Captured

  As Honey flew towards the lion, he glowed and grew in size. The lion's eyes went wide in horror as he pulled his head back and flailed with his front paws. WHACK. WHACK. WHACK. PIN YOUR PREY. Honey was unceremoniously batted three times and pinned to the ground under the lion’s enormous weight. The lion quickly chomped down on Honey’s neck. Once, Twice. Three times. His fangs couldn’t penetrate the badger's skin.

  “Dammit. You crossbred son of a rat and a skunk. You are still impossible to kill.” Leonard said as he struggled to keep the squirming badger pinned down.

  Ratskeller charged. ZOOM….OOF! A large striped cat jumped out and pinned her down with its enormous paw. SCWING. SHADOW STEP. Pumpkin moved into the shadows to attack the Tiger, but came flying back out even faster than she stepped in. As her claws scrambled for purchase on the snow covered ground, a panther stepped from the shadows and pinned her down.

  PLASMA BALL. Yuki raised her arms to attack and George attempted to shield them. Once again, the air started to shimmer, but immediately stopped. Yuki gulped and let her plasma ball fade. An enormous hooded snake had risen before her and was currently flicking its tongue at her nose. George was staring at the ground where a large snake covered in black diamonds had wrapped around his legs and was shaking its rattle with its head lifted to strike. George shook in fear as he saw the venom dripping off of its fangs.

  “Get off me. I’ll…” Honey started to say, but a large black snake with a black mouth appeared from the shadows and sunk its teeth into the badger. Honey snapped at the snake that had pulled back quickly. “I’LL KILL YOU TOO. I DON’T GIVE A KRAP.” Honey screamed as spit flew from his mouth. He twisted his body, getting one paw on top of one of the Lion’s paw before bringing his other paw up behind its ankle and twisted with all his might in the other direction.

  The sudden application of complex torque on Leonard’s ankle forced him forward and over the badger who twisted even more slamming the Lion’s face into the snow covered walkway. Honey got to his feet and looked around. His eyes went from Ratskeller to Pumpkin to Yuki to George and assessed the situation. He turned toward the snake in front of Yuki and stood up but wobbled.

  “I’ll Kiiiiillll you. Awwwww krap.” Honey fell over and began snoring loudly. Leonard got back to his feet and shook his head making the snow stuck to his mane fly everywhere. The black snake moved up next to him as other animals moved in to tighten their perimeter.

  “They have gotten stronger. They will make decent replacements for the humans in our ritual.” the snake said.

  Leonard looked at the animals gathered around. “Find Louie and have him lock them in the primate cages.” The other large cats disappeared and the four conscious teammates were released as large, growling wolves backed them towards Honey’s unconscious body. They all looked at each other and George shook his head. He figured they would have a better opportunity to escape later. If the lion was having them locked up, it would probably be a while before the ritual was ready.

  Ratskeller decided to be a good girl and trusted George’s judgement despite wanting to test her new skill. It might be perfect for this situation, but she didn’t know if it would be safe to use it so close to her friends.

  It was only a couple minutes before Louie was led to the group by the cats. He picked up Honey by the scruff of his neck and motioned at the wolves to follow him. They began growling and snapping to force the Ratskeller and her fr… team to follow Louie. He opened the door and held it for the wolves to push their four captives into the building and drive them down a hallway.

  As they approached a large metal door on one side, Honey’s body flew over their heads to slam into it. “We’ll put them in that enclosure.” Louie said. Yuki ran to Honey, but was pushed out of the way by George who began healing the badger. Louie reached down and stuck a metal object into the door and twisted before pushing it open.

  The wolves in the hallway growled and Yuki and George drug Honey into the enclosure. Pumpkin followed, but Ratskeller turned to growl back at the wolves. One rushed forward to snap at her. CHOMP. ZOOMY. Her chomp tore a large chunk out of the wolf’s neck and she dashed back to fight from inside the door frame so the wolves could only come at her one at a time. Louie took the opportunity to slam the door shut and lock it.

  His face appeared on the other side of the door above the snarling wolves. “The ritual won’t be repaired tonight. They will need to start it at sunset tomorrow.”

  “Traitor.” Ratskeller growled.

  “Realist.” Louie countered and lifted himself out of sight. The wolves and Ratskeller spent a few minutes growling and snapping at each other through the bars before the wolves left, leaving the now dead body of their packmate laying in the hall.

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  Yuki and Pumpkin watched as George continued to place his glowing hands on George. As time passed, he moved them closer and closer to the wound left from the snake bite. Eventually a shimmering black liquid could be seen dripping out of the wound. When it stopped dripping, an exhausted George sat down. “That is all I can do.”

  Ratskeller paced near the door wishing she could chomp more wolves or had gotten a few good chomps in on those cats. She was upset at herself. A good girl might have listened to George or a good girl might have chomped them all. She wasn’t confident in the decision she had made.

