Alright, so this oneshot is a bit odd. Recently, my mental/emotional state have been kind of...off. So sorry for the more scattered uploads. Anyway, this one isn't really a Oneshot. What do I mean? Well, I'm working on a Oneshot, but this I don't want this Oneshot to get rushed and become shitty. So, what is this? Well, I'm currently working on this high school based Nesscas story which is taking WAY long to create. So, imma upload the first chapter of the story here, since I don't plan on creating/uploading the full story until the actual story is created and finished. I hope you guys like this little taste of my future full-length story, Lucas's Ultimatum.
August 22 20xx
Tazmily was a calm village. It was a very tight-knit community. It was small but had all the things that they needed. Lucas had lived here his entire life. He was a fish in water when it came to Tazmily. He was able to explore the village, and the surrounding areas, with his eyes closed and/or picked out of his head. However, despite how long Lucas lived in Tazmily, despite how much he loved Tazmily, he was moving. Lucas, and a few of his friends, were offered an opportunity that they all agreed they'd be dumb to not accept. Lucas's small group decided to meet up in their favorite place before the big move the next morning.
Lucas, with his twin brother Claus, left their house on top of the cliff and started to walk down the path. Lucas had his hands placed behind his head with his shoulder extended out on either side of him. Lucas kept his eyes on the starry night sky. Claus looked at him and chuckled to himself. "You really take after Killua, huh?" Claus joked. Lucas glared over at Claus, who was about the same height as him, but that was the only thing they had in common.
"Can you just, like, not be a dick? For once? I'd appreciate that," Lucas smugly said. Claus giggled a no, making Lucas roll his eyes. Lucas returned his eyes back up at the night sky. He saw the stars twinkling which calmed him down. The night sky could always calm him, despite not really ever needing to be calmed down. He took in a breath of the calm, cool, night air and subconsciously grew a smile.
"God, I need to find someone to smile at me like you smile at the sky." Lucas's face turned straight as he looked at Claus. Claus chuckled. Lucas gave a small smack to Claus's face.
"Shut up." Claus growled as he rubbed his cheek. He then ran off in an attempt to race Lucas to the meet-up spot, but Lucas wasn't exactly in the mood. Claus noticed this and decided to just continue running on his own. Lucas looked back up at the sky and sighed calmly.
He opened his eyes and looked around. He was in the middle of the village square. This was where most of the buildings in the village were. There were only a few houses not in the square, with Lucas's house being one of those few houses. Lucas giggled as he grew a smile. "I'm gonna miss this place," Lucas said to himself. He shook his head before speeding up his walk since his group is known for being quite impatient.
He left the square and entered the small forest. Lucas could see the train station he was going to use to leave in the morning, but for now, he walked past it. He saw the distant graveyard; his destination. He entered the graveyard and found the path to the right that led up to a small cliff. Lucas decided it was about time to run. He ran up the path, and about halfway up, he could see his group sitting on the edge with their feet hanging off the edge. Lucas smiled softly as he slowed himself down and continued walking. He then sat between Claus, and another friend, Kumatora. The third person there was Duster, who looked way older than he actually was. Lucas and Kumatora would always tease Duster about his aged look.
All four of them looked over the edge and stared at the historical Oshe Castle. The four of them would often roleplay there. Kumatora was always the ruthless princess with Lucas as the butler, and the other two as simple peasants who needed judgment. Kumatora giggled. "I've still got to give you two your punishments," Kumatora said. Duster crossed his arms.
"I'd much rather you not," Duster said. Kumatora looked at him and smirked devilishly.
"Nah, Nah, Nah, you'll learn not to fuck with the princess." Duster grew a tiny blush as he intensified his stare toward the castle. As Kumatora did the same, the brothers could see that she too had a small blush. Lucas leaned his head back toward Claus.
"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Lucas whispered.
"Mhm," he said. The brothers nodded toward each other before staring back at the castle.
"So, we're really moving?" Kumatora asked. Everyone stayed silent. Even the world quieted itself for the four of them. No crickets, no birds, not even the constant yelling of frogs telling them "it's time to save". They all just reveled in the dark silence. Who was going to answer Kumatora's question? No one really wanted to. None of them wanted to live with the knowledge they'd have to leave this place. Some may say, "It's just a small village, there isn't even internet there. It should be easy to leave." But not for these four. All of them loved Tazmily for their own reasons. Duster; because of the lack of electricity, he could freely practice his thievery without much drawback. Kumatora; because of the castle, she got to feel more special than she deep down knew she actually was. Claus; he loved the cliffs and enjoyed the ocean they live nearby. Lucas; he just loved the people who lived in Tazmily. And now, all four of them are leaving it behind.
"Yes, we are," Lucas finally broke the silence. This shot in each of their hearts, making their blood rush like a bullet train and heat up like they were in a volcano. Kumatora wanted to ball up. She was always tough, so she lacked much negative emotion, but when she was sad it was obvious to one person she was; Duster. Duster could tell simply by the aura of Kumatora what she was feeling. Despite oftentimes being seen as "the stupid limping thief" he was way smarter than that. Duster wrapped an arm around Kumatora's back, rubbing the opposite shoulder to him. Normally, Kumatora would punch whoever did that, but Duster was the only one ever allowed to do it. Claus was the "toughest" of all four. He showed little to no emotion. Despite this, he was the saddest of all four. "But…..we'll still be together. No matter where we are, as long as we're together, that's all that matters." Claus looked at Lucas and smiled slightly. He smiled because Lucas was crying. As he said what he said, Lucas had tears falling from his eyes and causing stained streaks to form in his cheeks. His tears were always known for marking their property, this was no different. The tears wanted everyone to know that they owned Lucas at that moment, and nothing could change that. Claus looked back at the castle as he placed his hand in Lucas's hair.
"Stop crying, dumbass," Claus said.
"What was that thing about you not being a dick?" Claus removed his hand and lowered his eyes. He giggled bittersweetly.
"I never promised anything." Kumatora and Duster looked at Lucas and saw the tears in his eyes. They watched as two separate tears, one for each eye, decided to race each other. Each tear fell rather quickly, but then the right tear started slowing down. However, despite this, it collided with the ground first. The left tear decided to showboat and linger on the edge of Lucas's chin for far too long. The right tear took advantage of this, allowing itself to explode into the ground before the other.
Lucas cleared his throat and whipped his eyes. Kumatora and Duster exchanged glances and had the same idea. They stood up and looked down at Lucas. Claus was able to realize what they were doing, so he stood up too. Lucas soon felt like he was being watched, so he looked back and saw the three of them standing up. Lucas tilted his head. "Uhh, yes?"
"Just stand up, lazy ass." Lucas, still confused, stood up. Duster reached into his pocket to bring out something they only recently were able to get a hold of, a phone. There was still no electricity so they had no internet, but they still had access to phones. They mostly used them as a camera. Duster smirked as he held up the phone. Its brand was a brand new to Lucas and the others, prior to purchasing their phones that is. The brand, Nook Inc, to them seemed odd, but it got them a rather cheap phone so they were fine.
"Wanna take a photo?" Duster asked. Lucas smiled. This was worthy enough of an answer for them. Claus wrapped his arm around Lucas's neck. Kumatora walked over to Lucas and leaned against his left side. Duster held up the phone, but then Kumatora stepped away from Lucas.
"Wait, what about you?" Kumatora asked. Duster lowered the phone and showed a sad smile. He gave a saddened chuckle.
"Don't worry about me. Now, get back in place."
"Kiddo?" Duster looked back and found his dad, Wess.
"Pops?" Wess smirked. He held out his hand for the phone.
"Come on, let me take the photo for you guys." Wess, unlike Lucas's family, wasn't invited to move to Ultimatum. Although he could visit any time he liked, Wess didn't want to admit how tough it was to see Duster move away. Duster's smile turned happier as he handed his dad the phone. He walked over to join the others. After Kumatora leaned back against Lucas's side, Duster stood behind all three, since he was the tallest and had the longest reach. He stood right behind Lucas, but his hands were able to be placed on both Kumatora and Claus's shoulders. "Now smile." Everyone smiled right before Wess took the photo.
Wess looked down at the photo as everyone ran from their position to join Wess's side. They saw the photo and all of them loved it. Wess had a small tear form in his eye before he started wiping it away. He handed Duster the phone before walking away. Duster turned the phone off and stared off after him. He stepped ahead of the other three. Wess continued down the path, not wanting to see Duster, but knowing Duster was looking at him.
Ugh, you stupid idiot, look away already. Leave your pops be.
"Pops!" Wess stopped. He turned around and was instantly collided into a hug by Duster. Lucas, Kumatora, and Claus all made a subconscious agreement to take a picture. Lucas brought out his phone and aimed the camera toward them. He took a photo right as Wess's hands were wrapped around Duster. "Thanks, Pops." Wess sniffed before he cleared his throat.
"Just…...Just be safe out there." Duster ended the hug and stepped back. He saw Wess's tears of conflicted happiness. Wess shot around, his mind as foggy as the smoke bombs he was known for using.
Duster….I know you'll be safe…..Just don't be an idiot.
Wess looked back and saw Duster happily rejoining his friends. Lucas was showing Duster the picture he took. This brought a smile to Wess's face. "Atta boy." Wess looked away with a deep breath. He then continued his walk, leaving his boy with his friends. Claus saw and heard this. He looked at the rest of his group and realized he was the only one who did. Wess never acted the way he did just then. Claus chuckled to himself. Lucas looked at him.
"What's up?" Claus looked at him and smiled innocently.
"Oh, nothing, don't worry."
"Guys?" Kumatora questioned. Lucas returned the phone to his pocket as everyone looked at her. "Umm, wanna spend one last time at the castle?" The three boys smiled. All of them kneeled down on one knee and kept their heads down.
"We wouldn't have it any other way, Princess Kumatora," Lucas said.
