A Failed Invention

                Klonoe rubbed his head with his bruised hands, wondering what had just happened.

                "Where am I?" he asked no one in particular. "Is this some kind of forest?"

                He stood up, and looked around.

                He suddenly stopped. On the ground lay James, Susan, Bekhin, and Autumn, seemingly unconscious from the stressful ordeal. Klonoe grimaced and held his chin in his hand.

                "Those naughty little scamps." he scowled. "I never should have agreed to let them see each other again."

                "Well, at this rate, nightfall probably isn't very far away, so it would be in our best interest if I built a temporary shelter for nightfall, as there is no possible way to find out what kind of creatures could be lurking around here, and it would be most unfortunate if they found us unprepared." he said aloud.

               "Huh, what?" James questioned drowsily."What is going on?"

               "Ah, I see you're awake." Klonoe stated, monotonously. "Was it your idea for Autumn and Bekhin to pull that prank on the  machine?"

               "Why of course not!" James replied indignantly."How could you suggest such a thing!"

               "Your wife was the one who suggested Autumn should come along!" Klonoe shouted.

               "Why you little...."  James growled.

               "Let's just end this now." A voice stated.

               The two men looked over at the source of the sound which happened to be Susan, who woke up due to their squabble.

               James sighed.

               "Sorry K." James groaned.

               "Same to you." Klonoe apologized.

               "Now that all that is over, lets-" Susan began.

               But then, she stopped.

               "What's wrong darling?" James questioned.

               "Something is watching us." Susan replied.

               Slowly, the three turned to face the nearby bushes, and soon a small creak was heard.

               "I'll go look." Klonoe crept over to the bush and peered in, but suddenly, he reeled back in pain.

               "What the floop!" he cried stroking his beard, but feeling a warm liquid.

               He looked at his hands and came to a shocking realization.

               "MY FACE!" he shouted, waking everyone nearby, including Bekhin, Autumn and a certain other creature.

               Almost instantly, a small head belonging to a hen rose from the bush, and slowly stared at them.

              "Aw! It's so precious!" Autumn ran over to the hen and plucked it out of the bush.

               She looked at it's face and smiled, but then slowly looked down at it's lower half. Instead of cute little chicken legs, there was only a long serpent-like tail.

               "Ew!" Autumn shrieked, dropping the creature and running over to Bekhin."Gross, gross, GROSS!"

               The chicken-like thing glared at Autumn, offended by her statement.

               "Now dear, I think you made it mad." James joked.

                The thing, eyes burning with anger, started glaring at Autumn.

                 Suddenly, Autumn couldn't feel her legs. She looked down at her feet and mentally screamed. Instead, she saw a gray stiffness creeping up her legs.

                  "Dad! Help!" she screamed.

                  James glared at the thing.

                  "NO ONE HURTS MY FAMILY!" he screamed.

                  James leaned down and grabbed a stick and ran for the thing.

                  "DIE YOU FREAK OF NATURE!" he shouted.

                  James began to rapidly pound the stick into the creature's back, resulting in it emitting a large scream.

                  "DIE!" he shrieked again.

                  The creature gave one last look at James before it finally passed on. James sighed and wiped the blood off his face. He walked over to Autumn and sternly looked at her.

                   "Didn't I tell you not to mess with whatever kind of creature you see?" he scolded.

                   "I'm sorry father." Autumn sighed tiredly.

                   "James!" Susan yelled at her husband.

                   "What?" James replied, turning to face Susan.

                   "How can you possibly be so inconsiderate?" Susan shouted.

                   James thought for a minute then realized his mistake.

                   "Oh, sorry Autumn," he apologized,"Are you hurt?"

                   "Not really..." Autumn stated,"But I can't move my legs."

                   "Hey, Klonoe?" James asked. "You went to medical school in college, right?"

                   "Only for a semester," Klonoe admitted. "But yes, I did."

                    "Good." James said. "Can you check on Autumn?"

                    "Sure, I guess." Klonoe replied walking over to the girl.

                    "Now, this will only hurt for a minute..." he told her.

                    "Alright, Uncle Klonoe." Autumn replied bravely.

                    He walked over to Autumn's legs, and hit his hand on her leg. To his surprise, he felt nothing but rock.

                    "What?" Klonoe stated, confused. "Her legs are as hard as rock!"

                     "Autumn, are you ok?" Bekhin said, running to her.

                     "Yes, but according to your grandpa, my legs are stone." Autumn replied, giggling.

                     "Does that mean we can't play football?" Bekhin stated, trying hard not to laugh.

                     "Yes Bekhin, yes." Autumn answered, tiredly.

                     "We need to find a hospital." Susan said out of nowhere.

                     "Yes, quite." James agreed, looking at Klonoe, who nodded.

                     "That will work." he said.

                     "Then let's be off." Susan said, gesturing for everyone to follow her.

                     As they walked out of the forest, Klonoe heard something. He looked around, and, finding nothing, decided to carry on, and disregarded the noise. Little did he know this noise would end up being something that would change his life forever.