-1Chapter 6
The dust clouds in the air got caught in Pandora's lungs as she inhaled, causing her to forcefully cough the tainted air back up. The ground below them was cracked and ripped apart for miles. Barely any trees stood up from the broken soil, and the ones that did, had lost their leaves as well as their vibrant colors. Jorelo couldn't even call this Piñata Island anymore.
"It's a… Wasteland," Jorelo managed to get out quietly. The allergic pretztail could still hear him above the wind's whistling as she nodded in agreement, trying not to intake as much air this time.
"…Is the war… Over, Jorelo?" Pandora slowly asked as Jorelo gave her question some thought. Well if it wasn't over, the sours would surely use the land for more of their bases, concentration camps, and who knows what else they have. Jorelo started walking onwards in hopes of finding an answer.
"…I'm not sure," Jorelo admitted, not wanting to make assumptions. The cautious fudgehog avoided stepping into blood puddles or on torn up corpses while walking. Knowing he wasn't coming back, Pandora started following her friend from behind.
The two kept trudging on for a few more minutes without saying a word. One possibility for the cause of the silence was that Malak might hear them, or might even be stalking them, at least that's what Pandora thought. The other possibility would have to be that the war's outcome had taken most of their words away for the time being.
A brief glimmer on the ground had caught Pandora's eye. Overtaken by curiosity, she knelt down and snagged it. The object happened to be a dog tag from a downed piñata of the PDF, except the name on the tag had no connections to the PDF whatsoever. The imprint on the tag read: Jorelo. The name caused Pandora to giggle in disbelief, Jorelo wasn't in the PDF, and if he was he would have been dead like the rest of PDF's piñatas that were massacred. The clever pretztail decided to take it up with the fudgehog anyways as she stood up and rushed towards him.
"Hey Jorelo! You have to see this!" Pandora tried her best not to shout, however her excitement was in control for the time being. Hearing his friends voice, Jorelo turned around to be greeted with an metal oval hanging on a chain being shoved in his face, he pushed it aside with both paws hastily.
"What is it?" He growled, wondering what foolishness the pretztail was trying to pull this time. Pandora held it back up at a reasonable distance, letting Jorelo tear the chain out of her paws. The inquisitive fudgehog studied the steel tag for a few moments. "What's this suppose to be?" Jorelo asked as Pandora laughed at his confusion.
"I don't know," the pretztail shrugged her shoulders, "I just found it lying over there on the ground," she pointed in it's general direction as she smiled wildly, wanting to savor the reaction Jorelo gave, but he didn't give much of a memorable reaction.
"I guess Jorelo isn't a unique name after all… I thought I was the only one," Jorelo concluded, thinking who would name their child after that, soon wondering why he was named that and where the named originally came from. Pushing the thoughts aside, the fudgehog gave the dog tag back to Pandora. "Keep it I guess, it'll make a nice souvenir once we find our way back…" Jorelo added as Pandora followed his orders, but instead the resourceful pretztail wore it around her neck so she wouldn't lose it.
The dark fudgehog faced where he was originally walking towards to and saw something colorful in the distance, "What the…?" He question to himself, placing an arm above his eyes as a visor in an attempt to get a better look at the multicolored object. "Pandora… Can you see what's up ahead? I can't quite make it out," Jorelo asked the pretztail as she stood next to him and peered out into the distance to find the same decorated bump in the distance.
"…Looks all rainbow-y if you ask me," she replied. Her idea sparked Jorelo's memories of the rainbow fizzlybear he spotted out not to long ago, and the lump up ahead now seemed to look like just that.
"I think I might know what that thing is up ahead…" The fudgehog assumed as he started sprinting towards it, causing Pandora to bolt after him in an effort to stay together. The object ahead altered more into a fizzlybear with every step they took. Eventually the pair happened upon the Rainbow fizzlybear. The bear pinata was on his knees, hunched over something, completely unaware of two piñatas approaching behind him. Soon enough, he had heard their footfalls and turned his head around to get a glimpse of the pair.
"Hey! Heeey!" Jorelo shouted at the fizzlybear as he was closing the distance between. The fizzlybear spun the rest of himself around and waited for the two to get closer before speaking. Jorelo had come near face-to-face with the rainbow piñata and shot a question before even introducing himself. "You okay?" Jorelo asked as he scanned over the bear piñata's appearance. However, the teary-eyed fizzlybear sighed to himself before replying.
