Mari felt the weightless sensation she expected from death...
Then she suddenly slammed into the ground.
Wha-? She grunted and lifted herself up. The first thing she was aware of was the fear overhanging... wherever she was...
"Uhh... M-Mari?"
The second thing she was aware of was Jowee laying on the (pavement?) beside her, and she was less afraid.
"Jowee?" she said, her voice wavering, "...where are we?"
Jowee looked up. He saw a city that must have been massive once, but now looked like it had been abandoned for a hundred years. Buildings had toppled over, and what still stood was grown over with vines. But what struck him as the oddest was how the sky was pitch black and the city was still somehow sunlit.
"I... I don't know..." but he wished he did. He couldn't see anything he recognised.
Mari did, though. "Jowee! Look!" She pointed behind him.
Lying on the ground behind them, they could see all their friends:
Isaac, Tubba and his brother Bubba, Chef Cookie, Cricket, Samuel, Indee, Rapobeard, Dr. Cure, and...
"Jowee! What happened?" Heather ran up to Jowee and hugged him. Everyone looked just as confused as her. The next few seconds were full of jabber.
"Where are we?"
"What happened?"
"Is Wilfre behind this?"
"What do we do now?"
"Weren't we going to die?"
"SHUT UP!"
The last voice was unrecognized. Everyone turned to see a creature that looked somewhat like a cat guesturing for them to keep quiet. "Keep it down! Do you want to be found?!" he hissed.
"Who the rapo are you?" Jowee asked.
"Well, duh! I'm a Raposa like you!" He beckoned them forwards.
Mari was the first to begin walking. "But you look like a... well, a cat!"
"That's 'cause I'm a Raposa Felidae! Really, your parents never told you anything?"
Everyone joined Mari as they walked in the shadows of the alleyway. Mari began to speak. "Told us-"
The Felidae made a quick gesture and pushed them back against the wall. Before anyone could protest, a large black shape slithered down the street in front of them. No one could tell what it was, but they all knew one thing:
"...shadow?" Mari whispered.
"You catch on quick." said the Felidae.
The shadow beast passed, and they rushed across the street.
The Felidae spoke again. "Look, if you're serious, I know who can explain everything." He turned around. "I'm Karli," and he outstretched a paw to be shaken. Jowee took it. "I'm glad that someone can explain what's going on!"
Everyone followed Karli to a skyscraper. The only distinguishing feature was that it had an advertisement that appeared nowhere else (Try RAPOFIZZ! The latest in deliciousness technology!). He motioned for them to enter, then directed them to a lobby.
He knocked on the door. Another Felidae peeked out through a window and eyed the Raposa suspiciously. "I need to see Madren!" Karli explained. "What's the password?" the other asked in a burly voice.
Karli pretended to think for a moment. "Oh, dear! I forgot that there was a password- Big Bertha, of course!"
Locks clicked on the other side of the door, which opened.
The Raposa entered what appeared to be a ballroom. Chairs had been set up in a somewhat organized fashon, with tables interspersed between a few. Karli walked towards a nearby kitchen, which apparently had been transformed into a meeting room.
"Pretty fancy," Jowee commented, causing Mari to roll her eyes.
Tubba relaxed into a chair. No one seemed to mind, so everyone followed his lead. Bubba sat down beside him, and they engaged in one of their regular thumb wars. They seemed distracted, though, like everyone else. It turned into simple twiddling of each others thumbs. The only one who seemed remotely relaxed was Samuel, who had been silent this whole time.
Karli reemerged with an older looking Felidae. He introduced himself as Madren. "Welcome to our colony!" he said jovially. He seemed like a sort of politician, and Mari assumed he was the leader. He shook everyone's hands. "This must be going by a bit fast for you, but I'm sure..." Then he reached Samuel. He paused. Then he smiled.
"By rapo, Samuel, it's been a long time!" he cried.
Samuel took his hood off for the first time anyone could remember. Then he smiled back.
"Hello, Madren. It has been a long time indeed."
Samuel explained that he had been good friends with Madren trying to stop a civil war of some sort before what he called "The Incident."
When everyone was confused, Madren began to explain everything.
"Long ago, this place was filled with all sorts of Raposa. It was called the Omnipresent, and life was good. Except for one small detail, but I'll get to that later.
"One day, some evil creature we call the Dendrill erupted out of the ground and attacked us all. Many lives were lost. But the problem is, it's still there. The Dendrill sits in the center of the Omnipresent City, often sending out minions made of it's own body to search for more Raposa."
"Wait..." Isaac blurted out. "This Dendrill is made of shadow goo?"
Madren nodded. "If we had the same sort of thing in our dream-world, then the Dendrill IS the shadow goo."
Isaac was confused, but Jowee spoke out first. "Dream-world?"
