Riiiiing! Riiiiing!
"…urgh…" The sound of a phone ringing slowly woke me up from my sleep.
Riiiiing! Riiiiing!
"…huh...?" I reached over for my phone, trying to keep my eyes open from the drowsiness. I answered the call and put the phone over my ears without looking at the caller.
"...hello?" I said weakly.
"Good morning Ken!" Judy's voice could be heard from the other end, "Oh, did I just wake you up? Sorry!" A flustered voice came out, "But Ken, don't you have school today?"
"Judy...it's the weekend. There's no school on weekends."
"Oh, right, haha. Well I'm just checking if you're alright. How's your friends?"
"They're still sleeping. We kinda slept in late last night so we're pretty bummed out."
"I see. We're going to patrol around town a bit. We had a rough night yesterday too..."
"O-okay... I'll be seeing you later then?"
Definitely! Laters!"
*click*
I hung up and yawned a little bit before getting up. I immediately saw Wesley and Leina sleeping at the corner of the room on top of an air mattress I bought a few days ago. I expected it'd come in handy as I've slept on one of those a few times as well. But with that out of the way, I went off from my bed and stretched my body for a while before opening the balcony door, letting the morning's fresh air in.
"What should I do today…?" I wondered, staring into the distance. Well, to the wall in front of me to be exact, but my mind was elsewhere.
A yawn broke my thoughts and I looked behind me to see Leina waking up, his fur's looking all scruffy. He landed his gaze at me as I smiled at him.
"Good morning!" I greeted.
"…morning." He replied before getting up himself. He immediately made a beeline towards me as he did.
"How was your night?"
"Could certainly be better."
"Heh, that's so you."
I laughed over the casual banter with Leina only scratching his head as a result. I went inside again and picked up my phone to see the time. 9 AM. Yep, we were exhausted alright. I don't usually wake up this late due to me being used to waking up early in the morning because of school and all that stuff. But I was really exhausted to wake up at this time.
"Hey Leina, why don't you wake Wesley up? I'm gonna go take a shower in the meantime." I shouted over to Leina.
"Alright!" He shouted back before going inside without forgetting to close the door behind him.
I then proceeded to walk my closet to get my clothes. I picked my usual attire which consisted of a blue and white checkered shirt with simple black jeans. I then went to the bathroom while carrying said clothes, ready to wash my weariness away.
"Ken!? Hope's calling you on the phone!" I could hear Leina shouting after quite some time. I quickly turned the faucet off and dried myself with a towel hanging on the rack beside me. I dressed up with the clothes I brought and promptly went outside the bathroom.
"I'm here...!?" Leina was shaking Wesley furiously by the shoulders as soon as I come out from the bathroom but they immediately stopped and both smiled at me. "...what were you two doing...? Nevermind, where's my phone!?"
"Here!" Wesley quickly stood up and gave me my phone and I could see Hope was still dialing. "I'll be in the bathroom!" He hastily shut said door. What the heck happened while I was in there...? I shook my head then quickly opened the balcony and accepted the call.
"Hey, Hope! What's up?"
"Good morning Ken! I was wondering if you wanna eat breakfast together."
"That's a great idea! And I have the perfect place to go as well."
"Oh, you're talking about Misty's?"
"Yep! It's just too good to pass up."
"Heh, okay. I'll be there at eleven. See you then!"
"See ya!"
*click*
I hung up once again and sighed a bit. I've never thought to have such caring friends here. Let's just hope I won't have to put up with that pain again. What exactly was that, though? It felt so surreal... But nevermind that, I have a breakfast to attend! I went inside and locked the door behind me.
"Ready up Leina! We're meeting up with Hope at Misty's!" I said excitingly.
"Oh, that place again? You sure have taken a liking to it." he chuckled.
"I can't help it, though! Their blueberry pie is so delish!"
"I thought you don't like eating blueberries? Heck, any fruit in general?"
"I don't know…for some reason I like blueberries now. Not that I'm complaining."
"…anyways, when are we going?"
"As soon as we're ready of course. Prep everything you need or want to bring, just in case."
"Alright!" Leina ran up to his bulky bag and began sorting stuff out of it. At the same time, Wesley came out of the bathroom, all freshened up from the morning haze. He was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday, though. Did he not bring a change?
"Bah, I forgot to bring my spare clothes." He mumbled. I can't say I'm not surprised.
