Journal Entry 1: Dear journal, my name is Jasiri Monáe Outlander. I'm twelve years old, I go to Sherwood Visionary Academy, and I survived the spider apocalypse. Or "Spiderpocalypse" I guess…everyone keeps calling it that because almost every mammal in Zootopia, including myself sadly, got turned into a freaky spider monster, and just about everyone blames Spider-Yena! Me personally? I say he's innocent. I don't know how. I just have a strong feeling he is. But, that's enough rambling for now. Nice to meet you, journal. Till next time -Jasiri Outlander.
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Journal Entry 2: Hey Journal, it's me again…I had a very rough but interesting day at school today. Well, mostly rough for Kiara and Kion. Let me start from the beginning…
At SVA Campus (earlier this morning)...
Prey and predator students are currently getting dropped off by their parents or getting off the bus as they walk into Savannah Visions Academy. A prestigious prep school for the talented and gifted. Along with this, all students were wearing the official school uniform of SVA; the uniforms consisted of a dark blue blazer or vest with the school emblem being a fox, a white button-down shirt underneath, a red tie or necktie, gray shorts or trousers for the boys, and gray skirts for the girls. This was the required dress code for both students and faculty.
At the drop-off lane, Shenzi gave Jasiri a final hug and kiss before hopping back in the car with Banzai. "You got everything right? Pens? Pencils? Notebooks?"
"Yes, mom. I got everything," replied Jasiri. "If I need anything, I'll check with my teachers."
"Good," Shenzi smiled. "I love you, have a good day at school, and don't let those kids get to you."
"And if they do, just kick them in the-" Banzai chimes before getting a warning glare from his big sister. "I mean, report those "meanies" to the teacher and ignore them."
Jasiri gives a signature hyena cackle as she bids her mom and uncle farewell and a "love you too" before walking into the massive school. As she walked into the hallways of SVA, the entire place was already lively as prey and predator students of all shapes and sizes filled up the entire area. Most of them were talking amongst themselves while others were comparing notes and assignments for class.
Jasiri, who was used to the constant hustle and bustle of the student body, started making her way towards her locker to put up her backpack and gather the materials for her first-period class. Along the way, she says hello to some of her classmates and teachers, and ignores the more obnoxious students who were mocking her appearance and how she laughed. However, before Jasiri could get to her locker the surprise headache from a couple of days ago came back with a vengeance.
"Ack! Not again…" Jasiri groaned as she rubbed her head. "Why now!?"
Like before, the headache got stronger as it was trying to tell or warn her about something; because of this Jasiri's hearing got more intense as everything and everyone around her felt louder than normal and she couldn't take it. "Please make it stop…please make it stop…please make it stop…" she mumbles to herself as she begins to rock back and forth in a small corner of the hallway. Letting all of the noises simultaneously cloud her mind. That is until a familiar voice brought her back to reality.
"Jasiri…? Jasiri, are you okay?" Kiara asked gently as she crouched next to her best friend. "What's wrong?"
"K-Kiara…?" Jasiri looked up with tears welling up in her eyes. "I-Is that you?"
"The one and only," the lioness cub smiled as she helped Jasiri back on her feet. "But seriously. What's wrong? I saw you covering your ears and making a run for it."
Jasiri wiped her tears and dusted herself off before replying, "Yeah, sorry about that. I just got a lot on my mind and I guess I got a bit overwhelmed…sorry if I worried you…"
"Don't worry about it," Kiara says as she hugs the hyena cub. "As long as you're okay and I don't have to kick some sorry loser's butt, we're good."
"Thanks, KiKi," Jasiri hugged back. "I honestly needed that. Speaking of, where's Kion?"
"He was behind-"
"HEY! CHECK OUT CYCLOPS OVER HERE! HAHAHA!"
"Oh, no…" Kiara and Jasiri groaned in unison as they recognized the obnoxious voice and quickly headed off to assist their friend and brother.
