Chapter 2: The truth in your face (you'll get it later)

Rocky woke to find himself face-planted on the grassy floor of the forest. "What happened?" he muttered to himself, drowsily lifting his head from the dirt.

As the course of events slowly began to return to him, Rocky hoped to himself that their pursuers had given up by now. "Hopefully they won't come and try to find us."As he stood up to brush himself off, he felt a sudden wave of anxiety as the gravity of their situation began to catch up to him. "Freckle!" he cried out, vainly hoping that his cousin would answer back.

Stumbling quickly to the car, he whipped the backseat door open. There was Calvin; bruised and bleeding a little bit but seemingly okay. Rocky shook him awake. "Do you feel alright?" He asked his cousin.

As Calvin began to get up, he weakly responded, "I ache everywhere, but I think I'll be ok. Did we get away?".

Rocky evaluated the wreck around them before answering. "The car definitely needs some repairs but it can still work. The other car that was chasing us is gone too and the cargo…oh, man! I forgot to check the cargo!"

Rocky scrambled out of the car to check up on the unsealed case full of bottles that was thrown from the back of the car. He hurriedly opened it up, but sagged when he saw there were only a few left, and even less still in mint condition. "Miss M won't be happy about this."

"So this is all you got?" Mizzi sighed, pausing for a moment of reflection. "What happened, Rocky?" she continued, asking in an accusatory tone.

"Uh, well the guys we robbed came after us… with guns… in another car… I don't think I'm missing anything there. I don't understand why they looked so angry, though." Rocky answered, innocently pondering over the events of the previous night.

Standing next to Rocky, Calvin arched his eyebrow. "Maybe it's the fact that we not only stole from them, but you also blew up their shed as we were about to leave?" Rocky turned to Calvin with a cheeky smile, "That's right! You know, Freckle, you should try becoming a detective!" Rocky said to Calvin, trying to worm his way onto Mizzi's good side. Calvin just frowned back. "ANYWAY…I may have also accidentally ran our car into the woods." Rocky continued, and Mizzi sighed. "Of course you did, honey."

"But it's completely not like it's broken! We used it to get back here after all. And that's the end of it, I guess!" Rocky added confidently, still trying to salvage the mood. Mizzi tried not to look frustrated as she stepped forward from behind her desk, sighing again.

"Listen, honey, I don't want to hurt your feelings, but… we won't last much longer if this continues. We just can't afford to have more of these …accidents… and if things stay like this, soon I'll have to start doing all these jobs myself.". Rocky looked slightly confused, but nodded.

"You both should get some rest. You are dismissed." Mizzi said, ending the conversation. Rocky smiled as he opened the door to leave the meeting room. "Don't worry Miss M! I'm sure the car and everything else will be fine!" He called back and shut the door, still not getting her point.

Turning around, he jumped with surprise as Ivy was standing right in front of him. Rocky quickly looked around to see where his cousin had gone off to, but Calvin was nowhere in sight. Ivy grabbed his wrists tightly, diverting his attention back to her. "We need to talk." She said firmly. Ivy led him to a secret room, secluded from the Lackadaisy speakeasy.

She closed the door behind them and pushed Rocky against the wall, boxing him out from escaping. "Do you have any idea what Mizzi was saying to you in there, Rocky?!" She demanded. "I mean, not really. Perhaps you could give some sort of… translation?" he hesitantly responded with a smile, quickly realizing that was a bad idea.

Angry tears started forming in Ivy's eyes. "Do you have ANY IDEA what Calvin went through to SAVE the likes of you?!" She screamed in his face.

"He could have DIED, Rocky! You want a translation?! I'LL GIVE YOU A TRANSLATION! What Mizzi was saying was that if you keep up what you're doing, she'll have to FIRE you! That's what she meant, Rocky! Do you understand?!".

The sight of the usually friendly young cat now in a shaking, crying mess made Rocky go completely silent. He stayed frozen for a while, simply from shock and realization. "...Well?! DO YOU?!" Ivy yelled again, breaking the silence.

"Yes…yes ma'am." Rocky stuttered softly.

Ivy stepped away and wiped her eyes. "I-I didn't want it to come out that way, but…Rocky, I felt like it was the only way you would understand. You need to be more serious and careful." She paused for a bit again, reflecting further on her outburst. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. Still, although it might've been unnecessary, it was the truth."

Mizzi's voice called from outside the room, cutting through their moment of sincerity. "Ivy? Ivy dear!" Ivy's ears perked up. "I gotta go." Before she closed the door she whispered, "Please don't tell anyone about this." Then she was gone.

Rocky just stood there and stared for a while, until finally shuffling out the room. Exiting the Little Daisy café, he looked down the road to where his car was parked. Walking over to his car and opening the door, he sat in the driver's seat, considering and reconsidering all he had done and all he had heard.

A long, sad sigh gradually escaped him. He just wasn't enough, was he? And even when he thought he did do something right, it would eventually turn out to be a disaster like everything else.

Currently, he felt like there were two sides of him, pulling and tugging on him, threatening to tear him apart. One side crazily laughed it all off, telling him to shrug it off and just play to the tune that's been given to him. The other side, however, told him he should have just quit when he had the chance; that the best way to play this game he was in was to not play at all, just take things seriously for once and move on. Either side tried to convince him, but neither side felt right. It seemed like none of him was right. He wished he could do something right.

Maybe he could somehow make it up to Mizzi, he thought to himself. "Perhaps, if I do that…" he continued to ponder,"...some part of me will eventually be salvaged.".

His eyes steadily began to light up with hope and a plan was starting to form in his head. He started his car. This time, he wouldn't fail.

Mizzi wouldn't fire him and Freckle and Ivy would forgive him. He was so focused on this new plan, that he didn't notice the storm that was brewing outside. Thunder and lighting struck the ground, promising that this might've been the stupidest decision he'd ever made.

Author's note: Yeah, Sorry about the length. Looks like Rocky's up to his Rocky schemes again! Read more to find out what happens!