Jeremy The Movie fanfiction

by JereMenchi

Reuploaded a lot, but this is the official movie fanfiction about minor background character, Jeremy from Regular Show. Get to know him Chad and some original characters created by me as you experience a Jeremy fanfiction like none you've ever read before! Contains Mild violence.

Jeremy The Movie

PART 1: JEREMY

Chapter 1 At the hospital

(Now this isn't about Jeremy, yet. He wasn't born yet. But while waiting to meet him, get to meet some original fan-made characters that will come in handy later on in the story. Actually, this movie might start off in a Regular Show way but will become like Watership Down later on. Clearly, in most movies, the main character doesn't appear right away, but in a later part. And as usual, a minor character or characters are shown in the beginning. So here's the first part, enjoy

In a strange but mysterious world lives a land full of anthropomorphic animals, and they are both magnificent and graceful creatures themselves. But there is one that has made an appearance in this show; Jeremy. Since his debut in Replaced, he and Chad had a strong fan base and a mysterious cameo. But what were Jeremy's origins before Replaced? His untold story will unravel more than just his appearance but also his beginning.

Living in a small apartment were a family of anthropomorphic ostriches, consisting of Jessica; a loving mother; Jon, a loving father, and Jerico, their son. He was born first with the beard of his father. But what he didn't know was his mom was pregnant and was going to have another child. Jessica was already set up for their family baby shower and felt extremely weak. "You must not stress yourself," Jon said. "You must rest now, I'll take care of the decorations. "You're right," Jessica replied. "I might overdo it. But I'll be able to ignore the pain. I'd rather finish setting up and then I'll rest."

Jerico wasn't too happy about this, knowing that the baby Jessica would have will get more attention instead of himself. "I can't believe there's going to be another kid in this family!" said Jerico. "This must be talked about now! Dale, get over here!" Dale; a wolf pup, and Jerico's friend, came to him. "Yes, Jerico?" asked Dale. Jerico turned to Dale and said; "Dale, are you aware that I'll have a sibling soon?" Dale was in shock. "What do you mean soon?" he asked. "Her baby isn't due till next week. Why is she having a baby shower today?"

"Well, obviously she felt movements and decided to celebrate early," answered Jerico. "It's a change of plan." Dale understood what he was saying. "Yes, it seems that you're going to have another family member," said Dale. Jerico angrily said, "I'll get replaced! There's no other option but to accept the kid that my mother will have!" Just then, his mother, Jessica came to him. The baby shower was all set up with streamers and other party goodies. "I thought you were enjoying the baby shower," Jessica said. "I know it's a family baby shower. However, we can still enjoy it. Or would you rather play in your base?" She was going to be in labor soon, so she wanted to cheer up her son to make him feel better.

When she left the room, Dale knew that Jerico was upset and said, "Jerico, the newborn will be born the same way you were. If it weren't for her, you wouldn't be here today." "So, I was born just like that?" asked Jerico. "Then the newcomer will be born in the same way!" Jerico couldn't remember about his birth since he was very young at the time. "Maybe you should come with me," said Dale. "You want me to watch them, don't you?" asked Jerico. He felt annoyed by this response. "In our secret base," replied Dale. There was actually a base inside the house, however in the basement.

Bases in real life are called facilities and it's accompanied by people who use it as their fort. But Jerico's base didn't look like an actual base. It looked more like a den but decorated with a silver coating. It was the right size for Dale, but Jerico felt a tad too cramped. He tried to crawl in but felt wedged in great tightness. "I know it's tight, but try to squeeze through," said Dale. "It's tight in here," complained Jerico. "We can switch places," said Dale. He allowed Jerico to be in the comfortable spot, only to have him in the tight spot. He soon regretted this after Jerico started boasting. "Ah, much better," sighed Jerico.

"You're just lucky that it's the relaxing spot!" Dale angrily said. Just before Jerico could say something back, he was interrupted by Jessica's voice from outside the wall of the base. She must have heard the baby's movements and sounds coming from inside her stomach. Jerico knew from the get-go why she was there since there was going to be two young ostriches in the family. Sure enough, she was talking about the baby. "The baby is coming!" exclaimed Jessica. "Get down! She's talking!" hissed Jerico.

The two of them crouched down and leaned close to the wall, so they could hear every word from the outside. "Your water just broke!" Jon gasped. "It must be time!" said Jessica. Her baby was moving and noises were coming from inside her stomach. This excited Jessica and Jon. "We're finally going to have another member of the family!" shouted Jessica. "Another what?" thought Jerico. "Did you hear that, Jerico? The baby's coming!" said Dale. Jerico was going to be a caretaker to the new baby. "I'm going to have to care for it?" asked Jerico. "I thought I was the only one in the family! I cannot believe my own father said that. Fill me in, Dale."

Dale thought for a while and then said; "Well, you'll have to watch over it. But it can gain trust from you." Jerico froze for a second. "Did you say trust? Gain trust?" he asked. "Just think," said Dale. "You wanted a brother. Am I correct?" Now, this interested Jerico. He had seen brothers and how they listen to and obey the other brother's every command. He wanted a brother for his own nefarious purposes but also, a companion to give him company. He then blurted out; "Yes, I do want a brother!" "Then go and see," replied Dale. "I'll be watching."

Just before he left, Jerico said to Dale; "I have a plan. It involves the baby. I have to have a brother." "What do you mean?" asked Dale. "I'll tell you when it's born. However it has to be a boy, not a girl," Jerico said, as he left the base. Jerico's plan was to have the newborn baby to join his team and become the leader of their base. It had to be male since they are great at being dictators.

Now Jessica felt kicks in her stomach and more sounds. "Jessica, it's time!" said Jon. "Quickly, get Jerico and Dale, our family baby shower is over." Jerico had already made it to the bedroom but was aided by his father to an emergency truck. Dale tagged along for the ride with Jessica. She was breathing heavily while Jon comforted her. "Jon, it really hurts," she said, clutching her stomach. "Calm down, Jessica, "said Jon. "You might miscarry our baby if you worry too much".

Now Jessica started to calm down. She did not want to overdo it. Jerico and Dale felt very worried for Jessica, still keeping the plan intact. "Don't get too happy," Dale said to Jerico. "She might have a daughter." Jerico began to feel rejected and wanted to get it out of his system. "I'm not too hyped up," he replied. "I suppose all we can do is wait." Dale agreed and allowed Jerico to still hope for a brother. "Maybe you might get a brother," he said. "But don't jinx anything, otherwise it won't happen."

When they finally got to the hospital, a doctor named Miranda placed Jessica in a wheelchair. "Your name, miss," she asked Jessica. "Jessica," she said, weakly. She was in a lot of pain and could barely move. Dr. Miranda had checked her clipboard and saw that Jessica was not due until the next week. "You weren't due until one week from now," she replied. Jessica could barely speak and said; "I had no idea, but it wants to come out now! I'm going into labor right now!" This shocked Dr. Miranda. "Well, Jessica you seem to be in a lot of pain" she replied. "She's been like this since this morning," said Jon. "I'm her husband, Jon." Dr. Miranda understood the whole situation.

She had to send Jessica to the emergency room. "Jessica, I see that you're about to give birth right now," she said. "So we're going to find a special room for you." "And is it vacant?" asked Jessica. "Of course," replied Dr. Miranda. They were taken to the delivery room since Jessica was about to give birth. Jon stayed with his wife while Jerico and Dale played in the kids' area. Now was the time for the arrival. All Jessica had to do was push and her baby will be born.

Chapter 2 JEREMY

"Jessica, you need to push now," an assistant doctor said. Jessica pushed as hard as she could but felt more and more pain. She breathed slowly and kept on pushing with more and more pain. "Jessica, all you need to think about right now is your baby," said Dr. Miranda. "Don't stress yourself." Jerico and Dale felt bad for Jessica, seeing that she was in so much pain. They left the playroom and went beside the operating room door. "I'm sure she'll be alright," Dale said to Jerico, trying to comfort him. For once, Jerico actually started crying. However, he didn't want to overdo it. So, Jessica kept on pushing and pushing until a bright light was shown.

Finally, after that bright light segment, the baby was born. All eyes were on the newborn. "Congratulations Jessica, you've just given birth to a beautiful baby boy," said Dr. Miranda. "It's a boy!" screamed Jerico. He heard what the doctor had said. There weren't any eyelashes on the baby which meant that it was indeed a boy. "What an admirable newborn," Jon said. Jessica held her newborn baby in her arms. Her baby was asleep and was with a loving mother. But then he woke up after hearing Jerico. "Welcome to the world, newborn," he said.

Jon, delighted to see his new son, picked him up and comforted him. "We need a name for him," he said. "I guess we can call him, Jerry," suggested Jerico. "Jeremiah might be nice," Jessica added. The baby then saw Jon's glasses and wondered what they would look like on him. So he took them off of Jon to try them on. "What are you doing?" asked Jon. He then saw the baby trying on the glasses. But they were too big for him. "I guess he likes my glasses for some reason." Jerico immediately found the perfect name for the baby. "I know!" he said. "We'll call him, Jeremy!" The baby really liked that name and wanted it to be his name. Jon, however, wasn't so sure. He then said, "These glasses are too big for him," said Jon. "But I love the name. Jeremy, it is."

Jessica loved the name too and she agreed with them. She looked down at her new son. She was glad that Jeremy was with them. A few weeks later, they were released from the hospital and were back home. The two proud parents looked down at their newborn baby and gave him tender love and care. With Jeremy added to the family and with nothing to worry about, they knew that they'll be together always. And Jessica knew how to keep him happy and healthy. "Welcome to the family, Jeremy," she said. "Yeah, you are one of us now," Jon said.

However, Jerico wasn't there. He went back to the base with Dale. "Oh he's in the family alright," he snickered. Dale was watching from an angle "Did you see that?" He asked Jerico. "They're comforting him! That Jeremy is too…" Before he could say another word, Jerico grabbed his lips. "Hush Dale!" he said. "My wish for a brother has come true. The more trust Jeremy gets from me, the closer he gets to me. And I'll have the strongest addition to the family." Needless to say, Jerico's plan was a tad off. Jeremy was born without a beard and was completely oblivious. This was what worried him. Jeremy seemed to be too pure and innocent to be a leader, but he could see through his eyes that he is not what Jerico wanted him to be. How could he get an innocent little baby to trust him when all he can do are the good deeds?

There was nothing violent in Jeremy at all. He just sat there, happy to be in this new world, rather than being inside his mom's stomach. Jerico left the base so he could examine Jeremy a little bit more. Maybe there was something inside Jeremy that could be put to good use.

So, Jerico angrily stared at Jeremy as he happily stared at him. "You'll get used to him, Jerico," Jessica said. Jerico glared at his mother. "He's yours to look after," said Jessica. "Aren't you happy that you have a brother?"

Jerico was ready to say his opinion about Jeremy. He blurted out; "He looks nothing like me!" Jon felt shocked, seeing how Jerico had treated Jeremy. "Of course he looks like you!" he said. "Really? He has no beard, father!" said Jerico. He pointed at Jeremy. Jerico really disliked Jeremy just from looking at him. Jerico was born with his father's beard, but Jeremy wasn't born with a beard, giving him his mother's traits. Unlike Jerico, Jeremy was more calm and peaceful, like his mother. But this mere comment from Jerico made Jeremy feel uncomfortable. "I thought you were happy, Jerico," Jon said, sternly.

"How can I be happy?!" said Jerico. He pointed to Jeremy. "Jeremy is a disgrace to this family!" Jeremy couldn't believe what Jerico said. Why had this young ostrich change from a sweet brother to a mean brother said these mean things about him? Jeremy no longer felt happy. He felt hurt to see Jerico and started to cry. Jerico who saw Jeremy tearing up, tried to be nice to him. "Wait, Jeremy, I didn't mean to!" Jerico said. But it was too late. In a matter of seconds, Jeremy exploded into tears. What do you expect? He's a baby. This shocked Jon, Jessica and even Jerico. "Jerico, how could you say that to your brother?" Jon asked his son. Jerico angrily said; "I just told you already!" He got annoyed by Jeremy's crying and acted mean towards him. "Quiet down, you infernal…"

This however made Jeremy stop crying. But now he was scared of Jerico. Jerico then said; "Never mind, just drink this. You're going to need it!" He decided to feed Jeremy some bottled milk in order to get him to trust him again. However, Jeremy was still scared of Jerico. "It's milk. Get used to it!" he said. He knew that the milk would make Jeremy tired.

Still frightened by Jerico, Jeremy drank it and eventually fell asleep. His mind was still processing on what went on in these last few minutes. He might be a baby, but he seemed to be very smart at remembering events. Now Jeremy didn't want to be near Jerico. Jon was disappointed at Jerico.

Seeing how badly he treated Jeremy and how he's afraid of him. He wanted the two of them to make up and show brotherly love. "Jerico, you better show some love to your brother," said Jon. "Fine, leave us alone" retorted Jerico. So Jon and Jessica went to their room, so Jerico could have some privacy with Jeremy. Dale saw the whole thing and went to Jerico. He stood right next to him. "Yes, they're gone," Jerico said. "Be careful with Jeremy," said Dale. Jerico then said; "I'll be gentle with him." All he had to do, was wait for Jeremy to wake up. Jerico, like most people, was patient.

Chapter 3 Brother Love

Jerico wasn't hesitant at his plan. He wanted to get Jeremy to obey him. But Dale wasn't too sure. He could imagine how it would be like to have a clueless ostrich, like Jeremy to be around them. "You should probably wait until he's older," Dale said to Jerico. He didn't feel comfortable with the whole Jeremy being leader idea. He seemed too young and innocent. Well, he was just born and should at least grow a little bit. "Nonsense!" hissed Jerico. "He should be with me at his age!" Dale decided that he didn't want to be a part of this. So he headed back to base and left Jerico all alone with the baby. "I have to get him to trust me," he said to himself.

Just after saying that, Jeremy had just woken up from his little nap and yawned. "Hello, little brother," Jerico said, sweetly to Jeremy. Jeremy rubbed his eyes. Could he still be dreaming? "I'm Jerico, your older brother," said Jerico. "We're siblings, and we must get along." Now Jeremy was wide-awake. He was very enthralled with the wise words of his older brother. "Why are you silent?" asked Jerico. "Can't you talk or do something?" Jeremy immediately responded by sucking his thumb. Now, this angered Jerico. Jeremy was not taking this seriously. Well, Jeremy is a baby. All babies do that!

Jerico quickly remembered that and said, "Oh right, you're a baby. Well baby or not, listen to me."

So Jerico lectured Jeremy as he still sucked his thumb. "As brothers, we are like family," Jerico said. "Consider that we are part of this family. Brothers as siblings need to trust each other. And since you're my brother, you need to trust me at all costs. And trust is all I need from you, brother. We're going to get along just fine. After he finished the lecture, he turned to Jeremy that wasn't there but was drawing on the wall, forgetting every last word that Jerico had told him. "Stop drawing on the wall!" hollered Jerico. "I suppose that's how you show me, love?"

He grabbed Jeremy by the chest and said, "Life isn't about happiness, Jeremy. You need to have a negative side!" "A negative side?" Jeremy asked. Jerico couldn't believe it. Jeremy could finally talk. "So you can talk?" Jerico gasped. "I'm trying to be nice to you," Jeremy said. Jerico understood Jeremy. "Fine, Jeremy," he said. "But you need to show love. Brothers look out for each other." "So, you don't like my drawing?" Jeremy asked. Jerico examined the drawing on the wall. It was a drawing of himself and Jeremy, but he noticed Jeremy's penmanship. "I can tell you have great penmanship. But yes, I do like it." Jeremy happily held Jerico's hand. That's his way of showing brother love. "I'm glad to be your brother," Jeremy exclaimed. "And I'm glad that you're my brother!" Jerico snickered. "Come and follow me to the base."

As they headed for the base, Jerico was amazed to see how intelligent Jeremy really was. He could talk really well and he knows how to handle a pencil. Now, this was very uncommon in babies. But at least some at a very young age can be smart. Even though Jeremy was smart at a very young age, he didn't know what a base was. He entered the cave-like base but had a hard time crawling. As they reached the inside of the base, Dale stopped them in their tracks. "You brought him with you?!" he said. Jerico stopped Dale. "Must I explain the plan again?" he said. "You never said anything about bringing him here!" Dale said. He knew about the plan. "But Dale...," said Jerico.

Jeremy felt scared, seeing how his brother was being treated. "Jerico?" he said to himself.

He didn't know what was really going on. Dale grabbed Jerico's neck and said; "We're not letting him stay!" This angered Jeremy. This wolf pup was picking on his brother. "He's not going to be in our base!" Dale had dropped the plan. "Leave my brother alone!" Jeremy said, he punched Dale in the face, saving Jerico. Jerico was shocked. Did Jeremy actually punch someone in self-defense? He was wrong about Jeremy. He was violent and had the aggression that males possess. "You saved me?!" Jerico asked. "As you said, Jerico," Jeremy said. "Brothers need to trust each other." "I was wrong about you, Jeremy," Jerico said. "I'm glad that you're my brother."

Just then, Dale got up and rubbed the wound on his face. "So, your brother saved you?" he asked Jerico. "I protected him," Jeremy said, clutching his fists together. "What are you going to do?" "Dale, he's my brother," Jerico said. Dale was jealous. He was actually defending Jeremy, but not himself? "Jerico, you've grown a soft side," he said. "You've become attached to your brother." Jerico took it too hard. He defended Jeremy and said; "Dale, I have to look after him." Dale knew that Jerico was protecting Jeremy; after all, he was his brother. So why does he need him at the base?

Dale felt rejected. Since Jerico had Jeremy to take care of, there's no use of him being in the base at all. "Fine, Jerico," Dale said, "You're on your own". Dale was Jerico's best friend. And he was treated like he was his brother. But Jeremy was ruining everything that it came to the point that Dale was not going to support or take care of Jeremy since he was born a few weeks before. It's like he was Jeremy's grandfather or something like that. But he wasn't. And Jerico wants him to take care of Jeremy until he's old enough to be on his own? That felt like an eternity! So, Dale was not going to be a part of the base anymore.

As he turned to go, Jerico stopped him and said, "Wait, Dale, I need you!" You've got a brother now, so you don't need me anymore," Dale sighed. Jerico pointed at Jeremy. "Dale, he's too young to understand," he said. "He punched me, Jerico," Dale corrected him. "He's not that young." Jerico felt sad, seeing that his best friend would depart from him. He needed Dale. Jeremy had felt guilty for he did and wanted to make it up to Dale "I'm sorry Dale" he said. But Dale refused to accept Jeremy's apology. "Goodbye Jerico and goodbye Jeremy!" Dale said. "The rest is up to you."

After those words, Dale disappeared from the base. Jeremy and Jerico were left alone. Jerico could see Jeremy all sad and everything. "It's okay," Jerico said, comforting Jeremy. "At least I'm here." He even held Jeremy's wing, showing him brother love. Now Jeremy was happy again. He was going to have a lot of fun times with his brother.

Prologue

(Aw, isn't that sweet? Brother love between Jeremy and Jerico? Now that's a heartwarming moment. But all that will change, because, in the next chapter, Jeremy found something even better; a friend named Chad the possum! He'll learn that friends can look out for each other in addition to brothers.)

Chapter 4 Meeting Chad

(For the people who want to see how Chad and Jeremy met, then this is a chapter for you. It will tell you everything! How did Chad and Jeremy become the best of friends? You'll want to read it and find out how a great friendship was made that day.)

As the years went on, it felt like it was drifting away so quickly. Jeremy and Jerico were a bit older and continued to play together and do brotherly hobbies. After the Dale incident, Jerico kept his eye on Jeremy at all times.

But it came to the point that Jerico wanted to leave Jeremy since he was getting older. "I can't take care of him forever," he said. "He'll have to get older at some time." He then watched Jeremy as he was trying to catch a butterfly. The young ostrich's speed had increased and he was running at a fast pace. "But how?" Jerico asked himself. Jeremy wasn't a toddler anymore, he was 4 years old. But was he going to be independent on his own? "I'm going to get you!" Jeremy said to the butterfly. "Ha!" But he failed in doing so. "Go figure," Jerico said, unenthusiastically.

