Ukiyo
Chapter One: Winter
TRAINING INTRODUCTION
Dina's claws tightened around Hammerface's fingers as he and Clip walked her down the path. She was trying her best to avoid cracks in the sidewalk as they went, and had taken to jumping over every panel they stepped on. Upon sensing his daughter's feet leave the ground again, Hammerface gently raised his hand to help her clear the crack she'd lept over.
Clip however, wasn't as enthusiastic about Dina's eagerness, "Oh, Dina, sweetie-I can't reach that far!" She exclaimed as she was yanked forward, "Can you take smaller jumps please?"
"Sorry mom!" Dina said, pausing as Clip steadied herself, "I didn't see ya back there."
"It's alright, just know for next time. I'm not big like your father."
Hammerface smiled at his partner's comment, "She's just excited Clip, that's all."
"Well of course. This is her first day of training..."
Dina's face lit up at her mother's words; she'd been losing sleep over getting to train with Deforestator at his woodworking and lumber store-it was something she'd been looking forward to ever since he'd agreed to teach her. It'd be her first time getting to properly train with a later series, and to say she was excited was an understatement.
"Do you think I'm gonna get to take anything back? Or is he gonna show me how to do that spinny thing he does with his claws-or-nah-I don't have that power…still though! I wanna make something like-like-"
Dina's fluffy head tilted to the side as the front of the 5-series' shop came into view, immediately spotting something to hinge her goal on. "Somethin' like that!"
She yanked her-and Hammerface's-hands forward to point at a small statue in the shop window as they approached. Hammerface and Clip looked between each other and a delicately made sculpture of a bird sitting amongst a side table and a bookcase. It was far above her skill level-what little there was of it, and although all of them knew this, Hammerface could still feel Dina's excitement as she jumped up and down in between them.
"Well, give it enough time and you'll make one of your own Dina." He said, and she grinned upon hearing his encouragement, "I hope that's soon-isn't Christmas coming up?"
"It is, but we'll be happy no matter what you come up with." Clip said, "You're just starting out Dina; try to not bite off more than you can chew, okay?"
Dina nodded as Hammerface gently untangled his hand from her claws and pushed the door open to let her and Clip inside, "'kay Mom; I'll try!"
"Aloha Deforestator! We're here to drop off our Dust Bunny." Clip said as they entered. Deforestator looked up from the front desk and waved at the family, carefully placing a small bear sculpture in its place next to the cash register. "Hey! I'm glad you could all make it; thanks for letting her train with me."
"It's no problem. If anything we should be thanking you for agreeing." Hammerface said, "She's so excited she's been leading the charge the whole way over."
"Really?" Deforestator asked, and Dina nodded, "Yeah! Also it's my first time getting to carve stuff so…"
"Well, not yet." Deforestator corrected, "It's only your first day Dina; I was thinking you could etch something before moving up to that."
"Oh…okay." Dina's face fell, but only for a moment as Hammerface's hand went to her shoulder, "Dina…this is still something."
She nodded, "But I've been practicing with 'em for a whole week. I thought I was gonna get to carve today."
"We know honey, but think of it as getting to show him where you are right now." Clip explained, "Once he knows that, I'm sure he'll let you carve something of your own."
"Is that the plan?" She asked Deforestator. He nodded in confirmation, "Yup; it's just so I know where you are. Once that's out of the way, I'll teach you how to carve."
"Is that okay Dina?" He asked, bending down to her level, "I promise you'll get a wood block to practice with."
"...Can it be after when I finish today?" Dina asked. When she was met with raised eyebrows, she explained further, "I can just etch on there if you don't think I'm ready yet."
Deforestator exchanged glances with Hammerface and Clip before the latter sighed, "...What do you two think?"
"This is…quite a loophole. You're sneaky." Deforestator crossed his arms at Dina before making his decision, "Fine; I'll give you a block to take home. Do what you will with it, but you have to bring it back so we can look at it together, okay?"
Dina beamed and nodded, "Okay!"
"Hammer, how about you? You want her to have homework?" Clip asked, casting her partner a sly grin. Hammerface shrugged, "Just as long as she cleans up the sawdust."
"That answers that then." Clip said before turning back to Dina and ruffling the top of her head, "We'll be back in an hour, okay? Don't give him too hard of a time."
"You say that like she'll be fighting him Clip…" Hammerface said, shaking his head as he gave his daughter a quick hug, "Anyways…do your best, okay Dina? We'll get you some lunch on our way back."
She returned the hug and nodded, "Uh-huh. Thank you Dad."
Hammerface felt Clip's arm go around his back as the two walked away from the store, turning down the path towards the coffee shop, "I noticed you weren't your jumpy self this time around." She mused, "What changed?"
"Aside from the obvious." She added just as quickly upon seeing him open his mouth to answer. Hammerface closed it and snorted at his partner's correction, "I have a feeling she'll be just as bad as Squeak when she gets home."
"You and me both. Wanna grab a coffee while we have an hour of quiet?"
"Sure."
