….*sigh* I've done it again….I said I'd update sooner…and here we are….a gazillion years later, the new chapter is finally up. To say I'm sorry is not enough! I'm not even going to say I'll update sooner; I know for a fact that I won't update again until the end of time! …And I do apologize for that….
Now, I am no expert on Australia, so there may be a few geographical mistakes. The reason I chose this national park is because of "The Wild Thornberrys." …I consider that a good enough reason!
Some of these events are based of real life events. Others are made up.
What? Me? The owner of this series? That's not true! Who told you that? Who? They lie!
Australia, Part 2- The Enchanted Forest (or, In Which The Author Makes Many References To Other Forms Of Media).
The next morning, during breakfast in the hotel, Yao noticed something outside the window.
"Ahhh, it's so cute aru!" He exclaimed as he pointed up to a tree.
"That's cute?" Yong Soo said, looking a bit frightened. "He looks…fierce."
An angry looking koala was making its way down a tree to munch on some eucalyptus leaves.
"There you are!" Australia raised his arms for the koala to climb down. "I was wondering where you were hiding."
The little marsupial jumped onto him, his claws digging into his shirt.
Australia turned to the other countries. "This little guy has been my bud for as long as I can remember. You can pet him if ya like."
"He looks angry." Taiwan said, backing away after the koala seemingly glared at her.
"No worries; don't be fooled by his looks. He's a sweetie."
Yao was brave enough and gently pet the koala's head. The koala closed his eyes and wiggled his ears.
"See? He's friendly."
Yao sighed contentedly. "Petting cute and fluffy things makes me happy aru."
"Am I cute and fluffy Aniki?" Yong Soo asked, pointing to himself.
"I'm in a good place, don't disrupt me aru."
"You know, 'cute and fluffy' originated in…"
"If you were smart you'd stay silent ana." Thailand said.
"He does seem nice." Matthew commented as picked up his polar bear. "Perhaps he and Kumajirou could be friends."
"Yeah!" Australia held his koala up to Kumajirou. "What do ya say mate?"
First, the koala and Kumajirou stared at each other. Then they glared at each other. Then they growled at each other.
"Oi, easy on." Australia said as he pated his koala's head.
"Please be nice." Matthew said in his whispery voice.
"Ah, he's prob'ly just testy cuz he's sleepy. He usually sleeps during this time of the day. Or hungry. All right, you can go back to brekkie." He placed the koala back onto the tree.
The two animals continued to growl at each other, then after a bit, the two blinked, and nodded their heads as if in some strange mutual agreement. As if to say, "You're all right; we're cool."
The countries went back to exploring the buffet table. There were several familiar items on the table and a few unfamiliar things, like strange looking fruits and a jar of what appeared to be dark peanut butter.
"What is this?" Alfred asked as he held up the jar.
"It's Vegemite ®." Australia said. "It's…"
"Oh! I know what that is!" The American suddenly broke out into song. "Vegemite, Vegemite, yum yum morning, noon, and night!"
"….I don't want to know." Iceland shook his head and went back to his oatmeal.
"I never want to know." Arthur said, adding sugar to his tea.
"So, what exactly is it?" Netherlands asked.
"As I was saying, it's a spread for sandwiches and toast. Not everyone enjoys it, but I find it tasty on crackers."
"I'll try some." Roderich spread some onto his toast and took a bite. "It's not as sweet as I thought it would be but it's good."
Lovino shrugged. "Might as well." He also spread it onto his toast and took a bite. "Pff!" And promptly spit it out. "Yuck! What did I just eat?"
"Umm, toast?" Feliciano said, looking confused.
"No, I mean that Vege-whatever stuff I put on it." He took a long swig of his water. "It's gross!" He stuck out his tongue and pouted like a child.
Antonio chuckled and ruffled Lovino's hair. "My cute little gourmet."
He frowned and shoved his hand away. "Go away!"
"Hee hee, Fratello, you're always so grumpy in the morning." Feliciano said with a smile.
"It's not just in the morning…" Ludwig said under his breath.
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After breakfast the nations headed on the bus to Kakadu National Park, where they would camp for the night.
They first explored the rock formations.
"Vee~ Look! Pictures!" Feliciano said, pointing to drawings on the rocks.
"Yes, the Aboriginals, the indigenous people, drew these. It was their way to tell stories. They also used them to try to manipulate nature or people."
"Really…" Gilbert slowly smiled a scheming smile. He picked up a red rock, drew a crude stick figure of himself on the rock, and pointed to it. "Obey me!"
….Silence….
"Just ignore him everyone." Ludwig sighed.
"We already are." Elizaveta replied.
"Yeah, sorry but that's not gonna work nowadays mate." Australia said.
The 'awesome' nation frowned. He then felt someone tap him on the shoulder. He turned and nearly jumped.
Ivan had drawn an elaborate drawing of himself saluting with the Russian flag, a gigantic sunflower, and a fierce looking bear in the background.
He grinned. "Become one with Russia, da?"
"Er….the rock drawings powers won't work, right Australia?…Right?"
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Next, they went to the wetlands. A few crocodiles were swimming in the water.
"There are two kinds of crocs here. Salties and freshies, short for saltwater crocs and freshwater crocs. Freshies only swim in freshwater but salties can swim in both."
"But, like, which is the kind that, like, ticks like a clock?" Felix asked jokingly.
"That one." Australia pointed to one crocodile that was sleeping near the bank.
"Wait…for reals?"
The continent-country nodded. "Just listen."
Felix was quiet. Suddenly he heard a ticking. "Wow! He, like, really does, like, tick! But, like, why?'
Australia shrugged. "Dunno. My guess is he swallowed the watch of a tourist."
"How do you, like, know it's not, like, a bomb?"
"I've checked."
