Lost and Found Round 2 Page 7

“… What the Runes…?”

“…What the… phones?”

The two opponents exclaimed in unison as their eyes adjusted to the gloom.

The room was immense, defying the outer appearance of the hotel. The walls were set wide, wide apart, and stretched away into the distance while the ceiling vaulted high above their heads.

Then there were the shelves, rows and rows of them. And cramming them full was every kind of telephone imaginable:  Antique candlestick phones. Rotary phones. Wall-mount phones. Cordless phones. Car phones. Satellite phones. Hands-free headsets…

And cell phones.

Fizz made a nervous scan of the ones he could see.

Hope mine’s not in here somewhere. … Where’d that bird go? Oh…

The raven was watching them from high above on a shelf. It made a silencing gesture before Fizz could speak.

“Wait for it!”

In the distance, a phone began to ring.

“What’s this?” Allony asked with a frown, “Who’s calling here?"

“That’s your goal,” the raven cackled, “The first one to answer the ringing phone’ll be the winner. But it’s gonna be harder than ya think!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Fizz demanded angrily.

“That’s for you to find out, Barqs,” the raven rolled it eyes, “Have fun! Oh, one more thing,” it added as it sailed out the door, “Try to keep the damage to a minimum. Boss’ll thank ya for that!”

The door slammed shut, leaving them in a darkened gloom. Fizz shivered, noticing for the first time the slight chill to the room.

Well, he mused as he glanced at Allony, who stared silently back at him, this shouldn’t be too hard, since there’s no fighting involved. I can certainly outrun her, her paws look pretty bad.

And at least I have an unarmed opponent this time… Wait, what’s she-?!

Allony had shot past him, swinging her tail at his front leg as she went. Fizz hissed at the unexpected flash of pain as she vanished beyond the first row of shelves. Gasping, he stared at the damage to his leg.

She cut me with her fur? What the hell?!

The wound was deep and bleeding. He ripped the bandage off his older injury and quickly wrapped in around the fresh cut.

Shit, I hope that holds. How did she-? Ah, shit!

He looked up in alarm when the distant phone abruptly fell silent.

Dammit, he swore silently as he set off as fast as he could, she couldn’t have reached it yet!

To his relief, and surprise, he found Allony, nearly tripping over her as he rounded the first set of shelves. She was smack in the middle of the aisle, staring around in confusion and with no telephone in hand. She glared uneasily up at him as he held up his injured leg.

“Cheap shot.” he said quietly, “You’ll have to try harder to beat me.”

Allony’s scowl deepened, and she seemed about to reply, when another phone began to ring, this time from a different direction.

Fizz was the first to react this time. Not about to let her slash him again, he swung and struck at her with his own tail. He sent her tumbling into a heavily laden shelf, and a small cascade of phones came tumbling down on her. Not waiting to see if she was incapacitated (judging from her angry shouts, he doubted it), Fizz raced down the aisle, quickly putting distance between himself and his smaller opponent. Allony cried out again in angry frustration.

Sorry kid, Fizz thought grimly, but I can’t let sympathy get in the way of- What the hell?!

He stopped in irritation as once again the ringing stopped, and yet another phone began to ring.

‘Harder than you think’, that bird said, Fizz fumed, No kidding.

He set off again, though slower this time. His left front leg was beginning to throb.

Can’t keep up all this running. Making my leg worse. Plus my back leg’ll cramp up soon.

…

How many rings before they stop? Eight?

…

There’s another one, now…

Yep. Eight rings.

…

What was that?

Fizz glanced over his shoulder, and sighed. Allony was after him.

Well, she’s certainly got determination.

***

Damn him and his long legs. I should’ve aimed for one of the back ones.

Allony was struggling to keep up, but could barely maintain a fast stumble. She was battered and bruised from Fizz’s unexpected attack. Her shoulder throbbed, her head ached, and her feet were on fire. But no way was she going to give up that easily. No way in Hell.

Cherr. You’re doing this for Cherr. Remember that!

She kept her eyes fixed on that fluffy, striped tail. Every now and then Fizz would frown back at her, and he’d quicken his pace.

No more sneak attacks from you, kiddo, his manner seemed to say, I’m keeping an ear on you.

Screw you, she snarled silently, and your bullshit reasons. I bet you don’t HAVE a reason, other than you’re a selfish bastard covering his ass.

Maybe it was the pain from her injuries, and the ache from her fever that was clouding her judgment. Or maybe in her grief and loss she just wanted someone to lash out at. In any case her anger for this agitating creature was quickly rising beyond reason.

Selfish bastard covering his own ass. That’s all you are.

And you’re not going to beat me.

***