Morning in Las Vistas, and all seemed relatively quiet in one of the many abandoned small towns scattered throughout. However, this particular town was not as abandoned as it let on. Hiding in one of the buildings was a young boy, about 14 years old, who was sleeping in one of the rooms on a makeshift hammock. He had dark brown skin that contrasted his spiky, blonde-white hair greatly and wore a jumpsuit that indicated he was from a burrow city; emphasis on the "was". A few days ago, he was framed for a crime he had no part of, and got exiled from his home. Now living in fear ever since, his only goal at this point was just to survive. His name was Kanan.
As the sun shone through the window, as well as the many other cracks in the building, Kanan stirred awake, stretching as he sat up. Opening his eyes, he looked over at a photo he put next to the bed; the only thing he had left from his old home. It was a picture of him as a younger kid with his father, a dark skinned man with black hair and a beard, and his sister, a young girl with light hair, similar to his, but with a sort of purple toned skin, something he never really understood to this day.
Kanan sighed as he took the photo: "Well, guys, time to try and survive another day." He said, folding the photo and putting it in his pocket. Walking out of the building he walked to the abandoned vending machine he had broken the window of and had now been using for food. He grabbed a bag of chips and a candy bar and was ready to head back to his shelter when he saw something move from the corner of his eye. Looking at where it went, his curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to follow.
The figure moved pretty quickly, but Kanan was luckily able to see it just as it either turned a corner or ducked behind an old car.
"Hey, come back here!" he said. Finally, the figure stopped and turned around. To Kanan's surprise, it was a sort of anthropomorphic cat, about only 4 feet tall and wearing a sort of green plaid shirt.
"Oh," Kanan said, "Sorry if I scared you. I just saw you run by and was curious."
The cat stared at him for a few moments.
"You can't understand me, can you?" Kana said.
"No I can," the cat said, startling Kanan.
"Ah! You can talk!" he said.
The cat smirked: "You scared me, and now I scared you. Looks like we're even."
"What are you?"
"I'm a timbercat, and YOU must be a human."
Kanan nodded: "Yeah. You're not gonna hurt me, are you?"
"Nah, you seem pretty harmless. I'm Bunyan, by the way."
"I'm Kanan."
The two shook hands.
"So, tell me," Bunyan said, "What's a human like you doing on the surface, and all alone too?"
"Well," Kanan said, "I used to be from a burrow, but I was banished."
"Banished?! What for?"
"Nothing. I got framed for something I didn't do, but no one listened to me, so here I am."
Bunyan cringed: "Yikes. That sucks. So, how long have you been out here?"
"A few days at most." Kanan replied.
Bunyan thought for a moment, then said: "Tell you what, come with me. I think my friends can help."
"The timbercats?"
"Not all of them, there are a few other mutes as well. Even some humans."
"There are?"
"Oh, yeah. I can take you to them if you want. So, you wanna come?"
Kanan thought for a few moments, then nodded: "It certainly would be better to be with others than trying to survive on my own like I've been doing."
"Good," Bunyan said, "Come with me then."
Suddenly, the two heard a rumbling sound, like heavy footsteps. Turning around, they saw a giant two faced pigeon had wandered nearby, and it now saw them.
"What is that?!" Kanan asked.
"Beak-Beak!" Bunyan said, "We need cover. Follow me!"
The two ran into a building through a hole in its wall, then they ducked out of sight of the window so the mute wouldn't see them.
"I think we lost it." Kanan said.
"Don't get confident just yet, kid," Bunyan said, "Beak-Beaks are annoyingly persistent sometimes."
As if on que, the ceiling began to shake and crack; the mute was breaking in through the roof. Within a few seconds, a hole was made in the roof and a feathery head poked its way through. Kanan backed away as far as he could, but Bunyan wasn't letting this mute get away without a scratch. Jumping from his hiding place, he pulled out an axe and threw it at the creature's head. The resulting pain as the axe hit caused the Beak-Beak to pull its head out briefly as it cried out in pain. Glaring back down, it drove its head back into the hole, right in front of Kanan. Instinctively, Kanan punched at the creature's face, unaware that his skin had turned black and scaly as he swung, The resulting punch stunned the creature as it was far harder of a hit than it had anticipated. Seizing the opportunity, Kanan ran to Bunyan.
