Hello there, dear readers! I'm super excited to bring to you the newest chapter of The Keyhole! Once again, this chapter has been proofread by the wonderful Trismegistus Shandy! Please enjoy and let me know what you think!
The Keyhole (Chapter 14)
by
Elite Shade
"Alright, Troop 608," Mike said from atop a large desk. He and the rest of the troop were currently gathered in a semi-circle in an empty classroom at West Mammalia Middle School. Eli had learned that the Ranger Scouts counted as a school club and so were given a free room for club meetings during lunch, as well as before and after school provided that they reserved a room a day in advance, which Mike prided himself on keeping on top of. Presently, they were not in their uniforms but their regular school clothes.
"First things first, let's take attendance," Mike said just before Isaac let out a groan.
"Mike," the coyote complained, "there's only ten of us in the troop. You can just look around and see we're all here."
"That's not the point, Isaac," the mouse explained, "there's a procedure to follow here, so, in alphabetical order, Adam."
"Here!" said the elephant boy, proudly.
"Chuck."
"Here," said the cougar boy, in between bites of candy he was snacking on.
"Chuck, please wait to eat your gummy tarantulas until after roll call," Mike asked.
"Sorry," Chuck said, looking sheepish.
"Darryl," Mike resumed reading off the list on the mouse-sized clipboard he was using.
"Here," came a surprisingly deep voice from the chinchilla boy, who was sitting in a desk and leaning back, a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.
"Eli," Mike asked, looking up to smile at his friend.
"Here," Eli said, smiling back. He was aware of Lyla sitting on his left, flashing him a grin.
"Isaac."
"Here," the coyote boy said, his tail wagging despite trying to look focused.
"Kimi."
"Present," the white tigress purred. Eli turned to see her flash him a wink, which left him confused.
"Lyla."
"Right here," the zebra girl said, frowning at Kimi from behind Eli's back, and getting a smirk in return from the tigress. Mike looked at the two girls and rolled his eyes.
"Okay, I'm here, so next is Ned," Mike said, continuing.
"Here," said one of the black bear twins, looking like he was trying to hold back a laugh.
"Nice try Ted," Mike said, sporting a smirk of his own, "I'm not gunna fall for that one again."
"Awwww," both bear brothers let out simultaneously. Eli looked between the two, and they seemed perfectly identical to him. Mike got the two correct calls of "here" from the bears and finished off checking the names on the sheet.
"Alright, now with that out of the way," Mike said, striding forward confidently on the desk, "I would first like to welcome our new members for joining Troop 608, the greatest Troop in all of the Ranger Scouts!" Adam trumpeted loudly from his trunk before settling down and looking embarrassed.
"As is tradition, each new member gets to suggest an idea for a group project for us all to vote on doing in a few months. Who would like to go first?" Mike looked around at the five newest mammals to the troop. He spotted Kimi's paw shooting up.
"Yes, Kimi?" Mike motioned to the excited tigress.
"I know that this is a little stereotypical for Ranger Scouts, but my suggestion is a camping trip!"
"Alright, camping trip is our first suggestion. We do have a few of those scheduled already, but I think we could find a way to turn that into a big project for us all." Mike nodded and walked over to the dry erase marker on the desk. After taking the cap off, he wielded it like a spear to write on the whiteboard behind the desk. He had to lean out a little to get the marker to reach, but he managed to write the words "Camping Trip" large and legible enough for the others to read. "Next suggestion?"
"How about a charity bake sale?" Lyla said, not waiting for Mike to call on her after her own hoof shot up. "We could get not just ourselves but our families involved as well and raise some money!"
"Do you have a particular charity in mind, Lyla?" Mike asked, already reaching over and up to write Lyla's suggestion above Kimi's.
"My dad likes to help out with the homeless organization, New Dawn. They're always accepting donations to help the homeless."
"Okay," Mike nodded, adding the words for "New Dawn" right next to the bake sale suggestion. "Next?"
"OH! We could put on a play and reenact episode 17 from season 3 of Sun Journey: The New Time!" Isaac suggested, practically jumping out of his seat, his tail wagging even moreso than just a little while ago.
"Seriously?" Mike asked, letting out a groan at the ecstatic nod from the coyote, before writing the suggestion above Lyla's, having to reach over while standing on his tiptoes. "Okay... next?"
"I like the bake sale idea!" Chuck said around a mouthful of gummy tarantulas.
"Okay, what about you, Eli?" Mike asked, turning to face his human friend.
