Hey, I bet you all thought I was dead! But no, I am determined to finish this thing at some point. If anybody is actually reading this, please give me a holler and review.

Also, be forewarned in case you are sensitive to this type of thing, there is a bit more swearing in this chapter than usual. Amy has a bit of a mouth on her when she's angry - and she has very good reason to be angry. I don't think one F-bomb is enough to push this up to an M rating (I guess I haven't actually read the rating guidelines?), but if you are offended by things like that feel free to let me know and I'll work to avoid it in future chapters.

This chapter's a bit short but I really wanted to get the ball rolling on this again because I really do want to finish writing it! I know exactly how this is going to end, it just takes a lot of effort and free time (which I don't have a lot of these days) to get there. I am a 24 year old who writes Hamtaro fanfiction! What am I doing here at 2:30 AM on a Friday? Goodness knows!

Sorry, please read. And review. Review please.

A stark silence pervaded the clearing. The loudest sound audible was that of Rei's labored breathing as he fought to maintain consciousness. Amy turned away from Scuzz, pulling Rei closer to her until his face was buried in the warmth of her chest. Blood seeped from the corners of his mouth, staining Amy's fur an angry crimson.

The self-satisfied smirk had disappeared from Scuzz's face as the gravity of Amy's words sank in. When the silence caught up with him, he cleared his throat and tried his best to look indifferent, unmoved by Amy's assertion.

"Even if what you say is true," he began, forcing a half-hearted shrug, "why should it matter? A traitor is a traitor, and that's all he is to me."

Amy's eyes narrowed as she turned a sharp gaze to Scuzz.

"You're colder than ever," she hissed through gritted teeth. She was glaring at Scuzz steadily, her resolution unwavering, Rei now unconscious in her arms. It was unclear whether he had fainted from physical duress or the emotional trauma that came from discovering that Scuzz was his father; in all likelihood it was a combination of the two.

"That's awfully sweet of you to say," Scuzz grinned, regaining some of his earlier composure, though his voice had a wavering, uncertain edge to it that Amy immediately detected.

"You're afraid," she told him, her voice a low rumble rising from her chest. "You're scared that for once, you're not completely in control. That maybe, no matter how much you want to, you don't have it in you to murder your own flesh and blood."

A look of disbelief flashed across Scuzz's face; he instantly masked it with the same defiant smirk he always wore, but it was too late. Amy had seen the uncertainty rising within him. She knew she was right. Scuzz was evil – but not pure evil. Not without some semblance of a conscience, however small and neglected it may have been.

"You think I can't…" he began, his grip tightening around the handle of his blade. "You think I won't –"

"I know you can't!" Amy shouted, her words piercing him more sharply than any dagger could. "Because no matter how you may see him, you know that you're a part of him." She stood, positioning herself between Scuzz and Rei, her eyes aflame. "How does that make you feel, Scuzz? Knowing that your self-centered lusts created him? Knowing that no matter what you say or do or think, you, of your own power and volition, brought into this world a son who is better than you in every. Single. Fucking. Way?"

"Bitch!" Scuzz seethed, at a loss for any other retort, and leapt forward, blade in hand. Amy was too quick for him; she shifted backwards as the blade came down, then grabbed Scuzz by the wrist, wrenched his arm behind his back and came down on top of him as he fell face-first to the ground. For the first time, Scuzz had lost control. He'd overcompensated with ill-placed aggression and given Amy the window she needed to overpower him. She was kneeling on his back now, holding him down.

"Get off me!" he screamed at her, struggling to pull himself up. But with Amy's full weight pinning him down and his right arm – and blade – rendered useless against her grip, he was finding it exceedingly difficult.

Mitch was the first of Scuzz's minions to react, relinquishing his hold on Pashmina and darting towards Amy. Chez cast a nervous glance at Ralph, who at that very moment let out a sharp, pained gasp as Howdy brought his foot down, hard, against Ralph's. This gave Howdy enough leeway to slip free of Ralph's grasp, and then Pashmina surprised everyone when she grabbed a sizable branch from the ground nearby and, with a ferocious cry and more power than she knew she was capable of, brought it squarely to the back of Chez's head, barely missing Dexter's in the process.

Chez fell forward, unconscious. Dexter cast Pashmina a speechless look that was somewhere between "Thanks" and "Where the hell did that come from?", and Ralph, realizing that he was suddenly outnumbered and overpowered, tried to make a break for it in the guise of following Mitch's lead, but fell to the ground, gasping and clutching his injured foot, when the pain turned out to be more than he had bargained for.

Rock had had the same idea as Mitch and was scrambling to Scuzz's aid, but as the two hamsters approached her, Amy wrenched Scuzz's blade from his paw, pressed it against the side of his throat, and screamed into his ear, "Call them off!"

Scuzz was relatively certain that Amy wouldn't kill him – but at that moment, helpless against her power and feeling the cold touch of his own blade on his skin, he wasn't willing to take that risk.

"Stand down!" he called out, his voice hoarse and deflated. Mitch and Rock stopped in their tracks, within arm's reach of Amy but more than obliged to obey Scuzz's orders.

Pashmina, Howdy and Dexter were at Rei's side now. Pashmina was kneeling beside him and holding his head in her arms, searching his eyes for a sign of life, tears welling behind her own at the sight of him bloodied and bruised. Howdy had Pashmina's Chez-bashing branch slung over his shoulder for good measure. Amy turned her attention to the three of them.

"Go," she commanded. "Get out of here while you can. Find Boss. Get help."

"And leave you here?" Howdy replied. "We couldn't –"

"I can handle myself just fine!" Amy shouted back.

"But –" Dexter started, but Amy cut him off before he could continue.

"By my count," she huffed, exasperated, "I've saved both of your asses twice now. Don't you think maybe you should listen to what I'm telling you?"

Dexter glanced back at Howdy, defeated. She made a good point.

"What about Rei?" Pashmina cried.

"He'll be alright with me, I promise," Amy replied. "You'll make much better time without him."

"I can't leave him," Pashmina murmured, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Amy, he – he saved my life."

Amy looked back at her, a stern but sympathetic expression in her eyes.

"Then don't let it be for nothing, honey," she sighed.

Howdy and Dexter turned to Pashmina, each taking a paw to pull her to her feet. The three of them turned to go, casting one final glance in Amy's direction. They all wanted to say something – anything – to thank her, but all the words they could think of seemed hollow and empty. As it were, the gratitude and admiration Amy saw reflected in their eyes said more than any words could.

And as she watched them disappear among the trees, she let go. She dropped Scuzz's blade, and it hit the ground beside her with a soft thud. She stood, releasing Scuzz and raising her arms in surrender. She didn't know what would happen now; she could only hope that she was right about Scuzz, but she realized with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had underestimated him too many times before.