FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Pledge. Pledge! Hey-hey! Pledge. Hey!"

The classroom suddenly went silent.

"...To the Republic, for which it stands," the students chanted, snapping into the patriotic pose. As soon as they were done, the announcements began, but amidst the commotion they were quickly drowned out.

The teachers could do nothing to quell the quiet; this was one morning where the chaos would reign free. All classroom doors were wide, pressed against the wall with the jamb firmly wedged underneath.

Students found their assigned or commandeered set of desks or table, on which they could set up their booth. Small spats and arguments over this spot or that were settled by a teacher moving a third student to the table such that none that desired got it.

Some of the kids were relegated to the hallway, which was lined with tables on either side. Some kids voluntarily picked these spots; others dreaded them.

Familiar with the layout, Emeral dashed to claim a spot that was in the corner of the room by Ms. Hupp's desk, where Kimberly and a few other kids were already setting up.

"Oh."

The tigress looked behind her, and saw Lyza and Ket both approaching the other vacant desk, and both taking a step back as they realized the other was heading for the same one.

"You take it," the rabbit offered. "I can go over here."

"Huh-uh," the tiger said, using his hand to hold her from moving. "Ladies get first pick," he remarked, "I'll take the middle, over there."

Before she could even respond, he was taking back-steps, and turned, nearly colliding with Cathy.

Emeral was a bit unsettled that their agreed-upon plan to be next to each other was already broken, but she also couldn't necessarily be angry. Circumstances were circumstances, and even so she had Kimberly and Lyza next to her; and the other booths beside them were snatched up just as quickly.

She was well from being close to Ritzer, and he must have felt okay with that. Besides, he took the spot in the middle of the room, right across from her.

They were facing one another naturally.

She ducked down, unzipping her backpack.

"Hey, Emmy?"

She looked up, rummaging through her backpack to feel for her towel. "What's up?" She asked the rabbit.

"Do you have your phone on you?"

"Uh... Yeah, sure," she stood up, pulling the little red phone out of her pocket.

"Sorry, just have to text my bro."

"No worries." She crouched down again, opening her backpack wider. She started to pull things out. She checked another pocket, and eventually started to pat her backpack down. "Shoot," she huffed as she stood.

She squeezed between the small space to pass into the open lane, crossing it to where the tiger was. "Psst," she said, resting her palms on the desks that were his booth, and leaning over.

He looked up.

"Hey, can I come borrow your towel if I need to close up for a bit? I..." She flattened her ears. "I forgot mine."

He squatted back down.

She leaned over, watching as he rummaged through his backpack, and pulled a towel out, along with something else that fell out and landed in the small forest of desk-legs.

"Here," he said, setting it on the desk. "I brought an extra, just in case," he told her, giving a thumbs-up.

She shook her head. "So you knew I'd forget, huh?" She teased, stepping back to squat down.

"No, I--"

"Oh my gosh!" She said, in a suppressed way that only he could hear.

"What?" He asked, squatting down.

"What the heck are you thinking?" She asked, her hand on the ground. She slid it toward him over the carpet.

When she lifted up, he saw the squat, blue, cylindrical object: his whittling knife. "Oh... I guess... I threw it in when I was packing the other stuff," he said.

"Hide it," she hissed. "If Ms. Hupp sees it, you're in deep doo-doo."

He had already snatched it up, and put it in his backpack. He quickly stood up with her, but the back of his head smacked into something. "Ow!" He grunted, holding his head, and twisting about.

"'Ey, watch'rself," grumbled the lion, "na' much room in 'ere."

Emeral took a step back.

"More room over there if you want," the tiger growled back, pointing to an empty spot by the far wall, by where Rini, Kelly, and the twins were set up.

"Loo'g," the lion set the small tree-stand he had in his hand roughly onto his booth. "I wa'ned ou'n'th' hall, bu' tha' bitch," he lowered his voice, pointing at their teacher, "stu'g me 'ere to kee'n'eye on me. S'guess we bo'h not 'appy." He turned back around. "Deal."

Emeral matched eyes with the tiger, who hid his gritted teeth behind a convincingly bored and disinterested expression.

She backed away, holding the towel in her hands. Back at her table, she set it down near her backpack. "Hey, have any trouble?" She asked her friend, who was still using her phone.

