Chapter 53- Beaver's group versus a group of Candy Woodland Creatures
It was now fully morning, the sun having fully risen and now that everything was lit up by the sun's rays, travel was much easier. However, the arrival of daylight did not deter some of the particularly determined wandering groups of the White Witch's minions. Somewhere else in the Narnian land, another of the quest-goer groups was returning to Cair Paravel but they were about to cross paths with one of the groups of the Witch's minions sent by Dimitrescu Dokuringu with only one task commanded to them by her. That group was a group of cute but INCREDIBLY evil creatures whose appearances and forms resembled animals one would expect to find in woodland habitats or the countryside such as beavers and rabbits. These were the Candy Woodland Creatures, a class of creatures resembling cute, colourful woodland animals but with a diabolical twist. They may look like cute animal critters resembling animal characters from a children's cartoon in the humans' world, but they were UTTERLY evil and sadistic and absolutely loved and thrived on violence, especially if it involved the shedding of blood. There were plenty of Candy Woodland Creatures working aboard the Pleasure Dome and had been during the Age of Winter but there had been plenty working back on the mainland during the Age of Winter as well, serving under the White Witch often alongside a Mouse-like creature with an equally cute-but-violent creature with an equally-intensive love for bloodshed, the Blue Mice. The Candy Woodland Creatures often worked in areas in and around the Witch's castle and its grounds, occupying jobs such as the Massacre Event activities including the main 'games' themselves (especially the gore and bloodshed involved when the forcibly selected Narnians fought each other like dumb animals), slaughtering Talking Beasts for their meat or cutting down Dryad and Kodama trees, torturing foes for information, and the INCREDIBLY inhumane experiments under their secondary Mistress, Dimitrescu as Betelgeuse saw on her diary of magical playbacks in her den. Candy Woodland Creatures were indeed among the most dangerous minions of Jadis due to their cute and innocent looks. The diet of the Candy Woodland Creatures was, depending on the species, the meat of Talking Beasts and Magical Creatures and plant material from Plant Beings like Dryads, Flower Mandrakes and Kodama which they harvested against their will and painfully. They also DESPISED Aslan and one of their mocking nicknames for the Lion was 'Overgrown Puddy Tat with a Messy Hairdo'. The Candy Woodland Creatures were indeed NOT the sort of crowd you would want to get involved with.
Beaver's group, the quest-goers that had gone to Martian and Wan's home domain, the Narnian Moon, to get some lunar mushrooms from the DEADLY Forbidden Cave of the Treasures of Vanity with some of them getting killed in the process due to the insatiable greed of the Rabbits for the treasure, hurried in the direction of Cair Paravel on some Horse escorts. The four lunar mushrooms Beaver and the three Pigs, Straw, Brick and Woody had managed to harvest from the Lunar Mushroom Chamber of the Forbidden Cave had been put into a special spherical case to protect the mushrooms and also to prevent any of the members of the group from being tempted to even sample the precious ingredients. Additionally, their hosts and escorts among them Asgard the Grey Man and Cerula and Adonis the Blue Men had kindly given Beaver's group some additional weapons for the return journey in case they ran into trouble during it. These weapons and ammo were some weapons exclusive to the Narnian Moon such as phasers, phaser swords and another type of weapon called the Electroshroom bomb made from the materials of a mushroom-like organism part of the Moon's fauna, the Electroshroom. Electroshrooms grew in colonies with each individual large mushroom-like creature, often coloured red but came in several other colours such as green and blue and being half a Centaur's height, sometimes taller, spaced a few feet apart from each other. Between these spaces an electrical current was generated and any prey or creature careless enough to wander into this field risks getting zapped by a jolt of electricity when they closed the circuit. Larger creatures suffered a PAINFUL shock and can often survive but to smaller creatures like Jetdarters (highly agile flying creatures resembling pointed slugs that fly via jet propulsion) and the Lunar variant of the Element-Fly or Elemental Butterfly (the larval form of this adaptable insect became the Lunar form if it was raised on the Narnian Moon or at night on the Land Domain), the current was deadly. These creatures were often killed instantly by a blast of electricity whenever they crossed the gaps between two or more Electroshrooms and once they were down, the Electroshrooms consumed their decaying carcasses like a fertiliser. Because of their electrical properties, Electroshrooms were grown and their electricity-generating parts harvested for use in appliances and weapons such as the Electroshroom bomb. However, care must be taken when growing and farming these electrical mushrooms due to their electricity. So to protect themselves while farming the electrical mushrooms; Electroshroom farmers wore insulating suits that absorbed the electricity generated by the Electroshrooms whenever they crossed the gaps between them. Electroshroom bombs were grenade-type bombs that must be thrown at a target but unlike grenades which exploded in a fiery blast, often sending shrapnel from their shells flying for additional damage (depending on the type), Electroshroom bombs released an electrical blast that electrocuted foes or enhanced their damage capabilities on an object. Beaver's group had a bag of these electrical bombs and they were being carried by Cyllene and Beni, both of who had been gifted with a phaser sword from Asgard and the other escorts before their departure via the Bifrost Transporter back to the land. Some of the other members were also given phasers and phaser swords though Beaver had respectfully declined the offer for he was not keen on using weapons, especially energy-based weapons. Then as soon as they were back on the land, their escorts, a herd of Horses and Sleipnir like the escorts for Kushanku's group who had been waiting near the Transporter pad, met them and soon, the group had begun their return journey to Cair Paravel. However, they had some trouble within the group, once again from the Rabbits; Dandelion's siblings and cousins.
