Into the Domes

Part Seven

Chopper sighed heavily when Pendulum's image faded away from his eyes. He slumped down on the ground with tears gathering in his eyes. "What now? Neo must be so scared. Or she will be when she wakes up. And there's nothing I can do to help her."

He pulled his hat down over his eyes. He cried for a few minutes before shaking his head. He jumped to his hooves. "No! I won't be sad! I will be strong for Neo's sake! I'll find that shard and get back to her as soon as possible!" He looked around his surroundings. "But where is it?" His eyes landed on the monkey. "Oh, yeah. You're supposed to be able to lead me to the shard I need to get. Will you show me where it is?"

The monkey's eyes lit up again. The light poured out of its slits, revealing a map with three dots on it.

"Wow," Chopper said, eyeing the strange letters on the map. "That's some crazy looking map. I hope the others don't have any trouble with locating the shards. I'm not really sure what I'm looking at here."

The monkey pointed to the two dots then pointed to the reindeer.

"Oh? Does that mean one of these dots is me?" Chopper asked, earning a nod from the monkey. "I see. So that mean this other dot with my dot must be you. Then this other dot way over here must be the shard. I wonder how far it really is away from us. It doesn't look like it's all that close, but since I can't understand whatever these strange lines are I don't know. I guess you'll let me know when we get closer to it. For now I have a bigger problem. I'm going to need a ride to the shard. But how do I manage that? I can't let anyone know the real reason I'm here."

Chopper plopped back down on the ground. Sighing again, he looked up at the sky through the thin branches of the trees. The once blue sky was turning several shades of reds and oranges. "It's starting to get dark. I probably won't be able to go anywhere tonight now. I need to find some shelter at least. I don't want to stay out here in the open and possibly become someone's dinner. But where do I go? I don't know this place at all. And the only shelter seems to be those tents over there."

Chopper peaked around the tree he was using as a shield. Some of the people were still roaming around the grounds near the tents. He watched them carefully trying to determine if they were going to be a safe place to go. "They should be nice enough. I mean, they're performers after all. And all those people coming out of the tents seemed happy enough. Surely I can find someone in there that will give me shelter. Or perhaps I can sleep with one of their animals. Assuming their animals are friendly enough. I don't want to get eaten before I can get the shard and make it back to Neo. All right then it's settled. I'll go into the tent and check things out."

Chopper sat back down then to wait for the next showing to start so he could slip inside of the tent unnoticed. During that time he ended up falling asleep. The happy chatters of some families walking into the tents woke him up. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before standing up. Peaking around the tree, he watched until he saw a large enough group heading up to the tent's entrance. He and the monkey then rushed up to the group. Standing beside the largest person he could find, he walked along side them until they entered into the tent. Once inside, he slipped off underneath the bleachers. His little heart was pounding in fear of being caught. But no one followed him and his monkey. He waited several more minutes before finally coming out from underneath the bleachers. He looked around. He saw nothing that much out of the ordinary. The tent looked to be the same as the tents back in the New World. The only difference was the people here. They all seemed to have the same colored hair and skin. Only their facial features and body sizes let him tell them apart. "Wow. I don't know if I'd like living were all the people had the same colored hair and eyes. Seems kind of boring." He placed his hooves on his stomach when it rumbled. "That's right. It's been a while since I've eaten anything."

The reindeer then looked around figuring there would be something here that he could eat. Soon his eyes landed on a man carrying around cotton candy. Stars danced in his eyes upon seeing his favorite treat. He rushed over to the man. With his beli pulled out of his pocket, he paused in mid stride when he saw a customer pass the food man money he didn't recognize. His arms dropped to his sides. "I see. I'm in a different place so of course they won't use my money. So what do I do now? I have to eat something. Oh yeah! I'm a pirate! I can just take whatever I want!"

"Since that man can only carry so much there had to be someone else who's making the cotton candy." Chopper looked around until he spotted whom he was looking for off to the side of the tent. He made his way over to the small white vending stand. Looking around he found a cup he could use to distract the man so he could steal him some. When no one was looking, he tossed the cup behind the man. Just as the man turned to see what fell and pick the cup up, he dashed out, grabbed him a stick of cotton candy, and rushed away before anyone could see him. He went back under the bleachers and waited to see if any angry yells were going to happen or if anyone was going to find him. After several minutes, he relaxed. No one was coming for him. And if the man found a stick of cotton candy missing, he didn't show any signs of it.

