Chapter 11: At the Zoo
Maple Street Schools
September 14, XX54

Zero walked toward the stairway. The crowd was dispersing, but X would likely wait until it was almost clear. When it did, he came down. Zero waved. "Hi X. How was today?"

"All right. I'm getting less nervous, I think. Signas had us working on our study plans, but since I'm only three, I don't need a specified one. How were you?"

"Good, except we had to sing this disgustingly cute song. If the guys back home ever heard that I had to sing about dancing robins and twittering chickadees, I'd be too embarrassed to show my face again."

X chuckled. "It's creativity development, silly."

They went down the halls, planning on going straight home. But their friends were outside, talking to Roll and Sonya. "I can watch Iris on my own now," Sandy said. "That's why we haven't been over lately."

Roll smiled. "I see. I'm sure you're quite responsible about it. But you're all welcome over any time you wish."

"Can we come over tomorrow and make gingerbread cookies with the boys?" Iris asked.

"If you want. Good afternoon, X, Zero."

They exchanged greetings, but Sandy, Iris, and Ash soon went home. Sonya then told them, "We have some hours free, so we decided to take you over to the zoo today. Would you like that?"

"Sure."

They waited on a bus and went to the southern part of the city. Monsteropolis was filled with many buildings, until one hit Cedar Lane. To the south of Cedar, giant geometric globes bubbled up to form an enormous greenhouse. "Wow," Zero said. "That's impressive."

"This is the most vital part of any city today, even more than the wall and shields. The zoo is only a small part of it. Most is devoted to the commons farm, where they grow a lot of our foods."

"It also cleans up the air and water of the city," Roll added. "Life would be a lot less comfortable without the greenhouse."

"I'd imagine." X looked at Roll. "Can we go see the farm too?"

She shook her head. "No. They don't want anyone tampering with the produce."

"Oh, I see. I just thought it would be interesting to see how they do it."

"They have a farm and utilities tour sometimes. Maybe they'll have one running today."

That tour wasn't open, but the zoo was interesting enough. Since the building was secure, it was all right for X and Zero to wander off (but not too far) to other displays. Zero looked at a sign in front of a glass enclosed pen. "Cockatrice. It looks like a chicken headed dog with wings."

"It's very dangerous," X said. "If it wasn't for the glass, we'd be turned into stone by looking at its eyes."

"Why are they keeping something like that here?"

"I'm not sure. But it looks like they know what they're doing by the cage design."

The next display had very low security, only a low fence and a sign warning, 'Do not tease the Cactaurs'. It was a desert environment with rocks and plenty of desert plants. There was also a reploid boy in the pen, holding a lighter near a cluster of green lumps in the sand.

Zero frowned. "Hey, isn't that..." the name slipped him.

"Dynamo," X told him. "He tried to shove me off the slide yesterday."

"What's he doing?"

"I don't know. I don't know what cactaurs are either, but they don't look too happy."

Zero slipped over the fence. "Hey, stop that."

Dynamo looked back. "What's it to you, runt?"

"Stop teasing the animals."

"Animals?" He snorted. "These are plant monsters, not animals. Besides, if you set them on fire, they turn black and explode. It's nifty."

"The sign says these ones are tame," X said.

"Leave them alone, Dynamo."

"What I'm doing is none of your..." he paused as he turned to face Zero. "Hey, where'd you get that?" He came over and tried to snatch the badge off of Zero. It snapped and knocked him over.

"I got it from the Dust Bunny King," Zero said proudly.

"You have Dusty Blade?" Dynamo asked, stunned. "But you're only a baby. I'm eight years old and I've never had it, despite the fact that I'm the best of the dueler's club."

"Maybe you never got it because you explode tamed cactaurs."

Dynamo drew his blade, unlocked it quickly, and activated a dull gray blade. "I don't care who's training you or why. I'm better than you could be, ever."

Zero unlocked Dusty and activated that. "I'm not scared of you."

"Hey, what's going on in there?"

X looked at the girl who asked that. "Oh, hi Hyper. Dynamo was teasing the cactaurs and Zero's trying to stop him."

She nodded. Now in her base armor, she looked like a lavishly decorated sugar cookie. The armor was golden tan with a myriad of colorful decorations. Her blue hair was tied back with multicolored ribbons. And to complete the image, she was snacking on a rainbow colored lollipop. "He's always mean. But I know how to stop him. Hey Mrs. Dancer!"

