11 Chapter 11: Plans

"'Morning, Ella."

"'Morning Suzi."

Suzuki, Kiep, Oak and Sam were sitting at the dinning room table, talking to each other. In her hands, Suzuki had pink notebook and pen. Her current page was filled up with notes, the cursive she was writing in making it impossible to read from the distance away Ella was standing. Ella knew it wasn't good to have stereotypes, but if she didn't know Suzuki at the moment she would assume her personality as totally different from what is really was. Not to say she was mean or anything, but Suzi had been drilling them nonstop for days and honestly, Ella would think she liked black or navy blue or something. But everyone has their preferences.

"What are you guys doing?" Ella looked at her friends, questioning their conversation.

"Well, we're planning out how to save you parents of course," said Oak cheerily.

Ella's eyebrows shot up. "Really!?"

Sam rubbed her head. "Of course kid. That's why you came here in the first place, right?"

Ella frowned. "No, you kidnapped me."

In a flash, Sam was back in his seat whistling innocently.

"YOU KIDNAPPED HER?!" screamed Suzuki. "SHE'S A 9 YEAR OLD CHILD! SHAME! SHAME!"

Ella sat down, as she winced in sympathy for Sam who was getting yelled at by Suzi. She was scary.

Rose came down and sat next to Ella, glancing at Sam who was scratching the back of his neck, trying to get Suzi to calm down. Over time, Ella and Rose had become great friends. Rose, now dubbed "Rosie" and Ella, called "Ellie" played with each other almost everyday. Oak cleared his throat.

"Mal, as much as he deserves it, we still have a plan to finish." That was the second main duo of the family. Oak was the only one Suzuki really opened up to, the rest of her friends receiving sass. Oak was also the only one who called Suzuki Mal, the exception being Kiep who couldn't really forget her little sister.

After giving Sam one last glare, Suzi returned to a sitting position and started reading off some of her ideas. About one quarter of the way through she was interrupted by Ella.

"Wait a second. All of these plans could be easily compromised if one thing went off course. We need a blueprint of the place their keeping them, even an idea would work." Ella gave a small smile.

Suzi's lips parted before she got a hold of herself and laughed. "Sometimes I forget your a child genius, Ella."

The child's grin widened, only to be stopped when she realized something. "But how are we going to get a blueprint anyway?"

Sam facepalmed. "I thought when you voiced your idea you had them. But I suppose all kids are forgetful, even prodigies."

At this Ella and Rose both glared at him, as both of them were children and were no more forgetful then he was.

Kiep spoke up. "Hey, didn't Ella find one of their bases before she came here? Maybe there was a blueprint in her haul. If not, we can always go back to the tree assuming she remembers where it is."

Ella opened her mouth to contradict the idea, but nothing came out. "That's actually...not a bad idea. But we will have to go to the base, there wasn't a blueprint of the place in my bag."

Kiep smiled. "Awesome. I'll pack some snacks and then we can go." She pulled back her chair and made her way to the pantry. Suzuki watched her leave.

"Y'know, sometimes that girl makes me feel so stupid." Ella nodded in agreement.

After driving over to the park, Ella jumped out of the car and retraced her steps back to the old oak where the passage was hidden.

"It's right here," she said as she pushed lightly on the bark. It slid open, revealing the metal ladder. Suzuki shifted past her and slid down the side of it.

"Showoff," Ella muttered. She quickly climbed down, taking care not to fall. When she landed at the bottom, the sight that greeted her was not pleasant at at. Oh no. Suzkuki was being held by three soldiers in tight black clothing, a hood shadowing their faces. They were having a heck of a time holding Suzi, as she morphed from her cat form to a monkey to a dog. She was obviously holding back because she didn't want to hurt Ella. This limited any bigger transformations. Before she could scream, Ella was grabbed an a rough hand covered her mouth, and a blade pressed to her throat.

"Stop struggling or the kid dies." The reaction was immediate. Suzuki stopped moving, keeping her human form. If stares could kill, the man holding Ella would have withered away in seconds. One by one, her friends came down the ladder only to be silently ambushed. As soon as they were all down, the kidnappers seemed satisfied. Ella didn't have time to think before a fist made contact with her skull.

When she woke up, Suzuki was sitting in a corner sulking. Oak was running around the room, shouting "I'm alive! I'm alive!" Kiep was the first to notice she had woken up.

"Ella! We were wondering when you would wake up." Ella nodded, taking in her surroundings. The room they were in was basically a jail cell, save the communication pad on the wall near Suzuki. Other than her, Kiep, Sam, Oak and Rose, there were two other people in the cell. Both looked around the same age as Suzuki, 15. But of course, as Suzuki didn't look her age, they probably thought she was 10. One had shoulder length brown hair and the other had black hair that was shortened to just under her neck. The one with brown hair noticed her looking.

"Do you need something?"

Ella jumped, and seeing this the girl laughed. "You don't need to be afraid. My name is Mae and this is Chieko." Cheiko smiled politely.

"It's nice to meet you."

Oak looked over at the two girls and grinned. "Chieko helped us treat the bump on your head. Mae also told us about how things work here." He started going on about the different work hours and which guards could be easily persuaded.

The second thing Ella noticed about the pair were their eyes. Mae's were a dark green and Chieko's were orange. The strange thing were the flecks in both of them. Mae had orange flecks and Chieko had dark green ones. But neither of them sported the hybrid features of her friends. Ella glanced over at Suzuki.

"Suzi...? Are you okay?" The girl in question was still sulking in the corner.

"THEY TOOK AWAY MY POCKY!!! HOW COULD I BE OKAY! WHAT CRIME!!! They deserve punishment..." Suzuki started muttering to herself about police and court. the entire room sweat dropped. Well... That just happened.

"No wonder she hasn't helped us yet... Her strawberry pocky are really important to her," whispered Oak. Ella sighed. It was going to be a long stay.

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