Before the events of Family Reunion...
"Where was the last place you saw him?" Jack asked, frustrated as he and Cyber ran through the streets of the city. After a successful mission freeing ECS Units, he, Cyber, and Raccoon had decided to take a small sight-seeing tour before heading home...But somewhere along the way, Raccoon had wandered off on his own. In a jungle, like the one he grew up in, Raccoon was safe as could be, able to seamlessly navigate the treetops and use the environment to his advantage. But in a city like this...
"-I don't know...Maybe in that shopping district a few blocks back?-" Cyber responded, the worry beginning to crease its way onto her face. Noticing this, Jack took a moment to calm himself before grabbing her hand. "Hey, we'll find him. He knows not to wander too far when he gets lost. Now, let's go!"
Raccoon was so lost right now.
He hadn't even intended to stray from the group, but the smell of the food in this district had caught the attention of his overly sensitive nose, and he simply HAD to investigate. The foods of the civilized world had caught his attention ever since leaving his original island, so many different aromas and flavors...Not that he let himself get picky of course, but it was better than eating the berries and other, smaller animals like he had back home. He'd never liked that second part in particular, as it never felt right to eat another innocent creature, but that was just the accepted way of life in the jungle. Now, however, all the food he ate was retrieved from a place called a "store," and he much preferred it. He wondered what the various processes were like for creating the food he liked so much...Especially meat, he LOVED meat.
Raccoon sat down on a bench near the baker's store and opened the book Cyber had gotten him from a nearby shop. "The Very Angry Caterkiller," The title read...Or at least, he thought it did. Written words still confused him greatly, but he had made some SLOW progress, usually with Jack verbalizing various words with him, or Cyber using a computer to help her do the same. He wanted so badly for these symbols to come together for him properly, to be able to communicate with them like Cyber did on those "forums" she was always on. he wanted to read about all of the animals he had known back on the island, to know why electricity worked, and where those creatures in Jack and Cyber's weapons came from.
He wanted to know...Anything.
He closed the book in frustration and began pacing back and forth around the bench. He loved the life he had now, but he wanted more out of it. He wanted to UNDERSTAND it, to be a part of the greater whole...But everything in this city confused him, like the glowing words along the tops of nearby buildings, the vehicles people drove on the noisy streets, all of the other smells that had now mixed with the food from before. He could cry out to the world right now, but it wouldn't understand him anyway. He'd tried to learn its language, but most of it didn't understand his. He held his head as it all began to overwhelm him...Until a soft voice behind him asked a simple question.
"Excuse me, sir, are you lost?"
Jack and Cyber rounded the final corner of the shopping district, seeing no sign of Raccoon in the crowd. Jack hated to admit it, but he was getting worried. He couldn't imagine what Raccoon was going through with all of this, he'd rarely been without someone to help ground him in a place like this...But just as they stopped, they noticed a familiar brown bear sitting on a bench, calmly reading his book with the help of a small, cream colored rabbit in an orange dress, and accompanied by her Chao in a bowtie. The girl's mother watched on, seeming proud. "-So...You wanna tell him we're here?-" Cyber asked. Jack put an arm around Cyber and smiled. "Eh, I think we can give them a few more minutes."