Some of the Rabbits had tried to open the spherical case containing the four mushrooms against the orders of Beaver and the others, resulting in a scuffle breaking out among the group. During the scuffle, the spherical case was broken open, releasing the four precious lunar mushrooms to the UTMOST alarm of the group, resulting in a hasty rush in getting the ingredients for High King Peter's only antidote back into the safety of the case but not before one of the stupid Rabbits seized one of the mushrooms and, to the UTMOST rage of the others, gobbled it up, the desire to obtain the power within these mushrooms fuelling his greed. THAT was the final stick; the Rabbits were out of the group without a doubt. So Beaver and company, once they had managed to rescue the other three mushrooms from the greedy jaws of the other misbehaving Rabbits (to their UTMOST temper tantrums) and return them to their spherical case, decided to take the stupid Rabbits to the nearest town or village where they will stay until the trouble in their country was dealt with. Some of the Sleipnir agreed to see to this task and Dandelion and the other sensible Rabbits had decided to go with them while the rest of the group continued their journey back to Cair Paravel and so the group split up. Though the group had lost one of the mushrooms to the stupid Rabbits, the lead Sleipnir had noted to Beaver and his remaining company that the Nine-Realms Potion needed at least one of these mushrooms to work anyway and it was a BRILLIANT job that Beaver, Brick and his two brothers Straw and Woody had harvested four of the precious ingredient from the Forbidden Cave instead of one, otherwise High King Peter's life would have been in mortal danger thanks to the selfish Rabbit that had eaten the mushroom. There was nothing that could be done about that Rabbit now. He has already shot himself in the back foot by eating the forbidden mushroom and though he will get what he wanted, he will eventually meet his end from the poison from the mushroom he had eaten for lunar mushrooms were UTTERLY toxic to selfish consumers. However, Beaver and company did not want to take any more chances with the Rabbits, especially after what had happened in the Forbidden Cave of the Treasures of Vanity because of one of the Does.
Beaver and company minus the Rabbits, together with their Equine escorts continued their hurried journey across the fields of the Land Domain. It was now fully light so transport was easier. As they galloped along, Beaver clutching the precious sphere case of the three remaining mushrooms (that case tightly sealed despite sustaining some damage from the scuffle), Cyllene and Beni, who galloped on their own for Centaurs could not ride Horses, helped to look around for trouble.
"I can't wait for this to be over," cried the latter, the male, his hands clutching his new weapon, the phaser sword, ready for action in case any trouble met the group, "And I certainly cannot wait for those mushrooms to be in the safety of the castle."
"It's been an INCREDIBLY perilous quest, I can tell you," said Brick on a nearby white Horse. He was still grieving the loss of his brothers Straw and Woody in the Forbidden Cave but he had put aside the grief for now to focus on this important mission, "Especially in that Forbidden Cave."
"That Cave is the grave of many visitors due to the immense temptation of its treasure contents," explained the white Horse, Brick's steed, "Just thank Aslan that you survivors have managed to make it out in time with those mushrooms when one of those Rabbits touched the treasure and triggering its collapse."
Beaver deliberately ignored this as he did not want to recall the terrifying ordeal of their frantic escape from the Forbidden Cave of the Treasures of Vanity thanks to that Rabbit Doe who seized one of the forbidden golden ingots in the Lunar Mushroom Chamber. It was an ordeal that would likely scar him for life and he had soon developed a fear of closed spaces. One of the most traumatic experiences he had suffered was getting his tail stuck under a falling rock which, if it hadn't been for Beni's intervention, would have sealed his fate after Straw and Woody. Pushing aside that bad memory Beaver continued on as his steed, a brown Horse resembling a Thoroughbred and the lead Stallion of this group of Horses carrying him. However, the aforementioned trouble was soon about to leap out upon them like a Tiger from its cover upon its prey.
