Juuzou watched June pet a cat, It's just a girl and a cat, why are you getting so worked up about? He thought to himself as he gathered the courage to approach her. Mewmi had her eyes closed, content with being petted until her eyes shot open with a ring of a bell, her cat ears twitched as her eyes darted back and forth, then jolted at the sight of Dirlu holding a collar.

Juuzou stopped as he watched June struggle with the cat. "What's gotten into you?" June asked while the feline stretched and jumped off. As Mewmi landed on all fours, she scampered away meowing, "no-no no-no no-no no-no no."

"Eimy, where are you?" Dirlu peered out, holding the cat bell. June saw the woman come out with Victorian-esque attire while Juuzou looked unphazed by the extravagant clothing as Dirlu walked past him.

So that explains why the cat ran away. June thought. Juuzou was unphazed by Dirlu's extravagant clothing when the noblewoman had hiked up the hem of her dress to run in another direction, however, he didn't expect June to disappear.

"Where'd she go?" Juuzou turned around looking for the blonde while June hid on a wall behind him, as he walked out, she sneaked up from behind him and grabbed him by the wrist and twisted his arm as he let out a groan and kicked him in the shin, making him kneel.

"Who are you?" June interrogated him while Juuzou winced from the pressure. "Who send you?" June twisted his arm even harder, "Why are you following me?" Juuzou doubled over as she was a twist away from dislocating his arm, "Why are you here?"

"For Joon, Joon Wen Ji." Juuzou responded as he gritted his teeth as June let go of his arm.

"You could've just asked me instead of stalking me like a weirdo." June responded while Juuzou held his bruised arm.

"Forget it, I'm going to the infirmary." Juuzou stood up as he walked to the corridor.

"Any luck?" Stella asked her before the miniature extraterrestrial lifted her chin to look at her colleague.

"What do you think?" Micah remarked, putting a gloved hand on her hip.

"I only gained one contact." Stella replied flatly.

"It better be to advance our investigation." Micah responded neutrally while she saw Stella take out her notepad.

"If his infrared vision could come in handy, it might." Stella said in a hopeful tone.

"Stella, how many times do I have to tell you to not-" Micah reminded her before she got cut off.

"We don't have many options here, a Reptilian with infrared vision could help track Carina." Stella countered with an authoritive tone as she glared at the Amoebian.

"If he's never met the usurper in person to estimate her body temperature, it's as good as nothing. It's like showing a photo to a blind person. You can describe an image clearly, but they won't see it." Micah stated, waving a hand in front of her goggles for emphasis.

"At least I'm trying to gain intel, if I can convince at least one to stay alert. It's progress." Stella put her hands against her hips while she leaned down to look at Micah.

"Progress? It's like preaching to a desert. We can't go around willy-nilly asking for Carina as if she were a lost cat." Micah spat before their argument paused when a golden blonde cat meowed, "no-no no-no no-no no."

"So cute." Stella squealed. Mewmi looked around to see a magenta haired woman with a sequined jacket ran up to her to carry her in her arms.

"A cat? Seriously Stella?" Mewmi heard Micah say as she saw the short, strange looking child cross her arms while she tapped her foot impatiently.

"Wow." Mewmi meowed.

"A talking cat," Stella looked at Mewmi closely, massaging the back of her head, "you must be a really smart cat aren't you?" Stella cooed at Mewmi as she petted her. Micah lifted up her goggles to pinch the bridge of her non-existant nose.

"This is why I question your credibility as a cadet. Is one thing to socialize, but you lack boundaries when you meet strangers. Have you learned nothing?" Micah asked her in earnest while Mewmi looked confused.

"Don't you start-" Stella refuted, but alas, she couldn't stop Micah from ranting and raving.

"The outbreak of the Thornvirus—"

Where's the prize money? He turned the key with his stubby fingers to find the inscription of the key. His dark eyes read the word MASTER in capital letters. Where is it? To his left, there was a bookshelf stacked with books, magazines and folders. Next to it was a poster that the host made based of the poem Sky wrote in loving memory of Blossom Bloom, and next to it, a painting of the Colosseum that tied the room together for a rustic aesthetic. He removed the painting and found a locked safe with the same inscription. Ruben smirked triumphantly as she shoved the key and twisted it, as he opened it, he heard arguing. Ruben's smirk shifted into an irritated grimace when he found a blank check. All that for a blank check!? Ruben then looked inside the safe again to find anything, but no, he only found a switch. He pressed it...

