Author's Note: I'm back! I mean, hey, I couldn't leave you clueless. A'ight, so in da last chappie, Lenny went suicidal and Oscar lost a friend. Now, in this chappie, Oscar has to deal with Katie Current and Lenny has to suck up to Ronnie…

Xdoggreloaded88- I don't think Katie Current would slap him… I think she'd go MATRIX on him. Even though that comment about Lenny was mean, I had to laugh at it. Plus, that 'man up' comment gave me an idea for the chapter title! And a line in this chappie! Thanx!

Insane Pirate Dragon- Yeah, Lenny's a stupid head. You'll see how he sucks up to her… and it's sad how nobody knows what they have until it's gone.

Lav'O'Dolphin- Yay, I had a lot of good lines in the last chappie! (Dances) Oscar's friends are dropping like flies, so he'll have to make knew friends… cough, the shrimp, cough Yeah, Ronnie telling Lenny that she didn't care for him anymore was a bad thing to do… maybe he will cut himself again…

This chappie shall have another warning in it… you'll see what it's warning you about… phew… the longest chappie I've written so far…

On wit da story!

Chapter Nine: Manning Up

Oscar swam through the city, looking for something to do. His friends were dropping like flies; the only friends he had left were the Shorties, but they weren't as old as him. Not that he minded having those young kids for friends, but if he ever wanted to talk about grown up things, they wouldn't understand.

'What am I supposed to do?' Oscar thought.

Suddenly, a scream was heard. All fish heads turned to the scene.

"That building's about to fall!" A lady screamed.

Oscar looked towards the building the lady was pointing to. He saw a shrimp cowering beneath its shadow.

'Oh no!' Oscar thought. 'That building's gonna fall on that shrimp! Even if he was trying to swim away, he couldn't make it on time!'

Not knowing what he was doing, Oscar swam towards the collapsing building and pushed the shrimp out the way. The building didn't kill the shrimp or Oscar, but it did get Oscar's fin, though he didn't notice it. Amazed fish stared at the shrimp and Oscar.

"You saved my life." The shrimp said.

Oscar stared away from the shrimp, surprised that at what he had just did. "Yeah."

"You're a good person." The shrimp said, looking up at Oscar.

"Excuse me… pardon me…"

Oscar could see a fish trying to push its way through the crowd. 'Oh no.' Oscar thought. 'It can't be…'

"Move it!"

The fish had finally pushed her way through the crowd.

"Hello. This is Katie Current, keeping it current." Katie announced. "And we are here with former shark slayer Oscar. As we've just seen, he's just saved a shrimp from becoming squished!"

'Great.' Oscar thought. He didn't feel like being bothered by Katie this morning.

Scene Change

It was daytime in the all-carnivorous city. Lenny dashed out Ronnie's ship, heading for Andre's apartment. Andre had just finished his video game, and Jamel and Lenny were invited to be the first ones to play it. But Lenny's mind just wasn't on video games at that time. His mind was on Ronnie, and he decided to get help. He wasn't going to get anybody's help though, no, he was going to get help from… Jamel.

'I'm never gonna hear the end of this.' Lenny thought as he knocked on Andre's door. 'But at least it's worth getting teased for.'

Andre opened his door. "Hey Lenny, you're the first one here."

"Actually, I think it's a tie."

Lenny literally jumped five feet into the air, looking startled.

"Calm down, it's just me."

Lenny floated back down to look into Jamel's face. "Jeez man," Lenny said, "You almost gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry." Jamel said. "Now, what's the game they had you workin' on?"

"Swim inside and you shall see." Andre said.

Lenny and Jamel followed Andre into his apartment. There, right in the middle of the whole house, was a big screen TV, with a long purple couch a few feet away from it. Beside the TV was a green cube with three controllers.

"Wow." Jamel and Lenny chorused.

"Yeah." Andre said, nodding his head. "Cool, ain't it?"

"I wish I had an apartment like this!" Jamel explained.

"Yeah." Lenny said. "This place is cool!"

"Mmm, hmm." Andre said. "But enough about how cool my house is, let's play the game already!"

Jamel and Lenny grabbed two controllers while Andre grabbed the remaining one and turned the game on. While the credits were playing, Andre said,

"Okay, so this is what the game is mostly about. You have to make your way out this cave without dying."

"All right…" Jamel said.

"It's better than it sounds." Andre said. "You can get new fight moves and you have to defeat these monsters…"

"I'm all over it now!" Jamel shouted.

"Let's play!" Lenny said.

The game came on, and the three friends began to play. Lenny seemed to be thinking about something, and Andre noticed this.

