Disclaimer: I don't own the Total Drama franchise.

My eye twitches and I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Trent, for the last time I'm not trying to turn you into a "killjoy" I'm trying to get you to think logically about how completely unnecessary and hindering it is to bring your instrument with you on a mission!"

"Court, this mission going to take the whole week, and we're not exactly fighting bandits or anything like that! I've got to keep in practice!"

"You're an elfae in case you've forgotten Trent! A week without playing that thing won't affect your overall skill with it."

"But a week playing will!"

"GUYS!"

Trent and I pause in our argument at Bridgette's sudden outburst. She plants her hands on her hips and glares at the both of us.

"You're being ridiculous! Besides, there's not much point arguing about Trent bringing his instrument with him, since we're already at Dock Station 7 in case you haven't noticed!"

Now that I think about it, Bridgette does have a point. I huff and my ears dip. Doesn't mean I'm okay with Trent bringing his instrument with him though.

On the surface, Dock Station 7 doesn't look like a hub of criminal activity. It has small shops and cafés running along the walls just on the boarder of the canal installed for the aqueidons, people of all species milling about, chartering shuttles, catching tube pods and shopping. The dock station has two levels, the bottom one where we are is for chartering shuttles and catching the tube pods, and the top one is for parking ships. There aren't many there now, just a couple hovers, some hyper-cycles and a medium-sized cruiser.

I start walking over to the shuttle booths. "Come on," I call over my shoulder, "lets charter a shuttle and get to Earth as quickly as possible. I don't want to miss out on too much training back at base." Bridgette clasps her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Oh, come on Courtney, can we at least have some lunch first? I'm really starving!"

My ears dip and my tail starts to twitch in exasperation. "We can stop over at a small café on the way Bridgette, you can afford to wait a bit longer."

"I'm pretty hungry too actually." Trent pipes up and I glare at him. He shrugs, "Courtney, we didn't even finish breakfast when we set off for this mission. Lunch won't take long, and it's not like Earth's going anywhere." I slump over and groan. "Ugh, fine, we can get some sandwiches for the trip." Bridgette whoops with joy and runs off to the nearest café, with Trent in hot pursuit. I follow more slowly, though I am actually a little hungry now that I think about it.

Bridgette takes her sandwich from the shop keeper. I already have mine and take a quick bite out of it.

"Can we go now?" I ask with an impatient tap of my foot. Bridgette rolls her eyes. "Yes Courtney, I've bought my sandwich. Let's just get Trent and then we can charter that shuttle."

We walk back to our table. I frown in confusion when I see that it's empty save for a few crumbs on the table top. Even Trent's instrument is gone. Maybe we got the wrong table?

"Oh ha, ha, very funny Courtney." I turn to the sound of Trent's voice as he walks back. "Where were you?" Bridgette asks.

"I had to go to the bathroom. Seriously though Courtney, for someone so eager to get going this seems kind of like a big waste of time." I tilt my head in confusion. "What does?" Trent rolls his eyes. "Stealing my instrument of course!" My ears dip with anger at the accusation. "I didn't steal it!"

"Well then, why isn't it on my seat where I left it?"

"Probably because that guy took it." Bridgette interrupts, pointing at a retreating figure in the crowd. Sure enough, Trent's beloved instrument is slung over one of their shoulders.

I growl softly. "Guess the criminal activity hasn't quite died down yet." Bridgette lays a calming hand on my shoulder and smiles reassuringly. "Hey, come on, we don't know if they really meant to steal it! Maybe they just confused the case with their own bag or something." I roll my eyes and Trent scratches his head doubtfully. "That seems kind of unlikely Bridgette, but I guess it's worth a shot." I throw my head back and sigh. "Fine, but I'm definitely saying: "I told you so" if it turns out they are a criminal!" My point made clear, I turn on my heel and march through the crowds after the person who took Trent's guitar.

They've reached the second level by the time we catch up to them. Bridgette runs forward and taps them lightly on the shoulder and they turn around.

Annoyingly, I can't see their face since they're wearing a bright-green helmet with a black visor. They're wearing faded blue jeans and heavy black steel-tipped boots. Good for kicking, I remark inwardly with a frown. They are also wearing a faded black jacket with grey shoulder pads and a grinning skull on the left side of the chest. My frown deepens into a scowl. Glad I got my "I told you so" point out of the way, because it looks like I'm going to be needing it.

"Excuse me," Bridgette smiles friendlily up at the person, "but I think you may have taken my elfae friend here's instrument by mistake. It's in that case." The person unslings the case in question from their shoulder. "Oh, this is yours?" I make a mental note that the person is male. "My bad. Looks just like my bag… Oh well, here you go I guess." He holds out the case and Bridgette moves to take it from him. But he throws it over his shoulder before she can.

Bridgette watches, dumbfounded, as the case sails over the railing and off the level. I plant my hands on my hips and glare at the man, tail lashing. "Seriously?"

Suddenly, a form swoops up from the first level. I can just make out black, feathered wings protruding from their shoulder blades and strange, blue hair. An avemales, the only one of the six intelligent species who can fly.

