Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“So those are stars?”

The taller figure chuckled lightly as he sat next to his younger son up above on a high platform. He held the night star projector up towards the ceiling as the light beams reflected brightly against it.

“That’s right. And one day, I’ll take you up on the surface. And we’ll all get to see the stars together. The real ones. No worries. Just those sparkly, cosmic stars.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Hey! Knox! You up there?”

The voice came from below, and familiar voice is was. Knox and his father looked down to find the familiar voice also had a familiar face. It was his friend, Noel.

 Knox smiled and lowered himself down, but not before looking back towards his dad who gave him a approving nod in return.

“If you need me, just call. I’m always nearby.” he said, switching off the star projector.

“Okay. Thanks for showing me that, dad.”

Knox made his way down the metal staircase and met level ground again as his friend approached with something cradled in his hands. He couldn’t place what it was, but he soon understood it as an instrument of some kind after his friend began plucking random strings.

“Hey! Guess what this is?” his friend challenged him as he held the tan, wooden instrument higher from it’s bridge in proud display. He grinned even wider when he found Knox glancing to the side in thought.

“Um, I dunno, some kind of instrument? I heard someone playing earlier, but I’ve never seen that kind before...even though I’ve only ever seen one other kind...it’s definitely not a guitar.”

“It’s a lute!” Noel revealed, transitioning into a playing position and picked the strings with more intention, trying to make a melody. “My mom fixed an old one up that was just sitting around in one of the storage rooms. Wanna try it?”

“Looks weird...sure, why not?”

Knox reached for the foreign instrument and had just wrapped a hand around the bridge before-

BOOOOOOM 

The first thing Knox had registered was the enormous wooden log that had penetrated the burrow ceiling.

“Knox...” 

The second was Noel screaming in a frightened panic as the dust began to gather swiftly and whirled around their forms, their scared and confused shouting the only thing giving away their locations.

“Hey...hey, Knox?”

And the third thing Knox had registered next was the desperate calls of his father from above who still resided on the platform. The desperate calls of someone who was just as scared as he was, if not more.

Then, a colossal silhouette through the build up of dust. as fast as it had appeared, it had launched itself at his form-

“Knox, wake up.”

Knox shook and sharply pulled his head up from the ground, looking around in a panic before laying eyes on a well-acquainted face. The brunette hair she had was enough information to relax him from his brief daze.

 The morning sun’s heat was almost as strong as the rays it had directed into his eyes. He rubbed his eyelids and collapsed back onto the grass.

“Morning Kara...bad dream, if you already couldn’t tell.”

Kara giggled and looked back at the nearby figure that leaned against a nearby tree. She got up and glanced at his groggy companion.

“Well, you almost headbutted me right out of your sleep...so yeah, I could tell.”

It was only then that Knox had fully drawn his attention the various melodic sounds being made not far from where he lay. Sighing, Knox forced himself up on his feet, grunting and stretching off the excess stiffness. He looked around almost immediately after and trailed his eyes to the red saya scabbard that housed his precious katana blade. It was one of the first things he checked for when he awoke for the day.

“You two ready for some good ol’ lootin’ yet?” a friendly voice called from close by, which the sword-wielding human quickly registered as another good friend.

Knox strapped the katana around his side and yawned. He grabbed his book bag next and store up at the small gaps in the branches and leaves above them which hid a blue, radiant sky from view.

“Yeah, Lute. We’re ready now.”

Kara rested on the thick tree branch nearly 20 feet up beside Knox, who gazed analytically through the worn-out pair of binoculars. The glass within the portable microscope that magnified his vision was fairly scratched from years and years of use and abandonment, but it still did the trick.

“See anything yet?”

Knox scanned the building they were after a second time with hawk-like eyes. One slip up or false assumption could easily spell the death of them. So he needed be absolutely sure no one else was present when they arrived to do their thing. The bright star in the morning sky made it all the easier for things to both go smoother and screw everything up.

A solid red ‘LUBO’S Supermarket’  logo was barely holding on against the front of the goods store, the cords that had once fastened it straight against the building now the only things struggling to keeping it on full display and not on the ground.

Knox then trailed the binoculars to the long stretch of road that went down past the left of the convenient store in front of them and continued behind their current position. There was an abandoned neighborhood next to the forest of enormously tall trees just to the west of them as well, so Knox made tabs with what he observed and brung the binoculars from his eyes, nodding to Kara.

“Okay, everything’s quiet and clear. There’s a neighborhood to our west, too. So if we find ourselves with extra time, we can check that out.” Knox informed, placing the binoculars in his bag and getting ready to lower himself down.

“Hey, Knox?” Kara asked suddenly.

“Uh, yeah?”

“Why is a raven like a writing desk?”

Knox narrowed his eyes with an unreadable expression.

“Because they’re both associated with writing.”

“You’re no fun.” Kara replied, a bored expression taking over before her eyes widened. “You know what? Actually, that one was pretty good.”

Knox gave out a small grunt as he finally made it back to solid ground. Another grunt sounded off behind him as he turned to his friend Lute who was still rested against a nearby tree trunk. “You could of helped us scout, you know? You’re a better climber than we are.”

The gentle sounds of melody stopped as Lute’s two friends approached. He gave them a grin.

“Not if I can’t bring ol’ ‘faithful fragile’ up there with me. I mean, what if she falls and breaks?” Lute questioned in a exaggeration of voice. “There isn’t a store dedicated to lutes in Las Vistas as far as I know.”

Knox began to lead the walk into the open where the convenience store stood above them across the street.

“Why’d you bring it anyways? What if you need to roll or something to get away from an attacker? Won’t the lute just get in the way? I’d imagine the roll would hurt too.” Knox pressed as he scanned to his left and right.

Lute laughed quietly, taking the strapped instrument off and holding it up by the bridge in a bat position.

“Just felt like the group needed some musical encouragement this time around. Besides, I wouldn’t have to. Hard as a rock. A good swing of this thing, and whoever it hits won’t remember what happened.”

Knox paused suddenly and spun around.

“Wait, I thought you claimed it was fragile...that’s why you didn’t want to climb the tree, remember? So which is it?”

Lute stood in silence with a similar grin from before.

“Come on, you too. Not much time on our side.” Kara reminded from in front as one hand was already gripped on the convenient store’s double doors, ready to pull. The other one tightened around a freshly pulled buck knife. She took a glance inside and checked the corners and as far into the store as she could, seeing nothing endangering in particular.

Knox jogged up next to Kara and withdrew his katana, ready for whatever might happen next.

“Slowly.” Knox said.

Slowly didn’t quite matter in this case. Kara carefully pulled the left double door towards her and was met with an irritatingly loud screech in response.

“Well, so much for the stealth approach...” Kara halfheartedly vocalized. She held it for Knox as he entered first, angling the katana blade around both sides in case someone they hadn’t yet seen had the idea of ambushing them.

Luckily for them all, no one appeared to be present. At least near the entrance.

“Alright,” Knox looked over his shoulder to his fellow compadres. “Anything worthwhile. Let’s make this fast. I’ll go further down and let you know if I need you two.”

Kara and Lute nodded and stayed behind to check the first row of shelves while Knox went ahead.

“So...what the odds we find absolutely no food of any kind?” Lute said as he scanned the already bare shelving in front of him. He pushed a nearby rusted cart away to check the desolate shelves ahead of him.

“I wouldn’t count on any food. Looks like this place was picked clean years ago...maybe something else we can use. A tool of some kind...anything but nothing, really.”

As Kara went back near the entrance to check another shelf aisle,  she took notice of a worn down poster on the wall next to her. She approached it and read through the difficulty the aging did to it’s legibility.

“Save money...re-reduced...prices..here at the good ol’...Lubo’s...” Kara mumbled to herself as she squinted her eyes to help her read through.

“Huh.” Kara said simply.

Lute popped around the corner, ready to check another aisle.
“What, did you find something?”

“No...what do you think this place was like when it all went down? Can’t imagine what it all looked like before...” Kara pulled her eyes away from the Lubo advertisement poster and joined her friend.

“Well, full of useful food and stuff, that’s for sure.” Lute responded.

“Yeah, no sh-t.”

“Hey! Language!” Lute scolded with a finger.

“Ooops, sorry, dad.”

“I mean, I get it...” Lute clarified. “It’s just the question we keep asking every time we step into a new place. The wonder doesn’t seem to ever go away.”

Kara blanked out from the conversation, looking further down the aisle she was in front of and caught eye of something. She continued down and found something propped up against the wall. She beamed and gripped the metal pipe with one hand and gave it a swift practice swing.

“Well, at least we know we’re not leaving totally empty-handed.”

Knox treated every turn as a potential for death. The place was far from small, but he did expect it to be a bit bigger. Everything seemed much larger looking from the outside. Coming in, he hadn’t expected to find much. Maybe a metal fork or something. Well, it could at least be used to put an unaware assailant’s eye out of commission...but it’s not exactly something you risk your life to go looking for. Knox hoped for more as he neared the old deli counter, leaping over the counter to check the backroom that led to lord knows where.

He scanned the small racks that resided against the walls, but nothing still. There was no doubt...everything here had to have been picked clean. Knox let out an exasperated sigh and moved towards the gray door in front of him. The lighting from the sun was proving more and more useless the closer he got, regretting not having found a working, portable light source to bring with him yet. He found there was a small glass window integrated at the top of the door, but saw nothing but blackness through it.

With sharp blade at the ready, he pushed the rusted door back and was met with more darkness. The slither of support the sun had to spare back through the windows of the store entrance only helped with just barely highlighting the silhouettes of unknown items and objects.

Or of creatures and Mutes.

That was a possibility.

That they were just frozen there...as still as statues...

Waiting for his curiosity to lure himself inside.

Into something he wasn’t prepared for.

Straight to his demise.

Whether he was overreacting or not did not matter, as Knox did not give himself any chance to reverse his decision to shut the door, turn back and leave in a quick succession. His footsteps were just as quick as his vault back over the deli counter, looking over his shoulder to be sure he wasn’t being stalked.

“Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope...”

Kara walked to the right past the final aisle and looked down towards where she last spotted Knox, wondering what was taking so long. “Hey, Lute? can you go check on Knoxy and see what he’s up to? I’ll stand watch here.”

“Knoxy? Seriously? Alright...yeah, fine.” Lute pulled a silver switchblade out of his pocket and started to walk forward further into the store. However, a need for a search was cut rather short after Knox appeared from around the corner at the last second.

“Hey, did you find anything?” Lute asked, lowering his switchblade and retracting the blade.

“Um, well...there’s a storage room back there...but I wouldn’t go in there without a bright light...and a gun.” Knox replied.

“Guns are practically gold nowadays, so I guess we’ll just have to come back with some light.”

“I’m guessing your luck was just as bad as mine?”

“Yep. Too be fair, I did snag this metal pipe.” Kara highlighted, raising the pole and twirling it with one hand. “Wasn’t expecting much anyways, but at least we kno-”

“Hold on, shhh...” Knox put an emphasizes on his command by placing a finger against his lips. “Do you hear someone? Listen...”

The three humans all went silent, trying to pinpoint the source of Knox’s worries. There seemingly wasn’t much of anything at first; just the tree leaves whistling within the occasional, brief gusts of wind. But then their suspicions were finally confirmed.

“He could’ve just drove us here. Dunno why the hell he had us waste precious time walking...”

“Well, maybe you shouldn’t have had that sissy fit about his job performance. I’m sure that gave him plenty reason to make you walk, and unfortunately for me, I’m your partner this time around. So here I am too.”

“The guy’s too soft. Should’ve ended their pathetic lives for what they did...but captured humans are captured humans, right?”

The voices only grew closer. Knox put a hand on Kara and Lute’s shoulders and beckoned them to follow him to the back of the store. His decision was wise, as the unknown beings’ talking became even more audible.

“Haven’t seen this place before. Thought we came through here...”

“No harm in checking.” the other voice said.

By the time the Lubo supermarket doors swung open, Knox and his companions were gone. Kara and Lute hopped over the deli counter Knox had checked not even a minute earlier. Pondering their next move, Knox looked over his shoulder to the dreaded door he had not long ago avoided venturing in to. It would have to prove to be their unlikely savior now.

“Hey, guys? Remember the door that I said lead to that very dark place?” Knox asked the two.

They both nodded. Knox looked back.

“Well, it’s behind us. And we need to hide in there, now.”

A whistling tune let out, and something trailed against the store floor, scraping against it with an eerie screech. Whoever had walked inside was getting much closer. Knox stepped as quietly as he could to the gray door and opened it, getting Lute to hold the door while he retrieved his katana again for safe measure.

Into the unknown, the humans went. Any hope of navigating further without worry dispersed the moment the door had slowly groaned closed. Knox swore under his breath as it did, knowing there was no way that whoever had entered the store after them hadn’t heard that.

Knox hated that he was right.

“...you hear that?” one of the voices asked his partner.

“Yeah...yeah I did. We might have some squatters in here. Just to be sure...”

“Dammit...” Knox faced-palmed himself, dragging his hand down his face. “Alright. Alright, we got this. Here’s the plan. We wait it out, and if they come to the door and open it, that’s when I’ll push it back against them. Then we break for it. We’ll have to just improvise what comes next...we can’t die in this stupid room.”

Knox couldn’t see anything around him, but he could practically feel the nods Kara and Lute gave him.

This was it. If Knox didn’t coordinate this correctly, he was going get them captured. Or worse, killed. He wasn’t even sure how many of them they’re even were. ‘Could be some outside...waiting in case their pals didn’t get the job done...’

No. Not the time for speculations. It was the time for action. It was time for now.

The words the group of three heard through the door next solidified what they needed to do.

“There’s a door right over there, past the counter. Let’s check it out.”

Footsteps followed. A heavy clap against the ground echoed lightly as one of the unknown investigators had jumped over the deli counter and slowly approached the door Knox was pressed against.

“Get ready you two...no one left behind.” Knox whispered to his friends.

“Let’s do this.” Kara responded, her buck knife at the ready.

The footsteps finally stopped at the door.

“Looks dark as hell in there...can’t see anything through the window.”

The moment the door was pulled back, Knox reared himself back and put all his strength into his barge against the door, sending it outwards. A loud bang sounded after.

“Yoouch!” the figure was left to hold his head on the ground in the pain.

Knox had to act quickly. He dashed out of the door and ran into a someone he was not unfamiliar with. In front of him was a humanoid, green frog sporting a professional black tailored slim-cut suit. Tie included.

They were Mod Frogs.

Knox swung his katana at the Mod Frog that remained standing in front of the deli counter, his surprised reaction to the swift cut the blade made through the air leaving him tumbling over the counter in an ungraceful heap.

Kara and Lute wasted no time in darting over the corner, Knox following after them just after noticing the nail-driven bat that rested beside one of the Mod Frogs as he passed by.

The disgraced Mod Frog got up from his tumble and frantically patted over his neck and body to find that the sword failed to make contact. His face contorted into agitation and anger as he yelled to his partner.

“Bukowski! Get your ass up! We’ve got us some humans to chase.”

Knox nearly tripped over himself as he bound for the supermarket entrance, glad to see the sun in it’s full glory once more. Kara held the door for him as he joined them in their bid to get as far from the Mod Freaks as fast as humanly possible. The last thing they needed was to get entangled up with them. Everything that could have gone wrong was going wrong. And for what? The katana-wielding human chastised himself as he ran and the fairly distant shouts from behind him and his group didn’t help the matter one bit. The frogs were out of the cage now, and they were gaining on them by the second.

“All we have to do is get back to the forest, we can lose them there!” Kara shouted, looking back just in time to see an elongated and pink tongue snake straight towards her head. Her instinct to duck just about saved her life as the Mod Frog’s extended tongue retreated back into it’s mouth.

“You all won’t get very far, I assure you!” the Mod Frog yelled out, unleashing another tongue lash at the group, this one coming mighty close to Lute.

“Yeah? Watch us!” Lute replied, eyeing the body of trees that were growing closer. 

Through the adrenaline-filled rush, it was a miracle that any of them noticed the shadows against the road’s pavement they were running on. Something lurked from above and Kara was the first to look up.

“No way!” she said gripping the metal pipe in her hands much tighter.

Trailing the commotion from above was a squadron of large differently-colored birds in flight; no more than five and all of their sights on them.

“Humming Bombers!? Are you f-cking kidding me!?” Kara shouted, her legs pumping against the pavement faster.

“Language!” Lute chastised, bounding past her with his lute cradled tightly against his side.

“Not the time!” Kara replied through fatigued breathing. She turned back, but immediately regretted the decision. The Mod Frogs were getting much closer than she was comfortable with. And the Humming Bombers were now in play.

Things weren’t looking good at all for them. To Kara, a split-second decision needed to be made.

“Knox, Lute, we need to split. They can’t get us easily if we split!” Kara offered.

“No! That’s too risky!” he replied. “We can lose them through the forest and head back to-”

“No time!” Kara shot back.

They were now nearing the beginning edge of the forest the group had first come from, and Kara looked to her right and spotted the roofs of the abandoned houses they scoped out earlier.

“They’ll end up following us back to the hideout. I’ll cut through through the houses! Trust me, we’ll regroup!” she assured.

Before Knox could protest, Kara had already twisted and turned sharply to the right. She leapt over a wooden fence and disappeared behind the first house in sight.

“Dammit!” Knox’s heart began to race faster than it already was. “What was she thinking!?”

“Knox!”

Knox turned towards his remaining friend, Lute. He had an overly-confident grin on his face.

“Trust her!”

A small pause.

“Okay. We cut through the forest as soon as I say. We can shake the frogs there easily!” Knox told him as he looked back, the Mod Frogs getting visibly exhausted. 

“Hey, Mod Freaks!” a voice called up from high above.

The two Mod Frogs trailed their eyes up to the sky to find the pesky Humming Bombers still after them. Two had separated from the others, supposedly to follow after the human that had deserted the group.

“What, you feathered chickens!?” one of the frogs shouted aloud, raising it’s nail bat to the sky, as if reaching for them.

“If we can’t have those humans, you know very well that no one else can!” the supposed Humming Bomber leader called down. It was only when they realized what the leader was reaching for then that the two frogs had come to a sudden stop.

“Bombs away, suckers!”

Knox and Lute heard the screams of the Mod Frogs that were in hot pursuit, but had failed to realize why they had fallen back in the opposite direction. Until one of them finally got it.

“Lute, don’t look up! Run as fast as you can!”

“What?”

“Don’t look ba-”

Everything was suddenly loud.

Everything was suddenly spinning. 

And then everything was suddenly dark.

“You assholes! You almost killed us!”

“You gonna do something with that bat, froggie?”

“You won’t feel so mighty the next time this happens, I swear you that! Let’s get outta here, Bukowski. There not worth the time.”

The voices became clearer to Knox as he slowly regained consciousness. He almost panicked after he came to, wiping the dirt from his face. But a hand rested on his shoulder and lead him to turn towards the face that calmed him. Lute was right next to him with a pointer finger against his lips. Although Knox rested assured in the fact that they were both still breathing, he saw that Lute’s eyes still carried the look of apprehension.

Knox also found that they were both behind one of the many fallen trees that fell during the nectar bomb attack, covered almost completely in leaves that hid their position.

Luckily, the fallen tree the humans were concealed behind wasn’t the direction the defeated and irritated Mod Frogs now took their leave towards.

“Good thinking, Lute. You saved our butts.” Knox whispered to his partner, giving him a shoulder bump with his fist.

“Yeah...but we’re not out of the woods yet.”

Knox didn’t know if the pun was intentional or not, but it was much appreciated either way, even considering the dire events they were currently in. 

“You really think they survived that?” one of the Humming Bombers asked their leader.

“I dunno...maybe a bit too much punch into that one. Keep looking. If we don’t find them alive, we’ll certainly find them dead. Better that than nothing.”

The voices of the grounded Humming Bombers continued a bit further out.

“Maybe we should’ve just threatened them on the ground. Dammit! We’ve gone too long without anything to show for it...Scarlemange is gonna be pissed.”

The word that Knox had tried so hard to avoid was said loud and clear.

“Come on. Let’s take back to the skies. We’ll regroup with the others...maybe they caught that other human.”

A array of fluttering wings sounded off and within seconds, the Humming Bombers had dispatched and were finally gone.

‘Another day to live’  Knox thought. ‘But at what cost?’

“Come on, Knox. Let’s get on Kara’s trail. She shouldn’t have gotten too far.” Lute said as he got to his feet and brushed off the leaves stuck in between his lute’s strings. 

Knox wobbly got to his feet, still sore and shaken from the nectar bombing. His feet soon found equal balance. He gave a quick glance back at the carnage the bird Mutes had caused in their wake. Luckily, he hadn’t lost his katana; it lay right beside him, as if it had an invisible leash connected to it in the form of an unspoken loyalty.

He grunted through the persistent soreness and picked it up, gently sliding it back in it’s red scabbard.

“Did you hear what that Humming Bomber said? Scarlemange? So they work for that mystery jerk?”

Knox took a pause in silence. 

“Yeah, seems like it. For the self-proclaimed "freedom fliers of the sky " to be lackeys to some whack-job...I honestly still wouldn’t be surprised.”

A long, deep breath was drawn, and Knox finally pulled the strength to move forward.

Crunched leaves and hurried, heavy footsteps continued into the nearby forest.

Kara had thought she lost those pesky Humming Bombers for the third time, and maybe this time she was right. She wasn’t expecting the neighborhood forest to be so big. She continued and felt a pang of relief in her heart as she saw the two Humming Bombers that were trailing her fly past her position through what little view she had through the dense trees. They seemingly lost sight of her.

She stopped and tiredly leaned against the closest tree, slowly sliding down it’s rough texture and finding herself catching her breath on the ground.

“Okay...okay, I need...to find...”

Kara paused her self-talk and froze up, a unplaced  sensation overtaking her.

She quieted her breathing as best as she could, trying not to lose her composure. The sound could have literally been anything, but it was a strangely particular sound. Still, she searched around from left to right with keen eyes and she found nothing.

Still, she heard it...but just faintly. Like a very subtle fizzing sound.

As Kara slowly removed her knife from it’s sheath, she realized that she was spending all of her time looking around her that she failed to look up.

And by the time she did, it was too late.

A quick glance above the tree she rested against was met with the razor fast lunge of something she didn’t get to identify.

Then everything went black for her.

Chapter Text

The moon was in full display in the clear skies above. 

Through the thicket of numerous trees below it, fire in a pit blazed in the loneliness of the night.

In between the standout light in the darkness, two figures sat across from each other, observing the flickering flames that gave them a glimpse of the only other sign of life besides themselves. It was an uncomfortable and long stare into the abyss that hadn’t helped ease their anxieties and worries. Worries about their friend and if he was truly out of harm’s way or not.

“We’ll find her, Knox. I know we will.” Lute spoke up. “But we’ve been searching all day, and we have to make sure we’re rested for the morning and for what comes next. We’ll get right back on her trail then.”

Knox nodded wordlessly as he continued his relentless stare into the yellow-orange hue of their source of heat. They weren’t new to uncomfortable situations and harrowing danger. They just didn’t look for it. It’s how they stayed alive effectively for so long. Getting in, and getting out just as fast if not faster. He honestly didn’t know how it all would turn out this time around. Every time something like this happened was a chance for it being the one time that luck had finally run out.

“Kara always told me you were the life force of the group.”

The words came out to Lute unexpected. He gave a slightly surprised look at Knox.

“She thinks that? Why? Because I play the lute bard of the group sometimes?” he half-joked.

“No. Well, kinda. But it’s just in you. I know we’ve all been dragged down, and your no exception...I’m not trying to downplay anything you’re going through but-”

“Knox, I understand what you mean.” Lute chuckled out lightly. He moved his eyes at the lute instrument laid across his lap, bringing a hand to softly strum against the strings. His strumming hand curled up into a fist and unfurled as quickly as it had tensed up.

“We’re gonna find her. Alive. And then we’re going to keep doing what we do best. But first,” Lute laid the musical instrument he was fiddling with down against the tree next to him. “...let’s get some rest.”

Knox watched his friend lay against the tree and shut his eyes, the light of the fire highlighting his ever-present smile.

Knox brung his attention back to the flame that was losing it’s spark and sighed quietly. He arose, stomping out the weakened flame and followed suit after his friend’s actions. After finding a comfortable position, he relaxed his body and mind before drifting off into silence a few minutes later.

Dust and screaming. 

The terror. The confusion.

And the pain.

Knox held his head in response to the small, but still decently-sized rock that contacted against his head. One of many to fall from the crumbling wall that exposed the outside world to them all.

He heard his father call from a closer position as the dust began to leisurely clear, but he couldn’t make out what he was saying. Or where he was. But he was getting closer.

That was when he spotted his friend Noel not far from him. He was now on the ground with a large shelf pinning him against the floor. Noel cried out in pain, pushing against the heavy object to no avail. Knox’s instinct drove him to ignore the sharp pain residing from his skull and immediately move towards Noel’s prone form as the chaos unfolded around him. He struggled to lift the furniture from him as he squirmed underneath it. A loud bang rang out behind him, startling him. It was a large piece of the crumbling ceiling above him.

The adrenaline that coursed through Knox’s veins only proved vaguely helpful as the piece of furniture was only lifted by a few inches. Too heavy to keep up, he was forced to let it fall back on Noel, the screeching yell his friend gave off nearly sending Knox limp.

“Noel, I’m sorry! I’m trying!” Knox told him through a shaky tone, the warm tears finally catching up with him.

Another piece of the burrow ceiling fell dangerously close to the child’s side, missing them both by mere feet. The screaming around them didn’t help, but things had finally cleared up. And Knox couldn’t believe what he saw next. He regretted looking towards the beam of light the surface gave them through the hole in their home.

Multiple sources of sharp, piercing screeches filled the air.

Knox’s eyes flickered rapidly before opening fully with a brief panic as he awoke from yet another restless sleep. He rubbed his groggy, blurry eyes and took his time adjusting to the morning light. His attention quickly leapt to Lute, who was still sleeping practically in the same place as he was late last night.

As his waking routine normally went, he then checked to find his katana still rested in it’s scabbard against the tree he had slept beside. He walked up to it and pulled it out of it’s casing. The handle was white with red threading decoratively covering over it. He observed his face in the reflective surface the sharp edge gave off. A face determined to get what was torn from them glared back.

“Hey Lute...wake up.”

The shaking of his shoulders triggered a tired moaning out of Lute’s mouth. 

“Morning, pal. It’s time.”

Slowly but eventually, Lute caught himself up to speed, pulling himself straight and brushing his hands over his face.

“Mmmmm...okay. Just...let me get myself up to speed...” he responded, stretching out his worn out back.

Maybe sleeping against a hard tree wasn’t the best thing Lute could have done for his sleep.

The first thing Knox and Lute did the day before was check the nearby neighboring set of houses they had first witnessed Kara through past. They had initially thought she’d taken refuge there, but it didn’t make much sense in the grand scale of the situation. If that were the case, she would’ve made her way back and they would’ve all been reunited by now. Even still, the two humans had scouted hurriedly for a sign, trying their best to both be swift and leave no stone unturned. But all that came out of it was a rusted crowbar for Lute to carry along as they continued to search.

As a result of their failures, deeper into the neighborhood forest they went. And it went on longer than they had expected. They even came close to a few Mutes who seem to be doing the best they could to mind their own business, if anything. The humans hid regardless. No chances.

The trees only grew bigger and wider. Knox was perplexed on how he didn’t pay much attention to how tall the trees were the first time he glanced past when he was scouting with the binoculars. The trees he and Kara climbed that day didn’t even come close to how colossal these were.

It was only after a few more minutes of walking that things began to get weird. The worrying kind of weird. 

The path quickly grew more structured and linear. Knox decided that keeping a hand on his katana’s hilt wasn’t good enough. He drew the blade out fully, a feeling of dread quickly reigning over him. He walked in careful motion alongside Lute and internally jumped when he called something out.

“Hey, look!”