"Hey Len, you okay?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine." Lenny said. "I just… don't you guys have to go to work?"

"Naw, we got the week off." Jamel said. "But by the look on your face, that's not the only question you wanted to ask. You've got something else on your mind, Lenny."

"Okay…" Lenny said. "Here's the thing… I need some help. And you guys have to help me out with this."

"I think I know what you need help with." Andre said with a slight smile. "It's Ronnie, ain't it?"

"Yes." Lenny said, looking at the floor.

"I knew it." Jamel said, snapping his fins.

"You didn't know anything!" Andre said. "So, Lenny, what's wrong?"

"Ronnie's mad at me." He said.

"What?" Jamel asked. "What did you do?"

Lenny stared at the ground.

"I see." Andre said. "You don't wanna say why 'cause it's personal."

Lenny nodded his head, never taking his eyes off the floor.

"Okay, so how mad is she?" Andre asked.

"She won't talk to me, look at me, and every time I try to say sorry, she ignores me and goes somewhere else." Lenny answered.

"Dang!" Jamel shouted. "What did you do man?"

Lenny started to twiddle his fins and Andre glared at Jamel for his insensitivity. "All right," Andre said, "If you wanna get her back, you have to do something special."

"Yeah," Jamel said, "but seeing as I am the intensive one of the group, I can't suggest anything but a flower."

Lenny thought for a moment. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. "Wait Jamel, you can help!" He said, looking up from the floor.

"How?" Jamel asked.

"Remember when I tackled you down and made you promise to get me a 'non-sticky' pizza?" Lenny asked excitedly.

"How could I forget?" Jamel said.

"Well, you can help me get a pizza for her!" Lenny finished.

"A pizza?" Andre said. "Lenny, if you get her a pizza, she'll just be madder at you."

"No, not a regular pizza!" Lenny said. "A special one!"

"You mean the house special?" Jamel asked stupidly.

"No, he means a special one!" Andre said, knowing what Lenny meant by that. "He probably wants to write a message on it or something."

"Yeah, that's right!" Lenny said.

"So what're you thinking about?" Andre asked.

Lenny whispered something into Andre's ear, making Jamel confused.

"That's a great idea!" Andre said.

"What?" Jamel asked. "What's a great idea?"

Lenny whispered his plan into Jamel's ear.

"Oh." Jamel said. "You wouldn't mind if I charged you a clam, would ya?"

"Yes I would mind, because you promised it would be for free." Lenny said.

"I never should've promised it for free." Jamel muttered.

"Too late, 'cause you already did." Lenny said, sticking out his tongue. "And what were you saying about flowers?"

"You could get her a flower." Jamel said while shrugging. "Ya know, an orchid or something like that."

"Yeah… thanks Jamel." Lenny said.

"No problem… lover boy." Jamel said.

"That's why I killed your character." Lenny said.

Jamel looked at the screen and saw that the part of the game with his character on it was flashing red and had big, floaty words that said, 'Game Over.'

"Aww man!" Jamel shouted. "You killed me off!"

"So did I." Andre said with a grin.

"You mean… you two teamed up?" Jamel asked.

"Yup." Lenny said.

"That ain't right!" Jamel said.

Lenny and Andre just hi-finned each other and kept playing the video game.

Scene Change

Oscar watched as Katie shoved the microphone into his face.

"So, Oscar, what did you feel as you saved this guy from the crumbling building?"

"Uhh… scared." Oscar said truthfully.

"Amazing." Katie said. "He was scared, but he still saved that guy!"

"It was nothing." Oscar said, trying to get out of the cameras.

"Would you have saved him from a burning building?" Katie asked.

"No." Oscar said.

"So you've got a fear a fire?" Katie asked.

"It's not that." Oscar said. "In case you haven't noticed, Katie, there can't be fire underwater."

"Oh." Katie said, trying to recover from her question. "Right. So, there are some rumors going around about how you're having 'girl trouble.'"

"I'm not having girl trouble." Oscar lied. "Now if you'll excuse me…"

"But isn't it true that you've broke up with Lola?" Katie asked.

"Yeah, but it's not any trouble." Oscar said. "Now, if you could just…"

Crazy Joe popped out of nowhere and shouted, "You're crazy man! I would've kept that girl! She may be a backstabber, but she's a HOT backstabber!"

"So she backstabbed you?" Katie said. "I see. Any chance of you two getting back together?"

"No." Oscar said in an annoyed tone.

"Okay." Katie. "So you've got another girl now?"

