The start of Spring Break was often something that many students celebrated, as it was a way for them to get away from school pressures and so on. For Marcella Walker, though, it wasn't. It started with the fact that the first of her four punishments was ready. She'd gotten a call from Alexandria "Sandy" Lynx to report to the Claw Coliseum for the first punishment and wear a swimsuit. It was something that didn't make sense when she got the call, but she wasn't going to ask too many questions over the phone. That would make things all the more embarrassing, though to a degree, Marcella was also at a point where she was happy to start getting those things out of her way and possibly finish trying to move forward, something that had its own hurdles.
For even without the punishments, her time in jail from the aftermath of the fight with Chrissy and through to her trail, she had fallen fairly far behind on her schoolwork. WSA had agreed to take her in and would let her attend in person once she completed the fourth punishment, but until then, she had a mountain of work to catch up on. WSA's online presentations was helpful in giving time for Marcella to catch up, and it was working well. But a good part of her did want some measure of social contact, as elephants were social animals, after all, and finishing the punishments would provide that opportunity. Though, some of those questions came back after arriving at Animalia's main sports arena.
She arrived to find two female officers, one a Woolly Rhinoceros Animalian and the other a Triceratops Dinotopian. The former was shorter than she was, by about the same margin as the male members of the Rhino Guard that had been sent to Desert Flats the night of her fight with Chrissy. The latter, however, could stare her in the eye, and the long horns from above her eyes pointed forward with enough of a point that Marcella knew not to try anything. It jogged some memories on the nature of her trial and the circus that followed it and how much trouble getting jealous of Chrissy had caused for her. That two members of Animalia's most elite police unit would be there to supervise the first of her punishments. Standing before them was the Animalia DA, Alexandria Lynx. She also had a Human standing alongside her, though he seemed less enthused by things.
"Thank you for being prompt," Alexandria Lynx spoke politely as Marcella came forward with Manfred following, mostly as a chaperone.
"I wouldn't want to make things any worse than they are," Marcella answered, "I mean... if I skip out on these..."
"You would go back to trial and could have the prison sentence reinstated," Alexandria Lynx spoke, "that is where the four punishments are an alternative to that, and a big part of rehabilitating those that have done wrong."
"Won't take the guilt away," Marcella sighed, her voice sounding deeper than she wanted it to as some of it reverberated down her trunk, "So, what do I need to do?"
"First, Sherry and Wanda will escort you the locker rooms," Alexandria Lynx spoke, "from there, you will change into your swimwear, from there, you will be escorted to the main gym. From there, all things will be explained further..."
It didn't take too long, though Marcella was even further surprised by what she saw as she came into the main arena area. She'd mostly seen it when Animalia staged pickup basketball games of Animalians against each other, or the various wrestling matches from the IAC and the MMA for Animalians fights that were on television. There were also the various events that related to the Animalian celebrations for Chinese New Year, and in that she could tell the arena's floor was of a good size and wasn't small, but that didn't mean she expected the structure she saw. The structure looked wooden and looked like it went up at least two floors, maybe more. It was also painted completely black. She also then noted Alexandria Lyre standing next to a sort of ramp that went around the large rectangular structure before reaching the door on the upper level. Marcella also noted that entry was well fenced so that it would be hard to jump away and would also be high enough that clearing that railing would risk major injury when landing on the ground. Marcella had no intent on trying to escape and judged it to be a safety precaution against falling.
Nearby Alexandria Lynx were a small group of Box Turtle Animalians who were looking at the structure and toward her. Marcella wasn’t sure who they were and wondered what they would be doing. As they were well smaller than her, and while they did look strong, she figured that a lot of her bulk size would make a physical altercation risky for them, and unnecessary for security with Sherry and Wanda also present and following along behind her. She carefully made her way forward and did her best to make sure she didn't look aggressive. And while her tusks weren't huge, as female Elephants had smaller tusks than males, she also tried to angle them so that they weren't pointing at anyone.
"Okay... I'm here..." Marcella said slowly, "is there a reason for me being in a swimsuit for this?"
"Part of the "clean up your act" part of the four punishments," Alexandria Lynx answered calmly, "and will play a role in the start of your punishments... One that we required some help in constructing. Thankfully, Peter and his friends were able to make the time and effort to build the maze that you are to follow."
"Maze?" Marcella wondered and looked over to the building, "but that just looks like a big black box."
