The City

Felix sat on the stairs outside the castle wearing shoulder pads, knee pads, a foam martial arts breastplate, and a collection of cut plastic cups tied around his arms and legs. He took his revolver out and popped the chamber open revealing that all of the slots were full. He spun it for a little while and then popped it back inside. He sighed.

Sam sat next to him with a helmet in her lap.

"Ears up," She said. Felix raised his ears as high and still as they could while she fitted the bike helmet on him. While tightening the chinstrap on him she noticed his frown, "You alright Felix?"

"...No. I.. I don't really know how to feel. Before Olive was crying about Nate being dead and it made me.. confused."

"Why's that? Also Is that good?" She asked about the tightness of the helmet.

"Yeah it's good, and I don't know. Shouldn't I be sad too? Literally all my friends are gone except Kid. Who knows, we might get there and Una and Error are both dead and I shouldn't have even bothered. What if they're dead right now? What am I supposed to do without them?" Felix asked.

"I guess you'll just join the hundreds of gwenens in mourning over their friends vanishing. We'll figure it out Felix," Sam said.

"I guess.." Felix mumbled.

"I wanted to praise you for standing up to Brian earlier. He's a jerk and you let him know who's the general on this mission. I've never seen anything like that before. I didn't think you had it in you," Sam said.

"I didn't know I had it in me either. It just kind of happened. I was scared and really just acting out. My leg would be in a cast again if I didn't have a gun with me. I'm nothing without it," Felix rubbed his face with a palm.

"Felix you're not nothing without the gun. Sure you won't be able to fight, but you know everything about this wilderness and the creatures that live there. Anybody else wielding the gun wouldn't be nearly as good with it. It's your weapon and responsibility to use it based off of what you alone know," Sam said.

"I wish I wasn't the only person who knew this stuff.. I don't want to weld the gun, or fight monsters or anything... but I have to because I'd die of shame when I could've died by the jaws of some terrible creature instead... It's just the right thing to do, going on this mission," Felix said.

"I guess I can't help you there... Hey, have you seen Tito around anywhere?" Sam asked.

"No. I went out to Maxwell's for more ammo but I didn't see him while I was there or on my way back. You seem.. upset.. with him," Felix played with his hands.

"It's private stuff Felix," Sam said.

"Sorry.." Felix looked away.

"Don't worry about it kid," Sam put her hand on Felix's shoulder as the others emerged from the castle. She looked at them and stood up, "Are we all ready then?"

"Yes! I wanna go already!!" Brian whined.

"Anybody object?" Sam asked them. Zapps coughed, "Felix, lead the way."

Since they were on the fourth floor the group headed for the stairwell to the first. In the hallway of the first floor Felix suddenly stopped in his tracks and crouched down to the ground.

"Good eye Felix! A crime stain!" Kevin said looking to it himself. It was indeed a blood stain on the floor. It was a mess of a sort of puddle that had dried out, but something big had definitely stepped in it and walked off.

"I think It's a devil wolf footprint. No wonder they were able to take so many people, they were already here.." Felix sighed.

"Gwenens also aren't that smart when it comes to staying home when they should," Olive said, "This is right outside the PizzaAdome™ water based obstacle course. Most of the kidnapped gwenens were probably taken from there and anywhere else that still had night activity."

"Pumpkin was on his way back from the arcade.." Zapps sighed.

Janet crouched down to the paw print and put her gloved hand over it. It was much larger than her hand.

"Mm Mmmm!" She squeaked in fear.

"Let's keep going," Sam said, "We're not going to find anything here that we don't already know."

The group continued past Law Lake and made it back to the apartments. Felix walked up to his room, put his hand on the door, and then let everybody in.

"Wow, well I've never had this many people in my room before. It seems kinda odd.." Felix said.

"Felix I hate to rush you but we shouldn't skylark," Sam rolled her wrist.

"Right right.." Felix said. He crouched down under his bed and flipped the carpet and tile back.

"Astounding! An entire world of monsters beneath your bed! The legend is true!" Kevin said.