Mari remembered. "Our world was Mikes dream... but we weren't?"
"Let me explain." And Madren did. "Eventually, the Dendrill corrupted a rather odd family by the name of Wilfre."
"Wilfre?!" Tubba cried as everyone sat up straighter.
"Yes, the Wilfre family. They were odd because they consisted of every subspecies. We got Wilfre Felidae, others got Wilfre Rodentia. I suppose you know Wilfre Canid."
Everyone nodded.
Madren continued. "When the Dendrill possessed them all, they cast every subspecies of Raposa into a different world made in a dream. The Dreamer was usually in that world. I guess you found this 'Mike', then.
Isaac started to understand. "So when we woke up Mike... we got sent back here?"
"Precisely."
Mari was confused. "But my dad told me we'd lived in the village forever..."
"You probably did, maybe your father, but not your grandfather."
"Oh, yes he was!"
"I'm afraid that's impossi-"
"Hey!" Jowee interjected. "Mike was in a coma for a week! I think a lot can happen in a week-long dream."
Madren cleared his throat. "Very well then. Anyways, we're going to have to set you up with a place to stay."
Karli spoke up. "There's a few houses on 100th street."
Madren didn't seem to like this. "100th street is to close to the Dendrill. I don't think-"
"Bessy's lived there her whole life! She's been fine!" Karli blurted out.
Mari nodded. "Any place would be fine, for now. We don't want to cause any trouble."
Madren thought for a moment, then sighed. "Alright, you can stay there. But be careful."
Karli dismissed this last sentence. "Aw, we could hide from the Dendrill for years and STILL never be found!"
Suddenly, the room grew chilly. Everyone looked around, panicking. They were suddenly terrified for no apparent reason.
Then they heard a voice which made their blood run cold.
"Do not get cocky, Raposa," it said. "Some of the greatest predators enjoy toying with their prey before finally devouring it."
It spoke in a way that if a voice were a physical object, its voice would be a rusty saw smothered in goo (shadow goo, most likely).
Heather screamed and began to cry. Jowee reached over and began to rock her comfortingly. "It's okay, Heather..." he soothed, but he didn't believe it himself.
Madren seemed to think likewise. "It's the Dendrill! Quiet!" he hissed.
Everyone obeyed.
There was a minute of cold silence during which nobody even could speak.
Then it spoke again.
"Perhaps you should be informed that you've already been found..."
When the screaming had finally died down, Madren called a public meeting.
Madren was at the head of the table, holding a judges gavel in one paw. He opened with a simple question. "How the rapo do we intend to survive?"
There was much discussion. "We need to move further away!"
"No! We should try to reach the other side of the city!"
"We could split up and set a weekly meeting time!"
Madren tried to keep everyone calm. "These are all good suggestions, but-" He quickly lost control of the group.
While everyone panicked, Jowee thought carefully. It was a crazy idea, but maybe, just maybe... He called for silence.
"I was thinking, maybe, we could, you know..."
He cleared his throat.
"...we could stay where we are?" he finished meekly.
Now THAT launched an argument. Raposa began yelling, stating their disapproval. Madren held up raised a paw to silence them.
"Jowee, how could you suggest such a thing?"
"It's simple!" Jowee explained. "It's the least logical thing to do! The Dendrill will expect us to move! So... we don't!"
Mari was impressed. She never thought Jowee could think of such a brilliant idea, mostly after the suggestion to build a reflector dish to block the intense sun, but it had happened. She raised a paw to second the motion.
"I like this plan. The Dendrill will search the rest of the city and leave our building alone."
This was quickly followed by an objection. "Who're YOU to say what we do?"
"I'm the mayor of the Raposa Canid," Mari replied hotly, "and I intend to support what I think best for everyone!"
Madren considered this. He sighed. "Perhaps you're right. We could stay here for a little while..."
An instant uproar. Everyone wanted a chance to voice their disappointment in their leader agreeing with "one of THEM."
Mari was offended. Why was she any different than the Felidae, aside from her appearance?
Madren raised a paw again. When everyone drowned him out again, he lost is temper. "SILENCE! Please!"
There was quiet once more.
"Now then! The civil war is over! I expect you to be more tolerant of each other!"
Jowee took note of this. Civil war between Raposa? He'd have to ask Samuel about that.
Madren continued, "We'll stay here, and if the Dendrill does come along, we'll do our best to fight. We have an escape tunnel, remember! We'll take the tunnel if we need to."
Before anyone could protest, Madren settled it. "Meeting Adjourned!"
He whacked his gavel on the table.
Is everyone enjoying the story so far?
Again, please share your thoughts below; how I could improve, your opinion on my massive changes, why Samuel never takes his hood off!
-Chapter 2 coming soon!-
