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It all started in 19’s that Walt Disney himself wanted to make a show about the human body.For years, they have planned the ride for a long time, until the year 1989 after Walt Disney passed away a long time ago, they have finally opened the place, calling it the Cranium Command.After the place opened, the first people to enter is a small family, a father, a mother and their little son.The son was 10 years old when he entered the stadium, looking excited to see what the show is about.Once everyone got inside and sat down, the door automatically closed after everyone settled and the pre-show began.Military music came from the speakers in the corners from the back and the front, as the video began, showing people entering the stage and sitting down on the chairs.They all are wearing almost the same uniforms, a green shirt, with a khaki-green shirt with brown cargo pants.A leather brown aviator jacket over their bodies and a cap and with a black headset with a microphone to talk to someone.Two characters started talking to each other from the front, as the male whispered to the female character, “I hear this new CEO they sent over from HQ is a real featherweight.”“Nah, he’s probably some desk jockey never been up in a brain in his life.” the female character spoke, whispering back to him.Suddenly a military horn went off in the distance, as everyone sat up into position and the wall in front of the stage crashed, as a large black tank entered, and a hatch opened in the front.Inside the tank is a figure, in the shape of a large man from the light inside.“Ten-hut!” a voice called out to everyone, as everyone stood up on their feet immediately.Then, out stepped the figure from the black tank, as he has light skin color, and short orange hair, with a straight mustache.He has a buff upper body and wearing a light flaxen short-sleeved button-up shirt, with an ascot around his neck and hidden underneath in front.The man’s shirt has metals on the left-hand side of his chest as there was a pocket on the right-hand side, and on his shoulders have thin gold shoulder pads with three stars.He is also wearing a pair of dark brown cargo pants with a black belt around his waist with a small silver buckle to keep his pants up from falling down.To top it off, he is also wearing brown combat boots, with a pair of dark sunglasses that cover his eyes.After he had got out of the tank, the speaker called out, “At ease!”“Alright, you pitiful, soft-bellied sad sacks, eyes front and listen up!” he bellowed loudly, as everyone else listened to him silently without anyone whispering to each other.“I’m your commanding officer, General Knowledge.” The General introduced himself quickly. “And it’s my job to turn you mealy-mouthed meatheads into a crack squadron of Cranium Commandos!”As he spoke, the tank drove away from the spot, leaving a large hole in the wall, before covered by a light blue screen for the projection to start.“Your job — if you can cut it — will be to run the most sophisticated information system ever devised: the human brain.” General Knowledge explained, before noticing something in the background, as the camera was still facing him.“You! There in the back! Suck in that gut and wipe that smile off your face! The brain is serious business.” he snapped at the person.As he was snapping at that person, he lowered his head so that the people could see his face, as he was showing his eyes, which his eye color is black.“Now, listen up, you miserable toads! This is your brain.” He pointed at the screen as it showed a human brain, hitting it with his horsewhip.“You will eat with it, sleep with it, you will never leave it!” he continued yelling, hitting his left hand with the horsewhip in his hand, as the projectionist showed examples of human brains. “Without you, the brain is nothing. Without your brain, you are nothing!”The last picture showed a man standing perfectly still as the brain is leaving out of the mind and crashed to the ground.Then, the man disappeared into thin air after that.“It took three million years of research and development to make this lean, mean thinkin’ machine what it is today.” he continued, slapping the horsewhip against the wall as the pictures went by in a blink.“In those years, we had some successes,” he spoke as a picture of Albert Einstein appeared. “And some failures.”The next picture showed of Jim Varney.“And if you meatballs can’t fly right, you’ll wind up piloting one of these.” he thrusted the tip of his horsewhip at a picture of a chicken. “Do I make myself clear!?”“Yes, sir!” the recruits responded.“I can’t heeeear you!” General Knowledge called.“YES SIR!!” the recruits shouted.“That’s better.” he nodded.He turned back to the screen behind his back, and the next picture to appear is the top of the brain.“A brain is divided into two halves, the right, and the left-” he continued to talk until he was interrupted when the music was stopped, and a small person walked into the auditorium, late.The small recruit is wearing a khaki-green shirt with brown cargo pants, with black combat boots.His leather brown aviator jacket was unzipped and is wearing his cap and with a black headset with a microphone.He has fair skin color with black beady eyes, behind his thin-rimmed glasses.Underneath his hat, he has short and messy brown hair, but is hidden underneath, except the back of his head.“Excuse me, uh…” he pardoned himself, taking his hat off as he pardoned himself, chuckling nervously. “Heheh… Sorry. Heheheh.”After he sat down in an empty, chuckling nervously, General Knowledge thrust his first finger at him, pointing at him, while smushing nose from underneath the nose bridge of his glasses.“You!” he bellowed.“Me, sir?” he stammered, squirming around in his chair.“No, your mama! Yes, you! Get up here on the double! Move it, move it, move it!” General Knowledge shouted, ordering him to be on the auditorium stage.The little character jumped up from his seat like a cartoon character as his hands were on his hat, keeping it on as he ran, leaving a small puff of dust behind his feet.When he was on the stage, he stopped in front of General Knowledge, standing stiff as he could be.“What’s your name, recruit?” he asked.“Buzzy, sir!” Buzzy responded, saluting to him.“You think you’re ready to pilot a brain, Fuzzy?” General Knowledge asked, putting his first finger against his temple.“That’s Buzzy, sir.” Buzzy corrected him. “Oh yes! You just let me in the control pa-”“Quiet!” General Knowledge shouted, interrupting him. “Do you know the brain can process up to three million bytes of information per second?”“Uh… Why you, sir-” Buzzy responded before interrupted again by him.“I don’t think you’ve got the lecture on a dim light bulb, Freaky!” General Knowledge continued, as Buzzy listened to him, looking nervous. “I don’t think you understand the amount of concentration and commitment it takes to run this lovely unit.”“Just look at you!” he snapped, thrusting the front of the horsewhip into his stomach, causing him to wince. “You’re a disgrace!”He quickly moved his horsewhip up and pulled Buzzy’s tucked shirt up out from his pants, as he continued listening to him blabbering about him.“Does your mother still dress you, boy?” General Knowledge snapped, messing up his hat, glasses, and headphones.“Well, yes, sir,” Buzzy responded before was shouted at by General Knowledge.“Don’t talk when I’m shouting!!” he bellowed, as Buzzy quickly turned his body and shoved his shirt into his pants. “Drop and give me twenty!”“Sir! Yes, sir!” he responded, and in one move, he rearranged his hat and headphones into place and dropped to the ground, doing push-ups as he counted.“Where was I?” General Knowledge asked himself, as he placed his dark glasses back on. “Oh… yes.”He turned back to the picture that shows the brain.“Your brain is divided into two halves.” General Knowledge continued. “The left brain handles the linear thinking: analysis, logic.”The left-hand side of the brain showed equations and information, with gears working and turning.“The right brain is the creative center, home of the emotions and imagination.” He continued talking, instructing to the recruits.The right-hand side of the brain showed the colors and imaginary objects.“From the command seat, here in the cortex, you’ll run the whole shebang.” The next picture showed the brain on the side in a diagram, as an arrow pointed at the bottom, at the steam from the behind.“Any questions?” he asked, as every hand in the auditorium goes up. “No? Good!”Suddenly, the warning beepers went off, warning everyone about the next mission going on.“All right, you chickens, this is it. Let’s scramble. On the double! Move it, move it, move it!” General Knowledge ordered as everyone scrambled to get into their positions.For Buzzy in the meantime, he was still doing push-ups, as he was struggling on one until he was stomped all over by the rushing people.He survived the stomping, but only left a smushed figure on the ground, covered with boot prints.“What now, Scuzzy? Takin’ a nap?” General Knowledge asked, not knowing how much in pain he is in. “Get your heinie in gear and hustle!”“Sir! Yes… sir!” Buzzy gasped, as he tried walking towards the door.As everyone rushed to their stations, they chanted a chant that everyone knows of.“🎵Little women, little men, Tucked inside your cra-ni-um!🎵” They all chanted, as they entered a large area, where there are many heads, that is either getting hair, shaved, putting things inside, or getting something ready. “🎵We’re the ones that make you go. Cranium Comma-andos!🎵”Buzzy was tagging along with the commanders, singing along with them.“🎵Little women and little men-🎵” he sang until he was cut off by General Knowledge.“Blinky, you leadfoot, if you moved any slower you’d be going backwards! Putting you in a chicken is cruelty to animals! I’m gonna stick you in a squid, a lumpfish, a talk show host! Now get in line. Move it, move it, move it!” he shouted at him from behind, as he sped up his speed.When Buzzy was in line with the rest, he called out to them, “Ten-hut!” and all of them straighten their positions.“Here’s your assignments, so listen up!” General Knowledge called to them, before calling the first one on the list. “Sicto!”Sictio, the first character to appear on the screen before everything started walked up in front and stood proud.“Sir!” she called.“You drew a rocket scientist. Ha! Sicto, if your brains were dynamite, you couldn’t blow your nose! Take off!” General Knowledge called to her, before letting her go.“Sir, thank you, sir!” She thanked, before running to her head.“Trousdale!” General Knowledge called the next person, which is the first male character to appear on the screen, as he stepped up. “Can you walk and chew gum at the same time?”“Never tried, sir!” he responded.“I’d like to know how HQ picked you for this job, Trousdale. With a dartboard?!” General Knowledge snapped, before pointing over at a football player’s head. “That’s your NFL All-Pro runnin’ back over there! Now get outta my sight!”“Sir! Thank you, sir!” He ran over to the head that General Knowledge pointed to and entered inside.One by one, they were picked with a head and ran to each one, all except Buzzy.“Uh, General Knowledge, sir?” Buzzy asked as he turned around to him. “You didn’t give me an assignment yet, sir.”General Knowledge glanced at his clipboard in his hand, reading the list before a shocked look appeared on his face.“Oh no! This has gotta be a sick joke!” He cried out, before leaning down to Buzzy’s height, poking his chest with his first finger of his right hand. “So, goldbrick, you wanna pilot a brain, huh?”Confident, Buzzy responded with a positive, “Yes, sir!” as he saluted him.“Ten-hut!” General Knowledge shouted as he turned his body around to where he is walking.His hat along with his headset jumped up from his head after he whipped around and landed in the same spot, without being out of place.“Well, some gen-i-us at HQ has picked you to pilot the most unstable craft in the fleet!” General Knowledge explained as Buzzy followed him.“You-you don’t mean-” Buzzy stammered, gulping nervously, as he pulled the collar of his shirt with his left hand.“You guessed it, Stinky. An adolescent boy. This particular model is twelve years old. Very unpredictable.” General Knowledge finished, explaining him.But, Buzzy was not going to be backed down by someone who is adolescent and decided to be determined to do his job.Instead, he climbed up the stairs and started heading to the inside of the brain.“Don’t worry, sir! I can haaa-aaaa!” He screamed when he fell inside, banging against a few things, before popping out of the head’s mouth.He chuckled nervously and finished what he was saying, “Don’t worry, sir. I can-I can handle it.”“You couldn’t find your head with both hands and a flashlight!” he called up to him, as he went back into the head.He turned around and mumbled underneath his breath as he walked away, “Sweet blue yonder, where do they get these knuckleheads? And why do they always wind up in my outfit?”While taking off, Buzzy noticed one of the people, and gave them the thumbs up, which did not give him the thumbs up, but huffed and turned their heads away.After the top of the head of the female was closed, Buzzy gently facepalmed himself from his stupidity.“Roger, twelve-year-old, all clear for takeoff on delta one niner tango. All clear. Over.” a person spoke through the radio, letting other people know which head is going to take off.Bobby’s head was screwed on a body, as construction people attached bolts on it, and weld it on.General Knowledge was saluting to the rest, as his back was facing the audience.Then, the General turned to the audience from behind the screen and pointed at them, while speaking and lifting his glasses up for a moment, “Hey, you goldbricks, this ain’t a spectator sport! Where do you think you are, Disney World??!! Get your strollers in line and hustle! On the double! Move it, move it, move it!”Then, the screen went back as a picture of a hand pointed at the other side of the room, where the doors opened.“All right, recruits, please look down and watch your step as you enter the theater through the doors to your left. Have a great day.” The crew member explained as people walked through the door.“All right recruits, let’s pick a row and move all the way to the end. Let’s go. Move on! Are you waiting for your mamas to seat you?! Walk swiftly, do not run! Move it!” The General’s voice called to everyone through the speakers as everyone got into their seats, as the boy and his family sat down in front of the Buzzy animatronic.From where he sits at, he could see the Buzzy animatronic sitting in his chair, waiting patiently and motionlessly for any instructions.“Let’s try not to look like a bunch of tourists! Squeeze all the way… All the way to the end and I don’t want to see any open spaces. This isn’t rocket science, people. That’s better. Good! Now you’ve got it. We may make Cranium Commandos outta you yet.” the General continued, as everyone finished sitting down.After the doors closed, the crew member came in and explained, “And welcome to the command center. Is everybody ready to take a journey today? All right, good deal. In just a few moments, we’re going to turn it over to Captain Buzzy, but the General’s got a few more instructions.”“One of the instructions I’m going to give you is we ask you to remain seated throughout this performance.” The crew member continued. “That’s for your safety and the safety of those around you. I’ll let the General talk. He likes talking a lot more than I do, so I don’t want to steal his thunder.”The military music went on, and General Knowledge’s voice spoke through the speakers, telling everyone about the rules, “Now listen up! This training exercise will require your utmost attention and concentration. Therefore, distractions must be kept to a minimum. Understood? There will be no flash photography or videotaping, and no smoking in here. Got it? And absolutely no drinking or eating, either. That is all, recruits. At ease!”It went back to the crew member, and the person continues talking, “I’m going to turn it over now. We’re going to go back to reality, and turn it over to Captain Buzzy here, who’s going to take you through the day of a twelve-year-old. Are you ready? All right, here we go. Captain Buzzy, take it away.”After the crew member finished talking, the Buzzy animatronic started moving his fingers, as if he was nervously thinking to himself.The movements of the animatronic amazed the boy as he watched, as his mother and father watched along with him.“Gee, it sure is dark in here. There’s gotta be a light around here somewhere. Ah! This oughta do it.” the Buzzy animatronic spoke, before clicking a button, which made the overhead screen turned on, revealing to be General Knowledge, startling him. “Whoa!”“All right, pinhead, listen up. Your job is to pilot this craft through a typical day’s maneuvers without overstressing it.” General Knowledge explained. “Remember, use your head, don’t lose your head.”General Knowledge’s tone turned serious, as he tilted his glasses down slightly, revealing his eyes to him.“I got my eye on you, Fuzzy,” he warned, before pointing at a chicken in the corner of the room.“Screw up this mission,” he paused, mentioning to the chicken, before moving his head in front of the screen. “And you’ll be piloting a chicken ‘til your retirement day. Got that?!”With that, the screen went black after he had snapped.“Uh, yes, sir,” Buzzy called to the general after he had gone out. “Guess I better get this show on the road. Okay crew, report in. Left Brain, Right Brain! Come in, please.”Then, a long machine rose up from the pit underneath Buzzy, looking up at him.“Yes, Captain? Did you call?” The robot asked as the voice sounded monotoned.“Uh, no. I… guess I just pressed the wrong button.” Buzzy answered, sounding confused.“It figures.” the robot sighed, as it moved down. “No one ever wants to talk to me.”“Who are you, anyway?” Buzzy asked before the robot shuts down.“I’m only the hypothalamus. I only monitor all the automatic functions of the body.” The Hypothalamus explained. “All the things you don’t need to worry about. I’m used to being taken for granted. Blink, blink, breathe, breathe, day in, day out. Never a ‘Thank you,’ never a ‘Job well done.’”“Gee, I’m sorry. I had no idea.” Buzzy apologized, before noticing something strange from the screen, as the long tube from the right-hand side was glowing a light purple color. “Hey, wait a minute. What’re all these things?”“Dreams, sir.” the Hypothalamus answered, as signs of fish, Egyptian symbols and other things appear. “You’re in the sleep mode. You should’ve had this in class.”“Hmmm. Looks pretty simple…” Buzzy mumbled.Suddenly, loud rock music was blasted through the speakers, causing the boy to jump from his seat, as two screens suddenly flicked on, revealing to be the 12-year-old boy’s eyes.“Whoa! Whoa! What’s going on?! What’s happening?! Whoa!” Buzzy cried out, sounding startled from the sudden noise. “Oh, the alarm clock. Eyes, find the clock!”The eyes glanced around for a moment, before noticing the alarm clock, with the time saying ‘7:30.’“Arms, hit it, hit it!” Buzzy cried out, as the hand hit the side of the alarm clock and it crashed on the ground, turning it off.Buzzy sighed in relief after the alarm clocked turned off and the left-hand side of the tube started to glow purple, revealing to be another person.The eyes drifted off somewhere else.“Well, I guess we’re awake now, huh?” Buzzy asked himself, before noticing the figure on the overhead screen. “Good morning, guys.”“Morning, Captain.” the person greeted, as he sat down on a chair in front of a desk. “Left Brain reporting for duty, sir. Logic circuits are working at full capacity. Let's have a safe and sane day, shall we?”“Roger, Left Brain.” Buzzy nodded his head, before the right-hand side of the tube glowed a purple color, switching to a different person.“Right Brain here, Buzz! Free association and creativity banks fully charged.” the happy person replied, explaining to him, before being hit by a balloon object.“Roger, dude.” Buzzy chuckled.Then, the bottom screen turned on, revealing another person, pumping something.“Heart reporting, Captain. Left Ventricle…” the person spoke, before pausing as the camera turned to a different person.“Right Ventricle!” the second person responded after him.“Ve are on…” they both spoke at the same time, before clapping their hands and pointing at him. “Und pumping!”Then, the screen turned to a different person, surrounded by different wires and maybe holding a few in his hands.“Adrenal Gland reporting, Captain. Ready to freak out at any second!” he spoke, sounding a little excited.“Not now, please,” Buzzy spoke, as the screen changed to a different person, wandering in darkness.“Stomach reporting, Captain.” the person spoke, as he glanced around with a light on. “Runnin’ on empty down here. Suppose you could toss down some of those cold pizza crusts from last night? You could just, you know-”He was interrupted when the boy’s mother appeared, looking down at him.“Bobby, aren’t you up yet? The bus’ll be here any second,” she warned.“Okay, Mom, I’m up.” Bobby sighed.“Okay, guys, we’re running a little late,” Buzzy spoke, getting ready to lead the way. “Legs, swing over forty-five degrees and extend peds. Head for the door. Walk vector ten.”Then the overhead screen turned to the Left Brain.“Going to school stark naked, are we? Puh-lease!” the Left Brain asked.Confused, the eyes glanced over at the mirror, only to see Bobby, naked only to the waist down since it is inappropriate for younger audiences.“Whoa! Quick! Let’s find some clothes.” Buzzy spoke, directing the body to look around the room for any clothes. “There’s gotta be something in here.”The body looked around for a moment, before opening a closet door noticing a pair of pants hanging up.“Ah, good, pants,” Buzzy mumbled to himself, before looking for the shirt. “Uh, the shirt’s still okay, it’s only been worn a couple of days.”Then, they looked for the shoes and found one of them, as the other one was hidden underneath the pillow.“Shoes.” Buzzy continued mumbling to himself until he finished looking for any clothes. “All right, we’re outta here.”The overhead screen turned on again and showed Left Brain, his hands folded in front of him on the desk.“Aren’t we forgetting some… functions?” he asked.The eyes glanced over at the toilet and Buzzy paused for a moment.“Uh… Elimination, give me a reading!” Buzzy ordered.The bottom screen turned on and showed a man, taking out a tube, filled with yellow liquid.“Uh, bladder reading at 9.9, sir.” Elimination responded.“We can hold it.” Buzzy quickly spoke.A horrified face appeared on his face, as he mouthed the word, “No.” repeatedly before the screen turned black.“Full speed ahead!” Buzzy ordered as Bobby rushed down the stairs.The overhead screen turned to the Left Brain as he said, “I can see you’re going to put us all under a bit of a strain today.”The bottom screen turned on again, as the man in the stomach said, mentioning to the obnoxious growling echoing inside, “Captain, I know we’re in a hurry, but this puppy’s starting to growl down here, ya know what I mean?”