CoCo

Chapter 21

When Kriplespac found out that CoCo had been taken by the SHC, he was devastated. He had just found the love of his life and now she was gone. He was afraid that she would find out all about the war now that she was under the care of the SHC. He was afraid that she wouldn't love him anymore if she found out the truth. His chances of seeing her again were very slim. He could organize a rescue mission, but that would be too risky. Especially since the SHC had stolen a lot of his weapons. He would be sending lots of Tediz to their deaths just to save one woman. His life's work, all gone to waste. But there was some good that came out of all this. This incident served as lots of fuel in Kriplespac's fiery anger towards the Squirrels. He wanted to destroy them now more than ever. How dare they take away his love! And CoCo herself was a Squirrel too. He had let his emotions be played with by this Squirrel and now he was left broken-hearted. He was sick and tired of the Squirrels getting the best of him. For the next four months, he worked diligently on finding a way to destroy the Squirrels once and for all.

All this time, CoCo spent her days in the SHC dungeons. Sneeker visited her often and shared her rations, just like she said. But, during this time, CoCo wished to be alone. She did not want her sister's company. Pretty soon, Sneeker's visits became shorter and less frequent. Now, she only came to see CoCo to deliver food and water. Then she left quickly afterwards. It broke Sneeker's heart to see her sister mope around. She was afraid of losing her relationship with her sister. But there was nothing she could do to help CoCo's misery. Sneeker wanted to war to end quickly so that this big mess would be cleared. Little did she know that her wish was soon to come true.

One day as Sneeker was delivering food to CoCo, she felt as though there was something different about her. She couldn't quite figure out what it was. Examining her sister closely, she finally saw what it was. CoCo was starting to show signs of pregnancy. Her belly was just a little bit bigger than normal. There was no way that CoCo could be getting fat since she was eating half-rations. There was a baby growing inside her, Sneeker just knew it. She wondered who the daddy was, but she dared not ask. Then she realized that she had to do something about it. She couldn't keep a pregnant woman down here in the dungeon, living off of half-rations. She had to be moved. But Sneeker saw this as a good thing. The SHC wouldn't murder a pregnant woman, even if she was an enemy spy. She could be kept in the hospital ward. Sneeker quickly unlocked the cell door and took her sister's hand. CoCo was shocked by Sneeker's touch.

"What's going on?" CoCo asked.

"No time to explain," Sneeker responded. "I gotta take you to the hospital ward." She pulled CoCo off the cell bed and rushed her to the hospital ward.

"Doctor, please help! I think my sister is pregnant!" Sneeker shouted.

"Pregnant?" CoCo repeated, confuzzled.

The doctor helped CoCo onto a bed. He gave CoCo a pregnancy test. Sure enough, she was three months pregnant. The doctor turned to some nurses.

"You two, go get this woman some food and water," he commanded. The nurses rushed out of the hospital. The doctor turned back to CoCo and gently petted her forehead. "It is okay, honey," he said. "We'll keep you and your baby safe." CoCo smiled softly and fell asleep. The doctor looked at Sneeker, whom was fretting. She wondered how CoCo got pregnant, who was the baby daddy? Perhaps it wasn't even a baby after all. It could some nasty Tediz experiment growing inside CoCo's body. Hell, it was possible. That is how Kriplespac killed the Panther King. Who is to say that wouldn't to it again? It could be something even more terrifying, like a bomb or something. It could explode and kill a lot of Squirrels. Nonsense, maybe she was just being too paranoid. After all, nobody knows what happened to CoCo when she disappeared. Maybe she fell in love with a soldier and got pregnant. Maybe the soldier was captured or killed. Who knows? She remembered CoCo claiming that Kriplespac loved her. She wondered if that was true or not. Was CoCo in cahoots with the Tediz Leader? Or did he rape her? But why would she claim she loved him if he did? Sneeker didn't want to think about that now. She told herself to stop worrying. Her sister was going to have a baby. She should be happy for CoCo.

Weeks passed by and no explosion erupted from CoCo's belly. Sneeker was somewhat relieved, but she was still skeptical about the whole thing. She still wasn't 100 percent sure if there really was a baby in there. But she would just have to wait and see for herself. Sneeker really wanted to ask CoCo some questions, but she never got the chance. CoCo was always sleeping and when she wasn't, Sneeker always felt uneasy about questioning her sister's sex life. Perhaps it didn't matter who the daddy was. Sneeker couldn't help, but be curious. There was so much time she had lost between her sister. She wanted to know what CoCo had been doing all this time. One day, she sat next to CoCo for the entire day. Waiting. Her thoughts continued to haunt her during her waiting spell. Finally, CoCo opened her eyes.

"Oh hello, Sneeker," CoCo whispered.

"Hi, CoCo," Sneeker whispered back. She looked at CoCo's belly. "How are you feeling?"

"A little hungry...Could you go get me some food, please?" CoCo replied, stretching. Sneeker found CoCo some food. She watched her chow down on it for a while. She cleared her throat.

"So, um, CoCo, are there...Any men in your life?" Sneeker stuttered. "What I mean is...Who did this to you?" Sneeker looked at her sister nervously.

"You say that like it's a bad thing," CoCo laughed, taking a big swig of water.

"Well...Is it a bad thing? Do you want to be pregnant?"

"Oh yes, I do wanna be pregnant! Very much so! I love him. And he showed me how much he loved me that night four months ago...Gawd, I miss him."

