Man Down!
The mouse's identity suddenly clicked in my mind.
"You!" I shouted, and as soon as the syllable left my mouth, Spinni bolted out the door. I sprung from the toilet and dashed after him, running on all fours through the dark of the house. I could hear his feet patter rapidly on the floor.
Now, I must admit Spinni is incredibly fast. But I had endurance, and perseverance – a stubborn, strongly-willed mind. There was NO way that I was gonna let that dude escape right from under my nose after waiting for SOOOOOOOOO long to capture him. Now I must act, fast! Luckily, I knew the house much better than he did. I dove down another hallway that acted as a shortcut. I ran and ran, listening to the patter of paws. They were drawing near, and I ran faster. Hopefully I could catch him!
Round the corner and then BAM!!!!! Sparks lit up a blank screen of black as I crashed into someone. Opening my eyes, hoping to see yellow fur and red shades.
Nope. It was Yoshi. He sat down on the ground, looking around him without any clue of what had happened. From our collision, his berry-tart had dropped on the floor and it sat dumbly on the ground in front of me, intact. Panicking, I glanced around. Hopefully Spinni hadn't escaped.
A quick rush of wind blew on the back of my head as something really fast rushed past. I didn't have to look to even guess that it was Spinni. I knew it, and he was getting away! What would I do?! I was flat on my bum, senseless! Think, Pikachu, THINK! You don't want this guy running away after you waited for half or more of the summer to freakin' catch him and his rodent buddies!! DO SOMETHING!!!!! A light of a lightbulb lit up the dark hallway as I thought of a brilliant plan. I picked up the berry tart, and chucked it as hard as I could in Spinni's direction. Instantaneously, Yoshi's tongue shot out and as the dessert sailed by Spinni, the sticky bulb of his tongue caught to the mouse's fluttering cape. The bulb nabbed the wanted treat, and as quickly as it went, the tongue bulb shot back to its source, dragging Spinni with it. It was kinda funny watching – it was almost witnessing a cartoon in action. Spinni ran forward and then stopped for a second, realizing he wasn't going anywhere, before zipping backwards along with Yoshi's tongue. But my laugh wasn't to last long; as the tongue sped back to Yoshi, it caught to my fur, and soon I felt an incredible force pull me towards the dinosaur. Together, me, Spinni, and the berry tart slapped into Yoshi.
What happened next was really weird. Instead of swallowing us whole, the tongue looped around Yoshi's body, and kept winding round and round and round until all of us were tied together tight uncomfortably with yards of sticky, slimy bounds. The atmosphere at that moment got tense with all three of us sitting there – none of us said a word. I thought about the thief that was slapped tight to the other side of Yoshi. I had a feeling that he was thinking along the lines of, "Oh shoot I'm in trouble," and "What in the world is going on?" The silence drew on, the sound of our breathing the only chorus disturbing it. The longer it went, the more awkward it felt – soon, I felt that it was high time someone should say something. I mean, I guess Spinni wasn't going anywhere anytime soon; we might as well get to know each other.
"Well," I finally said, "hey over there..." My ear pricked up to the sound of someone opening their bedroom door. Footsteps started to approach us. What to do now? I looked to the yellow rodent on the other side of higgling Yoshi (although I honestly couldn't see him past Yoshi's bulbous nose), wondering. I breathed in deeply, not knowing what to think about our situation at this moment. It was then I smelt it – fear. Spinni was afraid, and I've got my olfactory senses picking it up. If someone else sees him, what would they do? Would they call the cops? If they do, where would the cops take Spinni? To jail? Would they hurt him? Even though I barely got to see his actual physique, I could tell that he was young; no one really didn't have to look at him long to tell, if they couldn't smell it. In fact, he was just a little older than I was. If the cops caught him, they would send him to a prison where first-grade criminals were kept. But I've never heard of anyplace like that – what would the cops do to him?
No time to haste; I will decide his fate later.
