Hey guys, sorry it's been awhile since I've last updated. I've been busy and I've been working on making the chapters longer. If any of you fear I may just disappear and abandon the project, fear not! Even if I stop I will at least tell you guys. Anyways here is chapter 4, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4

Rats, Humans, and Bats

Both Cooper and Piper were still recovering from the facts of them meating two massive rats, that could talk. As they walked through the cave with little to none light except the flashlight, they could hear the the two rates talking, well squeaking that is. Piper decided to ignore it. Cooper on the other hand...he became suspicious of the creatures. The female rat seemed friendly enough, she was rather kind to them when they met. The thought crossed Coopers mind that he never got the females Rats name, the male one had one so he assumed she did too. Slickclaw on the other hand...he seemed rather more...aggressive. Although he didn't attack him and Piper, Cooper was skeptical of the rat.

The female rat let Slickclaw take the lead as she went next to Cooper and Piper. "I believe I have not properly introduced myself, I am Whiteshard. What is your names?" Cooper tried to ease up a bit to the crea-Whiteshard. "Oh...well umm my name is Cooper, and this is my friend Piper" Piper waved at Whiteshard, which caused her to look rather confused at Piper cause she did not know what she was doing with her hand. But in the end she decided to leave it at that

"If you three are done chit chatting back there, we are here" Slickclaw lead them into an exit out of the cavern hallway. There seemed to be a curtain of some sorts with loud cheering coming from the other side, both Slickclaw and Whiteshard stepped through. Piper and Cooper looked at each other, not sure what to do. After some mental debate, and preparing for anything, they stepped through and was completely astounded by what they saw.

They stepped into a massive arena, with hundreds of people cheering at some other people doing...something. The arena reminded Cooper of the Roman Colosseum, it definetly had some similarities. But what made this even more amazing was the fact it was underground and had hundreds of people in it like during the Roman times.

They both looked around at all the people screaming and cheering, while the two rates stood there letting them take everything in. "But...h-how are there people down here, how are there so many..." Piper was utterly dumbfounded by everything going on around. Cooper started focused his attention on why the people were cheering. He noticed some people...on bats, massive bats, and they were flying on them. They were definitely competing each other, but Cooper couldn't get much out of anything else. He then noticed they seemed to be playing some ball ga-"gah!" Coopers thoughts were suddenly cut short by one of the balls stucking him in the head, knocking him down. "Oh my gosh Cooper, are you alright!?" Piper and Whiteshard looked at Cooper to make sure he was ok, while Slickclaw only chuckled at him.

When Cooper finally got his bearings start he realized that the cheering had stopped and that the crowd focused on them. He slowly got up and saw the competitors on bats were landed near him, staring. He stares right back, mostly at the bats. One of the bat riders had gotten off a bat and walked to him. As the rider got close to him he noticed that the rider was a female, he most notably noticed that she had pale white skin and white silky hair. She seemed to be around 17 years old.

"Overlander er...or should I say Overlanders.." she glanced over at Piper, who was staying quiet. "It would be appreciated if I could have that" she motioned to the ball, which Cooper quickly gave back to her. He noticed she didn't say anything like "Sorry for hitting you with a ball", she seemed to be rather stubborn. "Overlanders, why have you come here?" Cooper and Piper both looked at her rather confused, they both thought that they might have guessed that they didn't come here willingly.

Before Piper could say something, she was cut off by an old man. "oh Luxa, do not be so hard on them. We know why they are here." An old man came to view, he was walking to them, using a cane. Both Piper and Cooper noticed that he was very weak, and without that came he would fall over like a cutted down tree. "Hello Overlanders please ignore my granddaughters cold welcoming, she can be rather...hard on new guests" Luxa just scoffed at the man and went back on her bat

Cooper was the first to say something out of him and Piper "uhh who are you people, and why is there massive bats, and rats, and-!" "My name is Vikus, as for the rest of your questions, they will be answered in time. We must first return to the castle" Cooper and Piper looked at him confused "The castle?" Piper said. "Yes yes come, follow me." And with that a bat dropped in front of Vikus, Cooper practically jumped at the unexpected appearance of the bat.

Vikus slowly got on the bat and waved Cooper and Piper on as well. They looked at each other rather scared, but Piper started to get on which led to Cooper following. Once they had gotten on and situated, the bat began to rise, followed by the other bats around them including Luxa's. Once the bats had taken off they began too fly in a direction. Cooper thought the ride was surprisingly smooth, Piper on the other hand was freaking out. She was gripping on the bat tightly and hyperventilating. Cooper saw this and grabbed on of her hands to calm her, which worked and she bagan to ease up.

After a bit of travel, they came into a massive open cavern that made Cooper and Pipers jaws drop. "Overlanders, I welcome you to Regalia!"