chapter 4

I must have been really tired, because I slept like a rock! Oh god, and being fluffy, it’s like you are your own pillow. So soft! And to top it all off, I woke up the best way possible, from the smell of food! What more could you ask for?! I thought happily.

Thankfully, reality kicked in and reminded me that life is still a bitch. And I mean quite literally kicked as I was suddenly greeted with a foot to the gut.

“Breakfast is ready!” Flora almost hummed as she retracted her foot and took a step back.

“Oof! Sonofa, god that hurt!” I opened my eyes to see a smiling kitty looking down at me innocently.

“Are you okay, sir?” She could have gotten away with it, if I didn’t already know how much of a bitch she was.

“You suck, you know that?” I grumbled, sourly, as I picked myself off the ground, shaking some twigs and leaves out of my fur. Why is it that shit like that always gets caught in my fur? It’s extremely annoying to get out and takes freaking forever.

Okay, enough complaining, I’m getting off track. Anyway, Flora decided to repay me for last nights fight with burnt food. God dammit. It’s sad when you get treated like crap and know you deserve it.

I looked over to Baldon, still asleep, curled up in the fetal position with a thumb in his mouth. He must of been nice and toasty from the fire all night because he had a small smile on his face as he slept.

“Hehe, almost makes it worth being treated like this.” I mumbled to myself.

“Hmmm?” Flora questioned.

I shook my head at her and just turned back to Baldon with a smile. “Nothing.”

I don’t know what she made of that, don’t really care, it’s what she said next that threw me off.

“You’re not one of those guys who likes little kids are you?” She asked with a bit of concern in her voice.

Immediately I spit out the crispy, burnt chunks of what I think was supposed to be juice, all over the floor.

“W-What?!” I nearly choked out, good that food was dry.

“Well, I mean, it just seems like-” She didn’t get to finish as I was instantly in her face.

“I do NOT swing that way, hear me?” I growled.

And all my viciousness was thrown out the window as I realized she was laughing her happy little ass off at me.

“I-I’m just messing with you.” She said through chuckles.

My jaw nearly dropped. I couldn’t believe it, she totally got me. That’s messed up!

“You’re a bitch!” I yelled in frustration.

She just rolled her eyes at that. “So you keep telling me.”

Then, she has the nerve to brush me off and walk over to Baldon to try and wake him up. I could see the smirk on her face all the way from where I was standing!

Oh my god, I’ve met the troll of equestria, Tivo save us all.

“Baldon~” She whispered in a caring tone. “Wake up, it’s time for breakfast.”

Shaking him gently he started to wake up, his smile sticking as he sat up. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and giving a small yawn, he looked around. At first, he seemed confused as to where he’s at. The first person he saw was Flora, so that gets an even brighter smile to spread across his face. Then he turned over and noticed the freakish chimera sitting not ten feet away and his smile just vanished.

Dammit.

The awkwardness during breakfast was unbelievably strong. Not a single word was spoken. Both cats stayed on the opposite side of the now smoldering fire. I’m sure flora had built it back up to last through breakfast, but who cares. Warmth is better than no warmth, and the fire might have been the only thing keeping them here in the first place.

It’s around this time that Colten decided to establish his existence, seeing that everyone had somehow forgotten about the giant snake. Can you blame me though? He hasn’t talked much since we got here.

“So... I take it we slept well last night?” He asked.

It was a pretty shit way of breaking the ice, but I’ve got nothing better, so I can’t really talk. I still wasn’t used to him hissing with every other word. It kind of got annoying after awhile, but at least we could understand him, for the most part that is.

“Mhmm!” Baldon replied enthusiastically.

Flora looked to him with a smile before glaring back at me, then to Colten.

“Yes, well, it was warm I guess,” she stated with gruff voice.

That tone was getting old.

“Oh, well, good...” Colt said, failing to keep the conversation going.

Might as well have a go at it. Only thing I could do now is make things worse, I thought to myself.

Since there was nothing else really to do except for sitting there awkwardly, I decided to go with the more interesting option.

“So, what’s up with you two?” I blundered.

“Um...What do you mean?” The silver hair questioned.

“Well... You look different than everyone else that was on the cliff, just thought that seemed a little off.”

“Um...”

“And didn’t you have a bow yesterday?” I continued.

That elicited a loud gasp from the usually quiet cat. His little eyes grew wide, and his face dropped it’s happy smile. This is the third time I’ve seen him freeze up, what is up with him?

Baldon

I lost it...the one thing left that I had to remember her by...and I lost it... I thought sadly. How could this be happening? Where could I have left it?! No no no! I began to pummel myself in frustration.

“Whoa whoa, kid, calm down.... was it something I said?” Zack asked curiously.

Flora approached and put a paw on my shoulder, which I quickly shrugged off.

“We have to go find it...” I announced abruptly.

