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Chapter Text

The little yellow shuttle bus Bao Bao was riding in was quite cramped, but it was a party inside. He could barely hear the excited yells of his five big sisters over the loud bass beats of the radio and the multicolored lights swinging around from the ceiling were so energizingly hypnotizing.

When he first heard the music start playing and the whole bus cabin darkening to let in the rainbow lights, it took him no time at all to start getting on his feet to join his sisters’ festive activities. Hopping left and right side-to-side while shaking his elbows was all he could manage, but he was too caught up in the surrounding energy to care. He felt even happier when he saw some of his sisters turning around to see him dancing, prompting one of them to pick him up and continue dancing while holding him in her arms. Bao Bao’s energy spiked from having fun while at his sisters’ eye-level.

Bao Bao couldn’t quite believe that family vacations were that exciting. Before they landed in the neighboring village right after leaving home, the ride looked and felt normal with only his big brother Mao Mao talking to him to break the silence. Speaking of which, Bao Bao looked over his sisters’ shoulders and scanned the bus’s interior. Where was Mao Mao?

“Well, bye kid. Have a good summer.”

“What? B-b-but I don’t even know anyone here!” The little kitten Mao Mao protested to his father despite his backpack already placed on him. “I was thinking maybe I could go on violent adventures with the family?”

“Now now, Momo.” Mao Mao’s father, Shin Mao, assured his son. “I spent many an idyllic summer here when I was a lad. I’m sure you’ll make friends in no time.

Mao Mao frowned. “But what about Bao Bao? Shouldn’t he get to make some friends too?”

“Bao Bao? Oh, he’s still a lot younger than you are,” Shin Mao shook his head nonchalantly. “He needs more time to adjust with the family first before he’s ready to get on out there.” He looked back down to Mao Mao with a confident look on his face, his hands behind his back. “You’ve already been at this longer than him, so I know you can do this, Mee-Maw.”

“Yeah…” Mao Mao nodded hesitantly before perking up again, exuberantly pulling out the golden sword from his backpack, “…and at least I got Geraldine too!”

But not even a second later, Shin Mao reached down to snatch Geraldine from Mao Mao with just a finger and thumb. “Oops! Almost forgot! No real swords around the normies.”

“Aw, but…”

By that time, Shin Mao had already gotten back into the driver’s seat of the shuttle bus. “Say hi to your Aunt Gloria for me.” He waved to Mao Mao without looking back. “Eh, don’t wait up.”

“Wait! Wait!” Mao Mao called out, running back to the shuttle bus. Before he could get any closer, the shuttle bus had taken off into the sky, flying away at high speed over the wooded mountains in the distance.

Mao Mao groaned. “They never take me with them for dangerous family activities!” he huffed. He turned his attention back to the village he was in, scanning left and right for anything new he could discover. “Well, maybe someone around here wants to be my friend.”

Chapter Text

Bao Bao was laughing loudly as the bus flew. His face was pressed against the glass pane of the window next to him as he looked down at the forested mountains down below. All his life, he only saw the trees and mountains from the ground and they were enormous. But now that he was high in the sky, which felt unreal as is, it all looked so small now. It was like he was now looking at a colored picture like the ones in the storybooks back home. He was going to love this trip: seeing new places, doing new things…all of it with his big fun dad and his big hero sisters and little big brother…he wondered why he couldn’t find Mao Mao…

“Whew! Well, pit stop time, everyone!” Shin Mao stepped out of the bus after landing, jostling it a little before standing up and doing a stretch, pushing his gold armored arms up to the sky. The five girls made their way out of the bus too, with Bao Bao hopping right behind them. Bao Bao looked back to the bus and waited a bit. Mao Mao didn’t come out.

“I didn’t see him on the bus with us,” he thought inquisitively, “He didn’t wanna come?” He didn’t have time to think further when he felt one of his sisters’ paws touching his back, coaxing him to move along with the group. Bao Bao narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips in a suppressed smile – he was in a mischievous mood. Briefly timing himself, he jumped right onto his big sister Brunehilde’s back, grabbing on to her cape and climbing up to her head, wrapping all four of his limbs around her head and neck while sitting on her shoulders. The suddenness of doing such a thing made Brunehilde bend back with a yelp before settling into a humorously tired smile after realizing what happened. The scene also prompted laughter from the other four girls.

