… It was inside a dome. The ceiling was really high, obscured by the thick layer of darkness. Below it, were linearly placed pillars, all made of marble, situated around to hold it. This was the first room that belonged to the servants of Lord Vaco. A fact that kept sending chills down the spine of poor old cat cub. “I want to go home,” Tom blurted out. asked Kage, the only companion of his that was present. “Yeah…It’s creepy.” Tom looked around again. There really was only one other room, connected by a single hallway. Tom had no interest in going there to look himself. But since Kage has seen it, he already knew exactly what that place had. A gigantic table. In its middle was a stone, blacker than the blackest color found in the blackhole pictures he saw online. It was held by a series of hands, which Tom thought, were he touch it, he would turn into marble too. It was such a creepy place. “What!? No I don’t!” Tom protested. “I mean, yeah, but…” Tom looked around himself again. There were walls and the floor, all were hand made. That said, the way they were made felt almost fantastical. No imperfection, nothing but a smooth shine, which was not guided by a person’s hand. “It feels wrong,” he said. Kage had no answer to that. There was no reason to dispute something this obvious. A noise came from the hallway, making Tom jumpy again. Thankfully for him, he saw that it was Chester walking back, in his transformed state. “Can’t open the door,” Chester announced it. “So I guess this whole, ‘him and Azure are the same’ was just a bunch of lies, huh?” said Kage. Tom didn’t repeat that yet. He really wanted to go home already and that will likely keep them there longer. That said, he did feel bad for the thought of abandoning it. Doing the right thing is so hard, he thought. “Can you believe that this whole thing was under the Mayor’s place the entire time?” exclaimed Chester, getting the cat’s attention. He walked a bit, taking another glance at that empty space with walls. “They literally kept themselves near him! This whole time, he was in on it!” “How do you know that he was in on it?” Tom asked, out of interest. “Why else!? This is under his space, and he definitely knows something!” Chester began moving around, looking livelier by the second. “He always did! He is definitely hiding something. He just does it in secret. And now we know what he is doing!” “Um…” Tom scratched his own chin, and then listened to Kage. He repeated his message, “Do you have proof?” “Huh?” “Kage says,” Tom closed his eyes and repeated, “‘One should not claim without proof, for they shall be dismissed without a thought.’ Also, no one will believe you anyways.” Suddenly, he saw the hedgehog deflate. “Well, I think he means that-“ “No, he’s right,” Chester shrugged. “Who’s gonna believe some kids? We got powers sure…but he can just say we planted it or something. They can do that.” Tom fidgeted in place a bit. He wanted to say something to make the latter feel better. “I…believe you.” Chester looked at him. “I mean, I think what you are saying is probably true. Maybe, we’ll need to look for more clues. Maybe even we’ll find something in ARKYO! Yeah, that’s it! That’s where everything gotta be!” The blue warrior kept looking at him, making Tom for a moment hesitate that he was probably saying nonsense. Then, Chester said, “You think so?” Tom looked down, then shrugged. “I guess. Maybe that’s where those evil people went to, too.” Chester nodded. “Makes sense. And maybe that’s where Rose’s dad is. Doing something…secretive.” “Yeah!” Tom exclaimed. Both boys stood there for a short awkward time. “Should we destroy this place?” asked Chester. “I think so. We’ll need Barbara!” Tom then started to move out of the room. His eagerness to get out of there put energy to his step. Chester didn’t do anything himself at first. But as he saw Tom reach the exit, something in him told him to do it. It was the right time. At the same time, he didn’t want to at all. Even though he knew he had to, and even Azure said that he should, he just couldn’t. Perhaps he could just stand there and let it go. Then Azure pitched in with a loud, The boy dashed forward without thinking, and then grabbed the dark warrior by the shoulder. Tom looked at him in surprise. “Wait…” He took a deep breath. It felt like he was about to jump into a ravine or something. Why was it so weird? “Tom, um, I kinda wanted to say….” Chester mumbled a bit. It really was a ravine in his mind, with the same type of fear. “About what happened…You know, earlier…” “Oh.” Tom turned around to face him. Now Chester felt awkward having to look at him. “Can we…I’m…” One of the scariest ravines Chester has ever stepped on. Probably like twenty-feet or something. With a shark at the bottom. And bunch of piranhas. And spikes. Lots of spikes. “It’s okay,” Tom suddenly said. Chester stared at the latter with big, scared eyes. “I guess winning it just wasn’t going to happen. Shouldn’t have gotten my hopes too high. I mean, I am kinda, well a newbie. This isn’t some movie, where some talentless newbie gets a win over a pro. At least you got what you wanted, right? We’ll know if Mister Mouton is in fact plotting something,” said Tom, with no hint of malice or anger whatsoever. Which Chester feel worse. “No, dude, who cares about that?” Chester grabbed Tom by the shoulders to better lock his eyes in. “You tried really hard on that! It’s so unfair, that dude toyed with you like you were some chump, and then you won, but they say you lost, because of some stupid judge! Maybe I don’t know half of what’s going on in there, but that zebra was completely stupid and wrong! So what if you’re a newbie? You were probably the most talented person in that whole room! Who else there created his own functional bot, out of scrap parts and some internet videos, huh? You, that’s who! You are the best!” Chester had now moved further from Tom, doing so in the middle of his rant to express himself better. Tom had his eyes pointed downwards for a while. He then wiped the tears off of them with his wrists. “Thanks, Chester. That makes me feel better.” He sniffed. Chester sighed, feeling content from finally reaching the bottom of that ravine. And all it had was just calm water. Azure noted. Chester rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop himself from admitting it. Yes, getting it off of his chest did in fact feel good. “Oh yeah!” Chester suddenly remembered. “Tom, I also think Matthew stopped being friends with you because of me.” Tom promptly looked up. The tears of sadness left his face to be replaced with a dawning realization. “He…He….Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-what…? You…?” Chester froze in place where Tom was glaring at him. Azure groaned loudly. … The kids were all busy eating the cake in the dining room. Let it be repeated, but nothing feels the best, than eating the contents of your own work. No matter how awful it could be if put under some scrutiny, if it was done with your own sweat and tears, then it shall be the most delicious dish you had ever imagined trying. It is thus the reasons why the children were so happy to try their own cake. Despite the overabundance of cream, the apparent overuse of sugar in the mix, the hardness of the dough layers and the haphazard use of badly cut apple slices, everyone thought this was the best cake they ever tried. Even Miss Cheshire, who would overly picky about what she would eat, enjoyed every bite of the cake that she had. That is to say, whenever she managed to do so without a young crow looking at her. “Stop putting this disgustingly sweet thing into your mouth!” ordered the young crow to the elderly cat lady. “But why cannot I, for whom these young ones made such treat, enjoy even the slightest of this gift!?” the old lady complained, her mouth still full of cake frosting. “This treat is heaven sent! Please, let us not deride it for sweetness, as if it were ever a reason to deride!” “You’ll be walking into the bathroom with diarrhea, you old hag! Now spit it out and go drink your medicine!” the young crow demanded. With an irritated look, Miss Cheshire spat the piece from her mouth. “Oh, such pushiness!” she said. She left the table and into the kitchen, followed behind by the boy. No other kid said anything, too busy eating their cake. It was customary for them to sit down and begin fooling around whenever it was time to eat. Like throwing something, or saying some insult, or farting with their mouths, whenever their caretaker would leave. It was fun to do it behind her back. But this time, no one did anything. Most likely because they were too busy being stunned by Miss Cheshire, as well as this sudden new kid who seemed to be running her around his feathered pinky finger. And then finally, one kid decided to do something. It was a young hamster girl, who pulled on Matthew’s sleeve. “Mister,” she said. “What is it?” the goose mumbled through the cake. It was an odd thing, but he ended up staying longer with everyone. Mostly because of the atmosphere that the whole place had managed to get. “Why is he shouting at Miss Cheshire?” Mimmy then pointed to the crow to be clear to him. “I have barely any clue.” “Can’t you ask him?” Mimmy pointed to crow again. Matthew side-eyed her. “First of all, my dear young lady, it is highly inappropriate to point at others. And secondly I-“ Matthew noticed the rest of the kids, all of whom were staring at him. It was like a swarm of tiny little eyes surrounding him, and making him feel all weird. He never had stage fright before, he would easily perform in front of the class! Except when he had to recite something. But this was making him feel a completely new form of nervousness he never had before. “Why do all of you assume I can talk to him?!” Matthew got out from his seat. The plate with cake was in his hands. “Is it because me and him share the age range? Well I’ll have you know, I am not some doll for you to hold around and tell him what to do and whom to talk to! I am quite independent and very strongminded person, thank you very much!” “What are you shouting here about!?” the scream came from behind the goose, loud enough to make him honk in panic. The other children quickly returned their attention to their plates. “Dinner is for eating,-“ “-not speaking!” every kid replied in unison. The crow approvingly nodded. “That is correct, now keep at it!” He looked at Matthew and the spilt cake on the floor. “Clean this mess, young man, and then go back home. It’s getting too late for you. Who knows who you might run into.” The goose nodded without a mum and went towards the kitchen. The crow stayed to look around at the children. It was hard to describe this picture, but it was as if this young boy suddenly decided to pretend to be the same old caretaker they had. All the while, the real caretaker was busy shoving the cake pieces into her mouth in secret. Matthew watched it with fascination, the old cat acting no different than a newborn kitten. Then something began to ring. The old cat-lady then spat the food she had into the faucet, then ran to the socket where a phone was plugged in. After fiddling with it, she finally answered it with a chipper growl of “Hello?” Matthew tiptoed behind her, listening closely to the voice from the phone. All he could make out was a high-pitched voice. “Why yes, you have called the right number, Young Rose,” the caretaker announced with a whisper. She apparently was trying her hardest to not to stand out. “I am very sorry for not answering to you sooner, as the phone had lost all of its power. I am surprised by how quickly it does so! You will not believe what happened…oh right! We have an extraordinary cake here, would you care to have the taste of some?” The more Matthew listened, the more curious he felt about her manner of speech. This old lady did not sound at all like an old lady should, which he deduced immediately. She spoke more like a cross between an old man and a young boy, instead. Furthermore, she seemed to be well aware of this other person on the phone. “Why yes, where am I right now! It is the place where Young Azure lives in! Do send him in, once time permits!” the caretaker said with happiness. Matthew narrowed his eyes. This has become quite interesting now. “Very well, I shall wait for him! Also, I do have to mention, but I have seen the jester, and I-“ “Well, well, well, Miss Cheshire, what do we have here!” The old cat-lady jumped aback like an old cat should. She stared with her big eyes, only to quickly change them to curiosity, once she got a better look at the goose. “You…you are…” “I…KNOW what happened to you!” Matthew announced triumphantly. Miss Cheshire furrowed her hairy brows. “Not to worry, Milady, I shall take utmost care with your current condition. Now,” he reached and ripped a small piece of paper towel, “if you will excuse me.” Miss Cheshire watched him leave the room. She brought back the phone to her ear and said, “If you could, please come hither quicker. I have a feeling I know what the jester was doing…” …