"Am I expected to fit in there?" Brian pointed to the vent.

"Yes," Felix told him, blunt.

"I waste no time!" Kevin shuffled under the bed and into the vent. The rest got in line to follow.

On the other side the group turned their flashlights on and took a look around the library. Felix was still at the top of the ladder trying to pull Brian out.

"If only there were two of me. Then maybe I'd be able to pull myself out," Brian said with his arms crossed.

"For a gwenen you really talk a lot like a monster," Felix said.

"And you expect me to know what that means?" Brian grunted.

Felix tugged a little harder and Brian suddenly began to slip out. Losing balance, Felix and the ladder began to fall backward while Brian slipped out of the vent into a clumsy dive.

"I've got him!" Zapps yelped. Felix landed in his arms but slipped right through them, landing on his tailbone. Felix opened his mouth in shock and rolled over.

"Oop.." Zapps bit his lip.

"You cool dude?" Sam asked Felix.

"Yeah yeah just sssssssssnnnnmm!" Felix hissed the pain away.

"I'm ok too, thank you for asking," Brian said walking off his crash site.

"I'm fine, let's continue," Felix weakly held up his lantern by his tail. It was much brighter than the other's flashlights, but less directional. He walked to the end of the library and pulled the carpet slab away. In the Forgotten Chambers ahead a meaty stench hit the gwenen's noses.

"Blmms!" Janet put her hand over her helmet's vents.

"Smells like adventure!" Kevin tried not to make a face.

"I think it's that!" Olive pointed to the corpse of a remcamen in the room.

"Oh that.." Felix walked past it, "I shot it."

"How?" Olive sped up to follow while Sam paced herself and the others looked over the remcamed corpse.

"It was chasing me. It's a remcamen and they have magic powers I think...It was going to eat me so I shot it," Felix said without much feeling. He made it to the end of the Forgotten Chambers and into the wall. He climbed in as everyone else realized he was already out of sight. They rushed over to follow.

At the other side of the wall that had been previously packed with monsters, there was the oddly noisy, and bright, City Chambers. Noisy? Felix looked out to the once abandoned city now filled with all sorts of creatures walking about, herding insect livestock and selling wears in shops. Electric lamps illuminated all the way up to the ceiling of the chamber. Up on skyscraper roofs devil wolves remcamen and reptiles laughed. Felix stood stiff as a remcamen shepherd of large fuzzy beetles pushed the herd down the road past him.

"Golly sneeze, Felix.. What are those things..?" Zapps asked.

"I'm not entirely sure.." Felix said. He relaxed a little, "This wasn't here yesterday, but it might help us if we can find the right monsters to talk to."

"They talk??" Olive asked.

"Yeah," After the herd passed Felix began to walk into the city streets, "Kevin, I want you on my right and Janet here on my left. Olive sticks to the back because she has her bow. I want everybody really close together, and don't stray or talk with anybody. Just follow me and don't do anything else unless I say. Got it?"

The group with their eyes open wide at the creature culture nodded and took their places. They stepped past huge laughing devil wolves and corrupted hissing dragons. The very footsteps of these beasts made the gwenens gasp and look away. Deeper now it seemed to evolve into some sort of market. Steam and the smell of sauce and stews had the gwenen's noses flaring in timid curiosity.

"Felix.. I'm hungry. I don't know what they're making but it smells really good," Brian stared at a robotic vendor with three arms.

"Don't be tempted by the smells. These are monsters, masters of trickery and destruction. They'll use anything to curse you," Felix moved on. Brian sighed.

A long and limber raptor stood in the way of the group. Upon closer notice Felix realized that this looked a lot like a caecusraptor, the little native lizard that once populated the area. It used to be around the size of a cat, but now the monster was even taller than him.

"I smell you. You smell, out of place," The caecuraptor said. Her eyes were dull, after all the original animal was blind.

"We're just looking for more of our kind," Felix told it. The group looked at him oddly.