Lute bounded towards something silver on the ground not far from them. He knelt down and gasped.

“It’s Kara’s! Kara’s knife!” Lute said statically, showing it’s familiar form to Knox.

“We’re getting lucky. But we still haven’t found her. I’m not sure if she would’ve dropped her weapon as some sort of trail...let’s hurry up.”

What next struck the two as odd were the razor-sharp thorns that circulated around the upcoming trees. The further in they went, the more the surrounding forest seemed to become more standout and developed. 

It was the only moments later that they truly realized what they were getting themselves into.

“This is definitely Mute territory of some kind. We better tread care-”

“Treading carefully is far, far out the the quesssstion now.”

Knox and Lute shifted their eyes around their surroundings in surprise, gripping their weapons extra tight.

“Who said that?” Knox demeaned out loud, showing off the sharp blade in front of him. “Show yourself, damn coward!” He could now tell it was coming from above, but he still couldn’t spot anyone or anything.

A haunting, hissing laugh resonated tauntingly; this time from close by.

“Try looking up.”

Lute and Knox darted their eyes towards the tree behind them and found the culprit emerging from the branches above. Something large. Something long. Very long.

“Lute, move!” Knox called out as the creature struck out of the tall tree and landed in the same spot the two humans had jumped back from.

The giant creature’s impact shook the ground around them. Knox couldn’t believe what he was seeing, and that was saying a lot. He’s seen many different kind of Mutes on his long ten-year bout on the surface, but he’s had yet to run into any snakes Mutes of this kind.

Well, his lucky streak was definitely out now.

The snake Mute that stood before them was of a gray-brown ground color. One of his eyes were a milky-white, indicating blindness. But what stood out the most was the tip of his tail; specifically, what had been fastened in place of what should have been the tail rattle.

The spear-tipped tail whipped dangerously above as the snake moved it’s head towards them in an unhurried speed.

“You’re both going to want to come with us.” it spoke in a hiss.

Knox had no time to reply as numerous other snakes revealed themselves from above in the trees around him and Lute, giving off the appropriate feeling that there was no escape. Still, Knox pressed the spear snake.

“What makes you think we’re-”

“Look around you, foolish human.” the spear snake sharply interrupted.

Knox didn’t find the need to look around at the reptiles he already knew was there, but he got the message.

“Besides,” the spear snake continued. “You were heading exactly where we’re taking you, anyways.”

“What?” Knox asked, his face growing less angered and more worried.

The multiple snakes that flanked the two humans grew closer, leaving no other options but death, or compliance. They wisefully chose compliance.

“Follow.” the spear snake ordered, turning tail deeper into the wooded territory.

Knox and Lute looked to each other and mirrored their nodding.

Soon, walls of thorns flanked both sides, cutting them off from the rest of the forest around them. They were soon to find another awing sight.

Not too far ahead stood the widest tree of all the others they’ve seen so far. But the most intrigue came from the enormous opening in the trunk, which led to who knows where.

“Why don’t you take away our weapons while you’re at it?” Knox asked with narrowed eyes.

The spear snake laughed, bringing his head to eye-level with Knox.

“Because it won’t make a difference.” 

The snake continued to lead them to the tree’s large entrance, turning to glance at the humans from the corner of his vision.

“Rude of me to not introduce ourselves.” the speared snake added. “My name is Stryker. And your in Diamond Cutter territory, my friends.”

Torches aligned the hardened dirt cave walls inside, giving off a fiery hue that dominated the entire tunnel space. Lute followed closely behind Knox, gripping his switchblade with shaky hands as they continued through the passage before it finally opened up into more illuminated space.

The inside was enormous.

The path ahead was straight forward, but the hidden underground colony went down even further.

An immense colosseum was revealed below, with two Diamond Cutter snakes engaging in combat from within it’s circular walls. The caged prison-like rooms that were embedded into and around the colosseum walls were also of note. Lute blinked in alarm as he witnessed one of the battling snakes lunging forward and clamping their fangs deep into the other, the struggling snake banging it’s tail against the dirt ground in what seemed to be an admittance of defeat.

“Ah! Guessst have arrived!”

The voice peeped Lute’s attention back to where they were being led to find they were closing in on a throne made of rock. Thorns decorated the space behind it. However, the real attraction was the snake that rested upon it.

The snake leaned forward to greet the arriving group, showing off a unique tail of his own. It’s tail end was like Stryker’s. In place of a spear tip was a metal, spiked ball which gave the impression of a military flail. One eye concealed by an eye patch, the newly introduced snake raised his head high above the humans, towering them.

“I am Nevarr, leader of the many fine individuals you see around you. Together, we are the Diamond Cutters. But I’m sure my right-hand reptile here has already brung you up to speed enough.”

“Where is she?” Knox asked angrily, stepping forward and causing the guarding snakes around him to hiss dangerously.

“Knox, chill it dude! Getting struck down by a bunch of weaponized snakes would definitely suck!” Lute reacted by holding his friend back with a hand to his shoulder.

Knox swiftly turned around. “You really think they don’t have anything to do with this? Finding her knife so close to this place?”

“I didn’t say that-”

“Ease yourselves...” Nevarr ordered calmly. “Please...we’re reasonable reptiles.”

“And what do you mean by that?” Knox replied, squeezing his hand around the katana’s handle.

Nevarr chuckled at the visible irritation the human gave off. He looked over the edge of the elevated pathway and observed the injured snake that had lost his bid with his opponent.

“Humans...do you know what this colosseum symbolizes?” Nevarr asked, his grin revealing his sharp fangs.

“Your sick, twisted power fantasy?” Knox guessed, unimpressed.

Lute looked at his friend with an incredulous expression, gripping his hair nervously. The grin Nevarr had sported transformed into a hardy laugh.

“Ha! No, human...it symbolizes structure. It symbolizes greater reward. And every month of the passing year, this colosseum opens up to those willing to work for that greater reward. More than what’s already given to them.”

Nevarr lowered his gaze to level with Knox’s. His one visible eye peered into the human’s, failing to blink even once.

“Something rare...something exquisite.”

A scream rang out from below them. Knox and Lute glanced below to grab sight of a squirming form being dragged in the curled tail of another Diamond Cutter snake. The victor of the previous battle below seemed to beam with pride as his tongue flickered in a hungered frenzy.

“No, please! Let me loose, I have a family!” the poor subdued creature, revealed to be a armadillo Mute, pleaded desperately.

Unfortunately, it’s cries went unheard. With a swift strike, the reward was rendered stiff within mere seconds. The colosseum battle victor dragged it’s prize of sight.

“Knox? Knox!”

The voice was unmistakable. Knox’s eyes jumped around to find the source and his eyes widened simultaneously with glee and disturbance when he finally did. Down in the colosseum inside one of the many prison rooms was a human with her hands wrapped around the metal bars.

“Kara!?” Knox and Lute shouted in unison.

Knox lost all patience and raged towards the Diamond Cutter leader.

“Let her go, now!” Knox screamed, swinging his katana back and running the blade towards Nevarr’s nearby form.

What came next was a slick, fast maneuver that Knox had failed to evade. Before he knew it, he was in the tightening coils of Nevarr’s body. His katana clattered next to a distraught Lute.

“You have absolutely zero reason to think you have any power over the situation.” Nevarr hissed into his ear.

“If you dont-”

Nevarr squeezed Knox just a bit tighter, the air in the human’s lungs running thin.

“Please...don’t hurt her...” Knox managed to get out. His vision was starting to blur.

“I won’t lay a single fang on her...not if you listen.”

Nevarr slowly released his constriction on Knox’s weakened form. Knox struggled to get up, but found himself unable to. He was able to settle with being on his knees with his hands planted on the ground. Lute leaned down with his injured friend.

“What do we need to do?” Lute asked with pleading eyes.

Another chuckle escaped the leader of the Diamond Cutters, his eyes trailing to observe the newly caught human pulling on the bars of her prison below.

“I want you to steal something for me. Something precious to someone else. Do this, and your human friend will be released without a scratch.” Nevarr clarified to the two.

Lute and Knox looked at each other.

“What are we stealing and who are we stealing it from?” Knox coughed, his strength slowly coming to.

A brief silence permeated the air of the underground colony.

“I want you to steal one of those wretched noise makers from another equally wretched group of snakes.” Nevarr revealed as he brung his fangs out into view, staring the two humans down.

“I want you to steal a guitar from the leaders of the Umlaut Snäkes.”

Knox’s eyes widened in disbelief. He shook his head slowly, trying to find any other possible task he could offer to replace it. But he knew there were none. Nevarr’s demands were law on this one. Knox had definitely heard of the Umlaut Snäkes. He’s heard of what they’ve done with trespassers and those who threatened their hometown. He even knew where they lived.

But he’s never once thought about crossing paths with them. It was a mutual agreement that had never been settled in person. A mutual agreement that would now have to be broken.

“I’m sure you’ve heard of Cotton and Camille...they're the pricks responsible for giving me this!” Nevarr said furiously, exaggerating the eye patch that covered his damaged eye.

“You have two weeks. Two weeks exactly, starting today. You got that?” Nevarr motioned his spiked tail towards the jails in the colosseum. “Say your goodbyes. It could be your last.”

Knox and Lute stepped near the edge to find Kara still tugging helplessly at the bars that kept her from freedom. Knox cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled down to her.

“Kara, listen! We’re going to get you free! Give us a week! We swear we will!”

It was impossible for her friends to see, but Kara gave them a wide smile. She shouted back as loud a she could. “I already know you’ll both figure this out! I’m just f-cking claustrophobic!”

Knox gave a half-heavyhearted smile in response to her words as he and Lute were forced back down the path they had come. Back up the tunnel and out of the tree entrance they now were. Two of the Diamond Cutter snakes pushed the humans to the ground.

Nevarr slithered past his subordinate and gave them a fixed glare filled with venom.

“Two weeks. The Umlaut Snäkes reside in Cactus Town just north of here. It’s easy to spot from a higher vantage point. Cactuses and all that. You’ll know it when you see it.” Stryker told them as he moved alongside his commander.

“You should know that the consequences for failing doesn’t stop at just losing your friend. If you fail at this task...you’re both dead.” Nevarr warned, flailing his spiked tail in the air as if warning them visibly.

Knox brushed himself off and arose to stare up at Nevarr with an almost equally venomous look.

“What are you trying to start, Nevarr?”

A slow smile sneaked onto the leader’s face.

“Time is’a tickin’, human. There are only so many sunsets.”

And with that, Nevarr and his posse retreated back into the tree hole, disappearing into the darkness. 

“Sh-t...sh-t...where do we start? Um, how are we even going to go about this?” Lute asked in a panic, running a hand through his short hair, black hair.

“I have an idea of Cactus Town’s layout...and I really hoped I wouldn’t ever have to find use in knowing it.” 

“Okay! Ha, okay. So let’s set up a plan. Let’s get back to base and tell the others. We get some supplies and head back out! We can get this done within a couple days!”

“Lute...if I’m going to be honest,” Knox looked back at the Diamond Cutter colony entrance.

“This is probably going to get worse before it get’s better.”

Chapter Text

The pair of traveling humans had passed by the Lubo’s Supermarket they had recently looted and tried not to think about all that had transpired before. What they could’ve done to prevent things from being the way that they now were. Kinda hard when the surrounding area was practically destroyed by those explosive-happy Humming Bombers and their explosive nectar bombs. Must’ve been a low dosage, because the explosion seemed a lot smaller in it’s damage radius than they’d both expected. 

A foot ran through the air and skimmed against the pavement. 

Lute’s eyes trailed the rock that skipped along the road and witnessed it stop almost center-line with the worn paint markings that went down the middle. He smiled to himself as he continued alongside Knox as they caught up to the pebble.

“So you think this is some ploy? That Nevarr’s trying to start some clash with the rocker snakes?” Lute said, kicking the rock a second time. This time, the rock had stopped just along the edge of the cement road.

“There’s no way that prick isn’t trying to start something...I’m starting to wonder if we should even try stealing from them...maybe we just explain what happened and what we think the Diamond Cutters are trying to do...maybe we convince the Umlaut Snakes work together with us to get Kara back?” Lute offered.

Knox looked up in thought.

“Yeah...” Knox continued, his frown flipping around. “Maybe we offer our help, and they also get rid of their own pest problem.”

But the more Knox thought about it....

“If we arrive with the Umlaut Snäkes before we get Nevarr the guitar...they’ll kill Kara right away...no, we need to get that guitar. We’re not putting Kara’s life at risk like that.”

Lute kicked the rock he’d been keeping up with and this time it went off the road and soared into some nearby bushes.

“Ouuch!”

Both humans drew their primary weapons in surprise, pointing them towards the source of the pained voice. The bush where the rock had halted it’s journey began to shake. This prompted the two humans to grip their weapons in anticipation.

Not long after, the shuffling stopped and a small form stumbled out onto their back, gripping it’s forehead. The bushy-tailed creature got to it’s feet and pointed threateningly at the two humans.

“You humans better watch it! Lucky for you both I’m not a predator...or I would have...” the squirrel Mute’s voice faded away as it agitatedly walked away from sight behind some nearby trees.

Lute and Knox made awkward eye contact with each other before putting away their weapons and continuing forward.

“I think we better up our observation game. That could have easily have been an aggressive poison kind of squirrel.”

Lute looked to his friend, slightly confused.
“Wait, those exist?”

“No, Lute. Aggressive, poisonous squirrels don’t exist...I hope.”

A few more seconds of walking passed before Knox looked back over to Lute.

“That was a nice shot, though.” Knox admitted.

Lute’s face shined in light of the compliment.

“Thanks.”

They were only moments away from their place of refuge.

The forest full of trees around them appeared devoid of color and personality as the sun had mostly failed to shine through the tree leaves from behind. Among an approaching clearing was the slightly worn-down house that stood in front. Made of brick and wood, it would have normally give off a creepy vibe to anyone who had just come across it for the first time. But Knox and Lute had all but fear in their eyes. They had long gotten used to it.

To them, it was their sanctuary.

It wasn’t long after their arrival that the sheet that covered the only open window from the top floor moved. A face peered from behind the cloth covering and instantaneously became joyous.

“You’re back! That’s-” the human female stopped mid-sentence. “Where’s Kara? I-is she...”

“No. No she’s not, Amanda. She's okay...at the moment.” Knox assured sourly, coming closer to the entrance. “Can you remove the blockage from the door...we’re going to explain everything.”

Up on the second floor, Lute, Knox and their two other human companions stood in a circle, taking in what they were just told. Amanda unthinkingly leaned against the weakened railing, but jerked back after hearing the wooden creak loudly and bend in response.

“So...a group of giant snakes that aren’t the Umlaut Snäkes have Kara as a bargaining chip?” their other friend Jonathan said, looking up at the ceiling. “And now they want us to take the Umlaut Snäkes’ guitars?”

“Um,” Lute piped up. “Actually just one of them.”

“And that’s supposed to change how incredibly dangerous the whole thing is?” Jonathan said, throwing his hands up.

Knox looked to the ground before clarifying. “Not all of us. “Amanda...Jonathan...I need you both to stay here.”

“What?” the both said in unison before looking at each other in worry.

“Why can’t we come? We’re stronger in numbers! We can get the job done faster, too!” Jonathan tried to reason. But Knox still held a look of disapproval.

“I know we are...she’s your friend too. And she’s your sister...” Knox punctuated, looking at Amanda heavy eyes. “But someone needs to keep watch over this place. We’ve got enough supplies to last a good month, and if we lose this place...”

“No...I get it. It’s just...it’s a big play.” Amanda said, correcting her glasses. Going into territory of a place we all swore to never go...”

“Listen,” Lute walked up to Amanda and Jonathan and placed a hand on each of their shoulders. “We promise we’ll do this quietly. We’ve got two weeks to work with. We’ll get her back.”

Jonathan looked on at his newly returned friends and hung his head low briefly.
“Alright. Just promise me you’ll arrive in one piece and not two.”

He playfully punched Knox’s shoulder and gave him and Lute both an assured smile.

“Promise.”

Knox and Lute grabbed some supplies for their journey and said their goodbyes. They headed back out from which they came for the second time that week, but they both halted after they heard Amanda call from inside.

“Wait!”

Amanda rushed downstairs and ran out of the house, holding out something for them.

“I want you to take this. Give it to Kara once you get her out. I really should’ve given it to her along long time ago. Please...get my sister back.” Amanda told him with a smile, holding out the necklace for Knox to take. The green, hexagon-shaped crystal necklace glistened in what little sun-rays snuck through the trees above them. It was fastened to the necklace cord by a metal flower pattern.

Knox happily accepted it, putting it around his neck for safe-keeping. He saw through the smile she gave off, though. He knew she was heart-broken on the inside. He had to make things right.

“Will do. We’ll see you two sooner than you think. Stay safe, okay?” Knox promised, slowly turning to walk from the comfort of their hideout. He and Lute glanced back one last time before they disappeared behind some trees. 

The thing they had all failed to notice was the small Mute hidden within the many branches and leaves above them, listening to every word that had been spoken. The flying insect flew above the trees and chuckled to itself, it’s rear synthetically flashing in neon colors to accompany it’s darkening glee. It took a final glance at the human hideout and buzzed away.

The evening was growing closer to it’s next phase and Knox and Lute were greeted with a pleasant sunrise amongst their planning in the trees above. The binoculars became of use once again as Knox scanned the area from afar, finding the location they were trying to pinpoint. It was still a rough sight, but he could still see the taller cactus’s poke through the horizon.

Cactus Town.

Knox took in a deep breath.

“Okay, I see the-wooah!”

A huge vibration shook the ground around them, Knox and Lute balance being overtaken. Knox tried to adjust, but another shock shook his chance away. Before they knew it, they were falling further below. Quick thinking had rescued the both of them, the frantic grabbing of the branches that they passed on the way down eventually saving them from a gruesome end.

“Freaking Mega Bunnies!” Knox said to himself, keeping his shouting to a minimal. The giant was still capable of hearing them, even though it was some miles away.

The vibrations from the stomping eventually faded in the distance, and the two humans let out a breath of relief. Lute got up and checked his instrument for any damage.
“So...what were you going to say again?” he quipped lightly, happy to find his lute was unharmed.

“I was going to say...that Cactus Town is far north from here.” Knox had to re-confirm after the dizzying experience only seconds ago. He found the tree they were once in and found his direction again. “When we start to notice the conditions getting dryer, we’ll know we’re almost there. Should take at least three days.”

“Three days? Dang...alright. Let’s get to it. Kara’s probably going insane in that small prison.”

“Oh, she definitely going insane." After putting up the binoculars, Knox looked to the sky. "She might just break out herself...but let’s not count on that.”

“I’M GOING TO BREAK OUT MYSELF! YOU CAN COUNT ON IT!”

Kara readied herself by the very end of the room she was confined in. Pushing herself forward, she launched a flying kick against the steel bars, but all she got was another simple metal ding.

She’d been at it for hours now, her legs growing sore at the constant stress and abuse. So she settled for her usual banging.

“If you don’t LET ME OUT, I’m going to-”

“GOING TO WHAT!?” a voice hissed from above in an equally enraged tone.

The origin of the voice leaped down and landed in an irate heap of it’s own coils.
“If you don’t stop all of the hissy-fitting, I’m going to personally make you wish you had.” the snake, now known as Stryker venomously warned.

“You won’t hurt me,” Kara laughed off. “Your overlord won’t let you.”

Stryker leaned his head against the metal bars, staring daggers into her eyes.

“Let me tell you a little secret. It doesn’t matter if they return with the guitars or not...you and your human friends are going to die either way.”

Kara was surprised on the inside, but her returned stare remained unfaltered.

“You’re bluffing.” the human replied, shaking her head, a smile to cover her worries.

“Try yelling out loud your concerns and see what the overlord Nevarr himself has to say then.” Stryker retorted with a dark grin, slowly slithering back to his business.

After that, Kara went silent.

“Hey, found someplace up ahead. Let’s check it out real quick.”

Lute looked up from his gaze at the ground and saw what Knox was talking about. A small gas station was up ahead. He caught up to him and looked around. Both approached with caution, unsure if it was currently occupied. After everything seemed safe around them, they moved to the broken windows and found it empty.

“Holy crap, Knox. Look inside.”

Knox stopped his scanning of the forest across the street and took his turn to check inside. He brung his head away from the window and looked at his friend with gleeful eyes.

“I think we found our lucky streak again.” Knox told him as he rounded to the front of the store. He pulled the door, but it remained shut.

“Locked from the inside. We’re going to have to get through one of the windows.”

Knox returned with Lute to the window they had checked last. Knox pulled out his katana and broke away the remaining glass around the edges with the hilt to secure a safer entry. Lute was the first inside.

“No damn way...there’s no way in hell that this isn’t someone else’s stash.” Knox told Lute as he observed the plentiful array of different foods, spices and even...weaponry.

Lute picked up a nearby machete that lay against the register counter, giving it a mock swing.
“Maybe we should-”

“Help!”

Lute blinked, shaking Knox’s shoulder.
“Did you hear that, dude?”

Knox ran up to the front door and looked through the glass.

“HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE-”

“Shut up, or I’m going to stomp you dead right now!”

Three forms emerged from the forest Knox and Lute had just come from. Three humans. They were dragging an armadillo Mute from behind as it twisted and tried to pull away out of the rope that binded it’s hands.

“Only rats try stealing what’s someone else’s hard-earned work. And rats pay big time for it. Funny enough you’re not an actual rat. You’re going to lose your arms, and then your legs...but first, I think I’ll cut that tongue of yours out first.” one of the more heavy-set humans told the armadillo Mute with a grin as he drew out his hunting knife.

“Please, I didn’t know! No one was in there!”

As Knox and Lute listened on, the group of humans came closer to the gas station they were in. Something told them that what the Mute had tried to loot was exactly what they were looting now.

“Knox, we have to help him!”

Knox looked at Lute and shook his head. 
“Are you crazy?” There’s three of them and two of us! We can sneak back out the window and-”

“Knox, he could easily be one of us! We have to try!” Lute shot back, looking back to find the instigating humans in a circle around the defenseless Mute. 

Knox didn’t have time to stop Lute as he unlocked the gas station door from the inside and dashed outside, machete in hand.

“Dammit, Lute!” Knox uttered under his breath as he bounded after him.

The thuggish humans took notice. The human with the hunting knife stepped forward, waving the sharp weapon in the air.

“Seriously? Again?” he said, eyeing the machete in Lute’s hands. “At least you brought us the machete. Made our job a little easier. Why don’t ya toss that thing to us so we can finish the job here. Then you can put back whatever you stole and screw off. Only warning.”

“How about you let that Mute go, we give you back your machete and we leave with none of your stuff. Fair enough, right?” Lute replied back.

“I’m going to punish this fella for treachery. Take it or leave it.” the human replied.

“And what makes us any different?” Knox asked.

The human laughed along with his pose.
“You’re just some kids. Go back home with your mommies and daddies.”

Knox narrowed his eyes, slightly pulling the katana out of it’s sheath with a thumb.

“We don’t fight like kids, that’s for sure.” Knox said simply.

The human with the hunting knife sighed in irritation. “Garris, please get the machete from the boy. We don’t have time for this.”

The human he ordered walked forward towards Knox and Lute with a cocky grin, resting the metal bat he held against his shoulder. Garris took his sights off Lute and eyed Knox’s katana.

“Unless you want this to end badly, you better no-”

Before Garris could finish, Lute had swung the machete forward into the side of his neck, leaving blood to pour from his throat. The leader yelled as his buddy fell to the ground, clutching his throat desperately.

“You son of a bitch!” the leader of the human group yelled, charging forward with his hunting knife as the remaining human of his group followed behind him.

“Let’s get this over with. I’m about done today.” Knox said as he waited for the human with the crowbar to strike.

The human swung the crowbar from left to right, but Knox ducked under and positioned his katana straight, pushing the blade clean through his stomach. He ignored the human’s gurgling and pushed the dying body forward blindly with a mighty push, hoping the leader was right upon them. Luckily for Knox, he heard a grunt from the remaining human, the body Knox shoved forward colliding with him and causing him to drop his hunting knife.

The katana slid cleanly out as the body of the offending human landed on top of the now disarmed human leader. The last offending human struggled from underneath his deceased ally, reaching desperately for his hunting knife. Knox kicked it away, now impossible to reach.

“By the way,” Knox said, raising his katana above him. “I’m not a kid. I’m actually 22.”

“No wa-”

The human leader had no life left to finish his words as the katana came down full force through his skull.

A moment of silence before Knox pulled the blade back out.

“We...” Lute walked up to the human leader, his eyes wide in terror. “We didn’t have to kill him...he was disar--”

“Disarmed?” Knox finished. “I did what you wanted. The Mute’s safe now, right?”

He began to walk past the Mute they had rescued and into the forest, wiping off the blood gathered on his katana blade onto the grass.

Lute approached the armadillo Mute and untied him. He was immediately met with praise.

“Thank you! Thank you so much! You two are heroes! Risking your lives for some distraught Mute? I am greatly indebted...please accept my humblest apologies for my actions driving you to put your livelihoods on the line.” the armadillo Mute said, grabbing Lute’s hands and shaking them vigorously.

“Yeah, no problem, pal. Gotta make the world a better place somehow.” Lute replied.

“Yes indeed, fellow human! But before I part...have you seen any Mute that looks like me? She’s my wife. We got separated yesterday...before those brutish humans captured me. About the same height, wearing a red jacket...”

Lute blanked out in thought.

“No, please! Let me loose, I have a family!” the poor subdued creature, revealed to be a...

Lute’s attention drew back upon hearing the Mute’s words return.

“Anyone of that description?”

Lute gave the Mute a long look before looking down.

“No. Unfortunately not.”

“Oh...” the armadillo Mute turned halfway. “Well, stay on guard. Again, I’m indebted...may we meet again.”

“Wait...you were out for supplies, right? We can give you some of the stuff you were looking for in the gas station?”

The Mute’s eyes began to shimmer brighter than before.

“Truly? Your...thank you, kind human.”

A few minutes later, the Mute was stocked and ready to go. The Mute gave Knox a nod as he went by and trekked further into the forest. Sliding the katana back in his sheath, Knox eyed Lute as he passed him by.

“That was reckless.” he stated boldly.

“No,” Lute defended. “That was the right thing to do.”

“And what if we died? Having a weapon and knowing how to use it doesn’t mean that you’ll win every fight you run into!” Knox countered, slightly raising his voice.

“Knox...” Lute store him straight into the eyes. “We need to be alive to save Kara. Of course we do...but doing the right thing shouldn’t be a thing of the past. No matter what. She would've done the same thing.”

Knox continued his stare before slowly bringing his eyes on the crystal necklace around his neck. He quickly noted the second necklace thread that wrapped around his neck, but it's pendant remained hidden under his shirt. Knox gritted his teeth and turned around, moving back towards the gas station.

“Let’s grab the rest of the supplies and keep moving. Long night ahead of us.”

The Humming Bombers stood behind as their leader continued to press the giant orangutan Noble that stood guard.

“Gerard, out of the way! I’ve got a message to relay to him, and it’s extremely vital! There was no time for a formal invitation!”

The orangutan towered over the feathered Mute, almost doubling his size. Still, the hummingbird glared through the dark tent of his aviators and refused to move his position.

“Unless you’ve been invited by his truly, I am afraid you’re going to have to-”

“Don’t be too courteous of your job as to ignore such an eager acquaintance with urgent business matters!” a voice called from further inside the court.

A voice all too familiar.

The Humming bombers looked ahead and found the vocal’s source.

“Please my dear Gerard, let Easy through. Me and our feathered friend have other matters to discuss as well!”

The Humming Bomber Leader followed the mandrill through the dance hall and into his private office. The sharp slam that the mandrill gave the door as he let him pass contrasted the wide smile that the red, frocked coat-wearing Mute gave to him.

“Please, Easy...sit.” the Mandrill offered, waving to the chair in front of his desk.

