Chapter 17- in a mysterious room, some new friends and an attempted escape
Malachite stood in a dark forest surrounded by trees. Around her, several flakes of white drifted gently like feathers towards the ground. They were like blossom petals but they were cold. Then opposite her, a form appeared. It was fox-shaped but instead of a single tail as in Regular Talking Foxes such as Mr Fox, an important helper for the Pevensies before they became Monarchs, this fox form had several tails and those tails writhed and swished at the air like long locks of hair. Then a familiar voice spoke. It was her grandfather Kushanku's voice and it replayed from a lesson from her grandfather about the Noble Magical Foxes.
"Kitsune are noble creatures, formed by the Great Lion from Ordinary Talking Foxes. As they age, their wisdom and magical abilities grow. They start out with just one tail but when they reach 200 years; their number of tails starts to increase. So by 200 years, they have two tails and they gain an additional tail every 100 years until they reach 900. By the time a Kitsune reaches that massive age, they gain their ninth and final tail and transform from red Foxes into a majestic Fox with a shining ivory and metallic yellow coat Kitsune are often famous for, though some subspecies instead develop a shining white and silver coat. Such Kitsune are called the Kumiho and they have a different set of abilities to the common Kitsune. Once a Kitsune reaches this form, they are deemed mature and their abilities are most powerful. However, a 900-year-old Kitsune's wisdom and power NEVER exceeds that of the Great Lion, Aslan."
Malachite continued to gaze at the Fox form as it morphed into a shape of a Nine-Tailed Kitsune with gleaming yellow and metallic yellow fur, its shining nine tails swishing at the air. She then turned and saw an image of Kushanku as he continued to explain to her. Then his face turned dark.
"Kitsune are very intelligent, cunning and wise Talking Beasts. Based on this, they are suited to a variety of roles, such as Chroniclers, the first of which were Gandalf and his wife Seresute which were the parents of ALL the Kitsune species, and tactical analysis and planning in a battle. However, some Kitsune have abandoned following Aslan to follow Jadis the White Witch instead. The White Witch trained those individuals in the forbidden dark arts, some of which included shapeshifting and illusion casting. Such Kitsune became Nogitsune, and these individuals stained the reputation of their species and soured the relationship between them and other species, including humans, some of who began to view Kitsune as malevolent tricksters and troublemakers. Some Nogitsune took the form of seductive men and women and lured real humans down a debauched path. Some of those victims were some of the Kings and Queens before the Eternal Winter. One of the Kings was the last King before Jadis' reign over our country with a diamond-ice fist soaked with the blood of countless Narnians, among them your great-grandparents Ferntail and Frosty, and adoptive Cheetah brother, Gingerfur. Since Jadis successfully took over Narnia and made it her own dominion, the Nogitsune set out to carry out their Mistress' beyond-evil deeds. Two notable Nogitsune are Belladonna, the one who discovered our base built by Gandalf and his team by feigning injury and deceived us into taking her in, and Amanita who willingly allowed the White Witch to transform her into a mockery of the Nine-Tailed form..."
The Fox form before Malachite then faded and became replaced with a purple-black multi-tailed form reminiscent of the description of a certain Nogitsune given to her and her pupils by her grandfather during their lesson. Malachite gazed in horrified awe at the form when suddenly...
"Malachite! Malachite, wake up!"
In the real world, Malachite was jolted awake by the calling of a familiar voice. As the neon green and dark green striped Nekomata kit's eyes shot open, they spotted several familiar forms gazing at her in concern. Several faces were Nekomata, like her, while one was of a Terror Bird, another was of a young Cheetah, and two another, a young Pegasus and a Kirin. Malachite then sat bolt upright and eyed her companions, among them her second cousins Seishan and Elsa, Lymphocyte the Terror Bird, Rainbow Quartz the Pegasus, Sisu the Kirin, and Yardang the Cheetah cub and part of her extended adopted Cheetah family.
"Wh-wh-where are we?" asked the green striped Nekomata in confusion. She then began to examine the room the group was in. To her surprise, it was like a large dormitory room. A number of bunk beds and nests were placed in a neat arrangement with gaps, which served as walkways, in between them, and there appeared to be a number of other creatures present. A break in the bunk bed and nest pattern formed a clearing and in that clearing appeared to be a play area filled with toys and soft objects which appeared to be some type of bean bags and soft seats. There were several creatures there, playing with the toys or resting on the soft objects. Then in response to Malachite's question, Yardang spoke.
"I-I-I don't know, adoptive cousin," the young Cheetah cub said, his eyes examining the large dormitory room, "I don't know how we ended up here."
"The last thing I can remember is us being on a beach," said Seishan.
"And from there on, we were plunged into darkness," said Elsa. Malachite stared at her second cousins. This was UTTERLY confusing indeed. However, she wanted to be reunited with her relatives, especially her mother Miidori and grandparents Kushanku and Alexandrite. Then a bubble of hope formed within Sisu as she also examined the dormitory.