"Didn't I tell to bring basic supplies? How could you forget to bring an extra set of clothes?" Leina asked puzzlingly.
"Maybe you should've been more specific!" He retorted back.
"And now it's suddenly my fault." He shrugged, "Anyways, I'll be in the bathroom if you need me." He hurriedly went inside.
I stared at the raccoon as he nonchalantly walked towards his backpack which was as bulky as Leina's. He produced a smaller satchel from inside and began fitting stuff into it. Was he always carrying that…? I really need to stop thinking about his ways.
I then went to prepare my things. I took my scarf lying on the bedside table and wore it, as always. I also packed my earphones as well as other stuff. Preparation is a good thing.
Leina finally finished showering and walked out of the bathroom. He was wearing a different clothing from before, which was a black and red jacket over a white t-shirt paired with simple blue trousers.
"Wow, it feels so…different with this new body." He remarked, specifically looking at his fur.
"You'll get used to it. And I think Wesley here already did." I made a smirk to him.
"Always tease the small one." He let a small shrug on which we giggled on.
"Anyways, hurry up and get ready, we're almost past the meeting time." I said while looking at my phone.
"Gotcha!" He quickly rummaged through his bag and stuffed some things into his pockets. "Alright, I'm ready!"
I blinked, "That was fast."
"Yeah. And let's not question that either." Wesley added.
"Now you're making me look bad!" He pouted.
"Okay, okay. Let's go." I took the lead and stepped outside from the room with the others following suit. I locked the door and started walking away towards our destination.
Our trip to the café mostly contained idle chatters about ourselves before we got sent into this world, and all of the stories always ended in some sort of awkwardness before the one of the other started to change topics about something else. I kinda participated in a bit but I never really talked about my family and the such, it…hurts me when I talk about them since I'm not really close with my parents. On the other hand, even after being friends for so long, Leina never talked about his family, like at all. I thought he'd talk about them now but he never did. I guess it's as painful as mine, huh?
And Wesley…I never thought his family would be so constricting like mine. It must've been tough to always be pressured into getting high grades all the time… Even my parents don't do to that extent. I really do sympathize with him. The thing is that he let that out pretty…easily. I thought he was the cold and calculating type of guy, but I guess you can't really judge a book by its cover.
We were so absorbed in our conversation that we've forgotten where we were going in the first place, so I quickly reminded them and we promptly fastened our steps. With that in mind, we finally arrived at the café, albeit a little late.
We entered the building in turn with me being the first one. I tried scouting a table but I immediately saw Hope sitting in one of the tables near the right side of the corridor. I smiled at him but he only returned a frown at me. Uh oh…
As the others went inside I signaled them to go to where Hope was seating and then we walked there together. Our delay was kinda inexcusable.
"I hope you know that you're late by fifteen minutes." Hope said without even looking at any source of time.
"Well…let's just say we talked a little bit too much." I explained, smiling sheepishly. I turned to Leina and Wesley; the former was doing what I did and the latter was…expressionless. Did something happen?
Hope interrupted us with a sigh, "Well don't worry about that too much, have a seat!" His face became cheerful again.
"Oh, right." I scratched my head and sat down with the others having a seat as well.
"Well, first things first, what do you wanna eat?"
"I'll have blueberry pie, as always."
"I'll just have some cheesecake like yesterday." Leina mentioned.
"…I'll have the same as Leina's." Wesley spoke up.
"And for the drinks?"
"Regular coffee for me." I said
"Huh…I'll have iced tea if that's available." Leina added.
"I'll have coffee, just like Ken."
"Okay then. I'll be right back." Hope stood up and went to the counter with the usual tigress stationed behind it. Hope came back shortly after ordering our meals and sat on his seat again.
"Now that's out of the way, let's talk about something interesting to pass the time, seeing how you were late on coming here by just 'talking a little bit too much'."
"Just let it go already, jeez. We already said our sorry for Pete's sake." Wesley said irritatingly.
"Well…how about your encounter with the…black thing last night?" Leina immediately changed the subject.
"Hmm. I only saw it from a distance. But that thing…was on all fours. It was nothing like I've ever seen before, apart from the savage animals cause by the Nighthowlers drug, but that thing was a different thing altogether."
"That's really freaky... How did you even meet the thing?" I asked.
"I'm not so sure either since Chris was in front of me at that time. Maybe it just popped out from the ground? I dunno…"
"God, don't make me try to imagine those things!" Leina yelped.
