The Rebels wandered into the Predacon base.
"What are YOU doing here?" Megatron snarled at Artico.
The fox shrugged. "Waiting."
"For what?"
Blacklight walked in then and smiled. "For Tarantulas."
A group of lemmings followed her into the room. One spoke up, "Yeah, we wanna get a good seat!"
The Predacon dragon growled angrily. "Why is he coming here?"
Emerald giggled, "Because."
"Because why?" Megatron frowned at the evil grins that went around the room. "Nevermind. I don’t want to know." He turned to leave.
The Rebels followed him.
He eyed them warily. "Why are you following me?"
"Because," Eagalor said.
Megatron debated with himself silently for a moment, and then sighed wearily. "Because why?" he asked resignedly. He started when Talon and Mantodea walked in.
Talon grinned at him, "Just because."
Megatron backed away nervously, "Um, okay."

"Come back here!"
"Leave me alone!"
Rampage watched Tarantella chase Depth Charge around the hill he was sitting on. Depth Charge had originally been trying to kill him when the blue Rebel had caught up with him, but the ray-bot had abandoned the fighting in favor of fleeing. That had been happening a lot lately, and Rampage found he was coming to like it. If Tarantella was attacking Depth Charge, it meant that Rampage could sit on the sidelines and watch them. Well, he was really only watching Tarantella...
Krabby waved a claw in front of her trainer’s face. "Kcchh kciii?"
Rampage didn’t even blink. He just continued staring at the blue femme. She was completely set on catching Depth Charge.
Depth Charge, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with her. "Why won’t you go away?!" he shouted. He dodged as Tarantella shot a web at him. The web missed, but he was tackled by the determined Rebel.
She pinned him down despite his struggles. "Because I don’t want to, and you can’t make me," she said. Tarantella smiled evilly, and Depth Charge froze in terror. She used the pause to tie him up.
Rampage sighed as he watched the femme work. Strange new feelings were making themselves known to him, and he didn’t know what they were. All he knew was that they were centered around Tarantella.
"Kcchh!" Krabby snapped her pincers right in front of Rampage’s face. "Kcch kcchh kciii!"
He snapped his head back. "Huh?! Oh, hi Krabby," Rampage smiled weakly, "I didn’t know you were out."
Krabby clicked her claws. "Kccii."
He laughed a bit nervously, "Yeah, I guess it was a little obvious. I was just watching Tarantella..." he trailed off for a minute, lost in thought, until Krabby pinched him. "Ow! Um, and Depth Charge fight." Rampage’s eyes wandered back to where Tarantella was dragging Depth Charge off. The ray-bot was yelling for her to let him go. Unexpectedly, Rampage felt...envious.
"Kchhh?"
He shook himself out of the daze he had fallen into, "What’d you say?"
The Poke’mon patiently repeated her question, "Kchhh?"
"Do I like Tarantella? What kind of question is that?! Of course I don’t...like..." The thought of his recent feelings stopped him. He looked at Krabby uncertainly, "Um, why do you ask?"
The Poke’mon seemed to laugh. "Kcch kcii, kcchhhkcc!"
"I have?" How had he been acting like it? Rampage paused as he considered. Over the last couple of weeks, he had been thinking more and more about her. To the point of distracting him from doing things. Every time he encountered her, he tried to impress and/or talk to her. Tarantella had reacted with her typical ‘Kill The Male’ attitude, so he was mostly watching from a distance, but he still followed her around when he could.
Maybe it was kind of obvious...
He sighed. "Do you think anyone else has noticed?" he asked Krabby.
She shrugged.
"Well, you’re a great help," he muttered. Rampage felt a faint sense of amusement from his tiny bit of psychic power, "You think this is funny!"
Krabby shrugged again.
Just then Depth Charge flew by overhead. He had somehow escaped from the Rebel spider. The fact that he wasn’t stopping to try and kill Rampage showed how desperate he was to get away.
The crabs watched him speed away, and turned back to see a large blue tarantula coming towards them. Krabby retreated behind her trainer.
Rampage cautiously stood his ground. "Um, hi Tarantella," he said weakly. Krabby tugged on his hand, trying to get him to back away.
Tarantella stopped and glared at the crab-bot. She transformed to her robot mode. "You again. Stop following me, and MOVE!" she yelled.
He stayed in place, despite Krabby’s pulling on him. "Er, I was wondering..."
Tarantella’s fist hit him between his eyes. "Get outta my way," she growled angrily as Rampage stumbled back. She went back to her beast mode, and took off after Depth Charge again. Her voice came drifting back, "Stupid male."
Rampage looked after her, rubbing at the spot she had hit him in. Krabby anxiously clacked her pincers, and he shrugged. "I’ll be alright," he told her. "She’s done worse to me before."
"Kcch kcii," Krabby stated worriedly.
"Give up?" Rampage stared at her in surprise. "Why should I do that? She can’t kill me, so why would it matter if she can," he grimaced, "and does beat me up?"
"Kcch kccchhh."
He flinched, then glared at her. "Well, she may like him, but Depth Charge doesn’t like her. I still have a chance." He muttered under his breath, "Small as it may be..."
"Kch," Krabby snorted. She looked up at him with exaggerated sadness in her eyes, "Kchii."
Shocked, Rampage stared at her for a moment. "I do not neglect you!" he protested finally. He huffed, "In fact, do you want to go swimming?"
Krabby seemed to consider it, and then agreed. She happily walked along with Rampage as they headed for the water. She had made her trainer forget about being lovesick for a while, and she was going to get to go swimming. What more could she want?

The door for the most hidden door in the Rebel base slid open, letting the light from the hall outside in. The light showed a large machine with nice neat hand writing on the side saying, ‘CHIBI-RAY #3 (New and Improved!)’.
A couple dozen figures popped into the room, and stared at the chibi-ray machine.
"Kiwi!"

