Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Enot was having a lot of trouble sleeping, that much had become obvious to them. Everything about the atmosphere needed to sleep was absolutely perfect, they had company and warmth, sharing a blanket with a certain gold-furred one they liked a lot. The temperature in the den the two of them found was very soothing, not too hot or too cold, it was just right. The slugcat felt tired, but there was one, quite big issue that stopped sleep from embracing them at all. 

Hunger.

Their stomach felt like an inconsolable beast that gnawed on their insides, every small twist and turn felt like an herculean effort. It wasn’t fair, Enot had eaten properly during all the meals offered by the colony, not to mention enjoying the rations Monk brought along for their scouting, but no matter how much they ate, it was almost impossible to feel truly full. At most, they would feel temporarily satiated, usually for long enough to allow them the time to fall asleep before the hunger pangs would hit as the food was reduced to nil. Unfortunately, such was not the case that very cycle, and boy did they feel it.

Curling in on themselves, they tried to ignore the waves of tearing agony by protectively covering their stomach; gently pressing their back against Monk who was snoring softly next to them. The yellow one responded to the contact with a soft mumble, suddenly reaching over to hold Inv closer as if by instinct. If not for the maelstrom of gluttonous desire churning in their mind, Enot may very well have found themself flushed from the sudden contact. Considering the situation, they instead tried their best to focus harder on the feeling of warmth that flowed across the two rather than the urge to devour flowing through their guts with the ferocity of a dropwig even as they did nothing but lay still.

By instinct, they started to salivate, grumbling quietly as they reached to wipe it away even as the substance thinned the fur off their paw. In the many times such a situation had arisen, Enot had been able to contain themselves and eventually grasp the luxury of sleep, but the hunger was especially bad this very hibernation cycle. To such an extent that they almost felt themselves drooling at the feeling of the warmth of the plump—tender—flesh brushing up against them. With a quiet groan, they eventually made the decision to sate their body's wants; Ideally before they did something especially regretful...

Why they felt just that extra bit horrible that cycle, they had no clue. Maybe they ate just a little bit less during dinner time? Maybe the portions were less raw than usual? There was no way they could recall anything through this damned hunger. all that mattered was that Inv was famished.

Slowly, they untangled themselves from Monk’s warm hold, giving his paw a small squeeze before letting go fully to stand up. It was quite hard to ignore the fact that the inside of the den felt just a bit colder and duller when they weren’t snuggled underneath the blanket, but Enot nonetheless forced themselves to ignore it in favor of seaching food. Before they left, they offered their side of the blanket to the golden slugcat who was trying to reach out to the still night air for more cuddles. Once he got the bundled up part of the cloth he rested under, he grabbed hold and pulled it close to snuggle, chirping happily in his sleep. The cyan slugcat’s heart ached a little at the idea of not getting to nestle up to him a bit more for the cycle, but they squashed it down and turned to leave.

Though the idea of resting in a place that wasn’t a secured shelter had made them nervous at the start, Enot appreciated just how easily they could come and go whenever their body...acted up. Their chosen location was less a crawlspace into a claustrophobic chamber, and more a little dwelling they had fashioned by their very own paws! The end result was their best work yet, a private dwelling—fairly hard to spot if one did not know of its existence. To get out, one had to crouch down and crawl a short distance along their stomach, but it didn’t take long for the swift cyan slugcat to break through the brush.

Finally outside, Enot closed their eyes and took a deep breath of fresh air, feeling just a bit better with the cold wind gently combing through their freshly groomed fur. Sorry for wasting your hard work, Sunshine. They thought to themselves as they picked a direction heading into the tree-line and started to walk. As they were making a smaller plan to clean themselves off before returning, the cyan slugcat’s eyes suddenly spotted movement on one of the trees they walked past. A small centipede skittered along the surface of the bark, far too small to amount to much more than scraps, but Enot did not feel particularly picky at the moment.

Fast as lightning, their paw darted out and wrapped around the writhing morsel bringing it up to their mouth as it screeched and cried, all the while sparking with electrical energy, charging up to deliver a small shock. It never got a chance as Enot dug their teeth into its midsection, gripped one of its ends with another paw, and brought a large chunk of its leaking entrails out of the chewy carapace. Immediately, the rush of flavors melding from the centi-guts in their mouth made them want more, feeling the tingles of the former critter's meager charge leaving the vessel. The cyan slugcat kept walking as they chewed down on the exterior of their first appetizer, eagerly licking up the blood that stained their paws and pelt. It was a good start, but its meager sustenance would run dry within minutes, but at least the remains of the carcass could be chewed on to stave off starvation for a time, maybe for long enough for them to find something worthy of consumption.

Still, centipedes were not a bad start, mostly because of the unique sparking sensation they sometimes brought to one’s tongue as they were chewed. Unfortunately, when grilled over a flame, they became far more gooey in constitution... In such a state, they no longer offered any electrical sensation, and were not at all as juicy and soft! Enot would have to recommend some more rare dishes to Collector; a fair compromise—they thought—for the more civilized among their colony members. Such a description did not fit as well for the cyan slugcat, they were a bit more savage and over-the-top. A wild-card, one could even say...

Even if Enot knew exactly where they were going, the darkness of the forest they waltzed through freely ensured that following a certain path would be quite difficult. All they knew was that they were heading in only a single direction, which meant that to go back the cyan slugcat would simply need to turn around at the end of their walk. Maybe it wouldn’t be so simple in the end, but thinking about how to get back to the colony was far from an important activity on their mind at the moment. In spite of the fact that Enot mostly scoured the terrain with sharp eyes to find a meal, it was impossible to ignore the sense of adventure that elated them—just a bit. Although there was not much to see in the trees, the moment they receded filled the slugcat with excited awe, as their surroundings lit up with moonlight.

In one moment they gazed across a vast plain of nothing in particular, feeling slightly dismay at the lack of blood to spill, and in another they climbed a small hill to get a good view of the surrounding area, admiring the way the moonlight reflected off the flora of the forest. They couldn't really scan the view too thoroughly; the vantage point was only barely high up enough to offer vision above the nearby forest, but the picturesque scene of further off rivers, hills, and larger ruins in the distance were still soothing for the soul. It was a bit surprising they had yet to find any prey even after quite a while of walking, not even finding a single sleeping lizard in the ancient ruins. If not for the fact they were so hungry, Enot could consider curling up inside one of the structures and resting—it certainly wouldn't be the first time—but they wanted at least three lizards worth of flesh before they could consider something so gratuitous, as it was.

At least they were having a good time just letting the night take them wherever it wanted, trusting fate to offer them some sort of opportunity to eat their fill. Even a stroke of luck as small as finding a small centipede colony would be sufficient, so long as the creatures were ripe enough... Truth be told, the longer Enot walked on without encountering any creatures, the further they realized that venturing out at night when most of the common predators and prey slept likely was a poor idea. Not that they were going to quit, deciding they would rather spend the whole night distracted from the hunger pangs with searching rather than try to suffer through it until they could eat in the morning, but perhaps they would have better luck hunting down the nocturnals prowling through the darkness.

At least sightseeing offered a distraction, but it didn’t take very long until Enot’s unsung prayers were actually answered. Besides the constant, gentle sound of the breeze running through the trees, a foreign noise suddenly made itself known among the gentle chirps of little insects. Immediately, the cyan slugcat stopped in their tracks, looking around to pinpoint the source as their ears twitched and swiveled. The scuttering of many legs, although subtle, was all too audible, and it didn’t take long for them to realize the rapid movement was not only moving closer, but whatever it belonged to was approaching them head-on. Thanks to the trees, the darkness was practically impenetrable by their night vision, but it did not matter when the snack walked into close quarters!

A dropwig pushed through the gloom of the night, suddenly face to face with the slugcat who leapt back by instinct. Though it had been a while since Enot had seen one of the ambush predators, they could easily tell it seemed well fed, far larger than any other dropwigs they remembered seeing. They weren't so much shocked as to encounter one as they were to encounter it in out in the open. No doubt, the overgrown roach could have secured an ambush spot among the branches sprouting from the many trees—and it would have likely landed a nasty strike on them had it done so. Though, gazing upon the fat bug's roundness, a second theory sprouted within their mind; what if it had simply been too cunning for its own good? The creature itself seemed to have registered their presence as well, shrinking back in fear of the exposed position it had been confronted in.

