Bambi spent the majority of the trip unconsciousness on his side, sprawled out like someone had shot him and left the deer for dead. While his body remained still, gently bouncing on the bumpy hard floor, his mind panicked in alarm. He dreamed of things he had never seen, shadows and lights twisting and writhing for dominance over his mind. He found himself running in a panic, his heartbeat frantic and his breath so quick it almost seized to exist. The grass behind him tore itself from the land, swarming upward as it gave chase. At the peak of the nightmare he tripped over a rock that seemed to manifest before him, tossing him into freezing waters. Kicking his legs and crying out, fur drenched in a wet shroud, he was pulled under and left to drown in the dark abyss.

His mind was so rightfully convinced he was drowning it commanded his body to fight for air. "Gahh!" He awakened instantly, his lungs screeching for air as he flailed his legs. A splutter of words left his snout as he jumped upward, blindly stumbling in the dark. "Where- where am I?!" He shouted in a shaky voice, hearing his words bounce off the densely packed walls. His senses were on overdrive, leaving him unable to place himself in the pitch dark. The poison from earlier still had a faint trace left in his bloodstream, gently pulling his muscles down and leaving a sag in his step. He was blind, ears filled with his own voice hitting back at him. He jumped to the side trying to run, only for his body to painfully slam into a wall he couldn't see, knocking him stumbling. A racket of panic clanging echoed out as Bambi's head bounced off another wall, supercharging his flight instinct.

"Would you stop that?!" A voice snapped in a direction Bambi couldn't place, spitting with a tone that made him freeze. "It's bad enough we're here, don't make it worse with your clanging around!"

"Who- who is that? Where am I?"

"It's me, right below you!"

"Below me?" Backing himself into a corner, the deer fearfully lowered his nose to the floor. Taking in a sharp, pungent scent of grime that made him contort, he gave the floor a tap with his foot. "Where are you?"

"We're in cages," the voice said with an exasperated tone, "you're not from the city, are you?"

"I don't know what those are..." Bambi squeaked, his chest tightening. "I don't know what any of this is." His voice trailed off, feeling an intense overwhelming sensation that locked up his legs. His breathing fought to remain stable as the world began to spin around him. His confusion turned to fear, splicing into such fierce panic he forgot how to speak.

The voice below him seemed to overhear his panic attack. "Hey, don't kill yourself up there! Just breathe!" No response. "Come on kid, stay with me! Where are you from?"

A new voice suddenly joined in, making themselves heard in the darkness, "he won't answer you. He does this all the time."

"Who's that?"

"Over here," the captive tapped the floor of his cage to signal his presence, "we're from the forest. That little insect is the Great Prince you've probably heard so much about." A visible sneer leaked from their tone. "Are you a deer too?"

"Me? No, I'm a dove." The bird sighed, happy that someone was actually answering him. "I've never heard of a prince, where are you from?"

"Forest."

"So the Man got you too, huh?" The bird sighed, shuffling his feathers.

"Got me? Ha!" The deer bellowed. "Nah, I fought him off good, gave him some real deep wounds to think about. You should see the damage I did, whew." He punctuated his boast with a chuckle, "messed him up good."

"Doesn't seem to help much if you still got caught," the bird said in confusion.

"Hey at least I did something! What kind of cave is this anyway?"

The bird shook his head, "not a cave, it's a building. Man create these all the time, it's where they live."

The haunting presence of a Man-made "cave" sent a shiver down the deer's spine. He hesitated in his breath, trying hard to keep his composure. They were deep in the heart of death now, and the cold dread seemed to infect everyone in the room.

The bird tried to keep the conversation going, "anyway, my name's Drexel, what's yours?"

"Drexel? Sounds like you made that up."

"Well it's better than being called a bird, don't you think? I could call you 'deer,' that rolls off the tongue."

"Hey!" The buck hissed, visible edge in his voice. "My name is Ronno you feathered rodent!"

Bambi wasn't even listening to the conversation, and it was debatable if he had the capability to at all. Their voices multiplied in his ears until they were unintelligible, driving him into the corner of his cage as tears ran from his eyes. Audible sniffles could be heard from his claustrophobic prison.

