Chapter 80: Remorse


    Sitting on the forest floor, doing its best to hide beneath the leaf litter, was a tiny, cinnamon-colored bunny.


    One of its rear legs was held out to the side, and when it tried to nuzzle beneath the leaves, that leg didn''t move.


    As it noticed Maria and me looming above, it froze.


    "Is... is it okay?" Maria asked.


    "I think its leg is hurt..."


    "What can we do?"


    I turned to her.


    "You said there weren''t any vets in Tropica, right?"


    "No... none."I unslung our bags and, bending down, rummaged through mine. I pulled a nket out, the softest one I owned that I''d removed from my bed, and folded it.


    With deliberate slowness, I lowered it down over the bunny.


    Pressing the nket up against the bunny''s sides, and taking care not to hurt its injured leg, I scooped it up.


    I held the nket-wrapped bunny out for Maria to hold, and she gripped it tenderly, pulling it and holding it to her chest.


    She moved the nkets aside so the bunny''s head was poking out. The moment she did, it buried its head back out of sight, hiding from us.


    "Oh, you poor darling," Maria said.


    "I might have something to help it at home."


    She covered it in the nket once more, looking heartbroken.


    "Should we travel through the night to get it there? I don''t want it to suffer..."


    I shook my head.


    "We might trip and fall, hurting it more. I think we should camp for the night, then get it back to Tropica in the morning."


    "Okay. You think it will survive the night?"


    "Other than the leg, it looked healthy. If it had an open wound, I''d say we should risk it and run through the night, but as it is..."


    She nodded.


    "Okay. Let''s get to the camp as fast as possible."


    ***


    The crab''s eyes twitched as he came to another constricting section of tunnel.


    Thest two days—despite having just attained a new body, and more intellect than he''d previously fathomed—had been infuriating beyond belief.


    <em>What good is a new body,</em> he thought,<em> if it''s too big to get back to my spiky mistress?</em>


    He''d chipped away at the first few roadblocks slowly, eventually carving his way through.


    At the fourth or fifth one—he couldn''t remember, given how many he''d passed—he was fed up, and had unleashed a mighty ck at the walls.


    The subsequent explosion of power... had been a mistake. The cave in had robbed half a day of his time, and ever since, he''d been carefully excavating each narrow section of the tunnel.


    Blowing bubbles of resignation, he began cutting into the newest hurdle in his way.


    ***


    Thest two days, Sergeant Snips reflected, had been infuriating beyond belief.


    This thought was punctuated by a strike to the head. All eight of her legs crumpled beneath the blow, and the bottom of her carapace hit the sand.


    She got back to her feet as she blew bubbles of annoyance, shaking sand from her undercarriage.


    In response, her rival unleashed a chitteringugh.


    No matter what she or the lobster did, neither could match the speed of Corporal ws'' lighting power, and the otter was all too pleased with herself.


    Said otter puffed her chest out, preening with the victory.


    Where the goading would cause some to quit, to desire a reprieve from the torment, all it did to Snips was make her more resolved.


    She nced at the sea snipper, but he was still exhausted from previous bouts; his overge form—and his status as a newly awakened—left him unable to keep up with the constant training.


    <em>So be it,</em> Snips thought. <em>I''ll keep going until I can shut her up.</em>


    She readied herself, and with her eye locked on the abrasive otter, she charged.


    ***


    I gathered sticks and kindling for the fire as Maria sat with the bunny, cradling the bundle like it was a newborn.


    All I could hope was that I could heal it when we got home; any alternative wasn''t worth lingering on.


    I had to go far to find sticks, as we''d collected all those nearby on ourst visit. In my travels, I picked some berries from a nearby bush, holding them in one hand as I returned to the camp.


    When I got back, Maria was hunched over and whispering to the bundle in her arms, and I couldn''t help but smile.


    "I got some berries—I thought we could try feeding them to the bunny."


    Maria raised an eyebrow.


    "Do bunnies eat berries? I thought they ate grass."


    "I''m pretty sure everything likes berries. They''re full of sugar, so they''re super nutrient dense."