"Um, just sent," she said, handing it back.

"I got used to T-9 a while ago," the tigress said, retrieving her phone and putting it in her pocket. "Should've warned you, you figure it out okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," she replied, reaching into her backpack to pull out a few of her merchandise.

Emeral began setting out her things as well. The lights from overhead twinkled and sparkled from the gaudy-looking fake gems that bedazzled the bracelet bases she had gotten at the crafts store.

Across the way, she saw Ket assembling the PVC-Pipe display his mom had helped him make and paint with a shiny, gold-dust paint. He started hanging his engraved plates with various words written in both English, and Egyptian Hieroglyphics.

"You stole my idea!"

The classroom ruckus settled as the shout came from the hall.

"I did not! I came up with th--"

"You're lying! It's exactly the sa--"

"Mine's better!"

"No they're not! You ripped off my idea and now you're selling it for less just to make me have to pay back all the money back to my parents!"

Some of Ms. Hupp's students crept to the door to see the meltdown that was happening, but the teacher quickly ushered them back in and went out in the hall to help with the situation.

Commotion returned to normal a few moments later, with some of the kids starting to unstack the chairs and bring them over.

"Hey hey, what're you doing?" Ms. Hupp questioned when she came back into the classroom, seeing some of the boys with the chairs in their hands.

"We need a place to sit," the kids said.

"Sorry, not enough room," she said, stepping over and gesturing for them to go back into the corner where the stacks were. "That's why they were over there in the first place, goofballs," she admonished.

The kids whimpered and whined, but eventually they had put the chairs back into the stacks.

Emeral was finished setting up her stand--not that it was all that much--and looked to her friend. "You need any help?" She asked.

Lyza was squatting in front of her stand on the outside, hand moving the yarn-covered cups about. "I'm okay, just making sure these can all be seen from kinder-height," she mentioned.

"Hm..." The tigress thought for a moment, but decided she didn't really care all that much to go to that effort. She slipped out from behind her stand, crossing the way to Ket. "Need help?" She asked, while he finished assembling the last of his four displays.

"Um... I'm okay," he said. "Just gotta hang the rest of them."

"Okay, I guess I'll see if anyone else needs help," she mentioned.

"Sounds good," the tiger replied.

She leaned closer to him. "I've got my eye on him," she told the tiger, before righting up. She walked about to see the others that were still getting ready. No one looked like they really needed help, and she was really just looking for an excuse to walk around--she was too agitated and excited to stand still.

"Wait right there," she heard someone say.

She glanced to the voice, and saw Panda standing behind his booth, several paintings and sketches popped up and laid out.

"Turn back, look like how you were just a sec ago," he told her.

She stiltedly did so. "Um... Like this?" She asked.

"Yup, gimme a sec," the bear told her.

She shifted her eye to look, and saw he was scribbling in a sketch-book. She met his eye when he glanced up every few moments.

A few kids walked past them, and bumped her. She tried to get back to the original pose she was in.

She watched as Justin, still with bandaged hands, awkwardly tried to set up his popsicle-stick houses without breaking them.

She was starting to feel agitated again. To her relief Panda set his pencil down, and then tore out the piece of paper he had sketched on. She took that as her cue to relax. "What was that for?" She asked.

He flipped the paper over. "Practice," he replied, showing her the caricature-depiction he had rendered of her. "You get the free one of the day."

She took it, giving it a look-over. It had a surprising amount of detail, for something he had just done in a quick few minutes. Though, she wasn't quite sure about the forehead...

The was a bang from across the room. "No no no no no!" Cathy whined, as several borax bouncing balls began spilling from her stand. "Beck! Watch where you're going!" She growled at the canine.

"S-S-Sorry," he said, holding his hands clasped to his chest. "I didn't mean it."

"No running--anyone, got it!?" The teacher said, heading over to help Cathy pick up her balls.

"Sheesh," the bear muttered. "This is a mess."

Emeral looked to him. "You painted all these?" She asked.

"Yup," he said, slightly adjusting some of the pictures. "Started practicing with watercolor when I moved here. These are all the little things I've done since then. I wanted to start using oils, but grandpa said I had to practice this, first."

