"Uncle Lemony, what was VFD like?" said Beatrice one morning as they packed their things, ready to get on a train and go far away yet again on this cold winter morning.

Lemony paused as he opened the window for them to make their escape.

"It… It could be wonderful, at times." He said, reaching for the branch outside. "Other times, it was dreadful." Here Lemony climbed slowly onto the branch and into the tree, then carefully made his descent to the snow covered ground. "Your turn." He yelled up to his niece. Beatrice threw their bags and suitcases to her uncle, then swiftly climb back down.

"Well then, tell me about one of the more wonderful times." Beatrice said as she slung her bag over her shoulder.

"Well… I suppose it would help pass the time…" Lemony said, picking up his suitcase. "Alright, I know one I believe you'll definitely enjoy, it was about Monty and Josephine when they were just barely out of college…"

It was a cold summer day, just outside of one of VFD's academies, where three friends and one baby brother sat at one of the old tables.

"A daredevil? You're kidding, right?" A young Monty said, running his fingers through his orange hair.

"That's what Ike is, Monty." Pretty young Josephine answered, brown hair rapped in a messy sort of ponytail.

"You're not brave enough." Monty replied dryly.

"Am too."

"Are not."

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"AM TOO!"

"ARE NOT!"

"So Monty and Joe hated eachother?" Beatrice said, staring up at her uncle. Lemony smiled, just a bit.

"No, no. It was more of a… Rivalry would be a good word." Lemony chuckled a tad. "Maybe evening a crush. But they liked to pretend they hated eachother. Anyway…."

"Both of you cut it out." Said Kit, orange blond hair in a tight bun and a young Lemony at her side.

"You know, I've got an idea. If I can prove that you're not brave enough, I win." Monty said.

"Win what?" Josephine said, eyes narrowing. Monty just laughed.

"My pride."

Josephine smiled. "Deal."

"Okay, wait right here. You are going to scream so hard that your voice box pops out of your mouth!"

"Your voice box isn't really gonna pop out, right?" said a small Lemony.

"'Course not. Monty's got nothing on me." Josephine said, crossing her arms. Just then Monty reappeared, carrying a variety of scaly beasts in cages with him.

"Alright. Let's start." Monty said, pulling a frog from one of the cages and holding up to Josephine's face. Josephine just scoffed.

Monty frowned, stuffed the animal back into it's cage, and pulled out a rather large lizard. Josephine seemed a bit unnerved, but she stood tall against the beast. Monty growled, stuffed the lizard back in, and pulled out a large, covered cage.

"You are going to hate me for this. Completely worth it." Monty undid the latches on the covered cage's door…

And out came a snake, long, black, with red eyes and sharp fangs.

"It won't hurt you. Only eats cats. I think." Monty said as the snake curled around Josephine, who was whimpering and shaking. "Just scream and it'll get scared and run off."

"N-never."

"Come oooooonnnnn."

"No!" Josephine squeaked as a large butterfly began fluttering near the group's table.

"Cooooommmmee onnnnnn." Monty begged as the butterfly flitted dangerously close to his head.

"I'd sooner be eaten alive!"

Monty shrugged. "Hey, your decision."

As soon as his sentence was finished, the butterfly landed right on Monty's nose, magnified by his rather thick glasses. He shrieked, the snake was spooked and flitted right back into it's cage, going far enough to redo all the locks while Monty lost his balance and fell backwards, while the butterfly lazily flew away. Josephine just laughed.

"So, what do I win?" She said, standing over a spooked Monty.

"…. My pride." Monty grumbled.

Josephine grabbed his invisible pride out of the air. "Yes, I daresay this will look nice framed in my house." And with that, Josephine and Kit walked off, laughing, with young Lemony in tow.

Beatrice covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. "Oh wow… T-that was… Heheheh… And you witness all of this?" she said, smiling.

"You witness a lot of things when you're Kit's little brother." Lemony said, patting his niece on the head. "See? That passed quite a bit of time. We're already at the train station." Beatrice looked up, and, sure enough, there was a crowded train station just a bit away from them.

"Well, we've got at least an hour before our train arrives... So, how about as soon as we get in, another story?" Lemony said, checking a cracked watch. Beatrice nodded eagerly.

I need to do more ASOUE stories. Obviously, this is going to be a multichaptered work, so let's try and get through this together, 'kay?