WEATHERWOLF SAT IN a small clearing deep within the Haunted Woods. It was
a quiet day, and he was just enjoying the rare sunbeam shining through. His
peaceful meditation was soon interrupted, however.
A white form stalked out of the surrounding brush,
muttering dire threats under his breath.
"Hello Deealoe," WeatherWolf said with a yawn,
displaying his impressive Lupe fangs.
The white Aisha merely grumbled something direly
in response.
"What's wrong?" the fire Lupe inquired, praying
it was nothing so serious as to interrupt his sun-bathing.
"I'm going to go insane," the Aisha replied
cryptically.
"That's nice," WeatherWolf replied sleepily,
not in the mood for guessing games.
He lay back down and curled up, tail touching
nose. The sunbeam was still there, and he intended to make full use of it.
"WeatherWolf."
The Lupe tried to pretend he was already asleep.
There was a long silence, and the Lupe cautiously opened one eye, hoping Deealoe
had gone away.
"WeatherWolf. Stop it. I know you're awake."
The white Aisha stood right in front of his face,
filling his field of vision. The Lupe heaved a sigh and rolled over.
"C'mon, you're the leader, you have to do something!"
Deealoe snapped.
"Then stop being so vague," the Lupe replied.
"Fine. It's that new pet we took in, the one
that ran away from his owner on the way to the pound."'
"Oh. The blue Poogle. What was his name again…?"
"It's Trip_42. And he's driving everyone nuts."
"So?"
"So do something about it!" Deealoe cried, obviously
frustrated.
"Fine, fine," WeatherWolf muttered, climbing
to his feet. "I'll go have a talk with him."
And the fire Lupe vanished into the forest to
find the rest of his pack.
"Geez," Deealoe muttered from behind him. "What
does it take to find some peace and quiet around here?"
And the Aisha took the spot in the sun WeatherWolf
had just vacated, curled up, and went to sleep.
***
"So do we have adventures and stuff? I heard you guys have adventures. I want
to go on one too!"
Upon reaching the cave where his pack of abandoned
pets stayed, WeatherWolf could immediately sense something was wrong. It could
have been the strained looks on everyone's faces. It could have been the aura
of tension in the air. It could have been the sight of Nina_green_girl the Gelert
holding her paws over her ears as a certain blue Poogle danced around shooting
off questions. But the biggest clue was definitely Raven_Wing_7 the Pteri and
his friend Mathwe the Peophin sneaking up behind the Poogle with sticks, ready
to conk him on the head.
"No," WeatherWolf said sternly with a vicious
glance in their directions.
The two stopped and guiltily dropped the sticks,
hiding their intentions.
"Huh?" the Poogle said, turning, unaware of
the danger he was just in. "Oh, WeatherWolf!"
With an excited squeal, the Poogle dashed over
to the leader of the group.
"So when do I get painted, huh? Everyone says
we get painted here, right?"
"It'll be a while," the Lupe said, chiding himself
to be patient. After all, Trip_42 had just been abandoned, which is a very traumatic
experience.
"But everyone gets painted," the Poogle persisted.
"Yes, but paint brushes are expensive. It takes
a while to get our paws on one," WeatherWolf explained gently.
The Poogle thought on this some more.
"Oh. But what about adventures, huh? Everyone
says we've had some big adventures before. I want to go on one!"
"I got one for you!" Mathwe called out.
"Go fight the Snowager!" Raven_Wing_7 added.
"I've done it, it's not hard."
"Really?!" Trip_42 breathed in awe.
"No, he hasn't. Last time he met the Snowager,
Raven_Wing turned tail and ran. And the thing was even asleep," WeatherWolf
corrected tiredly, not wishing to make a visit to the Healing Springs.
"I did not!" the Pteri called out in indignation.
"Well, maybe a little," he confessed.
"Try, 'ran like a coward'," Mathwe snickered.
The two friends started bickering, and WeatherWolf
walked over to Nina_green_girl.
"It bad?" he asked softly.
"Yeah. The kid's driving us nuts," she replied.
"I took him aside and had a talk with him, but it didn't help. He's got a kind
of hero worship for us, and his constant chatter is driving us crazy. So I sent
Deealoe off to find you. Before he strangled Trip_42."
"Should I have a talk with the Poogle?"
"No. Your idea of a talk would probably traumatise
him for life."
"So what do we do?" the Lupe asked with a sigh.
The Gelert was silent for a long time, then cocked
her head with a sudden thought.
"Who do you know that's really good with hyperactive
pets?"
WeatherWolf sat up straighter as inspiration
hit.
"Child_dragon."
***
I was enjoying a relatively quiet day inside, reading a good book. Un-eairkagh
was off with Padiglione, wreaking havoc no doubt. But for now, it was quiet.
I heard a knock on the door, and reluctantly sat down my book to answer it.
A fire Lupe sat calmly at the door.
"WeatherWolf," I said, slightly surprised. "Come
on in. Didn't expect you to drop by."
"Yeah, well, I've got a problem," the Lupe said,
tail drooping a bit.
WeatherWolf and I hadn't met under the best circumstances.
To be specific, he'd been hired to try to destroy me. But one thing led to another,
and we wound up friends. As far as I was concerned, past events were null and
void now.
"So what's up?" I asked, pulling out a chair
and sitting down at the kitchen table.
"We have a new pet in our gang. He's driving
everyone insane."
"Oh. Hyperactive?" I questioned, my mind drifting
to Un-eairkagh.
"Oh yeah."
"Hmm. Well, there's always duct tape!" I said
brightly, laughing a bit.
"Huh?"
"I used to be part of a youth group that had
a really annoying and hyperactive kid in it. He drove everyone nuts! So one
day a bunch of guys got together and duct taped him to the underside of a table.
Eventually the youth leaders noticed it was too quiet and started looking for
him. It took them nearly half an hour to find him, and this was in a pretty
small building."
"That could work…" the Lupe said slowly.
I laughed again and shook my head.
"No, I'm just kidding WeatherWolf. While hilarious,
it was cruel and mean, and I would never advocate doing that."
I stood and walked to the window, staring out,
thinking on how to help solve WeatherWolf's problem.
"Well, you could always… WeatherWolf?" I said,
feeling something funny.
I turned and faced an empty kitchen.
"Uh oh," I whispered.
***
The fire Lupe lost no time in finding some duct tape. True, child_dragon had
said that she didn't suggest doing that, but then again, he wasn't child_dragon.
He was WeatherWolf, leader of his pack, and this was his solution to the problem.
When he returned, he pulled aside Mathwe and Raven_Wing_7 and explained the
plan. They loved it, as he'd expected. Soon Nina_green_gelert was asking a favour
of the Poogle, and Trip_42 was on his way into the Haunted Woods, alone, and
presumably to find Deealoe. Of course he wouldn't find Deealoe, but rather Mathwe
and Raven_Wing_7, armed with duct tape. The Lupe sighed in delight. He'd go
rescue him in a couple hours, and hopefully the Poogle will have gotten the
hint. But for now, a shift in the trees seemed to have released a sunbeam into
area outside the cave…. WeatherWolf curled up in the sun-drenched spot and went
to sleep, enjoying the peace.
***
Deep within the Haunted Woods, a strange sight called out in desperation.
A lone blue Poogle duct taped to the underside of a tree branch, looking quite
bewildered.
"Hey, this isn't funny guys…. You aren't using
me as bait, are you? I mean, you aren't trying to lure some vicious monster
here, right? I mean, I wouldn't mind being part of an adventure, but being eaten
isn't my idea of a good time. Guys? You haven't left me here, have you? Hello?
Anyone?"
The End | 