"I am, but my friend…" the large piñata scooted aside so Jorelo and Pandora could get a view of his friend, a female normal variant fizzlybear bleeding uncontrollably from various places, "she needs to get to a medic…" He let out another breath filled with hopelessness, wishing his new company could save her. Jorelo didn't find the sight in front of him to be a pretty picture at all as the dying fizzlybear was heaving up globs of blood, and by the looks of it, it already seemed too late to save her.
"Jorelo…" Pandora choked up as she gasped from the revolting spectacle.
"Wha-, what happened first of all?" Jorelo asked the colorful fizzlybear while eyeing over the wounded one.
"I was in hiding with Brook in the aircraft nearby," the fizzlybear started off, "I seen you guys there too, though both of you were out cold," Pandora and Jorelo exchanged looks with each other once he mentioned that fact. The dark fudgehog had drew up an idea of who was behind the slaughter of the fizzlybear.
"…Let me guess, a brown mallowolf came by?" Jorelo cut off the fizzlybear's story with his imput, his conclusion relying on recent events and a nagging hunch.
"Y-Yes! How'd you… You must have had a run in with him as well didn't you?" The fizzlybear assumed instantly.
"Yeah…" Pandora nodded her head, wondering why Malak would rip a fizzlybear to shreds but be too hesitant to put a bullet into a pretztail.
"Anyways, forget that," the fizzlybear changed the subject, "would you guys happen to have any medical experience?" The bear piñata prayed that they did.
"I-, I'm sorry, we don't…" Jorelo cringed, hoping someone to come along who was, but he knew it had .
"I see…" the fizzlybear was left speechless as his bloody friend soon fell dead silent from the amount of blood she had lost.
The sun had soon left the piñatas to themselves as they got ready to brace the night. The bloody corpse was buried, complete with a makeshift rock tombstone. Their names were soon exchanged after the burial. Compushwa was the fizzlybear's name, however the dark fudgehog thought it sounded very unusual, but with a name like Jorelo, he had no right to argue.
Pandora and Jorelo agreed to take shifts staying on watch, in fear that Malak could have followed them here. The pretztail also mentioned about the magnum she took along the way, willing to share it with Jorelo whenever he took watch. Compushwa would have normally kept watch as well, but his emotional state prevented him from focusing. The pair took turns when the other couldn't keep their eyes open.
Each time Jorelo was on guard, he couldn't help but ponder where Falkor was, or if he was still alive. And every time Falkor came to mind, the fudgehog also recalled the younger Falkor from his dreams. Was this the same Falkor from his childhood? Jorelo didn't think Falkor was a pretty popular name at all, but when he compared the two, their personalities were obviously different. Every second spend tossing around thoughts of Falkor in his head made him more tired as he decided to switch off and let Pandora take watch. Unfortunately, this put Jorelo in a perfect position for a rude awakening.
"Jorelo!" Pandora's voice shouted at him from a few feet away. "Wake up!" Jorelo had a hard time opening his eyes, all he wanted was a few more minutes of sleep, but the next statement convinced the fudgehog otherwise.
"You should listen to your piñata friend, wake up," a snobbish male's voice pierced the silence next and it had the most effect on getting Jorelo to fully awaken. The fudgehog sat himself up swiftly as Pandora got out of his way to reveal a taller, hooded, humanoid figure accompanied by a sour cocoadile and a sour mallowolf. Both sours were armed with assault rifles, already pointed and ready to shoot the fudgehog if they sensed hostility.
"…Yeah?" Jorelo wiped his eyes as he tried to figure out who this new person was, he couldn't help but let out a tired yawn. The humanoid was wrapped up in a black mage-like robe with the hood covering all but his mouth. The dark fudgehog took him as a human by how his body was shaped.
"Look… I'm here to make a deal with you, my boss wants to see you two, pronto, seems the boss sees something in you two that I apparently don't," he explained as Pandora helped Jorelo onto his feet. "In fact… I might even be able to aid your decision with this one," The dark figure took out what he had hidden behind his back. It was Falkor- and he was completely intact too! Unfortunately, he was unresponsive as he hung there limp inches above the ground while the dark figure held the fudgehog by his gigantic lump,
"Falkor!" Jorelo shouted and ran towards him but Pandora grabbed his arm and yanked him back.
"So that's it name then?" He wobbled Falkor around expressing that he was referring to the white fudgehog as it.