The first of the Box Turtle Animalians, a male, cleared has throat before lowering a clawed hand to his side after doing so.
"And from the outside, it is a big black box," Peter spoke, "we had to reinforce some things for the top floor to be assured that it would hold your weight. But we did get some help from the construction company that does a lot of the work here in Animalia and from Nzinga and her husband, Dean. The structure can hold HIS weight, so it should easily hold yours. And will present a challenge."
"A challenge?" Marcella raised an eyebrow and looked back to the Bobcat prosecutor, "my first punishment is a challenge?"
"In a way," Alexandria Lynx answered, "the maze's interior is dimly lit, so you won't be able to see very well, outside of in some specific areas. Areas that will serve as reminders of what you endured and what you responded to. Now, the interior of the maze is collapsable, so in pure theory, you could just crash through the walls to get to the end..."
"Though, you'd end up with a bad fate in doing that, and would have to do the maze again," Peter gave a snicker.
Alexandria Lynx frowned to the Box Turtle Animalian, who did back down.
"A big part of the "challenge" is to understand clearly what was the cause of your present predicament," Alexandria Lynx spoke, "the reactions to childish behavior. Christina Moore could have been far kinder to you, and she could have at least openly stated that she'd moved on and been polite about it. But people being jerks is not justification for changing their species and then fighting once the scheme was exposed."
"So... I take a wrong turn and get a reminder of what I did wrong," Marcella said slowly and privately figured that this wouldn't be too bad, "though... what about the "clean up your act" part that someone mentioned?"
"Much of that is at the end of the maze," Alexandria Lynx answered, "once there, you will have "a path" to the lower level where you will get a thorough bathing that is represent cleaning off all those old issues. It will not be the most comfortable sensation, and with you being in Animalia, that physical task will be left to the matriarch of the Animalia herd of Elephants. Which is why you're in a swimsuit for this. And as said before, if you decide to just crash through the maze's walls to reach the end faster, you WILL repeat the maze again, and that includes the bath at the end."
"So... you flooded the arena?" Marcella wondered.
"No, part of the maze's construction had to include a waterproof bottom," Peter spoke up, "and that's partially where we had to talk with the construction companies in the area to fit what would be needed. And that included the ability to assemble and disassemble it. It was a challenge, but we managed and much of the "waterproofing" is more with a portable pool that could be set up."
"Seems like a lot of work for a punishment," the Human male grumbled, "how is Animalia PAYING for all of this?"
"The physical work was free of charge, because it will ultimately help someone learn their lesson," one of the female Turtle Animalians that was present, "the rest of the payment could come in by the time we get to Halloween. They often have things set up for "Spookyville" that would include things like this. People pay to go in, get a good scare, and go out."
"And if used for Spookyville, we could replace the water with plastic balls and it could be a ball pit at the end," Peter added, "it'd be fun, and what alterations that would need to be made for it would be relatively minor. So, it can function well for long term business needs."
"Which a prison can't do, as you'd have pay for housing, security, food, and health for all persons incarcerated," Alexandria Lynx added.
The Human male rolled his eyes, but Marcella did her best to ignore all that. On certain levels she understood the base nature of Animalia's four punishments. The person punished was made to relive many of the things that they had done wrong often had it in the most embarrassing ways. And for those that had gone through the four punishments, there was never a repeat offense from them, which was something that Marcella judged as being a result of how much they drew attention to many of these. Of course, with her own issues, she had found herself looking into how Animalia handled crime and punishment and noted that the four punishments also often came with some major background checks on those that would face that punishment. They didn't use it if there was any reason to believe that a person might abuse the system to then repeat the offense. Which often meant that those that got the four punishments were likely already feeling guilty when the punishments were handed down, and that fit her position perfectly.
"Okay... so, can I get started?" Marcella asked.
"Of course, just let us go up media booth," Alexandria Lynx spoke, "we'll have the means to observe how things go from there. Sherry and Wanda will remain on guard to assure there is no escape attempt."
"There won't be," Marcella answered.
Alexandria Lynx nodded and then moved up into the stands. Marcella could only follow as they went up the stairs that were there for the stands. It was something that helped give them a means to get to the media booth with ease and fit with a lot of the layout that went into a great many stadiums. There was some clanging as they went up the stairs that Marcella could hear, though after getting up to the second level and crossing the jogging path, they got far enough away that Marcella couldn't see or hear anymore from them. She only waited patiently and trying to look peaceful. Occasionally she felt her ears wave a little bit, though at present it was more a nervous tick than temperature regulation. After a short while, she saw Alexandria Lynx and the Human male with her appear behind the glass in the media booth section. The Bobcat DA gave a small wave and then a thumbs up signal. That was enough for Marcella, and she began to make her way up the ramp.