They are soon met with a mixed crowd of students as they see Kion, who is wearing an eye patch on his left eye and trying to look tough, as he stands his ground against a group of upperclassmen; most of them being cheetahs, leopards, lions, and their hippo ring leader, Buford Pottamous, Captain of the rugby team. As Kiara and Jasiri attempt to squeeze through the rowdy crowd of delinquents, the two girls are immediately pushed to the ground.
"HEY! You knuckleheaded jerks, my little brother is in there!" Kiara shouted in frustration.
"Wah! Wah! Wah! Cry about it princess!" mocked one of the leopard students. "The little one-eyed freak is gonna get what's coming to him!"
After hearing that threat, Jasiri held Kiara back from tearing the teenage feline to pieces. She goes on to tell her that he's not worth it and that starting another conflict will only make things worse for her, Kion, and their classmates. Not to mention, the headmaster has their parents' numbers on speed dial.
"So, what now!? We can't even get through that crowd without getting shoved or crushed!"
Despite her earlier warnings to her friend, Jasiri had a crazy idea in her head and grew an evil smile. Something which Kiara noticed immediately.
"Oh no," Kiara sighed. "That's your 'I'm gonna do something stupid' smile, is it?"
"Yep." Jasiri grinned once more.
"And there's no way I can stop you?" Kiara smiled back.
"Nope."
"... Alright, I'll go get the Headmistress. Please be careful and make sure Kion doesn't get hurt!" Kiara says as she zooms down the hallway.
With that out of the way, Jasiri puts her crazy plan into action. She starts it off by biting the tails of the leopard student from earlier and his cheetah pal next to him with all of her strength and might.
*CRUNCH!*
"ACK! THE HELL!?" jumped the leopard student as he checked on his bruised tail.
"OWWW! Seriously dude!? What are you? Five!?" exclaimed the cheetah student as he harshly shoved his friend.
"Really!? I'm the immature one!?" the lion classmate yelled back as he shoved his friend back. "At least I didn't sleep with my 'pwecious blankie' until I was 13!"
And with that final jab, the two felines pounced on each other and began to throw down. Thus taking all of the attention away from Kion and the ring leader. While everyone was distracted by the two felines beating the crap out of each other, Jasiri was able to sneak past everyone and quickly grab Kion before his tormentor noticed.
"Happy to see me, Red?" Jasiri smirked.
"Yeah, thanks Jasiri," Kion smirked back with a hint of a blush. "I thought I was a goner at that moment…"
"No worries, and besides, if those jerks put their hooves or paws on you, Kiara and I would kick their sorry butts to kingdom come." Jasiri cackles as she winks at her friend.
"No doubts about that," Kion smiles as he reciprocates his friend with a fist bump. "Speaking of Kiara, where is she?"
Kion's question was immediately answered as he and Jasiri saw his big sister appear from around the corner with Headmistress Tusker by her side; the headmistress was an African savanna elephant who had zero tolerance for bullying, shenanigans, or anything that dishonors the academy's reputation. And at that moment, she had her sights on the hippo and his delinquent group. As she stomps towards them, Kiara runs over to her best friend and little brother as she thoroughly checks over them like an overprotective mother.
Hehehe…classic Kiara. She always carries her heart on her sleeve and dotes on everyone she cares about. Especially Kion. What are big sisters for, right? Anyways…after Kiara went full "Mama Lion Mode" on us, the headmaster gave us a "lovely" five-minute warning to get to our classes or else we'll be joining Buford and his goon patrol in detention for the next four weeks…yay. And so, we went to class and the rest of the day went smoothly…that was until the "Gym Incident" happened…
In the Gymnasium (three periods later)...
All of the students were wearing the standard gym attire, which was a grey t-shirt with the school's acronym in the center and navy blue shorts. Everyone was standing in a single file line as their coach went over the activity of the day: Dodgeball. An activity that gives all of the hyper-active students a chance to get any restless energy out of their systems, while the more low-maintenance and quiet students have to dread the intensity of red rubber balls coming at them at Mach speed. Some of the prey students went as far as to pretend to be sick, fake an injury, or straight up plead with the coach to let them sit this class out and just deduct points off their grade for the day. Unfortunately for them, Coach Friedkin was not a pushover nor did she accept lazy failures. And with that being said, class is officially in session.
