The red orange glow of the setting sun shines through the coffee shop's windows. All is silent as the tea on the table goes from lukewarm to cold. Despite the warmth of the red orange tint that enveloped everything, the waning warmth of the tea, Sparky couldn't help but feel there was a certain coldness to it all. He looks puzzlingly at Ginger, who only stares at her reflection in the tea.

Something had overtaken her these past few weeks, she seemed to be enjoying life less and less. She wasn't as energetic as she once was when they were doing their shifts together. They often had lively evening chats over tea after closing up shop, but lately it had come to this. Just deadly silent evenings and undrunk tea. Sparky had bore with these silent evenings a few times because he thought it may have just been a single bad day, but a day turned into a few days, a week, a few weeks, and now a whole month of these kinds of silent evenings. Surely there was something going on. It was finally time to ask.

"Ginger" he says, breaking what felt like an almost sacred silence "is there something that's bothering you?"

Ginger doesn't pick up her head. She only raises her uncovered eye to meet his, though doesn't say a word. She looks at him for a few seconds, as if she had just met him for the first time. She then goes back to looking at the tea.

Sigh Sparky says defeatedly. What was going on in her head?

"Is there truly nothing I can do?" he asks. His voice sounded a bit pained since the answer could very well be yes.

Still no reply. Instead Ginger gets up, dumps her tea in the sink, and leaves without a word. Sparky looks down into his own cup, questioning what it possibly could be. A tear nearly escapes his eye as his heart sinks. How could he let Ginger go on like this? He felt it was his duty to ensure her happiness, because it always seemed she took a liking to him, but was too shy to admit to it.

Arriving at her home, Ginger is met with all the familiar sights. The Grimoire sits open on her desk, though there's little energy left to study today. In fact, she was slowly becoming averse to studying it. What once gave her a new outlet to exploring her innate difference from all the rest served to only separate her in a way that no one else seemed to realize.

She settles down into bed as she cries a bit at the fact that she had become an object of fascination. People now took notice of her because she was different, because they wanted to study that, not because they viewed her as a dog in need of friends. Sure, Sparky was perhaps the closest she had in terms of a friend, but even he only paid more attention to her after she had lost her spark liveliness for life.

Maybe no one understood me, and maybe no one will her mind tells her. Just think about it before all of this, who cared for you? Does anyone care for you now or do they only care about what makes you different from them?

Such mental torment was now becoming more and more commonplace. That was what was wearing her down. What point was there to living if all it would ever be was to be regarded as an object of fascination in the minds of others. Was there not one person that looked for the personality beyond that?

Ginger cries and cries at the thoughts that have long tormented her, until finally exhausting herself and falling asleep.

Over at Olive's house, Sparky looks at the mess of magazines on the coffee table in the living room.

"I just want you to know that's Olive's doing, not mine" Patches says to him.

"Huh" Sparky replies in an uninterested tone.

"Sorry for keeping you waiting, I forget where I put snacks all the time" Olive says with a bit of embarrassment as they bring in a tray full to the brim with them. "Oh...it seems like there's no room for them on this table...heh..." they say as they blush up.

"What is it going to matter Olive? Just put them on the table. They're all cans and bags anyways" Patches says somewhat impatiently. (He just wants to get on with the conversation, not suffer second hand embarrassment).

"Right, heh...So, what did you want to talk to us about? It's so nice of you to stop by for a surprise visit" Olive asks with utmost liveliness. (They are clearly unaware of anything Sparky is expressing through his uninterest in Olive's awkwardness and his slouchy body language.)

"Ginger, right?" Patches interrupts.

"Oh, how are you two doing?" Olive asks excitedly.

"Olive, please. You clearly don't get it." Patches interrupts again.

"Oh..." Olive says a bit silently (they finally get what's going on).

Sparky takes a deep breath. He looks at Patches and asks in earnest "So you've noticed it too? I'm just worried."

Olive is hopelessly lost. Patches sits back in his chair and chuckles to himself. Olive and Sparky look on in puzzlement, though they trust that Patches will have something insightful to say.
—————
Scene that takes places later on, after Patches agrees to chime in on helping Ginger deal with being an outsider. Not meant to be a interpreted as Patches x Ginger.
—————
"Don't be such a downer, Ginger" Brownie quips. "Not everyone can be an ultra cool magic dog like you. You should be happy about that."

Ginger slams the locker door and snaps her head to Brownie. The red glow in Ginger's uncovered eye can only mean trouble.

"Ginger, no" Patches says to her gently, as he tugs on her arm to signal her to disengage.

