"So let me see if I've got this straight," Maxwell was saying, brow furrowed, arms crossed in front of him. "Amy is an old flame of yours, and her incredibly evil ex-boyham, who raped her and then murdered her brother, is now hunting down Bijou in an attempt to get revenge on you for a perceived personal slight?"

"That's…pretty much the gist of it," Boss replied with a sigh.

They were sitting on the windowsill outside Kylie's room. Their hopes of finding Pashmina at Penelope's house had been dashed, and Bijou and Sandy were currently attempting to console a bawling Penelope, who clearly sensed that something was horribly wrong. She was already considerably upset when they arrived, probably because her best friend had not come to visit her, as was the norm. And, seeing how distraught the others were once they failed to find any trace of Pashmina, Penelope's temperament had only worsened.

"Well…what do we do now?" There was a pain in Maxwell's voice that cut Boss to the core.

"Wait for Amy to get back, first of all, I guess," he replied. "Maybe she'll know what to do."

There was silence between them for a moment. The girls had managed to quiet Penelope down, and for that brief pause the only audible sound was the light breeze teasing through the trees. It seemed as if even the birds were in a somber mood and had fallen silent.

"Are you sure it was ok to let Amy go on her own to find Howdy and Dexter?" Maxwell asked worriedly, breaking the thick silence.

"I hope," Boss answered. "They couldn't have gotten far…right?"

Rei's scent was still recognizable, and it was easy enough for Howdy and Dexter to trace it, weaving here and there amongst the trees. Eventually it brought them to a hollow tree trunk. The pair sidled up to the bark as quietly as possible and peered inside. Two figures were visible in the shadowy interior, and soon the voices belonging to them became audible as well.

"I don't know what to do," the first one was saying; Howdy and Dexter immediately recognized it as Rei's.

"Everything's going to be ok," the second one replied weakly, and it was immediately clear that Rei was not the evil hell-spawn that Scuzz was.

"Pashmina!" Howdy shouted, bustling into the tree trunk with Dexter on his heels. Pashmina was sitting against the inside wall of the tree trunk. Howdy threw himself at her, nearly knocking the wind out of her as he wrapped his arms around her neck. Within seconds, Dexter was at her side as well.

"Thank God you're alive," he told her, taking hold of one of her paws, tears welling up in his eyes.

"Hi guys," Pashmina replied, smiling weakly. As Howdy drew back and got a good look at her for the first time, he noticed that her torso was wrapped in bandages. All along her right side, the bandages were stained crimson by blood soaking through.

"Shit," Howdy gasped. "Pashy, are you ok?"

She nodded. "I'll live, thanks to Rei here."

Howdy and Dexter both turned to face Rei, finally acknowledging his presence. Rei wasn't looking at them, but staring at the ground in front of him and fidgeting nervously.

Howdy approached him and lifted a paw, offering a handshake. Rei stared blankly back at him for a moment, then accepted Howdy's paw and shook it timidly.

"I'm sorry for…attacking you earlier," Howdy said. "I owe you for this."

Rei drew back and shook his head furiously. "No! You don't owe me anything. I'm a worthless piece of shit. All I'm doing is trying to make up for my mistakes as best as I can, but nothing I could do will ever be enough." He turned away just as tears began rolling down his face.

"What are you talking about?" Dexter asked. "You saved her life."

"But I didn't even try to stop them," Rei replied. "I let them hurt her. I let them hurt you. I'm a coward and a failure."

"Rei," Pashmina whispered. She had found the strength to stand and was at his side now, resting a paw on his shoulder. "You're just a kid. There's no way you could have fought them all off without risking your own life. And I will always be grateful to you for saving mine."

He held her gaze for a moment, then, sobbing, threw his arms around her.

"Shh," Pashmina whispered, stroking his head affectionately. "You're ok, hun. I'm ok. No need to fret."

After a moment, Rei's sobs subsided and he released Pashmina from his grasp, wiping the tears from his eyes with the back of his paw.

"So…what happened, anyway?" Dexter asked, breaking the silence.

"It's all sort of a blur, it happened so fast," Pashmina replied. "I was on my way to visit Penelope – she's been lonely ever since Boss kicked us all out of the clubhouse, you know – and all of a sudden this gang of mean-looking hamsters was standing in front of me…"

"Scuzz and the CATS," Howdy postulated. Rei nodded.

"Well, they started chasing me," Pashmina continued. "I couldn't outrun them for long. And then they were grabbing me, and I saw someone had a knife, and I was trying to escape and there was some confusion and then I just felt this searing pain…" She glanced down at the stained red bandages at her side. "And then I just lost it. I fainted. I thought I was done for. But when I woke up I was here, and Rei was here, and I was still alive."

