Chapter 3 — Revealed
Dotty finally finished the Titans data network, with the help of Bonnie, Congo and Nibbler. Still, she felt confused about something. Dotty banged her head on the board, trying to find relief in all of the hard work she accomplished. Spunky found her, hearing the thud of her head on the bottom of the super-computer's keyboard.
"Something wrong?" Spunky asked.
Dotty lifted her head. "Not wrong... weird." she replied.
"What is?"
"Bonnie."
Spunky raised his eyebrow. "Our daughter is weird?"
Dotty sighed. "It's just that she surprises me more than anyone. Sweet was right—she does have my smart genes."
"What did she do, or say?" Spunky asked.
"My tech group and I had to crack a long bypass code to connect the data network together. It was a challenge, even for me. Encountering this for the first time, Bonnie finished her job seconds before anyone else, including me!"
"You're kidding... she's only eight!" Spunky pointed out, surprised.
"I know, but she said it was easy, almost as if she understood everything perfectly."
Spunky whistled. "If that's the case... this society's gonna need a new IQ scale."
"Mm-hmm." Dotty concurred, staring upward.
"Are you okay?" Spunky asked, putting his hands on her shoulders.
"Yeah. I'm just glad that I never liked Wrinkle."
"His loss."
Meanwhile, Dep lies awake in his bed (wearing all black), upset about Tiny breaking his heart. It was evident that he was serious about having a girlfriend, but even so, she still used him. Dep was now in pain, and he was silently mad about it.
"I'm not going through that BS again." Dep said to himself, getting up and out of his room.
His other brother, Fetch, was near his room, looking for a little sport. "Hey Dep," he called, "you up for some B-Ball?"
"No. Ask Rufus, since everyone likes him." Dep responded lowly.
"Oh, all right. Rufus!" Fetch shouted, running down the hall to find everyone's favorite canine. (Everyone seems to like Rufus because of his name; it is the same as Rufus, the naked mole rat from Kim Possible.)
Dep was headed to the roof of the Home Base to hopefully vent out. At the grand living room, the horses, Fortress and Crunch saw his upset look.
"Yo, Dep... what's wrong?" Durango asked him as Dep entered the elevator. Before Durango could catch up with him, Dep slammed the elevator shut, creating a sudden, but short shake in the Tower.
"I'm worried." Fortress said.
"Wow, Fortress... that's the first time you've really reacted to something around here..." Durango pointed out.
Crunch sighed and then pulled Fortress out to the side.
"What's wrong Crunch?" she asked him.
"I'll just get to the point. It's not you, and it's not me... but I think we should go our own ways."
Fortress exhaled sharply. "As in, break up? Why? We hadn't even had our first kiss yet!"
"Like I said, it's not that either of us did or said anything. It's just that I think that desperate times call for desperate measures; you'll know what I mean later on."
"But you aren't psychic like me..."
The shark sighed. "I know. But just like a "woman's intuition", I have a "man's gut feeling", and it's telling me to do this for the greater good."
"Okay." Fortress replied solemnly, giving the shark one last hug. She returned to her usual group afterwards.
"So, what did Crunch want?" Mina asked intently, smiling.
"We're off the hook."
"Aw, that's not good." Tina said. "What are you gonna do now?"
"Well, I could go try and cheer Dep up, if he's willing to listen." Fortress suggested.
"Go ahead." Thunderbolt responded.
Upon the roof, Dep stared out into the Gulf, wondering how he should recover from his heartbreak. He thought about getting together with someone again, but only with someone that is nicer than Tiny was. The only person he could think of at that point was Fortress.
"Is Fortress really the only girl that comes to mind?" Dep asked himself aloud.
"What'd he say?" Fetch questioned, overhearing while playing basketball with Rufus. While he was not watching, Rufus dunked on Fetch.
"Ha ha! You got dunked on!" Rufus boasted. He calmed down after realizing why Fetch lost his focus. The elevator opened also.
Dep continued to speak openly. "Well, she isn't bad, now that I think of her... better yet, she's great. She's with Crunch, though..."
"Is he fantasizing about Fortress?" Rufus asked Fetch.
"I guess... I don't wanna interrupt him, though."
"Why?"
"Cause she's walking up behind him." Fetch pointed out.
Rufus noticed the lavender-haired unicorn approaching Dep. "I think he should know. Yo Dep!" Rufus called.
"What?" Dep yelled back, without turning around.
"You're speaking kinda loud there."
"They heard that?" Dep wondered.
"Yeah. One more thing..." Fetch started.
"She's right behind me, isn't she?" Dep asked, turning about to see Fortress, who was slightly rosy in the cheeks.
"Still having trouble?" Fortress questioned Dep.
"I think so. Why do you ask?"
"I mean with your energy control. I heard that people that have the earth element have lots of tension, but there's a way to relieve it."
Dep was baffled. "I do? How do I get rid of it?"
"You don't, but someone else can. I'll show you. Follow me." Fortress took Dep's hand and led him back inside the Tower.
Rufus dropped to the floor with his head down, nodding and almost laughing.
"What's your problem?" Fetch questioned.
"I've seen this before... how a guy and a girl have one of those weird talks and then leave together. Almost all of the time, those two people come back as a couple." Rufus explained.
Fetch was a bit confused. "Are you sure, Rufus? I sure hope you didn't jack that from a Newgrounds forum..."
