Story that follows events of Pit People. Some things are edited to make more sense to me or just to fill in something.

Horatio was outside his home with his son Hansel, working on the blueberry farm he had. It was boring there, sure, but Horatio was fine with that, so long that his son could be safe. It was all he wanted in this world, especially after the bear crashed into the earth, plunging it into eternal anarchy and destruction. The world had changed so much since then, and Horatio made it his everyday goal to protect his son, even if it would sacrifice him seeing the world. A sound interrupted the usual silence of the farm, it sounded like marching.

"What's wrong, Horatio? You think someone is going to rain on your parade there, you miserable worm?" A voice from the sky boomed. He ignored it, the voice always taunted people, or encouraged violence. Beforehand, a nice, kind voice would comfort people instead, made them laugh, make them happy. But again, after the bear fell it was replaced by a more sinister and brutal voice, one that lusted for blood.

"No, we'll be okay," Horatio whispered, going into his house to retrieve defensive weapons. He grabbed a long, sharp razor of a sword and a decent size of fencing as a makeshift shield. Walking back outside, he looked to the boundaries of the farm again. From the sky, green acid rained from the heavens; bear blood, and purple clouds formed above. A bear blood storm, one of the major consequences of the bear's death.

"Papa, what's happening?" Hansel asked from across the field. He had a gardening pitchfork in his hand and was busy harvesting berries. The original plan for the day was to gather up the season's harvest and wagon to the castle to sell it, but those plans were likely to be cancelled that day. Horatio stayed silent, and the voice in the sky spoke again.

"Looks like things are getting interesting for once, that's new for you. I must say I won't miss you when you're dead, no one will, but I'll certainly remember you're hilarious death."

From the forest boundaries beyond the farm, multiple figures appeared, at least 7 humans with their faces covered in mud, sticks, and what looked to be mascara. They either wielded broken swords and tattered shields, or had tiny bows in their hands. Following these figures was a man who looked to be at least in his 20s, yet had a perfectly managed beard the color of bubblegum flowing to his mid-chest, and wore a hat with pink and yellow stripes, similar to a jester's cap. He, unlike the others, wielded a puppet on a stick, which looked suspiciously like Horatio.

"Here's that juicy family I was tellin' you guys about!" The man said, his voice carrying over the field. Horatio gripped his weapon tight and clenched his jaw. The Child Eaters. Horatio had hoped for sometime now they wouldn't show up, but it looked like his luck ran out. The storm came down harder, decaying the ground wherever the bear ichor landed.

"We better hurry up, the blood storm is getting worse!" one of the child eaters exclaimed.

"Alright, just kill the farmer, eat the kid, and take shelter in the house. Easy as 1, 2, 3," another child eater said. Upon hearing the child eater's plan, Hansel dropped his pitchfork in fear and ran back to the house for safety. Horatio stepped in front of the house and raised his makeshift shield.

"You stay away from my family, freaks!" Horatio yelled. Several child eaters moved forward with their swords, while the rest stayed back and fired a volley of arrows at the farmer. Horatio raised his shield to ward off the sharp projectiles.

"Grr," Horatio grunted as a few arrows made it past the shield and grazed his arm.

"Dad?" Hansel called, worried for him. Horatio might have had muscles from working on the farm, but muscles could only do so much against sharp, metal projectiles.

"Just stay inside the house, I got this!"

The rain of arrows stopped and Horatio moved toward one of the child eaters. He swung his sword with as much strength as possible and slashed the Child eater, knocking them to the ground. They did not get back up.

"Horatio, you will die," the voice in the sky said. It was not amused that Horatio was still standing. The child eaters moved again, one coming close enough to swipe their sword horizontal to the farmer's chest, but Horatio just barely managed to dodge it in time. Another volley of arrows rained down on Horatio, but thankfully almost all of them missed Horatio and hit the child eater in front of him, making her bare resemblance to a porcupine, a dead one at that.

