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[spoiler title=”DBTM Round 7: This entire round is dedicated to fish”]
Hearing the noise of a portal opening, Moonwing crept towards the origin of the noise. That’s probably just the Room 4 portal. Nothing too biggie. It’s not like the Trouble Quadruplet became any easier to defeat. 
However, to her shock, Europa and Encie were the ones who arrived, both setting paw on the crumbling, pebbly, floor. But-but-where are the other Room 3ers? About three seconds later, another portal opened and Mimas landed on all four paws on the floor. 
“Europa, Encie, Mimas–I need an explanation for this,” Moonwing growled, twitching her ear. “Where is everyone else?”
Mimas only shrugged. Moonwing sighed and returned to her office. I just hope that the rest of Room 3 arrives. The Room 3ers separating is surely not a good sign. 

Artemis woke up to find out she was in Moonwing’s anicent castle. As she stepped out, the pebbles below cracked. Moss lined the walls, and the fog from outside clouded the room. However, Artemis liked this. When she peaked out of the so-called window, she still saw the charred forest and Wish’s dead body below. Aaaand the body is still there. 
Artemis exited her room, not thinking much about her new dorm. She just wanted to eat breakfast and see who’s next on the chopping block. She walked all the way to the buffet area, grabbed a goldfish, set it on her plate, and added some mystery sauce. She also grabbed a bunch of spaghetti and meatballs and also piled that on her plate. 
As soon as she sat down at the polished cracked wooden table, she heard Mea screeching. She turned around. Mea’s talons were firmly planted on the table, staring menacingly at a tiny white-gray wolf-like animal with gray spots and stripes, who was stubbornly sitting on her fish. The tiny wolf growled back in response, bristling her plumy tail. Icicles formed at the tips. Artemis recognized her as Encie, or the one who killed Modjo during the first round. 
“Oh no, the Modjo killer has targeted me now,” said Mea. Encie crossed her paws and flattened her ears, curling her feathery tail around Mea’s fish. 
Artemis attempted to possess the tiny winged wolf-like animal to see if she could get her off the fish. She flattened her ears and glared at Encie, trying to take over her body. It didn’t work. What is this black magic?! 
She then tried to mess with Encie’s brain by conjuring an illusion of another fish at the buffet area. Like her attempt to possess her, it didn’t work. However, it seems to have worked with Kipo, who aimlessly tried to grab the fish, but was actually just slamming their talons on the buffet counter. Artemis groaned quietly. 
“I don’t get it. Why can’t you just politely ask Encie to get off the fish?” suggested Sapphire, walking by the table and carrying a plate full of desserts. 
“Because if someone loses their sanity over seafood then I don’t think politely asking her would work,” replied Mea, glancing at the tiny wolf-like animal and the fish. 
“FISH!” barked Encie, piercing her claws into the flesh of the aquatic animal. “FISH!”
“Fish is that one thing Encie is willing to trade her sanity for,” sighed a nearby small brown and white wolf-like animal. She was wearing a pink bow on her head with ribbons flowing down. “So I don’t really think you have the ability to get her off with just words.” Although Artemis did see this wolf in previous episodes of the death course, she never knew her name. 
The wolf quickly sprinted to the buffet and returned carrying a silver-scaled fish in her mouth. 
“But shtill, fish are sure fine, grasheful, creachures. They alsho tashte as well as they look.” The brown and white wolf then grabbed the fish with her paws and started eating the fish whole, starting at the head. Encie stood up and immediately flung herself off of Mea’s fish, so Mea took this chance, snatching the fish and immediately devouring it whole. Encie flapped her wings and looked back, and the fish was gone. She flattened her ears. 
“You know what’s also a fish?” The brown and white wolf quickly flew into one of the halls, and walked out dragging a humongous gray and white shark. The brown and white wolf heavily panted, before dragging the shark further into the dining room. She then flipped the dead corpse onto its belly and pierced its flesh with her sharp teeth. Literally everyone in the dining room cringed.
“What? Sharks are also fish,” growled the wolf, flicking her ribbons. 
“Yeah, definitely the type of fish we refer to when we say ‘fish’,” replied Mea, stiffening her wings. 
“FISH IS FISH!” barked the wolf, mouth dripping with the shark’s blood. 
Out of curiousity, Artemis attempted to possess the brown and white wolf. However, this attempt also failed as well. The wolf looked like the same species as Encie, as they both had white, feathery, wings, and an overall wolf-like appearance. It’s just that the brown and white wolf was much larger than Encie, just a little bit smaller than a medium-sized cat. 
