Hello Readers! Yeah,chapter 2 is up and ready to be read! Currently, I'm too free to do anything else so yeap. I'm gonna keep updating the stories until school reopens for the final term. And that's in, let's see, 3-4 days! Don't worry though! I'll update as often as I can ^^

Disclaimer: Blinx and all related concepts (characters,locations etc) are owned by Artoon and Microsoft. Materials that are not in the Blinx franchise e.g. characters like Scamp,Strake,Ace,Rev etc are mine. Except Naze, who rightfully belongs to FlashHedgehog!

"And the white-furred cat on the screen is one of the Operators that run this Factory. He's the one who guided me when I went to recover the Big Crystal fragments. Are you getting all this?" Scamp chattered, hiding much of his nervousness away. Strake nodded, a smile finding its way on his muzzle. "Don't worry; I got every detail of it. So, where do you train?" Strake asked.

Train? Train? What did he mean train? The train on railways like in London? Why did he bring that up when it was irrelevant?

"Scamp? I meant where do you study, or practice or anything of that sort," Strake continued, having noticed Scamp keeping quiet longer than expected. Scamp's eyes went wide, realization mocking his common sense. Of course he didn't mean the train on railways! What in the world was he thinking? I must be really nervous now. Gah, I really am! I mean, why else would my hands feel so… clammy? He glanced up at his cousin and turned away again, looking for the familiar door that he went through almost every day of the week. It wasn't long before he spotted the familiar silver door leading to the Academy. "There it is. C'mon Strake, unless you wanna get your tail caught in the conveyor belt," Scamp managed a quick joke. Strake rolled his eyes, half-amused by his cousin's sudden attempt at humour.

"I don't think it'll be my tail; rather, it'd be yours," he chortled. But, he was proved otherwise. The moment he took a step forward, the end of his tail got caught in the moving floor. He pushed himself forward, the force exerted on his tail causing tears of pain to spring into his eyes. With much effort, he yanked his tail out, massaging it gently to soothe the burning feeling he received. He looked at Scamp, who was now grinning with obvious delight. "Was that my tail? Why no, it isn't. Instead, it belongs to my visiting cousin who doesn't know when to shut his trap when time asks him to!" Scamp chided with heavy sarcasm. "Now, move your aching tail fur and follow me already!"

He felt rather light-headed after saying that. He was able to divert some of the anxieties he had earlier into little solutions he could use to take his mind off of it.

In the Academy…

Scamp went in first, making sure everything was in perfect order. Nothing seemed out of place; Time Sweeper trainees were either doing practical drills or studying, while trainers supervised the entire scene. This portion of the tour should go well. He retracted from the door and faced his cousin, who was busy running his fingers on the wall. Scamp gave him a quizzical look. "Uh, what are you doing?" he murmured.

"Whoever built this Time Factory must be really skilled with metalwork. Look at all this intricate designs; they're actually hard to carve when alloys like titanium iron are used!" Strake paused to stare at Scamp, "Have you ever thought about it?" (A/N: I made the metal alloy up -.- I'm being rather lame right now)

"Why would I? I-I mean, why should we give a thought- I meant, can we focus on what we're doing here? Please?" Scamp stammered. He pulled his ears back in embarrassment, ducking his head to hide his expression. He wanted to get this visit over and done with. He wanted to get back to his team's bedrooms and rest. He wanted to resume work on Necoji's newest schematics for the recent TS-5200-Z… though, he didn't know much about technical stuff but he could get the basics done. In a nutshell, he wanted to continue doing his everyday activities! Well, except for overseeing the training at the Academy; he always got hit in the head every session. The sudden thought about the Academy brought him out of his daydream. Scamp jerked his head up, suddenly aware that Strake was really staring at him now.

Scamp laughed nervously. Inside, he was wondering how long he had stoned. Quite long, I should think. He really looks as if we've been here for an hour, he thought. "Well, this is the Academy, where new Sweeper students come to train, study and gather to see new students. We take in new students every two to three years," he explained as he guided Strake into the room. He began to calm down as they move on from one station to another. A little smile found a way on Scamp's muzzle. It seemed as if it'll really go well here. No troubles. No set-backs. No road blocks. Nothing that could ruin this… this… whatever the word was, it described the current setting perfectly. He began pointing to different areas of the Academy, detailing every fact he learned since he himself was a trainee. The fond memories flooding back into his mind.

Flashback…

"Next is the Reactive Control. This is a special mechanism triggered by the operators at the Time Factory. When you find yourself in a pinch, you can have the choice of a 'Pause' or 'Slow' reactive. Let's have a go at the 'Pause' reactive shall we?"Jimmy explained, showing him the Reactive Simulator. Scamp nodded eagerly, his amber eyes sparkling with enthusiasm. Planting himself some distance from the cannon, he shot a thumbs-up at Jimmy to show he was ready.

The first shot was fired; a fan of missiles froze a metre away from Scamp. He blinked at the unusual sight. "You can make a choice now. You can move out of the way and let the missiles miss you, or you can sweep it up and use it as ammo. You can also knock them down with your sweeper, but I don't recommend that because a second shot will be fired and… well, you get it," Jimmy explained through the speaker. "But you have a short time to choose!"