"Cool," she said. "Hey... Can you do me a favor?"

"If you want another sketch it's five bucks," he said with a smirk.

She shook her head with a chuckle. "No... Actually, I was gonna ask... Do you mind helping me keep an eye on Ritzer?" She requested, glancing back to the center of the room.

"Don't like him so close to family, eh?" The bear asked. "Yeah. What am I looking out for?"

"Just... Anything... Weird, y'know? If you see anything, uh... Whistle?"

"I'll try." He nodded.

"Thanks, hopefully you don't have to, but... Just, I dunno. There's... A reason, but--"

"Eh, I don't care," he replied with a shrug. "I was gonna keep an eye on him anyway, cuz... I mean..." The bear gestured to him, to say it's Ritzer.

"Thanks. You can have a free bracelet, if you want," she offered.

"Mmm, nah, I got fat wrists," he said, holding his hand up to show off said wrist.

She giggled. "Okay, well... Guess I'm gonna go back to my table before someone swipes my stuff."

"Sure sure, good luck."

"You, too." She bid, starting to dash off to her booth, when she recalled Ms. Hupp warning them not to move quickly.

"What's that?" Lyza asked, pointing to the paper in Emeral's hand.

Emeral flipped the paper over so the drawing was up. "Oh, this is one of the things Panda's doing," she said. "I was practice, so I got it free," she said, doing a bit of a shoulder-shimmy. "Is my forehead really this big?"

"It's enormous," the rabbit replied.

She stuck her tongue out. "Anyway, it's pretty good," she said, slipping it into her backpack.

"Yeah, I've been seeing him with his sketchbook a lot at recess, lately."

Out in the hall, a clickety, ratcheting sound could be heard.

"Everyone quiet! Listen up!" Called Mr. Wiggin amidst the ratcheting. He called a few more times, with the ratcheting nearing their door. Some of the students with vantage saw the teacher pass, a party-rattler spinning above his head.

A few moments later, the entire hall was silent.

"Okay!" Mr. Wiggin spoke loudly, once again walking back down the hall. "Please be quiet, so you can listen! In about five minutes, students from other grades will be coming to walk about the hall; repeat after me: Be on your best behavior!"

From within the rooms, the students repeated what the teacher said.

"Stay behind your booth! Double-count all money before it changes hands! Don't be pushy! Don't change prices for people you like or do not like! Does everybody understand?"

"Does everybody understand!" So repeated about half of the voices, while the other half replied with, "Yes!"

"If you have any problems, hold up your towel and a teacher will come by to help! Everyone: good luck, and have fun!"

A few cheers of excitement responded to the teacher.

Rather quickly the commotion came back, stragglers frantically trying to set their places up before the crowds came marching in.

"I'm kinda nervous," Kimberly said to the tigress and rabbit. "I shoulda skipped today, like Willy did," she remarked.

"Definitely feels different being on this side of the table," Lyza replied.

Emeral looked across the lane, watching as Ket practiced unhooking and replacing the stands so he could pull off any selections that were made. After checking each display, he matched her gaze.

Over the next minute or so, a calm fell about the hallway. The frantic bustle was over, and everyone stood behind their booth, ready for customers.

They could hear it. Like the low rumble of a coming storm, the footfalls neared. The doors at the end of the hallway squeaked as they were opened.

The booths in the hall saw first action.

"Magic wands, two dollars; magic wands!"

"Pet rocks! Dolla' each; pet rocks!"

"Be a princess or a king! Crowns and tiaras!"

"Severed fingers! Need a hand? Got those, too!"

Emeral, like most of the others, looked at the door. Several kids trickled in, and started milling about. It was awkward at first, since it was only five or six, and no one in the room really spoke or announced their merchandise. They merely walked about, and stopped when they saw something that interested them.

But, rather quickly, more kids began trickling into the room, and pretty soon Emeral had a few girls catching the glinting of her fake gemstones.

"Oh, these look cool!" One of the girls said. "How much are they?"

"These are one dollar," the tigress said, hovering her hand over the small bracelets and rings. "These are two," she motioned over the wider ones, "these are four," she pointed to the necklaces and headbands.

"Can I see this one?" The other girl asked.

