Chapter VI: Snoopers
Two Days Later
Location: Wolfwood Residence
3:37 AM
RING! RING!
RING! RING!
RING! RING!
"Ugh..." Meryl groaned tiredly as she glanced over at her blinking digital clock. "Who could be calling at three in the morning...?" she wondered out loud. "And why did I get a phone in my room...?" She yawned as she picked up the phone and, but before she could curse out whoever it was that dared to disturb her slumber, someone else was already on it.
Now, mind you that eavesdropping wasn't her style, but curiosity got the best of her as she heard Nicholas' voice.
"Yea-lo?"
"Hey, Wolfwood. It's me, Jack."
There was a slight pause on the phone before Nicholas replied. "Jack who...?"
"Jack Smith, man!"
"Oh...what do you want? You do know it's almost four in the morning, right?"
"Yeah, I know, but this couldn't wait! I just got this great deal for a racing team and I want you and Vash to be a part of it," Jack explained.
Meryl raised an eyebrow. 'A racing team? Nicholas and Vash?'
"What makes you think that we would be interested in being a part of your team?"
"Because, man, you and Vash are the best damn racers I know of! You gotta do this for me, I'm...I mean, WE are going to be making mad money off of this deal!"
Meryl rolled her eyes as she imagined Nicholas' eyes turning into dollar signs.
"Hmm...I'm gonna have to discuss this over with Vash."
"Man, what is there to discuss? All you gonna be doing is racing and winning."
"No duh, Sherlock, but my parents would kill me if they found out I was involved in racing tournaments."
"Then don't tell them! C'MON, Wolfwood, this is a great opportunity for you!"
Nicholas growled. "Fine, I'll do it, but I'm getting half the profits, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah. Meet me at the old abandoned stadium later today at 5 o'clock, and don't forget to bring Vash. I'll see you there."
Click.
"Whatever..."
Click.
Meryl rolled her eyes and placed the phone gently down before turning over in bed. She knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, so she decided to get a snack. She'd be getting up in a few hours for school, anyway.
She got up from the bed and threw on her robe, which was resting on the back of a chair. She reached for the handle of her door and slowly turned it, not wanting to wake anybody up. Cautiously, she made her way down the stairs, being as quiet as she could. Once at the bottom of the stairs, she turned left in the direction of the kitchen, then froze as she saw a figure in front of the refrigerator.
She caught her breath and released it once she realized it was only Nicholas, searching the fridge while only clad in a pair of blue silken boxers. He turned to her with a grin. "Hey, short stuff. You're up early." He got what he wanted and stepped away from the refrigerator, shutting the door, thus cutting off the light supply. "Could you flick the switch?"
Meryl yawned and turned the light on. Bright light fluttered into the room, temporarily blinding the two. After a few moments, Meryl took a seat across from Nicholas, stealing a pickle from him. "So, what is this I hear about a racing team?"
Nicholas chuckled. "You know, it's not polite to eavesdrop."
Meryl shrugged. "I couldn't help myself. The phone was what woke me up." She stole another pickle and threw it into her mouth.
Nicholas frowned, moving the pickle jar away from her. "Sorry about that, some people can be so inconsiderate of others."
"No kiddin'." She narrowed her eyes before snatching the pickle jar back and taking a few more slices of the sour, juicy pickles.
"Mer', lay off the pickles," he said, reaching out for the jar.
The shorter girl glared at him, and he could have sworn that her eyes turned red. Nicholas nervously grinned and took a step back. "Hehe, what was I thinkin'? Keep the pickles, Mer'."
Meryl smiled sweetly and happily munched on her lovely pickles. Nicholas growled a few choice words and left to go to his room with his pickle-less sandwich.
"Night, Nick!" she called after his retreating form. Her only response was a grumble.
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Elsewhere
4:00 AM
"You sure that was a good idea, man?" a voice whispered as two figures gathered together in a warehouse.
"I am sure, that I am," the other voice replied.
"Man, do you need to speak like that? You aren't Kenshin."
"Shut up, that you will," the second voice growled in annoyance. (Obviously, he has watched too many episodes of "Kenshin", oh, and FYI, I have never ever seen any episodes of "Kenshin", not even a small clipping! Poor me.)
"Whatever...back to our original topic, I don't think signing up both Wolfwood and that Stampede boy was a good idea."
"Why do you think it is not a good idea?"
"'Cause, you have no idea how these kids drive! And another thing, they are underage!"
"You will not question me! I know what I am doing, that I do."
"Man, this conversation is pointless...why are we here, anywhere?"
"....I do not know..."
"...Okay..."
"...."
"...."
"....."
"Pie?"
"Pie." (It would be wise NOT to ask. Heh.)
