Chapter 3 - Monkey Business

"Alright. I think we finally have this thing set up." A tall monkey wearing a two-tone purple hoodie whispered to his smaller acquaintance monkey with white hair and light indigo tips. "And at a perfect time too."

The larger monkey looked to his side, looking out onto an artificial sun that had just escaped the grasps of the fake horizon. He looked back at the smaller, fragile monkey who was hunched over and breathing heavily.

"It would've helped if you weren't so useless at doing…everything you had to do." Paru scoffed, and gave a glance towards his partner's face to see the frustration build.

"Paru! Can you leave me alone for one minute?!" The small monkey shouted, one of his eyelids twitching.

It was clear that he was tired and had been hearing the same sort of thing all night long. The older monkey was right in his prediction, and bent down next to one side of the make-shift ladder.

"Ah calm down, princey boy, you know I'm right. Let's get this thing over to the wall." Paru smugly said, grabbing one side of the sticks they wrapped together.

Ian gave up arguing, there simply was no point and he didn't want his exhaustion migraine getting any worse. He walked to the opposite end of the ladder and went on the opposite side, and squatted to grab the opposing side. When it was clear that the two boys had a good grip on the ladder, they lifted it up. There was one issue, and that was that Paru was taller than Ian by a bit – and thus Ian had to try to make sure the ladder didn't fall apart at the back due to the height difference.

Needless to say, this was not a simple walk for Ian. On the other hand, Paru had a very easy time, just needing to steer from time to time. They walked pass the overgrowth of trees until they reached what would appear to be a mountain from the ground. When you saw it from farther away, however, it became clear that it drawn onto the wall panels.

"Alright. Just keep moving forward and lowering as I lift it, okay?" Paru instructed, to which Ian simply grunted.

Paru stood next to the wall and began to lift his end up against the wall, resulting in Ian moving with the ladder and the ladder moving up more. After barely a few seconds, the ladder was up. The next issue became apparent very quickly.

"So uh, do I go up or…?" Ian questioned, his eyes sunken in and his face pale.

Paru was used to having random all nighters, that was how he was raised, and he realised that the sheltered monkey clearly hadn't. The purple-clothed monkey sighed.

"Ugh, you go up first and I'll follow right behind you." Ian stared at Paru, his grey-blue eyes being the only true colour in his face.

"Uh, yeah." Ian said, snapping back from zoning out.

He placed his hands on the edges of the ladder, and started by placing his right foot on the first step. The wood creaked under the pressure, but didn't break.

"Listen." Paru whispered sternly, in a way Ian had never heard him talk before. "When you get up to the top and push out the panel that's there, you need to get out of it. I don't care if you're jumping a long way down or not, you need to get out and get to a forest or something. I don't know what's gonna happen when they know you've been caught – but I don't think it's good. You got that?"

Ian seemed to zone out again, staring blankly at the taller monkey. He nodded his head, keeping the same stare and gulped. He began to climb up the ladder.

It didn't take long for the white and partially light indigo monkey to reach the top of the ladder, clinging onto it's sides. The older monkey was only a few steps behind, looking back towards the rest of the facility every few seconds to view the surroundings. Ian looked at the panel in front of him – large enough for him to fit through, and hexagonal. He traced the outline of the panel with both of his hands, managing to balance on the ladder without grabbing on. As he finished the outline, he placed one hand back on the edge of the ladder. If I just push it with my hand…will we just fall backwards, he thought to himself. He knew the two of them didn't have time for that.

He did what he thought would be the best thing to do. He bent his free arm and pulled it back, before swinging his elbow into the panel. It fell out of its place on impact. Due to the force Ian put into it, his arm and part of his upper body fell out with it. Despite being shocked by already feeling fresh air on his arm, he knew he couldn't just stop there. What if another alarm could ring? That along with what Paru said, and how it didn't make any sense, fueled Ian's adrenaline

He let go of the ladder he had grasped in his other hand. He threw his second hand out through the window. He grasped the outside of the paneling with his hands and pulled himself out of his containment. Luckily for him, there was barely any drop and he fell straight onto the grass. For the first time in his entire existence, he was out in the world and the feeling of the morning breeze made his skin shudder. He didn't expect his first interaction with real grass to be like this, but he couldn't change that now.

