Chapter 10: The Next Thing.
Hollyleaf POV
"Just ask him. Just. Flipping. Ask. Him."
Hollyleaf had been tables away from the guy she had been crushing on *Stalking* for a solid week. It had been two days since the Haloween dance. Everyone was now looking forward to the Thanksgiving getaway. The Thanksgiving get away was the one time a year when students got to meet their extensive family. She had always loved that time of the year.
But then again her brothers weren't as close with them. And who can blame them after last time.
Let's just say that her family wasn't the best. But she didn't mind. They were family after all. Jayfeather had called her Naive and Moronic (which she wasn't sure was a word) for trusting them. The rest of the group decided when they were young they didn't want to see their family and hung out over the holidays.
"Well here it goes." Hollyleaf sucked up a breath and walked over to Fallen Leaves "Hi."
Fallen Leaves looked up from the book he was reading "Oh hey, Hollyleaf right?"
She nodded "I couldn't help but notice that you are reading Shakespeare."
"Yeah, I am. Reading is a sort of pastime for me. Good books are hard to come by."
"Sure are," Hollyleaf commented "I've always been a fan of Romeo and Juliet."
Fallen Leaves scoffed "You mean the worst love story ever!? Their love lasted three days, and five people died. That's not love. That's desperate for love."
Hollyleaf was about to argue, when she couldn't help but notice that he was right. Their love did last three days.
"Do we know each other?" Fallen Leaves asked out of the blue.
"Why, do you think we are going to?" Hollyleaf snipped.
"I don't know," Fallen Leaves sighed "How could anyone know?"
"Because I already know a lot of people and until one of them dies I couldn't possibly meet anyone else," Hollyleaf smirked.
"Hmm," Fallen Leaves nodded and turned to walk away "Well if anyone goes under critical condition, let me know."
Hollyleaf giggled to which Fallen Leaves turned back to her "What?"
"You give up awfully easy. "
"Do I? Then maybe your not worth my time," Fallen Leaves smirked.
"You better hope that's not the case," Hollyleaf smiled.
"Alright fine," Fallen Leaves frowned.
"Now you're angry."
"No I'm not. I'm just gotta head back to my dorm."
"Well wasn't it Shakespeare who said 'When strangers meet in far off lands, they should ere long see each other again,'?"
Fallen Leaves smirked "Shakespeare never said that!"
Hollyleaf giggled "How do you know?"
"It's terrible you just made it up!"
They both laughed and Hollyleaf smiled "You excited for Thanksgiving?"
"Not really. Believe me, I am thankful for what I got, but what I got isn't much."
"Well you're welcome to come along with my friends. We always do something big over this season."
Fallen Leaves looked to the ground, clearly thinking "Maybe I will. Don't got much to do."
"Great, I'll see you then," Hollyleaf smiled as she walked away. With a slight skip in her step.
Foxleap POV
"Use your X-RAY!"
"BABE, BLOCK IT!"
Foxleap was sweating. Like really sweating. Him and Berrynose had been fighting each other in Mortal Kombat X. The score was best out of five rounds. Foxleap was on three and Berrynose was at four. Their characters looked warn down with Battle Damage. Foxleap had chosen Sub Zero in his cryomancer form and Berrynose chose Reptile in his nimble form.
The whole group (except Jayfeather) was watching with enthusiasm. Berrynose was one round away from winning. Foxleap was panicking. He launched his X Ray but Berrynose blocked it and went in with a grab. As Foxleap's health went down drastically, he went to his failsafe program. He jammed all the buttons on his controller.
"STOP BUTTON MASHING!" Berrynose screamed. Reptile took a lot of damage from Combo moves and ice bursts, before Reptile was out of health.
"YYYEEEESSSSS!" Foxleap screamed. Poppyfrost and Ivypool began to clap. Honeyfern shouted words of encouragement to her boyfriend but it was ultimately futile. They were tied. As reptile got back up, Berrynose went all out. He also began to buttonmash, but Foxleap instead was plating smart. He was sticking to the corners lobbing Ice Balls at Reptile who was attacking all over the place. As reptile was frozen, Sub Zero began his attack.
