Singlewave asks: Do you like cats or dogs better?

SnowLucario answers: We have a dog, but my mother is allergic to cats, so that is out of the question. For me, whichever is less work, as I don't like animals. They seem to not like me, so I feel justified for that.

I'm sick right now, so I may not be able to write as much. Being sick over Christmas is gonna suck.

This is another one of those transition chapters, so it is more short and dull. But don't worry! The next one will be EPIC.

Much of the content in this chapter comes from my own experiences rock climbing. This is how it works at the places I've been, whether it be at summer camp or at actual rock climbing gyms. When I was in fifth grade, I even took a few outdoor climbing lessons. But that's enough about me.

Enjoy the chapter and please don't forget to review!


WILLOW'S POV

I continued to stand stock-still in the hallway, not daring to breathe too loudly. Deep down, I knew that there was no point in doing so. As soon as Falco had announced that he suspected that there was a student behind the door, all hope was lost. I could have tried to run, but I would get caught in the end. They would know it was me, and then it would be game over.

The door opened, and it turned out that I had been right as to who was behind the door.

Dr. Howler, Falco Lombardi, and Mrs. Hooter all looked absolutely livid. It looked like they couldn't believe that I had snuck out at night. The second I saw their facial expressions, I knew that I was in trouble.

There was no way that I was getting out of this one. And what was worse, I was the one who had gotten myself into this mess in the first place. I had just stupidly decided to leave my bed in the middle of the night, and that ended up getting me caught by the teachers. What kind of idiot was I?

"Willow Foster!" Dr. Howler screamed. "What are you doing out of bed?"

"I-" I started to say, but then Falco cut me off.

"It's more than three hours after your curfew, and here you are down outside of the staff room. What were you thinking?"

I didn't know how to answer that. The truth was, I hadn't really been thinking.

"It's time to go down to the secretary's office" Mrs. Hooter said. Luckily, she didn't have her bow on hand, so she wasn't pointing it at me. That would have made the situation far worse for me than it already was.

"That's right" Falco said. "If I know Katt, she will not be happy about being woken up at one in the morning".


I was led down several hallways, until I realized that we were going down the same direction as Katt's room had been. That had been where Lucas was examined right after he had arrived here.

Katt could hardly have lived in the secretary's office. Therefore, it did not surprise me that Dr. Howler opened a door leading into a magenta room, the same color of Katt's fur. On the bed across the room, Katt Monroe was sleeping. Her magenta fur blended in well with the color of her bedsheets and the walls.

Falco tapped her on the shoulder, which woke her up quickly. Clearly, she was a light sleeper.

"Oh, man, Falco. What is it this time? Did someone sneak out at night?"

"As a matter of fact, Katt, yes. Willow Foster has been brought here so that you can pass judgment as you see fit".

Katt growled. "I'm not really in the mood. This is the wrong time to have to do this. I don't sleep well at the best of times, which these don't seem to be. First, there's the Anglars, then Lucas passing out, then this!"

Katt sat up and got out of bed. Then, she led by by hand to a seat in front of her desk. I knew, right now, that I was in such deep trouble that I might as well be packing my bags right now had I had access to them.


As soon as I was sitting in front of Katt, she looked slightly less angry, just disappointed, which was worse.

"Please explain what you were doing out of bed so late. It's one in the morning, so unless you have a really good excuse, you're going to have to be punished".

I didn't see the point in lying to her. "I just felt like so many things were out of my control, and I wanted to do one thing on my own. Plus, I couldn't sleep".

Katt nodded. "Was there anything in particular that you wanted to do?"

"No" I said quickly, not caring what the real truth was, even though I did know it.

Suddenly, Katt's indigo eyes pierced mine, and I knew that she was not satisfied with that answer. Maybe she could sense somewhere that I was lying about that. I wasn't quite sure, but I decided to play it safe. I was in enough trouble as it was.

"Yes" I corrected myself.

"I suspected as such. Now, what was it that you wanted to do?"

I didn't even consider lying once again. "I was hoping that I could see my friend out here. Lucas Enfield".

Katt nodded, looking stone-faced.

"There are consequences to your actions, young lady. You are going to have to serve a detention on the evening of January eighth, three days from now, since it's after midnight".

A detention. I didn't get too many in high school, and I didn't want to start now. Unfortunately, I had no choice now. I would need to pay the consequences for my actions, just like Katt said.

"What does this detention entail, exactly?"

"I'm glad you asked" Katt said. "You will report to the Engineering room right after evening meeting on the eighth, when you will have to clean the room under the watchful eye of Slippy Toad. You got that?"

"Yes" I said.

And the awkward part was, because I had disturbed Katt's rest, she was even angrier at me. She made Mrs. Hooter lead me back to my dorm room, which was even more awkward. I didn't say a word the whole time, because I was afraid of how she would reply. If she was even half as threatening now as she was with a bow in her arm, I knew that I didn't want to get on her bad side.

