# We're Gonna Have A Bad Time 1 - A Good Ribbing

Author: Z-JAM-C
Tags: Gay Relationships, Human, Nudity, Raptor, Robot, Violence (Not In Yiff)

The T.E.A.R base finds new developments and expansions with a recent influx of technology, further establishing the Brokenclaw Sands as their territory amicably. Oddclaw's relationship with the displaced veteran Holt starts to deepen, and Dronin the lone wanderer finds himself a home as the new best friend and carer for Barkclaw when his brother is busy. What could possibly go wrong next?!  
  
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I can't wait for people to read the end of THIS chapter, hhhhehehehehehe 8D  
  
Dino Crisis copyrighted to Capcom, Oddclaw to me

[center][b][i]THE SCRIPTURES OF ODDCLAW[/i][/b][/center]

[center][b]Six-and-One: We're Gonna Have a Bad Time[/b][/center]

[center][i]"Hatred is the anger of the weak."[/i][/center]

[center][i]Alphonse Daudet[/i][/center]

[i][u]Linguistic Construction of Human-Raptor Languages[/u][/i]

[i]20-06-2035[/i]

[i]Recorded by Dr. Jane Addison and Ms. Anna Kerkorian Esq.[/i]

[i]Our previous attempts in developing a translator for human-raptor interaction has bore fruit!  Since the arrival of 33 robots who have now joined our ranks from Angel Island (see Dr. Dixon's Third Energy Anomaly Report - Subject Four), our progress concerning calculations and computerisations have increased productivity all round the base![/i]

[i]A robot who goes by the name of Dronin has offered his help in constructing a new device that would allow us to bridge the gap between human and raptor speech.  He gave us permission to examine his CPU which includes a translator device, thereby allowing us to reverse-engineer it for such a purpose.  Our only problem was how best to visualise it into its own device before we settled on a collar that would convert laryngeal vibrations to a velociraptor's speech patterns.[/i]

[i]Essentially it means that when someone speaks, the collar uses the throat's vibrations to transmit a translated equivalent term in the raptor's language.  Normally this would have taken years to produce but Dronin's assistance allowed us to conquer that bridge within the space of mere months![/i]

        "Alright now," said Jane as she clasped a grey collar to herself, "tell me if what I say in English is close enough to what you hear from this."

        "Okay," said Oddie sitting up on a chair.

She clicked on the collar as her voice resonated in both human and raptor with a slightly doubled effect.  Jeremy, Dronin and Ms. Kerkorian stood to one side of Jane's office as she spoke her first bestial words.

        [i]"Hello, how are you?"[/i]

        [i]"O-oh!"[/i] gasped Oddclaw.  [i]"Oh, I am well thank you!"[/i]

        [i]"OH, YES, can you understand me?!"[/i]

        [i]"I, I can!  Can you understand me?"[/i]

        [i]"I think so!"[/i]  Jane clapped her hands bouncing with joy.  [i]"Oh this is wonderful!"[/i]

        "Is it working?!" asked Anna amazed.

        [i]"Yes it is!"[/i] replied Addison in both languages.  [i]"Oh this is wonderful, Dronin you've done it!  You've actually done it!"[/i]

        "I take only partial credit," said the mantis in humanspeak, "your team were the ones to parse the data for us."

        [i]"Well I must welcome it, now Oddie what say we mate with your mother?"[/i]

        [i]"PFFFFT WH-WH-WHAT!?"[/i] cried the raptor in a stuttering laugh.

        [i]"Wh-what!?  What did I say?!"[/i]

        [i]"You...khhhhhhahahahahha, HHHAHAHAHAHAHAAA, y-you, you said, you wanted to mate my mother!"[/i]

        [i]"WHAT!?  OH, OHHHHH I JUS-D-DAMN SHIT SORRY!"[/i]  She clicked off the collar in a hasty panic with reddened face.  "I am SO sorry Oddclaw I did NOT mean that, I just wanted to say we-a-a-agh GOD!"

        "Whut, whut'd you say?!" asked Jeremy.

        "N-NOTHING, nothing it was a mistranslation!"

        "Hhahahaha it is fine Jane!"  Oddclaw stood up giggling to pat Jane on the shoulder.  "I think it needs some more work."

        "Yes, right...we, we should probably do some more tests, um D-dronin could you help?"

        "I shall do my best," said the robot bowing courteously, "but I believe it is time for your base to go on lunch break."

        "Oh, bloody hell so it is, well I guess we can do this all later."

They walked out single file towards the newly-expanded cafeteria.  Around them they heard the sounds of machinery thudding through the walls, dull trembles and whirring shrieks of the other side of the base in its fuller renovation.  The original base layout remained largely unchanged, but there now lied a few new passages that connected to future living quarters, training halls and lastly the already-expanded cafeteria.  Previously it had only been the size of a classroom allowing a good 1/4th of the base's inhabitants at a time but now it was able to accommodate everyone at once.  Passing through the semi-constructed rooms, the sounds of humans and robots working alongside each other filled the place.

        "I NEED FIFTEEN SLABS OVER 'ERE!"

        "YO BUZZ A LI'L HELP, I CAN'T REACH THIS!"

        "W-WOAH WOAH LOOK OUT!"

        "OH JEEZ!  Hhhh, thanks Hornton."

        "No prob sheesh be a li'l more careful dude, I don't wanna have to clean up all your meat paste."

        "HEY ANYONE GOT A SPARE DRILL!?"

        "I AM a drill just show me where I gotta drill!"

The facility never slept with work constantly burning through as the robots toiled through both day and night unceasing, their energetic need to be useful constantly pushing them to keep building and repairing for the T.E.A.R. group.  Drills fitted onto steel dragonflies, rhinobeasts and blaster-armed beetles pushing and carrying heavy materials, swinging monkeys with new legs briskly hurrying back and forth with the odd tool-wielding for spaces too high for humans to reach.  The badniks even had a head of their union in the form of an old penguin-shaped robot that barked his authority with pointing flippers.

        "ALRIGHT NOW BRING IT BACK...BAAAAACK...BAAAAA-NO WAIT STOP, STOP!  Thaaaaaassit now GENTLY lower it down riiiight on there, thassit good, keep that speed, NO DON'T SPEED UP STOP STOP!"

The grinding creak of a heavy steel wire tensed with a huge crate swinging back and forth threatening to knock someone's head off as as a team of floating caterpillars struggled to hold it aloft.

        "NOW...FOCUS, AN' TAKE IT DOWN [b]SLOWLY[/b] GOT IT?!  DOWN...DOOOOOWN AAAAAAAND THASSIT!"