"Well, I believe we have been rescued from our kidnappers," the young Kiriness said, "At least we're not in the clutches of those hideous beasts and their hideous carriages looking like cursed pumpkins anymore."
"Yeah, but the question is, where are we?" asked Rainbow Quartz dully.
"This room is totally unfamiliar," put in Lymphocyte. Then the young Terror Bird stood up. "I'm gonna have a look around to further take in this room," and with that, he walked off to explore. As he left, several Jackalope kits, some of Leon's siblings, arrived. Most of them bore relieved and delighted looks on their faces.
"At least we will be safe here," said one of the males.
"Just look at this place," said another, a female, her eyes sparkling as she took in the dormitory-like room including the beds, nests and the play area, "It's like our boarding schools back where we live."
"There are even a number of other young Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures," put in another male as he eyed a number of unfamiliar youngsters scattered throughout the dormitory, some concentrated in the playing area, "At least we can make some new friends."
"I suppose this room is like a place for rescued youngsters who have been kidnapped?" asked Seishan. Then shudders travelled down her twin sister Elsa's spine.
"Phew, those minions of that White Witch, or the survivors of them, sure were HORRIBLE!" she muttered in a shaky voice, "Especially those ugly Hags and those hideous Mouse things with long thin tails ending in a spike. I'm gonna have nightmares for days, I think."
The others including Malachite nodded in agreement. However, a few of them, again including Malachite, felt regret sweep over them. although this room appeared safe and they seemed to have been rescued from those minions who took them to the beach for transport into the ocean, they deeply regretted disobeying their elders' commands to stay in the school, and some of the Jackalope Kits particularly worried for their older brother, Leon, who had been injured by one of the Stinger-Rats, described by Elsa as 'Hideous Mouse things with long thin tails ending in a spike', during the skirmish which eventually ended in many of them being whisked away. Rainbow Quartz then shuddered.
"Our elders, especially Mr Kushanku and Grandma Milky Way are gonna KILL us when they find us," the young Pegasus foal with rainbow coloured wings and white coat, mane and tail groaned. Then Yardang calmly lay down on his back and placed his front paws behind his head indifferently.
"I'm sure they won't, Rainbow," the young Cheetah said with assurance, "They'll be looking for us 'cos they care about us. They're not just gonna forget about us and move on, are they?"
"Why would they do that?" spluttered Sisu in revulsion to such a thought.
"Yeah, Yardang, our elders, especially our parents and Grandpa Kushanku and Grandma Alexandrite would NEVER do that with us," added Malachite. Yardang formed a wide smile and nodded in agreement to this. Just then, a young Terror Bird returned. He had found someone else and had decided to bring them to meet the group.
"Hey, guys, check these folks out," said Lymphocyte with an excited smile, the first one he had formed since his kidnap, "I believe some of these guys could be your relatives who live somewhere else in our country."
Malachite and company gazed at the newcomers and to their surprise, especially Sisu, this little group were descendants of some of their family friends, among them Molayne the dog and Snowwing the Skvader, a Rabbit-like creature that had the feathered wings and tail of a Grouse. Familiarity then swept through Malachite's group as they identified them. They had met these individuals before when they were younger and sometimes joined Kushanku's history lessons including the creation of Narnia.
"Kosmochlor?" asked Sisu as she gazed at one of them who was a young Kirin like her. This Kirin was a male and was just Sisu's age. He was more muscular in build and unlike Sisu who was metallic aqua blue, green and blue-white; his scales were bright green fading to darker green towards his hooves. Spots of black were scattered throughout his green scaly hide but his mane, tail and horn which was longer than Sisu's due to sexual difference, were jet black. He was one of the grandchildren of Azula the Kiriness who had been one of Alexandrite's adopted family members and a family friend of Kushanku. As the male green and black Kirin identified Sisu, an explosive cry of joy exploded from his draconic mouth and he nuzzled his head excitedly against Sisu's.
"SISU, cousin!" he cried, "I haven't seen you in a LONG TIME!"
"The last time we saw each other was when we were VERY young," said Sisu as she nuzzled her cousin back. Malachite and company looked on with smiles on their faces.
"I remember Grandpa Kushanku telling us that Kosmochlor's herd broke away from Sisu's herd to live somewhere else for Kosmochlor's father had a job in that area," said Seishan as she watched the reunion, "And since then, we have not seen him or his family due to how busy they were."