As the group continued to gallop along, an arrow flew in out of nowhere and sliced through the air, aiming for the group. The arrow jabbed into the shoulder of one of the Horses, a Mare, carrying a small group of the smaller members of Beaver's group, some Squirrels, and lodged in there. The Mare released a MASSIVE neigh of agony as pain ripped through the wound site and she immediately fell forward into a violent tumble, alerting the others and forcing them to slow down and eventually stop as she slowed as well. Her Squirrel mounts, however, had jumped from her back just in time but they had been forced to roll in a tumble due to the travel speed. Then the lead Thoroughbred-like Horse carrying Beaver rushed over to the fallen and injured Mare, her eyes tight shut and her teeth gritting from the agony from the arrow in her shoulder, alongside some of the other members including some medically trained individuals like Cyllene.
"Buttercup," cried the Stallion, "Are you alright?"
The Mare named Buttercup gazed at the leader with a pained face, too much in agony to speak. Then the Squirrels, all of them bruised and dazed from leaping off the Mare when she fell and tumbling to a stop, came in and gazed at the arrow in their steed's shoulder.
"She's been shot," said the lead Squirrel who resembled a Red Squirrel. Only two other members were Red Squirrels while the rest, five of them, were Grey. Suddenly, a piercing scream erupted from Cyllene when she saw something approach the group. The others shot alerted gazes alongside Cyllene's and when they saw what the young Centaurette saw, they either drew in sharp gasps or flinched, especially Beaver for he had encountered a group of these cute but bloodthirsty creatures before.
Flying from a nearby forest was the group of Candy Woodland Creatures and they either wore flying devices resembling humans' jetpacks or on Witch's Brooms, the very same transport devices often used by Hags. Due to their notorious reputation and association with Hags, Flying Broomsticks were NEVER used as a form of aerial transport. It was even in fact illegal and anyone who owned these horrible devices faced a few months' incarceration. Leading the Candy Woodland Creature group approaching beaver's group was a pink Beaver-like creature with a rounded face, small body and a large tail. Its face was very cute, like something from a human kids' cartoon but this creature was no adorable critter and Beaver flinched as memories flashed in his mind. He had seen a group of patrolling Raspberry Beavers consume the carcass of a Unicorn as a teen Talking Beaver. That poor Unicorn had been struck down and killed for attempting to halt the group of Raspberry Beavers from taking the massive amount of food they had coerced a nearby town of Talking Beasts into giving for the White Witch as part of her wicked 90 percent food offer and the Raspberry Beavers had set to consuming her carcass. That scene had traumatised Beaver for many years to come and he often had nightmares about Raspberry Beavers attacking him or devouring a Talking Beast. Of all the wicked creatures that served Jadis aside from certain minions like the Cartoon Shadow Cat and the Man with the Upside Down Face, the Raspberry Beaver was one of Beavers most DESPISED evil creatures and as he saw the leader of his most LOATHED species then touch down with its group before him and the others, the Water Rodent prepared for battle. As his group members and their Equine escorts prepared to confront the wicked Candy Woodland Creatures, their minds clearly on one certain thing in the group's possession, Beaver turned to the group of Squirrels and issued them instructions. The Squirrels nodded in obedience and prepared to carry them out but only at the right time as the Candy Woodland Creature group then began to confront Beaver's.
"What do you creatures want!?" demanded Beaver to the threatening group. In response to this, the Candy Woodland Creatures produced some weapons such as bows and arrows and rapiers and prepared for combat. Then a smirk formed on the lead Talking Beaver's face, its paw clutching a stick carved into a spear.
"I think you know exactly what we want, brown water rat," crooned the cute but violent flat-tailed Water Rodent evilly. Then without further delay, it released a battle cry to its underlings and the group of Candy Woodland Creatures launched themselves towards Beaver and his group. Immediately, Beaver's group, though unprepared for this ambush, immediately brandished their weapons if they had them and launched into battle while the Horses apart from the downed Mare and two medic Horses charged. Within moments, the two groups clashed and the striking of metal against metal, hooves against fur and claws raking over skin exploded into the morning air.
