bring it back: wishes
heres what i had before i left for a bit.
"stop splashing munch! your going to get water on my pants!!" Zander yelped as he jumped back from the water."sorry bout that Zand." Munch replied with a slight smirk.Then,with hardly a ripple,munch dove under the lake surface. Zander gave a slight sigh and looked over at Ali,who was looking over a broken bridge. The bridge looked very old,and clearly needed repairs.From what Zander could ,it use to span over the cove's lake and over to the waterfall. Zander himself was the one who found this place,but it was Ali who suggested fixing it up. A low grunting sound was heard from the hall. soon after that,Abe and six other mudokons came in lugging a huge stone slab.They dropped the slab near the edge of the lake with a loud thump."can i have my heart attack now or later?" Abe asked,gasping for air. "Later." Ali replied absently.she then looked the slab over from all sides then nodded. "o.k,good.now lets get it in the water." Everyone else gave a series of loud groans. "come on Zander." one mudokon said as he stepped over to the slab. "if we have to suffer,so do you." Zander smiled slightly at this then went to join the mudokons."alright guys." abe started."on my count,we push.one..two..three!!" immediately,the seven mudokons and one slig started to push.grunts of effort filled the air.the stone wasn't moveing a inch,despite their efforts. "peathic.." ali sighed then walked over.with one light push with her foot,she sent the slab slideing into the lake. "ACK!!" the pushers cried,finding out the slab was no longer there to hold them up.they fell into a heap on the floor. "note to self...never get on ali's bad side." abe murmered to himself on the bottom of the heap. "it's on the wood straight ali!" munch called from the middle of the lake as he surfaced. "great!" ali called back. "now see if you can get that slab closer to the waterfall." Munch dove under the surface again and within seconds,had pushed the slab over to the water fall. " o.k,now we need a few more slabs and were done." ali commented. more groans,abe's being the loudest. "come on ali,give us a break." Ali rolled her eyes and sighed. "oh,o.k you big wusses.we'll do more tomorrow." The other mudokons gave out a happy cheer and ran out the room like kids running out of school.ali gave a slight chuckle and smiled. she then undid her tassle.she shook it out,her purple and pink feathers fanning out over her shoulder blades and down her back. "say,zand...whats eating ya?" zander looked somewhat surprized. "how did you.."
"your very quiet this morning.that isn't like you."
"i'm fine."
"don't think so,somethings bothering you,now just tell me."
"you'll think it's silly."
"no we won't,will we abe?"
"nope."
zander took a deep sigh and looked up at the two expecting mudokons. "promise not to laugh" both ali and abe nodded in unison. "well..o.k..well..you see..i've been feeling down because i've been thinking of this dream of mine." ali cocked her head. "oh,whats that?" zander hesitated before speaking,not entirely sure. "well..i've always wished for real legs."
abe and ali looked at eachother,both not entirely sure what to say. ali then cleared her throat and turned back to zander. " thats it? thats what's bothering you?" she asked. "i knew you would think it was stupid." zander muttered,crossing his arms. "no,it's not that zand. it's just that..well..i geuss it's not a thing i hear everyday o.k?" zander still looked a bit miffed. "do most sligs wish for real legs like you do?" abe asked. zander shook his head. "no,most of them are more concern about getting the metal pants in the first place. basicly,without thease pants i'm helpless,and thats part of what bothers me."
" whats the other part that bothers you?"
zander took a deep sigh. "well,it's pretty apprent that thease things aren't made for wildlife activity. thease feet..if you can even call thease overgrown pegs that,aren't made for climbing. not to mention thease things always get tangled up in something.it makes me so frusrated sometimes. there's nothing i can do about it though."
zander shook his head and headed out the cavern."look,i'm going to head out for a bit.just to think. i'll be back" he sighed. "well,o.k,but be careful.you know what happen last time." zander nodded. "i'll be fine." with that,zander left.ali looked to abe.he looked just as worried as she did.
Zander sighed as he walked down the length of the river. he could understand his friends confusion. zander was too sure about his wish either. far as he knew,he was the only slig who wished for real legs. most sligs were more concerned about getting the metal pants in the first place. basicly,a slig without metal pants was as good as dead. that bothered zander. he knew very well that a wire could snap or the legs could rust eaisly out here. considering he was in the wilderness and no doubt reported as wanted now he wouldn't be able to get a new pair easily. if this pair happen to break down,zander would be screwed. that wasn't what bothered zander the most though. as bad as loseing his "legs" (and zander used that term loosely) would be,what really tugged at his mind was the fact that he couldn't feel anything with them. he couldn't feel pain,warmth,coolness,anything. they were lifeless stumps and it felt werid haveing limbs that felt nothing. zander sighed again and put a hand on the cool metal. " geez,cool it zand." zander growled to himself. " better stop wishing for things you can't have. there's no way i'll ever get real legs"
"acuttely,there is a way..."