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Old Gunsmoke Geraniums Stadium
5:00 PM
The three teenagers stood in front of the tall, looming stadium. The stadium itself was surrounded by long roads circling around the massive building. The whole place was at least (insert insanely large number of square feet). A few racing cars were already circling around the track.
"So, this is the place?" Meryl asked, in awe at how large the stadium actually was.
Nicholas grinned. "Yep. Man, too bad the Geraniums left town. They were a good football team."
Vash, who was standing next to Wolfwood, raised an eyebrow. "A good football team? They lost at least 52 games...and won...one, and that was only because Sam 'accidentally' ran into Jet, who had the ball, causing it to fly from his hand and into Mike's, allowing him to score a touchdown exactly 1.5 seconds before the game was over, thus allowing them to win the game."
The two cousins stared at Vash in complete shock.
Vash laughed nervously as he placed a hand behind his neck. "What?"
Meryl and Nicholas shook their heads before slowly walking to the entrance of the racing track. There, they were greeted by a young man with black hair dressed in a white sleeveless shirt, showing off his nicely toned muscles, and a pair of blue jean shorts.
"Hey, Wolfwood, hey, Vash," he said with a grin. "Took you all long enough." That was when he noticed Meryl. "And who might this lovely lady be?"
Nicholas rolled his eyes. "She's my cousin, and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave her alone."
Vash nodded his head in agreement, narrowing his eyes at the man.
Nicholas introduced them. "Meryl, this is Jack. The inconsiderate SOB."
Jack held out his hand to her and she reluctantly took it. Jack smiled at her, pulling her hand closer to his face and placing a soft kiss upon her smooth skin. "It's a pleasure, Meryl."
When he released her hand, Meryl quickly wiped it on her pants.
Jack turned around. "Follow me. You two need to sign a few forms before we can continue."
The four of them then headed into the Stadium to take care of business.
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Elsewhere
The two children lounged around the house, bored out of their little minds.
"I'm bored outta my mind," David complained as he flicked through the channels for the hundredth time that evening.
"Me too," Katherine agreed. Then an idea hit her. "Hey, how about we snoop around in Vash's room? He has a lot of secrets in his diary!"
David looked up at her. "Vash has a diary? But diaries are for girls!"
"Guys can have diaries, too!"
David shook his head. "Nuh-uh. Journals are guys' private books. Girls have diaries!"
Katherine glared at him. "Girls have journals, too! Now are we gonna snoop around or not?"
"I'm in." The two sneaky kids quietly got up from their seats and made their way to the stairs.
"Oh, Katherine, there you are!" Rem exclaimed as she saw Katherine making her way up the stairs.
Katherine cringed as she slowly turned around. "Yes, mother?"
"Have you seen your brothers?"
Katherine blinked. "Uh, no...Vash is out with Nicholas, and Knives is...doing stuff....someplace..."
"Oh, okay. Well, you kids have fun. I have to run to the store." Rem grabbed her purse and walked out of the house. "Oh, and Mrs. Kurama (uh, no relation?) will be here to watch you!"
Katherine frowned. "But, mom! Mrs. Kurama is...old! And...scary! And I'm ten! I can watch myself!"
Rem smiled as she placed a kiss on her daughter's head. "Be good!" she said before leaving the kids.
David shuddered. "Parents are scary."
Katherine nodded. "You should see my mom when she gets up in the morning. You'll have nightmares for weeks."
David giggled. "Uh-huh! When Nick gets up, he looks like the Swamp Thing!"
"I thought you hated horror movies."
"Swamp Thing isn't horror! It's sci-fi!"
"Whatever, let's go."
They arrived at Vash's room and slowly peered in. The room was dark. "It's so dark. I can't see anything!" David cried out.
Katherine rolled her eyes as she turned the light on.
The little boy sighed in relief. "Much better."
"I can't believe that you are still afraid of the dark!"
"Hey, I'm only seven!"
"Whatever..."
They searched around the room. The room was pretty much bare except for Vash's bed by the window, lamps on his nightstand, and a computer desk with a flat-screen computer hooked up to a three-in-one printer/scanner/copier. He had a small TV set across from his bed, and hooked to the TV was his PS2 and GameCube. Under the TV stand were his games. But who would've thought that Vash's room was so...clean?
David quickly made a dash for the games. "Cool! Your brother has Kingdom Hearts 2! Oh! And Mortal Kombat Deception! Sweet, he also has all the Pokemon games! I love your brother!" He paused as he looked at one game and screamed. "AHHH! He has the Freddy vs. Jason game!! AHHH!! I hate your brother!" The poor terrified boy quickly hid under the bed.
