A/N: I have returned! And we're still on this arc... hehehe...

AlexFalTalon: Aaaaand Toothclaw has a themesong now XD For some reason I like it (and can imagine the Manywhiskers singing it...)

To be fair, Snakeskin was probably used as bait by his parents. Not an excuse of course, but he's certainly not the worst father in-story.

Keldor: Or they would be poisonous snails and Fret would have to jump from shell to shell XD

Abrahem: Co-creators sounds very good! Blendfur works as a spy, but we shall see how to incorporate him... hmmm...

The rumours we shall incorporate the next time we visit the pirates. I really want to get Fret and Momchillo's adventure with the toads done already- buuut, these things take time. As fun as it would be to just have the bats swoop in and save the day... actually that doesn't sound very fun XD Still at most this arc should take up another four chapters. At *most*. Then we should head back to Longclaw's castle and the pirates where we can learn more about this... badger-slayer... And Toothclaw has to kill a shark XD

Okay... less obvious than I thought apparently... Swallowtail isn't Thornflame. They are separate characters. Also news. Thornflame will be in... Book III!

Yeah, haha, it's kinda why I reacted so quickly to the 'interest' line. That scene was all about the Manywhispers getting the info. And Klis being an idiot of course, but the Manywhiskers is more important there plot-wise.

I really like Klis and Bork. Gonna have to work on them more... And flesh out Marik's history more via Clogg (and Snakeskin eventually).

Keyla: Hmmm, I do have a few ideas- but he shouldn't pop in tooo soon. We will get a look into another canon character soon. Hehehehe. Although... soon for me can be anything from the next chapter to the next... year.

Thank you all for the lovely reviews. Four hundred is just... I don't know how to describe it XD Phenomenal? Terrific? Tremendous? Thank you everybody!

Final note is a shout-out to Jack the Quick- er- I mean Socca Kingkiller. Who is writing... *Drumroll* A sequel to this! A far off sequel mind, set two generations after this one. And there might be some deviations here and there because he doesn't know all the details (not even I do sooo) but that's part of the fun I suppose. The fic is called Kingkiller if yall are interested.

For the record... I am also planning a sequel (yes, I am crazy) although less ahead in the future... ten or so seasons after BaW concludes... But I make no promises regarding dates and stuff. It'll probably take me another year just to finish this XD

Enough rambling! Enjoy the chapter!

"I'm only going to ask this once." Sneered Chief Slimegut of the Yellowbellies, his face bubbling with rage (or perhaps it was just his numerous warts that gave that impression.) "Where. Is. The. Princeling?"

The bats before him were all stony-faced and silent. Serious, cold, calculating. One even looked smug! It was this grey bat that Slimegut stomped over to. Siezing Bartok by the throat, the toad glared down at him. "How did he escape? Where did he go?"

"I-I-I-" The bat's stuttering grew intolerable, and Slimegut punched him. Turning away from the groaning mammal, the amphibian hopped up and down in rage. "Swampbreath, you idiot! I told you to guard the door!"

"I-I did Chief- l-like you told me t-"

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!" If he had fur, Slimegut would have been tearing it off his head. "I was gonna be rich! You have any idea what warlords do for their heirs? Well? Do you? I'd have been bathing in worms if it weren't for you stinking, useless- SHUT UP!" This last shout was addressed to Butch, who had been inconsolable since dropping 'Fretch' down the tunnel.

The bats had tried to comfort him of course, the smallest had even tried to squeeze down the tunnel himself, but to no avail (although he had claimed- outside of Butch's earshot- to have heard screaming). The Yellowbellies, on the other paw, had not offered any sort of comfort beyond a kick or two meant to silence him.

"Why're you even crying you big, stupid water-rat? Not like you lost anything! Me? I lost a lifetime's supply of vittles!"

At the sound of approaching footsteps, Slimegut turned. A flicker of hope came and went as Longtongue, Wormbreath and Swamphide returned. Without the stinking furbody. Once more rage came boiling to the surface.

Before his tirade could continue (it had already gone on for quite some time...), Longtongue tossed over something small and shiny. Instinctively the Chief's tongue shot out and snatched it from the air.

"What's this?" Slimegut croaked, his voice dangerously low.

