Disclaimer: I do not own W.I.T.C.H. This is a work of fan fiction.
"Blunk and Napoleon's Excellent Adventure" Chapter Two
Watching Johnny and Frankie fleeing in terror, Miranda racked her mind, trying to think of a way of explaining away the reaction they had to her. Fortunately, Gideon unwittingly provided the solution for her. "Wow." He said, "Those guys are really afraid of cats. I guess maybe we shouldn't have bought Hale's cat in with us."
"Napoleon!" Miranda realized. She had been so worried that the cat's presence hadn't occurred to her. "Of course Gideon thinks they were afraid of Napoleon and not me!" She bent down and picked up the cat. "I'll be right back." She said, "I wanna take this guy outside in case those two work up the nerve to come back."
"Don't be long." Gideon said, "I'll get lonely."
Miranda grinned. "Two minutes." Outside, she carried Napoleon behind the restaurant and sat him down. Bending to her knees, she said "I'll try to call one of the Guardians. Meanwhile, can you follow them?"
"Sure thing doll." Napoleon said. "But, then, how will you find me?"
Miranda touched a finger to her nose. "I can track scents almost as well as you. If the Guardians don't catch up with you before my date's over, I'll come find you."
"Alright. Then again, maybe I'll be finished by the time they show up anyway." Napoleon turned and ran after the crooks…
Propelled by fear, Johnny and Frankie managed to run five full city blocks before slowing down. Exhausted, they slumped up against the wall of an apartment building. "What was she doing there Johnny?" Frankie asked between breaths, "I thoughts stuff like werewolves and werecats only came outs at night…"
"They only change at nights Frankie." Johnny answered, "Buts dey come out anytime dey wants."
"Good ting it's daytime then, huh Johnny?"
"Yeah… Look, Frankie, I don't wants ta scare youse, buts we should keep moving. She might be able ta tracks us by smell or somethin'."
Frankie turned white as a ghost after hearing this. "Ifs she can smells us, we's doomed Johnny. She'll tracks us down, wait 'tils dark, becomes a cat and eats us."
"Water." Johnny said. If's we crosses water it'll masks our scent see, den we steals a car or somethin' an get's outta town like we shoulda done in the first place."
"Dat's good Johnny. Let's goes, I knows a place on da other sides of the river where we can swipes us a truck." Johnny agreed, and they continued on their way…
Before returning to the table, Miranda had tried to call each of the Guardians. In every case, however, she got either a busy signal or no answer. "Wonderful." She thought. "All this incredible earth technology and you still can't get anyone when you need to…" Finally, she at least got voice mail on Elyon's phone and left a message detailing what was happening. Wishing she was free to catch up with the cat, Miranda instead returned to Gideon for lunch…
Block by block, Napoleon tracked the scent of the two criminals. "This is more like it." He thought, "A real hunt for real prey. I can't wait to catch up. Think maybe I'll scare them a little before I corner them."
He found the spot where they had briefly stopped, and continued past it without slowing. "Now I'm gaining on them. They're getting tired." He continued on, becoming suspicious of where the path seemed to be leading. He knew they were heading towards the river that bisected the city. "Surely they won't try to swim across to mask the scent trail." He thought, "It's a wide river, lots of undercurrents. If they tried to swim, this isn't a hunt anymore, it's a body-search."
But when Napoleon found the place where Johnny and Frankie had crossed the river, he couldn't help but laugh: They had crossed on an interstate highway bridge. "Oh, that's rich." The cat thought. "They think crossing water, on a bridge, will mask their scent…" He lost several minutes, unable to continue until his laughter was under control…
A series of large dumpsters lined the back wall of the Pine Company warehouse. The warehouse employees didn't need to actually come out into the back alley to throw away trash, thanks to chutes in the wall, so there was no one around to hear the rummaging sounds coming from the largest bin, or to see the wood boards being thrown out over the edge.
Inside the dumpster, Blunk had found Passling heaven; everything he needed to rebuild his home in the sewers. "Blunk got to remember to thank Fire Guardian again." He thought, "This was best idea ever."
It briefly crossed Blunk's mind that he wasn't sure how he was going to get these new supplies back to his home site. This place was a lot further from home than the city dump, and the wood was heavier than cardboard. It also occurred to him that maybe he should have cleaned up the wreckage of the old house before starting to drag in supplies for the new, as well. Before he had time to act on that thought, a mass of new trash poured out of the chute above, just missing his head. Blunk looked at the new arrivals. "Mother Load!" he exclaimed, forgetting what he had been thinking a moment before…
Up the interstate embankment, across the bridge, and into an industrial park Napoleon followed the scent trail. As he went he let his mind wander onto various ideas for ways to approach the two men when he caught up to them. "Maybe I should stroll up, act like a normal cat, then transform while they pet me." He thought, "That'd be great. Or maybe I should just come at them in Regent form, let them think I'm something Miranda turned into… So many options, all of them funny. How will I ever choose?"
"Where exactly are we goin's Frankie?" Johnny asked, "My feets is killin' me now."
"Nots much further Johnny." Frankie answered. "See, der's a lotta warehouse places around here. And somes of 'em don't man da guardposts at da truck entrances too well. Its'll be easy ta slip in one and nab a big truck."
"Hmmm… Dat's not half bad fors you Frankie." Johnny said. "One change though, we not gonna steal a big truck. Dat's just askin' ta end up with a hundred cops on our tail. Too obvious like. What we'll steal is a car from the employee lot."
"Good thinkin' Johnny."
"I know. See, what we'll do is, we watches for someone who's jus comin' in to work. Dat way, we gots hours before the police get called." Johnny said.
"Y'know Johnny, I was thinkin… Maybes our luck is changin' for da better. I means, sure we ran into da cat-thing again… But ats least it's was just her dis time. No fairies."
"Don'ts jinx it by sayin' it Frankie." Johnny answered.
"Dis ways Johnny." Frankie said. "Da Pine company never has a guard at da post."
"Good." Johnny replied, "I'm tellin's ya Frankie, I couldn't run another foot if my lifes depended ons it."
As the two men walked down a back alley towards the warehouse gate, they came across a huge pile of wood in front of an open topped dumpster. Then, before their eyes, a small green figure climbed over the lip of the dumpster and jumped to the ground.
In the dumpster, Blunk decided he had found more than enough to start with. "Better go," he thought, "Or Blunk will be here all night." He threw one last board over the edge, then climbed to the rim and scrambled out.
After jumping to the ground, his mind still on the topic of how to transport his new goods, Blunk suddenly realized that he wasn't alone. He turned to see a pair of humans staring down at him, eyes wide and mouths hanging open.
Blunk decided the best thing to do was introduce himself. He raised a hand to wave…
Johnny and Frankie stared at the creature before them. It raised a hand. Waved. "Hello!" it said, "Me Blunk. Who are you?"
"GOBLIN!" Both men screamed at once. Frankie ran for all he was worth, and in spite of his earlier comment to the contrary Johnny also found the strength to run. They sprinted away and rounded the nearest corner of the warehouse building, leaving the bewildered Passling behind…