A/N: Thanks for the reviews you guys! They're greatly appreciated and I'm glad you're enjoying this. Now, on with the show!

Disclaimer: If I owned Lord of the Flies, Piggy and I would eat all the sweets that exist ;)

(02) Plots and Plans

At the end of the day, the boys went back to their respective places.

Or rather, sides.

Ralph, Piggy and Jack were up discussing the problematic tensions on the rise. The majority of British kids couldn't sleep. They all sat up in their shelters and talked about the "Yankees". It turns out none of them has ever forgotten what they've learned back in History class.

The Americans were once British. After the explorers made their discovery of a mass piece of land, they took it, claimed it as their own, and sent for more of their people. Sometime later on, the Declaration of Independence was made shortly after a conflict between the Americans and British. They've stripped themselves of their original ways and went on to modernize their lifestyles. Their modesty. Their accents.

"I can't believe it," Ralph said. "Some of those kids have the exact same names as us!"

"Yes, they do," Jack replied. "I mean, that foolish boy has brought my family name to shame!"

"They sound a lil' mature," Piggy added. "And they look like it with those haircuts." Jack shot a glance at him. "What?" Piggy asked.

"Those sissies aren't mature!" Jack detested. "If they were, they never would've stolen our conch!"

"I'm only talking 'bout their appearances," Piggy stated. "If you don't believe me, then go look for yourself."

"You're batty!"

This situation Ralph was now in became more complicating. Jack and Piggy always had a problem with each other from the very beginning. No matter how much he brings the group together, they both had issues and held them against each other. If he had the conch right now, he would've been able to split up the argument both boys had by waving it. To see the glimmering shell in his hands would've quieted them down.

"Boys!" Ralph called. "Listen, I have no idea how those boys got here, but since we're English and they're Yankee, we must get our conch back."

"That means we must fight them!" Jack snapped. "My hunters are sharpening their sticks right now, so everything will be ready soon."

"What's the use of starting another war?" Piggy asked. "The second World War is already taking place as we speak."

"Then let's have an island war!" Jack exclaimed.

An island war sounded like fun to Jack. He wanted to fight the other boy named Jack. If it was possible, he would've snuck up to the other side and make an 'agreement' with him prior to their war. To win the victory would be the best thing he ever wanted, and he'll do whatever it takes as chapter chorister and head hunter to show their opponents what he's made of. Since his choir went hunting for pigs, their skills have excelled greatly and they had the legs of jaguars. However, Ralph wasn't sure about having a war. An agreement would be fine, but a war...

Some things were meant to be left alone.

"I think your idea is a little too far out," Ralph told him.

"Don't forget this is what got us stuck 'ere," Piggy went on. "If we go to war with those impostors, we'll be stuck here for good!"

"Shut-up Fatty!" Jack snapped rudely. "You're jealous of my ideas!"

"No I'm not!" Piggy argued.

Ralph took a stick nearby and slapped a rock with it. The boys stopped their ranting and looked at him.

"Too bad the conch isn't here anymore," he muttered. "Now things will be much harder to handle."

Both Jack and Piggy remained quiet. Without the conch, how can they survive and maintain order? They had to get it back somehow, because there's no way they can survive without it. At this point many boys came and sat in a circle. None of them looked happy. That's when Piggy decided to speak up.

"I just remembered there was this fat kid who picked up the shell," he explained. "I don't know why, but when I asked to give it back he had the attitude of a snob."

'Sounds interesting,' Jack thought. 'I'll give poor Piggy a break and pick on the other one.' The thought was amusing to him.

"Why didn't you take it back?" Percival asked.

"If I were him, I would've picked up sand and threw it in his eyes," Johnny stated. "Then he would give the conch back."

Just then Percival burst into tears. He got up and ran into a shelter nearby, afraid that Johnny would attack him then. The three older boys looked at him.

"I was talking about the impostor that stole the conch!" he said quickly.

Just then Robert and Maurice came.

"Sorry to interrupt, but does anyone know where Simon is?" they asked in unison. Ralph got up from where he sat. He can't recall seeing Simon among them when they left the area. He still found it strange how the small boy would just randomly disappear out of the blue.

"He's batty," Jack said. The other boys looked at him.

"Maybe he went for a bathe," Ralph assumed. "Who knows? He's been out in the sun too long."

"What if he fainted somewhere out there?" Bill asked as he approached them. Robert and Maurice shot glances at each other.

"I think it would be a great idea if we all went out," Ralph suggested. The boys shook their heads.

