-1The Vengeance of Tyranny

(By: Tobias Pretzhog)

Chapter 1

Things weren't so bad as they are now on Piñata Island. I heard plenty of stories of how there was once peace and harmony here, even the sours obeyed the laws... Mostly. Some of the sours had their devilish quirks but it wasn't so bad, though no one had seen this coming. The sours were more chaotic than conniving which leads us to how they could have gathered the intelligence to pull something off like this. Maybe they were playing dumb the whole time.

"Terrance…"

Some piñatas came up with theories to why such a thing had taken place. Me? I knew something was definitely fishy. The sours were capable of fluent speech and any other abilities a normal piñata could do, but they were just as reckless as the feral piñatas before them.

"Psst, Terrance."

The sours ended up pulling the wool over our eyes and the rug from underneath our feet. Knowing this was probably the last remaining moments of our lives, PDF, or better known as Piñata Defense Force, had bombed over half of the whole Island off the map. Fortunately, most of the sours went down with it. It gave us time to rebuild and recover from our loses. Everything seemed to be going fine, civilization being rebuilt, Piñata population rising as the sour count remained low. Until…

"…Terrance!"

The sours came back, stronger than ever. We learned the pandemonium wouldn't end unless one of the sides were completely terminated. We were brought back down to our knees as the sours proved again who was fit to reign. It was in that moment I was brought into the world. Though, unlike the others, we were hidden from the sours that ruled the surface…

"Dammit Terrance!" I heard a slap across furred skin, "why do you always over sleep?" the voice complained as the pain started to rush into my left cheek.

"Oww…" I moaned, peeling open my eyes slowly, "what was that for?" I grumbled as I carefully sat up.

"For not using your alarm clock Terrance," I rubbed my eyes clear of sleep's grime to see that my attacker was a purple, female pretztail sitting right across from me.

"I do use my alarm clock Pranvera!" I retorted, scowling at her

"Oh really? Then why don't you wake up sooner?" Pranvera shot back, giving me the same look.

"I do, but… Then I get tired… And fall back asleep," my angry mood turned apologetic.

"Sure… Nice lying," Pranvera growled as she climbed out of my bed.

"I can't help it that I can't get enough sleep," I defended myself with a whine.

"Then go to bed sooner," she gave no sympathy.

"I can't you know, I'm put on nighttime guard duty," I reminded her.

Now that me and Pranvera were older, we had to carry more responsibilities on our shoulders. The adults before us showed us the ropes of holding down the town, the dangers of sours, and how to keep the townspeople from panicking. However Pranvera didn't get as intense training as I did. Though with all the responsibilities came the emotional battles with them. Rage, Malice, Fear… I wanted to run away from it all, but where was I to go?

"Whatever, look… I woke you up because there's something big happening in town- I mean there's a whole crowd drawn around" Pranvera exclaimed and motioned for me to follow her. I crawled out of bed, and trailed behind her.

I don't think I had seen a commotion this big in my life. Practically the whole town was out and gathered towards the entrance. Glancing over the scene, I noticed the two piñatas guarding the exit gate were both already slain with a bullet to the head. Were they mad? Suicidal? What was going on?

I kept silent as I moved onwards, making my way through the busy crowd. My legs froze in place when I saw it for myself. It was a sour, a sour mallowolf to be exact. I've heard about them and saw pictures, but this was the first time I've ever saw one in the flesh.

"Terrance! Get back here!" I heard Pranvera whisper loudly as she grabbed me by the back shag of my neck and dragged me out of the crowd.

"What is it?" I lowered my voice to her level as we began to bicker.

"Do you know what that thing is?" Pranvera asked me while holding my shoulders firmly.

"…It's a sour, what of it? It's only one," I shrugged casually, knowing there's an army of us and only one of whoever he is.

"Yeah, but look at what it's already done! Two piñatas are dead because of the damned sour!" Pranvera muttered irritably, letting me go right after.

"I saw…" I began to see her point as I avoided eye contact.

Even though two piñatas were dead, what was stopping the rest from shooting the sour's brains out? Something was up that was for sure. Knowing my mouth wouldn't get me anywhere far with this matter, I decided to listen in.

"…I'll say this one last time, comply or else. I'm being extremely merciful here," a gruff voice threatened.

"I…I… I guess there's no other choice… Though you do promise not to speak of this place to anyone else correct?" a fearful voice uttered in return.

"…As long as the goods are delivered, you have my word" the gruff voice answered.

"O-okay, now-" The fearful voice acknowledged the agreement, but before he could go on, all of the townsfolk had panicked, running rampant throughout the town, I felt something smash into the side of my face and it was all a blur from then on.

Now out cold, I was lost in my own little world. In that world, I could see peace, kindness, compassion. I know it may sound sappy, but it was a haven for suppressed piñatas like me. As I regained my awareness, I thought over what had recently happen. Unfortunately, all I could remember was two piñatas discussing matters and then all hell braking loose.

"You finally awake?" Pranvera entered my room without knocking, approaching me with an ice pack in her paws.

