Chapter 8

Meanwhile at another house, Reggie had just finished up with the last of the looting. Just before leaving, he made sure to turn on the taps of a nearby kitchen sink, snickering all the while. He excited the house and got into the aerotruck where Rufus waited in the driver's seat. Rufus turned to notice the strangely mischievous behavior Reggie was displaying. "Reg, what's so funny?"

Reggie didn't say anything, but maintained his wide grin. Somehow, that told Rufus enough of what he needed to know. "You did it again, did you? What's the matter with you?"

"It's a way to bother the sheriff when he gets back," Reggie explained himself innocently while Rufus started the engine. "What better way to get back at him than give him work right after his vacation?"

Rufus mused on Reggie's justification as he maneuvered the aerotruck while it flew up high and above in the air. "Hmm, I suppose that would work. Give him an extra report to write up, extra complaints from Sweetypies to listen to…but it still doesn't feel quite enough to make him pay."

As Rufus was deep in his thoughts and Reggie occupied himself with examining the treasures he and his partner recently raided, neither noticed a little blue bat flying perpendicular of their path.

Adorabat was flying on her own, lost in her own thoughts about her recent filter attempt to bust Orangusnake. She couldn't understand how her own people would think he'd be nice when he's already shown himself to be anything but. He was a pirate. He couldn't be trusted. If he was being nice, he was pretending. Yes, that's exactly what it is. No doubt about it. She's right and everyone's wrong.

Neither Rufus and Reggie or Adorabat noticed themselves gradually heading into each other's paths. It only took Reggie moving his eyes up just for a second for him to yell to Rufus. "Whoa, hey! Rufus, stop!"

Rufus heard his partner's voice in a timely manner, turning his attention back ahead of the aerotruck and stomping on the brakes. Even though the vehicle was in the air, it somehow made a skidding sound as it came to a stop, while at the same time, Adorabat noticed the aerotruck in time to see it coming for her at a speed high enough to make her scream. Luckily for her, the truck stopped just inches from her nose, at the very least not shocking her enough to make her stop flapping her wings which kept her in the sky. Rufus and Reggie, on the other hand, looked both visibly relieved and exhausted over having just avoided a mid-air collision.

Adorabat didn't want to stay any longer, so she got ready to fly away and keep going until she reached home. But she was stopped by a voice calling to her from behind. "Hey! You there!"

Somehow, the sound of the voice was what made her stop in her tracks, freezing as her brain instantly registered a feeling similar to recognition. She slowly turned her head to let a corner of her eye take a look at the man who called her, not wanting to show her whole face. From what she could make of what she saw in the corner of her eye, the sight was strikingly familiar.

Fortunately, the two men weren't quite as quick. "You need to watch where you're going," Rufus said to the flying bat child in front of him.

Adorabat thought it best to play along. "Sorry."

Rufus noticed Reggie scooting just over him to get his head closer to the driver's window. He wanted to say something to Adorabat as well. "The Gift-Saint don't visit the funeral home, kiddo," Reggie politely told her.

Adorabat couldn't help but give a little smile at how warmly humorous that statement was, even if she did turn her head to the truck a little bit more.

Rufus thought it best to just let it go and not further complicate the situation unnecessarily. He put on his signature gentlemanly face and posture, the kind that he had not used since last leaving Pure Heart Valley, and gave his own parting greeting. "Have a Happy Snowfest."

The low calm tone was the deal breaker for Adorabat, the powerfully and inevitably instant recognition overriding whatever cautiousness she had, driving her to turn and face the speaker completely. One look was all it took for her to conclude that her intuition was correct all along. It was Rufus, and the raccoon sitting next to him was Reggie. Adorabat turned away and flew, being careful as she wanted to put distance between herself and the two former 'special men'.

On the other hand, Rufus's curt and jovial display diminished into that of suspicion as he continued to observe the little blue bat.

Reggie noticed his friend's behavior. "Hey Rufus, something the matter?"

Rufus didn't turn his eyes from Adorabat for another moment. "That child looks familiar, and I don't like the way she looked at me."

"You see that kid before?"

"I've seen countless children for months on end. But I'm sure this one left a rather strong impression." Rufus drove the aerotruck to follow Adorabat.

Adorabat heard the vehicle coming from behind her, making her look back. Rufus stopped the vehicle, him along with Reggie pretending to be busy with something else, looking in other directions away from her.

Adorabat wasn't waiting up. She flew downwards, heading back in the direction of town.

"Huh? She's trying to fly away from us!" Reggie began sounding suspicious himself. "Why would she do that?"

That made Rufus even more determined. "See? I told you there was something off about that child! Don't you remember her?"

Adorabat flew faster and harder, not looking back once as she scanned the town below to look for a place to hide. When she decided on a hiding place, she did a nosedive for that spot. At the same time, Rufus and Reggie stopped to hover just over Town Square, looking left and right out their own windows to scan for Adorabat. They saw that the whole area was fully decorated, but no sign of the blue bat.

"Maybe she went into an alley," Reggie guessed out loud.

"Who knows where she is?" Rufus muttered. "Let's get out of here." Without further delay, he put the pedal to the metal and drove the aerotruck back into the air and away from town.

Unknown to either one of them, Adorabat was safely hidden in Town Square the whole time. Sensing the coast was clear, she crawled out from the branches of the towering evergreen pine tree that stood in the center of the plaza. Lifting away some of the decorations that hung on the tree, she observed the sky to find no trace of the suspicious aerotruck. Adorabat took off back into the air to head back to HQ.

"If those guys come back," she asserted to herself, "I'll be ready for them!"

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Nightfall came upon Pure Heart Valley once again. Rufus and Reggie stealthily navigated their aerotruck to the farthest edge of the front yard of Sheriff's Department HQ, landing gently on the snow to avoid making any extra noise.

But it was to the confusion of both of them when they saw that all the front windows of the house were completely lit. Even more, they could clearly make out moving shadows behind the windows, which were obscured with closed curtains. They were sure they spotted the large figure of Badgerclops and the memorable pointy-eared silhouette of the sheriff Mao Mao, but were surprised to see other shadows surrounding the former two. Judging from how small they were, it had to be other Sweetypies.

Neither Rufus or Reggie could shake off the dumbfounded looks on their faces, being at a loss regarding how they could be wrong about the Sheriff's Department not being home at all, let alone having other people over.

"Maybe they came back?" Reggie suggested.

"After half a week?" Rufus scoffed. He tried to concentrate and focus his eyesight on every one of the shadows in every illuminated window, trying to make sense of it all.

Inside the house on the other side of the walls, a radically different scene was playing out. Right in front of the curtained windows, life-sized dummies were tilting left and right on automated devices, cardboard cutouts were moving around the living room on either a toy train or several roombas. Standing on a rafter, Adorabat pulled several sets of strings that were attached to a few more dummies, making them move as well. Whatever contraptions she put together looked simple in the eyes of an adult, but for a small child like her, it was already a complex feat.

Outside, Rufus and Reggie continued to try and make sense of the silhouetted spectacle, but it still remained ever so convincing. "We'll come back tomorrow," Rufus told Reggie in his own calculating manner. "Maybe by then, they will be gone."

"I sure hope so," Reggie concurred quietly with a slow bobbing nod of his head, even while he still observed the silhouettes.

Rufus started up the engine again. "Let's just get out of here before we're spotted." With that, the aerotruck returned to the air and sped away.

Once the two were completely gone, Adorabat stopped what she was doing to go to a window. Lifting part of the curtain, she looked out to see the aerotruck in the distance. She smiled at the success of her disguise.