Megatron was going crazy. "Get out of there!" he shouted at a group of lemmings. They ignored him, and kept on playing with the insides of a computer. He turned to Artico, "Can’t you control them?!"
Artico shrugged, "Sometimes."
The rest of the assembled Rebels laughed as Megatron growled. Quickstrike smirked as he worked at the computers, but Dinobot looked annoyed at the festive mood that the Rebels were in.
"They're almost as bad as Ivyna," he muttered. He didn’t notice as all the Rebels stopped what they were doing and glared at him. He frowned idly and walked up to where Megatron and Artico were. "Where is that little pest, anyway?" he asked Artico. "She hasn’t been around for a while."
Megatron looked at Artico, "Yessss. Where has she been? I did hire her."
"Not that I miss her," Dinobot said under his breath. Artico snarled at him. "What?"
"GRRRRRAAAA!!!" Talon attacked from one side, and Mantodea hit Dinobot from the other. Between them they reduced Dinobot to metal shavings.
Megatron backed away nervously when they eyed him evilly.
Quickstrike watched the enraged duo slowly stalk the dragon. He turned to Waspinator, who was cheering them on along with the rest of the Rebels. "What in tarnation did they do?" he asked. "All the boss wanted to know is why Ivy ain’t here!"
Waspinator shook his head, "They called little spider-bot names. Not good!"
"Huh?" Quickstrike glanced at Megatron, "Why’s that so bad?"
Emerald came up beside Waspinator. "Ivy’s been having some problems lately, and we Rebels are being, um, very protective of her."
"Oh."
"Kittyhawk, hey! Talon! Mantodea! You can’t shred Megs right now!"
The duo stopped and looked at the tiny fuzor. "Why not?"
Kittyhawk smiled. "Kittyhawk, Tarantulas needs him intact!"
Talon and Mantodea thought about that for a second, and backed off.
"Why does Tarantulas need me?" Megatron asked cautiously.
Tarantulas and Kadabra appeared in the middle of the room before anyone could answer. "I promised Ivy I’d do something to you," Tarantulas said, "and I’m here to do it."
The Rebels all grinned evilly and scrambled for seats.
Megatron seemed nervous. "And what exactly are you going to do?" the dragon wanted to know.
"Uh, well," Tarantulas shifted uncomfortably, "It’s not life-threatening or anything if that’s what you mean..."
Megatron looked at him suspiciously, "So what are you going to do?"
"Um..." Tarantulas was looking REALLY uncomfortable now. Kadabra left him to go sit with the Rebels, who were stifling laughter. The spider chuckled uneasily, "I, um, have to, er..."
The Rebels were openly laughing at Tarantulas’s embarrassment. "Spit it out!" yelled some of the lemmings.
Megatron narrowed his eyes. "Yesss..?"
"I have to, um, kiss your feet," Tarantulas said finally.
"What?!" Megatron stared at the spider in disbelief. "Kiss my..? You’re joking!"
Tarantulas shook his head, "I wish."
The Predacon leader started to laugh. He sat down in his throne and propped his feet up on a console. "This...is...going...to be...sweet," he gasped out.

Rampage splashed through the water, trying to catch Krabby. "Hey, no fair going under those rocks! You’re smaller than me! I can’t fit!"
Krabby chortled. "Kcch!"
"Oh, yeah? Watch me!" The Predacon crab grabbed the edge of the rock and flipped it up, revealing his Poke’mon underneath. "Gotcha!" he yelled, and tagged her. "You’re it!"
"Kccciii!!"
"Just because you’re too slow to get me..."
"Kcchh kcii-"
Krabby was cut off as Depth Charge made a crash landing in the water above them. "Ouch." The Maximal righted himself as his Poke’mon popped out of its ball. They looked around to see Krabby and Rampage giving them stunned looks.
"Hor-se-sea!" Horsea swam over to his friend. "Horsea?"
"Kcchhi!"
"You! X!" Depth Charge glared at the crab.
"I really do prefer to be called Rampage, you know," Rampage said sarcastically. He really didn’t feel like fighting right now. Thinking of Depth Charge made him think of Tarantella, and that’s what he was trying to forget...
A splash sounded from the surface of the water above them, and Depth Charge started. "Um, I’ll get back to you," he said, and started to swim off. Horsea reluctantly followed while Krabby waved goodbye.
A net settled around them all.

The kiwis jumped around on the Chibi-ray’s control panel, hitting buttons at random. A bunch of them pecked one large button at once, pressing it down.
The button was labeled ‘Ultra Chibi’.
The machine powered up. "Select energy signatures," the machine said, displaying a list of all of the currently known energy signatures.
The kiwis continued jumping and pecking.

"Jiggly-puff, jig-jig-jiggly puff puff!" Jigglypuff bounced into the room, attracting the attention of the Rebels and Predacons.
Togepi toddled in after it. "Toge toge!" it exclaimed happily, and came over to Tarantulas, who was by Megatron. It held up its arms expectantly.
Tarantulas took the excuse for delay with relief, and picked the egg Poke’mon up. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He walked over to the balloon Poke’mon, concern replacing his relief. "Is Ivy okay?"
"Kittyhawk, Jigglypuff wouldn’t leave Ivy alone!" Kittyhawk said with conviction.
"So why is it here?" Blacklight said practically.
Tarantulas scanned Jigglypuff’s thoughts, and his eye widened. "It didn’t leave Ivy alone," he said slowly.
Artico snorted skeptically. "Who’s with her, then? Almost everyone’s here!"
Megatron growled, annoyed at having his entertainment delayed. "Why does that little-" Talon and Mantodea turned towards him menacingly, and he gulped. "Why does Ivyna need someone with her?"
"She just does!" Emerald said.
A giggle was heard. The Rebels looked around in surprise, since none of them were laughing.
Tarantulas sighed, "If you guys would have listened, I said Jigglypuff didn’t leave Ivy alone. It came with her." He glanced around, "Ivy, you really shouldn’t be out of bed yet."
"But it’s boring!" Ivy shimmered into view behind Megatron, tossing her now-chin length hair. "I wanted to be outside for a while."
"Ivy..." Ivy made puppy-eyes at him. "Oh, alright. But just for a little while."
Ivy squealed and jumped over to sit by Talon and Mantodea.
<<You’re a sucker.>> Kadabra told Tarantulas.
<<I know.>>
Quickstrike watched Ivy sit down, and turned to Emerald. "What happened to her hair? And why in tarnation should she have to stay in bed?" he asked in puzzlement.
Emerald gave him a level look. "Remember what I said about something happening to Ivy?" He nodded. "That’s why."
"Oh." Quickstrike considered the likelihood of Talon and Mantodea attacking him if he asked more, and decided to drop the issue.
Megatron had watched the exchanges in confusion, but shrugged it off. "So, anyway..." he said with a smile. He relaxed into his throne when Tarantulas shrugged resignedly and walked towards him.
The Rebels cheered.

"Get your tail out of my face!"
"Watch it with your claws!"
"Hor-se-se-a!"
"Kccciiiii!"
The four sea creatures struggled with the net, but were steadily brought to the surface. They came up into the air along the side of a boat.
Tarantella scowled down at them.

The kiwis retreated as the machine started to shake and glow. Suddenly, three separate beams of light formed and shot off!
The machine exploded, but luckily no kiwis were hurt.