“Oh Bao Bao, you little bozo,” Brunehilde laughed while she shook her head and folded her arms. She looked upwards at the puppy currently hugging her head, his arms pressing her ears down flat. She lifted her hands to hold Bao Bao’s feet secure as she briefly separated from her other four sisters to go around the rest area, indulging Bao Bao in an entertaining piggyback ride.

A little while later, Bao Bao was sitting on a bench enjoying an ice-cold lemon tea drink, courtesy of his father getting it from the vending machine for him and his sisters lifting him up onto the bench, since it was too tall for him. He bounced his feet on the wood a little bit as he enjoyed the moment. Without having to think, he leaned on the sister who sat right next to him, rubbing his cheek on her side while taking another huge swig of his drink. He looked at both ends of the bench on either side of him, seeing himself surrounded by only his five big sisters alongside his father who knelt down next to the bench to be at eyelevel with his children. “Where’s Mao Mao?” he wondered again.

“Well, I hope you’re all charged up,” Shin Mao announced while checking the time on his wrist, “because we’re going now!” The girls got up excitedly, feeling pumped up once again. Bao Bao smiled, enthusiastically joining his sisters too. He looked to see that another of his sisters, Minori, was crouching down in front of him, offering him her back for him to ride on.

“Wanna ride back to the ride?” Minori joked. She didn’t need to wait for an answer as Bao Bao took a flying leap right onto her back without hesitation. “Oof!” she cried as she felt the puppy plop on her back hard.

“Ha!” Brunehilde scoffed in Minori’s direction. “Serves you right for laughing at me!”

“Oh, you be quiet!” came Minori’s retort.

Another hour passed as the air ride continued and Bao Bao was already bored. Shin Mao remained at the steering wheel while the girls were all napping. The party atmosphere having already died down a while ago, Bao Bao was limited to staring out the window at the moving and changing scenery down below. In his mind, it had finally sunk in.

Mao Mao wasn’t here. He wasn’t riding with everyone. He had been left behind for some reason.

Bao Bao didn’t mind that he got to go on the trip; it just showed that his father and sisters were happy to have him with them wherever they had to be. And yet, when he thought about how different it was with Mao Mao, he didn’t know what to think or feel. Whatever it was, it tugged at his chest unpleasantly. Aside from that, Bao Bao was starting to feel uncomfortable as he saw how much further away from home he got. He didn’t know why, but it was at that point that he’d rather be at home. Maybe he wasn’t as ready for this trip as he thought.

Carefully getting off his seat and around his sisters, Bao Bao stepped lightly until he reached the front where his father was. He saw that he was still sitting on the driver’s seat.

“Um, papa?” Bao Bao quietly called out. Shin Mao didn’t stir, so he tried again. “Papa? I thought for a while, and I…I don’t think I wanna go on this trip anymore. Can we go home?” He waited, but he still didn’t get an answer. In fact, Shin Mao didn’t move once, not even to look at his son. Bao Bao’s apprehensive expression disappeared, now replaced with a suspicious look, an eyebrow raised. “Papa?” He carefully walked right up to Shin Mao and put his paws on his father’s arm, shaking it slightly.

“Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…”

Bao Bao’s eyes popped wide open. “What!? Papa’s asleep!?” he mentally exploded in panic. “Isn’t he supposed to be driving!?” He threw his gaze left and right across the operating panel next to the steering wheel, furiously going through all sorts of options on how he was supposed to fix this. He briefly considered yelling and pounding at his dad’s armored form until he woke up, but then his eyes noticed a brightly lit word on the narrow celluloid screen over the stereo. “Hm…’Aw-toe-pie-lit’…?” Bao Bao tried to read the word. “I guess that’s a good thing, right?”

Turning his eyes away from both the stereo and his dad, Bao Bao then started scanning his sisters’ sleeping forms for other options. His eyes landed upon the yellow-clad sister wearing a golden scarf around her neck. Right after that, he looked up to the emergency hatch on the ceiling. He smiled. A plan was hatched…

Outside the flying shuttle bus and right below it, the plan went very, VERY south.

“WWHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAA!THISWASABADIDEA!I’MSUCHADUMMY!WHYDIDIDOTHIS?”

Bao Bao struggled to keep the scarf wrapped around his tiny body, his neck apparently too small to keep the whole thing together. He could only move forward in pointedly sharp zigzags as he streaked across the sky over the ocean waters and then the forested land, zooming back the way the shuttle bus came.

Chapter Text

Under a small bridge crossing over a brook, Mao Mao pulled a lily pad off his head and scrambled out of the water after being launched there, courtesy of three kids catapulting him with a seesaw, resting himself on the bottom frame of the bridge. Sitting sullenly with his knees curled up to his chest, Mao Mao turned to notice a beetle climbing on his backpack.

“Maybe…you’ll be my friend…” Mao Mao said, reaching out towards the bug. *CHOMP*

“OOOOW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OW-OWW!!!!” Mao Mao quickly grabbed the little wooden sword from his backpack and whacked the pesky insect off his finger which it bit into only seconds before.

Once he settled down again, he sighed harder, feeling even more blue. “I wonder what fun adventures my family’s having,” he mused to himself, gazing at the wooden sword in his hand. “Maybe if I was stronger…or cuter like Bao Bao, they’d bring me with them. But…” he choked on an emerging sob before he exclaimed, “…no one likes me!” Furious, he whipped the wooden sword back into the water and then curled back into himself, sobbing completely.

He couldn’t understand any of this. His father always took the girls with him on trips all the time. He was the newest child yet to join in, yet he was always left somewhere for the summer. Most puzzling of all, Bao Bao, the puppy-that-wasn’t-a-cat who his dad picked up and brought home from who-knows-where and was younger and newer than him, got to go. That didn’t just make Mao Mao feel sad, but also angry. What was so special about Bao Bao anyway? He’s just a dog! He’s not even a cat, let alone a real Mao! Why would daddy take him and not his actual son?

“If only Bao Bao weren’t here,” Mao Mao sulked.

mao mao!

Yeah, even in silent solitude, Mao Mao could still hear his little brother’s voice. As if actually listening to him talk wasn’t painful enough. “Just don’t think about him…”

Mao Mao!

“Stop thinking about him!” Mao Mao scrunched himself up further. “Just think of something else…”

MAO MAO!

“Okay! Who’s talking?” Mao Mao rapidly and angrily unfolded himself, looking around for the source of the grating yelling his ears kept picking up. That was when he looked up to see something in the sky. It looked like a cream-colored and golden-tailed speck, but it got bigger at record speed…and it was coming right for him.

MAAOOO MMAAAAOOOOOOO!!!!!

The little black kitten gasped, his eyes widening like saucers as he screamed and flailed his limbs in fright at the oncoming projectile streaking right for his face. He looked left and right in a panic for a way out, but with the little time he had left, he jumped off the bridge frame back into the water, grabbing and taking his backpack with him right as the flying thing landed in the water too.

*PFLOOMPSSSHHHH*

Mao Mao felt himself being swept to the shoreline of the village’s main river as he rode the tidal wave created by the flying thing’s powerful landing into the water. He coughed a bit from the water getting in his mouth as he crawled on all fours onto the sand. By the time he got back into a sitting position, he noticed the thing that landed in the water coming out to join him. It was…

“Bao Bao!?” Mao Mao gasped, seeing his adoptive dog brother shaking himself dry while taking off the yellow scarf he was wearing to squeeze the water out of it.

“Hi Mao Mao,” Bao Bao greeted back.

“B-b-but…” Mao Mao sputtered in confusion, “What are you doing here? Weren’t you on the trip with daddy?”

“Yeah, I was,” Bao Bao replied exuberantly without second thought, “but then I ditched ‘em and came back here!”

“But how? Why?”

“Well,” Bao Bao paused, “I was starting to miss home, and I didn’t know where you were, so I…tried to find you.” Hearing that made Mao Mao stare quietly at his brother, feeling more confused than ever. The black kitten’s eyes trailed down to the golden scarf hanging loosely around the puppy’s waist.