"You dare come to me without your pay?" Kumatora angrily asked the peasants, Duster and Claus. The two of them apologized in unison, but Kumatora wouldn't accept it. She looked over at her butler, and right-hand-man, Lucas. She motioned for him to join her side, and so he did. He stood next to Kumatora with his arms in front of him, with his hands grabbing each other. "These two have disobeyed your princess…." Kumatora looked at Lucas with an evil smirk. "What do you do?" Lucas grew a smile.
"Execute them," Lucas growled. He stepped in front of Kumatora and looked down at the kneeling peasants. Lucas started holding up his hand, but then Claus stood up with a loud "wait". Lucas looked back at Kumatora, who gave a nod that said she'll allow it. Lucas stepped back to her side.
"Yes?"
"I….." Claus looked down at a nervous Duster. Claus bit his cheek as he thought about what he wanted to say. He then looked back at Kumatora with an idea he thought was utterly brilliant. "Wh-what if I tell you a joke?"
"Tell me a joke?" Kumatora motioned for Lucas to move his ear to her head. Kumatora whispered to him about whether this would be a good idea or not. Lucas thought it would be so Kumatora decided she would allow it. Lucas stepped back aside and Kumatora gave an accepting nod toward Claus. "However, if you can't make me laugh, you both die."
"And if I make you laugh, we both live?"
"Sounds like a deal, I'll give you three chances, fire away." Claus fixed his posture as if it would somehow help his comedic side. Claus's mind started racing a mile a minute to try and find a joke in his vast head. He then remembered, he read a whole book about dad jokes.
Kumatora loves dad jokes.
"Why do seagulls live by the sea?" Claus asked. Kumatora shrugged, showing she didn't know this joke. "Because if they lived by the bay, they'd be bagels." This didn't make Kumatora laugh, but it did make Lucas chuckle. Kumatora glared at him. Lucas nervously cleared his throat and smiled a frightened smile. Kumatora rolled her eyes and looked back at Claus, telling him he already wasted his first joke. "Right, ok." Claus clicked his gums for a while as he thought of another joke. He snapped once one appeared in his head. He looked at Kumatora with a smile. "I was so ugly my mom used to feed me with a slingshot." Lucas started rapidly exhaling breaths, showing he was trying to suppress laughter but wasn't succeeding all too well. Kumatora gave another glare toward him before looking back at Claus.
"The truth isn't funny." Claus squinted his eyes, wanting to say something but knowing it would only make his situation worse. Kumatora didn't receive any response for what she said, so she looked at Lucas. "Now this is a time to laugh."
"Oh, right…" Lucas said. He gave the fakest laugh ever. He didn't even try to make an attempt to make it sound even 1/10th real. It was even somehow faker than every YouTuber combined and multiplied by 10. Despite the clear fakeness in the laugh, Kumatora gave a proud look back toward Claus. Duster started to feel hopeless. But then an idea popped into his head. He stood up and whispered his idea into Claus's ear. Claus's eyes brightened as he heard the idea. He nodded and smiled once more.
"Well, tell your last one."
"Lucas…" Claus started. Lucas perked up. Claus wasn't talking to him though, he was talking about him. "...Is straight."
"What?" Lucas questioned. Kumatora looked at Lucas and instantly burst into laughter. She was laughing so much she fell out of her chair and rolled around like an armadillo. Her laughs were louder than the roar of a Drago. Even Duster and Claus started laughing, just to a way less of a degree than Kumatora. Lucas was the only one not amused. "I AM SO TOO STRAIGHT!"
"That's the biggest…..load of bullshit…..every spoken out….out of you gay ass mouth, HAHAHAHAHA!" Kumatora said as she continued rolling around and laughing. Lucas's face grew annoyed.
"Kids?" Flint, Lucas and Claus's father, questioned as he entered the castle. Duster, Claus, and Lucas looked at him while Kumatora tried her best to calm her laughter down. She was able to go from a Drago to a hyena, not too much of a downgrade but enough for her. Flint walked toward them with his arms crossed. "I know you want to spend as much time here before we leave, but you all need to sleep." The boys' eyes lowered. Flint sighed. "Oh, and Duster?" Duster looked up. "Wess said that you should stay with us for the night. He didn't really want to see you." Duster knew this was going to happen. He just nodded. Kumatora was finally calm enough to stand up. She was still chuckling, but it was no longer a full-blown laugh.
"Can I stay with you guys too? The inn sucks," Kumatora asked as her chuckling fully died down. Lucas looked at her with his annoyed face.
"You finished?"
"For now," she smiled. Lucas rolled his eyes.
"I guess you could stay with us, just try to behave," Flint answered. Kumatora scoffed
"Have I ever misbehaved?" She asked. Everyone quietly stared at her, telling her the answer. She crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll try," Kumatora said. Flint nodded. He looked at everyone's face; that started to turn somber. Flint sighed.
"We're all going to miss this place, but we accepted this once in a lifetime opportunity. We'll be back in due time, don't worry." Kumatora looked back at her throne, which was just a regular chair with a single red cushion. She smiled to herself before turning back toward Flint.
"I'm tired." Flint smirked before turning around, motioning for them to follow him. They all walked out of the castle and toward Lucas's house, where they slept in utter silence.
August 23 20xx
Lucas's sleeping body was lying on his very comfy and small bed. Most people would complain about the size of the bed, but the size was made up by the sheer comfortability of the bed itself. There was only about an inch separating Lucas's head from the top of the bed and the same goes for the feet. Lucas was sleeping soundly. Lucas's sleeping ability amazed anyone who witnessed it. There could be a tornado that somehow learned how to juggle flaming chainsaws with megalodons attached to them, and Lucas would still be able to sleep soundly. Although, he was known to be quite difficult to wake. Moving day, and thus the final day Lucas would be living in Tazmily, was no different. For about half an hour, Claus was trying to wake him up. To no avail, obviously.
Their room stood on the second floor. The actual house didn't have much going for it. There were only three real separate rooms, Lucas and Claus's room, the main room, and a bathroom, which was actually a late addition to the house. Most houses in the village were like this, so Lucas and Claus were excited about that when it came to moving, they'd have their own room. However, despite this, Lucas still refused to wake up. His body still harbored that sense of not wanting to leave, seemingly pushing Lucas into a deeper sleep than normal.
Claus, who was sitting on his bed looking at Lucas, sighed to himself. He started to get close to giving up on waking Lucas up. He stood up and scratched his neck. He then remembered that he could do something. He smirked an evil smirk, knowing he would surely get on Lucas's nerves, which he loved doing. "Hey, gay boy?" Lucas instantly shot up.
"I AM NOT!" Claus rolled his eyes before turning around.
"'Bout time you woke up, let's go." Claus walked over to the staircase down and walked down it. Lucas heard Claus close the door. He groaned to himself before collapsing back. The drowsiness and fatigue from being woken up so suddenly finally traveled through him. Lucas rubbed his face, trying to force the drowsiness out of him. He turned his head to look at a calendar, which was based on a popular movie in the village, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. He noticed the x'd out the date, August 22nd, which told him that today was August 23rd. He knew what this day was, it was their moving day. Lucas picked himself back up. "LUCAS, HURRY THE HELL UP!"
"I'M COMING!" Lucas yelled back down. Lucas jumped down and went to put his clothes on. He made sure to wear his favorite outfit. It was a horizontally striped red and yellow shirt, blue jean shorts, and red and yellow shoes. Lucas then walked over to the mirror and gelled up his hair to adjust it. He made sure to add his signature little swoop with his hair, and flattened any other part of it. He smirked as he analyzed his look. "Not bad."
Lucas ran down to the main room and found everyone else at the table. Lucas sniffed and smelled his favorite food, omelets. He ran to the available chair with a smile. His omelet, unlike all the others, had some ham and cheese folded with the eggs. Lucas sat in the chair and looked around at the others. They all held judgmental eyes. "Sorry for being late." Flint crossed his arms with a sigh.
"Just eat up, our train is arriving soon," Flint said. Lucas gave a somber nod before looking down at his plate. Hinawa looked at each of the kids' faces and noticed they were all sad. She tapped Flint's shoulder, making him look up. She then prompted Flint to come with her. They walked to the end of the house, in the kitchen.
"You sure this is a good idea?" Hinawa asked. Flint's eyes lowered. "I mean, look at them, they clearly don't want to leave," Hinawa motioned toward the table full of sad kids. Flint looked back and saw the same thing Hinawa did. He sighed before turning back toward her.
"I know this is tough on them, but we were given an opportunity most would kill for. Moving to Ultimatum free of charge."
"I know that, but where's the point in moving if they hate it."
"Fine. How about this? We stay there for a month, and if they still don't like it, we'll move back." Hinawa crossed her arms and leaned back against the counter. She thought for a moment. She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't intrigued by Ultimatum. She also doubted that the kids had no interest in it as well. She opened her eyes with her decision.
"Promise?"
"Promise," Flint said as he rubbed Hinawa's shoulders. The rubbing eased Hinawa's nerves. Flint leaned in and gave a small peck to Hinawa's lips. "Shall we join the others?" Hinawa smiled happily before nodding. The two of them walked back to the table and sat down. There was still a rather large somber aura surrounding the table. Flint cleared his throat. "So, guess what we'll be doing once we get to Ultimatum." Claus was the first to look up from his plate.
"What?" he asked, emotionless.
"Well, we'll be touring our house. You guys will also be taken to the school for a tour of that." Claus just nodded in acknowledgment before looking back at the plate. Flint and Hinawa shared a glance, and both had the same idea. Flint looked back at the boys, Lucas and Claus, and smiled. "We'll also be giving each of you $200."
"$200!" Lucas and Claus yelled as they shot their heads up in unison. Flint chuckled. He looked at the two heads of the table, where Kumatora and Duster sat.