*TWEEEEEEETTTTT!* "ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP YOU FURBALLS!" Coach Friedkin shouted with all of her might. "As you all already know…TODAY IS DODGEBALL DAY!"
As soon as those infamous words came out of the polar bear's mouth, the sounds of groaning, whining, and outright complaining echoed throughout the entire gym. This only lasted for two and a half seconds before Friedkin shut everyone down with an arousing, "YEAH! YEAH! WAHHH! WAHHH! SAVE IT FOR YOUR MAMMAS! Now then, as I was saying…"
While Friedkin was going over the basic rules of dodgeball and how everyone would be graded by performance and participation, Jasiri and Kiara were in the midst of a conversation while they were doing their daily stretches. But that would soon be interrupted as the polar bear coach separated the two into "Team A" and "Team B" respectively. With all of that out of the way, there was only one thing left to do: *TWEEEEET!* "DODGEBALLLL!"
As soon as the whistle was blown, the entire gymnasium turned into a chaotic battlefield as every student, especially the predators, was bombarding one another with red balls. Some were trying to be gentle with their throws while others were aiming to cause pain to their less prepared and ill-fortunate classmates. This led to several students getting nasty bruises, and bloody noses, and running back to the benches or locker rooms to cry their eyes out from the continuous onslaughts of red balls. While all of this was happening, Coach Friedkin was spewing out colorful insults and shouting the word "dead" at every given moment.
"You're dead, Cotton Ball!"
"Hey, Cry Baby Twins, You're dead!"
"You're dead, Lamb Chops!"
"Letting yourself get hit!? Cowardly, shameful, and most importantly…YOU'RE DEAD!"
"Taking a ball to the face! You're dead spots!"
"You're a disgrace to all cheetahs, and that's why you're dead!
"DEAD! DEAD! DEAD! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU POOR HAIRBALLS ARE DEAD!"
While the coach was throwing out a flurry of insults, Jasiri, who wasn't doing too hot, seemed to be the primary target for some of the older students on the opposing side; this was merely an excuse to get petty revenge on the hyena for getting their star rugby player in trouble this morning. Along with this, the headache she had has upgraded into a brain-pounding migraine.
"Laugh your way out of this, Outlander!" yelled a lioness student as she hurled multiple balls at the hyena.
"While you're at it, go jump in a pool of mud and drop dead!" chimed an African-painted dog student. "isn't that what happened to your Uncle?"
As soon as those infamous words came out of the canine's mouth, nearly everyone, save Kiara and Coach Friedkin, roared into heaps of laughter and chuckling. Jasiri, on the other hand, was furious and on the very edge of crying. "You take that back…" she growled.
"Or what!? You're gonna cry me to death!?" mocked the painted dog. "Or, Or, sick your "Non-existent" Daddy on me!? Hahaha!"
"Sh-Shut up!" Jasiri tearfully shouted.
"Make me! You fatherless freak!" the canine retorted.
"Hey! Leave her alone!" shouted Kiara as she got between her best friend and rude teammate. "And while YOU'RE at it, how about YOU apologize to Jasiri and back off!? She hasn't done anything to you!"
The painted dog student just scoffs at Kiara's words and shoves her onto the ground. "Maybe you should mind your own business before you let someone else get hurt. Like your dumbass little brother."
"You leave Kion out of this!" Kiara exclaimed furiously as she tried to hold back tears of her own.
"D'awww! Is the big scawy kitty gonna cry!?" grinned the painted dog student.
"HEY LOOK! WE GOT A COUPLE OF CRYBABIES OVER HERE!" shouted one of the leopard students.
Soon enough, everyone started chanting crybaby at an alarming rate. So much so, that it practically drowned out the sound of Friedkin blowing her whistle and trying to regain control of her class to no avail; it soon got worse as Kiara hugged her knees and began to cry. However, Jasiri had just about enough of the madness and decided to put matters into her paws.
"First I get turned into a spider…then I attack my best friend…have non-stop nightmares…DEALING WITH THIS STUPID MIGRAINE…AND DEALING WITH THIS JERK WHO DECIDED TO BRING UP MY DEAD UNCLE AND MAKE KIARA CRY!? NO MORE! NO MORE!"
