-1Chapter 10
Falkor was already in bed at this time, dreaming. All the way back into his childhood. He was at home on the same day he roughed up Jorelo. Falkor's dad, a fudgehog of normal variant, questioned what his son had in the bag as it clinked and clanged full of his son's profits while he was driving them home.
"Eh… I found it in my desk dad," Falkor lied, "I think somebody likes me," the clever fudgehog let out a fake giggle to complement it. Falkor couldn't help but think back to the trouble he had recently caused. The young fudgehog wasn't violent, he was just a slave to temptation. Contemplative, Falkor gazed out the window, wishing he could have taken what he had down back.
"So anything you plan on getting with that?" His father asked him, Falkor couldn't really take his mind off of the nagging subject to give a straight answer.
"…I dunno," he shrugged, not making eye contact. Falkor could have bought Jorelo's forgiveness with that money, but that idea never crossed his mind. The young fudgehog didn't think freaks like Jorelo would need anything like that. Falkor also wondered why that mallowolf wanted him to beat Jorelo up in the first place? Couldn't the mallowolf have done it himself?
The car halted at a four-way intersection, the stoplight gleamed a vivid crimson. Falkor believed that maybe he did need to apologize, but he couldn't find the guts to do it, and forgotten all about it once he reunited with them in the distant future. Getting down on himself, the guilt-ridden fudgehog pushed away the remorseful thoughts and awaited their arrival home.
Pandora was guilty of dreaming about her past as well once she fell into a slumber. The dream took place around the same time Falkor was being brought home from school. However, She was following Malak around closely, as well as giving him directions to her house.
Jorelo's physical condition was weighting heavily on the pretztail's mind, though she had no idea that he had only passed out. The seemingly endless sidewalks had finally led them to their destination as the relieved pretztail rushed for the front door. Pandora pounded on the door as hard as her little arms would let her, but she knew in the back of her mind that that wouldn't get her parents to open it faster. It opened within a few seconds time as a female badgesicle stood on the other side.
"Pandora!" She exclaimed as she examined her briefly, "you don't have knock so hard, I can hear you just fine, who's your friend?" She eyed Malak suspiciously also finding who he cradled in his arms. Pandora's mother let out a horrid gasp realizing who it was, "what happened here?"
Pandora started choking on her tears again when she began to explain, "M-mommy, J-Jorelo got hurt!" She happened to get the point across the best she could. Her foster mother took Jorelo out of Malak's arms and brought him inside within a heartbeat. Malak turn around and started towards the sidewalk, that is, until Pandora stopped him.
"Where are you going?" She questioned him as she wiped her own tears away.
"…I need to get back home," Malak lied. The truth was that he didn't want to stay and if he did, the guilt would have ate him alive.
"But… I don't know your name, can you at least tell me before you leave?" she begged of him. Malak briefly gazed back at her with eyes hiding all emotion. Pandora seemed like she was about to cry again, he didn't want anymore tears to be shed, at least not now, not when when he couldn't handle it.
"…Malak," he mutter as he turned away from her and walked off into the sunset. The relieved mallowolf felt a little attached to Pandora now. She came to be like a little sister to him seeing as he knew barely anyone else.
"Thank you, Malak!" Pandora cried out to him, hearing this made Malak feel somewhat better about himself. Pandora watched her idol walk into the distance until he was completely out of sight, she had grown attached to Malak as well, since he was the one that saved Jorelo's life.
Speaking of Jorelo, she immediately recalled his situation and rushed inside the house to check up on him. She suspected Jorelo would be in his room at this time, so she had gone there first to search for him. Her intuition was very much accurate, Jorelo was lying limply on the bed with his mother cleaning and dressing his cuts, the enormous cut on his forehead was really breathtaking for the badgesicle. Their mother heard Pandora entering the room and looked her right in the eyes before speaking.
"Pandora, do you know exactly how Jorelo got hurt?" She questioned her slowly.
Pandora swallowed hard as her voice started to shiver a bit, "a-at school, mommy, there w-was a bully," she explained, hoping her mother wouldn't yell at her for telling her the truth, she didn't like the idea of being yelled at, she never did. Her foster mother didn't get irate with her, but she did pissed off with the school.
"Do you know who did this honey?" Her mother asked her another question, Pandora nodded.