"Sure," the tigress said.

The girl picked it up, touching the gems. "Oh..." She muttered, with a disappointed inflection. "Hm... I think I'll shop around a bit more."

Emeral's ears flattened.

"I'll take a bracelet," the first girl said, reaching into a little pouch she had and plucking out quarters.

"Thanks," Emeral bid, as the girl handed over her coins and plucked a bracelet from the table.

Just like that, she had made her first sale!

The crowd grew larger and the noise grew louder. The pathway through the classroom became like a flowing river, with a current that traveled every which way.

"Draw you for five," Panda advertised, amidst the other calls of merchandise and amounts.

Every few moments Emeral spoke with a girl that had a passing interest in her jewelry. Some squeaked with glee, others discovered the gems were not real and quietly found interest in something else.

Next to her, Lyza barely spoke. It felt like her booth was just a rest stop, as for five minutes at a time she would not see a customer stand in front of it. It was only when two people paused to briefly chat that she had something of an audience, but then they never talked to her or took notice of her cups.

In the pauses between speaking to her customers and browsers, Emeral took glances across the lane.

Ket was actually managing to sell his plates reasonably. Every so often between customers he would rearrange his displays, making sure they were all evenly laden.

Slowly, but surely, the tigress calmed.

Not once had she even seen the lion glance back or do anything to suggest he was pestering the tiger.

Plus, she didn't hear Panda whistle at all. Well, at least, not as far as she could tell. It was loud and there was lots of commotion; he very well may have whistled and she just missed it.

But, she had to trust he hadn't, yet.

As the morning went on, more grades came to mingle about. The heads in the sea got a little taller, and their tables a little lighter.

"Native-American Weave Baskets, Jewelery, Spirit Bracelets and Charms!" Kimberly advertised for the three of them, which she had started doing for a while, since Emeral and Lyza had been rather quiet.

Her heralds brought several around each time, and some even started to purchase the decorated cups on Lyza's table.

Somewhere in the room, a coin pinged as it bounced off a table.

"Lizzy!"

Emeral glanced from her current customer to the exclamation, and saw Ziggy-Zee scurry over to them.

The rabbit, who had been leaning over her table, staring at the twenty or so cups that she still had to sell, stood up when she saw the young coon. "Hey, Zig, how's it going?"

"Good," the boy said with a swish of his tail. He twisted to show his backpack, which he had partway open with a tube sticking up. "There's some cool stuff this year," he remarked.

"Wouldn't know," the rabbit replied. "Haven't had a turn to go around. Where's Cheri?"

"Dunno, dun care," he said, shrugged.

"Still mad at each other?" Lyza asked, with a bit of trepidation.

"Don't think so," the raccoon replied, holding a hand under his chin. "I been tryin' not to do stuff to tick her off."

Lyza smiled. "Well, that's good."

"Whatchya got goin' on here?" He asked.

"Ugh, just... Fake Indian-style baskets," the rabbit said, waving her hand in a dismissive gesture.

"How much?" He asked, reaching into his pocket.

"Nah, don't... Don't bother, I'll probably have a bunch left over. I can just give you one, if you find me out by the buses."

The raccoon's mask wilted downward at the edges. "But... I wanna buy it from you. That's the whole point, isn't it?" He pulled out two quarters. "I'll take two," he said, setting the coins on the table.

The rabbit's lips closed, and she smiled, sliding the coins toward her side. "Pick whichever ones you want," she said.

He stood on his tip-toes, hands resting on the table, and surveyed the selection. He settled on one that was orange and green, and another that was pink and purple.

"Pleasure doing business with you," the rabbit said, in a somewhat rehearsed manner.

"Yer welcome," the raccoon said with a toothy grin, putting the cups in the side-pocket of his backpack. "Hope they stay safe, there," he murmured patting it after zipping it up.

He looked to his right. "Emwol!" He exclaimed, "I didn't even notice you were here," he sidestepped to the tigress's booth

"Hey Zig," the tigress greeted. "Keeping your nose down?"

The rabbit raised an eyebrow in confusion, as the two talked like they were good friends.

"Sorta," the raccoon replied. "Jewelry?"

