Bro was confused and concerned about the moth girl hugging his leg. She was half his height, had white hair, green wings, and looked completely clueless to the situation.
"Light!" she repeated, pointing to the ball of light in Bro's hand. "Please?"
Bro looked around before handing the ball of light to the moth girl. She squealed with excitement, holding it close to her. "Thank you."
The other four regrouped with Bro, also confused with the ordeal.
"Bro, who is that?" Lily asked.
"Beats me," he replied with a shrug. "Hey, someone get their child!"
It didn't take long for someone to respond, and soon another moth person, this one slightly taller and with different colors, approached Bro and the moth girl.
"Luna! There you are!" they shouted. "You can't wander off without me, or something bad might happen to you!"
"Can't be any worse than what we just dealt with a few minutes ago," Zaire said. "So, you're this kid's parent?"
"Brother," the moth boy answered. "We can't find our parents anywhere. It's just me and my sister."
"Don't worry, we'll help you find them!" Amelia offered.
"Ah, what's the point? We've spent two years looking for them, and at this point, I think it's a lost cause," the moth boy sighed before looking at the siblings. "What type of animals are you?"
"Human," Lily said.
"Hue-man?" Luna babbled, walking up to her brother to give him the ball of light. "Look, Gusty! The human gave me a light!" she added, pointing at Bro.
"It's not nice to point, Luna," Gusty said before looking at Bro. "How did you get this thing?"
"Long story," Bro replied, "and that light's temporary. It'll disappear right about..."
On cue, the light in Luna's hands faded away without a trace. "Light?" she said, looking at her empty hands.
"I'm surprised you weren't attracted to the light as well," Bro commented.
"Please. As if something like that would stop me from protecting my sister," Gusty scoffed with a smirk.
"Didn't you lose track of her briefly?" Porter reminded him.
Gusty's smirk vanished as fast as it appeared, and without any more words, he grabbed Luna's hand and began to walk away.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Zaire called.
"I just remembered not to talk to strangers," Gusty called back.
The five watched the two moths walk deeper into the city until a thought crossed Amelia's mind. "You think they know Belle?" she asked.
Bro facepalmed, but not because he heard something stupid. "We should've asked. It would be nice to get some more connections around here."
"Hey, kids, wait!" Lily exclaimed, running after them while the others followed. "We've got some questions for you!"
After 15 minutes, Luna and Gusty stopped at an apartment and knocked on the door. After a moment, a tall rabbit girl with reddish-pink fur, a blue top and green pants answered the door. Upon seeing the two, she let out a sigh.
"Did Luna want to watch some more TV?" she asked.
"Actually, we came to you because we had a question," Gusty explained. "Do you know what a human is?"
"Humans? It's been a long time since I've heard that word," the rabbit girl admitted. "But I know what they are."
"We met humans!" Luna chirped. "One gave me a light!"
The rabbit girl looked over Gusty's shoulder and asked, "Are you asking because some happen to be standing behind you?"
Immediately, he turned around and yelped when he saw the five close to him. "Stranger danger! Garti, take Luna while I hold them off!" he advised, putting up his fists.
"Now hold on a minute!" Bro said. "What do you think we're going to do?"
"We wanted to ask if you knew Belle!" Porter added.
"Belle?" the rabbit girl asked. "Cow girl, lives on a fruit farm, and has a dad who says his food is too hard– that Belle?"
"Yeah, actually," Amelia answered.
"Auntie Belle!" Luna squeaked. "I wanna see Auntie Belle!"
"...Auntie Belle?" Lily and Zaire asked in unison. "Are you guys related, or...?"
Garti let out a sigh. "We're not related. Belle isn't actually their aunt, I'm not her cousin or whatever, and I have no relation to these two, although they're brother and sister."
"We kinda figured that," Bro said.
"We know Belle," Gusty answered, "but why does that matter to you?"
"She's the first one we met when we got here, she's the one who told us there was a city past the forest, and she said she had some friends here," Lily explained.
"And it seems like we found them already!" Amelia added.
"By the way, Belle's working right now, so it's probably not a good idea to head over there," Porter suggested.
"Oh... Work. Almost forgot my shift at the library starts soon," Garti said, sighing in annoyance.
"You sound like you hate it there," Porter pointed out.