“Is that…her scarf? Is that how you got back here?” Mao Mao narrowed his eyes at Bao Bao. “Did you steal it?”

“Well, I…borrowed it,” Bao Bao nervously chuckled as he watched his older brother’s piercing gaze. “I’ll give it back to her when she comes back. Honest!”

Mao Mao paused, and then exploded into laughter. “Oh ho, well you better do it fast, ‘cause if she finds you, she’s gonna give you yours!” Both brothers were then laughing…together. Mao Mao’s heart felt a little lighter knowing that his little brother, somehow and someway, came back for him.

He did feel a teeny bit discouraged at the thought that Bao Bao managed to snatch his sister’s golden scarf without her knowing and sneak out, even fly all the way back from so far away by himself. The possibility of his little brother having achieved a big accomplishment much earlier in his life almost made Mao Mao’s smile droop, but he pushed that thought aside when he saw Bao Bao handing a familiar item back to him.

“Here, I think you dropped this,” Bao Bao said, putting the little wooden toy sword right next to Mao Mao.

Mao Mao frowned and looked away. “What’d you fish that out for? It’s just garbage.”

Hearing that made Bao Bao feel confused. “Huh? But why? You like swords.” He leaned over to nudge the wooden toy closer to his black cat brother.

Noticing this, Mao Mao grabbed the sword and threw across the sandy riverbank. “No. I don’t want it.”

Bao Bao panicked when he saw how high and far the sword went, though that wasn’t very much by grownup standards. He scrambled onto his feet and raced after the toy. After tracking the toy falling onto the sand about a meter away, Bao Bao picked it up and ran back to Mao Mao.

Mao Mao looked incredulous as he watched his little brother chase after the toy. “Hey! Stop bringing it back!” he yelled, but by the time he finished yelling that, Bao Bao had already sat down right in front of him with the sword in his hands. Mao Mao huffed. “Fine! You can have it.” He turned around to look the other way.

Bao Bao looked more confused. Why was Mao Mao being like this? Was it because he didn’t get to go on the trip? Was it because he had that toy and not his golden sword – Geraldine, as he called it? Bao Bao had to find out… “What’s wrong, Mao Mao?” he started with this question. Mao Mao didn’t answer, so the puppy got more persistent. “Come on, what’s wrong? Tell me.” When Mao Mao remained silent, Bao Bao scooted over until he got really close, prompting Mao Mao to move away in response. Bao Bao puffed his cheeks in annoyance. "Okay then, you give me no choice!"

Bao Bao pounced right onto Mao Mao’s back, knocking him flat on his stomach. “Tell me, or else!” Bao Bao grinned, putting his fingers on both of Mao Mao’s sides.

Mao Mao widened his eyes at seeing what his brother was about to do. “N-no! No, don’t!” he cried as he started squirming, but Bao Bao took that as a cue to get started. The puppy’s fingertips pressed against the kitten’s ribs and started wriggling furiously. Mao Mao felt the reaction rising. He fought to contain it, but it was already a losing battle. “Mmph! Gh-ha..h-h…ha…haha…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!” He flailed his limbs in an attempt to dislodge the canine from his back. “Hahaha! Stop it! Get off! Okay, okay! You win! Stop!” It felt like Bao Bao was having too much fun to listen to him, so Mao Mao used his remaining energy to launch his back into Bao Bao, bucking him off. “Enough!”

Bao Bao landed right on his rump as both he and his big brother caught their breaths while calming down. He watched as Mao Mao wiped a stray tear from his eye, likely from the intense laughter, and once he thought the kitten had settled down, picked up the wooden sword and approached him again. “You feel all better now?” he asked, putting the sword back in Mao Mao’s hand.

Mao Mao looked at the sword back in his hand, holding it up to examine the patterns in the wood. “Yeah…” he replied hesitantly. After a brief moment of silence while seeing Bao Bao’s curious gaze, he sighed. “Swords are for heroes,” he began warily, “Everyone likes a hero…but no one likes me.”

