//------------------------------// // Decisions // Story: Dan & Pinkie VS. // by Morex25 //------------------------------// Dan & Pinkie VS Chapter 9 – Fluttershy’s decision. “It’s Chris” confessed a very red faced Fluttershy. “Oh my Gosh! That’s great, Fluttershy!” Pinkie replied instantly. “I’m so happy for you!” “Pinkie! Don’t you see the problem?” Fluttershy interrupted what could’ve been ten minutes of congratulations. “…”blink “…”blink “…”blink “Pinkie Pie?” the still red faced girl asked her silent friend. Her silence was making her uncomfortable. “Ooohhh! I see the problem now!” “I know!” Fluttershy turned around and covered her eyes with her hands. “He’s a married man, and Elise just became my friend, I’m the worst kind of person!” “That’s not true!” Pinkie rebutted. “You can’t decide who you feel attracted to! And that can never be wrong!” Unless you’re talking about sexual predators who chat with underage girls and boys over the internet; because that is wrong. But here wasn’t the time or the place to talk about that. “Tell me…why do you like Chris?” Maybe if she knew exactly why her friend feels that way, she could provide help. “Well…it’s because he is so nice not only to me but with everyone, and he cares about the environment, he has a big heart.” As Fluttershy turned around explain herself, Pinkie just nodded at everything she said. “He knows a lot about gardening, he knows how to cook and I don’t mind he eats meat” “That’s so cool of you!” It was surprising how understanding Fluttershy was, others with the same preference as her wouldn’t be as kind as her. “Thanks…” Fluttershy replied blushing at the compliment, “Also his smile is so nice, it makes me feel warm inside…” Fluttershy admitted a little flustered. “And his bright blue aura is so warm and inviting. When I fell into his arms it felt like an electric shock. Except that instead of hurting it fell…good” his aura was a whole lot alluring. Unlike Dan’s deep and muddied red aura, which made her feel uneasy. “I…may understand what you mean.” At her friend description, Pinkie couldn’t help but think back at the deserted island, or more specifically, Dan’s touch and bite. It felt so good she thought she was going to lose her mind. Pinkie turned even redder than Fluttershy. “It’s all so confusing!” continued Fluttershy, not paying attention to her friend’s red face. “Feeling this for a man, I can never be with…” if only he wasn’t married… “Well, I can’t say I know exactly how you feel…” said Pinkie, “are you sure you like-like him? Maybe what you feel is a crush, and eventually will go away! Like Rarity with that Prince guy.” That guy may be handsome but his personality leave a lot to be desired. Also what kind of name is ‘Prince’ anyway? “Maybe you’re right…” the small girl agreed still feeling a little unsure “maybe it’s just a small, insignificant crush” yes, sooner or later it would go away and become a thing of a past, probably. “Feeling better, now?” asked Pinkie, noticing that Fluttershy looked less tense.”If not, I could give you a backrub like you taught me to!” “That won’t be necessary, Pinkie” she refused but the offer make her smile a little, “I think I fell well now!” It was true, she didn’t feel as guilty about liking Chris, and the idea that the crush would pass away, comforted her a little bit. “I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Pinkie proud herself for her ability to help and cheer people up when they needed it, so failing to do so with Fluttershy when she needed her would make her was unthinkable for her. “Now, let’s go, I’m sure the boys are waiting for us!” She took a small hand from her friend with her own and tried to drag her with her. “If you don’t mind, I would like to use the bathroom first.” With all the commotion she forgot she wanted to go. “Could you wait for me outside?” “Sure! Maybe I shall go to the store and buy more energy drinks!” That statement made Fluttershy shudder, Pinkie on caffeine was a sight she didn’t want to behold. “What about some, nice, cold, bottle of water?” Fluttershy suggested “you know that energy drinks are bad for your health” and everybody else’s if she were to drink some. “Awww, Fluttershy! You’re always looking after me! That’s so nice of you!” After a small hug, Pinkie went outside leaving Fluttershy alone. Or that’s what they thought. “You could be wrong,” A voice came from one of the other stalls, surprising the heck out of the timid girl. “That ‘crush’ of yours may not go away, you know!” the voice said before a blond woman came out of the stall she was in. “It may grow and intensify to a point in which you will be consumed by it