(Note: I'm going to be away for two weeks, starting Friday, so I might not get around to making another chapter before then. I hope this keeps you until I get back!)
Miro's Log
Date: Unknown. Sometime in the early Summer. Y'think I'd remember, the months are only 10 damn days long.
Location: Forest
We've spent the last few hours of the early day walking through some weatherbeaten path that we found off the main road. The trees are all over the place here... then again, it's a forest and that's to be expected. Anna told us that this pathway gave her 'good feelings' as to finding out the mystery of the place her father spoke of. She said simply to trust her. Ricca agrees with all of this, so it may not be complete made-up crap. Our supplies are... quite good, actually, never mind. We managed to bring every last bar from that chocolate pile with us by using the trap net, but I almost feel sorry for Matthew...
That reminded Miro to check behind him and see if Matthew was lagging behind.
"You okay back there, Matt?" Miro asks him.
"...PEACHY." Matthew says with every possible hint of sarcasm. He did, indeed, have the right to be in such a bad mood. On his back he carried along the entire mound of chocolate by means of the net he was trapped in earlier. They were bringing it along for the simple fact that it was, indeed, a pile of chocolate and far too precious to simply leave behind.
"Okay, then." Miro says, shrugging. "I was gonna help out, but if you say you're doing okay..." He's suddenly struck from behind by a wayward chocolate bar.
"Oww!" He says. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I wasn't actually gonna help!"
"Quiet." Ricca suddenly says from in front of the two. "Do you hear that?"
Miro listens for a second.
"Sounds like... water. Must be a river nearby."
"Perfect!" Anna, in front of the other three, exclaims. "I knew that we'd find one!"
"What's so great about a river?" Matthew asks, breathing heavily due to his massive load.
"It means that if we follow it we'll know what direction we're going, first of all." Ricca says. "So we won't get lost and we can find our way out of these trees."
"We could've done that by following the path..." Miro sighs.
Once they had reached the river, they decided to take a short rest near it's banks. This was to the relief of Matthew, who gladly put down his burden with a booming thud. The river was small, more of a stream, about 15 meters across. Everyone sat down, took a chocolate bar and rested.
"Okay, let's go." Ricca and Miro both say. When they noticed, they both looked at each other coldly. It seems that they were both still silently arguing for the position of leader. The group stood up and took their bags, to the displeasure of Matthew, but before they were about to set off again, they heard a faint noise coming down the river.
"What's that?" Matthew asks. Everyone else stood there, listening and watching for whatever it was. When it got closer, the sound could be determined. It was a voice, a female voice, singing. The words were clear by the time the person was in sight. Drifting down the river in a large inner tube was a near middle-aged woman with orange-red hair tied in one ponytail. The same shade of red as the non-dyed streaks in Anna's hair. She also wore overalls and a yellow T-shirt. The whole group could hear the song.
"-We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me!
We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
Maraud and embezzle and even hijack.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me!-"
Miro was the first to speak after an awkward silence.
"...Is she mixing her meds or something?"
"It looks like it." Matthew says. "That's Bodigizer overdose there. She must've gotten tired and took a dozen too many bottles to perk herself back up."
"She has a habit of not reading the medicine labels..." Anna mumbles. Miro turns to look at her.
"You know her?" He asks.
"Yes..." Anna says, not currently proud of it.
The woman turns her attention in their direction, seeing them for the first time. She stops singing and waves her arms in their direction.
"Anna! Anna!" She yells, trying to paddle in their direction. Finally, she gives up on it and jumps into the water, swimming to them. When she reached the shore she runs up to Anna, smiling.
"Anna, I found you! And I found her! And both of you found him! And he found him!" She says. "Are you okay? Are your eyes puffy, were the bugs too bad, do you feel dehydrated, are you broken?"
"Mom!" Anna yells, shutting her up. "I'm fine, everyone's fine, but YOU took too much Bodigizer!"
"Hmm, you're right." The woman says, scratching her chin. "I have a pill for when that happens, but... I lost it! So too bad for me! Now, c'mon Anna, I'm taking you all back to the town with those nice doctors!"
"No, you're not." Anna says. "One of us here dosen't live in the town, and there's not enough of you to bring him and us back to our homes."
