Chronicles of Time
Chapter 8: To new friends


Once Again waking to the sounds of the others trying to make a camp the sound of grumbles catch his ears as Alex once again joins the world of the living. Glancing over with one eye he can see the people of the strange group grumbling and arguing among themselves, not even aware of Alex having woken yet. Most of what they were saying was still garbled in that tongue he didn’t understand, however it seems that his ventures into some of their minds had netted him some very vague beginnings of their language as he was able to catch a few words mainly hungry and no food, which were repeated several times as the group fought and argued over and over again about what to do. Finding his strength once more the fox is able to get up out of his makeshift bed to approach the group and to see just what he could do to help. Once more he was able to make out the words ‘Hungry’ as the group went on and on, Alex could only guess they couldn’t find any food. Suddenly the man in the red coat grabs the young yellow fox then says something as he grabs the sword on his beltline, Alex could only make out the words ‘eat him’ however the young girl that was always with him smacked the backside of his head then after saying something which resulted in the man in red putting the young fox down.

Things in the small camp where tense the bulk of that day, the members of the unprepared crew where getting hungrier as the day rolled on with no luck with finding food, not even edible wild plants grew. It was about dusk when one of the girls with pink hair sat down with Alex, the large red fox helplessly watching conditions in the camp deteriorate. The young girl that sat beside him smiled at him once he turned his head to look at her; he could tell she was hungry, simply by hearing the grumbles from her stomach but she was pretty good at hiding it even if she couldn’t hide it from him. Looking at her for a moment more, he then motions the palm of his hand toward her, the girl then nodding and lifting her bangs from her forehead, then leaning forward. He genially pressed his palm on her forehead and like with the others from before he found himself in the white void same as before, as events from the girls past started to play before his eyes, memories of her father and mother, her friends, her school, then finally her battles against a being they called Xana on some strange world they called Lyoko; he wasn’t able to wrap his mind around what it was per say, as he didn’t know what a computer was he had no knowledge of what a computer virus could be, but regardless from what he got from the girls memories of the being in question he could tell that this Xana thing would end up being a problem one way or another. Then like the others before her, her name finally came to him, Aelita, as was stated by one of her friends, the blond boy with the blue shirt, as he helped her out of some kind of sarcophagus like pod.

He pulled his hand away from her with a smile, then offering his hand to shake hers, saying as he did,

“Your Aelita.”

She nods then shakes his hand, then sits next to him, watching as yet another heated argument broke out amongst the group, but for better or worse no one had the energy to fight for to long and soon it was quiet once again. She then says looking to the fox not sure if he’d understand any of it; in truth he only understood about half of what she said that being,

“Don’t feel bad, we’ll figure something out.”

He nods then watching one of her friends the other blond boy, called Odd if he recalled correctly, the boy flopping himself on his back and says as he complained and bellyached,

“Wasting away here, so hungry.”

Being all he understood the fox watched as another girl from their group Yumi he remembered who said tugging on his the boys ear,

“We’re all hungry, stop being a pest and reminding us.”

A look of anger took to Alex’s face remembering all the nights he and his sister went hungry and the pain he saw in his little sisters face even as she claimed that she was full, but he was no longer a cub, he had the strength to hunt if necessary unlike when he was little. The fox no longer content to just sit watching the creatures in his charge waste away, he stands, the others looking over to him as he tried to say in their tongue,

“I’ll find food, I still have energy to look.”

The rest of the group goes on to try to tell him that there was no food around in the area however they were to hungry to really stop him, and soon he set out with a bag in hand. When he got into the thick of the trees however he found that there was no food to be spoken off at all, no wildlife to be hunted, no editable plants to be gathered, and not a berry to be spoken of. Once it finally got dark and it was made abundantly clear that there was no food the fox decided to go back to the camp, a defeated slump in his shoulders as he hated to have to go home empty handed after promising to find food, till a familiar giggle caught his ear, and the same sing song voice said in his tongue,

“Wow you really are helpless aren’t you.”

Looking up he found the vixen from the day before, sitting in a tree looking down on him, tail idly waving back and forth as she grinned at him. He tried not to remember the cub before him was suppose to be his kid sister as she went on to say,

“There is a reason you and your friends haven’t been able to find food, fortunately you know who is busy right now so I can cheat and help you out a little.”

