Here's an experiment I'm trying out. A two-parter, as I work on a slightly more complicated tale from the perspective of two characters. Eye-Brawl's story will be the second part to this.

Chapter Nineteen: The Worst Feeling (Part 1)

"Thumpback! Man the cannons!"

He really didn't want to. The flying eyeball had done nothing wrong. The only thing the flying eyeball had done was flown too close to their ship. But Thumpback had his orders. Lest he be thrown off the ship, Thumpback had to follow through.

The whale behemoth grabbed the cannons. He turned them toward the flying eyeball, and fired, watching the poor creature's wings get ripped off-

"Thumpback, aren't you even listening?!"

Thumpback snapped back to reality. Right, he was no longer on the ship. He was in a forest, with a few other Giants known as Tree Rex, Bouncer and Eye-Brawl. Eye-Brawl had been talking to him about something, but his mind had wandered to different places. That was a bad habit of his.

"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Thumpback asked meekly.

The winged eyeball shook where he sat on the headless giant. (Acting as the headless giant's head.) Eye-Brawl was often miffed by Thumpback's scatterbrained manner. "We were going over the plan on destroying the Arkeyan factory near here."

"Oh right! Isn't that fairly simple? Just come in and stomp the place flat?"

"There's more to it than that. We can't just go in guns blazing all the time."

"It's worked for us so far."

"Well it won't work this time. The factory is far too big- bigger than we are. We need to sneak in unnoticed, and tear the place apart from the inside."

"Ooh! That sounds cool. We could be spies!"

Bouncer slammed a fist on the ground from where he sat, looking up from the map he studied. "Yeah, spies," he spat. "Spies who can go in disguise and tear the place apart from the inside. Something we can't do."

"You could do it," Tree Rex suggested. "Maybe these Arkeyans haven't caught on that you're a turncoat, yet."

"Trust me, they have. By now, every Arkeyan site in Skylands has been informed of the traitor. They've probably rigged the larger factories to ensure that nobody with my design and code can get in. The second I even walk inside, I'm dead."

"So, not spies?" Thumpback said.

"Not spies," Bouncer explained. "Just guys sneaking into a place to destroy it, unseen and unknown."

"The factory has a few known entrances," Tree Rex continued. "If Bouncer can't go in, the three of us can. Go in undetected, and we'll know what to do then."

Thumpback shook his head. "Maybe you and Eye-Brawl should be the only ones in there," he suggested. "I just know I'll screw something up if I'm the one going in there."

"The factory's too big to take down with just two of us going in there," Eye-Brawl insisted. "We need you, Thumpback."

We need you Thumpback. Biggest lie he was ever told.

The Giants continued arguing about the best way to go about pulling off that plan. The arguing continued for hours, and soon the sun was setting. Having reached no fitting conclusion, the Giants walked farther into the woods, away from the factory, and decided to camp out for the night and sleep on some ideas. Thumpback, finding that he was unable to sleep, agreed to take the first watch in case Arkeyans ambushed them in the middle of the night. His mind was restless, thinking about that poor flying eyeball from several years back. He very much resembled Eye-Brawl, though Eye-Brawl was much, much bigger.

After a while, Thumpback heard the sound of flapping wings- Eye-Brawl had stirred, flying off the headless giant. He flew next to Thumpback, hovering in the air. He looked...well, at Thumpback. The only way flying eyeballs could convey emotion was with the moving of their pupil.

"You can get some sleep now, Thumpback," Eye-Brawl yawned. "I'll take the next watch."

"No, I'm fine," Thumpback insisted. "I can keep watch."

"You can't just stay up all night."

"Sure I can. I've stayed up much later when I was on a ship."

"Okay, what's the matter? You seem upset about something."

Thumpback was afraid to say. What if he was cast out if they knew he had done something so terrible? He knew Tree Rex didn't like people simply killing, even if they didn't mean to do it. But...Thumpback couldn't simply bury it inside forever. Not as long as he was hanging out with these Giants. And considering the victim of that crime, Eye-Brawl was the best person to talk about this with.

"I was just thinking about the things I did while I was a pirate," Thumpback sighed. "I did terrible things that I'm racked with guilt over."

"What did you do?"