In a fit of pure rage and anger, Jasiri grabbed one of the red balls and set her sights on the cackling canine. As she prepares to throw the ball, Jasiri says the following: "I…told you…to…SHUT. UP."
*FWOOSH!* *KA-POW!* As soon as it left Jasiri's paw, the ball nearly went full speed as it made contact with the painted dog student's nose and sent him flying across the court until…*CRASH!* He was pinned to the wall. Completely hunched over, and unconscious; his nose was practically broken and leaking mounds of blood, and half of his teeth were either chipped, broken, or splattered all over the ground. Just about everyone from both teams ran over to the unconscious teen and looked over him extensively. Some of the students were trying their best to process what happened, while others were contemplating whether to take their injured classmate to the nurse's office or at the very least the hospital.
"Oh my god…"
"Is he okay?!"
"...I-I think he's dead…"
After seeing the severe facial damage done to her classmate, the lioness from earlier shoots a fiery glare at Jasiri. "You're a goddamn freak, Outlander…seriously. I hope they ban freaks like you from this school," she says with deep venom in her voice.
Soon enough, everyone turned their attention and anger towards the hyena as they all gave her bundles of dirty looks, glares, and some very harsh choice of words as well. However, before the onslaught of hate could continue, Coach Friedkin told everyone to go back to the lockers and cool off for a bit while she radioed the nurse. As for Jasiri, she was to report to the headmaster's office and the polar bear coach was going to make sure she went straight there.
"*Sigh*...I'm very disappointed in you, Outlander…I truly am…" says Coach Friedkin as she drags Jasiri by her arm.
"But, Coach-" Jasiri attempted to protest before being cut off.
"I don't wanna hear it. Just stay quiet and keep walking." The coach replied sternly.
"Yes, Ma'am…" Jasiri complied in a defeated tone as she silently cried to herself.
Outside of the Headmaster's Office…
Jasiri sits anxiously in the waiting area as she awaits the soundtrack to her potential suspension or expulsion from SVA. She can barely sit still as she can feel her heart beating a thousand miles per hour, her body trembling with fear and guilt, and fearing her mom and uncle's reaction to the whole ordeal. This day could not get any worse.
The hyena cub just buried her face into her paws as she went into deep thought about what she did to that poor student. "I can't believe I did that…" Jasiri thought to herself. "B-But he deserved it! He started it by dragging my late Uncle Eddie into it, then he ganged up on Kiara about what happened to her and Kion, and…and…and I let his words get to me. *sigh* …Nice one Outlander. I already got kicked out of one school for fighting a bunch of bullies and now I'm about to be kicked out again for possibly putting some dumb jerk in the-ACK!"
Jasiri's train of thought was immediately interrupted by a strong sensation in her head; it felt different this time. Something stronger and louder than her ongoing headaches. It felt like it was trying to tell her something, or in this case, a personal warning. Unfortunately for the young hyena, it was already too late.
KA-BOOOOOM! *BUZZ - *BUZZ* *BUZZ* - *BUZZ* - *BUZZ*
In mere seconds, SVA was engulfed in a monstrous bloom of flames and smoke, all the while fire alarms were blaring throughout the entire school. While this was happening teachers and staff were trying to evacuate the student body and get everyone to safety. But to their dismay, most of the exits were either closed off by debris or covered in a wall of flames; soon enough, panic began to set in as some of the students attempted to claw, ram, or dig their way out to no avail. Others began to pass out from inhaling too much smoke; they were in serious trouble.
Jasiri, who got knocked back by the explosion, began to regain consciousness and was immediately surrounded by a thick fog of smoke. She couldn't see anything but an abundance of flames as they danced around her and the now-charred hallways of SVA. However, her hearing hasn't been hindered as Jasiri was somehow able to hear the multiple cries for help from her classmates and teachers.
"HELP! HELP WE'RE TRAPPED!"
"SOMEBODY! ANYBODY! HEEEELPPPPP!"
