The Move

Iwas happy to be picked to go to Mystery Island. Not only are my favourite cousins there, but the sand between my toes and the tropical drinks always make me happy. While only three of my cousins live there, I consider them the best cousins. They’re all just like me: patient, nice, and calculating. They’re humble too, considering they’re very cheap colours like me.

Being in the carriage wasn’t as fun as Mystery Island though: Nix, my blind Royal Quetzal, doesn’t like being off the ground so the moment the carriage took off, Nix went berserk. He jumped from wall to wall, screeching until the moment we landed. I forgot why I didn’t like flying and Nix reminded me.

When I got out of the carriage, I felt a wave of humidity hit me and felt like I was sweating off my clouds. My body looked like the clouds actually had rain coming off of them. Nix wasn’t doing so hot either, considering the ground was very hot. He slithered around my head and I quickly ran for the door, trying not to burn my feet. I knocked hard and yelled, “It’s too hot out here! Let me in!”

The door swung open and I fell inside. I felt my body being pulled inside and the door slam shut. I got up and saw my cousin Markeene, the red Nimmo, fanning himself. “Hi Ann. Here to pick us up?” Even though it was blistering outside and not much better inside, Markeene was able to keep up a smile.

“I guess Hannah told you?”

“Hannah told all of us. Most of our stuff is packed. You just have to--” I didn’t hear the rest of Markeene’s sentence as I was slammed back onto the ground by an unknown force.

“Ninja or pirate?” I heard a voice whisper into my ear.

“Ninja Kimmy. Always ninja,” I responded. The “mysterious force” got off my back and I turned around to see the blue Kougra in full ninja uniform.

“You never know Ann, those pirate pieces of filth could have converted you,” Kimmy said as she took off her mask.

“Kim, it’s too hot for that uniform. You’re gonna get it all dirty and not be able to use it for your entrance exam,” Markeene scolded Kimmy.

Markeene was the adult figure in the family while Hannah was away but soon enough, he was gonna be as equal as the rest of us when we all moved in together. Kimmy started to take off the uniform and looked over to me. “Sorry Ann, I’m trying to get as much practice in as possible before my entrance exam. I just wanna be the best I can be before then.”

“Wanna join us for some cold tea?” Markeene asked, trying to move on from Kimmy assaulting me.

“Speaking of cold, why is it so hot in here?” I asked, trying not to sweat all over the rugs.

“We shut off the air conditioner because it was our last day here and we didn’t want to spend a full day’s worth of cold if we were only gonna be here for a few hours,” Markeene explained.

“Or it’s because Julian is using all of the air conditioners to keep his power suit cold because it’s over a hundred degrees outside and he needs it for missions,” said Kimmy.

Markeene groaned and said, “Kimmy, his job is as important as your ninja training. Can you respect that?”

Kimmy groaned and went back to her room, contemplating the scolding Markeene gave her. Marlene turned over to me and smiled. “So Ann, would you like to sit down for a drink?” he asked me with his usual warm grin.

I nodded and walked over to the kitchen with Markeene and watched as he made us both iced teas. “So, what’s Shenkuu like Ann?”

“You know what it’s like. You’ve been there probably a million times.” He placed the iced tea in front of me.

“Not what I meant sweety. What I mean is what do you think of living there?” He smiled softly as he sat down at the kitchen table and started to sip his own iced tea.

“Oh! Well, it’s usually cold and we live on a big hill. Blizzards aren’t uncommon in the mountains. Heh, sometimes I think we’re just living in a more exotic Terror Mountain. What about you, aren’t you going to miss the tropical paradise that is Mystery Island?”

Markeene put down his drink and leaned back in his chair. “Ann, when you leave Shenkuu, do you feel homesick?”

I shook my head no. He continued, “So why should I feel homesick over Mystery Island? As long as I have my family and friends nearby, anywhere can be home. I only came to Mystery Island to train with the greats but it didn’t take me long to realize that I am better at taking care of my family than I am at kicking butt.”

I thought about this, considering I loved to fight and kick villain’s butts. I looked over at him, slightly frowning and asked, “So you’re ok with just packing up and leaving everything?”

He laughed, as if he was mocking me slightly. “I’m not leaving everything Ann. I’m leaving a location, not my home. I still have Julian and Kimmy to take care of and of course, we have our petpets. I know Hepit will follow me to the ends of the planet to be near me and if anything were to happen to me, Julian and Kimmy can take care of themselves. When you get to be my age, you learn that you don’t need as many trinkets as you do need friends, and even then you don’t need many friends.”

“Then what’s the point?” I asked.

“The point of what, my cloudy friend.”

“The point of doing anything!” I shouted.

Markeene gave me a serious look and leaned forward. “Satisfaction. Knowing you’re leaving something for someone else. Everyone has their reasons and just because mine aren’t the same as yours doesn’t mean they aren’t valid. Why do you keep going?” he asked.

“I...I don’t know. To be the best at whatever I do?” I questioned myself.

“Then keep working at it Ann. That’s as valid a reason as any,” he said as he got up, pat my head, and left the kitchen. When I came to Mystery Island, I didn’t think I would be getting a philosophy lesson.

Before I could continue contemplating, I heard a buzzing noise and looked over. I saw an Avabot looking at me and the moment I looked back, it flew away. “Hey!” I cried.

I chased the Avabot before it flew into a small slot in a door in the hall. I slammed into the door and it slowly slid open. Inside was a green Kyrii, working on a mech suit. “Julian, what was that?! Why are you spying on me?!” I complained.

The Kyrii didn’t respond. “You know, you can answer me when I’m talking to you. What’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t wanna talk to you because I don’t like what I am currently,” said Julian in a much more feminine voice.

One thing I forgot to mention about my cousins is that Julian is the lab rat. What that means is she (previously he) gets zapped to get lab exclusive colours, such as the robot colour that Hannah is aiming for. “So you don’t like being a girl? What’s wrong with being like me?” I asked condescendingly.

I don’t know why I was being so rude to Julian but it probably had something to do with her spying on me. Julian looked up from her work station and said, “I am supposed to be this symbol for people but how can I do that when the voice changer on my mech suit makes it sound like I have Neomonia?!”

She was right to be mad at me, I was being a bit snippier than I had to be. She probably didn’t mean any harm from having her Avabot analyze me. Julian realized she may have hurt my feelings and said, “Listen, just tell everyone I have Ugga-Ugga. That’s what Kimmy and Marlene have been doing and I don’t think anyone would doubt you based off of the food we eat. I don’t want anyone realizing I’m a girl.”

I nodded and closed the door behind me. Oy, how can mom handle all of this drama? I thought.

I walked back into the living room and saw Markeene grabbing the keys to the house. “Heading out?” I asked.

“Yeah, we need to go get carriages to get back to Shenkuu. Your mom already rented a few out, now it’s our job to go get them. You wanna come?” he asked.

I smiled and headed towards the door. “Wait, I wanna come too!” I heard Kimmy shout from what sounded like the back of the house.

I turned around and saw Kimmy in full gear with her Kazeriu around her neck. “Wisty should come too. She needs to get used to more of the outside world and say goodbye to Mystery Island.”

Markeene chuckled and said, “It’s not like we’ll never be back.”

To be continued…