Instead of heading straight to the living quarters, I decided to stop by the pyroom first. Even though I’d told the kids that we had to cut the vacation short, I really hadn’t had time to talk to them beyond that.

  When I finally pushed into the room, I found the pce a lot quieter than I expected. The kids were sitting in their individual areas, bent over their desks, with Sir Froggington walking between them.

  “Shit,” I muttered quietly. “I forgot that it was school time.”

  None of the kids reacted to my utterance, but Sir Froggington paused and looked over at me. The bot reached into his coat and pulled out an antique pocket watch, checking the time before shushing me with one hand and beckoning me in with the other.

  “One minute left! Remember, if you can’t remember the answer to something, it’s better to put something down than leave the question completely empty,” he announced.

  The decration was followed by the sound of furious scribbling from each of the kids as they struggled to finish their assignments, or tests, or… whatever they were doing. I silently wandered into the middle of the room and decided to wait until they finished.

  “Pencils down, your time is up,” Sir Froggington announced after a minute.

  Eddie groaned. “Why did you have to quiz us on math of all things? It’s my worst subject!”

  “You won’t improve without practice,” the professor decred as he wandered around the room to collect their papers. “I think that’s enough for today. I’ll mark these tonight and have them ready for tomorrow. Good work, everyone.”

  “We’re freeeeeeee!” Issi decred throwing her pencil in the air.

  “I know you’re excited, but I don’t think you should be throwing your school supplies like that,” I announced, causing all three kids to turn in surprise.

  “Evie!” Issi shouted in joy as she jumped to her feet. She took a couple steps towards me before her look of joy changed to a frown, and she came to a stop. “I’m still mad at you for canceling our vacation.”

  “I didn’t want to end our vacation early,” I said. “There’s just a problem back home, and I need to go back and help with it.”

  “You could have let someone else handle it,” she sniffled.

  “Issi… its my job to protect people. How do you think I’d feel if someone got hurt because the bears and I weren’t there to protect them?” I asked.

  “Bad,” the girl sniffed. “It’s just been so long since we spent time together. I don’t want it to end.”

  “Awww… I’m sorry.” I said as I slowly moved forward and enveloped her in a gentle hug. “This vacation has been a lot of fun, and I’ve enjoyed spending time with you all.

  I slowly moved forward and enveloped her in a gentle hug. “I know I can get a little distracted with all my projects back home. How about this: I promise to spend one day a week with you guys. No more disappearing every day and only showing up for dinner.”“You promise?” the little girl muttered. “Promise,” I whispered.

  “Good! We’ll hold you to that promise,” Jennifer decred as she jumped on my back and wrapped her arms around my neck.

  I cranked my neck to look at the older girl. “You don’t seem that upset,” I said.

  “That’s because I kind of understand your reasons,” she said. “Like… I don’t fully understand everything you do, but I know it’s both exceptionally dangerous and important. You wouldn’t have cut our vacation short unless you absolutely had to.”

  “I understand too!” Isabelle excimed before pouting again. “That doesn’t mean I like it.”“I don’t like it either,” I told her quietly.

  I continued hugging her for several more seconds before letting her go and rising to my feet. Jennifer remained locked onto my neck for several more seconds, but with my new muscles I barely even noticed her weight. When I rose, I noticed Eddie standing awkwardly to the side, watching us all.

  “Do you want a hug too?” I asked, opening my arms towards the boy.

  “What? No! Public dispys of affection are gross,” the boy grumbled.

  “We’re not in public though, we’re on the carrier,” Issi pointed out.

  “Well… It’s embarrassing,” Eddie admitted, his face turning a light red. “It feels strange to hug you all when the frog is watching.”

  “Awww, you’re cute,” I excimed. Before the boy could react, I stepped forward and scooped him up.

  “Lemme go!” he excimed, wiggling about.

  “Yay! More hugs!” Issi cheered, cmping onto Eddie from the other side. After a moment the boy stopped struggling and hugged me back.

  “See, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” I asked.

  “Nooo… Thanks for the hug,” he muttered quietly.

  I stepped back and gave the boy a little bit of space. He was blushing so hard I thought he’d overheat if I teased him anymore.

  “You know, even though we need to start heading home, it’ll still take us a couple days to get home. Our vacation isn’t technically done yet,” I told them as I wandered back to the small lounge in the middle of the room. “We could still do something together before we arrive.”“Are we stopping anywhere else on the way back?” Jennifer asked.

  “I wasn’t pnning on it,” I admitted. “Unfortunately, I still don’t know how much time until the catastrophe happens.”