Some things creaked a little, but they also held and held well. For that, Marcella did have to commend the Turtle Animalians that had built this big maze box. As she went around, she also noted that there was a door on the bottom level that was on the opposite side of where she was to enter on the upper level. That only confirmed nature of the maze and that the only "exit" would be going through the cleaning on the lower level. Of course, as she entered the maze on its top level, Marcella could see more on where the challenges were. She opened the door, and it was scaled up to her size, but as she entered, she found the inside dark. It wasn't impossible to see, as there were flickering lights in places. However, the light that was there was very dim. It was like a "nightlight" that would be there to assure a kid wasn't scared of the dark, but would be dark enough that the light wouldn't keep them awake, either. It forced Macella to reach out with her hands and trunk to begin slowly making her way through the maze. As expected, the walls were made out of a metal frame that held a plywood body.
As she ran her trunk along one of it, she could tell that the plywood was covered by a relatively sturdy fabric that was both soft to prevent injury but firm enough to prevent trying to lean on it. In some ways it tickled, and, in some ways, it itched, and the fact that Marcella could tell the difference in that with her trunk was another reminder on how much her jealousy had changed both her and Chrissy. True, she'd had a sense of touch before, but that was mostly used with her hands before. Now, as she went through her punishment, the low lighting was forcing her to use her nose and further adapt to all the muscles that ran down her trunk and accept the tactile sensations as it touched the walls of the maze. It gave her the sensation that she could easily plow through all the walls and get to the end, but that also then came with the note that the whole punishment would be repeated if she did something like that. Thus, she took it slow to try and see what was ahead, where the hallways turned and guess as to which way would solve the maze, and the low light levels didn't help there.
In fact, the low light actually helped Marcella wander into some of the dead ends in the maze and got the reminders on her actions. They were often sections where what light was there was a bit brighter. It then revealed a mirror and she could see her elephantine body in the swimsuit she was having to wear for the punishment and with a note cut to look like a comic's speech bubble that had messages of "circus freak" posted where the note would be coming from her mouth. At other times, they were just scaled up photos of her and Chrissy in their Human forms with Chrissy looking happy and popular and with Marcella just looking sour at being ignored. One of those actually had Marcella's face colored in green. It showed on how far they'd gone to provide reminders on how the whole New Years' incident with Chrissy had been started by petty jealousy and added to the changes that came with their becoming Animalians.
"And now has me bumbling around in the dark to find a flight of stairs," Marcella sighed to herself as she looked down after the last wrong turn.
It felt like she'd gone around the whole outer edge of the building in trying to find her way through the maze, but she finally found a section that looked like there was an actual door. She figured that would have to be the route to the lower level and the bath that she was supposed to be given. She made her way toward it, but just as she was about to reach the door, she heard a click from beneath her. She looked down only to see the trap door open and she dropped onto a slide that took her to the lower level. The drop wasn't far, though far enough that she didn't hit her head on the floor as she fell through the hole. That prevented any injury when she hit the slide and she found it to be very smooth. From there she slid down the slide and toward a decent sized backyard pool that was about five feet tall and filled with enough water to have the height of the water being four and a half feet. The lighting on the lower level was much brighter and she could see that there were visible soap suds in the water as well.
"Oh... no..." Marcella found herself saying as she was dropped off the slide and into the water. She sat up to find water soaking her hair and also feeling the soap bubbles cling to her hair, ears, and trunk. She wiped some of the water away from her eyes to then see that she wasn't alone. Nzinga was also there and was holding a set of very heavy looking brushes. The bristles looked strong and tough. They wouldn't be enough to cut her, but they wouldn't be the most comfortable thing, either.
"Well," Nzinga said slowly, "you've taken your time with the maze... so you weren't in a rush. And you know why you're here."
"Because I've been dumb... jealous..." Marcella admitted weakly, though her knees were quaking a bit before the Animalia Elephant herd's matriarch.
"And now, it is time to clean up your act," Nzinga said quite firmly and confidently and approached the edge of the pool.