"Either way, that's all that I saw yesterday. Certainly not a good memory to keep."
"I can see that...but still, that doesn't explain the creature much. Even Chris only knows little of it." Wesley said.
"Hmm..." I began thinking about the creature even more, so much that I got lost in my thoughts. Again. I really should stop spacing out so quickly. And I didn't even try!
As I was swimming in my thoughts I heard the café door open that kinda snapped me out. I turned to it and saw Nick and Judy walking inside, much to my surprise. They looked around the shop before spotting us. They made a similar expression as I did just now. Judy waved at us and I waved back, nudging the others to do so. She went to the counter while Nick walked towards us. Oh boy.
"Hey, Nick! What a coincidence meeting you here." I greeted him with a warm smile.
"Heyo Sport! And likewise." He smiled back, "And the others are here as well. What a surprise." His smile turned into a smirk, like always.
"Hello!"
"Huh, hi."
"Morning!"
Leina, Wesley and Hope greeted respectively.
"What is this, a parade? I'm just your normal police officer here." He said teasingly.
"You could say that." I replied with a smirk slowly turning on my face. He didn't respond and quickly sat next to me.
"So how are you guys doing? I'm really tired, that's for sure." He sighed.
"We're doing fine, well at least for me. What made you so tired though?"
"Didn't Carrots already told you this morning?"
"Uh, no? She did call me but she only mentioned a 'rough' night you guys had."
"I'll let Carrots do the explaining, I'm too tired to even get my body straight." He slumped down onto the table as he said that. What the heck happened exactly to make Nick this tired? I shook my head and looked over at Judy which was already en route towards us.
"Hey everyone!" The bunny waved at us and we awkwardly waved back, not sure what to do with Nick that's lying half-body onto the table. Judy immediately took notice of this and elbowed nick on the back. The result was… Let's just say Nick writhed in pain.
"C-Carrots… W-why…" He fell from the table and curled into a fetal position. That must've hurt a lot…
"No sleeping on the job!" She said angrily. I looked around and thankfully we were the only customers at the time so nobody saw this little "scene". Well, apart from the workers here, but that's irrelevant.
It took a while before Nick recovered from the sudden assault from Judy, which I'll admit I didn't see coming, but holy hell that came out of nowhere. Damn, Judy. Totally don't wanna mess with her.
"A-anyways… Carrots, c-can you explain to them about that t-thing we saw last night…?" Nick tried to keep his cool but it clearly wasn't working.
Judy sighed, "If you insist." She sat down beside Nick and Hope, which made the latter really excited for some reason. "Okay, so this may sound crazy or downright unbelievable, but we encountered something...unnatural last night." The suspense began to rose among us, "When we have finally cornered our perps, I noticed a black figure standing near the crime scene. It was really out of place; we didn't even know it was there! We decided to investigate the strange figure, thinking it was just an ordinary mammal on the wrong time and in the wrong place. Oh, how wrong we were."
A black figure? She couldn't mean the same thing Hope and Chris saw, could it?
"Question. Does this 'figure' walk on all fours?" Wesley spoke up.
"Well it originally stood on two legs, but as soon as it saw us it immediately set on fours. If that isn't freaky enough, then you should've seen what it did after." Nick answered.
"...what did it do?" Leina gulped.
"It just…lunged at me without any warnings. Its upper limbs became very unnaturally claw-like; one swipe from that and I'm done for. I got thrown onto the grown but thankfully I only sustained minor injuries. I got up and dodged its other assault, which made it vulnerable for a brief time. I quickly ordered Nick to shoot the figure with a pistol we've found at the scene and thankfully it was more effective than our tranq gun." Hope surprised us with a gasp as she said that and we all turned to him.
"What is it!?" I asked warily.
"Did you say you found a pistol? An actual one!?" His voice sounds panicked.
"Yeah. That's one of the things we didn't solve, along with the two culprits that have escaped."
"I can't believe they held an actual firearm all this time…" Hope murmured.
"And what's the problem with that?" Wesley asked sarcastically.
"Firearms are banned by the mayor! You can't carry those around anymore, let alone get hold of them!"
"Whoa, no need to get so fiery about that. Firearm in our world is really common, so naturally I assumed the same here."
I calmed Hope down before speaking, "Sorry, but I really despise guns…" Hope lowered his head. I'm sure he had witnessed something terrible with it…
"Let's…just continue our discussion." Leina spoke quietly and everyone silently nodded.