Then two more of the familiar newcomers stepped forward. One was a female Skvader, or Skvader Doe, who bore snow white fur and Grouse's wing and tail feathers. Her grandfather Snowwing had been completely white but unlike him, this Skvader Doe had an additional back marking. One long brown stripe ran down the length of her back to the base of her tail and two more stripes broke off from the main one and down her shoulders and arms and she appeared to wear some sort of pouch around her midsection. This pouch was reminiscent of the bum bags Malachite and company had sometimes seen their human friends wear, but certain Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures wore a variant of that bag as well when they wanted to carry some supplies on journeys. However, the Talking Animals did not call this bag a bum bag. Their names for this pouch were belt satchel, rump bag or belt pocket, but the way this pouch was worn was just the same as a human's bum bag.The other newcomer was grey Dog. She was one of Molayne the Dog's descendants and had grey fur, much like her ancestor, and a white underbelly. These two were also glad to see Malachite and company but the Skvader wore a sour look. Then Malachite and company came forward and began to take turns in hugging or nuzzling the pair.
"It's great to see you again, Laminin and Emori," said Rainbow Quartz as she nuzzled the Dog, Emori.
"Look how much you've grown the last time we saw you," said Emori in fascination as she examined Rainbow Quartz's change of size, "And I certainly do admire your rainbow-coloured wings."
Rainbow Quartz flashed a proud look at her glistening wings of colour, flapped them a bit and smiled. Then she saw the sour look on the face of the Skvader Doe named Laminin after she had shaken paws with Seishan and Elsa in greeting.
"What's wrong with her?" asked the rainbow-winged Pegasus. Then a green and black Kirin came in with his cousin who also wore the same curious look at the Skvader's sour face.
"Laminin has always been like that since we were brought here," explained Kosmochlor, "I don't know precisely why but..."
"She had been rescued and brought here with her pet Spitfire Bird, Scoville, when they were kidnapped by some ugly minions of the White Witch," said Emori.
"Scoville?" asked Malachite.
"Spitfire Bird?" added Lymphocyte.
"Laminin's Skvader clan have become specialist Dumb Flutterbird trainers for use in combat and for gathering food," explained Kosmochlor, "But the most difficult Flutterbird species to train is the Spitfire Bird. Those Flutterbirds are known for shooting a boiling concoction of acidic liquid out of their noses at threats and predators, that liquid causing a nasty burning sensation if it hits the skin and especially the eyes," the green and black Kirin's gaze turned back to Laminin as she began to call for a certain pet, "Thus training them is strictly reserved for the experts of the clan but Laminin over there has done an excellent job in raising such a difficult-to-train Flutterbird. In fact, she has raised Scoville from a chick she had found in an abandoned nest when she was a very young Kit."
"Can Scoville shoot those boiling acid jets?" asked Malachite, "Has she trained him to do that yet?"
Then Emori nodded to the pouch worn around the Skvader's midsection. "You see that belt satchel Laminin has around her waist?"
Malachite, Lymphocyte, Rainbow Quartz and Sisu saw the brown bag around Laminin's midsection as she continued to call for her pet.
"That satchel contains a species of flower that is the source of a Spitfire Bird's deadly weapon," said Kosmochlor, "It's the Spitfire Flower and it contains the two ingredients required to make the acid spray."
"The Spitfire Flower has separate 'male' and 'female' flowers, don't they?" asked Sisu, "I read about it in a book and those separate 'sex' flowers contain the separate ingredients, so the Spitfire Bird has to collect those ingredients from BOTH of those flowers."
"That's correct," said Kosmochlor. Then Sisu looked ahead and saw a strange looking equine creature. This Equine was not like any Equine Sisu and company had seen and Malachite thought that the Equine was a Talking Zebra but then she noticed some substantial differences that ruled out a Talking Zebra. Unlike a Talking Zebra and its dumb counterpart which had solid black and white stripes, this Equine's stripes were only partial and were silver and white against a black coat canvas and it had a horn in the centre of its forehead, coloured silver and black, implying a Unicorn. Sisu and company blinked. How was this individual a Unicorn? Unicorns did not sport stripes though certain individuals such as Tesseract had markings with said Unicorn having strange square-like marks on his side. However, this striped Unicorn was a descendant of that Unicorn. Emori then began to explain.
"That Talking Equine over there is Hypersthene," said the young Dog, "She is half Talking Zebra and half Unicorn."
"Half Talking Zebra?" asked Seishan and Elsa confused.
"Yes," said Kosmochlor, "Her mother was a Unicorn and her father, a Talking Zebra. Mrs Sparkle, one of Mr Tesseract's younger daughters, had married a Talking Zebra Stallion and Hypersthene is their daughter."
