I think he is dead! It must've been the alcohol poisoning, or maybe he died because of the malfunctioning fireworks, or maybe he simply died of old age. No matter what, he will be forever remembered as one of the finest. And on his grave shall be written "I've died so my son could live!"

Rest in peace dear "2010".

Chapter 296: No one the lifeguard

Rick was so surprised by the sudden push that he almost forgot to swim up as he was sinking deeper into the water. Although he completely forgot about swimming up because he needed air, he started swimming up for a more important reason than breathing. "It's fricking cold!" He thought as he quickly managed to get onto the shore where Thanty was standing, trying to rub the substance into the grass.

"[Care to explain why your backs are covered in…]" Before Thanty could finish the sentence, Rick quickly replied to the question which wasn't finished, and hopefully it will stay that way.

"[No]" That was the answer he gave him as he was quickly removing his pants which were unsurprisingly wet.

"[I should talk to your mother about wetting your pants]" Thanty joked but Rick already had a counter-joke.

"[I'm not taking them off because they are wet, but because I want to try what I was taught by my mother recently.]" Rick said with a faint smile.

"[I'm sooo not going to ask you what it was… so keep it to yourself]" Thanty said, realizing that this was going to end up in a gay joke. Rick was expert at gay jokes but he was also known for taking them too far.

Rick looked kind of sad when he heard that, but Thanty paid no attention to him for there was a problem coming right this way. That problem had six legs, and was smaller than Thanty, but slightly bigger than Rick, or at least Thanty thought so. The problem was usually called 'Rick's mother'.

She rushed quickly in front of Rick and Thanty realized that the best thing he could do was to act like he was just passing around, although it was fairly obvious that he was talking with Rick just a few moments prior to his mother's arrival.

"[Stay away from my cub!]" She hissed on Thanty who looked at her with confused look.

"[I was just asking for directions]" He said and then walked away, leaving Rick with his mother who was most likely to get angry at him.

"[It's safe now]" She said instead of getting angry at him. That surprised Rick even more than his brothers who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and jumped on their human brother.

"[Gotcha!]" They've said in union as he was lying underneath them again.

"Now I know why I never wanted to play rugby!" He thought ass he was trying to get rid of his brothers who got him in this situation to begin with.

When his mother turned around to face him, she couldn't help it and had to smile for her human son was covered by his brothers. She wasn't going to scold him in the first place, but now he got punished by his brothers instead. Rick began squirming and eventually he managed to push one of his brothers off him, the other two quickly jumped off him for they knew that he was going to free himself anyway. He was tired of this pouncing to begin with but then again, he couldn't tell them anything while their mother approved of this.

"[Water]" their mother suddenly began, drawing attention of her cubs, Rick included.

"[It is a thing we all drink, but water is not only for drinking. If you can't find any prey, you will have to search for your food in it. The fishes swim there and they are easy to catch if you know how. Before you start learning how to catch them, you must first learn how to swim.]" She said while putting her paw into the water. She seemed so fearless and yet Rick could feel that she was a little afraid of the water. Maybe it was the fact that thanators weren't good swimmers, in fact they were like cats when it came to water. Sure, they could swim but they weren't the best swimmers.

Rick's brothers were afraid of the water. Rick knew that by simply looking at them while they were watching their mother step into the water. He could swear that he heard a whimper but he wasn't sure from where it came from.

"[The trick is to keep your legs moving and keeping your claws close to each other]" She said showing them how to bend their paw in order to swim more efficiently. Rick also joined in, he knew that he wouldn't be an excellent at fishing but swimming might not be that hard. He also had his pants in the grass where they will probably stay until they were dry. Luckily for him he wasn't going commando on this trip, and so his green boxers with a huge RDA logo on his rear were covering both his rear and his front from prying eyes.

"[Let's see how good you are at swimming.]" She said while walking into the pond. Rick wasn't going to say anything against that but his brothers were about try and convince her to return to the shore where it was safe. They however held their mouths closed as they've watched her as she swam in a circle. Rick could tell that even though thanators weren't good at swimming, his mother was more than average swimmer. Her sons however seemed rather reluctant to get into the water. Rick decided to help them a little by pushing them in the right direction.

"[I'm yerik!]" He said and when his brothers heard that, they've immediately prepared to pounce on their brother but he jumped into the water, surprising both them and their mother as well. Rick quickly reappeared on the surface, swimming on his backs slowly while smiling at his brothers.

"[Scared?]" He asked his brothers who immediately got prepared to prove him wrong, their mother was watching them while still swimming around. Rick watched as Marco put his paw into the water and the retracted it and Rick could feel that Marco was having second thoughts.

