Moon flew along the path toward the FernGully Rainforest Survival Foundation Center and flew up to the window. She lit on the outside of the window and looked inside. There were fairy things everywhere, books, movies, plushies… and her father? Moon made a face and flew up where the door was opening and into the center. She made a beeline toward her father when it was suddenly dark and she gasped, stopping in her tracks. A small crack suddenly opened and a huge brown eye looking at her.
"Please don't eat me!" she yelled, holding her hands above her head.
"I'm not going to eat you." A hushed voice said. "I'm going to remove my hand but don't fly away."
The upper part of the cage moved and Moon stood up, looking up at the thing that caught her. She gasped and jumped up, her wings causing her to hover.
"You're a human!" she said, staring at the man.
Zak made a face. "Crysta? I thought we went through this."
"Crysta is my mom… I'm Moon."
Zak smiled and moved his hand so that Moon was sitting on it again and made her come closer to his face.
"I'm Zak."
"You're the human that saved FernGully!" She said, delighted. "Oh, wait, until I tell my mother- Wait… I can't do that or she'll know I've been here…"
Zak laughed a little and went to the counter, setting her on it.
"What brought you here, Moon?"
"Well, Mother said we shouldn't reveal ourselves to the humans because of what happened last time with Hexxus and all but then I saw my father in here…" She pointed over at the door. "And I got confused. I was going to ask him how he became large when I was caught by you."
Zak looked over at Max, who was stocking some postcards, debating if he wanted to tell him about Moon when it hit him that Moon had mistaken Max for her father.
"Wait, so Pips is your father?"
"Yes."
"I can't believe Crysta got with that guy…" Zak mumbled under his breath. "Anyway, that's not your father, that's my son, Max, dressed up like him. I use it for the tour of FernGully."
"He is your son?" Moon asked, turning her head at Max's back. "He is so big."
"Well, he's human…"
"Can he see us too?"
"I'm not quite sure. I doubt your mother would enjoy you being here when she said not to be. You'd better run along back to FernGully before she finds out about you."
"I guess you're right… I'm delighted to meet you, sir!" she said, holding out her hand to him.
Zak had to laugh and extended his finger to her.
"The pleasure is all mine, Moon."
Moon took flight just as Max looked back at his father and saw a blue light flying away. Max made a face and looked at Zak.
"Was that a fairy?"
"Hmm?"
"Don't 'hmm' me. Were you talking to a fairy?"
"Yeah…"
"Why didn't you tell me?!" Max yelled, dropping the box on the floor. "I've been waiting seventeen years for that!"
Zak made a face. "I honestly didn't think you'd be interested in it anymore. Considering…"
"It's different if the real thing occurs!"
Max began to cough uncontrollably and Zak frowned, walking over to him.
"Max?"
"I'm fine, really…" he choked, hitting his chest. "It's a remnant of the pneumonia or something."
Even though Natalie was worried, Zak was beginning to believe his wife. The door opened and some tourists came in and Zak smiled at them, pushing his son's health concern for another time even though he didn't want to. He had a business to run.
Moon flew all the way back to FernGully when she rammed into Batty and fell into a spider web.
"Batty!" she yelled angrily.
"My bad." He said, his electrode sparking as he flew down to help Moon out of the spider web. "Where have you been? I was sent by your father to come and procure you."
"I can't tell you or you'll tell my mother." Moon said, pulling free of the web.
Batty made face and flew after her. Moon flew to her friend Leafo's place and knocked on his leaf door.
"Leafo! Leafo, I have some awesome news!"
Batty, unbeknownst to Moon, was perched right under the branch of Leafo's house. Leafo came out and Moon smiled.
"Guess. What?" she said, making motions with her hands. Leafo stared at her in anticipation. "I. Saw. The. Human. That. Protects. Us. Up. Close!"
Leafo frowned a little. Isn't. That. Against. The. Rules? he asked.
"I. Didn't. Mean. To. He. Caught. Me." She said, demonstrating with her own hands.
Leafo made a face at her that didn't need interpretation. Leafo was almost deaf in both ears due to a tumble in a roaring waterfall when he was younger. The thunderous roar of the falls caused him to lose a lot of his hearing. He could hear alright if people said their words one word at a time and did the sign for it. He would also read lips, which is why he preferred one word at a time.
"Why. Are. You. Giving. Me. That. Face?" she asked.
Your. Mother. Will. Kill. You.
"Only. If. She. Finds. Out." She said with a smirk.
Leafo pointed downward and Moon looked at him.
"What?"
He made locked his thumbs together and flapped his fingers out wide from each other. Moon went even more pale as she crawled to the end of the branch and looked below it. Batty smiled at her.
