(A/N):
Thanks for the support!!!
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
-------------------------------------------------
A week remained.
One week before the STELLAR CANVAS CONCLAVE. One last working day before another Tom and Jerry episode.
Across the universe, people weren't just waiting.
They were counting.
On UniNet,
LumiNyx's stream was already live.
She leaned forward in her chair, pink hair tied loosely, tail swaying in excited little flicks.
"...."
A massive countdown hovered behind her, glowing bright and official.
[STAR ENTERTAINMENT – UNIVERSAL COUNTDOWN]
[00:03:21]
"Chat,"
LumiNyx said, voice vibrating with energy,
"I don't care what anyone says. This is my weekly religion now."
Chat scrolled faster than usual.
[NebulaDad: took leave for this]
[VoidSnacker: last working day secured]
[StarMoth: episode 16 hypeeeee]
[IonRush: this one's a classic right??]
The timer ticked down.
[00:00:10]
"Ten!" LumiNyx counted aloud.
[00:00:05]
"Five!"
Chat spammed emotes, laughter icons, exploding stars.
[00:00:01]
[00:00:00]
The screen flickered.
[Tom and Jerry – Puttin' on the Dog (Blue Ribbon)]
The episode began immediately.
Tom sprinted onto the screen, eyes wide with terror, legs pumping for his life.
Behind him—
A pack of dogs thundered after him.
LumiNyx gasped.
-Gasp!
"OH HE'S DONE—HE'S DONE FOR!"
Tom vaulted over obstacles, skidded around corners, tail on fire metaphorically and almost literally.
The camera cut—
Jerry sat comfortably atop Spike's head, waving.
Waving. Mockingly.
"...."
Chat exploded.
[VoidSnacker: JERRY IS EVIL]
[NebulaDad: SPIKE JUST LETTING IT HAPPEN]
[StarMoth: THE WAVE 😭😭]
Tom tripped. Recovered. Tripped again.
The dogs piled up in a chaotic heap.
LumiNyx was laughing so hard she had to mute herself for a second, shoulders shaking, tail thrashing wildly behind her.
-Haha!!!
"I CAN'T—WHY IS THIS STILL SO GOOD?"
The episode wrapped cleanly.
Laughter lingered.
Applause emojis flooded chat.
"No disappointment,"
LumiNyx declared, wiping her eyes. "Not even close."
Then—
The screen went black.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Tom walked in from the left. Jerry followed. Spike joined them. They stood together.
A board dropped down.
[STELLAR CANVAS CONCLAVE]
[🎬 TOM AND JERRY: THE FAST AND THE FURRY]
[📅 Release Date Displayed]
For half a second—Silence.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Then chaos. LumiNyx screamed.
"WAIT—WAIT—CHAT DID YOU SEE THAT?!"
Chat detonated the next second.
[WHAT MOVIE?!]
[THE FAST AND THE FURRY??]
[FULL MOVIE CONFIRMED?!]
[STELLAR CANVAS LET'S GOOOO!!!]
Her viewer count spiked again.
Comments under the episode refreshed so fast they barely loaded.
[A MOVIE?? THEY PLANNED THIS FROM THE START SEE YOU AT STELLAR CANVAS TAKE MY CREDITS NOW]
Clips spread instantly.
Screenshots flew across UniNet.
"Tom and Jerry movie confirmed."
"Sun Entertainment enters Stellar Canvas."
"This is how you build hype."
LumiNyx leaned back, eyes shining, voice breathless.
"…Chat," she said slowly, "this isn't just a series anymore."
She smiled wide.
"This is an event."
Across the universe, calendars updated.
Expectations ignited.
And somewhere, quietly, Star Entertainment had just made its loudest announcement yet—without saying a single word.
Meanwhile,
Krishna's House...
Krishna sat quietly on his bed, the glow from his bracelet painting soft light across the room.
Ariel hovered beside him, projecting message after message in neat columns.
