Beware the AJ

Part Five

Karkat opened a door to the meteor, poking his head in. There seemed to be a tv playing in this one, two figures cuddled up under a blanket. It was Rose and Kanaya. Rose looked up from the tv towards the door, pausing the movie and sitting up a bit.

"Karkat? Terezi? Is there some sort of problem?"

"Problem? Uh.. Why would you automatically think there's a problem..?"

He lied 'smoothly'. Terezi snorted, shaking her head.

"Jegus Karkat.. This is your problem, not mine."

Karkat sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with a small groan. Kanaya tilted her head to the side, one perfectly manicured eyebrow raised.

"So there is a problem.. What happened?"

Karkat bit his lip, looking between the three ladies in the room, Rose and Kanaya both wearing confused expressions, and Terezi tapping her cane expectantly.

"Well uh.. I may have swallowed Dave.. Accidentally.."

Rose and Kanaya both blinked in surprise, Rose glancing over to Kanaya with a confused expression.

"Uh.. Karkat.. Are you sure? I don't think that's um- anatomically possible.. Right Kan..?"

"Correct.. That's not possible by any stretch of the imagination."

Kanaya nodded, lips pursed.

"You haven't been eating any of Gamzee's pies, have you..?"

"No I-..! I'm sure of it! Dave and Jade had some sort of argument, and she shrank him!"

He wrapped his arms protectively around his stomach, relaying the rest of the story. Kanaya had sat up all the way now, her attention fully piqued, while Rose remained in a more relaxed position, her eyes intensely focused on Karkat. She seemed to be thinking at a million miles an hour, her gaze razor sharp, yet distant. She got to her feet, fixing her shirt and hair.

"Well, I think before we do anything, we should confirm that 'Dave' is actually.. In there."

She gestured to Karkat's stomach. Dave could hear the entire conversation going on, his ear pressed against the wall of the organ, listening intently.

"And how are you going to do that?"

Karkat asked.

"Well,"

Rose replied.

"I think it's time I show all of you the magic of human medical science."

She lead all of them down into the basement of the meteor, heading to the library. She added some scraps of metal and plastic into the alchemizer, and hit the button. With a flash of blue light and a 'zap!', a shiny new stethoscope appeared on the platform.

"What in the world is that..?"

Karkat eyed the various metal bits uncertainly, never having seen anything like it before.

"It's a listening instrument."

She put the ear pieces in, walking over to him.

"Lift up your shirt."

He did so, yelping as the cold metal disk of the stethoscope touched him.

"Oh stop whining. It's not going to hurt you.."

Rose sighed, moving the disk down and around his abdomen, resting the metal and plastic disk on Karkat's tummy.

"Alright then.. Dave.. If you're in there.. Why don't you say something? Say hello?"

Dave had kind of gathered what was going on at this point, taking a deep breath and speaking up.

"Hey Rose.. It's me.. Y'know, your brother.."

Rose's mouth dropped open in shock, eyes wide. Karkat let out a relieved sigh.

"See? I told you..! Is he alright??"

"I-.. I dunno. Dave, are you okay?"

"Well,  aside from being covered in goop I'm fine, I guess.. It's really weird in here.."

"Sorry.."

Karkat grimaced.

"I didn't mean for this to happen.. We're gonna figure out a way to get you out as soon as possible.."

"Do what you have to.."

He sighed, looking around.

"As much as I hate to say it, this might be a job for Jade.. And she's probably still pissed at me."

Rose bit her lip.

"Do you know where she is? Maybe we can try and talk to her."

"As far as I know, she said she was going out to some uninhabited planet to practice shooting her rifle."

"Just our luck.."

Karkat's hopeful expression faltered.

"Uh oh.. What's the problem??"

"Dave says that Jade is probably the only person who can fix this.. And she's off base practicing with her gun."

Karkat visibly drooped.

"This is all my fault.. I'm so sorry Dave."

Dave opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped by the sound of Kanaya getting to her feet.

"Well, I guess now the only thing we can do is try and get a message out to Jade to come back and fix Dave.. I propose that we attempt to reason with Vriska. She's the only one here with powerful enough telepathy to reach her, if she's gone off base. Terezi, you always seem to know where she's hiding around here. Why don't you help us find her?"

Terezi nodded, twirling her cane in one hand.

"Sounds fine to me. Even if Vriska can't narrow down Jade's exact location, I can use my jet pack to get us closer. The sooner this whole problem is resolved, the better."

Karkat nodded, sighing.

"I agree.. I'll come with you guys and help you look."

Rose shook her head.

"No Karkat, you should stay put. I doubt all your movements will have a good effect on Dave. I recommend that you stay here, relax, and wait."

She handed him the stethoscope, heading to the door with the other two trolls.

"And anyhow.. It seems you two have some catching up to do."

She offered him a small wave, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.