Foxglove's Journey
By Apex Sixtail
All Characters ©Disney, used without permission
"I'm sorry, Foxy." Dale said as he looked at the ground.
"Don't worry, cutie, I understand." Foxglove said. Slowly, with tears in her eyes, she turned around and took off. As she did, the other rangers joined Dale on the branch.
"There, I hope you're happy." Dale said without turning around.
"I'm sorry Dale" Chip said as he put a hand on Dale's shoulder. Dale quickly brushed it off. He stormed in to the headquarters, and continued on to his room.
"Golly," Gadget mused, "Dale is more shook up than I thought he would."
"Yea, ya really think this was the best way, mate?" Monty asked.
"It's the only way." Chip sighed, hoping he hadn't just alienated his best friend.
Foxglove flew for hours after leaving the Rescue Ranger's headquarters. She didn't know where to go. She hadn't been alone since Winfred befriended her almost three years ago. She had thought the wrong doings in her life were in the past. This time, things were going to be different. She had helped fight the good fight, helped beat the bad person, and found what she had thought was the love of her life. But just like every other time, those who she cared about most abandoned her. Suddenly, she realized she hadn't been paying attention to where she was going. Before she could avoid it, she slammed into a tree, knocking her uncontious. As she woke up, she realized that she was wet and cold, and it was raining. She scurried into some bushes to avoid the rain. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. Soon she fell asleep. As she woke, the setting sun had penetrated the bushes enough to dry her off and warm her up. She decided to get something to eat.
After eating her fill, she decided to try to find some place to roost. Every belfry in town seemed to be filled to its limits, or the occupants didn't want another stranger in their belfry. Finally, lost, alone, and rejected, Foxglove tried one last place. "Hello?" She called as she entered the enclosure. "Is any one here?" She asked.
"Hi." Someone said behind her. She instinctively jumped and turned around. "Oh, I didn't mean to startle you, miss…"
"Foxglove, " Foxglove said, " my name is Foxglove,"
"Well, nice to meet you Foxglove. My name is Starflight, but everyone calls me Starry."
"Nice to meat you Starflight."
"Please, Starry will do." Starry said with a smile.
"O.K., Starry." Foxglove giggled
"Now, what can I do for you?" he asked.
"Well, I was wondering if you have a place to stay for a while."
"A lady as beautiful as you doesn't have a place to stay?" Starry asked as he lifted her chin with his wing. "I wouldn't dream of turning you away." He said as he kissed the back of her wing. She blushed.
"If all's well, I think I'll turn in for the day."
"By all means." Starflight stifles a yawn. "I think it's about time to turn in myself."
Meanwhile, at RRHQ, Dale is pacing in the living room while Gadget tries to work on some blueprints on the couch. "Dale, please will you stop that?" She asked.
"Sorry." Dale said as he hung his head and stood in one spot. Suddenly, he started pacing again. Because of this, Gadget got up and stopped Dale herself.
"Dale you have to stop this." She gently grabbed his shoulders. "It's not good for you, and its not going to bring her back." Just then, Chip walked into the room.
"No, but this will help." Dale pushed Gadget out of the way and rushed Chip. Luckily for Chip, Monty was there to hold Dale back. "Let me go, Monterey." Dale shouted. Chip had jumped at his best friend's outburst.
"Come on pally, I'm thinkin' you need to get some fresh air, I dose." Monty led Dale out the door.
"What's up with him?" Chip asked. "He's never acted like that."
"That isn't an act Chip. You hurt Dale when you had him ask Foxglove to leave." Gadget said as she steadied herself.
"I'm sorry. But she may still be working for Winnifred." Chip, who had just gotten up, said.
"Chip, I can't believe you just said that." Gadget said with a bit of shock in her voice.
"Me too." Zipper buzzed.
"Besides, why is he so bothered by it? I mean I liked her too."
"Chip, Dale feels differently about her then you and I." Gadget said.
"Ya, you could say he loved her." Monty said as he entered the door again.
"What? You did see the way he acted towards her advances, didn't you?"
"Chip, 'ow long 'ave you known Dale?" Monterey asked
"About seven years, why?" Chip shrugged
"I'm surprised." Monterey shook his head
"About what?" Chip inquired
"Chipper, Dale acted that way because that's how he deals with responsibility. And a relationship takes a lot of responsibility." Monty said.
"Alright, the next time I see her, I'll apologize and invite her back.
"You're doing the right thing." Gadget said, and, to her suprise, kissed him on the cheek. To think about what she had just done, Gadget stepped outside. "Hey, Dale's not here." She called back in.
"What? But I just left 'im." Monty said.
"Oh no!" Chip gasped as he ran out the door.
"Chipper, wait up." Monty called as he followed Chip, grabbing Gadget as he passed her.
"Dale!" Chip hollered as they found Dale at the police station.
"What do you want?" Dale's words had a sharp edge to them.
"Dale, I'm sorry, I had no right to ask you to do that. I'm sorry." Chip explained.
"You're sorry! The first girl I've truly loved and gotten any sort of response back may be gone because you told me to ask her to leave and all you can say is sorry?" Dale shouted.