[OFFERS RECEIVED: 147 → 219 → 301]
Studio logos from across the universe.
Contracts. Buyout proposals.
"Exclusive rights acquisition."
"Full studio purchase."
"Immediate monetization opportunity."
Krishna didn't even blink.
"…Politely decline all of them," he said flatly.
Ariel tilted its head. [All, Young Master?]
"Yes,"
Krishna replied, golden eyes narrowing just a little.
"Do they think I'm an idiot?"
Ariel smiled, wings fluttering. [Understood.]
The offers vanished one by one, replaced with clean, courteous rejections.
No bridges burned. No doors slammed.
Just a firm no.
Moments later, a new notification appeared through his I-Bracelet.
[FROM: HELIOS VANGUARD ACADEMY – FILMMAKING DEPARTMENT]
[SUBJECT: STELLAR CANVAS CONCLAVE CREDENTIALS]
Krishna opened it as soon as it arrived.
Login credentials. Portal access. Verification seals.
Everything was ready.
"…Now we wait," he murmured.
Across the universe, panic had begun to spread.
Not among audiences.
Among studios.
Within days of Tom and Jerry's rise, imitation flooded the feeds.
Cheap. Rushed. Soulless.
A white mouse and a neon-blue cat called Fizz & Clank.
A hyper-stylized pair named Zap & Squeak.
A painfully forced duo, Nibbles & Razor, complete with awkward dialogue and overexplained jokes.
Audiences were not kind.
On UniNet, the chats were ruthless.
[VoidSnacker: nah this ain't it]
[NebulaDad: they copied the chase but forgot the timing]
[StarMoth: why are they TALKING 😭]
[IonRush: this feels sad not funny]
Comment sections turned brutal.
[THIS FEELS LIKE WATCHING SOMEONE EXPLAIN A JOKE THEY JUST RECOLORED TOM AND JERRY WHY IS THERE DIALOGUE FOR EVERYTHING I FEEL BAD FOR THE CHARACTERS. IT'S LIKE A PSYCHO DEVELOPED IT TO SEE THOSE POOR THINGS SUFFER.]
Reaction streams lit up.
"This isn't homage," one streamer said flatly. "It's panic."
Another laughed bitterly.
"They copied the colors, the roles, even the gags—but none of the silence."
Even people who had never watched Tom and Jerry before started tracing it back.
"So THIS is the original everyones's talking about?"
"No wonder this feels empty."
Ironically, the knockoffs only fueled the real thing.
Searches for Star Entertainment surged again. Views climbed once again. Subscribers multiplied.
Meanwhile...
From his house Krishna watched the noise from a distance, unmoved.
Ace lay beside him, head resting on his leg, tail flicking lazily enjoy watching Tom And Jerry. Especially when ever Spike appears.
"They don't get it," Krishna said quietly.
The Entertainment System appeared briefly, arms crossed, mask grinning.
[-GRIN!!!]
[They copied the shape,] it said. [Not the soul. Even kids could do better copy then them. All they want was ride the wave with the trend to make quick money. But it got back fired]
Krishna exhaled. He hadn't rushed. He hadn't sold out. He hadn't chased the noise.
-Sigh
"...."
And now—
All roads were leading back to him anyway.
The contest clock ticked down.
Stellar Canvas awaited.
While the smaller studios scrambled and copied themselves into irrelevance, the big studios barely looked up.
"A one-time hit," they said.
"What shit is this Slapstick nostalgia," they dismissed.
"No long-term depth."
They moved on.
And missed everything.
The STELLAR CANVAS CONCLAVE began without fireworks.
No dramatic countdown. No forced hype.
Just a quiet opening of the universe's most influential creative stage.
At Krishna's request, Ariel handled everything with surgical precision.
The completed film—
Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry
—was uploaded cleanly to the Conclave's portal.
No edits. No changes. No compromises.
At the same time, Ariel updated the Star Entertainment homepage.
