O.I.S. Beware
O. I. S. Beware!!
It was a beautiful day for doing nothing. Cerebral Fox knew that
all too well as he basked in the hot sun. He lay there, on the grass
not too far from his hut, with his eyes closed and his mind blank.
Suddenly, the voice of his girlfriend, Roxy the Fox, broke the
silence. Cer leaned on his shoulder and watched as Roxy came running
up, calling his name. He sighed at the loss of his rest, but still
got up to greet her with a kiss on the cheek.
"Hey, Rox, what's happening?" he asked calmly.
"Well, Snowy and I were wondering if you would like to give
my cousin Cortex a tour of the isle.." she began, "and maybe
help her find a place to live in??"
"Sure, no prob! It's not like I have anything better to do,
anyways," Cerebral answered, grinning. Roxy thanked him and
hurried off the fetch her cousin. While she was gone, Cerebral began
thinking. He was feeling sorta..... different around Roxy lately. He
didn't feel quite the same emotions as when they first got going
together. He couldn't tell for sure, but he thought Roxy felt the
same way too. He caught a glimpse of movement in front of him, and
looked up to see Cortex approaching, and suppressed his thoughts for
later. He greeted her amicably.
So, Cortex, I hear you're in need of a place to call home."
he said. Cortex nodded. "Well, then, I guess we'd best get
going," Cer prompted, and headed off in one direction, checking
that Cortex followed. Cer let his mind wander, and was soon thinking
of roxy again. Simply put, they were drifting apart as a couple, and
he was sure Rox realized it too. He reasoned that they would probably
beak up within the week. Best to get it over with soon and less
painfully.
"CEREBRAL!!! For the third time, stop!!" Cer broke out
of his train of thought with a start and turned to face an exasperated
Cortex. "Geez, are you always this deaf??"
"Sorry, Cortex, I was thinking about something.. kinda..
serious.. " apologized Cer. "What was it you wanted me to
stop for?"
Cortex pointed. "Over there, Cer! That looks like as good a
place as any!" Cerebral looked over at a huge hollow tree, then
back at his own hut, less than half a mile away.
"Boy, was that ever difficult..." Cerebral mumbled,
sarcastically. "Well, it definitely needs some work, but it'll
be easier than building a house from scratch. I'll run and get my
tools from the hut!" he called as he dashed back. When he
returned, Utah was tagging along.
"I presumed that I could be of some assistance," Utah
explained. When he saw the looks on the faces of Cerebral and Cortex,
he explained, "I was flipping through a dictionary, OK?"
They were even more astonished. "OK, ok, I thought it was Cer's
cookbook, happy??"
"For a minute there, I thought that Utah was actually
learning.. " muttered Cer, but he shook it off. "ALL RIGHT,
PEOPLE! Let's get to work!" Cortex sat back at the two began to
work. It was exhausting work for the two furries, and by then end of
the day they had managed to clean out the inside of the tree and make
openings for a door and two windows. Cortex thanked them for their
help, and went back the Sparx's hut for the night. Cer and Utah, in
turn, returned to their hut and rested up for the work to come the
next day. Just before Cerebral went to sleep, he began thinking of
Roxy again. "Tomorrow's the day," he thought to himself.
"Tomorrow, I'll officially be single again... "
The next day, as predicted, Cerebral and Roxy broke up. Neither
were heartbroken, although both were a little depressed that it hadn't
worked out. They managed to keep their friendship, though, and
Cerebral felt lucky for that. The other members of the IFF were not
extremely surprised about the breakup, either. They seemed to sense
the gap that had formed between Cer and Rox too. Serious matters of
the day done, the entire IFF went over to the hollow tree, which
Cortex had named Blade Oak Tree, to help with the building. They had
assembled the lumber needed, and began construction. Cerebral acted
as foreman, working and supervising. Cortex watched as they worked and
told Cerebral how she wanted her house to look, so he could tell
everyone else.
About 3 days into the work, something strange happened. During
work, a small fox, walking on all fours, appeared and walked up to
Cortex. She looked at it and gasped.