“YU-ROPE-A! WARE IZ MAI SHRAK?!” barked a voice in the castle.
“Dead,” she replied, flicking her prickly tail. “Why do you need it anyway?” A tiny and fluffy light gray wolf-like animal with darker specks and one blue eye flew towards the shark like a bullet and violently yanked out its tooth. She then grabbed a rubber band and tightly wrapped the sharp tooth on a stick. Artemis also recognized this one-eyed wolf from the previous rounds as well, but never knew her actual name. 
“To use its teeth to stab others,” spat the one-eyed wolf. 
“I hope you’re not going to need it anytime soon,” hissed Encie. “Saturn prohibits.”
“Well, Sa-tan also ‘pro-hee-bits’ es-cap-in.” The one-eyed wolf looked at her new weapon in awe. “Unless you de trubble kuad-drup-let. De wuns I want to stab.”
Artemis looked down at her plate of spaghetti, meatballs, and goldfish and finally began eating it. While standing, Sapphire also set down her plate of desserts and picked up a chocolate chip cookie and shoved it in her mouth. 

Artemis was in Moonwing’s office. Moonwing was seated at the desk, quill in paw, and Phobos, a tiny mottled smoke-black and reddish-brown chihuahua-like animal tucked in her bow. Deimos sat on the papers, tail curling neatly around his paws. 
“Why did you summon me here?” Artemis asked, fanning her tails. 
“Well, you could’ve been in any other round. Round 8 or Round 9 are all available, but you’re dying this round because you BROKE A RULE,” spat Phobos, clutching onto Moonwing’s bow.
“Well, I didn’t know keeping Wish in my dorm was breaking a rule,” replied Artemis calmly. 
“Still, you could’ve guessed it was a rule. Contestants are meant to be left alone,” he rebuked. 
Moonwing looked at the sky. It was almost nighttime, and twitching her ears, she said, “We would begin killing you now, but it would be interesting to see your powers when Luna is full. So nighttime, I suppose. And that’s pretty soon. And I have to think of other rounds anyway.” Moonwing then fired a moonstone lazer at Artmeis, immediately teleporting her out of the room and back into her dorm. It was now raining lightly, and the planet’s sun sank below the horizon, casting the charred forests in an orange glow. My course hasn’t started yet, I think I can go outside. The weather is quite nice. 

“Go outside? Yeah, sure, the weather is great,” grunted Mea sarcastically, looking at the rain lightly pattering against the ground.
“The weather is fine, but I’m definitely not taking any chances of running into Wish’s body,” trembled Sapphire, spiking her squirrel tail.
“I’m definitely not taking any chances of getting wet, ” shivered Kipo, covering most of their body with their dragon wings. 
“Also, I’m not the one dying today, why don’t you make the most of the rest of your life?” suggested Mea, folding her wings. 
“Alright, I like being alone, anyway.” Artemis ambled out of the castle and along the lines of burnt trees. A faint waft of smoke hung in the air, and some fallen tree branches were still blazing. The rain fell, smoldering the blazes and reducing it to a pile of ash. Fog covered what was left of the canopy, and the leafy ground was just crumbling ash. 
Artemis walked toward a small lake, the only place that hasn’t been covered with a layer of ash, sitting down and curling her tails around her paws. The sun dipped below the horizon, casting the entire forest in the shadow of night, and the full moon, or what Moonwing called “Luna” took the sun’s place.
A streak of semi-bright ice swirled through the air and dived, covering the lake in a thin sheet of ice, before shattering and sinking below the waters. She then walked towards a smoldering tree and assisted the rain in putting the flames out by shooting a smooth splash of water towards the tree, immediately putting out the fire. The first stars glowed brightly in the sky. 
Although the rain was still fairly light, a bolt of lightning struck a spot near her, however it didn’t char the ground or set the remains of the forest on fire like the normal bolts of lightning. Artemis concluded that it was one of those moonstone lazers that burst out of the cracks of Moonwing’s bracelets, and it had a similar look to lightning, just less hot and more bright. Artemis glanced at Luna again. Although it was barely in the sky, Moonwing probably still would consider this nighttime. She then glanced at the castle on the mountain. Moonwing peered out of the window, a malicious gleam in her ice blue eyes, and the crystals encrusted in her bow and her bracelets glittering in the moonlight. She fired another moonstone lazer, this time squarely striking Artemis, and everything went black. 