As an awkward silence passed with both combatants frozen in surprise, and Enot found the situation absurd enough to consider raising a paw to greet the other. Before they could, however, another thought crossed the predator's mind; they had forgotten to take a damn weapon with them! Judging by the way the dropwig’s stance shifted from surprised to belligerent, it had taken note. Seems like Inv had been promoted from 'Troublesome Threat' to 'Food for the Night' within a few seconds. Things were going to get messy...

With a soft hiss, the dropwig crouched low against the grass, and lunged forward with a flash of speed to disembowel its quarry. Although rapid, Enot had fought enough of the stupid bugs to be able to predict the fat insect's movements to a T. They sidestepped the attack, waiting until the surprise of the dodge registered to the moronic creature before pivoting their hip and responding with a shoulder check to its side. The blow connected with good force, but did not do any real damage, serving as a distraction to let them go for one of the dropwig's antennae. Their claw quickly found its target, and in less than a second, their foe had parted with one of its precious feelers.

Swiftly leaping to put some distance between them, the slugcat began looking for anything to finish off their confused prey; the loss of an antenna would essentially have crippled the creature's sense of balance, but those mandibles could still do a number, and they didn't want to waste whatever nutrition the beast was harboring to recover from the fight to get it.

A jagged stone caught their gaze, glinting rather enchantingly from the moonlight, and they crouched to pick it up heedless of their approaching foe. The dropwig, to its credit had set up their attack excellently; but as the many before it, the poor beast missed them by the chitin across its jaws. Following into a misstep as it landed, the beast fell clumsily onto its back, giving Enot just the opportunity they were looking for!

They pounced onto the dazed beast, giving it barely any time to register the impact before its carapace was pierced by stone. Strike after strike flaked off more of its rubbery exoskeleton, and before long, the slab of meat ceased its futile struggling under Enot's onslaught. If only it had kept to the ways of its kind, they might have overlooked the creature in their conquest...

While burying their head inside the corpse, holding it in place with both paws to dig around with their sharp teeth, Enot thought back to Artificer’s reaction to the so-called “table-manners” of both them and Hunter. It was hard to suppress a laugh when they remembered the disgusted expression on her face as both the slugcats dug into their plates with little regard for how obscene they looked. Only when Monk offered to help them out with eating a bit more nicely did they decide to listen and follow instructions, taking smaller bites with less frequency even as the small breaks in between every bite threatened to make their stomach churn with the anticipation of more to eat! Luckily, there were no such scrutinizing bunker-mates out here in the forest, so they could eat however they pleased!

Their teeth and saliva helped a great deal with divvying up the raw pieces of flesh. Bug blood ran down their chin and stained their face, covered their paws and claws; they were too ravenous to care at the moment, all of it could be cleaned off later, when every edible part of the slain enemy had been swallowed. Even despite the larger-than-average size of the dropwig, they felt the predator-turned-prey ran out of nutrition far too quickly. When all that was left was mostly a shell of the carcass, Enot leaned back and sighed in a bit of relief. The larger appetizer would hold them over for a bit longer, at least! Long enough for them to find something bigger to tear to shreds…

Leaving the pieces of the long-dead dropwig littering the ground, Enot walked on, spirits slightly lifted as their hope for sustenance reignited. Though their ankle throbbed slightly with pain from the sudden movements of their earlier engagement, the discomfort was something the slugcat was used to, as they took the soreness in stride. Instead, they put double the focus toward listening in for nearby threats as they clumsily cleaned their paws of any remaining blood before the liquid had the chance to dry, savoring the taste for as long as possible until the fur was spotless and they could move onto caring for their face. It was a tedious process, one they were not entirely used to, but Enot also found a bit of calm in grooming their fur to near-perfection. If not for the fact they would later be trying to keep their little misadventure under wraps from the others in the colony, the slugcat would not have cared less about their disaster of a pelt. After all, seeing blood on them was fairly difficult after it had dried.

However, they were not willing to take the risk. If not the sense of sight giving them away, Enot would most definitely be found out through the fact they would smell of death, a scent that would be more than difficult to hide. Seeing as their most recent cycles had been spent near Monk, and Sunshine most definitely hadn’t gotten into fights… it would be easy to figure out they’d gone on a little expedition of their own.

Although it was impossible for them to guess exactly how the rest of the colony would react to being made known of their little misadventure, something told them that it was to be seen as weird. After all, they already had access to all the food needed to survive cycle-to-cycle, so why did they feel the need to venture out for more? Seeing as their relationship with most of the slugcats and scavengers in the colony already felt shaky at best, the cyan slugcat would rather avoid such points of suspicion, and thus decided the best move was to stay stealthy about the amount of food they needed to eat.

Don’t want to be seen as a liability that’ll starve everyone, or worse; a bloodthirsty animal like the explosive mama herself…

Any further considerations of whether they would ever be able to let their odd metabolism be known to the others were interrupted by a small crack underneath Enot’s paws, a sound that was clear and sharp enough to make them stop in their tracks and glance down in curiosity. Seeing that the sudden noise thankfully was not the direct result of their ankle breaking off from nowhere, the slugcat slowly moved their paw back to get clear view of whatever it was they stepped on. The object was a rather ordinary stick, dry enough to have been broken in half by the step with ease. However, the thing it was wasn’t what made Enot stop and study the ground a bit closer. Rather, they paid more attention to the fact that the twig already had been crushed in half once, a pattern that was repeated when they let their gaze look ahead into the darkness, clear, large footprints in places where leaves and grass laid disturbed along with more sticks in places.

The patterns of the footprints did not match any lizard prints the slugcat had ever seen before even despite the fact the feet seemed more than large enough to belong to a predator like that. As such, exactly what beast the tracks belonged to became a mystery in Enot’s mind, one they felt the urge to solve! With the new goal in mind, they started to follow the trail, hoping for it to lead to a larger creature that could become yet another meal for them to enjoy. Maybe even one large enough to satisfy this gnawing hunger? They thought to themselves as a rusted spear was pulled loose from a long abandoned ruin of a structure that once seemed to house a scavenger toll judging by the rain deer skull left in the dust, half-shattered.

Such a fact remained to be seen, but judging by how deep some of the imprints in the grass and soil were along the ground, Enot kept their hopes up that whatever beast they were suddenly tracking down was one of fairly large origin. Judging by the patterns, the thing would have to be bipedal, sparking even more of an urge to figure out just what in the void they were walking after! There would be danger in facing a never-before-seen enemy, of course, but they were fairly good at pulling through and surviving. If the new threat was too powerful for them to handle, and they felt that a showdown could lead in nothing but cycle death, Enot would move on and find something else.

All they wanted wanted was one good look at whatever the beast was, otherwise the mystery would gnaw at them even worse than the hunger, in the end! After all, who could refuse the rare chance to meet a fellow bipedal creature, even an unintelligent one?

After only a few moments of locking into their mission, it became clear that the slugcat was no longer alone in their path through the darkness. Vague sounds of skittering legs and low, further-off hisses made it known that Enot was very close to finding what they were looking for. Although they kept following the tracks dutifully, figuring that any beast that wanted a piece of them could come out and face them fairly. While in the darkness, the route the beast they tracked had taken was cleverly planned out, mercifully not completely choking the following slugcat out with shrubbery to block out their vision, meaning they could keep a rather good eye out for any coming ambushes.

It was much preferable to them than being forced to engage in some silly game of hide-and-seek, stealthing around for the sake of catching prey had never been a tactic that really spoke to them at all. Although it seemed obvious to be one that most of the other slugcats and scavengers wanted to follow, preferring an ambush rather than a one-on-one confrontation, Enot had never owned the patience to sit around and stalk their food looking for an opening when they had more than enough power to just leap out and attack their damned quarry. The very same was true for when they were being snuck around as well, and the idea that something was secretly watching them at that very moment, waiting for a chance to leap out, made the slugcat sigh in frustration. For only a moment, they considered an attempt to try to rile whatever it was into attacking them by waving a very rude gesture that Artificer usually showed them around at some of the trees, but if that wouldn’t work it’d make them feel stupid, so they refrained from the action.

