Las's eyes snapped open.
Above him — a sky of darkness.
Thunder rolled like war drums, breaking through the silence,
and black clouds bled with crimson lightning.
He pushed himself to his feet, breathing hard.
When his gaze fell on his shoulder—
his right arm was gone.
Blood dripped from the torn flesh, tracing crimson lines down his chest.
He gritted his teeth, pressing his left hand against the wound,
his breath trembling as pain shot through his body.
Around him, the ground was split and broken,
cracks glowing with fire and molten lava bursting like tiny eruptions.
The air itself burned —
a living hell stretching as far as the eye could see.
In the distance, the ground began to quake
then split apart,
crimson light spilling from the cracks.
From the lava and flames that erupted outward,
a towering, fiery figure emerged—
a demonic ape, his body wreathed in red fire,
a blazing spear clenched tightly in his hands.
His eyes, burning crimson, locked onto Las.
For a moment, he stood still, his body trembling with fury.
Then, with a roar that shook the air itself,
he charged—
rushing straight toward Las,
the flaming spear slicing through the smoke like a comet.
Las froze—terror flashing in his eyes as the demon charged closer.
His body trembled.
Instinctively, he stepped back, fear tightening around his chest.
Then .
from above, something fell through the storming sky,
piercing the air like a shooting star.
It struck the ground beside him
Sifu's staff.
Dust rose around it, glowing faintly under the crimson light.
And in that moment, through the roaring wind and fire,
a voice echoed—
familiar, calm, unyielding.
FIGHT !!!!
Las jolted awake—his eyes snapping open.
The ceiling above him was blurry and white, his vision hazed and trembling.
Las (weakly):
"Wh… where am I…?"
A small shape leaned over him.
Then, a bright, childish voice burst out in excitement:
"He's awake! He opened his eyes—did you see?! He's awake! He's awakeee!"
A sharp, cold female voice cut through the noise:
"Yes, you said it. We heard you. Enough."
"But—but he really woke up!"
Then came another deep voice
"I'm going to call the others…
Where the hell is Scarface?"
Female voice:
"He's probably up in a tree again… eating leaves."
Deep voice:
"Every damn time we need him, he disappears!
And when we don't need him....
Is here and busting our balls!"
Las slowly closed his eyes, sinking back into the silence.
Minutes passed.
Suddenly, his eyes shot open again—
and above him stood Scarface, black shades gleaming, a wide grin flashing his perfect white teeth.
Scarface: smile
" good Morning."
Las froze, his fur bristling.
Las (shouting):
"Who who are you?!"
Scarface laughed, cheerful as ever.
Scarface:
"What? You don't recognize me? I'm your friend! The guy who saved your life remember?"
Las (panicking):
"My friend?! What friend?!"
From the far side of the chamber, a voice called out sharply:
Deep Voice
"Hey! Get off him—you're scaring the kid!"
Scarface's face crumpled in heartbreak; huge cartoonish tears rolled down his cheeks.
Scarface:
"He didn't recognize me!!!"
Deep voice (gruff):
"Well, can you blame him? Look at you—you look like a walking curse."
Scarface (offended):
"C-Curse?! Me?!"
Las lay still on the bed, his eyes wandering.
He realized he was inside a small, sunlit hospital room.
Beside him stood an IV drip filled with blood, the tube running into his arm.
Behind him, sunlight streamed through a window, flooding the white walls with a soft golden glow.
In front of him, Scarface was bickering with a stoat wearing a black jacket and denim pants, two revolvers hanging from his belt.
The stoat puffed on a cigarette, glaring at Scarface with visible annoyance.
At the far end of the room, seated quietly on a chair,
a fox with orange fur and a green headband adjusted her blade—
a polished katana resting on her lap.
She wore forest-green clothes, tapping the sword lightly with a wooden stick as she inspected the edge.
The door burst open.
A small green lizard stepped in, oversized glasses slipping down his snout.
He glared sharply at Scarface, the stoat, and the fox.
Lizard (snapping):
"Your voices can be heard all the way outside! Are you all insane?!"
The fox, her tone calm but eyes deadly serious, lifted her gaze.
Fox:
"Don't look at me!"
Her piercing gray eyes flicked toward the two troublemakers.
Fox:
"Tell those idiots instead."
Scarface (offended):
"Idiots?! Hey, hey—let's not throw words around!
No need to turn this hospital room into an arena!"
Las lifted his head, blinking at the lizard with the thick glasses.
Las:
"Bobo?"
Lizard (snapping):
"I'm not Bobo! And for the record, I didn't insult you, stupid monkey!"
Las (confused):
"I… don't understand."
The door slammed open again.
Another lizard stormed in — this one clearly Bobo, face twisted in irritation.
Bobo (angry):
"What's going on in here?!"
Las's eyes darted from one lizard to another, completely lost.
Las (thinking):
"Three… lizards?!"
Bobo (yelling in his childish voice):
"EVERYONE OUT! NOW!"