Brick charged towards some Lemon Rabbits and Orange Otters as two Horses forced them back and rammed into them. Several orange otter-like creatures and bright yellow rabbits were flung into the air while the others were mowed down as the last remaining Pig of a trio of Piglet brothers and grandsons of Trotterhoof sliced through the mass formed by them. However, as Brick bashed down a Lemon Rabbit, an arrow appeared and flew straight over the back of his head, narrowly missing his neck to his alarm. Brick snapped his gaze to the shooter of the arrow, a Blueberry Skunk riding a Witch's Broom, fly in, nock an arrow to its bow and aim it at the Pig. Then the Blueberry Skunk sent the arrow flying at Brick but Brick dodged while at the same time unintentionally dodging a claw swipe from the Lemon Rabbit. However, the Rabbit put itself into the path of the arrow to its UTMOST alarm and that of the Blueberry Skunk. Brick flinched as the Lemon Rabbit took a fatal shot, before snapping out of his alarm and charged off to escaping getting pierced himself by the Blueberry Skunk as it fired more arrows at him by nocked them one by one into its bow and shooting them at the Pig in quick succession. A trail of arrows lodged in the grass formed behind Brick as he continued to escape getting pierced by the Blueberry Skunk archer. Suddenly, an orange energy beam slashed through the air and struck the Blueberry Skunk in the chest, knocking it off its broom to Brick's alarm. Then Beni suddenly appeared with a phaser in one hand and a sword in the other, leaped at the Blueberry Skunk and ran it through with his sword to ensure its death. Brick gave the young Centaur a thankful nod as he then took the bow and arrows from the dead blue skunk-like creature for himself and left to help someone else while Brick did the same.
While the rest of Beaver's group continued to engage the group of Candy Woodland Creatures which were clearly after the lunar mushrooms they had obtained from the Narnian Moon as per the orders of Dimitrescu, the Squirrels, following Beaver's instructions, darted away from the battle cloud and sprinted in a certain direction. However, two Lime Squirrels riding jetpacks pursued them, one of them also an archer and it began firing arrows at the Squirrels. One of the Grey Squirrels ended up pierced in the lower back to the alarm of his comrades, forcing the group to stop. However, the Grey Squirrel who was their leader urged them on.
"Go, GO YOU LOT!" he shouted, "YOU KNOW WHERE TO..." he didn't finish in time when the other Lime Squirrel armed with a dagger flew in on its jetpack and slain him. Then it did something UTTERLY abominable and insulting to the lead Grey Squirrels' underlings; it took the Squirrel leader's body and instantly devoured it. Not only did Candy Woodland Creatures eat any Talking Beast or from Dryads and other Plant beings, they also ate Talking Beasts the same sort of species and kind as them, almost like cannibalism. For example, Raspberry Beavers sometimes ate regular Talking Beavers and Lemon Rabbits sometimes ate regular Talking Rabbits. It was a form of intimidation from these hideous creatures and they often used it to help enforce the cold and cruel rules of their Mistress the White Witch (who many of the wicked critters referred to as their Angel of Salvation like the Man with the Upside Down Face and worshipped her like a goddess in horrible ceremonies and rituals involving the sacrifice of Talking Beasts, often before a Jadis idol) and it was a good thing Beaver and company had had some of the Sleipnir take Dandelion and the other Rabbits to a village before they continued their journey after the mushroom incident as they were often helpless since they were either not very good at fighting or were cowards, especially the stupid and foolish ones. Then after witnessing the Lime Squirrel eat their leader's body in front of them and despite the EXPLOSIVE outrage at the two evil critters and the anguish over losing their leader, the other Squirrels whirled round and continued to their destination, their Lime Squirrel pursuers hot on their fluffy tails.
