Chapter 3: Stray Cat.
23:24 PM...
Connor was peacefully making his way to HQ in the quiet and empty streets of Tarabiscoville. It was a chill night as stated before by Federico. Connor was carrying with him a bag with all his stuff, even though there were things that he needed to get from HQ first, and that's why he was going there.
He could already see the giant Totem Pole from where he was. He was tired like his mother said moments before. He really wanted to sleep, but if he wanted to end this mission faster, he needed to start sooner; besides, he didn't know what could happen to those kids if he doesn't hurry up. Now he pondered those kids. Catboy said that they were special, that he would recognize them when he sees them. Why were they? The thought makes him walk a little faster, the curiosity; but he slowed down a bit.
Curiosity killed the cat.
He had to have in mind that not everything was pink. Catboy said that the city where he was heading to was dangerous, how much? Contraband? Mafia groups? He shivered a little, but let the thought fade away. If he would let those thoughts consume him everytime he would go into a mission, then he would have screwed up the Violet Mask Plan or any mayor plans back then.
Now, entering the park, Connor's mind was suddenly stroke with a thought. What if the others were at HQ? Catboy knew (because he imposed this rule) that every crescent moon, since that night, all of the team should patrol the city together. Crescent moons were always, bad omens for the Masks; everything that ever happened to them (or him at least) happened on a night with a crescent moon, and with the fear of that happening again, he imposed the rule.
If the others happened to be there, then they surely had already seen him through the park's cameras. And as predicted, they did, at least one of them.
Connor saw the door of HQ open and a little robot came to him with claims of joy. "PJ Robot!" Connor hugged the little one, he hadn't seen him in months; probably two or three. Connor was so glad to see him again, and a little bit of hope rose inside him. Maybe Silver had already fixed him! But the conversation with Federico came to his mind and realized that the little robot was still damaged. "How are you doing buddy? Everything's okay around here?"
The little Robot let out a noise that could be translated as 'Everything's fine!' and that made Connor smile, at least someone was positive of everything that was happening. PJ Robot took his luggage and went inside, with Connor following close behind. There was a dark hallway before entering Gekko's room in HQ that seemed to be full of wires on each wall, with little dots of blue, red and green running through them. Once inside Gekko's room, he made his way to the elevators and headed to his own room.
Luckily inside there was no one, and as Connor got inside, the PJ Picture Player activated and scanned him, recognizing him as Catboy.
The 'Persona Scanner' was a new scanner that Riley (or Badgerclaw) came up with and Silver added to the PJ Picture Player. Since Night Ninja once entered HQ and maneuvered to get working the PJ Picture Player, the PJ Masks agreed that it was necessary, and after a year of working on it, they were able to make it work. Once it activated, Connor started setting things he would need for the journey to Milennia Town.
A question came to his mind. "Hmm, PJ Robot, should I take the Cat-Car or my PJ Rover?" A deadly silence filled the room, only the Picture Player could be heard. Connor spun around. "PJ Robot...?"
The little robot was looking dead straight to the wall, giving his back to Connor. Seven seconds later he made a strange noise and looked at Connor's luggage, his screen showed a question mark and he left the luggage on the floor. Once the little robot spun around, he saw Connor, and with a joyful noise he made his way towards him and hugged him. 'Where have you been?' was the question PJ Robot made.
Connor painfully hugged him back.
Flashback
"What happened?!" His desperate cries could be heard above the mess that was happening. All around him, different PJ Masks were fighting Ninjalinos, and over them, on the roof, others were fighting robots; moths were also helping the heroes fight all the villains at once.
He stood over the crimson hero, who was looking at him with pain in her eyes and covering both sides of her head, where the ears are supposed to be.
The white and Cian-eyed hero answered in shock. "Cloudy! S-she tried to- she tried to attack us w-with one of- one of her spells! One it worked, the other one..." She looked over to a little machine on the floor. At the same moment, she surrendered to pain and covered her ears as well, falling onto the ground with wails of pain.
"Twins! Over here! Take them to HQ as fast as you can! I'll be following close behind!" Two weasel-themed superheroes kicked two Ninjalinos over and run up to him, lifting both of the girls that were in the ground. They carried them out of the museum, zigzagging robots and other attacks, with the help of other superheroes at the same time.
He ran up to the little robot on the floor and saw that a expression of pain was shown on his screen, that was half covered in frost, which was expanding at the same time.
He gasped in shock. "We gotta go now..." He picked the little robot on his arms and ran in a hurry, in his way, the pink-eyed boy, the badger clad and the green hero looked at him in shock. He gave them a look of sorrow moments before exiting the place. He runs as fast as he could to HQ.
End of Flashback
"I've been busy, but I'm back for a mission now! I was wondering if I could take the Cat-Car or the PJ Rover. I'm traveling far... and alone. Help me decide which one is better." The little robot thought about it, and the headed to the Picture Player. He hit some buttons and Catboy's PJ Rover showed up in the room.
"The PJ Rover huh? Seems like I'll have to take the route." Connor approached the Picture Player and tapped some buttons. If I have to take the route, then I'll need a fake license, otherwise, I'll end up arrested. While Connor did all of that, PJ Robot brings his stuff and packed it inside the PJ Rover, which Connor discovered that it had a small compartment under the sit. He left to get Connor's Rover suit, but Connor told him that he'll just use a regular helmet and clothes.