"If you dealt with the stuff that I had to, you'd hate it too," she said. "It's noisy, it's messy, and it seems like people don't care about the books! In a library, of all places!"
"I'm surprised people still go to the library," Bro muttered.
"What's going on out there, Garti?" a voice asked from inside the apartment. That voice belonged to a mouse girl with peachy fur, blue eyes, and blonde hair stepping outside to see the commotion.
"Hey, another mouse!" she exclaimed, looking at Zaire. "I've never seen you anywhere in Moonlife City before. What part of Noctum are you from?"
"Uhh... would it be crazy if I said I wasn't from Noctum?" he asked.
At that moment, she, Garti, and Gusty looked at Zaire with surprise. "You're... not from Noctum?"
"I thought him being accompanied by humans would make that obvious," Lily said.
"Now that I think about it, I don't remember the last time I saw a human," Garti admitted. "I guess I'll find some information at the library. Speaking of which, Brielle, keep everyone entertained while I get changed," she said before retreating back into the apartment.
"If you aren't from Noctum, how did you end up here?" Gusty asked.
The five explained that in their world, they had a friend that built a machine that allowed them to travel to other worlds. However, they left out the fact that Belle appeared in their world first and that they learned of Noctum because of her.
"So where you're from, there are more just like you?" Brielle asked.
"I wanna see the humans!" Luna squeaked.
"Sadly, something happened with our friend's machine, so we're stuck here as of now," Bro said. "While we're here, maybe you could show us around while she gets it fixed."
After a while, Garti left her room wearing a different outfit– a beige sweater over a white shirt complete with brownish pants.
"Alright, I'll be going now," she said. "Brielle, don't eat everything in the fridge... again. I'll see if I can find anything regarding humans there."
"I'll tag along," Bro said. "I could stand to learn what happened here. Anyone else coming?"
"I'll pass," Lily replied. "After what happened in the library at school, I'll just buy a tablet and get my books there."
"Lily, it was just a big misunderstanding," Porter said. "We got that cleared up."
"Say whatever you want, I refuse to go back there again," she said.
"That's a no then," Garti sighed. "That's fine, I guess. I don't want to draw too much attention. We'll be back soon."
"You're gonna be back on time to see Poppy's concert, right?" Brielle asked.
"No guarantees," Garti answered with a smirk before walking to the library, Bro in tow.
"Pardon me for asking, but who's Poppy?" Amelia asked. "Is she another friend?"
"You've never heard of Poppy the Chinchilla?" Brielle gasped.
"We wouldn't have asked if we did," Lily muttered.
"Oh my gosh! She's an absolute icon here in Noctum!" she squeaked. "Her songs are amazing, she's so talented, and she's such a sweet person! She even gave me VIP passes to her concert tonight!"
Gusty groaned. "She's only saying that last part because she was the 8th caller on a radio show. Poppy didn't actually give her those passes."
"It sure felt like it! I could see Poppy herself giving me those passes when I went down to the station!" Brielle retorted, pulling out three gold passes from her pocket. "Say, how would you like to see her?"
"As cool as that sounds," Zaire coughed, "how are all of us gonna get into where the concert will be with just three passes?"
"We'll figure it out. The concert doesn't start for another few hours. We'll have a solution by then."
As they were talking, Luna's tummy began to rumble. "Food!"
"Looks like Luna's hungry again," Gusty said.
"Well, let's go somewhere and feed her!" Brielle chirped. "I know this great restaurant not far from here."
"Hold on, isn't there food in your fridge?" Zaire reasoned. "Can't you just feed Luna with that?"
"I could... but you wouldn't be seeing much of Noctum from our apartment, would you?" she reasoned back. "Besides, fridge food doesn't do it for me. I need something fresh."
And with that, she skipped out of the door and onto the street, leaving everyone else to follow in confusion.
"Kinda carefree, huh?" Porter asked Gusty as they walked.
"Hard to believe she and Garti are roommates," he responded.
By now, Garti and Bro had made it to the library. On the outside, it looked just like any other library in the universe.
"You know, from the way you described it, I would've thought this place would be an absolute wreck," Bro said.
"Oh, you sweet, poor human," Garti chuckled. "Weren't you ever told not to judge a book by its cover?"