The tigress nodded with a chuckle. "Yeah, Ket said it would be a hot seller," she looked down at her diminished supply. "Not as hot as he made it out to be, but so far pretty good," she remarked.

"Hm..." The raccoon looked at the items on the table. "No one wants those?" He asked, pointing to the headbands and necklaces.

"They're four bucks," the tigress replied. "Most of the girls look like they wanna buy them, but then I say that and they either walk away or get a ring instead," she told him, mindfully spreading out her now sparse collection of rings. "Sorry, I don't have anything you would probably like. Was in a crunch and--"

"I'll take a tiara," the raccoon said, counting out the bills.

"Really?" The tigress asked.

He held up the four bills.

"Well... I mean, the customer is always right," she said with a chuckle, taking the money.

He looked about as he pulled his backpack off his shoulders to be in front of him. His hand quickly snatched the pink headband with various glittering, faux gemstones, and he stuffed it deep into his backpack.

He lifted it back onto his shoulders. "Hey, um..." He looked to the rabbit and the tigress. "If... If you see Cheri, and if she asks about me, uh... I wasn't here, right?"

The tigress smirked. "I won't say anything," she promised.

He looked to the rabbit.

"Who wasn't here?" She asked.

He grinned, and shuffled off with a wave.

"Hey..."

The tigress glanced to the rabbit as she put her money into the tin box she used as a register. "Huh?"

"How do you know Ziggy-Zee?" Lyza asked.

"Um..." The tigress bit her lip. "When Ket was studying for the sixth-grade tests, I stayed behind in the music room. He and Cheri hung out there with me."

"Oh, had no idea," the rabbit said with a nod.

Someone lost a bouncing ball they had just gotten from Cathy. It bounced here and there through the crowd, the boy chasing after, bumping into other boys and girls that were milling about.

After a short while, other fifth-graders began coming into the room, their shops either sold-out or temporarily closed so they had a chance to buy things.

Lyza saw Goren enter their room.

The wolf pup went straight to his girlfriend first thing, but along the way Ritzer hailed him. He held up his hand to the lion as he passed; the lady came first.

He talked for a minute or so, buying one of the frazzle-pens in her display. After doing so, he went back to the lion, talking with him for a little bit.

Then, he went out of sight for a moment, walking around the other side of the center, but wound up at Panda's booth.

The wolf pup forked over five dollars.

Emeral quietly tensed. She disliked when people bought Panda's offer of a caricature-sketch. It meant he had to focus on the subject, distracting him from keeping an eye on Ritzer.

It was a selfish impulse, and she felt guilty for it.

Ritzer and I are actually a lot alike...

She had come to learn well the boy across from her; or, at least, she hoped she had. He was bright, and cunning. Alert, and wary.

...Except for a few key differences.

A creeping chill dripped onto the nape of her neck.

She knew that Ket handled Ritzer on his own terms. In one method by putting the lion's attention onto him, to direct it away from others.

That was what he was doing now, by being in that small space with the enemy.

But flip the coin, and find it doesn't matter.

Ritzer was never the one to act. Even from the beginning. He may have been around, but it was always someone else in his group that did the dirty work.

That the lion and the tiger were back-to-back had no bearing on anything.

Ritzer was drawing attention to himself, to direct it away from others.

Emeral balled a tight fist as the wolf pup took his sketch and began walking along around the circle again. He looked at the desks to his right, and then his eyes fell upon the Hieroglyphs to his left.

Pincer-Tactic.

It was taught to her during the light sparring she did in Ju-Jitsu class, in two-against-one. The two were always trying to get on opposite sides, to keep their victim in the middle. The victim's goal was to keep them within their cone of sight.

"Oooo! These look so pretty!"

Emeral gasped, glancing down at the face that belonged to the locks of red hair that obstructed her view of the lion, the tiger, and the wolf.

"Hey, Cheri," Lyza greeted.

"Hiya Liz," the vixen turned to the rabbit. "I didn't know you two were in the same class," she told the girls she had known separately.

"Um... Yeah," the tigress muttered, as she saw the wolf wander off, out the door. She relaxed, just a little.

Cheri twisted about, waving hi to the tiger.

Ket raised his hand in a wave back.

"I hope he did good on his test-thingy," the vixen said. "It's been kinda boring just hanging out with Zach."