While the rest of Beaver's group continued fighting the other Candy Woodland Creatures, Beaver darted away from the battle crowd, his paws clutching the precious silver sphere case containing the three remaining lunar mushrooms with the lead Raspberry Beaver pursuing him by flying with its jetpack. The chase entered the nearby forest and near a fissure in the ground; the group was right near a large chasm leading to a river and the chasm's edges were muddy and crumbly. As Beaver scurried away from his nemesis as it flew after him on its jetpack, its bloodthirsty eyes on the very thing in his paws, the brown Rodent turned round just in time to see the chasm. Immediately, he stopped, turned to his chaser and darted to one side as it swooped down on him and tried to spear him with its stick spear only to miss, the sharp end of the spear ramming into the earth where Beaver had been and carving out a gash in the grass. Beaver then landed on all fours nearby and glared volcanically at his nemesis as it turned round and glared daggers with him. The pair then exchanged rancorous snarls and screeches before finally launching into a full-on one-on-one fight. Beaver launched himself into the air at his Raspberry nemesis and the pair clashed in midair. As they collided, the Raspberry Beaver's stick spear flew out of its hand and to one side as the two Beavers then fell back to earth and engaged in a brutal wrestling match. Snarls exploded from the pair as they rolled around, their paws grasping each other and seizing handfuls of each other's fur and ripping it out and their teeth snapping, saliva flying from their mouths. Fur from the both of them, both brown and pink, flew everywhere as the brawling beavers continued their doglike battle. Then after a few more seconds of rolling around, the Raspberry Beaver lunged at Beaver's throat like a cat and tried to plunge its buckteeth into the carotid area but Beaver dodged, narrowly missing the fatal bite and countered with a bite to the ear. Screeches of AGONY exploded from the Raspberry Beaver as the brown regular Talking One's jaws clamped onto its ear, drawing blood. Then Beaver seized his nemesis, rolled backward onto his feet and with all his might threw the Raspberry Beaver at a branch with his hands, releasing a scream in the process. The Raspberry Beaver flew towards the branch and landed back first, the jetpack catching between it and its body and getting damaged. Then the Raspberry Beaver landed facedown in the dirt, some leaves falling around it for the tree had been shaken from the impact and Beaver looking on with a rancorous hiss filtering through his teeth. However, the Raspberry Beaver quickly recovered, rose to its feet and charged at Beaver once again, a screech exploding from its mouth. Beaver also charged at the creature and the pair began round two of their savage battle.
Back with the rest of Beaver's group, the fight continued. The Horses used their hooves, teeth and own body weight to attack the Candy Woodland Creatures while Beaver's comrades continued to use their weapons against the other creatures. As they fought, Cyllene, after cutting down a Strawberry Hedgehog with her phaser sword which was coloured magenta, turned to Beni with a worried face.
"Where's Beaver gone?" she asked her brother as he slammed his Horse's body onto a Blueberry Moose (which unlike regular moose were more anthropomorphic, smaller and walked on two legs instead of four; they were one of the more savage and violent Candy Woodland Creatures), "He's got the sphere case containing the three remaining lunar mushrooms."
When Beni heard this, a horrible thought took hold, especially as he looked around in the battle crowd for an obvious brown Water Rodent. However, he was forced to resume his fight with the savage Blueberry Moose as it lunged at him in an attempt to seize him and run him through with its sword. Beni countered with a phaser blast at point-blank range to the creature's face from the shock of seeing his foe recover and charge at him. Cyllene flinched nearby at the horrific sight as the Blueberry Moose, its face fatally shot with the phaser, fell over, dead. Suddenly, Brick flew in at the two young Centaurs and crashed into Beni's Humanoid torso, knocking the young Centaur back into a stumble. A Lime Squirrel had sent the Pig flying at the two Centaurs in a FIERCE tackle attack.
"BRICK!" cried Cyllene as Beni caught him in his arms.
"There's TOO MANY OF THEM and they are TOO SMART FOR US TO HANDLE!" cried Brick. Beni and Cyllene then looked around and saw more of their allies get overwhelmed and cut down by the savage and violent Candy Critters. A black Horse was fatally slashed with a sword by a Lemon Rabbit; a Rat was seriously injured by a Grape Raccoon armed with a war mallet, and another Horse was taken down by a Blueberry Skunk armed with a club with a whack to his front leg, shattering it. Bone fractures in the legs were bad news and an emergency for Equines due to how complex their bone anatomy was in their limbs. Dumb horses that suffered such were often put to death the moment they had this type of injury as there was little to no chance of fixing the damaged bones but in Talking Equines including Magical Equines like Pegasi and Sleipnir, a broken leg meant a permanent disability for the rest of their life unless they took a drop of potions capable of healing fractures such as the rare fire-flower cordial or the Fracture-Fix potion, the ONLY options able to fix broken Horse bones. The latter option tasted FOUL and it was a VERY uncomfortable process as the bones regenerated and in Equines and Equine-like beings such as Centaurs, it took ages. Cyllene remembered having to take a sip of the bone-fixing potion when she broke her front leg once during play and she was forced to go through the tunnel of discomfort lasting for days. Cyllene was snapped out of that memory back to the present as another Rat was shot dead with an arrow from another Raspberry Beaver (not the leader fighting Beaver in the trees nearby). Then the lead Horse that had carried Beaver released a LOUD neigh to his underlings and the rest of Beaver's group to retreat and immediately, everyone including Brick, Cyllene and Beni, abandoned their fight with the Candy Woodland Creatures and began to flee, the murderous critters pursuing them, the desire to see bloodshed spurring them on. Several Lemon Rabbits leaped at Cyllene, Beni and Brick with a spear, aiming directly at the former's Horse's back with a maniacal scream to their horror. Cyllene cornered to the right while Beni got prepared to blast the incoming yellow rabbit with his phaser when suddenly, the screaming from the cute but VILE creature stopped. Beni and Brick looked up and to their surprise, they saw the Lemon Rabbit stuck in midair, a HORRIFIED look on its face and something wrapped around its torso. That tendril was yellow-brown and bioluminescent and Brick identified the tendril as a root.