"I...I didn't want to do those things, though. Our captain was a madman. If I didn't do what he wanted, he would've...well...I don't know, but it wouldn't have been good. My life might've been on the line."

"Well, if you feared for your life, maybe you were justified slightly. You didn't want to do it. Now what was something that you did that was so terrible?"

No, he was in too deep now. "It's okay, actually," Thumpback insisted. "I mean, it doesn't matter, right?"

"What is it?"

"Oh, um...well, there was this one time when a flying eyeball that flew near the ship. The captain asked me to...to fire the cannons on him."

Eye-Brawl's pupil shrank back, showing his fear. "Wait, what kind of flying eyeball?" he stammered. "Was his iris green?"

No comment.

"You know, the thing that circles around the pupil? The pupil, that-"

"I know what the iris is."

"Well, was his iris green?"

"Y-yes."

"And was he small?"

"Fairly."

His demeanor changed drastically. "I think that was my brother Dive-Clops," Eye-Brawl said.

No comment.

"He was always impetuous. I wouldn't put it past him to fly toward a pirate ship. But...what happened to him...that wasn't his fault."

No comment.

"It was yours."

Thumpback stepped backward. "You said I was justified," he stammered.

"I didn't know how bad it was! You're a monster! You KILLED MY BROTHER!"

No comment.

"Get some sleep. We'll wake you in the morning to discuss our plan."

Eye-Brawl flew toward the headless giant, abandoning Thumpback. There was no doubt that he would tell everyone the atrocious thing that had happened that day. What was worse was that Eye-Brawl knew Thumpback had done more than just that one horrible action. Thumpback should've just kept his mouth shut. Telling his woes hadn't made him feel better. If anything, he felt much, much worse.

Thumpback started walking away from them. He didn't want to be seen, and he didn't want any company. He walked for a while, his thoughts continuing to run rampant, convincing him that he was indeed a monster. Thumpback walked until he realized he had moved far away from where the Giants had camped. Trees towered around him, and he was aware that he was lost.

The most he could do in order to find them was stay still until sunrise, when the Giants went to look for him.

So Thumpback continued walking. Guilt burned at his heart. He hadn't known that the flying eyeball had family. He'd taken him away from Eye-Brawl. Now Eye-Brawl hated him with a passion. And once he told the others, they would hate him, too.

He walked for hours, only stopping when his feet began to ache. He'd reached the edge of the forest, toward the clearing where the factory had been set up. Thumpback stared at the factory, deciding to destroy it on his own. It wouldn't make up for killing Eye-Brawl's brother, but he could prove to the universe that he was better than the monster he was.

Running up to the factory, anchor swinging behind him, Thumpback readied to topple the factory. As he got closer, however, he slowed down. The factory really was bigger than the Giants. It towered several feet in the air. There was no way he could do this. A few guards ran out of the entrance once they saw him, threatened by his presence. Thumpback stopped in his place, watching as robots flooded out in great swarms, outnumbering him by more than the trees in the forest. They attacked him, using his chain to bind him. One of the guards stabbed something into his ankle, like a giant needle- a sedative- and it didn't take much for Thumpback to tip over after that.

Thumpback found himself on a beach, far, far away from his ship. His head ached, and his stomach sloshed around with water. He'd been unconscious for a while, he realized, but couldn't be sure of how long he had been in that state.

The first fact that occurred to him was that he had lost his catch. Thumpback enjoyed fishing more than pirating. It was calm and soothing, and it felt far more rewarding than the dirty work that the captain made him do. And on one particular day, almost a week after the incident with the flying eyeball, he spotted a grand catch. A Leviathan Cloud Crab- legend had it that those creatures held untapped magic. Maybe if Thumpback caught it and presented it to the captain, things would be better. The captain wouldn't be as harsh on the rest of the crew, or torture Thumpback with awful magic.

He'd failed spectacularly, as evidenced by his presence on the beach. Everyone was simply bound to laugh at him now.

The second fact that occurred to him was that he was not alone. Thumpback saw someone out of the corner of his eye. It was a giant wooden creature. He had to have been one of the Giants, "Skylanders," that were trying to take on the Arkeyans. The captain had said that it was a fool's errand, though Thumpback heard him silently admit that their success might save the ship from imprisonment. With that idea in mind, and not liking the Arkeyans very much himself, Thumpback decided that he liked the wooden Giant.

