The principal looks down at the paper she was reading, "Graffiti on school grounds, riding a skateboard in the hallway, cutting class, not handing in assignments given to you. Does all of that sound familiar?"
Hershel smiles, shrugging, "Yeah I guess so. What's my punishment, Miss Murphy?" He doesn't seem to care all too much about getting in trouble, seeing as he's been in this room numerous times before.
Ms. Murphy massages her eyebrows, "Hershel, you have been here way too much. Do you know how many times I've called your mother about these incidents? Your father too."
Hershel rolls his eyes when she mentioned his dad. He let her continue and she did, "Now I'm afraid I've given you so many chances that I might have to expell you from this school, young man."
This new information took Hershel would of his calm demeanor, "Wait what? You can't do that, my mom had to do a lot to get me in here. Money from dad too."
The principal sighed, "I know your family situation is tough on you and you're a growing boy so I am willing to give just one more chance. Do you understand, Mr. Hughes-Thorburn?"
Hershel nods, looking away, "Just Hughes is fine and... Yes, I do. I promise. Bad boy Hershel will be a saint from now on."
The principal picked up some of her other papers, "That is good to hear. I am looking forward to see how much you'll change, maybe you'll find something you'll like when you're not spraypainting walls. Just remember, you are on your last chance, don't disappoint me, Mr. Hughes."
Hershel nods, walking out of her office without a word and into the hallway. There wasn't many kids there due to the fact that it was now after school hours, as he had been caught spray painting the gymnasium wall. With the exception of one girl in a hoodie and a green skirt, black hair and with a green hair clip; Marcy Wu. She was at her locker, packing her things to go to the local library to study for a big test coming up. She looked like she wanted to invite Hershel with her but he had walked past her too fast to get his attention. So she simply zipped up her backpack and walked towards the library. Where she will find some information about a particular box.
The boy hops on his skateboard and arrives at the park, he then looks at the beeper in his pocket. He sees a message from his mother reading 'I assume you will be home later. Have fun. I love you.' Hershel then gives her a response reading 'I will be back later. I love you.' before putting the device back into his pocket.
He sets his skateboard down and sits under a tree at the park, it's growing darker and darker. He takes out his sketch book from his backpack and starts to draw, drawing a rather detailed looking skull with fire around it. He was so focused on his sketch that he hasn't noticed the trio of girls who were sitting at the bench with a mysterious box in their hands. All looking down at it. Marcy was included in this group. Hershel continues to draw, unaware of the shaggy haired girl opening the box, causing a bright light to erupt from the box. Hershel covers his eyes, trying to see through the light as it engulfs him in it's blaze.
A flash of gold light shined through the forest, it then turned into a human-like shape. When the light disappeared, Hershel the dark-haired human took it's place. He had face-planted onto the ground and was slowly getting up, "Ow... What the?" Now on his feet, he stands in amazement of the setting that is now before him. His eyes had a sparkle in them that wasn't there before, "Woah... What is this place?" The large green trees, the shrubbery, the floating butterflies on the beautiful blue flowers... Hershel was so lost in the scenery that he didn't almost didn't see that there was even giant insects. The enormous, man-eating insects. Hearing a cricket ring in the air, Hershel sees a massive Praying Mantis approaching the open field he had been teleported into. He moves to the nearby bushes before the creature could notice he was here.
The darked haired boy backed away from the giant praying mantis that had yet to notice him. That was until the chain on his belt got stuck on a branch from a bush, getting him trapped within the bush. "Nooo, no no no. Come on you stupid chain..." He harshly whispers as he tries to rip himself free from the brush. The Praying Mantis' head snapped to the boy's sounds of struggle, now knowing where's it's next prey was.
Hershel is still tugging on his chain as he notices the predator come towards him, "Stay back! You really don't want to eat me, I'm warning you!" When he sees the mantis raise it's claw, Hershel holds up his knife in an attempt to stop the hit. He has been struck by the mantis, flung backwards into the deeper parts of the forest as his chain breaks. A bruise starts forming on his cheek but Hershel manages to get up and grab his knife again. The Praying Mantis runs towards him again, this time from a much longer distance away. This time he runs deeper into the forest as the Praying Mantis struggles to keep up with him.
He finally stops running at a broken tree, noticing that the mantis had given up on chasing him. Out of breath, he looks at his new surroundings, they were different than before. It was darker, with some sunlight peeking through the leaves above his head, vines falling from the branches, etc. The tree next to him was broken, various bark and wooden pieces scattered everywhere on the ground. This gives him an idea; using a few nearby vines as a rope, he tied the wood in a fashion that made a very small tent connected to the broken tree. Hershel lifted some of the wood out of the broken tree in order to hollow it out, tying a giant leaf to the top to serve as the roof. He sighs as his stomach growls, luckily he had kept small snacks in his backpack. He would eat in class even if the teachers would tell him not to.
He had noticed that night began to fall in the forest. Hershel awkwardly shuffles into this little "tree house", opening his backpack to enjoy his goldfish before going to sleep for the night.
Hershel stretches, letting out a small yawn. He notices that the chain on his belt is broken, "Dang, so I guess I really am in this weird bug world. Aw man, how am I going to get back?" Hershel crawls out of his makeshift tree house hesitantly, not seeing any predators here to eat him that day. His stomach growls again, so he dragged his backpack out of the house. "Dang it! Of course the one time I get sent to weird bug world is when I start running out of snacks." He almost shouts as his hand shifts through scattered paper, folders, notebooks and a sketchbook.