"I have smelled something out of place like you before, but I'm not sure where. One of you in particular, is not out of place. I think it's the one I'm talking to. Good to see you again.. I think. I can't quite remember.." The caecuraptor tilted her head.

"Thank you, but If you don't mind I'd like to pass you," Felix said.

"Of course. I'm just waiting in line," The raptor took a step to the side and the gwenens passed her to continue down the road.

"... Felix! What was that?!" Olive asked.

"I think it used to be a caecuraptor, but it evolved or something.." Felix said.

"Felix I don't think she means that. She's talking about what you were saying!" Sam said.

"Oh, did I mess it up?" Felix's ears dropped.

"No! You were speaking a different language!" Sam put her arms out.

"I was!?" Felix's ears perked up and he looked back to the group. They all nodded at him, "I didn't even realize.. I guess it's just another reason for why you all should stick with me. The kidnapped gwenens are really unlucky now. If they can't talk to the monsters then they might as well be animals to them.." Felix looked away as a vendor cut a native bird's head off with a cleaver.

"What do monsters think we sound like?" Zapps asked.

"Er.." Felix tried to concentrate on Zapps voice, "I can't hear it any differently. It all sounds like the same language to me. We'd have to ask a monster, but it's not really important right now."

"Felix!" A small hissy voice yelled. Felix stopped and looked around. A familiar shape was sitting on a window cill like a cat. It was Pipe, the little monster within. Felix had the group approach.

"Pipe! Wow it's you! Do you know where a bunch of kids who look like us were taken?" Felix smiled and pointed to his squad who were all staring at Pipe.

"That is a lot of disgustingly cute eyeballs.. I have seen more of you fuzzy little squeaks. They were being pulled through here in a really big cage. I jumped through the bars to look for you but you weren't there so I didn't give a crap," Pipe said.

"Aww you give a crap about me?" Felix smiled.

"I give a crap about my safety and you are friends of Error who's kinda a big guy. He can try to kick me out of his house but I don't think he'll ever eat me so that's something I can't say for most people. Maybe if I help you, we can form a pack of some kind? And I can live in his house and laugh while he kicks other people out," Pipe said.

"That would be nice. If you help me, I'll talk to him about it and maybe we can make a deal, but only if you help me," Felix said.

"Grrr... What do you need help with you fuzzy idiot?" Pipe asked.

"We need to get those gwenens back. You're probably the only person who'll help us with this. The other monsters, I don't know so well," Felix said.

"I will help you, but I'm jumping ship whenever I feel like. I know a monster trick like I know my own snout. I'm not about to become cursed any more than my proportions can't help.." Pipe said.

"That's good, we'll scram with you, first sign of trouble," Felix said.

"Felix this is a rescue mission, the entire thing is trouble. You can't just steal other people's livestock. It'll probably start turning into a trap as soon as you begin to advance, dummy," Pipe said.

"What are you guys talking about?" Sam asked. Felix turned to her.

"This is Pipe, she's going to help us. She saw our friends so we're going to follow her," Felix explained.

"But you said we can't even eat the food. How is trusting her a good idea?" Brian crossed his arms.

"She's not infectious, and we're a lot bigger than her so she wants protection from us. I've also talked with her in the past," Felix explained.

Pipe hopped off the window cill and landed on Felix's helmet.

"Whatever you're talking about, it better not be me," She grumbled.

"Why wouldn't it be about you? You're our guide and my friends can't understand you when you talk," Felix said.

"Really?" She turned to face them and stuck her head out, "You're all doomed and have no hope! And every single monster thinks you're the most delicious thing!! Haha!!"

The gwenens blinked at her.

"What did she say?" Zapps asked Felix.

"She's insulting you," Felix explained.

"What!?" Pipe asked Felix.

"I was telling them about what you said," Felix explained.

"What!? That destroys the whole joke! Ah whatever. Turn right and head back the way you came," Pipe said.

Felix went back the way they came only a block.

"Stop! Stop! To your left!" Pipe hissed, stomping her hoof on Felix's helmet.

