This is more or less a personal test to see if I can limit myself to a one-shot AND hit submit, because I am a big chicken and have 0 self-control. Although I admit I set it up so I could continue it about saving a Koobish if I really wanted, but it wouldn't drive me bonkers if I dropped it as is. Fingers crossed no one I know ever find this, because goodness, just please no.

There's a sprinkle of reference from the Smekday book, which if you haven't read, you should read. I am also so late for this fandom. lol So what else do we got here…?

Storm? Check. Friends consoling friends? Checkity check. I love a steaming hot cliché. :'D

~Ny

Thunder

It had been a few months since Earthlings had "made up" with the Boov, although the Boov still were not entirely forgiven and armies across the world were watching the skies, ready to blast down the next Boov ship they saw enter the atmosphere. The Boov had been given only enough time to clean up their mess before being slapped with an eviction notice and retreated to the blue pimple on the moon's face.

Nowadays, with prior warning, only Boovish elevators were permitted to come and go from the United States, and that was only because of Tip's involvement with Oh righting Captain Smek's wrong and saving the world from absolute destruction. Oh really wasn't supposed to stay, but he secretly did.

It was hard to keep a Boov secret in an apartment in the city, so as soon as they had the cold hard cash, courtesy of GM buying a patent for hovercars like the Slushious, the Tucci family moved.

They bought a pretty cabin overlooking a pretty lake, surrounded by a pretty forest in a pretty remote location where it took ten minutes to drive to the nearest grocery store by road. Said store was really only an oversized convenience store along a strip of highway with a gas station, an out-of-the-way chiropractor, and a liquor and tobacco store wedged between the pharmacy and post office. There was an old schoolhouse, but the only kids that went there now were goats belonging to the farmer who bought that plot of land. There really wasn't much else but that and wilderness for miles. It was that kind of remote.

The peace and quiet was maddening at first, but Tucci family eventually got used to it. After those nights spent flying over open ocean, Tip knew what darkness was like, but that didn't make the jet-black mountains and forest tearing up the horizon like bites taken out of the glittery sky any less intimidating. She'd have to close her curtains and keep a nightlight on at night, and it was a comfort to have a TV playing softly downstairs and a snoring Boov in the room across the hall.

It was like that most nights, but earlier tonight it had begun to rain, and they didn't need the TV on for background noise with all that tapping over the roof and windows, but Tip was up late anyway watching Cats and Dogs, wrapped up warmly in a plush throw blanket and snacking on the traditional popcorn.

"You do not think Pig cat is secretsly evil, do's you?" Oh wondered, hugging the fat purring animal closer. It wasn't the first time he'd interrupted with a comment of the family pet.

"Well," Tip began, "he's a male calico so we never bothered to have his family jewels removed, we keep his box clean, and we give him all the tuna and cream he wants so he shouldn't have a beef with us, and I don't think a dog has done anything to him to warrant a grudge either." She finished her can of soda and handed the empty tin to Oh, who happily devoured her leftovers. "And cats can't talk. It's just a movie."

"Cats can too," Oh argued, and he briefly blushed a faint affectionate pink as he smiled fondly down at the overweight feline. "He is speaking to me right now. He speaks in cat."

Tip rolled her eyes and refocused on the fluffy white maniac on screen.

"Did you hear that?" asked Oh, interrupting yet again, and Tip almost let out a groan. "Did someone pull the up? It sounded as if so…" He set Pig aside on the sofa and scrambled to his feet, heading for a front window to peek out. He was halfway there when Tip heard the faint rumble too, and it was reminiscent of car tires on gravel, but she knew that wasn't it.

Oh was peering through a crack in the drapes when a sudden brilliant white flash startled him. He leapt back and tripped over his own tangle of legs, then sprang up and fled around the sofa back to Tip, diving under the coffee table with a yelp, "HIT THE DECK!"

"One one-thousand, two one-thousand, three one-thousand…," Tip counted peacefully while Oh shivered under the table, and she made it to seven before she felt the rumble in her seat and chuckled at the flickering yellow Boov's whimper.

Given a moment, he uncovered his head, blinked his eyes in bewilderment and looked at his hands front and back, and finally up to the preteen smirking down at him. The question was in his eyes long before it escaped his mouth, "Whyfor are you not alarmed?" he asked with deep concern as he climbed out. "There was an explosion!"

