Metal and Bone | A Rainbow Quest AU

Chapter 20 - The Village Visit

[Sabre's POV]

I wake up, and immediately feel excited because I don't feel sick at all anymore.

I happily get out of bed, and go downstairs to see Orange Steve. He's on the floor with Gerald playing with something in a bucket when I get to the living room. I run over and hug Orange, who is at first surprised, but then realizes it's me and returns the hug.

"Hey Sabre!" Orange greets me. "You're excited today, are you feeling better?"

"Yep! I don't feel sick anymore!" I smile, then notice the metal thing in the water-filled bucket is moving around. "What's that?"

"Oh, it's a pufferfish! I like them, so I decided to bring one here." Orange answers. "Probably going to make a pond for it... and maybe give it some friends too."

I reach my hand out to poke it, but Orange stops me.

"Oh, it's not really a good idea for you to touch it, buddy!" Orange says, gently pushing my hand away from the top of the bucket. "Pufferfish have spines that they can pop out when they feel threatened. It might get surprised if you poke it, and stick you."

"Ah, okay!" I answer, just watching the gold-colored mechanical fish circle the space in the bucket.

We stay like that for a little bit, just watching the pufferfish swim around, but I get bored soon and start looking around for something to do. I'm about to go outside when Orange picks me up. How'd he sneak up on me?! He's a huge clunky robot! I didn't even hear him get up!

"What is it?" I ask, while Orange sets me down on the couch.

"Didn't you notice how dark it is outside?" Orange says, looking out the window. "You woke up earlier than usual, it's 6:00 AM. You can't exactly be climbing around the trees right now."

"Oh, alright." I say, noticing how the sun isn't up yet.

"Wanna play with me until it's safe to go out?" Orange smiles.

"Heck yeah!" I exclaim, excitedly running around as soon as Orange sets me back down.

"You're like a tiny Yellow Steve sometimes..." Orange chuckles, then crouches down to my level. "What do you want to play?"

I think for a moment, then get the perfect idea.

"Do you know what Hide and Seek is?" I ask, and Orange now shares my excited look.

"Of course I do, my friends and I play it whenever I visit the Village!" He says, seems to remember something, then mumbles. "Speaking of which, we need to go there today..."

"Yay!" I say, happily jumping up and down. "You count first, I'll hide!"

"Heh, alright buddy!" Orange says.

Not even a second later, I'm already looking around for a place to hide. I hear Orange start to count, and run into his room. I see a bookshelf along one of the walls... perfect. Running over to the bookshelf, I've just managed to squeeze myself under it when Orange finishes counting.

"Ready or not, here I come, Sabre!" He says, his voice reverberating through the house.

I giggle as I hear Orange search all around upstairs, then make his way back downstairs. I see him pass by his room and head to the storage room.

"Why did I agree to this... he has so many more places to hide!" Orange grumbles.

Suddenly, Orange stops in his tracks and walks back over to his room's door. Staring into the room, I hear whirring as he moves his head around.