“Sure...” Easy took his aviators off and placed them in between his bomber jacket collar. “Good news, Scarlemange. I spotted the Archerats again far out west and followed them back to their new territory. Apparently they made home deeper into the Wither forest. It’s well hidden, I’ll give em’ that.” Easy revealed.

The mandrill let loose an energetic laugh.

“The traitorous Archerats, you say? It’s been quite awhile since they rejected my offer...” Scarlemange looked down at his desk, his frown not lasting for long. “How about this: I want you to pay the flea-laced vermins another visit and give them a final chance to join the cause. One. Final. Chance.”

Easy sat nervously in the wooden chair that was slightly too small for his form. He awaited for Scarlemange’s next words, but they never came. The mandrill just sat there at the desk...staring at him.

“Um...” Easy shifted in his ill-fitted chair. “And if they don’t?”

Scarlemange’s expression remained unchanged.

“Then you’ll know what to do. Remember? Traitors are better off-”

”Expired. Yes, Scarlemange, I get it.”

Scarlemange’s darkened expression whipped back to a joyous one just as quickly as he had gotten up. He slammed his palms on his desk.

“Splendid! Good man! Err...good bird! Now please be on your way. I hope to see that the task is completed as soon as possible.”

Easy got back on his clawed feet and went for the door.

“Oh, and Easy...”

Scarlemange’s voice stopped his attempt to pull the door. He slowly turned around looking into the unreadable mandrill’s yellow eyes.

“Yes, Scarlemange?”

Scarlemange approached Easy at a snail’s pace, stopping just mere inches away from him. Close enough to lightly jostle the nectar-filled capsule bombs that were strapped on the humming bird’s bandoliers with his fingers.

“You know you haven’t been making your daily human capture quota.” Scarlemange disclosed.

Easy's mind was immediately ushered back to just a few days ago. The encounter with those humans near the supermarket. His recklessness to use the nectar bombs most likely cost him his loss.

Easy lowered his head in compliance. “I ran into some humans before I discovered the Archerats. I-I can still-”

“Don’t disappoint me any further, Easy. Please, do spread those wings and get on it. Need I remind you what comes out of failing me. You should know this extremely well.”

Easy's pupils shrank, the grim fate of a friend long since passed rumbling around his conscious. The humming bird mentally shook his thoughts away. He wouldn't screw up this time around...not after everything he and his team had worked for.

“Y-yes sir...I swear, I’ll make up for lost time.”

“Good...now be on your way now!” Scarlemange shooed him out with a gleeful spin, sitting back down at his desk.

The Humming Bomber leader got a final glimpse of Scarlemange’s continuous gaze as he closed the door behind him.

Easy stood frozen in front of the wooden door for a short while before gritting his beak. He finally managed to force himself away. Walking back down the court hall to address his fellow squadron of their next objective, he sighed and whipped his aviators back out. He looked into his darkened reflection through the tinted glasses.

His yellow-tinged eyes watched back. He was briefly reminded of an younger version of himself. Once full with the raw and true energy of a rebellious renegade.

But that was old history. History that Easy had to change to survive. The only thing he had left from a time that had long since passed was his appearance.

He finally put on his aviators and spread his wings.

Chapter Text

Drunken laughter and glasses clinking against glass was the current mood of the night.

A gathering of Mutes sat merrily around a long table inside of the treetop territory within the undiscovered forest region. They were newly set with food and beverage; beverage being the main focus of the day for these Mutes.

The Archerats had finally hit the jackpot. What was supposed to be just another weekly scavenging had turned into something much more. And as a result, an seemingly endless supply of aged wine was now theirs.

And all thanks to a certain Mute.

“Pipe down, my fellows!” the slightly raspy voice called out, originating from the elder of the large group. Sporting a brown scarf and a wooden walking stick, the elder smiled with closed eyes as the conversations dimmed out into a calm silence.

“It is only right to give some acknowledgment to the one who made this special feast possible!” the rat elder eyed the particular Mute who now sat wide-eyed amongst the gathering. The elder rat waved him over and the Mute placed his glass down, slowly arising to comply. 

The rat that was called alongside the elder was a dark gray-furred Mute that had a short, red cape tied around his neck. His red gloves had adjoined it along with a belt that had an arrow quiver attached to it, arrows at the ready. An simple archer’s bow was worn proudly around his shoulder.

The rat store into the crowd of his brethren and sistren with magenta-colored eyes. Internally, he felt he hadn’t deserved this. They had all got them here. Maybe he was over-thinking things...

“My Archerats...if you don’t already know, our pal here is the reason for most of this here tonight. And on this night, we raise our glasses to Piercer!” the elder Archerat proclaimed. He raised his wine-filled glass and watched all the others follow.

“To Piercer!” the multitude of Archerats rang out in unison.

Piercer store through the empty glass that lay in front of him.

“Piercer? You listening?”

Piercer shot his eyes towards his friend, his face devoid of a placable emotion.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Ya sure? Looks like your contemplating your life accomplishments through that bare glass there, heheh.” his friend teased, taking another drink.

Piercer found himself looking to the side.
“It’s nothin’.” Piercer replied back.

His drinking buddy and friend of many years store back with unconvinced eyes.

“You’re not fooling anybody, pal. You deserve the recognition. If not for yer’ good eyes, we would’ve missed the place entirely! Have some pride!”

Piercer smiled finally, tilting his cup sideways.
“Fine. But I’m not admitting that all of this was all me.”

His friend’s grin was indifferent.
“Never said it was, but here, here to that anyways!”

Piercer closed his eyes and repeated the notion, raising his glass high. He only opened them after hearing the chuckles from around the large table. His close friend was the one to pipe up.

“Um, Piercer...you might wanna refill your glass. You’re raising an empty cup.”

Piercer remained stagnant in his embarrassing pose before suddenly sliding his seat from under him.

“I’m getting another glass.”

Walking up to the many cases of wine bottles, he sifted through and finally found the one he was searching for. He was too focused on pouring his glass to notice the elder coming behind him.

“Are you not drunk enough?”

Piercer’s fur stood on end, but he held in a stifled yelp.

“Third time this week.” Piercer stated.

“You’re keeping count?” the elder laughed hardily. “Anyways, I wanted to talk about what you told me earlier. You said you felt like we were being watched?”

Pouring another glass of his own, the elder took a quick sip and listened in on what he had to say.

“I...can’t explain it. It’s not that I never thought we were. It's just that still even after we covered our tracks out there...even after we checked our backs...the feeling still persisted.” Piercer took a drink of his own, but doubled the intake.

“Hmm...well I suggest that you should just sleep on it.” the elder Archerat suggested. “Maybe it was something, or maybe it wasn’t. Either way, you deserve the rest. I’ll have someone else cover night watch for you tonight. And just for safe measures, I’ll put an extra on guard. Sound fair?”

Piercer pondered on it and concluded with a small smile and another swig of wine.

“Thank you, Elder Arrus.”

Piercer stirred and wrestled his precious sleep away.

He wasn’t sure how much he had been able to rest but he soon found himself in front of his room desk nonetheless. The rat glanced out of the window and observed the treetop cabins outside and found it was still dark out. He pulled his attention back to the small drawer connected to the desk and rummaged through a few things before pulling out the item of focus.

It was a necklace.

The very sight of it threatened to choke him up. He had tried keeping it away to avoid the hurt it had ceaselessly brung. But now...he felt he needed to face what it represented.

Piercer held the sparkling diamond that the necklace had attached to it up to his eyes. The glimmer was still present in the faint glint of the moon’s light.

He still remembered her face.

And what she tried to do to them.

And what he did to her in return.

*Knock Knock Knock*

Piercer shot his attention towards the door. He immediately pondered equipping his bow, but chose to put away the necklace instead. 

‘Maybe another day...’ he thought solemnly to himself.

He finally opened his door to find his close friend on the other side, visibly worried.

“Radan? What’s goi-”

“We need to get down to the front gate.” Radan interrupted hastily. “Someone’s found us.”

Piercer’s initial fears showed clearly through his widened eyes.

“What?”

“Elder Arrus is speaking to...whoever they are right now. I just hope that it’s not...”

Piercer put a paw on his friend’s shoulder.
“Let’s get down there. Just give me a minute; I need my bow.”

Piercer and Radan weaved their way through the gathered crowd of Archerats to find their elder standing in front of the entrance gates, the person they were conversing with hidden from view. Piercer had finally reached the front, eyeing the many Archerats that had their weapons at the ready as he had slipped past.

“Elder, what’s this about?” Piercer asked, gaining Elder Arrus’ attention.

“It’s alright. I have this under control.”

Piercer ignored his claim and approached to look past the gated doors. And what he saw sent his heart racing faster than before.

It was a human. A white-masked human. The human adult wore 18th-century European court attire, and behind him stood a two-headed flamingo that began to hiss at Piercer’s presence.

‘No, no, no, no, no.’

Piercer resisted the astronomical urge pull at the fur of his head. He thought he’d ditched them. They all did. But the worst thing that could possibly happen was happening.

Scarlemange’s posse had found them once more.

The masked human continued his talk.

“ I believe you all know that you can’t escape punishment for any longer. However, our great leader has purposed one final option. Just follow by Scarlemange’s rule and you all will never have to live in fear again.” the masked human spoke. His voice, though muffled through the white mask, held the tone of a chilling calm. The soulless eyes peered through the mask with an unflinching gaze.

‘The audacity! To send some lowly human puppet to do the talking!’ Piercer raged from inside.

Piercer stepped forward to speak his own mind, but Elder Arrus held out a arm to stop him.

“No need, my friend. I’ve got this. Now...” Elder Arrus stood eye to eye with the human. “We have made it very clear about our stance with Scarlemange and his foolery. We do not care to be apart of his pointless war with humans! We are apart of no creed but our own. And we wish to be left alone! We are well-prepared for a fight. Now leave and don’t come back!”

Piercer watched on in a slight surprise. He’s never witnessed his elder so angry before. Regardless, the human’s eyes never once flinched.

“There will be no need to return. Your warning has been relayed. Good day.”

The masked human immediately turned to walk away. He remounted the dual-headed flamingo and with a mighty flap of it’s wings, they were off. Piercer and Elder Arrus stood glaring at the sky until the flying Mute was out of sight.

“We’re ready for whatever comes next.” the elder told Piercer, passing him by.

“Elder Arrus, this is my fa-”

“No.” Elder Arrus turned and faced Piercer with emboldening eyes. “This is not on you. We will handle what ever comes next together. We will all bare this-”

Elder Arrus never finished his sentence.

An ear-splitting roar and blinding light took over Piercer’s eyes.

One second he was thrown into the air, the next he was pinned to the ground by broken wood and various debris. His body ached and ached all over. His hearing failed him; a persistent ringing overtaking it. Smoke and dust concealed everything around him.

The initial confusion had faded and now panic washed over Piercer’s struggling form. He pushed as hard as he could against the splitting headache and numbing pain but it just wasn’t enough. The debris that held him down had yet to budge.

“cough cough Piercer? Piercer, h-hold on, mate!”

The voice was echoed and faint, but Piercer still recognized it. He couldn’t find the strength to speak, but he didn’t have to. Radan appeared through the cloud of dust and moved his injured legs as fast as he could towards him.

A glimmer of hope.

A glimmer of hope that faded the moment something in the sky was caught falling towards them. It moved in slow motion to Piercer, and his attempts to call out for Radan to move away went unheard.

The instant the glass capsule shattered against the ground was the moment everything white and then dark.

Piercer kept the arrow trained at his once-beloved’s head.

“This paradise the elder set up isn’t going to last forever! So why not give it up? We could be blessed with so much more!”

“Elise, please. Don’t make me shoot you down...you’ve already caused enough pain. Just come back with u-”

“With what? You know it’s only a matter of time, Piercer. Better alive and a slave to Scarlemange than a fool complicit with his own demise. I’m as good as dead, anyways.”

The bow’s string loosened.

“Elise...I know you don’t mean that.”

“I’m going.”

The bow’s string drew back again.

“I’m going to tell him where our little hideout is. Then maybe when they come for you, you’ll have a clearer understanding.”

“Elise don’t-”

“Or what? You’ll shoot me in the head? You don’t have the guts. You won’t stop me.”

“Elise...”

“Elise!”

“....”

The bowstring was pulled back as far as it could be.

“Elise...”

The bowstring was held that way for a moment. To Piercer, it seemed like a lifetime.

The bowstring was let go.

Elise turned around.

The arrow met clean through her sku-

Piercer’s eyes shot wide open as he gasped in breath.

His head darted around and all he saw was the stark contrast of what his home used to be. Debris, trees and homes were all destroyed. He pulled himself up from his back but immediately fell back down. His legs and arms felt like noodles. His head was tingling and sore.

‘No....no....no like this...’

Piercer tried and tried, but he continuously felt down, his face meeting the dirt.

‘Not like this!’

With a mighty grunt, he raised himself up. His feet were shaking vigorously as he shuffled forward, searching for any signs of life. He went to rat to rat, shaking their shoulders and praying for a sign of life. Even the one’s who were clearly too far gone. He searched frantically for his friends, but found them not. He searched for Elder Arrus and...found him. He was lying against an uprooted tree, a piece of wood protruded through his side.

Piercer stumbled over a dozen times in his rushed bid to his mentor’s unmoving body. He shook his shoulder and lightly slapped his cheek, unable to accept death as an answer. But then he witnessed something that made his heart leap.

Elder Arrus’s eyes began to ever slowly open. They met with Piercer’s and a barely noticeable smile was given. The elder’s hand lifted...and then felt lifelessly against the ground.

The immense reality of what had just happened finally struck him. Elder Arrus was gone. Radan was gone. All of his people were gone.

Piercer stood up, stuck in the mindless bog that was his mind. Then it all came rushing back.

“RAAAAAAAGH!”

The last surviving Archerat raised his head towards the sky, raging against the beautiful, starry night. His screaming was forced to a stop by the course and stinging pain his throat was already going through. He fell to his knees and sobbed into his gloves.

“This was me...” Piercer looked on at his elder’s deceased form. “It was all me...I should’ve covered better...I should’ve...”

Piercer ceased his whimpering. His ear twitched. He caught something in the air up above. 

It sounded like flapping.

Getting up, he looked towards the sky and found two silhouettes circling around his position. Then it clicked for Piercer. He had no time to say goodbyes. No time to bury his dead.

He had to leave now.

And so that he did.

From behind a faraway tree, he watched as the third and final explosion went off in his now demolished territory. Everything that represented him was nothing else but bits of rubble and piles of dirt. 

Piercer had turned to walk away before he even registered it himself. The loneliness that draped over him seemed to welcome and encourage it.

DAY 1

Piercer’s ear twitched and he awoke in a heartbeat.

The shuffling of fallen leaves in the near distance drew him to full alert as he sprung up and leaned against the tree he slept against. 

The steps only drew nearer.

The Archerat’s eye twitched. The dreaded thought of another creature coming to finish the job poisoned his mind. That somehow they figured he’d escaped his clan’s grim and unfair fate.

He wouldn’t be a casualty.

So he swiftly made his way up the tree and stood still. The knife was unsheathed and his grip on it strained. The footsteps grew close and closer until...

It was right underneath him.

Piercer leapt down and crashed against the unknown being, forcibly wrapping a hand around the neck of the struggling target.

“Wait-ack! S-stalp!” the creature cried out, revealed to be an armadillo Mute. Piercer, however, ignored the cries.

“Please....I’m look-ing-wife-” the Mute squirmed, trying his best to escape despite his vision growing blurry.

The Archerat store through the Mutes eyes as it’s cries for mercy flew past him. He maneuvered the knife closer to the armadillo’s neck.

“P-please-ack!”

You don’t have the guts.

Piercer blinked his eyes.

The rat immediately let go of the armadillo and fell backwards, leaving the Mute holding his throat and gasping for air. Piercer slid away even further, distancing himself from the person he nearly murdered.

“I’m sorry...” Piercer muttered. His eyes were wide and pupils dilated. 

Without another word, the rat scrambled to his feet an bounded away to leave the coughing armadillo to itself.

DAY 2

Rested on top of a blue human vehicle, Piercer drew back his bow and took in a concentrated breath.

He clenched one eye shut and steadied his hand. All went quiet in his mind.

The leaf he was confident it had finally left the tree. It floated down for only a second of freedom before Piercer released his breath.

The poor leaf’s freedom was short-lived indeed; the sharpened stick piercing through and nailing it to the very tree it had thought it had escaped. 

The makeshift arrows Piercer crafted from the thin tree limbs made up rather nicely for the ones he lost in the recent chaos. Assured with it’s dependency, the rat sharpened the last one and inserted his dagger back into it’s sheath.

He smiled lightly to himself and turned to jump off of the car, but what his eyes met next wiped it clean off.

“Hey, arrow boy! Why are you on our there property? Can’t you read?”

The voice belonged to one of the four various Mutes that had strolled up leisurely, weapons in hand. Two Mute pigs, a chicken and a tiger. Piercer had earlier noticed the graffiti made on the side of the car that clearly stated it’s occupation, but chose to ignore it.

Whoops.

“Doesn’t matter. We were gonna kill you anyways. It’s be easier if you’d got down though. Whatdaya say? We’ll make it nice and slow.”

Piercer was unfazed by the flat threats.

“I am extremely confident that I will execute all of you before you even touch any part of this car to get me.” Piercer replied with a vacant tone of voice. The look the Archerat gave them held the energy of annoyance.

“Challenged accepted, punk!” the one-eyed pig yelled with a wide grin. He raised his machete and-

The wooden arrow leveled with the pig’s head and it surged forward with a whistle. Slid straight through it’s head. Before the first pig hit the ground, the second one met the same fate. The tiger made it halfway, but was not spared a different fate. He too fell to an arrow.

The last Mute; the chicken, made it to the door of the car but all Piercer had to do was lower his aim and it too fell all the same.

Things were finally silent again.

Piercer looked to his arrow pouch and found he only had one left.

“Damn...”

The Archerat leapt from the car and returned to the forest to craft more.

DAY 3

Piercer was dehydrated.

No luck with any valuable water source. Earlier in the day he had spotted a waterfall much farther off, even so reaching it would prove impossible. He had managed to scavenged some berries and other various edibles, but the terrain of the new world wasn’t the only thing to look out for. The flora and plant life was just as hostile, and the rat had found scarcity in any food that wasn’t out to kill him. Directly or indirectly.

He thought about going back to that gang of dead Mute assholes...but he wasn’t that messed up.

You don’t have the guts.

Piercer shook his head.

“You’re right. I-I don’t.” he said to no one in particular, rubbing his face with a gloved hand.

Suddenly voices.

Voices that were coming his way.

Piercer immediately crouched low, concealing himself on the other side of some close-by bushes. He waited until the voices became clearer and pressed the side of his head closer to the greenery he squatted beside.

“It’s not too far now. We won’t need to worry about any stupid aggressive poisonous squirrels. Stop joking about it before you jinx something.”

“I’m sorry, I just can’t stop thinking about it!”

Piercer peeked from behind the bushes, eyes laced with a wary curiosity. His sight was gifted two traveling humans walking up the road center of the clearing. He then noticed the bags they were carrying. Bags that most likely held...water.

You don’t have the guts.

The voice had tossed a coin against that claim and lost. 

Pierce slowly raised the bow from his shoulder and gripped one of the crafted wooden arrows from his pouch. He pressed the end against the bow string and pulled back. The pair of humans were just about to pass his position. The Archerat flinched at his opportunity to pop out and waited as they passed by.

 You don’t have the guts.

“Shut up!” Piercer whispered in a suppressed hiss, gritting his hind-teeth.

Piercer sprung over the line of bushes and landed on solid feet, pointing his bow at the backs of his quarry. They both turned around after hearing the landing, one holding up a machete and the other drawing his long blade.

There was a brief pause before the shorter human shakily pointed to the instrument strapped around his shoulder.

“You know, instead of shooting us, I could play a solo as payment for our lives? Sound good?”

Piercer’s eyes narrowed dangerously low.

The Archerat pulled the bowstring even further, arrow at the ready.

 You don’t have the guts.

Chapter Text

The arrow remained stressed against the string of the bow, leaving the time it would be fired anyone’s guess.

Except for the Archerat, of course.

The two humans it was pointed at were losing time. Any second could be their last. So the taller one stepped up.

“Listen,” the human spoke. “Something tells me you’re not here to simply kill us. Are you maybe...looking for food? Supplies?”

The rat’s ears perked up and the bow was drawn even further. It looked as if it was ready to snap under the stress. 

“You’re going to give me everything.” the Archerat demanded. His eyes were darting erratically from left to right, seemingly afraid there was someone waiting in the shadows ready to jump him while he conversed.

The katana-wielding human sighed and lowered his head. Looking up, he spoke words that teetered dangerously on the edge of death.

“I’m sorry pal, but we can’t do tha-”

*Clunk*

The withheld arrow was let go to whiz past the human’s cheek and into the tree just barely behind him. He instinctively placed a hand on the side of his face and felt the minor sting of a small cut. By the time the human looked back up, the mute already possessed another arrow at the ready.

“I’m not going to ask you again. Put your bags down and leave.” the bow-wielding rat warned them in a low hissing order, bringing back the second arrow against the bowstring. 

The human gritted his teeth, grinding them in desperate thought. With a play that he wasn’t sure would work, he took a step forward.

“Back. Up.” the rat mute demanded once again. His eyes glinted lethal intentions as the human took yet another step towards him.

“I’m well aware that you’re more than willing to kill me. But I also know you don’t want to do this. And you don’t have to.” the human said, raising his hands up and away from the katana strapped on his back. He got even closer.

The instrument-equipped human spoke up behind them, his nervous smile ever-present.  
“Y-yeah! We can help you, even! Don’t you think you’re being a bit....e-rat-tic?”

Even though his partner wouldn’t dare take his eyes off of the mute, he couldn’t help but cringe at the ill attempt to make wisecracking apart of the situation.

“He’s right. We can help you. My name’s Knox, and that’s Lute.” the human greeted. “We have much more supplies back at our hideout. We can give you more than enough to keep you alive and well. But if you kill or steal from us now, what you take will only last you a few days-”

“I don’t care! Give me your stuff and go or you’re both dead!” the Archerat screeched, stepping up in haste and resting the arrow’s sharp tip millimetres from Knox’s forehead.

The human and mute both store each other down for what seemed to be in competition to who would blink first.   The tension was real and Lute could only watch on in dread of what might happen next as Knox’s eyes began to dry and strain, threatening to shut close. But Knox had caught something in the rat’s eyes. Something that made him refuse to blink. It wasn’t clear at first, but now that he was uncomfortably close, what was held in the rat's magenta-hued peepers became so much more translucent. What he saw wasn’t malice. It wasn’t even agitation.

It was fear.

If Knox hadn’t been working on instinct, he might have been a dead man. Because just as he reflexively moved his hands to restrain the rat mute’s wrists, the arrow slipped past and went soaring behind the two human’s heads into the tree branches just above them.

Lute flinched in response to the arrow as the Archerat and Knox wrestled to the ground. The bow was now unusable; too close to be shot. So the Archerat opted for a more hands on approach. Literally.

The rat mute landed a solid punch to the side of Knox’s face, leaving him briefly stunned.

“Ow! What the heck, dude?” Knox angrily responded as he grabbed one of the mute's wrists. But before he could restrain the other, a flash of silver was caught in the human’s peripheral vision as he struggled with the Archerat.

“He’s going for his knife!”

Lute’s words were appreciated but not needed as the rat mute slipped the knife out of it’s pouch and was easily stopped by Knox’s free hand.

“Dude, just relax! We’re not gonna hurt you! Just calm down!” Knox replayed to the restless mute as it continued to hiss and attempt to throw the human off of him. The knife waved dangerously gripped in the paw of the rat’s restrained arm. 

“Everything I ever had or ever was is GONE! How can I just relax!? Better you put this knife through my skull right now! Because if you don’t, I’ll do the same gesture to you!” The rat mute seethed the words through his teeth, his eyes giving the opposite emotion. Inside of his eyes relayed the sight of hopelessness. A hopelessness that the mute was trying to hide from him, but was failing miserably.

“Please...listen.” Knox asked as calmly as he could. “Was...were those explosions from a couple days back...was that you? Did they bomb your-”

The rat seemed to conjure a massive amount of strength and nearly got the upper hand on the human’s control.

“Please, answer me!” Knox demanded, his own patience running thin.

“YES!” the rat mute replied, baring his teeth.

A silence overcame them all.

“It was the Humming Bombers.” answered Knox. “They attacked us, too. They’re the reason why we’re looking for our friend. We got separated in the explosion. Listen...” Knox leaned in closer, careful to keep his grip on the mute’s hands tight. “We’ve all been wronged by the same people. I’m sure you know who Scarlemange is, right?”

The Archerat’s eyes widened in a form of surprise before narrowing into slits once more. Through angry, gritted teeth, he replied in a lower tone than before.

“Yesss.”

“Well, those people who attacked you? The Humming Bombers? They work for Scarlemange.”

The words slipped through the Archerat’s ears and everything clicked. He knew that Scarlemange was behind the attack on his tribe, but never in his life had he ever heard of these Humming Bombers. One of the negatives of being in a solitary group is the lack of knowledge of places and things from further out of your territory. The Archerat clan had scarcely ever had to leave far enough to run into any Mega Bunnies or terrorizing groups, although they had the task of killing a couple Death Scorpions before.

The Archerat’s unfocused gaze drew attention back to the human above him as he spoke once more.

“If you come with us, we can not only help you with supplies, but we can help you get that much closer to avenging your clan...just under one condition.” 

“And what condition would that be?” the rat asked, his gripped knife tightening.

Knox looked down at the mute with an unfaltering gaze before answering. “You help us steal one of the Umlaut Snäkes’ guitars. We’re on our way to their territory right now. It’s the only bargaining chip I have to get my friend back from some rival snakes of theirs.”

Knox watched as the mute seemed to ponder the conditions.

“Deal.”

Knox was honestly surprised. His brows arched upwards to solidify this.

“Seriously? Deal? Just like that? No tricks?” Knox eyed the dagger still held in the rat’s gloved hand.

And the mute took notice. He flicked the knife away with his wrist, leaving himself completely unarmed.

“I solemnly swear.”

It took a moment for Knox to decide, but he released the mute’s wrist and went for his knife and bow. The rat slowly followed the human back on two feet of his own, swiping the excess dust from his cape and fur. He shot his eyes up at the two humans as the sixteen words left Knox’s mouth and crossed his ears.

“How do I know I can really trust you enough to give you back your weapons?”

Easy answer.

“You don’t.” the rat mute said simply, as if replying to an effortless math equation. “Besides, when I swear on something, best believe I’ll die by it.”

Knox wasn’t sure if he should’ve been flattered by his proclamation or unnerved. Still, he walked up to the rat and handed his weaponry out for him to grab, which he unquestionably did.

“But know this...”

Knox felt a sudden need to reach for his katana, but he resisted the urge, choosing to take his chances with the now-armed rat.

“I also solemnly swear that if you attempt in any form to stab me in the back, I’ll kill you. I’ll end you both. You won’t even see it coming.” the rat relayed this as he slid the dagger back in it’s sheath. His pupils fixated straight into Knox’s, but seemed to stare into Lute’s at the same time.

Knox stood his ground, relaying a concentrated glare of his own, but he found it hard to match him while his mind separated his attention onto something else. The fact that he may have unknowingly sealed their own fate. That maybe he made a deal with a devil. Nonetheless, the human stepped forward and held out a hand for the mute to shake.

“Deal.”

The only thread strong enough to give Knox the assurance of trust was their shared pain. They’d both lost something for the same reasons. Regardless of how small it maybe have been in comparison to his newly bought companion.

And it was a part of the reason why it was just a bit easier having the rat archer cover them both from behind.

“Hey...”

The rat glanced sideways at the human he knew as Knox and returned his sight back ahead towards the sun.

“What?”

“I never asked for your name?” Knox replied, a grin worked up to portray greater trust.