"They don't talk about that stuff there... at least, I haven't checked for certain."
Fetch exhaled audibly. "In any case, I can't picture a brown-spotted, unlucky dog and a short-horned, lavvie-haired unicorn together."
Fortress led Dep to Dotty, who was still in the super-computer room.
"Yes?" Dotty said, seeing the two of them.
"I need to find a place where there's lots of water. Dep's coming with me." Fortress requested.
"Okay, the Aqua Base it is. Get in the teleporter."
Dotty set the coordinates into the system and warped the two of them to the Pacific Ocean. Dotty sighed. "I really oughta save these locations and type out a manual for this stuff..." she thought.
Getting inside the Aqua Base, Fortress led Dep into Sector 8. He did not know what she was doing, aside from being in the aquatic base for the first time.
"Why are we here, at a giant pool?" Dep finally asked.
"Take off your shirt and jump in." Fortress told him.
"I thought we were—"
"Just trust me." she interrupted.
"All right." Dep removed his shirt and jumped into the pool.
Fortress took off her shirt as well, still wearing a lavender midriff shirt and blue jean shorts. She then used her hydrokinesis to create a huge sphere of water, floating over the pool.
Dep realized that he was inside of the sphere. He was about to run out of breath, until he found that somehow the water was breathable. "How can I get air while I'm underwater?" he questioned. He then looked over to see Fortress swimming towards him, and he was starstruck by her.
"You like?" Fortress asked.
"Whoa... you're like a mermaid to me right now." Dep marveled.
Fortress blushed. "My legs are still intact." she implied, as mermaids have tail fins. "Anyways, let's get to the tension. Lay face down."
"Okay." Dep responded, laying horizontally and facing the bottom of the water sphere. "What are you gonna do?"
Fortress smiled. "Here's what the theory says: 'Those with the earth element are usually tense in the upper body.' Hippity, if you know him, is able to control his earth powers freely without any sign of tension. My guess is that Floppity helped him out in the way that I'm about to use: a very soothing and relieving back plus chest massage."
Dep was pleasantly startled. "That sounds great! How is it gonna affect me?"
"All I know is that it'll be better for you and fun for me. Plus, I set up our most relaxing water prison..." Fortress uttered, winking at Dep before beginning to tend to his back. She touched on, rubbed, and "relaxed" every part of his back.
"So good..." Dep whispered in content, beginning to feel great comfort with her touch.
"I'm not finished yet. Flip over so I can get to your abs and chest." Fortress told him. Dep heeded her, rolling around so that he was facing the top the water sphere. Once he was fully turned, Fortress started rubbing on his core muscles. Dep was enjoying every second of this.
"Wow... just wow..." Dep murmured.
"I'm that good, really?" Fortress questioned, surprised with herself.
"Yeah. Next is my chest, right?"
"Mm-hmm." Fortress replied, moving her hands up to fondle Dep's chest.
This time around, something was wrong. "Hmm... it doesn't feel as good as before. Maybe you should work it while you're on top of me, instead of beside me." Dep suggested.
Fortress suddenly paused. "Are you sure?"
"Just trust me."
"Okay..." Fortress said hesitantly, reluctantly positioning herself parallel over Dep, face to face. She looked back, noticing that her legs were spread apart and his waist was in between her thighs. "This is awkward..." she stated.
Dep looked to her focus as well. "Yeah... well, don't think about that."
Fortress could not ignore it. It was a very uncomfortable position for her to be in, but at the same time, she did not want to disappoint Dep. Then, it occured—the first of her few "freakouts".
"But... every time I think about that—" Fortress began to whine.
Dep was somewhat calm, and he wanted her to be the same way, but she kept talking. "Fortress..." he murmured while she was speaking.
"—I always find myself in an awkward position inside—"
"Fortress..." Dep called her again, beginning to lose a bit of patience.
"—then everything I think about just goes wrong and chaotic, and—!"
Fortress was interrupted, feeling Dep's lips pressed on hers for almost ten seconds as a sign to tell her to stop losing her mind. He stopped after that time, slowly separating his lips from hers.
"I, uh..." Fortress stuttered.
"Just focus on my chest. I promise you, I'm not a pervert." Dep told her calmly.
Soon, Fortress was finished giving Dep the tension-release massage, dispersing all of the water from the sphere (except the amount she used on Dep).
"How do you feel?" Fortress asked.
"Better. I just need to test my power now." Dep replied. He stepped on the floor and caused a tremor to shake the Aqua Base. Fortress lost her balance and ended up in Dep's arms.
She looked up to him, with a light smile. "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"
"While we're this close, I wanna know... what did you really want out of this?" Dep asked.
Fortress batted her eyes at him and brought her body close until it was slightly pressed on his. "Do you have to ask?"
Dep had a thought for a moment. "You and Crunch are off the hook, right?"
Fortress pressed her body even harder on his. "How's this for an answer?" she responded, putting her arms around him and initiating a kiss, slowly making lip contact with Dep.
Dep opened his eyes, while kissing Fortress. "Thank you." he mentally said, knowing that she was psychic.
Fortress opened her eyes as well, to wink at him as a way to say "You're welcome."
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That's about it for Part 5. I know, it wasn't the best of my stories, but there are plenty more to come, and I'm certain that one of them will appeal to you guys.
Tune in for Part 6!