"Ummm…uhhh…uhhhhh…."

"Your turn is almost up, Derek," said Tavish.

"I'm thinking, I'm thinking…"

Derek was in Tavish's room for the usual morning lessons. The two were sitting at the table playing a game of chess. Tavish watched his stepbrother with his arms crossed as he tried to decide what move to make. Derek had his chin buried in both palms of his hands with his eyes darting across the chess board. Tavish tapped his finger on his elbow, indicating that Derek's turn was about to end. Derek quickly moves a chess piece. Tavish responded immediately by taking that chess piece and replacing it with his. "Aww!" whined Derek. Derek looks at the chessboard. Tavish's white chest pieces had outnumbered Derek's black chest pieces. Derek's eyes began darting around before randomly moving a chest piece, to which Tavish replied again, this time completing the game with checkmate.

"AWW!" Derek whined once more. "I lost again!"

"You made more mistakes this game than the last one, Derek," said Tavish, clearing the chest board and placing it in his box.

"Well, I'm not good at this game like you are!" Derek replied defensively. "What does playing chess have to do with my studies anyway?"

"Chess is like war Derek," said Tavish, getting up from his couch and putting away his chest board. "You are the one that commands your army and strategy. When you make a mistake, you will be closer to losing the battle, making it harder to win the war."

"I guess that's true," said Derek. "I've always wanted to start a war!"

"You never want to start a war, Derek," said Tavish scoldingly as he turned to face him. "Wars are the last thing you ever want to start. If there is a conflict between neighbouring lands, you always want peace talks."

"But what about the war we were in for years? Peace talks never seem to work,"

"That war was absurd and a waste of resources. To think, it was all over ownership of a canal…."

"It was a nice looking canal, though…" said Derek quietly.

"The point is," said Tavish, "Is to teach you how to face these events if they ever happen in your era as a ruler. You don't want to be an incompetent king."

"Like father?"

"Yes, just like father…." Tavish sighed as he walked to his door and opened it. "Alright, that's enough for today, Derek. Off you go."

"Umm…" Derek twiddled his thumbs.

"Is there something else you wish to ask Derek?"

"I uh…umm…do you think you and I can play today, Tavish?"

"No, Derek, I have things that I must attend to, and I don't have time to play with you and your stuffed animals,"

"Aww, ok…" Derek gets off the couch and walks to the door but stops. "When will you have time?" He asked, looking up at his older brother.

"That I do not know," Tavish replied. "Off you go."

"But-"

"If I have time, I will let you know. Now go."

Derek hangs his head low and leaves his room. Tavish closed the door with a loud bang, followed by clicking locks. Derek strolls down the cobbled stone hallways sighing every few minutes that pass by. That's when he enters the throne room and sees his father, King Zog, sitting on the throne with a dinner table in front of him. The throne echoed with the sounds of his snores.

"Father?" said Derek walking over to him. "Faaatheeer!

Zog didn't wake.

"FATHER!" Derek shouts.

Zog woke up with a yelp. "WHA-WHAT'S GOING ON?" He placed his eyes on Derek. "Oh hey, Derek."

"Hello, Father! Can you play with me?"

"Sorry, Derek, I'm doing King stuff right now!" said Zog.

"But you were sleeping," said Derek.

"Your food is ready, my king!" said a Chef as he entered the throne room. The Chef takes the turkey off the cart and places it on Zog's small dining table. "I hope you enjoy it!" He bowed and left the throne room.

"Now you're just eating," said Derek as he watched his father lick his lips and rubs his hands together.

"This is my thinking food!" said Zog. "It helps me make great decisions for Dreamland. Go ask your mother to play Derek. We can do it another time."

"Aww…" said Derek, turning around and leaving the throne room. "I hope Mama will be able to-. "Derek stops in the hallways and looks out the window. Oona was running around in a circle by the fountain, yelling. "Oh man…she took snakeroot again…"

Derek found himself walking to the courtyard. Once he walked out, he gasped and hid on the left of the entrance. Koga was sitting out in the yard polishing his longsword. Derek squealed loudly. "It's Koga the Wanderer!" He giggled to himself. Koga pasued for a moment. "I can hear you," Derek gasped again and gulped. He steps out from hiding, walks to the courtyard, and over to Koga. "Uhh…Hello Mr. Koga…" Derek said shyly.

Koga turns around. "Oh, it's you…uhh…what was your name again?"

"My name is Prince Derek!"

"Oh yeah, you're that Dankmiran stepbrother to the clones," said Koga. "How can I help you kid?"

"Oh, I…I was just out and about…" said Derek with his hands behind his back, rocking back and forth. Then suddenly, Derek burst out excitedly, "DO YOU WANT TO SWORD FIGHT?"

Koga noticed how close Derek was to his face as he asked this. He placed the palm of his hand on Derek's blue face and slowly pushed him back. "I'd love to do that, kid, but I will be tutoring Bean today. She's been bugging the hell out of me about it. I honestly don't see why. All she does is get drunk and pass out on the street. I remember having to carry her fat ass to the castle one day. I was so close to tossing her into the castle moat."

"Aw-wait! Do you think that-"

"DEREK!" Bean called out to him as both Elfo and Luci followed her. "What are you doing bugging Koga?"

