(AN: Well hello again! Well, it's that time again, time for a new chapter!
I've got nothing really new to say, other than that I've started Team Chaotix's story in Sonic Heroes! (Took long enough lol). And on that topic of the Chaotix, there's less than 5 days until a new fic from me is coming out! If you saw the hint in A Deal or no Deal, I think you know what it is...
Also I do wanna address something regarding the lore of this AU, in this world, God is referred to as 'The Great One', and is gonna be brought up multiple times during this chapter, but also in future chapters. Just to clear up what could be future confusion if I didn't explain it.
Anyway, with that aside, enjoy this new chapter!)
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS THE USE OF A HOMOPHOBIC SLUR, SO PROCEED WITH CAUTION
"Shh… giggle and we're screwed."
"Sorry 'bout that, Duke. Ha ha… I can't help it…"
Duke and Eryx looked at the front door of Cabin C and saw that Nezbitt had come with a bowl of water.
"There you are. What took so long?" whispered Duke.
"Sorry, it's just that I tried to avoid the Scoutmaster so he doesn't get suspicious. But hey; I'm here," responded Nezbitt.
"Well good. Now pass the bowl over here."
The brown cat tiptoed over to the shark and blue-shelled armadillo (who were standing by Jet's bed, the hawk still asleep) and passed the bowl of water to Duke. The three friends grinned to themselves as they tried to keep their composure.
"When I say three, Duke," Eryx said.
"Got it Eryx."
"One… two… three!"
Duke tipped the bowl, splashing water onto the sleeping Jet. The hawk woke up sharply upon impact. He squawked and rose straight out of his bunk, eyes widened as he breathed in an out. Eryx and Nezbitt were cracking up
"Morning sunshine, you started to oversleep, so we fixed that for you," said Duke, arms on Jet's sheets.
Jet blinked and soon realized it was Duke who woke him up. He began to growl and clenched his fists. A vein popped on the side of his head
"Oh c'mon, Jettison, don't be like that-"
Immediately, Jet began to run towards Duke. The shark ran out of Cabin C as the shirtless hawk gave chase after him.
"I'M GONNA KILL YOU DUKEEEEE!"
After finally catching Duke (and earning a stern chewing out from the Scoutmaster), the four sat in the Mess Hall, eating breakfast with Storm. Eryx proceeded to tell the story to the albatross while Jet simply looked annoyed.
"Oh man, that face Duke made when Jet caught him, ha ha, man I could never forget it!" He said.
"Heh, I imagine so!" said Storm. He then looked at Jet, and watched him buried his chin deeper into his arms. Reaching in close so that Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx couldn't hear him, Storm began to whisper.
"Don't worry 'bout that, Jet. I would have done the same if I was you. You sure got him good," He said.
The hawk's mood improved upon hearing that. "Thanks. I'll make sure to get in another hit for you, if you want,"
"After what he did to you, why would I say no?" Storm smirked.
"So, are you boys ready for some fishin'?!" exclaimed Duke after the five left the Mess Hall.
"Well, all of you guys. Everyone at Cabin D is hiking," said Storm.
"Wait, really? Aw man... that's a huge bummer…" Jet replied, disappointed.
All of a sudden, Jet, Storm, Duke, and Eryx heard a faint giggling sound coming from Nezbitt, who seemed to be drooling from the mouth.
"What's up with him?" Jet asked.
"Mention fish and he's like this. Don't worry, once we catch him a fish, he'll be happy," explained Eryx.
"Is he always like that?"
"Yeah, he's been like this. Don't worry; he won't try to eat you."
"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to eat me before," said the shark, crossing his arms.
"Wow Duke, could you not make that any more subtle?" Jet thought. He wanted to say his thought aloud, but he didn't want Duke to punch him. The hawk needed to get that last hit after all.
The five's conversation was cut short by the Scoutmaster's whistle. They headed in front of the podium along with the other boys of Cabin A, B, C, and D.
"Well, today will be the start of activities that I mentioned on the first day here!" The Scoutmaster explained. "If you have forgotten what we'll be doing, Cabin A will be doing swimming, Cabin B will be doing woodcarving, Cabin C will be doing fishing, and Cabin D will be hiking."
The camp counselors walked up and stood next to the scoutmaster.
"Now, depending on what you are doing, you will need to bring personal items. The only ones that will need personal items are the people in Cabin A and Cabin D. Cabin A will need swimwear, and Cabin D will need to bring their bags for your hiking trip. So I recommend you go get those right now."
