Two Little Humans

By: Miss Special

It had all been a dream. She'd convinced herself of that by now. All the events-- the kidnapping, the running away, the hiding and getting discovered, battling the Predacons-- it was just a dream. She still couldn't explain the bumps on her head she'd gotten while lying unconscious in the middle of a deserted dirt road.

Of course, all that happened months ago. It was fall back then, and now it was the dead of winter. Miss Special was enjoying a long break from college. Her sister, Koorikaze, was visiting from Michigan, and the whole household was filled with their constant bickering.

Neither sister minded arguing with each other nearly every waking moment, but there were other people who were forced to listen to it. And those other people weren't very appreciative of the fact that it wasn't actually fighting.

Thus, both sisters were kicked outside so the rest of the family could enjoy some peace and quiet.

Indignant from being told to go out into the cold, Miss Special and Koorikaze grumbled about the injustices of the world.

"At least it's not raining," Miss Special remarked, looking up at the gray sky.

"It'd be better if it were snowing," Koorikaze replied.

"It's not going to snow," Miss Special said. "It's too warm." Warm was a relative term.

"It might snow tonight," 'Kaze countered, to which Miss S answered, "Not likely. The clouds'll hold in the heat."

"Foo, you're no fun."

"Heehee, I'm raining on your parade."

"But it's not raining."

Miss Special sighed exasperated. "Wanna go for a walk?"

"Sure, whatever."

"'Kay, I'll let Mom know. Don't get eaten by anything." Miss Special went into the house, standing by the fireplace for a moment. A long moment. She'd momentarily forgotten she had a mission.

"Hey Mom, we're going to go for a walk. We probably won't be out too long."

"Okay. Be careful."

"Yep." Miss Special waved goodbye and walked out to where Koorikaze had been just a couple of minutes ago.

"Hello?" Where had that dratted sister gotten to? "Yo, Shorty, you there?"

Absolute silence. Not a good thing.

Plat! Miss Special felt something wet drop onto her head.

Oh, great, it was raining.

Plat!

Plat!

Plink!

…Plink?! Rain hitting metal? Something was definitely off.

"Hello-oooooooo," Miss Special called out testily.

Whispers.

A thought entered into the back of Miss Special's mind: Maybe it hadn't been a dream after all.

Feeling absolutely silly, Miss Special guessed, "Tarantulas?"

"What- how did you-?"

Oh, GEEZ. Miss Special hated being right. Tarantulas came out of his hiding spot behind a rock, carefully looking Miss Special over.

"You lack your clarinet," he observed, giggling a little.

"Don't tell me you're here alone," Miss Special said, a little disappointed. She thought she deserved at least two Predacons. She'd gotten three last time.

Tarry giggled, "Things are a little different this time around."

"How so?"

"Take me for example!" Blackarachnia's voice said from behind Miss Special, right before the widow struck Miss S in the back of the head.

"Well done, witch!" Tarantulas complimented his counterpart, who was picking the unconscious human up off the ground.

It was an uncomfortably familiar feeling. A throbbing head, not knowing where one was.

"Hey, legs!" Blackarachnia called. "She's waking up."

Miss Special sat up slowly. She looked around, gingerly touching the bump on the back of her head.

"You suck," she grumbled, glaring at the spiders. Neither seemed to care. "What the heck d'ya want this time?"

"We only require your glowing presence for the moment," Tarry mockingly replied.

"Oh? Care to explain?"

"No."

"You don't need any information at all?" Miss Special pressed. "Nothing on battles, golden disks, future additions to the Maximal and Predacon ranks,--" She stopped short, something in her mind clicking. A revelation that hadn't occurred to her during her first excursion into the Beast Wars.

Miss Special chuckled to herself darkly, amused with what she just realized.

"The human's doing an impression of you," BA remarked to Tarry. This only made Miss Special laugh harder, ignoring the 'human' part.

"I know things you don't want each other to know," she said, grinning from ear to ear. The spiders looked at each other.

"Like what?" Understandably, neither of them were buying it.

"Like how Tarry's a--"

"That's enough, human!" Tarantulas snapped.

"Remember?" Miss Special grinned. "I know all about the Beast Wars. How it ends, traitors and turncoats, things only revealed after the fact."

"We should just kill her," Blackarachnia said. "No one will know she was here."

"Except you'll lose my 'glowing presence'. Now, before 'accidentally' let something slip, tell me what's going on."

"Blackmail doesn’t suit one associated with the Maximals," Tarantulas grumbled.

