-1Chapter 5
Jorelo awoke to find himself back in the past again. Not a few seconds ago… Not hours… Not even days. He was back all the way in his childhood again. He was lying on the ground looking at the vivid blue sky above him. He forgotten the memories of Piñata Resistance, The sour onslaught, and all other remembrance that was of the future. Though it didn't really matter now, he was at peace with his surroundings and that was the only thing that mattered right now. A younger Pandora stood over him with eyes filled with eagerness.
"Jorelo, come on and play with me," she asked in a cutesy manner as Jorelo lifted his head up to become mesmerized by the playground surrounding him.
"But I'm watching the clouds," Jorelo became dizzy and lied back down as his comment enticed Pandora to look up into the sky, she saw not a cloud in sight.
"Um, I don't think the clouds came out today," Pandora countered as she looked back down to Jorelo.
"They're invisible," The dark fudgehog back his statement up with cleverness. An annoyed Pandora looked back down at Jorelo.
"No they're not Jorelo, they're just not there!" she argued back at him, "now push me on the swings," Jorelo let out a light groan after hearing her say that.
"…Do I have to?" He tired to talk his way out of it as he sat back up.
"Pleeeease…?" Pandora started to beg as Jorelo rolled his eyes in disgust of her attitude.
"Fine…" Jorelo gave in, he didn't like to refuse Pandora when she was persistent with him. The dark fudgehog stood up and followed Pandora to the nearest swing set while ignoring a group of other young piñata's running across their path, probably playing a game of tag or something similar to it. Pandora lifted herself onto the seat and waited for Jorelo.
"Ready?" Jorelo waited for her as he grasped the chains that held her up firmly.
"Uh-huh," Pandora nodded. Jorelo stepped back pulling the swing with him and then focused his energy at getting her into the air. Pandora let out a squeal of excitement as Jorelo got ready to intercept her again. The process had repeated itself over and over again, that is, until Jorelo was unexpectedly shoved onto the woodchips below by a fellow fudgehog, strangely this one had looked like Falkor, only some years younger now.
Jorelo cried out as his face and upper body scraped against the sharp ridges below. A red sap-like substance leaked out of a deep gash above Jorelo's right eye, the pain from the injuries evoked his patterns to dully glow faint gold
"Falkor!" Pandora shouted at the white fudgehog as she was already off the swing and helping Jorelo up to his feet, "can't you bully someone else?" Pandora yelled at the white fudgehog as Jorelo started to whimper in pain.
"Heh, picking on Jorelo's too much fun to pass up!" Falkor exclaimed as Pandora brushed the chips off of Jorelo's face and wiped his tears away.
"Just go away Falkor!" She shouted at him bitterly, "can't you see he's bleeding?"
"It's not my fault he's some kind of glowing freak," Falkor insulted Jorelo as he ripped the dark fudgehog from Pandora's grasp and forcefully sent him back into the woodchips before proudly marching off. The patterns on Jorelo's body had gotten noticeably brighter from the abuse. And Falkor, like many others, thought Jorelo's and Pandora's neon-like markings that they had were quite strange. Falkor deemed them as "freaks" for that reason alone.
What was unusual is that the two had no idea that their glowing patterns would soon stop appearing in the upcoming years. Both found it as a blessing to finally be able to return to normality when the time came.
Jorelo soon fell back into the darkness again. It wasn't until a few hours later he woke up in bed, this time the moon shined in his eyes.
"You're up!" The still younger Pandora exclaimed while giving Jorelo a hug out of no where. The dark fudgehog groaned loudly from the pain the embrace has ensued. Hearing this, Pandora let Jorelo go as the fudgehog lifted himself slowly to a sitting position. Jorelo sighed with relief once he was on the edge of the bed. Though he couldn't help but feel up the bandages that were wrapped around his head, and just the thought about the recent accident alone made him lightheaded.
"What was all that about?" He thought to himself, trying to keep his mind from replaying the scene in his head.
"How are you feeling Jorelo?" Pandora asked as Jorelo rubbed his forehead tenderly.
"My head hurts…" he stated the obvious, "what happened, did I have a bad dream?"
"No…" Pandora shook her head. The poor fudgehog just wanted to go back to sleep, he was fighting off the tiredness in him, but he could withstand it no more. Defeated by his own limitations, Jorelo fell back into the sheets without a fight. Pandora let out a sorrowful sigh. However, there was always tomorrow to talk to him. With tail drooped, the pretztail toddled back to her own bed to get some sleep herself.
Jorelo soon woke up again, but not back in bed however. He had returned to the stealth aircraft, present time. The fudgehog felt up his forehead again and found there was thick blood dripping from a recent wound. Feeling dizzy, Jorelo blinked his eyes a few times to see more clearly as he carefully sat himself up.