“I hear you, Stomach,” Buzzy assured as Bobby sees his mother cooked him a healthy meal. “Looks like we’ve got breakfast dead ahead. Let’s chow down.”The overhead screen turned back on and revealed to be the Right Brain, as he was dressed in a cooking uniform, holding out dessert, “Guys! Let’s go for the dessert!”Before Bobby could eat his breakfast, a horn honked from outside, sounding like it was from a vehicle.“Hey, Smarty-Pants, the bus is here.” Bobby’s sister spoke, as she pointed at the window of the front glass door.The bottom screen turned on once more and showed the man in the stomach again.“Could’ve sworn I heard something about breakfast,” he murmured.The horn honked twice from the vehicle and Bobby looked outside, to see the bus waiting for him.“The bus!!” Adrenaline shrieked, as sparks of electricity went everywhere.“Run for it!” Buzzy panicked, as Bobby ran straight for the bus, avoiding the traffic.“Whoa! Bobby, would you watch where you’re going?” one of the neighbors called to him as he ran.“Hey, kid! Get off my car!” Another neighbor called to him after he slid off his car.They were not catching up to the bus, so they stopped at an alley.“It’s getting away! Quick! Take a shortcut.” Buzzy ordered as Bobby turned the corner.“Planning an alternate route to school, sir.” Left Brain spoke. “Memory indicates the presence of a small, rabid poodle-”Just as he said that a small poodle came up to him, barking at Bobby.“Whoa! Watch out! Back up!” Buzzy ordered.After Buzzy ordered that, Bobby backed up into someone’s house.“I see it! Step on it! Step on it!” Adrenaline shrieked, as more sparks of electricity went everywhere.“Quick! Cut through here.” Buzzy ordered, as Bobby turned and ran through the house, passing a lady doing laundry.The bottom screen turned on and showed the heart.“Heart reporting, Captain, ve are pumping!” Right Ventricle spoke.“Ja, but ve’re really low on energy.” Left Ventricle replied.“Vhat are jou going to do about et?” Right Ventricle asked.“Stomach, we need fuel! Do you read?” Buzzy spoke, turning to the next person.“No can do, Captain. Remember that breakfast we didn’t have?” Stomach replied.“Blood sugar is falling.” the Hypothalamus spoke.“You have exactly two seconds to get to class.” Left Brain warned.Bobby zoomed into the school and went into the hallway.“Cut to the right! Turn!” Buzzy ordered, before noticing a seat.Bobby sat down on the chair and sighed in relief.“There’s our desk.” Buzzy sighed.“Okay, my little… monsters. Let’s create.” the chemistry teacher spoke.“Excuse me.” a female’s voice spoke to Bobby, as Bobby turned around, seeing a beautiful young lady. “Looks like we’re gonna be lab partners.”“Yes!” Right Brain smiled.“Heart reporting, Captain. Ve have just skipped a beat.” The Left Ventricle reported.“Ja, vhat es going on up zhere?” The Right Ventricle asked.“She’s beautiful!” Buzzy gasped, awed at the beauty of the female.“Um, I’m new here.” The female replied, turning to Bobby. “My name’s Annie. What’s yours?”“Uh… say something.” Buzzy stammered.“Uh… B-b-beautiful. I mean, Bobby.” Bobby stammered, stuttering on his words as he spoke.“Contact. 6.5, Captain.” The Sensory Report reported.“Okay, Bobby. I’ll measure; you mix.” Annie smiled, handing him the masher that is filled with chemicals inside.Bobby glanced over at masher and started to carefully mix.“Careful, careful. Some of these compounds are not entirely stable.” Left Brain warned.“I feel like an unstable compound whenever we look at her. This must be chemistry.” Right Brain sighed, as Bobby glanced at her, away from the mixture.“Concentrate! This could be dangerous.” Left Brain warned as Bobby glanced at the work he was doing.“Just imagine…” Buzzy sighed, as Bobby glanced back at Annie, forgetting about the compounds in front of him that he is mixing.Music started playing from the Right Brain, as there were pictures of her appearing on the screen.“🎵Hey Venus, oh Venus, make my wish come true…🎵” the music played.Suddenly, smoke started to come from the corner of Bobby, which was coming from the left-hand side of him, as Annie glanced back at him, before glancing at the work he was doing.“Bobby, watch out!” Annie cried out, as Bobby glanced over at what he was doing and the mixture he was doing was in flames.“Whoa! Hands, get outta there!” Buzzy cried out as the hands moved out of the fire’s reach. “Feet! Stomp it! Stomp it! Put it out!”After he ordered the next one, Bobby stomped his feet, while he was running out of the classroom.The alarms went blurring inside the auditorium, as Adrenaline continued screaming in horror, as electric sparks went everywhere.“See? You put us in an explosive situation!” Left Brain snapped.“I’ve never had to work this hard in my life.” Adrenaline sighed.“Ja, vhat a loser Captain ve have.” Right Ventricle spoke.“Yeah, jou’re a pathetic girly-man.” Left Ventricle agreed.“Jou’re a girly-man, loser, und pathetic.” Right Ventricle added.“Say now, Captain, I’d be willing to call it even if you could just toss a little bit of food into the old dumpster. Whaddya say?” Stomach complained.By this time, Bobby has left Chemistry class from the incident, and it is now lunchtime.“Okay, guys, this time we’ll eat. I promise.” Buzzy promised, before noticing someone. “Wow, look. There she is.”Annie turned around and noticed Bobby, before smiling.“Oh, hi.” she greeted.Before Bobby would say anything, two bullies that are taller than Booby walk up to Annie, blocking his way.“Hey look, Chad, it’s the new girl.” the first bully mocked.“She needs some company, huh, Rico?” Chad giggled.They began messing up the food on Annie’s tray, biting some and making fun out of her.“Come on, you guys…” she sighed, as the continued messing with the food.“We’ve gotta help her!” Buzzy worriedly spoke.“We’ll rescue her! We’ll swing in on a vine, and take her to a desert island!” Right Brain smiled.“Nonsense.” Left Brain rejected. “We’ll simply explain to these ruffians the lasting negative ramifications of their delinquent behavioral tendencies.”“Okay, you take the helm, Left Brain.” Buzzy agreed.“All right, Bobby, address them.” Left Brain commanded.Bobby walked over to the bullies and patted one of their shoulders, clearing his throat.“Ahem, come now, gentlemen. I’m sure I needn’t point out the negative impact in both social and academic dimensions of your Neanderthal tactics.” Bobby explained, before being grabbed by one of them.Adrenaline begins to freak out as they lifted him up from the ground, as more electricity sparks went everywhere.“I should point out that this will reflect very poorly on your citizenship record, and it’ll look bad when you’re not studying at the college of your choice!” Bobby panicked, as he was turned upside down and thrown into the trash.“You’ve got to give me a chance for revenge!” Right Brain replied, speaking up.“Okay, Right Brain, go!” Buzzy agreed, as some videos of people fighting each other, until one of the ideas was tossing food into someone’s face.Bobby grabs something from the trash can and gets out, still holding the handful of food in his hand.“Ramming speed!” Right Brain excitedly yelled.Then, Bobby thrusts the handful of food into Chad’s face, smearing it all over.Adrenaline freaked out as Chad grabbed some food from a tray right next to him.“Look out! Yeah, duck! Duck!” Buzzy ordered.The food fight rapidly escalates after Chad tosses it, missing Bobby.“FOOD FIGHT!!” Adrenaline shrieked, as everyone grabbed food from trays and tossed it, tossing it at either reach other or at the bullies.“I suppose you’ll be wanting reflex dodge maneuvers, sensors on hypervigilance, and endorphin pain suppressors on maximum.” The Hypothalamus spoke.“Give me some action!” Right Brain yelled, sounding excited.“Hey, Buzz! As long as you’re tossing all that food around, why don’t you toss some down here, eh?” Stomach yelled as Bobby dodged the flying food.“All right, Stomach, here you go, a burger with everything on it.” Buzzy grinned as Bobby ate the burger.He cried out with glee and cheered, as more food landed inside the stomach as Bobby ate.“Hallelujah!” Stomach cried out in joy.“30-degree roll!” a speaker called out, as Bobby ducked again from tossed food.“Watch it!” Buzzy cried out. “Milk cartons launching, sector 4-D!”“That’s whole milk, too! These guys are serious!” Right Brain remarked.“Who took the bite out of it?” Stomach asked.Then, Chad came over towards Bobby, while a girl was blocking his way, as he had a handful of lasagna in his hand.“Reload! Reload!” the Sensory Report repeated.“Incoming lasagna at five o’clock. Dive! Dive!” Buzzy quickly ordered, but it was too late.The handful of lasagna went into Bobby’s face, covering the eyes as the screen went black.“We’re hit, we’re hit! Going down!” Buzzy cried out.Then, the overhead screen turned on, revealing to be General Knowledge.“What the devil is going on, Drunky? Your job is to protect this body from unnecessary stress, not send it into a coma!” General Knowledge snapped.“Well, the Left Brain wanted-but then the Adrenal Gland said-and the-” Buzzy stammered before cut off by General Knowledge.“You can’t just listen to every fool thing that comes into your head. That’s why there’s chaos in this body. Make decisions! Get this crew working together! You’re just begging to pilot this chicken, aren’t you, boy?” General Knowledge ranted, before holding up a chicken by the neck.“Y-yes, sir. I-I mean no, sir!” Buzzy stammered.“I’m warning you, Skunky!” General Knowledge warned as the chicken clucked once.After he warned, the screen went black.“I’ve gotta get my act together here. Okay, I’ll do better. I’ll use my head. He’ll be proud of me.” Buzzy mumbled to himself. “All right. Hands, wipe the eyes, please.”Just after the hands wiped the lasagna away, a teacher was standing in front of him, covered with food.“Well, young man, perhaps a trip to the principal’s office will straighten you out.” the teacher growled, grabbing Bobby’s shoulder roughly and dragged him towards the principal.“Lose audio; I get the idea.” Bobby sighed, sounding like he has lost hope.“We’re gonna get the salt mines, I tell ya! The curtain! The big house! Maybe even prison!” Right Brain worriedly complained.From the distance of the way to the principal’s office, Bobby heard the principal talking to the bullies, before saying, “Six weeks of detention. Out!”Bobby passes the bullies on his way into the principal’s office, as Buzzy watched and along the way, they glare at him.“Six weeks?! Oh, no. It’ll be an eternity.” Right Brain moaned.“How ‘bout a last meal? Uh, it’s kinda traditional.” Stomach suggested.Bobby entered the principal’s office, sitting down on the chair in front of the desk, as he was staring at the principal.The principal sat down on his chair, as a pang of nervous guilt sank in the boy’s stomach.“Right.” the principal sighed, staring at him. “And what’s your side of this?”“Uh, stall for time. Shuffle feet. Uh, wring hands.” Buzzy ordered, as Bobby shuffled his feet, and wrung his hands nervously.“We’ll probably be put on suspension for this.” Left Brain suggested. “We can kiss Harvard good-bye. No job. No upwardly mobile lifestyle. I hope you’re proud of yourself, young man. You obviously have no need for logic whatsoever. Thank you so much, and good night.”The bottom screen turned on and revealed a man, looking panicked.“Lungs reporting, sir!” He shouted. “We’re hyperventilating!”Then he glanced out in the background, away from Buzzy.“Batten down the bronchial tubes!” he shrieked.“I recommend using a brown paper bag.” Left Brain adds before leaving.“CO2 is dropping fast.” The Hypothalamus spoke, as the alarms are blaring and the light beaming red.“Oh, I’m feelin’ really light-headed, man.” Right Brain spoke.“Listen to us now und believe us later. Ef ve vere 30 years older, ve’d be attacking jou right now.” Left Ventricle spoke.“Ja, ef ve live zhat long.” Right Ventricle added.Adrenaline only replied by shrieking as the electricity went everywhere.“Sorry, Captain. We can’t take much more of this. I’m gonna have to send some back up.” Stomach panicked, turning some levers.“No, don’t! Seal all exits! Seal all exits!” Buzzy panicked, ordering some orders.General Knowledge appeared on the overhead screen and yelled, “What in blazes are you up to now?!”“I might as well say good-bye now, sir.” Buzzy sadly sighed. “They’re gonna burn as at stake and send our ashes into Siberia.”“Nonsense, Pinky. You're just worrying yourself sick.” General Knowledge assured. “Real stress or imagined stress, it doesn’t matter beans to your body crew. They can’t tell the difference, only you can. Take charge, lunkhead! Be calm, cool, collected, serene, balanced, centered, and relaxed. Like ME!!”With that, the overhead screen turned off, as the surrounding noises continued to go.“Now hear this!” Buzzy yelled as things were going haywire, then he shrieked, at the top of his lungs, “Quiet!!”Everything stopped as the red lights are still on and listened to him.“Look, guys, this isn’t the end of the world, okay? Now let’s cooperate for once.” Buzzy assured everyone. “Left Brain?”“Yes, sir?” Left Brain responded, peeking around the corner of the doorway.“Give me the bottom line,” Buzzy ordered.“Run.” Left Brain responded.“Right Brain?” Buzzy turned to the other side of the brain.“Do what you really feel.” Right Brain responded.“I’ve got a solution that covers both. We’re going to tell the truth.” Buzzy responded as Bobby glanced up.“I’m sorry, Mr. Hardcase. When I saw those guys bugging Annie, I-I guess I just lost my head.” Bobby explained, telling the principal the truth.“I think we can be a little lenient here. Why don’t you just help the janitor clean up the cafeteria after school?” the principal sighed.“Really? Boy, thank you, sir. Thanks a lot.” Bobby thanked.Right Brain cheered in happiness, relieved that nothing terrible has happened.“Right, right, right. Get outta here. Go on.” the principal brushed.“Well done, Buzzy: wonderfully logical.” Left Brain cheered.“It felt a moment. It was beautiful.” Right Brain smiled.“Yeah, we’re starting to get the hang of it now. What with a little teamwork, we’ll become invincible.” Buzzy smiled.“Warning! Warning! You’ve been tapped on the shoulder. Warning! Warning!” the Sensory Report repeated.“It’s a ghost!!!” Adrenaline shrieked at the top of his lungs, as sparks went everywhere.“Adrenaline, would you chill out?!” Buzzy snapped. “You’re getting everybody all worked up. Just keep cool, guys, and stand by for instructions. Come full about.”So, Bobby turned around to see Annie, not covered in food from the food fight earlier in the cafeteria.“Hi, Bobby.” Annie greeted, as Bobby sighed gently, following her to his locker.“Look, um, I just wanted to thank you for helping me out with those guys who were hassling me.” Annie thanked.“No sweat.” Buzzy smiled.“No sweat.” Bobby copied, speaking the same line that Buzzy spoke.“You were like… pretty neat.” Annie smiled.“Golly, she likes us.” Buzzy sighed, as Bobby unlocked his locker.“Captain, ve are having a sudden burst of energy.” Right Ventricle reported.“Ja, ve are feeling young at heart.” Left Ventricle agreed.“Hey, who ordered the butterflies?” Stomach asked as he waved his hands around inside to swat away the butterflies.“Ooh man, she’s cute. Just look at the way her eyes glisten in that fluorescent tube lighting.” Right Brain cooed.“Oh, let’s not start daydreaming again. Let’s do something constructive.” Left Brain spoke, as Bobby grabbed a composition book from inside his locker.“Tell you what.” Buzzy smiled, as an idea popped in his head. “We’ll ask her out.”“Bold move, sir.” Left Brain agreed.“Maybe we could go out sometime after school, like maybe to the mall or something?” Bobby suggested.“Okay. That’d be great.” Annie happily agreed. “Thanks again, Bobby.”After she had thanked Bobby, she kissed him on the cheek, as everyone cheered in happiness.“Outstanding, recruit! Look after your body crew, and they’ll serve you well. Congratulations. You are now a full-fledged member of the Cranium Command! I’m proud of you, boy!” General Knowledge saluted him.“Thanks, General! I never could’ve done it without everyone’s help. This is one first-rate crew.” Buzzy thanked, before mentioning to the people who helped him.“No need to thank me, sir. I don’t do it for the glory. It’s just my function.” The Hypothalamus sighed.“Well, chicken, what’re we gonna do about a pilot for you?” General Knowledge asked the chicken in his hand.The chicken clucked and said, “I don’t need one. I’m going into politics.”The chicken disappeared from the screen as General Knowledge chuckled.“Politics.” General Knowledge chuckled, as he moved the chicken away from the screen.Then, he turned his attention to Buzzy, grinning happily.“So long, Buzzy! Keep up the good work!” General Knowledge saluted before the screen went black.“Let’s hear it for Captain Buzzy!” Right Brain cheered.“Hip, hip, hooray!” Everyone cheered, including Bobby, who is looking in the mirror.After everyone had cheered, the Buzzy animatronic turned to the audience and said, “Now remember gang, if you get stressed out, just call on your general knowledge, balance your body crew, and get your cranium under command.”The boy felt happy as he watched the animatronic continued talking to everyone, feeling like he was instructing him too.“Use your head, don’t lose your head.” the Buzzy animatronic reminded everyone. “You need it! You’ll be flying in no time… as a member of the Cranium Command! Bye!”After the Buzzy animatronic had waved to everyone, the Hypothalamus moved up and said, “On behalf of the Cranium Commandos, Metropolitan Life, and the Walt Disney Company, thank you for volunteering for Cranium Command. Please gather your belongings and exit the command center through the doors on your left.”Everyone stood up from their chairs, getting ready to leave the place and the boy stood up, deciding to take a look at Buzzy.“Madame, you forgot your child. Oh. That’s your husband. I’m very sorry. I mean that.” the Hypothalamus spoke.The boy paid no attention to the Hypothalamus and smiled up at the Buzzy animatronic, as he was motionless because the people who control him shut him down and getting ready for the next crowd of people.“You did a wonderful job Buzzy!” he quietly cheered to him. “I wish Walt Disney was here to see you.”As people were leaving, the Buzzy animatronic glanced down at him with his eyes, as he was staring up at him and winked at him.The boy’s face went from amazement, into shock when he just noticed that the Buzzy animatronic just winked at him, even though the people had shut him down.Before he could quietly ask him a question, the boy’s mother called, interrupting him from asking, “James, honey, it’s time to go!”James glanced over at the doorway and saw his mother, waiting for him.“Coming!” he called to her, before glancing back up to the animatronic, which is not staring at him, but away from him.Shrugging to himself mentally, he walked away as his mother walked away, and before he took a step out of the doorway, a voice softly called to him, “Thank you for watching my show!” and it was Buzzy’s voice.But, it was not automatic like the voices through the speakers, it was almost like it was real.Instead of feeling creeped out by the voice of the shutdown animatronic, he turned his head slightly towards the animatronic and smiled gently.“You’re welcome, Buzzy.” He smiled, granting his thanks.Then, he left, following after his mother.18 years later, the boy is older, everyone received the news that the show “Cranium Command” is permanently closed.It broke his heart to hear that.To see the show one more time, they went into the auditorium where the show was, as the boy stared longingly at it.The seat where they sit to watch Buzzy was gone, instead was replaced with concrete and carpet.An enormous wall blocked the show, as the Buzzy animatronic was nowhere to be seen from outside.Just as everyone around him is gone, and the distance voices turned down, he heard faint sobbing.“Please…” a voice softly spoke from behind the wall. “Let me out…”It was Buzzy’s voice!Glancing around for anyone that is coming his way, he took a careful step forward, getting close to the new stage that is in front of where the old platform was and softly whispered, “Buzzy?”A soft gasp escaped from Buzzy on the other side of the wall, sounding startled that someone from outside spoke to him.Then, the crying stopped.He panicked slightly to himself when he noticed the crying stopped.Did he scare him?Before he could call out to Buzzy, one of the crew members called to him, noticing he was too close to the stage, “Hey, you’re not allowed to be over there! And the Scientific Show is not starting until 3 o’clock!”Stammering, he turned around to the crew member and said, “S-Sorry, I must’ve called out to someone from back there, I thought someone was inside the stage.”An unamused look appeared on the crew member’s face, and he chuckled nervously, moving away from the stage.“Sorry.” he apologized. “I better be going.”After he had left the building, he walked outside, heading towards an empty area where he could relax.When he was far away, he leaned his back against the wall and sighed heavily.He is going to miss that little animatronic.But then, 11 years later, everyone received the news that Buzzy went missing, and everyone wanted to get him back, including James himself.He was determined to find the culprit and take him to justice.But, he was not alone.Someone, after another 4 years have passed, will be on the hunt to look for him and return him home.