"But it's such a lovely word!" Miss S said. "Just like 'coerce' and 'double-agent'. You'd better start talking."

"Megatron sent Waspinator and Quickstrike to get you," Blackarachnia explained. "Except they grabbed the wrong person."

"Koorikaze," Miss Special groaned.

"Those dolts couldn't tell the difference between you and she," Tarantulas said smugly.

"So they've got 'Kaze at the Predacon base?"

"Precisely." Tarry nodded.

"Then that's where we're going." Miss Special stood up. "You can get in and out without being noticed, right?"

"You presume much, little human."

Miss Special momentarily fixed a death glare upon Tarantulas (who was unafraid) before turning to Blackarachnia, saying, "Hey BA, did you know that Tarry here w--"

"All right!" Tarantulas snapped.

Two spiders and a human peered down at a bunch of Predacons and another human. Megatron had Quickstrike and Waspinator off to one side.

"But she looks like 'er!" Quickstrike defended.

"Are you telling me that Miss Special has shrunk by several inches since the last time she was here?!" Megatron bellowed.

"I keep telling you I'm not Miss Special!" Koorikaze said, glowering at the "shrunk" comment.

"You stay out of this, little human!"

There was a pause. Nothing happened.

"I suppose you're not Miss Special after all, nooo," Megatron remarked.

"I'm her SISTER!"

"Zizzter iz ztill good?" Waspinator looked hopeful. All Predacons turned to Koorikaze.

"What?"

"What do you know about the Beast Wars?" Megatron questioned.

"I know your names? You're Megatron, he's Inferno, there's Rampage… ick, that's Waspinator, that's, um…." She couldn't remember Quickstrike.

Megatron returned his fury to the two who had blundered.

"She can't even name us! Go and get her sister before I let Rampage have his way with you!" Waspinator and Quickstrike scurried off.

So that's why Miss Special's "glowing presence" was needed. Megatron needed her, but the spiders had gotten her first.

"What should be done with the human, Royalty?" Inferno pointed his flamethrower at 'Kaze.

"Leave her be, for now. We can use her as a bargaining chip, yesssssss."

Rampage went off to do better things, leaving Megatron, Inferno, and Koorikaze supposedly alone.

"Shall I guard her?" Inferno was eager to make up for messing up the first time they'd kidnapped a human.

Megatron thought long and hard. He didn't want to repeat a mistake.

"No. Lock her up in the brig."

Miss Special hissed under her breath. The brig was nothing more than a couple cages suspended over a lava pit-- how was she supposed to rescue her sister?

Oh. Of course. The spiders.

"I've got another job for you two," Miss Special whispered sweetly.

They reached the end of the same corridor Rattrap used to escape back on that day when he'd played Predacon.

Koorikaze was sitting at the far end of the cage, dropping bits of rubble into the lava, watching it melt into nothing. It was a fun way to pass the time.

"Hey, Shorty!" Miss Special called quietly. Koorikaze turned around.

"Hey! I didn't know you were here!"

"Blame him." Miss S pointed at Tarantulas.

"They thought I was you." 'Kaze sounded disgusted.

"I know." Miss Special mirrored her sister's disgust. "Anyways, we're here to get you out."

"I thought as much. But aren't the spiders bad guys? How come they're with you?"

"Blackmail!"

"Yay!"

"Slag, they're exactly alike," Blackarachnia groaned.

"We are not!" the sisters cried in unison.

"Now hurry up and get her out!" Miss Special ordered. Tarantulas grudgingly climbed onto the cage, picked the lock, and swung the door open.

"If you try anything funny," Miss S said gravely, "I'll see to it you won't be able to show your face anywhere without being shot at."

"I know that, human!" The spider picked 'Kaze up and brought her to safety.

"Quit callin' me human!"

"Yeah, what's up with that?" Koorikaze asked. "Is there something wrong with being called human?"

"They say it like it's an insult. They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

"They thwacked me on the head pretty good." Kaze rubbed the sore spot.

"That's how it works. They knock you unconscious and drag you here."

"So you really have been here before."

"Heh. Yeah, good times. I'll tell you about it later."

"We'd better get out of here before Megatron notices I'm not here."

"Finally, a human with a brain!"

Both humans glared at Tarantulas.

"We need a plan," Miss Special said, starting down the corridor. "And we have to make sure the spiders don't mess it up."

"Oh, now you say 'spider' like it's an insult." Blackarachnia followed Miss Special. Koorikaze went next and Tarantulas took up the rear.

"All right, 'Kaze, you think of something and I think of something and we'll figure it out from there."

