Chapter 12
Back To The Island Part 1: Enter Marina
The storm cleared after hours and the dawn slowly painted the sky into a beautiful medley of dark purple, magenta, cotton candy pink, and a tangerine orange. The seagulls were squawking near the sea, and the ocean waves crashed peacefully onto a pile of washed-up seaweed and driftwood on an island shore. On top of the seaweed pile, lying on her stomach, was the unconscious Goldwing, Rachel.
She moaned, regaining consciousness. The young Goldwing slowly lifted herself up to her knees and rubbed the back of her neck, groaning in pain. Suddenly, Rachel felt something moving in the seaweed and then a furry blue head with yellow hair popped out from underneath. It was Shade! He was all tangled up in the seaweed, and he began coughing up the nasty salty sea water.
Rachel gasped and sighed in relief. "Shade!" She exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck, taking him by surprise with her embrace before she released him. "Oh, thank Nocturna! Are you alright?"
"Yeah." the young Silverwing groaned in pain, rubbing his head. "Though, I think I hit my head hard on something when we got blown off course."
Rachel placed her right hand on her head, as the painful memory of the sonic blast made him smack right into her. "Yeah, my head." she groaned, sarcastically.
All of a sudden, a faint clamping sound made their ears twitch. They cautiously scanned their surroundings, not knowing what was out there.
Shade called out nervously, "H-hello? Anybody?" No one replied. Then the two teens heard the clamping noise again. It was coming from behind a large boulder. Raising an eyebrow, Shade tried calling out again. "Hello?"
Still unable to see what was behind the boulder, both he and Rachel used their echolocation to try and find out what it was. The echoes bounced to reveal a crab crawling out from behind the rock, snapping its pincers. Then two more crabs appeared and they all looked very territorial.
As the three crabs approached the two young bats, Rachel could sense that they were getting very, very hostile. She and Shade both gasped and flinched back out of fear, as the crabs began snapping their painful-looking pinchers at them.
Rachel took off into the air, grabbed Shade by his mane with her feet, and tried to pull him out of the tangled seaweed in an attempt to save him. "Whoa! Hey come on!" Shade cried out. The crabs missed and cut the seaweed instead of the Silverwing. Once Shade was finally free, both he and Rachel quickly flew straight into the woods to find shelter.
The two young bats tried taking shelter in some nearby bushes, but a pair of glowing red eyes growled at them and the teens took off in the opposite direction with fear. Shade and Rachel tried to hide in a hole in a nearby tree, but another hostile animal living in there scared them away with a ferocious growl.
Lost and scared, the two young bats kept on flying around in their desperate search for shelter before the sun rose up. Then an old abandoned longhouse caught the corner of Rachel's right eye. She was about to tell Shade to turn right when they both accidentally flew right into a totem pole.
Quickly shaking off the pain, the Goldwing gestured to him and shouted, "Shade, over there! Head for that old hut!" They quickly flew past the other totem poles, speeding towards the abandoned longhouse. Shade looked over his shoulder to see the sun rising fast, forcing him to fly faster. The two teens managed to slip through a crack into the old hut, just before the sunlight hit Rachel's gold-dusted wings. As they entered inside, they flew over to a nearby rope that was dangling from one pole to the other, and roosted on it.
Steadying her heart, Rachel joked "Well… that was fun."
Shade couldn't help but chuckle by that remark, but then he turned his attention to the inside of the longhouse. "W-where… are we?" he asked, stuttering.
"I… I-I don't know." Rachel stammered.
Shade and Rachel scanned around the old hunt and saw but some worn-out ropes, a couple old woven baskets, and a few pots on the ground. Noticing no sign of any real danger, Rachel continued to speak. "At least we have shelter for the day. Once the sun is down, we'll eat and then catch up with the Silverwings. They'll probably be roosting too. Hopefully, they're not far." She yawned as she wrapped herself in her wings and went right to sleep.
