A long overdue request from guestsurprise. Here you go, Amigo! Enjoy!

Cassie belongs to guestsurprise and I only own Rachel and the Grant Mansion. All other characters belong to their respective owners.

A New Vinetastic Friend

Cassie burst into the Grant Mansion, closing the door behind her and breathing hard for a moment. She had just got done running to the Mansion after school, having decided to run for home instead of riding the bus with the bullies. Thankfully, she had made it.

"Cassie?" asked Rachel. "What's wrong, honey?"

"Just ran home," she said.

"Bullies again?" asked the owner of the Grant Mansion.

"Yeah."

Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorely tempted to ask some friends to give that school a makeover it won't forget," she said with a sigh. Then she perked up a bit. "Well, at least you're home safe."

"Rach?" said Cassie.

"Yes, Cass?" she asked.

Cassie surprised her by hugging her. "I wish I could stay here forever," she said. "My foster family is nice, but…,"

"Your family is here," Rachel finished. "Don't worry, honey. It'll work out."

Nodding, Cassie went upstairs to her room to do her homework. Rachel watched her and sighed. "It has to work out," she said to herself.

She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see the alien behind her. "It will," said the alien reassuringly. "Let me see if I can cheer her up."

"Be careful," said Rachel. "Cassie gets a bit jumpy sometimes."

The alien only smiled at her and moved away as she went to go make lunch.

Cassie got out her homework and set it out, deciding to tackle the longest one first, which was Math. After that, all she'd have was her English homework.

After about an hour, she finished her Math and put it away, moving to her English and finishing that up in about ten minutes. Getting up and putting away her stuff for Monday, since it was Friday, Cassie went over to her bed and flopped down on it, suddenly spotting something on her nightstand and sat up to get a better look. It looked like a large flower and when she touched it, it turned from its bright blue color to a darker blue. Surprised, she held it in her hands and the dark blue turned to bright purple. "What is this?" she asked.

"It's called a Mood Flower," said a scratchy voice and she turned to see a vine-like monster in her room. His body was similar to a Venus flytrap, only he had one blue eye and sharp teeth on his head and five legs that looked like huge vines and long arms with four thin fingers. Cassie's eyes nearly burst out of her head as she scrambled backwards, but the monster just came closer, making her more afraid as she was afraid he was going to eat her.

"Cassie, calm down," he said.

That just made her more afraid. "Get away from me!" she said and raced for the door, but the monster used his leg vines to block the door, trapping the young girl. Cassie scampered backwards as he blocked off other escape routes. Desperate, she ducked under one of his vines, surprising him, but he still caught her. She whimpered in fear as he brought her closer to him and she tried to break free. "Let me go!" she pleaded.

"When you calm down, I'll let you go," he responded. "Now, hold still."

She kept squirming and closed her eyes, shivering in fear. "I won't make a good meal for you," she said, her voice filled with fear.

It was quiet for a moment before she heard him chuckle. "Why on Earth do you think I want to eat you?" he asked.

Cassie opened her eyes to look at him and flinched when his hand came close to her face, but he just brushed back some of her hair before his arm moved around her to hold her upright in a sitting position. He then placed the Mood Flower in her hands and smiled.

"Don't be afraid, Cassie," he said as he smiled.

"How do you know my name?" she asked him.

He smiled. "I overheard you and Rachel earlier," he said. "Rough day?"

"Yeah," she said and saw the Mood Flower turn dark blue again. Curious, she lifted it up to her nose and breathed in its fragrance. It smelled wonderful and she watched it turn a bright green as she did so. "Is this why it's called a Mood Flower?" she asked curiously.

Seeing that she was calmer now, he chuckled. "Yes," he said. "Because they change color with one's mood."

Cassie now looked at him, amazed that he could stretch out his vines and they seemed very strong. "You remind me of Swampfire," she admitted.

She saw him smile. "He is a good friend of mine," he answered. "I remember now he was telling me how he met a young girl once. That must have been you."

She nodded. "Yeah," she said. "I didn't know there was another Methanosian in the Mansion."

The alien threw his head back and laughed. "I'm not a Methanosian, kiddo," he said with a chuckle. "Only Swampfire and his older brother are."

"Then what are you?"

He chuckled again. "I'm a Florauna," he answered. "A plant-like alien."

Cassie smiled sheepishly. "Sorry," she said. "Um…do you have a name?"

He smiled. "Wildvine," he answered.

"How strong are your vines?" she asked curiously.

Wildvine chuckled as he suddenly pinned her to the bed, restraining her wrists and ankles firmly, but also gently. "Very strong," he said. "Strong enough to prevent you from escaping a tickle torture."

"Eek!" Cassie yelped and squirmed, but couldn't get away as Wildvine lifted up her shirt to the bottom of her rib cage and his vines removed her socks.

"Tickle, tickle, tickle!" he teased her as his hands darted down to her stomach but stopped short. Cassie's reaction made him chuckle as she began giggling crazily even though he wasn't tickling her yet.

"Sounds like you're quite ticklish," he remarked. "Let's see how ticklish you are."

With that, he began tickling her stomach with his hands and two of his vines began tickling her feet. Cassie squealed with laughter as he tickled two of her tickle spots at once, his long fingers scurrying over her sensitive stomach and one finger even tickled her belly button, which made her laughter triple.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! STAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAP! THAT TICKLES!" she begged through her laughter.

Wildvine just chuckled. "Well, well, quite a ticklish tummy," he said as he stopped tickling her feet and paused in tickling her stomach to give her a breather. Once she regained her breath, he smirked at her.

"I wonder how hard you'll laugh when I do this," he said and suddenly leaned down and blew a raspberry right over her belly button. Cassie shrieked with giggles when he did that and continued squealing with laughter as Wildvine kept blowing raspberries all over her stomach and sides, chuckling when he saw her try to get away from him, but his vines were too strong.

He kept tickling her for a bit longer until he saw tears running down her face. Taking that as a hint that she had had enough, he stopped and cradled her in his arms, letting her recover. She giggled as some of the tickles were still running through her, but snuggled into the Florauna's hug as he rubbed her back. "Thanks," she said. "Sorry about earlier."

"Eh, don't worry, kiddo," he said. "Rachel was worse."

"Was not!" came Rachel's voice from down the hall, making both Wildvine and Cassie laugh as he then put her on his back and gave her a piggy-back ride out into the hallway where they saw Rachel straightening out some pictures that were a little crooked, but a few were a bit too high for her to reach.

"Need a lift?" asked Wildvine.

Rachel let out the breath she had been holding as she had tried to stretch her arm out to reach the picture and turned to Wildvine. "Yes, please," she said and felt one of the alien's leg vines wrap around her waist and lift her up so that she could straighten the pictures. "Thank you," she said as he lowered her down to the floor again.

"Guess it helps to have a friend to reach those pictures," said Cassie.

Rachel laughed. "It definitely does," she agreed as she watched Cassie hug Wildvine and he returned the hug, motioning Rachel to join in. She did and all three shared a warm group hug.

If you're curious as to how Rachel met Wildvine, their story is called "Vines Are Green".

Please leave a review, but no flames!

GoldGuardian2418