Chopper plopped down on the floor. Opening his mouth he took a big bit of the fluffy pink cotton. But, instead of the sweet, melt in your mouth sugar he was expecting, the fluffy treat was very sour. His cheeks puckered together as his eyes bulged out of his head. "Yucky! What the heck is this?! It's not cotton candy at all!"

"Of course it's not cotton or candy," a voice said. "What did you think it was?"

"Huh?" Chopper looked to his left to see a young girl squatting beside him. He screamed and fell backwards.

"You're so weird," the girl said. "You must be with the company."

"The company?" Chopper asked as he sat back up. "What do you mean by that?"

"Aana!" an older voice called. "Get back over here! We're heading for our seats now!"

"Coming, Mama!" The girl stood up and skipped out from underneath the bleacher without another word to him.

"That was odd," Chopper said. "I wonder if she was talking about this circus group here."

Suddenly, the lights went out. The crowd erupted into cheers. Chopper wondered out from the bleachers to see what was going on. When he got to where he could see, he found there was a man standing in the middle of the ring with a spotlight shining down on him. The man wasn't wearing the familiar clothes of a ringleader that Chopper was use to seeing. This guy was wearing a more elaborate outfit. With feathers sticking out of the shoulders and sparkly buttons that kept changing colors. "Wow. I've never see clothes like that before."

"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" the ringleader said. "Are you ready for the spectacular feast you are about to see?!"

The crowd erupted into a thunderous applauses and sharp cheers and whistles.

"Then prepare yourselves for the best time you have ever had at any company on the Gilly Dome!" the ringleader said just before flashing explosions of glitter appeared around him causing the crowd to cheer more.

"Gilly Dome?" Chopper asked. He pinched off a piece of his treat, forgetting it was sour. His face puckered again at the sourness on his tongue. Tears ran down his furry cheeks in memory of his sweet treat. "So gross."

He let his eyes wondered back to the group preforming in the ring. He watched in awe, as two people seem to be able to blow fire from their fingers. He's seen fire breathers before but he's always seen them fuel in their mouths. Not a single one of them did. He wondered how they managed to pull that off. Next he watched as all of those that were in the ring run off. The lights on the ring lifted up to the two trapeze poles. There were three people in total. Two of them grabbed the bars and started swinging towards each other. After a few swings one of them jumped towards the other, spinning several times as they went before grabbing their partner's hands. The third one finally got on the swing. They did even more amazing tricks on the swings that had the entire audience on the edges of their seats and gasping. They did so many amazing trick that Chopper didn't think should be possible. He felt like he was flying with them and that head could reach out and touch them as they flew back and forth to each other.

A sudden scream pierced through the air and his ears. Choppers eyes widened upon see the smaller of the three trapeze artist falling towards the ground. With a gasp, and without thinking, he transformed into his human form and dashed out into the ring. He got under the fallen boy just in time to keep him from hitting the ground. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Smile and wave to the crowd," the boy said.

"What?" Chopper asked.

"The crowd is confused," the boy said. "We have to let them know I'm okay."

"Oh, okay," Chopper said. Turning his attention to the crowd, he waved and smiled with the boy still hanging in his other arm. Soon the crowd erupted into around of applause and it was over.

"Thank you all for coming!" The ringleader said. "We hope you all had a wonderful time! Thank you all for coming! We will be here through tomorrow! So be sure to come back and see more of our wonderful performances!"

The spotlights all went out just as the main lights started to come back one. The crowd murmured with enjoyment as they started to make their way out of the tent. Chopper turned his attention back down to the boy. He easily noticed the kid was breathing hard, was covered in sweat, and looked like he was flushed since his cheeks were darker than the rest of his skin. "Are you okay? You don't look so good."

"I'm fine," he said. "Just a little tired that's all."

"Ahote! What the heck do you think you were doing up there?!" a woman demanded as she and a man walked over to them.

"You completely messed up our routine!" the man said.

"I'm sorry," Ahote said through his pants. "I didn't mean to. It won't happen again."

"It better not," the man said. "The people come here to see us preform not mess up."