and lose your mind” “W..w..who are y..you?” Fluttershy stuttered in surprise and embarrassment. The woman in front of her was really physically intimidating, but her aura was very strange and mudded and that put the small girl in edge. “I go by many names, but you may call me Cat” The woman now known as Cat said with a grin in her face. Cat was a woman of slender figure, but not small like Fluttershy, and she had a more ‘developed’ body too, emphasized by the skimpy and revealing white dress she wore. “B..but what can I do?” Fluttershy asked the blond woman, ignoring that she intruded in a private conversation. “I can’t act upon my feelings, he’s married!” “You could always try and steal that guy away, you know!”The blond woman suggested without hesitation. “That’s what I would do if I was into a guy who’s in a relationship!” ““B…but.. I can’t do that to Elise, we just became friends.” Fluttershy said appalled that Cat would’ve suggest her to do something like that. “I don’t want to hurt her.” Cat bought her right index finger to her face and began tapping her chin as a sign of deep thought. “Hmm…” she hummed for a few second until she snapped her fingers, “You could get him drunk and sleep with him, and both can blame it on the alcohol, and then pretend it never happened!” She said without a hint of shame on her voice, in fact she giggled at the ingenuity of her plan. “I…I…” Fluttershy had lost her words, what the woman was suggesting was vile and irresponsible, not to mention it misinterpreted the crush she had on Chris as mere lust and desire. And even though Fluttershy thought her plan was disgusting, she couldn’t stop herself from imagining it. “Or just drunk kiss him or whatever!” added the woman rolling her eyes at the small girl in front of him. Really, this girl was such a prune, worse than a nun. “Just think about it, better to do something and ask for forgiveness than doing nothing and live in regret wondering what it could’ve been” and with that last two cents from her part, Cat walked out of the bathroom never to be seen again. Until she reappeared and tormented a poor man named Vincent who had commitment issues. But that is a whole other story... - After a few minutes after Cat left, Fluttershy finally walked back to the car where Pinkie and Chris were waiting. “Sorry, for keeping you waiting” Fluttershy apologized; her talk with Cat took longer that she had initially thought. “Don’t worry Fluttershy! We didn’t wait too long!” Pinkie replied making the worried girl relax a bit. “Now let’s go and find Barry Ditmer!” She pumped her arm up into the air. Chris chuckled at Pinkie enthusiasm, that kind of attitude was rare in trips like this. Then he noticed that Fluttershy was avoiding seeing towards his direction and looking like she was uncomfortable. Did he did or said something that troubled her? If he did, he wanted to know so he could apologized or make it up to her. “Hey, Fluttershy!” he called and the girl shrink away for a second only to compose herself the moment after. Was he really that intimidating for her? “Look! I got some healthy snacks for the trip,” He took out a paper bag from the car and showed her some different kinds of bags and packs from inside of it “I noticed you didn’t really take any of what Pinkie brought with her, so I figured you must be hungry.” At that exact moment, Fluttershy stomach decided to grow loudly for everyone to hear making her feel more flustered. She didn’t say anything, she couldn’t; she was too embarrassed to be able to form correct sentences. Chris, seeing the distressed state of the girl in front of him, didn’t acknowledged the sound of her stomach, the poor girl was feeling very self-conscious. “Fluttershy, I got something else for you.” Hurriedly he searched inside his pocket and took out something. “I hope you like it!” He extended his arm to her and opened his palm to reveal a small plush panda keychain. “I know you like animals so I got for you” He really hopped this small gift would cheer her up a bit from whatever happened with her, and maybe make her less anxious by him. At the sight of the small plush panda Fluttershy’s eyes sparkled with emotion, she was a fan of all things cute. In a blink of an eye she took the plushy out of Chris’ hand and gave him a hug in appreciation. After a few seconds, she realized the position she was in and just as fast as she hugged him she back away face full of red. “Uhm…Thank you!” she said. “I take you like it.” Chris said with a silly smile on his face that made Fluttershy melt a little inside. Act that went unnoticed by Chris but not Pinkie, she saw it clear as day. Pinkie was