.Chapter ten.

Monza moved out of the way and allowed his friend to come in. All eyes were on this new guy. He walked in two steps and then froze, as did I; the pair of us just stared at each other. I couldn't believe my eyes as to who was standing in front of me. He was a tall Triceraton, about 6'3". He was a dirty orange colour and had dark lines in the grooves of his frill as well as a few scars here and there on his face and arms. He wore, what looked like, a Triceraton pilot's uniform with the sleeves removed and he had black gloves on his hands.

"Cloak?" I asked in disbelief.

"Cal!" exclaimed Cloak, as he rushed forward and picked me up.

"Cloak! What are you doing here?!" I wrapped my arms around his neck as he allowed me to stand on my own two feet, but he didn't let go of his embrace. I didn't really care why he was there I was just glad to see him again.

"I'm just on holiday here, and you?"

"Work. I'm here with the All-stars." Cloak finally released me, but he had only released me enough so that he could see my face, so I was still in his arms.

"I've missed you so much, kid," he said, changing the subject; I noticed that his voice became a lot softer.

"And I've missed you too," I smiled, as I put my hand onto his cheek. Cloak and I were completely oblivious to the shocked expressions of the All-stars, Burn, Bruno, and Zap; we were the only two beings in the room at that moment as far as we were concerned. Cloak pulled me close to him again in a gentler embrace this time. Just then Monza cleared his throat to get Cloak's attention. Cloak partially pulled himself away from me and looked at Monza.

"Explain," said Monza, as he gave Cloak and I a weird look with the rest of the room.

Cloak just smiled and then released me completely, but he put his right hand onto my shoulder as he faced Monza.

"Cal and I used to be inmates at the prison together; we got to know each other quite well and we were even cellmates for a day. I haven't seen her since I was released and when I went to visit her in prison I was told that she was no longer an inmate there and that no one knew where she had gone. So I've been searching for her ever since," explained Cloak.

"Well, it's great to see you again, Cloak," smiled Burn, changing the subject.

"It's good to see you guys again too," smiled Cloak.

"What's your connection to the All-stars?" I asked.

"Cloak used to be an All-star before he became a pilot," said Burn, before Cloak could even open his mouth.

"You never told me that." I looked up at Cloak, surprised.

"Well, it wasn't a very interesting part of my life," replied Cloak.

"Hey!" protested the All-stars.

"Sure I met some great guys, but nothing incredibly interesting happened otherwise."

"That's better," said Monza.

Cloak just smiled.

"So what are you doin' now?" asked Xiote.

"I'm a pilot again; I got reinstated a few cycles ago," replied Cloak.

"Congratulations," chorused the All-stars, Burn, Zap, and me.

"Thanks everyone."

"So has anything special happened in your years away from the All-stars?" asked Daz.

"Only meeting this little lady," replied Cloak, as he looked down at me and smiled.

I felt my cheeks starting to go red.

"Serious?" asked the All-stars.

"Yes, she's been the highlight of my life," replied Cloak, earnestly. Obviously he wasn't the shy type like me, 'cause I could feel my cheeks getting a bit hotter.

"O-kay."

"And what does that mean?"

"Nothing, Cloak, but seriously there must have been something a bit more exciting," said Mixx.

Cloak gave him a look.

"You know he's right, Cloak; there must have been something more exciting in your life besides meeting me," I said.

"Do you remember the day they had to drag me out of the prison?" he asked.

"What in the world did you do to have them drag you out?" asked Xiote.

"He was released," I replied.

"Come again," said the All-stars, Burn, and Zap in unison.

"He wasn't going to leave without me."

"You're joking right," said Zap.

"No, she's not," said Cloak, as he looked at Zap for the first time.

"Do I know you?" asked Cloak.

"No, he's new here," said Burn.

"So you are?"

"Zap," replied Zap.

"Pleased to meet you, Zap; what's your connection to the All-stars?" asked Cloak, as he took his hand off of my shoulder and held it out for Zap to shake.

"I'm just the guy who does maintenance or the 'handy man' as Cal called me once." Zap shook his hand.

"Handy man?" Cloak looked at me quizzically as he put his hand back onto my shoulder.

"It's an earth term," I explained.

"For?"

"For anyone who's able to do a number of jobs."

