Taming the Bull

I awoke to the sound of a shrill scream coming from outside. Leaping out of my very warm bed, I grabbed a pair of sweatpants and a random shirt from the floor, tore off my Pj’s and pulled them on hastily. I then scrambled over to the door, almost tripping over a hunk of metal in the middle of my room, (Note to self: Clean up my room as soon as possible) and yanked the door open, almost crashing into Google, who had a hand raised to knock.

“Whoa there, Vi!” He beeped in surprise, stepping back slightly. “I was just coming over here to see if you heard it too…” He looked at me up and down. “I assume that you did.”

I look down at my wardrobe choice and groan at my shirt. It was an old, grease-stained work shirt that I only put on when I am working on big, messy projects in the workshop. Not exactly something to wear when your crush comes knocking on the door. A blush rises to my face and I silently curse my hormones. “Uh, yeah I did… hear the noise… outside.”

I could jump out the window or maybe teleport into a volcano. Anything would be better than this awkwardness.

He smiles, the logo on his chest glowing a little bit brighter, and gestures to the stairs. “Would you like to go investigate?”

All I could manage was a nod.

We walked down the hallway and made it to the large staircase that wound its way down to the living room. I let him take the lead as I dived into my thoughts.

Aw man, I really hope nothing happened to any of the others. I don’t know what I would do. Actually that’s a lie, I know exactly what to do. We have the police on speed dial, and most of us have powers or special abilities that let us defend ourselves. Oh, but what if the Author comes back and somehow managed to disable one of the other’s powers. If it’s the Host, he’ll be defenseless and unable to fight back, he’s blind. Ah, but I shouldn’t underestimate him, he’s smart, my son knows how to resist the Author. Aw, now that just sounds wrong. Ew. But I really hope nothing happened, I’ve been living with them for so long, I consider all of them my close family. Even Dark, even though he can be a prickly cactus sometimes I know he means well-

“Hello, earth to Planet Violet?” Google’s voice snapped me back to the present. “Are you okay?’

“Uh, yeah!” I coughed. “ I just got a little lost in my thoughts…’

Looking back, a little seems like an understatement.

Before Google could respond, we could hear Mark’s voice coming faintly from outside. “-ilford, get down… there! You…. completely soaked…”

Google and I looked at each other with matching expressions of confusion on our faces. It brings to mind that one vine where the person goes, “I am confusion…” Anyway, since Mark’s voice was in the general direction of the outside, we headed for the front door. The large oak door was wide open, seemingly able to invite any long lost spirit back into the welcoming arms of the House…

I-I don’t know where that came from.

The indistinct sound of Dark’s ringing noise that accompanied him and his Aura, which I’ve come to think of as a separate, sentient thing, jerked me back to reality. Hm, this is becoming too frequent… I really need to get a handle on myself before I accidentally walk off a cliff thinking about sugar plum fairies.

Walking outside and onto the walkway, we were met with one of the strangest sights I have witnessed in my entire existence.

Apparently, Wilford had hooked up one of those long, thick hoses that firefighters use to beat back a raging fire to a nearby fire hydrant, and was riding on it. The force of the water lifted the hose off of the ground, and the water was blasting out of the hose, drenching the street and the trees around the manor. The hose looked like a bull that was trying to buck its unwanted rider off and the rider looked like he was enjoying this far too much.

Dark, Bim, The Jim twins, Bing and the Host were all on the driveway, close enough to see the action and hopefully far enough away to keep from being drenched.

The Jims were staring at Wil with rapt attention, the chaos that was happening actually quieting them down for once. But, even if they were able to speak, the deafening sound of the water would have drowned out their voices. Heh, no pun intended.

The Host was leaning against the wall, arms crossed and he had a small smirk on his face. The bandages on his eyes were clean and no blood had seeped through, so I’m guessing that Doctor Iplier just changed them. He was still wearing his trenchcoat, but it was unbuttoned, showing his grey slacks and black dress shirt that he was wearing underneath.