"Oh, hello. Fancy seeing you up there."
"Batty…" she groaned, going to the ground. "Man… Now that you know, you'll tell my mom."
"I can… I may…"
Moon frowned and flew under the branch and kicked Batty's electrode, making the bat cringe and then his eyes went blank for a second.
"Attention Wal-Mart shoppers, there is a blue light special on fishing poles today. Attention Wal-Mart shoppers, there is a blue light special on fishing poles today."
Moon wiped her hands and looked at Leafo.
"See? Problem. Solved."
Leafo shook his head and pointed behind her. She looked and saw her father staring at her. Moon gulped as Pips made a face at her, crossing his arms.
"Dad…"
"What have I told you about messing with Batty's antenna? It'll take us hours to get him back on track again. And what has you paranoid enough to mess with it so he'll forget?"
"Uh…" Moon looked behind her. "Leafo, help me out."
Leafo shook his head. On. Your. Own. He signed and went back into his house.
Moon frowned. "What a friend…"
"Moon."
Moon sighed and bowed her head.
"Coming, Dad."
FernGully Foundation Center
Max picked up the stuff that fell out of the box he had dropped, grumbling to himself about his dad holding out on him when the door opened again. He turned to say hello but stopped in his tracks. It was people from school and not just any people. It was Pepper Highgrove, her friend, her boyfriend and her boyfriend's friend. Max had a crush on Pepper but she was way out of his league. Pepper's boyfriend, Jason, noticed Max right away and an awful grin spread across his face.
"Well, if it isn't the fairy boy. What's up, Matt?"
"Max."
"Whatever. The girls wanted to see a bit of fairy magic, something to pass the time while we wait for a movie. You gonna show us around, Mike?"
"Max…" he corrected again. He looked to see if his dad was there but Zak was talking to some other people. "Uh, yeah, I can take you in to see FernGully. Um, if you grab a brochure we can get started."
He stiffly pointed out the brochures behind them and they each took a brochure. Pepper opened hers and began to read it almost immediately and Max smiled a little but Jason put his arm around him and pulled him in a grip towards him.
"Come on, Mark, let's go see some fairies."
As they walked out toward FernGully, Max's face blushed about six shades of red. He didn't say anything for a big until Pepper's friend, Miranda, said, "Isn't there supposed a tour? Aren't you supposed to, you know?, tour us around?"
"R-Right… uh… This is the entrance to FernGully, the home of the fairies of the forest. They help the forest grow and also keep the air clean by locking away nasty toxins such as smoke, acid rain, and other things. If you squint your eyes, you may be able to see the fairies glide by with lights of green and blue."
"This is bullshit." Jason said. "There are no such things as fairies. At least, not the kind we're supposed to be seeing. The only fairy I see here is you, Marty."
"It's Max."
"Does it matter? Now that we have you out here alone, I think I'd like to have a little talk with you about looking at people's girlfriends."
"Jason, stop." Pepper said. "This has nothing to do with anything."
"No it does. I'm tired of you looking at Pepper like she's a piece of meat to be eaten, you feel me?" Jason said, poking Max in the chest. "I see you all the time taking passing glances at her like some sort of peeping tom."
"I'm not, really."
"Besides, like she'd fall for a squirt like you anyway!" He looked around and began to kick the trees, kicking off the mushrooms that were attached to him. "This place is stupid and for kids. I can't believe you talked me into coming here."
"Stop! Stop hurting it!" Max found himself saying.
The four of them looked at him as Jason made a face.
"Hurting it? Hurting what?"
"The trees… they feel…"
Max was surprised he was saying this but even though he hated being here and it was a little stupid, seeing Jason destroy things like that hurt him. He had a little bit of renewed confidence since his dad had seen a fairy and to see Jason hurt their home…
Jason turned to him and grabbed him.
"Feel, huh? You wanna know what I feel? I feel your face against my fist."
He punched Max in the face and then punched him in the stomach. The stomach punch left him breathless and he began to cough. The coughing got worse and he finally did a big one and looked at his hand. It was covered in blood. He looked at it in horror as he looked up just as Jason kicked him in the stomach again.
"Faggot."
Max began coughing again, blood coming from his mouth as he looked at it in horror. He just couldn't believe it was happening to him. I have TB?! he yelled in his brain, trying to figure out how he got it and what to tell his parents.
so the 'sign language' that the fairies use is like how normal people try to communicate with deaf people. they don't know sign language so they make up symbols. that's literally how the fairies are but it's one word at a time always.
and i've found that bullies can sometimes just be bullies for no reason than just to be dicks. jason just doesn't like max.
and oh no! he's got the tb! what's gonna happen?