He sighs deeply to calm himself down, noticing some berries attached to a nearby bush, "It's okay, just try and remember that rhyme dad tried to teach you but mom had to correct... I'm pretty sure it's White and yellow, kill a fellow. Purple and blue, good for you. I can't remember red though so I'll pretend those ones aren't there." He started deattaching the purple and blue berries from their bushes and put them in his small house, wanting to have enough food to survive until someone finds him.
As he continues to look for berries, thoughts begin in circle in his head, 'Am I the only one here? Where am I? Are there other people here? Are they okay?" Hershel lets out a slow sigh as he tries not to think about it. He shakes his head, deciding to see if he can find some sort of river with fish in it next.
That is how the days went by for Hershel at first, he would either spend the day hiding from a giant predator or he would try and find another way to get food. He had spent a day building a fishing rod consisting of a branch and vine. One day actually fishing, a few hiding in his hut, eating his berries. At points, he could feel someone watching him but he figured it was some sort of creature that didn't know if it wanted to eat him or not. But it still felt strange regardless. Before he knew it, a whole week went by. The days were starting to go by fast until...
One day he was off fishing in a nearby river, sitting patiently as he waited for his next meal to take the bait. It was taking longer this time, he does not know why. But he does know to just keep quiet and be patient or else he would scare the fish away... He started getting suspicious when an hour passed by, he doesn't like to stay for longer than that. It means he would easily attract a predator of sorts...
He sighs peacefully, "Well at least the praying mantis isn't after me."
A strange buzzing started going off in the air, he looks behind him to see a massive mosquito.
"Oh COME ON!" Hershel exclaimed as he started running back to his house. He dodged the moquito's mouth as he makes it to his house, not having enough time to run into the small entrance. He ripped off the leaf roof to grab his backpack, getting out of the way of the mouth yet again. Hershel grabs the broken bark from the now broken house, using it to shield himself from the moqsuito.
It hit his "shield", trying to fling the mosquito away.
"Back OFF! Seriously I am done with you guys!" He shouts as he throws the shield forward, the mosquito attached to it so he could get away. Hershel starts running deeper into the forest, tripping over a rock in the process. The next thing he sees is a small creature hidden by the shadows, "Woah, you okay there, dude? That looked like a nasty fall." Hershel heard the buzzing come closer, "Oh shoot! Come on, we need to get out of here! This place is dangerous!"
The small creature was surprised as Hershel ran with great speed, she noticed the giant mosquito following them, "Woah! Quick, dive into that log ahead! We should lose it there if you keep up this speed!"
Hershel picked up his speed, "Are you sure? Okay!" He dived into the hollowed out log, putting down the creature when the mosquito flies past them.
The dark-haired boy looked at the mosquito as it passed by, "Hey thanks for the tip, you alright?" The blue child-like creature smiled at him, "Oh yeah I'm fine. Are you okay though? Those guys are never a problem for me but from what I saw, you were kinda struggling."
Hershel was surprised at that response, "What? How can they be no problem to you? That thing is massive! And blood sucky!"
The child giggled at his exclaimations, "Well they're no problem because this is my home!"
Hershel shook his head before looking at the girl with suprise in his eyes, "I'm sorry, what?"
The small blue frog-like creature holds her hands up excitedly, "Yeah! Welcome to my home!" Hershel shifts his body to get a better look at her, realizing he had saved a small blue frog girl with bumpy gold hair, wearing a slightly torn t-shirt and a skirt, "Huh? I'm where? What are you?" She smiled at him, letting out a small giggle, "You're in my house! Well the whole forest is my house actually. And I'm Skye! Skye Lily the Tree Frog! Hey, I can help you survive here, strange tall newt thing! But you'd have to come live with me so it can be easier on everyone. If you want of course."
Hershel scratches the back of his head as he answered, "I don't see why not! Skye, I think you came at the right time. Let's go!"
"Yippie! Come on, my parents are a mile that way!"
Quite literally a mile later, Hershel and Skye make it to an open field. The field had a stump and a few hollowed out logs, as well as various piles of leaves. Two frogs look to their left, noticing the little frog run to them while the human keeps his distance. They had just put down a small blue tadpole down on one of the piles of leaves, he looked like he was asleep. One was big and blue, wearing a green shirt, blue shorts with dark green bush-like hair with lighter green spots in it. The other was a light green frog with wild golden hair with markings in it, with a long blue and gold dress. The two frogs looked at the human with dark hair as their daughter explained his situation, the poor kid has been through so much in the past week.
The male frog decided to approach him, "Why hello there, sprout! My name's Bush Lily. I see you've already met my daughter, Skye." Hershel shook his hand, "I;m Hershel. Yeah, Skye was a big help when that mosquito attacked me." The green frog walked to him next, "Oh I am so glad our little flower was able to help you in your time of need! My name is Daisy Lily. Now from what Skye told us, you have nowhere to stay?" Hershel shook his head, "Uh no, I broke my house trying to escape from the mosquito. And I don't know how to get back to my actual home, I think this is a different world from mine..."
Brush started rolling one of the hollowed logs, "Well that's okay! You can stay with us until we figure out a way to get you back home. That way those mosquitos don't bother you anymore."
Hershel smiles at Skye as she smiles back, "Yeah, that would be great! Thank you Mr. and Mrs. Lily."
Hershel sighs, wondering what he just signed himself up for when he decided to stay with Skye and her family. He lays down in the hollowed log with Skye, falling into a peaceful sleep as he listens to her peaceful snoring.