WARNING: this is a GIGANTIC chapter!

okay, buttload of new deer in this chapter! i have all night to write it too >:3 so, enjoy it while you can, because most of you who wanted to be here are gonna be in this very chapter (and chapters to come). if your deer isnt in here though, i have plans for him/her, so dont feel like im ignoring you. then again, i have plans for everyone XD

i hope i dont mess anyone up! please tell me if i did something wrong (Reetno, i hope it was okay adding you to the story DX )

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"A good night's sleep will do you good. You've had a big day today, Butterfly."

Skokey smiled before opening his eyes, and raised his head, "Hello again, Vessel."

"Awfully cheery tonight. You must be proud of your sister."

"Yeah, well, what do you expect? She's my sister, you know?"

"Must be nice. Having a sister."

"You don't have a brother or sister?"

"Not that I know of, no. But I don't mind. More time to myself I guess."

Skokey chuckled, "If you like to be alone so much, then why do you bother me every night?"

"Oh, I don't know... I suppose I've grown tired of isolation. And since I can talk to you here, why not? Might get to know somebody new, and I have."

"Heh, well you're gonna need a lot more friends to be out of isolation. Don't you ever go to the Pond, or even the Graveyard?"

"Oh yes, many times. But mostly, it's when everyone else is asleep."

"You're a very shy deer, aren't you?"

Vessel smirked, "Yes, well... I was hoping you could do something about that."

Before Skokey could reply, he awoke. Not long after, Fulu awoke too. Her feathers had grown a lot that night, and she smiled warmly at him. Skokey smiled back at her, not just because of her, but because of Vessel. He was finally getting on a better side of him. It made him feel better, not having all this dark nonsense he constantly fed him. He had a good sleep, and he was ready for another day.

He still wondered, though. Where was Fenqua?

***

Skokey had decided to take Fulu back to the Pond to meet some more deer. Fulu needed a good cure for her shyness, along with Skokey wanting more friends. The deer were very scattered about, some were in small groups, some were by themselves. Skokey let out a sigh of relief. This was going to be a lot easier without a huge group.

He did see a few other deer having a lot of fun, other deer that were there before. He recognized the does that lied to him about leaving, seeing that the fawn was now an adult. He also saw some of the other deer that were mumbling about him behind his back. He knew who to stay away from. He even told Fulu about them. Unlike last time, though, he let Fulu by herself. She seemed to mind at first, but she soon eased into the groups in her own way.

Skokey wandered slowly, trying to see anyone he knew for himself. Unfortunately, none of his few friends were there. He was by himself on this one. He spotted two deer that seemed to be having fun. One had a dark brown pelt with yellow stripes going from his back to his stomach, with large spikey antlers that curved down, and a wooden mask shaped like the face of a real deer. The other was wearing a normal brown pelt, with small stubby antlers and a very dull face, it looked like it was crying blood.

Skokey gingerly went up to them and read their pictograms. The one with the Fan antlers was name Seele, the other was name Saan. Skokey bowed his head respectfully, and was delighted to see them bow back.

Saan came up to him, "Hello there," she read his pictogram, "Skokey..." She looked behind her at Seele, who looked a little nervous, and smiled. "Would you like to dance with us?"

Skokey smiled warmly, "Sure." Saan and he went over to the other stag and started a little dance. They continued for quite a while before they started talking.

Saan nuzzled Seele and decided to speak first, "So, I haven't seen you before. Where do you sleep?"

"Under a slab at the Playground. I'm sure you've seen it before, everyone has." Skokey shrugged, feeling a little worried he might say the wrong thing.

Seele perked up a little, "Oh yeah, I go there all the time. It's a nice place to be when you wanna be alone."

Skokey was quickly reminded of his adolescence, and soon his smile disappeared. The doe looked at him, "You okay?"

Skoke shook his head a little and smiled again, "Yeah, I was just... thinking of something."

Seele tilted his head, "Are you sure?"

Skokey nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine. I guess I'm just a little nervous. Not used to making friends."

Seele nodded, slightly turning to Saan, "Yeah, I know how that is..."

By this time, Skokey was looking around for Fulu. "Did you happen to see a small doe with a Secretary Bird pelt and a Magpie mask anywhere?"

