Chapter four. Secrets.
"We seriously not gonna ask?" Damian asked Jack.
Jack was walking to school, about to head up the front gate. "No Damian, I told you, its none of our-"
"Student." Damian warned as a student of his school walked by.
Jack brought his right hand down to look like he wasn't talking to it, til the student passed them. He brought his hand back up to talk to Damian. "It's none of our business."
"Aren't you the least bit curious?"
"It doesn't matter if I am."
"So you are?"
"What!? N-"
"Incoming."
Jack tried to look casual as another animal passed him by. He continued his conversation. "Damian let's just focus on the dolls. When we find them, what are we gonna do? Last time one tried to attack us when we came up to it."
"It only tried to attack us because it knew we were onto it. It was programmed to do that, but with that device we might be able to get it to maintenance mode."
"Maint-"
"Animal."
Jack brought his hand down to look normal till the animal passed by. "I can see the front gate and some students hanging around. We're gonna have to talk later."
"Better idea." Damian reached into Jack's pocket and pulled out his phone.
"What are you doing?"
Damain brought the phone up to Jack's ears, lowering it a bit below the top of his palm where his mouth appeared. "Here. This way it looks like you're on the phone."
"Good idea! Now, what were you saying about maintenance mode?"
"Pull out the device from earlier."
Jack pulled out the object he got from the spider's corpse. "What do we do with it?"
"See if there's an on switch."
Jack looked around and spotted a switch at the top of it. He pressed it and the device turned on. On its front screen were three circle icons. One said Radar, one said Status, and one said Kill. "What's this?"
"Oh cool, it has a radar!"
"Sweet! With this we can just go to them!"
"I don't see a maintenance mode. Hit status."
"Ok." Jack tapped the status icon. The icons were replaced with four new ones. Three were green while one was red. It was numbered one through four and the fourth one was the red one. "This must be for the dolls."
"Yea. The red one is probably the one we destroyed, and that's why it's red. Tap one."
Jack taped icon number one and it brought up a silhouette of an otter and two icons on the bottom left, one saying Call and the other saying maintenance. "There it is."
"Don't tap it yet. I think we can use the call button to call it to us."
"Let's not hit that. It could cause some attention."
"How?"
"Well seeing how the last doll was, all wide eyed and blank faced, it'd be weird to see it just spring up and come to us." Jack sat at the lower part of the wall that stuck out near the gate.
"True, but it may just go into the layer and come to us that way."
"We don't know that, so let's just use the radar to find them after-"
"Jack, look out!" Zill called out to him.
"Hm?" He looked to the side and saw Zillford, who was wearing a red shirt and black pants, pointing up at him. "Zill?" He dropped his phone and his right arm reached up to grab something. "Huh?" Jack Looked up to see his right arm holding up a large golden bell that had fallen off the top of the wall. "Whoa! Thanks Damian."
"Uh-huh." Damain placed the bell beside him.
Zill ran up to Jack. "You ok!?" He asked.
"I'm fine." Jack told him with a smile.
Zill breathed in relief. "Nice catch!"
"Thanks." Jack grabbed his phone and brang it back to his ear.
"You owe me by the way." Damian said.
"What?"
"I caught that bell."
"And I thanked you."
"Not good enough."
"What!? What do you mean 'not good enough!?'"
"Uh...who are you talking to?" Zill asked.
"Oh, uh, someone I met at the hospital. His name is Damian, he's a...crazy guy."
"I'm pinching you for that." Damian said.
"Do that, and you get drowned in ice cold water!" Jack said in a whisper.
"Not fair!"
"Guess he's not too crazy if you exchanged numbers with him." Zill said.
"Hehe, you'd be surprised." Jack replied.
"So what's that thing?" Zill pointed to the device in Jack's left hand.
"Oh um...its uh…"
"A pocket watch that I gave you." Damian whispered.
"A pocket watch Damian gave me."
"Really? I don't see any numbers, and it looks like there's an animal on it." Zill noted.
"It…"
"It has multiple functions!" Damian quickly thought.
"It has multiple functions!"
"Oh cool." Zill complimented. The first bell rang. "Welp, time to get to class."
Jack got up and put the phone and device away in his pocket. "Uh hey…does Spam have a girlfriend?"
Damain got in Jack's ear. "What happened to it being none of our business?"
Jack shoved Damian down to his side.
"Not that I know of. Why?" Zill responded.
"No reason, just saw him picking flowers earlier."
"Huh. Well if he had a girlfriend we'd know."
"True."
"Also Jack...I found out that were… gonna have dodgeball at the gym today."
