“Heh, sorry. Can’t say I have seen someone named Jak around here.” Hanak denied with a shake of his head. The amused grin on his face had only widened and his eyes twinkled mischievously as he leaned over to whisper teasingly. “Why? He your boyfriend or what?”

“N-no, just someone who’s missed a date with me today and he better not miss the next.”

Vee grumbled annoyed, a light blush dusting her cheeks as she crossed her arms. Yeah, she definitely regretted asking him now. Especially as Hanak’s eyes lit up and he let out a boisterous laugh.

“Oh, he Is your boyfriend!”

She flushed both embarrassed and in anger at his comment which only made him laugh more much to her chagrin. Under giggles he wiped away the tears running down his cheeks.

“And you’re embarrassed, too! This is too good~ The Punk Queen of the Gear Club is actually blushing.”

Vee growled under her breath but the shark was already biting back his laughter. She shouldn’t have bet on him being nice, though. Hanak whirled around as a truly evil idea had come to him.

Arms dramatically spread out he turned towards the celebration of Ricky below and took a deep breath, pushing down the laughter bouncing animatedly within him like a bunch of Numeryuu.

“PEOPLE OF THE GEAR CLUB!!! REJOICE! In addition to this truly amazing victory, we have to celebrate the engagement of the Punk Queen herself with the art of romantic relationships for she has finally made a boyfriend! His name his JAK! And he shall be our lord and saviour, praise be to him!!”

Tears were running freely down his cheeks and it took all his willpower not to collapse on the spot under an eruption of mad giggles and chuckles.

Vee could only gape in horrified disbelief at Hanak, her jaw working up and down as words failed her and a nuclear blush rushed to her cheeks.

Below, the words startled a few before being accepted with laughter, cheers and whistles. Under it all, a small voice squeaked wide eyed.

“W-wait… Jak?!”

“Oh, come one. I doubt it’s actually our Jak.”

“Yeah, Jenny. Last I heard Jak also didn’t have a girlfriend…”

Mina rolled her eyes to which Geen added with an awkward nod. All that attention suddenly focused on them had made him feel nervous and embarrassed and he was honestly relieved to no longer be in the limelight. Mina felt a bit less enthused.

“H-hey….! I-I knew that…!”

Jenny defended herself, a bright blush shooting to her cheeks as she pouted. Their little interplay also hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“It seems like our esteemed champions of the arena may know this illustrious Jak! Come on up here! Even if he shouldn’t be the same, you four still deserve a little reward from your humble Club Master~”

Hanak called out under small giggles, he was enjoying this far too much to actually stop now. Heh, Drake wasn’t the only theatre kid around here!

“Enjoy the club, everybody!”

And with those last words he turned around to face the music. Or rather the raging orchestra of volcanoes. Vee was visibly shaking with fury, eyes sparking with a blazing inferno and she was grinding her teeth. Her tail had coiled tight and seemed frozen in place.

“I. Hate. You.”

Hissed words pierced the air and a seconds later a foot was embedded between his legs, felling him instantly.

“Totally worth it…” Hanak squeaked out, crumbling to the ground as he held his aching junk.

“Y-you’re not going to leave me hanging now… right? Don’t disappoint the kids…” Hanak pressed out between pained gasps, it was honestly kinda impressive.

But Vee wasn’t exactly in the mood to pay him respect in any way, far too angry and mortified by his stupid stunt. Still, it wasn’t like the kids had wanted to get pulled into his scheme and she was feeling a bit hopeful that they may actually know her Jak. Her eyes gleamed and her fury made way to an evil smirk.

“Oh, I won’t. If you don’t~ You said you wanted to reward them? Give them anything of their choice for free from the store. I think that will be good enough.”

“S-surey, that’s fine… really should have thought about the rewards first anyways…”

Hanak groaned, wincing visibly pained by the potential loss of revenue at the horizon but easily accepted nonetheless. He would just put that under PR expenses.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The patrons up at the catwalk sweatdropped as they watched the whole scene from the side. Most were already used to Hanak’s eccentrics but he had really overdone it this time around. And while some winced, they couldn’t really say he hadn’t deserved her punishment.

“He’s really gone and done it now, huh?”

An amused voice echoed from the side as Drake arrived in tow of the trio, climbing up the stairs to the catwalk. The raven had already been delegated to be Ricky’s carrier, holding the Tinkerer Crab atop a soft cushion. Lilith snickered at her trainer as she sat perked on his shoulder.

“Is he going to be fine?”

Jenny poked her head to the side as she bounced up the stairs. Her question more out of curiosity if it would be permanent than out of any real concern for the shark in question.

“I-I can get some ice…?”

Geen fidgeted nervously as he offered and quickly ducked behind his two friends. Vee intimidated him as she seemed to glare down at them from where she stood over Hanak’s downed body.

“Heh, t-thanks kids. You’re a real bro.”

The shark gave him a shaky thumbs up and the shy boy flitted off, there was a bar behind the counter of the store for the ice and drinks. As Geen left, Drake smooth walked over to help Hanak back to his feet while both Mina and Jenny turned to regard Vee with fascination. The punk girl gave them a cocky grin and stemmed her hand into her sides, beating the embarrassment from before.