Seele and Saan looked at each other, then shook their heads. "No," Saan said.

Skokey let out a sigh, and shrugged. He mumbled something like, "Maybe she's having more luck than me..."

Saan looked up at the sun, examining where it was. "Oh... Seele, we should go." She turned her head to Skokey, "It was very nice meeting you. I hope to see you again soon." She smiled, and for the first time Skokey saw, Seele smiled too.

They all bowed to each other, and the pair trotted off. I do hope to see them again, he thought. They're a nice bunch. He looked around, turning his head this way and that. He saw another group, two does, that he hadn't seen before. He decided to approach them.

One of the does had a black and white pelt, with a pair of stubby antlers and a Real Deer mask. The other looked like the first doe, only with a Reindeer pelt. Skokey assumed they were sisters. He read their pictograms, the one in the Orca pelt was Ammy, and the other was Melinda. He came up to them and bowed, and again, they bowed back.

"Sorry to interrupt, ladies." Skokey nervously said.

Ammy smiled, "It's okay. Is there something you need?"

"Well, uhh... I guess not. I'm just trying to make a few friends right now."

Ammy and Melinda could see he was nervous. Melinda spoke up, "No need to be nervous, we won't bite." She giggled.

Skokey chuckled back, trying to calm down. "So, uhh... What are you two doing?"

Ammy shrugged, "Just talking, I guess. We weren't going anywhere special. In fact... I think we were gonna come up to you, actually."

Skokey raised an eyebrow, "Really?"

"Yeah. You looked kinda lonely." Melinda smiled.

"Oh, well..." Skokey seemed embarrassed, "Not quite what I wanted to look like..."

Ammy smiled, "That's okay, we were gonna meet either way. And now that we have, let's have some fun." Melinda nodded at her sister, and they waited for his response. Skokey smiled and nodded too, and so they ran around, jumping and laughing.

At one point the three of them came to the bridge. Skokey was about to cross it when he looked behind him, and saw the two does stepping back. He realized that a lot of deer were afraid of the bridge, and so he lead them away from it.

Ammy and Melinda soon stopped, and Ammy's stomach growled. She lowered her ears in embarrassment. Skokey smiled warmly, "I think it's time for you to go."

The two does nodded at him. Ammy went up to him and nuzzled him, and Melinda did the same, "We had a fun time today. I hope to see you again!" They both ran off smiling, which left Skokey kind of happy. Four friends in one day? You did pretty good, Skokey, he thought to himself.

As soon as they were out of sight, he turned back to the pond. He finally spotted his sister running around with a few deer he didn't know. He seemed to see someone who looked like Vipin. Her pictogram read "Aspen". He never met her before. Maybe one of these day he'll get to know who this Aspen is.

He managed to spot two other deer. One was a doe, name Hope. Another, a stag named Taiko. They were only talking amongst themselves. Taiko seemed nervous though, and stayed beside a tree. He went up to the two of them reluctantly. As if he wasn't nervous enough, he had to be around another nervous deer.

Skokey bowed, "Hello."

Hope bowed, "Hello." She read his pictogram, "Skokey, right?"

Skokey nodded. He bowed his head to Taiko, who bowed in return. "I was wondering if I could join the conversation."

Hope looked over at Taiko, who seemed a little calmer. "Of course."

Taiko nodded, "We were just talking about taking a swim."

"A swim? Won't you lose your spells?"

"Well, not very deep. Just far enough so we can really enjoy it. Would you like to come?"

Skokey nodded happily, "Sure, I'd love to."

So the three deer went out into the Pond, and started to splash around. Taiko started chasing around Skokey, seeing how far he could get before he turned into a frog. Skokey started to splash at the stag, and continued to have some fun. All the while they talked about each other, and why they were there. But soon enough, it began to get dark.

Taiko looked at the horizon, eyeing the setting sun. Hope did this as well. The two of them bowed to Skokey, and bid their goodbyes. Skokey did this as well, and watched them run in different directions. He wasn't too sure about those two. He didn't seem to connect with them. But he shrugged and decided to let time tell.

He was on his way to get his sister when he saw a deer in the distance. He stopped and looked at the deer. He had a Butterfly pelt, with Fan antlers and a Real Deer mask. Behind him was a very strange looking fawn. His fur was black with green spots, along with a curved beak for a mouth. Skokey was intrigued by the two of them. They sat down in a mushroom circle and started to talk.

