//------------------------------//
// 2 - Rhyme Time 
// Story: The Red Moon 
// by Teku Senpai 
//------------------------------//

	Jake squirmed and writhed stressfully, trying to pry himself from the toilet he had evidently fallen into. How can this be happening?  Jake stopped squirming and leaned back, looking up at the ceiling. Exhaling deeply, he clicked his tongue. How..?


Earlier


Jake stood in front of the mirror, pounding his fist lightly against the glass.

"Eiren? Eiren! Are you there?!" When no reply came, Jake groaned which quickly became a shout. He turned around and punched the wall, reeling back and shaking his right hand wildly. Ow. ugh. Jake took a deep breath and looked at the toilet.

Without a second thought, he lowered the seat and the cover. Jake then sat on it. Immediately, the toilet cover caved in and sent him deep into the toilet, though the seat hadn't submitted to his weight. However, Jake was now stuck. His mass plus the force of gravity had wedged the poor human into the toilet seat, restricting his movement and effectively holding him captive against his will. Jake groaned again and drummed his fingers on the seat impatiently.

My back. It hurts. Jake sighed painfully and squirmed around, only lodging himself deeper into his problem.


Present


"You know, I don't even LIKE this toilet!" Jake grumbled acrimoniously. He kicked the frame of the toilet, only painting a purple bruise on his foot under his shoes. He grumbled unintelligible and incoherent words under his breath and growled. Stupid toilet. Jake looked away for a second before looking back at the toilet with a glower of pure hatred. He contemplated kicking it once more but decided against it for fear of being unable to keep his foot intact. Instead, Jake settled for spitting at the caved in mess of broken plastic shards.

Jake planted his hands at the base of his back and stretched himself out, letting out a few crackles. he then followed up routine with a quick flick of his neck from side to side. Jake looked at the mirror once more, waiting for something. Anything, really. A shadow appeared on the floor in the mirror and Jake promptly flattened his face against it, trying to reach a better vantage point.

Eiren walked into view and cleared his throat. "Apologies, Zhek. Necessities involving release had to be satisfied. What is it that you request?"

Jake gawked at him with a slight squint of irritation. He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. Release... Yeah, okay. Jake looked up at Eiren's cobalt eyes and asked, "Where am I? Do you know anything about where I am right now?"

Eiren rolled his eyes around before replying, "Well, it is true that I have knowledge of this place. It served as my home once. However, all I can reveal to you is your quest." Eiren raised a hoof up and tapped the mirror three times before raising an eyebrow. Jake rolled his eyes in irritation and laid his hand on the glass.

Eiren's horn glowed its usual intertwined blue-cyan aura. A sudden tingling in Jake's hand drew his attention. In fear of the unknown, Jake attempted to retract his hand. Eiren tisked and chuckled. "It's impossible to pull away until this process concludes." Suddenly, a river of magic began to flow from Eiren's hoof into Jake's hand.

"Process?" Jake asked shakily, obviously unnerved.

"Yes, process." The last bits of energy flowed through Jake's hand as Eiren cleared his throat and adopted a serious expression. "What I've given you should be enough. Zhek, just remember, find the two halves and the catalyst." Eiren gazed deeply into Jake's golden eyes.

"Uh... sure. What's this all for?" Eiren scoffed quietly like a teacher trying to teach a student that was confused. He repeated, "The two halves, and the catalyst."

Before Jake could say anything else, Eiren burst into colorful flames. The flames swirled around for a bit before crossing through the mirror. What the..?! Jake stumbled around, fearing the mass of heat, finding the doorway and stumbling through it. He landed with a thud on grassy, but hard, ground. This, of course, beckoned another sigh from Jake. He left his body limp as the magical flame poured from the bathroom door and shot upwards before exploding into three separate streams and dissipating.

... The two halves... and the catalyst. Two halves. Catalyst. What kind of catalyst? Jake lied on the grass and contemplated Eiren's words until a sickening buzz filled his ears. He stuck a finger in his right ear and twisted around, hoping to silence the imaginary noise. The buzzing hadn't ceased so Jake resorted to looking up. Right as he did, something hard collided into his face, pulling him back with it.

Jake landed with a thud and teetered on his side before falling to his stomach. I... I... What? Jake looked up and saw two large compound eyes staring into his own. They were a light bluish color and thrummed with life. The buzzing sound was much more intense now and Jake quickly but shakily got to his feet. He peered down at them, assuring himself that his footing wasn't lopsided. Jake then looked back up to meet the gaze of the buzzing creature just to be tackled back to the ground again.

Jake landed on his back and peered up at the clouds while a fuzzy tingling made itself comfortable within his skull. The buzzing slowly faded out of existence as Jake allowed his eyes to slide shut. It feels like a m-mo-monday...





Derik continued to study the wall of shadow intently. Half of his feet were inside it, resting comfortably against the cold cave floor. After a while, Derik let out a slightly irritated and slightly bored groan and fell backwards. He dropped his hands behind his head and rested it upon the palms. I'm hungry. Derik hummed quietly to himself until he heard an explosive like sound. He jumped slightly and bolted to the cave entrance.

Derik squeezed out of the cave and trudged across the shallow mud moat surrounding the entrance of the cave. He tried looking for dry patches, but gave up when his first step sunk half a foot into the sloppy earth. After crossing, Derik looked up to see a stream of what appeared to be fire falling down towards him.