"Who's crying?" Someone asked into the pitch black, their voice old and tired.

Fearful that he was being heard, Bambi clamped his leg over his mouth in an attempt to suppress himself. He prayed as hard as he could it was all just a terrible nightmare, and soon he would wake up back home with his father smiling and happy with breakfast.

"That's Bambi," Ronno said with a sniff, "don't mind him, he's a crybaby."

Drexel fluffed out his wings a little, annoyed at the hostility. "That's a rude thing to say, we're all captured together by the humans, the last thing we need is to become enemies!"

"Oh shut up, you don't know him like I do." The buck grimaced, flattening his ears as he turned around in his cage. "And what's a human?"

The dove opened his beak to answer, when the old voice from earlier suddenly spoke up, gently rasping in the darkness. "Disgusting creatures that bring the downfall of all life simply because they can. Call them Man, human, or person, they all mean the same thing. They destroy our homes and molest our ways of life, exterminating us simply because," She trailed off, bitterness leaking off her tongue, "simply because they can."

"You sound like the voice of experience," Ronno raised an eyebrow.

"Oh trust me, I am. Those bastards killed my kittens, stomped them and left them for dead on the street. Do you know what it's like for a mother to see that? To see everything she's worked for and put her life to get crushed in seconds?"

There was no reply, an awkwardness clouding the room.

"That's what I thought," she sighed in resignation, "you're just kids. Freeform and reckless because why not? You have no responsibilities, nothing to love and care for. You just want to run and roll in the mud. Do you have parents?"

Despite the question lingering in the air, Ronno made no attempt to respond. The question stung him, igniting an anger that shut down any attempt to make small talk. Narrowing his eyes, the deer grimaced and turned around, pretending he never existed.

"Were you talking to me?" Drexel tilted his head.

"No, the other kid." The elder said. "The one who said I was the voice of experience. Answer me, do you have parents?"

Ronno's blood boiled, gritting his teeth as heat burned through his fur. His legs clenched, dragging his hooves slowly across the floor of his cage. The sounds of Bambi's muffled crying were only agitating him even more.

The old voice refused to let him go. "Why aren't you answering me, you should know better than to disrespect an elder! Do you have a mother? A father?"

Unable to keep himself contained, Ronno's anger boiled over. He sprang up in such a motion that made his head hit the ceiling of his cage. Silently fuming, tears uncontrollably fell from him as he began ramming his antlers into the wall.

"What the hell are you doing up there?" The old voice said in confusion, "stop it, you're going to hurt yourself."

The rattling slam of antlers hitting a cage drowned out her words, Ronno deliberately hacking away at an impenetrable service just to deafen anyone trying to talk to him.

The excessive noise was worrying Drexel, making him pace in his cage. "Dude, stop! The humans will hear us!"

Shaking his step, Bambi crept forward, meticulously moving in small motions like the smallest movement would get him snatched. His tail was hidden underneath him so tightly one would think it attached itself, fear had tightened his nerves at every turn. Blinded in the dark, he tried to speak up, but the rattling clang of Ronno's cage assault had sealed his mouth shut.

"Ronno, stop!" Drexel pleaded, "they're gonna-"

Light flooded the room, sharply illuminating every corner and blinding the captives in one swift motion. Ronno stopped his noise immediately as his eyes were flooded with bright white, making him stagger in his step. Bambi shook his head with an audible sound of surprise, grimacing from the burn in his eyes. At least now he could see what contained him, a prison of grey stained with grime. Looking toward the shiny, barred gateway that kept him from freedom, he carefully peeked out. The area was lined with cages, lining the walls and stacked on top of one another. The floor was shiny and hard, covered in scratches from other living beings dragged to a fate Bambi shuddered to know. He heard the sounds of heavy steps, a clambering creature had entered the area with a low grumble emitting from it. Bambi knew a Man by smell, the disgusting ripe stench they carried was unmistakable.

