Silence filled the halls of the mall. A silence that the group that was now moving around them tried on their best not to break.
As the cops and the mages who were with them moved forward, they did their best to do so as silently as possible, as they didn't wanted to let their presence be known by the ones who were on the place where they were going.
They were silent as they moved across the halted escalators, and made their best to not make sounds with their footfalls as they moved across the hallways.
At some point, they divided into a few teams, with Nick, Judy and Marceli going to a side; Bogo, Benjamin, his snake and McChill going to one, Agent Lapinsky with them; and with Emilia, Bonnie and Sophie going into another side. The two females didn't wanted to be separated from their children, but they knew that this was something important, and they were ready to take action when the situation asked for it.
They approached, and they looked at the scene that was developing as they approached the central square.
The central square actually looked like a small square. It was a great artificial area that looked like a place for a watering hole. There was fake grass on the ground, living trees on the corners, complete with benches and trashcans around. Finally, at the very center, an artificial lake truly looked like a real watering hole. All of that gave a very nice look to the place, as it made it look quite welcoming and peaceful.
However, it didn't looked so peaceful if one was to look attentively.
"They are up ahead." Sophie said; her eyes were close as she said that, and everyone else looked at her as she spoke that. "They are in the central square, and all of the hostages are in there with them. They seem to be ready."
Truth, they were in there. A group of over sixty mammals of all species had been gather in the center of the circle that was form by more mammals and by over thirty golems. They were standing on attention around the mammals on the center, as if they were ready to move if anyone appeared before their eyes.
On the outside of the circle, some mammals were spread out. Percy looked like he was practicing his break dancing, making backflips and hoof-stands. Evan was on a corner, one of his eyes glowing blue as he continued to type on an invisible keyboard, producing an effect in the air as if he was really typing on something. Not too far from him, was the wolf known as Butch, and he was playing his guitar as if it was for a show that only he knew that existed, however, some of the mammals nearby were moving their heads up and down, as if enjoying the music. On another corner, Zane and Coyle were side by side, with the tiger looking like he was polishing his hammer, while the coyote stood by his side, and he did looked a bit nervous.
It was worthy noticing that the five mammals were dispose in a way that they were covering each side of the circle, as if they were truly reinforcing security in there, as they seemed like they were waiting for something. They truly looked like they were ready for anything that could happen and come their way.
However, none of them was covering the upper part of the circle. So, all of them completely failed to notice the presence of the butterflies that were hovering above the place. Blue butterflies that looked like they were made of some short of special crystal.
"They are all there." Sophie confirmed, and the ones who were near looked at her. The vixen was very thorough on describing to them all that she was able to perceive through her butterflies. She told them about the disposition of the hostages and about the locations of the mages on the group. She even added a few personal commentaries.
"Zillah Ferron was right." Sophie said, and she was not only speaking to the ones who were near her, but also to the rest of the group, as they were all communicating through radio. "I can't say for sure, but I can tell that the mammals on the center of the circle are acting on the same way as the ones around."
She was speaking it because, through her butterflies, she was able to see the mammals who were on the center as hostages were behaving on the same way as the mammals that were around them, with the golems. They bobbed their heads as one on the rhythm of the music that the wolf was playing on his guitar.
They looked far too synchronized for it to be coincidence, and Sophie transmitted her worry to the others via radio.
McChill took it with a grain of salt, however, the others, including Marceli, took her words with seriousness.
"That vixen knows what she is talking about." The fox would say to the polar bear. "Before she abandoned the moonlit world, she was quite an experienced mage, with a lot of knowledges."
This seemed to settle it, and now they knew that the ones they were supposed to rescue had been turn into crazed maniacs as well. This did made things significantly more complicated for them, as they now knew that rescue would be harder.
However, they were able to come up with a plan. A plan that Sophie pretty much designed on her own, and with an amazing speed. Lapinsky also gave his own word to the plan, and he admitted that it could actually work, if they were able to get close enough.
This was all it took for the others to agree with the plan, and to go along with it.
The time for talking was over, now was time for rescue.
On each corner of the mall around the central square, the mammals started to act. Marceli pulled his hood over his head and became a shadow, now dashing silently in front. Lapinsky, on his end, did something that surprised the ones around him, as the bottom of his metal boots lighted up in a blue coloration, causing the bunny to float, and to fly above their heads. Meanwhile, Emilia plucked a single shorthand from her stack, and held it in her teeth as it glowed, soon, she was holding Bonnies and Emilia's hands, as the three of them sank into the ground, making it ripple like water as they dive through it was if it was a liquid. All the while, the cops around continued to approach, their weapons ready for anything.
The mages, and the technocrat, were the first to arrive on the central square, with the cops right behind them. Marceli was quick to jump from one shadow to the other, not making a sound and avoiding the sight of the wolf, who seemed busy with his personal show. Lapinsky was now above the mass of mammals, floating silently above their heads as he got both of his plasma guns ready, getting prepared to use them at a moment's notice. Finally, the three females were emerging from the ground right among the hostages, coming out of the ground as if they were emerging from water and now standing on the ground, the shorthand on Sophie's mouth glowed and then it undid itself into fine dust.
The mages, the technocrat, and the cops all were ready, and they knew that they needed to do it right if they wanted to rescue the hostages before things went south too fast. That was why they knew that the plan needed to be perfect.
Inside of the circle of hostages, the three females did the best not to call attention to themselves (despite Bonnie having a shotgun with a skull on her paw) as Emilia pulled out her dagger and silently fixed the runic pebbles in it. Meanwhile, Sophie pulled another shorthand from her stack with her teeth, and held it in her mouth as she exhaled, causing the words written in the paper to glow.
"Ready... Now!" Sophie whispered, and they immediately started to act.
Emilia chanted the names of the runes in her dagger, causing aurora flames to emerge from it.
"Rock 'n roll!?" Some of the hostages said, now looking at them.
Then, Sophie blew out the paper; it started to move around the air with a lot of speed, and started to fly in circles around Emilia's dagger as she held it high. The paper undid itself, but the wind continued to move around the dagger, causing the flames to grow, until, with a sudden explosion of wind, the fire spread out forward in all directions.
It was not an explosion, but more a gust of wind carrying the flames with the colors of the aurora in all directions. Making them cover all of the mammals in the center of the circle, and even extending outside, into the golems and mammals that were around the mammals on the center.
This, of course, wasn't unnoticed by the mages around the circle.
"Huh?" Percy said as he looked back.
"What?" Zane said in surprise, as he and Hudson both looked back, seeing the blue, purple and green flames, both with shocked expressions.
"What the- My fans!" Butch said, looking back at the fire, and turning his back to the place where Marceli was hiding. This was all that the fox needed, as he dashed forward, and now he was right behind the wolf, literally hiding on the canine's shadow.
The flames lasted for around ten seconds, and by the time that they had cleared completely the mammals who were once under control were free. All of them were panting, looking around with confuse expressions; some of them looked as if they had just woke up from some kind of crazy dream.
The golems were unaffected by the flames in any way, and they were just turning to the many mammals, as if they were ready to do something. However, they were quickly take care off.
Blasts of pure plasma came from above, and hit two of the golems straight in the heads, causing them to explode. The mammals nearby cried out in shock and fear as they jumped back, and the headless golems fell to the ground, unmoving.
"ATTENTION, EVERYONE!" Lapinsky's voice came booming, and it sounded that it was coming from everywhere at once. "PLEASE, RETREAT NOW!"
He was talking to the newly freed mammals, and that much was obvious, the mammals started to look around and to look for a way out. However, they stopped when they saw that the mages were still around them, all of them looking like they were ready to fight if the situation actually asked for it.
"You are not going anywhere!" Butch said, looking at the mammals. "The show is not over yet!"
He looked about to do something, when suddenly a loud sound made him jump. He looked over his guitar, to see that the strings had been cut clean off!
