Scotch put his Bolt away. He was shivering from being wet, he was hungry, and furious. But he tried to keep his cool. He couldn't lash out or anything. His job was on the line. Besides, Tyler might not have defended him, but the problem was these city cadets and their uncivilized way of going about things.

"Christoph," he said in a quiet voice and lifted his head, "I'm sorry for throwing water on you. I was angry and I know I shouldn't have done it."

Christoph gave him an icy glare. "I paid for that room. Apology unaccepted. You and your friend Mange can go eat shit."

Mason hissed and looked at Scotch, waiting for the signal. He was right. That was it. No more civilized nonsense. Scotch snapped.

"Attack!" He jumped in the air and Mason followed. A tint of fear touched the city cadets' eyes. Desiree made a run for it with Olive, but Felix and Christoph were captured.

"Shit!" Christoph fell and Scotch grabbed his waist and sat on top of him, raining paw smacks on his face.

"You savage!" Christoph shouted.

"Ya ruinin' my life! You eat shite!" Scotch's insult brain kicked in. "You peach cobbler, carrot skin, two names, snog face, privileged, Daddy's boy!" Each insult was a smack to the head or to the face if Christoph wasn't blocking well. Somewhere beside him or behind him, there were yowls and spits of two feline Halfhumans fighting.

"Get him off me! Get him off! Pod!" Christoph tried to call for back up and pushed Scotch off and they rolled over until Christoph was on top of him.

"Ha!" With a sinister smirk, Christoph grabbed Scotch's wrists and held them up over his head. "Pod!" And it was Podge who appeared out of the corner of his eye and sat down heavily on his legs, gripped his pants, and pulled.

Scotch struggled under their grip and squeezed his legs together to try to keep his pants on. He feared what they were going to do and couldn't get away. All he could do was struggle against them. "Shite, shite, what are ya doin' bastards? You sick bast—"

A fist zoomed into his face and the next thing he knew he could taste blood in his mouth. "Shut up you whiny wench," Christoph said with his fist still raised. "We're going to teach you a lesson before you leave."

His pants were down to his knees now. He could feel cold hands grip his underwear. Scotch wasn't embarrassed about anyone seeing anything because he was very much fox anthro down there, but he didn't like the idea of a 'lesson' and could only imagine what it could be.

"What in the name of horse dung is going on here?" came a thundering voice and all sounds ceased. Scotch's underwear was still in Podge's grip. He tried to squirm himself out of the grip and was eventually freed. He tipped his head back as far as it would go. Heavy boots thundered across the metal floor of the stairwell upside down.

"Get up off the floor!" Scotch recognized Officer Dornt. Quickly the weight on his legs lightened and before Podge could completely leave, Scotch kneed him in the crotch.

"Agh," he let out a tiny groan and curled up on the floor.

"That's for pullin' down my pants, ya sick slimy frog!" Scotch hissed and slipped his wrists from Christoph's loosened grip, but Christoph was still sitting on him like a deer in the headlights.

"I said get up!" With Officer Dornt's second shout, he jolted out of his stupor and scrambled off of Scotch. Mason shoved him aside violently and held out his paw.

"You—your nose is bleeding!" He exclaimed with widened eyes. Scotch reached up to wipe the still trickling blood and felt lightheaded. He stood and lost his balance, having forgotten his pants were down. What a joke he must look like now. Mason caught him before he could fall. There was a snicker from the city cadets.

Once Scotch finally pieced himself together, did he notice Officer Dornt was on his Bolt down the hall of the first floor. Scotch wiped his bloody nose and listened.

"...rmonal teenagers! You were wrong appointing me. I can't do this. They stress me out...okay, okay...sorry, thanks." Officer Dornt let out a big sigh and hung up his Bolt, putting it in his pocket. He glanced over his shoulder at them with a glare and turned around to face them.

"Chief Deputy Earlstone is on his way. I want all of you in the common room and no talking."

"Yessir," Mason answered followed by Ginger, River, and Scotch. Scotch pinched his nose to stop the blood. Ginger came to his side and handed him a tissue.

"Bit damp, but it should work." She offered him a smile and dropped back to walk with River. Scotch stuffed the tissue up his nose. He could hear the city cadets scuffling behind them. His stuff and Mason's were still bagged in the stairwell, but he didn't think asking Officer Dornt about it now was a good idea.

