It'll Take Your Breath Away
Chapter. 1
“Teacher!!! Time to get up!!”
With wings happily flapping in the air, Meta and Arthur shove and push their mentor out of bed. A loud thud is heard soon after, and Bate lets out a weary groan as a response to their morning shenanigans.
“Teacher! You’re up!!” Meta’s voice is as happy and bubbly as ever.
“I’m up….” Bate’s voice trails off with a yawn as he recovers from the sudden wake.
“Well, now that you are, do you remember what today is?!!!” He beams as he waits for his response.
“How could I forget.” He gives a weak smile as he rubs his sore head. “It’s the first day of summer.”
The pair wouldn’t stop talking about it during their final week of class. It’s been nonstop chatter between the kids. How they want to spend it, what they want to do, where they want to go. The timing couldn’t be perfect, as it was also the same week Meta, Arthur and Nonsurat moved in with him and Gordon. So, things in the Bate household has been quite noisy the past few days.
Bate looks down at the eager faces of his two students, Meta and Arthur. And a small smile couldn’t help but form on a face. It’s been so long since his quiet little home occupied others. It’s always been him and Gordon for the longest time, and having a new type of boisterous, warm atmosphere grace his quarters is quite amusing….even if it does result in him getting pushed out of his bed on a daily basis.
“Teacher!!!” Meta’s voice pulls him away from his thoughts. “You promised you’d take us to the beach today, remember?” Meta lightly tugs on his wing.
“Yeah!” Arthur pulls as well, eager as ever like Meta. “Where did you put all of our floaties and toys at? I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find them.”
“Did you check the shed?” Bate asks, assuming that’s where Gordon placed them once they arrived since their summer gear takes up quite a bit of space.
“It wasn’t in there.” Meta responds before Arthur could. “I checked the closet, our room, and the bathroom.”
“The bathroom?”
“Well, our floaties /are/ meant for water. And the bathroom is kiiiinda similar.”
“I’m guessing it’s not in there?” He plays along.
“No….” He frowns.
“If that’s the case, I’m guessing Gordon must have placed them in the attic. I’ll have a look once breakfast is-“
“I can get them!!” Meta’s voice chimes in.
“I can help too!” Arthur gives a nod.
The children are hustling and bustling to the door, and Bate thinks it’s partly because the attic has been off limits to them since their arrival. A child's curiosity is such a fickle thing. The elder gets up, and he snatches the pair with his taloned wings before they make it to the hallway.
“Both of you wait in the kitchen while I look for them.”
A wave of disappointed groans are head soon after while Bate ushers them down the hallway. He heads to the end of the hall and pulls a small rope attached to the celling. An old wooden ladder unfolds, and Bate slowly makes his way up.
A loud creek echoes through the small attic as Bate enters the poorly lit space. Mountains of boxes line the room, and Bate does his best to see if any of them resemble the boxes Gordon used to place their seasonal wear in. Taking a steady step, he makes sure he is careful as possible since the last thing he needs is a tower of boxes falling on him.
The old warrior let out a small cough from the dusty atmosphere, and he couldn't help but kick himself for neglecting his house chores. Since he’s been spending all of his free time with his students, he rarely has time to upkeep a lot of the housework. The attic is always last on his list, but if a majority of their students seasonal belongings are stored here, he knows he had to start cleaning it since he’ll be spending a lot of time getting their boxes.
“Let’s see, where is it….." He softly speaks to himself, unaware of the little navy Puff next to him.
“Oooooh, old toys!” Meta reads one of the boxes out loud which causes the old warrior to jump back in surprise. "You have toys, Teacher?!! Were they yours when you were a kid?”
“Meta, what in Sweet Nova. I told you to stay downstairs!” He scolds the child, trying to get him to go back.
“I know, but I wanted to help you look!” He smiles, avoiding his grasp and went to another stack of boxes to look. Wiping off the dust to read what it says, Meta beams when he reads it. “Baby photos? Oooooh! Teacher can I see?!!!” He tries to pull the box out in excitement. The beach could wait if he has the chance to see his mentor as a child.