"Yoshi," I whispered, "swallow your berry tart." And then I squeezed my eyes shut, preparing for the inevitable. Yoshi higgled before he slurped up his yards of red muscle, unwinding rapidly. I sucked in a breath before my best bud, the dinosaur, slurped the ninja thief and me altogether.
But he didn't swallow us. Instead, I was squashed uncomfortably against his cheek and Spinni's wet fur, his elbow sticking into my gut. He was squirming, causing Yoshi's tongue to undulate. Outside Yoshi's mouth, I heard a person approach. A muffled voice of a grown lady spoke to Yoshi – it must be Samus, the bounty hunter. Man! I wonder what she would do if she saw Spinni? In response, Yoshi mumbled back. Obviously, he had some difficulty, because his mouth was full of two, yellow rodents. Warm, humid air gushed up from deep within his lungs. I hoped Spinni was holding his breath – that's carbon dioxide there. To the side of me, the ninja thief stirred violently, his foot smushing into my face. I hissed at him,
"Do you want to live?!" Spinni's response wasn't impressed.
"I would appreciate it if you could get your butt out of my face!" So much for a good second impression. I thought about Samus outside, who just spoke to Yoshi. Suddenly, the world rocked around us from side to side, and the two of us were jostled about. We settled back down with my face looking up at the dangly-thing that hung at the back of Yoshi's throat.
"Better, princess?" I snapped. Judging by the muffled reply, I had a feeling that Spinni's face was squished against Yoshi's tongue. In my mind, I screamed, "JUST SHUT UP AND GO BACK TO SLEEP, SAMUS!!!" The world began to shake again, swinging to the side, and then bumped up and down as I felt Yoshi plod down the hall, and towards Kirby's room. We were jostled and bumped, too. My head was being rammed into the side of the dino's cheek when Spinni squealed. I thought of one thing – he was going down the esophagus.
So much for saving him. Another bump as Yoshi opened the door, and I was knocked towards the back of the throat, feeling my body against Spinni as we were lodged. Out of instinct, I reached out and yanked on the dangly-thing and then, all of a sudden, we shot forward, clean out of Yoshi's mouth. I crashed into the carpet face first, my nose smashed into the floor. Spinni was practically cannoned out, and the ninja collided painfully with me, and sent the two of us crashing into the wall. Stars and rubber ducks circled my head as birds tweeted, and Yoshi higgled happily. To my side, the rodent picked himself up quickly. He backed away quickly, pulling out a ninja star, and used a paw to straighten his shades. I raised my head, still dizzy, when I saw him at the window.
"No you don't!" I shouted, and lunged at him. At that moment, the ninja threw his shuriken. As it approached me at lightening speeds, I felt time slow down, my electrical senses cranking into high gear, my blood vamping. I concentrated on the conductor, and the ninja star whizzed by, just grazing my ear. But I wasn't finished with it – I made it rondezvous around my head to meet back to its source, the star spinning more dangerous than ever. I saw Spinni's ears prick up in surprise and in the nick of time, he ducked. There was a snicker from him.
"Nice shot," he jeered, "but you can't beat me!" I snorted, undaunted.
"It was your own ninja star, stupid!" I shot back and then saw Spinni frown for the slightest moment.
"Huh?" In his confusion, I pounced upon Spinni and grabbed by his ears, dragging him from the window. He squeaked, and thrashed his paws at me, crushing my neck to the floor. I mustered strength to throw my bottom weight up, and I kicked my offender over my head. Quickly, I flipped to my four feet, crouching in a defensive position. Spinni flew far – right into Kirby. I winced as the two tumbled over and behind the bed.
"What the - ?!" Kirby cried, suddenly awoken from his sleep. Then, recognizing the ninja, he yelled, "It's you!" Spinni squeaked in surprise; I could tell that, out of all people, he wasn't expecting his old nemesis. In panic, the yellow-furred ninja dashed away from him.
"Get back here, Spinni!" Kirby shouted after him, and snagged his trailing cape. The ninja yelped, suddenly caught, and I threw myself on him, tackling him into the wall.