The rat continued to look forward as if hypnotized by the slowly falling sun.

Finally, he answered.

“Piercer.”

The trek went on for awhile before they reached the end of the trail and found that it, to the chagrin of the two humans (and seemingly Piercer, as the rat mute’s expression failed to be anything but neutral), was cut off by a very long and steep drop into the rivers. The familiar and aged figure-eight highway was in full display from below.

Cactus Town was not far off and they were all on land elevated up enough to make spotting it a breeze. 

“Have you ever been around Cactus Town before?” Lute asked Piercer as he shied away from the edge.

Piercer lowered the water container he greedily drunk from. He seemed distant to answer, but eventually did.

“Me and my tribe aren’t...we weren’t nomadic. We usually kept to a certain area and we learn to thrive there. Rarely ever had to traverse outside of it’s radius...so no, I’ve never been around this...Cactus Town.”

Knox overheard from behind as he pondered another way around. He was actually hoping that knowledge of the unknown paths they were bound to follow would be one of the pluses of bringing the rat archer along, but...

‘Beggars can’t be choose I guess...’  Knox reminded himself, turning to his partners. “Well...no choice but to cut through the forest again. We have to find another way down there.”

The plant life through the section of the forest they traversed through was much more robust and vibrant. Multicolored and energetic flowers towered themselves through the trees and hovered over their leafy tops.

 The grass had become much more taller as well. The overgrown greenery shrouded any visual of what lay underneath their feet. This seemed to only bring worry to Piercer.

“On guard, humans.”

Lute turned around with stumped expression. “For what? I mean, yeah, we gotta watch out for any crazies, but there’s no one else out there right now.”

Piercer’s narrowed eyes failed to change.

“The plants. Tread carefully.” the rat responded. His bow was aimed low and at the ready.

“The plants?” Lute let out a small laugh, face taken over by assurance. “In all our time out here we’ve ne-”

It only took two seconds.

Lute felt something ensnare itself around his ankle. Instinctively, he jerked his leg back but the action was met with an even mightier pull. With a quick yelp, he was pulled off of his feet and disappeared in the sea of grass below them, his shouting rapidly growing further.

“Lute!?” Knox withdrew his katana and frantically darted his eyes around in front of him, trying to search through the sea of green. He charged forward, slicing as much grass as he could in a desperate bid to find his missing friend before Piercer hissed at him.

“Don’t move!”

“But-”

“I said stay still.”

It wasn’t long before Piercer felt the same sensation. Something passed by his foot. He eyed the tree beside him and didn’t hesitate to jump towards it. His feet were against the trunk and using the strength of his momentum, pushed himself off, giving him air time.

It all happened so fast to Knox. A purple and green head with dangerously sharp teeth sprung out of it’s hiding dangerously close to Knox and zipped towards the rat. Piercer’s bow was already steady and with a twitch of his eye, he let the arrow fly.

A chilling shriek made waves through the forest.

The offending plant was left writhing and thrashing unseen in the grass below them. Then all grew still.

“Knox. Go. I’ll cover you. If you feel anything brush past you, just leap up as high as you can. Trust me.” Piercer claimed to the human.

Unsure if his aid would promise him full safety, he nodded regardless and pushed through the tall sea of grass after the shouts of his friend. Knox tried to rush his way through but his mind kept rolling over the thought that it would get him killed faster. Still, he kept Piercer’s aid in mind and pressed forward.

“Somebody please get this thing off me!”

The cry from his friend nearly caused Knox to forget the dire advice the rat gave him.

He had eyed something snake past him, moving the grass around him.

“Only when it touches you!” Piercer reminded him from far behind.

Knox was hard-pressed to wait for it to happen. His friend’s shouts for assistance were only steps away and they had turned into chokes and gasps for air. And he had to be patient?

“Wait for it, Knox. If you’re dead, your friend is dead too.” Piercer called out in a unusually calm voice.

‘Has he done this before?’ Knox couldn’t help but think.

Knox blinked as he caught the sensation of something snaking itself across his shoe. Without another moment’s notice, he bent his knees and sprung himself up as far as he could off the ground. He didn’t get anywhere close to being out of the tall grass itself, but it mattered not.

The second monstrous plant followed suit, shooting itself out of the grass and high above Knox’s body. It’s jaw shot open and came down with teeth full-center and ready for a quick meal.

Not on Piercer’s account, unfortunately for it.

One arrow slid through it’s mouth and a second arrow pierced through the snaky, green vines connected to it’s head, cutting into the appendage and leaving it screaming in pain and agitation. The final strike came in the form of a precisely-placed third arrow, which complimented the last and shot through the already-struck appendage, effectively severing the head from the body.

The grisly plant creature’s head fell and shuffled in the tall grass before everything went still again. Knox wasted no time. He dashed towards Lute and found him weakly struggling with the other plant. It’s vines were slowly wrapping around his neck, trying to take his breath away. The human gritted his teeth and brung his katana towards the sky, slashing it down at the head that was ready to chomp down on Lute.

The vines immediately released and Lute coughed as the air rushed back freely through his lungs. Grunting angrily, Knox continued to bring down the sharp blade again and again and again until the plant’s cranium was nothing but unrecognizable mush.

Breathing heavy, Knox looked back and realized he was finally out of the treacherous tall grass that had plagued them for the past few minutes. Finally.

He felt a pang of alarm as he checked on Lute when he didn’t find Piercer anywhere to be seen, but his worries were quelled when a familiar form lowered itself from a tree beside them.

Piercer approached and store at Lute almost as if he was hesitating to ask the question. “He alright?”

“Yeah, I’m-I’m fine. Let’s just get out of this stupid, crazy jungle.” Lute replied, pushing himself up. He checked and found that his lute instrument was unharmed in the debacle. Another victory for Lute. In his mind at least. And it showed in his quickly-changed attitude, no longer shaken and panicked.

“Let’s see how far we can get before sundown.” Lute told them. “That jerkweed Nevarr said we only had two weeks. It’s been five days since we left. We need to make some haste.”

Piercer kept behind the two humans as they continued forward, staring cautiously into the deadly grass they were getting further and further away from. No chances with Piercer. He failed to catch Knox falling back to walk beside him, though.

“Thanks for the assist back there, Piercer. Don’t think we would’ve made it through here if you hadn’t tagged along.” Knox admitted gratefully.

Piercer scoffed the words off with a head tilted away. “Just doing what I said I would. Hopefully you will too.”

With that, Piercer fell back further, leaving himself to continue exaggerating his position in watching the rear.

“Yeah. I will.” Knox said back lowly.

Knox wasn’t sure if Piercer heard him right, but the rat’s slight ear twitch didn’t go unnoticed. With a knowing smile, Knox looked forward and hoped that everything would continue on a calmer path.

At least for today.

Chapter Text

Inside, Jamack was livid.

Despite his insistence with excusing the now-captured humans’ punishment despite attacking and humiliating him in front of his colleges. Despite protest from Harris and an angry lecture from his employer Mrs. Sartori, he reinforced his reluctance in taking their lives.

Why?

Their ‘capture quota’ in the human department was rather impressive, after all. Scarlemange wouldn’t have so much as batted an eye in their direction in the slightest, should he have found out. That’s how good they were at what they had managed to do in their collaboration with the mandrill’s schemes. It was just another payday for them all.

So what was the harm in a little indulgence into some punishment?

Well, it would have been unprofessional, of course!

Jamack had prided in the way he presented himself. Every step, and every word. Every piece of lint was evaluated and removed. In almost all he did, he seldom left himself unchecked. So why would he let some scumbag human’s poor attempts at verbal insult and a lucky, disgusting spit at his face break his stride?

Jamack continued staring out into the distance with his fist rested against his head as he continued listening in to his partners-in-business consorting nearby.

“...and after that, never heard from em’ again.” Harris finished. He let out a chuckle, resting his eyes onto Jamack. “What about you? Did you have a nice send off from your parents? Or were they as nice to you as you were to those humans?”

Jamack wouldn’t have admitted that what his colleague said had actually struck a nerve...at least not so easily. So he chose to ignore it and replied in a faintly sour tone.

“Never knew them. Was out on my own for as long as I can remember.”

Harris’s expression softened, much to Jamack’s surprise.

“Geez man, sorry about that.”

Harris approached him and leaned against the tall rock he sat upon. “Listen. I say we crack open a good cold one whenever we can get the chance. Let loose some stuff. I think it’s best for the both of us.”

Although Jamack’s vision remained fixated into the distance, he replied.

“Yeah, sure. As long as the drinks aren’t expired.”

Then, the familiar sound of techno-buzzing.

Harris and Jamack turned back towards where Kwat and Mrs. Sartori resided to find a singular techno bee hovering from above. A couple dozen flashes of lights and slightly irritating sounds made Sartori’s eyes go wide. Just as quickly as they narrowed with a smile to match.

“Time to pack it in here, fellas. We’ve got us another batch of humans.”

“ You need to do some soul-searching.”

The words kept sneaking up inside Jamack’s mind every so often ever since he heard the purple-skinned human say them to him. To be honest, he was rather impressed that that girl was able to evade his capture for so long. And not only that, but keep her friends safe with her. As much as it irked him, he always gave credit where it was due.

“Kipo...” Jamack mulled over silently through gritted teeth as he eyed the upcoming rusted street sign.

Tires skid left against the pavement of the road in haste as he sped up.

“He said they were right past the old human supermarket and down Blight Street Dr....we shouldn’t be long.” Jamack stated, mostly to himself as his Mod Frog companions recovered from the sudden whiplash.

“Just make sure we get there with limbs intact, lest you fling us all through the car windows!” Sartori shot to Jamack, baring her teeth angrily.

“Yeah, yeah. Are you even wearing a seat belt?” Jamack replied simply, eyes continuously set straight forward on the road.

Mrs. Sartori looked down and further narrowed her eyes, slowly and wordlessly pulling the belt buckle around her waist and bringing it into it’s latch. Jamack couldn’t hold back the smile as he heard a click.

“We’re almost there.”

As they got closer to where they were informed their targets would be settled, the Mod Frogs noticed that the road had finally come to an end. Jamack put his feet on the breaks, stopping the car on the last stretch of pavement next to the woodlands where their mission would finally begin. Jamack exited first, making sure his tie and suit were presentable enough, as always. It was simply pure instinct to do so at this point.

“Well,” Kwat spoke up. “Here we are.”

Jamack led beside Sartori as she hovered above, her two mute fly assistants carrying her forward from below. They passed a few trees before the suspected house was eventually revealed. Jamack scanned the building as quickly as he could manage before they would finally begin their approach.

‘The windows are boarded up, but the wood used looks pretty fresh...it was done recently. Someone’s definitely been here if they aren’t still.’  Jamack internally inspected.

Harris branded his trusty nail bat proudly as he followed Sartori and Jamack’s decision to finally come out into the clearing, making themselves clear and known. Hovering higher above the ground with a commanding snap of her fingers, Mrs. Sartori’s fly assistants followed her unordered command to rise her form to the building’s second-floor height.

And with a mighty voice, she spoke.

“Humans! I know you’re hiding about inside. I need you to listen closely...if you don’t reveal yourselves, we’re going to force our way inside. Regardless of wha-”

Satori stopped speaking after noticing something poke out a gap in one of the boarded windows.

Jamack noticed too, but caught another singular detail. It was something green and lengthy moving slightly beside the edge of the house. And it wasn’t a snake. It seemed to continue and disappear around the other side. Then it clicked in Jamack’s head.

“Satori! Get back, it’s a water hose!”

His boss looked back at Jamack in slight confusion. “Wha-”

A sudden, high-pressure struck Sartori’s side and knocked her off of her supporting fly assistants. She spun dazed in the air but needed no help in landing safety. Sartori shot out her tongue on instinct, getting a good grip on a nearby tree branch and re-leveled herself with the earth. She landed in a maddening glare towards the house as she stood drenched in water.

“You damn little fuc-” Sartori started, but was cut off by something flying out of the the now, unboarded window.

The spherical object was on a straight path towards the Mod Frog boss, but Harris was quick to jump in and swat it with his bat. Unfortunately for him, it turned out to be a snow globe. The liquid contained inside splattered against Harris’s suit.

“Seriously!?” Harris responded, trying in vain to wipe and dry his newly-ruined attire.

“Okay, this is getting ridiculous.” Jamack said, rubbing his temple at the chaos unfolding in front of him.

Jamack stepped forward and gripped the collar of his suit. He strutted forward with a clear sense of confidence and bravado as he fixated his eyes towards the now-open window.

“Humans, humans, there’s no need for violence! I understand that you’re not...exactly willing in simply giving yourselves up. But I promise you, if you work with us peacefully and professionally, we can make this so, soo much easier. We won’t even have to lay a finger-”

Jamack paused his speech after something new was leveled out of the second-story window.

“We won’t have to either.” the newly-revealed human retorted, aiming the cross hairs of the crossbow directly at Jamack.

“Oh, dammit.” Jamack managed to say as he dived away just as soon as the arrow planted itself where he once stood.

The assault didn’t stop as numerous other items were then thrown at their forms. One particularly well-placed pencil cup struck Kwat clear on the forehead, sending her grunting and stumbling backwards.

Mrs. Sartori was seething. She snapped angrily as she planned to get her fly assistance’s to get her up to the window to handle the humans herself. However just before she could, Jamack grabbed her arm. 

“Let me go, Jamack! I’m going to-”

“They have a crossbow! Let’s regroup on this!” Jamack intersected, pulling her back towards the path they came.

Satori’s glare continued into his as they retreated back to the car as another arrow flew past them.

Sartori bore her eyes out of the window of the vehicle as they speedily made their way back down the road. 

Back towards their base.

Jamack kept his boss’s sour mood on mind as he made another left turn, soon finding himself driving past the local Lubo’s supermarket again. The car was extra quiet and even though he knew exactly what he needed to say to his employer, he found himself refrain for one-third of the ride. But eventually...

“I know, that was bad-”

“Bad!? That was exactly what I had expected! What we had expected!” Mrs. Sartori shouted at him as she glowered. “I’m not mad about what happened to us, I’m mad about what you did! I am YOUR boss. You follow MY orders, not the other way around. You shouldn’t have stopped me. I had a plan and you should have followed suit!”

The whole car fell silent once more.

Harris and Kwat remained still as rocks in the back, lips zipped and eyes trained away from the argument.

Jamack’s expression hadn’t changed, though. They remained softened and trained on the road he drove upon. Then finally, he spoke.

“I know. You’re right...you’re right.”

Jamack searched for more. Even though he knew that it probably wouldn’t amount to much outside of just another excuse.

“I just didn’t want you dead.” Jamack finally worded. His hands slightly gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.

Another bout of brief silence.

“You’re getting soft.” Satori replied.

Jamack’s heart skipped at the accusation, and found himself looking back at his boss. But what he had expected to be the same continuous scowl he had gave him when they had fallen back turned out to be a smile, regardless of how minute it was. It quickly shifted back into a disappointed frown.

“Just don’t do that again. We regroup on this and head back tomorrow. We have more pressing matters at hand, but we’ll get them out one way or another.”

Jamack’s eyes shifted back towards the road just as he was to make another turn.

“Of course, boss.”

The car was parked, they were back and after a good while, Jamack had slowly drifted asleep.

The car keys were usually rested beside him on the nightstand that resided beside him.

Well, normally would be, and were before. But they weren’t there anymore.

Sartori double-checked Jamack’s sleeping form as he twisted in his slumber and made sure she wasn’t detected. Satisfied with another minute of her employee’s unconsciousness, she grinned and slowly closed the door to his room, the car keys jingling slightly in her other hand.

And down to the car she went along with her mute fly assistants to aid her on her personal quest. She twisted the keys and opened the passenger door, taking off her backpack and gently placing it on the passenger seat. She took constant glances at the window to Jamack’s room as she finally positioned herself in the driver’s seat and started the engine to the car and slowly drove off.

 The closer Sartori got to her destination, the wider her smile.

A left turn. Then straight shot past the Lubo’s Supermarket once again. And right past the street sign that red Blight Street Dr.

She was so close now.

Satori grinned even wider.

And just as it was earlier before, an end to the road. Sartori cut the engine and dragged her bag out of the car as her assistants followed suit. The pair of mute flies supported her from under as she gripped the book bag in her hands and silently commanded she be hovered to the side of the old house, remembering the hosing incident from earlier very well. She gripped the hose end and disconnected it from it’s spigot.

With a breathy shout, she sounded her presence.

“Humans!” Sartori shouted from the ground.

And with the mute fly’s help, she hovered above the trees.
She quickly pointed and directed the her flies to position her just beside the window, out of sight at first glance.

She waited for a moment, pulling out a glass bottle with a form of liquid inside.

Alcohol.

Diving a hand quickly into her pocket, she pulled out a lighter and gave it a few practice flicks, her eyes madly widened. Her pupils shrunk to the sparks it gave off.

Just as one of the wooden boards from window was being removed, she had already created flames to the rag that hung out of the bottle. All it took was a big enough gap that led into the house window.

In a flash she hovered in front of the now-exposed window and threw the Molotov inside.

Sartori met eye contact with the young human just as the glass bottle burst and flames spread across the floor of the room.

She heard the scream of surprise and the frantic shouting of another human to grab the hose.

She heard the shrills of panic as they realized it had been unplugged from the outside.

And she silently reveled in it all.

The screams quickly turned into much more as the flames continued to grow.  And soon, there was no doubt in Sartori’s mind that her work was complete.

Taking in the last moments of her job like a sponge, she ordered her mute fly assistants to hover her back to the car.

Sartori closed the door behind her and observed at the licks of flames that passed over the treeline above her. Even if the human refugees had somehow got out alive, whatever home they had was destroyed. That’s all she wanted.

The engine started, and she swiftly made way back to base.

Mrs. Sartori parked the car as close to where it was originally left as she could.

Mrs. Sartori quietly stepped up to Jamack’s room and creaked the door open as quietly as she could.

Mrs. Sartori placed the car keys back lightly onto the nightstand beside the sleeping Jamack and made way back out of the room, closing it ever-so-slowly, reenacting the grace of a mouse.

Then it clicked closed.

Morning had come and the Mod Frogs were back out.

The time had come to revisit their attempts at convincing the humans out of their hiding. As Jamack cut the engine to the car on, he had a weird, uneasy feeling things wouldn’t turn out very good when they got there.

And as they finally reached that same road end that stopped near the human settlement house, his nerves were a bit on edge. Jamack had caught how content his boss Sartori was. It was...odd to him.

And it wasn’t the only thing. The keys on Jamack’s desk were in a different position than he left it, although in the same spot...he always pointed the car key towards him. It was his ritual. He never forgot to do it.

Before Jamack got in the car, he also realized it was parked in a slightly different angle than he had left it in last night.

As much as he really wanted to, he didn’t want to believe in his suspicions. So he just turned the car off and got out with the rest of his crew.

“Let day two of ‘Operation Human Convincing’ commence.” Harris quipped, swinging his spiked bat from side to side as they all got closer.

However, as they finally reached sight of the house, they gasped.

Everyone except for Sartori.

And Jamack.

The house was burned from the inside out.

“What in the hell?” Harris said, loosening his grip on his bat.”What happened?”

“Hmm...” Sartori stepped up further, looking up at the windows. “It looks like they’ve burned down the place to cover their tracks and ran off to escape...or someone else got to them.” The Mod Frog boss turned to her employees, straightening her already straightened tie out. “Well that’s that, at least. Now we can handle other more important pursuits.”

Sartori passed by Jamack, staring him directly in these eyes as she smirked. Harris and Kwat took side glances to the now-completely ruined house but followed suit back to the car. But Jamack stood there for a while longer, noticing the disconnected water hose spigot on the side of the house.

“Come on Jamack, it’s over. Let’s figure out what we’re going for next.” Jamack heard Harris call out.

It wasn’t long after that Jamack finally joined them. Then they were off on their return back.

Sartori rested on top of a nearby boulder, looking out into the distance.

Word of another small human settlement was passed around and eventually met Sartori’s ears, so to pass the time until the next big announcement by Scarlemange she decided to rally up her crew and go check it out.

However, the sun had yet to fully bloom and she found herself up earlier than usual. So why not just wait the time out?

“Boss?”

Sartori jumped and spun around, gritting her teeth at Jamack’s sudden appearance.

“I’d appreciated it if you didn’t do that.” Sartori said, clearly irritated.

“Right, sorry.” Jamack replied, twiddling his thumbs. “Um...you good? I don’t usually catch you up this early.” 

A smile crept back onto her face. “I’m fine. Just be ready for today. It’s almost sunrise.”

Jamack averted his gaze to the side, slowly turning back around towards the base. He took a few steps before he nervously clenched his fists. Then he asked.

“Boss...did you...burn down the human’s hideout?”

“Heh heh, Jamack...don’t worry about it. We don’t need to worry about them anymore. They’re gone.” Sartori replied. “Get’s some sleep.”

Jamack didn’t turn around, but he did nod his head. And he did just as she said.

He opened headquarter doors, went upstairs and reentered his room. He laid his body back on his bed and twisted to eye the keys on his table. Then he store at the ceiling, his eyes wide.

“She totally did it.”

Chapter Text

EP7  Rock Or Die

“Knox. Hey. Wakey, wakey, it’s time to get at it again.”

Knox’s body jerked as his eyes peeled open to find Lute standing over him. He groaned tiredly and closed his eyes tight before forcing himself on his feet.

He found Piercer leaning against a nearby tree sharpening up another batch of wooden arrows.

“Yeah...let’s get this over with.” He yawned and watched as Lute stepped over to the rat archer.

“You think maybe you could teach me how to shoot arrows sometime?” Lute asked with gleaming eyes of innocence.

The archer hadn’t looked to the human until the question, giving him a extended look before finally answering.

“If we survive this absurd quest you’ve contracted me to, then yes I’ll teach you how to shoot all the arrows you want.” Piercer then gazed upon the lute he held by his side. “And only if you craft them with your precious little instrument...whatever it’s called.”

Piercer grinned for the first time in a long time since they’ve met him as Lute drew back, appalled at the notion. “No way in hell! And it’s called a lute.”

“You were named after an instrument?” Piercer questioned flatly.

“It’s complicated!”

“Come on you two,” Knox interluded. “It’s too early for this. Let’s just go.”

He watched as Piercer began to walk ahead of them with Lute following cautiously behind.

But Knox stood in place for a while longer. He zoned out. He couldn’t get these night terror memories out of his slumbers. They beckoned him to go back to a time he wished he could alter. He tore the idea out of his mind. But he didn’t stop himself from reaching inside his shirt and grasping the necklace he kept hidden for so long. So long that he didn’t even think Lute remembered he still had it.

A black threaded necklace with a wolf’s tooth as it’s memento lay in the palm of his hand and it threatened to swallow him whole.

“Knox? You good, dude? We kinda can’t do this without you.” Lute called from afar.

Knox rushed the necklace back under his shirt and walked to catch up with them.

“Sorry. Still tired.”

It was sunset at Cactus Town.

‘Finally.’ Knox thought exhaustively to himself. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and gathered in a deep breath.

‘And...exhale.’

The relief, as ironic as it was, shined brightly on Knox and Lute’s faces as they approached the edge of Umlaut territory with caution. They traversed forward on the road leading into the town with careful eyes out for both any venomous, prying eyes and the deadly sharp cactus plants that crowded their entry into the town.

“Let’s get this finished. We steal a guitar and get the heck out of dodge. We cannot get caught.” Knox said, mostly to himself. His heart was racing at the implications of what could happen should they fail.

‘For Kara.’  Knox reminded himself needlessly. She was constantly on his mind, even if the others didn’t know it.

Constantly. 

“Alrighty, were doing this...we’re doing this...” Lute repeated, gripping his instrument tight as he watched Knox and Piercer break off any cactus pricks that were too lengthy to pass by safely. “So, uh...can we run over the plan again real quick?”

Piercer made way through the array of cacti first as Knox turned toward him. “We check if their sleep, scout out the leaders, and snatch one of their guitars while their distracted or still sleep.”

“Right.”

“I get you're nervous. I am too. But we need to do this for Kara. And I think Piercer just wants to get this over with.” Knox said, finishing the last part with a whisper.

Even still, Piercer’s pink ears twitched.

“I do.” Piercer confirmed bluntly.

“See?”

Finally out of the crowd of cacti, Lute and Knox found Piercer leaning down with a hand slowly sweeping across the ground. He then leaned down, pressing his ear against the earth’s terra firma. After a good few seconds, he finally straightened himself and looked to his companions.

“Whoever’s in this town, they aren’t making any noise nearby. We should be safe for a few more feet, but keep your eyes on guard.” Piercer ordered them as he equipped his bow and readied an arrow. The two humans followed quietly behind the rat mute as he made way towards the closest building and pressed himself against it’s wall.

All was still quiet.

This wasn’t feeling good to Knox, and he was sure the other two felt the same way. Even if they were in the clear, how were they supposed to find the Umlaut Snäke leaders’ guitars? More importantly, how were they supposed to take them?

Knox shook his head as he neared Piercer who had brung his head from around the corner of the building they hid behind. He pressed a finger against his lip and pointed in the direction of the door next to them.

“There are two snakes that are heading this way.”

“Whaaat?” Lute silently whispered in apprehension. “What do we-”

“Get inside the store...quietly.” Piercer said, emphasizing his pointing at the store door beside them again.

Lute and Knox backed up and opened the glass door, leaving Piercer to close it behind them. They took a brief intake of the inside; relatively spacey and filled with worn down drums and various guitars and gadgets. However, little time was available to explore any interests further as the shadows of the approaching snakes traveled across the store windows.

“Hide!” Knox whispered, sliding behind a nearby counter with his fellows following closely behind. Peeking slowly above the counter-top, they caught sight of two snakes slithering by.

“Let’s just get the scavenging over with. Cot Cot’s gonna be ticked if we don’t come back with something.”

“It’s not like we don’t have enough...more is still more I guess...”

The group waited until the voices were well out of earshot before slowly moving out of hiding.

“We really...really need to rethink our approach.” Lute said, stopping Knox and Piercer from moving towards the back door. “I mean seriously, guys. How are we supposed to steal guitars from snakes that big? We barely stood a chance against Nevarr and his band of Diamond Cutter pricks!” Lute said, almost forgetting to hush himself.

Knox looked at his long-time friend with a look of understanding. He honestly didn’t think of the plan specifics well enough. None of them had ever stepped foot inside of Umlaut territory before until now. They scouted from the trees, but only caught glimpse of the Umlaut Snake leaders with the guitars strapped around their necks. They never left them alone. This was going to be difficult.

“Why don’t we just ask for their help? Why don’t we just try? I mean, honestly...it might be the best option.” Lute offered.

“Do you remember what their leaders do to trespassers? To anyone coming through their territory?” Knox continued as he glanced out the back door. “We don’t know, because they’re never from again. We can’t risk that. We can’t...let’s just keep going. We’ll find a way.”

Knox tore his gaze away from the deflated Lute as Piercer laid a hand on his shoulder. He nodded his head towards the door behind them.

Piercer gripped the handle as his ears twitched again.

“I hear talking. Follow me closely. No noise.”

Knox and Lute did what the rat mute said and followed cautiously behind. Outside again, the rat mute scanned his surroundings and made way to the other side and against the building in front of them. He peeked around the corner and found the sources of the voices. They were much clearer now. A snake with yellow underbelly and blue diamond pattern across her back began to speak to a group of over at least two dozen different snakes.

"No wonder we haven’t run into a lot of em’ until now. Another damn meeting." Piercer grinded his teeth against each other, waiting for what came next.

“Deadlines for Scarlemange’s food requests are almost complete. Just a few more things, and we’ve already sent two of ours on it. So everything’s almost set. That means more time rockin’ out to ourselves, vibing, and less of that monkey’s ridiculous monologues about how we should “try out playing to his piano tunes sometime.”

Another snake scoffed at the thought of it. “Yeah, lame.”