The two stepped inside, where Bro narrowly dodged a bowling ball that whizzed past his face. Indeed, everything seemed fine on the outside, but the inside was total chaos– screaming and shouting, loud music blaring from someone's boombox, people drawing graffiti on the walls, Bro even witnessed someone sticking gum on one of the pages like a badly thought-out bookmark.
"Yep," Garti sighed, "welcome to the Moonlife City Public Library– the second most chaotic place in Noctum."
"I see what you mean now," Bro said. "I'd hate to know what the most chaotic place in Noctum is at this point."
Their conversation was interrupted when a paper airplane hit the side of Garti's head. They looked over to see some unruly raccoon teens ripping pages out of the books and turning them into paper airplanes.
Whether it was rage at that moment or she just wasn't having it, she stomped over toward the desk where the teens were, took out a carrot-shaped pen, wrote a random number on a sticky note, and slapped it on one of their foreheads.
"Don't even think about coming back until you've paid for the books you've damaged! ALL of them!" she warned before looking at the blue jay blasting tunes from their boombox. After stomping over to them, she shut off the boombox before taking out another sticky note, writing another number, and slapping it on their beak.
"No loud noises! This is a library, not a basketball court!" she hissed before storming back to Bro and composing herself.
"As you can probably tell, I'm a stickler for order here in the library," she said. "That, and I have to mentally prepare for some of these people's antics."
"I thought you were just exaggerating, to be honest," Bro admitted. "But why not get some extra help instead of having to put yourself through that?"
"You think I haven't tried? Anyone we hire quits after a week when they face what I have to do!" Garti replied. "To add insult to injury, only four of us work here!"
The two walked over to the circulation desk, where a lemur boy was waiting with a stack of books.
"Overdue," Garti said, pulling out a book from behind the desk and stamping it with a comically large ink stamper.
"I wanted to check out!" the lemur protested.
Garti squinted at them before pulling out a tiny bottle of correction fluid. "Return them in two weeks," she warned, "and don't spill anything on them."
The lemur hurried out of the library, but not before getting a good look at Bro.
"Great service," he said, clapping his hands sarcastically. "Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but maybe the reason people here aren't treating the library with respect is because you aren't treating them with respect?"
Before Garti could reply, a tall fox woman in an outfit similar to hers ran up to the two, out of breath.
"Garti! We have a problem!" she cried. "There's graffiti behind the library, someone hid the sign to the reference section again, and–"
Her panic was put on hold when she noticed Bro.
"...Is that a human?" the fox woman asked.
"Uhhh... No...?" Bro and Garti answered in unison.
The fox woman wasn't convinced. "Well then, if you aren't human, what are you?" she asked.
The two stammered and stumbled over their words, trying to think of another animal as a cover. In truth, they just wanted to use another word for 'human'.
"Alright, fine, you got us," Garti huffed. "Bro, this is my acquaintance, Lexi. Her job is the same as mine, except she doesn't have to deal with the stunts people do here."
She then turned to Lexi and asked, "Where's the history section?"
"Oh, looking for something else to read besides 'How to Improve Sarcasm'?" Lexi replied. "And are you saying you've worked in this library longer than me, and you don't know where the history section is?"
"Excuse me? I spend my time stopping people from eating the books here, so I can't just wander around when I want! And if you heard the stuff I've heard, you'd be reading that too," Garti scoffed.
Lexi could only shake her head and sigh. "Regardless, you'll find the history section on the lower level. Just don't forget to clock in when you find it."
"I don't get paid enough to walk to this building, I'm clocking in and getting this over with!" she muttered. "Bro, see if you can find a book that explains what happened to the humans while I start my shift."
"So that's what this is about?" Lexi asked as she watched Garti walk off. "Then again, I don't remember the last time I saw a human, and with you here, I'm rather curious now."
The two took a short walk to the lower level, which was a lot calmer than any other area of the library.
"We'll definitely be able to find information on the humans here," Lexi said. "We'll split up and grab any book that looks like it'll reference humans."
"Sounds like a plan," Bro agreed. "We'll meet back here in a few hours."
With that, they ran to separate bookshelves in search of answers.