Nothing.

All his efforts to find the prize money—to steal it.

Fruitless.

"Do you really believe that they're gonna give away 3 million rories to the winner?" One of the men inquired.

"No way! Who in their mind would give away 300,000 florins worth of rubies to a neanderthal? I think that is all just a scam to make people beat the snot out of each other for their amusement." The other man responded.

To think that he had been scammed from the start, and the worst part was that he fell for it. Like an idiot.

He then heard two men arguing by the door as the skirmish muffled the creaking that came from the bookshelf. "Now what?" Ruben headed out.

Haeji was looking for Ruben after she had finally prodded Ratu for information about the locket. "I don't ha ha ha ha!" Ratu doubled over from getting tickled to the ground.

"Then who!?" Haeji asked, teeth barred.

"Ruben. Hahahahahaha. The fat lard took it." Ratu rolled on the floor laughing, tears coming out of his eyes.

"Where is he?" Haeji asked him.

"Heeheehee's after the prize money." Ratu wheezed as he laid on the floor to recover.

How am I going to find him anyway? Haeji thought to herself while Mochi heard arguing.

"There is private information stored. I could report you for tampering with evidence." Logan warned the security guard.

"Well here's your drone." Sajid sneered as he held the device. Alexander took the drone back while Logan kept an eye on Sajid, the security guard stared at Logan quizzically as he scrutinized him and his cold blue eyes. Haeji saw three men and two security guards, Mochi got down from her shoulder and landed on all fours to the floor and walked to where they were while Haeji followed Mochi.

"Mochi, get back here." Haeji whispered angrily but he ignored her. The blonde leader found nothing suspicious as of yet so he turned his heel to walk away, following Alexander. Tr kept his arms crossed, scowling until not noticing that the multi colored feline was meters behind him.

"Finally." Tr spat while his teammates came close to him. "Now let's get outta here before-" Tr saw Ruben II come out from the door that he glowered even more.

"There he is!" Haeji ran up to him, while Ruben glowered at the sight of TR before Haeji got in front of the fat Cinnabarian. "Gimme back the locket!"

"Uiwo, you're not gonna believe this." Ximo ran up to him, his hairy chest exposed and sweaty. Uiwo knew what it meant, it was slang for it actually happened. At this point, Uiwo was immune to Ximo's idiosyncrasies.

"What is it this time?" Uiwo asked uninterested.

"When I was at the top of the wall climber, a dinosaur was this close--" Ximo was two inches from his face, "--from eating me." Just when Uiwo was about to open his mouth to say something Faim shouted.

"Uiwo!" The shorter man turned around to see Faim running with a vacuum, "Have you seen Eimy?" Faim asked him.

"She headed to one of the rooms nearby the reception." Uiwo replied.

"Hold this for me." Faim passed the vaccum for Uiwo to hold. Ximo took a look at the electrodomestic device while the blonde martial artist sprinted in a hurry.

"Nice, I could use the blender installation to make a protein shake." Ximo commented.

"Or a frappé." Uiwo interjected.

Chris made a phone call to her maid, María. After her recovery, she had a hard time trusting Tony at first. It took a lot of time for the younger Venusian to gain María's trust. She obeyed Chris without question, though she had doubts about Tony. She served Chris for three years and not once had Chris mentioned about his younger brother, she knew he was reserved when it came to his personal life. She understood much more clearly why he kept it a secret when Simon came close to killing her. Tony used his powers to save her while Chris used his to take the gem from Simon. María stayed hidden in a cabin, tidying up the place when she received a voice message from Chris.

"María, I'll be back by 9 for dinner, stay safe. And don't let Tony distract you, I know how much you both love each other." After Chris ended the call, he put his phone in his front pocket.

"Hello handsome," a suave feminine voice greeted before his sky blue eyes darted to a woman with tawny skin, golden hoop earrings, white shoulder length wavy hair with blue tips, gold and black steampunk glasses and orange jumpsuit. "That was very nice of you to let my friend win." Octavia bit her bottom lip as her fingers walked on his arm.