"You guys as well."
"Why?" Kuamtora asked.
"Well, after we do all the housekeeping and stuff, you'll be allowed to explore Ultimatum. And you might as well have some spending cash to use. We would give you more, but we kinda need to pay the movers." The somber aura was instantly replaced with an antsy, excited one.
"Hey, Lucas." Lucas, with his mouth full of the omelet, looked at Kumatora. "I heard the largest mall in the world is there, and I heard there's an arcade in there." Lucas swallowed the omelet and beamed toward her.
"REALLY!?"
"Man, you really know nothing about Ultimatum, huh?" Claus asked. Lucas growled toward him.
"Oh shut up!" The three of them continued talking with hope. Sometimes, their talk even turned into a little argument, but it never lasted long. Duster was left out, but he was used to it. He was always the more responsible of the group. He calmly finished his food before standing up. He walked over to the sink and placed his plate in. Before he could start washing it, Flint joined his side and placed his plate in the same place. They both looked out the small window on the wall behind the sink.
"I can trust you to keep an eye on them, can't I?" Flint asked.
"Of course you can." Duster smiled as he looked at Flint. "I'll make sure they behave." Flint smirked before patting Duster's back. He walked back to the table.
There was a knock at the door. Flint jumped off the couch and walked over to the door. He opened it and saw some short and odd-looking…..men? They were gray and were only wearing dark grey or black shorts with what looked like a wrestling belt on. Their muscles were also very defined. "Excuse me, watch out, move it, jeez," a man's voice came from behind the four weird-looking men. They stepped aside to show an even weirder man. It was a blocky man and…..that was about it. He had no knees, no elbows, and everything about him was just straight. The man lowered his cubed head. "Good afternoon, my name's Steve, and I'll be your moving guide." Flint raised an eyebrow as he looked into the house.
"Hun! It's time!" Flint yelled. It didn't take long for Hinawa to make it out. She smiled toward Steve, trying her best not to be rude about his odd appearance. "No offense, but you don't strike me as the guide type." Hinawa nudged Flint, telling him to stop. Steve chuckled.
"No worries. You're right, I'm not a guide. I'm an architect/interior designer, but I was told to build a brand new house for you so they thought that I might as well be the guide too."
"Who's they?" Hinawa asked. There was an oddly placed silence from Steve. His blocky eyes were tough to read, but his stance, despite being normally straight up, made him seem slightly nervous to answer the question. Steve turned around.
"Don't worry about it. Anyway, these four here are Machoke, they'll be the ones moving your stuff around." Steve turned his head. "The train will leave in an hour, make sure yourselves and all of your stuff is on the train before that hour ends." Steve looked at one of the Machokes. "You know what to do." Steve then walked away. Hinawa and Flint looked at each other, and both grew nervous to tell the kids. They took in a deep breath before walking toward the staircase upstairs, where the four kids were helping packing. Hinawa looked at Flint, wanting him to break the news. Flint walked up the stairs and saw the four of them happily packing.
"Um, guys?" Flint asked. The four of them looked at him. "Hurry up, the train leaves in an hour."
"It's…..really time?" Lucas asked. Flint lowered his head, but Lucas knew this meant that it was. He looked down at the box with his grinch calendar. The other three were nervous that Lucas would get down. Lucas, being the most sensitive of the four, could easily make all of them sad by being sad himself. But they all noticed that Lucas wasn't sad. In fact, he was smiling. Lucas closed the box and stood up. He looked at the other three with a determined face. "Well? Hurry up, we don't have all day." They smiled and continued working, much faster though, on packing. Flint gave a relieved sigh before walking back down. He smiled at Hinawa before pulling her into a hug.
"It seems we had nothing to worry about."
Lucas looked up at the train. Seeing the vehicle that would take him to his new home was making Lucas nervous. He balled up his hands. He was unable to move his feet. The doors to the train were open, but he was scared to enter it. The others already did, yet he couldn't. Lucas's head moved down, looking at the rather dirty ground. That was when he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. Lucas looked up and saw Claus. He was smiling and his eyes were very welcoming. "Lucas, come on. You can do this." Lucas looked back to try and get one final look at the village. He did, but he also caught sight of something else. Er rather, someone else. Lucas saw Wess, way in the back of the crowd who came to say goodbye. Wess had a bittersweet look in his eyes. It was clear that he was happy for Duster to be trying new things, but was sad to see him leave.
"Is that Wess?" Lucas whispered. Claus looked out in the crowd and saw Wess in the back as well. Wess noticed the two boys looking at him. He gave a small motion, with his head, that simply said, "hey". Wess then turned around and walked away.
"Yeah." Lucas's saddened posture straightened out as he watched a sad Wess walk away.
"Does…..does Duster know?" Claus looked into the train and saw Duster and Kumatora casually talking. The hurt about moving away was still evident on their faces, but they both have already lived with the fact that they are moving. Claus admired how tough they were.
"No, I don't think he does." Lucas then looked into the train himself and saw the same scene Claus did. This scene centered Lucas's mind on one thing.
Duster isn't moving with his dad, they won't see each other, and yet…..he's like that. I'll be with my entire family and I can't even so much as get on the damn train? Duster is hurting, I can see it, but he's happy despite it. I have no right to be the way I am while Duster is the way he is. Sorry Duster, I didn't mean to be insensitive.
Lucas finally walked onto the train. Claus was surprised by it but decided not to think too hard about it. He followed Lucas into the train, where they sat to the right of Duster. Lucas still kept his sight outside of the train. His sight outside the doors was destroyed when the doors closed. "Train 1 to Ultimatum. Estimated time of arrival, 2:30 p.m.," the conductor said over the speakers. Lucas looked at Duster.
"When is 2:30?" Duster brought out the phone and saw that it would only take them an hour to get to Ultimatum.
"One hour."
"One…...hour?" Lucas looked in front of him, where his parents sat. "How is it only an hour?" Steve, who also sat in front of him, rested his head on the seat's head. He closed his eyes, showing how comfortable he was on the train.
"You'll see, kid," Steve said. Lucas sat back with his arms crossed, not too thrilled with being called a kid, but he didn't really want to cause a scene. A lady soon stopped in front of Lucas and the others. She held a small vial of a strange liquid. Lucas looked at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Ultimatum is a city full of people from all over the world, taking this vial will allow you to understand each and every one of them. It'll also make sure you don't get sick from being transported there," she said.
"Why would I get sick?" The lady simply held the vial closer. Lucas looked at his parents, who have taken this type of train before, and saw them nod. Lucas nervously grabbed the vial and drank whatever was inside it. The horrible taste hit him like the train he was on. He shook his head with a dissatisfied "blegh". "Horrible." He handed the vial back to the lady. She walked away. Lucas looked at the others on his side. They all had taken the vial with zero issues. "Man, you guys have, like, no taste buds."
"It's just that we're not as picky of an eater, like you," Kumatora brought up.
"WHAT WAS THAT?!" Lucas yelled, utterly heated. Kumatora simply chuckled, but then felt the impact of the train as it started at high speed so suddenly. The kickback of the train caused everyone's bodies to shoot around, but the chairs they sat in were somehow able to prevent them from flying away. The effects of the mystery liquid started showing itself since instead of them all having a massive headache, or even going unconscious, due to the sudden start and sudden stabilization of movement, they were unaffected. Lucas grabbed his head. "Woah." Steve started chuckling.
"Ahh, this train never gets old," he said to himself. Lucas and the others looked outside the windows and saw…..well….saw nothing. There was nothing for them to see. It was clear there was something out there, but the train was going so fast that all it looked like outside was lights and wavy colors. It was actually pretty hypnotizing to the kids. "You probably should stop looking out there, the vial only helps with the kickback, not anything else." Lucas had a strange feeling about Steve. Steve seemed nervous and anxious. He didn't do much of anything to give off that feeling, but Lucas was always good at sensing a person's feelings. Lucas kind of started staring at the blocky man. Steve soon felt Lucas's deep and sharp stare. Steve took his head from the head of the chair to look at Lucas. "Ummm, yes?"
"Something's bothering you." Steve expected everyone else to give Lucas a confused face, but none did.
"Lucas has always been good with emotional stuff, no point in hiding it," Claus shrugged. He then adjusted to allow himself to lie down slightly to try and catch some Zs. Steve sat normally and looked down.
"That vial…..has a tertiary usage," he said.
"And that is?" Duster asked. Steve looked up and opened his mouth. But something in the literal corner of his eye caught his attention. He looked further down the train car and saw someone in particular. Lucas followed Steve's gaze and saw that it stopped on a strange-looking orange dragon. This dragon was not like any Drago Lucas had come to know. This orange dragon had wide blue wings with a flame at the end of its tail. Seeing this dragon made Steve anxious. This dragon was glaring at Steve with a look that could kill a pack of lions in an instant. Steve nervously chuckled as he looked at Lucas.
"D-don't worry about it. N-now I suggest you sleep so that you don't focus on the outside." Lucas crossed his arms.
"Mom?" Hinawa gave a small hum. "Where's my journal?"
"It's in one of the boxes. It has an L on it," Hinawa answered. Lucas nodded as he stood up.
"Steve, could I go to where the boxes are?"
"Um, yeah, just head down to the end of the car and click 'Packing Storage', and then step through the door. It'll teleport you to the proper car." Lucas couldn't contain his excited look.
Wow, teleport? This is such a cool train.
Lucas bowed his head before walking down the car. The bad thing was that at the end of the car that had the buttons, the orange dragon was sitting next to it. Lucas got to the buttons, but couldn't help but feel nervous for being right in front of the dragon. He gulped before looking at him with a forced welcoming smile. "H-hi, h-how are y-you?" The dragon growled. This growl brought out some white smoke, causing Lucas to cough. "A-alright, nice t-to meet you t-too." Lucas looked at the buttons and pressed the one he was told to press. After a small countdown in Lucas's head, just to ensure that he'll safely teleport since he had no clue how teleporting worked, Lucas opened the door. There was nothing but darkness outside, scaring Lucas slightly. He brought up the courage to step in. A blinding light surrounded Lucas once he closed the door.
