Freemen Trek

Craig had to have done a whole lot of homework during the preceding week if it was the reason he was as exhausted as he is in his dorm room. Of course, it's no surprise considering that he happens to be on his weekend break. At the moment, he should at least be thankful that his parents sent him to the Freemen Boys Academy, since he thought it looked to be a cool looking place.

There was something about the school that caught his attention the moment he got the letter. He couldn't tell whether it was the fact that the school is rather large and is built on a secluded island far from civilization, or how it was welcoming to both humans and anthros alike, or both. He just simply thought it looked interesting and fun to go to, especially since he could spent perhaps a whole school year.

"Hey Craig, you alright?" a voice asked him in concern. The 13 year old looked up from his bed to see Gene, his roommate. Gene was a rabbit anthro two months older than him, wearing the school uniform consisting of a white undershirt with a red dress shirt that has black buttons and black pants. The school emblem, which resembled a triangle and a sword stabbing down in its middle, was stitched onto the left chest of the dress shirt. Gene had a concerned look on his furry face to match the tone of his voice when he asked that question to the boy.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired from all that homework," Craig yawned out as he got off the bed. He then stretches a little in order for the blood to keep pumping in his body. A few POPS were heard here and there in the process, but luckily they weren't too serious so it wasn't a big deal. Once the stretching was out of the way, the two boys went out of the room to take a little walk. All the while getting a feel of the groung under their bare feet.

When Gene and Craig got to the central courtyard, the two boys find themselves seeing other students, whether they're human or anthro, doing their own activities and ways to relax. Every single one of them were barefoot, like Gene and Craig, and none of the students were bothered by the ground underneath. Reason for the so-called "trend" of going shoeless was that the founders, who were anthros, didn't anticipate that human children would come to the school after construction was completed. None of the budget used in making the school uniforms and equipment were left to produce footwear, so the decision was made in that the human boys can go barefoot as much as they want to. The rest, they say, is history.

While they're walking through the courtyard, the two boys were in the middle of a conversation centering around their favorite childhood shows. When they began doing something like this was probably around their first week of school at best. Comparing their favorite shows with each other has been a great thing to do in their opinion. Brought out a sense of nostalgia in them both.

"Oh man, I can't believe that we've had to actually do something like this," Craig said. "Me neither," Gene replied, a smile on his rabbity face. "But at least it's a way to pass the time when we're not doing any classes, right?" The human of the duo nodded in response, before his eyes turned to the direction of a group of boys under the shade of a tree on their right. His rabbit anthro friend followed him as his eyes turned toward the EXACT same direction.

A group of five boys, three of them human, two anthros, appear to be having a wrestling competition with each other. One of the humans, who happens to be wearing glasses signifying his intellect, is holding a notepad keeping score on the wins and losses each of his friends seem to each have. He's a little excited at who would be the first to take the plunge, and who would be left standing.

The first wrestling pair, comprised of a brunette boy and a cat anthro, ended their little scuffle with the brunette getting the upper hand and winning. Said brunette placed one bare foot on his feline friend's chest, while placing another on his muzzle-like face, a smile of victory adorning his face. He had won his match.

As for the second wrestling pair, this time of a light-blond boy and a crocodile anthro, the other way around had happened with the croc winning his match. Like the brunette, the reptilian boy placed one foot on his friend's chest, while another on his face, with the exact same victory-filled smile adorning his face as well.

Craig turned his head away from them, as he didn't want to see any more of it. He just basically didn't think it was that interesting watching other students wrestle with each other. As he continued walking through the campus grounds, the boy was thinking about what he was going to do during this little break from all of the studying. Seconds have passed by before Gene placed a hand on his shoulder. "Wanna do a little mountain climbing, buddy?" the rabbit anthro said. "Haven't done it when we got here. Thought it would be a first time."

The young teen was contemplating on that for a little bit. It would provide some great exercise for him, since it would help relieve him of the stress from all of that homework. "Okay then," he said. "Why not? You're not the only one that hasn't done it."