Nevertheless, whether Enot had been personally selected by something that wanted to hunt down and kill them did not matter that much when it was already clear there were other creatures outside their view that chased each other around with the same intent. As time went on, such a fact only seemed to become more obvious, as even when the slugcat did not see any of the action actually occurring, the rising sounds of hisses and tumbling bodies, pained shrieks in the distance echoing through the trees all around them as blood was spilled. If not for the fact they were so grievously hungry, they may have made the choice to turn around and leave while they still could, suddenly content with allowing the mystery of what beast they snuck after remain as such with no conclusion. Their growling stomach, so loud it almost overshadowed even the chaos happening just a bit further off from their position, forced them to consider otherwise.

There is food nearby, that much is certain. Food that was very clearly unfortunately being stolen by possible competitors, as was made clear by the sudden sounds of tearing flesh and splattering blood from somewhere off to their left. Had it not been for the fact that stepping off the beast-made trail would have landed them in an ambush, Enot considered whether following the sounds of violence in order to steal a bite for themselves could be a valid strategy to stave off hunger before confrontation with the large one they were trying to find. Although, judging by the sheer violence that was occurring just out of sight by the grisly sounds, chances were that there would not be much left in the way of carcasses for them to actually harvest anything at all from. As such, their unsure trek continued on even further.

Sudden blasting sounds were also going off nearby, but they did not sound much like ones Enot was used to when making use of grenades or explosive spears. Exactly what was up with that, they didn’t want to immediately consider, instead focusing harder on keeping up their forward momentum. Knowing my luck, I’ll find out later either way. They always did have a way to attract trouble from nearby predators who wanted nothing more than to tear sizable holes into every part of them.

With no idea of where it would end them up, or even with no clue of if it ever would end, in general, Enot could not help but feel pleasantly surprised when some of the nightly chaos actually started to sound from straight ahead in the direction of the tracks, and on the way, they could even see rebar jutting tip-first from the forest floor! dislodging the weapon, they were getting close; the slugcat gripped the spear in their paw a bit tighter and get ready for any imminent action. The little nourishment they’d obtained from the dropwig meal from earlier had been partially depleted on quelling their ravenous appetite, and as a result they wanted nothing more than to sink their teeth into raw, bloody flesh to satisfy their hunger once again. Living a constant race against the hunger they could feel deep in their soul, it was surprising that Enot felt an urge to even busy themselves with other activities like socializing and recreation.

Then again, even the most delicious raw meat would taste horrible if they were constantly forced to chew and swallow the very same all cycle, every cycle.

They were fine with the life they lived, and if an unfortunate consequence of living such a way meant they sometimes needed to head out for extra nourishment all on their own sometimes, so be it. After all, just the idea of having to leave their new friends behind saddened Enot severely, especially when they considered never getting to interact with Sunshine again. Okay, enough of that. Go time. The slugcat thought to themselves to quickly snap out of their thoughts, focusing back ahead as sounds of violence became audible. Several creatures were making a lot of noise, and loud impacts practically shook the ground underneath their paws the closer they got. Once they finally gained vision by walking out from behind a tree and into an opening in the forestry, they were offered a good look at precisely how much chaos was going down.

Everything was occurring in a meadow that would have otherwise been rather serene, with ruins of an old building nestled in the middle of the space, one of two stories that likely offered a fantastic view if one could climb all the way up to its roof. Unfortunately, doing so right at that moment would be something akin to suicide. Witnessing the chaos of all the predators rushing in and out of entrances, leaping from the ground in lunges, biting and scratching, and in general trying to make quick work of each other, Enot tried to make a quick headcount of the participants. In as short a time they were given to count, they noticed there were at least ten or so lizards running about, many different colors, at least a dozen centipedes, a few vultures above, along with a couple dropwigs skittering about to try to steal some bites, similar to the slugcat. 

Not to mention that their count did not account for what creatures could be hiding in the high-rise ruins or the distant darkness, even as they counted Enot saw movement through one of the large holes situated on one of the floors. Despite the general state of the structure, it was clear it once was rather decorated and well built! Though, as the slugcat watched, they also realized that the blood that splattered many parts of its surface likely took away from some of the intended beauty. One sweep of their vision also did not allow them to see any sort of unrecognizable beast that fit their self-made descriptor, showing that the creature they were on the hunt for either was not participating in the fight, or they were somewhere inside or behind the ruins, somewhere out of sight. A sudden blast that sounded similar to the previous ones they heard in the distance sent splinters flying in random directions, striking predators that were busy fighting other fights. Something else was somewhere out of sight raining down chaos, but Enot had no clue exactly where or even what such a beast could be.

Any possible tracks that could be followed earlier were quite hard to sniff out considering the stirred up grass and soil from other creatures running around, scrapping with each other.

The results of the fighting, as could be heard and very much witnessed, were utter pandemonium! What all the different beasts had in common for goals, Enot had no idea, but they all seemed very hellbent on tearing each other to shreds. “Maybe I’m not the only one out for a snack…?” They questioned out loud, seeing a glare at the corner of their vision and glancing over to squint at a red laser painfully burning their eye, blinking rapidly…

Narrowly, Enot dove out of the way of the harpoon launched in their direction, landing hard on the ground and stumbling to stand quickly as they turned to the vulture. It stared at them as if they would be its next meal, standing on its wings and not even paying any mind to the fact their first shot missed. A laser took aim once again, blinking a second time, aimed for their exposed chest. They barely managed to tuck into a roll to get out of the way, but even despite their dodge, the second shot landed way too close, pinning itself to a tree trunk right above the slugcat’s head the moment they stopped rolling and stayed in a crouch. Vultures were usually not that good at leading their shots, but the reason for its sudden shift in aim became obvious when Enot looked over to the king and noted that it was being accosted by a caramel lizard that seemingly jumped in from out of nowhere.

With a strong grip on the vulture’s head, it clung to the aerial beast even as it tried to take of, making its attempted flight difficult and unbalanced. The harpoons that were still lodged in hard surfaces were pulled loose as it flapped its wings and immediately crashed into the nearby trees, splinters of bark exploding above Enot’s head as they ran for cover somewhere else. Though they considered having the vulture for a meal once it was taken down for only a beat, the fact a caramel was likely busy making it crash before tearing its head off meant there would be a lot of attention brought to the scene. As a result, the attention was brought to them as well, of course! At the loud sound of the crash and the accompanying quake of the ground, a white lizard that had been camouflaged in the middle of the chaos suddenly revealed itself with a hiss and looked toward the slugcat as if they would be an easy-to-consume snack in a single bite!

Skidding to a halt before they ran right into the beast’s open maw, they pulled back their arm and prepared to throw the spear they held, only for a black tongue to suddenly loop around the weapon’s handle several times before pulling back in an instant. Enot’s weapon was snatched away, ending up in the white’s mouth before they turned and spat it out by their feet, quickly kicking it behind them as they looked up and growled threateningly. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” The slugcat deadpanned, unable to do much but spot a small rubble by their position large enough to actually have the beast in front of them react, reaching down to grab it as the predator charged.

Before the creature reached them, they flung the rock forward as hard as they could, smirking slightly when the lizard took it to the snout hard enough for its head to whip back slightly. Almost immediately, it fell over and slid across the ground, and Enot intended to dodge the approach. Unfortunately, such an act became quiet hard when something suddenly coiled around their leg, their fast sidestep turning into a stumble as they tripped instead. Looking down at themselves to see the offender, the slugcat saw a centipede digging its small, stubby legs into their skin. It was long enough to be able to deal damage if it shocked them, so they did not hesitate to feel around and close their paw around a sharp stick that laid in the grass. With a swift stab and tear, the bastard came off… in pieces rather than all at once.

They cringed at the mess before looking up at the lizard with a sigh, noting it came to a stop very close to where they were. “That’s going to be a pain to get out.” Enot mumbled, scratching at the half-destroyed centipede legs embedded in their skin.

The lizard’s response as it recovered was unfortunately not a comment of sympathy or comfort, but rather a small hiss while shaking off the temporary daze it was stuck in. Realizing friendship wasn’t an option, the slugcat stabbed forward with the stick, but it easily broke apart on the lizard’s hard skull, not even embedding a single inch. All they could do was grumpily glare at the useless twig they still held as the pissed off predator in their face hissed again and prepared to lunge. A secondary roar, one that was followed by many more, interrupted the imminent bite. Before the white lizard could do anything at all, it was suddenly accosted by a small group of lizards unlike Enot had ever seen before.