Once we got back to my dormitory, Mrs. Hooter turned on the light, which woke the other five girls up. They all yawned, and yet they all woke up in unison.

"Why are the lights on?" Allison asked somewhat angrily.

"It's because Willow Foster here has something to say to you" Mrs. Hooter replied angrily.

I had never been so nervous to say anything in my life, not even when I was part of a play back in elementary school.

"I'm sorry that I snuck out of bed in the middle of the night". I then turned to Mrs. Hooter. "Are you happy?"

The archery instructor nodded before closing the door.

She might have been satisfied. But the other girls in my dormitory most certainly were not.


LUCAS'S POV

The next morning at breakfast, I got the sense that the other girls at Willow's table, from what I could see of it, were really mad at her for some reason. Was she some kind of scapegoat? I couldn't imagine why, and I didn't know that I wanted to know.

All I could see was, the other girls seemed to really have it in for her.

In addition, there was Seventy-Four, the new guy who had arrived yesterday. Ever since then, he had not spoken a single word in front of me or any of my friends. This kid really was shy. Nobody could get a word out of him.

After we were done with our pancakes, and had cleaned up our dorm room the way we did every day, Cole and I followed the other eighteen cadets into the nearby hallway. I knew that today was going to be a big day in terms of training, because we only had six more until we went on our mission, to defuse a bomb that was planted underneath a glacier in the Cornerian mountains.

I knew I might not get back from that trip alive. But I wanted to feel like I was doing something for the war effort, so I had signed up.

Once we were in the hallway, the leader of this group, an anthropomorphic chameleon, came in the room and began counting off our names.

"Abigail Ashland?"

"Here".

"Cecil Bentley?"

"Here".

"Frederick Chester?"

"Here".

"Lucas Enfield?"

"Here" I said.

A few names later, the chameleon (whose name was Leon Powalski), called out "Cole McCallen?" and he answered that he was there.

"Okay" Leon said, once he had gone through his whole list of names. "The first thing we are going to do today is to get your tattoos. In case you get seriously hurt or something, and need a blood transfusion, it really helps expedite the process if we know which type to give you. So, are you guys ready to get tattoos?"

"Yes!" some of the other students cheered.

"Follow me, then" Leon replied.


I had never gotten a tattoo in my life. It had never struck me as a very fun thing to do, and I didn't see the point of changing the way my body looked for no reason.

Now, though, we all went to the tattoo parlor that was in the basement of this school, which sure seemed to have a lot of sublevels, for this very purpose.

Previously, each of us had had our blood tested to see what type we had. I had read in health class that if you had type AB+, you could receive any blood type but only donate to people with the same blood type. If you had O-, it was the opposite.

According to my test, my blood type was O+, so that was what was tattooed onto my right wrist. The letter was about three inches long and took perhaps thirty minutes to do. After that, we were all allowed to leave for the next activity we were training for, which was where we would learn about the equipment we would be using on the glacier.

I was very much looking forward to it, but Cole seemed to be a little apprehensive about it.

"It'll be fine" I said, hoping I was right.


The equipment lessons were being held in one of the gyms in the basement. It was much larger than the one at Swanville High, let me tell you. It was the size of two football fields, and at least forty feet tall. All sorts of things, such as hockey sticks, basketballs, helmets, and other sports equipment were clustered in one corner of the room. There were two basketball hoops on opposite sides of the long end, but that was not the most notable feature of the room, if it could be called a "room".

Most of the walls were adorned with climbing walls, the type with burnt orange and artificial handholds in all colors. Harnesses were hung on the rope leading up the nearest face, and I realized what we were going to do today.

I was kind of afraid of heights, but there was a very big difference between my fear of heights and that of some other people. My father, as much as I cursed him, was afraid of heights. However, his fear was more related to things like sitting in the top box of a sporting event, or riding a chairlift.

My own fear of heights activated whenever I had to do something that required me to wear a harness. Some people would be less scared doing this knowing that they had some protection from falling, but not me. Don't ask me why.

"Well, guys" Leon said. "Do you have any idea what we are going to do today?"

A lot of the people nodded, including myself. I noticed that Cole wasn't nodding, though. Maybe he had never gone rock climbing before. Given how he'd grown up poor in Detroit, it wouldn't surprise me if he had never had that opportunity.

"We're going to practice with our equipment, including putting on and taking off our harnesses. We'll also work on our rock climbing skills. During the actual mission, you're going to be clipped into a rope going up the glacier, so that if you fall into a crevasse we can haul you up. But it helps to get a feel for all of this equipment".

Leon passed out the climbing harnesses. Being that I had been rock climbing before, I didn't need too much help putting it on, but I had never really managed to completely get the hang of tightening it.

It was a real struggle for Cole, though. He seemed not to know where to begin, but I pointed out that you needed to put your legs in the holes near the bottom. Once he had done that, it was very easy to figure out what to do.

Soon, all twenty of us had harnesses around our waists. Leon nodded approvingly. It became obvious to everyone that those who did not know how to put on their harnesses had all been helped by those who did. He praised us for our teamwork, saying that it was essential. Which I agreed with; if we didn't learn to act as a unit, we would inevitably fail. It was just a matter of time.

