Chapter 5: Tragedy

Author's Note: I just realized that I spelled a word that was used frequently in the last chapter wrong. Yes, I know, I should have checked, but no, my lazyass didn't want to. Also, I realized that I used wrong words in the last chapter. I know, I'm an idiot. So go ahead and comment that I suck and all that stuff. Other than that, hope you enjoy this chapter.

Two days have passed, the blue squirrel and the white squirrel were punished, their names were Filbert and Marshal. The only thing Ilia did yesterday, was basically work at the town hall. Today he woke up at 9 in the morning. He got up, and was getting dressed up until he heard Walt outside. He knocked on Ilia's tent to "spread the word." Ilia opened the door and Walk had a sad face.

"Mayor," Walt was crying, "I can't believe what I am about to tell you." Ilia was very confused. All of a sudden, Ilia's neighbor, Bella, opened her house door and with confusion, she said...

"What the hell is going on?," she asked, "Can't I just have a relaxing sleep for once, now shut up, would you?" She looked drowsy. Ilia thought to himself, "Maybe Walt's yelling woke Bella up." She then went back to her house.

"Mayor, Roscoe had a heart failure," Walt was still crying, "The doctors couldn't do anything about it. Roscoe has been pronounced dead." Ilia was shocked after what Walt said. Walt then continued, "His funeral is at Wednesday at 10:00." Today was Sunday, and Ilia was beginning to feel sad. "But today is the only day where you can see him."

"Okay," Ilia sighs, "Take me to the funeral house." Walt then escorted him to the funeral house. When he got there, he decided to stop so that he could take a deep breath and try to hide his emotions that could hit him while seeing Roscoe's corpse. He then entered the house. When he got there, he saw a red dog with a black spot on her eye, he also saw a blue unicorn who looked like a girl, but is really a boy, and lastly, he saw a light blue wolf with some white fur. The dog was just standing there. She looked nervous, but she was not sad. The blue unicorn was crying, and so was the light blue wolf. Ilia went up to the front of the funeral room and wanted to say his third and final goodbye to Roscoe. Unexpectedly, a lot of animals showed up to honor Roscoe for defending (or at least trying to defend) Melville. Animals were saying their last goodbyes to Roscoe. Some were just hanging around in the main lobby. Some were comforting others that were sad.

When Ilia tried to leave, a purple goat tried to greet Ilia. Ilia kept trying to leave, but the goat wouldn't let him leave, because he was trying to talk to the mayor.

"Look, I'm so sorry for the interruption, but I realized you are the mayor of this town. I'm Kidd, nice to meet you," Kidd was acting a bit nervous. Ilia didn't know what to do. Kidd then continued, "Man, why did it had to be Roscoe? He was a good animal, that dude not only did he defend the town, but he also saved other lives at risk, he was known as "The Hero Without a Cape" during the time when the three assassins were killing animals here in Melville. He helped built shelters for animals who didn't have one. He gave food to the poor and the sick. In fact, he even donated to those who were seriously injured at the hospital..." Ilia paused him.

"Wait, that is the reason why lots of animals came here to honor him? I didn't knew that," Ilia was surprised.

"Pretty much, dude," said Kidd, "That is why he will be known as Melville's hero, because without him, many more innocent lives would be lost, maybe Melville would have reached it's end. We wouldn't be here if his parents didn't gave birth to a legend. Sucks you only met him for like, 3 days-ish." Ilia actually began to feel emotional after wishing that Roscoe would still be alive right now.

"I know, it sucks that he's gone," Ilia was beginning to feel bad, "But you know what, I enjoyed talking to you, Kidd, and I actually do, but I have stuff to do. Talk to me when there's a chance, okay? Well, see you soon, bud." Kidd waved at Ilia, before Ilia left.

When Ilia left, he had to go through the crowd that were giving their condolences to Roscoe. After leaving the big crowd, he met up with Walt and Isabelle. Before they noticed Ilia, they were having a conversation.

"Mayor, we're glad you made it to the funeral," Isabelle said, with a depressed look on her face.

"Yes, thanks for attending," Walt said, "Now it's just the three of us, the problem is..."

"Wait, before you say anything," Ilia paused Walt for a second, "Why can't you get anyone else to be, like, you know, a "Defender of Melville?" Walt got a little steamed.

"Because I can't do that without them doing an exam?," Walt got even angrier.

"What exam?," Ilia was confused, "I don't get it." Walt took out a piece of paper that was in his pocket.

"If anyone, male or female, would like to become a defender, the number one most important part of this exam is to see if they haven't committed any crimes, minor or major. Step two, they must not laugh at anything, even to the funniest puns ever, also known as the laughter exam. Third step, they must prove to be brave and learn that they may have to face death at anytime of their service. Fourth, they will understand that they will be a defender as their career, meaning that their times of service will be over at the age of 45. Fifth, they are tested on how long they can deal with pain. I whip them with a stick with a thorn attached to the stick, if they can hold 30 whips, they are brave enough. Sixth, they are just given the sword and armor, with a contract being signed by them. They sign it if they understand that they must only use it for defense use only," Walt read the paper to Ilia.

"Oh, I get it now," Ilia finally understood.

"Unfortunately, no one wants to help, that is why I'm the only defender around at the moment," said Walt.

"I actually didn't knew that you had to go through a lot of pain during the exam," Isabelle said, "Well, what will we do now that you're the only defender?"

"I don't... wait," Walt paused himself, "Mayor, please leave, me and Iz have to sort things out between the both of us."

"OK, go do what you got to do," and Ilia left.

After Ilia left the funeral home, he headed straight home. He was crying, because he wish Roscoe would be alive. He didn't want to die, knowing about the threat he heard from Walt. Come to think of it, he thought that maybe the three assassins could be here right now, but he stopped thinking about the worst, because he thought he was just hallucinating...or maybe not.