A/N
No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks! School is over! Summer has begun, and believe me, it couldn't have started at a better time. Sorry about no updates this week, it was finals, so I was focused on getting my tests under control. But now I'm back and hoping to update on a much more regular basis.
Oh, and for anyone who wants to read the bios I put up of some of my characters, they're on my website, which you can access from my profile page.
"Has he come up with an answer yet?"
"I'm gonna have to ask him." He rubbed his eyes to get the sleepies out. He had ran around all night with the dogs, to learn more about tracking after everyone else had fallen asleep. Well, except for Mr. Logan. Sometimes he had to wonder if that guy ever slept. He supposed he could have asked Mr. Logan to help with tracking, but he'd probably make him eat bugs first.
He and the Professor were back in the original room where they had first tried to get answers from the little bat. Many of the others were still sleeping. Probably the first good sleep they had, since he had given all the stuff the saleslady gave to Mr. Wings. He now smelt like green cut grass, or whatever that stuff was.
Careful of his sheathed claws, he rested his chin into his hands and stared at the little bat on the table, who was busy cleaning bug wings from his teeth.
Your tracking game went well? Well?
(Un hunh. The Professor wants to ask you if you got any information.)
Yes. I did. I.
(That was quick. I thought it would take longer.)
The matter appears to have an urgent value. An urgent value.
(So what's going on?)
The balance teetered. The small beasts came and took. Took. But it was the large one that took your mother. Mother.
(Why?)
Small beasts come to cause destruction. Destruction. That is all.
(That's all you know?!)
No. I know much, now. Now. But what I know, it is of no business to the mutants. No business.
(But we need to know. Everyone's worried.)
So they should be. Be. But there will be no lost hope. Hails from another world speak of them. Them. We all forever watch them. Forever.
(But what do I tell the professor?)
Tell him it's no business of his. His. Many do well. Well. Some will return. Some may not.
(why?)
Why?
(Why are you being so cryptic? What's going on that's making everyone so tight lipped about the situation?)
The Morphos grow agitated. Morphos. Should they hear the call, all must prepare for the worst. Worst.
(What's so important about butterflies?)
No more I shall say. Say. Sleep beckons.
"Julian? You look disturbed." The Professor watched him closely.
"Umm…He just said that what happened to Mom and the others is none of your business. And he won't tell me, I think, because he thinks I'll tell you."
"Why is it none of my business? Did he say?"
"No. But he did say that a lot of them did well. And he said something about messages from another world."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Mr. Logan growled at the doorway.
"I believe it means that the students aren't on this world anymore. However, the messages that are moving between worlds are that of beasts. Logically, I think, we could call Danny."
It doesn't work that way for her, at least not yet. Yet.
"It doesn't work that way." He blurted out before he could stop to ask the bat what he had meant.
Both of the older mutants turned to look at him. He looked down at the floor. "That's what he said, anyway."
"Did he say anythin' else we should be aware of?"
"He said that we should be worried, but not to lose hope. But if the Morphos hear the call, we should prepare for the worst."
"What kind of a riddle is that?!" Mr. Logan growled.
They'll know when it happens.
"You'll know when it happens."
He sat in a tree, wondering what to do now. He had thoroughly bummed out the Professor, ticked off Mr. Logan with cryptic riddles, and Arcane had managed to miraculously disappear. Kurt and Jamie were just getting up, and wondering how to get breakfast without giving Mr. Logan the opportunity to exact the bug eating course upon them.
Doggy loped around the house and padded underneath his branch and looked up. He waved down to the large grey dog, who wagged his tail in response.
"I'm kinda hungry." He said to the big canine. The dog cocked its head to the side. "But I don't want to eat bugs."
The dog thought for a moment then picked up a stick that had fallen to the ground.
"I don't want to eat wood."
The dog growled at him. He had misunderstood. He tried to think about what a stick could do for food. Some monkeys used sticks to poke ant hills to eat ants, but he already told the large dog he didn't want to eat bugs, so that probably wasn't it.
"Umm…."
"Hey Julian!" Jaime and Kurt both ran over. "What are you doing?"
"Hanging out. Trying to figure out how a stick is going to get me food."
"Fishing! Mein gott, why didn't I think of zat before?"
"Oof." Doggy thwapped his tail on the ground, happy that someone had guessed it.
"Can you speak to fish, Julian?" Jaime asked curiously.
"Mom said it wasn't a good idea to speak to anything I'm thinking about eating." He leaped off the branch and took the stick that Doggy had offered him.
"No, I mean in general. Can you speak to water animals?"
"Sometimes. It all depends on who I speak to."
"What do you mean?" Jaime asked, following Doggy, who had strode off with purpose through the woods. Both he and Kurt followed.
"It's hard to talk to some, because they're really far down there. Like in the woods in the back of the Institute, there's this pond, and at the very bottom there's these little fish, and they're hard to talk to, because they're more interested in the bottom of the lake than they are about me. What about you, when you split up into other people, what does it feel like?"
"It feels like…uh….get back to me on that, kay?"
"Kay."
"Look! Zhe river! Shall we get some fishing done?" Kurt asked enthusiastically.
"We need to get some bait! It's a good thing Mr. Logan taught us how to find them, hunh guys?" Jaime asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, if we don't catch any fish we still have food." He returned mischeviously.
"Don't zay such things! The horror of it all, I'd rather eat ze dog."
Doggy growled at him and slunk off to hide from the sun in the shade of a leaning willow.
"Do you guys know how to fish? I don't. Mom said she'd teach me sometime."
"Uh…Kurt?"
"It's easy, there's nothing to it!" Kurt said full of enthusiasm.
"It's got my tail! Get eet off! Get eet off!" Kurt screamed as he clung to the tree branch, trying to kick a very large trout off his tail.
He had run into the river to catch his pole, after Jaime accidentally tripped and fell on him. While he was untangling his line (the string had been provided by Jaime, after they realized they needed some. It turned out Jaime kept a gob of string in his pockets.) his tail dipped below the water, and turned out to be the most effective bait they had.
He had teleported out of reflex, but that only made the fish bite harder to stay on, and now he and Jaime were watching the spectacle with open eyes.
"Give some slack then reel it in!" Jaime yelled after a minute. Two other Jaime's had taken the fishing poles and were trying to fish. He was pretty sure one of them said, 'I wish I had a tail, this would be easier.'
"Show that fish whose boss Kurt!" Jaime yelled again, really getting into it. Kurt glared at him furiously.
"Maybe we should help?" He asked the other boy.
"Naw, he looks like he's got it under control. Fishing is easy, remember?"
Hope you all liked it!
Asp: Yes, it does. Hope you liked this chapter!
PrincessOfWildfire: Oooh, Chocolate crackles, yummy. Thank you very much, I hope you like this chapter as well!
Arin Ross/Arain Rowan/Anee: Yes, they are very annoying. But at least Julian and Arcane prevailed, no? Glad you liked the last chapter, hope you liked this chapter as well.
Anon(girl) : But if you had a shocker, life would be pretty boring, 'cause you'd never get off track. But Pyro is a wonderful guy, even though he'd probably burn everything in the house. Tut. Ah well, nobody's perfect, hunh? Hope you like this chapter!
Raliena: I have drawn pictures of Julian myself, but I never got around to putting them n the net.
Laureate: Hope this chapter answers your questions. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and I hope you like this one too!
Kally will take the reviews today. And look! She's celebrating the end of school! I'm celebrating too!