X laughed. "His name is Dynamo Dancer?"

Hyper giggled. "Isn't it the funniest?"

Dynamo paled. "My mom's here?"

"Yeah, and she's coming pretty quick."

"Shoot. We'll finish this later." He shut off his blade and jumped over the back wall.

Zero put his sword up. "Thanks."

"His mom's not really here, is she?" X asked.

"Not that I know of. She's a scary witch."

"At least he didn't get any of them." Zero came back to the fence.

X pointed in the cage. "Hold on, look."

Zero turned back to see the cactaurs coming over to him. When they got close, they popped out of the ground. About Zero's size, they looked like stick figures made from cactuses. They rustled for a bit, like leaves in the wind. Then they all tipped over at once, in a stiff bow. "Um."

"You should bow back, like a gentleman," Hyper suggested.

"Okay." Zero bowed back.

One of the cactaurs hopped next to Zero and rustled some more. One of its stick arms began to glow light green. In a moment, Zero's right hand began to glow light green.

"Hey, what's it doing now?"

"Oh, you're a spell-sword? He's giving you a sword spell, spell-sword." She laughed.

"That's Nature's Ring," X said. "Copying the natural spells of animals and plants."

"I see. Thank you, um, Mr. Cactaur."

The cactaur rustled. Then the plant monsters went back to their usual business. Zero climbed over the fence, but Roll and Sonya came back before he managed to. "You're not supposed to be in the cages."

"It's okay, lady," Hyper said. "He was defending them against a lighter-wielding bully."

"It's part of the hero's code, to defend the defenseless," Zero explained.

"In that case, it's okay. But just this once." Roll ruffled his hair.

X introduced them to Hyper and she explained what she was doing here alone. "My parents both work in the farm area, so I come here every day after school. I know all the animals and all about them."

"Do you know when the farm tours are held?" Sonya asked. "X was interested in them."

"That's only once a month, but I don't think it's worth the time. They stick to the main paths and don't tell you much of anything. But if you really want to see them, you ought to get a private educational tour. It really doesn't cost much and you do have to sign papers promising you won't mess with anything. But they'll take you right up to the plants and let you walk along the maintenance paths. That's really neat."

"So they'll show me the utilities too?" X asked.

"Sure. They love showing smart kids around. I go every year on my birthday."

"That sounds good," Roll said. "Do you want to do that sometime?"

"Sure, if it's not too much trouble."

"I'll manage some time away. Could you get us the papers, please?"

Hyper nodded. "Yes, I'll ask my dad about it tonight, and get them to you sometime in class.

-+-

Dynamo made his way back to the entrance. That stupid girl. She was crazy and he had no idea how she kept skipping grades. And he was beginning to hate that runt too. If he ever showed up to the dueling club, Dynamo would beat him sore.

But instead of leaving, he stopped in the entrance and looked around. There were a dozen people in the area, but the one he was interested in was sitting on a bench, reading a newspaper. Dynamo went to sit on that bench. "They are here," he whispered. "I left them near the cactaur display."

Quint nodded. "Good work. Who's with them?"

"Roll and some other woman... did my mom come in?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

"I'm gonna get Hyper for that," he muttered.

"You'd better get home before your mom suspects anything. We'll take care of things from here."

"You sure you're going to get them?"

"This will be a snap. Go on, shoo."

Dynamo rolled his eyes and left.

-+-

Hyper walked with them, happy to tell anything about the animals she knew well. But X became increasingly uneasy. He saw someone move out of the corner of his eye. X looked back, but there was no one suspicious. Feeling on the brink of another panic attack, maybe over nothing, he tugged at Sonya's hand. "Someone is watching us."

"Hmm?" Sonya looked around. "It's okay, X. You probably feel the security office."

"No, it's someone dangerous. We have to go, now."

"This place is safe. There's Guardians everywhere. Like right over there, see?"

"But this is a real threat."

"I guess it is a little late. Hey Roll."

Roll turned around. She looked at them, then stared at something behind them. A jet bike flew right by X and Sonya. King tried to snatch X; somehow he missed and got Hyper instead. Zero noticed. He tried to stop King by grabbing hold of his leg and wound up being dragged along as he sped off with Hyper. All this happened in the blink of an eye.

Roll turned to watch them and called, "He's got both kids!"

Several people were screaming. X felt another danger. "Roll, look out!"

