Before being seated at the soccer field, the gang spotted what appeared to be a mountain of merchandise for their home team, the Rainbow Raiders, taking up all the space on a stand. There was no way they could pass that opportunity up, and luckily, their purchases didn't drain away too much of their money. For the clerk, it felt like his vision was clearing, for he could once again see the other side of his stand. Sinking back in this chair while selling stuff was the quickest gig he could find to pay tons of insurance- car insurance, health insurance, and insurance he didn't even know was a thing. When he spotted his princess at the stand, however, he beamed. If you were at the same event as Unikitty, or in the same place as her in general, she would go out of her way to make it as entertaining as she possibly could. He leaned forward as he watched her and her friends leave with their new hoodies, hats, keychains and large foam hands.

"Hope you and yours have fun, Your Highness!" he said to her, waving.

"Thank you, sir. You're doing great!" she replied. As she put her items in a cloth bag beside the register, a thought briefly popped into her head. "Psst! Keep your eyes peeled for a sad blue dog. There might be a cloud above his head. I don't think he's feeling good, so if you see him, you should send him a compliment!" she whispered to the clerk loudly.

"Will do," he said as they walked away. "Wait, what was that?"

"Let's get to our seats!" Unikitty, Puppycorn and Dr. Fox said in unison. Unikitty pointed to the little numbers on the bottom of Richard's tickets. They kindly indicated that the group was headed to the top row of the bleachers on the eastern side of the field. They'd be in a spot Richard carefully picked out for the best view of the action down below and, henceforth, the best possible experience. Everyone but Richard whooped as they skipped to the bleachers' stairs, showering sparkle matter of soccer balls and rainbows on the ground.

Puppycorn, in exhilaration, was flat on his face before someone could tell him to watch his step.

"OW! What's your problem?!" he heard a loud voice shout.

When he gazed up at the wolf he'd tripped on, he swallowed. Their eyes, ocean blue eyes, glared sharply and scornfully into his. Puppycorn was about to run from the shining lance on their hip. The grip of a sword was tasty, but a blade in his face would flush down his appetite, especially if it was being wielded by someone who wore fancy tunics with golden hints.

"Oh! Sorry," he told her, his voice cracking. "I didn't see you there."

"How did you not see me? I was standing RIGHT HERE!" the wolf hollered, brushing their perfectly comed silvery fur with their hand. "Can you not see how much space there is, or are you just stupid? I don't think any of you have brains."

"As a matter of fact, we do," Dr. Fox replied.

"She especially does, and it's the best brain ever," Hawkodile added, pointing at her.

Dr. Fox's cheeks warmed up like two little bunsen burners, but she cooled them down by reminding herself of her plans for the summer.

Unikitty floated forward, getting herself a look at the wolf. "How DARE you! You can't talk to my friends like that!"

Their face hardened, and their fists clenched as if they were three seconds away from drawing their sword. "I'm well aware that you're in charge of this place, Princess Unikitty," they said disdainfully, "but a bold leader like myself doesn't need you telling her how she can talk to a person. I've had PLENTY of pink cat-unicorn things try to boss me around!"

Heat flared up in Unikitty's horn. "How do you know who I am? I don't think we've met before."

"Really? Oh well. All you need to know is that your father is SUPER patronizing. He said he doesn't think I'm being careful, even though my famous self-serving knight brigade is doing just fine! Therefore, whatever you say, we don't want to hear it."

Flames began to flicker from the white base of Unikitty's horn. A fire of hot anger licked her body from inside. "Dad is NOT like that!"

"Yeah he is, and so are you. You know, you might all have underdeveloped brains, but this beefcake over here is pretty okay." They gave Hawkodile a smirk, in response to which he backed away. Every step he took backwards, they took a step forward. "You think you'll want to join the brigade once this game is over?" they alluringly whispered to him.

When she reached to touch his arm and feel those muscles of his, he pushed her hand back. His gloved hands balled up, on standby just in case he couldn't resist the urge to throw a fist her. "No. I've made it my duty to defend the princess, our friends, and this kingdom."

"Well, that's too bad." She took a rod of black lipstick out from her pocket and applied it to her lips. "Jeez. I can't even enjoy my day off without running into problems. If you all would excuse me, I need to get to my seat, which, by the way, is in a WAY better spot than yours."

Now, the color of Unikitty's fur faded from pink into crimson, and her entire face was tightly creased. She struggled to keep her inner blaze from setting itself free, or else the bleachers above their heads would melt entirely or probably just become heated seats. Either she could take a breath and try to reason with this wolf, or she could spit out her spreading inferno of rage. Of those options, she chose to let them know how she was feeling at that moment.

"YOU STOP TEASING US!" she growled, lightning bolts and skulls flooding from her head.