She giggles a little more before falling backwards and landing on her feet once near the ground, however once in arms reach Alex couldn’t help himself, reaching over he lowered the hood covering the girls head, confirming to himself the girls identity, she was his little sister with the same strawberry red fur covering her body. Giddiness overcame him as he then scooped her up and spun her about, the girl complaining as he did saying aloud,

“Hey! Stop! Put me down! This isn’t funny! I’m a keeper damn it!”

Moving to finally put her down he then realizes that she’s gone, then hearing her voice behind him saying,

“Hey don’t underestimate me just because I’m your . . . Well you know who I am, as you are right now I could destroy you without even trying, not . . . not that I would.”

He nods watching the girl return her hood to the position over her head, the vixen then saying in hushed tones,

“Look there are rules to this game we’re being forced to play here, I’m not suppose to be here, well yet, but part of being the time space keeper is both a good thing and a bad one, I’m sure you’ll figure it out once you grow in power.”

He nods then says looking to hooded vixen,

“So what am I suppose to do Sa. . .”

She cuts him off saying in hushed tones,

“No no, don’t use my name, I told you there are rules to this game, I’m breaking about a dozen of those rules right now, I’m not suppose to help you, but I won’t stand by and watch those little kids starve.”

He nods then asking being careful to choose his questions more cautiously,

“So then, what is it I’m suppose to do then, those people back at the camp, they need my help and I can’t do anything.”

She nods saying as she took his hand and pressed it against the glass orb in his bag,

“The weight of the world is the key to everything, look when you tried and failed to rebuild this plane of existence here the rules where erased along with it, so far only the laws a physics and mortal life have been re written into its laws, you’ll have to use to orb to create food till you learn how to change the laws inside of it to make it so the mortals can find and produce food by themselves, if you don’t they’ll starve.”

She trails off muttering under her breath both at the same time trying not to be heard but sure he heard her,

“Those . . . Those kids, the youngest of your group . . . They’re the first ones who would have starved, if I had left things as is.”

He nods as he smiled at her, she was feeling the same way he was, their past had taught them both about the pain of going hungry and she would not stand for it.  Then looking at the orb she made him pick up he asks as he held it out to her,

“Can’t you help me? You’ve been doing this for a long time I take, can’t you show me how?”

She shakes her head no, then responding with a feared look hidden on her shadowed face,

“No!”

Backing away from the orb say then says,

“No, I can’t touch it, even as I stand now the weight of the world is to heavy for me to bear, the last time I tried to use it, . . . .”

She bit her lip as she forced herself to trail off then says looking away,

“Well just look, you’re the only one strong enough to bear the orb, you shouldn’t let anyone, and I mean anyone touch it, let alone any of the mortals; their soul would be destroyed if they did.”

He nods then looks at the vixen as she then says,

“But from what, well from what you know who has told me the orb is pretty straightforward to use, simple really you just need to focus on it, apparently it will do the rest.”

He nods then looks as his sister then jumps, her ears knocking her hood down as she looked around ears panning about on her head, Alex asking,

“What’s wrong?”

She then says as fear crept over her face,

“Well lets just say you’re a lot faster in my time, I thought I had more time here but you know who just finished the job he was working on, if he finds out that I’m here once he can focus on something other then what he was working on then I’ll get punished.”

Nodding Alex then asks looking to the girl who looked like she was getting ready to bolt,

“Why do you keep referring to me as. . .”

She cuts him off in a panic, then saying quietly,

“I told you several times now, there are rules to this game, you aren’t suppose to know about . . . . you know who, and you certainly aren’t suppose to meet in person, rule one of reality, no one being and exist twice in the same point of time, if you acknowledge you know who because you know who he is, reality will unravel, just play it safe, you don’t know shit got it?!”

He nods then says with a smile on his face as she reminded him of times from their past when she would scold him, even to the way she‘d point at him with her right and with her left on her hip,

“Right, I don’t know anything.”

She nods then says turning around,

“I’ve got to go now, remember I wasn’t here, I didn’t tell you anything got it?”

He nods giving her a little hug which for a few moments she settles into, she then pulls away and says as she starts to fade,

“ I shouldn’t tell you this . . .but don’t worry . . . It won’t be to long till . . .”

