Master Frown, Brock and Imogen searched underneath the bleachers of the soccer field. Dozens of other people were standing around, walking from one side to the other, or running to the bathroom while they still had a chance to go. On the left hand side, a snack bar they hadn't noticed before was open, and already, a long line extended out halfway to the right hand side. The poor souls in the back would probably be waiting far beyond the fifteen-minute halftime. That was where most of the spilled snacks came from. Master Frown's mouth watered at the sight of some sour gummy worms, but he and his friends weren't going to find that mysterious dog by waiting in a line.

As he moved away from the snack bar, a group of people running toward one of the poles stopped him dead in his path. It was hard to tell what was going on from behind the growing throng, but most of them had their cell phones and cameras out, and their excited squeals shook the air.

"I can't believe it's actually them!" Master Frown could hear. "They're my favorite!"

"They're just going to the bathroom to..." someone else said. He couldn't make out the rest.

He led the other two around the pole. Now that whoever had emerged from the other side was gone, they had some space to easily pass through. Master Frown still pushed and shoved his way through, even tripping somebody at one point. "OUTTA MY WAY!" he shouted.

That led them over to the next closest pole, where Imogen glanced up at Master Frown. She'd been planning what she was about to say to him for maybe the entire first half of the game. She internally went over it again one more time to make sure it was right at the front of her mind. From what she'd seen of him so far, Frown was as abrasive as sandpaper, and his apartment's walls were constantly stained with unidentifiable muck. Even so, she'd seen him treat putting the groceries in the trunk of his car like it was bringing home a lost pirate's treasure. When she spotted him out on the basketball court, he'd try to win like he was a wizard taming a dragon. He didn't seem to have any worries or concerns that his items would fall out of the bags, or that he'd miss the hoop. If he listened to her, he'd probably show her how to let go of hers.

"Hey... what's up, Master Frown?" she asked him, her heart already sinking.

"You know what's 'up.' I'm trying to find this mystery dog," he replied. "What's up with YOU?"

"I wanted to..." Imogen's words began to slip away, but she caught them like a quick levitation spell caught a falling fragile item just before it shattered. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about what happened before... before we came. It wasn't exactly my fault, but I didn't want things to heat up like that. Could we possibly make up?"

"I'm Master Frown! I don't tussle with somebody and then make up!"

"I get that. You're all about stirring up trouble. But I don't want to fight with you like that again! You're a really fun guy! We are friends, right?"

Master Frown perked up as if he was about to say something, but he then looked away from her, his eyes narrowing.

"Look, if you want, I can ask my parents to help you pay your fines, just this once," Imogen offered.

"She meant you no harm, dude. Just chillness," Brock chimed in when he caught up with them. "She just wants to feel more welcome at our place."

Slowly, Master Frown turned around. After about nine very anxious seconds, during which Imogen bit her lip, he gave them a response. "Fine. I guess we're cool."

"Like, cool-cool?" asked Imogen.

"Yeah. Coolness."

Imogen could detect a tiny little smile on Frown's face, which eased the tension in her arms.

Up ahead, he caught sight of an angular light blue figure passing through another cluster of attendees. He rubbed his palms together and chuckled menacingly, preparing to power through to follow his target. As Master Frown chased after the dog, Brock tried to find something around here to occupy himself with. Unbeknownst to him, a snake- a rather large cobra- was curled around one of the poles. Imogen had taken out a bag of cookies he'd also packed, and the snake slithered towards her, its mouth opening. She screamed, dropping the bag and running away. 

"Im, are you okay?" Brock shouted.

"I think I saw fangs in that snake's mouth!" Imogen yelled, scrambling to find the snake bite kit.

"Don't worry. She won't bite you," someone said. "She just wants your treats."

Behind her, the cobra had her face buried in the cookies. That person then called her to them, and Imogen blinked as she watched it slither up their arm and nuzzle its face on theirs.

"It sure is nice to keep cool from all that heat, isn't it, Neela?" they asked her, tucking her within their sweater vest. "You wouldn't want to get scale-burned."