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It has been 15 years since the Cranium Command show has ended.Now, the show was forgotten, but not the animatronic that suddenly disappeared 11 years after the show closed.Everyone all over the internet wanted the Disney Corporation to search for the missing animatronic, but there was no evidence that the animatronic is near.Soon, all hope was lost of searching for the missing animatronic after the authorities came back empty-handed.Everyone gave up looking for him after they had come back.Now that the year is 2022, everything was going great, new characters were being sketched out, and new movies were coming out too.But one girl would not forget who was extraordinary in that show.That night, in Disneyland, someone snuck into the park, without the cameras noticing and went into the Future World area.When the figure entered the Future World area, the person approached the abandoned building of where the show was, still locked up since 2007.A tired sigh came from the figure, as a shadow approached the door, looking at the lock for a moment.Then, without warning, the figure melted into a puddle, and went underneath the door, entering the restricted building.When the puddle got through underneath the door and to the other side, the building was dark.The smell inside is musty, but not too musty to make a person be disgusted.The electricity was shut down too, so the next person that entered after the puddle could not see their hands.But, the puddle formed into a being, with a hood over their head.After the puddle formed into a figure, the person glanced side to side for a moment, before heading towards the doors.The glass was cracked since the age had come to them, and the frame was weak enough to bend it.The figure approached the doors and glanced down at the floor, noticing the bottom of the glass doors is blocked.A quiet sigh came from the figure, noticing the blockage.Instead of going back the way they came from, they teleported from the spot they were standing on to behind the doors, without making a noise.After teleporting, the figure glanced up at the stage, seeing where the show used to, except the animatronic that used to be is gone.The figure slowly walked down the creaky steps of the old carpet ground, and got up to the stage, glancing around for a moment.The figure glanced up at where the animatronic’s chair used to be, noticing the cables were cut by something that is used to cut thick objects.A quiet, soft and short “hmm” came from the figure, before backing up a couple of steps.In someone’s vision, a scan scanned the area in invisible mode and played back the moment where the animatronic was stolen.It showed someone entering the place; the figure’s face was unknown, so it was blank, and they walked up to the shutdown Buzzy animatronic.They carefully walked across the beam across the pit underneath the Buzzy animatronic, and held up a large pair of shears.They snipped the wires behind the chair, before pulling out a screw and unscrewed the bolts.After cutting the wires and unscrewing the bolts, they grabbed the animatronic along with the chair, and made a break for it, exiting out of the abandoned building and heading out into the wilderness.After the back story was finished, the figure that stands right now, blinked their eyes and glanced over at the door where the other figure went through a long time ago.They went through the door and blinked again, as the vision went back to the figure, showing which way the person went to this time.The figure went into the hallway and took a turn, heading into the forest and disappeared deep into the trees.The figure blinked their eyes after the vision ended, before rubbing the left eye with their left hand.After rubbing the eye for a moment, they went through the same exit as the thief went through before and stepped back outside.When they were back outside, they glanced over at the forest, before entering the dark woodlands, without a light in their hands.Once they had entered the forest, they wandered farther into the darkness, searching for any hints that the thief was here years ago.When the figure stopped in an open area, the moon was exposed through the clouds as they slowly moved out of the way, as the light revealed the person.The figure’s body shape looked like a female, that is thin and fit, like how a ballerina would be.But, the female’s arms were long, that reaches down almost to her thighs and past her hips, as well as her legs, make her height to 6’2.The female’s clothes were a pair of blue jeans with white and pink shoes, with white shoelaces.Over her body, she is wearing a blue cameo sweater that has different colors of blue decorated all over it, except the hems are in a frosty blue color.The sweater has a zipper on the front of her body, as the pockets were on each side of her hips instead of in front of her.The inside of her sweater is in a white color, as the size was large, but not baggy.It only reaches to her thighs as her sleeves were up to her wrists.Her sweater has a hood that was covering her head, so the face was not revealed yet.But when the moonlight shone on her, she looked up, as the hood was pulled back slightly from her right metal hand.She has steel-blue eye color, as her left eye was metal, and from underneath the hood, she has long brown caramel hair, except the left-hand side of her head, was covered in multicolored wires, that are permanently connected to her head.Her skin color is a lightly tanned almond, as she was looking up at the moon curiously.She has a pair of dark blue and black glasses, that has the frames square, as the edges were rounded.She pushed them into place with her right hand, and gently pulled her hood over her head again, except not fully covering her head.When she pulled the hood over her head, she walked into the other side of the forest, wandering farther and farther away from Disneyland, and entering a different part of the place.As soon as she was miles away from the place, she stopped when she smelled something familiar.It was oil.And the scent was old from being cut years ago, but to her, it was fresh.She took up speed of walking to running, following after the smell as it traveled closer and closer to her.When she was close enough to the smell, she stopped, using the heel of her shoes, as she regained her balance to be in position.After getting into position, she glanced around for a moment, before noticing something that was sticking out from behind a log.Curious, she walked over to the object, and peeked over the log, seeing the Buzzy animatronic laying on their back, still looking shut down and motionless.It somehow made her feel sorry for him and proud that she has found him.Stepping over the log, she stepped in front of the animatronic, and using both of her hands, she picked the heavy animatronic up from the ground, without any struggles.“Hey!” someone’s voice called to her, as she flinched from the sudden noise. “Leave that thing alone! That is mine!”She turned to the noise, as the voice was getting closer until the sound of a knife sliced through a branch instantly made her into run mode.With her left hand behind the animatronic’s back and the right underneath the chair, she quickly jumped over the log and ran the other way back to Disneyland.She was instead heading away from both.As she ran, she picked up speed and ran deeper into the woods, still carrying the animatronic in her arms without being tired.The voice was almost getting close, so she picked up her speed, running faster than the figure.When she was far away from the voice, she mentally sighed in relief, until she tripped over a branch, making her yelp out in surprise.As she was in mid-air, she noticed that she was heading head first towards a rock, that is large enough to kill her with one single blow.She immediately used her teleporting talents to teleport away from the rock, as she took the animatronic along with her.Meanwhile, in a separate forest, she appeared in the middle of nowhere, as she accidentally dropped the animatronic on the ground and landed front first on the ground.She groaned in pain after she harshly had landed on the ground, feeling some twinges of pain from her legs and her arms.She got up slightly, shaking her head side to side, as the hood was off her head, revealing all of her hair and her glasses were luckily not broken, except out of place.With her right hand, she moved them into position, before noticing that the animatronic was dropped.Panicking, she crawled over to the animatronic by using her hands and knees.When she was close enough, she reached over with her right hand, placing it on the animatronic’s side, and was about to flip it over to its back, when she noticed something off.The fabric of the clothes felt… real.Confused, she felt the fabric with her left hand, noticing the sudden change of the clothes, feeling perplexed about how did this happen to the animatronic’s clothes.Then, she gently flipped the strange object over, noticing the chair was gone.Worried she might have broken the animatronic, she glanced around the area she is, as her left hand was on top of the chest, before feeling it rise up gently and moved down.Her thoughts stopped when she felt that movement.Is the animatronic… alive?She slowly glanced back at the animatronic, noticing it was not an animatronic anymore, but a cartoon figure of the person in the preshow.He was not an animatronic anymore, and was not stiff in a position for a long time, but has his arms and legs out, as his left hand was on his chest.His chest was slowly rising and dropping as if he was sleeping.She mentally was relieved that he was alive still and surprisingly not awake from the sudden movements that she was doing.But something different about him caught her attention.She remembered in the video she watched on YouTube, that he has so much of messy short brown hair in the “Cranium Command” preshow.But now that she can clearly see him, she could only see some of his hair from underneath.Curious, she moved her right hand to the back of his head, lifting him up slightly to her.She placed her left hand around his back, as she moved him up towards her, to get a better look of him.She repositioned her legs and sat down on her bottom, halfway kneeling as she looked worried.After she had got comfortable from sitting, she placed him down in front of her, as she moved her right hand from behind his head.When she moved her hand away from the back of his head, she looked at her palm to see if he was bleeding from the impact on the ground, only to see a small clump of his hair in her palm.She stared at the clump in her hand for a moment, before dropping it to the ground, looking shocked.He was stressed out.It made her heart sank from the vision of being locked away forever in a musty place.The vision somehow made her shiver from the thought.The smell of his clothes was musty like the building, but she will clean them after waking him up.Using her right hand, she gently placed it on his shoulder and gently shook, trying to wake him up.“‘ey, wake up.” she softly spoke to him, after stopping for a moment.He only replied with a soft groan, slowly waking up from his slumber.She felt relieved he was waking up, but just to check, she sat up slightly, glancing around for that person’s voice that made her run away.As she was busy looking for the person, she heard a soft gasp from someone in front of her, so she glanced in front of her, glancing down at him, as he was staring up at her, with a shocked expression on his face, as his right eye was closed.She instantly became nervous, so she nervously smiled and said, “Hi?”He shrieked in terror when he saw her, making her jump from him suddenly screaming at her.He backed up away from her for two inches, before wincing from something popping and stopped, as he landed back on the ground.“What’s wrong?” she nervously asked. “What happened?”He did not reply to her question, but stayed at where he is, shaking from head to toe.Worried, she scooted closer to him, as he stayed where he is, still laying on his back, shaking.“A-Are you hurt?” she asked, moving her metal hand over to his shoulder.When he noticed her hand, he panicked, finally sitting up and swatting her metal hand away, yelling, “DON’T TOUCH ME!”She stopped moving her hand towards him when he yelled, immediately pulling it away from him and rubbed the side of her hand with her left hand.“P-Please don’t touch me.” he stammered, as he moved away from her by using his hands and the heels of his boots, although wincing a bit from his sore body.His back bumped against a log, as she was far away from him, looking hurt, but as well as concerned.“I-I don’t want to get hurt.” he softly whined.“You’re not going to be hurt.” She softly spoke to him, as he jolted from the noise of her voice. “You’re safe with me.”She assured him as he listened to her, curling close to the log behind his back, still unsure about trusting her since what happened to him.She mentally felt angry at them for abusing him, wanting to give them a little “talk” about their handling.But, she calmed herself down and continued assuring him, knowing he has teeth to bite her if she gets too close to him.“I won’t hurt you, Buzzy,” she assured, waiting for him to calm down.“H-How did you know my name?!” he stammered, his left black beady eye widening as his right was still closed.Mentally, she wanted to slap herself until her cheeks are red as a baboon’s bottom.“Buzzy, I am a “visitor” that is from Disneyland.” she continued assuring, as he listened to her, although scared. “But, please listen to me.”He slightly turned to her, his hands against the log to get ready to climb over it if she gets too close, as he was still shaking.“No one’s going to hurt you,” she assured. “I’m not going to hurt you.”She placed her hand against her chest as she continued assuring him.Before she could continue, he spoke to her; the tone of his voice sounded bitter and cold.“How are you not going to hurt me?” Buzzy snapped at her. “How are you not going to lock me away in my prison like what happened 4 years ago?!”She felt a stung of hurt went through her heart when he snapped at her, feeling hurt.“N-No, I’m-” she stammered until he continued, interrupting her.“‘I’m’ what?” he growled, fully turning towards her as his hands were in fists. “You’re going to take me back and leave me in at that prison to let me rot away for another 4 years?!”She was going to lose her cool as he continued snapping at her, but she is going to cry too since how emotional she is.“No, I’m not.” she calmly spoke, although her voice was on the verge of being angry. “I don’t know if I could take you back to that place, and I am not going to be like them.”He felt confused about why she said that, but continued snapping at her.“‘Be like them?!’” Buzzy snapped. “You are like them! You don’t care about me! I don’t care if you are trying to-”“Buzzy!” she finally snapped, causing him to jolt, startled at the tone of her voice. “They all were worried about you when you went missing in 2018! You were gone for another 4 years! You were gone for 15 years!”He stopped snapping at her when she bursted at him, all his pent up anger instantly gone when he realized something when she spoke.“Wh-What?” he stammered, all the anger in his voice gone.“You were gone for 15 years, Buzzy,” she growled, clenching her right hand into a fist.She was trying not to hurt him with the best as she can.“We read the news that someone kidnapped you from your show after it shut down for no good reason! Everyone told the company to find you, and to make the show again but got nothing! They came back with empty hands! Now that another 4 years have passed, I found you out here in the wilderness!” she ranted.She sighed after she had blurted out what happened for a long time, as she gently pinched her nose bridge, moving her glasses up to her forehead.The sounds of birds tweeting as they left the trees from her yelling as both of them were quiet.“What… happened to the show?” he slowly asked, as she glanced back up at him.She sighed and moved her glasses back into place with her left hand.“The show is gone, Buzzy,” she spoke. “Since years have passed, they changed the whole building into a different show, as a wall blocked your show.”After she had explained, Buzzy’s face turned from confused to sadness, as he glanced away from her.“Now I know why they don’t care about me…” he softly murmured, as Stephanie listened to him, perking up slightly. “They don’t want me back… They locked me up for a good reason too… Maybe I should have been dismantled than taken away from my perch…”She got annoyed and crawled up closer to him without noticing, and reached over to his face with both of her hands, gently grabbing his cold cheeks and moving them up to her face.A startled and confused look appeared on his face, as his cheeks were gently taken in her hands, not smushing them roughly.“Buzzy, listen to me,” she spoke, as he glanced up at her. “I care about you.”His thoughts stopped when she said that, feeling confused about why she said that, when she continued, still holding his face in her hands.“I cared about you ever since I was maybe 13 or 14 years old when I first got on a computer, and I was annoyed that the show was shut down.” she continued talking as he listened to her. “I did not lose hope when you went missing and was irritated that the police came back empty-handed.”He felt shocked as he continued listening to her, feeling more and more hope entering his heart.“And I was not like the other people who cannot remember you.” she continued talking. “I was determined to find you when I was older and take you back home, your true home. Not a prison, not a crappy building to rot inside.”He felt relieved she was not taking him back to the building he was inside.“Now, that I found you, I am so happy that you are safe.” she sighed, moving his hat up slightly as she ran her right hand through his half bald head, with some hair attached, as her left was moved to his shoulder. “I wanted you to be safe, not to be some toy to be tossed aside. You are my friend, and you do matter. Nothing else will change you who you are.”She moved her hands away from the back of his head and shoulder, and hugged him, as her right was behind his head, and her left arm wrapped around his body.“And I am sorry for seeing you like that.” She apologized, which caught Buzzy’s attention. “I’m sorry that you were left behind, and I’m sorry that I was not old enough to rescue you. Can you forgive me?”Buzzy was shocked when she apologized to him, although she was not the one who abandoned him in that building.It made him feel like he was remembered, and was himself again.Tears welled up in his eyes as he felt happy that someone cared for him, and remembers him without any lack of knowledge.With both of his tiny arms, he wraps them around her neck, softly crying as he hugged her tightly, feeling relieved and safe.She softly smiled as she watched him, feeling guilty that he was left behind like that and felt rather angry at the company for abandoning him like that too.When she gets back, she will have a “talk” with them.Being careful, she placed her right hand behind his back to support him while picking him up.She then placed her left hand underneath his bottom, as he looked confused about what she is doing, although he was still crying.Then, he was startled when she picked him up from where he was, his grip around her neck tightened a bit as his bottom left the ground, and pulled closer to her.When he was close to her, she waited patiently for something as he was confused.“If you want, you could wrap your legs around my middle to be safe.” she softly whispered into his ear, as his headphones were pulled back from his head and dangling around his neck. “In my opinion, it is safe to do that.”He hesitated for a moment, but followed after her words and gently wrapped his legs around her middle, but the feet did not reach to each other on the back.“Thanks.” she thanked, before moving a leg up.He felt nervous as she was slowly getting up from the grass, thinking she might accidentally drop him to the ground.But, she was being careful as she stood up, her hands in the same positions they were at.When she was fully standing up, he felt nervous at first, but slowly relaxed when he noticed he could see things that he could not see while at his height.He could see the scenery clearly instead of having to stand on his tippy toes to see what is going on.She took the first step forward to head somewhere, when she wobbled a bit, as he quietly yelped, slightly tightening his grip around her neck.“Sorry.” she apologized, as he shakily sighed. “One of my legs fell asleep. And, could you release your grip a bit? My neck could fall asleep next.”He noticed his grip, so he released slightly, not too much to make him fall back, although her hand was on his back.She took another step and did not wobble, which made him feel relieved.She continued walking, heading to the left-hand side of the forest while carrying and quietly sobbing Buzzy in her arms.“Oh, I forgot,” she spoke, as he glanced at her, expecting her to forget his name. “My name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen.”He felt confused about why she still remembered his name, although she did assure him back in the part of the forest.Buzzy sighed and placed his head against her shoulder, thinking to himself for a moment.“My full name is Buzzy Cortex.” he softly spoke, saying his full name.“‘Buzzy Cortex.’” she thoughtfully repeated to herself. “I like that name.”He softly gasped to himself when she said she likes his name.Buzzy expected her to look confused at him and repeats his name in disgust, trying to come up with a different name after repeating it.He curled closer to Stephanie, feeling more and more comfortable with her, although he was still unsure about being with her.“Th-Thank you.” he stammered.She gently smiled as she exited out of the forest, heading towards an open area as the ground was covered in concrete.“You’re welcome.” Stephanie granted, as she gently rubbed his back with her fingers. “Best if you sleep. You have been through a lot.”She was not wrong, he did felt tired and exhausted from crying in happiness, and from overstressing.Somehow, he felt less stressed than last time.Before he could ask her a question, sleepiness overcomes him and instantly fell asleep in her arms, snoring quietly as he still has his arms around her neck.She gently chuckled as she continued carrying the boy.‘And I have not reached to the motel yet…’ she softly chuckled to herself, watching him as he slept from over her shoulder. ‘Well, it does not hurt to relax a bit before reaching the base…’As she continued walking, she finally reached a large motel, as she was still carrying the sleeping Buzzy in her arms.She stepped up the steps and entered the motel before greeted by the owner of the motel.“Hello, what could I do for you, Steph?” she asked, before noticing Buzzy in her arms. “Where on earth did you find that cute-”“Shush!” she softly shushed the woman. “He’s sleeping. He had a rough time.”She mouthed the word, “Oh” in understatement, understanding what happened earlier.“I’ll just take you to your room.” she smiled, turning her back towards Stephanie and walked down the hallway, as she followed.As she followed, they both reached her door, which the door number is “324,” and the woman opened her door after unlocking it.