Twisted-Wonderland: Our Precious Treasure (Part 1)

(25) TCT: Sudden Advice

"Captain!" Jonah just kept walking out of the Heartslabyul building, ignoring Ace's screams. "I don't get it! Why won't you let us fight that little red-haired menace?!"

When he finally reached the edge of the pathway, he couldn't take it anymore. He turned around and looked up to Ace. "Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," he said, raising his index finger, successfully stopping Ace. Deuce and Grim managed to stop their tracks before crashing into Ace.

"Think about this: are you really going to fight two seniors without magic?" Jonah started to pace back and forth in front of him, waving his hands as if to make a point. "And even if we do have magic, Senior Clover can probably change it so it backfired on us. Not only that, but Senior Diamond also has this cloning magic, making us outnumbered." He stopped in front of them again, hands on his hips. "We're all already on Senior Rosehearts' 'most hated' list. We can't make this worse."

Deuce groaned and ran his hand through his hair. "Getting thrown out for disobeying the prefect..." he mumbled, "I'm slowly drifting away from becoming a model student..."

Ace clenched his fist. Deep down, there was a small feeling of guilt after knowing what Deuce was aiming for from yesterday's egg incident. But for real! He just couldn't stay silent! That gremlin is really pissing him off! Why didn't anyone stop him?!

Grim flew lower, resting himself on Deuce's shoulder. "Ugh, this collar is so suffocating and heavy, yanno?"

"Nya? I think ny'all look so stylish with your meowtching collars~"

Wait. Who said that?

Looking around, Jonah noticed the way Ace, Deuce, and Grim's eyes widened. "What?" he asked. And why does his shoulder suddenly feel heavy?

"Wha-?!" Ace raised his trembling finger pointing next to Jonah. Still, with a raised eyebrow, Jonah turned his head–

–only to meet with a pair of golden eyes.

"Nyaho~"

"FFGYAAA! A FLOATING HEAD!" Grim was the first one to shout, but pretty much represent the shock they had at the moment.

The head grinned but Jonah couldn't do anything. His body was frozen, felt like someone tied a rope around him. "Oh, oopsies~ I furgot to bring out my body," said the head as a body connecting it suddenly appeared, forming a boy who rested his chin on Jonah's shoulder while hugging him.

The boy was taller than Jonah, with short, choppy purple hair with his bangs cut in a curve, as well as three bobby pins pinned to the bang on the left side of his face. He had a pair of purple cat ears with a piercing of a speech bubble containing the word 'up' in his left ear as well as three arrow piercings in his right ear. He had yellow eyes with silted cat pupils. He wore a baggy white shirt over a striped purple t-shirt, and blue pants filled with sign stickers with a purple belt that has the sentence 'Do you stand on your head?' printed on it, and a pair of purple boots. He had purple painted nails and wears a ring-shaped like the Cheshire Cat's smile on his right hand. Behind him, his purple striped tail was wagging lazily in interest.

Jonah tried to wiggle himself out of the hug, but the cat-boy held him hard. "And you are?"

The cat-boy pouted. "Myah~ You don't know me?" He then went back to grinning. "I'm a great enigma with magic that's both like a purrson and like a cat. Alchemi Alchemivich Pinka, nya~ But call me Che'nya!"

Ace frowned at him. "Alche... Come again? And let go of the captain!"

"Oh, it's 'captain' meow, eh~?" He nuzzled at Jonah's cheek. "Always knew you had some fetish with nicknames!"

"Excuse me?!" yelled Jonah.

"Jonah, you know him?" asked Deuce. And why did his cheeks turn red?!

Jonah turned to him. "Of course not!" He tried to wiggle himself off again. "Get off!"

"Nyah~ So sad~" Che'nya tightened his hug as he looked at the others. "So, what's up with all of nya~?"

"We're not in the mood right now!" Ace yelled. "Just let go of the captain and leave us alone." He massaged his temple. "Geez, as if that little tyrant was being unreasonable, now we have this weirdo."

Che'nya perked up at thin. "Riddle, a tyrant..." He let out a small giggle. "Well, mew're not incorrect."

Jonah stopped wiggling. "Wait a second." He gave him a sideways glance. "You know Senior Rosehearts?"

"He's been a little stickler for the rules since he was little...fufufu~" Che'nya grinned wider. "What? Does that info interest mew, Pirate Boy~?"

"Can you tell us more?" Jonah tried to ask again.

Che'nya hummed for a bit before answering, "Why don't you ask your glasses fur-end all about it?"

"Glasses guy..." Deuce muttered, thinking deep, before raising his head in realization. "You mean, Senior Clover?"

Che'nya nodded. "He's known Riddle since he was a wee little thing. He's the one who always visits his house." He gave Jonah a small sideways glance before turning to the rest of the crew. "If mew wanna know about Riddle, he's the one to talk to~"

Grim patted his cheek. "They didn't seem like childhood friends at all..."

"If mew think so then it must be so~" Che'nya grinned. "So, there's nothing for mew to talk to me about meow is there? See mew~" His lower body started to disappear and he let out one last laugh. "Fufufu~ Down with the bloody red queen~"

Jonah froze, unable to move yet because of the shock. How... Didn't he say that before?

Ace was the first one to move, running toward Jonah and started checking him from top to bottom. "He didn't do anything further right?"

"Wha-" Jonah looked at himself, moving his arms, legs, and rubbing behind his neck. "Nope. I'm fine."

Ace let out a sigh. "That guy is really weird," he muttered, shaking his head, before turning to Jonah. "What's the plan now, Captain?"

Jonah bit his lip. Right. They had to do something about this. "We need to get the bottom of this," Jonah said, brows frowned, eyes filled with determination. He was met with a grin from Ace, a nod from Deuce, and Grim cracking his paws.

He gripped his eye patch, feeling an itch underneath it. But he could deal with it later. "I think it's finally the time to dethrone the Queen of Hearts."

-----

Trey watched the croquet match from afar. No one of them was having fun really. Even Riddle was grouchier than before. He was complaining earlier that they were so far behind schedule so they need to speed things up quickly. They had to...play around with some things so the game was in Riddle's favor.

"Hey." Trey looked up to Cater who now stood next to him. The orange-haired boy let out a sigh. "You think this is okay?"

"About what?"

"About the freshies and the prefect." Cater sighed again. "You know, they had a point." He gave Trey a sideways glance. "Are you really alright with this?"

Trey pulled his hat down so it covered his eyes. "There's nothing I can do..."

He couldn't do anything. He couldn't help the first-years in winning Riddle's favor. He couldn't make Riddle reconsider a little. He couldn't even stop the fight from nearly happening. He'd bet that Riddle was disappointed in him now.

Some friend he turned out to be...