"Tarry!"
"I suppose this means he can’t kiss my feet." Megatron looked down at the tiny spider in disgust, "Was I really that small when I was chibi?"
Ivy scowled up at him, "No, you weren’t, you big meanie. At least," she looked uncertain, "I don’t think you were..."
Blacklight picked up the miniature Tarantulas carefully. He giggled, and tried to escape her hands. She frowned, "No, none of the Predacons or Maximals were this small. I wonder what happened?"
"Teeheehee!" Tarantulas wriggled loose from Blacklight’s hands and attempted to run off.
Waspinator caught him easily. "Tiny chibi-spider-bot is cute!" Tarantulas was only about the size of both of Waspinator’s hands put together.
Emerald took the itsy-bitsy spider away from Waspinator and handed him back to Blacklight. "It’s disturbing seeing him so cute."
"I...think...I made another chibi-ray." The Rebels all looked at Ivy, who had her eyes screwed up tight with concentration. "But I don’t know!" she wailed suddenly. "I just don’t know!"
<<Calm down!>> Kadabra appeared by her side <<You’ll hurt your mind if you keep panicking. Don’t try to force your memories to become whole.>>
"But it’s my fault!" she said to the Poke’mon.
Kadabra seemed to frown. <<No it’s not.>>
"Kittyhawk, it’s not your fault!"
Ivy started to cry. "B-but I m-must have built a chibi-ray! Tarry wouldn't be chibi if I hadn't!" she sobbed.
"Yes, but it's still not your fault!" Blacklight walked over to the jumping spider, and held out the tiny Tarantulas, who watched Ivy curiously. "Here, take him."
Ivy reached out and took Tarantulas. She gave him a tearful smile, "Hi, Tarry." He didn't say anything, but he snuggled into her arms. She cuddled him close, "Aw, he's so cute!"
Megatron gagged in the background.
Artico frowned, "Why isn't he saying anything?"
<<I can answer that question>> Kadabra looked at them all solemnly <<Tarantulas's mind is that of someone below a 5-year-old. I don't think he knows how to talk.>>
The frown deepened. "We'd better get back to base. I want to know how this happened, and how many others were affected."

"Hor-se-sea!"
"Kccchh!"
Tarantella glared down into the net. "Well, this is just great." The two very chibi-bots looked back up at her innocently. "Stop looking at me like that. I'm not going to get you out of this." The pair seemed to understand her, because big tears formed in their eyes.
"Kccii!" Krabby banged her claws against the side of the boat. Horsea just gave her a glare.
Rampage and Depth Charge were awful cute...Tarantella reconsidered. If nothing else, she could hold Depth Charge for a while. And, really, they were adorable. It was sickening, almost.
"I suppose I'm duty-bound to get you to the Rebel base," she grumbled. She sighed, and reached down.
Rampage was easy to get out. He seemed to leap for her hand. The problem was...
"Let go of me, you little..." Tarantella pried at the crab. He clung stubbornly to her hand, not pinching her hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to stay put. "Leggo!" She could almost admire his stubborn determination. Almost.
Tarantella found a set of pliers in a toolbox, and threatened Rampage with it. He kept his claws clamped shut. She was just about to start cracking them open when Krabby hauled herself onto the boat.
"Kcchh." Rampage grip loosened a little. "Kcchh!" He reluctantly let go.
Tarantella gave the Poke'mon a nod of thanks, and put the very-chibi-Rampage into a makeshift fishtank. The Predacon crab barely fit into the miniature sink in the ship's bathroom, but she didn't have anything else. He seemed to look at her reproachfully as she left.
Next, Tarantella tried to pick up Depth Charge. He avoided getting caught until Horsea nudged him into her hands. Unlike Rampage, Depth Charge struggled to get loose once she had gotten him.
"Just stay still!" she yelled at him finally. The ray ignored her. She dumped him into a bucket.
Then Tarantella headed back towards the Rebel base to find out how to turn Rampage and Depth Charge back into their regular selves.

At the Rebel base, tests ran wild. Results, though, were another matter.
"I don’t know why they’re so small," Artico whispered to Arcana. He was whispering because Ivy had fallen asleep in the corner cuddling Tarantulas. "I don’t know why none of the other Maximals or Predacons were effected, either."
Tarantella wasn’t so kind to the sleeping jumping spider. "Well, do you have any idea what to do?!" she yelled. "I’m not going to hold onto him forever, you know!" She held up Rampage, and wistfully looked across the room at the big fishtank where Depth Charge was. The tiny ray-bot started screaming whenever Tarantella came near him. Rampage started screaming if she WASN’T near him. Exactly opposite of how she wanted it...
Artico glared at her. "I’m working on it," he hissed.
Tarantella growled and abruptly dropped Rampage. "I’m not going to deal with a bunch of brats. You guys can if you want." She stomped off.
Rampage immediately started crying. Tears burst from his huge eyes, and all the femmes in the room (except for Ivy) gathered around him.
Blacklight tried to pick him up, but he snapped his tiny, but still effective, pincers at her. "It’s too weird to see him this cute," she muttered.
"Kcchh." Krabby delicately picked up her trainer in her comparatively huge claws. She cradled him next to herself. "Kcchh," she said comfortingly.
Rampage’s crying eventually tempered down to cute little sniffles as his Poke’mon rocked him gently. Soon his eyes closed, and he drifted off to sleep.
The Rebels just watched in amazement.
Ivy giggled as she played with Tarantulas. She found she was actually enjoying having the Transmetal being ultra-chibi. The tiny little tarantula was less than a fourth of her size, and for once she wasn’t the cutest around. She and the rest of the Rebels were taking pictures constantly.
Tarantulas concentrated, and pounced for the stuffed mouse on a string she had made for him. Unfortunately, one of his legs tangled up his other 7 legs, and he collapsed in a heap. Ivy giggled again as she and Jigglypuff had to assist him back to his feet. Togepi looked at him blankly.
<<This is SO disturbing>> Kadabra said to her.
A wail from across the room prevented her from answering the Poke’mon. Rampage had woken up, apparently, and Krabby’s efforts to soothe him weren’t working very well.
Tarantella stormed into the room at that moment.
Rampage scuttled over and held up his claws, wanting to be picked up. She didn’t notice, and accidentally kicked him. The chibified crab went flying into a wall. Krabby ran after him.
Tarantella glared at Artico. "Well?"
He sighed, "I guess I’m going to have to build a un-chibi-ray. From scratch." He gave the impatient ex-Amazon a placating look. "It’s probably going to take me a few weeks."
"A few weeks?!"
Artico suddenly found it very hard to breathe due to a hand crushing his throat.
"Kittyhawk, let him go!" Kittyhawk flew up and batted with his paws at Tarantella.
She snarled, but reluctantly dropped the fox. He gasped for air. Tarantella stood over him with a menacing look on her face, "You mean that Depth Charge is going to be this, this," she waved her hand, trying to find an appropriate word, "slagging little $%&#*&," she said finally, not finding anything appropriate to say, "for WEEKS?!"
Arcana glanced at the fish tank where Depth Charge was happily swimming. "He’s not that bad..." she said slowly.
Tarantella was about to say something about that when she felt her hand being tugged on. Looking down, she saw an angry Krabby looking up at her. "What do YOU want?" the Rebel femme spat out.
"Kcciii!" Krabby held up a dazed-looking Rampage. "Kcch kccicch kkkii!"
"I don’t wanna hold that crabcake!" Tarantella shouted. "Get him away before I turn him into a seafood salad for my lunch!"
Blacklight ran into the room right then. "Guys, I might have a solution of a kind!"
"What?!" Artico gaped at her in surprise. "I’m the smartest person around! How could you have gotten something before me?!"
Ivy got up and walked over, holding Tarantulas. "So, what is it?"
"The Anime World," Blacklight said with a smile. "I think that in the Anime world they wouldn’t be affected." She shrugged at the Rebels’ shocked looks. "Well, they might be a bit cuter, but I don’t know. This is all speculation."
Ivy considered, "So if we just pop them into the Anime world and then back out, they’ll be back to normal?" Tarantella smiled.
Blacklight shook her head, "No. If they’d come back they’d still be really-chibi." She held up a hand at Tarantella’s instant rage, "But while they are in the Anime world, Artico can work on an un-chibi-ray."
Tarantella and Ivy grinned, "Let’s do it."

