#drabble arch

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: A Chimera’s Cry - Latching and Leeching

This is the sixth chapter of the story A Chimera’s Cry. If you want to read the previous chapters, go over to the fanfiction.net page! (link)

              3 days. It would take 3 days to get it ready.

               It's nothing more than a cave on the side of the shore, but it's far away from here and it's particularly hard to get in without my stretchy arms and legs. Those two alone made it perfect. I just need to fix anything that can go wrong, but it shouldn't be hard. That's always my job up there in Zaun. Fixing anything that could go wrong, vents, crimes, and all. Not really good at it myself, but I at least have experience.

               However, as I look around the vacant sewer room one last time with only a bag of me and Scratch's stuff, trashbag beds and one sole lantern, I feel the dreading sense of sadness looming over my shoulder, like being in the dark and cold shade of a shadow. The empty room only echoed the creaking and dripping of pipes and nothing else. I hear the echoes in my dreams and I hear it when I'm  awake. What would it be like? This place being so eerily silent as it is right now for days, months, years. Even Twitch stopped banging the door for insistence of being let in.  I can barely hear him scream at intruders or cry at failures. This sewers has been my home ever since they died, yet even days before we would leave forever, I can't even recognize it. I somewhat missed it.

               And yet look what happened. I've supported a psychopathic rat. I've went with his delusions of superiority. I've told myself a lie that he would ever get better. My parents have always told me there were good and bad people in the world. Right and wrong. Hero and villain. I've seen it myself. The chem baron that murdered my parents and now the rat that sees people as nothing more than tools. I used to be his friend. I used to call him a friend. He even plans to take over the world for crying out lo-

               I suddenly feel a slight tug at my leg. I look down to find the brown rat looking up to me with a stained napkin. I smile as I hold Scratch up. "Aw.. Look at you! You finished breakfast and actually used your napkin this time," I shout happily. "Guess you're not just a typical dirty rat anymore, huh? You're a civilized rat!" I scratch behind ears. He giggles happily in comfort, dropping the napkin on the floor. It used to be Twitch's favorite scratching spot.

               Once the scratching stopped, I place him down. I grab the napkin and throw in a separate garbage bag. "There. Just remember to put the dirty stuff in the bag, ok pal? Maybe if you keep this up, I'll buy you a bowtie. I bet you look cute in a bowtie!" Scratch just tilts his head, staring into me trying to translate what I said in understandable terms. I forgot he didn't know much about the surface. Not yet. Maybe in a safer note, he will learn more about it. He would learn how great people can actually be!

               I grab a stick of green chalk and moved over to a wall with the lantern. I proceeded to draw a small, skinny, smiling rat on the boards with a scarf, some scars, and a chipped ear. I give him a small bowtie and a cute little top hat, and, for the finishing touch, I add a small monocle. "..And there!" I said in satisfaction. "See. That's you! There's the bowtie and the hat and the little fancy eye-thing. I think you would look like a refined gentle-rat if I do say so myself. Heh.  Y'know... I have a large tie in the bag. I could show it to you if you want!"

               "..........Uh. Scratch?" I look towards him and he sits there silent, not looking at the picture, but the many others on this wall. I even forgot the many stories told here. The many drawings we made together. The heroic tales of Blitzcrank and ZAC. The heroes up against villains from evil witches to robotic dragons. There was even the drawing of the two of us, looking to the sun, to the future, in our capes and super-suits, ready for anything that the world can dish out.

               Scratch looks at me as we shared the wistful thought.

               "Heh... We'll be leaving... but that doesn't we'll forget these now, don't we?"

               The answer didn't comfort him. He looks down, forlorn.

               Suddenly, I have an idea. I go to the bag that holds all of my stuff and take out an old camera. I used to hide this camera far away from Twitch as possible in the fear that he would break it. It was my dad's old camera, and he would take pictures of him and Mom all the time to show off in the house, but in secret, he would take pictures of me growing up.

               "Hey," I call out to him. "Look at this." I showed him the pictures. "During my entire life growing up, my parents would  take these pictures. They're me when I was just a child. There's me as a little cute bloblet in a petri dish with my parents caressing me and there's me sitting on my parents lap for a picture playing with some metal toy, I think I was trying to make it form Atomic man, heh, and there's me growing to the lengths of my dad! There's the wall where I would measure my heights for all the 10 years I've been with them. I never grew ever since that day.."

               Scratch looks at the picture with wide eyes at the clearness of the detail and how real it looks. To think that ZAC was once that size.

               "And.. maybe I should do the same with you. With these pictures. So we'll remember our first times together forever." I look over to the wall. "How about we start?" I grab the camera from him and posed for a picture. I aimed for the little drawing of us two in the sunset with our superhero capes. We worked on that together. "All you gotta do is line up the shot you see in this camera and press this button.."

               Click!

               "Lookie here Scratch. Our first photo," I whispered happily as I showed the phto to him. Pretty dim, but still works. "Now we can just put in on the wall with our new home."

               Suddenly, I hear the faint ringing of the bells of Zaun. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Eight AM.

               "Oh no. Guess I'm running out of time," I said as I got up. "Don't wanna leave, but.. I can't let Zaun get any worse! Heh. Besides, I need to deal with something.." I take out the ID of Mont Grimes, plagued by multiple dried bloodstains from the incident. Even the IDs presence haunts me and Scratch. I see him shivering and backing off as I revealed it from my substance. "Hey. I'm ZAC. I've dealt with monsters before. That's what heroes do, ok?"

               I give the camera back to him. "Now. Remember the rules. No opening that door in any circumstance, y'hear? No letting anyone in. Just like those people are counting on me, I'm gonna count on you for one important task. I trust you to take pics of the best stories."

               Scratch looks up in response.

               "I'm trust your fine taste, gentle-rat! And I trust you to be my hero today! I can't wait to see what photos you take when I come back for lunch."

               Scratch nods, smiling and holding his camera up firmly and proudly. I smiled.

               "Good. Anyways. Gotta go, can't keep Zaun waiting! See you at lunch."

               I leave the room before hearing the first clicks being made. I walk to the surface, lost in thought.

               I stopped at the intersection between me and the path to Twitch's lair. I look the direction of his lair, still puzzled at the silence both in sound and emotion. I feel my first steps going in that direction, but I stopped. I was growing attached again, and I can't get attached to a delusional psychopath.

               I walk to the surface and enjoyed the soothing sewer's silence.

               The chaos would come back eventually, and I don't think I'd want to be here when it does.

               I look at the ID carefully, eyeing the tan, brown haired man carefully through the dried bloodstains.

               I didn't hear much about the metallic, crow creature in quite some time. I never heard any attacks happening in the surface. Maybe he's gone forever?

               A chill reach my spine as I said that. I remember it quite clearly. The shattering of lights and the crumbling of buildings surround me.. It could attack again. Everyone felt it. The commercia wasn't the happy place it was before. Rarely anyone goes outside, and people often stray away from the darker alleys of Zaun. Rumors spread daily of the whereabouts of this crow-man and they begins to nest and fester in my mind like the plague they are. Rumor aren't exterminated until certainty is there. Until they see this creature's corpse.

               This was my only lead, and  possibly my only suspect; it would explain how someone could invade the high class commercias, and even if he was wrong, someone gets their ID back.

               From the top of a building, I gaze up at the towers of the college of techmarturgy. Many people were eager to go in and learn from the many prestigious professors. I've never really been to school myself, but I had enough science in my life honestly.

               As I move from crack to crack and through the pipes, I sense many unique emotions to the college. Some new coming freshmen were eager to start learning. Some were excited to do a project that they would claim would be their magnum opus.