"Y-yeah," I read her face, it was filled with much concern.

"You took a pretty nasty hit to the head," she pointed out by patting my bandages around the right side of my head. Each pat left more pain than the last.

"AH- Don't touch it!" I winced from the ache.

"Quit being such a baby," Pranvera ridiculed me, handing me the ice pack.

"I can't help it, pain hurts y'know," I countered as I put the ice right to my wound, "…What happened anyways," I couldn't help but ask.

"Somebody got you good with the back of their rifle," Pranvera explained as she began to cringe a bit recalling the incident.

"Back of the rifle? Why didn't they shoot?" I raised an eyebrow.

"They probably didn't want a shootout to break out. If one gunshot were to go off, who knows what might of happened?" Pranvera stated her opinion.

"I see… What happened after anyways?" I needed to know if the town returned to the way it was before the sour arrived.

"The sour left with what he came for of course," Pranvera crossed her arms.

"With what?" I grew worried with what the sour had claimed.

"No- Nothing to worry about yet, we have another week until that sour comes back," she shook her head and sighed, though I knew she was hiding something.

"W-what? So they let the sour go? …Do you know what this means!" I shouted, but Pranvera covered my mouth with her paw to silence me.

"Calm down, it's not the end of the world. If you were listening, or still able to anyways," she grumbled while gesturing at my head wound, "you would have found out that the sour promised to keep this place a secret if we gave him a piñata each week," she explained as she retracted her paw back.

"Oh-okay," I exhaled, returning to normal breathing pattern again.

Trusting a sour seemed strange… and desperate. I would be overly hesitant in placing my trust in a sour… "So we just go back to the way things were before? We not gonna find a safe new shelter? Not even try to escape?" Pranvera shook her head solemnly. "…How can you just stand there?" I started to raise my voice again, "the sour could come back and with a whole army if it wanted to! We could have had a chance to stop this! If only the town wasn't controlled by fear…"

"Terrance," Pranvera sighed, "it wasn't my decision. Believe me, if it were, I would have been right behind your statement, but you can't argue with the majority's decision."

"Ugh, it's just a matter of time before all hell breaks loose here…" My head fell back on the pillow as I closed my eyes in an attempt to escape reality. I could hear Pranvera whisper something as I drifted off, unfortunately I couldn't quite make it out.

I was stuck in bed for the next few days with a splitting headache. Luckily, Pranvera was there to take care of me. It would have been hard for me to manage on my own in the condition I was in. As I recovered, the next week was creeping closer by the second.

During that time, I wondered if my condition would exempt me from this… Harvest that the sour had started. Maybe… What if it made me a prime choice? After all I was injured and I've been useless for the past few days. If I want to save my pelt, I needed to get my tail back in gear!

I pulled myself up and out of bed and took a walk around town to get my legs working again. Unfortunately, I had ran into Pranvera during my walk.

"Terrance! What are you doing out of bed?" I couldn't gaze away from the frustration on her face.

"I… I need to do something," I admitted, hoping she would force me back into bed again.

"What this something that needs to be done?" Pranvera asked with her paws on her hips.

"Anything!" I tried to keep myself balanced on my own feet, "I need to get myself back in action!"

"What for? You're injured, you should be resting right now," she lectured me.

"I Should be, but I can't…" I countered, hoping I wouldn't have to explain.

"Why can't you?" Pranvera was perplexed with my answer as she took her paws off her hips.

"My injuries…" I patted the bandages gently, "make me susceptible to being easily picked for next week's sour arrival.

"I… I didn't think of that," Pranvera gasped.

"I need to get myself back into shape," I told her as I began walking again.

"Wait," Pranvera called out to me.

"What is it?" I said, glancing over my shoulder to see Pranvera tailing after me.

"I wanna walk with you, it's lonely out here, now with most of the piñatas indoors during daylight hours.

Day and night were probably hard to tell apart while living underground, but we had a system figured out. We still had clocks to tell time, and the aid of stadium lights from the pieces we've scavenged. In the day hours the lights were on, and during the night only small few were left to illuminate our path.

"Oh… Yeah," I finally noticed how vacant the town seemed. As we walked together, awkward silence settled in. Normally, Pranvera and I were buzzing with conversation, but I think I could understand why. Our home had been invaded, threatened, and at the mercy of a sour even! Things probably weren't going to be the same ever again unless we could escape it somehow.

"Terrance…" Pranvera caught my attention as she gazed down at her path.

"Yes?" I turned my head to face her, but she didn't even bother to look back.

"What… What if you were chosen to be the sour's next captive? …What would you do?" She asked hesitantly.

"I don't know… I try not to think about it," I murmured, imagining what they did with the captured piñatas.

"I know how you feel… I don't wanna think about it either…" Pranvera admitted. My body suddenly collapsed onto the sidewalk as my lungs refused to work functionally.

"Terrance?" Pranvera knelt down as I started to grab at my chest, trying to get another breath of air. "Terrance!" she shouted again before I blacked out.