"The warlord's necklace or something." Longtongue said with a shrug. "We couldn't find the ferret."

Slimegut turned away from him and marched determinedly towards a nearby table (their camp was rather disorganized). "Must have found a different tunnel. Or maybe a snake got hi-"

The tall toad narrowly dodged a viciously-thrown goblet.

"IF A SNAKE GOT HIM THEN I CAN'T VERY WELL USE HIM FOR RANSOM NOW CAN I!?" He was once more hopping up and down in rage. "Did you think about that? Eh? You're so smart Longtongue! You're so clever! WARTHOG ALREADY LEFT! And he's got the fur! And now that we don't have the little runt, what's stopping Mad-Eye Marik from killing all of us!?"

A deathly silence filled the swamp-like cavern, punctuated by an especially loud sob from Butch.

Slimegut rounded on him. "I've had it with you!" He stomped towards the unprotected beaver and lashed out with unparalleled fury. "You and your whining! And your crying! You wanna go back to mama? Eh? DO YOU?" The toad punched and kicked without mercy, and Butch sobbed all the louder. Yet again he struck.

One of the bats, a particularly old and shrivelled-up beast, pushed himself to his talons. "Stop! You're hurting the poor-"

Slimegut was not the only toad who hit him.

"And who asked for your opinion?"

"Quiet bat! The Chief's teaching the brat a lesson!"

"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Slimegut screeched, shoving them all aside. "You're all useless! Useless! You let the ferret escape! One, tiny, wimpy little runt and you couldn't catch him! You- you- yo-" The toad screamed- not any word or anything, he just screamed.

"This right 'ere boys," Snakeskin waved a small waterjug, the contents within sloshing, "is venom. No' a lo' of snakes 'ave 'em in this par' of the worl'- but I killed one or two that did. An' I've seen wha' this can do te a creature. Nas'y stuff, bu' I say the toads deserve worse! Nobeas' harms me an' my own." He thumped his chest proudly, before gingerly pouring some of the venom onto a piece of snake-flesh. "One bi'e of this an' they won' be botherin' anybeas' no more."

Momchillo and Fret were staring at the jug- and by extension him- with nothing short of horror and revulsion. "What? Issa quick death! Better than wha' they'd do te ye."

Fret shook his head. "We're not doing that. I-i- j-just no. What if they feed it to the bats? O-or Butch?" The beaver babe had nearly eaten him the first time they'd met, Fret liked to think a snake was more appealing.

"Well do ye 'ave a better idea?"

"We could scare them off." Momchillo suggested. "Maybe if we made our shadows all big and scary…" The mouse trailed off.

"May'aps we should tell Snap. I know what the bats did te ye was wrong Fret but I've known 'im fer a while. 'E ain' a bad fellow-"

Fret hurriedly pointed a claw at Momchillo. "Y-your idea could work." Well it wouldn't, but it was better than Snakeskin's...

The mouse shook his head ruefully. "But if they realize the shadow isn't-"

"We'll scare them off." The ferret decided. Suddenly, his claws were out and sketching upon the ice. "And I think I have an idea…"

"How did he even escape?" Asked the Chief toad, his voice hoarse and hollow. The bats and the toads shared nervous glances. The last thing anybeast wanted was to set off another explosion, many still wore bruises from the last slapping spree. Suddenly he snarled, sounding nothing at all like a toad, but very much like a bear. "He must have walked right past you Swampbreath! Lazing on the job, were you?"

"N-n-"

Slimegut seemed determined to hit as many of the creatures present as possible. "You know some beasts kill their dozing watchbeasts! Some flay them alive! You had one job you filthy son of a-"

"He couldn't have gone past Swampbreath." Longtongue butted in. "The room was sealed, he could not have moved the boulder by himself."

"Then how do you explain his- why isn't he here?"

The tall toad put a webbed hand to his chin and pondered the question before him.

Slimegut's eyes drifted to Butch (who had been unable to contain a sniff) and a firefly set off within his mind. It then became a raging fire because he was quite convinced his new theory was correct.

"You… ate him…"

Every bat gave their most deadpanned stare, but Slimegut was oblivious to it.

"You big, stupid, crybaby! You ate my warlord!"

"W-whatch?"