On their own, just a single one was smaller and scrawnier than even the smallest blue, covered in scales of a unique, purplish shade unlike any Enot had seen before! Despite their size, the little guys were fast and ferocious, not hesitating for a second to work together and assault the unfortunate lizard that was about to maim the slugcat. Struggling and writhing, the white predator managed to reach several of the small things to bite to death or fling into the ground, but it was heavily outnumbered. Following the struggle of the white predator, the slugcat’s gaze fell upon a far larger creature that made their heart stop for at least half a second in shock. A giant, bipedal lizard that was about the same shade as its little friends suddenly walked out from around the structure, making itself known with a roar. They watched in horror as the nearest caramel lizard was snatched up by clawed digits and torn into with grievously sharp teeth ripping flesh off its neck.

It had more eyes than a regular lizard too, but the slugcat was too caught up in sudden fear to want to count them all, in that moment. Apparently, they finally found the creature that left behind the earlier tracks! However, considering the way the predator easily slaughtered the carcass of the caramel before throwing it to the side where it was set upon by more of the wiry beasts; barely flinching as an harpoon embedded in its shoulder, it reached to the tether and snapped it off! Another explosion of splintery shrapnel struck next to the thing, but it barely paid any mind to the projectiles glancing off its scales as it raised a lanky arm to deflect the angry king's vicious dive. Enot themselves was so in awe at the sudden appearance of apparent, horrific rescue that they failed to fully register that the new predators obviously weren’t friends. They reminded of the fact as one of the smaller purple newcomers turned its attention to them and rapidly charged with a ear-piercing shriek!

Barely having had time to stand up, they were knocked to the ground once again, forced to use their paws to push their attacker’s head back to ensure their throat wasn’t ripped out. Thankfully, none of its friends made note of the fact it was trying to kill Enot, meaning the slugcat had plenty of time to overpower the surprisingly weak lizard once they recovered from the momentum that knocked them down. Using all of their strength, they managed to force the beast’s head to turn away, allowing for a stronger grip as they wrapped an arm around its neck and squeezed. It struggled, but was unable to do anything as they bared their teeth and then bit down on its scaly neck, enjoying the warmth and taste of fresh blood before tearing out a large piece. Unfortunately, the shrill dying cry of the beast as Enot went for a second, delicious bite was more than enough to call attention to them, and the slugcat quickly had to contend with the rest of the group not occupied with decimating the white lizard.

Suddenly facing down five of the small ones, they made the smarter choice for survival and promptly turned and ran. Licking their bloodstained lips, Enot made for the ruined tower. Their hope was to find a way to either escape their pursuers, or at the very least to funnel them through a small gap. Considering this, they aimed not for the direction of the actual doorway but instead aimed for a smaller hole in the side of the ground floor only barely wide enough to fit even their skinny frame. Part of their plan also involved losing one or two of the tiny beasts through the chaos as they ran, picking a trail that forced both them and their pursuers to dash past as many brawling creatures as possible. How they did not get slaughtered by one of the many hungry maws or soaring harpoons above their head, not even they really knew, but the slugcat managed to reach the crack in the tower walls with only a few scrapes and minor cuts, in the end. 

Squeezing through the gap that was even narrower than they first thought was a different story, but the slugcat managed to force themselves through right as they heard the screeching get far too close from behind. As soon as they were inside, they wasted no time with picking up a nearby loose brick, whirling around to the hole with the makeshift weapon raised over their head. The first of the intruders had it broken over its head, a loud crack echoing as the brick practically crumbled. Before the lizard had even fully slumped over, Enot turned and moved again, having no way to tell just how many more of the things were following closely behind them! Judging by the furious screeches that followed them as they clumsily scrambled up a half-collapsed staircase, there were at least two more behind them, but there was no way to confirm if even one other of the small ones had been killed during the chase before they ended up inside the ruins.

Better safe than sorry. The slugcat considered as they kept up their run-and-gun strategy, finding relief when the floor after the very bottom was lit up by several large holes in the walls, allowing Enot to spot a nearby spear. Rushing for the weapon, they picked it up and turned right as the first lizard appeared and set its eyes on them. Despite being a desperate throw made on instinctual reflex, the spear struck true, lodging in the beast’s chest as it reared up to prepare some lunge. Its screech died in its throat, and it fell back right as the third attacker reached the top of the stairs. A quick glance was spared around the barren room for anything other than broken apart furniture and loose parts of the wall, but when nothing of substance was found, Enot once again rushed for the next floor with the purple lizard right behind them.

Regrettably, while the previous room offered a lot of light due to the damages done to the stony walls, the third floor offered Enot nothing but darkness as they rushed up the last of the stairs. Whatever light source used to be inside to ensure anything could be seen, whether a lantern or some sort of fire, had been snuffed out long ago, leading to the place being darker than even the unilluminated parts of the night outside. They wanted for a moment to rush another floor up in hopes of better sightlines, but as their eyes got used to the darkness and allowed them some semblance of sight, the slugcat noted that the stairs from then on were collapsed in on themselves and impossible to climb up. Just my average luck… In lack of better options, Enot rushed deeper into the room, noting that the place seemed in far better state than any of the past interiors, most furniture and items inside very dusty but otherwise untouched and not broken.

In fact, some of the stuff seemed almost too recent but still abandoned. Almost as if some band of scavengers or slugcats had settled for a while before abandoning the place in a hurry, leaving behind most of their stuff. Considering such a thought, Enot kept an eye out for possible weapons, eyes widening when their search paid off, gaze landing on a rack of spears that still seemed sharp enough to be usable. Just like last time, they fished one of the sharp projectiles out of its holding and turned to throw, expecting to see the lizard either at the top of the steps or charging toward them.

Only for their gaze to meet nothing! In between what little space they had between the apex of the stairs and the spear storage, the beast was nowhere to be found. Enough time passed with nothing happening for Enot to assume for a moment that that their chaser had turned tail and ran, but they were proven wrong when skittering of short legs became audible over their head. Panicking, the cyan slugcat turned and stared into the darkness on the ceiling, searching for any movement to aim for. Unfortunately, despite the little light offered from the previous floor via the opening of stairs, the ceiling was far too high to allow much of anything to be seen through the impenetrable blackness.

However, as more subtle movement was heard, Enot decidedly made use of the sound to try to pinpoint their enemy. A particularly abrupt stop on the left side made them throw the spear with a grunt, hoping to hit the mark as they reached for the next weapon before the projectile had even had time to fully embed itself in the metal ceiling. Seeing as no pained cry or fleshy impact had been heard, the temporary silence and echo of the throw quickly replaced with more skittering of legs accompanying a low growl, they prepared to chuck another as swiftly as possible. Whether the beast wanted to try to find an opening in between throws to charge or not, the slugcat found comfort in throwing with speed rather than accuracy.

Using their ears, they trusted the process of eventually being able to pinpoint the perfect position for a good strike, so focused with listening by the third throw that Enot did not even look over to the spears to grab another, instead able to blindly reach and pull the next one loose for tossing. For a while, not much was done other than to turn the ceiling into a pincushion of spears that would never be taken down by paw or hand, but by the seventh or so count of throws, the slugcat managed to actually hit something!

There was no way for Enot to tell exactly what part of the lizard was hit, but it was obvious they managed to pull off a grazing hit, at least. The beast shrieked in shock and pain, droplets of blood dripping down accompanying more shrieking and growling as the lizard started to move again. Enot smirked widely, well aware that the constant bleeding would easily let them pinpoint the lizard’s approximate position, thus allowing for an easy kill! With a smile, they reached for the next spear with confidence, but as their paw closed around empty air, any bravado faded almost immediately. Unable to believe the facts, they turned their head to look at the empty spearholder in complete shock, mouth agape. Indeed, all the stored spears had been thrown, and seeing as they were all lodged in the ceiling…

A sudden shriek from above made the slugcat turn back, yelping in shock when the lizard suddenly leapt down from the darkness above. There was no time to process, let alone try to dodge the attack, Enot did not even brace for the impact of the beast colliding with them as they were easily knocked backwards onto the ground. They hit the back of their head hard, thankfully landing on a part of the room that seemed padded with some sort of tanned skin that softened the blow, still dazing them almost badly enough to not allow them to see the sharp maw lunging for their neck. Pinned down quite badly with their vision swimming, there was not much they could do other than move their head and throat out of the way, nonetheless unable to properly defend themselves from the actual bite, as it were!

