"I'm trapped in a world before later on

Where's the font of acquired wisdom that eludes me now?"
"The World Before Later On" from The Spine by They Might be Giants


"No!" Vince shouted. "I'm not going back! I have to find Chris!" He'd taken a bipedal stance, face burning and filled with anger.

"We have to go back to the colony," Ampaw explained, oddly calm in tone despite the rest of his body being tense. He didn't even look at Vince, just kept facing deeper into the forest. His ears up and attentive, he sniffed the air. "We won't be safe here for long. Predators come here often."

"I'm not leaving!" Vince resolved.

Letting out a sigh, he finally faced Vincent and closed the short distance between them, matching Vince's stance and staring down with a quiet rage. "We have to go," he managed through gritted teeth, a distinct certainty in his tone and expression, "We won't be safe here for long." Vince refused to show any evidence of budging, instead crossing his arms. "Please," a quiet desperation cut through the air. "Short Circuit, we need to go back."

"I'm not Sho—" he began to scream, but a paw smacking into the left side of his cheek and knocking him over interrupted him.

He tried to catch himself with his right hand but couldn't orient it right before it slammed into the ground at an awkward angle, getting smashed between his body and the dirt. "Yes, you are!" He struggled to decide if he should cradle his paw or his cheek, eventually putting his right paw in his arm and placing his left paw on his cheek. "Stop saying you aren't Short Circuit!" All his anger evaporated into pain, sadness and fear, tears clouding his vision. "And you are coming back to the colony!" He shifted his blurry vision to attempt to focus on Ampaw. "I've been searching for you for several days, and that's after everyone tried for a week to assure me you had been eaten!" Ampaw's voice hitched several times, tears streaming down his face. "I will not lose you again. We're going home."

The fact Ampaw had hit him could barely set in. He couldn't believe it. Earlier that day, they'd had so much fun playing together. Worse, though, the blow made their difference in strength palpable. In a battle of wills, Vince knew Ampaw would get his. He glanced at the half of the orb and then gave Ampaw a desperate gaze. "C-can I p-please," he begged between sobs, "bring the stone?" The air grew progressively tense as he waited for an answer until Ampaw dropped to all fours, causing Vince to flinch. The blow he anticipated never came. Instead, he watched Ampaw go pick up the orb, standing on his hind-legs so he could carry it in his right paw. He stopped in front of Vince, looking down expectantly. For fear of getting hit again, Vince quickly pushed himself up. Without a word, Ampaw began walking outside of the clearing and Vince followed behind, cradling his right paw in his left. He silently cursed himself.

He needed Ampaw. On his own, he wouldn't last. He couldn't. He was weak. Just looking at the multiple masses of wood that towered over him sent a chill down his spine, he knew he'd have no chance against a real threat. He was helpless. As he became aware of the various threats the forest held, he stepped closer to Ampaw, imagining all the different ways he could die. Two shivers later, and Ampaw had wrapped his arm around Vince. He was scared. Despite being hit by him moments earlier, he still derived great comfort from being held by Ampaw; comfort he desperately needed.

As they trekked through the forest, it didn't grow much denser, but chirping birds, buzzing bugs, and crying critters became much more frequent. Luckily, it eventually got to a point that it all droned together into meaningless background noise. Still, he couldn't help flinching at each unexpected twig snap or leaf crunch. Every time he did, though, Ampaw squeezed him tighter, whispering "Don't worry, I'm here."

The trek went on and on, gradually grinding away Vince's stamina, his upright posture exhausting him twice as fast. He tried to push on as long as he could to avoid angering Ampaw, but once his stomach began to complain as well, he couldn't keep up any longer. "Ampaw," he mumbled, gradually slowing his pace. "I'm really tired and hungry. Can we please rest for a bit?" When they finally stopped, Vince let himself sit back against a tree.

Ampaw dropped the stone down in front of him. "I think I smell a berry bush close by, I'll be right back." Shifting to all fours, he nuzzled Vince. "Don't worry, I'll be really close by. Just shout if you need me."

Before he could even turn away, Vince shouted, "Wait!" Ampaw tilted his head. Vince looked down, rubbing his paws over each other. "Please don't leave me alone." He felt pathetic, but fear took priority. He looked up with eyes bigger than anatomy should have allowed to ask, "Can I just come with you?"

