"Come on, just a little bit further," Alfred guided while slowly walking backwards.
"Alfred this is stupid, why do we need these stupid blindfolds?" Natalya asked as she followed the sound of his voice.
Alfred laughed and smirked at her. "You tell me, I thought you hated surprises."
Natalya frowned and started to yell at him, but was interrupted when she began feeling a rumbling under her feet.
"What was that?!" Peter screamed as he reached out and clutched the first thing he felt, which was Molossia's arm. Molossia kept his mouth in a line and held in a grumble.
"Take off your blindfolds and find out!" Alfred instructed. The three listened and took off their blindfolds, finding Alfred with his hands on his hips and smiling at them.
He spread his arms out wide and stood proudly. "Welcome to Yellowstone!"
Just as he announced that a large stream of boiling water erupted from the Earth and shot tens of feet in the air.
They all looked up in amazement at the spectacle, which filled Alfred with great pride.
"Pretty epic isn't it?" He grinned as he turned to watch the geyser himself, only to yelp and jump away when a blob of scalding water hit him in the hand.
He rubbed his hand and looked back up at the geyser as it continued to spew water. "I own over half the geysers in the entire world. But even then they still always amaze me."
Natalya gave an eye roll. "Most tornadoes, most geysers, biggest economy and military. You really have to be number one in everything don't you?"
"Of course, I am the greatest nation after all!" He boasted. Yellowstone seemed to really fan his ego.
Natalya ignored him and walked ahead to continue watching the geyser. "Why is there so many people taking pictures? Is this the biggest geyser or something?"
Alfred skipped next to her and leaned over the railing. "Nope, that would be the Steamboat Geyser, which is about twenty miles that way." He directed with a point toward the north. "This is Old Faithful, the most famous."
They watched in silence for a little while longer, until Alfred felt something tug on his leg.
He looked down at Peter, who looked back up with an expression that showed he obviously wanted something. "Yes?"
"Molossia and I were looking at a map and found a place we wanted to go to. Can we go ahead and go there while you two are still here?" Peter asked.
Alfred grinned at him. "Sure little dude, where is it?"
"It's the Tomato Soup Pool, I thought it was funny so I want to go see it," Peter explained.
"Oh, I was actually about to go that way to show Natalya the Grand Prismatic Spring. We can drive you most of the way there," Alfred offered.
"I'm sorry, Tomato Soup Pool?" Natalya questioned in complete confusion. Alfred turned to her to explain. "It's a pool that's the same color as tomato soup."
She sighed for a prolonged amount of time since she knew he was serious. "Leave it to an American to make up shit like that."
Alfred laughed and followed after her as she walked away to the RV. The other two followed as well and in no time they were dropped off near their location.
As they walked to the pool, Alfred drove Natalya to their own attraction, and as she stepped out she instantly noticed the massive spring.
It was a shining blue, surrounded by yellow and orange rings, and it bubbled and steamed under the boiling heat.
"Isn't that awesome?!" Alfred wondered loudly from right behind Natalya. She slapped her hands to her ears and snapped her head back at him.
"Yes it's very beautiful now stop yelling!" She yelled back at him. He put his hands up in surrender and smiled wider. "That was my bad, got too excited."
She crossed her arms and turned to the spring again. They both just stared at it for a bit until Natalya began to grow curious. "So why do you have so many hot springs and geysers?"
"Hmm? Oh yeah it's because of the Yellowstone Volcano," he answered shortly, not caring to elaborate on the subject.
"Really? Where is it?" She wondered as she looked around. Alfred chuckled and looked at his feet. "We're on it."
She perked up and stared at him. "What do you mean?" Guess he's elaborating on it after all.
"We're on the cap, or caldera or whatever it's called. It's basically like the cork that holds all the magma and other crud in. It's also the piece that blows up when there's too much pressure."
"And you built part of the national park on it," she said in a mocking tone.
He crossed his arms and frowned. "Of course not... the whole park is built around it."
She had to take a double take to make sure she heard that right. "Excuse me what?"
He nodded and slowly looked out at the mountains and springs. "Yup, Yellowstone is a super volcano. The cap is 30 by 45 miles across, smack dab in the middle of the park."