This one was a green and orange Umlaut Snäke with a lime green underbelly.

Knox and Lute looked at each other with even greater worry.

“So they deal with Scarlemange, too? This...just got a whole lot more complicated.” Lute looked to the ground and rubbed his face in a bid to ward off the stress.

“Hey, that doesn’t spell the end of the world for us.” Knox told his friend as he laid a reassuring hand on his back.

Piercer, however, was silent. He didn’t even turn around. Just continued to stare at the conversing group of snakes. If anything, his glare tripled as one of the supposed leaders continued.

"After this, we’re good to be left alone for a month before the next deal his comes back to mind. So enjoy it. It’s the singing he does before and after he leaves that gets to me the most.” the snake quipped as the whole congregation laughed along side her.

“Well, at least they don’t like him. Clearly.” Knox half-joked, catching that Piercer’s form hadn’t moved since the reveal of Scarlemange’s involvement.

He wasn’t stupid. He had to keep an eye on Piercer, lest he do something rash.

Then one of Piercer’s ears twitched.

“Wait- move back to the-”

Piercer didn’t get to finish his warning, as the slithering of the two earlier scavenging snakes was caught too late and had already turned the corner. Directly into the dusty street where they resided.

“How did you forget so easily? We probably should’ve brought a-” the orange and yellow snakes paused at the sight of trespassers.

“...list.” the orange snake finished, still surprised.

All was still between Knox’s posse and the snakes that would soon turn everything upside down. But not before Lute gave them a nervous wave with his hand.

Aggressive hisses were let out and the two snakes came charging forward.

“Ah, no! Here we go again with the snakes!” Lute cried as he pulled out his machete. “Like this will do anything...” he added dispirited .

“The goal is to get out of here. We won’t win this!” Knox said aloud, specifically to Piercer.

Fast approaching, the reptiles were already on the group as Knox finished. Lute dived out of the way of the first strike, barely avoiding being bitten in two. He felt shameful wasting the precious seconds he had to check if his lute was damaged, but at this point it was a subconscious habit.

Piercer followed up the strike with two arrows to one of the snakes chest, but they broke on impact.

“Sh-t.” Piercer muttered. His arrows were practically useless unless used more tactfully.

The yellow snake approached Knox and swung it’s tail low at him. As it came, Knox jumped over it and rolled against the ground, steady on his two feet with his sword now pulled out.

“We don’t want to fight! You don’t understand, we-”

“Well, well, looks like we’ve got a bundle of no-good trespassers, don’t we?”

The words were unmistakable. They weren’t quick enough.

Knox and his comrades turned back to find the whole snake congregation approaching with their leaders leading. Piercer flicked his attention towards the two Umlaut leaders that traversed closer and cycled his aim at them.

“No!” Knox slid his katana back in it’s sheath and stepped in between the snake leaders and Piercer. “We don’t want this, we don’t want any trouble!”

They didn’t say anything. Instead, the brown viper came nearer as her group surrounded them and cut off any chance of escape. She roughly pushed Knox aside with her tail and trained her eyes into Piercer’s. His bow remained raised and it’s arrow pulled back.

“You really think that pitiful, primitive weapon is gonna do something against this skin?” the brown viper had a grin across her face.

Piercer brung his aim from her head to one of her eyes.

“I know this primitive weapon isn’t out of bounds from ensuing permanent blinding.” he spit back, gritting his teeth angrily. His face was relatively tame, but his shrunken pupils held the truth. He was heated.

The brown viper grinned even wider, her one sharp fang shown proudly. She moved her head even closer, slowly bringing it forward until one of her eyes was mere inches from Piercer’s threatening arrow.

“Piercer, stop! Please, this isn’t going to make things any better! We won’t win!”

Piercer heard Knox but he had not retreated his bow. He remained stagnant in his action. The arrowhead was dangerously near to the viper’s eye, yet the snake didn’t even blink. Not even once.

“Well?” the Umlaut leader spoke up. “I’m waiting.”

Piercer’s aim trembled and slowly, he let down his bow.

“Listen, we can explain everyth-”

Knox’s words were cut off. 
“Put down all of your weapons. Now.”

Knox removed his katana and scabbard, laying it on the dusty ground. Lute did the same with his machete and so did Piercer, albeit a lot slower.

“My name is Cotton.” The brown viper spoke up. “And this lovely reptile right here is Camille.”

Cotton eyed Lute’s musical instrument and visibly grimaced. But her relaxed smile returned almost in an instant. She left Camille’s side and made way past Piercer and looped his bow off the ground with her tail.

“And we’re the Umlaut Snäkes...but I’m pretty sure you already know that.” Cotton added.
“Follow us. Not like any of you have much of a choice.”

Cotton finished by smashing Piercer’s bow against the ground, breaking it into pieces.

The Cobra Room cafe.

It was the name of the building Knox, Piercer and Lute were currently being hauled into.

Things weren’t looking good for them at all. The guilt of being ill-prepared hung heavy over Knox’s head as they entered inside. And though it still stung, he realized something. That there was no possible “good plan”. This was the only way to save Kara and though they took the chance, they blew it. No, he blew it.

The remaining snakes were told by Cotton to go back. That they had nothing to worry about.

She was right.

There was a stage with a microphone, an orange electric guitar and drum set set on top. A bar resided next to a flight of stairs led up to a second floor. 

“What do you have us here for? Why not just kill us?” Knox asked, apprehensive about the whole ordeal.

“Is that what you want?” Camille questioned back without missing a beat.

Knox lowered his head briefly. “I can tell you why were here.”

Cotton slithered up to the three trespassers and gazed at them evenly before nodding to the stage.

“Tell us up there. On the microphone. It works just fine.”

Knox looked up at her with a slightly dumbfounded look.

‘They’re definitely toying with us.’  Knox thought. ‘Can’t say I blame them.’

Knox did as was expected of him and climbed on stage, gripping the microphone stand nervously. Piercer and Lute remained awkwardly in front of the Umlaut Snäke and decided it best to follow their pal’s actions. Tapping the microphone, he stared at the two leaders and gathered a breath of air before starting.

“We...a friend of ours...she’s been held captive by another group. It’s been a couple of days. And the leader of this group told us that the only way to get her back alive was to...” Knox paused but forced himself to finish. 

“...to steal one of your guitars.”

A dreaded pause initiated between the two parties. However the only sign of aggression on the Umlaut Snäkes were the narrowing of their eyes. Camille was the one to finally sigh.

“So that’s why you up and pussyfooted into our home? To bargain back your friend?” she asked rhetorically, looking to her band mate.

Cotton looked back, but was still unsatisfied.

“So...who sent you? What’s their name?”

The question was one Knox had expected from him just stating implications, obviously. But the weight of mentioning someone they were definitely not on good terms with in any way...how would it work for them? Maybe they would be more inclined to-

“Nevarr.” Knox revealed as he gripped the microphone stand tighter. “His name is Nevarr, and I know you already know who he is and what he does.”

Cotton hissed and failed at holding herself from cursing. “I knew it! That goddamn...”

“That’s not all, Cotton...maam-”

“Just Cotton! None of that fancy bull. Seriously!”

“Right, um...” Knox hated that his fear was showing. “...I believe he’s trying to start a fight with your group. I have a strong feeling that they’re going to whether we give them your guitars or not.”

“But since we all have resentment towards him, why can’t we just team up or something?” Lute quickly added in.

Cotton and Camille gave each other a long look before they gave Knox’s group a shared smile.

“Rock...or die.”

Knox double took from his focus on Lute and the Umlaut Snäkes.

“What?”

Cotton licked her tongue across the strings of her electric guitar, the sound vibrating loudly in a chord.

“Rock. Or. Die.” Camille repeated for her.

Knox immediately eyed the orange electric guitar on the ground and looked back up at the snakes with disbelief.

“No way.”

Cotton and Camille both hissed loudly at Knox’s words, causing him to bend down in a flash and pick up the guitar. Now satisfied, the two Umlaut Snäkes began tuning their guitars accordingly, checking their now-connected guitar amps for maximum drive.

“Heh, the only good thing out of the last dealing with Mr. Fancy Monkey were these amps?”

A loud power chord test strum was commenced by Camille which caught them off guard, particularly Piercer, who’s enhanced hearing was becoming more of a curse.

“Dammit, can we just get this over with!?” Piercer seethed, covering his ears.

“Fine...if we do this...would you consider helping us getting our friend back?” Knox asked the Umlaut Snakes. It was more of a plead than anything.

“We’ll consider it. If you don’t sound like total trash, you’ll even live.” Cotton chuckled as she and her partner came forth and ready for battle.

“Okay. Okay, okay, okay. Um, Lute...” Knox looked over to his friend who looked more worried about him and Piercer than himself.

“Yeah, I know; you haven’t played the guitar in like, six years and you totally don’t remember and Piercer doesn’t even know what a drum is.” Lute guessed in a short anxiety-driven burst of words.

“Screw you, bard boy. My clan had musical standards, and drums were one of them.” Piercer shot back snidely, twirling the drum sticks in between his fingers.

Lute looked to him apologetically. “Sorry. Assumptions suck.”

Knox sighed. “Just me then, huh? Okay...we still got this. I think.”

Cotton yawned mockingly and looked on with bored, half-lidded eyes. “Well, are you gonna start? We don’t have all day.”

Knox went over the guitar’s tuning with Lute and eventually found the sounds recognizable and in tune. He gave a practice strum on all six strings and closed his eyes.

“All right. I think we’re ready.” Knox told the two mute snakes. “Piercer, just give a simple one, two, three, four beat.”

“What does that even mean?”

“Just follow along! I’m sure you’ll get it.”

“Lute...just do your thing. I’ll do my best.” Knox told him as he gave a few individual note plucks.

Well, two turns in, and the Umlaut Snäkes were demolishing them. Though the snake’s playing was loud and dominating, it was their coordination that gave them the most power over them.

Knox was honestly at awe the different types of notes and chords the two Umlaut leaders were pulling off with just their tongues alone. And though Piercer was on beat and Lute was extravagant in his own playing, it all just didn’t go together right.

“Heh, that’s two for zero. Ready to give up yet?” Camille laughed.

“Wait.” Cotton looked into Knox’s eyes and seemed to bore through his attempts at hiding his worries.

“How about this. You impress us this ONE time...and we’ll do what you want. We’ll help you...but you’ll have to sing, too.”

Knox’s jaw dropped. “You want me to..sing?”

“Yup.” Cotton responded simply. “Shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

The new conditions pounded through Knox’s head. This was getting ridiculous. But it wasn’t much of a choice on his behalf.

This was his only chance to make something happen. And there was no room for error. He gritted his teeth hard.

Looking to Lute with some hope in his eyes, he had a glimmer of an idea.

“Remember? Way back when we were younger? The disk player we had got to work for a good while and that song I was so obsessed with? Forgot the name of the singer, but it was the only song I ever actually put much energy in.” Knox looked down at the guitar in his hands for a moment before readjusting the strap around his neck.

“Oh yeah, I remember that song! You used to sing-”

“Eh-hem, so you know how to accompany it still, I hope?” Knox said, twiddling his fingers nervously.

Lute played around with melodies a bit, trying to get a feel for what he remembered until he finally looked up and smiled.

“I...got a feel for it. Can’t believe I still got it in me.”

 Knox smiled gratefully, looking up again at the mute snakes that waited impatiently. “Can’t believe I still remember the damn lyrics.”

Knox eyed Piercer who gave him a quick nod. “I’ll find the rhythm. Just hurry the hell up.”

The guitar trembled a bit in Knox’s hands but he took a pause and closed his eyes.

“Don’t worry Knox, you’ll get the hang of it. It just takes a while.”

“Yeah...thanks, dad. I’ll catch it eventually.”

A calm overcame Knox’s body and his eyes opened back up.

“Piercer, I’ll nod to you when I need to to start the drums...I’m ready.”

Knox pulled the mic close to his mouth and breathed in.

“I...can't move, I'm so paralyzed
I'm so paralyzed
I...can't explain why I'm terrified
I'm so terrified...”

Knox surprised himself with how well the words came out. With no time to congratulate himself, he continued with stronger emotion and confidence.

“Well, I don't wanna touch the sky no more
I just wanna feel the ground when I'm coming down
It's been way too long
And I don't even wanna get high no more
Just want it out of my life
Out of my life, out...”

I wanna cut you outta my dreams 

Knox nodded to Piercer and everything came into fruition. Knox strummed down on the intended chords rhythmically as his band mates played along the best they could.

“'Til I'm bleeding out 
'Til I'm bleeding 
I wanna cut you outta my mind 
'Til I'm bleeding out 
'Til I'm bleeding...”

Knox eased his strumming and began playing lighter.

“...I keep telling myself I don't need it anymore 
Need it anymore...”

The last note was left to ring from Knox’s guitar and everything went quiet again.

Opening his eyes after realizing he had shut them after getting in the groove of things, Knox anxiously store back at the two Umlaut Snäkes, praying internally that he and his marry band wouldn’t become their next supper in a few seconds.  

“That was...actually not that bad.” Cotton admitted earnestly, the initial shock leaving her face. “I was honestly just waiting for your voice to crack so we could make fun of you...but it didn’t. Color me impressed...even that old, dusty lute held it’s own as much as I hate to admit it.”

Lute gave Cotton a glare before giving Knox his thoughts.

“Dude I didn’t know you could still sing! That was awesome!” Lute pushed as he pressed Knox’s shoulder lightly with a fist.

Knox hid behind the guitar in his hands. “Look, I just want to know if we’re in the clear.” Knox said, redirecting all the unwanted attention back to the Umlaut leaders.

Cotton and Camille gave each other knowing looks.

“Alright,” Cotton moved closer to Knox and his pose, towering over Knox’s form. “We’ll help you take down that scumbag excuse for a snake...but we ain’t doing it alone. It can’t be just us.”

Knox blinked in confusion. “What do you mean? We can totally ta-”

“You’ve seen his territory if you’ve lived to tell the tale!” Cotton hissed. “No way he wouldn't show it off. His lair is enormous! His group is well over two dozen and we’ve paid the price for our arrogance in fighting him unprepared before. How do you expect our small numbers, a couple of humans and a rat to stop him and his gang? We need more than just us for this.”

Understanding the full weight of the problem, Knox lowered his head. “You’re right...give us...a couple of days. We promise we’ll do our best to come up with something.”

“You better ta-ta, cause I don’t think there’s much time for your lady-friend.” Camille reminded, looking down at her guitar. “I speak for us both when I say we mean the best for your friend. But you don’t have long. Better be on it.”

Knox nodded his head heavily and got off stage, Piercer and Lute following behind.

Back from where they first entered the town, Cotton loomed over them one more time.

“Just two days. We’ve already done you a favor sparing you after that rock-out. Gave us a pretty cool time.” Cotton said. She leaned her head in dangerously close to the group, narrowing her eye slits.

“But if you sneak in unannounced again...we ain’t gonna be so cool anymore.”

Knox and Lute nodded vigorously, while Piercer only evened the glare.

“Why are you dealing with that atrocious monkey?” Piercer accused, baring his teeth angrily.

“None of your damn business, that’s why.” Cotton retorted. 

Lute grabbed Piercer from behind before he could find any chance to pounce.

“Heh, yeah so um, we’ll see what we can do with the time we have! Don’t worry, no sneaking back in unannounced, we got it! See ya!” Lute clarified as he and his group made their way out of the town.

Further and further the day went on. And soon, another day was soon to pass.

It has been six days total since they’ve left on their way to get Kara back.

They had only two weeks.

But Knox was truly wondering how this attempt was going to turn out. He was sure the other two were as well. All he knew was that he wasn’t going to give up on her without a fight. And he knew it would be a fight that would end in death, should he fail to compromise a solution to their current problem.

He prayed it wouldn’t have to come to that.

Chapter Text

Kara’s eyes fluttered open immediately.

She blinked the drowsiness away as the commotion that stirred her from her sleep began to beckon her attention. She scrambled from the cold ground to her feet and gripped the bars of her confined prison, curious of what was going on.

“Let-let me go, you mongrel! You can’t do this to me! I haven’t trespassed! I haven’t committed any cri-”

“Shut your mouth, you little mouse ball. Or I’ll end your sentence early!”

The voice of the perpetrator was easily recognizable.

Kara finally caught glimpse of the newly caught prey, finding it to be an armadillo with a red bandanna tied around it’s neck. It was restrained within the tail of none other than Stryker.

“The hell are you doi-”

“Shut up, human.” Stryker warned Kara with dangerous eyes as the towering snake mute moved past her confine to throw the armadillo into the cage right next to hers.

“And do enjoy your stay. Won’t be long though, so don’t get comfortable, he heh.” Stryker gave the cowering armadillo a mocking smile before bringing his eyes on Kara once more. He paused, gazing coldly into her equally icy stare and left.

The human waited until the second-in-command was out of earshot before she lightly banged on the wall that mirrored the armadillo’s prison.

“Hey, dude. You okay?” she asked.

The armadillo didn’t respond for a few seconds, but eventually...

“I’m okay...my name is Marram. I was just...traveling and...I didn’t even come close to this place. They kidnapped me...”

“It’s alright, it’s not your fault.” Kara assured him with an unseen smile. “They’re just jerks.”

A small laugh accompanied in reaction to her comment.

“...she’s dead, isn’t she?”

Kara blinked with a pang of worry in her heart.

“What? Who are you talking about?”

Another bout of silence.

“She was wearing a scarf. Purple.”

Kara’s heart sank. She suddenly remembered. The mute from when Knox and Lute had first arrived to save her. The armadillo from the colosseum. The one that was bitten and dragged away. The one that was wearing a purple scarf. Kara hung her head low, her fears unseen by the neighboring mute. Still, she let him continue.

“She has this beautiful habit of carrying a tune wherever she goes. She adores singing. Can’t recall a day she wasn’t. She also has this purple necklace that matches her scarf...”

“Marram...I’m...” Kara almost choked the words out as the weight of giving him the news that she wished upon no one bared upon her.

“I’m sorry...” Kara sucked in a breath before continuing.

“She’s...gone.”

Silence.

“Thank you for giving me clarity.” the armadillo replied in a whisper that somehow still held a sense of peace.

“Please!”

Knox tried lifting the furniture off for what seemed to be the dozenth time, but it still wasn’t enough.

“Somebody please! Help me!” Knox called out, the screeching from unknown creatures filling the spacious burrow they were trapped in. 

Where was his dad?

Why wasn’t anyone helpi-

“Kid!”

Knox darted his head towards the consuming smoke around him that parted to reveal an older women emerging from it’s depths. She perked up at the sight of someone familiar.

“Kid, we need to- oh my god!” the human gasped in shock as she noticed Knox’s friend was pinned helplessly against the ground.

She wasted no time in taking action. She ignored the crumbling of their safe haven and joined Knox beside him, holding the underside of the bookshelf with both hands which was finally beginning to make some progress. But then something panged in the woman’s heart to look up. And what she realized struck her to her core.

“W-we’ve got to move. We got to move now!” the woman screamed as she pulled Knox’s protesting form away from his friend’s aid. She pushed herself along with Knox as they just narrowly avoid being crushed by the huge slab of ceiling that landed directly where they once stood.

Where Noel was pinned.

“Noooo! We gotta-” Knox was stopped by the woman’s grip on his arm.

“We have to leave, now...we can’t...he’s...please...” the woman pleaded as the smoke finally cleared up, revealing the many airborne flamingos and humans riding them.

Knox’s screams of desperation that his friend was still alive went past the woman as she pulled him towards the nearest emergency escape duct. He had just barely grabbed the still-intact lute that lay nearby, undamaged from the debris. She held Knox’s head in her hands and through teary eye, assured him the best she could.

“We’ve got to get out of here. You did everything you could for your friend, but I can’t have you die.”

Now outside and out of the chaos, the two humans solemnly reflected on the aftermath of their swift escape.

“My dad...my...my mom...Noel’s brother...they’re-”

“We don’t know that yet, honey.” the women gently cut Knox off. “Listen to me, if anything, your parents might have been captured or escaped like us. Don’t lose your hope. It’s going to be okay. We just have to make sure we’re safe first...then maybe we can try...” the adult assured him through eyes of empathy and multiplying tears.

“Knox!”

Knox’s head swiveled towards the call and a brief burst of joy overcame his heart.

Two other humans had apparently escaped and were running towards them. One other adult and a younger child beside them.

It was Noel’s younger brother.

“Knox! Did you see my brother? Is he okay?” Noel’s younger brother asked, his eyes wide with shock still present in his eyes.

“I...I couldn’t...”

It was all Knox could bring out. He was still in disbelief of it all.

Noel’s younger brother stood in silence with him.

“I’m sorry. I tried...”

Noel’s brother eyed and recognized the lute that resided loosely in Knox’s hand.

“He’s...he’s dead isn’t he?”

The words froze Knox but not his own tears. 

“Yes.”

As they further escaped the breached underground city they called their home, his mind grew number.

But not numb to the growing pain of his failure.

He continued to glance back at the smoke that billowed out of their beloved burrow and refused to budge his eyes away. He refused to look back to Noel’s sobbing brother.

“Knox...Knox, it’s going to be okay. I-I never told you my name. It’s Kessie. I’ll make sure to help take care of you.”

He still didn’t turn around. His feet paused and Kessie’s soft hold on Knox’s hand slipped away.

“Kid, please I understand...”

“Knox...”

A hand rested on his shoulder.

Knox fidgeted awake in a brief panic for the dozenth time that week. He found himself still on the couch of the loft apartment they had found recent solitude in.

He honestly lost count at this point. He didn’t try questioning or attempt to decipher the agonizing dream he had already only remembered half of. Wordlessly, he gripped the scabbard that held his trusty katana and arose from the comfort of the couch, catching the forms of Piercer and Lute still breathing in breaths of a calm deep sleep nearby.

He smiled at the sight, but turned around and headed out of the front room, being sure to close the door as quietly as he had opened it. Knox sighed, rubbing his drowsy eyes and found himself outside. There wasn’t many places where a forest wasn’t a nearby feature. Perfect for Knox. He walked across the street, through the grass and unsheathed his katana, ready to let out some steam.

As dark as it was, being ambushed was the last thing on Knox’s mind. He rationalized his behavior as some much needed extra training on his belt. He felt himself getting a bit rusty, so that’s good enough reason to get up and slice stuff in the middle of the night, right?

Holding the blade in front of him, he lowered it and pulled the grip towards himself before letting out a succession of jabs. He took a quick step back and unleashed a swift side swipe, centering himself again and taking in a deep breath.

“Ya know what? It’s not enough.”

Knox’s eyes widened and he charged forward towards the nearest tree and wasted no time bringing the blade across it again and again and again. Adding in a swift punch, his aching hand was drawn back in slight regret after his conscious swiftly caught up to him. He finished his abrupt assault by pressing his forehead against the rough bark of the tree trunk and releasing breath, shutting his eyes tight.

Rustling nearby caught the human’s attention and he immediately spun around, ready to swing.

And how happy he was that he didn’t.

Piercer was a only a few feet from where he stood. He observed the slash marks in the tree as Knox sighed and raised an arm, searching for an excuse.

“Hey, I was just-”

“Night terrors.”

“Huh?”

Piercer was unwavering. “You’re having night terrors and you’re trying to cope by releasing stress.”

Knox raised his pointer finger in a weak attempt at objecting, but he released whatever facade he had going for him.

“Yep. Yeah, night terrors...how would you know anyways?”

“I have them, too. They’re not as bad...but they don’t seem to be going away.”

Knox kind of felt stupid for even asking such a question. The mute’s obviously been through enough with losing his whole clan in one whole day.

“So...how do you cope with it? I mean, I’ve never seen you lash out in your sleep...”

Piercer looked to the ground. “Guess I’ve been getting lucky since I’ve been with you two.”

Knox had to take the opportunity.

“Aww, so we’re your cure? That’s cute.”

The Archerat gave Knox a sharp look. “Shut up. We should get back. Few more hours till daybreak. The last thing we need is to be ineffective at searching for a group of mutes who are even willing to bargain help to us.”

Piercer turned back and began walking towards the loft house.

“Hey.”

Piercer turned back around, raising an eyebrow.

“Thanks for checking up on me. Needed that.” Knox admitted. “Believe it or not, I’m not the overly-emotional type.”

Piercer nodded. “Don’t mention it.”

The Archerat headed out of the forest and back across the street before pausing half way.

“Seriously. Don’t mention it.”

Knox, Lute and Piercer stood around the counter in the loft kitchen as they readied their rough ideas of how to go about getting new allies. Knox’s sight aimed down at the titled floor, sipping his water bottle as Piercer fiddled with his newly-crafted bow and Lute went on.

“...I mean, there are definitely plenty of different mutes and humans alike that have ran into Nevarr and lived to tell the tale. Or maybe lost someone close to those noodle heads.” Lute stated, mapping possible places in his head where more friendly types were possibly located. Few and far in between, of course.

“Yeah, but not many willing to just pair up wily-nilly with us and just fight a fight they may not want any part of anymore. Or their just cowards. Either one. They’ll most likely all want something in return, and you both already owe me.” Piercer contributed, emphasizing with a thumb pressed against his chest.

“Okay Piercer, we get it!” Lute said aloud. He paced back and forth a bit. “You’ll get your share on our supply stash. That’s if we even make it back. Seriously, Amanda and Jonathan must be super ticked for us leaving them on edge this long. We need to figure this all out fast.”

After a while of silence, Piercer and Lute looked back to Knox, who continued his stare at the floor.

“Hey, you with us Knox?”

Slowly bringing his eyes back to level with theirs, he sighed and gripped the edge of the counter.

“I think...I think I already have a solution to our problem.” Knox said, staring at them both with a serious and anxious look.

“Seriously?” Lute stepped forward with interest laced in his eyes. “What is it?”

Another pause before Knox set his bottle down and pushed himself away from the kitchen counter, completely giving up on holding back the mystery.

“The Timbercats.”

Lute and Piercer both looked at each other before Lute spoke back up.

“The Timber...cats?”

Resting his elbows on the counter, he displayed observable hesitation before clarifying. An ironic and deceptive smile snuck onto his face. He was anything but joyous.

“Lute...remember back a year ago when me, you and Kara took that trek through the city district with the distinctive figure eight highway roads? The one that looked like a four-leafed clover? We separated to cover more chance to find stuff and I...ran into their leader.”

Lute gaped his mouth at the secret. “What? And you didn’t tell us?”

“No. I didn’t. Because I gave him a promise. I swore not to tell where their territory was nor to even mention them...in exchange for my life.” Knox elucidated, rubbing his face with a hand. “I’m going to be extremely honest, we don’t have even close to a choice with anyone else out there but them. Not with the little time we have left. Not with what little time we have to leave Amanda hanging about her sister. We have to try.”

Both Knox and Piercer pondered the idea.

“Alright.” Lute vocalized.

“I’m sorry for keeping all of this away from you.” Knox said apologetically, leaning against the counter behind him.

However, Lute waved a dismissive hand, closing his eyes with a smile. “No need to apologize, I get it. I’m sure I would have done the same. Just as long as you aren’t lying about there not being aggressive, poisonous squirrels.”

“Argh, would you stop mentioning that before you manifest them into reality?”

Butting in, Piercer cleared his throat for attention. “So. Timbercats. Location? Please? Times ticking, remember? I already don’t like the cat part.”

“Easy,” Knox walked out to the front door and left outside.

As all three of them stood in front of the loft with the sun beating behind, Piercer and Lute followed the finger that Knox pointed out west of their position.

“If I recall, it’s actually not that far from here. You might remember more as we near the city too, Lute. It’ll probably take half a day. Not much of a bad tradeoff compared to blindly running around trying to amass followers. And trust me...the Timbercats aren’t exactly lacking in followers.”

Piercer grunted and leaned against the wall beside the door. “If this all doesn’t come to a conclusion within a few days, I’m going to lose my mind. Let’s head out right now and get this over with.” Piercer returned back inside the loft and out of view.

