Chapter One

Candy was doing his job as one of the waiters. The show wasn't till later. Candy wrote down the order of the boy at the table. Well, it was a bald man in a suit, but Candy always called people boys or girls.

"… And a large chocolate milkshake." Candy didn't have to write down the order. He simply used his memory storage, and deleted the basic orders at the end of the day. He kept hold of the unusual one for the boss to get inspiration. "Will that be all? You asked for fries, but didn't mention any sauce."

"You're right. Ketchup and mayonnaise, please. Um, what was your name?" Candy gave a grin. "Candy the Cat, proud face of Candy's Burger and Fries!"

"Who's your girlfriend?" the boy asked, pointing across the room. Candy frowned in confusion as he turned. Then he saw who the man pointed at. "Oh, that's not my girlfriend. That's my sister, Cindy." He kept his back turned to the boy so he couldn't see his face blushing.

"Oops. My bad. Hey, don't you want to get the orders to the chef?" "Yeah, I should. Hey, if you wanna talk later, there's a show this evening. You can talk to me before and after. See ya."

He walked back to the kitchen counter. He and Oldie gave each other a high five, transferring the information through their hands.

"How's it going, Oldie?" "Not too shabby. This keeps up, we'll be able to expand the place again soon." Candy sat on a counter stool, to rest his legs. He watched as Pengu ran up the side steps made for her, touched her flipper to Oldie, and zoomed off, the coattails of her tux dragging on the ground.

"Look at her go! And to think that she was the slowest when we were still bots." Candy scratched his chest through his blue 'I'm w/ Family' t-shirt. "Makes ya think though. Why did we become organic? Who did it to us? And what were their intentions?"

Oldie sighed. "Newbie, you bring this up once every day, and I'll give you the same answer today. I'm just glad I'm no longer forgotten."

"Welp, I'm off," Candy said. When he was in the middle of the restaurant, he stepped on Pengu's coattails, the only way to 'catch up' with her.

"Hey, take a break, Pengu. You're gonna crash and burn." She yanked her coattails from under Candy's feet. "I haven't yet, and that's what matters." She zoomed off, the coattails meant for people to stop her trailing behind.

"Silly girl. Oh, well." He went on with his job, sneaking a glance at his sister every once in a while. Blank walked over. Despite the fact that the others for the most part had become a humanized living animal, they still couldn't tell what Blank was, other than female. And that was a guess on body shape, but Blank was content with that.

"Hey, Blank. Has Scribble come back yet?" Blank responded the way she always did: Silent at first, and then giving a slow nod or shake, sometimes followed by some sort of action. She could talk, but it was a low rumble. In this case, she nodded her head, pointed at the stage, then pointed up.

"Drawing on the roof. Okay." Before he could walk away, Blank nodded her head again. She moved her hands over the top of her mouth. "Ah, with Markey. Okay. Catch ya later, Blank."

"Hey!" Candy heard the shout. Well, it was much muffled, but he recognized the voice. He looked around. Pengu must've been on one of her breaks, because he didn't see her inside.

"Hey, Cindy, Oldie. I'll be right back." He went out the door. Where was she? He heard her again. The t-t-t-t-t of her feet. It stopped. He went down the block. There.

Someone was trying to shove her in the dumpster. And that person was holding Pengu's personal money bag! Candy ran at the person, and tackled him to the ground. Both he and the thief were so stunned that neither moved. Then Candy quickly moved to sit on his chest.

The person tried to push Candy off, and Candy felt a sting in his tail as the person yanked it, but a swift kick from Pengu knocked him out. Candy stood up, and he and Pengu stared. "I think we should call the police." "Naw. He didn't get away with your money. Plus, I think he learned his lesson from your foot." "About that. I may need to take it easy for a bit."

Candy leaned down, instantly to hug Pengu. "Feel better?" "What? I'm fine." "Do you want me to stop?" ". . . No." Candy smiled. Pengu was always too proud to fully admit she was hurt, but he could understand the hints she didn't know she dropped.

"Umm. . . Am I interrupting something?" Candy looked up to see Cindy holding a metal tray. He quickly released Pengu and stood up. "Naw, Pengu got her foot hurt by this goon, so I gave her a hug to feel better." He tapped the still unconscious man with his foot.

"Hey, why do you have a tray?" Pengu asked. "Hmm? Oh, I knew something was wrong, so I came out to help. We should get back inside."

Before Cindy turned around, Candy thought that her red cheeks gave a glow, but it must have been the sun.