CoCo looked down at her cup of water. She swirled the liquid around.

"Who...is he? Who is your boyfriend?" Sneeker asked.

"Haven't I told you already? I'm in love with von Kriplespac!"

"Are you sure about that? Are you sure that he really loves you? Do you know what experiments the Tediz did on you?"

"Yes I am sure! And I don't think the Tediz ever really did any experiments on me. I mean, they put me in that tube several times, but I never felt any different. Besides, I know that they didn't brainwash me into loving Kriplespac. I fell in love with him the first time I saw him."

"Oh..well, okay then..." Sneeker said quietly. An awkward silence fell over the two sisters. But it was soon broken by a very large explosion they heard coming from the opposite end of the base. The hospital lights flickered for a moment.

"What was that?" CoCo asked, a bit frightened.

"I think your boyfriend is attacking us," Sneeker said. "Stay here, CoCo. I'm gonna go check it out." She ran out of the hospital ward. Another large explosion shook the base.

Sneeker dodged, ducked, and slid her way around the SHC base until she found Conker. He was taking cover in his throne room and shouting orders in his radio. Sneeker leaped over to him.

"What is going on?" she yelled, another explosion.

"He's really pissed off!" Conker yelled back, coughing. "We're a little under-prepared for this attack!"

"Under-prepared? What about all those weapons we stole?"

"The first missile hit our secret weapon compartment, destroying everything in there! We're gonna hafta use what we got to stop them! But it seems as though he's been working on something huge! It is unstoppable!"

Just then, a Squirrel soldier ran into the room. "Sir! You have a message from the Tediz leader!" The soldier gave the note to Conker.

"There is only one way to stop this. Surrender now and I'll stop. I want to talk to you in person." Conker read the note aloud. "Dammit! I don't trust this guy for one second! What, does he think I'm stupid or something?!"

"What are you gonna do?" Sneeker asked.

Conker sighed. "I guess just give him what he wants. Fuck, there is nothing else I can do. We're trapped and he's gonna kill us if I don't have that meeting with him." Conker wrote something on the back of the note. He handed the note to Sneeker. "Make sure this gets to him. I trust you can get it to him."

"Yes sir!" Sneeker saluted. She ran out the the room and hid. Once the coast was clear, she got into her Tediz Sneeker disguise. She carefully made her way out of the Base and onto the battlefield. There were many Squirrels and Tediz killing each other. She carefully fought her way to the outskirts of the field and entered the Tediz battle ship. Being surrounded by dozens of Tediz on a confined area made Sneeker nervous, but she knew her disguise was very convincing. She walked around until she found an important-looking Tediz Surgeon. Simon. She walked up to him, sweating underneath her disguise.

"Is there something I can help you with?" Simon said, not even looking at her. Sneeker said nothing. She handed him the note. Simon took it and looked it over. His eyes widened. "Oh, well okay then! I'll give this to Kriplespac right away then. Um, as you were!" Simon said, walking away. Sneeker saluted and quickly snuck back into the SHC base. She was relieved that nothing went wrong.

"Sir! Conker has responded to your note!" Simon said, bursting into Kriplespac quarters. Kriplespac took the note from Simon and read it.

"Wunderbar! Now ve must retreat and come back in a veek," Kriplespac said with a grin. So, he called all his Tediz soldiers back and they left the SHC base.

Sneeker went back to Conker's throne room to tell him the note had been delivered. The explosions ceased. Sneeker looked out a window.

"Hey, they're leaving!" Sneeker exclaimed.

"Yes, but he'll be back in 7 days or so," said Conker. "I've arranged for him to meet me here in this throne room. I'm a little nervous about this. But it must be important." Conker sighed and closed his eyes. "I guess all we gotta do now is just wait." And that is what they did.

A week passed and Kriplespac returned to the SHC base. He was accompanied by only two soldiers. Scott and another soldier named Chad. Conker ordered his own soldiers not to shoot at them when they arrived. Right now, Kriplespac had diplomatic immunity. He made his way through the SHC base and was directed to the throne room. Conker sat in his chair, waiting for him.

"So, what is this all about?" Conker asked, suspiciously.

"I zink zat you and I can both agree zat zis war needs to end," Kriplespac said. "I did not expect you to surrender, but it vas a smart move on your part. I vould have destroyed you all."

"So you want a peace treaty?" Conker asked.

"Ja. Four months ago, I vas hell-bent on eliminating you. But now it seems zat I have decided to show a little mercy and give you another chance to live. You see, it is not really you zat I care about. I feel in love vith a female Squirrel and now you have gone and taken her avay from me. If you hadn't surrendered zen I vould have killed her, too, along vith your entire army. I'm glad zat you decided to not be stubborn and keep fighting me. Zis war has been going on for too long. I zink zat my fire has finally burned out. To be honest, I can't even really remember vhat I'm fighting for anymore. It seems zat I have found a new purpose."

Conker thought for a moment. "Well, I'm kinda sick of this war anyway. Sure, let's make a truce!" The two boys then shook hands. Conker looked at Kriplespac. "You fell in love with a Squirrel, huh? Was her name CoCo, by any chance?"

"Ja!" Kriplespac brightened when he heard her name. "Is she around?"

"She sure is!" Conker said. "I'll send someone to go get her." Conker whistled and a Squirrel soldier spawned. He sent the soldier down to the hospital ward.

"CoCo, wake up," the soldier said when he entered the ward. "There's someone here to see you."