Pepper: Okay, this may or may not have been ready for the past few months and I just forgot about it...

Gold: It's been ready forever, and she just forgot about it... :I

Pepper: Sshhhoooossshhh... :II Just let them read. Only chapters now. By the way, last chance to vote for Red's owner if you haven't already because that will be settled next chapter. :33 Enjoy.

Silver woke up exactly when he said he would. I was relieved to finally be able to stretch and move around, and slithered out of his arms instantly.

"You need a bath." He said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"I just had one, like, three days ago." I replied, giving him a warning look. He missed it when he stood up to start looking for his clothes for the day.

"Yeah, sorry if it goes against your alley-way lifestyle, but here, we bathe daily." He said sarcastically. I rolled my eyes.

"And I survived just fine without a bath every day, so I'll be just fine now." I snapped. He gave me a look before heading into the bathroom.

"Right, whatever. When I get out, it'll be your turn. So… sit and stay… All that stuff." He replied before the door shut. I didn't know where he thought I was going to go; if I tried to go anywhere except maybe the dining room or living room, I'd probably get lost. No, not probably; I would get lost. But maybe he didn't think things through as much as I thought he did. I started playing with his Gameboy again. I assumed that's what it was called. Red's had the same label on it.

"Okay, your turn!" I jumped at Silver's voice. Because I'd been focused on the game, he caught me by surprise. When I turned to face him, he had a smugly satisfied smirk on his face, and had his hair pulled up again.

"No. You said you would feed me." I growled, staying in my spot in the center of his bed. I was out of reach unless he climbed up, which would give me time to move away again. He wouldn't be able to catch me.

"Look, either you take a bath or whatever you do, or I'll drag you in there and bathe you myself. Then we can go get food." He snapped. Images of the scenario flashed through my mind and I felt my face heating up. I could tell by his face that he wasn't planning anything like what went through my head, but that didn't really make the vision go away.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" My mouth started talking before my brain could examine its contents. Again. Silver's face turned red as he was apparently subjected to the same images I was. Or at least, something close to them. Then, a smirk split his face.

"Don't tempt me." He said, crossing his arms. My eyes widened and I was sure my face was redder than a cherry. Quick as lightening, I leapt off the bed and raced for the bathroom, stopping only to grab fresh clothes before slamming the door behind me. I heard Silver laughing, and I glared at the door.

"Shut up! It's not even funny!" I growled through the door.

"You're a riot." He insisted, though his laughter was already beginning to fade.

"I am not!" I snapped, "You stay on the other side of this door!" I didn't receive a reply, so after a bit, I relaxed. I faced the shower, my ears falling back.
Let me just say that my extreme dislike of water has nothing to do with my fear of sharks, okay? I actually have no idea why I hate water so much, though, once, Red mentioned it may be because I subconsciously remember the training center, and that the place was constantly damp from being cleaned and water was also used as a type of punishment, but I'm not sure how that would work. Water isn't very painful, so… But, the point is that the training center may or may not have something to do with my dislike of water. I decided that the best course of action would be to just take the dumb shower as quickly as possible and be done with it.

When I came out again, Silver made the mistake of saying I looked like a drowned rat because I had made little to no attempt to dry my hair, ears, or tail. Even if it was probably true, I was already irritated because he practically forced me to shower, so my throwing the nearest solid object at him seemed like a good idea. In the end it really wasn't, but I don't want to get into that since, afterwards, Silver reminded me of something much more important.

"Didn't you say you needed to find something in that bakery the other day?" He asked me suddenly. Currently I was sprawled across his lap, and he had started to look through the doodles and scribbles I'd done the day before.

"Yeah, it's in the alley next to it. I hope. I'm still hungry, too." I informed him, and made a face that earned me a strange look.

"Right. I was waiting for Lizabell." He replied.

"Who is Lizabell?" I asked. He rolled his eyes.

"The maid."

"She came earlier while you were asleep."

"Fine. We can get food when we get to the bakery."

"You mean, we're going?" I exclaimed excitedly, sitting up.

"Yeah, sure. I wanted to hang out with Blue today, and it's on the way." He said, making it sound like it was still going to be a great pain. Nonetheless, I hopped off the bed and trotted towards the door excitedly.

"Then, let's go! There's not a second to waste!" Silver just rolled his eyes and followed more slowly. He made me wait outside his father's study while he informed him where he would be for the rest of the day, and then got his father's butler to drive us.

The whole drive seemed to take forever, and I was sure my fidgeting was starting to annoy Silver. I really couldn't help it, though. I was so close to retrieving my most prized possession. Silver made a relieved noise when we stopped outside the bakery, and before I could run off, he took hold of my arm.