“Here’s your door, Steph.” she smiled. “I hope you sleep well.”Stephanie smiled gently and entered her room, as she used her right foot to close the door, quietly without waking him up.After she had closed the door, she walked over to her bed and placed Buzzy down, as he was still sleeping.She took off his hat and headset, before noticing the lack of hair he has.Some areas of his head were missing as there was some with little or average hair left.It broke her heart to see him like this.She gently placed the headset to the side of the bedside table and moved her left hand over to him.Luckily, he was in a deep sleep.Being careful and quiet as she can, she softly moved her hand through his hair, as the bald spots on his head were growing new hair, the same color, and length.After moving her hand around for a moment, getting every inch of his head covered in hair, she removed her hand away from his head, before gently placing two of her fingers at the edge of his eyebrow.In one slow motion, she moves her hand along his eyebrow, as the hair started to grow back, at the same length and color, just like his hair on top of his head.After finishing his eyebrow, she then gently took off his glasses, being careful as she could, as she placed them on the bedside table, right next to his hat and headset.Then, she whispered a spell, as the light purple color around his right eye slowly disappeared.After the light purple color disappeared from around his eye, she moved to his boots and pulled them off, before gently pulling off his socks, which reeks of an old musty smell, almost like the building she entered before.She nearly gagged at the smell, but she held it in and placed them in the washing machine, along with his coat and hat.After taking off some of his clothes, she decided to leave the rest on him, since he looked comfortable like that.Then, a cold breeze went through the window, catching Stephanie's attention from him.Quickly, she walked over to the open window and closed it, luckily not too much cold air has gotten into the room.But, the cold air made Buzzy shiver without Stephanie noticing as she closed the window.He curled into a small ball to be warm, as the tip of his thumb was in his mouth, sucking on it slightly.When she turned around to check on him, she could not help herself but smile a bit at the cute scene he was making.It seems like he was a baby to her.Being a mother figure, she took the blanket in her hands and pulled it over his body, to keep him warm.When it was nearly close to his face, he took the edge of the blanket and yanked it closer to his body, his left hand still slightly sucking his thumb.She smiled gently and was about to move away from the bed, when Buzzy stopped sucking on his thumb and reached out to her, grabbing her left wrist.Stephanie stopped when he grabbed her wrist, and glanced back at him, looking confused.When she noticed he does not want to be alone since what happened years ago, she decided to stay so that he would not be alone.Without moving an inch, she used her magic to make a chair come to her, and underneath her bottom.She carefully and slowly sat down, while his grip on her wrist was secure, not too tight to make it uncomfortable.When she sat down, she continued sitting there as his hand was still holding her wrist, feeling concerned and guilty of him to be like this.Mentally, she felt really angry for the producers of leaving him like that too!She felt like she wanted to be angry at them forever, but she slowly exhaled, calming herself down from being too offended.After slowly calming down, she watched as Buzzy slept, his hand still on her wrist, even though his arm is not tired or cold from sticking out too long.Soon, she started feeling tired from watching him sleeping, so she fell asleep along with him, snoring quietly as the grip on her hand was still on.But she shifted her grip to his in her sleep, gently holding his wrist to let him know that she is still there, by his side and not moving an inch.As the night passed, both of them are asleep, as Stephanie had the uncomfortable chair to sleep in, and Buzzy had her bed to sleep in.But, she was grateful to give him her bed to sleep in because of his condition she is worried about.Who knows what will happen next?They will have to find that out themselves along the way back home.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The next day, Buzzy slowly woke up from his slumber.He was a bit groggily as he woke up, feeling like he was sleeping for more years.But, he was inside someone else’s bedroom.He remembered what happened earlier in the night and sighed gently to himself.Buzzy expected Stephanie was not right next to him, but he noticed his right arm was extending out from the bed.Maybe he was moving around on the bed in his sleep?But how come he is holding onto something warm?Confused, he glanced over at what he was holding onto, although his glasses were off, he could see a blurred figure dressed in blue sitting on a chair.The figure has their left arm out, as it was holding his wrist, as quiet snores were coming from the person.Puzzled, he flipped over to his front, as his right arm reached over to the bedside table, blindly reaching for his glasses.He missed a couple of times as he placed his hand on the table until his fingertips felt the edge of his glasses, so, he gently took them and carefully pulled it back to his body.He flipped back over to his side he was sleeping on after getting his glasses and placed them on his nose which is perfectly balancing on his nose.After he put his glasses back on, he was shocked to see that Stephanie was sleeping on an uncomfortable chair, her head back against it and snoring quietly.He glanced down at his hand and noticed she had his hand, and throughout the whole night, she let him hold her hand, without moving back to get away from him.Did she know he was afraid of being alone again, since what happened 15 years ago?He felt confused, and startled, about her strange behavior, as he continued lying there on the bed, watching her as she slept.Buzzy laid his head back down on the pillow, thinking to himself about the strange action she did, expecting her to be not in the room and place him down on an uncomfortable chair in a cold spot of the room, making him miserable again.But, he got the opposite instead.He got her comfortable bed as she took the uncomfortable chair to sleep in, and her blankets as she still was wearing her clothes to be warm.Buzzy felt concerned about her, but he still does not trust her with her trust.However, she did rescue him from being stuck in his prison forever.After a few minutes or more has passed, as Buzzy stayed at where he was, still thinking to himself about why was acting like this to him, she finally woke up from her slumber, looking groggy, blinking a few times slowly.She moved her head back from against the chair, as she winced slightly from the discomfort of her muscles aching.Stephanie notices Buzzy was awake as he was staring at her, looking confused as he has his glasses on and still holding her hand.Instead of being disgusted and immediately releasing his hand, yelling at him for being a pervert, she gently smiled at him, which puzzled him more.“Good morning, Buzzy,” she smiled, releasing her grip around his wrist, which he did not to hers. “Uh, you can release my hand now.”He glanced down at his hand from her eyes, noticing her grip on his wrist was released, instead of his.“Oh,” he released her hand and moved it back towards his body, feeling embarrassed he was holding her hand in his sleep. “S-Sorry.”“Nah, it’s okay.” she shrugged, still smiling gently at him. “A few people who I know of sometimes do the same. Although why are you sorry?”He glanced away from her, unsure how to explain what his thoughts were towards her or her actions.She noticed the look on his face and decided to get up without saying another word to him.Stephanie placed both of her hands on the chair’s arms and pushed herself up, until a quiet crack noise came from her bones, causing her to sit back down.Buzzy almost jumped out of bed when he heard that, coming from her bones.“Sorry.” It was her turn to apologize to him as he looked worried and horrified. “It sometimes does that.”“Doesn’t it hurt you?” he asked, his face slightly pale.She thought to herself for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders, wincing a bit as her back muscles ache too.“Nah, not much.” She responded, hissing a few times through her teeth. “There are a few twinges here and there, but not too much to be painfully hurting.”Buzzy was disbelieved after she had responded to him.It does not hurt her that much?It sounded like it does hurt her too much if he was in her shoes.She tried again to stand to her feet as there were a few small cracks of bones and as she moved her left arm.Guiltily, he felt sorry for holding her hand through the whole night.After getting up, she turned her body towards the door, as she wobbled a bit and placed her hand against the dresser, before going back into place, after shaking her head.He watched as she walked away, feeling alone in her room, as he pulled the blanket up to his face, feeling small.“‘Ey, uh, about your jacket ‘n all, they are in the washer,” she called from the different room, catching his attention. “They needed a wash because of how smelly they are.”He had to agree with her; they did smell musty from being in that prison for a long time.Buzzy glanced down at his shirt in thought, smelling it once, before looking disgusted.It reeks of the same musty smell from his other clothes.“If you are curious, there’s a shower for you to bathe,” Stephanie called again. “And I’ll gather some clothes for you to wear until your clothes are dry and clean.”An awkward expression appeared on Buzzy’s face after Stephanie said she will gather some clothes out for him to wear that could be in his size.He expected she could pick out some girl clothes for him since her gender is a female or something cute that he could wear for a while.“Uh, I think I could stay in the shower for a while,” Buzzy suggested, feeling uneasy that he could be wearing an awkward outfit.“And walk around butt naked as there are people in the motel that could see you? Fluck no.” Stephanie objected his suggestion. “To add; you could accidentally get something hot that could really burn them.”His cheeks turned a light red color when she mentioned them, feeling embarrassed.So, he decided to get the humiliation from her.He pulled the blankets off of his body and got down on the ground, as his bare feet gently landed on the carpet.Buzzy checked for his headset and made sure that it is in the same spot when he comes out of the shower.After checking his headset, he walked out of the room, noticing that everything inside was oddly quiet, except the noises of something baking from a different place.He decided to go see where that noise is coming from, so he wandered into the dining room, connected to the kitchen.Standing in front of the oven is Stephanie, as her long brown and wired hair was pulled up into a low ponytail, cooking some breakfast to eat.He felt confused about what she is cooking, though.She felt the presence that she was being watched, so she glanced over her shoulder, noticing Buzzy.“Hello.” she smiled. “Breakfast is almost done.”A confused look appeared on his face, as Stephanie turned back to see what she was cooking in front of her on the oven.Was Stephanie cooking breakfast for him?Even though he does not expect any gratitude from her?He walked over to the chair that was right next to Stephanie as she was cooking and climbed up onto the seat, sitting down as he patiently waited for some food to come, as he was thinking to himself about the strange ways she was acting.Although he does not trust her, she was kind enough to give him her bed as she took the uncomfortable chair to sleep in.She continued cooking for a moment, as Buzzy was still thinking to himself, running his right hand through his hair.When he ran his hand through his hair, expecting some bald spots on his head from stressing in his prison, but stopped when he noticed there was none.Confused, he placed both of his hands on top of his head, feeling all the hair on his head that suddenly grow overnight, all at the same length and thickness.Pushing his glasses up slightly, he felt his left eyebrow, expecting hair to be not there since only his head has hair, but there was hair like his head.He was stumped as he was thinking to himself, feeling disbelieved and confused.All of his hair was suddenly grown overnight, without him noticing!Not only that, his left eye is open instead of being closed since it became lazy.“Buzzy?” Stephanie’s voice drew him away from his panicked thoughts about his hair and eye, noticing she was standing in front of him, her left hand on the table, as her right was on his shoulder. “Are you alright? You looked like you saw a ghost.”“No, it’s my hair,” he responded, mentioning to his hair. “I-I thought I had bald spots because of my stress. A-And my eye! I could see without having to see through one eye!”“And, is that a problem?” Stephanie asked, sounding confused.“No, it’s… unusual for my hair to sudden grow like this,” Buzzy responded, after pausing. “And it is not usual for my eye to sudden heal like that either.”A concerned look replaced Stephanie’s face, as she moved her right hand from his shoulder.“Buzzy, I…” she spoke before drifting off, glancing away from his eyes.He noticed her eyes were filled with worry and sadness, before glancing back at him, sighing gently.“I’ll explain everything after you eat.” Stephanie finished, gently pushing a plate of perfectly baked waffles in front of him.Buzzy was confused about her worried and sad look on her face, before turning his attention to the plate of waffles in front of him.“The eggs, bacon, and sausage are almost done,” she explained, before turning back to the oven. “But, I’ll serve the waffles first.”Buzzy glanced up at her with confusion and awe on his face, startled that she made food for him, which he expected her to cook her own food and leave him nothing.But this was absolutely out of what he was thinking of about her.He picked the fork up from the plate, and hesitated for a moment, feeling unsure about what she could put into the waffles that he would not notice while he was eating.But the smell was too delicious to resist, so he decided to take a small bite, just in case.After slicing a slice off, as Stephanie was busily cooking some more food, he took a nibble of the waffle, before tasting bits of chocolate chips inside, instead of what he thought could be inside.And the flavor of the waffle was perfect to have.As for Stephanie, she was cooking some more food, while she was overhearing Buzzy eating, feeling slightly proud of herself that he is slowly trusting her.But, he needs some time to trust her fully.As Stephanie turned around to serve him another cooked waffle, she noticed he was done with the first one.“Whoa!” she remarked, startled at how fast he ate. “I barely finished cooking the eggs, and you finished a waffle in one second!”He sheepishly glanced away, rubbing the back of his head with his left hand, as he wipes some chocolate smear from the corner of his lips.“But, it doesn’t matter.” Stephanie gently sighed, as she gently shrugged her shoulders. “You were hungry for a long time since you were locked away for a long time.”He glanced back at her from looking away, feeling confused about why she kept doing this to him.She understood what he felt and does not feel angry at each little thing he does.Why is the question?Stephanie shook her head once and placed the waffle down and turned back to the rest of the breakfast.“Just let me know when you are full, okay?” she spoke to him from over her shoulder.Buzzy only replied with a nod of his head and started eating the next waffle, knowing she did not put anything inside that would kill him.She gently smiled as she went back to cooking, before finishing, placing the eggs, bacon, ham, sausages, and hash browns on a spare plate.After she had placed them on the separate plate, she turned back around and placed the dish down right next to Buzzy, who already finished the second waffle.Then, she walked back to the kitchen and served him the next waffle, feeling a bit tired from walking back and forth.But she was determined to cook him food until he was full and healthy.After a while, he finished his food on his plates as Stephanie glanced over at him, looking concerned.“Are you full?” she asked, panting slightly.He only replied with a single nod of his head.Buzzy is full and felt like his stomach is going to burst any minute.“Okay.” she smiled. “Rest a little until your stomach digests some food inside, and then take a shower.”He glanced away with an uneasy look on his face, feeling uncomfortable he is going to wear girl’s clothes.But, she was right about walking around butt naked, people could walk into her room and notice him walking around, looking disturbed.He shivered at the thought of being tossed out after taking a shower.Stephanie cleaned up the mess in the kitchen and walked into a different room, as Buzzy turned slightly to where she entered, worried that she might show him something that she has.“Is green or black okay for you?” Stephanie asked as a slightly confused look appeared on his face.“Uh, black?” he confusedly responded, although worried what decoration on the shirt might look like.“Okay!” Stephanie happily chirped.He paused for a moment, thinking she might have chosen a large shirt for him to wear that is like a nightgown to him.“If you were curious;” Stephanie spoke, catching his attention. “I actually have some clothes left over from years ago that might fit you, and they are not girly.”His thoughts stopped when she said that.How on earth did she know what he was thinking of and how did she know what he was feeling?Before he could ask another question, Stephanie came out of the room, carrying some clothes in her arms, before standing in front of him.“Okay, I’ll gather some clothes for ya that I have so far, and show them to ya, and from there, you could pick ‘em.” she smiled, which confused him.Why is she so perky all the time?She placed the clothes down on a table right next to her and held out the first shirt, which is entirely black and his size.“Is this okay?” She asked, showing him the shirt.He paused for a moment, before nodding his head, answering her question.“Okay,” she granted, placing the shirt right next to her, which is on another table and picked up a pair of pants, his size but gray. “What about this one?”Buzzy thought to himself for a moment, before Stephanie said, “It has pockets on the sides if you were curious.”He glanced back at the pant, before responding, “Yeah, I think those pair of pants are okay.”She smiled and placed the pants with the picked shirt on the other side of her, as she took the other picked clothes and carried them to the room she entered.After she had left, he thought to himself for a moment, thinking about why she is so perky all the time and why is she helping him?Does she want him to be happy and be like himself again?Then, she came back, sighing as she ran her hand through her hair, thinking to herself for a moment.“Okay, what else?” she mumbled to herself, glancing side to side. “Oh, yeah! Getting ready for leaving.”Buzzy’s heart sank when she said she was going to leave the hotel with him inside.He was beginning to trust her, and now that she is going to leave him here.“Maybe packing some food for us could work, but we might have to get used to the cup of noodles.” she continued mumbling.‘What does she mean by us?’ Buzzy thought to himself, feeling both confused and curious. ‘Is she married?’He looked all over her for any signs that she is married, but there were no rings nor any signs that she was married.Then, Stephanie noticed he was staring at her, as she nervously chuckled.“Is there something wrong?” she nervously asked.He snapped out of his focus and noticed she saw him staring at her, and glanced away.“Oh, you are probably thinking I might leave you behind.” She chuckled, as he glanced back at her as if she read his mind. “I wasn’t. I was thinking of a way to get some things so that both of us could go to where you were from.”Buzzy felt like he was hit in the face with a book when she said that to him.She was going to take him home so that he would be safe?He felt more unsure about her, but he felt a bit of confidence in his heart that she could take him back without lying to him.“Now, I think a shower first could work.” She spoke, smiling gently. “And while you have a shower, I could gather up some things to go along the way.”“Are we going to take a car?” Buzzy asked.“Why a car when we could walk?” Stephanie objected. “Besides, I don’t own a car in the first place.”A feeling of uneasiness washed over him as confidence went away again, as he grimaced a bit.He has a feeling that he and Stephanie are going to be lost in the woods without a map.“Anyways,” Stephanie spoke, changing the subject from her plan. “The way to the shower is down the hallway on the left and the door on your left.”She pointed to the hallway to her left, as Buzzy listened to her.“I’ll wait for you after you are in the shower and wash the rest of your clothes,” she explained, before placing her left hand on her chest and bowed slightly. “I’ll see you soon, Buzzy.”After she had bowed to him, she moved back up and went to the right, heading towards a different room to gather some things.Buzzy hesitated for a moment, thinking to himself for a moment about her trust towards him and his towards her.She seems to be confident to take him back home, even though he does not fully trust her.Deciding to take a shower instructed by Stephanie, he got down from the chair he was on and walked over to where Stephanie was standing, glancing over to the left.So, he walked down the hallway, before reaching a door to his left.When he reached the door, he stood up to his tippy toes to reach the knob and turned it, opening the door open.Inside was a bathroom inside, with a toilet and a shower.“Thank gosh.” he sighed, as the door closed behind his back. “No more having to use a cup.”As for Stephanie, she was gathering some clothes to change during their adventure, before hearing the toilet run, as she smiled.She shrugged to herself and went back to what she was doing, gathering some clothes from the dresser and folding them into squares.After she had folded the clothes into squares, she placed them in her sweater pocket, disappearing inside and not making any visible signs that they shrunk down when they entered.She folded the last pants and placed it into her sweater pocket, and walked out of the cleared room, with the blankets neatly folded back to where they were, and the dressers empty.As she passed by the bathroom door, she heard the shower running, and she smiled, feeling slightly proud of herself that he is slowly trusting her at every inch.Using her powers, she made his clothes appear in front of her, unharmed from the teleportation and caught them in her hands.The musty smell came from them, so she wrinkled her nose a bit in disgust, trying not to gag.Without any words, she marched herself into the washing room and placed his clothes inside, starting the machine up.After letting his clothes wash alone, she walked back over to the door and gently knocked with the back of her fist.“Yes?” Buzzy’s voice called over to her from behind the shower door.“I’m just letting you know I placed your clothes in the washing machine and going to put your clean clothes inside,” she responded to Buzzy.“Okay, just don’t come into the bathroom, okay?” Buzzy spoke.“Okay!” she happily chirped, before using her powers to teleport the clothes into the bathroom, on the side of the sink where he could reach them.After she had teleported the clothes, she went back to collect objects, grabbing objects that belong to her from her pockets.When she finished collecting objects, she heard the shower stopped from the bathroom, and she gently smiled, feeling happy that he is clean and full of food.Somehow, it reminded her of herself, before she was transformed into a cyborg.“Uh, Stephanie?” Buzzy’s voice snapped her out of her thoughts, as she glanced back at the way of the bathroom. “Do you have a towel I could have?”She mentally winced to herself about the lack of having a towel to dry himself.“Yeah, I have a towel,” she called back to Buzzy. “Sorry for not giving you one when you are going to shower!”A moment of silence and he responded, “I-It is okay! Can you bring one to me?”Stephanie paused for a moment, before gently smiling and said, “Alright, just one minute.”She reached into her left sweater pocket and pulled out a rolled up towel in her hand.After she had pulled out a rolled up towel, she walked back to the bathroom door and knocked on it with the back of her fist.“Okay, I’m here.” She spoke, letting him know she is ready.“Uh, could you open the door slightly?” he asked, as Stephanie’s cheeks blushed a light neon pink color.