part 3:
Watergunfight at the Moses Coral
by Matthew Atanian
©1997 by Matthew Atanian
Watergunfight at the Moses Coral
by Matthew Atanian
©1997 by Matthew Atanian
Bill was backing out of his tent to go and find a tree to make friends with when a hand fell upon his shoulder and spun him around. Bill was surprised to see before him a young, dark haired Asian man dressed mostly in yellow, complete with a yellow bandanna tied around his forehead. The young man was also wearing a heavy looking backpack with a bamboo umbrella atop it.
"Uh..." Bill said. "
Furinkan Koukou wa doko da?!" the Asian man asked, practically shouting.
"What?" Bill asked.
"Nani?" the man asked.
"Can I help you?" Bill asked.
"Um... English?" the man said slowly. "You speak English?"
Bill nodded.
The man tightly gripped both of Bill's shoulders and shouted, "Tell me! Where is Furinkan High School?"
"Furinkan High School? There's no schools near here," Bill said. "You're in the middle of a Boy Scout camp.
"How far is it to Tokyo?"
"What's your name," Bill asked.
"Ryoga. Hibiki Ryoga. Please, I've got to get to Tokyo."
"You've been travelling by foot?"
Ryoga nodded.
"Um, Ryoga, you're not even on the right continent. You're near the east coast of the United States of America, in Massachusetts. You're no where near Japan."
Ryoga's jaw dropped to the ground as he began to make funny noises. "What do you mean? This isn't even Japan?"
"You honestly didn't know? What, have you got no sense of direction?"
Ryoga turned and walked away, seemingly in a trance. "I'm sorry to have troubled you," he said as he disappeared into the woods.
Bill looked off into the direction Ryoga had disappeared into for a long time before realizing that his bladder was about to explode. He shook his head as he renewed his quest to find a friendly tree.
"So I emerged from the spring to find that I was a woman," Matt said. "Hot water temporarily reverses the effect, but only till the next splash of cold."
"There's this whole training ground in China filled with these cursed springs?" Dan asked.
Matt nodded.
"I have got to get to China!" Dan exclaimed.
"Why the hell would you want to do that?" Matt asked, pulling a large thermos from his backpack.
"I have to see if they have a Spring of Drowned Fire."
Matt was stunned speechless. While trying to comprehend what Dan had just told him, he dumped the hot water in the thermos onto himself. "You have got to be kidding!" he finely said.
"Why?"
"First off, fire can't drown, it would be doused! Second, you think life like this is easy? Think again. It's been hell. This is not an easy secret to keep. I never realized before my little accident in China how many ways there are in every day life to get doused with cold water."
"I take it you didn't mean to be a girl last night."
"The rain caught me and Aaron by surprise."
"Aaron's the duck, right?"
Matt nodded.
"You're going to need a name," Dan said.
"Name?"
"Yeah. You're bound to be spotted eventually by someone else, and if they ask your name, I doubt you'd want to say it's Matt Atanian."
"I didn't even think of that."
"How about Matilda?"
Matt thought it over. "No."
"Martha?"
"No."
"Well, you come up with one then."
Matt thought and thought. He pulled the book he was reading from his backpack and read a bit, hoping it would help him think. It didn't, as he was too busy concentrating on the story. He put the book down and thought some more.
Meanwhile, Dan was bored and had started burning things. Nothing that big, mind you, although he had accidentally almost burned down a tree. As it was, the tree's foliage was noticeably thinner. Finely, Dan said, "Matt, have you thought of anything yet? It's getting dull just standing here."
"I think I've got it," Matt said a moment later.
"Well?"
"I've always hated being called 'Matty' because I thought it sounded too feminine. But now..."
"But now you are too feminine!"
"I don't know if I'd have put it that way."
"What about a last name?"
"That one's still stumping me."
"What's the book you were reading?"
"Just a Robotech novel."
"Any female main characters?"
"Lisa Hayes and Lynn-Minmei. Why?"
"Matty Minmei?" Dan suggested.
"I don't relish the thought of naming myself after that selfish, spoiled little brat," Matt responded, "but I think I like the ring of Matty Hayes."
Mike was returning to Crown Point from the Trading Post when it began to rain. As the sky had looked clear up till five minutes ago, he had been caught unprepared and thus was continuing his trip back to the campsite on four legs.
A large foot appeared before him, and he looked up, twitching his little tail nervously.
"Look what we have here," the owner of the foot said, "a little squirrely!"
The owner of the foot, a tall, lanky Life Scout in his late teens who was wearing a rumpled uniform, stooped and picked Mike up before he could run away. He laughed. "Time for my biology lesson."
He pulled out a rusty pocket knife and laughed some more.
Mike chittered in fear, frantically trying to get away. He bit the boy's thumb, drawing a thin line of blood.