    In truth, I''d seen videos of bunnies munching down berries with fervor back when I was on Earth, but that was too difficult a concept to exin.


    Maria unwrapped the nket, exposing its head once more.


    Before it could bury itself back within the folds, I held out a single berry in front of its head.


    At first, it didn''t move, but then its cute little nose started twitching.


    It leaned in closer, and after a few more rapid-fire sniffs, bit into the berry.


    A soft, high-pitched noise came from Maria''s throat, and I couldn''t help but agree—the damn thing was adorable.


    As it chewed, purple juice spread around its mouth, making an absolute mess of its cinnamon-colored fur.


    Being such a small creature, it was a slow process, but Maria and I watched with rapt attention, unable to take our eyes off it.


    After thest bite, it sniffed the stem held in my fingers, its pink nose blowing wisps of air on my fingertips.


    It raised its head, its nostrils twitching nonstop.


    "I think it''s looking for more," Maria said, and I nodded.


    I held out another berry, and the moment it was within its field of view, the bunny''s head snapped to it.


    I moved the berry down, and it stretched its neck out, snatching a mouthful.


    "It''s getting morefortable," I said.


    Maria grinned like a child seeing her first puppy.


    "<em>Gods above, can we keep it?</em>"


    "I mean... maybe?"


    She shook her head, still smiling.


    "I''m just dreaming aloud. It''s a wild animal, so it wouldn''t be right to have it as a pet."


    She lowered her head, her hair draping down.


    "It''s just so damn cute—I want to squeeze it and never let go."


    The bunny looked up at her, sensing her looming presence. It didn''t look away, staring up at Maria as it chewed with an open mouth.


    "What do you think, little one?" she asked.


    It lifted its head, seeming to hear her words.


    "Do you want to stay with us…?"


    The bunny leaned closer, then took a bite of Maria''s dangling hair.


    A small length, two centimeters long and wide as a bunny''s mouth, was cut from her hair in the blink of an eye.


    "Oh..." she said as the bunny put its head back down, chewing the stolen mouthful.


    We burst intoughter.


    Maria shook with mirth, trying to hold it in to not spook the bunny, and I did the same, not wanting to roar withughter and scare it.


    Trying to keep it in only increased the hrity, and before I knew it, my eyes were swimming with tears.


    My legs gave in, and I fell to the ground on all fours, convulsing with softughter.


    Maria braced herself with one hand, having to keep upright with the bunny in herp.


    "I thought it was... looking at my face," Maria squeaked out through fits ofughter.


    I tried to respond, but my words failed me, and I fell to the floor, rolling onto my back.


    "I think it wants more berry, Fischer," Maria said, her voice shaky.


    I rolled to my front and braced myself, holding an arm out for the bunny to have some more.


    "You sure it doesn''t want another taste of your hair?"


    Maria snorted, and the bunny happily bit into the proffered fruit,pletely unaffected by ourughter.


    "Oh my god," I said. "I needed thatugh. I think it''s safe to say the bunny isn''t too sick—it has a healthy appetite."


    "Yeah, no kidding."


    ***


    A wave of tion washed over the crab. It had taken hours, but it finally cleared another section of blocked tunnel.


    It blew happy bubbles and strode on, content to finally have a stretch of path to traverse with its sturdy, reliable legs.


    The crab rounded a corner, and it froze.


    Right in front of it, not even one crab-length away, the tunnel constricted again, bing entirely unpassable.


    The crab''s eye twitched and, with a slew of dejected bubbles, its body dropped to the tunnel floor.


    It sat there for a few breaths and gathered its wits, letting the frustration build.


    The spiky mistress, with her eyepatch and impressive carapace, drifted into his thoughts.


    He got to his feet, shaking his body as if to dispel any annoyance.


    <em>I must continue. The sooner I leave, the sooner my leader can see my improved form.</em>


    He flexed both ckers as his resolve firmed, and with a steady scrape of his mighty w, he began clearing the tunnel.


    ***


    Sergeant Snips dug deep for the energy to continue.