"WE'RE GONNA DIE! PLEASE! SOMEBODY HELP!"
GET ME OUT HERE! GET ME OUT OF HERE! HELP!"
"CAN ANYONE HEAR US!? HELLO!? WE CAN'T BREATH!"
As the cries continued, Jasiri couldn't help but feel overwhelmed as she was lost for words and on what to do next. Although it may seem hopeless now, help was already on the way as that sensation from earlier was back. However, it's a bit more soft and connecting, as a hyena-like silhouette jumps and flips through the flames toward Jasiri. She tried her best to focus through the smoke and see who the mysterious person was. Luckily for Jasiri, once she saw who it was, her eyes glimmered with hope and relief. "It's him…"
With a mix of parkour and web-zipping through the flames, the web-slinger himself has arrived. "Don't worry, kid. I'm gonna get you out of here." Spider-Yena says as he holds his paw out to Jasiri, reassuring her that she's safe.
"...O-Okay…" Jasiri nodded, trying to stay calm and not fangirl over meeting her favorite hero. She takes his paw and is immediately scooped into his arms.
"Hold on tight! This is gonna be a rough ride!" Spider-Yena says as he fires a web and begins to swing back the way he came from. As he's swinging, his spider-sense begins to go off at an alarming rate.
As if on cue, the tingling sensation that's been driving Jasiri crazy all morning immediately goes off as well. She and Spider-Yena were struggling as the titular hero was trying his best to get him and his young passenger out of harm's way. Meanwhile, Jasiri was holding on for dear life as she tried not to inhale too much smoke and ignored the tingling that had been ringing in her head. However, this proved to be impossible for the two hyenas as the double tingling became more potent, forcing the two to look at each other for a brief moment, and thus, the connection was finally made.
"It's you…you're just like…me." They thought in unison.
"I thought I was the only one," Spider-Yena mumbled to himself. "How's this possible?"
"I have so many questions…" says Jasiri as she processes this new revelation.
But before they could continue with their thoughts, the sounds of police sirens and fire engines brought them back to reality as they realized that they made it to the entrance of the school. Once they got outside, Spider-Yena passed Jasiri onto one of the EMTs, gently ruffled her mane, and said, "You were a pretty brave pup. What's your name kid?"
"It's Jasiri. Jasiri Outlander," she smiled. "And you're a pretty brave hero!"
"I appreciate it, Jasiri," Spider-Yena salutes before swinging back into the burning building. "Gotta run! Be a good kid!" *Thwip!*
As the EMTs carried her back to their ambulance, Jasiri couldn't help but smile as she not only got to meet her favorite superhero, but she seemed to have some kind of connection with him as well. What could this mean for the young hyena? Only time will tell.
Now (at Zootopia General Hospital)...
And that's how my day at school went from rough to interesting. Crazy story, huh? Well, anyway, thanks to Spidey and the firefighters, all of my friends and classmates (mainly Kiara and Kion~) were successfully rescued from the fire and are safe; although, some of the students and teachers, including Coach Friedkin and Headmistress Tusker had to be taken to the hospital due to smoke inhalation or various injuries. Me included. As for the fire? It was started by a couple of delinquent students who thought it would be "hilarious" to create "Liquid Dynamite". Long story short, those two morons are now banished from the school and will be charged as adults for arson, destruction of public property, and a whole bunch of other illegal stuff. Yeah…they're gonna be in the slammer for a while. But, hey! On the bright side, school is postponed for a while as it's gonna take a few weeks to probably a month for the place to get rebuilt after the fire. However, there is one downside…I'm grounded for two weeks for punting that painted jerk in the face with a dodgeball and for biting other students (I thought I could get away with that one…). Oh well. It was kinda worth it in the end. You wanna know why, journal? Because I finally got to meet Spider-Yena! It was the best (and equally awkward) highlight of my day. And thanks to him, I'm inspired to become a superhero when I'm older. Watch out, Spider-Yena! Your (hopefully future) sidekick will be meeting you real soon. Catch you later Journal! -Jasiri Outlander A.K.A The Shadow-Spider ;)
Jasiri Outlander will return…