Hello all! It's been along while since I've touched this story!

This is getting a rewrite. I recently watched a long play of this game and it inspired me to come back and finish this. This is my still my first Billy Hatcher story! Any reviews you have will be nice!

I've never played the game, and rewriting this I'm aware its been almost 20 years since the game first came out, but I still find it cute and its charm still just as alluring and intresting as when I first played the game. There still isn't a lot of info on this game, even now, which is a shame!

I still personally love Billy and Chick Poacher, more-so Chick than anything. Billy and Chick is still the main focus in this story. No Yaoi, of course! They are both just so adorable and Chick reminds me of a little Knuckles the Echidna in a cute chicken suit! (Apparently he's supposed to be based of Tails, but he's way spicier than adorable and intelligent Tails.)

With that, as usual, I own none of the characters in this story. I believe that glory goes to Sega. I'll be still basing this plotline about seven months after the actual game. Enjoy!

Ages: in my version Billy is 12, Rolly is 11, Bantam is 14, and Chick is 7. And yes, this tiny 7 year old has a slight potty mouth.

Birds of a Feather

Chapter 1

Chick groaned as his violet eyes opened. It was morning already? What the heck...? Wasn't he just up not to long ago? Sleep seemed to take away so much, he mused.

Extremely tired for some strange reason, Chick yawned again, louder than before, and threw his short legs over his oddly oversized bed edge. He jumped down and headed for the bathroom. As he walked down the hall, he got this odd feeling in his gut that something didn't seem quite right today.

Reaching the bathroom, he hopped on his stool and turned the faucet on. Looking up at his reflection in the mirror, he tilted his head. Nothing seemed unusual there. He was rocking a bedhed, red hair disheveled everywhere, per usual. Everything was in its right place, except-

His fingers reached up to a scar running horizontal on his cheek. 'Oh yeah... forgot about this...' he thought. It was seven months... since that whole adventure happened. Chick shuddered. He didn't want to open that can of worms this early in the morning.

Instead, he grabbed his toothbrush and started getting himself ready for the day. Still, an uneasy feel sat heavy in his stomach. Why was he so worried? It was going to be a good day!

They were gonna be meeting today, right? All of them, his best friends, Rolly and Billy and Bantam. It should be a great morning, well, as long as Billy and Bantam don't annoy him. Which they usually did anyways. Chick chuckled lightly as he finished brushing his teeth.

'Those two... such a pain in the ass... and Rolly would kill me for cursing like that.'

Whatever the feeling was, by the time Chick got back to his room to change, it was gone. His parents weren't home, and he was fine with it. Nothing was wrong, no one was here.

It should be just fine.

Chick hurriedly threw on his jeans, yellow tee and dark yellow hoodie. Grabbing his teal goggles he left sitting nearby, he ran downstairs, grabbing two slices of toast before running out to meet the others in their meeting spot.

As he ran, he couldn't help that dreadful feeling that was surely back, stronger than ever. He kept trying to convince himself that it was probably just the cooler temperatures getting to him.

'It's probably nothing, right? Heck, if those stupid crows think they're coming back, they've got another thing coming! I'll kill them for sure!'

After ten minutes, Chick, panting heavily, made it just as the others were walking and talking, Bantam taking a glance at his famous stopwatch. Chick took a few deep breaths, then-

"HEYYYYY! WAIT UP, YOU GUYS!"

For a little tyke, Chick could yell like the rest of them. Rolly, Bantam and Billy all stopped once they heard him run up. Bantam gave him a mighty pat on the back, causing the little guy to fall face-first into the sweet smelling grass.

"H-Hey! Bantam, really!" Chick complained, jumping up and dusting himself off.

"Hey to you too, little guy!" Bantam greeted happily, waving a meaty hand around.

Rolly laughed, a delicate hand covering her smile. "Hey, Chick. Glad you made it!"

Billy chuckled, "I think I might be rubbing off on you there, Chick. You're never late!" Chick stuck his tongue out at Billy, who just laughed as he held up his ball.

"Alright! Now that the gang's all here, LET'S GO!" Billy whooped, and bolted on ahead to the open meadow. Rolly followed suit, calling out for him to slow down, and Bantam stormed after them, laughing loudly. Chick started to run after then, but that dreadful feeling returned, and he stayed behind, looking over his shoulder into the woods.

'Something's really off today. I wonder why I feel like something bad's about to happen. It's making my stomach turn...but it just can't be! It can't!' Chick turned around, he scoffed quietly to himself, and decided that the toast he grabbed out the house before he left was probably not what he wanted to eat that morning.

'It's over. We won, so maybe I'm just tired or something. I'm not gonna think about that anymore!'

"Chick! You coming today or next week?" yelled the deep voice of Bantam. Chick rolled his eyes and ran after them.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming!"

Within moments, Billy tossed up his favorite kickball, and the foursome proceeded to play a game kicking the ball around the field just for the heck of it. It was just what Chick needed to take his mind off that funny, sicking feeling he'd been feeling.