The crunch of heavy steel upon a platform signalled a job well done as Thomas stood next to the penguin foreman, the Major-General holding a clipboard as he ticked the next thing off.

        "Excellent," he said with pride, "the hangar's coming along well."

        "It sure is general!" replied the penguin saluting with an iron flipper.  "My boys'll get this base to its peak doubled efficiency within the next year!"

        "We have a lot of resources left thankfully."

        "Again I wanna thank you for taking us on board your group, the boys have been all restless without any good work to do, earn their daily bolts yanno?"

        "I'm glad that we managed to accommodate you," said Thomas with a firm nod and clipboard underneath his arm, "once we have the rooms established we can start putting in some new security systems."

        "Now I got ideas fer that," spouted the penguinbot, "see I got these old blueprints that dumb ol' Eggman used to have along the lines of uh vibrational recognisance."

        "And what's that?"

        "Well let me just tell ya, once we got all this place sorted I'll show ya all the prints we salvaged."

As an assistant Oddclaw was allowed to be part of the lunch queue along with Jane, Jeremy and Anna who joined him to feast on the new culinary delights that were offered to them amidst inventive chemical reconstruction of plant and meat matter.  The staff of the kitchen also received an expansion in the form of motobugs rolling around on wheels with chopping knives in their claws to sever through ingredients finely to a perfect inch, as well as balancing trays on their heads whilst wizzing to and fro.

The raptor enjoyed his fresh lunch of roasted dinosaur meat and carefully-tested vegetables, some of which had been grown artificially or even reconstructed from the ancestral plants of the prehistoric era.  Humans and badniks worked to keep the food coming, which became far easier with their increased productivity at surprisingly no cost to the quality of food.  Despite the fact the robots did not eat, having their own nourishment in the form of recharging solar energy when they became tired or feeding off electrical conduits, they too were allowed to have their lunch breaks along with every other human out of fairness to workers' rights.

        "Hey girl."  Andrea's voice came from behind Jane.

        "OH heyyyy youuuu howsit going?"

        "Not bad," she sat down with the rest of the group at an octagon-shaped table, "Almost had a scare with one of the power cables not working today."

        "Aww shit," muttered Holt, "you need summat to replace it?"

        "No it's fine, it just had a wire that needed replacing.  Gotta say all these new robots are really helping out."

        "Oh aye, an' they're a right laugh to 'ang about with, not all like 'beep-boop take me to yer leader' or that nonsense."

        "I find that most defamatory," said Dronin standing by him.  "We have long since evolved our binary roots and automata, even without a master."

        "Oh uh sorry dab...so uh whut wuz this master like?"

        "A bloated fool shaped like an egg....had a rather strange obsession with eggs none of us could explain."

        "Dammit now I want eggs," said Andrea piling salad onto a dino breast, "there was this farm like two miles from my house that had the BEST ones."

        "You eat eggs?!" cried Oddclaw.

        "Well yes, most humans do, but back in our world we have animals we raise specifically to eat their eggs."

        "Wha-wh-...b-b-but that is AWFUL!"

        "No no the eggs are like, unfertilised, they're not going to be hatched."

        "You...so you eat dead eggs?"

        "Yes, sorta."

        "......you humen are diss-guss-ting."

Oddclaw said this as he tore into a steak, smattering his face in juices with a meaty sucking sound of chewing that stained Jeremy's sleeve slightly.  Andrea rolled her eyes not bothering to argue this as Jane smirked drinking a cup of tea.

        "It is true that humans will eat pretty much anything."

        "So do I," retorted Oddie, "I am the only raptor that eats plants but even I do not eat eggs.  Do humen birth eggs?"

        "No, we're mammals so we birth our children by themselves."

        "Would you call me disgusting if I ate a mammal child?"

        "No," replied Andrea drinking some unspecified fruit juice, "you have to eat same as we do, BUT!  For the sake of keeping balance in your world we made specific rules not to eat any eggs we find here."

        "Oh...yes, I remember Jane told me that.  Thank you."

        "So Odd," Jeremy started with a small punch to the raptor's shoulder, "when you bringin' thuh family round again?"

        "Um, I do not know, not all of them like this place."

        "Well yer sisters seem to love it last they were 'ere when you lot crashed that giant-arse ship into thuh beach."

        "My sisters are very friendly."

        "Is that what you call it?" joked Jane.  "Those twins keep trying to eat me I swear."

        "No they will not, they just love playing with you.  They are very happy with that gift you gave them."

        "I thought it would help calm them down at least."

        "Wait what did you give them?" asked Andrea flexing fingers around her glass of juice.

        "Oh um...this...I had Kevin make a uh....a uh-"

        "Dildo," finished Holt.

        "WHAT!?" cried Dixon almost shocking herself at how loud she was.

        "JEREMY!" blustered Jane.

        "Well if you can't spit it out yer not much good as a therapist aren't ya?!" he argued.

        "I was TRYING to be polite!"

        "This isn't Britain pet who gives a toss abou' politeness?!"

        "I bloody well do!"

        "Gotta agree with Jer here," replied Dixon suppressing her chuckle, "we're long past the point where you can't say 'dildo' in public."

        "Well I am sorry but I was raised differently."

        "You worked in a zoo, your entire job was talking about dicks and pussies on cats and dogs."

        "NO IT BLOODY WASN'T IT WAS A LOT MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT, WHO TAUGHT THE RAPTOR TO SPEAK ENGLISH HMMM?!?!"

        "Doctor Seuss!" cried Oddclaw jovially.

        "Yes, exactly-N-NO, NOOOO IT WAS ME GOD DAMMIT!"

        "I know Jane!  That was a joke!"

        "HHHA HA HA!"  Jeremy cackled with an arm round the raptor hugging him tight.  "Thuh dab's learnin', you taught 'im well Jane!"

        "I should bloody hope so SEE?!"  She swung her arm out across the table turning towards Dixon.  "See my job is a lot more about sex between animals!"

        "Too righ' that's mah bloody job!"

        "Yes, it's his-Jeremy."  She flumped with hands on her head.  "...what."

        "A-aww...awwww shit the jig is up mochyn bach."

        "Are you...no, no you-god, DAMMIT Jeremy."

        "Did he just imply what I think he's implying?!" said Andrea with accusing finger towards the war veteran.

        "Yes, yes he bloody is!"

        "O-oh, ohhhh no you are upset," whimpered Odd.

        "N-not at YOU, I'm upset at HIM!"

        "But Jeremy is my friend!"

        "Yeah lay off us Jane," said Holt taking a stance, "yer makin' me sound like ah molested him or summat!"

