-1Chapter 7
Jorelo was instantly trapped inside another dream. This time however, he was in a classroom, back in his childhood days again.
Pandora sat in a desk next to him, uncontrollably staring at him in a dreamily manner. Jorelo shook his head and focused back on the teacher, who was writing random math equations on the chalkboard while explaining how to solve them.
The bored fudgehog soon fell back to daydreaming, having no interest in class or shcool for that matter. Jorelo was completely unaware of Malak, who was sitting in the back row cussing at the oblivious fudgehog under his breath.
The class bell soon rang and the handful of the students poured out of the door. Some pushed others out of their way while a few waited for the crowd to pass. That said few happened to be Jorelo, Pandora, Falkor, and Malak.
"Well now that the school day's over, you wanna go to the playground Jorelo?" Pandora called from across her desk while gazing at her friend with puppy dog eyes, hoping it would push Jorelo into giving in. Jorelo glanced out the window, the weather looked quite nice outside, why waste it?
"Sure," he responded as Pandora stood up and took a hold of his paw in hers, but Jorelo didn't feel like holding paws together, though he hadn't pulled away because he knew Pandora would turn gloomy the second he recoiled it.
Malak thoroughly watched the pair leave the classroom. After they were out of sight, he had quickly examined the room around him, surveying his surroundings for another pinata. However, the only piñata he could spot happened to be Falkor. Since it was just the two of them, Malak decided this was the perfect chance to execute one of his little schemes and had decided to utilize the white fudgehog.
"Hey, fudgehog," Malak greeted Falkor as he stopped in front of the fudgehog's desk. An angered Falkor looked up at him, already in a bad mood as it is.
"What?" He retorted bitterly, wanting to be left alone. The conniving mallowolf decided to make things worth the fudgehog's while. Malak set a soccer ball sized bag filled with chocolate coins on his desk.
"It's all yours if you do me a favor…" Malak offered. The enticed fudgehog was listening, there was a nice lump sum of coins there, probably enough for the fudgehog to pig out on a day's worth of candy, and that's quite a lot in Falkor's case.
"…What is it?" Falkor asked as his mood changed drastically. A pay this big must require a large job to be done. That or the mallowolf was being awfully generous. The fudgehog listened to what was needed to be done.
"Those two freaks that left the classroom," Malak started, "I believe you know them… Right?" Falkor nodded slightly, looking at Malak with slight apprehension.
"…Sorta," He replied hesitantly, because nobody was really friends with the two piñatas, what was only known of them was that they had existed and their uncontrollable glowing problems.
"Well, make the fudgehog cry," Malak nudged the bag towards the fudgehog, "do whatever you have to do," Malak added as Falkor carefully grabbed the bag, quickly storing it in his desk for safekeeping.
"This won't be too long…" The fudgehog replied, running out of the class. Malak headed towards the window and gazed steadily out of it. He could see Pandora and Jorelo easily from where he stood. It made him enraged seeing them so happy, he would have beaten Jorelo up himself, but he had future plans to break them emotionally and physically harder than whatever Falkor could dish out.
Pandora was giggling wildly on the swing with Jorelo pushing her into the air. Malak soon caught sight of Falkor entering the picture, going in for the kill. The rowdy fudgehog shoved Jorelo over onto his side, by that moment Malak became unsure if this was the way to go. Was violence the only way to handle this situation? Couldn't he just say he hated them right to their face and go on with life? No, life didn't work out that way, especially for Malak.
Before he knew it, the white fudgehog was already heading back towards the entrance of the school. The astonished mallowolf was impressed with Falkor's quick work, or was Jorelo just plain weak? Either or, the job got done, that was all that mattered. The white fudgehog made his way back into the classroom.
"All done," he announced as he sat back in his chair while Malak had headed for the door.
"Good, I'll take it from here," Malak waved the fudgehog off as he left the classroom and the school. The Mallowolf was just outside the entrance when he took notice of a big crowd surrounding the area where Jorelo was harassed. Malak cringed as he hoped Falkor didn't kill Jorelo, that would put them both behind bars. His walk quickly turned into a sprint as Malak wished that Jorelo was at least breathing, he didn't think he would get into any trouble if the fudgehog was just hurt, Falkor could take all the heat for all Malak cared.
"Somebody!" A very young female voice cried within the group, "he's not moving!" Malak began to worry as he picked up his steps even more.
"Don't just stand there!" The voice cried again, "You have'ta help him!" Malak arrived right outside the group, it didn't take him long to force his way in. the mallowolf had to restrict himself from gagging. Jorelo had many cuts and bruises around his body, not to mention the unusual glowing his patterns gave off. What really made Malak's stomach churn was the deep gouge over Jorelo's forehead. That was going to leave a mark that's for sure. The regretful mallowolf got down on himself for not telling the fudgehog to take it easy, though he didn't think something like this would happen.