My eyes flick to the instrument case they're holding by the straps and my ears dip. It seems our little thief has accomplices. The avemales calls over her shoulder, sounding annoyed. "Are you kidding me right now? Can you seriously not go an hour without stealing something?"

"You're just mad because now you owe Geoff five intels." The man calls back. He turns back to us and gives us a little wave. "Later." Then he jumps over the rails.

I run over to them just in time to see him land into a roll, absorbing the impact of the fall, and take off running. I narrow my eyes. This guy's got skills.

I snap my head around to Bridgette and Trent. "You guys get Trent's guitar and apprehend that avemales, and also anyone else who's in this little gang of theirs. I'm going after helmet down there." Bridgette and Trent nod to show their understanding. Orders given, I shove my hands into the gauntlets hanging at my belt and jump over the railing to give chase.

I land gracefully on both feet and search the crowd for the thief.

"Well what do you know, cats really do land on their feet!" I snap my head around to the source of the voice and see the thief running off into the crowd. I bare my teeth and give chase.

I'm confident that under normal circumstances I could easily catch the thief. I'm fast and I'm agile. But the crowds are slowing me down, and unlike my prey, I don't shove them out of my way. Though suns know I want to.

I finally push through the bulk of the crowd to see the thief casually leaning against a fountain with his arms folded. he looks into the water idly before looking back at me. "Better watch your step kitty, cat's hate water after all."

"Stop calling me a cat!" I spit and race towards him. Looking almost bored, he steps out of the way, clearly expecting me to run right into the fountain. Well, hate to disappoint you friend but I have no intention of going for a swim today.

I jump a little, my speed carrying me to the fountains rim. I push off with my feet and pounce at the thief. They give a quick yelp of surprise and hurriedly duck. I stick the metal claws of my gauntlets into the ground to catch my skid as I land.

The thief cocks his head at me, looking almost impressed. "Huh. Guess you get to keep all nine lives after all." I blink in confusion. Nine lives? What is he talking about? But he doesn't give me time to speculate on what he means by "nine lives", instead spinning around and running off again. I quickly follow in hot pursuit.

My communicator vibrates in my ear. "Accept." I order hastily as I jump over a table. "Courtney, It's Bridgette. Nice work getting your communicator on while running."

"I didn't. I've had it on all day. Didn't you?"

"Uuh, yeah! Of course! Anyway, the avemales seems to be flying towards the cruiser. Trent and I are trying to apprehend her like you said, but it's kinda hard since we can't fly, and we aren't permitted to use our weapons in public areas for this mission." I hiss in frustration at Bridgette's report, but my ears prick up with interest as she continues with a bit of good news. "Happily though, the ship has an entry tube from the canal. Looks like there's an aqueidon on the crew as well. But it's also a way for me to sneak aboard!" I grin, forgetting that Bridgette can't see me. "Nice one Bridge! Get in position, I'll keep trying to apprehend the thief. End communication."

"Heads up pussy-cat!"

My eyes widen as the thief throws a table at my head. I duck and instinctively follow its progress as it sails over me. By the time I'm able to switch my attention back to the matter at hand, my prey is nowhere in sight. I wait a few moments, half-expecting a taunting remark about cats (seriously, what is a cat?) but none come.

I scowl and press the button on my communicator. "Bridgette." I say clearly. The communicator vibrates briefly in my ear before it is replaced by Bridgette's voice. "Hello?"

"Bridgette, it's Courtney. I lost the thief. How close are you to getting aboard the cruiser?"

"I've just entered the tube and am being sent up right now. Guess all I can do is hope no one'll be on the other side."

"Bridgette, listen. Once you're there, telesummon me and Trent aboard with you. I'll inform Trent of the plan shortly. End communication." I quickly proceed to tell Trent about the change of plans while walking away, forcing my tail to flick with what I hope looks like annoyance in an effort to fool the criminals. Once I've ended the communication, I push up the sleeves of my grey zip-up jacket to reveal two wrist-braces with a small fingerprint scanner set in each one. I press my thumbs to the scanners until they turn green, before proceeding to do the same with the braces on my ankles.

I switch my communicator back on and inform Bridgette that I'm ready for telesummoning. "Great! I'll just wait for Trent to tell me he's ready then I'll bring you aboard."

"Copy that." I reply and end the communication. I continue to walk away, trying to keep up the ruse that I've given up, a ruse made especially difficult to pull off because of my very easy to read body language which is very hard to control.

Finally, the lights on my braces turn from green to flashing blue, warning me that I'm about to be telesummoned. The flash once, twice, three times, and then my vision blurs to nothing and I become weightless.

Telesummoning is very dangerous if you're not trained for it. All cadets of the WSSC are given a set four braces, two for our wrists, and two for are ankles. They provide a powerful wireless connection to the telesummoner, in this case Bridgette, allowing us to reach them without detection by enemies. The connection is also strong enough to keep our dissolved particles together, though there is still a small risk of winding up with six fingers on one hand and only four on the other or something. Still, even with the braces, you need to brace yourself so your body doesn't panic as it's dissolving, since that increases the speed your particles travel and you'll basically wind up as a shapeless puddle of flesh.