"I'm going to get us food, okay? Go do your stuff and don't fall in any trashcans. And stay out of trouble; I'll only be a minute. Wait by the car, or something." He said seriously. I just rolled my eyes and nodded. He let go and went into the bakery, so I raced into the alley and immediately went for the back. After knocking aside a few trashcans and scaring off a ragged-looking cat-hybrid, I found my skateboard. I wanted to howl my joy, but that would've been embarrassing, so I settled for quiet yelps of happiness that were equally embarrassing, but not as easily heard.

As I'd said, it took only couple of minutes to get the four donuts that were to serve as our breakfast. After paying, I went outside, and – surprise, surprise – Gold was nowhere to be found. I rolled my eyes and left the donuts with the butler before going to investigate the alley. It was long, and it smelled bad, but I guess I should've have expected that. There was apparently an unspoken agreement between the shop owners who used it that it was rarely to be cleaned out of all the garbage. And Gold had wanted to live here?

I shook my head, and delved farther into the dimly lit area. Finally voices reached my ears and up ahead I saw two tall, lean, kind of muscular-looking people. Well, one was a hybrid, and by their appearance, I didn't think the other was the owner. Up against the wall, smiling, albeit awkwardly, was Gold. The two taller ones laughed harshly and his smile widened some. Worried, I started to intervene, but the appearance of another hybrid from over the wall of the alley, stopped me.

He had red eyes and tall ears, like the size of Gold's only straight up, and more in proportions with his face. His fur and hair were jet black, spikey and wild, and shone dully. He reminded me of Gold, though I could tell he was older and probably more sophisticated. His eyes seemed to meet mine for a split second, but then the suspicious gaze turned to Gold.

My hybrid looked shocked beyond words to see this new one, and the other two welcomed him, calling him Red. Why was I not surprised?

"Gold! I've been looking for you. I caught your scent a few days ago and found your skateboard, so I figured you were around." Red said, a smile spreading across his features as his thick tail waved back and forth.

Gold made some incoherent spluttering noises before he found his voice, "But, you were… The guys in the white coats got you!" He said in disbelief. Red laughed and the other two laughed with him.

"It's not so hard to get away once you've done it enough times." He replied, his ears twitched in my direction before his eyes followed. Gold turned too, and grinned widely.

"Silver! Come on, look!" He exclaimed. I strolled over, and he met with me a few feet away from the other three. "Silver, this is Red, yunno, the Red I told you about." He said.

"I guessed as much." I replied, glancing at the hybrid in question. Now that I was closer, I could see places on his arms and face where it looked like he'd felt the sting of a whip. Gold had the same marks on his shoulders and arms, too, but they'd started to fade. Red's ears fell back slightly under my gaze.

"Red, this is Silver. He's, ah…uh…a friend." Gold tried to smooth over the tension. But, really, it wasn't my fault this "Red" was starting to act like I'd run over his tail or something. However, at Gold's words, his ears perked up again and he seemed almost curious.

"Friend? So that's where you've been. I wondered who the smell on you belonged to." Red replied, the smile started to return. The two guys from before had started arguing in hushed voices in the background, I wasn't sure about what, but the hybrid looked extremely irritated.

"Yeah. Silver's kind've…well, rich. Or, his dad is, so it's like really clean and rosey-smelling there." Gold said. Red nodded like he already knew.

"So, where're you headed now? I found this really great street a few blocks over. It looked like a cool place to hang around for a while. Wanna check it out?" Red grinned mischievously, and I began to doubt his sophistication.

"Actually, me and Silver were going to see a friend of his," Gold started, though he seemed to really regret having to turn it down, "But, maybe you could come along, too. You might actually like her. I mean, if Silver doesn't mind." Gold turned his pleading gaze to me, and I shrugged. They were "practically brothers" after all.

"Whatever, I'm just ready to go." I replied. Gold grinned, and Red smiled a little wider too.

"Awesome." He said.

"So, we can leave now, right?" I asked. The other hybrid, that I decided was either a mouse, rat, or hamster, and the guy with him were still arguing heatedly a little ways away, but Gold and Red didn't seem to care, so I ignored it. Mostly.

"Yeah, okay. See ya, guys!" Gold called out to the two arguing. They paused to wave and insist that he come back around. Red waved at them as I started to lead the way back towards the car. Red started following first, and Gold was right on his heels, talking animatedly, a skateboard under one arm. I assumed that's what he came here for.

The ride to Blue's was irritating like you wouldn't believe. First of all, Red did even have a shred of maturity once he got used to you, and only encouraged Gold to act like more like an idiot than usual. So, both of them were unnecessarily loud. Secondly, I spent the whole time trying to convince myself that I wasn't jealous because Red currently had the whole of Gold's attention. I wasn't. I swear.