Chapter 02 School years

The months went by and Augustinus was able to balance his life out with his job easily. Every morning he and Little Loco would leave on an easy mission, most often scouting out some villain to catch them in on the act, a bit like a police officer. Once pieces of evidence were gathered, they informed the police and the case was solved by lunchtime.

Then he and Little Loco headed out for a quick drink before returning at 4 PM back to their headquarters and Augustinus was able to release the nursemaid from his son. Larry would always be the first cub to be dropped off and the last cub to be picked up. But Augustinus wasn't too bothered by it.

After two months, Larry became a young child and Augustinus enrolled him into the company's High school.

"Really father?" Larry asked excited, hopping from one paw to the next.

Augustinus had to hold Larry down as he measured his son out for his school uniform.

The school's name was: All paws united. And it was a highly private school owned by his company. The school was a three-minute walk from the headquarters, and underground as well.

It was the best school for it not only would train their private student's normal maths, English, biology, computer skills, sports, physics and so on. But also teamwork, hand to hand combats, and undercover work.

"Yes, Larry. Your school is not far from here and you get to know a few other cubs around the place. Make good friends, and don't ever be racist against any animal you meet. Treat everyone as if they were your own family." Augustinus instructed as he shoved Larry's head through a dark blue pullover.

Larry's head popped out and he tilted his head confused, "what do you mean with racist?"

Augustinus sighed, "In my company, every animal has a wide variety of skills. Computer, maths, chemistry, biology, physics etc. But a team is made out of more than one animal and if a team is set together it can be that the team might end up looking like a wolf, fox and a mouse. Despite the fact there are two predators and one prey, the animals have to accept each other as team partners and work together on the case. You won't be able to build a team if you were mean to the pray living animals. Ok, son?"

"Oh that," Larry said unsure, thinking about it, "Ok sure dad. I'll behave. Will you pick me up again afterwards?"

"I'll try son." Augustinus sighed, "But if not, just head straight back home and do your homework as well as housework. The nursemaid will be expecting you again if I do have to work longer."

Larry gave off a sigh, despite the fact he was raised by countless nursemaids at Augustinus's detective Agency, Larry would prefer hanging out with his father or Little Loco.

He was used to their smells, sights and touches, every time he was left with the nursemaid they would try and baby him or keep him very strict and Larry hated it.

"Yes, father." Larry sighs.

Augustinus mobile phone suddenly rang, he ruffled his son's hair before dashing off. Larry grabbed his school bag and headed to the school ground.

Outside of his fathers home, Larry saw a ferret walking up to him, behind him were a couple of rabbits, other fox cubs, badgers, meerkats, otters, wombats and moles.

The ferret stopped and looked at Larry, "You're Larry Dezi Wilde, right? Son of Augustinus Wilde and our new student?"

Larry nodded his head, "Yup, but aren't I supposed to meet you all at the school?"

"You are, but I was asked to pick all the students up. Ok class we have the last student and can now get to the school." The ferret said, then he faced Larry, "Stand by that rabbit leveret over there and follow the other students."

Larry blinked, he looked to the back and saw the students all had a partner, except for the young grey furred rabbit, shrugging his shoulder Larry walked up to him and the class continued their walk together.

It would be a bit like in the American school system where a school bus would pick the students up, but here the students all had one or both parents working for the agency and the agency had their private school.

A short while later, Larry and the rest of the students found themselves exiting the burrow and came to a ginormous forest. Hundreds upon thousands of pine trees were planted everywhere and very, very tall. Almost completely blocking out the sun.

This was the first time, Larry had been out of the burrow since his father moved in 2 months ago. And looking at some of the other students, they all might have experienced the same.

The ferret spoke then up again, "Our school is the huge pine tree over there, we have fallen over logs bought from a beaver construction company as your benches and desks. Each bench will hold 4 students and the last bench holds 3. Please make your way to a free seat."

Larry walked to the benches as requested and took the first bench, sliding right to the very end of the bench, he was surprised as the rabbit, who was following him, had right away slid next to him as his desk partner. Then he saw one of the meerkats taking the seat next to Benny and then an otter.

Then the second row has a badger, wombat, and two moles. The third bench was made from a Meerkat, mole, badger and otter, the fourth: a wombat, wombat, mole, and the fifth bench a mole, meerkat and last a wombat.

The ferret nodded his head in approval of the class choices, next he brought from a dugout hole next to the teacher's desk several very thick books out and shared them around the class.

"Class, please stand up, place your left hand on the book and raise your right hand, and speak after me." the ferret said and faced the class.

