Lost or Stolen or Strayed

Introductory Note
This roleplay is currently underway. More chapters will be added as they are completed as cohesive units on the server and are subsequently copyedited. In the interim, feel free to read what we have so far and/or to help write more of the story on the server here! (Resources, such as character bios and a map, can also be found here.)

Prologue: The Raven Junkyard
Reegull was in his secret lair brewing up some Chigull, talking to himself. "They all thought I was crazy, thought my artificial Chi was terrible...well, now that the falls have dried up, I'm the only place in Chima that can make new Chi, heh heh heh."

Reegull began to put his newly made Chi into his Chi storage vault. "The Ravens thought my Chi wasn't any good, thought it couldn't be sold, but now that I'm the only source, they will all have to get my artificial Chi eventually." He continued to offload his Chigull into storage. ''Perhaps a more secretive approach may work better. If I'm lucky, that crocodile princess will come back for some persuader plants again.''

Razar, meanwhile, was up in his nest counting his gold coins like he did every morning. "498...499...500! All of my precious little coins are here. I'd like to count them again just to make sure, but I can't stick around for long. Time is money after all, and I just LOVE money!" he said with a chuckle.

A nearby Raven looked at Razar as he left the junkyard carrying various items. At the sight of the struggles that Razar was having attempting to move that weird box of his, the Raven mentally smiled.

"Must be quite heavy," the Raven muttered under his breath. He felt inclined to help Razar carry the box at first, but then he realised that Razar was a tad too far for him to help now. It would be better if Razar was left alone.

The Raven had other things to do. In his own nest, looking over his weird rifle sketches on a worn-out notebook, he sharpened a pencil with his claws before getting to work. Taking out and piecing together parts of his rifle, he attempted to improve on the rifle once again.

Chapter 1: The Two Lions
A Lion with a very puffy-looking torso sat behind a stall in the market, shouting "Come again!" at random passersby, who usually either ignored him or gave him odd looks because they hadn't bought anything from him. In fact, there was nothing to buy from him, because his stall was completely empty.

Striding about the market was what looked like a normal Lion in a very concealing helmet (save for their ears poking out), though it was really a Lioness who went by the name of Levani, scoping out the market looking for something to steal, then make some quick money off of. She passed by as the puffy-chested Lion was talking to the passerby. She looked directly at him from a few meters away with her expressionless red-eyed helmet, then cocked her head to the side in confusion at what the other Lion was doing. ''What a waste of stall space. Someone else could have set up there,'' she thought.

"Come again!" he yelled at her, a bit of something suspiciously wing-like poking out of his chest fur as he moved. Surreptitiously, he tucked it back in and largely hid under the counter just in case.

Squinting at the protrusion under the fur, Levani ignored it for now as curiosity got the better of her and the Lioness walked up to the stall space. Reaching up momentarily she straightened her helmet a little, then a slightly lower masculine voice spoke. "What are you even selling...Let me guess, nothing? The Ravens at least bothered to put it in a box from what I remember," she remarked. "What's your deal?" Levani asked, leaning on the counter and looking over directly at the other Lion though her expressionless helmet.

"My deal?" he said, coming back up from under the counter. "My deal is the best deal anywhere! Seven nothings for the price of one!" He sighed. "Sadly, all I can sell you is nothing. I wanted to sell some wares, but no one will sell them to me because I don't have any. Alas." He looked at her hopefully. "Can I buy something from you so I can sell it to someone else and get goods from them to sell to someone like you?"

Pulling over a bag, Levani set out some circuitry from crocodile weapons and steering systems. "Mmm, I'll give you this 'waterproof' tech, I don't have much use for it." Pulling out a few more specified components, Levani closed her bag up. "You can have these, considering that you don't even have anything to offer in the first place. I'll take your 'nothing', I suppose," the masculine voice said in a pompous manner. "Bring something to the market next time puffy-chest, trading works by you having something to give out first."

"Wow, thank you!" the Lion said, taking the items. "Now I actually have something to give people like you said! This will help me defy my mission and do what I wanted to do right on cue! Thank you for your assistance!" He looked quite pleased and not in a malicious fashion (though he did look fairly smug.)

Levani pushed herself up off the counter and nodded, satisfied with her gift. "Mhm, no problem, Lion," she finished. Then she began to stare scrupulously at the Lion's chest fur. Levani made a confused face under her helmet, still wondering why he was so protective of it. "Need anything else?" Levani asked, making sure.

"Um, no, but thank you!" he said, straightening up and, in the process, causing a pair of what now appeared to be clearly bat-like wings to protrude from his back. Panicking, he went under the counter and tried to start covering them up again with his chest fluff. "Come again!" he said in a voice muffled by his face being against the stall counter.

With this new discovery, Levani looked around quickly to make sure no one actually noticed what just took place. The Lioness then grinned maliciously under her helmet. Well...this is a surprise to be sure, but a welcome one indeed. She placed her handbag on the counter and leaned on it again, pushing herself over to meet with the winged animal under the stall countertop. "Well hello there, outlander," the masculine voice said in a devilish manner. "I don't think my business here is quite yet done. If you're listening, I'll ponder whether I should turn you in or not," she taunted, sitting down in front of the other animal, aiming to cut him off from escaping from under the counter.

"Hey, I'm just trying to sell stuff here!" protested what was now obviously a Bat. "I'm technically in charge of the Disguise department and am supposed to be here on a spy mission, but I actually have no interest in spying on people and just want to sell stuff here! Can't I catch a break?"

Levani laughed abruptly, smiling mischievously under her helmet. "Oh come now, I wouldn't do that, would I? Turn you in? Come now..." she teased. "I'll let you off the hook, on one condition," she remarked, holding up a talon. "Spy mission or not...I want..." The Lion thought deeply for a moment. "Two orbs of Chi...expecting you have any," Levani asked. "I'd be willing to...trade you more of my stuff," she offered, crossing her muscular arms in a satisfactory fashion.

In response to Levani, the bat's face went completely blank. "Chi? You mean the stuff Scorm rants about that looks like blueberries? I thought it was food and they wouldn't let me have any." He suddenly brightened up upon remembering something. "They said they would give me some if I successfully carried out my spy mission. So if I actually trade stuff here and so do a good job of being in disguise and such, I can tell them that nothing happened and then get you some Chi!" He beamed at her, at which point his mane fell off and he had to put it back on to continue looking like a Lion.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, the blue stuff." Levani scooted back, giving the bat some space. "Well, it's more a power source...not a food, sure blueberries are but not Chi," she corrected. The Lioness' face brightened up under the helmet suddenly. "Oh? Really!? Great!" she said, happily clapping a little excitedly. "When can you get it to me?" she eagerly asked, Levani messed with her helmet moving the snout of it around more making sure the male voice interchange was working. "I'll throw in something extra if you'd like, other than this," she said pleasantly, reaching up to the top of the counter and placing her handbag in front of the bat.

The Bat wrinkled his nose, trying to think. It was clear that thinking was far from being his strong suit. After several seconds of staring vacuously at Levani's ear, he said, "I guess I can get this to you whenever I can convince my boss Braptor that I've carried out my spy mission?"

Levani nodded thinking things over. "Yeah, that sounds great!" The Lioness opened up her bag and laid out a few more tools and internal parts from various tribe's vehicles. Noticing the bat was staring at her ornamented left ear poking out of the helmet, she waved in front of his face to get his attention again. "Sure, yes, my earrings are nice," she said smugly but a tad annoyed. "Please pay attention though, you get stuff to play trader longer, OK?" she said smiling under her helmet. "Don't ask why or whatever," Levani added. "If you know where the Bear Forest is, meet me there at...noon, tomorrow if you can," she asked. Then, twitching in surprise at an explosion in the distance, peeking up from the stall counter, "What in the name of Cavora...?" She observed what was going on and rolled her eyes, going back down to the Bat. "Whatever, just make sure you get that Chi. Please?" she asked, messing with her helmet again.

The Bat ticked things off on his hands. "Paying attention, Bear Forest tomorrow, Chi. Paying attention in Bear Forest tomorrow with Chi. Paying with Chi I'll get via attention so I can have it in the Bear Forest tomorrow. Right. Good. Thank you." He noticed the items on the counter. "Oh yay! Thank you." He pulled on his disguise to once again look as convincing as he ever had. "Trading will ensue!"

Levani smiled gleefully under her helmet. "Yes! That's right, tomorrow Bear Forest, noon, Chi," she said winking under her helmet, even though the Bat couldn't see since it concealed her entire head save the ears. "Thank you again!" Levani said in a smug tone, then grabbed her bag and quickly got back up, making sure her helmet was secure and functioning. The Lioness, seeing some interesting goings-on revolving around a box at a Raven stand nearby, watched the stand curiously while approaching it slowly. Obviously wondering what was in the box, she stayed at a distance at first and listened in on what was taking place.

Chapter 2: Razar's Box
A few minutes earlier, Razar had arrived at the Great Market shortly after leaving the Junkyard. He set up his shop in his usual spot and started placing various objects, varying from gemstones to Eagle calibration devices on the table. In the middle, however, he placed a large red box with gold engravings that stood out from the rest of his items. It was unclear what was inside, but it sure was heavy as he visibly struggled to get it on to the table at first.

"A LIFETIME OPPORTUNITY!" he called. "Just five gold coins instead of ten for the key to this box!" the Raven said while waving a large golden key. It was about the same size as the keyhole as well, so it was easy to tell that it wasn't just a blatant scam.

A scruffy-looking Raven with bright yellow eyes and wearing a dark cloak, by the name of Ridlan, flew above the stalls of the market, scoping the place out. She perked up when she heard Razar say ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ and landed by his stall, curious about what the renowned thief was up to this time. She darted behind a massive crate that was just…sitting there in the middle of the market, to listen in.

At the same time, a glasses-wearing Eagle, whose name was Egregious, was some distance away from Razar, using a telescope to try to look inside Razar's box to make sure it wasn't empty.

The chest was sealed tightly, so it was hard to see, but if one looked very carefully, one could spot the reflection of light from inside the chest.

Egregious, seeing the glint of light, withdrew his telescope. "Excellent! The Ravens are, in fact, not perpetrating a scam as usual!" He walked away from his telescope towards the Raven stall, only for the telescope to explode loudly behind him.

"Ahhh! Welcome to my stall, my valued customer!" Razar said as he saw the approaching Eagle. "And which of my items would interest you today? The rubies? Weird calculation devices or this shiny, unique, golden key?"

Egregious looked attentively at Razar's wares. After much contemplation, he said, "Do you have..." He pushed down his glasses on his beak to give Razar a Kubrick stare over them for dramatic effect. "...a shrubbery?"

"Huh? A...a shruberry?" Razar looked quite surprised as he expected the Eagle to take interest in the scientific instruments or the obvious key. He quickly regained his composure though. "Well, what kind of question is that? I have everything here! One moment please, my friend." The avian said and hastily started looking inside various chests and boxes until he returned to the counter with empty hands...or hand. "I'm sorry my friend, but we seem to be out of this 'shruberry' stuff. Is there anything else here that might interest you, though?" he added with a wink.

"It is disappointing that there is no shrubbery here," said Egregious, straightening his glasses, "so I suppose I will have to settle for the shiny unique golden key. Before you ask, I will be paying partly with...hang on a second." He dashed away to the giant crate and began tugging on it. Various clanks and thuds occurred as the parts inside jostled around in a noisy but ultimately unproductive fashion. Several seconds later, he called out, "Help, somebody, I can't drag this crate. I need help badly!"

Curious, Razar decided to go help out this mysterious Eagle. Can't be losing a precious customer! "Yes, coming right over my friend," he said while walking up to assist him.

Levani blinked at her opportunity with pure astonishment. "Oh...well now I'll just—" She jogged over to the counter and reached over to the mystery box. Carefully grabbing it, Levani grunted, lifting the large container away and jogging back off two stalls down from the Raven stall, then hiding behind them in the shadows. "Now then...how to open this...I should have stolen the key too, shoot..." the Lioness complained.

Fortunately for Levani (and unfortunately for Razar), there was still time. The Eagle's crate was about twice as big as he was in every conceivable dimension (including the fourth) and was crammed with pins and axles on an industrial scale the size of a normal Chiman's arm, making it very heavy. The Eagle was, in fact, unable to push it in the slightest, though he occasionally succeeded in knocking out an item that he had to heft back in. It was no wonder that no progress had been made on this solo.

"So what exactly did you have in mind, my friend? Chi? Weapons? Jewelry? Let me see the goo-" Razar stopped when he saw the monstrosity of the crate that the Eagle was tampering with. "I'm sorry, my friend, but I don't deal in crates currently. Maybe something else?"

Levani peeked back out from her cover, looking for the key. Quickly going back over to the Raven stall, she looked around momentarily, not finding anything of relation to the mystery box key. Out of curiosity, she stood up fully behind the Raven counter and looked over to Razar, seeing the shiny key on his hook hand. She frowned under her helmet and slipped out of the Raven stall, keeping a distance from the group but staying close to the stall, waiting for an opportunity to make away with the box key.

Egregious huffed at Razar's suggestion. "Well then, I'll find the next person with a mysterious locked chest and sell this to them," he said, now trying to push the box out towards the general marketplace but continuing to make no progress.

"But the chest is not locked, my friend! I have the key here right in my hand! I'm fact, why don't you come with me and I'll give you an exclusive, once in a lifetime opportunity to glance at what's inside!" he offered.

Egregious thought about it. Though he loathed leaving anything alone near Ravens, his curiosity got the better of him. Justifying to himself that the parts were fairly useless and no Raven could drag the crate if he couldn't, he said, "OK," a bit too enthusiastically, and came with Razar (assuming that Razar decided to leave and didn't pull some other trick on him).

"Right over here my fr—" Razar stopped talking and stood in place gasping at the horror on his stall table, or rather at the horror that was not on his stall table. "MY BOX?! WHERE DID MY BOX GO?! You've seen it right my friend!? You surely couldn't miss it!" he said while attempting to violently shake the other avian. "How could I lose it?! I'm the greatest of thieves and yet I forgot to look after an ancient Lion artifa—" He suddenly put a hand to his mouth. "I meant an ancient Rhino rock, yeah! Anyway, my friend, I'm sure some of our Rhino pals would be greatly saddened by the abduction of such a great rock! You must come help me find it!" he pleaded.

Chapter 3: Bear With This Slight Diversion
Bearly slowly dismounted his Speedor and entered the great market. He noticed a very puffy Lion who seemed troubled or peculiar at any rate. Bearly slowly walked up to him and said in a wise, old-sounding voice, "Greetings, Lion. What are you selling here at the moment?"

The "Lion" looked extremely pleased. "A very good question!" he said. "In fact, I have all of this 'waterproof' tech for purchase! Do you need any 'waterproof' tech for anything? If so, it's probably here!" After a pause, he added, "And you can buy it!"

Bearly considered this. "Hmmm. Tech? Waterproof? Hmmm…I do not believe that I am in need of technology, waterproof or not. What is your name, O Lion most puffy?”

The Lion looked disappointed but answered nonetheless. "My name," he said, drawing it out so that he could remember what his code name was supposed to be, "is Largechu. What is your name, staff-wielding Bear?"

"I an known as Bearly, the dream shaman of the Bears. Now, tell me: do you have troubles or nightmares? Perhaps weird visions…Is it the one with the cave?"

"You mean the one where all the broccoli falls up to the ceiling?" said Largechu. "I don't think that that's a nightmare, more of a good dream because then I get to eat the broccoli. Unless you mean a different nightmare?"

"No, I did mean an actual nightmare if you have any." Bearly was not sure if this Lion knew what a nightmare was.

Largechu pondered on this before responding. "I once had a nightmare, or should I say, it once had me? It showed me its room—wait, this is irrelevant. Never mind. Um. I don't think I've ever had a nightmare. Yeah. Right. No nightmares. Sorry."

(Largechu did not look apologetic, which probably made sense given that he'd just realized that he'd never had this type of unfortunate experience.)

Bearly considered the response of Largechu. "Very well. As it would appear that my services are not needed here, I will go elsewhere. Goodbye Largechu." And so Bearly walked off very slowly, thinking to himself, ''Now what. Where to go? We will see what happens.''

Chapter 4: Search for the Box
Levani's ears perked up a little listening to Razar go off. She smirked under her helmet proudly. Then, thinking more on how to snatch that key: Steal it...or buy it, I don't know if my gold will be enough though...business hasn't been good, she pondered. Shuffling a bit in place and getting into a more lax position, Levani aimed her ornamented ear at the conversation but made no eye contact so as to not direct attention. Lion artifact... she thought. ''Sounds nice, or is it really just a rock. Ravens are weird.''

Somewhat earlier, acclaimed Rhino scientist Rheinstein had charged into the great market to begin his routine of annoying the Eagles until they sold him stuff when he heard the "once in a lifetime" offer from the Ravens. Mysterious boxes those always have something good. Unfortunately for him, in an attempt to prematurely stop his charge, he tripped and rolled past the Eagle booth, where he was then hit in the head by an Eagle telescope and exploded away from the great market. ''Hmmm...I'll give that a 4.5/10 on the Rheinstein explosion scale. Wait...THE KEY!''

When he got back to the Raven booth, he noticed the box gone and heard the words "ancient Rhino rock" uttered by Razar, he ran up to him to confirm his words. "Greetings, bird! Did you say ancient rhino rock, as in the ones of Rhino myth said to hold great power, considered to be gods by the modern rock population lost to caverns below? If you have one, I'd buy it right now."

"Uhh..." Razar had to stop for a second to think about what would happen if he said yes. He'd gain another customer, that's what would happen! "Y...yes my friend! The ancient rhino god rock that holds great power! But we must find my box first. Quick! Scout the area around you! Look under tables, rocks, look everywhere!" Hehehe... he thought to himself. ''It's just a rhino, what was I getting so stressed out about? I can just give this guy an ordinary rock and he'll instantly believe me.''

After hearing the confirmation he wanted, Rheinstein said, "Very good, very good, bird. I will help you find your box." He began searching for any trace of the rock's power, which he could not find. "Well, bird, that must have been one finely crafted box to contain the rock's power so well." He continued to search around every stall.

"Well, my friend, the rock is currently under a...uhhh...a magical spell! Yes! It's under a magical spell that masks its identity as something else! This is just an idea but maybe, perhaps you should try to track ancient Lion steel? Just a random idea my friend."