Sisu and company, especially Malachite, Seishan and Elsa, gazed at the Unicorn-Zebra hybrid, Hypersthene as she talked with Laminin in fascination. However, they soon remembered that they had some hybrids in their family as well. Their uncle Neelix and aunt Fleur were half-Nekomata and half-Bakeneko and Puss in Boots, one of the Pevensie Monarch Quartet's messengers, had some Bakeneko blood in his veins and ancestry though he was mostly Talking Cat, and Amethyst was half-Talking Cat and half-Nekomata due to her mother Kagayaku being the former and Nyarth, the oldest brother of Kushanku, the latter. There were also several members of the extended family and friends who were hybrids, among them several descendants of Crystal the Talking Scarlet Macaw who were hybrids of Talking Blue-and Gold Macaws and Hyacinth Macaws, and Lymphocyte's Terror Bird clan knew a Liger from a pride of Talking Lions (who called Aslan the Lion above ALL Lions) whose mother was a Tiger, or Tigress and a father, a Lion. However, it was rare for Regular Talking Beasts to produce offspring with Magical Talking Beasts, so the Unicorn-Zebra hybrid Hypersthene was very rare. Even part Talking Cat Nekomata and Bakeneko and Bakomata (Nekomata/Bakeneko hybrids) were more common. Then a small vivid yellow and red bird darted out from behind one of the beds and fluttered over to the Skvader and perched on her paw and Malachite and company deduced this must be Laminin's pet Spitfire Bird Scoville. Then after Laminin had managed to find her pet and leave, the Unicorn-Zebra hybrid walked towards the group.
"Scoville gets up to mischief sometimes," said the unusual Mare with an amused look and a headshake as she watched the Skvader leave with her pet, "Laminin actually got punished by the keepers of this place for allowing her Spitfire Bird to fly about the room and cause trouble, once flying into the face of a keeper and making him fall over..."
"Place?" repeated Malachite in confusion.
"What place?" asked Sisu while the others exchanged confused looks. Then the Mare, Hypersthene, turned to explain, albeit reluctantly. "We are in a refuge place in the Eastern Ocean. We have been rescued from various kidnappers, among them the boatmen who were allied with those kidnappers on the mainland, and brought here."
Malachite, Seishan, Elsa, Sisu, Rainbow Quartz, Lymphocyte and Yardang exchanged looks before the last one, the Cheetah cub, began to examine the large dormitory room once more, picking out a wide diversity of young Talking Beasts, many of them still kids.
"Funny," said the first one, Malachite, "I remember us getting kidnapped by some minions and then handed over to some more minions in those boats o be taken out to sea."
"They were probably going to take you to somewhere sinister out here," said Kosmochlor, "But thankfully, you have been rescued and brought here."
"We're safe here, anyway," said Emori before the Dog's gaze rested on some of the Jackalopes part of Malachite's group as they introduced themselves to some of the new Talking Beasts, among them a young Panda cub and a Koala cub who came from other clans in Narnia. Then Malachite and company noticed what appeared to be a large tank in the wall through some of the bunk beds. In that tank was several familiar forms Malachite and company recognised as sea creatures but like the land Talking Beasts, they were Sea Talking Beasts, most of them young. One appeared to be a Dolphin Calf and several, young Plesiosaurs. Emori nodded to the tank. "Those Sea Beasts have been rescued too. They have also been kidnapped from their homes but had been rescued and brought here."
"So those surviving minions of the White Witch have been intruding into their homes out at sea as well?" asked Lymphocyte.
"According to Cetus, one of the Orca in there," said Kosmochlor with a nod to a female black and white Dolphin in the tank as she talked with some Otters, their paws pressed against the glass, "They had been lured away by some of the boatmen similar to the ones that took you out to sea, captured like non-talking fish and brought here. There are even several Merkids, young Fish Sea-People and a young Ichthyo-Centaur in there."
Malachite and company looked harder and saw one or two young Humanoids with fishtails in place of legs swim by. They remembered that Merfolk and Sea-Fish People had two forms. For the former, it was the aquatic tailed form and the land legged form such that they resembled Humans. The latter, however, had an aquatic Humanoid Fish form, rather like Gillmen, a species mostly native to the Northern Marshlands but had long tails ending in a caudal fin, were brightly coloured and had 'hair-fins' on their heads, and when on land, they took on human form, a complete full-body transformation. The transition between their land and aquatic forms was painless for the Sea Fish-People but for Merfolk, it was EXTREMELY painful. Then a strange Humanoid swam past. At first, Malachite and company thought it was another male Merkid, or Merboy but then they noticed that the Human-like part of the creature was at right angles to the Fish's body, like in a land Centaur and unlike in a Merman. Further, the Fish's body was part Horse, but only the Horse's front legs were present. The hind part of the Horse's body was replaced by the fishtail complete with a caudal fin and several other fins.
