Chapter 8: That's Why I'm Here I DO NOT own T.U.F.F. Puppy in any way. This chapter may be a little strange, but I bet stranger things have happened. We'll also look in the Chameleon's head and learn about his conflict, plus a minor OC will be introduced. The Chameleon was laying on his couch. His mind was still reeling from what happened the night before. He had realized something that he hadn't thought was possible: he had feelings for Maria. She had been nice to him when no one else had, and she known perfectly well about all the bad things that he had done. She had taken him in and shown him compassion. And she was so beautiful and talented and smart. But who was he fooling? They were friends; Maria had said so herself. But could she possibly have the same feelings for him that he had for her? "Ha! I'm not even fooling myself!" He just didn't think that he was good enough for her. Her father definitely felt the same. The Chameleon decided it would be best if he stopped seeing her. He would just continue living his lonely life of crime. He turned on the TV. Wolf Spitzer announced that Birdbrain was robbing a bank. "Boring!" said the Chameleon. "At least Agents Puppy and Katswell will be occupied. I'll be able to do whatever I want!" Then he took a closer look at the screen. "Maria's in there! She could get hurt. Fights between Agents Puppy and Katswell and the people they're trying to arrest can get rough. I should know!" Disregarding everything he had just told himself, the Chameleon left his house to protect Maria. Meanwhile, Birdbrain ordered his henchmen to empty the safes faster. "Make haste, you nitwits!" he said to Owl, Bat, Duck(first name Skip), Zippy, and Ewe. The bank tellers, a chimpanzee and a raccoon stood with their hands in the air, terrified. "You!" he said, pointing at Duck. "Baa?" said Ewe. "No, Duck!" Everyone ducked. "No, I meant Skip!" Then everyone started skipping around. "Will someone just tie up those employees?" "Who?" said Owl. "Them!" "Where?" said Bat. "Over there!" "What?" said Zippy. "I hate my life!" Two masked security guards came up the stairs. "Where did they come from?" They took off their masks to reveal that they were actually Dudley and Kitty. "You're under arrest, Birdbrain!" said Kitty. That's when the Chameleon came in. "Stop!" he said, pointing at Birdbrain. "Chameleon?" said a confused Dudley. "Are you and Birdbrain doing this robbery together?" "NO!" Birdbrain and the Chameleon said at the same time. "Actually," said the Chameleon, "I just came here to. . ." And then he mumbled something that no one could make out. "You what?" said Kitty. "I just. . ." He sighed. "I just wanted to make sure Maria was OK." Maria came out of her hiding place behind an ATM. "Chameleon?" "Hi, Maria." "Hi." "What is going on here?" demanded Birdbrain. "How do you two know each other? And how long have you been here?" "We're actually next door neighbors," said Maria. "And I've been here longer than you have. Not that either of those things are your business." As the two T.U.F.F. Agents ran after Birdbrain and his minions, the Chameleon said, "I was just worried about you. These situations can get dangerous. And you're my only friend." "You're looking out for me? That's really sweet of you." The Chameleon blushed. Dudley and Kitty looked at each other in disgust and confusion. Birdbrain started cracking up, while his crew also started to laugh, puzzled. "Oh, now I see what's going on!" said the flightless bird. "You two are a couple of lovebirds!" He continued laughing until he could barely breathe. "Hey, Birdbrain!" said Maria. "Shut your beak!" "Well, I never!" said Birdbrain. She ignored him. "So, you want to leave together?" "OK." He opened a window. This caused Maria to freeze. Her heart rate sped up, and she began to hyperventilate. "What's wrong?" "Are you insane? We're on the 6th story! And I'm very scared of heights!" She started shaking. "Oh." He put his arm around her. "Don't worry, Maria. That's why I'm here." He turned into a parachute. "I still don't know about this," said Maria. "I'm so scared. Of course my dad and Mr. Fowl used to do this all the time." Birdbrain yelled for his lackeys to help. Dudley and Kitty tackled him. "On the count of three!" cried Maria. She leaned out of the window. "One!" "Two!" "Three!" "No!" said the T.U.F.F. Agents. But it was too late. She had jumped. "Lucky her!" growled Birdbrain as he was led away in handcuffs. "She got to escape from all this." Meanwhile, it was the scariest moment of Maria's life. She was free-falling out of of a sixth story window. She screamed. "You didn't forget about me, did you?" said the Chameleon. Oh, that's right he was her parachute! She had forgotten. She pulled the string and the parachute opened. She sighed with relief as she slowly went down. And then they both screamed as the wind blew them in another direction. A small tornado had begun to form. There were only a few objects caught in it so far. Unfortunately, two of those objects were Maria Claire Foxxy and her parachute/best friend, the Chameleon. "Maybe this wasn't a good idea!" said the Chameleon. "How did you come to that conclusion?" "I'm sorry!" Those weren't words he said very often but he felt guilty about what had happened. "I tried to help you and now I got you in danger! You probably shouldn't hang out with me anymore, or who knows what might happen! It's not that I want to stop seeing you, I just think it would be better for you if I did!" There was a moment of silence. "Why did you rush to help me, anyway?" "You're the only friend I have. I didn't want to lose you. I just kind of ruined all my other friendships somehow." "Well, I guess I would have tried to do the same for you." As suddenly as it had started, the storm stopped. They slowed down as the breeze gently carried them over the city. "I'm still kinda scared, but now that we've slowed down, the view is actually really beautiful." "Very beautiful." But he wasn't talking about the view of the city. "I can see our houses from here! And there's my art teacher!" "Which one is he?" "The peacock in the Hawaiian shirt. Hi, Mr. Fowl!" "Halloo, Maria!" said Mr. James P. Fowl. He had a pompous manner and an accent that resembled Birdbrain's. He was often picked to play Polonius in Hamlet. But we'll talk more about him later. He's not as important as he thinks he is. At least not now. "Well, I've heard of a Flying Fox, but that's certainly an unusual sight!" At this point, they were less than 30 feet from the ground. But then the wind stopped and they began to fall much more rapidly. They both cried out. That's when they stopped falling. The Chameleon got caught on a lamppost seven feet from the ground. "Hmm," said Maria. "Now how are we going to get down from here?" He sighed. "I don't know. I really should have thought this plan through." But he didn't have to think much longer about how to get down. For at that moment a brief breeze blew them to the ground. Maria landed on her feet as the Chameleon changed back into himself. "Well, do you want to do that again?" said Maria. That made them both crack up. This chapter was even harder to write than the last. And my favorite chapter has yet to be written. Please review.