A new banner appeared beneath the episode listings.
[🎬 NOW SHOWING AT STELLAR CANVAS CONCLAVE]
[Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry]
One tap. Instant access.
Subscribers didn't have to search.
They followed. Quietly. In waves.
Ariel also sent the official submission acknowledgment back to Helios Vanguard Academy, along with full documentation, process logs, and creative notes.
The students needed it for evaluation. The academy needed it for records.
Marks mattered here. Not for ego. But for credibility.
Helios Vanguard Academy...
Inside Helios Vanguard Academy, the evaluation didn't happen in a classroom.
It happened in a private screening chamber.
The filmmaking trainer sat forward, fingers interlaced, expression unreadable.
Beside him, two senior evaluators and the principal watched in silence as the movie played.
They were currently viewing the link Krishna has send to the Trainer.
No commentary. No interruptions.
The race unfolded.
The humor landed. The pacing held.
The silence worked harder than dialogue ever could.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Halfway through, one evaluator leaned back slowly.
"…This is not optimized," she said quietly.
"No," the principal replied. "It's intentional."
The ending arrived. The screen faded.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Silence followed. Longer than protocol required.
Finally, the trainer exhaled.
-Sigh
"He didn't use the tools the way we taught," he said. "He used them the way they should be used. But he is something else."
One evaluator nodded clearly wanted to see the movie again.
-Nod
"There is no platform dependency."
Another added, "This would work on any world. Any species."
The principal folded his hands while his eyes were gleaming in excitement.
"This is not a student project," he said evenly. "This is a professional-grade cultural artifact."
The decision was unanimous.
Evaluation complete.
Marks recorded. Not as perfect. As exceptional.
Back home, Krishna didn't wait for results.
He sat on the couch, Ace curled beside him, sleeping peacefully.
[...]
The Entertainment System hovered nearby, unusually quiet ok may be not, sipping its drink without commentary.
[-SLURRRRPPP!!!]
Ariel appeared softly.
[Submission confirmed,] it said. [Evaluation completed. Results logged.]
Krishna nodded once.
-Nod
"Good."
He didn't ask for scores. He didn't check rankings.
Outside, the universe was beginning to watch his movie.
Half an hour later...
Curiosity finally nudged Krishna to have a look at the rank list.
He opened the Stellar Canvas Conclave portal.
The page loaded. He blinked.
-Blink -Blink
"...."
[Ranking: — (Not Placed)]
[Minimum Entry Rank Display: 500]
Despite the view counter spinning like it was possessed.
Despite engagement metrics screaming.
Despite audience retention touching absurd numbers.
No rank.
"...."
Krishna leaned back, unfazed.
"So that's how it works."
The Entertainment System peeked over his shoulder, sipping its drink.
[Prestige inertia,] it muttered. [They don't move until the crowd pushes.]
And push they did.
Across UniNet, something organic ignited.
Not promotions.Not ads.
Arguments.
[🔥 UniNet Thread: "Why is Tom & Jerry not ranked yet?"]
[@VoidSnacker: how is this not even on the board???]
[@NebulaDad: stellar canvas ranking always lags, calm down]
[@JerrySupremacy: nah this is criminal, WATCH THE MOVIE!]
[🎥 Reaction Stream Chat:]
[@StarMoth: to ppl saying it's "kids stuff" pls explain why my entire office watched it]
[@IonRush: zero dialogue, 100% clarity. cope harder]
[@AntiSlapstick: it's just running and hitting]
[@BlueManeEnjoyer: and yet you watched the whole thing 🤨]
[💬 Comment Section under the Movie:]
[IF YOU DON'T GET THIS YOU'RE THE PROBLEM WATCH EPISODE 1 FIRST THEN TALK THIS IS UNIVERSAL HUMOR NOT LANGUAGE HUMOR]
People who had never heard of Tom and Jerry before were being dragged in by sheer volume.