Like their land counterparts, Ichthyo-Centaurs were noble creatures and had an average lifespan of 200 Narnian years. Many were talented stargazers and some were experts in medical care. Ichthyo-Centaurs can be ridden but it was considered EXTREMELY disrespectful to ride one without special permission or if an aquatic Talking Beast or Magical Creature is too injured to swim on their own. Ichthyo-Centaurs also had a wider diversity of hair, Horse fur and fish scale colour, but their skin palette was the same range as their land counterparts. This young Ichthyo-Centaur had fairly tanned skin and his hair, Horse's fur and fishtail were various shades of blue. His hair was aqua blue fading to darker blue towards the tips with some of the hair emanating and trailing behind the boy like long, thin tentacles. His Horse and Fish body were also aqua blue with the fish scales and fins being metallic and the fins, a darker blue. The Ichthyo-Centaur's hooves were jet black like Hypersthene's base fur colour and the kid sported Centaur-like ears. His hands were webbed and his arms sported smaller blue fins on them, possibly to provide additional forward thrust while swimming. The Ichthyo-Centaur kid did not look happy and every time he swam past, he always shot a sour glare through the glass at the room.
"He does not look very happy," said Malachite when she saw this.
"Cubozoa, which is that Ichthyo-Centaur's name, is a very free-spirited sea kid," said Emori, "The same thing applies to the Orca and a Mosasaur in there. They don't want to be here at all and want to be out of this place despite it being a safe refuge."
"So, how did you guys end up kidnapped and brought here?" asked Seishan.
"Were you lot kidnapped too?" asked Elsa. The others came round to listen to the backstories of their new friends, Sisu itching to hear of her cousin Kosmochlor's story. Then Hypersthene went first.
"I live with my Unicorn herd with my Unicorn mother and Zebra father who had chosen to move in with the Unicorns from his Talking Zebra herd after marrying Mother," the Unicorn-Talking Zebra hybrid began, "though he sometimes visited his own herd from time to time. My maternal uncle is a member of the Kings and Queens' officials. Anyway, I was playing with my full-blooded Unicorn cousins in a clearing near the Unicorn herd when we saw something unusual in the nearby thicket. We went into the thicket to investigate it when we were suddenly ambushed by a group of Squeezers, Neko-Cabbits, a Wendigo and an evil Lightning Pika which is like a usual Lightning Pika but is evil with red and black eyes and scythe-shaped tails. They forced something down our throats and knocked us out. I don't know what they force-fed us but I believe it was some sort of sleeping potion..."
"I reckon your herd must have noticed you missing and possibly even chased your kidnappers down," said Malachite.
"I have no idea," said Hypersthene, "We had been out cold all this time. My cousins are somewhere around here but I don't know where," she then began to examine the room to catch any glimpse of sparkling white until, "Oh, there they are, in the play area."
Malachite and the others followed the half Unicorn, half Zebra's gaze and picked out some magnificent foals with short spikes on their heads as they played with what appeared to be building blocks and dolls. Hypersthene then resumed her story.
"Anyway, continuing, we remained knocked out until we woke up in here. And when we woke up, believe me; we had been UTTERLY confused, just as you would have been when you woke up here..."
"You had been told that you are in a safe place and will stay here until our elders are contacted?" asked Sisu. Hypersthene nodded before turning to gaze at her full Unicorn cousins in the play area once again. "My cousins over there are hopeful that we will be returned to our herds and groups on the mainland. So am I and I hope to be reunited with my Unicorn mother and Zebra father soon..." a sigh then escaped the hybrid Equine's mouth and she lowered her head sadly. The others looked on with sympathy. Then Kosmochlor began to explain how he ended up here.
"The ending of my story is just the same as Hypersthene's and the rest of the Talking Beasts here, but my kidnapper had been a Slender-Man, those hideous faceless creatures with lanky limbs and tentacles who pose as trees. My herd had been asleep when that creature caught me but I had been restless. I left my mother's side into a forest upon seeing something lurking in the dark trees..."
"That sounds like our story," said Hypersthene, "We were caught in a forest."
"And when I entered the forest, I was ambushed by this Slender-Man and it strangled me into unconsciousness with its tentacles, an evil trick I had been told by my elders that they often employed during the Age of Winter to attack their victims," continued Kosmochlor, "from then on until here, I was out cold," the green and black Kirin youngster and Sisu's cousin then turned his head to one side and put on a sceptical look, "But I do have one fuzzy memory, I believe, of being in a gently rocking container... like in a boat on a lake..."
"You were probably being carried out to sea along with the other kidnapped victims," said Lymphocyte, "We have clear memories of being handed over to some ferryman before we were knocked out cold."
However, Kosmochlor gazed at the young Terror Bird. "It wasn't just in some kind of boat. I seem to have a fuzzy memory of some form... floating in some... sparkling azure fluid..."
"Could you have woken up briefly while you were being carried out to sea, cousin?" asked Sisu. Kosmochlor replied with silence, unsure of how to answer this. Then Emori began to tell her story.
"Me and my pack of Dogs were on an outing when I got separated. Sometime later, I was captured by a Siren-Head who mimicked my mother's voice and I went through the same black forest until I woke up here. I had met the leader of our rescuers, a pink creature who resembles a spider with dark pink limbs and shoes on her feet, a doll-like face and fuchsia pink curly hair but has a gentle nature and she told me that I had been rescued from the Siren-Head who had taken me out to sea in a boat and brought here for my safety, and will be reunited with my pack later..."