"My guitar!" The wolf said, holding into it as if it was a living being. Meanwhile, Marceli was still behind him, and he wasted no time into using the hilt of his dagger to hit the wolf on the knee. This was enough to send Butch to the ground, and another blow on the back of the head was enough for the wolf to be knock out.
"Move!" Marceli said, turning to the many mammals. "Run, now!"
"Go there!" Sophie said to them, gesturing to the area that now had an open space for them to run, now that the golems were destroyed and the mage on that direction was unconscious. "It's you chance! Run now and don't look back! Run now! Run!"
The mammals didn't needed much more encouragement than that, as they all started to run as fast as their legs could carry them.
"Wait a minute!" Zane said, as he tried to give a step forward. However, he was halt in place as soon as a plasma blast hit the ground in front of his feet. Hudson yelped as he jumped back, while the tiger stayed in place as he looked at the small charred crater that had just been made, and then up.
Lapinsky was up there in the air, with a plasma gun pointed at the tiger and a fierce expression on his eyes. I was as if he was saying: the next one will be aimed at you.
Zane snarled at the bunny up there in the air as he returned the glare with his own ferocious glare.
Lapinsky had his eyes on him, but he also was attentive to what was going on around himself, as his other gun was point at the direction of the other mages around, namely, Percy and Evan. The bunny was being sure to keep them at the aim of his plasma weapons while the hostages made their escape.
The hostages were in a rush to escape, by the way, once they almost trampled the three mages who were among them, and almost tripped on Marceli and the unconscious wolf. They went past them, and where quickly received by a small team of cops, which were quick to give them directions to move out of the square and remain in there while they took care of everything.
The hostages were more than glad to get away from there, as they only wanted to get away from the crazy mages and from the golems as fast as possible.
Once the hostages were gone, all that there were left were the mages, the cops, and the golems.
Sophie, Emilia and Bonnie were on the middle of a circle of golems, and all of them were ready.
Marceli was standing over butch's unconscious form, as he had his dagger ready, and a fierce expression on his eyes.
The cops were on all sides, slowly forming a perimeter around the ones who they knew were the responsible for this mess.
The four remaining mages were around the circle of golems, and all of them looked around the ones closing in them. Hudson looked scared. Zane looked with a glare of angry annoyance. Percy looked around curiously. Meanwhile, Evan had an expression of curious indifference as he looked around on the cops encompassing them, but his expression got a bit more serious as he looked up.
Lapinsky was still up there. His metal boots allowing him to float above the mammals and golems bellow, his plasma guns were still ready, and he looked with a serious professionalism at the situation bellow. Slowly, he moved one of his paws, taking his aim off the mammals and golems bellow (although his other gun was aimed at them and his eyes attentive to the smallest sign of danger) as he took his wrist, and the mechanism in it, to near his mouth.
"ATTENTION." Lapinsky said, his voice coming booming from all around. Evan knew instantly that he had accessed the speakers of the mall, more specifically, the ones that were situated all around the central square. "I AM AGENT ANDREW CORNELIUS LAPINSKY, FROM THE TECHNOCRATIC UNION. I AM HERE IN ANSWER TO THE DANGER THAT HAD ARISED IN THE DEPENDENCIES OF THE NEW DEN PLAZA."
The bunny looked down on the scene bellow, as he continued:
"ZANE TIGEREYE, HUDSON COYLE, PERCY COLTER, AND EVAN CANIS. YOU ALL ARE CURRENTLY UNDER THE ACCUSATION OF INVADING AND TAKING OVER THIS BUILDING, KIDNAPPING A GREAT NUMBER OF MAMMALS INSIDE, AND ACTING IN WAYS THAT CAN BE CATEGORIZED AS TERRORISM."
He looked at them, his gaze shifted in between the mammals that he knew were responsible, and he stopped on the dog.
"EVAN CANIS. YOUR ACCUSATIONS HAVE THE AGGRAVATION OF YOU HAVING USED YOUR KNOWLEDGES IN ENLIGHTENED ELECTRONICS AND OTHER KNOWLEDGES OF ENLIGHTENED SCIENCE TO PERFORM CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES AND KNOWINGLY ENDANGERING CIVILIANS. THE OTHER ONES, AS MAGES, ARE UNDER THE JURISDICTION OF THE MAGE'S ASSOCIATION. YOU, HOWEVER, AS A FORMER MEMBER OF THE TECHNOCRACY AND A USER OF OUR SCIENCE, IS UNDER OUR JURISDICTION."
Evan looked up at the bunny. Someone who looked at him would think that he was completely indifferent at the bunny and at what he was saying. However, if they looked at his tail and at his body language, they would see that there were signs of anger in there.
"YOUR ACTIONS ARE VIOLATING SEVERAL LAWS, FROM POLICE AUTHORITY, THE MAGES ASSOCIATION'S CODEX, AND THE TECHNOCRACY'S CONTROL REGULATIONS. YOU NEED TO STOP YOUR ACTIONS NOW AND SURRENDER WILLINGLY; OTHERWISE, WE WILL HAVE TO USE OF FORCE TO APREHEND YOU. I MUST WARN YOU, I RECEIVED AUTHORIZATION FROM THE CONTROL TO USE LETHAL FORCE IF I DEEMED NECESSARY."
The bunny continued to look down, looking at the reactions of the mammals down there. His eyes stopped on the horse, who had lighted a violet flame on his hoof, which now had the shape of a heart.
"I REPEAT; I'VE BEEN AUTHORIZED TO USE LETHAL FORCE. PLEASE, SURRENDER."
Percy looked up at the bunny, and with a snap of his fingers, the heart on his hoof changed from a soft violet to an intense red. The horse wasted no time into moving his hoof and throwing the heart in direction to the bunny.
The flaming heart flew across the air like a red comet, going in direction to the bunny.
Lapinsky, instead of moving out of the way, simply stood floating where he was. The heart flew in his direction. The next thing everyone on the ground could notice was a great explosion of flames in the air.
Bogo let out a curse, as he got his weapon ready, and everyone reacted.
The females started to fight the golems, while the cops all approached as one big mass.
Percy continued to look up, and as the flames cleared, he got clear sight of the bunny.
The bunny was still floating right in place, with a paw outstretched in front of himself. The air in front of him was different, as if there was a lens in front of him, distorting the air.
Lapinsky had been quick when he saw that attack coming his way, and he was able to create a screen of condensed plasma in front of himself, held in place by a strong electromagnetic field, which served to block the fire attack from that mage.
Now that the attack was over, the bunny lowered his paw, and he looking intently at the horse.
The bunny then rose his plasma guns, as he was ready to use them to fight.
The clash had begun.
"Okay, cost clear, keep going." Meerkovitz said through his radio, as he had just finished darting the crazed mammals that were on the way of the group. This allowed the group of mammals to go forward, and they passed by the unconscious mammals that Meerkovitz had darted.
"The little guy does have a really good aim." Someone on the group said, as they continued to move forward.
Indeed, he had a good aim. Hence why many of the mammals in there were starting to feel glad that Bogo had tasked him with overseeing the group and making sure that they had gotten out of the mall safely.
They were on their way outside, and they had no problems up until now. However, they still had their eyes open, especially the mages, who were starting to think that this might be a bit too easy.
"Guys, heads up!" Meerkovitz said. "Someone coming your way! Someone big! Oh, carp! It's some golems!" The meerkat said, sounding alarmed. "Dang it! These ones are as big as- what the heck!?"
This caused some to get worried.
"Meerkovitz?" McHorn asked, "Meerkovtiz, what's going on? Are you okay?"
There was a silence for a few moments, then there was a strange sound coming from the other end, and it was possible to hear the meerkat's voice. However, there were at least three other voices, all of them saying the same thing:
"Rock n' roll!"
"Dang it!" McHorn said, and he told the rest of the group to stay together and to be ready.
Around ten seconds later, they saw some big golems coming their direction.
These golems were big as elephants, like the ones that they had faced on the ninth floor. However, where those were shape like rhinos, these ones were shape like bears. They were even complete with sharp claws made not of stone but of metal, looking like long scythes. Not only that, but their maws were also filled with sharp teeth made of metal.