"When she lost consciousness, I think Scuzz must have thought she was dead," Rei said. "Either that, or he knew she would bleed to death anyway and just left her there to die."

"But you didn't let me die," Pashmina smiled at him. "Though they did take my scarf, for whatever reason…"

"As a warning," Rei replied. "Scuzz wanted Boss to find it, to let him know that he can and will start killing if Boss doesn't cave."

"That's sick," Howdy muttered.

"No kidding," Dexter agreed.

"So that's my story," Pashmina finished. "Now what the hell happened to the two of you? You're not exactly in the best of conditions either."

"Oh, more or less the same thing that happened to you," Dexter said. "Except that instead of being left to die, we were kidnapped and became the subjects of some intense hostage negotiations."

"That's terrible!" Pashmina gasped.

"Yeah, fun story," Howdy said. "Although I think it was probably somewhat preferable to almost bleeding to death, in my opinion."

At that moment, their conversation was interrupted by a voice, calling from not far away.

"Rei," it said, "where are you? I know you're around here somewhere…"

Rei sat bolt upright. "Scuzz…" he whispered, fear in his voice.

Pashmina put a paw on his arm. She was trembling, but trying her best to remain calm.

"Maybe he won't find us if we stay hidden," she said. "If we just stay quiet –"

"No," Rei replied. "Of course he'll find us." He looked at Howdy and Dexter. "The two of you found me easily enough. Scuzz is just toying with me. I have to go face him, otherwise he'll find all of us."

He stood up, took a deep breath, and left the three of them to wonder what would happen next.

"Come on, Oxy, help me out here!"

Hamtaro was pressing his full weight against Boss' bedroom door, panting and out of breath as he attempted to force the door open from the inside. The clubhouse was dark and deserted; Scuzz and the CATS had left some time ago, but not before tossing Hamtaro and Oxnard into Boss' room and securely barring the door shut from the other side.

Oxnard, true to form, was curled up in a ball of despair, tears flowing freely down his face as he watched Hamtaro's futile efforts. Hamtaro took a deep breath and a few steps back, then threw his shoulder against the door.

WHAM. The door didn't budge.

Hamtaro massaged his aching shoulder and shifted his gaze to Oxnard.

"If we both ram it at the same time, maybe it will work," he insisted. "Oxy?"

"I want to go home," Oxnard replied.

"Me too!" Hamtaro said. "And we'll get home faster if you help me!" He stepped back and tried once more to force the door open.

WHAM.

"What if they come back and find us trying to escape?" Oxnard said, trembling. "Or what if we get out and one of them is waiting outside for us?"

"Would you rather just sit here and wait to find out what's gonna happen when they get back?"

"If you'd listened to me, we wouldn't even be here!" Oxnard pointed out. "I told you we shouldn't have come. I knew it was a bad idea."

WHAM.

Hamtaro slumped to the floor, defeated. It was apparent that he was getting nowhere but sore.

"I'm sorry, Oxy." Tears were welling up behind his eyes. "I just…"

"I'm scared," Oxnard said, cutting him off.

"Me too," Hamtaro agreed. "Me too."

"I'm here, Scuzz."

Rei was trembling, but holding his ground as Scuzz approached him.

"Rei, Rei, Rei," Scuzz sighed, putting a paw on Rei's shoulder. "Where do you keep running off to, boy?"

Unable to come up with a reply, Rei merely stood there, holding Scuzz's malicious gaze with his own.

"You know," Scuzz continued, tightening his grip on Rei's shoulder. "If you keep disappearing on me, the other CATS might start getting the idea that you're aiding the enemy."

Rei was still shaking and speechless. Scuzz narrowed his eyes, glaring at him now.

"Well?" he demanded.

For a moment, Rei simply continued to stand there in silence. And then something awakened inside him, a little voice telling him it was now or never, do or die, and the angry monster that had been sleeping in the pit of his soul burst forth at Scuzz like a bat out of hell.

"What enemy?" Rei shouted. "What have any of them ever done to you? Wake up, Scuzz, you're the bad guy here!"

Fists flying, Rei leapt forward, ready to pour out all of his rage on Scuzz, but at that moment Mitch and Rock appeared from the shadows and latched onto Rei's arms, holding him back.

"And you're a coward!" Rei spat, struggling violently against Mitch and Rock's unyielding grip. "You can't do anything without your stupid cronies, can you? Why can't you face me by yourself, Scuzz?"