"Siren-Heads," grumbled Seishan distastefully, "Hideous trumpet-mouthed creatures they are, especially in their mimicry of sounds and voices."
"Grandpa Kushanku told us how they can use their mimicry tricks to lure in victims and then seize and eat them," said Elsa in a slightly shuddery voice at the creatures' frightening tactics.
"They, along with the Mimicbirds, were part of the Witch's recording spies during the Age of Winter, didn't you know," said Hypersthene, "And were excellent in picking up conversations of the oppressed and passing it to the White Witch and her spies' ears. Is it any wonder that most of our elders who lived during the Age of Winter feared talking about Aslan or the Golden Age Prophecy?"
The others nodded in agreement before Rainbow Quartz gazed at many of the other Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures.
"Were those lost kidnapped and rescued as well?" asked the colourful-winged Pegasus.
"Yes, though some landed themselves in trouble when they wandered away from their groups out of rebellion," said Emori, "Two such are Red Panda twins Rei and Akari from their Red Panda clan. They had been captured by some Blue Mice and Wendigoes and like the rest of us, taken out to sea but rescued and brought here."
"That pair of Red Pandas are still landing in trouble here," said Kosmochlor, "they are always leaving this room without our carers' permission. Arezu the Kangaroo, Laminin and her pet Spitfire Bird Scoville, and that Ichthyo-Centaur Cubozoa are also rebellious and have tried to leave here several times. The lead keeper of this place and that pink Spider-Humanoid Emori described, Dolores, has punished those four each times, one form being solitary confinement in a room with bland, white walls and no toys for several hours, or a spanking with a stick and in Laminin's case, the confiscation of her pet to her distress. However, she has also bestowed upon them worse punishments."
"However, they are STILL stubborn and disobedient," said Hypersthene with a frown on her face, "And they refuse to even play with the rest of us. I mean our carers led by Dolores have done an EXCELLENT job in rescuing us from our kidnappers so..."
Suddenly, a call and a clap cried out from near a door, interrupting Hypersthene's sentence. All the youngsters turned and saw a yellow furry figure enter the room and call for everyone to come to it. A mild stampede of various types of feet flooded the air as countless Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures of various types, the majority of them youngsters, left the beds and nests and the playing area and crowded around the figure. The only Talking Beasts that weren't in the stampede were the Aquatic individuals in the tank and they just simply swam to the glass screen to gaze at the yellow figure who resembled a teddy bear with long limbs and a cute face. Hypersthene gazed at Malachite and company and smiled.
"Well, looks like one of the keepers of this place wants to tell us something," said the young half Unicorn, half Zebra Mare and with that, she trotted off to join the crowd. Malachite, Seishan, Elsa, Yardang, Sisu, Lymphocyte and Rainbow Quartz exchanged curious looks with the others with them, among them the Jackalopes and Leon's siblings and left after Hypersthene with Kosmochlor and Emori close behind. However, none of the members of the crowd had noticed a certain chimeric Magical Creature from the tank climb out of that water box and then creep away.
Once the crowd had settled before the lanky-limbed Teddy Bear figure with yellow fur, that figure smiled and opened up its speech.
"Thanks for gathering around me for my announcement, children," it said in a male voice, implying the figure was a male, before his gaze turned briefly to the Aquatic creatures in the water tank, "And I hope those in the water tank can hear me too. As you will know, you're probably confused as to where you are..."
As the yellow Teddy Bear creature spoke, the chimeric Magical Creature which had the head and upper body of a Human, the front part and legs of a Horse, and a fishtail, the hair, Horse parts and its scales and fins various shades of blue, begin to creep towards the open door behind the yellow Teddy Bear as he continued. "But that's okay. You lot have been rescued from the minions of the White Witch and their boatmen helpers and have been brought here for your safety. This place is your refuge and will be until the right time to return to the Mainland and the Sea arrives..."
"See, what did we tell you?" asked Hypersthene with a smile and in a low voice. However, she was shushed by another Teddy Bear-like creature that was similar in build and shape to the yellow Teddy Bear with the lanky limbs and cute face, but with pink fur. This Teddy Bear creature appeared to be female and she and several other Teddy Bears had come to check on the crowd. Hypersthene resumed her attention to the main yellow Teddy Bear as he continued. As he went to explain the place of refuge for the crowd of youngsters, Malachite turned and eyed several of the young Talking Beasts.
"Folks, look," she whispered. Seishan, Elsa, Yardang, Sisu, Lymphocyte and Rainbow Quartz followed the bright and dark green-striped Nekomata kit's gaze and spotted several of the young Talking Beasts gaze at the yellow Teddy Bear with faces quite the opposite to the rest of the faces of the crowd. Instead of joyful and hopeful gazes, the faces of these individuals, which were a teen Kangaroo Doe, or female, a white and brown Skvader with the yellow and red bird on her shoulder, and two small Cat-Bear-like creatures resembling a cross between a Raccoon and a Cat, were disgruntled, sour looks. Emori gazed at the four.