"Brilliant." Tyler said, as he and his brothers placed themselves in front of Gazelle to defend her. Meanwhile, everyone was on their toes, as they looked at the three massive and threatening-looking golems, which started to walk in their direction.
"Okay, if you mages have a plan, I hope you guys can use it now." McHorn said, and the golems now were walking in their direction faster. This, of course, prompted some mages to act.
"Combust!" Tyler said, placing both of his paws together and generating a mass of heat between them, right before he sent this mass of heat forward into the golem that was on the center. The contact of the heat caused an explosion, forcing the golem back, almost causing it to stumble on the two that were coming behind it.
Just in that same moment, Tyrone rushed forward, dust condensing around his body until it turned into an armor of stone. The golem was still standing, although with a crack on its chest. Tyrone collided head on with the golem, causing the crack to grow, and immediately, he knocked the golems over.
"Run!" The tiger said, as all of the golems were down. "Run now! All of you!"
The group didn't needed anymore encouragement than that. They rushed forward, and many of them had the chance to pass, however, some of them stayed behind as the golems got back up, and they managed to push back the tiger, who had to be very fast to avoid the attack from the golem's metal claws.
The ones left behind looked like they were in a pickle. That was, until Lana Bellwether and Jade stepped forward. Lana used a powerful windblast to throw a golem out of balance, while Jade used her daggers to attack the golem on the head, and caused it to fall back, bumping into the others.
That was when Tyrell stepped forward. He, Tyson and Gazelle had been among the ones to stay behind, and when he saw the golems stumbling and bumping into each other, he ran into action. Standing in front of the golems, he let out a powerful roar that moved forward like a shockwave, being strong enough to force the golems off their feet.
"Now!" Tyrell said, "Go now!"
The ones who stayed behind then rushed to catch up. Gazelle and Tyson were among the ones who passed.
"Tyrell!" Gazelle said, "Boys!"
"We'll stay behind and take care of them!" Tyrell said, "Tyson, you stay with Maria! Make sure she is alright!"
Both the popstar and the tiger wanted to complain about it. However, neither of them had the time for such, for in that moment, the golems were already getting up.
Tyson grabbed Gazelle by the wrist and pulled her to make her move. The popstar felt her heart clenching, as she was force to leave three of her great friends behind...
"Okay now." Jade said, as her daggers glowed. Lana and the three tigers were by her sides. The golems were in front of them and they looked to be ready for battle. "It's show time!"
The golems stood in there, looking at the mages for a few moments, before they rushed in their direction, metal claws and teeth all ready for battle.
"Lana!" Dawn Bellwether said as she and Krystin just turned a corner. They had stayed on the back of the running group, and it seemed that not many on the group cared if the fox and the convicted criminal stayed behind.
"She will be fine!" Krystin said to her as he pulled her by the hoof. "Just keep running!"
Dawn did as she was told, although she continued to look back, as if she wanted to go back and help her sister...
"Look out!" Krystin cried out, and that was the only warning that she had before the fox forced her to stop, and it was right on time for them to avoid the blow that came from a big axe made of stone.
Krys forced her to walk back as they looked at the group of golems that suddenly showed up in front of them.
"Too many..." Krys said, as the rune on his paw started to glow.
Dawn also looked. She too thought that there were too many, maybe ten or so. She needed to do something.
Reaching out, she grabbed one red chalk, and closing her hoof around it, she focused her magical energy. The circuits in her hoof lightened up as she sent magical energy into the chalk that she was holding.
"Take cover!" She said as she threw the chalk and pulled Krystin back.
The chalk flew on the air and collided with one of the golems. Immediately, the magical energy-charged red chalk glowed in an intense crimson, before it exploded like an incendiary bomb.
The golems were force back as flames covered all of them. Two of them had already dropped to the ground, as they had suffered too much damage due to the force of the blast.
Krys and Dawn had dove to avoid the worst of the blast, and as they got up again, they saw that Dawn' tactic had worked, and that now they had a path ahead of them that they could use.
"Run!" Krys said as both of them made a break for it.
They were almost passing by the golems, when Krys saw something that made his eyes widen.
Dawn was by his side, but she suddenly felt herself being roughly pushed forward as Krys himself moved his body backwards.
It was right on time, for moments later a stone sword nearly hit the post where they both were together.
Dawn landed on her chest on the ground, while Krys stumbled back. Meanwhile, the golem that was still on fire turned to look at the ewe. It was moving in her direction, but it was immediately hit by a fireball from behind, causing it to stumble and then turn around to look at the fox that fired that at it.
Meanwhile, Dawn had got up, and she looked back, seeing Krys now being surround by the still burning golems.
"KRYS!"
"I'm fine!" The fox screamed to the ewe. "You go and get out of here!"
"No!" Dawn said, getting up, and looking like she was about to rush forward.
"Do as I say!" The fox cried, and this made the ewe flinch and step back.
They locked eyes for a moment, before the fox said:
"I'll take care of them and I'll meet you on the outside!" Just as he spoke it, a golem tried to go at him, and he dodged the flaming weapon and shot a fireball square in the chest of the golem, causing it to burst open and making the stone entity fall down. The tod looked back at the ewe.
"I promise!" He said, and made a gesture, crossing his heart.
The ewe stood right where she was, not moving an inch.
"Krys..."
The fox looked at her, and he had to move out of the way of a flaming axe.
"Go! Now!" He screamed as he lit up the flame on his paw.
The ewe looked for a few moments, and then, she gave a step back, before she turned around and sprint into running.
Meanwhile, the battle continued at the central square.
The golems tried to attack the three females that were among them, and they quickly answered with their own moves. Emilia had, at some point, drop her dagger, and now she was using her paws and feet, hardened by runes and magical energy, to block the attacks of the golems and give her own attacks back.
Meanwhile, Sophie and Bonnie were showing that they were good long distance fighters, as they both kept their distance and used their own means to attack. Sophie used her shorthands to produce fireballs, shards of rock or even icicles in the air and shot them forward into the enemies. Meanwhile, Bonnie used her shotgun and the bullets to fight, and the bullets flew across the air and hit the targets.
Bonnie needed time after each shot to reload her shotgun, luckily, Sophie showed that she was in there to cover her.
The two females showed that they were very skilled in battle, and that they were ready to help each other.
Meanwhile, Marceli too was doing his part to fight the golems, and he mostly used his dagger to fight them. He dodged their blows and approached with his dagger, hitting in strategical points as id he was aiming at the vital areas of a living mammals. This showed to have some effect, as the golems would soon be falling to the ground, unmoving and looking like they had been defeated.
Not to mention Lapinsky, who was up there and was firing plasma blasts at the enemy mages. During the flight, his eyes darted all around the area as he flew with the help of his anti-gravity metal boots.
Analyzing reactions. Calculating escape routes. Finding most advantageous course of action.
The bunny would fire his plasma bolts at the mages who were trying to attack his allies, and his focus in particular went to Percy Colter, who showed to be the ones who was actually capable to aiming at Lapinsky himself.
The bunny and the horse were actually trading blows as the bunny flew. The horse was firing blasts of kaleidoscopic fire shaped like suits of cards, while the bunny answered with blasts of plasma from his guns aimed at the equine. In some cases, they were able to dodge with an aerial maneuver or a mortal backflip. In other cases, the attacks collided in the air and exploded in flames and sparks.
All the while, the cops tried to do their part and to approach. However, that was proving to be quite a challenge for the ones that didn't had magecraft.
They even tried to approach the mages, but as soon as they were saw, the mages would react with a bit of violence towards them. Evan Canis would materialize screens on the air that would fire energy blasts at them, Zane Tigereye would send blasts of rock at their direction, and Coyle Hudson would use a red piece of rope to fight the cops that come his way. Actually, at some moment, Hudson Coyle grabbed McChill by the ankle and dragged him around himself for a while, before tossing him back at the other cops.