Slimegut hopped up and smacked him hard across the face. The stinging blow filled Butch's eyes with tears, but the beaver did his best to hold them in. "Thought he was your dinner, eh? Thought you could get away with it, did you?" The detestable toad punched him in the stomach. "You've already digested him you little monster! I'll kill you for that! He was my worm-bait! My hostage! My lunch! My-"

"Er Chief! I think I know how he escaped!"

"I've already figured it out Swamphide you idiot! The beaver ate him!"

"Er- right. So there was a hole here before, right?"

"What hole? There was never any hole! Are you-" Slimegut, and most of the other toads, turned to find Swamphide buried up till his neck in a new tunnel.

"I've got it!" Cried Slimegut, racing towards the toad. "The little sneak dug an escape tunnel! Quick Swamphide! Before he gets too far!"

Swamphide, who had been expecting some help being pulled out, was disappointed to find the fat toad hopping on his head in an attempt to push him down the tunnel. "Ow! Chief that hurts! Chief! Chief!"

"Grrrrr! Shuddup, why don't you? Go get the ferret!"

"I won't fit! Send someone smaller! Longtongue's thin enough!"

Slimegut growled and kicked Swamphide's unprotected face. "Fine! You lot, pull him out! Longtongue, get ready to drag that slinky stinkball here!"

After much trial and effort, Swamphide came free of the tunnel with a small pop. But the tall toad had no desire whatsoever to jump into the darkness.

"It is dark! And it is cold! And we don't even know if the ferret's down there! You just said the beaver at-"

Slimegut pointed a webbed finger at Butch. "Would you rather crawl down his throat?"

"Why do I have to crawl through anything?"

Slimegut went crimson with rage. "Because I am the Chief and I told you t-"

A distant echo, almost like hissing, silenced him.

"Did you hear that?" One toad asked another.

"Shhh!" Insisted Longtongue, before anybeast could reply. "Quiet if you want to live."

Yet the hissing grew louder, and drew closer- until a name as cold and as venomous as a serpent was heard.

"Asssssmodeusssssssssssssss!"

In the silence of the caverns, the voice was like a thunderclap.

"If we stay quiet." Slimegut insisted in a harsh whisper, as he stepped away from the equally-frightened (but chained) captives. "Maybe it won't find us."

Yet the voice drew closer- and was soon joined by a second one- equally as frightening if not moreso.

"Asssssssssmodeusssssssssssss!"

"Mister Deassssssssssssssssth!"

The amphibians, suddenly terrified, huddled closer.

Then three voices, all at once, yet all different, made their blood run cold.

"Balisssssssssssss!"

"Asssssssmodeusssssssssss!"

"Mister DEATHSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!"

A shadow, cruel, dark and curling- like something from deep within the pits of Hellgates, reared up from a tunnel. Three heads, a wall of scales, all teeth and claws and shimmering poison. A monster. An abomination. A nightmare come to life.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

"It's a gruffalo!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"RUUUUUN!"

The toads turned to flee. Yet from another tunnel, an equally frightening terror appeared. A snake! Large and scaled in black and white and yellow and brown, with fangs dripping in blood and venom. When it hissed, it hissed death.

"RUN!" Shouted Slimegut, who was pulling the rear. The Yellowbellies fled, like dibbuns from bedtime. Running, however, was not the best way to put their escape into motion. Or into words. What the less-frightened (but still terrified) toads did was more akin to ceaseless hopping, those with less bravery (this included the Chief) scrambled along the ice, sometimes slipping, sometimes sliding, sometimes hopping.

"It's getting closer!"

"Move faster!"

"Come on Wormbreath! Hurry up!"

The captives huddled closer to one another, and Butch swallowed audibly. Yet none of the monsters moved for what seemed like an eternity.

"D-did it just work?" Said a voice, from somewhere within the serpent, that was vaguely familiar.

A moment later, the cavern rung with laughter. Momchillo, who had been standing on top of Fret, toppled over and brought the ferret and 'snake' down with him. A large skull slid across ice from them, and found itself at Butch's feetpaw. The three headed monster became a tangle of stoat and scales as Snakeskin's white-furred head came free of the disguise.

"'A'A'A'A'A'A'A'A'A'A'A'A! D-did ye see the-the-'a'a'a'a'a'a- look on 'is face?"