"By magic, I shall assume you mean alchemy. Ancient Lion steel...That is a good disguise. I might be able to find that. It may take a while to factor in the age, but I should be able to find it in time." He took out his monocle and inspected the ground and the dust for any Lion steel dust that may have fallen off the box. "This may take a while."

Levani swallowed hard, fearful of the growing crowd and for her stolen box. She looked around a bit frantically. Shoot...I need that key... Levani looked over to Razar, furrowing her brow under her helmet. "Hn...too many people...I should have brought my axes," she muttered under her breath.

Rheinstein continued to search until he found what appeared to be a trail. He looked towards Razar. "Oi, bird," he said, "I believe I've found a trail going in the opposite direction of the Eagle booth. It's towards the large puffy Lion fellow but not all the way down to his booth, just in that direction." Rhino rock god, here we come. "Also, how much is this rock going to cost me?"

"We can discuss that later, my friend," said Razar. "But for now, we must retrieve my treasure. Attack!"

"Who? We have a direction, not a person." Rheinstein was most confused at what the bird wanted done.

"It's a bright red box! How can you miss it?!"

"You have not told me what the box looked like, you weird bird!"

Good luck getting to it, Levani thought maliciously. She walked up to Razar. "Raven," the masked Levani said in a commanding voice. "I think I noticed the box being taken, that way," she said, pointing a talon out in the opposite direction from where she hid it. "It's possible that it's near where that other box is," Levani said, indicating the other large crate in the marketplace. "...How much is that key though? I must ask, it is quite shiny and would make a nice dorm decoration," the masked Lioness asked, squinting at the Raven under her helmet.

"Hmmm..." Razar thought to himself. ''This strange and mysterious woman just blatantly walks up to me, the king of thieves, and points me in the right direction? Something smells fishy here, and these are not the fishes that the beavers are selling nearby.'' "Well, my friend, we might, possibly, probably be able to arrange a deal about this shiny key, yes? But for the first time in my life, I think I am going to trust a Rhino and go over there!" The Raven pointed at the opposite direction that the Lioness pointed at. "If we indeed find my treasure, I'm sure we could work something out," he added with a wink.

Levani rolled her eyes under her helmet. "Ugh, yeah, alright. I'll go look over there anyways," she complained, going in the direction that she pointed in herself instead, not looking back. Then, once Levani presumed that she was out of sight, the Lioness went around to the back of the stalls, jogging over to where she hid the large red box, still keeping it behind the line of stalls. Levani chose to wait there for the others to eventually find it and figure out what to do in the process.

Rheinstein listened in on the conversation between the weird bird and the helmeted creature, speaking once Levani was out of earshot. "Good decision, weird bird! That helmeted creature doesn't seem trustworthy. Also, what do you mean, for once in your life? Rhinos are very trustworthy. But that's beside the point, as the trail leads behind the stalls, not in the direction that the helmeted creature went. We probably won't see them again. However, I do advise caution. I recommend that you get your weapons ready. Now, shall we continue our quest?" Rheinstein reached his hand into his coat and grabbed the hilt of his dagger (though he didn't pull it out) and cautiously began to walk through the gap between stalls.

"Whatever you say, my friend," said Razar. "I'll just follow behind you, obviously to watch your back. To the treasure box!" he exclaimed as they moved towards the direction that Rheinstein pointed at.

Rheinstein slowly crept through the gap with the weird bird supposedly watching his back, though why his back needed watching was unknown to him as the danger was ahead, not behind. Rheinstein still had his hand on the hilt of his weapon as he turned the corner. "Aha, I knew it was the masked creature," he said triumphantly. "See, weird bird? I told you, Rhinos are very trustworthy. Now, masked creature, that box you have supposedly contains an ancient Rhino rock deity, and I intend to obtain it, so if you could kindly give it back to the weird bird so that I can get it from him, that would be great. So, what will it be creature: the easy way, or the time-consuming way?" Rheinstein still had his hand on his dagger, though he did not take it out. He planned to pull it out if the masked creature tried anything, but not before then.

Levani frowned upon seeing the Rhino. "Take that dagger out and come at me. I'll make sure you'll regret it," she threatened. "I'm not looking for you, Rhino. I want to speak with the Raven." Levani stood up fully, trying to have a more direct demeanor towards Rheinstein with the aim of intimidating him. "This creature would like to talk business," she sneered, taking a step forward, trying to get Rheinstein to move back through intimation. "Walk away," she finished, the helmet deepening her voice as usual.

Rheinstein eyed up the mysterious creature. If it was carrying weapons, he didn't see any. He looked around, seeing that the box was behind the creature. ''Okay, so, objective: Obtain the box and escape. The question is how.'' "Well, creature," he said, "the weird bird should be here soon, though I doubt he will be willing to talk business with you as he is the prince of thieves and you just robbed him. Either way, I want that god rock it may be the key to my most recent experiments now that the Chi races are down." He let out a laugh. "Oh, and if you think I haven't faced worse then you well, wrong. And seeing as you don't want to hand this over—" He whipped out his dagger. "—I guess I'll need to take it." He looked at his pocket to make sure he still had his emergency Chi. Hope I won't need that, he thought, then yelled, "HAVE AT THEE!" and charged at the creature, ready to brawl.

Levani groaned loudly, rolling her eyes in annoyance under her helmet, as she didn't want to deal with this nuisance of a Rhino. The Lioness tensed up as Rheinstein came at her. Reaching out with two muscular arms, she attempted to catch Rheinstein's arms as he came at her. With a strong grip ready and her talons out, Levani went forward and to the left a tad attempting to catch him in the action of striking at her.

Rheinstein managed to move just far enough to the left to not have his body caught, but his coat was not as fortunate, as it did get caught by the strange creature and it ripped in half. Rheinstein slid to a stop. "That was one of my favorite coats, so one day you will pay for that," he said. Rheinstein then noticed he was near the box, so he grabbed it. "Well, as I have the box I say good day to you, mysterious creature!" And so Rheinstein ran off into the crowd and started to run to the exit, still wearing half a coat. Time to get in my Speedor and get out of here and back home, MWA HA HA! he thought.

Levani saw him make off with it. "Come on, are you kidding me…" she groaned, watching the Rhino run off. There goes my business plan AND whatever Lion artifact was in there…it would have been nice to at least see it, she thought. Levani walked back out from the back of the stalls with a very frustrated face, though the helmet once again was concealing all emotions from showing.

Chapter 5: Discussion on a Large Crate
Meanwhile, Egregious, who had tried very hard to not be shaken by Razar, was left rather befuddled by the following interchange. He had been seriously considering leaving due to Rheinstein's poor reputation and the fact that he wasn't actually all that interested in the box's contents. However, he was just curious enough that he decided to instead fly up to where his crate was and sit on it to watch things play out from a safe distance. Upon looking around from his new viewpoint, he thought he saw Ridlan next to the crate. "Hi person, do you exist?" he called out to the air (quietly enough to hopefully not alert Razar and Rheinstin), querying this in case his glasses had become smudged and were thus merely giving the illusion of a person (namely Ridlan) if there were, in fact, not such a person there.

Ridlan froze. She had been spotted. The Raven frantically glanced from side to side, before finally noticing Egregrious above her. "Um...yes? I exist," she said, cautiously revealing herself as she fluttered up to the Eagle's level. "Is this your crate?" she asked, tapping it with a talon. Ridlan was unsure of what treasure could possibly be in a box so large.

In response to Ridlan's question, Egregious, decided to respond. "Yes actually!" he said. "It's full of 2M Cross Axles W. Grooves, Connector Pegs W. Friction, and lots of other great pieces, like Conn.Bushes W.Fric/Crossale!"

(It apparently had not occurred to Egregious that what he'd just said would be considered gibberish by most.)

Ridlan narrowed her eyes, seeming slightly confused, but she pretended to know what Greg was talking about. "I see, and the crate makes a nice perch as well. Are you building something?" she asked, but she seemed slightly distracted by Rheinstein and Razar's conversation, taking mental note of their search for the mysterious box.

Egregious, who had been ignoring the bulk of what was going on down below his perch and only heard Ridlan's question, said, "Partially. I sometimes use these to build things, but then they usually explode, so I thought maybe I could sell these parts to someone who could build a non-exploding thing. Or I could sell them and then buy them back after someone fixes them," he said thoughtfully. "Unless it's my item building that needs fixing. I'm really not sure. I spend too much time building to be able to tell. What do you do with your time?"

Ridlan nodded as she listened to Egregious. Building had never interested her, but explosions certainly did. "Have you ever tried building something that was meant to explode?" she inquired. "I know of people who would want exploding things. As for what I do in my free time, it's a lot of different things really," she began to ramble nervously. "Flying, exploring, thinking…I like it here in the market, though. Um, mind if I join you up here?" Ridlan asked, growing tired of hovering. She had the dual motive of wanting to rest her wings and wanting to have a better view of the things going on in the market.

Egregious thought about Ridlan's questions, answering them in chronological order because he didn't really process any of the questions until he was done answering the previous one. "I don't think I've ever built something that was supposed to explode," he said. "It's always happened by accident. Maybe if I tried, though, I could get my inventions not to explode by trying so hard to make them explode that I'd fail and thus succeed!" He seemed pretty pleased with himself before remembering that there were more questions. "Those activities sound good," he said. "Oh, and yeah, you can definitely sit down here! It may be a bit uncomfortable because of the Fric/Crossales, but I can try to push them to the bottom." He pushed on the heap a few times, shuffling around the pieces until there was a fairly flat surface to sit on.

Ridlan cocked her head, somewhat baffled by the Eagle's logic. "Whenever I want to do something, I normally try to do it. But whatever works, I guess," she said with a shrug. The Raven settled herself next to Egregious. She still had no idea what a Fric/Crossale was, but still pretended that she understood. Stealing a quick glance at the pile, all that she saw was a bunch of metal junk, and nothing that seemed like it could explode. "Thanks, uh, I don't have your name," Ridlan said, having just realized this. "I'm Ridlan."

"My name is Egregious!" he said. "But some people call me Greg. Nice to meet you!" He extended his talon to shake Ridlan's, teetering precariously off the stack to do so. He would probably fall off if not intercepted.

"Nice to meet you as well—eep!" Ridlan grabbed Greg's talon as he extended it, before beginning to lose her balance as well as she scrabbled in the pile of axles. A few of them began to spill out of the crate. She instinctively let go of Greg's talons, half lurching, half flying, to clear herself from the crate, but presumably leaving the Eagle to fall.

Thankfully, Egregious was made aware of his situation by Ridlan grabbing him, such that he was able to balance himself and sit upright (though not after repeatedly overbalancing one way or the other and rocking like a seesaw for several seconds). Once fully upright, apparently completely oblivious to the peril that he'd just nearly caused for both of them, he commented, "Wait, so you think too? That's pretty neat! I also like thinking! It's where I get all my ideas! All of which usually fail, of course, but they usually work first! Unless that counts as failing if they don't keep working. Does that count as succeeding or failing?"

After a moment, Ridlan landed carefully back in the crate, trying her best to smooth out the various nuts and bolts that then had disrupted. Her claw subtly closed around one of the axles. She wasn't usually a compulsive thief, but Egregious had her intrigued, and she was curious about the supposed explosive capabilities of his materials. He had so many, he surely wasn't going to miss one…"I…I guess I'd call that a success. Sometimes you just need something to work for a little while," she said with a shrug. "Well, good luck with whatever you're doing. I'm sure that you'll make a non-exploding thing sometime." She was in a bit of a hurry to leave before Greg noticed that something was gone.

"Thanks!" Greg said. Noticing Ridlan trying to leave, he decided to leave too, placing him right where he was before he started the conversation...and, conveniently, where Razar still was and Levani now was as well.

Chapter 6: Saving Razar's Box
Levani had walked back over to the Raven's stall, staring right at him as she waited for him to notice her. She'd tapped her foot irritably on the ground waiting in place.

Rheinstein looked back to see that the creature did not follow him like he expected it to. Heh heh, the box is mine, the box is mine, he gloated to himself. Hooray, now do I leave or return the box? He looked at the Raven booth, only to see the creature there. Perhaps I shall wait nearby and see what happens. Rheinstein sneakily hopped behind some nearby bushes to wait things out.

"Uhhh, I'm sorry, my friend, but I'm not open for business right now," Razar said as he noticed Levani. "A certain...uhhh...complication has shown up and I'm in the middle of trying to sort things out. By the way, my friend, did you see a big, red box on your way here? There's nothing important in it, really, but I just really like to...collect boxes! Yes."

Levani groaned once again. "Your words aren't convincing, Raven. I have seen a big red box, however, and I'll tell you what," she said, stepping closer to Razar to be more serious. "I'll offer my pirating services to you in return for access to your junkyard and what's in the box because I saw a Rhino make off with it. I'll help you get it back, 'kay?" she offered, smiling slyly behind her helmet. "Then, when that's all said and done, we can iron out details and I can do what you ask. Figure out percentages, as you people put it," Levani said in an exaggerated tone. "Hm~?"

"Hmmm," said Razar. "So in exchange for access to my Junkyard, you will help me retrieve the box AND lend your services to me, yes? It sounds like a good deal, my friend! Bring me back the box and this key is yours for a single coin! I gotta make profit somehow, my friend."

"Mhm, mhm, yes that's exactly what I'm offering," Levani said happily in the helmet's usual voice. Pausing for a moment, "Done," she said pleasantly, reaching into a smaller pouch of her handbag, then reaching out, aiming to place a single coin into Razar's talons. Backing up now, "Do you...have anything I can borrow...a weapon perhaps?" she asked. "Something heavy; that fool charged at me with a dagger," she said, turning around and plotting a course to where the Speedorz were usually parked. "Allow me to rephrase that, rent a weapon," Levani said enticingly, reaching into her bag for her only other gold coin. "Admittedly, I wanted to make this offer in some different way, but this also works," she said, thinking out loud.

"Ah! I like your type, my friend!" said Razar. "And as thanks for your services, I'll let you rent this weapon free of charge for this one time! Hold up, let me just see what I have in stock." He quickly scuttled back to all of the boxes storing various supplies behind him. After a minute or two, he returned with two weapons in his hand. "Well, my friend, which one would you prefer?" On his left hook hand was a heavy, Chi-powered mace that looked like it could deliver powerful attacks with a lot of knockback if supplied with Chi, while on his right hand he held a shiny scimitar.

Rheinstein in the bush was near enough to hear the conversation. Why, you traitorous bird, he thought, ''if you've gone against me, then I'll just keep the box for myself. My machines and explosives can get it open, and if not, I'll just hire somebody to steal the key. MWAHAHAHAHA. And I'll get revenge on that masked creature at some point.'' Rheinstein then quickly buried the box and went to a different bush to plot still nearby

She smiled more under her helmet, taking back the only other gold coin she had. "Well, that's a surprise. How generous of you, Raven. I do appreciate it." She reached out, gingerly taking the scimitar from the Ravens left hook. "I don't actually have any Chi, so this will need to do." Levani looked the weapon over. Not my first choice, but this is a Raven vendor, she thought to herself. "Well, off I go. Hopefully, this will be back to you momentarily," she said pleasantly once again, bowing a little to Razar. Levani then made her way off to where the Speedorz would be, passing the bushes, then walking slowly through the location where most of the Speedorz were usually parked.

Rheinstein looked to see that the creature was now guarding the Speedorz. Well now, he thought, ''that's unfortunate, but not entirely useless. He checked his pockets, but couldn't find what he needed, so he went and grabbed the other piece of his coat and got his gadget. Heh, those Eagles never said that a Speedor remote would be any good. He pushed the ignition button on his remote, sending his Speedor flying off into the distance. Then the remote short-circuited and broke. ''Perhaps they weren't talking about the concept, but the device. Oh well, at any rate, it should get that creature on a wild goose chase for long enough. Heh heh.''

Levani saw the Speedor race off, watching it slowly go off into the forest. "Well, that simplifies things. That Rhino is an idiot, gosh," she thought out loud. Levani looked around, spotting the Rhino looking out from his cover. She said nothing and simply stared at him with the blank, red-eyed stare that the helmet gave. She brandished the Scimitar and started to slowly sidestep towards Rheinstein, monitoring her breathing.

Rheinstein looked over at the creature. "Well, that's doubly unfortunate," he said. "My location has been revealed so what do I have?" He checked all his pockets "So I have three Skunk stink bombs, Chi, my dagger, my monocle, and is that an explosive or a large piece of pocket lint? Well, attacking head-on does not appear to be the best option, so I guess I must make my escape and get the box some other day. Mwa ha." Rheinstein stood up in sight of the traitorous bird Razar and the mysterious creature Levani. "Well, mysterious creature and traitorous bird," he announced, "you know what they say, 'fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice, YOU MAKE AN ENEMY FOR LIFE!' GOOD DAY TO YOU BOTH!" He tossed two of his smoke stink bombs down and started to run off to the Rhino Quarry. If Skunk stink works in the Outlands, it must be effective here too, he thought.

Levani gripped the Scimitar harder, tensing up and taking off after Rheinstein, her helmet protecting her from the cloud of stink. ''We shall see, the Lioness thought to herself. "I tasked myself with catching you, now get your rocky butt back to Razar!" she called out, quickly gaining on the Rhino and raising the Scimitar threateningly.

"That bird is a traitorous thief, YOU VILLAIN!" Rheinstein said, continuing running. I may need to use my Chi soon, he thought.

She gained on him more, chasing Rheinstein out into the field of the Lion Temple. "Yep! That's me! I'm the bad villain guy!" she smugly said back, wanting to taunt Rheinstein. "Show me where the box is and I'll be on my way, rockhead!"

"NEVER! IT IS HIDDEN IN A SPOT NOBODY WOULD EVER LOOK!" Rheinstein then let out a maniacal laugh. "YOU WILL NEVER FIND IT!"

Levani slowed down, letting the crazy Rhino go. She shook her fist at him momentarily. "Whatever, crazy Rhino," she murmured to herself, turning away. She sighed heavily. "What a handful," the Lioness complained, walking back through the market. Approaching the Raven's stall, she leaned against the stall support beam to calm down. "Couldn't get him, sorry," she murmured to Razar. "Isn't the best first showcase of my skill, but I'm better at pirating rather than chasing," Levani stated. "Don't know where your box is either, I say he buried it somewhere. Shouldn't be too hard to find considering its medium size, I guess." she mused.