The room erupted into a rush of footsteps — everyone bolting out in panic.
Everyone… except Scarface.
Bobo (shouting):
"When I said everyone, I didn't mean 'everyone except Scarface'!"
Scarface grinned, adjusting his sunglasses with a smug flick of his finger.
Scarface:
"Relax, Doc. I'm just making sure the patient feels… comfortable."
Las spoke weakly, his voice barely above a whisper.
Las:
"Where's Eli…? Piu… Skav… and Vroom… Where is everyone?"
Scarface's usual grin faded. He looked down at Las, his expression suddenly serious.
Before he could answer, Bobo stepped forward, adjusting his glasses.
Bobo:
"It's not the right time for that talk yet.
But don't worry—Vroom, Skav, and Piu are all fine."
---
OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL
Vroom, Skav, and Piu sprinted toward the entrance, breathless and frantic.
They burst through the doors, barreling past the stoat—
knocking into him hard enough to send his cigarette tumbling to the floor.
He turned his head, irritation flaring in his eyes, and spoke in a voice edged with anger.
Stoat (muttering with a smirk):
"Estúpidos matones."
As Piu rushed into the hospital, he shot a quick glance at the stoat.
Piu:
"What did that guy just say?"
Skav (scratching his head):
"Something about... pie? I didn't catch it… now I'm hungry."
Vroom (deadpan):
"The scary part would be if you weren't hungry."
Scarface:
"Your friends are fine."
Las (weakly):
"Eli… where's Eli?"
Scarface's smile faded. His tone grew heavy.
Scarface:
"That's the hard part.
The Black Wolves have her.
We couldn't get her out…"
Las froze, eyes wide with shock. He tried to rise, his voice trembling with panic.
Las:
"What?! I have to go—I have to find her!"
Scarface:
"You can't. Even if you wanted to, not in your condition."
Las lay on the bed, his right arm gone from the shoulder down, wrapped tightly in layers of white gauze.
At the center of his stomach, a massive gunshot wound was bound with thick bandages, still bleeding faintly through.
Las (gritting his teeth):
"I have to go! I have to save her—this is all my fault!"
He forced himself up from the bed.
Bobo (shocked):
"Stop—his wounds will reopen! You idiot, Scarface—what have you done?!"
Las (weak, frantic):
"I have to go… I have to—!"
He collapsed, crashing to the floor.
Blood spread beneath him, a dark red stain pooling fast.
Bobo (horrified):
"Damn it!"
He slammed his palm against a red button on his belt.
Bobo (yelling):
"Emergency! We need help, now!"
The door burst open.
Three lizards in white medical coats and masks rushed inside, darting toward Las.
They lifted him carefully, trying to get him back onto the bed—
but Las struggled violently, shouting through the pain.
Las (yelling):
"You can't stop me! Let me go—my friend needs me!"
One of the medics grabbed a syringe and injected it swiftly into his arm.
Las (voice fading, trembling):
"My… friend… she… needs… meee!
Myyy frienshmee...el
Within seconds, Las's body went limp.
His eyes rolled back, and he slipped into unconsciousness.
The medics lifted him back onto the bed, their hands trembling as they worked quickly to close the wounds still bleeding through the bandages.
Scarface walked out of the room, hands in his pockets,
Bobo (gritting his teeth):
"I knew you were dumb…
but I didn't know it was an advanced level."
As Scarface walked out of the room, hands still buried in his pockets,
Skav, Vroom, and Piu rushed past him, bursting through the door.
Vroom (frightened):
"What's happening?! What's wrong with Las?!"
Inside, the scene was chaos.
Las lay unconscious on the bed,
his body pale and trembling,
while the medics struggled desperately to stop the bleeding.
One shouted orders, another pressed gauze against the wounds,
and crimson splattered across the white sheets.
The steady beep of the monitor filled the room—
a fragile rhythm between life and death.
.....
SOMEWHERE DEEP UNDERGROUND
Eli sat on the cold stone floor,
her arms and legs bound tightly by rusted chains.
The metal bit into her fur,
each small movement scraping her skin raw.
Her breath came out in shallow gasps,
the air thick with dust and the stench of decay.
She lowered her head,
the faint light from a distant torch flickering across her bruised face.
Beside her, other animals were bound in the same way—
some from Rock City, others from places she had never seen.
Their eyes were empty, their bodies broken.
The dungeon stretched endlessly into darkness,
its stone walls slick with moss and filth.
The only sound was the steady dripping of dirty water,
falling from a cracked, rusted pipe in the corner.
Each drop echoed through the silence,
like the ticking of a slow, merciless clock.
In the far corner of the cell,
hidden deep within the darkness,
a shadow hung against the wall—
chained and spread out like a crucified figure.
The iron bindings clinked faintly with every breath it took,
and though its face was lost in shadow,
its presence alone filled the room with an eerie, silent weight.
The shadow suddenly lifted its head.
From within the darkness,
two piercing orange eyes—the eyes of a wolf—
flashed open, cutting through the black like burning embers.