Moonwing peered out of her castle and at Artemis’ faraway unconscious body. After striking her with a bolt of moonstone lazer, she was much more easier to manage. She then fired a moonstone lazer at the body again, teleporting her back into the castle and back into her dorm. 
“Moonsies, are you prepared to witness something WEIRD?” asked Moonwing, looking back at the Moons of Relevance who have arrived. 
“Umm, no, because I can’t witness anything, really,” grunted Miranda, flattening her stitched ears. 
“Alright, alright.” Moonwing then fired a moonstone lazer at the ceiling, teleporting and transforming it into a camp in the desert. 

Artemis woke up at her dorm only to be greeted with a wave of heat, instead of the fog and rain she expected. She was no longer in the castle, but rather a tent that was barely sheltering her from the heat. She stepped off her bed and winced. The sand below was also scorching hot. She walked outside her dorm, being nearly blinded by the sharp rays of the sun. How is it suddenly daytime? Didn’t night only last 5 minutes?
Seemingly reading her mind, Moonwing, who was standing outside, replied, “Playing with time zones, of course. If we return to the castle it’ll be night again. But we won’t, because the death course already started. Why don’t we light this place on fire even more?” She flicked her tail towards a yellowish wolf-like animal with startling dark green eyes, frosty white patches, and dark brown and bright orange spots around her eyes. The green-eyed wolf snorted and flattened her dragon wings, the flares lighting her devil horns burning even more brightly than before. Now that the moon was no longer in the sky, her water-ice powers were gone and she could no longer put out any hazardous flames. 
“Well, since I’m a FAIR and NICE cosmodog, you can use your weapon here,” said Moonwing, swooping down towards her and fluffing her spotted gray fur. Artemis quickly sprinted back towards her dorm, which looked more like a tent, wincing everytime her pawpads touched the scorching sand, before exiting the dorm with a dagger in her mouth.  
“Moonwing, isn’t this a bit too serious to name it after a meme?” whispered Charon, the brown and pale gray fluffy chihuahua-like animal.
“Well, Artemis, you’re hot, right?” replied Moonwing, perking her ears. Artemis quickly nodded, feeling burnt by the scorching sand, hot weather, and the bright sun. And no, Moonwing was definitely not talking about THAT type of hot. 
“That question was pointless. But anyway, yeah, I agree with you.” Moonwing flew into her office-tent, then declared, “THIS SHOW IS NOW NAMED DEATH BY THE MINUTE. NO QUESTIONS.”
“But I liked the previous name,” growled a pinkish-brown dog-like animal with white stripes, flattening his wings. Moonwing then fired a moonstone lazer into the sky, and a large, spiked, black metal gate rose out of the floor, locking Artemis out of the rest of the desert camp. A tight platinum lock secured the gate in place, and the gate was too tall to climb. 
“If you want to live, then go dig in this desert and find the key. And you can’t possess any of the contestants to unlock the gate for you, they don’t have the key,” commanded Moonwing, peering at the silver-white kitsune from the black gate. Something tells me I’m going to hate this. 
Being a kitsune, a nine-tailed fox, Artemis had the natural skill of digging. But of course, Moonwing definitely wouldn’t bury the key right next to camp. She’s not the merciful type. 
She then painfully ran north of the camp, silently wincing everytime her pawpads had to touch the sand. Artemis abruptly stopped, perking her ears. A shrub large enough to hold her grew out of the hot desert sand. I can rest here until it’s nighttime, then I can start digging. 
Artemis endured being scorched by the sand and climate once more, before collapsing under the short shrub. Although the space under the sun wasn’t as large as she would like it to be, it wasn’t too small and not too hot. She then comfortably curled her nine fluffy blue-tipped tails around her paws and waited. And waited. And waited.
Five hours passed by. When the sun should’ve dipped low below the horizon, it still shone brightly in the middle of the sky. Artemis wriggled out of her protective shade, to be beaten by the sharp, burning rays of sunshine on her face. She flinched and yanked her head back under the shrub. A small, fluffy, desert rabbit walked by, twitching its ears. If nighttime doesn’t arrive anytime soon, then I’ll just use the rabbit to find the key. 
Artemis silently focused her vision on the rabbit, until she found her way into its mind. Now, she was in the body of the rabbit. The sand burned less strongly, but the sun still steadily beated down on her new body’s fur just as strongly as it warmed her previous body. Still, Artemis hopped far, far, away from the shrub her kitsune body was resting in, until she was in a sandy clearing surrounded by small, dry, shrubs. 