Thumpback struggled to get up. The water in his belly made this action very uncomfortable. He took in a breath, bringing the water up, and expelling the water from his blowhole in a fantastic spray. Some drops touched the Giant, who recoiled in shock, but didn't seem angry. Thumpback stood up to his full height now, able to think more clearly without the sloshing distraction.

"That was awesome!" the Giant smiled. "Do it again!"

He said this in a very childlike manner, as if he'd never seen or heard of a whale before. Though it was also very possible that he hadn't. Thumpback trudged a little ways back into the sea, scooping water into his mouth. He sprayed this stuff out like he had before.

"How do you shoot the water out of your brain like that?" the Giant asked.

"Oh, it's not through my brain," Thumpback explained, bending his head down for the Giant to see. "That would hurt. No, I have a blowhole that shoots water out when I need to get it out. Just through my head, not my brain."

"That still sounds like it should hurt."

"It doesn't. I guess it's hard to explain, but this is how whales and whale behemoths work."

"Whale?"

Oh, so he hadn't heard of whales before. "My name's Thumpback," Thumpback introduced himself.

"I'm Tree Rex," the Giant replied.

The third fact that suddenly occurred to Thumpback was that he was thousands of miles away from his ship. The exact distance couldn't be measured, but he definitely had no idea where the ship was.

And the fourth and final fact that occurred to Thumpback was that he was glad he couldn't find the ship. He'd hated every day on that ship. The only reason he got aboard in the first place was because he thought he could get bigger catches of fish. The tortures and beatings he had been forced to give to other workers, and the ones the captain had put on him, were not worth it. The only reason he stayed was because they'd told him he was needed. But that had also been a lie- there was nothing he could do on that ship that nobody else could do, and they'd all treated him like a bilge rat regardless.

"You're a Giant, aren't you?" Thumpback asked.

Tree Rex stepped back, becoming worried. "Why do you ask?" he stammered.

"Can I come with you? I can help you guys take on the Arkeyans. But...But I only ask because, well...I don't know who else to turn to."

Tree Rex lightened up, walking back to Thumpback and setting his arm over his shoulders. "We're always looking for people who can help us," he decided. "Besides, it's not like the rest of us have anyone else to turn to, either."

The Giants trusted him.

And Thumpback had basically turned himself in to the enemy. How useless was he?

And the guilt had gotten much worse. He'd left them, and he was now available for the Arkeyans to use in hurting them.

He was put in a cell that held another Giant, though it was someone Thumpback had never seen before. The Giant very much resembled a wasp. He would've thought that this was a wasp, one of a very, very immense size, but such a thing had to be impossible. While Thumpback had some freedom to move around the cell, shackled by a magic-imbued chain on his foot, the wasp was stuck on the wall. That had to be very uncomfortable.

It took very little time for Thumpback to figure out what they did at this factory. From his cell window, he saw worker robots moving large pallets around, the pallets holding strange chemicals. More often than not, he saw them carry a poor critter in a cage, the same kind of critter coming back either disfigured or dead. The largest productivity of the Arkeyans' labors here came from the soldiers they had. The soldiers wore blue-and-yellow armor, as opposed to the normal red-and-yellow, and their limbs appeared to be made of bones. Many soldiers looked different than this set, infused with Tech and some kind of other strange Element.

Why, this wasn't a factory at all.

It was a laboratory.

Thumpback suddenly felt his chain pull into the wall, forcing him to stand there. A large Arkeyan robot lacking heavy weapons, for he was a scientist, opened the cell door and walked inside. He poked a needle into the wasp's arm, extracting a blood sample. The wasp, heavily sedated, did not move. The robot also set a pale of water at Thumpback's feet. Gross, stagnant water. But it wasn't as if Thumpback could ask for something better- lest he be chained to the wall in the same manner as the wasp was.

"We might need to gain samples of the magic inside of you, ugly beast," the robot told Thumpback.

"What magic do I even have?" Thumpback wondered silently.

The robot glared at him with cold, unfeeling eyes, before leaving the room.

