Chapter 9: Seeds of Rebellion

Jowee, Mari, Heather, Zsasha, Samuel and Dr. Cure followed Tubba and Bubba through an underground tunnel. As they walked, they saw huddled Raposa families. Apparently, Tubba and Bubba were hiding with these people from the Shadows.

Eventually, they got to a central room in the hideout, where they found the leaders of the people hiding. These raposa were silent, standing in the room, wearing dark silver armor with gold trimming.

Samuel regarded them with a sense of familiarity.

"I think I've seen these people before." He said.

"Regardless of their origin," Moe said, entering the scene, "They are the only military force that will help us."

Mari turned to one of the warriors. "Who are you?" she asked.

The Warrior looked at her, silently.

"They are all silent, except their leader. Why, I do not know." Moe said.

Mari then turned to Moe. "Where is their leader?"

"Here." someone said.

They all turned as a single raposa, clad in silver armor, walked out of the shadow.

He was around Heather's height, and Heather could tell that he was around her age. Did these people answer to a 8 year old boy?

The boy looked at Heather, and flinched slightly. Heather was surprised by this. Why was he reacting strangely to her presence?

Looking around, she realized that all the Warrior's were silently looking at her. Many were looking at her with contempt and fear. She could tell it was about the shadow on her face.

"I am Michael." the boy said. "Captain of these men. We have been sent here to liberate Lavasteam from the Shadow's domain."

They nodded. "We have a plan." Mari said. We need to attack the Robosa foundry first. If we can take that place, make it a foothold, we can then slowly advance on King Minney."

Michael nodded. "Simple, but it seems to be the only option we have. I will prepare my men. You won't be able to fight them yourselves."

He then walked away.

'Well," Moe said. "It seems you have a war to win. Bubba, show them to their quarters. Tomorrow morning, we fight back!"

Bubba then motioned to the group to follow him, and they did so.

'We only have 3 rooms available here." Bubba said. "4 of you will have to share, 2 for the first 2 rooms, one for the 3rd."

They all seemed fine with this arrangement.

"Alright." Samuel said. " I'll share a room with Heather. Mari and Jowee can share the other room, and Dr. Cure and Zsasha can have the 3rd."

Everyone agreed with the matching of people. Mari and Jowee entered their room, only to have slight surprise.

Their was only one bed. Their was a couch nearby, but only one bed.

Greta. Jowee thought. Stuck in a small underground room with the love of your life. And only one bed! How awkward can this get!?

Mari shrugged. "I can sleep on the couch, if you want." she said.

"No." Jowee said. "It's fine."

He went to the couch and sat their, thinking.

"Who are those armored guys?" He asked. "They seem kind of menacing."

"I know." She replied. "Did you see how they eyed Heather?"

Jowee nodded. "They seem to hate shadows. A lot."

That was an understatement. Both Mari and Jowee could see hate and fanaticism in their "protectors." Whoever they were, they were here to combat the Shadows. And they seemed to consider Heather one of their targets.

Heather sat on the couch of her room as Samuel paced on the other side.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Samuel shook his head. "I remember these people. The warriors in silver armor. I remember people dressed like them doing terrible things. But it's so blurry. I don't know who they are, and I don't know why they are here."

Heather walked up to him. "Calm down. Their helping us. They obviously know how to fight, and their going to help us free Lavasteam."

Even as she said this, Heather had doubts. She knew that those people regarded her with fear. But she knew why. They were more dedicated to fighting the Shadow than most. They seemed so filled with self-righteous fury. She hoped they would be trustworthy allies.

Not to mention that their enemies were strong here. This would be nothing like their battle in Watersong. The Shadow was heavily fortified here. It would take weeks, perhaps even months, to drive it out.

She hoped the shadow in her didn't seize control before they won.

Dr. Cure and Zsasha sat together at the table of their room.

"Alright," Dr. Cure said. "You told me you have some kind of condition. What's the problem?"

Zsasha sighed. "I think I'm addicted to stealing things. At first, it was to give gifts to that little girl I was protecting, and to become the worlds greatest thief. I kept returning the things I stole, but I still had a drive to steal. I couldn't stop. What is it for? What!?"

Zsasha was obviously upset about this. He obviously didn't want to talk in depth about how thievery had affected his life.

"I think I can help." Dr. Cure said. "Most addictions are caused by things that have addictive qualities. This isn't one of those situations. It's psychological. You need to find the origin of this drive. When did you start stealing things?"

Zsasha looked at Dr. Cure with sadness in his eyes. "I came from a village in the desert, cut off mostly from the rest of the world. The village was near the beach accessed by the beach gate. We were several miles away from the beach, and we see seemed mostly happy. But my family was poor. My parents had 4 children, including me. We barely had any food, and sometimes we went to bed without dinner at all. I wanted to feed my family, I wanted to keep them safe. So I started stealing things from other people. Food at first, then money, then jewelry. For a while, no one noticed. My family got richer, and we were well fed and well educated. But after 2 years of safety, someone found out. Everyone in the village threatened to kill me, and my entire family for all the things I stole. To appease them, my family, they... they disowned me, and forced to leave the village. I've been alone ever since."

It was so hard for Zsasha to say the last part, he started crying when he was finished. Dr. Cure had been taught to handle these situations. She put her paw on his shoulder.

"It's okay." She said, calmly. "You desire to steal things seems obviously born out of a desire to have enough in the world. To be well-fed and happy. But you don't need that anymore. You have enough now."

"What I'm about to tell you to do is not scientific, but it works. I need you to close your eyes, and simply tell yourself, 'I do not need to steal anymore. I have enough.'"

Zsasha closed his eyes, breathed in and out deeply, and repeated this mantra. He did so several times, before opening his eyes. He smiled at Dr. Cure.

"I feel better now." he said. "Thank you."

Dr. Cure smiled a little. "It's my job."

For Zsasha, it wasn't just a job. He was so grateful to Dr. Cure for helping him with this old problem, he hugged her right then and their.

Dr. Cure was surprised at first, but then settled down and hugged back.

"Thank you." Zsasha repeated. "It's been a long time since I felt so safe. So...content."

Dr. Cure smiled to herself. It always pleased her to help others.

It's the reason she became a doctor, after all.