"David, stop being such a cry baby." Katherine rolled her eyes as she continued to search her unsuspecting brother's room.
David frowned at his friend before spotting a blue book under the bed. "Maybe this is it," he said as he grabbed the book and crawled out from under the bed. "Hey, Kat, I think I found it."
Katherine glanced over her shoulder to see David opening a blue book. "Hey, let me see that!" she said, snatching the book out of his hand.
David pouted. "But I found it!" He took it back.
Katherine growled. "Stop it! He's my brother!"
"So? I found the book!"
"I wanna read it first!"
"Me first!"
"Whatever happened to ladies first?"
"You aren't a lady! You're a girl!"
The two kids glared at each other before they both plopped down on the ground, the book between them. David opened to the first page. "'Do Not Touch'." He turned the page. "'I mean it, stay out!', Your brother's weird."
Katherine nodded. "I know." They turned to the next page. "'Whoever touches this book and reads beyond is forever cursed.' Yeah, right." To the next page. "Ah! Here we go! Dear Journal," she started.
"Ha! I told you that guys have journals!" David stuck his tongue out at her.
"Shut up...I'm reading here!" Katherine cleared her throat. "Today was the first day of school. I was a little excited because this is the last year! Then it's off to college to party! Anyway, today, Wolfwood introduced me to his cousin, Meryl. Wow, Meryl, that's a real pretty name..." Katherine paused. "Isn't Meryl your cousin?" she asked David.
David nodded. "Uh-huh! Vash likes Meryl?"
They both looked at each other for a moment in silence; then, "EEEWWW!! Cooties!" they both exclaimed, scooting away from each other.
Katherine flipped through the book. "'Today I had a duel with Legato for a date with Meryl. I can't believe that low-down, dirty...anyway, I really think I'm in love. I've never felt this way in my life. Every time I see her, all I want to do is hold her...'" Katherine flipped to the next page. "'When I saw her in the park that day, I didn't know what to do. She looked so sad, I wanted to just go over and comfort her. Just kiss away her tears...'" Katherine stopped and closed the book. Both children's eyes were as large as could be. Neither said a word for two minutes before Katherine stood up, like a zombie, and placed the book on Vash's bed.
Katherine shook her head to snap herself from her trance and turned to David. "Let's not do that again, okay?"
David nodded. "Okay..."
"How about we snoop around Knives' room? He has explosives."
"Cool!" And so, the two children skipped off to play with Knives' explosives.
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Gunsmoke Geraniums Stadium
Vash stared at the paper in his hand. "So...we have to give you some information?" he asked as he looked up at Jack.
Jack nodded. "Yep, we need some information if you're gonna be racing on our team."
"Well, okay..." Vash took a seat next to Nicholas at a desk and grabbed a black ink pen.
Nicholas read the paper over again. "I don't see why you need this stuff."
Jack rolled his eyes. "Just fill out the form. While you're doin' that, I'm going to show Meryl around the Stadium."
Meryl shuddered. "Uh, it's okay. I don't mind staying here."
"Nonsense, sweet-cakes! This stadium is home to one of the largest race tracks in the whole state!"
Meryl narrowed her eyes. She hated being called 'sweet-cakes' as much as she hated fruitcake.
"Jack, my cousin can stay here. I gotta keep an eye on her anyway," Nicholas said, before Meryl could say anything.
Meryl glared at him. "YOU keep an eye on ME?"
Nicholas shrugged and went back to the paper.
While all this was going on, Vash was busy filling in the needed information.
'Hmm...name: Vash Saverem, but you can call me Vash the Stampede. Age: 17, DOB: July 7th, 1986...height: Pretty tall...weight: I'm too embarrassed to say. Blood type: Red, duh! Occupation...what's that? Anyway, family: Mom, Knives, and Katherine...' The form went like that for the next few questions
Vash grinned as he finished. "Well, that wasn't too hard."
"Those questions were stupid," Nicholas complained.
Jack took the forms from both boys. "Well, that's all for now. I gotta take these to the boss." He left the room, leaving the three alone.
They were quiet for a minute before Vash spoke up. "What now?"
The other two shrugged.
Out on the race track, a race was about to begin. The cars started their engines while waiting for the green light to flash. One of the race cars was too small for any human being. A crazy feline stuck its paw out the window and grinned at the readers. "Nyao!" And the race was off.
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Previews of the Next Episode: "I love you," they finished at the same time, both gazing into each others' eyes.
The distance between them quickly closed as they were caught in a passionate kiss, clinging to each other as if their very life depended on it.
Next Episode: The Beginning of Tomorrow
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One million thanks to all who reviewed my story! I really appreciate it! Cookies for everyone! hands out cookies/ Enjoy.
SapphireWhiteTigress