The butterfly landed on a flower, giving Jeremy the advantage. "You're mine," he said. Just before he could grab the butterfly, he heard Jerico call out his name. So he ran over to him, forgetting about the butterfly. "Yeah, Jerico?" he asked. "Listen, Jeremy," Jerico began. "I can't look after you forever. As you grow older, we'll have to depart."

Jeremy was very confused. "You're leaving me?" he asked. "WHEN YOU'RE OLDER!" said Jerico. "Now I've got things to do. Don't wander off too far and don't talk to strangers! I won't be long." After he left, Jeremy thought he had left him for good. "He left me!" he cried. In tears, Jeremy ran off to the plains. Not seeing where he was going, he tripped over a rock and tumbled down a hill. In the process, he bumped into a brush tail possum. They both fell down. The possum then growled at Jeremy. "What are you doing here, trespasser?" it said. Jeremy thought that this was Dale, but it wasn't.

The possum wasn't like the wolf and it seemed very intimidating. "My brother said I should never talk to strangers," he said to the possum. "Oh, so its brother love?" The possum snickered. "You listen to what your brother says?" Jeremy, angered by this, wanted to show this brush-tailed possum a piece of his mind. "My brother has nothing to do with this!" he hissed. The possum then saw how angry Jeremy was and felt bad for what he said. So, he calmly spoke to Jeremy. "Are you lost little one?" he asked. Jeremy also calmed down. But he was still upset. "Actually, my brother left me" he sighed.

Now the possum really felt bad for Jeremy. "You don't have any friends?" he asked. Jeremy started crying after hearing this. "I don't have any friends," he admitted. The possum had an idea to cheer Jeremy up. "Maybe we can be friends," he said. Jerico had been watching the whole thing.

He found out that Jeremy was talking to a stranger, but this was very interesting. "Yeah, we can be friends!" exclaimed Jeremy. "What's your name?" "Chad, it's a pleasure," the possum said. "Jeremy, nice to meet you" the ostrich said. Now Jerico was even angrier. Jeremy gave out his name to a stranger and not only that, he was happy about it. Jeremy was happy to have a new friend and wanted to play with Chad. He didn't want to lose Chad; he wanted to stay as friends. "Chad, do you want to play?" he asked. "Play what?" asked Chad.

Jeremy decided to play an easy game called tag. "TAG! You're it!" he said, tagging Chad. However, Chad didn't react, thus confusing Jeremy again. "Why aren't you chasing me?" he asked. "That's how you play?" Chad asked Jeremy. "You should tag me now," suggested Jeremy. So, the two friends happily tagged each other. Jeremy never felt happier in his life. He finally had a friend to play and hang out with and knew that they would be friends forever. That is until Jerico interrupted them. "Jeremy! You, buck-toothed fool!" he hollered. He saw Jeremy and grabbed him by the neck. We're going home right now!"

Chad, worried that Jeremy was hurt, came to the rescue. "Hey, don't do that to my friend!" he said to Jerico "He's my brother!" snarled Jerico. Jeremy then broke free of Jerico's grasp and ran over to Chad, hugging him real tight. They had met and they didn't want to separate. But Jerico pulled Jeremy away from Chad and dragged him towards home. Chad saw Jeremy crying and felt bad for him. But they knew that a great friendship was made and they would still be friends. That would never change. When the two ostriches made it back to their home, Jerico turned to Jeremy who was still crying. "Jeremy, why were you talking to a stranger?" he asked. Jeremy was too speechless to even say a single word.

Chapter 5 The Meaning of life and death

Jeremy knew from the get-go that he disobeyed Jerico, but in doing so, he found a friend that started off as a jerk but became likable in the end. He felt like he was being punished for nothing. And doing so, he had this to say; "Jerico, I've never made any friends in my entire life. Doesn't it seem harsh to have me forget about Chad?"

Jerico was completely enraged. It seemed that Jeremy has found himself a new brother. But he wasn't going to let his plan fail, he had to keep Jeremy until he was a fully-fledged adult. However, if Jeremy continued to act like this, how will his future be like? Would it ruin his expectations of going to college? Will it be a missed opportunity to find love? Jerico couldn't imagine how Jeremy's future would look like since they're both kids themselves. He wasn't going to let Chad ruin his expectations. He wanted Jeremy to stay away from Chad. "I don't want you to see that guy anymore," he said to Jeremy. "You can't pick him over me, considering that I'm taking care of you."

Now Jeremy was confused. Could he really stop seeing Chad, despite the fact that they only met once? Admittedly, he met him one time, but that one time felt like an experience and a gateway to how friends are supposed to be. And to make matters worse, his parents were right next to Jerico. They heard the whole thing. Jerico just smiled, evilly, seeing that his little brother was about to get punished, and felt no sympathy for him whatsoever.

Jeremy looked down sadly as Jon gave him a firm expression. "Jeremy, what did you think you were doing?" he asked him. "We could have lost you today. If something happened to you, we won't know what to do." Jessica decided to step in, seeing how scared Jeremy was. She knew that her nice kind words would calm her son down. "One day, we won't be here," she said, sweetly to Jeremy. "And you need to carry on in our place. You're still very young and bad stuff will happen to people like you if you disobey us."

Jeremy didn't know what his mother meant. "What does she mean?" he thought to himself. "One day, we won't be here? What does that mean? They'll always be there for me. Why would they ever leave me and Jerico? They need us." Suddenly out of nowhere flew in a strange looking bird called a smew. Smews are waterfowls a.k.a. a duck and they are supposed to be white, but this one was gray and looked like a duckling. This smew's name was Dana. And she was the guardian of the family. Dana wasn't there until she came into the family a week after Jeremy's birth. "Dana, we're in the middle of something," Jessica said.

Dana saw that Jeremy was being punished and knew that she had to do something. "Don't be mad at Jeremy," she said. "That's not what actually happened." She then told Jeremy's parents about how Jerico abandoned Jeremy to do some things. Jeremy was relieved seeing that Dana had saved him from being punished since it was Jerico's fault in the first place. As Jerico was dragged away by his father, Jeremy was worried about Dana, since she hung her head down with shame.

"What wrong, Dana?" he asked. "Why are you sad?" Dana looked at Jeremy with a sad expression on her face. Tears rolled down her cheeks. "I must tell you something," she said. Jeremy went to her with a confused look. Dana sighed and said, "You're considered lucky to have parents since I don't have any."

Now Jeremy was even more confused as ever, he couldn't remember what Dana had said. Dana decided to tell Jeremy a story about a tragedy that occurred with her family. "You see, I was born as a runt and lacked the current color for smews and I was picked on by my brothers and sisters," she began. Jeremy sat next to Dana. He was very curious and wanted to hear the rest of the story. "My parents, however, loved me for who I am and my sisters actually got attached to me," Dana continued. "However, one tragic day, a red fox came by our nest and attacked my parents and my siblings. Sadly, they were all killed by the fox very brutally. I was the only survivor.

"So, I ran as fast as I could, crying at the same time. I came back a few minutes later to the nest, mourning over the corpses of my dead parents and also my brothers and sisters. I was alone and lonely, so I ran away to find new parents and that was when I found your parents." She saw Jeremy with tears in his eyes. He felt very sad for Dana. Now he knew why she was sad. Dana had to tell Jeremy something else about her story. "You see, Jeremy," she began. "We're born in this world, but we can't live forever. Your parents won't be around forever. There will be a time when you'll have to be on your own because your parents passed away."

Jeremy ran to Dana, crying some more. "I don't want my parents to die!" he cried. "They'll always be there for me! They have to be! Even if I'm older, they'll be there for me!" Dana sighed again, knowing that Jeremy wasn't getting the whole life and death cycle. "Jeremy, you won't live forever," she said. "Your time will come when you've reached a certain age or something happens to you. But even when death comes, you'll be with your parents. Death or not, they'll always be with you, even if they're gone."

She stopped when Jeremy hugged her, crying some more. She hugged him, seeing that she had no choice left. "Don't worry, I'll take care of you," she said. I'm your guardian and I'll watch over you in their place. You understand what I mean?" Jeremy nodded responsively; he was shaking and trembling with fear. As Dana hugged him some more, Jerico saw them. "Your parents won't be around forever?" he said to himself. "I wonder." He smiled evilly as he added a new plan to his original. "You won't be around forever! With them!"

Chapter 6 Jeremy's Nightmare

When nighttime came, Dana made sure that both Jeremy and Jerico were ready for bed, since their parents enrolled them in preschool which they would start the next morning. Jerico fell asleep after the light had been turned off. But Jeremy was still shivering from the story that Dana told him and the life and death cycle. Dana came to him and said, "Are you alright, Jeremy?" she asked. Jeremy was shivering with fear and tears rolled down his cheeks. He buried his face in his pillow and started crying. Dana calmed Jeremy down for a while and told him; "I know you're upset but it happens in real life and you have to deal with it. Just sleep and not think about it." Finally, after all that lecturing, Jeremy finally fell asleep. Dana left him alone and went to bed herself.

While Jerico was out cold, Jeremy was tossing and turning in bed. He was dreaming about himself and his parents in a forest. It was all relaxing and mellow until the sky turned dark and the forest burst into flames. The flames separated Jeremy from his parents and the flames grew fierce. Suddenly, a bird dragon resembling an ostrich with black wings appeared from the flames and breathed fire, burning the trees.

It then looked at Jeremy as he was shaking with fear. Instead of breathing fire on him, it instead told him, "Don't fear me for this is only a nightmare and I'm a generous type. Not all monsters are evil, but I'm here to give you advice. Before you ask, I didn't start this fire, it's part of your nightmare. Mainly nightmares happen if something tragic happened before it."

Jeremy had remembered the story Dana told him and how it traumatized him into a having a nightmare. The results led to shivering and crying. He also thought about Jerico abandoning him and how he tried to get him in trouble. Either way, he was curious about the advice and wanted to know. "What advice do you have for me?" he asked in a small voice. So the dragon ostrich began; "You must choose how to live your life. You only live once. I know you have a heart, but once you'll grow up and be a fully-fledged adult. You have an untold future that will soon unravel. I wish you the best of luck, Jeremy."

Jeremy gasped loudly, how did this dragon ostrich know his name? Just before he could say something, the dragon ostrich disappeared. And before he got crushed by a burning tree branch, he felt someone shaking him. "Jeremy, wake up," said a voice from beside him. Jeremy woke up from his sleep and turned around. It was Dana. "You were having a nightmare," she said. "Thanks for waking me up" Jeremy sighed. "What happened?" asked Dana.

Shaking and trembling with fear, Jeremy told Dana about his nightmare. "It was dark and flames surrounded me" he began. "And this bird dragon thing told me about only living once and my untold future." Dana understood what he said and decided to calm him down. "Strangely enough, this dragon bird gave you some friendly advice, despite it being a winged beast," Dana said. "But you can choose on how you want to live your life." She told him to go back to sleep and to relax. That being said, the scared little ostrich went back to sleep. But even in his sleep, Jeremy couldn't forget what the dragon ostrich had told him about the "YOLO: you only live once," message. He would find this out sooner or later. All night long, he kept remembering all that had happened in his nightmare and day.

Chapter 7 School Daze

After a dreadful night, Jeremy had finally received enough sleep but was still sleeping even though it was his first day of school. Jerico was up before him. He had already finished Kindergarten, but he was forced to be with Jeremy for a few days. Only until Jeremy was used to Preschool can Jerico finally attend First Grade. He made sure that Jeremy didn't oversleep and did a spectacular job. Jeremy was still scared of that nightmare and clung onto Jerico. "I had a bad dream," he told Jerico. Jerico felt no remorse and told him, "Well, it's not a dream anymore. Stop whining and get ready for school." That wasn't enough to keep Jeremy quiet, so Jerico couldn't ignore him.

He realized that he sported his baby teeth, which haven't fallen out yet. It's the same buck teeth he had since he was born. "I still have my baby teeth?" he asked Jerico. "I thought my buck teeth would fall out already." Jerico added, "They won't fall off for a long time, Jeremy. You're not ready for adult teeth yet. Now I suggest we get ready for school and stop this conversation." So the two young ones got ready for school and were all set. I have to pretend it's my first day of school! I can't believe you came into this family, Jeremy!"

Jessica saw them heading for the bus and decided to give them something that she should have given them a long time ago. "Boys before you go, I'd like you to wear these." She gave them two black thick-rimmed glasses, kid size. "You mean we can wear these now?" asked Jerico. "Of course you can," said Jessica. Jeremy was the first one to try on the glasses. They actually fit perfectly. It looked well with his yellow shoulder strap t-shirt with an ostrich image on it and blue jeans that he wore. Jerico also tried on his glasses, which suited his dragon t-shirt and short jeans. As Jerico and Jeremy were waiting for the bus, Jessica gave Jerico a subtle reminder to look after Jeremy while at school.

Jerico couldn't believe that even though he was taking a bus with Jeremy, he still has to watch over him. "When will Jeremy ever take care of himself?" he muttered. "I can't take it anymore!" When the school bus eventually came, the two of them wondered what preschool would look like. Jerico wasn't that interested. He had already completed Preschool and Kindergarten, and he didn't want to see the classroom again. The classroom itself was vividly colorful with many playthings, arts and crafts and anything a preschooler would find interesting.

Chapter 8: Grayson

Jeremy, of course, was excited to see the classroom. Unlike his brother, Jeremy was eager to make new friends on his first day of school. One of them is an orange dragon named Shelby, who wasn't a fire breather but more of a bubble breather and a vegetarian. Another enrolled student was also an ostrich, except this one was female. Jeremy wanted to know the female's name but was stopped by Shelby. "That's Jocelyn", she said. "She's the newest member of the class."

"She's beautiful," Jeremy said, dreamily. "Don't tell me that you have a crush already," muttered Jerico. "You're way too young to be involved in relationships." Jeremy looked confused and said, "I just said she's beautiful. I was just making a compliment."

Just before he could say another word, he felt someone right next to him. Jeremy felt excited and relieved. "Chad, it's you!" he said. But then he saw that Chad wasn't alone, for there was another person next to him. It looked as if Chad had found another friend. Jeremy then felt crushed realizing that Chad had been taken by someone else and he would probably say that the friendship was over. Shelby felt Jeremy's pain and decided to comfort him. But Chad felt confused on why Jeremy was acting differently. "Jeremy, how come you look so sad?" he asked. "Is it because of Grayson?" "I knew it!" cried Jeremy. "You replaced me with someone else! Grayson, he's your new friend now!" Chad looked more confused. "Jeremy, I didn't replace you, you're still my friend, and Grayson, she's a girl," he said. Jeremy stopped sobbing and felt as confused as ever. "Grayson is a girl?" he asked. "I know it sounds strange, but my parents adopted her," he said. "When did you adopt Grayson?" asked Shelby.

And so Chad began. "Grayson was with her family before a terrible tragedy fell upon her home. She loved being with his parents as well as her brothers and sisters. One in particular named Ames was Grayson's favorite. But all her happiness changed when the tragedy happened. A deadly blast of ember burned a wheelbarrow which her parents had found in an abandoned woodshed; which was their new home. What followed on that terrible night is the reason why Grayson never wanted to return to her homeland." "I can understand why," replied Shelby. Chad continued, "The embers continued to build up until it became a fiery blast of raging fire. It ate everything in its path. It even devoured Grayson's parents and her brothers and sisters. All were burned alive except Grayson who ran away in tears. The red-hot fire singed her fur and she became weak and stumbled upon the home where I live. My parents took her in and nursed her back to health. "But since that dreadful accident, she became savage and hated anything that resembled fire. She even blew out the candles that were in the kitchen. And we told her that it was a small fire that we light up to keep us warm. "But she said that it would be much safer to burn wood in the chimney, the only place she tolerated was in the living room. After a while, she decided to tag along with me for her sake. But she still believes that her parents would come back to get her and then I had to tell her that her parents and their children aren't coming back and that she had to accept living in the household with me and my parents. But she isn't used to it and would rather want to be with me at all times, even when I had to share a bedroom with her." As soon as Chad finished, both Jeremy and Shelby were crying.

"That's the second saddest story I've ever heard," sobbed Jeremy. "At least she's happy to be with you." "Stories have to have sad moments, Jeremy," said Shelby. "The stories with death are the saddest." Jerico wasn't even crying at all. Instead, he just listened to the story of Grayson and grimaced. While Chad was telling the sad story, more students had arrived, without him noticing. The class was ready to start. "My, I hardly knew the story was about me," said Grayson. "I'm not just savage, I have a snarky tone, and I like chimney fires and prefer being accompanied by Chad here." "Well, you were right about the chimney fires," Shelby told Chad. Grayson continued, "For all I know, this Jeremy or Joseph or whatever his name is accusing me of stealing Chad. You're sorely mistaken."

Grayson was a Virginia opossum, with fur sticking out from her back; clearly, it was from the fire that singed her fur. But any burn marks were absent, showing that she was in good health. The fur on her back was the only noticeable injury, however, Grayson was cool with that. Although she's a girl, she has this crazy habit to act like she's the opposite gender so she can learn from them. Not just Chad but other guys as well. Grayson calls it "Fe-Male." Just so she can be cool like everyone else. But the mere mention of Jeremy made her jealous and she wanted nothing to do with him. "It pays to save things like revenge," she said.

Chapter 9: Grayson's outburst

Grayson made Jeremy realize that she didn't like him and she was willing to do anything. Thus planning to rub him out of Chad's friend list. But she was aware that Chad was with her and he would be able to hang out with Jeremy since they met each other first. Chad, however, knew Grayson's motives and said to her; "Grayson, Jeremy is a friend of mine and he always will be. But I can still hang out with you. However, I will give this mere warning, if I ever see you trying to hurt or abuse Jeremy in any way at all, I'll release you back to the wild and never allow you back in my home again." Grayson was scared, Chad had actually said that and that caused a chill to go down her spine.

She knew that if she killed Jeremy, she wouldn't get away with it and end up being exiled. Shelby and Jeremy knew from the very beginning that her motive was revenge since she said it herself. So Grayson accepted Chad's warning and kept her motive to herself. She wanted Jeremy to stay away from her. "Never mind the revenge, I'll just stay out of his way," she said to herself. "But I'll never be friends with him. Therefore, he's my enemy." "You realize that I can hear you right?" Jeremy said to Grayson. Grayson turned around and saw Jeremy next to her.

"You again?" she cried. "Why don't you go and leave me alone? Stay away from me! Get out of my sight!" And to get even she scratched Jeremy's shoulder strap, leaving a red claw mark in its place. A loud shriek of pain entered the room. Grayson's claws were so sharp that it shredded part of the clothing. They're actually sharper than the average opossum. Grayson had forgotten about Chad's warning and knew that she was about to be exiled. Jerico saw that Jeremy was hurt and showed no remorse. Chad took notice and saw Jeremy hurt and weakened. "You did this to him?" he asked Grayson. Grayson saw the wound on Jeremy's shoulder as it turned a dark red. "He wouldn't leave me alone, so I had to," Grayson confessed.

It looked as if Chad was going to exile Grayson, but he didn't, not quite. "I'll let you go this one time, but no more after that," he said. "But you are to sit with Shelby until I'm finished giving Jeremy the medical care he deserves." "Don't worry about me," said Grayson. "I can tolerate dragons." She felt relieved knowing that she wasn't exiled. As Grayson went to sit with Shelby, Chad instead focused on healing Jeremy's wounded shoulder. He put a bag of ice on it, hoping that the numbness would help the scratch go away. "We must be considered lucky that there's a first aid kit with ice in it," replied Shelby.