Only then did Imogen look around and see that, even though the clouds kept blocking the view of the bleachers' top rows, no one was walking to the parking lot, and no cars were driving away from the stadium. Prior to her visiting the Unikingdom for the first time with Master Frown, Brock had shared with her his anecdotes of narrowly escaping explosions, witnessing epic monster battles, and the epic prank war between Master Frown and Unikitty's squad. There was definitely some kind of battle going on in the distance on the drive to the library. Earlier, the light snow was something she'd thought nothing of, as it was most likely a way for the citizens to cool down, like the citizens seemed to believe now. Even if they wouldn't be there when it would happen, however, she couldn't shake the premonitions of a snowstorm. Was this just another crazy Unikingdom thing? If she asked Unikitty about it once she met her, what would she tell her? Was Unikitty even aware of all this?

She joined Brock near the snack bar, watching him play on the console under his own save file. She could report the clouds to somebody walking by, but no one seemed fazed. Her mouth hung open each time she tried to speak.

Over on the other side, Master Frown was right on top of the dog. "I've got you now," Master Frown said under his breath. He tapped them on their shoulder roughly. "Hey! Do you wanna come and-"

But it wasn't the dog. This blue citizen shot a dirty, beady-eyed look at him. "Hey! What are you doing?!"

Master Frown snickered and ditched them. At least he made someone unhappy today.

Brock and Imogen called him over to them. "What are you two standing around for?" he asked.

Imogen's question slipped. "Are these clouds normal?"

"Probably, but they're-" Frown stopped when the clouds began to shift. They slowly moved over their heads to the left edge of the bleachers, rising and expanding around the side. Much unlike their state before the game, they rumbled threateningly. "...coming from the other side of the stadium! This way!"

Brock saved his game and gently took a quivering Imogen by the hand. "I wonder if we'll have time to get gummy worms..."

"Don't worry. We will. And when we do, we'll get the sourest gummy worms they have!" Master Frown replied, cackling.

The clouds led them away from the herd of fans, out on the sidewalk and past the parking lot. The beat of the next song shook the ground beneath them as they made their way around the side. Master Frown crawled, jumped around and signaled the others as if he was a secret agent even though no one else was there. Soon enough, they arrived at the vacant space beneath the western grandstand, where night appeared to have fallen. This spot was where a new flurry of snowflakes coated the ground in blotches like a spreading fungus. They danced in a spiral around the blue dog, who was lying down on the floor and sobbing.

"There they are!" Master Frown exclaimed determinedly.

"Maybe we should just point this out to someone, but I don't know," Imogen said, backing behind Brock.

He took her by her hand with his free one. "It's okay. If we ask them to sit with us, maybe they'll go away."

Inviting the dog to watch with them wasn't a not-nice thing to do, but Master Frown wasn't doing that for nice reasons. That was the best way the clouds could snow a mountain on the field- and leave all the guests struggling to get home. "That's what we're going to do! But not to make them go away."

"So, you wanna do it, or should I?" Brock asked Frown.

"Oh, well... guess I'll just roll with it," Imogen sighed. "How about we all do it together? We'll come off as friendly."

As hard as Master Frown fought an eye roll, he tried not to argue with her suggestion, especially after he'd said they were cool as cucumbers. "Ugh... okay."

❄️

"Hi there," a laid-back voice said. "Why are you all alone out here?"

Germafrost just barely lifted his face. Frighteningly, a large gray blob, a dark blue blob, and a little purple blob loomed over him. He somehow could roll over, but just onto his back. "No reason."

He really needed to do a better job at staying out of sight. The more his vision cleared, the more he tried to work up some energy.

"Did you come to see the game, too?" asked the gray roundish one.

Something melted in Germafrost's stomach as if he'd had a mug of hot chocolate. It wasn't like he could tell them he was here to find an ice cream scoop-looking thing to revive his lost sister with. What would they think of him? On another side, he'd considered sticking around to see how this game was going to end. "Yes I did," he half-lied.

"But why would you do it by yourself? How about you come and sit with us?" the one in the blue cloak offered.