The Man was furious, dragging itself over to Ronno's cage. It stopped in front of him for a brief moment, lurking like a looming predator. Ronno's anger seemed to leave him in a snap, his blood instantly soothing over until it ran cold. For the first time in his life, Ronno realized how small he actually was, the sight of the towering Man making him shrink with wide eyes. In a quick motion, the Man gripped the door and cage and snapped it open, making Ronno flinch and jump backward. By instinct he lowered himself to the floor, flattening his head as fear clouded him. The Man was a walking radiator of terror, the very sound of its footsteps silencing the room and drawing the animals back.

Breathing so sporadically his voice was cracking, Ronno took a single step back when the Man suddenly shot its claw into the cage, snatching the deer by the neck. Screaming in panic, Ronno was dragged out and carried away. The sounds of his screams eventually faded away, disappearing into silence.

"Where- where did they take him?!" Bambi ran to the gate of his cell, trying to strain a long, "what's happening!?"

"Don't know for sure," came the elder voice, prompting Bambi to turn his head to her. The light of the room finally illuminated the animals within the cages. The old voice belonged to that of a hairy, grey creature, gentle and old, yet visible pain was visible in her eyes. Right away she met Bambi's gaze, flattening her ears.

"What, you've never seen a cat before?" She quipped, "look, I hate to tell you this, but your friend was likely taken to die."

"What? No!" Bambi paced in his cage, panic spiking his movement as he sporadically walked in circles. "No, no, no no no!"

"What's it to ya?" The cat shrugged, "he didn't seem to like you all that much."

Stopping in place, Bambi looked at her, "I... I don't know. I don't know really know what to think right now, I'm just really confused. There has to be something we can do!" He decided not to tell her the part that Ronno was partially his responsibility, being the prince of the forest.

A laughing tweet came from the other side of the room. "You're insane. Fight? Against a human?" Drexel shook his head. "My friend, these creatures are not something you can stop. They have tools, weapons," he trailed off slightly, a shudder hitting his tiny body, "and they're smart. So very smart, they think of everything. They conquered the ground, they conquered the air, and soon the whole world will be there's."

"So you're just giving up?" Bambi said, a feeling of hopelessness coming over him, "just like that? They're going to kill him, we can't just sit here."

"Oh I'm sorry, I wasn't aware we could just leave our cages." The elderly cat said sarcastically, hissing in agitation, "look kid, that fawn is dead, give up or you'll be next."

Every direction Bambi tried to turn his mind only ended with failure, with any possible option he had of getting out being exhausted. His panic quickly shifted into agitation, his head diving into denial over his helplessness.

Drexel still made attempts to reassure the deer, "stop pacing, just breathe!"

"Don't you tell me to breathe like I'm some infant!" Bambi suddenly snapped, his voice popping in the room. "I outran a whole squad of dogs not too long ago, I can figure this out!"

-.-.-.-.-.-

Initially, Ronno went limp under the Man's firm grip on his scruff. His hooves tapped and dragged along the hard, splintered floor as he was carried away. His face was frozen in an expression of terror, his only movements being faint twitches of his tail and ears. With his head hanging low, his eyes faced downward as he witnessed himself pass over dark stains and patches of grass that poked through the floor. Out of nowhere, as if a switch had flicked inside him, Ronno suddenly woke up.

"Aaah!" He cried out, kicking his hooves into the floor, "help!" The Man stumbled slightly, a grunt of surprise radiating from its hairy face. Its claws just barely released Ronno's skin, the jolting movement briefly wedging him loose. The Man made an angry swipe with his other hand, reaching for the deer's throat as its grimy paws staggered on the floor. Surging with adrenaline, Ronno felt his heart kick into overdrive as he fell free onto the ground. He stood in a panic, hooves tapping and scratching on the floor. Overwhelmed with terror he frantically looked in all directions, trying to identify any possible place to run. His eyes locked to his left, where he spotted the wall of the cave.

He could've been running into the depth of the underworld for all he knew. He heard the Man fall with an enraged shout, losing his balance as Ronno's agility overclocked him. Breathing so hard he felt he would soon pass out, the deer threw himself through the broken passageway, slowly worn into the wall from years of wear and tear. He prayed he would find himself outside, but the cold air didn't leave his pelt no matter how far he ran into the darkness. He ran until he felt his heart would burst, until the ground suddenly vanished underneath him, prompting a yelp of surprise. Going into a free-fall, Ronno plummeted down into the depths.

