Twisted-Wonderland: Heart of the Night

Episode 2-30: Savanaclaw Finale!

I can still hear the roaring and cheering of the crowd lingering in my head before my eyes started to open up.

What I see next is it's dark, which means its night.

"Hey, Kalin's awake!", Grim was the second thing to see. He was right on top sitting on my stomach getting real close to my face.

"...Huh? Where am I?", Kalin.

"At the start of the second half, Grim threw the disc right at your noggin and knocked you out. You don't remember?", Ace was there to my left side sitting on a chair.

I try to get up and Grim slides down. "I... Uh...", Kalin. I couldn't recall at first but remembering the hit was a start. I feel a bandage gauge on my head and it stung a bit to touch it.

"I was tryin' to seal our victory with a shot from way downfield...", Grim. Now it's starting to come back to me since he mentioned it. I could feel the pain reminiscing in my head again.

"You amateurs gotta work on your disc control.", I could see Jack standing at the end of the bed.

"I'm just glad you're awake. You were out so long that I was starting to worry the hit had caused some real damage.", Deuce was sitting on the right side of the bed next to me. "Yeah, you even missed the closing ceremonies! They're taking everything apart right now.", Ace.

Hearing that made me realize how deep asleep I was. "Which dorm won?", Kalin.

"The grand champion was Diasomnia House.", Leona. "In the end, there was nothing we could do... It certainly didn't help that we took a beating from every other dorm on the way to the finals. What a miserable tournament this year was,", Ruggie.

"Housewarden! Ruggie!", Jack.

I could see Leona and Ruggie also on beds across the infirmary room.

"Tch... Bein' stuck in an infirmary bed for anything other than a mid-day nap is about as lame as it gets.", Leona. "And what's worse? Not a single Diasomnia student ended up here.", Ruggie.

"I'd heard the rumors, but man, seeing Diasomnia's housewarden in action... That dude does NOT mess around.", Ace. "Yeah, he was incredible. You wouldn't have believed it, Kalin!", Deuce. "Now I get why everyone thinks he's invincible. I can't even imagine taking him down.", Ace.

"And with that attitude, you never will. You've let him beat you before you even face him. I haven't, though. Next year, I'm taking Diasomnia down. And I'll win by givin' it everything I got.", Jack.

"Does "everything" happen to include your capacity for evil?", Leona.

"Have you learned nothing from all this? You don't seem to feel bad about what happened before...", Kalin. Leona looks to me.

"Pfft, I didn't realize we were in an after-school special here. I'm givin' next year's tournament all I got, too. And I am gonna do whatever it takes to win.", Leona.

*(!) So much for reflecting his ways... (!)*

"Shyeheehee! There's the Leona I remember.", Ruggie. "I can already tell this isn't gonna end well.", Jack.

"Next year, I wanna be in the tournament for real!", Grim. "We need to practice so we can make the cut too.", Deuce. "Yeah, no kidding. No way do I wanna embarrass myself in Grim's kiddie league again.", Ace.

Despite nothing changing, it's not a real bad thing in it's own way. Thinking this made me feel relief and not have to worry too much.

"Unca! There you are! I finally found you!", a little kid with orange-red hair entered the room out of nowhere.