Felix looked to his left. It was the entrance of the Statue Chambers. Standing in the doorway on his hind legs was a devil wolf with an apron and a plate full of small meat cubes stabbed with toothpicks. Above the wolf was a banner announcing: "TERRIBLE'S CANNIBAL BUFFET NOW OPEN. TWO EYES FOR THREE PLATTERS. KIDS EAT FREE* kids under 13 yrs"

"The cannibal buffet?" Felix thought aloud.

"There's a lotta stuff back there fuzz butt, but they were taken through that door to the grave site," Pipe explained.

Felix pointed to the devil wolf and looked back to his squad.

"She says that they went through that door. I'm going to talk to the devil wolf advertising the cannibal buffet," Felix said. The squad nodded and followed Felix behind.

Felix walked up to the devil wolf.

"Greetings traveler. Would you be interested in Terrible's Cannibal Buffet? It's real devil wolf meat for real cheap. Try some. Good food doesn't have to empty your wallet," the devil wolf smiled and lowered the plate to the gwenens. Brian took two and slid them off the toothpicks into his mouth.

"Brian!" Felix grabbed the gwenen's arm.

"What?! I know what free samples look like. I'm not a dummy," Brian shrugged.

"I'd like to see you say that again when those meat chunks turn your internal organs into stone until you're a choking statue with lungs so stiff you stuffocate while standing! I told you not to eat anything!" Felix barked. The other gwenens put their hands over their mouths in anxiety.

"That's what's gonna happen!?" Brain grimaced.

"I don't know, but everything with monsters and non-monsters is about conformity and corruption. You might look like him at the end of the day," Felix pointed to the devil wolf.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.. what do we do?" Brian's ears drooped.

"Well we don't know yet do we.." Felix turned back to the devil wolf.

"My my, what energy you squeaks have. I hope that it meant the food was good. If not, I can try to help with that. We here at Terrible's Cannibal Buffet do aim to satisfy customers you know. If that wasn't good then there's plenty of other flavors that you could try for free," the devil wolf said.

"Well, sir, I was hoping that you might have some information on us gwenens!" Felix pointed to himself and the rest of the group, "Some of our friends went missing and a witness told us they went through here. We were hoping if you might know where they went."

"Hmm.. I don't know about any gwenens but maybe the staff saw them. Follow me. There's got to be someone around who knows where they are," The devil wolf said, pointing his arm out into the Statue Chambers for them to go ahead of him.

Felix took a timid step forward, but stopped when Pipe stomped on his helmet and then jumped down to face him on his shoulder.

"Felix!" She hissed quietly, "This is most definitely a trap! Only desperate monsters go to Dog the Terrible's Buffet!"

"Dog!?" Felix gasped.

"Shh!" Pipe hushed, "Dog has many nicknames, but still, you must not trust him or anybody that deals with him. Dog is a monster of destruction and chaos concentrated. He has very little patience and everyone under him is constantly in danger of dying randomly due to his temper tantrums. He is the head of all monster kind. He is THE monster, don't you know!? You stupid little child!"

Felix looked back to the devil wolf.

"Everything ok in your little world?" He asked.

"We won't be meeting Dog will we?" Felix asked.

"He's usually very busy sir, and only meets with very important people, but if you'd like me to send a message I can take a note," the wolf said.

"No no, I don't want to meet him. I just want to get through here to where the gwenens are. Somebody took them through here," Felix explained.

"Then go on ahead. I'll be right behind if you need me," the wolf said.

Felix scowled, but walked through the doorway, followed by the rest of the group. The devil wolf got on his fours and followed too.

"Guys..." Felix whispered to the group, "This devil wolf is probably leading us into a trap. He works for Dog the Terrible, one of the most powerful and destructive monsters there is. Follow my lead. When I turn around and go through you I need you back in position so I can shoot him the proper backup," Felix explained.

"We're really going to shoot this guy? He seems alright," Zapps asked.

"It seems mean and death isn't fun for anyone, but it's just what we have to do. Right now there's only one of them. If we do this quickly and quietly we can make it to the buffet and ask around without that wolf breathing us down or manipulating us," Felix explained.