"Yes! I mean, no! I mean… what is up with all these questions?" Oscar said in a frustrated way.

"I'm a news reporter, it's my job to ask questions." Katie answered simply. "So you're single?"

"Yeah." Oscar said.

"Would you mind dating me?" Katie asked.

"You want the truth or a lie?" Oscar said. "'Cause while the truth might hurt you, it'll also keep me out of dating you."

Oscar's comment earned snickers from nearby fish, which made Katie mad.

"Well, I guess I'll go back to other more important news." Katie huffed.

"You do that." Oscar said. He turned to go, but a sharp pain stopped him. "Oww!" he shouted.

"Oh my god!" Katie shouted. "The shark slayer is in need of a medic!"

The last thing Oscar remembered was the wailing of sirens and sounds of worried fish. Everything after that turned blank.

Scene Change

Beep… beep… beep…

The sound of that medical thingy (ya know, that thingy with the green line that goes up and down, and goes beep? I don't know what it's called.) rang throughout the room.

'Oh… where am I?'

Oscar found himself in the clean, starched sheets of a medical bed. He heard the hushed voices of nurses and the sound of wheels rolling through the hallways.

"What the heck am I doing here?" Oscar said to himself.

"Ah, Mr. Oscar. I see that you've awakened."

Oscar jumped five feet out his bed and buried himself under his covers and pillow.

"Oscar, don't be scared. It's just me."

Oscar peeked his head out from the pillow and saw himself staring at a blue fish in a white coat.

"Dr. Finn!" Oscar said. "You scared me!"

"Sorry about that Oscar." Dr. Finn said. "But you're probably wondering why you're here."

"I sure am." Oscar said.

"Well, it was said that you saved this shrimp from a building." Dr. Finn said in that professional voice doctors always use. "It seems that your fin was hit by the building, shoving a shard of glass into it. You didn't notice it at first because it wasn't poking anything, like it was when you fell down. When the medics came, the shard of glass was poking something in your fin, causing internal bleeding. So, we had to get that glass out your fin, which took seven hours."

"Seven hours?" Oscar shouted. He looked at his clock, which said eight 'o'clock pm.

"Shhh, you'll wake up the other patients!" Dr. Finn scolded. "And yes, it took seven hours. You kept thrashing about, so we had to give you heavier sleeping gas, and the shard of glass wouldn't come out that easily."

"Well this sucks." Oscar mumbled.

Dr. Finn laughed and said, "Yes, it does suck, but we've got a visitor for you."

Dr. Finn opened the door and Angie stepped into the room.

"Ang?" Oscar said.

"I'll be leaving now." Dr. Finn said as he exited the room.

Angie swam over to Oscar's bed. "Hi Oscar." She said.

"Hi." Oscar said. "Why're you here? I thought you hated me."

"I do hate you." Angie admitted. "But that doesn't mean I won't visit a hurt friend."

Oscar chuckled. "You're a saint Ang."

"Yeah well…" Angie said, "it's how I am. I just came to see if you were doing okay. I'll leave now."

"Wait, Ang!" Oscar said. "Don't go."

"Why not?" Angie said. "There's nothing I have to say."

"Well I have to say somethin'." Oscar said. "Thanks."

"Thanks?" Angie question. "For what?"

"For comin' to see me, even though you're still mad and hurt." Oscar replied. "You could've just stayed at home, but you still came. Even after I told you that you weren't good enough for me to not keep my lie, and, to make a long story short, hurt you in a lot of ways, you still came. That's very nice of you Ang… but I'm still keeping my lie."

"What?" Angie said angrily. "Even after I came here?"

"Well… you didn't have to come here." Oscar said. "And it's not my fault that you're hurt… it's kind of your fault too…"

"How's it my fault Oscar?" Angie said angrily. "For caring about somebody who hurt me?"

"You don't have to care about me." Oscar said, with no emotion at all.

"Well good, because I don't!" Shouted Angie, heading for the door.

"Wait, Ang!" Oscar said. "It's not my fault…"

"Oh, it's never your fault Oscar!" Angie shouted. "You need to stop making all these pitiful excuses and man up!" And with those last words, Angie left, slamming the door behind her.

'You insensitive jerk!' Oscar's conscious screamed at him. 'What the hell is wrong with you?'

But Oscar refused to listen to his conscious. He shrugged it off and dismissed it as thinking too much. When would he learn that it's not thinking too much, it's the truth? When would he finally come to his senses and do what he had to do to get his friends' respect back? Laying his head back down on his pillow, Oscar drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Scene Change

Lenny quietly swam through the door. Peeking his head from around the wall, he saw Ronnie sitting on the couch watching TV. Taking a deep breath, he swam over to the couch.