The boy screamed. "You shit of a squirrel, you'll pay for that!"
He threw Mike down to the ground hard, stunning him. Before Mike could recover, the boy had knelt down and was preparing to make an incision. Mike was sure that the boy was not in possession of a medical degree, and got up to run. The boy slammed his hand down on Mike's tail, stopping his escape.
The boy brought the knife down and ran it lightly across Mike's body, not yet breaking the skin. He laughed some more as Mike frantically tried to run. Mike then turned and raked his forepaw across the boy's hand. He yelped in pain, but did not bring his hand up. Instead, he whacked Mike with his other hand, stunning him again.
"Enough playing," the boy said. He brought the knife up high, and swung it swiftly down towards Mike, about to disembowel him.
"What do you think you're doing?" A woman's voice sternly called out.
The boy looked up and saw a beautiful woman with short, red hair. She stormed forward, made a fist, and punched him in the face.
The boy ran, dropping his knife.
Matty stooped down and picked up Mike. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Mike nodded.
"Come on, let's go get you some hot water."
The sky cleared up later that day, and for the next few says the weather remained sunny. Matt had heard that the weather was supposed to stay sunny for the rest of the week. It was only Wednesday, however, and he wouldn't feel safe until he was home again.
He straightened his Order of the Arrow sash as he walked across the parade field towards the Manor House to make a phone call. Wednesday was O.A. day and Matt, as a proud Arrowman, was dressed in full Class A uniform complete with sash. Of course, Matt was always in Class A uniform. Matt looked in disgust at all of the people who wore their sashes over scout T-shirts when they were only to be worn with the Class A's.
Oh well, O.A. day was only one day. He'd get over it.
Matt was too busy thinking evil thoughts about people incorrectly wearing their sashes and so he didn't notice the group of four Scouts who were engaged in a running watergun fight across the parade field until it was too late.
"Oh great," Matty said as she reached to take off her nametag. After summer camp, she'd have to order one with her new name. She also took off her sash. Women couldn't get into the O.A. until they were twenty-one. While she felt she should pass for twenty-one as she was only a little less than a year away from it, she didn't think she'd be able to pass as a Vigil member of the O.A.. People couldn't get their Vigil until about three years after getting into the O.A., and as it was Allogagan Lodge only had three female Vigils, and she didn't think she'd pass for one of them.
She turned to head for the Dining Hall to get some hot water. She'd prefer to have her male voice before using the phone.
When she turned, Matty noticed that she had been being followed by a tall, lanky boy in a rumpled uniform. His left hand was covered by a black leather glove.
"We meet again," he said.
"Do I know you?" Matty thought he looked familiar, but she'd never been particularly good with faces.
The man held up his gloved hand and pulled off the glove. Revealed on his hand were the scabby injuries he had received from a certain squirrel.
"You were that boy from two days ago who was about to kill Mi... that squirrel!" Matty said.
"And you were the one who punched me."
"What's your point," Matty angrily asked.
"You don't do anything about me and the squirrel, and I won't report you for hitting me."
Youth protection was something the Boy Scouts of America took very seriously, and punching a scout could get an adult leader kicked out for life. Matty didn't stop to think that she had been in the perfect disguise when she had hit him before she agreed to keep quiet. "But don't let me catch you doing anything like that ever again," she added.
"Don't worry," the boy said. "For you, anything."
"What?" Matty said, stunned.
The boy reached behind his back and pulled some flowers from his belt. He handed them to Matty, who was too bewildered to think before taking them. "Where did you get these?" she asked.
"From the flower garden at the Ranger's house."
Matty drew in a shocked breath. When Mrs. Anderson, the Ranger's wife, saw her rose garden, she'd be pissed. Matty threw the flowers down in disgust. "What are you giving them to me for?"
"Just a token of my affection, my sweet."
"Your what?! "
"You are in what troop?" the boy asked. He looked at Matty's shoulder and read the troop number. "192? You're in what, Crown Point?"
"Look, you, don't get any funny ideas! I have absolutely no interest in the likes of you!"
"That's what they all say," the boy said, turning to walk away. "Women are just afraid to admit their true feelings."
"Were you born stupid or did someone drop you on your head?" Matty called out after him.
He momentarily stopped his departure as, laughing, he turned to regard Matty. "Don't worry, my goddess, I won't tell anyone of your secret yearning for me. Oh, and the name's Kuntz. Taylor Kuntz."
Matty watched Kuntz walk away, an angry, disgusted look rapidly growing on her face. After he had disappeared into the forest, she threw her head back and regarded the cloudless sky. "You have got to be kidding!" she shouted to any deity who cared to listen.
"Uh..." Bill said. "
Furinkan Koukou wa doko da?!" the Asian man asked, practically shouting.
"What?" Bill asked.