"Ah, darnit!" Jack exclaimed, opening his locker to get his books.
"Yeah… if I'm on your team just stick close to me ok?"
"And if you're not?"
"I'll be gentle?" Zill said with a nervous smile.
Jack sighed. "Maybe it won't be too bad." He filled his backpack and walked to his first class.
Damian quickly brought his mouth to Jack's ear. "Do a backflip quick!"
"Huh?"
"Do it!"
Jack hoped in the air and rolled back. A cleaning cart darted right under him before he landed. "Whoa!"
"Dude! That almost rammed you!" Zill said in shock.
"Yeah."
"Sorry about that!" The janitor, a tall moose, told Jack. "I tripped and pushed the cart. You alright there?"
"I'm fine, I managed to avoid it."
"I saw. Nice jump!"
"Thanks." The janitor ran away to catch his cart.
"That was a sweet backflip! How'd you know that was coming?" Zill wondered.
"Uh, lucky guess."
"You owe your lucky guess two now." Damain told Jack.
Jack shuffled Damian away before walking with Zill the rest of the way to class.
Gym rolled by and everyone was changing into their gym outfits in the locker rooms.
"You wanna do what?" Jack asked Damian, leaning his head and arm in the locker so no one could see them, keeping a lookout in case anyone came by.
"Use dodgeball as a reflex test." Damian answered.
"Damian I can't go demon here!"
"Who said you had too? You only need to change to get full power."
"Ok, but why now?"
"Why not? It'll be helpful to know how well you can move if we're gonna go up against the other dolls. I mean, you did dodge gunfire from the first."
"Well, I did, but-"
"Well well well, if it isn't bad luck Jack!" Came the voice of a stuffy Rusty.
Jack looked back and saw Rusty with a wrapped up nose. "Ouch. Your nose ok?"
Rusty scowled at Jack. "Oh you think you're funny!"
"Oh, no, I didn't mean that sarcastically. Uh...I'm sorry about that." Jack apologized, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh you'll be sorry when I cave your face in with the First ball I find!" Rusty said before storming off.
"Great." Jack sighed before looking at Damian. "I hope you know that's your fault."
"Whatd I do?" Damian asked.
"You know what you did." Jack closed the locker and walked out the room.
"Alright," a tall buff koala bear said wearing a whit t-shirt and short red exercise pants, "these are the teams." He pointed at the white board behind him.
Jack took a look and his face flushed. Zill was on the other team, along with Rusty. "Oh man."
"Sorry Jack. I'll try and keep the ball away from him!" Zill said, trying to encourage him.
"Thanks." Jack said with a weak smile.
"Alright! Everyone to your sides!" The coach shouted.
Each team got to one side of the court, there were balls lined up in the middle for them to grab when ready. Rusty smirked and glared at Jack, being on the opposite side of him.
Damian got in Jack's ear. "Get ready."
"Shut up." Jack whispered.
The coach blew into his whistle, signaling the start. Rusty rushed to the first ball he could find and Jack rushed forward too, only to be stopped by Damain.
"Damian!" Jack shouted. He looked forward and saw Rusty grab a ball, Zill trying to grab it first but failing.
"Eat this!" Rusty yelled as he reeled back and flung the ball right at Jack.
Jack panicked, closed his eyes, and jumped, rolling forward, avoiding the ball, and landing on his feet. He opened his eyes and looked behind him to see the ball he dodged. "Whoa!"
Rusty and Zill looked at him with shock. Rusty scowled and grabbed another ball, hurling it at the jackal.
Jack evaded it by rolling to the side.
"What!?" Rusty said in bewilderment.
Another animal threw a dodgeball at Jack. He ducked to avoid it. Another came at him right after the first and he tumbled to the side to avoid it.
Rusty managed to grab a ball thrown at him and threw it at Jack.
Jack quickly stood up and did a backflip, jumping over it. When he landed, he looked back and greatly smiled. "I dodged all that!?" He said to himself
Damian spoke in his ear. "Yep! Seems like you're pretty agile!"
Jack looked forward, feeling a wave of confidence flow through him. Two dodgeballs were coming at him from the side, he dove to the side. Another came barreling st him, he back flipped. One more darted straight for his face, he hopped to the said, missing it.
Jack avoided more and more dodgeball, gaining the attention of everyone on his team, which led them to get hit, and becoming the target of the opposing team.
"Nice going! Now try grabbing some!" Damian said.
"What!?" Jack questioned.
"Relax, I'll help!"
