walked in.


After their final lesson on the linear functions and graphing unit, as well as Professor Quack having his class work on a mock exam, the Algebra 101 lecture ended as everyone began to pack up.

"Now remember! Our exam is next Monday, and on Wednesday, we'll begin our unit on Rational Expressions. Then, if all goes well, by the 19th, we'll begin our study guide for your midterms, and THEN, remember to save this date! On the 23rd, you'll take your midterms! I expect EVERYONE to be present that day, and if you won't, let me know in advance so I can send your exam to the assessment center down the hall on this floor and you'll have to come around during the winter holidays to take it. With that out of the way, that should be everything!" Professor Quack said as everyone began to get up from their seats and walked out of the room, piling alongside the sea of students. Valdez walked next to Espio as they left, waving as he left to not only have lunch with the staff but to go back and do personal work in his office before coming back upon 3 to the transfer student's Psychology I class.

With Valdez gone, Espio turned around to still see Mark on his phone, shaking his head and mumbling.

"Mark, what is wrong?" he asked.

"Oh, I thought you left, Espio," Mark replied, looking up at his friend. "I suppose I can tell you know. Norris, Hacker, Dave, myself, and another one of my friends were supposed to meet tonight to have our weekly sessions of DotC, but our other friend, who plays our CM, has to work tonight. I tried to see if he was able to call off, but he wasn't able to, so we're short a player. We thought about making it a three player game tonight, but DotC is meant for four players and a CM."

"O-Oh…"

He wasn't too sure what Mark was talking about, maybe it was another anime or a show? Whatever it was, it seemed to really make the tapir upset. However, there was a shift in his expression.

"Although… hey, Espio… are you busy tonight? I know there's another football game today, mainly because the Gamma Zeta Beta sorority girls and frat boys are heavily advertising it today in the K building. I know you probably are gonna go to support Vector-"

"I… can… cann... how do you said that word…" Espio replied, his mind trying to remember the opposite of 'can'.

"You can't?!"

"Yes! I can… cant?"

"Huh, that's weird. I thought you would have went… oh… is Mr. Valdez not letting you?"

Espio shook his head. "He is bui… busy?"

"Ohhh, I see! Well, that's perfect!"

Mark rushed over and grabbed Espio's hands, surprising the chameleon as he looked at him with stars in his eyes. "Then that means we won't have to cancel tonight's session! Espio, do you wanna be our fourth player?! I know you never played DotC, but we can teach you! Besides, I'll have to be CM anyway! I'm usually the backup CM in cases like this!"

"Ba-But… I… I can't…"

"Why not?"

"Valdez says… su… sta… staa…"

"Stuh?"

"Stu… di?"

"Study?"

"Yes, Valdez says study!"

"Aw, don't worry 'bout that, Espio! You can forget about studying just for tonight! You probably need a break from the sound of it."

Espio was confused. Was Mark saying… NOT to study? Then, what would happen to his grades? His focus on his exams? He knew he HAD to show his mother his exam grades, and if he didn't study tonight, then not only did he know his grades would plummet, but also both his mother AND Valdez would be upset. In fact, just before Algebra ended and Professor Quack gave his monologue about the coming days, the blue chameleon came up to Espio and told him that because he was going to be away from the dorm, that Espio needed to study on his own and that he'd try to come and check up on him.

So now begged a new question, how was he going to convince Valdez to let him be with Mark tonight now that he couldn't be at the game and he was expected to study more?

"Tell you what," Mark said. "Why don't we talk to Mr. Valdez and you tell him that you wanna study with me at my dorm tonight. After all, our next exam is Monday. And besides, I usually don't study until like a day or two before any big test and I do just fine! Besides, we haven't hung out in some time, and the guys miss you!"

Espio could only turn his head. Despite being friends with him for months, it was so strange how… odd Mark's sense of focus was. Unlike the chameleon, who often had to stay up for hours throughout the night learning new ninja moves or practicing them for days on end, making sure he was perfecting it under the watch of his mother or his Senseis, having to repeat the same moves over and over again if even one thing was wrong while he was verbally berated without a break of any kind, Mark seemingly had a very… cool view about what he was suggesting. It felt so alien to the chameleon, but once again, he reminded himself that this sort of thought you could ONLY find in the Outside World.

A break… Hmm…

It was the first time it ever really… crossed his mind. Even at his time at University, he was expected to study for hours on end whenever there was a test, not doing anything like hanging out with Vector, or watching anime or even daring to look at the TV screen, but the idea of not studying for one night…

"Hey, I can tell you look conflicted," Mark said, head turning. "Are you nervous about Mr. Valdez finding out? We can tell him together if we see him that I want you to study in my dorm. It'll be fine, I promise!"

Espio still didn't feel TOO sure about the idea of lying to yet ANOTHER person, but seeing that look on Mark's face and how excited his body language and voice was well… maybe just ONCE it was okay?

"O-Okay… I'll go…" Espio said, quickly remembering the response to give from Professor Longclaw's lesson on how to reply to requests.

"Alright!" Mark quickly clapped his hands, smiling. "I can't wait to see you there! Okay, so we're going to meet at Hacker's dorm at North Hall. I dunno if you've been there, so at 6 on the dot, I'll pick you up! And hey, maybe you got the chance to get some studying in before so Mr. Valdez will be entirely convinced! I'll see you there!"

Mark quickly ran down the steps as Espio watched. While the chameleon was still disappointed he wasn't going to watch Vector's game, he was at least happy he wasn't going to spend tonight alone. Besides, with how he's been feeling lately, maybe being with Mark and his friends would be the distraction he'd need to take his mind off things…


LATER THAT DAY…

It was around 5:06pm when a large white bus pulled into the parking lot of the Federation Dome, the largest football stadium in all of Central City and one of the largest in all of Central Mobius. The bus came to a halt as from within inside, Coach Augustus, wearing a blue and white jumpsuit, stood up.

"Alright, boys…" he began. "I'm sure you know WHY tonight is more important than ANY game we've played up to this point. We've only lost two games this season… and we're gonna make sure it's no more. Despite some bumpy roads, such as with Vector's injury and… other factors, I haven't been more proud of a team than I have been before. My old players, I continue to see you get better and better day by the day. You aren't the ponies I remember you all being when you first became part of the team. No… you're… the steeds I swore I'd make you become on the first proper day of practice. And as for all the newbies, you all have to show me where you do your training, because you newcomers just only get better and better."

The polar bear coughed, catching his voice. "So remember, our plan is to WIN, and make sure that championship trophy is OURS! And we're gonna make it happen! We still got plenty of time before the game, but we're getting ready to head to the locker room and prepared as the cheer squad and marching band perform their pregame spiel. Before I let you boys off, remind me ONCE more, who are we?!"

"BADNIKS!"

"And what are we doin' tonight?!"

"WINNING?!"

Coach slammed the support beam next to him. "There you boys go! Now c'mon, get outta here, head into those lockers, and do all the mental preparing your little college selves need, you know how many people you boys are playing in front of, it's your job to win and give them the game of a lifetime, cause this won't be the last one this season! This is just your first game!"