"They're going to get it." Christoph snickered.

"I said no talking!" Officer Dornt shot him a glare over his shoulder as he led the way to the common room.

Unlike the common area on their living floor, the common room was like an office space with three for-three sofas on each side of the wall and a table between them. City cadets sat on one side, and Scotch and his friends sat on the other. His nose had finally stopped bleeding and he changed the tissue to another damp one from Ginger.

The white, fluorescent lights really showed how badly off they all were. Mason had some scratches along his arms and on his cheek. Felix looked like he had his hair tousled too much and there were scratches on his cheek, too. Christoph was rubbing his forehead and Scotch hoped there was a big ugly bruise under that fur. Scotch hid a smile behind his paw seeing Podge still clutching his crotch.

Serves him right! The traitor.

Officer Dornt was sitting in the corner of the room on a stool with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at them. It was hard to read his expression because that was all Scotch ever saw him doing. Did the male even smile?

An awkwardly silent few minutes ticked by until the door opened and in came the short Tiigla, Chief Deputy Alex Earlstone. Immediately, Officer Dornt rose from his seat and saluted him.

"Sir! Sorry to bother you on—"

"Nonsense. It's my specialty." Alex flashed him a smile and pulled a stool up to sit between the Scotch-Mason-Ginger sofa and Podge-Christoph-Felix sofa. River sat on a stool beside Scotch, keeping as far away from the Desiree-Olive-Wesley sofa. Wesley was Podge's roommate and Officer Dornt had asked him to join, too.

Scotch noticed Wesley giving Podge questioning glances which Podge was ignoring. Whatever that meant.

"Alright. Tell me what happened before this." Alex looked at Officer Dornt who stood stiffly and explained as best as he knew, about the incident of Scotch splashing water on Christoph.

"Wires and Christoph seemed to be in the males' room after curfew. Borrecki seems to have retaliated."

'Retaliated' wasn't the right word. Scotch punished them for their misconduct. They deserved it.

Alex turned to him. "Is that right, Borrecki?"

Scotch didn't want to cause any trouble with Alex, but he couldn't lie about it either. That would mean Christoph and Desiree would get away with it. "Not entirely, sir," he said in a quiet voice knowing he was basically saying Officer Dornt was wrong. Sure enough, he got a glare from the officer.

"Explain." Alex laced his fingers together on his lap and gave him an encouraging nod.

With a sigh, Scotch told the story of how he had gone to bed at ten, but then Christoph came back to the room with Desiree and started something.

"Exactly what were they doing?"

Alex's tone wasn't accusatory, but Scotch was uncomfortable having to talk about it. "Erm, making out." His face felt hot although no one could tell. Out of the corner of his eyes, Desiree was fidgeting.

"So, it's true, Wires?" Alex said to her and she blinked.

"We weren't doing it, yet," she said defensively, staring down at her feet.

"But it's true. You were there? For whatever reason? After curfew?" After each question Alex cocked his head left or right and after each question, Desiree looked like she was going to cry. "The truth told serves you better than a lie later found out, Wires."

Behind Alex, Christoph was shaking his head at Desiree and she hesitated. But Alex's words seemed to be weighing on her and who was better to answer to? Her lover or the chief deputy?

Immediately, the truth came pouring out. She talked about how they always thought the country cadets didn't deserve being here. How they thought they would somehow get them kicked out. How they were looking for the right moment to do it and the right thing to get them in trouble for. The photo was just a chance shot and Felix edited it to make it look worse than it actually was.

"It was just the perfect shot that night and we were just happy that this was it and decided to celebrate with sex. And that was Christoph's idea to do it in his room and not mine or somewhere else." Desiree spoke fast as if she was glad to get it off her chest. "The country cadets were going to get it, but Felix said we should do it once classes start because that would be more chance for them to be expelled."

Olive, the Lizlerrin female put her scaly arm up, chewing her lip.

"Crawford." Alex nodded to her.

"Christoph and Felix and Podge were jealous Scotch and Mason got invited to Tyler Frost's party tonight and said we should do it tonight instead of waiting," she said it all in one breath and avoided Christoph's gaze.