Artemis perked her ears, then began working on the sand with her new sturdy front paws.  

It had been five hours since Moonwing sent Artemis to find the key. She’s probably dead anyway. Moonwing shook her head. She remembered what happened with Ina, her father, and her father’s immortal snake, and it was all because she assumed that xe had been killed by the frogs. Of course, there was no chance for her father to randomly interrupt this round and capture all the planetmortals living in camp or participating on the course. But she had to make sure. 
Moonwing flew up to Deimos, who was in charge of controlling the camera despite his extremely tiny size. Due to the time and distance in this recording job, she allowed him to control the movements of the camera back in camp.
“So, where is Artemis, exactly? The only thing I know is that she went north,” queried Moonwing, raising her fluffy tail. 
“She’s sleeping under the brush. I believe she’s waiting for nighttime, which probably won’t happen, considering you probably tidally locked Omnia to Augue to make sure this side faces the star until the round ends. Other than that, I don’t know what she’s doing other than being lazy and attempting to evade her inevitable death,” he replied, flicking his messy, short, tail. 
“I’m going to investigate. Phobos, come with me.” Phobos nodded and landed on her crystal-encrusted bow, tail neatly brushing over the crystal shards. Holding one of her moonstone bracelets in front of her, Moonwing used her other bracelet to fire a moonstone lazer at the reflective moonstone bracelet, bouncing the lazer back and towards her and Phobos. Moonwing and Phobos were instantly teleported to the shrub Artemis was resting in.
Her silver-blue eyes were blank and staring off into the distance, and her tails were curled neatly around the rest of her body. Phobos leaped off of Moonwing’s bow and gently landed on Artemis’ shoulder. 

While in the rabbit’s body, Artemis felt slight pressure on her shoulder. She whipped her head around to check what distrubed her digging, but then nothing was there. Must be something from my kitsune. Artemis ignored the nudge and continued digging, flinging bits of sand and debris out of the hole she dug. Her paw hit something hard. She leaped out of the hole, and a small sliver of silver glinted in the bright sunlight. 
Something lightly hit Artemis’ back again. She turned around again, and nothing was there. Artemis shook her head and leaped into the hole again, resuming digging out the potential key. She then leaped back out of the hole, carrying the gleaming key. A sharp pain pierced into her shoulder. Suddenly, she dropped the key, and wandered into another direction she didn’t want to. Her vision blurred, and everything went black. 
When Artemis woke up again, the same winged mottled reddish and black chihuahua that was resting on Moonwing’s head was staring into her silver-blue eyes with his dark amber one. She looked at her paws. They were blue instead of the pale yellow of the rabbit. Her dagger was sticking out of her shoulder, and Moonwing stood by her, an unhappy expression on her face. Her eyes then started sparking, and two pure white lazers shot out, pushing Artemis out of the shrub and slightly shocking her. The sun and sand yet again began scorching her, but Artemis could not move, for she was temporarily frozen.    
Moonwing then yanked the dagger out of her shoulder. 
“There’s no use waiting for night. I messed with Omnia’s rotation and Luna’s orbit just to make this round happen,” growled Moonwing, flicking her tail and opening her wings. She did what?
Moonwing pulled a silver key out of her bow, the very same one her rabbit body had dug out.
“Well, since you didn’t find the key within those FIVE HOURS, it’s time for your next course.” What? But I did–before you broke my connection with the rabbit. Something covered Artemis’ eyes, and she felt like she was being dragged across the hot sand, until all feelings of hot and sandy have vanished. 

After Artemis was finally able to see, she was stuck in a glass cube hanging over hot, bubbling lava. The glass cube wasn’t very big, certainly not large enough for Artemis to comfortably stand and fluff her tails. Her tails were pressed against the hot glass walls, a few brushing against her face. Artemis grunted and struggled to move in the cube. As the tempurature outside was hot, the glass too was heated and she was forced to touch all 6 sides of the inside of the cube. Embers flew by the cube, but never onto the cube, and fire blazed fiercely on the shore of the lava lake she was being hanged over.
The same dragon-winged, green-eyed wolf she saw back at desert camp was perched on one of the rocks, staring at her intently and pawing the rock she was perched on. Dark red pebbles were brushed off of the stone and falling into the bubbling red lava below. 
For some reason, just now, despite her name being mentioned multiple times throughout the death course, only now Artemis recognized the dragon-winged wolf as Io. 