The boys in Cabin A and D (including Storm) stood up and headed to their cabins. Jet, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx sat around, waiting for the large grey avian to return. The albatross returned with his sports bag on his back.
"Now, you will all head with your counselors to a designated area. Cabin A and B will stay on camp grounds, but Cabin C and D will go out of the camp."
Mido and the counselor from Cabin D walked towards the exit of the camp.
"CABIN C!" Mido called out.
"Well, there's our call," said Jet.
He, the shark, the brown cat, and the blue shelled armadillo stood up and walked towards their counselor. Storm followed behind the four.
Once all the boys from Cabin C and D were all lined up and ready, they headed out of the camp and began to walk through the dirt trail.
"Uh… Storm?" whispered Jet to his large friend.
"Hm? What is it, Jet?" Storm replied.
The hawk twiddled his thumbs together, getting embarrassed from what he was going to say.
"Um… I know that hiking can have some risks so… just be safe OK?"
Storm looked at Jet, and then smiled.
"Alright… I'll be safe. And I promise I'll come back in one piece."
Jet gave Storm a thumbs up before the two cabins went to a split path. Cabin C going to the left and Cabin D going to the right.
As they walked to where they were going to fish however, Jet had a thought invading the back of his head.
"Why was I so nervous saying that to Storm?" He thought to himself.
When Mido and all of Cabin C arrived at the lake (the same lake where Jet and Storm first encountered Wave and her friend, Cherry), the camp counselor put down the medium sized cup he had been holding.
"OK everyone, sit," he said.
Jet, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx, along with the rest of Cabin C, did what Mido told them to do, and sat down on the leafy grass.
"Now, by a show of hands, how many people have gone fishing in their lives?" Mido asked. Almost all the boys, sans a few, raised their hands. One of the boys who didn't raise their hand was Jet himself.
"Jet? You've never been fishing?" asked Duke.
Jet looked down at the gravel on the ground, then on the dark green flame-like tattoos on his arms.
Since his dad was constantly busy with races, and since his mom passed away due to cancer, he didn't have anyone to spend time with as a family. Sure, his father didn't abandon him completely, and hung around him often when he had free time, but... things weren't the same after his mother's death. Even when he was a kid, his father and mother never had the time to have family outings with their son. Despite this, he still loved them either way, but… yearned for the love and attention he'd see kids get in things like cartoons and movies and in real life too.
"It's… it's kind of personal…" responded Jet, the only thing he had said.
Looking at his tattoos again, he was surprised that his three friends hadn't questioned the tattoos of the Babylon Rouges; the Extreme Gear and thieving group his dad was a part of, and the group he would soon lead in his dad's place once he retired. Somehow, even when he heard Duke talking about the Extreme Gear channel on TV once during dinner, he, neither Nezbitt nor Eryx made the connection. Jet felt it was better that his friends didn't know, however.
"OK, a good majority of you. That's good," Mido said as Jet turned his attention back to him. "So, for those of you who don't know the basic mechanics of fishing, its real simple. All you need is patience."
The lynx looked into the distance and saw Capricorn, the boy who told the scary stories in front of the campfire two nights ago, carrying various fishing rods in both hands. From the way he looked, he must have been very tired.
"Ah, and here comes my assistant," said Mido.
Capricorn walked in front of the Cabin C camp counselor and put down the fishing rods on the floor.
"Here… *huff huff* you go, Mido…" Capricorn said.
"Thank you, Cap. Now go sit down."
Capricorn nodded, sitting in between a bulldog and an orange monkey.
"Now, I'm going to show a brief example of how to fish. First, you'll need a fishing rod obviously. Next, you'll need bait."
Mido picked up a white container on the floor and opened it up. He pulled out a worm and placed it onto the hook of the fishing rod. Mido then walked to the lake.
"Now, just throw your line in…"
The camp counselor threw the fishing line into the water, and waited for a bite. A few seconds later, he felt something latching on.
"Oh! Gotta bite! You just need to r-real it in like this!"
With all of his strength, Mido reeled in the biting fish, which was a normal minnow. Jet snorted.
"All that for a simple small fish?" The hawk muttered.
Duke and Eryx snickered, while Nezbitt looked at it longingly.
"Want…" Nezbitt moaned.
"We'll get you a fish, Nezbitt. Calm yourself," said Duke, placing his hand on the cat's shoulder.
"Now, come up and get a fishing rod, and some worms, everybody, time for you to try, and let's see what you can get. Whoever catches the largest one, we'll make sure to cook it for dinner," Mido said.