"Hi Ronnie."

Ronnie turned around and saw Lenny. "Oh, hi Lenny." Getting up, she began to swam away.

'At least she said something to me.' Lenny thought. "Ronnie… wait!"

Ronnie stopped and turned around. "What?"

'She actually stopped!' "Umm… I wanted to say… ummm…. here." Lenny said, handing her a pizza box and a flower.

"A pizza?" Ronnie asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Look inside." Lenny said.

Ronnie opened the pizza box, and 'I'm Sorry' was spelled out in shrimparoni. Ronnie stared at the pizza, then looked up at Lenny, who was staring at the floor.

"Lenny…"

Lenny looked up hopefully. "Yeah?" He asked. Lenny looked up just in time to get the pizza smushed in his face. His view was blocked by the mess of sauce and cheese that was covering his head and eyes.

"I already ate." He heard Ronnie say, and though he couldn't see it, he knew she had swam off somewhere.

Feeling dejected, Lenny wiped the sauce and cheese off him, just enough so that he could see. He swam off to the bathroom to wipe off the rest of the pizza. When he had got to the bathroom, he picked up a towel and began to wipe his face and head off. 'I can't believe she did that!' Lenny thought. 'I don't blame her though.'

Lenny caught a glance of the razor blade next to him. "It's your fault she hates me now you know." He said to the blade.

'No it's not. Don't blame a razor for your troubles.' A voice in his head said. 'It's your fault she hates you, not the razor's. You're the one who was so oblivious to the fact that she liked you, and you're the one who decided to make her hate you by cutting yourself.'

Lenny had to agree with the voice in his head. Still, he felt sad. Picking up the blade, he stared at it for a few moments, about to cut himself. 'Don't do it Lenny!' his conscious screamed. 'Don't take the wimp's way out!' Lenny broke the blade in half and threw it away. He wasn't taking the wimp's way out this time. Lenny swam out the bathroom, looking for Ronnie. He was going to tell her sorry (for the millionth time!) and that he broke the blade. He looked for her everywhere, but he couldn't find her. Just as he was about to gave up, he heard gentle snoring. He realized that he was floating outside Ronnie's bedroom door.

'Hmm…' Lenny thought. Opening Ronnie's door, he saw her sleeping beneath light blue sheets. 'She's pretty when she's like this…' Tip-finning into Ronnie's room, he stared at her with a smile on his face for a second. Leaning over, he kissed her on the forehead. (Awwwww! Isn't this sweet?) Ronnie rubbed her forehead and stirred slightly. Lenny held his breath.

'Please don't let her wake up.' He thought.

Luckily for him, Ronnie didn't wake up. Because if she had, he'd have a lot of explaining to do. So, tip-finning out of Ronnie's room, he closed the door behind him. 'If only she was awake when I did that…' he thought. 'Oh well. I guess I'll turn in.'

So, Lenny swam to his room and dozed off.

Scene Change

Lenny woke up in the middle of the night. 'What? I haven't woken up in the middle of the night since… forever!'

All of a sudden, he heard his stomach growl. "That'll explain why I woke up. I guess a quick midnight snack wouldn't hurt…"

Lenny got up and headed for the kitchen. Just as he was about to go in, he was stopped by the sound of sniffling. Peeking into the kitchen, he saw Ronnie opening the freezer. She seemed upset about something.

He swam into the doorway of the kitchen. "Ronnie…" he began in a small voice.

Ronnie turned around and saw Lenny floating in the doorway. Her eyes were red and puffy and tears were in her eyes. Not answering, Ronnie went back to digging on the freezer.

"Ronnie…" Lenny said, swimming over to her side. "Are you okay?"

"Go away." Ronnie said, her voice matching her mood. "I hate you."

"You don't hate me." Lenny said.

"Yes I do." Ronnie said, looking at the floor.

"Ronnie, look me in the eye and tell me you hate me." Lenny said.

Ronnie looked up at Lenny. She didn't say anything, just sniffled.

"Mmm, hmm." Lenny said. "Now, tell me what's wrong."

"It was a bad dream." Ronnie mumbled, on the verge of tears.

"Okay." Lenny said. "So, what was it…"

"You died, Lenny." Ronnie said in a small voice. "It was because you cut yourself again."

Lenny stared at Ronnie. He was the reason she had that bad dream. "Well you don't have to worry about that anymore." Lenny said with a reassuring smile. "Because I broke the blade."