Time seemed to slow down for a few seconds. He laid on the grass for what felt like minutes, when in reality it was barely any seconds.

As quickly as he fell onto the grass, he pushed his upper body up and began to move one of his legs forward – appearing like a professional athlete. And much like those athletes, he started to run. His first goal was to get to the bottom of the hill, or whatever it was, he found himself on. His run was low, and one of his hands gripped onto his scarf whilst the other one moved back and forth with his breathing. Only a second or so after he started to run, he heard a set of iron soles crunch on the fresh grass. He stopped and turned his head, to see Paru looking around the area where they were. He looked towards Ian's direction and saw him.

"Go!" The older monkey shouted, and the smaller one didn't try to contest what he had been told and simply continued to run.

Run, until he partially slipped on loose, wet ground and fell on his bottom. He began to slide down the remaining part of the hill, and Ian clenched his teeth – he didn't want to shout or scream. As the ground flattened close to a group of trees that outlined the city, the momentum of his body slowed down until it came to a complete stop. Ian quickly lifted himself up to his feet and turned to look back up at the hill. Paru had probably seen the younger one of the duo slip and fall, as he was seemingly sliding down on the heels of his shoes. As the purple clad monkey reached the flat ground, he jumped from the hill and landed on his feet.

"We need to go that way." Paru stated, lifting his right arm to direct his companion. "The trees thicken out that way, so we might get somewhere going through there."

The tall monkey pulled back his arm, and placed both of hands into the pocket of his hoodie. He began to walk to his right, in which Ian just stared at him blankly. After the taller monkey was a meter or two away, he turned.

"So, are you actually going to come or would you rather stay with the humans?" Paru said with a smirk. Ian was flustered and ran to be next to his acquaintance.

"I- I wasn't sure if you were joking or not. I didn't want to look like a fool if you were tricking me." He replied, attempting to regain composure.

"Yeah, yeah." Paru smugly murmured, and the two began their walk.

Awkward was an understatement about the current situation. The two of them had spent the entire night talking, or arguing, and they had either run out of topics to discuss or they had run out of energy to do anything but walk. Even that was arguable, however, as Ian had never done so much physical work in his life and had been feeling it at this point. He had to squint his eyes as, even under the cover of leaves, the outside world was still so bright. Paru seemed to know exactly where he was going, he never stopped to look around or see where they were in relation t the nearby city. He just kept walking. The duo assumed that their journey back home would be boring and uneventful.

"Sooooo, where are we going?"

A high pitched voice said from behind them. The two apes stopped in their tracks. Ian's eyes veered over to look at Paru from the side. Paru was staring forward, not blinking but clearly still surprised. While Ian was absolutely terrified. They turned around, almost in unison. The owner of the voice was behind them, and they had to look down to even see them.

This mysterious stowaway was a little girl. Her light blue eyes were looking at the two boys, curiously. Her hands were behind her back and she was moving back and forth on the soles of her shoes. Her rose red hair was slightly spikey on top, and she had low pigtails, where she had blonde tips. She had a blue denim pinafore dress and a pink t-shirt, matched with pink cat socks and denim blue and pink shoes. She had an innocent smile on her face. She seemed to be completely harmless…but she was human.

"Ahhhahh!" Ian quickly screamed, falling back and landing on his bottom.

He skittered behind the purple monkey, peering through his legs to keep an eye on the human. His breathing was heavy – their plan seemed full proof, how did a human manage to follow them? His entire body was shaking. Paru, on the other hand, stayed cool and collected.

"What you scared of?" He laughed, slightly turning to look at the younger boy. "It's a little child, it's not like the other one." Paru turned back to face the girl. He squatted down to get on a closer level to her.

"We were trying to go home. But, who are you? And where are you going?" He said in the friendliest voice he could muster.

The little girl wasn't scared at all, to the contrary, she was even more curious.