"Get yourself together before the boss kicks you out of the company," the woman said.

"That's enough!" Chopper snapped. "Can you see he's sick?! He shouldn't even been up that high in his condition!"

"Who the heck are you?" the man asked.

"Don't tell me you're a new comer," the woman said. "We already have one too many newcomers as it is."

"No, I'm not a new comer!" Chopper said. "But I am a doctor!"

"A what?" The woman and man blinked in confusion.

"Hey!" another man yelled. "You three stop messing around! The boss wants all of our unused equipment packed up and put into the wagons!"

"Okay," the man and woman said before walking off.

"Get to work, Ahote!" the second man shouted.

"Okay!" Ahote said. "Well, thanks for you help but I have to get back to work."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Chopper said as the boy took a step away from him.

"I'll be fine. This is…nothing," Ahote said while sluggishly making his way towards the back of the tent.

"Oh man. I can't let him keep walking like that. He needs to lay down and take it easy." Chopper looked down at the monkey now standing beside him. I know I'm supposed to be looking for the shard, but I can't just turn my back on him. I'm sorry, Neo. I know you will understand. Just hold on a little bit longer. I promise I'll be there as soon as I can. With that settled, he shrunk back to his normal form and ran in the direction the boy went off in. He passed through a curtain and found several more curtain doors. He peaked inside of each one until he found the boy again. The kid was wiping a wet rag over his face before he started to change his clothes. He eyed the strange clothing the boy now wore. It looked similar to the clothing he was use to seeing only the sleeves and the pant legs were shaped like triangles. When the boy turned his way, he pulled back out into the hall and waited for him to come out. Once he did, he continued to follow after the boy and was leaded outside to where a bunch of wagon huts sitting.

He stood back from the wagons, quietly watching the strange colored people pack up boxed and crates into the wagons. His eyes then landed on several animals that looked like across between a giraffe and a zebra. "What the heck?! What are those things?!" He laughed nervously when his outburst gained some attention from a few of the workers. "Uh, hi. Sorry about that."

The people didn't reply. They just proceeded on their task at hand. Chopper sighed. He then lifted his eyes back up to the boy. The boy was still panting and sweating rather heavily while he picked up a box and pushed it into the back of a wagon. He wasn't sure how old the boy was. He looked to be about ten or eleven years old. In his opinion, that was way too young to do the jobs that he was doing here. He wanted to get the boy to stop and lie down, but got the feeling from their interaction before it wasn't going to be an easy task to complete. He continued to watch the boy while trying to figure out a good way to get the boy to lie down. He shook his head when the boy picked up another box, but dropped it. The kid wiped his forehead on his sleep then tried to pick up the box once more.

Just as he turned back towards the wagon, another circus worker walked by with a box in his arms. The older circus worker shoved the box into the wagon before frowning and narrowing his eyebrows at the boy. "Hurry up, you brat. We don't have all day."

"I know, I know," Ahote replied. Using his knee he lifted up the box into a better position to hold. He walked over to the back of the wagon and lifted the box up to it. But in his sick state the box caught on the edge of the wagon causing both it and the boy to fall to the ground. The incident caused the other workers around to just laugh instead of helping him up to his feet.

"Oh my gosh!" Chopper ran over to the kid. He knelt down next to the boy and placed his hoof on his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Ahote huffed as he tried to stand back up.

"No, you're not," Chopper said, checking the boy's forehead. "You have a fever. You really need to lie down and take it easy."

"It's okay." The boy stood up and started to pick up the box again. "I'm use to it all of this work. Beside, I have another performance later tonight."

"That's insane!" Chopper said. "There's no way you can possibly preform like that again! I won't allow it!"

"Really I'll be just fine," Ahote said. He pushed himself to his feet. Picking up the box he tried to put it into the wagon but only managed to catch the box on the edge again and fell to the ground. Chopper transformed back into his human form, grabbed the box, and shoving it into the wagon. The boy looked at him with confusion and seemed to not care about Chopper's transformation. "W-why are you helping me? This isn't your job."