"Ok!" Jack said with less confidence, but was willing to try Thanks to the adrenalin he felt. The next ball that came to him, he didn't flinch or try to move, instead he reached out his right arm and grabbed it, surprising the thrower. "I did it!"
"We did it." Damian reminded him.
"Marisol, you're out!" Shouted the coach.
Jack dropped the ball and grabbed the next that went for him, getting another out. With Damians help, he dodged and grabbed all the balls coming at him.
The only ones left on the opposite side were Zill, Rusty, and two other Mammals. Jack had three mammals on his side along with him.
"Try your left hand this time." Damian suggested.
"Ok!" Jack agreed.
The two other animals that were with Rusty and Zill both flung their dodgeball at Jack.
Jack stood there, ready, as they got closer. He swung his arms out and grabbed the both, nearly dropping the one his left hand caught. "Yes!" He said in triumph.
"Throw it!" Damian encouraged.
Jack reeled back with his left hand.
"Wait wait wait I meant-" Damian tried to say but he was cut off when Jack hurled the ball to Rusty.
The ball whizzed right by rusty's face at super speed, crashing into the bleachers behind him, breaking the wooden steps.
Jack's smile faded and his eyes widened along with everyone else who looked at the dent he made.
"I meant with me…" Damain said, dropping the ball.
"Oops." Jack said, mortified.
While Zill and Rusty were distracted, Jack's other teammates pelted them with dodgeballs.
"Uh..g-game!" The koala coach sputtered. "Team A wins!" He was focused on the dent in the bleachers.
While everyone was distracted, Jack shed away to the locker room. He closed the door behind him and slumped. "Oh man." He groaned.
"Well that went well." Damian commented.
"Well? Well!?" Jack glared at Damian.
"Hey, I wanted you to throw it with me!"
"You didn't say that!"
"I didn't think I needed to!"
"What difference would it make anyway!?"
"Uh, hello!? You still need to learn to control your strength, and as your arm, I can control said strength!"
"You can!?"
"Duh!"
Jack sighed. "Forget it. Lunch is right after this, so let's use it to go after the closest," Jack reached into his pocket, "...doll?" He shuffled around in it.
"Jack?"
Jack reached into his other pocket with his left hand. He grew pale and pulled his hand out. "The radars missing."
"Huh?"
"The radar. Its missing."
"What!? Whatcha mean!?"
"It was in my pocket but now it's not there!"
"Why'd you leave it in your pocket!?"
"I don't know, safe keeping!"
"And how'd that workout for you!"
"Ugh, maybe it fell out while I was avoiding dodgeballs!"
"Well don't just stand there, look for it!"
"I know, I know!" Jack opened up the door and saw the boys of the gym walk in.
"Hey Jack! That was awesome what you did earlier!" One of the animals said.
"Nice arm dude!" Another mentioned.
"Ehehe, thanks." Jack nervously laughed, walking past them.
"Hey Jack," Zill stopped him, "when were you able to do that!?"
"Uh, I, uh...had a healthy energizing breakfast!"
"Smooth." Damain commented, getting swatted away by Jack.
"Uh-huh." Zill said, not believing him. "If you dont wanna tell me, just say so dude."
"Sorry, its...complicated." Jack apologized.
"It's cool. Just tell me whenever man." Zill said with a warm smile. "See you at lunch?"
"Maybe. I might be doing something later."
"Oh, well that's fine." Zill said, his smile falling a bit. "We still got practice tomorrow."
"Yeah, definantly."
"See ya then Jack." Zill went to the locker rooms to change.
Jack smiled before going to look for the device. "Ok, where could it be." He looked around, hoping to spot it.
"Try the bleachers." Damian advised.
"Ok." He went up to the steps, checking the rows for it. "It couldnt have gone far. Maybe inside?" He looked through the openings to see if it was inside. "Jeez, it's dirty here." He saw an assortment of trash and dust. He kept looking for it.
"Uh, Jack."
"Not now Damian."
"Jack."
"I'm looking!"
"Jack!"
"What!?" Jack popped his head out to scowl at his right arm.
Damian grabbed Jack's chin and turned his head to the side. "That."
Jack saw the device in the hands of a female skunk. She was examining it curiously while going into the girls locker room. "Oh man."
"She musta been on our team and grabbed it when she saw it."
"Why didn't she give it back?"
"Maybe she didn't know?"
"Great." Jack slumped.
"No worries. I know how to get it back."
"Huh?"
Jack stood in front of the front door to the girls locker room. A look of dread donning his face. "Damain, this is a stupid plan!"
"Why? It's lunch so no ones gonna be inside." Damian said.
"That's beside the point! I'm not going in there!"