"Fake license, done." The Picture Player read. Connor took the small license and read it. According to it, he was 19 years old. Not like he cared, a lot of people would often mix up his age due to him being 6,3 feet tall. His mother would often question from who he inherited his height as neither of his parents were that tall; His brother gave the idea that he got that from his grandfather. Taking everything for settled, he asked:
"Is the PJ Rover ready, PJ Robot?" No silence, again. Connor knew what was happening. Behind him, he heard a strange robotic sound and later an exclamation of joy. PJ Robot hugged him from behind.
"Where have you been?" Connor sighed and made PJ Robot let go of him. A question mark appeared on his screen. Connor grabbed a small box and opened it, he grabbed a pen and a green post-stick; he wrote on it.
'I have a mission to go to on Milennia Town. DON'T REMOVE THIS UNLESS ANYONE ASK FOR ME. -Catboy.' And stick it to PJ Robot's chest. "Don't remove it, okay?'
PJ Robot made another noise, this time it lasted longer. This time was sooner, his memory usually lasts 7 minutes. Connor thought painfully. When PJ Robot stopped making that noise, he looked at Connor and excitedly, hugged him.
'Where have you been?'
Connor only sighed. He opened the door of his HQ Room, put on his helmet and hopped on the PJ Rover. "I've been in at home for the past months, but I'm leaving now bud. I have a mission to go to. Goodbye." With that, he left HQ, leaving behind a very confused PJ Robot.
25 minutes later, Connor was leaving behind the street with the last buildings of Tarabiscoville. He made a stop on a small 24-hour shop to buy some chips and an orange juice, and then continue with his trip. He liked the PJ Rover as much as the Cat-Car, he liked the feeling of the wind on his body because it relaxed him. He felt the same feeling as if he were running with his Super Cat Speed while being Catboy.
After passing some cottages, he was able to see the mountain ranges far ahead. The only things illuminating his path were the light that came from the lamposts on the route and the light the PJ Rover made. Luckily for him, the route he took was less crowded than the other from the parallel side, which was crowded with buses and cars with lots of persons inside. He knew that people would start to come to Tarabiscoville for vacations since Spring Holidays officially started.
He remembered those time when he would leave the town with Greg and Amaya for a camp trip with Amaya's family, whose happened to have a beach house on Mare City. He had the best memories there, and he really missed the place.
A car ahead of him started to slow down and he needed to slow down as well, hating the feeling of the cold wind not running through his jacket and his neck. He loved velocity, slowing down was one of the worst feelings for him. He saw a pile of cars stuck in the same place, and Connor hoped that it wouldn't be long until he could advance. A car behind him made the horn sound to him, and that put Connor on edge. He moved on the small side of the road, where his Rover was small enough to pass and proceed forward.
He tried not to knock any mirror and at the same time, not to crash on road, which was bad separated. He slowed down when he saw people out of their cars and trying to look forward. He stopped behind a tall black-haired man. With curiosity, he hoped down the Rover an approached. "Hello, my name's Connor."
The man seemed startled by him, but then relaxed and greeted back. "Hello Connor, I'm Lucas. Do you need help with something?"
He took his helmet off to answer. "No, thank you. But I was wondering why everyone was out of their cars? Everyone seems to be interested in something."
Lucas looked back and forth, then with a gentle smile replied. "It seems like there's been an accident far ahead, that's why everyone stopped. Others ahead are saying that the route will be probably cut out." He sighed annoyed at that, but then stood straight again. "Where are you heading? It depends on that."
"I'm heading to Milennia Town."
Lucas snorted. "Huh, lucky enough, aren't you? You will be able to get out of here, Milennia Town is on the East. There's a small road you can take from here."
Connor wasn't familiarized with any roads, often someone would take him or he'll take the bus, most of the time not paying attention which roads it takes. Now it seemed important. Anxiously and kind of embarrassed, Connor asked. "Would you give me some directions? It's my first time on the route, and the directions that someone gave me won't work anymore." He looked ahead with Lucas following his glare. Both looked back at each other.
"Sure! I've been there, boy. You take the small road that I mentioned earlier. It starts on the left side of the road so luckily, if your motorcycle is small enough to pass through, you'll be able to get in and follow all the way throughout the mountain rang.e You'll recognize it, this road has some pine trees on the mountain ranges, so you'll be okay. You'll end up on Courant City, it's pretty big, so be careful or you'll get lost. I've never been in there, I've been told, so I cannot help you anymore Connor, sorry."
Connor was so grateful to have encountered Lucas, he was nice. Not like the driver behind him a few minutes ago making his horn sound to Connor and getting on his nerves. "It's okay, that's enough, I'll ask someone there. Thank you, Lucas, and have a nice trip!"
"Nice trip, Connor!" As Lucas waved back, he got inside his car, while Connor moved his Rover in front of Lucas's car and got on the left side of the road.
As said by Lucas, his Rover was small enough to get on it and he took off, following the directions Lucas gave. He knew that probably getting to Courant city would take half of the night, as he left the city not to long ago; he presumed that his trip would last two days until getting to Milennia Town.