"But I don't know this place very well," Koorikaze protested.

"Okay." Miss Special dropped back so she and Kaze were side by side. She lowered her voice so the spiders couldn't overhear.

"First, we have to figure out how to get away from these guys. The spiders need me because the Preds need me. And we have to get past the base's defenses without being seen, but that shouldn't be too hard, 'cuz we're fleshies and we don't have energy signatures. Waitaminnit- I've got an idea."

"Is it a good idea or a 'we'll probably get killed, but it's worth a shot anyways' idea?"

"The former?"

"Will it be fun?"

"Yes." Miss Special explained the details.

"I dunno, this sounds like one of those things that could get us killed," 'Kaze said skeptically.

"Do we have a choice?"

"I didn't say it was bad, I just said it's probably going to backfire. And it is fun."

"If it works."

Miss Special, Koorikaze, Blackarachnia, and Tarantulas covertly made their way out of the base and across the crater, approaching the perimeter. The spiders stopped.

"We can't leave without risking detection!" Tarantulas said.

Koorikaze turned to Miss Special, who didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Isn't that the signal?" she asked.

"Huh? Sorry, I was trying to think of a better plan. This one sounds stupider as we go."

"Tarry said that they can't leave without risking detection."

"OH! Yeah, that's the signal!" Miss Special hesitantly looked around. They were standing at the top of the rim, just on the inside of the base's autodefenses. "On three, then."

"How, exactly?"

"We go, 'one, two, three, go', and we run on 'go'. Ready?"

"Ready."

"One."

"What are you--" Tarry caught on to their plan.

"Two." Miss Special's voice squeaked. This wasn't good.

Tarry took a step forward.

"ThreeGO!!!" Both sisters ran as fast as their human legs could carry them.

"After them!" Tarantulas called out, taking up pursuit and tripping the perimeter alarm. Blackarachnia shot webs at the humans, who managed to dodge them by sheer dumb luck.

Predacons started coming out of the base to see what the spiders were doing. Blackarachnia turned around, looking innocent.

"Just what are you up to?" Megatron demanded. Tarantulas, already outside the perimeter, slipped away unnoticed.

"Nothing," Blackarachnia replied coolly.

"You were shooting at nothing?"

"There was a Maximal spying on us. I shot at him. He ran away. That's all."

Megatron glared at her for a moment, then said, "Inferno, check on the human!"

"Yes, my queen!"

Koorikaze looked over her shoulder.

"I don't see anyone," she reported.

Miss Special looked behind to verify. 'Kaze's observations confirmed, she stopped running and nearly fell over in the process. She sat down on a rock, gasping for breath. 'Kaze joined her.

"We can't stay in one place too long," Miss S breathed, stating the obvious. 'Kaze took a deep breath and stood up, walking ahead. Miss Special did the same.

"That was easily the stupidest thing I've ever done," Miss Special said.

"Stupider than buying that electric guitar?"

"You've done stupider. Like that time you saw that lady and said, 'Boy, you're old!'"

"I thought it was a compliment!"

There was a moment's silence.

"I said I'd tell you about what happened the first time I was here," Miss Special remembered.

"You did," 'Kaze agreed.

"You still wanna hear?"

"Yes."

"I was walking up the hill, completely minding my own business…."

"…And then I woke up, wondering if the whole thing was a dream. But I guess if you're here, too, then it's not a dream. Unless you're a dream 'Kaze."

"Maybe you're a dream Miss Special and I'm really the one dreaming," 'Kaze said.

"If you're here and I'm dreaming, then it must be a nightmare," Miss S snickered. Koorikaze pouted.

"Hey," Miss Special said, brightening up. "This is where the Maximals found me."

"You think they'll find us?" Koorikaze asked.

"I don't even know if they know we're here. I don't think we should count on it. If they know, then they'll come looking for us. We're on our own 'til then."

"Are we even heading in the right direction?"

"I think so. Maybe. I hope we are. But at least we're getting farther from the Predacons."

"I wonder if they've found out I've escaped."

"Betcha they have." Miss Special picked up the pace.

"Hey, don't go so fast! My legs aren't as long as yours!"

Miss Special sighed and slowed down.

"Wanna hear something depressing?" Koorikaze asked.

"Sure."

"Megatron was initially mad at Waspinator and-- who was it? Quickstrike?-- because he thought they'd brought you back. They said you were the only one they could find."

"Again?" Miss Special whined.

"Poor Miss Special."

"Poor Koorikaze for being short."