"What's everyone yelling about?"
"Why are timelines full of a cat and mouse?"
"Okay fine I'll watch it."
And then—
"Oh."
An hour passed....
Krishna refreshed the portal.
[RANK: 500]
The first threshold has finally broken.
The Entertainment System straightened instantly.
[Oho. Here We Go!!!]
Ten minutes later....
[RANK: 497]
Then—
[493... 488...]
Every ten minutes, like clockwork.
No sudden spikes. No artificial boosts.
Just steady ascent.
Fans noticed it that Tom And Jerry has finally started storming the ranking.
[🔔 UniNet Alert:]
[@JerrySupremacy: IT MOVED!!! IT'S CLIMBING!!!]
[@VoidSnacker: EVERYONE KEEP WATCHING DON'T DROP]
[@StarMoth: THIS IS WHAT A GRASSROOTS RUN LOOKS LIKE]
Someone made a live tracker. Someone else pinned it everywhere.
Memes followed:
"Tom climbing Stellar Canvas like it's another race."
With the picture of Tom racing the car.
Krishna watched quietly, Ace's head resting against his leg.
He didn't smile. He didn't tense.
Why you might ask are you insane Tom And Jerry fails to reach the audience.
He simply observed. This wasn't hype anymore.
This was momentum. And momentum, once real, didn't need permission.
Somewhere deep inside the Conclave's systems, algorithms recalculated.
And the climb continued.
The climb continued.
Five stars. Solid. Unshaken.
From Rank 500 all the way up to Rank 310, the rating didn't even wobble.
Audience retention stayed absurdly high.
Rewatch percentages climbed.
Comment sentiment stayed overwhelmingly positive.
Then—The noise changed.
It didn't start naturally. It flooded.
Suddenly, hundreds of reviews appeared within minutes, all carrying the same tone, the same phrasing, the same hollow outrage.
[THIS MOVIE MAKES NO SENSE]
[NO LOGIC NO DIALOGUE JUST NOISE]
[HOW IS THIS ART]
Accounts with empty histories. No watch-time data. No engagement trails. Bots.
The rating dipped.
[4.97 → 4.82 → 4.68]
Still excellent.
But visible. And the fans noticed the sudden attack on their favorite one.
On UniNet, things escalated fast.
Some mid-tier streamers jumped on the shift, sensing blood.
"This movie is overrated," one said confidently on stream.
"It's just running and hitting," another scoffed.
"People are blinded by nostalgia they don't even have," a third added smugly.
They underestimated one thing.
The audience wasn't passive.
"...."
"...."
"...."
Tom and Jerry fans didn't argue. They arrived with a blast.
Streams that usually pulled a few hundred thousand viewers suddenly spiked into the millions—not for support, but confrontation.
Chat flooded so fast it lagged.
[@JerrySupremacy: DID YOU EVEN WATCH IT]
[@BlueManeEnjoyer: EXPLAIN THE TIMING THEN]
[@VoidSnacker: LOGIC? IT'S COMEDY NOT A MANUAL]
Some fans crossed lines.
Insults flew. Families were dragged in. Old grudges resurfaced.
Moderation bots struggled to keep up.
Streams were forcibly paused.
"...."
"...."
"...."Chats went into lockdown.
Several creators ended broadcasts early, shaken and overwhelmed.
"This isn't worth it," one muttered before cutting feed.
Meanwhile, something quieter but more important happened.
Reports stacked at the canvas server.
Thousands of them.
Not against the movie—Against the reviews.
Stellar Canvas' internal systems flagged the anomaly.
Identical syntax. Impossible posting frequency. Zero verified watch completion.
The Canvas Integrity Team stepped in.
Bot reviews began disappearing in waves.
Ratings stabilized. The score held.
[4.68]
Still strong. Still respected.
But the damage was already done—not to the movie, but to the atmosphere.
Fans were furious. Not disappointed.
'Protective.'