“Sorry, can’t stop her from killing you now,” apologized Moonwing from the rim of the lava pit. Io then leaped off of the rock pillar and glided towards the glass box, breathing a plume of fire and melting the tips of the glass. Artemis cringed, trying her best to dodge in the tiny space given, but parts of her silver-blue paws were scorched and slightly blackened by ash. 
Io flew towards the top of the glass box and flicked the chain with her paw, shaking it. An ember flew up and nearly landed on the box. She then breathed fire on the chains, slightly melting them. 
Artemis trembled, then finally looked up into the sky. It was finally night, and the full moon, no, three full moons, shone brightly and clearly in the sky. Wait, if there’s three full moons, then….
Frost slowly coated the glass box, until Artemis could no longer feel heat pressing against her body. Io jumped back, shaking the glass box. The frost crept up along the chain until it was as solid as an icicle. 
Io flattened her ears and wings, and breathed a plume of fire on the chain, tail bristling. The ice was melted off, and the chain cracked and the box was lowered, but more ice quickly held it together. Artemis smirked as the cat-sized wolf frantically attempted to melt the ice with more fire, but to no avail. Even Moonwing herself looked shocked, eyes widening and slowly backing away from the rim of the lava pit. It seems like I have won, then. Unless Moonwing or Io does something to the ice. Artemis smirked, surrounding the inside and outside of the glass box with fog. Even though I don’t like this small space, at least it’s less hot.
Refusing to be defeated by one of her contestants, Moonwing growled and fired a moonstone lazer at the box. Despite the protective covering of frost and ice, the box quickly shattered into a million pieces, and Artemis dropped out, expecting to be painfully scorched and melted by the boiling lava below, but then a puddle of water splashed onto the lava, instantly turning it into stone, but hot stone, for Artemis to land on. 
Before the lava could melt away the stone platform, Artemis adjusted herself to stand on four paws, tails barely brushing the magma. She then threw more splashes of puddles onto the lava and used the resulting, slowly melting stone platforms to jump towards the shore of the lava lake. 
“Unbelievable,” gasped Moonwing, gazing at the three full moons. “Maybe I shouldn’t have brought you to this planet. I was just curious on what you can do with those moons.”
“So, are you going to lift me out of here?” asked Artemis, perking her ears.
“Well, no. You’ll have to get out of here yourself,” Moonwing replied, walking away from the rim of the lava pit. 
Artemis looked up. There were small rocks jutting out of the sides, and an ice chain in the center. She crouched, then leaped high, claws scrabbling against one of the rocks before she pushed herself onto the platform. She then created a broad, sideways icicle jutting out of the chain, and leaped, landing on the icicle hooking her claws onto the chain. She loosened control on that specific piece of ice and let it melt away in the intense heat, dripping into the lava and cooling some to stone. Although the chain was pretty low down, enough for her tails to nearly brush the surface of the magma, Artemis was nearly finished with climbing out of the lava pit. 
However, as she began climbing the chain, something tugged at one of her tails and cracking the ice crystals that had been supporting the chain. The chain clinked, and gradually began lowering. Another tug at her tail. Artemis looked down, and Io flashed out her wings and launched herself onto Artemis and sank her teeth into her hind leg. 
“PREPARE TO DIE!” she snarled, pushing herself off of Artemis. Artemis knew that Io was either going to push her off into the lava or kill her with firebreath, so she quickly yanked back her tails and hind legs and further ascended up the chain.
The dragon wolf missed by a whisker, the fire plume only singing Artemis’ tail tips, and her paw only brushing by, before she fell and was engulfed by smoke, ash, and lava. Artemis didn’t see her emerge again.
Artemis squared her shoulders, tried to flattened herself against the chain, and launched herself all the way to the top of the chain. She then pushed herself off of the chain and onto the ledge of the lava pit, and fully pushed herself up, collapsing and panting from the heat and relishing the cold wave of air drifting over her. 
Moonwing gazed at the three moons, then back at Artemis. “Wow, you’re pretty powerful with three moons. How about one with no moons?”
Artemis was mildly surprised that Moonwing hadn’t mentioned Io yet. “I guess?”
Suddenly, there was a bang, and a flash followed. Artemis turned around, expecting to immediately be assassinated, but instead a portal opened and a brown-gray wolf with a lighter muzzle, underbelly, paws, and tail underside, and white spots flew out. This wolf was larger than Moonwing and Io, but still smaller than Artemis. 
