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Cocoa tapped at the buttons on his controller, eyeing the characters in the game warily as if he were actually one of them. This was a critical moment... The score was tied, thanks to his last foul shot, and he just needed one more to win. He dribbled the ball, calculated his movements, and was just about to shoot the basket... He just needed to wait for the right moment to tap the last command.

Right... about...

"BOOYA!" David cried loudly shooting his paper ball into the air and getting it right inside Cocoa's long ear.

"AAAAAAAAH!" the fox cried, dropping the controller as he tried to get the paper out. After it landing wrong, the command was chosen for him, and he missed the shot. The boy was in shock.

"...DAVID!!"

"SUCKA!!" the drinkable laughed, grabbing his stomach as he keeled over, dropping into his liquid for a moment, the sound drowning out. Pulling himself back up, he was still chuckling. "Aw, man! You shoulda seen da LOOK on yo' FACE!!"

His brown eyes twitched a little bit as he scooped up the controller from the floor and moved a little further down the couch. Maybe he'd be out of reach if he tried that again. Tapping the buttons, he used the option to go back to the point in the game he was before, glad to have found that cheat code finally. Never again would he lose at this game!

Gearing up once again for his final shot, Cocoa squinted his eyes a little bit as he got ready to push the button once more.

Only, he was intercepted again as a wet paper ball smacked control right on cue, the player making the shot only by pure luck.

"WHO'S DA MAN!!" the blue boy hooted, cheering for himself from his spot on the endtable. He proceeded to do what looked like the cabbage patch as his friend stared at him a bit blankly.

How the heck did he DO that?

"Okay, obviously you want my attention, so you have it now," Cocoa said, setting the game controller on the coffee table. "What's up?"

"DUUUUDE!! Check dis out, man!" David exclaimed as he hold out his arms infront of him. "Whatevah you were doin' made ma' arm grow!"

After a closer inspection, the drinkable was indeed correct. His right arm was a little longer than the left, which kind of explained his longer shooting range. Perhaps with it being longer, it was also a little stronger.

"Oh, I get it," the little fox said more to himself than to David. "You must have been having growing pains."

"Growin' what?" the drink asked, messing with his spikey hair a little bit. It wasn't standing up right today for some reason.

"Growing pains. Tends to happen right before you get a growth spurt. I got them earlier this year right around my birthday... and then I grew about 4 inches."

Cocoa stood up, his tail swishing behind him a little bit as he thought. "Hey, maybe this means you'll be growing up, too?"

David shrugged as tore off a little piece of paper from the large piece resting next to him against his bottle, rolling it up in his hands before launching it into the air. The paper flew up and hit the fox square on the nose, which caused the boy to glare a little bit.

The smaller one, however, threw his arms into the air and cheered.

"He shoots, he SCORES!"

"Cooooocoooooa!"

"Not now, dude."

"...Cooooooocooooooooooooa~!"

"I said NOT NOW, DUDE," the fox forced through gritted teeth, writing down the numbers quickly in an attempt to get through his homework faster. "I gotta get this finished so I can get that game before the store closes."

David, however, was very persistant. His arm wasn't long anymore, but something else was, and the little blue child was enjoying this greatly. He wiggled his toes in the air as he waited a moment before screaming again.

"COCOA!!"

Cocoa nearly jumped, the tip of his pencil snapping against the paper as too much pressure was forced upon it, his brown eyes twitching with anger.

"What... WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" he growled as he turned around in his chair, about ready to throw the broken tool at his friend. His jaw dropped at what he saw, however.

"Look at meeee~, dawg!" the small child cried out with excitement, placing his hands flat against the end table, his now much longer legs providing him with enough length and strength to do so. The drinkable was hanging over the rim of his bottle, using his ankles as a hook while he stretched himself downward, TECHNICALLY not leaving his precious home. "I'm like Shaq, man!"

"How did you... when did you... Why are you even HANGING OUT OF YOUR BOTTLE?" Cocoa demanded, leaving his desk and quickly making his way to David. He was a FOOL! He was being such a... such a... an IDIOT. "Quit that!"

"Hmph. OBVIOUSLY someone woke up on da wrong side ada bed dis mornin'..." he grumbled, climbing his way back into the bottle, but sitting on the rim instead of floating in the liquid like he usually did. "What's yer problem, anyway? Dis was suppos'd ta be AMAZIN'!"

"It's STUPID, that's what it is," the fox huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. "You've been a bit too cocky lately, and it's going to bite you in the butt soon. I just KNOW it is."

"Hey, can I HELP alla did stuff dat's been goin' down?" David shrugged, running a hand through his spiked up hair, checking his reflection for a moment to make sure the white streak was still running up the middle. "I'm just feelin' ali'l more like... me."

"Oh, so now you're a jerk?"

"DAWG. Dat ain't COOL, yo."

"Well, neither are you right now, DUDE. You're letting all of this get to your head. Watch the ego, and let me finish my homework so I can get that new backetball game."

