I update ridiculously fast don't I? I still can't believe how many reviews I got...
Thanks to: Chaotix Etremist, sonic candy, Dr Namgge, and Ciel the Hedgehog for reviewing!
Disclaimer: See last chapter.
And now, before I take up anymore room with my mindless babbling...ONWARD TO CHAPTER FIVE! (This chapter is a little boring because I'm short on funny)
BTW, I'm not sure where Nack lives so I'm saying Station Square. If I'm wrong, I apologize sorry.
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With last nights incident fresh in their minds, Bark and Bean woke early in the morning. So early, in fact, that Nack was still sleeping. Normally, Nack was the first one up, the followed by Bark and Bean. The polar bear and the duck were not used to waking this early. The sights and smells were all new to them. Had it been any other day, they would have stopped to take it all, but they were anxious to get down to the courtyard.
Bean grabbed his shoes and bandanna on his way out of the bedroom, while Bark was already prepared. The duck sat down on the couch and slipped on his shoes, which did not take long as his shoes had no laces. Bean tied on his trademark red bandanna and walked out of the door with Bark.
The second floor hallway was quiet at this time of morning; all the guests would still be sound asleep. Bean could not resist a snicker as he pressed himself against the wall and crept down the silent hallway secret agent style. (A/N: If only he had sunglasses...) Bark simply walked down the hallway.
When Bean reached the stairs, he abandoned the wall and tip-toed down the flight of stairs, followed by Bark. In the lobby below them, they could hear someone muttering. Bean decided it would be best to get back on the wall before whoever was down there saw or heard him. Reaching the bottom stair, he and Bark carefully peered around the corner of the wall.
The muttering had been coming from Natalie. The black cat was grumbling a vocabulary that would have impressed Nack as she mopped the marble floors. Bean and Bark waited until her back was turned before bolting across the entryway and into the first floor hallway. As well as another set of guest rooms, this hall was home to the supply closet and the kitchen.
As Bean and Bark walked past the kitchen, they could hear dishes clinking together as the breakfast buffet was prepared. Bark peeked into the kitchen and saw Eliah setting out trays of food. She yawned several times and rubbed at her eyes. She must have had a late night...
He slipped past her and quickly walked down the hall, catching up to Bean. They could see the door that led to the courtyard a little ways in front of him. Fervently hoping that door would not squeak when he opened it, Bean grabbed the handle and pulled. No squeak. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped out into the courtyard, followed by Bark.
The courtyard had looked somewhat creepy in the dark of the night, but in early morning, it was a breathtaking sight. The lush green grass was perfectly manicured, every poppy, marigold, and lily was in place, and every shrub had been cut in the likeness of someone or something.
But Bean and Bark were not here to admire the shrubbery. They were here to snoop around for anything suspicious. Bean decided to first look by the strange looking bushes, while Bark settled on searching the flower garden; but after getting countless pricks from rose thorns, the polar bear retreated onto the lawn. If he could not get through the roses, then neither could Eliah.
Bark walked across the lawn and towards Bean. Maybe Eliah had been digging there. He was about to began his investigating when he heard someone greet him. "Hello!"
The polar bear turned around to see a black hyena and a blue and brown ferret sitting in lawn chairs. They were sipping sodas and nibbling on chips. "I'm Ferra." The ferret introduced herself, "and this is my friend Snyder."
"Hey." Snyder muttered as he popped another chip in his mouth.
"Care to join us for some chips?" Ferra asked. Bark glanced over at Bean. The duck was now searching under the bush. It did not feel right to let Bean do all the searching why he ate chips, but being bigger than Bean, the polar bear found it too difficult to search through gardens. He shrugged it off and sat down in an empty chair besides Ferra.
The blue and brown ferret handed Bark a bag of barbecue chips. "Don't you just love barbecue?" She asked. "Snyder and I just don't how we could ever live without it." Snyder nodded. Bark popped open the bag of chips. He was not very fond of barbecue, but his growling stomach encourage him to eat the chips.
"So where are you from?" Ferra asked as she took a sip of her soda.
"Station Square." Bark answered. "I'm staying here with two of my friends."
