(A/N: Now, I understand that a lot of people don't really find this to be very interesting and I respect that. But for the very select few of you who do like this (which is probably nobody, but I'm not giving up), I'll continue with this for you. I know I haven't said this in a long time but, I'm not the one who decides if this is a success or failure, it's you, the readers, that decide everything.
Warning: themes mentioned in the summary will begin in this chapter. Not overly graphic or anything like that, but it could be a possible trigger to some people.)
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Pearl stirred the contents of a pot on the stove that was filled with freshly made soup. She saw that it was boiling and turned the heat down to low.
"Dinner will be ready in five minutes!" she announced.
"Okay, Mom!" Dusty shouted back, before returning to his conversation with NTL-E. "So, wait, you actually went up to Bellwood and you were up there for a few hours and no one called the cops or called you out because you're not a human?" his voice was full of laughter and disbelief.
"I'm not kidding," she claimed, laughing, "I was just skating around town and no one seemed to care."
"Ash, can you get Mazey and tell Smokey that dinner's ready?" Pearl asked her husband.
"Yeah, I will, honey," he responded.
He stood up from the couch and sped upstairs to get their children. He went to his infant daughter's room first and found her wide awake in her crib.
He picked her up and crooned with a loving smile, "Oh, hi, sweetie, Daddy's here." She cooed and gave a small grin of her own.
He left his daughter's room and went down the short hallway to his youngest son's room. He could faintly hear music playing, but couldn't make out the lyrics.
He knocked on the door and called out to him, "Son?"
The music stopped and his son opened his bedroom door, "Yeah, Dad?"
"Dinner's ready," he told him.
"I'm not hungry," he uttered, his tone was tart and almost scathing yet there were noticeable hints of fear and anxiety.
"Son," he sighed, "I know you don't trust them, but give them a chance. If not for you, then do it for your brother. Okay?"
"Okay," he complied in a quiet voice with a sigh.
He came out of his room and closed the door behind him. Then, he and his father went downstairs to join up with everyone else for dinner.
Now that everyone was downstairs together, they could get their food and eat. Which was what they did and both families sat at the table together.
The meal was quiet for the most part with the occasional "Is your homework done?" or "What's the plan for tomorrow?". It was only really broken when LN-R decided it was time to break the awkwardness.
"How old is your daughter?" she asked.
"Six and a half months," Pearl answered. She was feeding Mazey an orange colored baby food, which she happily lapped up.
"What do you usually feed her?" she asked again.
"Her favorite is a blend of peaches and amber ogia," she replied.
"What school do you go to, RY-N?" Ash asked.
"Hermelocity Elementary," he answered, chewing on a piece of meat.
"Smokey goes to the same school," he mentioned.
"I see him out on the playground all the time," Smokey commented.
"That's funny, I've never seen you out there," he remarked.
"I usually stay by the swings," he blurted.
"If you see him out there all the time, why don't you ever try talking to him?" his father asked.
"I'm not talking to anyone who's friends with SK8-R," he gritted his teeth. He dropped his spoon into his bowl, causing some of the food to spatter onto the table, and crossed his arms.
"Son," his father shot warningly, though he appeared to be more disappointed than upset if anything.
"I hate that jerk, he beats me up in the bathroom for no reason!" he exclaimed angrily.
Finally, RY-N snapped and slammed his fists onto the table, "Don't you dare lie about by best friend!"
"Some friend," he scoffed. "I don't need this!" he sped off, spilling his food in the process.
"And you think I'm a brat?" he retorted to his sister, who glared at him in response.
Dusty groaned and leaned his head back, he placed a hand over his face that covered one eye and partially covered the other, "I should have known this would happen."
NTL-E placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Don't beat yourself up, you didn't know this would happen."
"But I did," he admitted, "he begged me not to invite your family over and I did anyway. I'm the worst older brother ever."
