Kids in the Country

Chapter 2

Pidge woke up and looked at her watch on her night stand as she put it on. She gasped when she saw the time. "I'm gonna be late!" She rushed out of bed and got ready. The time was 8: 30, so Pidge only had 30 minutes until she would meet Hunk at the rock.

Pidge was ready to go in 10 minutes, she only had 20 minutes to eat, unpack one or two of her inventions and put them together. Not to mention that she had to unpack her tools, and clean the, and pack them in her tool bag.

After rushing around, Pidge was ready and had just about 3 minutes to spare, so she decided to wait at the rock. And Hunk arrived in a short amount of time.

"Hey Pidge!"

"Hey Hunk!"

"So, what you got?"

"I woke up late and I got some of my stuff in a hurry."

"Thats ok, we've all been there."

"Yeah, tell me about it! Well, I got these." Pidge unpacked her trinkets of inventions and projects she had been working on.

"Wow! You built this stuff?!"

"Yup. All. By. My. Self."

"Cool! Can you show me what they are?"

"Sure!" Pidge and Hunk fidgeted with the small machines and circuits until a boy with tan skin and brown hair with a basic build ran up to them.

"Hunk! You will not believe- who are you?" The boy's tone went from a loud, excited tone, to a quieter, questioning tone as he struggled to break from his run.

"Oh hey Lance!"

"Uh Hunk, who is that?" Lance pointed a finger at Pidge as he kept his distance.

"Lance, this is Pidge. And Pidge, this is Lance."

Pidge extended her hand out to shake Lance's.

"I'm Pidge Gunderson."

"Lance McClain."

Lance sat down and they talked. Pidge explained that she had just moved there the day before and that she was looking forward to meeting everyone. (Of course she hid that she was a 'she' and that she was part a successful family. She just replaced it all with being adopted and traveling until settling here)

"We just travel a lot, but Jaune and Pyrrha wanted to settle here for a while."

"Ok, so do you know how long?"

"Nah. Just that we'll be here for some years."

"Well thats enough time for me!" Lance started doing his thing of thinking he's everyone's best friend and sliding a little too close when he slides.

They talked and tinkered with Pidge's stuff for the next hour. Hunk's mom invited them in for lunch and they went back outside. Lance told Pidge what she needed to know and other things like funny moments the group had. All sound stopped when a black car pulled up. A man got down to open the gate and drove in, he has sue to close the gate.

Pidge, Hunk, and Lance froze and watched. They came back to life as the man disappeared.

"Who's that?"

"Takashi Shirogane. He mentors the kid in that house." Lance pointed to the house across the way and quickly turned away.

"Huh?"

"The kid over there has problems. He's really quiet and mysterious." Hunk shivered and returned to the circuit he was working on.

"Is that all?"

"Really?! You want to know more?"

"Yeah. Is that one of the things I should know?"

"Alright, fine. His name is Keith Kogane. He has 'discipline issues' and he needs 'tutoring'. That guy, Takashi Shirogane, is the guy that takes care of all that stuff."

"Uh huh..."

"A guy named Ly Ren takes care of Keith when Takashi isn't here, so Keith is pretty much adopted."

"Ouch."

"Yep. We've all seen him at the family events. He shows up to every one. Ren socializes and does everything, just Keith doesn't. He's just... there."

"His face is just mutual all the time. And he doesn't even talk to anyone! Well maybe Ren, but still! No one knows what his voice even sounds like!" Hunk exclaimed and began to fidget with his circuit in a worried way.

"Lets change the subject! I don't want to talk badly of someone behind their back."

"Ok. I understand... So what should we talk about?"

"Oh I don't know... Maybe not about someone."

"Ok ok ok! I get it! I won't bring up Keith!"

"Thank you!"

The friends talked for about a half hour until the man now known as Takashi Shirogane, walked out of Keith's house and drove away in the black car.

Pidge checked her watch and the time read 2: 00. They put away the little trinkets and tools and set them aside.

"So what do we do now?"

"I could give you a tour of the lodge!"

"Uh, sure."

"A tour it is!"

Lance gave Pidge a tour and told her a few funny stories about funny times at the lodge. They all laughed so hard that they had to stop and regain balance from the wall from laughing so hard. Even Lance had a hard time telling the stories because they were so funny.

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Soon they all said their good byes and went home. Pidge had dinner and watched TV until Pyrrha put her to bed.

Pidge wondered, who is Keith Kogane? What does he look like? What about his voice?