Chapter 4 - Elastic Crossroads
Dr Tabias looked around as Kate and Lilly continued taking him deeper and deeper into the forest; he realized the wolves were walking in circles and avoiding a direct route; obviously, they didn't trust him enough to take him right to their lairs. He also noticed the other 2 wolves weren't on sight; either they were invisible at the moment, or they weren't even around.
"How much longer?" Tabias, riding a horse-sized Kate, asked the wolves.
"Not much. We'll be there in a moment." Kate replied before talking to Lilly in wolf language. "You've been very quiet."
"I'm thinking about Garth and my pups; this is the longest we've been away from home since we became a couple." Lilly sighed.
"Mmm... yeah, I feel the same way about Humphrey and my pups. And I'm also worried about their wellbeing... I mean, we pretty much trusted Candy and Sweets' education on our pups, and knowing those two... not exactly the best influence for our offspring." Kate sighed; she didn't have the best opinion about the new elastic pair.
"I just hope our pups don't start acting like them. I never told this to anyone because I like being friends with all the wolves in the pack, but Candy and Sweets kinda get on my nerves at times." Lilly admitted.
"Uh, you know, it's not polite to have a private conversation in front of others." Tabias said to the wolves, obviously a bit annoyed about not being able to understand their language.
"Hey, if we can understand Human, it's not our fault you can't understand Canine. Seriously, you're supposed to be the smart one." Lilly rolled her eyes and got her playful mood back. "Heh, maybe you humans should stop calling us 'Dumb Animals', and call yourselves 'Dumb Humans'."
Tabias groaned and facepalmed while Kate chuckled a bit.
Meanwhile, Austin and Casey had arrived at the pack's lair and explained everything, including how Kate and Lilly were getting Dr Tabias to examine Candy and Sweets; since they had left in their invisible form, and they didn't need to take a longer way back home, they arrived much faster than the elastic females.
"We also need to take Candy and Sweets to the Grotto or some other place far from home. We can't let Doctor Tabias know the exact place where we live." Austin said to Humphrey.
"Okay... let's take them to the cliff. Once we get there, we'll howl to tell Kate and Lilly we're there so they can take this guy there." Humphrey proposed.
"Good. The moment Hutch and Candy bring Sweets here, we're leaving." Casey said before chuckling a bit. "Never thought Hutch and Candy would become a couple... and Sweets in a date with Cando? And here I thought having super powers would be the craziest thing happening to a wolf."
"Give them some credit. Both Candy and Sweets had been behaving quite nicely." Garth admitted. He didn't say it out loud, but more than having Dr Tabias examining Candy and Sweets, he was more eager to see Lilly again. Humphrey was pretty much the same thinking about Kate.
"Okay, we're back." Everyone turned when hearing Candy; Hutch was with her, and Sweets and Cando were following. "So, where's that doctor?"
"We're meeting him at the cliff. We don't want any human to know where we live, just in case he later goes back on his promise." Garth told them; according to what Austin and Casey told the pack, Dr Tabias wasn't directly responsible for Candy and Sweets' transformation into super elastic wolves, but it was always possible that, after watching Candy and Sweets, Tabias decided to go back to his animal experimentation.
"Hey, can we go too?" Hutch asked.
"Yeah, I don't want any silly human playing mad doctor with my Stretch." Cando frowned while pointing at Sweets before getting a sly smirk. "And good thing we'll be at the cliff, because if he tries playing one of his sciency-things on us... we can always push him off the edge."
"Aw, that's the nicest scary thing I've ever heard." Sweets grinned back at Cando.
The pack decided that, besides Candy and Sweets, the only other wolves there should be Humphrey and Garth, due to them being Kate and Lilly's mates, and Hutch and Cando, since, by now, it was obvious they were Candy and Sweets' mates.
The wolves went to the cliff, and then started howling; Kate and Lilly heard them and went there, glad that Casey and Austin had already explained everything to the pack. The moment Kate and Lilly saw their mates, however, they forgot about the mission for the time being, and Kate reduced herself to normal wolf size, almost dropping Dr Tabias, to get Humphrey in a full body embrace, wrapping herself around him while kissing him, and Lilly turned into a ball to tackle Garth and pin him to the ground before kissing him with a passion.