Rheinstein watched the creature walk away and back to the stall. "HAHA, I WIN!" He started to do a dance while singing, "I won, I won, I'm the best at everything," then walked back to his lab in the rhino quarry.

Razar, on the other hand, was quite annoyed. "WHAT?!" he said. "But I CAN'T lose whatever's in there! That was probably the oldest and rarest artifact I've ever had! I spent days digging it up in 'The Pile', which is the BIGGEST junk pile in the yard, I'll have you know! What am I gonna do now?!" He placed his hands on his head in a confused manner.

"OK, OK, calm down, sheesh," Levani said. "Listen, I gave you money for the key, so I want it just as much as you do. Not everything is lost." She pushed off the stall post, looking at Razar more directly. "I say we go look for it, it has to be around here somewhere. The Great Market is big, but not that big. We can use wherever I found him hiding in the bushes as a reference point. No big deal," The Lioness explained, putting the scimitar back onto the stall counter.

"Okay, but let's hurry it up!" Razar said. "I absolutely CAN NOT afford to lose what's in there!"

"Alright! OK!" she said back somewhat loudly. "This way then, he was hiding in the bushes over there when I spotted him, so he must have hidden it somewhere around there." Levani pointed over to the area. "You need to keep your cool, Raven, that helps with this kind of work," she advised with a harsh tone.

At approximately this point, Egregious flew down to where Levani and Razar were. "Hey guys!" he said, waving. "I think I heard you trying to look for something in some bushes? I can build something that should find the thing for you. Granted, the device might explode randomly, but it'll probably find the device first, so hopefully, that should work, right?"

Levani turned around slowly, then fully moving around. Facing Egregious, she sized him up, looking him up and down before straightening her helmet. "Sure, why not," she said in a bored manner, "as long as it doesn't kill anyone. I can show you where, I dunno if a 'device' would be needed," she said snarkily in the usual helmet voice, raising her talons out from under her cloak to make air quotes.

"OK, cool!" Egregious said excitedly, ignoring the fact that Levani didn't seem at all interested in his help. Flying back up to the crate, he tossed a few pieces around and came back seconds later with something that looked like an absurdly large harmonica. "This should help locate the box!" he said. "Lead me to the bushes in question, and my device should indicate which bush the box is hidden under!"

The Lioness mentally balked looking at the contraption. "I—well, alright, sure," she said, nodding. "Uhm, over by where all the Speedorz are parked in a row of bushes, It's near there." Levani turned around, leading Egregious to the place that she described. A few rows of the one-wheeled vehicles were parked neatly, and a few rows down there was a line of bushes, then a gap then another line if greenery one after another. She pointed to the bush that Rheinstein was hiding in, then said, "He was hiding in that one."

With a quite serious expression on his face, Egregious, who had been following Levani the whole time, walked up to said bush and studiously pointed the harmonica-like contraption at it. Immediately, it began honking loudly and dragged him over to the bush that Rheinstein had buried the box under. "Quick, it must be this one!" Egregious said with much excitement. "Remember this spot, as I must now take away the device before it dooms us all!" Flying upwards with the device, which was now making a siren sound, he brought it fairly high up before hurling it away from himself, causing it to explode harmlessly in mid-air as Egregious returned to ground level.

Bearly noticed the duo standing by the bushes, followed by an explosion in the sky. What's the trouble over there? he thought. Let's find out. Very slowly, he began to walk towards the Eagle and the other one.

Levani watched the thrown-together device explode in the air as Egregious landed back down to where the box was supposedly hidden. She rushed over and examined the ground where he said to remember. Seeing that it had been dug up and then patted down not too long ago, Levani went to work, bending down and eagerly digging at the dirt with her talons. Slowly, she uncovered the red box.

"Hooray!" Egregious said, landing near Levani. "We have now uncovered this nice-looking box with some sort of surely valuable and plot-relevant items inside! I suppose we should bring this back to Razar before opening it," he said thoughtfully.

Levani finished digging up the box. Carefully pulling the thing out with some effort, with a grunt, Levani stuck out her two muscular arms from her cloak and picked the thing up herself. She exhaled decisively and headed back to Razar's stall. Looking back at Egregious, she growled, "Mine, I paid for it. If you want a gold piece, I'll oblige, but what's in the box is mine," she reaffirmed in the male helmet voice.

"O-kay," said Egregious, somewhat taken aback. "I did try to pay for it, but that didn't go through, so I guess it's yours. Can I at least look at it though?" he said hopefully.

Levani paused for a moment in contemplation. Her ears dropped in response as she realized her demeanor. "Sure, I guess, if you want to," the Lioness said in a deadpan voice, toning down the aggressiveness in her voice.

"Yay!" said Egregious, pulling himself up short to avoid banging into Levani when she stopped moving.

After a short while, the two arrived back at Razar's stall.

"Ah, I see you have found the box," said Razar with great relief. "Now, my friends, I believe you have already paid, yes?"

Levani put the box down gently, bending over while doing so to ensure its safety, laying it down as she had found it at first. "Yeah, I already did," she murmured "Assuming you still have the key, that is."

Razar quickly checked the box to make sure that it was the correct box and was undamaged. "Yes, of course I have the key!" he said. "It's right here! let me just find it, my friends." Razar then began to rummage around for the key.

"Ookay, sure." Levani murmured, then sat down on the box. Moving her talons under her helmet's chin, Levani lazily resting it on them, while tapping her foot against the ground quickly in impatience.

"Ah, yes! Here it is, my friend," Razar announced pulling out, the key and opening the box, revealing…

…a black Valious sword!

"This formerly-considered one-of-a-kind item is a black Valious sword of the Lion royalty!" Razar explained. "This one is called the Dusk Valious. There is only one other black Valious in existence: the Shado Valious, currently lost to time. This one was given to Ravens in a deal, but got forgotten incredibly fast, after which it was considered a myth; however, I found it recently. And before you ask, I do not know where the Shado Valious or the other three ancient Lion swords are. I hope you are satisfied with the outcome of this transaction, and if you're not, we do not offer refunds on our once-In-a-lifetime offers. Or any of our offers."

"Huh," said Egregious disappointedly. "It's a sword." He then brightened and said, "But luckily I don't need a sword for anything. Can you use a sword?" he said, looking at Levani.

Levani made no sound, only picking up the black blade very slowly and gently. Observing its reflective luster in the sunlight on the pure and smooth jet-black surface, she still uttered nothing. Reaching up to her helmet, she put her claws around it, but only straightened it back into a comfortable place, deciding not to look at the sword with her naked eye just yet. Instead, the Lioness simply hugged the sword tightly to her chest, taking in a deep breath, not believing what she just got her hands on. Levani held it with both her hands as she weighed it up, then looked to Egregious silently before speaking. "I can, not as heavy as I like. But yes, I can use it. I wouldn't expect a bird brain to understand the importance and honor that this thing has," she smugly said to the Eagle. "Disregarding that, though, this will do nicely," she said with a happy tone, going back to cradling the weapon carefully.

Egregious looked mildly insulted. "What? I don't have a bird brain," he said, "I have the brain of a tumbleweed in here!"

"Well, I'm happy that one person values my special wares," said Razar. "HOLY RAZOLI, LOOK AT THE TIME! I gotta get back to that weird Lion's house before anyone notices I'm gone. Pleasure doing business with you valued customers." He then hopped onto his Speedor and sped off in the direction of the Outlands.

Levani chuckled lightly turning to look at Egregious directly, smugly smiling under her helmet. "Whatever you say then, Eagle." She looked back to Razar planning to thank him but he was already spouting off then running away in a rush. Smiling some more to herself Today was actually nice, disregarding other things, Levani thought. "Don't be offended or anything, sheesh," the Lioness said offhandedly to Egregious. "You are a bird, therefore you have the brain of one," she said sarcastically, poking fun at him more.

Egregious pondered this. "From a purely theoretical standpoint, I suppose this is true," he said. "Anyway, what do we do now that the MacGuffin is safe with you?"

Levani shrugged. "I dunno, hang it up somewhere. Keep it safe, I guess," she murmured, exhaling out of her nose from the comment. "Really, I don't know, actually. Didn't expect to come across this, so I'm just stunned," she said frankly.

"Ooh, where do you hang things up for safety?" Egregious said excitedly. "Can I come there too? It sounds very neat!"

Levani looked at Egregious. "Where I live...That's where." She contemplated for a few long moments however looking away from the Eagle. "I...guess you can, so long as you don't break anything," Levani said, looking back at Egregious, "and as long as you're OK with walking, or rather, flying. Because I don't have a Speedor."

"Fine with me!" Egregious said. He seemed too happy to care.

"Ookay, then let's go!" she said a bit awkwardly. "To...my place."

And thus Levani and Egregious departed to Levani's house in the Bear Forest.

At the same time, Bearly realized that nobody in the Great Market needed his services, so he decided to head home for a snack. Hopping on his Speedor, he headed to his home, also in the Bear Forest.

Chapter 7: The Rhino Quarry
Rheinstein walked all the way to the Rhino Quarry from the Great Market. Unfortunately for him, his lab was all the way in the very back of the quarry. Rheinstein walked into the quarry grumbling incoherently about boxes, birds, weird creatures, Speedorz, and coats. He planned to just get to his lab and start plotting, but what with his lab being in the back of the quarry, he took a seat on a nearby rock to rest for a bit.

The local Rhino baker, Rhubarb, walked by carrying a tray that had quite clearly had an entire baked good of some sort on it but now only had a single slice of cake. Waving at Rheinstein, he said, "I need you to eat this cake to see if it's better than rocks! Some of the other Rhinos think that rocks taste better, but I think it tastes better, and so do those few other guys who think this also tastes good! Can you eat this and tell me how it is?"

Rheinstein was still grumbling and didn't notice the Rhino until after his introduction. "Bird, coat ripped, Speedor broken. Huh, what, cake, rocks, uh yes I can try the cake." Rheinstein tried the cake slice. "Hmmm, hmmm, yes I do say this is good indeed, yes much better than granite, and limestone. Yes, this does taste better then most rocks, but there are some I have not tasted in quite some time, so I cannot tell you if it's better than them. However, it is considerably better than most rocks you will encounter. What is your name, peculiar rhino Baker?" he asked.

Rhubarb was clearly quite pleased at the outcome of this. "Thank you!" he said. "Glad you liked the cake. I'm Rhubarb. You're Rheinstein, right?"

"Ah, I see my reputation proceeds me," said Rheinstein. "Yes, I am Rheinstein, the great scientist. Might I ask what kind of cake that was? It was quite good." Rheinstein was enjoying this rhino's company.

"That was a marble spongecake!" said Rhubarb. "And for once," he said, looking quite pleased with himself, "it contained neither marble nor sponges!"

"Neither marble nor sponge has a very good taste or texture," said Rheinstein, who was quite happy with this distraction from the bird and the creature. "By the way, have you or anybody you know ever experienced weird phenomena involving portals to other worlds and/or lands beyond the edge of Chima? This includes portals, artifacts, and creatures."

"One of my truffles once disappeared into a blue ring in a rock," Rhubarb said helpfully. "When I put it down, it fell into the rock, and I didn't see it ever again! Until Rogon ate it. I think that was the same truffle. I guess it didn't fall into the rock then. Unless it fell out of the rock? Can truffles fall out of rocks, or only into rocks? Can other things fall out of rocks but not into rocks? Can rocks fall into and out of rocks, and if so, does that means that the rocks will be falling into and out of themselves forever until they eventually get bored and dance or something? Dancing is fun, but when it falls into rocks, will the rocks begin dancing and the dancers begin rocking? Rocking is also fun, but if rockers fall into rocks, will the rocks begin double rocking and thus become extra rock-like? I like rocks. But I also like—Wait, we were talking about portals or something, weren't we? Whatever those are."

Rheinstein pondered Rhubarb's words for a few moments. "Hmmm, you raise many philosophical questions that will need pondering one day. As for what a portal is, hmmm...how to say it...It's like a hole in the universe which you walk through and are then some place far away, sometimes somewhere inaccessible without the portal."

Rhubarb looked awestruck. "Wait, so I could go find my truffle?" He looked less enthusiastic when he remembered something. "Except that Rogon ate it. Oh well. But portals sound very cool! Can I make one?"

Rheinstein thought for a second. "Well, in theory, with the right equipment, yes, you could make a portal to somewhere. I have been trying to do that very thing for a while and I believe I know of a way to make one. Now, if you are particularly interested in this subject, you can join me as my lab assistant. Not only will it allow you to help in the making of a portal and other things, I can also provide high quality equipment to help you bake better. So, what do you say?"

Rhubarb thought about this. "That sounds like a good deal!" he said.

Rheinstein was amazed: he had found another Rhino who liked forms of science! "Very good, very good. Now, I believe that the best way to make a portal is using an artifact I found and buried at the Great Market. Yes, it's a long story, but we have time. So, you know of the ancient Rhino god rocks, yes?" said Rheinstein, prepared to go into lecture mode.

"No!" said Rhubarb without thinking twice.

"Okay then, where to start...where to start..." Rheinstein began pacing back and forth as he began to explain. "So, back in the old days when Mount Cavora was new and Chi water flowed, the Rhino tribe formed. Yada yada, you know the story, not the we-all-hatched-from-rocks one; that's stupid. Anyway, the rocks back then were said to have amazing powers, and are considered gods by the modern rock population. Now, according to Rhino myth and legend, the rocks were lost to caverns below Chima or something like that. However, earlier today, at the Great Market, a Raven—Razar, the Prince of Thieves—said that in a box he was selling was one of these ancient Rhino god rocks. It was immediately stolen when he wasn't looking. I then tracked down the box to find it held behind the stalls by a mysterious masked creature. I engaged the creature in combat (which is how my coat got ripped), grabbed the box, and ran off and hid in a bush. The masked one then approached Razar saying that I stole the box, and that traitorous, backstabbing, vile Raven allied himself with the creature and gave it a weapon to hunt me with. Well, the creature went to the Speedorz lot to look for me, so I remotely activated my Speedor so that the creature would follow it. That didn't work, and now I'm down a Speedor. I was then spotted by the creature, so I vowed vengeance and ran off, being chased by the creature. Well, it stopped, so I then arrived here, tried your cake, then told you this story. That brings us to now where I'm telling you about telling you the story of my day." Rheinstein then took a large inhale. Ha ha, one breath. "Like I said, a long story."

Rhubarb thought about what Rheinstein said. "So we're made of water and there's a rock god in a box at the market?"

Rheinstein was taken aback by this rhinos lack of knowledge on chi "no we are not made of water. There's...you know what, that's not important at the moment. What is important is that we need the rock god that's in the box that's at the market."

"Right!" Rhubarb said. "Let's go get it!"

"And get it we shall," said Rheinstein, "but first, we must arm ourselves in case of an encounter with the creature. TO THE LAB!" Rheinstein then proceeded to begin to walk further into the quarry.

Rhubarb set down the empty cake tray on a random rock and dutifully followed after Rheinstein.

As he walked, Rheinstein had a realization. Wait, they could have found the box already! Aloud, he said, "Okay, Rhubarb, so let me ask you this: What are your preferred weapons, excluding rocks."

Rhubarb thought about this. "Wasn't there some kind of swingy weapon with a chain that you can swing around your head to hit people in front of your head?"

"Yes," said Rheinstein, "I believe there is something like that. I think I might have one; if not, I can probably make one."

"That sounds good!" Rhubarb said. "I also have some kind of leafy thing, but it's really hurty and I only hit people with it when they make me mad, so I need a chain thing if I want to hit people for some other reason."

Rheinstein saw the logic in this. "Fair enough. Yes, I believe I have one of these chain things. Now, do you have any experience in using chi?"

"You mean the blueberry stuff?" said Rhubarb.

"Do these blueberries make you more powerful?" Rheinstein asked.

"I once ate one, and it tasted like machine pieces," Rhubarb said thoughtfully, "but then I was able to make a pie much faster than usual. I tried eating machine pieces after that and they didn't help, so I think it must have been the blueberry things."

"Okay, so we are indeed talking about the same thing," said Rheinstein. "I have a few emergency orbs of the stuff. Hopefully, we won't need them, but the enemy does not have any, so these will give us the edge. By the way, in my lab, there is a pile of stuff that looks like Chi but isn't. Whatever you do, don't touch it."

"OK," said Rhubarb. "I will not touch the stuff that looks like blueberries unless you tell me that it's the emer-gen-beat stuff that I can touch."

"Good good." Rheinstein stopped, as they had arrived at the edge of his lands. "Ah, it would appear that we have arrived at the edge of my territory. Now, be careful, for I have the place lined with tricks and traps, pitfalls and tripwires. I started an operation extracting gold, silver, and iron from the rocks and got a bit of a thief problem. Just stay behind me and follow my path and we should be fine."

Rhubarb decided to grab tightly onto Rheinstein's back to make sure to stay right behind him and avoid falling onto or into anything.

Rheinstein guided them through the traps to the lab. "Okay, here we are," he said upon arrival. He then dashed over to his weapons stash and tossed the chain thing back to Rhubarb. "There's your chain thing, Rhubarb." He also then put on a fresh coat. "Ah, much better now." He opened a small box with a couple orbs of Chi. "Catch," he said, tossing it at Rhubarb. "Don't use it yet. Now, I must ask if you have a Speedor."

Rhubarb, who had somehow gotten the flail's chains tangled around his head, managed to grab the box and put it in his pocket before disentangling the chains from his head and holding the flail normally. "I don't think I have a Speedor," he said. "But I do have a bakery cart. I sometimes ride that around."

"Okay," said Rheinstein. "I have a Speedor. By the way, here's some advice: Keep a spare in case the first explodes. We can hook the cart to the Speedor. Also, how do you feel about explosives, and things that go BOOOOOOM?"

Rhubarb thought about this before saying, "Explosives are scary, but things that go BOOOOOOM are fun!"