"Not in the dark," Bill stated. "Who knows? Those boys we saw earlier might be savages compared to us."

"You mean they're more prone to savagery," Maurice corrected him. "They're not even English-"

"Simon's in trouble!" Henry interrupted. "They're gonna kill him!"

"Maybe they're the beastie that haunts us at night!" cried Rupert.

"Boys!" Jack hollered. "Calm down. There's no need to panic."

Ralph looked around and counted all the boys. "We make an army much bigger than theirs," he said. "If it is possible, we can take them down. But first we gotta go find Simon."

"Simon can find his way," said Roger. "But if you want, I'll go look for him by myself." The boys stared at him.

"The littluns need us, Roger," Jack said. "Besides, if we should go then Piggy will stay here and babysit."

Piggy quickly shook his head. He wasn't in the mood for watching a bunch of little boys run around this time.

"Why don't-"

"-we go-"

"-look for-"

"-him?" asked Samneric, pointing to each other. The boys nodded their heads in approval as the twins walked out of the circle.

"As long as you make it back alive," Roger told them. The twins shivered at his comment, but they weren't afraid yet.

Deep down, they had other plans. They would look for Simon, and since they're both on fire watch tonight it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring their new friends along.

-x-x-x-

Simon woke up, regaining his consciousness. There was something strange about where he was. As he rubbed his head, he noticed a bunch of sharpened sticks that circled around him. He felt frightened and feared what might happen next.

"He's awake," Peter said. "Chances are he'll tell us about his plans."

Simon was now confused. He was surrounded by a bunch of boys, but these were the boys he didn't know. As he sat up, the American hunters each took three steps back. Simon got on his feet and looked around, observing the area. It looked quite familiar, like this morning. He turned around and made his way out, but two hunters got in his way.

"Where do you think you're going?" Roger asked.

"Somewhere," Simon replied.

"You're not going anywhere," Jack told him.

"But I don't belong here," Simon told them. "I must go back to my side."

"I must go back to my side," Jack mimicked. Roger, Tony, Steve and Andy chuckled at his imitation of the small boy. "You must tell us about these boys of yours," Jack continued. "Then you'll be free to go back."

Simon froze. He had the slightest idea what their ulterior motives were. If he told them about Piggy's intelligence, Jack's singing ability, or Ralph's leadership skills, he'd be in tons of trouble. "If you really want to know, go and ask them yourself," Simon said.

"Oh, come on," Jack groaned. "You went to school with these guys and know nothing about them?"

"Maybe he's a weirdo," Roger told him. "But he is cute."

"Let's adopt him," Greg suggested, crawling out of his shelter nearby. The other boys shared a grin, except for Simon. He was mentally finding a way to escape the bad guys, but it seemed impossible. The hunters took both his arms and dragged him into another shelter when he saw the other boy with his name.

Simon.

'What's he doing there all by himself?' he asked inwardly. 'He looks lonely. I wonder if these guys ever talk to him.' His thoughts were interrupted as he fell to the ground beneath him. 'Impostors,' he thought. 'I'll be out of here in no time!' He visualized Simon on the other side, near a tent, watching what was going on. 'We both think the same way,' he convinced himself. 'I mean, he has the same eyes I have.' His thoughts were interrupted as the taller boys came inside. They interrogated him for what seemed like hours. No matter how hard they tried to get through to him, he refused to answer. Finally, they gave up and left him in the shelter by himself.

The hunters now stood outside, discussing their issues with the British boys.

"There's this boy I want to challenge," Roger began.

"Is he the one you had a staring contest with?" Andy asked. "I must admit, he looks creepy."

"Yea seriously," said Tony. "I think that boy is the monster."

"Tony!" Jack snapped. "How many times do I have to say that monsters don't exist?"

"Since the night you told us that scary story," Tony replied sarcastically.

"I had nightmares since then," Steve told them.

"Then let's sneak up and kill him," Jack said. "Besides, we'll have those wee little boys on the other side crying in no time!"

Simon's eyes widened. They must've snuck up last night, stole the conch and scared the littluns. They put the conch in the beachwater and left it floating there, so that Piggy, their Piggy, would find it and give it to their Ralph. As he gathered the clues and stuck them together, he planted them somewhere in his mind so that he won't have any trouble telling the others.

On a second thought, why were they taller? Normally, Ralph and Jack would be the tallest boys on the island. The rest of them fell short in height, as the ages gradually fell. He stood somewhere in the very middle. In fact, were the Americans teenagers? He didn't want to believe that since they acted quite immature in his opinion.