"Well, pretty soon you'll have all summer," the rabbit remarked. "Unless you're still steamed at him."

She shook her head. "Nah... I mean, he's always on my nerves," she giggled. "But I'm always on his, I guess. Speaking of, you guys see him?"

"Nope!" Kimberly said, as inconspicuously as her nickname allowed. "Not at all, right girls?"

The tigress and rabbit exchanged glances.

"Uh, we thought we saw him," Emeral said.

"But it was somebody else." The rabbit finished.

The vixen cocked her head. "...Okay..." She said, glancing at the mousette. She looked at the pretend-jewelry on the table. "Well, if I know him he won't come around this stuff," she picked up a bracelet. "Too girly for his liking," she giggled.

"Yup," Lyza said. "No boys have even stopped by her table."

"That's fine by me," the vixen said. "I like these tiaras," she said said, holding one up. "How much are they?"

"Uh... They're--"

"Really expensive," Lyza interrupted her friend. "You may want to hold off and walk around some more, don't wanna spend all your money in one place."

Cheri looked at her zoo-mentor quizzically. "I been Pretty good about not buying everything I see," she mentioned.

"Uh, she's right," the tigress insisted, reaching for the headband. "Really, this stuff is a rip-off. You shouldn't buy it."

"Huh?" Cheri swished her tail. "You're not being very good at selling your stuff..." She observed.

"I uh..." The tigress looked down at the fake-jewel encrusted accessory.

"She doesn't wanna rip off her friends," the rabbit offered.

"Psh, you guys are weird," the vixen said. "I don't care. It looks cute, and I want it. How much?" She reached into her small purse, pulling out a wad of bills.

"It's... Uhm..." The tigress looked at the rabbit, who gave a sheepish shrug in return. "It's four--"

Emeral was saved by the bell.

Or rather, by the alarm.

Along the ceiling, above their heads, flashes of light flickered and pulsed across the room. A low siren going in a never-ending wave was joined by a horn that barked in bursts of three with a brief second of pause in between.

Though Ms. Hupp hollered instructions, they were barely heard amongst the fire alarm.

Lyza held her hears, shaking from the shock and recovering from her skipping heartbeats. While she regained her bearings, she noticed the tigress and the tiger hurrying out of the room, hand-in-hand, pushing through the other younger kids and classmates.

She saw as Rini glanced her way, and diverted from the path to the door. Her arm was grabbed, and her clumsy movements were guided by the slightly browner than normal hand.

They walked with tiny, shuffling steps down the hall, compressed even more by the tables that lined the length. One table had been pushed outward, sticking out into the path. As each kid passed it, they shoved it slightly farther away, until Rini pushed it back in line with the rest.

The sun tickled Lyza's fur as they emerged from the building. A boy next to her sneezed, failing miserably to cover his mouth in the claustrophobic mass.

Even out by the portables, where they sometimes ran laps for P.E., the rabbit had a deafening ringing in her ear. In the thick of the crowd, they looked back, trying to see if there was smoke, as did many others.

Fire-drills were usually seen as fun, if a bit nerve-wracking. It usually meant a few minutes from class, but somehow never during a test when it would be even more welcomed.

After several minutes, the rabbit's hearing was back to normal.

Rini had stayed with her, and they were found by Bitty and Betty.

They were amidst the whole mix of grades, and some of the younger ones were still crying or huddling together from all the commotion.

Some people were saying they spotted smoke, but no one else saw any. Others said they could hear a siren, but a moment longer and the breeze carried nothing more than leaves it dragged along the asphalt.

Some began to worry about their things, about their money. Surely this was a rouse, by now. A way to get everyone out so thieves could ransack their booths.

After what felt like an eerily long time for a simple fire-drill, the crowd started to move back inside.

"Wonder what that was all about," Rini finally stated; for they had been pretty quiet the whole time.

"Dunno," the rabbit remarked. "Um... Hey," she touched the rat's arm.

Rini turned, pausing. "Huh?" She asked, as the rabbit's hand pulled from her pocket; she held a neon-green slip of paper. The rat took it, and unfolded it. A grin crept up her cheeks. "Ha," she muttered. "Got you now, Ark."

