Born to Fly

Part 25

Teraphon was doing pushups in his workout room. There was nothing in the windowless room except Terephon, a lantern, and a pitcher of water. Drenched in sweat, Teraphon was cranking out pushups at a steady pace. When he got to fifty-seven, he heard a knock at the door, so he got up and went to it. He opened the door and saw Rubax, who looked as if something was troubling him. Terephon stepped back and Rubax entered the room.

"Pardon the interruption, Tear, but I have some urgent news. A large group of invaders, hundreds of them, have entered the Myriapod Domain. They've been attacking cities and taking their spora slaves away."

"Impossible! There's no way so many people could have gotten through the western defense and made it all the way to the Myriapod Domain without us catching them!"

"We've gotten reports that they came from the Seas of the East."

Teraphon didn't know what to think about that piece of information. The Seas of the East hadn't been explored yet, and he had no clue what was out there.

"How have the myriapods responded?" Teraphon asked.

"General Pendra and his legion are working to eliminate the threat as we speak."

Teraphon gathered his thoughts together. Once he reached his conclusion, he said, "The chordates must have figured out some way to infiltrate from the eastern seas. If that's the case, then we need to act right away. Rubax, I need you to get the Sting Force here. I want all five of them here as soon as possible."

"I'm on it."

They left the room in haste, leaving the lantern to glow in solitude.

# # #

Thirty-five days had passed since Team X arrived at the mammal base. Over that period, Mory continued to train at the base while also practicing gliding with Pepé. Many people were noticing signs of his diligence and dedication towards becoming a better warrior. He made smarter decisions during drills. His speed, strength, and stamina improved tremendously. He was able to sustain his manek form for longer amounts of time, and his gliding abilities were on a much higher level than before. It was clear to everyone that he was putting in work.

After morning training, Mory went to see Pepé for one last time. A few days prior, the leaders at the base were notified by a messenger that Sannis and his group made it to the Myriapod Domain in Zitonia. Sannis had given the order for Team X to meet up with them in the Insect Domain. Finally, after being a Sporadical member for a little over a hundred days, he was finally going to Zitonia so he could face his father's killers.

The time for his revenge would have to wait though. What mattered the most at that moment was saying goodbye to the man who mentored him while he was in the Land of Mammals. Pepé was already at their meeting spot when Mory got there. He was a little surprised because he always got there before the old man.

"You must be excited about our last lesson since you beat me here," said Mory.

"Nope. I just happened to leave home a bit earlier."

"That figures. So what we got today? Twists? Zig-zags? Flips?"

"Nothing."

"Huh?"

"There's nothing left for me to teach you."

"Really? So why did we meet here again?"

"Why not?"

Mory struggled to reply to the man's goofy logic. After taking a moment to think, he said, "I'm gonna miss your unpredictable responses."

"When you return from Zitonia, you can always come visit me here at fifteenth hour. Preferably sometime before I die."

"You got it. I'll be back."

"You better be. My daughter said the same thing and I haven't seen her since. It's been six years." Pepé laughed after stating the fact.

"You have a daughter?"

"I sure do. She fell in love with some gopher guy and ran off with him. That's my girl," Pepé said while smiling.

"I've spent a bunch of days with you, but I feel like most of your life is still a mystery to me."

"I'll tell you more about me if our paths happen to cross again someday. There's one thing I want to know about you that I kept forgetting to ask. How old are you?"

"Funny you should ask. I just turned eighteen today," Mory proudly announced with a big grin.

"Well, I'll be damned! Happy birthday, kid."

"Thanks."

"Please, go enjoy the springtime of your youth. It's been a real pleasure watching you grow, but you don't need to hang around with old geezers like me. After you take care of this war business, live free, and have fun. Life's an adventure, so fly away, and go where you belong."

"I'm glad I met you, Pepé. I'll tell you all about my adventures when I see you again someday. Thanks for everything."

Mory switched into his squirrel form. He took one final look at Pepé, who waved and smiled like a proud grandfather. Mory turned and leaped forward. He glided off to the base. He knew Pepé was watching him, thinking about how he no longer looked like a monkey falling out of a tree.

When he got back to his cabin, he expected to walk into an ordinary room with just Thacris and Rolar, but that wasn't the case. All of his friends were hanging out in there.

"Welcome back buddy," said Thacris. "I thought I'd throw a little party here since it's our last day at the mammal base."

"I see. For a second, I thought that you guys got together to surprise me for my birthday, but I just remembered that I didn't tell anyone about it."

Zeylan, who was already near Mory, threw her arms around him and wished him a happy birthday. Almost everyone else in the room said happy birthday as well. Sylo stood up from Mory's bed and walked over to him.

"So, birthday boy. You wanna tell us why you go to the woods every day at fifteenth hour?"

Mory looked at everyone's faces. They all seemed curious to know what he had been up to all that time. He didn't want to disclose details about Pepé or the training, so the answer that he gave them was this.

"I had some adventures in the sky."