The chain was pushed out of the wall by some omnipotent force, allowing Thumpback mostly free reign through the cell once more. The chain sparkled with some kind of strange energy, presenting itself in the form of water magic. That was the special property imbued inside of it- it could harm the person connected to the chain with magic from their element, bringing them unimaginable suffering. Thumpback had seen this before on the ship he used to work at. His captain had tortured many privateers with that kind of magic until they complied to his orders- Thumpback himself had been on the receiving end of that punishment at least a few times. He was not getting out right now.

But the chains holding the wasp to the wall did not sparkle in the same way. The chains held no magic, instead being regular chains. The Arkeyans weren't worried about the wasp escaping. Maybe he could be the key to destroying this laboratory. Thumpback walked over to the wasp, slapping his face to get his attention.

"Hey, wake up!" Thumpback hissed. "I need your cooperation."

The wasp's eyes fluttered open and closed. "S...Stop it, Dax," he slurred drowsily. "I'm not f...feeling well."

It occurred to Thumpback that the wasp must've been in this state for days- he'd probably never noticed the Arkeyans lock up Thumpback in the same cell as him. "Please! This benefits you too!"

The wasp's eyes fully opened, bloodshot, and he struggled lifting his head to meet Thumpback's. He focused his gaze on Thumpback, realizing that the whale behemoth was in fact not the "Dax" person he was thinking of. "...I'm not at home, am I?" he gasped.

"I'm sorry," Thumpback sighed. "But I'm on a secret mission, and if you help me, you'll be able to go free. I promise."

The wasp stifled sobs. "Right- we're stuck with those 'Arkeyan' monsters," he choked. "They captured me weeks ago. They tortured me when they thought I was working with the defector. I had been on 'the chopping block' when I finally convinced them that I wasn't. They realized they might find some kind of magic in me, and I was brought here. It's just been a blur since then. You can't understand the pain I've been through."

"I can only imagine. I'm so sorry."

"Don't say you can help me unless you mean it!"

"I do."

Thumpback looked out the window, noticing some worker bots walk by. These were simple drones, ones that Bouncer had once described as being 'unintelligent.' They were carrying a pallet with pails of water on it- clean water! An idea came into Thumpback's head as he saw that. A way that would destroy the laboratory and free everyone here.

"Hey kid, are you thirsty?" he whispered.

"...So thirsty...," the wasp mumbled, dozing off once more.

Thumpback pounded on the door, hailing the drones over to their cell. The drones abandoned the pallet and ran over, irritation on their faces.

"Hey guys, can you get us some of that water over there?" Thumpback asked.

"We were informed that the whale behemoth prisoner had already gotten his daily ration of water," a drone said.

"Not for me, for him."- Thumpback motioned toward the wasp.

The drones looked at each other. "Subject 234 is not to be getting sustenance at this time," they said simultaneously. "He would get strong and wily, and would fight against the unarmed Arkeyans in no time flat. He is sedated, so he is tame."

"Why have the top scientists been taking blood samples from him?"

"Extracting the magic that lies within," the other drone explained. "Testing it to find a way to grow other organics to his size."

"How many successes?"

No comment.

"Is that so?"

Nod.

"You see, cuz I was thinking that you might get a healthier blood sample if 'Subject 234' wasn't this drugged and starved. Let the sedatives pass through his system, get him some nutrients, and take new samples and see if those make a difference. Pass that idea to your bosses and get them interested, okay?"

"We cannot do that. It is not in our power."

"I guess not. Maybe you're not even allowed to heed my idea. I mean, I'm a simple prisoner, not even a scientist, but understanding how many times you've failed, again and again, doing nothing to change the formula, I think you should consider my idea."

The drones looked at each other again. One of them ran to the pallet, grabbing a pail of water and passing it to Thumpback for him to take- Thumpback took it graciously. "In order for your idea to work, Subject 234 would need to cooperate with our bosses," it reminded him.

"You don't need to worry about that," Thumpback insisted. "I'll give it to him straight."

The drones went back to the pallet and carried it away. Thumpback looked at the water in this new pail, smiling because he could actually see the bottom of the pail through the water. He carried it to the wasp, waking him up and helping him drink.

