🇺🇾 Jack and the Carnival of the Piranha

The pouch had been quiet.

Too quiet.

Until it leapt out of Jack’s hoodie and did something it hadn’t done since the start of their mission: it splashed.

“Did it just jump?” Lenny gasped as the pouch bounced across the pavement and dove straight into the shallows of the Rambla of Montevideo, the wide boulevard that hugged the Río de la Plata.

Ollie pointed. “It’s chasing something!”

They followed it along the promenade, where music from a nearby candombe parade rang through the air — booming drums, spinning dancers, glitter, and colourful streamers flying in the wind.

In the middle of it all, skipping between drums and dodging confetti, was a single, mischievous marble. It didn’t glow. It wiggled. It didn’t float. It darted — through puddles, paint, and popcorn.

When Jack caught up, the marble launched itself into a fountain at the centre of Plaza Matriz. He reached into the water, and as he touched it, the whole fountain lit up.

Words formed in the dancing spray:

“Where rhythm bites and colour runs,
A marble plays with startled puns.
Don’t chase, don’t scold, don’t take offence —
Just laugh, and feel the nonsense tense.”

The pouch pulsed.

And the marble rose — turquoise with crimson spots like a tropical fish in a hurry, its swirls shifting direction like it couldn’t ever make up its mind.

🐟 SPOTTY PIRANHA

Bernard chuckled. “Spotty Piranha is the marble of chaotic joy. He splashes when things get too serious. He reminds us that sometimes… laughter is the lesson.”

Jack wiped water off his face. “He’s been here the whole time, hasn’t he?”

Imogen nodded. “He just didn’t want to be found. He wanted to make us find fun.”

Jack held the marble high.

Pop!
It dove into the pouch with a wet slurp — and as it did, a rainbow of water shot from the fountain, soaking the entire team.

The locals cheered. A dancer handed Jack a carnival mask shaped like a fish.

Ollie grinned. “Now that’s how you catch a marble!”

Bernard shook off water. “And that, my friends… was number ninety-eight-and-a-half.”