Chapter 8
Hunter was sitting with Malika and Lance at the table for lunch while Balan was in the kitchen, cooking lunch. The Maestro of Positivity had politely declined having help in the kitchen, but made hot chocolate for the three of them, which they were enjoying immensely. "Did you have fun in Iben's world, Hunter?" Lance asked.
"Yeah, I did," the young man said. "Next time I come visit, is it okay if I bring my friends to enjoy the worlds here too?"
"Of course you can," Malika said, smiling as Lance nodded.
Just then, someone burst into the kitchen, looking out of breath and tears in their eyes. All three turned to see it was a young girl with purple hair. Lance looked concerned. "Yuri? What happened?" He asked.
The girl looked up at them, tears now falling down her face. Malika stood up and caught the young girl as she ran towards them and Yuri hugged the Maestro of Reassurance tightly. "What's wrong, Yuri?" She asked gently, sitting down with the child in her lap.
The child managed to calm down a little and took a deep breath before speaking. "I'm...I'm trying to find a certain species of butterfly," she said. "A red one."
"How is that search going?" Lance asked.
"I was looking for one at the gardens near the school and these mean kids pushed me out of the way, saying I can't go into the gardens. I told them I'm looking for a red butterfly, to which they told me there were no more of them. They had caught them all. One girl said to me 'That means we get the prize and you don't!' I asked the person in charge of the gardens and he confirmed that all the red butterflies had been captured by those same students."
"What prize are they talking about?" Hunter asked.
"The teacher has those neat patches of different-colored butterflies," the young girl said. "The teacher said that whoever gets every color of the patches will get a prize. I have all the colors except for red."
"How did you get those patches?" Lance asked curiously.
"By doing various school projects or something good for the community," Yuri explained. "Helping to clean up trash at the parks, delivering flowers to the elderly, and other stuff. Since the whole class is only missing the red butterfly, the teacher said our task was to capture a red butterfly and bring it to class tomorrow. But now that those bullies have caught them all, some of us won't get the red butterfly badge."
Malika fell into thought before smiling. "Yuri, your world is full of bugs of all kinds, right?" She asked. "Butterflies included, yes?"
The child nodded. "Yes, but...I'm not sure I've ever seen a red butterfly there," she said.
"You have a world here too?" Hunter asked.
Yuri nodded. "World 3," she said.
"How about I help you look for a red butterfly?" He offered.
"There may be some there already, or you can at least find a cocoon that is nearly ready for a butterfly to hatch," Lance said, smiling.
Yuri perked up. "I actually know of one cocoon hatching today!" She said. "I just need to find it."
"I'll help you look for it then," Hunter said. "The cocoon can be our backup plan in case we can't find a red butterfly."
The young girl looked up at him. "You really mean it?" She asked. "You'll help me?"
He nodded. "You bet," he said.
"Why don't we all have lunch first before you two go running off to World 3?" Malika suggested.
Right on cue, Balan opened the doors to the kitchen and his clones walked out with a plate of delicious steaks, mashed potatoes, mixed vegetables, and biscuits. "Ah, I thought I heard your voice, Yuri," he said with a smile.
"Balan!" She said happily as Malika set her down and the young girl ran up to the Maestro of Positivity, who scooped her up in a hug and spun her around, making her laugh.
"Come eat with us, my dear," the tall Maestro said, setting Yuri down in a chair beside Hunter. "One can't start an adventure without some food."
Lance was serving everyone as Balan spoke and soon, everyone was digging into the delicious food. Yuri began to feel better, which they noticed. "Yuri, does your teacher know that you left school?" Malika asked gently.
"It was half a day today at school," the child replied.
"Oh, good," the Maestro of Reassurance said in relief. "I was worried you might be missing out on your assignments."
Yuri smiled. "The teacher decided it would be half a day so that we had time to go find a red butterfly," she explained. "She kind of sprung it on us, to be honest."
"A notification of the half a day would have been nice," Lance said, shaking his head. "It would have prevented the bullying incident."
"It's okay, Lance," the child said. "I'm going to find a red butterfly and prove those bullies wrong."
Hunter nodded. "Best way to beat a bully is to do the opposite of what they expect you to do," he said. "Miss Camilla taught me and the others that."
"And she's right," Balan said with a smile.
After lunch, Yuri led Hunter and Moon Walker to her world's door. "Welcome," she said, opening the door and letting them come in.
Hunter was in awe at seeing the colorful world and paused. "Wow," he said. "It's like being in the bugs' world literally."
Moon Walker chuckled. "That's the best way to describe it," he said.
Sickle Slingers waved to them while Dusk Butterflies flew around. One stopped by Yuri and grinned. "There's some new butterflies around here, Yuri," the costume said. "I saw some red ones earlier."
"That's what we're looking for," Yuri said.
"Where were they?" Hunter asked.
"Over there, by the honey bees," the Dusk Butterfly said. "Good luck."
Moon Walker smiled and tapped on a nearby blue cube. "Let's take the night way," he said.
Hunter's jaw dropped at seeing the world at the night time setting and they moved down the path, soon finding the honey bees that buzzed happily nearby. There was even a butterfly bush a few feet away and there was a red butterfly sitting on a flower, drinking the nectar happily.
Hunter spotted it first and moved carefully forward. He remembered how Camilla had said you had to handle some animals very carefully and with bugs, you had to be even gentler. She had demonstrated with a ladybug one day and the young man had even carefully handled it as she had demonstrated.
