Finn Gets a Cold
It was a snowy day on the Tigeroid Air ship. There weren't any lost Tai Chi cards on the sensor and Hak wasn't sensing anything, so it was a pretty quiet day. Rai was on the lookout at the top of the airship and Donha and Tori were walking around on the deck. All of a sudden Rai shouted down through the messenger tubes, "Sena! Anybody! Come quick! There's trouble up here!"
"What's wrong, Rai? asked Tori, once they were all crammed up in the lookout space.
"I heard a terrible noise! I bet it's something to do with the Dragonoids!" said Rai, looking around, panicked.
"What exactly did this noise sound like Rai?" asked Sena, annoyed at his foolishness.
"It was like a-
Suddenly there was a loud, rasping, guttural coughing sound that happened out of nowhere down below.
"It's a ghost!" cried Tori, hiding behind Donha.
"I...I'm sure it's nothing," said Sena, trembling.
"Hey, where's Finn?" asked Rai.
"I haven't seen him today," said Donha.
"Oh no! The ghost has Finn!" screamed Tori.
Another gross sound happened again.
"We'll save you, Finn!" yelled Tori, running down the steps. Sena, Donha and Rai followed him.
"Fiiiinnnnn! Where are you!" called Tori, speeding ahead down the hallway.
Suddenly, Finn walked around the corner and slammed into Tori.
"Ahh! Shoot, ouuucchhh!" whimpered Tori, rubbing his head.
"Are you okay, Finn?" asked Donha, helping Finn up to his feet.
"Yeah... I'm just...kind of..." Finn fell into a fit of coughing and other horrible noises.
"The ghost is in Fi-" Rai rammed his hand on Tori's mouth, cutting him off.
"I don't think we're dealing with a ghost, Tori," said Rai, "Finn are you feeling okay? You look kind of pale... well paler."
"Yeah, I'm fine, I probably just need a drink or something..." said Finn, staggering over to lean on a wall.
"No you're not!" said Sena, "come here, Finn."
Finn walked over to Sena and she put her hand on his forehead.
"Wow, Finn! You're burning up!" exclaimed Sena, taking her hand back.
"I'm fine, Sena. It's just a little cold, that's all."
"Wait, wait," said Rai, "let me get the straight, are you saying Finn has a cold? Am I the only one who finds that just a little ironic? I mean, he always uses the ice card and you'd think he wouldn't really be affected by colds and stuff!"
"This isn't funny, Rai!" yelled Sena, "and Finn, the only thing you're doing today is resting."
"Sena, I'm really fine," exclaimed Finn before going into another coughing fit.
"No, Finn, as leader I order you to rest in your room for the rest of the day, or at least until you get better," said Sena, "besides, I don't want you getting any of us sick!"
"Fine..." said Finn as he turned around and walked to his room.
"Poor Finn," said Tori, "what should we do now, Sena?"
"Donha, I'd like it if you looked after Finn and get him whatever he needs," said Sena.
"Sure thing, Sena. I have a great soup for colds that's sure to perk Finn up," said Donha.
"Rai and Tori continue to keep lookout, and I'll be with Hak in the control room."
"Okay, Sena," said Rai and Tori.
Except for Finn's occasional coughs and sneezes it was pretty quiet throughout the day. However the team didn't know that they were being watched.
"Heh heh, those Tigerbrats won't see what hit them," Jahara snickered, "thanks to my invisibility card, of course."
Under the invisibility card's power Jahara flew on her hover board up to the airship and landed on the deck.
"Uh, Tori, did you hear something?" Rai called.
"No, Rai, you're probably just hearing the ghost again!"
"To-ri! That wasn't a ghost!"
"Silly kids," thought Jahara, "they'll be easy to sneak past."
Meanwhile, Finn was down lying on his bed in his room. Donha knocked at his door.
"Hey Finn, I have some soup for you if you want it."
"Sure, Donha, come in."
