(Note: This will be the last official FTE. For the other FTE scenarios, I will devote to working on the plotline. Anyways...)

...Considering the conversations I've had with Danny recently, it'd be nice if we were to spend some more time together today.

Yeah. I'll spend some time with Danny.

Perking my head up, I turned back to the staircase, trotted to its lowest steps and hopped up it, soon returning to the second floor. Surprisingly, however, once I had reached the final step between the first two floors, I slammed into a pile of brown fur. My hooves were caught off guard, as I wobbled to the rear. I was saved from a harsh series of bruises and a possible broken limb by a certain arm, reaching out and barely managing to grab a hold of my dress.

"Oh good god! Peppa? Are you alright?!"

"Uhm...    Yeah?" I tilted my head shakily, lining my eyes up with the one person that I was looking for.

Talk about irony.

"Phew...     I'm glad you're alright!" Danny smiled, tugging me back onto the second floor with a slow pull. Once I steadied myself, he let his hardened hand go of my notably softer dress.

"What's going on?"

"I was wondering...    If we could...    Spend some time together..."

"Oh! Oh yeah! We can deffo do that!"

"...Thanks..." Relief rushed through my veins, nullifying the shock from nearly falling down the stairs.

"What...    Should we do?"

"I ain't fully sure...    Maybe we can walk into a random room and see what's interesting there!" The dog smiled, taking something along the lines of a U-turn and slamming into the left wall on the hallway on my left.

"Now then. There's a door here, so let's go in!" The dog smiled as he continued along with his plan. When I joined him by his side, he had already seemingly threw the door to the side, showing the way to the room behind it.

"...Woah...    This must be the shop that Pedro found!"

"Huh?"

Noticing that Danny had already rushed forward into the room, I took my own steps further on. My sight was immediately stuffed with lines of metal mesh shelves stuffed with various...     Crap of some kind. It was like how Danny had said: A shop. Despite that though, there didn't seem to be any kind of place for a cashier anywhere. What's more, the atmosphere in the shop was a bit iffy. The room had a candlelit, wooden tone to it.

"...Damn. You also think that it's a bit rundown Peppa?"

"Yeah...     What happened here...?"

"Not sure. Maybe the supplies that came into here were a bit...    Icky?"

"No, they look up to date." I replied, grabbing a pack of fudge and staring it down before returning it to the shelf.

That's when it hit me.

"How could supplies even get into here?"

"..." Danny stopped, before facing the floor. His body slowly turned to face mine, with his arm glued to his chin, and confusion in his pupils.

"...The thing that makes the most sense to me would be...     That they were here before we were here. But that also doesn't make much sense! If that was the case, then...    That means that it was supplied right before being completely locked up!" The dog had lost eye contact with me once again, seemingly rambling to himself. Me, however, started to consider the meaning behind his rambles a bit more seriously.

...The building was supplied right before being locked...

That would make sense if there was a disaster going on...          Locking up a building with refugees inside, to protect them from the environment of the disaster.

Plus, we're the youngest generation of Ultimate students that I know, so it'd make sense that someone would want to protect us. 

But there isn't really a disaster going on right now, right? We've simply been kidnapped, right?

...Actually...     

Considering the dark blue skies that me and George saw before Delphine died...     Not to mention the fact it was warm enough to make Suzy sweat...

...Maybe there is a disaster going on right...    Now...

So does that mean...     Monopotato...        No...         The mastermind interfered with...     Some kind of protection program?

...

I'm not fully sure. We can't really testify if there really is a disaster going on right now.

"Hey, Peppa? You caught up in ya mind again?"

"Oh. Uh. Yep." I sighed farewell to my thoughts, turning my sight to the source of Danny's voice, who was idling behind my back, hand on hip.

"It's fine. I'm usually caught up in my head for a couple hours a day, thinking about Rebecca, or Freddy, or my time as a pirate..."

"...What do you mean 'your time as a pirate'?"

"Heh, you wanna hear of the story of how I got my talent?" The brown-furred hound immediately made eye contact once again and smiled at me, almost by force.

It didn't feel like a true smile. It felt...      Like I was barging into a sensitive topic. His eyes seemed to bulge more than usual, the hairs on his fur had stiffened softly, a hint of an accent fresh from Bristol speared into his voice...

I knew from those hints that asking about his talent was a dangerous thing to have done.

And thus, I replied the best way I could.

"You know, you don't have to if you don't want to."

"Nah. You've already asked about it, so might as well." The dog shook his head a bit, before taking a single step away from me.

"You see, my mum died a while after our playgroup had concluded for good. And my dad, who you might remember to be a lover of the sea, saw with sorrow that this was the moment of return to the ocean. Of course, he couldn't just leave me alone so I came with him. And lemme tell you...     The feeling of mother's nostalgia while staring at the empty waves is a feeling unlike any other I've ever experienced..."

