"An Upside to Ditching Class" by Chibi-chan

An Upside to Ditching Class
By: Chibi-chan

It was a cold day in Arctica. Well, that goes without saying, really. However, this day was colder than usual. The sister city of Adlehyde was abuzz with people coming and going as was par for the course. Among those people was a little blond boy with rather silly pink bunny-shaped earmuffs. This would be fine, if it were not a school day. Much to his mother's distress, this, too, was becoming all too common an occurrence.

After a while, the boy found himself nearby an alley. Some distance away in said alley, the boy heard a small voice cry out. Curious, the little boy decided to go and see what was the matter. What he found was something he had only seen before in pictures books…

In the alley, in a snowdrift, down a vaguely mouse-shaped hole, the boy found an unconscious blue Wind Mouse.

The little boy, not wanting to leave the little thing out in the cold, took off his scarf, got the Wind Mouse out of the snowdrift, and wrapped the creature in the scarf. Unfortunately, the little boy didn't know what to do after that. Thus, he took up wandering about again until he came up with something.

Should I take him somewhere? But where? Where can I go where I can't get caught for ditching class again? The little boy thought as he walked the streets of Arctica.

"C-cold… cold…" the little mouse mumbled, still not exactly back up to speed.

The little boy stopped and looked around for the source of the voice until he realized it was the Wind Mouse talking. "Whoa, you can talk, Mister Mouse? Cool!" said the little boy to the mouse. He then paused to think. "Hmm… can't take you home yet, since school's-" he started as the clock in the center of town quite loudly by use of bells proclaimed it was three o'clock. "Well, looks like I can take you home after all, Mister Mouse!" the boy said.

Huh? Wow, when did this crazy city start to get warm? the little Wind Mouse thought to itself, Not that I mind, that is… His eyes slowly started to open.

A vaguely familiar voice called out, "Hey, momma, I think Mister Mouse's starting to wake up!"

A female voice chided the other voice. "Now, Garrett, you don't have to be so loud. I'm just in the other room, you know."

The voice, owned by someone named Garrett, just said, "Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

By this time, the Wind Mouse's eyes were finally open all the way. The mouse got up, dusted himself off, and saw he was no longer outside, but in someone's house. "Now how in the name of Fengalon did I get here…?" he muttered to himself.

"It's nice to see you're OK, Mister Mouse," the owner of the voice, the little boy, said. "Momma said you might not be OK, but I knew you'd be OK!" he added with a smile.

"'Mister Mouse'…?" the Wind Mouse asked no one in particular. "The name's Hanpan, not 'Mister Mouse', kid," he said rather snippily.

"And the name's not 'kid', Hanpan. It's Garrett. Garrett Stampede! And I'm gonna be a great Fenril Knight when I grow up!" the child told the mouse.

"I worry about the future, then," Hanpan said.

The little boy turned away from the mouse and "hmph"ed. "Way to talk to the guy who pulled your furry fanny out of a snowdrift and made sure you were gonna be OK," he snapped.

Hanpan scratched his head and chuckled nervously. "Eheh, I guess I do sorta oweyouone…" he said with an increasing tempo.

The boy looked at the mouse out of the corner of his eye. "What was that, mousie?"

Hanpan sighed. "I said, I guess I sorta… I sorta… I sorta owe you one, OK?!" he said, a bit vexed that he actually owed anyone anything. After all, this particular Wind Mouse was a proud sort and wasn't fond of the idea he needed help of any kind at all.

Garrett's mother walked in the room. "So, Garrett, does your little pet want to stay here with us?" she asked.

Hanpan's response was immediate. "I'M NOT A DAMN PET!"

The boy giggled and picked the mouse up. "That's right! You're my new friend, not a pet, right?" The boy smiled at the mouse.

Hanpan started, "Well…"

"… so that's how you two met," Rudy said absently, too busy staring at the girl at the table across from him to really say much else. The girl shortly thereafter stared back, prompting Rudy to blush and look away quickly.

Jack grinned, "Yep, it it wasn't for me, Hanpan here'd be a mousicle a hundred times over!" He then took his glass to take a drink.

Hanpan grumbled, "I would have made it just fine on my own if you hadn'tve shown up, Mister 'Pink Bunny Earmuffs'!"

Jack did a spit take. "HANPAN! Ix-nay about the muffs-earay!"

Cecilia stifled a laugh, and asked, "Pink bunny earmuffs?"

"Don't ask. Just don't ask…" Jack said, shaking his head.

Eheh, stay in school, kiddies, OK? Don't be like little Garrett, OK? Please?