        "No."  Jane became even more fim and raised herself up with the look of a mother bear.  "I don't want to hear a defence from YOU-"

        "For YOUR information it is none of your damn business, Oddclaw is as you proved yourself a sentient being capable of makin' his own decisions, one of which was to bed with me."

        "SHUT UP!"

        "DO NOT SHOUT AT HIM!" barked Odd standing more upright.  "I love Jeremy, he is my friend, why are you upset that I have sex with him?!"

        "Because-...I-i-i...I..."

Jane struggled to try and reason with her overprotective anger against Jeremy's words and Oddclaw's truth.  The brief lull in conversation from curious diners looking over towards the argument soon turned away to start speaking up again when they saw nothing else would come of it, as well as the cold eyes of Andrea piercing into theirs like a challenge.

        "Oddclaw," said Dr. Addison with restrained calm, "answer me this.  Why...do you and Jeremy have...sex?"

        "Because I love him," said the raptor with a hand over heart, "I...he un-derstand me."

        "Under...stand?"

        "Before I escaped, at the krisst-mas party when we stopped dancing...Jeremy told me about where he came from, that he does not...um...he is not like you.  I...am not like my family.  I feel I do not...belong, and Jeremy says the same.  I un-derstand him."

        "What?  Really?"

        "Let's be honest Jane," said Holt with hands clasped, "I'm never gonna fit in with you lot, yer all from a world much different than me, an' that's not gonna change.  But Odd here...him an' me understood each other.  Ahm sorry that we upset ya but things just happened...but ah promise you, ah swear on the lives of my platoon that I would NEVER take advantage of Oddie."

        "I...I-i'm sorry," she stammered.  "I made a terrible assumption and I...of course Oddclaw knows, I just-"

        "You see him as a substitute for a son?" inquired Dronin who stood motionless at the side observing the entire debate.

        "Wha-n-no!"

        "Oddclaw has spoken to me how you were his mentor and teacher figure.  Perhaps because of that you feel rather protective of him and fear of others taking advantage without your consent, regardless of his."

        "I-i...hhhhhh..." she clasped her hands over her mouth with furrowed brow, "I overreacted.  I was just surprised and I didn't know how to take it, I'm sorry to both of you."

        "It's fine pet," replied Holt with a gentle smile, "come on you know me ah wouldn't hurt anybody."

        "O-of course, of course I do I just-I was shocked...so...can I ask one thing?"

        "Sure!"

        "...what does mochyn bach mean?"

        "U-uhhhh...well it, it means uhhh..." Jeremy rubbed the back of his neck feeling more pressured than before, "it means piglet, it's my uh...my uh pet name fer Oddie when we 'ave fun-"

        "Okay I draw the line at that," said Andrea with hands waving across her face, "please do not talk about what you and Oddie do in bed, it's already weird enough as it is."

        "Can I talk about it?" asked Oddclaw.

        "No."

        "Awww."

        "You can tell me," said Dronin helpfully, "in your own language so they cannot understand you."

        "Oh, alright!" barked the raptor in primal speak.

        "Don't ENCOURAGE him!" cried Jane.

        "Please," replied the robot, "we are having a private conversation, do not be rude."

        "Wha-I-bu-...ohhh sod this I give up."

        "Lesson learned," added Jeremy popping a meaty chunk in his mouth, "you can't keep a good man down...unless he's in bed with me."

        "Jeremy I SWEAR TO GOD!"

He left it there, happy to have the last word as he cracked a smile before cackling to lift Jane's spirits.  They ate in silence apart from Oddclaw bantering with the robot in his raptor speak about the sordid details that he and Jeremy would share between them.  Dronin did not especially care about sexual intimacy, nor understood it apart from its basic function in both pleasure and reproduction.  But he was intrigued by Oddclaw's language and the more that he listened to him the more invested he became in how he described things.

Heading off from lunch, Oddclaw joined Jeremy in watching a few movies that the solider had recently gotten into.  The two were in Jeremy's bedroom, both of them naked and having managed to obtain their own personal TV as one of many salvaged parts from Angel Island's remnants, Holt slipped the DVD inside and pressed play.

        "Alrigh' so, Kevin showed me these movies an' they are a fuckin' laugh riot."

        "Oh, they are funny?" asked Oddclaw splaying out on the bed.

        "Oh definitely, these are bloody hilarious, so lessee how you 'andle whut humans find funny."

        "Okay!"

The veteran walked back to his bed as a movie studio logo swirled onto the screen, cuddling up within an intimate embrace of silver-haired skin and firm brown scale.  The first film started with a panning shot over some Arabic city and a collectorate of various former world leaders with "Hi My Name Is" badges slapped helpfully upon their evil suits.

        "Thank you for letting me be naked," said the raptor during villainous dialogue.

        "S'alrigh' mochyn bach," replied Jeremy smooching the raptor's head, "ah know you like it free an' easy."

        "Do you like being naked too?"

        "Well...sometimes, whenever I'm in me room but...other times it's nice to have summat on."

        "I do not like clothes.  Why do you humen wear them?"

        "Cuz we're embarrassed abou' being nude...plus we get cold rather easy."

        "Then why not do this?"

He slid himself carefully over the pale belly of his friend in a deeper cuddle, raising his eyes up towards him with shining green innocence.

        "When it is night, my tribe do this to keep warm."

        "Heh...god yer adorable."

The soldier's thick gnarled hand rubbed carefully over Oddclaw's head, stroking him like a pet as he murred sweetly with fingers digging across his skull.

        "Awwww you like that dontcha?"

        [i]"Mmmmmhhhhhh..."[/i]

        "OH, here we go, summat's happenin'!"

The raptor turned his head to see a white-haired man suddenly punching every villainous caricature within the room, splashing hot tea in their faces, ripping suits apart and scrubbing bald heads shiny clean.  With a triumphant cry he made his bumbling exit by falling out of a window, which Oddclaw cackled at as the title came down showing a police siren take wildly deranged detours through people's houses, rodeos and showers.  They ended up watching all three movies revolving around this inept American detective who, through bizarre slapstick and shenanigans managed to defeat various fiends with absurd grandiose plans.

Both naked males did not laugh particularly during references to certain famous people, but the slapstick always sent them howling into fits as the raptor tittered and chortled against Jeremy's belly that heaved with guffaws.  At the end of the second movie, after the villain survived a long drop off a building only to be suddenly mauled by a lion on the street, they wiped the tears from their eyes as Holt got up to change discs.

        "HOO...righ', onto thuh last one?!"

        "YES, PLEASE!" squealed Oddclaw.  "I love these moovees!"

        "See, comedy is universal, anybody can laugh at some twat gettin' knocked off a bridge into thuh water."

        "That happened to my brother!"