torn about the scene; in one hand she found the scene that just happened really cute; on the other hand this complicated matters. If Chris keeps acting like the good guy he is, it would make Fluttershy’s crush on him harder for her to forget. Pinkie needed to do something, but at the same time she wasn’t sure if intervening was a good idea. She wanted to help her friend but she had no idea how. Maybe Dan would’ve a better… “Guys? Where’s Dan? She asked both of them slightly worried; she hadn’t seen Dan for a while. Both Chris and Fluttershy shook their heads side to side, they too weren’t sure were Dan was. “The last time we saw him, he was running away acting all crazy. I thought he would’ve returned by now!” recounted Chris to a worried-looking Pinkie. Dan never bailed in his own revenge schemes. “We should look for him!” shouted Pinkie, “He should be around here, somewhere.” After that, they all look around the gas station, in search for their missing friend. They searched around for 15 minutes but they couldn’t find him, there was no sign of him. That is until Fluttershy found something. “Guys, look!” She pointed out to the ground or more precisely a foot print left by a shoe. “That looks like Dan’s shoe!” Pinkie said; she was familiar with the imprint that his shoes made because when they were both trapped in the deserted island; Dan never took out his shoes and always left his footprint in the wet sand. “It looks like he ran into the woods” Chris said a little unnerved. Dan was probably lost inside the woods, and it was already dark outside. A lot of things could’ve happened to him, or worse a lot of thing could happen to them when they inevitably look for him in the dark. “What shall we do?” Fluttershy asked a little scared. She may love nature and all the critters that lived in the woods, but she was still sacred of walking in the woods when it was almost pitch dark if it weren’t for the moon above them. “We go in and look for Dan!” Pinkie said determined. She wasn’t scared of the dark, but she was worried of the things it could’ve happen to Dan. “Fluttershy, you have experience tracking, right?” The smaller girl nodded as an answer. When she was little she would often go to the woods and spend time with the little critter that inhabited the forest area back home. She grew up knowing how to navigate the forest and track down injured animals that needed help. All those skills would later prove invaluable when she and her eco-friends camped in the woods and prevented unregulated hunting. “Good, you would be in front of the line.” The party planner dictated like a squad leader giving orders to her troops, “Chris! Since you are the…strongest…” She wanted to say the biggest and heaviest but she didn’t want to sound rude, “You should cover us from behind in the rear end, leaving me in the center to coordinate our movements.” Chris also nodded in acceptance, he wasn’t familiar with search party’s formations of any kind, but Pinkie sounded like she knew what she was doing. “Search Party! Roll out!” - Time passed. It could’ve been hours, could’ve been just minutes, but for the three people walking around the woods, time couldn’t be timed. There were only shadows and the only source of light was the moonlight but this was obscured by the tree surrounding the trio. “Pinkie, I think we should stop and go back to the car, maybe inform the authorities that Dan has gone missing” suggested the tracker of the team, whose legs were hurting by the uneven path they have taken. At first the trek was fine but the deeper they went the darker it got and they all stumbled a few times. Also the clues of Dan’s path was more and more difficult to follow. “Fluttershy’s right, We been here for god knows how long, if we continue like this we will be the ones who end up lost with no way back.” Chris agreed with Fluttershy, they had to retreat for now and get help from the police. Pinkie then stopped and stood still like a statue. Her gaze was fixed in front of her directly at the tree line, pondering thousands upon thousands of courses of action. Chris and Fluttershy just looked at their leader patiently waiting for her orders. Pinkie wanted to continue, Dan could be in trouble and in need to be saved, but she couldn’t risk the lives of her friends in a blind chase. Still, if they retreated and come back later, it could be too late by then. So there was one option left. “I’ll continue alone. You guys stay here and make fire, the light shall be a beacon to show me the way back here, if I don’t return in one hour, go back to the car and call the police.” And with that last order, Pinkie continued the