He carefully reached forward, coaxing the butterfly to climb onto his hand. The red butterfly did so and he carefully moved his other hand to cup around it, not touching its wings, but protecting it and keeping it from flying away.
Moon Walker smiled as he saw this and tapped Yuri's shoulder. "I think Hunter caught one for you," he said.
She turned and upon seeing that the young man did indeed have a red butterfly, she gasped happily and he smiled. "Where can we put this one so that you can take it to school tomorrow?" He asked.
Yuri went and got a bug tank that was large, but she could still carry it. Carefully, she put in things for the butterfly and even put a branch in the container so that the butterfly could rest on it. When it was ready, Hunter carefully placed the butterfly inside and Yuri placed a well-ventilated lid on it. "Thank you, Hunter," she said.
"You're welcome," he said. "I bet those bullies' jaws will drop."
The next day, Yuri came back to the theater after school and she smiled brightly, first going to her world to release the red butterfly from the bug tank and then she went to find Hunter, who was feeding the Tims and chuckling as the baby Tims nuzzled his neck. "Hunter!" Yuri called out happily, running towards him.
He turned just in time for her to hug-tackle him off the stone wall he was sitting on. "OOMPH!" He exclaimed in surprise as he caught her and they landed on a large Tim, sliding down the Tim's side and to the ground. Yuri giggled at this and Hunter chuckled, poking the girl's sides playfully. "That was sneaky," he said without heat.
The girl laughed as she squirmed to get away and he let her escape, both standing up and Yuri hugged him. "Hunter, guess what?" She said with a smile.
"Hmm. Balan's standing on his head?" He asked jokingly.
"No!" Yuri giggled.
"Lance braided all his tendrils?"
The young girl laughed at that one. "Better hope he didn't hear you say that," she said through her laughter.
Hunter chuckled. "Okay, let's see. Malika drenched herself in rainbow paint?"
Yuri laughed so hard that she almost fell over. "No, silly!" She laughed out.
He smiled. "Okay, I give up," he said in amusement. "What is it?"
She grinned and pulled out the red butterfly badge. "I got it!" She said happily.
"That's awesome!" He cheered and she giggled. After a bit, she handed the patch to him.
"I want you to have it, Hunter," she said. "As a thank you for helping me."
He blinked. "Are you sure, Yuri?" He asked. "You really worked hard to get this one for your collection."
She smiled and opened her bag, pulling out another red butterfly patch. "The teacher found out what happened from the person in charge of the gardens and she made those bullies put the red butterflies back and then told them that because they had not been considerate to the rest of the class, they would instead be doing a handwritten essay on butterfly topics. She handed those assignments to them today and the students that didn't get to capture a red butterfly were allowed to go do so. I told my teacher I had borrowed my red butterfly from a friend and that another friend had helped me find it and she said that was fine. I asked if it was okay if I gave my red butterfly patch to my friend who helped me and my teacher said that was okay too. She gave me two of them then, saying that both you and I deserved them."
He smiled. "Thanks, Yuri," he said, hugging her back when she hugged him. "I was happy to help though. Wish I could have seen the bullies' faces when your teacher scolded them."
The young girl giggled. "Yeah," she said. "They were not happy."
Hunter then headed back to the main theater, seeing Malika, Lance, and Balan up ahead. They smiled at him as he approached.
"Drenched myself in rainbow paint, huh?" The Maestro of Reassurance asked with a smile.
"Standing on my head, was it?" The Maestro of Positivity asked, a gleam in his eye.
"Braided all my tendrils, eh?" The Maestro of Negativity said, smirking.
Seeing all three give him playful looks, Hunter looked a bit nervous. "Um, for the record, I was only trying to make Yuri laugh," he said as he began backing away.
Malika vanished and reappeared behind him, giving Hunter's ribs a gentle, but playful poke, making him jump and squeak in surprise. Balan suddenly scooped him up and tossed him playfully up into the air, making the young man yelp in surprise before Lance caught him and a couple tendrils tickled his neck and ears, making him scrunch his shoulders up to his ears, laughter escaping him before he was gently set back down on his feet.
"We know, Hunter," Balan said, chuckling as he ruffled the young man's hair gently with one hand.
"We're not upset," Lance said, giving Hunter's right shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"We were just messing with you," Malika said reassuringly before she hugged him. "You're doing really well on this quest."
"I agree with my daughter," Balan said, smiling.
Midnight and Stardust came up to them. "Man, my sister and I have been hearing nothing but glowing praises about you, Hunter," the latter said.
"Speaking gently to a Negati, helping many of our friends, and just recently helping Yuri get a good grade on her school project," his sister said, smiling.
Hunter blushed a bit. "It's really nothing," he said modestly. "I like helping out."
Stardust smiled and placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "I bet your friends are very proud of you," he said.
"And they're cheering you on," Midnight said. "Just as we are."
The young man smiled before looking a bit unsure. "Do you think...Flapjack would be proud of me too?" He asked.
"Yes," Lance said with a nod. "He saw the good in you back then when you first met him. We can see it as well."
"You're nearly there to being reunited with him, Hunter," Balan said. "Just a few more people need your help now."
"You can do it, Hunter," Malika said, her voice sure.
"You've come a long way," Stardust said.
"And we can see you're becoming the person you want to be," Midnight said.
The young man smiled, feeling better at their encouraging words. "I can't give up now," he said. "I won't give up."
The three Maestros and two costumes smiled proudly at him while in another room nearby, something smooth and round began to glow a bit brighter.
Hunter really has done well. Next up, Hunter helps Cass in World 6. :)
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