"Don't worry about it," she said. "It was just—"

A flash immediately followed by a deafening roar that rattled the entire cabin sent Oh back under the coffee table with an inaudible scream. It was followed up thirty seconds later by another pop, and the room went dark.

"Aw, come on," Tip moaned.

In the darkness by her feet, she heard Oh whining. "I am dead," he said miserably. "This is death. I knew it. There is no Heaven for the Boovs like for the humans. There is no-"

The glaring light of Tip's phone blinded him, and he squinted against it.

It only made him let out another scream. "It is the light!" he wailed, "The light at the tunnel exit! This is – this is…oh, hello, Tip." He was practically glowing a radioactive yellow when he saw her watching him with a bemused smirk and raised eyebrow.

"The power just got knocked out is all," Tip explained a little crossly as she offered a hand to pull her frightened Boov buddy out from under the table. "Storms have a way of doing that."

She lead the way to closet by the downstairs bathroom to find a flashlight and put her phone away to preserve the battery. They really needed to invest in a generator, she decided. "Power might be out for a day or so…or it might come back on any moment. Who knows."

Deeper in the house, the flash outside wasn't so startling, a mere flicker down the hall from where the light filtered in from the kitchen windows. Nonetheless, the windowpanes shook with the boom, and Oh ducked behind Tip for shelter and clung to the throw blanket she wore around herself.

"Tip?" called her mother from the top of the stairs. Lucy had already been in bed when the storm rolled in. She'd been using the blue glow of a battery-operated alarm clock to light her way, and let it go off now that her daughter arrived with a flashlight. "Are you alright, honey?" she asked.

"Fine," said Tip with a shrug. "I guess we're going to bed. So much for the movie marathon." And just like that, she passed her worried mother and headed for her own room, but paused with the courtesy to shine the light back down the hall for her mom to find her door. "Goodnight, again!" she called after her, and her mother returned it with a blown kiss.

Down the hall, Tip and Oh parted ways. Distant thunder rumbled twice more in the time it took her to cozy down in her bed under the window. A few minutes later, a brighter flash bleached the mountains and sky, and she swore she saw her window quiver with the clap of thunder.

It was still growling impressively after several seconds so she almost didn't hear the rapid knock on her door, but knew exactly who it was. "It's unlocked," she called, but Oh was already scurrying over the threshold.

"Tip is sure this is normal?" he anxiously questioned, leaning over her bed to strain to see her face in the darkness.

"Perfectly."

"How can spontaneous explosions be normal?"

Tip sat up, patted a spot beside her, and Oh climbed onto the bed at her invitation. She shared her blanket with him and hugged him closely under one arm, facing him towards the window. "It's just weather," she said, and explained what she'd learned in school about thunder and lightning, which didn't seem to comfort Oh very much.

"Planets have the weathers, and it is normals for you, but I was hatched and raised on the mothership," Oh said when she had finished. He glanced up at her with big glossy eyes. "Such explosions were never a good thing."

"I bet," Tip sympathized. "An explosion on the hull of the Boov mothership might mean the whole thing would go out with a big pop." She couldn't imagine it being a big frail bubble like the single-passenger pods, though. That imagery didn't seem to help Oh either, so she elbowed him. "Give thunderstorms a chance," she said lightly. "They can be really nice."

"When they are not blowing out the eardrums, maybes," Oh grumbled with a frown.

At that, Tip grabbed her nearest pillow and flopped it down over his flat head.

"Hey – what—?" he began as she situated herself behind the Boov. Before Oh could pull the pillow off, Tip had looped her arms around him snugly, pinning the edges of the pillow against the sides of his head, and rested her chin on top. He winced at the next flash of lightening, but it wasn't so bad with the rumble muffled through the pillow. He blinked and waited for another flash, watching it flicker through the rain-specked window with reluctant interest.

"Huh," he muttered as the bolt wiggled and splintered out of sight, far on the other side of the mountains.

Who needs movies when you can watch lightening dance? The pair watched for a solid twenty minutes or more before Oh was satisfied it was as safe as Tip claimed. While Tip lay back down to go to sleep, Oh stayed seated beside her, waiting with anticipation for the next strike and explosive harmless sky belch.

If you like my writing, lemme know! I have a Tip abduction fic I'm more invested in that I might be willing to post... :P
~Ny