Old Faithful

"Take in that fresh air, boys and ghouls!" Professor Flan called out to his students. "It's good for your minds! Keeps the blood pumping!"

Behind him, his students groaned as they dragged themselves up a hiking trail. Milkweed Academy took part in the same, mid summer field trip every year. In the dead heat and humidity, the students would be forced to pack a bag and spend the weekend in the great outdoors at a camping ground a couple miles away from the academy. No magic was allowed during the trip. The head of the academy, Headmaster Merlin, hoped that this trip would help strengthen the bond between dark magic and white magic wizards and create a sense of individuality in each student. Kyle thought the trip was only good for bug bites and sun burns.

"Why do we have to do this every year?" He complained, struggling to tug his bag any further. "Camping? Why can't we just visit a museum or something more...civilized?" Sigmund and a couple of his friends easily passed Kyle on the trail behind Professor Flan, noses pointed in the air as they marched past. The Professor had heard enough of Kyle.

"Quit complaining!" He shouted. "We're nearly to the camping ground! Just a few meters away!" Another groan escaped the students as he continued. "When I was your age, I loved the camping trip! We looked forward to pitching tents and roasting our meals over an open fire!"

"I'll roast you over an open fire..." Kyle spat under his breath, finally collapsing from the weight of his bag. The rest of the class came to a stop at the top of the hill, where a flattened area was gated off. There was a sign in front of the gate, marking the entrance to the campgrounds. Kyle managed to drag his bag up the rest of the way, his freckled face reddened and sweaty as Professor Flan started his announcements.

"Alright students, each of you should get started on pitching your tents before nightfall. Once your tents are up and everyone is settled, you all can enjoy the area and we'll have the open fire in the evening!" The students rolled their eyes in response. The professor seemed to be more excited about the trip than they were and literally no one shared in the excitement when mosquitoes started to fly around.

"Ugh!" Kyle growled, swatting away the bugs with his hands. They seemed to be attracted to him more than anyone else. When they started swarming, he swung his bag around dramatically to keep them back. He ended up knocking Sigmund over the head, pushing him over after he'd been pulling his tent equipment from his bag.

"HEY!" Sigmund gasped. His friends scrambled to help him up. "Watch it, you big doof!"

"These bugs are eating me alive!"

"Then zap them!"

"I can't! There's too many! And we're not allowed magic, remember?" Sigmund inspected the area and when the coast was clear of the professor, he conjured up a bug zapper, swinging it around to trap and kill the mosquitoes. Kyle ducked and covered his head, but he ended up getting stung anyways through Sigmund's erratic swinging. "OUCH! YOU IDIOT!"

"Your welcome!" Sigmund spat, the zapper vanishing in his hand after he'd rid them of the vampiric pests. He turned back to his tent supplies and again, cheated on the building process with magic. Kyle shook his head.

"Look at you, you can't do anything for yourself." Looking over his shoulder after he tied his tent down, Sigmund giggled. It looked like Kyle hadn't even started with his own tent. He watched him fight to pull the tapestry from the bag it came in.

"Don't be upset, Kyle. If you needed help with your tent, you could've just asked me."

"I don't need your help!" Kyle protested, folding his arms. "And I don't need the help of magic either. I'm not as needy as you are."

"Needy?" Sigmund pouted, standing from where he'd been kneeling in the grass. "You're the definition of needy."

"Am not!" Kyle argued, struggling with his tent. The metal poles he'd pushed into the dirt had fallen over, having not been sunken deep enough to stay up. Sigmund rolled his eyes at the display.

"I could go the rest of the evening without magic, easily."

"Prove it! I bet you can't!"

"I will, right after this..." Using his magic, he helped Kyle pitch his tent. Kyle's eyes widened at how quickly he'd managed to do it. "Your struggle was just pathetic. I couldn't keep watching." Sigmund's friends laughed as Kyle stood up and dusted himself off. The laughter died down as they turned their attention to a book Sigmund pulled from his leather satchel. They huddled together and whispered among each other. Kyle slowly leaned in to try to catch an ear of what they were fixed on. He was quickly noticed and after being pointed out by one of his friends, Sigmund gave Kyle a look of disgust. "Can I assist you?"

"U-um..." Kyle smiled sheepishly. "I was just, uh..."

"Curious?" Sigmund grinned. "Well, if you must know, Milkweed rumor has it that this area of the woods is where Headmaster Merlin dropped his old wand, eons ago."

"Old Faithful?"

"Ja! That's the one! And I'm gonna find it. I'll be the new owner of the wand and I'll be more powerful than ever!" Kyle rolled his eyes.

"As if!" He scoffed. "Don't you remember anything about that folklore? The wooded area is guarded by an evil, giant Sasquatch. Wizards have gone missing trying to find that wand. What makes you think you'd be able to find it? You don't even use one!"

"I'd use it if I had it..." Sigmund answered quickly. "And of course other wizards have gone missing, they're not me."