There was a collective clamor as everyone began to get up, grabbing their belongings as they all started to walk out of the bus one by one. Vector grabbed his duffel bag from above as he somehow managed to squeeze in between Rudy and Bull, hearing the clamor from behind him, such as Connery saying, '…and remember, none of this foolishness you all enjoy. There will DEFINETLY be scouters at this tournament, so if you want to get into the leagues…'

Ignoring him due to how much he had been angering the crocodile the past couple of days, Vector was next to walk off the bus as he noticed a plethora of journalists, photographers, and their elk taking pictures and video taping the team climbing off the bus. Vector did his best to not look at the cameras, despite however many flashes were being shot his way.

Eventually, the rest of the team reached the inside of the stadium, taking a shortcut from inside meant only for the players to the team locker rooms. Heading through a door on the left, Vector looked as the environment went from gold to blue as the lighting and corridors changed.

"C'mon… dun get nervous now, Vec…" Vector said to himself, walking behind Rudy as the lizard opened a door in front of him. Soon, there was loud commotion as he now entered same locker room he was in during Thankgiving Classic. Sighing a sigh of relief, Vector headed to the locker he was with last time, immediately taking off his sweater, then his shirt as Knuckles appeared next to him, nearly in the nude as he was ready to put on his football uniform.

"I was wondering where you were!" Knuckles said, grabbing his compression pants. "I'm surprised you weren't one of the first guys off the bus."

"Yeah well, ya saw that amount of media people takin' pictures like I'm a celebrity," Vector replied as he unbuttoned his pants. "I just dun feel like dealin' with that right now."

"Nervous?"

Vector paused as he was in the middle of taking off his shoes. "…a… a little."

"Hey, it makes sense. You're our quarterback, our main face. If we lose this-"

"Dun… talk 'bout losin' at a time like this. If we really do lose at the VERY BEGINNING, mah god, either coach or AD Sommersby will chomp mah head off."

"Well hey, you have our strategy for this game, right?"

"Course I do, and I've been trainin' a lot too outside of practice. Espio's been helpin' me."

Knuckles paused in the middle of preparing all the extra things he needed before he headed out to the field, like his shoulder pads, helmet, and mouth guard. "…really now?"

Placing his jersey over his muscled torso, Vector nodded. "Yeah, he's a surprisingly good trainer. I'm surprised he can manage in spite the language barrier."

"Well, you saw him during the whole vandalism thing, dude. It's no wonder why he's a good trainer."

Vector smiled as he turned back to his locker, grabbing his compression pants from his duffel bag. As he was about to put them on, alongside fitting his tail where it needed to go, he couldn't help but think back to the chameleon in that moment.

"It's a shame that Espio couldn't be here…" he thought to himself, still a little demoralized that the transfer student still hadn't gone to one of his away games. Sure, he knew the chameleon would likely put it on TV while he studied, but right now, more than anything, seeing the chameleon in the stands would help his stomach from turning knots and his paralyzing nerves. Seeing him cheer, even just smile, from the stands… how that frankly could have changed so much.

He thought back to how just before he left, Espio had given him another good luck message, and Vector couldn't help but think back to that memory. He knew he had to win this… for his team, for the fans, for his school, for… for Espio…

"Because I ain't gonna disappoint that… cute smile…" he said to himself.

"What cute smile?" Knuckles asked. Vector quickly gasped as he realized what he said.

"N-Noth-Nothin'!" the crocodile turned away.

"OOOOOooooooOOOOOOOOhhHHHHHhhhh, Vectorrrrrrr! Is that you having a crush I recognize? C'mon, who's the girl THIS time?"

"I-It ain't a girl!"

"Oh, so it's a boy this time?"

Vector quickly covered the echidna's mouth.

"First of all, I ain't in love with anyone, and second, d'ya know how much Monk will get on yer ASS if ya even suggest that?!"

Knuckles attempted to speak muffle through Vector's hand, only for the crocodile to rip his large hand away.

"Okay okay, jeez… It's probably a secret then, dude. I understand…"

As Knuckles returned to tightening the laces on his cleets, Vector returned to dressing.

"Yeah… I ain't in love…" Vector thought to himself. "What, I can't have a super close bromance with a guy? Just cause I'm bi dun mean that I fall heels for everyone I see…"

But the crocodile looked down, thinking back to some moments from the past couple of weeks.

"…yeah… it's… it's just… just silly…"


MEANWHILE…

"I'm very happy to hear that you'll be studying with Mark," Valdez said as he gathered up all his materials back at the dorm. "I was a bit worried that he wasn't taking this exam and your upcoming Midterms seriously, but you two studying together has me very confident that you'll be passing. Not many students here study on the weekends. And plus, I'm sure that you two will keep each other in check. Do you need me to get you two dinner? The dining hall will be open tonight, but not many people will be there, and I'm sure you two would want something."

"No, it's fine," Espio replied as he was finishing up some homework for Social Science 101 with only three more questions left. "We'll see."

"Well, I'll be in and around the D building, monitoring the place as well as doing some work there too. Just find me there if you need anything. I have to be off now, and remember, DON'T let yourself get distracted, you NEED to be studying."

"I understand."

"Good. I can't wait for the Bride's response when she hears about your midterm results, she'll be so pleased, and I'm sure that she'll see finally that giving birth to a baby is easier than worrying about it."

"Which reminds me… Valdez-san… when you return to Gojo in two days, can you do me a favor?"

Valdez was mere seconds from walking out the door when he turned his head towards Espio. "Hm?"

"Can you stop by the religious temple and get two Omamori?"

"Omamori? Are you nervous that alongside studying, you plan to pray to the gods for success on your exams?"

"Well, I would like one gakugyō-jōju amulet for myself so I can pass my examinations, but I want to give one kaiun amulet to Vector."

"To Vector? What for?"

"So that the gods may bless him with good luck to win his football games."

Valdez couldn't help but smile. "Well, I'm not sure if our gods are too familiar with football, but I'm sure they'd be happy to bless him with all the luck they can provide. I'll get them to you alongside delivering your letter to the Bride."

With that, Valdez left the dorm, leaving Espio by himself to his remaining assignments. He was, however, a bit happier. Sure, he wasn't able to watch Vector's away game, and sure, he was still LYING to Valdez to go be with Mark tonight, but still, knowing that the gods were going to protect Vector and bless him and hopefully the rest of his team so they could win this 'turnament' he had been talking about all week…

Espio sighed out of happiness, imaging how the crocodile would look when he was gifted the omamori. Gojo's were always designed so beautiful, made by the local artists who provided them all to the local temple for the villagers to purchase. And plus, being apart of the Shinobi clan, he knew the head priest of the temple would likely give the two charms Valdez would bring back extra protection, remembering back to a childhood memory of being with his late father as a young child who had only begun his ninja training, purchasing a charm from the temple and having the priest bring the two inside for extra blessing…

The chameleon shook his head. "No, I should stop getting distracted. I have to do this until Mark arrives," he said. With that, he continued to commit to his remaining assignment, finishing up two review questions, as well as getting started on an essay question. He was having a bit of trouble answering it, as with all other essay questions he had in his books, so Espio wondered if it was best to leave it until tomorrow so either Valdez or Vector could help him, or try his best to finish it until Mark arrived-

That's when there was a sudden knock at the dorm door. Espio looked up from his assignment and at the door, getting up from the chair and walking to the door, opening it to see Mark in a different pair of clothes than he had on earlier today.