Koorikaze pouted.

Miss Special unconsciously picked up her pace again (she can't help it!) and Koorikaze fell behind. Neither noticed. But Koorikaze did notice…

"Do you hear something?"

"Oh," Miss Special answered fearfully.

"'Oh'?"

"I was hoping I was crazy and hearing things." The sisters stopped walking, listening intently.

Nothing. Miss Special warily took a few steps forward.

"C'mon, let's get going," she said.

"Maybe we're both crazy," 'Kaze said.

"I kinda figured that already."

Koorikaze didn't say anything. Which was odd, because she was supposed to say something contradictory, or at least pout.

"'Kaze?"

"Mmf!"

Miss Special wheeled around to see Koorikaze in the clutches of Tarantulas.

"Hey!" Miss S snarled. "Let her go! The only one allowed to pick on my sister is me!"

"Oh, gee, thanks!" Koorikaze managed to say.

Tarantulas giggled, "Now I have the upper hand, little human!"

"What did I tell ya about callin' me human?! Where's Blackarachnia? I'm sure she'd love to hear about how you're…." Miss Special stopped. Why wasn't Tarry scared she'd share his secrets?

"Blackarachnia has been detained," Tarry giggled.

"Ohhhh, crudmuffins." Miss Special had no power over the spider now. Except… "Hey! You need me!"

"Precisely," Tarantulas said. "Come quietly and your sister remains unharmed."

"It won't look good if you bring the precious human in all damaged. But no one cares if you're scrap."

"What are you getting at?" Tarantulas' patience was wearing thin.

"Hey Shorty, you thought the last plan was dumb-- check this one out!" Miss Special ran up to Tarantulas and kicked him in the shinplate.

"You think you can harm me?" Tarantulas laughed. "What a pitiful- OW!" Miss Special had smashed his toe. Following her sister's lead, Koorikaze managed to bite Tarry's hand as hard as she could.

Biting metal didn't feel good. Lucky for 'Kaze, Tarry didn't like it much either, and he lost his grip on her. Now free, 'Kaze joined Miss Special in kicking the slag out of the spider. It wasn't actually damaging him much; Tarantulas' main problem was that if he fought back, he'd risk hurting the human he needed.

"Enough of this!" Tarantulas exclaimed retreating to a tree. Miss Special briefly thought they'd won, until a blue web shot out and ensnared Koorikaze. Miss Special was caught in the next instant, and both sisters struggled helplessly.

"CRUDMUFFINS!" Miss Special growled, incensed.

"Miss Special, next time you bright idea of going for a walk," Koorikaze growled, "leave me out!"

"I doubt you'll have the chance," Tarantulas laughed, bending down to pick up Miss Special.

"Unhand that human!" a heroic voice ordered. Spider and humans (as best as they could) turned to look at the speaker:

"Silverbolt!" Miss Special exclaimed.

"Yeeee!" 'Kaze squee-d.

"D'oh, noo," Tarantulas whined, unhappy at seeing a Maximal when he was so close to getting what he wanted.

"Get 'im, Silverbolt!" one of the sisters said happily.

"Leave quietly," Silverbolt ordered Tarantulas, ignoring the humans' calls to 'beat the snot out of that guy' and such, "and you will be unharmed."

"Why do you bother?" 'Kaze asked Silverbolt. "He's not gonna listen to you."

"Because it's my duty as a Maximal," Silverbolt answered.

"'Bolt, watch out!" Miss Special yelled when Tarantulas brought his gun up and fired. Silverbolt narrowly dodged and returned fire.

"Fine!" Tarantulas said, completely fed up with the whole situation. "You can have those dratted, under-evolved, fleshy life forms! I don't care anymore!" Tarantulas stormed away.

"Woohoo!" Miss S cried triumphantly. Silverbolt freed the girls from the webs.

Miss Special chirped, "My hero!"

"No, my hero!" Koorikaze argued.

"We're saved!"

Silverbolt didn't know what to do with the two… exuberant… humans.

"How'd you find us?" Miss Special asked, calming down slightly.

"I was flying on patrol when I heard a commotion coming from down here," Silverbolt explained.

"Was it my yelling or Tarry's?"

"I believe it was both."

"EEW!!! I BIT A SPIDER!!!"

"That will be the least of your worries, yesssss."

"Uh-oh." The humans and Maximal turned around to see Megatron, Inferno, and Rampage behind them.

"Silverbolt can take on three Preds at once, right?" 'Kaze asked.