"Knock 'im out, Pikachu!" My pink friend's command reached to my ears. I took no time to hesitate; I grabbed struggling Spinni by the ears and slammed my head into his. There was a "conk!" and Spinni slumped over, knocked out. I rubbed my forehead – damn! I must have one hard noggin. I stood over the thief, thinking. I did it. FINALLY! I have a Squeak!
"HO-YEAH!" I pumped my fist in victory. At that same moment the bedroom door opened. Fear filled my gut – I hope it wasn't Captain Falcon. He gets VERY grumpy when he is woken up.
There was no face at the door at first. Then, I looked down and saw a short figure of a boy.
"What's going on?" Ness whispered to us, "You're gonna wake up Dad!" In the corner, Kirby sighed with relief.
"We're not trying to," I said defensively, "we're just..." I tried thinking of an excuse as Ness waited, standing at the door.
"... Studying?" I finally said, shrugging. Immediately, I knew it was a lame excuse of an excuse.
"It's summer," Ness said, an obvious frown in his voice, "what kind of excuse is that?" Thing is, Ness ain't stupid. He's an incredibly brilliant child with superpowers. Link had said that when Samus was pregnant with him (hard to imagine Samus with a big belly) she was really upset, because she had just been back from a mission that involved with some dangerous substances. Well, Ness ended up okay, but I heard from Link that Samus freaked out when she found her new kid floating around the ceiling fan, still in his bundles. She had blamed it on that dangerous substance – fuse-on, or whatever it was called. The point is, Link thinks that it was the substance that made his little brother so smart and with powers like the jedi from Star Wars.
"We were having a pillow fight," Kirby intervened, a relief to me, "Don't tell." We weren't really allowed to have pillow fights after the lights goes out in the house, because it would wake up Captain Falcon, or Samus. Samus had left us be, but the Cap'n wasn't quite as merciful... I have NEVER seen his all-famous Falcon Punch, but I don't want to. I swear he was gonna punch me to the moon when his wife calmed him down, and then gave us a scolding. From then on, we didn't have any pillow fights in the Falcons' Nest after the lights go out. But we always have pillow fight when we are at the Castle.
"Oh," Ness answered, "That would explain some things... Good night."
"Night," we called after him, and the boy left, closing the door. We sighed.
"Hope Cap'n Falcon didn't hear," I said.
"Yeah," Kirby agreed heartily, "Now, let's get Spinni somewhere before he wakes up." We had already prepared a special cage for the Squeaks. It was spacious, we made sure, and it was in the secret storage room underneath the trapdoor hidden in the closet. Kirby opened up the door, and walked down the steps, with me following him. Yoshi brought in unconscious Spinni. When Kirby found this room, it was dusty and sort of creepy. Since then, the puffball had cleaned it up and furnished it to his liking. Sometimes he would study down here, or conduct complicate projects with dangerous chemicals in the lab he set up. Now this secret room hosted the cage where Spinni was to be for how long.
"Which reminds me," Kirby said, turning around slightly, "how long are you going to keep these guys?" I paused, wondering. I didn't like the sound of keeping people hostage – it made me seem cruel. But I did wonder why on earth did they only steal artisan crafts made by Aniram? And why didn't they sell any of them?
"Just until I get the answers I need," I said, "and then they can go," Kirby exhaled sharply as he unlocked the several padlocks latched to the door of the cage.
"You're crazy," he muttered, and opened the door. I shrugged and grinned at my pink friend.
"What can I say?" I defended myself, "It's been bugging me," Yoshi walked into the cage, and looked around for a place to lay Spinni down. I am not a cruel person, so I had no intentions on torturing the Squeaks by not giving them the comforts of homely life. I had made them nice beds, looking through old closets in the Castle. One of these beds was made inside a huge wheel hanging in the wall. When I first found it, I had been wondering what Mario and Luigi could be using it for. It was like one of those giant hamster wheels I saw in the pet shop long time ago. I took it anyways, because I was trying my best to make the cage look nice, and fill it with stuff other than the kind of wood chips and paper scraps I used to sleep in. Of course, I couldn't take actual beds, because I was afraid of someone getting onto my case. So, that is why I am stuck with old couches, old plastic castles, and the wheel.