"A Kodama tree root," the Pig blurted out. Beni and also Cyllene a short distance away, having stopped upon hearing the Lemon Rabbit stop screaming watched on as the tendril, indeed a Kodama root based on its bioluminescent patches, then took the Lemon Rabbit away, extended to around its neck and squeezed HARD. The action snapped the Lemon Rabbit's neck and killed it instantly. Then Brick, Cyllene and Beni turned, together with the other members of the group and to their UTMOST jubilation, they saw more creatures rush in to confront the now-horrified Candy Woodland Creatures. Several of the newcomers were Trees: Dryads and Kodama (the latter identified from their bioluminescent leaves, trunks, flowers and fruits) and they extended their roots straight at the attacking Candy Critters. The lead Horse smiled and with that, the group resumed fighting the group of Candy Woodland Creatures and within moments, the tide turned in Beaver's group's favour. The reinforcements had been led in by the Squirrels and they had sought help in a nearby town and now they were returning with the help the group so desperately needed in dealing with these evil woodland creature abominations and an ABSOLUTE mockery to regular Woodland Talking Beasts. Among the reinforcements were Flower Mandrakes, Rattlebacks and Flutterbirds, both Song and Seabird-Nosed such as Spitfire Birds.
A small group of Rats and Ferrets that had accompanied the group on the trip to the Narnian Moon lured some Apple Bears towards three Roachcutters and as soon as they were close to the three Talking Flutterbirds, the Ferrets and Rats darted away to allow the three Birds to cut down the evil lime green Teddy Bear-like creatures with either rapiers or a giant insect called a Falconfly. In the same way humans would train or use birds of prey for hunting, for show or for battle, a subject called falconry, some Talking Beasts but particularly Flutterbirds like Roachcutters would train and use Falconflies as a hunting helper. Falconflies can even be trained by Narnian Humans and this was not unheard of in Narnia's history. The process of training and using Falconflies was called Giant Waspry for Falconflies were large Wasps. They were armed with a beak-like spike on their heads and NASTY skewer-like claws on their front legs which they used to hunt and spear prey such as dumb Flutterbirds (ironically), Forest Flish and dumb Bats. Trainers, called Waspers (in the same way falcon-users were called falconers) would utilise these Giant Wasps' abilities in hunting and in combat and the Roachcutter Wasper was about to use his Falconfly assistant for this purpose.
While the other two Roachcutters cut down some of the Apple Bears with their rapiers, the Wasper sent his Falconfly at those fleeing. The Falconfly ascended into the sky, swerved round and swooped down like a hawk on the fleeing Apple Bears, its lance-like forelimbs poised for striking. One Apple Bear looked up in time to see the incoming Giant Insect to receive a fatal stab to the chest from the Insect's forelimbs. The Falconfly then ascended back into the sky and began to pursue the other Apple Bears to slay them as well. Somewhere else in the battle crowd, the Dryads and the Kodama continued to seize more Candy Woodland Creatures with their roots and strangle and constrict them while the Talking Beast reinforcements such as Talking Ducks, Swans, Geese, Bovines, Parrots and Dwarfs, fought more of the wicked critters with their weapons. As one of the Parrots, a Scarlet Macaw and one of the members of the inner circle of the mayor Dwarf of the town where the Squirrels had sought help, turned to Brick, Cyllene and Beni after knocking a Strawberry Hedgehog off its Broom and asked, "Where is that silver ball thing you said containing some mushrooms you got from the Narnian Moon?"
Cyllene (who was armed with her magenta phaser sword and being careful not to allow it to come into contact with her allies for the sword was made of burning energy that could singe someone that touches it), Brick and Beni (armed with his phaser and also the satchel containing the pack of Electroshroom bombs which he had forgotten he had had) resumed looking around for Beaver when they heard the sounds of snarling and screeching come from the nearby forest. Immediately, the trio turned and darted off for said forest with the Scarlet Macaw flying after them.
