The walk to the back to town was uneventful as Pippi thankfully didn't ask Ninten any more questions about his PSI. As they entered the town once more, Ninten noticed that it felt slightly more safe despite the fact it was still silent. Hopefully that meant the defeat of the gang zombie had stopped the poltergeist attacks.

Once they reached the office, the secretary glanced at him and pointed towards the staircase to signify that the mayor was still up there. He proceeded upstairs without a word as Pippi followed. The mayor was half asleep in his chair as they entered, but woke up as soon as he heard the door close.

"Ah, you're back! I assume this is the missing girl, Pippi was it?"

"Yes sir. She was taken by the zombies, but I got her out of the cemetery unharmed." Ninten said in as much of a polite manner as he could.

"Capital work young man! I knew you would do your civic duty." The mayor was beaming as he said this. "Perhaps you could help us with another issue as well."

"Uhhh.. What do you mean?"

"Well you've heard about the situation with the zoo animals, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I think I have." He remembered the man he had talked to earlier mention them, but everything else he had heard was about the zombies.

"Great, so I don't need to go into detail. Abbot here will give you the key to the zoo, so if you could do this for me- I mean for the town, then we would surely be indebted to you." He pointed to the person sitting at the desk while he gave Ninten a hopeful smile.

"Why me? I thought the police were investigating it."

"Well... Out officers aren't at the zoo per se, rather they're tracking down all the escaped animals. That's why I want you to go their. You've proven yourself to be capable." The mayor's proposal was definitely strange, but Ninten couldn't help but ponder it. Sure, this time nobody he knew was in direct danger (at least as far as he was aware), but the zoo would probably be less dangerous then zombies. And besides, he might be able to get more money from this.

"Ok, I'll do it. But I want more pay."

"Hmm? Oh, of course! I wouldn't ask for something like this to go unpaid. Now run along kid, I'll escort little Pippi home."

"Wait a minute, I want to come with you!" Pippi was scowling as she said this.

"Pippi, it would be better for you to go home now." I promise I'll tell you more about the secret tomorrow, ok?" He held out his hand to signify what he was talking about.

"Fiiiiiine, but you better not forget!" She seemed like she was about to say more, but before she could the mayor's assistant approached Ninten with something in his hand.

"Here's the key to the zoo young man. You can do what you like with it when you're done, we have plenty."

Ninten put the key in his backpack as Abbot went back to his desk. He then proceeded to leave the building, leaving a slightly salty Pippi behind.

"Hey kid, you're going up to the zoo right?" Just as he was about go through the door leading outside, the secretary stopped him. She still spoke in a professional manner, but she was noticeably less aggressive then the last time he talked to her.

"Yeah I- wait how did you know that?"

"It's a part of my job. Anyway I would suggest going to the pet store if you're looking for information about the zoo. They've been having the same problems with their animals to and they might be able to help you. It's on the 2nd floor of the department store in case you didn't know."

Despite how obvious it sounded, Ninten didn't actually think to ask the pet store about the zoo animals. He thanked the secretary for the advice as he left the building and began the short walk back to the department store.

Ninten had been to the pet store regularly to get dog food or something else for Mick when his mom was to busy. However he always liked looking at the other animals, and he'd normally stay there a couple of minutes before leaving to pet the cats or watch the fish. This visit was different though, because instead of being greeted by the sounds of animal cries, he was greeted with nothing but silence as the only other living things there were the fish and the two cashiers that day, Clark and Vivian. Both of them seemed to be playing some sort of card game until one of them saw Ninten enter.

"Hey Ninten, nice to see you." Clark smiled, but was clearly upset about something. "Sorry, but unless your here to get dog food there's really nothing to do here."

"Wow... What happened to all the animals?" When the secretary mentioned that the store was having animal troubles, he didn't think that meant they had all escaped.

"Yeah, a couple of days ago the guys that came in to open the store found the entire place almost completely empty. The only animals that remained were the fish."

"Don't forget that bird from yesterday." Vivian added without looking away from her cards.

This took Ninten by suprise, as he had never seen any birds for sale at the store. "I thought the store didn't handle birds though. Shouldn't it be at the Canary Village?"

"It should be, but some shady looking dude just left it here instead. He didn't even have it in a real cage. We tried giving it a better one, but it won't let us touch it. He paused for a second as he stared at what appeared to be nothing. "You wanna see it? You always seem to have a way with animals, maybe it'll like you."

Of course nobody other then his family knew that Ninten's "way with animals" was because of his psychic powers, and he wasn't about to tell that to anyone else (besides Pippi of course). "Sure, it'd be cool to see a bird up close. Where is it?"