Yoshi placed Spinni carelessly inside the wheel, and left to go to bed, higgling happily. I stepped inside, feeling troubled by the sight of Spinni half hanging out of the wheel. With an arm, I pushed the rest of his body onto the wheel, and his head onto the pillow. Then, I took the old quilt and covered him with it. I took off his shades, and looked at his closed, yellow lids, before placing it next to his head on the pillow. Satisfied, I left the ninja, and Kirby locked the door after me. Together, we walked up the stairs. From behind me, my pink friend chuckled.
"What?" I asked, wondering where the laugh came from. I turned around to see him smile.
"See? I told 'ya they would come," he answered teasingly. I snorted, and turned around to climb the rest of the way up.
"No you did not," I retorted, "You doubted me the WHOLE time. You were like, 'you are too brash,' and 'you're never gonna catch them like that,'."
"I was not," denied Kirby, "I believed in you all along," I hopped out of the secret room and onto the floor of the bedroom. The puffball followed in suit, closing the trapdoor behind us.
"And pigs fly," I replied sarcastically. Kirby exhaled sharply in amusement, and headed for bed. I crawled into my basket, feeling very accomplished. Finally! After all this time, I have got someone! I couldn't wait to tell all those stupid, Internet tards who doubted me that I have caught a Squeak. But wait... What would happen if I told them? The whole universe was looking for them. What if some super creepy men in black suits come to this house and demand to take Spinni? Would they hurt them?
I knew they could, even though he was just a little older than I was. He was still too young in my opinion – but was he still young to the eyes of some cold-hearted man in a black suit? I thought of the millions of Internet people who were ready to laugh at me when I give up my escapade. I thought of Spinni. I don't want anybody getting hurt, and I didn't want to be embarrassed and flamed.
But... I think I can afford to be humiliated. Turning in my basket, I thought of my decision. Was I doing a good thing? I hope so.
"Good night," I called out to my two best buds and to Spinni in his wheel down below us.
"'Night," Kirby murmured.
"GOOD NIGHT!!!" Yoshi squealed, higgling. I sat bolt upright.
"Shh!" I hushed desperately. Too late... The door had opened and the figure of a tall man casted a long dark shadow over me.
Aw... Snap.
***
"Why don't you sell of that stuff?" I had gone right down to my business of asking questions when I delivered Spinni breakfast. His shades gleamed menacingly.
"Why do you smell so weird?" Spinni snapped back irritably. I scrunched up my face when I heard the insult.
"That was uncalled for," I muttered, "didn't your mom teach you manners?" I set down the breakfast tray by him. Using the excuse that I was playing tea party with Yoshi again, I scrounged up some milk, cookies, toast and butter. And a wedge of cheese, just in case he wanted some. I nodded towards his breakfast, and then looked up at the ninja. Spinni's face was screwed up, his mouth pinched and his eyebrows set deeply.
"Don't have a mom," He finally said. Well, I thought, I hadn't expected to get some personal stuff right away. I whistled, brushing myself off slowly and raised my eyebrows.
"Okay," I answered, "I don't really have a mom either – but I at least have manners." Spinni stuck out his tongue at me before turning away, folding his arms grumpily. Fine, be that way. I left him to be by himself and his breakfast, locking the door on my way out. Besides, this wasn't the entire bonanza – there were still three other main Squeaks out there to get. I wanted to meet them all, including the infamous Daroach. When Daroach gets here, I'm gonna ask where in the world did he get his hat? I want one.
But of course, that's not the only questions I have for him. I had to ask him why he is so elusive, why he only steals Aniram's artisan crafts, why he never sells any of them, and probably some other questions that I'll think of when he actually gets here... It's just he needs to get here first. I already have Spinni, so he should come soon with the rest of the gang. I mean, c'mon, they have to care about the ninja just a little bit. They can't be that ignorant and cold, could they? I turned on my heel, ready to fire another question at Spinni.