Rampage woke up slowly, sensing that there was something different. The last day or so he had spent seeing everyone as giants and having a REALLY weird mindset, so this was nothing new. He opened his eyes to see white things hanging in his face. He had the strange feeling that he had seen them before...
"It worked!"
Rampage turned his head to see a human with short silver hair bouncing up and down next to another human with purple hair who was laying on the ground. The white things stayed in front of his eyes. He raised his hand to brush them out of his face, and froze.
His hand looked different, but strangely familiar...Oh, no....he tugged at the white things and confirmed it. He was human. The white things were hair bangs. He examined the rest of his body and concluded that once again, he was an Anime human.
"Yeah, it worked. Now, hold still!"
Rampage slowly got up, looking for the source of the other voice. It came from behind him, where another couple of humans were struggling on the ground.
The woman managed to pin down the man. "Ha! Gotcha!" she said smugly.
"Just let me go, you psycho!" the man yelled, desperately trying to get away.
It took a moment, but the pair’s blue colored clothing triggered Rampage’s memory. "Tarantella? Depth Charge?"
"Huh?" Tarantella glanced up for a moment. "Oh. It’s you. Go away, crabcakes." She turned back to Depth Charge.
Rampage sighed, and looked at the other pair. He didn’t remember Ivyna’s hair being that short, but... "Ivyna? Tarantulas?"
They looked away from each other long enough to nod.
He glanced between the groups. He got the feeling that he was the odd, er, man out. "So," he asked loudly, "what are we doing here again?" He gestured towards the Anime world around them.
Ivy sighed and reluctantly came back to business. "We’re here until Artico can build an un-chibi-ray."
"An un-chibi-ray?" Rampage echoed in confusion. "Why does he need an un-chibi-ray?"
Ivy smiled and held out a picture to Tarantulas and Rampage. Tarantella dragged Depth Charge over to look at it, too. The three males gasped.
The picture showed three adorably tiny, and disturbingly familiar, animals.
"So what are we supposed to do until Artico is finished?" Depth Charge asked irritably after all the explanations had been made. "Just sit around?" He shifted nervously as Tarantella eyed him evilly.
Ivyna shrugged and pointed across the street from her seat on a park bench. "Blacklight reserved some rooms for us in that hotel, and she made sure to give us TONS of money."
Rampage snorted. "So?"
Tarantella glared at him. "So we can do practically anything."
His eyes lit up. "Ooh." He looked at Ivyna and Tarantulas, who were absorbed with each other, and then at Depth Charge, who was frowning at the hotel. He smiled awkwardly at Tarantella. "Um, want to go to a movie?" He had heard about 'movies' from the Rebels, and they seemed to be a common thing to go see on a date. And that was why he was really hoping Tarantella would accept his offer...
Tarantella scowled and slapped him. "No!" she growled. "I don't know what your problem is, but you had better learn to leave me alone!" She turned on her heel and stalked off towards the hotel.
Depth Charge looked at Rampage consideringly. His mortal enemy was holding a hand to the cheek that Tarantella had slapped him on, and his eyes...they had those little Anime hearts in them...
As he watched, Rampage followed Tarantella, joined by Ivyna and Tarantulas. Depth Charge slowly went after them, thinking over the impossible idea that had been suggested. Rampage? In love with Tarantella? It seemed laughable, but the longer he thought about it, the more likely it became. Memories of the crab's odd behavior over the last month or so fit into the idea. The way he looked at her, the way he acted around her...
Another idea popped into Depth Charge's mind as he thought. So, Rampage was in love...but Tarantella seemed to be chasing after HIM! Rampage must be screaming with jealousy inside every time Depth Charge fled from Tarantella's advances. What would Rampage do if he stopped fleeing..?
A nasty smirk spread across Depth Charge’s face as a plan took form...