"Have you forgotten our bet already? No magic! Do you think you'd get through a Sasquatch without magic?" Sigmund paused for a moment. That had, in fact, left his mind. He shook it off and pointed his nose in the air.

"I can do it without magic, of course!" He announced. His friends didn't look very comfortable with his statement. Kyle grinned knowingly.

"I'd love to see you try."

"Oh, you'll see."

When evening finally fell, the students gathered around a campfire, seated on wooden logs. They'd been given marshmallows to roast for dessert after having sausages, corn and baked beans for what was probably the worst dinner any of them had ever digested. Sigmund covered himself in a blanket to keep the bugs back while Kyle struggled, yet again to keep them away. Professor Flan stood up with a snaggle-toothed grin.

"I truly hope this evening has been as enjoyable for you as it's been for me." He spoke to the students, falling into a swoon of old memories yet again. "I remember being in your shoes, sitting around the fire with my old school chums, singing nursery rhymes and other silly songs..."

"Must've been centuries ago.." A student mumbled, causing the rest of the students to hold back snickers. Professor Flan had clearly heard the comment and went from a pleasant expression, back to his usual uptight one. He turned away from the campfire, making his way over to the log cabin the other teachers stayed in and leaving the kids gathered around. Sigmund and his friends stood up quickly, pulling their blankets over their heads and conjuring flames in their own hands. As they started to waddle away, Kyle chased after them.

"And where exactly do you think you're going?" Kyle inquired, doing his best to keep the pace of Sigmund and his peers. "You're using magic already!" Sigmund jumped in surprise, having realized he indeed had a flame held up. Force of habit. He quickly put it out.

"No I'm not!"

"You're never gonna find the wand. You all need to turn back around and call it a night. It's just a ridiculous rumor anyways. Only babies believe in Milkweed folklore."

Ignoring Kyle, Sigmund pulled a piece of paper from the pocket of his cargo shorts. Unfolding it, the boys huddled around the paper. It was a map of the wooded area around the camp ground. The trail highlighted on the paper stopped at the area where it was suspected that the wand was dropped. Sigmund studied the trail with his finger before looking up at the dense woods in front of him. After a moment of silence, he pulled a flashlight from his pocket and pointed his finger to the left.

"That way." He spoke, turning the light on a and starting down the trail. His friends followed behind him, flames closely in hand. Kyle hesitated, but his pride was bigger than his fear of the darkness. He wanted to see Sigmund fail and even if it meant risking his own safety, he'd be there to see the failure through. The boys walked deeper and deeper into the woods, stopping when they came across a stream of water. Sigmund and his friends seemed pretty excited about it, cheering when they spotted it. "The river!"

"What's the big deal?" Kyle shrugged. Sigmund leaned over, showing Kyle the map. He pointed out the stream on paper.

"We're going in the right direction and we're halfway there! See? I told you I could do this without magic!" Kyle pouted as the boys hopped over stones to get to the other side of the stream. He followed behind them, but lost his footing on one of the slippery, smooth stones and ended up falling in with a massive splash. The other boys whipped around, screaming and howling with laughter.

"C-COLD! AH! THE WATER'S COLD!"

"Mein Gott, Kyle! What a klutz!"

"GET ME OUT!" Sigmund laughed as he reached a hand out to Kyle. In return, Kyle pulled Sigmund in with him and his friends only laughed harder when Sigmund toppled over, head first. Kyle rushed out of the water quickly as Sigmund's head popped up from under the ripples.

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Sigmund screamed, pulling his drenched hair away from his eyes. "Get over here! Now!" Kyle ran off as Sigmund finally caught his footing out of the stream. They chased each other up a hill and when Sigmund finally caught hold of Kyle's cape at the top of it, he jumped on his back, causing Kyle to fall over into the dirt. They both rolled down the opposite end of the hill as Sigmund's friends called out to him and looked on in horror. The hill was pretty steep and the boys were scratched up by the time they hit the bottom.

"Ugh..." They moaned in pain, sitting up slowly. Sigmund pulled twigs from his hair while Kyle spat out dirt that had flown into his mouth. Sigmund's friends had managed to meet them at the bottom and quickly helped him stand up, leaving Kyle down in the dirt.

"We're off course!" One of his friends gasped as Sigmund pulled his socks back up. "Get the map out."

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Sigmund groaned, reaching into his pocket. He froze when his fingers touched the melted paper and when he pulled it from his pocket, the map practically tore apart at the slightest touch. Falling into the stream had ruined the map! Steam could practically be seen escaping Sigmund's ears and he faced Kyle, destroyed map in hand. "LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE YOU ABSOLUTE IGNORAMUS!"

"O-oh..." Kyle fumbled, twiddling his fingers as he stood up. "Heh...oops! I forgot you had that in your pocket..."

"Do you have another one?" Another one of Sigmund's friends asked. He spun around in anger.