"Follow me, don't touch my cards Vivian." Vivian gave a grunt of acknowledgement as Ninten was led to a corner of the shop. A container stood on a table with a small bowl of food and water set out. A tiny, yellow bird sat in the corner, staring at the newcomers with sadness in its eyes.

"The poor little guy has just been huddled in the corner since yesterday. I can't even tell if it's eaten anything."

"You didn't mention it was a baby." Ninten said as he looked at the chick. "(Maybe I can take it back to the village. It wouldn't be much of a detour.)"

"I didn't? I thought I did, well that's the other reason we can't move it. It might freak out and hurt itself if we force it, and I don't want to risk that."

"Yeah... Hey, can you leave me alone with it? It might be nervous because there's two of us." Again this wasn't a complete lie, but it was the most Ninten wanted to say.

"Sure thing, I'll be at the counter if you need me." Clark walked away, leaving Ninten with the bird. After double checking to make sure he wasn't nearby, Ninten started gently speaking to the bird.

"Hey little guy, are you ok?" The bird remained silent as Ninten spoke. "You can talk to me, I won't hurt you."

"{Go away, I just want to go home.}" Like with the other animals he's talked to, a voice echoed from the bird.

"I can take you home, you're from the canary village right?" The little bird seemed to perk up slightly as it heard this.

"{I... I think I am. There are a lot of trees and a lot of other birds there.}" It's voice grew less shaky as it described it's home.

"Yeah, that's the canary village. I know where it is, so do you want me to take you? I'll let you ride in my cap." He took off his baseball cap to emphasize this, releasing his messy, black hair.

"{Ok, I'll go with you.}" Ninten slowly lowered his hat into the container and the bird climbed into it. It sat down as Ninten held the hat like a bowl.

"I just have to tell the employees that I'm taking you, and then we'll head straight to your home, ok?"

"{Ok, but please hurry.}"

Back at the check out counter, Clark was getting his head handed to him in Poker. After losing for what was possibly the seventh time that day, he noticed Ninten walking towards them with his hat held in front of him. It wasn't odd at first, but it didn't take long for him to notice the bird riding inside of it.

"Hey nice going, it seems to like you!"

"Uh huh, I'm gonna take it to the canary village. Do I have to pay you guys anything?"

"Nah, it's not like your keeping it. If anything it's probably just going home." He glanced down at the chick, which seemed to be ignoring him. "Thanks for doing this Ninten, it's a huge weight off my back." He gave Ninten a thumbs up as he left, leaving the two to start a new round of poker.

The canary village was a bird refuge that despite its name, didn't only keep canarys. Anybody was allowed admission as long as they didn't disturb any of the birds, and it was normally pretty noisy due to all of the chirping. That's why Ninten was suprised when he was greeted by dead silence as he approached the entrance.

As he walked around the village to try and find a place he could drop off the bird, he noticed that all of the other birds seemed to be ignoring him. After wandering around the sanctuary for a bit, he thankfully found the owner.

"Umm, excuse me sir? I found this chick and I was wondering if it belonged here." Upon closer inspection, the man seemed to have been crying as his eyes were practically swollen shut.

"O-oh hello there-" The man turned around to look at Ninten, but did a double take as soon as he saw the bird. "Oh my goodness it's Laura's chick! Young man where did you find them?"

"Wait, this bird is Laura's baby?" Laura was the first bird that took residence in the village, and was pretty much the entire reason it was named the canary village, so hearing that the bird was her child was a bit surprising. "Someone had apparently brought them to the pet shop, so I thought I would bring them here."

"They just went missing yesterday and we've all been so worried! Could you please take them to Laura? She should be by the white piller up north."

Sure enough, Laura was sat directly in front of the piller the owner was talking about. The little bird practically jumped out of Ninten's hat at the sight of its mom.

"{Mommy!}"

"{My child? It's really you!}" Laura stood to embrace her child as it ran up to her. She protectively covered the child with her wings as it nuzzled against her chest.

During the embrace, Laura started singing a melody as her child continued to nuzzle against her. It was only a few notes long, but that didn't make it any less pleasant or catchy. However in the back of his mind, he swore he could here another voice.

"(PSI Healing alpha.)"

"{Boy, thank you so much for finding my child. They wandered off the other day and never came back. I was worried I would never see them again.}"

"I'm... glad I could reunite the two of you." Watching the motherly care Laura displayed for her check made Ninten think of his own mom. Would she be really be ok if he left to travel like his dad said? She said that she would support him no matter what he did, but Ninten couldn't help but feel like she was covering up how worried she would be.

"(I should think about this later. I still have the zoo to look at.)" After doing his best to suppress the thoughts, he bid farewell to Laura and the Chick as he left the village. The other birds were much less cold towards him and serenaded him with beautiful chirping as he left.