Scuzz grabbed Rei by the throat. "Clearly, someone needs to learn some respect for his elders," he growled.

"Respect?" Rei gasped, barely able to speak with Scuzz's paw at his throat. "Why should I respect you? Why should anyone respect you?"

Scuzz had just about heard enough. Without warning, he delivered a swift and powerful punch to Rei's abdomen. Rei fell to his knees, gasping, as Scuzz drew back and prepared to strike again.

Pashmina, Howdy and Dexter were watching in horror from the relative safety of the hollow tree as the scene unfolded in front of them. When Scuzz started whaling on Rei, Pashmina decided she couldn't take it anymore. Despite her better instincts, she ran out from behind the tree and straight towards Scuzz; Howdy and Dexter had no choice but to follow her.

"Stop!" she cried, grabbing at Scuzz's arm in an attempt to rescue Rei from the barrage of blows that Scuzz was dealing. "You're going to kill him! Stop it!"

Scuzz turned on his heel and wrenched his arm from Pashmina's grip, throwing her to the ground in the same motion. At the same time, Chez and Ralph appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and rushed at Howdy and Dexter. Mitch released his hold on Rei and was immediately on top of Pashmina, grabbing her arm and forcing her to her feet.

The fight was over before it had even begun. Within seconds, Pashmina, Howdy and Dexter were caught, their arms pinned by Mitch, Chez and Ralph. Rock still had a firm grip on Rei, who remained on his knees, doubled over in pain. As soon as the commotion had died down, Scuzz approached the three intruders.

"Well, well, well," he said, looking first to Pashmina. "What do we have here?" He put a paw to the side of her face, smiling as she cringed and turned away from him. "I thought I'd taken care of you. Surprise, surprise."

"Don't touch her!" Howdy demanded. Scuzz turned his attention in Howdy's direction.

"And what are you going to do about it?" Scuzz chuckled, drawing his blade from its sheath and lifting it to Howdy's throat.

"Stop!" Dexter cried. "Don't –"

"Don't what?" Scuzz asked. "Don't do this?" He pressed his blade to Howdy's throat, watching the horror rise in Dexter's eyes. Howdy bit his lip and attempted to hold back a pained groan as a thin sliver of red appeared and crawled down his neck.

"Damn it, stop!" Dexter demanded, attempting to wrench himself free of Ralph's grip but failing miserably.

"Or what?" Scuzz snarled, removing his blade from Howdy's throat and admiring the shine of blood on its tip. Then he turned to Dexter, grabbed him by the chest and pressed his blade to Dexter's stomach, just lightly enough so as not to pierce the skin. "You think you have any power over me? You're weak. You're all weak. I should have killed you when I had the chance. But first things first." Scuzz turned away from Dexter and returned his attention to the trembling, gasping ball of fur that was Rei.

"Rei," Scuzz sighed, squatting down at Rei's side. "I had faith in you, kid. I trusted you, and you turned on me."

Rei managed to lift his gaze to Scuzz. The rage was still there in his eyes, just as fierce as before.

"Go to hell, Scuzz," he said.

Scuzz smirked. "You first," he replied, and lifted his blade to deliver a death blow.

"Stop!"

The voice had seemingly come from nowhere, but Scuzz recognized it immediately and it was enough to make him freeze in place. Slowly, he lowered his blade and turned around.

"Amethyst?"

Amy had appeared at the edge of the clearing. Soon she was at Rei's side, and she fell to her knees beside him, crying as she drew his wounded body into her arms.

"What are you doing here?" Scuzz demanded. He still had his blade in hand, but the viciousness and hatred in his eyes had faded as soon as he saw Amy.

"I should be asking the same of you!" Amy cried, glaring at him. "And – what have you done to Rei? How could you do this, Scuzz?"

"He's a liar and a traitor," Scuzz hissed, fury now returning to his countenance. "He deserves nothing less!"

"How could you say that?" Amy sobbed, cradling Rei's head in her arms. "About your own son?"

Scuzz froze. Had he really just heard what he thought he had heard?

"Son?" he finally asked after a pause.

Amy nodded, glaring at him.

"You're insane," Scuzz scoffed. "I have no son. And even if I did, how would you know?"

"Because," Amy sobbed, staring at Scuzz through pained and pleading eyes, "I'm his mother!"

Woo! Plot twist!

Full disclosure: Amethyst is Amy's full name (in case you didn't catch that, not that it's of any major consequence).

let-boss-find-love: Sorry for the lack of Boss/Amy in this chapter. But there will most certainly be more to come. :)

Review, pl0x!

-Genie