        "Whut, Barkclaw fell into thuh water?"

        "No, no my brother Sunscreech who was ban-isht, he was trying to climb a tree."

        "Whut on earth wuz he doin' that fer?"

        "He said that he could climb a tree better than me.  He jumped on the tree and the uh...the, um..."  Oddclaw gestured frantically with arm raised up and over him with awkward poses, "tree, arm, arm of tree-"

        "Thuh branch," said Holt smirking at his friend.

        "Bhuu-ranch, yes, he jumped, and it broke, SNAP, he fell into the water, we were laughing!"

        "Hhhohohohoho, ohhhh ah bet he wuzn't laughing."

        "No, he was very upset.  But the bhuuranch then fell on his head and then we laughed MORE!"

        "HAH!  Ohohhhhh whut a twat, wait why wuz he banished again?"

        "He tried to kill me, and hurt Barkclaw."

Holt sucked through his teeth with a sudden awkwardness clenching his fingers on the DVD case.

        "Awwww shit ahm sorry Odd, ah forgot."

        "No it is fine.  He is gone now, he cannot hurt us again."

        "So uh...you really just sent him away?  Cuz ah thought you woulda killed 'im."

        "My mother did not want him killed.  She said he is still her son, she does not want to lose family.  Mother or father can choose if they want their children killed if they did something awful."

        "Huh...so it's either death or banishment."  Jeremy sat back down besides the raptor slipping an arm round his shoulders.  "You alright?"

        "Yes."  Oddclaw noted the slightly sad scent from his friend before reaching up to kiss him on the lips.  "Are you alright?"

        "Hmhmhm...I am now."

He brought him in close for a deeper kiss, suckling the raptor's tongue between sharp teeth as the scent of their musk flared within nostrils which started to arouse them both.  Deep sweetened moans shared in each other's throats as they rumbled with pleasure before Oddclaw moved his body on top of Jeremy's.  Their thick grinding erections pulsed to full hardness as bated breaths scoured across their lips, the raptor digging his tongue inside the human's mouth to taste his hot saliva and share his own in turn.

        "Hhhhhoh god dab."  The soldier slid his hand down towards Oddie's rump, smacking his ass and squeezing the base of his tail.  "You wanna do summat now or we watch that movie first?"

        "Mmmmmm...moovee," replied Odd, "I want to see what happen next to Frank."

        "Good, cuz now THIS movie ah been waitin' fer you to see cuz ah know you'll love it."

        "Okay!"

Rolling himself over as the two sat up against the headrest, Jeremy wrapped an arm around the raptor's chest and pulled him close with their hard cocks left completely unattended next to each other.  The third movie started with triumphant call as the same studio logo re-emerged with a sweeping of stars around a mountain.  Then came a panning shot of a pristine ceiling with elaborate Christian imagery as the camera veered down towards a giant staircase.  The white-haired detective was reading a newspaper, his friends were disguised at the top and bottom waiting for something to happen.  A woman was trying to pull her pram with baby inside up the steps as the detective went to help.

Then there was another woman with a pram.  Then another, with two prams as the undercover men tried to help but just at that moment, the gangster arrived with sweeping coat and an entourage of goons.  The detective and him shared a look.  Guns were drawn as four prams and a lawnmower started rolling down the stairs in slow-motion whilst Oddclaw's eyes widened with shock and amazement at the same speed of the ensuing gunfight.  Jeremy turned his head as the raptor was struck by a flurry of emotions involving confusion, cheer, laughter and that little ting of happiness one gets whenever they know the exact answer to a question.

        "A-AAH, BUH, Y-Y-"

        "Yeeeeees?" demurred Holt.

        "IT...IT IS THE, THE, THING, THE MOOVEE UNT-OUCHABULLS, TH-THEY ARE DOING THE THIN-HHHHAAAA!  HAHA, AAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAA!"

        "Thought you'd like that eh?!"

        [i]"HHHHEEEHEEHEEHEEHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAA, HHHAHAHAHAHAAA!"[/i]

Jeremy pulled the cackling raptor close as they cried with tears of joy for the rest of the movie.  From start to finish they forgot any woes they had in the adventures of America's most exceptionally buffoonish detective.

[i][u]Base Construction - Expansion Progress a-14[/u][/i]

[i]11-08-2036[/i]

[i]Recorded by Maj-Gen Thomas Brightman[/i]

[i]Our facility's expansions are coming along smoothly.  More space has been given to the staff in all three sectors for laboratories, armoury stock and personal living quarters.  We now have enough room to not only accommodate their own basic needs individually, but also to cater to any potential guests from future anomalies.[/i]

[i]The salvage operations from Angel Island were a major boon to our resources and, after having calculated through our new construction inventory, we were able to expand our base with an additional 2000x3000 feet that spans across the shoreline.  For all intents and purposes, the shoreline which in Oddclaw's language is known as "Brokenclaw Sands" is now our primary territory and as such we have established a sense of equality with Oddclaw's tribe in their acknowledgement of our new home.[/i]

[i]Our biggest problem is that, due to the small number of staff we have of around only 140 (107 human, 33 robots) we would be in danger of making a base too large and have areas left unstaffed.  Thankfully, the Angel Island salvage revealed plenty of automated systems for added security and our complete capacity of rooms is now as follows:[/i]

[i]- 120 personal living quarters with TV and media players[/i]

[i]- 2 kitchen areas[/i]

[i]- 9 laboratories[/i]

[i]- 3 chemical storage rooms[/i]

[i]- 2 medical wards[/i]

[i]- 30 lavatorial facilities[/i]

[i]- 6 physical training facilities[/i]

[i]- 30 shower rooms[/i]

[i]- 7 rec rooms[/i]

[i]- 5 armories[/i]

[i]- 3 docking bays[/i]

[i]- 1 shielded hangar[/i]

[i]In addition we have managed to reverse-engineer the laser-based weaponry obtained from Angel Island's old facilities thereby allowing us to develop new technologies and expand our armory.  The laser weaponry has been designed in such a way as to be non-lethal to organic matter, but destructive against those with robotic traits.  The laser does not penetrate through its target, but rather it dissipates into an energy field that intensely vibrates certain molecules not unlike that of a microwave.[/i]

[i]However, the laser technology works through a wide-beaming infrared laser ablation which is normally used to burn rust off steel through the absorption of light energy, which organic skin mostly reflects.  That is not to say however the laser weaponry is not harmless to organics, as we have noted in tests that it does impact semi-physically upon organic matter, but only equating to a solid punch that dissipates without absorption due to its focused energy.[/i]

[i]In layman's terms, a human will be knocked back, but a robot will be obliterated or at least mortally wounded.[/i]

        [i]"Are you ready?"[/i] asked Dronin.