Even as he spoke, Punk rushed by on another jet bike. He tried to snatch X, but a combination of he was going too fast and X had moved to the other side of Sonya worked against him. Punk cursed, didn't slow down as he plowed right into Roll, then pursued King. Roll collapsed from the impact.

X ran over to her. "Roll?" He mentally began calculating Fairy Cure.

"I can hear you," Roll said, but she was obviously pained.

X cast his spell, but realized his powers weren't enough to fully cure her. But it should make things easier on the doctors who could fix her back. As he was doing so, the Guardian Sonya had pointed out spoke over the intercom. "Code Orange 12, two adult reploid males, two reploid children, headed west corridor 9D, immediate b-ack!"

Ballade had thrown a bomb at the Guardian, knocking him down. He threw another at Sonya, Roll, and X. "Give those children back to us or we will kill you all," he threatened.

Sonya reacted quickly, summoning a trident. She used that to hit the bomb right back at Ballade. Then she twisted her wrist just so and sent a ball of electricity after him. "You will do neither," she said sternly.

It all happened without a single thought. King rushed by and snatched Hyper. Zero grabbed hold of King. The jet bike was riding dangerously low; Zero risked getting dragged and killed. But it didn't matter. He made his way onto King's leg and grabbed his arm. "Hey, let her go!"

In a quick motion, King captured Zero and secured him. "So you want to play hero, huh?"

Hyper was not being a good hostage. She squirmed until one arm got free. "You jerk!" She punched King in the face as hard as she could.

Not able to handle two active kids at once, King got a better hold of Hyper's neck. "I don't need you anymore." He threw her into a concrete wall.

"Hyper!" Zero bit King's arm, in retaliation and an attempt to get away himself.

King now pinned Zero to the bike. "You never learn, do you pretty brat?"

A bright light came from ahead. "Halt! Let the child go at once!"

"Idiots," King grumbled. He fired the bike's guns.

Zero saw at least two hit, possibly dead, Guardians as they drove past. He had to do something. Before long, he noticed that King was wearing civilian clothing today. There was a plan that might actually work in this world. He tensed up his body and then kicked King between the legs.

King cursed something awful, but let go of Zero. He rolled himself off the bike. Although his back ached from landing badly, he got up and scrambled into the nearest display. Whatever was here had to be less deadly then King. Especially after he yelled, "How dare you do that to me!"

Zero passed a large snake, which slithered out of his way. This pen was marshy for said snake. On either side, the neighboring pens were also marshy or swampy. There was a tall concrete wall ahead of him. He still had wall-cling, at least. He ran for the wall.

Before he reached it, King stormed into the display without his bike. The snake reared up and hissed in annoyance. King's attention and anger was focused solely on Zero. "I wish I could kill you right now."

Under normal circumstances, Zero wouldn't mind taking on this fight. But as a child, he was both overpowered and outmaneuvered. He went ahead and activated Dusty Blade. "You aren't taking me back." He didn't sound strong or brave at all.

King smirked and activated his rune sword. It was possibly six feet long and one foot across. It had a gold outline surrounding a transparent blade. There were several gold runes on it, but Zero couldn't identify any of them. And it could easily cleave him in two. "You foolish child. Do you really think you can take on me? I am far beyond your meager abilities and..."

While probably true, King's boast gave Zero enough time to calculate the spell the cactaur gave him. It was a simple spell. He thought of a few runes and then thrust his sword ahead. A thousand tiny needles of light appeared and fired at King. Each needle did a tiny amount of damage, but there were a thousand of them at once. King stumbled back, screaming. Zero took the chance and climbed the wall, leaving his captor with a very angry snake.

Zero shut down Dusty and put it away. At the top of the wall, he looked around quickly, for a spot to hide until Guardians came after him. But before he could find such a spot, Punk sprang from hiding. He snatched Zero off the wall. "Hey bishie, are you being a pain?"

Okay, Punk was high off the ground, ruling out the way Zero got away from King. He tried to think up another way when Punk slammed his head into the bike's jet. Zero blacked out.

Sonya was a good fighter despite not being in her native underwater environment. She kept Ballade from taking X. Just behind her, X knelt by Roll and tried to think of some other spell to help with. He wrestled with strong fears and finally thought of 5.0/W/R/h. Since Blue Ray was a homing spell, he focused his attention on Ballade and began calculating numbers.