...

"...Oh...     I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. That doesn't even have anything to do with my talent, anyway!"

...

So that was why he wasn't around most of the time...

He was out...      At sea...

"Moving onto my talent, I got it from...    Well, a whole lotta work with my dad. It was a real great time, you know, working rudders, hoisting sails, fighting uninvited intruders off our boat..."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah! It's not just me who's a pirate, ya know! And I'm a good pirate, too! The pirates that were trying to take out me and my dad were complete NIGHTMARES, you hear me?"

"...Wow."

"And with that, I became the Ultimate Pirate...     Hehe, what a time indeed..."

"I...     I might need a moment to take that into account..."

"Oh, go ahead. It's definitely not the kind of story to listen to and say 'eh' right afterwards."

"Very true. Although...     I have told way crazier stories before..."

"Wait, really?! Aw damn, now I have to get myself into even crazier nonsense just to beat you!"

'Y-You don't have to do that...!"

The both of us broke into laughter, as we continued to discuss certain topics within the store. There must've been around 57 topics discussed between us, because after we had went our separate ways again it felt like hours had gone by.

Still...      I'm glad that me and Danny had a good time together.

And despite those good feelings, I still have some kind of urge to talk with someone.

Considering these theories of there being a mastermind, as well as a potential disaster, plus a supposed protection program from a potential disaster that the mastermind had interfered with...

I really need to talk with another person to try and get a better understanding of this.

Hold on, let me think for a moment.

This 'disaster' was enough to warn the authorities to try and protect the youngest group of Ultimates in this world. Then that would mean that said 'disaster' would also be causing a lot of other problems across the world.

With that hypothesis in mind...       I think I know who I can talk to.

"...Kylie? KYLIE!"

I immediately shrieked, running along the halls to try and find the kangaroo. You know, like an idiot would.

Pretty ironic, considering the way I was thinking earlier.

"KYLIEEEE! I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!"

"Uhm...    Ok? You can stop screaming, I'm here."

"Wha-" I flipped around half-cautiously, eyes landing upon the one person I was searching for (like an idiot), standing with an innocent look on her face.

"...Funny. Usually I'm that loud. Moving on, did you need something?"

"...Yeah." I replied, nearing the girl in magenta. "I've...     Realised a few things."

"Huh...? What things? What did you find out???"

"I believe...      That this building that we're stuck in might've been part of some kind of protection project."

"Really? How?"

"...Come here. Maybe we can discuss it in here." I wrapped an arm around Kylie, dragging her through the nearest door. We were now in the room that was full of clothes. Eh, good enough.

From that point on, it was a long series of me explaining the entire theory: From the supplies somehow getting in, to the possible disaster across the world, to Monopotato taking the wheel of a defence project of the youngest Ultimates.

By the time I had concluded, Kylie was still a bit confused, but also had a face of shock.

Then she started her own hypothesis.

"...You know, Pep'...       I remember hearing about a disaster before waking up here. It's not a strong memory, but I still remember it. It wasn't in Australia, it was somewhere far off...     Like Europe or somewhere around there. And yet here I am..." The kangaroo, suddenly starting to steamroll through theories, looked me in the eyes. "I'm also an Ultimate. I'm also in this supposed hijacked protection program. And even if I may think that I don't deserve my Ultimate talent, I'm still in this situation. 'They' still wanted to protect me. Even though I was miles and miles away, 'they' still called me out here just to protect me, even though I was already prote-"

"You don't deserve your Ultimate talent?"

Kylie's rambling came to an instant halt.

"...Kylie...      What the- E-Everyone deserves their talent! What makes you so sure that you don't?" I spat out quickly, as the kangaroo shuffled away a bit.

"..."

"...Kylie?"

"Why did you have to bring that up? There was no reason for you to..." Kylie slowly laid her head down, looking at the floor with a monotone stare.

"Kylie, what do you mea-"

"Enough, Peppa. I have the right to NOT tell you something." The kangaroo was shaking a bit as she replied, almost like she was about to suffer from a breakdown. After a moment, she turned her back to me, facing the door to the fashion room. I was too worried to act, too scared of damaging Kylie's behaviour even more.

"Goodbye, Peppa. See you tomorrow." She finally said, before walking out the door, back into the main hallway.

Once the oak door had swung itself shut, I simply let the quiet flow into my thoughts.

"...Kylie     ...What do you mean..."

*Ding dong bong bing...*

"Gooooooood evening everyone! It is officially nighttime. So, I suggest that you all get a good night's rest. See you all tomorrow for a new day full of blood to be spilt!"

...

I didn't have the energy to try and chase Kylie down. It would probably make her more mad anyway.

I should probably just go and get some sleep. I can question Kylie tomorrow.

...Yeah.

There's always tomorrow.

...Right?

____________________