Beaver was flung from the forest towards the edge of the chasm leading to the river below where he crashed in a shower of dirt, having been violently thrown by his Raspberry nemesis. He clutched the precious sphere containing the three lunar mushrooms and he was battered and bruised and covered in furless patches, scratch and bite marks, some of which were bleeding. Nonetheless, he continued to fight the Raspberry Beaver leader whose pink fur was also in tatters and covered with bite and scratch marks and bruises. The bloodthirsty Beast in Raspberry-coloured fur and cute looks advanced towards its downed foe as he shot it a rancorous glare. Then after increasing its pace, the Raspberry Beaver charged and launched itself at Beaver with a rabid snarl, its eye fixated on the case in its foe's hands. Beaver dodged the attack, sending the Raspberry critter flying into the dirt and rocketed back into the forest. The Raspberry Beaver recovered and gave chase. Beaver ran back in to the forest and as soon as he saw the dropped spear stick belonging to his foe, he seized it and turned to face his nemesis once again. The Raspberry Beaver continued chasing after him, trying to activate its jetpack but realised something very wrong the moment it could not get airborne. The Raspberry Beaver tried jumping into the air again and pressed some buttons on its jetpack but no result. Tried again and the same null result. Horror tore through the Raspberry Beaver as it drew one conclusion. Beaver looked on scornfully.
"Hah, looks like you're grounded, pink RAT," he gloated, "I guess your flying thingy got damaged when I tossed you into that branch. You'll NEVER get airborne now."
His nemesis then released a CRY of wrath and turned to Beaver, its cute eyes blazing with it before launching into a killing sprint towards the Brown Water Rodent. Beaver tried to jab it with the spear stick but the Raspberry Beaver only seized it from his paws and yanked it from them. Beaver then turned tail and darted back towards the river chasm with his armed and EXTREMELY angry nemesis in hot pursuit. As the Raspberry Beaver continued its relentless chase of Beaver its foot snagged on a piece of tree root snaking up from the dirt. The creature released a startled cry as it fell down and as it did so, it accidentally threw aside its stick spear. The weapon flew from the trees and landed before Brick, Beni, Cyllene and the Scarlet Macaw to their surprise. Immediately, they traced the direction whence the stick came and plunged into the forest.
Beaver continued running from his Raspberry nemesis as it got up and continued its chase of him. The Raspberry Beaver soon caught up with its brown nemesis and as soon as it was near Beaver, it pounced onto him like a cat. The pair rolled towards the crumbly and muddy rim of the chasm where they stopped briefly with the Raspberry Beaver on top of its brown nemesis with its paws on the latter's throat in a brutal chokehold. Beaver, one of his paws grasping his foe's paws on his neck and struggling for air while his other clutched the lunar mushroom sphere case, struggled and writhed under his foe but his nemesis only tightened his chokehold on his neck. However, Beaver's struggles to get free unintentionally inched them closer to the slope leading to the chasm and soon, they began to slide down it as it was muddy and crumble. Beaver noticed this and tried to get a grip on the dirt but to no avail; his paw only scoring into the crumbly substance. The Raspberry Beaver continued to try and plunge Beaver into unconsciousness as the pair continued to slide further down the slope towards the mouth of the chasm. The bloodthirsty rodent realised this too late as the pair then slipped off the lip and down the drop. Beaver thrusted his back legs to ensure this and within moments, he and his nemesis plummeted a few metres into the chasm until they landed onto an outcrop with a thud. During the fall, the Raspberry Beaver's chokehold was released from Beaver's neck and Beaver immediately seized the opportunity to take in some much-needed lungfuls of air. He also rubbed his neck and checked that he still had the lunar mushroom sphere case as he gasped for air. To his UTMOST relief, he did. After recovering from being strangled by the Raspberry Beaver, Beaver peered down the edge of the outcrop to examine the river below. To his surprise, he saw that the river was only flowing as a mere trickle. He then followed the trickle and saw that the river was dammed up by a huge mass of entangled plant material. The mass of interlocking and intertwining logs, sticks and leaves, measuring several metres high, acted as a dam and held back a reservoir of water and only allowing a trickle of it to filter through the tiny gaps of the netting like a porous wall. Beaver gazed at the dam and felt an idea pop into his head. Suddenly, he caught sighted movement out the corner of his eye. Immediately, he turned and saw his nemesis, the Raspberry Beaver, approach him, its paws ready to seize the brown Rodent again. However, Beaver lunged at the creature and with all his might, struck it on the head with the lunar mushroom sphere case as HARD as he could like a rock and knocked it out. The moment he did this, four heads peered down the lip of the chasm and called his name.
