.Chapter eleven.

The next day, I had woken up at six to make sure that I was ready by the time I had to meet Cloak at quarter to seven. While I got myself ready I allowed Bruno to go out onto the balcony; he seemed to really enjoy it. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him when I went down to breakfast with Cloak, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.

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I had just called Bruno in and shut the doors to the balcony when I heard a knock at my door. I walked over to the door.

"Who is it?" I asked before I grabbed my key card.

"Cloak. Can I come in?" came Cloak's voice from the other side of the door.

I opened the door and he stepped in.

"Good morning," he smiled.

"Good morning," I smiled.

"You ready to go?"

"Yes, but I've just got to see if Burn will take care of Bruno."

"He can come with us. I don't mind dogs and neither do the hotel staff."

"Okay, but I don't know how he's going to act in the diner."

"He'll be fine. Bruno is it?"

"Yes."

"Right. Let's get going then." Cloak held his arm out for me to take. I interlocked my arm with his somewhat hesitantly; he had never done this before. With that we walked out of my room and down to the diner.

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Bruno was surprisingly well behaved during our walk down. Cloak chose a table that was quite well hidden in the diner; it was behind a few pillars. Bruno sat down next to me and promptly fell asleep.

"He's still tired from being out with Burn most of yesterday," I said, as I looked down at the poor dog.

"Yeah. I know how he feels," smiled Cloak.

Before I could reply a waiter came up to us and spoke in a language that I didn't understand.

"May I order for you, Cal?" asked Cloak, as he looked at me.

"Sure," I replied.

Cloak nodded and then started to talk to the waiter in that alien language.

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After Cloak had finished speaking, the waiter nodded and then walked off back to the kitchen. I had an impressed look on my face; I didn't know that he could speak more than one language.

"What?" asked Cloak, as he looked at me; I guess he wanted to know why I had that look on my face.

"You never told me that you could speak more than one language," I said, as I smiled at him.

"I'm not fluent in it." Cloak started to blush.

"On the contrary; you sounded very fluent in it."

"The poor guy hopefully got the gist of what I was saying to him." Cloak moved his left hand over my right hand.

"So, did you sleep well?" he asked.

"Yes, thanks. And you?" I asked.

"Just fine."

Just then the waiter came back with some strange green beverage that looked similar to the beverage Raph and Traximus had in one of the Battle Nexus episodes; he set the glasses down in front of Cloak and I and then said something to Cloak. Cloak nodded at whatever the waiter had said and, just before the waiter left, he seemed to ask Cloak a question regarding me. Cloak just chuckled and said something to the waiter that made the waiter give him a 'hey hey' look, with that the waiter turned and walked back towards the kitchen. Cloak just smiled and shook his head; I'm guessing he was amused by the question.

"What did he ask you?" I asked.

"You picked up that that was a question?" asked Cloak, as he moved his hand off of mine and opened the two straws that the waiter had left on the table; he put one into his beverage and one into mine.

"Well, with the way that our waiter nodded his head towards me I guessed that it was a question. So?"

"It was a question."

"What about?"

"I hope you like Vergarzian soda; it's a favourite of mine." He was avoiding what that question was about.

"I'll try it when you tell me what that question was about."

Cloak just looked at me.

"Well?" I asked.

"It was about whether or not you were my girlfriend," replied Cloak, as he looked at me earnestly.

"And your reply was?"

"What do you think my reply was? You're just a friend of mine, Cal."

"Not with the way that guy gave you the 'hey hey' look."

"Hey hey?" Cloak looked at me like I was nuts.

"It's a saying I heard on some TV show back on Earth."

"Right."

"So what was your answer?"

"Don't worry about it. The important thing is that we're together for the moment."

I didn't feel like arguing with him and so I just remained quiet and decided to try that rather scary looking soda; which actually didn't taste too bad, think crème soda with Lemon twist and you got something like it.

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After breakfast, Cloak escorted me back up to my room; the All-stars, Zap, and Burn seemed to be asleep still.

"Are you sure I can't pay you back for breakfast, Cloak?" I asked. I had saved most of what the All-stars had paid me and so was fully capable of paying my share.

"I'm positive, now drop it," said Cloak, as he smiled at me.

"Okay, thanks. It was quite nice having breakfast with you again."

"Yeah, we haven't done that since the fire at the prison."

"Yeah, it has been quite a long time."

"Too long."

Just then we heard someone snoring in Burn and Zap's room.

"Why whenever we try to have a moment someone snores?" asked Cloak.

I giggled.

"You remembered Sleeg's snore," I smiled; it was nice to know that he remembered most of our time together.

"Yeah, anyway it seems like your crew ain't up yet so why don't you come into my room and we can talk."

"So long as Bruno can come in too."

"Of course." With that Cloak walked to his door and opened it.

"Ladies first," he said, as he bowed slightly at his waist and gestured for me to walk in.

"Thanks," I smiled, as I walked in with Bruno.

"My pleasure." Cloak walked in behind us and closed the door.

"Now behave, Bruno."

"You can let him off of his lead in here; there's nothing that can get broken."

"Okay, if you say so." With that I released Bruno from his lead and he just walked around the room once and came back to me.

"He's very obedient," commented Cloak, as he patted Bruno's heads.

"Wouldn't you also be if you had Burn training you?" I asked.

"No. He did train me, remember?"

"Oh, right. I kinda forgot."

Cloak just smiled at me and sat down on his bed.

"Come sit next to me," he said, as he patted a spot next to him near the foot end of his bed. I walked over to him and sat down next to him.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" I asked.

