Lammy got herself to her feet and backed up. Back and back and back she went, until she couldn't go any further. This was because there was a chain link fence behind her. Lammy turned around and tilted her head upward to see how tall it was. It was as tall as a building that was one and a half stories high. She looked back at the Mole. He was now close enough to hit her with his walking stick. So he swung it down at her.

Lammy made a short scream. Swiftly, she stepped to her right, avoiding the hit. The walking stick made a loud clunk as it hit the rough pavement. Next, the Mole lifted up the walking stick, pulled it back to his left side, and swung it to his right. Lammy ducked, making the stick miss her head. After missing again, the Mole pulled back the stick to his right side, leveled the end of it with Lammy's feet, and swung to the left. This was supposed to sweep her feet and knock her down. But Lammy jumped, letting the stick sweep past under her. Lammy was surprised by herself. She didn't know that she was good at dodging.

The Mole swung at Lammy a few more times. The sheep dodged all of the hits quickly. As they did this, they were slowly turning, so that Lammy was now facing the fence, and the Mole's back was to it. The Mole was getting more and more irritated. He sped up his hitting, using both ends of the stick, hoping to get the sheep. However, Lammy only dodged quicker. Some of the swings of the stick just barely missed her, but they didn't get her. The Mole made another move. He pulled back the stick, twisting his spine. Then, he propelled himself forward at Lammy, spinning himself while holding the stick stretched out, looking like a tornado. To avoid this, Lammy tucked and rolled to her left, out of the spot of which the Mole would have really hurt her if she stayed. Lammy sprung back up to her feet after the Mole stopped spinning. With the tornado ceasing, the Mole pulled back his stick, looking ready to thrust it forward. He walked around slowly in circles, taking steady steps. He didn't know where she was anymore. He turned his head left and right, as if it would help him spot her.

Lammy was aware that he didn't know where she was. So, she slowly and steadily backed up, away from the Mole and the fence, and toward the mouth of the alley. She was planning on leaving, of course. Lammy carefully took her steps, trying not to make a sound. She succeeded in being silent. However, the Mole, who had his back to her, quickly turned around and charged at her. Shocked, Lammy didn't move. The Mole thrust the end of his walking stick at her belly, sending her to fly back a few feet.

"Ow!" yelled Lammy.

The Splendid token also flew, out of her left paw. It soared overhead, past the mouth of the alley. It bounced on the street behind Lammy. Lammy looked back at the token. It rolled straight toward a manhole cover. There was a small, circular hole in its center. The Splendid token rolled and rolled until it reached the manhole cover's center, where the hole was. It got to the hole and fell through it, with no hope of trying to find it. What terrible luck. Lammy groaned.

The groan was caused by two things: the loss of Sniffles's token, and the pain on her belly. A large bruise was going to form on it later. Lammy looked down at her belly and nursed it for a few seconds before looking back up at the Mole, who had his arms raised with the stick in his paws.

"Ho-o-ow did you find me?! Ho-ow are you a-a-able to hit me with tha-at thing! A-are you a-a-actually blind?!" yelled Lammy.

The Mole lowered his arms. He nodded.

"You...you a-a-are?! Then ho-ow do you know where I a-a-am?!" demanded Lammy.

The Mole removed his right paw from the stick and held up his pointer digit. He pointed to his nose.

Confused at first, Lammy stared at him. But after several seconds, she realized something.

"...Ohhhhh..." Lammy said, understanding how the Mole was able to detect her. "You can smell me."

What an acute sense of smell he has. This makes sense... he is a mole.

The Mole raised his arms again, with both of his paws on the stick. He was going to take another downward swing at her, on the head. Lammy shrieked again.

...

Suddenly, something in Lammy's pocket moved. It shifted and shook. And of course, it wasn't the money. It was something else. Something that could move on its own. Whatever it was, moving in Lammy's pocket, was alive. The mysterious moving thing ripped through the pocket, with its tiny black fist held out.

Mr. Pickels!

Mr. Pickels hopped up on Lammy's left shoulder and onto her head, and he held up his hands, with a glower on his face.

Down, the walking stick swung, at the poor sheep's head. But it never got to her. It was stopped...

Stopped by that pickle in the top hat!

Mr. Pickels caught the stick's end with both of his raised hands, holding it just above Lammy's head.

