Disclaimer: Don't own Gundam Wing or The Parent Trap.
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The Maxwell Trap
by Dorothy Winner
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"I can't believe she beat me," Sydney said sulkily, sitting outside their cabin one morning, their activity having been canceled, several days after the mobile suit battle with Heidi.
"Are you still going on about that?" asked Alexandra, turning the page of the book she was reading.
"I'm the daughter of a Gundam pilot, for Pete's sake, and I lost!" said Sydney. "And then she made fun of my hair and said I was fat! I'm going to make her pay! She's gonna learn that Sydney Maxwell is not a person to mess with!"
"Yeah, but Mariemaia said you'd be sent home if there's another fight between the two of you," said Gabrielle.
"I know, that's why I can't just beat her up, and believe me, I'd really like to," said Sydney. She got up and began to pace, frowning in thought. "Think, Sydney, think. There's gotta be a way around this…"
"Just let it go, Sydney," said Gabrielle, as a squirrel scurried down the tree she was sitting against and landed on her shoulder. "Well, hello there," she said, the squirrel chittering as it ran down her arm and into her lap. Gabrielle petted it affectionately. "Sorry, I don't have any food for you, little guy…"
Sydney stared at Gabrielle and the squirrel, suddenly realizing something. "Gabrielle, you're good with animals, right?"
"It's something I got from my dad," said Gabrielle.
"Perfect. I so have a great idea," Sydney said excitedly. "It's so bad, it's good. Oh, this is rich."
"What?" Alexandra asked, looking up from her book.
"Well, I was thinking, Gabrielle got a squirrel to go in her lap just like that, right? So what if she caught a skunk, and we let it loose in Heidi's cabin?"
"A skunk? Are you crazy?" Gabrielle exclaimed. "No way. Nuh uh."
"It won't spray you unless they're threatened or scared, right?"
"But that's animal cruelty," said Gabrielle. "The poor thing will be trapped in there…"
"It's only for a couple of hours until they get back from their activity," said Sydney. "And if all goes well, it'll trash the place trying to get out, and spray the first person who goes in there… oooh, I hope it's Heidi," she said with relish.
"Are there even any skunks in this part of the country?" asked Alexandra.
"Sure there are," said Sydney. "I'm counting on it."
Gabrielle made a look of distaste. "But it's a skunk…"
"Well, they're just like squirrels with stripes, right?"
"Not really…"
"Oh, come on…"
~*~
"It's on my head," said Alexandra. "The freaking skunk is On. My. Head."
"I guess it thought if your hair as a kind of… nest," said Sydney, looking at the skunk, which had attached itself to Alexandra's thick brown hair.
"Very funny…"
"Don't shake it off," said Gabrielle, "it'll spray all of us. The cabin's just a little further, anyhow…"
"Get it off my head…"
The three girls went up the steps to the door of the Deathscythe cabin. Sydney pulled a bobby pin from her hair and expertly picked the lock open, the three of them stepping inside. Sydney opened a window as Gabrielle proceeded to extract the skunk out of Alexandra's hair.
"Okay, Alexandra, just kneel down a bit… that's right… I'm going to take the skunk out of your hair now, okay? Try not to move," said Gabrielle, slowly prying the skunk's paws, one by one, out of Alexandra's locks.
"OW!"
"Shut up, you might scare it, and you know what'll happen if you do…"
After the skunk was successfully removed from Alexandra's hair, Gabrielle set the skunk down on one of the beds. "Welcome to your new home, buddy," she said. The three girls exited the cabin and shut the door behind them. "Now what?" she asked.
Alexandra shot her deathglare at Sydney and Gabrielle. "You guys are going to help me wash my hair…"
~*~
"My whole body is aching," moaned Heidi, as she, Liane, Megan, and Julia hobbled back to their cabin from a long hike.
"Tell me about it," said Megan. "I'm all icky and sweaty… once I get my stuff from the cabin I'm going straight to the showers."
The four of them went up the stairs to their cabin. They suddenly heard a loud thump from inside their cabin. The girls leapt back from the door.
"Something's inside our cabin," said Liane.
Another series of thumps came from inside the cabin. "What is it?" Julia whispered.
"I don't know," said Heidi, turning the doorknob, "the door's unlocked, though… we'd better see what it is."
Heidi opened the door.
A horrible smell assailed their nostrils. The cabin was a complete mess. Their belongings were strewn everywhere, and there were what suspiciously looked like droppings on the floor. Bed sheets were torn and coming off of the beds, and several pillows had been clawed open, feathers scattered all over the floor. Several shoes looked like they had been gnawed upon, and holes had been chewed into some of their clothes.
And there was a skunk in the middle of the floor.
All four girls screamed and chaos ensued. "Get it out of here!" Megan yelled.
"Whatever you do, don't let it spray!" shouted Liane.
The girls ran around the cabin, trying to shoo the skunk out the door, but, disoriented and confused, the skunk didn't seem to understand that the door was the way out, instead continuing to run around in circles.
Heidi was getting frustrated. "Get the hell out of here!" she yelled, aiming a kick at the skunk.
This was a BIG mistake.
The skunk bared its sharp little teeth at Heidi and hissed. It then turned around, lifted its cute little black and white striped tail, and fired.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!! NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The other three girls ran, screaming, out of the cabin, the skunk at their heels. Heidi stomped out of the cabin, reeking of skunk. She spotted Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle sitting on the steps of their cabin, the three of them in stitches of laughter. Sydney waved merrily. "Smells nice, doesn't it?"
Heidi saw red. "I HATE YOU SYDNEY MAXWELL!!!"
~*~
"You're in luck," said Mariemaia, "we were supposed to have spaghetti today, but the cooks have agreed to cook something else so you could have this," she said, holding up two large buckets of tomato sauce. "There's more, could you go to the kitchens and get them, girls?" she said to Liane, Megan, and Julia. "We've got a water trough behind the lodge you can use… come with me, Heidi…"
Fifteen minutes later, Heidi was sitting in a water trough full of tomato sauce, trying to get the stench out. Liane, Megan, and Julia sat on a bench nearby, looking at Heidi with sympathy.
"Boy that sucks," said Julia.
"It's that Sydney girl's fault," said Heidi. "I saw her and her friends laughing at me… bet you they were the ones who put the skunk in our cabin…"
"Here they are now," said Liane as Sydney, Alexandra, and Gabrielle approached them with self-satisfied smirks on their faces.
"Come to gloat?" snapped Heidi.
"Exactly," said Sydney. "How's the bath?"
"This is all your fault, isn't it?" shouted Heidi. "You put that skunk in there!"
"Oh, no one will be able to prove that," said Sydney. "Mariemaia thinks the skunk got in through one of the windows."
"Skunks don't have thumbs!"
"She thinks one of you left it open by accident," added Alexandra.
"Kisama! You set that up!" Liane said angrily.
"Maybe, but we're certainly not going to admit to it. Enjoy your bath," said Sydney, the three of them walking away.
Heidi scooped up some tomato sauce in her hand and aimed it at Sydney. It hit her right in the seat of her shorts with a splat. Sydney turned around, an angry expression on her face.
Heidi smirked. "Consider that my declaration of war!"
~*~
TBC…