“No, Meta. Stop touching the boxes and stay with Arth-“
“Hey, I think I found our swimming stuff!” Arthur calls from behind and he pulls out a pair of swim goggles and a beach ball.
"A-Arthur?!!" Bate quickly turns around and sees him trying to pull the box to the exit, unaware he’s hitting and nudging a pillar of boxes besides him.
‘Wait, you did? Let me see!!" Meta focus his attention away from the pictures, and decides to help Arthur first.
“Arthur, Meta, stop pulling it!” You’re going to cause the other boxes to collapse!” He shouts.
Before they have the chance to heed his warning, several boxes begin to tilt sideways. Bate rushes over so it wouldn’t fall on his students, and he uses his wings to shield them. A loud crash could be heard soon after, and a rather unpleasant cloud of dust swept the entire attic.
Meta and Arthur push themselves out of Bate’s wings once the trembling stopped. They cough a bit since it was still dusty, and swat the plume of debris away. Once recovered, they notice Bate coughing as well, and they try to use their wings to blow it away. Unfortunately, it just causes even more dust to fly into the air, and Bate bangs his fists on the floor to get them to stop. They quickly do, and Meta gives a weary glance at Arthur when his mentor’s coughs start to sound even worse than before.
“Teacher, are you okay?” Meta eventually speaks. “Do you need a cup of water or something?”
Still in a fit of coughs, Bate shakes his head points out the door. “I…In….h..a….” He tries to speak, but it soon becomes unintelligible for the pair as he begins to violently cough and wheeze even more. Unable to finish his sentence, Bate clutches his chest in pain as he struggles to remove himself from the mountain of boxes piled on him.
“A-arthur, what do we do? What did he say?” Meta panics as he runs to the boxes to try to push them off of the elder.
“I…ah…don’t know.” He inches back, getting worried that something may actually be wrong. “W-wait here. I’ll get Teacher Gordon up. Maybe he can help.”
Quickly rushing down stairs, Arthur pushes himself into Gordon’s room, and turns on the lights. “Teacher Gordon!!!” He shouts.
It doesn't take long for his shouts to wake the old Gordo. Slowly opening his eyes, he looks down at the frantic warrior and gives him a look of concern.
“Arthur? What’s wrong.” His voice is laced with worry.
“T-Teacher Bate. He went into the attic, and a whole bunch of boxes fell on him, ah….by accident. He started coughing a lot and asked us to get something, but…umm….we’re not sure what he’s saying exactly….” He lowers his voice since he knows he’d probably get in trouble for causing the boxes to fall. "Could you please help us...I...I think he's in trouble."
Arthur is surprised how fast Gordon left the room once he heard that. The Gordo raced to the attic with Arthur trailing behind. Arthur climbed the stairs once more and peeked in. Meta is in hysterics while Gordon is hovering over his mentor who is still badly coughing. Arthur slowly made his way in, and he couldn’t help but tense up when it sounded like Bate was choking.
Summoning all his hands, Gordon gently but quickly drags Bate from under the boxes, and helps him out of the attic. Nonsurat, who just recently woke from all of the ruckus, is confused from the commotion. He hears the shouts and cries of Meta and Arthur before seeing everyone speeding down the hallway and into the living room. He quickly trails behind the group soon after, and stands next to his brothers once he catches up.
Once Bate is placed on the couch, they watch as Gordon dashes back to the Bate’s room, and reappears with something clutched in his grasp. With shaky hands, he fiddles with the items for a moment before heading to Bate. The trio move aside, and Gordon softly, but firmly talks to Bate as he places what seems to be a mask over his face.
"Deep breath, Bate.” They hear Gordon speak as steadies the mask, and presses something attached to the end of it. The small warriors stand in silence as Gordon says and repeats the same thing over again. Whatever Gordon did apparently helped, because his mentor’s ragged coughs are replaced by soft wheezes several minutes later.
Gordon places the object on the coffee table, and rubs the elder’s back. “It’s okay, Bate, you’re going to be fine. He calmly speaks and reassures him. “Just focus on your breathing and we’ll head out to see Mends once you’re ready.”