Lucas opened his eyes to find that he now stood inside the car with all of their boxes. Lucas chuckled. "Wow!" Lucas's amazement knew no bounds. He chuckled an innocent and amazed chuckle. He shook his head to try and make him focus. He started walking down the car and found a few, pretty large, boxes with L on them. He just grabbed one and opened it. This first box didn't have his journal. He closed it back up and grabbed a second one. Before he could open it though, he heard a very similar amazed "wow" from the front of the car. Lucas looked over and saw a boy. This boy looked to be around his age. Lucas stood up, catching the attention of the boy. The boy ran over, giving Lucas a better look at him. He had a green tunic and hat, he also had some strange pointy ears. The boy tilted his head.
"What're you doing in the storage room?" The boy asked, his voice higher pitched than Lucas's own.
"This is where my stuff is." Lucas motioned toward a box that had an L on it. The boy realized what this meant. He chuckled.
"You're moving to Ultimatum?" Lucas grew a small grin as he rubbed his neck.
"Uh, yeah, why?"
"I live there," the boy happily pointed to himself. He bounced back slightly and held out his hand. "Name's Link. My friends call me Toon Link or TL for short."
"My name's Lucas," Lucas said with a smile as he grabbed Toon Link's hand. Their hands shook. Once they separated Lucas turned back around toward his boxes.
"You looking for something?" Toon Link asked as he stepped forward and looked down at the box.
"Yeah, my journal. I just wanted to write something down before I forgot." Toon Link walked over to another box that had an L on it. Lucas smiled in appreciation. "Hey." Toon Link turned his head, sort of misunderstanding the gesture.
"What? I'm just helping."
"No, it's just that I've already looked in that one."
"Oh, hehe, my bad." Toon Link pushed the box aside and grabbed another. Lucas chuckled. He could already tell he'll enjoy Toon Link's company. "So, you going to Smash High?" Toon Link asked as he opened the box. Lucas opened his own box.
"Not sure, only my parents know." Toon Link smiled.
"Well, if you do, then don't forget to find me on the first day."
"When is the first day?"
"The 25th." Lucas breathed a breath of relief. He was scared that he might need to enter a school that had already started, especially with it being his first year of high school. The knowledge that school didn't start for another two days eased this fear to a point of nonexistence. "Hey, is this the journal?" Lucas looked at Toon Link and saw him holding up a journal with Lucas's favorite thing plastered as an emblem on the front; a Sunflower. Lucas nodded. He grabbed it from Toon Link and found that his pencil was still inside the rings to the side. "What did you want to put in there, if I may ask?" Lucas closed the box and stood up.
"You've lived in Ultimatum for a while, right?"
"Yup, how come?" Toon Link asked as he too stood up.
"You heard of someone named Steve?"
"Steve? Umm, blocky man? No joints, kinda literally uptight?" Lucas nodded. "What about him?" Lucas took the pencil and started writing things down.
"Well, he was telling us about the vial but then a strange orange dragon, like, scared him or something."
"Ahh, Charizard, I presume. I wonder why he'd scare Steve."
"Who is this, Charizard?"
"Who are you, a detective?" Toon Link chuckled. Lucas playfully shrugged.
"Perhaps." Toon Link crossed his arms and leaned against the cold wall. He lowered his head, trying to remember if he knew anything about Charizard.
"Well...All that I can remember is that Charizard has been seen with questionable people. But Ultimatum is huge, so I obviously can't see everything that goes on." Lucas nodded as he wrote down what Toon Link said. "Hey." Lucas looked up from the journal as he finished. Toon Link kicked himself off the wall and walked closer to Lucas. "If you do go to Smash High, you'll end up taking a survey to determine what class you're taking."
"A survey?" Toon Link nodded.
"Unlike most schools, you don't need a certain number of credits to pass. Technically speaking, you're likely to only be in a single class all year, and the survey is to determine what class you're most compatible with." Lucas tilted his head in confusion. "It's actually much simpler than it sounds. Anyway, I wanted to provide some advice."
"I can take a survey….."
"Nono, I know that. I just wanted to say that my class prefers English and creative arts over all other classes, so try to appease that side of the survey." Lucas simply nodded his head. Good for him, he already enjoyed those types of classes so it was an absolute win in his book. "Now then, you've got your journal, we should head back to our seats. It's not good to be standing when the train stops." Toon Link patted Lucas's chest before walking toward the teleporting panel and door. Lucas smiled to himself, happy to have already made a friend. Lucas turned around and quickly caught up to Toon Link. Toon Link stopped before pressing his button and looked at Lucas. "See ya later, Luke." Lucas felt ever happier.
Luke? He already gave me a nickname? Well, I guess he already told me about TL so why wouldn't he give me a nickname? Heh, I kinda like it.
"You too, TL." Toon Link smirked before pressing the button, waiting a few seconds, and stepping through the door. Once the door closed, Lucas saw the blinding light come from the bottom of the door. Once it disappeared, Lucas stepped to the panel of buttons. He clicked his button, Car #4. Before he could start counting the few seconds in his head, he heard a strange sound coming from somewhere inside the car. Lucas looked around but saw no one. He raised an eyebrow and just assumed something fell or something in one of the boxes accidentally turned on. He shook his head and entered the door, teleporting after it closed.
He was being watched.
The train stopped and the doors opened. Duster groaned. He hated the ride. He was never a big fan of fast-moving vehicles, he was somewhat motion sick. He was the first to shoot up and run out of the train. The others followed soon after. They then caught sight of the train station. Unlike the simple wooden platform back in Tazmily, this was a large building. The roof was made purely of glass and the ground seemed to be marble. There were occasional pillars made of similarly designed marble reaching up to attach itself to the few parts of the roof not made of glass, mainly for lights and such. Another key difference was that the station allowed for 10 different trains to go in and out instead of just a single train. There were a ton of people inside the station, so if it weren't for the very spacious design, the station would've been uncomfortably packed.
Steve sighed in pleasure. "I remember when I designed this place. It was pretty fun," Steve said.
"You designed…...all this?" Lucas asked. Steve proudly hummed a yes.
"I wonder what our house looks like," Hinawa brought up. Steve turned toward her and held a blocky smile.
"Don't worry ma'am, it'll surely live up to expectations…..Unless you're expecting a castle…..but you know what I mean." He cleared his throat. "Well, either way, take this." Steve handed Flint a map that seemingly led to their house. "Just follow the red line and you'll make it to your house. The Machokes and I will be there with your boxes in due time." Flint and Hinawa nodded. Steve then walked back into the train with the same four Machokes following. Flint and Hinawa walked up to the still starstruck kids.
"Hey, we're going to go home," Flint said. Lucas looked at him with a smile.
"YO, LUKE!" Lucas knew this voice. He turned around and saw Toon Link running toward him. Lucas chuckled and walked toward him a little. Toon Link stopped right in front of Lucas. He looked at the others behind him. "They your family?" Lucas looked back.
"More or less." Toon Link caught sight of the map in Flint's hand. He walked over to him.
"If I may?" Toon Link asked as he held his hand toward the map.
"Oooo, so proper. You could learn a few things, Claus," Hinawa jokingly said. Claus rolled his eyes. Lucas ran up to Toon Link's side as Flint handed him the map. Toon Link followed the map and knew the general location of the house.
"Ahh, you're gonna be living near Junior, that sucks," Toon Link said.
"Who's Junior?" Lucas wondered out loud. Toon Link looked at Lucas.
"He's a complete dickhole, try to avoid him. Oh and his dad, oooh boy does he suck." Claus smirked before looking up at Hinawa.
"What was that about being proper?" Claus smugly asked. Hinawa motioned with her hand for Claus to quiet down. Toon Link handed the map back.
"Well, are you gonna introduce me to everyone?" Toon Link asked as he turned back toward Lucas.
"Oh, right," Lucas chuckled nervously. He forced his family, and Kumatora and Duster, to get into a horizontal line in front of Toon Link. Toon Link couldn't help but chuckle as he watched Lucas force his family to do his bidding. Lucas stopped right next to Flint and cleared his throat. "This is my dad, Flint, he's a cop so don't misbehave. Then we have my mom, Hinawa…..and that's about it." Hinawa looked at Lucas with venom in her eyes. Lucas grew a very cold sweat. "A-and sh-she's the best mom in the world." The venom disappeared and she smiled happily. "Anyway, next is my douchey older twin brother, Claus, he's just a massive douche." Claus held out his tongue toward Lucas. "The next two are my friends, Kumatora and Duster."
"Yo," Duster said with a small, two-finger salute.
"WOAH, YOU'RE AN ELF BOY!" Kumatora finally saw the pointy ears. Toon Link slid over to Lucas and slightly hid behind him from Kumatora.
"Relax, she doesn't bite that hard," Lucas calmed Toon Link down. Toon Link then grew a smug smile before moving his head to Lucas's ear.
"Is she your girlfriend?" Toon Link smugly asked, expecting a very flustered version of Lucas to come out.
But instead, he calmly said, "No."
"Oh." Toon Link cleared his throat before walking back in front of them. He pointed to himself with his thumb. "Name's Link, but you can call me TL." That was when his phone rang. He picked it up. "Hey, YL, wassup?...Uh-huh…...right but…..nono, I understand…..fine…...yeah yeah, I'll be there soon enough…...FINE! I'll be there now." He hung the phone up. "Uh, sorry about that. I've gotta head out before my roommate kills me."
"Nice to meet you, Elf Boy," Kumatora happily said.
"Please don't call me that. Oh, wait, ummm, Mr. Flint?"