At some point, one hour later, the road started to lift up and Connor could see a small lake on the side and how far up he was getting. Some pine trees, like Lucas said, started to appear on the mountain ranges, and he couldn't help but think of the Owl-Glider. The wind carried with it the beautiful scent of pines and water, which he presumed it came from the lake down below and from the rain. One thing that Connor knew about roads, is that he shouldn't drive on them while it was raining, especially not in a mountain range. There's been an accident last year on which a car fell from the edge.
He speeds up a little bit more but had to be careful at the same time...
35 minutes later, still on the mountain range, Connor was enjoying the cold wind and the relaxing trip he was having until now. The sky was starting to look from a shade of blue to some kind of pink and greyish color, which he guessed were storm clouds; far ahead he could see some thunder lights on the sky.
Now the level was going down and he saw the end of the mountain range, and finally getting out of it, he proceeds on the large road ahead. Again, he was reminded of the Owl-Glider. There were times that Owlette would open the hatch of it and all the wind would get them and, unknown to the others, Connor liked it, it relaxed him. Owlette probably knew it, as sometimes he would ask her to open it when they weren't going too fast. He laughed at one of his memories, where there was snowing and he asked her to open the hatch, half-jokingly. She told him that that would get dirty the Owl-Glider afterward, and Connor joked that it was already dirty. He gained a slap from Owlette afterward.
Those memories lightened his mood. Maybe this mission wasn't so bad after all.
He kept driving on the road, zigzagging some cars and speeding up constantly; he really loved going fast. In the distance, he saw some lights, and he hoped it could be Courant City, as little drops of water were falling from the pink and grey-ish sky. The storm that was threatening before was now starting, and if there was something that Connor hated more than nighttime villains, it was water, especially rainwater. His fear of water got severe as he started to be more conscious of the world around him. Sometimes he dreamt of drowning and his friends were not able to save him on time, or tsunamis hitting his town or such stuff.
He would never admit that he feared things, but when it came to water, he would definitely say yes, that water scared him to death. His fear of water started a long time ago when he was five years old. He and his family went to his aunt's house for a visit, as they didn't visit her for holidays at that time. His aunt's house was big, ridiculously big. She had a two-part house, with at least twelve rooms and five bathrooms around the house, leaving aside the basement, which had another two rooms and a bathroom. She had a backyard too, a backyard with a long pool that ended on a small playground.
That day Connor was playing with his cousins in the backyard, while his parents and his aunt were making a barbecue near the playground. When it was ready, they all were called to eat, and his cousins left all of their and his toys scattered on the ground. Connor didn't like it so he started picking them up until one of his favorite toys, a Master Fang Figurine, fell into the pool. Luckily it floated, but as Connor tried to reach it, he fell into the pool.
He'll never, but never, forget the feeling of his lungs being filled up with water and not being able to reach the surface for air. He remembered a blurry blue vision, with lots of bubbles appearing as he moved his arms and legs frantically, trying to swim to the surface. If it wasn't for his brother Fidelite, he would have drowned. His parents were so scared at the time, and he wouldn't stop crying of fear; that year he wasn't able to be near water without crying of fear that something like that would happen again.
He shook his head as he trembled. Not a nice memory at all.
Now he reached the lights he saw back then and came to the conclusion that it was Courant City or the outskirts of the already named city. He saw a Motel and definitely made his way into it. He was not gonna spend the night driving in the rain.
He parked outside the Motel and hopping out of his Rover and grabbing his stuff from it, he ran up inside to avoid rainwater to wet him. He approached the counter of the place and gain a look from a blonde boy with magenta eyes, which seemed one year older than him, or two. The other boy smirked.
"Hello, welcome to Tacheter Motel. How can I help you, hottie?" Connor wasn't paying attention to the other boy, instead, he was searching money inside his pocket. The boy got Connor's attention when he called him 'hottie'.
He looked at the blonde and ignored that. "I want a room, whichever you have. I'm just spending the night, I'll leave at noon."
The other boy leaned in the counter with his arm wrapped up. "You can have my room." He said, winking at Connor.
Connor only rolled his eyes. "Don't you have another room?"
The blonde boy searched down the counter and got a pair of keys. He handed them to Connor. "Room C. 85 euros for the night, hottie."
Tired of the attitude of this boy, and exhausted from the trip, he paid the blonde and left the reception with keys in hand.
When he stepped outside, he was welcomed by a raging storm, wetting him all over. He grunted. He. Hated. Water. He heard the reception's door open. "Need an umbrella?" Said the blonde with an amused glare at Connor. Connor only grunted when the other boy opened the umbrella and covered him, but said nothing as he only wanted to get to his room and sleep. He saw his Rover under the rain but didn't care as he knew that it has a special covering for storms like this.
"Nice motorcycle you have there." Said the other, walking by his side. "You seem to really like cats." Connor shot a questioning look at the other. The blonde smiled. "Quite a motorcycle you have. The cat-looking it has it's not that easy to hide." He giggled. Connor let out a long sigh while shaking his head. "By the way, my name's Cole. But you can call me Colby." Connor didn't answer nor talked with Cole (or Colby, whatever) until he got to his room. Once there, Colby said goodnight to him and left, while Connor entered.
