Hey guys. I can't believe this, but I've stumbled upon a writers block, which is surprising 'cause it never really happens to me. Like ever.
Yeah, so I'm just making just this one chapter up as I go. Well, I hope you like this crappy chapter. But in the meantime, ANOTHER PINKIEPIE RIP OFF!
*pink rain clouds come in and rain chocolate*
Enjoy!
"But isn't there anything you can do about it?" I asked urgently, shocked by the news Stripes had just given us, along with everyone else. "Well, I already made the escape easier. Listen, I gave him the key to the handcuffs they'll put on him. He needs to escape when they bring him out. Everyone will be there to witness him go, so it'll be hard."
Everyone nodded at Stripes' words. "So we just have to be there to make sure the whole thing goes smoothly?" Samiee asked. Stripes nodded. "And what if, to say, Shifty failed?" Clover asked. "Think quickly," Stripes answered. "That's it?" Scar asked. "It seems too… easy." Stripes shrugged. "Sometimes you just need to keep it simple," is what she said.
"So, uh, when is Shifty supposed to be exiled?" I asked. Stripes looked at the clock on the wall. "In an hour," she said. "Well then, we'd better go," Clover said. We all nodded and walked out the door.
…
I stared into the cement ground, not looking up once. Once again, I heard footsteps, but I still didn't look up. The cell door opened, after the jingling of keys.
"Alright, Shifty. Let's go," Cloud's voice rang out. Finally, my eyes floated up to look at the white wolf. I sighed and pretended to scratch my head, but in real life making sure that the key was still under my hat. Once I was sure that it was there, I stood up and walked up next to Cloud. He turned me around and put hand cuffs around my wrists.
He grabbed me roughly by my bound arm and pulled me down a seemly endless array of cells. It took only mere minutes, but it seemed to take hours for me.
It took forever, but we finally made it into the end of the hall where two large double doors stood. Cloud kicked them open and daylight flooded in. It took me a few seconds to adjust to the bright light, and when I did, I was dragged out onto the soft grass. I didn't pull. I didn't fight. I didn't protest. I just did what Cloud wanted me to do.
Cloud pulled my arm so I followed him. We walked for another few minutes, but soon a crowd of recognizable animals came into view.
"I know it wasn't you," Cloud whispered into my ear as we continued walking. "Can't be too sure about anything anymore," I responded. "You'd better have a plan," Cloud said. I didn't respond that time. All of the sudden, Cloud started whispering thing that shocked me. He told me that the cursed idol had been stolen.
I became furious. So this had nothing to do with the time machine. I was a distraction; a pawn in the middle of a much bigger game. But part of me wondered, who is stupid enough to steal the cursed idol, and how did he not die yet? I put those thoughts out of my head as we continued walking.
We slowly got in front of the crowd, which was full of shouts and angry comments at me. The crowd split and Splendid emerged, giving me a smirk. I growled at him as he pulled me to the center of the crowd. That's when I realized that we were at the edge of the Happy Tree Town, me being only a hundred feet away from the forest.
Cloud nervously pulled out a paper that held the words for my exile. "Wait!" I heard Splendid shout. He slowly floated over to me and looked down at me evilly. I gulped as he reached down. I felt my hat lift off of my head and I started shaking.
Splendid reached in the hat and pulled out the key I kept hidden in there. Everyone stared, even me. Splendid smiled, but instantly frowned when he looked at me. "Do you think I'm an IDIOT?" he shouted at me.
I stared up at him and glared. "Yeah, I did," I whispered. "And I still do." Splendid growled at me and threw the key behind me, and only landed just a few feet behind me where I couldn't reach it. Splendid then glared at Cloud. "Well? Go on!" he commanded as he placed the hat back onto my head.
Cloud gasped and looked at the paper. The whole town quieted as he began reading, but not a single word reached my deaf ears. Time seemed to slow as I glanced around.
Rainier was whispering to Lumpy, looking bored as Cloud was reading. Vlad and Rachel stood by Sub Zero. They looked confused, but I guess they don't know about the exile. Link was whispering to his sister, Blink, but she didn't seem to be listening. She was staring at me, a worried look on her face. Bunny also looked worried over me, while Limit secretly smiled to himself. Yoyo and Disco Bear were whispering to each other while looking at me. Muffin, Stripes, Scar, Clover, and Samiee all stood by each other, looking the most worried. I smiled, knowing that they believed me, too. Zer0, Swifty, and Thrifty stood next to each other, looking nervous.
I gulped when my eyes came across Lifty and Milky. Despite me not listening to anything anyone else was saying, I could hear Lifty loud and clear. "Wait, what are they going to do with Shifty?" Lifty asked Milky and tears came to my eyes. I bent my head lower as tears swelled up and my throat tightened up. I sniffed as all of my hearing came back. Cloud was just about to finish, when something stopped him.
Stripes suddenly pushed through the crowd with a poker face. Splendid grabbed her arm and whispered, "What are you doing?" Stripes glanced at him but pulled away. The female tiger pulled out a pistol and walked behind me. I gasped and squeezed my eyes shut and flinched, knowing what was to come. I suddenly heard a loud bang but I was left unharmed. I gasped as I felt pressure of my wrists suddenly disappear.
I pulled my arms back around and realized that the chain that connected them was broken. Stripes had shot the cuffs apart. I swiftly turned around to see Stripes smiling at me, while everyone else looked at her in shock. I smiled at her and she nodded. Before anyone could react, I quickly grabbed the small key off the ground and ran off.