Cloak just nodded.

"So, Cloak, what made you come here for vacation?" asked Burn, changing the subject again.

"I heard about the All-stars making it into the Inter-Galactic Fighting Tournament and I decided to come cheer my old friends on," smiled Cloak.

"Thanks, Cloak; we need all the extra 'pep' we can get," said Burn.

Cloak just smiled.

"So where're you stayin'?" asked Xiote.

"In this hotel; I'm actually on this floor, room number three three five," replied Cloak. I didn't have a clue where that was because all the doors had that alien language on them.

"Number three three five, on this floor?" asked Zap; I guess he was just making sure he had heard properly.

"Yes, why?" asked Cloak.

"Cal's room number is three three four," said Burn.

"Really, well it looks like we're neighbours now." Cloak smiled at me.

"I guess so," I replied with a smile.

Just then an alarm went off on Burn's watch.

"Whoa, I'm late for a meeting," stated Burn, as he walked towards the door.

"I'll see you out, Burn," said Monza.

"Thanks; Zap, come with me for a second I need to give you the key card to our room 'cause I'm not going to be back for a while." Zap somewhat reluctantly left the room with Burn. Just then Cloak squeezed my shoulder.

"Hey, you busy tonight?" whispered Cloak.

"I don't think so. Why?" I asked in a whisper.

"I would like to catch up with you. Meet me down stairs at eight, okay?"

"Sure."

Cloak smiled at me.

Just then Burn and Zap walked back into the room.

"Cal, do you mind if I take Bruno with me?" asked Burn, as he walked up to Mixx and took Bruno's lead from him.

"No, go right ahead," I replied.

"Thanks. Come on, Bruno." With that Burn walked out of the room again with Bruno at his side.

"Bruno?" asked Cloak, as he looked at me.

"Yes, he's the team's new mascot," I explained.

"Right; who picked him out?"

"No one; he picked us out."
"Come again."

"He was a stray and Cal took him in," explained Mixx.

"Well aren't you the sweet one," smiled Cloak.

I just shrugged and smiled.

"Hey, Cloak, you doing anything this afternoon?" asked Monza.

"No. Why?" asked Cloak.

"I thought you, the guys, and I could go into town and catch up on what we've missed out on over the years."

"What about these two?" Cloak gestured to Zap and me.

"They'll be able to keep each other company; right guys?"

Zap and I nodded.

"Well, okay; so long as they'll be okay here alone."

"Of course we'll be fine," said Zap.

"Right. When do you guys want to get going?"

"Mixx and I just have to pick something up from our room and then we'll come join you, Monza and Daz," said Xiote.

"Right, we'll meet you two in the lobby then," said Monza.

Xiote and Mixx nodded and then left to go to their room.

"I'll see you 'round then, Cloak," I said, as I prepared to leave for my room with Zap.

"Yes; I'll see you 'round, Cal," smiled Cloak, as Zap and I started to walk out of the room.

I looked back at him before I left and then walked out. As Zap and I headed towards my room I could still hear Monza and Daz talking to Cloak.

"A look back before she left, well, well," teased Daz.

"Oh, be quiet or else I'll give you one of my atomic noggies, Daz," replied Cloak.

I just shook my head at the conversation.

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I opened my door and allowed Zap to walk in first; he seemed to be in a bit of a bad mood.

"Something wrong?" I asked, as he walked towards the balcony; the doors were open because we had forgotten to close them when Burn called us to go to Monza's room.

"Why would you think that something was wrong?" asked Zap, as he walked out onto the balcony.

"Because you're not your smiling self. What's wrong?" I followed him out onto the balcony. You could see quite a bit of the city from the balcony.

"Nothing."

"You sure?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about; okay?"

"Okay, but if there is something, please tell me."

Zap nodded and then he looked over towards a balcony that was just next to mine. It was the one outside of Cloak's room. He stood there for quite a while just looking at it.

"What?" I asked, getting a bit perplexed by his continued staring.

"I just want to see something," he replied, as he walked to the side of the balcony that was closest to Cloak's.

"What are you doing?" I asked, as he got up onto the railing of my balcony.

"Just chill; I'll be fine," he replied, as he steadied himself on the railing. Then, before I could say anything, he leapt off and landed heavily on Cloak's balcony.