Larry looked down at the book, placed his left hand on the grey cover of the book and as instructed raised his right hand. The rest of the class followed.

"I, the student of this class." Mr Slinky began.

The students replied, "I, the student of this class."

"Promise to respect and honour every student learning with me." Mr Slinky continued.

The students replied again, "Promise to respect and honour every student learning with me."

"Because knowledge is the greatest power over all our enemies." Mr Slinky finished.

"Because knowledge is the greatest power over all our enemies." The class finished also.

Mr Slinker nodded his head and the class sat down again.

Larry suddenly felt like a huge embrace was around his body, even though no one was hugging anyone else, all the other students also blinked and realised that saying was so believable for them that they instantly wanted to respect each other and learn as much as they can.

"Ok, we begin with writing, reading and spelling." Mr Slinker said.

The lesson was very easy to follow, then came maths with various calculations, other animal languages, chemistry, biology, art and last geography.

During the lessons, Larry noticed the class was very focused on all the subjects, and as home time came, not one student had given any other a rude comment.

Larry was about to head with the class back home, like the rabbit, Benny suddenly ran up to him and grabbed Larry by his paw. Larry froze up and looked over to the small rabbit.

"Can I walk with you back to our homes?" Benny asks, looking into Larry's eyes.

Larry smiles and nods his head, the class got back into a row and Mr Slinky lead everyone back to their homes. Larry also noticed that the tunnels had other paths leading to other places, but he was strictly instructed not to follow them, but to stick with the class, as they could easily get lost.

One by one the students were back in their parent's burrows. Larry saw Benny meeting up with another female rabbit, and she introduced herself as Benny's oldest sister called; Amelia. She was his caretaker whiles he was enrolled in this school and also working for the same company as Augustinus Wilde but as a doctor.

Larry just smiled and introduced himself too. Before heading to his fathers home too.

Larry entered the burrow of his father, but instead of finding Augustinus at home, it was a female rat in the kitchen, she was cooking a fish and broccoli soup thing.

"Oh hi, My name is Regina. Your father is still out working and asked me to keep an eye on you and help you with your homework, Larry." Regina the rat smiled at Larry.

Larry smiled back, "Ok, no problem. I'll just be in my room and finish my homework. At what time will lunch be ready?"

"In about half an hour, would that do?" Regina inquired.

Larry nodded and dashed into his room, he sat down, got his homework out and as promised worked on completing it. After he was done Regina called out to him that lunch was ready.

He sat down and Regina sat opposite of him, she wasn't eating anything and just watching Larry consume her meal. As he finished Larry washed up and was then allowed to have a wash and remain in his room.

Larry rolled his eyes and grabbed a book from his room to pass the time. All the while wondering what his father was up to.

With Augustinus Wild.

Larry's father was currently sent with Little Loco to a festival of prey and predators. The two were dressed as one another and walking among the mass, trying to locate a well-known arsenic predator in the pack.

Their mission was to stop him from disrupting the festival. It was tricky for there were trillions of other predator and prey animals, all-dancing, eating and just having fun.

Augustinus was on the ground and standing by a beer tent, he didn't drink anything, despite the smell tempting him to get a pint, he was looking for the wanted animal.

Little Loco had a watch post from a tower overlooking the festival. It also didn't help that he was just over a fish grilling tent and the delicious smell of grilled fish was making this predator hungry.

"Hey Augustinus, can we have a break now? I'm starving and it isn't helping that I'm close to a fish tent. My snout is watering from its delicious smells." Little Loco whined, his stomach protesting in hunger.

Augustinus scanned round once more, "Wait until one PM Little Loco, then we will go for a break. Ok? We can't miss a thing."

Little Loco gritted his teeth, "I'm hungry, we've been here since 7 AM."

"Just wait," Augustinus said, looking further.

"Hungry, hungry, hungry." Little Loco continued his protests, holding his stomach. "Hungry, hungry, hungry."

Augustinus ignored his partners' protests and they scanned further. As the bell tolled one PM Little Loco was allowed to go down. He and Augustinus met together at the fish tent and Augustinus bought them both some grilled fish, Little Loco bought two pints of ale and the friends ate the fish up.

Little Loco ate his up so fast that he ordered three more to consume. Augustinus rolled his eyes because he knew it wasn't good to stuff one's self so full due to the risk of cramps coming if they had to run after their enemy.

Just as they finished their food and drinks, with Little Loco still eating his third fish, Augustinus spotted their wanted animal. It was a zebra carrying an explosive around his body to disrupt the festival.

"Little Loco, we got to go now," Augustinus ordered, grabbing his friend by his paw.

