Note: read “What A Horrible Night”, “Werewolf, Baby!” and “The World Sure Seems Different From Down Here” first.
Hey, it’s Cal!
So, it’s been a few weeks since we last met. At least, on my end.
Let me fill you in.
First of all, Marley, the rasta fluffy all of this started with, turned out to be X-Positive as well. All our other fluffies are proud of him.
His power? Pyrokinesis. A wonderful starting power, as Pierre said. Marley is wearing a power dampener at home, until he has absolute control over his fire, to prevent any accidents.
I’ve been training him myself, and he’s been learning fast. Well, he’s always been a clever little dude.
I wonder…
Andre’s also been learning fast.
He can do the ball thing now. As promised, we’ve been using him as a basketball, and he cackles the whole time.
And, unlike Stretch, he doesn’t cheat. Andre doesn’t take a lot of things seriously, but cheating in basketball? He takes that very seriously.
I mean, he’s got no problem with us using our powers, there’s no actual rule against that yet, but he doesn’t take sides like Stretch does when Brian is playing.
Judy’s also learning fast. She’ll be ready to join the team soon. We’ve got her battle suit ready, because I already knew what she wanted, and you should have seen the look on Valerie’s face when I told her.
Valerie could do it, it wasn’t hard, but she thought it was an odd choice, is all.
I mean, nobody else has a leopard print battle suit.
Maybe it’ll start a trend.
We’ve also recruited Professor Rex Sycamore, philosophy teacher and werewolf. He can fit his ChaotiX work into his schedule just fine. He’s got a blipper, so it’s not like he has to waste time going back and forth between the School and his school.
And we’ve recruited Henry Morris and Carmilla, both vampires, who haven’t hurt a single fluffy since we hooked them up with a free supply of NuBlood.
We’re giving all the vampires free NuBlood, because nobody can resist free shit.
Valerie and Susan both said that taking a loss like that is worth it, if it means nobody gets exsanguinated.
That means drained of blood.
Yeah, there’s still a few vampires doing it, but the vampires who stopped don’t like it, because it makes them look bad too. So, the vampire community will happily help us hunt down any rulebreakers.
That is, if they don’t hunt down the rulebreakers first. But, they do tell us if that happens, so they’re trying.
Dave and Sandra had a wonderful honeymoon in the Outer Plane of Arcadia, courtesy of Deston. We all looked after Young Dave and Slayer until they got back.
Yours Truly got them the best wedding present.
For Dave, I got a battle suit, in red, yellow, and black. It goes great with his demon form.
He’s joined the ChaotiX too, along with Slayer. I mean, they were already fighting with us, but now it’s official.
For Sandra, I got her a blipper in her favorite color. And Pierre reassured her that blipping during pregnancy is perfectly safe.
Unlike our friends from across the pond, she got the hang of blipper etiquette pretty quickly.
Right now, me and Marley are at the School, in the training room. It’s just the two of us, just like in the very beginning.
“Alright, Mar. You remember what Drake said when I was learning this, right?”
Marley nods.
“Yus, daddeh. Hoofsie fwame am eee-zee, but whowe bodee am hawd.”
“Right. So, I just want to see how close you can get to a full body flame today. Don’t feel bad if you can’t pull it off, okay Mar? Not everyone can ace it on the first go, like I can. I mean, shit, you saw how long it took Andre to get that ball, right?”
“Otay, daddeh. Mawwey nu feew bad if Mawwey nu can du it.”
“Good. Are you ready? Go. What are you waiting for? I said go.”
Five minutes later, I’m staring blankly at Marley, who is now completely wreathed in fire.
I know I said that pets tend to take after their owners…
But I think I only just realised exactly how right I was when I said that.
Miles and miles away, in a lush, verdant meadow…
KPANG
There’s a flash of light. A machine appears.
Round, dark grey, standing on four legs.
It opens, and two individuals exit it.
One is a teenage boy, wearing a helmet that covers his head almost completely, only leaving the area around his mouth exposed, and a battle suit. Over the suit, he’s wearing a leather jacket with a lot of pockets.
The other is an old fluffy, his fluff gone completely grey. There’s a scar over his left eye, which is blind and milky white.
Had his fluff not gone grey, you would be able to figure out exactly who they are, and where they came from.
The boy turns to his companion, as they look around.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
The old fluffy nods.
“Yus. Dis am wut we am fite-in fow.”
The boy presses a few buttons on a device worn on his left arm, and the machine they arrived in shrinks, and changes shape, now looking like a black marble.
On the sphere, the word “PD-94” is legible.
The boy takes out a case from one of his pockets, and opens it, revealing rows of similar spheres. He picks the one on the ground up, and places it inside.
He closes the case, and puts it away, before turning back to the fluffy.
“We need to get going. And we need to keep a low profile. We don’t want it finding out we’re here, or it’ll follow us here.”
“It mite awweady be hewe.”
“Then we need to move fast, too.”
The boy kneels down, and gently lifts up the fluffy.
“Hold on tight, then.”
The boy and fluffy turn invisible, and then, the boy flies off towards the city.