"Dale, I.." Chip stammered out.
"Save it." Dale said in an almost calm voice. "How would you feel if I asked you to kick Gadget out!" Unfortunately, for Chip, the shouting returned.
"I hardly see how the situations are the same." Chips own voice was just below a shout.
"The hell they're not the same. At least admit it to yourself, you love Gadget." Chip hoped that Gadget didn't hear that.
"So what if I do? If it was for the good of the team, I'd do it."
"But would you just accept it, or would you do the same thing?" Dale had Chip in a corner.
"Ok. I would. There, are you happy?" Chip hissed out.
"Some what." Dale sulked for a minute before collapsing to the ground, crying. After a moment, Chip finally spoke.
"Tell you what," He sat down next to his best friend and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder, "Tomorrow, I'll help you look for her, OK?"
"OK." Dale started to calm down. Slowly, Chip led his friend back to the Ranger Wing. As they got back, Chip noticed Gadget was gone.
"Wha.."
"She left after Dale's shout about the second situation." Monterey cut Chip off.
"Oh, no!" Chip hit his forehead.
"Chipper, I've known how you felt for some time. Why haven't you just told her?"
"Because, I don't want to jeopardize the team." Chip called back as he started up the Ranger Wing. Monterey helped Dale into the back seat and got into the front along with Chip.
"Chipper, you 'ave to drop this leader bit some time."
"I can't, not again." Chip called back. Instantly, he regretted his choice of words.
"What do you mean by again?" Monterey picked up on the mistake.
'Sometimes, I think he'd make a good detective.' Chip mused, then he said out loud, "Nothing, just my mouth working faster than my mind." He hurriedly answered Monterey.
'Come on Chipper, you can do better than that.' Monterey mentally tried to get Chip to open up. No use, Chip was silent for the rest of the trip.
A few hours later, at Ranger Headquarters, Gadget slowly opened the door "'Bout time." Monterey called over his shoulder.
"Sorry, but like I said, I had some errands to run." Gadget explained.
"For three hours?" Monterey stood up and faced her.
"They where long errands." Gadget explained.
'Ere we go again.' Monterey mentally sighed. "Gadget, what are we going to do with you." Monterey sighed again.
"What?" Gadget inquired.
"If you would have left any time other than when you did, I'd 'ave thought nothing of it."
"Well, you know me. Speaking of witch, where are they?" Gadget asked.
"Your love took Dale into there room after we got home." Monterey tried one of the oldest tricks in his book.
" That's good that my love an—" Gadget clasped here hands over her mouth as she realized she fell for the trick, hook, line and sinker.
"Don't worry," Monterey started after a moment, "I won't say anything."
"Thank you." Gadget hugged Monterey and walked down the hall to her room.
"But, I didn't say I wouldn't do anything." The Australian mouse said after the door to Gadget's room closed.
"Foxglove." Dale called into another belfry, only the fifth one today.
"What, who?" A female bat sleepily asked.
"Oh, sorry ma'am. Have you seen a pink female bat around?" Dale asked her.
"Well," she yawned, "now that you mention it, a girl did come looking for a place to stay a couple of days ago."
"Really?" Dale perked up.
"Yes. If I hadn't had family over, I'd probably let her stay here, too."
"Oh." Dale's spirit dropped like a lead stone.
"Sorry, really I am." The bat apologized.
"That's ok, I guess." Dale started to exit the belfry.
"Any luck?" Chip asked as Dale walked up to the Ranger Wing.
"Well, she was here, but didn't stay." Dale said as he climbed into the aircraft.
"Don't worry, we'll find her." Chip tried to cheer up his best friend.
"Excuse me." The bat Dale had just been talking to approached to Ranger Wing.
"Yes?" Chip looked up at her. Dale hadn't really noticed her before. She had chestnut brown fur, deep blue eyes, and black hair witch fell down between her shoulder blades. 'She's beautiful, for a bat' Chip thought.
"Well, I just wanted to know why you're looking for this, Foxglove." She asked Chip.
"You see, my friend and her were love each other. She had been working with a witch we just helped stop. I let the fear get the best of me and I asked her to leave." Chip said the last part with a sigh.
"You know, if I had a hand, I'd slap you." She said.
"I know, I deserve it." Chip looked down at the ground.
"Hey, don't kick yourself around." She placed a wing on Chip's shoulder.
"I hurt my best friend, I…" Chip couldn't think of what to say.
"Its ok, we've all made mistakes. Tell you what, I'll help you find her. My name's Serena." She extended a wing. At the name, Chip jumped back a little, but quickly recovered and shook her wing.
"I'm Chip, and this is Dale. We're part of the—"
"Rescue Rangers. Your logo is on the side of that thing." Sarena giggles as she pointed to the Ranger Wing.
"Good advertising, Gadget." Chip chuckled. "Alright, but we need to hurry, we only have a couple of hours of daylight left, hey, don't bats.."
"So I get up early, sue me." Serena huffed.
"Alright, sorry." Chip apologized.
"Can we get going?" Dale called from the ranger wing. Soon, the Ranger Wing took off, Serena opting to ride.