"Man, that gotta hurt!" Nick said as he looked at the bear had his tail handed to himself on a plate. Judy was right by his side, and she was trying to see an opening to be able to shot, however, it was proving to be hard, considering how much the mages moved, and how they seemed that they almost had a sixth sense that allowed them to know when darts would be fire at them.
It seemed that the cops actually could do nearly nothing, and this was something that frustrated the bunny cop. Especially considering her own mother was among the mages who were fighting in there.
Bonnie had just fired another round of bullets into a golem, blasting its chest and head, and she was on her way to reload, when:
"Look out!" Sophie's voice came, causing the bunny to look up just in time to see a stone axe coming her way. She was quick to dive out of the way, as the axe sank into the soft ground, however, in the process, Bonnie had lost her gun.
The golem was immediately neutralized by Sophie, who used a shorthand to create a spear of ice that she threw into the golem, piercing its head and making it fall to the ground unmoving.
Bonnie breathed in relief, and she immediately looked around, seeing that her shotgun had flew out, and that it was now out of reach within the golems that were quickly coming her way.
Well, it seemed that she was going to have to fight for real.
She looked at her shoulder, looking at the skull of the skeletal snake that was still wrap around her body.
"Gib mir einen Schub" Bonnie said to the skeleton, which seemed to understand exactly what she meant, as it opened its mouth and sank its pearly fangs into Bonnie's shoulders.
The bunny hissed as she felt her skin being pierced, a feeling that was followed by a burning feeling as the skeleton snake started to inject some kind of black liquid into her wounds and right into her veins.
The results appeared fast, as lines of black appeared under Bonnie's fur, which went from her shoulder to all of her body, including her head. As she opened her eyes, her sclera and iris were both darkening, until her eyes had become pitch black.
"Okay now." Bonnie said, and she reached out for the bone that she had strapped into the belt, pulling it free and holding it in her paw. As she did, something happened to the bone, as light erupted from it, extending forward and solidifying into a long metal blade. Bonnie was now holding a sword with a bone hilt, and she wasted no time into charging into action.
Dashing forward, the bunny moved much faster than any of her children probably ever saw her moving, as she moved ahead and swung the blade, slicing the legs of the first golem clean off. This caused the now legless golem to fall into the ground, while Bonnie passed by it and immediately jumped in direction to the next golem, swinging the blade and making the head of the golem fly.
Immediately, she needed to make a mortal flip to avoid the incoming punch from another golem, and then she reacted. The blade of the sword extended, becoming very long, and Bonnie swung it vertically, cleaving the golem clean in half. As both halves fell to the ground, the blade of the sword shrunk back to its previous size, and Bonnie was already getting up.
As she did, there was a golem right behind her, its weapon raised and ready to strike down at the bunny. However, it didn't had the chance, for immediately, Sophie came with a flying kick, slamming both of her feet at the golem and producing a large crack on the place where her feet hit the golem.
As she fell, she quickly recovered, falling on her feet, and immediately clenching her fists, as she delivered three well-placed punches right on the spot that her feet had hit, causing the cracking on the golem to increase more. Then, with a fourth punch, the chest of the golem exploded, causing the whole thing to fall down on the ground, unmoving and with pieces of its broken chest all around.
Sophie looked at Bonnie, and the bunny met her gaze, but only for a second, for the two females immediately went into fighting the golems around themselves. Bonnie would jump and duck to avoid the blows, while using her sword to slice through the golems. Meanwhile, Sophie was more physical, as she used her limbs to block and redirect the blow while she fought in a style of Greco-roarman wrestling. Actually, at some point, Sophie grabbed a golem and slammed it into the ground, causing both the golem and the stone ground to break with the impact.
All of this under the eyes of some cops who were able to see the action taking place, and they were quite impressed on how well the bunny and the vixen could fight. Among these cops, were Nick and Judy, who simply... stared.
"Carrots?"
"…huh?"
"Did you know that your mother could fight like that?"
"Uh-uh."
"…okay."
The two cops were not the only ones who were staring, as Bogo was among his officers, and he was watching the whole scene develop. He was making his best to coordinate his officers and to make them at least try to make a difference. However, it was proving to be difficult, as the mages proved to be too much for them to deal with. It was frustrating for him to see the mages repel the efforts of his cops so easily.
Even that scrawny coyote was proving to be a problem, as that red rope of his danced around himself, blocking the darts in midair as they flew. At some point, the coyote flicked his wrist, causing the red rope to glow and to ignite in flames, as he swung it into the air like a flaming whip, using it to repel the cops that came too close, as one of them nearly avoided having his fur burnt.
We don't have training for this kind of thing. Was all that Bogo could think, as he watched impotent on how easily the mages could overwhelm his officers. At the same time, he was seeing how the other mages fought, and he could see that it was on a whole other league, as the small mammals were able to fight the big golems rather easily, including Marceli Mieczyslaw, whom was using his dagger at the golems as he jumped between them easily.
The black tod was slicing through some golems, when one of them made a sweeping movement with its stone paw. The black fox avoided the blow, but it managed to bate the dagger out of his paw, causing it to fly out of his reach. Now he was unharmed facing that golem and three others that were coming his way.
However, the tod showed no fear in the situation. He dodged the blow of the golem and went forward, pressing his paw into its chest, making it glow, as the rune that was on his paw was print into the body of the golem. Then the fox jumped back and backed away a few feet, before pointing his paw at the golem once more.
"Hagalaz!" The fox said, causing the rune on his paw to glow. Immediately, the rune on the golem also glowed, before the golem exploded, making pieces of itself fly all around.
Bogo flinched as he saw this, and many heads actually turned to see what was the explosion, and they saw what the tod had done.
Of course, Marceli was not done with this, as he immediately dashed forward, in direction to the three golems that were coming his way. Marceli passed between the legs of another golem, placing his paw in the backside of the golem as he passed, imprinting the rune into the being's stone butt. He them jumped at the next one, placing his paw in its forehead, causing the rune to be print in there. He then jumped as he went for the last golem, placing his paw on its back as he flew, and quickly imprinting the rune on its back, though it was upside-down.
As he was on the ground again, he immediately jumped forward, and he looked over his shoulder as he pointed his paw back at the golems.
"Hagalaz!"
Then, just like that, all of the three golems exploded right into the points where the rune had been print in them. Pieces of them fell all around as they detonated.
"Holy yeet!" Hudson Coyle said as he saw that, and the other mages were just as impressed, however, they didn't had time to dwell in that, as the battle around them was continuing, forcing them to keep their heads into the battle.
Bogo, however, was still staring at the black fox, even as he recovered his dagger and went back into fighting using it. All the while, Bogo was thinking on what he had just witnessed, and his mind went back to something that he heard a while ago.
"I still recall every detail of it. I remember how that wolf just placed his paw on the other mammals and they stumbled back. The wolf smiled as he waved at them, or just pointed at them, and a second later they would just... explode. Just... boom. They were in pieces all around the place."
Bogo continued to look at the situation that was developing in there, and he looked at how the golems were scatter around after they had exploded. Right after the fox had touched them and then pointed at them with his paw.
It was so familiar.
So strangely similar to what Tim had described to him.
However, there was still the fact that Mieczyslaw was a fox and not a wolf, however, the rest of the similarities was so...
Bogo was so distracted, that he hardly noticed the golem that was coming his way, its stone axe raised and ready to attack the buffalo. However, someone else noticed.
"Bogo!" Benjamin cried out, causing the buffalo to snap out of it just in time to see the raised axe coming down on him.
And stop in midair before it could hit him.
For a while, the axe just stood in there, even after the golem let go of it.
Bogo blinked at the floating axe, before it flew over, and was now hoovering by Clawhauser's side.
The cheetah had a fierce look on his eyes, as he had his paw raised, and the axe floating right by his side, as if it was held by an invisible force.