"A white fudgehog! His name's Falkor! He was bigger than Jorelo and he pushed him into the ground, twice!" Pandora gave her mother a decent description without stuttering as the pretztail just wanted justice to be served to that no good fudgehog. Falkor even knew he had it coming by this time, but he had hoped and prayed it didn't.
Pandora's mother stomped off to the living room telephone to give the school a piece of her mind, Pandora didn't bother to follow. Instead, she decided to check on Jorelo as she sat on his bed and kept a committed watch over him. She even checked to see if he was still breathing now and then. Bickering and yelling of her mother soon flooded the house, she didn't want Jorelo to hear it so she closed the door to silence the room a bit more. The considerate pretztail sat back on the bed and continued to watch over Jorelo.
Falkor was still dreaming about his troubled past. He was at home now, playing games with his siblings, who all happened to be different colors than him. He felt left out that he was pure white, but he didn't let it get to him. His siblings actually happened to be nice about it.
The white fudgehog was usually content when he was at home, away from the strangers at school and the outside in general. His father called for him suddenly, and not in his normal manner either, he sounded a bit frustrated. The obedient fudgehog followed where the voice came from, he could soon see how upset his father looked, and that was just the first to come.
"What's wrong?" Falkor asked his father with innocent eyes, but he soon gotten the idea that he already knew what the problem was.
"I just got a call from school. They said you beat up another student, is this true?" His arms were now crossed as he scowled as his son.
Falkor couldn't hide the guilt on his face as he sputtered out his lies, "but dad! He threw the first punch! I had to defend myself!" His father didn't believe any of it.
"Falkor, there were witnesses there that tell a different story, now tell me the truth," he warned him one last time, hoping his son would tell the truth. Falkor couldn't give eye contact anymore as he looked directly at the ground below his father.
"I-…I-, someone gave me money to do it," Falkor admitted, "I couldn't turn down something like that!" His father shook his head in disappointment, it was the first of many times he would do this. Falkor was a good child, but corrupted by temptations, and it had a domino effect of what was going to come.
"Look," his father started, "tomorrow, I want you to apologize to the poor boy you harassed and give back the money you took from whoever gave it to you, do you understand Falkor?" The young fudgehog still offered no eye contact to his father.
"Okaaay…" Falkor groaned in displeasure of being forced to do something against his will.
"Now, I want you to go to your room and think about what you've done for the rest of the night," he scolded his son as he led the young fudgehog to his room. The meager threat didn't scare him, nor did he cry, but he was certainly angry. More angry with himself than at his dad, because Falkor got himself into this mess in the first place.
His father had locked him inside and walked away without another word spoken. Falkor had gone to the window and sighed. The stressed fudgehog found tranquility watching the cars pass back and forth in the nighttime rain as time seemed to stand still within the dullness of it all. Falkor looked back at the clock on his bedside table, it was a half hour to midnight.
However the time didn't really matter to Falkor seeing as he was a prisoner in his own home. The white fudgehog turned his head back to the window and a certain somebody walking down the street caught his eye instantly. It was that mallowolf, the same one that pushed him to start it all. Falkor's thirst for revenge ravaged and corrupted his ability to reason. He quickly grabbed the bag full of coins off of his dresser, pried opened his window as he climbed his way outside, soon charging after the brown mallowolf in a blind fury.
Malak wasn't prepared for what Falkor had in store for him. Malak himself couldn't believe what he had just done recently. Even though he was too young to be arrested for stalking, the thought itself frightened him. The innocent mallowolf just wanted to watch over Pandora, he had no idea she would cry from the sight of his silhouette in the moon's light.
The depressed mallowolf didn't think he was so scary as Pandora mentioned eariler. He had listened in to their little conversation until their father came into the room, in fear that the fizzlybear would look out the window and spot him. Now the homeless mallowolf was making his way for a place to sleep for tomorrow, however an incredibly rude and familiar fudgehog had interrupted that.
"Stupid Mallowo-o-olf!" Falkor yelled at him, still chasing him down. Malak turned around, expecting some adult that was harassing him, but instead he was greeted by a bag full of chocolate coins across his face. It had left him with a noticeably large black eye.
"Keep your fucking money!" Falkor shouted at the stunned mallowolf. The fudgehog was more than just mad, this was the beast that Malak had created, and Malak knew it.
Malak's heart was racing, he really didn't know what to do in a situation like this. The bag of coins had ricocheted onto the street and was crushed by the tires of an oncoming car. Malak, not knowing what else to do, threw a fist into his attacker's face to defend himself.
