A/N: Here we are with a brand new update for this story! Peabody and Malcolm have bargained with Dreyfus to allow them to try and go back up into the woods and try and fix the dam with little more than a three day deadline. Peabody only hopes to get Sherman to come back to the side of the humans and become his old civilized self rather than an ape like Caesar. Now, this is where we left off. Enjoy!
Sherman was by the lake that Luca had trained him at before, and had just finished washing off his war paint off his chest and face. He watched underneath the leaves of a tree as the fish swam around underneath him. He didn't feel like being around anyone right now, and wanted to be alone. He thought a lot about what went down yesterday, when Peabody let Carver shoot Ash, who was doing nothing but protecting him.
"Sherman?" a voice said. Sherman looked behind him to see Luca, who walked up to the boy and sat down right next to him.
"Not feeling well?" Luca signed to him.
"Just wanted some quiet time" Sherman signed back.
"I can understand that. A lot has been happening for the past few days, it can be overwhelming" Luca signed.
"I've also been thinking. I know Caesar told Mr. Peabody to stay away from me, but what if he tries coming back for me again?" asked Sherman. Luca now looked a little confused.
"Why do you call him Mr. Peabody?" asked him in sign language.
"The day he adopted me, he said I was to call him Mr. Peabody" Sherman said.
"You never called him 'Dad' or 'Father'?" Luca signed.
"He never wanted to be called those things. He insisted over and over again that I call him Mr. Peabody" Sherman replied in sign language. He then felt his body being turned towards the gorilla, who now had both his hands on Sherman's shoulders.
"If you... were my son... Sherman. I would always... let you call me... your father" Luca said, this time speaking. It was the first time that Sherman heard Luca use his voice since he welcomed the boy into the Gorilla Guardians. Sherman now smiled, and felt his heart grow warm at Luca's words. To Luca, every living creature, whether they were human, ape, or even dog should always have the honor of being called by the title of father by their children.
"Thank you, Luca" Sherman said before giving him a hug, trying to wrap his arms around the gorilla's fairly large midsection. He then put his own large arms around Sherman to give him a hug as well.
"You're welcome, Sherman" Luca said, using his voice once more. The sound of thunder roared throughout the sky, and some drops of rain began to fall, causing Luca's fur and Sherman's bare skin to get wet. Luca looked up at the sky and felt some more raindrops land on his nose before looking to Sherman and speaking, going back to using sign language.
"I better get going. Caesar is having me guard the gates this time" Luca signed. Sherman then signed as he felt rain get in his hair.
"Good luck" Sherman signed. Luca nodded and ran off towards the front of the entrance of the village. Sherman then went back to Maurice's hut, to take refuge from the rain and stay warm until the storm passed.
The Jeep that Malcolm had driven into the woods before had now parked outside the abandoned 76 station. Rain was pouring and drenching the windshield with droplets upon droplets of water. Malcolm had then shut the Jeep's engine off, and the wipers stopped working as well. He took a deep breath and looked to everyone in the back with him. Alexander, Ellie, Carver, Kemp, Penny, and Mr. Peabody.
"No one gets out of the trucks. No one" Malcolm ordered. Ellie, Alexander, and Penny nodded in reply to his order. Malcolm then turned his head to look behind him and face everyone else.
"If Peabody and I are not back in two hours, take everyone back to the city. But, it's going to be okay, I promise" said Malcolm before getting out of the truck, wearing a hat and blue poncho.
"I certainly hope you're right about that" Peabody said as he got out of the car, putting on his own red poncho and placing the hood over his head. The two of them now began walking up past the gas station ruins and up towards where they last saw the apes. Their feet making squishing sounds in the wet muddy ground as they walked. They had passed where Carver had shot Ash, and where Peabody last saw Sherman and then kept on walking to see what appeared to be a large pathway. It was made up of wooden spikes, twigs, and mud like a beaver's dam would. The walls lead up to a large wooden archway that looked like it was made of branches and tree trunks, held together by vines tied tightly together. Some of the spikes had animal skulls on the very tips of them. Peabody gulped at the sight of this.
"I've got a bad feeling about this" the beagle said. Malcolm didn't respond and just kept staring and walking towards the archway, with Peabody still following closely behind him. The sound of branches snapping and mud squishing caught both of their attentions and looked behind to see Luca, hiding inside the wall and making his way towards them, grunting and exhaling through his nose as he walked.
"Grr" Luca growled as he slowly approached the two of them. Peabody and Malcolm stood still where they were as they watched Luca stand up on his hind legs and bared his fangs to them. Luca roared loudly towards the sky as Mr. Peabody and Malcolm backed away slowly. Many other apes had just shown up on the tops and edges of the walls and staring down towards them. Peabody and Malcolm now raised their hands and paws to show they were not armed, and that they didn't come to fight. More Gorilla Guardians were now surrounding them, and joined Luca in taking them into custody.
After a while, Sherman saw out the window of Maurice's hut that the storm was beginning to stop, only letting some raindrops fall down, causing a light drizzle. His ears picked up the sound of gorillas roaring, as well as chimpanzees. Sherman then saw Rocket enter the hut.
"What's wrong?" Sherman asked using sign language.
"One of the humans from before came back into the colony. Your father is with them" Rocket signed back. Sherman now grew mad and ran over to his spear, which was resting against the wall of the hut and grabbed it before running outside. He kept on running until he saw Caesar with Blue Eyes standing next to him.
"Caesar!" Sherman shouted to get the ape king's attention. Caesar then looked to see Sherman running towards him.
