The Bioforge Project, the most exciting project the academy has ever seen—a chance for young inventors to partner up and show off an invention they made together using the topic they each liked the best. Viktor was more than just excited for this. He's been doodling ideas down all year before he even had a partner. He originally hoped he would get someone smart, someone who actually knew what they were doing. Jayce would be good, but the guy's always off in space and doing who knows what in his free time. Viktor had no doubts that the man was a little... unstable.

Heimerdinger has been no help at all during this either. Viktor has been trying to secretly get hints on who his partner was. Being the dean's assistant and all, he'd hoped he'd be special enough to get a little clue, but Heimerdinger would only say, "Patience, my boy. You'll find out who your partner is when the time is right!" every time Viktor wasn't being subtle about his concerning excitement.

Viktor just rolled his eyes in response, his cane clacking against the polished floor as he followed the old yordle down the huge hall. They entered the lecture hall, a large room with fancy seats arranged in ascending tiers. Students stood around their desks, some talking loudly with one another, the others silently waiting for Heimerdinger to begin. Today was the day they'd find out their partners.

When he made it to his seat, he set his notebook down and started doodling the moment he was seated. He had this great idea for an invention; he'd be miserable if his partner ruined it. The loud noise of a ruler hitting a whiteboard snapped him out of his thoughts, and he quickly hid his notebook.

It felt like a lifetime of waiting before Viktor's name was actually called. He prepared himself for the devastating fact that he could be partnered up with Jayce or even Sky. His head darted up when his name was said; he could feel a few eyes staring at him, but he just kept his gaze forward. Heimerdinger had a little smile in his tone as he read, "Oh, last but not least, we have Viktor with his rival."

His whole world just fell apart. He glanced over at the other side of the room at his rival, who quickly averted their gaze. This was not going to end well for Viktor's project. They had a fascination in biology. Viktor didn't see the hype; he was more interested in engineering. How the hell were they supposed to merge those two together? Not to mention there's been a serious feud between the two.

An argument blew out on something simple. Viktor rudely called them out for it, and in response, they called him a know-it-all, a teacher's pet, and some other stuff. Being called names isn't something Viktor could just forgive and forget. But he just shrugged it off as them being jealous.

As class was dismissed, Viktor hurriedly stood to pack his bags. Just as he turned to go down the stairs, though, his rival was already standing beside him. He jumped, almost dropping his notebook, but thankfully caught it before it could hit the ground. They began to talk about the project and their ideas, but there was this annoyance on their face.

Viktor noticed it instantly and glared back. They made their way down the stairs together, and at the bottom, Viktor suddenly turned, his cane hitting their leg to stop them in their tracks. "I'd love to hear about your ideas, but," he began, giving a quick tug to his schoolbag so it'd sit more comfortably against his side, "I already have an idea, and since I'm the inventor here and an actual scientist, mind you, I think we should do it my way, yes?"

There was a bit of overconfidence in his tone mixed with his Czech accent. He gave a small, smug smile before turning on his heels to walk out, not even waiting to hear their response.