Lammy gasped and rolled her eyes up to see Mr. Pickels. She could see his arms preventing the Mole's hit.

Mr. Pickels roughly shoved the stick away from Lammy, causing the Mole to stumble backward. After regaining his balance, the Mole took a few steps back to where Lammy was, with his walking stick held out forward. Mr. Pickels leaped from Lammy's head and onto the stick. With excellent balance, Mr. Pickels ran up the stick, getting close to the Mole's own head. When he got close enough, Mr. Pickels jumped up to the Mole's face and gave it some mighty, rapid punches.

One punch with the left fist. One punch with the right fist. Another punch with the left, another punch with the right. After two more punches, Mr. Pickels spun around in mid-air and used his right foot to deliver a powerful kick to the Mole's cheek, which made him stumble back again.

Mr. Pickels landed easily on the ground with his feet. The Mole was rubbing the parts of his face that Mr. Pickels hit. While he was doing this, Mr. Pickels ran to the Mole's right shin and kicked it. The Mole then grasped that shin. And while he was doing that, Mr. Pickels kicked the other shin. The Mole then moved his paws to that shin. Mr. Pickels reached for the Mole's paws and pulled him down. The Mole fell on his front side. Mr. Pickels hopped onto his back. He jumped high and fell to the upper part of the Mole's back, elbow first. The elbow jabbed onto The Mole's back quite hard. Mr. Pickels cartwheeled off of the Mole. Then, the Mole straightened up, with the visible parts of his face burning a deep scarlet color. Oh, snap! He was mad!

...

Lammy was standing about twelve feet from the Mole. While afraid, she watched as the Mole ran at her. After he got close enough, the Mole jabbed his walking stick at the ground, tightened his grasp on it, and swung himself around it horizontally like a ninja, holding his foot out. The foot was coming to Lammy's collarbone.

...

Mr. Pickels, who was right in front of Lammy, leaped up and caught the Mole's foot with his two tiny hands. He shoved it away. Then he ran to the Mole and grabbed the end of his walking stick. He harshly jerked it away from the Mole, who lost his grasp of it. With the walking stick, Mr. Pickels madly beat the Mole a dozen times, hitting him in a different spot with each hit, including his head.

WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! WHACK!

Before he could come to the thirteenth hit, the Mole shot up his right paw and caught it. Then he gripped it with his other paw and tugged on it. Now he and Mr. Pickels were in a tug-of-war, only rivaling each other with a stick instead of a rope. Growing impatient, Mr. Pickels gave the stick multiple strong, sharp pulls and pushes, making the Mole jerk around in place. With great strength, Mr. Pickels pulled and spun himself around in place, with the Mole in the air, who was holding on to the stick. Mr. Pickels spun faster... and faster... and faster. Finally, when he spun fast enough, the Mole lost his hold of the stick. He flew to the chain link fence, hitting it with his back, and then falling to the ground on his front side.

Mr. Pickels snapped the walking stick in two and tossed the pieces away to one side of the alley.

The Mole must have heard the breaking of his stick because when Mr. Pickels did that, he sharply tilted his head up, his face burned scarlet again. Fists formed in both of his paws. He sprang up high, did three front flips, and landed gracefully on his feet.

...

With his right fist pulled back, ready to sock Lammy's right cheek, the Mole charged at the sheep. Lammy gasped.

...

Mr. Pickels, who was standing right in front of Lammy again, jumped up and grasped Lammy's coat where her stomach was. From there, he quickly jumped and held up his arm, blocking the Mole's punch with his right forearm. They were now forearm to forearm.

The Mole swung again with his left paw, this time at Lammy's other cheek. Mr. Pickels jumped and blocked the Mole again with his other forearm. The Mole turned and kicked up his right foot high, aiming for the left side of Lammy's head. While using his hands to hold on to Lammy's coat, Mr. Pickels kicked upward, blocking the Mole's foot with his own right one.