  “‘The Catastrophe’?” Jennifer repeated, with a smirk. “What? Are you afraid of telling us what’s going to happen?”

  “Little minds don’t need to know the details,” I decred.

  “I’m eleven. That’s hardly a kid,” she snorted.

  “You may be exceptionally smart and mature for your age, but you’re still a kid in my eyes,” I decred. “You don’t need to know.”

  “You know we’ll find out eventually. If it’s that important, you’ll be all over the news feeds, like usual,” Eddie decred.

  “Well… you can find out about it then,” I grumbled.

  “So if we’re not stopping, what are we going to do for the next couple days?” Issi asked excitedly. “Maybe chessers? I have a couple new sets avaible.”

  “A couple new sets?” I asked. “I thought Jane asked you to hold back on creating new sets for awhile. We were running out of pces to store them.”“I didn’t make them! I got them from Mrs. Artell after telling her about Chessers. She was so excited that she designed a couple new armies right there and then!” Issi expined. “She even sent me a copy of them all.

  “Of course she did,” I groaned. “How many did she make?”“Oh, not that many,” Eddie scoffed. “Only five full-sized armies.”

  “And they’re so cool! There’s one based entirely on cat samurai, and one with boats, like pirates, and even one that represents the Siege of Seattle. You’re in that one!” Issi excimed.

  “Well, I was there,” I muttered. “How did she manage to get them on the ship?”“She gave them to the bears,” Eddie expined.

  “Somehow I’m not surprised,” I said, before turning towards Jennifer and Eddie. “So how about it? Up for a game?”

  Eddie grinned. “Only if I can be the Antithesis!”“Ugh,” Jennifer muttered. “You always have to be the edgelord, don’t you? Fine, I’ll py, but only if I’m the Calgary samurai.”I nodded. “What about you, Issi?” I asked the girl.

  “Pirates!” she excimed excitedly. “They Arrrrr great!”

  Eddie groaned. “That was terrible.”“That’s fine, I have plenty more!” Issi replied. “I’m sure you’ll like one of them!”

  I ughed as Eddie physically bnched at the decration.

  “No, please…” he whispered.

  “Alright then,” I said, interrupting him. “I’ll get the sets. Let’s py!”

  TheWackyWombat

  SCS Fan Fiction DiscordIf you'd like to join a slightly more active discord, try the SCS Extended Universe (ie Fanfiction) discord.

  A bunch of authors in the community frequent it, so come sign up for updates from your favorite authors, or just chat with other SCS afficinatos.

  Here's the link: https://discord.gg/bxPhAYJWcs

  Check out my Stories:

  Teddy Bears On Brigade

  Evelyn "Teddy" Cire is a street kid just trying to make ends meet, in the slum deep under Calgary Megacity. That is, until the Antithesis attack, and she's given the power to fight back.

  Avaible on: [Royal Road] or [Scribblehub]

  Tarnished Honor

  Reina and Skyler, long term girlfriends, fight Alien invaders in the Cyberpunk City of Vancouver.

  Avaible on: [Royal Road] or [Scribblehub]

  The Wicked Witch of the Wild West (ON HIATUS)

  A young outcast witch tries to find her pce in the world by traveling the remote wilds in the wild west

  Avaible on: [Royal Road] or [Scribblehub]

  Duelling Dungeons

  A story about Talia, an Arachne girl, finding her pce as a floor boss in a competitive dungeon. Half cozy slice of life, half action.

  Avaible on: [Royal Road] or [Scribblehub]

  Unexpected Guests (TBoB x DD crossover)

  Evelyn (From Teddy Bears on Brigade) ends up in the world of Duelling dungeons and needs to find a way home.

  Avaible on: [Royal Road] or [Scribblehub]

  Support me!

  Join me on to gain full access to my backlog (Currently 10+ chapters ahead!)

  If you don't want to support me, or don't have the cash, you can join as a free member and gain access to my other, unreleased stories!

  Here's the link: https:///c/wackywombat

  Buy the shirt!Want to wear your favorite bear loving samurai? Get a shirt! Commissioned by RavensDagger himself, and hosted on the official SCS webstore you can get the Teddy T now! Sorry, no bear hoodies... yet, but if you show your support who knows what might happen in the future.

  Teddy T-shirt: https://litrpgforge.com/products/scs-secret-merch-teddy

  And if you don't feel like supporting me, you can still take a look around at the other Fan fiction shirts, or even official SCS merchandise here: https://litrpgforge.com/collections/stray-cat-store

  Finally: Big thanks to all those people that review my draft, the chapters would be a lot rougher without your feedback!