"W-Well," Eli said as suddenly all eyes were on him, "the camping trip sounds pretty fun," Eli was oblivious to the smirking wink Kimi shot Lyla from behind his back nor Lyla's initial frown, "but you said we were already going to be doing some of those, and the bake sale sounds like a lot of fun too, and it's for charity." Once more, Eli was oblivious, only this time to the zebra giving the tigress the smirking wink, with Kimi letting out an annoyed huff.
"Plus," Eli started, smiling brightly, "I've got a pretty big family, and I think that a lot of them would be happy to help."
"Okay, so we have three ideas from our new members, and already three votes for the bake sale, one for the camping trip, and one for the play. It's time for everyone else's votes." Mike said, putting two lines next to Lyla's suggestion.
"My vote's for the camping trip," came Darryl's voice, "we don't take nearly as many of those as we should." Mike marked on the board the chinchilla's vote.
"Agreed, plus I'm not that good of a cook," Adam said. Mike marked the board.
"Three for the bake sale, three for the camping trip, and one for the play. Ned? Ted? You guys care to chime in?" Mike asked the bears who were grinning excitedly.
"The play!" they said, simultaneously. "That was the greatest episode of the series!"
Isaac whipped around in his seat, his tail a blur. "I know, right?" Mike rolled his eyes again as he put down the votes.
"Okay, so we have ourselves a three way tie. I have the tie-breaker vote, and I'm voting for... the bake sale." Mike made a fourth mark next to Lyla's idea despite a few groans. Lyla looked excitedly over at Eli, who smiled back at her. Kimi casually scratched her chin, her tail swishing playfully behind her seat.
At that Moment...
"You just had to say something, didn't you?" Judy sourly asked Nick as she wrote out another ticket at a car in front of an expired meter. She and her partner were presently on parking duty in Tundra Town.
"The Chief walks in with that new furcut and I'm not supposed to make a single joke? I still maintain that that's entrapment, Carrots," Nick said as he too ticketed a nearby car, while Judy had already gotten another five. Even on parking duty and almost six years knowing her, the fox still was surprised at how much energy and enthusiasm Judy put into their work.
"Nick, you know I love your jokes," Judy started, turning to look Nick in the eye, which, despite his aviators, she knew she was successfully doing. "But you have to start setting a better example for Eli."
"Fluff, it's not like he was there in the briefing room with us," Nick defended.
"I know that you sent of a video of the entire exchange to our kit," Judy said, crossing her arms. She was trying to maintain her unamused frown, which was proving a little hard with Nick smirking at her.
"Judy," Nick said as he sauntered over to her, bending down so that his mouth was inches away from her own, "I promise I'll try to set a better example from now on, okay?"
Judy was caught a little off guard by the sudden seriousness of Nick's tone, but she recovered and smiled up at him.
"Thank yo-" she was cut off by a quick, yet passionate kiss. Anyone who happened to be passing by would have easily missed it, yet it still packed the same power as the very first kiss that they had shared, and so Judy needed a few moments to collect herself. When she did, she saw Nick ticketing another car.
"And that puts me in the lead, Fluff," Nick said. Judy marched up to him, her feet crunching in the snow. She stood just a few feet in front of her mate and grinned. In a motion that was even faster than their kiss, she scooped up a pawful of snow, packed it into a ball, and nailed Nick right between his eyes. Once again, no one passing by could have caught it. All they would have seen was a fox meter maid who suddenly had a face full of snow. Nick spluttered and let out a chuckle as he wiped the snow from his face.
"I see that that's gone and gotten you out of your adorable bad mood," Nick said, resisting the urge to step closer and cuddle his mate to his side, with his tail wrapped protectively around her. The department had no problem with officers dating, but it did have a problem with public displays of affection while on duty.
"Maybe," Judy said, smiling up at Nick and also resisting the urge to bury her face in his fluffy neck ruff, "but what I said is still valid, Slick."
"You're right, and I meant what I said. I will try to set a better example for our kit... but I am probably going to slip up every now and again," Nick said.
"That's okay, just so long as you try," Judy said.
"Good... which means now might be the best time to let you know that I already sent that video to the entire precinct as well." Nick said, ticketing another car.
"Oh, Nick," Judy said, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, you know that you love me-" It was Judy's turn to cut him off with another snowball to the face. Judy wasn't a fool; she knew that Nick was much better at separating their relationship from work. She was aware of how intently he followed any and all news about the investigation of the escape of Doctor Edwin Shellison, alongside her. Since they were so close to Eli, the crazed armadillo's intended victim, they were not allowed on the case, which they both understood.
But that didn't stop them from worrying. Nick was aware of how much more it was affecting Judy. It scared him to think of anything happening to Eli, his kit. But, adopted or not, she was a mother, and each day that Edwin avoided capture was just another day where a frantic worry at the back of her mind was eating at her even more so than it ate at him. Still, he smiled, knowing that little distractions like these helped her, as well as him.