"Do you know if it's going to go off anytime soon?" She asked with a twinge of worry. He shrugged and kicked a pebble with his foot. "Could happen a second from now, could happen in a million years, no one really knows exactly when. All we are aware of is that it's overdue to blow."
She only grew more concerned. "And what will happen when it does?"
He could see the concern on her face, which he was grateful for, so he couldn't help but smile even knowing the dark reality of the situation.
"I'm not really sure how to say this in a way that doesn't sound horrible," he admitted with a laugh and an awkward scratching of his head.
"Well for starters everything within Yellowstone and maybe out 100 miles would die almost instantly, or have their eardrums blown on the more optimistic end. Then ash would cover most of the sky and the ground of about half the U.S. so crops would be fucked. And finally you get into the weird stuff, like the potential of acid rain or global cooling that would basically start a mini ice age."
Natalya was completely speechless, horrified that Alfred was laughing and smiling while describing his potential death.
"Guess that's another thing I'm number one in huh? I got some badass super volcanoes! Actually I have the top three," he said as an afterthought, making Natalya blink in petrified surprise.
"Alfred!" She finally spoke up before he could say any more depressing crap. He paused and raised a brow at her.
She stared deep into his eyes with the most worry she's ever expressed around him. "Are you going to die?"
He gave her a look of complete shock, but quickly dropped it to instead give her a comforting smile. "Of course not. A superpower isn't going to get taken down over a giant zit. Hell, you could have all three go off at once and I'd still have the whole eastern half be completely fine... I think. Granted it would hurt like absolute hell but I'd survive."
His genuineness seemed to calm her down, until he made a last second comment. "Besides, a million years? What nation will make it to a million years? I'll get to a thousand, tops."
"What? What are you talking about?" She almost screamed as her nervousness built up once again.
He laughed and placed a hand on top of her head. "You are just full of questions today. Just chill."
He smiled at her, though it never reached his eyes, and Natalya could see it clear as day. She'll figure out what the hell he meant about dying so soon.
For a minute she continued to stare at his smile, but grew upset when it became more sly and she felt his other hand rest on her head.
"Can you stop petting my head?" She spoke through her teeth. Alfred pouted and made a whiny noise. "But your hair is so soft. Just another minute, or five."
She grabbed his wrists and yanked the hands away from her. "Idiot stop it, you're going to ruin my bow!"
He lightly snickered and put his hands in his pockets while waiting for Natalya to smooth out the ribbon.
"Anyway if you're done looking at the spring we should go back to the other two, we've still got so much of this park to see," he said as he began walking away without her.
She jogged over to him and walked back to the RV. The two picked up Peter and Molossia and headed off deeper into Yellowstone.
After some searching Alfred found a good spot to set up camp near the West Thumb of Yellowstone Lake.
It took a bit to get settled down before they even began making plans on where to go, except for Molossia who had taken a map from back at the Old Faithful Inn and already made a trail he wanted to hike.
Everyone else had no clue though, Alfred had a rough idea of what would be fun for both himself and Natalya, since she would obviously be accompanying him. Peter couldn't decide whether to go with Molossia or Alfred and Natalya, but eventually decided to just do both by first hanging out with Molossia then meeting up with Alfred later.
"So here's a backpack full of food and a tent and other stuff," Alfred said as he handed it over to Molossia. "And please be safe with Peter, I really don't need the extra stress of you two getting mauled by a grizzly bear or something."
Molossia groaned and grabbed the backpack. "I know, we'll be fine. You already know the type of stuff I have to deal with in Nevada."
"Oh yeah I completely forgot to ask, did you deal with the coyote problem?" Alfred asked, putting a strange emphasis on coyote.
"You know how it is, they come and go. But it's hell trying to pick them out from the normals," Molossia shrugged.
They talked a little more about coyotes then Molossia and Peter were off, joined by Molossia's definitely not forgotten about dog. After a little more deciding on where to go Alfred led Natalya into the nearby forest for their own adventure.
For miles they walked through the dense forest, or it would be if half the trees weren't dead or leafless. It was kind of depressing for Natalya to see, this is supposed to be an untouched place and yet it's still full of death.
"What happened here?" She asked as they entered a spot of all dead trees. Alfred stopped and looked around at the trees. "Beats me. Could be bark beetles, wind, fire, or just time. The only reason they're so many is because the altitude and dryness doesn't let things rot quickly."