               I felt hope. Hope for a new and bright future. Hope for a nice life in the promenede or even Piltover. Hope to get their family out of the sumps. And hope that I would solve the mystery once and for all. I feel my pace going quicker and quicker as I go to the main office for their records.

               As I begin to move further away from the students, the emotions become faded. They're now just echoes fading in the wind. I only hear the faint scratching of the pen and typing of the typewriter. I move deeper and deeper until I hear nothing.

               I seep through the small cracks of the pipes and find myself hanging on the ceiling with shelves upon shelves of records below me. The only thing illuminating it all was dim lights that marked the doors, but it shouldn't be an issue. Sewers were always dark for me.

               I let go of the ceiling and let myself land on the floor.

               SPLAT!

               The sounds echos through the wide room. I froze in place. I tried to hear the footsteps of people taking notice of my intrusion. None came.

               With a sigh of relief, I begin to look at the letters marked on the shelves. It seems that it was marked by last name. I went over to the Gs...

               Suddenly, I feel a sharp presence cutting through my skin. It was undeniably strong. The intensity flooding through me quickly, driving all senses and recognition away. What was it? Anger? Displeasure? Sadness?

               I look into the direction of the aura and see the dim red light of a door.

               I steered away from it, running as fast as I can to find "Grime" on the shelves and hide in safety. I all over to scour for it.

               "Gm.. Gn.. Go... Gr.. GR!"

               I jump at the sight of finding and scour the folder. The aura became much stronger. I felt my fists clenching. My head heating. I slam the files around the shelves to search for it, but I also notice someone else. Someone who's.. quiet. And unflinching. Cold. His emotions were faint, but I could see it. There were two of them.

               At long last, I finally found Mont Grimes. I slammed the file on the floor. I couldn't hear the echoing sounds anymore. All I could hear was anger and resentment. They were nearing the door.

               I glance at the folder and it had a big red stamp that said "Expelled". I look at the files and switched between them one by one. Grades, Attendance, Projects.

               "CREAK!"

               The door opens. All the lights on the ceiling were turned on. I took the paper at the top and shoved the folder back in its spot. I quickly ran, avoiding their line of sight and tried to make as little as a sound as possible. Once that was done, I seeped into a crack on the floor for hiding..

               "WE MUST DO SOMETHING HEAD MINISTER! They're going to blame us for this monster!"

               "I know professor. You need not remind me of Grimes."

               "When all of our efforts to make this a reputable college is on the line? Disasters in the sumps isn't our business. Anything can happen in the sumps, but.. THIS! The higher ups will know. The students talked about it now."

               "Enough."

               They were still conversing. I had time. I pick up the page concerning projects I dropped by my side and read.

               "Mont Grimes was an ambitious and exceptional scientist, but too ambitious. His latest projects consisted of merging alchemy and technology in ludicrous ways. He saw in animals heightened senses that could be proven useful to humans. He researched a lot on Singed and imagined what would happen if he could change the forms and senses at will, but because of mutated animals and contamination of the promenede sewers, he w-"

               "SIR!" the professor shouts, much closer now. I dropped the paper and went back into my deep crack, watching from the faint light. "I found a missing piece."

               "Well.. thank heavens. Give me that." He grabs the papers and gives it to the head minister. They both walk away from my view. "We must leave no connection professor. The sooner we destroy all record of Grimes, the faster our hands will be cleaned..."

               I hear a machine beep in the distance and then the paper shreds. Its fabric ripped easily ripped apart by steel. I flinch as it's eaten up.

               "Good. I hope you're right. Minister," the professor says. The footsteps begin to sound more faint with each step. Then the lights were out. I run back to the file, and it wasn't there anymore.

               I slump in the hollow vault, arms laying limp, with only the 6 red door lights accompanying me in the dark.

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: A Chimera’s Cry - Reflection

This is the seventh chapter of the story A Chimera’s Cry. If you want to read the previous chapters, go over to the fanfiction.net page! (link)

 The roachmen have given me the signal. The wretched Goopy One has fully left the realm of my sewers and into the realm of the insidious surface. They whisper that he faltered only once, at the diverging point between the path upwards and downwards. The point where he could've turned the other way before leaving to save the ungrateful humans again and again and again to no avail. He faltered.. He thought about going down here.. He hesitated.. He faltered..

               Those thoughts, those hopes, echo my hollow, broken mind, seeping into the cracks as I curl up in this hideous human form. My beautiful fur, my fleas that lived there, my voice.. all of it gone. All that's left is pain and pain and pain and pain.

               The transformation made skin. Made flesh. Made nerves. I feel the nails that adorned the cast on my right shoulder drilled in again, as if it was the first time. I remember the first time.. Yes.. yes..

               The human fired at me first.. He hit the arm, but he was skewered eventually. I remember laying down in the pool of sticky red liquid, dried from  exposure, grasping at the human's crossbow for dear life. MY crossbow. It gave me hope.. It allowed me to survive... It allowed me to thrive.. This is no better.

               "He faltered.." I whisper to myself as the nerves begin to give in. "He faltered.."

               I stagger myself up, holding my right arm. Blood begins to drip from my shoulder ever so quickly in the dark. I stammer to the cauldron under the green light and try to look at the reflection to see an intruder in the place of the sewer king. He had no fur on his face, no long claws.. he only had the goggles and the clothes. Even his eyes.. the eyes that he worked on to get the perfect shade of pink, were now a pathetic shade of white.

               I scream at the image, splashing the water away from me, yet splashes will not magically make it disappear. It's still present, like a ghost lingering underneath my shadow, yet I must welcome it. I must make a deal with it before I kill this insufferable plague. Exterminate it forever.

               I turn away, avoiding water like the plague. I must not be reminded of this. I can't shade of my skin, the bareness of my fur, the devolution of my menacing claws and teeth, ALL OF THAT IS GONE! This.. This is the role I must play..

               I stagger out of my lair, holding the bloodied shoulder in my hand, sluggishly making my way to where the other plague rat was. MY plague rat! MY creation! I only had a limited amount of time before he would leave these sewers forever and I'll never see him again.

               I approach the door, the new furniture that now acts as the gateway to their home. I see the faint light of a green lantern breaking through the cracks. I hear the sudden clicks that emanated from the room. It echoes in my grand tunnels, filling my head with the ideas of what he has planned. A trap of cheese to bait me into rat poison? A snaptrap to pin me down before the killing blow? Or was he practicing a physical weapon to skewer me? How brainwashed was he? How much did the surface ideas plague his mind?

               "Help.." I whisper in the darkness as I approach closer. The clicking stops. "Help.." I repeat again as I move faster and faster and faster. "Help! Help!! HELP!!!" I scream as tears form in my eyes. Where did they come from? Doesn't matter. I'm a lowly whelp. I'm a worthless human. I'm an ungrateful, pitiful wretch! This is the role I must play. This is only way I'll get them back! Please let this be the way to get them back!

               Suddenly, I see the familiar green glow of the lantern goes out and the door stood silent. I run faster. "HELP!! HELP!!! HELP!!!!" I hit the furniture. I listen closely with my weak ears and hear nothing but his shallow breathing, trying to form a perfect lonely silence, but I was all too familiar with it to know the difference between that and this attempt.

               I bang the door, desperation in my voice. "LET ME IN!" I cry. "LET ME IN!" I kept banging and banging and banging. I hear yelps here and there, but only the shallow breathing to try and maintain the silence. My arms showed their nasty disgusting veins. The sweat and tears drip as I slump on the ground by the door. "I know you're there.." I cried. " Save my pathetic life! Let me in!"