"Hey there, Espio!" he said, holding his right hand up. "Are you ready to go now?"

Espio looked back at his homework before walking back to the desk and hiding it in his bag, hoping that Valdez wouldn't find it. Of course, when he used to do this with scrolls that helped him with education as a child back home, EVENTUALLY either one of the guards or his nanny would find the scroll Espio never finished, and that would lead to one act of discipline to another, so on and so forth.

"May he not find this…" Espio said to himself as he turned back around, walking out of the dorm after grabbing his school ID and shutting the door behind him. As they walked out of West Hall, Mark talked the entire time about what the two were going to do, all while Espio listened, still not sure about what he was going on about, but nevertheless enjoying himself. As they walked down the stairs to the first floor of the A building, Espio noticed two familiar figures enter the door from afar leading to the back campus. He squinted, seeing a blue and green figure.

"A-Ah!" he said, realizing that it was Sonic and Manic, two of Vector and Knuckles' friends. They seemed to be in a hurry as they were quickly moving their hands in and out of their pockets while also holding onto some kind of large bag.

"You know them?" Mark asked as they continued to walk. "I saw them alongside the frat boys earlier today."

Right on cue, the two stopped as a familiar voice called out.

"Yo, Espio! What are you doing here?" Manic said as he and Sonic ran up to the chameleon. "I thought you would have been at the game now."

"Manic, I know Espio's our friend, but c'mooooon, we're late as is!" Sonic replied, tapping his shoe on the ground quickly.

"Hold your horses, bro! Hey, if you're still on campus, either you're super late or you're stuck on campus tonight! We're about to head ourselves too. We've been busy all day outside of classes helping the frat dudes and Sonia's sorority sisters sell swag for the upcoming Winter Playoffs, and there's still a giant backload of stuff we didn't sell! Want some?"

Espio turned his head as Manic opened the bag he held, tossing the chameleon a shirt, then proceeding to place a water bottle, lanyard, hat, and decal, with Mark awing at how FAST Manic was moving. The chameleon opened up the light blue shirt, revealing white text that read;

'MOBIUS UNIVERSITY

BADNIKS'

…with the Badniks' logo in between the two phrases.

"And that's not even everything! Sonia took care of mugs, sweaters, and a bunch of other things I'm too lazy to name! Hope that shirt is in your size, that's our smallest one."

"Thank you!" Espio replied, happy to receive all of these gifts. He proceeded to bow, not feeling like he deserved all of this.

"Yo, trunk dude!" Manic continued as he turned towards Mark. "You want something too?"

"Uhhh…" Mark twiddled his thumbs, looking around. "I'm not really into sports at all…"

"Aw, that's fair!" Sonic replied. "At least you asked. Now, Manic, I suggest that we REALLY high tail it outta here… can you imagine the traffic right about now?"

"Impatient, aren't you, bro?"

"The game is about to start soon! In fact, we got… oh snap! Less than ten minutes! We gotta hightail it to the Federation Dome!"

"Weren't we gonna wait for Sonia to arrive?"

Sonic shook his head. "She can just meet us there! C'mon, we gotta get a good seat at least!"

"Can you see this guy?" Manic said to the two, pointing his thumb towards his brother.

"Manic, you know how much I hate having to wait!"

"Oh yeah bro, I know. I've known you all my life."

"Don't make me do it."

"It?... oh… oh no…"

Sonic walked towards Manic, arms crossed. "Come on, Manic. I'm waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaitiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-"

"Okay okay, jeez!"

"Works every time."

Sonic turned back towards Espio, smiling and patting Espio's back. "You sure you don't wanna hitch a ride if you can't go? We'll be happy to take you, but you gotta buy your own ticket there, and I guarantee the stadium is likely sold out."

Espio touched his cheek. He REALLY wanted to go see Vector's game tonight, but he DID promise Mark that he would hang out with him. He turned back to the tapir.

"It's okay if you wanna go, Espio," he said. "We can do a three person game."

Despite Mark not looking like it, Espio could tell that he would be disappointed if he went to the game. Frowning, he also thought that with how strange he's been feeling, especially when Vector's around, he wouldn't want a repeat of what happened during the wrestling match a few weeks back to happen again-

"You know, you can check social media for updates," Manic said. "Plus, a few people are probably livestreaming the event too. You won't miss a thing!"

Espio turned back around and turned towards Manic. He wasn't sure what that meant entirely-

"He's saying that you can check your… or well, MY phone to see the latest updates from the game," Mark said. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and clicked away, proceeding to show the phone screen to Espio. He saw video from a field, showing many of the 'cheerleaders' as Mighty put it, doing their dance as there was loud music being played behind them. Recognizing the sights from the games he's been to, Espio's eyes widened.

"Well, guess he wants to stay," Sonic said. "You two have a good night and stay safe! Especially you, Espio. It's really cold out there!"

With that, the two hedgehog siblings walked off as Espio grabbed all the swag Manic left for him. Mark turned to look at the two.

"Are they jocks too?" he asked. "Well, the blue one looks like it. That green guy is TOTALLY high… uh, of course, I wouldn't really know TOO well about that stuff… Did you still wanna walk to North Hall with my phone? Just warning you, you might have to put it away since Norris REALLY doesn't like it when we bring out devices during our game. He says it ruins the mood since they didn't have phones and TVs hundreds of years ago."

Espio didn't pay much mind as the two continued to walk out of the A building, watching as the pre-game show came to an end. As the two exited out of the building, Espio shivered, feeling the slight wind chill against him, not very well bundled up in his usual clothes. Mark, on the other hand, was more decked out in winter gear.

"You wanna borrow my jacket, Espio?" he asked as the two walked down the steps to the back of the campus, noticing the expression on Espio's face. "I know cold-blooded mobians hate the cold more than anything."

But Espio tried to perseviere as he continued to watch the game. As the clock hit 6:00pm, the cameras zoomed out on the stadium. Suddenly, the mascot of Mobius U, Egg Pawn, began to run across the field holding a hammer in both hands.

"And with the clock hitting six, the Mobius University mascot runs across the field with the school's trademark Piko Piko hammer!" said Wes Weasley through the speaker's of Mark's phone. "Because ladies and gentleman, children and grandparents, mobians and overlanders, it's time to play some football and get this Winter Playoffs started! For the second day in a row, two teams will compete for total victory-"

Egg Pawn reached the edge of the field, standing in front of a display of some sort of machine. "…and we'll see who it is as we give it up for the Mobius University BADNIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKSSSSSS!"

And then, Egg Pawn slammed the hammer on the top of the machine, causing some sort of button to be pressed. He then turned around, dropped the hammer, and walked off as the entire display ripped open, revealing the entire team running out from the machine. Espio gasped as he noticed a familiar face among the sea of players being the first people to run out.

"Vector…" he said, holding his free hand to his mouth as he heard very loud cheering coming from the speakers. There he was, in spite of being some distance away, in spite of him not being at the game itself, there he was. Espio could easily see that happy, motivated expression on his face, his determined eyes, and a body language that screamed ready as he put his fist into the sky. It was his trademark move, and EVERYONE who was a fan of Vector's loved it.