She is unable to finish her statement, as she fades away before she finishes what she was trying to say. He then nods holding the orb in hand he then looks up at the sky and says,

“Ok then, lets get back to camp the sooner I do the sooner I can try to figure this thing out.”

Pocketing the orb, he then heads back to the camp

~a short time later~

Upon arriving at the camp, he found it was quiet, not that anyone was asleep, just that no one hand the energy to do anything, when he walked into the camp several of the group was sitting near the fire and some others where looking through their bags. When they saw Alex walk into the camp with an empty bag, a few of them actually looked disappointed, having been hopeful he would actually have been successful in finding anything. Taking the orb out of his bag, he then takes a seat with the others near the fire. He focuses on the orb for a few moments but doesn’t get anything, sighing he thinks to himself,

‘Am I really that helpless that I can’t feed anyone?’

He looks up as the girl Aelita sits next to him once more looking much more pale then before, she then says as she pats him on the back,

“Don’t feel bad about not finding anything, we all looked all day and we could find nothing, so don’t beat yourself up about. . .”

Before she finishes, she collapses the fox catching her easily as she fainted leading her friends to hurry over to check on her. The group looked her over for a little bit before what few of them who had any kind of medical training claimed that she had passed out do to hunger. One of her friends, the blond boy with the blue shirt said as he lead Alex to a place to set her down, a bunch of makeshift beds they had worked together to make,

“It must be because she hasn’t eaten anything in at least three days.”

The boy looks up to Alex as he goes on to say,

“She ran off when we were eating breakfast the other day, the day we found her at the crystal thing you were in.”

Alex nods, guilt flooded his mind, and he was determined to try and fix it, grabbing the orb once more he then tries to focus on it once again seeing if he could get anything but nothing once more. Out of frustration he then shouts in his tongue,

“Soton! Nal less si tai Mais!” (damn it! at least give me a bag of apples!)

Suddenly to his left he felt a pressure, then looking down he jumped then bumped a bag of apples that had been placed against his leg, over falling out of the bag an apple rolled over to the blond boy, odd, who scooped it up and said,

“Hey look its an apple.”

The others look over to him, the boy with jet black hair, Sasuke if Alex remembered correctly, who said as he managed to stand,

“No shit, but how does it taste?”

Odd shrugs his shoulders then takes an experimental bite, then says after finishing said mouthful,

“That’s pretty good.”

As the boy Odd went about handing out apples, Alex found himself thinking aloud once more in his language,

“To kosa me tay rota, mo to? (it couldn’t be that easy, could it?)”

Holding the orb once more Alex says experimentally in their tongue this time, leading them all to look up at him,

“How about, a crate of meat, placed near the fire?”

Sure enough, within seconds a box nearly materializes near the large camp fire, and pulling the lid off of it, the boy Naruto says looking inside,

“HEY! Its full of meat!!”

Everyone then looks to the fox who mumbles aloud as he thumps the orb against his head repeatedly ,

“Was that easy, whole time?!”

He then looks over as the group goes about cooking the meat in the crate, others soon asking Alex if he could get other types of food, which it wasn’t long till Naruto poked Alex, the red fox having set down to eat some of the cooked food but then looks up as the boy asks,

“Hey, Think you could get me some ramen, the kind that they make at Ichiraku?”

The large fox asks looking to the boy,

“Ichiraku ramen?”

The boy nods saying “Yeah” several times; Alex remembering from his ventures into the boys memories that this was some kind of food stuff that he obsessed over, Naruto then asking,

“Think you could make some?”

The fox shrugs then says, once again grabbing up the orb,

“I’ll try.”

The boy Naruto nearly jumps for joy then looks on as Alex looks at the orb and says, not really sure if it would work.”

“Uh, Ichiraku ramen.”

However in stead of the food itself, only a pair of names found themselves in the foxes head, he then asks looking to Naruto,

“Huh, who are Matsu and Nishi?”

Before the boy could react to answer the question, the orb glows brightly, then suddenly a pair of twinkling light trails emit from the orb and circle on the ground near Alex, then feet appear as both trails of light begin circling upwards, then over the course of a minute, two people are left standing where the lights had been, Naruto asks looking up at the father daughter pair,

“Huh mister Matsu, Nishi, where did you come from?”