        [i]"Yes,"[/i] replied Oddclaw.

        [i]"Good.  Now, fight!"[/i]

The mantis rushed forwards with a wooden sword swiping at the raptor's face, who raised his hand up to block it hard with his own blade of bark.  The clacking clash soon turned to a scraping slant as Oddclaw backed up to slice at Dronin's chest, the mantis twisting his sword downwards into a vertical block that resisted the raptor's strike.  The robot countered with a firm kick to Oddie's gut pushing him back before swishing his blade in a half-circle to lunge forwards with horizontal sweep.  Oddclaw ducked in time to avoid the hit and came back up with a slashing diagonal cut that smacked across Dronin's cheek harmlessly.

He punished Oddclaw with a punching thrust of his sword's hilt right on his forehead, stunning him slightly with blinking eyes as Dronin carved downwards across the raptor's snout.  The streaking slice of prehistoric wood scraped on his scales with a sting as he recoiled with a hard swipe blindly at the mantis head, the robot blocking almost instantly with another vertical block and twisting the sword out of the raptor's grip.

        [i]"N-NO!"[/i]

        [i]"Tsk tsk tsk...do not attack what you cannot sense."[/i]  The mantis handed Oddclaw's weapon back to him as they reset their positions.  [i]"Now, fight!"[/i]

The sounds of clashing swords rung throughout the forest clearing, the scattered light of the sun now rippling between the leaves to dapple across steel and scale.  Watching the fight from the side was Barkclaw fascinated by his new friend and how he played this strange new game with his brother.  He said nothing so as not to distract them but the sound of his breathing turned rapid with excitement as he darted back and forth eager to see who would win.

        [i]"HRAAAAAAH!"[/i]

Oddclaw rushed forwards with a lower strike, a swiping cut across Dronin's abdomen that doubled back as the robot guarded.  He did not except the raptor to hit him more than twice as Oddie kept the pressure piled on him, cracking his sword back and forth forcing him back towards a tree until Dronin struck back.  The blades crossed into an X pattern with creaking strength, but despite Oddie using both his hands to force the sword down upon his opponent, Dronin's single steel hand resisted with unflinching ardour.

        [i]"Do not...force your strength."[/i]

        [i]"HHHNNNNNRAAH!"[/i]

        [i]"If your opponent does not fall, you must attack another WAY!"[/i]

He suddenly weakened his guard to deflect Oddclaw's blade, glancing off the robot's sword before being punched in the snout by the sword hilt once more but this time he did not flinch.  His eyes kept open as bleary slits as he waited for Dronin to strike, dodging below the sweeping slash to counter with a rising strike that cracked against the mantis' chin and solar-plate hat.  He staggered back slightly with a chirrup of binary surprise before reaffirming his stance, waiting for the raptor to come at him once again.

They struck once again, Oddclaw hitting horizontal against Dronin's vertical before the raptor dodged to the side with sliding sword to stab against the robot's head.  He reeled himself back and knocked his blade against Oddclaw's thrust to throw him off-target, but the raptor stomped his front foot firmly to the ground in steadying his balance.  He waited for the slicerbot to come for him, the mantis circling around him with cautious wind tracing across the battlefield, the sound of Barkclaw's whimpering tension slightly breaking through from his throat.

Dronin lunged forth with a potent stab aiming towards the raptor's gut and expecting him to dodge one way for a counter attack.  But instead he surprised the robot by striking down the blade and elbow-rushing his steel face.  The throbbing pain to his arm was burning along the sharpest point of his elbow, but the raptor gritted his teeth through it and booted Dronin hard in the stomach with his clawed foot.  With the mantis' head bowed, Oddclaw came fiercely down upon his head as if roaring to decapitate him, but the sturdy block of Dronin's horizontal blade kept adamant above his metal skull with grim unceasing determination.  No matter how hard Oddclaw struck he could not get past it.

        [i]"H-how, HOW ARE YOU-GUH!"[/i]

        [i]"Never.  Falter."[/i]

He proved this point when he forced himself up with a powerful spring in his silver legs, headbutting Oddclaw in the gut and sending him down to a rolling tumble.  The raptor rolled himself back up swiftly in time to see Dronin come charging with a heavy cleaving strike as Oddclaw rolled fast to the right to feel it shriek past his ear.  Bouncing back up he struck against the mantis' arm in a rising strike before following up with a cutting slash down the back of the robot's head.  Dronin staggered forwards hard before turning on his foot with a brutal strike that went scorching across the raptor's chest, scarring a thin line of darkened scale that made him gasp and clutch himself, falling onto one knee.

        [i]"A-AAAAAGH!"[/i]

        [i]"Do not fear your pain, Oddclaw.  Embrace it."[/i]

        [i]"N-NNNNGH...h-how did you...h-h-hurt me with BARK!?"[/i]

        [i]"The strength of one's heart can turn anything into a weapon.  So long as you have resolve, you must NOT fear."[/i]

The robotic swordsman stood up slowly before the raptor, raising his blade above as the shadow of his weapon crossed over his opponent's eyes.  Green trembling pupils with briefly slitted as he shook with snarling rage that he tried to control.  He waited.  He knew what to expect but his eyes did not falter.

        [i]"Why are you not attacking me?"[/i] asked Dronin.

        [i]"I want to see if you can kill me,"[/i] said the raptor smiling with shaking breaths.  [i]"Y-y-you...you can bring me down, but can you spill my blood?"[/i]

        [i]"D-DO NOT KILL HIM!"[/i] cried Barkclaw with a rushing panic.

        [i]"BARKCLAW IT IS FINE!"[/i] shouted his brother back.  [i]"We are still playing let us do this!"[/i]

        [i]"O-o-oh...okay, yes, playing, sorry."[/i]

        [i]"Well, Stonevoice?  Can you kill me?"[/i]

        [i]"Your desire for death is that great?"[/i]

        [i]"No.  But I will not hide from it, I will wait only as long as the coward before me will wait."[/i]

        [i]"Coward?  Would a coward have you face your FATE?!"[/i]

The moment Dronin swung down with his sword Oddclaw dodged to his left and slammed his sword down against the top of the mantis' blade to trap it hard on the dirt.  Lunging with his teeth, he snatched his jaws hard upon Dronin's throat and threw him down rolling onto his back, before rushing with his wooden sword ready to thrust.  He felt something cold slip past his waist.

        [i]"STOP!"[/i]

He looked down at himself.  The sword scraped along the side of his belly as the mantis held his blade aloft to allow Oddclaw to "impale" himself.  The raptor looked disappointed with a sigh as he put his sword away.