Mark watched from Espio's shoulders as the chameleon was in awe at how Vector looked. Despite how different his football gear made him look, it was one of the many ways that Vector uniquely presented himself, it was a look that always warmed his heart no matter how cold it was, and he was hoping that through the cameras that Vector was on, that he knew Espio was watching-

"Hey, what are you doing outside at a time like this?!"

Espio gasped as he recognized a familiar voice. He turned his eyes away from his phone as the two looked up to see Officer Wachowski walk towards them, bundled up in more winter appropriate clothes.

"Ugh, great, it's the cops," Mark muttered. Espio could note the sterner look on Officer Wachowski's face, likely as a response to the vandalism incident. He looked at Mark briefly before turning back to Espio.

"Many of the students are either at the game or inside because of the cold," he said. "Most people wouldn't dare be outside at a time like this, unless they're willing to commit delinquencies, and considering our… PAST-"

"No need to worry," Mark interrupted, clearly not in a good mood. "Espio's with me tonight. He won't be doing anything like that."

Officer Wachowski turned to face Mark, looking down at him. "Well… I suppose. But the staff and I will be on lookout tonight to make sure nothing is happening. Wouldn't like a repeat of what happened November 7th, right?"

"Duly noted…"

"You'll be on your best behavior, RIGHT?"

Turned towards Espio, the chameleon looked up at the overlander before lowering his eyes.

"Yes," he replied.

"That's what I expect…" he said as the campus officer walked away. Mark sighed.

"I swear, what is it with people around here thinking you're some sort of hardcore criminal… first that horse dude and now the campus officers."

When he heard horse dude, Espio suddenly remembered the game, and he quickly pulled up Mark's phone again. However, the phone simply showed Mark's home screen.

"M-Mark…" he said, showing the phone.

"Oh, I think it crashed… Sorry, Espio…" the tapir replied. "But we should probably get outta here. Not only is it cold, how much do you wanna bet those cop fascists wanna write us both up for 'loitering'. We paid to go to this campus, this isn't a public school…"

Espio sighed, sad he was still going to miss the game. But perhaps the tapir was right, as he didn't want to see Officer Wachowski either. With that, the two continued to their trek to North Hall.


Arriving inside and heading to the third floor of the building, Mark opened the door to room B-312 as Espio followed. However, the two walked into a heated discussion between Hacker and Dave.

"Okay, so let's talk about this sentence you wrote," Dave said, clearing his throat. "A summer blockbuster releases, it's filled with a lot of graphic scenes, but is very accessible to minors. Despite this, no one really bats an eye. If, however, we see a woman do as much but dress in a revealing manor, or has a design that shows off a very curvy structure, something that real women are like, well, we see complaints."

"I mean, it's true!" Norris said.

"Yeah but… see, it's not written well like… okay, so the point of your paper is that no one in Central Mobius bats an eye towards violence, but morally objects to any sort of sexuality, tasteful or not."

"Yeah, of course it is!" Hacker said, pushing up his glasses as Dave marked out something with his pen.

"No no, but then let's talk about this line here. 'We do as much to prevent any kind of 'sexuality' around children while also shoving it into our advertising, should we also extend that same sort of views towards violence and not normalize it for children too?' I mean I get it, I get what you're trying to argue, but… I would word it like… NOT stupidly…"

Norris began to laugh as Hacker turned away, taking off his glasses.

"Look, Dave, I make good points in that paper, I just don't know how to… ARTICLATE words onto paper in a way that makes sense at all…" he said.

"I mean…" Dave said as he looked back at the paper. "It shows, Hacker. Just cause you're majoring in media studies doesn't mean you can't… like… write good."

"Guys, are we interrupting anything major?" Mark asked as he and Espio fully walked into the room. Norris quickly got up and ran towards Espio.

"E-Espio-sama! How wonderful it is to see you again!" he said as he grabbed the chameleon's hands. "My kokoro is so pleased knowing you'll be joining us tonight in our session!"

There it was, Norris for some reason using Japanese in his sentences. The chameleon knew that Norris didn't really know Japanese all that well, and yet he used it a lot in his linguistics. He wondered why that was, but didn't dwell too much on it.

Meanwhile, Hacker had thrown his midterm research essay to the side as he and Dave made room for the two.

"I so cannot wait for tonight!" Hacker said as he rubbed his hands together. "Frankly, with all these midterms and finals, I just wanna relax."

"Plus we haven't had much time for much…" Dave mentioned. "Work and all these exams and stuff have been keeping me so busy… By the by, Mark, did you wanna go the dining hall for dinner or do you wanna order out?"

The tapir, who had sat down, looked over to the nutria. "I'll see how I'm feeling, there's also the fact that Espio hasn't ate too. But anyway, on that note, we'll have to make a new quest since I'm CM tonight, and we also have to explain Espio how to play too."

"I think I'll do the honors!" Norris said as he raised up his glasses. As Mark got out his phone, Norris walked over to Hacker's desk and brought over a large, maroon book and placed it in front of Espio.

"Okay, Espio-sama!" he added. "This is the Depths of the Crypt sixth edition book! This has all the rules, how to create your character, all the classes, races, alignment, as well as templates for how our story should go, and-"

"Maybe let's not overwhelm Espio at first, Norris," Mark said. "There's a lot we're gonna have to do before the game begins. Not only do we need to explain to Espio how the game works, we need to help him, as you said, make his character, and how we want the story to go. Should we go template or something I can make up?"

"Can we visit ancient Northern Mobius?"

"I don't think that's a place we can go to in DotC…" Dave said.

"Well, if Espio-sama is like, a ninja like I've been hearing people say, then he should at least be a thief! We already have myself as the druid, you, Dave, as the Cleric, and Hacker as the fighter! Mark also would be a ranger if he was playing, so it makes sense! It's balance, Dave! Balance!"

"I don't have issues with him being a thief," Hacker said. "But he needs an old-timey name. We already have ours… how about… hm… Es… Estore… Estore something…"

"Estore? Sounds like e-store! That won't fit!"

"Well, what name WOULD you give him?..."


And so, this continued for the next fifteen minutes, as Mark, Norris, Dave, and Hacker all helped Espio create his character; Estore Kanon, a male Overlander thief who was lawful neutral, only stealing when it seemed like the right thing to do. It was all very confusing to Espio, who, after having the four try to explain it to him in English, settled on using a translator app to explain everything to him in Japanese, despite the fact the translations left a LOT to be desired…

"Okay, Espio," Mark said. "So, I won't be playing the game myself, I'm going to play the role of Crypt Master, or CM. I'm the person who basically tells the story and who will determine a lot of how things go in the game. So, for example, let's say you wanted to move forward, you would tell me that and I can tell you if you can or can't move forward, and I can explain your surroundings."

Espio looked at the tapir, still confused, and was about to become even more confused when he held up two strange pieces in his hand.