THE NINTH EXPERIMENT
Hunkahunka wished he wasn't so small. That or that he had X-Ray vision. At the moment, he was perched on a stand inside the Kauai lab, watching in worry as Jumba carefully picked at the tiny cracks in the light pink egg quivering on the table.
His son was…not quite strong enough to break from his egg. He'd been trying for a while to pick at the final crack, and while his chirping had never ceased, it had gotten more and more desperate as time went on. Jumba, Sango, and Joules had decided enough was enough, and the former had gotten right to work on helping his tenth "grandchild" out of the egg he'd been developing in for the past few weeks.
The latter two sat with him in tense silence, Sango readying a pair of tweezers in case she was called to help. Thankfully, she didn't need to; Hunkahunka craned his neck as the chirping abruptly increased in volume and his creator slowly breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back to the three experiments and carefully removed his goggles, gesturing to what appeared to be a pink wad of gum with a beak sitting in the remains of the shell.
"Hooo boy. Was not expecting this." Jumba said, rubbing his eyes, "010.2 is being free. 323, I will be leaving rest to you, I cannot be cleaning him off in his state."
"Oh thank gods. Thank you so much Jumba." Hunkahunka said, flitting down next to his newly-hatched son, "I don't know what happened to make him get stuck like that."
Jumba shrugged, "You are being welcome 323. I'm unsure about conditions of hatching. I may have a look at vats after this. Recalibrate them; this was first egg they produced, and if there's to be more, we cannot be having incidents like this in future."
Hunkahunka nodded, "Yeah…I hope this is the only time we're gonna have to deal with this…"
A "peep" distracted him from his worries, and Hunkahunka turned his attention back to his son. He'd raised his head to stare at him, his down already starting to dry in the lab's air. Like his egg, it was a pale baby pink, matching up with the slightly darker coral of his beak. Now that he was out of his egg, he was reviving fast, pressing up against Hunkahunka's side and gazing up at him with a mirror of his gold-tinted eyes.
Hunkahunka smiled, "Hi Liko. You scared us for a bit there. Are you feeling better?"
Liko's response was to tilt his head and chirp, causing Hunkahunka to nod in agreement and carefully sit down next to him, "Good to hear; you hungry like your past nine cousins were?"
As if on command, a tiny dish filled with sugar water was placed next to the two. Hunkahunka mouthed a "Thanks" to Sango and she smiled, bowing out as Liko stretched his beak towards the drink in curiosity.
"Go ahead, I've got you." He assured, letting his son inch forward to take a sip from the dish.
Liko ate…worryingly little for a new experiment; even if he was first bird member created, Hunkahunka…got a feeling he would be the last. At least, not until the vats were recalibrated. He wasn't taking any chances either way.
It took upwards of thirty minutes for Liko to finish the water inside the dish, taking frequent breaks to shake out his down and preen himself. Hunkahunka assisted him during said breaks, careful to not accidentally peck him in the process. They were both immune to the chemical in each other's beaks, but he still couldn't help but be careful…unlike his son, who jabbed him several times trying to return the favor.
"...Alright. I know you're trying to be nice, but-" Hunkahunka gently parried another jab from Liko's beak as though it were a sword, "Lee, come on…"
"Wanna do the rest if you're going to try stabbing me?" He asked, and was answered by Liko ruffling his down and nuzzling against his chest.
Hunkahunka smiled and rested his chin on top of his son's head, "Okay, okay. Thanks Liko."
"You'll get the hang of it eventually." He concluded, wrapping a wing around him and drawing him close.
They'd be staying at the house for a bit, he could tell; Liko couldn't fly, and he had no energy to carry him home. Liko peered at Jumba in curiosity as he and Sango prepped a temporary shelter for him and his father, glancing between them and Hunkahunka before sighing and leaning against his father's side. Hunkahunka repositioned his feet on the table and closed his eyes. He couldn't sleep-if he did he was heading straight into torpor, but he was absolutely going to rest his eyes until they were done.
SICK DAYS
The sound of a baby crying roused Heat from his sleep…for the tenth time in a row that day. Or was it the eleventh? Either way…he couldn't afford to feel as fatigued as he was.
Today was a sick day. He could tell. He wasn't sure what caused it; maybe he'd given Minerva too much energy, maybe she'd stolen too much from him, maybe he hadn't been paying attention to his levels over the past week…who knew. The point was, he was exhausted and not from a lack of sleep.
He had to call someone. Anyone. But first…he had his youngest to take care of. Heat pushed himself up and scooted towards his daughter, who'd graduated from crying to attempting to slap him in the face with her upper set of arms from the depths of her bedside sleeper.
"It's okay Minnie, I'll feed you-" He paused in unease upon seeing her eyes.
They were glowing yellow along with the bulbs on her head. Again.
Heat grimaced. They were both having a sick day. "Oh no…"
"Don't worry, I've got your stuff right here Min." He coaxed her into a sitting position with one set of arms and fumbled for two things with the other; one was his phone, the other was held in an icebox set up next to their bedside.
"Got it." He felt his fingers close around a freezing cold bottle and brought it out, squinting at the label as his final hand brought his phone over. "Just give me one moment, 'kay Minnie?"