"Aw...so you two are back together, huh? I thought it was over after the whole zombie thing" Brownie says smugly.

"Hmpf" Patches scoffs. "I would consider yourself still lucky to be standing there."

"Ha! Look who's talking!"

"Please, Brownie, enough" Sparky pleads.

"Whatev" she mumbles as she rolls her eyes and walks away.

—————
Start of a confrontation scene between Mittens and Ginger, where Mittens seeks to test the limits of Ginger's power.
—————
"Did you hear we have special guests from Kemono Woods today? I wonder who they are eeeee." Olive can barely contain their excitement, but Ginger couldn't be more nervous about it. She should have never agreed to spar with Coco. Look at it now, only more and more people saw her as an object of interest.

"I'm sure it's going to be nothing, Ginger" Sparky says reassuringly. "I mean, the last time we had cats over, it didn't go over too bad."

"Ugh, so long as Whiskers isn't one of them." Patches remarks.

The doors fly open without anyone touching them. Of course the cats would make an entrance that way, but the group had a magic user nonetheless. Ginger grows ever more anxious and clutches Sparky's paw ever harder.

"Oh my dog! Yay, it's you guys!" Olive exclaims.

"You should really learn to control yourself" Mittens coldly replies, clearly unamused and uninterested in Olive. "I'm sure you all know about how Coco was finally defeated in a sparring match."

"HEY! You said that would be kept a secret" Coco growls.

"Oh hush, sweetheart, not everyone is meant to be the most powerful" Mittens replies smuggly.

"Excuse you. Who are you calling sweetheart!" Brownie shouts.

"Calm yourself doggie, why would I ever be interested in her anyways?" Mittens says dismissively.

Brownie growls at this, but Olive pleas with her to calm down.

"Just tell us what you want already" Patches says.

"You, you cutie" Whiskers says playfully.

"Dog save me..." Patches whispers to himself as he facepalms himself. He takes a deep breath.

"No. Have a nice day now" he says back calmly.

"Wha- grrrrrr. Mittens, hurry up already with your stupid thing. I can't stand this" Whiskers says impatiently.

"You. Show me what you've got" Mittens commands while pointing their paw at Ginger.

Ginger buries her head in Sparky's chest. "I'm sorry I brought this upon all of you" she whispers to him.

Sparky reassuring strokes her hair to try and calm her down.

"Hmpf. I knew I never should have given dogs a chance" Mittens whispers to themself. "Well? Are you going to keep me waiting or what?" they ask impatiently.
———
Time for the showdown. Harmony between cats and dogs hangs in the balance as they put their best forward.
———
They all gather in the school courtyard. The very same courtyard where the world witnessed the summoning of Bawpawmet. Mittens had been utterly humiliated by being shown that they were not the only one that had such power. A filthy dog had pulled it off. And here was another before them, supposedly matched in power, though all were about to find out who was the strongest.

The cats stand behind the wire fence, while the dogs gather along the school's brick wall. So it seems that cats and dogs still had not learned to get along. Somehow this sparing match had become more of a cat vs. dog contest. Luna sighs in disappointment upon seeing how the two species have segregated themselves. Olive stands on the front line of the crowd, excited to see what might happen (Apparently they fail to grasp the seriousness of the situation). Patches stares ahead coldly, paws behind back, interested in observing the magical ability that was soon to be on full display. Coco and Brownie fail to look at each other. This whole situation had put them at odds. Coco was too proud of being a cat to not putting her hope in Mittens, while Brownie couldn't pass up the chance to one up Coco's ego, so she had to stand by Ginger.

"Well Ginger, I just need you to focus on keeping yourself safe first. Mittens seems bent on doing something to you. I feel this is well beyond a friendly match" Sparky cautions Ginger.

For once, Ginger looks Sparky right in the eye. They exchange dead serious glances for just a few seconds, no words at all. Ginger then turns and makes her way to the empty area. Mittens looks at Ginger scornfully.

"Listen here doggie. I helped you once before, so remember who is more powerful. Rest assured, if you end up as a ghost again, I won't be helping you the second time around. I don't make the same mistake twice." Mittens says condescendingly.

"You better not hurt any of my friends, else you'll get it" Ginger cautions.

Sparky is amazed. This is the first time he had seen Ginger so confident. Here she was, unafraid and ready to defend not only herself, but the ones she cared for. He can't help but to smile and feel reassured.

"Ha! Anything else that dies with you is just bonus points. You see, I'm a good purrson, because I'm all inclusive. All of you will die" Mittens says with a smirk.