Ivyna stamped her foot. "What do you MEAN there are only three rooms?! Blacklight reserved FIVE!"
The teenager behind the counter rolled his eyes. "Well, we only have three. Three rooms with two beds each. You want them, or what?"
Tarantella grinned and glanced at Depth Charge. He glanced at Rampage, and then weakly smiled back at her. Delighted at finally getting a response from him, her grin widened into a smile. She turned back to the teen. "We'll take them."
Ivy blinked, then looked at Tarantulas with a shy smile. "So, um, want to be my roomy?"
"Sure," he said with a reassuring smile. They headed for the elevator.
Depth Charge smirked at Rampage's smoldering look of hatred, and tapped Tarantella on the shoulder. "Hey, want to be my room mate?" he asked casually.
She looked up from paying the teenager, startled. "Yeah!" she answered eagerly. She flashed another brilliant smile at him and then turned back to paying for the rooms.
Depth Charge laughed silently as Rampage gritted his teeth and fumed angrily. Depth Charge jerked his head off to the side, and Rampage reluctantly walked off while the ray turned back to Tarantella.
"I'll meet you upstairs, then." Depth Charge marveled at how easy it was to sound convincing enough that Tarantella nodded and walked off. He casually leaned on the counter until she was out of sight, and then he slowly walked towards some pillars that Rampage had disappeared in. What he was about to do was going to be like playing with fire, but if it worked the payback would make it worth it.
He swaggered into the pillars.
A hand caught his shirt and slammed him up against a pillar out of sight of the counter. "What do you--" Rampage started to hiss.
Depth Charge looked at him levelly. "Tarantella probably wouldn’t like it if I was bruised," he said calmly. "And you don’t want to make Tarantella unhappy, do you." It came out more of a statement than a question.
Rampage’s eyes went wide with shock. "I--" he swallowed hard and tried again. "I don’t know what you’re talking--"
"You had better be on your best behavior," Depth Charge interrupted him, "or I’ll make sure Tarantella has a lot of reasons to dislike you even more." He effortlessly shook his shirt front loose of Rampage’s suddenly limp grasp and stepped away, disdainfully speaking over his shoulder as he walked away. "I’m in control now, Rampage."
The fact that Rampage didn’t even attempt to follow him told Depth Charge just how accurate his guesses had been about the crab’s feelings for Tarantella. And how exploitable they were...
Rampage dazedly watched his mortal enemy smugly leave. Normally, he would have attacked the back turned towards him, but...Depth Charge was right. He WAS calling the shots now. Rampage didn’t dare do anything that would threaten him, because the ray-bot had Tarantella’s ear and apparently wasn’t afraid to use it. Rampage couldn’t risk that. His position with the femme was already bad enough!
Dismayed and angered, he slowly walked back out of the hotel. He could see his room later. Right now he had to cool off before he saw Depth Charge again, or he’d forget and attack him anyway. He turned onto the sidewalk outside and headed downtown. Maybe there was something to keep him occupied in town.
As he walked, depression set in. Rampage had never had feelings like the ones he had for Tarantella before, and getting his heart stepped on HURT. She had chosen Depth Charge over him! Why?! What did he have that Rampage didn’t?!
Whatever it was, it obviously made Rampage unworthy in her eyes. The scenery around him blurred, and he swiped at his eyes to clear them of their tears. He walked off, head down and shoulders hunched against the world.
Ivy let the curtain fall back over the window as Rampage’s miserable form disappeared around a curtain. She turned to Tarantulas, who was fascinated by his reflection in a mirror.
"Tarry?" she asked. "Did Rampage seem a little..." She searched for words to describe the aura of misery the human form of the crab-bot had seemed to give off.
Tarantulas looked up from the mirror. "Hmm? Rampage what?"
Ivy frowned slightly. "I don’t know, but he seems a little...depressed." She reached over and tugged the mirror out of his hands. Her reflection frowned back at her as she ran her hand through her now-short silver hair. "Maybe I’m not remembering clearly, but that doesn’t seem right for him."
Tarantulas gently put an arm around her shoulders. "You’ll get your memories back," he reassured her. "Don’t push yourself. As for Rampage--"
A knock interrupted him, and Tarantella poked her head into the room with a casual disregard for privacy. Tarantulas automatically jerked his arm away from Ivy because of his ingrained image of not caring. Ivy gave him a hurt look, but his attention was on Tarantella at the moment.
The female tarantula turned human smiled happily. "Me and Fishy are going to a movie," she said. "Just thought you should know!" With that, Tarantella ducked back out of the room.
Tarantulas shrugged and turned back to Ivy. "Well--"
The phone rang.
Ivy stared at it for a moment. "Who would be calling?" she mused as she picked it up. "Hello?" She listened for a second. "He’s right here," she said with a puzzled frown, and she handed the phone to Tarantulas.
He frowned and held it to his ear. "Hello? Oh, hi Sabrina."
Ivyna frowned again. Something was nagging at the back of her mind about Sabrina. A half-memory of being jealous of how much time Tarry spent with her...
"Um...I don’t know, we just got here," Tarantulas was saying as she thought. "Well, I suppose...maybe...hold on, I’ll ask Ivyna." He put his hand over the receiver and looked at Ivy. "Sabrina just invited me to go to some sort of psychics’ convention," he said. "Do you want to go?"
She definitely didn’t like Sabrina for some reason. "Tarry, I..." She shrugged helplessly, unable and unwilling to express her jealousy. "What would I do there?" she asked instead. "I’m no psychic."
He blinked. "Um, I don’t know." He took his hand off the receiver and spoke into the phone again. "What would Ivy do?...not come? But...yeah, but...no, I guess not..." Tarantulas put his hand over the receiver again. "Would you mind if I went? Alone?" he asked half-guiltily.
Ivyna uneasily thought to herself about the likelihood of him not being alone once Sabrina found him. "Do you really have to go?" she asked in a small voice.
He hesitated, torn between meeting other psychics and staying with Ivy. "I kinda want to," he said slowly. "If you really don’t want me to, I guess I can stay with you..."
She sighed. If Tarantulas stayed with her, she’d know that he’d much rather be at the convention. If he went by himself to the convention, she'd be a nervous wreck with worry about Sabrina hanging around him. So, she’d have to compromise. "Well, I can go with you," she said.
Tarantulas smiled and turned back to the phone. "Sabrina? Ivy’s gonna go with me...no, she wants to go...okay, then we’ll see you there." He hung up and looked at Ivy. "We have to be downtown in about an hour or so."
Ivyna covered a wince and turned away to find an outfit to wear. So much for a romantic evening...
Tarantulas watched Ivy search through her stuff, and inside he worried. He didn’t know whether it was his psychic powers or not, but he had a bad feeling about tonight. He shrugged and dismissed the feeling.
Sabrina put down the phone and stared straight ahead. "It is done. Tarantulas and his girlfriend will be there."
A dark figure in the shadows snarled with irritation. "His girlfriend? I told you to make sure he didn’t bring her! Now I will have to find some way to get rid of her..." He seemed to notice that Sabrina was still standing there, looking straight ahead. "Get ready. Remember what I told you to do."
"Yes, Master." Sabrina turned to leave, her eyes still staring and glazed. Locked far behind those eyes, the real Sabrina screamed for release.
In the room, the dark figure chuckled nastily.