"Does that feel better?" he asked.

The wasp nodded.

"We'll have to wait a while to see if my idea got across to the big heads-"

"You mean you're already working on your plan?"

"Yup. I told a few drones that they might get a better sample from you if you got your strength back. But what they won't be expecting is for you to launch out at just the right moment and tear this place apart from the inside."

"They'll just tie me up with a new chain. One imbued with magic...like yours, it looks like."

"So attack when they transition you to the new chains. But you have to follow my command. Don't do anything unless I tell you to, got it?"

Nod.

"What's your name? I'm not going to refer to you as that dumb Subject Whatsit."

"S...Swarm."

"I'm Thumpback."

"That's a real f...funny name."

"I know."

The wasp, Swarm, closed his eyes again. Thumpback patted him on the head. "Just hang tight, kid," he cooed. "I promise you'll get out of here, if it's the last thing I do with my horrible existence."

"You're working with the Giants, aren't you?"

Thumpback roused from sleep, Swarm's voice cutting through the air. A few days had gone by, and for once, Swarm was awake. Thumpback's idea really had gotten through to the big heads, and they were feeding Swarm as much as they were him. While Thumpback was grateful for that, he was worried. Maybe they understood what he was planning, and had another ace up their sleeve? They could always knock out the wasp if worse came to worse. He hadn't thought of that.

"Where does that idea come from, kid?" Thumpback yawned, slightly miffed to have been taken from the only real sleep he'd gotten in almost a week.

"Certainly you've been hearing rumors circulating around the workers coming by here?" Swarm persisted. "About Giants poking their noses at this laboratory?"

Nod.

"And you said you were on a 'secret mission'. Only a Giant would dare set foot in this heck-hole."

"Would it matter if I was?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just wondering if you know the defector that these Arkeyans hate so much."

"You mean the guy they tortured you about?"

"Yeah, him. I was thinking that if I ever got out, I would stick it to the Arkeyans, you know, make them hurt the way they've made others like me hurt. Get back at them. Though I wouldn't want to work with the defector. They almost didn't believe that I wasn't working for him, so I can't simply turn around and work for him once I leave."

"That makes sense. You don't have to overthink it, Swarm."

"But it's much more complicated than that. I guess...I might want to look for him. I mean, if he can help me achieve my goal. Is it worth it? Is he worth working for?"

Thumpback wasn't the right person to say. By now, Eye-Brawl had told Bouncer and Tree-Rex that he'd killed his brother way back when. They would hate him. He wasn't one of their friends anymore. He was far from being a Skylander. But still...

"Yeah, he is," Thumpback admitted.

Swarm nodded. "So when they come, I guess I'll-"

"Don't look for them. When you tear this place apart, fly away from here as fast as you can. Make some good distance away from here- that's your best bet at freedom. The Giants will know who was responsible for this, and they'll come looking for you once the smoke clears."

"That's not a bad idea. I really need you for those."

I need you, Thumpback. The one time when it wasn't a lie. But it hardly mattered now- nobody needed a monster. "Don't look for me, either," he insisted. "You'll be safer on your own, for a while. When the smoke clears, maybe then it will be better."

Swarm nodded, slightly disappointed at hearing that.

The chain pulled back into the wall, and Thumpback was forced toward it. (But he was already there on his own accord, as he had been sleeping in the corner.) Thumpback shook his head at Swarm, their code for "stay still." The door opened, and the same robot from before walked in. This time he held a chain in his hand, one with the same properties that held Thumpback here. Swarm looked at Thumpback, unsure of what to do. Thumpback shook his head again.

"Subject 234, you're looking lively," the robot said callously. "Feeling better, I assume?"

Swarm nodded meekly.

"Can I hear your answer? Say 'yes' to me."

"...Yes."

"Very good. Unlike the rest of us here, I don't trust that you can cooperate with us. I hardly trust the whale behemoth,"- the robot turned toward Thumpback- "as he is fairly a simpleton. I think he wants to ruin us."

"But I'm not smart enough for that," Thumpback insisted.

"In any case, we've been given the information we have to go on. While Giants are trying to squash our empire, they're rather dispersed. If one of them destroys a factory, we can build it up larger than it was before. They can't hope to destroy our glorious empire."