“Huh?” Bao Bao said. “I like you, Mao Mao. You’re my big bro.”

Mao Mao turned to face Bao Bao who continued to wear an expression of joyous guile on his face. “You think so?”

“Yeah, big bro.” Bao Bao nodded. “You said that everyone likes heroes. I like you, so that means you’re a hero too!”

“I’m a hero?” Mao Mao gasped. “But…I don’t know how to be one. Daddy didn’t even teach me…” He looked away for a bit, but then gasped. “Wait a minute…that’s it! I just need to become a hero! If I become a hero, then everyone will like me! But how do I do that?”

Bao Bao watched his brother silently as he tried to come up with some ways to help Mao Mao get an idea. He was momentarily distracted when he heard the sound of a villager running behind him. He and Mao Mao turned around to observe an old man racing over the nearby bridge with a bundle of decorations under his arm.

“Oh, it’s so late,” they heard the man mutter nervously, “better get back with this offering before the Flimborg comes!”

Mao Mao gasped. “That’s it, Bao Bao! Everyone’s so worried about the Flimborg! It must be a terrible monster trapping all those people!”

“Huh?” Bao Bao arched his eyebrows curiously. “Well okay, but…what’s a Phlegm-Berg?”

“Flimborg, Bao Bao! It’s some kind of creature, I think. I heard about it from the other people in the village. They were making tons of offerings for it, but they’re always working so hard to try and keep the Flimborg happy!”

“That’s a bad thing?” Bao Bao held up his paws pensively.

“Well, that I don’t know,” said Mao Mao. “But if everyone had to be so careful about how they made the Flimborg’s offerings, then it has to be big and scary and angry so it could scare people into doing what it wanted!” He turned away, looking at nothing but held a scheming look on his face. “But if I defeat the Flimborg, then everyone will be free! Free to like me!”

“Yeah!” Bao Bao cheered, throwing his paws in the air while Mao Mao gave a howling laugh to the sky above. He received a surprise in the form of Mao Mao hugging him from behind.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re here with me, Bao Bao!” Mao Mao nuzzled his cheek on his brother’s neck. “And now, I know what we have to do.” He turned to go in the direction of the mountain which was said to be the home of the Flimborg creature. “To the mountain, Bao Bao!”

“Okay!” Bao Bao chimed as he followed right behind Mao Mao, dragging the golden scarf with him. “Let’s go get the Flame-Burger!”

“Flimborg, Bao Bao! Flimborg!”

Chapter Text

Mao Mao smiled as he looked inside, putting his hands on his hips. “Well, here we are. It’s a good thing you had the golden scarf. It would’ve taken all day to get up here without it.”

“Yeah sure,” Bao Bao replied warily, rubbing a foot on the snowy ground while muttering, “after we almost crashed into the other mountains first…”

At the top of the mountain, at a cave opening marked by a wooden red-painted Torii gate, a kitten and puppy were about to snag themselves the quest of a lifetime. They both stood side by side as they stared into the blackness, anticipating the monster that lived within.

“Oh, it looks kinda scary,” Bao Bao whispered, hiding behind his black kitten brother. “Maybe we could, well, ‘not’ fight it?”

Mao Mao slowly raised the wooden sword in front of him. “We’re already here, Bao Bao. No backing out now.” He then took Bao Bao by his wrist and pulled him until he was in front.

“H-h-hey!” Bao Bao protested. “What are you doing? Why am I in front?”

“I need you to be the bait,” Mao Mao answered, “so you go first.”

“W-what!? Why do I have to go first?” Bao Bao cried. “You got the sword!”

“Which is why you need to distract it so I can hit it!” said Mao Mao.

“But I can’t protect myself if something goes wrong!”

“You got the scarf! Just use that!”

“Oh fine! I still don’t like this plan…”

Outside the cave, it seemed like nothing was happening at the moment…until the yells and cries of two boys rang out from within. Galloping out of the cave, a giant hairy rhino-like creature emerged into the light of day with a zoom and roar. The beast briefly circled around a bit to try and buck off the little kitten and puppy currently clinging to its fur.