Then, after jumping from Lammy, Mr. Pickels held out his feet at the Mole. They struck the Mole's chest, making him almost fall back. After returning to the ground, Mr. Pickels ran to the chain link fence, which was just two yards behind the Mole. He climbed up half its height. From there, he leaped onto the Mole's head. He grabbed the Mole's ears and yanked them with force. The Mole tried using his paws to stop him, but Mr. Pickels would just kick his paws away if he tried. The pickle pulled the ears to one side, driving the Mole to one of the alley's walls. Mr. Pickels caused his head to bang onto one of the grey brick walls. Then Mr. Pickels hopped down from the Mole's head to the ground. He grasped the Mole's dark coat from behind and pulled, making him fall onto his back. When he landed on the ground, Mr. Pickels hauled him up, over his head, and threw him to the other side of the alley, where an open dumpster stood with lots of graffiti on it. Some of the writings read, Lumpy is a weenie and Vandilism is fun and UNICORN POOP IS MAGICAL. The Mole flew right into it, causing some huge, full plastic bags in there to ruffle.

...

Lammy's eyes were wide as she saw this. They widened even more when she saw one of the Mole's paws grip the ledge at the opening of the dumpster. His other paw did the same. Finally his head emerged, with a rotten banana peel on top of it. Scarlet became the color of his face for a moment. He took the banana peel and threw it away aggressively. Then he hauled himself out, doing a front flip before hitting the ground with his feet. He did a few somersaults on the ground. On the last one, he jumped far, with his right foot about to hit Lammy's face.

...

Mr. Pickels leaped up and grabbed the Mole's collar, stopping the mid-air kick. The pickle pulled him back and slammed him onto the ground on his front. The Mole got up quickly, but Mr. Pickels was already at him. The fruit kicked him multiple times on the knees and shins. He stomped on his feet too, hurting the Mole even though his own feet were puny. He did this several times. Finally, Mr. Pickels sweep-kicked him once again, just like he did in the park, only harder this time.

...

A couple of cracks were heard. Cracks coming from the Mole's right ankle. The Mole winced, but strangely, he didn't scream in pain. Now he fell back. The Mole was on the ground, holding his busted ankle. Even though his eyes and mouth were hidden, it was easy to tell that he was seriously hurt. Trying his best to ignore the pain, the Mole jerked his head up at Lammy, obviously furious. His face was now even more scarlet than ever. Lammy could have sworn that she saw steam rising out of his ears. He reached into his right pocket and pulled something out. Something black with a handle, a muzzle, and a trigger.

A gun.

Its handle was tightly gripped by the Mole's right paw. Its muzzle was pointed directly at Lammy. Its trigger was ready to be pulled. Lammy screamed loudly.

Nutty was eating a plateful of sugared pretzels while sitting next to Sniffles on installed seats at the bowling alley. His giggling ended when a sound reached his ears, making them twitch. His head turned sharply at the entrance doors.

"I heard a scream..." said Nutty, squinting his eyes. They shot wide open. "Lammy!" he shouted, dropping his plate of pretzels and dashing to the doors at an unbelievable speed.

"Huh?" said Sniffles. Nutty was already out the door before he said this.

Seeing the gun, Mr. Pickels put on a startled expression. He frantically looked around on the ground and rested his eyes on an object. A rather large, red-orange, rectangular prism-shaped object... the brick that tripped Lammy. He dashed to it, picked it up with one of his hands, and aimed it at the Mole. With power, the pickle threw it at him.

...

BOMP.

The brick hit the Mole on the head. The Mole, who was sitting on the ground, tensed up, wobbled, and fell. His back hit the ground, and his arms were spread.

He was out cold.

Panting with fear, Lammy looked down at the Mole. She put her paw on her heaving chest. After a moment, she looked around for the Splendid token. She remembered it falling through the manhole, so she turned around at and glanced at it. The token was long gone now.

Taking a deap breath, Lammy decided to head back to the bowling alley. She began walking to the dark alley's entrance. But... before leaving, she looked at the pickle on the ground some distance away from her. She went back, picked up the pickle, and put it in her other, unripped pocket.

When she reached the sidewalk, she turned right, heading south now. That's when she saw a light green squirrel with a worried expression and candy on his face sprint to her. It startled Lammy at first, but she soon realized that it was Nutty. When he got to her, he halted.

"Lammy, Lammy, Lammy! Are you okay?!" He grabbed her arms, making her jump. His hold on them was a little too tight. "Where were you? What took you so long to get back? Why do you look so tense? I heard you scream! Why did you scream? I gotta know! ARE YOU OKAY?!" hollered Nutty. "Please tell me!"