"Ok that's good. I thought the forest was dying or something," she said as they began walking again.
In a few more miles they had made it through the thickest part of the forest and were now following a small creek out of it.
As they fully exited the forest, Natalya looked up in amazement at the massive grassland they had entered. Alfred stepped ahead of her and held his arms wide to show the area's extravagance. "Welcome to one of the most pristine remnants of the Great Plains. No crappy farms, no pesky fences segmenting everything, just all grasslands."
In the distance there were groups of deer and pronghorns prancing around, or running from a pack of coyotes. There were also a couple of bighorn sheep butting heads, which the coyotes were sure to steer clear of unless they wanted to get smacked around by the extra large herd.
"Let's follow this creek, it should lead us to the river, and that's where all the action is," he said excitedly as he began marching forward.
"What action? The most I've seen so far were those two sheep," she noted. "I didn't mean actual action. It's just where the animals are," he reiterated.
She hmphed in irritation. "Then just say that. Why do have to have to have such weird slang?"
He turned and looked at her dumbly. "Slang? That wasn't slang. Slang is informal, like ain't for are not or my personal favorite, yaint."
"Yaint?" She repeated, almost gagging from the disgusting feeling the pronunciation left in her throat.
"Yup. Y'all ain't. Or you all are not if you insist on being formal like Iggy. Speaking of which, I'm practicing on some slang to use the next time he gives me crap for how I talk, how does Whomst'd've'ly'yaint'nt'ed'ies's'y'es sound?"
Her face became empty as she shook her head slowly. "Nyet. No way, there's no fucking way that's a real word."
"Of course it is, it's slang," he said with a wink. "If you don't like that how about whomst'd've'lu'yaint'nt'ed'ies's'y'es'nt't' re'ing'able'tic'ive'al'nt'ne'm'll'ble'al'ny'less'w'ck'k'ly' py'nd'idy'ety'st'ged'ful'ish'ng'mt'ous," he said almost perfectly fluent.
"What the fuck does that even mean?!" She screamed in horror at the complete butchering of the English language.
"They mean who or whom," he explained. "Then just say that you fucker!" She yelled back.
He laughed at her angry face. "But that's not funny, the whole point is to annoy Iggy. Look, it seems to have a good effect on you."
She only grumbled and stomped past him. "Just show me this damn river."
"So where are we going?" Peter wondered as he and the strange dog spun around Molossia. Molossia tried to follow the speedy pair with his eyes but got fed up and had to place a hand on Peter's head in order to keep him in place.
"First we're going to a waterfall, now slow the hell down and stop making me dizzy, both of you," Molossia demanded.
Peter and the dog whined but agreed and started walking straight.
Nearly five minutes later Peter began wandering around Molossia again while beginning to talk about random stuff.
"It's pretty bizarre seeing Natalya of all people with Alfred. I never thought she would end up being friends with him, with them being so different and all, but somehow they made it work. I don't know... what do you think?"
"Hmm? Yeah I'm gonna be honest, I blanked out the second you said "with Alfred"," Molossia admitted.
"Oh, well I was just wondering what you thought about them being friends," Peter repeated.
Molossia nodded in understanding and pondered how to properly express how he felt. "I hate it. With a passion. She's horrifying, and has never been good to America. Even now as his "friend" she insults him constantly. But for some reason America doesn't care, which is so confusing because he's hung out with her back in the 90s.
He knows how she acts, he sent her away because she got all psycho clingy toward him like she does with the commie. It's like he completely forgot about that since now he'll defend her any time I complain. I don't know what the hell happened that caused her to come back, but I don't like it."
Peter tilted his head to the side. "I guess I can see where you're coming from, she is quite scary, and I suppose the insults are a little much, but she insults everybody. I think it's the fact she cares for him despite being so abrasive, you remember how freaked out she looked when we almost fell off the mountain?"
"That's because you were there, America himself said she chucked him off the last mountain they went to," Molossia argued.
"Yes, but that was before. Besides, even if it was because of me she still worried about Alfred getting yelled at by Sweden and Finland," Peter hit back.
Molossia frowned as he slouched forward. "I still don't like it." Peter only smirked as he looked up at his friend. "Right, just like you didn't like it when we were all hugging a few days ago."
Molossia froze as his whole face flushed in humiliation. "S-Shut up! Asshole!"