"Rocket, he told me..." Sherman was about to continue, but Caesar placed a hand on his shoulder.
"I know. Stay close... to me" Caesar ordered gently. Sherman nodded in reply and stayed to Caesar's right while Blue Eyes remained on his father's left side. The three of them climbed up the tall rock in the center of the tribe's "Courtyard" and they all saw Malcolm and Mr. Peabody surrounded by half the entire colony, with Koba and Luca standing right behind them, forcing them to get down on their knees in the presence of their king.
"Okay, okay. Fine, we get it. Please don't kill us, just hear what we have to say" Malcolm said, trying to be friendly with Luca and Koba. Caesar stood his ground, remaining silent towards the human and canine intruders Sherman then saw Mr. Peabody staring up at Caesar before he noticed the beagle staring towards him. Sherman narrowed his eyes down at him.
"We told you not to come back here!" Sherman exclaimed to them.
"We know. 'Don't come back', we know. I wouldn't be here unless it were..." Malcolm said as he stood up, but Luca roared and knocked him back down to the muddy ground before he could finish.
"Stop hitting us you mindless, savage brutes!" Peabody demanded, but all that got him was a smack across the face from the bottom of Koba's spear. Sherman looked to the scarred bonobo and shouted.
"Stop it, Koba!" he shouted. Sherman may have still been mad at Peabody, but he didn't deserve to get physically assaulted by Koba. Koba snarled and bared his teeth at Sherman again before looking back down at the beagle.
"Okay, okay, okay. We need to show you something. It's not far" Malcolm said, remaining on his knees, making no attempt to stand back up. Peabody did the same, having one paw on the area of his face where Koba whacked him with the spear.
"Human lies!" Koba shouted up to Caesar. All the apes were agreeing with him.
"No! No! No, no, no. We swear. If we could just show you, then you'll understand. Please" Peabody said in defense of Malcolm. The apes were not listening, Koba was even getting ready to stab Peabody with his spear, awaiting Caesar's order to strike. Sherman's eyes were wide, and his heart was racing. Caesar raised his left hand, signalling all the apes to calm down, and they silenced quickly.
"Show me" Caesar commanded. The apes quickly dispersed and Peabody ran up to the human boy.
Sherman! Sherman! Thank goodness you're alrig..." before Peabody could finish, he saw a spear blocking the way in between the two of them. Peabody then looked up to see Caesar was the one holding the spear. The chimpanzee shook his head in disapproval and walked down the rock back to the court yard.
"Just because I stopped Koba from killing you, doesn't mean I've forgiven you for the things you've said" Sherman said before walking behind Caesar and following him. Peabody followed behind him.
"Wait! Who is Koba?" Peabody asked. Sherman turned behind him and pointed towards the scarred bonobo who had whacked him before. Koba stood up and let out a roar, which sent Peabody taking a few steps back in fear before turning back to his son.
"THAT'S Koba" Sherman said before walking away again. This time, Peabody did not follow. He just sat there looking guilty.
Malcolm had lead Caesar to the dam, Sherman was walking closely behind him. He was in awe at how big it was, staring at the large concrete structure with several wet branches and logs resting against it.
"Never knew that was back here before" Sherman said out loud. Caesar only stared at it before resuming following Malcolm towards the dam. Malcolm lead Caesar, Sherman, Maurice, Blue Eyes, and Rocket inside while explaining why they needed the power the dam provided to them so badly.
"This is what we used to call a 'small hydro'. It was built to service areas to the north of here, but we've been working to reroute the power lines to the city, because the city used to run off nuclear power, but that ran out years ago. So we've been using diesel generators and gasifiers. But if we can get this dam working, then he have a shot at restoring limited power" Malcolm explained while standing in front of the non-functional control panel that operated everything inside the dam.
"Does any of this make sense to you?" Peabody asked before he walked up from the crowd of apes and stood next to Malcolm.
"The... lights" Caesar spoke up.
"Yes, the lights" Peabody said, nodding with a smile.
"This is your home, and I don't wanna take it away from you, I promise. But if you can let us do our work here..." Malcolm tried to negotiate with Caesar. Koba appeared from behind the crowd and spoke.
"You... brought others?" he asked. He started to get furious and start to shout in gibberish before Caesar calmed him down by raising his hand again.
"Just a few, we promise" Peabody told Koba, trying to make it not seem like a big deal.
"We're not a threat. If we are, then I guess you can kill us" Malcolm told him. Caesar then looked to Peabody, and then back down to Sherman. The ape king took a deep breath before speaking to Malcolm.
"Alright. We will... let you do... your work here. But, on two... conditions" Caesar said before putting a finger up.
"One... no guns" he demanded. Malcolm nodded before speaking up again.
"What's the second one?" he asked.
"It's not for you... it is... for him" Caesar said pointing to Peabody.
"What is it?" the white-furred beagle asked.
"I am giving you... one chance... to prove to Sherman... that he... can trust you. But, you must... abide by... the laws of... our colony. Sherman... will guide you" Caesar explained.
"It's a deal" Malcolm said before holding his hand out to Caesar, who shook it in return to let them know that their agreement had been confirmed, much to the dismay of Koba who watched this agreement made with narrowed eyes of resentment and outrage.
A/N: And that concludes our chapter. Caesar is going to allow the humans to work on the dam, on the condition they give their weapons up. He is also giving Peabody a chance to reconcile with Sherman, but only under the condition he abides by the laws of the apes. The next update, the apes will learn to co-exist with their new human guests, and Peabody's journey to win back Sherman's trust begins. Please review, thanks!