Fortunately, the footsteps of an approaching swan quenched her fires before they could burn anything. "Excuse me, sergeant. We aren't done with our discussion yet."

Their beautiful white feathers could be considered a worthy rival to the wolf's neat fur. Not a single piece of feathery fuzz was out of place, even on the tiny wings on their back that were about the size of Hawkodile's. They appeared to be wearing two sets of goggles- the pair of tan ones on their forehead and the obsidian black masking that surrounded their eyes. Gold bracelets and a matching gold necklace complemented their light gray dress well. The pinkish-red gem on the necklace's front side matched the hot pink bow on the collar and the ribbons of the same color that lined the edges. Their bare charcoal black feet stuck out from the bottom of their dress. Their look wasn't too flashy and wasn't too bland either. Their hands folded behind their back in a most elegant way, their heels touched like a ballerina's, and their back was as straight as an arrow.

The wolf sighed. "I can't believe you, Miss Swanna. First, you don't let me borrow any of your fabulous jewelry, and now you're embarrassing me?!"

"You sure don't look that embarrassed to me," the swan said calmly.

"I might not LOOK it, but I am," she retorted. "Totally embarrassed. Ugh. Are you people aware of what you're doing to my image?" She turned to look Swanna directly into her gold yellow eyes. "I can't be a strong and super charismatic knightess if they can't show me any respect. And not if you can't help me look the part!"

"Well, maybe you shouldn't try yelling at people. Or demanding them to give you their stuff. I'm going to say it again, Sgt. Wolf- you can't have my jewelry. Or Lee's day pack. Or my bow. I don't even know why you want her. You're clearly more of a sword-and-shield type of gal."

"I wanted to expand my prowess with weaponry! Y'know, branch out!"

Swanna had run out of things to say, and Sgt. Wolf had run out of things to counter with, so they stared at each other for a silent minute. The pairs of eyes pointing their way told Sgt. Wolf that she needed to retreat. Above them all, the growing crowd was beginning to buzz with anticipation. That was her call to storm away, huffing and puffing as she stomped to the other side of the bleachers and up the stairs.

"Sorry about that," Swanna told the gang. "Sgt. Wolf there tries so hard to make herself look like this amazing, courageous, independent wolf who doesn't need a monarch, or something like that. She wanted to create a troop of knights that serve themselves and no one else. What can I say? Pretentious, right?"

Richard shivered a bit. "Princess, we really ought to be seated now..."

"Or you could wait a little longer. Don't think I don't remember you, you paperclip-twisting safecracker."

Sweat beaded around the studs on Richard's top. "You're not still mad at me, are you?"

"No. We've both found better things to do over the years."

"Okay, then..."

A limbless cherry floated up to them, handing Swanna a bag of chips, a bar of chocolate, and a large cup of soda. They "carried" a sparkly day pack in almost pristine condition. Garnets and rubies rained down every side except the bottom, and the front pocket boasted a custom-made emblem shaped like a cherry. Though firm, its leathery pine green fabrics sort of puffed out. The only thing wrong with it was that a couple of gemstones were missing.

"Thank you, Lee," Swanna said to the cherry.

Tiny twinkles flashed in Unikitty's eyes when she gazed upon the magical bag. "Oh my goodness! You two are STYLISH! That backpack looks soooooo gorgeous!" She brushed her paw against it, taking in its textural beauty.

"It is, isn't it? We got it from our local Fancy Store. No, really. That's what it's called. I know plenty of locations if you want to get one of your own," Swanna explained. "This is Lee. He's my best friend in the whole world. Say hi, Lee."

Lee, blank and expressionless, let out a "h'lo."

"Nice to meet ya! I'm Princess Unikitty!" With a genial smile planted widely on her face, Unikitty pointed to each of her friends and introduced them one by one. "That's my little bro Puppycorn, our resident genius Dr. Fox, my bodyguard Hawkodile, and I guess Richard knows you from somewhere."

"Yep. That's Little Mister Stick-in-the-mud," Swanna said. Rick groaned a bit, out of sadness, mortification, or maybe even regret.

"Where are you guys sitting?" Unikitty asked Swanna.

"In the topmost row near the right. Why?"

"We're sitting in that spot, too! Would you and Lee maybe wanna come sit with us?" she offered.

"I'd love to! To be honest, I'm a little jealous that you've got such friendly-looking pals at your side. Is that okay with you, Lee?"

Lee didn't show his approval on his face, but he did give a slight nod.

"Yay! Here's to new friends!" Unikitty's bright blue eyes lit up once more as she squeezed Swanna and Lee with a hug. They all began heading up the grandstand's stairs, but just in case, Hawkodile went to walk in front of the swan and the cherry. Unikitty curiously looked at Richard when they were about to step out of the hole. "Hey, Rick, don't you think you should explain yourself?"