Three Days Later
The forest was quite peaceful today, the branches and the leaves gently swayed in the wind. The gentle whistle of the birds were music to the traveler's ears.
Beams of light penetrated the trees, bringing light to the dirt trail the traveler walked. The light illuminated the traveler's silhouette, revealing an orange cape and headband, as well as the top half of a martial arts gi, complete with an orange belt.
The traveler had been walking for days, their only source of sustenance were the supplies located in the travel sack thrown over their shoulder.
After hours of walking, the traveler came upon an open clearing. It had a radius of roughly thirty meters, it would've been a nice training ground, if not for the giant creature that was slumbering in the sun's warm rays.
The creature resembled that of an ancient creature known only as a stegosaurus, only instead of plates along its back, it had razor sharp blades of varying size, the biggest being a four foot blade on the center of its back, and instead of spines on the tip of its tail, a spiked mace.
A thought crossed the traveler's mind for a second, a thought of fighting this monsterous creature. The traveler soon dismissed the thought, they were in a hurry. Their rations were low, and their destination wasn't too far away. Another afternoon's worth of walking and they'd be their.
The traveler walked steadily around the giant lizard, careful not to stir it from its slumber. After treading all the way across the clearing, the traveler went to return to the shadows of the forest... until they heard a very loud snap.
Looking down, the traveler saw the source of the sound, a very large stick that had fallen from a nearby tree. The sound of subtle movements could be heard behind the traveler, and when they turned to see the source of the movement, they saw large, red, bloodthirsty eyes, staring directly at them. Looks like the traveler was gonna get their wish.
Three days had passed since Mao Mao was stung by the Jade Wasp. Slowly but surely, he was getting the feeling back in his arm. While Badgerclops and Adorabat were in the living room playing video games, Mao Mao was in the kitchen attempting to make a sandwich.
Mao Mao picked up a butter knife and dipped it into a jar of jam, the knife in his right hand, the jar in his left. Seemingly out of nowhere, Mao Mao felt a numbing pang in his arm, causing him to drop the jar.
When the jar shattered across the floor, Adorabat and Badgerclops dropped their controllers and hurried to the kitchen out of concern to their friend.
"Mao Mao!" Cried Adorabat. "Are you okay?"
Mao Mao held his arm, waiting for the pang to go away. "I'm fine Adorabat, my arm just went numb is all."
When Camille had treated Mao Mao's sting, she warned that because of the damage to the nervous system in his arm, he would have episodes such as this. Yet another reason he would have to attend rehabilitation with Camille.
The worst of it is, Mao Mao can't fight like this. Badgerclops and Adorabat can handle themselves, but how long will they hold out in a serious fight? Things couldn't stay peaceful forever.
"You sure?" Asked Badgerclops, concerned for his best friend's welfare. "You need some help?" Badgerclops gestured to the broken glass and jam all over the floor.
"No no, I'll take care of it." Mao Mao replied holding up his hands. "You two just get back to your game."
"You sure?" Adorabat asked to make certain.
"Yes," said Mao Mao shooing them out of the kitchen. "I'll clean my mess, you don't need to worry."
"Okay," said Badgerclops, respecting Mao Mao's wishes. "I'm gonna go get some more jam."
After Badgerclops and Adorabat left the kitchen, Mao Mao grabbed a broom and dust pan from the supply closet. While he sweeped up the mess, he couldn't stop thinking about the safety of the people.
Mao Mao could barely handle a jar of jam with his arm the way it is. How is he supposed to fight monsters with Geraldine?
After sweeping up the glass and jam, he dumped it into the trash and grabbed his half-finished sandwich. Taking it to his room, he decided to make do with what he had.
"Can I come with?" Adorabat asked Badgerclops, wanting to know if she could go shopping with him.
The two members of the Sheriff's Dept. were standing by the poles that lead down to the garage.
"No," Badgerclops replied simply. "I'm worried about Mao Mao, and I'd like it if you kept an eye on him."
"But Camille said he'd be okay." Adorabat said, recounting on what Camille said about the healing process.
"I know, but when Camille said he'd be fine, she only meant physically." Badgerclops said, looking Adorabat straight in the eye. "I'm worried about his mental health. To be forced to take a break from being a hero just because he got stung by an insect, that'd be a huge blow to anyone's pride."
Thinking back, Adorabat knew how prideful Mao Mao was. After all, he became a hero so he could be acknowledged. Who would respect someone who was taken down by a bug?
"Okay," Adorabat finally said. "I'll keep an eye on Mao Mao."
Badgerclops smiled and gave Adorabat a quick pat on the head. Grabbing the pole, Badgerclops slid down and into the garage. The garage was a large room with shelves and work tables scattered throughout. A chalkboard was hanging up next to some monitors that rested on one of the work tables. Next to the pole were some hangers where three helmets hung, one for each of the members of the Sheriff's Dept.
Badgerclops grabbed his which was hanging in the middle. It was a white and brown helmet that matched his own color scheme. Normally Mao Mao (and Adorabat sometimes) would do the shopping, but with Mao Mao in the condition that he's in, that just isn't possible.