"I warn you, stay away!" Horatio yelled in anger, charging again and stabbing a child eater through the stomach in a lame fashion. The blood rain hardened and fell down in massive drops. Horatio had enough sense to jump out of the way to the cover of a massive blueberry nearby, but the child eaters were late to that. The green acid-blood covered the majority of the child eaters, leaving nothing but dead ground and bones.

"I said, Horatio dies!" the voice from the sky shouted in rage. At that moment, a gigantic bear paw shot down from the red sky, landing on Horatio's home and crushing it, a faint scream resonating from the house; Hansel's scream.

"Hansel! Hansel, noooo!" Horatio said, knowing his son was just there. The bear paw retracted and shot back up into the sky, leaving nothing but the ruins of the house. Horatio could feel his heart shatter into a thousand, bite-size pieces.

"Naughty boys who don't listen get punished," the voice said in a cruel voice, followed by a cruel laugh. Horatio turned back to where the child eaters were and saw that only one was left, the strange man with the puppet. Noticing he was the only one left, he got cold feet and backed out.

"Man, I just remembered, I got an appointment at SB! Xoxo!" the man said before disappearing in a puff of smoke. Horatio looked back to his now destroyed home and sighed. It would provide him no protection from the storm, and more hostiles might come. His only option would be to travel out in the world to seek out the city, the one place he could find safety.

"You might have escaped death this time, Mr. Horrible father, but you're luck will run out soon. For now, my delicate pawn, why don't you go adventure a bit? Go find some shelter before something comes and ends your worthless life, hm?" the voice in the sky echoed. Horatio started walking beyond the boundaries of his now decimated land, broken that his son was gone.

"I'll keep going… for him," he said to himself, trying to make the courage to keep on going.

"Boring, moving on," the voice said, blowing a raspberry. "No one wants to hear your stupid sob story, go fight a cyclops or something, I'm getting bored here."

"If I ever find a way to kill you, I will," Horatio threatened to the sky.

"Unlikely, but I'd like to see you try, tough guy."

An hour of wandering around the wilderness, listening to the voice's insults, puns, and death threats later, Horatio found the castle of King Papastrella, a generally respected man among his subjects and his kingdom. Horatio never paid mind to him, he was just a farmer after all, and he did his job while the king did his, and Horatio's only job with him was to deliver produce to him. The castle looked to be in ruin, however, and multiple men and women in helmets were storming the castle. Up to the balcony of the castle, it was torn up, and Horatio could see knights of the King defend against the invaders, though it looked to be a losing battle.

"What are you waiting for? Go."

Horatio started to the castle, running in through the busted front gate. Inside, there was only a long hallway, and a long staircase to follow. Looking up, it seemed it went up to the balcony, where Horatio could assist the King. After a groan of protest, Horatio started to run up the stairs, each step of the way making him shorter of breath.

"Say, I bet if you make it up there you might find shelter."

"Shut up *pant* tryin' to *pant* help!"

"Oh, don't worry Horatio, you'll help, but I'm just saying you might find shelter."

"Please be *pant* quiet!"

"Fine, you'll just be missing out on great shelters."

"I don't care! *pant* How long do these stairs go on for?"

Horatio looked up and saw a point where the stairs ended, and a door at the end, light seeping through. With a big smile, Horatio sprinted the rest of the way up the steps, making it to the top. At the doorway, he collapsed in a heap, exhausted. He was sweating all over, and his muscles burned.

"*ahem* would you look at that, an elevator," The voice from the sky commented.

"What?"

Horatio looked up and saw, only several feet away, an elevator in perfect working order. "Oh come on!"

Getting up, Horatio looked around and saw the carnage that unfolded: men and women in sturdy metal helmets were advancing in on the King, who was currently fending off two men who were trying to take off his crown, and Princess Pipistrella, who stood with her fists at the ready. Around them, the bodies of the King's guard were strewn about, all dead. So much for that defense.

