Oates

It was a bright and cold morning as Ted, still bleary-eyed from sleep, stepped off the plane and onto another runway. He groaned as he dropped the suitcase on the tarmac. His legs were tingling from sitting so long. Jim stopped beside him, in the loosely forming line, the black duffle bag slung over his shoulder. A guy with light-brown skin in loose, dark-green clothes stood in front of them, the man had really short, graying hair. The dude was saying something and a thought popped into his head, 'Huh, that dude looks a lot like a bowl of old oatmeal.'

Beside him, Jim chuckled quietly and the old dude walked up to stand in front of him. Despite the man being way shorter than him, like Napoleon's height, he was heavily muscled with piercing, gray-eyes. Flinched as the man asked, "What'd you just say to me, son ?"

Bill's voice in his head, "Ted, man, you forgot to filter. That's, like, majorly important, dude, remember ? It's like that time you said Mrs. Maus looked like a bat and got sent to the principal's office and you got that hideously atrocious chalk-brush cleaning detention for the whole week."

As he back-pedalled, "Err, it's nothing against you, dude-sir. You just sort of resemble-", he had the very bogus feeling that he'd just insulted Colonel Oates.

"You think I'm funny looking, huh ? Well, what's your name then, funny man ?"

"Err, Logan, Theodore Logan, Colonel, sir."

That had the Colonel raising an eyebrow, "Hmm, well, why don't you walk to the academy, Cadet Logy ? While the rest of us ride the bus. If you have the energy to be funny, surely you have the energy to walk after all the academy is only five…miles…from here and it'll be good practice for the rest of your stay. Find your way to the barracks and mess hall after you're done putting your things away and cleaning up. Just maybe you'll get there in time for breakfast."

"Yes, Colonel Oates, sir."

Jim gave him a sympathetic look, and muttered, while the colonel walked away, "Yeah, old Oates.", as the about fifteen or twenty other cadets followed the colonel toward the gray bus.

'Logi, what ? Isn't that a bean or something ?'

"No, Ted, he's calling you lazy."

'He could've just said that. I miss you already, Bill.'

As the bus started up and moved off, he shook his head. 'Nice going, Ted, first day and the colonel already doesn't like you. Five miles, that's harsh, better get started or I won't get anywhere. At least, if Colonel Oates had heard Jim I wouldn't have to do it alone.'

He picked up the suitcase and walked off the tarmac onto the side road after the bus. It was mainly flat, green plains with a bunch of flowers and stuff. When his legs had finally stopped tingling and just turned numb, something happened. 'This is boring, ooh, rabbit. It's blond, cute and fluffy…just like Bill. Bad Ted, bad, you're not supposed to think like that. It's not cool, dude, you know that.'

A little yellow rabbit had just hopped across the road in front of him. Somehow, he sensed the bird, dropped his suitcase and lunged to scoop-up the 'Bill' rabbit as a hawk practically screeched in his ear. He got up and turned the rabbit to look at it, it even had dark-brown eyes, and he stroked the rabbit's fur as it trembled, "Don't worry, my furry, little, friend who sort of looks like Bill, I've got you."

'Why's it so wrong that I wish it actually was Bill and not a rabbit ? It didn't feel 'weird' when Bill was calming me down earlier. Therefore, it's not that different from Joe Burns and Sally Moore's thing. Except that Joe and Sally could make-out almost whenever they want. What's better Colonel Oates, or a rabbit ? The rabbit cause, at least, he's nice.'

When the rabbit stopped shaking he, rather reluctantly, put it down, with a, "See you later, awesome little rabbit dude." Then he picked up his suitcase and continued down the road. The road had turned from pavement into dirt, so he followed the tire-tracks to the academy.

There was some sort of tollbooth type thing across the road. As he approached it, he became aware of the fact that he was panting and covered in sweat. 'That's not a good sign and it's only going to get worse. He-ey, that looks like the time machine. Wish I could use it to get out of this, where's Rufus when I want him ? Nowhere, that's where.'