"…continuing where I left off; after Nick shot the creature in the head multiple times it finally dissipated like it was never there in the first place. Combined with the time we were currently on; it really was like a horror story." Judy shuddered.
"But hey, at least we solved the case." Nick made a smirk
"Got resigned from the case, mind you." She countered.
"My point still stands."
"…either way, that's all what we experienced."
"I see. So you had the same encounter as Hope then." I said, rubbing my chin.
"Same as Hope?" She slowly turned her head towards him.
"I…I saw the same creature as you did last night, although we didn't confront with it directly, which I'm thankful for."
"Whoa. What did you do?"
"Run, of course. What else could be done at that time?"
"Greet and make friends with it? I dunno." Wesley made another sarcastic remark. Since when did he go the sarcastic route? I saw Nick making a doubtful face while I was eyeing Wesley. Did he say something wrong?
"Wait, we? Who went with you last night?" Nick asked questioningly. Oh shit, we can't reveal Chris and Ashley to them!
"Oh, er, I was with Ken and the others, if that's what you're asking."
"Hmm… Do you remember the time of your encounter with it?"
"The time…? I think it was around 10 PM, if I recall correctly."
"I see…"
A brief silence ensued before the waiter broke the tension by bringing our meals to us.
"…forget about it. Let's eat!" Nick announced as the waiter put the variety of foods onto the table. After making sure we didn't screw up by exposing their identity we finally dug in. The pie was delicious, as always. And it seems like everybody was enjoying their meals as well. I hope Nick really do forget about it, I don't wanna betray our trust over this.
"Ooh, That's the stuff!" I said happily as I finished my meal.
"It really is delicious." Hope remarked. "But all in all, it's really nice talking to you officers. I hope we can meet up like this again." He smiled.
"Definitely! Oh, and I'll pay for your meals. My treat." Judy grinned.
"Really!? Thanks!" I thanked them happily. They're truly the best of friends.
"No probs! We don't always do this, so why not?"
"That's true." Wesley spoke up. Goddammit Wesley, why do you gotta be so rude?
"Heh, I like you." Nick replied to him. Oh boy, things just got worse.
"Well, we have to get going now. Goodbye Nick, Judy!" I stood up and waved at them before going to the door and stepped outside.
"Be careful!" I could hear Judy shouting from inside.
The others soon followed me, leaving Judy and Nick behind. But wow, that was a close call. One slip and we could end up in jail. Definitely not a fan of that.
"So…where to next?" Wesley asked, still keeping his eyes on the store.
I casually took my phone out and looked at the time. It was a little past twelve; we still have a lot of time. Hmm…
"How about visiting Chris and Ashley?" I suggested after a lot of thinking.
"Visiting them, huh? That's a pretty good idea, we can get to know each other a little more!" Leina sounded happy.
"I'm down whenever." Wesley said.
"Sure, why not?" Hope shrugged.
"Okay then. Let's head to the station. Hope, you lead the way." I grinned at him.
"Alright. They're living in the Rainforest District last time I heard, so let's see…we're currently at Herd Street, and the nearest train station is located near Acacia Street." He said without even looking on a map. Wow, I've lived here for two weeks already but I don't even remember the city's street names. Nice job Ken.
"Metro Station is just several meters to the south. We'll be there in no time."
"Neat. Lead the way then." Wesley grinned.
We finally started moving, leaving the café behind and headed towards said station with Hope's help. More idle chatters were made on the way, which was pretty amusing considering a number of absurd topics Leina was bringing.
We arrived at the station without much hassle. The inside of the station was overall crowded, but not crowded enough to keep us from boarding the train. I followed Hope closely from behind, trying not to get separated from the pack of mammals inside the station.
Well, at least I tried.
"Hope!" I tried to call him among the crowd, but there were simply too many animals loitering around. Where could they go on this current situation…?
"…the ticket booth!" The idea suddenly popped in my mind. I looked around and saw the booth at the far end. "There they are!" I noticed them grouping up at that area. I ran carefully towards my friends, trying not to bump into anyone.
Well, at least I tried. Again.
"Ow…" I groaned in pain from after bumping into somebody. I looked over and saw a doe knocked on the ground. She looked like about my age and she was wearing a simple green blouse and brown pants.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized and helped her get up while picking the clipboard that she dropped from the collision
"Oh, no! It was my fault!" The deer quickly brushed herself off and bowed in apology.