Rheinstein contemplated this statement. "Okay, I like that last statement there, so I shall ignore the first one." He walked over to a crate and opened it. "Heh heh heh," he said, grinning a crazy grin. "This is a special creation of mine." He pulled something out of the box. "I call it Antioch. It's a prototype hand grenade." He looked over at Rhubarb. "That's a device that goes boom. Now, it's only a prototype, so it could make a large explosion or nothing or explode in my hand. Who knows?" He looked excitedly at Rhubarb. "AND WHO CARES!? That was a rhetorical question, don't actually answer it. The point is, it is one holy hand grenade." He stood up and smiled at Rhubarb.

"That sounds great!" Rhubarb said happily. "Can we go use it now?"

"YEAH!" said Rheinstein. "I just need one more thing." Rheinstein walked every to an armory rack. "Last time we fought, that mysterious creature had a scimitar, so I want a bigger weapon." He placed his dagger in his coat and grabbed a longsword. "There, a greater weapon. Now. where do you keep your bakery cart?"

"IN THE BAKERY!" Rhubarb announced, instantly making a beeline for the door.

"OI," called Rhubarb, trying to get Rhubarb to wait, then thought better of it. "Bah, he's already quite far." Rheinstein hopped onto his Speedor and raced after Rhubarb.

Rhubarb eventually got back to his bakery, where he arrived well after Rheinstein. Upon reaching the bakery, Rhubarb pulled out the bakery cart from its niche in a wall and promptly started trying to attach it to Rheinstein's Speedor.

Rheinstein secured the cart to his Speedor. "Very good, very good," he said. "Ready to go to the market and take back the god rock for the Rhino tribe?"

"Yes!" said Rhubarb, sitting down in his cart quite heavily. He hoped that that wouldn't cause trouble for Rheinstein's Speedor, but that wasn't evident at all.

Rheinstein was ready to get back what was his. "Okay then, Rhubarb, let's roll out!" Rheinstein said, speeding out of the quarry off to the Great Market.

Chapter 8: The Bear Forest
Bearly arrived in the Bear Forest, having gone straight there from the Great Market. When he arrived, he went home and made himself a cup of tea.

Minutes later, Levani wearily walked into the lush forest that the Bears called their own and resided in most of the time while sleeping. She passed by the main Bear settlement, where all of them were sleeping soundly as usual.

Continuing onwards, the Lioness hopped across a few creeks, walking across some bramble until she reached the clearing that was her settlement. The Lioness dusted off her black cloak, making sure nothing was ripped or stained while on the way here. Looking over where she lived, Levani checked things over from her position, still cradling the rare sword with care.

Many rocks piled on top of each other, surmounted by a long and flat one acting as a roof, comprised the dwelling where Levani actually lived. There were many items in there, but they were too hard to make out at this distance. Away from where the Lioness lived was a farm of sugarcane, near a river that could be seen beyond Levani's clearing. There was also another form of fruit being grown on stalks. It didn't seem to be growing very well, though.

Egregious, who had followed Levani all the way there, gaped with awe at his surroundings. "Wow," he said. "You are extremely self-sufficient!"

"Heh, thanks. I try to be, got no one else to help me out currently," Levani murmured. Walking forward into her rock overhang, she looked up onto the walls, figuring out where to hang the actual weapon. What was also in the rock overhang was a few stacks of paper here and there, as well as some bowls of differently-colored materials that appeared to be dye. In a row, on the backmost wall, in the corner was where Levani slept, there was a multitude of leaves and leather. On the wall, there was a large cloak over something.

Egregious was extremely curious as to what was under the cloak, but decided not to investigate, so he simply continued staring at the scenery in awe.

Levani looked over to Egregious watching him look at her settlement. She then walked back over to a counter, finding some nails and a hammer, then proceeded to drive them into the wall. Looking over to Egregious she sighed. "Hey, pal. Can you keep a secret?" she called out casually in the masculine helmet voice.

"Sometimes?" he said. "I can try very hard."

Levani pondered for a moment, getting back down from the counter. "Eh...good enough for me," she said, then took off her helmet, gently placing it on the rock counter. Running a talon through her fur and then stretching, "Thanks then," a much more feminine voice said from the same place. Levani went to the other side of the outcrop, throwing her cloak to the side, then finally holding the black Valious sword in all its glory, swinging it around a bit.

Egregious looked at Levani, nonplussed. "What's the secret?" he said confusedly. "You actually have a head? Oh wait, is it that you think the sword is cool? I can keep that a secret."

Levani stopped for a moment. "No I—" she said, then, "Oh geez.. was my helmet not working this entire time?!" she thought out loud in a somewhat panicked voice. "No, its neither of those, bird brain, I'm a—oh, you don't actually...you're not even another Lion, why should I be worried..." she corrected herself, shrugging. "Never mind, stupid Lioness question."

Egregious was so confused that he remained completely silent, an oddity for him.

Levani stepped up and hung the sword on the wall, then collected a large golden axe, one of the heads of which was an energetic blue. Levani walked over beside Egregious with a confused expression herself. "What, cat got your tongue?" she joked, being a Lion herself.

"I, um," said Egregious, feeling the need to say something after that. "I'm just not sure what was going on before a quarter of a minute ago. Nice sword display, though! I like the way you hung that up."

"Eh well, whatever," she mused "Thanks though, I do like it as well," she said proudly, looking back at the sword. Pausing for a moment, Levani decided to explain just a little what she said. "Well...Eagle, I don't know if you noticed, but in the kingdom, Lions like me aren't precisely...common, so I just prefer to have less of an identity in public. Does that shed some light on your confusion?" she asked, walking over to the sugarcane and taking a swing at it with the axe making a straight swipe though. The stalks fell down at their own pace, some knocking into others.

"Ah yes, I understand perfectly," said Egregious. "Not many female or helmeted Lions—WAIT ARE YOU SHADOWIND!?"

Levani looked to Egregious surprisedly, then laughed out loud "HAH! No..." she grumbled. "I sure wish I won a bunch of Golden Chi, though. That would be helpful, but whatever." Levani stuck the Axe in the ground, bending over to pick up the sugarcane stalks. "I don't even own a Speedor. If anything, I would want one of those more. Then maybe I could be like them," she mused, looking over her shoulder to her rock outcrop. Squinting at her helmet, she said, "Yeah sure I guess mine kinda looks like theirs but, it doesn't have tusks, and mine has red eyes instead. So, definitely not ShadoWind."

"Well, good to know," said Egregious, then mused, "I wonder if I could get the Eagles to lend you a Speedor. Probably if it were for a noble cause..."

"Oh...you'd do that?" Levani asked, turning around to face Egregious fully, her attention turned to him. "That's um...really nice, but if you lend it to me I wouldn't be able to keep it...may I, uh, be able to trade you something for a Speedor...? I, uh, make paper. If that's something..." Levani awkwardly said.

"Well," said Egregious just as awkwardly, "the thing is, I don't actually own a Speedor. In the Eagle Spire, just about everything is communal, so I can't just trade you a Speedor because I don't have one, and I don't think that you could just trade the Eagles for a Speedor...I could chip in to buy you a Speedor, though! I have a large crate of useless parts. Razar didn't want them, but maybe someone else would! I saw a puffy Lion guy at the market; maybe he would buy the parts in exchange for a Speedor?"

"Right...everything is communal up there." she paused looking at him with disbelief. "Wait, you would do that?" she asked in surprise. Levani nodded at this. "Oh yeah, I noticed that guy...perhaps he could," she thought, then realized, ''Wait yeah! I totally could do that and get my Chi at the same time! I just hope Outlanders have Speedorz to spare...if this takes place tomorrow, which I doubt it will, goshdarnit...'' Levani grimaced over this almost-perfectly-timed event, but then nodded to Egregious in a calm manner. "Sure! if you wanna do that, then yeah, I'm up for it."

"Sounds great!" said Egregious happily. "And we don't have to worry about anyone stealing my crate, because it's completely immobile! I only got it off the Eagle Spire by launching it off via a high-powered cannon into the spot it occupies now, so unless someone comes by with an EXTREMELY high-powered vehicle, they can't make the crate go anywhere."

"Huh…smart!" Levani complimented, walking back to her rock overhang and putting the stalks down in a basket along with some others. The Lioness also checked if the dyes in each of her bowls to see if they had solidified. They had not and she nodded in approval. "How long until the market closes again? When the sun sets, yeah?" she asked, making sure.

"I think it's something like that," Egregious said. "Not sure what time it is now, though. Do you think we could get back to the market before it closes, or should we wait until tomorrow?"

Levani blinked in confusion. "I thought the market just went on for a day, not two or three. Unless I'm wrong? Y'know, whatever, yeah, I don't think it'll close. We can go back now, I'd say."

"Sounds good," said Egregious, starting to walk off in that direction. "I mean, the market does usually only stay open for a day, but what with there being no new Chi, the market's probably just going to stay open forever in the hopes that someone will wander by and buy something. Or not. Maybe we should ask?"

"Mmm, OK then. Better to go now, I guess." Levani went with him, quickly going for her cloak and helmet, then taking her golden axe with her this time as well.

Chapter 9: Target Practice
Despite the number of tweaks that the raven had made to his rifle, the raven gave a deep sigh as he finally gave in to the fact that the rifle could never incapacitate anyone. It just wasn't possible to compress a ball of Chi into a small mass and then shoot it out as if nothing had ever happened. Even if the compression were possible, under the force of the impact, the Chi would probably expand and cause his rifle to explode into a million pieces.

After some thought, the raven repurposed his rifle. Instead of making sure that the target would no longer live, it should work perfectly as a distraction! The shot-out Chi impact at such high speeds should generate enough sound to draw attention to itself or at least to be somewhat annoying for the target to deal with. At this point, the raven smiled again. Giving the rifle some extra tweaks for better accuracy, he set off to the Bear Forest to test his weapon.

Upon arriving at the Bear Forest, the raven decided to scout around for any potential candidates that he could use for his repurposed weapon. After climbing some trees and analyzing his surroundings, he found a rather old Bear at his home, having a cup of tea. Giving his surroundings another look to check that his dark feathers blended in with the shadows of the trees, he assembled his rifle and set his sights on that Bear. The raven aimed at the cup of tea and pulled the trigger.

Bearly had been sitting inside his house enjoying a lovely book and a nice cup of tea. However, this cup of tea was no ordinary cup of tea. This tea was the GREATEST tea ever to be brewed by a Bear. Yes, this tea was perfect, just the right amount of honey and steeped to just the right darkness so as not to be too bitter. It was also just the right temperature to be enjoyed. Bearly had taken a sip of his tea, then another, when suddenly, something flew in and knocked the tea right out of his hand. All the perfect tea now lost forever, absorbed into the ground. Poor Bearly was stunned, his tea gone and his fine teacup broken on the floor of his own home.

Judging from the Bear's response, it didn't seem like the Bear cared about what broke the teacup. Additionally, it seemed like the Bear was too shocked to do anything at the moment.

The raven took note that the distraction would most likely succeed on old animals and that he should try to do the same thing to a young group to ensure that his intention for his weapon would suffice in all situations. Being honest with himself, however, he thought that he should really test out his distractions on more old animals to confirm the distraction effectiveness, but he didn't have a lot of Chi to spare for that to happen.

Before leaving, the raven took a look at the Bear again. For a moment, he felt rather sad and apologetic for the Bear.

Sympathy.

No, the raven could not do that. He shook his head for a bit and stopped looking at the Bear, taking flight almost immediately to shove that feeling away.

"No feeling," the raven said to himself. Flying in the sky did take his mind off of things. However, maybe he should have at least apologized to the Bear and perhaps give something as a token of apology—

No. He couldn't. Ravens didn't give or share, or do any friendly things. All of them were traitors, and right now, emotions could not come into play at this point in time during the Chi crisis. Setting himself a new goal to test his repurposed weapon on a younger target, he flew towards the Great Market.

Chapter 10: Revenge at the Great Market
Rheinstein pulled up at the Great Market on his Speedor, but he didn’t park at the Speedor spot. No, Rheinstein kept speeding forward into the main bit of the Market. He then hopped onto the hood of his Speedor, drew his sword, and yelled, "WHERE IS THE RAVEN KNOWN AS RAZAR, THE PRINCE OF THIEVES, AND THE WEIRD HELMETED CREATURE, AS WELL AS RAZAR'S BOX!?"

As the Rhinos went by Largechu's stall, Largechu called out, "THE PRINCE OF THIEVES HAS LEFT AND GONE AWAY, AND SO HAS THE WEIRD HELMETED CREATURE!"

"OH GOLLY!" said Rhubarb.

Rheinstein turned to the puffy Lion and said, "Do you know where either of them went? If so, can you tell me where?"

Largechu thought about this. "The Raven went to the Outlands," he said thoughtfully, "which is expressly off-limits because it's ours—tory location where all the stuff happens so you can't go there. The other creature said some stuff I couldn't hear and wandered off in the direction of the Bear Forest, but the two of them looked very confused, so they were probably lost and could be anywhere in the world by now. The Bear Forest might be a good first place to check, though," he said helpfully.

"Outlands...too far off, and it would take too long to find him. The Bear Forest, however, could work...." Rheinstein turned to Rhubarb. "What say you Rhubarb? Do you want to check out the Bear Forest? Maybe we can pick up some honey while we're there."

"This sounds awesome," Rhubarb said.

"Very well," said Rheinstein, hopping onto his Speedor. "Good day to you, Lion! Let us be off." Rheinstein then sped off to the Bear Forest.

Chapter 11: Conflict at the Gorilla Grove
Levani walked stiffly in her boots along the path, momentarily checking behind her if Egregious was still there or if anything or anyone was following. She had her golden axe in a leather sheath of sorts that hung off her waist behind her; while it was evident that the axe was there, as it was hardly concealed by her long draping cloak, Levani could have cared less. "Eagle, how much farther?" she asked with an edge in her tone.

Egregious grabbed a hollow piece of wood and used it as a makeshift telescope. "I think we're almost there," he said, squinting through the piece of wood (as it did not have any inherent telescopic properties, simply being a random hollow piece of log, and thus did not aid in measuring or observing distances). "We just have to go through these woods, up those falls, over the plains beyond the falls, and then we'll be at the Great Market and can get your Speedor!"

Coming in at high speeds, Rheinstein turned Into the grove where the bird and Lion duo were. When he saw the duo, Rheinstein came to a sudden stop when he saw them, a risky move considering the high-powered explosive. He then said to Rhubarb, "It's the creature that stole the god rock."

Levani checked back again. Watching Egregious mess with the piece of wood, she tilted her head in confusion but didn't think much of it. "Alrightie then! So we're still a ways away then, so to speak, Mmkay." She looked back at the Eagle, snickering. "You're gonna need a convex lens for that," she joked, then checked her handbag for the parts that she'd brought along for trading.

Rhubarb saw the creature that Rheinstein was talking about, namely Levani. Pulling out his flail, he attempted to drive his cart towards the duo; however, as it was still attached to Rheinstein's Speedor, it swung around the side of the Speedor, crashed into it, and sent Rhubarb flying way up into a tree, where he landed with a loud crash.

Levani stiffened up and instinctively held out an arm in front of Egregious's way, implying that he should stop where he was and have his wits about him. The helmeted Lioness definitely noticed the comedic fashion in which Rhubarb flew up into the air and into a tree. Snickering a little bit, she thought out loud, "Wow, what in Cavora's name was that supposed to be?"

Egregious picked up his hollow log to observe what was in the tree and instead saw Rheinstein, who happened to be in his line of sight (as he probably would have been observable without the log regardless). "Oh hey, it's that Rhino guy from earlier," Egregious said casually, oblivious to the significance of Rheinstein's presence (as he had been talking to Ridlan during all the action with Rheinstein at the Market).

Rheinstein noticed Rhubarb in the tree and attempted to shake him out of the tree. Rhubarb was, however, quite firmly stuck. It would have taken a Gorilla's strength or some similar amount of force (like that of an axe) to remove him from the tree.

Levani noticed Rheinstein and frowned under her helmet. With a sigh of disappointment, the Lioness rolled her eyes. Looking to Egregious, Levani grumpily said, "C'mon. I'd rather not deal with this rockhead right now..." Levani then turned around, walking forward a bit. As she walked, she watched the Rhinos' struggle and snickered at their blunder some more.

"We could just ignore them and go back to the Market," Egregious suggested. "Or we could enlist the local Gorillas to make sure the Rhinos don't bother us so we could go back to the Market."

Reluctantly, Rheinstein was forced to ask for help. "Hey, can I borrow that axe to help get my assistant out of the tree?"

Levani grumbled, "I'd do it, if I have the promise from you to not be a crazy jerk to me. Then I'll get the tree down for your friend," Levani said assertively, looking directly at Rheinstein.

Rheinstein looked to Rhubarb. "Oi, Rhubarb, what say you here? Do we agree to the thief's offer?"

Rhubarb thought about this. "We were here for the rock god, right?" he said. "Do you have the rock god here?" he asked Levani.

She shook her head, sighing. "No...there was no 'godly figure' in the box...Its origin is Lion and not Rhino, so it went to the respective owner," she proudly said, smiling gleefully under her helmet. "So...No god rock, sorry!" The Lioness chuckled softly, feeling quite pleased with herself.

"DO NOT WANT!" yelled Rhubarb loudly, pulling a leek out of his back pocket and attempting to charge at Levani, forgetting that he was still stuck in a tree.

She looked up at the Rhino in the tree who was trying to be threatening with the vegetable. "Alrightie then, if you wanna be left up there with your vegetables," she said, shrugging. "Sorry crazy rock guy," Levani said to Rheinstein. "Unless you want a compromise of sorts." she offered, checking her talons carefree of the situation.

Egregious looked concernedly at Levani, just having processed the latest developments. "You are not a nice person, Levani," he said.

Levani looked at Egregious now. "What? If he doesn't want my help, then fine!" she snapped. Then, realizing her mannerisms, the Lioness simply straightened her helmet. "Sorry," she grumbled. "Listen, I don't like forcing stuff onto other people that they say they don't want, Egregious. If he doesn't want my help, then I'm fine with that, if he does I'm also fine with that."

The Lioness sighed tiredly. "I want to come to a 'compromise' so that both these horn heads can agree and so that I can get Mr.Vegetable out of the tree there," she said pointing to Rhubarb. "Yeah, I'm not nice, but I'm trying to respect other peoples' wants at the very least," she said calmly.