Peter chuckled at their fluster. "You don't have to be embarrassed about not hating someone. Be more like Seborga, he made that beauty chart of all the nations, he called Natalya pretty remember?"
Molossia scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Seborga would call a dog hot if you put a wig on it, don't tell me to be like him."
"Wubbo wubbo woah?" the dog weirdly barked at Molossia's feet. He looked down at his pet and gasped as he dropped down to give them supportive pets. "Of course not. I would never let Seborga anywhere near you."
"Speaking of Seborga, I think he's hosting the next Micronation Olympics," Molossia said as he got to his feet.
"Have you been training?" Peter asked. Molossia grinned and held his head high. "Of course, I'll kick all your asses!"
Peter accepted the challenge, having already trained his powerful punches. What for? Who knows, anything is possible in the Micronation Olympics.
A couple minutes later they began to hear the sound of rushing water. They were arriving at the waterfall.
Peter sped up and looked back at Molossia as he skipped down the path. "Hurry up slowpoke. We don't have all day."
'Yes we do," Molossia grumbled. 'I wonder how America is getting along.'
"It was definitely rigged," Alfred argued.
"Nyet it wasn't," Natalya giggled.
"I beat you and Russia and he got salty. You're seriously telling me the U.S. flag falling the second the Russian national anthem came on was just coincidence?" He wondered. "Bullshit."
She laughed at him. "Da." He bit his cheek and frowned. "It was rigged and you know it."
"You were so angry I thought you were going to explode," she reminisced with a small smile.
"Well of course I was. It was embarrassing. We won gold, but all we're remembered for is that stupid fail because someone couldn't attach a flag correctly," He ranted angrily. He will never live it down.
"Isn't Japan hosting the next one?" She wondered. He nodded. "Yeah. You should've seen his face when it got postponed till next year. However pissed I was during that flag fail years ago is nothing compared to how Japan was."
"I bet, the only times it's been canceled before were during wartime. Why did this once get canceled again?" She asked.
He shrugged and stopped walking. "I think China gave him a sickness or something. They have the cure now, but just a little too late for the Olympics."
"Just another reason I don't like the old man," she said as she also stopped right in front of the river.
Everywhere they looked there were all sorts of animals. On one side were the herbivores lapping up water, such as giant elk, pronghorns, and a few mule deer with their wide, strange rounded off antlers.
On the other side were some of the more predatory creatures like weasels, foxes, and coyotes, and even a black bear and their cubs lumbering away to the nearby forest.
Alfred and Natalya avoided the animals and began following up the river. A few river otters floated by on their backs, and Alfred pointed out a beaver swimming by with a large branch in its mouth.
They suddenly paused as they heard a shrill hissing sound, both looking down to see a badger snarling at them.
"Don't worry, it's just a badger," Alfred reassured as he directed Natalya to move back and slowly walk around it. "I know what a badger is, they're in my country too," she shot back.
Once they were far enough away it stopped hissing and simply stared at them. They turned away and continued up the river.
"Sorry, I forget your country is mostly forest," Alfred apologized. Natalya didn't really care. "It's fine... do you have honey badgers here? With your deserts and all."
"No, and I'm glad for that," Alfred finished with a shiver. "I remember during World War Two I was in Africa with Iggy, and I ran into a honey badger. That was one ferocious bastard, way worse than that snake that fell on my head."
They froze as they heard a menacing rattling somewhere in the tall grass. "Speaking of snakes... I think we just pissed off one," Alfred whispered as he crept forward.
Natalya followed very close behind, bumping into him when he stopped again. She put her hands on his shoulders and looked around him. On the ground there was a large, tan snake coiled up and rattling its tail at them.
The two did the same thing as the badger and slowly backed away while circling around the creature.
"Why do I get the feeling we're going to do this a lot?" Natalya wondered.
A few miles up the river they came to the tree line between the forest and grassland. Alfred looked back at the plains with a serious and analyzing gaze, which confused Natalya. "What's wrong?"
He blinked and looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"I don't know, you just seem distracted," she said. He stared for about half a second before smiling at her. "Nah I'm good, now come on. To the forest we go!"
She followed him as he marched into the dense forest, passing by flocks of birds and all sorts of small critters. In about 100 feet, however, they came up to the edge of a large canyon.