Gene smiled in happiness to that response and so the both of them walked northeast to where the mountains are. Out of all the spots on the island, aside from the school, the mountains happen to be one of the more famous and well-known. Why that is would most likely be that if you climb on them, and look back once you were halfway there, you could almost see the whole island all around you. Only a few people have ever managed to climb to the top and back.

Both barefoot boys have just started their trek up the mountains with no problems so far. Only obstacles they have had to deal with were sticks and rocks being stepped on and bothering their feet a bit. But despite that, everything is going just fine.

When they decide to stop and rest for a little bit, the boys couldn't help but look back and see how far they've climbed. The view of the island is as amazing as they've said. You really can almost see the entirety of it. Everything from the ocean, to the forest below, to the whole school can be seen from the position that the two boys are in.

"This is so awesome," Craig said in awe and delight. His rabbit friend nodded in agreement, having the exact same feelings as his friend. "Yeah, sure is," Gene said. "And to think that we are among the very few that have actually managed to come this far in the EXACT amount of time that we did." They both turned their heads to look at each other, before smiling happily. Feelings of happiness and joy at actually doing something like this when they're about a month and a half into their first school year at this academy.

A few moments of admiring the view have passed by before the two boys continued their trek to the top of the mountain. Although, they do tend to look back a few times.

What felt like hours have passed when the two boys came across a large cave embedded into the mountain. It was located a few meters to their left, having been part of the mountain for quite some time. Others in the past that have done what they were about to do have come to this particular cave to rest for a while before resuming their task of climbing the mountain.

"Why don't we take five right here before we finish?" Gene asked Craig. Craig nodded at the suggestion, having been rather tired from the walking at this point. Both of them walked over to the cave entrance and looked inside for inspection.

It looked just like nearly every other cave that they know of. Stalactites hang up on the ceiling, water dripping off of some of them in a rather slow fashion. There is also a strong possibility of bats living here and taking a deep rest before flying out at nighttime. Not that it mattered to the boys, since they seem to have some firsthand experience with bats due to a few of their classmates being them.

After their inspection of the cave is done, the two boys walk right into it. They were keeping their eyes on the ground below them, being careful not to step onto any rocks that lay in front of them. Although there doesn't seem to be any at all. (Good enough for them.)

When the boys take a seat on a couple of large rocks that they've found, they both start to let out breathes of relief they were holding.

The five minutes of rest pass by rather smoothly, as both boys stand right back up and stretch their arms and legs a bit to get the blood flowing again. Good thing too, since they were going to get a bit numb from all of the sitting.

"Ready to move on?" Craig asked Gene. Gene nodded in response, hopping from one foot to the other in anticipation. "Then let's go." Craig says.

Having resumed their trek up to the top of the mountain, the boys see that the sun is going to go down in about an hour. And with that new info in their minds, they pick up the pace a bit in their hike up the mountain.

10 more minutes pass on by the time the boys reach the top, as there hasn't been anything that got in their way.

Four or five more steps before the boys turn around and they get a glimpse of the view that awaited them. Words cannot describe what they're feeling right now. There most likely wouldn't be any to use, anyway.

From where they're standing, Craig and Gene could see the large entirety of Freemen Boys Academy and the forests surrounding it. It's almost like they were looking at a photo of the school taken from high above. There's something about this particular view that, for some mysterious and inexplicable reason, have taken their breaths away. Maybe it's because of the sheer isolation of the island being far from civilization. That could be it. It would most likely be what the founders wanted to help create when they decided to create the school.

After what felt like an eternity for the boys, they both see that the sun is going down from right behind them. They then look at each other for a bit, before smirking at the same time in a competitive fashion.

"First one down gets to have their feet worshipped." Craig says.

"You're on." Gene responds.

With that said, they run back down the mountain and back the way they came. Each of them having the thought that they would make it to the school first.

This was definitely a way to help recover from all of that homework. They obviously wanted to do something like this.