The sharp teeth closed around their left shoulder, sudden pain thankfully largely pushing back the daze in Enot’s mind as a pained yell left them. With a growl, the lizard bit down harder in response, shaking them around aggressively as if it wanted to tear the limb off completely. Well aware of the freaks' ferocity by that point, they wouldn’t have been surprised if that was the exact goal, nonetheless fighting through the discomfort in favor of finding a nearby walking stick carved from wood. Discarded on the floor, it was easy to grasp tightly and swing. Though rather light as a whole, the very end you were meant to close a paw around was shaped like a knob, and the dense wood seemingly did hurt, at least enough to make the assaulting beast get knocked off kilter when Enot struck its head. Still, it required two more well-placed blows to let go completely, if only to apparently try to bite down again, aiming for a more lethal spot.

Enot wouldn’t let it, baring their teeth as their second paw wrapped around the handle, ignoring the pain in their shoulder as they calibrated their grip and aimed the thinner end at the beast. It did not have time to register, lunging forward right as the slugcat jabbed toward one of its eyes. The lizard’s head whipped back and it shrieked out once again, the second time in agony as it quickly backed off, giving room for Enot to stand. Though their makeshift weapon was not sharp with the end they stabbed forward, the very tip of it was narrow enough to really hurt, and the sight of blood leaking from in between their enemy’s closed eyelid told them they’d caused some real damage.

Without allowing their opponent a chance to recover, they quickly turned the stick upside down again, intending to use the heavier part as the club it could be by lifting it over their head. The lizard recovered from the painful injury at the same time, blinking blarily up at the slugcat with the start of a growl in its throat. It didn’t have time to do much else when Enot swung down with a grunt, putting all of their strength into the strike that collided with the top of the thing’s skull. In a single swing, the smaller creature was knocked flat, the vibration of the strike moving up the slugcat’s arms as they once again lifted the weapon when they heard the lizard growl in defiance still. Their second swing broke the skin, blood spattering on the stick they held as the beast fell completely limp. Still, a third strike arrived swiftly, the result of a satisfying crack telling them everything they needed to know when it came to the threat remaining something to consider.

Still, Enot lifted the weapon again, considering for only a moment whether another swing would be overkill. Studying the very still form of the previously ferocious beast, they eventually came to the conclusion the threat was completely taken care of. With a relieved sigh, they lowered the stick in their paw, flipping it upside down to casually lean against it in the way they figured it was meant to be used. Thanks to the blood, it was a little bit slippery, the top of it almost sliding away and out of the slugcat’s grip, but the style points for the pose they struck made the risk very much worth it, in their opinion! With a moment of calm finally offered, they even finally had a chance to throw a glance around the dark room with eyes used to the blackness, allowing them to soak in a bit more detail than before.

All in all, the place was rather nice! With some cleaning and addition of a light source, it could even be a decent place to settle some sort of outpost to visit on the road. Growing ideas of the same nature inside of Enot’s mind was almost enough to make them completely forget about their hunger, up until their aching stomach once again made itself known with a groan. Ah, I should make sure to dig in. They would start with the freshest carcass, and then bring the other two kills with them upstairs, they decided! The place seemed rather safe from the chaos outside, the thick walls of the top floor even shut out most of the cacophonous noise, meaning Enot could relax for just a bit. Not to mention, even despite the fact the small buggers that tried to kill him weren’t very large, this seemed to be well toned for its size, meaning good amount of food considering the size!

Maybe, just maybe, they could be satisfied with just the three?

Just as they were about to kneel down to reach out and take big bites of lizard flesh, however, the slugcat was caught off-guard by a low, echoing growl from right behind them. Fully expecting the sound to have come from yet another enemy of the same type as the three they’d already killed, Enot swung as they turned by instinct, hoping to catch the potential threat right as it leapt to try to bite them! 

However, instead of any sort of satisfying impact felt or heard, all the slugcat could feel was their makeshift weapon splinter into pieces, breaking apart with a loud crack. Enot’s eyes adjusted to focus on the threat, and the fur on their back stood on straight on end when they came face to face with a huge green lizard! Where the big guy had been during the fighting, they had no clue. Chances were it hung out in the dark up until then, hidden from sight sleeping the night away, as there was no way such a large beast could potentially sneak up on them from the direction of the stairs without being heard in some way. The green one growled, slowly shaking its head before looking down at the splintered stick with cold eyes.

With another, angrier rumble that Enot could feel the vibrations of in their empty stomach, it slowly looked up at them, cold eyes twisting with anger. In response, the slugcat nervously chuckled as they slowly threw the stick to the side, into the darkness. “Uh… Oops?” They shrugged, hoping the two of them could let bygones be bygones.

They held up such a hope until the moment the beast dug its heels into the floor and roared in rage, the structure they were in practically shaking. Abandoning the idea of friendship, Enot instead decided to turn for the stairs, running off with their tail between their legs! Unfortunately, unlike most of its kind, the beast was very quick to react and follow their escape. The slugcat narrowly made it even halfway down the stairs before they heard the beast slam into the wall at the top, meaning gravity could take hold and very well allow the lizard to lunge itself at them, maw wide open for an easy snack. As such, they abandoned the idea of running down the steps, praying to the void to be merciful before abruptly turning to a hole in the wall right next to the staircase down, leaping through right as the giant chasing down thundered down the steps past where they were.

As they fell, the wind rushing past their ears barely covered up the cacophony of noise that still made up the desperate combat that enveloped the field filled with creatures, making them aware of the fact that the constant hunt for food and death where they would land was anything but over. It wasn’t the highest jump the slugcat had leapt from, but since it was on such short notice, Enot was hardly balanced in the air ensuring they would land well. In the end, it came down to them hoping they’d land on something semi-soft instead of the ground, something like a bush or in a tree. Anything to break the fall and ensure they would not break something important that would make it impossible for them to move once the green one rushed outside, intent on gorging itself on their weakened, fragile-!

Suddenly, they landed on something that seemed at least a little bit softer than the regular ground. Their clenched shut eyes opened to notice they were a bit higher up in the air than could be expected of landing on a particularly grassy part of the forest, but still too low to have landed in a tree, prompting Enot to wonder exactly how they didn’t reach the ground fully up until they heard whatever they landed on growl in a low tone. The slugcat flinched in fear, instinctively holding on tighter with their paws until claws dug into the surface they were on, the surface that they suddenly noted felt scaly. In response, whoever was being used as their bed reached up and grabbed firm hold of their torso, easily yanking them off before chucking them to the ground below.

The slugcat barely had time to yelp before they hit the soil, practically bouncing along the ground for a moment before eventually rolling to a stop. In spite of the fact they hurt all over, Enot knew that staying still made them an easy target, and quickly stumbled to stand on shaky legs, turning to the creature they’d accidentally used as a landing pad. As they half expected even before looking, the huge, purple lizard that stood on two powerful legs had been their softer-than-otherwise landing, and the lanky beast of a predator seemed very annoyed with the fact. When Enot landed, it was busy taking its last bites from the mangled torso of a long-dead vulture, but upon spotting the new snack, the devoured corpse was violently hurled in the direction of the building the slugcat just escaped, falling apart with an unpleasant crack ringing through the night.

It looked at them with more anger than hunger, the many eyes settled deep in its head burning a hole through the slugcat as they could only stare back in terror. Raising their paws in surrender, Enot couldn’t help but chuckle nervously, backing away as they tried to put just a little bit of distance between themselves and the horrifying predator. As expected, the lizard did not care for their attempt, not even rushing as it slowly followed, still blatantly ignoring the chaos going on to the sides of the two in the form of violent struggles and shrapnel explosions. Meanwhile, every loud boom that seemed even remotely close had the slugcat flinch, well aware that they would not be able to shrug off the flying debris as well as the behemoth of a predator that stalked after them.

Pretty quickly, their back hit the bark of a tree, stopping their slow, deliberate escape. While the beast gained on them with calm movements, Enot considered their possible options. The most direct one would be to fight, but even if they hadn’t so recently been beaten black and blue against the ground, there was no way Enot was picking a fight against the purple lizard. It would tear me a new one! …In a bad way. Sending a glance to their right, they looked out into the pitch black of the forest, debating whether a full sprint to the side away from the actual glade would be a way to get away. Although it could buy them some time, as they looked back at the beast and saw it glance in the same direction, large legs tensing for just a moment as if preparing to run, Enot knew there was no way they could outrun the thing if it truly wanted to catch them. 