"SON OF A BITCH!" Berrynose screamed as he lost again. He threw his controller against the wall, completely shattering it. Foxleap sighed "K.A.R.A.I, order another PS4 controller."
"HAS BERRYNOSE LOST AGAIN?"
"SHUT UP!" Berrynose punched a hole in a nearby wall.
"Order a conracter while you are at it," Foxleap added. Berrynose didn't stop there "I WAS SO F*CKING CLOSE!" He proceeded to throw a chair against a window. But the chair bounced off the window ricocheting onto Berrynose's face, shattering the chair as well. "Add a chair too. And a therapist."
"ON IT, SIR!"
"Go put the controller with the others," Lionblaze pointed to a box in the corner filled with broken PS4 controllers, XBOX controllers, a phone, A Tv spit in half, countless TV remotes, some computer monitors, and a metal pole. Jayfeather was really pissed about that one. He liked that walking stick.
"How much money has he cost you?" Half Moon asked leaning against the table. She joined the household a day ago, under Jayfeather's orders. But the whole crew didn't mind. She was nice and was a good addition to the family. She shared the attic with Hazeltail and Icecloud.
"Just tech, or the whole house?"
"Both."
"15,000 dollars," Foxleap admited
Half Moon's jaw dropped "Holy crap, is he okay?"
"No." Foxleap looked at Jayfeather who was putting his coat on "Where you going?"
"Out."
"Be back by dusk," Lionblaze ordered
"You're not my dad."
"Oh you better hope I'm not," Lionblaze smirked.
Jayfeather scowled and walked out the door, pulling his hood up. Half Moon looked at everyone with concern "Where does he go?"
"Out," Icecloud muttered sipping some orange juice.
"Shouldn't we know though? What if he is in trouble?"
"Then I would hack the city's traffic cameras, we find his location, then rescue the shit head before shit goes bad," Foxleap smirked "Then he does it again and the whole situation repeats."
Half Moon shrugged "I don't know, he shouldn't be out by himself at least."
"Why do you care," Dovewing asked.
Half Moon blushed lightly "No Reason. Just concerned for him is all."
"Well don't. He'll be fine."
"FAMILY MEETING!" Hazeltail yelled "Get your asses to the kitchen." Everyone groaned and entered the kitchen. "Now," Hazeltail started "As we all know, the Thanksgiving Break is two weeks away and none of us want to go see our families," she looked at Lionblaze "Some more then others anyway, so does anyone have ideas for where we should go?"
"Heaven?" Lionblaze coughed while the guys smiled while Icecloud shook her head "Florida? There is lot to do there."
"Foxleap still is wanted there," Hazeltail scoffed "And the place will be crowded. Anywhere else?"
"How bout a different country like Ireland and England?" Cinderheart smiled.
"Well TOP OF DA MORNIN TO YA LADDIE," Berrynose said in an loud Irish accent "FAR BE IT FROM ME TO JOIN ME FELLOW LEPRECHAUNS AND TEA TIMERS! How about the Safari?"
"That's not bad, but that's more of a summer thing," Foxleap frowned "Is say we stay in America."
"My dad has a cabin up in Michigan. You can ski, there is a indoor pool, and the Wi-Fi is great," Half Moon chirped in.
"Wow. You have now earned you keep," Poppyfrost chuckled "That sounds good. Anybody got something better?"
"You guys go ahead," Berrynose shrugged "I'll stay here."
Homeyfern nodded "Same with me."
"Oh HELL no!" Foxleap screamed "Ain't no way in heaven or hell that will let you stay in my house alone for a week! By the time we get back, Homeyfern will be pregnant with triplets! It's bad enough you do it in my house already. Now you got the place to yourselves. That's worse then leaving the door unlocked while it is...happening, BERRYNOSE!"
Half Moon cringed while the others roared with laughter while Berrynose was flustered "That was one time!"
"And that is one time too many! End of discussion. You're going. My house, my rules."
Homeyfern frowned "Fine! But I get the main bedroom!"