"This is our ten sided die we use for the game," Mark continued. "This die is going to determine a LOT of what's going to happen in the game. Such as attacking enemies, performing actions, the like. The way the die calculates how successful an action is depends on the number you roll. The red die here represents double digits, and the white die here represents single digits. When you roll and you get a number, I'm going to calculate the number you rolled as a percentage, and the official CotD app will generate whether or not your action is successful, all depending on your percentage. So, if you rolled… let's say a 9 on the red die, and a 1 on the white die, that's 91%, meaning you'll likely perform your action. But if you rolled 2 on the red and 3 on the white, that's a 23%, meaning your chances of performing your actions successfully go down extensively."

"What you SHOULD concern yourself with is getting a 0 on both die!" Hacker said. "If you roll that, it's a guaranteed critical, meaning not only is any action you perform successful, you get the best possible outcome! So, if you're trying to fight, you'll likely win your fight by doing double damage!"

"Here, hold out your hand like this," Mark said as he held up the palm of his hand. "I'm gonna place the die in your hand and give it a shot practicing to roll."

Doing what he said, the tapir then proceeded to show Espio how to roll; shaking his palm then lifting it into the air. Espio followed the action, confused as to what this was but following along nonetheless. After rolling the die and lifting his palm into the air, the die fell onto the floor, 6 on red, 2 on white.

"Okay, a 62%!" Dave said. "That's a really good first role, but it's all dependent on the calculations if your action is successful."

Espio frowned, there was still too much English in the game for him to understand, too many complicated words he couldn't understand, and he wasn't sure if he was going to like the game. But… he did promise he'd be with Mark, so he was going to try his best nonetheless.

The game didn't start however, as soon, Hacker had to bring out a laptop for Mark to write down everything regarding Espio's character, even showing him his character's stats saying, "I knew that would confuse you, so I picked some relatively good stats for the thief class."

This continued for what felt like almost an hour, and as the clock on the laptop hit 6:48pm, Mark looked up from the laptop.

"Okay guys, we're ready to begin! Espio… I mean, ESTORE's character sheet is entirely ready!" the tapir said. "And Espio, if you don't understand something, it's okay to ask for help. As CM, I'm here to help guide all the players through this new journey."

The chameleon recognized the phrase from all his ESOL lessons, and he knew he was going to ask for help sooner or later.

"Alright, put your phones away!" Norris said. "Come on, it's the middle ages! Phones didn't exist back then!"

Espio looked up at the giraffe, hoping he would make an exception so he could check up on Vector's game from time to time. He turned towards Mark, who winked at him before sliding his phone towards him.

"Uh, Mark? Why are you giving your phone to Espio-sama?" Norris asked.

"Safe keeping. I know he won't use it. Besides, I can calculate die roll percentages on here," Mark replied, clearly lying. Espio was surprised at Mark's action just then…

"Well… okay… I don't think Espio-sama has used a phone yet, so it should be fine… Okay, so same characters as our other campaign… do you wanna make up an excuse for why your character isn't there, Mark?"

Mark cleared his throat as he began, the four looking at him.

"In the town of Palberry, three familiar adventures gathered outside the town's inn," he began. "Unlike adventurers who found themselves in situations meeting their future allies for the first time, these adventurers knew their names; Nowick the male half-elf druid, Deego the male Overlander cleric, and Manoricity the female dwarf fighter. They had recently gotten split from their ally, the ranger Rob, and had been looking for him when they had come across the town. After staying in the inn that night, the group awoke in search of more clues to their missing ally."

With this beginning, Dave took over.

"By golly Gaia, we have yet to see any clues on the whereabouts of Rob!" he said. "May I suggest that we talk to every villager again today?"

Mark nodded. "You may talk to all the villagers, but many of them seem to have faces of discontent. The likelihood in which you can get the chance to get an answer seems slim."

Norris held up his hand. "Why, how the villagers shall kiss the feet of Nowick the druid when they hear his request! The lovely dame there shall be the first one to grant my request!"

"So, with Nowick walking towards the dame, he bows in front of her."

"Greetings my lovely maiden, and who may I have the honor of asking a question of upmost importance to?"

"Nowick attempts his form of charm when it comes to women. But will it work? The dame turns towards him, and it's up to the die whether the maiden will reciprocate Nowick's request."

Norris grabbed the die and rolled it, throwing it onto the floor as it stopped on 4 for red, 9 for white.

"Nowick has rolled a 49%, now to calculate if his method works…"

Mark turned to the laptop and typed away, only to look up.

"Unfortunately for Nowick, his attempt of slickness fails. The dame says, 'Begone, filthy charmer! We are dealing with a crisis, and having a half-elf attempt to seduce married women such as me is the utmost insulting thing to happen to me!"

"Perhaps you misunderstand, maiden! I do not attempt to seduce, I am looking for clues!" Norris replied.

"But Nowick's second attempt fails. The woman slaps him as Deego and Manoricity watch, bringing him to the floor, causing him to bruise."

"Do you require my magic, Nowick?" asked Dave in a more higher pitched voice.

"I ask not for magic, but to leave! How dare the dames of this village be so inconsiderate to their villagers! Had I not feel hospitality towards them for the inn we stayed at, I would say burn the place to the ground!" Norris said.

"Nowick begins to laugh, his secret chaotic side beginning to show as suddenly, he hears a very loud crash, as well as loud struggling," said Mark. "However, with Nowick's anger, it's unclear whether the trio would stay in the village to see what was going on, or leave, leaving the villagers to whatever danger had just occurred."

"I suggest that we explore the cause of this scene!" Hacker said, also high pitched too.

"Bah! A lowly monster that is!" Norris said. "If this village wishes to treat us like this, then perhaps their WARRIORS can do something about it!"

"It seems that Deego and Manoricity cannot convince Nowick to join them, and they're becoming unsure whether or not to join Nowick in leaving, or investigating, Nowick or not," Mark said.

Hacker grabbed the die. "I say we check it out!" he said as he rolled, 7 on red, 4 on white.

"You have rolled a 74%..." Mark then calculated it. "Your attempt at convincing Nowick is successful."

"Think of the reward, Nowick! If we do help this lowly village, then we may be handsomely rewarded with information on Rob!" Dave said.

"Nowick was quiet, before looking at Manoricity."

"If we must, however! I shall subjugate this village to my unruly spell shall this not be of any kind of benefit! Come, fellow friends! Let us hope this reward is one of clues, and perhaps a fair maiden for us to take him before we continue our journey!" Norris said.

"With that, the three began to walk towards the origin of the sound. Walking into the town square, they see a man holding onto the elbow of a man in dark blue clothing, attempting to hold him as tight as possible. 'Quick!' says he. 'Someone alert the town guards! This man is a thief and most be punished with death! He stole from my stall!'

Espio looked up, confused as to why everyone was looking at him.

"…Espio? This is where you speak," Mark says.

"I don't understand," the chameleon replied.

"You could say something like… oh, I'm not a thief! Or like, you have the wrong person! Something like that!" Hacker added.

Espio tilted his head, still unsure of what to do. He didn't quite get this game and what he was supposed to be doing. In fact, he wasn't sure if he was really having fun…

"I wonder if Vector's game is going well…" he thought to himself.


THREE HOURS LATER

It was around 9:30pm when the Badniks finally returned to the locker room, energy and spirits high now that they won their first game of the Winter Playoffs. Coach Augustus was beaming as he walked around the place.