"Just Flint's fine."
"Right. Umm, Flint, do you know if Lucas is going to Smash High?"
"Yes, he is." Toon Link instantly beamed.
"Good to know. I'll see ya there, Luke." Toon Link patted Lucas's shoulder before running down the platform. Claus leaned on Lucas's side, both boys watching where Toon Link was going.
"I won't ask how you met him, Mr. Make Any Friend Anywhere."
"I'm just that irresistible," Lucas said, turning toward him. Claus started sarcastically nodding.
"Right, keep telling yourself that," he patted Lucas's back and walked away. Lucas turned away as well.
"Alright, now that that is over, let's get to the house already." Flint and Hinawa took the lead. They took one final look back at the kids and smiled at their hopeful eyes. No longer were they saddened by their move, in fact, they already seemed to be that much more excited. Although Kumatora was just excited she met an elf boy. Flint and Hinawa looked at each other and both grew proud smiles. Finally, they started walking away from the train.
Lucas and his family stood in front of their large house in sheer shock. The house was evidently very spacious, despite them not being inside it yet. It was three stories, but the third story just seemed to be a basic attic. The house itself was pretty rustic, especially compared to the houses nearby, which was why it was obvious that it was pretty spacious on the inside. Everyone looked at Steve, who stood ahead of them. Steve felt their gazes and turned around. "You…..built this?" Hinawa asked. Steve nodded.
"We build houses based on the person/people living there. And since you're from a pretty rustic island, we thought you'd appreciate a little bit of your home to be in Ultimatum," Steve explained. Everyone grew a smile. Duster looked at Flint.
"How'd you get this house anyway?" Duster asked.
"This land was given to me for free," Flint answered.
"For free? Doesn't that sound a bit sus?"
"Sus?" Duster sighed before looking back at the house. He had to put aside his suspicions for sake of the others.
"Nevermind." Steve looked toward the house that was to the left, next to their house. There was a decent amount of space separating the two houses, a little more than to be expected, for them at least.
"Your land ends at about 12 feet from the side of the house. I doubt your neighbors care if you go a tad over that invisible line, but I thought I'd be safe and tell you." Steve turned back around to look at their house. "Now then, shall I show you around the place?" The group walked into the house, with Steve leading the group. The Machokes were still going in and out with boxes.
Steve led the group through the entire house. Most of the house was empty or rooms filled with boxes, but due to the size of the rooms, it was obvious which would be which. This house was somewhat similar to their old house. The living room, kitchen, and dining room were all technically in the same room. The kitchen was on the left side of the room, with the dining room-which was just a table-was the divider. The living room was massive. The size of the living room alone was bigger than three houses back in Tazmily. There was a doorway-without a door implemented-that led to a smaller living room. This living room was still large compared to Tazmily, but it was also still half the size of the bigger one. There was a quaint little fireplace in the right corner. There was also a bathroom to the left of the room. The final room(s) on the first floor was a mudroom. This mudroom also doubled as a laundry room. The backyard was large but immensely empty. The only thing of note in the backyard was the detached garage. Back in the larger living room; there was a staircase up that was placed in front-by about 10 feet-of the front door. This led to a sort of 3rd living room. It was significantly less sizable. There were two halls that came from this small room. One hall led toward where the smaller living room was on the first floor. In this hall were a storage room, bathroom, and a ladder to the attic, which was closed. The other hall was dedicated to bedrooms. There were a total of 6 bedrooms alone in this hall. This hall wasn't just straight though, since it turned to allow for the final three rooms.
Steve led the group back down to the large living room. "And that's the house. It's up to you to fill it." Hinawa and Flint looked at the expressions on the kids' faces. They were all excited. Hinawa leaned toward Flint.
"I don't think we'll be moving back to Tazmily.," she said. Flint walked forward and smiled.
"We still have some time before we've got to be at the school, go on upstairs and claim your rooms." Lucas was up there before the others could even think of moving their feet. Lucas arrived in the furthest room from the staircase. This was the largest room, granted not by much, but he still wanted it. There was a walk-in closet, which was the selling point for Lucas. He already started imagining how he wanted his room to be.
"The bed there…" Lucas planned out loud. He pointed around the room, envisioning his stuff placed around. He no longer had to worry about Claus violating his personal space. He walked over to one of the windows, which didn't give him the best view. This window looked at the house next to theirs. Primarily, it allowed Lucas to look into the window of the other house. At that time, someone from that house was also looking in their window and the two shared a stare. This other person looked to be some weird turtle thing with spikes. Lucas tilted his head.
Is that that Junior kid TL was talking about? He looks rough….but tiny. How can he be threatening in any way?
This person opened their window. "HEY NEW KID!" Junior said. Lucas opened his window and smiled.
"HI!" Lucas pleasantly yelled.
"SCREW YOU!" Lucas's happy smile disappeared.
Why'd he say that? We don't even know each other.
"That's a bit rude."
"Does it look like I care?" Lucas was just surprised he could hear this person, with his small stature that is.
"Well, I'm Lucas! Nice to meet you." The person crossed his arms, seeming a little surprised.
"I didn't ask." Lucas growled slightly.
Man, he's a dick.
The person then slammed his window closed, leaving Lucas more confused than before.
Is that all he wanted to talk to me about…..insult me? Er, I guess he didn't really insult me, he's just mean. Why would TL be warning me though? Junior just seems to be a small bully who needs two stools to even reach his own window. If he steps to me, I can literally step on him. Pfft, yeah, he's no threat.
There was a knock at his door. Lucas closed his window and jumped away from it. He opened the door and found Steve and a few Machokes. The Machokes had boxes so they stepped in first. Steve then came in. "How're you liking this room?" He asked.
"It's amazing," Lucas beamed. Steve chuckled. Steve's expression grew serious, slightly scaring Lucas. Lucas never expected a blocky serious face would be so…...spooky. "What's wrong?" Steve held out his hand and Lucas's journal suddenly appeared.
"You left this on the train." Lucas smiled.
"Oh jeez. Thanks." Lucas grabbed the journal and tried to rip it from Steve's blocky and surprisingly strong clutches, but couldn't. Steve was the one who ripped it from Lucas. Lucas looked up with a slightly angered, slightly confused face. "Hey!"
"I read it."
"THAT'S A BREACH OF PRIVACY!" Steve lowered his head.
"Don't get involved with Charizard, or anyone he hangs out with. Don't look into it….don't ask questions…..don't even write about them. If they find out they'll"—Steve seemed to realize what he just said—"Crap." Steve covered his mouth. Lucas kept a sly smirk from creeping onto his face.
They? So something is going on?
"J-just promise me, kid, that you won't get involved." Lucas bowed his head.
"I promise. I'll rip out those pages and burn 'em." Steve let out a breath of relief.
"Good. You're a smart kid. The last thing I want is you getting hurt." Once again, Steve realized what he said. "Dammit, just…..forget I said anything." Lucas looked up at him.
"What did you say?"
"Good." Steve held the journal toward Lucas. Lucas took it without any resistance from Steve. "Now then, these two Machokes will take orders from you so you could set this room up without lifting a finger." A Machoke walked up to Lucas.
"Your bed is coming up soon, where would you like it?" Machoke asked in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. Steve saw the surprise on Lucas's face.
"That vial doesn't know what people who don't speak your language sound like if they ever did…..so it's kind of random what voice is applied to them. It's awkward in a lot of cases….like this one." Lucas cleared his throat.
"W-well…."
It took longer than expected to set up Lucas, and the others' rooms. After they were done, Lucas and the others were told to meet up in the living room. The large room was already set up. It was still relatively empty. Despite having the house be filled back in Tazmily, the sheer size of the house showed just how little they actually had. Either way, Flint and Hinawa were sitting on the couch, completely worn out. When Lucas, Kumatora, and Claus arrived they saw Duster talking to them. They grew interested and decided to barge in. "Heyo looks like we're all done," Kumatora said. Duster looked at them with a small smile before turning back toward Flint and Hinawa.
"You sure about this?" Duster asked. Flint sat up straight and stretched.
"There are a lot of things we've got to set up. Steve already told us that we'll be receiving help for all of it, but it also means we won't be able to take you guys to the school," Flint explained, mainly for the three newcomers. Lucas stepped forward.
"Who's gonna take us then?" Duster bit the inside of the bottom of his lip, making a small intend near his chin. Lucas tilted his head. "You?"
"Duster, you're the oldest and most responsible out of the three. Granted there isn't much of a bar that you needed to pass…"
"HEY!" Kumatora, Lucas, and Claus all yelled in unison.
"But one thing everyone here has in common, is they trust you." Duster looked at the other three and grew a small smile.
"Right….yeah…..I can do this," Duster pumped himself up. Lucas, once again, tilted his head. There was something he wasn't understanding.
Why was he doubting himself? He's never done that. He was always confident and always said he'll protect us. Is it the new place? Did he get humbled or something?
Duster walked toward Steve. Steve handed Duster the map toward the school. Duster then motioned for Lucas and the others to follow him.
Together they left the house, with Duster leading as he took occasional scanning looks down at the not very detailed map. Much like their walk toward their house, the others looked around at the city in amazement. Even though they were in the suburban area of the city, they still felt amazed by the houses. They started hearing more and more cars bustling through. They turned a corner and even Duster grew amazed. They saw downtown Ultimatum in the distance. The only building they saw in full was a skyscraper that actually looked like it sliced through the sky. "Woah…..New Pork City has nothing on this," Lucas said.
"I've always hated that place. This one better be better," Claus said.
