In the Spirit Hands which should have been rightfully serving Alwin, was Uchronia. What was this blasphemy? Did his Spirit Hands dare betray him? Or did they bring the evil Potted Plant to him so that he may exterminate this scourge upon the world? Wait... how did Uchronia find him? With all of the distractions he had set up, there should have been no way that she could've tracked him down.

"Let me down!" Uchronia shouted, her tiny root legs kicking the air uselessly. Honestly, she could've just gotten rid of them without any problem. So why the charades?

The Spirit Hands let her down before floating back to Alwin's side. Those good-for-nothing traitors, he'd deal with them later. Either they were totally oblivious to the trouble they were in or they simply couldn't care less, because they had the audacity to flash peace signs at Alwin. To add even more disrespect to the grave situation they were in, the Spirit Hands dismissed themselves without his permission, vanishing back to wherever Spirit Hands hung out when they weren't needed. They had literally peaced out.

Back to the matter at hand. Uchronia was glaring daggers with rage so ferocious Alwin was worried that she might spontaneously combust. Even worse, when Gus found out he would undoubtedly sample Uchronia's cremation without a second thought—Alwin doubted he even had a first thought to begin with.

Even though she had somehow found him, there shouldn't be any more problems. Uchronia was chasing after that menace of a monster, Winal. In front of her was everybody's favorite slime, Alwin. In fact, Alwin hadn't done anything wrong like attacking the city and academy with bombs, causing untold amounts of panic and destruction—that was all Winal. Case closed. Time to hop away and get those delicious cookies that he so rightfully deserved.

"Where do you think you're going?" Uchronia snarled, through clenched teeth.

"I'm going to get cookies! Lapis baked them for me," Alwin said with a huge grin on his face.

"No, you're not!" Uchronia growled walking in front of him and blocking his path.

"Why not? I passed Milvus' test and now I get cookies as a reward."

"Because you have plenty of questions to answer."

"Questions to answer? What am I? A student."

"You literally are, Alwin."

"Yeah, I realized it just as I said it. See! That's why I shouldn't answer any questions. You won't get any good answers."

"Oh, just stop beating around the bush already! Just tell me why you tricked me and Gus into believing something happened to you and then caused tons of damage to the academy and town!" Uchronia exploded.

Well, shoot. She managed to figure out the connection between Winal and Alwin. It was an impossible feat unless you have a big brain like her. The clues were scattered all across the place, but anyone else would've overlooked it, mistaking it for nonsense. From the path of destruction from the academy to Lapis' secret lab, to the tiny scorch marks which suspiciously stopped right in front of Alwin's figurative feet, she had somehow put the pieces together. No wonder Milvus ranked her number one in terms of ingenuity. But, she hadn't realized that Winal was actually Alwin, at least not yet.

It was time to activate his failsafe plan.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Alwin.

"Shut it!" Uchronia hissed. "I don't know how you managed to transform from an ant into a slime, but it's obvious that Winal is Alwin, and Alwin is Winal."

"What makes you so sure that I'm this Winal person you're talking about," said Alwin with a smug look on his slimy face. There was no way she could prove that he was Winal. None whatsoever.

"In case it wasn't obvious enough, I chased Winal all the way from the academy following his literal path of destruction to right here, where conveniently enough his footsteps literally stop right where you're standing. Then there's the extremely apparent fact that you just took the back part of your name and shoved it to the front. And frankly, I'm more mad at myself for not realizing that connection sooner."

Drats! Uchronia was smart. Much smarter than he previously gave her credit for. Only an insanely intelligent person could connect such a tenuous link between Winal and Alwin. So much for his failsafe plan—it failed immediately.

"So now you're going to explain why instead of telling me that the Fire Ant we saw was actually you. You decided to make up a whole new identity, and lead us on a wild goose chase while simultaneously destroying half the city!" Uchronia barked out.

"Because you never asked if I was Alwin. You just asked what happened to Alwin and Milvus, and nothing happened to them. They're fine. Then you suddenly trapped me in a cage and I was scared so I ran away, but you were too fast so I needed a way to slow you down and guided bomb missile hand thingies were the best I could think of," said Alwin.

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For a brief moment Uchronia stared at him silently—mind whirling and processing his words. Her face slowly contorted itself into one of disbelief mixed with anger.

After several seconds of silence, Uchronia finally spoke up. "I can't even form the words required to express how much of a dunce you are."

"What do you mean? I'm a genius," Alwin scoffed at the absurdity that was coming out of her mouth.

"What you are is a terrorist. You know what? I can't even believe that you're the only one I can turn to for support. Why is Cor making everything so difficult for me," sighed Uchronia.

"But—"

"Just don't, Alwin. Just don't. You've wasted my time, you've wasted my energy, and you've laid waste to the city. Whatever punishment awaits you, you're on your own. Just like how you've practically left me alone, thanks to all of your tomfoolery and shenanigans, when I have to focus on reworking the whole system from the inside out just so no more child soldiers would be born. I have enough things to work on, and you're supposed to help me, not be another problem I need to solve."

