You know, I almost gave up. May still, because apparently this fic isn't doing well. Its hard to write when new chapters get one review by the same person and each of those reviews are the same words ^^; Not that I'm ungrateful but I feel they're there out of politeness. Earlier on people asked me to hurry up and update now no one's bothered, and if anyone's reading this they're not mentioning it. Its a little disheartening when this happens. No one comments anyone- and it seems its not just my fics getting the cold shoulder. I wonder where everyone's gone. Is the site going down? I don't know.

So this fic is getting closer to being discontinued, but for now I'll go ahead. Here's the next chapter.

Chapter 8: Toy Ships and Trials

The Smuggler wondered how he got into this mess in the first place.

The little girl was running around the ship as he tried to keep his eyes on the space before him, and she was making it increasingly difficult. She was holding up an old toy ship, that had sat in her pocket this whole time and was now fling around the place from her hand.

"Wheee!"

Her soft little voice chimed through the air as the Parrot tried to avoid the miniature ship model that was perusing him. "Rawrk, I'm not a toy, not a toy!"

The Smuggler looked over his shoulder and called, "Wouldja stop encouragin' 'er?"

"Rawrk, blame the parrot, always blame the parrot..."

The Smuggler rolled his eyes and grumbled. "This is gettin' way outa hand..." He called over his shoulder again, this time addressing the kid. "Sweet Pea, can ya let Smuggler drive in peace?"

The girl slowed to a halt, clutching her toy. She looked at him with a wide-eyed, quiet expression. Then he sat down and decided to fiddled with it on the floor instead. The exhausted parrot landed on his hat, flopping down on his stomach.

"Rawrk."

The tall blue man sighed, please with at least some peace and quiet. Then, he caught something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and found the girl was standing beside the pilot seat, staring up at him.

"Somethin' on yer mind, Sweet Pea?"

She tilted her head, "Are you-a undercover agent, Mister?"

The Parrot scoffed with laughter from his hat. The owner of said head garment rose a brow.

"Not really, Kiddo. Just a couple of Honest Smugglers. And the only reason I'm in this is c'uz I thought I was transportin' a piece of machinery, not some funny little tyke."

She looked at his hat. "Are you a Space Cowboy?"

The Parrot was snickering quietly, barely able to keep himself from bursting into bird-ish laughter by the looks of him. The Smuggler heaved another sigh.

"You knooow...Me and some others ran into some space pirates once."

The Smuggler cocked a brow again, "That right?"

"Yup. I hit them on the toes with a hammer." She stated with quite simply, shrugging. The Smuggler stared at her. The Parrot's bulging eyes squinted in a weirded out expression.

"Rark! She's a nutcase! Dump 'er in the loony bin."

...

"Stop, Thief!"

Back in the grimy under-streets of Luminopolis, a lanky figure darted through the roads, bare feet slapping against the harsh metal, arms slicing back and forth as he ran with the speed of an athlete. The skinny figure with blue skin skidded around a corner, clutching a satchel in hand as he went. A knee-length, sleeveless jumpsuit was the only form of clothing he possessed.

The youth squeezed into a narrow gap between two buildings; small enough to remain unnoticed by his chasers who had yet to turn the corner. He slipped through with experience and exited on the other side. He then slid down a circular generator behind the buildings before finally coming to a stop.

Panting a little, the boy was joined by some other street youths; though he was preoccupied with the bag. He reached in and plucked out the item he'd been looking for and tossed the rest to the others' letting them tear at it like rabid dogs as he wandered away.

Hands shaking, the blue boy held up the sphere in his hands and pressed the button. A lombax appeared, wearing a trench coat, and a message began playing.

"To my associate. My plan is going accordingly and I am having a merry time with it if I do say so myself. The Smuggler has the girl and they are travelling any from Merdecraw. No doubt her brother will be searching for her so be on high alert..."

With a snappy grin and a tilt of the head, the hologram of the lombax vanished.

Vigalo, still panting, scowled dangerously and slowly looked over his skid-marked, skinny shoulder at the Ship Docks, seen away and above the shining buildings.

He mumbled in a not-yet broken voice.

"Merdegraw? Fine by me..."

...

"So ya said there where others? Ya live with more o' them street rats or somethin'?"

The girl glared up at him, seething, her little face pulled into a pout. The Smuggler chuckled and held up his hands in a rebuff.

"Okay, Honey, I take it back. Yer friends are real nice and I ain't one to talk anyhow."

The girl cocked her head to the side questioningly, "Where you a street rat once, Hat Man?"

The Smuggler frowned and looked back at the controls with a sniff, raising a hand to pull out his toothpick as he thought. "...Yeah. Once."

"A really long time ago?"

"Yup."

"Rawrk!" The Parrot hopped onto his shoulder, eyes narrowed slyly, "A really, really long time, rawrk."

The Smuggler gave him a warning look. "Yer being way too difficult these days, you."

"Rawrk, you used me as bird bate ta get the girl back!"

The tall blue man grinned up at him as the bird flew back onto his head, glaring at him. "Fair point."

SLAM.

The Smuggler's teeth barred and he grabbed onto the joystick as the ship tilted off balance, knocking the Parrot off his hat and the girl off her feet. They slid against the wall as the alarms went off, and the man began to drag himself back onto the pilot seat. The Voice of the ship's computer called from above.

"Attention. Incoming ships attacking."

"Great." The Smuggler jerked the wheel and turned the ship back upright. The little girl ran forward and slammed her head down on one of the buttons, ignoring his bark of protest.

He glanced at the radar, trying to ignore the ringing in his ears. Five ships tailed them, and the shields had just gone up. He gave the girl a questioning look. "How'd ya know that was the righ' one?"

She shrugged plainly, "My brother knows about ships. He says the shield's always the purple one."

"...Did he now?"

He grunted as he turned the ship left, trying to shake their pursuers. He pulled a lever and the engines blasted, picking up more speed. "See, if he knew more about watchin' ya than he did ships then we wouldn't be here!"

"He's a bit of a noodle-head. He's in charge most of the time..." She rolled her eyes. The Smuggler laughed gruffly as he fired some missiles back at the enemy ships.

"Noodle Head. Now there's a term, Sweet Pea."

"Rark, Your both noodle heads. Noodle-" The girl, taking a leaf out of the Smuggler's book, took the latter's hat and placed it over the bird.

"...Nice goin' there, Sweet Pea."

...

"He'sss picking them off too eassssy."

The brightly coloured lombax grinned that insurable grins of his and turned to face his tall reptilian partner. "You think I don't know that? Everything's going as I want it."

"You want us to fail, your fool!" The man's temper snapped at last and his thin lips twisted in a snarl, "We will be thrown in Zordoon because of you and your childish games!"

Orange rolled his eyes and held up a finger, hushing him patronizingly. "Sh. This is how it works, see, the Smuggler has the girl again and now he's the one stamped as the abductor. And once that skinny brother of hers fins that message I planted, whether he sniffs a trap or not he'll come. Then the two of them can be reeled back in for the taking."

The gloomy criminal retorted, "And the Smuggler?"

"Zordoom. He gets convicted, we're scot-free, and before he can sing..." The lombax waves his finger about in a 'tut tut' fashion, "Our inside men kill him. Simply done."

The other criminal sneered and stormed from the shadowy control room. Alone, Orange stared at the doorway he left with his sharp, wide grin.

He left out the part when a certain orange lombax shoots his tall green partner in the back of his skull.

Pictures of Vigalo and Sweet Pea can be found on my account.

Reviews appreciated.