The place was not that big, but Connor thought it was just fine. It was a normal room, with a double bed, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. A phone was hanging beside the window with some nice paintings that said 'Courant City'. Connor checked all the room for bugs before using anything, and when he concluded it was clear, he took off his clothes and changed into his pajamas. Instantly, after feeling the soft clothes on his body, he jumped on the bed and wrapped himself in the sheets. Looking the time in the clock beside his bed -which told that it was 03:16 AM- he let sleep consume him.
Next day
Connor woke up 11:00 AM feeling the hot spring sun on his face. He grunted, half confused, half bothered about being woken up by something shiny as the sun. He then remembered. The mission. He stayed in bed for another 30 minutes more procrastinating until he decided to take a shower.
When he got out of the shower, he packed his stuff in his luggage and stepped out, keys in hand. He was closing the door when he heard steps behind him, his reflexes told him to act quickly, as it was a place he didn't know. His right arm went backward and grabbed someone, then he spun around and with his right leg kicked the person behind him. It took Connor 10 seconds to realize it was only Colby with a small bag on his hand.
Colby forced a smile to hide his pain. "It's noon, I just figured out to wake you up." He sat and scratched the back of his head. "Ouch."
"I'm sorry! Here." Connor lends a hand to Colby so he could stand up. Colby got up and looked awkwardly at Connor. "Your stay is over. You said it was until noon unless you wanna pay for another few hours." Connor only shook his head.
"No, I'm leaving, I really have to go. The keys." He handed Colby the keys and then was about to take his luggage but Colby beat him to it.
"I'm gonna take that if you don't mind." He carried Connor's luggage to his Rover and Connor didn't complain. Once they got to the Rover, Colby asked Connor where did he put it and Connor revealed the compartment it had under the sit. Colby seemed intrigued, but say nothing and put the luggage on its place. Connor put on his helmet and was about to take off, but Colby handed him the small bag he was carrying. Connor shot a questioning look.
Colby scratched his cheek with his finger and answered with a small blush. "It's noon, so... so I figured out that... that you would be hungry..." He blushed even more. Connor took the small bag and after taking a good look at it, he smiled. It surely felt good to have some sweet attention. He reached his pants' pocket and took 85 euros from his pocket. "Do you have a pen?" He asked.
Colby nodded and handed Connor a pen. Connor wrote his number on the top of the only 50 euros he was handing and handed the money to Colby. "You've been nice to me since I came, so take it. But I hope you understand that we can't be something. I'm just a passenger customer you had, and we'll probably never see each other again." Colby stood there but smiled and nodded. Connor continued. "But I'll be glad to be friends with you, Colby. Text me sometime."
Colby looked at the dollar then smiled back at Connor. "I'll be glad to be friends with you too." He waved. "Have a nice trip, Connor!"
Connor took off on his Rover and sped up on the route, heading straight to Courant City.
Right now, Connor was circling the beautiful streets of Courant City. The city was named Courant for a reason.
The streets of Courant City were so beautiful that Connor thought that, at least, this was one of the nicest places he's ever been to. The streets were made of sweet stone tiles, which had spring themed patterns on them, some of them even were painted with some nice colors. Grids covered small streams running on both the left and right side of the streets, also some beautifully patterned railings separated the streets from the sidewalk. The railings had some small wire lights, like the ones that he usually uses on Christmas, tangled on them, and each top was painted of dark shades of blue, which Connor obviously liked.
Trees also grew up taller than Connor ever saw, they even reached some house's windows! All the trees, no even one left out, were covered in green leaves; some with pink flowers, other with blue ones, others with white ones, and the ones with the white flowers usually left petals all over the sidewalk, which made it even prettier. The trees were railed too, and inside the tree's tile, there was a flower pot that had a bush with roses in it.
Connor while circling the place, noticed that all the houses were similar to other, maybe the shapes and heights changed, but other than that, most of them shared designs. The houses around there were tall, most of them have two floors. Connor guessed that families only lived there. Some of them were white with garnet colored roofs, others were white with silver roofs, and others were brown and mahogany roofs. Those ones were the prettiest to Connor, as they reminded him of cabins, just bigger and better built.
But the detail that got's Connor attention were all the small streams that ran through the city. As said, most of them ran between the street and the sidewalk, others occasionally ran in the middle of the street, and were covered with strong grids, that didn't flinch every time a vehicle passed over it. Sometimes there were small wooden bridges that connected some streets with others, and even in the streams, small colorful fishes swam through them.
After circling the place various time, Connor decided to make a stop to eat and to ask for directions, once more. He stopped on a small park which had tables and sits made of stone and parked his Rover just beside him. He got from the Rover the small bag that Colby gave him and his cellphone. He opened the bag and saw what had inside. Some french fries, a burger and some macaroons, they all smelled good, and Connor's belly could more than just agree. Colby was right, he was hungry after all.
He started eating everything, and some minutes later, he was finished. His cell phone suddenly started ringing and he saw all the notification that he had on his phone, most of them were texts by Federico, who was worrying too much.