They weren't defending a product. They were defending how it made them feel.
Krishna's House...
Back at home, Krishna watched the metrics quietly.
Ariel hovered nearby, wings drawn in slightly.
[The hostile activity is being cleaned,] Ariel reported softly.
[However… fan backlash is escalating.]
Krishna closed the portal.
"…Stay out of it," he said calmly.
Ariel hesitated. [Young Master?]
"This doesn't need fuel," Krishna replied. "It needs time."
Ace shifted closer, sensing the tension.
Krishna rested a hand on its head. He didn't feel anger. He felt responsibility.
This was the cost of touching something real in a rigid world.
When people care deeply, they don't always know how to carry it.
Outside, the war raged.
Inside, Krishna stayed still. Because the movie didn't need defending.
It only needed to endure. And it was already doing that just fine.
The fire didn't stay contained for long.
As the bot purge continued and the rating stabilized, the conversation shifted.
From what was happening… to who was doing it.
UniNet threads multiplied overnight.
[🔍 UniNet Trending: "Who Is Targeting Star Entertainment?"]
[@NebulaDad: this isn't random. someone paid for this]
[@VoidSnacker: bots don't spawn out of nowhere]
[@StarMoth: follow the money, always]
Eyes began turning sideways. Not at small creators. Not at random critics.
At the top studios.
The ones currently dominating Stellar Canvas promotions.
The ones whose banners filled the Conclave's front page. The ones whose movies hadn't moved anyone in years.
Comparisons started appearing.
Screenshots. Side-by-side clips. Retention graphs.
"Why does this feel empty?"
"Why does this cost more but feel less?"
"Why am I watching this instead?"
And just like that—Those movies were dragged into the storm.
[🎥 Reaction Stream Chat (Different Channel):]
[@IonRush: why is this promoted film explaining every joke]
[@BlueManeEnjoyer: they talk too much, tom never needed words]
[@PlasmaPup: this feels insecure]
Speculation ran wild.
"Studio Axis hired bots."
"No, it's Studio Box panicking."
"It's probably a consortium."
Accusations flew without proof.
And then—Statements began to drop.
One by one.
[🏢 Official Studio Statements:]
[Studio HelixFrame:]
[We categorically deny any involvement in coordinated review manipulation. We welcome fair competition and creative diversity.]
[Orion Visual Group:]
[Our studio has no connection to hostile activity against Star Entertainment. We condemn such practices.]
[NovaLux Pictures:]
[We believe audience choice should remain organic. Any allegations otherwise are unfounded.]
The wording was careful. Neutral. Legal.
But not everyone spoke.
A few studios stayed silent.
"...."
"...."
"...."
And silence, in a storm, was louder than denial.
Meanwhile, fans weren't convinced by statements alone.
[@JerrySupremacy: if it wasn't you, good. then help call it out]
[@VoidSnacker: why only deny AFTER being named]
[@StarMoth: sun entertainment didn't attack anyone, why are ppl scared]
Ironically, the scrutiny hurt the wrong targets.
Some genuinely uninvolved studios saw their promotions drowned out by arguments they never asked to join.
Others found their comment sections flooded with unrelated Tom and Jerry memes.
A few executives quietly pulled ads. Not out of guilt. Out of fear.
After Two Days...
The STELLAR CANVAS CONCLAVE ended quietly.
No final ceremony. No dramatic countdown. Just a line of text updating across the portal.
[FINAL RANKING: 264]
[TOM AND JERRY: THE FAST AND FURRY.]
For a heartbeat, the universe paused.
Then—It detonated.
UniNet flooded instantly. Not confusion. Outrage.
[🔥 UniNet Trending:]
[#264IsAJoke
#JusticeForTomAndJerry
#CanvasBias]
Memes multiplied at a speed moderation couldn't track.
Side-by-side comparisons filled timelines.
A dramatic war epic paused on a grey, overlit monologue scene.