"Wow. They really missed each other, huh?" Cando smirked at Sweets.
"Hey, Kate, Lilly, nice to see you again, but you brought the guy to see us, remember?" Candy got the other elastic females and their mates' attention. Tabias, who just stood there after Kate almost dropped him, groaned a bit at this display.
"Great. These two have someone waiting for them when they return home, and I hadn't been on a date in... uh... since... eh..." Tabias thought out loud, trying to remember his last date... and not being able to remember even one. "Okay, now I'm depressed."
"Right, sorry." Kate, ignoring Tabias' little monologue, unwrapped herself from Humphrey's body and turned back at the scientist, talking Human again. "Okay, Doctor, they're the wolves your ex-assistant transformed; Candy and Sweets. You can examine them, but remember, we'll keep an eye on you at all times."
"I`m keeping both eyes." Lilly, who had stopped pinning Garth, frowned at Tabias while enlarging her eyes to dish size.
"Okaaay... I got it; you do things literally." Tabias, more than a little impressed at Lilly's display, nodded at her and approached Candy and Sweets while taking out some instruments he brought for the occasion. "Uh... can you tell them I'm not gonna hurt anyone?"
"They can understand your language; you're the one who can't talk to ours." Kate reminded him. "Don't worry, I'll translate everything they want to ask you."
Tabias nodded before hearing some snarling coming from Cando.
"Huh... what did he say?"
"Oh, his name is Cando, a friend of ours I have no idea why he's here..." Kate was interrupted by Humphrey whispering in her ear, the female gasping after a moment. "He is... wow... now that's impressive."
"What?" Tabias asked.
"Right... okay, Cando and Sweets became a couple recently; and about your other question, he said that, if you hurt Sweets, he's gonna rip off your kidneys and then, while you scream in agony, he'll push you off the cliff."
Tabias paled in fear but when looking back at Cando, who was still snarling at him, he realized Kate wasn't lying.
"Tell him..." Kate interrupted the human.
"He can understand your language, remember?"
"Oh, right..." Tabias turned back at Cando. "Eh... I promise I won't hurt your mate, so... you can stop looking at me as if I were your dinner."
Cando snarled and growled quietly, and, again, Kate translated.
"He said he's gonna trust you; just remember your promise and he'll forget about his warning. Because Cando never threats; he warns. His words, not mine." Kate added quickly. "But I fully agree with him; so, remember your promise, Tabias."
The scientist nodded and started working with the wolves, taking some samples and analyzing them on the spot, plus asking Candy and Sweets to do some transformations so he could witness and complement his research.
"Mmm... okay... so far, it seems they're healthy; and no side effects. If seems the formula worked just fine; they're not gonna suffer any horrible mutation or disease." Tabias informed the wolves, all of them sighing in relief.
"Hope this doesn't encourage you to going back to experimenting on live animals." Kate warned him.
"I... fine, I won't." Tabias groaned at this. In reality, after checking out Candy and Sweets' samples, he had been tempted to get back to his old experiments, realizing a lot of the current research was more than ready to test on live animals, but Kate's reminder made him realize the wolves would still keep an eye on him, and he didn't want to make them angry again.
"Okay, what now?" Lilly asked.
"I am sure the guy who stole my formula and injected it into your friends isn't very far from here, since he'll obviously be monitoring the test subjects." Tabias pointed out, the wolves agreeing with him since it was obvious the man, as a scientist, knew quite well how the other human's mind worked.
"Then, maybe Candy and Sweets should take you to the place where your ex-assistant shot them." Kate said before turning at Candy and Sweets. "You two take him to the exact spot where you were ambushed. Lilly will go with you; I wanna... check out something."
"Okay! We can use this time to practice your Human Talking."Lilly said to Candy and Sweets; obviously, morphing their throats enough to talk Human Language was a more delicate skill, and Candy and Sweets didn't know it that well.
After Candy and Sweets shared a kiss with their new mates, they left, along with Lilly, taking Dr Tabias to the place the other scientist injected them the formula; Garth, who obviously had missed his mate a lot, went along with them. Kate then turned back at Cando and Hutch; Humphrey moved aside, realizing this was something his mate wanted to handle personally.
"Guys, please, don't take this the wrong way, but... are you sure you want to date those two?" Kate arched an eyebrow.