[23:38 PM, 15/4/2024] ~Fede:D: Try to contact me when you can
[23:38 PM, 15/4/2024] ~Fede:D: So I know that u are okay
[23:39 PM, 15/4/2024] ~Fede:D: Please or I'll get really mad at you
[23:39 PM, 15/4/2024] ~Fede:D: and nervous
[06:46 AM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: Are you okay?
[06:46 AM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: Have you arrived or you are still going?
[06:47 AM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: please answer I'm really nervous
[06:48 AM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: It's 6 in the morning for my animal totem's sake
[06:48 AM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: I shouldn't be up at this hour
[06:49 AM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: LIKE,, CONNOR C'MON
[12:09 PM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: I'm begging to my animal totem for your sake
[12:09 PM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: Please tell me you are okay and nothing happened to you
[12:09 PM, 16/4/2024] ~Fede:D: PLEASE
Other texts were from the group chat of his class, and other were Instagram notifications that Connor didn't really care about. He decided to answer Federico.
[15/4 13:41 AM] Connor E.: For my cat's whiskers Federico, I'm fine, I was traveling
[15/4 13:41 AM] Connor E.: There was an accident on the route and I had to take another way
[15/4 13:42 AM] Connor E.: I stopped at a motel, now I'm in a place called Courant City
[15/4 13:42 AM] Connor E.: Great place btw
[15/4 13:42 AM] Connor E.: But I'll arrive tonight at Milennia Town, or maybe tomorrow
Federico answered almost immediately, sending a text that covered almost half of Connor's screen. He spent the next minutes texting with Federico until Federico had to go. He said goodbye and was packing his stuff until yells got his attention.
"Please! Stop her! She's got my granny's stuff!" Connor instantly alerted, he looked up to see a woman dressed in all black with a black mask on her, not showing her face, running towards where he was. Behind her, a light-skinned girl with short black and green hair was running fastly, trying to catch her. In Connor's eyes, the black haired girl seemed worn out; looks like as if she's been running the other woman for a long time now.
Connor decided to step in now.
Other people a few inches away from him tried to catch the woman, but not hard enough, so when the woman was closing in near him, he spun around fastly with his leg going straight into the air. He hit the woman's chest hard and she fell into the ground. Connor never liked to hit people, especially not a woman, but being a hero taught him that he'll have to fight villains no matter what they were, and in Connor's eyes, everyone who committed a crime was a villain.
Fast as he could, he sat on the woman's back preventing her to stand up. He heard claps from the crowd in the park, and the girl with short hair approached fastly to him. "Thank you!" Connor felt flattered, no one has ever congratulated him for his heroic actions.
"Someone call the police!" He heard someone said. The woman under him was fidgeting a lot, so Connor pressed his hands on her shoulders. A few minutes later Police arrived at the place and took the woman with them. Connor saw a fancy looking purse on the ground and figured out that it was the belonging of the girl's granny. He picked it.
"I believe this is your Granny's," Connor said, handing her the purse. She grabbed it with a smile then hugged Connor. Connor stands straight, surprised by the hug. It's not like he didn't like hugs, but he wasn't used to them.
She then broke the hug to look at Connor with a grateful face. "Thank you, eh, uh-"
Connor smiled. "Connor."
"-Connor!" She finished. She looked at him again. "Please, come with me! I want to show my Granny who's her purse's hero!" She giggled. Connor was about to refuse gently, but the girl's face made him feel guilty for even think about it.
"Sure... I have my Rov- motorcycle over there." He almost slipped up but continued to avoid the girl knowing that. "You can show me the way and I'll drive." The girl nodded and Connor went to his Rover, signaling the girl to hop on. He gave the girl his helmet and drove, listening to her directions. They didn't drive far, and they stopped when the girl signaled a short curvy old woman with black and grey hair.
"There!" They entered in a small gap that was made for motorcycles to stop and parked there. Both jumped down, the girl giving the helmet to Connor, and made their way to the lady. "Granny! We have your stuff back!" The old lady seemed delighted. Connor followed the girl close behind. "Granny, this is Connor, thanks to him we got it back! He's your hero!"
The old lady approached Connor. "Well, aren't you a brave little man?" She said cheerfully, squeezing Connor's cheeks. Connor was reminded of his own grandmother, and he smiled warmly. "Thank you, sweetheart, your parents surely are very proud of you!"
Connor's thoughts drifted a moment to his father, but the warm moment let it pass and he thought about his mother and brother. He smiled. "They sure are..." Connor looked at the girl with black hair again. "I don't think I got your name?"
The girl seemed delighted with what was happening but snapped out of it as soon as Connor talked. "Oh! I'm Marina!"
"Well Marina, it was a pleasure to help, but I gotta go." Connor said. He politely said goodbye to Marina's grandmother and walked away, hopping into his Rover. He heard footsteps coming fastly his way and spun around to see Marina standing behind him.
"Wait! You helped us today, there's got to be something I can do in return." Connor kept looking at her for a few seconds, then something pops out in his mind.
"Well... I kinda got lost here, if you could tell me a way to get to Milennia Town, I would appreciate it." Marina smiled and nodded, telling Connor she'll be right back. He waited 5 minutes in the same place before Marina came again. She was holding in her chest a piece of paper, and handing it to Connor she traced the way on the map.