"Good, thinking, kid," Bunyan said, then noticed Kanan's arm and let out a meow of fright: "WOAH!"
"What?" Kanan said.
Bunyan slowly pointed to Kanan's arm. Kanan looked to his scaly arm and cried out in terror: "AH! WHY IS MY ARM ALL SCALY?!"
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." Bunyan said.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU'RE NOT SURE?!"
Suddenly, a screech interrupted them as the saw the Beak-Beak had recovered and raised its head and prepared for another attack. Then suddenly, explosions could be heard as the creature became pelted by missiles and blasted by a minigun, both of which belonging to a large hovercraft that appeared. Annoyed and in pain, the mute was forced to fly off in an attempt to survive.
Hearing the explosions, Kanan and Bunyan slowly walked outside, cautious that the mute was still around. Once outside, they saw the hovercraft land, and Bunyan broke out in a smile.
"Well, they certainly got here faster than I thought." He said.
"Those are your friends?" Kana asked.
"Yes, they are. Come on, I'll take you to meet em."
As they walked closer to the ship, the back hatch opened as a large humanoid, lizard mute walked out, dressed in some kind of high tech armor and carrying a heavy cannon on his shoulder. He saw Bunyan approaching, then noticed Kanan.
"Who did you bring with you THIS time?" the lizard asked.
"This is Kanan, Slitherus," Bunyan replied, "And it wouldn't kill you to show some sympathy once in a while; this guy's been unlawfully banished from his burrow."
"He has?" a girl's voice said, and a young woman, about 16, with light skin and dark hair walked out, wearing similar tech armor. She looked him over and said: "What's your name?"
"Kanan," Kanan replied.
The girl nodded: "I'm Tris, you've met Slitherus Grumpypants."
Slitherus hissed at Tris: "How many times must you call me that insulting name?!"
"I will when YOU start being a little nicer to new people." Then, turning to Kanan: "Now, come on, I'm sure our burrow will accept you."
"You live in a burrow too?" Kanan asked.
"Yeah, but it's not like the one you'd expect. It's a little more exciting. So, you comin?"
Kanan didn't need to think this time; life in a different burrow with other strangers was better than trying to survive up here on the surface.
"I'm in. What do I need to do?"
"For starters, you can come with us on the ship so we can take you back to our burrow."
"Right," Kanan said, running onto the ramp of the ship. Bunyan followed behind, but as he passed Tris, he tapped her leg, motioning for her to lean down so he could whisper something in her ear.
Once she did, the timbercat whispered: "Something weird happened when we were being attacked by that mute. I think he's a Hybrid." He said pointing to Kana's scaly arm.
Tris's eyes widened: "You're sure, Bunyan?"
"Positive. I don't know what kind, but I know he's a Hybrid for sure. Some kind of reptilian by the looks of it."
"Well, then it's a good thing we found him first and not Scarlemagne or, God forbid, Emilia."
Bunyan shuddered: "Agreed. We should test him, just to make sure."
"One step at a time, Bunyan. Let's just get him back to base first." Tris said.
"Right." Bunyan said, and then the two entered the ship, where they saw Slitherus was trying to show Kanan how to strap himself in and not doing a very good job.
Tris pushed the lizard aside: "I'll handle this." She said, and helped Kanan finish getting strapped in.
"Thanks." Kanan said.
Tris winked: "Don't mention it. Now hang on, it's a bit of a bumpy ride."
Sure enough. The ship began to shudder as its engines roared to life, forcing a terrified Kanan to grab onto the armrests for dear life. A few moments later, the hovercraft took off back towards the burrow it came from.