“GANYMEDIS!” hollered Moonwing. “YOU SAID YOU WEREN’T GOING TO ATTEND!”
“Well, being the audience, I notice a few things that are wrong before YOU DO!” he growled, flying straight into the lava pit, then he screamed louder, “MY SISTER FELL INTO THE LAVA! THE ONE WITH DRAGON WINGS!”
“Lava? When-” Moonwing froze, then looked down into the pit. “ARTEMIS!” Artemis flattened her ears and fluffed her tails. Moonwing glared at her with haunting icy eyes.
Ganymedis flew out of the pit, slight burns covering his paws. He was dragging Io by the scruff, who was covered in much more serious burns all over her body, especially her wings.
Artemis turned towards Moonwing. “Why couldn’t she just use her wings to avoid this?” she asked, a little nervous on what the next course Moonwing would give her as “punishment”. 
“I am pretty sure the only cosmodogs that actively remember their wings can be used for flying on planets with gravity are me, Yure, the duo, Callista, and maybe Saturn.” Moonwing muttered in response, flattening her ears and flicking her tail. Artemis didn’t know who Yure, Callista, or Saturn were, but didn’t bother to ask. She also guessed that the duo were the ant-sized Phobos and Deimos. 
A flash and a bang occured and Ganymedis and Io had both disappeared from sight. 
“Well, since I AM NICE and MERCIFUL, instead of handing a punishment, I will give you a treat. Now, what do you like?” offered Moonwing coolly, half hissing. 
“Cold weather, rain, fog, mountains, fish, and exploring,” responded Artemis, wrapping her tails around her paws. 
“Alrighty!” remarked Moonwing, firing a moonstone lazer at the sky. The lazer dropped down and struck the floor, causing another flash and a bang, and voila, everyone in the vicinity was teleported on top of a cold rainy, foggy, mountain, with a large, crystally waterfall pouring over the edge. It was night, and the three full moons in the sky were once again replaced with the still full Luna. 
Artemis fluffed her fur and tails and flicked her ears. “Does this mean I have won?”
“No, silly,” replied Moonwing, lashing her tail. “You know what happened to Mario. And Modjo. And Hypercane. And Ina. And Ivy. And Zaedyus. And Wish. Why do you think you’ll evade that?”
Artemis bristled, before leaping down on the rocks of the mountain and letting the cold rain soak her fur after being scorched and singed by hot sand and flames. She leaped down onto the stones and rocks, until she reached the near bottom, where the waterfall landed. 
A fish leaped out of the water. Artemis leaped, grabbing the fish with her mouth, and landed into the pool and shook her silver-white and silver-blue fur. 
Holding the fish in her mouth, Artemis waded through the shallow pool. Suddenly, sharp teeth met at her front leg and Artemis looked down. Out of the rocks, a small shark was clinging onto her, teeth firmly locked in her leg. 
“Sharks are also fish!” someone hollered, diving into the waters. Artemis looked up to faintly see Europa diving into the lake, but the shark clinging onto her leg yanked her underwater, smashing her against the rocks. A trickle of blood floated up and drifted onto the surface of the lake. Artemis rubbed her head and firmly froze the small, sharp-fanged shark into a block of melting ice in the lake. She then quickly poked her head out of the water, taking a deep breath. 
Something blunt slashed across the back of Artemis’ neck. Not caring about what attacked her, Artemis froze the attacker into an ice block. The ice block fell into the water with a large splash, splashing onto the shore. The ice cracked, and the attacker, Europa, leaped out of the water and struck her with an ice attack of her own, unleashing a chilling, deadly, icy breath down Artemis’ throat. 
Artemis blinked her silver-blue eyes, and prevented the ice freezing down her throat from spreading. She fluffed her nine tails, covering Europa with the extreme floof, before retracting them and quickly jumping out of the lake. 
Europa also flew out of the lake and perched on a mountain rock, pale red eyes glowing ghostly white, before firing the electrifying lights out of her eyes and hurtling Artemis back into the bottom of the lake. 
The rain pounding outside grew heavier, but Artemis did not notice, nor did she care to notice. This was a matter of life and death, and of course, life was the smart option. She smoothly glided across the lake with such grace and speed, but shark fins popped out around her and surrounded her. She plunged herself into the water and made an air bubble to breathe in. Surrounding her were small, yet ruthless sharks with blood-stained teeth. In this part of the lake, the lake was deeper, so she dived, keeping the air bubble around her head and the ice staying at her throat. The swift sharks were faster, teeth tearing through her fur and splattering blood all over the lake. 

