Chapter V : Wait till you learn
The figure was motionless, the sleepness still dominating the many members of his body.
A particule of dust among air's molecules.
The block of ice dispatched, it was now even smaller to serve support for the fellow that he was. Strong for his size, but still small on scale.
He wouldn't have felt it, but the first contact with the dust of the shore was a contrast of the deepest kind, compared to what was loneliness on the biggest desert that existed on Earth.
There he was. Five years have past, and time consumed him.
Buck the weasel looked worn out by the strakes of grey populating more and more his hair. The chin lost colors too, but as a whole, the adventurer still looked the same as he was back then, down deep in the Jurassic world.
No matter how many times the waves washed over him, he was still dormant, face against the sand.
"If you ever got a glimpse of those mermaids Sid talked about …."
That came from the deep woods. As if luck struck, here was Crash & Eddie, down on some serious business.
"You never did, bro" mocked Crash "admit it"
- It's hard, no joke, you have more chance to at night though.
- What makes you think that ?
Eddie was smiling glamorously, as if he was going to reveal some scoop.
- They aren't quite the same at night ….
"At night, eh ?" the mockery hid underneath Crash's smile
- Well think about it : it wouldn't look very logical in broad day light
- Because its dream stuff
Crash congratulated himself with that punchline, grinning in secret with his head down. The head now back up, he followed :
- Boy, Eddie, if you ever knew what a ride I had last night …
- You dreamt ?
He eyed his brother, showing off "Hmm hmm"
- I never get to do that …
- You gotta sleep more, Ed'. Dudes do dream when they're deep.
"I ain't deep enough to have 5 hours of sleep, its scandalous ! " Eddie lamented softly, but weirdly he seemed to pretend "so …. what about it anyway ?"
Crash, deep in his story, was using his hands very perversely, illustrating the kind of tale he had :
- So their was this possum chick, you see ? ….
He looked over at his brother, static hands, expecting a return. He resumed quite rapidly to his handwork. The question was rhetorical.
- Angela ?
The reply was faster than he expected. He was midway in looking at his hands when Eddie's mouth made him look back sharply, surprised. The frown was of the most powerful.
- How in the …
- Turk's sister and our childhood friend, the one I cheated with ?
"Oh yeah …. true …." The coincidence was awkward, but he continued nonetheless.
- So I was there, I got her in my sight, and she started to talk to me, like I was her destiny
"And she said what ?" his brother inquired, cross-hands on the back
'You are my destiny'
He made it look obvious with a condescending look.
- And the crazy part is that I could hear myself speak to her, going like 'Come closer, and I'll give you what you want'
That regal impression made Eddie chuckle, waiting impatiently for the rest of the story.
" 'Enter my world too baby !' " the narration was getting more intense. He smiled, mouth slightly open to Eddie, in excitement
His brother was mouthing the exact same words, playfully, just before Crash had his eyes on him.
- And I could tell the next thing that happened, I touched concrete, bro … CON-CRETE
- Looks promising for what's to follow …
- I know, and you haven't even heard the other half …
Crash was now looking straight in Eddie eyes. The cheeky expression he gave made the other stop, realizing what it meant : Ed' was now nodding in glee.
- YOU JUST HAD TO DO IT, OF COURSE !
The forest was now trembling in the ruckus that the twins were doing. Tons of birds felt insulted by those screams, because the next thing they were doing was fly the farthest away from the source of noise.
Speaking of flying, Eddie was catapulted so high up in the air his body stormed directly out of the forest's perimeter, landing face first in the beach's sand.
- Eddie boy, you're in for something right now !
The latter lifted himself back up with the force of his arms, but he could barely do it with the hysterical laughter he was trying to contain.
- So the log on me, the water splashed on me, you just had to do it !
"It was just beautiful, all of it, beautiful …." It felt like they were talking face to face, but there were still a big gap separating them.
- Beautiful …
He was still having the laugh of his life, but all it took was a single glance at his right shoulder : the smile shrank, and the eyes enlarged. He couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Crash was almost at the end of his stalk towards Eddie, that a rare cry made him stop dead.
- CRASH, A MERMAID !
The slight tilt of his head made him look quite dubious.
- You say ?
- YOU HEARD ME !
- No
- It's REAL !
- It's not …
- YES !
- No
- You owe me some if I'm right !
- You already owe me some so you're ….