And it obviously did! If anything the small walk up to its prey seemed to make it all the more interested, saliva running down its huge maw as it kept a close eye on the slugcat. The only viable option available to Enot seemed to either fight, or to take a chance and rush into the chaos to their left to try to lose the big one by luring it into another fight. A solution that also seemed half-assed considering how easily the purple one could handle vultures and regular lizards like they were nothing at all…

Making up their mind, Enot bared their teeth in the best display of defiance as possible even when the dreadful lizard got close enough to straighten out and loom over them with sadistic glee. They were unable to stop trembling in fear under the stare, but the slugcat still knelt down and picked up a rock as giant claws reached down to grab them. However, deliberate movement in the corner of Enot’s eye caught their attention for just a moment, causing them to glance over once, then do a double take of surprise when they saw a familiar green behemoth  barreling toward where the two stood. Noting the shock, even the large one right in front of the slugcat looked over in curiosity, having just enough time to widen its eyes at the newest intruder.

With a mighty roar, the giant lizard lowered its head by the end of the charge, colliding so harshly with the large enemy’s block that the purple one was pushed back at least a meter before being able to respond by digging into the ground with a stronger stance. Despite holding back, it slid along the ground slowly, showcasing the strength of the quadrupedal one even when facing such a monster of an opponent. Both of these things turn me inside out in a fair fight. Enot considered nervously, crouching down to the ground and slowly making their escape as the bipedal of the two responded to the roar with one of its own, landing a fierce uppercut to the other that made veer to the side , only barely avoiding a follow up swing.

Turning around its momentum, the green one then slid for a short distance and got into a fighting pose, huffing angrily in challenge. A loud howl split the air as the standing one cried with a noise so cacophonous that Enot had to stop crawling a moment to cover their ears. Thankfully, they did so nearest a bush on the outskirts of the forest, and were thus missed by the backup pouring into the fight. Several lizards passed them by, a couple of smaller sized bipedals, and at least four more of the smaller variety they were forced to fight earlier. They all congregated and engaged the threat from several angles, leaving the green quadraped to suddenly contend against a dozen foes at once, and that did not even account for the fact that standing ones were employing nasty hit and run tactics.

A bunch of lizards and no spear nearby, what a bother. Enot thought to themselves, thinking of the opportunity to have been able to use a spear to snatch one of the smaller beasts as they ran past. They were glad they did not try to run, considering how many of the newcomers had arrived from the woods; no wonder the big guy was being so lax with them... There was absolutely no way for them to confirm it was safe even after the reinforcements had moved in, but staying behind to watch who won would most likely lead to the victor tracking them down as a victory snack, knowing their luck. Instead, Enot counted their lucky stars for being given an out twice, carefully crawling into the pitch black shrubbery to stay hidden while doing their best to ignore the brutal sounds of combat as the violet abomination's forces engaged the hulking lizard-zilla.

Just the sound of it was enough to make them salivate at the idea of getting to somehow scavenge some meat off the carcass, but Enot knew it was an utterly idiotic idea to go back even if they had a guaranteed way to stay hidden. If they did, chances were that something else would be attracted to the fighting and decide to want a piece of them as well, just like everything else this damn night! At the same time, even as they tried to completely ignore the idea of where the purple one’s friends came from, the answer revealed itself to the slugcat when their paw suddenly dipped into a fluid that was warm, thick, and smelled of copper. Still fresh… Where was my invite~? As they licked the blood from their paw to confirm exactly what it was, they scanned the ground until the source became obvious.

As the lizards were in the process of tearing into the dead vulture when they were called in, there was still plenty of meat for Enot to enjoy, and they were not one to waste food! This’ll hold me over for a bit longer. They thought to themselves as they tore a large piece of flesh loose, eating ravenously while also keeping a close listen for anything that could approach. Seeing as the process of clearing all the edible meat from the carcass would be rather time consuming, and come with the risk of the previous owners returning or the scent of fresh meat bring the danger of something else wanting a piece, the slugcat made the decision to leave a healthy part the vulture in favor of moving on with however much they felt was safe enough to consume.

If they were able to scrounge up even just few more bites, the slugcat would feel far better, maybe even to the point of being able to turn in for the night! Moving on from the half-finished meal, Enot stayed low to the ground still, just in case more of the purple “clan” members were hanging around and wanted to ambush any more clueless prey. There was no way for them to actually know if their stealth was enough, but if they were seen and killed, they could at least give themselves credit for trying to stay hidden, in the end... Moving forward still, the slugcat seriously hoped they would be able to find their way back once all was said and done, trying their best to commit every landmark, big or small, to their memory as they crawled slowly but surely through the bushes.

Their destination was wholly unknown for a while, but once their gaze fell upon a natural cave that was formed in foot of a mountain right in front of them, Enot felt an urge to move toward it.

Cold… Monk whimpered quietly at the sensation, feeling his consciousness return without prompting or reason. He shivered, realizing the blanket swaddled around him must have accidentally been kicked off in his sleep. Or stolen by Enot, again. Thinking of the other slugcat, he blindly felt around, trying to find his cuddle buddy to hold close for warmth. The two usually slept very closely in the recent cycles, so Monk felt he had good reason for becoming a bit nervous when his blind search offered no results at all.

In spite of the fact that the slight light coming from the blanket-covered lantern in the room burned his eyes, the slugcat forced his eyes open to search for where his friend had rolled off to, intending to crawl over to properly snuggle up to their warm fur. Disappointingly, it seemed they were gone from anywhere close to his side. Monk sighed quietly, guessing that the other slugcat left the sleeping den temporarily for whatever reason. The most logical theory; went out for fresh air, maybe. With a soft grunt of frustration, they at least spotted the discarded blanket by their paws. At least they didn’t steal the whole blanket… Rare to see. A tired huff of amusement punctuated his movement to reach out and grab the warm bedding to pull around his body for warmth, aiming to wait patiently until Enot came back so the two could fall asleep properly once again.

As such, he waited. Barely clinging to consciousness, the pull of sleep constantly forced his eyelids to droop, but Monk would not feel completely safe falling back asleep until Enot was back by his side. It was hard to fight the instinct of his body, but he could handle it! His friend couldn’t be too far off from coming back from whatever nightly business they were doing, after all. Even as just a short while of waiting turned a bit longer, the half-asleep slugcat stayed patient, at least up to an extent. Once quite some time had passed, the patience shifted to anxiety, and the feeling made him slowly sit up and look toward the entrance to the den, the blanket tightly hugging his body. Even despite the existence of the cover around him, he felt cold once again.

What if something had happened? What if Enot ventured outside for some fresh air and he was snatched by something, or worse, someone that was waiting outside? Though the cyan slugcat was far from a slouch in a direct fight, no one was immune to being snuck up on, especially when tiredly walking outside during time allocated for hibernation. It already happened to Survivor, after all, and the memory of what his big brother went through made Monk whimper in fear at the idea of it happening to anyone in the colony all over again. Realizing there was absolutely no way he could go back to sleep after working himself up so much, he gently placed the blanket on the floor and got up after putting on his satchel of flowers (just in case.)

Where have you gone off to, you silly scug? In mere moments, Monk snuck out of the den the two found to sleep in, immediately regretting his choice as he threw nervous looks all around him towards the darkness, barely even lit up by the moonlight. Enot was nowhere nearby, at least not close-by enough to be seen anywhere in the field. The fact they were not either anywhere close enough to the treeline to be visible likely meant they were deeper inside the dark, scary, and most of all, dangerous woods. He wanted to truly believe that his friend was not stupid enough to willingly walk into such risky territory so late at night, but there was no sign of the other slugcat through sight, nor any sign of a struggle that could imply they were kidnapped in any way. All Monk did find by scanning the ground were pawprints of a fellow slugcat that led directly into the nearest treeline, a fact he very much did not want confirmed…

Without hesitation, the yellow slugcat followed the trail, puffing himself up as best as possible while walking through the dark shade of the choked forest. He knew there was no time to go all the way back to the colony tree in order to fetch someone else to help watch his back. Especially not, considering that he’d have to explain the whole situation in full and waste precious time sniffing Enot out to help them if they were in a precarious, probably dangerous position! For a short while, Monk did consider taking a bit of a detour backwards to fetch one or two of his lizards, but abandoned the idea quickly. If there was to come a chance to defuse a potentially violent meeting with a predator, it would only be a viable strategy in the event that he had no allies with him that could lose their cool with being threatened and intimidated, no doubt leading to combat when such a situation otherwise was avoidable through the use of diplomacy.

