[Λ]

Third Victim: Going Bananas

The mantis left the Hall of Warriors and headed back to their quarters. The weather that night was getting worse. The moon did not show and the winds were a bit choppy. A storm was coming. It was a long walk back and as he passed by the Sacred Peach Tree, he heard footsteps. The mantis did not know who was following him, so he increased his pace. Not unexpectedly, the pace of the footsteps also increased. The mantis stopped and looked back but no one was there. He could have sworn he was being followed. He continued walking and this time, he heard something that sounded like it was sliding with the leaves. The mantis increased his pace further. Then, he thought he saw something pass by above him. The wind followed and he felt the night cold. Something or someone was lurking. Could it be the crane and the viper making a move on the mantis? All these thoughts made him run for his life. He almost thought he saw the crane's silhouette and when he stepped on twigs or vines, he thought they moved afterwards. He raced himself towards their quarters and was now in the halls. The mantis took a turn here, a turn there. The next turn took him by surprise. He gasped giving a startled look on his face. It was the crane.

"How you doin' buddy?" The crane smiled.

The mantis gulped and took him a while to answer. "I'm… fine. Thank you." The mantis took a step back. To his horror, the crane made a step forward. The scene was tense and it was tense enough for the mantis to hear the crane's heavy breathing.

"Is… there… something else Crane?" The mantis took a step further behind. The crane just followed. "Is everything alright?"

The crane simply widened his smile. "Wouldn't you want to know?" He came closer.

Taking this as an act of aggression, the mantis replied. "Let me pass."

"I can't let you do that." The crane replied.

"Why not?"

"Because… you know too much."

A flash of lightning struck the halls. The mantis fell as he was surprised by the thunder that followed. The crane was not always like this. He knew to his heart that they were friends but this confrontation made feel that the crane he knew was gone. All this time, he had this suspicion about the crane's recent behavior but it was only now that he felt unsafe with him. The crane was now above him and he looked at the mantis straight in the eye. To his relief, someone passed by them.

"What are you guys doing?" The monkey asked.

The mantis was about to say his dilemma but the crane looked at him straight in the eye with an ever widening smile. Fearful of the consequences, the mantis thought best not to say anything.

"We're just… having a conversation here." The crane said maintaining his smile.

"O… kay then. I'm going to go head for the bathroom." The monkey said.

The mantis thought this as an opportunity to get away from the crane. "Wait! I'm coming with you." He said as he walked away. He looked back and as a lightning struck, the crane disappeared in a flash.

Apparently, Poppin was found to have showed himself before it started to rain. He made no remarks. He simply smiled at everyone and simply left to his room. The mantis was now at the bathroom preparing for bed. He washed his face. All this time, he was thinking about what had happened at the hallway. It felt so unreal as if he was in some sort of uh… story. As he looked back to the mirror, he was in shock again to see a figure staring back at him. This time, it wasn't the crane but the viper. The viper just stood there looking at him and still wearing that hat. The mantis fell to the ground and slowly sneaked away to leave the bathroom. The viper just looked at him as he sneaked away. She was constantly smiling as she looked at him going away. He slowly neared the door and slowly exited the bathroom leaving a smiling viper in the room.

It was past his bed time. In fact, it was past midnight. The mantis was at his room not wanting to fall asleep as those two might just pass him and who knows what they will do to him.

"This is Poppin's fault."

He knew they were awake and God knows what they are doing the kitchen. He did not feel getting some delicious noodles. Not after seeing the most bizarre of the bizarre. He felt alone as if he is the only one who noticed an evil being committed. He was all alone and he did not know what to do. His eyelids grew heavy and slowly but surely, he fell asleep.

[First 33 seconds of Light for the Deadvine instrumentals]

It was a large desert to which there was a long and winding road. A rabbit looked both ways as he was about to cross the road to which his burrow was on the other side. The rabbit crossed the road to the other side but before he made it, a car had smacked him. The rabbit instantly becomes road kill. The tortoise looked at his side mirror.

"Oh my, I think I hit something." Despite this, he did not bother to stop the car at all.

The mantis woke up from this comment. Apparently, he was wearing a seatbelt at the passenger seat beside the tortoise. The tortoise saw him getting up and looked at him.

