Chapter 13 - Malfunction

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Keeping a firm grip on the fox's hand with your normal hand, you tug him behind you as you suddenly began to ran. He gave a surprised yelp at the quick movements, his fur almost being left behind as you dragged him along. With a smile, you ran towards the edge of the building, heart racing at what you were about to do. Nine was barley able to process your plan, but by the time he caught up, it was too late for him to stop you.

With a swift push from your legs, your toes having hung over the edge of the roof, you leaped from the building to the nearby train. Outstretching your metal arm, its claws unsheathed, you dug them into the metal of the train. Wind blasted against your face as the train raced ahead, dragging you and Nine along. Glancing behind you, Nine dug his tails into the side of the train, securing himself fearfully. His fur was raised on end, flying in all sorts of directions from the gusts of wind. He stared at you with wide eyes, his chest heaving up and down. Chuckling at his appearance, he let his ears fall back as he glared at you.

"What was that for!" he screamed, his voice muffled. You smiled at his frazzled appearance, his hand squeezing yours for dear life.

"Loosen up, this is suppose to be fun," you yell back. as your claw dragged down the metal with a screech, you felt your muscles tense at the pinching sensation in your scared flesh.

Your grip was weakening.

You may have to make an early stop.

"FUN! Are you insane-" he held his tongue as you closed one of your eyes in a wince. His eyes fell, ears crestfallen. He looked away from you, His grip on your hand loosening. Eyes dancing from side to side, he thought over his words, thinking your wince was a reaction.

"This is our stop," you tried to smile through gritted teeth. Nine lifted his gaze to meet yours, before tightening his hold to your hand, you doing the same as the train dove into a nose dive towards the ground. Feeling the wind cool the burning of your wounded arm, releasing some of its tension. The speed of the train picked up, your claw struggling to keep its hold. Closing your eyes, your attempted to readjust your grip, electric jolts flowing through your muscles.

ZAP!

Yanking your claw from the side of the train, your held it close to your chest, its metal piercing your skin. The second your released the train, you flew back, colliding into an unsuspecting Nine. Whacking into his stomach, his metal tails unhooked.

As you both fell, the train disappearing in a flash, you kept your metal arm to your chest, you other hand pulling free from Nine's grip to cradle it. Your ears were twisted back, your eyes shut tight as you silently hissed in pain.

It was getting worse.

Ground getting unnoticeably closer, your eyes opened as two arm held you. One was tucked under your legs, the other resting against your back. Glancing up, Nine focused on the approaching ground, his metal tails curling around him like a spiders legs.

The ground gave way under the piercing metal tail, cracking upon contact. Your fur bounced at your momentum came to a sudden halt. Slowly lowering himself to the ground, his tail returned to surrounding his two fluffy ones. You expected him to place you down, but he didn't.

"Are you alright?" he softly questioned, his words fueled by concern. Blushing you nodded with a wavering grin.

"I-I'm fine," your ears fell back as your muzzle burned a hotter shade of red as Nine lowered his face closer to yours. His eyes sharpened as he squinted at you, analysing. You could tell he didn't believe you. Each second that went by you swore his face got closer and closer. Forcing your blush down, you poked your tongue out and pushed his face away with your hand. Rolling out of his arm, you landed on your feet and brushed your clothes. Crossing your arms over, letting your metal arm rest, you tried to shake off the fox's concern. "Come on, do you know who your talking to? The amazing (Y/N) (L/N), survivor of death," you flick your tail up, lifting your head high to dramatize your words.

"Then, what happened?" Nine quizzed with a raised eyebrow, his hands on his hips.

Damn, he's persistent.

"Uhh, I was distracted," you try to shrug off. Nine opened his lips to ask more questions about the sudden mishap but closed it, afraid he was going to hurt your feelings again. So he remained silent, as did you.

It was awkward.

The silence.

"Well, what was it that we were going to do?" he eventually asked, deciding to push aside the events that just played out, but keep notes on it.

"Oh, right!" you smiled, your tail wagging as you forgot about the condition your metal arm was in. "It's a bit of a walk from here, but we are going to have some fun," you answered, almost bouncing in excitement.

"You mean as much 'fun' as the train ride?" he lifted an eye brow, crossing his arms. A small smile played on his lips, his tails swaying lightly as you childish attitude.

"Yup," you giggle, tucking your arms behind your back. Spinning around you bounded through the alley you both landed in, excited for what you had planned. Nine sighed and rolled his eyes before following you.

"What exactly do you have planned for this something fun?" He caught up to you, sticking to your side as you twisted through the maze of alleys.

"You ask a lot of questions," you teased, bumping his hip with yours. Glanding down at you, he shook his head at your bright smile.

"Call it a character trait," Nine shrugged. Lifting his hand up, he flicked your good ear with his finger making you chuckle as your hear twitched at the ticklish feeling. Swiftly you lightly smacked his hand down, rubbing your ear. Smirking, he gave a airy laugh, "Now answer the question."

"Okay, fine, fine," you snickered, "Have you noticed how this city is a little dull?"

"With all the bright neon? You think this city is dull?" Nine tilted his head to the side, deeply confused by how such bright colours were dull.

"Answer the question," you shot back at him, elbowing his side.

Rubbing his side, Nine huffed through his nose, "Rude." Gibing his an unamused side eye, he raised his hands in defence, grinning at your reaction. "No, I haven't noticed how dull this neon city is."

"Well, I have," you pointed to yourself with your thumb pridefully, "And I want us to bring some life back to it!" Nine stopped from walking for a moment, one ear flicking back as he thought about your words. Spinning around and keeping your pace as you walked backwards, you giggled at his confused face as it scrunched up in thought. Catching your eyes, he shook his head and caught up to you with a little jog. Turning forward, your tail swayed smoothly behind you.

"Bring life back to the city? What do you mean by that?"

"You ask too many questions," you taunted. With another roll from Nine's eyes, you swiftly pushed his bang down, letting them fall in front of his face. His eyes crossed over themselves to stare at them. With a chuckle, you began to run through the alley as Nine yelled after you.

"Oi, you're ruining my good looks," he complained, fixing his bangs to sit upright. Once they stood as they did before he ran after you, catching up to your slow pace with ease.

"Did you ever have any to start with?" you joked.

"Please, I'm fabulous," Nine laughed along with you, "I thought you hated running?"

"I do, but I'm just too excited," you squeal, hands rubbing together to reveal your joy.

"Why does that make me worry," Nine asked himself, his legs easily falling in pace with your own.

Running through the alleys of New Yoke, you both prepared for what was to come next.

Some fun.

Some danger.

And a whole lot of trouble.

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