Half Moon smirked "I get the main bedroom. My house, my rules."
"So it's decided," Hazeltail clapped her hands together "We go to Michigan in two weeks. Start packing."
The meeting was adjourned and Foxleap headed down to the Foxcave. As he sat back in his chair looking at the many monitors, screens, and keyboards in front of him, he began to work on a new project of his.
As he typed, he began to wonder about that Hawkfrost guy. "Why the hell did he want Jayfeather," he thought "K.A.R.A.I, replay the footage of Jayfeathers abduction."
The screen in front of him showed that night. Jayfeather opening the door, talking to Hawkfrost for a few seconds, then he was tased. Jayfeather said they got the wrong guy, but who or what, were they looking for?
"Get me any information you have on Hawkfrost."
"SIR, THERE IS NOTHING. WE HAVE CHECKED THOROUGHLY."
"Then information on the Dark Trees."
Another screen shifted to Dark Tree activity and known crimes. Foxleap studied this and asked another question.
"Now the leader of the Dark Trees."
And on another screen, showed a brute of a man, brown hair and Amber eyes, and a tattoo of a tiger on his neck. Information was that he has a kill count of 74, escaped 10 prisons, survived a lethal injection twice, and family reports. Turns out he had two sons. Both anonymous.
"Known Dark Trees members, and suspected members."
A list of over dozens of people showed up. Foxleap scowled before turning back to the page on Tigerstar. Last updated, seven months ago. "K.A.R.A.I, what was updated seven months ago?"
"HIS FAMILY REPORTS, SIR."
"Can you show me the original version?"
"I...I...CAN'T SIR, THE WEBSITE IS BLOCKING ME. ITS A FIREWALL SO ADVANCED, THAT IT WOULD TAKE MONTHS TO CRACK."
"Someone doesnt want this information out there. According to the police we know that Hawkfrost is one son, so who is the other?"
"WHOEVER IT IS, IT MIGHT BE CLEAR THAT HE IS TRYING TO COVER THAT UP."
"But why? To go to this much length to hide his identity means he has something to hide. Did he leave?"
"THERE WAS A STORY ABOUT A BOY WHO WALKED AWAY FROM THE DARK TREES, BUT HIS IDENTITY WAS NEVER COMFIRMED. HE WAS LABELED ANONYMOUS."
"Do we have DNA samples on him?"
"YES."
"Cross refrence it with Tigerstar."
The screens showed a DNA test on the two people. It was a match. "Good, find out who he is. Use the police records."
"I...I CAN'T! IT'S THE SAME FIREWALL THAT'S STOPPING ME."
Foxleap cursed "Who is this guy?! What does he have to hide?!
Foxleap threw his chair to the ground in rage "What about Blood Donations? Any matches?"
"NONE WHATSOEVER!"
Foxleap rubbed his temples furiously before he got a new idea. "What about his mother?"
"THERE IS A MATCH. THERE IS A FIREWALL BLOCKING THE RECORDS, BUT IT IS NOTICIBLY WEAKER THEN THE LAST ONES. IT WOULD TAKE NONLESS THEN TEN DAYS.
"Good. Crack it."
"What are you doing?"
Foxleap slammed his hands down on the keyboards, shutting the monitors off. He turned to see Ivypool standing by the door. "You've been down here for over an hour."
"Really? Well time flies when you're having fun."
"What were you doing Foxy?" Ivypool questioned.
"Playing Fortnite."
"No you weren't. What is it?"
Foxleap sighed "I was...looking up stuff."
"What sorta stuff?" Ivypool raised a brow.
"Nice ideas for your birthday presents." Foxleap smiled sweetly.
"K.A.R.A.I is this true?"
"WITHOUT A DOUBT!"
"Show me."
The screen turned on to reveal Hot Topic gifts. Ivypool chuckled "Alright. Have fun."
"Thanks, babe. But I'm done," Foxleap smiled "Come one, I also got us tickets for The Meg."
"Well then thank you," Ivypool smiled "Let's go."
"Right behind you."
Well thats another chapter done. So you're welcome.
Any questions please review.
Au Revoir