Due to the fact you're rudely being chased by some Bird Tribe maniac with stupid-looking feathers, you run down a dark alleyway in southern Moon City. It's pretty gross, you gotta admit. Not quite as bad as most of the Island Cities, but the outskirts of Moon City are crawling with rats and Rodent Tribe members alike.

You have survived your first year at Moon City's public high school, Silverspot High, which gives you confidence that the Island Cities might not be so bad. Every once in a while the street Rodents show up, but they're everywhere. The Bug Tribe, too, but they're so tiny a gust of strong wind could blow the four-foot-freakies north of the Manticore Kingdom.

When you turn a corner to hide, just to make sure the cuckoo Bird is gone, you spot a boy, about your age, on his phone and sitting on a wooden crate. He notices you cautiously waiting in the shadows, and puts his phone down -- staring into your eyes for a fraction of a second, sour expression on his face.*

"Oh, great," he says acidly, looking back down at his phone. "The B.O.U.Gs fans are spying on me now."