As soon as I'm put together again, the first thing I do is check my fingers, then pull off my boots to check my toes, since they're the body parts most likely to be messed up by telesummoning. I glance up briefly to see Trent doing the same.

Once I'm sure that nothing is out of place, I straighten and look around.

We're in a steel plated corridor, with a small hatch where I assume the entrance tube Bridgette found extends from. We're definitely on the cruiser.

I flick my gaze over to Trent. "All together?" He nods. "Great. Now, we know there're at least three hostile crew members on this ship and possibly more. Plus, judging from how big it was on the outside this cruiser is a decent size. So, to cover more ground, I think we should split up." I point down the corridor. "I'll go this way." I jerk my thumb behind me. "You guys go that way. As soon as you see a point where the paths separate, split. All clear?" Bridgette shuffles her feet uncertainly. "Are you sure it's a good idea to split up? I don't like the idea of all of us going alone. Besides, you said yourself Courtney, we don't know how many criminals are on this ship! What if one of us gets ambushed?"

"Better if it's only one of us that all three of us at once." I reply firmly. Trent scratches the back of his head, sighing. "I can't say I like this either Bridge, but Courtney does have a point. What good will we do if we're all caught?" I nod at him. Bridgette's shoulders slump with defeat. "Well… if you're sure…"

"I'm sure." With that, I turn on my heel and prowl my way down the hallway, gauntlets raised and ready to slash.

As I walk through the ship, I can't help but wonder at how mismatched the crew must be. Some of the walls are covered in carvings, mostly of skulls, others have magnificent art pieces painted straight onto the metal walls. I also pass by a few bowls of pet food. I raise an eyebrow at the weirdness of it. But then again, my crew I also pretty mismatched.

I turn a corner and come to a door with a security panel on the side. I study it with narrowed eyes. Just a standard number pad. I dig my claws firmly into it and little sparks erupt from the punctures. "Shock." The sparks grow as the surge of electricity jolts through the wires of the panel. The door slides open quickly and I dart into the room, just in case short-circuiting the panel will cause it to open and close rapidly. The door stays open.

I look around cautiously. It looks like I'm in the main control room, if the dashboard and radar panels are anything to go by. I walk slowly, deeper into the room. One ear flicks back outside and I freeze. Footsteps. Faint, but growing louder by the minute as their owner approaches. I dash, light-footed, towards a dark corner of the room so that I'm out of sight and crouch down into a ball. The footsteps are joined by furious muttering, but I can't make out the individual words until the approaching person enters the room: "Dammit Geoff, how hard is it to remember to retract a stupid giant tube?" It's the helmeted thief from before.

He hasn't taken off his helmet yet, to my intense frustration. How am I supposed to identify him if I can't even see his face?

He walks over to the control panel and flips a few switches before pushing a lever forward. The floor begins to vibrate and a muffled roar sounds from outside. The ship's thrusters. We're taking off!

Soundlessly, I get to my feet and hold my gauntlets up to my lips so that they will pick up my whispered command: "Shock." I say it as quietly as I possibly can, but the thief stills, straightens and begins to turn towards me. I don't give him the chance.

I charge toward him, gauntlets poised to shock. I imagine his eyes widening beneath that helmet as I prepare to swing at him. But, before I can land a hit, the thief jumps to the side with uncanny speed. My swing latches my gauntlet into the dashboard. Lights flash, dial needles rock dizzyingly back and forth and screens crackle and blur as the dashboard overloads with the sudden surge of electricity. I pull my hand back hurriedly before any more damage can be done. Well, at least now the ship is probably grounded.

An empty, computerised voice fills the room. "Engaging lightjump in ten seconds." I let out a shriek of frustration. A lightjump? Are you KIDDING ME?

The thief turns towards me and I get the feeling they are shooting me a very heated glare. "This is totally your fault you know." They remark dryly. I hiss back at them with bared teeth.

The computerised voice continues to count down the seconds to the lightjump. "Five… four… three… two… one… engaging lightjump."

A lightjump is when a spaceship partially weakens the atomic bonds of itself and anyone or anything inside it. It then enters what is known as a "light current", which is like a special path that light travels on, usually formed by the gravitational pull of planets and black-holes. The current pushes the ship along so that it's flying at the same speed as the light. The ship then uses its thrusters and newfound lightness from its sharp decrease in density, along with the natural propulsion it receives from the current, to move many times faster than the light and travel hundreds of lightyears in just a few seconds. And, if my memory serves me correctly (which it always does), a light jump from Dock Station 7 will land this ship in the Wawanakwa Sector. Very, very, deep in the Wawanakwa Sector.

A/N: Sorry! I know I said two or three days, but this took way longer than expected! Anyway, the final member of the six intelligent species, the avemales, has finally been introduced, along with some new characters who totally aren't completely obvious ;). Anyway, if any of you are confused on why "the thief" kept calling Courtney a cat, I'll give you a hint: it has something to do with her species. Hope you enjoyed! Please review!