Lucas

Lucas rubs the towel on his head, drying his freshly-washed hair as he emerges from the bathroom. It's been a long day, but a good one. Somehow the sadness of approaching autumn is lessened by the bright mums ready for planting.

But tonight is a good night to settle in with one of his books, this time one with information on the Runaway Five. It seems like a good one to share with Duster.

Somehow Lucas manages to get a room for himself. It's not too elaborate, very much like the home he doesn't remember he had. He's curled up on the simple bed, hugging a blue pillow.

If he's going to feel alone, he might as well be alone.

With a great KSSSSSSSSH! the limo lands at the entrance of Master Porky's neon haven, New Pork City. The streets are lined with lively distractions and familiar faces, the people of Tazmily bustling about at the cinema or the arcade.

Boney nudges his owner's hand with his nose, giving him a comforting lick. Kumatora puts a hand near her eyes, scanning the area. Duster fiddles with a wall staple, itching to move but wanting to stay still.

Lucas soaks it all in, frowning faintly.

Where to?

The long, wearying walk across the bottom of the ocean culminated in a fight with the force of Master Eddy. The lack of communication was one thing (thank goodness for the strange merman oxygen machines) but the sheer distance traveled against the water was another.

And then, with the last ounce of Master Eddy's strength, he summoned a typhoon that Lucas, Duster, Kumatora, and Boney couldn't hope to stand against.

Lucas finally regained consciousness and laboriously lifted himself up, coughing out the last bits of water from his lungs.

"Where are we?" he weakly asks.

"Tanetane Island?" Kumatora ventures. "Damn... All our items got washed away and we have no energy left."

A brief check of everyone's pockets confirmed what Kumatora said: they had nothing but the clothes on their backs.

"What now?" Lucas asks.

"Let's try to find something to eat," Kumatora says.

The boys nod at her suggestion and begin to search. It's not long before they run into a patch of purple mushrooms with a sign:

Energizing mushrooms!
Don't eat too many.

"These mushrooms," Kumatora says, picking one up. "They have a funky-looking color, but they're okay to eat, right?"

"What other option do we have?" Lucas asks, wary but out of choices.

Lucas, Duster, and Kumatora all kneel down and take some mushrooms.

And they seem.......

.......to be.....

..............all right.........

..............or not.

Lucas is grateful when he opens his door to an empty hallway. He'll be happier once he finds Boney but just being alive is great for now.

It doesn't take long, however, for him to pick up his dog's thoughts in a nearby staircase.

"Coast is clear, boy," he calls, still adjusting to the sound once again coming through a Pigmask helmet.

Boney comes down the stairs, his yellow Pigmask helmet looking particularly ridiculous on him. But boy is he glad to see Lucas, especially since he has company.

"We're s'pposed to be looking for some monkeys, or at least that's our story if any Pigmasks ask. They're hidin' somewhere in this lab and prob'ly eager for a way out. And keep a lookout for..."

He winces under his mask as he thinks about the Ultimate Chimera.

"...well, you'll know it when y'see it."

Sitting at the table eating breakfast was not an unfamiliar situation, but even so, Lucas could feel that something was off.

There was an omelet on the plate in front of him and a glass of orange juice. It was autumn but there was a warmth in the nearby kitchen.

"Lucas, honey, eat up or it will get cold," Hinawa said.

Before his brain could even register what happened, he was enveloped by his mother's embrace. His small knuckles were turning white and shaking.

Her dress is soft, red, and smells like clean linen, sunflowers, and yeast. Her hands, stronger than he remembered, have a cracking second skin of flour and drying dough.

"I still miss you," Lucas finally said.

"I know," Hinawa told him. "And I miss you, too."

"Is that all right?"

"Of course it is. But that doesn't mean you stop being you, right?"

Lucas nodded against his mother's chest. He couldn't remember if he got that tall before he was 10 or not.

"You're very brave," Hinawa said.

"No'm not," Lucas said, shaking his head. "Nowhere near brave like Claus."

His mother took his face in her hands. He pressed his hands onto hers.

"Lucas, brave and daring are not the same thing," she told him. "Brave means doing what you know is right, even when you're scared. Brave means doing hard things but still being you. Do you understand?"

"I think so..."

Hinawa gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"You'll be safe when you go back," she said. "There's a haystack waiting for you there."

"Well, that's a relief..."

She runs her fingers through Lucas's hair.

"Now, what have I missed since you last came to visit?"

They sat together in the warm kitchen, cuddled close, watching the bread bake in the oven while Lucas recounted finding the Hummingbird Egg, infiltrating the Pigmask Army, and climbing up the Thunder Tower.

He was even murmuring to himself as he slowly woke up.