Chapter 11: The Second Icebreaker(11:52 AM)

As the girls prepared for cleanup, Colten made his way over to the field where Leo was supposed to be setting up the game only for him to realize the place was empty…

"That's weird… The radiator doesn't look like it was on all night, so where could he be?" Colten asked himself while searching through the shed. Hmm… Maybe I should take a look around the area. He probably went for a walk or something…"

Elsewhere…

"You guys will never tag me at this rate!" Leo teased as he and the other cats were playing a game of reversed tag. But, it wasn't long until they were able to corner him against a wall. "Oh, darn it! Maybe I shouldn't be overconfident next time…!"

Meow!

"Good game you guys! It's almost time for lunch, so maybe you guys can finish up one more game?" Amelia suggested.

"Sure I-! Wait… what time is it!? I still haven't finished setting up today's activity!"

"Oh, I guess we can stop here. Unless you guys want to play around without him."

Meow! All the cats meowed.

"Sorry guys! Maybe we'll continue this another day!" Leo promised before turning to the kitten. "I'm so glad I got to rescue you, little guy! Who knows how long you would have lasted out there. I really hope you can make yourself at home! Well… not a home… because… you know…this is… yeah you understand."

Meow?

"Well, I guess I'll see you around!" He smiled before turning to Amelia. "Thanks for allowing me back here, Ms. Amelia! I had a great time!"

"You're welcome! Just let me know if you ever want to stop by, and I'll see if I can make some time for you guys."

"Will do!" Leo replied as the kitten approached him again. "Try not to forget about me, okay little guy?"

Meow...

"I'll see you around…"

"Take care!" Amelia waved as Leo left the room.

Meow…?

"Oooh… Please don't be like that!" Leo whispered to himself as the door closed behind him. "Okay, I need to hurry back before it's too late. I'm sure he'll be fine. He has the other cats after all, am I right?"

Silence...

"Why am I talking to myself…?" He wondered before rubbing his paws against his face. "Ugh, I need to get a hold of myself before I start losing my mind! Umm… let's see. What was I…? Oh right, the field! Yeah… this is gonna be a loooong day…"

In the kitchen (12:05 PM)

"Okay guys, food is ready, so you can start lining up after your area is clean!" Mr. Jordan announced as the pups continued cleaning up.

"Yes, Mr. Jordan!" They all replied as Skye turned to Chase and Rocky.

"Well, looks like they're already starting to regroup, soooo, do you guys want to sit with us? It'll be nice to get to know each other before we start working together."

"I… S-sure, why not?" Mira hesitated. "I haven't even convinced the others yet, and she still wants me to talk to them? Then again, we're going to talk eventually, so why not?

"Great! Come on, let's go!" Skye said as she went in Chase's direction.

"Wait up, Skye!" She sighed before following her. "I don't know who has more energy, her or Leo!"

"So anyway, we tried to get everything cleaned up before the timer ran out, but then all of the sudden, this huge reptile-like beast shows up out of nowhere, and I almost lost my mind!"

"What!? How does that make any sense?" Rocky laughed as Skye and Mira caught up with them.

"I don't know! I was just as confused as you are! It felt like time had come to a complete stop and then all of the sudden, I'm awake!" Chase said.

"Hey, guys! What are you talking about?"

"Oh hey, Skye! Hey Mira! We were just sharing some unusual dreams of ours." Rocky replied.

"Unusual dreams? I don't think I can remember any of mine, but this one time, Delilah mentioned something about living in space."

"Hmm… that doesn't seem very unusual, but rather more interesting!"

"Yeah, that seems pretty dangerous." Chase agreed. "What about you, Mira? Do you have anything?"

"M-Me? Um… I had this one dream where the sky and the ocean switched places last year. Does that count?"

"OH NO…! COUNT ME OUT!" Rocky gasped as Chase and Skye laughed. "How would that even work?"

"I'm not sure! It was just… like… the water was as high as the clouds, and everyone could see the fishes just swimming around. It was like some kind of gravity field protecting the land from it all. And as for the ocean, it was just a huge cliff that led to some kind of void. I don't know….! It was weird!"

"I can just imagine, like… space being an endless ocean, and the planets are surrounded by this gravity field or something. " Skye giggled.

"N-no, because like... the sun was still there, so I was thinking that maybe the earth was surrounded by a barrier of water instead," Mira explained.

"I wonder how boats would get around. Would there be a need for them!?" Chase queried.

"I don't think so. If the water was in the sky, wouldn't it be easier to travel by plane instead?" Rocky answered.

"That, and the fact that their ships would probably get lost in space if they went to the surface!" Skye added.

"Who knows…! Maybe you can use... like one of those airships from 'Super Mario' or something?"

"Oh yeah! Those would definitely work out!" Mira grinned before sitting down.

"If this was all real, how bad do you think things would get?" Chase asked.

"Very bad!" Rocky thought out loud as Skye and Mira nodded their heads."

"Yeah, imagine how different plumbing and nature would be.." Skye shivered.

"Would plumbing even be possible? Because… you know… the planet is still rotating, but the barrier..." Mira mumbled while putting her paws on her head.

"What temperature would the water be?"