        [i]"Ugghhhh, I cannot believe you beat me again!"[/i]

        [i]"Your guard was lowered for but a moment,"[/i] said Dronin, [i]"that is all one needs for an enemy to kill you."[/i]

        [i]"So then I have failed."[/i]

        [i]"No not at all!"[/i]  The robot put his wooden sword on the ground as Oddie pulled him up.  [i]"You learn swiftly, I am impressed by how much you have learnt over one-and-a-half cycles."[/i]

        [i]"Really?"[/i] asked Oddclaw.  [i]"But I still cannot beat you."[/i]

        [i]"You do not have to beat me, you need only do well enough to weaken your opponent for I am certain you have other means to fight.  I was impressed by your bite attack during our clash near the end."[/i]

        [i]"Hmmm, well I enjoyed our play even if I would never use a branch."[/i]  He gestured his training sword with simple fascination as Dronin picked his back up.

        [i]"There are many things that look like a branch, but you can wield just as strongly.  I only give you the knowledge to wield such, but as to WHAT you may wield that will depend on where you find yourself."[/i]

        [i]"That is true...but I still like my Stonefire."[/i]

        [i]"It is good to have many skills-"[/i]

        [i]"Shhh!"[/i]

Barkclaw's voice bade them silent as he turned his head nodding towards one direction.  They both nodded understanding as the brother headed through the rushes with quiet practiced grace.  Towards the southwest of the hunters' forest, towards the cliffs that faced directly south, they heard two voices bantering.  One was an extremely loud boastful tone whilst the other was so deeply slack in its effort to even speak that every breath sounded like a yawn.

        "ARE YOU SURE THIS IS THE RIGHT WAY?" said the excited one.

        "positive," said a tired voice, "least i think i am."

        "BUT WHAT IF WE'RE LATE?!  WHAT WILL THE PEOPLE DO, WITHOUT US, THE GUESTS OF HONOUR?!"

        "ehh, i dunno probably eat cake or something, besides it's fashionable to be late."

        "IT IS????"

        "yeah like, people way back when would always be like 'dinner's at seven', then they show up an hour late and everyone's like 'welp, already eight'."

        "REALLY?!  THEN I MUST BECOME THE MOST FASHIONABLE AND LATE, LET'S SLOW DOWN SO WE CAN GET THERE THE DAY AFTER!"

        "nice, great idea bro."

        "I ALWAYS HAVE THE GREAT IDEAS, IN FACT THE GREATEST!!?!"

Two bizarre creatures could be seen at the edge of the forest.  The loud one was a lean thin figure with a constant smiling skull of rectangular shape, dressed in mittens and some form of heroic captain's shirt.  The other was a squat dwarfed creature with a fat skull and sunken pupils, wearing slippers and a dressing gown on a pair of constantly sunken shoulders.

        [i]"...what, are THOSE?"[/i] gasped Oddclaw.

        [i]"They appear to be the bones of the hairless,"[/i] murmured Dronin.

        [i]"Wha...but...but how are they moving without any FLESH?!"[/i]

        [i]"I do not know.  Not even the hairless are capable of that."[/i]

        [i]"Do we attack them?"[/i] asked Barkclaw.

        [i]"No, no we do not know what they can do."[/i]

        "WHO IS THAT?!" cried the tall skeleton.

        "looks like monsters," mumbled the short stack, "hey maybe they know where we wanna go."

        "YES, EXCUSE ME, GOOD SIRS AND/OR MADAMS!"

The raptors tensed up carefully in anticipation of a fight, but the lanky skeleton jogged his way over with a huge rigid grin and a wave of his mittened hand.

        "ARE YOU PERHAPS GOING TO THE UNDERCON?!"

        "Under-...what?" asked Odd.

        "UNDERCON!  YOU KNOW!  THE GREATEST GATHERING OF MONSTERS IN THE WORLD!  THE GREAT PAPYRUS, AND HIS PLUS ONE, MUST BE IN ATTENDANCE!"

        "We do not know of this Undercon," explained the mantis, "apologies.  Are you perhaps with the human base?"

        "HUMAN?!  THERE ARE HUMANS HERE?!"

        "Yes.  If you are lost we can escort you to them."

        "WOWIE!  HOW VERY KIND OF YOU, SANS DID YOU HEAR?!"

        "i heard ya," said the short skeleton.

        "WE GET TO MEET MORE HUMANS!  [i]PLURAL![/i]"

        "yeah that's great buddy, i could sure use a plural to put my head on and get some sleep."

        "WE SLEEP WHEN WE ARE DEAD BUT NOT BEFORE THE CON!"

        "But, you are already dead," asked Oddclaw carefully, "y-you do not have any flesh, you are just bones!"

        "yeah yanno that's kinda rude," replied Sans, "but hey it's no skin off my back."

        "THAT'S BECAUSE WE ARE SKELETONS!" shouted the tall one.

        "Sk-skuh...sssskeh-lit-tens?"

        "YES, THE ANCESTORS OF HUMANS! "  The slender one placed a glove on his chest with cape fluttering in the wind proudly.  "HOW ELSE CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE DELIGHTFUL HOMAGES TO OUR GLORIOUS GRINNING GRACE BY DECORATING US ACROSS FLAGS, JACKETS AND UPPER BICEPS OR BACKS?!"

        "I am...not certain if that is correct," said Dronin tapping his wooden sword to his chin, "but we can take you to the human base.  My name is Dronin, this is Oddclaw and his brother Barkclaw."

        "AND I AM THE GREAT PAPYRUS!"  He thrust his hand forwards to shake Oddie's hand vigorously fast.  "WHAT AN HONOUR IT IS FOR YOU TO MEET ME BEFORE THE CONVENTION!  OH AND THIS IS MY BROTHER SANS."

        "hey what's up," the short skelly waved with the barest limp effort, "so uh you mind taking us to this base, i mean we were just coasting along, enjoyin' the sea view but i hate getting sand in my feet."

        "I can take you yes.  Let me call my friend."

        "Aiiiin' nobody gonna be callin' anybody."

A voice from beyond the rise near the cliff's edge spoke as they turned to see six miscreants.  Goonish-looking humans wearing thick grey suits that matched their sagging jowls and sunken eyes with thick beady bullet-shaped pupils.  The scent of their aggression was thick as both raptors and robot braced for an eventual fight, but Papyrus waved with a cheerisome glee.

        "OH, HELLO, ARE YOU THE CONVENTION GUARDS?!"

        "Heh, sumthin' like that," said one thug, "you boys look like yer headin' sumplace?"

        "WE ARE HEADING TO UNDERCON, DO YOU KNOW IT?!"