"Here. You go into the central park, it's not far from here, just a few blocks away! And then take the path where the Cherry Blossoms are, which is pretty pink-ish if you ask me. Also, take Almonds Street if you want to get out straight to the route, it'll be easier without getting stuck in traffic. After that, you'll be going straight to Milennia Town!" Connor looked every traced path on the map and smiled. He looked at her.
"Thanks, Marina! This is really helpful." He looked once at the map and then back at her. "It was nice to meet you, I hope we meet again!" He waved, starting his Rover and slowly getting out of the parking space and driving into the street. He heard Marina yell.
"It was nice to meet you too, Connor!"
After that, Connor followed the directions Marina gave, admiring the beautiful Cherry Blossoms and the fancy streets of Courant City before reaching the end of Almond Street. Before getting out of the city, Connor stopped and looked back at the place. He smiled warmly. "I should add Courant City to my list 'Come Back'. It's a really nice place." Saying that he took off and drove into the route once more, leaving behind the warm and beautiful Courant City.
Connor's been driving for almost 6 hours, with two occasional stops on two service stations for snacks and to rest a little. The sky was painted in yellow and orange colors, and the clouds were from a lighter tone of those two. Connor knew that meant sunset, and he hoped he would get to Milennia Town before night arrived and before the city would be covered by moonlight. According to Catboy, Milennia Town wasn't exactly friendly, and Connor didn't want to risk his luck. He wanted to get there and find a place to stay, safe from the dangers of the night. Though nothing he hadn't seen before, at least he hoped.
In Tarabiscoville, sometimes during his patrols -a very few times- he would cross the way of others evildoers and sometimes, face them; well, not exactly face them. He would mess with them, throwing trashcans and making fire stairs creak just to freak them out. He never really let others see him, even though sometimes he wanted to. Sometimes he wanted to show the people he fought his face so they'll never forget him, sometimes he just wanted for them to know who they actually messed up with. Sometimes he just wanted to have fun with them and scare them a little.
He never let anyone see him during night patrols. Connor knew he had the attitude of a stray cat.
At the distance, he spotted another service station and stopped once more to rest, he was tired, and he needed to give his Rover a rest before partying again. He took from his Rover some snacks he bought before and started to eat them. He looked at the hour: 21:12 PM. He sighed. He didn't expect it to be so late already. Luckily he wasn't so far from his destination. He closed eyes for a moment, feeling a cool breeze run through, making trees and bushes creak. He could be there all night, relaxing before being ready to take off again, but he knew that this was an important mission and that he couldn't lose any more time. Those kids depended on him.
For a moment Connor pondered those kids. What are they doing now? Are they happy? Why do they need him so much? Are their parents abusive or something? Were there villains that needed to be defeated by heroes? Are they really that special? He couldn't help thinking about them. He was eager to meet them the closer he got to Milennia Town.
He relaxed a little bit more than took off once more. They needed him, and he couldn't be wasting time anymore.
It was late at night already, and Connor was circling around Milennia Town searching for a place to stay. He arrived an hour ago, but the place was so big that he got lost searching for a place. Now he was far away from the center of the town, where bright lights from buildings and lots of people were. The place where he is now is grim and isolated, it gave Connor chills. Not a lot of people were there, and the small amount that that was, was casting him anxious or strange glances. Connor felt stranged by the place as well, maybe he wasn't supposed to be there? Maybe he wasn't supposed to be in that part of town.
He was driving along the streets, with each minute driving him more crazy and irritated. Why there were not places to stay? He stopped and grunted. He was tired of driving. Maybe he should've searched for Hotels or any other places back in HQ or Courant City.
All of sudden, he felt a horrible sensation of being watched. He looked around but saw nothing, no one.
Pressing his fingers against the palm of his hand, he let go and started to drive. Not so far away, he started to hear sounds of other motorcycles, and he definitely knew that they came from behind him. He was being followed. He sped up, and pressing a button on the Rover, a small collar with a crystal cat emerged from a small hole. He grabbed it and tossed it around his neck fastly. He looked behind to see who was chasing him and saw five motorcycles with huge and scary men. He looked straight ahead once more but was surprised by two other motorcycles getting in his way from the sides. He dodged to avoid crashing into them and instead drove into the grass, suddenly stopping and flying from the rover.
Connor opened his eyes a few moments later feeling like he was dying. He had a terrible pain in his head even though he was using a helmet. He saw his Rover not so far away from him and was about to get into it again, but the men from before enclosed him before he could do anything. The lights of their motorcycles hard on his eyes.
"Well, well, well... what kind of prey do we have here?" A deep voice said. Connor was covering his eyes with his hand but stopped doing it once the light was shot down. He could see the faces of the men who were chasing him. They all were buffy looking, with big arms and back. Their legs were kinda scrawny to Connor, which was odd to him, yet still, they managed to look menacing. One of them, which Connor guessed that it was the one that just talked, had a very long scar along his face, and a patch on his right eye. Tattoos covered his face, chest, and arm as well. All of them had black and khaki jackets, with dark blue ragged jeans.
"I'm not prey." Connor bitterly replied.
All of them looked at each other and laughed. "We just chased you like a cat chasing a mouse." Said another one, with a raspy and childish voice.
Ironic. Connor thought while looking at them with a deadly glare.