Lute and Knox watched him disappear from view and both proceed to take his heed, knowing this would still be a risky trip, regardless of how close or far the territory would be. They needed to pack. And as Lute opened the door for Knox, he turned and stopped him mid-way.

“Hey, aren’t you worried about what they’ll do when they...you know, see you again? Even worse, back in the territory that you swore to never return to?” Lute asked, the implications of what might transpire, should things initially go their way with finding their so called “last resort help”.

Knox replied earnestly.

“Well, worse-case scenario, they’ll eat me and let you and Piercer off with a warning...that is if you plead well enough.” Knox said, a bit too nonchalantly for Lute’s liking.

“Splendid.”

The journey took a bit longer than expected, but everything was moving relatively smoothly in their bid for the Timbercats and their whereabouts. With only a few more bottles of water and relatively low food rations, they needed to be quick. Entering the city district was the easiest part. Escaping the eyes of any mutes or desperate human surface dwellers out to jack their stuff was the hard one.

Following nearest road into the broken down city led to some forgotten memories for both Lute and Knox. Only a year before, they almost got busted by some Mod Frogs (again), chilled out with a group of peaceful nomadic mole mutes, and laughed along with each other after Lute thought he misplaced his precious instrument which sent him on a brief triad of worry and panic...only to find it behind a tree not even five feet away.

Knox wanted more of these moments within the chaos. And they needed the Timbercats to get a few steps closer to experiencing them again with the friends he left behind. And with Kara. He gripped the straps of his book bag as Lute piped up after noticing the figure-eight highway.

“Yeah, I remember now, that’s it! It really does look like a clover. We’re so close...so this where you saw the leader?” Lute asked, turning around.

Knox looked up and tried to search out a path to start searching for an exact location. And although everything was a bit hazy, he still remembered a few key elements he took note of as he was ushered away by the Timbercats.

“Let’s get clo-”

Piercer stopped as his ears perked up to the sudden, distinct noise, but the ambuscade on them was carefully planned, even for Piercer’s impressive hearing.

An aggressively loud roar emitted out of the forest Knox was close to. Before he or anyone could fully turn, Knox was tackled to the ground, the air gushing out of him. Equipping their weapons too late, Lute brandished his machete and Piercer trained his bow at the mute that had now held Knox in an arm, it's axe rested against his neck.

“Give me a reason I shouldn’t slit your throat right now, human.” the mute asked in a gruff and deadly whisper.

Piercer stepped closer, emphasizing his bow’s aim at his head. “I think I’m good reason enough. You won’t even get the chance.”

Without leading his aim away, the Archerat trailed his eyes as far as he could to look behind him. Almost two dozen different humanoid cats of various sizes in plaid flannel clothing began to flank them. There was no way of escape.

“Enough, Ruffles! Let the human go.”

The origin of the voice walked through the gathering of cats and revealed herself, brandishing an axe of her own. Sporting a standout dark blue flannel shirt with her white head fur braided back. Her icy blue eyes bore through Piercer as she commanded her next request.

“Lower your bow, mute.” she ordered as she stood behind him.

Piercer scoffed and laughed. “Not until-”

“Lower the bow. Now.”

The axe was gripped rather harshly in the feline’s paw as she waited.

“Piercer. Do it. Trust me. You’re gonna want to.”

Piercer dragged his eyes back to the captive human. “And why’s that?”

Knox chuckled as the axe this ‘Ruffles’ cat had  continued to waver dangerously close to his neck.

“Because these are the Timbercats I was talking about. But I’m sure you’ve gotten that puzzle figured by now.”

Piercer wavered, but eventually lowered his aim.

“Good,” the white furred Timbercat strided past Piercer as the Archer glared daggers at her. “Ruffles, lower the axe and let the human go. That’s an order.”

“Order? You’re not Hammerpaw, Molly! He’s not lost in the trees anymore! You know who this human is just as good as I do! Hammerpaw made it clear that if he ever came back...”

Ruffles lowered his gaze to Knox as his arm’s grip around his neck slightly increased.

“We would kill him.” Ruffles finished venomously.

“I said let him go...I didn’t say he wouldn’t face punishment. No here, and not like this. This isn’t what we do.” the white-furred Timbercat known as Molly explained. Having now come close enough, the laid a gentle paw on Ruffles shoulder. “I get it, Ruffles. It still hurts...but you shouldn’t put that energy on this human. Not every human is the same. He hasn’t done anything wrong to us.”

Ruffles eyes soften before quickly narrowing again. He let go of his grip around Knox’s neck and pushed him forward, leaving Lute to kneel down and help him up.

Ruffles walked by Molly and paused before his golden eyes stared at her.

“He hasn’t done anything...yet.”

Ruffles continued his march into the crowd of various Timbercats before disappearing.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Molly reopened her frustrated eyes and forward at Knox, ignoring the stink-eyes Piercer was giving her from the side.

“Human, you got some major, major explaining to do.” Molly told Knox as he finally got himself to his feet.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fully aware of that. So it, uh...it all started when...”

After positioning herself far from the commotion, the lone wolf leaned her head from behind the wide tree and took an observant peek at the oversized cats that swarmed the humans.

"Not today. Too risky."

Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself from the tree trunk and gripped the pearl necklace around her neck as she made her way back down the path she came.

Chapter Text

“The Umlaut Snäkes? You brought the Umlaut Snäkes into this!? Of all the damned...”

Knox gripped the bars of the cart cage he and his companions were locked in and store Molly right in her eyes.

“We had no choice! Nevarr told us to steal their guitars or they’d kill my friend!”

Molly sighed and frowned her lips. “Look...it’s already trouble enough that you came back. You even got your friends trapped with you, too! But when Hammerpaw finds out that you brung Cotton and Camille into the mix-”

“YUMYAN OWS YOU ALL!!!”

Molly perked up her attention to the treetops to find their leader, Yumyan Hammerpaw high up above. She and the countless other Timbercats ritualistically stood at attention as he jumped from the thick branches and landed with a solid thud.

Now standing straight, Yumyan caught eyes on the cart prison and approached slowly. “So, ya caught some trouble makers, eh?”

“W-well, um...” Molly stuttered. “It’s a bit...more than that, Hammerpaw.”

It was then that Yumyan got good eyes on the prisoners contained within. And after eying one human in particular, his eyes narrowed and his teeth bared. The Timbercat leader drew in to the cage bars and brung his face uncomfortably close to Knox.

“You.”

Knox chuckled nervously and held his hands up.
“I can explain?”

Although Yumyan’s grew quiet, his death stare didn’t change. He reached for his bushy tail and slowly pulled out the object of intention, revealing his strumming axe as he held it by his side. He jabbed the sharp edge through the bar and near to Knox’s eye.

“I warned you...”  Hammerpaw began again.

“Please listen, Hammerpaw. I can explai-”

“I warned you there’d be consequences for coming back...”

“The Diamo-”

“Your death won’t be swift, I guarantee y-” Hammerpaw cut off again.

“Just LET ME SPEAK!”

Knox’s roaring demand echoed throughout the treetop community and reached everyone present. Yumyan himself even flinched. The human calmed himself and brung his mind back down. Opening his eyes back up, Knox tried to find solid ground as he locked eyes back with Yumyan.

“The Diamond Cutters kidnapped my friend and I need help desperately. There’s no one else I can go to. So if you can’t help me, please just let my friends go and deal with me alone.” Knox told him, his grip on the bars loosening.

Yumyan’s eyes widened. “The Diamond Cutters?” He lowered his axe and turned around to no one in particular. “So they’ve gone and screwed with you, too...”

Knox got up. “Molly told me they’ve had run-ins with you all before you established a home here. I figured maybe you’d want to stop his tyranny, too. He’s just...stealing away other mutes and using them for his sick colosseum battle reward system! They told me the only way to get my friend back was to steal one of the Umlaut Snakes’ guitars...”

Yumyan was curious for more. “Did you try?”

“Yes.” Lute added in. “And we were on a thin, thin thread to becoming dinner! But we fought them in a music battle and earned their respect. They said they’d help us if we got more people to help...”

“And here we are...” Piercer finished, his gloved hand still rested on his cheek.

“So Cotton and Camille are involved as well? Just great...” Yumyan keeled to one knee to meet evenly with Knox. “Listen to me, as much as I want to help, I can’t put my people at risk again. We’ve already lost some of our own to those...monsters. We even tried before...to save...someone...and we couldn’t. We...no...I failed them.”

“So why not put an end to it all? The whole reason you couldn’t is because you were all in it alone. You’re not alone on this anymore. We can beat them all together!” Knox offered, sporting an optimistic smile.

“He’s right, ya know.” Lute stood up with Knox and approached Yumyan at the bars of the cage. “It’s not your fault for trying to do good. Most people would have done nothing. And now you all have a chance to try again. We can do this. We know it.”

Yumyan looked to the ground in thought before trailing his eyes to Molly. She smiled and raised her axe.

“You know we’re with you, regardless of what you say. But I’d happily accompany Knox alongside you in a battle for the freedom of the imprisoned.” Molly assured him.

Yumyan looked to his hands. Slightly shaking at the memory. The memory of the screams. Of the one they couldn’t save. They clenched tightly.

“We’ll do it.” Yumyan told the captive group. Yumyan turned around to the multitude of Timbercats that stood alert behind him. “Yumyan Hammerpaw has declared that we WILL help the prisoners. They are prisoners NO MORE! and we will stand once again in battle against the Diamond Cutters! For retribution for our lost brothers and sisters AND for the freedom and justice of those they took from others!” A proud grin snuck wide on the Hammerpaw’s face.

“And we WILL win! Yumyan proclaims this so!”

One by one, the Timbercats raised their axes, shouting in agreement and unison as Yumyan turned back to the cage.

“Just so you know...I wasn’t gonna kill you. None of you.” Yumyan clarified. “Someone came along and...she helped me find peace with humans...not to judge them all the same, I mean. I was just gonna rough ya up is all.”

Ruffles approached with the keys to the cage after being waved over by Molly. He unlocked the cage door and finally, Knox and his posse were free again.

“Okay, now I think I got an idea on how Kara must feel.” Lute said, stretching his back out exaggeratedly.

Meanwhile, Knox took this time to clear things with Ruffles.

“Hey dude, I know we didn’t start off on the right foot, but I just wanna know if we’re cool now. Like, cool cool?” Knox held out a balled fist and smiled up at the frowning, gruff-looking Timbercat.

Ruffles continued his unreadable look at the human before retuning the gesture with a fist of his own. Knox took the initiative and fist-bumped. As Ruffled backed off to a tree to lean on, Knox was sure he saw the corner of Ruffle’s mouth lift, but maybe it was just his wishful imagination. Yeah, probably.

Knox’s heart rate slowed. After everything, things were finally starting to come together. He couldn’t help but run into Yumyan and give him a grateful hug. Or at least try to. His arms barely came close to reaching fully around the wide form of the mute.

“Thank you so much! Thanks to all of you. I...I can’t express how indebted I am.” Knox pulled himself from the Timbercat who, who returned a warm smile. “I don’t know how I’ll even repay you all, but I’ll find a way.”

However, Yumyan held his axe to his heart. “No need, human. You’ve awaken us up from our slumber and reminded us that justice never sleeps. We’ve been hiding from this for too long, and we won’t stand for anymore of the pain Nevarr is inflicting. So? What is the plan?”

Knox rubbed his hair and  “Thing is, I’ve only got a rough plan idea in my head. It’s going to take us all being together for it to come together.” Knox admitted, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “I need you all to meet us back at the Cactus Town’s entrance tomorrow morning. Just as the sun clears the horizon. We’ll be there before you and we’ll make sure to let Cotton and Camille know you’re with us. I know you and their group don’t have the best track record, but we’ll figure it all out for the greater good. Sound fair?”

Yumyan and Molly looked at each other briefly before bringing their gaze back to Knox.

“Fair.”
“Fair.”

“Yes! YES!”

Everyone caught full attention of the short Timbercat in a mustard-colored beanie and green plaid shirt who had raised her axe high and energetically spun around in glee.

“Were going to be LEGENDS!” she proclaimed as the Timbercats around her all looked to each other, shrugged and cheered once again.

The days were moving fast.

The past three days were a blur, but they had finally did it. Knox, Lute and Piercer were exhilaratingly close to reaching the conclusion of their bid for Kara’s safe return.

With his notebook open, Knox marked the seventh day out. A whole week left of what could have been remained fixated inside his head, however. If he hadn’t of been able to receive the Timbercat’s assistance...if Yumyan had rejected helping him...it would’ve been just another seven days to hope and pray.

The many iterations of what they could do to trick and work around Nevarr and his Diamond Cutter tribe was what enveloped many of the pages before. Idea after idea after idea to bridge the gap of the possibility of their failure. 

He couldn’t mess this up.

The human shut the notebook and slid it back into his book bag, rubbing his tired eyes as his body protested his late dwellings in the night. He eyed the katana blade next to him and gripped it, ritualistically setting it beside him on the coffee table in front of him. Wordlessly, he lifted himself off of the floor and onto the living room sofa, not spending any trouble falling asleep.

As much as he wished he could have kept the darkness at bay if for just a bit longer.

“.....”

The beautifully and carefully crafted saya that held the katana blade lay on it’s rack attached to the wall in display.

Out of all the abandoned tools and weaponry, this one stood out like a sore thumb. Even through the thick layer of dust that covered it’s form.

Knox approached it with a slow caution, as if it would unsheathe itself and cut through anyone not worthy of it’s presence. Something he was willing to gamble with as he stretched a hand out for it in a struggle to reach it’s placement. A bit higher than he was able to reach, but maybe...

“Ah, ah ah.”

Knox twisted his form around to find an older male human looking back at him. He mockingly tapped a foot against the ground, but his well-intentioned smile told a contrasting story. One of understanding.

Knox retracted his hand from the sword and stood with his hands behind his back, giving the human a smile to accompany his.

“You see, I was just ah...testing how far I could reach! I seem to be getting...better...”

The adult approached and stepped up beside Knox to take the katana blade down with ease. He removed the scabbard and revealed the katana blade in all of it’s shiny glory. Though the casing was completely dusty, the blade remain in practically the same shape it was left so many years ago. The human adult then eyed Knox with a smug look and began to exaggeratedly twirl it in his hands, pretending to know what he was doing.

Knox sighed in defeat. “Okay, I get it.”

Laughing, the adult re-sheathed the katana and held it by his side.

“I get it too, Knox. You wanna help fight. You want to protect Elias. But you’re not ready for this. Shoot, I’m not quite ready for it either, ha...” the adult pointed the sharp blade upwards as it glinted from the outside’s light.  After observing Knox’s lowered head, he kneeled down next to him and rested a hand on his shoulder. “When you’re older, you’ll understand the weight of this a lot more. And in time, you’ll be able to handle yourself just fine.”

However, Knox leveled eyes with the adult almost immediately.

“It’s not just about that...”

“Then what else is it about?” the adult countered curiously.

Knox re-centered his gaze on the now-empty sword rack.

“Nothing...it’s not...never mind.”

Refocusing his sights on the adult, he smiled once more.

“Thanks for getting Elias out of there, Bradley. I...don’t know if I could’ve taken losing him too. I’m really glad you were there for him.”

Bradley pressed a balled-up fist against his chest lightly.

“Gotta be there for each oth-”

“Bradley! Bradley, help! There are wol-”

The screams died as quickly as they came.

With wide eyes, Bradley gripped Knox’s hand as they dashed out of the store.

Now outside, the world quickly turned upside down for them.

Kessie and Noel’s brother Elias were restrained and surrounded by a total of five mute wolves. They all grinned through their growls as the pack leader stepped forward with stride. One eye appeared forced shut by a long ago-healed scar that traveled down his face. As a few other wolves began to circle around Knox and Bradley, the leader spoke.

“Never in my life have I ever witnessed humans so stupid and bold enough as to travel out in broad daylight like this. Ha, good for us, then!”

Bradley stepped forward, trying his best not to separate himself from Knox.
“Just let them go. You don’t need to do any of this. We’ll leave and never come back.”

“We’re not stupid.”

Bradley blinked at the pack leader’s words. “What?”

The wolf leader chuckled and raised his head high. “You’re all from that crumbling burrow a few miles out, aren’t you?”

The pack leader unfurled his claws and grinned, not shying from showing off his razor sharp teeth.

“Restrain our two other friends, please.”

Two wolves broke from the circle and dashed for Bradley and Knox. As Bradley gripped the katana and with shaky hands, he steadied his footing and swung the blade as one of the wolves came close. The wolf easily sidestepped, anticipating the swing.  

Unable to compensate for the momentum, the second wolf bone rushed Bradley as the katana fell onto the grass. Hands behind his back, Bradley’s face was shoved into the ground.

“Move the kids over there. I want the adults in front of me.” the leader commanded, looking into Kessie and Bradley’s eyes with a mischievous smile.

“Please...” Kessie begged. “Please, don’t...don’t hurt us. Don’t hurt the kids...they’re just-”

Kessie paused as the pack leader bent down to her level and her bloodshot eyes got even wider.

“Ain’t nothing fair up here on the surface, darling. Especially for low-life humans.” he told, growling the last part to her. Getting extra close.

“We’ll give you our stuff, we’ll leave, just don’t hurt her!” Bradley offered desperately as he wrestled in his bid to escape the wolf that restrained him.

Pausing, the leader slowly turned to Bradley, and then the shaking human children that watched not far away. 

And then back to Kessie.

“Ya know what? It’s not enough.”

Before anyone of the humans could protest, the pack leader jerked forward and locked his jaws tight around Kessie’s throat. The sharp scream echoed throughout the area as her struggles grew stiff just as quickly as she had attempted them.

“Nooooo!” Bradley screamed tearfully as Knox and Elias looked on in an unspeakable shock.

The wolf leader released the freshly deceased Kessie from his iron grip of his maw and grinned as the blood of his victim coated his teeth and jaws. He stood stagnant for a moment, as if relishing in the pain he was causing. Through the sobs of the remaining humans, he called out his next order to his pack mates.

“Kill the other adult. No one’s off limits. Have some fun.”

Knox and Elias couldn’t even scream anymore. The watched as the wolf that held Bradley yanked him up and raked a claw across his chest. The other wolves were quickly upon him.

Knox looked on in a trance, as if he couldn’t do anything but look. He watched as two more people he cared about were ripped from him. Again. Again!

Then he looked to Elias, who was the only thing left. He wouldn’t let it happen.

Knox eyed the katana that lay freely on the ground not far from him.

He wouldn’t lose Elias.

Leaning forward, the wolf that watched over them didn’t connect the dots fast enough as he brung his head back, connecting it with his maw. The wolf yelped and was too late to stop Knox from diving for the katana. Just as Knox rolled around, he met the wolf’s pounce as he unsheathed the sword just in time for it’s blade to enter through it’s chest.

Knox wasted no time, pulling the sword out with as much strength as he could muster. He turned with his teeth clenched so hard that it hurt. The tears traveled freely down his face. And then he charged for the pack leader, blade held high.

He didn’t remember how he did it.

All he remembered was a screaming pack leader as he clutched his last good eye and fully lost his precious sight.

All he remembered was raging at the last few wolves that hounded after him, leaving the shredded corpse of his good friend Bradley.

All he remembered was being on top of the pack leader in a heartbeat, bringing the hilt of the katana down on the wolf leader’s teeth over and over, breaking them and leaving few to spare.

He remembered Elias pulling at his shirt and crying out in pleas for them to leave before anyone else came for them.

He remembered picking out one of the pack leader’s teeth and running with Elias as they looked back one last time at the carnage that held the truth.

That there was no mercy for the wicked as there was none for the weak.

Knox gripped the tooth in his hand and ran with Elias through the heartbroken tears.

Knox trembled and shook, trapped in the non-fictitious retelling of his deepest memories. His hand was wrapped rigorously around the necklace that suspended a wolf’s tooth.

But this time, he remained asleep.

The sun was due to cross the horizon any minute.

Knox observed it’s warm, tame glow as it very gradually grew with intensity. He and his rag-tag group waited in anticipation to the Timbercat’s arrival as they stood by the Cactus Town’s entrance, hoping they wouldn’t show too late.

“No-shows, of course.” Piercer said, test-stretching his relatively new bow.

“Ugh, be patient, archer dude. The sun hasn’t even crossed the horizon yet.” Lute said as he stopped strumming his lute briefly.

Knox got up from crouching and stretched his legs. “Guess it’s time to let Cotton and Camille know we’re back. I’ll go, you two stay here in case they get here before I get back. I won’t be long.”

“Alright.” Lute responded, strumming another chord.

“Don’t get eaten.” Piercer commented.

Lute looked at him in disbelief.
“Seriously, what’s with all the sudden snarkiness?”

The Archerat’s mutual expression was unchanged.
“I have a habit a saying things off the top of my head when I’m bored. Sorry.”

Knox walked past the first building they had crossed since the last time they came through. He internally cringed at what would have happened had they not convinced the snakes to spare their lives. And it was there he paused, sure that at least a few of the Umlaut Snäkes we’re at least now just waking up.

“Do snakes even sleep like us?” Knox wondered quietly as he looked around for a awoken soul.

“Hey, you!”

Knox shot his sights towards the path in between the two buildings  

“I’m just here to-”

“Yeah, yeah. We know who you are.” the yellow Umlaut Snäke assured with her eyes lowered in a slight agitation. “Come with me. Cotton and Camille are already awake.”

Knox wasted no time running to catch up with the snake the guided him further into the town. It didn’t take long at all before he found himself  in front of a sky blue building. The windows were all punched out and clear of any glass.

“Hey Cotton, Camille. Look who’s finally back.”

The call brung forth the two respective snakes out of their homes, slithering slowly out of the windows and in front of the human. They both looked on at him, tilting their heads to the side.

“Already?” they both said in unison.

Knox rubbed the back of his head, trying not to get to anxious.
“Yeah...already.”

A bout of silence before Camille spoke up. “Sooo...you gonna tell us who’s the help? Cause to be honest, we didn’t think you’d find a single soul.”

Knox narrowed his eyes.
“Seriously...alright. But, you’re...gonna want to follow me there first. Trust me.”

As Knox lead way back to the entrance, he had hoped for some time to explain with his group present. Unfortunately, the universe had other plans. Right there, front and center, were the Timbercats in their full glory. Yumyan rode upon a giant flea and the sight almost sent Knox running behind the Umlaut Snakes in bewildered shock.

“Alright, pipsqueak. Who’s the-”

Cotton halted upon noticing the Timbercat’s presence. An immediate and aggressive hissing followed, which prompted her followers to do the same. The two Umlaut leaders slithered past Knox and nearly knocked him over as they stopped angrily.

“You brought the primitive log pluckers!? Are you out of your minds?” Cotton screeched as she stood head to head with Molly.

“Ease it, scaly, we’re here on the same business! That’s why the human brought us here!” Molly asserted as she resisted the urge to pull out an axe from her tail.

“Enough!”

Yumyan got off of his flea mute and approached the two arguing sides. He walked up and placed a paw on Molly’s shoulder, causing her to back off. Now in front, he looked up and locked eyes with Cotton and Camille whilst sharing an even amount of contempt in his eyes. Then they softened. He pulled out his axe and his secondary axe, laying them on the ground in front of the two snakes.

“Out of proof of good faith on our part, I’m asking every Timbercat to lay down their axes.” Yumyan told his gathering as he looked back at them. One by one, they followed suit, laying their axes down in agreement with a peaceful resolution.

“I know we haven’t been on the right side with each other, but this is a battle that we both can get beside. Nevarr and his naïve followers have taken from us just as they have taken from you. Those that we care about. This is our only true chance at finding some sort of peace with ourselves. I’m willing to put off old grudges for that. Deep down, I know you do to.” Yumyan told them, his eyes baring a hardened seriousness.

Cotton and Camille looked to each other as they usually do, trying to figure if they were both on the same page. When Camille sighed and gave her a nod, Cotton knew her final stance.

“Alright. Fine. We’ll give this a shot. But no funny business. After this, you leave. That’s all we ask.” Cotton said as she slid back with Camille into Cactus Town. She looked back and waved a tail over to them all. “Well? Come in. We can’t discuss a plan of action if we can’t hear each other.”

Knox’s group, the Umlaut Snakes and the Timbercats all rallied into a circle of sorts.

“So, human. Did you come up with anything useful? You and your friends we’re the last to be there and live. I’m sure you got a look at how things operate.”

Knox reached into his backpack and pulled out his notebook, flipping the pages until he reached the ones he was looking for. “Yes, I have a few ideas and a base plan, but I wanted to edit them to what you all think. We need to be on the same page with this in every way possible for this to work right. And no pun intended.”

Cotton slithered closer and gave a quick look at the notebook.
“Well, can you give us a quick rundown first, at least?”

“Well, it definitely involves us borrowing you and Camille’s guitars.” Knox admitted straight out.

Cotton and Camille both immediately tensed up at the vague, yet simple implication.

“Kid, you either have a brilliant plan brewing up in that noggin of yours, or your desperate for more than just one potential death wish.” Cotton stated as she held her precious electric guitar closer to her.

Knox smirked.

“I’m waging for the former.”

Chapter Text

“Where’d he go?”

The bunny mute scratched her head as she walked through the clearing. Her friend always pulled tricks like this. Telling her to ‘look that way’ and pull himself from view at the last second, disappearing from sight. He’d always reveal himself not long after, though. And he was really, really good at it. It was getting rather annoying as his habit over the years, but sometimes it was much needed humor in current trying times. However, his absence drew on longer than she was used to. Longer than she’d ever expect him to.

The bunny passed a few more trees before attempting to pass over a large line of bushes.

“Tickens, this isn’t funny anym-”

Her breath stopped as she went through the thick bush, her eyes immediately catching the form of someone familiar. The form of her friend.

Tickens.

“Tickens?” the bunny called out, his unmoving form on the ground giving her slight chills. He never played dead before.

“Tickens, this isn’t funny anymore. You’re going too far!” she agitatedly called out as she got closer.

She pushed the form of her friend over and easily noticed the two fairly large bite marks on his side. She gasped as her friend’s eyes flickered open slowly and she swore she heard him whisper something. So she got closer to his mouth as he repeated himself.

“Run...” she heard faintly.

“Run? Run from what? I need to ge-”

The loud hiss and follow-up strike was too quick for the bunny to register and before she knew it, her form was launched against a tree. Her body went limp as she slid to the ground, unconscious. A massive snake leered over her as it rattled it’s spear-tipped tail.

“At least this one didn’t struggle...” Stryker said in a whisper, gripping the bunny’s body within his coils.

He kept his one good eye on the other bunny for a short moment before continuing back towards Diamond Cutter territory. They were down a couple of colosseum rewards and he needed more to make up for the lack thereof. Still short of his intended number and out of time, he had to settle for just the bunny. Stryker agitatedly made way back to his clan.

He looked back at the motionless bunny he dragged behind himself and lowered his gaze in a slight uncertainty.

‘No. No weakness.’ Stryker scolded. ‘No weakness.’

“And so for the third time in a row, you’ve failed in your duty to replenish our lack of unwilling tributes. Are you losing your edge, Stryker?” Nevarr asked with a sharp tone, wagging his spiked tail back and fourth in front of him.

“No, your lordship. I was ju-”

“You were just lucky enough to be granted one more day devoid of punishment. What I did to your eye upon our first meeting can easily be replicated. Do not FAIL me again. Do you understand?”

Stryker nearly flexed his sharp fangs through a well-hidden and built-up disdain, but he held himself.

“Yes, your...lordship.”

Behind them both, a Diamond Cutter rushed into the underground cave and stopped hurriedly in their presence.

“Excuse me for interrupting, Nevarr-sir, but-”

“What is so important for you to come to me at this time, solider!?” Nevarr shot out, getting too close for the lackie’s comfort.

“Si-sir, it’s those humansss! They’ve returned. And they’ve brung their end of the deal with them. They’re outside waiting for you now.” the Diamond Cutter stated, lowering himself under the weight of Nevarr’s venomous glare.