"My name is Yuki! I wanna see new places! I saw you leave the house and wanted to go along!" She said with a giggle. Paru's eye twitched, this really was related to the humans they had previously interacted with. He gave a fake reassuring smile.

"Oh really? Well, let me talk with my little friend here." He said, with a fake tone in his voice. He turned around and grabbed one of Ian's hands before standing back up, an overly friendly smile staying on his face. He dragged Ian back a few meters before pulling him in close, and his smile dropped.

"We're going to have to take the kid with us." Paru whispered, in a serious tone.

"What? No! Are you insane?!" Ian shouted in a whisper.

"We can't just leave this kid here, and we can't risk bringing it home. Ugh, look, if its related to the two from last night we may be able to use it as a bribe or something." Paru demanded, keeping his voice low.

Ian's face was full of defeat and fear, and Paru's suspicion was confirmed – he would have to take the role of the leader in this unplanned trip. The taller monkey let go of the smaller one's arm, before spinning around with a huge grin. The little girl was looking at her tiny hands, waiting for a response from the two. She noticed the sudden turn and looked up, dropping her hands back to her side. Paru put his hands together in front of him.

"Well aren't you a lucky one! We're going to bring you with us!" He said through his forced smile.

"Yay!" The girl giggled, and ran up next to two apes.

"Let's go!" Paru said, faking enthusiasm.

As he turned around, he glared at Ian as if to say "come on". Ian was clearly uncomfortable, and moved his arm that had been closest to the human away. Paru let down his arms and attempted to place them back into his hoodie pocket, but something grabbed onto his left hand. He looked down, only to see the tiny human holding onto his hand and skipping along. It was like she was the little sibling he never had, even if she was a part of the human race. The little girl looked up at him, the same innocent smile on her face.

"Can I ask a question?" She said with glee.

"Sure, why not." Paru said, entertaining the idea.

"Are you guys monkeys?" Her blue eyes were full of childlike wonder. Ian immediately felt his anxiety go back up, and his eyes opened wide. Paru bit his lip.

"Well, yeah." He said, nonchalantly. Ian's head turned to face the taller monkey, with an expression of both anger and shock.

"Oh okay! Cool!" Yuki replied honestly, turning her head back to face the forest ahead. She didn't care what it meant that they were monkeys, she just wanted to know. Paru looked at Ian with a huge smug grin on his face, before looking forward. Ian could only pout.

The trio would keep walking in the same direction for quite sometime. Yuki spent most of her time focused on the beautiful environment she was walking through, occasionally looking off to one side if she heard a car drove past. She would say things from time to time, such as "Oh a birdie!", and pointing it out for Paru to see. He had a genuine smile on his face for most of the time, if only due to the bizarre things the human child took interest in.

Ian refused to interact with the child, even when she would stare directly at his face and try to talk to him. He would simply cross his arms and continue to look in front of him. Their walk that day wasn't straightforward and simple, however. There were several times where they would have to walk around overgrown trees and their protruding roots, and where they hand to jump down small declines in the ground. When this happened, Paru would make Yuki let go of his hand and jump down first and wait as the girl would climb down and then Ian would finally make his way down.

At some points, Yuki would see something and would run off in front of the two and they would eventually catch up – to see her looking up a tree at an animal. The young girl seemed to have endless energy, which couldn't be said for the two monkeys. As the morning breeze lifted and the midday sun began to make its descent, the two boys knew that they should stop, if only just to recharge a bit. Luckily for them, the perfect opportunity would show itself.

It had started just like all the other times, Yuki let out a happy "ahh" before running ahead of the two. Paru's stomach growled, he still wished he had had the bananas on toast from the night before, and Ian had started to stumble over his own feet. Paru sighed again. That time would be different though, as barely a second after running ahead Yuki would shout "Pretty lake!". The taller one gained a confused grin, while the smaller one was too drowsey to understand.

As they reached to where the little girl was, their eyes widened. In front of them, down another small decline, was a large lake. There was a small beach with multiple large stones at the tide's edge. The twilight sky reflected off of the water's surface, resulting in a variety of colours from blue to orange. The water was calm and still, aside from the few ripples caused by swimming fish. It was, indeed, a pretty sight. The trio stood in a horizontal line, admiring the scene.