Scamp flicked his tail, deciding to sweep some of it up and moving out of the way. Quickly, he armed his sweeper and sucked in whatever it could carry and darted to the end of the room as the pause reactive stopped working.

"Well done, Scamp! I think you're ready for part two!"

Back to reality…

Scamp was halfway done with showing the 'Reactive Simulator' when he heard someone call him, "Scamp!"

He turned his head around and saw one of his current students. The tom had lavender fur and green eyes. He wore a red jacket and green pants. "Hey there, Naze!" he called back. "How's training today?"

"Not too bad. I went to revise the part on the Big Crystal's formation, though the chapter was really, really lengthy. But I managed to beat Eric in sweeper drills!" Naze replied cheerfully. His green eyes sparkled the same way as Scamp's eyes had years ago. Scamp ruffled the fur on Naze's head, smiling. "Glad to hear of it."

It was then did Naze notice Strake. "Who's this you brought in?"

"Him? He's my cousin Strake, remember? The one who," Scamp smirked, "got clocked over the head by a meek little mouse!"

Strake glared at him, incredulous about the statement he just heard. "Meek? I don't call that excuse for a critter 'meek'!" he growled

Scamp shot a 'watch-your-mouth' look at his cousin. "I don't find that legible without a reason," he challenged. "So why do you say he's not meek?"

"Why? Why? I'll tell you why! That little vermin broke Uncle Ivan's porcelain statue!" Strake snapped. "The one that cost Uncle Ivan nearly $750,000 in market price!"

"Really?" Scamp stared at him, seriousness coming back to him. "Ozzie said it was the marble pot from Wisconsin that shattered."

"He said that? No, it was the porcelain statue from Amsterdam!"

"That wasn't what he said."

"Are you sure? He was pretty straight when he told me about the statue breaking."

"Positive. He even showed me a fragment of the pot! He must have twisted his words in front of you."

"I never teach my son to tell lies, Scamp!"

"Neither do I teach my students, Strake! I bet my fur he lied about the broken item."

The two Chippinskis continued arguing between themselves, totally oblivious to their surroundings. All the while, Naze was shaking his head. He never really saw his trainer argue so much, and now he wished he hadn't seen it. "I'm glad I didn't go on that trip…"

….

About an hour and a half later, Scamp had left his cousin to do what he wanted; he was practically annoyed with Strake's behaviour. Strake had kept denying about his son lying whereas Scamp had enough proof to tell otherwise. Just when he thought the feud was over, one of the trainees missed their practice target and hit Strake in the head instead. Scamp was partially thankful because that meant he wouldn't get hit later. But his mood turned sour when Strake turned on him, claiming that he had bonked him on the head on purpose. That launched another argument, drawing attention from all those within Academy grounds. Embarrassed and angry, Scamp left him alone and proceeded to where he was now; the Locker Room.

I invited him over to see how well I was doing. I wanted to show him that I was thriving here. But what do I get? The ridiculous lump of fur screaming at me for something I didn't do! I barely touched my sweeper! He saw that himself! Why in all of time does he think I did that? Argh, now I wished I never asked him to come. I would have been done with the schematics, and whatever reports to be made. I would have been able to help with Picaro's little party. I would have been able to pick up Pelon's package. I would have been able to play a few rounds of Sugarsweep with Ace and Rev. I would have been able to follow Fisher back to his hometown. I would have been able to finish everything! But look where I am! I have no idea what to do anymore! All this conflict and management and… and… Grr… Now I'm caught between this and that!

Scamp buried his face in his hands, wishing he knew what to do right now. (A/N: He is NOT crying.) The anxieties and nervous feelings had somehow vanished, now replaced by an overwhelming surge of uncertainty and disappointment. Just what does Strake have that he doesn't? What was it about his cousin that made him be so joyful yet concerned at the same time? What was his key to such success? Was it because of his popularity around the world, considering that he was an artiste? Or was it the fact that Strake had grew up in the open, where exploration was the means of learning? Growing up in the Time Factory was different; you learn how time is created and how to control it. Even if exploration was included, it was normally under supervision or instructions. In other words, exploration was not of free will and freedom was rarely at hand. The outside world and the world Scamp grew up in was significantly never the same. So, what was that thing that separated Scamp from Strake despite their nearly identical pelt colour? Scamp shook his head, knowing that no answer would come to him.

"Sir?" a small voice murmured. Scamp jerked his head up, his thoughts broken. He turned to his side and saw a young brown tom staring uneasily at him. Scamp's heart started to race. "Y-Yes?" he asked, his voice quivering.

The brown tom glanced from Scamp to the door, a sudden feeling of dread overtaking him. Scamp's eyes searched the brown tom's face for any problem, but he was unable to read through at all. He nodded slowly, signaling the tom to proceed.

"Strake's gone."

OH-EM-GEE! Where has Strake vanished to? What's Scamp gonna do now? Find out in the next chapter! R&R please! Thanks! :D

Note: The bit where they argued is actually based on a real argument my cousin and I had 2 years back. We were throwing pillows at each other and mine happened to knock down the porcelain pot my aunt brought in from Holland ^^ Of course, I modified it to suit the story here. Teeheehee!