"Well, hello gorgeous." Chris grinned before he grabbed her hand and gave it a soft kiss, which made Octavia blush. "I would do it for a lady like you."

Astrid scrunched her face while Octavia flirted with Chris. "Ugh, him again."

Ash looked at Chris, from his golden hair to his azure suit. "He's hot, if a guy like that treated me like a queen I'd go after him too." Ash commented, then Astrid rolled her eyes.

"It'd make sense if he wasn't a narcissist, it's all an act. He only has a pretty face and a smooth voice that make girls swoon over him. I'm glad that I have Alex. He's sweet, funny, compassionate, has a kind smile, understanding." Astrid pointed out the differeneces.

"I get it, Alex is the love of your life and the hot guy over there is eye candy. But at least let us singles have fun." Ash raised her voice to make her shut up as a way to humor her.

"—the Eosino investigation, and don't even get me started when you were at the Venus Hotel with a Venusian Fly Trap hybrid." Micah reprimanded her.

"You knew that I was head over heels for Vincent." Stella pouted as she glared at her.

"Vincent DeVine was this close from biting your head off!" She narrowed her index finger and thumb to demonstrate the proximity, less than an inch. "If I hadn't shot him, he would've eaten your upper body." Micah reminded her.

"I was in love with him." Stella said in a morose tone. Mewmi spotted Chris talking to Octavia and thought, if I could get him to notice me, maybe he'll fight me this time.

"You said it! Was. History." Micah reminded her. "Vincent was a predator, Stella, his scent seduced you and put you into a trance."

"He loved me, Micah. Me!" Stella barked, Mewmi jumped off from Stella's hold and ran up to him.

"He used his pheromones to lure you in and wrapped his tendrils around you. That's how Venusians operate." While they were bickering, Mewmi clawed at Chris's pant leg. The Venusian blonde felt the tug that distracted him from Octavia. Octavia's blue eyes descended on a golden blonde feline as Chris picked her up.

"Aren't you a cutie?" Chris looked at Mewmi as she tried to bite him, then meowed.

"So cute." Octavia agreed when she tried to touch her, the cat hissed. Mewmi stretched her paws as she clawed his blue sleeves before she looked at his sky blue eyes, she got mesmerized.

"Mew!" Mewmi meowed before Octavia pouted and walked away. Carina tried to formulate a plan on how to get a sample of Chris's DNA.

Now how am I going to swipe his DNA with all the attention that he's getting. Carina thought as she stroked her chin as she paced to get an idea, mimicking some of Micah's mannerisms as she pondered on what method is the most efficient. As she walked past the Reptilian, Scale she didn't pay much attention to her though it was rare to find cold blooded species.

"So you finally gained the courage to put yourself out there." Blade replied bluntly.

"I'm so happy for you." Melon congratulated him as she gave him a warm embrace.

"I only gave her my phone number. I doubt she'll respond unless it's something related to her investigation." Scale clarified though Melon was just being a golden ray of sunshine.

"Is she a cop?" Blade asked her.

"An intergalactic investigator." Scale responded.

"An alien cop." Blade hypothesized.

"Uh, yeah." Scale confirmed.

"C'mon, give yourself a chance at love." Melon encouraged him.

"Only fools fall for love." Grim stated, "Sucks to be you, Scale."

"At least he found someone. What about you?" Melon questioned the more sinister if the Shadow Soldiers.

"Immortality triumphs over love any day. You may be a goddess, but you're still a mortal. Your relationship with tall, dark and gruesome will go up in smoke when your life expires. And guess who reaps the souls?" Grim points a thumb at himself. "This guy right here."

"You must be really miserable being unable to love someone other that yourself." Melon replied in a passive-aggressive tone while Grim grinned cynically.

"How original," Grim said sarcastically, then he rolled his eyes, "as if I hadn't heard that one before." Before adding, "Nice try Goldilocks, but it'll take a lot more than that to provoke me. No mortal has come close to appease me long enough to care and never will because that mortal doesn't exist." Grim gave a malicious grin.

"Achoo." Vilma sneezed, as she covered her nose with her wrist. "Akane, you missed a spot."

"Someone must have mentioned you." Akane walked past her to clean up the desk.