search leaving Chris and Fluttershy alone. “We better collect dry wood and some rocks to start the fire” Chris said with a sigh, he didn’t like the idea of Pinkie going alone, but she had proven to be very capable before, so he shouldn’t worry too much, and speaking of worrying… ”Here, let’s hold hands” he offered his appendage to his smaller companion. “W..what?” The small girl replied with a slight stutter. “Let’s hold hands until we have fire, I wouldn’t like it if we were to separate and get lost.” He explained, Chris only hoped that Fluttershy was comfortable enough with him to hold hands. Fluttershy hesitated for a few seconds until she concede to hold Chris’s hand. She told herself that she was only doing it because they could get lost in the darkness and not because she wanted to feel his warm touch. Once Fluttershy took his hand, he smiled reassuringly at her, “Don’t worry I’ll not let go of you.” Fluttershy blushed at the unintentional implication of Chris’ words. For once she was glad for the darkness obscuring her red face. “Th-thank you.” She whispered but the woods were quiet enough and Chris could hear her words. “Come on, let’s start the fire.” - Pinkie didn’t know how much time had passed after she separated from Chris and Fluttershy and went ahead on her own, but if she had to guess, she would say something around 35 to 40 minutes. She was running out of time, she needed to find Dan before Chris and Fluttershy leave the woods. Then she stopped herself dead in her tracks. She had completely forgotten about Fluttershy’s situation and now she left her alone with Chris. Being alone with her crush in a moment of tension providing support for each other was a sure way to reinforce her feelings for him. She slipped up, and now Fluttershy was surely crushing way harder! Pinkie was torn between looking for Dan and preventing her friend from suffering a bigger heartache. She only hoped Fluttershy remembered their talk and avoided having more intimate “moments” with Chris. - In that exact moment, not so far away. Chris and Fluttershy were seated near the fire; they were spending time talking about their lives and past experiences, while they waited for Pinkie Pie to return. Fluttershy told him about her friends, some who he recognized by Pinkie’s stories and some of her experiences as an environmentalist, the places she saw and the animals she had interacted with. Chris on the other hand, told him about his hobbies and misadventures with Dan, which collaborated how crazy and dangerous Pinkie made them sound like. Chris was in the middle of a story about his great, great grandfather from Canada, when he noticed Fluttershy tremble with cold despite the fact they were sitting near the bonfire. “Are you cold?” asked Chris, knowing already the answer to his question but it was the polite thing to do. Turning her head from side to side, “No…don’t worry about me.” She said bringing her arm around her to try and drive the cold away. Chris, not really believing her, stood up from his side of the fire and sat right besides her. “C..Chris? wha…?” She began but she lost her voice halfway when Chris put her arm over her shoulder. This sudden contact and the warmth it brought made her melt inside. “There, now you won’t be so cold anymore.” Though he didn’t say it out loud, Chris really liked having someone that depended on him. Dan didn’t count because he forced him to do stuff Dan didn’t want to do himself; and Elise was a very strong and independent, he felt like she didn’t really needed him at all. With Fluttershy, he was the strong willed one that she relied on. It made him wish he hadn’t been an only child and grew up with a younger sibling. Heck, he wouldn’t have minded having a younger sibling like Fluttershy. While Chris was lost in thought, Fluttershy was having a mental debate on her own. She wanted nothing more than to keep close to him and enjoy the warmth he provided, but being in such an intimate and compromising position wouldn’t sit well for Elise. But then again it was just a hug between friends to avoid the cold, nothing more; she shouldn’t feel guilty over something that was merely platonic, no matter how much she was enjoying it. And with that she closed her eyes and rested her head on his chest to enjoy his warm embrace. - Back to where Pinkie was. She decided to keep moving forward and trust her friend’s judgment. Then, her sixth sense acted up. It warned her that something was about to slam into her, so she swiftly sidestepped and half a second later a small body passed right where she was. “DAN?” she yelled at the retreating backside of the body. He was short and