"I think we're gonna rest for the night here." Paru announced to the group.

"Okay! What's for dinner?" The little girl questioned, looking at the older monkey. Ian, coincidentally, also looked at Paru as if to ask the same thing. He sighed again.

"I guess I'll look for some berries or something. You two can stay by that tree over there while I go look." He nodded his head towards a tree that outlined the beach, only a meter or so in front of them. Yuki looked over towards it and then back at Paru.

"Okay!" She didn't need convincing further, and started to make her way down the small incline. The older monkey looked over to his acquaintance.

"Mind her for me while I'm gone, will you?" He requested, and was met with a dazed expression on Ian's face.

"What am I meant to do?"

"Just talk to her or watch her, make sure she doesn't get lost. I'm trusting you~!" The older monkey had already started to walk off to the side with the end of his sentence, basically trapping Ian with the young human.

He let out the biggest sigh possible, before turning his attention to the decline – in which he still had to get down. He waited until the human was already mainly down before beginning his descent, as quickly as he could. As he reached the bottom on the decline, he turned around. Luckily, the human had only ran onto the sand and started to try to draw, or something of the sort. The frail monkey walked to the large tree he was directed to rest at. He sat down quickly and pulled his knees closer to his body. He was under the shade of the trees leaves, and that would be the best thing he had done that day.

"Mister monkey?" Yuki's voice broke whatever perceived relaxation Ian had been going through. He looked up to see the human standing in front of him. "Why don't you wanna talk to me?"

For the first time in their entire time of knowing each other, the little girl wasn't smiling. Her face was straight, almost sad. Strangely, Ian actually felt bad for the child but he still didn't want to have anything to do with a human. Despite that, he attempted to answer.

"Uh…"

"Are you like my brother?" The girl interrupted, catching the boy off guard.

"What?"

"My brother doesn't like to talk sometimes. Are you like that?" Ian's dazed expression returned, where on earth was this conversation going?

"Yes…" The girl's smile returned and her eyes shone with happiness.

"Oh okay! My mummy says my brother is special…so that means you're special too!" Ian didn't know if this was all one big joke or not, something Paru told her to say.

"Right…"

"So do you like games too?" The young girl was clearly excited to be talking about her brother, for whatever reason. She had started to pace back and forth in a line. Ian stayed sitting and continued the conversation, if only to entertain the human.

"What do you mean…?" Ian tilted his head slightly to the side.

"You know! Those things you play on the TVs and you jump around and stuff!" Yuki said enthusiastically. This didn't help to actually explain anything. Ian thought for a second.

"…I don't know."

"My brother can show you when he finds me! He has one on his phone." She giggled. Ian began to get suspicious, still believing that this human wasn't as innocent as she appeared.

"How would he find you?" He placed a hand down to his side, in case he had to make an escape.

"He always finds me when I go places. Like when we play hide and seek." She said, sweetly. Ian's shoulders fell, feeling the stress of a possibly ambush dissipate.

"So, what do you like to do?" Once again, the girl stopped pacing and stared at the monkey. He had to think for a few minutes before responding.

"Reading…and writing, I guess…" He replied, hoping the girl would catch on to his reluctancy to talk. This hope was wrong.

"Ooh, what do you write? Stories?" Yuki pondered, staring straight into Ian's eyes. The younger monkey was taken back by this sudden interest in what he wrote…or more appropriately, what he thought about writing. He had never even considered what his ideas would fit into, and now his was stuck for time.

"Poems…?" He said, his voice going high as he finished the word. Yuki tilted her head.

"You mean pretty writing? Or like songs?" He was stumped about how to respond. He had never talked to anyone, let alone a random human, about his interests.

"I guess so." He mumbled, only to get an unexpected response. Yuki stood up straight and walked to Ian's side, and sat down next to him – copying his sitting position. She looked up towards the now taller person.

"My mummy used to tell me some of those when she was home. Can you tell me some?" She asked cheerily. What, the monkey thought to himself.