He'd sure been seeing a lot of cloaked people lately. The shortest one had a cloak on, too. It would surely be nice to lose himself within the excitement, to have a break from everything going on at home and in this strange new land. Every nuisance cloud could even disappear. However, chances were that they'd prod him with more questions about what he was doing. The other fans would notice him there and ask him even more, blowing his cover. He couldn't lose his focus on his task. "No."

"Are you sure?" said the one in purple.

"Yes, I am sure! Go away!"

The one in blue got close to him. "We can get you a pack of sour gummy worms if you want. You don't even have to get a ticket! We can sneak you in! It's all on us."

"I'm not going with you!" Germafrost cried, a sheet of ice firing from his paws.

All three of them jumped. They looked like they'd gotten the message, but it wasn't because of that slip, was it?

"Come on, guys," the gray one said. "Let's just go. He clearly wants to be left alone."

Germafrost's breath caught right before he could apologize to them, but he'd have to track them down and do it in secret later. He could get back on his feet again now, but it would only be a limited time before it would drain from him. He checked to see if there were any spots he hadn't looked at yet, not leaving the area in case Hazz would return...

...which he did just then, shocking Germafrost backwards on the ground again.

"You're back!" he gasped.

He swung down in front of him from one of the overhead beams. "Yes, I am. Any progress?"

"I checked some caverns. Someone saw me, so I had to leave. It... it wasn't there anyway. Then, you told me to try the metal structures, so I looked in between a lot of buildings. All those narrow spaces... but it wasn't there, either. Then, I started looking around this place," Germafrost explained. "It's not here, but someone saw me again! What am I gonna do? I can't keep getting caught in this! I've never seen anyone here before! I don't know what they're going to do to me!"

"I understand, my friend," Hazz told him, uncomfortably tugging on his ear. "It can be challenging to navigate an unfamiliar place, to say the least. But, those people you just turned down can lead you to what you're looking for."

"You mean... I go and watch the game with them? Why didn't you say so?"

"They would've found out I was here," Hazz replied. "True, it'll expose you to the spectators, but if anyone asks, tell them you're the blue one's cousin."

"The one with the blue cloak, or the one who's blue under their cloak?"

"Doesn't matter. They'll never see you again once you get her back anyways."

Fair enough. Germafrost picked himself up and sprinted to the path leading around the stadium. The trio was way on the other side of the stadium, but they hadn't gotten too far. He'd gone about halfway across when something almost slipped his mind.

But when he headed back for a quick moment to thank Hazz for his tips, he was gone.

Again, he turned the corner and dashed right over to the three, trying not to move too fast. Next to the eastern bleachers, they stood across from each other, talking about something he couldn't hear or understand, even when the one in the blue cloak was speaking more loudly than the others.

"E-Excuse me?" he murmured softly.

None of them heard him. He tried again. "Excuse me."

The one in the purple cloak noticed him from between the other two. All three of them were facing him then.

"What are you doing? I thought you didn't want to come with us," yelled the one in blue.

"I-I know I... said that. Apologies if I... if I shooed you away. But... I changed my mind. I'd like to... to sit with you," Germafrost said, running out of words very quickly.

The one in purple crossed their arms and looked up at the gray one while they smiled and nodded. The one in blue grinned a lowered-eyebrow, open-mouthed grin that stiffened Germafrost's arms.

"I'd be honored to watch this game with you," he said as he patted his back... kind of roughly. It was unclear why he then let out a hearty laugh, but it led Germafrost to stand by the gray one.

When Germafrost asked about it, the gray one told him, "He's just excited to have you here with us."

The lights above the chip-ball field had just come on as the daylight gave way to night. In sharp contrast to the ones back home, they blared through the clear, darkened sky, but at least Germafrost could tell there were no more snowflakes. If he kept his focus on the game and let it erase the rest of his thoughts, there hopefully wouldn't be any more going forward. All he had to do was follow these strangers, and he had to be ready for wherever they'd take him. Whatever it took, he'd go with it.

"Alright," he murmured. "So, what are sour gummy worms?"