Rampage didn’t know how long he had been walking when he noticed the fight. It wasn’t a big fight. It didn’t even involve humans. Three large dogs were grouped around a gap in the garbage cans in an alley, and snarling hisses came from the gap. Even as he watched, a paw came into view to slap one of the dogs. It yelped and jumped back, bleeding from cuts across its nose.
The other dogs immediately lunged in, trying to get the animal that was pinned between the garbage cans. The alley echoed with yowls and barks, and the dogs each sported claw marks when the battered cat leaped over them and raced up the alley. They pursued it eagerly.
Rampage had been watching the fight, too depressed to care, when the cat and dogs careened towards him. The crab turned human was jolted out of his dull mood when the cat took a running leap and landed on his chest, used it as a springboard, and launched itself right back into the dogs’ faces. The breath was knocked out of Rampage at the sudden impact, and he sat down hard.
The dogs were as surprised as Rampage, and the cat hit them like a four-limbed buzzsaw, batting at their noses, ears, and eyes with painfully sharp claws. The three large dogs turned tail and fled, leaving the much smaller cat behind, triumphant. Rampage lay on the ground gasping for air as the cat smugly washed its paws of the dogs’ blood. Then it approached the human, its tail waving above it confidently.
Rampage attempted to sit back up and was knocked back down as the cat jumped back onto his chest. It stared down at him curiously with its one remaining blue eye since the other was scarred shut, curling its tail around itself. Rampage stared up at it. He had never seen a housecat. This one seemed rather worn, though, with its missing eye and tattered ears. Its fur was a dark gray color with a strange blue sheen to it, and the scar from its eye stretched down to split its lip, showing one fang.
After a moment of mutual staring, it leaned down slowly until its nose almost touched his. It sniffed for a moment, and then sneezed, covering his face with snot. It looked satisfied at the mess it had made.
"Bleah!" Rampage wiped his face off and sat up quickly. The cat gracefully slid from his chest to his lap, where it started purring. He made a grab for it, but it casually swiped at his hand with its claws extended. Pain seared his hand, and he withdrew it hastily with new red lines decorating it. He may not mind pain that much, but human bodies felt it much more easily than his robot one did.
"Get offa me," he growled and stood up, dumping the cat onto the pavement. Somehow it made it seem that the idea had been its own, and the cat started washing itself again. For some reason, that irritated him.
Rampage turned and walked away. A meow came from behind him after a few steps, and he turned to see the cat trotting after him cheerfully. He growled and walked faster.
It didn’t work.
The cat came bounding after him.
"Go AWAY!" Rampage yelled at it. It sat down and purred at him. That irritated him, too. He snatched at the annoying animal, but it batted semi-playfully at his hands again, drawing new lines of blood.
He turned and ran, but the cat darted in between his feet, sending him crashing face first into the pavement. THAT did it! Rampage grimly seized the cat by the scruff of its neck and brought it up to eye level. It purred at him. He reached out with his other hand and put it around its neck, intending to snap its neck, but the cat twisted in his grip to sink its teeth into his wrist.
"Ow! Slag it!" Rampage let go by reflex, cradling his bleeding wrist to himself. The cat hit the ground and crouched there, hissing at him. Rampage made an ugly sound deep in his throat and reached for the cat again...
...and paused as a thought hit him. This cat touched off some chord of kinship within him, he realized, staring into its one blue eye. It seemed to enjoy fighting and was good at it, despite its old wounds. And it seemed to think that it was immortal, or at least confident of its ability to get away from the enraged Rampage. And the cat also seemed to have the same problem as Rampage; it was attracted to the strangest person around, who didn’t want it around at all.
Rampage cautiously stretched his hand out, warily watching and being watched by the cat. It allowed him to bring his hand slowly down on its head and gently stroke its fur. The blue eye closed as the human softly scratched around its ears and jaw, and the cat’s rumbling purr filled the air again.
Rampage sighed sadly as he pet the cat. He had nothing ELSE to do but adopt it...

Ivy and Tarantulas walked up to the entrance of the rented hall.
"Excuse me, is this where the convention is?" Tarantulas asked the doorman.
He nodded and opened the door for Tarantulas to walk through, but a frown crossed his face as he blocked Ivy from following him in. "I’m sorry, but no non-psychics are allowed," he told her.
"What?" Tarantulas stared at him. "There must be some mistake!"
"No mistake," the doorman told them.
"But--" Ivyna looked at Tarantulas. He shrugged helplessly at her. She looked down at her feet, and then back at him. "Do you still want to go?" she asked heavily.
He nodded guiltily, feeling bad about leaving her out.
She sighed. "Well, I guess I’ll go get my hair done, or something." She turned to go. "I’ll be by at 11 o’clock." She walked off.
Tarantulas watched her go, feeling concerned and uneasy. Something about Ivy going felt wrong...
"Tarantulas."
A hand touched his arm from behind, and he whirled around. Sabrina regarded him impassively. "I apologize for not informing you about the admittance rule."
"Um, that’s okay," Tarantulas said nervously. Sabrina wasn’t wearing her normal, all-concealing clothing. In fact, she was hardly wearing anything at all! The skimpy black gown barely covered the essentials and was well above knee length. High heels made her legs seem longer and also brought her eyes to just below his eye level. "You’re looking...different tonight."
"Oh. Yes." A slight smile crossed her face. "Do you like it?" Sabrina looked at him expectantly.
Why was she asking him THAT?! Sabrina usually didn’t care! Tarantulas smiled even more nervously. "Y-yeah." Something seemed very wrong here...
<<Since you’ve lost Ivyna, would you like to be my date tonight?>> Sabrina thought to him.
Her psychic ‘voice’ sounded normal, relaxing him a little. <<Alright.>> he agreed reluctantly. Tarantulas didn’t think that Ivy would approve of this, but she wouldn’t find out. And what she didn’t know couldn’t hurt her. Besides, it wasn’t like anything was going to happen.
Sabrina took his arm and led him into the convention.
A dark figure smirked to himself as he subtly tampered with Tarantulas’s mind. Nothing serious, since that would alarm him, but enough to change his mind about several things, setting him at ease. Enough to mess around a little with his psychic senses.
The figure’s plans was coming into place, but he needed Tarantulas for them. Not enslaved, like Sabrina, but willing to serve him. And what better way than to make him desperate enough to bargain with anyone?

Rampage stared at the window and fingered his sword, that had reappeared undamaged when he had come back to the Anime world. The cat yowled impatiently at him from his shoulder, where it insisted on riding. He had been standing there staring at the sign in the window for almost ten minutes!
The human sighed and ruefully rubbed the cat’s ears. After a moment’s more hesitation, he pushed open the door to the room with the sign ‘Sword Fighting Classes and Competition--Today Only!’. The room was empty except for five people, who were apparently holding a fighting match in the middle of the room. Rampage gaped in amazement at the people as they hacked and slashed at each other. The cat sat up and let out a loud meow.
The people all turned towards the pair standing by the door. Rampage shuffled his feet awkwardly. "Um..."
"Are you here for lessons?" a stocky man asked, wiping sweat off his brow.
Rampage nodded tentatively. "Actually, I’m not sure if I need lessons or not," he added. "I don’t know how well I can fight."
A tall athletic woman smiled at him. "Well, let’s find out!" She beckoned him forward as the others formed a kind of semi-circle around them. "I’ll start out easy," she told him. "We’ll just have to go from there, okay?" At his nod she settled into a fighting stance.
Another woman, this one short and wiry, snorted with laughter as Rampage drew his sword. "Hey, you might want to lose the cat," she called. "She don’t look like she can use a sword!" A ripple of laughter went around the room as the cat seemed to take offense at the statement, arching its back and hissing.
"Oh, yeah." Rampage blushed with embarrassment and tried to pry the cat off his shoulder. It dug its claws in. "Let. Go. Of. Me," he gritted out after a couple more attempts. The room was roaring with laughter now.
The last pair of people in the room walked forward, a man and a woman with matching equipment and wedding rings. The woman cooed to the cat while the man gently worked its claws loose.
"C’mon, kitty," she crooned. "Be a good girl and let go..." Her husband lifted the cat away, and Rampage nodded his thanks.
Girl? Well, at least that was one mystery solved, Rampage mused absently as he turned back to the woman waiting patiently to fight. He relaxed inside and let himself assume a position that seemed natural for what he was doing. He didn’t really KNOW how to fight with a sword, but his body seemed to.
The stocky man stepped between them. "Okay, this is a ‘touch’ only round. That means you don’t actually cut your opponent. You don’t land a blow. Instead, you stop just short and yell ‘touch!’. We’ll judge how much damage your strike would have done if you had gone through with it." He looked between them. "Clear?"
The woman nodded immediately, but Rampage hesitated. Not trying to kill whoever he was fighting against went against every instinct he had. Was this worth it? He remembered the fight he had interrupted and decided that it was. He nodded.
"Good. Now..." The stocky man raised a hand and dropped it suddenly. "Fight!"