"Pandora! let go of me!" Jorelo turned towards her, trying to resist her grasp. Pandora shook her head, still holding the fudgehog tight.
"Jorelo, listen, this guy's not playing around," Jorelo thought back to the recent hostage situation Malak pulled off. The fudgehog sighed and nodded, understanding the situation he was dealing with. Seeing this, Pandora released his arm and had trusted he wouldn't run off.
"…What do you want, human," Jorelo, like most piñatas nowadays, didn't approve of humans, and this one seemed worse than the ones he had imagined.
"That's better," the dark figure took notice of Jorelo's obedience to Pandora's words, "Now, Falkor here will live and be gratefully returned to you if you just come along… Jor-…Jor-"
"Jorelo," the fudgehog helped the figure with the name.
"Yes, thank you," The dark figure said in a sarcastic gratefulness, "so Jorelo, what is it going to be?" The conflicted fudgehog didn't want to join a faction that was bent on killing anything in their way, though he thought of the consequences that would be brought onto Falkor if he refused. Quick thinking brought Jorelo's attention back to the gun Pandora had earlier during the shift. Wondering if she still had it, the hopeful fudgehog turned around to see the pretztail possessed no such thing.
"Maybe Compushwa has it…?" The desperate fudgehog thought up an alternative to the situation to keep himself positive. Though Compushwa had been awfully quiet during this dilemma, in fact, Compushwa wasn't even there at all! The dark figure put out his free hand and twirled the magnum on his finger.
"Were you looking for this? Or was it for that repulsive fizzlybear?" The dark figure mocked him, already having them in checkmate. Jorelo quickly peeked over at Pandora and she returned his glance.
"…Can I discuss this with Pandora for awhile in private?" Jorelo asked. The dark figure drew his head back and rolled his eyes, if you had the ability to see them that is...
"Fine-fine, Just no funny business, five minutes- I'll be watching from afar," the dark figure left the two as he and his posse vanished with Falkor still in his grasp. The fudgehog faced himself completely towards Pandora before speaking.
"So what do you think?" Jorelo asked his friend, though unlike Jorelo, Pandora didn't care much of what was to be Falkor's fate, but seeing the overly worried look in Jorelo's eyes had made her rethink the situation. Falkor, after all, was Jorelo's second best friend since Jorelo and Malak lost much of their connection once Piñata Resistance came into play, and the encounter with Malak yesterday really didn't make them any closer despite their distance.
"Well… What were you planning on doing?" Pandora threw the question back, "I'll support your decision Jorelo, no matter what," she was expecting Jorelo to accept the dark figure's terms and go with him to see their boss, whoever that may be.
"…I don't really like the looks of this guy," Jorelo scratched the back of his head, hoping to find some silver lining in this demanding situation.
"Jorelo… What about Falkor?" Pandora added while becoming perplexed with what Jorelo was going to choose.
"…Don't worry about him," Jorelo replied, looking back to where the human used to stand, "I know what I'm doing," Pandora wanted to reach out to tap Jorelo on the back, it felt to her as if he had been in a trance and only she could break him out of, but alas, Jorelo was really thinking about Falkor's life rather than his own. The human and his sour guards reappeared as the final seconds Jorelo and Pandora had alone together past.
"So…" The figure started, "have you made your decision?" Jorelo nodded making Pandora feel useless to change the fudgehog's mind. To her, it was already too late.
"Take me instead of Falkor!" Jorelo blurted out, offering himself over, "just me, leave Pandora out of this," the pretztail's jaw dropped, she couldn't believe what Jorelo was doing, and for Falkor, someone who deserved the worse of fates in her eyes.
"Jorelo! No!" Pandora screamed at him, "if you go, I go too!" She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the fudgehog, her decision was final as well. The human was pleased with this, and his leader would be overjoyed with the outcome as well.
"Then we'll all go to back together! I'll leave Falkor in your care once we're there…" The human informed them as Jorelo turned to face Pandora. The pretztail still looked quite ticked off in his perspective.
He leaned over to whisper in her ear, "we'll make it out of there alive, I promise," he pulled back away from Pandora as her anger had left her completely. She grabbed Jorelo's paw and smiled slightly, as she knew Jorelo never broke his promises no matter how ridiculous they sounded. Jorelo returned the smile with more enthusiasm as they began to fade into thin air.