Grayson already knew that. "That's because you had a bag of ice and placed in that kit before Jeremiah and Jericho got here" she muttered. "I wanted to be prepared for emergencies", said Shelby. "After all it was YOU who caused the injury." Grayson felt the sudden flashback strike at her. "I know what happened!" she cried. Shelby could see that Jeremy was weak and the severe coldness of the ice bag and the scratch on his arm only made it worse for him. "It hurts real bad," he told Chad. "I don't think I can move it." "I know it hurts," Chad said. "But don't worry, it will heal soon. The ice will calm the swelling and soon you'll be able to move your arm again." Jeremy felt relieved to hear a word of praise, but he really wanted the pain to stop. "Just don't think about the pain," Shelby said. "Think about something else." "Why don't you tell us a story?" Grayson said to Shelby.

Despite being a water dragon, Shelby was a well-known short storyteller and she gave out stories that could change the moods of other people. "Just don't make it a sad one," sighed Jeremy, still suffering from his wound. "Tell us about your birth" suggested Grayson. And so, Shelby began.

Chapter 10 Shelby's story

"I was no ordinary dragon, for I was a bit different from the rest. You see, I fell into a river during a clash battle between water and fire dragons. Despite being in the egg, I could hear the battle going on. But here's the best part, I was saved by this family of sea dragons, ones that resemble aquatic dragons, but with dark blue scales, fishtails and flippers. When I eventually hatched out, that's when my difference took effect. "They saw that I was orange with yellow eyes with a beige tummy and blue pupils, which I still have. The wings and spikes on my back were yellow and I sported yellow horns on my head and sported an extra horn on top of my snout, giving me the nickname; Narwhal nosed dragon.

"Nevertheless, the fact is that I was originally a fire dragon that was equipped with water abilities instead of fire since I fell in the river as an egg. My original name was Seagonia, making me the first water fire dragon in existence. But this didn't suit the rest of the sea dragons, especially their ruler, Aquasear. "And so Aquasear said to my parents, 'Members of the sea, a fire dragon cannot be part of our group. She must be returned back to her original habitat.' But my parents wouldn't listen to him and said; 'Our daughter, Seagonia will stay with us, for she has our water abilities. Not at all is she leaving."

"This angered Aquasear so he determined to get the better of me and my parents. He came across the land of the fire dragons and wanted to return me to them. But I ran away from them, going back to my home. Then Aquasear knew of my wishes and turned over a new leaf. 'Seagonia, would you like me to give you a gift?' And I was uncertain of what to say. So I said, 'Yes, I would love one. But what is it you wanted to give me?' 'Get in the water first and you'll see' he said, smiling. "I hope this ends in a good way," Jeremy said to himself.

Shelby continued, "And as I got into the river, I felt something strange. My body was soon covered in scales that were orange. Then I felt my tail and arms change their form. My tail had changed into the aquatic dragon tail. My claws had become powerful webbed flippers and the horn on my snout had shrunken to a small size; still having the Narwhal nosed dragon nickname. And I swam through the river, faster than any of the sea dragons. I realized that Aquasear had changed my form and gave me my new name: Shelby, so I can live among the sea dragons.

"Unfortunately, this only happens when I'm in the water. Even though I was a water dragon with fire dragon features, he promised never to banish me from their land. So, I still live there to this day and I'm glad to be the person that I am now." Just as Shelby finished her story, she saw Grayson sketching some drawings of what a sea dragon looks like. "I actually enjoyed that!" Jeremy exclaimed. "That's the first story that wasn't sad. I'd love to hear some more in the future." "I look forward to it very much," said Shelby.

Chapter 11 Career and punishment

Suddenly, the class heard someone enter the room. It was their teacher; Mrs. Sally. She wasn't an ostrich but was actually a swan wearing a pink gown and blue jeans. She seemed larger than the average swan, but it did not bother her in any way. She wanted the class to start.

"Good morning class, my name is Mrs. Sally," she said, writing on the chalkboard. "Good morning, Mrs. Sally, " the class said all at once." Now before we begin with our lesson, I'd like to know a bit about you and your goals in life." "You mean our purpose in life?" Grayson called out. "Why yes, uh what is your name?" asked Mrs. Sally. "It's Grayson," the opossum replied. "Very good, Grayson," said Mrs. Sally. "But class, it also means what your future career is. Does anyone have any future jobs or plans?" Jocelyn called out, "My future career is to start a knitting business. I and my mom knit all the time." She even showed the knitted scarf that she had with her. "Why I'd love that very much," said Mrs. Sally, admiring the scarf.

Jocelyn remembered to say her name; 'My name is Jocelyn by the way," she said. "What a nice dream job, Jocelyn. While that was happening, Chad was playing with his toy phone that he brought from home. This caught Jeremy's attention. "Is that an actual phone?" he asked Chad. "No it's just a toy," Chad answered. "Did you want it to be a real one?" "No, I was thinking about the phone is all," Jeremy said. "I bet when I'm older, I could install a phone and give it rockets. In fact, both of us should go to a tech college, get degrees and have rocket-powered phones, depending on the brand that I pick."

Mrs. Sally saw that Chad was using an electronic device in class and gave him a warning. "You there, what is your name?" she asked the possum. "Chad," he said weakly. "Chad, it's against classroom policies to use a phone in class. Especially when the class is in session. I'll let you off with a warning, but I never want to see that device out until recess." "Yes, Mrs. Sally," sighed Chad. Jeremy wanted to defend him, saying that the phone was just a toy and wasn't a real phone, but was called on by Mrs. Sally. "You sir, what is your name?" she asked. Jeremy knew that he had to say his name. "It's Jeremy," he said. "That's a nice name," said Mrs. Sally. "Well, Jeremy do you know what you want to do for your future career?"

Jeremy was ready to say his answer. But he forgot about saying that the phone was fake and just a toy. Instead, he said, "My future career is to install rockets in a phone to make it fly and actually succeed in going to a Tech college." This almost made Mrs. Sally faint. "Oh, Jeremy, I didn't understand what you meant," she said. "I'll call on you later and you'll give me a different answer." "I know what I meant," Jeremy said to himself. "I said installing rockets on a cell phone brand and going to a Tech college to succeed in that goal."

Grayson growled appreciatively and could see the real purpose about Jeremy; a young dreamer who wants to be a technician when he's older. "He's not that bad," she said to herself. "But he needs to change his lifestyle as he grows up. Not everyone can be- "He can choose his future," Shelby interrupted. "He only wants what's best for himself."

Jeremy wanted to make his future job more detailed and immediately called out in class, "I know what I said! It's my dream job and I wish to go with it!" Mrs. Sally was upset, seeing that Jeremy still wanted his desired dream job even though he was asked to change it. The one warning turned into a punishment. "Jeremy, I told you to change your answer, yet you disobeyed and talked about a subject that we don't talk about in class. As punishment, you will stay after school and write a paragraph on your new dream career and not the one that you repeated twice."

This made Jeremy more hurt than his wound, which was concealed by a Band-Aid. He was about to say something else until Fio stepped up to the question. "My dream job revolves around cooking and taking a culinary class," he said. "What a great example," said Mrs. Sally. "And your name is?" "I'm Fio," the fox replied. Then Jeremy saw that the student was a fox and quickly remembered that it was the exact same animal that killed Dana's family. The flashback kept coming back to him and caused an outburst. "He killed Dana's family!" he cried. And to get even, he started to fight with Fio. Mrs. Sally noticed it right away. "Jeremy, stop this nonsense immediately," she said.

Instead of listening to her, Jeremy continued to tackle Fio. "Why did you kill Dana's family?" he asked him. Fio felt confused, not knowing what Jeremy said. "Who's Dana?" he asked. "Don't avoid the question!" Jeremy hissed. "Tell me now!" He was about to punch Fio until the fox cried out; "I don't eat ducks! I just wanted culinary class as a dream job to eat better foods in the future and prepare them well!" Jeremy felt shocked seeing that Fio had spoken the truth, and let him go. Mrs. Sally was so enraged at Jeremy and Chad breaking the rules yet again, that she wanted to send the two of them to the principal's office. Needless to say that she's also the principle of the school. "I will not tolerate this interruption any longer," she said. "Chad and Jeremy, I hereby send you to the principal's office. You'll find out about true discipline there!"

No one said a word as Jeremy and Chad were escorted out of the room as they were expected to sit outside of the principal's office. As they left the room, Mrs. Sally called up Jeremy's parents and told them to meet her after school. When school had ended, Jeremy and Chad were still sitting outside the principal's office with both of their heads down. Luckily, Dana was there with Jon and Jessica in the office. Mrs. Sally was already in the office, revealing that she was also the late afternoon principal.

"Never in my entire life have I've seen such a rude, disrespectful and violent student," she told them. "How did you raise your son? He was a disgrace in class, talking about cell phones, fighting and refusing to participate in today's activity. Not to mention accusing one of my students for murder, a fox named Fio." Dana knew that she had to step in. "It's my fault for telling Jeremy about the death of my parents," she said. "You're the one that Jeremy was talking about?" asked Mrs. Sally. "Yes I am," answered Dana. "A red fox killed my family." She started to cry at the loss and Jessica tried to comfort her. "I'm sorry to hear that," said Mrs. Sally. "But back to your son, this isn't regular behavior for someone his age. I am aware that some random student scratched him this morning, someone else treated his wound as an orange lizard creature told me, and I can see how he was upset about it and talked about irrelevant choices for his future job. Unfortunately, we run a very strict district to ban phone use and discussion about any electronic device. And two warnings equal a trip to the office."

Still sitting outside of the office, Jeremy heard every word that Mrs. Sally said about him and started to cry. Chad decided to comfort him, knowing that it was the least he could do to help him. "Don't cry, Jeremy," he said. "Everything will be alright. Uh, what did you say was your future job?" "Going to a tech college and developing a rocket-powered phone as a jetpack," answered Jeremy. He still went with his original dream job idea. "I'm going with you to your dream job", Chad replied. "You'll need some assistance and a friend you're close to." Jeremy stopped crying and felt relieved, knowing that Chad was a very close friend and he was always there for him. The two hugged each other in a friendly way.

Back in the office, Mrs. Sally continued her talk with Jeremy's parents. "I'm sure he has determination," she said. "But he needs to maintain his behavior." "This isn't like him," said Jessica. "Our son is a good person," replied Jon. "I know that Jeremy doesn't act like this. Someone must be behind this." Much to Jeremy's dismay, Jerico was in the office as well. "It's that infernal friend of his; Chad," he said. "He's the cause of Jeremy's outburst. I knew he was no good. There's got to be a barrier between them."

Jon and Jessica exchanged looks of concern. Chad was a friend of Jeremy, but he might also be a bad influence on him too, causing him to do very bad things. Maybe Chad was not a bundle of sweet peas but was instead a bad influence. Jerico continued, "You should split up Chad and Jeremy as punishment. That way those two won't cause any more trouble." "I guess we should," said Jessica. She and Jon called out to Jeremy and told him that they were going home. "We're going to have a serious talk when we get home," Jon told Jeremy. "And you're going to accept your punishment.

When they got home, things did not deteriorate for Jeremy. Instead of Jon talking to Jeremy, it was Jessica. He was too angry to consult with him. "Jeremy, what were you thinking today?" asked Jessica. "You could have gotten expelled." "Don't blame Jeremy," said Dana. "I'm the one to blame for telling him my backstory." "And Chad was the cause of your outburst," Jessica continued. "You will not go anywhere without Jerico from now on. He'll have to keep an eye on you." "Curse you, Jeremy, for taking away my freedom because of your actions," grumbled Jerico. Jeremy was scared and told her, "But Chad is the only friend that I can relate to," he said. "You can't just separate us." Jessica was firm with him. "I don't want to hear it," she said. "You've got Grayson, Shelby, Jocelyn, and Jerico. You can play with them, instead of Chad. And I want you to stay away from Chad. Is that understood?" "Understood," sighed Jeremy. He had no other choice, but to agree.

(This is the end of part 1 of Jeremy The Movie. But don't worry, the story isn't over yet. In Part 2, you'll get to experience more exciting and tearful moments. In other words, it also reveals how Jeremy got his hoodie, Ioni being introduced and so much more than I don't want to spoil.)

Jeremy The Movie

PART 2: GROWING UP TOGETHER

(Welcome to Part 2 of Jeremy The Movie. If you made it this far, then you are in for a treat. The second part focuses on Jeremy growing up, how he got the red pullover hoodie, meeting orphan Ioni and so much more! If you're wondering about the growing up part, Jeremy and Chad have the same voices from the Regular Show episode: Replaced. So, be ready for their lines. This part gets very dark at times and makes you think twice about a tragic backstory of an OC. You'll notice this time that I gave animal traits to the anthros, so you'll see how some act like their animal counterparts and enter the Watership Down route.

Chapter 12 Banned from Chad

Jessica could see that splitting Jeremy from Chad was the only way to prevent him from being destructive and violent. But Jeremy didn't agree at first, until after being told to understand. Jerico was also angry at Jeremy, for ruining his free time. "Look what you got me into," he growled. "Because of you, I can't do anything." Despite agreeing with Jessica, Jeremy was sent to bed early without any stories or kind words from Dana. Jerico went to bed as well. It soon became clear to Jeremy that he had to find a way to reunite with Chad. But how could he with Jerico in the way? He was willing to do anything. But with all these thoughts running through his mind made it difficult for Jeremy to sleep.

After a restless night, Jeremy woke up, sleep deprived and weak. He didn't feel like going to school today. But Jerico urged him to wake up and get ready. It wasn't easy but he finally did it. "Remember what mom said," he told Jeremy. "If you get anywhere near Chad, you'll be sorry." Jeremy didn't say a word as the bus came to pick himself and Jerico up. There was gossip about the incident that happened the day before and Jeremy knew what it was about. It was Grayson who started the whole thing. Chad was right next to her, but Jeremy remembered to stay away from him, even though he didn't want to.

When they eventually reached the school, the whole class became silent. Despite Grayson starting the gossip, she told them that Jeremy was still safe to be around. "He might be disruptive and violent," she said. "But he's still a member of this classroom. So, we should respect him." It felt good for Jeremy to hear a word of praise from Grayson. But what he really wanted, was to be with Chad. Jerico could see in Jeremy's eyes tears and determination. "Don't even think about it," he said. "You will stay away from Chad." Jeremy started to cry and wouldn't stop. He was trying to attract Chad's attention. Sure enough, he responded. "Jeremy, you don't have to be sad," he said. "I'm still here for you."

He remembered about being scolded last night by his own parents, but they didn't ban him from Jeremy. They let him off with a warning. But he didn't know about Jeremy's punishment. "What happened to him last night?" he thought to himself. "Did he get a severe punishment or just a warning? I've never seen him that upset in my entire life." "What happened last night, Jeremy?" asked Shelby. Just before Jeremy could answer Shelby's question, Mrs. Sally entered the classroom. The whole class became silent. "I hope you're ready to participate today," she told Jeremy. "Now yesterday, we talked about dream careers and you gave out an irrelevant answer. Give me another example that isn't that."

Shelby felt sad for Jeremy and wanted to help him. But what could she do? Before she could say anything, Grayson called out; "Make the career worth wanting!" "What did Grayson mean by that?" Shelby said to herself. Chad also called out in class, but it wasn't relevant to the subject. "He has a hard time choosing," he said. "Give him some room." Jerico decided to put an end to Chad's statement and snapped at him. "You keep out of this!" he snarled. "Jeremy wants nothing to do with you!" "You're wrong, Jerico!" Jeremy growled. "I'm going with Chad and you can't stop me!" And to get even, he took off his glasses and hugged Chad. Both were crying tears of joy. Shelby regarded the friendship with Chad and Jeremy.

Mrs. Sally then wrote on the chalkboard: "Today's objective; Friendship." She felt the bond between Chad and Jeremy and realized why Jeremy picked out a specific option. Since it was his decision of a dream job, she could no longer deny Jeremy's answer. "Stop!" A voice shredded through the classroom. Jeremy and Chad turned around and saw that Jon and Jessica had arrived and were not happy. Jerico had called them up after Jeremy ran to Chad. For once, Grayson felt complete sorrow for Jeremy. "Please be okay," she said to herself.

Jon was furious and said, "Jeremy, we told you that you're not allowed to see Chad ever again!" Jessica joined in. "We are going to switch schools. And you'll never see Chad again!" Chad and Jeremy stood motionless. "Don't!" cried Mrs. Sally. "Jeremy has shown a bond of friendship that can't be broken. You mustn't split them up." "So, Chad isn't a bad influence?" asked Jon. "He's not a bad influence," answered Mrs. Sally. "I guess the phone was an idea for Jeremy's career."

Jessica turned to her husband. "So, Chad was just looking out for him," she told him. Jeremy had his glasses already put on. "So, are you still mad at me?" he asked Jessica. "No, sweetheart," said Jessica. "Chad is actually like your second brother. Do you have any parents, Chad?" "Of course I do," said Chad. "But they said that I can't move out until I graduate high school." "Not necessarily," said Mrs. Sally. "I'm allowing you two to be partners. That means you can sit together from now on." Grayson breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," she said. Jon and Jessica left school in high spirits, seeing that their son had a friend like none other. And so Mrs. Sally informed everyone at the school that Chad and Jeremy were to be together at all times.

As the years went on, the two friends continued to take different schools by being together and always being selected as partners. Their old classmates also attended most of the schools they went to. Even Jerico managed to make friends with some classmates, but it was during middle school. He was in the eighth grade, while Jeremy and the others were in sixth grade. During his time in middle school, he managed to befriend a feisty, powerful quoll named Melody and a cassowary named Cassie. Since Jeremy was occupied with Chad, he couldn't use him for his plan. Now he had friends of his own who would, later on, become part of his army.

They both met in groups with other friends with plans for their future. "I'm sure we've equipped enough people for it to work," Cassie replied. "We have," said Melody. "But Jerico said that we need Dale and a new member to join first." "What?" asked Cassie. "She means we need two more," said Grizwold, a half-blind grizzly bear. "Nonsense," said Robert, a black rat. "We'll let Jerico decide." And Jerico agreed with the plan," said Shabedoom, a black fire dragon. "Wait until we graduate from high school," said Jerico. "Then we will start the plan." And he kept the plan intact for the right moment.

Chapter 13 Graduation Day

Soon high school came and ended faster than anyone knew it. Even though Jerico and his friends graduated before they did, Jeremy and his classmates managed to survive high school and graduate. Their old teacher Mrs. Sally came to give out a speech to her old students and newbies, for she taught some classes in high school. "We are here today to congratulate our seniors for making it this far in their lives," she began. "And I'm eager to say that you're all mature enough to start your dream jobs and I wish you the best of luck." All the graduating seniors watched as they came a long way from preschool to where they're at now.

"Before we begin with confetti, I'd like to say something about my favorite student in the class." Mrs. Sally was referring to Jeremy. "Would you mind coming to the stage, Jeremy?" she asked. Jeremy was already grown up. His baby teeth were gone and he had grown taller than his previous form. As he made his way to the stage, Mrs. Sally began, "Now, the first time I met Jeremy, I thought of him being very destructive, rude and irrelevant to topics. But then I woke up to realize that I was wrong about him. He matured much faster than any preschooler I've ever known.

"You may all recall that day was when a friendship like no other was born and has changed our lives forever. All we know is that we should feel such joy for two likely friends for life, as they embark on their lifelong dream to create jetpack phones for their future career. And we should praise them for their work and accomplishment over the years. I wish you the best of luck Chad and Jeremy. Go and fulfill your dreams." As the speech ended, everyone was celebrating as confetti and streamers flew over the sky. The graduation day was the best day they ever had. Everyone received their diplomas and were now mature enough to make their own decisions.

But Chad and Jeremy left the graduation ceremony early, so they can spend the day together. Shelby tagged along with them. Dana escorted Grayson home since she fell asleep during the ceremony. She actually lived with Jon and Jessica. Chad, himself, moved in as well as Shelby. Grayson, herself, actually grew larger than an actual Virginia opossum and was the same height as Chad. The spiked fur on her back reverted to normal fur but only emerges when she gets angry and fights. It was her weight that concerned Dana. She was heavy and could actually win fights with other enemies. Since then, Grayson became more stubborn and rude to her friends, giving her the advantage over bullies. And still, she graduated with the whole class. "Troubled one is she," Dana said to herself.

