Disclaimer: I own nothing but me bloomin' mind . . . and not even that is really mine. *LOL* anyway, I'm so sorry I made everyone wait so long before I posted anything, I'm trying to think of a way to get this story from point A to point B.

Notes: It's been so hard to think of what to do with this story . . . I swear this is one of the worst cases of writer's block I've had in a LONG time! But I'm back and I'm ready now to continue.

"Kitty" Year-Round

Part XIII: Won't You Be My Neighbor?

By Mia LeighArc

That night as the sun had gone down on the search party, Delbert went down to the galley with the crew and watched their card games from afar, earlier than night he had jumped when he heard a strange howling coming from the woods, but the sound had all since stopped for a while. Delbert chuckled as one spacer tried to beat a full house with four of a kind, and failed…the crew wasn't so bad after all. Here they were putting on their poker faces and losing money left and right. Sure Delbert was no poker man, but he had played a few cards games in his life. The ship creaked as the wind blew softly over the ship. Delbert hummed to himself as he began to dose off watching the poker game.

Meanwhile:

Amelia arched her back, trying to stretch as the search party all sat and tried to untangle themselves from the pain of them piling on top of each other. Amelia chuckled at the groans and faces that her friends were making.

"That's more fun than I want to have again." Amelia said with a smile, recalling the first time she heard her husband say that same phrase. Soon the three of them noticed just where they were…at the foot of a waterfall. The way the water fell like silk over the rocks below and flowed gracefully into the pool of water they found in front of them.

"What shall we do, Captain?" Mr. Boris asked, looking toward Amelia.

"We conduct a search party for young Mr. Quinn. Surely he should've returned by now."

The group pressed ever so further into the brush, when Amelia stopped for a moment, hearing a small yelp coming from her right hand side. She silently led the group through the brush to reveal an injured Mr. Quinn lying, on the ground, letting out a low grunt. He had several deep slashes across his chest, back and shoulders. They would need to get him back to the ship straight away if they were going to stop the bleeding. The group, now with Quinn propped up by Mr. Boris and Mr. Cornelious, made their way back to the ship to get cleaned up and discuss a strategy for the following day. Delbert heard the sound of their return and quickly woke from his slumber and went back on deck to greet them. It was quiet dark now, so they would have to get back to the ship if they were going to avoid those strange creatures that they encountered.

The next day Amelia was awakened by the striking sunrise with it's swirling scenery of colors outside of her stateroom. She had fallen asleep in her great big armchair again, paws extended around her waist with one hand on the armrest of the chair and the other just barely gracing her hip. Outside, the birds were singing and the sound of the waterfalls was absolutely peaceful. Today would be a good day she hoped, a day that she would get to see more of the sights closer up. If only she knew if Delbert was awake so she could eat her breakfast and be off into the splendor of Pylea.

"One of the greatest things about this job," she admitted thoughtfully as she yawned, "is that I can wake at sunrise and always feel well rested. I guess that's something I just got used to over the years." She chuckled at the thought and began contemplating why they were really here. Three days they had been there and nothing yet, not a word of a missing person from anyone. Three days of exploration, taking advantage of the luscious landscape and examining exactly why they were here, and the only thing she found was the ritual site. Sure a few spacers every now and then would say they saw someone walk into the brush and not come back for a few hours . . . but that wasn't a threat—at least not that she knew of. Amelia was supposed to be there to save the remaining crew members of a voyage that crash landed here six months ago, that's at least what her letter had said. Three days had gone by since they had arrived and she still hadn't found anybody. She would hope to see Las Cateratas this time.

Las Cateratas was a silent haven for tourist to witness the biggest waterfall as far as Aldeberan to Quiytu. The waterfall itself was a doorway to a huge cavern with little coves and ravines of water anywhere from ankle deep to as deep as either your waist or you chest depending on your height. The caverns were known to be well moistened (good for humidity and for aquatic creatures) and the ceilings were always dripping with fresh water like the inside of wet fingers. Amelia was very eager to see it up close this time, the last time she only got to witness it from about ten feet way and didn't really get the chance to fully enjoy it. Amelia was ready and willing to embark on an adventure to see it . . . whether Delbert as with her or not.

Amelia stretched in her chair and looked calmly out the window, everything looked positively normal this time of year.

"It's just so beautiful." She said quietly to herself as a cautious knock came to the door. Amelia let out a big yawn and rubbed her eyes before she stood to open the door, but stopped at the window.

Aeneas had looked around for everywhere for his friend, only to find that Professor Avail was nowhere to be seen. The sound of rushing water was nearby, so out of instinct Aeneas followed its echo to Las Cateratas.