Angered by the escape, the Man pushed himself up and went to grab a uniquely-shaped stick attached to the wall. Gritting his yellowed teeth, the fierce animal had malice on his mind, only for its ears to be met with the sound of a banging cage. Turning its head, the sound was coming from the back room, another captive had grown restless in its cage, slamming its antlers into whatever would meet them.

"Bambi, stop!" Drexel pleaded. "He's going to hear you!"

Uncooperative, the younger deer just snapped his head around, flashing a glare in the dove's direction, "I'm counting on it!"

"Are you insane!?" The elderly cat snapped, her hostile tone briefly flashing concern. She opened her muzzle to say something else but quickly snapped it shut when the Man exploded back into the room. Humans, as Drexel called them, seemed naturally provoked by an excessive racket. Bambi heard coming, and instantly his heart raced. He had outrun dogs before, even outsmarted one, but the species called Man was the apex predator. He knew at heart with a grimace that could not defeat a Man, no matter what he tried. The ferocious beast clambered over to Bambi's cage, a shadow of death darkening over the small deer. Swallowing down his fear and calling forward all the courage he possibly had, Bambi braced himself. The Man gripped the door and tore it open.

Bambi shot out like a fired bullet, headbutting the Man in the nose. The remaining animals in the room gawked in bewilderment as the Man fell like a titan, its back hitting the floor with such force that it shook the cages. The stick was knocked out of its claw, flying away across the room. Knocked by the impact, Bambi squeaked as he landed on the hard floor. For a moment he was dazed, his mind unsure of where to go as it didn't believe he'd get this far.

"Bambi, the latch!" Drexel shouted down to him.

The deer blinked in confusion, "the what?"

"The latch!"

"I don't know what a latch is!"

Groaning in pain, the Man placed his grime-soaked paw on the floor and began to push itself up.

"Do you see that shiny thing sticking out of the doors!?" The dove was shaking, sticking his wing through the bars and pointing to a mechanism that locked the cage. "Grab it and pull it!"

"Pull?" Bambi paled. Drexel's cage was stacked quite high in the air, he jumped longer distances before, but the tension of the movement was interfering with his thinking. It took a solid second for him to realize that he hadn't yet moved an inch.

"Bambi!" The bird shouted, snapping the deer out of his thoughts.

"Aah! Okay okay I'll do it!"

His heart pounding out of his chest, Bambi crouched down and aimed his vision at the latch of the door. Pushing himself up, he gave it his best jump and lept into the air. Clenching his teeth shut into nothing but air, it was a tragic miss, and the deer pathetically collapsed back to the floor.

Drexel anxiously shuffled his feathers repeatedly as he watched the Man get up and register what was happening. "Come on, kid, you can do this!"

Before the predator could make a grab for the deer, Bambi successfully jumped and grabbed the latch in his teeth. His body weight yanked it out as he fell, and Drexel's cage swung open. Instantly the dove went on the attack, soaring out of his cage and going for the Man's eyes. The room surged in chaos as the Man furiously flailed his arms, stumbling with such erraticness that Bambi felt himself get kicked into the wall, slamming him off the cages. The force sent a shock through his tiny body, an ache briefly carving his skull before soothing over with a groan.

"Hey!" The cat yelled at him, "are you just gonna stand there?! The human's distracted, let me out!"

"Aah- sorry," Bambi stumbled, shaking his head at the dizziness. The cat's cage was lower to the ground, meaning he didn't have to exert too much effort to set her free. Standing on his hind legs, he pulled the latch and freed the cat from her prison. He barely had time to react before the feline launched out of her cage and dug her claws into the Man's leg.

"Run!" She shouted at him, baring her teeth and biting as hard as she could. "Go find the other one!"

Bambi was frozen to the floor, "but-"

"Go!"