"I know it's not my job. But you're sick and I'm a doctor. I can't let you keep working like this. You just rest now. I'll take care of this. You're just putting these boxes in the back here, aren't you?" Chopper asked. He was glad when the boy didn't argue with him. Within a few minutes he had all the boxes loaded up in the wagon. He turned back to the boy who looked like he was about to fall asleep. He was surprised that the kid hasn't fallen asleep with how sick he looked. "Okay, I'm done now. Let's get you inside. Where do you ride? In the wagon too?"

"That one over there is mine," Ahote pointed to a small nearby wagon hut. "The door's unlocked."

"Okay." Chopper picked the boy up and carried him over to the hut wagon with the monkey following close behind. Opening the door, he found a small bed on the left side and a small table with two small crates around it. He walked over to the bed and immediately laid the boy on the bed. He pulled his backpack off and dug through it until he found the correct medicine for the boy. After he administered the medication he sat back. "I hope this works. I have no idea who or what these people actually are. My medicine might not work on him. I wonder if the medication from Luminous that Law taught me would help him better. I guess I can wait and see how he does with the medicine I gave them then try something else if it doesn't work."

"Hey, Ahote! You inside?" Chopper heard a female voice called out before the door to the hut opened. He turned his attention to her to find a woman, dressed like a gypsy, poking her head in. She had the same cinnamon color skin and black hair as they all did. Both just blinked at each other for a few seconds before she spoke up again. "Uh, who are you? New recruit, eh? I didn't know we had another one outside of Ahote. Well, whatever, just as long as you do your job I'm fine with you being here. Anyway, our meal is about ready. You two should come out and get some before it's gone. We have one more show to do before we're done for the day."

"Wait a minute! I'm not a new recruit! I'm just-" Chopper protested but the woman closed the door before he could finished what he was going to say. He sighed in frustration. "I can get a single word in here."

"It's pretty fast pace around here," Ahote said.

"You're awake," Chopper said, turning his eyes back to the boy. "How are you feeling?"
"Terrible," Ahote said.

"I'm not surprised with how you look," Chopper said. "So what is this place?"
"It's an acrobatic company," Ahote said. "We travel all over the Gilly Dome doing performances. And speaking of which, I need to get back out there."

"Hold on," Chopper said. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and pushed him back down to the bed. "You're not going anywhere. You need to rest."

"But I have to preform," Ahote said. "I have a job to do."

"Your only job is to rest right now," Chopper said.

"I have to work," Ahote said. "That's what we do in this company. If you don't pull your weight around here you'll eventually get kicked out of the company."

"You'll get kicked out? That sounds a bit harsh considering you're sick," Chopper said.

"I'm in my trail phase," Ahote said. "I have five more days before I'm accepted full into the company. If I slack off at all during that time I'll get kicked out." He struggled to sit up but only fell back to the bed. "Please, let me go."

"You're not even strong enough at the moment to sit up," Chopper said. "I'm sorry, but you're not going to be preforming in your condition. You almost died earlier."

Ahote closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. Chopper remained where he was and watched the boy until his stomach reminded him that he was hungry. Leaving his bag on the bed, he made his way out of the wagon hut. About twenty yards from where he was, he saw a group of the performers gathered around a fire. The woman who had poked her head in before was dipping the meal out of the large black pot and pouring it into bowls before handing them out to the people. "I'm not sure if I should go along with this, but I can't abandon the boy. So I guess for the time being I'll just let them think I'm part of their company. Maybe I can even do Ahote's job so he doesn't get kicked out of here."

He looked down at the monkey, figuring it was going to follow him wherever he went before walking over to the fire. He looked around to see if there was an actual line forming but here wasn't. Everyone was just standing around until they got their bowl. He waited for his turn. He sniffed the air to try and figure out what the meal was. He couldn't really tell or even begin to describe what the woman was cooking. It really didn't smell all that good, but he was hungry enough that he didn't care. Finally, ten minutes later it was his turn to get a bowl from her.

"So what's your name, hon?" the woman asked.

"Tony Tony Chopper," Chopper said. "But people just call me Chopper."

"I'm Viona," Viona said. "Welcome to the company. Since we're leaving this place tomorrow after our last performance we won't have any assigned tasks or performances for you to do."

"Oh, that's okay," Chopper said. "I'll just pitch in wherever I'm needed. I can help Ahote."

"Where is that no good lay about?" Viona asked.