Ten minutes later, Jet, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx stood around, waiting for a fish to bite either one of their lines.
"Geez, is fishing this dull?" complained Jet, throwing his head back.
"Well, fishing does get dull at first. Don't worry 'bout it though, Jet, it gets better, trust me," replied Eryx.
Immediately, Nezbitt got a bite on his line.
"Oh… oh Great One! Bite! BITE!" The brown cat almost screamed. He began to reel in his line as fast as he could.
"COME ON BABY! COME TO PAPA!"
The hawk looked at Nezbitt worriedly, who was drooling extensively.
"It… it looks like he's about to bust a vein," He said.
"Just wait until he reels it in, Jet. He'll be back to normal in a few," replied Duke.
"Nezbitt, you're gonna break the reel!" Eryx scolded.
Nezbitt pulled back on his fishing rod as hard as he could and immediately, a medium sized fish came out of the water.
"YES!"
Nezbitt caught his fishing line in his hand with the fish on his hook, hungrily looking at his catch. However, he waited until it died from suffocation (due to not being in the water). When it did, Nezbitt licked his lips and then placed it into his mouth. He chewed the entire thing, spitting out only the bones.
"Ahh… that's sooooo much better…"
Jet simply stared at Nezbitt. And he wasn't the only one. Everyone looked at Nezbitt, wondering what just happened.
"See, told ya," said Duke. However, Jet was caught off guard when he got a bite on his line. He almost fell to the ground, but managed to catch himself from doing so.
"Hehey! I gotta bite!" he said. He began to reel in, but began to have trouble doing so.
"Argh… this is a feisty one!"
Jet squawked when he almost fell forward again. Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx looked up and caught Jet before he could fall.
"W-What is this thing?!" Duke asked.
"What is it's a-a-another fish… a-a-a BIG FISH!" Nezbitt exclaimed.
"Guys, I think Nezbitt is right! I've never reeled in something this before!" Eryx said.
"Alright you guys, on the count of three, pull me back so I can reel this in! Alright?" Jet yelled.
"Alright!" The three responded.
"OK… one… two… three!"
Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx pulled Jet back with all their strength combined. The green avian pulled his fishing line back, continuing to reel in. He grit his teeth so hard it felt like it would come off completely.
Suddenly, a large fish came out of the water. The four watched in complete shock and surprise the mere beauty of the fish before it fell to the ground. Jet, Duke, Eryx, and Nezbitt jumped out of the way and landed on the ground. When they got back up, they saw what they had caught; the biggest fish all of them had seen in their life. The four boys looked up to see everyone staring at the group. Mido simply stared for a few seconds at the large fish before pointing at it.
"Okay, no more fish. THIS is our dinner."
Jet's catch, which was identified as a king salmon, was so large that the cooks of Camp Silver Lake found that it could feed all two hundred boys across all the cabins for a few days.
As such, the boys of the camp had fish tacos in the mess hall that night. Everyone commented on the amazing quality of the fish, meanwhile, Jet, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx told their story to Storm.
"And you're saying Jet caught this massive thing?" The albatross asked.
"Yeah! …with the help of us of course," said Duke.
Storm bit into his taco before looking at Jet.
"Nice going, Jet! Gotta say, you sure got us something good. And this wasn't the first time either, what with us and the capture the flag thing. You deserve a lot more credit."
Jet rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, thanks Storm. What can I saw? My aura of awesomeness follows me everywhere."
The two avians fist bumped while Jet continued to look at Storm.
"Man… Storm is such a great friend…" The hawk thought, grinning. "I wish he could be by me forever and ever…"
His eyes widened when he realized what he had just thought.
"Whoa… that totally doesn't sound weird in any way…" He rolled his eyes. "Geez Jet, what's going on with you? Why'd you think that?"
After dinner, the scoutmaster had once again, met with the boys in front of the podium.
"Now, since you boys haven't had a bath in four days, and by the Great One some of you smell, it's time you boys head to the showers," The lion said.
"Being rather blunt with us, eh Scoutmaster?" Duke asked.
"That and you're probably a prime example of what I mean."
Everyone began to laugh and point at Duke as his face grew intensely red. He turned away, not wanting to look at anyone.
After everyone calmed down, the Scoutmaster pointed to a building next to the mess hall.
"That's where all your showers will be. You will need to bring a towel that hopefully you brought, as we don't have enough for everybody. Now, because of… safety reasons, we will ask that Cabin A and B boys shower first. Then Cabin C and D."