"Oh good, you're up. I wanted to show you something." The tortoise said.

"If you're going to pull out your brain this time, then I'd rather not." The mantis replied. "Where am I? What is this?" The mantis continued.

"What I wanted to show you. Apparently, people call this a hot rod."

"Where am I?"

"Where is not really an appropriate question but when? Did you ever wonder if I really died?"

"I thought that was a result of old age."

He sped up the car to 150 kilometers per hour. "The village doctor told that if I wanted to maximize my life that I should go out more. The sun would do me good he said. So that following night that I chose the dragon warrior, I decided to take a break."

"Well that makes sense."

They passed by a sign. Oddly, the mantis could not understand the codec as it was written in a different language he could not understand. However, the tortoise seemed to understand the message.

"This is interesting." He said. He drove the car to that direction until he reached a small town in the middle of the desert. The mantis thought this to be weird. He did not know that a village could exist in a desert.

"What is this place?"

"Apparently, from what I heard, I think this place is called 'Nook Town'. I hear it's a good place to watch sunsets." He stopped the car in the middle of an intersection. The mantis hopped to the tortoise's shoulder as the tortoise approached one of the by-standers. He was watering a plant.

"Excuse me young man, can you tell me where the sun sets?" The tortoise asked.

The man did not reply as he just continued to water the plants. It took a while and still, they got no response.

"Dude, speak up." The mantis said as he tried to get his attention by hitting the shoulder. When he touched him, the man fell to the ground. "Oh, I'm sorry sir. I apologize…" He reached out his hand but something did not feel right. "Wait a minute? These are mannequins." The mantis looked around and realized that the town was not littered with people but with mannequins.

"Oh dear, you're right."

[First 16 seconds of Sleep Now in the Fire instrumentals]

A siren was then heard as if something was about to happen.

"What was that?" The mantis asked.

"The sunset." The tortoise faced the mountain ranges far beyond. Suddenly, a bright and blinding flash was seen from the distance. The mantis then felt intense heat. Soon, he saw the tortoise's skin bubbling before he noticed his was too. Then, a loud bang was heard followed by a storm of dust and debris.

The mantis woke up catching his breath as he realized he was still alive, even if this was a dream and all. He was lying on a movable tray and noticed that there were lumps of something covered in a blanket of white. He noticed the tortoise standing as he looked towards him.

"Oh good, you're up." The tortoise started.

"Now where have I heard that before?"

"I forgot to mention..." He paused briefly. "We're in a morgue by the way."

"I know you're all wise and all that but this isn't funny anymore."

The tortoise frowned and sat on stool. Due to his turtle nature, it took him a while to reach the seat. "I'm… sorry. I thought this was what you wanted."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just keeping you company, knowing that you feel alone and all that."

The mantis felt a sudden shock to these words. "How'd you…"

"You're not alone, Mantis." He then pointed at something behind the mantis.

Two of those something underneath the blankets then rose. The mantis looked up and noticed this but was shocked to find out what was inside the blankets when it fell. It was the crane and the viper and they looked like they had died recently.

"Mantis, move." The tortoise said calmly.

The mantis abided him. Out of nowhere, the tortoise released from his hands a shotgun and started shooting buckshots at the two. The two die from the gunshot wounds. A third one then rises and uncovers himself, it was a giant banana. It peeled itself and revealed the inner fruit to be made of… noodles!

The mantis woke catching his breath. He then felt something on his bed. When he felt it, he realized it was a banana peel. The monkey was here. Could it be? He thought. Realizing that someone had entered his room, he decided to keep watch and not sleep for the rest of the day. It seemed that he was always disturbed both awake and asleep. Awake that he felt the constant fears of being in danger and asleep that these crazy dreams are starting to make him crazy. A bright and sunny morning followed the ferocious storm of yesterday night. The gong had rung and they all greeted their master. After greeting their master, the mantis looked to his other colleagues to which his worst fears have been realized. Apparently, the mantis now noticed three people now presenting the distinct awkward smile: the crane, the viper and… the monkey.

A/N: I know. Weird dream huh? Dreams are never logical anyway. You don't need to know what the songs are. In fact, you can just ignore. If you are curious though, you can look it up in youtube.