"GaaaaAAAAHHHH!!" Derik shouted and dropped down, placing his hands over his head. He followed the flaming streak with his eyes and saw the bolt of fire fall towards the cave and quickly shift its trajectory before continuing into the cave. Derik gasped quietly and stood up.

Derik gulped. Whatever that was... My inner white boy is telling me to investigate it. But my inner Asian wants to do something else as long as it isn't investigating. Derik contemplated the two choices he had. Before he could come up with his decided answer, he heard a loud buzzing followed my whooshing noises.

Without a sound, Derik ninja'd behind a tree and peered around it, seeing multiple over-sized bugs flying by in a swarm. Derik slowly recoiled, bringing himself back behind the tree. He crouched down, reducing his visible size. Derik quickly pulled the hood of his dark gray hoodie over his head and wrapped his arms around his legs. He was wearing black training pants, a regular old black t-shirt, and of course, the dark gray hoodie.

I'm so ninja right now. All balled up and hiding from bugs. This is obviously what ninjas do. Derik moaned quietly and leaned back onto the tree trunk, sighing. I need to find Jake soon. He's probably worrying about everything imaginable right now. Especially the random and wicked cool fire plus the freakishly large bugs.

There was a sudden quiet rustling and a surprised yelp. Derik looked over at a bush about six meters in front of him near another tree just in time to see an equine shaped creature fall through, slip on a watery patch of mud, and tumble head over heels into the moat, or in this case head over hooves. Derik remained motionless as the intruder picked herself up and looked around while brushing herself off. She quickly noticed him and extended a striped leg to retrieve some dropped flowers.

She slowly filled what looked like two bags with a strap connecting the two with flowers of multiple colors before swinging the bag over her back. She slowly turned herself towards Derik and started backing away.

As she began to disappear into a thicket, she muttered, "What you have just seen, shall not be shared, lest I turn mean."

Derik's jaw dropped and he half-shouted, "You can talk?!" It was quite obvious the equine was taken aback too because her footing doesn't usually fail her twice in such a short interval of time. Derik jumped up and bolted to the thicket. He found the equine lying on the ground. The bag hadn't spilled its contents again, thankfully.

Derik ran around to the front of the creature and knelt, holding out a hand. "Need some help?"

The equine looked up at Derik and looked away, a small hint of red embarrassment beginning to show. She said, almost a whisper, "I'm not sure what has gotten into me, I just hope I don't stumble three."

Derik laughed lightly as the equine accepted his help. He helped her up and replied, "You're like a poet. Everything you say rhymes!"

"But of course it must rhyme, for this practice is of ancient time."

"I see. So, what are you? You look kind of like a zebra, but I don't remember zebras being this short, or having a mane like that, or having hooves that large, or carryi-."

Derik was cut off by a glare from the creature before him. She harrumphed and began trotting down a path that didn't seem to be there a while ago. She called back without facing him, "It is true that I am a zebra, but I haven't a clue of what a creature be you."

"Oho, nice. That was pretty good," Derik praised. "Alright, lemme try." Derik jogged to catch up to the zebra before placing a finger on his chin in thought. "Uhh, if you are the zebra sort, then why are you so short?"

The small rhyme beckoned a quiet giggle from the zebra. "That was a good first attempt, but your speech is not so kempt. As for my lack of height, I make up for in my will and might."

Derik was quiet for a moment before replying, "Yes, I don't doubt thee, but you still haven't answered me." Derik tilted his head to one side and gazed down at the mohawk-maned zebra.

"I am short, it is true, but what in my height, causes you to rue?" The zebra looked up at Derik to match his inquisitive and curious expression. Derik sighed to himself and set his gaze onto the path.

"In my world, the horses are tall. And you can say that the zebras aren't small. Ugh, just... It's just that all horse and horse-related animals are generally taller than people." Derik said in an almost-guilty tone. He looked back down at the zebra, who had already looked back at the road.

"You sure are a curious creature, but maybe that is your best feature," the zebra replied almost instantly.

Soon, a cottage appeared on the side of the road and the zebra stopped to enter. Derik quickly followed in after her, feeling the need for shelter besides the cave nearby. He took his gaze off of the forest as the door shut behind him and he finally shifted his eyes towards the relics littering the interior. There were masks and exotic looking feathers lying everywhere. Multiple flowers of every kind could be found in assorted jars, no doubt marked for categorization in some way.

Derik gaped in awe at the spectacle before him until he heard the zebra speak once more, "I am Zecora, and it seems here you will reside. However, it is by my rules that you must abide."

"Sure thing!" Derik answered jovially. He looked around and found a bench. He eased over to it, but before his hindquarters could reach the wood, the zebra called out to him.

"You agree to my terms, but you haven't a clue what you must learn. You mustn't touch or tamper with anything you see, because you may not know what it just might be. If you wish to rest your hind, in the other room it is comfy you will find."

Hind... Oh, hindquar- my butt. Right. Derik made it to a very low sloping doorway and pushed through it to find the backroom. In the main room, there was quite the assortment of seeming ingredients surrounding a central cauldron. In this back room, there was a makeshift cot, a pile of straw and plant stems, and a shelf full of books and scrolls that were neatly stacked.

Derik quickly fell upon the pile of straw and rolled around in it. The mattress is obviously for Zecora, so I guess I'm getting the hay. He rolled around a bit more before settling down and closing his eyes. A good night's sleep seems to be in order. Derik picked his head up in doubt and looked out a nearby window. He saw the forest and a few rays of sunlight piercing through the thick canopy. A good day's sleep...