He stopped right there when he reached Eddie. He was cowering in fear, covering his eyes with his hands, as any child would do, sitting vulnerably on the beach. Crash took one look at the mermaid, and his eyes widened too.
- …. Wrong
Between heavy breaths, his brother implored, with his eyes still covered
- I was right all along you see ?
Crash couldn't believe what Eddie couldn't see. He looked at him, with his head inclined, scratching
- Eddie …
- What ?
- You ow me more for that next lunch …
- Can't you see ?
'Eddie' he couldn't take it anymore. He removed the seaweed on the figure, scurried heavily towards Eddie, and removed furiously his arms from his face. The eyes were not making tricks this time.
- Oh man ….
He lifted himself back up so fast that he looked like someone else. The contrast of energy between the two was crazy.
- It's him ….
Eddie was ready to pick him up, but Crash was still in disbelief on his brother.
- Help me get him off the beach, he's looking bad !
For a split second, he was continuing to look at Eddie with his arm crossed. He joined the support anyway, rolling his eyes.
- Unbelievable …
They tried, tried. However, after multiple questionable attempts to wake their master up, they were left exhausted, frustrated to not hear Buck, speaking to them in his distinctive voice.
C - How much time we spent ?
E - 1 minute...
As ridiculous the time was, Crash couldn't deal with the fact that they tried virtually anything to kick Buck out of his sleep.
C - We tried like 10 aid techniques, and none of them worked!
E - Yeah...
C - You remember the procedures with each technique?
E - Well... kinda... I lost the leaf book for them...
C - Where did we do wrong?
E - I don't even know if we actually did 10 techniques...
The conversation was stretching to nowhere. They just sat There, cross armed, the weasel installed against a tree, thinking in the most obvious look possible.
E - Tired...
They sat there, unsure of what to do next, and that made them sleepy for a reason, despite the fact that it was barely MID-DAY .
Eyes shut, they remained now still...
Shining blue, an edible piece of fruit was stuck in the lower jaw of Buck when watching more closely. He was still deep in his slumber, mouth half open.
Out of nowhere though, Eddie got to his feet to fetch something. Crash only needed to squint effortlessly his eyes to activate his alarm.
- Dude !
Eddie had in his hand a palm branch with some special fluid on it, and his twin brother knew exactly what it meant.
E – Yeah … might not be the time yet ….
- Have you seen Peaches this morning ?
- No, not that I rememb ...
- You don't KNOW exactly ? I THOUGHT YOU WERE RELIABLE !
It all looked too familiar : Diego was being forced to cope with someone larger than himself, and he couldn't shake the fact that Manny was as imposing as the last time they faced each other. Eyes expressed fear, but face as a whole was confident.
- Manny ….
The mammoth took a glance at his partner, and caught wind about what he was doing. He deflated fast, breath intervals dropping in.
- You can't believe how frustrating it can be to be a parent sometimes ...
Everybody could hear him sigh. Manny was head on tree, dampening it to calm his nerves not far from the cypher. The face looked down.
'We have been getting through some trouble too on our own' Diego informed. He tried to be as calm and vague as possible to avoid piling up the problems on everyone's conscious.
- What kind of trouble ?
Diego turned swiftly but shyly towards Shira, reading the shock still hitting her, but contained. She shared a meek eye turn, but it didn't meet his'. The expression was an exhausted one. However, Manny was back in the conversation, looking estranged at the sabers. He had stopped the quiet thumping.
- We're having a problem with a hunting session...
Ellie gave an awkward look, wondering what he meant, but Shira was having deep problems grasping the atmosphere that he was creating in the discussion. Manny was approaching the circle little by little, frowning intently to the meaning behind the reply.
Diego resented that, but he was late to what was following :
'Do you know ANYTHING that has to do with my daughter's absence ?' he was looking plain dangerous. It felt as if Diego didn't even know Manny, it felt as if he was dealing with an unknown individual. The saber took a step back.
- Manny... If you think that I would betray your faith in me for doing...
- You sure as heck know how WRONG this sounds !
"Manny, for the love of nature, calm down ! " Ellie could barely reason with her husband
Shira couldn't bear the tension that was plain choking her. Manny looked at her, straight dead on.
- And YOU ? I bet you're on...
- OUR PREY HAS BEEN KILLED !