Calming down, Lammy answered him, "Yea-a-ah... I'm... I'm oka-a-ay."

"You don't sound okay!" said Nutty, shaking her.

"It's because I'm no-ot," mumbled Lammy, looking down. She mumbled this very quietly, and she felt positive that Nutty didn't hear her. But man, oh man. That squirrel's hearing was INCREDIBLE.

"YOU'RE NOT OKAY? WHY?!" he yelled.

Lammy jumped again, surprised that Nutty answered her mumbling. Also, he was pretty loud.

"I m-me-I mean-I a-am oka-a-ay!" she retorted.

"You still don't sound okay!" he said.

"B-but... I a-am! Really!" she said.

"I don't believe you."

"I a-am oka-a-ay! Why don't you believe me?"

"Because you sound like you're UNokay!"

Lammy thought for a bit. Then she asked, "So... if I so-o-ound oka-a-ay when I sa-ay I'm oka-a-ay, you will believe me?"

"Yes," replied Nutty, releasing her and crossing his arms.

So Lammy cleared her throat and said to him in her calmest voice, "I'm oka-a-ay. No-ow do you believe me?"

Nutty's skeptical face turned into a glad one. "Yes," he answered. He uncrossed his arms. After letting out a sigh of relief, he said to her,"Phew. For a moment there, I thought that you were unokay. Because if you were unokay, then I would feel unokay. I'd get all sad and stuff. I can't feel okay if you're unokay. That's not okay! Because... I don't want you to feel unokay. I want you to feel okay. All the time. Then I would feel okay. And I'd be happy. And... since you're okay right now, then I'm okay right now. Thank goodness that you're okay." He paused. "Do you get what I'm saying?" There was silence. "Lammy?" More silence. "Lammy?" Silence. "Lammy, were you listening to me?"

Lammy was gazing at Nutty tenderly. She was listening to him. What he said right there may have sounded kind of funny, but... it was also very touching to her. What a great friend he was, for worrying about her.

Lammy felt her heart flutter. Her arms hung down, with one of her paws holding the other. Her head was tilted slightly.

"Lammy?" said Nutty.

Lammy shook her head and snapped out of her gaze. Coming back into focus, she told him, "Yes."

Nutty looked confused. "Yes what?" he asked.

"Yes, I get what you're sa-a-aying," she answered.

Nutty tilted his head. "Yes, you get what I'm saying about what?"

Lammy smiled. "Yes, I get what you're sa-a-aying abo-o-out... feeling oka-a-ay when I'm unoka-a-ay... wa-ait, no... I meant-"

"What? I never said that!" Nutty told her. "I don't feel okay when you're unokay! I feel unokay when you're unokay."

"Yea-ah, I know, but tha-at's not what I meant."

"Then what do you meant?"

Lammy sighed. "I mean tha-at I get what you said abo-o-out feeling unoka-a-ay when I'm feeling unoka-a-ay, and feeling oka-a-ay when I'm feeling oka-a-ay."

Nutty squinted a little. "Huh?" he said.

Lammy gently put one paw on her forehead and tried not to laugh.

"You're little oka-a-ay and unoka-a-ay speech! I get it!" she explained.

Nutty looked away and thought for a moment. Then he smiled and looked at her again. "Ohhhhhh, that!" he said."You get my okay and unokay thing... okay." He chuckled a little. The two stood in silence. After several seconds, Lammy was the one to break it. Her eyes shone.

"Nutty... tha-at thing tha-at you said to me was really sweet, and I-"

"There you are, Lammy!" exclaimed Sniffles, jogging over to the sheep and the squirrel. He panted. "Nutty... said... he heard you screaming... is that true?"

The sheep's eyes widened, remembering what just happened in that dark alley. "Er... yes! Yes, I was screaming," she confirmed.

Sniffles looked worried. "You were?" he asked. "Why? What happened?"

Nutty looked worried too, and he turned to Lammy. She did tell him that she was okay, and she sounded like it too, at least the fourth time she said it, in that calm voice. But she also did scream. You don't just scream without a reason.

The sheep girl looked around, avoiding their eyes. "I..." she began. "I s-screamed b-because... I..." She searched her mind, looking for a reason to give them. And she didn't want it to be the real one.

"Because..." asked Sniffles. "You what?"