Falkor recoiled from the impact as he was dazed by the hit. The fudgehog rubbed his cheek where the fist had landed. Unaware of his own condition, Malak's markings had started to glow just like Jorelo's had hours before.
"A-a-another freak…" Falkor gasped as he backed away from Malak, almost falling backwards on the bump of his back. Malak scanned himself over, he could see it as well. "…And you paid me to hurt more of your kind…" Falkor pointed out, still in shock.
Malak ran away from the conflict, not wanting to deal with Falkor or confront his glowing issue. Falkor was somewhat relieved now that the mallowolf was gone. The fudgehog's father had ran out the front door and scooped Falkor into his arms.
"Falkor! What are you doing outside?" His father questioned him with much concern, Falkor felt more at ease now that he was in his father's arms.
"I went to return the kid his money," Falkor sighed, releasing all the angry tension that had burdened him.
"Why? I told you to wait 'till tomorrow, do you know how late it is?" His father argued back. Falkor didn't care as it went in one ear and out the other.
Prisca still sat in her seat thinking about the discussion that was held earlier in the night. The golden pretztail wrote them on a piece of paper after recording the date:
Jorelo and Pandora appear to be non-violent… Far different from my previous two creations before them. However they were prototypes, and more aggressive than their successors fortunately. Though I had attempted raising the prototypes myself, the results ended in a failure as the two were forcefully rebellious as children… As a matter of fact, they still are…
Prisca sighed before continuing on, but before she could, a distant explosion cause an ear to twitch. Using her telekinesis, Prisca turned her chair around and opened the drapes in front of her. The pretztail peered out and gazed at what was on the otherside. If Prisca was a normal piñata, she would have gasped at the sight, but Prisca was not of the norm at all.
Outside the headquarters millions upon millions of air fighters, space warships, probably any vehicle made for warfare were positioned, ready to strike the tower down where it stood. Soft explosions and weak gunfire could be heard from where Prisca stood.
"Damned PDF," Prisca growled as she could see her sour militia were getting slaughtered, this was not looking well for the sour side of the war. PDF may have been down, but they were definitely not out as they came back for redemption. The golden pretztail knew what she had to do as she darted out of the room to warn her creations of the on coming chaos.
Somewhere not so faraway, Malak was laughing hysterically as he had brought back the downed PDF, Piñata Resistance, and sour soldiers. And the great and sinister Malak was the one to lead them all back to SAF for one last fight to the finish.
Prisca's sours that guarded the headquarters were no match for the mallowolf's mighty army. Not only were the dead resurrected, but the aircrafts and tanks reconstructed, better than ever! Prisca would have taken this on if she was granted with more soldiers and artillery, but she had to escape this one knowing that she was out numbered in this fight. Malak continued to laugh, realizing revenge was only a few moments away.
Jorelo, Pandora, and Falkor were all awake and standing by the time Prisca had busted through the door. They all had the idea that she was probably here to tell them something urgent. Falkor though, got the idea she was going to send his ass into her militia, but luckily for him she didn't have any control of him as he was placed in Jorelo's and Pandora's care.
"Prisca-" Jorelo began but the golden pretztail didn't care if she interrupted him or not.
"There is no time to explain," Prisca cut to the chase, "we must leave if we wish to see another day." The three did hear the explosions in the background, but they took it as some kind of daily target practice for the sours.
"Prisca!" Jorelo shouted slightly agitated, "what's going on?" Because of course, people don't breakdown doors for just any reason.
"We are under attack," Prisca simply stated. Jorelo and Falkor exchanged looks. Said fact pushed Pandora into asking a question, "By who? I thought-"
"You should not be concerned with that," Prisca had interjected again, she started using some sort of unnamed power of energy that emanated from her paws to build up a blue, silvery glimmering ball of light between them. Once she repelled her paws away from each other a portal had formed right in front of her. "Now go!" She ordered them to go through the portal while motioning them to do so as well. Jorelo recalled teleporting from Piñata Central to the sour HQ and how it knocked him out for awhile. While he was blanking out with the apprehension still in his head, Pandora and Falkor had already jumped into the portal.
"Jorelo!" Prisca called irritably. Jorelo shook his head to reclaim his senses, it didn't matter if he'd faint on the trip there or not, Jorelo would wake up eventually, right? He sprinted and leaped right in with Prisca trailing right behind him, the portal then vanished into thin air.