The tremor stopped. Everybody was looking at her, everybody looked different in their face. Ellie lowered her head and her eyes were all wide in concerned. Manny stopped abruptly his attack. Now with the information at hand, he took a more subtle turn.
- Is it... someone we know ?
'Frank' Diego murmured. The very nervous teeth clench he made showed his concern towards the reveal. He still didn't recover from the verbal attack.
Shira looked at him, worrying on the impact her move had on him, but he did not respond. Straight looking and keeping his calm, he seemed slightly tear eyed.
- Oh no...
Ellie's reaction was nothing compared to Manny's.
- We're watched, aren't we ?
- We can't confirm it...
- Just ADMIT it ! They're lurking somewhere on this island !
Eye meet eye. It was surprising to see how close they sounded as friends when exchanging compared to what they were doing a minute ago...
- We NEED to work this carefully...
- If we need to take precaution, then we should go for the pack theory !
- We aren't sure with how many we're dealing with...
- Where's Sid ?
The heads now turn towards Ellie, and she had a point.
- We've been debating for 10 minute, but has anyone seen him this morning?
"No" Manny responded swiftly while still having intrigue in the tone.
- Anyone ?
The silence gave the answer
"That gives us then another reason to search the island" Ellie concluded with a look discerning all of the others. She sounded legitimately serious
- Now hold on just a second...
Diego was now looking at Manny. It was always business by just the hearing of this tone.
- We need to think about the way we're doing this...
- Rain is getting even more rough
Diego acquainted this statement with a shy nod, looking up to the tree branches, mimicking Shira.
- Rain or not, these are Sid and Peaches we're talking about...
- They can be anywhere Ellie ; and there's two of them...
- And we're four.
He could sense what was following. Manny was now looking at the sabers, studying them but not for long.
"The best way we can split is that I go with Diego" She had her eyes directed to him, and she was obviously waiting for a reply.
He shared a look with Shira, but she quickly responded with a confident mouthed "don't worry". He nodded lightly in comprehension and turned back to Ellie.
- So you'll be paired with Shira ?
- You got it...
Manny responded firmly, but Diego could sense doubt within him.
- So the last thing we need to have, is a trace, or else we'll take alot of time for this.
- I have an idea about Peaches...
They learned later that footprints belonging to Sid headed behind what was the sabers' home. They were now ready. The young couple took the time in giving themselves a head, a moment of last warmth in all the rain.
- Take care of yourself, okay ? Any bad dreams, you fight them ; they're not real
She lifted her head. Shira acquainted with an assured nod, even being quite weak.
"We can all trust each other on this, correct?" Manny was in deep need to ask this last inquiry
"No worries" Ellie smiled "It's Diego I'm having here"
On a positive mark, everybody departed in a different direction : Ellie & Diego on the trail to Sid, Manny and Shira on Peaches'.
Taking out that edible shrapnel of Buck's mouth was now the main interest of the twins. It looked like a dentist visit from the way they were examining.
- You're telling me, with that big of a thing in his mouth, you did not notice it for the ten minutes we spent looking at him ?
- I was not the one looking at him like food, Ed'.
They looked at each other in a careful fashion, throwing darts with their eyes.
A sudden jerk of the head woke them up. Buck was coughing.
C - Sweet baby berries... Eddie, get the health insurance !
Purple juice came out of his mouth, and his eyes were desperately trying to open up. As he was getting more and more conscious, Buck coughed out the last bit of fruit he had kept unknowingly in his mouth during the slumber.
- Buck, can you hear us ?
He was breathing normally for a second, than collapsed against the palm tree he was pressed on.
"Oh no …." Gasped silently Crash "… Is he …."
- BAH !
All it needed was timing, and Crash jumped like the devil.
There he was, laid back on his palm tree, with the biggest chuckle in the world. The warmest smile awarded the possums as Buck was emotionally shaking his head.
- Fellow mammals, you can't believe how much I missed you
There was hardly a time for him to breath right after : Crash was already engaged in the most heartfelt embrace. Buck knew this moment could compensate the loneliness he felt after their departure, so he didn't waste any second of it.
- One half of you is not the worth of two ; where's Eddie ?
It didn't take long anyway for Crash to locate his brother in the environment. He knew exactly what to say.
- Eddie, he's sane ! Put that down !
His brother, struck, was holding once again the palm branch. Dropping it unconsciously, he scurried emotionally to join the moment.