Zack looked at me like I was crazy. He obviously didn’t understand.

“What are you talking about?” he asked with a stupid frown on his face.

This was all his fault in the first place. I lost it, all because of him!

“We need to look for it, and we need to find it, now,” I said through a low growl.

“Well how exactly do you think we should go about doing that, oh great and wise one? Also, go after what? I’m not following you anywhere,” Zack ensured.

“Hey, you kidnapped him, the least you could do is follow along!” Flora said, quick to back me up.

Giggling, the Chimera responded, “Hehe, that’s not how it works.”

“Yes, it is, it’s only fair!” I retorted.

Suddenly, he burst out laughing. He was starting to get on my nerves.

After sitting there laughing like an idiot he caught his breath long enough to speak. “F-Fair? Did you just say it’s not fair? Ha!”

I try to keep my head when jerks like him come along, but for some reason Zack was getting to me. Sitting there, I just stared him down as he continued to lecture me on how life isn’t fair and that I should be old enough to understand that, blah blah blah blah.

By the time he was done talking I’d already lost interest and started getting ready to go.

“Oi, what are you doing?” he catechized.

“I’m going to find my bow, with or without your help,” I declared with slight enmity.

Not having much to really carry with me, I just started following the water up stream. I figured I’d find the waterfall soon and figure out what to do from there. Suddenly, a noticeable presence creeped up behind me. With a slight turn of the head I verified that it was indeed Flora following me. Don’t know what I expected, but I was glad to find out it was her. I wish she wouldn’t sneak up on me like that, I bellyached to myself.

Not even ten steps into the journey and we’re stopped by a loud holler from behind us.

“Wait, stop!” the annoyance pleaded.

We both turned around to see a very pitiful sight. The hellion himself was crouched down low to the ground in what I’m guessing was supposed to be a begging position. His eyes were watery and his lip quivered.

“P-Please, don’t leave us alone.” Zack supplicated.

I guess he was speaking for Colten as well, who had hardly said a thing this entire time we’ve talked. Sad thing is, he really does try to get his word in, but his correspondent isn’t getting the message. In fact, I bet this guy wouldn’t know how to read said message.

“Why? After the way you treated us, why should we do anything you ask?” Flora intervened.

Zack

“Because, I’m sorry... this place is kind of a whole new world for me. I’m stranded, I’m scared, and I’m completely alone.”

“Hey~!” Colten complained.

I rolled my eyes at my brothers outburst and resumed my very pathetic pleading. Have to say, not my proudest moment, but I’ve dealt with worse.

“I promise, I’ll be nicer, and helpful, please, let me come with you,” I begged the saddest way I could.

I really had to sell this if I wanted them to take me along willingly. Of course if this didn’t work I could always just follow them anyway. We’ll save that as a last resort though.

“I don’t think so,” Flora said as she turned and continued to walk.

“...” Baldon stayed and just kind of stared down at me. Which was cute, and very creepy at the same time. Kudos to him for figuring out how to pull that off.

I gave him a sheepish smile and kept low, showing that I was at the mercy of his decision.

“... Okay... you can come,” he finally said with a warm, yet reluctant smile.

Flora wasn’t happy. “Baldon, no, you can’t be serious. You’re going to buy into that sob story? He’s a giant kimpa! He can take care of himself.”

“Chimera.”

Oh, thank god Colten was here to save the day. What would we have done without his OCD? I thought.

“Whatever. Please, listen to me, Baldon. That there is a bad creature. We shouldn’t hang around with bad creatures,” Flora said condescendingly.

The smaller bast frowned at that. “Quit talking to me like that! I’m not a dumb kid! And you can call him whatever you want, but that doesn’t erase the fact that he saved your life and protected us while we were knocked out. It might not be much, but it counts for something.”

This kid is full of surprises. That’s some good points coming from a kid his size. Well, they were at least good enough to shut Flora up. Now to seal the deal, been wanting to do this since I met the little guy. Not even a second thought was wasted as I rushed forward and glomped him to the ground.

“Thank you!” I chirped.

“Gah!” he yelped as my overly massive Chimera body smothered his inferior bast body. I didn’t actually put all my weight into the hug, though. I wanted a reaction from him, not to kill him. He went down without a fight.

I held that semi-awkward hug for the longest of times. Probably wouldn’t have let go if I hadn’t been brought back to reality by the small bast’s squirming.

“Okay, okay, that’s enough Zack, please stop.” Baldon said with an embarrassed blush spread across his face.

“Awwwww, okay...” I slowly picked myself off of him. “Sorry about that, hehe.”

I helped him up and he thanked me. That over with, we both walked over to catch up with Flora who noticeably didn’t look too happy see me coming along. Together, we headed off for adventure! Next Chapter: Chapter Five Estimated time remaining: 27 Minutes