Meanwhile, everyone else stopped by the local burger joint while Brielle continued to chat endlessly about Poppy the Chinchilla, life with her rabbit roommate, and how good the burgers here were– all while absentmindedly paying for everyone's meal. The only reason she would stop talking would be to take a bite of the burger.
"I'm telling you, these burgers are absolutely out of this world! The patty is firm and tender, yet melts in your mouth, and the garnishes are fresh and crisp and meld perfectly with everything! They're so good, it's hard to believe they're made of plants!" she squeaked before taking another bite.
Meanwhile, Porter and Zaire were concerned about Luna, as she was holding a burger bigger than her head.
"You're really gonna let her eat it like that?" Zaire asked. "Why not cut it up into tiny pieces?"
"Or just give her a kid's meal?" Porter added. "I don't mind sharing mine."
"Of course you got the kid's meal here, Porter," Lily mumbled. "Would you like some crayons and a coloring book to go with that?"
"Don't worry about Luna, she's eaten bigger things without any problems," Gusty said, munching on a fry. "Meanwhile, I manage to choke on the smallest bits of food for some reason!"
And as if on cue, he began to choke on a piece of the fry. Zaire immediately responded, helping him out.
"See what I mean?" he coughed. "And by the way, it's not just food either! Just a few days ago, we went to the beach and I got hit by a tidal wave, dragged away by a rip current and stung by a bunch of jellyfish! Her, on the other hand– completely dry!"
"Maybe don't stand so close to the water next time?" Lily suggested.
"We were standing side by side and not even close to the water's edge!" Gusty yelled. "It's almost like she's immune to danger while I have to deal with it– like some sort of joke! Case in point..."
He gestured over to his sister, who was already finished with the burger and was watching the ongoing conversation.
"How did she...?" Zaire stammered.
"Exactly."
Meanwhile, Amelia and Brielle were conversing about what goes on between their worlds, until Amelia asked her how she and Garti became roommates.
"It's really interesting, actually. It was winter, and I was preparing dinner as usual when I got a knock at the door. When I answered it, there was a rabbit girl, and she looked terrible. Her clothes were a mess, and it looked like she hadn't eaten in days," Brielle explained.
"What did you do?"
"Well, I invited her in for dinner, and we talked for a bit. I learned that while she had a job, she didn't have a place to live. So, I opened my doors to her, and she was super grateful!"
"Weren't you concerned she might overstay her welcome?" Lily asked, butting into the conversation.
"Believe me, that thought was gnawing on the back of my mind... but we've helped each other out through tough experiences after, and we've built a friendship from it, so I think it paid off! The peanut-butter and chocolate cakes I've made probably also helped out!" Brielle answered, chuckling.
Soon, everyone finished their meals and were quickly out of the restaurant with the next goal on their itinerary.
"Alright, is everyone excited to meet Poppy?" Brielle asked. She was met with scattered cheers from the siblings, a lukewarm response from Gusty, and Luna cheering Poppy's name as well as a four-year-old could.
"It's hard to be excited when you've got other concerns on your mind," Zaire said. "Like figuring out a solution for not having enough VIP passes for everyone."
"Couldn't we head back to the radio station and ask for more passes?" Porter asked.
"I think I'm too late for that. When I went to the station, I asked for three– One for me, one for Garti, and one for anyone who wanted to go with us," Brielle sighed. "If I knew about you guys, I would've asked for more."
Shortly after saying that, her eyes widened, realizing another problem. "I forgot to give her a pass!"
Without further words, she began bolting toward the library, leaving everyone to hurry after her.
Back at the library, Bro and Lexi regrouped at a table with several stacks of books and ready to figure out what happened to the humans.
"Alright, there's got to be some reference to what happened here in at least one of the books we chose," Bro said, skimming through the pages.
Together, they went through several books featuring several topics– from the transition to meat made from plants to the disappearance of normal animals in the area, but they couldn't find what they were looking for.
"Are you telling me through all the books we've read, not a single one references humans?" Bro complained.
"Maybe we're taking this from the wrong angle," Lexi reasoned. "Maybe we should focus on topics around what we're looking for, not what we're looking for directly."
"Now that you say that, we haven't seen a single normal– well, what would be a normal animal to me since we've been here," Bro admitted. "You think they might be connected?"
