CHAPTER 10: Preparing to steal
RJ turned around from the bear signs to see a trail of packets of crisps leading into Vincent's cave; already, this is off to a great start. The raccoon moved back against the signs, taking in a deep chunk of air, readying himself to do what might potentially be his last action.
The raccoon grabbed the first crisp packet, running over to the second one, before running off to the third one. Then, as he looked back at Vincent's cave, he completely forgot what the bear actually had in store, and he forgot that once again because of the severe hunger causing him stress; a stockpile, a goldmine practically, of food.
RJ looked back at the stockpile of food, widened eyes and all, dropping the small crisp packets he just had. Slowly, he began walking towards the stockpile of foods like a magnet to them with his arms out, where out of nowhere, Vincent, in his hibernating state, moved upwards, holding something in his hand. RJ flinched and held his arms against his face, before Vincent collapsed down right in front of the raccoon, fast asleep and all, making RJ relaxed for the simple fact he hasn't woken up.
RJ grabbed a small table tennis racket with a plastic ball attached, and he bounced it a few times. The first bounce, he took it up and stopped what he was doing, with the fear that being too loud with it will wake Vincent up. The raccoon bounced it again, this time two times, before bouncing the attached ball towards a twig on the top of the cave, to attach the ball around it.
RJ was sent, like a person in a jungle swinging on the vines, flying up and above Vincent's sleeping body, holding onto the table tennis racket to do so. The second RJ landed on the other side, though, he stepped on a bunch of pie dishes that clearly had contents that were gobbled away by Vincent.
RJ turned around to Vincent from the other side, only to see that the bear was still asleep despite all that noise, thankfully. RJ released a sigh of relief, before walking over towards the goldmine of food, alongside the red wagon and the blue cooler amongst it.
"Just take what you need..." RJ said to himself, "just take what you need..." he said again, before rushing over to the stockpile of food to arrange it all into his own order.
After a loud, messy-sounding noise which sounded like it was including plates and various materials, RJ had assembled all of the food into the red wagon, attached all around by colourful strings to keep the food in place.
"Mhm..." RJ said, giving himself a satisfactory approval at what he's done with all the food so far.
The raccoon pulled out an empty life raft, dropping it directly to the bottom of the red wagon. RJ crunched his eyes and leaned away, fearing this will wake Vincent up, before pressing the button that ultimately gave the life raft air; the rapid height ascension of the raft gave the wagon of food the ability to fly right up and above Vincent's body, with RJ looking worried in the air as it did so.
The wagon crash landed like an asteroid, but Vincent was STILL asleep. As RJ slipped off the food with a happy smile, he looked back at Vincent, holding something that was tall, green, and clearly, another type of food.
"What?" RJ said to himself, noticing that green tall food packet in Vincent's hands.
Yep, they were the famous Spuddies, only Vincent's favourite type of food.
RJ began contemplating if he should bother taking that with him too, to get back at Vincent; he looked up at the huge tower of food on the wagon, before looking back at the Spuddies in Vincent's paws. He nodded a 'no' gesture with a sigh that sounded like he still hadn't made his mind up.
RJ simply went with a 'screw it' mindset; since his luck so far has been amazing, he figured that he may as well make it out with the Spuddies too. Getting them from Vincent's grasp was the hard part, though.
RJ grabbed a coffee cup and placed it at the bottom of the Spuddies packet in Vincent's paws, pushing it all the way in, causing the Spuddies to pop out of Vincent's paws, which in turn, led to the bear holding the coffee cup.
RJ simply chuckled at Vincent as he had all of the food; he's done it. The raccoon, randomly, wanted to open up the Spuddies for himself, and so, he placed his hand on the lid, and the second the sound of the lid emerging from the top of the Spuddies was emitted, Vincent's eyes opened up from his seemingly deep hibernation.
"W-Whaa?" Vincent said, with RJ subsequently closing the lid of the Spuddies.
Vincent shook his head a few times, before recognizing RJ.
"RJ?" Vincent said.
"N-No?" RJ responded, with a fake smile.
Vincent looked out his cave; it was still night time, and the moon wasn't full.
"The moon's not full...you woke me up a week early?" Vincent said, pointing towards RJ with what he thought was the Spuddies, but upon noticing it wasn't, he then subsequently noticed the wagon of food.
"Oh no..." Vincent said, in a 'did you really just do that?' style, "don't tell me you're dumb enough to actually try and STEAL my stuff?" the bear chuckled, "RJ, I'm gonna have to KILL you..."
Vincent's deadly personality was suddenly out in full view, and this was what RJ had feared all along; the raccoon was doomed, getting caught red handed by the bear.
"Please, I'm just a desperate guy trying to feed his family!"
"You don't have a family..."
"I meant a family of one..." RJ insisted.
Vincent growled at the raccoon's direction, but RJ wanted to reassure Vincent that he wasn't going to steal, where, subsequently, RJ is simply going to make a run for his life.
"Okay wait wait WAIT, look, it's still in the cave, so...technically...not stolen?" RJ said.
RJ's walking backwards led to the start of his downfall; he pushed the wagon of food away from the inside of the cave, before it was sent racing down the mountain, with Vincent watching on, hoping it stays in one piece.
And that is how Vincent & RJ became friends, albeit for a very short time, before everything went 'down the mountain' if you will, for RJ.
Author's note: Many thanks to the people who have stuck around for the entire time I've written this story. You guys mean the world to me, and hopefully I'll be back here on this fandom writing more Over the Hedge stories. Take care, guys!