Rheinstein looked at Levani. "Yes, yes, real respectful when you blamed me for stealing something you stole. Either way, the box did not contain what I require. At any rate, now my assistant is quite annoyed at you, and I understand if you don't wish to help me get him down. The real reason I came this way was to get revenge upon you for stealing the god rock, I even brought a high-powered prototype explosive that could kill us all at any minute. Either way, my qualms lie mostly with that treacherous Raven."

Egregious, ignoring what Rheinstein had said (not having processed it yet), said, "Levani, I was referring to the revelation of what was in the box. What if they had a whole religion based on that and you just shattered it—" Egregious suddenly realized what Rheinstein had said. "Hey, what, now? You have a high-powered explosive? We need to get out of here, stat!"

Rheinstein looked at Egregious. "Yeah, it's really cool, I made it myself," said Rheinstein, walking over to the Speedor and picking up the explosive. "Here it is. Now, on the topic of the god rocks, Razar said that he had one of the legendary Rhino artifacts. It turns out he didn't, unless you're lying to me...YOU ARE, AREN'T YOU!"

Levani sneered at Rheinstein under her helmet. "Hey, listen here. A thief has to do what they need to do. I said I respect others' decisions and try not to force anything," she corrected. She ignored Egregious at the moment, rather listening to the Rhino who apparently had an explosive. She growled and got into a more stiff and battle-ready pose, holding her axe in front of her with both hands. "Also, puh-LEASE! Why in the world would I lie about some rock you guys worship? The item went to who it rightfully belonged to!" she snapped again. "Now if you please, get rid of that explosive, and we all can be along with our day," she spoke out in the helmet voice as per her usual.

Reinstein stared at Levani for a moment. "W-why would you lie—BECAUSE IT'S AN ARTIFACT OF IMMENSE POWER FROM ANCIENT CHIMA." Rheinstein readied himself for battle, drawing his gilded longsword. Bet you've never seen a Rhino use a longsword before, he thought to himself.

Rhubarb took this opportunity to take out his flail and start swinging its chains at Levani's head.

The chains hit her helmet, repeatedly scratching the paint off, but Levani was only knocked downwards from the force that they brought. She whacked the chains away, proceeding to roll backwards out of its range. "I don't CARE about artifacts of 'immense power', OK!?" she yelled back. Eyeing the longsword now, she shrugged. ''Different kind of weapon, huh. That'll make things easier,'' she thought. "Now could you please be out of our way."

Egregious decided to take a different approach, flying off somewhat deeper into the grove. "Can anyone lend me a vehicle or some parts?" he called out. "This is kind of urgent! We have some, um, not-cool dudes out here disturbing the, uh, grooviness of our mission and WE REQUISITION AID POST-HASTE!"

"No need to shout, son." A gruff voice rose from not far below, a hint of exasperation leaking through into the words. "Despite appearances, Gorillas understand normal talk just fine." A lone, stiff-looking wolf stood in the grove below, resting his weight on a rather plain-looking war hammer. As he looked up at Egregious with a single sharp eye, he said, "Y'in some kind of trouble there, bird brain?"

Egregious was a bit surprised by the wolf and turned his attention to the wolf once he realized that the wolf was talking to him. "I'm sorry, sir," he said, "I'm just PANICKING A BIT RIGHT NOW because the Rhino Speedor guy over there has a really cool explosive over there and COULD BLOW UP ALL OF US WITH IT!" Egregious flailed his arms around in his panic as he spoke, aiding the picture that Egregious was trying vaguely (but failing) not to present.

The wolf pinched his snout between his thumb and forefinger with a groan. "Right, right. 'Course it's an explosive." He shouldered his hammer with a grunt and started walking in the direction Egregious came from, guessing that's the way the Rhino is in. "Come on, let's go sort this out. Any idea what the explosive is for?"

"Um..." Egregious tried to remember what had happened as he followed the wolf. "I think it's for getting revenge on us for...stealing a god rock? I think I must have missed all the action, because I don't remember that at all," Egregious said with noticeable confusion.

Meanwhile, Rheinstein contemplated his next move. In response to Levani's demand for him to move aside, he said, "No, I don't think I will move out of your way, creature. Also, what is your name and what are you?" Rheinstein remained in his position and did not lower his blade. He checked his pocket, finding that he still had his emergency Chi. Let's hope I need not use this, he thought to himself.

Levani growled angrily, "I never thought you would! Even then, I was at least willing to help, but then your friend lashed out! Additionally, I'm not telling. Call me Red" she claimed, standing up and looked to Rheinstein, sneering through her helmet.

"Red?" the wolf called from the edge of the standoff, striding into the conflict with undue boredom. "Last I heard, ma'am, Red was a Rhino who worked a mechanic shop over by the quarry. Good man, better Speedorz." He came to a stop almost between the two of them, hefting his hammer over his shoulder and setting the head on the ground so that he could rest a moment, leaning heavily on the sturdy shaft.

"Now then, what's this I'm hearin' about explosives 'n' god stones?"

Chapter 12: Revelations
Levani, still stuck on Wain's comment on her pseudonym, Red, growled, "It's a nickname, what about it?" Looking in front of herself and seeing the wolf in between the groups, she relaxed a bit, standing up straighter and lowering her large axe a tad. In response to Wain's question on the situation's status, Levani answered, "This Eagle and I were just passing by...These two Rhinos were trying to kill me because I got some stupid item in a box that they thought was some stone they worship," she explained in the masculine voice of the helmet as per usual. "If you could aid this situation, I'd be greatly thankful," she said in an agitated tone.

The wolf head swung toward the Rhinos, the Wolf raising an eyebrow in the process. "'N' what's your side of things?" he asked.

Rheinstein looked at the newcomer, not moving his sword or his bomb. "Okay," he said. "Firstly, Red? Really, that's what you're going with? Out of all the menace and intimidation you can put out, Red is the best you can do? Secondly—" He turned to Wain. "—I have never met this Rhino mechanic. Are you sure that he exists? And thirdly, who are you, Wolf? Also, why do we all have such large and grandiose weapons? You have a war hammer, Red has a large battle-axe, and I have a golden longsword and a bomb. A BOMB. And one last thing: Those two," Rheinstein pointed towards the eagle and the lioness, "—Aren't giving the story in full. If they did, my motives would be shown to be far less villainous than they make it out to be."

Levani called out, "I like wielding heavy things! It fits with my stature and strength!" She spoke out assertively as if trying to make a point, though she only intended to add to the conversation at hand.

The wolf held up a paw to still the protests and accusations of both Rheinstein and Levani. "Now, the way I see it," he said, "there's no need ta' be just sitting around here in the dirt and sun and whatnot while we're arguin' our hearts out. Ain't nothin' got solved by arguing alone. That, and we're blocking traffic here." He hefted his hammer and swung it up onto his shoulder with a grunt of effort, then motioned the others to follow him. "Come'n, we'll get some banana juice and sort this out in the shade. Names Wain, by the by. Hammer's name is Waggz, for my dearly departed wife."

"Okay," Rheinstein said, "but first, we still need to get my assistant out of the tree."

Levani nodded to Wain. "My condolences to you then, Wain," she said in a nicer tone, paying respects.

Wain thought for a moment, drawing a gourd from his hip and uncorking it. In response to Levani's condolences to his wife, Wain clarified, "Oh, she's not dead. Just on holiday, 'n' I miss her."

Processing what the Wolf suggested earlier, Levani did move off the road and into the shade. Levani pulled her thin cloak over herself more, waiting in the shade. "I suppose, if 'negotiations' must be this way," she grumbled. Standing back up, Levani brandished her large axe, lazily looking at Rheinstein through the blank red eyes of her helmet. Not waiting for an all-clear, she raised her weapon to start chopping at the tree that Rhubarb was stuck in to try to get him down.

Practically as soon as Levani started chopping, Rhubarb fell out of the still-upright tree. Completely forgetting his earlier qualms with Levani, Rhubarb said, "Thank you, person!" after which he stood up and went after the others.

"Tch, don't mention it," Levani grumbled.

Rheinstein moved over to where everyone was gathered. "Okay, now that that's settled," he said, turning to Wain, "I believe that you asked for my side of things." Rheinstein put away his sword and took a deep breath. "Well, I went into the Market and got blown away from the Market by his telescope explosion." He pointed at Egregious. "Then, I showed back up, and it turns out that Razar was missing a box that he claimed contained one of the legendary god rocks of ancient Rhino lore. Anyway, I struck a deal with the Raven to get the box. Then I found Red behind the stalls with the stolen box. I asked them to return the box, they refused, so I ran at them with my dagger. They ripped my favorite jacket in half, but I grabbed the box and ran for safety. Red then went to the Raven booth and told the Raven that I stole the box. The Raven then armed Red, who then came after me, so I buried the box to keep it safe and ran off because I blew up my Speedor. At the same time, I was being chased by Red with a large scimitar. I made it back to the Quarry, geared up, got Rhubarb, and went to the market, only to find that they had already found the box. I came here, and here, they say that it wasn't an immensely powerful god rock. I say they're lying. That brings us to now."

Wain produced a cup from somewhere, poured the contents of the gourd into the wooden container, and handed it to Rheinstein, then produced another cup and repeats the process until everyone had a cup of banana juice. Whether or not they drank it was up to them, but he had his, and that was what mattered.

"Now," said Wain, sitting down in the shade with his hammer beside him, "it seems to me that, until now, y'all ain't even opened the box, right? It'd be a shame if it turned out that Razar had y'all fightin' for a normal rock, wouldn't it? Now, how about this." He leaned forward a bit, furrowing his brow as he took a sip and thought, then continued. "I'll give each of you something of mine that's valuable, for trust's sake. Then, I'll open the box and show you both what's inside it. If it's a normal rock, y'all gimme back my stuff and we go on our merry ways. It if does turn out to be a god rock, well...we'll cross those swords when we get there."

"Red opened the box," Egregious piped up. "It had a boring sword in it, I think. Though there could have been a pebble in the box as well and I wouldn't have seen it," he added as an afterthought.

Levani didn't drink from her cup just yet or even make the motion to take her helmet off. "Egre!-" she started, but grumbled. "Yeah, I did open it, and it did have a sword. One of importance, so then it went to the rightful owners, and I went along with my evening," she finished, giving a blank stare from her helmet to Egregious. "I can confirm that there were no rocks in the crate at all. I didn't notice any."

Wain hummed. "Who'd'ya give the sword to?" he said, then held up a hand."Only askin' for posterity's sake, coverin' all the corners."

Levani paused for a moment, looking away and gritting her teeth under her helmet in annoyance. "Me, I have it," she said, sighing. "It's a decoration now," she admitted, looking away.

"Okay, okay," Rheinstein said, taking a sip of juice. "The way I see it, one party is lying or has lied. The only question is which one is the one that is untruthful. Hmm. Either Red is lying about the contents of the box, or Razar lied to me about the contents. I personally don't trust either of them." He turned to Rhubarb. "What say you, Rhubarb?" he said, taking another sip of juice.

Rhubarb thought about this before responding, "I think they are all lying, and the rock is in the ballpark! Wait. Red helped me earlier, so maybe Red is not lying as much. Razar is known to be the King of Bandits or something like that, so he probably lies a lot. Maybe Razar is lying more? Could they both be lying, but maybe Red is lying less? Hmm." Rhubarb hit his chin with his wrist a few times in an attempt to appear thoughtful.

Levani took this time to raise her helmet a little and sip from the cup. Only the bottom of her snout was visible as well as the red ends of her hair. The Lioness continued to listen, lowering her helmet again so the voice came through from it. "Razar is a liar, though I can't blame him. Thieves have to have their way somehow," she said.

Wain thumbed his own chin, thinking about all this for a moment as he tried to come up with a solution to the problem at hand. "Well, now," he said, "there's no easy way to tell if The Other Red is lying. The sword could be any decorative sword that she's got laying about in her house, but for the moment, and despite discrepancies in her story, we'll give her the benefit of the doubt and say she's telling the truth."

The grizzled old Wolf crossed his arms and laid his chin against his chest, a moment passing before he suddenly pointed at Rheinstein, saying, "Son, just how rare are God Stones? What are the chances that Razar could have gotten his mitts on one of them, and how much would you have paid to get it back?"

Rheinstein set down his cup and looked towards Wain. "Okay you are not my father," he said. "My father is dead. I am not your son. I am Rheinstein, smartest Rhino in Chima. Now, how rare are these god rocks, you ask? Well, I answer this: There are currently no known records of how many there were. It is known that they were lost to the caverns below Chima. Knowledge of both the rocks and the caverns is little. Odds of the thief prince getting one, unlikely. However, the box was ancient-looking, so it is possible that he found the box and that somebody else found the rock. How much would I pay for it back?...ANYTHING...excluding my monocle and my necklace." Rheinstein then picked up his cup and took another swig of juice without breaking his gaze on Wain. "And I do believe that I possess wealth enough to satisfy a Raven." Rheinstein then took a bar of gold from a hidden pocket.

Levani was quickly attracted to the high-value element that Rheinstein pulled out of his bag. She lowered her cup a little, gawking at its pure form and how perfect it looked. "Wow...Pretty," she muttered in awe, locked onto staring at the bar through her helmet. While not making any move for the gold, the Lioness continued to stare at it now, somewhat tuning out the conversation at hand.

Wain nodded thoughtfully in response to Rheinstein's speech, then added to the comments on the wealth that Rheinstein possessed, "Maybe a Lioness too."

Levani instinctively pulled her cloak over herself more, breaking eyesight with the gold and instead looking at Wain through her helmet, though she didn't move her head so as to not give away anything suspicious. Lousy old Wolf, she thought to herself. "Hah, probably. That would be nice for one of them at the Temple, I'm sure," she mumbled through the helmet voice, now looking away from the gold and finishing her drink quickly, tipping her helmet up in the same fashion, trying not to show much.

Rheinstein set down his now-empty cup. "Probably, though I cannot say for certain, as I have never met a Lioness before. Either way, I have no need to deal in the affairs of Lions for the time being. Though, on that topic, it's probably enough to persuade any of the tribes, except maybe the Beavers and Eagles. Now, I have more metals back at my lab—" and now Rheinstein whipped around to look at Levani "—AND don't you even think about attempting to steal it. My lab is lined with countless tripwires, pitfalls, and all sorts of traps designed to keep out thieves. Nobody can get in without my say."

You can lead a Raven to treasure, but you can't make him see the value in it, Wain thought. He stood up, feeling that his part in this interaction had played to its fullest and maybe a little beyond. Now it was up to the two groups to decide how they wanted to settle this altercation.

Chapter 13: Tensions Rising
Levani sighed in relief as she finished her juice, knowing that the Rhino didn't get what Wain was hinting at. Quickly lowering her hand, tucking her red-tipped hair back under her helmet, Levani only mischievously smiled at Rheinstein under her helmet at his reaction. She then snickered at his reaction, giving her leg a good slap under her cloak. "Relax, it was a joke. Traps or not, I could probably get it," the lioness boasted. "It is awfully pretty though..." she mused in a sly tone, trying to see how much more of a rise she could get out of him. In the meantime, Levani gave a glare to Wain, glaring through her helmet in what might be mistaken for a leer, despising the old wolf's insight; she pulled her cloak over herself more, making sure that it was in place, all while still in eye contact with Wain through the glowing, opaque red lenses of the helmet.

Wain did anything but leer at 'Red', actually looking at Rheinstein for the moment. Lionesses had never really been his thing; he much preferred Wolves.

Well, okay, just the one Wolf.

He really hoped that Waggz got back soon.

The old Wolf's eyes glazed over a bit as he tuned the cubs out, a small grin sliding over his graying muzzle as he delved down that old and well-loved rabbit trail in his memories.

The Raven who'd been testing his rifle previously was flying until he saw a group of young beings in the grove, seemingly talking about something related to tea. He took a while to ponder, deciding that traveling to the market to fulfill his goal was too inefficient than to just take the group right here and now.

The Raven landed on the floor quite some distance away, as, after all, range did not really matter too much to his rifle. Surveying his surroundings, he put his rifle together, took aim, and looked for something to shoot at.

Rheinstein looked at his gold, then back at Levani as he said, "While you getting past my traps is debatable, the fact that the gold is pretty is natural, not because there is a polisher to give it a nice shine. This also allows me to convince Ravens that it's worth more than it actually is. Also, this isn't the only metal that I have, though they may be less desirable to a merchant. A scientist, such as your Eagle friend whose name I don't know, or a mechanic would make better use of them. After all, I can afford to pay for all my parts." As he spoke, he waved his shiny gold in his hand, as he moved his hands around a lot when he talked and rambled.

Levani rolled her eyes a bit. "That's a fair point," she admitted. "I'm sure Egregious could make much better use of it than I could. People like me would only want it for the base value. Convincing the Ravens that it's worth more than it is, though...That's smart...for a crazy kook like you," she said in a smug tone. "Though, if I did get into your place, I'd choose something more to my liking, like a ruby," Levani joked.

Wain, his eyes half-lidded as he sat quietly between the two groups, sighed without warning. With a grunt and an unnerving crunch from his knees, he lifted himself to his feet, using his hammer as support, and started to stretch.

Arms over his head, twist at the hips. Lower his arms, twist again in the other direction, touch his toes. He released a sigh and stretched his back. That felt better.

He'd seen the raven while it was flying. Wain didn't know exactly where the black bird had landed, but the old wolf excused himself for the sake of mother nature and sauntered off into the trees.

It wasn't likely that the raven had any connections to all this mess, but in Wain's experience, it was better to be safe than sorry, and the timing of the argument getting back on and the raven arriving was just too perfect. More likely than not it was nothing to be worried about; perhaps it was just the seller of that box come back to gloat and enjoy the show, but pausing only just after coming into view like that raven had, and then dropping so quickly...

Wain trusted his gut on this one, and his gut was decidedly worried.

Back at the camp, Egregious had suddenly had an idea. While a bit unwilling to share with Rheinstein due to Rheinstein's recent and historical antagonism of Egregious and the Eagles, Egregious decided that that was nothing in the face of the monumental discovery that he had made. Perhaps destiny would allow them to put aside their differences and save Chima with this new and exciting concept.

"Guys!" he said. "I bet that this gold, if properly interlaced with a normal Chi orb so as to amplify and transfuse the creative power, could create Golden Chi!"

Levani snapped to Egregious, looking at him with a confused face under her helmet. "You're serious...I mean, that would be really convenient and stuff, but is that even possible?" she asked in bewilderment. "That might end in a big fiasco with Chi...doing something unexpected like droplets or whatever."