"Not easy to not take THAT the wrong way, Kate." Hutch frowned a bit.
"Why not?" Cando frowned as well. "It's not as if you run a dating service around here."
"Look, the thing is, I know Candy and Sweets... they're not bad, but they aren't exactly the nicest wolves around."
"Neither do I, and guess I deserve dating the female I want, don't I?" Cando got a bit closer to Kate, actually snarling a bit. Humphrey knew that, if things went violent, Cando would be the one regretting it, but he hoped nothing bad happened.
"Kate, not long after you and Lilly left to see this scientist, Candy saved my life." Hutch entered the conversation, surprising Kate and calming Cando. When Hutch narrated her how everything happened, Kate was visibly impressed.
"And guess what? You don't need someone to save your life to get attracted to her." Now it was Cando's turn to talk. "In fact, Stretch and I started on the wrong paw... and a little violently." The short male seemed a bit ashamed at the last part but soon got a little smile and, just like Hutch did, narrated the incident to the other wolves.
"Curious... Sweets being a tomboyish female that actually fights a male, and Candy being heroic? Guess I don' t know them as well as I thought." Kate admitted.
"It's because you don't really know them in a... close, familiar way." Hutch pointed out.
"Yeah, I mean, you obviously love Humphrey, but for anyone who doesn't really know the guy, thinks he's nothing but a big buffoonish pup... no offense.." Cando turned at Humphrey at the last part.
"None at all." Humphrey, more than used to these comments, shrugged and then looked back at Kate. "And they have a point, Kate. Maybe you should talk with Candy and Sweets and try to get to know them in a closer, non-arguing level."
"We can give you the basics." Hutch added, and then started telling everyone about the problems Candy had in the past, with emphasis on her broken heart's issues. They were all visibly touched at this, and when Hutch ended, it was a perfect cue for Cando to tell about Sweet's own problems.
"Wow." Kate was visibly impressed by this new information. "I... never thought they had it that bad in the past. Truth be said, I always thought they were nothing but... uh... well..."
"A pair of snobbish airheads without any regards for others' feelings?" Humphrey ended the phrase before turning back at Hutch and Cando. "Sorry, guys, no offense."
"No, it's fine... most of the pack think around the same lines. Of course, we don't agree with that, but.." Hutch was interrupted by Cando.
"Then again, Hutch and I rarely spent enough time around the other wolves to hear those rumors or get to really know Candy and Stretch before these days."
"Guess that helped you both, since you could get to know Candy and Sweets without having a previous bad image of them." Kate's deduction was met with agreement by the males. "Okay, I'll go see how the research is working, and I'll take that chance to talk with Lilly about this too."
"Can we go too? Garth is already there." Humphrey pointed out.
"Sorry, guys, but they left a while ago, and I'll need to use my full speed to catch up with them... and no offense, but I move much faster than any of you, so I can't wait." Kate wasn't exactly thrilled about this, since she really had missed Humphrey and wanted his company a lot, but they all knew she had to do the logical thing in this case. "Plus, you guys have to tell the rest of the pack about what we just did here, and what are we doing now."
Humphrey and the other males nodded in agreement, and, after a last, quick kissing with Humphrey, Kate morphed into a ball and rolled/bounced on her way to catch up with the others. As she pointed out, this way of moving was extremely fast, and none of the normal wolves would be able to keep up with her.
By the time Kate found the group, changing into her normal self at times in order to use her nose and track them down, Tabias was already checking around the area of the ambush, trying to find hidden cameras or some clue about his ex-assistant's location.
"No luck so far." Tabias pointed out to Kate when noticing her arrival. "It seems he covered up his tracks quite well."
"Yes, this guy even used some wacky-sciency liquid to cover up his scent. We can't even sniff any traces of human smell besides Doctor Tabias'." Lilly added.
"Mmm... okay, let's expand the search. Garth, you try to sniff that way," Kate pointed at a distance, "while Lilly and I try the other one, so we can find the spot where this liquid stops messing with our noses and we can find this guy's scent. On the meantime, Candy and Sweets can talk with Dr Tabias and explain him what happened, in their own words."
"Good. We can practice our Human-ish." Candy said, Tabias understanding her perfectly; aside from her speaking a little slower than a person would normally do, her human speech was good enough to carry a conversation with him.