“Hey, so you two got a Jak who may or may not have missed a date with me, huh?”

“What?! Jak’s left you hanging?!”

“Ugh, again, it doesn’t have to be our Jak…!” Mina groaned exasperate at Jenny’s blurted out words before turning back to Vee. “Yeah, maybe. Our Jak’s a wolf cat, orphans and Jenny here’s his little sister in all but blood. So, what can you…?”

Mina had barely managed to start her question when recognition sparked within Vee’s eyes. Squatting down, she smirked little at the small fennec mouse and ruffled through her hair before Jenny was able to object.

“Ah, so you’re the squirt he promised to show around the Lebensfest tomorrow, huh?”

“H-hey…!”

Jenny cried out, ducking away from Vee’s hand and pouted - it was a glare! - cutely back, much to the older girl’s amusement.

“Heh, the name’s Vee and I’ll help show around the Lebensfest with Jak before our date. But your big bro promised yesterday he would be showing up to school today but didn’t come. So, you got any clue what he’s up to or where he could be?”

Jenny blinked and then shook her head.. Looking back to Mina, the parrot weasel just shrugged cluelessly as well. She hadn’t even seen him in over a week.

“He only comes by maybe once a week to play with Jenny, outside of that he tries to keep his distance to the orphanage and we rarely if ever see him. He always pays great for a distraction, though~”

Mina grinned as she finished her explanation. During it all, Jenny had scrutinised Vee with narrowed eyes and was now sparkling cutely at her. The tall chameleon weasel looked so freaking cool!

“Are you really gonna show me around the Lebensfest, too?”

“Heh, sure am, squirt. And if your brother doesn’t show up, you bet I’ll be there instead!”

With a smirk, Vee punched her palm demonstratively and nodded sharp. Mina giggled amused from the side as Jenny gasp in awe, shaking her head at her friend’s obvious infatuation with the cool gal. Quickly Jenny hurried to puff herself up determined.

“Yeah! And if he doesn’t show up to your date I’ll pounce at him and gnaw his leg off!”

“That’s the start, sister~!”

Vee snorted at that promise and ruffled the young girl’s hair again. This time Jenny didn’t even mind, grinning brightly back.

“Please don’t encourage her, she will actually try to do it now…” Mina begged only to sigh heavily as she was left ignored by the newly formed duo of terror.

Geen had come back in the interim and Hanak gave him a grateful and encouraging but strong pat on the back that the small raccoon boy didn’t even flinch at. Hanak grinned wide before wincing hard as he cooled his painfully swollen junk.

———

They had wandered from the catwalk back into the store and the trio of kids were now sparkling up at Hanak with wide eyes as he finished his explanation of their little reward. Vee smirked to the side while Drake threw her an amused look.

“We really can get anything we want?”

“Hehe, sure you can~” The shark laughed as awe echoed in Mina’s words and he squatted down to look the trio seriously in the eyes. He immediately regretted it as that position was not exactly doing well for his pain. “But only one thing, so make it count…!”

His words hissed out between clenched teeth, barely keeping himself from collapsing on the spot again.

“Ooh~! We gotta take the rocket launcher!”

Jenny didn’t even hesitate, her eyes twinkling ominously up at the vitrine with a wide and evil grin. It was surprisingly Vee who held her back with a shake of her head as she laud the facts out for them.

“Don’t just grab what you think is the coolest. You gotta make sure that it also fits with your TC’s style! So, what’s your team’s goal? Wrestling? Ranged? Or maybe All-Out?”

“Oh… uhm…”

Jenny halted awkwardly, looking wide eyed, and turned flailing to Mina or Geen for them help her out here.

“Ah, maybe we should ask Ricky?” Geen offered first, looking up at their crab who blinked startled at being the centre of attention all of a sudden. If he had been able to, his whole body would have become drenched in cold sweat. This was a big deal! And he had no idea! Why was he so nervous all of a sudden?!

“Maybe I can help?”

His panic was interrupted by Drake. The raven spoke up for the first time since they had gone up the stairs and spooked Jenny who had actually completely forgotten about his existence. The raven sweatdropped as she jumped startled while Lilith snickered into her claw.

“S-sure…?” Came the hesitant answer.

“Seeing as I will be acting as your Guide from now, it would be best to wait with your choice until Ricky had the chance to learn of all our secret techniques. Only once he has bonded with his destined power will he be able to truly make the right choice.”

Vee watched in awe as he declared these words completely serious, not even faced by the ridiculousness he was spouting. Naturally the kids and their crab ate it all up with sparkling eyes.

“That would be fine with you, Club Master?”

Drake’s eyes sparkled mischievously as he exaggerated the title and Hanak gave him a deadpan stare. But then the shark just rolled his eyes, snorted and agreed.

“But of course.” Hanak stated magnanimously, just so keeping himself from adding a flourshing bow.

“And no hiding away the good stuff when they’re ready~” Vee teased him playfully.

“I would never!”

Hanak exclaimed with wide eyes, looking genuinely affronted by that accusation. What slander! He would never go back on a deal like that! Exaggeratedly he pressed a hand over his heart as if it had been struck a harsh blow.