Before Cloak could answer there was a knock at the door.

"Hold on a sec," he said, as he got up to answer the door.

"Who is it?" he asked in a strong voice.

"Burn. Is Cal in there with you?" came Burn's voice from the other side of the door.

"Yes. Why?"

"We kinda need her if you two aren't too busy with something."

Cloak opened the door and Burn stepped into the room. Bruno saw him and ran to greet him.

"Hello Bruno. Good boy; down," smiled Burn, as he pushed Bruno off and onto the floor again.

"Something the matter, Burn?" I asked.

"No, just we need you to come with us. We're going to the tournament and we need Bruno there."

"Why do you need her then?" asked Cloak.

"I'm Bruno's keeper, so to speak, and so they need me to take care of him," I explained, as I got up from Cloak's bed and walked towards Burn and Bruno.

"Right. I will see you later, won't I?"

"I'm sure you will." I reattached Bruno's lead to his collars and prepared to leave with Burn.

"If you two want to say good bye to each other properly…" started Burn.

Cloak and I just gave him a look.

"What? I don't get embarrassed easily," said Burn, as he surveyed Cloak and I.

Cloak and I just shook our heads at Burn and smiled.

"I'll see you later, Cloak," I smiled.

"Yeah. Take care of her now, Bruno," said Cloak.

Bruno just barked back.

Burn, Cloak, and I just laughed.

"Come on you two," said Burn, as he led the way out of Cloak's room.

I looked back at Cloak before I walked out after Burn.

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Burn walked up to the All-stars' doors and knocked on them loudly to get their attention.

"Come on, boys!" called Burn from outside of their rooms.

I could hear them groan as they woke up.

"Come on, come on, come on; we need to get to the tournament!" said Burn, as he started to walk back towards his room.

"I've just got to pick up a few things from my room, so just wait here for the All-stars. Okay?" asked Burn, as he walked passed me on his way to his room.

"Sure," I replied.

Burn nodded and disappeared into his room.

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I wasn't alone for long. As soon as Burn went into his room, Zap came out and joined Bruno and I.

"Hi," smiled Zap, as he walked up to me.

"Hi, sleep well?" I asked.

"I suppose so. You?"

"I slept quite well thanks."

"I'm guessing that you haven't seen Cloak this morning?"

"Actually I have."

"What?! Without one of us with you?"

"Chill. We just had breakfast in the diner together, that's all."

Zap just looked at me.

"Why are you so uppity about it anyway?" I asked.

"I'm just trying to protect you," he said, as he put a hand onto my shoulder.

"Thanks. It's nice to have someone there to look out for me," I smiled and put a hand onto his hand that was on my shoulder.

"Aww," came a chorus of voices from behind us.

"It's the All-stars. Isn't it?" I asked, as I looked at Zap instead of turning around to look at our 'audience'.

"Yep," replied Zap, as he removed his hand from my shoulder.

"Great." I turned to face the All-stars. They all had a teasing look on their faces.

"Good morning boys," I smiled.

"Good morning," they replied almost chuckling.

"Ready for the tournament?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Just then Burn came back out of his room and put a jacket onto Bruno.

"Had this made for him yesterday," said Burn, as he stepped back to admire Bruno.

Bruno wasn't too keen on the jacket and tried to shake it off.

"It's not coming off, Bruno, so get used to it," said Burn.

Bruno just looked at Burn imploringly.

"No, it stays on; besides you look good in it. Right guys?" asked Burn.

"Yeah," chorused the All-stars, Zap, and I.

Bruno just sighed and decided to live with it.

"Good luck at the tournament today guys. I'll be in the stands cheering you on," said Cloak, as he walked out of his room and started to head down to the lobby.

"Thanks Cloak," said Monza, as Cloak disappeared down the stairs.

"Let's get going, boys," said Burn.

"Yes Burn," replied the All-stars, as they hauled their bags onto their shoulders and prepared to leave.

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It didn't take us long to reach the stadium where the tournament was supposed to be held, but finding the locker room that the All-stars were to use was a different story.

"Maybe you should just ask for directions," I said. I got a group stare from the All-stars, Burn, Zap, and even Bruno.

"What?" I asked.

"What is it with women and asking for directions?" asked Mixx.

"Try the fact that it's logical."

The guys just shook their heads at me and went back to trying to fathom out the map we had been given.

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After finding the locker room, Burn, Zap, Bruno, and I headed to a box where the other support crews were. The box overlooked the arena and so we would be able to see the All-stars quite clearly when they came on. The All-stars' opponents today were a group called the Sagittarians and I found out why very quickly when they came on; they were centaur-like aliens.

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Over the next week I didn't see much of Cloak; we would have the occasional run-in in the corridors, but they were usually very brief because Zap would hurry me along. I began to sense quite a bit of tension between Zap and Cloak so I tried to avoid having them in the same vicinity as each other. The All-stars were doing wonderfully in the tournament; they hadn't been defeated once. Bruno was getting used to being a mascot and he had learnt who to bark at and who not to bark at; Burn was teaching him that. One incident that almost had Bruno and me suspended from the box was a run-in with the Yznical cat that was the mascot for the Yznical team. Bruno had scared the poor thing out of its wits; Burn got a good laugh out of it, but it was a bit embarrassing for me. Zap talked to the stadium manager and was able to get Bruno and me out of trouble.

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When the week of fights ended the All-stars had come first, with the Yznical team second and the Scorpiolites third. They had just made it into first place by one point.

Now they were on holiday and the first thing they did was sleep in until twelve the next morning.