AU: Humble beginnings

[CG]

Heyo fellow Never Forgottians. CG here with another fanfic under her belt. I've drawn in the past, if you've seen my gallery and I hope you have, I've drawn at numerous ocassions the Imaginary troupe as youngsters, or more or less what I think they'd be like if Imaginaries have normal life spans like us.

Well here you get to actually read about them, this being the first one I've started. It isn't even fully completed yet, so this is just part one. If it gets a good enough response I might continue; if not I dunno. I might leave it, or continue writing it either way.

So here we go.

Humble Beginnings Part 1

You couldn't ask for a brighter day even if you had wished for it using a genuine Genie from a lamp. The sun was bright against a sky that was dotted with puffy white clouds, a lovely rejuvenation from the slight storm the skies had opened up with just one day before. Really, it was a wondrous day that could have been full of possibilities, freedom and fun if it weren't for one little thing.

"Wilton! Do hurry up, you can not be late for your first day at school!"

The shrill voice broke the peace, echoing through the large hallways of the rather large house that sat atop a hill. It was a home, not just a house, to a mere family of three but it could easily house up to ten or more occupants without any strain. But, that was the kind of house you lived in when the bread winner of the family was a successful head of a bank.

There were expensive carpets upon the floor, keeping the cold marble floor at bay with their warmth. The walls were covered in portraits of ancestors, and more recent family photos as well as portraits. If you walked down a particular corridor in the west wing of the large house you would see the progression of the family that lived there now. From the parents (Oswald and Celia Michaels) first proper date, to their wedding, honeymoon, Celia?s pregnancy, the arrival of the egg then finally the arrival of the child.

The child in question, named Wilton Norman Michaels, was busy tying his shoes. He looked more similar to his mother then his father, given his feet were somewhat bigger in proportion to his body then they should (maybe an indicator of how tall he'll one day become, like his mother), and the lobes on the sides of his face were round like hers, and unlike his father's more pointy lobes. This morning he wore black shorts that went to his knees, a white short sleeved shirt and a blue tie hung around his neck. The shoe now properly tied he stood up and grabbed the small suitcase from his study desk.

"Wilton!" Celia, his mother, was growing less and less tolerant for her son's tardiness.

"Sorry! I'm coming!" Wilton called back as he hurried out of his bedroom and then down the stairs. He came to a halt in front of his mother, who today was wearing a more business like suit, since today she was going to the country club.

While Wilton was red in complexion, Celia was a more deep pink hue. She adjusted the collar of her own jacket before leaning down to fix his tie. "I'll have to get your father to teach you how to do your tie properly once he gets home." she said primly as she undid his tie entirely, and redoing it.

"Okay." he replied around a choke, since she had a habit of doing ties a little too tight for his liking. Once his tie was properly tied, Celia stood up and walked towards the front doors of the house. "Um... Mother?"

"Yes?" she asked, as she pulled one of the large doors open.

"Are you sure you can't come with me?" Wilton asked, as he looked down the steps which led to the driveway where a large black car sat, waiting to take him to school.

"Oh Wilton we spoke about this yesterday. You know I can't, I have to go to the Country Club!" Celia waited for him to walk out the door before following him. Behind her, one of the maids shut the door behind her. "You're not scared, are you?" she asked, testing him slightly.

"N-no!" Wilton shook his head, "I'm not."

"Well then, nothing to worry about!" Celia and he stood by the car whilst the driver, a multi-armed blue gentleman opened the door for Wilton, who climbed inside. "Don't be afraid, dear. You're a Michaels. We don't let them see fear. Have a good day!" she kissed him on the cheek before the door was shut again.

Wilton watched the shape of his mother grow smaller and smaller into the distance before she was overshadowed by the large brick wall with wrought iron gates that led up to their house. He turned in his seat and buckled himself in, and opted to just watch the scenery whiz past his window. He had only seen his new school once, when his Nanny had shown him when they were out doing some chores together. Well, she was doing the shopping and Wilton had insisted on going with her, so she had pointed it out to him. It had seemed nice, the buildings arranged in a square and in the middle of the buildings were where the courtyards were. Places to play sports, eat lunch around some trees, and access the cafeteria. But around the outside of the buildings was the grassy area of the oval, and cut off from there was a smaller grass area along with the playground.

Wilton wasn't scared, no, but he was nervous. He had never gone somewhere without either one of his parents (mostly his mother) or his Nanny with him. And school? All day with a whole bunch of other kids of various ages and species, learning important things? What if nobody liked him? What if the teacher was really mean? He gulped nervously before he began playing with his laces.