"All right" Leon said. "Now that you're all harnessed up, it's time for you to learn the ropes in rock climbing. On the actual ice, there won't be too much climbing to do, but you will have to deal with the slipperiness.

"Who wants to go first?"

To my surprise, not too many people raised their hands. I figured that they would have, but that did nothing to increase my confidence in our team.

I, on the other hand, was one of only five people to do so. Leon picked Abigail Ashland, who had shown even more prowess than me, but said that I could go next. I was looking forward to it, get some adrenaline pumping.

Leon said that, for the first few people to climb, he would be the one doing the belaying, but after that we would have to learn how to do it ourselves. I was fine with that, but as I have said before, not everyone else in the room seemed to be.

Abigail managed to make it fifteen feet up in twenty seconds flat. She didn't have too much trouble pushing herself up the wall, like some kind of animal. Forget the stereotype of girls not having upper-body strength!

Forty feet up, there was a golden-colored gong that you had to touch in order to be considered to have made it all the way up the wall. Abigail reached it in less than a minute.

She banged the gong, signaling that she had done it. After instructing us all to clap, Leon allowed her to rappel to the ground, which she did promptly. Then, she was unclipped from the rope.

Leon told me to go over and hold still as he hooked me into the rope. Then, I walked over to the wall.

I used the command that Leon had instructed us on. "On belay?"

"Belay is on" Leon said in his usual curt tone.

"Climbing?"

"Climb away!"

So I did. I got onto that wall and methodically made my way up the lower half of the wall, trying to gauge which handholds would be easiest for my feet.

It was hard work. Soon, my hands were drenched in sweat. But still, I was getting this done. I wasn't as fast as Abigail, but I steadily made my way up to the gong, which I banged loudly.

In fact, I banged it so loudly that I had to cover my ears. This had the added effect of me not being able to use my hands to hold on, which had the added effect of me taking a tumble backwards.

Luckily, I was wearing a climbing harness, so I only had ann instant of free-fall before Leon caught me. Normally, I'm very fast at rappelling, but he just lowered me to the ground.

When I got there and looked in his face, I could tell he wasn't happy with me.


They went through the other three people who had raised their hands, as well as an additional three who had not, but raised their hands afterwards.

Once that was done, Leon instructed us to take our harnesses off and hang them back up. Then, he addressed the class.

"Overall, that was a good job. Those of you who did not have a chance to attempt the wall today will be able to either tomorrow or the day after. Rest assured, all of you will have done it twice by the time we head up to the glacier. You need all the practice that you can get".

With that, he dismissed us, as it was getting close to lunchtime, and a morning of tattoos and rock climbing had left us hungry. We followed the route back to the dining hall that Leon had taught us, and then I sat back down with my other friends.


Later that day, as I was going to head back to room 37405 for shower hour, I saw a familiar girl with golden-brown hair and ocean blue eyes. Willow.

"Hey, Willow, how's it going?" I asked, which might not have been the best pickup line.

She turned around to look at me. "Oh, it's just dandy knowing that you're going to risk your life with a lot of other students!"

I could feel my face turn pink. "I'm not going to be risking anything. Leon is going to keep us all safe!"

"There's always that small chance you might not make it back. Things are bad enough as it is, what with me having detention on the eighth-"

"Wait, what?" I asked.

"Got caught sneaking out of bed in the middle of the night" she said sheepishly, trying not to let more tears fall by the looks of it.

"Oh" I said. "Sorry about that".

"It's fine" Willow said. "Go. Take your shower. I'll do the same".

We shook hands before leaving.


WILLOW'S POV

Over the next few days, Lucas had more classes apart from the rest of us. I wasn't sure what he was doing there, and the uncertainty bothered me. Not that I wasn't used to uncertainty by now.

To make matters worse, I had two bad events in my timeline. One was in my future, one was in my past.

There was the fight with Lucas on the afternoon of January 5, 201Y. Luckily, we seemed to have patched things up between us by now. The other thing I had not resolved, and that was my detention with Slippy.

I found myself on the evening of the eighth, right after the school meeting, going down to the Engineering room, where my detention was to take place. When the voice of Slippy Toad told me to enter, I did so.

"Good evening, Willow. I would first like to remind you that you have done something very wrong, and for that you deserve to be punished. Do you understand that?"

"Yes" I replied.

"Good" replied Slippy. "Now, I want you to clean everything in the Engineering room. I want there to be not a single crumb of anything on the floor or any of the machines".

I nodded, and then set myself to work doing just that. It wasn't easy, but I tried to remind myself that what Lucas was about to do was much harder.


I know that it is very short, but like I said, it is a transition chapter. The next chapter is EPIC. It's so long, and it's been done for a week. And it will be released on December 27. I hope you are looking forward to it.

Please remember to review, as I want to know how I am doing with providing you with a good story.

Sincerely, SnowLucario.