Not to mention how much easier it would be to sneak around when he traveled alone and unburdened by the company of heavy, loud predators…

The walk was, at the very least, peaceful. At least as much as could be while Monk inwardly worried for his friend’s safety, noting that the trail at least led in one way and did not make a lot of turns, making it easy to follow. Not to mention it could speak to the fact that Enot traveled the path by intention and were not chased by anything that would force them to make a lot of turns or odd maneuevers to get away. The thought helped settle his nerves, if only a little bit. In an attempt to calm further, the slugcat looked up at the night sky as he walked, unable to keep himself from smiling at the small lights that peppered the pitch black, visible through gaps in the treetops above. Though everything was dark, he did not feel much fear.

After all, we went out here to scout territory.

All Monk had to go off was the footprints of his fellow slugcat, smaller clues like a particularly oddly shaped rock off to the side or a point when Enot seemed to have taken the smallest of turns or adjustments for seemingly no reason other than to change things up. After all, if his friend had been chased or attacked, some sort of clue would be found. Anything like blood, rustled bushes, and the like… All of it would be clear signs of something having gone wrong, but there was nothing at all like it. If anything, the walk for the cyan slugcat seemed to have been exceptionally peaceful.

Much as it was for Monk right then, almost a bit too peaceful. The realization ironically made him more nervous, and his gaze started to scan the surroundings for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. However, just like when he looked ahead, all the slugcat could see were the regular trees and bushes littering the area. Much of the grass in places was infested with roots, forcing anyone walking by to watch their step, lest they get their paw stuck and stumble or trip forward. Such a risk used to be the exception and not the norm, but ever since Five Pebbles collapsed, it was quite the ordinary sight to see many trees partly uprooted due to the quakes. Monk would consider it luck if Enot’s adventurous spirit hadn’t made them try to go down one of the smaller ravines that could have opened ever since.

The yellow slugcat himself had not seen any, but Fix had told him of one he found when hunting with Chieftain. A hole that was so deep neither of the two could see the bottom, a split through the ground that left a gaping gash that could very likely lead down into subterranean in some spots, stretching fairly far… He shuddered at the idea, well aware that Enot’s penchant for daring could have them try to scale down one such split, but really hoping that they weren’t so dumb as to actually try something like that all alone. For an expedition into such dangers, Monk figured there would need to be a group handling it for best results, unless the cyan slugcat did not mind accidentally slipping and-

No, don’t think that way. Enot wouldn’t take such a risk, it was fine. They would be nearby, hopefully unharmed and well, Monk would give them a light chewing out over their stupid trip outside the safe area they lived in, and then the two of them would go all the way back. Hopefully before the hibernation cycle ended, but there was no way for him to really know how far he needed to go to find his friend. At least he was offered a nice view, walking through small glades of flowerbeds of many colors that seemed to shine even in the night, scaling elevation for a moment which offered an opening in the trees to the side where Monk could look out and see a bit of distance away. It was plenty nice to get outside to somewhere he hadn’t been before, being cooped up inside the same space both inside and outside for a little while could leave your more adventurous side antsy, he supposed…

His surroundings stayed as deathly silent the whole way through, not even the gentle sound of wind rustling the leaves audible at all. While it was good from the perspective of offering more of a chance to pick up on nearby, approaching dangers through audible clues, all the quiet did otherwise was stress Monk out by keeping him on guard and on edge the whole time he walked. In spite of his own fears, nothing at all popped up in his way to want to kill him, however. As a result, he felt rather silly up until Enot’s footprints abruptly turned and started to lead him another direction.

Did he get chased after all? A worried whine rose from the back of his throat as he moved a bit faster, cutting to the right just like the footprints implied Enot did. He ended up inside of a glade composed of flat ground clear of trees. It was much like the field upon which he lived, although far smaller. In the middle of the ground was a rather tall structure that seemed abandoned, most likely built in the past and of ancient age considering how ruined the walls looked in some parts. That wasn’t immediately what caught the bigger part of his attention, however. Rather, Monk found himself stunned as he looked out at the grassy soil and spotted what he would have thought to be the aftermath of a large, free-for-all gang war, if not for the fact that every single one of the corpses were predators likely just fighting for food or self-preservation.

Blood soaked the soil, and the air smelt of death, as pieces of all manner of different creatures littered the area, in different states of mangled or torn apart. It was quite the eerie scene, especially when following such a long period of absolutely nothing happening, a feeling akin to dread settled in Monk’s stomach at the sight. His fear that something would jump out at him, something that had managed to somehow pull through the massive fight, burned even brighter. Even as he saw a lone dropwig struggling to scavenge the battlefield by dragging one of the larger lizards away (with much effort and struggle), it was impossible to settle his nerves completely. What if something was waiting for more prey? Considering most of even the thoroughly mangled corpses were uneaten, he realized it seemed a stretch to consider himself a snack worthy of consumption. Then again, that didn’t explain why there were so many bodies in the first place.

What was the point of the death? Could it really be the result of a massive congregation of fighting animals that got out of paw, or was all of what he saw before him the handiwork of one, particularly strong, predator? Monk’s mind flashed to one particular creature that could have caused the mayhem, but he was quick to remind himself that this was nowhere near where she’d been seen last to calm himself. Deep breaths, Monk. Although it felt disturbing, the slugcat kept an eye on every limp carcass he walked past, hoping he wouldn’t notice movement or a certain cyan shade of fur sticking out like a sore thumb. Maybe Enot caused all of the destruction he saw in front of him? As soon as the idea made itself known, he shook it out of his head. No, his friend could be vicious in a fight, but the results he saw in front of himself could not have been accomplished by even Hunter and Mama working together with the sheer purpose of killing as many predators as possible.

No matter the case, no immediate response would find its way to Monk as his gaze reluctantly sweeped the bodies, finding most all of them were inflicted with bite marks too large to belong to a slugcat. Despite the oddness of the amount of death, nothing really stuck out to the slugcat at first. However, when he walked around one of the corners of the ruined structure, his eyes fell upon the most shocking part of the cycle. Just a few meters away, right at the edge of the treeline, lay a carcass that was far larger than the rest. Not to mention very different from what he was used to laying eyes on! The scales and armored head was a regular occurrence when it came to lizards, but the creatures usually did not have a build that suggested they could move bipedally. However, the new purple shade seemed to be different, it had arms and legs separately, not to mention a far more elongated head that was covered in more eyes than usual.

They would look horrifying if faced in the dark, but all the many eyes accomplished at that moment was staring blankly up at the sky glazed over, the creature’s massive maw was open in shock, and a pool of blood beneath its embedded form made it clear its death was likely caused by massive exsanguination rather than the impact of whatever had left it stuck so deep into the wall. Surrounding it were more of the purplish kind of predator, although in many different sizes ranging from about as large as a regular pink lizard, to even smaller than the smallest of blues Monk studied in the past; there were even a couple that looked liked eerie imitations of scavengers, for void's sake! It was an oddity, but despite how scary the beasts looked, the slugcat was dissapointed that he wasn’t given a chance to properly see them alive, or in a more whole state. Maybe they could have been friends? If they weren't overly aggressive, at least… There was another familiarly shaped creature laying among the corpses, he noticed as he stared, one that was starkly different in color from the rest.

Curiosity peaked, he walked closer, wondering if the green came from a special “variant” or if it was a regular Jade-like overgrown friend. The body was partly obscured by the different shades of blood lathering its sizable mass, but as Monk walked closer and stood on his tippy-toes, he could just barely look into the creature's eyes. Right as he did so, the green thing moved! As if hearing his silent approach, the green lizard tilted its head and looked right at the slugcat with a surprised expression. It was one mirrored by Monk, and the two shared a short moment of shock and confusion before the situation sunk in for them both. With a roar, the seeming winner of the brawl with the purples stood up, revealing itself to be a huge mass of fat and muscle as it flexed its powerful limbs. Despite his experience, the slugcat was sure it was the largest and strongest looking lizard he’d seen, even for a green one’s usual larger size!