               No answer. I sit there shivering and I see him through the same. Through the cracks, I see his shadow shaking with fear at this intruder. This human about to break the doors and steal what was rightfully his. Maybe taking his life..

               The strand of guilt creeps over me. The malleable ghost living in the water is winning, driving everyone away. Taking my subjects away from me. He's still scared of me.. He still thinks me a monster.. Light sobs echo in the distance as I accept the life I'll have in the future.

               "I'm sorry.." I mutter out. I can't let him know it's me. That would make him scared even more. "People.. people are hunting me down. And I need someplace to hide.. I have no one.."

               Suddenly, I feel a piece of paper sliding through the doorway with a this line of text in rushed green crayon:

               "Go to left. Pipe in there. Hide."

               I stop to pause to look at the note before following the directions exactly, knowing where the room precisely is. I went in and sat on the floor, waiting for minutes that seemed like hours for the imaginary search party to come and go.

               I look at the note again, and took out my own green crayon.

               "Thank you. I may end up living here for my own safety. I heard the sewer king was nice here.."

               I walk over to the furniture and slid it back in. Something immediately comes out.

               "Don't stay. Twitch will get you.."

               I stare at the cursed text, wanting to rip it apart. He already thinks me a monster. He think his own creator is like the wretched chem barons and dastardly humans of the surface. I can't give it way. I can't tear it all apart and demand respect.. I was a lowly whelp.

               I begin to write.

               "I can't go back up there.. Everyone wants to kill me.. and this is the only place I can run to. I don't have anyone up there."

               I send it back. It comes out again.

               "Well... you have me.. Wanna hear a story? Promise me you'll give it back."

               A story? Was this what they do in here?

               "Yes. and Yes. I like stories. What kind of stories?"

               Suddenly, I got two things sent back. A paragraph consisting of a summary and a picture of a drawing of 2 people: a giant ZAC with a superhero suit and a cape with a small rat looking at the morning sun right beside him...

               I wasn't anywhere in the picture. They've already forgotten. I look back at the sewer water, and I still see him there. He was always there.

               I hold the picture close before I was able to give it back. It became wet.

              “WHERE IS IT? WHERE IS THE SAMPLE? IT WILL DECAY SOON.

               I MUST FIND IT! IT BRINGS FREEDOM!  BLUE. BLUE. BLUE. WHERE? WHERE? WHERE?

               I HEAR IT RUSH DOWN THE PIPES. I SENSE IT BELOW. NOT THIS SECTOR, MUST BE NEXT!

                THE WATERS AROUND HAUNT ME OF THIS PRISON. ANYTHING TO FREE ME. FREE... FREE... FREE.....”

The metal talons scratches the humid floor and the black feathers begin to shed on the water as the red eyes scan the surface.

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: A Chimera’s Cry - The First Day Home Alone

This is the third chapter of the story A Chimera’s Cry. If you want to read the previous chapters, go over to the fanfiction.net page! (link)

These chapters / drabbles will go every week on saturdays.

              "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH"

               He's coming for me. As I run on the surface pavement, I look above to see fast shadows, dark feathers, red eyes, large talons, but all I see is 'Piltover'. Piltover, the gilded city above us whose lights still glimmered when everything turns dark in Zaun. There was nothing in sight outside of what seems to be sweet refuge. Could it be that it had the same camouflage powers like me?  Or was he made of goop like ZAC? ZAC can go through cracks, pipes, walls, concre-

               "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH"

               I look down. There was no time. I need to find a manhole. I need to live. I scamper around, seeing nothing but glass and loose iron from buildings destroyed by the beast. They all left cracks in the pavement, torturing me with the safety that the sewers provide. I look through the cracks in the hopes that it could provide me clues to the nearest route for escape, but all I saw was darkness with no ground to stand on. I held out my gauntlet and look into the cracks. I allowed the green orb to go inside, focusing my right hand at the direction of the cracks, and grow, grow, grow! Widen the cracks. Open the path. Widen the cracks. Open the path.

               I hiss as I watch them grow bigger at the pace of a snail. I begin to bang on the pavement, begging it to obey my demands. Begging it to break.

               "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"

               I feel wind above me. Air rushing for my head. I look up and see the 5 red eyes towering over me, focusing in on its prey. It dived. The eyes become bigger and bigger. I couldn't see their full size anymore. I look away and jumped, closing my eyes as I land, feeling the road shake and crumble beneath my feet. The infrastructure was too frail. It gave in. The gaping hole formed, dragging buildings, food-places, warden stations, the creature and me in like gravity pulling me down to what once was the only refuge I had against it.

               I hit the humid floor face first. I cough out dust. I cough out blood. My mouth begins to burn just like it used to with him. I reach for it, but I never felt the comfort of my green scarf. The one that covered the scars of the past experiments. The one ZAC gave to me to cover my superhero weakness. At my touch, it begins to burn. It grows sensitive. I feel liquid.

               I glance in front of me, watching the beast try to go up. I blend in with the darkness through my fur. It looks around, looking for prey with those red glowing eyes. They shine like flashlights as I tip-toe down. All was silent as it looks. I keep my ears peeled at even more destruction.

               "SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!" It grows frustrated.

               I flinch at the dreadful noise. My concentration weakened as I desperately try to keep the illusion up. I close my eyes and turn my back towards it and look away. Just look away. Look away, and he'll leave..

               "Splash!"

               My eyes widened. I see the red light in front of me that came from behind. I see the shadow created from the light. My shadow. I look further down and see my feet in the puddle. I'm dead.

               The screeching turns to footsteps. The earth shakes as I lay frozen and exposed. I embrace for the claws at my throat. It reaches for my shoulder...

               "Hey. Wake up," I hear someone say.

               I jolt up, hitting ZAC's head in the process. He barely flinched; he dealt with much worse. I breath heavily, reaching for my shoulder only to feel his hand. The light that created my shadow was no longer the insidious red eyes, but the familiar, faint glow of a lantern. The crumbling ground I was once on transformed into a mere trash bag.

               "It's just a dream, pal. You're ok," ZAC says, his arm stretching around my back for comfort. "I'm here buddy. No one's gonna hurt you with me around."

               I sniff around, smelling the faint scent of food. Something with eggs and potatoes. His noses pointed into his body. He tried to dig himself in, but ZAC quickly got him out.

               "Heh. We can hug later pal. Sorry for a pretty bad dinner, so I got you something." ZAC reach into his body to reveal 2 bags that was labeled with the name "Joe's Diner". "Best breakfast I've ever had as a kid!" ZAC says as he picks up a biscuit filled with eggs and potatoes.

               I lunge at the bag, feeling my stomach urge for the food. I clawed at the opening of the bag, searching for food. I took the muffin and begin gulping it down. Crumbs begin to spill out, landing on his fur.

               "Hey!" ZAC scolds. "Don't eat like that pal. We're not animals right?" ZAC takes a napkin out from his bag and wipes away the mess created on his fur. "Don't wanna be like old crazy Twitch?"

               We eat our breakfast quickly, cleaning up our messes without no fail. "Well.. I'm gonna throw these away on my way to work! I'm gonna be leaving you alone for a while. I'll be back for lunch. Think you can handle being alone in here?"

               I held his hand in a tight grip in response. I tugged it back. I can't be alone. Not with Twitch. Not without ZAC..

               "Oh.. Don't make this hard. I wanna bring ya! I really do! You'd make a great sidekick! But I don't want ya getting hurt either," ZAC said, trying his best to give the warmest, bittersweet smile he could. "The people of Zaun needs a superhero. I need to protect them from whatever's going on up there, and I hope that you'll be there to protect me some day! But.. now's not that day. Not yet." ZAC reached over to my bed to grab my gauntlet. He presents it to me. "If a hero wants to protect others, he has to be able protect himself first." He stands up, my grip slipping on his arm. He towers before me, blocking the door of our home. "I gotta go. I'll be back soon; I promise." He walks out and drags the cracked furniture back in its place. There was nothing but me and the lantern.