"Zap!" I exclaimed.

"I'm fine," he replied, as he got up onto the railing of Cloak's balcony and prepared himself to jump back to mine. I moved out of the way so that he could jump back. He leapt off of Cloak's balcony and landed heavily on mine.

"What were you thinking?!" I asked.

"I was just seeing if he could jump from his balcony to yours," replied Zap, as he dusted himself off.

"Why?"

"Just checking."

Suddenly the reason dawned on me.

"You're jealous," I said, finally understanding why he was in such a bad mood.

"Me?" he asked somewhat stupidly.

"Yes, you. Who else?"

"Why would I be jealous of Cloak?"

"I don't know, but you're showing all the symptoms of being jealous."

"You make it sound like a disease."
"Zap, there's no need for you to be jealous about Cloak."

Zap just looked at me.

"Zap, you know full well that Cloak and I are just friends."

"Whatever." He obviously wasn't convinced.

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Later that evening, Zap had gone to help the All-stars train at a local gym and Burn still hadn't come back to the hotel from his meeting. I was getting ready to meet up with Cloak. I had five trigons to spare and so decided to attempt cleaning up my hair. I had found an old boot polishing brush in the training area shortly after I had joined the All-stars and, after cleaning it up, had been using it as a hairbrush. It worked quite well considering it was made to polish and not brush. After fixing my hair I headed down to the lobby to look for Cloak.

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I had just walked into the lobby when I caught sight of Cloak sitting on a sofa in the lounge area next to the lobby; he was apparently reading something. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Oh, hello," he smiled, as he looked at me.

"You didn't forget did you?" I asked, as I sat down next to him.

"No, I guess my watch is a bit slower than yours." He put down his magazine and looked at his watch.

"What does yours say?" I looked at my watch to compare the times.

"It doesn't matter; the main thing is we're together again." He put his right arm over the back of the sofa behind me and he put his left hand onto my left knee.

"You're very sweet, Cloak." I put my left hand onto his hand on my knee.

Cloak just smiled at me.

"So, what have you been getting up to since we last saw each other?" I asked.

"Not much, just redoing my pilot's training and getting reinstated really. You?" he asked.

"Besides being moved from the prison to the All-stars training area to be their maid, not much."

"What happened after I was released from prison? Who were you celled with?"

"I was put into solitary and Zimmer was really the only one I had contact with."

"I should have guessed."

"You never did like Zimmer."

"There's some good reasons for that."

"I know."

"You know?"

"I saw him and some of his friends picking on Zap and his friends, Turbo and Ac."

"Right; at last you've seen him for what he really is."

"I suppose so."

"This Zap, is he your…"

"My what?"

"Your boyfriend?" There was a hint of uneasiness in his voice.

"No. Zap and I are just friends."

"Right."

"So is there nothing more you can tell me about what's happened in the past few cycles we've been separated?"
"Besides me getting in trouble several times, no."

"Trouble?"

"You know me." I just rolled my eyes and shook my head.

"You just can't seem to stay out of it."

Cloak just chuckled at my expression.

"So what kind of trouble are we talking about?" I asked.

"Just some small pranks that I got busted for by Mozar; nothing huge," he replied with a shrug.

"Getting into trouble with Mozar is definitely huge, my friend."

"Nah, he just made me do extra chores and a bit of P.T."

"P.T?"

"Physical Training or Torture; depends on how you look at it."

"I suppose so."

"It didn't do me any harm. If any it helped me get in shape quicker." Cloak took his hand off of my knee and his arm out from behind me. He then held up his right arm, put his left hand on his bicep and flexed it.

"You do seem to be in better shape than when you were in prison."

"Thanks." Cloak returned his right arm to its previous position behind me, but he kept his left hand to himself.

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Later that evening, at about eleven o'clock, he escorted me back to my room. We had arranged to meet up for breakfast tomorrow morning down at the diner that was just opposite the lounge in the lobby. I was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow. After saying good night to each other we went our separate ways. At about one o'clock or so I was rudely awakened by Burn walking in with Bruno; he had just returned. I also heard Zap and the All-stars coming back from their work out in the gym. After giving Bruno his dinner and tucking him into the other bed I was able to go back to bed myself; I had to be at least three-quarters awake when I met up with Cloak tomorrow.