had black hair and shirt. So it was definitely Dan. “Crazy hobo with axe!” he yelled back not stopping for a second. Pinkie stood there watching him run away, confused by his words. “That wasn’t a sentence; just a noun phrase.” Then one of the words that formed that noun came from the trees and burrowed itself into a tree. “You will pay for what you did Dan!” echoed an angry voice from the surrounding trees. Now, Pinkie understood that was Dan escaping from. In that moment Pinkie got an idea, she ran up to the tree with the axe. She took it out and threw it away into a random direction. After the weapon vanished into the darkness, the pink party planner ran after Dan. That would surely buy them sometime to run while the ‘crazy hobo’ searched for his axe. He couldn’t possible kill them if he didn’t have a murder weapon. “Wait a second! Why didn’t I take the axe with me to defend ourselves?” She asked out-loud to herself, not slowing down for a single second. “Meh, Live and learn, I guess.” Then a metaphorical light bulb went on up her head. “Oh my gosh! That was such a great theme song!” So great of a song, she began humming it despite currently been chased by a crazy axe murderer. Really. - Back on the meeting point, Chris was putting off the fire. It had already passed the hour plus 15 minutes of extra time that Chris decided to give Pinkie for her return. Now it was time to return to the car, call the police and fill a report for his missing friends. Meanwhile Fluttershy just watch him, but not really paying attention to anything, she was busy berating herself. How could she let herself be in such a situation? She was supposed to try and get over her crush, no rest her head in his big, warm chest. Not only did she fail to herself, she failed Pinkie and she failed Elise. Elise… if it weren’t for her, she wouldn’t be feeling such guilt, and she could be with Chris. Fluttershy quickly shook her head to get rid of such thoughts. What was she thinking? She was placing blame on Elise when it is clearly her own, but the words of the mysterious Cat resonated in her mind. What if she never got over it and spend her life regretting what could have been? “That’s it. We better go back now.” Chris said snapping Fluttershy out of her inner thoughts.”Are you ready?” The only response he got was a nod from the small girl, “Ok let’s go.” As they were about to leave, the both of them heard the sound of feet rapidly hitting the ground. Whatever it was, it was running right at them. Then a small figure appeared from the darkness. “Move out of my way!” the small figure now recognized as Dan yelled as he was about to slam into Fluttershy’s petite frame. The small girl tried to move out of the way but she wasn’t fast enough; she ended up been pushed to the ground by Dan who at the same time lost his balance and ran directly to the tree. “THUD!” Dan ended up on the floor after ramming his head against a tree. “DAN!” Chris yelled in surprise. The whole ordeal happened too fast for his eyes. Then he turned his attention from his friend towards the fallen pink haired girl. “Fluttershy! Are you okay? “ “I’m fine…” replied Fluttershy still on the floor. She was more surprised than hurt. She tried to get back to her feet, but a sharp pain made her fall into the floor once again. “Gyaa!” “Fluttershy! What’s wrong?” Chris kneeled beside her with a look of concern on his face. “My ankle…it hurts…I’m not sure if it’s sprained or not” She sure hoped not, a sprained ankle was the last thing she needed in her current situation. The only worse thing that could happen was if there was a killer in the woods trying to kill them all. “Chris! Fluttershy!” called out the familiar voice of Pinkie Pie who came dashing the same way Dan did before. Then her gaze fell upon the injured Dan on the floor. “DAN!” she rushed worried at his side.”Please talk to me!” “Noggin bobbing. I got noggin bobbing.” Dan said with a tone full of pain and eyes out of focus. “Arirom esile! Arirom esile!” he continued to ramble incongruently. “Don’t worry Dan, you’ll get better!” Pinkie said more to herself than Dan. She wanted nothing more than let Dan rest his head on the floor for fear of making the concussion worse, but they have an axe-wielding killer behind them, so there was no time to lose. “Chris! Fluttershy! There is no time to waste. There is a crazy hobo with an axe chasing us! We have to get out of here fast!” She told them in a no-nonsense tone that showed she was serious. “I’ll carry Dan! Chris, you carry Fluttershy!” she ordered, once again assuming the role of squad leader. Pinkie then picked up Dan in a piggyback fashion with little