"JOEY!" she cried in joy. Everyone stopped work to look
at Cortex and her new little 'pal'. She looked up, and explained.
"Well, erm... Joey is just a.... friend... from a long time ago.
We were really close, but we were separated. He doesn't talk,
though." The group took that as an explanation, and greeted
their newfound friend. They soon resumed work, as they knew they had
to finish soon.
The work took another week to finish, and the last couple of days,
only Cerebral, Utah, and Snowy were allowed to enter because of the
fumes from painting and other touch-up jobs being done. Finally,
though, Cortex was allowed to enter her new house, and approved what
she saw. Cer, Utah, and Snowy went over to Sparx's hut to pick up
Cortex's belongings, and when they returned, Cortex was fast asleep,
lying in the sun on the grass, with Joey also snoozing beside her.
Cerebral smiled as he recalled how he had been relaxing just like that
one week earlier, just before this building had begun. He knelt down
and shook Cortex softly. She stirred, blinked a couple of times, then
looked up at Cer who was smiling over her. She blushed.
"Oh.... I must have drifted off... " she muttered,
embarrassed.
"Hey, it's no problem, Cortex!" Cerebral reassured her.
"I can understand how tempting it is to sleep on a day like this,
" Cer added, a little wistfully.
"Yeah.... " Cortex smiled, and got up. She looked over
at Joey, and woke him up too. "You've got my stuff?"
"Yup... just tell us where ya wannit!" Cerebral replied
cheerfully. Suddenly, Cer felt that he knew exactly where she wanted
the stuff, without her telling him, and by the looks on Utah's and
Snowy's faces, he figured they did too. So, without a word, the three
went inside with Cortex's stuff and began unpacking, putting
everything where they thought that Cortex would want it. When they
were finished, Cerebral pulled Cortex aside, and Joey followed.
"OK, exactly how did we all know exactly where you wanted
this stuff, anyways?" Cerebral asked. Cortex just tapped her
forehead. "Telepathic abilities." Cerebral heard inside his
head, and Cortex smiled. "So, that's it, huh? Cool! We both
have powers of the mind and such!" Then he heard Utah calling.
"Come on, Cer! Snowy's already left for supper, and I'm
starving!!" he beckoned. Cerebral turned to go, but Cortex
pulled him back and kissed him on the cheek. Cerebral looked stunned.
"That's for helping with the house," Cortex whispered,
and walked inside Blade Oak Tree. Cerebral smiled, slightly, rubbed
his cheek, and started back off toward his hut to think.
During the next couple of months, there was an unusual lull in the
action that the IFF normally faced. Sparx began noticing that
Cerebral and Cortex had similar interests, and they always seemed to
have a good time when they were together. She decided that it would
be her 'job' to get these two together, and with a little prodding,
she got Ace to help out too. Ace and Sparx sat up one night, and
contrived a plan to get Cerebral and Cortex together, alone, in a
romantic setting.
A week later, Ace magically appeared in front of Blade Oak Tree,
and knocked on the door.
"One minute!" a familiar voice from inside called. Then
he heard a large thump and Cortex's voice yelled out,
"OUCH!" A second later, Cortex, blushing, opened the door,
rubbing her knee. "I just bumped it on the chair," she
explained.
"I just found something I want you to see!" Ace said, a
hint of anticipation on his voice. "I'll teleport us there!"
"OK, just a second, I'll see if Joey will stay put."
Cortex disappeared inside her house for a second, then came back out
and closed the door behind her. "All right, I'm ready!" One
second later, Cortex was no longer standing in front of her house, but
instead she found herself on top of a roof building. There were four
lounge chairs in the middle of the roof, and one of them was occupied
by Sparx.
"Just sit down in that chair there," instructed Ace,
pointing to one of the outside chairs, "and I'll be right
back." With that, he disappeared again.
"Char, char!!"
"Pi, Pikachu!"
Charmander and Pikachu were happily munching on some food that
Cerebral had brought outside.
"I wonder why Sparx wanted me to look after her Pikachu
tonight... " mused Cer as he fed his pokémon a little more.
