Knock Knock
Judo and Wendy, who were in the middle of their talk on what to do next, were interrupted by the knocking. They looked at each other, the both of them not knowing who it could be. After a few seconds passed, the visitors knocked the door once again. This time Wendy got up and walked over to the door, taking a peek out the peephole. She was surprised to see the two Heeler daughters outside. After seeing who was there, Wendy opened the door. "Good afternoon Bluey, Bingo, what brings you two here?"
"Good afternoon Wendy!" The two of them said simultaneously.
"I haven't been seeing Judo at school the past few days, I'm starting to get a little worried about her," Bluey began, one of her hands slowly rubbing her other arm. "Is she alright..?"
Wendy watched her rub her arm, feeling a bit of sweat begin forming as she thought of what to say. She herself had been thinking of nothing other then her daughter for the past few days, so to even lie about something this serious did not seem like a good option for her. "W-well-"
"Bluey! Bingo!" Judo interrupted Wendy, walking past her and towards the Heeler sisters, wrapping her arms around them in a hug. Bluey and Bingo immediately hug back, their expressions changing from anxious to relieved. As they hugged, Judo gave Wendy a glance, and Wendy knew to let Judo handle this herself.
"I'll let you girls talk it out. Come on in, I'll prepare some tea for us." Wendy invited them in, to which they happily obliged. Judo led the two to the couch while Wendy walked over to the kitchen, immediately getting started on the tea.
"Where have you been?! I've been worried sick!" Bluey immediately started, her voice echoing through the house as she turned to face Judo. Bingo also turned to face her, also wanting to know what happened. Judo looked over to the kitchen and, after seeing Wendy focused on making some small treats, wrapped an arm around both Bluey and Bingo's neck, pulling them together.
"Listen to me, I can't talk about what really happened right now, Mum wouldn't want me to. But I also can't keep you in the dark, because you two are already involved whether you like it or not." Judo whispered to the two, taking small glances behind them to make sure Wendy wasn't watching.
"What do-" Bluey was immediately cut off.
"Just listen okay?? I'm doing alright, I really am. There's so much going on, I'll come over later and tell you everything, but for now please don't push Mum about it." Judo looked at the two with pleading eyes. It caught the two a little off guard, seeing Judo like this. It worried them, but Judo was their friend, and they wanted to believe her.
"Alright Judo, we won't push.." Bingo responded, who got a surprised reaction from Bluey.
"But.. but.. why won't you tell us now??" Bluey asked. "We haven't seen you in days and yet you're telling us to wait some more??"
"Yes. Just wait, alright? This is too important to rush through," Judo responded, giving Bluey a stern stare. After a few seconds, Judo sighed and let go of the two, leaning back onto the couch. The two Heeler sisters looked at each other, unsure of what to do now. Right on queue, Wendy walked over, holding a plate of small treats as well as a teapot and small cups.
"So girls, how have you two been?" Wendy asked the two, setting the cups and treats down onto the coffee table in front of them. Wendy noticed that the two girls seemed anxious and looked over to Judo, who shrugged.
"We've been alright," Bluey responded, fixing her hair tuft as she smiled at Wendy. Bingo also gave Wendy a smile, to which Wendy returned one to the both of them.
"That's good girls. As you can see, me and Judo are doing just fine, Judo was just a little under the weather," Wendy told them, handing the two a cup of tea, to which they took and drank. Bluey and Bingo look at each other before each taking a snack off the plate. Wendy, of course, started getting worried, as she didn't want the two girls to be skeptical of them. The two were already skeptical due to what Judo told them, but they tried their best to act and look normal in front of Wendy.
"Thank you Wendy, I'm feeling relieved to know that Judo's alright," Bingo began speaking up before looking over to her sister.
"I feel the same way… I don't mean for us to disturb you two, so we'll take our leave," Bluey continued as the two sisters got up. Wendy raised her arm toward them but then hesitated. Judo then got up.
"Bluey, Bingo? Is it alright if we went on a little walk around the neighborhood?" Judo asked the two, surprising the three.
"Judo? What are you-"
"Please?" Judo faced both Bluey and Bingo, cutting her mother off. The two girls then nodded, Bluey's tail even beginning to wag a little. It's been a good while since the three had spent some time together outside of school, so Bluey immediately began thinking of what they could do. Before anyone could say anything, Judo walked up to the two, grabbing their hands and walking them out the front door, leaving Wendy behind in silence.
Now the three girls were walking down the sidewalk. It has been three days since Judo was last outside, and as a result she couldn't walk straight due to her eyes slowly adjusting to the sunlight. Bluey and Bingo walked with her, Bluey on her left and Bingo on her right.
"Alright, I know I said I'll tell you two what's really going on, but I think it's best if we sit down and talk somewhere. How does the park sound?" Judo spoke up, finally adjusted to the light.
Bingo looked over to Bluey before responding, "sure thing Judo! This seems really important to you, so you should feel comfortable before you start."
Despite being the younger sibling, Bingo usually was the more mature sibling, always being considerate of the feelings of those around her while Bluey would let her feelings get the better of her, making most situations worse. The three began making their way down the sidewalk towards the park. On their way down, Judo had a small feeling that someone was watching them from afar. However, she did not feel any type of headache or jolt in her systems, so she brushed it off. Soon enough, the three made it to the park, with Judo walking over to the swings, taking a seat in it. Bluey and Bingo stay standing near the swing. With the three now settled, Judo began to recount the events involving herself, the organization, and Kish.