He stepped out into a clearing, his destination lay ahead and his past behind. He stopped dead in his tracks for a moment as he finally caught a glimpse of the place; Aeneas figured it was very peaceful, very quiet and a place he could go to be alone. Aeneas took light steps through the stones in the small pool that lay at the base of the waterfall. At the water's edge, Aeneas cupped his hands in the rushing water, took a drink and then cupped his hands in the water again to splash on his face. On a hot day like it had been, Aeneas felt he needed to cool off and relax. He heard a raven call through the air and smiled slightly. He had always admired birds of prey, or birds that ate the remains of other animals. "Survival of the fittest," he thought aloud. Without further hesitation, Aeneas stepped inside to find main cavern had no water in it, aside from an embankment at the entrance. He looked forward to seeing this place, knowing that he was the only one there. In one cove was a huge pool of water that looked like a nice quiet place to relax. So he went inside, took off his vest and weapons and dove into the pool, realizing quickly that it was much deeper than he thought it was to begin with. Aeneas happily dove down deeper than he suspected anyone else would. He swam around for a while peacefully before he came for air. Aeneas ran his hands through his wet hair and took a deep breath; after all he was the best almost super-human swimmer and the one student at the Interstellar Academy that could hold his breath for a whole 15 minutes. After diving again, Aeneas looked around the bottom to see a shimmering light flickering. Aeneas raised an eyebrow wondering what it could be.

"Could that be? No, it couldn't be a treasure chest."Aeneas thought as he dove down deeper through the water until the chest came into full view. A few scattered gems and jewels lay at the bottom of the cove, so Aeneas pocketed them on his way to the chest. Aeneas could see what he thought was a large group of rather scaly red rocks, but it was really the aquatic dragon guardian of the treasure cove. Unfortunately, when the chest wasn't budging and Aeneas kept trying to pull on it, he saw that the chest had something wrapped around it and tried to move it. What he never expected was that what was really wrapped around the treasure chest was actually a fierce set of sharp claws, so sharp in fact that Aeneas cut his hand pretty badly on one of them. The whole claw was the size of his head and neck altogether. On top of the creature's head were sharp spikes one between her eyes, two that looked like horns. More spikes were below her chin and down her throat line, making a perfect line of very sharp spikes. Other large golden spikes (like her massive teeth and claws) lined her back and her wings, though not commonly used for swimming, were large and rigged, almost like thin leather.

"…damnit!" Aeneas thought as he tried to stop the bleeding before trying move the treasure chest once more. Suddenly a soft rumbling came from under him. What he thought he saw was now moving in a breathing motion and soon enough a slit in what he thought was rocks opened and revealed a large black colored eye with a gold pupil?

It took Aeneas a few moments to realize that he wasn't alone, so he swam as fast as he could. Only looking back once, Aeneas saw the creature was now swimming after him. He originally thought it was the dragon, but it wasn't anymore…it now looked like some weird looking sea serpent was close behind him. He hurriedly his swimming and Aeneas saw the body clean of any possible meat. Professor Avail had been most likely eaten; what was left was a bare skeleton of the man Aeneas once knew. He once knew him to be brave in dangerous situations, but not this one as evidence by the body. Mr. Avril he figured had died in fear. This was not the man Aeneas had thought he knew.

Just as Aeneas had let out a long sigh, his eyes felt heavy and weld up with the smallest of tears. He knew real men never cried; So Aeneas pulled himself together, realizing what he was doing. After a few minutes, Aeneas dried his eyes with one wipe from the back of his hand. He chuckled at such a thought of a grown man crying and disregarded it as forgotten and never to be spoken of ever again. The figure of what Aeneas thought was a female figure wearing a red hood and thigh high red spiked boots and gloves and large black wings coming off the cloak, walked by his peripheral vision. Her skin mostly bare skin was covered in tribal markings from head to toe from what you could see beneath her few articles of clothing.

"Wh-what have you done with…Ma-ma-Mr. Avail . . .?" Aeneas asked as the figure came closer. Instead of the figure extending her hands toward him, gripping Aeneas by the neck and backed him up into a hallow tree with a thud. Aeneas was fading fast, he suddenly couldn't breathe; realizing the person before him was much stronger than Aeneas was . . . however this was different, this woman before him had a menacing look in her eye, most deadly.

"Please—…" Aeneas choked out as he tried to breathe.

Everything after that moment was black as Aeneas faded out of consciousness and into the darkness.

"Amelia, honey, are you there? I've been looking everywhere for you." Delbert called from the other side of the door. Amelia stood motionless as she gazed out into the open scenery remembering what she saw in the cavern.