Ivyna looked in the hairstylist’s mirror and smiled. Her short silver hair was now done up in big sausage curls, making her even cuter!
She paid the stylist and walked out of the shop feeling happy. She looked around and found a clock. Only 9:30! She still had an hour and a half! She pushed away her vague sense of uneasiness about Tarry being with Sabrina. Tarry wouldn’t do anything with the psychic. He loved HER.
She forced herself to put all her trust in that, and decided to go shopping.

Rampage moaned and limped away, waving back at the other fighters as they parted ways. He had enjoyed the fighting, but when they had finally exchanged their regular edged swords for padded ones for a no-holds-barred melee he had gotten a nasty collection of bruises! They were already healing, though. And really, he had gotten a lot less than most of the others.
He had found out an interesting fact about his human body today. It kicked butt in sword fighting. The swordmistress had been panting and sweating when they had finally called it a draw, and Rampage had discovered to his surprise that leaving his opponents alive was more fun than killing them, at least the ones he had fought with tonight. Dead people couldn’t keep on fighting, or give advice on technique...
The cat curled up around the back of his neck and purred in his ear. Rampage gave a resigned smile and rubbed its--no HER ears. She responded by play-biting his hand.
Rampage laughed and headed back towards the hotel. As he walked, his depressed mood came back. The cat (he really needed to get her a name) and the sword fighting had kept him distracted, but Tarantella came back into his thoughts.
Tarantella, who he was hopelessly in love with. Tarantella, who was trapped in this world with him. Tarantella, who was apparently in love with Depth Charge.
The cat had to adjust her balance as Rampage’s shoulders slumped.

<<So then I told them-->>
<<I haven’t seen so many rats since-->>
<<No, actually I use-->>
<<Try the red wine, it’s very-->>
<<So, what do you think of it so far?>>
Tarantulas looked over at Sabrina as the question cut through the psychic background chatter to him. She was leaning against a pillar near him, her pose almost suggestive. Uncomfortable, Tarantulas looked away. <<It’s alright.>> he thought at her. Actually, he was having a good time. With over a hundred psychics in the room, he was learning a lot of new things.
She swayed closer to him. <<See how much fun you can have without Ivyna?>>
Tarantulas stared at her in shock. <<What are you talking about?!>>
Sabrina pouted as she reached out to touch his arm. <<Ivyna drags you down. You need to get a psychic girlfriend, then you will know what you are missing.>>
<<I...>> Tarantulas’s thoughts lapsed into chaos. Why was Sabrina acting like this?! She had to know that he loved Ivy! And he did love Ivy, right? Right?
Tarantulas evaded that question as he suddenly couldn’t think of an answer that he was sure he believed in. <<Um, who would you suggest?>> he asked half-jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood.
Sabrina put her arm around his and drew him towards the door. She waited until they were outside before answering. <<Why, me, of course.>> She held him close as he tried to jerk away in shock. <<You do not know what you are missing.>> she told him earnestly. <<With psychics, you can meld your minds together!>>
<<But, Ivy...>> His reasons for staying with Ivy seemed to be melting away as fast as he could think of them. They disappeared from his mind, leaving him with no logical reason not to dump her.
She drew him closer, her face inches from his. <<Just try it once...>>
In his confusion he didn’t notice that it was 11 o’clock. <<Well, maybe...>> His psychic senses were reeling, but he thought that was just because of what was happening. He didn’t notice the cute woman in the distance. <<...just this once...>>
Sabrina’s lips touched his, their minds brushed, and somewhere a dark figure howled with triumphant laughter as his plan snapped further into place.
"No," Ivyna whispered. But there was no denying what she was seeing. On the steps in front of the hall, Tarantulas and Sabrina were in a crushing embrace, their lips pressed together in a deep kiss.
Something fragile inside Ivy shattered. Something she thought Tarantulas had been working so hard to build up. It might have been called trust. It might have been called love, or even hope. All Ivy knew was that her heart was broken AGAIN by someone she now was certain had been lying to her all along, leading her on in some cruel game.
She drew in a gasping, sobbing breath and let it out in a broken scream. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" Her throat burned with the tears that streamed down her face as the couple turned in startlement towards her, and she turned and ran, her pain deafening and blinding her to anything and anyone.
"Ivy!" Tarantulas shouted after the fleeing girl. "Wait!"
<<Let her go.>> Sabrina’s cold ‘voice’ told him.
"No! I-I don’t know what came over me here, but I was wrong to do this." Tarantulas shook his head in bewilderment, wondering what he had been thinking. "Ivy...oh, no." His eyes widened in horrified guilt. "By the Pit, what have I DONE?!" He remembered his words when he had convinced her to come back out of her mind, and he flinched. She’d never trust him again. She’d never even give him another chance!
"I-I have to go," he stammered to Sabrina. Then Tarantulas ran desperately into the night, searching frantically for his love.
Behind him, Sabrina’s eyes glowed with a satisfaction not her own.

Rampage opened the hotel door and froze. There, on the lobby’s couch, sat Depth Charge and Tarantella, talking and laughing. They were sitting next to each other, and Depth Charge had his arm around Tarantella comfortably.
Rampage swallowed hard and forced himself to walk into the hotel. Depth Charge immediately saw him, and Rampage gritted his teeth at the smug grin the ray-bot turned human gave him. Tarantella noticed where her date was looking and glanced over. Then she sat up and smiled in delight.
Rampage blinked at the unexpected welcome as Tarantella got up and walked over, despite Depth Charge’s scowl. He smiled tentatively at her, but she ignored him in favor of the battered cat still perched on his shoulders. It figured that she liked the cat better than him...
Tarantella reached out and brushed her hand across the cat. She smiled as the cat began to purr. "Where’d you get her?" she asked. "I’ve never seen a blue cat before..." The cat leaped forward into her arms, and Tarantella laughed as the animal stropped her head under the human’s chin.
"Uh, she’s, um, kinda adopted me," Rampage mumbled, fascinated by the happiness in Tarantella’s face. She was stroking the ecstatic cat, who had turned her purr volume up to ‘high’. They seemed to have become best friends.
"Yeah, well, the cat’s apparently ‘adopted’ Tarantella now," Depth Charge sneered at him from behind Tarantella. "So you can just go away." He reached over Tarantella’s shoulder to pet the cat as Rampage smothered a snarl and turned away. Rampage walked towards the stairs.
The cat yowled and bit Depth Charge. Then she jumped down while he was cursing and Tarantella was laughing to run after Rampage. Sinking her claws into his clothing, the cat scrambled back up to his shoulder and perched there, hissing at Depth Charge. Rampage half-turned and raised an eyebrow at his fuming enemy, then continued walking towards his room, waiting until his back was turned to grin.
He called room service once he reached his room and ordered a huge meal. The cat dug into it while he unpacked the stuff Blacklight had sent along for him. Most of the clothing and such he left on the bed he wouldn’t be using.
"Hey, leave some for me!" Rampage had to drag the cat away from the food she was so eagerly devouring. He made a face as she immediately slithered past his hands back to the food. Giving up, he called for another huge meal and sat back to watch the cat pig out. She probably hadn’t eaten for days, so he was willing to let her stuff herself.
Any remaining thoughts of finding some way to quietly dispose of her had disappeared after the scene in the lobby. Tarantella liked her, she liked Tarantella, and she also hated Depth Charge. What more could Rampage want in a pet?
"You need a name," he mused to himself. The cat looked up from her meal and sneezed, splattering him with food and snot. "You little minx!" he exclaimed good naturedly. "Stop doing that to me!" He smirked as what he had said registered. "Good enough. Minx you are, and Minx you shall be."
The cat sneezed again.
"Yuck!"