The car drove down the road, and it whizzed past a pedestrian area without slowing down. It was a close shave for someone walking across the walk, she had curly pale lavender coloured fur which seemed to cover ever inch of her. Short horns adorned the top of her head, and what you could call small fangs jutted from her mouth. Instead of hands she had hooves, and one was holding onto the hand of what could no less be her son. He looked just like her, except his fur was dark purple and instead of having two eyebrows he had one thick unibrow above his yellow eyes. As the big black car had whizzed past he had released a high pitched squeal of terror. His mother though, didn't share the same terror.

"¡Estúpido!!" she all but roars after the car, shaking her free hoof, now a fist, at it. She growls to herself before leaning down and scooping her crying child into her arms. "Shhh, Eduardo, sshhh. Is okay, they es gone now. Shh." she makes it across the street, Eduardo crying in her arms. "Aayyye carumba," she mumbled to herself. "Great start to New Year, new place, I tell you father, don't I tell him? You would no be settling in, change this big you es ascared already of estúpid cars who no look where they is going."

This is Flaca Dellarosá, she and her husband Gonzalo recently moved to the city from further south of the border, bringing their young son Eduardo with them. Gonzalo was a wrestler and fighter by trade, and he had to go where the work was. So far wrestling in America had become really popular, so he had moved his small family, away from his large one, to make a name for himself. Flaca had never thought much of the move, more concerned for the welfare of her only son, who was quite possibly one of the more sensitive youngsters one could meet. He was scared of practically everything, from the dark all the way to striped socks. No kidding. And here he was, now off to his first day of school and Flaca along with Gonzales had spent the better half of a year preparing him for the idea of being without them. Now, his fears finally calmed had been sparked to life all over again because of a stupid driver.

[CG]

By the time the school finally got into view, Eduardo was no longer crying, luckily. He was still in his mother's arms, chewing on one of his hooves in his teeth. He too had sharp teeth like his mother, but given he was only around six years old they weren't as frightening as his father's. Gonzalo had massive incisors, and a massive pair of horns atop his head. He was an intimidating looking man, which was most definitely an advantage in the ring not only psychological-wise, but physically, since they could do some real damage. But for now, Eduardo was but a small comparison to what he one day might become, cradled in his mother's arms.

Who happened to see the black car that had almost knocked her down drive off again. She growled lowly, but said nothing as she finally reached the school oval and began to cross it. As she walked across the oval she passed another parent who was walking their child. This was a bird, but somehow looked like a living plant at the same time. It was a he; similar to that of a peacock only instead of long feathers he had leaves of all sorts of colours over his wings, and tail. He was deep blue more or less, with splashes of yellow, gold, red, and white on his leaves. He paused to stretch his wings out, his under feathers being coloured like that of a tropical flower.

Besides him was his daughter. She was very different to what you would normally call 'normal' in this world. She had the head of a palm tree, long green leaves for hair. Her beak was red and kind of bumpy, and her body was that of a small plane. It had a blue top, white underneath, and a red line running from her neck to the tip of the planes tail. Meanwhile her feet and legs were orange, shoeless. In fact she was more or less naked, like her father.

He glanced at some of the older students at early morning play, ruffled his feathers a bit before walking on. His daughter paused to watch the kids for a moment before hurrying after him. "Well, have a good day Coco." he said as he reached the chain link fence which the students would pass through to get to their classrooms. Coco smiled up at her father,

"Co co coco coco!" she replied, her sentence constructed of that one singular word. Her father understood her, no worries. He smiled, before spreading his wings and flew off into the sky and out of sight. Coco waved him off with her foot before spinning around a few times and hopped on after some of the first years. Coco hopped on past Wilton, who had to stand back and stare at her for a few moments. Wow, some of these students were odd looking to say the least. Back there he had spotted a short, almost pencil thin boy covered in soft green fuzz with only one big eye atop his skinny body and black skinny arms and legs. Now, some bird... plant, airplane creature was in his class too? At least he wasn't the oddest looking one here.

There was quite a crowd gathered at the first years rooms, the students were gathered amongst each other mostly, talking, making quick friends on the first day. There were some parents also gathered, who just wanted to see their children off properly. Wilton observed some of them, who seemed to know one another fairly well. One mother stood out from the rest easily since she was quite big (especially to a first year), with horns and sharp teeth. She had a dress on, light pink with white flowers on it. Stood by her, all but clinging to her leg was obviously her son. She seemed to sense someone was looking at her, and her eyes cast downwards and their eyes locked.

Wilton gulped and automatically looked away, knowing it was rude to stare at others. In a world wholly populated by sometimes quite strangely designed beings, you were taught early not to stare. A slug like creature could very well save your life one day, after all. He suddenly heard a voice, obviously belonging to one of the mothers. "Well hola little muchacho." she said, her voice surprisingly warm and calming compared to just how monstrous she looked.

He turned his head slightly to look at her again, reminding himself not to stare. "H-hello ma'am." Wilton stammered.