"Nani?" the man asked.
"Can I help you?" Bill asked.
"Um... English?" the man said slowly. "You speak English?"
Bill nodded.
The man tightly gripped both of Bill's shoulders and shouted, "Tell me! Where is Furinkan High School?"
"Furinkan High School? There's no schools near here," Bill said. "You're in the middle of a Boy Scout camp.
"How far is it to Tokyo?"
"What's your name," Bill asked.
"Ryoga. Hibiki Ryoga. Please, I've got to get to Tokyo."
"You've been travelling by foot?"
Ryoga nodded.
"Um, Ryoga, you're not even on the right continent. You're near the east coast of the United States of America, in Massachusetts. You're no where near Japan."
Ryoga's jaw dropped to the ground as he began to make funny noises. "What do you mean? This isn't even Japan?"
"You honestly didn't know? What, have you got no sense of direction?"
Ryoga turned and walked away, seemingly in a trance. "I'm sorry to have troubled you," he said as he disappeared into the woods.
Bill looked off into the direction Ryoga had disappeared into for a long time before realizing that his bladder was about to explode. He shook his head as he renewed his quest to find a friendly tree.
"So I emerged from the spring to find that I was a woman," Matt said. "Hot water temporarily reverses the effect, but only till the next splash of cold."
"There's this whole training ground in China filled with these cursed springs?" Dan asked.
Matt nodded.
"I have got to get to China!" Dan exclaimed.
"Why the hell would you want to do that?" Matt asked, pulling a large thermos from his backpack.
"I have to see if they have a Spring of Drowned Fire."
Matt was stunned speechless. While trying to comprehend what Dan had just told him, he dumped the hot water in the thermos onto himself. "You have got to be kidding!" he finely said.
"Why?"
"First off, fire can't drown, it would be doused! Second, you think life like this is easy? Think again. It's been hell. This is not an easy secret to keep. I never realized before my little accident in China how many ways there are in every day life to get doused with cold water."
"I take it you didn't mean to be a girl last night."
"The rain caught me and Aaron by surprise."
"Aaron's the duck, right?"
Matt nodded.
"You're going to need a name," Dan said.
"Name?"
"Yeah. You're bound to be spotted eventually by someone else, and if they ask your name, I doubt you'd want to say it's Matt Atanian."
"I didn't even think of that."
"How about Matilda?"
Matt thought it over. "No."
"Martha?"
"No."
"Well, you come up with one then."
Matt thought and thought. He pulled the book he was reading from his backpack and read a bit, hoping it would help him think. It didn't, as he was too busy concentrating on the story. He put the book down and thought some more.
Meanwhile, Dan was bored and had started burning things. Nothing that big, mind you, although he had accidentally almost burned down a tree. As it was, the tree's foliage was noticeably thinner. Finely, Dan said, "Matt, have you thought of anything yet? It's getting dull just standing here."
"I think I've got it," Matt said a moment later.
"Well?"
"I've always hated being called 'Matty' because I thought it sounded too feminine. But now..."
"But now you are too feminine!"
"I don't know if I'd have put it that way."
"What about a last name?"
"That one's still stumping me."
"What's the book you were reading?"
"Just a Robotech novel."
"Any female main characters?"
"Lisa Hayes and Lynn-Minmei. Why?"
"Matty Minmei?" Dan suggested.
"I don't relish the thought of naming myself after that selfish, spoiled little brat," Matt responded, "but I think I like the ring of Matty Hayes."
Mike was returning to Crown Point from the Trading Post when it began to rain. As the sky had looked clear up till five minutes ago, he had been caught unprepared and thus was continuing his trip back to the campsite on four legs.
A large foot appeared before him, and he looked up, twitching his little tail nervously.
"Look what we have here," the owner of the foot said, "a little squirrely!"
The owner of the foot, a tall, lanky Life Scout in his late teens who was wearing a rumpled uniform, stooped and picked Mike up before he could run away. He laughed. "Time for my biology lesson."
He pulled out a rusty pocket knife and laughed some more.
Mike chittered in fear, frantically trying to get away. He bit the boy's thumb, drawing a thin line of blood.
The boy screamed. "You shit of a squirrel, you'll pay for that!"
He threw Mike down to the ground hard, stunning him. Before Mike could recover, the boy had knelt down and was preparing to make an incision. Mike was sure that the boy was not in possession of a medical degree, and got up to run. The boy slammed his hand down on Mike's tail, stopping his escape.
The boy brought the knife down and ran it lightly across Mike's body, not yet breaking the skin. He laughed some more as Mike frantically tried to run. Mike then turned and raked his forepaw across the boy's hand. He yelped in pain, but did not bring his hand up. Instead, he whacked Mike with his other hand, stunning him again.
"Enough playing," the boy said. He brought the knife up high, and swung it swiftly down towards Mike, about to disembowel him.
