The months had gone by in fairly good timing and Tai got used to sharing her house. No one really asked her about her eye as it began to heal although it hadn't gone unnoticed by Mr. Louis. Regardless, he was happy that both Tai and Jezero got along.

Along the lines of the project, Tai and Jezero had their shares of successes and failures. Their goal was to create liquid crystal jewels from scratch. Needless to say, it was quite a rough road. It wasn't until the 42nd attempt that they had finally gotten it right.

“Note-to-self: Never use two grams of Zinc in this formula.” Tai muttered as she shook herself dry. The previous attempt had exploded slime all over them; changing their fur color. Jezero's had turned yellow and Tai's fur had turned green so both of them had to wash it off.

“Maybe two grams of Sulfur will do it.” Jezero suggested.

“It wouldn't hurt to try...I hope.” They added the Sulfur to the formula and ran for cover. “I don't hear anything blowing up. You think its safe?”

“Go check.” Jezero whispered.

Tai gulped and peeked over the couch; half expecting for her head to get blown off. What she saw made her freeze in shock. Her eyes beheld a shining cluster of crystals glowing different colors. Jezero peered over. “Either you just got your head blown off or we-” she sat there stunned. “We succeeded...” The two began to dance around in joy. Tai had stopped dancing and pondered something.

“We did write down the formula right?” Tai asked.

~

It was finally time for the fair and everyone was doing a final check on their experiments and mechanisms. Each pair had their own booth to set up and decorate as they chose around the gymnasium. Tai and Jezero were number 9 in their class line up while Snizard and Uni were number 2. Mr. Louis, a young cougar lady; Ms. Marigold, and an old badger wearing a toupee; Dean Bertrand, were the judges for the fair.

“Seems like a wonderful turn out this year.” Mr. Louis smiled.

“Yes, lets hope that nothing goes wrong this year.” Dean Bertrand huffed, adjusting his toupee. “Heaven forbid I have to deal with another mechanical disaster.”

“It looks like your solitary student finally made friends with someone?” Ms. Marigold laughed, tilting her head in Tai's direction.

“Yes, I didn't think that there would be anyone she would really open up to since her mother's passing.” Mr. Louis nodded.

“Lets not pry into other's personal lives and begin this fair.” the Dean cut in. They began with the Husky boy and German Shepherd girl's project: Sponge Growing Plants.

“A nice project, but what gave you the idea to name the sponge Timmy?” Ms. Marigold laughed. The Husky boy simply pointed to his partner who just smiled. The other two wrote down their information on their clip boards and moved on to the second booth. Snizard and Uni presented their project.

“We show to you the Perfect Antitoxin. Observe.” Snizard bit into a small white rat's neck as his unique poisons were injected. The rat began to writhe in pain; slowly dying.

“Now watch as this antitoxin can cure the unique poison mixings of a frilled lizard-snake hybrid.” Uni injected the serum into the rat as its heart rate began to slow to normal.

“A...well thought out project.” Mr. Louis commented.

“If not a bit disturbing.” the Dean added.

“A very...unique..idea.” Ms. Marigold tried to keep herself from gagging. “And a little stomach turning...” They moved on to the next booth. Meanwhile, Tai and Jezero were putting the final decorations on their booth.

“Darn it! I left the rocks and jewels at my desk!” Jezero face palmed.

“Well we have time to go get them if we move quickly. Just let me set the formula up right quick.” Tai finished the experiment set up and left with Jezero. Unknownst to them, Snizard and Uni snuck around to browse at Jezero and Tai's experiment.

“A neat green mixture if you ask me.” Uni chuckled.

“Well, lets make this mixture a little better.” Snizard laughed. “A dash of Cobalt...”

“A hint of Iodine...”

“And some green food coloring to avoid suspicion.” They walked away to another booth that was already finished presenting. Tai and Jezero came back just in time to finish decorating. The judges had just finished at booth 7: the Coyote boy and Panther boy's Solar-Powered Hairsuiter.

“And with one pair to spare.” Tai sighed. Neither of them noticed that their experiment had been tampered with. It wasn't long before the judges arrived at their booth.

“Behold the sight of beauty created in the Earth's underground caverns.” Jezero began.

“A rarity to be seen, but now easily accessible. A rainbow crystal formed from a small amount of liquid.” Tai continued. Snizard and Uni snickered in their corner.

“Let the light show commence.”

“Now we just add two grams of sulfur and...wait, why isn't it changing?” Jezero questioned.

“I mixed the ingredients according to the formula to the point.”

“Then it should be reacting.” Neither of them noticed the mixture beginning to bubble and smoke.

“Um, girls?” Mr. Louis began.

“HIT THE DECK!!!” Snizard shouted. Everyone except for the bickering two heeded the saboteur's warning.

“We practiced this before the fair.” Tai finally noticed the bubbling concoction. “Get down!” Tai pushed Jezero under the table right before the flask exploded in her face. The glass flew out and slashed her across her left eye. Tai flew backwards and hit the wall. Toxic smoke began to fill the building while the rest of the population began to evacuate.

“Tai!” Jezero was about to reach out from under the table but the ruined mixture was water-falling off of it an slightly singed her fur. The other three sides of the table were blocked off by thick slabs of wood. “Tai!-cough-” she called out. “I'm trapped!-cough-” Tai shook her head and saw the frightened Kinkajou trapped under the table. She reached under but quickly drew back her paws; a fair amount of fur began to fall off of her paws.

“Hang on! I'm coming!” Tai began to push the table over; the liquid burning her paws. “C'mon!” The coughing Kinkajou hastily climbed onto Tai's back as they made way for the exit.

“Is everyone out?” Ms. Marigold looked around.

“Wait! Wheres Taijey and Jezero?” Mr. Louis called out. Almost to answer him, Tai and Jezero escaped the building.

“Were right here, Mr. Louis!” Tai shouted, dropping Jezero into the snow.

“What kind of stunt were you two trying to pull?!” Dean Bertrand shouted.

“It's not our fault. Someone must've tampered with-”

“You put the entire school in danger!”

“Dean Bertrand, it was clearly an accident.” Mr. Louis commented.

“No! Last year's shaving of my head was an accident. This was clearly on purpose!”

“Dean Bertrand, our experiment was sabotaged!” Tai shouted.

“I doubt you would be able to prove that. I regret to inform you that you two are expelled from Young Minds Academy for endangering students and the near destruction of the school. Good day to you.” He began to walk away.

“But Bertrand, they are both clearly in dire need of medical attention.” Marigold commented.

“They are no longer my problems to deal with, anymore. I knew that lonely little cat was trouble since her mother's passing.” he continued to walk. Tai's heart nearly stopped. She growled and punched the snow, then turned to Jezero; coughing and writhing.

“Get her to an emergency room first.” the two teachers called for an ambulance. Snizard and Uni were hiding underneath the stairs to the building, snickering.

~

At the hospital, Tai and Jezero shared a room. Tai's paws only needed to be soaked in water and wrapped up while her left eye was covered with a wet cloth. Jezero on the other hand was frequently looked at but unfortunately could not be cured. Her lungs were just about permanently damaged.

“Ms. Okale, what ever that liquid was, its completely burned off some of your fur and may have permanently declawed your paws.” the doctor informed. Tai only sat on her bed staring at her paws, hoping that Jezero would be ok.

The night before they were to leave the hospital, Tai sat next to Jezero's bed; Jezero was asleep. “I know our experiment was sabotaged...and I know who did it. I will find a way to heal you...and make those two pay for what they've done.” Tai fell asleep; head resting on Jezero's bed and paws twitching in pain.