Then, the chubby cheetah made a sharp gesture with his paw, causing the axe to fly straight into the golem. It hit it in the shoulder, sinking into the stone and making the golem stumble back. Then the cheetah made another gesture, raising his paw, and the axe got itself out of the shoulder of the golem, only to attack again as the cheetah made a chopping movement with his paw.
Bogo could only watch as Clawhauser, with his gestures, caused the axe to attack the golem on its own, cleaving it with strong blows, until the golem fell into the ground and didn't got up anymore.
There was a silence, as Benjamin stood in there, and Bogo continued to look at the cheetah, who had a fierce expression that the buffalo had never actually saw on his face.
"Clawhauser?" The buffalo said, and the cheetah looked at him, however, his attention was turn to the three golems that were coming their way, all of them with stone spears ready. The cheetah didn't wasted time into getting into fighting posture.
As the golems approached, Benjamin turned his paw into a nearby bench. With a sharp movement, he made the bench fly out of the ground and hoover in the air. With another movement, the bench was fling into the golems, smashing into the one that was more in the front, causing it to stumble back.
The cheetah didn't stopped, as he pointed his paw at a nearby lamppost, and with a sharp gesture, he made it snap clean from the ground, and immediately fly to the golems. The lamp went through the shoulder of one of the golems, causing the entire arm to come clean and fall to the ground.
"Wow!" Nick said, as he too had just witnessed what Benjamin had just done. "Man, Spots looks just like a Jedi!"
Ben still had a determined expression on his face as he made a pulling gesture, causing the lamppost to come clean from the shoulder of the golem, causing more of the golem to fall off, and causing the thing to sway, as it looked like it was struggling to stay up. Ben looked like he was ready to attack again. However, one of the golems was faster.
The golem threw its spear, which flew through the air and landed right into the cheetah's shoulder. The force of the spear pulled Ben back, as the tip of the spear sank into his shoulder.
"BEN!" Bogo cried out as he saw the cheetah fall down, the spear sticking out of his shoulder. The feline looked at it, feeling numb as his chief soon was coming his way, and holding him up.
"Ben! Are you alright!?" Bogo said, cradling the cheetah up, while the golems were using this chance to move their direction. They were about to reach them, when a jet of acid flew through the air and hit the golem right on the head, causing it to melt and the golem to fall down.
Soon, the two-headed snake was slithering, and it was now standing between the two mammals and the golems, hissing threateningly as it opened the hoods on both of its necks, which were decorate with threatening red colors.
The golems were not intimidated, and they continued to advance in direction to the animals before them, their own spears ready to fight and to kill what was on their path. However, the snake was faster than they were.
One head opened its mouth, and breathed out a great volume of purple smoke out. It was quick to fill the space in front of itself, acting like a fog that was blocking the vision of the golems. However, that was not its truest purpose, for soon, the other head opened its mouth and clicked its fangs together, producing a spark.
This spark landed on the cloud, immediately causing it to ignite. The result was that the cloud generated a directed explosion that projected forwards, destroying the two golems.
"No one touches-sss the cheetah!" one of the heads said.
"He is-sss ours-sss!" The other one said.
Meanwhile, Bogo was watching from behind the snake, still holding Ben on his arms as the cheetah looked around, seemingly confuse. He was starting to get pale, as the wound of the spear was starting to leak blood, and this prompted Bogo to get even more worried.
Meanwhile, Hudson Coyle was shaking the unconscious form of the wolf.
"Butch! Butch! Wake up, buddy, you are losing all of the action!" The coyote said, however, he seemed to be pretty nervous about the "action" that Butch was losing. To be completely honest, he just wanted to wolf awake so he could feel a bit safer.
While he tried to get the wolf to get up, he still used his flaming rope to keep all of the other cops at distance, as well as to deflect their darts. It was a bit hard to keep track of what was happening on both sides at the same time. Luckily for him, Butch was slowly coming to himself, as he was getting up, massaging his head, which was hurting from the blow that the black fox had gave him.
Up in the air, Lapinsky was surveilling the area, and he was able to catch sight of the wolf getting up, while the coyote was right by his sight.
He immediately identified it as a threat, and he pointed a single plasma gun at these two, aiming to use a blast of plasma to separate them and maybe to knock the wolf down again.
However, in that single moment of distraction, a flaming card swept through his legs, immediately setting his pants on fire.
The bunny quickly realized, and he looked back in time to see another projectile made of flames hit his other leg, exploding in rainbow flames.
This was enough to completely throw him off balance, as the bunny was now falling while his pants were on fire, leaving behind a trail of smoke as he fell.
Luckily, he was able to turn his boots to the ground, making the anti-gravity in them slower his descent enough to save him from a lethal fall, however, he still crashed on the ground and rolled as he landed heavily.
"Lapinsky!" Someone said; looking as the bunny had fallen from the ground in flames like a plane hit by a missile. His pants were still smoking as he laid in the ground.
Percy, who had just hit the bunny and brought him down, was now standing near Evan, and he looked around, seeing the mages that were skillfully destroying the golems, and that soon would surely turn their attention to them. Now, Percy was not afraid of fighting them, but he was smart enough to know when there was no longer a point in fighting.
"We are done in here." The horse said to the dog, and Evan nodded back. Soon, the dog was tapping in his invisible keyboard, and soon, each one of the other three mages heard a voice talking in their ears:
"We are done here. Everyone gather. We will vanish from the party now."
Zane was not happy for having to retreat now, for it would feel as if he was running from a battle. Butch was still a bit confused, but he understood that it was time for them to leave now. Hudson, on his own end, was more than happy for leaving now before things went more south than they had already.
With Butch getting up, he and Hudson now were cutting their way through the golems and the fighting mages. Marceli saw them, and tried to go their way, but was stopped when three more golems entered his path. The two canines moved, and had to stop at a point to avoid getting caught by a misty cyclone that had been created by Sophie and her shorthands, which was now sweeping across the area and knocking golems over, in particular those that were coming for the fallen Lapinsky.
Meanwhile, Zane was effortlessly opening way, as he just slammed his hammer into the ground and made the ground burst up, disorientating the cops enough for him to pass without any problem, as if he was just making a stroll.
Eventually, all of them were walking to Percy and Evan, and the dog had already created a blue screen on the air.
However, there was one cop that was seeing this, and that was not willing to just stand in there and watch as the culprits escaped.
"Oh, no you won't!" Judy said, as she dashed in their direction.
"Carrots!" Nick cried out, but it was too late, she was already rushing in direction to the bad guys.
They were already passing by the blue screen, one by one, and vanishing from sight. It was pretty much like when Judy and Nick first saw it months ago, back at the storehouse, as they simply disappeared by crossing the screen, which seemed to be like some short of portal. However, this time Judy was onto them, and she was not going to give up easily.
The dog was the last one to pass, as they crossed the blue screen. However, Judy caught up to him, and she immediately was able to jump into the screen, passing through it just seconds before it vanished.
Nick was on her tail, and he watched as she disappeared inside that screen before it vanished like a television being switch off.
"Judy?" Nick said, looking around and seeing no sight of the bunny.
Oh crap! Did she followed them? Had she been transport to their hideout somewhere?
"Judy!" Nick cried out, and Judy's voice answered.
"Nick! They are getting away!"
"Wha?" Nick said, looking around, but seeing no one. "Judy?"
"Nick! They are escaping!"
"Judy! Where are you?!"
"I'm right here!" The bunny said, not getting why Nick was looking to all sides when she was just a few feet in front of him. "I am right..." She was saying, but stopped when she took a good look into her arm.
It was normal, but now it seemed to be a bit translucent, as if Judy herself suddenly became a hologram.
The bunny blinked, and looked back at Nick, who still looked around and called for her. That was when she realized that he could not see her.
She looked back at the retreating mages. She could see them, but they looked translucent as well, and they passed by a few other cops, but they acted as if they weren't even there. That as when Judy realized what truly was happening.
Sweet cheese and crackers! They become invisible! I become invisible!