"Hmm, you're right again..." The woman says, once again scratching her chin. She suddenly looks like she came up with a brilliant solution. "Oh, I know! I know what to do! I must inform base camp, I must tell base camp that you're here, there's more of them! They can bring you all back!" She turns around to hop back in her inner tube, but finds that it drifted away down the river. Shrugging, she instead runs off into the trees with a "Fweeee!"
Blinking, Miro turns to look at Anna. The other two weren't as surprised, but still quite surprised enough. Miro opens his mouth to speak.
"...Well, that was random... So you're telling me that she's..."
"My mother." Anna says, nodding. "And your second-cousin. Or aunt, if it's easier to remember."
"Hmm... Y'know, I kinda remember her, but..." Miro begins. "She wasn't like that, not bodigizer-hyped or anything, more like..."
"A tomboy?" Ricca says.
"Tch, no." Miro says, rolling his eyes. "Not even close. MY mom is a genuine, true-blue, all-out tomboy. But I guess if you've never seen my mom, that woman might look like one. What's her name, again? I used to know it..."
"It's pretty easy to remember." Anna says. "Just take the second 'a' out of my name and there you have it."
"Hmm." Miro says plainly. "Jee, that's creative."
"Hey, she dropped something!" Matthew says, walking up to an object and picking it up. "It's a book. This might be useful to us." He opens it and begins flipping through the pages.
"Whatever." Miro says. "Anyway, let's move. She said something about a base camp, it's probably more adults. We'd best not take a chance by staying here for too long."
"You heard him, let's move!" Ricca says, the group beginning to walk again.
"Indeed..." A voice mumbles to itself as they walked off. Something peered out at them from a bush, and in an instant vanished back into the forests.
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In the meantime, Nami was suited up and waiting outside with the family horse, which she had saddled her massive bag to. She was dressed for business, wearing over her usual outfit a leather jacket, chains here and there, black pants, and a biker helmet with shaded goggles.
"Are you nearly done, Jack!?" She yells to the house. "I'm ready to start peeling rubber... err, horseshoe anytime!"
"I'm not coming out!" Jack protests from inside.
"What? Is it the outfit?" Nami asks.
"YES!" Jack yells.
"But you have to be in the outfit, it completes the whole ensemble!"
"What does that mean?"
"It completes the visual, it makes it look nice! It gives it a 'biker' theme!"
"Okay, fair enough." Jack says. "But I'm the guy here, why aren't I wearing the leather and stuff?"
"Two reasons: They'll never believe that you're the guy, and there's no way you're getting me into one of those in public!"
"WELL, HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?"
"You already have no social status, you have nothing to lose. Besides, it's not that bad."
"WRONG! A hair bow: not that bad. Ponytails: not that bad. A long, frilly dress with nylons and garters: not that bad. A mini-skirt and pom poms: not that bad. But a two-piece swimsuit: THAT'S WHEN THE LINE IS CROSSED!!! I don't care what you say or do, I am NOT leaving the house like this!"
Nami sighs and gives up. "Fine. Kill the moment for me. Pack it up with your things just in case, though."
"In case WHAT?"
"In case you get on my nerves during the trip."
Jack swallows, and a few minutes later he had changed out of the questionable garb and into his usual outfit. Walking out, he goes up to the horse. Nami looks at him.
"What? Aren't you gonna be creative, at least?" She asks, seeing him in his normal clothes.
"This is creative." Jack replies. "I have my top button unbuttoned, see?"
"Psh, like anyone's gonna notice that!" Nami says.
"I bet you 200g that someone will." Jack offers.
"Deal." Nami says. "Now let's go." She jumps up onto the horse.
"Hey!" Jack says. "Who says you get to ride in the front?"
"Everyone." Nami replies.
"Who's everyone?" Jack asks. Nami points to the work force, who, most likely out of fear, all raise their hand.
Jack grumbles for a moment, then realises something.
"Hey, there's no room for me!"
"You can sit on the bag." Nami points out.
"Hmm... Looks like there's no other choice. I should've figured things like this would happen if I picked you over Celia or Muffy..." He climbs up to the top of the bag, a rather high height.