"I was just asking if I could come along with you guys," said Derek.

"Um, yeah, that's a hard no," said Bean, crossing her arms and glaring at Derek. "Stay at the castle and try not to annoy anyone.

"But everyone is busy, and I'm so lonely!"

"Why don't you spend time with your big brother Tavish? You usually annoy him the most,"

"He's doing things too…"

"Oh well," Bean shrugs. "You should be used to Tavish disappointing you anyway. He's good at that," She smiled as she looked at Koga. "I'm all set!"

Koga sheaths his sword and follows Bean, Elfo and Luci as they head for the castle's exit. Koga looks back at Derek, seeing his saddened expression. Koga couldn't help feeling just a tad bit upset for Derek.

Koga stops Bean and says, "Hey, why not let him come with us?"

"What? Oh, come on, he'll get over it,"

"Just let the little guy come. I don't see any harm in it,"

Bean scoffs, rolls her eyes and sighs. "Fine…" She said reluctantly. She looks over at Derek and calls out to him. "Come on, Derek, let's go!"

"YAAAAAAY!" said Derek, running over to Bean and bringing her into a big hug.

"Ugh…" Bean groaned.

….

Elfo, Luci and Derek sat on a log watching Bean and Koga practice. While blocking Bean's attacks, Koga lectured Bean on her form and the precision of her attacks. "You're leaving yourself open," He told her. "I'm not trying to!" She shot back. Derek gets up from his seat and shouts. "Come on, Beanie! You can do it!" He cheered. As Bean takes her eyes off Koga, he bonks her on the head with his wooden sword. "OW!" She cried. "Stop being distracted," Koga said sternly. Derek covered his mouth instinctively with both hands and sat back down. He moved his hands away and quietly spelt "Sorry…" to Bean as she glared at him. "Come on, Rebel Princess, back to work," said Koga. Bean groaned in annoyance as the two of them continued.

"So…do you guys do anything to help train Bean?" asked Derek.

"Not really," said Elfo.

"Yeah, we just sit here and watch Bean get beat up," said Luci. Bean, let's another "OW!" As Koga hit her in the side, causing Luci to let out a devious laugh. "It's always good to see!"

"How come Bean is so interested in knowing how to use a sword? I mean, all she does is gets into a bunch of drunken brawls," said Derek.

"It's because she wants to hop on Koga's sword," said Luci.

"Huh?" Derek looks at Luci, confused.

"Luci, don't say that in front of Derek!" Elfo snapped.

"What? It's true," Luci said while smirking. "AIN'T THAT RIGHT, BEAN?" Bean looked at Luci, and Koga poked Bean in the gut, causing her to double over. "UGH! GODDAMN, IT!"

Koga sighed and rubbed between his eyes. "Ok, let's take five," He said as he walked over to his bag to grab his water flask. Bean sighs as she lays flat on her back and closes her eyes.

"Hey, Bean!" said Derek. Bean opens her eyes and sees her Amphibian stepbrother standing over her.

Bean sighs and replies, "What is it, Derek?"

"Are you ok?"

"Yes, Derek, I am. I'm just taking a break,"

"Oh ok…" Derek said. He twiddled his thumbs. "Can I practice with you?"

"No," Bean said quickly.

"But why not?"

"Because I said so,"

"But I want to spend ti-"

"DEREK!" Bean shouted as she lays up. "I don't have time to babysit you! Stop bugging me!"

"O-Ok…sorry…" said Derek. He hung his head, turned around and walked off.

"Finally…" said Bean, letting out a sigh of relief.

"That was a bit much, wasn't it?" said Koga, walking back over to Bean.

Bean waves him down. "Don't worry about him. He'll go in his room and eat seagulls and be back to normal tomorrow,"

"Well, maybe…" said Elfo, "But he is your brother after all,"

"HALF-BROTHER!" Bean corrected Elfo loudly.

"Just because he's your half-brother doesn't mean he isn't your little brother Bean," said Koga, his arms crossed and his eyes narrowed at her.

"Oh, come on," said Bean, getting to her feet. "Can we please get back to doing the sword training and forget about the little twerp?"

"Fine, whatever," said Koga irritably as he and Bean continued.

…

Derek would return to the castle and walk through the familiar stone hallways. He opened the door to his room, and many stuffed animals greeted him. "Heeey, guys and gals!" He said, closing the door and locking it. He walked over to his old, dingy-looking yellow teddy bear with stitches on his chest and arm. "How are you doing, Jerry?" He said, smiling as he picked up the yellow stuffed animal and hugged it tightly. "Oh, I gotta be careful. I don't want you coming apart again."

He carefully placed the teddy bear and the rest of his stuffed animals on the floor and sat down with them. "Today sucked, guys. Tavish wouldn't spend time with me, my father wouldn't, my mom was on snakeroot again, and of course, Bean tells me to bug off as usual…." He placed his knees to his chest. "Am I annoying, guys?" He looked over at his worn-out stuffed animals. He reaches forward, grabs his stuffed pink rabbit, and holds it. "Of course, you're not annoying, Derek! We love you!" said Derek, mimicking a high-pitched voice.

Derek frowned. "Then why doesn't my family love me?"

Derek would cuddle with his stuffed animals and sits alone in his room.