"What do you think you're doing?" A woman's voice sternly called out.
The boy looked up and saw a beautiful woman with short, red hair. She stormed forward, made a fist, and punched him in the face.
The boy ran, dropping his knife.
Matty stooped down and picked up Mike. "Are you all right?" she asked.
Mike nodded.
"Come on, let's go get you some hot water."
The sky cleared up later that day, and for the next few says the weather remained sunny. Matt had heard that the weather was supposed to stay sunny for the rest of the week. It was only Wednesday, however, and he wouldn't feel safe until he was home again.
He straightened his Order of the Arrow sash as he walked across the parade field towards the Manor House to make a phone call. Wednesday was O.A. day and Matt, as a proud Arrowman, was dressed in full Class A uniform complete with sash. Of course, Matt was always in Class A uniform. Matt looked in disgust at all of the people who wore their sashes over scout T-shirts when they were only to be worn with the Class A's.
Oh well, O.A. day was only one day. He'd get over it.
Matt was too busy thinking evil thoughts about people incorrectly wearing their sashes and so he didn't notice the group of four Scouts who were engaged in a running watergun fight across the parade field until it was too late.
"Oh great," Matty said as she reached to take off her nametag. After summer camp, she'd have to order one with her new name. She also took off her sash. Women couldn't get into the O.A. until they were twenty-one. While she felt she should pass for twenty-one as she was only a little less than a year away from it, she didn't think she'd be able to pass as a Vigil member of the O.A.. People couldn't get their Vigil until about three years after getting into the O.A., and as it was Allogagan Lodge only had three female Vigils, and she didn't think she'd pass for one of them.
She turned to head for the Dining Hall to get some hot water. She'd prefer to have her male voice before using the phone.
When she turned, Matty noticed that she had been being followed by a tall, lanky boy in a rumpled uniform. His left hand was covered by a black leather glove.
"We meet again," he said.
"Do I know you?" Matty thought he looked familiar, but she'd never been particularly good with faces.
The man held up his gloved hand and pulled off the glove. Revealed on his hand were the scabby injuries he had received from a certain squirrel.
"You were that boy from two days ago who was about to kill Mi... that squirrel!" Matty said.
"And you were the one who punched me."
"What's your point," Matty angrily asked.
"You don't do anything about me and the squirrel, and I won't report you for hitting me."
Youth protection was something the Boy Scouts of America took very seriously, and punching a scout could get an adult leader kicked out for life. Matty didn't stop to think that she had been in the perfect disguise when she had hit him before she agreed to keep quiet. "But don't let me catch you doing anything like that ever again," she added.
"Don't worry," the boy said. "For you, anything."
"What?" Matty said, stunned.
The boy reached behind his back and pulled some flowers from his belt. He handed them to Matty, who was too bewildered to think before taking them. "Where did you get these?" she asked.
"From the flower garden at the Ranger's house."
Matty drew in a shocked breath. When Mrs. Anderson, the Ranger's wife, saw her rose garden, she'd be pissed. Matty threw the flowers down in disgust. "What are you giving them to me for?"
"Just a token of my affection, my sweet."
"Your what?! "
"You are in what troop?" the boy asked. He looked at Matty's shoulder and read the troop number. "192? You're in what, Crown Point?"
"Look, you, don't get any funny ideas! I have absolutely no interest in the likes of you!"
"That's what they all say," the boy said, turning to walk away. "Women are just afraid to admit their true feelings."
"Were you born stupid or did someone drop you on your head?" Matty called out after him.
He momentarily stopped his departure as, laughing, he turned to regard Matty. "Don't worry, my goddess, I won't tell anyone of your secret yearning for me. Oh, and the name's Kuntz. Taylor Kuntz."
Matty watched Kuntz walk away, an angry, disgusted look rapidly growing on her face. After he had disappeared into the forest, she threw her head back and regarded the cloudless sky. "You have got to be kidding!" she shouted to any deity who cared to listen.
To be continued...
Disclaimer:
Certain aspects of this series are inspired by Takahashi Rumiko's Ranma ½. The character of Hibiki Ryoga is used without permission.
Robotech is used without permission.
All named characters in this story with the exception of Taylor Kuntz are based on real persons. Horace A. Moses Scout Reservation is based on an actual location.
This story was written without the consent of the Boy Scouts of America, and in fact if National ever found out about these stories, they'd probably send someone to rip my toenails off with a big rusty pair of pliers.
Robotech is used without permission.
All named characters in this story with the exception of Taylor Kuntz are based on real persons. Horace A. Moses Scout Reservation is based on an actual location.
This story was written without the consent of the Boy Scouts of America, and in fact if National ever found out about these stories, they'd probably send someone to rip my toenails off with a big rusty pair of pliers.