"Let's see..." Lexi responded, grabbing another book and going through the glossary. There, they found a term to describe the event that focused on the vanishing animals– The Hiding. After checking the index, they turned to the page that held more information on the occurrence.
"Look at this," Bro exclaimed. "It says here that thirty years ago, Hazel Smith, a biochemist and researcher, created an aerosol that would supposedly boost the vitality of animals. Doesn't seem too bad. And look..."
He pointed at a picture of a woman– no animal ears, no tail, just a regular looking woman wearing a lab coat– before giving Lexi a smirk. "She's human."
"So there were humans in Noctum after all," Lexi said, skimming through another paragraph. "It says here that Smith's aerosol went into mass production for a while before the factory manufacturing it exploded."
"You don't suppose the factory explosion is connected to the animals disappearing, do you?" Bro asked.
"If it's here, it has to be," Lexi answered. "Look here. Prior to the explosion, animals began to inexplicably disappear without a trace. Smith admitted fault for the explosion, the disappearance of the animals and warned everyone to prepare for the consequences of her actions, but did not disclose the contents of the aerosol or what consequences would follow. Many have called this incident 'The Hiding' due to Smith withholding many answers and the speculation that the missing animals are simply hiding."
"I guess that gives us somewhat of a clue," Bro said, "but what happened to Hazel after?"
After seeing a picture on the following page, Lexi didn't say anything, instead guiding Bro to the picture she was looking at. According to the caption, it was Hazel, but with gray fur and rat ears.
"That's her?!" Bro shouted, causing Lexi to shush him.
"Apparently. It says that her look in the picture was the result of her actions and that she regrets that the entirety of Noctum will go through the same transformation she did at some point."
She paused and looked down at her hands. "What she's saying is that we were human once... I was human once... but I don't remember what I looked like when I was."
"But still, whether this came out thirty years ago or five years ago, wouldn't it cause a panic all the same? How come nobody talks about it now?" Bro reasoned.
"Maybe because we've all gotten used to it at this point," Lexi answered, shrugging. "Regardless, we should head back and tell Garti what we learned."
And with that, the two left the table and began heading back to the main floor.
Meanwhile, Ixin and Umbrish were still trudging through the desert.
"We've been in this desert for hours!" Umbrish complained. "How do we know we're even going the right way?!"
Pretty soon, the two stopped to take a break. As Ixin watched Umbrish survey the area, she noticed something off about his appearance– but her staring didn't go unnoticed by him.
"What are you looking at?" he asked.
"Nothing!" Ixin quickly replied, looking away. "We should keep moving. The longer we're standing still, the sooner it'll be before we find any sign of civilization."
With a nod, Umbrish led the way through the desert while Ixin continued to follow him, not bringing up the fact that he now had a tail.
Back at the circulation desk, Garti was in the middle of helping someone check out. Of course, with her, it's not as easy as it sounds.
"For the ninth time," Garti grumbled, "you need to return the books you borrowed first before checking out more books!"
"Uhh... where do I return the books?" a panda girl at the front desk asked.
"You return them here!"
"But isn't this desk for checking out?"
"That's what this desk is also for! You can check out and return books here!" Garti exclaimed. "Also, you have a DVD you need to return."
"Oh, I have them right here," the panda girl said, pulling out what looked like ashes from her pocket.
"What is that?" Garti asked.
"Those are the remains of the books and DVD I borrowed," she answered, completely oblivious to her words. "So can I check out now?"
"YOU–" Garti began to shout before suddenly calming herself down and putting on a fake smile. "Yes, you can check out now. Did you find everything you were looking for?"
"Yep! Thanks, ma'am!" the panda girl replied before grabbing her books and skipping out of the library, leaving Garti to stew in her rage. Before she could, she caught sight of Bro and Lexi approaching the desk.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're here!" she sighed. "I was this close to strangling someone! So, what did you find?"
Together, the two explained to Garti what they learned and what happened following the events of thirty years ago.
"That explains why we haven't seen any animals," Garti said, "but are you also saying that I was human at some point? I must've been really young, because I don't remember how I looked..."
"Sorta like how you don't remember how you turned your fur pink?" Lexi joked.
"Shut it," Garti growled.
By now, Brielle, Gusty, Luna, and the other siblings burst through the library doors, much to Garti and Bro's surprise.