"Stop them!" Judy cried out, as she now ran forward, in direction to the runaway mages. "They are still here, but they are invisible! You guys have to stop- Ah!"
Judy was stop in the middle of her phrase, and she had her short run cut, as a golem stumbled on her way, and nearly stepped on the invisible bunny.
Marceli was on top of the golem, and he had his dagger raised, before he brought it down right on the top of the head of the golem, burying it to the hilt into the stone creature.
The golem remained still for a few moments, before it collapsed, first on its knees and then it laid on the ground. Marceli jumped off the golem, sighing as he just finished that.
He didn't saw Judy, but she was in there, next to him, and she looked over.
She could no longer see the mages. They had escaped.
Nick was soon coming, as he was following Judy's voice, and after a few moments, he was able to find her. Well, "find" in the sense that he knew where she was, for he was still unable to see her, for she had turned invisible, just like the enemy mages had done so they could escape the place.
Meanwhile, the women were finishing with the golems, as Emilia shattered the last one with a well place punch, breaking its head into several small pieces that scattered around the ground.
She panted a little bit, as Sophie and Bonnie had also finished with their own golems, and now there was not even one of them standing. The mages finally were able to breathe a little bit. In this, some had time to remember the guy who was taken down.
"Lapinsky!" Emilia said, turning to look at the bunny, who was still right where he fell. Soon, the vixen was rushing in his direction.
"Hey, Lapinsky! Dude! Are you okay?"
She approached, and she saw that the bunny was flinching. Soon he was getting up, using his arms to support himself.
"I let myself be hit." The bunny said, seemingly more to himself than to the vixen who was talking to him. "I let my guard down. I should know better."
"Yeah, you surely got hit." Emilia said to him, "Man, you sure you are okay?"
"I'm fine." Lapinsky said, looking up at the vixen. "No wounds of any kind."
"You sure? Because they hit you right in the... legs..." The vixen said, and she looked at the legs of the bunny. They had become visible now that the legs of his pants burned. However, it was visible that the legs themselves didn't had any kind of harm. And looking at them, it was easy to tell why...
It turns out that what everyone thought were boots, were actually the feet of the legs of the rabbit. Through the burned pants, it was possible to clearly see the grey coloration of the metal of the prosthetic legs, combined with the blue glow that was coming from their trimming; making them seen like prosthesis from a futuristic movie (not that Emilia herself saw many).
As she looked at the prosthetic legs, the bunny was getting up, dusting his suit, and straightening his tie, as he walked to his fallen plasma guns and picked both of them.
"Like I said." The bunny spoke, putting his plasma guns back on his belt. "No wounds of any kind."
That was enough to the vixen, who smiled at him.
"Good to know. By the way, your legs are nice." She said with a smile, and Lapinsky looked at her as she spoke that, as if he wanted to see the mockery in her face. However, he saw none in her eyes, and neither had he heard it in her voice. It seemed that she was really sincere in saying that.
"Thank you." Was the bunny's simple answer, before he turned around and walked away.
Meanwhile, the two-headed snake was looking around, as if it was looking to see if there was any golem left that could come. Soon it convinced itself that there was none, and then it turned to look at the two mammals. Bogo was still with the cheetah on his arms, and he was on the radio.
"Enter this mall as fast as possible and have the paramedics ready! Clawhauser is losing blood and he will need medical attention as soon as possible!" The buffalo nearly shouted into his radio, as he looked down at Benjamin, who was starting to truly look worryingly pale on his arms.
Danmit! Danmit! Danmit! Bogo thought as he tried to talk to the cheetah, telling him to stay awake and to breathe slowly, and he just hoped that the help was going to come soon.
The bovine was about to start calling his other officers for help, when he noticed the shadow that had befallen them. He looked up to see the two pairs of red eyes of the snake looking back at him.
Bogo was froze on spot, and the snake was leaning forward, but it seemed not to be giving any form of attention to the buffalo, as both of its eyes were focused on the cheetah, who was looking back at them, as he was much paler than normal.
One of the heads leaned forward, and flickered its tongue. It lapped over the wound that was open by the spear, lathering it with a slime-like saliva. Benjamin immediately flinched a bit as the wound smoked, but relaxed as soon as the wound started to close, the bleeding stopping completely.
"There." The snake said, as its other head retreated, tasting the blood that remained on the tongue. "All better now... well, kind of."
Benjamin was still pale, but his breathing was becoming more even, and he was looking a bit better, and his eyes focused on the snake as Bogo still held him.
"Sss-so, guess-ssssss you won't need us-sss here anymore." The snake said, and Benjamin looked back at the snake. As if it was a silent agreement, the cheetah nodded and, with a single gesture, the magecraft that summoned the snake was undone, and it was now starting to disappear into white mist.
Ben looked at the cheetah, whose's bleeding had stopped, and then at the snake that just stopped the bleeding and saved his life.
"Thank you..." Bogo said, and the snake looked at him as it disappeared.
"Don't thank us-sss." One of the heads said, "We didn't do it out of kindness-ssssss or anything."
"We did it becau-sss-se if the cheetah died, we would lo-sss-se a lot." The other head spoke.
"Familiars-sss like us-sss sss-sruvive in the life of the mage who sss-summons-sss them." The firs head spoke, looking at the buffalo, "If Ben died, we would no longer have the chance to taste the delicious-sss life that he can offer."
Bogo looked at the snake as it spoke that, and it looked back at him.
"We want Benjamin alive sss-so we can keep feeding on him." The other head said, right before the two heads also vanished in white mist, the red eyes being the last part to disappear, as they glowed like red stars before vanishing in the air.
With this, the situation was overall solved. With all of the golems destroyed and the hostages all rescued. Of course, the mages had escaped, but what mattered was that everyone else was safe and sound. Judy had become invisible as she had passed through that screen to go after the mages, but Lapinsky assured her that there was nothing to worry.
"It is just an electrostatic field generated around your body that refracts the light. Don't worry, it can't last more than just a few minutes."
Judy would be visible soon, that was what the bunny agent meant. This was enough for the two cops, who felt a bit calmer at this.
All in all, it seemed that the situation now was definitely solved.
"Murder on the Orient Express."
"What?" Nick said, looking in direction of Judy, who just spoke that. In her direction, for she was still invisible due to the "static-electric whatever it was that Lapinsky said". He could not see her, but he knew she was in there because he had his paw resting right on her invisible shoulder.
It was a bit strange to the fox, hearing Judy's voice and feeling her shoulder under his paw, but looking in there and not really seeing her.
"The movie we are going to watch on our next movie night." The invisible bunny said, looking back at Nick as he looked at her direction. "I really loved the book when I read it, and I want to see the movie. I still haven't since it came out last year."
Nick looked for a few moments, and he nodded. He knew that movie, based on an old detective romance about a murder on a train. It actually sounded a bit interesting, if Nick was completely honest.
"I'd still rather watch Die Hog."
As the mammals finished what they were doing, all of them had failed to notice the three mammals that were nearby, hiding behind a tree, watching to the scene unfold. One of them had a camera, and it had recorded most of the action that had just transpired.
"Wow..." Patrick said, as he zoomed out with his camera. Sully and Shawn were right next to him, as all of them were hiding behind the same tree. Shawn's head was just beneath the hyena's, and Sully's head was beneath Shawn's, as all of them peered to see. All of them looked baffled.
Sully, however, looked pretty giddy.
"One million viewers, here we go."
The door in which they had been working had finally been unblocked, as Jackalson finished using the amulet to unwind the "bounded field" or whatever it was and the officers were able to move the blockage that was keeping them from entering. The first thing they noticed was a distraught and very nervous group of mammals right on the other side of the door, all of them looking over their shoulders as if they were afraid that something could come after them at any moment.
The mammals were quickly scouted out, while the special teams started to enter the mall, ready to go pay help to the team that was still on the inside taking care of the problem and rescuing the other officers.
