*UNEASE IN THE TREES*
The group stood, stunned, watching the creature in the trees make its way to the ground. The dark blob-like object dropped to a lower branch, almost too quickly to see. The velocity of its descent was astounding. The thing grabbed Lucas, evil twin number one, and swooped back into the tree top.
The creature resembled a large, slithering bungee, plopping down and quickly shrinking back up. Izzian almost preferred a Whoosper Tree to the strange inhabitants of earth trees. It was like nothing he'd ever seen, and he was an alien who had seen plenty.
Lucas had time to scream once before the creature was able to silence him. Link ran to the spot where Lucas had last stood, frantically searching the area.
"Lucas, where are you? Come on Lucas. Quit playin' around dude. I'm gonna tell mom," cried Link. But Lucas was nowhere to be seen.
"Uh, Link," Izzian said. "I don't think Lucas is playing around. I don’t think he's coming back." Izzian gazed into the treetops, searching for the ghostly creature.
"But…but you saw that, right? Something stretched down from the tree and like sucked him back up. Come on guys, help me out here. Eliza, I tried to stop him! I know my brother is a lunatic, but he doesn't deserve to be served up on a platter to Black Winny," Link said, wild-eyed.
Apparently, Izzian was not the only person in the forest that night to assume that the legendary Black Winny was out hunting naughty children.
Link was growing more upset by the second. He frantically pushed aside tree limbs, searching for his twin brother in vain. He looked to the others for help, for understanding, but saw only confusion on their faces.
Eliza spoke up first. "Come on, the creature hasn't gotten far. Lucas has to be here somewhere."
Link was stunned that Eliza Allready, the girl he and his twin has pestered for so long, was willing to help. His twin brother had nearly launched her over the edge of the cliff only a moment ago, yet she was ready to forget it all, possibly putting her own life in danger.
"I am so sorry this happened tonight, Eliza. I will never bother you again, I swear. I know Lucas has changed tonight too…I hope we can find him," Link said.
Eliza responded, "I accept your apology. Just keep your promises to me, Link."
Link nodded his head, grateful that Eliza was willing to forgive him. His promises and apologies may have come too late, though. A creature was still lurking in the treetops, a creature bent on vengeance.
The kids searched the bushes and the deeper grass, but the creature hadn't left behind a single clue as to Lucas's whereabouts. Link began to cry and throw badly aimed acorns at the tree. Through his sobbing he yelled, "You took my brother, you witch! Give him back! Give him ba-"
In the middle of Link's pleas, the creature of the treetops swooped down and grabbed Link, just as it had grabbed his twin.
Eliza's eyes grew wide and she stared into sky. "Something got Link too," she said. "Either Black Winny is for real, or we have some other freaky thing in these woods."
"Eliza, just stand somewhere else please. I don't want that thing to bungee back down and steal you too," said Izzian.
He was relieved that Eliza hadn't been thrown over the cliff. He stood very close to her in case something tried to grab her too. Izzian was also quite proud of the earth girl. He didn't know of another single person that would so easily forgive a bully.
"We can't hunt the creature, now. It was trying to help me," she said, gazing into the dark skies.
"Should we even look for Lucas and Link?" Paksha asked.
Izzian informed his friends that a CCU would at least look around a bit, so they briefly searched for the evil twins, unenthusiastically. They found no clues or hints to the whereabouts of Lucas and Link, aka the bullies of Sudden Bluff.
Thilillian finally made an appearance. She ran up to the group, panting and said, "I found something."
They followed Thil to the very edge of the woods, where the sidewalk into town began.
"I got separated from you guys. Then I heard a scream. I saw something bounding around like a gooey rubber band. It carried those Simbiots, uhm… twins. Lucas and Link were all wrapped up and bound together. I thought that was a good thing, since those guys suck. But then I remembered Paksha wanted to find the creature in the woods, so I followed it here. I found this."
Thil pointed to a trail of slime on the sidewalk, glistening in the sunshine of a brand new day. Izzian and Thil looked to each other. The Klesian kids knew what resided in the woods of Sudden Bluff, but they had no idea how a Raging Slunt Notte had gotten to earth.
***