The two look at each other for a moment before the father Matsu responds,

“I’m . . . I’m not sure, last thing I remember was making a fresh batch of ramen then nothing, now I’m here looking at a giant red fox.”

Naruto laughs a little as Alex waves to the new arrivals, then asks as he nearly dances around the older human,

“Yeah I’ll explain all this later. This is so cool though, now that you’re here you can make your famous ramen for us.”

Shrugging his shoulders he then says,

“Well not that I know where here is but, I can’t cook anything without my kitchen.”

Naruto turns to look at him a look on his face like that of a child that some one had taken his favorite toy from, the boy then saying,

“but . . But, but, but, you’ve got to, I’m starving, I haven’t had your ramen in almost three days, come on old man, you’ve got to make your ramen for me.”

Alex stands up as the man Matsu says once again,

“Naruto, I don’t have any of my supplies or my cookware, how do you want me to cook anything without that stuff?”

Holding up the Orb, Alex then says, roughly as his difficulty with the new language once again made itself evident,

“what . . . What you need to cook?”

Looking to the fox like he’d just seen a demon the chief is left silent as his daughter screamed as if she’d just seen a monster. After several minutes of explaining the situation to the two cooks, the older man then says with a nod looking to Alex,

“Alright then, if you and that orb can supply, then here’s what we’ll need.”

After listing off several items to Alex, and the fox in question then commanding the orb to make said items afterwards with everything needed from pots and stoves to the ingredients to the food itself, the chief and his daughter went about cooking for the large group, who were all very pleased to smell the aroma of cooking food in the air, surprisingly none more then the half demon, the man in the red coat that Alex had learned who’s name was Inuyasha, who was sitting at a table the fox had conjured up to give everyone a place to eat. With Naruto chanting Ichiraku and the red clad half demon chanting ninja food, there was a collective laugh, but when the food was served and then promptly eaten things settled down. Once everyone had eaten and the cloud of doom and gloom dispersed from over the camp site everyone settled in for the night, all say for the blond boy Odd who kept chanting,

“All hail the fox guy, conquer of grumbling stomachs”

As night time got ready to roll around Alex went about helping to make sure everyone would stay warm, with his new found ability to use the orb to make just about anything, he made sure everyone had plenty of blankets and bedding materials to sleep on. With everyone one in the camp fast asleep, Alex sat awake, looking at the orb and trying to focus on it to try and get anything from it, but he got nothing. Frustrated he then sets it down saying in his tongue**,

“I can make food, and any number of other items but I can’t make you work, I don’t suppose it’s as easy as commanding you to tell me how to work you huh?”

With no reaction from the orb he shakes his head and sets it back into his bag, then laying back on his own bed he said looking at the sky above,

“So what do we do now? Do things just stay the same way till I figure out how to work this damn orb?”

He hears someone walk up to him, but being in the middle of a large camp site with others around, he didn’t think anything of it, till he heard a voice he hadn’t heard since he was a cub, the older male voice saying and his tongue no less,

“That’s about how it works, luckily for you I’ll be here to teach you.”

Looking up he then sees a face he hadn’t seen in a very long time, a few tears welling up in his eyes as he got up and said embracing his long forgotten De’Nom,

“Mr. Miller? How did you get here?”

The older fox smiles and says as Alex wraps him in a hug,

“It was the weight of the world, you told the orb you wanted it to teach you after all, so it got someone who could teach you.”

With a look of confusion on his face, he quickly becomes angry then quietly shouts as he takes out then yells at the orb in question,

“It was that freaking easy! Worthless piece of junk what else are you not telling me?!?”

Now shaking the orb violently, the older fox then says,

“Easy Alex, easy, don’t brake it, all these mortals will die it you brake that item.”

Nodding Alex then has a moment of realization, turning back to the fox in question he asks,

“Wait a moment, you know what the orb is?”

Miller then says bopping his hand on his forehead,

“Oops, did I say that part out loud, well, looks like that cats out of the bag then huh.”

Hoisting his hand up, he quickly brushes back his hair from the neat but unkempt mess that it was, and as he did so, color began to return to his long since grayed fur, his outfit changed from the loose and comfortable attire he wore on a daily basis to something far, far more fancy and eloquent, maybe even a little regal looking. After finishing his little transformation and finishes brushing back his hair and combing his facial fur into a very neat and tidy style, he then says as he straightens out his clothes in a voice that was not the one he remembered,

“Allow me to properly introduce myself.”

