"Are you sure you're up to riding Annie by yourself?" Ace asked Lexi for the fifth time that morning.
Lexi sighed. "Ace, I'm fine. You can stop worrying."
Cassidy gave Tech a look that said, 'Don't even start...' Tech put his hands up in mock surrender.
As they walked through the forest, Ben asked everyone if they were going to enter the show. Lexi was the first to reply. "I'm going to try barrel racing. I hope I can get Ghost ridable by then."
Rev and Rachelle were also going to enter in barrel racing. Ace wanted to try roping. Slam was going to enter the heavy-weight pulling competition. Duck and Tech wern't sure if they were going to. When Ben asked Cassidy, she hesitated.
"I don't know." She simply stated.
"You and Falcon make a pretty good team in the ring." Ace pointed out.
Cassidy blushed slightly at his compliment. "Thanks, but I'm just not sure..." Her voice trailed off. She wanted to tell them, she truely did, but her shyness took over her brain with Ben around. If it was just her and her friends, they would already know.
Tech could sense her hestitancy. He also understood it. It had been hard for her to try and rebuild her life after the meteor erased her memory. Not to mention the fear she had since then. A fear of competing in front of people. If it was just the seven of them, she was as competitive as Duck. He smiled to himself when he remembered the look of relief in her eyes when she shared her story with him, and he promised to keep it a secret.
Duck was just about to say something, when suddenly, Misty's head shot up as she reached for some leaves on the trees they were passing. "Wha.. hey!" After straightening out Misty, he began to think about the show. He tried to decide which competition he wanted to enter. Barrel racing? No, Misty didn't have the speed. Roping? That looked dangerous to him. Show Jumping? How do you do that, anyway? Oh well, he would find something he could do.
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Just as the sun was setting, the Loonatics, Ben, and Rachelle were untacking the horses. After tying them to special posts stuck in the ground, they gathered around the campfire for marshmallows. Lexi sat between Ace and Ben. Duck, Slam and Tech sat on a log with Cassidy laying on her stomach beside Tech. Rev and Rachelle sat together on another log.
Cassidy's eyes widened when she saw Tech's marshmallows. She sat up and tapped his shoulder. "Uh, Tech?"
Tech turned and looked at her. "Yes?"
Cassidy pointed at his stick. "Your marshmallows are on fire."
Tech looked in the direction she was pointing. The flame had began to crawl up the stick, and was now only a few inches away from his hand. Tech jumped up in suprise and dropped the stick.
Cassidy picked up the stick and threw it in the fire before the grass caught the flame. Because of her flame-throwing powers, her hands did not get burned.
Meanwhile, everyone else was falling over, laughing. Before either coyote could react, two waves of cold water washed over them. They turned around to find Duck and Slam holding pails.
"Eh, you're a little late there, guys." Ace said.
After drying off, they wrapped themselves in their sleeping bags. Cassidy's eyes began to droop, and she was soon asleep. Tech wore a shocked expression, as Cassidy had fallen asleep against his arm. It was all the others could do to keep themselves from laughing. But, Rev couldn't for long, as Rachelle had also fallen asleep against him.
Tech slowly and carefully layed her down on the ground. Rev did the same with Rachelle. Lexi tried to hold back her giggles.
Duck suddenly got an idea. "Let's tell ghost stories!"
This caught everyone's attention, particularily Ace and Slam's. They decided for Ace to go first. "Okay, one day, a long time ago, there were two wabbits. No one is sure what their names are. They decided to go on a picnic in the woods. Everything started out fine, untill a freak storm suprised them. Everything was dark as they fought their way through the woods. Suddenly, the goil stopped. She could see glowing green eyes ahead of her. The eyes creeped closer, closer, and closer, until it was only a few feet away. The poor goil was frozen with fear. Suddenly, the owner of the eyes jumped out of the brush. The goil screamed with terror. And the eyes screamed as well."
Lexi nearly jumped off the log when Ace imitated the scream. It also woke up Cassidy and Rachelle, who jumped up, yelling. "What in the the...!"
Just then, they could hear a wild coyote howl at the moon. Shivers ran up and down everyone's spine as Ace continued the story.
(end chapter 12)