"Beaver, are you alright?" shouted one of them, Cyllene. The other three, Brick, Beni and the Scarlet Macaw also peered down worriedly and to their relief they saw that Beaver still had the sphere case containing the precious Nine-Realms Potion ingredient. Beaver then turned his attention back to the dam.
"Cyllene, Beni, have you still got that satchel containing those Electroshroom bombs Asgard, Cerula, Adonis and our other escorts gave to us before we left the Narnian Moon?" he asked the young Centaurs.
"Yes," replied Beni.
"Why?" asked Cyllene with confusion.
"I need that dam broken up and that river flowing and fast," replied Beaver. He then turned to check on his Raspberry nemesis and saw that the creature was coming round. Some Candy Woodland Creatures had rapid recovery time and this Raspberry Beaver was one of them. At Beaver's command, Beni reached into his satchel and pulled out a red orb. The Scarlet Macaw looked on warily but Beni explained to him that it was one of the Electroshroom bombs from the Narnian Moon.
"What do you need that river flowing for, anyway?" asked Beni.
"I think you know why, Beni," said Beaver before he turned urgent as his Raspberry nemesis fully regained consciousness and shake itself to, "Hurry, throw that Electroshroom bomb at the dam and destroy it, NOW!"
Beni immediately obeyed without hesitation and tossed the red Electroshroom bomb orb at the dam. The shot was well-aimed and the red orb exploded in an electrical blast the moment it connected with the dam, several dozen small lightning bolts sparking in all directions before dissipating. The blast was enough to dislodge some of the logs and other material in the dam, weakening the structure. Then under the pressure of the water it kept back and via a chain reaction, the structure began to fail and collapse and within moments, the dammed water broke through and began to flow like a tsunami, the pieces of the dam beginning to flow with it. Beaver watched the flow increase from a trickle to an outright torrent in moments with a smile.
"Excellent work, Beni," the brown Water Rodent called, "JUST what I need."
By this time, the Raspberry Beaver had fully recovered and the moment its eyes landed on its foe, it began to advance for the kill. Beaver turned bravely to his nemesis with a scowl.
"Okay, you murderous Talking Beast Counterfeit," he said in a low voice, "This is where your bother ENDS!"
The Raspberry Beaver then leaped like a Cat at its nemesis but Beaver reared up onto his tail and rammed his back feet into his foe's stomach to kick it right over him, sending the Raspberry Beaver into a plummet towards the dangerously flowing river below. On the way down, the pink rodent released a piercing scream, trying in vain to get its jetpack working to no avail. The creature continued to fall until finally, it plunged into the rapidly flowing and debris-saturated river in a splash. The Raspberry Beaver surfaced and tried to swim but soon found itself getting battered and overwhelmed by massive logs and other plant material from the destroyed dam. Beaver looked on as his nemesis struggled until it was eventually overwhelmed by the debris and current and eventually crushed and drowned. On the lip of the chasm, Beni, Cyllene, Brick and the Scarlet Macaw looked away from the horrific sight as Beaver slowly spoke.
"Beni, excellent work," the Water Rodent said, "You just helped me send that rotten pink rat to a watery grave."
Beni, Brick and Cyllene just breathed a sigh of relief that Beaver had managed to deal with the threat and keep the lunar mushrooms in their case safe. Then the Scarlet Macaw and a blue Roachcutter took off from the lip and into the chasm, flew down to Beaver and took hold of him. Then the pair hurled Beaver and the sphere case containing the three lunar mushrooms back to the surface where they were reunited with Brick and the Centaurs and they shared a hug. During this, the others in Beaver's group and the reinforcements managed to drive off the other Candy Woodland Creatures. Some were killed but the others managed to escape. However, the escaping creatures were found and slaughtered by a search-and-destroy group who had turned up just in time. That search-and-destroy group had some Deer-Centaur, a Pitohui, several net-wielding Babookari, a Deathgleaner, a Snowstalker and a few Slugcats. The Babookari netted the escaping Candy Woodland Creatures to stop them in their tracks and the rest of the search-and-destroy group immediately killed them. This done and the threat out of the way and once the casualties including the Mare that was shot in the shoulder with an arrow were healed using fire-flower cordial from one of the search-and-destroy group members, Beaver and his group regrouped and continued their journey to Cair Paravel but not before thanking the reinforcements and the search-and-destroy group for the help.