"Duster, Smash High is downtown?" Kumatora asked, looking at the map. She couldn't read the map at all. "Maybe we're lost. No way the school's with all those tall buildings." Duster shook off the initial surprise and looked down at the map. He followed the red trail that started at their house. His finger stopped when he got to a little landmark marked on the map. It was a statue of something called Pikmin. Duster ripped his eyes from the map and looked around the corner until he saw the statues. They were very tiny, barely even making it to his knees, but they were the same as the ones on the map. Duster continued to follow the red mark on the map and found that it indeed went downtown. Duster rolled up the map. He looked at the sky-ripper, which had a strange logo on it-a ball with a cross slash in the lower left "corner" of it.
"No…...it is downtown," Duster said. Duster looked back at the twins. "Well, we better get there before the school closes."
"And how far is 'there'?" Claus asked.
"A mile, we'll be there in no time."
The four of them finally made it to the large school. But they weren't focused on the school, they were just mad. Claus, Lucas, and Kumatora glared at Duster with fire. "'No time' my ass." Duster shot around with his own fire.
"HEY, no one would have predicted those dang wait times at the lights." Claus opened his mouth for his own retort but…..
"You the new kids from Tazmily?" a pleasant-sounding voice called out to them. It was so pleasant that all of them could swear it came from some angel…..or even a goddess. They followed the sounds of the voice and found a tall, green-haired lady standing in front of the doors of the school all the way up the stairs. She held out her hands and smiled widely. "Welcome to Smash High. I'm the principal, Palutena. Come on up, the tour is about to start." The four kids' anger disappeared as they walked up the stairs. Palutena led them into the school and, much like how they reacted when they got to their house, they were in utter shock. The main foyer of the school was somehow BIGGER than the entire first floor of their house. But it wasn't just the foyer that was large, it was also the hallways. All four of them could lay on the floor, creating a line from one wall to the other, and still have more than enough room before reaching the other wall. Palutena found the surprised expression to be amusing. "Ultimatum is forever growing, in size and population, so Smash High must be prepared to school many students. It may seem like overcompensation now, but one day these halls and rooms will need to be revamped. That's what the mayor predicts at least."
"How many students are here?"
"Approximately 6 thousand currently. But as I said, it's forever growing, so a strict number is hard to pin-point. Now then, before we get the tour started, I must introduce you to a few people that are important to your school life. Follow me, please." Palutena walked down the middle hallway until they stopped at a room that, with a sign right above the doorway, said "Main office". Palutena held the door open for the kids, and they walked in. They found quite a few people in there who, once Palutena closed the door, lined up in a similar manner to when Lucas introduced his family to Toon Link. The lengthy introductions and explanations of their position started. Isabelle, the secretary, Ganondorf, the assistant Principal, Yoshi, school chef, Peach, lead school chef, Marth, lead security guard, Luminary, nurse, Ivysaur, nurse's assistant, ROB, hall monitor, Duck Hunt, comfort animals, Simon Belmont, librarian, Sumire Yoshizawa, guidance counselor, Alph, Gardner, and Tails, club operator.
Lucas's brain was all but fried. Ganondorf rolled his eyes. "I told you this would be too much for country folk," Ganondorf said. Lucas shook his head and glared at him. Ganondorf glared back. Lucas already knew he didn't like him. With the tension between the two growing, Palutena dismissed the faculty. All of them, but Tails, left. Tails walked up to Palutena.
"Could I join you on this tour?" Tails asked.
"It's up to them," Palutena motioned toward the others. Tails walked over to them and smiled. Lucas couldn't help but find that strange fox to be slightly cute.
"Well?"
"Um, no offense, but don't you work here?" Duster asked. Lucas slammed the back of his hand into Duster's stomach and growled slightly.
"Don't be rude," Lucas ordered.
"How was THAT rude!" Duster yelled, mainly surprised at how painful that attack was. Tails chuckled.
"No no, it's fine, I get that a lot. Yes, I do work here, but I'm also a student. Freshman actually, so I don't really know my way around here just yet. And I rather not take a tour with those adults out there."
"Why? They seem like fine people," Claus asked. Tails squinted his eyes before walking over to the window at the back of the office. He moved the curtains and showed all of them a scene that Tails seems to be used to. It was Ganondorf holding Alph up by his helmet-which everyone was confused as to why he was wearing it but didn't want to be rude-Sumire trying to pull Alpha away, Duck Hunt biting and pecking at Ganondorf, Simon was just reading "Fifty Shades of Grey" with headphones on, even ROB-a robot-was getting in on the action with just spinning around like he was malfunctioning. Tails looked back at the group.
"You're lucky these walls are very soundproof."
"Well, we'd love to take you with us," Lucas excitedly exclaimed. He didn't really even see the scene outside. He just wanted to feel Tails' fur. Claus smirked
"You know, Tails, Lucas is a huge fan of animals," Claus said.
Tails grew nervous and took a small step back before saying, "Big fan? Big fan as in a zookeeper…..or big fan as in Shane Dawson?" Claus looked at Lucas and thought for a moment. He looked back at Tails.
"You know, I don't really know." Tails' eyes were stuck on Lucas. Lucas slowly licked his lips, making Tails take another step back. He caught sight of what the adults were doing, which set him straight. He cleared his throat.
"Still better than out there." Tails walked forward, and before he could get all too close to the group, Lucas grabbed Tails'…..tails.
"Oh man, you're soft," Lucas softly said. Before Tails could say anything, Duster picked Lucas up by his collar and draped him over his shoulder like a sort of backpack. "HEY!"
"Sorry about him. He can act a bit childish sometimes, but he's a good kid," Duster said.
"WE'RE ONLY 1 YEAR APART. DON'T CALL ME KID!" Tails laughed.
"You guys are fun." Palutena broke up their little moment with a clearing of her throat. She motioned for the open door. Everyone nodded and walked out, with Lucas still draped over Duster's back. Lucas huffed as he crossed his arms.
"I hate you," Lucas mumbled.
Palutena had led the group through the first floor, which was mostly filled with house-keeping rooms, like the computer lab, nurse's office, counselors office, etc. There was also a massive courtyard that was big enough to have a mini greenhouse. This greenhouse was what attracted Lucas, but Palutena had said they couldn't waste time looking at it. Palutena also led the group halfway through the second floor, which was where the basic classrooms started. She said that the first floor is for all those necessities, while the next four are dedicated to a certain grade in school. 2nd is for seniors, 3rd is for juniors, 4th is for sophomores, and 5th is for freshmen. Despite only really needing to be led through the 5th floor, Palutena found it necessary to lead them through the entire school.
Lucas was already getting bored. He thought of a way to get out, then it hit him. "Umm, Ms. Palutena?" Lucas questioned. Palutena turned around and raised an eyebrow. "Could I use the bathroom?"
"Uh, sure, we'll likely be up on the third floor by the time you're done, come find us," Palutena answered. Lucas nodded before turning around and running toward where the bathroom was. He turned the corner and found the bathroom, but he didn't actually need to go. What he did instead was head downstairs. The staircase he used led him to the foyer. From the foyer, he used the middle hall and followed it until he made it to the door for the courtyard. Just from the window, he could see the greenhouse. He chuckled to himself and opened the door, surprised it was unlocked.
The greenhouse was in the corner of the courtyard. He stopped right in front of the door and giggled. He saw a certain type of flower that caught all of his attention, the sunflowers. He walked in and ignored all of the other flowers. He stopped at the sunflowers and couldn't help but feel its petals. Seeing sunflowers always calmed Lucas down. He wasn't stressed or needed calming down at all, but he still loved seeing them. "You're not supposed to be here," a voice called him out.
"SORRY!" Lucas yelled as he turned toward the voice, which was at the door to the greenhouse. Once the initial surprise of being exposed disappeared, he noticed that the person who spoke was a boy who looked around his age. The boy had a red and blue cap, similar clothes to him, and even a baseball bat resting on his shoulder. The boy just giggled.
"Dude, chill, I was just kidding…..mostly. Alph won't like it if he found you here."
"Of all the times to be correct, Ness," Lucas knew this voice, it was a soft and small voice, but a recognizable one. It was Alph's. Lucas turned around and found the small man.
"You…..were here the whole time?" Lucas asked. Alph's wide eyes shrunk, making him look surprisingly intimidating.
"The whole time. And thus I know that you're trespassing." Ness-which Lucas was assuming was his name based on what Alph said-grabbed Lucas's arm and smiled a cocky smile.
"We were just leaving," he said without having that smile disappear. Before either Alph or Lucas could speak again, Ness bolted with Lucas in his hand. Lucas didn't fight back, though.
I'm not even in school yet and I'm already in trouble.
Before he knew it, they stopped. Lucas looked around and found that he and Ness stopped in the massive tread of land behind the school. This land was large enough for not only a football field-with a track lining around the actual field-but also a full Baseball field….which was both actually built on the land. Lucas just looked at the two fields, which had enough space between them for multiple tennis courts, in utter amazement. "Our school is pretty amazing," Ness said. Somehow, he wasn't as surprised as Lucas.
"It is." Lucas looked at Ness and smiled. "Name's Lucas, by the way." Ness adjusted his cap.
"Ness, but I'm assuming you heard Alphy yell that." Lucas chuckled.
"Indeed I did." Ness and Lucas looked at each other with a decently awkward silence between them. Ness cleared his throat.
"So uh, I'm assuming you're new here." Lucas nodded before turning to look back at the school. "And I don't just mean to the school, I'm talking about Ultimatum as well." Lucas's eyes squinted. He looked at Ness, confused. "TL told me he met someone named Lucas on the train back from vacation. I doubt he meant someone else."
"You're friends with TL?" Ness playfully nudged Lucas.
"Jealous?" Ness winked. Lucas rolled his eyes playfully.
"LUCAS!" Claus's voice came bombarding their little playful moment. Lucas flinched because he already knew what Claus was going to do. Ness looked in the direction of the voice and saw an angered orange-haired boy stomping toward them.
"Who's that?" Lucas shakily looked toward the flaming boy.
"My brother," Lucas answered. Claus stopped right in front of Ness and Lucas. Claus didn't even pay Ness any mind.
