Beastfire: Hi, all! Here is chapter four! Good news! My internet connection has returned! I'm at MY house now, baby! YEAH!
Chapter 4- Acupuncture Gone Wrong
It'd been a week since the crew of the Andromeda Ascendant had arrived. Dylan, Tyr, Harper, and Trance were with Gibson, Chiro, and Sprx in the lab. Beka, Rommie, Nova, and Antauri were with Ivy in her room, where Frus was curled up asleep in the corner. He was blissfully unaware of the others' presence in there, other than Ivy's. Otto had left to work on something. The mongoose was both snoring and talking in his sleep.
"I'm not too short," he mumbled. "I wanna ride the big pony!"
Antauri approached the sleeping mongoose to wake him up. Before he could get there, however, Ivy sent a small wave at him. The water was rather cold, so his eyes snapped open and he jumped up in shock. He looked around and saw Ivy laughing. Frus pieced together what had happened and glared at her playfully.
"So, that's the way you want it, huh?" he challenged mock-threateningly.
He approached the tank but was pulled by Antauri's tail.
"Careful," Frus began. "Male with several baby Magog, here."
"Well," Antauri responded, "if you come with me, we may be able to remedy that."
"You mean you STILL haven't cured him?" Ivy asked incredulously.
"No, Ivy, it takes time."
"Yeah…time we probably ain't got!"
"Must you be so pessimistic?"
"Must YOU be such a clone of Yoda?"
Antauri, rather than think of a comeback, decided to leave, with Frus in tow. In the lab, Gibson was waiting.
"Where have you been?" he asked sternly.
"Sleeping," Antauri answered for him.
"Well, I suppose we should get to work," sighed the blue monkey.
Frus got onto the table.
"Okay, so today we're gonna try everything that we haven't over the past week," explained Harper.
"If we fail to find a cure today…" Tyr started.
He didn't need to finish for the sight of his weapon completed the statement. Frus broke into a cold sweat upon the realization that if they didn't rid him of the Magog that day, he'd be shot without a second thought. They could have used the same machine that was used to remove the Magog from Harper, but Frus was different in physiology, so they couldn't tell how he'd be affected.
Then, Chiro had an idea.
"I have an idea!" said Chiro.
Wait…isn't that what I just said?
"Why don't we try acupuncture?"
"Y'know, kid? That's not such a bad idea!" exclaimed Sprx.
Frus had a look of terror, as he knew what was coming next…
FIVE MINUTES LATER…
Frus was lying on the table, looking much like a little silver pincushion.
"Are you sure this works?" he asked nervously.
"It should," said Trance.
"Oops," a voice said…Sprx's voice, to be exact.
"Oops?" Frus repeated, more nervously than before. "What's 'oops'?"
"Uh…that wasn't an acupuncture needle I just put in."
"THEN WHAT KIND WAS IT?"
"Do you promise not to kill me if I tell you?"
"Maybe…"
"I think I accidentally put in a chlorine laced one."
"You WHAT? I'M GONNA KILL YOU, SPRX!"
"Hey! You promised not to!"
"I said maybe I wouldn't!"
They had to strap him down to keep him away from the red monkey. After a while, the chlorine was extracted. The Magog, however, were not…much to a certain mongoose's dismay. At this rate, he was seriously contemplating the concept of leaving the lab, going to Ivy, and telling her that he was about to die. Then again, his offspring would be lacking a father. No, he had to stick it out…no matter what.
"Maybe we should rethink our strategy," said Harper.
"No, really?" Tyr retorted sarcastically.
Dylan, Frus, Gibson, and Antauri all sighed in annoyance. Some time later, Frus was up off the table and checking in on Ivy. When he was in there, she began having a contraction. He ran up to her.
"Ivy! Is it happening?" he asked excitedly.
The contraction ended.
"Not quite yet," she said. "Did they get them suckers outta ya?"
"No…and they're running out of options."
Ivy could sense what would happen if they failed to extract the creatures. She could read it in his thoughts.
"If ya don't make it…" she began, hovering outside of the tank at eye level to Frus.
Before she could finish her statement, Frus put a finger to her lips.
"Can we please not talk about that?" he pleaded.
She grabbed onto his hand with both of hers, pulled it down, and looked him right in the eye.
"If ya don't make it, I'll be sure to tell the kid all about you."
Frus allowed a small smile to cross his face.
"With your shoddy descriptive skills?" he joked.
He was met with an irritating grin.
"Maybe I should head back for the lab…and you really should get back in that tank."
"Oh, okay," Ivy said, disappointed.
Before resubmerging herself, she kissed Frus and gave him a hug. He returned the favor and left for the lab. As he left, everyone else that had been in there before re-entered the room. Where were they? Well, Otto had gotten his tail stuck in an indestructible door. It took Beka, Rommie, and Nova half an hour to extract the tail from the door, which opened with a secret code that only Gibson knew. Yes, it was the door leading to his secret Oreo stash. WE ALL KNOW HE HAS ONE!
The lab, when Frus reached it, was pitch black.
"What the?" he asked.
Then, a few random tiki torches were lit and three figures in masks and grass skirts entered. They looked suspiciously like Tyr, Dylan, and Harper.
"What in the (bleep) is goin' on in here?"
The tallest one lifted his mask to reveal none other than Tyr.
"This is the one thing we haven't tried," he explained.
"And this would be?"
"A voodoo ritual."
"Do Gibson, Antauri, and Trance know about this?"
"Yes. That's why they left."
Frus could feel that awful feeling of foreboding again.
Beastfire: That'd be chapter 4, people! Next time, we see if Frus is cured by the ritual, and Ivy gives birth.
Ivy: He'd BETTER survive, or else you won't!
Beastfire: Calm yourself, oh Queen of the Shrimps.
Ivy: You're lucky I'm confined to this tank, boss…and that if Frus gets too mad, the Magog'll act up.
Beastfire: Well, please review!