"Okay. Let's start." Sweets talked Human-ish as well, even if a bit slower than Candy; she seemed to be aware of this fact, and that's why she was only speaking in short phrases, something understandable since she and Candy had just started practicing human-talking with Lilly on their way to this spot.
While Candy and Sweets talked with Tabias, Garth gave Lilly a quick kiss on her nose before leaving to do his tracking job; Lilly smiled at this display, gladly surprised, since usually she was the one starting public displays of affection in this relationship.
"Heh. He really missed you, uh?" Kate chuckled but then turned a bit more serious. "Come on, we have to do our work too."
The 2 more experienced elastic females started walking away from the group, and, once they were far enough, besides sniffing around, Kate started telling Lilly about her conversation with the males, Lilly being surprisingly silent and alert through the whole narrative.
"Ouch. Now I feel bad for those bad things I've thought about them at times." Lilly sighed. "Not many times, of course, but..."
"I get it... and don't worry. I feel bad for the both of us." Kate groaned a bit. Lilly, despite obviously gaining a lot of maturity after getting her powers, marrying Garth and becoming a mother, was still a big pup at heart, and it would take a lot for her to develop mean feelings for anyone; Kate, on the other paw, had been upset and sometimes even angry with Candy and Sweets a number of times.
"Guess we'll need to apologize later, uh?" Lilly commented at a nodding Kate.
"Yes... still, before that, let's wait until we talk with our pups, so we can see if Candy and Sweets had been nice with them, and not making any mean comments about us." Kate pointed out.
"Okies. Besides, I want to hug my puppies too!" Lilly gave Kate a nice, juvenile smile, and Kate couldn't help but smile a bit as well.
Before Kate could say anything else, she and Lilly heard Garth's howling. They quickly rushed to his side, finding him sniffing a tree.
"I got that human's scent. He... put a hand on this tree... and he was the last human who did it in the last week." Garth said while sniffing. "And it seems he's alone."
"Good; it will be easier to face just one human, even if he's a wacky scientist, than facing a wacky scientist with many helpers." Kate nodded at Garth while confirming his info herself by sniffing the tree as well. A few moments later, Candy and Sweets arrived with Dr Tabias, the scientist a bit shaken due to Candy carrying him like a ragdoll thanks to her muscular anthro transformation, something she did to get Tabias to the place the others were without needing to wait for the human, who obviously wasn't that fast.
"We heard the howling. You found the guy?" Sweets asked the others.
"My Garth found the scent. He's great!" Lilly, as usual, praised Garth with the glee of a little pup. The wolves then started talking Human, so Tabias could understand them.
"This guy was here. He placed a hand on this tree, probably to lean on it, or just casually, while walking; it was at this point when he stopped using the liquid that covers his scent." Kate informed Tabias, who then started examining the tree and the lawn around it, actually finding some traces of the 'anti-scent' liquid.
"I recognize this thing... it's a veterinarian product; dog breeders use it to cover the females' scent when they're in heat so they don't mate unless the breeder decides it." Tabias told the wolves, all of them getting shocked expressions.
"HUMANS DON'T LET THEIR DOGS MATE WHEN THEY WANT?" Sweets gasped.
"AND THE DOGS CAN'T CHOOSE THEIR MATES?" Lilly gasped as well.
"And you humans say we're the animals." Kate frowned at Tabias, the guy gulping a bit.
"Eh... uh... well... c-can you follow the scent?" Tabias quickly got back to topic.
Garth, who, obviously, was the only wolf who couldn't speak Human, nodded at Tabias and started following the scent; the other wolves followed after him, with Tabias going last; Lilly stayed at his side, without sniffing, since the others were already doing it, and someone had to keep an eye on Tabias.
After walking for a while, Kate decided to enlarge her ears and give them a bat-shape, so her hearing would improve even more; it was a good thing because it allowed her to hear a very characteristic 'click'.
"Someone is aiming a gun at us... DUCK AND COVER!" Kate yelled at her companions, and they all jumped behind the trees or rocks closer to each one; however, Sweets wasn't fast enough and she got impacted by a pink projectile... that exploded and covered her in a plastic paste.