problem. One would’ve assumed his anger made him heavier, but he was surprisingly light. Seeing Pinkie picking up Dan, Chris quickly followed her example and picked up Fluttershy and carried her in a bridal style. Instinctively, Fluttershy reached out and held unto Chris’ neck for fear of falling. Once she realized the position she was in she blushed for the nth time that day. “You guys ready?” Pinkie asked while adjusting Dan’s position on her back. When she received noods in agreement, she nodded back and began running back to the car. “Come on! We gotta go fast!” “I really hate ése erizo azul!” Dan said, his brain still scrambled for the head trauma. - “Are you sure we can’t go back home?” asked Chris who was behind the wheel and driving towards Barry Ditmer’s Headquarters. “I agree, I want to go home too.” Fluttershy said, she was sitting in the co-pilot seat next to Chris and tending at her bandaged ankle. Thank goodness they brought a first-aid kit with them. “We will not!” yelled Dan from the backseat. He instantly regretted her action because it brought a sharp pain to his forehead. “We are already near our destination; it would be foolish to retreat now!” “Please try to not move too much. It would be bad for your head!” Pinkie insisted with a concerned tone, pressing a cold soda can to his head. If he really had a concussion, running around while carrying him was one of the worst things she could’ve done to him. It could lead to brain damage. “Get that thing off me!” Dan shoved the can away from his head and from Pinkie’s grip. “A massive head trauma will never stop me! Not when there is an injustice going free without punishment!” He really meant it, not even death would stop him from getting back at someone. “That’s probably not a good thing,” Chris chimed again, “Sometimes you have to let things go. You don’t want to end up like Hiram, do you?” he asked referring to the axe-murdered they escaped from. After hearing the whole story from Dan, he couldn’t help but notice some parallels between the two of them. “What are you talking about?” Dan demanded refraining from yelling, that really made his head hurt. “You guys are really similar.” Chris explained, “He hates technology and he’s incredibly angry and prone to fits of violence, doesn’t that ring any bells?” “No! The only thing that I hear is that obnoxious beeping sound that apparently only I hear and it’s driving me crazy!” After hearing that, Pinkie once again brought the cold can up and pressed it to his head. “Hey! Stop tha…you now what? That really feels good. Keep it up.” “I still think we should go to the hospital.” Chris suggested once again only to be shot down by Dan piercing gaze. Sighing in defeat, he continued driving. Then he felt a soft hand rest on his shoulder turned his head to the side only to look at Fluttershy giving him a small supporting smile. After smiling back at her, Chris returned his attention to the road. It felt good to know someone appreciated him on this trip. - After a few more minutes of driving around, they finally made it to Barry Ditmer’s HQ in Silicon Valley. “Ok, let’s go destroy Barry Ditmer’s computer, ruin his day, go home and call it a day!” Dan said looking up to the building trying to find ways to infiltrate the place. “How are we going to get inside? I’m thinking: grappling hook and climbing equipment.” “Oh! How about a disguise! We pretend to be a pizza delivery guy, a cable repair duo and a person dressed as a pink bunny!” Pinkie offered her own idea, which was confusing to say the least, “I got dibs on the bunny costume!” Chris, ignoring both suggestions, walked up to the front door and opened it with no problem. “Why wasn’t the door locked?” Fluttershy asked confused. She was walking slowly, avoiding putting any weight on her injured ankle. She walked up to Chris and leaned on him. “I don’t know.” Chris replied to the small girl leaning on him. She was really light so he didn’t mind at all. “Maybe they are so confident on their security systems that they don’t even bother locking the front door” Pinkie thought out-loud, “That or someone simply forgot!” “Either way, we are going in!” said Dan. When they entered, they noticed that there wasn’t anyone on the front desk, not even a night guard. In fact, it looked like there wasn’t anyone in the building at all. It was way too quiet. The only sound aside from their steps and breathing was the sizzling sound of a hologram of Barry Ditmer on a pedestal. “Look at that!” Dan pointed out fuming at the projection of his current target. “He thinks he’s sooo great just because he is one of the richest and most important people