"I completely forgot the canyon," Alfred muttered under his breath. "Uhhh, ok we got three options.
One. We go back and cross the bridge that crosses the canyon then go up Mount Washburn, which is the longest and least scenic route since we would just be following roads and trails the whole way. But the view from Mount Washburn would be sick.
Two. We follow this canyon the whole way, which is quicker but harder to traverse.
Three. It's the quickest way and most scenic, but entirely forest so we could get lost if we're not careful. What do you think we should do?"
"I don't even know where we're going," she reminded him. "Oh yeah, sorry about that. We're going to Lamar Valley, which is a big area of grasslands twenty something miles north of here," he explained.
"Is it bigger than the one we were just in?" She wondered. He shook his head. "No, but I still think it's the cooler of the two."
"Alright... well we've already been on a mountain, and through a canyon, so maybe we should take the forest route," she decided.
"Cool, we may be able to see more animals that way anyway," he added as they walked into the deepest parts of the forest.
"What kind of animals?" She asked with a great amount of interest.
"Oh there's tons: eagles, falcons, ravens, swans. Snakes, one type of lizard, a bunch of frogs. Bears, large cats, foxes and coyotes, a few wolves, some weasels, moose which are pretty rare, wolverines which are even more rare. Also mountain goats but those aren't native. Voles, ground squirrels, marmots, pikas, hares and rabbits, thirteen different types of bats, tons of fish..." he listed off.
They then heard the sound of something rapidly knocking against a tree. "Woodpeckers."
Alfred suddenly gasped and bounced up and down in giddiness. "And the most adorable little creature on the planet!"
He ran over and stood under a tree with his arms extended over his head. "Come here little guy."
Natalya walked over and watched as Alfred picked a little fuzzy object out of the tree and began cradling them. He noticed her approaching and turned to reveal the animal.
"It's a pine marten," he told her as he held it out with his hands. The tiny creature wrapped around his hand and began lightly nibbling on his finger. "Awwww."
Natalya was disturbed with how close he was with this wild animal. "Alfred you really shouldn't pick up random animals. They're dirty."
Alfred's smile dropped and he looked at her seriously. "Dirty? You're telling me this is dirty?" He asked as he held it up to her face.
She backed away and bit her lip. He took a step forward with the creature. "Come on, hold it for one second," he urged her.
She took another step back and looked away. "Nyet, it's filthy." Alfred got even closer, the little marten making cute squeaking sounds. "See, it wants you to hold it."
"I don't care, I don't want to," she refused. Alfred sighed and pulled the marten back. "Alright, fine. At least take a picture of me with it."
Natalya pulled out her phone and pointed it at him, as he hugged the marten and nuzzled it with his face. She looked at the picture she took and scrunched her face up. 'Fuck that's cute.'
Alfred set the marten back in the tree so they could continue their hike. "Do you also have those in your country?" He wondered.
"Da," she confirmed." I have all the animals you listed earlier, except for roe deer instead of mule deer. In addition I also have flying squirrels."
"Same," he interrupted.
"Lynx."
"Yup."
"Wild boars."
"Those aren't actually native to my country. Some guys brought pigs back in the 1500s then let them out into the wild. After that it just became a giant mess," he explained.
"Chamois, which are similar to pronghorns."
"Wow, you have basically every animal I do," Alfred said in surprise. Why is he though? The animals in her country can be found all over Europe.
"But I only named off a few- hey do you have that?" Alfred interrupted her as he pointed at a large bug climbing a tree. She sighed loudly. "Alfred that's a stag beetle, those can be found everywhere in Europe."
"What about that?" He asked while pointing at a bird flying above. "Da I have golden eagles."
"And that?"
Natalya let out a quiet groan as she covered her face with her hands. What has she started?
"Woah, what's that?!" Peter yelled as he ran to a leaf where a giant insect was sitting. Molossia stopped walking to see what he was seeing. "That's just a horse fly, get the hell away from it before you piss it off and it bites you."
Peter turned and started going back, but accidentally gained the attention of the fly which got off the leaf and began chasing the boy.
As it was about land, Molossia's dog jumped up and snatched it in its jaws. Molossia recoiled as his pet munched on it. "Ugh, stop. That's disgusting!"
After his dog had finished their snack, the three walked down the path, or rather the road to their destination. They only got about fifty feet before Peter ran off to look at another bug he found.