"I told you! I told you all, see?" he said excitedly. "Now, I'm just glad we got past our first trial, but it's a long road ahead, boys! You know the deal, practice tomorrow, and make SURE you're keeping up with your workouts outside of class! I can tell you boys are at tip top physical shape, but you're only going to get stronger, ya hear?"

"YES COACH!" was heard throughout the entire locker room.

"Now, get your asses showered, dressed, and let's take that bus back to Mobius U! I gotta meet up with Sommersby and the people managing the event!"

With that, the happy Augustus left the locker room as Vector sat down on the stone bench by the lockers, taking his helmet off his head and sighing a breath of relief. Finally, the hours long ordeal was finally over, and at last, they had won. Vector knew there was a lot more to do, and he knew his training was only going to get tougher, but as long as he put his mind to it, as long as Espio was there to help him train, he was adamant the next round of the tournament, the Badniks vs the Grand Metropolis Metallics, would result in them heading to the third round before the semifinals.

Just then, Knuckles walked into the area where Vector was, towel over his waist.

"Haven't even taken off your gear?" the echidna asked as he grabbed the lock of his locker.

"Just been around talkin' with a few guys on the team…" Vector sighed as he detached his shoulder and knee pads. "Checkin' up on them, makin' sure they're good, and most importantly, gettin' compliments up the wazoo. I know mah phone's gonna be blowin' up HARD."

Knuckles took out his clothes as he dropped his towel, beginning to get dressed. "Apparently our game is the fourth most trending topic on Scambler. That's what I saw on my phone before heading out here."

"Is it?" Vector began taking off his cleets. "Yup, totally blown mah phone's gonna be."

"I would recommend you shower though, you took a lot of falls this game. Look at your pants, filthy as hell."

"Well, didn't know ya suddenly became a cleanliness tsar. But yer right, I should get to showerin'. I frankly deserve a hot shower right about now."

As Vector got up, taking off his jersey with both hands, he was seconds from taking off his compression pants when Knuckles spoke up again.

"Oh, by the by, I forgot to tell you. Might wanna stay in your own world when you head to the showers?"

"Hm?" Vector turned around, tail limp as his muscled body was drenched in sweat.

"Connery's out there ranting in the showers as he usually does."

Vector sucked in his teeth. "We seriously fuckin' won and he's COMPLAININ'?!"

"No, I don't think it was that. I think it was something else. Probably his whole rant on politics."

Vector froze up. If there was something Connery loved talking about in the locker room alongside telling others why their performances weren't that good, it was talking about his political views to the other players. Last year, the crocodile just ignored them all since he didn't really care, but the fact that Knuckles wasn't sure about what the horse was ranting about-

"No, stop it," Vector thought to himself as he went back to changing his clothes. He took off his dirty compression pants, leaving him in just his jockstrap and tube socks before grabbing a clean towel from his locker. "I'm sure Connery ain't rantin' 'bout Espio here. After all, he isn't here, and maybe Connery's just ranting 'bout his usual thing…"

With everything taken off, Vector wrapped his towel around his waist as he placed his dirty clothes back into his locker and locked it up, walking to the showers.

"Yeah, I bet Connery's just talkin' 'bout somethin' normal," the quarterback continued to think as he walked. " Like how the mayor's recent decision that he doesn't like is socialism, or that a new bill being considered in the government or somethin' is socialism, or that some politician writin' somethin' on Scrambler critiquin' somethin' is signs that the other side are all socialists… Huh, y'know I never thought about it before, but Connery sure likes to rant 'bout Socialism…"

As he walked into the showers, he could see a crowd of players, including Monk, Thrash, and Bull, surrounding Connery. He walked closer, trying to hear what they were saying.

"…so what's your suggestion, Connery?" asked the strong safety of the team.

"My suggestion?" the horse replied. "Well, it's frankly simple. We know that it's complete fact that aliens that come into Central Mobius threaten the trust and safety of the people here when it happens on mass, and each year, the number of immigrants we take in goes up. One place that we seem to accept too much of is Northern Mobius. And the worst part about them is that it's not just welfare robbers from these places causing a strain in our economy, but the people who come here for higher places of work."

"Higher places?" questioned Thrash.

"You know what I mean, Thrash. Lately, many technological advancements are coming from where else? Northern Mobius. Our technology, cars, manufacturing, all that, ALL originating from Northern Mobius, and soon, we'll all have to bow down to our Northern Mobius overlords as their economy continues to grow and we can't keep up. This would be bad enough if the people coming from these places would assimilate, but they don't. So, we have a part of Mobius that's overfilled with immigrants who want to treat this great nation as if its their own playground and don't want to even be apart of what makes us great as people. No, they want to turn this place into their homeland and erase a semblance of identity we've created for years before their arrival. Think about the students we have apart of our foreign exchange student program. We're now having more and more come each year, as if they can't study in their homeland. But no, they're brought here, upstage us, break the rules without even a single glance from the Headmaster or ANYONE on the university's staff, and worst of all, refuse to assimilate. I say we take a stand because we won't let anyone upstage us as Central Mobians."

"And how do you propose we do that?"

Connery smirked. "It's simple. We at CCOCC are petitioning the headmaster to begin vetting future foreign exchange students, to begin massively running background checks as well as getting the best. Get students who won't be lazy and will do as they're told, ones who will understand our language, our society, our laws and our values as Central Mobians, not any random person from Gaia knows where that's beyond uncultured and will act like a hooligan. And if they do, then they must be punished with expulsion with NO second chances. We have high hopes for our petition because it's never been more important to stand up to this politically correct tyranny this university upholds of protecting criminals just because they aren't from Central Mobius. It's NOT an excuse. I just think we should get the best and only the best a student from another part of Mobius wants to study here."

Vector lowered his eyes, having enough of what he heard. He knew EXACTLY who Connery was referring to, even if he didn't name him. Getting repulsed by what he was hearing, Vector began to walk off only to stop when he heard-

"Ah, Vector…" Connery said in a slick tone. "Why, I'm so glad you actually stopped to hear what I have to say about what's going on around us. Have you suddenly had a change of mind after all?"

Vector, refusing to look Connery in the eye, simply moved his eyes to where the horse was. "Connery, I know ya think I'm dumb."

"Oh, but how could I ever think such a thing? After all, your strategy today helped us all win, no? The idea of changing positions and players who normally don't play that position after half time was ingenious. We were doing much better the second half."

"Flattery ain't gettin' ya anywhere, dude. I know yer talkin' 'bout Espio."

Though he couldn't see him, he knew the horse likely was getting angrier.

"I'm sorry the truth hurts, Vector. But I'm sure you must understand that it's even more hurtful when you're shamed and ostracized for finding issues on our campus. I at least, unlike my fellow conservatives, want to make changes, to show them that they aren't breeding grounds for socialist leftists and their criminal supporters. I'm the fighter that the right side of history wants, a fighter who'll fight back against the push that the left has forced on college campuses around Central Mobius. I'm sure you very much understand."

But all the crocodile felt was a massive headache. There he goes again…

"Ugh, whatever dude…" Vector said, walking away and shaking his head as he went into the first stall he saw. Angered but too tired to get heated with the horse, Vector put his towel over the bar holding the shower curtains, turned the hot water on and slid down the tiled walls, feeling the scalding water pour onto his scales.