               "...ZAC..?" I cry out.

               Time seemed to move slowly in these dark caverns. I always stood in the center of the room, comforted by the lantern's warm glow amidst a place full of monsters and sociopaths ready to murder him. The darkness around him was perfect for predators to key in on the prey. I kept my ears peeled, but everything seems to go against him. He could hear the footsteps around him. Creatures skittering and clawing at the walls to tear it all down. They may even be in here. One crack, I turn around with my lantern, and all I see are walls. One drop, the lantern swings again to reveal simply his own drawings. A roach skittering in the crack, another swing, and the gauntlet was about to fire.

               The 8th bell never came yet. ZAC said he would be back at lunch. Lunch means 11 bells. It hasn't been one bell yet. Or did they not work? How could I get through this? I tried desperately to distract myself. Green crayon. The gauntlet. I tried to imagine worlds and stories. I tried to imagine the superhero tales ZAC told me every night. I tried to imagine his real-world tales of the good guys beating up the bad guys. The bad guys never win, but imagined stories of the past were nothing compared to the looming cloak of dread that surround him in the present. The monsters that came out in the night.

               "HELP!" I hear someone cry out through the walls. I turn around to the direction, gauntlet ready to fire, but I only saw the drawer. "HELP!" It cries again in a shrill terrified voice. I falter. I hear this voice all the time. It was always present when I was with ZAC in his missions. It was always present when something went wrong.

               It begins to cry out repeatedly, banging on the drawer. It hurts my ears. ZAC always told me to help others in need. To help other people, yet he needed to protect himself... What.. what would ZAC do? The cries begin to grow louder on my ears with every second, muting out all the other noises that lurk around me. I look around at the numerous stories drawn around me. All of the heroes with capes, fantastical weapons and masks. They all did their job to protect. They all used their powers willingly to help save a life. ZAC wouldn't let this happen. Any superhero would never let this happen.

               I fire the green ball into the cracks of the furniture and let it widen. The drawer blew up, opening my home to even more monsters.

               The whole streets was in ruins when I came. The shards of glass lay on the floor from the broken lamppost. The cold mass feeling of distress and fear attracted me to this place, yet it seemed like I missed the crime. This feeling was similar to when I destroyed those chem-thugs in a rage at my old neighborhood. Sometimes the aftermath is when all the worst feelings come out. Everyone seems to be packing their bags and leaving, but one building stands above the rest. One apartment building in Zaun had a gaping hole on what seems to be the third floor with its cracks spreading wildly like a spider's web, but where's the spider?

               I approach the building more closely and saw the warden vehicles parked out back. I go into the cracks of the room and went around. I didn't feel anything in this building. It was all empty, despite the presence of light saying otherwise. All I could hear was the hum of electricity, no one else was here. I hop out of my cracks and saw a long winding tunnel filled with doors, some properly closed and some left open as if the owners were in a rush. I walk slowly. As I come closer and closer to the hole, bright, working lights turn to flickering dim lights and flickering dim lights turned cracked and utterly destroyed.

               Finally, I reached the end of the corridor. The location of the hole. There was no door. Its wooden fragments were shattered to pieces. I refuse to retch at the feeling of splattered blood as it begins to stick onto my green legs. I then begin to feel solid bodies. I look down. A few of them were workers, but many of them were wardens. I think I've spotted 3 wardens in the hallway.

               When I went into the room, I saw 3 more wardens laying on the ground or sticking to the walls. Black feathers were scattered around the bloodbath. I pick one up. It had the same black color as the one from last night. The same coarse texture. Where were the others? Isn't there supposed to be an investigation? Then again.. usually wardens in Zaun were stretched out too thin.. I look back at the doorway to the silent apartments, heightening my senses for anything fishy.

               Across the room was a large open pipe and a large shattered mirror. Water leaked out of the pipe, spreading the blood outwards. This used to be a sink. As I go closer, I felt something leathery below my feet. I reached down and grabbed it. It was a wallet. I opened it and saw an I.D.

               "Mont Grimes. Student of the Zaunite Academy of Techmaturgy"

               I look around to search up the corpses. None of the faces matched the I.D.

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: A Chimera’s Cry - The Mysterious Human

This is the fourth chapter of the story A Chimera’s Cry. If you want to read the previous chapters, go over to the fanfiction.net page! (link)

These chapters / drabbles will go every week on saturdays.

The eleventh bell rings as I head down to the sewers. The wallet juggles inside my green substance as I held the sole ID in my hand. "Mont Grimes, huh?" I ask myself. "The wardens nearby didn't have anyone named that last I checked.. Maybe after lunch I'll bring it up there at the school. Could be a lead.. if that thing is still out there."

               I head down deeper and deeper. The lights from above grow dim until they're nearly nonexistent. It didn't matter in the first place anyways. I've been down here for so long that I memorized the entire sector of the sewers. When I was with Twitch, he would've always drilled me about "his turf" to help keep surface dwellers off and snatch any "tribute" that they may or may not have. Ugh.. I glance over to the direction of his lair, deeper down in the depths. Wonder where the little fellas is. Hopefully he's not doing anything dumb or destructive.

               "Hey! Check this out!" I hear someone shout in the distance. "I told you being down here isn't that bad! Those other punks are just cowardly rats! Wonder who made all the funny warnings though."

               I look over at the corner and saw some the shadows of punks with mohawks and bats. Their arms and legs seem to be augmented and their mouths covered with breathers to avoid breathing the noxious disease ridden air. All I could hear is their chuckling and laughter as they ignore all of Twitch's signs and enter dangerous territory without parent permission. I think if I looked closely, I could see someone holding one of Twitch's posters to his head as if it was a funny mask of a stick figure rat.

               "Alright! I did the dare! So.. where are my 20 cogs? Mr.Twitch you owe me 20 cogs! Hehe.."

               I grumble. Why are punks always idiots? Their parents are always out doing grueling factory work and all these punks do is somehow get themselves killed in every single way. I stretched my arms on the ground and concentrated my chest to make it stand out, to make myself look bigger. I step back further and further, locking my eyes on the opposite end of the sewers. I stretched and stretched and stretched and then my legs let go. I slingshot myself to the other side. My body hits the floor with a loud "SPLASH!" The punks stepped back, pointing their bats and guns at the green mess of limbs in front of them. When I finally found my footing, I stand up, growing in height as I begin to tower over them, glaring at them in angry yellow eyes. I see them shake. I see them step back. I could imagine seeing their eyes, looking up at me wide and fearful. Their mouths wide, struggling to form the word "monster".

               It only made me angrier. Good.

               "LEAVE!!!!!!" I shout as loud as I can, echoing across the many tunnels in this cursed labyrinth. Before I could even stretch an arm to disarm one of them, they run like chickens. Their rapid footsteps spreading echoes in the darkness that grow fainter and fainter every minute. Twitch's official warning posters that were used as a mask now fell to the humid floor, crumbled and tampered.

               I pick it up, glancing at it. It was a simple green crayon drawing of a simple stick-figured angry rat holding 2 flasks. It said the following: "Don't enter Twitch's turf! OR ELSE!!!"

               I could still hear their faint footsteps a mile away. As much as I hate to say this, they should be dead by now.. Twitch rarely leaves his sewers. His ingredients are always down here. He wouldn't go that far.  I put the poster back in its place, hoping that it would actually do its job in steering people away here. "Where are ya pal?" I ask, glancing at it again.