"Aw, don't look at me like that, it's not my fault that we are so good at what we do." Said the man with the scar.
Connor raised an eyebrow uninterested, even though deep down he was praying for them to go away without harming him. "And you are good at...?"
The evil smile on the leader disappeared and was replaced with a grimace. "Robbing." Connor's eyes shot open wide. "Hold him, tight guys, let's get to work!" Connor felt hands on his body as soon as he ended that phrase. He hated when unknown people touched him and given the situation he was in, he started battling the hands, shaking his body and arms wildly. He was held tight by the others and saw his beloved Rover being taken away. My Rover, my stuff! -Worst of all- My pajamas!
Everything he needs is inside the Rover, and he couldn't stop the stuff being taken away. Or maybe he could...?
"We got what we need. Give him a reminder of us and let's leave!" The men let go of Connor and one kicked him hard on the side, making Connor twist in pain. He saw all of them leave, one of them with his Rover. He cursed all.
He waited for them to leave, and stood up and hid in an alley between two houses. He holds the collar with the crystal cat on his hand. With the pain still on his side, he said: "T-transform." The usual blue light that transformed him emerged from the crystal and covered him completely, leaving a blue human shape moments before he transformed into Catboy.
He growled. Let's see who is the real prey here. He jumped onto the roof of the houses and sped up to where they went. He knew he didn't have long before transforming back to normal, so he hurried on finding them.
Wasn't long enough until he saw all of them struggling with his Rover as if they were trying to figure out how it worked. He stalked his way to them, using the roofs and high fences. Some houses were tall enough to cast shadows on him, which camouflaged him into the shadows of the night; only his wild blue eyes could be seen.
He now was on a roof over the men, he sat like a cat and slashed his tail wildly to one side to another. "I believe that doesn't belong to you." He said, looking right at them. They all looked up surprised by his presence. They all laughed once more realizing how he looked.
"This is none of your concern, kitty. Shoo!" He gestured his hands to Catboy and the rest of them laughed; Catboy only rolled his eyes.
He jumped from the house's roof and fell on four before standing up. Some of them looked surprised that he could land safely after jumping down from a high roof like that one. "It is my concern, you buffalo. Now stand aside, I'm going to give that back." He felt a hand grabbing his arm strongly. He looked back.
"No one calls me buffalo, kitty."
He let go of him and tried to knock Catboy with his fist, but Catboy bent back over, being able to put his head between his legs and look right at the man. "I'm more flexible than you think. Also agile." He said, blinking teasingly at the man. He put his hands on the ground and made his body give a 180° turn, kicking powerfully the man's jaw with his feet. Once he landed, he got a hold on the earth tightly and jumped into the man, knocking him down after giving him in the face with his head.
He growled while staring at the others. His suit lighted up. "Super Cat Stripes!" He tied all of them with several stripes and approached them. "No one calls me kitty, either." They all flinched and Catboy left, taking with him his Rover. He hops on it and left as fast as he could, not getting too far away as he entered an alley and transformed back to Connor. He looked at himself. "That was close."
He checked both sides for people but saw no one. He let out a sigh of stress and relief, if he didn't find a place to sleep tonight, something else might happen and he was trying to avoid that. He was tired.
Trash bags falling suddenly to the ground startled Connor and, hiding his collar with the crystal cat inside his chest, he spun around ready to attack. He expected to see another group of men waiting to assault him, but instead, he saw a pair of shiny orange eyes glaring fascinated, which turned to a shocked look and hid when Connor noticed them.
Connor heard murmuring afterward and approached carefully. When he was close enough, he heard what seemed a conversation between two girls and a boy.
"Did he saw you?" Said a girl, with a shrill and childish voice.
"I-I don't know...? I-I think so...?" Said the boy with a shy tone slightly freaking out.
"How can you not know? You were looking!" This was another girl, but this one had a defiant and slightly raspy deep voice.
"W-well, if he saw me, he didn't do anything! H-he- I- well, u-uh- I don't know!" The boy replied with a cracked voice as if he was gonna cry.
Connor immediately realized that these kids had seen him in his Catboy form. Maybe he could leave and let the kids think it was just a dream of some sort? Yeah, he was gonna do that, but before putting it into action, a small thought came to his mind. Could this be the kids I'm looking for? He wasn't so sure, he wasn't so sure what to do either. Leaving and risking the chance of these kids being the ones he is looking for, or leaving without saying anything and look for other kids that might be as well the ones he is looking for? Maybe it was just coincidence that these kids saw him as Catboy, maybe.
While still confused about what to do, Connor accidentally kicked a can that was on the trash bags that fell to the ground. He heard surprised gasps and saw small hands and three pairs of eyes popping from behind a wooden box. "Hello?"
As soon as he said that, the pair of orange eyes disappeared, and the two other pairs, one Lilacs, and other Honey, looked fascinated at him. The owner of the amber eyes stood up and revealed herself as being a girl of between 5 or 6 years old, as Connor guessed. She was wearing a ragged dandelion and white dress, with dirt all over it and torn ends, her hair was blonde and she had white skin. She stood straight in front of him and smiled bravely.