"SCHOOL'S NOT EVEN BEGUN YET AND YOU'VE ALREADY GOT YOURSELF IN TROUBLE!?" Claus yelled.
"Claus, calm down."
"CALM DOWN? CALM DOWN?!"
"Hey….uhh….Claus, right?" Ness asked. Claus turned his head and looked at Ness. He seemed to only have gotten angrier.
"Are you what made him get in trouble?" Claus growled.
"N-no, Claus, he's the one who helped me." Claus looked back at Lucas, slightly less mad. "And I promise, I didn't know I wasn't allowed in there. There was no sign, no light, nothing. How was I supposed to know?" Claus sighed, knowing Lucas was right. He calmed down and stood next to Lucas's side to look at Ness.
"Fine, but who's this?" Ness smiled, happy that he didn't have to deal with Claus. He faced the bat down on the ground, allowing him to lean on it slightly. With his free hand, he pointed at himself with his thumb.
"Ness, honorary trouble maker," Ness owned. Ness then looked at each of the boys' faces. He noticed something. While the colors of their eyes-Claus's being lime green and Lucas's being a pretty baby blue-were different, they still looked more alike than regular brothers would be. Not to the extent of identical twins, but…."You guys are twins?"
"Wow, how could you tell?" Lucas asked, amazed.
"I'm surprised you don't have funny paired names, like Lucas and Mucus." Claus was not amused.
"Mucus?" Claus asked, crossing his arms. Ness just chuckled innocently.
"Well, actually, if you rearrange his name, you could spell my name, and vice versa," Lucas mentioned his and Claus's tiny unspoken secret.
"Rearrange…..?" Ness asked himself. He thought about Claus's and Lucas's names. And soon he found out what Lucas meant. He was so amazed, that he lost his balance on the bat. He slammed into the ground, Lucas was worried for him while Claus was still not amused.
"You're overreacting," Claus said. Lucas slammed the back of his hand into Claus's gut.
"Stop that," he said. Lucas walked over to Ness and kneeled next to where his head slammed into the ground. "You ok?" Ness looked up at Lucas with a giddy smile.
"Pfft, this is nothing. Try taking a speeding baseball to the face," Ness roughly said. Ness pushed himself off the ground and shook himself. He picked the bat up.
"Why're you here anyway, you seem to know this place," Lucas said, standing up.
"I do, but I've yet taken the survey to assign me a class." Lucas beamed before turning toward Claus. Claus was a little confused at first but then was able to read the look he was holding.
"No," he said.
"Yes," Lucas responded.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"YES!" Claus crossed his arms and sighed, knowing he lost the fight.
"Fine, bring him along." Lucas shot back around. Ness still didn't really understand what happened, but he didn't find anything wrong with going with them to take the survey.
"Sure, sounds more fun than taking it alone." Claus stepped forward and grabbed Lucas's ear. Lucas grew completely submissive as he was going through the irritating pain.
"Now can we get back to Palutena, please?"
"Ok ok ok, fine!" Ness hummed a bit as he analyzed the scene that was playing out right in front of him.
"So, he takes orders when you grab his ear, duly noted," Ness said, trying to keep his voice down so neither of them could hear, but Claus could. Claus couldn't help a smile as he looked at Ness.
"And people wonder how I get away with not doing chores."
"You guys are MEAN! AAAACK!" Claus tugged once more on Lucas's ear. He then motioned for Ness to follow him. He turned back toward the school and started walking, still grabbing Lucas's ear. Ness ran up to Claus's side. Claus saw Ness in the corner of his eye. Ness was smiling. This was the part of Lucas that Claus couldn't help but admire.
Not even a full day in Ultimatum and you've made two friends. You're one hell of a person, Lucas.
After finishing the pretty unneeded tour, they made it back to the office. Isabelle was waiting there, and when each person made it into the office she handed them a sheet of paper. On this sheet were 50 questions. Palutena, the only one without a sheet, walked behind the counter and stood next to Isabelle. "That right there is the survey. Answer it honestly so we can assign you to proper classes," she explained.
Duster held up his hand. When Palutena called on him, he asked, "Do you assign classes solely on this survey?"
"No, we also take into account the friendships to perhaps make a few changes last minute, if it's possible. However, due to you being new, we don't have any files on you to allow that part to affect you….but not for you, you'll be affected by this." Palutena pointed at Lucas. Lucas pointed at himself, earning a nod from Palutena. "I've already been informed about your friendliness with a few of our students."
"How?" Lucas asked. Lucas looked at Ness and saw that he too was confused. Palutena just smiled.
"Anyway, there is something else I should say," she said, changing the subject, "these classes will be the same every year, just in a different room. So, you'll grow to really know your teacher and fellow students."
"AWESOME!" Ness yelled. He cleared his throat and motioned for Palutena to continue.
"Now then, take those surveys. Your schedules will be mailed to you before school Monday." All of them walked over to the front of the office, where rows of chairs sat. Lucas didn't waste any time and started the survey as soon as he sat down. The first question; are you single?
Isn't this, like, a breach of privacy?
"Just circle undefined," Ness whispered. Lucas looked next to him, where he was surprised Ness sat. He was expecting Claus to sit next to him, but he definitely wasn't complaining.
"Why?" Lucas whispered back.
"Just trust me," Ness winked. Lucas nodded and circled what Ness told him to. He continued the survey, but the final question had him thinking. But, Lucas couldn't tell why he was questioning it. He looked to his right and found that Ness too was on the final question. But unlike Lucas, Ness answered it instantly. The question was "What is your sexuality?" Ness had circled straight without much thought. Ness looked at Lucas, making Lucas nervous before shooting his head back at his own survey. Lucas tapped the question with his pencil for a while, which Ness found to be odd. "What's the matter?" Lucas tensed up.
"N-nothing." Lucas circled straight. He turned to Ness and smiled. "I was just thinking and it distracted me."
"Oh, ok then." Ness stood up, believing Lucas's lie. Lucas let out a sigh of relief before looking back down at his answer.
Yeah…..that's correct.
Lucas stood up and followed Ness to the counter, where they handed their surveys to Isabelle. Isabelle gave a thankful nod. Then it came down to waiting for the others to finish. Ness and Lucas walked back to their seats. Ness, with his bat resting on his lap, brought out his phone. Lucas couldn't help but watch what he was doing. Ness knew Lucas was doing this but decided to act like he didn't. This lasted a few minutes until he saw Lucas's eyes brighten when he traveled through TikTok. Ness also had wireless headphones on. Ness smirked, tapped the phone's screen, and looked at Lucas. Lucas shot his head away from Ness. Ness couldn't help but chuckle. "Where's your phone?" Lucas slowly looked back at Ness.
"It's in one of my boxes at home…..I don't exactly have internet or whatever on it yet." Ness, confused as to how he had a phone but no internet-since most phones in Ultimatum come with a certain plan to have internet everywhere-decided to ask a question.
"What brand is it?"
"Nook Inc." There it was. That was the reason it had no internet. Nook Inc is a company that sells phones outside of Ultimatum's laws, which included the fact that a phone purchase must include an all-around internet plan.
"Ahh, that bastard Tom Nook only cares for money. You need to get a new phone, and soon." Lucas nodded before looking down at his lap. Ness grabbed the earbud from his left ear and handed it toward Lucas. "Here, and don't worry, I have clean ears." Lucas looked at it and felt confused. "You've gotta put it in your ear. This one is for your left ear." Lucas grabbed it and did as Ness said.
"It feels weird."
"Usually when things go in holes, and you're not used to it, it feels weird." Ness was containing a sly smirk, he was half expecting Lucas to have missed the joke. But no. Lucas chuckled, showing he did understand. "So, you know about sex?"
"Well of course I do, how would I not?"
"Touche." Ness looked back at his phone and swiped up to go to the next video. The video was a simple one, it was just PNGs of anime characters. The interesting part was the song.
"Choke me, like you hate me, but you love me," the song played in their ears.
"Ooo," Lucas said in surprise. Ness paused the video and looked at him.
"You like this song?"
"His voice."
"Yeah, I know, wanna hear the full thing?" Lucas nodded ecstatically. Ness traveled through his collection of music until he got to the song "E-Girls are ruining my life".
"E-Girls? What're those?" Lucas asked with full curiosity. Ness found joy in this obliviousness though.
"Oh boy, I've got a lot of things to show you." Ness then played the song and Lucas was instantly put at ease-despite already being at ease-by the song. Despite what was being said in the song, he couldn't help but rock to it. Ness giggled. "Do you even understand what he's saying?"
"Kinda…." Once more, Ness felt happy to have someone so oblivious be his friend. He had gotten used to his friends which were about as far from oblivious as possible. Ness patted Lucas's back.
"Just you wait Lucas, your innocence will be ruined soon." Lucas looked at him, confused.
"My what?"
"Nothing, let's just listen to some more songs."
All of the kids finished their surveys and were issued to leave so Palutena could instantly start working on a class assignment. Even while outside, Lucas had the earbud in his ear. Claus crossed his arms as he watched Lucas watching Ness's phone. Claus even started grumbling. Kumatora walked over and put her arm on Claus's shoulder. Claus didn't move his head from Ness and Lucas up ahead. Kumatora chuckled. "Jeez, don't be mad. What's so bad about him?" Kumatora asked. Tails walked to them when he noticed that Claus had no intent on answering Kumatora's question.
"She's right, you know. Ness is a good guy," Tails said. Tails looked at Ness and Lucas. He crossed his arms. He looked back at Claus and saw that his face still hadn't eased up. "You're just jealous he could be spending more time with friends than you, is that the case?" This finally prompted a reaction out of Claus. He looked down at Tails.
"Th-that's not the case," Claus tried to convince. Tails chuckled.