"Delbert, I thought you'd run off without me . . . Do come in." Delbert slowly opened the door with a small frown to find Amelia, distracted by the view from her window. He made sure to close the door behind him so he could talk to his wife. Delbert thought she looked rather sad, almost as if she had been thinking about Arrow again. Amelia slowly looked up, smiling weakly as she saw that Delbert had come into her stateroom and shut the door behind him. Amelia did not move nor speak as Delbert came into the room; she just stood there, missing her mother more than she ever thought humanly possible. Amelia was a wreak to say the least, and this "rescue mission" as the Interstellar Navy had so delicately put it was more of a getaway vacation for her (with the occasional pirate ambush), but that was entirely beside the point. Amelia really needed to find those people, but she would have to settle for the next best thing . . . Delbert.

Amelia smiled weakly at her husband. She understood that Delbert only meant the best and would've wanted to comfort her in any way he could, but he knew the risks of her moods and when not to say anything to press matters such as this.

"Best to address this as nothing old girl . . . wouldn't want Delbert snooping around your subconscious again." Amelia thought to herself, throwing aside all thoughts of her mother and the nagging need to get her advice.

Delbert stared at her for what seemed like hours. Trying to silently calm his beloved wife of her thunderous storms, he realized he knew better. He knew one thing, if this matter was to be settled, he should give her proper time to work it out on her own.

Amelia stared back at her husband with a raised brow, thinking about what to say next, what to do. Amelia would be the last to admit it, but she really did love Delbert more than anything, even more than either of them could ever know. Delbert took a step toward his wife, slowing only when he questioned what he was doing. At the thought of backing down or losing his nerve, Delbert kept up his hunt for peace. He continued his pace and stopped just short of Amelia, admiring her for her beauty both shown and deep down where only Dr. Delbert Doppler could see.

Merely standing there with a stiff upper lip as she was taught, Amelia realized that the smile that was now creeping its way across Delbert's face was an indication that it was time for some exploration to be done. A light chuckle escaped her lips as he took her in his arms for a loving embrace, just enjoying the time together. A small smile crept into Amelia's face as she just stood there getting caught up in Delbert's chocolate brown eyes.

Delbert slid a kind paw around Amelia's small cheek and held it there, taken aback by his wife's next course of action; he smiled to hear a soft purr sound coming from Amelia. With the decision to leave the ship at hand with his wife, Delbert as a husband slowly reached down to put a pointer finger under her chin to get her to look at him square in the eye. He touched her hair and sighed, he loved her in every way possible it was just heavenly for him to stand in silence drinking in her features. No words need said to love a woman as much as Delbert loved her. He slowly touched his lips to hers and slipped his right paw through her hair and settled at the nape of her neck. Amelia tensed slightly and carefully snaked her arms around him.

They stood there clad in each other's kisses for what seemed like hours, feeling each other as close a whisper in one's ear. It only could take the force of a thousand men to separate the love that they shared for each other.

"What do you say we go spend the afternoon exploring this lush paradise for answers?" Amelia was surprised to say, finally breaking the kiss. Delbert smiled in response and gave her a kiss on the cheek after a series of kisses trailing up and down her neck.

"Sounds like a plan Captain. Shall we go for a stroll?" Delbert said as he continued walking. Amelia let out a low moan, but even though it was most pleasurable for him to be doing that, she had to focus on the mission at hand.

"Why yes, dear. . . Mmm, Delbert please, that's quite enough!" Amelia pleaded as she tried to escape Delbert's tight embrace.

"Amelia, I was merely showing you my affections." Delbert claimed with a puppy pout on his face, and even though he had a point, he knew that even for him that was too far. Amelia just smiled and took his hand, placing it around her and kissed him with as much passion as she could muster once before going over to the door, leaving Delbert to stand there stupefied and eventually follow her out.

"Come along dear, there is only so much day light here and I want to cover as much ground here as possible if you please . . . I would like you to join me if you can manage a moment alone with me in this green wilderness." Amelia slowly turned her head with a sly smile and noticed Delbert leaning on her desk, and grinning slyly.

"Delbert, please I won't wait all day . . ." Amelia reasoned. After a few moments of sharing odd looks with each other, Delbert and Amelia came to an understanding. The door shut behind them as they left the ship to go explore the luscious green planet called Pylea. They split up the search party this time with Amelia and Delbert going one direction and Mr Boris and Mr Cornelious going another. Mr. Quinn was back at the ship, resting from the previous night's injuries.