"How did you, like,…?"
"Trust me, that's all ya need to know."
While this conversation was going on, the micronations were following a stork as it walked along the land.
"What are you all doing?" Sadiq asked.
"This is our tour guide." Wy explained to him.
"I see." He then joined the small group.
Raivis and Eduard also joined them.
"This is kind of fun." Raivis said with a smile.
More and more countries joined the tour. Soon, everyone was following the stork all around the park.
"He's actually very helpful." Australia admitted. "These are all the spots I wanted to show you."
The stork even paused at certain picturesque areas, like a waterfall, or spots where they were wildlife or an interesting plant.
"This is a strange bird." Eduard commented. "He seems to be acting like a real tour guide."
"I think he just might be." Toris said. "But, that's impossible, right?"
The stork then paused at a spot near the riverbank where several horses were drinking from the river.
"Oh wow!" Australia looked excited. "Brumbies! Wild horses! I didn't think we'd see these today. This stork really knows where to go."
"Maybe it's not as impossible as we think…"
After about an hour the stork stopped walking and flew away.
"Aww, is the tour over already?" Seborga said sadly.
"Let's find another tour guide desu yo!" Peter went searching for another stork.
XxxxxxxXxxxxxxX
The next destination was the plateau.
Alfred's eyes went wide. "WOAH! This tree is huge!"
"It's called a kapok tree."
Arthur signed nostalgically as he looked up at the kapok tree. "If we had been here when Alfred was younger he'd try to climb all the way to the top of this. I would have had a heart attack worrying about him. Thank goodness he's older and…. Oi! Don't climb it you idiot! You'll fall!" He put his arms up, ready to catch him.
Meanwhile, the mighty Sealand found some animals hopping around the park. "Oooh! Mini-kangaroos!"
"Those are wallabies."
"Don't go too close Peter." Tino reminded him. "Wouldn't want you to be almost kidnapped again."
"But they're so much smaller than the kangaroos from yesterday desu yo. I couldn't even fit in her pouch."
Gilbert snickered and nudged Francis.
"Uh, so immature. You need to have more sophisticated humor."
"It's still perverted humor." Belgium said, as she had overheard them.
"Yes, but at least it's for a higher class. For instance, the joke could have been…"
Berwald suddenly appeared, glaring at them. "Not in front o' m' child."
They two went silent.
Peter had moved on to the next interesting animal. "Puppies! They look like the puppies I noticed yesterday desu yo."
"No, not puppies kiddiwink; dingoes. Wild dogs."
Al of a sudden one dingo the alpha, barked once and began chasing after something that appeared to be flying in the air but could not be seen. The other dingoes followed him, jumping at whatever it was. They seemed to be playing.
"What are they all doing?" Cuba asked.
"Chasing faeries." Australia said nonchalantly. "They have the ability to see magical and supernatural beings."
Everyone was quiet. The only thing that could be heard was Arthur yelling at Alfred to come down from the tree.
"Don't hold that branch, it's too thin! You'll break the tree and your skull you git!"
"Uhhh…faeries?" Vash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yup." Australia nodded. "I have them here."
After some time the American had finally come down from the tree and Arthur was scolding him as they walked back to the group. "Don't do that again! You could have been hurt."
Alfred pouted. "I'm not a kid anymore and besides, you don't own me."
Arthur coughed, his cheeks turning a little pink. 'Right…right….sorry…old habits…"
"Aww, were you worried for me?"
"No! Well, yes…I mean…"
Kiku smiled a bit. "Perfect Tsundere."
Norway seemed distracted. He looked up at something unseen. He put his hand up and held his finger at as if something was perched on it. "Not shy at all."
Arthur smiled as he looked at what Norway was looking at. "Well hello there." His head moved around, as if watching something fly in front of him. "I didn't know there were faeries here."
"Uh oh, Artie's delusional again." The American rolled his eyes. "And poor Norway is picking up his delusions too."
"I resent that." Norway replied, never changing his expression or even looking at Alfred.
He frowned. "I am not delusional, and that was rude of you to say you bloody prick."
"Yeah he hasn't gone round the bend," Australia said. "He just has The Sight."
"The Sight?"
He nodded. "That's the term for the ability to see the magical beings in our world."
"That...sounds kinda cool actually. How can you get The Sight?"
"There are a few ways: You have to have natural red hair, be born the seventh son of a seventh son, set faerie bathwater out overnight, rub faerie ointment made from four leaf clovers into your eyes, use a seeing stone, or have a hobgoblin spit in your eyes, among other ways."
"….I'm fine without The Sight."
"You're missing out. The faeries here like to play with those who can see them. They like to play with the dragon too."
"There's a dragon here?"
Australia nodded again. "No worries mate. He's a nice bloke. Oh! There he is now!" He pointed to the sky.
"It looks a little like a Chinese Fireball." Arthur commented.
"Chinese Fireball? Ooooh!" Denmark said.
Yao cocked his head to the side. "It kind of looks like my boss aru."
Alfred hugged himself. "I don't like being in a place with these…things I can't even see. A…are there any ghosts here too?"
"None that I know of." Australia replied.
He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."
"Yep no ghosts…that I know of."
He turned as pale as a ghost himself.
"All the animals, magical and non-magical, play with the Bunyip too."
"What's a Bunyip?" Ukraine asked.
Australia smiled devilishly. "Ohhh, you don't know? I'll tell you later during the bonfire. It'll be a great scary story!"
"A s…scary story?" Alfred began to shake once again and then folded his arms and smiled his heroic smile. "Bring it on! It won't scare me!"
"Oh look, a ghost!"
He screamed and clung to a tree.
Arthur sighed. "Nobody's going to sleep tonight…"
XxxxxxxXxxxxxxX
Who can name at least three forms of media I referenced?