Old Friend:
(I haven't given enough time to spend with Marshall & Zeke. I originally intended for those two to be more best friends, but I think Akio worked way better as Zeke's best friend. Meanwhile, I wanted to write this for a while but I always wanted to wait and I guess I waited too long, so let's get into it!)
"Spring Break is here, baby!" Zeke shouted, a cocky smirk on his face as he opened the door to his house. Marshall looked at him strangely, "Who are you talking to? You weren't looking at me when you said that." Marshall said.
"I gotta commemorate my first real Spring Break, somehow, right?" Zeke asked, confidently. Marshall had smirked and sighed, "Fine, fine. Whatever happens, I'll pretend I don't know you then." Marshall said, "Oh, well that's just mean." Zeke said, still smiling.
"Anyways, Uncle Lou gets to watch me after Mom heads to work! Y'know what that means, right, Marshall?" Zeke asked. "Oh no…keep me out of it." Marshall realized what was going down next. Diane had heard a knock at the door, "That must be him." She said. "Already? We're barely sitting down." Marshall said.
"Hi, Diane!" Shark said, "Hey, Shark. Thanks for coming." Diane said, letting him in.
Shark had saw the boys on the couch.
"Hey, buddy! Oh Mar, how've you been, kiddo?" Shark asked. "Been good, Mr. Shark." Marshall said, adjusting his glasses.
"Uncle Lou!" Zeke said, running up and hugging him. "Hahaha! How was school?" Shark said.
"I got an A in spelling! English sucks! I got a D…"Zeke said. "Wait, your school's doing their report cards already?" Marshall asked.
"They wanted to do it before Spring Break! They're doing too much, choosing today to show it." Zeke said, realizing Mom's not gonna like that he got a D on his report card. "Yeah, haven't got mine yet."
"Come on, you know ya wanna try on some cool clothes! As a good artist, I have to express my favorite colors and exemplify my style!" Zeke said, pointing at Marshall.
"Yeah, good luck with that, Zeke. My uncle says that black clothing absorbs more sunlight." Marshall said, fixing his backpack.
"…I will pack water on me!" Zeke said, making sure to keep a water on him.
Marshall just chuckled, "Okay, what are we doing? No catwalks or fashion shows, please?" Marshall said.
"Okay, yeah! We do selfies!" Zeke said.
(MMMMMMMONTAGE!)
"Now here we have Zeke Wolf Foxington! He seems to be using some sorta interpretative approach his fashion." Shark said, in a British spectator voice.
Zeke was wearing an inner tube over his torso, with a bunch of random sorted clothes. He had mismatched shoes, and lightning bolt shaped sunglasses.
"Coming up next is Marshall Roquette, wearing a trailblazing steampunk top hat. His uncaring nature makes the posing all the more impressive!" Marshall had walked, without posing.
"All right, Uncle Lou, your turn!" Zeke said.
Shark winked and gestured for the boys to take over. "Arright, ladies and gents. We got an unmatched one 'ere. This chap was originally an underdog of a spoon. Now he's a fashion icon!" Zeke said, in a horribly inaccurate British accent.
"Why are you guys doing accents?" Marshall just sighed, but he continued with. "It's Mr. Shark." Marshall looked on, just hoping whatever Shark had put on was normal.
Shark wore something similar to Zeke, "Ooh, I like it. It's brave and rebellious!" Zeke said, dropping his accent to speak normally. Marshall couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, you WOULD like it." Marshall said, Shark just laughed along with the boys.
"It's not MY fault I know my style." Zeke said, sarcastically. Shark just laughed, "You boys don't even have fangs and you're trying to make 'em come out!" He said.
"That's just how we talk, Uncle Lou!" Zeke said, "Gee, I thought you talk through spouting random stuff." Marshall said, still acting snippy.
Zeke still smiled, "See? He totally gets me!" The rabbit said in response.
(Later)
"I bring the pain like rrra-ta-ta-ta! Rrra-ta-ta-ta!" Zeke said, in the zone of singing his song that he didn't realize the ball was coming right at him. "Zeke! You okay?" Marshall asked, "S-Sorry…" he apologized.
"I'm goods, g." Zeke held a thumbs up in the air. "You gotta pay attention, buddy!" Shark said, helping his nephew up. "Yeah, no worries."
"K-pop is a strength AND weakness for you, dude." Marshall said. "Yeah, even Dad can get weirded out by my favorite genres." Zeke said.
"Marshall? Marshall Roquette?" A familiar voice called out to him.
"Zee!" A familiar voice called out to the blue rabbit. "Oh, hi Jack! Enjoying Spring Break?" Zeke asked. "Who's your friend?" He looked at the other kid. It was a Dalmatian boy with some designer clothes.
"Carlos." Marshall folded his arms. "Wait, Marshall, you know him?" Zeke and Jack asked him.