Fret, dazed from both the success of his plan, and the fall, had to be dragged out of costume by Momchillo. "That was absolutely brilliant, Fret! Genius! Wait till everybeast at Redwall-"

"Fretch?" Interrupted Butch. The ferret raised a tired paw and tried to smile, but alas his eyelids were too heavy for such a motion.

"FREEEEETCH!" He, and Momchillo by extension, were instantly wrapped in a hug. "You came back! Y-you came!"

"Well." Wheezed Fret, uncomfortably familiar with the beaver's bone-crushing hugs. "I wasn't going to leave you behind."

"You must be Butch." Momchillo added, his face turning a light shade of red.

"Dat's me!" The beaver replied, hugging them all the tighter- oblivious to their lack of air and comfort. "Pleased to meetcha!"

"Awww, isn't that swee'? Lurvely te make yer acquain'ance Butcher." Snakeskin waved up at the beaver. He leaned in conspiratorially and hid his muzzle behind the back of his paw. "Ye migh' wanna go easy on the 'ugs, though. Jus' a lil'."

Butch looked down, and noticed to his surprise, that neither of his rescuers were breathing. He placed them gently upon the ice and picked awkwardly at his buckteeth. "Sawwy about dat.."

"No problem." Momchillo gasped, taking in as much air as his lungs could hold.

"W-wait!" Said Bartok. "You three were the snake?"

"All Fret's plan." Snakeskin said with a wide grin. Casually, the stoat turned away from the captives and fished for his spear within the folds of his costume. He pulled free a spear. The shaft was gnarled and yellow, and the head, a deadly-looking fang, carved into a blade. Snakeskin smiled dangerously. "Now before I untie the lo' of ye, which one of ye was i' tha' dropped 'im off a waterfall?"

"Um." The grey bat tugged awkwardly at his neck-fur. "I-In m-my defense-"

The butt of the spear spun round and caught the bat hard on the muzzle. Stars flashed painfully around his head. But Snakeskin was far from finished. Tossing aside said spear, he raised a paw, curled it into a fist and kissed it.

Before delivering the beatdown of the century.

"So ye think it's jus' fine an' dandy te walk into my cave of all places, steal a kit, nevermind 'oo 'e migh' be, an' feed 'im te a bear?"

"I-I n-n-never said that!" Bartok whimpered.

Snakeskin kicked him once more for good measure, before dusting off his paws. "Now that that's sor'ed, 'oo wants te be free?"

The toads only came to a halt as soon as they were sure the snakes were far behind them. The majority collapsed upon the ice, huffing and puffing and panting- for none of them had run as fast and as much in a long time.

And as soon as they had recovered from the sudden bout of exercise, Slimegut began to rant.

"Why didn't you try and kill it?" He demanded of Wormbreath. "You could have strangled it or something! Now we've lost all of our captives! Snakefood!" He kicked a wall of ice with extreme prejudice (which was not a good idea, he learned). "We should've turned them to grub-fodder while we had the chance." Rubbing his webbed toes, Slimegut continued to lament. "We were going to be set for life..."

"We still can be Chief." Longtongue decided. The tall toad smirked. "Even a snake will fear a bear."

It hadn't really been Fret's plan, the ferret thought after the eighteenth congratulation. Momchillo had suggested scaring the toads away, all Fret had done was suggest they pretend to be snakes. Then Snakeskin had the brilliant idea of having him carry Momchillo around to look taller (he could still smell the mouse's feetpaws…) If the toads could play dress-up like a bunch of dibbuns, well so could… actual dibbuns!

Not that he was a dibbun of course, that was silly. He was a kit.

But it was nice to be congratulated for a change. Fret could not remember the last time he had been praised for anything. Clogg had only known him as Whimper. Abbot Martin had only started doing it after the disastrous otter trip, and then only in private. Constance… had done it a lot. There was no denying that.

But now, to be hoisted upon Butch's shoulders and treated as the hero of the hour… it was a euphoria he'd always dreamed of but could never imagine. A part of him wanted to laugh and cheer with the others. But he also was in desperate need of a blanket. Ever since his sudden bath earlier that morning, he'd been in various stages of exhaustion and slowly, it was beginning to catch up to him.

