*APPEARS A MILLION YEARS LATER* Bruh. m so sorry bruh. It beeen a looong daayy... about a month? So sorry about hiatus. I've broken yet another promise in my pointless life of lieessss... I've had a lot of stuff going on lately, still have so many irons in the fire, and really haven't found the time or energy to update. I will not abandon this story. I may have the toughest of writer's block, to the point where I can't even type a single sentence, but i will see this story till the end. it is a dead line. I always keep my dead lines.
Also, i realize Davekat is canon. I ship Davekat. I also ship JohnDave. I'll finish this story as a Johndave. Sorry if that upsets you.
Ch. 14: TH3 HUNT
Well, this was certainly a predicament.
Dave was, currently, stuck in a tree. The forest floor was a good 6 meters down, and littered with pointy sticks, pine cones, small rocks, and the like. Not a very good place to splash down in. The branch he was on was a bit on the thin side, and even the slightest shift in weight caused the branch to creak and shake in an uncomfortable way.
Not to mention there were ants.
They crawled over his arms and face, tickling his his skin unbearably. He tried blowing them off, but then one landed in his mouth, and, well, ew. They were cute at first too, with their little antennae wiggling like some sort of alien dance party, stopping every few seconds to sense the air around them. The novelty had faded after a while, and each antennae wiggle now seemed to mock him, a blatant flaunting of their freedom to move, while Dave was clinging to the tree for dear life.
How did he end up here anyway?
Oh, right. He had been running away, like usual. He had heard a noise, a twig snapping, and -fwoosh!
Up the tree he went. Backpack and all.
As it had turned out, the noise had been rather far away, and was really no cause for immediate concern. Which meant he had been sitting here, peering over the edge of his branch, for the better part of an hour. The rustling of feet crushing piles of fallen leaves caused Dave to peer over the edge again, distracting him from his thoughts.
Oh. Her.
Vriska scanned the forest ahead of her, resting her eyes on a bright pink splotch in one of the trees. Bingo. She cleared her throat, lacing her voice bittersweet with fake concern and genuine relief.
"Dave! I'm so glad I found you!"
"Go 'way." He lifted his neck from the branch with some difficulty, turning his head in the other direction. An ant took offense and bit him.
" What, you don't even care about John anymore?" Vriska allowed an edge to creep into her voice, not bothering to hide her contempt for the young man hiding in the tree.
"What did you do to John?" Dave's growl matched Vriska's in bitterness. The few ants left began to leave Dave's general vicinity, a few nipping at him as they did.
"I didn't do anything!" Vriska, exasperated, for once spoke with complete sincerity. She hadn't done anything to John. Dave, however, didn't know that, a fact she stored for possible later use.
"Why the hell are you here then? Can't a man get his tree cuddles in peace?" Dave refused to believe Vriska long enough for him to climb down. Plus, he was stuck, remember? The spiderbitch must never know.
Vriska studied Dave, still clinging to the tree. She realized what was going on, and a grin spread from her eye across her whole face.
"You're stuck, aren't you?"
"Of course not." Dave pouted. "I can get down just fine."
"Sure. In that case, get your ass down here already, don't you know that Terezi's kidnapped John?"
"W-what?!" Startled, Dave let go of the tree branch. He fell to the ground with a thunk, the small cushion of leaves covering the ground protecting him from serious damage. Even so, ow. That hurt. Vriska cackled up to him, hauling him back onto his feet. He nodded briefly in her direction, turning back to where she had appeared from, in the direction he assumed the town was in.
"Where are you going, flatface, he's this way!" Vriska had her back to him, walking in the opposite direction from Dave with no sign of stopping to wait for him. He jogged awkwardly to her, not feeling up to his normal douchey self enough to flash step up to her.
"How do you know John's been kidnapped?" He asked, berating himself yet again for leaving John alone. Kid always seemed to disappear if he wasn't around.
Vriska didn't answer right away, the crunch of leaves under their feet filling the thoughtful silence.
"Well," she began, pausing as a pained expression took over her face, "In case it wasn't clear already, Terezi does some pretty messed up things sometimes. To fulfill her need for 'justice', or whatever." She let this information sink in, before continuing, "She captured John to lure me to her, as bait. Told me herself, mighty proud of capturing him."
"So you want me to go rescue him so you don't have to?" Dave asked, incredulous. "What makes you think I have a better chance of rescuing him than you do?"
"Daavvee, isn't it obvious?" Vriska sighed, exasperated as always with having to inform those who literally had no clue as to what was going on. "Your powers are different from mine. She'll be expecting me, not you."
They arrived at a moderate lake, a small schooner moored at the shore. Vriska led Dave up to it, growing a bit more relaxed the closer they got to their destination. At the shore, she pointed out across the lake, to a rocky island right in the middle of the calm, murky water.
"That's her hideout. I've been here enough to know this is where she'll be keeping John"
Dave looked at the boat, trailing his eyes from it to the island. "Guess you want me to go there in this thing, right?"
"Got it. I'd go with you, but I've got so many other irons to attend to. No one's got more irons in the fire than me. I dare you to name one person. I. Dare. You." Vriska stared at Dave, quite effectively daring him to. Dave did not respond.
"That's what I thought," she sneered. "Tootles, Dave, catch up to you later!"
Dave looked over to where she had disappeared, to the boat, to the island, and back again.
He put his foot in the boat.
Might as well get started.