"I won't be gone long," Ampaw offered, but Vince's begging eyes remained unchanged. With a smile, he conceded. "Okay, sure." With a sigh of relief, Vince pulled himself up onto his sore paws and started struggling to pick up the stone. "You don't need to carry that, we'll come right back." He didn't want to leave it behind, but doubted his ability to carry it enough to agree with Ampaw. Letting himself fall forward onto all fours, he cringed when he put weight on his right paw. After two limps forward, Ampaw deftly nosed his way underneath him and tilted his head back, sliding Vince onto his back.

A mix of embarrassed relief sparked off his cheeks. Ampaw started stepping steadily forward and Vince squeezed him for extra stability. Ampaw began to cycle between sniffing the ground and the air which proved contagious, as Vince began to mimic him. Like before, his initial attempts to smell overwhelmed him with scents he didn't have the capacity to sort. But Ampaw kept doing it, so he did as well. The more he smelled, the more he could parse apart familiar and unfamiliar scents: his and Ampaw's scents, trees, grass, vague and faded whiffs of other animals, and a constant, steadily growing, sweet smell. He couldn't figure out which directions they all came from, but he could at least name the few he recognized.

Before long, he didn't even need to sniff to smell the sweet scent, it just coated the air, eventually becoming a tangle of branches and leaves that held several orbs. Once it had come into view, Ampaw hurried his pace, stopping once the berries were in reach. When he began tilting to the side and shrugging, Vince got the message and slid off, careful not to put weight on his right forepaw. He sat back and looked at the vaguely familiar berries, trying to remember what they were and where he'd seen them before. When one rolled his way, courtesy of Ampaw, he picked it up to better examine it.

It was round, covered in dimples, a bit rubbery on the outside, and just barely bigger than his paws could comfortably hold. "It's an oran berry," Ampaw explained, sitting down next to Vince with one of his own. "Eat, they're good!" he exclaimed before sinking his teeth into the berry. After giving it a quick sniff, Vince took a careful bite, hardly breaching the rough exterior. He chewed the meager sample and moved it around in his mouth, cringing at its bitter taste and rough, unyielding texture.

The piece hardly broke apart as he chewed, but he eventually managed to swallow it. He looked at Ampaw, who'd paused his eating to watch Vince, with a regretful grimace. "I don't like it," he mumbled, voice whinier than he would have liked. "It's gross. And hard to chew."

Ampaw gave him a concerned look. "There's nothing else nearby. Try a bigger bite, it's sweeter on the inside." Twisting his mouth into not quite a frown, Vince gave it another shot. He tried a larger sample size and found the inside so juicy it even squirted around his mouth and onto his chest. Inside had an interesting array of flavors that he sort of liked, but the bitter, tough skin eclipsed them all. Nevertheless, he forced himself to keep eating with the knowledge it was all he'd likely get for a while.

Despite being unpleasant to eat, he felt energy return to him and the dull pains from his cheek, joints, and paws dissipate as he ate. Most refreshing of all, however, was when he finally choked down the last bite and knew he wouldn't have to eat it anymore. Just as he gasped in relief, he felt another one roll into his lap. He twisted his mouth into a frown and looked up at Ampaw. "Do I have to?"

"We might not find more food until we get home, you should eat what you can." Vince deflated with a groan. He would agree with Ampaw's logic if it didn't require him to eat another of these rubbery balls of gross. He looked up at Ampaw in hope of an out, but the chu was already eating his second berry with a third ready by his side. Vince hung his head dejectedly down and pulled the berry to his lips, biting into it with frustrated disgust. Again, healing refreshment came along with its disagreeable flavor, making it easy to forget he'd ever been hurt.

He managed to chew past the majority of the fruit but struggled more and more with forcing it down until the very last of it rested in his paw. Taunting him. Come on, he thought to himself, just one more bite, then you're done. Despite trying and trying to build up enough resolve to just get it over with, he couldn't bring himself to eat it. A deep smile creased its way across his face when Ampaw leaned over and lapped it off his paw. Ampaw tilted his head up and beamed at a relieved Vince. "Thanks for eating what you could, I'm sorry you didn't like what we found."

"Uh, yeah," Vince mumbled, "Thanks for helping me finish." Ampaw sat down beside Vince once more, and the two pressed their electric patches together. Ampaw then wrapped an arm around Vince, who didn't think anything of it until the second picked him up and Ampaw started licking his chest. "Hey, hey!" he shouted, putting up his paws in protest. "What are you doing?"