"Would you cut it out? Why are you even so fascinated with bugs anyway?" Molossia asked as he waved some away that were swarming his head. "They're gross."
"My nation is in the middle of the ocean on a metal fort. I don't get bugs. The most I get is maybe a few spiders," Peter explained as he let a ladybug crawl onto his finger.
"Oh yeah... right," Molossia remembered while rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment for forgetting.
They got back on the road eventually, but Peter got bored pretty fast. "Why are we even on the road, isn't the whole point of the park to be in the wilderness?"
"Because I'm sick of strenuous hiking. That mountain in Alaska is about all I can take. I just want a nice, calm walk," Molossia said. Just the thought of them reaching their destination brought a wave of relief over him.
"I hope it isn't too far, I still want to get back and see what Alfred is doing," Peter reminded him.
"Where we're going is right next to Yellowstone River. I overheard America say something about going to one of the large plains, we can hop in two kayaks and meet up with them there," Molossia appeased.
"That sounds like fun! But do we seriously have to walk on the road? If we cut through the forest it will be much faster," Peter suggested.
Molossia shook his head slowly. "No, it's dangerous, especially here in Yellowstone. There could be cougars, wolves, or grizzly bears just waiting for us to be in the middle of their territory."
"Don't be so paranoid, just watch," Peter instructed as he walked over to the nearby forest and twirled around dramatically. "Oh no, a big bad grizzly bear is going to get me! Molossia come save me, I need a superhero!"
Molossia gritted his teeth in an attempted to force down the redness creeping up his face. Peter stopped moving and put his hands on his hips with a cocky grin. "See, there's nothing to be afraid of."
Just then a deafening roar came from behind him. His face went white as a sheet as he slowly turned around, his stomach dropping as he saw a massive grizzly bear about sixty feet away.
His heart thumped in fear and tears came to his eyes as he panicked. It took everything in his power to not follow his instincts and run away, but he remembered that didn't work for grizzly bears. They were faster and running only stimulated their response to chase after their prey.
"Don't. Move. A muscle," Molossia quietly instructed as he ever so slowly crept his way over to Peter. His dog began barking at the bear, but Molossia quickly waved him off.
When he was close enough, he pulled Peter behind them and stood strong between the bear and the kid, despite his own fear reaching dangerous levels.
"Ok, now, stay still. Don't move unless it turns away, and even then do it very slowly without taking your eyes off it," Molossia whispered down to Peter, who was clutching his hand and shaking violently.
"I-I-I'm sorry, I sh-should've listened t-t-to you," Peter apologized as he tucked his head into the other's sleeve.
"Well it's a little late for that now. Just calm down everything will be fine, I'm the superhero remember?" Molossia tried to comfort, which to his surprise actually worked. Peter looked up at him with eyes full of terror, so Molossia flashed him the same hero smile Alfred does, of course not as well but it did the job.
They looked back at the bear and began playing the most dangerous game of red light green light, taking tiny steps back every other minute.
Unfortunately one of them must've taken one step out of line because the bear growled then started speeding toward them.
Peter couldn't take it anymore and turned to run but Molossia grabbed him and held him in place. The bear stopped right in front of them and slammed its paws into the ground as it grunted and roared.
Spit flew out everywhere and covered Peter's face, but he was too scared to be grossed out. Molossia gripped the kid's hand tighter and stared face to face with the bear, utter terror gripping at his chest.
The bear continued roaring in their faces and circling around them, slowly decreasing their fear and raising their annoyance.
It stopped once more ahead of them and growled some more in Peter's face. He clenched his fist and stared down the massive creature, he could be brave like Alfred and Molossia too.
Startling Molossia, Peter let out a piercing war cry and struck the bear right in the snout with full force. It let out a whine and staggered back before collapsing to the ground, rubbing its sore snout with its paws.
Before Molossia could even get a word in the bear got up and snarled at Peter, only to receive another devastating blow in the same spot that sent it flopping to its side out cold.
Molossia stood with his mouth hung open, unable to even process what he had seen for a good few moments. "Did you... just knock out a grizzly bear. . . in two hits?!"
Peter looked down at his hands and shortly laughed. "Uh yeah, I did." Not even he could believe it.