He barely registered the twenty-fifth "You were such a brave kit, kit, kit." The ferret was too busy yawning.

"There isn't a snake!" Slimegut snarled, as his toads poked apart an empty snakeskin. "No monster either! Fools! You let the prisoners escape! Scared of shadows now, are you?" He unwisely chose to kick an empty skull. The bone crashed against a wall of ice, but his webbed toes were in greater pain. "There wasn't a snake! There wasn't a monster!" He roared, hopping up and down on his uninjured foot. "Monsters and snakes aren't real you imbeciles! You ran away for no reason!"

None of his cronies bothered to mention that he himself had given the order to run... or that he himself had been terrified out of his wits.

Longtongue (who wasn't listening), drew a single strand of black fur from the ground. "Chief... I think I found the ferret."

"Well what good is he? The bats are free! The beaver's free! Soon every bat and beaver is gonna come after us, and we can't live off of one scrawny ferret forever!"

"Chief..." Longtongue spoke with the burning desire to be smug and proud, but with the caution and restraint to barely conceal it. "The scrawny ferret is the snake."

Momchillo could not remember the last time he'd seen Fret so happy. It had certainly not been after leaving Redwall, but he could not remember the exact time. Perhaps when he'd been told he could visit the otters with them? Or that time he'd been so excited about his nameday he'd cartwheeled into the pond? Definitely not that one...

"Hey Fret!" The mouse beckoned him down from Butch's shoulders, and grudgingly the ferret allowed himself to be lowered.

"What is it?" He asked, sounding not at all interested.

"Just thought I'd let you know that when we get back to Redwall I'm going to bully Recorder Montague into writing all this down." Momchillo punched him lightly on the shoulder. "And I'm going to bully Hawthorn into making a tapestry of you." The young mouse spread his arms wide. "Just picture it- you, leaning on a snake skull, looking all grumpy and stuff, surrounded by fleeing toads!"

Fret frowned. "You're making fun of me."

"No I'm not!" He protested. "I'm serious! I- I'm proud of you."

The ferret scoffed skeptically. "Sure you are."

Momchillo began to scowl. "I'm going to hit you, you know that? You're unbearable sometimes! I was just trying to be nice-"

"I know." Fret snickered, and he was hard-pressed to remember the last time Fret had laughed, genuinely laughed. "I'm just pulling your tail." A smile so shy, and so afraid of it's own existence, Momchillo had never known.

The mouse's's muzzle split into a smirk. "Oh, are you now? Well you had best be careful, I might pull yours."

"I find that unlikely." And grinning? Since when did Fret grin?

"Doubt not Frogsbane!" Momchillo cried, pouncing upon the ferret with an over-exaggerated war cry.

Snakeskin watched the two tumble on the ice with a sigh, shaking his head at the nicknames they gave one another (as if he were above giving somebeast a title like 'Fret of the Foul Air'). In so many ways they reminded him of his own precious kits. The squabbling was there, albeit of a more serious nature, the aversion to his cooking was there, although he had yet to meet a beast that wasn't fearful of 'Ellgates stew', and one had even been inside a snake!

It was mostly the age, the stoat decided. Two little boys, constantly at each other's throats, it was bound to remind him of his own little fuzzbutts. Watching the two roll around on the ice both filled his chest with warmth, and weighed down his heart. If he had been a better father...

But that didn't change anything. It was Marick that stole his kits... And here he was, with Marik's son. The resemblance was scant, but Snakeskin was convinced this was one of them. The ferret had had quite a few children, it did not surprise him that Fret was one of many. Even if, thank Vulpuz, 'e's nothin' like 'is dad.

"Fret the Snake-snack!" Momchillo giggled, as he put the ferret in a (very weak because he wasn't actually fighting) headlock.

"M-momchillo the- N-no, Butch don't!"

The beaver, eager to join in the fun, had thrown himself into the fray- or rather directly on top of the two. Snakeskin laughed at what was undoubtedly Fret's muffled shouting, and moved over to help with the extrication process. "Ye go a'ead." He said, waving off the bats. "Tell Snap te prepare a feas'! Somethin' these three will eat as well- so no' jus' bugs."

