Chapter 44: Please Please Please Shutup


Kicking up a dusty path, the group of four made their way down the dirt path to the desert, which was not too far away anymore. The noise coming from Charlie's mouth made it almost impossible for Ben to think of what to do once he got there.

"Are we there yet?"

"Does it look like we're near a desert?"

"I've never seen a desert in real life before. How will I know when we're there?"

"When you don't see anything but dirt and sand for miles."

"So it's big?"

"According to the maps, it's the largest land mass on this entire planet."

"So it's big."

"Very."

"How will we cross it?"

Ben stopped suddenly and slapped himself in the head. "I knew I forgot something!"

"Sorry. . ." Charlie thought for a moment that he had done something wrong, and he retreated into Liz's arms.

"Charlie," Ben said while working out a solution, "You say that she's not your girlfriend. . ."

"She's not!"

"And you retreat to her arms the moment you feel somethings not going your way."

"Well, yeah! I was brought up to completely depend on my pokémon. . ."

"Still. . . say, I think I have an idea. . ."

"What's that?"

"We find a jeep, and steal it."

"But isn't stealing wrong?"

"Charlie, do you want to live?"

"Yeah. . ."

"Well we need to get across that desert or we die."

"I don't want to die."

"I suggest you quickly rationalize the situation."

"Excuse me. . ." Crystal interrupted, "But there's a nice jeep a mile down this road, it's full on gas, and the owner won't be back for an hour."

Ben blinked, "How did you know that?"

"I picked it up on my internal scanners. . ."

"Well, hurry! No sense standing around and deciding the situational ethics!" He sprinted off down the road, blasting dust into the air behind him. Everyone stood there and coughed a little from it.

"Well. . ." Liz said, blinking a little, "we could stand right here and see if he comes back."

"I prefer a leisurely stroll," said Charlie. "We'll save a little time, at least, when he comes blasting down the road looking for us."

Liz sighed as the trio continued to make their way down the path, "I swear, he is the weirdest kid I've ever met."

"I don't know about weirdest kid ever," Crystal commented, "he's just a little. . . hardcore. And absolutely sure of anything he thinks."

"Say I was wondering," Charlie moved to his own tangent without even bothering to notify either of them, "What's it like to have the joints of your body unattached?"

"Huh? Oh. . . well, I have had it that way all my life. I would think it weird to have joints in the way of free rotation. . ."

"No, I think having disconnected joints is weirder."

"That's only because you've only had real joints your entire life."

"So?"

"So that means that you have only experienced those kind of joints and have a hard time imagining what it would be like without them."

"So?"

"So just because I have a different variation on the same principles that your body is based on doesn't meant that you have to think I'm a freak show because of it."

"I didn't say that!"

"Well, you kept asking 'so', so I assumed you were just talking to annoy me."

Charlie shut up. For about a minute. "Sorry. . ."

"It's alright. You're young and just find a lot of things about life boring, so you try and liven it up by seeing if you can get people mad."

"No I'm not."

"Are you bored right now?"

"Kind of."

"Why don't we do something fun, then?"

"Yay! What?"

"Well, what does a kid normally do when he's outdoors and bored?"

"Play tag! You're it!" He tapped Crystal on this shoulder and ran off down the road. Crystal laughed, "Tag, Liz," and she ran after Charlie into the roadside trees. Liz smiled and followed them.


"Guys, I'm back." Ben called out, getting out of the jeep and looking around. "Guys?" He was certain he'd gone up the road just as far. The really big rock landmark told him they should have been around.

Charlie suddenly leaped out of the bushes and tackled Ben. "You're it!" he yelled.

"Ow!" Ben took a tumble and landed in a roadside shrub. "Watch what you're doing!"

"I was. I tackled you and said you're it."

"Did I ask to play that game?"

"Well, you're kinda it right now, so you don't have a choice."

"Just get in the car!"

"Sorry. . ." Charlie got into the passenger side and pulled the seatbelt on. Crystal and Liz came out of the trees giggling and laughing, but they stopped when they saw Ben looking steamed and Charlie sitting in the jeep looking depressed. "Ben, what did you say to him?!" Crystal yelled in his direction.

"What! I'm not in the mood to play right now. We have a job to do, and I'm not going to deviate from that for a little pointless distraction!"

"Ben!" She yanked him up to her eye level by the shirt, scaring him immensely as evidenced by his sudden change in eye size, "You have exactly ten seconds to get in there and apologize to him or so help me, I'll take your puffy pink butt and ram it down your throat!"

"Erk. . . yes ma'am. . ."

"And don't think I can't do it, either, I've seen how stretchable that body of yours is! GO!" She dropped him on the ground, him landing with a dull thud. He whimpered a bit, getting to his feet and climbing into the jeep.

"Charlie. . ."

"I heard everything. You don't need to apologize."

Ben looked down, embarrassment flushing his face over, "Charlie, what I just did was stupid, alright? I just. . ."

"Ben, you're a smart guy. And you were right. . . we really need to get the job done anyway. . ."

Ben sighed. "You'll need to learn to think for yourself, too, Charlie. . . you can't just expect everyone to make choices for you." Ben started up the jeep again.

Charlie thought about that as Crystal and Liz climbed into the back seat.