"I…! Umm… I have no idea…" Chase faltered as Rocky tilted his head.

"Well according to the internet, space itself is about 2.7 kelvin, which is… negative 270 degrees celsius. But let's assume our imaginary planet has the same atmosphere as Earth. The temperature would have to be somewhere in between our atmosphere's average temperature, which is about 15 degrees celsius." He explained.

"Oooh… My head hurts just thinking about this!" Mira whined.

"Okay, enough about water, how about those voids? What were they like, Mira?" Skye asked.

"Hmmm… I can't remember much about them, but they looked extremely dangerous! Let's say we're all at a beach, and instead of seeing the water, there would be like… this huge cliff that leads to a big white void."

"That would be quite a long fall. I mean, the ocean is pretty deep, am I right?" Chase asked

"Yeah, but wouldn't there be like, some kind of safety precaution to prevent that from happening?" Mira replied.

"You mean, like a safety harness?" Rocky guessed.

"No... I was thinking of like, maybe a jetpack or something?"

"Oh, I would definitely want to use one of those!" Skye exclaimed.

"Yeah, me too! But first, I think I'd want to take a ride on one of those airships. They sound pretty cool, don't they?" Chase commented.

"I'm with you on that!" Mira agreed as Skye nodded her head.

"Same here! How about you, Rocky?"

"Sure! As long as we say away from the barrier…"

"You really don't like water, don't you?"

"Wait, you can't swim?" Mira gasped.

"N-no, I can swim perfectly fine! It's just that, I don't like the feeling of getting wet at all. I think the longest I went without taking a bath is about 3 weeks or so…?"

"Ewww..." Mira and Skye whispered in sync.

"I…! No, wait! That was last year, and I was going through a hard time, okay!? I promise I'm definitely clean now!"

"Oh no, you're fine! That just sort of came out of nowhere." Mira chuckled.

"Y-Yeah… I'm still making progress…!" Rocky stammered as his face turned red. "A-Anyways… I wouldn't mind getting a little wet if it meant helping out others. Especially if it were you guys, because like I said earlier, we're like a family, and we have to stick together, am I right?"

"Yeah! Definitely!" Chase replied.

"Hmm… He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would want to hurt anyone's feelings, and he did mention something about working on social skills, so maybe I should stick around just to make sure I'm not wrong. I… don't know how to feel about this, because I don't want them to be right about him, but at the same time, I don't want to apologize either. I wonder if he'll do the same for everyone else, but I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't. I mean, we haven't done anything for him, right? So why should he do something for us…?" Mira thought to herself as Leo entered and watched from afar.

"Phew! Made it just in time before lunch!" He grinned before wiping sweat off his forehead. "Looks like they already finished without me, but I guess it's alright! I'll apologize after they're done talking. Although, I wonder where Colten went. I thought he wanted to help out as well! Ehh... he's probably doing something elsewhere. I'll go look for him later..."

Silence….

"Why is she staring at Mr. Lamebrain-! I mean, Rocky like that…? Did something happen? ...Maybe I should go talk to them, you know, to make sure everything's okay and all! Yeah, that makes sense…" Leo hesitated to himself before making his way towards their table. "Hey, Mira! Hey guys! Sorry, I'm late. You'll never believe what happened!"
"Leo! I'm glad you could join us! We were just talking about having unusual dreams! Would you like to join us?" Mira asked.

"Umm… N-no, not really. I was actually looking for Colten…"

"Oh, he went to go look for you earlier. You didn't see him?" Skye wondered.

"N-nope. I guess I'll keep searching around! But don't worry, I'll be back! I promise!"

"I-! Okay..." Mira replied before tilting her head. "What was that all about…?"

"Well, we should probably start lining up before everyone else finishes," Chase suggested.
"Right!" The others agreed as Leo made his way to the exit.

"...What am I doing…? It doesn't look like there are any issues, so why am I still angry…?" He wondered to himself before silently growling towards Rocky's direction. "What are the chances that maybe…? No… that's impossible. I mean, it's him I'm talking about! He doesn't have feelings after all, am I right?"

More Silence…

"... Aaaand I'm still talking to myself. Maybe I should go back to looking for Colten. Yeah! He'll know what to do!" Leo decided before leaving the room. "I am not...There's no way that I'm… I would never be..!

Later in the field…

"Hmm… It doesn't look like he's around. But, that's weird….He wouldn't just leave, now would he?" Colten thought to himself before noticing the equipment on the field. "Wait, what the..? I know this stuff wasn't here earlier! When did he…?"

"Colt?" Leo shouted from across the field as he made his way towards him...

"Leo! There you are! Where have you been!? I've spent the last 30 minutes looking for you!"

"Yeah, I know! Sorry about that! I was just busy doing something else and I ended up losing track of time."

"Well, I guess that's-! Whoa… are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

" Because your nails are sort of… digging into the ground."

"What?" Leo gasped before lifting his right paw. "Oh, I guess they are, huh? Uhh… don't worry about it! I'm fine, really! Let's just go look for Mira and get some dinner, alright?"

"...You mean lunch?"

"Yeah, whatever it's called! Let's just go!" Leo urged before running back to the building.

"Wait up, dude!" Colten muttered. "Did I miss something…?"