"What about the ones that are together?"

"You mean the 'Skylanders'? They're concerning, but that concern is minimal. With only three of them together, they can't possibly defeat us. Especially after we deliver the sedatives to the rest of the empire from here. You know, the ones that kept you both under so well?"

This guy only knew of three Giants working together? Thumpback had only spent a short time with Bouncer, Tree Rex and Eye-Brawl. The Arkeyans didn't know of the whale behemoth's involvement. He hadn't ruined the Giants yet.

"Why are you telling us these things?" Swarm asked. "Wouldn't you be concerned if either one of us managed to escape?"

The robot turned back toward Swarm, brandishing the syringe toward his face. "It's not like you can do much about it, is there?" he gloated. "Our magic surpasses your strange genes. And we have methods to keep you in line should your little deal with the whale behemoth turn sour. The pain you suffered before being brought here would feel like bliss compared to the pain we would show you if you dared to fight us again."

Thumpback noticed Swarm look sweaty. This was not a good option for them. Stay strong, Thumpback prayed. We're almost through this.

"But I've wasted enough time here as it is," the robot shrugged, moving the syringe away. "We have more important things to do- like replace your chains and extract a blood sample. Are you willing to cooperate, Subject 234?"

"Yes."

The syringe was set down for a moment. The robot unlocked the chain restricting Swarm's arm, taking great care that he wouldn't get out despite the wasp's promise. Swarm glanced at Thumpback once more, hoping for a signal. Thumpback couldn't give him one. He wasn't sure where to go at this point.

While the robot undid Swarm's chains, several guards ran by the cell. There seemed to be a whole fleet of them running by. What kind of commotion could that be? Maybe the Giants? Thumpback hoped not- they couldn't know of the things these Arkeyans had prepared for them. However, this commotion now opened up an opportunity for them.

And so, Thumpback nodded at Swarm, their code for, "Go get them!"

Swarm didn't hold back. He delivered an uppercut straight on the robot's chin, shoving himself off the wall and breaking the remaining chains. "My name is Swarm!" he shouted. "Tell that to your superiors when word gets out about this lab's destruction!"

"You little pest!" the robot yelled. Something clicked inside one of his arms, and from an opening on his wrist, another syringe came out. This one had a strange black-purple liquid in it- the sedative. The robot prepared to launch himself at Swarm-

But Thumpback grabbed his feet, pulling him to the ground. "Go!" he yelled at Swarm. "You know what to do, now go!"

Swarm nodded, busting the door down and laying his own path of destruction. They wouldn't see each other again until much later.

Thumpback had his own tussle with the robot. They wrestled, with Thumpback successfully tossing the syringe away without getting hit. The ground shook quite a bit after a while- the Giants definitely were here, doing battle outside. Soon the walls would start shaking as Swarm went on demolishing the lab. There would be no escape for anyone once that happened.

This in mind, the robot tried to run from the cell. Thumpback leapt after him, grabbing his shoulders. He now tugged on the chain, the magic imbued in it finally working its charm. Pain filled his stomach, swirling around like an angry storm- water magic. But there was also something else. An incessant pounding drummed in his head, over and over, harder than any migraine he'd ever had. It was tech magic- somehow Thumpback's contact with the robot made him suffer from the effects of the robot's Element.

And the pain was unbearable.

But it still wasn't the worst feeling that Thumpback had ever experienced.

"Let go, you primitive mold!" the robot yelled in anguish- apparently the magic worked the same way for him. "You'll destroy us both! We have to get away!"

"You know there's no escape for me! Not while I'm attached to this wall! Not while I'm still a monster!" Thumpback yelled. "If we both go down, so be it!"

Something shot at the robot, forcing Thumpback to let go. The tech magic left in an instant, and the pain in his head suddenly went away. He turned his head toward the opening where the door had been, noticing that Eye-Brawl had arrived. The flying eyeball shot a laser at the chain, severing the magic and freeing Thumpback at last, while the headless giant punched a hole in another wall. Thumpback stared at them, dumbfounded. Out of any of the Giants who thought to go in and look for him, why Eye-Brawl?

"There you are! I am so mad at you!" Eye-Brawl shouted. "Let's go! We haven't a moment to lose."