"I was the one at fault, really." I smiled at her, "Here, you dropped it." I gave her the clipboard back.
"Thank you so much!" She bowed repeatedly again. Gosh, this is so embarrassing…
"Hey, no problem!" I scratched the back of my head, "I'm in a bit of a hurry here so yeah, bye!" I waved before regaining my pace again. I can't shake this feeling off of me though… Was it from her…?
"Where did you went off to just now, huh Ken?" Hope asked demandingly after I reached my friends. Here comes the bossy attitude…
"I got separated, duh. What about the tickets?" I tried to change the subject.
"It's here. We just need to board the next train." Hope explained.
"Ah, alright." I said, still puffing from all that running.
"Well speak of the devil, it's here." Wesley commented shortly as our train arrived at the station.
"Well. That was fast." Leina remarked.
"Okay, enough chit-chat. Let's go!" Hope pushed us from behind. What the heck.
"I can walk, you know." I promptly went inside the train as the others. We found our seats rather easily, despite all the crowd. I guess the transit's really effectively fast, huh?
"I'm gonna inform them that we're coming to see them." I said as I took out my phone before dialing Chris' number.
"Yes, go do that." Hope chuckled. That's not even remotely funny.
…
…
"Hello? This is Chris speaking." I heard Chris' voice from the other in a rather polite manner.
"Hey, Chris! It's Ken here! Me and the others are going to visit you today. We're currently on the train and we'll be there soon!"
"Oh hello, Ken. I see. I'll go pick you guys up if that's the case if you don't mind."
"No, that'll be great since we don't even know where you live, heh."
"Okay. I'll see you all later."
*click*
He hung up before I could say my goodbyes. I think he's really humorless… Eh, can't blame him.
"I assume he's going to pick us up?" Wesley asked right after the call ended. You're so unpredictable. No wonder Nick took a liking to you…
"Yeah. So it's pretty much going to be a smooth ride until we get there."
"Hooray for aesthetics!" Leina cheered for absolutely no reason.
"Uh, what?" Hope asked puzzlingly.
"Exactly."
"Pfft…" I broke out a laugh before the others joined in too. The heck was he trying to say?
Meaningless conversations aside, I got suddenly reminded of the doe I bumped into earlier. She seemed...out of place. Maybe it's just me, though. But this feeling I'm having isn't making things any better for me. Is...is she in danger? Nah, no way, that's Ashley's job to tell if people is in danger, not me. I don't have that sort of power. My perk isn't very informative either, what the heck does an assassin do anyway? Well, besides from killing people? I don't want that kind of power. I know I shouldn't be complaining about this, but still...
"...en! Hey Ken, are you there!?"
"H-huh?" I snapped out from my thoughts.
"How can you even space out at this time?" I could see Wesley facepalming.
"Uh, what do you mean?"
"We've arrived, Ken. Like, 3 minutes ago." Leina explained. Me and my space-outs...goddammit.
"Shit, sorry! Let's get off then!" I quickly stood up and walked to the exit. We finally got off the train and exited the station. Countless amounts of huge trees suddenly sprang into view along with the unexplainable amount of rain pouring down from the sky. Correction, pouring down from the countless amounts of big sprinklers hanging from different directions. It didn't pour everywhere, though, so that's a thing. Still, this is so much different from Savanna Central...and Tundratown.
"Over here!"
I looked over to the source of the shouting. It was Chris! He was carrying an umbrella and…another two?
"Hey, there's Chris! Let's go!" I said while pointing at him before breaking into a run. He was wearing a red flannel and dark blue jeans, which was completely different from before. Still a better fashion sense than Nick's though…
"Here, take these!" He gave us the two umbrellas and we quickly retract it. It was enough for two people per umbrella, considering our body sizes. Chris is out of the question, though; he is much bigger than us so he had to carry one for himself.
"Thanks!"
"Don't mention it, I figured this would be your first time here in Rainforest District so I came prepared." He said in his usual stern voice. "Anyways, let's head to my house. It's located on the outskirts of this district so pretty near from where we are."
"Neat. Okay then, lead the way." I said as I looked at the scenery. It was amazingly tidy, much to my surprise.
Chris finally started moving and we followed closely from behind. Not separating seems to be a good idea at this time. The scenery was absolutely beautiful everywhere we go. Not saying that the other places aren't great, but this is just…breathtaking.