He jumped back in fear, raising both his paws slowly in surrender as the lizard affixed a hungry glare at him in between bursts of heavy breathing. “Woah, y-you’re big…” Monk stammered, slowly trying to back away as the lizard stomped forward, limping slightly as it stepped over the purple corpses to get a clear line right toward its target. “Easy, there. I am not your enemy.” The slugcat tried calmly, tensing when a large collection of thick, plume-like frills suddenly splayed out along its neck and back, pulsating and shaking aggressively. Never having seen anything like it, he was unsure of whether to react with terror or awe at the new variant of a green lizard. “You’re wounded.” His voice was slowly running out of what little confidence it held from the start as he gestured at the many lacerations that slowly bled the predator out into the grass. There were too many to count, showing that the victory of the green lizard was far from easily won, its own death sure to follow rather swiftly. “I can ease your suffering! I can-!” Without need for more threats, the lizard charged far faster than one could expect, bellowing a mighty roar that echoed through the night. “Oh shit!”

Staggering backward, the slugcat got ready to turn and run for his life, but he barely had time to build up his speed before the charging beast suddenly put far too much weight on one of its hurt limbs. Instead of making any meaningful forward momentum to close the distance, the lizard slammed into the ground with a hiss-turned-caterwaul. It slid for a short distance, leaving behind a mark in the soft soil made by its armored head. The beast was obviously in pain, staying on the ground for a concerning period of time before it attempted to move once again. Monk simply stared in awe, his fear draining away quickly as he noted how weak and shaky the poor creature seemed to be as it tried to stand on weak legs. Though it started off strong, the lizard was no longer able to pretend, all of its threatening aura gone as it collapsed again with a short whimper.

Made fully aware by now that the beast, even despite its size and temperament, couldn’t kill him even if he was right up in its face, Monk started to approach it once again. He moved cautiously, not intent on upsetting the already growling predator any more. “Easy… Your squirming is making your wounds worse, I assure you.” Whether because of a genuine understanding of the slugcat’s gentle words, or due to his soothing demeanor, the lizard calmed down and stopped trying to rise. Nevertheless, it still rumbled deeply, most definitely uncomfortable with Monk's approach. “I can help you pass easier.” With cautious, slow movements, he reached for the satchel at his side. The beast growled again, but did not panic as the slugcat produced a glowing flower. “You don’t have to suffer needlessly, buddy. This will help, I promise.” Carefully, he held the karma flower out for the lizard as he stepped closer still. 

In spite of his calming presentation, the predator did not relax for a moment. Hissing and growling, the frills settled on its body tried to splay out as earlier, but the display was far weaker. Its strength was fading, which might have been what convinced the green one to lean in and sniff at the slugcat’s offering. The reason behind its temporary confusion when looking upon the karma flower was lost on Monk, for surely any creature as old as it was would be well aware of what the effects of the hallucinogenic plant were. Nevertheless, the lizard thankfully leaned in and snatched the wheel flower, hastily chewing and swallowing as if just keeping it in its mouth for too long would somehow hurt it.

The very moment it swallowed, almost all of the tension in the beast’s huge body faded in an instant. It seemed confused for just a moment, narrowed eyes of suspicion widening just a little, before relaxing far more. “See? Better, yeah?” Monk asked with a smile, cautiously offering his only available paw. Once again, the beast hissed and growled quietly, although the display was cut short as the beast's energy began to fade even faster than before. “You’ll be okay.” He kept his voice as low as possible, eventually earning enough of the lizard’s trust for it to slowly lean in and sniff at him. There was no killing intent in the slugcat’s body language, nor did he smell of violence or anger. “I’m a friend, not your foe.” As his paw very carefully scratched the underside of the predator’s chin, it purred quietly and nuzzled into his touch. While time went on, the green one’s movements were slowing down more and more. “Next cycle, you’ll wake up like nothing happened. Like clockwork, okay?” Tiredly, the beast ran a long tongue over Monk’s forearm, leaving a small streak of blood behind in golden fur. When his new friend’s eyes slowly closed, head dipping down as its neck gave up, he reached over with the stump on his other arm to offer some support. “Rest easy, friend.” Gently, he guided the lizard’s large head to the ground, ensuring it would be laid down softly rather than slump over jarringly.

With its expression no longer pained or filled with a mixture of fear and worry, the lizard’s breathing slowed, and eventually stopped. Another corpse to add to the pile. Monk sighed, giving the giant green lizard one final pat before standing up again. If I ever see you again in better circumstances, please remember this moment, big guy. He was sure that if the beast would not have been mortally injured during their meeting, the end result could have ended much worse for him. At least the predator was sure to remember his moment of kindness, of that there was little doubt. From the slugcat’s experience, lizards were good at recalling personal happenings. When it came to anything from huge offenses to their character, to moments of friendship, one could easily make one of them a beloved friend or a hated nemesis.

In some cases even by complete accident.

Even when acting in self-defense, it was important to not be too memorable. If one was simply yet another slugcat prey who fought back and won, escaping the wrath of a vengeful lizard was easy, but acting too smug and cocky about victory, gloating openly, or simply sticking out too much could lead to the predator specifically seeking you out for revenge... Not that such thoughts mattered at the moment; finding Enot took priority! His sweeping search thus far hadn’t turned up anything particularly cyan colored, not even by cyan lizard standards! That left either the option of Monk’s friend escaping the situation alive, or the possibility that they had ended up inside one of the stomachs of the beasts all around the area. He hoped for the former, finding sweet relief when a deeper search near the purple and green carcasses revealed more tracks to foll

I swear, Enot… If you’ve upped and died after surviving all this… Monk huffed in amusement, even though the inner joke sparked some worry in his chest as started to walk just a bit faster. Seeing as there had been next to no real activity in the forest other than the sound of his own footsteps, the slugcat figured there would be no risk to foregoing his past cautiousness in favor of speeding up just a bit. Spotting tracks further ahead that had been curved in an odd way, he decided that cutting over some unmarred soil to reach the prints faster was ideal. Unfortunately, it quickly turned into a choice he regretted deeply as something suddenly brushed against his leg, causing him to leap to the side in surprise. From right above his head, something made an expectant noise, and Monk’s eyes widened as he quickly backpedaled from the spot, expecting an assailant to drop down soon after.

However, instead of spotting any familiar ambush predators, a hooked tendril swiftly lashed out from above. It landed right where he’d been, followed by a few others, one so fast and close to his side that his skin was nicked by its sharp barbed hooks. They failed to secure any meaningful contact, meaning Monk’s fast reflexes had no doubt saved him. He sighed and stepped back far enough for the tendrils that were feeling out for his location to be unable to track, let alone reach. Finally, he looked up at the perpetrator, huffing in annoyance as he saw a cocooning mass, with sharp, jagged teeth lining its bottom. The thing was a familiar menace, but it was a rare enough meeting that attempts at trying to recall the time he last saw one became difficult.

Seemingly annoyed at having missed him, not to mention completely losing track of his position, both the sensory and hooked tendrils started to feel around for him a bit more aggressively. They writhed in search of its prey while Monk simply took another step back, scowled, and lifted their only paw to offer the unseeing predator a rude gesture. “Yeah, yeah… Screw you.” He nursed the small cut in his arm from when one of the limbs grazed him, finding surprise at just how much the minor injury bled.

As the odd creature got more and more angry with the slugcat’s elusiveness, the stronger of the tendrils started to randomly beat against nearby objects. Trees, bushes, rocks, the ground, everything suffered an indiscriminate barrage as the thing appeared to be throwing a tantrum. Monk watched for a moment as it tried to enact violence against him in a blind rage, his own annoyance shifting to slight worry over his own safety. He couldn’t exactly recall if the things always stayed still, and seeing as he did not see them often, the slugcat did not feel like taking the risk of it being able to detach and pursue him if sufficiently enraged.

Giving the thing a wide berth, he walked around the creature, taking a sharp spear off the decayed grip of a collection of gnawed bones laying outside of a bush just in case. If there are more of those things, then I really hope you’re watching the space above your head, Enot. He thought to himself, continously finding comfort in being sure his friend was safe the longer he had tracks he could follow to a tee.