Meanwhile...
"Welcome to the Mystic Springs Oasis," Yax said to the human and lioness who entered. The two saw the yak with the shaggy head of fur sitting behind the front desk, meditating.
"Thank you," Sophia said as she and Baily approached; "we're new here, so we're not sure of where to go."
"Just head on through those doors," Yax said, gesturing to the large double doors nearby, "and enjoy your time here on this plane of existence." Yax then resumed his meditation. Baily and Sophia looked at one another and shrugged.
"Seems to be a pretty laid back place," Baily said as they made their way to the doors.
"Well, what kind of a spa isn't laid back?" Sophia joked as Baily held one of the doors open for her. She smiled and thanked him before stepping out into the warm sunlight, and froze, her eyes wide. Baily exited and saw her expression, becoming concerned.
"Sophia, what is it?" he asked, looking around. It took a second to register for him as well, but the human man suddenly realized that there were nothing but mammals as far as the eye could see, sans their clothes. Despite having watched more than a few nature shows back home, it still did little to prepare Baily for the sight before him. He tried not to stare, but couldn't help but follow Sophia's gaze towards an older male lion, nude, facing them, doing yoga.
"G-Grampa?!" Sophia said, making Baily cringe. The lion looked over, surprised, before he smiled and, still very limber, walked over to the two.
"Sweet Pea, it's so good to see you!" he said, coming right up to her and pulling the stunned lioness into a hug, seemingly clueless to the awkward situation.
"And this must be your fella, Baily," he said, releasing Sophia before pulling Baily into a hug as well.
"It's nice to finally meet you, young man. Sophia here has been telling us all about you. I'm Keith, by the way." The lion let go of Baily and started to shake the stunned human's paw.
"A pleasure to meet you too," Baily gulped, "s-sir."
Elsewhere...
Ralph's tail wagged as he watched Rosalie gurgle happily with her blocks. She was currently in the playpen he had set up downstairs in the living room. Ralph had intended on keeping an eye on his pup while watching the game that he had been so excited for... but he was finding it hard to keep up with what was happening on TV. His tail started to thump against the couch as she reached for him, cooing. Unable to help himself, he picked her up and cradled the human infant in his arms.
"No boy is ever going to be good enough for my little girl," he said to her with a smile, making her clap her hands and laugh, which in turn prompted him to give her a nuzzle. He grabbed the remote and turned down the volume as he started to bounce his daughter in his arms.
"Da!" Hearing that, Ralph froze, his ears perking up and facing Rosalie, who reached up to try and grab them.
"What'd you say, baby girl?" he asked, feeling a sudden surge of excitement.
"Da! Da-da!" Rosalie babbled, reaching with both small chubby hands for the timber wolf's ears. Ralph's tail was wagging so fast and with so much force, a small part of him was a little worried that he was going to sprain it again, like he had when he first proposed to Nadine and she had said yes.
"You just said Dada!" Ralph said, his voice barely a whisper. Almost immediately, his phone was out, and he was calling up Nadine. They'd had to take up different shifts with a new baby to take care of at home, so the tigress was currently out on patrol with her new partner, Delgato. She promptly answered.
"Hi, honey, sorry I'm late, we got caught up in a bit of a chase," Nadine explained on the phone to her mate.
"Nadine," Ralph practically shouted, "she just said Dada!"
"What?"
"Our daughter just said her first word, and it's Dada!" Ralph was practically jumping with joy, still keeping in mind the baby in his arms.
"She said Dada? And I missed it... BECAUSE OF YOU?!" Ralph froze as he heard a sudden yelp in the background of the phone call.
"I can't believe that I missed our little girl's first word because some drunk frat boys decided to take a high speed joy ride!" Nadine sounded thrilled, sad, and furious all at the same time. Ralph had a feeling that the aforementioned frat boys were about to be tazed.
"I'm sorry you missed it, kitten," Ralph said, just before there was a zapping sound and another yelp, followed by a whimper.
"I'm coming home right away," Nadine said, "after I drop these idiots off at booking. Delgato will take care of the paperwork."
"Delgato will do what?" came the voice of the lion officer. Ralph didn't hear Nadine say anything, but he smiled, knowing the look that the lion was receiving was most likely one that didn't brook any argument. "Uh... I mean, of course. Y-You go and see your family when we get back to the station."
"I'll be home soon, I love you," Nadine said.
"I love you too," Ralph replied. He chuckled after their call ended and laid back with Rosalie resting on his chest. "Pity those that kept your Mama from hearing your first word."
And that, dear readers, was the newest chapter! I hope that you enjoyed it! Be sure to let me know what you think!