"I'm not sure if it would work," Egregious said, stroking the end of his beak with his claw in an unintentionally comedic fashion. "I've never tried it. But if it worked, it would probably be awesome, right?"

"Agreed," Rheinstein said. "It would indeed be awesome. However, I don't think that it would quite work, but it is worth a try (although it is probably the experiments in this vein that gives me my reputation of being a crazy Rhino scientist). Besides, Golden Chi was my backup plan if the raven was lying. I'm in." He casually reached into his pocket and pulled out an orb of Chi.

When flying, The Raven seemed to remember that there was one more person, but in the end, he passed it off as an illusion or something of the sort. Looking at the odd Rhino taking out an orb of Chi, The Raven frowned. He did not see any use of the Chi other than as valuable ammunition for his rifle. The Ravens might need the Chi, but he wasn't here for that.

Scoping into the weird helmet person, The Raven deduced that shooting at the helmet would probably do no good. Afterall, his rifle did not have the capability to hurt anything. Therefore, shooting at the body seemed to be a much more logical choice. Whatever they were discussing, it did not seem to matter too much.

Eyes on the helmeted person, he pulled the trigger.

Chapter 14: Aftermath of a Shot
Levani took the hit, being none the wiser, as the Chi pellet itself came into contact with her cloak. With the thin garment absorbing the shock of the physical pellet, the charge itself went easily through and right into her abs. The lioness grunted a bit from the stinging that the charge brought, but nonetheless shook it off easily. Growling a bit in anger, she tried to see where it had come from, clutching the spot where she was hit (and subsequently dropping her juice cup). Glancing around aggressively, as she couldn't figure out where it had come from, she called out in a fit of rage, "WHO in Cavora's name just SHOT me!?", looking around her party, then into the trees with a fierce look under her helmet.

Egregious scanned the area, concerned. Looking tentatively at Rheinstein, he said, "I think we should work on the Golden Chi thing later, maybe somewhere secure and neutral like the Ribbon Falls? It looks like we have a bigger problem at the moment..." After a moment, he added, "And you might want to put away the Chi and gold before someone steals it. That would be bad."

Rheinstein looked around. "Agreed," he said, putting away the gold and the Chi. "Oi, Rhubarb, get to the Speedor. We may need to make a hasty retreat, so make sure there is room in the cart for our new allies." Turning to Egregious, he said, "You should probably help him. I'll stay here with Red." Rheinstein then picked up his bomb again, just in case.

"OK, sure!" Egregious said, running after Rhubarb, who had bumped his hand against his horn in a misguided effort to salute and had run off to the cart as soon as Rheinstein had asked him to go there.

Wain chuffed softly under his breath in resignation as he moved to lean against a tree for cover, more or less out of the line of fire. "It came from that-a-way," he said with a growl, jacking a thumb in the direction that the shot came from, his other paw tightening around the haft of his hammer. "There's likely only one since we haven't heard any more shots, but watch out for an ambush. That was a stunning round; the shooter may be trying to draw us out."

Levani gave a look to Rheinstein, one of confusion and some frustration. Luckily for her, it was hidden by the helmet, but her thoughts were still racing through her head: ''Stay here? With me? No thanks.'' The lioness growled a bit, looking at Rheinstein, and pointing for him to go with the others. "I'll go join the wolf, wherever he went. You go get on your Speedor." she said in a more commanding tone, "with alacrity, too, if that's not too much. Getting shot with that...thing...isn't very pleasant," she complained, rubbing the spot under her cloak.

Rheinstein looked at Levani. "Well," he said, "I was going to threaten the sniper to reveal themselves with my bomb, but if you insist I leave, then okay." Rheinstein began to walk towards his Speedor.

The Raven stared. It seemed like his weapon did indeed work, even on younger ones. He took note to himself. His joy was short-lived, however, as it seemed like the people who he was trying to distract knew exactly where he was. He did not anticipate a wolf hiding in the trees, much less in cahoots with the gang upfront, given how the wolf seemed to be communicating with the others.

He assessed his situation through his scope. There was an eagle, a wolf, two rhinos, and an odd helmeted creature that he couldn't identify. The Raven was not willing to fight, so taking them head-on was out of the question. He could run away, but on his claws, the Wolf would probably catch up to him and flying faster than the Eagle didn't seem very realistic. So, The Raven flew into the trees and took cover. Since there were no gorillas, that was most likely his safest option. Furthermore, the tree's leaves would give enough shadow for Razen to blend into, so unless someone carefully looked for him, he couldn't really be found. He perched on a branch with a lot of leaves, and his motion froze.

Levani rolled her eyes at Rheinstein's latest comment. Yeah, like a bomb would reach someone in the treetops, she thought. "Yeah! Uh, stay safe and things," she called out, turning around. Making sure that her axe was within her possession, the lioness ran off, sliding up right next to Wain, hitting the tree a bit harder than intended in the process. Levani stared Wain down intently through her helmet, waiting for a response while thinking up what to say herself.

Wain smelled the air, scowling as he couldn't pick anything up at the moment. He shook his head sadly at the state of his poor old nose. If he were thirty years younger...

"Well, I think that's our cue to leave," he said.

Rheinstein continued to walk to the Speedor cart. "Well then," he said, "if you say so, then let us leave. Oi, Rhubarb, will the cart fit everybody?" Rheinstein started to move slightly faster.

"The cart will now fit everybody," Rhubarb said happily, "thanks to our new friend Egre...jubjub...Greg! Our friend Greg!"

"I sawed the cart in half and stuck this fallen log in the middle," Egregious explained.

"I lifted the log!" Rhubarb added.

"So now it should fit everyone!" Egregious said, motioning to the cart.

The cart did look like it should fit everyone, but it also didn't exactly look like Egregious had taken any measures to make sure that they wouldn't fall out.

Meanwhile, Levani had continued to stare at Wain. She then moved to be in front of the wolf. In a gruff voice through the helmet, she said, "I'm asking nicely, please, for the love of Cavora, never mention anything about a lioness again regarding me." Then, turning to see Rhienstein move away, she turned back to Wain. "Got that, old man?"

Wain blinked once, then shrugged his shoulders, leaning against the tree, resting his grayed head on the bark with a grumble. "Ain't that old, young'n'. Barely into forty. But it ain't none of my business questioning yer life choices, s'long as they leave me and mine well enough along," he said. "My advice, if ya got a brother, steal some of his pants. Any wolf with a decent nose'll pick up your secret a mile off. If that doesn't work, pepper corns."

Levani blinked a bit in thought. "Huh, I totally forgot about that.." she said. She paused, looking away from Wain, then back to him again. "Thanks, I'll take that into account." Levani looked to the cart. "Sorry...for misjudging your age. Anyways, the rest of the group is clamoring for us to get going, so..." Trailing off, she left to the cart.

Rheinstein hopped into his Speedor and revved it up. He turned to Levani and Wain, then said, "Oi, hurry up you two before the sniper gets another pot shot on us."

Wain shook his head and laughed. "Don't worry about it," he said. Looking at Rheinstein and jacking a thumb toward the market, he said, "Gotta pick up something for dinner. Y'all should swing by some time if you're hungry."

"I will take you up on that offer at some point," Rheinstein said. "Now, are we all good to go on this very dodgy-looking cart?"

Levani's ears perked up at the mention of dinner. Looking at Wain quickly, "I'll join!" she announced enthusiastically. Then, looking around and nervously clearing her throat, "I mean uhm, I'd be honored to join you at supper. Thank you for your offer," she said in a less childish and enthusiastic way. Wanting the moment to pass, Levani looked at Egregious, making a hand motion to get going as the helmeted lioness got herself situated on the half-put-together cart.

The elder wolf nodded his head, with a chuckle at the lapse in manners, amused at the exuberance of the "Lion". "Get along now," he said.

Rheinstein, who was ready to leave this forest about half an hour ago and was now quite pleased to finally be able to leave after what felt like six days, said, "FINALLY, WE CAN GET TO WORK ON THE PLAN. SEE YA, WAIN, SEE YA, ANONYMOUS SNIPER." Rheinstein shoved his foot down hard on his Speedor's pedal and shot the Speedor and cart away to the Rhino Quarry.

''They left. They actually left!''

The Raven gave a sigh of relief. Well, his test run had turned out very successfully. He'd keep that in mind. Taking off from the tree that he was hiding in, he proceeded to travel back to the Raven Junkyard.

Chapter 15: The Buyer at Closing Time
A lion came into the Great Market in order to buy some parts to upgrade his Speedor, nothing shady. He thought of buying things from the Ravens; however, the lion didn't want to get in trouble from buying stolen items. After some looking around, the lion discovered that no one besides Ravens had his parts, so he said himself, "Oh well, let's hope the ravens are chill with selling things honestly today."

Another person was walking around in the Market: a younger wolf with a very unusual, mostly orange outfit. (The outfit did have a bit of the usual wolf maroon and grey around the leg area, though.) Observantly surveying the market for what to spend his gold on for an idea of his, the wolf, Warren, was also looking for parts, though he didn't mind if they were stolen.

Finally, a gorilla entered the marketplace, hoping that, despite the lateness of the hour, he could still find what he was looking for; although, seeing the number of people walking around, he decided that it probably wasn't too late after all. Largechu was considering closing his stall, but, like the gorilla, he saw the number of people walking around, and, probably unlike the gorilla, saw a market opportunity. Waving his hand around frantically, he called out, "Hi people! I have stuff here! I know there aren't many other people here, but I am here, so if you want to buy some stuff from me, it might be here, and you could buy it!"

Warren looked at the puffy lion and dashed right over within a blink of an eye. Slamming his claws down onto the table in a sudden manner, he looked at Largechu, then at the assortment of parts on the table. "Do you have a central water/blast-proof transmission for sale to use as a commanding unit to a ground-to-air payload delivery system?" he blurted out quickly. "Please? Anything that fits that description?" the wolf inquired.

The puffy lion looked through the parts on the table. "Well," he said, holding up a piece, "I have this 'waterproof' thing that looks like a 'transmission'. However, I don't have anything blast-proof. I heard that there's this great place for getting stuff that's proof of blasts over at this place called the Grand Stand, which is a terrible strategic point because I dropped my lunch off of it once by accident and now none of the Crawlers ever want to go there again. But there might have a blast-proof transmission there or a blast-proof thing that you can stick on your 'waterproof' 'transmission' to make it 'blastproof' too."

Warren tilted his head in confusion, his floppy ears moving in unison with his head's movements. "Crawlers? I'll take a look at that, though, but what do you mean by crawlers?" he inquired, holding out a paw for the part. "If you don't mind, can I take a look at that? When I say transmission, more or less, I mean something that's supposed to command a certain unit of tech, or a mechanical/physical movement in something. Waterproof parts are built with integrity from what I've collected, so that's what I mean."

"Crawlers, as in...Dark Tribes: Bats, Scorpions, and Spiders..." Largechu tried to come up with more clarifications as he handed over the 'waterproof' 'transmission' to Warren, not hearing the wolf's technobabble through Largechu's own (rather sluggish) thoughts.

"I just, uh, don't know what crawlers have to do with this situation or what you know about them." Warren looked at the part with curiosity, loosening a few things inside of it as he inspected the part. "Huh, this is crocodile tech...Oh well! I would like to purchase this waterproof item of yours as well as...uhhh...that, and that...and that," he said, pointing his claw at miscellaneous pieces of tech displayed about the stall table with a bright smile. He paused for a second, faltering. "Uhh...what are your prices? There's no sign displaying prices..."

"Ohh," Largechu said, putting his head in his hands. "They didn't tell me that there had to be prices. Umm...A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, and see that thou hurt not the oil and the...wait. No. Erm." He squinted at some nearby signs but failed to read them properly. "Standard market prices, I suppose?"

Warren made a confused face. "Mmm...how about I judge these parts by price...These are surprisingly in very good condition. They're so clean and well preserved! I'll give you 5 silver pieces for each. How does that sound?"

"Awesome!" said Largechu.

"OK! Great!" Warren cheered. He gently put the currency down on the table for Largechu, then put down one gold coin. Nearing the furry Lion, "I snagged that from my sis, take it as a tip," he whispered to Largechu with a grin. "Thank you for these though, they'll be very helpful."

"You're welcome!" said Largechu happily. "Enjoy!"

"Thanks! I will, certainly!" Warren responded with glee, jogging off into the market with the bought items in his arms. "Come again!" Largechu called after him.

Chapter 16: Search for Shelter
As Warren meandered along, following rivers and observing the natural landscape around him, he found himself at an unfamiliar lake. Not once had he ever been here before, but that puffy lion did point him in this general direction, so here he was. Deciding to stop here instead of going on, the wolf squatted on the lake bank. Setting his bag down momentarily, he looked at the clear water; then, taking a glance around nervously, he bent over, lapping up water to quench his thirst. While he did so, he thought to himself, I wonder what kind of stuff is around here besides silt and sand...there has to be something of value or use.

A lone scorpion with a white flag, coming from the general direction of the nearby Outlands, observed Warren. Pausing in her journey to no clear place in particular, she pitched the flag and began to recline against it, waiting for the wolf to finish drinking. Interrupting those eating or drinking was generally a bad idea in her experience.

Warren's ears perked up as he finished slurping up the amount of water that he wanted. The wolf's eyes first caught the flag, then the scorpion who was leaning against it. He stood up fully, simply staring at them, then scratching a bit as he wondered what the scorpion wanted or needed. Awkwardly, the wolf raised a single paw, giving a slight but stiff wave to the scorpion. "Uh...hello? Do you need something?" he called out.

The scorpion gave a sigh of relief. "Whew, looks like I don't need this, then," she said, casually tossing aside the flag. "Nope, I don't need anything. Just looking for somewhere to stay the night here." She started surveying the nearby rocks from her position, looking for an alcove large enough to fit her.

Warren analytically watched the white flag as it clattered further and further down, then stopped in a patch of wet sand. The wolf looked back up at the scorpion, standing up fully. "Would you like assistance in creating a crude place to rest? I could help with that, because, uh...how do I put this..." He paused in thought. "The conditions here aren't the most desirable if I can be honest."

Far, far off in the distance, the low, throbbing thrum of a Speedor rose over the horizon, a cloud of dust billowing up from the forbiddingly endless expanse of the Outlands.

Warren's ears flicked once as he looked to his left, hearing the very familiar sound of a wolf Speedor coming towards his general area. "Huh," he commented, pointing to his left. "Wolf coming nine 'o clock, just so you know. So, like, don't freak out please, I swear we're nice," he casually said, giving a thumbs up.

The scorpion thought over what Warren said. "Will do," she said after a few seconds. "Also, back on the topic from a little while ago, if you know some way to stack the objects here or how to find a good spot to rest some other way, I'd be happy to have the help."

Warren nodded earnestly. "Yes, I do, in fact! Making structures just by using gravity is quite simple, actually."

The Speedor drew closer. Indeed, it was a wolf Speedor, complete with all the needed bits and bobs of useless metal that clanked and rattled. The mono-wheeled vehicle slowed down some as it got closer and closer to the edge of civilization, rolling to an awkward, tilted rest a few meters away. The wolf behind the wheel climbed down, shucking her heavy coat and goggles over the controls. She was short and very huggable looking.

"What're you both doin' out here on the edge of nowhere? There must be better places fer a chat," the wolf said, sounding worried.

Warren looked around nervously, having a bit of trouble trying to talk to the older female wolf. He observed her for a moment, then looked away. "Miss, I was—mmm—grabbing a quick drink a-and hanging around looking for some natural metal deposits if any were exposed at this level near this body of water, miss.." Warren said slowly, not keeping eye contact.

The scorpion tried a different approach. "I'm sorry to worry you," she said, bowing slightly out of deference to the older wolf. "For my part, I was trying to find a good place to sleep. I'm not all that familiar with this part of Chima, and this place looked abandoned and thus likely safe. If you know somewhere safer, I would happily go there."

The older wolf gave an approving nod to Warren for his manners and polite attitude. "Well, a little gentleman," she said. "Good ta see some mothers are still teachin' their pups manners." Then, to the scorpion, she answered without hesitation, "If it's shelter yer searchin' for, ya can came stay at my den. I'd be happy ta clear out an empty place around the fire for ya."

The scorpion was surprised by the older wolf's apparent trust in her despite the two being complete strangers, but the scorpion tried not to let it show. "I would be honored to stay at your den," she said.

Warren beamed, cracking a smile to the female wolf. "T-thank you ma'am!" he said happily, adding a slight bow as well. Then he stood by, watching the two interact.

The other wolf chuckled and headed back to her Speedor, cracking the side panel open to check the Speedor's charge and make sure that there was nothing in the important bits. The parts of her Speedor were loose and ramshackle, but it was clear that they’d run plenty well in mud, sand, and anything in between. "Call me Waggz," she said, "heavens knows I ain't old enough ta be called Ma'am just yet."

As Waggz checked her Speedor, the scorpion approached the vehicle, looking at it with interest. "You have a very useful-looking vehicle," she commented. "Well-made."

Waggz nods in agreement, quietly proud of the ancient-looking machine, "My husband made it. The wheel is off a lion Speedor, if you can believe that."

The scorpion smiled and nodded, not saying anything. She would have liked to compliment Waggz's husband for the mechanical skill that he must have possessed, but the scorpion had no interest in incurring Waggz's wrath if Waggz was the jealous type. Better to stay silent on this in the scorpion's point of view.

Waggz patted the side of the machine fondly, climbing back up into the driver's position. Reaching forward, she grabbed a crank below the steering bar, turned it, and the sides of the Speedor started to rise like wings, making a pair of slim platforms, one on either side. "'S fer cargo," she explained, "but I'm thinkin' they'll hold you both just fine."

"All seats in Scorpion vehicles are technically cargo holds, so I've had a lot of practice with this sort of thing," the scorpion replied.

Warren, hearing the talk of technology, rushed over eagerly with a bright, enthusiastic face. Looking at the scorpion, he asked with a grin, "Yeah? Tell me more about your stuff! Wolf tech is great and all, but I never get to see the workings of any other species' tech!"