"This is exactly why I fuckin' hate politics…" he thought to himself, bringing his knees to his snout. The crocodile thought that tonight was going to be a great night, celebrating the team's first victory in the Playoffs. But instead, he was forced back to reality and forced to remember his teammate's hatred for his good friend all for… what? An economy or laws or something? Give him a break...

"…I wonder how Espio's doin' right now… probably havin' a better time then me… and I can't believe I'm sayin' that fer someone who's probably bustin' their ass off studyin'…"


Espio rolled the die, guiding his allies forward and smiling as he, Dave, Hacker, and Norris continued their DotC session. Not only was he starting to get more into the game thanks to Mark explaining the game as best as he could, he was… he was starting to have fun! No wonder why his four friends loved this game so much, it was the perfect game of imagination, with nothing like this EVER existing within Gojo. He expected a game like go or chu shogi before arriving, but a game where you could be anyone you wanted in a world of fantasy and adventure? It was definitely Outside World like… but it was one filled with charm and intrigue.

Currently, the four had rescued Estore from the people of Palberry, traversed a mountain, discovered a manor with a missing girl, and was on a quest to receive information on Rob the ranger by salvaging stolen treasure from a small town from an 'ork', whatever that was…

"Entering the dungeon of the orc, it's suspiciously quiet," Mark said. "Only the sounds of dripping water is heard as you go down the steps of the dungeon. You hold onto the walls and light fades from afar."

"I think I shall use the lamp given to me by the villagers," Hacker said. Mark began to type on the laptop.

"Manoricity attempts to light the oil lamp as quietly as possibly, using up a quarter of oil and one match. He must roll to determine if he lights the lamp without the match going out."

Hacker rolled, getting a 3 red, 9 white. He hissed seeing his dice role, thinking he messed up. However…

"Surprisingly, despite the winds coming from the dungeon, Manoricity successfully lights the oil lamp and closes it. There are currently half a container of oil and 5 matches in your inventory."

"I shall advance forward."

With the four heading down into the dungeon…

"You have now reached the main dungeon of the orc," Mark said. "There is loud snoring coming from the top right part of the room. There is a table with spoiled meat atop, a barely lit lamp, and metal stools surrounding it. To the left side of the room is the stolen treasure from the villager. You must be as quiet as possible to retrieve all the treasure and leave without waking up the orc. You can have your thief do it, only for it to take longer and risk having the orc wake up, or you could all do it at once, however, you may potentially make more noise than if your thief was working by himself."

"Okay so," Norris said, breaking character. "While I think Espio-sama should go on his own because he IS the thief, we don't know how long it'll take for him to grab the treasure and take it back to the surface. Remember, there's a bit for him to drag back."

"So, we should all do it at once?" asked Dave.

"Yeah! And well, if the orc wakes up, we should be able to take it on! We leveled up thanks to the XP we got from reuniting the girl in the manor with her mom! And it's four against one!"

"I dunno…" Hacker said. "Sounds kinda risky… Espio? What do you think?"

Espio looked up. "Enemy?" he asked. Mark nodded. From what everything Mark said, you didn't need to fight EVERY enemy, and judging from the conversation, it seemed like stealth was the best way to get around it. Therefore…

"I go."

"Okay then!" Norris said. "Estore, lead the way!" he whispered, getting back into character.

"Estore begins to tip toe towards the treasure, looking at the orc to make sure he hasn't woken up. He looks back at his allies to make sure they haven't made any noise, and after verifying, he makes his way to the first sack of gold, getting his dagger out and tearing the rope off the bag. In that moment, the orc snores. Do you wait or continue your pillage?"

Espio looked around. Wait or continue… If this was the case of sneaking into enemy territory, if there was a strange noise, he would be the type to wait. That's what his mother and senseis taught anyway…

"U… ue…"

"Wait?"

"Yes!"

"Estore waits, making sure that the orc hasn't woken up. For the next minute, there is no noise as the orc continues to snore. With the coast clear, Estore opens the bag to see all the gold inside. However, it's not all the treasure, as not only are there more bags, there's gold and jewels strown about on the floor. Do you take the risk to grab them all, or leave them there in the hopes the village won't notice?"

"Number… one."

Mark nodded. "Estore takes the risk and begins to grab all the treasure on the floor. But as he picks up a sapphire from the ground, the orc grunts. The die will now be rolled to determine whether the orc wakes up."

Grabbing the die, the tapir rolled with a 0 red, 5 white. Norris clapped his hands and cheered as Mark placed it into the computer.

"5% was rolled, and the orc does not wake up. Estore finishes scavenging all the gold and places the bag over his shoulder."

"I'll join Estore," whispered Dave.

"As will I!" added Norris and Hacker.

"The three allies tip toe just like Estore to the treasure and grab it. However, unlike their thief friend, they are not as silent, as they begin to make noise as they verify all the treasure is present. The sound of gold hitting each other is heard as the orc loudly snorts. The die will now be rolled to determine whether the orc wakes up."

Mark once again grabbed the die and rolled. This time however, the roll was a 9 red, 8 white.

"98%?!" exclaimed Norris as the tapir placed the number into the computer.

"98% was rolled, and unfortunately, the travelers were not sneaky enough. The orc now begins to awake to see what is going on, only to roar in response. 'Who take Corgon gold?!' he screams. You can either fight the orc, attempt to distract him, or run away."

"I say FIIIIIGHT!"

"The four get into position as they brandish their weapons. Corgon, the orc, brandishes a large iron mace and smashes it in front of the allies."

"I shall begin first by casting my Cosmic Energy spell! Take this, foul orc!"

"The spell will cost 4 MP to use, you have 16 right now. The die will now be rolled to determine whether your spell hits."

Norris grabbed the die as he rolled it in his hands. "Come onnn, get me that criticallllll~!"

He threw the die to the floor and watched it roll, only for it to stop on 3 red, 4 white.

"No!" he whined.

"You have rolled a 34%..." Mark clacked on the keyboard. "And unfortunately, your spell misses as the orc dodges. The orc begins to target Nowick, swinging his mace. The die will now be rolled to determine whether the orc hits."

Mark grabbed the die and rolled it to the ground, stopping on…

"00?!" Hacker, Dave, and Norris exclaimed.

"The die has rolled both 0's, meaning the orc's hit is a critical hit. He swings the mace down on Nowick as hard as possible. Nowick takes 32 hit points, causing him to die."

Norris placed his hands on his head, groaning.

"Uh, quick quick! I wanna use revivify!" Dave said.

"Seeing the death of his friend, Deego springs into action as he begins to chant the incantation to revivify. It costs 12 MP to cast, you currently have 20 MP. As you continue to chant, the orc turns towards Manoricity and Estore."

"My turn!" Hacker said. "Performing Iron Fist attack!"

"The Iron Fist attack requires 6 MP to use, you have 10 MP. The die will now be rolled to determine whether your move hits."

However, it was for nought, as despite Hacker rolling a 75%, it unfortunately missed. The orc retaliated with a 62% hit move that hit Manoricity, causing him to lose 17 HP. Despite not dying, it was soon Espio's turn as the chameleon rolled. He thankfully got a lucky 82% that hit, doing 5 damage to the orc. However, he still wasn't down.