"Safety reasons?" asked Storm.
"They don't want any of us big boys to hump the little kiddies. Although I guarantee it's probably directed towards whoever's the closeted fag," Duke chuckled.
Jet and Storm simply looked at him, then at each other. They scowled, not approving of Duke's… choice of words.
"I don't get the humor in that," said Storm, shaking his head.
"Trust me, dude, neither do I," responded Jet.
When it was Cabin C and D's turn to shower, Jet, Storm, Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx stood up and walked to the showers.
Soon after they entered (along with the other boys in Cabin C and D), everyone began to walk to the stalls, hoping to get their own shower stall and not have to wait.
While Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx were able to get a stall, Jet and Storm were unable to get one. As a result, the two avians sat on a stone bench of sorts (it was more of a slab), and waited for their turn.
"Say Jet, I've been meaning to ask. What are those flame-like tattoos you have on your arm?" Storm asked, hoping to strike up a conversation to pass the time. The hawk looked at his arms.
"Oh these? These are the tattoos of the Babylon Rouges, the Extreme Gear group and band of thieves my dad is the leader of. He said that when I become of age, I'll take control of the Babylon Rouges," Jet replied.
"Really? Cause… well… I have tattoos that are like yours."
Storm put up his arms and showed Jet the dark grey, flame-like tattoos on his arms. Jet almost dropped his jaw when he saw them.
"W-What? How have I not noticed them?" Jet said.
"You don't really look at my arms, I guess," Storm stuck out his tongue.
"Then… are you related to one of the ancient Babylonians?"
"I think so? I never knew what these tattoos were for, but apparently I was born with them,"
"Born with? My dad talked about that… he said the leader of the Rouges gets their tattoos when the current leader is ready to pass down the group to another generation. But that the other two members are born with them, and the leader is supposed to find the two others…"
Jet grabbed Storm's hand.
"Tell you what. What if, whenever I become the leader of the Babylon Rouges, you can join the group too!"
"M-Me?"
"Yeah, I'm sure you're great on Extreme Gear!"
Storm rubbed the back of his head. "I dunno… I'm not the best…"
"Oh c'mon, if you want, I can train you, perhaps to be even better than me!"
A visible blush was on the albatross's beak. He looked down at the hawk's smiling face. "I-I'll do it! I'll join! T-Thanks, Jet…"
The hawk continued to smile at Storm, at least, not before having one final thought.
"He's so cute when he's embarrassed…"
When the first batch of boys taking showers were finally done, Jet and Storm stood up and headed to a shower stall, not wanting to have to wait any longer.
The two pulled on the curtains and then took off their shirts and shorts off. They turned the faucets on, having a rush of hot water drip down their feathers and onto the floor. From the stall next to his, Storm could hear Jet softly singing.
"Oh man… he sings while in the shower… that is freaking adorable." Storm thought.
He then suddenly paused, looking back at what he had just thought.
"Why do I find that adorable? He's just singing, that's it… I-I mean, I won't lie… Jet is kinda cute, especially for his age."
Storm slapped himself. Why had begun to see Jet as "cute"? It made it even more awkward considering that the two were male. Surely he didn't confuse his words, did he?
"We're probably just real good friends," Storm assured himself. "That's all, Storm. Nothing to lose your feathers at tonight. Yeah… good friends…"
When their shower was finally over, Jet and Storm took their towels and wrapped them around their waists. They walked out of the shower and waited for their feathers to dry.
"Y'know, I hate it how when you walk out of a hot shower, it's suddenly freezing," The green avian said, rubbing his wet feathers.
"I know what you mean. Heck, I'm already cold myself…" responded the albatross as he shivered.
The two avians then saw Duke, Nezbitt, and Eryx approach them.
"Well well, looks like shower time is done for you two. I'm sur 'the snappers' didn't get to you?" asked Duke.
"The snappers?" questioned Jet and Storm.
"Yeah, they take their tower and whack it against your leg like a whip! It's mainly the guys in Cabin D doing that. Trust me, Eryx got hit a few times."
The blue shelled armadillo hissed. "Please… don't remind me… My leg is still in pain…"
Duke, Nezbitt, Jet, and Storm then proceeded to laugh the night away.
When it was finally bed time, Jet noted how tired he was once he hit his bed.
"Geez… catching that fish was exhausting…" he mumbled. "And we barely did anything else today too…"
"And you get to do that again tomorrow! Fun huh?" said Duke.
"Don't mention it…"
Jet rolled over on his side and fell asleep even before lights out.