"Thank you again, again, again." The bats chorused. Save for Bartok, who was still dazed from his earlier beating and had to be carried away in the talons of his fellow clansbeasts.

Butch was standing now, both sheepish and giggling, while Fret picked beaver fur out of his head and Momchillo tugged at his muzzle for fear it had been flattened on impact. It hadn't, of course, but Snakeskin was nothing if not a tease.

"Momchillo the pancake." He snickered, ruffling the fur between their ears. "All's well wha' en's well, eh? 'Ey, Fret! Tha' remin's me." From out of his cloak the stoat extracted a familiar looking tome. "This's yers."

Fret's eyes, suddenly fearful, darted towards Momchillo. Yet the mouse, smiling rather awkwardly, waved away his worries. "I'm sorry I beat you up over it. I-I'm sure you have your reasons. And I- I never should have- I'm sorry."

Fret blinked. "S-so you d-don't care?"

"Well... I am curious." The mouse admitted, scratching the back of his neck.

"Aren' we all?"

Momchillo did not give Fret the chance to interrupt and pressed the tome further into the ferret's paws."But it's yours. None of my business unless you want it to be."

"Whatches in de book?" Butch interrupted, and hastily Fret hid it from view.

"Er- l-lots of er- really, really boring stuff with plenty of big, big c-complicated words."

The beaver's look of horror made them all laugh (even Butch joined in).

"You know Fret." Began Momchillo. "You should-"

The mouse was interrupted by a deafening roar that sent all their ears flat against their heads.

"W-whatch was dat?" Butch whimpered.

Snakeskin placed a finger against his paw in the universal gesture for silence. It was too much for the young beaver, to be in danger immediately after escaping, and he whimpered again.

"Shhhh Butch." Fret put a paw on his shoulder (or as high along the babe's arm as he could reach). "It's going to be fine."

Momchillo's eyes darted around the cavern, in search of the roaring's source. When he saw it, he froze. A tremendous beast, as large as three badgers stacked atop one another, emerged from a nearby cavern. It was a great living mountain of shaggy black fur, and it shook the mouse to the bone. His guess had been closer than Snakeskin's. The beast resembled a wolverine, broad shouldered and sharp-clawed, yet lacked the colouring of one and seemed to possess no tail.

"I-I thought you said there wasn't a bear?"

Fret could not reply. His eyes were wide and wet in terror, and his jaw hung open as if screaming in silence.

"Wha're ye waitin' fur? Run fer i'!"

Butch did as he was bid, his webbed feetpaws furiously slapping the cold ice. Snakeskin followed his own advice and raced like the wind. Momchillo turned to flee and was scrambling on all fours a fair distance away, when he realized that Fret hadn't moved. Instantly, he slid to a halt and spun around to see.

No. Was all he could think. "Fret! Fret! Fret you have to run!"

The ferret was three shades whiter than Snakeskin, unable to hear him and quivering on the spot. He could not even squeak in terror as the bear lifted him into the air. Escape was not possible.

Momchillo could not pry his eyes away. He had seen this. He had seen this all before. Fret was tossed like a grape, and he flew through the air. Throwing common sense aside, the mouse raced back towards the bear. Nonononononono! This couldn't be happening! Not now! Everything had been going so- so well!

The bear's jaws opened wide and swallowed the falling ferret whole. Momchillo stopped running. He was certain he stopped breathing and quite sure his heart stopped too.

We were... we were getting along.

Footnote: Some of you may have noticed the line 'it's a gruffalo' spouted by one of the toads. For those not in the know The Gruffalo is a kid's picture book about a mouse walking through the woods and tricking the predators within that he's meeting a monster called the Gruffalo. Which turns out to be real. Which happens to like eating mice. Buuut this mouse is basically Gonff the Mousethief (as cunning as they come) and cleverly evades capture. There's an animated film that's fifteen or so minutes long if you're all *that* interested. (This is me. Rambling.)

Did I want to leave you all on a cliffhanger? Absolutely not! Buuut the other half of this chapter got deleted so I decided I would just publish what I had so far (before this is lost ya know) and give you another chapter soon-ish. The*next* one should have loads of action!

And yes, Fret has been eaten again. It happens. (I know, I overuse my tropes- but you shall see why this is worth it next time).

Stay tuned!