Despite Caboose's best efforts to make friends with Draco as she was levitated by Freckle, she insisted on only screaming obscenities at him and screaming her hatred of all men. This continued until Tio arrived to take her into custody, as she was neither accompanied by her homestay family, nor even told them of her planned outing...not to mention causing an incident with a 'diplomatic figure'.

Miia had been about ready to write the whole date off as a loss...until Caboose surprised her. "Yesterday, when we were planning this," he began as he started patting at himself as though searching pockets, "Mero said that a guy's supposed to get a girl something to commemorate a date. She said not to get her one, so I...where is it?"

[Here, Captain,] his Freckle offered, opening a compartment to reveal a small box.

"Ah! Thanks!" Caboose declared as he took the box. "I made you this!" He opened the box to show Miia the contents, making her gasp.

It was a silver Ouroboros pendant hanging on a silver chain...and inset on the serpent in a scale pattern were tiny gemstones, gradiating from the exact pink of Miia's scales at the head to the exact blue of Caboose's armor at the tip of the tail. Two tiny heart shaped rubies were set as the eyes.

"Did I do good?" Caboose asked hopefully as he gently put the pendant around Miia's neck. "Are...are you crying? Oh no, I did bad! I can make it better-"

"Darling!" Miia screamed out, her voice filled with love and adoration as she glomped onto him, arms wrapped tight as her tail wound around him until a normal human would be unable to move, his faceplate pressed tight into her cleavage where her top exposed it as she clung extra tight to him.

"Super tight snake hug," Caboose observed. "I did good!"

Mero smiled in the background as she watched. She'd known Caboose would make a wonderful gift...but seeing just how wonderful, and just how close they were...what was the tightness in her chest?

Unfortunately - or fortunately, depending on who you asked - Draco turned out to not be the 'D' who had sent the letter. As a result, more dates were planned. Caboose had decided to go in order of who had joined the household, and thus Papi got to choose the next outing. She decided quite firmly that they would visit a wooded area some distance out of town, with Caboose, Papi, and Suu being the group to go. Suu babbled happily about "having Mommy and Daddy" all to herself...at least until Zombina insisted on being the security once she learned they planned to have a cookout.

Caboose smiled happily as he prepared the grill to cook meat. This was the easiest way to cook. He didn't understand why there was so much garbage around, but he decided he would get rid of it when the time came to clean up after the cookout.

"This was a great idea!" Papi declared happily as Caboose put the meat on to grill.

"It was!" Caboose agreed happily. "I'm glad you thought of it!"

"I did?" Papi asked in surprise.

"Yes," Caboose declared firmly. "You insisted it had to be here!"

"I...did?" Papi asked again, now confused. She tried hard to focus...but steam wound up coming out of her ears. When she finally gave up, all she could say was, "Papi feels like she's forgetting something really important…"

"Food now?" Suu asked eagerly, tugging on Caboose's arm. "Daddy, food now?"

"Not yet, Suu," Caboose chided, his other hand expertly - and seemingly unconsciously - fending off Zombina's sudden attempts to swipe food off the grill. "It has to cook enough to add the seasoning, and then cook some more to absorb it! That's the Caboose secret recipe!"

At the mention of a 'secret recipe', all three girls immediately sat at attention to watch.

[Alert,] Caboose's Freckle intoned. [Toxic waste spill detected in nearby area.]

"Don't eat toxic waste, Suu," Caboose warned immediately. "It does not taste good and is bad for you. Stick to lemonade."

Zombina blinked. "How...do you know it tastes bad?" she asked nervously.

"Oh, I tried some once," Caboose offered easily. "It definitely did not taste good. Wasn't very filling either. I wound up throwing most of it away."

At that moment, a massive rumbling drew the girls' attention. To their surprise, a massive wooden monster was marching through the forest towards them, knocking trees down as it approached. One of its feet came down such that Caboose and the grill were between its toes.

"Oh, do we have another guest?" Caboose asked curiously.

"Papi…" a voice echoed from the monster as a claw reached down, vines extending from it and reaching towards the group. "Papi...Papi…"

"A talking tree beast?" Caboose asked in surprise. "Now I've seen 30% of everything. I think I just got Bingo."

