Wayward Son: Grounded

Chapter 2

"Guys! GUYS!"

Finn burst onto the bridge yelling at the top of his lungs.

"Guys," he said, "you're not gonna believe what's going on!"

"What?" asked Piper. "What is it?"

"Guess," said Finn. "I can't tell you, just guess!"

"You finally changed your socks?" Piper suggested.

"No, but-"

"There's an ice cream truck going by outside?" asked Junko excitedly.

"I wish there was, but-"

"Ooh! Ooh! A giant swarm of brain-consuming mosquitoes from Terra Amazonia are flying this way to suck out our frontal lobes through our nostrils?" guessed Stork.

Everybody else stared at him in shock and confusion.

"Hey, you said guess," he pointed out.

Finn let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a groan.

"Do you want me to just tell you?" he asked.

"Go right ahead," said Piper.

"Okay," said Finn. "Aerrow just took all of his painkillers at once and he is tripping out!"

"He what?!" Piper sprang to her feet in shock. "Is he okay?"

"I dunno, but he is saying some really weird things," said Finn. "Does anybody have a camera or something? We have gotta record this!"

"Finn, this is serious!" Piper objected. "What if it turns out he's allergic to something?"

"Then I would've come and told you guys he was having a reaction, I'm not stupid!" Finn insisted, and then looked to his Wallop friend. "Junko, could you help a buddy out? Pleeeeeeease?"

Junko hesitated, his face betraying his worry.

Finn clasped his hands together in pleading, along with his best puppy-dog eyes and pout.

"I'll go get the camera!" cried Junko as he gave in and leapt up with a massive smile.

"Awesome!" said Finn.

"Guys, you..." Piper trailed off as the two rowdy boys left the room.

She sighed.

"What am I gonna do with them?" she asked.

"Strand them in the Wastelands until they grow a sense of self-awareness?" Stork suggested, and at Piper's glare he said, "Hey, you asked."

O-o-O

Aerrow's head was pounding like a bass drum when he finally awakened. He rubbed his temples in the hopes of easing it, but that didn't do any good whatsoever. It didn't help either that his stomach felt like it was doing acrobatics inside his body.

When he opened his eyes he was faced with Radarr, who was staring at him with a look of concern.

"What?" he said. "What happened?"

Radarr held up a finger, indicating for him to wait, and then scampered out of the room.

Aerrow awkwardly pulled himself into a sitting position and carefully cradled his left arm with his right, and adjusted his sling a little for extra comfort. He'd hoped those pills would stop his shoulder from hurting, but the ache was back full force and he honestly wanted to scream, but didn't for all the chaos it would cause. And also his stomach felt like it was tap-dancing on his insides and if he opened his mouth too wide he'd probably throw up.