Bate does not respond, and he tiredly closes his eyes as he leans himself on the arm of the sofa to rest. Gordon turns around and faces the three. “And are you three okay? Nonsurat I didn’t see you there when it happened, were you in the attic as well?” Gordon proceeds to look over each one to make sure they’re not injured.
The child shakes his head to his question. “No, you told us not to.”
Meta and Arthur flinch.
“Hm, yes.” He pulls back when none were hurt. "There are reasons why we set rules. To prevent accidents like this from happening."
“B-but…those boxes weren’t even heavy, he shouldn’t have been that hurt.” Meta claims.
“Yeah, he’s fought plenty of Demon Beasts twice his size, and he’s never got this hurt like today.” Arthur adds.
“Meta, Arthurrr…..” Nonsurat’s shoots them a look as he timidly whispers to the pair to try to correct them on time. "Teacher Bate has asthma, remember?”
“Thank you, Nonsurat.” Gordon cuts in. “But you can leave the rest to me."
Nonsurats takes a few steps back before giving his mentor a small nod, and shuffles away from the group. Once the door of his room closes, Gordon focuses on the pair.
"There seems to be a miscommunication when I first talked to you about Bate, so let me refresh your memory. I told you plenty of times before you moved in with us that he’s asthmatic. And I know for a fact Bate informed you about it as well.”
“B-but you didn’t tell me a bunch of dusty old boxes can kill him!” Meta exclaimed. “You only told us to keep things clean!”
“Meta….” The old Gordo sighs in disbelief. “I said to keep things clean so he doesn’t trigger his asthma. Were you even paying attention while I was explaining this to the two of you?”
He saw their wings lower, and Gordon couldn’t help but summon a hand to shake his head. He wanted to continue lecturing the pair, but turned his attention away when Bate started to vigorously cough again.
“We’ll...continue our conversation later.” He moved passed them to he could help his comrade.
With wings happily flapping in the air, Meta and Arthur shove and push their mentor out of bed. A loud thud is heard soon after, and Bate lets out a weary groan as a response to their morning shenanigans.
“Teacher! You’re up!!” Meta’s voice is as happy and bubbly as ever.
“I’m up….” Bate’s voice trails off with a yawn as he recovers from the sudden wake.
“Well, now that you are, do you remember what today is?!!!” He beams as he waits for his response.
“How could I forget.” He gives a weak smile as he rubs his sore head. “It’s the first day of summer.”
The pair wouldn’t stop talking about it during their final week of class. It’s been nonstop chatter between the kids. How they want to spend it, what they want to do, where they want to go. The timing couldn’t be perfect, as it was also the same week Meta, Arthur and Nonsurat moved in with him and Gordon. So, things in the Bate household has been quite noisy the past few days.
Bate looks down at the eager faces of his two students, Meta and Arthur. And a small smile couldn’t help but form on a face. It’s been so long since his quiet little home occupied others. It’s always been him and Gordon for the longest time, and having a new type of boisterous, warm atmosphere grace his quarters is quite amusing….even if it does result in him getting pushed out of his bed on a daily basis.
“Teacher!!!” Meta’s voice pulls him away from his thoughts. “You promised you’d take us to the beach today, remember?” Meta lightly tugs on his wing.
“Yeah!” Arthur pulls as well, eager as ever like Meta. “Where did you put all of our floaties and toys at? I looked everywhere, but I couldn't find them.”
“Did you check the shed?” Bate asks, assuming that’s where Gordon placed them once they arrived since their summer gear takes up quite a bit of space.
“It wasn’t in there.” Meta responds before Arthur could. “I checked the closet, our room, and the bathroom.”
“The bathroom?”
“Well, our floaties /are/ meant for water. And the bathroom is kiiiinda similar.”
“I’m guessing it’s not in there?” He plays along.
“No….” He frowns.
“If that’s the case, I’m guessing Gordon must have placed them in the attic. I’ll have a look once breakfast is-“
“I can get them!!” Meta’s voice chimes in.