"HMPH." The drinkable dropped back into his drink, turned to face the other direction, and stuck his nose up into the air as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Yer jus' JEALOUS."

Cocoa stepped back over to his desk and sat back down in his chair, working on his math homework again.

"You just keep on thinking that," he mumbled as he sharpened another pencil.

David peered over his shoulder at the boy for a moment, his orange eyes a little sad. Fine. He'd find OTHER things to do. Sinking down further into his liquid, his feet touched the bottom of the bottle, his hair sticking up out of the surface. Huh... He was a little taller than he thought. Squinting, he noticed a wad of paper that had sunk to the floor, probably from earlier when he was stealing paper and throwing it around.

Smirking, the blue boy picked it up and peered out over the surface, peeking up enough to look over the rim. He'd show HIM. Hunkering down into his bottle again, he launched himself into the air, tossed the wet wad of paper at Cocoa, and splashed back down into his container. Eagerly, he pulled himself up to watch the ball arch through the air, and land right down the back of the kid's shirt, just cold enough to startle. Yep, he still had it!

"DAAAAVIIIIID!!!!!!!!!!"

How long was this going to keep up for? David was beginning to outgrow his bottle, his waist reaching over the rim when he was standing on the bottom, and his arms had a freakish length to them. He almost started to feel like that green clay character in that one show Cocoa watched a couple of times with Mocha... Gumby, was it? His body was thin and lanky, a little disproportioned as the muscled ached and throbbed, leaving the boy to constantly whimper and whine.

"Coooocoooooa..." he cried, rolling his head against his shoulders a little bit.

There was no answer today, the fox having grabbed a CD player and headphones to listen to while he did his homework. Cocoa had enough of the annoyances after putting up with it for over a week, his furry ears flicking slightly to the music. Today would be PEACEFUL.

David frowned, trying to massage his own limbs, but failed in doing so. It was difficult, especially when his whole body easily tired.

"Coooocooooa~!" he tried to call out louder, his orange eyes carrying that puppy dog look.

There was still no response.

The drinkable began to look for something to throw, finding that his papers had finally been taken away, the child taking every precaution that he could to save himself. No one was down in the basement today, having decided to hold the lessons upstairs instead.

He was stuck.

"COCOA~!!" he barked at the top of his lungs, sinking down into his drink with furrowed brows, starting to get a little angry. This was annoying.

Then again, maybe he deserved it. He HAD been acting like a jerk lately, more cocky than usual. Was this like that one story? The boy that cried wolf? David sighed as he searched for SOMETHING that would help him out. Something in reach...

On the other side of the end table, the noticed an unused, unsharpened pencil balancing near the edge. Maybe he could use the rubber from that to his advantage. How was he going to get over there, though...? Looking at his bottle, he wondered how easy it would be to move it himself, given the fact that he could jump. The jump SHOULD give him enough force to pick the bottle up with him into the air, and kind of allow him to shuffle across the table.

Just because he liked sports more than anything else didn't mean he was completely stupid.

Grasping the rim of his container firmly, he bent down into his liquid, and jumped up as far as he could. Doing his best not to move his arms, he kept hold of the bottle as he was launched into the air, bringing it with him as he managed to make a hop. The landing was a little rough, the balance being off from the moving liquid inside, but David was able to keep upright some how with a few flails from his long arms.

SWEET! It actually WORKED!

But DANG that took quite a bit of energy... NO. He was NOT going to give up.

Taking a few deep breaths, the drinkable proceeded with caution, carefully making little hops toward the edge of the table. It wasn't until he was about six or seven hops away that he began to realize that the pencil was shifting toward the ledge. With each hop that brought him closer, the more the object moved, until it was practically balanced by its own weight. David was only a mere hop away now, and he was afraid that move would cause the tool to simply fall over.

He was completely tired now, breathing a little heavy from the jumping and lifting, combined with the now severe aches he was feeling. The blue boy licked his lips, biting the lower one softly as he turned his orange eyes to his fox friend, the child still listening to his music. It was useless to call for help... Cocoa wouldn't hear him. Discouraged, he sank down into his drink, his knees squished against the edges of the bottle as he splashed the juice over his face, hoping it would cool him down a little bit.

David removed his sweatband from his forehead with a heavy sigh, wringing it out as much as he could. His normally spiky hair fell down over his face a little bit, as if to add to his depressed look. After all, he was already blue. Staring at his reflection, he couldn't help but think of how much of a loser he must have been.

As if on cue, the TV turned on, allowing the news to display on the screen. They just happened to be playing the sport segment.

"Gary, that was a great game they played today," the announcer said, turning in his chair a little bit to look at the man on the other side of the newsstand. "Just when things were looking bad, they turned out for the best."

"You said it, Bob," Gary told him before looking to the camera. "After was looked like it was going to be a humiliating defeat, the Craters came out with an amazing victory."

David poked his head out enough to look at the screen at the mention of his favorite basketball team, brushing his hair out of his face.