“WHU-WHOOAAAOOOO!!!!” Mao Mao hollered as he held onto the Flimborg’s mane for dear life, his feet and tail flying in the air.

“I-TOLD-YOU-THIS-WAS-A-BAD-IDEA!!!!” Bao Bao hollered right back as he swung and bounced up and down from holding onto the Flimborg’s tail, his eyes shut tight from being too terrified to look anywhere else lest he got knocked off.

“BEEE QUIIEEEEET!!!!” Mao Mao yelled back even louder.

Down at the bottom of the mountain back at the village, the old man from before was putting away a few of the red braided ropes he had made earlier when he noticed a moving trail on the mountainside. He looked ahead and concentrated, then his eyes widened. “Wait, no! Surely my old eyes deceive me!” he gasped.

“Flimborg!? This early?” exclaimed a vixen who was nearby.

An elderly rabbit lady was panicking. “We’re not ready!”

Mao Mao struggled against the wind blowing in his eyes as he climbed across the Flimborg’s fur. Inching closer and closer to the monster’s head, he leaped onto its snout and swung his wooden sword against its big horn, whacking it nonstop in the hope he could crack it somehow. But he didn’t even make a dent.

Bao Bao continued to struggle as he kept holding on to the Flimborg’s tail. He initially was too preoccupied with not getting thrown off to come up with any sort of plan, but it was when the tails of the golden scarf fluttering in the wind – the same scarf wrapped around his body – caught his eye that he had an idea. Like Mao Mao, he carefully climbed up to the base of the tail while holding on to the Flimborg’s fur. As soon as he got to the top, he briefly took a moment to retighten the scarf and closed his eyes to concentrate. Without him or Mao Mao noticing, the scarf began to glow a radiant light, which got brighter and brighter that all of a sudden…

The Flimborg yelped at suddenly being caught off guard when it felt itself being pushed forward down the mountain at lightning speed by some unknown force. Mao Mao managed to grab onto the Flimborg’s horn just in time to go swinging around from the amount of movement that was happening in that same moment. All three continued to zoom down the mountain at blinding speed until they finally reached the village at the bottom. As that moment, Bao Bao deactivated the scarf’s powers, bringing the Flimborg back to normal speed. Unfortunately for both of the brothers, it was when the Flimborg chose to stop running, skidding to a halt which sent the boys flying off its body and crashing into a nearby wooden bucket, shattering it.

For a moment, Mao Mao and Bao Bao laid plastered on the ground, dazed and loopy from the impact of crashing back onto the ground. They came back to their senses in time to see the Flimborg step on Mao Mao’s wooden sword, smashing it to pieces.

The Flimborg snorted, glaring at the two ferociously, but turned around upon hearing the fearful cries of some of the villagers from several meters behind it.

“Mao Mao!” Bao Bao exclaimed as he got back on his feet and pointed at the monster. “The Limburger’s headed for the villagers!”

“Oh no, the villagers!” Mao Mao gasped when he heard Bao Bao and looked the same direction. “If Flimborg eats them, they’ll never be my friends! But how can I fight Flimborg without my sword?”

“Mao Mao!” Bao Bao called to his brother. “It’s okay!” Seeing his brother’s confused expression at hearing what he said, the puppy continued. “You’re a hero! You don’t need a sword to be one!”

“Then, what do I need to be a hero?” Mao Mao frantically implored him.

“Just…someone to believe in you!” Bao Bao answered, prompting a gasp from the black kitten. “I believe in you! You can do it! I know you can!”

Mao Mao paused, taking in what his little brother just said to him. Did Bao Bao really look up to him that much? Mao Mao didn’t have the time to figure out what the feeling blossoming in his chest was at the moment, but he loved it. He got right to thinking of a possible plan, recounting all the experiences in the village he had gone through before Bao Bao came back. “Alright,” he said, “I think I got an idea!” He got right up to Bao Bao and pulled him closer, whispering in his ear.