I took out my phone for no reason and the first thing I saw was the time. It was currently 1:30 PM. The train ride was longer than I thought. Playing with my phone a bit, I accidentally opened the messaging app. My eyes were fixed on Nick's name on the list of recipients. I stared into it for a bit before having an idea to tell him where we currently are. Just in case…
"hey nick, i just wanna say that i'm currently at the rainforest district. just to let you know. k bai."
That should be enough. I closed my phone and put it away inside my pockets. Despite the constant rain here, it's not actually cold or anything. The breeze is quite nice to the skin, or should I say fur. Either way, we had no problems walking towards Chris' home even though we're squeezing our way into the umbrella's range, trying not to get a single drop of rain.
Some time later, we came across a system of sky trams. I've never actually get to ride one myself, so seeing it makes me kinda hyped at the thing.
"There are gondolas here!?" Wesley said surprisingly.
"Yep. They actually serve as a pretty good shortcut to places, if you use them correctly. Or you can just relax by enjoying the scenery when riding them." Chris explained.
"Wow. I've always been fascinated with how these things work…" I muttered softly.
"Oh, and speaking of sky trams, I heard that Judy got attacked by a savage jaguar here while looking for clues on the Nighthowlers. It ended up being a crucial clue to her case." Hope commented.
"Wow, really? Man, I swear she could do anything without breaking a sweat." Wesley remarked.
"Yep. Have I ever mentioned that she and Nick are my favorite cops? Well, they are!" Hope exclaimed cheerfully.
"Yes, we hear you." Leina chuckled. "Oh! Why don't we take a picture together right here?"
"In this rain? No thanks." Wesley refused.
"Aww, c'mon! It'll be short, I promise!" Leina nagged him more.
"Alright, jeez." He shrugged in defeat. Wow, Leina could actually force him to do something? Nice job Leina!
"I mean, why not?"
"Sure, let's do it!"
Hope took out his phone and we positioned ourselves near the trams. He brought his phone upwards, "Smile for the camera!"
*flash!*
A snapshot sound could be heard from his phone.
"Lemme see!" Leina quickly grabbed Hope's phone, "Wow! Nice job Hope!" He gave him a thumbs up before giving his phone back.
"Ugh, finally. I'm getting soaked from this rain." Wesley groaned.
"Heh, let's go then." Chris continued his pace and we promptly followed him again.
"I'll be sure to ride the sky trams sometimes…" I thought to myself, determined in my decisions.
We finally arrived at Chris' home. It actually looked like a glorified shack than an actual house. Then again, I've only seen these type of houses ever since we arrived here.
"I thought your house was bigger than…this." Wesley commented.
"This was the only house here that I could afford." Chris said bluntly.
"Oh. Uh… Ack!" I could see Leina elbowing him on the side that made him wince in pain. Can't say I'm not surprised.
"Anyways! May we come in?" Leina asked politely.
"Of course." Chris turned back and opened the door, revealing an even more shack-esque interior. But it was really neat and somewhat cozy.
"Welcome back!" A voice shouted from the back of the house. It must be Ashley.
"We're home!" He shouted back. We entered the house and saw Ashley playing with her phone on the kitchen counter. I guess old habits dies hard, huh? We quickly settled on the nearby couch in the living room. But the rooms are all connected, save for the bedrooms, so I can't really say.
"Hey, everyone! Wait, I'm gonna go make something for you guys.." I could see her taking a small box on a shelf in the kitchen. I assume she's making us something to drink, so I didn't pay much attention to her.
I saw Wesley getting something out of his satchel. It was…a snack?
"Here, snacks for everyone." He took a snack one after another out from his bag. How much did he actually bring!?
"Uh…thanks?" Hope had the same reaction as I did as we reluctantly took the snacks Wesley gave. Leina, on the other hand, took it happily. I'm not sure if I should be afraid or be happy in his state…
Meanwhile, I could smell a faint hint of jasmine from the back of the house. I guess Ashley was making tea after all. I heard water pouring and soon Ashley came with a tray full of cups that were filled with tea. The scent of jasmine wafts through the air, making a wonderful sensation inside my head.
"The tea's done! Head right in!" She announced gleefully.
I took one of the cups and took a sip. Oh wow, it's tasty!
"Mmm...it tastes wonderful!" Leina commented enthusiastically.
"Can't argue with that. It really is good." Hope remarked.
"Agreed." Wesley took another sip as he said that.
"So…why exactly do you want to visit us?" Chris started asking.