"Let's get him home," Malak said unwillingly to the blue pretztail hunched over Jorelo, "his parents'll help him," he picked up Jorelo and carried him like someone would carry an infant. The mallowolf was pretty strong, one of the reasons why he didn't want to do the dirty work because he could have risked killing Jorelo in a blind rage. He pushed his way back out of the crowd with Pandora sobbing a trail right behind him. What Malak was unaware of was that the white fudgehog was watching the aftermath once Malak left the classroom. The scene really made him think, was the mallowolf taking him to an alleyway to finish the job? Or was he just feeling sorry for him? The fudgehog believed the first choice was more realistic seeing as he weakened him up.
"Falkor!" An older male voice called from the hallways, "It's time to go home!" Falkor shoved his thoughts away for the time being, it really wasn't his business anyways.
He yelled back, "hold on! I'm coming!" The fudgehog retrieved his bag of coins and ran out the door like there was no tomorrow.
Jorelo soon awoke to a few firm slaps on the sides of his face.
"Ow! Hey! Quit it!" He shouted as he began flailing his arms everywhere, trying to grab on to the source that was striking him across the face, "what's the deal?" he opened his eyes and saw Pandora perched on top of him.
"Finally, I thought you'd never wake up!" She sighed in relief. The awkward fudgehog slipped out from under her and sat himself up as he rubbed his raw face with his paws.
"Oooh…" Jorelo groaned from the pain, "how long was I out for?" He asked her curiously as he looked around his new surroundings, the room inside was pretty spacious. Everything in the place seemed pretty fancy to him, a little too fancy for his tastes, but he could live with it.
"Ah… I'd say about a few days," she finished with a sinister grin. Jorelo's eyes extended wide open with shock.
"What?" Jorelo cried out in confusion, "why didn't you wake me up soo-!" Pandora cut him off.
"I'm only kidding Jorelo," Pandora laughed her tail off, "you've been asleep for a few hours, seems you don't take well to teleporting seeing as you passed out right after," She said, putting her paws to her hips and giving him that strict motherly look as if he should have known better, but it wasn't Jorelo's fault that he fainted from the abnormal trip.
"Wait… Where are we?" Jorelo asked as Pandora rolled her eyes and sighed.
"Weren't you paying attention? We're at the sour's headquarters now, and in the best room in the house, as Marly put it," Pandora explained.
"Marly?" Jorelo questioned, "who's that?" He tried to think of who that was, but no one he knew had that name.
"The human who brought us here," Pandora said, climbing off of the bed.
"Oh… Him," Jorelo muttered, "and Falkor, where is he?" the dark fudgehog needed to know where he was, he had to make sure Falkor was completely safe as promised.
"In the interrogation chambers," the pretztail said while trying to hold back another round of laughter, but it was no use, she started up once again.
"Tell the truth Pandora…" Jorelo scowled at her as he was in no mood for games.
"Oka-a-ay… He's in the hot tub," Pandora revealed the truth this time even though she thought Jorelo probably wouldn't buy that either.
"H-hot tub?" Jorelo recited, "why would there be a hot tub in a place so… Evil?" The fudgehog was questioning if most piñatas here just sat on their asses bathing while their allies had gone out killing.
"Your guess is as good as mine," Pandora shrugged her shoulders, "but we're like royalty here, so who cares?" The pretztail giggled as Jorelo scooted closer to the edge of the bed, "you know, there's another tub, I'll be in there if you want to come join me," she offered to him with a suggestive wink.
"I'll think about it," Jorelo chuckled uneasily, he still had to get his thoughts straight on what just happened. For all he knew the sours could have wanted them as a sacrifice to their leader, but Jorelo doubted that, there must have been a better reason than that.
"…Okay then," Pandora quietly sighed as she walked into one of the many rooms, feeling a bit dejected. The door had closed behind her as Jorelo fell back in bed and rested some more, he began dreaming once again.
Jorelo was back in his room at his childhood home. His eyes blinked open to the night as he lifted himself to a sitting position. The sleepy fudgehog rubbed his forehead, realizing he had an enormous headache. The thoughts of the recent hassle at the playground returned to him as he delicately patted the bandages on his head, however the memory left him instantly as his ears picked up something crying in another room.
The cry was very young, Jorelo was pretty sure it was Pandora. Wasting no time, he worked himself out of bed and limped steadily over to his door and peeked out. No one was in the halls, and Pandora's room was straight across from his. The door had squealed a bit as he peeled it open slowly, the sobbing had stopped momentarily and resumed shortly after.