Outside, an array of color lay before them. The deep green of the earth and everything on land was magnificent among the deep blues, reds, purples and oranges of the sky not yet keen on sunset. It was already about 3 o'clock and they still had a few good hours of sunlight left before dark. Amelia and Delbert came slowly to the longboats with their arms intertwined and Amelia leaning her head on Delbert's shoulder. Amelia hoped in her heart that no matter what happened, Delbert would always be there to hold her and tell her everything would be alright. She hoped that things would always be like this and she knew they would, as long as she didn't give him a reason to doubt her. She had to fight for everything she ever earned and she wasn't about to let this one blissful man slip away without a fight.

Once on the planet, the pair walked blissfully through the brush, Amelia taking the lead every so often and Delbert placing his hand casually around the base of her back.

"I love you Delbert Doppler." Amelia smiled as they stopped briefly for navigational purposes. The pair looked around for a while, admiring the luscious landscape around them.

"I love you too, Amelia Doppler." Delbert replied simply as they started for the cove again. Amelia laughed lightly as Delbert drew her to him, and kissed her right temple as they walked toward Las Cateratas. Or at least the direction Amelia said it was in.

Once they arrived, Amelia and Delbert stepped lightly upon the rocks that led to the waterfall of Las Cateratas. Delbert's mouth dropped once he laid eyes on it while Amelia tried to get closer, leaving Delbert to marvel at its beauty from afar.

"Well, come on dear, I didn't come this far to just look at it!" Amelia joked with her husband as she approached the waterfall cavern. Delbert chuckled as he curiously followed his wife into the watery cavern doorway that lay ahead of them. They explored the main cavern on foot and as they passed all the different chambers the pair realized that not all of the chambers had water in them. Ahead of them were the hollowed walls of a private sanctuary used to bury the dead bodies of the villagers. That is until the Cravenwolves took over and mutilated the bodies, the villagers believed that mutilation of the bodies destroyed the sacrifice.

"Delbert, I think I just felt something swim across my feet." Delbert smiled and scooped his wife up in his arms. Amelia was surprised to say the least, and thus suppressed a giggle. However, Delbert also felt something swim across his feet and yelped in response, losing his footing and landing backwards in the water. Amelia screamed and tried to avoid landing in the water as well.

"Where am I?" Aeneas thought as he woke feeling like a schooner had run him over. All he heard was silence and all he saw was a small empty room that was completely bare of anything defining marks or any windows for that matter. Aeneas felt a deep sting in his side, but was silenced when he saw a woman, named in a beautiful red outfit walking into the room. He was taken aback by a woman coming to see him and smiled slyly at the figure in front of him. He thought she looked kind of like Amelia, or maybe it was that his eyes were blurred from the close encounter earlier that day.

"I had known you would come back to me Amelia; thou art the fairest of all the maidens back home." Scarlet, the woman he saw before him said nothing, just stared at him. She shook her head and spoke softly as she dabbed a washcloth on his head.

"You must've hit your head harder than I thought." Ignoring the woman, he continued all dreamy-eyed.

"Come hither thy beauty . . . I have been waiting for thee." Aeneas said as he smiled waiting to be caught up in the woman before him. Aeneas figured if this was a game she was playing with him, he would sit back and enjoy it as much as he could. The vision of Amelia wasn't speaking and she was certainly taking her sweet time to approach him.

"So tell me, who's Amelia? Is she a friend of yours?" Scarlet stated, feeling as if the man she saved from the cavern before her was in his own world. No answer came and Scarlet began to worry. Aeneas was hallucinating; he saw the figure that stood before him come closer. Aeneas let go of his worry and smiled. Scarlet however saw him looking off in another direction at something she could not see.

"Great, not this again-This is just what happened to Captain Miller!" Scarlet exclaimed.

"There we are now, dost thou want to play thy fairest Amelia?" When no answer came, he had figured she was playing her games again and when the figure got close enough to feel the breath on his face he grabbed her and pulled her to him. Scarlet gave him some room; she chained him down to the cot so he couldn't hurt himself further.

"Now dear, I know what you must want from me, I know why you've come to thee." Aeneas lightly touched the figure on the backside and took his free hand to her face and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. Only mere moments later, Aeneas felt a deep pain in his abdomen, pulling away he saw he was bleeding, his vision of Amelia distorting into the same figure he has seen before digging her claws into him. He screamed in pain and confusion, his vision of Amelia coming back to him was gone.

"Help! Someone, Anyone please!" Aeneas screamed, his reply was muffled because of the thick walls surrounding him. Scarlet suddenly looked down to find he had claimed to have been stabbed, she saw nothing, not even a scratch. She cleaned the sweat pooling on his forehead and gave him some herbs to calm him. All Scarlet could do now was wait.

