Hello, everyone! Here's Chapter VII!
Sorry it's been, like, five months. I've had to deal with some stuff in my personal life, as well as, you know, college, but now I am back in the saddle!
Enjoy!
Chapter 7
Around the time Frex and his two able bodied children arrived at the paintball field, Nessa and Nanny had just finished shopping at Oatsie's, the most popular clothing store in Center Munch. "Well, duckie," Nanny started, her voice a bit strained by all the boxes she was carrying. "In all the years I've worked for your father, I never took you for such a fashion enthusiast."
"I'm not," Nessa said. "I couldn't care less about who designed these dresses or what season they're from; I just think they look good on me. I'm going to be the first female governor of Munchkinland in quite a while, and unfortunately the attire of a female politician is a valid topic in the news."
"Well, why are you worrying about that now? You're not going to be governor for awhile. Let's see what's next on your list." Nanny pulled out Nessa's list from her pocket. "Ah! The Center Munch Zoo! Aren't you a little old for that, Nessie?"
Nessa laughed. "Zoos aren't just for children, Nanny! They're a great way to observe Ozian wildlife. Except don't mention this part of our day to Fabala. We'd have to sit through an hour long lecture about how there might be Animals in zoos!"
Meanwhile, at the paintball field, the other three Thropps had changed out of their street clothes and found out that they were up against a wealthy family from the Glikkus. As Elphaba was tying up her hair, she noticed Shell doing some target practice. She was surprised to see that most of his paintballs landed pretty close to the center. At seeing her amazed expression, Shell explained, "Father let me join him on his last hunting trip with some of his cabinet. I learned a few things."
Elphaba normally would have gotten on his case about hunting, but at the moment, she only said, "Wow. You're actually kind of awesome. That's interesting."
"And you're actually being nice today," he countered. "I like it."
"Yeah, don't make it weird, Shell."
Just then Frex finally came out of the men's changing room. "Okay, kids," he started. "If we have to play this game, we're going to do it right. Thankfully, we seem pretty evenly matched with the Glikkuns: I think I can handle the husband and wife, Shell, their younger boy looks about your age, and Elphaba, I believe the older one is only a little older than you. Don't embarrass me, either of you."
A whistle signaled the start of the game, and Munchkinland's First Family grabbed their paintball guns and braced themselves.
Over at the zoo, Nanny and Nessa were looking at a pair of baby hyenas nursing from their mother. "That's obviously a boy and a girl," Nessa observed. "When hyena cubs are the same sex, they fight for milk constantly until one either submits or dies of malnutrition. But in this case, the male cub always submits to the female. It's a matriarchal society."
"How in Oz do you know all that, Nessa?" Nanny asked.
Nessa shrugged. "I like Vinkun animals. They fascinate me. That's one way I may have been influenced by Fabala. Did you know that there are only about 3000 wild lions left in the Vinkus? And it's mostly because of human encroachment. I think when I'm governor, I might talk with King Marillot about wildlife conservation. Hopefully he'll still be king when I become governor; I would hate to have to talk to his son about this. Didn't he just get kicked out of yet another boarding school?"
"Yes, I heard that his parents are doubtful he's going to get into a university, poor things. Alright, Nessie, are you done looking at these dogs?"
"They're not dogs! They're spotted hyenas, and they're much more intelligent than dogs! They're actually on par with some primates. Hyenas are so misunderstood."
"You're right about that, miss," a nearby zoo worker said. "You obviously know your hyenas."
Nessa nodded and smiled. "I do, sir. I love them."
Recognition suddenly flickered in the zoo worker's eyes. "Oh my Oz! You're Nessarose Thropp! And you're visiting our zoo. This is huge! Well, hi, I'm Kiveen, and I mainly take care of these hyenas here as well as the lions next door. We have about twenty lions and forty hyenas here-…"
"But no Lions or Hyenas, right?" Nessa interrupted.
Kiveen looked horrified. "No, of course not! No, we give intelligence tests to all the animals we get so we can be sure they're not Animals."
"Good. I may actually convince my sister to come here now."
"Miss Thropp, would you like to hold a hyena cub?" Kiveen asked.
Nessa was taken aback. "Well yes, but would the mother allow that?"
"Oh yeah, that's Bonga," Kiveen answered. "I've known her since she was a cub herself; she trusts me completely." Nessa and Nanny watched open mouthed as Kiveen went into the enclosure and right up to the mother hyena as if she were his pet dog. "Hello, Bonga! Hello, my girl! How are your cubs today? Could I hold one for just a clock tick? Thank you, my girlie." Kiveen picked up one of the cubs, gave Bonga a pat on the head, and exited the enclosure. "Here you go, Miss Thropp, a male hyena cub. His name's Tiko." Kiveen set Tiko down in Nessa's lap.
"Aww!" Nessa cooed. "He's so precious! How old is he?"
"He and his sister Aja are just two weeks old."
"Master Kiveen, may I ask how you managed to go into that enclosure without getting mauled to death?" Nanny asked.
"It's all about trust," Kiveen explained. "Bonga and I go way back; she trusts me and she knows I'm dominant over her. She's never even tried to hurt me."
"That's amazifying, Master Kiveen," Nessa said, scratching Tiko behind the ear. "I promise, this zoo will get its share of government money when I'm governor."
But back at the paintball field, the current governor of Munchkinland was feeling quite powerless. The husband and wife from the Glikkus were in a heated battle with him, while Elphaba, Shell, and the Glikkun boys were nowhere to be seen. Another paintball from the husband barely missed Frex, so as he returned fire, he yelled, "Missed me again, sir! What's in the Glikkus anyway, besides rocks and desert? Munchkinland is the corn basket of Oz! Take that!" He knew trash talking was a little juvenile, but after all, Frex hadn't played a game like this since he was a teenager.