They didn't have time to calm down as the bear grumbled and began getting up again. Both micronations stared at each other in horror, then back at the bear, as they simultaneously released a flurry of punches that knocked out the bear again.
Without a second to waste Molossia picked up Peter, ran to his dog and picked them up as well, then sprinted down the road as fast as his shaky legs could carry them.
Nearly five miles down the road they made it to the edge of a plain and collapsed onto the ground in a heap of adrenaline and exhaustion.
"Hey... when we meet back up with America... don't tell them about this," Molossia panted out. Peter could only nod as he curled up with the dog.
After about half an hour they were finally calmed down enough to get up, so they first got away from the road then put some distance between them and the forest.
"I think after that we deserve some lunch," Molossia said while digging in the backpack Alfred gave him.
Eating some nice food did wonders to calm their nerves further. At one point Molossia even removed his glasses just to relax a bit, and most definitely not wipe at his eyes.
He laid down on his back and watched Peter as he fed a chicken nugget to the dog, laughing and hopefully recovering from the scare earlier. That's twice he's been traumatized in the past few days, if Finland and Sweden learn of this Alfred won't hear the end of it.
Speaking of Alfred, they were beginning to wonder what he was up to. Knowing him he was probably faced with the same situation, fighting a cougar or a pack of wolves or some other crazy creature. Natalya maybe.
Natalya and Alfred slowly ate their lunches as they sat under the shade of a large tree, with a beautiful view of the sparkling river ahead of them. It couldn't be more perfect for them.
They arrived here when they came up to a small clearing in the middle of the forest and thought, this would make a great place to relax. So they did.
Natalya leaned against the tree in peaceful bliss as she ate, meanwhile Alfred was lounging around on his side doing nothing. He's been getting better at eating slow around her, but he can't get rid of his habits completely.
Looking back at her he saw she still had about half a sandwich, and was eating even slower than normal. She must really be relishing in the moment.
Eventually his boredom became too much and he was left to entertain himself. Looking back at the river, he got up and walked over to it, slipped off his shoe and dipped a toe in, stripped down to his shorts, then finally jumped in.
At first he just basked in the sun and warm water, but then came the time to actually swim around. He dived underwater and stared at the riverbed, a school of minnows speeding by to escape the large trout close behind. And there were even Arctic Graylings, they had almost vanished from the park a decade ago.
Alfred momentarily went up for air, then went back down to continue watching the fish. But a few more times of doing that he began to grow bored again.
He stared up from the river at Natalya who had finished her sandwich and was now just sitting there with her eyes closed. No way she's asleep.
"Hey, you should join me," Alfred called out to her. She opened her eyes and looked over to him. Only his face was poking out as he was treading water to talk to her.
She angrily shut her eyes and leaned deeper against the tree. "Nyet, I'm relaxing and that is where animals drink out of."
Alfred stared at her flatly. "Animals drink out of anywhere that isn't a pool, except for maybe an ocean or salt lake... wait do fish need to drink? Also, swimming is plenty relaxing."
"Maybe for you it is," she stated. Alfred looked at her for a few moments then began laughing madly. He placed his arm on the riverbank and rested his head on his hand. "Do you not know how to swim?"
Her eye started to twitch as she opened them to glare at him. "Of course I can fucking swim! Who do you take me for?!"
Alfred smiled slyly and placed his other hand under his chin. "A girl too embarrassed to prove me wrong."
She crossed her arms and hmphed. "I don't need to prove shit to you. Anyway I finished my lunch, so let's get going."
Alfred pouted but nodded as he dragged himself out. As he got to his feet and started walking toward Natalya, she stared silently at his sparkling frame, the water droplets glistening in the sun and reflecting in a way that demanded her attention.
His golden hair was now dark and dripped down his face, until he charmingly flipped the bangs away from his sparkling blue eyes, not a pair of glasses in sight.
A lone water drop was observed as it trailed down his long neck, down his broad but lightly defined pecs and along the shallow bumps of his abs, at last soaking into the waistline of his shorts. The water had suctioned them snugly to his pelvic region, creasing in ways that showed off every fine detail.
She awkwardly stared down at her twiddling thumbs, which were doubling at protection to cover the tight, tingly feeling in the lowest depths of her abdomen, and maybe even lower.
Before she knew it he was standing right next to her, though she didn't dare turn her head to the left.