They played all morning, and most of the afternoon. Exhaustion eventually won, and the flock collapsed onto the grass, enjoying the late afternoon air and catching their breaths. After several moments, Bantam declared, "Man, I'm getting hungry! What's for lunch?"

Chick rolled onto his stomach and poked his large friend from his spot laying on the grass. "Bantam, aren't you ALWAYS hungry?" he questioned, a hint of annoyance and playful amusement in his tone of voice. They other two laughed while Bantam huffed, arms crossing his massive chest.

Rolly looked up at the sky, her hand shielding her eyes from the sun. 'They sky looks so blue and calming today', she thought happily, before responding to Chick. "Well, it is getting late. And I'm kinda hungry, too."

Billy got up to collect his ball. The other two followed suit. Chick rolled his eyes. "I am not!"

"Come on, Chick! You gotta be hungry, too!"

"No, I'm-"

As if on cue, little Chick's stomach suddenly growled LOUDLY. He flushed bright red in embarrassment while they others laughed.

"T-That-I, ugh, come on if we're gonna eat already! Sheesh!" he stuttered before stomping off in a tiny angry huff. Billy, having gotten his laugh under control, looked at his friends and said, "Let's go make sure he doesn't try to break down Ban's door."

Rolly wiped the tears that had fallen from her laughing so hard and agreed, still laughing every once in a while. Bantam began to lead the gang to his place, the entire time, making fun of Chick's loud stomach, which made Billy and Rolly laugh even harder.

Little Chick stomped through the woods, embarrassed at his growling stomach, and mad that his friends laughed at him. He grumbled and muttered rather unpleasant words as he kicked up dirt with his shoe.

"Blasted, stupid...ehh, who needs 'em?" he ranted. "Although, I AM hungry... a bit."

He stopped after a few moments, and it was then he realized that he had no idea where he was. Somehow, it had gotten oddly dark, although Chick knew that it was still afternoon. And he felt that he was no closer to getting to Bantam's house than before.

"I'd better turn around and head back. Those idiots are probably still laughing at me..." he told him as he pulled up his sky blue hoodie and ran as fast as he could. "But this is getting... creepy."

A sudden face palm with dirt and Chick felt the entire world spinning. He groaned as he stood and rubbed his head, looking at the random branch that was sticking out from beneath the ground. He growled, now even more pissed, and pulled his foot free. When he stood, he winced.

"Dammit!", the little tyke cursed as he spotted the issue. "I cut my knee. That's just freakin' perfect!"

Chick sighed, sitting down and rolling up his leg to access the wound. Nothing deep, just a scratch, but it was bleeding a bit more than Chick would like. He shrugged. Nothing to do about it now.

Getting up, he heard a familiar sound laughing behind him, and looked around before he glanced up at a nearby branch.

Perched on said branch was the last thing Chick needed, or wanted to see. A crow. His eyes widened at first- that wasn't real. Right?

Chick stood his ground, his surprise turning into boiling hatred. The last seven months of peace had relaxed Chick, especially as he healed from the many battles he and his friends had to fight. His fingers grazed over his scar, one of a few he'd acquired over in Morning Land.

No way was this dumb crow wasn't about to start messing with their hard earned break! Chick realized with a sick interest that he enjoyed cracking their skulls open, and the fact that the stupid bird caught him in one of his pissed-off moods added on to the desire to kill the beast. He scanned the ground quickly and located the perfect weapon- a nice, medium-sized, smooth rock.

Grinning almost madly, Chick scooped it up, yelling, "Take this, you piece of shit!" before chucking it with his full strength at the bird. It hit him square on, but for some creepy reason, the bird didn't fall. It just sat there, yellow eyes staring at Chick, blood smoothly leaking from the nasty wound it was now sporting on its skull.

"What the..? What is wrong with you?!" he questioned in shock, eyes wide. "You should be DEAD! Why are you here!?"

Suddenly, the injured crow gave a shrill cry, and Chick realized that he was being surrounded. He looked around, horror filling his large violet eyes as the amount of darkness that filled the branches became too much for him to comprehend.

"N-No... not this again... you were supposed to be dead...! All of you were supposed to be dead!" he screamed to the darkness. The crows all stared at their shaking prey, malicious intent gleaming in their eyes.

Chick noticed that one of them had the Crescent Crow symbol, which further solidified his fears from earlier. The injured crow cawed into the darkened forest, and soon, Chick saw glowing Crescent symbols everywhere.

"Dark...Raven..." Chick managed to get his dry lips to speak. He took a trembling step back. "No...t-that's wrong...we killed you! Billy, he... he killed you! We won!"

A deep chuckle echoed throughout the dark forest. Chick couldn't find the strength to run. He froze, still in shock at what he was seeing.

"This can't be happening..."

Meanwhile...

Rolly, Billy and Bantam were sitting at Bantam's place, eating some lunch, when Billy looked outside, a cup of iced tea in his hand.

"Hey, I wonder where Chick went. Didn't he know we were coming to Bantam's for lunch today?" he asked his two friends.

The green-eyed orangette looked worriedly outside as well. Billy had a point- Chick should've at least been back to the village by now. "Maybe we should go look for him, guys. He's probably mad at us from what happened earlier." she suggested. "Or he could be lost somewhere!"