"I thought we could hang out and probably throw some conversations, I dunno. I don't wanna waste the day by staying in my apartment."
"Neither do we." Wesley added.
"Alright. Now that you're here, though, what are you going to discuss about?"
"Hmm…"
"How about the blackish thing we encountered last night? You should know more about it, right?" Hope asked.
"Yeah, those things attacked Nick and Judy last night! Thankfully they had something to defend themselves so they defeated it quite easily."
"Wait, you know those two?" Ashley suddenly asked me.
"Uh, yeah. I've known them since I was first brought here."
"That's…really surprising. Given those two were the ones who cornered us and all."
"Whoa, what!? They were the ones who caught up to you!? Wow, they're really are something alright."
"Yeah. I really wasn't expecting to get caught, though, but it seems we didn't prepare ourselves enough."
"I see… Well, in any case, I'm glad we talked about this." I nodded.
"Anyways, assuming we encountered one of those, what should we do?" Wesley changed the subject.
"Honestly? Run as far as you can as soon as you see those things." Ashley suggested.
"That's a good idea, yes, but what if there's nowhere to run? Can we protect ourselves from it?"
"From what I've experienced, there's one way you could attack them, which is to use firearms." Chris explained.
"Firearms? Where heck can we get one of those? And didn't someone say that those are banned in Zootopia? But nevermind that, how do you know that we can use firearms on them?" Wesley argued.
"I used to have a pistol which I specifically use only for Anomalies, but the recent events made me lose it, along with my white van."
"You have a pistol!? A real pistol!?" Hope exclaimed rather nervously.
"I had one. Not sure why you're stressing over it than the van, though. But as I said, I lost it inside my white van, which I'm pretty sure the police have gotten their hands on it. Either way, that's all I know about eliminating them. Do tell us if you know another way to defeat them, it'll really help us."
"It must've been the one Nick was talking about…" Hope muttered softly.
"Ehh, don't count on it. I don't want to meet those things to begin with. But in case we do, of course." I said casually.
"Thanks." Chris made a smile. I smiled back and leaned back onto the couch, taking another sip of the tea in the process. We talked about random topics for a while, one of them including how they got this place in particular. All in all, we had a lot of fun hanging out.
This is my second day here in Zootopia, and it couldn't have gotten much better! Ken took me to a lot of places, like here in the Rainforest District. It's really gorgeous overall. We've just finished talking about self-defense against those things in case we meet them but we didn't exactly get anything useful from that. Still, more information is a win in my book.
"Well I think that's it for today, it's already 3 PM, holy hell." Ken suddenly spoke up.
"What? Already!?" I said distraughtly.
"Yeah. Time flies so fast… Well, it was fun while it lasted." Hope remarked before standing up.
"Oh, we're finished already?" Wesley stood up as well.
"Yeah, we can't stay here too long. You know, reasons." Ken stood up too. It left me, Chris and Ashley that were sitting.
"Leina, are you coming or not?" Wesley asked jokingly at me.
"I guess…" I reluctantly stood up and faced the tigers.
"Well, we'll be going now. Thanks for the hospitality! We'll definitely visit you again sometimes." Ken bowed down in respect and we did so as well.
"No sweat! Come here whenever you like, there's always enough tea for everyone." Ashley chuckled.
"Haha, okay!" Hope let out a small laugh.
"Be careful out there. You'll never know when you're gonna meet them. And if you do spot one, just run. Fight them if that's your only option, but prioritize your safety first." Chris said in a calm but serious tone.
"I'll definitely keep that in mind." Wesley said.
Chris went to the door and opened it, letting us go outside. "Here, take these. You can have it." He gave the same umbrellas to us.
"Oh, thanks!" I said happily.
"Don't mention it. Well, goodbye." He waved at us with a smile.
"Bye!" We simultaneously waved and said our goodbyes before heading off towards the station was. Unlike the other walks, this one was mostly silent. I don't know if it was because we were too enthralled by the scenery of the district or if we just didn't have any topics to talk about.
Moments later, we arrived at the sky trams again. It looked really fun to ride on, to be honest.
"Hey. You wanna ride the gondola together?" Ken suggested somewhat sheepishly.
"Are you sure? We could, but shouldn't we get going soon?" Hope asked hesitantly.
"It'll be fun, c'mon!" He pleaded more.
Hope took a sigh, "Okay, nothing's gonna stop you anyway."