"He's sick," Chopper said. "Please, don't kick him out of this company. He really wants to stay here."

"Oh, relax, hon," Viona said. "I'm not the one who makes those decisions. Besides as long as his assigned work gets done no one's going to throw him out."

"What is his assigned work?" Chopper asked.

"His job today is to feed and water the girabras," Viona said, pointing her ladle in the direction of the animals Chopper saw before.

"So that's what those are," Chopper said.

"Hm?" Viona gave him a curious look. "You've never see girabras?"

"No," Chopper said honestly before realizing he probably shouldn't have. "Ack! I meant that I uh…"

"I see," Viona said. "You must be from another part of Gilly. The girabras aren't common in all the places here."

"That's true. I am from somewhere else," Chopper said with relief. He glanced at the monkey. It was still just staring at him and didn't seem upset at all with how close he came to slipping up. "If it's all right, I'll take care of his job until he feels better."

"I see no problem with it," Viona said. "The girabras get one chunk of food and a full bucket of water after our next performance."

"That's it?" Chopper asked.

"That's it," Viona said. "Now get to eating. Our next performance is in an hour."

"All right," Chopper said. He turned from the woman and walked back over to the wagon. Upon entering into it with the monkey, he sat down on one of the crates by the small table and took a bite of his meal. His cheeks puckered and his eyes bulged out of his head at the explosion of sour on his tongue. "Not more sour stuff."

Still, his growling stomach forced himself to eat it. After he was done he decided to check on his patient and found that his medication wasn't doing the boy much good at all. It was made him even more frustrated until the obvious solution hit him. This boy, who ever he really was, wasn't human at all. So it made sense that human medicine wasn't going to work on him. So he dug through his bag, looking for the Elemental medicine that he learned how to make from Law. "I know it's a bit of a long shot, but maybe Elemental medicine will work on him instead of my human medicine."

He pulled out the correct brown bottle and twisted the lid off. He placed a hoof under the boy's head and lifted him up. "Here, Ahote, drink this."

The boy parted his lips for him. Chopper poured the liquid into the boy's mouth then laid him back down. He put up the medication then sat back and waited to see what happened. He saw no signs of allergic reaction, but he didn't see signs of it helping either. He decided to give it a little more time before making the decision it wasn't doing any good. After all medication took time to work. He left the wagon hut again when he heard people talking and wondering around outside.

"Hey, where's Ahote?" the woman from the trapeze asked.

"He's sick," Chopper said.

"That's what Viona said. So you're the new guy, aren't you?" she asked.

"Uh, yeah, I am," Chopper said. "Why?"

"Let's go." The woman grabbed his arm and pulled him off the steps of the wagon.

"What?! Go where?!" Chopper demanded.

"Viona said you're filling in for him," the woman said.

"For his job!" Chopper said.

"I know," she said with a nod. "That's why we're going back to the tent. His job is also on the trapeze."

"Wait a second! I don't know anything about the trapeze!" Chopper said while he tried to desperately get free of her hold. "There's been a misunderstanding!"

"No misunderstanding here," she said. "You said you're going to Ahote's job so you can't back out of it now."

"But I didn't know it meant I had to go up on those ropes!" Chopper wailed. "I've never done it before!"

"Don't worry about it," she said. "You'll get the hang of it real easy."

"No! I! Won't!" Chopper snapped.

"Sure you will," she said. "Lan and I will tell you exactly what you need to do."

"Lan?" Chopper asked.

"He's our other partner," she said. "We've been doing this for years. You won't go wrong with us at your side."

"What are you talking about?!" Chopper demanded. "I've never done this before! I can't just jump in there and pull this off!"

"My name's Purro," Purro said.

"I'm Chopper," Chopper said. "Wait a second! I don't care about that! I don't want to do this!"

"You're a funny little creature," Purro said. "What are you anyway?"

"I'm a reindeer and a pirate!" Chopper snapped then clamped his hooves over his mouth. His eyes dropped down to the monkey that was still following him around. He wondered if that was a bad thing to say or if it was fine. Did reindeers and pirates even exist on this island?

"Reindeer? Never hear of your kind before," Purro said. "But I won't fault you for it. I heard you didn't even know what a girabra was. So I guess that makes us even."