"There's not much I can tell you about scorpion vehicles," the scorpion said. "As the scorpions have only been in a position to make these vehicles for a short amount of time, the vehicles are essentially repainted crocodile vehicles, because that's what most of us know about. Most of us don't understand the vehicles' inner workings, though. I've tried, and they've been confusing, to say the least."

Warren's expression quickly faltered as he crossed his arms and looked away, disappointed and bored. "Phooey..." he whined. Then, to face the Speedor, he said, "I get that wolf tech is great and all, but will this be able to hold both of us at that angle? I'm sure if you went fast enough it would work, but that would also bring up potential injury if one of us falls off while going fast...not to mention I'm already kind of light," he said to the wolf. Then, his eyes widened. "Please forgive my manners, miss!" he said. "I'm Warren, son of Winona."

Waggz seemed to consider this. She stared at the single-wheeled vehicle for a moment, her eyes flicking back and forth as solutions and thoughts flicked back and forth behind her eyes. She squinted, tapping her bottom lip idly, then shrugged and waved a hand, "It'll be foine. We'll put the scorpion in tha left above the wheel and ye can ride on tha right." She bends down to fiddle with something beneath the control rod, setting the ballast gyro to favor the left more than the right. "Waggz," she said, repeating her name, "wife of Wain, mother of Wearry."

Warren responded with a smile, "Alrighty then, if you say so, Miss Waggz." He hopped onto the Speedor with a grunt, shuffling backwards and getting secure. "There we are." He then looked at Waggz worriedly. "Are you sure it's fine for me to accompany you, Miss Waggz...? I can walk back on my own through a shortcut..."

The scorpion hopped on the vehicle where Waggz said she should. Deciding to join in on the introductions, she said, "And I'm Scarf...lineage currently unknown."

"'S fine," Waggz said to Warren, "it'll do my heart a heap of good to see our friend here safe for the night." Then, turning her attention to Scarf, Waggz said, "Pleasure to meet you, Scarf. Don't you worry none about having lineage. I use it so people know which Waggz they're talkin' about. Only so many names what that start with W, after all."

Scarf nodded gratefully. "I'm very new to all this, so thank you," she said.

"No problem, hun," said Waggz.

Scarf nodded again, then looked around, scanning for possible threats. She'd begun to buy into Waggz's opinion that this area was potentially dangerous.

"Not to seem ungrateful, but...when will we be able to leave to the den?" Scarf asked, some concern apparent in her voice.

"Soon's Warren gets on," said Waggz. "Don't you worry none, hun, anythin' dangerous' long gone 'r dead."

Warren blinked in confusion, looking at Waggz. Clearing his throat, he sheepishly said, "N-not to be rude or anything, Miss Waggz, but I, uh, I'm already on, so you can go whenever."

The she-wolf squinted at him for a moment. "So ya are. Right, off we go then!" she said. The vehicle purred to life without trouble, well-oiled bits stirring up in its depths as Waggz pushed off, heading deeper into the lands of Chima.

Chapter 17: The Beaver's Plot
Reegull was planning how he wanted to sell his artificial Chi—out of sight from any who might have wished to stop him, such as the pesky lions and their peskier rules—when a beaver entered the Raven Junkyard, heading directly for Reegull's dwelling. The beaver bore an intent expression largely hidden by the large visor perched atop his head.

Reegull, however, was oblivious to the beaver's coming. Having just finished a batch of artificial Chi, he was now taking a rest in a shadowy corner.

The beaver, undaunted, walked right up to Reegull's dwelling and knocked three times on the door (knocking both with his hand and his visor, as he nodded vigorously every time he knocked).

Reegull, standing up and moving in front of the door, said, "You may enter."

The beaver tried to do just that, but couldn't because Reegull was in front of the door, so the beaver simply stood where he was. "I would like to buy some fake Chi," he announced.

After realizing that he was too close to the door, Reegull took a few steps back. "My chi is very real, beaver," he said. "Artificial, but not fake. Now step inside so we can discuss this transaction."

The beaver cautiously entered, scanning the room for traps and flailing his arms about repeatedly as though that would protect him from something.

"My bad," he said. "All right, I would like to buy some artificial Chi, with..." The beaver suddenly cut himself off as he realized that he was about to make a bad move. He resumed, more cautiously, "Should I inform you of my circumstances and purchase methods first, or do you first wish to fill me in on any other details that may apply?"

Reegull looked at the beaver confusedly. "Why are you flailing your—you know what, never mind," he said. "Tell me about how you wish to pay."

"Well," the beaver said, "there is a Bat glider that I would like to obtain. It is out in a somewhat guarded area. For this mission, I need the artificial Chi for...multiple reasons. I am fairly certain that the glider has some...standard Chi in it and perhaps other treasures. Since I only wish to have the glider itself, I will give you whatever is in the glider once I obtain it in exchange for some artificial Chi now so that I can get the glider to give you the other things."

"Hmm..." Reegull considered the offer. "How much do you need?"

The beaver carefully considered this. "Three orbs," he said.

Reegull thought again. After what felt like a week of consideration, he responded, "This offer is acceptable." Reegull then produced three orbs of his artificial Chi.

The beaver, who had asked for more than he thought he could get (expecting that Reegull would whittle him down to what he actually needed), nonetheless took the orbs without a trace of emotion on his face. "Thank you," he said, putting them in his pockets. "I will go get the glider now. This might take a day or two." And with that, he walked out of Reegull's building and started heading off towards his destination.

The rifle-testing Raven was flying back to his nest when he saw that a beaver, out of all the people in Chima, was walking somewhere. Why on Cavora would a beaver be in the junkyard? he thought. Whatever the beaver was doing intrigued him, so the Raven landed behind the beaver, not even caring if it made any loud noises, and began to follow the beaver.

Upon the Raven's landing, the beaver slowly turned, reflexively flailing his arms about as he did so (which caused the slowness of his turning). "Greetings," he said. "Are you here to assist in the capture of the Bat glider?"

"The what?" said the Raven softly. His expression didn't change much as he tilted his head in response to what the beaver said.

"Ah," the beaver said, "since you were following me, I assumed that you knew more of the mission. Ah well, you see, I'm trying to get this Bat glider that's in a heavily guarded area called Cutler's Reach." Then, to himself, but in a clearly audible fashion, he said, "Hmm, should I give more details?...or perhaps he already knows...?"

The Raven tilted his head back, seemingly intrigued by what the beaver said. "If you give more details, you may get yourself some assistance," the Raven replied, expression unchanging.

The beaver jumped, apparently alarmed at the Raven having heard him, but the beaver quickly regained his composure. "Well, you see," he said, "there are almost certainly various useful items in the glider. I only want the glider, so if you were to assist me, you could—" His voice lowered. "—get most of the valuables in the glider. I say 'most' because I've promised some to another person, but it shouldn't cause any problems for you to get some too."

The Raven looked at the beaver. His expression dropped by the microns, making a very indistinguishable frown.

"Sounds very interesting. When do we start?" the Raven replied with a small tinge of joy.

"Most likely, now!" said the beaver. "We should be able to reach Cutler's Reach not too long after nightfall, so hopefully everyone will have left..."

"Alright then," said the Raven. "I believe that an introduction is in order before we actually work together." Giving a slight bow, he said, "The name is Razen. It would be a pleasure to work with you."

"Nice to meet you, Razen!" said the beaver. "My name is Basalt. Thank you for helping."

All of a sudden, Reegull popped out of his house and said, "Oh, Beaver, by the way, don't die on me. You're an investment, and one I want repaid. Oh, and you, other raven, if he dies, you take up his debts. Goodbye." He popped back inside and locked his door.

Razen took note to himself that he would not be taking up any debts in the event that Basalt died, at least not to that hybrid bird.

Basalt, on the other hand, was too shocked to take any notes. Reegull having been listening in on the whole conversation was a bit alarming to the double-crossing beaver.

"I doubt that you would actually die, so you can probably relax your expression. We should head to where we're supposed to be going, no?" Razen said, attempting to get the beaver back on topic.

"Ah, yes, there!" said Basalt, resuming his normal expression. "Let us go!" And with that, he started off towards Cutler's Reach.

Razen proceeded to follow, wondering what lay ahead of him.

Chapter 18: The Golden Chi Plan
Rheinstein's Speedor barreled into the Rhino Quarry with the cart rolling behind it. "And so we arrive here at my grand homeland, the Rhino Quarry," said Rheinstein. "Now that we're here, we can get to my lab and get to work on the Golden Chi plan. Perhaps we can get some nice slabs of granite on the way; I haven't had something good to eat in a while. What say you, Rhubarb?...oh, and, uh, you two as well, I suppose?"

Levani crossed her arms. "I won't be joining you, thanks. I'm not into rocks..." she grumbled. Going over to Egregious, she said, "If you...wanna do the Golden Chi thing, I can probably go to the market some other time to get a Speedor. I, uh...appreciate the offer, though."

Egregious, whose head was still spinning from the ride on the poorly-constructed cart that he had created not too long beforehand, nodded absently at Levani.

On the other hand, Rhubarb, who was used to this sort of thing and was thus fully alert, said, "Yes! Granite!" He then hopped off the cart—which casually flung Egregious off and onto a precipice due to the seesaw effect—and started attempting to find slabs of granite to break off with his horn, mumbling something about bashing granite doing him well.

Rheinstein turned around to look at Levani. "Well," he said, "suit yourself there. Now, if you can, I would like some assistance in retrieving the eagle." Rheinstein then got out of the Speedor and went towards Egregious.

Egregious woke up at the mentioning of retrieving him. "What?" he said, slightly more alert than before, yet somehow not noticing that he was stranded significantly above everyone else. "Um, hi, I'm right here," he said. "What are we supposed to be doing again?"

Levani also made a confused face under her helmet. She crossed her arms, looking at Rheinstein. "Well, if you're asking for assistance, then I can easily help you out with your rocks but, could you redress your request?"

Rheinstein turned around. "Never mind, he has woken up," said Rheinstein. "He can retrieve himself now. Rhubarb, please finish getting the rocks; I would like to get back to the lab before nightfall. Red, your assistance is not required; you can stay there." Rheinstein hopped back into his Speedor.

Egregious, still fairly confused, flew off the precipice down to where Rheinstein was, while Rhubarb finished getting the granite and carried it over to Rheinstein. Both then made their way to Rheinstein and his Speedor.

Rheinstein yelled to the duo, "Hurry up now, you two, and get in there, unless you want to walk to the back of the Quarry."

The lioness rolled her eyes. "Alright, I'm coming…" the big lion groaned as she got onto the Speedor, crossing her arms and legs and making herself comfortable.

Rhubarb finally got to the Speedor at around this point, placing the granite in his bakery cart and sitting on it. Egregious, who still couldn't see quite straight, absentmindedly sat down on Rhubarb, who didn't seem to notice, and said, "We are all here now!"

Rheinstein then started up the Speedor. "Good, good," he said. "Now, let us go to my lab; it's at the far side of the quarry." And so they sped off to there.

As the Speedor passed the various traps on the way to Rheinstein's lab, Egregious became unnerved to the point that he decided to fall asleep and thus avoid having to deal with being worried about the traps. However, he woke up when the Speedor arrived at Rheinstein's lab, specifically, when Rhubarb promptly got out from underneath him.

"Ah," said Egregious distantly, still half-asleep. "Is this your lab? It's nice."

Levani looked around. I thought I was hauling granite, she thought, not being put into this crazy Rhino's lab. Aloud, she asked, "Is there..granite around here that I'm supposed to move? Because this looks like a crude lab inside of a cave if anything. And it's probably going to tempt me if I come across anything, Rheinstein," she murmured. "Nice place, though, I guess."

Rheinstein stepped out of his Speedor. "Ah, back home," he said. "Can you not steal anything, Red? That would be preferred. Also, I have two places I would prefer you not to enter: those being my vault in which I keep my more dangerous experiments, and my secret room because it's a secret." Rheinstein then walked towards his lab entrance with Egregious and Rhubarb in tow. "Come on then," said Rheinstein.

Levani dug into what she presumed was a pile of granite, picking up around fifteen of the rocks, making both of her arms full as she trailed after Rheinstein "Yeah, yeah, I won't go back there," she grumbled. "Jeez, I'm gonna leave soon anyways to go back to my place and prep for something. All I wanted to do here was help you move gravel...more than you can carry, in fact," the lioness boasted.

Rhubarb, who was also carrying granite (and snacking on it as he did so), said, "Thank you!", oblivious to the subtext of Levani's message.

"Yes, yes," Rheinstein muttered as he entered the cave himself. "Just drop the granite anywhere out of the way." Rheinstein walked to his weapons rack and dropped his sword off there. "No need for you anymore." Then, quietly, he muttered, "At least not right now." He then went to his weapons chest and carefully threw his grenade in before taking a seat upon a chair.

Egregious, whose head had nearly returned to normal, gaped with awe at the lab's carved marble walls. "Your lab is so cool!" he said. Regaining his senses, he followed that up with, "So where can we do the Golden Chi experiment here?"

Rheinstein turned towards him. "Depends on what we want to do first," he said.

"Well," Egregious said, "we could try just pressing the gold bar into the Chi orb and see if anything happens. If not, we could try making the gold into some kind of wires to more easily combine with the Chi orb..."

"Okay," Rheinstein said. "Catch," and he tossed his orb of Chi to Egregious. "Now follow me to the compressor," he said, walking to a medium-sized machine in a corner.

Egregious followed Rheinstein, too excited to be nervous about a device with such an ominous name.

Rhubarb, meanwhile, was quite intrigued by the device's name. "Can I use this to make flatbread?" he asked.

Without looking back at Rhubarb, Rheinstein responded, "Well, I suppose you could use it to make flatbread, though the bread might be a bit too flat for your liking, but you're welcome to give it a shot later if you agree to keep it clean." Rheinstein the took out his monocle from his jacket's breast pocket, wiped it on his sleeve, and put it on. He then did a dramatic spin and asked, "Would you like to know what it does, my friends?" He let out a slight cackle.

"The compressor, or your monocle?" Egregious asked, nonplussed. "I'd like to know what the compressor does, but the monocle's use cases seem clear enough..."

"Really," Rheinstein replied, "both are fairly self-explanatory. Now, the compressor here is what I use to compress things, flatten things, and combine metals and stuff. In theory we can compress the gold and the Chi together. It will either work, not work, or kill us all."

Rhubarb did not properly notice the inherent danger in Rheinstein's words. "After that, can I make flatbread in this?" he asked, oblivious to the group's potential impending doom.

Egregious, who seemed quite worried, tried to cut ahead Rhubarb's question with, "Maybe we should stand back while this works?"

Meanwhile, Levani finished moving her granite. It was now in a neat and orderly pile that looked roughly like a pyramid. "Alright," she said, "you people have fun then. Because it honestly seems like things are starting to get dangerous in here, I'm going to leave while I still can. If this golden chi thing works out, though, I would appreciate an orb," she said before turning and jogging out of the cave, making her way back home.

"Yeah, sure, Rhubarb," said Rheinstein, ignoring Levani; "you can try and make flatbread. Just try and keep it clean," Rhienstein said as he started typing in a panel on the side of the machine. "You can stand back if you want. Oh, also, can you get me one of the 'chi' orbs from the pile over there?" He gestured to a corner with a stack of Chigull. "I haven't used it in a while, so it's probably going to need some power. Which reminds me, I still need to adjust it to deal with the Chi problems. This may take longer then I thought." Rhienstein ripped a panel off the side and started fiddling with the circuitry.

Egregious, concerned, said, "But if we use artificial Chi, we might get Golden Chi with unintended consequences, such as...transforming us all into chickens! Then again, we might be able to make Golden Chi out of artificial Chi, but not out of actual Chi, so...sure thing, here you go," he said, tossing an orb of chigull over to Rheinstein.

Rhienstein caught the orb of artificial Chi. "No no no, you misunderstand," he said. "See, with the whole Chi crisis happening, I've been reworking my machines to accept artificial Chi as power sources so that I can conserve on actual Chi." He replaced the panel he took off the compressor. "There we go. This one should work with artificial Chi now. It's very similar to normal Chi, so the changes are minor, but neccessary none the less." He opened a compartment next to the control panel and put the Chigull into it. "That should do it," Rheinstein said as he closed the panel. "I wouldn't make Golden Chi out of Reegull's stuff if I didn't have to (I personally don't want to deal with any bird consequences); however, if we must, I can get in contact with him; he is the leading expert in this sort of thing."

"Ah, that makes sense now," said Egregious, nodding vigorously. Then, more eagerly, he said, "Let the compression begin!"

"Very well then," Rheinstein said as he adjusted his monocle. Rheinstain then walked over to the compressor and put the gold down, then placed the Chi on top of it. He then walked over to the control panel on the side of the machine and placed his hand above the start button. "PREPARE YOURSELVES FOR THE COMPRESSION TO BEGIN!" yelled Rheinstein as he slammed down on the button and walked back to stand with Rhubarb and Egregious. Then the machine roared to life with lines across the hulking machine turning the off-blueish-green of the Chigull powering it. "It hasn't been used it a while, so it may need to warm up a bit," said Rheinstein, now polishing his monocle on his jacket.

Egregious and Rhubarb were both rather alarmed by the loud and flashy machine, but both were too excited (Egregious by the Golden Chi project, Rhubarb by his future bread prospects) to complain, so they simply waited for the compression to complete its work.

Rheinstein put his monocle back on as the machine began to move its compressing plates together. They then started pressing onto the Chi, which then caused the Chi to be fired out from the machine. "HIT THE DECK, LADS, IT'S GOING UP IN SMOKE!" Rheinstein yelled as he ducked behind his table.

Egregious ducked behind Rhubarb, who picked up another table to shield himself. From under the table and behind Rhubarb, Egregious tried to grab the Chi before it could melt or anything like that.

Rheinstein got up from under his table, calmly brushed off the dust, and put his monocle back on. He said, "All right, boys, are you still alive? If you're not I reserve all rights to looting your dead bodies for any and all valuable possessions."

Rhubarb, putting down the table, announced happily, "We are very alive right now!"

Egregious, however, was too distracted by the Chi, which he had succeeded in grabbing. Rather loudly, he announced, "IT'S GOLDEN CHI!"

Chapter 19: Arrival at the Pack Den
Waggz's Speedor pulled out of the woods into the clearing surrounding a large wooden longhouse, a half dozen or so wolves looking up from where they'd been milling about doing various tasks. They waved to the elderly wolf, who waved back as she pulled the vehicle around to the side, parking it under an overhang of the roof. "Right, here we are. Home sweet home. Mind tha pups, they excite easily."

