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Chapter 3: Good Morning!

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-BEEP--BEEP---BE-*CLICK*

Smacking his palm on the clock, Robin woke up feeling rested and ready to take on the world -- or at least, as much of the world a 4-year old could take. Getting out of his fluffy bed, Robin opened the door and walked out of his room. On the way to the dining room, he passed through the kitchen, where he heard his parents greet him.

"Good morning, Robin."

"Good morning son."

"Morning mother, father."

Currently setting up the table, his mother and father looked up to greet their son as they heard him open the door. Happy that he was acknowledged, Robin volunteered to help set the silverware and plates as his parents place the dishes on the table.

“Son, before you eat why don't you go wash up in the river outside. We can finish setting the table.” His dad pointed towards the door.

“Of course.”

Grabbing a towel on a rack as he moved towards the entrance, he turned the lock and opened the door to be greeted by sunlight and a pleasant breeze. Stepping outside and off the porch steps, Robin walked towards the river ahead of him.

For the sake of convenience, the majority of homes were lined up near the river allowing quick and easy access to water that can be gathered, filtered, and stored for later use. Thus, as he traveled to the riverside, he could see many doors opening and other residents getting up and heading to the river to wash up and freshen up. Slinging his towel over his shoulder, Robin knelled down and started splashing and cleaning himself. As he was finishing up he ended up cleaning his wolf ears last. They sat on the top of his head, each one a litter smaller than the size his hand.

= No matter how many times I see my reflection, I still can't believe I have a new body. And this feels completely weird to have two sets of ears. = Twitching his wolf ears up and down, Robin stared at his reflection examining his new looks. His facial features resembled his mother. He had smooth skin and soft silver hair, one side extending long enough to form a bang over his right eye. One could call him handsome and reserved if not for the deep yellow eyes that could be seen through his hair. They looked full of life yet seems to pierce into your soul if gazed upon long enough.

Mesmerized by his looks, Robin was too busy examining himself to notice a creeping presence behind. He didn't notice until he was kicked in the back and sent splashing into the river. Landing face-first into mud, Robin wiped his eyes and stood up to find the culprit sprinting away.

“DINKLEBERRRRRG!”

“Hahahaha!” Laughing as he made his escape, a fox faunus ran away as quickly as he had came behind him, his orange tail trailing behind.

Conner Dinkleberg.

He was an orphan child. Apparently, he was taken in by the village chief and his wife, and despite their efforts to teach him manners, he continued to play pranks on everyone. In the beginning it was funny since they played pranks on the adults. However, he also pranks the children, quickly becoming hated by most of the kids after getting pushed into the freezing river so early in the morning. Speaking of which, his figure could now be discerned sneaking up to yet another victim: a red-haired boy completely oblivious to his surroundings.

Quickly trying to finish up cleaning himself once again, Robin splashed his head underwater a couple of times to rid himself of the mud. He then stood up to grab his towel.

“Aw crap”

After falling headfirst into the river, his towel had also been soaked, so now he was stuck soaked through his clothes and freezing.

“Here”

Robin turned to find a young girl who was a bit taller than him and holding out a towel.

“Thank you Blake”

Blake Belladonna.

She had wavy black hair, and upon examining her head, two small black ears can be seen. She was slightly older than Robin by two months, born in April. Blake liked to read books about as much as Robin, so they ran into each other frequently at the library. She had a pale white complexion and amber eyes that were slightly tilted upwards. Along with her thin black eyebrows, her image made her look..

= Just like a cat. = Robin thought, taking the towel from her. After wiping his face dry, he tilted his head and smacked his palm against the side. Hoping he got rid of most of the water, his ears twitched and he gave back the towel.

“What about your clothes?”

“I'll have to change them anyway. I'm thankful just for the fact you lent it to me to wipe my face. I better hurry up. My breakfast is probably gonna get cold.”

Nodding in understanding, Blake walked to the river and Robin headed back to the house. As he opened the door, he hung the towel back on the rack since it had been squeezed of excess water on the way to the house. He then made his way back to his room, changed into shorts and a fresh gray shirt, and then went back to the dining room.

“So what happened to make you so wet?” father questioned as Robin sat down.

“It was Dinkleberg and one of his pranks again.” Robin grumbled.

“Haha. Well no harm done son. Don't hold it against him.” father pressed the button on a remote, turning on the TV hanging on the wall, and the news channel popped up.

“At most, all he did was help wake you up. So really, you could say he helped you.”

= Pfft. Yeah right. I've dealt with more than my fair share of annoyances in my past life. Unlike the guys who specifically targeted me for fun, he's one of those people. The kind that do anything for attention. He has no target audience, and tries to grab attention from whoever he can. Unlike me, who tried to avoid attention, he is like my polar opposite. =

Grabbing his fork and knife, he devoured his breakfast: milk, eggs, bacon, and toast. It was pretty standard. The amount of similarity between food here and on Earth was pretty surprising. He was glad he wouldn't have to live off of something ridiculous like raw meat or something.

When their breakfast was eaten, mother decided to speak up.

“By the way Robin, today we'll have you start going to classes.”

“Classes?”

Nodding she explained, “Yes, you're four years old now and you seem pretty smart, so I think it's safe to say you can start going to lessons. They'll teach you more about Dust and how to survive. And if that isn't enough, you can always ask your father and I if you have questions.”

= Lessons huh. That's a good place to start learning more about specifics. All I know so far is lore that's common knowledge. Yes, it's decided then. =

“So where do I go to take lessons?”

“You'll head to the Town Hall that's near our local library. They'll give a short exam to see how much you already know and place you in your corresponding class. Then they'll send you to the building next-door; there you take lessons every morning from Monday to Friday when we don't have meetings for missions and hunts. After breakfast from now on you will head there to learn. You'll need these.” She got up and grabbed a backpack and thin metal popsicle stick.

“This will be your backpack so you can carry your books and supplies. And this--”, she pressed the button in the middle of the stick. With a *beep* noise it split in the middle and extended to the size of a modern day smartphone, and inside the frame a holographic screen appeared.

“-- will serve as your status plate. They'll teach you how to set it up. It can also be used as a phone to contact people, but that's for later.”

= Status? You mean like an RPG game? This world gets more and more interesting with every day! =

“Thanks Mom! I'll go there now! Bye dad!”

“Bye son. Be safe and do your best.”

Heading out the door, his parents stood on the porch, smiled and waved as their son took off toward the center of the village with high hopes for his new school life.

Writing details takes a lot of space. On the upside, this means I'm probably gonna post the next chapter very soon. On the down side, story progression is gonna be slow. As always tell me what you guys think. Out of curiosity, who here got the reference to Fairy God Parents?