"I guess it does," Chopper said just as they entered into the tent. He noticed that the tent this time was a lot warmer than it was before. He figured it was because everyone was moving around in preparation for their next show. "Look, I know I keep saying this, but I can't do this. I'm a doctor not an acrobat."

"A doctor?" Purro looked down at him. "What's a doctor?"
"You know a person who helps someone when they're sick," Chopper said. "Don't you have one around here? I think you would since you could get hurt doing the stunts that you do."

"Oh, you mean an expert," Purro said. "We use to have one traveling with us but he passed away a few months ago. The boss just hasn't found anyone he likes enough yet to let them travel with us."

"So what do you do when someone get's hurt or sick?" Chopper asked just as she took them into the changing room where Ahote was earlier.

"The places we stop in usually have at least one expert," Purro said. "So we have them come help when we need it."

"I see," Chopper said.

"Who's that?" a man asked.

Chopper looked to find it was the man who was on the trapeze. So he figure it was safe to assure that he was Lan.

"This is Chopper," Purro said. "He's fill in for Ahote who happens to be sick."

"I see," Lan said. "Well, just do your job and everything will be fine."

"I can't do that because I'm not an acrobat!" Chopper growled.

"It'll be fine," Lan said, turning back to the mirror to apply his make up.

"Here," Purro said sitting Chopper down near a bunch of outfits. "Find something that will fit you. It doesn't matter what. All the outfits match well enough."

Chopper sighed. It looked like he was stuck in doing this whether he wanted to or not. Without much thought he started going through the clothes until he found an outfit that fit him well enough. It made him look like a sparkly flower. He just knew the others would laugh at him for this. He could already hear them laughing and making fun of him.

"Hey, Chopper! Nice out fit!" Luffy would say.

"You look so cute as a flower!" Usopp would say.

"Super cute!" Franky would say.

"Who put you in that outfit?" Zoro would ask.

"Stop picking on poor Chopper," Sanji would say. "He's just blooming out for a change."

"I think he looks cute," Nami would say.

"I agree," Robin would say.

"I knew you would sprout out sooner or later," Brook would say.

Chopper sighed again. He was so glad his crewmates weren't here to see him like this. He just wished he wasn't in this mess in the first place. He should have just stayed in the wagon hut and hid from everyone.

"You look so cute in that," Purro said. "Come on over here and I'll put your makeup on while we tell you how the routine goes."

"Fine," Chopper said, walking over to them. "But don't blame me when this blows up in our faces." He sat down on the empty stool and patiently listened to them while Purro applied his makeup. "Wow! That sounds really hard! And really dangerous!"

"It's not," Purro said.

"We do the real work," Lan said. "All you have to do is jump back and forth between the two of us."

"It still sounds dangerous!" Chopper said. "I don't want to do this!"

"We're on in ten!" an unfamiliar voice shouted out.

"What?!" Chopper asked. "So soon?!"

"It's not soon at all," Lan said. "We're not the first two go on. We're during the third act. So we have plenty of time to relax."

"Let's go," Purro said while heading toward the exit.

"I thought you said we could relax!" Chopper said.

"We can," Purro said. "But we have to be at our posts so we don't miss our cue to go on."

"I see," Chopper said. Reluctantly, he hopped of his stool and followed after them. The dressing room area was a lot tighter with everyone inside and some even worn more elaborate costumes than others and they took up a lot of space too. But eventually the duo led him down a curtain hallway to a small crack in the tent. He peaked through it and watched the other performers. He stared at them, entranced by their graceful moves as they jumped, spun, and preformed various other acrobatic moves all over the ring floor.

"Let's go," Purro said.

"Huh?" Chopper blinked and found himself behind pushed out into the ring. "What?! No!"

"You'll be fine," Purro said, guiding him to the pole with that ladder. "Hurry up now. We don't have much time left."

"What?!" Against his will, Chopper found himself climbing up the ladder. He felt himself get dizzy the farther he climbed up it. Before long he found himself standing on the platform. His eyes bulged out of his head when he looked down. "Ack! It's so high!"

"Get on the swing now," Purro said.

"What?! No! I don't want too!" Chopper said. "Neo! Help me!"

"Too late for that," Purro said just before they were spotlighted.