               Then I suddenly realize.. If they can get in here, what does that mean for...

               I jerk my head in the direction of my home. I run as quickly as possible towards it. "He's safe. He's safe. He's safe. He's safe." I said to myself repeatedly, yet the creeping feeling lingers over me. I knew leaving him there would be a bad idea. I knew something awful would've happened. What could it be? Dumb punks? Chemists? Chem-baron thugs? Takeda's thugs?

               I run and run and run and gasped at the sight of the furniture that was meant to block the pipe opening to the house suddenly replaced with a single tarp. The yellow lantern light that used to be there was no more. Scattered pieces of wood littered the floor as I walk towards it.

               "Scratch?" I ask loudly, resisting the urge to cry. I slam the tarp down. The room was all black. "SCRATCH!?"

               Suddenly, the lantern light was back. Its dim glowed revealed a tiny green scarfed, brown bipedal rat with an unconscious person below him with rustled gray hair, cracked goggles, yellow teeth and multiple scars across his face. He looked at me with worried eyes while I looked at it with hostility.

               "Stay away!" I shout, moving Scratch away from the unconscious body. I looked at him, feeling his body. "Did he do anything to you?"

               He nods no, but that didn't stop me from checking. I step back at the body in fear. "How.. how did he get in here?"

               Scratch points to one of the drawings that lined the walls. One with a stick figure crying "help" as a young green blob jumps in to rescue the day. "Help".

               I groan at the realization. "Scratch! You can let people in like this! You just can't!" I look at Scratch's eyes of confusion and fear at this act of heroism. "People can do pretty nasty things. And I don't want those nasty things to happen to you. Got it?"

               He slowly nods, his hands clasped together, shivering.

               "No more destroying the furniture. Just stay in here, and I'll come for you. We can do this saving heroism stuff later, but now, you should learn to protect yourself!" ZAC bends over to the body, mending the scars left in this fiasco. "Guess I'm taking this big fella to the homeless shelter," I look over to Scratch. I feel his fear emanating from his antenna. "And after lunch.. we'll find a new door. Maybe check up on our neighbor later. Guess you're spending an entire day with me, pal. Heh. So much for being alone."

               His fear was still present. I sigh.

               "Well.. let's go. Can't leave this fella for long.."

               I wake up, groggy from the nap. I sit up, rubbing my pink eyes and feeling the tingling feeling on my skin missing. Their legs weren't present. My hand reaches up to the fur on my head and back, probing for the loyal roachmen that serve to sooth my needs after an awful nightmare. At first in the dream, everything was itchy. My body was itchy. I had to take off my coat. My weapons. My journals. My lets kept scratching and scratching but it wouldn't stop! It wouldn't stop and then I notice-

                But they weren't there. They weren'tdoing their job. Were they sleeping? I growl at the lack of sensation. "Ugh.. Roachmen!" I shout, opening my eyes. "Why have you abandon- Aah!" I shout, squinting my eyes at the horrifying flickering green light. It's radiance rays stabs through my sensitive retinas as I struggle to get up. I stumble across the room, looking back.

               The room was mainly empty with just a small human bed and a sink with a mirror. Why was I here? Why am I not in the sewers? Did they get me? Did they find me? Is this the extermination room!? Guess the bright light is their form of torture! Yes.. yes.. It had to be! So is the clean look.. The metals don't even have rust! Where's my crossbow.. my casks! I look down and all I see was this white gown.

               "Did you hear about the new guest?" I hear some dumb human say with my large, all-knowing ears. "I hear his immune system is strong. Must be an interesting subject in the future.."

               I can't stand being here. Not around these surface dwellers.. They'll kill me.. They'll destroy me! THEY'LL EXTERMINATE!

               I blend in with my surroundings and opened the door slowly.

               "Creeeeeak"

               All conversation stopped.

               "He's awake," I hear them begin to repeat. They know. Suddenly I hear footsteps. I slam the door open, and run as fast as I can while maintain my brilliant disguise.

               "Gotta find a toilet! Gotta find a toilet! Gotta find a toilet!" I whisper to myself as I ran. I found the door to the restrooms. Yes.. I was home free! I opened the door and I hit something hard. I crumbled down on the floor.

               "It's you.."  I hear someone mumbled fearfully in front of me. I opened my eyes and saw what seemed to be a rugged man with large, rustled gray facial hair. "The plague rat! THE PLAGUE RAT!" He begins shouting and screaming hysterically.

               "OUT OF THE WAY!" I shout, pushing him. He was easy to move in his stupid dazed state. The footsteps begin marching. I storm into a stall and slam the doors behind me. I open the lid and put my legs in the warm, slimy, mushy water. I feel brown mush and tissues around my feet. I begin to push the handle. Nothing happened. I push it again. The water rushes, but it didn't let me in. It was clogged!

               The people now enter the room. They begin opening stalls one by one to find out what's actually happening. I blend in with my fur and got off the toilet.  I crawled out from under the stall and watch as the humans look inside the stall next to me. I step back and back, seeing the door crowded with people and comforting the old man as he rocked back and forth in a fetal position. Stupid humans.. They're making things hard.. They're all here to exterminate me..

               Suddenly, I feel the hardness of a wall behind me. The metal framing of a vent pressing behind my back. I turn around in my camofladged state and saw it, my escape.

               I used my nails to slowly open the vents. One by one the nails pinning the vent down fell, but they didn't notice. Those humans are too busy and dumb to notice anything. Just a few more...

               CLANK!

               The vent falls to the ground. Everyone was silent as they watched me unscrew the vent. I froze, seeing their eyes peer into mine in fear and apprehension. The moment I hear the first footsteps, I ran inside. I crawled faster and faster and faster. Upwards. Up. Up. Up. I could hear the people taking their steps inside. I could see the rays of awful flashlights peering in. They were coming for me. They always came for me. Faster I climb. Faster I move. Faster I escape.

               If there's a vent in front, unscrew it. If anything's in front, get it out of the way.

               I see light.. I SEE FREEDOM!

               I unscrew the last vent and I pop out, feeling the outside zaunite air hitting my fur comfortably. I stumble outside at what seems to be the back of the prison I escaped. There was a sign..

               "Foundation for the Homeless Center"

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: A Chimera’s Cry - The Lone Hero

This is the second chapter of the story A Chimera’s Cry. If you want to read the previous chapters, go over to the fanfiction.net page! (link)

These chapters / drabbles will go every week on saturdays.

Bones clatter on the ground as the rat's bloody body falls apart under the weight of the acid as I threw them. The body merely rolled over to the rest of tarnished, decaying pile of what could've been. The tunnels echo the collisions, repeating the corpses lifeless "thumps" over and over and over and over again. Every time I hear it, my fur tingles and my skin shivers. This looming plague comes over as the terrifying sounds begin to invade my body. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. It's never-ending. Usually sounds go silent into the night but not this, NO NO NO! It goes on and on.. My subjects' cries. My subjects' shrieks. My subjects' screams. All were silent except for their lifeless bodies. Thump. Thump! Thump!! Thump!!!

               "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ALIVE!" I screamed, kicking the pile of bloody rats to drown in the sewage below. Some were still with on the surface, their corpses mocking him. "You're supposed to serve me! You're supposed to be more mes! I'm your ruler! And I command you TO STOP! MAKING! THAT! NOISE!" More bodies are flown through the water, their splashes manifesting into cries of the anguished as if they were still alive. At first, it was only small with repeated shrieks here and there, but then they become more and more frequent. Suddenly. a cascade of random noises turn into a crescendo of terror as all of the noises began to merge into one. "STOP IT! I..I DEMAND SILENCE!"