"Cmon," Damian pulled them to the door, "we'll be in and out in no time."
Jack pulled back. "Damian, no!"
"We need that radar!"
"Cant we...go to the layer!" Jack said, fighting against Damian.
"No can do. The device is in this realm so going to the layer and messing with its layer counterpart will mess with the dip. Plus, we don't know which locker its in."
"Well why...don't we just...ask her for it?"
"We don't know where she is or who."
"Then...we'll ask around!"
Damian grunted and stopped pulling. "Fine."
Jack looked at him surprised. "Really?"
Damian quickly grabbed the handle. "Nope." He opened the door and pulled them in.
"Damian!" Once inside, Jack pulled Damian up to him. "That's it! When we get home I'm giving you an ice cold bath!"
Damain stayed silent.
"What? Got nothing to say? Don't you think staying quiet gonna get you outta this!"
Damian pointed to the left of them.
Jack raised an eyebrow and looked to the side. What he saw made his jaw drop and his eyes as wide as dinner plates.
In front of Jack was Spam and Vanexa, kissing each other. Spam was against the lockers while Venaxa was leaning against him. One of Her hands were in his shirt, lifted up to his chest because her palms were there, while the other was on his waist, and one of her legs were wrapped around his. Spam had one of his hands in the back of her jean pants while the other was on the back of her head. They both had their eyes shot open I shock.
"Uhhhh." Jack dragged on.
The two quickly separated and straightened their clothes. "Uh, h-hi jack." Spam managed to say awkwardly.
"Wh-what were...were you two just-"
"I have a better question...what...what are you doing in here?"
"And why...why were you talking to your arm?" Vanexa also questioned, her usual monotone voice carrying a nervous tune.
"I uh...h-how bout this? I'll leave...and we never talk about this again."
"Deal." Spam and Vanexa said at the same time.
Jack hurriedly left the room, standing in front of the door, processing everything.
"Well...that was surprising." Damaim commented
"Spam...and... Vanexa!?" Jack tried to wrap his head around it.
"That explains the panties in his backpack. They were hers."
"Yea…."
"So….no ice bath?"
"You're still geting it."
"Damnit."
"Let's just go with my plan and ask the girl for it back."
"Ok…"
"Here." The skunk handed Jack the radar, having had it in her backpack.
"Thanks." Jack showed gratitude.
"No prob. Nice moves at the gym." She complemented.
Jack blushed. "Ehehe, thanks. I gotta go." He waved goodbye before leaving. "Ok. We got about twenty minutes left for lunch. Let's see if we can get to the cl-" he stopped short when he walked up to Spam and Vanexa.
Both parties paused, trying to avoid eye contact, and an awkward silence filled the air between them.
"Uh...hi." Jack managed to say.
"Hello." Vanexa said.
"H-hiya." Spam nervously greeted.
More silence was filled before Damian pinched Jack in the thigh. "Eep! I-I got somewhere to be!" He said quickly, leaving them. "Thanks."
"Don't mention it." Damian said.
"I'll put less ice in the bath."
"Oh come on!"
Jack activated the device and opened up the radar. The radar showed three blips and in the middle was an arrow. Each blip had a number with the letter M next to it. "The M must mean meters."
"Maybe. What's the nearest one?"
"This one." He tapped the dot that said seventeen meters. It brought up a window that showed the silhouette of a wolf.
"That must be the white wolf. Let's hop to the layer so no one can see you leave for it."
"Right."
Damian pulled Jack and him out of the layer, in front of a small house surrounded by a white wooden fence. It had a flower bed on the side.
"Alright. We got about fifteen minutes to get the core and come back." Jack said.
"Nice hustling to get here." Damian commented.
"Thanks. I didn't think jumping would get us here so quick." They heard humming. They looked forward and saw a wide eyed, smiling white wolf holding a canteen of water. He walked over to the flower bed and watered them. "That the doll?"
"Seems so."
"Its acting different from the last one."
"Maybe because it was active longer?"
The wolf walked back to the back of the house. Jack walked to the door of the gate and walked in. "Uh, excuse me." Jack called out to it, not geting a response.
"What are you doing?"
"I don't know, trying to talk to it?"
"Why?"
Jack made his way to the back of the house to see the wolf, sitting on a chair, reading a book. "He just seems like...someone you could talk to."
"Its a doll."
"I know but its acting so natural." Jack approached the wolf. It looked up at him and just stared, still humming. "Uh...hello."
"Just put it in maintenance mode so we can get the core."
"Alright alright." Jack pulled out the radar and pressed status. "Which doll do you think it is?"