Chopper froze in the bright light. His heart was racing so hard in his chest that he was sure it was going to pop through his skin and drop to the ground that was far below him. He didn't even noticed when Purro picked him up and held him to the bar of the swing. His hooves automatically grabbed on when he felt the bar. Next thing he felt was the wind rushing through his fur. He screamed upon realizing he was swinging through the air. "No! I don't want to do this!"

"Jump to me on the next swing." He heard Lan say.

"What?! You can't be serious!" Chopper said on his swing back. He swung back towards the man. "No! I really, really don't want to do this! I want to see my friends again before I die!"

"Jump! Now!" Lan said.

"Waaaa!" Chopper released his bar. His body hurled towards Lan's hands. Grabbing onto the man, he held on as they swung backwards.

"You're doing great," Lan said.

"Great," Chopper said through his dizziness. Before he could get his brain to register anything around him, he felt himself flying back through the air. He looked to notice that Lan had tossed him towards Purro. He had no idea how long their performance was. All he could feel was his body being tossed back and forth through the air, sometimes spinning like a top before he was suddenly back on the platform with Purro and somewhere beneath him was a thunderous applause for what they had done. He wasn't sure what they really had done. And he really didn't want to know. He just wanted to get back down to the ground where he knew he was safe. Unfortunately, his body was too queasy to for him to walk down the ladder. He had to relay on Purro to carry him down on her shoulder. Once at the bottom, he hopped off her shoulder and kissed the ground multiple times. "I love you ground! I never want to ever leave you again!"

"You're a funny little thing," Lan said. "But you did really great for your first time."

"Are you insane! That was completely scary!" Chopper growled. "I never ever want to do it again!"

"Well, you have to do it twice tomorrow is you're doing Ahote's job," Lan said with a laugh before he walked off.

"He's correct. You did a great job," Purro said as she followed after Lan. "Tomorrow will be even better."

"What?! It will not!" Chopper said. "What's wrong with these people?! Oh, yeah! I need to go check on Ahote!"

Chopper made a mad dash to the changing room. He rubbed off his makeup then ditched his sparkling clothes and put on his regular clothes before dashing out of the tent. He ran all the way over to Ahote's wagon hut and entered it. He walked over to the bed and found that the boy was sleeping peacefully. Reaching out to touch his forehead, he also found that his fever had come down a little bit as well. "That's good. It looks like the Elemental medication is working just fine. I'm glad. I was worried that there might be some bad side affects by using an unfamiliar medication on you."

"Got to work," Ahote said in his sleep before rolling over on his side. "Have to feed…the…"

"Oh, yeah! I have to feed the girabras!" Chopper rushed back towards the door and left the small wagon hug. He ran over to the makeshift pens for the creatures and looked around for their food. He found it inside of a crate sitting near the pens. Remember what he was suppose to do, he pulled off one block for each of the creatures and placed it on the ground for them since it didn't look like they had any kind of dish for them. He then ran off to find a water hose or whatever they used to water the animals. He hoped that he didn't have to carry their buckets of water and was very glad to find that they had their own version of a water hose. He grabbed it, turned on the water, and headed back to the pens. Sticking the end of the hose in the bucket, he waited for it to fill before moving on to the next one. "Boy, this job is really a lot of hard work. I don't see how anyone would want to do it." He turned his attention to the girabra when it spoke to him. "Oh, I can understand you. I wasn't so sure about that. I'm glad. Really? You've been here for over thirty years. You love it that much, huh? I don't think I could do a job like this day in and day out. But I'm glad you enjoy it. Neo would also be glad to hear that you like your job so much. Neo's a friend of mine. She really loves animals and always makes sure they're happy and healthy when they work at jobs like this. I can't wait to see her again. Yeah, we're kind of separated right now. I can't say why thought. I just hope she's safe and warm."

Chopper looked up at the dark sky above him. He felt very lonely without his friends around him. He shook his head. He didn't want to think about that. He knew they would reunite soon. All he had to do was get that shard. He glanced at the monkey. He needed to check the map again and see where this company was heading next. Maybe he could just ride with them. They did say they were leaving tomorrow. He shivered when he remembered that he was suppose to do two more performances tomorrow as well. "Ugh! Maybe I shouldn't stay around this company. I should just wonder off while I have the chance."