"A beautiful lady, are you thinking what I'm thinking Horatio?"

"Help them?"

"Not what I had in mind, but that's equally as good: dying with them. Go on, help your fellow pawns, you lamb."

Horatio bravely ran out to the balcony, jumping to the princess's side. Around them, 3 helmetites were surrounding them, armed with razor sharp blades. From across the balcony, 3 archers stood with a massive cyclops wearing a helmet with horns on it.

"Who is this new meat I see?" The cyclops pondered, his voice carrying over. "Tell me!"

"My name's Horatio, and I'm here to stop you!"

Everyone paused for a moment to soak in what Horatio just said. The king and princess smiled in approval, but the cyclops simply threw back his head and laughed, followed by half-hearted laughter from his minions.

"You are hilarious, I'll give you that, but laughter can't kill metal, soft skull! Kill them!"

The archers nocked arrows in their bows and fired in unison, giving Horatio barely enough time to raise his shield to block. Behind him, Pipistrella was managing to dodge multiple blades at once, though she wouldn't last long. Over to the throne, the King glanced over to see Pipistrella in a tight situation. To him, only 2 helmetites stood, and they weren't really doing much to him at all. Grabbing his scepter, he swiped one of them to the side and, in one motion, threw it to Pipistrella.

She caught it just in time, examining it, then the helmetites, and put two and two together to figure out what to do next.

"Cover me, farmer," She ordered, assuming a batting stance with the weapon. Horatio nodded and acted as her shield to the arrows, while she dealt with the helmetites. One by one, they fell, their helmets beaten in, and no arrows ever managed to reach them. Eventually, none were left standing, leaving the King with a single, unarmed Helmetite to face.

"Bah, we've done enough here anyways," the cyclops growled. Looking to the sky, he shouted," We're done here! Requesting extraction!"

"Excellent job, maniacs, excellent job. How about you wreck havoc in more places for me, would you?" said the voice from the sky. Right after, a massive bear paw, just like the one that smashed Horatio's farm, plunged down from the sky, dropping a space shuttle for the Helmetites, who immediately got aboard the ship, save for the one who was still fighting the King.

"What?! You're helping them now?" Horatio yelled, now confused as to who's doing who and what is what.

"Sorry Horatio, only hard feelings, everything personal," The voice soothingly said as the shuttle took off. As it left, the force of the take off shook the entire balcony, causing rubble to fall from what remained of the ceiling. To the King, one large piece of stone caught the Helmetite fighting him, though only more boulders came down after that. The man noticed this, and realized he wouldn't come out alive.

"Dad?" Pipistrella called, looking over in shock. The king only looked at her and faintly smiled as rubble crushed him. Horatio stood away from the event, and witnessed something similar to that of how he lost Hansel, except the other way around. Pipistrella slowly walked over to the heap and kneeled down. "He's gone…"

She sat there for a moment, sitting in the silence before looking up to the spaceship with a look of pure hate in her eyes. It was racing off to the sky, just barely noticable. Horatio walked over to Pipistrella and saw how much hate was in her eyes, but through that, he could see tiny hearts shattering into a thousand pieces.

"Uh, Princess?"

"..."

"Princess Pipistrella?"

"...Yes?"

"We should head to the city, I don't think this place will serve us much more."

"Ok farmer…?"

"Horatio."

"Princess Pipistrella, though I'm sure you knew it already. Lead the way Horatio."

After acknowledging the King's grave, they left to the elevator to then head for the city, where they could figure out what to do next.


Horatio is wasting his breath. You know that, right?

Come on, tiny boy, can't you see you're in better hands now? Literally, I have four of them.

You took me from my Papa!

I can see that, but think of it like this: I saved you from the sour fate of being eaten! Isn't that good?

I… I guess… But still!

Oh, don't worry, Horatio won't be around too long, I can tell he'll meet a bitter end, and we'll be there to witness it, popcorn and iced creams in hand...