zander gave a yelp of surprize at the sound of the strange voice. he then whriled around. his breath got caught in his throat as his gaze fell on the vykker standing before him.
for a minute zander was paralyazed with fear.zander,like any other slig,had heard stories about vykkers.he heard they were sadtisitic,ruthless, creatures who didn’t care how much pain their exeperiment subjects were in, just as long as they can make money or something useful on the outcome. Most sligs and even some glukkons were afraid of vykkers. Zander didn’t blame them one bit. Vykkers were in their own way,creepy. This vykker was just as creppy as the rest of them too. Maybe even creepier. Zander finely got over his intial shock and backed away with a threating growl. “ ok buddy! I don’t know what you want and I personally don’t care but I think you picked the wrong slig to mess with!” the light purple vykker gave a small laugh at this statement and then looked up at zander. “ relax, zander, I’m not here to cause trouble.” Zander snarled slightly,still not trusting. “how do you know my name?” the vykker smirked. “oh come,almost everyone’s heard of the rouge slig that quit his job and ended up befriending mudokons.” Zanders angry look fell. “oh.” Zander mumbled. “oh,indeed.” The vykker then reached out his upper left arm to shake hands. Zander unconsciously pulled back from the vykkers hand. The vykker didn’t seem to mind this. He just returned his hand to his side. “ by the way,my name is wanseny. “ zander nodded politely, ackknowledgeing the name. He then stopped in thought and looked to wanseny. “you said earlier that something could be done about my legs…can you really…”
“of course dear boy. Quite a simple procedure really. What do you say?”
“welllll….” Zanders eyes suddenly slitted. “hold on a sec…whats the catch?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“oh please, nobody would do something like this for nothing. How much does it cost?”
wanseny chuckled slightly and smiled, as if amused by zanders question. “ nothing at all zander. Nothing. No strings,no catches, nothing. Completely free.” Zander looks confused. From what he heard vykkers weren’t like this. There had to be a catch. if not earlier,it should have been then when his better judgement would kick in and tell that vykker to take a hike. Unfortunely..it didn’t kick in. “so,have we got a deal?” wanseny had put out his hand again,ready to shake. Zander stared at the hand for a few minutes and slowly in a careful manner,zander gripped wansenys hand. “we have a deal.”
After a few hours Zander and wanseny reached wansenys lab. Zander looked around the lab and shuddered. He had always found labs spooky and this lab was no exception. Vials filled with strange colored liquid stood on some of the many counters. Syringes were kept in a rack, the bright lab lights reflecting off the needly points. On one of the tables was a large jar filled with perserveing liquid. Floating in the liquid was what looked like a scarb embryo. Zander scrunched up his face tenctles in disgust.
“yewww…”
“ it was a 98th birthday gift, apparently one of my collauges though it was funny.”
Wanseny then put on of his long spindely arms on a large steel table in the middle of the room.
“ now hop on and we’ll get started.”
Zander hesiated slightly before walking up to the table and then hauling himself onto it.
“ good, now get out of your pants, considering you soon won’t need them anymore.”
Zander nodded and somewhat reluncantly removed the metal pants. He then gave wanseny a questioning look.
“umm.. this may sound like a dumb question but is this going to hurt?”
wanseny gave a slight chuckle.
“ acutely,yes, but don’t worry about it, your not going to feel it.”
A sudden prick went into zanders arm. Zander cried out in pain even as the hot pinprick of pain began to ebb. His eyes grew strangely heavy and he began to have trouble holding up his head. He layed down his head as his vision began to blur. The last zander saw before blacking out was the evil looking smile on wansenys face.
..." i'm worried.." ali stated as she took another worried glance at the stairway that zander had gone up hours ago. " it's been too long."
"i'm sure he's fine." abe replyed, though he sounded as if he was trying to convince himself more then ali. truth was, he was getting worried himself. ali cast him and hopeful glance.
"you really think so...it's not that i think zander can't handle himself, it's just that i..well..i just got a bad feeling, thats all."
abe couldn't help but notice how ali's deep brown eyes reminded him of fire. in fury, her eyes seemed filled with the heat and rage of a out of control forest fire. the type that came from an carelessly ungaurded campfire, that broke from it's expected boundries. that was the look abe had recived after trying to possess zander. when ali was worried though, the flames seemed to dim to a light tint, the flickers of hope. it was amazeing how fast those eyes could flare or die down.
"i'm sure ali."
ali still didn't look convinced.abe took a deep breath.
"tell you what,if zand isn't back by dark i'll help you go look for him."