"You is starting school today for first time too?" she asked.

Normally, Wilton wouldn't speak to strangers. But that was when he was out and about, here, it was school. She wasn't a predator or anything bad like that, she was a mother just like his was. He smiled slightly, fidgeting with the straps of his backpack. "Yeah... oh, my name's Wilton. Sorry I forgot to say it." Wilton had been taught, as well as never to speak to strangers, to properly introduce yourself.

"Is big day, si..." Flaca nodded her head in a wise way, before turning slightly and put one of her hands to her son's back. "This is mi own little muchacho, Eduardo. Eduardo, say hola to Wilton."

Eduardo stared at Wilton in silent terror as he still clung to her dress, blinking his large eyes before staring down at the ground and managed to squeak out faintly, "Hola Wilton."

"Forgive him, he is shy." Flaca smiled a bit before standing up again.

"Oh it's okay." Wilton replied, looking up at Flaca before back to Eduardo again. He smiled, as friendly as he could. This other kid looked to be the type bullies will have a field day with; he had seen TV shows all about bullies; another factor that made him uneasy about going to school. But the kids in TV always worked it out in the end, why shouldn't he?

Then the bell rang, signalling the start of classes. The parents that were there (mostly mothers) hugged, kissed and waved their children goodbye. Some were more mature then others, waving back, some shed some tears... Eduardo didn't like the sound of the bell at all so he let out another strained squeak from the back of his throat and he dug his hooves into Flaca's dress before burying his face against the fabric. Flaca sighed before lifting her up into her arms again, "Eduardo, we discussed this. You is having to go to school now!" she said gently, but still with that firm authority mothers had.

"No!" Eduardo said, muffled by her fur since he now buried his head into the area to the side of her face.

Wilton smiled sadly, before getting a small idea. He stood up as straight as he could. "I'll stick with you Eduardo, it'll be okay!"

Eduardo sniffed before lowering his gaze to the red boy, weighing his options. His parents had been telling him for a long time now that school was when he went to learn things with other kids his age. Neither could be there with him, but he would make friends. Something Eduardo had yet to make since the big move here.

Flaca smiled warmly, "There you see? You already have a friend." she very slowly lowered Eduardo onto the floor, before kissing him on the forehead. "It will be over before you know it. Buenos Dias Eduardo."

Wilton and Eduardo watched her leave. Wilton even gave the nice lady a wave, before looking at Eduardo. He was the spitting image of her in practically every way. His fur wasn't curled like hers, more or less straight and shaggy. The one eyebrow that sat atop his eyes was the thickest he'd ever seen, especially on someone so young. Whilst he didn't have sharp fangs like her, he did have some pointy looking teeth; but nothing as dangerous. He wore a white short sleeved shirt, actual suspenders that kept his grey slacks up and black shoes. Both were indeed a sight to take in. Wilton turned around, before tapping Eduardo on the shoulder. "C'mon Eduardo, can't be late."

Eduardo emitted a small whine but slowly turned and followed Wilton into the classroom.

[to be continued]

[AerostarMonk]

I must say, you have crafted quite the world here. It looks like the beginning of a very great story. Keep up the good work.

[antgirl1]

My god, this is the sweetest story I've ever read so far. Keep going!

[emperor26]

Nice story you got there, CG.

[Nathander]

Wow....just, wow....incredible CG, as always. Please do continue.

["C" the Dragon]

That was good! When is Bloo gonna come? I couldn't wait!

[LaBloo]

Yeah! This is exciting! That's A great story! But too bad that Oswald is always away...But it's a good thing that edardo is always with Wilt at school.

[CG]

The classroom looked brand spanking new. Obviously the cleaners had been working their butts off to get it all prepared for the new students. At the front of the classroom was the teacher's desk, beyond that was the large blackboard with 'Welcome!' written in colourful chalk accompanied by the usual happy face and star. That kind of thing. The tables were square, with the names of the students written on folded pieces of cardboard and it showed where they'd be sitting.

Of course there was a sitting area, for story time and free time. There was a blank corner left untouched; probably the naughty corner if the stories were true. Wilton glanced around at his surroundings, like the other children. Up on the windows were see through letters of the alphabet. He knew a few, since his parents insisted he knew how to read his own name. Wilton raised his finger and pointed at the W, mouthing the letter to himself before he went to I, L, T, O, N.

"...what is you doing?" Eduardo's small voice asked.

"Huh?" Wilton glanced at Eduardo, grinning when he realised he'd been seen. "Oh, nothing. Just spelling my name."

"Oohhh..." Eduardo nodded slowly, glancing up at the letters on the window as well. Unlike Wilton, Eduardo's parents never had insisted on him knowing his name. But he had spent so many nights sat in his mother's lap whilst she read to him from a story book he was slowly beginning to grasp what the squiggly things meant.