Bing was standing next to Bim, and they were snickering softly to themselves. Bim didn’t have his usual suit on, instead, he had on a pair of jeans and a red and black plaid shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves. Bing was wearing his usual attire, jeans that are slightly torn up at the knees from too much falling off his skateboard, and a black tank top.

Dark was standing stock still, his Aura draped around him and was watching the proceedings with an expressionless face. He looked as pristine as ever, not a hair out of place and his suit perfectly pressed. At least as far as I could tell. His Aura is making it kinda hard to see.

Mark was running around the driveway, simultaneously attempting to dodge the water, and attempting to scold Wil. His efforts to stay dry have proven fruitless because he was dripping wet and trailing water behind him. “Stop all of this! You’re gonna get thrown off by the water-”

He was interrupted by a loud whoop from the bull rider, and he shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, “COME ON MARK! LIFE NEEDS A BIT OF MADNESS, EH?!”

I heard Dark inhale sharply and turned to look at him. I gasped a little as I saw his Aura grab a metal chair that was leaning against the wall of the house, and bend it into a lump of unrecognizable metal. The Aura then flung it into a nearby grove of trees, where it snapped off a branch and embedded itself into a tree.

Before I could ask what was wrong, I registered the Host quickly running back inside the manor and slamming the door. And then a blast of water hit all of the remaining people on the driveway, leaving everyone a sopping mess. Not even Dark was spared the wrath of the water.

Instead of shouting an apology, Wilford burst into a loud burst of laughter. “Now, you are all wet! Come join the fun!”

Turning, I saw Bim and Google both looking like drowned cats with their hair and clothes plastered to their skin. Google’s logo flickered and his expression was of mild surprise and annoyance.

Bim spat out a mouthful of water, looked at himself in disdain, and uttered one word. “Gross.”

Dark was also soaked to the bone, but his magic worked quickly to dry himself off. He looked like he was going to murder Wilford from the way he glared at him.

Even Dark’s Aura looked a little damp, and it transformed into a large black shadow dog, Hey, it’s DarkChica! And shook itself off, spraying water everywhere.

And that was when I lost it.

The laughter that had been building this whole time finally released. Doubling over and holding my stomach, I laughed so hard and loud that I couldn’t breathe. My shoulders shook violently like I was having a very long seizure, and I gasped out, “Oh my… I-I can’t breathe…” Then, my sudden burst of laughter turned into painful coughing, my sickness of the past few days not having fully gone from my lungs. “Ahhhh… *cough* I’m gonna *cough cough* have an…. *wheeeeeze* aneurysm…”

Dark cleared his throat and through the sound of my torture, I heard Wilford scream in either delight or terror. Maybe both.

A warm hand patted my back and after a few minutes, when I was able to actually speak without coughing up a lung in the middle of my sentence, I was able to realize that it was Google who was patting me.

“ Are you alright?” He asked, looking at me with another worried expression that he seemed to wear all the time. “Do you need me to get the Doctor?”

I really should make it up to him… “Uh, no, I’m okay. I should be fine now.” I reassured him, unable to keep another slight blush from rising. Ugh, how I hate these hormones….

“If you’re su-ure.” He frowned. The lag in his voice shouldn’t be there. After all, the company made his water proof, so being blasted by water shouldn’t affect him at all…

Well, I can’t worry about that now. After all, I do have a snake/bull/hose monster to ride.

“Ima go ride it!” I shouted, and before Google could react, I teleported to where Wilford was sitting.

“Oh, fancy seeing you here, Violet!” Wilford said cheerfully, acting like we were meeting at some small store. He, like the others, was soaked, pink hair plastered to his head.

“NOOOO VIOLET, DON’T SUPPORT THIS!” Mark screeched from below.

“COME ON MARK, WHY DON’T YOU JOIN US?!” Wilford screeched back.

“WAIT NO WHAT ARE YO-”

Wilford teleported Mark onto the hose. “Welcome to the rodeo, Mark!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

Talk about a perfectly cut scream, amirite?

-A