Suddenly, Ace appeared out of nowhere with a large cracking sound.
"CHAR!" A large blast of flame shot at Ace from a
startled Charmander. The blast whips by Ace's head, just missing him
by half an inch.
"WOAH!" Ace cried, ducking. Then he smiled. "I
guess I deserved that. Hey, Cer, I got something I wanna show
ya!"
"Can't go, Ace. Gotta watch after Sparx's Pikachu."
Cerebral replied.
"She's already there! Just bring it to her!" Ace
informed Cer.
"OK, fine then! Charmander, Pikachu, RETURN!" The two
pokémon beamed back into their respective pokéballs. Ace grabbed
Cer's shoulder and suddenly, they were gone.
On the roof, Sparx and Cortex were engaged in some small talk,
waiting for Ace to return. Suddenly, a large cloud of smoke rose from
the rooftop. Then they heard a confident voice. "I am the
terror..." There was a loud WHACK heard, and a thump as something
hit the roof. When the smoke cleared, she saw Cerebral standing over
Ace, with his fist extended, and Ace rubbing his jaw.
"Stop it with that stupid routine!" Cerebral cautioned.
Then he looked over at Sparx and Cortex in the lounge chairs and
asked, "What is this anyways?" Ace grabbed Cerebral's arm
and sat him down in the lounge chair beside Cortex. Then Sparx stood
up and moved beside Ace.
"Well, Sparx thinks.." Ace started, but was interrupted
by Sparx's elbow in his side. "Err... We think that you and
Cortex would make..... erm..... "
"You would make a good couple," Sparx finished for Ace,
who was obviously uneasy about setting them up. Cortex stared at
Sparx, then Ace, then looked in Cerebral's direction, to find he was
already looking at her, with a quizzical expression on his face.
"Hey, I had nothing to do with this!" Cortex said.
"It was just me and Ace... but mostly me," Sparx cleared
it up. "You two just.. seem to have so much in common..."
Cerebral was still looking at Cortex, and when she turned to look at
him again, he stared right into her eyes. Cortex saw what Sparx and
Ace were talking about. She really enjoyed spending time with Cer,
but she just hadn't realized it until now.
Cerebral leaned over and whispered into her ear, "So, how
about it? Wanna go out to dinner sometime or something??"
Cortex just looked at him and smiled. Cerebral heard a Yes inside
his head, and recognized it as Cortex's telepathic 'voice'. He
grinned. Sparx, noticing how things were going smoothly, motioned for
Ace to teleport them away. He was just about to leave Cer and Cortex
alone, when Cortex called both Ace and Sparx over.
"There's something I have to tell you, all, about my past...
" she started, somewhat uncomfortably. "You see, I've
been... no, that's not it." she took a moment to think of how to
word what she was about to say. "I was a member of the
Organization of Intel.." Suddenly, screams broke out from the
street below.
Sparx, Ace and Cerebral rushed to the edge, but they couldn't see
anything below, as they were 30 stories up and a thin fog had rolled
up. Ace turned around and saw Cortex, still standing back from the
edge, concentrating -- hard.
"People are being attacked, but the attacker's mind is
clouded.... let me..." she spoke as if in a trance.
"THERE!" she cried triumphantly, "Something, or
someone, named K'Yan weh is attacking. Since that mind was clouded, I
had to pull the name from one of the bystanders, but,... " she
stopped short noticing the look on everyone else's faces. Sparx and
Cerebral looked at each other, and as if by some unspoken agreement,
leapt of the roof at the same time.
"Nooo!!!" Cortex ran to towards the edge of the rooftop
and was about to jump off when Ace grabbed her arm and pulled her
back. Cortex looked at Ace with a look of fear and surprise on her
face to see that he was simply grinning. "What's with you,
Ace?" she demanded.
"You don't know the full extent of their abilities, do
you?" Ace asked.
"Well... no, I haven't checked.." she replied.
Ace grinned again and teleported them both to a nearby alley.
"Let's just wait here, and watch to see if they need
backup."