What did she mean by "when her mother was home" and why did she wants to hear what I made up, he continued to think. He looked back at her, with a doleful look. She had an appalling shine in her light blue eyes. He didn't want to argue or to have to run after a bored child, so he had no other choice.

"Okay…what about one on the lake other there?" He responded, turning to look in front of him and blurting out the first things he could think of. The girl became chipper again.

"Okay!" She said, excitedly.

Great, now I have to think of something, he thought to himself. He looked around and tried to quickly study everything that could possibly mean something with this random, unkept lake. Water, waves, reflections, sky, stars...okay okay, he thought to himself. He started to place words and ideas into a structure, seeing the words float around in his head. Suddenly, he had an idea that could work.

"Waves standing still in place, looking into it – he sees it, the dancing lights of space…" He began, speaking slowly as to not mess up his words. Yuki looked intently at him. "…He wants to be what is so sought, by many in the sea…looking through a window, still, was it ever meant to be…" The two sat silent after he spoke the last line, be it out of lack of reaction or being in deep thought.

The twilight breeze rustled the leaves around them, and the sun was almost completely obscured by the distant trees. Yuki was the first to talk again.

"Is it about a fishy?" Ian was taken a back. The words didn't really have any meaning, at least none that he intended. In reality, he didn't care all too much about what he had actually said – it didn't mean anything to him.

"Uh, sure?" He said, clearly sounding somewhat confused. Seconds passed.

"Oh okay!" The girl chirped, getting up to her feet. She started to inspect the surrounding grass and moss. She didn't even noticed when Ian let out a sigh of relief.

It wasn't long after this that Paru returned with a basket full of berries. He placed down the woven basket near the edge of the beach, in which Yuki ran over it and looked into it.

"I found these lying around, go and dig in!" He laughed, and the little girl began to eat individual black berries. Ian looked up to face Paru with a questioning look, and all Paru replied with was lifting a single finger up to his lips to tell him to not talk about it. He reached down and grabbed a bunch of grapes. Instead of going to the tree he instructed his younger acquaintance to sit at, he went to the closest tree on the opposite side of the basket and sat down.

After grabbing a few loose grapes for herself, the little girl ran over to the taller monkey and sat down next to him. By this time, a blue haze overlayed the area and it was clear that the stars would begin to shine soon. Something else was also clear – the little girl was already half asleep.

The little girl fell asleep with one or two grapes still left in her hands, and her head leaning on Paru's hoodie sleeve. Soon after that, Paru placed his hands behind his back and stretched his legs out.

"Well this sure is different…and bad." He mumbled, lowering his head. Ian had been looking at the lake and the night sky exclusively, until he turned his head to look at Paru a few minutes later. When he did look, Paru was already asleep. He stared blankly at the scene before looking back towards the stars. He kept the same, cold stare for awhile – not showing that he was actually in deep thought.

The thoughts mainly surrounded how Paru betrayed the one thing both of them should know – immediately getting rid of any potential threats, the little girl. She was a human, and humans are not to be trusted – not even one that had an appreciation for language. What if…what if…, he thought but his mind would trail off in multiple directions. The small shining lights in the sky held a tight grip on his mind. Those lights he had watched for years through his mostly obscured window were finally so close. It was almost like he could reach out and touch them.

Then he realized. Those bright white and yellow lights reminded him of his boots. The two monkeys both had the same boots, just different sizes, with a steel ring near to its opening hole. These rings had a single blue light you could press on them. Ian remembered when he had first realised he could press it, many years ago.

When he had pressed it while in his father's office, something must have changed as the next thing he could remember was a map being on the screen and his father turning his chair around to face him. It's not like this situation can possibly get any worse, he thought to himself. He looked to the side of his right boot and located the light. He hesitated before bringing his hand to around to press it. As it clicked into its socket, the blue hue turned to red and was quickly followed by a blinking noise. After it rang for a fifth time, it stopped abruptly and the light returned to its original blue colour. It seemed as if nothing substantial happened.

Ian stretched his legs in front of him and placed his hands back on his lap, directing his gaze back to the stars. He didn't even realize anything was happening when he kept his eyelids shut longer and longer and he fell into a light, but well needed sleep.