Amelia was sure that time had stopped as Delbert had looked up at her from the water cove. She had landed right on top of him, making Delbert growl slightly. Delbert struggled to get up again and he finally got them out of the cove. He laid his wife on a rock in a damp cavern to rest for a bit, not even realizing that it was beginning to rain outside (and in)...not to mention it was getting dark. Both of them where now soggy and wet, Delbert's hair was plastered to his head and Amelia looked like she was slowly freezing to death. Delbert kissed his wife once before making a suggestion.

"Why don't we go back, dear? I'm sure it will be much warmer back on the ship. Plus we haven't a clue what the others have found." Delbert stated matter-of-factly.

"But we should at least see what's here first don't you think? We can meet up with them in a little while " Amelia retorted with a sly smile. Delbert blushed slightly and smiled.

"Well—ok but Amelia-Wait..." Delbert said to her retreating back. It took him a minute to catch up, but at the entrance to the hallow cavern, Delbert finally caught up with her. Soon he got distracted by seeing a skeleton near the entrance.

"So—Umm Honey?" Delbert questioned as Amelia discovered some of the skeletons where wearing academy uniforms. She knew exactly what had happened to them and she then realized they had gotten there too late.

"Hurry up Delbert!" Amelia yelled over her shoulder as she stood mortified by the site. Delbert slowly came up beside her.

"I'm here…" Delbert said with a sigh. "What is this?" He questioned.

"I imagine this is where the people of the planet buried their dead. The bodies are cleaned to the bone." Amelia choked out. "It seems we've gotten here too late."

"I guess some things never change." Delbert thought with a frown. An eerie howl echoed through the caverns…someone was coming after them. The two of them looked at each other with freight.

"What if we don't make it back to the ship?" they said in unison, they both took a deep breath and grabbed each other's hand and started running back toward the entrance to the waterfall without a single word...

Somehow they lost each other. Delbert no longer felt the soft touch of his wife against his skin. He sighed fondly as he quickly picked up his pace and ran unsoundly toward the direction he last saw Amelia, trying to blaze through the cold night air.

Delbert tried to catch up but found himself going the wrong way and Amelia nowhere in sight. While trying his hardest to catch up to his wife, Delbert had to stop, due to his breathing becoming irregular and coming in short, painful gasps as he attempted to get the burning throb deep in his chest to stop.

"Amelia!" he hollered from a nearby tree that he was using for shelter from the storm that was beginning to brew on the planet. Amelia turned around thinking she may have heard him calling her name, but even though she was one of the most skilled navel captains who ever lived; the notorious Captain Amelia had no idea where she was…the rain that was just beginning to fall was coming down harder now and she could hardly see two feet in front of her.

"Delbert!" She bellowed, but heard nothing in response. Delbert whipped his head around, thinking he heard his name, but he saw nothing. His head was getting heavy and he couldn't help but to stumble around, trying all too hard to breathe normally. He hadn't realized before that he would need his asthma medicine.

A rustling came from behind her and stopped once Amelia turned around to investigate.

"Delbert?" Amelia questioned as she approached the bush. No answer came, and Amelia turned her attention back to the trail. Another rustling sound came and she walked closer to see what the sound was. She saw a puff of smoke and then as she took a look where it had come from, she saw a wolf with bright red eyes hiding behind a bush. She slowly backed away and tried run, but by the time she had gotten in the right direction, the creature was directly on her heels.

"Delbert, we need to get back to the Legacy!" Amelia attempted to holler again, but she still received no reply. The creature leaped on top of her, pinning her to the ground.

She tried to reach out to grab her plasma pistol, but she couldn't pry it out of its holster…. Suddenly, someone grabbed her gently and shot at the creature which growled at the man, baring its teeth. The unknown visitor named Mozaic said a simple spell and threw something and the imposter …causing it to retreat back into the woods.

Meanwhile, Delbert looked around for any signs of his wife. He saw nothing and then out of the corner of his eye, he saw a puff of smoke and the figure of a woman in a red cloak was not too far away.

"Amelia, there you are dear! Let's get out of here!" He said, not fully seeing the figure correctly. The woman before him was silent and stood there staring at him, looking unsure of what to do next Delbert had thought. Delbert notice a moment later that she was no longer where she was just moments past. He turned around to see the woman coming at him with a deadly look in her eyes; he backed up frightened, he felt the ledge of a cliff or something behind. He stepped back a bit further to find himself hanging from the edge of the cliff.

TO BE CONTINUED

Well, what did you all think of that? Cliffhanger, yay! That should keep you on your ties for a little while...anyway you all know the drill. R&R or you're a monkey! See ya soon!