"Ronald Blantcher, their star player, was taken out early in the game due to a knee injury, and coach Michael Kran put in new coming Doran Hanes to cover the game. At first, things were looking rather grim for the all-stars, but after the halftime show, it was as if a miracle had happened. After making two foul shots, Hanes was about to keep the ball on his side of the court, crushing the competition almost single handedly. No one was able to explain the phenomenon, other than that he refused to just give up."

The drinkable couldn't hear the rest, his mind drifting off into his own little world. Doran was one of the players that David had been keeping an eye on since the start of the season, feeling the man had great potential for someone who didn't get to see much action on the court. He remembered reading an interview on him a while back, in which the interviewer had asked him why he didn't just quit playing after being unable to play nearly three weeks. To which Doran had replied:

I live and breathe for this game. Basketball is my LIFE, man. Yeah, I know there're other things out there that I could do, because I was smart and got my degree when I did. But that isn't anything near the thrill of the sport, watching the fans cheer you on as you play hard, and you give it your all every game. THAT'S what sports is all about. Never giving up.

Never giving up. Despite how much it hurt, David stood up to his full height, eying the area in-between himself and the goal. It wouldn't be that big of a hop, but maybe he didn't have the move the bottle at all. Maybe he could just... Spiking up his hair and placing his sweatband around his head, he decided to give it a try.

Carefully, he began to move his upper body down the side of the bottle, reaching himself down as far as he could until his hands were flat against the end table. He hooked his ankles around the rim, giving him about an inch to move forward, slowly and cautiously getting closer to the pencil. Just as he was in an complete 45 degree angle with the table, he streeeeetched his arm outward in hopes of being able to reach the tool.

His fingers were just out of reach.

Biting his lip, he looked over his shoulder, deciding it was worth a shot. Turning his eyes back to the goal, he carefully began to tip his bottle forward, being completely cautious of the amount of weight being put on it. Stretching himself out further, he was able to place his hand on the pencil, pulling it toward himself slowly until he was able to roll it, managing to get it close enough to reach from the safety of his home. David took his time as he made it way back into the container, his heart racing as he dropped himself inside, leaning his head against the rim.

That was HARD. His body was shaking with exertion and fright, his small form hardly able to take much more. He made one last trip, however, retrieving the pencil and easily pulling off the tip with the eraser. Idly, he looked toward Cocoa, who he caught staring at him before quickly going back to his homework. ...The boy had PLANNED this. David was quietly thankful as he began to knead the rubber end against his joints, the soft yet hard material doing JUST the trick.

Awwwwwww maaaaaan that felt goooooooooood.

David was getting irritated as he pitched another paper ball toward the new fairy that had decided to come bother him. Normally, he was all for the company of a girl, but lately all he wanted was peace and quiet. That, and he could barely understand a word that came out of her mouth, let alone the fact that she was a bit too spunky for his tastes. Five minutes ago, Caireanne made a crack about how 'gangly' and 'lanky' he looked, as if he were some sort of sorry excuse for a string of speghetti.

Every ball of paper kept missing her by a long shot. Not a single one came anywhere near her, and he couldn't tell if it was just him or her incredible luck.

"Go botha someone else, ya punk!" the drinkable spat, throwing another ball. He could have stopped a while ago, but keeping himself active seemed to be the only thing to lessen the throbbing in his body. He ached all over, and the eraser from the pencil wasn't helping anymore. "Lemme alone!"

"'Ey, shut ya trap," Caireanne snapped in his direction, narrowing her eyes at him for a moment. Her voice carried a thick Irish accent. "Ahm tryin' ta wa'ch th' news, lad."

Stupid fairy. David finally gave up and sank into his drink (or more like tripped over his own feet and slipped into the bottle), his patience wearing thin. He was getting grumpy from all the pain he'd been feeling, and the fact that his home was now fairly cramped didn't help. He hugged his knees close to his chest, doing his best to sit down at the bottom of his bottle, his long hair waving a little bit in the liquid. Where was Cocoa, anyway? He hadn't seen his fox friend since that morning, and he hadn't mentioned anything about practice today. A part of him was getting worried...

Involunteerily, his left arm suddenly lashed out and crashed against the wall of the container, a dull pain spreading from his elbow all the way to his fingertips. He felt as though his arm needed to be pulled and popped, but he knew full well that it would do him no good. In the meantime, he did his best to massage his elbow, his back beginning to give him issues. There was no room to stretch inside of the bottle, and he felt that he needed to.

Standing up slowly, feeling his bones crack and pop on the way up, the blue child stretched his body upward as far he could, raising his arms high above his head and standing up on his tippy toes. Once he was done with that, he sat his little bottom on the rim of his bottle, and did his best to stretch one leg at a time, lifting them up and massaging the muscles. Idly, he wondered if one of those human ointments might work.

He also wondered if it would be possible to get larger container temporarily, until this whole achy thing was over. Maybe if he got a bigger container, he could practice swimming or something. Not doing any sports at all was just KILLING him!