Donha walks and sets the bowl on Finn's bedside table.
"How are you feeling?" asked Donha.
"Not very well," said Finn, "my head aches and I feel colder than my Bing card."
"Oh man," said Donha, "I'm sorry to hear that, why don't you try sleeping. That should at least pass the time a little bit better."
"That sounds like a good idea," said Finn, "Sena's not going to let me do anything else anyway."
"Okay, I'll leave you to it, then." Donha walks back out of the room.
"There's no way I will be able to sleep," thought Finn, "not when my mission still needs to be completed."
Finn suddenly tenses up and looks uneasy.
"I sense something," thought Finn, getting out of bed. He walks to his door and opens it up to the hallway and to invisible Jahara.
"Blast that kid," thought Jahara, "he nearly knocked me over!"
"There's something here," thought Finn, "maybe Tori was right about the ghost."
"All I have to do is sneak past him," thought Jahara, "just like the others."
"No, not a ghost," thought Finn, "there's a Dragonoid on this ship."
"Why isn't he moving?" thought Jahara, "whatever, I don't have much time, I need to get those Tai Chi symbols."
"FINN!"
Both Jahara and Finn jumped as Sena stomped down the hallway towards them.
"I thought I told you to rest, what are you doing?"
"But Sena, I think there's-"
"I don't want to hear it, Finn," said Sena, "there's nothing you can do right now, not while you're sick! I order you to stay in your room until you're better!"
"But-"
"No!"
"Se-"
"FIIINNNNNN!"
"Okay, okay," said Finn, defeated, going back in his room.
"What's going on, Sena?" asked Donha, walking down the hall.
"Nothing, Donha," answered Sena, sighing, "just make sure Finn stays in his room."
"Okay, Sena."
"Ha," thought Jahara, "it looks like the Tigeroids are keeping the wrong person prisoner."
Finn began pacing back and forth in his room, coughing and sniffing and worrying.
"I know that I sensed someone in the hallway," said Finn to himself, "and it looks like no one else noticed but me. How am I going to save the ship if Sena won't let me do anything?"
Jahara finally reached the door to Komorka's room. With Komorka gone nothing stands in Jahara's way of taking the Tai Chi symbols.
Except for a locked door.
"Shoot!" whispered Jahara, "there must be some sort of key!"
Jahara moved away from the door and walked silently through the hallway towards the command room. Sena didn't notice invisible Jahara walk past her.
"Where could a key be?" thought Jahara, "it must be here!"
Jahara jumped whenever Sena yelled into the messenger tubes, "Rai! Tori! Are there any signs of anything out there?"
"No Sena!" Rai called back.
"Nothing Sena!" called Tori, "but I tripped over something invisible up here!"
"What, Tori?" exclaimed Sena, "are you sure you didn't bang your head too hard when you ran into Finn?"
"But Sena!" cried Tori, "can you come up here?"
"All right, Tori," sighed Sena, "I'll be right there."
So now it was just Jahara and Hak together. Hak's tail is twitching and he's staring around the room uneasily.
"Something doesn't feel right," said Hak to himself.
"There's no way I'll be able to find that key by myself," thought Jahara, "I'm going to have to change my mission a little bit."
Suddenly Jahara grabbed Hak by the ruff of his neck and covered his mouth. Hak struggled all he could, but he just couldn't get free.
"Let's see who the Tigerbrats choose," said Jahara, smirking, "the symbols or their cat!"
Hak muffled angrily.
Finn was still trying to plan how to escape from his room. All of a sudden a smile spread on Finn's face.
"Hey, Donha!" called Finn, through his door, "I could really use another bowl of that great soup you made!"
"Sure, Finn," called Donha, "I whip one up for you!"
As Dohna's footsteps disappeared down the hallway Finn slipped out of his room. Finn ran down to Komorka's room and checked the room. What Jahara didn't know was that Komorka trusted the key to her room in Finn's care while she is away.