"I'm back," I called to him. Spinni had been investigating his breakfast when I descended the stairs, and as quick as a breeze, turned right around and pretended to not be interested in calories and cheese. But I saw what he was doing, and I snorted. The yellow mouse looked over his shoulder, glaring.
"What do you want now?" he asked, a slight sneer in his voice. I looked down at his breakfast through the cage bars, wondering if he would actually starve himself to death before I can get an answer from him. I hope not. I suppose my question can wait a few more minutes.
"I want you to eat," I said, pointing to his food, "or else I'm going to eat it – I'm starving!" Which wasn't all that true, but I had to give Spinni some prompting. Instead of gobbling it down, Spinni made a "tch!" sound, and turned right around again. Okay, maybe he doesn't believe me. So, I opened the door to the cage, and walked toward the breakfast tray. I looked up to the mouse and he hadn't budged a bit. I shifted the plate a little bit, to sound like I was picking up the fine toast to eat. Spinni didn't move; maybe he was trying to starve himself... Strange kid. I shook the plate again.
"I'm going to eat it now," I leered at him, shaking the plate. There was a suppressive sigh from the mouse.
"You didn't even pick up the toast," he spoke, "you're just moving the plate around." I was stunned.
"How do you know?" I grabbed the toast, "you didn't look."
"Now you pick up the toast," Spinni observed, his back turned on me, "eat it - see if I care."
"You didn't even answer my question, dummy," I said impatiently, waving the toast at his back, "How do you even know?" Just then, I saw his ears flick, and reasoning clicked with my brain. Of course! Being a rodent, he had powerful hearing receptors, except in Spinni's case, they were even stronger and more acute. Why?
"How can you hear so well?" I asked dumbly. Spinni this time looked over his shoulder and grinned proudly.
"What? Can't rely on my sight all the time, now can I?" My own ears flicked, detecting a slight tone hidden under his pride. But what? I made a mental note to find out later, and just keep chugging on.
"Do you ever take off your glasses?" I asked him out of impulse. In my head, I shot myself – wasn't I supposed to be asking more important questions. But I guess, under my own standards, every question is equally important. Awaiting an answer, I stood and watched Spinni frown, adjusting his shades with a slight tap.
"No," the ninja answered flatly. Following his reply was silence, and we stared at each other; him slouching in his hamster wheel, and I standing holding a piece of toast stupidly by my side. After a while, Spinni sniffed, and looked down at the toast in my hand. He coughed slightly.
"Are you," he spoke hesitantly, "going to eat that?" Finally, I got somewhere with this dude. I grinned broadly at the ninja.
"Here, catch," I tossed the toast, and Spinni's ears flicked forward before he reached out and snagged his breakfast from the air. Swiftly, he nibbled on its crust, unashamed by taking his enemy's food. I stood by, watching him eat, and offered him some of the cookies when he was done with the toast. Surely enough, down to the last bit of cheese, the breakfast was finished. I put the tray aside and sat down on a nearby stool that Kirby had brought in. Now that Spinni has probably loosened up after eating, I may as well take the opportunity to ask him some more questions before he gets prissy again.
"So," I said, rolling on my butt as I rocked back and forth, "do you have any friends?" I tried to put it as nicely as I could, but apparently it wasn't nice enough. Spinni was back to being sour again.
"What are you," he spat, "some nosy brat?" My temper suddenly flared up, and I sat up straight, gripping my wooden stool so hard that it splintered from my grip. But was he speaking the truth? Why else did I capture them for? Only for my own selfish reasons. Still, I don't like being called a brat – who doesn't?
"Why don't you just shut up before I turn you into the police, huh?" It's effect was immediate, and Spinni's ears flattened against his head as fear possessed him. I thought it was a very mean tactic, but I had to show the ninja who's boss around here. Definitely ain't Daroach, because he wasn't here. And if he gets here, he's bound by the same situation, under our mercy.
