Summary: Ever wonder what kind of trouble the FFVIII gang got themselves into when they were kids? Well here's a humorous collection of the adventures and mishaps that the Orphanage Gang had when they were little. Companion piece to A Picnic and Playful Banter.
(A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the prologue; I really appreciate it!)
CHAPTER ONE: WHY SKUNKS DON'T MAKE GOOD PETS
"What's that?" asked a curious Zell, gazing off into the distance where he had just seen a black and white something sneak off into the bushes, which were still rustling as the animal, presumably, made its way along.
Selphie, who happened to be on safari with Zell, glanced to where his outstretched hand was pointed, but could only see the moving bush, "It's a magic bush!" she exclaimed joyously, her eyes filling with wonder.
"No it's not!" Zell cried from where he was crouching next to her, frowning at Selphie's unhelpful remark. "It's an animamal," he corrected her seriously. "Let's go see what it's doing."
Selphie seemed to be up for it, so they snuck as quietly as possible through the underbrush and towards the 'animamal.'
"What if it's a lion!" Selphie whispered harshly, her voice marked by fear and her eyes wide. She paused in her trek, seemingly reluctant to go any further.
"It's not a lion," Zell proclaimed, quite certain of himself. "It's something black and white; I saw it when it went into the bushes."
"I know; it's a zebra!" Selphie remarked enthusiastically, continuing on the safari now that she knew that what they were chasing wasn't anything scary.
"I don't know, Sephie," Zell replied uncertainly, "It looked too small to be a zebra."
"Well then, it's a baby zebra, silly!" Selphie explained, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Zell pondered this for a moment, chewing on his lip as he contemplated. "Yeah, I guess you're right, Sephie. Maybe it is a baby zebra."
"See, Zelly, I told you I was right," Selphie emphasized, shaking her head at the thought that she could have possibly been wrong, making her pigtails sway back and forth. "Maybe we should get a leash for Zeebee for when we catch him," Selphie commented, thinking of how cool having a pet zebra would be.
"Zeebee?" Zell questioned her. "What's a Zeebee?"
"That's the baby zebra's name, of course," Selphie replied in exasperation, "I'm going to go back to the house and get a leash for Zeebee. I'll be real quick, though, okay?"
Zell nodded his compliance, though slightly annoyed that Selphie was going to delay the hunt. After Selphie had run off, though, Zell began to think of how much better it would be if he (and he alone) caught the wild zebra; all the rest of the kids would think he was the coolest.
'Sephie just said she was going to go back inside, she never said I had to wait for her,' Zell thought, finding an excuse to continue without his safari buddy. 'I'll go catch Zeebee and then Selphie can come back and leash him.'
Now that that was settled, Zell decided to continue on his chase. He made his way over to where the bushes were rustling, taking a peek behind them before daring to step into the undergrowth.
He spotted a black and white tail sticking up in front of him and although it didn't look like it belonged to any zebra that he had seen, his conclusion was that baby zebras must look different, and so with that he plunged toward his pray, his hands outstretched so that he could grab it before it ran off.
But instead of catching a hold of the 'zebra,' all he got was a face full of some sort of liquid, a disgusting smelling liquid at that.
It was at this moment that Selphie came running back with a small ball of yarn in hand, which was apparently the 'leash' she had gone back to the house to get. Upon coming within 30 yards of Zell, she stopped dead in her tracks, hastily covering her nose with the hand not being used to hold the yarn.
"Eww...something smells yucky!" she proclaimed, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
Wiping off his face as best he could with his shirt, Zell attempted to explain to Selphie what had happened. "I...I tried to catch Zeebee and...and he sprayed me in me face and now I smell all bad and I'm all wet and...and..." Zell managed to say before breaking out into a sob.
"I'm gonna go get Matron," Selphie replied, before hurriedly running back in the direction of the house from where she'd just come.
Matron arrived on the scene shortly afterwards, with Selphie following and trying to explain what had happened. After spotting Zell and smelling the stench that seemed to be radiating from him, she promptly shook her head in despair.