Chapter 14 Ioni

Shelby, Chad, and Jeremy were on their way to the town mall since they were given graduation money from their parents. As kids, they had to go with their parents. But now as adults, they can finally go by themselves. "It's hard to believe that we're officially grownups now," Shelby said to Chad and Jeremy. Chad and Jeremy's voices had changed as well as Shelby's. (Whenever Chad and Jeremy talk, it's their voices from the Regular Show episode; Replaced. Just imagine you're hearing their voices.)

"And it's a good thing that we stuck together over the years," Chad said to Jeremy. "It sure was," Jeremy sighed. "What do you say we buy some new clothes?" suggested Chad. "I'm tired of wearing this graduation robe."

"So am I," said Jeremy. "I don't think blue suits for the clothes I wear. I prefer a certain brand but just not this blue graduation robe." "I bet we're starting a new legacy," replied Chad.

Jeremy was about to say something until he sensed someone in danger. "We both shall continue our lives," he replied. "But do you ever get the feeling that something isn't right?" "What do you mean?" asked Shelby. "I just sense someone in trouble," answered Jeremy. "Someone who's incredibly weak and weary." "Oh, it's just Grayson dozing off," replied Shelby. "It's not Grayson," said Jeremy. "It's someone else. I need to find out." Shelby then saw Jeremy heading for a lake area. "Jeremy, your parents aren't going to like that you're wandering off by yourself," said Shelby. "I'll find Dana first, then I'll go," said Jeremy. "Just stay there with Chad until I get back."

As he made his way to the lake route, Shelby looked at Chad. "I think someone is in trouble," she said. "I can sense it." "Is it Jeremy?" Chad asked. "No, not Jeremy," answered Shelby. "It's female and she seems wounded or hurt by something." Dana was by the lake as she saw Jeremy running towards her. "Jeremy, why are you wandering around by yourself?" she asked. "Dana, I thought you were at my parents' house with Grayson," Jeremy said, gasping. "I was until your parents came back," replied Dana. "They're watching Grayson. She's become lazy now."

They were suddenly interrupted by a dreadful sound of moaning. It was getting closer and closer. "What is it, Jeremy?" asked Dana. "I hear someone coming on the path," said Jeremy. "And it sounds like a girl." They both froze as they saw a figure emerge from the water. "Cedric is dead," it said. "My parents are gone too." It was a polar bear cub, soaking wet and exhausted. She was a cub with blue eyes. But she was slightly bigger than an actual cub, sporting ruffs of fur on her head.

Dana and Jeremy were horrified to see the figure so exhausted and breathing heavily. She looked so young and out of shape. "Who are you?" Dana asked the bear. The bear extremely weak and exhausted only said this, "My name is Ioni." "Ioni?" Dana and Jeremy said in confusion. "What happened to you?" asked Dana. But the bear had fallen asleep. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep. "Let her sleep, Dana," said Jeremy. "Watch over her while I get back with Chad and Shelby. They're probably wondering where I'm at. And you know that I have separation anxiety when I'm not with Chad. Don't you remember what happened in preschool?" Oh, I remember," said Dana. "You go back to your friends. I'll take care of Ioni."

Then Jeremy realized that he didn't want to leave the bear behind and instead decided to stay with her and Dana. Ioni awoke, struggling to get up. She felt very weak and was shivering from exhaustion. "I'd tell you what happened, but I don't think I can explain it," she said. Dana and Jeremy looked at each other. They wanted to know more about Ioni and why she was in a bedraggled state. "We'd like to know," said Dana. "And my friends are waiting patiently," Jeremy added. "I won't be missed." Ioni stared at him. "I've never seen anyone like you where I used to live," she said. "What's your name?" "Jeremy," the ostrich replied.

"I love that name," replied Ioni. It looked as if her strength was coming back. "There was actually a cub with that same name that I knew from my old home!" she exclaimed. "Really?" Dana and Jeremy said. "That name is very common," replied Ioni." "However, he got very sick and died at a young age. Trust me that is nowhere compared to what happened to my old home and my family. I'll tell you about it, but I don't think you can handle it." "Another sad story," groaned Jeremy. "I thought I was done hearing stories like this." "Don't worry," Dana said to him. "All sad stories have happy endings at times. But let's just hear what Ioni has to say."

Ioni staggered a little bit but managed to get back up. And so she began. "I was born as a runt and had some trouble fitting in with my older sibling; Cedric. But we managed to get along during our childhood. We lived in the Arctic, a home sheathed with ice and water. Cedric always looked after me, when we were wandering around in mysterious places. However, our parents always scolded us because we wandered around specific hunting grounds, where we were exposed by poachers or predators. My parents had strict instructions for us to stay away from the hunting grounds since poachers settled there with high hopes to sell animals of the Arctic.

"But then, there was a deadly virus that entered our home and infected the inhabitants. My parents called it "The Ursa virus," a plague that infects bear cubs and causes them to become very ill and close to reaching their death. And sadly my friend whom I won't mention died from it. But that's not the only thing that happened. The poachers have found our home and set traps to snare the cubs. "It became chaos with nets falling on top of the mothers and fathers, shotgun noises in the distance, bear cubs screaming for their mothers and cages full of arctic animals. I myself wasn't a hunter and couldn't fight the trespassing poachers. My vegan diet separated me from eating seals. However, I was old enough to fight, but I was too scared of the trauma I was witnessing from my very eyes. I and Cedric watched in horror as some bears were shot to death, in order to protect their cubs. Even cubs were trapped and some were shot to death by the poachers. Helpless dead bodies were lying on the Arctic floor, blood was everywhere and..."

"I can't take it anymore!" interrupted Jeremy. "Men shooting small helpless animals? That's mutiny, Ioni, and you know that!" Ioni looked confused when she saw the frightened ostrich complaining. "What Jeremy means is, don't be too descriptive on what happened to the cubs," said Dana. "You're making it sound very grim." "How is it grim?" asked Ioni. "I'm telling you two how I saw it. Therefore, it's all true and it's mutiny. A travesty I dare say. But I have to be descriptive on what happened." "Not exactly," replied Dana. "You can say it in your own words like "the cubs were shot to death or the cubs died in a horrible way." "Did you get infected by that Ursa virus, Ioni?" asked Jeremy.

"No, I wasn't infected neither was Cedric," answered Ioni. "We were the only cubs that weren't infected." As I was saying, Cedric and I wept at the losses of the innocent cubs who were shot to death, but they were also hit by clubs and some were caged up. The ones that were caged were unharmed. My mother told me and Cedric to run away from here and swim to a new home away from the Arctic. She lunged towards a poacher but was headshot to death. My father was caged up and my mother laid dead on the Arctic floor. I saw the blood and it made wonder on why the world was filled with cruelty and evil. I and Cedric tried our best to look away, but the sounds going on made us nauseous. We managed to get into the water and swim. We were already old enough to swim."

"But how did you swim with that muscular body, besides being a runt?" asked Dana. "I had a growth spurt which caused me to grow to a larger size, but still in the body of a cub," answered Ioni. "I look young but I'm actually younger than Cedric. So, clearly, I'm a child cub. As we swam away, I heard a random poacher say to a guy, 'These animals will make us rich once we send them to different zoos. Well, we'll split the money once we've equipped enough animals for profit.' The word 'zoo' haunted me and I knew I would never ever get sold to one.

"Since I and Cedric were both excellent swimmers, we managed to swim away from our old home. It felt like weeks were passing by and we grew stronger every day. We managed to eat fruit to keep us going and full of energy. The fallen fruit was the only food source we could find, although I didn't touch the fish that Cedric ate. I only ate the fallen fruit. But this is where it gets depressing. Cedric and I were getting exhausted from swimming that we stopped to rest near a paddle boat dock with a sign that said 'Boat Rentals'. We were glad to get out of the water and rest on the bridge. I rested inside a green paddle boat while Cedric laid next to me. Then we set back on our journey to a new home. We had a confrontation with lake monsters living underneath, but this purple monster was generous and offered us a ride to the other side of the lake. After the ride, we continued walking through a forest and saw another lake area leading to downtown. I convinced Cedric that we should cross this lake, so we can live a new life. And Cedric agreed with me.

"As we made near the edge of the water, we saw an orange cat like creature come out of the bushes. It was female and had white spots all over her body. She said, 'My name is Melody. Who are you and what are you doing in my territory?' We didn't like her tone, and Cedric told her that we meant no harm and that we are orphans trying to cross the lake, so they can live downtown. As soon as he said downtown, she said, 'I knew it! You're orphans with no families. I'll tear you both to pieces!' And she advanced towards us. Cedric told me to go on while he held Melody off. I managed to reach the water while Cedric called out, 'Keep swimming, Ioni! Don't worry about me! Save yourself! And then I heard a terrible shriek of pain and a blood-curdling scream. I looked back and saw Cedric torn apart by Melody, leaving her claws and teeth all bloody. I cried when I saw my dead brother and I thought I was next. But she didn't get me. She disappeared into the bushes. I was left all alone and I was the one who swam here. I was exhausted, traumatized and sopping wet and I had to rest right here. I'm glad to be alive after all I've been through."

After Ioni was finished, there was a long silence from Dana and Jeremy. Jeremy had never heard a story so tragic and so traumatizing in his life. He had heard Dana's story about her family killed by a fox, Chad's story about Grayson's family killed by a forest fire, Shelby's story about her being an outcast dragon and now Ioni's tragic story of death that was more traumatizing than the other three. "Those men have always hated animals," said Dana. "No, they destroyed the arctic home because I and Cedric kept invading their territory. They'll never rest until they make money off the captive animals. Technically, the Arctic wasn't destroyed, it was ravished by the poachers. I'm not sure if anyone survived or got left behind. All I know is my mother was killed and my father was sold to a zoo. Here I am; alone, hungry, exhausted and in poor shape. I'm in desperate need of help, new parents I mean."

Dana and Jeremy looked at each other. "She needs someone to look after her," Dana said to Jeremy. "You should be the father!" "What?!" Jeremy said, in complete shock. "Dana, I don't know if..." "Oh, you'll do just fine," replied Dana. Then Jeremy said, reluctantly, "I'll do it." "Well said, Jeremy," said Dana. "Now I'm sure Chad and Shelby are still waiting for you." Then Jeremy realized that Chad and Shelby were still waiting for him and he glanced at Ioni. "Dana, take Ioni home," he said to Dana. "She has nowhere to go. She now lives with us."

Dana looked puzzled and said, "Jeremy, are you sure that it's a good idea?" "Of course it is," replied Jeremy. "Tell Grayson that she has a new roommate." "Grayson won't approve of it..." She couldn't finish her sentence because Jeremy was gone in plain sight. Ioni looked at Dana. "Is it true that you're my new parents?" she asked. "I'm not certain, but I believe so," said Dana. "You need a long rest, Ioni. You can tell the others at home your story while you've rested." As she finished her sentence, Ioni fell fast asleep.

Chapter 15 Jeremy's decision

It took a while for Jeremy to make it back to Chad and Shelby. They were waiting for him by a store called "Das coolest", a store that sold the trendiest outfits and some cool apparel.

Unfortunately, it was under new management and the old manager had retired. "Where have you been?" Chad asked Jeremy. "We've been waiting for a long time." "My apologies," sighed Jeremy. "I didn't know that I was gone that long." "Never mind," said Chad. "At least you're here now. Shelby, you want anything in there?"

Shelby decided not to buy any clothes since she liked the warm breeze on her scales. But Chad eyed on this white V-neck t-shirt with olive green skinny jeans. "Just imagine what it would be like if I wore that," Chad said to Jeremy. "That would be so cool. Uh, Jeremy?" But Jeremy didn't notice the clothes that Chad wanted. His eyes widened as he saw a red pullover hoodie on sale with black jeans. "I know what I really want," he said, dreamily. "I'll buy that hoodie and jeans. What do you think, Shelby?" Shelby examined his choice. "A hoodie?" she asked. "Oh, the classic choice of a hipster." "A what?" Jeremy asked Shelby.

"A hipster," answered Shelby. "Which is what you'll become if you buy that. Hipsters wear those kinds of clothes. Even Chad's choice revolves around certain clothing that hipsters wear. I can tell by the skinny jeans and the V-neck t-shirt. I dare say that you two will become hipsters." "How do hipsters act?" asked Jeremy. "I'm curious and I want to know how they act." "Count me in," said Chad. "Whatever Jeremy wants, I want as well." Shelby looked a little surprised and then began. "It's all about taste and attitude," she said. "Hipsters love the trendiest items and behave differently among others. A hipster is a young person who is trendy, stylish, or progressive in an unconventional way; and someone who is hip. Sometimes they fall into the stereotypical zone and become very standoffish. They're sometimes noted as snobby, following the subculture of many hipsters and saying that you're better than anyone else. I'm not too sure that you would fall into that same category, Jeremy."

"How come?" Jeremy asked. "Well, you're too pure and sweet to become a hipster and even though you have your moments, you're not really hipster material. And other hipsters might dislike you and disregard your decision. Nonetheless, you can decide if being a hipster is good for you or not. And if you choose to be a hipster, take it easy and give others enough time to understand you." Chad was about to say something until Shelby asked him a question. "Chad, do you want to be a hipster?" It was Jeremy who answered. "Chad and I will become hipsters and get used to their subculture and act like them," he said reluctantly.

And Chad nodded his head. "You two grow up so fast," sighed Shelby. "Now go on buy whatever you desire. It's your graduation money." But as soon as she said that, Chad and Jeremy already purchased their clothes.

They weren't as fast but they bought them. Jeremy was glad to have new clothes to wear. But Chad didn't seem too happy with him. "I didn't know that you would buy them at first glance," Shelby stammered. "How come you were that quick to buy those?" "Why don't you ask Jeremy?" muttered Chad. "He bought almost every red pullover hoodie in that store. He told me that he never wanted to run out of that specific hoodie and bought multiple hoodies to mean what he said. Foolish avian! I never thought I'd be so angry!"

Then Jeremy nudged his shoulder. "Aren't we going home, Chad?" he asked. "You'll wait until I'm ready to leave," Chad said in a cold tone that made Jeremy back away. He had never heard his friend talk like that before. Not even when they were kids. "We should get going, Chad," whispered Shelby. "It's starting to get late." And it was true. The sun was starting to set in the red sky and night was approaching. "Well, the sun is setting," Chad sighed. "Let's go before it gets dark."

They began their walk home. Since they were downtown, it meant a long walk for them. As Chad caught up to Shelby, he led Jeremy to his side. "I'm still mad at you," he said sternly. "You're the one who made the decision and yet you abuse the hipster treatment. That was pointless buying almost every red pullover hoodie in that store. What were you really up to, Jeremy?" "I just got carried away, Chad," Jeremy sighed. "I've been thinking about what I said about being a hipster. And those hoodies play a big role. I wasn't a fan of the black jeans but I still bought plenty of them."

"Playing trendy," said Chad. "I'd figure you'd say something like that. Once you wear that hoodie, you'll become a whole new person. And I look forward to seeing the whole new you. Jeremy, I never said this before, but you are my only true friend I can rely on and if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here. So, from now on, we both need to make the decisions and we both have to agree on it. Got it?" "Yeah, I got it," Jeremy responded. "But Chad, will we still be able to go to that Institute of Technical Technology even though we become hipsters?" You'll still go," answered Shelby. "If Midnight had to choose between two things, he'd pick both." "Who's Midnight?" Jeremy said in confusion.

Shelby though for a moment and said, "Do you remember telling Dana that scary story about your nightmare?" Jeremy had remembered that dragon bird and the YOLO message. "Dana told you what I said?" he asked. "You live with us now so she must have told you that as a bedtime story." "Precisely," replied Shelby. "But that dragon bird in your nightmare was Midnight. He was in the form of a dragon bird. But it's not his true form." "Is there a story that goes with it?" Jeremy asked. "You could tell us on the way home." "Yeah Shelby," said Chad. "Tell us about this Midnight." Shelby then said, "But I must tell you that this story is very short and I'll be done with it quickly." "Just tell us then," said Chad. "We don't mind." And while flustered at first, Shelby began.

Chapter 16 A story and talk at home

"It's said that the young are supposed born during the day. But some are actually born at night and this is where our story begins. Midnight was born on a full moon at well 12 am, which gave him his name. However, when he was born, he was the color of the night sky, black and white with dots on his wings, symbolizing the stars. He was a magnificent creature. But his parents were very protective of him.

"Now you two are probably wondering what became of him, right? Well, despite his good nature, people have called him the warning sign of fear and darkness. He began to grow faster than any other child at the time. During his puberty stage, his black pupils had turned a dark shade of red. At that age, he became in touch with the night sky and every time it was 12 am, Midnight looked up to the sky and said these words; 'If I am to die, let me die during this time and take me to the night sky.' Of course, he would tell his parents how he would die, but they didn't want to hear it.

"Midnight had managed to make a few friends during his time in school. One of them was an emu named Hope. She was his mate and always stood up to him. He also made another friend, whom he calls Faith since she gives him kind loving words. Despite her real name is Denise, she rather preferred to be called Faith. Both looked after him as the years went on." "So, how did he choose between two things?" asked Jeremy. "Well, he had to choose between Faith and Hope," said Shelby. "And he picked both. He also chose between night and day whether to stay up or not. Of course, his bedtime was precisely at 12 am, and his birthdays happened during that same time." Jeremy winced at Shelby. Then the dragon continued.

"Midnight, on the other hand, became a hipster like you during his teen years, High school to be exact. However, this is where we come close to the end. You see, Midnight actually wandered off at night and was shot to death by one of his former bullies from High school. They hated him so much that they wanted to get rid of him. And thus at 12 am on a school night, Midnight was dead and his parents wept at the loss. So, every time it hit 12 in the morning, Midnight's parents and his friends gathered around his tombstone and laid flowers for him. Midnight had become a black ostrich spirit and is also known as the grim reaper of ostriches. His new goal is to find sick and dying ostriches and chooses them to live or die. But some say that Midnight's spirit lives in ostriches who have pure hearts. And with that gift, they are given visions of their or someone else's future."

After that story, they've finally arrived home. It's assumed that Dana had let them in and they didn't even notice it since they were enthralled with the story. Then they heard someone talking in the living room. When they came in, they saw a polar bear sitting on the couch.

It was Ioni telling her story to Grayson and her friend; Gracie; a sugar glider. "Who is that girl, Jeremy?" asked Shelby. "That's Ioni," he answered. "She's now a member of the family." Dana led Jeremy to her side and said; "I talked about Ioni to your parents and they both agreed on allowing her to live here." "Is that the reason why you took so long?" Chad asked Jeremy. "Yes, it is," he answered. "My idea is to help Dana raise her. She could be part of our team. You're cool with it, right?" Then Chad sighed and said, "Jeremy, I don't like this idea at all. Bringing in someone we don't know into our home. And I'm sure Grayson doesn't like it either."

And it was true. Grayson had refused to allow Ioni to live with them, even after her big tragedy. "But Chad, her parents are gone," Jeremy cried. "Describe gone," Chad said. "One shot dead and one sold away," answered Jeremy. "Her mother was killed and her father was sold away to a zoo." Chad saw Ioni drinking some tea that Dana had brought. Then he sighed again. "Is she alone?" he asked. "Yes, Melody killed her brother," Jeremy answered. "No other siblings survived?" Chad added. "Chad, me and Dana found her all alone," answered Jeremy.

"And Melody was the cause of her brother's death?" asked Chad. "You mean Jerico's middle school friend killed someone?" gasped Shelby. "Melody is no fool. She will attack people but never kill them. What's happened to her?" Grayson approached Shelby and said, "I know Melody and she's not a bundle of sweet peas. She's more of a savage being, worse than I am. She pounced on Gracie back in middle school, and I had to step up and show her a piece of my mind."