Shade, however, was beginning to have second thoughts about going back to his colony, especially after everything that has happened. He blamed himself for breaking that stupid law and for the owls burning down Tree Haven. Even though he made Rachel a promise to help her be more experienced, his doubts were swallowing up his confidence, and triggering thoughts that the Silverwings were probably better off without him. After a few brief moments of despair, the little Silverwing joined his friend as he let out a big yawn. He scooted over to Rachel before he wrapped himself in his wings. Then, with a sad sigh, he fell right to sleep.
Meanwhile, back in the conservatory, the large carnivorous bat put his escape plan into action. He flew up to the air vent of his jungle-like prison and began to easily cut around the vent's edges with his razor sharp claw, like a thin piece of paper. With his amazing strength, he pried open the shaft, dropping it on the ground with concrete crumbs flying everywhere. Chuckling darkly, the carnivorous bat and his partner quickly slipped through the ventilation system, as they began their journey to their freedom.
Back on the island, the sun finally set and Rachel was the first to wake up. She gave out a big yawn and stretched out her arms to remove the sleepiness from her body. She then turned to Shade who was waking up as well. As he rubbed his eyes, Rachel couldn't help but feel like something or someone was staring at them. She suddenly caught the scent of another animal and sniffed the air to make doubly sure, before she alerted Shade.
"Shade… " she whispered to him, shaking his right shoulder, "... I don't think we're alone."
Whoever, or whatever it was quickly hid behind a nearby pole, before Shade could catch a glimpse of it. Rachel used her echolocation to try and identify the mysterious figure. Then the figure used its echolocation back at her in response. 'It's another bat!' She thought as her eyes lit up in realization. Then she began to wonder, 'Could it be one of the Silverwings?', while she tried to sniff the stalking bat.
Shade decided to help Rachel and scanned around the room. Then he used his echolocation on the old pot, hoping the other bat was there. He and Rachel looked and saw another young bat staring right back at them… and up close! Unknown to Shade and Rachel, the bat was a female Brightwing.
Startled, the two best friends screamed, "Gah!" as the Goldwing held tightly onto Shade's arm. Then the Brightwing screamed and hid behind the wooden beam again, before cautiously poking its head out, revealing her appearance: beige fur, a light brown mane, bright orange wings, long blonde hair, and light green eyes.
"Gee, you're like a bat… " She said to the Silverwing, curiously, "... only smaller." She then turned to Rachel in astonishment, "And you… well I've never actually seen a bat with gold-dusted wings like you before."
Shade uncovered his eyes with his wings, while his friend still held onto his arm. "W-who are you?" He asked the strange bat.
"Not so fast! I ask the questions around here." She snapped at him, distrustfully. Apparently, she doesn't take kindly to strangers. She then demanded, "What's your name?"
"Shade… and this is Rachel." he answered as the Goldwing let go of his arm, and they both climbed closer over to the Brightwing. "What's yours?"
Ignoring his question, she continued to ask while she was still wearing a distrustful glare. "And what do you two think you're doing on my island?"
"We got separated from his colony." Rachel replied. "We were caught in a major storm last night and we-"
"What's wrong with your fur?" Shade interrupted, as he noticed the other bat's appearance.
"Shade!" Rachel shushed him, "Don't be rude."
The Brightwing looked at herself in confusion. "Wrong? What do you mean? I-There is nothing wrong with my fur!" She huffed, feeling a little offended and placed her right hand on her hip.
"It's all… light." The Silverwing explained.
The female bat rolled her eyes and chortled. "Ha! Small and clueless. I'm a Brightwing, of course." Then she flew down and landed on an old netted hammock full of junk. Shade and Rachel joined her.
"I didn't know there were other kinds of bats." Shade admitted, with astonishment and curiosity written all over his face.
"Where have you been living? Under a rock?" The Brightwing joked.