Captioned:
[RANK 143
"I will now explain my feelings for 12 minutes."]
Next to it—
[Tom slipping on a bar of soap mid-sprint.]
Captioned:
[RANK 264
"No dialogue. Perfect timing. Universal laughter."]
People weren't arguing genres.
They were arguing impact.
[💬 UniNet Comment Threads:]
[@VoidSnacker: this made me laugh after a 14-hour shift and that ranked above it???]
[@NebulaDad: first animated slapstick in the conclave and you bury it? wild]
[@StarMoth: no language. no subtitles. no culture barrier. explain the logic]
Reaction streams pivoted instantly.
One creator pulled up the rankings live.
"Let's be honest," she said flatly.
"Half the movies above this will be forgotten by next cycle."
Chat exploded.
[FORGOTTEN BY NEXT CYCLE]
[REWATCH COUNTS DONT LIE]
[264 IS FEAR NOT QUALITY]
The memes turned savage.
A slow, muted arthouse scene labeled:
[RANK 102 "I represent suffering."]
Cut to Jerry poking Tom's eye mid-chase.
[RANK 264 "I represent joy."]
Someone edited a fake Canvas tooltip.
[WARNING: Excessive fun detected. Rank capped.]
What hurt the organizers most?
Tom and Jerry was the only animated slapstick entry.
No peers. No category buffer. No comparison group.
It stood alone. And still climbed.
Which made the number sting more.
Inside the Stellar Canvas forums, moderation struggled.
Threads locked. Appeals dismissed. Explanations delayed.
The official stance was brief.
"Rankings reflect a combination of artistic merit, innovation alignment, and jury weighting."
UniNet's response was merciless.
[@JerrySupremacy: say you don't get comedy without saying it]
[@IonRush: innovation alignment = safe and boring]
Meanwhile...
Krishna house...
Krishna stood in his room, the final ranking hovering faintly before him.
[264.]
He let out a slow sigh. Not of disappointment.
-Sigh
Of closure. The number faded as he dismissed the screen.
What replaced it was louder, brighter—clips, comments, fan art, memes, people laughing in different corners of the universe for reasons that had nothing to do with rankings.
Ace nudged his leg gently.
Krishna knelt and rested his forehead against the Varkyron hound's head.
"It's fine," he murmured. "They got it."
And that was enough.
He stood, resolve settling cleanly into place.
Next steps. No hesitation. No bitterness.
The Entertainment System appeared beside him, mask calm for once, hands folded like a producer waiting for instructions.
[Alright, kid,] it said. [What's the lineup?]
Krishna spoke without pause.
"First," he said, "auditions."
The system's eyes lit up.
[LIT UP!!!]
"I'll start with 3 Idiots," Krishna continued.
"Light comedy. Friendship. Emotion that sneaks up on you."
A screen popped up instinctively.
"Then," he added, "the Crazy Frog musical video. Pure energy. No brakes."
The system chuckled approvingly.
[-CHUCKLE!]
"And after that," Krishna said, a faint smile forming, "The Hangover."
The mask whistled.
[-WOO-WOO!!]
[Escalation. Smart.]
Krishna nodded hearing his system words.
"Each project pushes the fun higher."
The system tilted its head.
[And Kathi?]
Krishna shook his head. "Not yet."
He looked out the window, thoughtful.
"That one deserves focus," he said quietly.
"Not now. Not while I'm building momentum. Comedy first."
The system smiled—no theatrics, no fireworks. Just approval.
[You're choosing the crowd before the critics,] it said like a proud father.
Krishna glanced back at the fan reactions still streaming in from across the universe.
"They chose me already," he replied.
Ace let out a low, content hmm.
**********************************************************************************************************************************************************
(Author's POV)
(A/N):
There will be two chapters a week(Monday and Tuesday)
If delayed I would post it on Wednesday or Thursday.
Thanks for reading the chapter!
Please give a review and power stone!!!