"Of all the places I land on, it's yours" Buck exhaled in genuine amusement and surprise
The possum were still in embrace, but one of them caught glimpse of what Buck had on his back.
- Hey Buck, what's that you have on your back ?
He adopted a straight posture immediately after the inquiry. Memories were hitting him more than ever before, and suddenly realized what he was missing. The possums landed in front of him after the sharp posture.
He quickly proceeded in checking his custom made satchel, but panic was the only return.
"Oh" gasped silently Eddie
Buck was lifting his head slowly and in despair when he realized what he had lost. He was now looking at the possums, and then slightly down.
- I'll go look on the beach, I'm sure it's there !
Eddie was trying to appear hopeful, but Buck saw no hope in the help. He was shaking his head, mouth lightly gaping, and trying to fight back the tears.
- It's not ….
The possums were now hesitant to head any further. Buck was slowly trying to get back to his feet, and a headache was disturbing his head. With help from his friends, he was ready to gain the sediment grounds.
Out of the forest, he could see the ocean. A speck of ice from the pirate ship in the horizon was just enough to make him say.
- It's gone from this earth ….
Trapped in his giant maw, Frank was a goner. The imposing shadow crept through the last remains of soaked trees from the last rain, until it dropped the body out of sheer fatigue. It was relaxing his jaw muscles and spitting the last remains of blood he had in his mouth until he heard movements in the distance. He could easily recognize the fellow and asked amusingly :
- So you're the next one Zelan's sending ?
His comparse was now bathing in the light of the returning sun, showing a body that was slim. He was of the same height as Shira, only appearing slightly older looking. Despite a small body, the strenght was mostly seen in his legs, not really big in an exaggerated way, but still slick and tough. You could probably already tell the difference of speed between the two fellows. Sporting a really bold brown, it was accompanied by streamlined white and black strakes on each of his two front paws, with the back paws having just an inch of white on the talons ; it made him look even more built for speed. The face surprisingly showed some similarities to Shira's, despite the sharper and longer saber teeth, and a beautiful amber populating the eyes. As was for his chest, a thin egg shaped white spot dominated right to the belly, while a severe scar drawed on the entirety of the front, running even up to the lower parts of his neck ; it made him hard to move his head freely.
He looked exhausted, and the sight of his colleague with that big of a prey made him hilariously worried.
- Why thanks, I won't even need to do my job correctly !
- It's lasting two days, Mitch.
- That's reaching a bit ...
- Food is all we need right now, so disrupting your duty is going to cost the pack ; A LOT ...
- Oh, we're famished ?
His partner looked at him with the most questionable expression, quite definitely tired at this point.
Mitch, maw gaping, mimicked satirically the expression, acknowledging progressively the message, sighted averagely with his eyes closed, while resuming his walk, yawning.
- Eeeh, yeah we are apparently ...
For Kane, it was essentially routine with this one. Compared to Mitch, the behemoth was twice his height. Vicious teeth, vicious claws ; a considerable amount of bulk populated the whole body. Coating that strenght was a mud brown fur, sporting spots that recalled peafowl patterns, only less defined and overshadowed by the unatractive color he had. As was also the case for Soto, Kane possessed an abundant mane on each side of his round face, ociliating betwwen dark beige, black and white. There was also a distracting amount of black hair sprouting on the back of his mane, making him look like he possessed quills. The average lump on his back made it stand out even more.
Above all, the eyes were a stunner : the amount of hemoglobine in the brown of his iris gave him a special look, if not psychotic.
- It's not you anyway that has to carry wounds on his shoulders while working ...
'You blame luck on that ?' Kane's voice may sound deep and gruff, but you could definitely tell he was annoyed
- Ever been in a fight ?
- I have no threats, there's no need to discuss that ...
A silence was met when Mitch looked back to him.
- Sure ... What do I know ?
His unconsiderable attitude didn't go unnoticed
- You should know ...
Half way through his sentence, he turned to Mitch, while he was about to disappear into dusk's forest.
- ... Humans are playing with fire close to the beach
Mitch once again looked back. The neck slightly dropping, with one if not the most done expression on his face.
- This couldn't be even more motivating, coach
That made his mentor smile amusingly for some reason
- That sounded sincere, sing me more
- Go away ...
Seeing the last remains of Mitch as he pushes himself deeper into the forest, Kane resumed his strut back home with the unfortunate victim deep in his maw.
Gone they were