Scarf looked with some visible awe at the building as she dismounted the Speedor. "Your lodging is very impressive," she said, audibly impressed as well. "Are you your tribe's leader? I've never seen a dwelling this large for anyone but the most powerful people..."

Warren grimaced a bit at Waggz's comment. "Cubs...?" he said pensively, sliding off the Speedor and thinking deeply. "Oh golly...oh man...Miss Waggz?" he said. "I know you'd probably rather have me stay around and have supper with you, but if I'm not home soon, my sister will probably yell at me for being late, so if you don't mind I must take my leave immediately." He bowed to the older wolf, saying, "Again, if...if that's alright. I would love to meet the rest of your pack someday, though!"

"Pups," Waggz corrected. "Cubs is bears. If ya need to go, god-speed, I won't stop ye."

"R-right, yes," said Warren. "Thank you for the ride again!" he said quietly, jogging off and hoping to Cavora that his older sister won't consider him late this night.

Scarf, meanwhile, did nothing; still trying to make sense of everything, she simply waited to see what Waggz was going to do next, not wanting to step out of line.

After waving to Warren, Waggz started unloading things off the Speedor, hefting the cargo effortlessly over her shoulders. "C'mon, we'll get you set up inside," she said. Starting back around to the front of the lodge, Waggz offered friendly waves to some of the adult wolves hanging around, most of whom were trying to get a glance at Scarf.

Scarf followed Waggz, somewhat hesitantly waving to the other wolves and offering a slight smile to them. Most smiled back, some gripped their tools a little tighter, and one young mother pulled her brood behind her as Scarf passes, but for the most part, the thirty-odd wolves had a neutral reaction. The whole time, Waggz kept up a running commentary, pointing out some of the wolves about.

"-and that's Wicken's mate, Willow," said Waggz. "She's fairly new around here, don't ya be gettin' none scared 'cause she don't trust ya just yet."

"Ah," said Scarf, trying to keep track of Waggz's long list of information. "I don't blame her. For my part, I'm trying not to infringe on their business too much, but I don't want to be hostile either...Can't win with everyone, I suppose."

Waggz chuckles, holding open the lodge door for the scorpion, "'Suppose so—mind the door jam—'course she's got them pups to think about, so there's that."

The inside of the lodge was mostly empty, the mainstay being a long table situated around a central fire. Save for a lone wolf sitting at the head, there was no one inside.

Outside, Levani slowly trudged towards what she'd been told was Wain's household by the other wolves who she'd grudgingly talked to. Carrying a pair of large sticks, each with multiple fish attached by their gills, the lioness approached in a menacing manner with her helmet on as usual, her golden axe attached through her hip sling. Taking in the scenery, Levani paused for a moment, unsure of how to approach the scorpion and wolf at the door.

Inside, Waggz flicked an ear, frowned, and gestured for Scarf to enter the den. "G' talk'ta Wain, he'll getcha set up fer the night," said Waggz, scooting the scorpion inside before turning around and exiting the doorway like a tempest given form. Waggz searched the woods for a moment before she caught sight of the lioness, calling out, "Either ya quit that menacin' 'n' get outta the shadows or I'll do it for ye."

Levani's ears perked up as she heard the mother wolf's voice, the red eyes of her helmet meeting with Waggz's powerful stare. Levani rolled eyes, got up our from her cover, and balanced the two sticks on her shoulders before putting her hands up. "Listen, miss...Waggz, was it?" she said. "Yeah that's it. I've been through a surprising amount of stuff today, and I'd really—no, greatly appreciate—if an esteemed mother like yourself doesn't beat this lion up. Plus, it'd put these good tidings for your supper to waste! Given the time I've spent catching them, I wouldn't appreciate them being ruined, yeah?" The lioness stood where she was, and sighed. "Sorry for being 'menacing', I guess; the helmet does more of that than I do, I assure you. Please don't inquire about that by the way; you guys' noses are smart enough," she snarked. "If you do want me to leave though, I could, Waggz; I've certainly done a lot of that today courtesy of a crazy-as-heck Rhino and stuff."

Waggz raised an eyebrow, then said, "Wain invited ye, didn' he? I ain't a mind reader, but that mate o' mine's got a habit fer pickin' up loners thasa mile bigger'n mine." She sighed and shook her head, gesturing for the lioness to come forward. "C'mon, 'n' we'll gettcha situated."

Levani genuinely smiled under her helmet. "I see then. Well, thank you for having me," she said in her usual smug voice. "Though...I hope you people have big appetites," she murmured, taking note of all the wolves outside as she followed Waggz in. "Do you need any assistance prepping the food?" she asked, swinging the large sticks around and standing them on end.

The she-wolf raised another eyebrow and looks around at the two dozen or so wolves lingering about, tending to chores and fires. "A' don't think ya could carry enough food ta outmatch appetites round here," she said, smirking and folding her arms as she headed toward the main building, "Nah thank ye, but yer kind ta offer. Weapons in tha bin, if ye please," said Waggz, gesturing towards an ornate set of wooden racks just outside the main door, protected from the elements by an overhang from the roof of the lodge. "No weapons 'r fightin' in the lodge, that's a rule."

Levani nodded. "Yeah, I gotcha. Will do," she said, leaning the sticks on the wall, then unbuckling the belt holding her axe. The axe hit the ground abruptly, causing Levani to swear, "For the love of Cavora..." causing a glare and stern rebuke of "Language!" from Waggz. Ignoring Waggz, Levani glanced back and made sure that the sticks were still vertical, then picked up her axe (still in its buckle) and placed it on the rack neatly. "Neat rack," the lioness thought out loud. Going back in, she took her sack as well and handed it over to Waggz, a faint smell of vegetables emanating from the bag.

"Well," said Levani, heading back to the doorway and starting to unhook the fish from her makeshift poles, "that bag is full of vegetables, which you probably already know, and I have around twenty fish here. Bit of a chunk out of my foodstuffs, but you two are married, so more mouths to feed, I figured. Not only to be nice, as rare as the opportunity comes, but also to be helpful. Wain did invite me after all."

Waggz took the bag without incident, raising an eyebrow, "Tho' I 'preciate it, ye didn' need ta bring anythin' with ya," she said. "Aye, there's a lotta mouths, but those mouths'r' capable of huntin' fer themselves, dearie," she said, patting the lioness gently on the shoulder, causing Levani to flinch slightly. "We'll getcha somethin' from the storehouse a'for' ye leave. And dontcha go saying ye won't take it, that's insulting."

Levani raised an eyebrow under her helmet. "Yeah, alright, fine," she said. Her ears flicked for a moment as she suddenly realized something that Waggz had said. "'Dearie'?" Levani repeated. "Oh, right. Yeah," she said, reaching up to remove her helmet. "Alright then, I appreciate it, miss. Do you, uh..." she said in the helmet voice while undoing the straps securing the helmet, "...need any help cooking?" Levani said, finishing her offer in a much more feminine voice. "Any place I can put this?" she asked, blowing her red-tipped bangs out of the way. "I'm Levani, since I haven't mentioned that yet...nice to properly meet you, Waggz." The lioness gave her face a rub-down from having worn the headgear all day. "I keep forgetting you guy's noses are super good; usually, it's easy to fool everyone else."

Chapter 20: TITLE TBD (Junkyard)
Basalt landed the Bat glider that was now his, setting it down by Reegull's house. He then proceeded to knock on Reegull's door, which he now knew was there. Although he could have taken the items for himself, he did want to have a good reputation with Reegull—he could use more artificial Chi in the future—so he waited for Reegull to respond in order to pay him properly.

Reegull was  finishing  making a batch of artificial chi at the time of Basalts arrival "the door is open just come in"

Basalt entered the building. "I have procured the glider with whatever is inside of it," he announced, "if you wish to take whatever is inside the glider as the payment we agreed upon."

"Very good I would like to take my payment yes" said reegull

Basalt went outside and folded up the glider, then lugged it into the doorway rather lopsidedly, causing its contents to spill inside the building. These included some gold coins, some things that looked to be either Chi or cheese, and, underneath everything else, some pieces of paper, with most of a map on some and writing on the others. Basalt looked quite surprised when he saw the paper, and—after shaking the glider to ensure that nothing more would come out of it and moving it out of the doorway—he quickly started rounding up the pieces of paper to read.

"Quite the spoils I would say." Reegull said "what do those papers say might I ask?"

Basalt finished assembling the pieces of paper, most of which formed a map too large for Basalt to hide even if he'd wanted to. Realizing this, Basalt simply read off the other piece of paper. "The piece that isn't the map," he said, "reads: 'To find the clue to the treasure trove, search within the banana grove.'" Realizing what this entailed, he rather hurriedly said, "But I do have to get back to the Beaver Lodge, so—" (and here he slowed down dramatically to give himself time to think) "—perhaps we shouldn't search right now. How about..." (Here he began to speed up again.) "...each of us takes half the map so the other one won't get the other clue and find, then take all the treasure without us?"

"Very well.  Then we shall collect the treasure." Reegull said

"Ah, yes, of course," said Basalt, hastily taking half of the map pieces and backing out of the building. "Ah, see you tomorrow for the treasure, and enjoy your, ah, coin things and chis!" Then he hopped into the glider and flew off towards the Beaver Lodge.

"I will beaver, I will…" Reegull muttered creepily as the beaver left.

Chapter 21: TITLE TBD (Quarry)
"WHAT" Rhienstien exclaimed so suddenly his monocle fell off "ARE YOU SAYING THAT ACTUALLY WORKED"

"YES IT WORKED!" Egregious said excitedly, at a loss for proper volume control or articulation.

Rheinstein ran over to Egregious, he had to see for him self "no way" he just couldn't believe his eyes, so he put on his monocle. The chi was still there "we are now the most powerful people in all of chima, I can't wait to rub this in Reegull's face." Rheinstein was utterly amazed "I cant believe the compressor worked.  OH @#$% THE COMPRESSOR!!" Rheinstein turned around to the compressor to see that the compressor was in need of repair. "Oh no it would appear were not doing that again any time soon"

"Oh no, the flatbread!" Rhubarb exclaimed, dashing over to the machine with dismay. Then an idea hit him. "Wait, I can make it elsewhere!" he said. "Yay," and he left the room."So, what do we do with the Golden Chi now?" said Egregious. "I can think of at least five different options, but the possibilities are theoretically endless!"

"indeed" said Rheinstein "I have several of my own that might align with your but probably not" Rheinstein looked around the room. "we could in theory use it to take over all of chima AND RULE AS ITS KINGS"  Rheinstein said, he then sat donw "but that would be too much effort, I have several vault expirements that need suffecient power such as a golden chi, we could use it to improve the lab and its defences.  endless possiilities."

After some thought, Egregious said, "My most neutral and wide-ranging idea in terms of physical capabilities would be the construction of a vehicle that could surpass the bounds of the physical world via unprecedented speed and levels of shielding from mysterious energy, possessing great quantities of that itself!" Egregious was quite excited by the end of this idea as he turned to Rheinstein. "I think we could do just about any of the things I thought of with that! What do you think of this?"

"Well that sounds interesting" Rheinstein replied "but I feel we should do that later for as you can see" he gestured to the broken compressor "our only known method of making the golden chi cannot survive the process." Rheinstein began pacing back and forth "Perhaps we should utilize the golden chi to repair the compressor to such a state greater then before in which it shall be able to survive the process of golden chi creation.  Afterwards we still have enough resources to make a few more orbs of golden chi to follow up on your vehicle idea, which I like quite a lot." Rheinstein stopped and turned to Egregious "what say you Egregious"

"That sounds excellent!" said Egregious.

"Very good" Rheinstein said. "We should get to work then". Rheinstein tapped the golden chi "how does this thing work anyways, I've never used one myself.  Rhinos havent had a chi day win in a while."

Egregious tapped his beak thoughtfully. "I'm not sure," he said. "I've never used one myself either...As far as I can tell from how I've seen these used, you have to focus on the Golden Chi and what you want made, at which point large amounts of glowy golden energy float out from the Golden Chi orb and create whatever you wanted to create before the Golden Chi orb evaporates. However, there's a 32.3% chance (repeating of course) that I'm incorrect about this."

"Well that doesnt seem too terribly hard now does it" Rheinstein started "we could do that right no- WAIT, you round to the nearest tenth?!?!"

"Is that too high or too low?" said Egregious cautiously.

"No I just round to the nearest hundreth like a sane person." Rheinstein said "Now would you like to use the orb of golden chi to repair the cmopressor?"

Egregious was rather insulted by Rheinstein indicating that he was not a sane person. However, realizing that Rheinstein was entrusting him with using the Golden Chi (even if it was to repair Rheinstein's compressor), and given that he did want to experiment with the Golden Chi, Egregious decided to agree to Rheinstein's request. "Sure," he said somewhat ambivalently, picking up the Golden Chi and focusing on the compressor with the intention of repairing it.

"Very good, very good my avion freind." Rheinstein said. "Remember to reinforce the machine aswell."

Egregious was focusing too hard to repsond, but when the Golden Chi orb evaporated, it became clear that Egregious had been trying to perform Rheinstein's request even before he'd lodged it. In fact, Rheinstein's compressor was now an ornate affair, not only fully repaired and reinforced, but also now having several details that Egregious seemed to have absentmindedly added, such as a small pair of wings at the sides of the compressor and an out-of-the-way button that very clearly did nothing at all.

"Very nice" Rheinstein said inspecting his new machine "though I dont see why it needs wings and what does that button even do I didnt build it in so it must have been you, or the ghost is back, either way we should be able to make the golden chi much easier than before.  Though there is the small issue of it firing out of the machine after being formed... perhaps we can fold the wings down to cover the opening?"

"Hmm, yes, that sounds great!" said Egregious happily, ignoring most of the other stuff that Rheinstein said.

"So shall we convert more chi into golden chi?c Rheinstein asked.  "I have a few more orbs we can convert while keeping enough to keep us out of tough situations."

"Sounds like a good idea to me!" said Egregious.

"Excellent!" Rheinstein proclaimed "also on a side note did Red say where they went too, they did ask for an orb."

"I don't think so..." Egregious said.

"Unfortunate for them" Rheinstein said. He walked over to grab a chigull orb. "What even are they anyways?" Rheinstein pondered aloud as he put the orb into the machine. "I'm going outside to grab more gold." And Rheinstein began to walk off.

Egregious stayed, carefully keeping his mouth shut by holding it closed with one hand. Then he put his other hand over the first hand to make sure that no one would see the hand over his mouth and think he was hiding something, after which he realized that this was so obvious that he decided to remove both hands and simply hold his face against a wall to avoid saying anything.

Rheinstein didnt notice Egregious' suspicious behavior as he was preoccupied getting gold from outside.

Egregious, realizing this, breathed a sigh of relief, then waited for Rheinstein to return.

Rheinstein then came back in with several bars of gold. "I have retuned" he proclaimed and slammed the gold onto a table.

"Yay!" said Egregious. "Now we can create more Golden Chi!...and the vehicle!"

"Indeed we can." Rheinstein said excitedly. "Now we must determine how many of our base orbs we should turn into golden chi.  I have 6 left I say we turn all but 2 into golden chi giving us 4 orbs."

"Sounds good!" said Egregious. "We probably only need one to make the vehicle, but the other three should almost definitely be useful for something."

Rheinstein set the gold down next to his small box of chi. He then grabbed an orb from the chigull pile and walked over to the compressor. He put the orb into the power compartment and let the chigull power up the machine. "Very good" Rheinstein said as the machine lit up.

"Wait," said Egregious. "If you power the machine with Chigull, won't the machine turn into a chicken?"

"No I adjusted the tech so it doesnt work like it would with normal chi.  I works slightly differently as to counteract the artificial chis chicken based affects.  Though I have noticed it takes longer charge as well as not staying charged for very long.  Ah well the sacrifices necessary to stay in business." Rheinstein said

Egregious nodded his assent, then eagerly waited for the next orb of Golden Chi to appear.

Rheinstein put the gold and the chi into the machine and fired it up. The machine came to life crushing down on the chi and gold merging them together into an orb of golden chi. "Well that was smoother then trial one would you not agree?"

"Absolutely!" Egregious concurred. Then, after a moment to think, a thought suddenly occurred to him. "Wait, does this mean that we can create the vehicle now?" he said.

"I do believe It does my avian companion"  Rheinstein said as he took the chi out "how do we want it to be like and look and do and other such things?"

"Hmm," said Egregious. "I believe that the two most integral functions of the vehicular contraption that we are due to construct are an engine of unparalleled capacity and an exterior carapace of unprecedented safeguarding despite a minimally transparent observatory window which we will undoubtedly have the controls and seating behind. Everything else is optional," he added.

"Hold on let me get a pen and paper"  Rheinstein said. He then sat down at his desk and removed a parchment from his drawer. "So well need it to be big to hold the controls, the engine, scientific equipment, maybe some trinkets and treasures, at least 4 or 5 people, and maybe some other stuff.  Sound about right?"

Egregious nodded vigorously. "And don't forget the exterior details!" he said.

"Ah yes of course, cant forget the rhino horn.  Very important addition.  Oh we need weapons too.  What kinda weapons you want on this thing? Rheinstein said as he drew in a rhinos horn.

"Hmm," said Egregious. "We'd want to make sure that they wouldn't interfere with the shielding, and we probably couldn't use blasters what with the local Chi shortage...Would it be possible to use some sort of spring-loaded attacking mechanism, either something mounted on a spring or some sort of physical missile launcher? I would suggest catapults but I think they might rebound and hit us what with the shields," Egregious said.

"Bombs and physical missile launchers seems to be the way to go in this instance"  Rheinstein contemplated for a moment "you think we should  give it the ability to fly?"

"Definitely!" said Egregious. "I believe that the vehicle must be capable of three-dimensional flight to attempt flight in the fourth dimension and/or avoid three-dimensional barriers."

"Right, flight.  I'll draw that in." Rheinstein then penciled that into his plans. "Well I'd say that's pretty done.  I say we begin construction in the morning as it is late and I am tired. Good night partner." Rheinstein then slammed his head on his desk and fell asleep.

Egregious, who had not previously realized that that was possible, promptly followed suit.