Just as Little Loco bit into his third fish, "MH?"

With a rip, Augustinus ripped himself and Little Loco from the chairs and the two were off. Little Loco bit hard into the big fish to keep it in his mouth as he followed his friend.

"HEY, YOU STOP. POLICE!" Augustinus shouted after the zebra.

The zebra spotted them and made a run for it. Whiles Augustinus dashed after him as fast as he could, Little Loco finished his fish off and then gained an idea with the fish bones.

Quickly looking at round hanging mirrors around the town, he could easily calculate where the zebra was going to dash to next. He took various shortcuts and kept a watch on his partner. Just as Augustinus reached an alleyway, Little Loco finished his fish, then placed the fishbones, head and fin on the floor and seconds later the zebra crossed his path, slipped on the eaten fish and crashed into a fruit cart.

"OUCH!" The zebra screamed, then looked at what he slipped on, "A rotten fish guts, ew!"

"Hey, that was a fresh fish," Little Loco snapped and chuckled, "And quite tasty also."

Augustinus got to the scene seconds later and laughed with his partner, they read the zebra his rights, handcuffed him, removed his weapons before handing him over to the police of the town.

As the mission was completed, Augustinus and Little Loco returned to Headquarters. They sat at their desks and completed the paperwork for this mission. Then they left the office at 9 PM and walked together back home.

"Very smart idea with the fish bones Little Loco." Augustinus chuckled, high fiving his friend.

Little Loco smiled, "Thanks, it just came to me. That is one trick with this job, to look for opportunities and grab them at the scruff of their necks."

Augustinus nodded his head. As he got to his home he froze and looked at his friend.

"Do... do you want to come in for something more to eat or drink?" Augustinus inquired, looking at the arctic fox.

Little Loco stepped back and shook his head, "No, Larry must be fast asleep by now. I wouldn't want to wake your son up. Plus I'm full from the fish anyway. I'll see you two tomorrow."

Augustinus smiled at his friend, they shook hands and Little Loco left to his own home, a few miles from his best friend.

Augustinus quietly entered his home. He walked on all fours through the hallway and reached his son's room. Quietly he opened the door and saw Larry lying in his bed.

He faced his son's clock and realised it was way past nine-thirty PM. No wonder Larry was so tired. Quietly Augustinus checked his son's homework and stroked Larry over his stomach a bit. He could feel a nice warmth coming from the fur of his son, and checking the kitchen he saw two dirty plates in the sink, indicating Larry had his dinner.

The homework was completed and everything correct, which made Augustinus proud. He placed Larry's books back away and kissed his son on his head.

"Good night my dear." Augustinus smiled.

Quietly he closed his son's room shut and walked to his own, Augustinus got changed and lay in his bed. But just as he touched the pillows and felt the warm blanket around his body, Augustinus remembered what happened three months ago.

Mating and loving his beloved mate, Rilla. Her moans and warmth he felt from her as he made her his queen and fathered two kids. And then he just up and left her because he wanted this detective job.

"You've dug your own grave Augustinus." He sighs, closing his eyes and trying not to think anymore.

Seeing as that didn't work, he grabbed a pack of sleeping pills and some water, swallowed one and then finally was able to get some sleep.

The next morning both foxes were up. Augustinus made them both a meaty breakfast with eggs and ham and sat with his son at the breakfast table.

Larry was happy his father was back in one piece, Augustinus not so much knowing his job was going to continue today even more.

"Um, father..." Larry began, wanting to discuss with his dad before he left again.

Augustinus looked up from the company's newspaper and faced his son.

"Yes, Larry? Did you have a good day yesterday at school?" Augustinus inquired, seeing as his son went to bed early.

Larry smiled and nodded his head, "Yes I even made a new acquaintance yesterday. His name is Benny Squint and... well he's a rabbit dad."

Augustinus felt his mouth drop open and closed again, like a fish. His eyes widened a bit, but he tried to calm down.

"Larry... you do know in the past that foxes used to hunt and eat rabbits, right? How can you be sure your fox instincts won't suddenly kick in and kill him?" Augustinus asked, worried. "Who are his parents anyway?"

"I don't know about his parents' dad." Larry admitted, "But he has an elderly sister who works at this company too dad. She's the one looking out for him at the moment."

"What do you want me to do about it?" Augustinus wondered.

"Please dad just meet him tomorrow." Larry begged, "I want this friendship with him to stand. He was the only one in the school to notice me and I have a good feeling about him."

Augustinus sighed, he nodded his head and Larry smiled.

Quanktumspirit: "Thank you for reading the tale. Please review and have a great day."