Ampaw cocked his head with an expression on the edge of laughter. "Cleaning you? Stop being silly, you'll get sticky if I don't clean this juice off." Unable to come up with any rebuttal, he put his paws down with an uncomfortable grimace, allowing Ampaw to continue. The sensation wasn't unpleasant, it mostly felt the same as petting, just wetter. If he didn't think about it, he might even find it comforting.

But he couldn't not think about it.

The cleaning eventually finished and, despite being uncomfortable for its entirety, he did feel refreshed at the end. When Ampaw put him down, Vince tentatively put some weight on his right forepaw, finding no pain. "Ready to go?" Ampaw asked.

Vince turned his paw over, examining it before answering. "Yeah, let's go." So, the two went off. On their way to the stone they left behind, Vince began to ponder his newfound vigor. It brought him a great deal of confidence to not have his limbs ache at every movement (though, he still cowered into Ampaw at any unexpected twig-snap). Maybe he'd be able to make it back to Chris. He began trying to come up with a plan.

Just running off wouldn't get him far: he needed the orb-half and there was no way he'd outrun Ampaw lugging that around. He'd need a head start. He wracked his brain to figure out a way to get away from Ampaw undiscovered, noticing the ever-dimming afternoon light. Night. Of course. All he had to do was wait until Ampaw fell asleep, then sneak away. Of course, staying awake could prove difficult considering how often he'd needed to nap recently.

Yet, he had faith in his newfound vigor. He could do it, he knew it.

They got to the stone in no time at all, Ampaw effortlessly lifted it and the two headed deeper into the forest, Vince with a noticeable bit of pep in his step. Ampaw pat him on the head, sharing in the boy's contagious joy. Vince could hardly contain his excitement. He had hope. He was going to make it back to Chris. He was far too ecstatic to find a fault in his plan.

His excitement only grew as the sun began to set and Ampaw began searching for a place to sleep. By some ridiculous miracle, Vince managed to conceal himself just enough to feign drowsiness. "This tree looks good." Vince absentmindedly agreed and followed Ampaw to the tree's base. Ampaw dropped the stone and started up the tree, leaving behind an uncertain Vince. He pawed at the tree's bark, glancing up at the pikachu that managed to scale it effortlessly. "Coming?" Ampaw called from above.

Come on, it's probably easy. He took a deep breath in, prolonging his exhale in an attempt to lower his heartrate. "Yeah, just a little nervous."

"Why? You've climbed plenty of trees." Vince knew explaining that he actually hadn't climbed a tree before would be pointless but realized Ampaw still had a point. Pichu could climb trees, so he could, too. One more deep breath and he started clawing his way up the tree, quickly finding a steady rhythm sinking his claws in and out of the cracks of bark while he scaled the tree. A steady stream of confidence filled him, blossoming once he reached the branch Ampaw waited on and received a pat on his head. "See? Easy!" The two chus beamed at each other, sharing a hug before they continued up.

They got to an outcropping of four branches that grew out into an almost perfect cradle. Practically too perfect. Ampaw nestled his way against the tree, Vince cuddled into him, closed his eyes, and waited. Before the sun had finished setting, Ampaw's breath steadied to a slow, consistent pace. To be safe, he waited until dark before he started breaking out of the embrace. He wiggled very carefully, loosening Ampaw's grip until he could easily roll out. The time had come. His plan was working. He could do it, was doing it. He pushed himself onto his paws, looked down and-

It was dark. Not pitch black, no, he wasn't that lucky. The pale, waning crescent moon cast just enough light to douse the forest floor and make every. Single. Little movement horrifically viewable, with the perfect amount of obscurity to let the worst-case scenarios run rampant in his mind. The cold air he hadn't notice until now froze his paws to the tree. A violent breeze sent a legion of eerie shifting and a violent shiver down his spine. He couldn't stop shaking. "What's wrong?" The paw on his shoulder washed him in comfort.

He was relieved Ampaw had woken up. "It's d-dark," he stammered between chattering teeth. He didn't offer any resistance as Ampaw picked him up and cradled him, burying his face into the pikachu's chest.

Warmth filled him as the two squeezed each other. "Don't worry, I'm here," Ampaw whispered into his ears, rocking him back and forth until his shivering stopped and the two fell asleep together.


A/N: Another chapter out! And within the same month, too. Hope you liked it, please let me know what you think with a review. Good or bad, any feedback helps.


RR:
LucidAura42: Thanks! Glad to know you liked it! I'm trying to experiment with different ways to end chapters, so it's nice to have feedback on which endings work and which endings don't.