"I dont know. Doll two?"
Jack tapped the number two icon. The display changed to show a wolf silhouette with the icons call and maintenance at the bottom. "Sweet. Let's get that core." He tapped maintenance and the screen flashed red.
"Unauthorized demonic energy has been recognized." The wolf said, startling Jack.
"Huh? Unauthorized?"
"Unregistered demon located, kill mode activated."
"Uh oh." Damian said.
"Kill mode!?" Jack exclaimed.
The wolf closed the book and put it away, emitted a red wave, pulling them into the lower layer. It stood up and its eyes turned red. Its jaw slid forward and split in half, a funnel coming out of its opening. Its legs separated down the middle, the outside of it moving back as the legs extended along with its midriff. Its fingers grew longer and more metallic, while its fore arms grew wider and its upper arms became longer. It looked to Jack and raised its arms up.
"Ho boy." Jack said. He jumped back to avoid its downward swing.
"Fighting time!" Damian announced, transforming into a demon arm.
"Ok!" Jack scowled at the doll and transformed into his demon self.
"Hey that was a quick change!"
"Guess I'm learning!" He smiled at Damian. The doll pointed its arm at Jack and it extended, quickly going at him. Jack hopped to the side to dodge it and ran up to the doll. The mech launched its other arm and Jack avoided it to, closing the gap. "HAAA!" Jack was about to swing at it till it pointed its mouth at him and screamed with super sonic volumes. "GAH!" Jack grabbed his ears, trying to muffle the loud sound shock waves hitting his ear drums.
"Too loud!" Damian raised up and slammed his hand into the ground, raising up a slab of the earth to block the sound.
Jack hid behind it. "Why's this one so different?"
"Different models I guess."
The slab was grabbed by the doll, who stopped screaming, and picked up. Jack grabbed a hold of it to be risen with it. The doll looked around, wondering where its target went.
"Try your new powers!" Damian suggested
"The blue hairs?" Jack asked.
"Yea!"
"How do I use them again?"
"Left hand!"
"Oh right!" Jack maneuvered his left hand till he saw the tips of his hairs. "Here goes!" He sent them to the dolls face, wrapping around it. The doll dropped the rock slab and Jack took the opportunity. He pulled himself to the Hell machine and punched Damian into its chest, driving it to the ground. He was about to punch it again till it grabbed his arm and flinched him off. Jack rolled on his back before getting to his feet.
The doll eyed Jack and jumped up high, bringing its feet together to form a spear shape and falling to him. Jack barrelled forward, missing the attack. It swung back at Jack and he guarded by bringing his arms together, only being sent stumbling back. The doll turned to him and extended its arm to him. Jack grabbed it and pulled it, slamming it down on the spot. He jumped up to it, ready to slam his demon fist into its face until it shot its other arm at him, hitting him in the chest. "Oof!" Jack fell back but managed to land on his feet.
The doll got to its feet and lunged at Jack, closing its arms on him. Jack grabbed them and held them back. The wolf machine then let out its sonic scream on him. Jack gritted his teeth, lit up his hands, and pushed its hands away. He sent a fiery left uppercut to its jaw and then, with his demon arm, sent a flaming jab to its abdomen. He sent it sliding back.
It looked at Jack and released another of its sonic bellows. Jack groaned in pain along with Damian. With his left hand he sent his blue hair strands under the doll and up from behind, grabbing its head and pulling back on it, sending its screech upwards. Jack dashed up to it. It flailed before launching both its arms to Jack. Jack raised both his arms up and slammed down on the hands, destroying them. Jack jumped up, set his demonic arm ablaze, and punched it hard in the face, knocking its head off.
The doll swayed from side to side before falling off its legs, broken and shut down. Jack took a deep breath. "So much for maintenance mode." Jack said.
"What!? I can't hear you! My ears are still ringing!"
"You don't have ears….so how do you head things?"
"I...huh...never questioned that. Maybe through the vibrations? Or your ears maybe? I don't know."
"Hm...let's test some theory later."
"I'm curious myself so sure. First, let's grab that core."
"Right." Jack grabbed the chest and ripped it off. He grabbed the core of it and put it in his pocket. "Alright, mission accomplished. Well grab the guy after school, bring him back, and crush the core." Jack said, reverting back.
"Cool. Now then," Damian went back to a normal arm, "Let's head back to school."
"Right we have," he looked at his phone and flushed, "four minutes…"
"Oh boy. Go back to demon form and run!"
"Way ahead of ya!" Jack said reverting back to demon form and jumping to school. "Demon legs don't fail me now!"
End
Next chapter. Questions.