Before he could finish, Enker appeared on another jet bike and snatched X. Since he came from behind, Sonya didn't notice until Roll called, "X!" But then it was too late.

Enker made a quick turn and headed straight for the exit. X recovered from the sudden capture, but then fell immediately into panic. He got dizzy, which made him feel nauseous as he watched the surrounding area rush by. Worst of all, Blue Ray continued calculating itself, filling in holes with random runes to jumble up the whole thing.

He soon realized that berserk magic was not a good thing. He attempted to regain control, but his aura was already primed to cast something. And it was so hard to concentrate with the physical symptoms of fear reaching painful levels.

Punk joined Enker noisily. Zero was limp in the Hunter's arms. "You accursed brats," he scowled. "Giving us all this trouble. We're going to make you sorry you ever thought of leaving the Tower."

"You're both going to be sorry in a moment," X replied.

Enker gripped X's neck hard. "What are you going to do about it?"

Punk smirked. "I dare you. I can smash his head into the jets again."

"You interrupted my spell."

The smirk on Punk's face fell. Enker said, "Oh sh..."

Blue Ray finished the random calculation and fired. It was supposed to be a concentrated beam of energy that homed in on the target. Now it exploded, capturing both bikes in the blast. Nine rays did stream out in random directions, but curved back in and hit Enker and Punk for more damage. In the blast, the two boys got thrown into a group of trees of a nearby display. The two bikes were torn to shreds, throwing the Hunters a hundred feet ahead.

They fell at Quint's feet. Their leader was inspecting his own rune, drawn on the floor. It was to provide a quick get-away with the two brats, once the four Hunters and King came back. King came back almost at the same time. His clothing was riddled with tiny holes. He looked in a mood to kill. Moments later, Ballade appeared, cursing Sonya under his breath.

Quint looked contemptuously at the others, somehow defeated by a pair of kids. Then he noticed, "Hey, where are the kids?"

"Where is that little blue bastard?" Punk yelled, getting up.

Quint's spell did exactly as it was supposed to: teleport them all away when they appeared, with the kids or not. X watched from a nearby tree. That was an extremely close call. Maybe he ought to keep a better tab on his psychic senses. Although the threat was gone, X sat up there for a minute, his whole body shaking.

There was a noise from the other tree. X looked there quickly and saw Zero falling. Most likely, he had just regained consciousness in the tree and wasn't able to secure himself first. But he was caught. "Careful there."

Zero looked puzzled. "Forte? Hey, you're okay!"

Forte nodded and put him on a bench. "You don't look so well. Lay there until the Guardians come, okay? I'll keep an eye on you."

"Could you look for Hyper? She's one of X's classmates and she got thrown into a wall."

"They took another child?"

"They were just after us, but didn't care who got in the way."

He looked worried. "I see. I should have expected so much. I'll look for her, and X. But listen, I can't stick around here. If I'm captured within this city, they could kill me."

"Who?"

"Either my brothers or the City Guard. Speaking of which, there's a Guardian."

"We'll talk to them. You helped us, so maybe they would listen."

"I'd rather not take the chance. Remember, keep my true name a secret. And if you ever wish to speak with me, talk to my wolfoids. I'll be watching."

Forte left Zero and began looking for X. But X was frozen stiff with fear. Why? He asked himself that. The danger was past, so why was he still afraid?

The Guardian came upon Zero, in surprise. He reported that Hyper had been found and there was an ambulance coming to pick them all up. Good, so they were all safe. Now if only X could get himself out of this tree.

While he was distracted in fearful thoughts, Forte climbed up to the branch he was on. "X, come on down. It's safe now."

"It's never safe," X said softly.

Forte couldn't come out as far as he was, but he offered his hand. "Come on. You're not going to..." he paused as X managed to turn and look at him. "Oh, I see."

"Huh?"

"You've been cursed with a thousand fears. But a curse is never who you truly are. Come on, take my hand. I'll get you down, at least."

Knowing the curse's nature, X could feel how it was constraining him. It was a struggle to come to Forte, but he forced the child's body to. Forte brought him to the ground. X tried to thank him, but his throat was tense.

Forte took X's hands. "Don't ever forget; I'm always watching out for you. And no matter how your curse may say otherwise, you are very safe when your father is close by. I trust Rock to do all he can to keep you so. I'm sorry, but I must leave now." He slipped away.

The Guardians found him standing there soon after, although he didn't let anyone touch him until Sonya came.