Skokey went up to them, trying to get a closer look, when the stag caught sight of him. He tilted his head, and decided to see if he could join them.

He bowed his head, "Hello, there. Do you mind if I join you?"

The stag looked at the fawn, and after a pause, he said, "Sure."

Skokey sat down infront of them. "So, what are your names?"

The stag spoke first, "Darcy."

The fawn turned his head away a little, "Reetno."

Skokey looked at the fawn, "You're a little shy aren't you?"

Darcy looked at Skokey, "It's okay to be shy, isn't it?"

"Of course it is. I'm shy myself. Incredibly shy."

"You don't seem very shy to me." Reetno added.

Skokey smiled, "It took me a while to come up to you, Reetno. My shyness got in the way of making another friend."

At first, Reetno seemed put down, but when he mentioned making a friend, he seemed to perk up. Darcy smiled at Skokey, "So it's friendship you want?"

Skokey nodded, "Yeah, I've been a loner lately. My other friends say it's not good for me."

"Other friends?"

"Well, yeah... I guess, my friend Vipin said that."

Darcy chuckled, "Oh I've met him. He's everyone's friend."

Reetno seemed to calm down a little, "So your name's Skokey?" He nodded. "What's it mean?"

Skokey thought a moment, "It means 'skull', I believe. It's not a very appropriate name... But I heard it was my Grampa's name."

Reetno and Darcy smiled at him, "You seem like a nice deer, Skokey." Darcy responded.

Skokey smiled, "You too. But it seems a little late to have any fun. I was just about to get my sister to go home."

Darcy sighed, "Yeah, you're right. We were just about to part ourselves. The sun's getting pretty low." He looked at Reetno, who tilted his head slightly. "But, maybe some other day we could meet again. Maybe we could get to know each other then."

Skokey chuckled, "I sure hope so, for your sake. I have six other deer to meet up with again, at least I hope."

"Wow, you've been busy today, haven't you?" Darcy chuckled. He soon looked to the horizon, the sun was already halfway gone. "Well, we best be going. It was good to meet your aquaintance, Skokey." Darcy and Reetno got up and bowed. Skokey bowed after them, and let them go their way.

He sighed with a little bit of relief. He had a huge day, meeting eight other deer. He soon found Fulu who was waiting for him by a willow. She was already starting to fall asleep. He woke her up and started the walk to the Playground.

***

They were already in the Birch Forest when Skokey saw something. He stopped and sniffed the air. Another deer was nearby.

He turned to Fulu, "Fulu, keep going to the Playground. I'll catch up later, okay?"

She nodded and resumed her path to the Playground. Skokey went over to where he smelled the scent. He came to a tree in a large grass patch. "Alright, you can come out now. No need to hide, I know you're there."

Soon after he said that, a stag came out from behind the large tree. Skokey almost couldn't believe who he saw. Right before him, in real life, was Vessel.

Vessel bowed his head and smirked. Skokey chuckled and bowed his head, "Well, it's nice to finally meet you in person. Were you gonna take me somewhere?"

Vessel looked at the slowly setting sun, it was almost gone. He nodded, and gestured for him to follow him. He took Skokey to the Old Oak, and pushed him inside. Skokey found a sleeping fawn there, one that didn't look familiar to him.

"Vessel, what are you trying to show me?" Skokey studied the fawn. She seemed to be having a nightmare. He turned to him again, "Do you know who this is?"

Vessel nodded, and scratched in the word "friend" next to a pictogram in the dirt. Skokey saw that the pictogram was Fenqua's.

He looked at him, "She's a friend of Fenqua?" Vessel nodded again. He then scratched in the word "important" in the dirt. "She's important... How?"

Vessel wrote "I will tell you one night, one week from today". Skokey nodded, sealing the agreement. Vessel wrote, "Go now. Your sister is waiting."

Skokey bid him farewell and ran off. His mind was in a clutter, thinking about what Vessel told him. He soon came to the Playground and saw that Fulu was already asleep. The sun had just dropped below the horizon by now. He also saw someone else.

Fenqua was sitting on top of the boulder.