"Alright!" He jumped in excitement. Wow, Ken is looking so happy. Can't blame him, though, there were no trams like these in our town so he really couldn't experience it.
"I'll go whenever." Wesley shrugged without even caring.
"Okay then, let's go!" Ken lead the way towards the dock. I was the one who held onto the railings. I'm not really into heights.
"It fits four people so we can ride together at the same time." Hope explained.
We waited for the next tram to arrive. "Here it is! Let's go!" Hope went in first and then the others followed suit with me being the last person to ride it.
"Yay!" Ken expressed himself quite giggly.
"Hey, don't make too many movements here. The tram's pretty small by itself so we don't need additional 'struggle' or else it would fall off." Hope warned.
"Ah, okay." He quickly calmed down and turned to see the view.
"It's so cool…" I remarked in awe at the landscape in front of me.
"No kidding. It's even better up here." I could see Wesley scoping around.
"You all look like little kids that just saw an ice cream for the first time. Can't blame you, though." Hope laughed.
It really was going great; the scenery, the conversation, it was all in place.
Except for this one.
"Hey, what's that sound?" I asked after hearing some faint noise on top of the gondola.
"I don't hear anything." Wesley replied.
"Me neither." Hope added.
"Huh...weird. Must be my imagination-" A pouncing noise could be heard again from above right after I finished my sentence, this time, louder. What the heck is happening!?
"Whoa!? What was that!?" Ken asked anxiously.
"I…I don't know… This has never happened before!" Hope looked panicked.
"Wait, I'll check!" Wesley said before standing up and looking over the tram's hood. "What the fuck!?" He yelped before quickly getting back into the tram.
"What is it!?" Ken asked concernedly.
"It's…it's the black thing we talked about earlier!"
"What!?" All three of us simultaneously yelled the same word.
"I'm not joking around either. I think…I think he's gonna bring the gondola us down!"
"That can't be! I'm gonna try to shake it off!" Hope went overhead and did something we couldn't see.
…
…
"ARGH!"
Hope quickly returned with a claw wound on his right arm.
"Oh God, what happened!?"
"It clawed me! That bastard…!"
"What are we going to do!?"
The gondola began to shook even more. I couldn't do anything. I could only sit there in fear. There was nothing I could do. Nothing…
I could feel my body floating. I didn't even have the courage to open my eyes. I…really couldn't do anything. It all happened too fast…
CRASH!
And then there was darkness.
My consciousness slowly came back into my mind. I'm not sure whether I should like or not considering the amount of pain I had after opening my eyes. The rain was pouring all over the place and I could feel a grassy land below me. I immediately saw the sky trams above me and the memories of us plummeting down suddenly flowed back. I tried to get up but the pain was unbearable. I think I've broken a few of my ribs… Wait, what about the others!?
I shook those thoughts off of me and tried my best to stand up. It took me a few tries but I eventually stood up and saw the crash site of the gondola. Clutching my shoulder in pain, I took a few wobbly steps forward, noticing the encompassing view of trees surrounding my field of view. It wasn't long before I took notice of Ken and the others lying in different directions. Ken was the most noticeable one. A beam that came from the gondola was impaling him right on his back.
This can't be happening, right? This is all dream, right? Right?
"K-Ken…?" I stepped closer, noticing the pool of blood under his body. I promptly detached the beam that was stuck on his body and threw it as far as my body could muster. I then slumped down beside him.
"Ken? Can you hear me? Please wake up…"
No response.
"Ken…I can't lose you again…not now…Ken!" I shook his body, trying to deny the inevitable that was right in front of me. Despite that, he didn't move an inch. I truly felt despair at that time. I couldn't think of anything. I couldn't even accept the reality in front of me.
Before I knew it, I've broken into tears while wailing loudly. I really couldn't accept it. But it was right there. The others weren't moving as well. Is this…really happening?
Is this…really the end for me?
…
…
…
No!
Streams of whites suddenly surged into my mind that completely covered my vision.
And then there was blank.
Well holy shit that took a while to write. I think this is the longest chapter in the fiction to date. But yeah, sorry for the kind-of-cliffhanger, this chapter took way too long to write and I wasn't expecting 6.5+K words. Oh, and of course, huge thanks to you for reading this thing, I honestly couldn't have reached this far if not for your support. (Also Zootopia discord but irrelevant, irrelevant.) But anyways, as always, I will see you on the next chapter. Good night!