Ronnie sniffled and looked up at Lenny. "You did?"

"Yes, I did." Lenny said, wiping the tears from Ronnie's eyes. "So… do you still hate me?"

Ronnie smiled. She didn't answer; she hugged him instead, surprising Lenny.

"I'll take that as a no." Lenny said. "So… what were you about to do?"

"I was about to get some ice cream." Ronnie said. "I always get ice cream when I'm sad."

"How about I make you an ice cream sundae?" Lenny asked. "I was gonna get a snack too."

"You're a suck up, you know that, right?" Ronnie asked with a smile.

"I sure do." Lenny said. "Now, do you want an ice cream sundae or not?"

"All right." Ronnie said, heading to the living room. "And I like my ice cream sundae with extra chocolate sauce!" she shouted when she got to the couch.

"Yes!" Lenny whisper-shouted, making a triumphant gesture. "She forgives me!"

Scene Change

WARNING! THIS PART OF THE STORY CONTAINS…. IT CONTAINS… A NEW USE OF CHOCOLATE SAUCE! IF YOU DO NOT LIKE FLUFF AND CHOCOLATE SAUCE, DON'T READ UNTIL YOU SEE SOMETHING SAYING THAT IT'S SAFE!

Lenny came into the living room, carrying two glass bowls filled to the top with ice cream.

"Excuse me miss," Lenny said, "but I have a special order for Miss Ronnie. Have you seen her?"

Ronnie laughed and said, "Just give me my ice cream."

"Okay." Lenny said, handing her the ice cream bowl. "You did ask for extra chocolate sauce, right?"

"Yeah." Ronnie said.

"Do you know that chocolate can give you headaches and make you hyper? Lenny asked.

"Do you know that chocolate can give you headaches and make you hyper?" Ronnie questioned back.

"Hey! I asked the question first!" Lenny said.

"For every question you ask, you might not get an answer. You might get a question in return." Ronnie said.

Lenny sat down on the couch next to her. "Well, this is something I've never done before."

"What?" Ronnie asked.

"I've never eaten ice cream sundaes in the middle of the night while watching TV." Lenny answered.

"Yeah, well I've never bungee jumped before, but you don't see me broadcasting that." Ronnie said.

"That was mean." Lenny said with feigned sadness.

"Yeah? Well so is this." After Ronnie said that, she took a spoonful of Lenny's ice cream.

"Get your own ice cream!" Lenny said, guarding his ice cream.

"Why? Yours tastes better." Ronnie said in a teasing voice.

"Oh yeah? Well… well…" Lenny paused for a moment before looking at Ronnie. "That's why you've got chocolate sauce all over your mouth."

Ronnie brought a fin to her lips, and when she removed her fin, a drip of chocolate sauce was on it. "I like chocolate sauce, what can I say?" She said, shrugging. "And you've got whipped cream on your nose."

Lenny crossed his eyes to get a glance at his nose. "Where?" he asked.

While Lenny was looking for the whipped cream on his nose, Ronnie stole another spoonful of Lenny's ice cream. Unfortunately, Lenny saw her.

"Hey!" Lenny protested. "Stop stealing my ice cream!"

"Oh, stop acting like a baby and man up!" Ronnie said.

"Man up?" Lenny asked with a smile.

"Yes." Ronnie replied.

"You mean, like this?" Lenny questioned.

"Wha-"

Ronnie was going to talk, but her words were smothered by a kiss. After a few seconds, Lenny broke the kiss. Ronnie just sat there, speechless, and Lenny licked his lips.

"I guess chocolate sauce is good for some things besides headaches and hyperness." Lenny commented. "Do you know how long I wanted to do that?"

Ronnie looked up at Lenny, the stunned expression still on her face. "What… how… why'd you do that?"

"What made you think I wouldn't do that?" Lenny asked.

"Hey, you can't answer back in a question!" Ronnie said.

"For every question you ask, you might not get an answer. You might get a question in return." Lenny said with a smile.

"Touché." Ronnie said, leaning in for another kiss.

So, the two stayed like that, later on falling asleep on the couch, ignoring the fact that their ice cream was melting.

ALL RIGHT! IT'S SAFE NOW!

TBC…

Oscar's in the hospital, Katie Current got turned down by him, and Angie's still mad at him. And Lenny didn't cut himself; instead, he gets a kiss! All right! So, what's gonna happen next? Is the mob gonna come into this story? Will Markie come into this story again? Will Jamel and Andre find about the kiss? But over all, what'll happen at the talent show? There's only one way to find out, and that's to stay tuned for the next chappie!

R&R pleez!