Book 1 - The Rose-Red Tyrant: Chapter 10; A Garden Spat

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter - 10; A Garden Spat".

It opens in a forestry area. It's apparent that these are the woods behind the campus, and that school has passed so they're at their little meetup.

Grim is looking around at all of the trees as he says "Whoa! There really are a ton of chestnuts just layin' around. I'm gonna be livin' large on chestnut tarts! Mmm!" He then turns to the rest of the group saying "Let's get grabbin' –YOWCH!"

But is cut off as he shouts "Myah!

As "The chestnut spines pricked my paws!" explaining why he stopped.

Deuce is taking a closer look at them as he says "I don't think we can do this with our bare hands. And we need something to put them in, too." Ace suggests "Maybe we can find some supplies in the botanical garden?" Deuce taking on a more leader role says "Let's take a look."

It then moves to the botanical gardens, there are a ton of potted plants and flowers as well as trees. There are two small streams of water with bridges to go over them.

The group is looking around as Ace comments "Whoa, I didn't realize this place was so huge."

Deuce, taking note of Ace's comment, says "If it's this large, it's got to have a groundskeeper. Let's split up and look." Ace agrees but says "Sure. Dibs on the right side." while walking over to the bridge over the right stream. Deuce says "Then how about I go left, while Grim and his perfect go straight ahead?"

They decide on this course of action, which leaves Yuu and Grim alone as they're walking forwards in the botanical gardens.

Grim is looking at everything that interests him, but Yuu is more silently observing and calculating everything around her.

Grim then shouts over to her "Hey, come take a look at this! There's a ton of fruit growing here! Smells like they're ripe,too!" Yuu tells Grim "Don't pick anything." Knowing that it might be someone's plant and that they would be stealing if so.

But while walking over she was mainly focused on Grim and stepped on something tripping slightly.

As they hear from the bushes "Ouch!" Yuu is now looking around her feet while she says "Feels like I just stepped on something…"

A head pops out of the bushes, and it's the same boy with lion ears from orientation. He says "Hey! You got some nerve steppin' on my tail and just walkin' away!"

Yuu recognizes him but Grim does not as he says "Are you the groundskeeper? Not sure you oughta be talkin' to students that way, pal."

But the lion eared boy just ignores Grim as complains "Ain't nothin' worse than bein' in the middle of a good nap and havin' some jerk step on your tail."

Yuu thinks 'Then maybe don't leave your tail on the path…?' but instead of saying that she bows slightly in apology as she says "I am so sorry!"

Now taking a closer look at who stepped on his tail he says "You… I know you. You're that herbivore from orientation who couldn't use magic."

He then leans close to her and sniffs her. She then asks him "Are you…smelling me?!" shouting at the end while also in her head screaming 'I assure you, I bathe every day!'

The lion eared boy now leaning away again comments "Huh. It's true. You don't smell of magic at all. Well, can't say it'd be much fun to hurt someone so helpless. Still gonna do it, though."

Grim is now panicking as he says "I dunno what's with this guy, but when he looks at me, it makes every follicle of fur stand on end…"

The lion eared boy then says "No one gets to stomp on my tail and just walk away without payin' the price. I'm in a bad mood on account of bein' woken up from my nap, too. That's gonna cost you a tooth."

Her mind's now screaming at her and she thinks 'Please! I don't have dental insurance!' but keeps a kinda calm front as she yells "I can't afford to pay anything!" Grim then yells "Yuu! Cheese it!"

But before anything gets out of hand someone else walks up. He has sandy blonde hair and extremely light blue eyes that almost look gray. His uniform is slightly messy but due to the armband, Yuu figures both this boy and the lion one are from Savanaclaw. He also has animal ears on top of his head. But these boy's ears are hyena ears, with a matching tail.

The boy says "Leona! There you are!" Revealing the name of the lion eared boy.

Leona then looks over making a "Heh?" sound. The hyena boy says "I knew I'd find you here! We got after-school classes today, remember?" Leona then grumbles "Ugh… And now I've got this guy on my tail…"

The hyena boy doesn't really seem to care he's upsetting Leona as he says "Leona, you've already had to repeat one year. If you get held back again, we'll be in the same grade!" Leona tells the boy "Oh, put a sock in it already. I'm tired of all yer yappin', Ruggie."

Showing he knows the hyena boy and revealing his name is Ruggie.

Ruggie also complains "Look, you think I like always being on your case? C'mon man. You act like it'd be hard for you. You could skate through life if you'd just TRY. Come on! Let's go already!"

Deciding to just go along with Ruggie, Leona warns Yuu and Grim "Hrmph… Next time you stink up my territory, there's gonna be a price to pay, herbivores!"

Before the duo walk away, allowing Yuu and Grim to let out a small sigh of relief.

Grim then says "Myah! I don't like the sound of that! What is up with this nutso?" Yuu, thinks 'Yeaah, I don't think he's the groundskeeper…' before her thoughts turn to be about his ears and personality, as she speaks aloud "That guy reminded me of a lion."

Ace and Deuce then come running up behind them, giving them a small jump scare as Ace yells "Yo, guys, we found baskets and tongs."

Deuce then notices how shaken they are and asks "What in the world happened to you two?"

But neither answer as Grim gets his mind back onto the tarts and exclaims "Oh, right, the chestnuts! We gotta gather those chestnuts so I can get my tart on!"

Grim then turns to Yuu and tells her "We'll fill 'em in on the crazy groundskeeper while we forage." Yuu then facepalms as that lion was clearly a student here and not the groundskeeper.

Now back to the woods behind the campus. Grim finishes a sentence "...and then he peaced out!" making it clear that they were talking about what happened just before Ace and Deuce had found them in the botanical gardens.

Ace then says "Yeah, no way was that guy the groundskeeper."

Grim now actually thinking says "Y'know, now that I think about it he WAS wearin' the golden vest of that Pajama-clog dorm." Deuce then asks Grim "Pajama…clog? You mean Savanclaw?" Which causes Grim to nod.

Deuce then thinks aloud "You know, I'm starting to think that there's an awful lot of delinquents here at Night Raven…"

Ace then grabbed one last chestnut as he changed the topic saying "All right, that should be enough chestnuts. Let's get these baskets over to Trey!" Grim cheers saying "Myahaha! Now that we're all gassed up, it's destination: Flavortown, baby!"

They then pick up the baskets and head over to the school kitchen to make the tarts.

Trey's already waiting for them there while preparing everything else.

Noticing their arrival he tells them "Welcome back. Looks like you got plenty!"

Which makes Grim say "Now you can make us some massive tarts!" in return.

Trey chuckles as he tells them "Well, the bigger the tarts, the harder it'll be to peel all these nuts, so…good luck with that!"

Deuce then says "We have to peel all of these…? Suddenly the whole room is spinning…"

Trey says "Preparation is the key to good baking."

Ace then tells Trey "Yeah, yeah, I know."

Before turning to the others and telling them "We've come this far. We're not giving up now!"

They then start to peel the chestnuts under Trey's instructions.

The screen fades to black as "To be continued" plays before turning fully off.