Badgerclops hopped onto Mao's Aerocycle and started it up. Putting on his helmet, he placed his hands on the handle bars and revved the engine.
When Badgerclops took his hand off the brakes, the wheels screeched before the bike lurched forward. Their garage was hidden behind a waterfall, so when Badgerclops crashed through the curtain of water, he was cold and wet up until the wind air-dried him in seconds.
The bike sored through the air like a majestic eagle, down below was Pure Heart Valley. From here Badgerclops could see the Sweetypies as they lived their daily lives.
When Mao Mao and Badgerclops came to Pure Heart, it had initially been a temporary engagement, at least until the Ruby Pure Heart was fixed. But now... Badgerclops wouldn't mind if he and Mao Mao lived the rest of their lives here.
It might be that Badgerclops was just lazy, but that was kind of it. Before, the two heroes just went from town to town, looking for any trouble to be settled. Being heroes didn't exactly pay well either, whenever they couldn't stay in any inns for the night, they were forced to set up camp just outside of town.
But here, here they had friends, permanent living arrangements, and loads of expendable income. What more could they ever ask for?
Badgerclops flew all the way to Farmer Bun's farm located on the edge of Pure Heart. When the farm came into view, Badgerclops steadily lost altitude. The farm consisted of a barn next to Farmer Bun's house, the area around the barn was used for growing a large assortment of crops.
A wide road extended from the barn doors all the way to Pure Heart village. Badgerclops used the road as a runway for the Aerocycle, and came to a stop just before the barn doors.
Badgerclops hopped off the Aerocycle and walked up to Farmer Bun's house, the porch had a rocking chair that Farmer Bun often sat in during his nap time.
Badgerclops rapped his knuckles on the door and waited for a few seconds. Farmer Bun was the guy you went to for this kind of product. But at this time of day, he's already closed his stand and came back home.
Farmer Bun answered the door and greeted the Sheriff deputy. "Evening Deputy Badgerclops, is there something I can do for you?"
"Yeah, could I buy a new jar of strawberry jam off of you?" Badgerclops asked, producing a silver coin from one of the pouches on his sash.
"Didn't you boys buy a jar from me yesterday?" Asked the farmer.
"Yeah, we accidentally dropped it. Sorry."
"All right, wait right here." The farmer ducked back into his house to fetch a jar of jam.
While Badgerclops was waiting for Farmer Bun to come back out, he decided to lean against the railing of the porch. After a few minutes of waiting, Badgerclops heard a loud boom sound off from the east. When he looked over in that direction, all he saw was a flock of birds flying away.
Dismissing it as an oversized tree that fell to the ground, Farmer Bun finally came out from the recesses of his house, with a jar of jam in his paws.
"Hear ya go Deputy, be careful not to break this one, ya hear?" Said the Farmer, trading the jar for Badgerclops' silver coin.
"You got it." Replied Badgerclops. Before Badgerclops could leave, the sound of rumbling resonated from the ground. "Have you guys been having earthquakes recently, or..."
"No sir mister Deputy, this is a first." Simply replied the Farmer.
Remembering the boom from earlier, Badgerclops looked towards the east. The trees were shaking, but not all at once. A small cluster would shake, then the next cluster, then the next.
Badgerclops ran off the porch and gazed at the forest, steadily waiting for whatever would come from the shadows of the trees.
Suddenly, all at once, a large cerulean ball of spikes erupted from the trees. It was on a collision course with the farm. Upon further inspection, something was caught on one of the spikes, a black, white, and orange blur.
The sphere came to a stop and uncurled itself into a quadrupedal lizard with large sharp blades running down its back. When the lizard came to a stop, the blur that was stuck to one of the spikes came flying towards Badgerclops.
The blur hit him square in the chest like a brick, throwing him several meters back, knocking the wind out of him. Taking a few seconds to get the air flowing back into his lungs, Badgerclops looked at whatever it was the monster threw at him.
He saw a female black cat that was dressed like a martial artist, wearing a gi with an orange belt, as well as an orange headband and cape. The headliner of the cat's ensemble was her golden bangles.
Rolling the feline off of him, he raised himself back to his feet. Looking over to the farm house, Badgerclops saw Farmer Bun with terrified look on his face.
Badgerclops yelled out to the frightened rabbit, "Get inside! Don't bother calling the Sheriff's department! I'll take care of it!"
Badgerclops couldn't risk Mao Mao learning that this monster was here. Knowing him, he would race to get here and fight the monster, regardless of his injuries.
"Okay, now that hurt." The martial artist looking cat pulled herself off the ground and faced the monster. "Okay fossil breath, ready for round two?" The cat pounded her fists together, warming them up for a rematch with overgrown gecko.
"You may wanna step back. I'll take care of the creature." Badgerclops told the martial artist.
"Ha!" She exclaimed, the single 'ha' letting him know he was being underestimated by the martial artist. "Sure you can. Just let me get the popcorn."
"Yeah, because you clearly had it under control." Said Badgerclops in a sarcastic tone.
"Why I oughta-"
"You oughta what? Get thrown around by a giant lizard again?" Asked Badgerclops.
While the two were arguing about who had what under control, the creature set it sights upon the easy prey. Dusting one of its feet, the beast got ready to charge.