"No!" Shade turned his eyes away and muttered, "In a tree." Then Rachel smacked him hard in the back of the head with her right hand. "Ow! Whatcha do that for?!" He groaned, rubbing his head.
She furrowed her eyes at him, looking rather annoyed. "Seriously Shade? After meeting her, you didn't know that there were other kinds of bats? And what am I, a shrew? What's the matter with you?"
"I, uh… hehe… guess I didn't think that. My bad," his cheeks sheepishly turned red.
Then the Brightwing turned to Rachel, curiously. "Say… speaking of 'other kinds of bats', what sort of bat are you?"
"What? Isn't it obvious?" she joked. Then she introduced herself with a slight bow and her right hand over her chest, "I'm a Goldwing. Rachel Goldwing."
"Oh! I get it. It's because of the gold dust in your wings, right?"
"No, but I have been getting that a lot recently."
"Really?"
"Yep. In fact, back when I first met Shade and his colony, they had never even heard of my species."
"Huh," was all that the Brightwing could say, as things were starting to get interesting. Curious to know more about these two bats, she turned to Shade and asked "So… how did you get separated from your colony? Did they… um… banish you? Was it because of your friend here?"
His eyes widened at her question, "W-what?! No! W-we were blown off course!" He exclaimed.
"Really? Sure your wings just weren't big enough to keep you on course?" The Brightwing grinned at him teasingly, while she spread open her wings, not believing him one bit.
"Ooh, bad move." Rachel winced, knowing how sensitive Shade was about his size.
Shade furrowed his brows at the Brightwing's little remark. "I don't need this. C'mon Rachel, we're outta here." He growled and turned away, taking off towards the same way they came in.
"Sorry about him. He's very sensitive about his size. I should know, I learned that the hard way." Rachel whispered to the Brightwing before catching up with her friend.
The two friends were heading towards the hole, but the Brightwing blocked their way before they could slip through. "Hey where do you two think you're going?"
"Anywhere you aren't." Shade retorted, still a little offended by her earlier remark.
"I better show you guys around the island, just so you know where my territory is." she suggested before she slipped through the exit.
"Don't do me any favors." He muttered.
Rachel gave him a reassuring smirk and giggled. "Ahh, c'mon Shade. She's just being friendly in her own way. Just give her a chance and who knows… maybe you'll come to like her."
"Me? Liking her? Yeah right." He scoffed in annoyance.
"Well why not? You gave me a chance, back when we first met at the campsite. Remember?" She smirked.
"That was different, Rachel. You were new to the Northern forest and I almost left you behind to fend for yourself." He protested.
Rachel shook her head. "Shade, don't you see her predicament? I don't think she's ever had anyone else here on the island. She's lonely. I know that feeling."
Suddenly, the Brightwing came back with a smirk and made him jerk back with a surprised gasp. She obviously had heard his muttering. "Hey, c'mon you slowpokes. What's the hold up? Let's go. Oh… and by the way, my name's Marina."
'Marina, huh?' Rachel thought, 'What a pretty name.'
From that moment, Marina Brightwing led Shade and Rachel out of the old hut and began the grand tour of her territory. Along the way, Rachel couldn't help but sense that there was a lot of loneliness and despair within Marina's heart. She began to wonder what the Brightwing meant when she asked Shade if he was banished because of her.
'Was Marina banished from her own colony for some strange reason?' She thought, 'Was she treated like an outcast?' Rachel did not know the actual cause of Marina's predicament, but what she did know… was that she and new friend were a lot more similar than they could possibly imagine.
Goldwing16's Note(s):
Hiya Guys! Here is Chapter 12!
Fun Facts:
1. Now when I first wrote this chapter, I divided it into two parts because at the time, I was trying to make my chapters no more than 10 or 12 pages. Plus I did not want to use too much ink when printing out my chapters.
2. In the beginning of this chapter, I used a little reference from one my favorite childhood movies: Balto.
Stay tuned for Chapter 13!