"Sweets!" Candy tried to help her but Garth restrained her; a few moments later, they all saw how this glue formed a large bubble around Sweets.
"The prototype..." Tabias thought out loud. "That's a prototype weapon another scientific team at the lab was working with! It's supposed to stop a criminal, soldier or animal without injuring him/her/it!"
"Do you humans EVER invent something that doesn't mess with anyone's life?" Lilly groaned.
"Sweets, try to break free!" Kate, behind a tree, yelled at her.
Sweets morphed into a larger yet still wolfish shape, but the bubble adapted to her change and stretched along with the wolf; she then tried different shapes, including some other animals (bear, bison, deer and so), but the substance kept adapting to her transformations.
Tabias moved aside and tried to find the place where this scientist-turned-sniper was shooting from.
"Stop it; it's me, Doctor Tabias!" The scientist started yelling. "I know you're the one shooting at us, Justin!"
"Heh, I know, Doc." They all heard the criminal shouting. "I adapted the prototype; I can see you from more than a mile away, if I want; so don't waste any time trying to find me."
Kate then realized the voice was coming from some microphones hidden at the trees; in other words, this human could communicate with them without being in a normal hearing and talking range. The elastic female had an idea and started focusing on her bat-hearing; after a few moments, she got a sly smirk and yelled something at Garth, in Wolf Language, so the humans couldn't know about her plan.
"I know what you did, Justin; you must stop the experiments. Besides, you stole the lab's property!" Dr Tabias yelled back.
"Jealous? I know I'd be, if my assistant proved being a much better scientist than myself." Justin continued teasing Tabias. "But don't worry; I don't plan to kill you; that's another reason I stole this gun instead of using a normal pistol or rifle. Heh... no... you'll be more useful if I capture you and get all your secrets. You have a very creative brain, Tabias. Too bad you lack the guts to use it."
Justin then went back to shooting, this time because of Lilly, Kate and Candy jumping and bouncing around; so far, he wasn't hitting anyone, but his aim was improving with every shot.
After a few moments, however, Justin stopped shooting and teasing... and instead, everyone heard yelling, growling and far shots, all of them coming from the microphones.
"Heh. Garth did it." Kate grinned.
At his shooting spot, a very well camouflaged observation station on top of a tree, Justin was now shooting at Garth and several other wolves; while Justin was busy shooting at Tabias and the other elastic wolves, Garth sneaked away and, with a howl, called the pack for help. Thanks to Kate's super hearing, she had located the exact place where he was hidden, and informed Garth in Wolfish, so Justin didn't know about it and he was surprised by Garth, along with Humphrey, Salty, Shakey, Mooch, Hutch and Cando.
"Stupid mutts... stop moving!" Justin continued shooting, but, unlike his long distance shots, these close distance ones weren't easy for him due to the wolves using the very tree he was using as a shooting spot as their coverage, so Justin was pretty much just covering the tree's base in paste.
After wasting several shots, Justin realized that normal wolves couldn't climb up the tree, so he was basically safe from them. The man then tried to get back to shooting Tabias and the elastic females, but he only spotted the already captured Sweets, plus Lilly, who had turned her paws into blades to try cutting off the paste without hurting Sweets.
"Where are those..."
Justin was interrupted by Kate and Candy entering the observation station in ball shape, hitting his chest and leaving him breathless. Then, after Kate smashed one side of the station, making a hole on it, Candy used that same hole to kick Justin down.
Justin, in pain, tried to stand up, but the normal wolves jumped on top of him, pinning him down. Tabias, who had arrived with Candy and Kate, grabbed the paste/bubble weapon, and motioned the wolves to move aside. Once they did, Tabias used the weapon on Justin, trapping him for good.
"He surely has the paste's solvent up there." Tabias looked up at Candy and Kate. "The solvent is a dark, green liquid."
"Working with the wolves now, Tabias?" Justin, despite being trapped, could still hear and talk normally; the paste, being designed to keep the prey alive, allowed air and light in and out, so Justin had no problems to communicate with Tabias.
"You leave these wolves alone, Justin; I promised them I would leave this pack alone as long as I didn't use any of them in my experiments."
"Which experiments, The Super Soldier Project or the experiment where you try to cure Crystal and Gem?"
Tabias fell silent while all the wolves around the two humans became quite alert and curious.