"What are you going to do me?" Spinni's usually outspoken voice now came out as a meek whimper. I frowned at him, and twiddled my thumbs worriedly.
"Nothing really," I found myself honestly speaking, "I just wanted to figure out some things – and I was kinda bored." A snort came from the ninja as he relaxed.
"You are a nosy brat,"
"Well," I grinned, leaning back on my stool, "better than the police, right?" He couldn't argue with that one.
It was a tense discussion; Spinni was very terse and protective of the Squeak Squad's secrets, and rarely told me anything. Kirby, at one point, had offered to beat the crap out of Spinni, but I declined. We had to be nice to guests, ninjas and princesses alike. At least Spinni was a little bit nicer to me, after I waved my threat in his face. That seemed to be the only main thing I gained from my discussion, as three hours finally rolled past. Ah well, it's just a step closer to getting my answers, right?
In the meantime, I had to find out how to get the other people. I still wasn't quite satisfied with just Spinni – I had to get the whole collection. I am so cruel, aren't I? But when you're bored in the middle of summer, and when questions constantly bug your brain like ever-present mosquitoes, what can you do? So, I decided to get some suggestions from around the family and friends. I already knew what Kirby would say ("just sit there and wait it out,"), and I knew Yoshi would tell me to lure them with cheese or something absurd, so I extended outwards.
First name that popped in my head was Samus. She worked for GFS or something like that, and she fought against evil, like in Saturday cartoons. Maybe she knew a thing or two about capturing thieves. Thing is, I didn't see her at lunch, so I after I gobbled down my sandwich, I pranced off to Link's room. He should know where his mom went.
"Knock, knock," I greeted the teen. Link was at his desk, writing painstakingly on a piece of paper. Homework, I suppose – I climbed up onto his head for a better look.
"Watcha writing?" I asked, waving my hand in front of his face, "Is this supposed to be an essay?" I gave it a quick glance. Although my eyesight wasn't quite as good as Kirby's, I could tell that Link had been erasing a lot.
"You call this an essay, Link?" I said, not waiting for an answer, "Man, I can eat alphabet soup and crap out a better essay than that!" Link reached up and pulled me off his head by the scruff of my neck. I was about to protest, because being picked up by your neck was uncomfortable, but then I noticed that he had a hardened look on his face. It was a firm expression, but his watery, blue eyes were saddened. My mouth remained clamped, and expected no answer at all. Instead, Link finally answered,
"It's a letter," A letter for Zelda, who no longer lived with us. Respectfully, I only nodded. Zelda wasn't just Link's love, she was his best friend. Once he got rid of me, he always spent his forest adventures with Sheik, and studied with Zelda. Zelda was both tomboy companion and pretty girl, but much more to Link. So, I left the matter be.
"What do you want, Pikachu?" Link sighed, setting me down on his desk beside the letter. I scratched my ear, quickly combing my claws through its fur before settling back and giving my head a shake.
"Where's your mom?" Link only shrugged.
"I think she's in the garage with Dad," he said, "I know that Dad's repairing a car – maybe she's with him." So I went to the garage, just like my old bud suggested.
First thing I saw was a flash of light followed by a cloud of dark smoke. From inside the cloud, I heard someone cough.
"That's why I'm not a mechanic," Samus muttered to herself, slowly becoming visible as the smoke cleared, blond hair covered with soot. She was with Captain Falcon, all right, but they weren't repairing a car – at least I wouldn't call it a car. It was Samus's ship. The bounty hunter was working at some of the wires that came out of a panel along one of the sides of the arms that docked to the ground. Her husband was nearby, expertly attending to an opened hatch underneath the great ship, smiling broadly. I looked at the two, wondering why were they together? It was an unlikely pairing, coming from a very aggressive first meeting. I remember Cap'n Falcon telling us fondly about when he first met Samus. Samus had been driving on the road, going home right after her mission when she crashed into Cap'n Falcon, and he got pissed off at her. Samus was getting out of her car to apologize when Cap'n Falcon Falcon Punched her back, crashing her into her car. Luckily, she was still wearing her armor. Samus didn't get aggressive until he mistaken her for man. So, they had some sort of short brawl, and they ended up falling in love after that. It's confusing, but it happened – obviously.