“S-Sure.” she stammered, as she slowly turned the knob and only poked her hand in, that is holding the towel. “H-Here.”He took the towel from her hand from the other side of the door, as she quickly moved her hand away and closed the door.After she had closed the door, she sighed and leaned her back against the door, feeling uneasy and embarrassed at the same time.She does not want herself to be seen as a pervert to him.And she does not want to break their trust in between both of them.As she was waiting until the sound of the door knocked from Buzzy, she thought to herself about their friendship along the way, feeling like she is not going to be good enough for him.Soon, the door knocked from behind his back, and she glanced over her shoulder, thinking to herself for a moment.“Are you done?” she asked.“Yes, I am,” Buzzy responded. “Can I come out?”Stephanie paused for a moment, thinking to herself for a moment, before answering, “Yes, you may come out.”Noticing he could not open the door if she is in the way, she stood up from the ground, turning her body around.The door opened after she had moved, revealing Buzzy with his hair wet, messy and down, almost down to the tips of his ears, as he was wearing the black shirt and gray pants he picked.Buzzy also is wearing his glasses too, that is perfectly balancing on his nose, which made Stephanie curious.He does not have any socks on, so he is barefoot.“How are you now?” Stephanie asked, hiding her nervousness from him.“I feel a bit better now, but I’m fine,” Buzzy responded, not looking at her in the eyes. “So, what are we going to do?”“Wait until your clothes are washed and dried, of course,” Stephanie responded, sighing gently. “I cleaned up the whole place until the next people come, and I checked the food too, so we have plenty until we reach the next motel.”Buzzy listened to each word Stephanie spoke as he gazed at her eyes, but looked away to the side, as her voice drifted off as he thought to himself.He thinks she might leave him when they are in the woods.“And maybe…” Stephanie trailed off when she noticed that Buzzy was not looking at her, but looking away, as a sad look was on his face.She knelt down on one knee slowly and placed both of her hands on his shoulders, looking worried for him.“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, noticing the look on his face. “Is there someone you miss?”When Stephanie asked about who he misses, he glanced back at her, before glancing down at the ground.“I miss my mom…” he softly spoke.It hit Stephanie hard in the heart as a shocked and hurt expression appeared on her face, replacing her confusion.His mother is still alive and must have been worried sick of him!Worried, she asked, “I-Is your mother still alive?”He did not look at her eyes when she asked, as he was quiet for a moment.“I don’t know…” he softly spoke. “It has been 15 years since I last saw my mom…”Stephanie’s heart sank to her stomach, as she listened to Buzzy talking.“I want to see her again,” he continued, his right hand clenching into a fist. “I want to see her and tell her I am still alive. I want to go home…”Stephanie felt like she was destroyed.He misses his mother and wants to go back home to see her again.Without a word, Stephanie moved her hands from his shoulders as he glanced up at her, his eyes filled with sadness, thinking she is going to leave him alone.But, she did not leave him alone as he expected.She knelt down on one knee to his height and gently wrapped her arms around his neck.He looked confused after she gently had wrapped her arms around his neck, being careful with him.“Buzzy,” Stephanie began, as he listened to her. “I understand you miss your mother, but I miss my momma too.”He lightly gasped when she said that she missed her mother, although he has not seen any pictures of her family around.“I can promise you this;” Stephanie continued, as he listened to her.Buzzy perked a bit when she promised him.“I’ll take you back home and make sure that no one else will hurt you during the adventure.” She continued, slightly tightening her hug around Buzzy.“I can’t guarantee we would survive through this though,” Stephanie added as Buzzy listened to her, slightly confused but mildly shocked that she is assuring him. “But we will make it through because I still have hope in my heart and won't let that go nor letting you go either.”She paused for a moment, before sadly smiling at him.“I love you, Buzzy.” His heart skipped a beat when she said she loved him. “I love you as a friend and won't abandon you for anything.”Everything around him seems to slow down, after she spoke, feeling less and less insecure.Was she being true to herself?Everything she was doing was not a lie?Without a word, he wrapped his short arms around Stephanie’s neck, as she glanced over at him.He was glad that someone was being honest with him, and does not want to abandon him.“Thank you…” Stephanie blinked once, and before she asks a question, his hug around her neck tightened a bit. “Thank you for not abandoning me and forgetting me.”She stopped herself from asking and gently smiled, accepting the thanks.“You’re welcome, Buzzy.” she smiled, moving her hands down to his back.After a quiet moment of hugging, Stephanie glanced up slightly, before remembering the washing machine that is washing his clothes and gently patted Buzzy’s back.“Buzzy, uh, I think I might want to look at the washing machine for a moment.” she softly spoke. “I think your clothes might go to the next machine.”“A few more minutes?” Buzzy asked.Gently sighing, she chuckled and went back to hugging.“Alright, a few more minutes.” she chuckled, hugging him gently.After a few minutes had passed, the washing machine’s alarm went off, startling Buzzy as he jumped, releasing his hug around her neck.Stephanie softly chuckled after he released her neck.“Now could I go check the washing machine?” Stephanie asked, gently pointing in the direction.Buzzy nodded his head, answering Stephanie’s question, although a little startled and confused about the noise.Stephanie moved her arms from around his neck and slowly got up from the ground, as Buzzy took a couple of steps back.After she had got up, she walked over to the room where the washing machine is, as Buzzy felt curious about the inside of the motel room.He only has been inside Stephanie’s motel room, the kitchen and dining room, and the bathroom.So, he decided to adventure around.While Stephanie was busy moving laundry in the laundry room, he went into the living room and noticed that everything inside was large.He felt like he was tiny compared to the objects around.“Buzzy?” Stephanie’s voice called him, sounding a bit worried. “Where are ya?”He turned around to her and called to her, “I’m in the living room.”A soft sigh came from her as she turned around the corner, seeing him in the middle of the room.“There you are.” she sighed, as she moved a wire strand out of her face. “You gotta tell me where you are going next time.”He felt like he wants to ask her questions, but he stopped himself, thinking his inquiries would be rude to make her angry in an instant.Stephanie somehow noticed the look on his face.“Do you have any questions about me?” she asked, startling Buzzy as he flinched.“H-How did you know what I was thinking?” he stammered, asking the first question.“I could understand through body language and facial language,” Stephanie smirked. “And if you don’t feel comfortable about asking a personal or seems to be a rude question, you don’t have to say it.”He was silent for a moment, glancing away from her for a moment, before glancing back at her and asked, “Why are you so nice to me?”After he had asked, Stephanie started giggling, her shoulders twitching as he looked embarrassed and nervous about what he asked.“That’s the same exact question that some people who I have met asked.” she chuckled, walking past Buzzy and sat down on the couch. “But the reason why I am nice is that being nice could either let you do things that others can’t or make friends out of random people or enemies.”Buzzy listened to each word she explained, feeling less insecure than before, and he asked, “Why are you acting like a mother figure to me?”She sheepishly chuckled as she glanced away, her cheeks blushing a light neon pink color, which intrigued Buzzy’s curiosity.“Since you are a child, I seemed to be really attached to you, Buzzy.” She sheepishly explained.“How are your cheeks blushing that color?” Buzzy asked, shifting to a different question.Stephanie blinked in confusion and felt her cheeks, noticing the light warmth.“Oh, this is normal.” she smiled. “Not all visitors can blush this unique color, though. Seems like I was the only one with this talent.”Buzzy felt more curious about her, so he got up right next to her on the couch and sat right next to her.She turned her body towards him as a polite way to talk to him face to face.“How old are you?” Buzzy asked, before instantly regretting what he said mentally to himself.It is rude to ask someone about their age!He expected an angry expression appears on her face, but she instead responded to his question, without any signs of anger on her.“I am 20 years old,” Stephanie calmly responded, as Buzzy mentally sighed to himself in relief.“You don’t look 20 years old,” Buzzy spoke, looking all over her body.She shrugged her shoulders as if she does not know about this.“Everyone seems to say I am 13 or 15 years old.” she shrugged. “But, I’m 20 years old.”She giggled to herself as she glanced away from him.He did not take his eyes off of her arm, feeling curious about it.“Did you go through a car crash?” Buzzy asked, mentioning to her metal arm.Stephanie glanced down at her arm, moving her fingers of her hand, as she was quiet.The expression on her face was quiet too.Immediately, Buzzy started panicking, thinking that he hit something harsh, “I-I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to-”Stephanie placed her first finger against his lips, shushing him.“Ease up, Buzzy.” Stephanie sighed, chuckling gently at his reaction. “It’s okay. I did go through a car accident.”Buzzy looked shocked as he glanced up at the wires of her hair, thinking that half of her head was bald.Stephanie noticed his eyes drifted off to her hair, and she moved a wire stand to her face.“And these wires are actually permanently connected to my head,” Stephanie spoke, before yanking the wire stand in her hand, mentioning it did not come off.“So, it’s not a wig?” Buzzy asked.“Nope,” Stephanie responded. “It is really a part of my hair after I went through the surgery.”Buzzy shivered to himself if he was like her, going through a car crash and only to be put back together by metal.“Okay,” Stephanie smiled, drawing Buzzy’s attention from his thoughts. “It’s my turn to ask 20 questions!”Buzzy shrugged to himself, deciding that her asking questions to him are not that all bad.“Alright, question #1;” Stephanie smiled. “How are you freakishly cute?!”Buzzy’s cheeks went a little red after she asked that, embarrassed to answer that question.“Uh, well,” he stammered, not looking at her in the eyes. “I’m always like this?”He shrugged his shoulders when he glanced back at her as Stephanie shrugged along with him.“Okay, I can take that.” she chuckled. “Question #2; why are you so insecure?”Buzzy opened his mouth to answer her question, but stopped as he shut his mouth, feeling uncertain about what he could say to her.“I’m insecure because I don’t know who to trust.” Buzzy finally answered as she listened to him, with a worried expression on her face. “Ever since I was abandoned in that… prison, I grew unsocialized, even the outside world too.”Stephanie looked hurt after he had explained.“Aw, Buzzy.” she softly spoke. “I trust you.”Buzzy glanced up at her, looking confused and shocked at the same time.“I trust you.” Stephanie continued talking, as Buzzy listened to her. “And I believe everyone still remembers you.”Buzzy had an unsure look on his face as he replaced his shock and confusion, as Stephanie sheepishly chuckled.“Alright, maybe I went a little too far there.” Stephanie sheepishly sighed.Buzzy fell quiet for a moment, as Stephanie rubbed the back of her neck with her right hand, not glancing at his eyes either as she looked out to the side.“Uh, Stephanie?” Buzzy asked, glancing back at her as she glanced back at him. “Are you always this alone?”She glanced away from him for a moment, before glancing back at him, answering, “Yes, for 2 years.”Buzzy looked shocked that she was alone for 2 years, as he was alone for 15 years!“But, I managed to keep my sanity together,” Stephanie smirked. “Maybe let it loose a couple of times, but I let new neighbors in my house to have some pies as a welcome gift once a while.”Buzzy felt a little confused as she continued talking, although she is a fast talker, he could understand what she is saying.Then, the buzzer to the dryer rang, and Stephanie perked.“Alright, let’s see if your clothes still smell musty or probably shrank.” Stephanie smiled, before looking sheepish at the end of her words.Buzzy felt nervous, but she stood up from the couch and walked over to the washing machine room, and Buzzy patiently waited for the news.“Good news!” Stephanie called out to him, as he nervously listened to her. “The smell is gone and not shrunken down to nothing!”Buzzy sighed in relief and got off the couch, walking over to where she is.When he got over to where Stephanie, she smiled and showed his clothes, luckily they were not worn out, and they looked good as new too!Including his hat too, which went through the washing machine along with his clothes!“Alright,” she spoke, as she handed the clothes to Buzzy, as he took them into his arms. “I’ll go get the headset and check if they work, while you change, okay?”Buzzy nodded his head, as he went into the bathroom, disappearing for a moment.Stephanie walked back to the room where the two of them were sleeping in earlier.She entered the room and picked up his headphones from the bedside table, staring at them for a moment.Stephanie checked the antenna to make sure it is attached and gently wiggled it.It was still attached to the headset after she gently had wiggled it a couple of times.Stephanie gently sighed in relief, relieved that it did not pop off.Then, she checked the microphone, wiggling a bit as she waited for it to pop off.Luckily, it did not pop off as she expected it to be.She sighed after checking the microphone and decided to use the headset, checking if the strength of the headset to the control area is still intact.Although she was not too sure of herself to use them since they were his.But, confidence was in her heart, so she gently pulled them over her head.When she placed them over her ears, she gently two of her fingers against the side of her head, clearing her throat.“Base, this is Buzzy Cortex calling over from an unknown area, come in please,” Stephanie spoke, sounding like Buzzy as she talked.No response after she reported, talking in Buzzy’s voice.“Base, this is Buzzy Cortex calling over from an unknown area, come in please,” Stephanie repeated, in Buzzy’s voice as she waited for any response.Nothing came through the headset after she waited for a few more minutes.She sighed and moved the headset off of her head, looking unsure and worried about what Buzzy’s expression would be like when she gives the bad news to him.But, she took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, gathering her courage to explain to Buzzy.She walked out of the room as she closed the door behind her back, as her left hand was holding the headset by the band.Stephanie turned around and noticed Buzzy standing in front of her, with a worried and confused look on her face, as he was wearing the same clothes from earlier.“What’s wrong?” he asked, noticing the look on her face.She sadly sighed and knelt down on one knee to his height, as she pulled the headset over his head and his ears.“Buzzy…” she started, before trailing off, but continued, “The headset doesn’t connect to the base anymore.”Buzzy’s heart sank when she gave the bad news.The headset does not work anymore?“But that does not matter.” Stephanie objected as Buzzy perked a bit. “Headset or not, we need to find that base. No matter if we either use the headset or not.”Buzzy had nodded his head, agreeing with Stephanie, before she reached over with her right hand, as he stayed put at where he is, looking confused.“But one more thing;” She spoke, as her fingers tapped his earpiece, as he looked confused.Using only his eyes, he looked at what she was doing, when he saw a cybernetic blue glow pulse once from underneath the sweater sleeve’s hem from her wrist and to the tips of her fingers, zapping his headset, including his ears.The shock from the zap was enough to make him cry out, but not barbecue his ears to a roast color.“Ow!” he cried out, as Stephanie moved her hand away, looking startled, as he landed on his bottom, taking his headset off. “What was that?!”“Sorry, sorry, sorry!” Stephanie apologized, taking his face in her palms. “Did I accidentally cook your ears?”She worriedly checked his ears as a mother would to their child when they got hurt.“I don’t feel pain from them, but it did hurt a bit,” Buzzy responded, gently pulling her hands away from his face after she checked, as he rubbed his right ear. “Although what was that?”“I should’ve explained about what my metal arm does too.” she nervously smiled. “My metal arm helps me as a part of me, but it also has some hacking in it to hack into things.”“So you hacked into my headset?” Buzzy asked, looking nervous.“Yes, but it is the only way to talk to each other if we both accidentally separated,” Stephanie explained, moving his headset back up over his ears.“But, you don’t have a headset, Steph.” Buzzy pointed out.“That’s where you are wrong.” Stephanie objected as a confused look appeared on his face.She moved the wires that was covering her left ear with her hand and revealed that it was replaced with metal too!Buzzy’s jaw dropped to the floor when he saw that.“About 95% of my body is metal, and my ear is apparently the percentage of the metal,” Stephanie explained, before moving her left hand over as her other was holding the handful of wires, closing his gaping jaw with her fingers underneath his jaw. “And it seems to be pretty normal for me.”“H-How is that normal?” he stammered, sounding disbelieved as she moved her hand away. “‘95%?’ That’s almost half of your body!”“Yes, but I am still alive am I?” Stephanie asked, pointing out the obvious.Buzzy opened his mouth to object, but nothing came to his mind, so he shut his mouth.Stephanie softly chuckled and reached back up to her ear with her left hand and pressed them against the side of her ear.Buzzy waited a few minutes, wondering to himself about what is going on next?Maybe another unexpected shock?Instead, she moved her fingers away from the side of her ear after a few more minutes has passed and said, quietly to him, “Wait right here.”He felt unsure about what she is doing, but followed along with her, nodding his head as he understood her.Stephanie smirked slightly and turned around and walked away, as Buzzy stayed at where he is, feeling uneasy.After she was away, someone spoke into his headset, startling him as he jolted.“Buzzy, can you hear me?” And the voice sounded like Stephanie’s voice.Pulling the mic over to his mouth, he responded, stammering a bit.“Y-Yes, I can hear you.” he stammered. “H-How did you connect to my headset?”“Bluetooth of course!” Stephanie smirked. “I have connected to your headset since the base you came from does the same thing!”Buzzy nodded his head in response, mentally agreeing with her since their base does use radio waves to connect with each other.He felt curious about where she is because he felt like she is outside of the motel.“Stephanie?” he asked, as he got a “Hmm?” in a response. “Where are you?”“I’m in the living room waiting for you to follow me.” She answered. “I decided everything was ready to go for the adventure! Stephanie, out!”The headset clicked off, and he sighed, still feeling confused about why she is so perky all the time.He moved the mic up from his mouth and followed after Stephanie into the living room, wondering if she is either waiting for him patiently or impatiently.When he entered the living room, he saw Stephanie waiting patiently for him as she has two of her fingers where her ear is, before moving them away.“Ready?” she giddily asked, opening the door, making a mention to follow her.He felt nervous at first to follow her, but gather his courage and nodded his head, ready to go to the outside world.Stephanie gently smiled at him, feeling a bit proud of herself that he is slowly trusting her.Buzzy walked past her, as she still has the door open for him to step out first, and he went outside, stepping into a long hallway.Stephanie stepped outside along with him, as she closed the door behind her back and locked it by using a key card.After Stephanie locked the door with the key card, Buzzy followed right by her side, as he felt uneasy about what could be lurking outside.But, he was confident that nothing outside would hurt him, right?As they exited out of the long hallway, the manager of the hotel noticed her and smiled.“Ah, hello Stephanie,” he greeted before noticing Buzzy, who hid behind her leg. “I didn’t know you have a child in your room?”“Well, he is just a friend of mine’s child.” she smiled, lying to the manager as Buzzy listened to her. “I’m just babysitting him until we get home.”The manager understood her and Buzzy mentally sighed, feeling relieved that she told a white lie to him.“Alright, are you letting me know that you are staying a bit longer or signing out?” he asked, mentioning to the large and thick book in front of him.“I am signing out,” Stephanie responded, as Buzzy slowly moved from behind her leg.“Okay,” the manager nodded his head, before holding out his hand for the key card.Stephanie gave him the key card and patiently waited for the pen, as Buzzy curiously glanced around.Everything inside the room seems to be looming over him, as he felt his stomach twisted nervously.After a while of waiting patiently for the manager to come back, he returned and gave Stephanie a pen, as she gladly took it from him.“Thanks.” she smiled, as he nodded his head.She signed her name on the sign-out area of the page while Buzzy was distracted by looking around at his surroundings, before finishing.“Thank you and make sure you return someday!” he smiled as he waved to her goodbye, as Stephanie turned around and walked towards the entrance door, while Buzzy followed along with her.“I will!” Stephanie called back to him, as they exited out of the motel.After they stepped out and the automatic doors closed behind her back, Stephanie sighed and glanced down at Buzzy, who was glancing around, as his right hand was over his eyes.“What do you think of the outside world?” she smirked, placing her left hand on her hip.“Bright,” Buzzy responded, as she rolled her eyes in amusement. “But, beautiful.”Stephanie smiled and knelt down on one knee to his height, playfully pushing his hat down over his face.“Well, let’s see what else might happen,” she smirked, as he pushed his hat up by the rim.He glanced up at her, before smiling too.“Sure, let’s see.” he smiled, as she stood back up.Then, they walked away from the motel, as Buzzy felt confident, but still nervous mentally.What horrible things might happen to them unexpectedly when they are in the woods?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