"Guys? What happened? I thought we'd meet you at the concert!" Bro exclaimed.
"Yeah, about that..." Gusty said. "Brielle came here to give Garti one of the passes. How she forgot to give her one up to this point is beyond me."
"Well, since we're all together now, I guess this would be a good time to ask– Did you find out what happened to the humans?" Lily asked.
"We did, actually," Bro responded, quickly explaining everything in a way that even Luna would understand.
"So what you're saying is that they..." Zaire gestured over at Gusty and Luna before continuing, "used to be human?"
"That's what we're saying, yes."
"Now that you bring it up, I don't remember what I looked like or what I was eating when I was human," Brielle admitted.
"Nobody does," Lexi sighed. "Seems like Hazel did a number on us all."
"Wait," Porter interjected, a thought in his mind. "You don't think we'll also turn into animals, do you?"
"I don't know, probably not," Bro replied, pulling out his phone. "Though, now would be a good time to see if Lini's Dimensional Gateway is fixed so we can head home."
"Hey!" Garti yelled. "If you're gonna make a call, do it outside!"
"What about the concert?" Brielle added.
"Poppy!" Luna whined.
Bro was about to dial before he caught sight of the two, staring at him with puppy eyes. Looking back at them, he sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. It wasn't because he felt guilty leaving them; he just wanted them to stop staring at him like that. "Fine."
"Yay! On to the concert!" Brielle squeaked.
"Just one problem," Amelia said, "we still don't know how all of us are going to meet Poppy with one pass!"
Brielle thought about it before she got an idea. Taking one of the remaining passes, she ripped it into several pieces, handing a piece to the moths and the siblings.
"There, now everyone can go," she chirped. "Told you I'd figure out a solution!"
"You call this a solution?!" Gusty screeched. "There is no way they'll accept this!"
"We won't know until we get to the venue, though," Lily reasoned. "They might actually accept it anyway."
"Exactly! So what are we waiting for?"
And just like that, Brielle rushed out the door to head to the venue, Luna closely following.
"On behalf of my roommate, I apologize for Brielle's overbearing energy," Garti sighed before also walking out the door.
"I guess we should all... go after her," Bro shrugged as he left the library with everyone else following.
Lexi stayed behind and waved goodbye before realizing something. "Garti, you didn't clock out!" she called.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at a stadium, where a large crowd was eagerly waiting in front of the doors. But they were quickly the subject of attention when someone in the crowd exclaimed there were humans.
Instantly, everyone focused their attention on the five, much to Porter's discomfort, causing him to hide behind someone.
"Porter, what's the problem this time? Remember, they used to be humans too!" Lily whispered.
"I know, but people staring at me makes me nervous!" Porter whispered back.
"So who do we give these passes to?" Bro asked.
"I guess we could check the back of the stadium and see if there's staff there," Amelia suggested.
"Why would there be staff behind the stadium?" Gusty argued. "That doesn't make any sense–"
"Great idea! Let's check the back!" Brielle interrupted, skipping towards the other end of the stadium, Luna still following while a red-faced Gusty walked after them, fuming. The others also walked after the two, mostly to get the eyes off them.
Despite what Gusty believed, there were staff behind the stadium– two bulldogs guarding the back entrance.
"Halt!" one shouted. "This area is only for those with a pass."
With a smile, Brielle took out her pass and handed it to one of the guards. "And a pass you'll get! I wouldn't miss this for the world!" she squealed, walking past them.
The guards looked at each other before looking back at everyone else. "Pass?"
Garti wordlessly handed them her pass before moving on. As for the other seven, getting in would be a lot harder. They gathered the pieces they had to make a full pass and showed it to the guards, but it was immediately rejected.
"Is this some kind of joke?" one asked.
"If it is, it's probably not funny, right?" Zaire chuckled nervously.
"We're gonna have to ask you to move back to the front of the stadium," The other guard ordered.
"Back there?! I can't have all those eyes staring at me again! Please!" Porter groveled.
"Fine, we'll wait," Bro said, dragging Porter along the ground. "Let's go guys. It's clear we're not getting in like this."
As they left, one of the guards muttered something to his acquaintance– "Those are some weird looking animals."