Chopper moved on to the next bucket until they all were filled up. He then put the hose up and headed back to Ahote's wagon hut. The boy was still asleep when he entered. He felt a bit guilty for wanting to leave while he was still sick. He wasn't sure what he should do. With a sigh he walked over to the table and sat down. He sat there until he spotted a map on the wall that he didn't notice before. Jumping up, he pulled it off and laid it down on the table. There were red circles on certain places on the map, a few of them crossed out with a red X. There were also little red arrows leading to each circle. "I wonder if this is the route they're taking. And, for some reason, it looks kind of familiar. Oh, yeah. Hey, monkey guy, can you show me that map thing again?"

The monkey moved closer to him. Its eyes lit up and revealed the map. Chopper looked back and forth between the two maps and ultimately came to the conclusion that this company was heading in the same direction he was. "I'm still not completely sure about staying here though. I really don't want to get tossed around by those two again. But I can't leave Ahote until I know he's going to be fine. And I still have to get the shard. This company might be my only way of getting to the shard. They might not be the best of company but they might be the only ones going that way for a long time. Or the next people I meet might be worse off than these guys. I wonder what I should do. The others wouldn't have this hard of a time making a decision. Luffy would actually love being here. He wouldn't hesitate at all getting on those swings again."

He looked at the lifeless monkey. "Why did you send me here? I'm not the type for doing this kind of thing. I'm only good for being a doctor. You could have sent me help. Anyone would have been a good choice. I really hate being alone. It reminds me too much of my past."

A few minutes of time passed by before he heard a knock on the door. Brushing his arm over his watering eyes, he walked over to the door and opened it. Standing there was a man he didn't recognize. He was slightly heavy set and about six foot tall. "Um, hello."

"You must be the new guy," he said.

"Um, sort of," Chopper said.

"Well, it's nice to meet you," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm the owner and the ringleader of this place. You can call me Master or Boss."

"I'm Chopper," Chopper said, not feeling right about calling this man Master or Boss.

"I hear you're taking care of Ahote while he's sick," Master said.

"Yes, I am," Chopper said. "He's sleeping right now. Did you want to see him?"
"Nope," Master said. "I just wanted to come by and meet you. I like to meet all of my new cast members."

"Well, I…"

"You did a great job out there today," Master said. "So what made you decide to join the company?"

"Oh, well, I was kind of thrown into it," Chopper said, sneaking a sideways glance at the monkey behind him.

"I see." Master nodded. "Your family kicked you out, did they? That's such a shame. Well, just to let you know, it's no picnic around here either. We work long and hard hours and have even longer and harder travel times between our performances. And I'm sure you've heard of my policy by now. If you keep up with your work, then you can stay. But if you slack off and do nothing, you won't be allowed to stay any longer. I don't tolerate people who just want a free ride."

Chopper felt himself twitch. He basically wanted a free ride to the shard. At least he now had a cover story for himself. He could pretend that his family kicked him out of their home so he ran away to join this company.

"So what's your specialty?" Master asked.

"I'm an expert," Chopper said. "And I'm really good with animals."

"Well, it's good to finally have another expert in our company," Master said then his voice became serious. "But I don't like strangers messing with my family."

"Family?" Chopper asked.

"So don't you dare do anything to them unless I approve of it. You have to prove to me that you're worthy of taking care of my family," Master said with narrowed eyebrows. "I don't mind much that you're taking care of Ahote since I don't consider him part of the family. So we can use him as a test run."

"A test run?!" Chopper asked, feeling anger build up in his chest. "How can you say that?!"

"Because it's true," Master said. "Just take care of him and continue to do Ahote's job until he feels better. We'll find a place for you soon enough. It probably won't be until the next show we have in the next town. So you'll have about four more days to prove yourself."

"You want me to prove myself in four days?" Chopper asked. "How is that even possible?"

"That's your problem. I have to go now," Master said as he walked away. "Nothing ever gets done without me around."

"He's so mean," Chopper said, closing the door. "How could anyone want to work for that guy? I'm glad I'm not going to be here for very long. I don't think I'll be able to handle this place." He walked over to the table and looked at the map again. "I wonder how long it'll take to get to this next place. I guess I should wait and ask Ahote when he wakes up."

…

Double chapters from now on so I can get back to my other fics.