"Go put on some clothes," she meekly demanded. "I'm gonnaaaa," he whined. "Just let me dry off a little bit, I didn't bring any towels."
She silently sat next to him, too shaky to move away from him. All she could do was look away and focus on calming her breathing, but even that felt hot due to the heat of the breath blowing from her nose.
There was no way she could admit it, it wasn't something her brain could comprehend. After years of being adversaries she could never imagine what she saw now. Alfred was really hot.
'Whatever, even if he is a tiny bit attractive he's still leagues below big brother,' she poorly excused.
"Are you ok Nat? Are you overheating?" Alfred asked worryingly while putting on a fresh shirt.
With a split second glance she noticed he also had a new pair of shorts on. Good thing she didn't look up a second ago.
"Um... nyet nyet I'm fine," she assured while getting to her feet, still a little weak in the knees.
"Ok, just making sure. Your face is super red," Alfred pointed out while slipping on his glasses.
He packed everything away and slung the backpack on his shoulder. "Welp let's get going then."
Natalya agreed and awkwardly followed behind him, further embarrassing herself as she didn't have the willpower not to glance down and observe his butt.
Many hours later they had finally arrived at the location, but it was also the middle of the night so they couldn't see a thing. All they were aware of were the bats and owls flying overhead, and the chorus of crickets singing throughout the land.
Alfred set a lantern down and quickly set up the tent. The two crawled inside and got under the sleeping bags, Alfred letting out a long and pleasured sigh. "I forgot how good laying down felt."
Natalya didn't react and laid with her back to him. Ever since he joked about her not being able to swim she's been extra quiet. 'Good job Alfred, you pushed her away again. Dumbass.'
'Damn right. C'mon dat was a rookie mistake," Confederacy criticized.
'Dammit I thought you were gone for now,' Alfred groaned as he flipped onto his back.
Confederacy chuckled to himself. 'Wit how divided our country is dese days? Please I couldn't leave if I wanted ta.'
'Yeah well I'm trying to enjoy vacation, so do me a favor and keep quiet,' Alfred demanded.
'Wut, so ya can be awkward wit doll face in silence?' Confederacy argued.
'Ok one, I absolutely would do that over talk to you. And two, "doll face?"' Alfred wondered in amusement.
'Why not? Ya can call her Nat, I can call her doll face. Or dolly, or just doll. Natty? sweetheart...? I'm still decidin' on a nickname.'
Alfred's heart skipped a beat but quickly calmed down. It's just a southern way of talking he didn't mean anything by it.
He looked back over at Natalya, who still hadn't moved. 'I should apologize for earlier.'
'Ya didn't even say anything dat bad. But ya do ya I guess,' Confederacy mentally shrugged.
Alfred nodded and sat up to speak with her, placing a hand on her shoulder and rubbing slowly. "Hey sweetheart I— 'oh my shit fuck!!!' He mentally screamed as he jumped away.
'You bastard! You made me think of your nicknames!' He shouted at Confederacy, who was laughing his head off.
Full of dread, he turned back to Natalya and prepared for the worst. But to his surprise she hadn't moved to attack him.
Very cautiously he got back up and crawled over her to see what was up. He looked down at her face, her eyes were closed and she was slowly breathing in and out of her slightly opened mouth. She always looks so peaceful when she sleeps.
He smiled softly and moved away to lay back down. 'That was way too close.'
It was nearly midnight now, and Molossia and his little gang had just arrived to their location. They had walked all the way to a town called Gardiner.
They passed under Roosevelt Arch and strolled through the small town. Peter looked at a sign and his jaw dropped. "Montana?!"
Molossia only nodded as he led the other two to a large hotel. Once inside, he bought a large room and walked with Peter there while spinning the room key around his finger.
He purposely acted slow in opening the door to build suspense. Revealing the massive bed and TV inside, the two jumped for joy and ran to dive onto it.
"A separate bathroom? I am sooo taking a hot shower in that," Molossia thought about in pure elation.
"How did you even pay for this room anyway?" Peter wondered as he removed his head from the bed's soft pillow.
Molossia shoved his hand in his pocket and pulled out a plastic card. It was Alfred's debit card.
Peter's eyed sparkled as he jumped up on the bed. "I'm calling room service for dinner!"
Molossia smiled and handed him the card. "You do that. Tonight, we live like kings."