Friendly Encounters

The city's dome served as a one-way window, which only allowed the residents from the inside to view the outside without obstruction. The outside of the dome was built with a large metal base that was covered in large, white solar panels that were unaffected by raging mountain peak snowstorms. The panels themselves had a transparent appearance as hardly any light reflected off of it. The slight was unsurprising to Theodore who was currently on a one-way flight to death as the hawk soared through the open sky. Theodore and his crew have seen the outer dome many times during their recon preparations as they had to ensure that there was a reliable escape route in case things went south. The hawk's wings gently flapped valiantly as he pushed through the harsh air of the tall mountain peaks. A wave of cold air then suddenly bombarded to two. The hawk brushed off as it began to rapidly descend into the dome.

"Stupid bird." Theodore mocked as the hawk dove at high speed.

Its wings relaxed on its side and it gave a strange chuckle as if it were saying, "Watch this." Just before the hawk reached the dome, Theodore closed his eyes, anticipating for his life to end. Yet, instead of going splat into the dome's wall, the hawk completely phased through the wall as if it were nonexistent and opened its wings as it entered the warm, artificial wind current inside the dome.

"What the hell!?" Theodore opened his eyes and was astonished by what he had just witnessed. Was that dome just a hologram? Or…something else…" While Theodore was talking to himself, the grip of the hawk's talons tightened as a murder of crows followed closely behind. Remembering what Susana had said about them, and assuming that she wasn't completely lying to them, Theodore did that one thing he thought was natural and attempted to act like a snake trying to resist being eaten. The hawk played along and pretended to struggle as if his prey was on the verge of being free.

After watching the two, a large crow flew in front of the two for a closer look. Theodore and the hawk did not change how they acted and continued their strange mid-air comedy script. The large crow then squawked with a deep pitch as the murder of crows squawked back in unison. The big crow then scowled at Theodore just before diving downwards with the murder close behind. Theodore and the hawk stopped their playful wrestling and stared at each other.

"You're not your typical bird, are you?" Theodore asked.

The hawk said nothing as it headed to a large group of buildings close together that resembled a college campus. The buildings all had a uniform pallet of blue, silver, and white. The hawk then flew towards a large building that towered all the others in the area. The building had the appearance of two large Ls opposite from one another with two glass walkways connecting the two from the middle and top while the bottom was connected with a large, lobby-like room. The left side of the front building had large, silver, metal letters that read: "HeroCorporation'' while the right side read: "Academy branch". On top of the long parts of the L were two large glass cylinder-like buildings that had a fenced roof. The entire campus ground was littered with people varying from young teens to the elderly.

After circling the main building for a bit, the hawk dropped Theodore on top of a metal bench. Theodore landed with a painful thump. It then circled above him three times just before perching on a nearby tree.

"What the hell-!?" A small branch was flung at Theodore. The hawk glared at Theodore as if it was trying to tell him something. It then flapped its wing in a slow, downward motion indicating that it wanted Theodore to lower something. Theodore then rolled his eyes and slithered off the bench. He aimlessly roamed the area before finding a large hole in the tree that his hawk friend was perched on. Theodore looked back up at the hawk to notice that its gaze was fixed on him. The bird nodded to him just before looking off into the distance. "What a bizarre bird…" Theodore said under his breath before creeping into the tree. After crawling into the dark hole, Theodore's eyes abruptly grew heavy, and without him knowing, he fell asleep.

"Hey…hey!"

"Where'd you find it?"

"I wanna pet it!"

While Theodore slept, unfamiliar, muffled voices played in his head. Assuming he was just dreaming, he just brushed it off. However, moments later, a soft, gentle hand fondled his body. While it felt good, he was quite uncomfortable. As Theodore became more conscious, the voices around him became more distinct.

"Its fur is soo soft~!" A high-pitched, annoying voice said as Theodore felt a hand ruffle his head. Their touch reminded Theodore of memories of his childhood.

"Shh…keep it down. I think it's sleeping." A more mature, female voice said.

"If that thing can sleep with her blabbing about, then it might be deaf, ...or maybe dead." A boy's voice said with a touch of jealousy.

"Wilson, please don't say things like that. I would be sad if this cutie was dead." The mature voice was followed by a soft pair of hands picking him up. Then the hands placed Theodore in between two soft objects held together by something tight.

"What if the teacher notices that baby fox, Camellia?" Wilson said.

"Oh don't worry so much about it Will~." A high-pitched voice said with a lot of excitement. "Cam probably will just get a slap on the wrist. She is the teacher's pet after all."

"Luna, I am not!!!" Both Wilson and Luna giggled at her retort as Camellia provided them an audible pout in return.

Theodore smiled a little as he tried to open his eyes to see what was happening around him, but as if something was reading his mind, a sequence of loud pecking against a tree could be heard. Theodore realized it was Morse Code and deciphered it: "Use this opportunity to gather information. You should be fine in between the human's udders, as long as you don't appear to be awake. But…don't actually fall asleep." Theodore then made a sudden sound as he failed to contain his laughter.

"Aww…it sneezed," Luna said, as a hand rubbed his snout. "It's so adorable. I wanna keep it."

"I think he was laughing at this idiot hawk that thinks it's a woodpecker-"

"SQUAWK!" The hawk made a loud noise as if it took offense to Wilson's insult.

"The damn bird just shitted on me!" He cried out as the other two girls laughed. Then the sound of a large bell chimed five times, causing the girl Theodore was resting in to stand up.

"Let's go." She said while the sound of buttons snapping together could be heard. Theodore then peeked a little and found that he was inside of a white blouse with a little gap that allowed for him to breathe out of. He then shifted a little to sink into Camellia's breast in order to see out of the said gap. As he shifted about, he heard a small chuckle with a small hand to follow with a gentle pat.

Camellia was facing the direction of Wilson. He had the appearance of a classic athletic teen whose days are mostly spent on a sports team. He had brown hair that was cut short with brown eyes to compliment. He had well-balanced proportions as if he made sure to train every part of his body equally, and his posture made Theodore believe that his guard was constantly up. He wore a white button-up shirt with a silver and blue blazer on top. The right side of his blazer had a small crest that was hexagon in shape with the letters H and C embossed onto it. His right arm had a large, white and brown stain on it and angrily looked up towards something that was out of view from Theodore.

"I'll catch up with you," Wilson said as his voice grew distant. "I gotta clean this shit stain." As he ran off into the distance, Camellia faced towards the large L-shaped buildings. She then began to walk with Luna talking by her side.