“I can help too!” Arthur gives a nod.
The children are hustling and bustling to the door, and Bate thinks it’s partly because the attic has been off limits to them since their arrival. A child's curiosity is such a fickle thing. The elder gets up, and he snatches the pair with his taloned wings before they make it to the hallway.
“Both of you wait in the kitchen while I look for them.”
A wave of disappointed groans are head soon after while Bate ushers them down the hallway. He heads to the end of the hall and pulls a small rope attached to the celling. An old wooden ladder unfolds, and Bate slowly makes his way up.
A loud creek echoes through the small attic as Bate enters the poorly lit space. Mountains of boxes line the room, and Bate does his best to see if any of them resemble the boxes Gordon used to place their seasonal wear in. Taking a steady step, he makes sure he is careful as possible since the last thing he needs is a tower of boxes falling on him.
The old warrior let out a small cough from the dusty atmosphere, and he couldn't help but kick himself for neglecting his house chores. Since he’s been spending all of his free time with his students, he rarely has time to upkeep a lot of the housework. The attic is always last on his list, but if a majority of their students seasonal belongings are stored here, he knows he had to start cleaning it since he’ll be spending a lot of time getting their boxes.
“Let’s see, where is it….." He softly speaks to himself, unaware of the little navy Puff next to him.
“Oooooh, old toys!” Meta reads one of the boxes out loud which causes the old warrior to jump back in surprise. "You have toys, Teacher?!! Were they yours when you were a kid?”
“Meta, what in Sweet Nova. I told you to stay downstairs!” He scolds the child, trying to get him to go back.
“I know, but I wanted to help you look!” He smiles, avoiding his grasp and went to another stack of boxes to look. Wiping off the dust to read what it says, Meta beams when he reads it. “Baby photos? Oooooh! Teacher can I see?!!!” He tries to pull the box out in excitement. The beach could wait if he has the chance to see his mentor as a child.
“No, Meta. Stop touching the boxes and stay with Arth-“
“Hey, I think I found our swimming stuff!” Arthur calls from behind and he pulls out a pair of swim goggles and a beach ball.
"A-Arthur?!!" Bate quickly turns around and sees him trying to pull the box to the exit, unaware he’s hitting and nudging a pillar of boxes besides him.
‘Wait, you did? Let me see!!" Meta focus his attention away from the pictures, and decides to help Arthur first.
“Arthur, Meta, stop pulling it!” You’re going to cause the other boxes to collapse!” He shouts.
Before they have the chance to heed his warning, several boxes begin to tilt sideways. Bate rushes over so it wouldn’t fall on his students, and he uses his wings to shield them. A loud crash could be heard soon after, and a rather unpleasant cloud of dust swept the entire attic.
Meta and Arthur push themselves out of Bate’s wings once the trembling stopped. They cough a bit since it was still dusty, and swat the plume of debris away. Once recovered, they notice Bate coughing as well, and they try to use their wings to blow it away. Unfortunately, it just causes even more dust to fly into the air, and Bate bangs his fists on the floor to get them to stop. They quickly do, and Meta gives a weary glance at Arthur when his mentor’s coughs start to sound even worse than before.
“Teacher, are you okay?” Meta eventually speaks. “Do you need a cup of water or something?”
Still in a fit of coughs, Bate shakes his head points out the door. “I…In….h..a….” He tries to speak, but it soon becomes unintelligible for the pair as he begins to violently cough and wheeze even more. Unable to finish his sentence, Bate clutches his chest in pain as he struggles to remove himself from the mountain of boxes piled on him.
“A-arthur, what do we do? What did he say?” Meta panics as he runs to the boxes to try to push them off of the elder.
“I…ah…don’t know.” He inches back, getting worried that something may actually be wrong. “W-wait here. I’ll get Teacher Gordon up. Maybe he can help.”
Quickly rushing down stairs, Arthur pushes himself into Gordon’s room, and turns on the lights. “Teacher Gordon!!!” He shouts.
