Lightning flashed across the dark skies. Rain fell to the earth in torrents, soaking everything in its path. Screeches echoed throughout the forest, almost drowned out by bellowing roars. Leaves whipping him in the face when he ran by, the griffin's eyes glowed blue as he burst out into a clearing...

"First day of school! First day of school!" Norman shouted, jumping up and down on his father's chest. Groaning in his sleep, Tiberius rolled over onto his side as he muttered, "I don't wanna go to school..." Grabbing his dad's ear, Norman started tugging. "Not you, me!" the cub corrected, "I wanna go to school!"

"Five more minutes Norman..." Tiberius yawned, still refusing to get up. Determined, Norman tugged on the older griffin's ear as hard as he could. Unfortunately, he lost his grip and fell backwards, tumbling out of the thicket den. Hearing the yelp that followed after, Tiberius's eyes snapped open as he exclaimed, "Norman!"

"I'm okay Dad!" Norman called, creeping back into the den. He had leaves and sticks all over him, peeking out from his brownish red feathers and beautiful spotted fur. Immediately pulling his son into the den, Tiberius started checking for any major injuries as he interrogated the cub, "Are you okay?! Any rushing fluids? Broken bones? Parasites?!"

"What- no! Dad, I'm fine!" Norman insisted. Ignoring the statement, Tiberius flicked his tail in front of the cub as he asked, "How many stripes does my tail have?" Rolling his eyes, Norman muttered, "I'm fine."

"Answer the stripe question!"

"Five."

"I don't have five! See, something's wrong!" Tiberius cried. The griffin spun in a circle as he started counting his own stripes, "I have one two three... four five? Really, that's all? Oh." Calming down once he realized his mistake, he sat down as he murmured, "My bad, you're okay." Placing his taloned forepaws against his father's leg, Norman chirped, "I told you! Now come on! We need to go!"

"Hold on a sec there kiddo, you don't want to go on your first day looking like this," Tiberius pointed out, picking a leaf off Norman's head. Making the cub sit down, the older griffin worked hard to clean up his son to look his very best. Plucking the last stick out from the tawny spotted pelt, he purred, "There! All better."

"Can we go now?" Norman asked, tilting his head to the side. Trying his hardest not to chuckle, Tiberius got to his feet as he answered, "Yes, we can go now." Letting out a cheer of joy, Norman scurried out of the den before falling into step alongside his father. Leading the way through the woods as the sun peeked over the horizon, Tiberius carefully instructed his son, "Now listen Norman, I want you to be on your best behavior and pay attention to your teacher."

"Who is my teacher?"

"Um, I think it's Leonard."

"Cool!"

"...yeah sure let's go with that," Tiberius hastily said. Clearing his throat, the griffin continued, "While you're at school, don't go or do anything dangerous, and stay with your class too. I don't want you getting hurt. And if you do get hurt, I expect to be notified immediately." Trotting beside his dad, Norman mumbled, "Dad, you're not going to freak out like the time we went to see the salmon migration, right?"

"Hey, if I hadn't pulled you away from the edge, that fish would have dragged you down to the river depths!" Tiberius protested. Norman didn't reply to that. Instead, he thought quietly to himself before asking, "Dad, have you ever taken on a cave serpent?" Surprised, Tiberius replied, "Trust me, if I ever fought one of those, you wouldn't even be dreamt of."

"Do you think I'll see one at school today?" Norman went on to his next question. Helping his son over a fallen log, Tiberius chuckled softly and quipped, "I highly doubt it. And I hope you never have to see one of those." Pausing momentarily to scratch behind his ear, Norman switched the topic, "How old do ninetails get?"

"Ninetails? I don't know Norman, I never talked to one," Tiberius declared. Tilting his head in confusion, the young cub commented, "I thought you knew everything. You're so smart." Patting his son on the head, the griffin replied kindly, "Just because I'm smart doesn't mean I know everything. But I tell you what, if I ever meet a ninetail I will ask him. Right after I take on the cave serpent."

"And then after that you can go flying with a dragon!" Norman yipped, leaping up with outstretched paws. It was like he wanted to touch the sky. Catching his son by the scruff before the cub could hit the ground, Tiberius murmured, "Hate to break it to you Norman but dragons don't exist, not for a very long time." Huffing, the young cub grumbled, "Aw man."

"Would you look at that? We're here," Tiberius announced, setting Norman down as they arrived at the forest's schoolyard.