As Judo was in the middle of events, with Bluey and Bingo deep in thought about the situation, a mysterious hooded figure entered the park, barely making his presence known. Judo was the first to notice, standing up quickly from the swing. Bluey and Bingo jumped in surprise in response, turning to face the direction Judo was looking in. Judging from the height and size of the hooded figure, Judo assumed it was someone their age, if not slightly older. The person's fur was also dark, making it hard to notice their features under the hood. The only thing visible was a dark blue slim tail that dragged behind. Judo, who assumed she was the more experienced one, stood in front of Bluey and Bingo.
"Who are you? Why did you follow-," she was cut off by a massive jolt of pain throughout her body, causing her body to immediately activate her ability. She could hear Bluey and Bingo let out a yelp behind her, but due to her ability, they weren't nearly as crippled as she was. Knowing this, she looked up as the hodded figure, seeing them also in pain. Taking this to her advantage, she pushed through the pain and headache, dashing forward and tackling them to the ground. Once on the ground, the pain slowly died down, and the hood covering the person's face had fallen. Now having regained her senses, Judo took a good look at the person. A dark blue labrador, around her age, with a few scars near his neck. A small piece of his ear seemed to have been cut off, the tip being covered in bandages. "W-who are you?"
"Jean-Luc…?" Bluey walked forward, her eyes dialated in shock upon seeing the labs face. "But.. how?"
"Hello Bluey.." he weakly said, unable to move underneath Judo. Seeing how weak he was, Bluey walked over to Judo and tried to gently pull her off him, to which Judo resisted.
"What are you doing Bluey?? You felt that didn't you?? He's like me!" Judo yelled at Bluey, pushing her away. "I'm not taking any chances!" Judo raised an arm, clenching her hand into a fist. Bluey then grabbed her arm and pulled her back with force, much more then what Judo could have expected. In just an instance, Bluey had pinned Judo down instead, knocking the wind out of her.
"He's an old friend… can't you see how weak he is??" Bluey asked her, her voice echoing throughout the park with power. Judo turned her face, giving her a glare with one eye.
"Kish also had an old friend show up, and do you want to know how many died??" Judo responded, her voice raised to match Bluey's. In the background, Bingo had walked up to Jean-Luc, helping him up into a sitting postion. Jean-Luc merely looked at what was going on in front of him, seeing his old friend, one that he believed was the kindest and friendlist person in the world, pin down her friend with such force. It scared him.
"That's Kish's friend, it's not Jean-Luc." Bluey said back, letting go of Judo's arm and getting off of her. "Keep in mind that i'm a black belt in karate, so don't try anything." Judo slowly got up, raising her hands up in front of her to show she's not gonna do anything, then she looked over to Jean-Luc.
"How did he follow us for so long without me sensing him…?" Judo thought to herself, brushing off the dirt on her and adjusting her hair band. Before any of them could speak a word, all their ears perked up as they heard a car come to a stop outside of the park, out of view. Judo acted immediately, grabbing Bingo and mouthing the word "follow me" to Bluey, pointing to Jean-Luc as well. Judo and Bingo then disappear into one of the nearby bushes, with Bluey and Jean-Luc close behind.
"What's going on?" Bingo whispered to Judo, who responded with a finger over her mouth. Judo carefully took a look out of the bush, waiting for the people to enter the park. To her surprise, it was Monty who entered the park. After a few seconds, he turned around and waved, and soon after, Kish appeared. However, he looked much different, his fur now having been cut, only the hair off the top of his head was left, as well as a bit of fur on his chest. Almost immediately he turned to Judo and met her eyes. His stare was cold, and made Judo shiver as she got out of the bush, slowly followed by Bingo, then Bluey, and finally Jean-Luc. Once Jean-Luc left the bush, Kish flinched, keeping his eye on him.
"Who's this?" Kish asked, keeping his eye on Jean. Bluey then stepped up.
"This is Jean-Luc, he's an old friend of mine."
"And who are you?"
"I'm Bluey and this is my sister Bingo," she pointed as Bingo, "we're Judo's neighbors and friends."
An awkward silence befell them all before Monty approached. "It would be a good idea to leave this place immediately, they have a way to trace outbursts like this," he turned to Kish, who nodded back at him.
"You," Kish turned to Jean. "You're coming with us. You're a natural like me, it's to dangerous to be around others." Jean seemed to hold his tongue, looking down. Bluey walked forward, putting an arm in front of Jean.
"No, he's coming with us! Don't you see his condition??"
"Bluey we don't know what's rea-," Bingo began, getting cut off.
"So what?? He's my friend!"
"Friend or not he's a danger to you three just by being there. He'll be fine with us," Kish began walking forward towards them. Judo decided to keep quiet, as she thought this situation had nothing to do with her. Bluey started to growl at him, getting no reaction. Jean then slowly walked forward, surprising Bluey.
"Bluey.." Jean started, turning to her. "I do not want you to hurt." Hearing him speak english had surprised her further, her mouth now agape. Jean then turned to Kish, giving a small nod before walking forward. Bingo walked up to Bluey and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Come on Bluey.. we should head home. I'm starting to feel… weird," Bingo said, reaching an arm behind her, rubbing behind her shoulder.
"Good idea Bingo.. we can leave this with Kish," Judo said.
"But.. I can't just let him take him away," Bluey's voice was weaker than before.
"Kish knows more about this than any of us. If anything, Jean-Luc would be safer with him." Judo gave Kish a glance. She noticed that his aura had changed, he no longer was quite on edge like before. His fur being cut exposed his actual body shape. Underneath his fur, he was skinny, much more so than any normal teen. "Come on. Let's head back," she turned away and began walking, waving to Bluey and Bingo to follow. Bingo followed slowly, unsure of what to think at the moment. Bluey watched Jean seem to introduce himself to Kish and Monty, who seemed to introduce themselves as well. She was not close enough to hear, and seeing them walk off, she dashed off to catch up to Judo and Bingo.