"So, Melody hates the two of you, then?" asked Shelby. "Melody said someday that she'll get me or Gracie, but I said, 'You know what? I'll be more powerful than you when I get older and use it to my advantage'. And then she backed away and we managed to get away from her."

Then she realized that Jeremy had disappeared and was no longer in the room. "Where did that Jeremiah go?" she asked. "It's Jeremy, and he's in his room, changing in the new clothes that he bought," answered Shelby. "He didn't want to disturb you, so he went…" "I don't care what he does!" Grayson growled. "Grayson, try not to get too angry," said Gracie. The sugar glider was more calm and caring than Grayson and was her supporting friend. "Remember Grayson that he's now an adult and he's free to do whatever he wants,' she said to Grayson. "I said I don't care!" said Grayson. "I know you're trying to help me and I thank you for that. But I'm an adult too and I can say my remarks. Are you sure I should allow Jeremy to do what he wants?" "He's just trying on new clothes," answered Gracie. "He hasn't done any harm to you anyway." Grayson was ready to tell her about Jeremy in her own words. "I don't care how I say his name but Jeremiah stole Chad from me, saying that they were friends at first," she said. "And ever since, I've been cool with it and I dropped it. But now I'm done with this friendship and I want it to stop. If Jeremiah wants to have friends, he should have Shelby and Ioni."

Gracie understood and said, "Grayson, Chad is still friends with you, but you shouldn't ruin his and Jeremy's friendship. If I made friends with someone else, would you break up our friendship?" "Oh certainly not," said Grayson. "You're friends with Shelby too and so am I. But Jeremiah or whatever his name is should be dealt with!" "It's a bad habit!" growled Gracie. "You should know better than that. Grayson, if Jeremy still wants to be with Chad, there's no use splitting them up!"

Ioni then ran up to them with joy. "I've been informed that Jeremy now has his new clothes on!" she exclaimed. "Who wants to see him?" Grayson mumbled something to herself. She was starting to hate Ioni now. "We'd all love to see him," replied Shelby. Ioni walked next to Jeremy who was now wearing the red pullover hoodie, black jeans, and white sneakers. Everyone looked at him in amazement, even Grayson was impressed. "A hipster," she replied. "So that is the whole new you."

Chad was already wearing the white V-neck t-shirt and olive green jeans. He also left to change into his new clothes in Grayson's room. Ironically, she is Chad's roommate and often shares her room with him. But he spends most of his time with Jeremy. And since they graduated, it's his last day in Grayson's room, before moving to Jeremy's room. "I was right," Chad exclaimed. "You look different in your new clothes. You're like a whole new person."

"So do you," said Jeremy. "And I actually bought this for you, for being my friend for all these years." He handed him a shark-tooth necklace which he also bought at "Das Coolest". Grayson walked up to him. "You think that a necklace with a shark tooth will get Chad to still be your friend?" she asked. "Just face it, Jeremiah, he no longer wants to be with you anymore." Chad was now wearing the shark tooth necklace and gave Grayson a glaring look. "Grayson, you have no right to talk to my friend like that," he growled. "If you keep that up, I'm going to move out of your room early and stay with Jeremy instead."

Grayson gasped and then angrily said; "Then go and move out!" she cried. "I don't care anymore! You know what? Gracie will be my new roommate now! Stay with Jeremiah! I really don't care what you do anymore!" Chad sighed and turned to Jeremy. "Let's just go to your room and talk," he said. "Shelby, are you coming?" "I'm coming," answered Shelby. "Don't go without me, please," said Ioni. "What's your name?" "Uh, Chad?" the possum answered. "Why do you want to follow us? " Ioni shivered a bit and cried, "I'm afraid of Grayson!" Jeremy felt sorry for her. "Just let her come with us, Chad," he said. "She's had a rough time."

Although Chad fidgeted at first, he decided to let Ioni go with them to their room. Chad had moved out of Grayson's room and now lived in Jeremy's room. Shelby made her way to the room as well with Ioni following behind her. Jeremy then led Chad to his side. "Chad, we need to decide on what we should do with our lives," he said. "But I want you to agree with what I'm going to say right now. If we are to stay in this room together, we need to have Ioni with us. It makes me angry just to see Grayson being a jerk towards her. Why can't she understand?" "Jeremy, I agree with you," Chad said. "Ioni will stay with us. Well, I'm sure she'll like being with us. Grayson won't allow it. But that's why we've got Shelby."

Shelby saw how frightened Ioni was and went to comfort her. "I'm surprised that Grayson acted like that in front of Ioni," she told Jeremy. "Yet, I can believe that it's her motive to be mean towards people and yet friendly at the same time." Then she heard Grayson's voice lingering through the halls. She was with Gracie when she came into the room. "What's this I'm hearing about me being mean towards people?" she asked. "If you want me to be nice to her, I will need a private conversation with her. And I don't want Jeremiah with her. He needs to stay here with Chad. Now come along, Ioni."

Ioni was even more frightened. The thought of being with Grayson without Jeremy was too much to resist. She decided to follow Grayson to her room, with thoughts racing through her mind. As she watched Ioni go, Shelby said to Jeremy, "Ioni is afraid of Grayson. But she isn't afraid of you. She loves you too much." "I just hope Grayson doesn't do anything to her," sighed Jeremy. "I should've gone with her. But Grayson is…" "Too mean or too selfish?" asked Shelby. "She's both and I don't approve of it."

When Ioni made it to Grayson's room, she saw Gracie in there as well. Grayson acted like she never met Ioni with an introduction. "Who are you?" she asked. "My name's Ioni," said the frightened polar bear. "Grayson, Ma'am," corrected Gracie. "What were you doing?" asked Grayson. "I've come to live with Jeremy," Ioni answered. "Why him?" Grayson asked, all set to be patient.

Ioni didn't know whether to say why she wanted to live with Jeremy. He was more kind and sweet than Grayson and his red pullover hoodie interested her. So she avoided the truth! "Uh, I'm surprised you asked, Ma'am," Grayson growled impatiently. "Is there anything I need to do in order to live with him?" Ioni asked in a small voice.

"I'll ask the questions," said Grayson, sharpening her claw on the wall. "I've heard your story. Now I want to know what you can do. Can you defend yourself?" "I can scratch and bite," answered Ioni. "Humph, you can bite can you?" asked Grayson. "Well, I'm a premature cub," said Ioni. "I've never told Jeremy or the others this, but I have a child cub appearance. So I'm very young."

"You said something like that to them," said Grayson. "Are you saying that I repeated myself?" asked Ioni. "I told you I'll ask the questions!" growled Grayson. "Now, I'll ask you this question again. Why do you want to live with Jeremy?" "I met him by the lake," Ioni said. "And he seemed to be friendly. He said that he would take me in so I befriended him. I know that he'll take very good care of me. This Dana said that she'll help too. And so did Chad and the winged lizard. You see, I want to live with Jeremy because he's understanding and caring."

Grayson sighed for a moment. She knew the real reason. "You want to live with Jeremy because you're afraid of me," she said. "He is caring and understanding right now, but I'll give you this warning. When his hipster essence gets in the way of his puberty, he won't be the same Jeremy that you know right now. And yes, I've said his name correctly. But don't think it will last. Now back to what I was saying, Chad is also going down the hipster route and I've lost him because of Jeremy! If you think Jeremy is nice now, wait until he fully transforms into a hipster. A stuck up snob who thinks that he's better than anyone else and will torment whoever he wants and do whatever he wants without any authority whatsoever."

Ioni gasped at what Grayson said. "No, you're wrong," she cried. "You dare to defy me?!" growled Grayson. "Jeremy isn't like that at all," said Ioni. "He's my best friend. You want him to be a rival?" "He's my rival," said Grayson. "Just you wait. He'll change the way he talks. He'll act different and will pitch a fight whenever anyone torments him. I think it's called sabotage."

"You mean Jeremy is going to fight people?" asked Ioni. "No, he'll just be defending himself. Isn't Chad a part of it? Grayson, I know Jeremy will still be the same, during his puberty stage. Can't he be half and half?" "Ioni, I told you that I'll ask the questions," said Grayson. "And yet you defy what I said about Jeremy. It's up to him, whether or not he wants to be both. But I'm not him, so why bother acknowledging that? Anyway, I have one last question." She thought for a moment and then asked, "Are you willing to give me a chance? You'll find me perfectly friendly to anyone who respects me. I'm not always like this. I have my mood swings and my moments, but I'm still a nice person. Are you willing to give me a chance, Ioni?"

Ioni saw the opossum in tears. She did show feelings for her and Gracie teared up as well. "I'll give you a chance, Grayson," Ioni said. Grayson stopped crying and resumed back to her old voice. "So, you've given me a chance? I thank you for that. Now, you're free to go back to Jeremy. And also be entertained by Shelby telling her stories. Go now, I need to talk to Gracie." While Ioni left the room, Grayson turned to Gracie and said, "Ioni is with Jeremy now. It's our chance to finally go for a walk together." "But are you sure it was right to send Ioni off like that?" asked Gracie. "Of course it was," said Grayson.

Then she realized that it was dark outside and she herself was starting to fall asleep. "Actually we'll wait until everyone is asleep," she said. "It's more effective and better to go at night." "Are you sure?" asked Gracie. "At 12 am?" "No we'll go at 2 am," said Grayson. "We've got to get our sleep as well."

Of course, now that Jeremy has entered the hipster route, it had to be talked about. Once Jeremy had made the decision, it was up to his parents to decide whether or not, he could stay like that. "We love that you're trying new things," said Jon. "But do you think that being a hipster will affect your personality?" "I'm not sure if it will," said Jeremy. "I don't even know where to start." "We're fine with you being a hipster," said Jessica. "But you need to keep it balanced. Don't take it too far. Otherwise, you'll end up becoming a full-on hipster." "What?" asked Jeremy.

"She means that she doesn't want you to take advantage of being a hipster," answered Shelby. "You could go a bit too far and then you'll become a whole new person. And I mean it in the worst possible way." "I won't go too far," said Jeremy. "I'll keep it balanced." "I'm glad to hear that," said Jessica. "You can go and play with your friends now. But don't stay up too late."

The sun had set in the sky and night finally appeared. Some of the members had gone to bed early. Shelby had been tired from walking and fell fast asleep. Dana and Jeremy's parents had both gone to bed early as well. Not everyone was tired. Jeremy and Ioni weren't tired at all. Their thoughts were going up like a roller coaster ride. They have too absorbed in their thoughts that it was hard for them to sleep. Just then, they saw someone enter the room. It was Jerico, and he looked sleep deprived. "Uh, Jerico," said Chad. "What brings you here?" "Tell your friend that she and her other friend that they are making too much noise in their room," muttered Jerico.

"They're playing their music too loud!" muttered Shelby in her sleep. "I thought Grayson was more of the savage type. Not the leave music on loud type." "On the contrary, Jerico," said Jeremy. "Grayson is an unpredictable girl who does random activities to help her stay awake." Jerico realized that Jeremy was wearing a red pullover hoodie. "Jeremy? Since when did you become a hipster?" he asked. "Today," answered Jeremy. "Chad and I are both hipsters. But we need to act like them."

Jerico sighed and said, "I don't think the hipster subculture is for you, Jeremy. Besides, who's that stranger in your bed?" "That's Ioni," answered Jeremy. "She's an orphan. But now I'm taking care of her." "Dana also?" added Jerico. "Uh, yes," Jeremy spoke in an unenthusiastic tone. It was the first time he talked like that.

"You're becoming a hipster faster than I thought," said Jerico. "And what about Grayson staying up? Is she going somewhere?" "She said about going at 2 am that they were going to the meadow and explore the railroad track," said Chad. "The railroad track?" asked Jerico. "Oh, Melody is patrolling down there at 12 am. She won't be done until 4 am." "Grayson is tough as nails," said Ioni. "Do you mean Melody is your in command?" asked Jeremy.

"I gave her an order," said Jerico. "I've got my friends as commanders, or in commands like they serve an army. They serve as my patrol officers. I need guards to protect the railroad track, and they will attack anyone who dares to trespass. Besides, I'm currently their leader. I'm both a train engineer and a general. My dream is to run as a general while operating trains. I wanted to keep this to myself for a long time. Since I currently work there, I'm leaving home to join my friends. I'll be moving out. Well, I'm going back to bed and then I'll be on my way." "When are you going, Jerico?" Jeremy asked. "Tomorrow," answered Jerico. "I have a new base over by the train station. It's where my friends as in commands work during the day." "Well, we'll miss you, Jerico," said Jeremy. "I hope train engineering is right for you." "I'll be proud of it," sighed Jerico. Then he disappeared and went back to his room to sleep.

Chapter 17 Terror at mid-morning

Soon, it began to grow dark outside. It was close to midnight and everyone was asleep. Grayson had fallen asleep next to Gracie. While everyone was sleeping, not a single one stirred. Not even Jeremy, Chad or Ioni stirred. They were both passed out and not a single mention of a bad dream. Shelby was still fast asleep. When it was close to 2 am, Grayson shook Gracie awake. "Now, we're going," she said. "Remember to lock the door on your way out."

So Grayson and Gracie started their walk to a meadow, which was close by. As Gracie began to nibble at the grains she found on the ground, Grayson began to wonder about Ioni. "She said that she can bite and scratch," she told Gracie. "Do you think that she would be able to attack Melody?" "Don't be a fool, Grayson," said Gracie. "She might hear you. Haven't you realized that the meadow is open and wide? We can't hide here in the grains, we'll be exposed." "So, what's your point?" the opossum asked. "Melody likes to come here at times," answered the sugar glider. "I'm afraid we'll get caught. I've heard that she's a one in command, someone who tracks down trespassers."

"Is she in a patrol?" asked Grayson. "What about Melody being a one in command? Did you hear that from Jerico?" Well, I'm not certain," said Gracie. "But we shouldn't be here that long. I don't want to fall victim to her razor sharp claws!" Grayson was alert. She heard a rustle among the grains. They were being watched. "We've got to get out of here!" she cried. They both ran through the grains and made it to a railroad track. Then Grayson noticed someone coming up the path. She was not fooled, for she knew that it was Melody and her friend; Cassie. Melody with her claws on the ground stood there alongside Cassie. They were on the path, aside from Grayson and Gracie.

"I don't like that, Grayson," whimpered Gracie. "They look like statues." "I don't either," said Grayson. "I'm going to get you away." "You're going to go out there?" cried Gracie. "Sadly yes," said Grayson. Then Melody and Cassie began to trot on the path. Grayson was ready to bolt and be attacked while Gracie made it to safety. "Melody is there," whispered Gracie. "Be careful, Grayson. Melody wrinkled her nose and caught the scent of Grayson. Cassie despite being an in command was more of the weaker and frightened ones. But she caught her cue when Melody informed her of a stranger in their territory. When they saw Grayson come out of the bushes, Melody and Cassie advanced towards her. Their claws were sharp enough to inflict painful wounds.

Gracie watched in horror as her best friend was being chased by Melody and Cassie. Then she ran out to the open because she wanted to attract Melody and Cassie's attention. Sure enough, Melody caught sight of Gracie and ran straight towards her. Cassie was right behind her. Grayson stopped running and saw Gracie being chased now. Then she watched a horrific scene of Gracie being scratched and bitten by Melody's claws and teeth. She cried out in pain and tried to fight back but couldn't. Her back and stomach were ripped to shreds along with her ears and head. She felt a bite on her upper neck and then died after being struck at the spinal cord. Cassie didn't want any part of it. So she looked the other way.

Grayson's heart almost stopped. She had lost her dear best friend; and felt a shudder run down her spine. Melody's claws and teeth were all bloody and Cassie looked at her in horror and at Gracie's dead body. "I didn't know you could attack like that," she said. "Are you going to eat her?" "No," said Melody. "She's no use for me. I have better things to eat. Besides, I'm tired and I want to get back to the base. I've used up too much energy. Forget about Grayson. I need to sleep."

"But I'm not sure that it was right for you to do that," Cassie said to Melody. "Killing someone for trespassing doesn't seem right at all. Couldn't we just arrest her and take her back to the base? It would have been a better idea." Melody left a gash on Cassie's shoulder as she fell over. "I'm not here to make peace with prisoners or trespassers," she hissed. "Now we're going back to base and I don't want to hear any more about the death until tomorrow. I'll report to Jerico when he gets here. And I don't mind reporting your complaints. He hates people who complain, especially that little brother of his."

While Melody and Cassie left for the base, Grayson remained out in the open. She mourned the loss of Gracie and swore vengeance on Melody. Then she made her way back home, limping and exhausted. She saw that everyone was still asleep and she herself was alone. (Actually, she had lost a friend and had no one to come back with, so she is alone.) She then went to her room and saw Gracie's belongings in her drawer. "She died during mid-morning," she said to herself. "Did she join Midnight?" After reorganizing Gracie's items in order, Grayson had fallen asleep.

Chapter 18 Moving out

When the sun had risen in the sky, and morning came, everyone had awakened and done their daily business. Jeremy and his friends were eating cereal while watching Saturday morning cartoons. Ioni was the first one to compliment on a show they were watching. "Is TV always like this?" she asked Shelby. "Well, it all depends on what they show," she answered. "We've got to finish eating. We don't want to be stuck here all day."

Jon and Jessica had a talk in the dining room about something that recently happened. They didn't want to disturb the kids from their TV time. What recently happened was a bill for rent came in and it had a large amount on it. (I'm not going to say the price, but wouldn't it be expensive to have eight people in the rented apartment? I'd say yes because it could happen.) Jon was so frightened, however, that he decided that it was time for Jeremy and his friends to move out. He didn't like to keep Jeremy indoors since he's now a grown up and most of his friends are as well. He wanted Jeremy to be free and to live with his friends without any boundaries whatsoever.

When Jessica heard about this, she broke down. But Jon stood firm and strong. "He's got to go, Jessica," he said. "No, Jon," Jessica wept. "We've had fun raising Jeremy, but he's got to move out," said Jon. "He's not a baby anymore and his brother Jerico already moved out. I'm not willing to hold onto Jeremy's freedom no longer. Our boy is grown up and we need to let him go." Jessica hung her head down. "I've bought an apartment for Jeremy and his friends," said Jon. "I'll give you the address so you can take them. I'm sorry, Jessica." Jessica has given the address of the apartment; "2312 Rock Rail Street". She knew that the apartment was close to downtown, but not close to their current home.

Then she saw Jeremy happily watching TV and enjoying his cereal. He was wearing another red pullover hoodie and a new pair of black jeans. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she noticed pictures she had taken of Jeremy when he was young. It broke her heart to see Jeremy finally grown up and that he was soon going out to the open world to live on his own with his friends and she wished to have spent time with him. She was Jeremy's favorite and it made perfect sense since he had her DNA. She then sighed to herself and went to the living room. There, she told Jeremy; "Uh, Jeremy pack all your clothes and your belongings. Your friends too. We're all going on a road trip." Jeremy and his friends understood and went to pack their stuff. Shelby returned and retrieved all the used up dishes and placed them in the kitchen sink. Then she went back to the group. Jessica told Jon; "They're packing up. Soon, we'll be out of here." "Just remember to bring back the keys to the Jeep," said Jon. "That's the only car we own."

After everything was packed and ready to go, Jessica told everyone to get in the Jeep. Shelby and Dana felt crushed in the back seat since Chad, Grayson, and Ioni were taking too much space. Dana got out of the Jeep and decided to follow Jessica by flying. Despite being crushed, Shelby still wanted to sit next to Ioni. Jeremy sat in the front seat next to his mom. As Jessica started the car and began to drive, Jerico saw Jeremy in the car and glared. He continued to work on the train that was brought in by Robert. "It's almost done," said Robert. "And when it's done," said Jerico. "Test it out and take it down the railroad tracks." He saw as the Jeep passed downtown and he wanted to drive the train to where the country tracks were located.

