Chapter 21:

(Okay, time to see things going on Claus' end. I hope y'all enjoy this chapter! I just wanted to clarify that Fuel plays a bit of a role in Claus' story, since the timeline of the OG story has been retconned, of course. I hope you guys like the last name. One note, the Magypsies are not in this story, neither are the needles. Fassad is an entirely different character)

Claus awoke from his nap, remembering when he and his parents visited a grave in the Sunset Cemetery. He remembered the tears of his mother and the sheer inner agony his father went through. Seeing them like this upset the boy.

The gravestone read as followed:

Lucas:

Son of Hinawa & Flint Polestar

Brother of Claus Polestar

Grandson of Alec Itoi

Rest in Peace

Claus didn't know what to think. He understood that his mom & dad didn't want to grieve forever. But he didn't understand why they "buried" him. His brother was never dead, he refused to think that. With the strange people he knew for a fact that they were the same people behind this. Claus sighed, "Ruff ruff!(Get up, buddy! You need to go on your walk!)" Boney said, jumping on Claus' bed. "Okay, okay. I'm going." Claus said, still tired. Boney always liked taking his friend out for a walk, he, Claus and sometimes Fuel went out on a few adventures in the forest when they were kids. But that was a different time…Claus grabbed his stick and put it in his backpack, along with rations and a bunch of other survival things. He put on combat boots and left his room.

"Going out, kiddo?" Flint said, "I'll do my chores first, then I'll head to the forest with Fuel." Claus said, remembering it was his turn to tend to the sheep.

"Ok. If you're going to that club, be careful." Flint always said to be careful due to the village's constant changes.

"He's right, Claus. You go on, honey. Oh! Could you deliver the nut bread I made for Abbey and Abbot?" Hinawa asked, wrapping said nut bread in tin foil.

"Sure, Mom." Claus said, taking it and placing it in his backpack.

"I'll see you guys in a bit." Claus said, going through the door.

Boney ran through the door and sat in his doghouse, waiting for Claus to be finished with his chores. Claus fed the sheep & the other farm animals, replaced their water.

He brushed the soot off of some of them. "Lightning again?" Claus said, "Baaa…(Lightning's so scary…)" He heard the sheep say, "I know, buddy. Here, let's get you guys washed up." Clashed grabbed the garden hose. Taking note of the impact site. A broken part of the land, stayed by the sheep. This was nothing new. After all, lightning had destroyed his grandfather's log house. The peddler Fassad stated that there would be lightning that would strike these islands when he came here. People thought this was impressive foresight. Claus saw it for what it really was: a sham. Speaking of which, that's the next goal that he, Boney & Fuel had.

After he had finished his chores, he went to check on Boney. "Boney?" Claus asked, calling out the dog's name. He saw that Boney had been asleep, waiting for him. "(Oh, you finished, finally?)" Boney asked, "Ruff ruff!(Okay, I'll lead the way!)" He got up and walked ahead of Claus.

"Fuel should be off of work now, and we need to give Mom's bread to Abbey & Abbot." Claus told Boney. "Ruff ruff! (All right, then!)" Boney said, running.

"W-Wait, Boney!" Claus tried to catch up to him. "You know I hate when you do this!" He said. Boney just barked, "(Come on, running is fun!)"

(Later)

"Thank you, sweetie!" Abbey said, kindly. "Not a problem, Mrs. A." Claus said. "Abbot's at work, but I think he should be at Club T, afterward. He goes there to watch DCMC." She told him, "If he comes home, I'll tell him you dropped by, Claus." Abbey said. "Oh, tell your mother I said thanks."

Claus nodded, "Will do. See you, Mrs. A." He walked away from her house and headed toward the bakery.

Thankfully, Boney was allowed to be inside the bakery. "Oh, hey, Claus. Hi, Boney." Fuel said, greeting his friends. "You're free to go, right, Fuel?" Claus asked.

"Yeah, I should be." Fuel said, "So, we're heading to Club T to ask Duster & Violet some things, right?" Fuel asked.

"Yeah, it's about that tower that's near Unknown Valley." Claus explained. "No doubt, it's related to the lightning strikes." Fuel nodded. "I mean, it's kind of obvious. We saw something shoot out of it." Fuel said, as the three walked out of the bakery.

"Okay, so we head to Club T, then we check in with Duster. Have you let him know?" Claus asked, "Yeah. Thankfully, Duster & Wess' thieving skills come in real handy." Fuel had a great amount of knowledge, learning from Duster and Wess. He learned how to create ladders for scalable walls, pick locks and use the tools of a thief.

"You know, I heard back in the day, Wess was called the Thief of Justice." Fuel said, "As opposed to who? Robin Hood?" Claus said, jokingly. He knew Wess was a strong-willed person, but he never pictured him as the most capable guy. Especially seeing him fight before.

"What does that make me?" Fuel said, wondering if he was being compared to by his friend. "The more capable one, dude. Won't deny that you've come a long way from just throwing rocks at bad guys." Claus said. "Hey! Look, I was 8 when we fought that thing!" Fuel said, "Fuel, it was a bat." Claus said, remembering it bluntly.

"I prefer to call that one: Mr. Batty." Fuel said.

"Dude, you NEED to stop naming these things." Claus rolled his eyes.

(Later)

The walk through the forest wasn't difficult, though the boys would have a few run-ins fighting things that have been turned into Chimeras. Fuel names them as such:

"Slitherhens", "Really Flying Mice", and "Grated Yammonsters".

"Be happy we didn't run into any Cattlesnakes out here." Fuel said. Those were common by the factory they have near the train station. They are incredibly dangerous.

"Claus, behind you!" Fuel jumped in the air and threw a wall staple at a slitherhen catching up on Claus. Claus immediately went on guard, holding his stick like a sword.

"It'll hold for now, let's just run." Claus said, running for it. "Ruff ruff!(I see the elevator up ahead!)" Boney said, going on toward the elevator, Fuel catching up behind them.

"Okay, we're up on higher ground. We should be fine." Fuel said, "Yeah…Oh! Boney!" Claus pulled out some clothes. A green t-shirt, blue jeans and a red & white hat. "Ruff ruff.(Of course, I totally forgot.)" Boney put on a costume and tried to stand on two legs. Those two bouncers don't let kids or dogs in. "So, Claus, once we disable that Thunder Tower, what then? What'll we do?" Fuel asked. Claus pulled out a communicator he snagged from one of the Pigmasks.

"Well, I'm still going through the data. And there is a place I think we should strike, next. The Chimera Research Lab." Claus said.

Claus' goal was to fix his home, and he toils day & night for it. He knows what caused all this and it all goes back to his brother's kidnapping. He hopes to find something. A record of his brother. Finding Lucas and saving the Nowhere Islands was Claus' personal mission.

(Okay, here we are! I hope this is a good stopping point. Anyways, Fuel is basically going to be Duster in this story. Although, I wanted to touch up on a personality for him. Kumatora will be here, as well. I will check up on Claus, occasionally. Anyways, this will eventually tie in with the MHA story, I just need to get it going. Anyways, stay strong & awesome! I hope you guys have a great 4th of July!)