Chapter 3 – Find and Play

"Huff...huff...there it is..." Max panted as he rested on his knees for a bit, after a few moments, he glanced up and smiled. "The temple. If Rex isn't here, I might as well go back to the grave." the boy mumbled. "Alright...here we go." standing up, he walked up the small flight of light gray stairs and found himself at the center of the structure. Passing by the little well which Max wondered why it was placed there in the first place, he faced the dark room with the altar in the middle along with two stairs at each side outside the room. The walls were covered in red...bricks? (Max wasn't too sure.) And the outer walls had lots of square-shaped spaces, few of them having one jar inside of them. Max had no idea what were in the jars, but if it was kept in a place as expensive as this, it must be important.

The boy decided to try looking around inside the room; he already tried calling his name; even shouting it. But no one was replying, so most likely Rex wasn't in here. Yet he wouldn't give up, he might as well take a better look around the place in case the other kid could be here.

Entering the dark chamber, there were a few pieces of furniture, along with two halls stretching into the shadows that even in the daylight; Max couldn't see much what was in there. Gulping, he ran down the dim hall, which was also filled with spaces. Yet after a couple of seconds, Max saw the light again, and saw that he ended up at the same place he was at before, and only realized now that the hall was shaped like a circle.

"Well, Rex isn't in there." he muttered. There was one other place left to look, and that was up the stairs. Though, he never went up there before since he had always perceived it to be off-limits. But Rex probably never knew that, so that was Max's last chance.

The boy went up slowly, glancing around from time to time if there was anyone else there. When he reached the top, he was slightly surprised it was another room, and actually had chairs. Well, he was even more shocked when he saw someone leaning on it, seemingly sleeping.

Taking a few steps closer to the person, he sighed in relief yet still stunned that it was Rex that was lightly taking a nap. Max bended down to him and gently shook the other kid, soon slightly waking him up. "Uh..."

"Hey, Rex. Wake up." he whispered.

"...Max?" the blond mumbled as he rubbed one eye. "What...what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you of course." Max muttered. "You know, you made us worried; suddenly running away like that."

Rex frowned. "Really? I thought...you didn't like me because you said I sound like an old guy..." the brown-haired kid flinched. "What? Why wouldn't we want you? We were just teasing." he smiled sheepishly while blushing a bit from embarrassment. "O-oh...r-right."

"Geez, you take things too seriously Rex." Max said while laughing a little. "By the way...s-sorry for teasing you awhile ago. I didn't mean it."

The other kid grinned back. "It's fine."

"Now come on, mom, dad and Zoe must be worried about us too. Let's go back." the blond nodded. "Y-yeah..!"

"Max! You're okay!" Aki exclaimed as she hugged her son tightly. "I thought that we would never find you! I'm so glad that you're back safe and sound!"

"M-mom! Please! Yo-you're choking me!" the boy stammered as he tried to get away from his mom's grip. Realizing this, she let go off him and Max exhaled sharply. "Thanks." he mumbled.

"Sorry everyone..." Rex said sadly. "It was my fault that got you all worried..."

"It's alright, what matters is that everyone's safe and sound." Spike smiled as he ruffled the blonde's hair a little, making Rex's frown disappear quickly.

"Dad, can we still go fishing..?" Max asked as he grabbed his own black rod. Zoe got hers too, a green one and asked the same question to the same guy. The sun was still high up in the sky, but it was clear that they have spent a lot of time searching for Rex. With the sky still light blue and the fishing grounds a couple steps away..."Why not? The weather's great for it." he replied with a grin. The two kids cheered, and the other beamed too. He picked up his newly bought dark blue fishing rod from the mat and followed Max and Zoe after they started running towards the metal-floating thing. (I still have no idea what it is.) The parents couldn't help but smile as the two childhood friends tried to teach Rex how to cast his line in the water. "I better bring them the other equipment." the man muttered as he carried the supplies filled with bait and the like. He then ran to them in a weird fashion since he was running down a small yet steep hill.

Aki was about to go see the kids as well when she heard a small 'meow' not far from where she was. She turned, and saw a tail sticking out behind the trunk, and giggled. "So that's what they were hiding."

As much as all of them were having fun, the day soon turned into late afternoon, with the sky now blazing orange and purple. Rex's first catch ended up being not one, but two fish since his rod had a double hook. Somehow, the pair ended up biting the bait together and got caught. They were big, and almost had the same size too. "No fair Rex! How did you get so lucky in angling?" Max questioned as he was still holding on to his rod; his floater hasn't moved much at all ever since his previous catch.

Most of the fish they caught were tiny, so they had to throw it back. There were even some shrimp in the mixture, which they placed in the box with the other fish that the blonde caught.

At the end of the day, they ended up with around five tilapia and three shrimp in their box...until when Spike announced they had to go home and Max hasn't caught another fish after the first one, pulled his rod up and saw a medium-sized tilapia was there on it the entire time. "No wonder you weren't getting anything!" Zoe laughed.

They kept the same fish as a pet, so if you look closely at their home the next time, you might see an aquarium with a big tilapia in there.

And so, the group of five packed all their stuff back at the trunk, said good-bye to the grave and left in their car.

This ends their day at the cemetery.

Wait...what happened to the kitten?

"Meow..." he was on Zoe's lap, purring as she continued to stroke his fur. "You kept the kitten Zoe?" Rex asked as he pointed at it. The three were at the back of the car, with the blonde at the left, Zoe in the middle, and the other boy at the right. "Well my dad's a vet, wouldn't it be normal to have a pet at the house?" she responded.

"What's the name then?" Max piped up.

"Hm...ah, I know! It's-"

A/N : I know...you've been expecting a chapter for quite some time. But I just...don't feel like I could continue this further. I apologize to those who I kept waiting, but this is definitely going to stay a three-shot. Do not fret my fellow readers, another story will come out sooner or later...it's just, I have so many that this one would no longer go on...besides, it looks fine as it is...does it?