While driving the jeep, Jessica kept glancing at Jeremy. She tried to smile at him, but tears welled up in her eyes. She began to remember all the times she and Jeremy had together. But they were slipping away from all the pain and sadness. It was simply hard for her. Jeremy said nothing, but he showed sad emotion and curiosity towards his mom. When they finally got to the new apartment, Jeremy and Ioni were confused. Then Jeremy looked at his mom as she embraced him. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks. She said nothing but Jeremy could feel that his mom was sad. But what was she sad about? She also gave Chad and the others hugs. But Grayson didn't feel like being hugged. She was still upset by her loss and didn't tell anyone about it, yet.

After all the bags were out of the car, she hugged Jeremy one last time and went back to her car. Then Jeremy became more confused. Was she leaving him? Before leaving, she looked at Jeremy one last time with tears welling up and then drove away. Jeremy could do nothing but stand there with a curious look, while his mom drove away. Then Chad walked up to him and saw his eyes well up with tears. Grayson was in complete shock. "Your mom left us here!" she cried. "At this rather nice apartment." "Yeah, but it's rented," said Shelby. "I think this is our new home."

(This is the end of PART 2. A good note to stop on. So, now it's time for PART 3. There will be a lot of twists and turns and some shocking moments. But hey, if it's in movie format, what are you going to do?)

Jeremy The Movie

PART 3: SEPARATION

(Now we've gotten to the suspense part of the story. But let's just say that the next chapter is very shocking and will have you questioning and speechless. It gets darker later on, but if Regular Show takes on a darker tone, it's here.)

Chapter 19 Jeremy vs Chad

Jeremy was shocked to see that his own mom, whom he loved dearly, dropped him off at an apartment. The sign said "sold" meaning that it belonged to him now. But he still missed her and continued to cry. Ioni started to cry too, but louder than Jeremy. Shelby saw that Grayson wasn't even sad. "Grayson, why aren't you sad?" she asked. "I am sad," said Grayson. "But not at this. Something happened early this morning that I didn't tell you guys about." Everyone gasped and looked at Grayson. "What happened?" asked Ioni.

"Well, I'll tell you," said Grayson. "I and Gracie left your old house at around 2 am. Then went to the meadow and played there. But then we heard Melody and Cassie coming up the path and I thought we were done for. Then I went out there so Gracie could save herself. "But this is honestly the saddest conclusion I'm about to say. As I was being chased by Melody and Cassie, Gracie ran out to the open and they killed her instead! I laid next to her, crying, and then I made my way home. And now I swear vengeance on Melody to avenge Gracie. That's why she wasn't with me this morning because she died. Then she began to cry and laid next to Shelby.

"Melody is fierce," Dana said. "She has become very savage." "That's because she was on a patrol," said Jeremy. "Jerico told me, Chad and Ioni that Melody serves as an in command." "Jerico moved out already," said Chad. "He probably found out that you moved out too." Jeremy felt himself shuddering in disbelief. "But I didn't move out!" he cried. "I thought we were going on a trip!" Chad sighed to himself and then he snapped. "You fool!" he growled. "Your mom doesn't want you anymore! That's why she gave you up. She couldn't handle a hipster."

Jeremy was shocked to see his best friend scold him like that. "Wait, you're saying they don't want me?" he asked. "You should forget about them, Jeremy," said Chad. "It's time you start acting like a hipster, not a soft serve." "There's no way I'll ever forget about mom and dad!" growled Jeremy. Ioni ran towards Shelby and cowered with fear. "Tension levels are increasing," snickered Grayson. "Better let it out Jeremy while you still can. I'm going to enjoy this." "Guys, please don't fight," said Ioni. "I've got a bad feeling about this," whimpered Shelby. They watched as their best friends continued their argument.

"Just face it, Jeremy," said Chad. "You're better off here than with them. You wanted to be with me, didn't you? I'm more important than they ever were." "I'm starting to question our friendship," Jeremy said angrily. "You were nice to me before. What happened to you? Why did you snap?" "Are you too stupid and naive to understand what's going on?" Chad angrily asked. "How could you say that?" cried Jeremy. "Why are you being so mean right now?" His eyes welled up with tears. "Because your mom abandoned us and you don't want to deal with it," growled Chad. "So, you just forget about them and continue on with your life!"

"Grrrr, take that back!" growled Jeremy.

Then he advanced towards Chad knocking him over. Chad got up and launched a painful blow at Jeremy, knocking him down as well.

Shelby and Ioni cowered down as the two anthros fought each other. Their shadows had formed in the back of them. Dana wanted to stop the fight, but Shelby didn't think it was a good idea to intervene. Jeremy and Chad landed punches at each other while their friends watched in horror. While Jeremy was recovering from his wound, Chad advanced towards him, while punching him in the stomach. Weakened by the dreadful blow, Jeremy had fallen backward. Chad had won the fight and although exhausted, went to Grayson.

Ioni and Shelby went over to help Jeremy and find any injuries on him. After Jeremy got up, he angrily looked at Chad. "Why did you have to punch me like that?" he asked. "What do you expect?" snarled Chad. "You were asking for it." "Jerico was right about you!" growled Jeremy. "You are a bad influence!" "It took you that long to realize that?" muttered Grayson. Then Chad became sad and realized what he did. He didn't want to lose Jeremy. But after what he did, he probably had. "Goodbye Chad," said Jeremy. "The rest is up to you. Anyone who isn't Chad, join me. I'm going for a walk."

"Are you sure about your decision?" asked Shelby. "I'm certain," said Jeremy, rubbing his wound. "Wait, Jeremy," cried Chad. "I didn't mean it." But Jeremy and the others were gone. And Chad was left alone. Then he sighed to himself and said; "What have I done?" He realized that he lost Jeremy forever and his other friends might leave him too. Not wanting to stay in one spot by himself, Chad also went on a walk. But not in the same direction Jeremy and the others took

Chapter 20 A strange confrontation

While injured from the fight earlier, Jeremy had laid next to Shelby as they got to their rest point. Ioni and Grayson were exhausted too. They've walked far from the apartment and were at the country tracks. Dana had caught up to them. Grayson didn't like the rest stop that they went to. "I don't like this at all," she said. "It looks abandoned." "Oh, cease your constant complaining!" roared Shelby. "Can't you see that Jeremy doesn't feel good right now?!" "I'm fine, Shelby," said Jeremy. "I'm just heartbroken on what Chad did to me. After all the time we've spent together, wasted and thrown to the wayside." "You're not friends with Chad anymore?" Grayson asked him. "No we're not," said Jeremy. "I never want to see him again! It's over and I've ended it!"

Ioni went over to his side. "It'll be okay, Jeremy," she said. "I appreciate you trying to make me feel better, Ioni," said Jeremy. "But you need to understand that I've ended a friendship because of our fight. Chad allowed his inner feelings to come out and in the end, he lost me forever." Shelby sighed and went over to him. "I'm sure that Chad will apologize later on," she said. Jeremy made no reply. "I'm sure that you'll reunite with Chad if you give him a chance," Shelby continued.

Then Grayson went up to her, snarling angrily. "I'd love to see that happen," she said. Ioni was shivering with fear, as she noticed Grayson's intimidating look on her face. She wasn't sure if she could give Grayson a chance. It didn't seem right. Then Grayson noticed Ioni crying and shivering and went up to her. "Don't cry, Ioni," she said. "I'll make you feel better. I'll just be hanging around." She climbed up a tree and hung upside down on a branch with her tail. "Get it? Hanging around?" Shelby and Jeremy watched her while turning their necks in her direction, but got dizzy. Turning your heads upside down will cause nothing but pain.

"Quit showing off!" growled Shelby. "You're just trying to attract Ioni's attention and lighten the mood. But it won't work." "Actually I feel better now that she did that," said Jeremy. "Despite giving me a headache, I needed that use for humor." Dana sighed and walked over to Ioni. "Grayson will take a long time to get used to," she said. "Ioni, if you want to, you can choose who you want to be with. Since you're in our group, you have the choice to choose someone to look after you beside me. So, who will you pick?"

Ioni thought for a moment and remembered who she wanted to be with. "I choose to be with Jeremy," she said. "After all, he rescued me. And I like him." Then she ran to Jeremy and embraced him. Although Jeremy felt confused and shy, he embraced her back. While doing this, he felt Ioni's pain and her desire to be with him. Shelby went up to the two and said; "I feel your pain, Ioni," she said. "But like Dana said, you're one of us now. However, I have a strange feeling that there's something wrong with the group." "How so?" asked Grayson. "Five is a great number for a group." "Yes it is," said Shelby. "But we need some guys to make our team fresh." "Guys?!" gasped Grayson.

"Jeremy is the only guy in the group," said Shelby. "Chad is no longer with us and without him, girls outrun the guys. And I don't think that it sounds fair. I'd say we should find our old classmate friends who were guys and have them join our group." Dana saw that the team had a lack of guys and more girls and agreed with Shelby. Then Ioni looked at Jeremy and said, "Are you fine with being the only guy in the group?" she asked. "I'm not sure, Ioni," said Jeremy. "But Shelby has a point. We need more guys in the group. I don't want to lose you and the others, but we've already lost one. Don't worry about what Grayson says, you'll fit in just fine." Ioni felt much better and continued to embrace him.

Grayson growled to herself and then went over to Jeremy and Ioni. "Don't think it will last," she growled. "Things are just getting…," She was interrupted by the sound of a train. It made so much noise and produced so much smoke that it made the sky gray. The train stopped at a railroad sign, next to the curious beings. Jerico had gotten off the train and saw his brother and his companions. "Why this is such a surprise," he said. "I was on my way to the country railroad and here you are right now." "Wow Jerico," replied Shelby. "You weren't kidding when you said that you operate trains." "Why would he?" asked Jeremy. "I know that my brother would never betray me." Then Cassie got off the train and said; "You're more than welcome to join us," she said. "We're still going to the country railroad. At least what's left of it."

"What do you mean?" asked Ioni. "That feisty Melody caused damage near the railroad... oh what am I saying? She breaks things. Come and join us if you want," said Cassie. "All in favor of following Jerico and his companions?" asked Dana. Jeremy and the others agreed and they all entered the train one by one. Then the train started running and was moving again. Ioni felt scared, seeing that the train was moving really fast and she heard a sound which caused her to fall on her back. Shelby helped Ioni to get back up but she kept tumbling down. Jerico had led Jeremy to his side and said; "I've realized that Chad isn't with you," he said. "What happened to you two? Did you fight or something?"

"You were right about him," said Jeremy. "I should have listened to you." Jerico showed a little sympathy and told him, "I warned you before and yet you tried to ignore me," said Jerico. "But I can tell that you two will become friends again. I won't say when but he will realize what he did and you'll forgive him." "We'll see about that," retorted Jeremy. "Is Dale with you?" "Why yes," said Jerico. "He's operating the train. He's too busy to see you guys. He would've loved your hoodie. If you're wondering, we made up already." "Where's Melody?" Grayson immediately asked.

"She's in the operating room with Robert," said Jerico. "Hila has informed her that you guys are on board and is preparing refreshments." "Who's Hila?" asked Ioni. "I've never heard of her." Dana remembered something and said, "Why it's Hila, my cousin. She might be a hawk, but we were good friends as kids. However, we didn't meet as much since the fox incident." "Please don't bring that up," said Jeremy. "I don't want to hear that story again." Hila flew in and saw the group staring at her in awe. Dana was surprised to see Hila all grown up and taller than her. "It's been so long," she said. "Now Melody is coming to prepare the goodies. Oh, here she comes now. Robert is with Cassie in the operating room. He says that Grizwold stayed at the base."

Then Melody came out from the operating room and offered Jeremy and the others food and drinks. She was snarling at Grayson as she handed a cupcake to her. "So, you're on board," she snarled. "Just you wait. Soon your group will come to an end." Hila glared at her. "She's exhausted from chasing after a sugar glider," she said to Dana. "She killed it before it got away." "I know," said Grayson. "Why don't we just sip our drinks and relax." As they drank from the cups, Jeremy had gotten dizzy. "What kind of drink is this?" he asked. "Why it's chamomile, the sleepiest of teas," replied Melody. "What?!" cried Jeremy. "Guys, it's a trap! Don't fall asleep!" But his comrades were all asleep and soon he was too. "Goodnight my sweet prince," said Melody. "And so on. Jerico, the guys are asleep. What do we do?" Jerico saw Jeremy and the others sleeping and said; "Put them in cages," he said. "We'll send them to the zoo. All except Jeremy. He will be part of our group. But he can choose which member will stay with him. It might be the bear. What am I saying? Get Dale out here and Hila to carry them to their cages. They'll wake up soon and be surprised that they're locked up."

So Dale, Hila, and Melody carried the sleeping creatures to their cages in a back room and locked them up. Then Dale turned to Jerico and said, "You know Jeremy will find out, do you?" he said. "He'll find out who's the cause of all this and..." "He'll find out sooner or later," said Jerico. "There's been a change of plans. Go and tell Cassie that we'll be heading to Ostrichland. I've decided to drop Jeremy off there if he refuses to join us." "Poor fellow," sighed Hila.

In the backroom, the characters were waking up from their slumber and realized that they were trapped in cages. "Where are we?" asked Shelby. "We're trapped in cages," cried Grayson. "It's that dreaded Melody!" Ioni woke up and began shivering with fright. Jeremy had woken up dazed and confused but then heard about Melody. "Wait, Melody did this?" he cried. "Either that or your brother," retorted Grayson. "He's probably behind all this." Jeremy growled, "My brother would never do that!" "I think he did," said Dana.

Back in the control room, Jerico had some trouble with Dale. "You mean to send him to a farm?" he asked. "What else?" said Jerico. "It's the better option for him. If you don't want to go with my plan, you'll answer to Melody and I'm sure you don't want to be a part of that." Then Melody raised her claws and snarled at Dale. She then lunged towards him, but Dale leaped back. "Stop it, Melody!" said Jerico. "And get back to work!" Melody resumed her work in the operating room.

Chapter 21 The true Jerico

Meanwhile, in the backroom, Dana looked down in despair, knowing that there was nothing she could do to break free of the cages. Ioni started to cry desperately. "Don't cry, Ioni," Jeremy said, comforting her. "We'll get out of here." Ioni dried her tears and tried to return to reality. "I can get you guys out of here in no time," said Grayson. "I've got my lucky laser pen with me." "What?! Why didn't you tell us you had a laser pen?" asked Shelby. "I was saving it for the right moment," Grayson said. "Which is right now."

Grayson always held a laser pen, in case of emergencies. And now was the right time to use it. "Stand back," she said. "I'm not used to shooting lasers, so I might zap you if you don't stand back. Stand back, unless you want to get zapped. I haven't got all…" But she was cut off by Shelby who was using a hairpin she found in her cage. "Use your laser pen!" she growled. "While I use this pen to free myself." Then she felt a blast of fire singe her scaly body. She was hit by Grayson's laser.

At least it freed her from her cage. But she used it to free the others and each one felt Shelby's pain. Grayson saw her friends freed from the cage but burnt by the laser. Dana especially felt singed and upset at Grayson. But Jeremy and Ioni ignored the pain, as it didn't seem to bother them. "It sure beats being in that cage," Ioni said. "I agree with you, Ioni," said Shelby. "But I still feel the burning sensation. And so do the rest of us. Who wants to burn by lasers and leave nothing but steam in our bodies?" "You'll get used to it," said Grayson. But she purposely zapped Shelby for saying that comment. "But I've got to deal with that metal door." She carved a hole in the door, using her laser pen. A part of the door dropped to the ground.

This alerted Jerico, Dale and his army. "What was that noise?" asked Robert. "I'll go check it out," answered Jerico. "Careful," said Melody. "We're almost there." Dale glared at her. "He should know," he growled. "Don't remind him." "Dale, go easy on her," said Jerico. "She is our only in command officer. We don't want her to bail on us." As he left, Melody kept the train operating. Ioni was happy to see that they were free but Jeremy didn't feel comfortable about jumping. It didn't feel safe, especially for Ioni. He wondered what would happen if they jumped off the train and possibly have Ioni injured in the process. "We're not jumping," he said. "We need to find another way."

But then he heard a noise coming from the opposite side of the train. "What was that noise?" asked Ioni. "We'd better find out," Jeremy said to her. They all gathered by the open gap of the metal door. A piece of metal dropped off, leaving it visible to their eyes. Jerico had opened the sliding door on his side and saw Jeremy and the others free from their cages. When Jeremy saw who was behind the whole thing, he felt his heart sink to the ground. "Jerico!" The name boiled in his throat.

His own brother was behind the evil plan. "Huh? What are you doing out here?!" Jerico asked. Ioni, Grayson, Dana, and Shelby all gasped at the true intentions that Jerico had. Though shocked at first, Jeremy soon became fit with rage at his brother's betrayal, clutching his fists together. "JERICO!" he growled. Jerico could see Jeremy all puffed and angry, and his eyes were fixed into a dark gaze. He had unlocked Jeremy's anger and could see how effective it was and it was more than he had expected. "I knew I could unlock your aggression, Jeremy," he cackled. "The moment you were born I wanted you for my army. But you were too soft and nice to be a commanding officer. Even as an adult, you were still soft and caring. But now I've unlocked the true you and even you can't change what you've become!" The train was moving at a fast pace. It seemed that Melody had put the controls on hyper drive.

Jerico continued, "I still can't believe that your friend; Chad is no longer with you. You must have let out your anger too early and went back to being nice and soft. If you want to be a hipster, you have to stop being soft. You need to be snobby, stuck up, and say that you're better than anyone else. Face it, Jeremy! You're a generic hipster, with no mind whatsoever. But once I take you to Ostrichland, your hipster ego will be gone. So, enjoy being a hipster while it lasts."

"JERICO!" Jeremy growled. "How could you do this to me?!" "I didn't do it," admitted Jerico. "It was YOU who befriended Chad. You brought Chad to the family. And become someone that you can't even act like. You were always a disgrace and I hated looking after you!" Jeremy gasped, "You hated me? After all the time we spent together?" "I ALWAYS HATED YOU!" Jerico roared. "The moment you befriended Chad, I've hated you. But for once, I'm feeling generous. You see I've got friends who follow my commands and soon you'll be a part of it. There's room for one more member and I need a family member to become a commanding officer. AND THAT IS YOU, JEREMY!"

Ioni growled at Jerico, "How could you do a thing like that to your baby brother?" she asked. Grayson glared at her. "He's not a baby, Ioni," she growled. "He's an adult. Are you blind to the knees?!" Ioni said nothing and continued growling at Jerico. Jeremy was still angry at Jerico and glared at him. He had never been angrier in his life. First, his best friend had beaten him up. Second, his older brother betrayed him and worse? He was hated by him as well, but still wanted him for his army!

The train went faster by the minute. The sliding door remained open and Jerico still cackled in delight. Jeremy was filled with so much rage that he wanted to knock some sense into Jerico. He raised his fist and advanced towards him yelling out, "I'll get you!" But before he could land a punch on Jerico, the evil ostrich shut the sliding door, and Jeremy felt a hot, fiery pain in his fist. He let out a screech of pain and fell backward. Dana and Ioni ran to his side. "Are you alright, Jeremy?" asked Ioni. "Of course he's alright, you fool!" growled Grayson. "He'll be fine." Dana felt Jeremy's pain and knew that he needed treatment.

Jeremy managed to get up and laid next to Shelby. He felt the blood flowing over his injured feathered hand. Then noticed the blood marks, dripping on the sliding door. He growled weakly before falling unconscious. "I'm not sure he'll make it," said Grayson. "Don't talk like that, Grayson," hissed Shelby. "He just needs a long rest." Ioni went over to Jeremy and slept beside him. She wanted to make sure he was alright. "Please be alright, Jeremy," she said softly before going to sleep.

Jerico had heard what had happened and went to alert his army. "This is Jerico," he said, pushing a red button. "Jeremy and his friends destroyed the door and are trying to escape. But it turns out that my brother injured his hand and can't fight. So, he's completely useless now." "How did they escape?" asked Dale. "They have a dragon that breathes bubbles and water," said Robert to Cassie. "There's another creature that must have freed them from their prisons," stuttered Cassie. "Robert, we need to bail now!" Melody stormed towards the two. "Who said that?!" she growled. Cassie and Robert cowered down as they saw the vicious quoll advance towards them. "Nobody, Melody," said Cassie. "You were put here to work!" roared Melody. "Now get back to it!"