"But—"

"No, Alwin. I'll see you in class tomorrow. I hope you grow up," sighed Uchronia, walking away and leaving Alwin alone with his thoughts.

Alwin didn't know what to say, neither did he know what to think. For some reason, Uchronia being disappointed hurt more than her being mad at him. It was weird. It was unusual. It was unorthodox. Something about it made him feel very uncomfortable.

"I just heard from Milvee that someone passed their big test! Here comes cookies!" cheered Lapis, as she entered the room.

A drone with the tray of cookies that he had seen earlier appeared from behind her and lowered the tray within reach. Without even caring about manners he shoved his face into the tray, enjoying every crumb of their savory sweetness hoping that it would melt away all his problems.

"Girl problems?" observed Lapis, as she watched Alwin eat cookie after cookie.

Alwin didn't respond, choosing to instead keep eating the cookies. Lapis merely nodded, watching her disciple stuff his face with baked goods. Several minutes went by, and the pile of cookies was decimated till no cookies remained. Even then Alwin still had that expression plastered on his face—he didn't know how to describe it or even what it was.

"As a technically fellow representative of the female population—because gender is really ambiguous for us Crystal Diamonds'—I can confidently say that whatever happened is most likely your fault," said Lapis. "Even though it may actually be her fault, the blame still lies on you."

"I guess..."

"Yes, yes. It's always the guy's fault, not the girl's. Just ignore the fact that I've been single since forever and take my advice as gospel. Now all you have to do is say sorry and if you're lucky she'll forgive you and if not? Then honestly I don't know. Women are an enigma and as a maybe female creature, even I have no idea how I think."

"You're right," mumbled Alwin, face deep in the now-empty tray.

"I am?" replied Lapis. "I mean, of course, I am. I am always right! For I am a female and we are always right!"

"You are. It's all my fault. I was supposed to be helping Uchronia but instead, all I'm doing is creating more problems for her because I'm always goofing off. I need to apologize to her. I know it's not enough, I know I need to change, and I know that unless I do, I will never become Valedictorian, much less a Minister."

Alwin pulled himself up from the tray, wet stains covered the metal surface. A mixture of liquids leaking out from both his eyes and mouth. Why was he crying? Even he didn't know. It wasn't like the last time he cried when he was scared stiff at the thought of Uchronia and Gus being turned into barbecue. It was different. It was unfamiliar. It was foreign. It was something entirely new to him. He didn't hate it. Nor did he dislike it. Was he growing up?

"Yup, do exactly whatever you're planning to do. As long as you're wrong and she's right it will always work out," said Lapis with a cheery tone.

Alwin hopped up to Lapis and rubbed his face against hers, giving her the equivalent of a hug for a Yin-Yang Slime. In reality, he just wanted to get the sticky snot, tears, and drool off of him. Looks like change was going to be a difficult process. Hopefully, Uchronia wouldn't mind waiting.

“Maybe I should start dating again,” Lapis mumbled under her breath.

Alwin hopped out of the Training Room and back up to the cafe. The remnants of his destructive spree were still fresh. Tables and chairs were tossed around and shattered dishes decorated the ground. A small fire smoldered in one corner of the cafe, as Lapis' drones doused bucket after bucket of water in an attempt to extinguish it before it burnt the whole cafe down.

Everything was utter chaos and he was the source of all that pain. This was Winal's mess. That means it was Alwin's mess too. No amount of deflecting could absolve him from responsibility. He didn't even feel like using those techniques. Not right now at least. Some time in the future perhaps?

Alwin exited the cafe, examining the destruction he had created. Tear and worried-filled monsters littered the streets along with the rubble from all of the buildings he had blown up. A group of monsters which looked like blue turtles standing on their hind legs, each wearing sunglasses, spewed water out of their mouths in a frantic effort to extinguish the remaining flames that Alwin had created.

A pang of something rang in his heart. Regret? Remorse? He couldn't tell. First things first, apologize to Uchronia, then deal with everything else second.

Alwin had barely begun hopping his way back to the academy when two monsters blocked his path. They were weird-looking monsters, to say the least. It was as if inflatable kid pools had gained sentience and sprouted rubbery limbs that were way too thin, making them look out of proportion. Two rubber legs, so thin they rivaled sticks, emerged out of the base of their body, while their eyes and mouth were in the center of their inflatable pool-like torso. Water sloshed inside of them as they turned around inspecting the carnage that he had caused. More importantly, was the badge stuck to their chest. A metal badge in the shape of a shield, with a star engraved on it. Numbers were etched under that star—different numbers for both of them.

"Excuse me, sir. You're under arrest. You have no rights and screaming will only make us hurt you in the name of self-defense," said one of the pool monsters.

Crud! Consequences moved fast in Monsteria. Alwin had heard about these monsters when their information was downloaded into his brain at birth, but never would he have thought that he would incur their wrath. They were the cream of the crop of city enforcement. The best of the best of the best.

These were the Poolice Corp.