The Flimborg was getting extremely close to the panicking villagers when a voice cut the air. “Hey, big mean Flimborg!” The monster turned around to see Mao Mao. Mao Mao, after having snatched a butterfly net, used it to snag a wasp’s nest from a nearby tree and gave it a spin to secure his ammo. “Why don’t you try these on for size!?” He then swung the net forward, releasing the wasp’s nest and sending it flying at the Flimborg. The nest shattered upon hitting the beast’s horn, causing a mass of wasps to surround its head, stinging it and making it roar in pain. It unknowingly backed into a nearby stone-carved monument carved with blue-painted spirals, hitting and jostling it, causing it to fall over just as the monster then charged right for Mao Mao and Bao Bao.

“Yagh!” Mao Mao cried, turning around to run away from the charging Flimborg. “Go time, Bao Bao! Go! Go!”

“On it!” Bao Bao called back in affirmation, running to another part of the village street for the next phase.

Mao Mao ran for a bit and then skidded to a stop. He turned around to face the Flimborg and ran back. When he got close enough, he jumped and hopped across the monster’s back before plopping back onto the ground. He got back to running when the Flimborg turned around once again. When he made it to the fallen stone pillar that the Flimborg knocked down earlier, he stopped and watched the approaching beast. “Fell for it! Alright!” he whispered in anticipation. He then began to shout, waving his arms in an urgent signal, “Now, Bao Bao! Now!”

“Okay!” Bao Bao shouted back, turning to charge at the monster on his own, going so fast he was no longer on the ground. He zipped left and right, hitting the Flimborg at every side and angle using the speed and flight power provided by the golden scarf he wore. “Take this, Film-Bark!” he taunted with every strike he landed.

“Flimborg!” Mao Mao loudly corrected his brother from afar.

As soon as he felt he gave the monster enough of a beating, Bao Bao zipped past the monster and picked up a rope, pulling it tight until it was straight across the road in front of the Flimborg which then turned around for another rampage. The Flimborg charged and tripped over the rope Bao Bao held, causing it to flip over in the air and fall into a net that folded and closed around its body as soon as it landed. The now-trapped Flimborg then bounced and landed on the low end of the fallen stone monument while the other end was up in the air.

A few meters away on the top of a nearby slope, Mao Mao heaved as he struggled to push a boulder off the ledge. “Come on, you dumb rock!” he grunted despite the sweat dripping down his face. The Flimborg squirmed and roared as it tried to get free of the net. Mao Mao pushed against the boulder as hard as he could, but it still didn’t move far enough. But even when the Flimborg managed to tear a hole in the net to free one of its legs, Mao Mao kept on pushing through the sweat to the point of tears. “I am a hero! I will be loved!” He pushed and he pushed with all his might, then saw a pair of cream-colored paws pushing against the boulder with him. “Bao Bao!?”

“I got you, bro! Let’s do this!” Bao Bao said. With a final heave, the two brothers pushed at the rock until it finally budged, sending it tumbling off the ledge and rolling towards the Flimborg.

The boulder rolled until it flew up another slope and landed on the raised end of the stone monument, causing it to launch the entrapped Flimborg into air like a catapult and sending it flying away into the distant mountain landscapes, going further and further away until it disappeared completely.

“See you later, Flambergé!” Bao Bao yelled to the monster as it flew away, waving goodbye.

Mao Mao stared up at the sky where the Flimborg was sent off to, speechless at the realization at what he and Bao Bao just accomplished. “Bao Bao,” he whispered, but then shouted happily, “We did it!” Unable to stop himself, he threw himself at Bao Bao, sending both brothers tumbling to the ground as they rolled around hugging each other energetically. Neither brother could help but laugh as they celebrated their first victory against a monster…together. It actually felt nice…doing a cool thing they’ve always dreamt of doing…together…

That was…until they found themselves in the shadow of a group of very unhappy villagers.

“What did you do!?” the old man standing at the front of the group asked the two boys indignantly.

“Defeated the vicious Flimborg, freeing your village from its reign of terror?” Mao Mao explained nervously.

“Vicious!?” the old man exclaimed.

“We love the Flimborg!” the vixen next to him joined in.

“Never did a more gentle creature walk this earth!” the old rabbit lady cried.