Thunder and lightning cracked the not-so-silence of the atmosphere, following heavy rains pattering against the tower. To avoid giving them nightmares for the next rounds, Moonwing ordered for Kipo, Sapphire, and Mea to be locked in the basement where they won’t ever witness the heavy, thundering rain, or the blood-coated lake. 
Moonwing threw open the window, slammed it behind her, and gracefully drifted down onto a pebble sitting atop of the shallow part of the lake. Other than the bubbles bubbling at the top of the lake, there was no sign of Artemis, and that might not be the sign of Artemis either, as Moonwing clearly remembered that Europa dived into the lake to catch her a fish. W-wait, what if- 
The moonstones encrusted in her bow and her moonstone bracelets glowed brightly in the night against Luna and the stars. White sparks sparked around her spotted gray fur, and Moonwing quickly dived into the water to witness the commotion underwater.
Two whitish canine figures were fighting each other, one larger than the other and seeming to have nine fluffy tails instead of one. Moonwing couldn’t tell individual markings as the bubbles and blood surrounding the two fighting white canids obscured her vision. 
A streak of ice streaked across the lake, and one of the white canids swam toward the other, grabbed a nearby shark, and slapped the larger canid with it. More ice was introduced into the lake, until a firm icy wall was formed between Moonwing and the fighting canids. 
Before a shark piercing threw the ice bit her, Moonwing flew out of the water and shook her wet fur. A smooth, silver-scaled fish lay dead on the other nearby pebbles, two neat clawmarks scored across its gills. Wait…isn’t that her personal marking for fish?
Lashing her tail, Moonwing raised her front paw and fired a moonstone lazer at the sky. She was taking a chance. A risky chance, to be exact. Either the larger, nine-tailed white canid and the smaller canid would both get killed, the larger one would get killed, the smaller one would get killed, or neither of them would get killed. Moonwing only wanted the larger one dead. Just as expected, a white bolt of lightning streaked across the sky and struck squarely in the middle of the lake, where the fight took place. The water sparked for a moment.
The prominent evidence of the turmoil, the bubbles and blood drifting on the surface of the lake, vanished, and the ripples died down. The sharks in the lake were immediately pulverized and killed, as they have or have not served their purpose. 
Moonwing dived back into the water. Everything was crystal clear now. The large white canid, a silver-white and silver-blue kitsune, Artemis, was dead, body beginning to bob on top of the lake. Her white fur was charred from the lightning strike, and blood welled out of deep wounds etched into her. 
“Luna, I brought you the fish,” said a soft voice from behind her. Moonwing twitched her ears and turned around. Hold up, I didn’t know that she would straight up try to kill Artemis. She only said she would catch a fish. 
______________________________________________________________________

“ROOM 3! DON’T LEAVE YET!” yelled Moonwing, lashing her tail as Titane opened a portal. 
“Why do you want us to stay? At some point, Saturn would notice our absence,” he inquired, twitching his dark teal ears. 
“WE HAVE A MEETING!” she announced, flying towards the topmost floor of the tower. 
“It better be less than 10 minutes,” he grunted, climbing the stairs toward the top floor. The other Room 3ers followed. 
“Yeah, or even five. I need to return home to…do stuff,” growled Iapetus, flicking his tails. 
“Okay, so I didn’t get to talk to all of you the last time I visited Room 3 because the forepaw nation attacked, but now is the perfect time to discuss,” declared Moonwing.
“Hold up, there’s something missing,” said Encie, quickly flying down the multiple flights of stairs and returning carrying a large fish in her mouth. Europa also entered the room carrying the other 4 fishes. 
“Do we REALLY need fish?” growled Iapetus, adjusting his sunglasses and twitching his ears.
“Yes, brother, every formal conference needs a serving of fish,” replied Encie, plucking an icicle off of her tail and slicing her fish open. 
“Thanks–but I already ate fish. I–don’t like it,” said Moonwing, curling her fluffy tail around her paws. 
“Ah–okay, I only had Europa grab four fish because she could do with some fish as well,” replied Encie coolly, flicking her gray striped ears. Europa nodded and began eating her fish. 
Titane lay down on a pillow and began wolfing down his fish. “Hmmm, not bad, not bad. I can eat this any day.” Mimas was stretched out on her fish, like it was a pillow, while Iapetus was outright ignoring the fish and flattening his ears. 