" hah! you just want some alone time with her so you two can play kissy face." munch laughed from a nearby rock.
abe whipped his head around and gave munch an angry glare. he then turned back to ali,a calm look on his face.
"excuse me for a sec."
abe then stalked over to munch. munch,seeing abe heading his direction, hopped away as quick as he could. abe was after him in hot pursuit. ali watched this with a slight grin.
"i'm back!!"
ali jerked up her head. "zander! about time!! i've was getting worried!"
ali quickly grabbed the young slig in an relived embrace.
" don't EVER do that again!"
"sorry, didn't mean to scare you. by the way..have you happen to look down.."
ali glanced down, expecting to see nothing new.
"what, it's just your legs.....your..flesh...legs..ACK!!"
ali jumped back to take a better look. maybe she had been wrong. she wasn't. zander had real legs.
ali shook her head and looked at the legs again. they were long and supple looking and had a greenish brown tint like the rest of his body. his feet now had three splayed toes, a long claw on each foot as well a spur on each ankle.
"ya like?" zander asked, pointing at the legs.
ali just stared for a few minutes. she then cleared her throat. "uhh,nice,umm,zand,this may seem like a dumb question but....how did you get those?"
zander grinned. "would ya belive from an vykker?"
munch, who had been hopping by,abe still after him,schreeched to a halt.
"vykker!? wheres a vykker! where!?"
abe,who had been tailing munch closely, tryed to stop but ended up tripping over munch.
"ow...." abe murmered from the floor.
ali cocked her head in confusion. " remind me, whats an vykker again?"
munch managed to struggle out from under abe and hopped over to ali and zander. " you want to know what a vykker is!? i'll tell you what a vykker is!! their evil,sadistic, creatures that don't care a thing about how much pain they put others in, as long as the outcome is money makeing or useful!!"
"i'm geussing you don't like vykkers much."
" you would jolly well hate vykkers too if one put THIS thing in your head!" munch growled, pointing to the port in his head.
zander snorted. " well,he was creepy but i doubt he's as bad as other vykkers. he seemed like an o.k guy..called himself wanseny i think."
abe laughed. "wanseny? that has got to be the stupidest name ever, eh ali?"
ali didn't anwser, her eyes were fixed straight ahead, as if transfixed. almost as if she was rembering something...
she was young. only a couple of hours old really. she was huddled in two purple arms. two gentle arms. her mothers arms. the little mudokon yawned and opened her deep brown eyes. they were bright and full of life, the eyes of a being new to the ways of the world.
"well,good morning sleepy head,it's about time you woke up." the older female laughed.
another mudokon entered the scene,this one male.he was a light green,looking like most mudokons. his feather was a orange and red swirled color and his eyes were a steel gray. it was the scar over his left eye that stood out. it look as if a crescent moon was gouged out over his eye. it deftinely gave the young male an difiant and imtimadateing apperance. at the moment though, there was a tenderness in his eyes, the look of a proud father.
"how is she?"
"she's just fine ben,theres no need to worry."
"i know,i know, i can't help it,o.k?" Ben then leaned over and smiled at the child. "hey kiddo."
the child giggled and put a hand out to her father. ben took her hand gentley and stared down at the child.
"she's got your eyes you know." ben commented.
"i know, shes got your additude though."
without warning, the young child reached out with her other arm and took hold of bens father.
"and now she's got my feather,ow! hey! no pulling!"
both child and adult females were laughing now.
"o.k kiddo,let go of daddys feather." the older female cooed as she eased the feather out of the childs hand.
ben felt his now sore area around the base of his feather. "thanks,by the way,have you thought of a name for her?"
"kind of. how does ali sound?"
"ali huh? that sounds like a sweet name to me."
"i agree." an third voice chimed in.
ben whipped around defensly and the older female went stiff. shadowed by a bright light was a small figure, it's three legs and four arms visable. clearly this was a vykker. ben growled low and tighten his fists.
"what do you want?"
"please ben, you knew from the start that i would be intrested in an event such as this should occur. now i would like to get a closer look at the child."
the vykker pushed by ben and went closer to the female and ali. ali whimpered as he came closer and then buried her head into her mothers chest.
"stop it!" ben snarled. "your scareing her!!"
the vykker ignored him and kept on comeing, his long black claws clutching her arm...
*********************************************************************************
ali felt it for real now, and not just and vision. " LET GO!!" she screamed and swung her fist out, catching the clutcher in the eye.
"OW!" abe cried,putting a hand over his left eye. " what is it with you and hitting me!"
"opps" ali giggled nervously. "my bad."
"are you o.k ali? for a few minutes there you were standing stalk still and weren't respondeing." zander asked,looking worried.
"yeah,i'm fine zander...i was just thinking of something."
ali couldn't help but feel worried. what was it about that name that seemed familer?
two weeks later....