               The noises stop suddenly. The stillness eerie. I walk up to the sewage and stare at the indiscernible green unable to see the subjects I killed. I storm to the cauldron in my lair where the green lantern above glows dimly to the bubbling liquid. I growl at its putrid stench.  I grumble as it shows my twisted reflection back. "This.. THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" I shout at the deceased golem's body that act as the cauldron. I took the sides it. I barely feel my hands burn. I threw it in the ground, watching the green liquid spill. My reflection still shows. I turn my head away.

               "You're supposed to work.." I reach into my pouch and took out a ripped, yellowed, crumbled sheet of paper with a list of ingredients and a drawing of a mutated rat. On the top was the name "Scratch".  My fist begins to clench as I hold it, fingernails piercing into the drawing's face. "You.. were supposed to work.." My hands released the paper, letting it fall to the moist ground. I step back and sat on my trash bag, hands covering my head as I tried to find comfort in all of the chaos.

               Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. 4 drops of sewage. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. 8 drops of sewage.  Drip. Drip. Drip. Everything goes quiet. Everything fades away.

               DING! DONG!

               I jump out of my trance. My ears raised high and reach for my crossbow and pointed in its direction.

               Ding. Dong. Ding. Dong. It stopped.

               it was only the muffled bell from the bell tower. The Goopy One told me it was there to tell time for the surface.. I glance over at the empty trash bag on the other side of the room. I never touched it. I never touched it since he left.

               I crawl over to the dropped recipe and went over to what was once ZAC's bed. I lay inside, looking at the piece of paper with the drawing of Scratch, gazing into the holes I pierced. I try to flatten them out, making them look less like holes.

               I shoot a quick whistle towards the cracks, beckoning my remaining subjects to come. One roach comes over. "Hmph. Did they come back yet?" I ask in a raspy voice. "They haven't came back since this morning.. They.. they couldn't have found a new home already? Yes?"

               The roach merely skitters to my hand as I raise it towards my face.

               "Oh. I see.. you don't know if they did.." I growl at the roach. I always demand answers from my subjects, but all aggression suddenly dissipated when the roach claims they were marching over right now. I peered closer towards him. "WHERE!?"

               I sneak through the sewers, running as fast as I can to reach them before they come to their homes to lock the sewer king himself out. I couldn't afford to let that happen. Suddenly, I hear the familiar squashing of footsteps. I look from the corner and see the same hulking figure carrying what seems to be Scratch, a rat slumped on his back.

               However, it isn't like the last times I saw them. They walk slowly with their arms limping around uselessly in the air. Their faces look down into the ground in shame. The only arm that's active was ZAC's left arm which seems to be holding a lone feather.

               I walk in front of him. "SURPRISE!" I shout, cackling. "Did you miss me!?" Closer up, it was even more peculiar. The blob seemed to be covered in concrete and Scratch is holding on to his neck for dear life. "Wha.. what happened?"

               ZAC merely walks around me.

               I run back to him. "Hey! Hey! Hey! You're in MY kingdom! And you follow My orders! I command you to answer my question! What happened!?"

               He glares down at me. "Listen, pal. Now's not the time for this stuff. Today's been a rough day and Scratch here is exhausted and I don't want to talk about it nor do I want to hear your 'music' in front of the place."

               "Hmph. Not my fault you wouldn't let the sewer king in. And it's great music!" Twitch grumbles. That was odd.. He read from human literature that you can get people out by music, and pots and pans provided the best sewer music! "Ugh.. I was just wondering what happened up there. Was it some stupid human overreacting to a building being destroyed? Hehe.. Not your fault they're too dumb to think about what you wanted. Hmph! All humans are dumb. Bleagh!"

               "TWITCH!"

               I grew silent.

               "Listen closely cause I'm not a fan of repeating myself. Today's a rough day, and if you want me to punch you, then I suggest giving us a bit of space. I need to think of some things," ZAC sighs, glancing at the rustled black feather.

               "But.. I just wanted to know what happened to my subjects? A king needs to-"

               "Twitch. We're not your subjects. We're not your weapons. This is just a temporary home." ZAC turned away and kept moving, never stopping. "We’re doing fine, pal. Don’t worry about it. Good night, Twitchy."

               "Good... Night. Goopy One.." I mumble. I sit down in the sewers, looking down at the sewage. I kick about the water, just thinking what to do before they leave forever...

               Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. 4 drops of sewage. I could've sworn I saw one glow...

               It was a rough night. The world around me is dark with no light or hope in sight. Everywhere  I turn, I see him.

               I stand abrupt, awake at the thick of the night. My breathing quickens as I stand up. I look behind me, expecting to feel those 5 scarlet eyes staring down next to me.. to him. I stretch my arm for the lantern and lit it with a wooden match. I see Scratch sleeping soundly on his trash bag, unharmed or untouched, yet he's still affected. I could see the shivering skin and the  skittering teeth and reactive kicks here and there. I look down at the feather again. This wasn't the first zaunite science abomination I've fought up there; there were plenty, but I've never felt so scared. This was the third time I woke up tonight.

               I bring the lantern over to Scratch and tapped him on the shoulder. The moment he feels my touch, he jumps up and shields himself to me.

               "Heh.. Guess you dream about him too, don't'cha?"

               He just walks up to slump on my body, exhausted from the panic. Exhausted from the stress. Exhausted from the fear. I feel a pang of guilt. I brought him to this..

               "Hey. Hang in there. He won't get you here. Not in the sewers, and definitely not with me around. I promise I'll take him down!"

               I sit him up, and made sure his eyes meet mine. "You can't be my sidekick anymore," Scratch just look at him with scared eyes before going back to his trash bag to look for a particular gauntlet. I come up to him and he brings it out immediately, showing the venomous green ball in his hand. Showing the various ways to manipulate it to impress me, but all failed.

               I grab him by the wrist and moved his arm down, dissipating the green orb to nothing but smoke. "No buts pal," I said sternly. "You almost died today, and I'm not going through that again. I'm sorry. You're staying here. Can't let some vulture thing get your head, right?" I give him a soft smile before letting go of his wrist.

               He raises his hand to show a twisted picture of Twitch holding a bunch of rats over a cauldron through his gauntlet. I swipe it away with my hand. The image turns to smoke. "He won't touch you here.." I glance at the heavy furniture blocking the doorway. "That thing weighs a couple hundred pounds, pal. Twitch won't be able to get you.."

               Scratch comes over to hold my big green hand, his grip hard. He looks up to me, defenseless and scared. "I'm not leaving you," I said, petting him a bit. "Gonna take more than a crazy 'sewer king' and some monster to get me away right? It's just Zaun needs me. A superhero can't abandon the people he protects right?"

               Scratch nods silently, his eyes drifting on the ground, still reluctant on this decision.

               "Tell you what," I said. "How about we get through this night together? Before I leave." I ask. "With the both of us, that monster in our dreams won't stand a chance."

               The two of us lay on my bed. I hold on to Scratch with my big arms as he digs into my chest. He sleeps soundly in the comfort of my warmth as I spend the long hours staring at the black feather.

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch Synopsis: A Chimera’s Cry

A new monster has shown up in Zaun and ZAC wants to investigate it and take it down for the safety of the Zaunites. However, it appears that the monster’s influence even stretches to the kingdom of the sewers.

//Takes place after The Second Plague Rat and focuses on both the conflicts created in the aftermath of The Second Plague Rat and the development for Scratch’s character.