  A flashing yellow light in the corner of her vision annoyed her and she focused on it seeing that she had gained a level. The light was still flashing annoyingly and she focused on it again. This time her inventory opened. There she found she had acquired the Croupiere and Flanchards of the Landshark. Def +30. Strength +5 Vitality +10 (Three piece bonus +10 agility +10 Strength +10 Vitality. All Landshark abilities +1)

  Ratskeller equipped her new armor and twisted her head to see her back, rump, and flanks covered by spiky segmented armor. On her back she could just barely see a large triangle of metal sticking up. Its edges shining in the light, Ratskeller could feel its sharpness like an aura coming off of it. She went for a quick swim out and back into the enclosure.

  Yuki and Pumpkin had gathered straw and positioned Honey in the makeshift bed they had made for him. George sat watching Ratskeller as he recovered. “I’ll take a try at opening the door once Henry wakes up. I doubt he will be out too much longer.”

  “I’ll go look for a path to escape.” Ratskeller said as she dove back into the ground. When she swam underneath the edge of the building, targets lit up in her vision. The building was surrounded and there were even several targets on top of it. Ratskeller suspected it might be the snakes on top of the building as well as a couple of the cats. She could see other targets dimly lit up in some of the nearby buildings and a larger group of targets on the other side of the zoo.

  When Ratskeller returned to the enclosure, Honey was quietly sleeping on his side. Pumpkin, Yuki, and George gathered around Ratskeller. “What did you find?” George asked.

  “They have us surrounded with beasts on top of the building also. I didn’t see a way out.” Ratskeller reported.

  Pumpkin and Yuki’s shoulders dropped. George nodded and said, “We’ll have to fight our way out.”

  Yuki brightened up. “I have another ability, a Flame Cy…”

  “That won’t be necessary.” Louie said as he opened the door and set two short metal poles and two long wooden planks with the tips curled. Hanging on his shoulders was a pair of boots with the tops of the toe area cut out. “We can take the service tunnel to the docks and escape that way.”

  “Planning to lead us right into your friends hands again?” Pumpkin snarled.

  Louie waved her off. “Why would I bother?” he asked. “Only one of you can escape. I fear the fire breather will return, so it is time I also make my escape.”

  About an hour later, Honey began to stir. Yuki quickly positioned herself directly in front of Honey to prevent him from charging Louie. “Honey, wake up. When you are ready, Louie will lead us out of here.”

  Honey yawned and sleepily said, “Louie always was a nice guy. I’d let him scratch my ears when he escaped and came to visit me at night. He was a good scratcher.”

  *****

  Leonard watched as the mamba directed the baboons in finishing the ritual. It took up a lot of space, so the only open area they had large enough to create it in was just inside the main entrance. The sky to the east was starting to turn slightly orange as the sun rose.

  BOOM. An enormous fireball exploded at the main entrance and an enormous beast walked in on two legs. It had four arms and was covered in brown fur. From the side of its head, black horns curled. Across the back of its shoulders were large boney spikes. Its lower canines were oversized and curved out of its mouth.

  Four large beasts that looked like a cross between a lion and a lizard walked on six legs each behind it. They were covered in red scales and had flames dripping from their mouths. A tiny green bird flew just over the shoulder of the upright beast with colorful tail feathers.

  A half charred cobra spat acidic venom in the face of the beast and its skin began melting. The bird dropped what looked like a small black crystal egg into the upright creature's hand while one of the red lion lizards shot a fireball from its mouth to kill the cobra. The group ignored the creatures that fled the outskirts of the area.

  The beast crushed the black crystal and its face rapidly repaired itself. “I seek the Ratskeller.” It announced in a deep voice. “We know she is here.”

  Leonard, too terrified and entirely to close to run, replied, “What is a Ratskeller?” The creature held up its two arms and conjured a picture of a short legged black and gold dog with a long body. Leonard’s eyes went wide. “She is here. I can take you to her.”

  The beast nodded and Leonard quickly led them to the Primate building. The beast was too large to enter, so it ripped the top off of the building as it stepped inside and tore sections out as Leonard led him to where Louie had locked the five captives up. Fear grew in his heart as he saw the door open as he dodged pieces of debris falling as the beast tore its way into the building.

  Looking inside the room, his fear proved correct. They were gone. “They were here a couple hours ago. They can’t be far. We had the building surrounded.”

  “Fortunate for you.” the beast said and Leonard relaxed before the beast continued. “I am nearly out of time, so I will have to kill you quickly.” The beast grabbed Leonard and bit his head off, swallowing it whole. It threw the rest of the body away and roared as explosions of flame lit the buildings of the zoo on fire.

  *****

  Ratskeller trotted behind Honey as they followed Louie out of the tunnel to an open dock area. The group raced across the large paved area into the woodline between it and the road. When they were hidden in the trees, Louie dropped his wooden planks on the ground and began stuffing his feet into the boots. After quickly tying the boots, he wiggled his toes sticking out of the boots before he stepped onto the planks and Ratskeller heard a click as the boots fastened themselves to the planks.

  “What are you going to do?” Yuki asked as Louie grabbed the two poles.

  “I saw humans do this on the picture box once and I always wanted to try it.” Louie said as the sky lit up from flames rising over the zoo. “We had best hurry. The fire breather seems to have returned.” He said as pushed with his poles and one of his legs moved out sending him sliding between the large trees. “Good luck.” He called as he picked up speed.

  “Be careful.” Yuki called as she waved goodbye to the orangutan.