The mess Smokey made was cleaned up and the rest of dinner was completely silent. Dusty went upstairs afterwards to try to talk to his brother, but he was in no mood to talk to him. Their parents had gone upstairs to check on him numerous times, but he pushed them away too.
An hour after dinner, LN-R and PTR had decided that it was time to head home since there was school the next day. RY-N was more than happy to get going, but NTL-E wasn't ready to leave yet. There was something she wanted to do before they left.
She went upstairs and knocked on Smokey's door. At first, all she got was a loud 'thump!', most likely from a shoe or similar object being thrown at the door.
She tried again and got a rough, "Go away!"
She knocked a third time, "Smokey, it's just me, NTL-E."
Finally, he opened the door, "What? Are you mad at me like everyone else?"
"No, I came to say sorry," she told him.
"For what?" he asked. "I'm the one who made a scene in the first place."
"I'm the one who wanted to bring my family over tonight, your parents agreed, but I should have checked to see if everyone was on board. And for that I'm very sorry," she apologized.
He didn't have anything to say in response to this and, truthfully, it only made him feel ashamed of himself. He trusted NTL-E, the only Kineceleran he does trust, he should learn to trust her family too, but he doubted that would happen anytime soon, if it would ever happen at all. Especially considering who her brother was friends with.
"NTL-E, c'mon! Let's go home already!" RY-N shouted from downstairs.
She gave him a hug, which he weakly returned, then separated from him, "Bye, I'll see you later."
He watched her leave and stood there long afterwards. He stood there staring into space with sad eyes, his face was blank otherwise. He eventually retreated back into his room and closed the door.
The next morning, RY-N was getting ready for school, he was already dressed in an Ozzy shirt and khaki shorts. At that moment, he was polishing his helmet to keep it shiny and clean.
Kinecelerans need to polish their helmets and claws not just to keep them clean, but to keep them from rotting. Rotting usually happens in the claws first, fortunately for him he didn't have claws so he didn't have to worry about them. His father didn't have claws either, but his mother and sister did.
To him, it seemed only fitting that the two girls of the house did have them since most girls tend to take a long time getting ready anyway. At least that was from personal experience and from what his friends tell him.
After he was done in the bathroom, he went downstairs for breakfast. He grabbed a box of cereal and a carton of blue milk from the refrigerator.
When he was about halfway through his breakfast, his head was suddenly forced into his bowl. His food spilled all over the table and floor. After just a few more seconds, he was lifted out of the bowl. He looked up and saw that the assailant was none other than his own sister!
"NTL-E! What gives?!" he shouted, breathing heavily and spewing milk and cereal out of his mouth and nose.
"You embarrassed everyone last night!" she yelled.
"Me?! He started it!" he argued.
"I don't care, runt. You're going to apologize to him today or else!" she threatened.
He gagged, "Ugh! I'd rather lick the bathroom floor!"
She grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl on the table and started slicing at it at speeds that were hard for even him to see. In seconds, it was a paste that closely resembled baby food.
He got the message and fearfully shrieked, "Okay! Okay! I'll apologize!"
She left with a huff and went upstairs. He cleaned up the mess that was made and went upstairs himself. He brushed his teeth and grabbed his backpack from his bedroom.
He checked his bag to make sure he had everything. Once he made sure nothing was missing, he slung it over his shoulder and left for school.
His school was only a few blocks away from his apartment complex and getting there only took a second. Classes weren't for another few minutes, so he decided to look around for his friends. He found them pretty quickly and went over to them as soon he spotted them.
"SK8-R, ZK! How have you guys been?" he asked.
SK8-R and ZK were Kinecelerans just like him, the three of them had known each other since pre-school. They all just happened to live in the same complex as well.
ZK, or ZKR-E, was shorter than RY-N and did not have a helmet nor claws. He often wore a black bandana with red and white skulls to cover his head. His tail was short and a solid blue, unlike his two friends.
SK8-R was taller than both of his friends and was older too - he was eleven, they were ten. He had a helmet and claws too, the only one of the trio to have them. His tail was long and striped from the base to the tip, RY-N had only four stripes on his.
