Welcome to Brookings, Don't Get Boared

After three days of long car rides and shabby hotel rooms, Miles arrived in Brookings, Oregon. Lancaster had insisted that they drive the whole trip from Richmond, Virginia to Oregon, saying that no one knew where the academy was and Necron could easily trace them from plane tickets and records, or any other means of public transportation. Miles hadn't complained, as he still didn't feel comfortable around this new group, and the others seemed used to it. So they had taken to the open road, driving further west than Miles had ever been in his life. That wasn't saying much, though, considering he'd never really travelled. They'd taken a three day road trip across the country, but despite this Miles felt like he hadn't gotten any more answers. He didn't even know the people he'd ridden with as much as he felt he should, due to the circumstances.

But maybe that was for the best. Miles wasn't necessarily sure if he even wanted to know all the answers. Sure he was curious, but none of the answers he'd gotten so far had left him feeling better than when he had asked. Either way, they had finally reached their destination, and Miles felt that he was about to find out what was coming. Dr. Lancaster parked the car in an odd location and he, Dawn, and Caspar got out. Miles followed their lead.

"We're here," said Lancaster.

Miles looked around in confusion. They were where? There weren't any buildings in sight. All Miles could see was giant palm-tree-looking pine trees surrounded by lime-green grass. A light breeze brushed his hair to the side. The air was cool and refreshing, like that of a beach.

"Uh, Doc?" Miles spoke up. "There's nothing here."

"Well you don't want someone accidentally stumbling upon a top-secret training facility of underage teenagers with powers that shouldn't exist, do you?" Lancaster replied.

"Um, no," Miles said. "I guess not."

With that, Lancaster trekked off into the vast surrounding of trees. Miles, Dawn, and Caspar followed, getting annoyingly hit by the leaves and branches that Lancaster was throwing out of his way in front of them. Miles attempted to keep up with which ways they were turning, and also keep track of where they came from. It didn't work out very well, especially since he didn't even remember how they had gotten into the pine tree area to begin with. Eventually Miles gave up and followed behind his newfound acquaintances.

They had been walking for a couple minutes when Miles heard a rustling behind him. He stopped. The others, who had not heard the sound, just continued walking. Miles strained his neck to see if there was anything or anyone there or if it was just his imagination. It was most likely the latter. He had been on edge ever since what had happened at his father's work. It was probably his imagination. Miles sighed and had started to continue walking when he heard it again, a crunch this time. Like someone stepping on a twig, or a pile of dry leaves. Miles stopped walking. The sound stopped. Miles started walking, and the sound continued. He should have known it wasn't his imagination. He was being followed.

"Hey, guys?" Miles called.

They turned around and looked back at him. They were a good way ahead of him now.

"I heard something, I think somebody's..." Miles was cut off by a roar and looked over his shoulder to see a wild boar stampeding towards him. The boar hit Miles with his head and Miles flew back against the trunk of a tree. He groaned in pain. "...following us."

Caspar teleported over to Miles. Or, that's what he meant to do, anyway. He ended up instead on the other side of the boar, his eyes wide. He soon corrected his mistake while Dawn distracted the boar. She was probably using her powers, but Miles didn't remember what they were at the moment and he was too dazed to focus. Caspar teleported close enough to Miles the second time around.

"Excellent prognostication, mate," Caspar commented, helping Miles up. Miles looked at him, confused, and was about to ask what the word meant when a loud boom shook the earth. Miles looked over to see the boar, lying on it's side asleep. Dawn stood over it, looking proud.

"Bloody hell," Caspar teleported over to her and put his arm around her. "Remind me not to insult you as much, yeah?"

Dawn smirked and was pushing his arm off when she toppled over onto the ground. The boar stood behind her, snorting. It had rammed it's head into her back. Caspar picked up a stick, threw it, and yelled, "Fetch, boy!", grinning all the while. The boar turned to him and started to charge forward, but Caspar flipped onto its back with ease and rolled off the other side. He seemed to be having a little too much fun. But being attacked by a boar was not fun. It was strong enough to kill them if it rammed hard enough in the wrong spot, and Miles couldn't let that happen. He was finally about to reach a place of safety, and he wasn't going to let anything prevent him from getting there. He ran over to the boar without really thinking and struck it with his fist, as hard as he could. The boar stumbled back a few steps, and then another boom sounded. It had fallen sideways onto the ground, hopefully for good this time.

"Nice one," said Caspar, grinning at him.

Miles stood over the boar for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He couldn't believe what he'd done. He wasn't the type to charge a boar; he wasn't brave enough. A surge of anger had come over him, though. Miles stared at the boar for a few more seconds, and then recuperated.

"I don't think he was really into your stick," he commented.

Caspar shrugged, "Works with dogs, and how different are they really?"

Miles shook his head and turned to Lancaster, who was helping Dawn up.

"What was that?" he practically shouted, his surge of anger starting to return. "I thought this place was supposed to be safe!"

"It is, it is," Lancaster replied. "Wild creatures here are very rare, most are tamed. Besides, we'll be installing a force field very soon for security, so wild animals won't be able to get in."

"Isn't there supposed to be a training facility here or something?" asked Miles.

"We're coming up on the academy, you'll see."

Miles looked at Caspar and Dawn. He didn't watch horror movies, but it was a general rule of thumb not to follow a strange man into a forest.

"He's right," said Dawn. "The academy is close. It's great, and so are the surroundings. You'll love it, believe me."

"What she said." Caspar wasn't paying much attention, as he was sniffing at some sort of fruit he had picked up off the ground.

"Okay, so where is the academy?"

Dr. Lancaster pointed in one direction and then another. He turned to the side, turned again, and apparently finally found his bearings. He pointed straight ahead. "That way."

I'm glad you're so confident, Miles thought.

So they continued on. Miles seemed to be the only person that was the least bit concerned about a wild animal almost killing them all. It made sense, though. If the Doc had brought Caspar and Dawn along to get Miles, it probably meant that it wasn't their first rodeo. The way Caspar seemed so chilled out when facing danger and not even reliant on his powers, and even the way that Dawn seemed so in control of hers. They had experience. The only question was, how much was real life and how much was training? It all just made Miles feel weird. Like he was the new kid at school. There had to be other kids at the academy, though. They probably felt the same way. He couldn't be the only one weirded out by all this, right?

Two sore legs later, they came out on a clearing. It was like a big circle. Surrounding the circle in the front were tall trees like the ones they had come out of. In the back, the ocean crashed down, coming up on sandy shore. The place was a round, giant opening. And in the middle of the massive circle full of lush grass, a building stood. It looked like, well, an academy. It was a school building, no matter how you looked at it. The only odd thing was that the tall brick building was standing in the middle of a circular beach, surrounded by what looked like sword fighting rings, a shooting range, and more odd outdoor activities. There was a house wedged behind the big building, and there were also several cabins scattered around.

"What is this place?" Miles asked, overwhelmed.

"Brookings-Harbor." said Dr. Lancaster proudly. "Or as the kids are calling it, Fandomania."