"You're lucky you did," Nami reminds him. "'Cause if it was me who tried to kill you along with an evil teddy bear, it would've worked."
"Yeah, I suppose... Hey, you ever notice that we haven't given the horse reigns yet?" Jack says.
"We don't need them." Nami says. "The horse knows when to move. Now, let's go, Greaser!" She kicks the horse's sides and they finally set off, beginning the persuit of their son.
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A short time later, Miro and the group were continuing to walk along the side of the river, no one talking too much. Ricca wanted to look official by being stern and silent, Matthew was too busy reading the book (not to mention he was still carrying the chocolate mound), Anna was too busy trying to see what Matthew was reading and Miro never talked much, anyway. After a few moments, Matthew looked up from the book.
"I believe that we can find some clues as to the whereabouts of Anna's father's discovery in this book. The only problen is that it's written in some mysterious code. Look at the title." He says, shutting the book and showing the front cover. "It reads: yrotsiH ylimaF ruO, or at least that's what I assume. The letters are also upside-down..."
"Flip the book over." Miro and Ricca both say. Matthew does so. Suddenly the words were far simpler to decypher.
"Wow! How did you know that? It was like I was reading the book upside-down before, but now..." He says in amazement. The two merely sigh, shaking their heads.
"Well, now it reads: Our Family History." Matthew says. He then opens the book and begins reading into it more. Anna managed to get a good enough angle to read it, as well.
About an hour later, Matthew discovered something important. He calls for a rest to show everyone. They sit in a circle, the book in the middle.
"Everyone..." Matthew begins. "Miro, Anna, your family has an incredibly boring history."
"Is that all you wanted to say?" Miro asks, him and Anna giving him an angry glance.
"No, no," Matthew reassures them. "I've discovered something. Here." He points to the open page of the book. "It says that every member born into the family so far has gone through the exact same pattern of growth spurts as they grew up, the only difference in pattern being between the boys and the girls."
"...So?" Miro asks, confused.
"So, we have something here!" Matthew insists. "This is the big similarity in the family!"
"How can growing up the exact same way have anything to do with finding out where the Place is?" Anna asks. Since the group did not know what their destination was called, they now referred to it as the Place.
"Well..." Matthew says, thinking for a moment. "What physical difference do people have after a growth spurt besides height?"
"Stretch marks?" Ricca suggests.
Miro rolls his eyes. "Yeah, like that's got anything to so with-"
"Just a minute." Matthew interrupts. "Ricca's actually got a point. If you all grew the same way... and if you're all about the same body size... you must have the same stretch marks!"
"Okay, we'll see." Miro says, grunting and standing up. He removes his shirt and faces his back to the others. The other three move closer and stare at the lined patterns on his back in awe.
"Oh, my..." Matthew begins.
"What the...?" Anna says, trailing off.
"It's a map!" Ricca says in amazement.
"Really?" Miro asks, trying to look behind him. "Is it the right one? Will it work?"
"Yes, it's the right one." Matthew says. "But... it's only half a map, it seems. This won't be enough, the trail's cut off before it reaches the end."
"Well, didn't you say that the growth pattern in the family was different between girls and boys?" Ricca asks Matthew, looking over to him.
"Yes, that's right..." Matthew says. "It might be the other half. Well, that leaves us with one option." They both look over to Anna, who stares back at them. Matthew clears his throat.
"Anna, take your shirt off."
Less than one second later, Matthew was face-flat on the ground, twitching in pain, with half a dozen fresh lumps on his head. Anna had stopped there only because Miro and Ricca were holding her back.
"Anna, calm down!" Ricca tells her. "We need to do this, or we'll never find the Place!"
"Yeah, and we need Matthew in good condition to carry around our chocolate supply!" Miro adds in.
Anna stops fighting to get to Matthew and sighs. "Fine. But I'm only pulling the back of the shirt up and I want you and Matthew GONE when I'm doing it."
"Fine, fine, we're outta here. Ricca, just trace the other half of the map on paper and we can connect the two later. Just shout when you're done." Miro says. He lets go of Anna, puts his shirt back on, picks up the lethargic Matthew and drags him away deep into the trees.