"So, jealousy and hatred made you do it, is that right?" Alex turned to the city cadets. All but Christoph nodded in defeat.

"And you're the ringer?" Alex said to Christoph.

Christoph scowled and kept rubbing his forehead. Scotch couldn't see Alex's gaze but eventually he got Christoph to reluctantly nod. A moment of silence followed as Alex rubbed his chin and surveyed them all, turning around on the stool.

"Dornt," Alex licked his lips, "order a pizza party."

A what? They weren't going to be punished? Scotch turned to Mason and his friend shared similar confusion. Officer Dornt gave a sigh and left the room. Scotch could actually hear him ordering a pizza party for eleven.

"You all need to relax and get to know each other." Alex began. "Not knowing about the other side is what makes you not get along. You should talk instead of glare." When Officer Dornt came back Alex let him off for the night and he saluted Alex and was out of the door swiftly as if he had been expecting it like some unwritten rule.

While they waited, Alex made them go around introducing themselves. "Give me your name, where you're from, and something you like unrelated to academy. I'll start. I'm Alex. I'm from Krampledan, not far from here, a little city. I like cheese. Anything with cheese," He kissed his fingers, "excellent! Now you."

Ginger was next. She sat up extra straight and licked her lips. "I'm Ginger. From Yarrowtrail. It's a teeny tiny itty-bitty place. Me likes corn mazes 'n' corn."

"Yarrowtrail? Isn't that where they have the Second Rind's most complex corn maze?" Alex said.

"Yeah, that's all we's famous for." Ginger bit her lips as Alex nodded and changed his attention to Mason.

"Mason. From Marmaglaid. Proud to rep-sentin' the Marms with my best buddy Scotchie," He grinned at Scotch who answered with a small smile. Was getting to know the city cadets going to help?

"I like...males and females." He smirked but didn't get a laugh. "But don't worry," he added, "I'm not interested in any of you."

"Good to know." Scotch responded for him when not even Alex seemed to know what to say. Alex turned to him next after a smile at Mason.

"Scotch, or Scotchie, as friends call me. Also, from Marmaglaid. We make good marmalade, no joke. I like to run," he said. He wanted to say he liked synonyms but that didn't sound so cool. "I'm the fastest in my villagetown."

"Nice! Good to have you in Academy then." Alex smirked. "We need some fast guys to catch criminals on the run."

River was next and she seemed conflicted whether to keep glaring at the city cadets or not. Flicking her gaze away from them for a moment she introduced herself as 'Riverie'. "But call me River. I'm from Gromsterville and we got wheat, oooh," She rolled her eyes with a smirk, "surprising."

Scotch gave a short chuckle. "Who would have known. Blown away." He joked and Mason jibed him in the ribs.

"Ya got that right. As if Halfhumans don't farm enough wheat already! And I like...hum," She tapped her chin, "The Derek Watermoore Show. I know it's an old show, but I can't get over how cute 'n' funny Courtney Heather's every time."

"My sister likes that show, too." Alex laughed. "I think she said her favorite was the horse...uh—"

"Happy Wing?" River laughed and Alex nodded.

"That's him! He's a good horse."

They went on like that through Desiree and Olive who both turned out to not really like expensive food but preferred common food like pasta or fried chicken. It also turned out Podge was born in the city and lived there for a while until his father started up a wheat business and they moved to the villagetowns.

"Wheat, wheat, everywhere!" River commented with a grin.

Podge shrugged. "So, I'm not really a city guy, but not really from the country either. I don't really have the country accent all the time. I like maps and I do cartography. I make fantasy maps for games and stuff."

"Cool. So, we can rely on your sense of direction?" Mason said, the first to talk to the others after the fight. Podge seemed taken by surprise, but he soon nodded, and a hint of a smile played on his lips.

"Yeah, I've memorized the entire campus, too." He unfolded his arms and leaned back.

"He's a walking talking directory." Wesley chimed in with his gruff voice.

Alex chuckled. "You'll certainly be handy on the road. Glad to have you aboard. Next!"

Christoph was staring at his hands. If he looked up, Scotch was right across from him. Alex nodded as if prompting him to speak. After a moment, Christoph finally opened his mouth.