| The Buzzby Adventures |
| II |
| About a week later, VCMC met again to discuss Paula's continued teaching and why Pseudointelligencia failed as well as what happened to the snake. They thought that Paula might have somehow ambushed him, so this time they decided to wait until she was at work. Since she would not be home, their leader decided to go in himself--he figured that way he'd look good without risking much. So VCMC's leader, Tush Himhaw, prepared to go into Paula's house to check things out. He easily picked the lock in the side door, unconcerned about what he'd find inside. You see, like all VCMC's members, he too had a special power: he could talk through his butt, immediately choking any man or beast with the deadly fumes accompanying his butt outbursts. As he snuck inside, Buddy immediately started barking, having awakened from his nap. Baby and Breezy also alerted, but Tush turned and started spewing his smelly butt rhetoric. The horrible smell started to choke the three heroes, making Tush even more blustery and confident. Almost immediately, the choking sensation caused fear to engulf Buddy. His heart raced, he tucked his tiny tail nub, and scrunched his body up tightly. Suddenly Tush's eyes grew wide and he grasped his chest before going down on his hands and knees. "Oh my goodness!" Tush gasped, "everything's so scary! I can't take it!" With that, Tush jumped up, ran out the door, slammed it to, ran to his car, then tore off never to be heard from again. "What in Lassie's name just happened?" Buddy asked, completely confused by the abrupt departure. "I suppose we just learned what power you have dear Buddy," Baby started, "You are able to make the object of your fear feel that very fear. And knowing how intensely you experience fear, it's overwhelming to your average creature...especially one that is already cowardly." "Whoa, Buds, dat's quite da powa! I wish I'da had dat one!" Breezy chimed in. "So how do I control it? Obviously I wouldn't want to use it on mom or you guys!" Buddy whined. "Buddy, we've scared you plenty of times and we didn't have any fear, so you must intuitively know how to control it. So there's nothing to worry about," Baby reassured. "Whew, so I guess it is a pretty awesome power!" Buddy barked proudly, running around and jumping with joy. "Ya can say dat again! Now let's all go back ta sleep 'til ma gets home. Dis is my down time we're eatin' in ta here!" Breezy added. Then they all went to sleep until Paula got home. The next day, after Paula left, Baby called for a meeting between the three heroes. "Look," she started, "this is obviously going to be a continuing problem. Someone is trying to do something to our mom. We're going to have to keep on our toes and try to figure out what's going on." "Why would anyone want to hurt mom? She's the best!" Buddy opined. "Hey, don't you guys wonder how you can talk to each other?," a strange voice asked. Baby, Breezy, and Buddy all froze, looking around for any clues as to who could be talking to them. "Alright, I won't keep you in suspense. Believe it or not, we fish make it possible. You see, the Rasboras have a community mind that forms great telepathic power and I am able to focus it into its useable form. I've used it to act as a sort-of 'universal translator' between animal species. I'm Grover, a Betta, and they're the Figmen; at least that's the name Paula gave us." "What da heck? Talkin' fish? Now I've hearda everything!" Breezy blurted out. "Actually, we're not 'talking' in the truest sense. Other than Buddy's obvious barking and whining, it's all done telepathically. 'Whispers' or 'screams' are just a matter of how intensely the message is meant. Anyway, it doesn't really matter how it's done because I'm not really sure I even understand the whole process, but what does matter is that we may be able to someday contact animals outside. That means they may be able to warn us of upcoming attacks or even find out why these people are trying to hurt Paula. Maybe we could even get an intruder to 'open up' with the right persuasion! We just wanted you to know that, in our own little way, we are helping and will continue to help. Whoever's out to get Paula will have lots to worry about!" Grover finished. "Well, I had wondered how we communicated," Baby started, "and it's good to know that we have more help than we would've even guessed. But whatever happens, we have to protect mom. Not just from the intruders, but also from knowledge of our battle against them. We need to keep her physically and psychologically as healthy as possible and if she knew about our powers or battles, that could push her over the edge." "OK," Buddy consented, "we'll keep her physically healthy by whipping any intruder's butt and psychologically happy by keeping her in the dark about it!" "Yeah, OK Babes, you know I got her back!" Breezy agreed. "So fish...uh, Grover and the Figmen, keep working on getting in touch with outside animals and we'll just stay on our toes, OK?" Baby asked. "No problem," Grover ended. |