In a very proper way, he slides both his left foot and arm behind his back, then with his right arm across his chest, he gives a polite bow then saying,

“My real name is Fin, and well just who I truly am is still something that I can not tell you.”

The old cane he had now turned into a rapier he says as he sheathed it on his belt,

“Lets cut to the chase shall we, I was sent back by you know who.”

He stops for a moment then asks with a grin,

“you do know who you know who is right?”

Alex nods, the noble looking fox then says,

“The mission he gave me was to befriend his father, apparently he wanted to know more about him, I then realized he had a secrete agenda, the naughty boy. You know who wanted me to watch over you and your sister, I’m not sure why he didn’t just say so, but oh well, you know who can be a very cryptic being sometimes.”

Nodding Alex then asks,

“So you’re not really my De’Nom then?”

Fin then says with a very French like accent,

“Au contraire mon frere, I am very much your De’Nom, or I was, now that you are of legal age you no longer need one as the law stands.”

Putting his arm around Alex’s shoulders he then says trying to reassure him dropping the French accent as he did,

“I may look different, but I still am the same fox you protected you on the night of your fathers death, I was the same fox who taught you how to change your sisters dippers in fact I was the same fox who taught you how to raise a cub; the same fox who taught you how to be a man, how to earn money, and how to survive.”

Nodding Alex then asks,

“So once again you can teach me what it is I need to know?”

The fox nods then says,

“That I can, I can teach you what it is you need to know, after I finish however I will have to go back.”

Alex ask looking to his former De’Nom,

“So when can we start?”

Fin thinks for a minute as he strokes his beard then says placing his hand on Alex’s shoulder,

“We’ll start in the morning my boy, for now get some rest.”

With a grin on his face he goes on to say,

“Trust me, you’ll need it, I don’t plan to go easy on you like when you were but a cub after all, and no treats for getting it right.”

Nodding Alex heads back to his bed, but looking back to offer his new friend a bed for himself, he finds the other fox gone, vanished into thin air, however he was sure that he’d be back, Mr. Miller, or Fin as it was, was no liar, if he said he was going to do something he did it, that was one thing Alex knew for sure. Shaking his head with a slight chuckle he set himself upon his bed and stared at the stars, contemplating what both Sara and Fin had said to him, then turning over he says closing his eyes,

“I truly don’t know shit, lets hope I’m a fast learner.”

With that he pulls a blanket over himself, and within moments is fast asleep, ready for whatever the regal fox had in mind for his training.

~End of Chapter~

~epilogue~

The regal looking fox walks over to and then kneels before the older Alex, still wearing the stark white cloak and looking off into the distance, he then says in a very proper fashion,

“Sire, I have returned from my task, I have the items you asked for.”

Looking up to the fox in question who then holds out a hand within which Fin then places several items, most of them being photos of his father and mother and even a few of himself and Sara from when they where little; most likely taken with a camera Fin had been order to smuggle into the past. Looking at the items Alex then says looking down to the still kneeling fox,

“So you know what your next task then Fin?”

The fox nods returning to his feet as he says,

“That I do sire, I shall teach your younger self what it is that he needs to know in order to reach the first level.”

Alex nods then turns away and says,

“I wish you luck, If I remember correctly I never was a very fast learner your in for tough job, and be careful not to tell him to much, remember the rules of this game, we can‘t be allowed to lose.”

The fox nods then turns and walks away and back through a dark blue portal, leaving Alex behind with the mementos and pictures of his parents. 

Looking at one picture in particular which within is seen a very young Alex, no older then four at the very most and his parents as they enjoyed a picnic in a serene field, His mother kissing his cheek and his father rubbing his ears with a big smile on his face. He holds the picture still as he looks at it till a few tears land on its surface, then looking up to the fox in question, tears can be seen running from his face hidden within the dark confines of his hood, the memories of the past finally allowed to return to him. 

As he continued to weep, he held the picture close to his chest and asks in between sobs lowering his head and looking away from what looked to be a huge battle field where a city once stood; however it seemed that even with all of Alex’s might the day and a great many lives, had been lost,

“Father, have I done good job so far?”

He then looks back up, and weeps as he looks over the battle field once more