"If I did, do you think we'd be able to use it?" He asked him angrily. "OF COURSE NOT, DIMWIT! I'm covered in mud and dirt and now we're stuck here!" Although Kyle wanted to laugh at how deflated Sigmund looked, now that he, himself, was also stuck in the middle of nowhere, it posed a new issue and he couldn't enjoy the failure fully.

"Let's retrace our steps." Kyle suggested, pointing back towards the hill. "Maybe if we go back, we can figure out the trail again." Limping forward, Kyle lead the group through the woods and back to the foot of the hill they'd tumbled down. Towards the back of the group, Sigmund paused for a moment and scanned the surroundings.

"...did you hear that?" He asked, his friends jumping at the question. "I hear twigs snapping..."

"Because we're walking, you ninny!" Kyle spat back. Sigmund shook his head.

"N-no, I swear I heard it a little further back. Like someone's walking back there..."

"Stop fooling!"

"I'm not fooling!"

A gasp left all four of the students when another loud snap was heard a few feet away. Their eyes grew when it sounded as though it was getting closer. Sigmund spun around in an instant and rushed up the hill, pushing past his friends in the process. Kyle stood with Sigmund's friends and stared in the direction of the noise. First, it was the eyes. Glowing a deep red and shaped almost alien like. Then, the vibration on the ground with each step. And finally, a roar that made them hold their ears and nearly scream their own lungs out. Sigmund, halfway up the hill, screamed himself. In no time, the other boys had caught up to him and they all rushed to get away.

"THE SASQUATCH!" Kyle yelled out in horror as they ran.

"I KNOW! I KNOW!" Sigmund screamed back.

"WHERE DO WE GO?" One of his friends cried behind them. "WHERE'S THE TRAIL?"

"I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T HAVE THE MAP! KYLE RUINED IT!"

"I SAID I WAS SORRY, SIGMUND!"

One of Sigmund's friends tripped over himself and fell into Sigmund, who fell into his other friend, who fell into Kyle. Again, the boys tumbled down the other end of the hill, landing tangled up in one another. Looking up from the dirt, Sigmund screamed and pointed out the giant Sasquatch that was quickly approaching.

"GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME! GET OFF!" He shrieked, pushing his friends off his lap. After a scramble between them, they took off again in a panicked dash. Kyle took a second to pause and pointed to the right.

"THIS WAY! I HEAR WATER!" He told the others. Changing the direction of their running, the other boys literally trampled over Kyle to get back to the trails. Kyle growled when he was pushed down. "YOU JERKS! YOU DON'T HAVE TO PUS-" Being dragged and lifted from the ground suddenly by his legs, Kyle's face paled. That was fur he felt on his legs and the fur was from the hands of the Sasquatch, which thanks to being pushed, had caught up to him.

Sigmund's friends started across the stream, but Sigmund paused when he heard Kyle's scream echo through the trees. He looked back at gasped. Of course, Kyle had been caught. Sigmund tried waving down his friends to help, but they hadn't looked back after crossing the stream. He hesitated, but ultimately sighed and rushed back to help Kyle. The Sasquatch tossed rocks at Sigmund and let out another roar when he'd managed to dodge the log tossed afterwards.

"S-SIGMUND!" Kyle screamed out. "IT'S GOT A HOLD ON ME!"

"I KNOW! WHAT DO I DO?"

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! THIS WAS YOUR IDEA, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING-!"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I ASKED YOU!" He ducked again when more rocks were tossed at him. He didn't want to use magic, but at this point, that didn't seem like an option. "I'M GONNA ZAP HIM! COVER YOUR HEAD!"

"N-NO! YOU BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU ZAP AND I WON'T HAVE TO COVER IT!"

"YOU BRAINLESS CONSTIPATOR! DO YOU WANNA BE SAVED OR DO YOU WANNA BE SASQUATCH FOOD?!" When Kyle finally complied and covered his head, Sigmund sent out a blast of green flames from his hand. Startling the Sasquatch, Kyle was dropped as the beast covered it's face with another roar. Kyle scrambled to his feet as Sigmund blasted the beast again. Before Kyle could run past him, the sorcerer snatched him into his arms and with his free arm, quickly waved it in a circle, materializing them both back to the campground in a hail of purple sparkles.

Kyle hadn't let go of Sigmund. Both his arms hugged on as tightly as his eyes had been closed. Opening them slowly and taking a look around, he gasped when he realized he'd been snuggled under Sigmund's arm.

"W-we're back! I'm alive!" Kyle cried out, hugging his body. "A-and you lost the bet!" Sigmund frowned.

"I was so close to finding Old Faithful. If you hadn't tagged along and ruined my map, it would've been mine!"

"Because of you and your idiotic posse of friends, I almost died!" Kyle spat, crossing his arms. "Look at me! I'm covered in muck thanks to them pushing me over! Where are they anyways?" Sigmund looked inside the tent they'd pitched up, but neither of his friends were inside.

"Uh..." Sigmund stared. The boys exchanged gazes and in unison, shrugged it off.

"I need a shower." Kyle mumbled.

"Ja, same."