Are We On Mars?

Chapter Ten

Wkwwssseddl leads them into the neon green town. The buildings around them are curved and oddly shaped, most thinner at the bottom than the top. Shadepelt eyes them in fascination.

"Wow," she mewed. "How do they stand like that?"

Wkwwssseddl shrugged. "Elepais, pn sechta pownseag."

Pebblepouce frowned. "He said they...grew this way?" He turned to Wkwwssseddl to clarify. "Pn sechta pownseag?"

Wkwwssseddl nods. The cats look at each other in bewilderment.

"Well...okay then," Shadepelt mewed. "Forget about it. I was just hoping they could teach us how to build them on Earth."

Greenface turned to Shadepelt cautiously. "Aren't you forgetting that the gravity here-"

"-isn't the same as Earth's. Of course I know that." Shadepelt huffed. "I just thought that they maybe knew something more than us about architecture."

Wkwwssseddl suddenly turns and enters a building. There is some animated talking inside, and Wkwwssseddl exits with another, still bright orange, slightly smaller cat.

"Ghti fudhb gishhh Dxxcvvtrammnk," introduced Wkwwssseddl.

"He says that cat's name is Dxxcvvtrammnk," translated Pebblepounce.

Lionshine leaned over to whisper to Alderwood. "What's with the long names, you think?"

Alderwood shrugged. "I guess Smurf cats just like long names."

Lionshine rolled her eyes. "They're ORANGE, Alderwood."

"I know."

"Then what...?" Lionshine gave up.

Meanwhile, Dxxcvvtrammnk, gesturing towards a large building, starts to explain something to a concentrating Pebblepounce. The other cats wait, impatient, as Pebblepounce translates.

"The...library is an important place for the..." He pauses, seemingly confused over the next word. "...the Hggfvbbrfdssahhy people."

"The WHO?" inquired Lionshine.

"Probably what they call themselves," mewed Greenface.

"Oh." Lionshine felt a little stupid she hadn't thought of that herself.

"It is important because it...um...houses important Gfdxzzbau," continues Pebblepounce. He turns to Wkwwssseddl. "Guoh hjbff 'gfdxzzbau'?"

"Gfdxzzbau sonhf kinggzv bvloggah," explains Wkwwssseddl. "Elepais, guvcd hssdsvb covbn magicjkkkkk."

Pebblepounce frowned. "He said they're like...magical stones that contain the entire history of the universe."

All the earth cats fix Pebblepounce with a inquiring stare.

"Are you sure you didn't misinterpret?" asked Lionshine.

"I'm sure." Pebblepounce looked offended.

"Okay. Let's see those stones then!"

Pebblestone quickly translates the command and all the cats set off. They walk towards the large building from earlier, but when they are a couple fox-lengths away Dxxcvvtrammnk stops them, talking too fast for Pebblepounce to understand.

"Pebblepounce, what's the matter?" asked Lionshine anxiously.

Pebblepounce shrugged. "I don't know. They're talking too fast! I'll ask them to slow down." He paused, trying to gather his thoughts. 

"No! Hurry! We have to see these magical stones!"

Pebblepounce looked panicked. "Okay, okay!" He turns to Dxxcvvtrammnk and mews quickly. "Rhgirkmf wohn, ghu thoey gngnbfff ohgn hutjff hgasdol." He stops and looks terrified. "No, no, no. That's not what I meant!"

The Venus cats now look livid, and they call out the other cats from the houses. All of them are holding nasty-looking advanced-seeming laser guns, and they are pointing them at the crew.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" screamed Lionshine as a laser burns a bit of her fur. "RUN!!!"

Lionshine begins sprinting as fast as her legs can carry her back towards the rover. The rest of the crew follow, all ducking and dodging as the Venus cats begin to shoot at them. The crew gets to the rover and Lionshine leaps in the driver's seat, Alderwood taking shotgun, and starts it up. Greenface and Pebblepounce are in the seats, forcing Shadepelt to leap on the back. She yowls in horror as she sees orange cats zipping after them on jetpacks.

Shadepelt took a deep breath to calm herself. "Right. Anyone have something to throw?"

There is a moment of silence.

Greenface turns to Pebblepounce. "He does. Those dumb rocks he picked up earlier."

"Good." Shadepelt scooped them up, ignoring Pebblepounce's cries of "my precious!". 

She begins throwing them with her tail expertly, knocking the jetpacked cats off course and causing them to spin into others. She does this for a while, none of the cats managing to shoot the rover.

Finally, just as Shadepelt is running out of rocks, Lionshine shoots the rover into the rocket, shuts the door, and jumps out, sighing in relief.

"Good thing I'm such an excellent driver," she mews. "We would've been crow-food otherwise."

Shadepelt rolls her eyes. 

"But you shouldn't have needed my driving skills. Pebblepounce, what in the name of StarClan did you say?"

Pebblepounce looked down in embarrassment. "I...well...said that I think their leader is scum and they are a bunch of fat lard-bellies."

"WHAT?" yowled the crew in unison. Alderwood began to purr his head off.

"Sorry. It's my fault we didn't get the stones." Pebblepounce hung his head. Most of the crew looks at Pebblepounce sternly, but Alderwood began to purr even harder.

"No, no. It's fine! It's the most purrarious thing I've heard all day!" Alderwood managed, somehow staying upright with the intense purrs rocking his body. He collapsed unto Lionshine, who quickly shoved him off.

Lionshine turned to the rest of the crew. "What's gotten into my brother lately? Orange Smurf cats, terrible puns..."

"Terrible? No no, they're clawful!!! Hahahaha!"

Lionshine began to back away from her brother, who was purring on the floor. "You know, I think I'll go start up the ship..."

Hah! You thought those stones had something to do with the plot! TROLOLOLOLOL.

Brought to you by Ember ;)