When they were a reasonable distance away, Miro let Matthew drop and leaned himself against a tree, waiting. He looked around carelessly as he waited and sighed, getting slightly bored. There were a lot of shadows in this area, so much tree cover that it nearly seemed like night. Just as Miro was about to shut his eyes, he hears something. As he turned in it's direction, two shadows, moving too quickly for Miro to determine, swooped to the unconscious Matthew and snatched him up, immediately going back into the woods. Miro ran in their direction and stopped, trying to see where they went. They had stopped moving about 20 feet in front of him, but there was too much shadow for Miro to see what they were. He could, however, see one red light on either of them where their foreheads seemingly were. One moved up to Miro faster than he could react to and struck him. Everything went dark.
When he woke up a few minutes later, Miro noticed that Matthew and the shadows were gone. He immediately sprang to his feet and ran to where the others were, hoping that he wasn't too late. As he emerged into the riverside, he spoke.
"Anna, Ricca, something's hap-" But he's cut off by a row of knuckles hitting the top of his head.
"You were supposed to wait!" Ricca says, being the one that punched him.
"But... you're finished!" Miro says, noticing that this was true. Anna was standing there, watching the scene and resisting the urge to laugh.
"It dosen't matter, you should've waited until we gave you the all clear!" Ricca retorts. "Hmm... Hey, where's Matthew?"
"That's what I came here for!" Miro yells, holding his head. "Somebody... stole him!"
"What?" Anna says, looking suddenly concerned.
"Two things, I don't know what, they just up and snatched him away! And then one of them knocked me out and they left!" Miro explains.
"Hmm..." Ricca says. "Well, let's keep moving. With any luck he'll show up."
"What?" Miro says.
"We can't just leave him!" Anna protests. "He's why we came out here in the first place! He carries the chocolate around! He's..."
"Hmm, a pause in mid-scentence." Miro notices.
"And a look of sudden care and concern." Ricca says, both nodding.
"Not to mention she really dosen't want to leave him behind, so the conclusion must be..." Miro says.
"Yes," Ricca says, nodding. "Which means an incoming expression of emotion in 3..."
"2..."
"1..." Both cover their ears at this moment.
"MATTHEW!!!" Anna yells to nothing, hoping blindly that he would come back. It rattled everything nearby and sent birds flying out of their trees in a panic. She repeats this about two dozen times before falling to her knees in tears.
"...Is it safe yet?" Miro asks.
"What? I think so." Ricca says. Both unplug their ears and sigh. Suddenly, Anna gets back up and inhales again.
"MA-" But she is cut off by a large object being flung from the trees and smashing into her, both falling into the river. In an odd mix of a gasp of surprise and a sigh of relief, Miro and Ricca move to the riverside, checking on Anna.
"You okay there?" Miro asks. Anna was in the shallow end of the river, just off the shoreline, and was partially underneath a limp object.
"Hey, it's Matthew!" Ricca says.
"Wow, that saves us some time." Miro says. "Let's get them out of there."
A few minutes later, they were surrounding the still-unconscious Matthew at the riverside.
"I wonder why they gave him back?" Miro says.
"Anna's yelling was probably too much for them." Ricca points out. Anna's face goes slightly red.
"Well... do you think he's okay?" She asks, changing the subject. "Is he going to wake up?"
"Oh, of course." Miro says, standing up. "My dad taught me a great way to wake someone who's passed out." Stepping next to Matthew, he pulls one foot back and kicks him in the head.
"OWW!" Matthew yells, suddenly getting up. "What was that for?!"
"Matthew!" Anna says happily, clinging to him and quite nearly crushing him with her strength. He blinked in confusion but decided to simply go along with it. Once she had let go, and Matthew could breathe again, he speaks.
"Umm... what happened?"
"You were kidnapped... for a few minutes." Miro says. "They gave you back, just to shut Anna up. Don't you remember anything?"
"No, the last thing I remember is asking Anna to..." Matthew trails off, but begins again. "Speaking of which, did we get the other half of the map?"
"Yep." Ricca says. "I have it traced out."
"Okay, then." Miro says. "But... I think we should start moving again. This place isn't safe. C'mon." He picks up his bag and begins walking. The others follow suit, taking their things and continuing up the riverside to their destination.