Behind me, I heard shouting from the crowd, but I also heard cheers from Muffin, Scar, Clover, and Samiee. I smiled and wiped my tears away as I doubled my pace. My breathing became heavy as my legs screamed to give out, but I kept moving.
I ran into town and turned a few corners, just like the day I was first caught. Up ahead, I saw the two news reporters, Scampy and Angel. I pushed Scampy out of the way, but Angel just gave out a high pitched scream and jumped out of the way. I ran past them, not giving the two a second glance. I didn't have time for them. I was looking for someone else.
Because I had finally figured out who had framed me.
I turned the corners of a building, knowing exactly where to find this animal. My breathing became heavier and heavier by the thought of finally catching the real bad guy. The key in my hand felt like a burning coal, so I put it back in my hat.
I knew where the criminal was. He was in the one place where I tried to get to all day yesterday.
I sped through town, but had to get to the place in the fastest way possible, so I decided to cut through the abandoned amusement park. On the way, I saw Mirrors sitting next to her mirror home.
"Hi Mirrors!" I shouted as I ran past. Mirrors' head snapped up and waved at me.
My breathing became deep, panting breaths as my energy started draining from my body. My pace began to slow to a stop and I leaned against a blackened booth, panting and wheezing heavily.
"You shouldn't have stopped," a voice said behind me, but I already knew it belonged to Splendid. I turned around carelessly, for some reason not worried at all. The blue squirrel stood there, hovering about a foot off the ground to show off. His eyes glowed red to show that he was about to fire at me with his lasers. I stared at him and smiled, standing up straight. "Take your best shot," I said, stepping back.
Splendid looked shocked, but the red in his eyes glowed brighter as he got ready to fire. Just before I could be burnt into a crisp, there was a faint clicking sound and the barrel of a large gun was pressed to the squirrel's head.
"Let him go if you know what's good for you," Scar said, standing right next to Splendid. The hero looked shocked, but smiled. "Yeah right, Scar. You know bullets can't hurt me," he said. Suddenly, the large tip of a sword pressed against Splendid's throat. "Vat vas that?" Vlad asked, holding his umbrella sword against Splendid's neck, smiling.
Splendid gulped and stepped back, but ended up backing into Rachel, who had her needle tail raised, with Sub Zero behind her, who had his ice lasers ready in his palms.
Splendid gulped again, seeing as he was completely out powered. "I guess you've been, how do you say… owned?" Vlad commented. I started laughing when he said that. "What made you guys believe me?" I asked. "Shifty, a prisoner that Stripes helps break out is and innocent man," Sub Zero said. I smiled and ran past them, thanking them along the way.
In no time, I was in front of Muffin's bakery. It was becoming night now and I was starting to get nervous. I suddenly manned up and kicked the door to the bakery open. Greedy sat in a chair, eating a small cookie.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Greedy asked, taking a bite of the cookie, not even shocked that I was here. "You did it!" I shouted at him. "Did what?" Greedy asked, his face expressing confusion, but I knew better.
"You framed me!" I shouted at him. Greedy looked hurt. "I did no such thing!" he said, frowning. "Oh yeah you did," I growled. "I know about the cursed idol." The bear looked slightly confused. "What? Oh, you mean that dumb golden statue that they keep locked in the museum at all times?" he asked and I growled again.
"Shut up and give me the idol!" I yelled, holding my paw out expectantly. Greedy looked at my paw and growled. "And just what makes you thing I did it?" he asked through clenched teeth.
I stared at him, but smiled knowingly. "Oh don't play dumb with me. It all makes sense now! Right after I died after getting hit by that milk truck, you ripped a patch of my fur off. The next morning, while I was in bed, but still regenerating, you stole my hat, put on a large trench coat, used make up to make your ears look pointy, and stole the cursed idol purposely on camera while leaving my fur and hat behind! Then, after everyone thought I was the thief and I was on the run, you 'saved' me by driving the car to make it look like you were the good guy only to lead me to where Stripes was and have me arrested! And then, you stole the cursed idol, hoping that everyone would be so caught up with my exile that they wouldn't notice, and that you could just escape town with the idol and my false crime while I'm just wandering around different town like a bum! But not this time! You can pull this kind of crap on anyone else in the world, but not me. I may be a thief, but in real life, you're the criminal!"
I started gasping for air after saying all of that, but Greedy just said nothing, staring at me curiously. He eyed me, but soon a creepy smile spread across his evil face. "That is actually a great hypothesis!" he said. "You know, you're much smarter than I thought. You've got all the fact right, the reason for this crime, but you just have the wrong animal. I didn't steal it."
Anger consumed me and I grabbed Greedy by his dull shirt and lifted him off the ground. I was just about to beat his face into a pulp, when something else pitched in.
"Let the idiot go," a voice said from the shadows. I looked towards the source of the voice in surprise, but I saw only an outline. Greedy also looked shocked. "B-but he's the criminal!" I shouted and put Greedy on the floor.
I heard an evil laugh from the shadows. The voice sounded so familiar, but I couldn't remember for the life of me. "Oh Shifty, no he didn't," the voice said.
"W-well I didn't either!" I stuttered, trying to remember the owner of the voice. "I know you didn't," the figure said knowingly. Greedy and I exchanged glances. "I did." The figure stepped into the dim light.
I gasped in shock, but there was also another feeling in the bottom of my stomach. One that I hadn't felt in a long while.
Everything somehow seemed to make sense now.
CLIFF HANGER! Well, waddya think? Tell me who you think it is, or if you thought it was Greedy, TELL ME! WHO IS IT?
Stripes: oh god, I'm dying of suspense. Pleas update soon.
And I will. I can't wait to put the lid on this bottle! Review!