Her response was a loud snarl, prompting him to take the cap off the bottle and pour what looked like light blue Gatorade into the cup that'd come with it.
Minerva by this point knew what this was, so he didn't need to tell her to open her mouth…or do much of anything, really. All he had to do was bring the cup near his daughter before she grabbed and downed the entire supply of medicine in one gulp-to the point where Heat had to grab the cup to prevent Minerva from swallowing it along with the rest of her dose, "Min-geez!"
"You really do have Kixx's memory, huh?" He asked, hugging Minerva close as she buried her face in his fur, "Just wish you didn't learn you could get away with eating plastic…"
He carefully placed the crumpled cup in a bag that'd been set up next to the icebox; it was nearly full again, and he'd have to take it to the lab for replacements soon. Minerva's rapid growth spurts were consistent with her time inside the vat, and while they seemed to be lessening in severity as time went on, the discomfort they brought with them remained. The medicine she'd been sent home with was to try and prevent said discomfort, and Heat was relieved to see it was still doing the job well enough.
Minerva slowly recovered as Heat placed the bottle back in its icebox, lifting her head out of his chest and peering at his phone as he brought it in front of him and unlocked it. Heat couldn't help but notice her sneer at the new lockscreen; a picture of her when she was fresh from the Kauai vat. He snorted in amusement, "That's you Minnow! Why're you so mad? Do you think you're seeing your clone?"
She glanced up at him, but only for a moment, her gaze traveling right back to his screen as Heat brought up his contact list. He sighed, "Right. Gotta call one of your uncles again Minnie. I'm sorry."
It took a few rings before Hammerface picked up the phone, Minerva cocking her head at the sound of her uncle's voice through the speaker.
"Heat? Is it another one of those days?"
"Yeah…Joules is on a mission and I can barely get out of bed. Is Dina training or…?"
"I just dropped her off. I'll call Bonnie and tell her to take care of pickup."
"Thanks." Heat hung up just in time for Minerva to not only try and add her own input in the form of a scream, but smack one of her upper hands flat onto the phone's surface and nearly crush it in the process. Heat gave her a slow nod as he carefully removed her fingers from the screen, holding her to him as he shakily stood up.
She wasn't the only person he needed to take care of.
Opening the door revealed the other three kids staring up at him in worry. They'd evidently been eavesdropping again, Hiroki even reaching up to try and take Minerva from him upon seeing them.
Heat shook his head, "Guys, it's alright. Uncle Hammer's coming over for the day."
"What about you though?" Lucy asked, "I can boil you some coffee or bring the heating pad if you want."
"Lucy, I'll be okay; you don't need to do that." Heat assured, gently ruffling the top of her head. It didn't seem to work, as Lucy only huffed and stepped forward to hug him, "You sound so bad though."
He sighed, "Yeah…"
"Look. I know I sound sick. But…it's not my first time. I know how to work with it, believe me." He explained, "I'll handle myself. If you're really worried, I'll sit downstairs on the couch. How's that?"
The three looked to each other before nodding in agreement, "Okay Daddy." Leilani said, "We're still gonna make you hot chocolate though-we'll put in a lot of sugar so you'll get more energy."
"Well, okay. Just make sure you let Lucy handle the milk then." Heat cautioned, letting Hiroki take him by his free hand as the siblings led him down the hallway.
Hammerface seemed surprised to see him when Hiroki opened the door to let him in, but Heat simply shrugged from the couch. In his absence, his kids had helped themselves to bowls of cereal and toast, causing their uncle to raise a concerned eyebrow and immediately head into the kitchen to make more food.
"Sorry Hammer. They're not handling the stove just yet." Heat explained, and the 0-series nodded in acknowledgment as he poked his head out from the room, "Understandable, the scene just looked a bit scary when I came in."
"That is why I called you…" Heat said, yawning as a curious Minerva peered out from the rim of her play pen, "Thanks for coming on short notice by the way."
"No problem. You and Kixx have the same situation as Clip and I, so I know the feeling." Hammerface said, "Just sit tight on the couch; I'll see what I can work with while it's still early enough."
Heat nodded and turned over onto his side. Minerva let out a curious whine and reached for his ear, causing Heat to immediately flick it away and under his head as she tried to grab it, "Aw. Min. Please don't do that."
Her only response was to pinch his nose. Heat raised an eyebrow and sighed, reaching over to sacrifice his finger instead. She squeezed it so tight that he felt one of the joints pop and winced, "You're lucky I've got gummy worm bones Minnie. And that Kixx has super strength."
She took her fist away from his finger and laughed, banging her upper set of arms on the rim of her pen. Hiroki and Lucy nodded sagely as Leilani flipped through Netflix's family section, "That's cool Minnie. Wanna watch somethin' with us or are you gonna torment Dad some more?" Hiroki asked. Minerva gazed at him in interest before the screen caught her attention. Heat nodded a thanks to his son as he and Lucy gently coaxed their sister over to them, closing his eyes as Leilani found the movie she'd been searching for.