on the world. Jerk!” Unknowingly to him and the rest of them, his insult was heard by sound-recognition software in the building that marked him as the individual who threatened Barry Ditmer before. Now that they have identified the threat, they could eliminate it. And what better way than using their newly acquired mind-controlled super spy. - Since it seemed that there was nobody to stop them, they decided to look around the building for a way to get to Ditmer’s main office. They separated into groups, Dan and Pinkie (or Dankie as Pinkie named their team) took on side, while Chris and Fluttershy (Flutterchris) took the other. The plan was to reunite at the lobby in 20 minutes to relay their findings. But because of ‘shy’s injury, the Flutterchris duo were making a very slow progress. “I’m sorry for being a burden” the injured girl said to her companion that she was still using for support, “I’m just slowing everyone down.” “Don’t say that. You have been very helpful, especially when we were in the woods.” Chris reassured her, “to tell you the truth, I would normally be afraid of walking through the woods at night and get lost.” He confessed which was surprising since with Elise he would’ve never admitted something like that, “But with you guiding us, there wasn’t a moment in which I was afraid.” “Thanks.” She embarrassed but at the same time delighted. Fluttershy turned her head away not wanting Chris to see her blush. Why did he have to be such a nice and considerate guy? He really make hard not to like him. Still, she recalled his marriage and the fact that she was going away soon. And that make an ache start forming inside of her. So lost was she in her thought that she didn’t noticed an assailant knocking out Chris with pressure points before it was too late. Once Chris lost consciousness, the assailant pushed both him and Fluttershy into a dark room and lock the door trapping them inside. - On the other side of the complex, the Dankie team was doing just fine. “Where could he be?” Dan wondered out-loud, they have been searching for almost 15 minutes now, only five more minutes before going back to the lobby. Thought it may be selfish, he wanted to be the one to find the way into Ditmer’s office. “He IS the owner, so his office is probably on the last floor” Pointed out Pinkie, “I tried to call down the elevator but they don’t seem to respond. So the only way up is the stairs.” Except that they couldn’t find the stairs, as if this whole building didn’t have them. Talk about relying too much on technology. “Well! Let’s keep looking!” As they walked down a long corridor, a blue portal-like door opened on a wall and from it came Elise, dressed in a tight chrome-colored skin suit and wearing a strange device in her forehead that was controller her every movement. Elise assessed carefully the situation. She located her main target, but he joined by an accomplice. Her orders were to eliminate the target and capture the rest who would be interrogated and once they served their purpose, they will be dealt with. Elise stalked towards them not making any sound at all. She was prepared to take out the accomplice with once solid hit in the back of the head. Once she was near enough, she dived at the accomplice! The whole thing was instantaneous. As Elise was about to connect her chop, the target turned around and delivered a punch right into her face, sending Elise flying down the corridor. How could the accomplice notice her attack? It was as if the target had a precognitive ability, and knew the attack was coming before hand. “How do you like that?” Pinkie said with her arm still extended. Pinkie knew that the attack was coming thanks to her sixth sense. Ever since the island incident she learned to recognized the warning sign of being attacked. Also she had been learning Karate through correspondence course videos. “What the heck was that!” Dan yelled in surprise, he didn’t have any idea of what just happened. All he heard was the sound of a fist connecting into another body and said body hitting the ground a few yards away. “That was the sound of the Saikyō Ryū style of Karate! Which you can learn in 10 easy lessons for only 195$ per video, shipping included! Thanks Hibiki-Sensei!” Pinkie advertised to no one in particular. “I decided on those videos because if you ordered the whole set you also get a pink Karate Gi for free!” If this were an anime, Dan would’ve sweat-dropped, but since that was impossible in the real world, he just stared at her like she was crazy, which wasn’t very hard to do. Ignoring Dan’s stare, Pinkie returned her attention to the badly dressed assailant, who