Scouts on Patrol: The Huge Freeze

TheCuriousSeed

Chapter 4, what's in store?

~Almost a week had gone by and now the Freeze had taken a severe toll on everyone still at the Hollow. The Culinary Fairies were struggling to get the foods seasoned just right without the dust. The Warm Fast Flyers were complaining of blisters and sore feet because most almost never walked long distances. Even the Tinkers had trouble figuring out what inventions were needed at the time. Fewer and fewer could take this Freeze anymore, especially Gardenia, who, with several of her best friends of the Warm Realms, decided to wait out the rest of the freeze where four of the Scouts were waiting... along with their respective Animal Friends.

~"Honestly, I'd rather be here than back home anymore," said Gardenia. "The cold is really bad for Jordy."

~"Indeed," said Crystal Shinyheart, a Scribe and Phoebe Wildflower's sister. "I really missed my sister."

~"Aww, look at poor Jordy," said Daylily. "His bubble's frozen on the outside."

~"Fauna and Acorn are on their way here too," said Strawberry. "Koko too, and she and Acorn are bringing their ladybugs."

~"And Sir Jasper's bringing his hummingbird too," said Saffron. "It's too cold back home, but not everyone can fly here to warm up and get dust either."

~"Anyone else coming?" asked Heidi.

~"Let's see, among non-Scouts we got Saffron, Strawberry, Tansy, Labyrinth, Quarry, both Silver Winterjewels and the taller one's sister Pearl Waterjewel, Kyra, Ginkgo, Gardenia, Hickory, Lenora, Primrose, Heather, Foxglove, Lavender, Magnolia, Onyx, Jessie, Elva, Xenopses Rosespring and Thunderbelle, Gloriosa, Trinity, Sammy, Sunrise, Crystal, Acorn, Koko, Sir Jasper, Fauna, Twilight, Sapphire, Juno, Julie, Abigail and Donner," said Phoebe. "Of the Scouts, there are only you, me, Daylily and Holly."

~"Wow, that's only 42," said Daylily. "Before including the Animal Friends."

~"And sadly, we can't house anyone else here to wait out the Freeze," said Holly. "Plus, there are far too few Tinkers and Scouts here."

~"We'd better figure something else out," said Heidi. "Maybe a Fast-Flyer, preferably a Wintry Fast-Flyer can check out the Freeze situation."

~"No, we should send a Scout," suggested Daylily. "And a very strong Fast Flyer to carry said Scout."

~Everyone turned to face Fauna and Sir Jasper.

~"I don't think we'd better send a Warm Fast Flyer," said Sir Jasper. "What if his wings froze and broke?"

~"Good point," said Heidi. "Too bad we don't have any Wintry Scouts here."

~"Wait a second, we could send Hickory!" said Phoebe. "She's really fast, quite strong and can withstand the elements."

~Everyone agreed... except Hickory.

~"Me?!" cried Hickory.

~"You're the fastest of the Weather Fairies we know and the strongest!"

~"But what if I encounter any animals that want to talk? I won't be able to answer them!"

~"Then take an Animal Talent with you," said Kyra.

~"Preferably an Animal Scout," suggested Holly.

~"That can speak to every phylum, not just Chordates," added Juno. "Daylily would be perfect for the job."

~"Except the wings," said Fauna as she frosted Daylily's wings. "There."

~"Thanks!" said Daylily. "But what I'm wearing is the warmest I packed; I'll need something much warmer."

~"Already covered," said Saffron, handing Daylily a warm suit coated in snowflakes.

~Daylily went to change her clothes and instantly felt warmer, then after grabbing a little dust, she and Hickory were off.

~As Hickory and Daylily flew, Daylily got important news from each animal the pair met and soon they met up with the worst Freeze ever!

~"Oh, my word!" cried Hickory. "Not even I can cause this bad a Freeze!"

~"We'd better survey the damage," said Daylily. "See if we can find any Wintry Scouts to help us."

~Holly and Daylily searched high and low, but every last Wintry Scout was on patrol. In fact, every remaining Winter Talent was needed to guard against the Freeze to protect the Warm Fairies. The Freeze was easily half a metre thick in places, but now Hickory and Daylily knew why such a strong Freeze this time: a new Weather Scout named Teak Brightglow had fallen into the same spot as a faulty snow maker that a few Tinkers made to show their Wintry friends around when said Winter fairies felt their wings starting to melt. Teak was trying to rescue them all, but he fell in trying to rescue the last one. Fortunately, no one else was stuck, but Teak had the ability to create snow too.

~"Oh no!" cried Hickory. "Are you okay?!"

~Hickory and Daylily rushed to rescue Teak, whose wings were drenched in the cold water, all the while keeping their own wings dry. Once they did, Holly removed the water from Teak's wings and carried him to anywhere warm she could find. Teak wound up waiting where the Healing Talents worked so he could warm up, but Hickory and Daylily, after leaving dust rations, returned to the swamp. Everyone was alive, but shaken.

~Day in, day out Hickory would drop off rations of dust to ensure enough for the most essential talents to have just enough to last through the Freeze, but it lasted more than a month and what was worse, this Moult would be the coldest Moult ever, including the year the first ever Belief Talent Arrived and the Great Mermaid Flood. Even the efforts of the Belief Talent Guild weren't enough as the Freeze worsened. Finally, a Belief Talent named Nene worked with Prilla, the only other known Belief Talent, to try saving the Hollow together. Hickory found some Pixie Dust on reserve, gave each two cups and their combined efforts with double Pixie Dust rations were helping the Freeze recede... a little.

~Not enough, Hickory thought. I hope we get a new Belief Talent soon.

~Throughout the day Prilla and Nene were busy trying to spread belief through all the Mainland, encouraging all the human children to clap to save the Hollow. It was working, but not fast enough. Hickory knew what she had to do.

~Hickory called all 41 of her friends at the swamp to join her back at the Hollow and to try helping spread belief through the children of the Mainland. Even the Animal Friends wanted in on this, so it was time to ramp up the belief! All 44 fairies and their respective Animal Friends helped out and soon...

~"The Huge Freeze is over!" cried Daylily as the Hollow warmed up again.

~Prilla still had a great deal of energy left, but Nene was tuckered out. She wasn't nearly as strong as Prilla because unlike Prilla, who was Overcomplete, she had the right amount of Completion: 100% and not a bit more or less. Also, Prilla, despite being older, had a more childlike je ne sais quoi (I don't know what) to her than most other fairies. The Freeze was over, the cleanup would begin soon and the Moult was underway.

~A few days later the Hollow was looking quite wondrous like normal again. Everyone returned to their respective daily tasks and soon Mother Dove had her yearly Moulting ceremony, followed by the Moult. As for the goings on of that swampy area the four Scouts spent ten weeks at (almost nine of which spent waiting out the Huge Freeze), save for a few huge, inoperable machines built by humans, no immediate dangers there. Things were looking right peaceful again.

~"Wake up, sleepyheads!" called Daylily as she woke up the critters that were hibernating, from the bears to the tortoises. "Rise and shine! Winter's still months away!"

~All the Animal Scouts helped the Animal Talents wake the hibernators following the Moult now that it was warm enough again. It was a glorious day to fly, walk, crawl, slither, you name it, everything was nice.

~Gingerbright flew to Daylily's arms and said, "Now that we're all safe again, we should celebrate!"

~"After work," said Daylily. "We can celebrate then."

~Daylily and her fellow Scouts flew throughout the Hollow and made sure all was safe, then at the end of the day, they all celebrated with a Spa Day, just what Foxglove wanted so badly.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!