"Tree?" Papi asked in surprise. Her eyes suddenly popped open as vines wrapped around her waist. "Papi remembers now!" she cried out as she was pulled up towards the front of the creature.

"You do?" Caboose asked happily as vines wrapped around him. "That's good! Is it important?" Despite the vines attempts to yank him into the air, he continued to calmly cook. Suu clung tight to him so as not to be pulled up herself.

The front of the creature opened...revealing a voluptuous green haired woman clad only in a few leaves and vines who seemed to be fused with the tree beast. "Human...enemy...one who hurts my forest…"

"No Kii!" Papi cried out. "Husband isn't hurting the forest!"

"Oh, is she your friend, Papi?" Caboose asked excitedly, turning away from his cooking to see the new arrival. Easily breaking free of the vines, he leapt up until he was level with Kii. "Hi Kii! I'm Caboose! Can we be friends?"

"I am friends with no human who hurts the forest!" Kii snapped back angrily. "Papi is the only friend I need!"

"I used to think I only needed one friend," Caboose admitted sadly. "But then he went away, and I was very sad. Even when he came back, things could never be the same. I need lots of friends to be happy, and now I have lots! I'll be your friend too if you want!"

"You hurt the forest!" Kii snapped angrily. "You threw away the waste!"

"I throw waste up!" Caboose insisted. "That way it goes in the sun and it doesn't bother anyone anymore."

Kii blinked. "...no human can throw that hard."

"Yeah...some of my friends aren't sure I'm human anymore," Caboose admitted.

Kii stared at him for a time, then shook her head vigorously. "I will not be distracted!" she snapped out. Her vines suddenly tightened, and Papi let out a gasp of pain. "I will avenge the forest-"

Before Kii could react, Caboose yanked her out of her tree beast, turned her over his knee, and proceeded to spank her, either not noticing or understanding the pleasured moans she gave off with each spanking he punctuated his scolding words with. "You! Do! Not! Hurt! Friends! When! Vengening! And this is not how you venge the forest! You're doing more harm than the toxic stuff you're upset about!"

With his rant finished, Caboose released Kii. "Now, you show me where the toxic stuff you're upset about is, and I'll show you how you get even the Red and Blue way! Freckle, get the rest of the garbage!"

[Affirmative,] Freckle confirmed as he levitated all the waste Caboose had noticed earlier. Kii, completely flummoxed by Caboose's approach, released Papi and did as instructed.

Caboose stared at the open container of toxic waste - labeled 'super growth serum' - that was leaking into the forest. "Okay, someone dumped a mess on you. There are three steps to the Red vs Blue method of getting even here. First, gather all the mess together. Freckle?"

[Gathering waste,] Freckle declared as it dropped the garbage into the container before gathering the leaked fluid that hadn't been absorbed yet. It then used it's optic laser to fuse the container shut.

"Next step, return to sender!" Caboose declared as he attached something to the container before hefting it over his head, much to Kii's wide eyed surprise. "Freckle?"

[Calculating...rotate 5 degrees right, 62 degree upward angle, 37% force.]

Reangling himself, Caboose leaned back and threw the container. Papi, Suu, Zombina, and Kii stared in awe as it flew through the air in an upward arc, slowly arcing downwards. Very far away, it could be heard crashing down somewhere.

"Final step!" Caboose declared eagerly, pulling out a remote. "Blow it up for good measure!" He pressed the button, and a massive explosion tore the air. "Freckle, what's the result?"

[Scanning...a factory that did not meet Interspecies Exchange Treaty health and safety guidelines in terms of chemical use has now been overrun by an impenetrable jungle created by the explosion, the super growth formula, and seeds stuck to the container.]

"Bonus point for taking over their base in the process!" Caboose declared happily. He turned to Kii. "Now wasn't that much better than rampaging through the happy trees?"

Kii stared at Caboose in amazement as her tree beast slowly shed portions of itself, which set down roots and became new trees. As it reduced until it was only the size of a mobile throne, a slight blush tinged her cheeks. "You are a strange sapling," she said softly. "I would...like to see what sort of forest you come from."

"There's a forest in my house!" Caboose declared happily. "You want to come see?"

A small smile graced Kii's face. "I...would."