Thumpback was too shocked to argue. He knew no better than to follow him out of the lab as the walls finally cracked and fell down.

The Giants had to flee immediately after the event. They ran for hours, eventually finding a way off the island and onto a floating settlement that the Arkeyans hadn't found. So far they were safe. Thumpback had been unable to scan the area for Swarm, seeing if he had gotten out, and could only hope that he was safe. At night, once everyone was certain that they were safe, Thumpback was given a ninety-minute lecture from Eye-Brawl. At least, it felt like ninety minutes- he hadn't cared to listen.

Thumpback had taken a life long ago, so his was now forfeit.

So why was he still here?

"You couldn't have thought to wait for us when you got lost?" Eye-Brawl yelled. "You can't just go wandering about in the woods or else these things happen! Be thankful we managed to get you out of there in the nick of time!"

"You're overlooking it, Eye-Brawl," Bouncer insisted. "It was a battle strategy. A brilliant one. I never would've thought to get myself captured so I could take it down from the inside."

"For the last time, it wasn't a battle strategy," Thumpback sighed, sitting on the grass with his shoulders sagging. "I was just stupid. I needed someone's help to get the ball rolling. Even if that weren't the case, they have sedatives powerful enough to keep a Giant under for days. At least, they did- heck, I don't even know if they succeeded in getting that out to anyone else."

"Animal experimentation, the sickos!" Tree Rex yelled. "They just don't care about anything!"

Eye-Brawl continued his argument, "Thumpback, we searched for you for days! We had to give up because the 'lab' was too important to wait on. Do you have any idea how worried we were for you? How guilty we felt when we had to abandon the search for you? I'd hate myself forever if I knew I'd chased you away into the unknown!"

"And why is that!?" Thumpback yelled. "Why is my life so important? After everything I've done? After everything I haven't done? Why was it so important that you went back for me?"

Everyone stepped back. The whale behemoth just didn't get angry like this. He never got frustrated. Thumpback had taken himself by surprise as well. Had he bottled something up? More than just his guilt?

"Your life is important, Thumpback," Tree Rex said in a low voice. "You were brought into Skylands for a reason. The very fact that you exist is beautiful. Don't take that for granted. Never take that for granted."

Thumpback's eyes welled up. "Hasn't Eye-Brawl told you yet?" he asked.

"A-about his brother?" Bouncer stammered. "He told us the first day you were missing."

"I'm really sorry for what I did. I'd take it back, if I could. But there's nothing that can be done. It's a stain on my life now. You shouldn't have gone looking for a monster like me!"

"I didn't mean it like that," Eye-Brawl begged him. "You were forced to do it, right? My brother's death wasn't your fault."

The tears came down. "Of course it was," Thumpback insisted. "Our captain said he'd go easy on us if we carried out his plans, but that never happened. I should've left when I realized this, but I didn't. And now your brother's gone because of it."

"I should've listened to you rather than yell at you about it," Eye-Brawl continued. "I could tell you were upset, and I shouldn't have said those things. It was just the shock that made me do it- I'd...I'd spent so long looking for him and wondering what had happened to him, that hearing he was gone...I'll never see him again. It hurts. But it's not your fault."

"...I'm so sorry."

"I would've felt much worse if something happened to you because of me."

Bouncer sat next to Thumpback and set an arm over his shoulders as he cried. "You've got to let this go," he explained. "None of us are perfect. You couldn't have known to leave your captain back then. You've just got to learn how to move on. The future's right in front of you, and there's something you can do right now to make things better for other people."

"And you're part of a team now," Tree Rex cut in. "A team of people who care about you. You can tell us your woes. We're never going to abandon you, no matter what has happened."

How could they just decide that? Thumpback had done such terrible things.

But somehow, knowing that he'd been slightly forgiven for that day, Thumpback started feeling a little bit better.

"There was a Giant at that lab," Thumpback announced. "Swarm. We worked together to tear the place apart, but I told him to run the other way until the smoke cleared. I think our next plan of business is to find him."

"You got him interested in our crusade?" Tree Rex asked.

"He wants to defeat the Arkeyans. I told him we could help him."

"Then tomorrow, we should start looking for him."