"Um, okay now Jack's the monster!" Tony shrieked. "Run for it!" The rest of the hunters dashed in seperate directions, all except for Jack and Roger.

Simon secretly chuckled to himself while he watched this, until the next thought hit him. 'They're scared of a monster,' he thought. 'Just like how my side fears the beast...' He felt his head spin. This was crazy! Both terms shared something in common. 'I gotta find a way out of here,' he thought. As he scanned the wide shelter he sat in, he saw a big hole in the back. Turns out they're not so good at making shelters! Simon took this opportunity as an advantage. He turned to look behind, just to see the Americans complaining about what they should do. Carefully, slowly, Simon snaked his way out of the shelter from the back. None of the boys who argued took notice. With his swift feet he ran into the forest without looking back. A bunch of creepers attacked him and he tripped over a strong leg.

He looked up to see a buff boy staring down at him. He looked quite handsome, but he had a devilish glint in his eye.

"What's your name?" Simon asked timidly.

"Roger," came the sudden reply, "and I really like you, but no one else is supposed to know."

Simon quickly crawled away with escape as the sole goal. He already felt scared of his tormentor and the farther he crawled, the closer the older boy came. At this point he was leaning against a tree when Roger leaned in closer.

"I saw when you left, kid," he said. "I'm not that stupid in case that's what you thought."

Simon shook when a cold hand touched his cheek. He felt there was nothing he could do to save himself and the others.

"Samneric to the rescue!" the twins hollered as they jumped on Roger. Roger quickly wrestled with them, but they had swift moves and good reflexes as they held him down. "Run Simon, run!" they told him.

Simon quickly got on his feet and made a run for it. He struggled to get through the forest normally, but his fainting spells came over him. At the last minute, the small boy fell to the ground when Roger caught him just in time.

"My batty boy," he whispered, "you always throw a faint." He looked into the forest and wondered what has become of the twins.

-x-x-x-

"Let me go!" Sam snapped. Roger grabbed his hair and pulled much harder. "Ow!"

"He's not easy!" Eric complained. He quickly kicked the vicious boy in the belly. Roger gave up on Sam's hair and grunted as he held his abdomen.

"You're not gonna get away with this," he told them. He bent over, feeling a little sick inside. The twins watched him as they pointed to each other.

"You can't mess with us!" they exclaimed. In a split second, they turned on their heels and ran deeper into the forest. Somewhere along the way, both boys took notice of light on the mountain. They ran further down when they saw Sam 'n' Eric watching the signal fire. "Hey guys," they greeted in unison.

"Hey, what's up?" they said in one voice.

"Nothing, really," Sam replied.

"We just stopped-"

"-a bad guy-"

"-from attacking-"

"-Simon."

The other twins shot a glance at each other. "Oh, really?"

"You guys kicked butt?"

Samneric nodded and grinned. As they conversed into the wee hours of the morning, none of them remembered anything about the fire. They talked about Roger all night. Due to their excitement, they looked forward to some of the rivalries on the rise, and that, in their opinion, would make their time on this island more worthwhile!

-x-x-x-

The next day, Ralph took a stroll on the beach by himself. He had no idea the conch did belong to someone else. The only thing he knew was that the cadets argued with a bunch of British schoolboys. He can recall seeing two Piggy's and two sets of Sam 'n' Eric. Chances are the tall boy Jack argued with was another Jack! Ralph quickly shook his head as he stared at the water.

'Am I missing something?' he asked inwardly. 'Yesterday's assembly did turn out strange. In fact, I hope those boys have different names!'

As he came to his senses, the answer was plain and simple. They wanted the conch, and they wanted it now! Ralph wasn't going to give up that easily. If a group of little schoolboys wanted possession of it, they'll have to come to his assemblies whether they liked it or not.

'Unless there's another shell like it,' he thought. 'But I doubt it!'

He turned to walk up the mountain when he saw a wisp of smoke. As he ran to it, there was no fire in sight. Just as he turned to walk away and find Piggy, two British boys appeared.

"Okay, Piggy," Ralph said. "Give me your specs."

"But I can't see without 'em," Piggy replied.

"So? Just pass them over and we'll have the signal going in no time!"

"Okay, since Samneric didn't do a good job," Piggy commented as he took his specs off.

Ralph raised an eyebrow. Specs? These boys were old school in his opinion. He decided to approach them when the other Ralph looked up at him. Time stood still as they both glared at each other. 'That's me,' they thought. 'The one they call chief!'