The deer panicked and ran off, not knowing half of where his hooves were taking him. Running through darkness and freezing air, he frantically turned away from dozens of foreign objects he had never seen before. Pelts of all sizes and colors were scattered all over the building, some flat, some large and bulbous. Bambi could barely make a solid turn as his hooves slipped on the smooth, polished floor, even sliding to a crashing halt on the wall. His overdriven anxiety mixed crudely with the aching pain of getting tossed around, surging panic as he tried to make sense of the dark world he was lost in.

His eyes darted to a far wall where he spotted a worn passageway carved into it. The edges were splintered and broken, likely old and worn down from time. It was just small enough for him to fit through, no way the Man could follow him in. Without thinking, he seized his only way out and made a beeline for the tunnel. The room couldn't have been all that big, but Bambi's small size perverted his perspective, twisting his vision into a massive, gaping world of fear. Flying into the tunnel and into the darkness, the edged splinters cut his back as he went through, leaving long, red scratches down to his tail. He left behind a faint amount of blood, staining the wooden splinters a sadistic red.

"Ronno! Are you here?" He called into the darkness, ducking his head down whenever his instincts told him. He felt the floor change texture several times, going from hard to soft, then like grass, only to quickly revert back to a smooth floor. "Where did you- aaahh!" He screamed as his hooves met empty air, and the deer fell down into a freefall. For a brief moment he truly thought he was about to fall to his death, until his body hit cold, murky water, slowing it to stop.

"Ack!" He spluttered out the foul water, shaking it off his fur as he stood. The obscene stench of fecal matter, grime, and spoiled food invaded his nose. "Where am I?!" He backed up a step, his legs splashing in the dark green water, "what happened?"

Back up on the surface, Drexel and the old cat hustled to their escape, the bird riding atop the feline so they could efficiently use her night vision. The usage of the cat's natural ability warned them of the trap's presence, and she carefully looked down into the hole. "Hey down there!" She rasped. "Never heard of a fawn getting flushed in the sewers, heh. Usually just pet alligators."

Drexel gave her an odd look, "that's not funny."

"Help me!" Bambi called up, his voice echoing off the hardened cold walls.

"To be honest, there's not much we can do." The cat shrugged, "you may be stuck in there. Your deer friend down there?"

Bambi took a frantic look around, trying to force his eyes into focusing through the darkness, "I don't know, I can't see! But... he must've come this way, he had to."

The cat sat down, looking around the old, withered room around her, "well he's not up here, and there's no other path out except for," she leaned her head up, noticing a hole in the ceiling. The moon was beautifully shining through, the stars flickering in the night. "Up there," she pointed her grey paw, "but I doubt your friend can fly, and deer don't have night vision, so I don't think he even saw it in the panic." She waved off the deer's situation, "well, come on Drexel, we're getting out of here."

"We are?" The small dove looked at her with a confused expression, "we're going to leave him?"

"What?" Bambi flattened his ears, overhearing their words, "wait, wait wait!" His voice grew quick and frantic, "you- you can't leave! I'll die down here!"

The cat was already scoping out a pathway to the ceiling. Cats had natural agility, and she was quickly climbing some old furniture, pushing herself up with the dove on her back. She scanned the ceiling exit, visualizing in her head the jump she'd need to make when she was interrupted by a bite to the ear. "Ow!" She hissed, swiping at Drexel, who quickly flew off her.

"I don't want to leave him," the bird said firmly, "I'm going down there."

To the dove's dismay, the old cat merely laughed him off, "you? Down there?" She flicked her tail at the hole in the ground, "you're going to die in there. You're really gonna give up a life of free-flying and food for that tunnel of feces?"

"It's a fawn!" Drexel argued, leaning into her face a little. "An animal like him doesn't deserve to die in a place like that! He's not vermin or some reptile!" He shot an empathetic look down into the fractured piece of floor, "he doesn't know the city, but we do. And if you won't help him," he trailed off, muttering to himself, "then I'm the only one."

"And what if he dies?" The cat shot back, readying herself to jump, "right in front of your face? What then?"

"Then I," he trailed off, lowering himself to the ground as he thought. He looked at the floor with a sad expression. "Then I'll fly out. I'm small enough to fit through the bars anyway." He sighed, unhappy with his contingency plan.