"The hell…?" he mumbled to himself in sheer confusion as he caught a quick glimpse of the scene. Their aircraft was destroyed and its interior was tattered as were the other piñatas lying dead. And a rare few were lucky enough to still have a hide! However, two other piñatas were even more fortunate than their dead brethren. In front of the dark fudgehog stood a shadowy brown mallowolf and a familiar blue pretztail. The mallowolf held the pretztail firmly with a handgun to it's head, Jorelo could easily put the names to these faces. The mallowolf was Malak and the pretztail was Pandora.
"I see you're awake," Malak observed. The dark fudgehog still had trouble believing what he was seeing, what would cause Malak to do something like this, wasn't he with Piñata Resistance? Or did the base he was posted at had become corrupted as well? Jorelo stood up on both feet as Malak's gun clicked, readying the bullet for a violent expulsion. It's sickly sound made Pandora utter out a small whine for help. She was told if she screamed, she would be shot the moment Malak could hear it, but... Who else besides Jorelo would hear her anyways seeing as everyone else was dead? Maybe Malak just found enjoyment in others piñata's terror.
"Not another step Jorelo," Malak warned him, "or your girl gets it," he placed the barrel of the gun closer to Pandora's head that she could almost feel the cold steel touching her. The distance between Jorelo and Malak could be estimated around fifteen feet and Jorelo desperately wanted to close the distance and talk Malak out of whatever he was planning on doing to Pandora.
"She's not my girl," Jorelo countered back, "now let her go!" His comment made Malak scoff.
"You gonna make me?" The mallowolf said with a sinister smile on his face, "I striped you of your weapons fool, come on, see if you can kill me before I kill her," Jorelo checked himself over, and as expected, all of his equipment was missing. The dark fudgehog glared back at Malak and gave him an unpleasant look.
"It's not like you to play dirty, what's your deal anyways? Have you betrayed the Resistance?" Jorelo shouted at his opposing friend as he was beginning to question if Malak was even sane anymore.
"I never was with Piñata Resistance!" Malak countered with a straight face, "I was working with the sours this whole time! And thanks to you I had gotten the coordinates of one of your stupid bases and it all went downhill for you guys since then!" Jorelo refused to listen to him. Was Malak just acting as Jorelo's friend this whole time? What caused him to do this? An army of thoughts ran through his head as he tried to piece the puzzle together.
"Y- you… How could you?" Jorelo scowled as the urge to knock the sense back into Malak grew, but the gun that was held to Pandora told him otherwise.
"How couldn't I," Malak replied, "I've envied you since the day I met you Jorelo!" Malak pointed the gun at him now, but still keeping a chocking grip on Pandora.
"Me?" Jorelo said, astonished by the mallowolf's answer, "but I always looked up to you Malak… You were like my big brother," Jorelo waited for Malak to pull the trigger on him as he directed his gaze at the ground in a depressed fashion.
"That's just like you Jorelo," Malak retorted resentfully, "getting upset when something goes wrong!" the mallowolf shoved Pandora to the floor and stomped off out of the ruined aircraft, but not before yanking Jorelo by the shoulder and forcing him down to Pandora's level as well.
The confused fudgehog questioned if it was act of sympathy or pity that Malak let them live. Jorelo was already too busy calming Pandora down to think about the matter. Somehow out of the mist of his thoughts, it just struck him… "Where the hell was Falkor? Had Malak killed him?" Jorelo decided to ask Pandora once she was able to think plainly. "…You know where Falkor is? Wasn't he with us when…" His voice trailed off. What had happen during the time when he was out cold? It was even difficult for him to recall the gunfire and explosions.
"…I don't remember," Pandora said, "I was so frightened I think I drove myself into a coma," Pandora shook her head and added.
"I hope he's at least okay," many emotions ran through the conflicted fudgehog, but he didn't express them as he took in his surroundings better. His allies were blown across in many different places and in many different pieces, some with more than plenty of bullet holes in them. Not to mention the place reeked of the fruity scent of their blood, the majority of the chairs were scattered out of place and the walls around them were not only heavily dented but also had gaping tears and holes blasted through them. Jorelo didn't like the vibe this place gave off, plus the sound here was pretty much dead silence except for the howling of the wind. "Let's go look for him," Jorelo suggested while climbing to his feet, helping Pandora up to a standing position. However she didn't like the idea so much.
"But, it doesn't seem right," she started, "what if we run into Malak?" Pandora kept her mind on the negatives as Jorelo walked over to one of the holes in the wall, it was big enough for him to slip right through.
"Well… If you want, you can risk staying here and see if he comes back," Jorelo replied while working his way out of the aircraft. That statment got Pandora's noggin working. Malak probably would come back for them, well, not for them, but to kill them to be more exact. The pair might as well take the chance to find Falkor or anyone and anything else to aid in their survival.
"I guess you have a point…" Pandora mumbled and quickly nabbed a magnum from one of the downed piñatas before following him, best to be protected before heading out into the unknown. Once the pretztail made her way out she noticed Jorelo was already staring out into the horizon with his jaw dropped open, she had then saw the outcome of the bombing for herself, Piñata Central has lost what little beauty it still had left.