After a while of walking down the path through the forest, Buzzy continued to feel more and more worried, believing they are going to be lost.Stephanie kept glancing at the sky a few times after some hours had passed, checking the sun if it is over the horizon or still in the spot, it is at.Buzzy noticed she was checking the time as they walked through the forest, checking if it is nighttime or still daytime.Then, they came across a bridge across a large vast of a roaring river, and Buzzy shivered in fear.He does not want to get pushed off or accidentally fall off either.Stephanie walked over to the bridge, as Buzzy slowly followed after her.“Uh, Stephanie?” Buzzy spoke, as Stephanie stopped at where she is and glanced over at him from her shoulder. “Maybe we could go around the river?”Stephanie thought to herself for a moment, before responding, “We can’t get around the river because it’ll take more day than usual. We need to go across it.”Buzzy looked uneasy when she objected the suggestion from him.“It does not look stable!” he protested. “One of the wooden beams might crack underneath your weight!”A soft sigh came from Stephanie, as she glanced back at the bridge and then Buzzy.“Is it because of you’re afraid of heights?” she asked, mentioning to the bridge.“No, I’m just a little uncomfortable about being on a rickety old bridge over a roaring river!” Buzzy confessed, watching as the water roared and went over the waterfall.“Come on, Buzzy, I’m right beside you,” Stephanie assured, as she has her right hand on the rope, waiting for Buzzy to follow her. “For emotional support. We’ll just tackle this thing together one baby step at a time.”She gently pushed Buzzy forward as he stepped onto the bridge, looking uneasy, but trusting towards Stephanie, as she moved behind him, her left hand on the other side of the bridge’s rope rail.“Really?” Buzzy asked, glancing over his shoulder to her.“Really, really.” Stephanie smiled.“Okay, that makes me feel much better.” Buzzy sighed, although looked unsure about crossing a wooden and rickety bridge.“Just keep moving,” Stephanie spoke from behind his back, slowly following after him as he slowly walked, before warning, “And don’t look down.”“Okay, don’t look down, don’t look down,” Buzzy repeated to himself as Stephanie patiently and slowly walked behind his back. “Keep on moving and don’t look down.”Suddenly, when he stepped on a board, it snapped underneath his foot, as he glanced down, gasping in startlement.Stephanie quickly reached over with her right hand and grabbed the back of his aviator coat, just in case he fell through the hole.“Stephanie!” Buzzy panicked, as Stephanie nervously listened to him, her hand still holding onto the back of his jacket. “I’m looking down!”He jumped back with a terrified scream as Stephanie released the back of his jacket, as he quickly turned around.“Oh gosh, I can’t do this!” he panicked. “Let me off of this thing, please!”“But, you’re already halfway!” Stephanie objected.“Yes, but I know that half is safe!” he pointed, thrusting his right hand behind Stephanie, mentioning to the other side of the bridge from where they came from.“Okay, you go back, I’ll just keep going.” Stephanie sighed, trying to move forward.He tried to move past her as she was moving forward, but the size of the bridge was a little too tight for people to walk side by side.“Wait, let me-!” Buzzy spoke as he tried moving forward, but Stephanie was blocking the way from each side.“Buzzy, wait-Buzzy!” Stephanie called out before she shook the bridge a bit too much with her weight.It caused him to jump back, crying out in fear, as he hopped over the gap in the bridge.“Don’t do that!!” he yelled, his tiny hands gripping onto the ropes.“Do what?” Stephanie asked, before recognizing something that she did earlier. “Oh, this?”She shook the bridge again, as he yelped, gripping the ropes with his hands.“Yes! That!” he panicked.“Yes?” Stephanie smirked, before glancing over her shoulder to nothing behind her. “Yes, do it.”She shrugged to herself as she glanced back at Buzzy, as he looked terrified.“Okay.” she smiled, as she continued shaking the bridge by using her weight.Buzzy yelped, as Stephanie continued shaking.“No!! Stephanie!” Buzzy cried out. “Stop!”“You said, ‘don’t do it!’” Stephanie smirked. “I’m doing it!”In his panic, Buzzy backed up as Stephanie continued shaking the bridge, as she moved forward.“Oh gosh, I’m going to die!” he panicked, as he had his eyes closed. “Stephanie, I’m going to die!”When he reached land, he opened his eyes to check, before seeing he reached solid ground, without noticing.“Oh…” he trailed off, feeling confused as Stephanie walked over to him, kneeling down on one knee to his height.“That’ll do, Buzzy.” She smiled, as she gently patted his cheek with her left hand. “That’ll do.”Stephanie stood back up to her height after gently patting his cheek and walked away from him, heading to the other side of the forest.Buzzy glanced over at the bridge for a moment, then back at Stephanie.He was confused about how Stephanie managed to get him to cross the bridge without getting angry at him.She noticed he was not following her from behind, so she turned to him, as he was standing there, with a confused look on his face.“Buzzy? What’s wrong?” she asked, calling him over. “Is there something we forgot?”He was silent for a moment, before responding, “No, I’m just a little confused.”“Okay, just follow me!” Stephanie called again, making a mention with her left hand, waving to him.Buzzy nodded his head once and ran over to her before Stephanie turned her body towards the forest, as he got up to her.After crossing the bridge, they traveled into the other part of the forest, as Buzzy grew more worried, feeling like they are already are lost.But, Stephanie kept moving deeper into the forest, while Buzzy tagged along with her.When they reached a tree, Stephanie walked past the tree and was heading up a hill as Buzzy stopped while leaning against the side of the tree.Stephanie kept going forward, without noticing he stopped.But when she was far enough, she stopped when she noticed something was off, and glanced over her shoulder, seeing a tired Buzzy leaning against a tree.“Could we… stop for a moment?” Buzzy asked, between pants. “I… don’t think I could… catch up with you…”Stephanie thought to herself for a moment, before walking back over to him from up the kill and knelt down on one knee to his height.“I have an idea,” Stephanie spoke, as Buzzy listened to her, glancing back up to her. “Can you move your arms still since you are tired of walking?”He nodded his head confusedly before Stephanie reached over with her arms, as he felt worried and confused at the same time.She placed her right metal hand behind his back and patiently waited for something.“Are you going to wrap your arms around my neck, or am I going to pick you up bridal style as if I am carrying you as if your mine?” she asked, smiling gently.Buzzy snapped out of his confusion and reached up, wrapping his arms around her neck, as he placed his chin on Stephanie’s shoulder.After he had wrapped his arms around Stephanie’s neck, she moved her left hand underneath his bottom and carefully lifted him up from the ground, as he kept still, letting her pick him up like a child.When she picked Buzzy up from the ground, she moved him slowly to her back, as he repositioned his arms from behind to the front of her, as she has her hands underneath his bottom.“Are you okay like this?” Stephanie asked as Buzzy looked confused for a moment before hearing Stephanie asked a question to him.He paused for a moment, thinking to himself for a moment, before responding, “Yes, I am okay like this. But please don’t drop me.”Stephanie nodded her head in understatement, and Buzzy noticed that her hair was getting in his face, so he instead went quiet, although wanting to say it was getting in his face.Somehow, Stephanie noticed while she was glancing over her shoulder to check Buzzy if he was comfortable.Being careful as she can without accidentally dropping Buzzy, she moved her right hand to the middle of his bottom, as he was confused.Stephanie slowly and carefully moved her left hand up to her hair and wires, as Buzzy noticed her hand.She missed Buzzy an inch and moved over to the other side of her hair and wires, gently gripping it.Being careful of accidentally scratching Buzzy, she moved her hair out of his face, pulling it over her shoulder in front of her.“Is this okay now?” She asked as Buzzy looked confused.“Y-Yes, I am.” he stammered, as she placed her hand back in the spot it was in.She softly smiled towards him and continued walking, while carrying Buzzy on her back.After a while of traveling deep in the woods, Buzzy was quiet along the way, feeling curious and confused at each time, wondering why she is so patient.Even if the littlest things could make her a little annoyed or irritated, it seems to roll off her shoulders and continued with what they are doing or starting over.“Uh, Stephanie?” Buzzy questioned, as Stephanie kept walking.“Hmm?” Stephanie responded.“Are we going to be lost?” Buzzy asked, finally spilling out what he was holding in the whole time.“‘Lost?’” Stephanie repeated, glancing over her shoulder once before glancing back in front of her. “Nah, we’re just adventurin’ around the forest until we find that base.”“So, we’re going to be lost?” Buzzy asked, sighing.Stephanie sighed and stopped for a moment, glancing over her shoulder to Buzzy.“I’m not sure about that but… there is more to me than what meets the eye, Buzzy.” Stephanie softly spoke to him, which confused him.He thought to himself for a moment, before asking, “What happened to your parents? Are they worried about you being missing?”She paused for a moment, glancing away from him, as there was sadness in her eyes.Buzzy felt confused about the look in her eyes, and before he could stammer out an apology, she responded to his question, after a long pause, “They also died from the car crash…”Buzzy’s heart dropped to his stomach when she finally answered his question after a long pause.“I was the only one who survived the crash.” she continued while walking, as Buzzy listened to her. “After waking up from a coma and getting used to my body in recovery, the doctor gave me the bad news that they couldn't find my sister… She had disappeared…”She paused for a moment, thinking to herself, before glancing back at Buzzy, with a soft and sad smile on her face, replacing her sadness.“But, I have high hopes that she might be alive.” she smiled. “Someday, when I am ready enough, I might be able to find her and apologize to her for the death of our parents.”Buzzy was quiet for a moment, thinking to himself for a moment, as Stephanie continued walking, still carrying Buzzy on her back.“But what about the rest of the people?” Buzzy asked feeling more and more worried for her than being lost. “They might have seen her before she disappeared!”Stephanie paused for a moment, thinking to herself as Buzzy waited for a response from her.“Well…” she trailed a bit, think of the people she knew of. “No, not many people knew where she went to…”Buzzy fell quiet for a moment after she responded to him.He wondered to himself about where could she be?She adventured deeper and deeper into the woods, as nightfall came over them, and he felt like they are really going to be lost in the woods.But, Stephanie avoided trees, anything that could make her trip and fall.During her walk, Buzzy felt tired from staying up late through the night, so, he fell asleep, curled up against Stephanie’s back.She did not mind him sleeping on her back as she wandered through the forest, still carrying him as he slept.The next day, Buzzy woke up to the smell of something cooking, noticing he was not on Stephanie’s back, but against a tree, covered in a blanket.Instead of sitting down on the grass, his bottom was covered with another blanket, to keep himself from being wet.He glanced over at where the smell is coming from to see Stephanie kneeling over a fire, as she was boiling water in a pot.She looked once over to Buzzy, before a second time, noticing he was fully awake.“Oh, good morning!” she happily chirped. “I was making some breakfast ramen for us to eat.”“You were?” Buzzy groggily asked, moving up slightly from against the tree and sleepily rubbed his eyes, pushing his glasses up slightly.“Yeah,” she shrugged her shoulders. “I was.”She hears the water boiling, so she pulled the lid over and without thinking to herself, she grabbed the handle of the pot with her left bare hand and placed it down on the ground next to her.Buzzy was startled when she did that, so he crawled over to her on his knees and checked her left hand.“Why did you do that?!” he exclaimed as he checked her hand. “You could’ve-!”He was stopped when he noticed there were no burn marks on her hand, but normal.Buzzy fell speechless as he stared at Stephanie’s perfectly normal palm with no signs of burning.He wondered to himself how her hand is okay, although she grabbed the hot handle of the pot.“H-How? Y-Your hand! I-It’s-!” Buzzy stammered, feeling her palm and felt no heat coming from it, nothing at all.There were no scars either.Stephanie quickly yanked her hand away from Buzzy as he glanced back up at her with a confused, but slightly shocked look on his face as she has a worried look on her face, as she rubbed the palm.“Stephanie?” Buzzy spoke, as she stared at him. “Did the doctors do this to you too? Not being able to feel any pain?”Stephanie opened her mouth to object what he asked her, wanting to snap at him for asking that question.But, she shut her mouth as she clenched her left hand, deciding to explain everything to him, properly.“N-No, I…” she drifted off as she glanced down at the ground, feeling unsure of herself by explaining what happened to her in truth.The memories of what she went through haunted her as goosebumps rose on her skin, causing her to shiver a bit.“I…” she drifted again, shaking a bit as she clenched her left hand with her other. “I can’t explain…”Buzzy looked confused when she refused, wondering what made her silent when he asked her how her hand did not burn.He was about to ask why she avoided the question, but stopped himself, noticing that asking another question would make things worse.“Anyways,” Stephanie spoke again, as Buzzy glanced at her, picking the pot up again, with her right metal hand. “The water might be cooled down a bit, so, we’ll wait a bit until the ramen is fully cooked.”Buzzy nodded his head in understanding, and Stephanie carefully poured the hot water into the cups, using her left hand, which made Buzzy feel suspicious.After she had poured the next ramen cup, she placed the pot down and placed the lids back on, clipping them to the outside, as she patiently waited.“How long we wait?” Buzzy asked, breaking the ice.“For 3 minutes.” Stephanie calmly responded, although shaking a bit.“Oh, okay…” Buzzy responded, before tailing off, glancing away from Stephanie for a moment.Then he glanced back at Stephanie feeling unsure to ask her a question, although she was glancing down at the cups in front of her, not even bothering to look up at Buzzy.He glanced away from Stephanie, before hearing a loud roar in the distance, making him flinch from the sound.Stephanie glanced up in the air from the cups, as Buzzy grabbed the blanket that was over his body and covered himself.She glanced back at Buzzy and softly chuckled, smirking slightly, not shaking anymore.“Don’t worry,” she assured Buzzy, as he peeked from underneath the blankets. “That was a bear.”He flinched when he heard the word “bear.”“B-Bears?” he stammered, paling a bit. “Th-They don’t e-eat people, r-right?”“Unless you messed with their cubs or invade their spots, then yeah, they eat people,” Stephanie bluntly responded as Buzzy shook in fear. “But that roar was far away, and the bear may be looking for some food to gather for the winter or warding off other bears that might be in their personal space.”Buzzy mentally was relieved that the bear might be after something else than them but felt worried the bear might smell the ramen they are cooking and come over to them, eating them along with their food.“But we might see some deer around,” Stephanie remarked, picking up the cup of noodles. “And you may eat your ramen now, Buzzy.”Buzzy carefully picked up his cup and sat back down on the ground, holding his cup for a moment, as Stephanie changed her position that she was in.She sat down on the ground on her bottom, as her legs were crisscrossed, as she was holding her ramen in front of her.He had never tried ramen before when he was back at the base or at him, so, he does not know what to do next.Once a while, he would try the MREs for lunchtime, but the texture, the flavor, and the look of the food was disgusting for him to eat.It either makes him have digestive problems or puke it all up.So, he preferably sticks with lunch his mother packs for him, although the bullies bother him about it, mocking him that he was a momma’s boy.Buzzy glanced up at Stephanie for any help, but only to see Stephanie unclipped the clip that was holding the lid to the cup to steam.Without Stephanie noticing that Buzzy was staring at her for help, she held out her left hand to the side of her body, as her right was holding her cup.Buzzy felt confused about why she has her hand out like that.After a few minutes have passed, a bubble suddenly appears from out of the middle of nowhere in the middle of her palm, containing with 4 chopsticks.Buzzy’s mouth dropped when he witnesses a bubble appearing out of the middle of nowhere in the middle of Stephanie’s palm.The bubble pops without her touching it and took the chopsticks, before glancing up at Buzzy, noticing he was staring at her with a gawked look on his face, his jaw dropped to the ground.She slightly jumped from her spot as she was sitting on the ground with her long legs in a crisscross position when she noticed him staring at her, feeling embarrassed and ashamed at the same time, as a light neon pink blush appeared on her cheeks.“You saw that, didn’t you?” Stephanie asked him, glancing away from him, as her hands contained chopsticks and her ramen.He quickly nodded his head, answering her question fast.“H-How did you do that?!” he exclaimed, pointing at her, as his right hand held his cup.She sighed and glanced away for a moment as the blush on her cheeks disappeared, then glanced back at Buzzy.Stephanie wanted to explain everything to him, but does not feel like she wanted to tell him the truth.She does not know if he will take it well, or wrong.Buzzy noticed the struggling look on her face, as she was struggling between telling him, and not telling him.“I-I’m sorry.” Buzzy stammered as he looked away from Stephanie. “I-I didn’t know you could do that, but I was startled that you have powers and-and I thought you were able to hack into computers but-”“I lied.” Stephanie softly spoke, glancing away from him as he stopped talking.He glanced back at her with a confused look on his face when she softly interrupted him.Stephanie glanced back at him, with a troubled look on her face.“I-I lied about being in a car crash, I-I…” she drifted off again, as she glanced down at her hand, feeling her body shake. “I was kidnapped from my home…”Buzzy almost dropped the cup of noodles in his hand from shock.His worried and concerned feeling instantly replaced with shock and horror.She was kidnapped from home and was left behind too?Why did she not tell him this?Buzzy snapped out of his shock and was about to ask her why she lied to him and why she did not tell him about this when he noticed the tips of Stephanie’s hair was slowly starting to turn purple and blue.“I-I was kidnapped from home after my 20th birthday and-and I was supposed to get something for my ex-fiancé since we were getting married and… and…” she trailed off, as she placed her left hand on her eye, shaking as she gritted her teeth. “I-It’s difficult to explain than to remember.”Buzzy listened to her as she talked a little, glancing down at the cup of noodles in her hands.“Stephanie,” Buzzy spoke, as she glanced back up at him. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain everything to me if it’s painful to remember and I’m sorry for asking a question.”Stephanie opened her mouth to continue talking, but stopped, while the purple and blue color on the tips of her hair was slowly turning back to normal.“O-Okay.” she stammered, as her hands shook from fear, at the terrifying memories of what she went through. “I… don’t want to explain what happened to me.”But, mentally, Stephanie wanted to tell him everything about what happened to her in the past, that gave her grief and pain for as long as she remembered.But, the lack of trust towards another person she recently met caused her to be quiet as she gave him the other pair of chopsticks as she took the other, placing it in her mouth.Buzzy took the chopsticks that were handed to him from Stephanie as she took the other pair out of her mouth, and began to eat, using her ring finger and thumb.He copied her and tried it out, failing a few times, but slowly started to get used to it.Stephanie glanced up at him to check on how he is doing, only to see he was mastering chopsticks.She smiled a bit in amusement and said, changing the mood and subject, “I didn’t know you are good at chopsticks.”Buzzy glanced up at her with a mouthful of noodles as there was a long string of noodles hanging out of his mouth, with a confused look on his face, with a muffled, “Mhh?”Stephanie smiled softly and repeated herself, “‘I didn’t know you are good at chopsticks.’”He glanced down at the chopsticks in his hand that he was using to eat and glanced back up at Stephanie, as she looked nervous.Buzzy finished what was in his mouth and said, “I actually learned how to use chopsticks already, Stephanie. I did not know how to use them earlier, but while watching you eat, I quickly learned.”Stephanie understood him, as she mouthed the “Oh” word and smiled.“Okay,” Stephanie spoke while smiling slightly. “I didn’t know that.”Buzzy shrugged to himself and went back to eating, while Stephanie went back to eating too.After a while, they finished eating their cups of noodles and drank the water that was remaining.“Okay, uh, let me handle the trash, and maybe, just maybe, I would throw the trash away,” Stephanie spoke, holding out her hand for the empty cup in Buzzy’s hand.Buzzy paused for a moment, before handing the empty cup to her, as she took it from him, before taking the chopsticks out first.After collecting the trash, she bubbled the garbage into a bubble like how the chopsticks were, which boggled Buzzy, as she tapped the top, sending it away as it disappeared into thin air.“Er, I know I have said this before, but, how did you do that?” Buzzy asked as she glanced over to him.“Ah, well…” Stephanie spoke, before trailing off, looking sheepish and a little uneasy. “I, uh… was born with them or may be given with powers?”She shrugged her shoulders as she does the same thing again with the chopsticks.“I usually do this to keep objects or anything safe while adventuring or somethin’.” She explained, looking sheepish.Buzzy looked curious, as Stephanie felt mentally curious and confused.“So, you are able to bubble anything you could?” Buzzy asked, consuming the whole thing he saw.