"Selphie, can you go back inside the house please and tell Uncle Cid what happened?" she directed to the small, revolted looking child behind her. Selphie nodded her head up and down before running away as fast as she could. "Oh Zell...however did you manage to get sprayed by a skunk, and in the face no less, if what Selphie told me is to be believed?" she asked, shaking her head sadly.
"Are you mad at me?" Zell asked pitifully, his bottom lip beginning to tremble as a sob threatened to break loose again.
"No, I'm not mad at you," Matron hastily assured the poor child, "We just need to get you cleaned up. Let's see, what is it you're supposed to do to get the skunk smell off?...I think I'm going to need to bathe you in tomato juice, okay Zell?"
Zell shook his head in resignation, willing to do just about anything so long as it got rid of the awful smell.
"Okay, get up and follow me," Matron ordered, making her way back to the house as Zell followed, head hung low. "Now I want you to strip off your clothes and sit in this metal basin outside here. I'm going to bathe you out here because I don't want the smell to get in the house. Now I've got to go get the tomato juice and a couple of other things, but I'll be right back."
With that said she turned toward the back door of the house and went inside, the screen door closing with a clack behind her.
Zell began to strip off the smelly clothes, tossing them haphazardly upon the ground as he did so. It was then that he saw Selphie, along with the rest of the children peering curiously at him from where they had been playing on the grass right outside of the house, their noses plugged as they tried to keep from smelling the odor that was coming from Zell.
Although Zell couldn't hear her from where he was standing, he could tell by the way that Selphie was talking a mile per minute while making extravagant hand gestures in his direction, with the rest of the children paying rapt attention to everything that she said, that Selphie was telling the story of what had happened to him.
'Stupid Sephie, I should have waited until she got back, then she would have gotten all smelly too,' Zell thought angrily, stepping into the cold metal basin Matron had told him he was to get bathed in, now that he had gotten all of his clothes off.
Matron came back then, a large pitcher of tomato juice, some soap and shampoo, a couple of towels, a garbage bag, and a new set of clothes in hand. "Do you think you could do me a favor, Zell?" she asked pleadingly, trying not to look too sickened by the smell for Zell's sake.
"Okay, Matron," Zell replied obediently, wondering what it was that she could possibly want.
"I want you to pick up all of the clothes that you just took off and put them in this garbage bag here. Do you think that you can do that for me?" Matron asked Zell, holding out the plastic garbage bag.
Zell nodded his head vigorously, before snatching the garbage bag and stepping out of the metal tub, which he was glad to get out of considering the fact that the metal had been quite cold on his bare skin. He quickly went around picking up his discarded clothes and dropping each of them in the bag before returning it to Matron, who placed it aside (very, very far aside) for the time being.
Motioning for Zell to step back into the basin, she grabbed the tomato juice and began to pour it over his skin, telling him to make sure and rub it over him real well to get rid of the smell.
After using up all of the tomato juice, she used the soap and shampoo to wash him some more, using the hose to rinse him off before handing him the towels. After Zell had dried himself off, he was given the clean clothes, which he hurriedly dawned before being told to run along and play.
But unfortunately the tomato juice hadn't quite gotten rid of all of the smell and none of the other children would play with him, which continued for the next couple of days as did Zell's being forced to sleep on the porch. Needless to say, Zell learned a lesson that day that he'll never forget: Skunks don't make very good pets.
Author's Note: First off, I'd like to mention that this is a companion piece of sorts to A Picnic and Playful Banter, one of my other FFVIII works. Some of the stories that will be written in this fic will be mentioned or referred to in APaPB. So check out my other fic, it takes place after the game ends. Secondly, I just wanted to say that although I don't know how often I'll be able to update, but I will finish this story; I am determined to. I have it all planned out already; there are going to be eight chapters total, one chapter for a story centered around each of the six kids along with a prologue and epilogue. Lastly, I'd just like to say that I hope you like this story so far; if you did, then please let me know and I'll try and update faster.