        "Yeaaaaah sure we do, hehe.  But uh, first you gotsta to let us search ya."

        "OH YES OF COURSE, I UNDERSTAND ALL THIS PROCEDURE, BEING A ROYAL GUARD MYSELF I UNDERSTAND EVERY FACET OF HARDWORKING JOBS SUCH AS YOURS!"

        "yeah bro," replied Sans, "you keep on guarding even when the royal family's all up and left."

        "I WAS NEVER FIRED OFFICIALLY!  SO I AM STILL A GUARD BY DEFAULT EVEN IF THERE IS NO KINGDOM LEFT TO GUARD, SO THERE!"

        "Heh, a royal guard eh?  Likely story."

The goons padded down the two skeletons to find they had nothing underneath, but the raptors growled upon their approach.

        "Ey-ey whut's all this?"

        "Do NOT touch me or my brother," warned Oddclaw.

        "Hahaha damn this one talks!"

        "I can also kill."

        "This yer backup or sumthin'?" said one goon to Sans.

        "nah, we just met, haven't the fossilest idea."

        "...whut?  Wuzzat a joke?"

        "You sum kinda comedian?" replied another thug prodding Sans in the gut.

        "i guess i'm a stand-up yeah."

        "Alright well here's a joke fer ya."  The mobster pulled out a rather mean snub-nosed revolver.  "Knock-knock."

        "who's there?" asked Sans without the slightest fear.

        "Come alon' quietly or else you get a third eye in yer head."

        "...yeah i don't get it."

        "WOW!" barked Papyrus.  "WHAT A TERRIBLE JOKE, YOU'RE EVEN WORSE THAN HER MAJESTY!"

        "I do not think that was a joke," explained Dronin carefully, "but rather a thinly-veiled threat within a joke as a means to intimidate you."

        [i]"We have to kill them,"[/i] muttered Oddclaw.

        [i]"Yes,"[/i] replied the robot, [i]"I will take his stonefire, you and Barkclaw attack those two."[/i]

        "Youse two keep growlin' an' I'll put you down like runts," warned one of the punks.

        "WAIT!  YOU HAVE MADE A MISTAKE!"

        "Huh?!"

        "YOU DID NOT FIND MY PRESENT I HAD HIDDEN ON ME FOR MY FRIEND AT THE CON!"

        "Whut present?!"

        "YES, YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR JOB PROPERLY, WHAT IF I WAS CARRYING SOMETHING SCARY, LIKE A WINE LIST THAT RECOMMENDED INAPPROPRIATE VINTAGES?!"

The mob looked at each other suspiciously before one grabbed the skeleton's gloved hands to restrain him, whilst the other dug deeper through his pockets.  Sure enough there was something inside in the form of a small metal card labelled "Snuckey's Lucky Buddy Lifetime Supporter".

        "The hell's this?!"

        "IT'S MY SNUCKEY'S CARD!  I ALWAYS USE IT WHEN OPENING DOORS!"

        "Wha-h-huh?!"

        "JUST LOOK AT THAT FINE MAGNETIC STRIP!"

As the goon turned over the shining brass card to thumb along the strip, it suddenly blasted a small squirt of highly-concentrated acid that burned his eyes.

        "[i]A-AAAAAGH, AAAAGH JESUS!"

        "WH-WHAT THE HELL!?"

        "[i]IT BURNS LIKE PECAN AAAAAAARGH![/i]"

        [i]"NOW, ATTACK!"[/i]

The two raptors launched upon an enemy each to rip at their ties and throats whilst Dronin rushed at the gun-wielding goon to strike his arm as Sans seemed to step back several feet away within the space of a nanosecond.  Papyrus tried to wrestle free and bootkick the thug that held his hands and face the other two punks left unattacked before they pulled out two tommy guns and braced themselves to gun him down.

What happened next was the most bizarre thing either of the raptors would witness.  The slender skeleton grabbed his own skull, pulled it straight off his spine with a POP and hurled it like a baseball towards the goons, the skull pinged against the machine gun before shooting hard up into the thug's chin, rebouncing straight off into the other mobster's cheek and pinballing between them several times to knock them unconscious.

        "NICE shot Sam!" cried Sans with an out-of-character squeak.

        "I always knew my skeeball championship skills would save us Max!"

The second voice came from Papyrus, except where his skull head had once been there now was a cheerful-looking wide-jawed canine with black oval eyes and a thin blue hat.  The rest of his body still resembled a skeleton bizarrely as Oddclaw did a double-take.

        [i]"Wh-what is-WHAT, HE HAS ANOTHER HEAD!"[/i]

        [i]"ODDCLAW LOOK OUT!"[/i]

His brother's warning signalled him to one of the half-concussed miscreants grabbing his machine gun to stagger forwards with finger on the trigger, before the raptor hurled his wooden sword between the suit's legs and tripped him up hard with a crunch to the dirt.  The short skeletal Sans simply grinned with eternal smile towards the thug with the revolver, his gun clenched fiercely in his fist which pushed hard against the mantisbot's blade of bark to try and point the barrel down upon his head.

        "That one looks nice," cried the now-high-pitched Sans, "but mine's even BETTER!"

He opened his mouth and reached inside with a disturbing depth, choking partially before pulling back out a fearsome blocky Luger pistol, firing off to hit the revolver straight out of the criminal's hand with burning vibrations.

        "A-AAAAAAGH DAMMIT MY HAND-[i]GHHHFFF![/i]"

The robot had his opening within that moment of weakness, booting his steel knee fiercely into the stomach and winding his foe to collapse on the floor.

        "Thank you!" cried Dronin.

        "I was aimin' for his head but sure!" replied the shortstack.

The punk who had tried to grab the now-dogheaded-skeleton from behind was staggering back on his feet but before he could pull out his own shooting iron, the squat skeleton vomited up another gun from his stomach and hurled it to his friend.

        "SAM, CATCH!"

        "GOT IT BUDDY!"

        "[i]KHA-AAAGH![/i]"

The gun hit the punk straight in the head, knocking him down once more as Sam picked up his own revolver covered in spit, a thick long-barreled gun with the words "HOW'S MY AIM?" on a sticker plastered across the grip.

        "Freelance police!" barked the dog.  "Put down yer weapons an' come along quietly!"

        "NO FRICKIN' CHANCE YOU PIGS!"  The two with tommy guns managed to pull each other up with drum-barreled weapons at the ready.  "DROP IT, OR YOU ALL GET TURNED TO SWISS CHEE-"

        "[i]BONE ATTACK![/i]"

        "WHA-GA-AAAAGH, AAAAAAGH MY LEG!"