The old cat merely shook her head at him, wordlessly judging him for his lack of self-preservation. He thought an insult or reprimand was coming, but the feline just resumed her climb. Within seconds, she slunk her way along a passageway that had been worn into the wall, traveling up to the ceiling's height and climbing out. Drexel watched her tail disappear into the night and heard her soft footsteps fade away. She was gone, escaped into freedom, now it was just his turn to fly out as well.

But he wasn't interested in flying out, Drexel spread his wings and glided himself down into the exposed fracture in the floor. He found Bambi sitting quietly facing the wall, his head hung low while his tail aimlessly floated in the water. He was motionless, the will to carry on was slowly fading away.

"Bambi?" Drexel flapped over, landing on the deer's shoulder, "Ronno isn't down here, he must've carried on down there." He flicked his tail toward a small opening in the wall, where the water was slowly draining out. The Great Prince merely flicked his gaze toward it, a lack of enthusiasm to escape.

"I'm going to die in here," he sniffled, "soaked in," he paused, spite filling his tongue, "gross trash water. The Great Prince of the forest, dead in a vault of sludge."

"It's actually a sewer," the dove piped up. "And all of them either drain into the ocean or some river. There is a way out of here."

Bambi's ear briefly flicked.

"Come on!" Drexel bounced on his shoulder, "we can't let Ronno get lost down there, can we?"

"Ronno hates me," the buck sniffed, "he always did."

The dove through for a moment, shuffling his feathers. "If you go help him, maybe he'll give you a second chance. Wouldn't it be nice to have him as a friend and not an enemy?"

The question pricked Bambi's thoughts, making him stop in consideration. For all the time he had spent butting heads with the older fawn, he was quick to write off Ronno as a lost cause, a temporary piece of opposition to challenge him in life. He had never considered Ronno anything more than an obstacle of his own life, but Drexel's inquiry had sparked his imagination.

Ronno, a friend.

Bambi never had other deer friends. He had Faline, but frequently she was detached and difficult to get along with. He had no animosity toward her, there was just something about the doe he couldn't connect with. Whatever that was, Bambi failed to see it, shrugging off that some deer just weren't meant to be friends. He had bunnies and skunks as friends, but they couldn't ever keep up with him, never able to share the same activities without being one-sided. To have Ronno as a friend meant someone he could train with, run alongside, have someone else to just talk to and laugh with, and most importantly; someone he could relate with. He was desperate to end the bad blood between them ever since he and Ronno first clashed.

"My father always said," Bambi began, wrinkling his nose at the smell, "that you defeat enemies best by making friends with them."

"Your dad sounds wise."

"He really is, he's the Great Prince you know." The deer pointed, standing up, "and I'm going to be his successor." Turning toward the wall and squinting through the darkness, he could perfectly hear the rushing water as it drained through the opening. "Are you positive this will eventually lead to an exit?"

"I promise," Drexel nodded.

"Ugh," Bambi cringed as he lowered himself, "I'm really gonna hate this, and I don't know what's down there!"

"That's why I'm here. I thought you'd want a little guidance."

"Thanks, I guess."

To plunge headfirst into the dark depths of Man's infrastructure was a new low for a deer taken from the forest. There was no use in sitting around depressed, he had to escape and hopefully reunite with Ronno. He didn't dare admit that he cared for someone considered an enemy, but even Ronno didn't deserve to drown in a river of feces and muck. Finally, he had Drexel, a dove willing to give up freedom to help guide him, an act of kindness Bambi had no idea how to repay.

"I'm scared," his said with a low tone, trying to hide the crack in his voice.

Drexel sighed, then patted the deer's back with his tail. "It's okay to be scared. And I'm here, so you won't be lonely." A long moment passed between them, Bambi fighting his own fears to take the final step.

"Alright," he took a deep breath, mentally preparing himself, "let's... do this."

He ducked his head down and briefly went underwater, crawling under the small opening in the wall. Entering the dark sanitary sewage systems, Bambi had little idea of what he would face, down in the depths. Ronno's life was on the line, and a Great Prince never left anyone behind.