It doesn't take long for his shouts to wake the old Gordo. Slowly opening his eyes, he looks down at the frantic warrior and gives him a look of concern.
“Arthur? What’s wrong.” His voice is laced with worry.
“T-Teacher Bate. He went into the attic, and a whole bunch of boxes fell on him, ah….by accident. He started coughing a lot and asked us to get something, but…umm….we’re not sure what he’s saying exactly….” He lowers his voice since he knows he’d probably get in trouble for causing the boxes to fall. "Could you please help us...I...I think he's in trouble."
Arthur is surprised how fast Gordon left the room once he heard that. The Gordo raced to the attic with Arthur trailing behind. Arthur climbed the stairs once more and peeked in. Meta is in hysterics while Gordon is hovering over his mentor who is still badly coughing. Arthur slowly made his way in, and he couldn’t help but tense up when it sounded like Bate was choking.
Summoning all his hands, Gordon gently but quickly drags Bate from under the boxes, and helps him out of the attic. Nonsurat, who just recently woke from all of the ruckus, is confused from the commotion. He hears the shouts and cries of Meta and Arthur before seeing everyone speeding down the hallway and into the living room. He quickly trails behind the group soon after, and stands next to his brothers once he catches up.
Once Bate is placed on the couch, they watch as Gordon dashes back to the Bate’s room, and reappears with something clutched in his grasp. With shaky hands, he fiddles with the items for a moment before heading to Bate. The trio move aside, and Gordon softly, but firmly talks to Bate as he places what seems to be a mask over his face.
"Deep breath, Bate.” They hear Gordon speak as steadies the mask, and presses something attached to the end of it. The small warriors stand in silence as Gordon says and repeats the same thing over again. Whatever Gordon did apparently helped, because his mentor’s ragged coughs are replaced by soft wheezes several minutes later.
Gordon places the object on the coffee table, and rubs the elder’s back. “It’s okay, Bate, you’re going to be fine. He calmly speaks and reassures him. “Just focus on your breathing and we’ll head out to see Mends once you’re ready.”
Bate does not respond, and he tiredly closes his eyes as he leans himself on the arm of the sofa to rest. Gordon turns around and faces the three. “And are you three okay? Nonsurat I didn’t see you there when it happened, were you in the attic as well?” Gordon proceeds to look over each one to make sure they’re not injured.
The child shakes his head to his question. “No, you told us not to.”
Meta and Arthur flinch.
“Hm, yes.” He pulls back when none were hurt. "There are reasons why we set rules. To prevent accidents like this from happening."
“B-but…those boxes weren’t even heavy, he shouldn’t have been that hurt.” Meta claims.
“Yeah, he’s fought plenty of Demon Beasts twice his size, and he’s never got this hurt like today.” Arthur adds.
“Meta, Arthurrr…..” Nonsurat’s shoots them a look as he timidly whispers to the pair to try to correct them on time. "Teacher Bate has asthma, remember?”
“Thank you, Nonsurat.” Gordon cuts in. “But you can leave the rest to me."
Nonsurats takes a few steps back before giving his mentor a small nod, and shuffles away from the group. Once the door of his room closes, Gordon focuses on the pair.
"There seems to be a miscommunication when I first talked to you about Bate, so let me refresh your memory. I told you plenty of times before you moved in with us that he’s asthmatic. And I know for a fact Bate informed you about it as well.”
“B-but you didn’t tell me a bunch of dusty old boxes can kill him!” Meta exclaimed. “You only told us to keep things clean!”
“Meta….” The old Gordo sighs in disbelief. “I said to keep things clean so he doesn’t trigger his asthma. Were you even paying attention while I was explaining this to the two of you?”
He saw their wings lower, and Gordon couldn’t help but summon a hand to shake his head. He wanted to continue lecturing the pair, but turned his attention away when Bate started to vigorously cough again.
“We’ll...continue our conversation later.” He moved passed them to he could help his comrade.
Chapter 2 >>
Artist Comment:
Date: N/A
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Date: N/A
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Species © Nintendo/ HAL Laboratory
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem
Interpreted characters created from said species © Rhylem