Thankfully the zoo was only a short walk away from the village, so it didn't take Ninten to long to arrive there. As he approached the entrance however, was met with the unusual sight of a monkey standing directly in front of the gate. It stared at him as he approached.

"(Weird, it doesn't seem to be hostile)" Ninten got close to the monkey and despite all the warnings he's heard about getting near random animals, he stuck his hand out to scratch its head. It grunted in delight, but it didn't move out of the way. "(Whatever.)" He ignored the monkey after this and peered into the zoo to see what animals were still in there.

Just like the pet shop, it seemed like almost every animal was gone. Unlike the pet shop though, most of the enclosures were broken with scratch and bite marks scattered along them, which made Ninten more then a little nervous. It didn't help that he could see red stains in the grass as well.

"(Crap maybe I should have thought this through. I could barely handle a couple of zombies, there's no way I could fight off something like a tiger.)" He sighed nervously as he kept looking through the gates to try and spot any of the animals. "(Maybe I could use Hypnosis if I ran into something. It hasn't worked so for but that down mean-)"

"Ninten!"

Ninten jumped in suprise as his thoughts were interrupted by a shrill voice coming from his right. He looked over to see Pippi running towards him, slingshot in hand.

"Pippi? I thought the mayor was taking you home, what happened?"

"He left me as soon as we left town, so I came to help you! What are waiting for?" She said all this with a mischievous smile on her face, seemingly unaware of the dangers being presented.

"Ugh, seriously... (That scumbag, who just leaves a kid by her- WAIT DID SHE SAY SHE'S COMING WITH ME?!)" Ninten's eyes bugged out as he processed what Pippi had just said. "Nononononono you can't come with me, it's way to dangerous."

"Why not?" Pippi stared at him with a face of confusion. "We can totally handle it!."

"Pippi there could be living, breathing tigers in there for all we know! I don't want you getting hurt."

"But you could just heal me if I get hurt, right?"

"Yeah, but there's a limit to that. I'd rather not risk it."

"But you could just protect me so I don't get hurt, right?"

"I would, but I would barely be able to defend myself, I don't know-"

"And that's why you'd need me! I'd be the best backup!" She puffed up her chest to try and emphasize this.

"Yes, well, no, but... s-stop putting words in my mouth." Ninten sighed as he silently cursed Pippi's persistence. "Pippi please just go home, your mom is worried sick about you."

"No, I want to help you! My mom can wait." She sat down and crossed her arms as she said this. "And I'm not moving until you say I can go with you."

"Pippi..." Ninten could feel himself breaking from Pippi's constant counter arguments. "Ok fine, you can come with me, but-"

"Yes! Pippi cut him off again as she sprang from the ground and fist pumped the air. "Let's go then!"

"Hey, wait. If you're coming with me, you HAVE to promise that you'll stay next to me at all times, that way I can keep an eye on you. Ok?"

"Ok." Pippi responded with a thumbs up. "Now let's go!" She got up and waited next to the door as the monkey stared at her, seemingly unfazed by all of her yelling.

"Yeah just give me a second." Ninten found the padlock holding the door shut and got the key out of his bag. Before he could even react the monkey leapt up and grabbed it. It then climbed over the fence and disappeared on the other side, leaving a very annoyed and dumbfounded Ninten.

"Wh-what?! Hey get back here!" He tried to get the monkeys attention, but it was long gone. "Ugh! Of all the damn things to happen! How am I supposed to get in now!?" During Ninten's rambling, Pippi walked over to the padlock and checked it out.

"Maybe I can get another one from the mayors assistant, he said they had plenty. Ugh what the heck would I tell him though, that a freaking monkey took it!"

Clunk*

A sound managed to snap Ninten out of his rambling as he looked over to find the source. Pippi was standing in front of the door with the padlock in her hands, now completely separated from the door.

"I... wha... huh?" Ninten could only stare at her completely dumbfounded.

"It was rusty, so it was easy to pull off." Pippi said nonchalantly as she threw the lock on the ground. "Now come on, let's go!"

"(That was still solid metal. How the heck did she do that...)" Trying his best not to question what he just saw, Ninten shook his head and entered the zoo with Pippi in tow. Both of them clueless as to what the would find.

—

Just a couple things I want to say, you can ignore these if you want.

1: Like the other characters, Clark and Vivian probably won't be returning. I just wanted to give them names.

2: I'm really sorry this chapter took two months. I just kept putting it off and kept getting writers block. Hopefully this won't happen much in the future.

Anyway that's it. Please leave any criticisms you have with the story so far, I really want to make this good.