Mao Mao and Bao Bao were confused. Bao Bao didn’t know what to say, but Mao Mao did. “But what about all the creepy offerings?” the black kitten questioned, referring to the villagers’ assortments of painted stones, braided ropes, and collected butterflies.

“We were just makin’ him all his favorite things,” the old man explained. “Rope for tug-o-war…”

“…his favorite chew toy…” the vixen added.

“…hanging out with butterflies…” a rabbit villager with an unusually bumpy and bee-stung face said.

“…but then you attacked him with bees and launched him into the sky!” the old man finished angrily.

“And on his birthday!” the old rabbit lady pointed out additionally.

“So…you don’t wanna be friends?” Mao Mao asked nervously, giving a little laugh with his hands raised. Bao Bao said nothing the whole time, only standing right next to his brother while looking at him with only his eyes.

The villagers didn’t say a word, only responding by raising pitchforks in their hands.

“Uh…” Bao Bao squeaked at his brother.

“Eh-heheh,” Mao Mao chuckled sheepishly. Both brothers lifted one foot in the same direction away from the villagers and took off in a flash, leaving behind a little dust cloud.

Both brothers high-tailed across the village streets as fast as their little legs could carry them, hoping that they went fast enough to keep outrunning the mob that chased after them. With nothing else to do besides running, neither one couldn’t resist the urge to scream.

“So, uh,” Bao Bao panted, “have these people been like this to you all day?”

“Nuh-uh!” Mao Mao replied while trying to catch his breath. “I was pretty busy today before you showed up! Oh, wait!” He stopped to backpedal towards an elderly black cat sitting on the porch of a little house. “Hi, Aunt Gloria!” He then resumed running away with Bao Bao.

“You know, this is so weird!” Mao Mao said to Bao Bao as they ran.

“Huh? Weird how?”

“I mean, I screwed everything up and I didn’t make a single friend! I should be sad, but I’m not. Why is that?”

Bao Bao thought for a moment while running. “Hm…well, friends always find each other when they’re lonely, and I went and found you when you were alone, so…”

“Yeah,” Mao Mao contemplated out loud, “Yeah, you’re right! It’s because I have you, and you’re my friend!”

“Yeah!” Bao Bao exclaimed in agreement. Both of the brothers took a moment to jump at each other and give a big hug while in the air, rubbing their cheeks with each other’s with laughter and smiles. When they landed and went back to running, Bao Bao asked Mao Mao, “Say, wanna get outta here right now, friend?”

“Yeah, but we’re kinda doing that right now, aren’t we?” Mao Mao said. He watched as Bao Bao gave a sarcastic smile and raised a tail of the golden scarf that was still wrapped around him. “Ooohh, right.” He then turned to look to the distance with a fierce smile. “Then let’s go!”

Bao Bao pushed himself into a sprint, concentrating on the scarf’s magic until it glowed once again. Once he felt his feet leaving the ground, he swooped over and grabbed Mao Mao, putting his own arms under his brother’s and held him tight as they both streaked into the sky.

“Hahaha! Yeah!” Mao Mao cheered as they now became like birds.

“I love this so much!” Bao Bao laughed. “Oh, I’m gonna miss this! I wish I could keep getting a turn to use the scarf all the time.”

“Yeah, well I still think you’re gonna get yours when everyone comes back,” Mao Mao remarked after finally having calmed down. For a moment, the brothers flew in silence, but then Mao Mao spoke up again. “You think daddy and the others know you’re gone yet?”

“Hm, I wonder…” Bao Bao mused.

“WHERE’S BAO BAO!? WHERE’D HE GO!?”

“Brunehilde, j-j-just c-calm down. I’m sure your brother’s somewhere around this area…probably…”

“Well, he couldn’t have gotten far with his little feet! Right?”

“Yeah, sure! I wonder where MY SCARF might be!”

“Minori, why don’t you drive? Dad’s getting tired!”

“We’re all tired here, sis!”

“Oh, my poor boy, please tell me you’re not thinking of becoming a stray…”

“Can’t we just go camping here? I heard fireflies are useful for freestyle search-and-rescues…”

“CLAM UP AND CHECK THE POISON IVY BUSHES!”