Also, as you may have known from the last poll, this includes a M!A that was requested by an anon which will be in effect for this blog when we arrive at that point in the story. (You could look the poll up or wait until it appears in the chapters / drabbles)

First Chapter / Drabble Release: July 7th, 2018

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: The Second Plague Rat - The Green Death

(This is the 7th drabble concerning this story and the second-to-last. If you want to read more about “The Second Plague Rat” go to the wattpad page- link)        

"Scratch! I'm home!" I shout as I enter the room from the front door with a small bag in my hand. While it may look awful outside, I decided to make some little renovations to make it less depressing. Most of the cracks were smoothed out inside and all signs of scattered glass and wood were thrown in the garbage. All was quiet in the house. It's expected; I did tell him to stay silent when he hears something the footsteps through the ceiling. I head over to a revealing pipe that I've grown a bit too familiar with. I've always escaped through this thing from my old room, Scratch's room. I knocked on it 9 times, 3 sets of one knock followed by a pause then 2 consecutive knocks.

               I look across the hall, hearing the faint footsteps in the silence across the hall. The door was blocked by an old heavy desk I got from the junkyard. I lift it up revealing a brown rat in the stairs. He lunged at me to hug me. He dug his hands deep into my tough green skin and climbed on top of my shoulder quickly. He leaned forward to my arm to sniff the contents of the bag..

               "Hey!" I say, holding the bag away. "Be patient pal. Heh. It's not gonna go anywhere." I walk down the stairs before dragging the desk back in its place, concealing the opening, leaving the two of us in the basement with only a small yellow lantern illuminating the room. "Sorry I was late buddy. I got into a.. complication." I mumble, feeling my hand go to my back. I could feel the arrow's mark just behind my left shoulder. Of course the skin reformed, but it felt like the scar still existed. He crossed the line...

               Instinctively, Scratch begins to sniff at the spot. I felt puffs of air on my skin before reaching over to guide his head away. I reached in my bag to get a piece of stale bread. "Hey.. I could hear your stomach grumbling, huh?" I said, raising the bread and turning my head to meet his eyes. "Here! It's.. not what you wanted. There.. was no fruit today. I'm sorry."

               He paused before grabbing the bread, his hands shaking in hesitation. His eyes dart back to the spot I was shot.

               Finally, the trek through the old wooden stairs is over. At the end there was only a singular room with 2 small beds made from various trash bags. In the center there was a lantern and on the wall closest to it were some drawings and a small piece of green chalk at the foot of the wall. We sit near the lantern, eating the food slowly in silence. I couldn't say anything, all I could do is go back to the scar routinely throughout the dinner, patting it and imagining a dent that wasn't there filled with ineffective poison as my skin radiates heat to effortlessly combat it as I go for his throat...

               "Squeak!" Scratch yelped, holding the green chalk in his hand and a small piece of bread in the other.

               I pause before replying. "Uh.. Shouldn't you wait after dinner pal. You haven't finished your meal.." I point to the bread in his hand.

               He shakes his head no and just points to a dark corner in the room.

               "You.. wanna show me something?" I grab the lantern and take his hand. I gave a slight smile. "Surprise me buddy."

               He leads me to the corner of the wall. It begins to illuminate to reveal what seemed to be a big headed rat with crazy, pupil-less eyes and large ears holding various stick figure rats to a cauldron. Below the cauldron were just pictures of individual bones. I just stared at those eyes as they stared into me. "Wha.. What's going on buddy?" I ask, worried. "Is this another nightmare again? Those.. bad thoughts?"

               He slightly nods his head yes.

               I walk up to the draw and smudged my hand on top of it, using the fluids within me to wash away the chalk. It barely worked, only taking away minor markings but the whole figure was still intact. I swipe the green crayon away from Scratch. "Listen to me pal. I know you're scared of him. I know he did bad things to you; he did bad things to me too, and I trusted the guy, but he's all behind us now, ok? You're safe here! He doesn't know we're here and he hates the surface. Too much light, y'know? Heh." I gaze at the hideous display again before crossing it out with a big green "X".

               "No more of these drawings okay? It's not good for you to worry." I smooth out his rustled fur. "Heh. That's my job now. Tell you what." I ate the bread in my other hand in one clean swoop. "We can start story time now! Bet you were waiting for that!" I take Scratch and the lantern away from the drawing of his creator, obscuring it in darkness. I lead him to a clean wall, a clean slate. "Now.. I have 3 stories in mind.." I take the green chalk and begin to draw out the choices.

               "I have another story about Atomic Man.. You can't go wrong with that," I said, drawing a stick figure with a cape across his back.

               "There's a nice one about a guy at the Sumps! I was pretty surprised with that one. Real too!" I drew a thug with a mohawk.

               "There's also a Blitzcrank story. I always like stories with that lovable machine.." I drew a circle with 2 circles within to signify his eyes.  

               "Well.. What do you want today? I'm ready!"

               He points to my left shoulder.

               "Guess... you're curious huh." I pause.

               "Blitzcrank it is."

               "How.. How did it not work!?" I shout as I pace repeatedly around the cauldron that now holds my creation. The question repeats. Over and over and over and over again. "How did it not work? How did it not work? How did it not work!?" I gaze into my reflection in the green liquid. Maybe it was time.. Maybe he would come back to me later in the day. Maybe the blob's skin proved too hard to penetrate! Yes! That must be it! But.. why was he that aggressive to his original superior!? What inserted those awful thoughts and actions to his head! Twitch was a great king.. Must be side effects.. It had to be side effects! This was originally meant to target my own rats after all, NOT SENTIENT BLOBS, yet.. it should've worked.. It should've worked!

               I reach my clawed hands to my neck, feeling the pressure on top of it as it was before. So much strength.. So much.. audacity! I.. I can barely breathe as I imagine the pain and anguish as my own subject tries to exterminate me. I couldn't breathe. Only puffs of air comes out. Puff. Puff. Puff. Puff.

               I let go of my neck, gasping for air. I look back at the potion that may have caused my demise. "You.." I shout at the green reflection staring back at me. "It was YOUR job to make them see me as the sewer king I AM! The sewer king Twitch is!! They're supposed to like me.. I.. I saved one of them! I gave them the gift of sentience! They should be mine.. and now they might as well be dead! The surface isn't kind.." I look into the cauldron again as it begins to boil underneath the green lantern.  I huff and puff.. Breathing in and out.. The sewer king can fix this. The sewer king can get everything that was his back..

               The intoxicating toxins hit my nose. I take the potion's call. I sniff and sniff and sniff and sniff to decipher what could be missing. My rapid, excited hands grab at everything, potions, sludge, larvae, everything that could be the piece to the grand puzzle of THE future! MY future! The stench begins to converge to something harmonious, something grand, something perfect! It was fixed, done, ready!

               I scour the walls through every crack and cranny, digging my claws to seep all of the roach men out before I could find him.

               "YOU!" I shout at him. Time was of the essence. "You told me that there were 4 possibilities.. 1 of them worked! You must tell me the others.. TELL ME NOW!" The hand squeezes violently as he merely squeak the answers I ask. "Of course..." I mutter. I grab my crossbow and scramble out to find him. I hear the grumbling of the machines as I go closer and closer to the surface, an area where the people command their metal slaves to build on top of tombs. This wasn't the place for my subjects.. Surface was never good for anyone.. They need me...

               They need Twitch..

[a-rat-and-a-blob]

Drabble Arch: The Second Plague Rat (Part 4) - The Sewer King’s Castle

(This is the 4th drabble if you want to read the other drabbles connected with this go to the wattpad page - link)

The claws snatch at my body, trying to dig into the outer parts of my skin. He tries to push me away so it could back into the darkness to hide, but I wouldn't allow it. I grab the rat's wrists. My fingers pressed on his as he tries to break from my grasp, pushing away from me as he grunts and growls and squeaks for its life. He even tries to bite my hand, but I never budged; I just sit unmoving as he did so, just trying to make out the shadow. It had large ear, coarse fur, large nose.. I could hear his rapid breathing and huffing. Eventually he just gave up, whimpering; it's heartbreaking to see. His arms gradually lost all of their strength until they all went limp.