"Sure, hey, uhh, Duster?" Duster, who was watching the scene with Ness and Lucas as well, raised an eyebrow as he looked at Tails. "Is Claus prone to jealousy?"
"You don't even know that half of it," Duster said with a sort of smugness.
"Gee, thank's Duster," Claus sarcastically said.
"Yeah, no problem." Claus rolled his eyes before looking back at Ness and Lucas. He grumbled some more when he saw Lucas laugh. He walked up to the two and placed a hand on one of their shoulders each.
"Lucas, I think it's time to leave," Claus said with a fake smile. Lucas looked at him and disappointingly sighed.
"Really?" Lucas whined. Claus nodded his head. He then turned to face Ness.
"Nice meeting you, Ness," Claus aggressively patted Ness's shoulder. Ness could feel the tension between them, but for Lucas's sake, he too decided to fake a smile.
"Ditto," Ness fakely said. Claus backed away. Lucas took the earbud out and held it toward Ness.
"It was nice, Ness," Lucas, still disappointed, said. Ness eyed Claus down and smirked.
"Oh, don't worry about it, you can keep these." Ness took his earbud out and handed it to Lucas.
"What? But these are yours?" Ness saw the grumbling Claus, which he counted as him winning. He looked back at Lucas and smiled.
"Don't worry, I've got more at home. Take these, oh, and don't forget to get a new phone." Lucas chuckled happily as he pocketed the earbuds. Before Ness could say anything else, Lucas pulled him into a hug. Ness was surprised a bit, but when he looked at the pure jealousy on Claus's face it made Ness happy and so he wrapped his arms around Lucas. Ness saw Claus's face clench up, making him chuckle. Lucas broke the hug up and walked over to Claus's side before turning around toward Ness. "See ya at school." Lucas happily smiled.
"Yup!" Ness winked at Claus before turning away and walking off. Lucas, completely oblivious to Claus's jealousy, turned to him and giggled.
"He's great, right?"
Claus kept his gaze on Ness, who was walking away, and grumbled some more before saying, "Yeah…..he's amazing." Lucas nodded happily and walked away. Duster walked to Claus's side and smirked slyly.
"You were holding back an eye roll, weren't you?" Duster asked. Claus sighed before turning around to face Duster.
"I hate how you know me too well." Duster laughed as he ruffled Claus's unkempt hair. "Oh buzz off." Claus playfully pushed Duster away before walking toward Tails. "It was nice Tails, but we should be heading off home."
"Yup, Sonic's expecting me soon anyway, see ya," Tails said. His tails then started rotating around before he flew up into the air. He flew away from the group. Everyone watched Tails fly off.
"Did….did Tails just use his…...tails to fly?" Kumatora asked.
"Ultimatum is full of weird people," Claus brought up.
"I think they're nice," Lucas said, more pumped than he probably should be. Duster patted Lucas's back softly.
"Your optimism is striking," Duster said.
"Thanks!" Lucas beamed.
Lucas and the others made it to their house. Claus was still somewhat salty with how happy Lucas was when he was hanging out with Ness. They entered their house and Flint and Hinawa instantly saw the salt sprinkling all over Claus. Hinawa was the one who stood up since Flint was on the phone. She walked over to the group's side as they closed the door. "So, uhm? Claus? What's your issue?" Hinawa asked.
"Well, he's—" Kuamtora started, but Duster shushed her so he could cover Lucas's ears.
Lucas moved his head up to look up at Duster. He then said, "Hey….Duster?" Hinawa looked at Lucas and came to the conclusion that what was wrong with Claus involved Lucas despite Lucas not really knowing about it. She kneeled down and placed a hand on Lucas's back. Duster removed his hands from Lucas's ears.
"Lucas, Hunny?" Hinawa caught Lucas's attention. "Could you go on to your room?"
"Why?" Lucas asked as he tilted his head.
"Because we've got you a special…..gift. It's in your room." Lucas instantly beamed.
"A GIFT!" Hinawa nodded. Lucas chuckled as he ran toward the staircase and up to his room. Hinawa sighed before standing up.
"So…..care to explain it to me?" Hinawa's gaze was centered on Claus. Claus crossed his arms and shot his head away from his mom.
"Pfft, I don't know what you're talking about," he scoffed.
"Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know, I know!" Kumatora excitedly said. Everyone's gaze turned toward her, but not Claus's. "Claus is salty and jealous that Lucas was having fun with a friend."
"I AM NOT JEALOUS!" Claus stomped on the ground. Hinawa just sympathetically sighed. She walked over to Claus. She placed a hand on his back.
"Hey, come on, we need to chat," Hinawa said. Claus's face grew down before he nodded his head. They walked over to the smaller living room. Flint, who was in that room due to having to leave the loud main room for the phone call, walked out of the house. Hinawa analyzed her son, and found that he really did feel jealous….but it wasn't just jealousy, it was also guilt. Hinawa kneeled down to be slightly shorter than Claus. "Hey, hun, why don't you like Lucas hanging out with other people?" Claus moved his head away from Hinawa.
"I-I don't not like it."
"I'm your mother. I make it my job to know when something is off." Claus started to shake his head, mainly to try and keep any tears from forming. Claus looked back at his mom.
"We've always been together…..with Kumatora and Duster….and I don't want to lose him." Hinawa heard the sadness in his voice, making her feel somewhat sad as well. She reached up to Claus's cheek and slightly rubbed it.
"And what if he ever gets a girlfriend, you know, trying to find a deeper happiness than his family could give."
"I don't…." Claus started to lose the battle against his tears. Hinawa saw a tear form in his left eye. She watched as that tear fell from his eye and slammed into the ground. "I don't want him too." Hinawa rubbed the cheek that was streaked with Claus's tear.
"You've gotta let your little brother flock his wings and fly. You shouldn't be there for him every waking second of his life." More tears started falling from his eyes.
"But…...but…..he's all I have….If I lose him then…...I have nothing." Hinawa saw the tears fall faster. Claus was draining himself with tears that he never cried out before. Claus sniffed before rubbing his eyes to try and get the tears away from his face. Hinawa sighed before grabbing the hand he was using as a wipe. She moved his hand down and saw a face from Claus that he never wore. Claus wasn't just sad, he was utterly depressed.
"That's not true, hun. I'm sure Lucas thought the same at one point, but now he has Kumatora, Duster, that TL kid, and whoever that other kid is. If he can go out and find other pillars, so can you." Hinawa placed her hand over Claus's heart. She felt the beating going faster than normal, due to the sadness no doubt. "You're supposed to be his older brother, it may only be by a few minutes, but that's not the point." This earned a little giggle out of Claus. "Anyway, you're supposed to be older, so he's going to look to you as a role model. He may not hang out with you as he used to, but he's still going to come to you for advice. Be that role model he needs. So try your best to allow Lucas to live his own life, and you can live your own." Claus sniffed.
"I…..I'll try…."
"That's all I can ask for." Hinawa removed her hand from Claus's chest. Before she could stand up, however, Claus pulled her into a tight hug.
"Thanks, mom." Hinawa rubbed Claus's back and held a happy smile.
"No worries, hun. And I'll always be here." Their hug was broken up by Flint's words from behind them. Hinawa stood up. "What did he say?" Flint pocketed the phone and smiled happily.
"He'll help us," Flint happily said.
Later that day, after dinner and some relaxation time, Lucas entered his room completely worn out. He collapsed on his bed and groaned into his pillow. He flopped around to his back and tapped on his chest to a beat he made up. "Dum Da…...Dum Da…..Dum Dum Da Da….Dum Dum Dum Dum Da…." Lucas hummed. He wasn't tired. He was worn out, but couldn't fall asleep. He sat up and saw his desk on the opposite side of his room. On this desk was his television, but to the side of that was his journal. He jumped from the bed and walked over to it. He sat at the desk, took the pencil out of the rings, and opened the journal. He started to write down everything that happened that day. Before he could finish though, something struck his window. He looked at the window he looked out before and saw another thing, which looked like a pebble, hit his window. Lucas placed the pencil down and walked over to the window. He opened it and got struck in the forehead with a pebble. "Ack…." Lucas rubbed his forehead. He looked where the pebble came from and saw Junior's window open, and Junior looking out of it.
"Hey, Asshat," Junior greeted.
"What was that for?" Lucas continued rubbing his slightly pained forehead.
"I didn't expect you to open the window after only 2…..in the movies it usually takes like 5."
"Well, this ain't a movie…." Lucas said, removing his hand from his forehead.
"Touche." Lucas groaned.
"What did you want anyway?"
"I saw that you entered your room and thought, 'hey, I wonder what this Asshat is doing' so now here we are." Lucas rested his head on the bottom of the window frame.
"What if I was asleep?"
"Were you?"
"...no….."
"Then all is good," Junior innocently smiled. This was when Lucas took a mental note of something he found odd. While Junior only had two relatively sharp teeth, one of them was chipped, which it wasn't when they first talked. "Say, what were you doing instead of sleeping?"
"I was writing in a journal," Lucas said, pointing back into his room with his thumb.
"How? It seems pretty dark in there," Junior asked.
"I've grown used to the darkness…...man, that sounds edgy," Lucas giggled. Junior copied the giggle but to a much more soft extent.
"Hey? You going to Smash High on Monday, right?"
"Yeah."
"I see….." Junior stepped away from the window and placed his hand on the window-which was raised up. "Fuck you, Asshat." Junior closed his window and covered it with a curtain. Lucas stepped back from his own window, confused.
What's his deal?
Lucas just shrugged before shutting his own window and walking back to the journal. He continued writing about how his day went, finishing with the event with Junior that just played out. He closed the journal and smiled. He started writing a title on the cover page. After he wrote the title, he stood up and analyzed it. He felt proud of it. He put the pencil back into the rings, yawned, then walked to his bed. He smiled, knowing he did well with his journal. The journal, "Lucas's Ultimatum" was only just beginning.