"Um… I dunno about these three Preds…"

"Worry not, ladies!" Silverbolt reassured. "I called for backup before engaging Tarantulas."

"Oh, goodie! When will they get here?"

"Any moment now," he answered.

"Don't s'pose Megatron's going to wait until they get here," 'Kaze said. "Got a plan?" she asked her sister.

"Let's take cover behind that rock." The sisters and 'bot did so, getting there just in time to avoid a barrage of gunfire.

"Now what?" 'Kaze asked.

"I don't know! Why don't you come up with something for once?" Miss Special grumbled.

"I figured that since you were on a roll with all those other plans, I'd just leave it to you. How does it go… We're all gonna die."

"Hey, dat's my line!"

"Yay!" the sisters chorused in unison.

"Oh, Primus!" Rattrap dove into view, shooting at the Predacons while joining the others hiding behind the rock. "Dey're multiplying! Except da clone's shorter!"

"Hey!" Koorikaze glared at Rattrap.

"She's not my clone!" Miss Special said.

"Well, who is she, den?"

"This is my sister, Koorikaze. She is six inches shorter than me. And a couple years younger."

"Yeah, thanks," 'Kaze said sarcastically.

"Anytime, Shorty. Hi, Optimus!" Miss S said to the mech who'd just gotten there.

"Hello again," Optimus said, mostly to be polite. He was preoccupied with engaging the enemy. Cheetor flew in and joined him.

"Let me guess," Rattrap said, "Megatron was actually stupid enough ta kidnap ya again."

"To Megs' credit, it wasn't his fault in the least," Miss Special said.

"Yeah, his goonies got us mixed up," 'Kaze continued, "and Megs didn't even want her."

"He wanted someone else," Miss S sniffed.

"Then how come you're here?" Optimus asked.

"Tarantulas and Blackarachnia knew of Waspy and Quickstrike's mistake and beat Megs to me. They wanted to use me as a bargaining chip of some sort," Miss Special explained.

"Alright, then," Optimus said, now fully understanding the situation. "Silverbolt, take them to base. If it's them Megatron's after, I doubt he'll continue the fight after his quarry's gone."

"But won't he just follow us there?" Koorikaze asked.

"Not if he can't get above the gunfire," Optimus replied.

"But you're gonna slag Inferno," Miss Special whined.

"What if they promise not to injure him too badly?" 'Bolt suggested. Miss Special stubbornly stayed put.

"Get going! That's an order!" Optimus said. Miss Special glared at him. Optimus backed off a little, not afraid of the glare, but afraid the human would become difficult. Humans could be quite annoying when displeased.

"Fine," he relented, "We'll try to go easy on Inferno."

"Come, ladies," Silverbolt said. "We have our orders."

Optimus' and Silverbolt's combined efforts ('Bolt did indeed have a way with words) convinced Miss Special to leave with Koorikaze and the Fuzor.

"Welcome back," Rhinox's voice greeted as the three came up the lift.

"Nice to be back!" Miss Special replied, not really sure whether or not she meant it. "Please don't hurt our poor little heads to send us home."

"'Kazes are not for hurting," Koorikaze echoed.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Rhinox said. He understood the humans' reluctance.

"Anyways, Shorty," Miss Special said, gesturing at the control room, "Welcome to the Axalon. This is Rhinox, as I'm sure you already know." Koorikaze and Rhinox shook hands.

Suddenly, the base rocked back and forth slightly. Red lights flashed.

"We are under attack!" Silverbolt reported, sitting in front of a computer screen.

"Autoguns, online!" Miss Special ordered.

Nothing happened.

"The defenses respond only to our voice commands," Rhinox told her. "Your voice isn't programmed into the system."

"Awww."

"Poor Miss Special," Koorikaze snickered.

"Aw, shaddup."

"It's just Quickstrike and Waspinator," Rhinox said. He pushed a couple of buttons, arming the ship's defenses.

"Trying to redeem themselves in the eyes of Megatron, no doubt," Silverbolt said.

The ship soon stopped shaking, the assault over.

"They were probably desperate," Rhinox sighed. He turned to the girls. "More importantly, we need to get the two of you home."

"But doesn't that take conking us on the head?" Miss Special rubbed the sore spot where she'd been hit the first time.

"At the moment, that's all we've got. But," Rhinox added when both humans' faces fell, "I'll try to find another way."

The sisters felt a little better, but not much. They sat down at unmanned stations, being quiet while Rhinox thought of a painless solution to the problem.

Just like Optimus predicted, the battle didn't last long after the humans left the battlefield, so it wasn't long before he and the others returned to the Axalon.