Once outside, many of the mammals were finally being able to breathe a little easier. They were soon receiving medical attention and they were able to breathe. The reporters on the group, once on the outside, were able to recover the signal on their cameras and were amazingly fast into starting to make a live transmission, describing their own fight for survival, along with that of the other mammals who were with them.
Vicky looked with disdain at these mammals, as she and Cameron were both being check by the paramedics.
Many of the mammals were relieved for having got out of there. However, some of them were still worried for the ones still inside. The cops were worried for their friends on the inside, and McHorn, in particular, was worried about Meerkovitz, once the last he heard of him it seemed that the meerkat was having trouble. Gazelle was with Tyson, and they both were worried about the other three, as they had gave them the chance to run and tasked Tyson with making sure that Gazelle was okay, which the tiger was still doing, despite his worry. And Bellwether...
Well, the ewe looked a bit distraught to who looked at her. During the time the cops were going inside with their weaponry, the ewe had talked to them, insisted on them to find the fox that was with her and make sure that he was okay. Some of them thought it was a bit strange the ewe being so worried about a fox, but they mostly ignored her as they went inside. This only served to make the ewe even more nervous.
The sun had already set, and it were the early hours of the night as the mammals exited the vehicle and were being see by the medics. Still, there was a large crowd around the mall, made by civilians and reporters, as well as the authorities that wanted to keep order to everything. Many of them tried to get a glimpse of the mammals that came out, that is, until even more mammals were coming out of the mall.
It were the mages and the cops, followed by a large crowd of rescued mammals.
The hostages were all priority in there, and the cops and mages remained on the background as they saw the civilians being saw to.
Judy was next to Nick, as she had become visible again after a few minutes, just as Lapinsky had said. She was still thinking that they should try and look for the runaway mages, once they probably had become visible too. However, it seemed that everyone agreed that this was a matter for another time.
Sophie was next to her son, and so was Bonnie. As soon as they caught sight of her, Stu and the rest of the Hopps children were quick to rush to her, asking her if she was fine and if she had not gotten hurt, to which the older bunny was quick to reassure all of them, saying that she was fine and not harmed in any way. One or two of them, however, were able to notice the blood that was coming from two puncture wounds that she had on her shoulder, along a slimy black substance. Sophie just remained next to her soon, seeing the female bunny be surround by her family.
As the hostages were see to, some were looking among them, looking for specific mammals. Among them were Gazelle and Tyson, who looked for the others, and Dawn, who was calling out for Krys, and asking others if they saw him. They eventually came to the cops to ask if they saw them on their way out.
This, of course, caught the attention of the enforcers, who heard how Dawn was asking about Krystin, and they were, of course, going to her, to ask what was going on.
"Where is Krystin?" Was Marceli's direct question. However, the ewe didn't answered.
She looked between him and Emilia, who both looked expectantly at her. She looked sad, even scared, and she looked down. It was as if she could not stand to face them. This only served to make the two more worried.
"Where is Krys?" Emilia asked, getting increasingly more worried the more the ewe didn't answered. She walked forward and grabbed the ewe by the shoulders. "What happened to him? What happened to my cousin!?"
"Grabbing someone by the shoulders roughly?" Said a strong voice, which resounded above the rest of the noise, and caused everyone to look at whom it belonged to.
"Now, that is a behavior that can give enforcers a bad fame."
The one who spoke was dignified, and the voice itself carried some kind of authority and power that made other silent after hearing it. Not only that, but they were opening space to the one who just spoke, as well as to the others that were by his side. The one who spoke was right in the center, and he was the tallest of the three. He stood on 6'4'' feet tall, being quite tall for a sheep. He had a coating of white wool with an underfur that was just as white, and it was puffy, as it was expect for a sheep, but it was possible to notice that he had actual muscle under that wool. On his head, he had a proud and impressive set of horns, yellow in coloration and certainly looking like a matter of pride for the ram. His eyes were deep brown, with round pupils, and they looked with a cold fierceness up ahead as he walked forward. He was some important sheep, if the fine clothes that he wore and the dignified posture that he had as he walked were of any indication.
By his sides two other mammals were coming. The first one was a fox. The vulpine stood on 3'9'' feet tall, not being particularly tall for a fox, but he certainly was dignified. He was wearing a clothing that was basically a regal outfit of purple coloration, that made contrast with his cherry-red fur and the pure-white on his muzzle and down his neck, as well as the dark coloration on his feet, on his hands, and on his ears. His tail was long and bushy, with a white tip. He had a serene and friendly smile on his muzzle and a warm and wise look to his champagne-colored eyes. He looked to be on his early twenties, and on top of his physical shape, however, he was slightly hunch as he walked, and he used the help of a golden cane.
By the other side came the shortest of them, and also the only female. The bunny doe should be around three feet tall, however, her long ears added one more foot. The fur on her body was of a cloudy-gray coloration, with a pink coloration on the fur of her muzzle and down her neck and chest, and the same pink color on the inside of her ears, one of which had two earrings in it, one of them with a nice crystal hanging from it. The same pinkish fur went on the inside of her arms. Her eyes were of a red coloration, with her sclera being of a pinkish coloration, which stood behind a pair of half-moon glasses. She was wearing a figure-hugging indigo and purple dress, which showed off her voluptuous body, with an hourglass figure, delicate curved hips and a modest pair of... assets.
"What the?" Judy said as she saw the three mammals walking forward proudly, as if they owned the place and had all the right to be there. Some of the cops had the same looks; the mages, however, had some different reactions.
"Oh, crap..." Tyson said as he stood next to Gazelle.
"Oh, man..." Emilia said as she looked.
"Oh, no..." Dawn Bellwether said, now looking nervous.
"Oh, Frith..." Bonnie said, now looking truly worried.
"Oh, my..." Sophie said, as she stood by her son's side.
"Hey!" One of the cops said, a wolf, and he was standing on the way of the three. "Civilians are not allowed here, this is a scene-"
The wolf was not allowed to finish, for the three didn't even slowed down or dignified to look at him. Even the ram didn't really looked at the wolf as he simply pushed him out of the way, causing him to land on his butt on the ground, as they continued to walk forward.
They eventually stopped in front of the enforcers, looking at them and ignoring everyone else. The ram, in particular, was also looking at the ewe that was with them, and she seemed to shrink under his hard gaze.
"What is going on?" McChill asked, walking forward. "Who are you?"
The three mammals ignored him, as they had their attention fully on the mammals that stood before them.
"Dawn." The ram said, looking at the ewe. She looked at him for a few moments, looking like she wanted to turn around, run away and hide. However, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. As she opened her eyes, she fixed her glasses on her face and looked back at the ram, before she spoke:
"Hello, father."
Father!? Was the thought on the head of some of the ones near, as they looked between the small ewe and the ram who looked at her with a severe expression.
The ram then looked away from the ewe, and focused his attention on the two foxes.
"What has happened here?" He asked, his tone was authoritative, and it seemed that he was giving a command rather than asking a question. Emilia seemed to have an answer on the tip of her tongue, but Marceli was quick to silence her by placing a paw on her shoulder.
"A situation has developed." Marceli said, "But it has been solved now."
"Tell us." The ram said again, and he really sounded like he was a king giving commands to a lowly peasant. However, someone had something to say.
"Excuse me!" Judy said, walking forward, this prompted the three newcomers all to look at her. Bonnie was quick to whisper to her daughter, asking her to "don't do it", but the bunny ignored her. "Just who are you three to come here and start asking questions?"
The tone of the bunny made it clear that she didn't had any fear of the three, and the ram seemed not to like it. He glared at the bunny, and he seemed like he wanted to say something to her. However, the fox beat him to it.
"Oh, yes!" The vulpine said, his voice sounded jovial and pleasant to the ears. He seemed to be far friendlier than the ram, as he looked at the bunny. "We were so nervous about this happening that we completely forgot our manners! We didn't even introduced ourselves!"
With this, the fox looked around and made a small respectful bow, as he spoke:
"My name is Noah Wilde, known as the One True Son of Zootopia, and I am the current patriarch of the Wilde clan."
