Will of a Prince

Jacob woke up with extremely sore muscles. He never ended up sleeping in his bed. Instead, he simply passed out on the floor from exhaustion. He could smell breakfast being made downstairs. The faint aroma invited his nostrils to follow the scent trail. He looked outside to see the sun slowly rising over the enchanted walls. After taking a few moments to stretch, he opened his door and walked downstairs to see who else was awake. Slimo and Lidia were both in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Maria, Bo, Harold, Abby and Doc were all sitting on around a marble dining room table, patiently waiting for their food. Bo’s face was pale and it looked like he slept horrible. Jacob walked up to him and waved a hand in front of his face.

"Bo? Is everything okay?"

Bo jumped when his name was mentioned.

"Everything?! Yah, everything... that stuff is never bad. No, it wouldn’t be. Why are you asking? Do you know something? Have you known something? Because I don’t know any-!"

Abby slapped him across the face. Bo’s short blonde hair covered his grey eyes as he rubbed his cheek. Abby grabbed his collar and yelled in his face.

"Will you get a grip already?!"

Bo gulped and folded his hands on the table.

"Sorry. Everything is fine. I just need to adjust to this new... environment, if you will."

Harold and Maria seemed just as confused as Jacob was. However, Doc didn’t seem weirded out by his behavior at all. Loud clangs of metal were ringing from the kitchen followed by screams. Jacob turned his head to see what all the commotion was about. Lidia had her brown hair in a ponytail while both her and Slimo wore white aprons. They both seemed strangely close to one another while they cooked.

"Lidia, you can’t just use whatever tools you want to chop these meats. You might ruin the texture!"

Lidia wrestled him for an oddly shaped knife.

"I want to be adaptable! What if this is the only tool we will have available to us?!"

"That’s not going to be possible if we have Lucy with us!"

"Let go or I’ll rip your arm off!"

"OW! You can’t just bite me whenever you want!!"

"Shut up, yes I can!"

Jacob called over to them.

"Is everything going okay over there?"

Immediately, they both stopped fighting and stood up straight.

"Everything is great! We are just about finished! Do you mind waking up the others, Doc?"

Doc smiled warmly.

"No problem at all. They will be right down."

Doc pushed his chair away from the table and slowly ascended the steps. After he left, Lidia and Slimo went back to wrestling. However, it was clear that Lidia was holding back.

’Is she wrestling on purpose? Why?’

Jacob looked at Maria with a bright smile and waved at her.

"I hope you slept well last night."

Jacob scratched his head.

"Well, I ended up sleeping on the floor by accident."

Harold laughed hearing this.

"On the floor? When we have these comfy beds at our disposal?! You must be crazy!"

"Do you even remember how you ended up in yours?"

"Nope! But I’m glad I did."

Abby blushed slightly and smiled.

"Me too."

Bo looked like he was about to explode with information. He started scratching his arm and looking around wildly. After three moments, Lee, Steel, and Doc made their way downstairs. Steel was rubbing his half-shaved head as he walked.

"Man. It feels like I hadn’t slept well in a while. When can we start cutting things again?"

Lee sighed.

"Is it possible for you to speak a single sentence without the word cut?"

Steel looked at him dubiously.

"No."

"But you just... never mind."

Slimo and Lidia finally seemed to finish everyone’s breakfast. There were plates for everyone around the dining table set up with a wide variety of meats and bread. Lidia put her hands on her hips and stared at the display proudly.

"Dig in, my lovely children!"

Slimo nodded his head in approval.

"She is quite the cook! You are all very lucky to have such an amazing lady as a guardian."

Lidia stared at Slimo with a flirtatious smile.

"Well, your information has been so helpful to all of us, I’m sure everyone is just as grateful to have you here."

Bo stared down at his plate to look at his display. There were two round loafs of bread with a long slab of meet in between them. He pushed his plate away and tried not to gag.

"I’m... not hungry."

Abby stared at him weirdly, grabbed the bread from his plate, and shoved it right into Bo’s mouth before forcing it shut. Bo tried to scream but couldn’t with the food in his mouth.

"Eat it or Harold and I will make you!!"

Small tears were streaming out of Bo’s eyes as he struggled to chew the bread. Everyone ate their meals with efficiency. The only person with food remaining on their plate was Bo. Slimo noticed and walked over to him.

"I’m sorry the food wasn’t up to your standards. I’ll try my best to make it better for you next time."

Bo sniffled a bit.

"The food was good, I think I’m just a bit nervous for school."

Slimo smiled.

"Very well. Let’s go see what the others are doing."

Lidia grabbed everyone’s plate and helped Slimo clean the kitchen. Both took off their aprons and threw them on a counter. Jacob was the first one to lead everyone next door. He knocked on the door loudly, waiting for someone to answer. He heard a loud yell coming from the other side of the door. It was getting louder as footsteps started approaching. Zoey flung open the door and shouted at everyone.

"Good morning, everyone! Who’s ready to kick some school ass?!"

Steel seemed like the only one ready to answer.

"Me! Me! I’m ready to cut up some school ass!"

"Could you have worded that any worse, Steel?"

Slimo slapped his face.

"Did all of you eat breakfast already?"

"Yup! Miss Sarah cooked us an amazing meal! It was the best tasting meat I’ve ever had!"

"Very good. Go grab everyone else for me please."

Instead of running around trying to grab everyone, Zoey cleared her throat.

"EVERYONE GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE! IT’S TIME TO GO!!!!!"

Almost immediately, people started crowding around Zoey.

"Do you have to be so loud, Zo? It’s so early."

"Lighten up, Serena. Think about it: If we do really well in school, the less time we have to spend in it! Which means we can focus more on training!"

Squabee was the last one to meet with everyone. Her blonde hair was a complete mess, and she still had drool on her chin.

"Why are we not sleeping in? This is so tiring."

Slimo walked over to her and patted her head.

"You’re getting off easy today. I have a special assignment for you and Sarah, remember?"

Squabee’s pink eyes brightened slightly.

"Oh, yeah! I get to figure out my power!"

Sarah walked over to Slimo.

"Where should we go to test them?"

"Since we don’t know what they are, it’s probably best for you both to test them outside the kingdom. If they ask you what you’re doing when you try to leave, try to mention how you aren’t leaving but simply going on a small stroll around the kingdom or something. I think as long as you aren’t permanently leaving them, they will be lenient since we just arrived the other day."

"Okay, fair enough. Come on, Squabee."

"I’m right behind you."

As Sarah and Squabee walked towards the kingdom’s gates, Sqaubee fixed her hair as best she could. Slimo looked back at everyone else proudly.

"Alright everyone, let’s head towards the education facility next to the palace."

Steel raised his hand, but Slimo turned around and ignored it. The entire group followed each other through the wide, stone roads of Chrono Kingdom.

Pops watched the group travel while sitting on the roof of a building far away, allowing a creepy smile to fill his face as the group walked further down the road.