“I suppose.” she shrugged her shoulder. “I never tried bubbling anything bigger than me.”Buzzy’s curiosity grew more about her talents and asked, as he stood up to his feet, folding the blankets while he talked, “What have you been bubbling then? A-And where does the stuff go?”While he talked to Stephanie, he gave the blankets that Stephanie gave him to sleep through the night, as she stood up from the ground, stretching out a bit then taking the quilts from him.“Honestly, I don’t know where the stuff goes,” Stephanie responded to one of his questions while tapping the bubbled blankets as they disappeared. “I can bring them back like the chopsticks I did.”Buzzy thought to himself for a moment as he placed a finger underneath his bottom lip, humming to himself.“But we need to keep going.” she sighed, glancing up at the sky. “By this rate, we are going like this; we might get there after a few more days have passed.”“Is there a different way?” Buzzy asked, after a moment of silence.“Not what I think of,” Stephanie responded, kneeling down to his height. “Even if we did, it might take longer than what we’ve expected.”Buzzy thought to himself again, before Stephanie picked him up from behind, like last time, except without turning him around and flicking the hair out of his face and over her shoulder to the front of her.“So, it might take longer by car or taxi, but it’ll take only a few days or more by walking?” Buzzy asked.“Yes, that’s what I have been saying so far.” Stephanie agreed, as he carefully wrapped his arms around Stephanie’s neck.Buzzy fell quiet for a moment, before asking, “Then, are we going the right way?”“I suppose,” Stephanie responded, shrugging her shoulders slightly. “My metal eyes had scanned the area before we entered the forest and I know the coordinates, but we both have to go through some certain areas that might hurt us or kill us.”Buzzy slightly shivered at the thought of being killed, worried about if they take a wrong move, they might be dead sooner or later.“But, I’m sure we are safe,” Stephanie assured as Buzzy stopped shivering. “I am sure of that. And I hope that I am right too.”Buzzy was quiet after she had assured, but Stephanie continued walking into the woods, as Buzzy had an uneasy feeling in his stomach.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Throughout the whole day, Stephanie has walked through the forest without stopping to take a break, while carrying Buzzy on her back, which oddly does not weigh anything to her.He was confused about how she is able to carry him without being tired, as he was exhausted from following after her the whole time.Somehow, he allowed her to carry him as if he is a child of her own without forcing him to do it.She was patient with him and allowed him to hesitate or refuse by his own will.His arms were sore from being around her neck, so he moved them in front of his body, as she has her back hunched over like she was carrying a bag on her back, as he was laying on the side of his head.As more hours have passed, Stephanie still did not stop to take a break and continued walking deeper and deeper into the woods, still carrying him on her back.Buzzy thinks she might have an energy drink that gave her more energy than him to continue moving onward or may be exercised a lot in the past before meeting him, that gave her strong thigh muscles.She walked up hills without slipping or falling down face first on the ground and avoided going into the trees when going down the slopes.But the unique idea Stephanie had was to cock her body to the side and slowly walk down, without slipping and falling.Buzzy once a while wrapped his arms around her neck in worry when she slips a bit, worried about being accidentally tossed off her back and down the hill, but Stephanie reaches up with her hands and places them against his wrists.He expected her to snap at her and say, “Stop that, Buzzy!” towards him, but she instead placed her hands against his wrist, letting him know he is safe, and she is always there to save him.After a while, they both reached a large vast of a desert-like area, except there was steam coming out of some tunnels that foam up, and dead trees everywhere.Buzzy shivered in fear while staring at the area, feeling creeped out already.Stephanie felt him shiver and glanced over her shoulder, checking him.“What’s wrong?” Stephanie asked.“That looks scary,” Buzzy responded, his grip around her neck tightened a bit. “Could we perhaps turn around and go another way?”Stephanie was about to answer his question, when he added, sighing as she was interrupted before she could respond, “Wait, I know what you are going to say next; ‘There is no way around it and will take more days if we did. So, we have to go through it.’”“Exactly,” Stephanie spoke, moving Buzzy from behind her back to right next to her. “Even if I walk in there while carrying you on my back, it would include more weight and maybe make the ground collapse under both of us.”Buzzy shivered at the thought of falling into a hole that crumbles underneath both of the weights.“But, it does not hurt walking side by side,” Stephanie mentioned. “I’ll be in front just in case if I see something bad, okay?”Buzzy was silent for a moment, thinking to himself for a moment about the idea Stephanie has.But home matters to him, so he nodded his head once, agreeing with Stephanie.“Okay, but stick close with me, I don’t want anyone left behind,” Stephanie spoke, warning him, before taking his hand, gently luring him into the area, as the ground softly crunches underneath their feet.Buzzy felt worried as he glanced around the place, feeling anxious and worried.Stephanie absentmindedly released his hand while walking, and went ahead of him, disappearing into the mist.Before he could call out to Stephanie to wait for him, a crack noise came from underneath his left foot, without him noticing, and a burst of steam came out from the ground, startling him as he gave out a yelp, jumping back from the hole.After the steam died down from bursting out of the ground next to Buzzy, he continued slowly walking forward, although he was scared to enter in the first place.He felt worried to be lost in the woods and stuck in a spot of the forest where burning fumes might cook you into a crisp.“Stephanie?” he called, as in the distance and in the fog, a shape of a werewolf watching Buzzy walking away, before running out on the other way, still following them. “Stephanie?”He ducked underneath a tipped over log that was on its side from old age many years ago and glanced around, as the anxiety grew in the tone of his voice.“Stephanie, where are you?” he called again, before walking more, looking worried.A large shadow appeared behind him, as a hand reached down to his shoulder, without him noticing.Stephanie appeared from the mist she was inside, hissing as she placed her hand on his shoulder.He screamed as he whipped around, toppling backward before landing on his bottom.Stephanie started laughing as she has her hands on her knees, chuckling as she moved a strand of hair from her face.“Don’t do that to me!” he snapped, getting up from his bottom, as he rubbed it in slight pain.“Scared ya, didn’t I?” Stephanie asked, chuckling.“There’s scared… and then there’s surprised.” Buzzy spoke, looking a bit annoyed.“And you were both!” Stephanie remarked, still chuckling, as Buzzy pouted, crossing his arms over his chest like a little boy.Stephanie noticed something away from Buzzy and looked amazed.“Whoa…” she softly gasped, as Buzzy looked, seeing a shape of a skull from a dead tree with some grass.Noticing she was distracted from the form, he decided to take some revenge.He moved into the mist as Stephanie was distracted, deciding to do the same thing.After Stephanie was still distracted, he slowly moved over to where Stephanie is, as she did not notice him.When he got up close to her, he moved in front of her, as she glanced down at him, as she glanced down at him.He did a fake roar and growled, as he was drooling a bit, making scary faces at her.She did not budge when he did that but instead chuckled at his attempt, which confused him.“Nice try.” She smirked, placing her right hand against her hip, before mentioning, using her thumb to pretend to wipe something from the corner of her lip, “Although, you have something on the corner of your lip.”Buzzy reached up with his right hand, feeling what she meant, before wiping the saliva off with the sleeve of his jacket.Stephanie softly chuckled as she rolled her eyes, glancing out in the distance, before looking a little suspicious.“Buzzy, don’t move.” She warned, moving her right hand up as if to stop.“You’re not going to scare me again,” Buzzy chuckled, thinking that she is pranking him again.“No, I’m being serious,” Stephanie spoke, gently shushing him. “Don’t move.”He did not listen to Stephanie and continued talking, “What do you mean? Is there another prank you’re doing? Well, whatever you are doing, it’s not-”He was suddenly cut off when a loud, monstrous roar came from deep in the woods, scaring Buzzy as he jumped, and alerting Stephanie as she turned towards the noise, glancing around for any signs.“What was that?” he quietly asked, before being shushed by Stephanie, who gave a sharp, “Shh!” as she glanced back at him, her first finger against her lips.Buzzy decided to take the hint and stayed still, not saying anything as he glanced around, looking for anything particular or anything out of the ordinary.Suddenly, another monstrous roar roared again in the distance, making Stephanie and Buzzy glanced over at the other side of where they came from, as the birds flew out of the trees, tweeting in a panic.The noise sounded like it was getting closer towards both of them.Something suddenly was tossed into the air and headed towards them, which Stephanie noticed before it could make a hit.She quickly grabbed it with her right metal hand before it could hit Buzzy and tossed it back over where it came from.After she flung the object back to whoever tossed at the both of them, Buzzy was about to ask about what threw it, when something came crashing through the dead tree, answering his question.An enormous creature that is 10 ft tall, and fat, came out from the wreckage, with red glowing eyes.It had bumps all over its body, as there was one covering its left eye, short legs, and long arms that reach down to the ground.The monster also has a round stomach, with bits of hair attached to the top of its head and drooling bits of spit.It has no shirt on, but wearing a pair of ripped pants and has out of place and crooked teeth, with some that are missing.When the beast noticed both of them, Stephanie is standing there bravely and glaring at the monster, and Buzzy looks terrified as he has a foot behind him, getting ready to run.It roared the same roar from before and ran at them, using its hands to run, as its hind legs were lifted up from the ground, using weight on its arms.The speed of the monster was fast, running towards them as fast as it could as Stephanie remembered the moment where a creature’s speed is like the beast she once encountered.She was startled when it charged at them with no warning and quickly turned around and scooped Buzzy up from the ground hastily, carrying him in her arms as he has his right hand on top of his head, holding his hat on his head, as the other was wrapped around Stephanie’s neck.Stephanie jumped over a large and thicker dead tree that is over on its side, as the beast ran into it, giving out a grunt, as she ran forward.Without looking back, she continued running through the steam land, carrying Buzzy as she ran.She made a hard turn as she moved her weight to the other side, and skidded, before running down the way, keeping an eye out for any more of the beasts.A bellowing roar came from the monster in the distance of where they were before, and Buzzy glanced up to see what it is going to do next.After the roar, a loud smash came from the distance, before rumbling came from the other side of Stephanie.Buzzy glanced over to the side of Stephanie, wondering if that noise is a tank, like the ones that he has seen before.But, it was instead the beast, jumping from the ledge it was on, roaring as its enormous hand was out in front of it, getting ready to pounce on the both of them.Buzzy was about to scream in fear, when Stephanie quickens her pace, going faster as she went past the beast, and it crashed to the ground, missing them and lost its footing.Stephanie did not stop as she continued running, even after it roared, getting back up.“S-Stephanie!” Buzzy stammered in fear. “I-It’s getting up!”Stephanie quickly glanced over her shoulder to the beast as it chased the both of them, as she glanced back in front, before noticing a dead tree over a large gap over a roaring river.She decided to cross over the dead tree and got onto it before her foot slipped, and Buzzy fell over, giving out a terrified scream before his right hand was grabbed by Stephanie, wrapping her fingers around his wrist.They were in the middle of the log as the beast tried to get up, but the weight was difficult for it to get up and over the timber.Stephanie wished to laugh at its stupidity, but she was a little too focused on saving Buzzy than laughing at it.After catching him from falling off, she carefully swung him to the opposite side of the log, as he gave out a startled scream.He landed side first on the ground, as he gave out an “Oof!” before quickly getting up to his knees, repositioning his glasses from almost coming off.“Stephanie! Get off the log!” He cried out to Stephanie, feeling worried about her getting hurt.Stephanie obeyed his command and was about to get off the log, when a thunk noise came from behind, causing the whole thing to move forward harshly, almost making her topple off.When she almost came off, Buzzy nervously bit the tips of his fingers of his right hand, gripping his jacket in the other.She glanced over her shoulder to see what is going on, only to see it decided to use its size to push the log over from the ledge.Stephanie quickly ran over to the other side of the log when she saw it using force, before it fully pushed it off the ledge, even before she could reach it.The log fell from beneath her feet and fell, as Stephanie cried out in startlement from the sudden drop.Buzzy cried out in fear too, quickly moving forward to catch her before she fell.But her claws came out from her fingers of both of her hands and dug them into the dead tree, stopping herself from falling into the river.“Stephanie!” Buzzy cried out, moving over to the log and tried to reach down with his right hand. “Quickly, take my hand!”Stephanie climbed up a few times to get closer to Buzzy and tried to reach up to grab his hand.But they were too far away from each other!“Come on, reach!” Buzzy panicked.“I’m trying!” Stephanie called out to Buzzy.Suddenly, a crashing noise came from the log, as it shook once up and down, causing Stephanie to slip and fell more away from Buzzy, digging her claws in deeper.She luckily stopped as she glanced up at Buzzy with a startled and confused expression on her face.After the crash happened, Buzzy glanced over to the end of the log, seeing that the vines that held the wood were uprooted.Worried, he glanced back over to Stephanie, who is more away from Buzzy and looking around for the source of the noise.Buzzy glanced around too, before glancing over Stephanie, seeing that on the bottom of the log is the beast, climbing up to attack Stephanie, while growling.“Stephanie, look!” he pointed, looking worried and scared at the same time.Stephanie looked down and saw the beast climbing up to where she is, as a snap noise came from where Buzzy is.He glanced back over to the end and saw that one of the vines had snapped off and another was about to lose its grip.“Hurry, Stephanie!” Buzzy cried out, glancing back at Stephanie while panicking as he tried to reach more down to her. “Hurry!”Stephanie wisely decided not to sacrifice herself to save Buzzy from the beast and quickly climbed up the log, using her claws as a way to get up.It missed an inch of grabbing her ankle as it swiped its hand.Another vine snapped, causing Buzzy to glance back over, seeing the more weight and movement is added, more plants might lose their grip.He glanced back over to Stephanie as she got closer to him, as he reached over to her again, and she grabbed his hand, as he used his strength to pull her back onto land, digging the heels of his boot into the ground.While getting her up on the ground, Stephanie pulled herself up, using her claws along the way, as it got up, growling at them.Both Stephanie and Buzzy gasped and moved away, before the last vine snapped, causing the log to come off the ledge and fell into the river, along with the beast, as it gave out a final roar before drowning in the water.Both Stephanie and Buzzy watched over the side of the ledge, their breaths paused for a moment, before sighing in relief that it is gone and pushed their glasses into place with their hands.“Stephanie, there is something I want to say to you;” Buzzy spoke, as Stephanie tiredly glanced over to him, responding with a “Hmm?”“Don’t you ever scare me like that!” Buzzy snapped at her, causing her to jump from the snap from him.She sighed and landed back first against the ground, as Buzzy watched her.“That I’ll take for granted.” Stephanie granted, chuckling softly.A confused and disbelieving look appeared on Buzzy’s face, as she continued chuckling.“How are you laughing at this time?!” Buzzy exclaimed in disbelief as she continued chuckling. “You nearly died, almost getting us killed by a monster, and almost gave me a heart attack! It was not-!”He was interrupted when Stephanie sat back up and said, interrupting him from continuing what they did back there, “I nearly gave myself a heart attack, Buzzy! I was so scared back there! I thought I was going to die even if I survived that incident!”Confusion replaced Buzzy’s face as Stephanie continued chuckling, as he was confused about why Stephanie was laughing.“But, I think we need to relax a bit from that scare,” Stephanie sighed, calming herself down from giggling. “It did almost make my pants full.”Buzzy glanced away for a moment, before glancing back at Stephanie, completely confused and bewildered that Stephanie was laughing from that scary moment, even though she said it nearly scared her to death too.Even after that encounter, she was not scared to death about that and was traumatized by it, but willing to laugh from it.Buzzy, on the other hand, looked confused as he watched Stephanie laugh for a moment before calming down.“Oh, maybe we need to keep moving,” Stephanie softly spoke, standing up from the ground from laying down on her back. “It’s almost dark.”Buzzy glanced up at the sky, noticing it was getting dark as the sun was setting over the horizon, and nodded his head, agreeing with her.“Do you want me to carry you like last time, or do you think you are capable of walking by my side?” Stephanie asked, kneeling down to his height.Buzzy paused for a moment, before responding, “I, uh, I would like to be carried again. I like being tall.”A slightly shocked look appeared on Stephanie’s face, before disappearing, as she gently shook her head side to side for a moment.“O-Okay, just be careful, I’m a little sore from trying to escape from that thing earlier,” Stephanie warned, stammering a bit in her words.Buzzy felt confused about her stammering, but mentally shrugged to himself, and carefully wrapped his arms around her neck, as she placed her hands behind his back and one underneath his bottom.After carefully picking him up from the ground, she moved him behind her back, still carrying him like a baby.And moved her long hair and wires from in from of his face to in front of her.“But there is something that I don’t get.” Buzzy softly spoke, sounding confused, catching Stephanie’s attention again. “How did you get claws?”Stephanie paused for a moment as she moved her left hand up to her face, looking at her fingers.She unsheathed her claws, which was her fingers, that transformed into silver metal claws, that covers the tips of her fingers, to the middle.Stephanie moved her fingers for a moment, before sheathing them, as they transformed back to normal.She moved her hand away from her face and glanced over her shoulder to Buzzy, with worry written all over her face.“What’s wrong?” Buzzy nervously asked, noticing the look on her face.“It’s a long story and to say, it is going to make you a little scared of me than that encounter,” Stephanie answered, sighing.“I’ve dealt with other scary things, but nothing bad happened to you that could make me scared of you, right?” Buzzy spoke, before looking worried.Stephanie paused for a moment as she glanced away from Buzzy, then glanced back at him, with a nervous but a pained expression on her face.“Well, not really.” Stephanie sighed. “Let me explain along the way back home.”Buzzy fell quiet for a moment, as Stephanie started walking down the way back to the base.So, he decided to listen to the story behind Stephanie, the one that scarred her for her entire life that she lied to him.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It seems to be hours have passed since the last time they had stopped.Buzzy was still thinking to himself about Stephanie, as she continued walking up a different hill than the ones that they have climbed up on, as he was relaxing, but feeling bored too.Nothing was going on between both of them, as they were silent, as Stephanie was focused on walking to the base, as Buzzy was thinking about Stephanie.Wondering about her claws, her fast running abilities and not being able to be tired.Were her parents from the military?Mentally, Buzzy felt nervous about meeting the parents since they could be from the military, but he felt curious.Who else could be in Stephanie’s family?But where did she get the claws?Was she born with them before that kidnap?Or was it like what happened to her?As for Stephanie, she was focused on walking up the hill, while carrying Buzzy on her back, not minding the fact that he was quiet and thinking to himself about her.When she got up to the top of her hill, she decided to check on Buzzy and was not breaking a sweat from her walk.But when she glanced over her shoulder, she noticed he was thinking to himself, guessing he could be thinking about her in general.“Bee in your bonnet?” she gently asked, startling Buzzy as he slightly finches, snapping into reality from his thoughts.“Hmm, what’s that?” Buzzy asked, glancing up at her from looking down.“I asked if you have something that you kept thinking about it again and again,” Stephanie spoke, explaining what she was talking about, as Buzzy listened to her.“Oh…” he trailed off, unsure on how Stephanie will react if he said about her. “Just thinking about my home.”She chuckled softly and said, “You really got a big bee in your bonnet about that.”Buzzy did not understand what she meant by that and said, as he pointed at himself, “I don’t wear a-Oh, it’s an idiom. I thought you were saying I am wearing a bonnet with a bee in it.”Stephanie giggled and curled a bit forward more as Buzzy froze, as she moved him up more from accidentally sliding off.“Nah, remember what I said earlier,” Stephanie asked, slowly moved back up.Buzzy remembered she explained what she asked earlier and now understood what she meant.