was getting back on its feet. “Oh you want more, heh!” Pinkie mocked in confidence, staying true to Hibiki-Sensei’s teachings. Now it was time to pump herself for the ensuing battle. The videos recommended taunting to boost confidence and distract the opponent, but she decided to go with a chant. Everything was nicer with a chant. “Kick, Punch! It’s all in the mind. If you wanna test me, I'm sure you'll find that the things I'll teach ya, is sure to beat ya. Nevertheless, you'll get a lesson from teacher!” After her chant was over, she was ready to kick butts and take names, or whatever Hibiki-sensei said. But her fighting spirit wouldn’t last, because she lost all will to fight once she saw who her opponent was. “E-E-ELISE!” - Back to where the Flutterchris was. Fluttershy was kneeled beside Chris. She had tried to force the door open but it was pointless, even if she weren’t injured, her frame was too light to be able to knock the door down. So she decided to stay put and wait for someone to come for them. On the meantime she looked over Chris who despite being knocked out unconscious, he looked so peaceful. In fact, despite being trapped in a dark room, she felt calmed and peaceful. It was probably the soothing feeling of Chris’ aura that made her feel that way. Without really thinking, Fluttershy run her fingers through his hair and face. Even asleep he looked so handsome. She wanted nothing more than to stay with him like this and just enjoy herself the as much as she could. Fluttershy knew it deep down. No matter how she felt, it was never meant to be. They would never be together. She knew this but it still made her ache inside. It seemed that Cat’s words were coming true. Suddenly Fluttershy’s eyes widen and lost her breath for a second. Cat’s words. She remembered her lewd and horrible advice! It was despicable but her words were becoming more and more tempting as every second passed. She turned her head and looked at him again. Then she realized that was a grave mistake. He was so handsome and looked so peaceful, so inviting... She found herself moving in auto-pilot, getting closer and closer to his face. No matter how much she yelled in her mind to stop, her body didn’t responded to her. As she neared her lips to his, she only hoped that a kiss were enough to snapped her out of this trance, so she couldn’t do anything else. Yet a very deep part of her wished that the trance would last longer…way longer. - Back to the fight or something slightly similar a fight. Since Pinkie hasn’t attempted to throw a punch once. All she had done was dodging, ducking, dipping, diving and dodging some more. “Elise! Please snap out of it!” she begged to her friend who didn’t seem herself. Elise gaze was empty and her face expressionless. It looked like she was brainwashed or mind-controlled or both! “Elise! Please!” despite her precognitive senses and nimbleness, she couldn’t dodge every attack coming from Elise. She hasn’t received a clean punch yet, only grazes and scratches. But those Pinkie couldn’t dodge, she blocked. And they hurt like heck! “I shall eliminate the target known as Dan.” Elise said in completely monotone voice that unnerved Pinkie. “Nobody is getting eliminated in my watch!” Not only Pinkie was fighting for herself, but for Dan’s life too. Speaking of Dan, when the fighting bean and the brainwashed/mind-controlled Elise’s intentions of killing him were know, he ran away per Pinkie’s suggestion. Their only hope was for someone to find a way to break the control over Elise and get out f there, before anyone was seriously hurt. Unfortunately that person was her. Elise delivered a powerful kick into Pinkie’s midsection making her fall into the floor. The kick was so powerful it left Pinkie coughing and gasping for air. “You are a threat to my mission. Now you shall be eliminated” Elise stated once again monotonously. Then out of a secret pocket, Elise took out a gun and pointed it directly at Pinkie. “Prepare to be exterminated!” Pinkie, unable to move out of the way, lied there and looked in horror how her friend was going to shot her. She wanted to close her eyes but they remained fixed on the gun. “So…this was the end…” she thought solemnly waiting for the shot that would end it all. “PINKIE!!!” came an unfamiliar scream from Dan. He would usually yell in anger, frustration or annoyance, but this scream was one of fear and concern for her well-being. Pinkie looked at the direction where Dan’s voice came and widen her eyes. Elise, never moving her gun away from pointing at her Pinkie, turned her head to look at her target only to find an axe flying towards her face.