Wilde?
"Known as Queen of the Dead." The bunny said, as she spoke next, "I am Verona Höhle, current matriarch of the Höhle clan."
The ram looked at both of them, and he then looked around, at all of the mammals that were looking at him. Grunting and rolling his eyes in annoyance, right before he let out a resigned sigh and said:
"Asher Bellwether. Patriarch of the Bellwether clan."
With that said, the ram turned his attention back at the two foxes, and commanded again:
"Now, tell us what happened here."
"We need to know everything." Verona Höhle said to them, and she sounded a lot nicer than the ram. "Please."
They looked with mistrust at the bunny, despite her friendly behavior, and soon, Marceli started to give a report of all that he knew about the subject, in details.
Some of the ones around looked with raised eyebrows as the fox gave explanations to these three mammals who just walked in there as if they were the lords of the place. However, some of them were worried about other things to actually give it any attention. Among them was Bogo.
The buffalo was more worried into getting medical attention to Benjamin, once the cheetah still looked pretty pale, despite not being as bad as he was back then. He helped the cheetah to walk, and made sure to find a medic that could check on him, and soon, they told him that the cheetah looked fine, although it seemed that he lost a significant amount of blood, and would be needed to be taken to the hospital to be attended on and receive a transfusion.
"Ben!" A voice called, cutting through the air, and Bogo turned to look. He saw another mammal that was trying to get in there, but was stop by the officers in there. The horse was a bit shorter than Bogo, but was still rather tall. He had brown fur on his body and a mane of pure white. He had a black muzzle and snout, and his brown eyes looked forward worried as he looked at the scene before him. He was nicely dressed, as if he was going into a sophisticated dinner in town, or was attending to a special event, probably the opening of his own store on the mall.
"Ben! On my god! Ben!" The horse said, looking distraught as he saw all of the blood on the shirt of the cheetah, and how pale he looked. His gaze turned to the buffalo. "Chief Bogo! What happened to Ben!? Is he okay!? Please, tell me he is going to be okay!"
"He will be fine, Mr. Manechester." The buffalo said, looking at Chandler Manechester as he spoke that. "He just lost some blood and need to be taken to the hospital for a transfusion, but he will be fine, he is not in danger."
The horse was relieved for hearing this, and he was able to relax, although he was a bit nervous as he saw the doors of the ambulance close and they get ready to take the cheetah to the hospital, where they would give blood to him. Bogo had the distinctive impression that the horse would be going to the hospital where they would be taking Ben on that same night.
Well, not really a surprise, considering how good friends these two are.
"So, that is basically all of it." Marceli finished, "We will be writing a more detailed report for the Association, but we can make sure that you receive a copy of it, if you want."
"We will." Asher Bellwether said; his gaze as imperial and his tone as condescending as during the first word he said to the foxes. Some of them looked at the ram with raised eyebrows or with glares, as that guy seemed to be a true jerk.
"Look! Someone else is coming!"
The voice made everyone look, and they saw another group of mammals coming out of the mall. The three tigers were talking together, Tyrone with a blackened eye and Tyler had his paw holding his bleeding shoulder. Lana and Jade were walking side by side, with the kangaroo holding a golem head under her arm and seeming like she was bragging about something, to which the ewe by her side smiled, but the smile died as soon as she looked and saw Asher in there. Next to her, Meerkovitz was coming, he had his rifle with him, and he was limping on one leg. On the group, walking on the front, was a fox who had a line of blood coming out of a wound on his forehead, but other than that looked unharmed.
"Krys!" Dawn said, as she immediately sprint into running, going in direction to the fox.
Upon arriving, she threw her arms around his body in a hug.
"Oh, Krys! I was so worried about you!"
The tod looked down on her, and he smiled. Soon, he was pulling her away so he could kneel and look her in the face.
"You shouldn't have been." He said to her, "After all, I am a trooper. Besides, I gave you my word I'd met you outside, didn't I? And no way I was going to break that promise." He said, making the same signal as before as he smiled at the ewe.
They looked at each other for a long moment, and then, Dawn made something that no one would ever expect of her in a situation like that:
She leaned forward and kissed the fox on the lips.
This surprised the tod, as his eyes widened, and he was left actionless by the sudden kiss.
It lasted for a few seconds, before the ewe pulled back. She looked at the surprised face of the tod before looking down, seemingly ashamed of what she had just done.
There was a brief silence, before the tod placed his two paws on her face and lifted it. Their eyes met and this time it was the tod who would lean forward and kiss the ewe's lips.
This kiss was longer, more passionate, and by the time it was over, the two stared at each other's eyes.
"Uhhh, Krys?"
The voice broke them out of it, and made them look at the two foxes who were in there. Marceli had crossed eyes and an unreadable expression, while Emilia looked with a raised eyebrow.
That was the moment when the tod and ewe suddenly remembered that they were not alone. As they looked around, they now saw that nearly all eyes were on them, from the mages to the cops to the many reporters and civilians around. Some cameras even were point at their direction. All kinds of looks were coming, from surprise to shock, from confusion to disgust; some of them even were looks of outrage. Lana, however, was smiling, and she gave a thumbs-up to her sister.
Blushing, the two mammals straightened themselves, both looking like they wanted to disappear from sight.
"Well, I guess that we are done in here, aren't we?" Noah Wilde said, looking to his two companions. The bunny agreed with him. The ram, however, looked in direction to Dawn and Krys, and he had a scowl on his face.
"Yes." He said, and soon, he was turning around and walking away. The expression on his face was enough to make most of the mammals around to open space to avoid being on his way. As he walked, the fox and bunny stayed behind.
"Good seeing you, Sophie!" Noah Wilde said to the vixen that stood near Nick, "Try to appear home next week! We'll be having that roasted quail that you used to love!"
With this, the fox turned around and left. Sophie was blushing slightly, as the actions of the fox caused attention to turn to her.
The bunny, Verona Höhle, is the last to leave, and she looked in direction to the Hoppses. Bonnie immediately steps forward and stand in front of the bunny, glaring at her, almost as if she was shielding her family from Verona. She simply smiled at Bonnie, and said:
"Good seeing you again, Helga."
With this, she turns around, but Bonnie continues to glare at her.
"Helga?" Judy asks, a bit confuse.
"Yeah, apparently that is mom's baptism name." Jason says to his sister. "Helga Höhle."
Judy blinked.
Helga Höhle.
Verona Höhle. Matriarch of the Höhle clan.
As the three were leaving, Marceli sighed, and he soon was walking to the others.
"Didn't really expected these three to come here." He said, more to himself than to others, "But well, I guess that it is to be expected when something like that happens in their city."
"'Their' city?" Judy asking, looking at the black tod. "What do you mean by 'their' city? How are these three? And why were you acting as if they were friends with the mayor?"
The black tod looked at her, and it seemed that he was considering just how much he should tell her. After a while, he said:
"They are the current heads of the Bellwether, Wilde and Höhle clans." The black tod said, "Three of the most important mage clans of the modern world. Not only that, but these three are also Archmages, and they are the Second Owners of the Sacred Land of Zootopia."
Judy and Nick both stared at the black tod. Nick looked at the three departing mammals, and he looked back at Marceli.
"Huh?"
And this concludes this Act of the story. Now, more acts will come, and with them, more chapters, more characters, more answers and a whole more questions. Hope you are in for a ride.
Once more, I wanted to remind you guys that this story is based on the story "Zootopia File 2", wrote by Empressimperia, and that there are a lot of similarities between this and the story, as one as heavily inspired on the other. Hope you guys don't accuse me of stealing ^^;
Also, I'd like to say that the character Krystin Mieczyslaw was just very slightly based on the fox character "David Brushtail", from TheWinterBunny.
So, this is officially the last chapter of the year, and the next chapter will be posted within the first week of January 2021, if not a little later. Thank you all for following this story for so long and I hope you can stick around for the rest of the ride, which will be long.
Read and Review, no flaming, and a Happy New Year.