"Oh it's so sweet up there." Ferra said. "Quaint. Charming. We're from the Village. Upper Village actually." Bark could have guessed. They seemed like the type who would live in Station Square's fancy housing development. "We have a pool," Ferra continued. "Do you have one?" She asked.
"We used to until I blew a hole in it and all the air came out!" Bean yelled as he came running across the lawn.
"This is my friend Bean." Bark introduced the duck. Ferra and Snyder smiled politely as if Bean was just too quaint for words. "So," Bark began,"are we it? Is there anyone else staying here?"
Ferra and Snyder looked at each other, their brows furrowed. " Let me put it this way," Snyder said at last, "we're the only normal ones."
"Really," said Ferra,"You won't believe the riff-raff. You'd think for an expensive hotel, people like that wouldn't be here! There's this cat and this freaky looking foxbat... Trust me you don't want to know them. And then, there's this character called 'The Beaver'."
"Why?" Bean asked.
"I expect it's because he's a beaver." Snyder said. The hyena opened his mouth to say more, but Bark politely interrupted him.
"Sorry, but we need to get going." He said.
"Alright. See you around." Ferra said as Bark and Bean walked back over to the bush that Bean had been searching.
"Did you find anything?" Bark asked.
"Yep! I found a filled in hole. Actually, I found a lot of them." Bean said.
"Great. Let's go wake up Nack and come back down here." Bark said his monotonous voice as he hurried back over to the door.
"Uh, Bark?" Bean said, stopping the polar bear pointing at two shady looking figures walking down the hotel hallway.
"They look like trouble." Bark said, watching the figures get closer and closer. "They must be those two that Ferra and Snyder were talking about."
"Oh, they are trouble!"
Bark and Bean turned around to see Ferra and Snyder. The had their bags of chips and sodas with them. Apparently they had been on their way inside.
As they got closer, Bark and Bean could see that one was a cat and the other was some sort of fox with big ears and bat wings. One, the skinny fox hybrid with ragged white fur, strutted towards them so smoothly that her hips must have been on ball bearings. Her piercing blue eyes were stuck on the polar bear and the duck like hungry fleas. Her blank faced companion was an equally thin, long haired, black and white cat.
"Well, well," the foxbat snarled as she opened the door, causing Bark, Bean, Ferra, and Snyder to take a couple of steps back. "and what do we have here?"
The cat circled Bark, giving him the once over. "Nice fur," she said in a sickeningly smooth voice when she came in a full circle. Bark was beginning to look a little annoyed. The cat stared him in the eyes, "Did you bring any food?" She asked.
Bark took his time before asking, "Are you asking me?"
The foxbat snorted. "She ain't talking to your mother," she cracked, breaking into a raspy sort of laugh. The cat chortled. Bark and Bean exchanged nervous glances. Ferra and Snyder just shook their heads.
The foxbat stopped laughing abruptly. "I'm Shade Hunter." She said, spitting out the words. It was less an introduction than a threat. "And here's my sister, Heather."
"You're sisters?" Bean asked.
"Sisters in crime!" Shade Hunter snapped. "Burglars. Petty thieves. Want to make something of it?" There was a long silence in which nobody choose to "make something of it".
"What were you saying about food?" Bark asked, finally breaking the awkward silence.
Shade Hunter sneered. "I'll let you in on a little secret." She said, glancing around. "The glop that they serve here is enough to make you taste buds go on strike. So we was just wondering if you brought anything with you. Besides those mosquito flavoured chips." She shot a look at Snyder and Ferra.
"That's 'mesquite'." Ferra corrected softly.
"Whatever." Shade Hunter snapped, turning back to Bark and Bean.
"I'm afraid not." Bark mumbled.
"Pity," muttered Shade Hunter, "You're going to wish you had."
"The food's that bad?"
"Like nothing you ever ate." Shade Hunter replied.
"Like nothing you deserve." Heather added.
"Gee," said Bean, "it sounds like gruel and unusual punishment."
Heather nodded. "However, once Shade Hunter and I have found the-" she started to say, but the foxbat gave her a sharp look that shut her up. Her mouth closed. Bark eyed the two suspiciously. There was something odd about them...
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Wow! My longest chapter ever. :)
Please review!