The Gallery That Never Asked for This

Leonardo City was the kind of place that made other cities feel ordinary.

The skyline glittered with towers shaped like giant pencils, paint tubes, and oversized marker caps. Right in the center of it all stood the Solitude Art Gallery — a sweeping futuristic building where enormous crayon-shaped spires caught the afternoon light and threw colored shadows across the plaza below.

Inside, the marble floors were spotless. The air smelled like fresh canvas and just a little bit of ambition.

Super Artist Woman landed on the gallery's front steps with a soft thud, her red cape settling behind her like a curtain after a bow.

"Peaceful afternoon shift," she said to herself, straightening her blue mask. "Nothing unusual. Perfect."

A lion cub in a tiny blazer shoved past a woolly sheep kid clutching a sketchbook.

"Our art is BETTER!" the lion cub announced loudly.

"Is NOT!" the sheep kid fired back.

Super Artist Woman stared.

The Loudest Gallery in Leonardo City

Before Super Artist Woman could say a single word, a dozen more kids poured through the gallery's front doors.

Lion cubs in blazers. Sheep kids in hoodies. All of them arguing at once.

"Lions make BETTER sculptures!"

"Sheep invented WATERCOLOR!"

"That's not even REAL!"

The marble lobby echoed like a gym during a fire drill.

Super Artist Woman pressed two fingers to her temple. This was not the peaceful afternoon shift she had imagined.

Then something happened that made everything worse.

A round little drone — about the size of a basketball, painted neon yellow — zipped through the open doors and hovered above the crowd. A speaker crackled beneath it.

"ATTENTION, LEONAAAAARDO CITY!" the drone squawked in a cheerful recorded voice. "THE GREAT ART SHOWDOWN BEGINS TOMORROW! LION KIDS VERSUS SHEEP KIDS — AND SUPER ARTIST WOMAN IS THE OFFICIAL JUDGE!"

Every single head in the lobby swiveled toward her.

She blinked.

"I — what?"

The lion cubs cheered. The sheep kids cheered louder. Both groups immediately turned to her with enormous, expectant eyes.