Back at the front, the seven continued to wait, and everyone continued to stare at a shaking Porter. At this point, the sun was starting to rise. After twenty minutes, the stadium doors opened and the crowd began flooding into the stadium.
"Finally! No more eyes on me!" Porter sighed.
"I wonder what kind of music Poppy sings," Amelia said.
"Based on her name, I'm gonna assume country music," Lily responded sarcastically.
As the sun continued to rise, more people poured into the stadium until all the seats were filled. The seven stayed at ground level, fairly close to the stage.
"So, how much longer until Poppy makes an appearance?" Bro asked.
"If the sun is anything to go by, probably not long," Zaire replied.
And it wasn't long. After another five minutes of waiting, the curtains parted, and a chinchilla girl walked out across the stage, causing the crowd to erupt in cheers.
"Helloooo, citizens of Noctum!" Poppy exclaimed, speaking into a shiny microphone. "You know, we've all had a long day today, and it's probably been stressful for you... but we've made it through the day, and so we deserve to unwind and have fun! Who's with me?"
The crowd cheered again, even louder than before.
"Fantastic! Let's not wait a minute longer!" she said as the music began to play. As she sang the lyrics to her songs, Lily and Amelia awkwardly mumbled along to the choruses. The boys, while not singing along with the rest of the crowd, were still having fun. Well, except for Gusty, who managed to lose Luna in the crowd.
"Luna? Luna?" Gusty called. "Where are you, Luna–"
His calls almost turned into shrieks when he saw Luna climb onto the stage.
"Luna! Get down from there!" he yelled, running to the stage where he was blocked off by a couple of guards.
As for Poppy, she was in the middle of singing another chorus when she felt someone hold on to her leg.
"Shiny!" Luna babbled, pointing to Poppy's microphone. "Please?"
The music cut, and everyone froze to stare at the moth girl attached to their favorite star. In response, Poppy smiled and handed her the microphone. "Sure, little girl! Why don't you tell everyone your name and something awesome that happened to you?"
"I'm Luna, and– and me and my brother Gusty met humans!" she answered.
Poppy froze. "Wait! First off, where's your brother? And second, where are the humans? Could they please come up to the stage?"
By now, everyone else was with Gusty, trying to pass to get to Luna when the guards blocking them suddenly stepped aside.
"What made Luna climb up the stage in the first place?" Lily asked.
"Maybe she mistook Poppy's mic as a light, kind of like Bro's light from earlier," Amelia reasoned.
"If that's the case, why isn't she attracted to the sun?" Zaire asked.
"She used to be," Gusty said, "and then she kept telling me her eyes hurt when she looked at it, so I told her to stop looking at it."
The six climbed onto the stage, where the audience looked at them in awe.
"Wow! So these are humans!" Poppy squeaked before looking at Zaire. "What about you?"
"He's with us," Bro said, introducing him and his siblings to Poppy. "Sorry for interrupting your show. We just needed to reunite those two again. We'll take our leave now."
"Wait, wait!" Poppy replied. "I'd like to talk to you all after the show. You can wait in the VIP lounge."
The siblings looked at each other. "You sure?" Porter asked. "We don't want to cause any more trouble..."
"Oh, no, no trouble at all! I'll have someone escort you there. Enjoy the rest of the show!" Poppy replied, and with a snap of her fingers, another guard was at the ready, leading them backstage and straight to the lounge. Brielle and Garti were also there.
"Hey, guys!" Brielle called. "Didn't expect to see you onstage! I wish those VIP passes gave me that perk!"
"That was all Luna! That ripped-up pass you gave us didn't do squat, you–" Gusty hissed, trying to stomp up to her as he was being held back by Amelia.
"What Gusty means to say is Luna helped make our presence known to Poppy, not the pass," Amelia continued, "and if it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have met her face to face, right, Gusty?"
"...Sure," Gusty grunted.
"We met Poppy earlier," Garti said. "Brielle looked like she was going to explode on the spot when she gave her a hug."
"Can you blame me?! It's Poppy! You'd feel the same way if you were me!" Brielle squeaked, pouting. "Also, she said she had a gift for VIPs, so you should definitely stick around!"
Shortly after, the music resumed, and Brielle was the first to rush to the edge of the booth to see the rest of the performance. As the others joined her, Luna and Gusty stayed behind for a moment.