"Hiya, Pikachu," the captain called to me cheerfully, oblivious to last night's events, "Watcha doin' here?" I relaxed, comfortable knowing that he wasn't going to Falcon pummel me into the wall. But then again, I don't know whether if this was a good time to ask any questions. Besides, I heard from Link that Samus could get pretty sensitive when she talks of her previous missions – especially the ones that involved deaths significant to her. Deciding that it would be best, I left my questions to be answered on a later date.
"I was gonna ask you guys something," I said casually, "but you guys look busy – I can ask later, can't I?" Samus turned around and smiled, her aquamarine eyes contrasting starkly against her blackened skin; now that I have actually seen her, it made it easy for me to know where Link's brilliant eyes come from. Both were inquisitive and both had a daring expression. It seemed as though she knew what I wanted to ask, but she was smiling honestly. Nothing looked fake about it.
"Of course," her smile was just as evident in her voice as well as her face, and she turned around to continue her work. I left the two, thinking of what to do now, as another puff of smoke fumed behind me.
***
"Are you friends with your Squeak buds?" It was dinnertime for Spinni, and I had brought him a tray with a grilled cheese sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. The sandwich was all right, but the soup suffered some spills on its journey from the dinner table to Kirby's room. The yellow mouse eyed the puddles of red liquid that scattered the tray and down my front. He sniffed.
"Nice," he commented, ignoring my question. Again. He was always finding a way around the subject. Impatiently, I set down the dinner tray with a hard "tak!". Spinni looked up at me and his eyebrows furrowed.
"What's wrong with you?" he asked me. I swear I wanted to bite his head off – instead, I calmed myself down.
"You're difficult person, you know?" I seethed, "You never answer anything," The ninja picked up his grilled cheese uncomfortably, shifting in his seat on the wheel.
"Do you ever think that I don't want to answer those questions?" he snapped, "You're a difficult person, too – and a nosy, brat." I glared at him, and stood up on the stool.
"Can't you see that you are driving me insane?!" I shouted at him, spit flying from my mouth. As usual, Spinni's response was emotionless. He merely adjusted his glasses and frowned. This time, however, he said,
"I can't see that far," Well. I sat back down, dumbstruck; it wasn't the answer I was looking for, but it was at least an answer. Now I know the mystery to his shades. But wait, his shades can't be prescription glasses because he couldn't get them without the doctor dialing the police. Maybe Doc made it for him – but wouldn't Spinni be able to see me if he was wearing glasses?
"Why can't you see me?" I asked him, innocently. Spinni looked up at me – or at least it seemed that he did. He couldn't see as far as I was sitting, which wasn't far at all, shades glinting in the light from the lamp. I studied his shades, which were really opaque for actual shades. Kirby told me later that those kind of glasses weren't for vision. So, as I stared up at the dark ceiling at night, wondering what it was like for Spinni, I realized that I had already determined one of the Squeak Squad's deep secrets.
Spinni was an extremely agile fighter, and an excellent sharpshooter, making bulls-eyes consistently on the dartboard we gave him for entertainment. Watching him chuck darts across the broad room so precisely and so accurately never made me think once that he had problems with his vision. He gave everyone the impression that he had the keenest aim and the sharpest eyes.
The truth about Spinni is that he's actually blind.
And this sucked. Why should I bother you guys with this kind of crap? The content sucks, the ending sucks, the timliness sucks, the grammar sucks - it just sucks altogether.
So, I'm sorry. Maybe some of you guys were waiting for such a long time for the new chapter only to find duck turd. Life's been busy and stressful, and I'm caught between my imagination and the real world. Somwhere between the two, in a gray area. It's not a very comfortable place to be, guys.