" come on slowpokes!" ali laughed peering over her shoulder at a tired looking abe and munch. " i'm not going THAT fast!"
abe gasped slightly as he urged his legs to go on,even though his lungs felt like they were going to explode. Of all the things ali had to feel like raceing. Already he had stubbed his toes so many times they were black with dirt.
“ali! Come on! Way do you ALWAYS insist on doing this!?”
“I think she wants us to die of exhaustion” munch murmered.
“ I think she just likes to see us suffer.”
Ali just smirked at thease comments and grabbed onto a low tree branch.
“ race ya up the tree!”
“ you win, I give up.” Munch said as he leaned back against another tree.
“ suit yourself, you giving up too abe?”
“you wish! I’ll win this time, you’ll see!”
“uh,huh, and elums will fly right about then too.”
With that she set up the tree at a scampering squirrels pace. Dang, abe thought, shes just as fast in the trees as she is on land. He knew he was going to lose again but just as well try. He heaved himself up into the branches, not nearly half as graceful as ali was. Abe wasn’t sure but it could be a female thing. He had just gotten both feet firmly on a strong branch when a ball of mud hit him in the back of the head, nearly making abe lose his balance.
“WOAH! MUNCH!! Stop that!! I’m trying to climb here!!”
“I know that.” Munch grinned impishly, tossing a mudball in one of his hands. “ but I figured since your up there I’d test your skills at dodgeing. Coming at you!”
with that a barrage of mudballs headed up in abes direction. Abe yelped as a mudball hit him straight in the face and about a dozen more hit him in the stomanch. Short of breath and tempoarly blinded, abe groped for another branch with one hand and using his other hand to try to ward off the ammo hitting him. Unfortunely, keeping one’s balance and defending oneself isn’t easy when your up on a branch.
“ WOAHHH!!” Abe yelped as he fell off the branch and made a thick, loud, thawk on the muddy ground. Munch of course was laughing like crazy. Abe didn’t seem to find it so funny.
“ o.k you, get over here! Now I’m going to test YOUR dodgeing skills!” abe took a swing at munch. Who easily hopped over his arm and blew abe a raspberry. Ali grinned from her spot in the tree and laughed. Knowing there was no way she could stop the two until their taunts and blows blew out, ali decided to at least get up the rest of the way. She was still chuckeling to herself as she climbed up the last few branches. She was just a few more inches from the top. She pushed her head through the upper shrubbery, only to come face to face with a pair of red eyes.
" ACK!" ali yelped and slid down a few branches. she gasped for air for a few seconds and took a quick look up.
" ZANDER! you jerk!! you scared the living daylights out of me!"
zander chuckled as he scuttled a few steps down the trees trunk, reminding ali of a big gecko.
" heh,heh, sorry al, didn't mean it. by the way, I win."
ali gave a reluctant sigh then smiled. " that you zand, that you did."
ali had to admit, now with his new strong legs he was able to climb up a tree faster. before he could hardly make it up to the first branch and even that too about fifteen minutes. it appeared that wanseny WAS really trying to help. still...ali couldn't help but have a chilly feeling down her spine when that vykker's name was mentioned.
" gee..looks like munch is winning down there."
ali took a look down, seeing munch on the top of abes back and rubbing mud into his feather.
"MUNCH! stop it! i MEAN IT!"
"make me stich lips."
"i don't know whats more peathic." ali started. " abe and munch fighting or the fact that munch is acutelly beating him."
"yes, very sad. lets up go down and try to break them apart,shall we?"
"good idea."
they climbed their way down to the ground and jumped down onto the thin layer of leaves. it was then when a sharp pang of pain stabbed itself into zanders legs. zander gave a high yelp. munch and abe stopped in midfight at zanders suddenly outcry.
" zander? you o.k?"
zander was now finding it hard to breathe and the pain began to increase in his legs.
"uhh,yeah,i'm fine...i just uhh..have to go to the bathroom, be back."
before anyone could say anything zander ran off into the foilage.
abe,ali, and munch looked at eachother in an confused way then shrugged.
**********************************************************************************
about a few minutes into the woods zander was able to stop and rest agaisnt a tree. his breatheing was hard and raspy and now the pain was flareing up into his chest. sweat was flecked down his yellow blaze. zander wiped a couple of the drops off and looked at them with a slight smile. he had rembered ounce when his mother was alive and it was drizzleing. the drops of course had gathered on his blaze in small dots. his mother had laughed and called then sundrops. zander couldn't help but smile at that memoray,untill another sharp pang of pain went through his body.
"whats..wrong..with me?" he gasped as he felt his forehead.
"i belive i know the anwser to that."
zander went rigid,then turned. standing there was wanseny.
__________________
for every big mouth there is often a bigger foot.
|