Bantam waved that theory off, shoving his face full of fries. "He'll be fine, Rolly. He's probably just...doing something that Chick...I dunno, does."

The blond whirled around fast, realization hitting him just as Bantam finished his sentence. "Ban, you do realize that if what you're saying is true, then we need to go find him now, right?"

The other two, now aware of what Billy had said, looked at each other worriedly, trying to remember all the places the little tyke liked to go to be alone. Chick was very dangerous and prone to getting himself in all sorts of trouble. It didn't help he often acted well before he thought.

As Billy got up, Bantam remembered something. "Come to think of it, he's been acting...off all day. " Bantam muttered in thought. Billy blinked in confusion.

"What are you talking about, Bantam?" Rolly asked. She was surprised- she hadn't noticed anything odd with Chick today. But Bantam furrowed his eyebrows in thought as he recalled Chick's unusual behavior when they were heading out to play in the meadows.

"I dunno, it...it was weird. He kept stopping and staring back in the woods, like...like there was someone following him. I was gonna ask him about it, but he seemed fine the rest of the day, so I dropped it."

Rolly looked frightened. "Guys, do you... do you think Morning Land...?"

Billy's hand tightened into a fist. "No way, Rolly. We killed him and his army. We saved Morning Land...he can't be back!"

Rolly wanted to believe that, but the slightest chance that Dark Raven and his evil army could be back scared the living daylights out of her. She still remembered watching Billy fighting that mad bird alone, and that nightmare haunted her ever since.

"But what was making Chick so jumpy today...?", the blond mused to himself. 'And even worse, how didn't I realize he'd been so off? And I call myself his best friend!'

Billy stood up, resolve burning in his aquamarine eyes. "Guys, I'm gonna go find out little friend before he does something he'll regret later. Stay here in case anything happens."

Rolly and Bantam nodded. Billy grinned, reassuring Rolly that nothing was gonna happen.

"Don't you worry, Rolly, I'm bringing Chick home!"

With that, Billy bolted out of the yard towards the meadows. Bantam looked at Rolly, who was close to the verge of tears. Resting a gentle hand on her shoulder, he said softly, "Don't worry, Rolly. Those two are too stubborn. Chick probably hurt himself, that's all. Billy's gonna bring him back, and you reprimand him all you like."

Rolly looked at her tough friend, smiling as she wiped her tears away. "I never knew you knew that word, Ban."

Bantam chuckled sheepishly, a meaty hand rubbing the back of his head. Rolly gave him another smile before looking out the window, her hands clasped over her drumming heart. She tried to keep a positive view, for all their sakes. She couldn't help but worry whenever Chick wandered off like this and was gone for so long...

"I hope you're right, Ban. I really do." she whispered. Bantam sighed, following Rolly's gaze. Lunch had become the last thing he wanted to worry about now. He wondered if Chick knew that there was a possibility that Dark Raven or one of his cronies had somehow returned... but then, how come none of the others noticed anything?

Bantam shook that thought from his mind for now. He just needed to physically see Chick here with them. They could ask questions later.

"I know. I do, too."

Chick panted heavily as he ran. His lungs burned beyond all description, but he had to keep running.

By now, his clothes were torn to near shreds, and he had quite a few gashes and scratches all over his back and right arm. His body burned, and he was sure he lost his goggles somewhere back there. But he forced himself to run. Where, he didn't know.

The crows, who seemed to be laughing at the redhead running, came after him, nicking, scratching, pulling, doing whatever they could to keep him in the darkness.

Sadly, Chick realized too late he had somehow wandered into the wrong side of the village. The sky, the woods, everything was cloaked in darkness. But how come no one noticed it earlier? Why was it only here? Better still, why is it here at all?

'He's back... the bastard...he survived! But how? Billy killed him...I watched him die!'

Chick coughed, making a sharp turn left as he continued to run. "G-Gotta...get...h-help...Billy...g-GAHHHHHHH!' he yelled as another crow grabbed his already wounded arm, raising him in the air. He yanked it out, crying as the sharp talons left three new gashes on his left arm.

Chick was losing steam fast. He stumbled, hitting the ground hard enough to cough up blood. He cried out as he saw blood seeping into the ground from his various wounds. He pulled himself forward with his good arm, barely managing to see a tree ahead. He managed to dodge another attack from a crow before he curled up against the trunk, fear washing over him.

Just then, yet another crow landed in front of him. It wasn't the leader, but it was glowing purple-blackish, too. It cocked its head to the right, and if Chick didn't feel so disoriented from loss of blood and some of his wounds, he could've sworn that it was...grinning at him. Two more landed in front of him as well, one flanked on either side of the middle one.

"Gotta... get up..." Chick mumbled, eyes sliding closed. "G-Gotta... get to... to Billy..."

The last thing Chick remembered was a familiar voice talking to him.

"You'll be perfect..."

And finished! I'm excited to finally update this and hopefully finish it! Please let me know what you think! I've also moved this story to the actual BHATGE listing so it should be easier to find it.