"What's the situation look like?" he asked Rhinox as he stepped off the lift, last to come up.

"They seem to have given up on the humans--" Miss Special grumbled loudly "--but I'm afraid we still don't have a way to get them home that doesn't include harming them."

Optimus nodded. "I remember the first time. It wasn't very fun for me, either," he said to Miss S apologetically.

"Well, how does it work?" Koorikaze asked the large, green Transformer. "Maybe MS and I can think of something."

"Well, according to what Tarantulas told us," Rhinox said, "you're kind of astral projections."

"We're dreaming?" The irony wasn't lost on the humans.

"Sort of," Rhinox confirmed.

"If we're astral projections, then how come we've got lumps on our heads?"

Rattrap opened his mouth for a smart-alecky comment, but Optimus gestured for him to keep quiet.

"Separating your consciousnesses from your physical selves requires unconsciousness," Rhinox explained.

"But if we're just projections," 'Kaze wondered, "how come we're not see-through?"

"Yeah," Miss Special continued. "How come we can get captured, and Silverbolt picked us up and... not going through walls, and um... stuff like sitting, and-- interact with the environment?" she finished, finding the words to coherently voice her confusion.

"The devices on the backs of yer necks are holographic emitters," Rattrap told them.

"...Devices?" Both humans felt the backs of their necks. Sure enough, each found a small metallic device clamped on.

"What, you didn't know they were there?" Cheetor apparently found that surprising.

"You did?" Koorikaze questioned the Maximals.

Rattrap shrugged. "How're we supposed to know what humans find weird?"

"Yeah, we think everything about you is weird," Cheetor added.

"So why don't we just take them off?" Miss Special asked.

"Not a good idea," Rhinox said quickly. "We don't know what would happen. Your consciousnesses could be lost."

"I don't want to be a vegetable," Koorikaze told her sister.

Miss Special sighed, then said, "If these are such nifty astral projection holo-emitter dealiebobs, how come Tarantulas hasn't done more with them?"

"Transformers are a lot more complex than fleshies," Rattrap said.

"But we saw them in our world!" Koorikaze protested.

After thinking for a moment, Rhinox said, "My guess would be that Transformers can use them, but probably only for a limited amount of time. Anyways, the easiest way to wake you up was the same thing that put you out."

"There must be a way to do it without resorting to violence," Silverbolt said.

"Smelling salts!" Miss Special proclaimed.

"Whats?" The Maximals stared at the human.

"That's right, you wouldn't have those."

All were quiet as they thought about how to get the humans to wake up.

"'Kaze, you're snoring," Miss Special quietly told her sister.

"No I'm not," Koorikaze insisted.

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not-- wait--" 'Kaze listened for a moment. "I am snoring!"

The Maximals, who weren't hearing anything that sounded even remotely like snoring, looked at each other. Humans were one odd race.

"Well, quit it!" Miss Special demanded.

"How do I quit it? I'm here, not where our bodies are! I can't exactly roll over!"

Miss Special went to Koorikaze and, in the same manner as one would to a soundly sleeping person, gave her a shove.

"Hey!" Koorikaze almost fell out of her chair.

"I'm trying to wake you up!"

"Well it's not working!"

"I know it's not! That's because I have to do it harder!"

"Girls," Optimus said, not liking where this was going, "I this isn't a very good idea--"

"I dunno," Rattrap said. "It could get interesting."

"Shut up, Rattrap."

Miss Special collected herself, then put her entire weight into one large push. As Koorikaze fell out of the chair, Miss Special's momentum brought her down as well.

"Knock it off!" Koorikaze demanded, angry. She suddenly noticed how cold it was.

Miss Special picked herself up off the ground, soaking wet. She looked around.

"I told you it wasn't working!" 'Kaze continued. Miss Special had crossed a line.

"Then how come we're sitting outside in the rain?"

"Huh?" Koorikaze looked up. A big raindrop promptly fell into her eye. "It worked!"

"It worked!" Miss S echoed.

"They left us out in the rain," 'Kaze grumbled.

"Jerks." Miss S's tone reflected her sister's. "It's warm inside. Let's go."

"What're we going to tell Mom?"

"We fell in a ditch."

"Both of us?"

"You fell in and I went after you, then fell down."

"Why do I have to fall in?"

"Because you're short."

Koorikaze sniffed. "You're mean."

Miss Special grinned. "C'mon, it's cold. Let's get inside."

The sisters walked back to their house, rubbing the sore spots on their heads.