    Even her nemesis, the grant and braggadocious Corporal ws, was growing tired, her taunting chirps having silenced an hour ago.


    Snips got to her feet as she rallied her strength, and she blew small, meaningless bubbles.


    The otter, heaving air and shoulders slumped, locked eyes with her.


    They both nodded, and the battle began anew.


    ws lead with her lightning ability, but the sparks were diminished, as was her speed.


    They met in the middle of the sand, and a loud p rang out through the forest as ws met, one covered in shell, the others extended from a furred paw.


    Both flew back, then darted forward with explosive movement, meeting once more with another exchange.


    This time, a blur of strikes shot between them, but all were blocked.


    When an opening presented itself, Snips jumped back, eyeing the otter.


    Her exhaustion was immutable, and she thought she maye out with a single victory if she could bait the otter into expending too much of her simrly dwindling reserves.


    With each of ws'' ability-powered attacks, Snips had grown more ustomed to the patterns. She would feint an attack from the front, and when Snips attempted to block it, she darted above or around, attacking from behind before Snips could react.


    <em>If I can trick her into doing that again, now that her attacks are slower...</em>


    Snips'' pride needed—no, <em>demanded—</em>at least one win.


    She felt the lightning gathering before it started to wreathe ws'' legs.


    The blue-white lines sparked into existence, and with the amount of energy expended, Snips knew her trap had worked.


    Corporal ws shot over the sand, eating the distance with a manic grin on her face.


    Just as the otter was about to pivot and strike from behind, Snips twisted, opening her w as she spun. She felt the explosion of ws'' redirected energy; the bait had worked perfectly.


    She mped where ws would appear, right where her neck would be. Snips wouldn''t injure her, of course, but a firm grip of the throat would secure a victory.


    As her w cked together in empty air, Snips registered her folly.


    Corporal ws hadn''t appeared behind her.


    Snips spun, but it was already toote.


    ws was arcing down from the front, having spun in a loop at blistering speed.


    Snips didn''t have enough time to turn, let alone block the attack. Rather than instill a sense of defeat, it bolstered her fury.


    <em>This pup dares outss me?</em>


    She reached deep, grasping for more power, and the ever-flowing current of time seemed to still.


    A hint of something immense bloomed, but like vapor on the wind, she couldn''t grip it. The vast power was out of reach; too abstract for her toprehend. Despair and anger washed over her, and defeat approached with unerring finality.


    <em>No,</em> she thought.


    The single syble held more weight than any word had a right to, and its echoes reverberated throughout her.


    She channeled all the frustration, all the fury, into her w, and with the potent appendage, she grasped for the power again.


    It was like water, moving around and avoiding her grip. It pulled her in, and she plunged down into a never-ending abyss. As the power hit her carapace, she realized the truth. It wasn''t like water—it <em>was</em> water.


    She was within a bottomless sea, plummeting toward a floor she''d never find.


    With that enlightenment, the water poured into her, suffusing her entire being. Thick torrents of it prated deep, pouring into a ce within. An orb of vitality stretched, threatening to burst, yet didn''t.


    There was no pain, only eptance and an understanding deep as the immense well of power.


    She opened her eye, returning to the present.


    Water flowed from her body, creating billowing pockets of light-blue energy all over.


    They collected along the lengths of each w, and she red the one to her left, using the momentum to spin her toward the still-charging otter.


    The toothy grin across Corporal ws'' face melted when she spotted the change, but she was traveling too fast to stop.


    Snips right w snapped out, faster than Corporal ws'' lightning powered body could react to.


    As her w shot forward, power gathered on the hinge. It swelled from that ce within, traveling through her and coalescing at a single point.


    She pulled back, sending some of the power back within; she didn''t want to kill the otter.


    Her w cked closed, and an arc of razor-sharp water shot out, angled for ws'' body.


    It reached her at an unbelievable speed, and when it hit, Snips'' eye went wide.


    It was too much; she hadn''t held back enough.


    The power sliced through a blocking w, severed the otter’s matted fur, and bit deep into the flesh below.


    An explosion rang out as it connected, and Snips was sent flying back, filled with remorse and grief.