She got it.

"I screamed," lied Lammy, "because... I tho-o-ought I sa-a-aw... a scary ghost... in the a-a-alley. But it turns o-o-out, it wasn't a scary ghost, I was just ima-a-a-agining."

"Hmph. Just like you do with that stupid pickle that can't walk," muttered Nutty.

"What?" asked Lammy.

"Nothing," he told her.

Lammy glowered at him before continuing, "... Anywa-a-ay... it turned o-o-out... to a-a-actually be just a pair of tighty whities laying on to-op of a tra-a-ash ca-an... and they were huge... I think they could fit a few people at once."

Nutty and Sniffles looked amused. Sniffles said to Nutty, "Hmm. I think it was your mom's underwear, Nutty." Nutty looked at him.

The two boys started howling with laughter. Lammy laughed a little too. She would have laughed harder if she hadn't almost been shot that day.

Sniffles wiped away a tear. "That was a good one. Come on, Nutty, you gotta give me that."

"All right, it was, I admit it," agreed Nutty.

Sniffles chuckled and looked up at the sky. The sky was a dark blue shade.

"Hmm. We still have some time for some bowling." said Sniffles. He faced Lammy and asked, "Oh, I almost forgot. Did you get my Splendid token back?"

Lammy bit her lip and glanced away from him. Her eyes moved down, and she frowned, displaying a look of shame.

"No... I didn't. It went through a hole in a ma-a-anhole cover. It's in the sewers no-o-o-ow... I'm sorry, Sniffles," she apologized.

Sniffles sighed. "It's okay," he told her. "It wasn't your fault." Then he looked at Nutty and made a tsk tsk sound. "But a certain someone owes me new tokeeeeeeeen," he said in a sing-song voice, lengthening the "ken" in "token".

Nutty frowned.

Sniffles reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a watch. He checked the time and looked at the other two.

"Let's get inside and bowl," he said.

Lammy frowned. She didn't feel like bowling anymore. Not after that fight. The poor sheep just wanted to go home now. She shook her head and told them, "Um, a-a-actually... you know what, guys? I ca-a-an't... really pl-a-ay with you anymore toda-a-ay..."

Nutty and Sniffles looked disappointed.

"Aw, really?" said Nutty.

"Why not?" asked Sniffles

Lammy found a lie in her head and gave it to them. "Because... I have some errands... to run... that I forgo-o-ot about. I have to buy more groceries... and to pick up my dry cleaning... and clean my house... and stuff. So, yea-a-ah..."

Nutty groaned. Sniffles squinted at her. He told her, "Do you really have errands? 'Cause you sound like you're lying."

"I'm no-o-ot lying! I really do ha-ave errands. I forget abo-o-out errands a lo-ot... I just remembered tha-at I ha-ave some toda-a-ay," Lammy lied.

Sniffles was still squinting. After a pause, he said, "All right... only Nutty and I will be playing now... it's a real bummer that you have to go."

Lammy shrugged and replied, "Yea-ah. REAL bummer... I'll see you both la-a-ater, oka-a-ay?" Then she walked past them, going south.

"Okay," said Sniffles. "See ya." He turned to Nutty and said with a cocky face, "Come on, Nutty. Get ready lose to the mastah."

Nutty also made a cocky face. "You're on," he said.

The boys walked to the bowling alley's doors. Sniffles went in first, with the doors shutting behind him. Nutty was about to open them for himself, but he looked at Lammy, who was now a building away from him.

He called to her, "Lammy?"

She stopped and turned around to face him. "Yea-a-ah?" she called back.

Nutty paused for a bit. "...Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, with a concerned face.

Lammy smiled at him. It took her a few seconds to answer. "Yes, I'm sure I'm oka-a-ay, Nutty. Tha-a-ank you for worrying, but you really don't need to. I'm fine..."

Nutty smiled back at her. "Good. Just making sure. And since you are okay, then I'm okay," he replied.

The smile on Lammy's face grew. "Okay," she said. Then she turned around again and continued on her way home.

Nutty headed back inside the bowling alley.

THOMP.

"Ow!" uttered Nutty, after walking right into one of the doors. He forgot to open it. He wasn't focusing.

"Oh, why does she have to be so cute?" Nutty asked himself, rubbing his face and opening the door to let himself in.