"Thanks to Deego's spell, Nowick is successfully revived back to full health. However, the orc still stands living. Will you continue to fight or run away?"

"I say we come up with a new plan!" Norris said in a tone more like his normal voice. "We aren't going to win anytime soon!"

"I say Estore distract the orc since he has the most speed of us all!" Hacker said.

"Unfortunately, the orc has the natural ability, Sightseeing, meaning he is unable to be fooled by distractions," Mark replied.

"Dammit! Okay, new idea… new idea…"

"There is one idea that the adventuerers haven't considered yet, though. While they may continue to fight or run away, there is one way to distract the orc without resorting to normal distractions. They may be able to charm the orc."

Norris however, broke character. "Charm the orc?! What, are you crazy? I made it very clear my character only likes women!"

"Same with us both," Hacker said.

"Maybe you guys probably can't, but we never set whether or not who Espio's character could charm or not," Mark noted.

"No way, not Espio-sama!" Norris argued back.

"Well, why not?"

"Cause he's from Northern Mobius, duh! Why would he wanna attract guys when his home has all the waifus he could possibly want?"

"But Mark has a point…" Dave replied. "We never specified whether or not Espio's character could charm only girls, meaning it can work."

"If it means we don't die, I'll GLADLY take the option of letting Espio charm the orc," Hacker added.

"What is… ch-cha… chaarm?" Espio asked.

"To charm basically means that the orc will be attracted to you, like they're in love with you," Mark replied. Just then, Espio suddenly felt a stab in his chest, a gasp of air escaping his mouth.

"L-Love?"

"Yeah, that's right. Course, I dunno how you would take to being the love interest of an orc but I'm sure SOMEONE thinks its hot."

"I vote I on letting Espio charm the orc," Hacker said.

"Same with me!" added Dave. Norris looked cross, as if he didn't want to agree. "Uh, Norris?"

"Fine… only if Espio-sama can let us get away…" he said.

Mark cleared his throat. "With very few options left, Estore decides the only way for his allies to get away with the treasure is for him to personally charm the orc. He walks up to the orc, staring up and down the monster's muscular, green body-"

Espio felt another pang. Green… muscular body… Remembering his colors, Green… green like… like Vector… His breath began to pitch as his hands began to tingle.

"-looking up to the monster's face, his sharp teeth in clear view, the tusks curved, and the look on his face angered-"

"Sharp teeth…" Espio heard in his mind repeatedly. This creature… whatever this was, it kept reminding him of Vector… and he was… he was going to make this creature fall in love with him. Espio grasped onto his hakama, a horrific realization sinking in. That feeling… that EXACT same feeling he had gotten during the wrestling match some time ago, it was coming back. His hands began to shake as Mark handed him the die.

"The die will now be rolled to determine whether your actions and words to charm the orc is successful."

Espio looked over at the die with widened eyes, grabbing it as he noticed the scales on his hands having a redder shade to them. He looked over to his friends, all of them with different faces. Trying to catch his breath, Espio simply threw the die onto the ground in the hopes that this strange feeling would go away. But when it collided on the ground…

0 red, 0 white.

"What?!" Norris questioned as Espio turned towards Mark.

"00, critical hit. Your attempt to charm the orc has not only been successful, he takes complete interest in you IMMEDIETLY,"

Espio's eyes only got bigger as he now started to feel himself sweat. This… this feeling was only getting worse and worse… he was no longer picturing a large, green monster anymore… he was now starting to picture this 'orc' as…as Vector…

"Corgon like Overlander man!" Mark said in an exaggerated, nasly tone. "Corgon let Overlander take treasure. Corgon sorry!"

Espio didn't say anything as he felt his ENTIRE body tingle, warm all around.

"Well… it worked…" Hacker said before clearing his throat. "Well, Estore's charm worked! Onwards to the village, heroes!"

"Everyone begins to leave but before Estore could join his allies, Corgon the orc pulls in Estore for a big, sloppy kiss, his face in between the orc's tusks."

"Ew…" Norris said.

"Corgon let Overlander man stay night, if pleases!" Mark continued. "He then walked over to a corner of the dungeon holding a giant gold hoop. 'Corgon look for spouse for years, but no one like Corgon! Corgon be Overlander spouse!"

Espio had gasped at this point. His hitched breath had only worsened and he was starting to hyperventilate. From what he remembered, spouse was an English word for husband or wife… this orc, the creature that reminded him of Vector… it was… it was asking for his hand in marriage… just like… just like!

"Does Estore allow Corgon the orc to take his hand into marri-" Mark said before Dave interrupted him, breaking character.

"Espio? Are you alright?" he asked as everyone stopped, noticing how RED the chameleon was and how much he had been sweating.

"Espio?!" questioned Mark as the chameleon suddenly got up, quickly leaving the room. The others got up from the floor.

"What's wrong?!" Norris asked. "What happened to Espio-sama?!"

"I don't know! He just suddenly… left like that!"

"Guys, wait here… I'll check up on him!"

Mark ran out of the dorm and after his friend, leaving the three to look at each other.


Espio's heart beat at an intense rate as he walked down the hall. Everything that had happened in the past few minutes, charming someone he imagined as Vector, having to be reminded of his future as a suitor once he returned to Gojo, imagining that person asking for his hand in marriage to be Vector, it… it was too much. And that feeling… that EXACT feeling he got during the Wrestling match, when he smelled the sheets on Vector's bunk, it was only becoming more and more extreme. He felt like throwing up, and the worst part was… he was scared. He was so scared… what was going on?

He didn't want to be in the room anymore or play the game. He felt like he was going to die, and no one, Valdez, his friends, or… or Vector could save him. But… why Vector? Why Vector of ALL people? Why would he think of someone like Vector when he was charming a monster? Why was he imaging Vector asking for his hand in marriage?

Too scared and embarrassed to face his friends, Espio put his hand on the door out of North Hall when…

"Espio!" Mark called out. Espio turned around, looking at the tired tapir. "Espio… I… no… what's… what's wrong? Are you ill? You don't… look so good…"

Espio simply said nothing, only keeping his head down.

"Did the game embarrass you by what you had to go through? Sometimes it does that, but that's the appeal of the game!"

But it didn't help Espio feel any better.

"Look, c'mon, it's really cold out there, and I don't want you to get sick. Besides, we can always start a new campaign if that isn't what you want, or you can break up with the orc if you want, although Lawful people probably will have difficulties doing so."

Even still, Espio still hung his head as Mark frowned.

"Hey, look at me, bud. I'm not sure quite what's going on, but you're going to be alright, okay? Look at me."

Espio looked up, staring into the eyes of the glasses wearing tapir. In that moment, he couldn't help but see Vector again just like when Connery was angry towards what Valdez had made for the two of them.

"You'll be fine, okay? I promise."

Espio's scales started to return to their usual colors, but he still felt odd. He did, however, feel remorse for making Mark and his friends worry about him.

"…okay…" he said

"Now c'mon, if you want, we can finish up our game early so you can get some sleep, okay?"

Espio nodded as he followed Mark back to the third floor of North Hall. Despite this, the entire time he could only think one thing, the EXACT same thing he thought earlier:

"Why… Vector?"

END OF CHAPTER 17