"... But you don't know the guy," Sam spoke up, "What if he's only doing this because.. they'll do something to him if he doesn't, or he can't control himself."

"We still have to stay safe Sam. He might not be able to control himself but there's not much we can do about that. Our goal is to stay alive, and unfortunately that means we have to put those thoughts aside and protect ourselves. We have to pick our battles, and our friends are waiting," Felix said.

Sam gave him an odd, almost sad look.

Felix ignored it and snapped to behind him with his gun in hand. He pulled back the hammer and shot the devil wolf's head, but he didn't collapse.

"You son of a snitch!" The devil wolf held his head, now leaking. He jumped at Felix and the rest of the group, tackling Felix and knocking over Kevin, Janet and Pipe. Olive clumsily reached for her bow while Sam, Brian and Zapps took out their bats.

"Hit me and I'll bite his arm off!" The devil wolf growled with Felix's gun arm in his mouth.

Felix pulled the hammer back again and pulled the trigger in the devil wolf's mouth. The beast let go and took steps back. He coughed out spats of blood and held his throat. He got on his hind legs so that he could hold his neck with a claw and walked off backward until he disappeared gasping down a corner.

Sam held her own throat.

"Felix I didn't like that..." Sam whispered.

"I don't like it either. Devil wolves are adorable, but we have to stay safe," Felix said. He picked Pipe up and placed her on top of his helmet before heading further into the narrow cinder block Statue Chambers.

"Haha! Showed him! He bit the hand that kabooms!!" Pipe kicked in triumph.

"Yes we did, but try not to celebrate too much Pipe. The gwenens are right. Monsters are tragic- we shouldn't celebrate their suffering," Felix said.

"...I do not get that at ALL. You're probably just too dumb to think falling down stairs is funny," Pipe said.

"Oh I think that's funny.. as long as they don't die or something else horrible," Felix said.

"Who even are you? The death part is the funniest! They just stay there in a stupid position and somebody in their family has to record that stupid idiot death right then and there!" Pipe chuckled.

"That isn't funny. Think about the person who died. It probably hurt a lot, and to top it off it's embarrassing," Felix said.

"I think you're missing the point," Pipe rolled her eyes within her pipe, "Why are you rumbling?"

Felix was shivering.

"Felix," Sam spoke up, "If a gwenen turned into a monster would you shoot them?"

Felix's ears tensed up.

"..Why do you ask?" He kept watch of the maze in front of him.

"Because you keep talking about how easy it is to become one. So what? If one of us gets bitten or something you're going to shoot us?" Sam grumbled.

"Uh, well Sam, it depends on a lot. Pipe here is my friend and she's a monster. I don't think killing all monsters is necessary," Felix said.

"Yeah ok, she's an alright monster. I'm talking about killer monsters. Like real bloodthirsty ones that wanna eat gwenens. Would you kill them if they couldn't help but eat gwenens?" Sam asked.

"If doing so would save people's lives then I guess I would. If they were trying to kill me then I would do it in self defense," Felix stopped walking and looked back to Sam, "Why are you asking me these things?"

"You really don't know? I don't want to be shot by you?? Does that not seem like something reasonable to be worried about?" She bobbed her head.

"Hmm, yeah," Felix still shivered, "Answer me this though, if you were being chased by a monster who was going to kill you. Would you let it, or kill it? It's you or it. No other choice."

Sam stayed silent, hands in fists.

"Or how about this. If a monster was after your tail friend Tito. It's him or it. We know monsters are creatures of tragedy but you know what you'd do," Felix said.

Sam avoided his gaze. Felix realized she was hurting and his ears drooped a little.

"I'm sorry.. I didn't mean to upset you. If there's something you need to tell me I'm not a trigger-happy murderer. I just do what's needed to protect us. That means all of us, even the monster us-es. You understand?" Felix asked her.

"Mmn..." Sam grumbled.

"If you're not going to tell me then that's fine. Come on, let's go," Felix turned back and continued further down into the Statue Chambers.