"We have the Glikkun River," the wife shot back, before literally shooting back. The paintball grazed Frex's shoulder.
"Wow! You two would be useless in my army! Can either of you actually shoot straight?"
"Yeah well, I bet our boys are absolutely killing your beanpole daughter and your shrimp son," the husband retorted.
"Don't call my son a shrimp! And I bet my children are smarter than both your boys combined!" Frex then shot five paintballs at the couple, causing them to retreat behind a tree.
On the other side of the paintball field, Elphaba and Shell were in an equally heated battle with the Glikkun boys, protecting themselves with an artificial rock formation. "Woo!" Shell exclaimed as his paintball fire caused the older boy to back up a little bit. "I love shooting people with you!"
"I love everything about you!" Elphaba yelled over the Glikkun boys' shouts and paintballs. But just then, the Glikkun boys ran behind the two Thropp siblings, and without thinking, Shell grabbed his sister's hand and rushed out from behind the rock, and then started backing away from the boys, exchanged fire with them the whole time.
"Fabala!" Shell shouted. "Run to Father so they'll only have one person to shoot! I'll be there in a clock tick!"
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine. You just run!" So Elphaba ran.
Elphaba ran through the Gilikin Forest, worried that flying would only alert the nearby Gale Forcers to her exact location. If she could only lose them, she could have easily mounted her broom and left the Gilikin Forest within the hour, but that was not possible at the moment. But she failed to notice a prominent tree root in her path, and she fell forward, landing on her hands and knees, thankfully. A voice called out to her.
"Whoa, Fabala! Are you okay? Let me help you up." Strong hands grabbed hers, and when she was pulled up, Elphaba found herself looking at her baby brother, now all grown up and dressed in a Gale Force uniform.
"No, Shell," she moaned. "Shell, not you too."
"Oh, don't worry, Fabala," Shell said. "I'm not here to handcuff you. I'm just going to tell my friends that you went that way …" He pointed toward where she had been running from. "And I'm going to tell Fiyero that you're alright because we've both been worrying."
"Fiyero … What?"
"Yeah! This was all his idea! To join the Gale Force so we could safely look for you and make sure you're okay! Isn't it brilliant?"
"That's … actually not a bad plan." Elphaba smiled in a way that made Shell think, Oz, she likes him too. This is insane! "You tell Fiyero I said that. And thank you, Shell, for doing this."
Shell nodded. "I've got you, big sis."
Elphaba ran towards Frex. "Father! The Glikkun boys snuck up behind us! Shell's trying to fight them off. Here, I'll help you with the parents." Frex gave a curt nod, and father and daughter stood back to back to protect each other.
"I'm coming!" they heard Shell say, and then they saw him running up to them with the Glikkun boys close behind him. Shell practically anchored himself to Elphaba and Frex's sides, and the three Thropps kept firing until the Glikkun parents and the younger boy had enough paintballs on them that they were "dead."
But the older of the Glikkun boys was still in the game, and Elphaba didn't notice that he was aiming directly at her until it was a second too late. She tried to fire to block him, but, "My gun's jammed! Father! Shell!"
Shell acted quickly and fired at just the right time, causing his paintball to collide with the Glikkun boy's. Both paintballs lost their momentum and fell to the ground. Shell then fired in rapid succession at the Glikkun boy until he "died." The game was over, and the First Family of Munchkinland was victorious. Shell turned to Elphaba with a smile. "I've got you, big sis."
She put her arm around him. "Thanks, Shell. You saved my ass." Then, to Shell's surprise, Elphaba pulled him into a hug.
"So, Father," Shell started as he pulled away from his sister. "How was it doing a wheelchair inaccessible activity?"
Frex looked at his son thoughtfully. Despite himself, he had had a good time. "You know what, you two? Let's go to Ugaini's for dinner. Because of their steps, I haven't been there in fourteen years."
By the time Frex, Elphaba, and Shell got home from dinner, Nanny and Nessa were waiting for them in the living room. "Ah, they're finally home," Nanny observed.
Frex immediately went over to Nessa and gave her a hug and a kiss. "Hello, pet! I've missed you all day!"
"Yeah, we didn't do anything fun," Elphaba said.
"At no point was I having a good time," Shell added. "I'm sure your day was much more interesting than ours. What did you do?"
"I cuddled a hyena cub," Nessa answered matter of factly.
"Wait, really?" Elphaba asked, suddenly realizing what that meant. "You went to the Center Munch Zoo! Nessa! What have I told you about that? Zoos keep Animals too, you know, they just don't tell you that …" As she predicted, Nessa had to listen to her sister rant for a full hour.
As Elphaba was heading to bed that night, she passed the bathroom that she shared with her siblings. There was no door on this bathroom, as the door was very old and getting repaired, but Elphaba noticed a sign on the doorsill that read: BATHROOM IN USE, PLEASE RESPECT THE INVISIBLE LOCK. She smirked as she realized just who had put that sign up. She casually strolled into the bathroom. "Please come back later!" Shell said from behind the shower curtain. "Did you not see the sign?"
"I did," Elphaba replied. "And it all came rushing back."
"What did?"
"How much I love torturing you." With a swift motion, Elphaba flushed the toilet, causing the water in the shower to go cold and Shell to scream in a manner that Elphaba found hysterical.
"I thought we were a team!" Shell shouted angrily, his voice breaking.
"We were. It was great. But this just seemed easier. Sorry, Shell. We'll always have paintball." She flushed the toilet again before leaving the bathroom. Shell screamed as the cold water hit him and he heard his sister's cackling laughter from down the hallway.
There you have it!
Thanks for reading! It's good to be back!
Cheers,
Elle Dottore