While Melody patched things up with the cowering teammates, Dana had wrapped gauze around Jeremy's bleeding hand, so it could protect him from infection. "It's a good thing I carried that gauze with me," she said. "Without it, there would be trouble." "We're already in trouble," snarled Grayson. "There's no rubbing alcohol, no Band-Aids, and no water. Therefore, Jeremy is better off dead!" Shelby turned to Grayson and said, "I never thought you would make a comment like that!" she growled. "But Jeremy is injured. What will Chad think?"

When Grayson heard Chad's name, she immediately wanted to get off the train, so she could find him. "Forget Jeremy!" she growled. "Our lives are more important. Shelby let's go! Whoever wants to go, come with me. The rest I don't care about." Shelby had no choice but to obey Grayson. Then she shook Ioni awake and said, "Wake up, Ioni. We have to go now." Ioni woke up and looked at Shelby. "We're going?" she said. "But what about Jeremy?" "I'll inflict a terrible wound on him if you say that again!" Grayson growled at Ioni. "And you know I will!" Then she raised out her claw and placed it on Jeremy's neck. She then bared her razor-sharp carnassial teeth. "Now, we're going," she said. "Ioni, get up or I'll get you instead!" Ioni shivered and ran to Shelby's side. "Grayson, you can't leave us behind!" said Dana. "And Jeremy is hurt badly." Grayson moved her claw away from Jeremy and glared at Dana. "Well, someone has to stay behind," she retorted. "And that's you, Dana!"

In a sandy area, Chad had been searching for Jeremy and his comrades, for he had taken a route towards the Country Railroad area. But there was no sign of them. He tried calling out to Jeremy but heard nothing at all. "Where are you, Jeremy?" He called out. "I shouldn't have been so hard on him." He continued calling out and eventually came across some train tracks. He then saw a train coming up in the distance, and then ran away. It passed him, going blazing fast and roaring. He continued looking for Jeremy and the rest, but couldn't in any way. He decided to rest among the bushes of the Country Railroad. It was all he could do.

Back on the train, Ioni was already at the edge, but it was going lightning fast. Shelby ran next to her and just as they were about to jump, Jerico burst in. He was in a dark gaze and snarling. Behind him were Melody, Cassie, Robert, and Dale. But Hila swooped in and attacked Robert and Cassie with her talons. "Traitor!" roared Melody. And struck her with her claws. Hila managed to scratch her and cried out, "Go, now is your chance!" "Let's go, now!" Grayson said to Shelby and Ioni. They all jumped off the train and landed in the soft sand of the surface. Melody and the others eyed the creatures that have fallen. "Let them go," Jerico told them. "It's my brother Jeremy I'm after! Make sure he doesn't escape!"

Dana held onto to Jeremy, helplessly. He was breathing heavily and she felt his pain. "He's right here," she told Jerico. "He's weak and cannot move. Let me stay with him. I promise you that I won't bail and take him with me." Jerico thought about it for a moment and said, "Alright, I've decided what to do. I'll leave you and Jeremy alone. Take care of him and mend his wounds. I've got to deal with a traitor." He and his army grabbed Hila by the neck and escorted her out of the room. Dana looked down and saw Jeremy regaining conscious. "Am I going to be alright, Dana?" he asked. "I hope so," said Dana. "You've recovered a little bit. But you need a long rest. I'll wake you up when we get there."

Chapter 22 Ioni fights back

Grayson was brushing the dirt off of her fur, after the landing. She shook herself until every last particle of dirt was gone. Shelby had fallen as well and was rather hurt. Ioni was in a panic, realizing that they left Jeremy and Dana on the train, and she broke down into tears. Grayson was about to snap at her until she saw a helpless chicken in the field. Her predatory instincts had kicked in. Soon she forgot about her remaining comrades and wanted to tear apart the chicken and have a meal. She ran towards the chicken as it ran from her.

Ioni dried her tears and went after them. Grayson grabbed the chicken by the throat and hungrily eyed it. She was about to eat it until Ioni advanced towards her. Grayson growled at Ioni and released the chicken from her grasp. Ioni stepped back from her, while the chicken ran away. She was scared of the opossum's claws and teeth and knew that she was done for. Grayson sharpened her claws on a rock. She growled at Ioni and then said; "You wanna be a hero, bear?" She then launched her claws at Ioni, but she managed to avoid it. Then she froze and saw Ioni cowering. "Hey, you're Ioni girl." she snickered. "Ioni, right? You're the one who jumped out first. You thought we were going to save him, huh? Don't make me laugh." But she laughed anyway. Ioni hung her head down with shame.

Then Grayson continued, "Ioni, where were you on the train? Were you shivering and frightened? Did you want to get out in a flash? I did tell you to, but you could've stopped to think about what you were doing. You could've made a difference if you stayed with Jeremy. But you didn't, did you?" Ioni said nothing. "So, from here on out, this is how it's going to be," said Grayson. I'm in charge now. So, here's the deal, you forget about Jeremy and I'll spare you. That sap Jeremy gets hurt in the process, but hey, he only lives once." "Let's settle this in a fight," said Ioni. "I knew you'd say that," snickered Grayson. "Oh, and Ioni girl, if you win, we'll go and save Jeremy and Dana. But if I win, I'll go and kill Jeremy myself, while you watch helplessly. He's better off dead. Now you go back and make sure Shelby is safe and I'll see you tonight for our fight."

Ioni stopped and realized that fighting is wrong. "Grayson, reconsider" she cried. "I realized that fighting doesn't solve anything. Can't we go back and save him?" Grayson stared at her and said "Bah! I don't have time to deal with you. Gracie got killed by Melody, Chad is still gone, Shelby is traumatized, Jeremiah and Dana are on the train and I'm stuck with a sorry excuse for an orphan! As if I hadn't suffered enough for one day, you're making my life worse than it already is!"

As she began to wander around the yard, Ioni angrily called out, "Take that back, or you'll regret it!" But Grayson was already gone. Ioni knew that she had to fight and backing out meant death to Jeremy. So, she sharpened her claws on the same rock Grayson used, preparing for the fight. Then she dug a hole and planned to pin Grayson down as she jumped out. Shelby did the honors by concealing Ioni, but she was still able to breathe underneath. Grayson was actually looking for Chad. She missed him dearly and it caused deep sorrow inside of her. As she picked up a scent, she noticed Shelby and angrily clawed at her, leaving a gash on her shoulder. Her spiked fur on her back had sprouted, indicating that she was in rage mode. Shelby tumbled down and got back up. She ran instead of flew.

Grayson was right behind her and she looked vicious and advanced towards her. As she got Shelby in a tight corner, she landed her paw on a mound of dirt and a white figure emerged from the hole. It was Ioni and she was angry. She lunged towards Grayson, pinning her down while Grayson had the upper hand, scratching between Ioni's eye. She bit Ioni's chest and she fell on her back. As she got up, Grayson landed a scratch on her face. This made Ioni collapsed.

Chad had woken up and heard the commotion and went to the abandoned sand area. The Country Railroad and the abandoned sand area were not far off. As he got there, he was horrified at what Grayson and Ioni were doing to each other. Grayson's teeth and mouth were covered with blood as she advanced towards Ioni, snarling. Ioni managed to scratch Grayson at one angle, and the two anthros fell to their sides, still scratching each other and leaving scratch marks on their bodies. Ioni left a painful scratch on Grayson's leg, leaving a severe wound.

They were both dripping with blood and were exhausted. Ioni said as blood dripped over her; "I told you, Grayson that we need to go and save Jeremy. And we will." "And I told you," said Grayson. "That he's better off dead. He's not your father, Ioni." She managed to pin down Ioni and bit her chest until blood came pouring.

Shelby and Chad had been frightened by the terrible fight and were curious about who would be victorious. Despite Grayson being smaller than Ioni, she had sharp claws and teeth. Ioni who was only 10 years old, looked like a child cub. She had claws and teeth and was very muscular. But she herself was being overpowered by Grayson's weight. She had gotten up with Grayson still clinging onto her, and she sank her claws into Grayson's sides. They were both breathing heavily until Ioni released Grayson from her grasp and punched her in the face, leaving Ioni victorious.

However, Grayson wanted to continue the fight and limped over to Ioni. She curled the ugliest snarl and said, "Ioni, why throw your life away when you can live? Come back and fight me! We're not finished yet!" Ioni had no trouble feeling the scratch on her face. It was still bleeding and so was she. "Grayson, sir," she said, mispronouncing her gender. "Come out!" Grayson hissed. Ioni knew that she had to say the reason why they needed to save Jeremy. "If we don't save Jeremy, something worse than my brother and mother's death might happen to him," she said. But Grayson continued to attack Ioni. Ioni left another painful scratch on Grayson's shoulder.

As she fell, she got up and saw Ioni's leg. As Ioni tried to look for Grayson, she didn't notice that she was behind her. She then sank her teeth into Ioni's leg, causing it to bleed. Ioni grunted and Grayson had gotten a taste of a bear from biting her. It was the first time she had bitten someone larger than her. She then saw Shelby and advanced towards her, but she was grabbed by Ioni, who managed to get up. Then she grabbed Grayson by the throat, threatening to punch her.

But Grayson cowered in fear, showing that she can display fear. Then Ioni decided to let her go, despite being in pain. She said angrily to Grayson, "We're going to save Jeremy and Dana." Grayson nodded and held her throat, feeling a lump in it. She realized that she had gone a bit too far. "Where's Jeremy?" Chad immediately asked. "Wasn't he with you guys?" Grayson decided to tell the truth. "Uh, he was with us but let's just say that we ambushed," she said. "You left him behind?!" Chad snapped at Grayson. "No, I was the one who jumped out first," admitted Ioni. "I should be the one to blame not Grayson." Grayson looked at Ioni.

After all, she put Ioni through, she still had feelings for her. This made Grayson hurt inside. It broke her heart to see her wild side take over and Ioni's sweet side to recede the anger. Then she felt the pain in her leg which was still bleeding and understood why Ioni did this to her. She knocked some sense into her as well and telling her the reason why they needed to save Jeremy. Since she, herself was weak because of her leg, she could no longer deny Ioni's decision.

"Chad, Jerico is taking Jeremy to Ostrichland!" cried Shelby. "It's terrible. What do we do?" "That's not all," Ioni said. "Jeremy is hurt. And I can't describe how badly." "What do you mean that Jeremy is hurt?" asked Chad. "How did he get hurt? Will he be okay?" "He punched the metal door with his fist and it bled," said Ioni. "But I'm sure he'll be fine." "I doubt he would live," said Grayson. "I think Jeremy is dead." "No!" Chad and Ioni said. "What do you two know?" retorted Grayson. "He lost a lot of blood and was breathing heavily." "You're wrong," cried Ioni. "I said I think," said Grayson. "But I strongly believe that he didn't make it, Ioni. I saw the blood." "We can still save him," said Ioni. "And," added Grayson. "You are losing blood as well. The scratches I inflicted on you and the bite. An infection is creeping up on you."

Ioni then saw her scratch marks and was bleeding. But so was Grayson. She said that her wounds weren't that severe, even though a bear had inflicted them. "My shoulder and leg are troubling me, however," she said. "Before I change my mind, let's go and rescue Jeremy and Dana." "Dana is also with Jeremy?'' Chad asked Shelby. "Yes, she stayed behind to look after Jeremy," Shelby answered. "Let's hope he's alright." Then Grayson turned to Ioni and said; "You'd better lead us. Go and take us to Ostrichland or I'll reconsider my decision. "I will," said Ioni. She led her group to Ostrichland, limping from the terrible wounds. It was going to be a long trip.

Chapter 23 Ostrichland

The train had stopped working as Jerico and the others made it near Ostrichland. Melody had forgotten to keep the engine going and only pressed buttons on the control panel. But Jerico didn't have time to deal with her, so he let Melody go and proceeded with his plan. "Dale will be in charge of operating the train, Melody," he said. "But if you ever want to redeem yourself and operate the train again in the future, you will help me and my crew escort my brother to that farm over there. That's Ostrichland by the way."

Finally, Cassie spoke out; "Robert was the last one on duty." "It doesn't matter," said Jerico. "He said that he wants to be with Grayson, but I won't allow it. If he wants to, then he can leave." Dana had heard Jerico and knew that she had to wake Jeremy up. "We're here, Jeremy," she said. "Time to get up." Jeremy woke up and felt very weak. "It still hurts," he said weakly. "Oh, it will take a while for it to heal," said Dana. But Jeremy fell asleep again. He was too weak to get up.

Then Melody and Cassie went up to them and so did Jerico and the others. "He can't sleep all day," said Robert. "Jerico, how do we wake up an injured bird?" But as he said that, Jeremy had woken up and gained consciousness. "You're awake," Jerico said to Jeremy. "Did you have a nice nap?" Jeremy had remembered the confrontation he had with Jerico. "YOU!" he growled. "You betrayed me!" "You're not the only one," said Jerico. "Hila helped the others escape, so your friends are safe. Dana was the only one who stayed behind."

"Well, at least my friends are alright," sighed Jeremy. "Poor Ioni." Then Jerico threw a rope around Jeremy's neck so he couldn't resist. "In case you have any ideas of running away from us, you'll be tied up," he said to Jeremy. But Jeremy was too weak to resist fighting, so he gave himself up and followed Jerico and the others with Dana trailing beside him.

While on the way, Jeremy tried breaking free of the rope, but it was too tight and he was extremely weak and tumbled down a few times. Melody had forced him to get up and they continued on their way to Ostrichland. When they finally got there, Jerico and Melody had released Jeremy from his rope, now that they were in the barn. Dozens of ostriches were grazing, eating or just standing still. It was a reserve for domesticated ostriches and a fine one at that. Both Jeremy and Dana were shocked to see the many different breeds including emus, rheas, and even cassowaries. Cassie herself seemed to like it there but knew that she couldn't stay.

"Jeremy will be staying here until I decide to pick him up," Jerico said to Melody. "He's lucky that I still have feelings for him." "But didn't you say that you've always hated him?" asked Robert. "No, I didn't mean it," said Jerico. "He's my brother and I've got to look out for him. I only said that because he befriended Chad. But I'll say this, Melody. If Jeremy escapes from here, I'll have no choice but to kill him as punishment." These words seemed to frighten Dana. "Perhaps we should continue on," said Jerico. And soon he and his army left Ostrichland leaving Jeremy and Dana behind.

Chapter 24 The rescue and Chad's redemption

Ioni and the others had made it to Ostrichland but were exhausted. Ioni had found a pond near the entrance to the barn and began to drink the water. She was trying to get her strength back, but then she felt incredibly ill. Shelby ran over to her side. "Shelby, I don't feel so good," the bear said, weakly. Then she went back to the pond. "We should leave her," said Grayson. "She'll be fine." Chad glared at her. "You're the reason why she's like that!" hissed Shelby. "Now we're going to rescue Jeremy and Dana. But who will watch poor Ioni?" "I'm sorry, but we have to leave her," said Chad. "She's too sick and ill. She might get Jeremy sick from her infection. "Can't someone watch over her?" sobbed Shelby.

"You wait until Dana comes," said Grayson. "But Chad has to come with us. You know that he has to redeem himself, right? If he ever wants to be friends with Jeremy again, he has to come with us and do something in order to regain Jeremy's trust." But Chad had already run inside the barn with Shelby behind him. Grayson sighed to herself and followed them. Shelby was the first one to find Jeremy in the crowd of other ostriches. Grayson had pointed out that Dana was on the roof for some reason. "Jeremy, we're here to get you out," Shelby said to him. "Shelby, how did you get here so fast?" Jeremy asked. "Oh, we're fast runners, Jeremy," replied Shelby. "But Ioni got very exhausted. So she couldn't come inside with us. Now let's get out of here!"

She then led Jeremy to her side and they both escaped from the yard. Grayson still eyed Dana who was on the roof. They had noticed a ladder close to the entrance and used it. "Get over here, Dana!" hissed Grayson. "This is a rescue!" Dana turned and saw Shelby, Jeremy, and Grayson on the roof. "What are you guys doing here?!" squawked Dana. "Get off this minute. Who knows what will happen to you guys?' "You're on here," retorted Shelby. "I was just enjoying the view from up here," said Dana. "It's beautiful." "You won't enjoy the view if you fall," said a different voice from the group. It was Chad's voice that had spoken. Jeremy had heard and confronted the possum. "You again?!" he asked. "I thought I'd told you to stay away from me!"

Chad was ready. "Jeremy, I'm sorry for what I said," the possum sobbed. "I was wrong to say that about your mom leaving us. She loves you and she always will, no matter what you are." Shelby, Dana, and Grayson applaud, but not Jeremy. "It's too late to apologize, Chad," he growled. "Our friendship is over. So, I suggest you get out of here." "Jeremy, please forgive me," sobbed Chad. Tears rolled down his cheeks. But still, Jeremy didn't seem to care. "You'd better go, Chad," he said. "Before I hurt you myself."

Then Chad realized that he lost Jeremy forever and couldn't get him back. As he turned to go, the roof started to shake as if there was an earthquake happening under them. The quake was so powerful that some of the members had tumbled over. Jeremy had lost his balance and almost fell off the roof. He managed to hang on to the end of the roof but was slipping. The earthquake had stopped and the ostriches in the yard saw their old newcomer hanging on to the side of the roof. It seemed that the roof was too slippery and Jeremy couldn't hold on any longer.

But just after letting go of the roof, he felt something grab his feathered hand. "I've got you, Jeremy, no need to worry," the voice said. Jeremy realized that the voice was from Chad. He had rescued him and his other friends had helped out. They managed to pull him back up. With Shelby's strength holding onto Dana and Grayson holding on to Chad, it was much easier to pick up the heavy ostrich. As he was being pulled up, tears leaked from Jeremy's eyes. He had been mean to his childhood friend and regretted every mean comment that he had said. When they finally managed to bring Jeremy back to safety, he embraced Chad. They were both crying and apologizing to one another. Their friendship was saved. Then Shelby said, "Let's get off of here before there are another slip and fall incident." The group went off the roof and down the ladder. Then they ran out of the barn and to the other side. They were finally free!

Chapter 25 Fallen Ioni

The group had escaped from the barn and sighed in relief. "I'm so glad that we're finally out of there," said Shelby. "I never want to go back there again." While Grayson went to look for Ioni, Chad examined Jeremy's injured hand from before. "Does it hurt?" he asked. "Yes it does," said Jeremy. "But not as bad as before. I'm so glad that we're friends again." "I almost lost you, Jeremy," said Chad. "Let's just forget about it and continue on with our lives." But where's Ioni?" asked Jeremy. "I don't see her." Then Shelby saw an injured figure in the pond. "Uh, Jeremy? Is that Ioni?" she asked him.

Jeremy's heart almost stopped as he saw the injured figure in the pond. It was Ioni and she felt very sick and weak. "Ioni!" he cried. "Dana, get some herbal leaves!" Dana had flown away to find some leaves. As Jeremy ran to her side, he felt her heart pumping really fast. Ioni looked up at him, weakly. She couldn't talk humanly but instead talked in her bear language. She tried to get up but instead collapsed in the pond. Then Jeremy realized the horrifying truth. Ioni was dying from loss of blood, and it only got worse as a trail of blood, filled up the pond. He then saw Ioni's leg that was bitten by Grayson and knew exactly why the bear was actually dying. But Shelby had told him that Grayson was already forgiven and it was an accident. The infection had set in on Ioni to no avail and continued to infect her.

Jeremy knew that he couldn't leave Ioni behind and held her in his arms. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he felt Ioni's breathing faster than usual. But this time she was breathing heavily. He then felt Chad's hand on his shoulder and felt relief knowing that he wasn't alone and had friends with him. After a long while with Ioni still held in his arms, Jeremy had fallen asleep. So did she, Chad and the others.