A glare that slowly changed into that of mischievous delight.

“Alright then. Let’s ssssee to them. And hopefully their return isn’t fruitless. Would hate to have to kill them right off the cuff.” Nevarr told them, slithering past a stagnant Stryker.

As the natural light of the outside world returned to him once more, Nevarr’s exhaled dramatically, the two humans standing front and center.

“Got you some guitars.” Knox raised Cotton’s electric in the air. 

“I see, human.” Nevarr got extra close and eyed the red acoustic strapped around Lute’s shoulder, replacing his lute. “And you’ve gone the extra mile with retrieving them both! How unexpected. I see yer’ definitely the types that tries their best not to die.” 

“Yeah, you’re right.” Knox replied. He raised a pointer finger. “But that’s not it. You should see what we did to get them. Then you’ll really be shocked.”

Nevarr narrowed his one good, unpatched eye. “What do you mean, human?”

Knox held his response back for dramatic flair.

“The Umlaut Snäkes are all incapacitated right now as we speak.”

Nevarr’s eyes widened slightly, but it wasn’t noticeable to anyone else.

“No amount of stolen Umlaut guitars will ever convince me of that.”

Lute stepped forward, waving the acoustic in front of him.

“Before we got this, we got into a scuffle with them. We fought in a rock battle for our lives and won, but just barely. After that, we convinced them to fight against you-”

Nevarr angrily slapped a spiked tail against the ground next to the two humans, causing them to flinch to the side.

“You did WHAT? I should kill you ri-”

Knox stepped forward in haste.

“Would you let us finish? We “convinced” them to fight against, you, but only as a ploy. We know us and those stupid guitar snakes don’t have the numbers for your clan! But we did encourage them to get a good drink...and we intoxicated them. They’re all vulnerable and you can finish them off right now.”

Nevarr paused and continued his analytical stare at the two, gradually lifting his spike tail high above them. He slithered up to Knox and Lute until they were mere inches apart.

“If I find this to be a trick, I’m going to clip both of your legs so you can’t move. Then I’m going to patiently and very carefully bash you both to a most painful exit from this earth.” Nevarr claimed with a widened smile.

Knox got as close as he physically could to the Diamond Cutter leader.

“Trust me. My best friend is on the line. I already risked her doing this for you,” Knox emphasized the blue electric guitar in his hands. “I’m not going to risk her for something I didn’t even need to do. This is to assure you to actually give her back.” 

Knox mirrored the peering Nevarr’s eyes and he was left in an internal suspense before he pulled back swiftly and turned to his second-in-command.

“Stryker...stay here. Watch the rewards. I’m going to have a lil’ looksie on our human friends’ claims. I’m bringing half the party with us. If you hear screaming humans...well that just means I’ve come back not so satisfied with what I found. Stay sharp.”

Stryker tensed up as Nevarr pulled his head in closer.
“And don’t forget what I said.”

Stryker looked up and gradually met eye-to-eye with his superior.

“I won’t.”

Knox and Lute were surrounded by more than thirty dozen snakes. They ventured through the forests and into more barren terrain, and every stray mute that caught side of the bizarre group quickly retreated in the other direction. The Diamond Cutters were clearly not abided well with a lot of creatures.

Now knowing the route a whole lot better than their first trek, traversing back to Cactus Town was tremendously easier than their first go. Still, Knox hoped it would take longer. Maybe they hadn’t done enough. Maybe they were all still-

“Human.”

Knox turned to Nevarr, his expression neutral and his heart exhilarated.

“If I find this all to be true, we won’t ever lay a single fang or spiked tail on your and your group for as long as you all live. As long as you don’t trespass again. Sound good to you?” Nevarr offered, a sly look taking over.

“Sounds like a plan.” Knox said back, bringing his attention back in front as Lute mirrored the action right beside him. 

Knox gritted his teeth as they spotted the cactus’s in the near distance.

Lute poked through the wall of cactus’s that lead into the main residence of the Umlaut Snäkes. Drawing back, he waved them over.

“Ha, they’re all still hungover! It’s all clear, Nevarr-sir...your lordship...your highne-”

Nevarr moved past him, uninterested in his flattery. Breaking off multiple cactus spikes as he passed, he got the full package of his greatest wishes. All around him were numerous Umlaut Snäkes all laid out on the barren ground, some still moaning in their supposed afflictions.

“Well, well. Never thought I’d see it. Was ready at any moment to strike you two down for lyin’!” Nevarr mused aloud to the humans, swerving his head towards the two very familiar faces amongst the multiple Umlauts.

“Cotton and Camille...what a pleasant surprise. The last time I saw you both vulnerable like this was when I had you all begging for your lives a long while ago!” Nevarr slid up to the two Umlaut leaders and conjured a fit of uncontrolled laughter. He brung his head in front of Cotton’s, giving her a sharp look full of hatred. “Can’t even bring yourself to form words? Where’s all that tough talk gone?”

Cotton tried lifting her head, but it fell back to the ground following a low moan.

“KA-KAW, KA-KAW!”

The sudden noise echoed out from somewhere above them. The sound was enough to draw the attention of all the Diamond Cutters and caused them to look to-and-fro for the source. Nevarr’s first thought was a mute bird ambush, but it never came. What did come was something he had seen coming far too late.

Nevarr’s eyes widened at the revelation of the origin of the bird noises. A black rat mute arose from atop a far away building and brung his gloved hands from his mouth, laughing at his own foolery.

“Here’s your damn tough talk, a-hole!”

The revelation that Cotton was fine had no time to process through Nevarr’s mind as the end of the Umlaut’s tail rose from it’s concealment behind her body. It came into full view and the long, sharp cactus spike she held within it’s curl sped straight at Nevarr’s face with his one good eye in mind. Unfortunately, the spike failed to hit it’s intended mark, as Nevarr had flinched his head back. It instead imbedded in the side of his neck.

“You little piece of sh-” As Nevarr pulled the spike out, something whizzed past him and a thump was heard behind him.

Nevarr turned around and found one of his subordinates had gone stiff. An axe had pierced straight into it’s cranium. Then it collapsed into a heap. And all of it it within a span of three seconds.

“CHARGE! YUMYAN OWNS YOU ALL!”

Within mere seconds, an entire wave of Timbercats fully poured from inside and behind buildings. They wasted no time with engaging the enemy, and before Nevarr could respond he was slapped harshly across the face by Camille’s tail. The whip sent Nevarr back into a couple of his soldiers.

Shaking off the daze, he hissed an ear-piercing hiss and screamed out.
“Kill them! Kill them all!”

Knox and Lute made it towards the closest building to avoid getting caught within the crowd of snake strikes and axe flailing. With the handle of his katana gripped, he watched on, waiting for some kind of opening to attack. They had to do something. They couldn’t sit all of this out...

Yumyan had emerged from behind one of the many buildings on top of his beloved flea, Pierre with Molly saddled behind him. He charged into the raging crowd with an axe in one hand. With a mighty swing, he left one Diamond Cutter severed in two. Molly vaulted from the flea mute and as she was suspended in the air, she grinned widely, claiming an axe in each paw and gave out a mighty shout. She crashed into two other Diamond Cutters. The various Umlaut Snäkes rose out of their false weakened state and joined alongside their leader as the remaining Diamond Snakes began to readjust themselves.

After striking down one Timbercat, Nevarr caught Cotton’s charging form too late as she shot headfirst into his chest, sending him back against the spikes of a few cacti. Enraged, he swung his spiked tail out as Cotton ducked under just in time. She backed off as he followed with another swing directly in front of him, missing the Umlaut leader by a small margin. Before Nevarr could retry his strike, an arrow whizzed by into Nevarr’s chest and broke on contact.

Piercer sighed, defeated as the Archerat lowered his bow from afar.
“Why do I even try?”

 “Enough of thisss!” Nevarr raged as he rushed Cotton and began to tussle with her.

“Cotton!” Camille she shouted in alarm as she took notice of her bandmates’ struggle. However, she was stopped by a couple Diamond Cutters before she could get to her. The offending snakes hissed at her and failed to notice an angry Ruffles swing around in a rotation, multiplying the force in his axe. The axe made a direct hit against the first Diamond Cutter’s neck, leaving it to bleed out and fall to the ground.

With the last one ready to strike, Camille readied herself before she heard a shout from behind.

Lute shook her red acoustic guitar in the air and tossed it to her. She flawlessly caught it around her tail and swung it back around just in time to strike the Diamond Cutter in the face. As Ruffles finished it off, Camille checked to find her guitar was perfectly fine. She kissed it and looked to Lute, nodding her head out of appreciation.

“Trust me, I understand.” Lute chuckled.

Although they were giving everyone a tough time, the Diamond Cutters were losing their numbers. Nevarr brung his enraged sights back on Cotton.

“You and your merry band are gonna die slow for this. Especially the huma-.”

“Just shut the hell up and fight me.” Cotton interjected, hissing out as they circled each other.

Nevarr gave her a mocking smile before his face morphed into that of fury. He zig-zagged around her and swung his spiked-tipped tail at her. Cotton ducked and leaned away from his attempts at making her mince meat, growing more tired than she’d like to admit from all of the evading.

“That all you got, sour-cheeks?” Cotton taunted as she went in for a bite, missing and re-steadying herself.

As they circled one another again, Nevarr eyed the dusty ground. But only for a split second. Without warning, Nevarr slung his spiked tail against the barren terrain, shooting up dust into Cotton’s eyes. She screamed out in surprise, unable to wipe the dust away.

She didn’t see it, but she felt it.

She felt the sharp spikes impact her side, and the excruciating pain that followed. Everything was a jumble of random thoughts and worries before Cotton’s head hit the ground. She twitched and groaned, trying to pull it together...but she couldn’t lift herself off the ground.

Cotton knew it was Nevarr that she heard approaching, but the call that followed gave her heart a bit more solitude in her vulnerability.

“Cotton!” Camille shouted as she slithered speedily for her injured form. Nevarr’s tail spike was just moments from being slammed into her once again.

“Not on my watch!” Camille screamed in rage as she rammed into Nevarr’s side.

They both fell against the ground, and Camille wasted no time restraining the Diamond Cutter, coiling herself around Nevarr in an attempt to hold him down. But he was no weakling. His attempts at breaking free were near to being successful, but Camille refused to let go.

“Damn cowards, you Umlaut Snäkes are! I’m going to make you bleed when I’m free!” Nevarr proclaimed as he fought against Camille’s weakening grip.

Knox watched as the helplessness pulled hard at his mind. After all of the traveling and peace-making, he was just going to sit on the sidelines? He couldn’t hold himself back any longer. Sliding out his katana, he ran at towards the crowd to get to Camille and Cotton’s aid. But just as he approached, a Diamond Snake was knocked in his direction by another Timbercat and the first enemy it set sights back on was him.

It hissed and struck out at Knox’s form-

“HAH!”

The Diamond snake’s eyes went blank as Molly pulled out her second axe to finish the kill. Yanking the axe from it’s head, Molly looked to Knox and smiled wide. A bit eerie with splotches of blood staining her white fur but the human smiled back gratefully.

“I get you want to help but trust me human, we got this. You don’t need to do anything because you think you owe-”

“I need to get to Cotton and Camille, right now! Cotton’s hurt and...”

Knox trailed off as his he turned towards the building behind him and dragged his sights back to the struggling Camille and Nevarr. He had an idea. A stupid, ridiculous idea.

“Molly? Can you make sure no Diamond Snake comes to Nevarr’s aid? I got an idea. Everyone’s too busy fighting the-”

Molly heard a hiss from behind and before the approaching Diamond snake could get the drop on her, Yumyan came from behind and wrapped his arms around the snake, pulling it away and letting Ruffles give it a swift end.

Yumyan side-eyed Molly and Knox as he kept an axe at the ready.
“We're having dinner conversations in the middle of a skirmish?”

“I need you all to keep the Diamond Cutters busy. Cotton and Camille need our help, but your people need you both. I got this.” Knox finished. He turned and ran for the side of the music building, finding the roof ladder.

He gripped the edges, shaking it quickly to test if it’s durability was still reliable after the many years of it’s dis-use. Lute came from behind and put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

“What are you doing, man? There’s a full on battle happening and you want a full-view?” Lute said with a tint of jest in his tone.

“Trust me, I’m either going to end this, or end up with some broken bones. Or both.” Knox replied as he made his ascension up.

 His first foot made contact with the top of the building. Approaching the edge with hurry, he looked down from his high place. He measured the distance between him and the wrestling Camille and Nevarr below. Knox was close enough. Close enough and high enough.

He looked at his reflection in his katana, his hands shaking at the weight of what he was about to do. He wasn’t strong enough to push a blade through a mute snake like the Timbercat could. From this height, however, the blade was sure to pierce straight through whoever it was aimed at. In this case, that ‘whoever’ was Nevarr.

He was going to try and-no...he was going to end this. There was no more time. He needed to hurry and decide.

Knox set a foot on the ledge and peered down at Camille and Nevarr’s struggle again. The Diamond Cutter was trying to swing his spiked tail into Camille, but kept missing by a few feet. He wouldn’t stay unlucky for long. Clutching the katana blade in his hands, Knox breathed in and breathed out.

“No time for weakness. Not after everything they’ve done for me...” Knox said to himself.

Camille was slowly loosing her grip on Nevarr. She squeezed harder, but she couldn’t fool herself for any longer. He was getting free.

“Camille! Look up!”

Camille blinked and searched until she found the voice’s source.
“What in the-why are you up there? Are you crazy?”

“I need you to hold him still. I’m going to end this.” Knox shouted from on top of the building, positioning his blade upside down in his grip.

Nevarr hissed and clipped Camille slightly with his tail spike.
“I’m going to make you all suffer!”

Camille’s restriction was loosening.
“I can’t hold him any longer, Knox!”

“Yes you can!” a familiar voice called out.

Cotton’s form wrapped itself around Nevarr, joining Camille in their bid to keep Nevarr from freedom.
“Whatever you gonna...do kid, do it...now.” she told him through the pain.

Knox breathed in.

‘What if I miss? What if I...stabbed Cotton? Or Camille? What if-’

“Hurry!” Camille urged.

Knox gritted his teeth, then relaxed. He looked down once more and calculated his jump. Backing up, he built up a breath of air. Then he ran forth.

His foot left the ledge.

Everything for him seemed in slow motion.

Some of the mutes on the ground stopped their fighting to watch the strange human now falling from the sky.

Knox felt the unexplainable high of being elevated. But it only lasted for a second. Gravity brung him back to reality. The rush of air around him resisted against his body as he came down, his katana blade pointed towards it’s intended target. But he felt off. Knox gripped his katana as it’s edge sped down to a target he wasn’t sure he was going to hit.

It was then that Nevarr shook free. He pushed Cotton and Camille off of him and raised his head at them, ready to strike them both dead.

This was his last mistake.

Before Nevarr could even register it, the katana’s blade slid straight through his mouth, going through both of his jaws. The force of the fall broke Knox’s grip on his sword and he was sent downwards, the brief hold on his sword taking away from most of the impact he made on the ground.

Nevarr gave off an ear-piercing screech that brought everyone out of their conflict with each other. The Umlaut Snäkes, Timbercats and Diamond Cutters alike witnessed Nevarr’s pain and anguish as he spasmed about. Eying the human that wounded him, he gurgled through the sword stuck through his mouth and raised his tail high above himself.

Knox’s heart was racing fast but through the daze he still managed to roll out of the way of the upcoming spike that came down where he once was. By the time Knox looked back up, Nevarr was rushing for the exit of Cactus Town, stumbling over himself in the process. The Diamond Cutters hissed at their foes and retreated along with their leader. Piercer offered out a hand and helped Knox onto his feet.

As some of the Timbercats and Umlaut Snakes charged after, a whistle sounded off behind them. Yumyan Hammerpaw got off of Pierre and waved them back with an axe. “No need to rush. They won’t get far. Let’s make sure Cotton’s oka-”

No!” Cotton raised her head with a hiss from the lingering pain. “Go after Nevarr. Make sure he get’s his. I’ll be alright. Don’t worry, Umlauts. This one’s a fighter.”

“How about this,” Molly said, walking up. “I stay here with you and our injured. Everyone else go after him. And Knox?”

Molly laid a paw on the human’s shoulder. 
“Do make sure you get your blade back. That was pretty out there what you did.”

“I still can’t believe I didn’t break both my legs.” Knox replied, still shaking from the adrenaline. "Let's get a move on. We can't let them get back before we do, or they'll end up killing my friend!"

“Alright. So be it! Though some of us have fallen, none of us have failed! Timbercats, Umlauts, let’s end this!” Yumyan shouted as he raised and axe and remounted Pierre, leading them out of the barren town. Knox, Lute and Piercer followed.

Lute grabbed Knox’s shoulder as they ran.

“Hey Knox?"

“Yeah?” Knox responded as he looked in his direction.

“That. Was. Awesome.”

Chapter Text

Stryker sharpened the edge of his spear-tipped tail against the stone floor as he waited in front of Nevarr’s throne.

He was still seething.

His speared tail tapped rhythmically against the floor as the seconds went by. The minutes. The hour. The Diamond Snake arose in a irritated anger.

“Dammit, where is he?” Stryker hissed sharply, banging his tail on the ground.

“You know he’s probably dead, right?” a voice called out from below. “You’re telling me my friends are going to come here with the guitars and then not make getting me out their immediate main priority? Regardless of Nevarr planning to kill them anyways, which they don’t even really know? Yeah, I call bull.”

Stryker glared down at the human held in the prison below, waving off her babbling.

“I’d rather you not speak right now. I’m not in the mood for your banter.”

“My friends did something. And I don’t know what they did, but they did it. And you may not have much time before they come back. And you’ll be screwed, too. All for a leader you don’t even like.” Kara added, leaning her head as far as she could out of the bars.

Stryker’s eyes twitched and he lunged off the high platform, landing down in front of Kara’s confines. He gave his loudest hiss to her and slammed his tail hard enough to slightly dent the metal bars. 

“Shut. UP! I swear to the world, if you don’t stop talking I will run you through!” Stryker boomed, lifting his tail and bringing the sharp tip of the spear connected to it up to Kara’s chest.
 
Kara took a half-step back, but decided at the last moment to stay put. She laughed softly and looked up at the visibly irate Diamond Snake, her glaring growing softer in it’s intensity.

“Stryker...Nevarr doesn’t give a single damn about you or his people, and I know you can see that. When he gets his tail whooped, you’re gonna wish you did something about him earlier. You don’t need to obey his abusive rules and behavior anymore! You could all revolt with u-”

Kara instinctively stopped her speech as Stryker slammed his tail against the bars again. 

“ENOUGH!” Stryker shouted from the top of his lungs, effectively growing a crowd of Diamond Cutters from above. “You don’t know anything!”

This time, Kara stood her ground, leaning even closer.

“I DO know. He’s clearly indoctrinated all of you to think that feelings are something to strip from your minds. He’s making you all into heartless drones! All of these innocent mutes and maybe even other humans that you just kidnap and bring in...and for what, heartless entertainment?  It is not too late for you or the rest of your people, Stryker...”

Kara breathed in and looked back up to him.

“Cause’ I see it. I know...” Kara gripped the bars that held her, putting her face closer again. “You don’t need to be afraid of emotion. And you don’t need to be afraid of the truth. My friend with the sword? Used to be the same way.”

Stryker remained silent, staring at her with unmoving eyes.

“Give yourself a chance, man. I’ve seen people come back from worse places.” Kara finished leaning off the bars and sitting back down on the cold, stone floor.

Still silent, he turned slightly away from the human, just in time to hear something in the near distance.

Stryker maneuvered his body back up to the throne floor and peered up the entry way to find one of his fellow Diamond Cutters rushing in.

The snake stopped exhausted, looking up to Stryker with wide eyes.

“It’s Nevarr, Stryker! He’s been seriously wounded! Our group is just behind us!” the subordinate told him, beckoning him to follow.

Stryker slowly slid out of the underground tunnel to find Nevarr and the fewer amount of Diamond Cutters than he had left with flanking him. The gurgles through his mouth that was struck through and sealed shut by the sword’s blade were unintelligible, but his panicked and dilated eye slits were all the spear-tipped snake needed to see.

“I take it the mission was unsuccessful?” Stryker jested through his agitation.

Nevarr narrowed his eyes through the pain and attempted to raise his spiked tail, but was stopped by a coming chorus of footsteps and noises. The Diamond Cutter leader cursed and slammed his spiked tail beside Stryker, which he took as presumably ordering him to gather the rest of their troops from the inside. An order give too late for his second-in-command to respond to.

The rumbling of the approaching Timbercats and Umlaut Snäkes broke Stryker’s sights off of Nevarr’s angered form. A gray Timbercat unmounted the large mute flea and brandished his axe at Stryker.

“If you wish not to meet the same fate as your rookies back at Cactus Town or your leader here, I’d suggest you move out of the way and hand over the human, spear-tail!” Yumyan threatened as the rest of the rebellion hissed and shouted from behind him.

Knox, Lute and Piercer came in just behind and joined the riled up group mixture of snakes and cats.

Stryker paid no heed to the rallying of mutes behind his clan. 

He paid no heed to Knox’s yelling of his human friend’s safe return.

He opted to continue his stare into the vulnerable Nevarr’s eyes. Angrily, Nevarr glanced at the vengeful mutes behind him, his remaining Diamond Back lackeys that were holding them back the only thing between him and certain death. He turned back towards Stryker with venomous eyes, and slammed his spiked tail even closer to Stryker, the sharp protruding iron needles grazing him. At this point, all of the Diamond Cutters that were still in their hideout emerged behind Stryker, confused at the turn of events.

Stryker made his decision.

Approaching the injured leader of his, Stryker eyed all of the Diamond Cutters around him. Then he put his eyes back on Nevarr, boring through his leader's like daggers. Nevarr had once again put himself first, hiding behind the ones that followed him blindly. Including Stryker himself.

“You’re a leader no more.” Stryker told Nevarr, the simply stated words contrasting his inner rage.

“In fact, by observation of it’s highest, honorable definition you...never were.” Stryker finished.

Before anyone could blink, Stryker reared his tail back and struck his spear-tipped tail straight through Nevarr’s throat. The Diamond Cutters all watched in shock as their leader let out one last straining hiss before the speared tail pulled out, leaving Nevarr to collapse and bleed out in front of everyone.

Everyone went quiet.

“Diamond Cutters. My brothers. My sisters...” Stryker began, lashing out his tail to clear some of the blood away. “Nevarr was no leader. He was no savior. Nevarr was a tyrant, abusive to both his power and his people. I know you all know it, too.”

Stryker looked past the other mutes present and at the various Diamond Cutters around him.

“ And he has fallen to my blade because of it.”

Stryker aimed his sights towards Yumyan and Camille, who were still on edge, waiting for the unexpected to happen once again.

“That strike wasn’t just my strike. It was all of ours. It was the pent up frustration of my fellow Diamond Cutters...and it was for all of you.” Stryker looked around at all of the Timbercats and Umlaut Snäkes, eventually landing on Knox and Lute.

“Human. Step forward.” Stryker told Knox directly.

Looking back at his comrades, Knox gave his unsure allies a nod, walking up and giving a long look at Nevarr’s deceased form ahead of standing before Stryker. They both gave each other long looks before Stryker pointed at Nevarr’s corpse.

“Your blade, human. I’d say you’ve earned it back more than you could ever think.” Stryker told him as his tail wrapped around the sword’s hilt and pulled it out of Nevarr’s jaw. The human slowly stretched out his hand and wrapped it around the katana’s handle.

“Thank you.” Knox told the snake.

Stryker nodded. “Now". He looked up towards the group of mutes. “There will be no more altercations. No more tension between us. No more division. The reward colosseum is dead along with this retched excuse for a leader, and we will free everyone held captive. I claim that as your new leader, this be so. Does anyone have an objection to any of this? Speak your peace now and only now if you do.” Stryker looked about at his clan members. 

He was met with silence. And after waiting awhile longer, even more silence.

“Good. You are all my equals, fellow Diamond Cutters. I will treat you as such. We will make sure that no more of my brethren and sistren suffer a needless fate as Nevarr casted upon those not with us here. Now, humans...I believe it’s long overdue that you see to your friend.”

Kara waited in anticipation after all of the commotion from outside of the cave drew closer. Any excess worries melted away the moment she heard a familiar voice.

“Kara?”

Her heart pumped faster. Kara gripped the bars tighter as the footsteps got closer. And her heart felt like it stopped the moment Stryker came into clear view. The Diamond Snake looked at her directly as he approached with the keys to her prison. They gave a entirely different feeling than when she last looked into them. This time it was surely that of sorrow and regret...but also a sense of slight peace.

“You’re free to go, human. Nevarr is dead.” Stryker told her.

Kara didn’t get the chance to say anything to the sudden revelation as Knox and Lute came running towards her from nearby. She almost lost her balance as Lute crashed into her, giving her a biggest hug he’s ever given her.

“My god, I honestly never thought we’d see you again!” Lute told her, his eyes watering up.

“I told you both; I knew you were going to figure something out.” Kara replied back, patting Lute’s back as he threatened to suffocate her as his hold on her became a bit too tight. “You c-can let go now, Lute.”

“Right...right.”

Knox approached wordlessly, repeating the same gesture Lute gave her.

“Right till the end, Kara.” he told her. “And we’re finally here.”

Kara put a hand on his shoulder. “Knew you guys could do it.”

It was only then that Kara caught eyes with a black rat mute, who along with a large cat in a flannel shirt held himself back from the conversation.

“Made friends along the way?” Kara quipped. interested in the newcomers.

“Oh right!” Lute piped up. He made way over to them and introduced. “This is Piercer, the Archerat who nearly killed us for food, but we made a deal with to help us!”

Piercer twitched his nose and folded his arms. “Could’ve elaborated a little more. It’s been a long week for me.”

“Err, sorry...and this is the leader of the Timbercats, Yumyan Hammerpaw, who is actually one of the main reasons we’re even getting you out of here.”

Yumyan scratched his fur with his axe, eyes shut in modesty. “Eh, well, I had help of course.”

Kara walked up to Piercer, shaking his hand and giving Yumyan a big hug, the cat leader returning the favor.
“It’s nice to meet you all. Seriously. I’m super grateful. I can’t even express how grateful I am...I guess the best I can do right now is not die the second I step outside, ha ha.”

Stryker approached the other prison cells and released the imprisoned mutes one by one. He found it much harder to look in any of his former prisoners’ eyes than it ever was to look into his former leader Nevarr’s. All of the pain, suffering and mistreatment built up by Nevarr now fell on his scales. He was a willing participant, regardless of the circumstances. This was his cross to bear.

The moment the armadillo mute was released, he almost immediately met eyes with Knox and Lute. He approached and shook both of their hands after realizing who they were.

“What strange coincidence!” the armadillo mute said as Knox and Lute caught on to his appearance. “The name’s Marrram, and you’ve already saved my life once before.”

“You’re the mute we helped from that human group...the ones who caught you for running in on their supplies, am I right? Good to see your still in one piece!” Lute said happily.

It was then that Kara gave her dues. “So, I finally get to see the most wondrous next door cell mate after all.” she joked, hugging Marrram. “I’m...I’m so sorry for what happened to your...”

“I just want to get out of here. That’s all I want.” Marrram replied, his brief joyous mood gone and eyes low.

“Kara.”

Kara turned back towards Knox and found him with a necklace in his hand as he held it out to her. A green, hexagon-shaped crystal necklace with flower patterns shone in the light of the brightly lit cavern. Her eyes lit up.

Amanda’s necklace. Her sister’s necklace.

“Let’s get back soon, huh?” Knox told Kara, smiling as she hugged him again.

Nevarr came across the cell of the same bunny he had captured just earlier in the morning, and no matter how hard it was for him, he continued to meet her gaze as she finished her emotional chastising.

“...I’ll never forgive you.” the bunny finished as her tearful eyes left his and she quickly made way for the underground’s exit.