"The Skvader you already know is called Laminin, and her pet Spitfire Bird is called Scoville," whispered the young Dog, "That Kangaroo's name is Arezu and she is from the Kangaroo clan led, according to her, by a Buck Kangaroo named Laventon, and those two Talking Red Pandas are called Rei and Akari. They are fraternal twin brother and sister from a Red Panda clan..."
"They don't look happy at all," whispered Rainbow Quartz as she examined the quartet's sour gazes.
"They are not the most obedient of the rescued victims here," said Hypersthene with a frown, "They are always getting into trouble, often leaving the room without our Teddy Bear carers' permission led by Mr Lucius over there," she nodded to the yellow Teddy Bear as he continued to explain to the crowd, "and often, as I've said before, they had been punished with detention in the solitary confinement room and had worse punishments put upon them, such as Akari at one time. Laminin sometimes had her Spitfire Bird confiscated and that group was sometimes denied meals but our carers have moved onto worse forms of punishment for them..."
Malachite and company continued to gaze at the four sour-faced Talking Beasts, Laminin, Rei and Akari the Red Pandas and Arezu the Kangaroo before resuming their attention to the yellow Teddy Bear named Lucius as he continued to explain to the crowd. Then after finishing his explanation of why the crowd of mostly-youngsters was here, Lucius clapped his hands and called the lot to prepare for their meal, firing an air current to disperse the crowd like a breeze blowing some sand or leaves as the youngsters then hurried to move to an eating area. Malachite and the others moved with them.
"I've wanted to eat in a while," said Seishan with relief as she put a paw on her tummy as it growled, "I don't remember when we had our previous meal back on the Mainland but it must have been a while."
"Let's just get ready to eat, sis," said Elsa hungrily as she fantasized a large plate of tasty fish, her favourite food. Seishan breathed a happy sigh and hurried along. However, as the crowd was about to enter the eating area with the Aquatic creatures swimming to their area in the tank for they could not join the Land Creatures (except the Merkids and the Sea-Fish People who could transform into their human-like Land Form, and the latter did just that, jumping out of the tank and transforming from their scaly Fish-like form into human-like form as their scales dried, before joining the Land Creatures while the former remained in the tank for their transformation was TOO painful), a shout exploded from one of the lanky-limbed Teddy Bear creatures, snapping the crowd's attention to the door and apparently the main entrance from another room.
"OI, ICHTHYO-CENTAUR, WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE... HEY GET BACK HERE!"
Malachite and company then gazed at the eruption of commotion as several Teddy Bears, among them Lucius the yellow one, lunged after someone as they disappeared out of the open door and into the next room.
"Oh, no, here we go again," grumbled Hypersthene with a lowered head in annoyance.
"Cubozoa," muttered Emori and Kosmochlor together in a low voice.
"Organise this crowd's next meal, you three, while we chase that Ichthyo-Centaur down and return him here," called a green lanky-limbed Teddy Bear as it darted in the direction of the open door. Malachite and company looked on and Rainbow Quartz spread her wings to fly off to examine the commotion closer but more colourful lanky-limbed Teddy Bears appeared and guided them towards the dining area, forcing the colourful-winged Pegasus to break off her idea and comply.
Outside the room, a young male Humanoid/Horse/Fish Chimera was on the run, propelling his Horse's feet and fishtail to get ahead of his chasers, the lanky-limbed Teddy Bears, among them Lucius and they tore after him, their faces plastered with rage. Ichthyo-Centaurs were not as agile on land as their land Humanoid-Horse counterparts due to having a fishtail in place of their Horse's hind legs like a Mermaid or Merman in their Aquatic Form as they were built to live in the water. But with enough training, some can actually move quite fast on land by using their Horse's feet and fishtail like a tripod to run, and this young Ichthyo-Centaur, Cubozoa, was one such individual and he was good at running on land for his age, able to use his Horse's legs like regular legs and his fishtail as a rudder when cornering. Flashing a scowl behind him at his chasers as he continued to run, Cubozoa turned his head to face the direction of his path. He dove to one side as a red lanky-limbed Teddy Bear leaped at him to seize him only to miss and crash headfirst into a wall. Then Cubozoa jumped to the other side to sidestep two more lanky-limbed Teddy Bears, both with blue fur, as they tried to seize him from the front. Then another Teddy Bear, a green one, appeared directly in front of the young Ichthyo-Centaur as well but the Aquatic Chimera scowled, whirled round on his Horse's front hooves and slapped the Teddy Bear across the face with his fishtail, knocking the creature down, aside and out of the way. Then Cubozoa surged forward as more Teddy Bears behind him, among them Lucius, continued their pursuit of him. Cubozoa entered the next room which appeared to be another play area and continued dashing from his captors. The chase continued until finally, something stopped the Ichthyo-Centaur in his tracks. A large pink spider-like creature dropped in front of the Aquatic Chimera and he stopped... DEAD with a stunned look on his face, that face gazing up at the form. This form was large and had pale pink skin on its face and limbs of which there were eight. Two of the limbs were arms and the other six were legs with feet. Its feet, 'hair' and hands, however, were darker pink, magenta coloured. The creature's body which was a large spherical form and where the creature's eight limbs and head emanated also magenta. The eight limbs and large spherical body gave the creature the appearance of a large pink spider. The creature's face resembled a doll of sorts and its 'hair' was smooth with curls, buns, coiled on either side of the creature's head. A cute aqua blue bow adorned the left bun. The creature's cheeks were shaded red and it had a lipstick-like mark on the centre of its lips, and its eyes were large and cute, the black pupils bordered by a beautiful azure blue iris similar in colour to Cubozoa's azure hair. This spider-like creature, which was a female, had a motherly and warm appearance but sometimes, she can be intimidating, especially when she was cross.