“Yes, I remember,” Buzzy responded, sounding a little distant and a little irritated at himself for not knowing it earlier.Stephanie noticed the sound of his voice and moved her hands from underneath his bottom, as one was behind his back, and keeping him in place, as her right hand gently touched his hand that was on her shoulder.“Don’t worry about it.” Stephanie sighed, as Buzzy is now confused about why she is doing that. “I get the same thing too, when someone says an idiom in front of me.”Buzzy paused for a moment when she assured him, as his slight confusion disappeared.He glanced at Stephanie’s gaze, noticing how soft she is, since how much she is acting around him.Buzzy oddly felt… calm around her.Before he could ask a question about why she is acting like this, and telling him the truth, a loud thunderclap went through the air, making both of them jump from the sudden noise.Stephanie glanced up in the sky to see where did that noise come from, as Buzzy shuddered.“Wh-What was that, Stephanie?” he stammered, a little shaken up from the sudden noise.Stephanie did not respond to his question and started to get a little worried.“Uh, Stephanie?” he questioned, squirming up a bit to see what she is doing.Since that chase from that beast back at that wasteland, he was not too sure that either Stephanie was pranking him or something is going on.Before another word comes out of his mouth, something dripped on his nose, which was wet.A confused look appeared on his face as he wiped the drop off his nose, before glancing up at the sky, wondering what is going on.To Stephanie, she continued staring up at the sky, not noticing that Buzzy was watching too, until a familiar smell hits her nose.She paused and took a couple of sniffs, before something dripped in the middle of her forehead, as she glanced up a bit.Before long, more drips came out of the sky, soaking Stephanie’s clothes and Buzzy on her back.Buzzy, on the other hand, was startled at the sudden water dripping out of the sky, was panicking slightly.“Uh, Stephanie?” Buzzy asked her, as she sighed softly. “What’s going on?”Stephanie glanced back at Buzzy, as her glasses were covered with water drops, and she chuckled, taking them off and placing them into a bubble, and tapped the top, making it disappear.After making her glasses disappear, she placed her hand back as Buzzy looked a little confused, but startled at the same time.“Nothing,” she responded, as she glanced back up in the sky, watching and feeling more rain poured on the both of them. “Just enjoying this moment.”Really confused, he glanced back at Stephanie, as she glanced back up at the sky, closing her eyes as she calmly sighed.Buzzy had been in the rain a couple of times, but since he was busy working in the base, he hardly had time to go outside and enjoy the rain.Mostly to add; he was locked away for so long that he hardly remembered the feeling of rain against him.But now free and outside of his prison, he glanced up at the sky, feeling more of raindrops land on the both of them, he felt more relaxed and calm.He moved his arm out to feel the raindrops land on his hand while remembering back when he was little, he was outside in the backyard.Buzzy was in his rain gear, happily laughing as he went through the puddles and enjoying the rain.A sad look appeared on Buzzy’s face after the memory disappeared, as he moved his hand away, looking away from the sky and down to Stephanie’s back.Before long, another thunderclap went through the air, startling the both of them again as Stephanie glanced over her shoulder, noticing that thunder was coming closer and getting colder.“Hold on, Buzzy,” Stephanie spoke over her shoulder, as Buzzy glanced over at her, shaking head to toe. “I’m going to run and find a cave as quickly as possible, okay?”Buzzy quickly nodded his head yes, as he tightened his grip around Stephanie a bit, feeling cold and scared at the same time.Stephanie acknowledges his nod and started running, heading up the hill and searching for a cave to be inside for the moment, that is not having any bears or any creatures inside.As she ran through the forest, her entire body was soaked to the bone with water.Buzzy was soaked too, his glasses were not, but he was shaking from head to toe, cold from being outside with Stephanie too much.She kept running up the hill, still carrying Buzzy on her back as he was getting cold, his teeth now chattering, as Stephanie was perfectly fine, even though she is soaking wet.As she ran through the forest, her entire body was soaked to the bone with cold water drops, as she does not seem bothered by it.Just as things were about to be worse, she noticed an empty cave and quickly entered it, just as another thunderclap went through the air.Stephanie stopped as she was inside the cave, glancing around for a moment, until the grip of Buzzy’s arms around her neck tightened a bit, as the shaking grew more, which confused and startled Stephanie.“What’s wrong?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder to check on him.No response came from him, as he started to shake from head to toe uncontrollably.Panicking slightly that he might have gotten hypothermia, she quickly took him off her back, placing him in front of her to check on him if he is okay and was about to release him, when he grabbed her right hand, tightening in his grip, as he was shaking from head to toe, with a terrified look on his face.“D-Don’t leave me here!” Buzzy stammered, shaking uncontrollably as his grip on Stephanie’s wrist was tight, as she just stayed, watching him looking terrified. “I-I don’t want to be left alone!”Stephanie flinched when he cried out in fear, feeling sorry for him to be this scared of being inside something this dark.“P-Please don’t leave me in here!” Buzzy continued panicking, as Stephanie placed her left hand on his shoulder. “I-It’s too dark here!”“Buzzy!” Stephanie gently slapped his cheek with her left hand, snapping him out of his panic, as he released her wrist he was gripping onto in nervousness. “Calm down!”His hyperventilating died down after she slapped his cheek, feeling it with his left hand.“I’m not going to leave you alone in here, and we are only staying here until the rain died down!” Stephanie snapped, as Buzzy listened to her. “I’m staying here with you and will make some fire unless you calm down, okay?”Buzzy paused for a moment, thinking to himself for a while as he slowly rubbed his cheek, glancing away from Stephanie, before glancing up at her, nodding his head once.Stephanie sighed and released his shoulder, stood up to her feet and walked 4 inches away from him, before going down on her knees and reached into her sweater pockets.Buzzy glanced away from Stephanie again, feeling a bit angry at himself for panicking like that and getting Stephanie angry.A few minutes of silence passed between the two of them, except the sounds of the rain outside, along with a few thunderclaps making Buzzy jump from each noise.He had once heard thunderstorms from inside the house with his mother back when he was much younger, but being locked away in the “prison” for almost forever seemed to make him more scared of the thunderstorms, except muffled and sounding like they could strike it at any minute.The sound of snapping fingers caught his attention, so he glanced over at Stephanie, wondering if she was snapping her fingers to get his attention.Just as he glanced over at her, wondering if she was getting his attention, while he was shivering from being cold with his arms wrapped around him to keep the warmth to himself, she was actually snapping her fingers in front of herself, sitting down on her bottom and halfway kneeling.But something else about that caught his attention, stopping himself from asking Stephanie what is wrong?Every time she snaps her fingers, away from Buzzy and towards a small pile of firewood, tiny blue sparks flickered from her fingertips.She looked concentrating, focusing on something that she is doing, not even noticing that Buzzy was staring at her, with a confused look on his face.Then, she snapped a hard snap, and after her fingers finished, a small blue flame appeared in the middle of her palm, only not burning her hand.Buzzy’s jaw dropped when he witnessed Stephanie, making a small fireball in her palm.Using her first finger of her right hand, she took half of the fireball in her other palm, as the color of the fire turned from blue to a reddish glow.Buzzy only stared in awe, watching as Stephanie looked at the blue flame in her left palm and the reddish fireball in her other hand.With her left hand, she extinguished the blue flame in her palm, as the reddish fireball in the other was still there.She placed her hand in the middle of the firewood and waited for a moment.It gradually lit up in fire, as she moved her right hand away from the slowly burning firewood, as she extinguished it with a single blow of her breath.She shook her hand to get the rest off, taking a glance at Buzzy for a moment, before taking a second look, noticing he was staring at her, with a disbelieving look on his face.“You… saw that, did you?” she slowly asked, looking hurt and worried.He did not answer to her question, just memorized by her magic of making that fireball.She sighed and turned towards his body, as she looked slightly embarrassed and nervous at the same time.“Buzzy?” she asked, placing her right hand on his shoulder, shaking him slightly to snap out of his daze.It worked as he blinked once, noticing a light warm feeling from her palm.“Are you okay?” she asked, as he glanced up at her eyes, as she shut his mouth with her left hand.“Y-Yes, I’m fine.” Buzzy stammered, sounding a bit startled, but not scared. “You have pyrokinesis?”“Yes, I do,” she responded, snapping the fingers of her left hand, and showing him a small blue flame on the tip of her first finger, before extinguishing it.Buzzy was impressed, as Stephanie was a little confused at why he was not scared of her.“So, not only that you have claws, but you also control fire?” he curiously asked, as Stephanie looked confused.“Yes, and you’re not scared of me?” she asked, gently rubbing her right hand in thought.A confused look appeared on Buzzy’s face, noticing her worry.“Why would I be afraid of you?” he asked, cocking his head to the side slightly. “You didn’t attack me or kidnap me from home, although I was away from home for a long time, but why?”Stephanie paused for a moment, gazing down at her hands, as she looked unsure and hesitant.“I… have more than that.” she slowly spoke, glancing back up to Buzzy. “I… was born, how you would say, differently.”Buzzy felt more curious, puzzled at how Stephanie was born ‘differently.’“I don’t know how, but…” she paused and glanced away from his gaze as there was a slightly hurt look in her eyes.Buzzy was going to say that he did not mean to ask that question, but she continued, despite the look of her eyes.“I was born with many powers, even ones that are not supposed to be used or not used at all.” she softly spoke, sighing softly.Buzzy looked surprised as she continued talking, sitting and halfway kneeling in front of him, as he was back first against the wall, listening to her.“My… parents were really shocked about this when I turned 5 years, showing my first powers to them.” she continued, talking about her past to him.“D-Did they do something about it?” he stammered, feeling worried about her.“They did.” Stephanie sighed, rubbing her right arm gently. “They trained me.”Buzzy blinked once, his worries disappearing after she assured him.“They helped me train my powers, even controlling ones that others couldn’t.” Stephanie continued, telling him more. “I even loved using them at home than outside.”“What was it like out there if you have powers?” Buzzy asked, sounding curious than worried.She paused again and glanced away from him to the side, thinking to herself for a moment.“It wasn’t the same like home…” she softly spoke. “I became an outcast when I accidentally used my powers to save someone from falling out a tree. It reacted badly.”Buzzy looked shocked when she answered his question about outside.“I was not used in any games or anything since I had powers and could cheat easily.” Stephanie softly spoke. “But, it didn’t seem to stop me.”She glanced back at Buzzy, with a ghost of a smile on her face.“Even though I did have some teachers that did push me away from anything and bullies because of my strange habits,” Stephanie spoke, as Buzzy matched her with him, feeling almost like she is identical like him.Somehow, he felt sorry for her, being different from others and being treated differently.“But, I wasn’t that too emotional for that.” Stephanie sighed, as Buzzy looked confused. “I was optimistic.”“Yes, I can cry when someone else fights with another verbally, and be really weird,” Stephanie smiled, before placing a hand on his shoulder. “But, being different is better than being the same.”Those words somehow lighten Buzzy a little.“I remember what my momma always says to me whenever I am down, ‘Everything happens for a reason, live it, love it, learn it! Make your smile change the world, but don’t let the world change your smile.’” Stephanie beamed, chuckling softly, before a sad look appeared on her face, looking away from him. “I wish I could do it, momma.”Buzzy remembered the day when Stephanie told him about her tragic past, where that crash changed her and made her more different from who she was before.Looking at Stephanie like that made him feel sorrier for her.“Stephanie, I-” Buzzy spoke, before Stephanie sighed, glancing back up at his eyes.“It’s okay, Buzzy.” Stephanie softly spoke, as Buzzy listened to her. “A few of my friends looked past my difference and noticed I was just the same.”“Like that?” Buzzy asked, feeling curious about what she meant by that.“That I was human,” Stephanie answered, smiling sadly, but softly. “We may have wings, powers, size, and many other things, but we are the same. We all have ourselves, and we are happy to be different.”Buzzy was silent as she spoke those words, feeling more and more lighten, although he was a little dark earlier, he seemed to be gathering his old self back.A soft smile appeared on Buzzy’s face, and he reached over, placing his hand on her shoulder, feeling a little happier now.“Thank you, Stephanie.” Buzzy thanked as Stephanie giggled.Until, a cold breeze went into the cave, as Stephanie glanced over, and Buzzy shivered, placing his hands on his forearms and curling slightly to be warm.“Oh,” Stephanie noticed, feeling a bit sheepish that she was talking too much again.Without warning him, she reached down to him with both of her arms and scooped him up from the ground cold rock ground.Her right hand was behind his back, to keep him upright from drooping over the side of her arm, as the other was underneath his legs.She picked him up to her chest, before slowly getting up to her feet, carrying Buzzy in her arms as he just stayed still, although trembling a bit of being a little cold.Stephanie walked over to the small fire she had created and sat down, before placing Buzzy in her lap, as if she was holding him as her own doll.Except, she could see that this ‘doll’ was human and does not belong to her.Buzzy, on the other hand, was still as he sat there in her lap, warm from the fire Stephanie created, and a little blushing at the same time.He did not expect her to cradle him in her lap.Buzzy thought that she was going to sleep separately from him, like how she did once when they first met each other.He wanted to ask Stephanie what she was doing, when an unzipping noise caught his attention, noticing that she was unzipping her sweater.He had never seen what she could be wearing from underneath that sweater Stephanie wears.But now that she is unzipping it right now, he expected she could be wearing a short-sleeved shirt.Instead, she was wearing a long-sleeved light blue shirt, which absentmindedly made Buzzy rolled his eyes in slight amusement from the color.She always wears blue.But it somehow made him feel a little suspicious and curious at the same time.It is unusual for someone to wear something long-sleeved underneath their sweater.Would that person be hot wearing those layers of clothes over their bodies?But, it did keep her from being cold from the wind from outside.After she had unzipped her sweater, she carefully wrapped him in it, as she was just down to her shirt, and held him close to her body, sharing her warmth to him.He was quiet for a moment, as she wrapped him in it, before zipping it back up, letting him wear it around him.After wrapping him in the sweater, she gently hugged him as she sat there, her eyes closed while cradling him.The whole time, he did not say anything to her as she gave him her sweater, feeling warm and protected by her.Nothing dangerous seemed to be happening between the two of them.So, he fell asleep in Stephanie’s arms, waiting for the storm to die down.But, after a few hours or more have passed, Buzzy heard something land on the ground with a thump noise and Buzzy woke up from the noise.He sat up slightly to see what was that noise when he noticed a small black and yellow being, that was on the ground, huddled up in a small ball.A curious and confused look appeared on Buzzy’s face, feeling perplexed a strange object was inside the cave, although without anyone noticing.He glanced up at Stephanie, hearing soft snores from her, seeing she had fallen asleep during the time that has passed.Without waking her up, he slowly inched himself out of Stephanie’s grip, which was loose and stood up, as the hood of her sweater covered his head and his eyes.With his right hand, he moved the hood up, before noticing it was really, really large on him as if he was wearing a nightgown.The sleeves were also large too, going over his hands and covering his legs too.It seemed like he was wearing a dress.He shook off the embarrassing thought and pushed the sleeves up, before, grabbing the bottom of the sweater, and started to walk over to the black and yellow object, feeling like he was wearing a dress.But, he ignored the thought and continued walking, before stopping in front of the creature and dropped the sweater, letting it fall over his legs.He carefully knelt down on one knee and reached over to the object, his palm gently brushing over the top, before noticing something odd.The object was covered in fur.Since it was dark inside, except the still lit up fire, he could not figure out if the object was an animal or just an object that was tossed into the cave.With both of his hands, he slowly picked the object up from the ground, before hearing a quick buzz noise.He stopped picking the object up and glanced around with his eyes, wondering where that noise was coming from.The buzz went on again like last time, a quick and short buzz and this time, he noticed the noise sounded like it was right in front of him.He glanced down at the object in both of his hands at what he was holding, noticing that it looked… realistic.And those black and yellow stripes looked oddly familiar.Then, the moon peeked from behind the clouds, and in the moon’s light, he noticed he was holding an enormous bumblebee!Startled as he yelped, he dropped the bumblebee to the ground as it landed on its front as it buzzed once after the impact.He wheeled backward, but tripped over the sweater he was wearing and fell, landing on his bottom.His outcry of startlement somehow did not wake Stephanie up, as she continued sleeping, unmoved from her spot.The huge bumblebee was about the size of Stephanie’s forearm, from the wrist to her elbow, as the wingspan was about the size of two L of both hands.The bumblebee was not like the others, not by size but by the looks.Yes, the bumblebee has the black and yellow stripes, but, it was fluffier than having less fluff.It also acted strange too.After Buzzy dropped the bumblebee, it shook its body and tried to fly, but it wobbled in midair and fell on its side.Buzzy noticed its wings were covered in water, maybe drenched from the rainstorm outside.It tried again to fly, but landed back down on the ground, shaking its body to get the dust off.Suddenly, a thunderbolt went through the air, causing Buzzy to jump from the noise, and the bumblebee to give out a startled buzz and quickly crawled over to him, getting underneath the enormous sweater he is wearing.Immediately, he froze, unsure that if he moves, he might accidentally hurt the bumblebee, or it could bite him or sting him.So, he stayed at where he is, frozen on the spot, as he felt the bumblebee trembling from head to toe.Confusion replaced his worry, confused about the strange feeling, so he slowly moved the sweater up from his collar, seeing the bumblebee, right on his stomach, shaking from head to toe, as its front legs were over its eyes, as if it was scared.Buzzy glanced side to side for a moment, before slowly placing a hand on the bumblebee’s back.When his palm first gently touched the back, it gave out a small and quiet buzz, as he moved away, before placing his hand on it, noticing it did not sting him when he touched it, seemingly to let him hold it.He waited for a few minutes, waiting for any reactions from the bumblebee, but only got nothing from it, as it stayed on his stomach, shaking slightly from underneath his hand, not even biting him with its pincers.So, he just stayed there for a moment, waiting for any other reactions, but nothing happened, except that the shaking from the giant bumblebee was dying down.It looked like it was slowly calming down after that thunderclap went through the air.Still, Buzzy is not sure to move since he knows that the bee stings are painful, and does not know if this one is poisonous.But still, nothing happened.Then, it moved away from underneath Buzzy’s palm, poking its little black head out from the collar of the sweater, noticing Buzzy was staring at it, as his moved his right hand away.He gulped nervously, feeling unsure about what it could be thinking about.But its little black antennas started to tickle his cheek lightly, as he stiffened, his eyes shut for any biting.The bumblebee continued tickling his cheek with its antennas, smelling him as he just stayed still, not sure to move away from the giant creature.After a few minutes, the bumblebee stopped smelling his cheek and started to buzz, as the buzzing this time was longer than the shorter ones that it did, and rubbed against his cheek as it climbed onto his shoulder, the same one that it smelled with its antennas.The fur covering the bumblebee was ticklish, so he chuckled a little, as it continued rubbing against his cheek, acting like a cat to him.He slowly reached up to it with his right hand, going to pet its head, when it gave a buzz again and started to lick his hand with its tongue.The tongue was ticklish too, and Buzzy felt calm now, seeing it does not seem to want to hurt him either on accident or on purpose.So, he stood back up to his feet slowly, while the bumblebee was still on his shoulder and picked up the bottom of the sweater again, walking back over to Stephanie as she was still sleeping, which amazed him that she also slept through his outcry of startlement.He carefully climbed back into her lap, without accidentally hurting her and when he was comfortable, he pulled the collar of the sweater over him and allowed the bumblebee to climb from his shoulders to his stomach, curling up a bit to get comfortable like him.After both of them are comfortable, they both went back to sleep, sleeping through the rainy and stormy night.