Stryker’s eyes never left the spot the bunny once was.

But he did flinch slightly as something laid upon the side of his long form. Stryker’s vision moved slightly to find that it was Kara.

“You can never make up for what damage you’ve caused...but you can always start over to make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else. Thank you for coming to. What comes next is never easy...but it’s not supposed to be. Start over, Stryker.” Kara told him as she gave him a weak smile.

Stryker gave her an extended look before slowly nodding to her words.

“I will.”

Chapter Text

“Wishing you a quick recovery, Cotton. I owe you all more than I can ever express. Please, be careful out there. And hopeful we’ll meet again sometime?”

Knox’s words conjured smiles from both the Umlaut’s and the Timbercats.

“Anytime, sword dude. Just promise me you’ll come back eventually. I wanna see if you got some really nice riffs in ya.” Cotton replied, flinching through the bandaging being done on her scratches.

“I second. You wanna join us for a good pancake eating competition, join us down at our place! We’ll be glad to let ya in.” Molly Yarnchopper offered gleefully as she watched Yumyan wave his tribe over. “Happy travels.”

Departing from Cactus Town and giving thanks to all of who helped and bled to help them, Knox, Lute, Kara and Piercer had all waved their goodbyes to the Umlaut Snäkes and the departing Timbercats as they made way out of the forest and back on track. Back on track to their waiting friends, and back on track to exactly how it used to be.

Almost exactly how it all used to be.

Kara knew deep down it would never be that simple. It was going to take some time.

“Okay, so we fought a group of jerk-headed humans, nearly got eaten alive by ravenous plants, fought in a rock battle against the Umlaut Snäkes, fought alongside the Umlaut Snäkes and watched as Knox leaped off a freaking building and stabbed Nevarr through the mouth...” Lute continued listening off as they walked.

 Kara blinked and looked at Knox.

“Seriously?”

“Well, I don’t mean to brag but...yes, I totally did that.”

Kara chuckled, kicking a nearby stick. “I missed a lot, clearly. Don’t let me get kidnapped again, please.”

“Don’t get yourself kidnapped next time.” Knox countered, pointing a playfully accusational finger at Kara, prompting her to raise her hands in defense.

“Fair enough.”

“Shh...everybody stop talking.” Piercer ordered out of the blue.

The whole group went silent, observing along with the Archerat as his famous ear twitching started off again. He looked towards the sky, squinting his eyes at the sun’s ever-present position in the sky. Then his eyes widened.

“Everyone behind the car!” the Archerat demanded sharply in a rushed tone, pushing everyone behind nearby van as they wondered what possible threat lurked about.

“What’s going on, Piercer?” Kara asked.

“Keep looking, if we don’t come back with something...I don’t even wanna go over the list of things Scarlemange could do to us. Let's get flappin’ faster!” a dreadfully familiar voice rang out faintly from above.

The sound of wings flapping against the wind carried on as Piercer gritted his teeth, his pupils shrinking. He balled his fists tightly, furling and unfurling them until he finally snapped out of his trance on the birds that glided further and further away.

Knox was the first to emerge from behind the vehicle, rubbing his face in irritation. “Those damn Humming Bombers just won’t quit, will they?”

“Luckily, they’re heading in the opposite direction. Let’s just get to the loft you were talking about. I’m getting antsy leaving Amanda and Johnathan in all much suspense, and it’s driving me crazy.” Kara said in a long sigh.

Piercer was the last to leave from cover with Knox getting his attention to continue forward.

“Come on, pal.”

Finally making it to the end of the thick forest of trees, their temporary place of hiding was revealed to them.

“This is it...finally.” Knox said to Kara as they approached the two-story loft building. “We just have a few things we left. We get them, and we’re on the way.”

The group stepped on the street and were just about to approach the building before Lute caught note of something off. Very off.

“That...definitely wasn’t there before.” Lute pointed out as the group noticed the black vehicle parked on the edge of the road beside the building.

Knox put a finger to his lips and withdrew his katana as he made his approach, finding the vehicle to be empty. The loft windows were all curtained up with no one able to peek inside. Definitely not how Knox, Lute and Piercer left it.

“Let’s check the back and side windows...together. We’re not splitting up. Not this time. Not even a little bit.” Lute said as he and the rest carefully and quietly checked all around the building.

Every single window was curtained.

Knox and Lute had made sure to leave the back curtain slightly open so when they were gone, they could check inside for any unwanted thieves or unfriendly types. Everywhere they went they did this. It was an unspoken rule between them and Kara. And it was fully closed. They weren’t mistaken.

“Someone or something is definitely in there. We have to-” Knox started before he was interrupted.

“Are you sure? We can just leave. Like right now. After everything, we’re going to risk this?” Lute asked, gripping his machete in one hand tighter.

“No,” Kara stepped up to the front door, leaning beside it with her buck knife ready.  She very slowly tried turning the knob, finding it to fully rotate. “Door’s unlocked. We’re doin’ this. It’s been a long week and I’m itching for a fight. Call it my therapy.”

Piercer met with Kara, bow and arrow at the ready. “Just say the word, Knox.”

Knox looked to Lute who nodded his head in defeat. With a tired sigh, Knox balled his fist and raised it up, making eye contact with everyone before he motioned it downwards.

Kara swung the door open and left Piercer to aim his arrow inside as everyone readied for a fight.

A green, well-suited frog, small in stature, was seated on the sofa in the middle of the living room. Four similar frogs in similar attire were stationed nearby, leaning against the room walls.

Mod Frogs.

“Uh, I’d advise not to point that thing around at us like that.” One of the Mod Frogs piped up.

Piercer threatened seriousness in the way he drew the bow’s aim away from cycling at the four Mod Frogs and closer to the chest of the smallest one upon the sofa.

“Easy, easy. Don’t worry them, Jamack. I’m just here to talk.” the Mod boss claimed, leaning back on the sofa. “So let’s talk.”

The four frogs that accompanied her flanked her beside the sofa as Lute lowered his machete. “Look, we don’t want or need a blood bath, okay? This doesn’t need to end with any of that.” Lute said, looking to Knox who remained silent.

“This won’t end with any blood, I assure you. That’s why I’m inviting your friend to sit.” Mrs. Satori pulled a hand out to Knox as if expecting to accept something in the palm of her hand. "Please do give your name, human.”

Knox stood in a silence that held an air of anger. “Yours first. Your trespassing on our turf. Only fair.”

“Mrs. Satori.” the Mod boss gave out in a heartbeat. She leaned her head to one side as if to say ‘now yours’.

“Knox.” The katana-wielding human was less than thrilled to put any positive energy into revealing it. He moved to the stool in front of the coffee table and found himself straight across from the boss.

“So, how do you like it here?” Sartori asked with a grin, correcting her glasses.

“You’re gonna have to be more specific.”

“On the surface. Out of the safety of your burrows? Must’ve been a long time surviving up in a place where you’re kind isn’t so fondly taken.”

Knox exhaled a short breath of laughter. “No burrow is safe nowadays.”

“In theory, yes...” Feigning deep thought, Mrs. Sartori looked towards the ceiling and rested a finger on her chin. “But there are some still out there, and they remained untouched. All over the world, I’m sure.” Mrs. Sartori got up from the sofa, standing straight on her feet, which prompted Knox to do the same.

“So I assume you think we know burrow locations? Ha, believe it or not, we’d take any chance we could to find one and never come back up.”

Mrs. Sartori laughed off the accusation. “No, no. Trust me, that’s not it. But good to know regardless. We just wanted you to know that we know you were here. That’s it. Some good sportsmanship for us to refrain capturing all of you where you stand, am I correct? Because we also know you have someplace else to be.”

She waved her Mod Frogs to join her on the way past Knox and his group. Piercer’s aim never left the Mod Boss as she and her posse made way through.

Near to the entrance, Sartori stopped and looked to Kara, dragging her sights down to the emerald necklace around her neck.

“Love the necklace, human. Do cherish it for whoever it truly belongs. It seems precious.” Mrs. Sartori commented with a grin as she went past with her fellow Mods following close behind, weapons still at the ready.

And with the click of the front door closing, they were gone.

Piercer peered through the window curtains and watched as the black vehicle drove away down the road and out of sight.

“They’re leaving.” Piercer told them as he put his unfired bow back in it’s quiver.

“Let’s get going.” Knox told them all as he re-sheathed the katana and rushed for the stairs to the second floor. “Lute, pack the leftover food. I’ll go up stairs real quick and get some other supplies, but we gotta go. I didn’t like the way ‘Mrs. Sartori’ said all that.”

Having said goodbye to their relatively useful loft hideout, Knox and Co. hit the road on their bid to finally meet up with their long-awaiting friends. The day was hitting close to sunset, but the light still shined proudly for them.

Halfway on their journey, they passed by the Lubo’s supermarket once more and were met with the same crater within the ground thanks to the Humming Bombers and their ridiculous means to blow everything up.

“Oh look, the place we almost died at.” Kara commented. “Before all of the other times, I mean.”

And then Blight Street Dr.

They were finally back.

The group rushed down the road and turned the into the forest to where the road ended.

They hurried through the trees and was finally met with the clearing that led to-

“What?” Knox managed to get out, stopping at the sight of their main hideout.

He refused to believe what he was seeing. Knox’s knees grew weak at the sight of the old home.

The wooden building was burned from the inside out.

Kara and the rest were not far from behind. Lute stopped abruptly in his sprint, speechless at the sight of their old place of refuge. Kara and Piercer were the last. Kara immediately gripped her sister’s necklace.

“No...no.” she whispered out.

“No....” Kara repeated again, stepping up with a silent Knox as her mind grasped for straws at the different things that could have went down. The different possibilities overwhelmed her thinking.

Images of her sister and friend frantically filled her mind.

“Noooo!” Kara screamed out, collapsing onto her knees against grassy forest floor. She cupped her face with her hands, an uncontrollable sobbing taking over.

Piercer slowly walked up to her, eying the destroyed building as he did. The Archerat kneeled down and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, trying his best to console her.

He knew how she felt.

“I...I’m...it’s going to be okay, Kara. It’s going to be oka-”

Kara swiveled around and held Piercer close to her in a hug, crying mercilessly on his shoulder as he ran a gloved hand through her hair.

Knox was frozen in place at the sight of the scorched hideout they once called their home. The results of their late return never changed, no matter how much he wanted it too. It was all too unreal.

“I should’ve been...quicker. This is...” Knox started through the tears that began to finally form.

Knox let go on holding himself up through the anguish and fell to the ground. His hands met the grass, fingers digging into the earth and pulling the blades of green underneath them out of their place.

The force of the ungraceful fall sent his long-hidden necklace out from behind his shirt, the wolf tooth connected to it dangling out freely and in full presence to the weeping that commenced.

And although much more discreet, the internal rage that followed.

Chapter Text

Mercilessly, lightning bounced and arced around high above as flashes of light encased the sky. Thunder proceeded it’s reign as it boomed all around.

The rain was nearly blinding, but they kept pushing forward.

Surely death was a more pressing issue. And so the pounding of footsteps against the muddy ground continued through the forest.

“Don’t stop! We’ll lose em’, just keep running!"

Four figures sprinted swiftly past a giant boulder that jutted out of the ground.

Growling soon followed suit, three pursuing figures in turtlenecks trampling on all fours and whizzing past the stone not long after, bounding hungrily after their targets.

Purposely falling behind the group of escapees, a rat pulled his bow and aimed it back, sending three shots out behind him, causing the pursuers to skid into a brief halt to dodge any chance of getting stuck by one of the coming projectiles.

“There, down there!” the rat said in a rushed tone as quietly as he could, beckoning the group to follow as he lead past them and slid down the small gorge. He dug his hands into the ground, gathering mud.

“Cover yourselves in mud so they can’t sniff us out.” the rat ordered, fulfilling his own command as he began coating his fur with the wet dirt.

“Seriously?” a human said, already worried about the lute strapped around his waist being dirtied up.

“Just do it!”

Frustrated growls and yaps commenced nearby the hidden group as they hid amongst the rain and soaked leaves. They seemed to continue on for minutes. But in reality, the mutes were gone within seconds.

Not before giving out their frustrated howls, of course.

Still, the group waited a bit longer for safe measures, only opting out of cover when the rat mute waved a hand.

“It’s clear. We can get up now.”

Close to an hour had passed before they found any sense of peace.

This being in the form of a restaurant.

“We definitely lost them...for now at least.” Lute said to no one in particular, sliding down against the restaurant’s front door with a hand against his forehead. He wiped as much mud off of his precious instrument as he could, a finger reaching for a string to pluck before bringing it away, refraining all together.

 Knox lead Kara to a seat and helped her to sit as she rested her head against the table, her hands still over her face.

Finding no other useful thing to say or do, Knox propped himself against the nearby wall and store at the ground, paying no heed to his stained clothing. He tapped the saya casing to his katana as he remained silent.

Piercer looked amongst the worn out and emotionally strained group of humans, conjuring relatively recent memories of his own clan. His fellow Archerats. Images of their broken bodies and lifeless forms. His best friend's life as it ended right before him. His elder...and then he realized something he long kept himself from admitting.

That this was his clan now.

Piercer looked up with conviction as he approached a wordless Knox.

“I’m sorry we couldn’t fulfill your end of the deal, Piercer...” Knox told the Archerat without making eye contact. “You can leave whenever you like. Forgive us for wasting your time.” 

Piercer raised a hand and rested it against his chest in front of his heart.

“My life began almost as quickly as it ended. And it began again with you all.” Piercer told him with unmoving eyes as Knox finally met with them. “The deal’s off because I am no longer in need of it. My faith and loyalty now lies with all of you. You all have the spirit of an Archerat, that much I can tell. And so as it stands, you are my clan.”

Piercer lowered his hand from his chest and out towards Knox.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Piercer finished, giving the human a wide smile.

Almost hesitating, Knox slowly brung forth his hand and met with the Archerat’s, shaking in agreement.

“And as grim as things are...with no clear path to take as we stand here breathing in the air of uncertainty, we do not know if your friends are truly gone. I...didn’t have the luxury of not knowing, unfortunately. But you all do. Let’s not lose hope on the idea that they’ve maybe escaped.” 

Wasting no time, Piercer moved towards the grieving form of Kara, whose face was still covered in her arms.

“Let’s not lose all of our hope now. Regardless of the outcome, we must keep moving forward for your friends as I have for my own. We will make it through this together.” Piercer reminded, cupping the side of Kara’s face with his hand and giving her a cheery smile.

“Just across the street, there’s a clothing store. We can get out of these worn fatigues and find us all something more fitting. Let’s start with that.”

Looking into the mirror, Piercer could only sigh in a slight agitation as he watched himself slide the black shirt with a simple skull design on the front.

“What, that the only good size for you?” Lute asked as he walked by in his newly chosen red windbreaker jacket.

“I hate shirts. Rubs my fur the wrong way.”

“Aw, don’t worry.” Lute said, strolling up as he eyed a nearby hat but decided to leave it be. “You’ll get your clan attire clean again at some point. Maybe by then, the shirt will have grown on you, ha ha.”

Piercer stretched the collar of the black t-shirt with disdain. “I highly doubt that.”

On the other side of the store, Knox had finally gone through a string of choices before settling on a navy-blue jean jacket and a black undershirt. He looked continuously into the mirror as if looking for something more. He jumped a bit as Kara called from behind.

“You okay?”

Knox turned around failed to make eye contact with her immediately. He leaned against the nearby wall and grunted. “Can’t get it all out of my head.”

A small, weak smile grew on Kara’s face as she came close and wrapped her arms around him.

“You did...everything you could to make sure we were all safe. Don’t blame yourself for what happened. That was...something else.” Kara looked to the ground as if in some kind of doubt, but quickly brung her sights back up. “And what Piercer said was true. We don’t know if they’re actually...gone. We have to keep hope. We have to try...”

“You don’t think it was the Mod Frogs, do you?”

The sudden accusation hadn’t failed to cross her mind before. It was one of the first agonizing thoughts that sped through her mind the moment she found their old hideout in burnt ruins.

“...it’s something that's been on my mind.” Kara admitted, clenching her fists.

Footsteps came from across the store, revealing to be Lute and Piercer's.

“Hey, nice shirt, Piercer.” Kara chuckled, brushing a hand through her newly-dried hair.

Piercer narrowed his eyes, unintentionally blushing.

“Quiet, you.”

The road Knox’s group walked upon was wet but relieved of the rain’s relentless downpour.

The sky had yet to clear up, but all that was left of the storm that haunted them was a little drizzle and the light gray sky that foreboded a lot less then before up above. The road extended into a curve flanked by two rows of trees on each side that led into their own stretch of forest.

“Hey, have you ever thought about the possibility of finding another burrow? I can’t imagine there being any nearby...but there has to be more in Las Vistas.” Kara brought up, recapping her water bottle as she gazed down the roadway.

“That Mod Boss really got me thinking again...how there are burrows all around the world. It’s crossed my mind before, but it’s been awhile since I’ve thought about it seriously. It’s kind of crazy.” Lute added, looking down at the wet pavement.

“I really miss that feeling of safety. Even though it’s always a risk in our experience...it was still a lot more than this...” Lute added again with a hint of melancholy.

“Don’t worry.” Knox budded in, “We’ll find another place to rest soon. And maybe this time actually get some sleep. But keep a close eye on our surroundings. No telling if those wolves are back out and at it for us...”

Knox trailed off his speaking after he caught ear of a distinct noise that seemed to be getting closer.

His ears twitching, Piercer seemed to have caught it, too.

“You hearing it, too Knox?” Piercer asked as he tensed up at the unfamiliar sound.

The group pondered the coming commotion for no more than a few seconds, and by the time any of them caught what it was, they were a few too late.

“Move off the road, that sounds like motor-”

The group had time to take only a few steps before a squad of scooters came roaring down the road. They had just the right amount of time to clear out of the way, running into the nearby woodlands.

But not without a reaction to their actions.

“The hell?” a feminine voice rang out as Knox and rest of the group heard skidding against the pavement of the road and a crash that followed.

“In the forest, they ran into the forest! After those halfwits!” another rather feminine voice called out.

“Run.” Kara vocalized, beginning her dash further inwards before anyone else. The rest happily followed.

Only one problem.

Kara stopped her sprinting as she met the edge of a sudden drop in the forest’s elevation. A steep fall with rocks resting throughout. A large river separated any chance of getting to the other side. They weren’t going down there without getting hurt. And there was no coming back up.

“Aw, dammit! Now what?” Lute asked in panic.

“What do you mean? We fight.” Piercer told him, cracking his neck muscles and reaching for his arrows, growling when he remembered he failed to craft new ones. He gripped his dagger as the footsteps came closer.

“Fine by me.” Kara replied, pulling out her buck knife and holding it in front of her.

The assailants finally came into view, stopping when they caught sights of their prey.

“Hey, where you punks going?” a feminine mute, now revealed as a humanoid skunk wearing a biker jacket which was ordinated with various patches. Four other skunk mutes in similar fashion stalked up beside her, eventually spreading to gate off any exit their quarry could take. Two skunks with a ‘seven’ and ‘two’ on the shirts they wore under their jackets walked up front and center.

“Who the hell are all of you?” Kara asked, her knife gripped and at the ready for any sudden moves.

“Who the hell are we? What do we look like to you?” the head mute skunk with a stockier build asked back sharply, extending the metal pipe in her hands towards them.

“Skunks.” Piercer replied simply taking a step forward and posing for a fight.

Lute stepped up in front of Piercer and looked to the skunks with a nervous expression.
“Hey, hey, easy everyone we don’t...” Lute looked back at the sharp fall behind them all, gulping.

“We don’t have to fight. You can just let us go and bam! No issues!” Lute finished.

“Oh, a nice, big no to that, human. Not only did you make us crash our scooters, but if you haven’t noticed...humans are in high demand. You’re all not going anywhere...except for you, rat boy. We don’t have any interest in fuzzballs.”

Piercer growled through his gritted teeth. “You’re all dead.”

“Look...” Kara spoke up, slapping the flat end of her buck knife against the palm of her hand. “I’ve had a long ass day, and I’m not going gently into that good night...so saddle up skunk freaks. It’s gonna get messy.”

“That’s it. Hey, punks. I’m Wheels. And this fella next to me is Loretta. And we’re the Scooter Skunks. Remember all of that while we thrash ya! Let’s get these f-ckers!” the skunk now known as Wheels finished as she began the charge. Her five fellow bikers followed suit.

“Let’s get this, and make it quick.” Knox told them, yanking out his katana as he ran fourth to meet Wheel's pipe full-swing.

He followed with a side swipe, which Wheels stepped back to avoid. But she wasn’t quick enough to dodge the follow-up charge Knox made against her which sent her to the ground on her back. The katana’s sharp tip was pointed downwards at Wheel’s forehead. Her surprised look now melted away, Wheels smiled knowingly as she watched one of her fellow skunks swing a bat in his direction. Knox leaped back just in time.

Piercer was quick to pounce on a Scooter Skunk and strike her in the neck, rendering them unconscious in seconds. As one other mute skunk approached from behind, Lute came quickly behind them and swung his lute down full-force against their helmet. Dazed, the Scooter Skunk had little time to fully turn around as Lute swung the lute instrument again, this time cracking her across the side of her face. The skunk mute fell with a thud.

Kara dodged swing after swing of the rusted metal pipe Loretta had as she tried to find an angle of attack.

“You have to excuse me, I’m a little rusty. Being captured for a week by mute snakes does that to you.” Kara quipped as she ducked under another one of the Scooter Skunk’s swings.

Kara took advantage of the loss of momentum the mute had to lash out the knife in her hand, earning Loretta a cut across her cheek. The Scooter Skunk jerked back in revelation to the stinging on her face and then in an abrupt rage, pushed her foot against the leafy ground and met Kara swiftly with a blow to the human’s shoulder with her pipe.

“Ah, sh-t...” Kara cursed, holding her right shoulder and stepping back to distance herself from the pipe-wielding skunk.

“What’s the matter, pumpkin? Did I hit you too hard?” Loretta taunted as she circled her, smacking the rusted pipe in her other hand.

However, Loretta’s eyes widened when she met sights on Knox as he approached, stopping her in her tracks. He had Wheels captive with his katana blade against her neck. She looked around her briefly to find that she and Wheels were the only Scooter Skunks still standing.

“I’d advice you to let us go.” Knox told Loretta as he neared the blades edge closer to Wheels’ throat.

“You wouldn’t.” Loretta replied, retracting her statement and reaching a hand out to Knox as he neared the blade even closer.

“Okay, okay! You win!” Loretta surrendered by dropping her pipe and kicking it away from her. “Just let her go.”

Knox nodded, looking to his gang.

“You guys get a head start first.” Knox told them as they ran back for the main road they were just on.

As his friends dashed away, Knox paired glaring eyes with Loretta.

“This isn’t personal. We’ve been through enough, and we just want to be left alone. Go find your human prize money elsewhere.” Knox uttered to her as he pushed Wheels onto the ground in front of her, turning to catch up with his group.

Knox met up with everyone at the road and eyed the scooters parked along the pavement.

“Let’s take the bikes, we need to get as far away from here as possible. Now.” Lute told them as he caught Kara’s wincing. “You okay Kara?”

“Yeah, one of the skunks clipped me in the shoulder.” Kara chuckled sourly as Piercer met beside her.

“Here, ride with me. We’re not risking you riding you're own and falling off cause of that.” Piercer told her as he mounted a scooter, Kara holding on behind him.

Knox and Lute picked one of their own as they all started the engines and propelled forward down the road, skunk gas flowing out behind them from the exhausts.

“Of course they expel gas. Actual skunk gas. Of course.” Lute commented aloofly as they all sped further down the road.

Loretta and Wheels both made out of the forest to find them long gone.

“*sigh*  Goddammit.” Loretta remarked as they found their means of transportation out of sight.

On their last ounce of gas, the skunk scooters puttered and went empty, leaving the three humans and rat mute to walk again.

The road had led them to another section of the Las Vistas district. One they were not at all familiar with. They continued until they were met with a fantastic view.

“Whoa...never been down here before, have we?” Lute asked as they were met with an large embankment that revealed another level of houses and buildings down below with overgrown and colorful flora and plants decorating all around.

They took a moment to gander at the beautiful setting sun that accompanied the marvelous perspective.

Kara blinked as she noticed something. Something within a rather exclusive section of houses separated from the rest.

“Am I tripping or...”

Knox, Piercer and Lute looked at her as she winced her eyes, trying to confirm her suspicions.

“No way in heck...” Kara muttered as she gripped her sour shoulder, looking to Knox and holding and outstretched hand towards Knox. “Hand me your binoculars, dude.”

“What’s going on?” Knox responded, unstrapping his backpack and digging through before finding the binoculars.

Binoculars now in hand, Kara scanned the area of interest, her mouth opening wide at the unbelievable confirmation with a hardy laugh to follow.

“You’re all gonna want to see this. This is unbelievable.”

Kara handed the binoculars down the the three and watched as they all grew visibly shocked at the revelation.

“A community of humans...and mutes?” Knox said aloud to no one person in particular.

“This...is too hard to believe. This is all definitely possible...but right out in the open like that?” Lute added, still bewildered.

Kara stood up, turning to the three with a wide smile plastered on her face.

“We have to check it out. There’s no questioning that.” Kara declared. “This could finally be it, guys. This could be the place that bares with us for the long haul.”

Knox continued his stare down the edge of the road, shaking his head after a short thought.

“You’re right. We can’t pass this up. We’ve gotten ridiculously lucky with this. Good eye, Kara.” Knox said, looking further down the road alongside the steep cliff.

“Let’s make our way further down the road. We’ll find a way down.”

It only took less than an hour before they were finally in the overgrown city. Even less to make it in front of the community of interest. It was a large neighborhood with houses stretched out relatively far.

The only thing separating them from it was a large gate that looked to have been built and integrated pretty contemporaneously. It was new-looking, painted a dark blue. And it was really tall.

Everyone finally gave in to their curiosity and removed themselves from hiding, walking up to the gates and awaiting what their next move was.

“It’s always common courtesy to knock, right?” Lute said, cautiously walking up to the gate and readying a fist to meet with the blue barrier.

“HALT!”

The sudden booming call rang out from above and at the last second. Two beings emerged from above the gate, supposedly held up by a platform of some kind.

The two were a human and squirrel mute respectfully, each holding crossbows that were locked and trained on their positions.

Lute slowly retracted his fist from the gate.

“Listen, we don’t want any trouble. We just saw this community a few miles back and-”

“Silence! You’re all still trespassers. Visitors and trespassers are all the same here. Now I’d advise you all to leave now, or we will shoot.”

“Please,” Kara started, unstrapping her knife to lay on the ground in front of her. “We came a long, long way and we don’t really know any other safe place. We saw that mutes and humans were living peacefully here and thou-”

“Thought what?” the squirrel mute spoke up. “That this is Kumbaya town? Sorry lady, but everyone here earned their right to be here.”

“No need to victimize the travelers, you two.” a deep voice called from inside.

The human and mute lowered their crossbows and looked away, getting down from their platforms. A moment of suspense hovered over Knox and his posse as they glanced at each other while a small verbal commotion went on behind the gate.

Then it began to open.

Slowly and surely, the large blue gates swung outwards, gradually revealing the unfamiliar world within. Through the mild gap were the sights and sounds of children playing in the background and a few other older folks at work. Something struck against metal as Kara caught sight of an antelope bringing down a hammer.

It was not long before the two crossbow-wielders took their positions back up on the gate perches, a rather tall figure revealing himself from behind the gates.

It was a slender and rather tall human who wore a stand-out navy blue tailored suit with a silver tie to accompany it. His black dress shoes clacked against the ground as he approached.

“Well...seems we’ve attracted new guests. Please forgive those two. My name is Devland...” the well-dressed man revealed as he waved a hand out, gesturing at the community they were so inclined to learn about.

“And welcome to Lensvile.”