The stealthy fudgehog snuck across the hallway and peeked into Pandora's door. Like Jorelo's door, hers too needed to be oiled as it squeaked louder than his. Pandora's crying stopped abruptly from the noise.
"W-Who's there?" She exclaimed cautiously towards the door, Jorelo pushed it completely open, not caring if he woke anyone else up.
"It's just me Pandora…" Jorelo announced softly as he hobbled over to the pretztail's bed, oblivious of the mess of toys below him. It took just one wrong step for Jorelo to find himself instantly on the ground, making quite a ruckus.
"Jorelo!" Pandora cried out, "you gotta be more careful!" The lazy pretztail wasn't one to keep her room neat. The injured fudgehog let out a long, painful groan as he attempted to climb back to his feet. Pandora hopped out of bed and rushed to Jorelo's aid. "You should be in bed resting anyways," she lectured him on his disobedience.
"But..." Jorelo had ignored her advice, "…You were crying," the persistent fudgehog tired to ignore the pain as best as he could, "what's wrong?" Pandora froze and shivered at what her friend said.
"I… I think someone was watching me," her speech was slurred by her clattery teeth, "through my window, it was scary lookin'!" She grasped onto Jorelo, making the pain spike up and the gravity push down on him.
"P-P-Pandora," he tried to get out, "you're, hurting me…" Pandora ignored him and cried into his shoulder. Jorelo was left to deal with most of the pain and focus more on cheering Pandora up, "Pandora…" he had a difficult time speaking, "do, you know who was... Watching you?" Pandora shook her head against the fudgehog, making him almost lose his balance and fall again.
"No-o-o!" She continued sobbing as a door from down the hall opened, pouring out a pair of footfalls that started to approach them. Jorelo knew it was one of their foster parents probably coming up to see what the problem was. No amount of desire could push Jorelo to overcome the pain and make it back to bed in time.
"Pandora!" the worried fudgehog started to whisper, "we gotta get... Back in bed!" Jorelo knew it was already too late, but he could at least get Pandora back into bed and take all the blame himself.
"Jorelo…" a firm adult male voice called out, "what are you doing up so late?" Jorelo knew he was already busted.
"N-nothing dad!" Jorelo put a gentle paw over Pandora's muzzle to hush her cries, "Pandora just had a bad dream," he tried to shoo his foster father out of their business, "I'm just keeping her company," Jorelo glanced back at the door and caught sight of his fizzlybear father.
"Okay… But you have fifteen minutes before I come back and check," the fizzlybear said, "and if you're not in bed by then, I'll make sure you both are," even though their caretakers were nice, Jorelo wasn't very fond of them as they just didn't see things the way him or Pandora did.
"Okay dad…" Jorelo mumbled while wiping Pandora's tears away, but the fizzlybear was already heading back to his own bed and probably didn't hear him. The shaken pretztail had settled down once the door down the hallway had shut close.
"J-Jorelo…" Her voice trailed off, she was still teary eyed.
"What…?" Jorelo questioned, wondering if she had finally gotten over her problems.
"I…I can't stay here," Pandora shook her friend as she started to raise her voice, "Jorelo! That thing's coming for me! Don't you see?" Jorelo cut her off before she got too loud.
"Pandora- shhhh, you have'ta be quiet," Jorelo whispered, as he did his best to lead her back to bed. However Pandora shoved him away.
"I can't stay…" Pandora's tears began to stream down her cheeks even faster, "but, I can't leave without you…" She said hopelessly, looking down towards the floor, trying to avoid eye contact. Pandora usually needed Jorelo when it came to things like this, Pandora wouldn't be where she was now if it wasn't for him.
"Where are you gonna go?" Jorelo asked her, wondering if it'd really be safe for them to be out this late at night.
"S- Somewhere…" Pandora was unsure of herself as Jorelo shook his head, he knew she didn't plan this out at all.
"Pandora, what if that… Thing gets you out there too?" Jorelo countered, and what Pandora heard from him made her want to scream while tear herself inside out, but luckily she only kept shedding tears.
"Jorelo…" She whimpered as if Jorelo spoiled it all for her. The sympathetic fudgehog parted the hair out of the weeping pretztail's eyes.
"Look, you can sleep with me," Jorelo offered her some comfort, "I'll make sure that monster won't touch a single hair on you," despite the fragile fudgehog's physical state he would still defend her until his body could do so no longer. Pandora put her trust in his words as she nodded and helped Jorelo back into his room, she couldn't bear to see him limp back by himself.
"Thank you…" Pandora sighed in relief as her tears finally stopped. She assisted him into bed first before climbing in herself. Once they were snug in bed, they exchanged their good nights and shut their eyes. Jorelo was the first to fall asleep, though it took Pandora a bit longer. The fearful pretztail grabbed onto Jorelo for support and fell into a deep slumber.