When the pink spider-like creature gazed at Cubozoa as he cowered in her shadow for she was much larger than he was, she put her hands on the sides of her spherical body and glared at the group of lanky-limbed Teddy Bears, one of them being Lucius, behind the Ichthyo-Centaur, them also having stopped dead at her appearance.
"Lucius, Teddies," spoke the Spider-like creature in a voice that sounded warm, dainty and friendly like her colour scheme but laced with sternness, "What is that Ichthyo-Centaur doing outside the kids' room?"
Lucius came in with another Teddy Bear, a red one and together, they seized the Ichthyo-Centaur who was too stunned by the massive Spider-like creature to writhe for his freedom.
"Er... um, he just..." stuttered Lucius as he tried to speak but the pink Spider-like creature snapped.
"Just return him to the room and punish him," she retorted in a restrained burst of irritation and anger, "NOW!"
And before any of the Teddy Bears could speak, the pink doll-faced Spider creature turned and walked away.
"Yes, Madame Dolores," replied Lucius politely before turning to the Ichthyo-Centaur with a glare. He and the red Teddy Bear kept a firm grip on the Chimera to prevent him from squirming.
Moments later, Cubozoa was hauled back to the room and thrown into another tank. Unlike the large tank which had transparent windows so that the Aquatic Creatures contained can look out, this one was immersed in darkness for it was built within the floor. This tank was used as a solitary confinement box for any of the Aquatic Creatures that misbehaved. Then after Cubozoa was thrown into this tank in a splash, Lucius glared down at him in irritation.
"How many times do we have to deal with you an' your disobedience, Ichthyo-Centaur?" the yellow Teddy Bear growled in a low, deadly voice, the hand of one of his long arms, the left one, on the hatch, poised to slam shut, "You're honestly as STUBBORN as a sea stone. Maybe a good few hours in here without the next meal will grind that rock of stubbornness into powder of obedience and respect."
Then before Cubozoa could speak, he was plunged into total darkness as Lucius slammed the hatch shut and locked it. After this, the yellow Teddy Bear returned to the large group of rescued youngsters as they prepared to receive their food. Rei, Laminin and Akari rushed in but were blocked by two red Teddy Bears who barked at the two Red Pandas and Skvader to return to the others or be incarcerated themselves while the other Aquatic Creatures protested that Cubozoa's solitary confinement in that tank be cut shorter but the Teddy Bears were adamant. Malachite and the others with her looked on in concern.
"Did you guys see that pit in the floor in which that Ichthyo-Centaur was flung in?" asked Lymphocyte, "It looked very small."
"And possibly VERY dark," added Sisu.
"He's been put in there several times," said Kosmochlor, having seen this process before, "so have one of the Orcas when they spoke to one of the Teddies in an inappropriate tone of voice..."
"But wouldn't that have a psychological effect on the Aquatic Creatures thrown into there?" asked Malachite.
"They'd develop a fear of closed spaces and the dark," said Seishan.
"I do not like that form of punishment at all," added Elsa.
"Let's just get our meals," said Hypersthene, her wary gaze on the Teddy Bears as they walked about and shepherded the crowd to the dining area, stern looks on their faces as they ensured obedience was persistent from everyone. "Those Teddies may care for us but they won't hesitate to punish us severely if we don't obey. I don't wanna be thrown into the solitary confinement chamber and neither should you."
Malachite, Seishan, Elsa, Yardang, Sisu, Lymphocyte and Rainbow Quartz gazed at the stern-faced Teddies as they continued to look over the crowd and reluctantly resumed getting their meals. However, concern for Cubozoa continued to bubble within them.