“Come on, if you aren’t a spy for the trouble quadruplet then EAT THE FREAKING FISH! THEN DECIDE IF YOU LIKE IT!” demanded Encie, shoving another chunk of fish meat in her mouth. Iapetus adjusted his sunglasses and began eating the fish, then immediately ran down the stairs. 
“I guess he doesn’t like it,” concluded Encie, shrugging and eating some more fish. 
“Can we discuss the important stuff now?” asked Moonwing, flattening her ears as she watched the 3.2ers eat the fish. Iapetus then stormed into the top floor.
“ENCIE!” he yelled, “HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME EAT THE FISH! I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW YOU LIKE THIS STUFF!” He then flattened his ears and sat down. 
“Err…now that everyone is here, can we actually discuss now?” asked Moonwing.
“Trubble Quadrooplet or ya-no, de four pawz of de flisks? O yah, I want to assassinate dem all,” squeaked Mimas, playing with her fish’s tail. 
“You’re…not allowed to kill anyone in our half of Room 3. It’s rules. And IDK server isn’t an option either, none of them have accounts,” hissed Encie. “And speaking of which, the reason why Tethos found out about the bathroom escape is because SOMEONE TOLD HIM.” 
“Let me guess. You’re going to call me a spy for disliking fish,” hissed Iapetus, crossing his paws. 
“Well yes, but actually no. I was going to call you a spy, but not for disliking fish,” replied Encie, flicking her ears. 
“…Other than disliking fish, do you even have freaking evidence?!” demanded Iapetus, standing up and spiking his tails. 
“Yes, because I’m not an idiot. You’re Rheamu’s brother, right?”
“Yeah, but you, Titane, Mimas, and the 78 others are also her sibling. I don’t understand what point you’re trying to make here,”
“My bad, TWIN brother.”
“Yeah, but that doesn’t matter at all.”
“HE’S A SPY! AND HE WUS DE WUN WHO PUSHED DE MERE!” screamed Mimas, clawing the fish she was standing on. “2 OVER 1! Moowin, YEET HIM NOW!”
“Hold up, Titane didn’t get to say anything yet,” said Moonwing, flattening her ears. Titane spat out the entire fish skeleton. 
“Well, Luna, my take on this spy thing is that talking or even forming friendships with the trouble quadruplet doesn’t automatically mean ‘TRAITOR! YEET HIM INTO THE SIXTH DIMENSION NOW!’,” he replied, snapping the skeleton in half. 
“Well, you see, your relationship is with Hyperio, who is a dim-witted idiot who probably doesn’t even know what he’s doing, so he’s no threat. However, I swear I have seen Iapetus exchange glances with Rheamu while we were escaping. And Rheamu is the leader of the coalition. I don’t know how you think that isn’t falling risky,” explained Encie. 
“WHAT?! Okay, she is my twin sister, and I get why Mimas wants to frame me, but I didn’t realize you had something against other than the fish thing me that makes you want to frame me,” hissed Iapetus, flattening his ears and lashing his tails.
“Well, I had suspicions before the fish conference, thank you. But other than that, we have to let Moonwing decide,” said Encie, slicing her fish into little pieces and eatin them one by one. Then, she flicked her feathery tail toward Moonwing. Moonwing stood up on her chair. 
“Since I don’t kick out moonsies unless there’s a VERY GOOD REASON, but if a spy is preventing the attendance of Room 3.2, then I’ll gladly yeet them,” announced Moonwing. “But it seems like we need more evidence to proceed. Encie, since it was your idea, you can investigate his behavior.” 
“And before you leave,” began Moonwing, twitching her ears, “I have to ask you something. Why did Europa, Encie, and Mimas come first before the rest of the Room 3ers?” Encie slapped her tail across Mimas’ face before she could blurt the answer out loud. 
“Well, for whatever reason, Mimas wanted to arrive early and torment the forepaws at the same time, so she basically just opened a portal in front of them and being rude. Then Europa decided to grab me and jump into the portal and then it closed before anyone could reach it. And a little before the round actually started, Europa and I decided to return to fetch the he-dogs and Io. Europa then grabbed Iapetus and threw him into the portal without mercy, and she and Titane zipped to Jupii’s side of Room 3 and dragged Io out of the central room and threw her into the portal, and then they both finally jumped in and arrived. Yeah,” Encie explained, tossing her last section of fish into her mouth. 
“I am feeling ‘You’re going to brazil’ vibes here,” remarked Moonwing, “You are dismissed.”
[/spoiler]