"Did I do bad?" Luna asked.
Gusty looked over at the others, before smiling at his sister. "You did just fine, sis," he chuckled. "But I don't want running up to strangers to be a habit of yours, okay?"
"Yes, brother," Luna nodded.
"Good. Now let's join the others."
They walked up to the edge of the booth with the others, where Brielle was singing her heart out, Amelia and Lily were still mumbling lyrics, and the boys and Garti were dancing. The concert kept going until the sun was high in the sky, and when it was over, the crowd began to empty out the stadium to head home.
After saying goodbye to the shrinking crowd, Poppy headed straight to the VIP lounge.
"Hey guys! How did you like the show?" she asked.
Everyone's answers were quickly overshadowed by Brielle's enthusiastic chattering.
"Thanks for the support, Brielle, but I think there's something more interesting than me," she chuckled, taking a seat. "So. Humans."
"Not just humans," Lily bragged, "We're humans from another world."
"Another world? So there are more that look like you?" Poppy asked.
"Actually, we were just like them once," Garti responded. "Credit where it's due, Bro and a friend found out that we were all humans before an incident happened that changed everyone."
"The Hiding, right?" Poppy answered. "I say that because I remember what I looked like before transforming into a chinchilla."
"That makes one of us..." Gusty commented.
"I just think I'd ever see a regular-looking human again... But back to you guys– What's your world like and how did you get here?"
"As far as we know, not much. The biggest difference between here and there is that most people are out when the sun is," Porter answered. "As for how we got here, we have a friend–"
"That I'm calling right now," Bro added, dialing a number on his phone. "Hey, Lini, I'm calling to check on. Have you fixed your Dimensional Gateway yet?"
"I've been working on it all night, but I'm still not finished with it," Lini said. "I just need a little more time."
"And by 'a little more time', you mean...?"
"Maybe a few days...?"
"A few days?!" Bro sputtered. "Can't you figure out an easy solution, because we're all getting antsy here."
"There are no easy solutions for fixing a dimensional teleporter, Bro," Lini sighed. "But if I find some help, I may be able to speed up the process."
"Fine. Do what you have to, just make it fast," Bro groaned before hanging up. "Well guys, we've got an extended stay here, so what should we do next?"
"There's not a lot to do here while the sun's out," Gusty said. "Most of us go to sleep at this time... unless you're in the desert, someone's awake there, no matter what time it is."
"Are we really gonna go there, though?" Lily complained. "It must be scorching out there!"
"You got any better ideas?" Bro questioned.
"Besides not going there at this time?"
"It's actually not as bad as you might think," Gusty added. "There's a town there, plus Luna and I have a couple of people we need to pay a visit to."
Lily let out a frustrated growl. "Fine, let's go to the desert. Doesn't make a lot of sense sticking around in a place called Moonlife City when the sun's out, anyway."
"Before we all part ways, how about a little gift?" Poppy offered. "Just for you guys, I want to give you all an autographed copy of my newest album, 'Bubblegum Sky'!"
"The album you've been teasing for two months?!" Brielle squealed before fainting.
"Is she gonna be okay...?" Zaire asked.
"She'll be fine... but I won't be when she wakes up. I'm gonna be hearing about this for hours... no offense," Garti muttered as she picked her roommate up and took a CD. "In any case, It was nice meeting you all, and Gusty and Luna, we'll see you later."
"Nice meeting you too!" Poppy chimed, waving at the two as they left the stadium before turning to the others. "You should get going as well. Travel to the desert, meet new people, and have fun while you're there!"
After also taking a couple of CDs, the seven bid farewell to Poppy and left the stadium.
"Alright, so which way's the desert?" Bro asked.
"Eats!" Luna answered.
"East," Gusty said. "And I think she may be hungry again. Remind me to feed her when we get to shelter."
With that, they began their trek out of Moonlife City to the edge of the desert.
Meanwhile, Umbrish was still walking across the desert, Ixin still following him without a word.
"Ixin, you've been quiet for a while. Is there something on your mind?" he asked. When he turned around to look at her, he froze when he saw fox ears and a newfound muzzle on her face.
"What happened to you...?"
*To Be Continued...