Ivy climbed up the hotel’s fire escape, not willing to face anyone in the lobby. She crept into the room she and Tarantulas were--no, would have shared. Packing quickly, she filled a duffel bag with clothes and essentials, and then she sat on her bed and thought, making herself ignore her pain for the moment.
Where could she go? She couldn’t stay here. Tarantulas would come back and try to convince her that he wasn’t lying again. Not this time! She would NEVER believe that again. It would hurt too much to be around him, though. But Blacklight wouldn’t be checking in with them until a couple days from now, so Ivy was stuck in the Anime world. And she couldn’t go very far, or the rest of the robots turned Anime wouldn’t be able to get back!
So, where could she go that Tarantulas wouldn’t be able to find her, but wasn’t that far away?
A knock sounded from down the hall, along with a muffled voice saying, "Room service!" A familiar voice answered the first voice, and Ivy’s head snapped around as an idea hit her.

Another knock came at the door, and Rampage turned back to the door, puzzled. He hadn’t ordered anything else, had he? He picked up Minx to prevent her from diving into his food and went to open the door. He looked down and frowned.
"Rampage?" Ivy looked up at him, her eyes desperately hopeful. "Can I use your spare bed? Please?" Dried tear tracks lined her cheeks, and her eyes were redder than normal.
"Huh?" Rampage stared down at the normally cute person. "Why?"
Running footsteps thudded up the stairs at the end of the hall, and Ivy gasped and gave the end of the hall a frightened look. She turned back to Rampage as the footsteps neared the top of the stairs. "I’ll explain later. Please!" Her eyes were soulful and pleading, with fresh tears filling them.
Rampage hesitated a second longer, and then stood aside. Ivyna darted inside just as Tarantulas emerged at the top of the stairs. His face was frantic, and he ignored Rampage in favor of sprinting to his room.
Rampage quietly closed the door as a strangled shout came from the room. Putting some of the clues together, Rampage looked down at Ivyna, who was standing beside the door.
"Something happened between you and Tarantulas, right?" he asked resignedly. Yet another mushy affair he was involved in, now. At least HE wasn’t emotionally caught up in it...yet. For some reason, knowing how bad heartbreak felt was affecting how he reacted to other people’s problems.
Ivyna silently nodded.
Rampage sighed and shook his head. "Well, I guess you can stay here," he said slowly. Walking over to the unused bed, he gathered everything he had just thrown on it into his arms and tossed them onto his bed to deal with later.
Ivyna stayed beside the door, still weeping. She clutched her duffel bag to her chest as she rocked herself back and forth with grief. The pounding on the door made her jump with fright, and she cowered down behind the door. Minx came over and curled up next to her, purring reassuringly.
Rampage grumbled. Who ELSE was going to come to his door tonight?! "Who is it?!" he yelled.
"Tarantulas!"
Ivy bit her lip to keep from moaning as Rampage walked over and opened the door. She was concealed behind the door, but if Tarantulas walked in...
"What do YOU want?" Rampage asked crabbily. "I was about to start eating."
Tarantulas’s face was white and strained. "Rampage have you seen Ivyna?" he asked hoarsely. "I need to talk to her!" Rampage’s psychic ability was passive because of Sabrina’s restraints, but it was still enough to unconsciously shield his room from Tarantulas’s psychic probing. Tarantulas didn’t think that it was likely Ivy would seek shelter with Rampage, but since her stuff was gone and she couldn’t have gotten back to the hotel much quicker than him, Tarantulas was looking everywhere.
Rampage paused. Did he tell Tarantulas where Ivy was, shivering on the other side of the door, or did he act like he didn’t know anything about it? Ivy’s tear-stained face stared at him from the floor on one side of the door, pleading for him not to reveal where she was, while Tarantulas, obviously distraught, was asking the complete opposite.
He must be getting soft...
"I don’t know where that disgustingly cute spider is," Rampage said scornfully. "Now, go away. My meal is getting cold." He moved to shut the door.
Tarantulas held it open. "Rampage, if you see her..." he fought to find words. "Can you tell her I-I have to talk to her?" He had to do a lot more than just talk to her. Rampage frowned at him and started to shove the door shut in his face. Tarantulas wedged his foot in the door. "It really important, Rampage!" he insisted. "Please, tell her," he begged. "Please!"
Rampage snarled something under his breath, but then he sighed. "Fine. If I see her, I’ll give her your message. But," he added, "you owe me one."
Tarantulas nodded and took his foot out of the door’s way. It slammed shut, leaving him out in the hall. He turned away, determined to find Ivyna, no matter what it took.
Rampage looked down at Ivy and dutifully repeated, "Tarantulas says he has to talk to you." She just stared up at him, clutching her bag and Minx. The cat tolerated her tight grip for a few moments more, but then she wiggled free.
Rampage caught her as she made a beeline for the food sitting on the table. "You don’t give up, do you?" he asked her. Turning back to where Ivy was getting up from the floor, he made the introductions. "Minx, Ivyna. Ivyna, Minx." A chuckle rose in his throat. "Don’t sneeze on her," he told the cat.
Ivy’s voice was husky with tears. "Charmed, I’m sure."
"Um," Rampage searched for something to fill in the awkward silence. "Have you eaten?" he asked finally as the cat kicked, still trying to get at the food. "I can order another meal, if you want."
Ivy accepted the offer of food gratefully.
The dark figure frowned. His plans weren’t going exactly as he wanted. The girl had stayed close to the others, not fleeing as he had expected. That restricted his plans. And the male she was staying with was a psychic. Not a tremendously strong one, but his powers were now protecting the girl, whether he knew it or not.
No matter. Tarantulas hadn’t found the girl, which would make his desperation exploitable. And perhaps the other psychic could be controlled through the other female...
An evil laugh filled the room as new plans formed.

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