Splinterbark: Chaos of the Coyote Crew

Chapter 1: Halloween Highjinks

The Silver Guardian landed on top of the nearest roof to catch a small breather after the long hours of flight. It was surprisingly warm for a Halloween night though he counted the rest of the city would provide plenty of chills. He stretched his tired wings and checked the satchel at his hip. There were still quite a few candy bars left in there and the time was soon approaching when all children would be in bed or chomping on their hard earned candy. For the last four years his father, the Golden Guardian, used to fly around the city just at the right height so kids might spot him and if they called out to them-he came down and gave them a full sized candy bar for their reward. Silver reasoned that this would be perfect to get some positive attention. It was not like anyone at the house would even notice he was gone. His mother would be by the door passing out candy while Marco would dress as a big scary monster for the older kids. He had no idea what his father was doing now that he was not the Golden Guardian. That, and Reed just had to get out of the house.

Silver stood up and craned his neck. What was he going to do with all this candy? He had practically bought up everything he could at the convenience store near school just to keep it secret from his family. Luckily the manager seemed to be both amused and understanding of the situation. Now what he was going to do with practically a paycheck's worth of Snickers, Musketeers, and Kit Kats? He didn't even really like chocolate himself. He glanced out onto the residential street watching the kids go by. There were many dressed as the latest princess or superhero from that one animation company while others were generic dollar store monsters and heroes. There were several Golden Guardians scurrying around as well. Silver grumbled and rolled his eyes as a group of them walked right up to the door of the house he himself was sitting on, take their candy, and turn to leave. Silver wanted to shout out for their attention. He could damn the rules. A flash of his father's disapproval formed in his mind and he didn't know if he could take another "That silver winged thief ruining everything" dinner lecture.

He stretched and something almost fall out of the inner pocket of his coat. He nearly caused a gouge in the roof as he frantically snatched Splinterbark's googles mid-air before they skidded off the roof. He signed with relief as he brought them up to eye level. Silver was not even sure why he kept them on his person. He tried to make them work-but failed to do so. When he had asked Splinterbark once just how it all worked, she just shrugged and said she just concentrated and thought about it. There was no point in him even hanging on to these. Twice he tried to give them back to her and they kept circling backing to his possession. Finally he just gave it up. Angrily thrusting them hard back into his coat he muttered repeatedly the same mantra he had been repeating to himself for weeks: the Golden Guardian did not need a partner and neither did he.

Silver's phone beeped 8:30 pm. He figured he might as well pull up stakes and head home. If he was fast enough he could just make it home and offer to hand out the rest of the candy. At least it would be some way of ridding himself of these snacks. He had just unfolded his wings when he heard someone whistle and yell out "Mister Silver Guardian!" Silver glanced over the back of his right shoulder and saw a girl next door waving her pumpkin bucket like a train lantern. He fluttered down to where she and her mother stood to hand out her reward. She was dressed up in a white jacket with white pants with cardboard wings wrapped in aluminum foil and taped to her back. When he approached her she blurted out, "Wow, you're really really big!" The mother clamped her hand over her own mouth in embarrassment while Silver unconsciously rubbed his forehead. He had to admit even after more than a month he was still not entirely used to very notable different in height between himself and Reed. He almost always managed to forget to stoop to get inside buildings. He bent down and passed out the candy to her. The Silver Guardian cosplayer then tugged on one of the belt loops of his coat and sheepishly asked if she could take a picture.