An hour later, there was a scuffle of voices coming up the distance. It wasn't Dana. It was none other than Jerico's in commands. "Hey, I think I see your brother over there," Melody said to Jerico. The voices have woken up Jeremy and the others. He growled angrily at the direction where the voices were coming from. Ioni looked up at him and tried to speak, but was too weak. Jeremy stopped growling and looked concerned at Ioni. He continued to hold her in his arms. He then placed Ioni's head close to his chest, giving her all the warmth he could offer.

Then Jerico and his in commands had appeared from the direction with ropes. Jeremy angrily growled at Jerico, not wanting to leave Ioni's side. All he could do was growl at them. But Melody threw a rope around his neck, reeling him in again. Jeremy had released Ioni from his hold and felt a throbbing pain around his throat. Chad, Grayson, and Shelby were also captured. As Jeremy was being taken away, he screeched out a bird cry to Ioni. She was dying and couldn't move. She continued to talk in bear language, but weakly. Jerico looked down on the injured bear and said to his in commands, "Leave her there," he said. "She's not gonna make it."

And with that, Jeremy was forcefully dragged by the rope. Ioni roared weakly as she saw Jeremy being taken away by the evil in commands. Then she collapsed in the pond. Jeremy fought back tears as he saw Ioni lying there in the pond. He was dragged away until he and the others have disappeared in an upcoming mist. Dana was returning with herbal leaves in her beak. "Oh Ioni," she sighed. "You'll be okay. I'll help you." She held the bear close to her as she saw Jeremy and the others being taken away by the in commands in the mist. She sighed to herself and said, "Midnight, watch over Jeremy."

(Now this was certainly a dark turn for the story, right? But fear not, the story isn't over. In fact, the ending is dead ahead. Stay tuned for Part 4, the ending to the story.)

Jeremy The Movie

PART 4: REUNION

(The conclusion is just unraveling. You're probably wondering, how does this all end? Did Ioni survive? How do Jeremy and the others get out? Well...

Chapter 26 A vision of Midnight

The train had been repaired while Jerico and the others were away. And as they dragged the prisoners with rope, Melody had noticed that Robert and Grizwold had two new prisoners on board. They were Fio and a strange animal that Jeremy nor his comrades had ever seen before. "We're heading back to the base," said Jerico to Dale. "Get these prisoners aboard." So Dale had taken the ropes off of Jeremy, the two prisoners, and his group and led them to the back of the train. It was actually a cattle car filled with hay and apples. To the prisoners, it was jail. In fact, Jerico and his crew considered it a jail for prisoners. The cattle car was a new addition to the train. Jeremy growled at Jerico. "Jerico, you know our parents will come looking for us. They might even save us." Jerico cackled and said, "No parents are coming. I warned our parents if they came to rescue you, any of your parents, I'd order my army to kill them. So, they stayed behind. Now we're off."

After Jerico had finished speaking, Jeremy went over to the strange animal. "Who are you?" he asked the strange animal as they were being escorted to the cattle car. "My name's Reggie," the strange animal replied. "I'm Fio's friend. But don't worry, I'm not an orphan and neither is Fio. We're just adventurous and love to travel." "You look very similar to Grayson," added Shelby. "Are you related to her?" "I'm not an opossum," said Reggie. "I'm a bandicoot." Grayson turned to Reggie. "How come you got captured?" she asked. But before Reggie could answer Melody, shoved him towards the cattle car.

Then Reggie cried out; "We got captured for trespassing into their territory. I don't deserve to live!" "I heard this black fire dragon named Shabedoom replaced the old captain; Hila," said Fio. "He's as fierce as Melody and was promoted as a guard today. He is a black dragon with a red tummy, horns, and wings and not to mention his eyes and his blue pupil! I don't want to say anymore." When all the prisoners were inside the cattle car, Melody had locked them in and the train started running. Jeremy looked down in despair.

No one said anything nor did Jeremy for that matter. In fact, their expressions did all the talking. Reggie had noticed an apple right next to him and offered it to Jeremy. But the sad ostrich didn't accept his offer. Instead, he started to cry. As tears rolled down his cheeks, the faint memory of Ioni kept flooding back. Jeremy was worried that Ioni didn't make it and continued to sob. Chad looked down at his friend in broken spirits and knew that Jeremy was in a saddened state.

It became nighttime as the train continued to operate. The prisoned animals were feasting on the apples that were in there. All except Jeremy and Shelby. Jeremy had fallen asleep and so did Shelby. But the ostrich had woken up from his nap as he felt something touch him. It wasn't Chad, Shelby or the captive animals. It felt like a spirit was there next to him. Then he looked out the side view of a window and saw Midnight in ghost form running in the night sky. At first, he was a constellation in the sky, but then took the form of a ghost which ran in the sky.

Suddenly a red aurora australis began to form in the sky. As Jeremy peered closer into it, he saw silhouette versions of himself and Ioni playing together. But then saw in silhouette form of how Ioni got hurt and her current state right now. She had lost a lot of blood and the sound of weak roaring could be heard. Then Midnight and the red aurora australis had disappeared into the night sky. Then Jeremy knew for certain that Midnight was there to guide him, no matter where his spirit may be. He knew that he had to avenge Ioni and Gracie and save his friends from death as well. He then turned to his comrades with a determined look on his face. They knew that he was serious and they wanted to escape. But they had no idea on how to.

Chapter 27 Attack

As soon as the train had made it to the base, Jerico and his army talked things over on what to do with the prisoners. The base was actually a cavern lab, resembling Jerico's secret base made of aluminum and paper mache. Sure enough, there were pieces of aluminum hanging from the ceiling and paper mache on the entrance to the cave. While that was going on, Jeremy and the other prisoners were coming up with plans to escape and return to their hometown. Grayson had taken to Reggie. The bandicoot looked frightened but displayed some aggression from his gaze. "You shouldn't be worried about them, Reggie," Grayson said. "I hate Melody and those infernal in commands. But not Grizwold." "I think Grizwold has no choice but to obey," said Reggie. "He has no choice and neither does Cassie. It's Robert, Shabedoom, and Melody that scare me. Melody almost struck me before. I was scared."

Then suddenly he and the others were shoved by Melody, telling them to go into the cavern. "You prisoners won't get away," she snarled. "You will be prisoned for life in here." As the prisoned animals were led by Melody and her in commands, they soon entered the cavern. It was decorated with silvery aluminum and paper mache. But in reality, it was actually a command center, similar to a laboratory with gadgets and gizmos. Jeremy had remembered the base that he was in before and the memory came flooding back to him. Then he heard the conservation that Jerico and Melody were having. It was about Hila not him. "She betrayed us and she must be punished," Melody said to Jerico. "I agree," said Jerico. "But what should I do with the prisoners? I have a score to settle with Jeremy. It's time we fight and see who's superior." That was the moment that Jeremy understood. His brother wanted to fight him. And since he was too injured to fight, Jeremy knew that he had to in order to avenge his fallen friend; Ioni.

Hila was then brought in by Robert and was ordered to stay with the captive animals. Jeremy went back to the group with determination and aggression. Grayson realized that Jeremy meant business and wanted to know if he had a plan to escape. Jerico and his in-commands left the room. So this was his only chance to come up with a plan. "We've been captured and we need to fight back," he said. "It's our way to freedom. We must fight in order to escape. Anyone agree with taking on our enemies?"

Talk broke all around the base. Fio and Reggie were incredibly scared. "How can we take on all of them?" asked Fio. "They'll get us if we don't." "I don't want to fight!" wailed Reggie. As Jeremy waited patiently for quiet, Grayson immediately said; "What does Chad think?" "I agree with Jeremy," Chad said. "He's been my friend and I don't want to lose him again. Whoever wants to fight, then fight. The ones who don't, find a place to hide." "I'll fend them off," said Hila. "I hope that Melody doesn't attack me. If she does, I'm done for." "I'll fight too," added Shelby. "I hate Jerico and his infernal army. Better fight while we still can. If you ever win that fight Jeremy, I'll mark that to be the best story ever." "And you'll be the one to tell it," Jeremy said, smiling. "I'll be coming too," said Grayson. "I'm going to teach that Melody a lesson she won't forget."

So it was settled then. While Fio and Reggie went to find shelter, Jeremy, Chad, Grayson, and Shelby headed towards the back entrance to the base. They noticed Shabedoom as a guard, blocking the entrance to Jerico's secret base room, located near the end of the cavern.

Jeremy said to Grayson, "I need you to attack the guard dragon. He's blocking our way to get to Jerico. Hila will fly ahead of you to guard the battleground, where the battle will take place. As soon as you say 'Now, Jeremy', me, Chad and Shelby will make a run for it and you follow behind. Got it?" "I got it, Jeremy," said Grayson. "Now to attack Shabedoom." While Hila had flown ahead of her and stayed in the corner, waiting to strike any foes, Grayson went up to Shabedoom and said, "I was informed by Melody that the battle has been canceled and Jerico called it off." "No one told me anything about it," snarled Shabedoom. "Well, the hawk over there seems to be guarding the battleground," said Grayson.

As Shabedoom noticed Hila guarding the battleground, Grayson immediately pounced on him with her claws. "Now, Jeremy!" she called out. Jeremy, Chad, and Shelby ran to the unguarded entrance, while Grayson continued to attack Shabedoom. Fio had also run ahead. Grayson left a gash around Shabedoom's eye and several scratches on his shoulder. Ignoring the scratches on her body, Grayson had bitten Shabedoom's chest and blood started to pour from their wounds. Then she ran towards the direction that Jeremy and the others took. Shabedoom was shaking from his wounds and limped towards Grayson.

Little did Jeremy know that Melody was also a guard and patrolled the cavern. She noticed the injured dragon limping towards the back of the cavern. She then went to the entrance to the battleground and saw Hila guarding. The hawk turned around and saw Melody. She squawked and advanced towards Melody. But Melody pinned her down and began biting her chest. Then the hawk left a gash on Melody's face and she grabbed the back of Hila's neck with her teeth and blood started to pour from her body. Then Melody released her and left the torn hawk lying on the floor. She was snarling and covered with blood as she followed Shabedoom.

She began sniffing the air and caught the scent of a bandicoot. She followed it away from Shabedoom and found Reggie tucked away in the corner. She was angry and her claws tried to scratch the frightened bandicoot. Reggie avoided her claws and ran to the back entrance with her trailing behind him. He was running out of breath and almost collapsed when he heard Grayson's voice coming from the other end. He finally made it to the back of the base. But Shabedoom had laid injured on the floor and there was no sign of Jeremy or Jerico. Melody had found him and began snarling. As Reggie stayed close to Chad, Shelby, and Fio, Melody eyed them.

But as she was about to scratch or bite any of them, Grayson pounced on top of her and the two marsupials began clawing and biting each other. Grayson knew that this was her chance to avenge Gracie and showed Melody no mercy. Then as she inflicted a painful wound on Melody's hind leg, the quoll displayed fear as if she was scared of her. They were both dripping with blood and breathing heavily. Before Grayson could deliver the final blow, she released Melody and allowed her to leave.

Now Melody beaten as last was limping towards Shabedoom and laid down to rest. Shelby had sprayed some water from her mouth on the injured in commands. It was the least she could do to help. Even foes need their rest. Then she said to the others; "While I cool these two down, you guys find Jeremy. I'll catch up." Grayson had led Chad, Fio, and Reggie towards the battleground. They knew that the battle was about to begin.

Chapter 28 Jeremy vs Jerico

The battleground was a wide open space in the cavern and it was where fights would take place. Grayson and the others mourned the loss of Hila as her body laid there. But they fought back tears and continued their way to the battleground. When they got there, it seemed that the battle was about to begin. Jeremy and Jerico both were growling and clutched their fists together. "I knew that this day would come," said Jerico. "Now there's no turning back." "You're going to pay for all you've done!" growled Jeremy. "Then come and fight me!" roared Jerico. "I'm ready!"

The two ostriches landed punches at each other. Jerico had landed a punch at Jeremy's stomach, while he struck him back with his fist. They didn't use their teeth as weapons but instead used their fists, heads, feet, and legs. After recovering, Jerico charged towards Jeremy and he fell on his back. Cassie, Robert, Dale, and Grizwold felt sorry for Jeremy and Jerico and hated the battle that was going on. As Jeremy began to breathe heavily, he said weakly; "We used to be close. Why would you do this to me?" "To test your strength," said Jerico. "And your friends can't save you now!" Jeremy had kicked Jerico's leg and punched him in the stomach as well. But Jerico struck Jeremy with a blow across the face, sending him spiraling. He was dizzy and couldn't regain consciousness.

Then Jerico pinned Jeremy down and landed his fist on his chest, causing Jeremy to cry out in pain. Jerico released Jeremy and said; "You thought you could take down your older brother?! Well, you just lay there while your friends get hurt." As he said that, he choked Jeremy in a headlock grip and released him. Then he advanced towards Chad and the others. But before ramming into them, Jerico felt a hot watery substance hit him. It was Shelby and she began to spray hot water on him and his in commands. All except Grizwold and Cassie. They ran to the other side of the field. Then Jeremy rammed into Jerico sending them both flying across the field. Now that Jeremy had Jerico pinned down, Jerico gave him a sad look. "Jeremy, don't do this to me," he said. "Jeremy, I'm your brother."

Jeremy thought for a second and remembered all the times that he spent together with Jerico. He still saw Jerico with tears in his eyes and realized that he did care about him and it made him feel relieved to know that he was still loved. Then he released Jerico and forgave him, resorting in a hug. But Jerico pulled a pocket knife from his pocket and stabbed Jeremy in the hip bone, causing him to cry out in pain. Blood began to pour out of his wound and he punched Jerico in the face, sending him falling flat on his back. But he fell to the ground as well, bleeding and breathing heavily.

Chad ran over to Jeremy's side and laid his head on Jeremy's chest. He didn't feel a pulse. Grayson, Shelby and the others watched tearfully. Chad realized that Jeremy had died from loss of blood and started to sob. "No, Jeremy you can't die!" he sobbed. "Please come back to me, Jeremy! I need you!" Holding Jeremy's dead body close to him, Chad's tears began to roll down his face. Then a tear landed on Jeremy's head and rolled down to his cheek. Chad continued to embrace his dead friend. Then the tear dried up and revived Jeremy. He regained consciousness by slowly opening his eyes. He then noticed Chad holding him close. "Chad?" he said weakly. Chad saw that Jeremy returned from the dead and was back with him. "Jeremy!" gasped Chad. "You're okay!" They both resorted to hugging each other. Grayson began sobbing on Shelby and Reggie and Fio did the same thing. Even Dale, the in commands and Melody and Shabedoom cried tears of joy.

Jerico had recovered from his fall and saw Jeremy and Chad hugging each other. He then realized that Jeremy wanted to stay with Chad and decided to leave him alone. But he had one more thing to say to Jeremy. "Back from the dead, eh?" he said. "Well, Jeremy you've proven to me that you don't need me and my army doesn't need you. You're free to go and so are your friends. Go and be free my brother. I hope to see you again one day." "But this isn't over," added Dale. "We'll meet again someday." "So don't expect that we'll go easy on you next time," said Melody. "Let's go," said Jerico. And without another word, Jerico and his army of in commands disappeared. Even the train disappeared into the mist. "Let's get out of here," said Grayson "This place is creeping me out." "We will and we're taking Fio and Reggie with us," said Jeremy. "They both agreed to come with us." "So we're off then," said Reggie. Then Jeremy and his companions were free and escaped from the cavern. They were heading back home.

Chapter 29 Reunion

Jeremy and his companions had made it to their hometown. Of course, Jeremy was happy to be at his old home again. But he was saddened by the fact that Ioni was no longer with him. He hung his head down and Chad went over to comfort him. His hip bone was bothering him again and blood began to leak out. Shelby quickly got some water to calm the swelling but then stopped when she saw Dana. The duck flew over to them and she whistled out to someone. A shadowy figure emerged from the grassy meadows. Jeremy peered closely at the figure. It continued to walk forward. Then Jeremy's jaw dropped open. He knew who it was. It was Ioni and she was alive!

They were both ecstatic and ran towards each other. It felt good to have his friend alive, even though she was still covered in scratches. She was alive and well. Chad also joined in and all three embraced each other. Soon Jeremy, Chad, and Shelby were with their parents for the last time, since they were leaving to go back to the new apartment. Dana had finished wrapping gauze around Jeremy's injured hip bone, which began to heal and allowed him, Shelby and Chad to have one last moment with their parents. Chad had embraced his parents before returning to the group and so did Shelby with her parents.

But Jeremy wanted to stay with his parents a bit longer before departing. "Take care, Jeremy," said Jon. "Have fun with your friends." But instead of leaving right away, Jeremy looked at his mother and knew that he was leaving her. Besides leaving, Jeremy had to do one last thing before becoming a stuck up hipster. He wanted to embrace his mom one last time before changing his ways. So without warning, Jeremy hugged his mom with tears rolling down his cheeks. Jessica embraced him back saying; "I will miss you, my son." Hearing those last soothing words made Jeremy tear up. He didn't want to let his mom go. But he knew that he had to since he had friends and a new home to get back to. He then let's go of his mother and joins his group. They all nod and head for their new home. Before catching up, Jeremy looked at his parents one last time and then headed off to his new home.

As Jeremy heads to his new apartment, he sees his close and faithful companions with him. There's Chad, his childhood friend, and best friend overall. Grayson, a rebel and a fierce fighter that shows feelings for him now. Dana, his caretaker, and nurse. Shelby, a vegetarian, bubble breather, and a great storyteller. Ioni, his adopted daughter. Fio, the moderate rebel, and Reggie, the kind-hearted bandicoot. All stuck by his side and alive. It was a memory that Jeremy could hold onto forever.

When they finally got back to their new home, it was already nighttime and the sky was filled with stars of all kinds. Jeremy and his companions looked up at the night sky and saw the constellation of Midnight. Chad then said to Jeremy, "Those stars can tell our future of going to that technology institute, Jeremy," he said. "I can feel it." Then he saw Hila flying across the night sky. She was alive but badly injured. However, she managed to fly well and flew to her home. Then Ioni and Grayson yawned indicating that they were tired from their run. So was Shelby, Fio, and Reggie. "I guess the night sky made us tired," yawned Grayson. "Let's go to sleep," yawned Ioni. "We'll see you inside, Jeremy."

As Dana got the tired animals to bed, Chad and Jeremy were wide awake and were watching the stars in the night sky. "You're right about those stars, Chad," said Jeremy. "I just hope we get accepted." There was a long silence. But then Chad said; "I'm really glad that we're friends again. I hope we don't get separated again. I almost lost you today, Jeremy. I thought you died." "I did die," said Jeremy. "But your tears of friendship brought me back. I know I feel the sharp pain in my hip bone, but I'm sure it will go away. I just hope my brother is alright." "Even after trying to kill you, you still care for him?" asked Chad. "There's something called forgiveness, Chad," said Jeremy. "I still love Jerico because he's my brother. But I lost most of my respect for him because of what he did. I forgave both of you, but I stayed with you because you're my friend and you saved my life twice. You saved me from falling off that roof at Ostrichland and bringing me back from the dead. Jerico redeemed himself by leaving us alone and taking his army with him. You're like my second brother, Chad and I'm glad to have you as my friend. But we both have to meet the hipster route soon enough. But if that happens, we'll still stay together." The two were starting to get very tired and before setting off to bed, Chad and Jeremy exchanged these last words before drifting to sleep. "As long as I'm with you," Chad said. "Nothing can tear us apart. Our friendship will last forever. There will be no worries at all." "Yeah," Jeremy said. "No worries."

End of Jeremy The Movie

(Wow, I'm glad it's finally done. This is a pretty heartwarming story. For a backstory about Jeremy, this actually turned out great. The original OCs play a big role in this. Some villains are both evil and sympathetic, which makes this a great Fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed this and I can't wait to see fan art of this. I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for reading. Till next time.)