"I've been good," ZK replied.
"What about you? What have you been up to?" SK8-R asked.
"We went to my sister's boyfriend's house last night and it was just a disaster," he grumbled.
"Why? What happened?" he asked again.
"Apparently, his brother hates Kinecelerans and even lied about you beating him up in the bathrooms!" he explained.
He scoffed and laughed, "Seriously? Who would ever believe that?"
"I know, right? Hating an entire race because of one person is one thing, but blaming someone's best friend is another," he scoffed.
"I wonder if he got grounded," ZK commented.
"Maybe," he shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised, his Dad is a big dude. It got crazy last night and my sister is making me apologize for something he started."
"Seriously?" SK8-R asked in disbelief. "Why do you have to apologize? If anything you should be the one who gets an apology from him."
He shrugged, "I don't know. I just know that my sister is going to ground me to pulp if I don't."
The bell for classes rang throughout the whole school. It was time to go to class and listen to teachers all day. A very boring day for some, an interesting one for others.
"Well, time to go. I'll see you guys later," RY-N sped off to his classroom.
"I heard it's supposed to be a busy day in my class," ZK groaned before he took off.
That left SK8-R, he didn't go to his class right away, instead he was thinking about... vengeance. 'I'm going to tear that runt to shreds!'
An hour after classes started, in one classroom was a class of twenty-five students finishing up a writing assignment. The students were primarily Kineceleran, though there were several Citrakayah and a lone Aerophibian.
Among these students was Smokey, who was putting the final touches on his assignment. Once he was done, he got up from his desk and went over to his teacher, who was sitting at her desk.
"Can I go to the bathroom real quick?" he asked.
She nodded, "Sure, go right ahead."
He left the classroom and sped to the closest bathroom. He did his business and washed his hands once he was done.
"Hey," a voice spoke, a very familiar voice, one that he both hated and feared. He turned his head and saw SK8-R leaning up against the wall.
He shook the water off his hands and asked bitterly, "What do you want SK8-R?"
He shrugged, "I just wanted to have a little chat with you."
"Yeah, where have I heard that before?" he spat harshly.
"Don't have to be rude, I just wanted to talk to you about a rumor that's been going around," he told him a feign friendly voice, while smirking and cracking his knuckles.
He gulped nervously, "Oh, yeah? And what would that be?"
"Oh, you already know," he replied ominously.
He tries to make a run for it, but he blocks the door, the only way out. He takes small, nervous steps back like a cowardly little mouse. If he was the mouse, then SK8-R was the lion.
He grabs a hold of his arm and begins to spin him around at extreme speeds. The grip on his arm was so strong that he could feel his sharp claws sink into his skin.
When it was over, he was thrown roughly against the wall, causing him to grunt in pain. His world was spinning and it was blurry, but he could make out a clawed fist raised high before it came down.
By the time he finally made it back to class, his teacher had started on a new lesson. He walked in with his head hung and silently sat down at his desk.
He looked over at his classmate next to him, Jet, the Aerophibian. Jet had recently joined their class upon his family migrating to Earth from their home planet. He was also one of the very few he could consider a friend. He had a sinking feeling that he would definitely be in need of one later.
"Jet," he whispered, so that their teacher wouldn't hear him.
"Yeah?" he questioned, not taking his eyes off of the new lesson.
"Can you sit with me at lunch today?" he asked, hopeful and fearful.
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(A/N: So? What do you think? Do you think I did a decent job with this chapter?
Just so you guys know: SK8-R is pronounced "Skater" and ZKR-E is pronounced "Zachary." They will be brought up a lot in future chapters.
The next chapter of "Interstellar Roots" is about halfway done, but I'm not sure when I'll be able to update it. I'm also working on the next chapter of "Against All Odds", which I updated a few days ago, again I'm not sure when it'll be done. I'll also be getting started on the next chapter of "No More Chains" very soon, but it'll be a little while.)