               "Hey.. I just wanna help, okay?" The rat just stares at me blankly. "I know I can be pretty scary, but I promise I'm a nice gu-" I look up only to see his confused and fearful posture. The same as always. He didn't hear a word I said. Then again, he did grew sentient yesterday. Time to think up a solution. I needed a way to talk. I look around trying to find a way to converse, but nothing was in the dark sewers.

 I took the rat to a more lighter place where a manhole laid above us. I ignored the rat's silent pleas to let him go in my head as his struggling rippled my own flesh. I look up at the dim green light above us, giving us a sufficient light source to see each other. I look at the rat as he looked at me in open pink bloodshot eyes like Twitch. His fur was a murky brown instead of gray, and his skin was blotched and scared beyond all belief. His naked legs are limping and his ears twitches every 2 seconds. His sharp teeth gritted as I held on, yet as the light hit him, he looks up at the city of Zaun above him and gazes at it. It was illuminating and warm, yet alien to him. He hears the voices of the zaunites on the surface, but  couldn't tell the tones of the voices. He didn't know what they were feeling, but he knew there were more than what was down here. I look up, empathizing with his destructive curiosity towards the city and quickly felt a faint sense of happiness from up there. Exhilaration.. from those voices, yet the rat hears nothing.

               I glance at the rat's scars on his chest and arms. One large scar's just below the rat's wrist, evidently bleeding. Once I grab a hold of it, he's out of his trance. He fights again.

               I fight back. "Listen!" I shout. He just looks up, not knowing what I said. "If. You want to go up there," I said, pointing towards the manhole. "You have to trust me." I pointed to myself. As I put my hand on the scar, I close my eyes and begin the process, letting my flesh go into his. My substance begins to reform the flesh that has been destroyed. I feel the heat coming out of me, taking my breath away as it goes to him. I hear his rampant breathing as this happens. His hands twitch more and more from the heat. I even feel the sweat coming from his fur. I stop. When my fingers turn loose, his arm jerked off from me, going back to his other hand until suddenly he realized that it wasn't bleeding. He raises his heated arm and gaze at it, wondering where the blood go. Wondering where the pain went. Then he looks at me, huffing to conserve energy.

               "I'm here to help pal. I promise." I open a hand. I'll let him choose this time.

               He points to the other wounds: his chest, his arms, legs, neck, and forehead.  I nod yes. I'm willing to do it. He pauses and points his shaking & trembling hand up to the city. He looks around tirelessly for his creator, unsure of where he is. The water drops that clang on the pipes turn his head as his bones stiffen. I nodded yes. He paused slightly before taking my hand, and we went back to the deep depths of the sewers where no warm light reached us, where no one could find us.

               I walk deeper and deeper with the rat's dragging behind me. As we walk, I tried to think about what exactly I'm doing. Twitch never wanted to kill or torture his creation. Heck, I think he didn't even want to boss it around; he just wanted someone to be with. I just needed to play along with that. "Listen.." I said, looking at the rat. "Y'know Twitch doesn't want to hurt you right?" He just stares at me blankly, not knowing what I said. i forgot he didn't know much about language. I just sigh. This was going to be hard. This entire thing was going to be hard. Just need to press through it.. That's all..

               Once we were deep enough and close enough to Twitch's lair, I pointed down to the spot he should stay and gave him a signal to listen to. I knock on the pipe 5 times in a little tune, 2 sets of consecutive beats with one final beat ending it, and point to myself. If he hears that I'll be nearby. After that was explained, I walk towards the lair to tell Twitch about this. I begin to think of some neat ideas of what the three of us could do. Maybe we can play some games together. Maybe Twitch would like having a nice audience. Maybe I would have someone to come with me in the cultivairs and the commercias. The thoughts made me feel warm inside about how it could all work. It could really pay off. I just needed Twitch’s help with conveying that to his creation. 

               I went into the lair with its lone green twisted lantern creaking and dangling. I see Twitch concerning himself with a book, writing vigorously inside it. "Hey, Twitch!" I said happily. "I have some good news for you! I-" I glance at the notebook he was writing on and it seemed to be a.. recipe. In front of the desk , there were more recipes that he pinned down to the wall as well with the center being what seemed to be the original recipe. The one with the green material with glow marks all around it. The shreds of papers scattered across the wooden table showed that this was recent. Just today.

               "I don't need your news.." Twitch mutters. "I'm working on something!"

               "Work? Working on what?" I ask. "Thought you would be searching for the little ra-"

               "His name is Scratch!" He shouts, somewhat offended. "I told you his name is Scratch.. and my roaches are finding him! I just need to work on this.."

               I raise my eyebrow. "Ok.. what's 'this'?"

               "Well.." Twitch says, not diverting his attention away from his task. "I'm working on a potion.. The sentience potion worked, but he ran away..He ran away! From his own creator.. he's faulty, but I can fix it.. I can fix it.."

               "How.. how are you going to fix it..?" I ask, stepping back. "What's.. what's 'it'?" I repeat more firmly.

               "I need to make him more obedient.. Make him listen! And I can! I can't lose him.. I can't lose this..." The crazed rat walks over to the steel cauldron and threw a match underneath. The low blue fire rose. He threw in ingredients left and right in the water. Ingredient's I didn't know existed. He seemed to ignore me at that point, going about his work as if I'm not there. As he messed with the cauldron, I look at the recipe. It had a picture of a small rat bowing before a bigger rat. I'm struck horrified as I read...

Journal Entry 710:

I realized that the sentience potion may be successful, but it didn't give me a subject..

The potion must be faulty. I have to build from it! I must do it again, but with more ingredients..

Which ingredients would make him listen to me, make him be Twitch's loyal subject! I must explore!!

I just need to find those ingredients that should lead to obedience.

Journal Entries to look into:

                 "What are you doing!?" Twitch shouts, swiping the paper from me. "That's classified information.."

               "What am I doing!?" I shout angrily. "What are YOU doing!? This isn't needed. I.. I found him!"

               "You what!?" Twitch asks back.

               "Yeah. I found him, and he's more than willing to be with us, but not when this happens!"

               "No.. No! He'll run again! He'll run if I don't do this! He'll be mine this time.. and besides, why should I trust you!" Twitch finally turns his head, his eyes glare at him, filled with hate. "All you've done was distracted me from my work, my job as the sewer king! I need to keep subjects under control.. The king needs to make sure the subjects stays under him! Not in the surface.. Not shot or blasted by the humans!"

               "What!? I didn't do any-"

               "Oh really? You refused to let me search for him at night.. You take my future subjects and release them! You even tried to let some blue abyss distract me, well NOTHING DISTRACTS TWITCH! I have to do this Goopy One.. Twitch must! Twitch must.. Twitch must.." His speech began to devolve into incessant rambling and all I could do is stare. I remember the time in the labs..

               "Yeah.. guess you're right," I growl. "I'm just playing your tail." Twitch didn't listen; he's too busy with his own ideas as they formed a wall between me and him. To the rat, it seemed like it's just him, the cauldron, and the green lantern faintly illuminating his way. I couldn't break it, not after so many goddamn attempts. Let him wither in his own "kingdom", in his own "castle". I walk away from the lair, planning to do to Scratch what my parents did for me long ago..

               All was quiet in the sewers after that. Twitch was left alone, with only drawings to talk to.