"We…used to be friends." Marshall said, adjusting his glasses. "Whaddya mean "used to"? And since when do you were those glasses again?" Carlos asked him.
"I dunno, since I NEED them?" Marshall said. Zeke looked into his friend's eyes. That anger was familiar. A lot like when he and Marshall were bunk mates in juvie.
Zeke put it together, this was the friend who used Marshall. The bad influence from before he was arrested.
"Hold it, you two were on the news!" Carlos said, looking at Zeke and Shark, "You're both part of that Bad Guys gang."
"Y-Yes…" the two of them said sheepishly.
"Marshall, why are you hanging out with some criminals?" Carlos asked. "I used to be friends with a troublemaker, right?" Marshall refuted with a question.
"Carlos isn't a troublemaker, r-right?" Jack asked. "Of course not. Jack, you know me." Carlos insisted.
"S-Sorry." Jack apologized.
"Don't let him fool you. He used to say that to me, too." Marshall told the other dog. "But—"
"Look, I haven't seen you in years. You DON'T know me." Carlos said, "Oh, I sincerely hope you—
"Marshall. Take a minute to breathe." Shark said, "No! Mr. Shark, you don't understand—"
"I may not, but I don't want you to cause problems for yourself, okay?" Shark insisted to the young ferret, placing his fin on his head.
Marshall pushed his fin off and looked at Carlos again. He then looked at Jack. "Watch your back, kid." Marshall warned him.
Jack looked sheepish at the ferret, "O-Okay."
"Wha—Jacky, don't take his side over mine. You've known me longer than this criminal, haven't you?" Carlos said.
Marshall had clenched his fist, "I was a criminal because I listened to YOU!" Marshall shouted at him. "You told me to steal that toy! YOU ran from the cops!" Marshall shouted.
Shark placed his fins on Marshall's shoulders."Hey hey hey! Calm down, kiddo." Shark said, gently. Zeke glared at Carlos, "We may have been branded criminals, Carlos, but we're out of juvie on our good behavior. Judge us for where we were all you want."
"Oh gee, like I needed an invitation."
"Hold it, g. I wasn't finished yet! You can judge us all you want because of where we WERE in life, but you've got no room to judge for how we are now." Zeke said, Jack could see it in Zeke's eyes. Carlos just rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. I don't talk to crooks or loser friends anyways. Come on, Jack." Carlos said.
Jack looked at him, "Zeke's my friend, too, Carlos. He's not a crook! He's nice and he cares about us." Jack said, walking to Zeke's side.
Carlos was shocked, "Wha—Jack! Get over here, now!" Carlos shouted it.
"Kiddo, I'm not gonna let you talk to my nephew and his friends in such a way. Where's your momma so I can talk to her?" Shark asked.
"You can shove it, fish head! Fine! Be that way. You can do whatever, Jack, I don't care." Carlos shouted at the adult and walked away.
Zeke looked at Jack, "Should we call your mom?" Zeke asked. "Yeah, please?" Jack asked.
(At home)
Marshall had never left Shark's side when they went to the Governor's place. Zeke went to go get his cat, but then Shark had gotten up.
"Uh…M-Mr. Shark?" Marshall asked.
"Hm? What's up, Mar?" Shark asked, "Thanks for…holding me back from doing something I woulda regretted." Marshall said.
"It was nothing, kiddo. I know what it's like to be angry, sometimes." Shark said, Marshall couldn't put his finger on it, but Mr. Shark began to remind him of someone.
"Don't feel too bad, okay? All of us have someone we feel like we can't forgive." Shark explained.
"It's important that you do, though, Mar." Shark explained. Marshall snickered, "Someone's been to church."
Shark just smiled, "What gave it away." He laughed.
"Okay, I got Shermy to come, wanna play with him, Marshall?" Zeke asked, watching as the kitten had been following a toy feather. Marshall smiled and put his glass back up. "Sure." Marshall was happy again. Realizing his life had changed ever since he met Zeke. Zeke was a friend to him in a place where he COULDN'T connect. If that wasn't proof God exists to him, he didn't know what was.
Marshall got up and grabbed the cat toy from Zeke. "Hey, Zeke?" Marshall asked.
"I…never thanked you for being there for me. So…thank you." Marshall said. Zeke just smiled, "No need for thanks, g. I'm just glad we're friends." He said.
(Okay, we're done! I hope u guys enjoyed this! I seriously need to get to work on that Mochi Mayhem rewrite and other things! I hope u guys will bear with me! I've got a Poke-City chapter in the works for Easter, as a post Easter present, but…I'm not sure if anyone would like it, since it's sorta about divorce and I don't wanna offend or upset anyone. Anyways, that's all for now. Stay strong and awesome!)
James 4:7 KJV:
Submit yourselves therefore unto God, resist the devil and he will flee from you.