"Hi! What can we help you with?" Connor tilted his head with an eyebrow raised. This girl didn't fear him, even though he could easily be someone who could harm her. She was waiting for an answer and he didn't know how to respond. He looked back to where his rover was and looked questioningly at her, confused about what to do yet.
She looked behind him and knew that what she just saw was confirmed by the looks of the boy in front of her. "So you are some kind of superhero!"
He looked surprised at her. She went straight to the point! He was intrigued by her. He stared at the Lilac eyes in there, now joined by the Orange ones which still had a fearful look. Connor looked back at her. He decided to test her. "How do you know I'm not a villain?"
She flinched a bit at his tone but stood straight with a strong look at him. She smiled slyly. "If you were a villain, you wouldn't have kicked their butts!"
She was referring to the men who stole his Rover a few minutes ago. "And how do you know I wasn't stealing their stuff?"
"Duh, we've been leaving on these streets long enough to know who is who here. You wouldn't have dared." She said defiantly. Connor was taken by surprise by the fact that she lived on the streets at such a young age. For such a small girl, she is brave. Connor smiled, he knelt in front of her.
"I'm Connor, what's your name?" She smiled triumphantly and shook his hand strongly.
"I'm Unità! Vita, Hope, come over here to meet Connor!" She yelled with a smile. They both looked at the wooden box where a red-haired chubby girl, whose eyes were Lilac, jumped the box to meet him. She had a ragged white t-shirt and a grey skirt with dirt all over it. Stopping behind Unit, she stared with a smile. The boy he saw earlier, the owner of the orange eyes, came behind the box more shyly and walked over them, hiding behind the two girls. Connor looked at the boy and saw that he was very small and thin, his skin was tan -like his- but had white splotches on it, he had dark ginger hair and his clothes, that were all torn, were a daffodil tank top with an umber short along a black scarf.
Unità turned to look at Connor. She pointed to the red-haired girl. "Connor, this is Vita! The shaking chicken over there-" She said pointing to the orange-eyed boy. "Is Hope!"
"Hi!" Said Vita, shaking Connor's hand gently but happily. Hope only waved his hand with a shy and nervous smile.
Connor smiled and shook her hand as well. He looked at Hope, who was still doubtful about him. "Hi, Hope, nice to meet you." He said, tousling Hope's hair with his hand. Hope looked at him and blushed slightly, smiling softly. He looked back at Unit. "I'm guessing you know a lot about Milennia Town."
"A lot!" She giggled.
Connor giggled as well. "Do you know where I can find a place to pass the night, like a Hostel or something?" Connor was trying to avoid the fact that they saw him as Catboy, especially that they saw him fighting.
Unit nodded exaggeratedly fast. "Come on! Follow us!" She spun around and took the lead. Connor went back for his Rover and tried to catch up with them. He was walking, carrying around with him his Rover, behind the three kids. He looked at them with some pity. These kids, whose gentleness was incredible, lived on the streets. They didn't have warm and comfy beds, let alone a home, but they didn't seem to mind that. Unit and Vita looked rather fine, which indicated that they ate properly. Hope, on the other hand, looked more scrawny, and his shortness made him look smaller than he actually was. He wanted to ask the boy if he had a decent meal recently but limited himself as he thought that question would be out of place. He didn't limit himself to ask other stuff though.
"So... how long have you been living in the streets?" The three of them looked back at him while walking. Hope looked back at the road instantly, Vita slowed down to walk beside Connor.
"Well, Unit and I have been living almost since we can remember." She looked at Hope. She lowered her voice and Connor had to bent a little to hear her. "Hope has been living in the streets for two years now... he doesn't like to talk about it. One day we just... found him-" She still looked at Hope, but this time with a sad expression."-we found him crying alone in an abandoned house that is near the forest. We offered to help him, since then, we treat each other like siblings."
Connor looked at Hope, who flinched a little bit, then looked back at Vita. "So you guys are all family?"
Vita looked at him with shiny eyes and a sweet smile. "It's all the family we have, each other." Connor looked with full pity at them now. He felt now that he couldn't complain about his father, or his mother scolding him, or anything. These kids didn't even have a family, he does, he couldn't complain at all. He had a home, a loving mother, and friends, even if they were mad at him. These kids only had each other to rely on, they had abandoned places to pass the night on, they had trash bags to sleep on. They didn't even have proper clothes. Even though his problems mattered, they couldn't be compared to what these kids were going through.
"Connor!" He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard his name called by Unità.
"Huh?"
"I said that you dropped something." She said, looking behind him. He looked at what she was staring at and saw that it was the collar that had the crystal cat. He knew that he couldn't lose that collar at all. He found it a few months ago while patrolling the city, before the whole Black Spot thing. He discovered that with it, he could transform to Catboy without needing his pajamas. The bad news about it it's that it doesn't last long. The crystal cat it's made of a similar material to the crystal back on HQ, and he guessed that they both were connected for obvious reasons.
He walked back and took it, tossing it around his neck. "I can't lose this." He laughed. He then heard a gasp from Hope and stared surprised at him.
"Unità, Vita, look! He has a collar similar to the ones we found a few nights ago!"
Sorry for making you wait too much, I've been busy with school and I had a small writer's block. But I'm back now! This was a long and difficult chapter to write for a lot of reasons, but I liked it in the end. Hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for reading!
-Dapple