Sans hurled his own skull like a bowling ball straight across the green, cracking into both of the thugs' feet and sending them down hard before Oddclaw and Barkclaw leapt upon them and viciously ripped their throats.  Surprisingly there was no blood, but a rather sour ooze of black and white that fizzled and hissed as it pooled out across the floor.  Sam turned his gun towards the remaining two criminals.

        "Now you boys better behave or else I'll feed you to Blue an' Charlie over there."

        "Ohohhh Sam," said Sans who now had the melonhead of a white rabbit, "they don't eat people, they only eat hamsters!"

        "Well would you like to tell me why Blue's Clues got cancelled AND Charlie Sheen's no longer acting?"

        "That's easy Sam, they're both fictional.  You can't fire someone that's fictional, like pool boys or county clerks!"

        "Max you need to stop watching C-SPAN it's not healthy for ya.  You two, line up."

The two mobsters moved under the watchful eyes of everyone standing before them.  The raptors however were more shocked by the fact that the four they had killed started to dissipate into a violent static mess, a shimmering frenzy of black and white dots that shrieked before their outline was erased.

        [i]"A-Aaaaaahhh MY EARS!"[/i] whimpered Bark.

        [i]"Are you alright?!"[/i] said Odd.

        [i]"Th-the noise it hurts!"[/i]

        [i]"What...what happened to their bodies?!"[/i]

        [i]"Let us focus on the living threats first,"[/i] added Dronin nearby.

        "You gonna shoot us or whut, ya mutt?!" threatened a goon.

        "I wouldn't waste the bullets on perps like you...besides Max here hasn't eaten since Arbor Day and he'll eat everything.  Or at least enough of you that we won't have anything left to bury."

        "I GOT SPLINTERS IN MAH TEETH!" shrieked Max with a psychotic grin and snapping jaws.  "AN' I GOTS A MEAN MEAN CRAVIN' FER THE FLLLLESH!"

        "O-OKAY OKAY OKAY," cried out one goon, "J-JUST KEEP 'IM AWAY FROM ME!"

Sam put a hand out to bade his friend back, the gnashing teeth quieting down into a nibble as the dog inquired.

        "Who are you workin' for, and where are they hidin'?"

        "I dunno!"

        "That's not gonna win you the prize buddy."

        "S-sorry, we got a contract, if we break it we lose our dental!"

        "Damn!"  Sam turned towards his friend the lagomorph.  "Max what do we do?"

        "Let's sue the PANTS off them for a false indictment!" cried the rabbit.

        "Mmmmmm no we lost our lawyer remember?"

        "I forgot to feed him ONCE, I'm SORRY but they had no right to take him from me, and I WOULD argue my case in court but I don't have a lawyer no more so it's a vicious cycle!"

        "Um, pardon me but," Dronin stepped forwards with a gentle twirl of his wooden sword, "I have one suggestion to deal with our new captives."

        "It better involve fricasseein', I LOVES me sum cajun cooking!"

        "No, I mentioned the human base previously when you two were in your disguises."

        "Huh?  Disguises?"

        "Oh, you mean these!"  Sam swept his hands down towards the Papyrus costume still clothing the rest of his body.  "No we were really going to Undercon, we just got sorta sidetracked with this."

        "Sybil's waitin' fer us!" squeaked Max.  "She's playin' doctor Alphys!  I never woulda thought the lonely lady who tries to validate her title desperately in order to cover her own crushing horrible loneliness, would even think of being Alphys!"

        "The con will have to wait," said the dog, "does this base have a prison or containment facility of some sort?"

        "Yes," replied Oddclaw still leering over to where the bodies had once been, "the humen can keep them in a room they have."

        "Well then you guys lead the way, we'll keep an eye on these galumphing goombas."

The raptor headed off to get his radio, which he had kept stashed along with his weapons near his home.  After a rather confusing conversation, the rumbling engines of the Petrie came hovering from the north after skirting carefully around the raptors' territory to land upon the western plains.  A few soldiers stepped out armed and ready as Sam gave a half-assed salute.

        "At ease troops."

        "Wha-...what the hell's this?!" asked one of the troop.

        "Did Jane not tell you?" replied Odd.

        "Uhhh she...she said we had to pick up some people with two guys we oughta arrest."

        "Not us!" cried Max.  "Those two in their dads' suits, but we're the good guys!"

        "Well more like good GUY," added Sam, "singular term Max."

        "Alright whatever," said the soldier waving his gloved hand, "just make sure they're tied up but who are you two?"

The canine yanked his lagomorph friend's ears to force him to vomit out their badges, one of which he sweeped up in his hand to flourish towards the troops and glistening with saliva upon its brass shield.

        "Sam and Max, Freelance Police."

        "...police?  Seriously?"

The army group shrugged at each other but eventually decided to stop asking questions and allow them all on board.  Oddclaw turned towards his brother who was getting nervous.

        [i]"I do not want to go,"[/i] whimpered Barkclaw, [i]"the stoneflyer frightens me."[/i]

        [i]"Alright, but I have to go."[/i]

        [i]"Why?"[/i]

        [i]"The hairless need me, but I will be back at night, okay?"[/i]

        [i]"O-okay.  Promise?"[/i]

        [i]"Promise.  Stonevoice can you look after my brother until I come back?"[/i]

        [i]"Of course,"[/i] said Dronin bowing courteously, [i]"I will be at his side until you return."[/i]

        [i]"Thank you."[/i]

The anthro headed off with both police officers and criminals trudging on into the ship with armed escort keeping a watchful eye on both parties.  Sam turned to ask one of the soldiers:

        "Is there a place we can change out of these things?  Just don't wanna ruin 'em before we get to the con, Max has problems flying."

        "[i]THE SKY IS EATING MY BRAIN![/i]" shrieked the rabbit jumping off every wall like a beach ball on meth.

        "Uhhhh if you keep your buddy from breaking stuff," said one of the guards, "then sure I guess we can let you change."

The airship burned its thrusters and launched off into the clouds, leaving behind a warm flattened patch of grass near the forest as Barkclaw whimpered with a soft goodbye.  Dronin put an arm round his neck and guided him back to the Hunter's Nest.

        [i]"Would you like to play with me until your brother returns?"[/i]

        [i]"Yes...can we play with the stones again?"[/i]

        [i]"Of course, I believe you beat me before so let us see if I win this time."[/i]

        [i]"I like playing with your stones, they are odd but fun!"[/i]

        [i]"Good!  You are the only one I have met who thinks that."[/i]

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/lmXJ6pG1
Part of the series Scriptures of Oddclaw 7 - A Bad Time
Next: https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1312557-we-re-gonna-have-a-bad-time-2-fibulous-activity.md