"You and your Japanese superstitions. There better not be a cat or a dog nearby, it makes my sinuses flare up. Honestly, the higher ups should consider a no pet policy with the pandemic going on." Vilma commented before she blew her nose on a napkin.

Patricia did her research to find a suitable candidate

that could aid her in finding the Life Gem, given the right motivation, she would cooperate with her endeavor. And if the candidate refused to follow through, she took measures to ensure that the patient remained captive. Patricia kept the antidote safely secure as a guarantee that the thief wouldn't snatch the opportunity she had worked for. Patricia scouted around the perimeter once more.

"You want this locket!?" Ruben took the locket Haeji had been looking for, "Then go get it!",  only for the infuriated ginger to toss it angrily  at a good distance as she watched Joon's locket get busted as it landed on the ground floor with a loud clink. "Just like I had to go chase for a money that doesn't exist!" Ruben bellowed.

Haeji's eyebrows furrowed, her nostrils, she pointedly glared at Ruben. He heard rumors about a person born having one eye having a different color than the other to be linked with a lost soul inhabiting another body to be a myth, and with the tinted tips of her hair to being a high ranking member of a gang, but what he witnessed was pitiful.

"You bastard!" Haeji cried as she hit him repeatedly while the security guards and the male Rave Hunters were distracted, Patricia was only centimeters away when she had found the busted locket and picked it up. She opened the wedge of the locket it to see a photo of Joon and Haeji eating ice cream.

"You threw away the only thing that was held dear to my brother!" Haeji punched him even harder while Ruben withstood the hits and bruises. "You don't care about anyone other than yourself!" She shouted before she punched him in the gut. Ruben doubled over before Haeji kicked him in the jaw. Sajid pried Haeji away from Ruben while Logan came closer to interrogate him.

Thomas devoured the last chunk of meat from the baby back ribs, sucking the sauce from his fingers.

"What do you think they're talking about?" María asked, Zack glanced at her and then at the lady in lavender apparel.

"I don't know. I'll go check." Zack stood from the table and tiptoed towards Stacey and Sora to eavesdrop on their conversation. The Morean maiden gave an annoyed glance at the green eyed Dimension Guardian.

"The fighting tournament is merely a ruse to gather some of the strongest fighters in one place either to eliminate them or to take away their powers." Violet warned while Sora and Zack took heed while Stacey showed no concern.

"Suppose what you're saying is true. How do you plan on getting everyone out of the stadium?" Stacey questioned.

"You can show them the exit, but not everyone will want to leave." Violet countered with a rhetoric. "The participants joined the tournament to test their luck at winning the prize."

Sora then recalled what Samoht told her. "The Coliseum is hosting a tournament event for the winner to win a grand prize."

"What is it?" Sora asked.

"I can't say it yet because that would get me in trouble with my supervisor, but I'll tell you this, the prize money that they are offering can be converted into any currency. You just have to get registered to be eligible to compete."

"I remember. The receptionist mentioned the prize money." Sora hinted.

"Which was...?" Stacey dragged the last word into a hiss.

"Convertible money." Sora answered.

"The prize may vary from person to person. Whoever planned this, established the price as a scam." Jacinto speculated.

"If there is evidence of fraud, they have no choice but to cancel the operation." Violet mused at the idea.

"I'm in." Stacey decided, the corners of her mouth lifted into a smirk as she stood up from the chair, she turned around and caught Zack eavesdropping. Stacey's brows furrowed as Zack gave a sheepish grin in return.

"Are you implying that there is no prize money?" Logan enquired. Mochi looked at Haeji sob while he noticed Patricia coming towards them, the spotted cat hissed at the blonde receptionist while Haeji saw her holding Joon's locket. She walked up to Patricia as she returned the locket to Haeji.

"Why are you listening to him anyway, he's not even a real guard." Tr called him out while Ruben glared at Tr.

"Is there a problem?" They turned to see Patricia coming forward. Logan was staring at her again.

"No." Sajid denied.

"There is a problem! THERE IS NO PRIZE MONEY!" Ruben protested.

"No won?" Haeji questioned before Mochi meowed the same question.

"Apparently, one of them is lying." Sara responded as she tilted her head at the accuser.

"Not surprising." Patricia replied casually.

"If there is evidence of fraud, is up to us to investigate." Logan declared.

"Yeah! I demand my refund!" Ruben second it.