"Coco!"

The third voice came out of practically no where, and it made Eduardo jump in fright. Wilton turned around again, to come face to... er, beak with the girl he had seen before. Well, he thought it was a girl. She had eyelashes after all.

"Oh uh, hello." Wilton said, still a bit startled by her appearance and her, well, greeting. "I'm Wilton, 'n this is Eduardo." he motioned to his purple companion, who was still quaking a bit. "What's your name?"

"Coco!" she said again.

"Uh.. no, I don't think we have that here.." Wilton said, glancing around.

"Coco." the strange child echoed again.

"Coco?" Eduardo echoed her.

"Coco!" she said again, nodding.

"I is thinking her name is Coco." Eduardo said, to which the girl nodded her leafed head enthusiastically.

"Your name is Coco?" Wilton asked, intrigued by such a name.

"Coco." Coco nodded proudly. She then looked down at the table she was closest to, scanning the scribbles on card for her name.

Wilton and Eduardo followed suite, and even if Wilton couldn't spell Eduardo's full name he did know that it had two 'D's in it, and ended in a 'Do', which was rather unusual. So it didn't take long to hunt down where the purple child would be sat. Wilton quickly checked the nametags around the table, and thanked his lucky stars that 'Wilt' (short form of his name) was written just one seat down from Eduardo. "Look Eduardo, we're on the same table!"

"Oh, muy buen." Eduardo mumbled to himself as he tapped his hooves on the chair that would be his for the rest of the year.

Coco had found her seat, but it was a good few tables over. So, she picked up in her beak her nametag and simply trotted over to Wilton and Eduardo, dropped her name on the table and took some other child's nametag and put it back where hers was before finally getting back to her new seat. Instead of sitting on the chair, but unlike other children she perched herself on the back of the chair, like a bird does on a branch.

Wilton wasn't sure if what she'd just done was okay, but he didn't want to be a nag. He checked the name of the child that would be sat between him and Eduardo, but he wasn't sure of the first letter. It looked like two 'O's sat on top of each other, and accompanying it was an 'L' and two more 'O'. Loo. Wilton had to snigger a bit at the name. It was then that the other child, the one with 'Loo' in his name walked up to find his seat. He was.. much shorter then Wilt had anticipated.

The child barely came up to his hips, and was a blue colour. From afar he'd look like a blue thumb, or door, given his shape. Very simple in appearance. But the boy (obviously) pulled back the chair to check the name on the table. "Bloo." he read aloud, before snorting. "Stupid teachers, can't even put my whole name on."

Eduardo and Wilt glanced at the other before looking at the child who had taken his seat and was now folding the cardboard that had his name on it into various shapes. "Um... hello?" Wilton asked.

Bloo glanced up, as if finally noticing the other two, and stared for a while. "Woah." he said, looking from the skinny as a stick Wilton to the horned Eduardo. "Who the heck're you guys?" he asked.

"Oh well uh," Wilton reached over for his name card and held it up. "I'm Wilton," he said as he tapped the name with his free hand.

"Wilton?" Bloo asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yep, 'n this here's Eduardo." Wilton gestured to his friend.

"Eduardo?" Bloo asked again, now the other brow meeting it's brother.

"Uh..." Wilton didn't care much for this child's response to their names, but continued and pointed to Coco. "And that's COco."

"Coco!" she greeted, balancing a few pencils along her bumpy beak.

"...those're all stupid names." Bloo finally said, "Stupid stupid names."

"Hey!" Wilton said, hurt by the insult to his name. That was his grandfather's middle name!

"Well they are! They're not cool like mine." Bloo said snobbishly as he now began to doodle in blue markers on the now folded cardboard.

"Why, what makes your name so cool?" Wilton asked, looking more and more annoyed by the insults.

"It's cooler then yours." Bloo replied simply.

"....is my name really stupid?" Eduardo asked Wilt in a quiet voice, but Bloo managed to over hear this.

"REALLY stupid." Bloo said loudly, "I mean, 'Ed-war-do? Who names their kid Edwardo? Pft. And don't get me started on Coco." he said with an eye roll.

Coco growled lowly, clicking her beak together to make a 'tsk' sound afterwards. Eduardo was practically near tears now at the insult to his name. He always liked his name; it was different to the names of kids around him now! But it was stupid? Really? How could his parents name him something stupid? He sniffled loudly before rubbing his nose on his arm.

"No Ed, no." Wilton said, shaking his head. "Your name's NOT stupid. Your name's cool! It comes from another place! Bloo's just being... being mean, you don't listen to him at all." he added with a glare at the blue child's direction.

Bloo just stuck his tongue out at him.

[to be continued]

[One Radical Dude]

Heh heh, silly 'ol Bloo for making fun of other friends' names. Nice way of introducing Bloo.