Finn checked the Tai Chi symbols and sighed with relief.
"Maybe it was the sickness that was making me feel funny," thought Finn.
"Heeeeelllllpppppp!"
Finn started and looked around.
The voice came from the deck.
"Leave him alone!"
"Tai Chi Saw! Thread!"
"Someone help!"
Finn ran out of Komorka's room and up the stairs. He looked out the window to see that Jahara was holding Hak hostage. Sena, Tori and Rai were tied up by Jahara's thread card and were lying to the side. Donha was battling with Jahara, but he didn't want to hit Hak and was tied up easily as well.
Jahara tied Hak up and threw him to the ground along with them.
"Now that I have your attention," said Jahara, smirking evilly, "I have a question to ask, where is the key to the room that has the Tai Chi?"
"What a silly question, Jahara!" exclaimed Sena, "we would never tell you anything!"
"Is that so, Tigerbrat?" said Jahara, "well, let me tell you this. If you don't answer my question with enthusiasm I'll rip the ship apart myself, and maybe I'll take care of your little sick friend, too!"
"You leave Finn alone!" yelled Rai, angrily.
"I'm not afraid of you, Jahara," said Finn, stepping from the door.
"Oh look, you've saved me the trouble of hunting you down myself," said Jahara, "how scary, a sick Tigeroid!"
"Finn! Be careful!" yelled Donha.
"Tai Chi Bing, Ice!" yelled Finn.
"You call that an attack?" exclaimed Jahara, easily deflecting Finn's ice attack.
"This sickness has weakened my attacks," thought Finn, panicked.
"You might as well give up, kid," said Jahara, "I know you're sick and there's no way you can defeat me! Tai Chi Saw!"
Finn barely missed the thread coming towards him. Suddenly another thread came at him and wrapped around his ankle, Finn lost his footing and fell down.
"Finn, no!" cries Tori.
The key to Komorka's room clattered out of Finn's pajama pocket and onto the floor in between him and Jahara. Finn tries to lunge for the key, but Jahara's thread wrapped around his wrists and other ankle, pinning him to the ground.
"Well, well," said Jahara, picking up the key, "thank you, Finn. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some Tai Chi to pick up."
Finn struggles to get free, but there's no breaking Jahara's thread.
Suddenly, something takes out Jahara, knocking both her and the key on the ground. The Tigeroids look up to see the masked tiger warrior standing over Jahara. The thread fell off of Finn and the rest of the team was free.
The tiger warrior picked up the key and gave it back to Finn.
"Uh, thank you," said Finn, getting up.
The rest of the Tigeroids got up and joined Finn with the warrior.
"Who are you?" asked Rai, staring up at the warrior.
"That's none of your concern," answered the warrior, "but let this be a lesson to you. Be sure to listen to your teammates no matter what. Finn knew that there was something wrong happening on the ship, but no one listened to him and then all this trouble was caused because of that."
Sena looks to the ground, blushing a deep red.
"I'm sorry Finn," she said, "I should have listened to you."
"And Finn," said the warrior, "know your limits. The duel that you had with Jahara today showed you that you can't battle when you're ill. It is best to rest and heal during times like that."
"You're right," said Finn.
Jahara starts to stir.
"Don't forget today," said the warrior, "because you might need it for tomorrow."
The warrior picked up Jahara and set her on the, now visible, hoverboard. Together they fly off in the horizon.
The team stands dumbfounded for a second. But without missing a beat Sena yells out, "FINN! It's freezing out here and you're standing here with nothing but PJ's on! This will help your cold about as much as walking through the Arctic tundra!"
"Yes, Sena," said Finn, smiling lightly and walking towards the door.
"How can I overcome an illness," thought Finn, as he got into bed, "I never want to feel that feeling of being powerless again."
Very slowly Finn's eyes drooped shut and he drifted off into a deep, dreamless sleep.
THE END