"Got him?" The rabbit asked.

Rini's expression dropped right away. "Uhwha?" She asked.

"What do you mean by 'got you now?'" Lyza rephrased, looking at Rini with a curled brow.

Though she was a rat, she looked very much like a deer in headlights. "I... Uh... I meant..."

The rabbit's expression went from quizzical, to agitated. "Give me back the number and tell me why you really had me get it for you," she growled, swiping for the rat's hand.

The two felines grabbed her arm right away, pulling it off.

"Let go;"

"Of her."

"You let go!" The rabbit barked.

"Lyza!"

The girls glanced to their right, as Panda shoved through the crowd of returning kids to stand by them. He panted, looking around nervously.

"Panda, what's wrong?" She asked, glancing at the rat and tightening her grip around the hand.

"Where's... Where's Emmy?" He asked urgently, sounding out of breath. "I've looked all over for her, but I can't--"

The rabbit let go. "I don't know, she and Ket ran out the room right away."

"I need to find them."

"Okay," the rat said. "But why do you sound like you actually saw a fire or something?"

They started walking oblique to the crowd.

"Emmy asked me to keep an eye on Ritzer, see if he did something funny," the bear explained. "He stayed behind a bit during the alarm, I thought it was weird. I saw him turn to Ket's backpack and duck down, sticking his hand in. I think he was stealing money, maybe from other kids, too, but he only took from Ket."

"They may already be back in," Rini mentioned. "We'll head back inside just in case," she said, gesturing to the twins. "If we see them, we'll tell them."

"Hang on," Lyza snapped. "Not before you give me back the number."

The rat paused, and a look of guilt crossed her face.

"Hiyah!"

The shout burst from the direction of the portables.

The thin, remaining crowd all looked back.

A wincing, solid thud, followed by a groan, hit the rabbit's ears.

"That was Emmy!" She declared, and with her the others took off toward the sound, making their way between the portables.

As they turned the corner, they came upon a sight that froze them in their tracks.

Emeral stood to the side, breathing heavily and with her hands balled into fists.

Ritzer lay on his back, and Ket was on top of him, the tiger's knee over the lion's sternum.

His fist coiled up against his armpit, and snapped out, twisting like a drill, right into the lion's gut. With each strike, Ritzer's body twitched, he let out a weak grunt, and gasped for breath.

Six. Seven. Eight. Nine hits, they counted, before the tiger's arm was seized.

"Get off of him!" Mr. Wiggin shouted, after rushing to the scene. "Candice, c'mon!" He barked.

One of the other fifth-grade teachers rushed up, pulling out a walkie-talkie from her belt. It let out a chirp as she depressed the button to talk. "Nurse, out by the portables right now; two kids in a fight, one on the ground."

"On my way," came the curt response.

"C'mon you," the red wolf growled, yanking Ket off of Ritzer by his torso.

The tiger stumbled, but was caught by the shoulders.

"M-M-Mr. Wiggin, w-wait," the tigress stammered, shaking.

"I'm not able to wait right now," the teacher said, as patiently as he could, ushering the boy to walk. "Go back to class."

"I... I n-need to t-tell you wh--what happened," she tried to say, following them.

"Get back inside," the wolf told the other onlookers. He glanced to the tigress following them. "If you want to explain things, then come explain it to Mr. Pretty," he sternly suggested to the girl.

Rini watched the two tigers leave with the wolf, and then glanced back at Ritzer. The teacher looked him over.

"Hello?" She asked the lion, seeing if he was alert.

As the rat took a step back, a glint of light caught her eye, just against the shadow by the portable.

"Is he breathing?" The nurse asked when she arrived.

"I think so..." The teacher mumbled, standing up as the nurse squatted down. "Still breathing, pulse. No bleeding," she mumbled. "Okay, I need you to stay with him," the nurse told the teacher. "I'm going to call EMS, if he comes-to keep him lying down."

"Sure, sure," the teacher said, sounding overwhelmed.

The nurse heard a soft crunch. She glanced to her right, and saw the rat standing upright rather quickly, right by the portable; a few other children standing around. "Get back to your classes," the nurse gave a stern order.

With her hands behind her back, the rat scurried off, the other kids following with her.