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“Now you listen to me ghoul, i’m trusting you. Do you think you have what it takes to be trusted alone on this bus while we perform?” Copia asked, crossing his arms in front of him.
“Yes please Papa, I promise!” Special answered quickly, bouncing up and down, his tail wagging hard.
Bell smiled and kissed his cheek before donning her metal mask. “He can do it, we’re running late!”
“Right, right! Now Special, you know the rules. No one comes in, you don’t leave, and you don’t touch ANY buttons on the control panel! Play your games on my phone or play on your Switch until we are finished, do you understand? and you can smoke just don’t over do it again and eat the whole fridge please!”
“Yes sir!” he said immediately and the ghoulette tugged on his arm.
“Dante NOW!” she demanded and he nodded.
“Oh and boy please, try and control your size! I know if you focus you can control yourself! if you go full size you will wreck this bus!” he warned and Bell cuffed him in the back of the head and took him by the ear, dragging him from the tour bus.
“He’s fine! Stop mother henning and go mister!” she commanded, dragging him behind her and Special closed the bus doors behind them, turning his back before he saw the little bee slip inside.
He grabbed Copia’s phone and settled on his belly on the couch, tail flicking as he scrolled through the news, pausing long enough to grab a bag of chips when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He immediately dropped the bag and honed in on the movement, shifting to all fours and hunkering down, little tail flicking. there it was, just above the fridge. lifting his head a little, he sniffed the air but couldn’t get a lock on its smell. What was this thing? he had to get a closer look.
Hopping down off the couch, he bounded over to the kitchenette and paced under where it landed a minute before, crouching down, wiggling his butt a little as he jumped up onto the counters, putting his front paws up on the side of the fridge to try and bat at it, but he couldn’t reach. he sniffed at it again. It looked like a fly but with weird black and yellow stripes and it seemed completely unbothered by his presence.
“Hey bug, i don’t know what you are, but Papa said nobody comes in! you gotta go! This is my bus!” he commanded, but it ignored him, flicking its wings a little and grooming itself. He frowned, flicking his tail again.
Rude! he thought. well i’ll just tell it again! he told himself, steadying himself and giving a little wiggle again when he jumped up on top of the fridge. the bug turned to face, him, flicking its wings a little and the ghoul hesitantly sniffed it. it pushed his nose with one leg and he snorted, rubbing his nose with his paw. It flew around in a few circles above his head before flying over to land on a vase of flowers on the kitchen table.
Crouching down, he wiggled and leapt, barely making it, skidding across the table, slipping on some papers of Copia’s, sending him crashing into a heap on the bench.
“Ow!” he griped, rubbing the back of his head and sitting up.
It paid him no mind, bumbling around slowy to each flower in the bouquet. he growled and stood back on all fours, shaking off the water from the spilled vase when he looked down at the table, he gasped.
“No…” he whispered when he realized the papers on the table were some lyric sheets Copia had been working on, all the pen written words bleeding together in a black puddle.
"Oh, now you're definitely getting squished!" He growled, jumping back up on the table and leaping and snapping at it again, just missing when it flew straight up and down the hall to Copia and Bell’s bedroom and he scrambled to catch up.
This time it landed on Copia’s night stand and Special was right on its tail, leaping up and skidding across the nightstand, knocking everything on it off and everywhere, continuing to chase it across the pillows and over to the window. he leapt up , snapping at it and nipping again. it flew in a few circles above his head before landing at the top of the curtains.
Growling, he crouched down and leapt high, snapping at it again, just missing as it flew again. he yelped and scrabbled, clinging to the curtains, his claws ripping right through them. he frowned watching it fly around before landing right on the tip of his nose, making him go cross-eyed to look at it.
“Hey! Get off!” he cried, wiggling his nose, but it just stayed there. “Shoo!” he said, swatting at it with one paw and it flew quickly away back down the hall.
The ghoul lost his grip and yelped as he fell, grunting and wheezing when he landed flat on his back, landing smack on Copias back scratcher, launching a book right through the window.
“Crap.…” he said, looking up quickly and cringing.
Snarling, he got up and bolted after it, leaping up and off the hallway wall to snap at it by the ceiling lamp. It flew out of the way just in time and he smacked off the opposite wall, sliding down it, landing upside down on his head.