"[come on, I haven't got all day]" Rick taunted him once again and Marco jumped into the water without thinking, at first he started sinking rather quickly but he was a smart thanator and so he quickly remembered the lesson he just received from his mother. After a few moments of awkward swimming he managed to not only stay above the surface but also to start swimming toward Rick even though it was rather slow.

Marco wasn't the only thanator who entered the pond, eventually even the rest of this family entered the water and quickly learned how to swim, or at least Marco learned how to swim, his brothers weren't that quick to learn that and one of them eventually started to sink even though he was struggling in order to stay above the surface. Their mother however didn't do anything to prevent her son from drowning, for he wasn't capable of adapting to the new environment and therefore he was weak. Rick however had a different opinion, in his opinion he just needed more time to learn.

Rick quickly submerged his head under the water and quickly looked around, finding his brother rather quickly. In a matter of seconds Rick was moving toward his brother who wasn't capable of struggling anymore and was simply going down like an anchor. On the surface on the pond, everyone was silent. Mother was simply waiting for the outcome while the brothers were scared that they will lose two brothers instead of only one.

A minute which felt like an eternity passed and nobody dared to say anything. There were bubbles appearing on the surface of the water but they've stopped after a few moments, crushing the hopes of the Thanatorish family about losing only one of their sons. Rick's mother wasn't exactly happy about this, for she thought that Rick might be capable of being a true thanator even though he had a human body.

"It is truly a shame" She thought but suddenly something splashed behind her, when she turned she saw Rick and her son. Her son wasn't moving but Rick was pulling him onto the shore already. It was obvious that her other son was dead, but this human obviously thought otherwise for he seemed to be quite in a rush while trying to pull the corpse on the shore.

Thanty returned to thanatoress who was still resting after the act, he knew that Rick's new family was staying near the pond and therefore near them. It meant that there will be no more cuddling until they relocate in order to obey the rules. When Thanty however heard the splashing sound which also woke up Thanatoress, the curiosity got better of him and he simply had to take a look.

"[What's going on?]" Thanatoress asked and Thanty turned toward her.

"[Don't know, let's find out, shall we?]" Thanty said and waited for his mate to get up before proceeding toward the pond, when they've got there.

When he saw Rick lying on top of a young thanator cub, he was horrified. Thanty never actually thought that Rick was into this stuff, sure he was into interracial stuff and he prove that by bonding with Tarya but actually kissing a young thanator male was pushing it to the limits. "Oh my god, it wasn't an act. He is really that-a-way! Got to watch my tail then!" He thought while he was coming closer in order to confront Rick. What was however strange about this 'romantic' act was too strange even for Rick, for he was frequently pressing the poor fellow's chest before returning to kissing him.

Before Thanty got close enough to start talking at Rick, not only that his mother was already between him and said Rick, somehow managing to get out of water rather quickly, but the poor 'romanced' thanator started coughing like mad. "Dude, don't tell me he French kissed him! I'm going to have nightmares about this forever" Thanty thought, obviously scared by what happened in front of him.

It was certainly traumatizing enough to break one's mind to see a man in his thirties, wearing only his wet green underwear, being on top of child who was also supposed to be his brother in the first place. This was the worst possible scenario, not only that Rick came out of the metaphorical closet but he also committed something horrible, he was making out with his brother who wasn't even the same species!

The coughing thanator stopped coughing and Rick got off him, letting him breathe once again. In times like this, there was no time to consider it disgusting, if he didn't move close and didn't cover the sides of his brother's mouth in order to prevent the air from exhaling while doing mouth-to-muzzle resuscitation. It was the first successful attempt to give a thanator CPR but it somehow worked, it was also the first use of CPR on thanators to begin with.

"I saved a thanator's life… how do I feel?" Rick asked himself while the adrenaline slowly started to wear off.

"I need a toothbrush!"

Wacky chapter is wacky. Maybe wackier than I intended

Before you start flaming me, I know that the proper way to give a CPR to animals is through nose. Rick however wasn't trained in giving CPR to pets and so he did it this way, it worked so it's cool right?

Right?

Whatever, let's do the answer to readers thingy!

-Forgotten shock trooper: The new year's eve was crazy alright, although I can't remember it…

-Hideout writer: *Thanty keeps writing something in his notepad*

-Sana-Dracious: And I think I shouldn't make it affect the story.

-The stone tiger: Sorry to disappoint but I was too busy celebrating (hell I have a headache so big that I shouldn't be writing this and sleep instead)

-MoreCakeforMe: I'll think about it ;)

-Oldskoolninja: Thanks, and although I think I made it story-themed, I still have to declare it a Christmas chapter which will not affect the story because it would be ruined otherwise

-Yukidog: I didn't vomit… I never vomit! *Rick pats my shoulder* "That's how I taught you to do it!"

-Dragonrider101: Thanks!

Alright, lets see if I remember how to post these chapters.

Read & Hope I'll upload it!