Groaning, he sat up and rubbed the lump now forming on the top of his head, frowning when the bug flew in a few circles around him before heading back towards the front of the bus.
“That's it! you are dead!” he yelled, bounding after it, swatting at it then leaping up onto the kitchenette counters, chasing it across them, barely missing slipping into the sink as he jumped clumsily over it, smashing his way through the full dish strainer.
Barely keeping his footing, he continued after it. Just as he reached the end of the counters, his legs getting tangled in the Keurig cord and he went down hard, grunting when he landed flat on his face, both long ears landing draped over his snout.
Dazed, he sat up and let out an exasperated groan, sitting back on his butt, rubbing his sore chin and adjusting his jaw. checking to make sure he didn’t chip a tooth, he looked around for it.
“Where did you go now?” he mumbled, then heard it buzzing around up front, watching it land on the window behind the couch.
Just as he jumped up to go after it, it flew in a circle again before landing on the linoleum in front of the mini fridge. Smiling, he hunkered down and started inching his way closer, sniffing the air and locking in on the insect. it continued to clean itself, seemingly unaware of the incoming threat.
Cautiously, he got right up close, leaning his head forward to sniff at it and pressed a little against it. Apparently a little too hard, because it turned itself around and promptly stung him right on the tip of his big nose. He immediately yelped and cried out, falling back on his butt and cupping his snout in his big paws. it buzzed around his face and he backpedaled into the kitchen cabinets. it flew around him and landed on the fridge again and he hitched, going crossed eyed to look at his sore nose. it throbbed and he swore he could feel his heartbeat in his face. Sniffling, he picked up Copia’s phone, taking a picture of the insect and searched it. frowning when he found out what it was he started to shift into his full size, now towering over the fridge.
“Stupid yellow jacket! That hurt! Now I'm gonna smash you good!” he cried, swinging at it, smacking it hard when it tried to fly off, pinging it off the fridge and it buzzed and struggled around on the floor, trying to right itself.
Now it just looked mad and when it got back up it turned to face him.
“Oh shit…” he managed before it came right at him, going directly for his face.
He may have been big but he was yellow and he cried out, high tailing it to the front of the bus, his bulk making it rock when he ran and he jumped up and clung to the top of one of the pilot seats. Coming right after him, it landed on his back side, stinging him again just above his tail and he yelped, scrambling to get away. it followed, trying to sting him again and he flipped around, slipping and landing flat on his back on the control panel.
An alarm immediately began going off and he grunted, lifting his head to see what was going on and the bus’s security started putting up the window and door covers.
“NO! DON’T TRAP ME IN HERE WITH IT!” he cried, trying the button again as the yellow jacket came in for another attempt.
The huge ghoul panicked, now trapped and did the only thing he could think of, used his fire breath. it missed when the yellow jacket skirted right around it and he ducked, it just missed him.
When he popped up again, he saw the curtain divider was now on fire.
“Uh oh…” he gasped, ducking again when the insect came back again, backing into another button on the control panel and the bus lurched, suddenly starting to go sideways when its special legs began to extend on the one side and the ghoul yelped, landing hard on his back on the side of the bus going down, half of the bus’s content crashing down on him too.
The door and window shields went back into place and just as they did, the bus’s fire sprinklers engaged, soaking him and the whole inside of the bus.
Suddenly he heard shouting and the bus’s door was wrenched open. Copia dropped down into the bus, landing in nearly knee deep water, glaring down at the huge, sheepishly grinning ghoul.
“WHAT DID YOU DO?” he bellowed and Special flinched.
“see what had happened was, there was this yellow jacket…” Special managed and a second later, it flew from the back of the downed bus, right at Copia’s face and he shrieked, falling back and landing flat on his back in the water.
“So I see…” he groaned.
“So maybe you could see how I got super freaked out when it stung me and I got big…” he tried.
Copia just laid there with his eyes closed, thinking about his current life choices.
“Fair.”
“So you’re not mad?” Special asked.
“Oh I'm furious, you’re grounded for the rest of this tour, and now you need a safety buddy.” Copia said simply, eyes still closed.
“Dante, Special! What the hell happened?”
“A yellow jacket got on the bus.” Copia replied.
“I panicked…” Special said softly.