{"sf1_id":592596,"sf2_id":null,"title":"The Housepet Games: Chapter Eight","author":"ThisAdamGuy","words":1372,"posted_at":"2013-09-20T04:59:00.000Z","tags":["Action","Adventure","Fanfiction","Humor","Hunger Games","housepets","psychic","webcomic"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/592596-the-housepet-games-chapter-eight","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/592596","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=592596\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"\nChapter Eight\n \nPeanut couldn't keep himself from bouncing on the balls of\nhis feet as he walked, humming a nonsensical little tune in anticipation of the\nupcoming fight.\n\"Quiet,\" Grape ordered. \n\"He'll hear us coming.\"\nPeanut bit his lip, forcing himself to shut up.  This was the best game EVER!  He and Grape were working together to kick\nBino's butt!  They needed to bring\neveryone over to do this again sometime!\n\"Wait,\" Grape whispered, holding up her paw.  Peanut froze while the cat tipped her head up\nand sniffed the air. \"He's close,\" she whispered.\n\"Where?\" Peanut asked, his voice high pitched with\nexcitement.\n\"HERE!\" Bino's voice called to them, followed by a high\npitched whistle.  With a loud THUNK, an\narrow embedded itself into a nearby tree, directly between the two of them.\n\"Hide!\" Grape shouted, taking cover behind another\ntree.  Peanut hastened to do the same as\nanother arrow shot out, just barely missing the top of his head.\n\"What do we do?\" he called to Grape.\n\"He's a got a bow, so he has the advantage right now,\" Grape\nanswered.  \"We need to figure out how to\nget closer!\"\nBut that would prove to be harder than they anticipated,\nbecause wherever Bino was, he'd managed to hide himself very skillfully.  There was no sign of him beside the arrows\nthat flew at them every time one of them poked their heads out of cover.\n\"It's no use,\" Grape said. \n\"I have no idea where he is. \nWe'll have to make a run for it!\"\n\"But he'll shoot us!\" Peanut protested.\n\"We'll have to fun fast,\" Grape insisted.  \"A moving target is harder to hit than a\nstill one.\"\n\"Okay,\" Peanut agreed.\n\"One... Two... Three... Go!\" Grape shouted, dashing out from\nbehind her cover.  Peanut followed her,\nand almost immediately felt an arrow graze the fur on his back.  It didn't hurt him, but it was enough to spur\nthe pup to run faster.\nThe two allies zigzagged through the trees, using whatever\ncover they could find.  After only a\nminute, though, the arrows stopped coming.\n\"Grape, I think he gave up!\" Peanut shouted.\n\"I'm not taking the chance, keep running!\" Grape ordered.\nThey began to hear a dull roar in the distance.  As they ran, it gradually grew louder.  The smell of moisture filled the air.\n\"Stop!\" Grape yelled suddenly, skidding to a halt and\nholding out an arm to stop Peanut. \nBefore them, the ground dropped away in a sheer cliff.  On the other side, a towering waterfall\nplunged hundreds of feet in a shower of mist and foam before crashing into a\npool of rocky water at the bottom.\n\"What do we do now?\" Peanut asked, having to raise his voice\nagainst the roar of the waterfall.\nGrape glanced around in thought, \"We go around it.  If we can find a way to get to the bottom,\nwe'll have fresh water to drink for however long we need it.\"\nPeanut nodded his agreement, and the cat turned to go back a\nfew steps.  Before she could decide on\nthe best route to take though, there was a rustle in the branches above\nher.  Grape looked up just in time to see\nBino leap out of the tree, landing nimble on the ground in front of her.\n\"Bino!\" Peanut shouted in surprise.\nGrape reacted like a warrior.  She drew her sword and rushed at Bino.  Backpedaling to create distance, Bino drew an\narrow and sent it flying at her, but Grape ducked and rolled beneath it.  This brought her within reach of the dog, so\nshe swung her sword.  Bino jumped nimbly\nover the blade, and then whacked Grape on the face with his bow.  The impact sent her stumbling backwards, and\nshe landed on her rump.  Before she could\nget back up, Bino drew another arrow and loosed it.\n\"NO!\" Peanut shouted, but all he could do was watch as the\narrow flew the short distance between the two fighters, and struck Grape in the\nchest.\nSuddenly, Peanut realized he wasn't having fun anymore.  All the enjoyment he'd been feeling ever\nsince the game had begun was gone. \nSuddenly, none of this was a game anymore.  In a numb state of panic, he dashed forward\njust in time to catch Grape's head before it hit the ground.\n\"Grape!\" he yelled, tears welling up in his eyes.\n\"Peanut?\" she asked in a weak voice.\n\"I'm here, Grape,\" the dog answered.  \"It's going to be okay!\"\n\"I'm out, Peanut,\" she replied, her voice growing\nweaker.  \"I lose.\"\n\"No, no,\" Peanut begged her. \n\"Don't go!\"\n\"It's okay, Peanut,\" the cat whispered.  \"It's just a game.\"\nWith that, Grape closed her eyes and dissolved into a cloud\nof smoke, leaving Peanut holding nothing but air.\n\"What a touching moment,\" Bino sneered.  \"I always knew you were a cat lover!\"\nSuddenly, Peanut was filled with rage.  Anger flooded his mind, blocking out\nreasoning and rational thought.  He\nlooked up at Bino, standing there with that smug grin on his face, and bared\nhis teeth.\n\"You son of a flea...\" he growled, slowly rising to his\nfeet.  \"That was my sister!\"\nBino smiled, pleased with the reaction he had gotten, \"Don't\nworry, you'll be joining her soon enough!\"\nWith that, he reached behind him to grab another arrow, but\nhis paw closed only on air.  His eyes\ngrew wide, and he looked behind him to see that his quiver was completely out\nof arrows.  He turned to look at Peanut\nagain, but this time there was a trace of fear.\n\"AAAAAAAH!\" Peanut screamed, but this time it was not the\ncomical shout of a pup having fun, it was the enraged battle cry of someone who\nhad just lost their closest and dearest friend. \nPulling his arm back, Peanut threw his battle axe at Bino with all his\nmight.  It sailed through the air like a\nFrisbee, slicing straight through Bino's bow like a knife through hot\nbutter.  Bino's jaw fell open, and he\ndropped the half of his bow that he still held. \nAnd then he ran.\n\"Get back here!\" Peanut shouted, giving chase.  Bino was fast, though, and it was obvious\nthat he would be able to outrun Peanut eventually.  It was going to be all right, he told\nhimself.  He'd lose Peanut, make his way\nback to the big shiny cone, and find another weapon.  He was NOT going to-\nSuddenly, he stopped running, skidding across the forest\nfloor and coming to a rest just in time to avoid plummeting over the edge of\nthe cliff.  In his fear, he'd\ninadvertently climbed to the very top of the waterfall.  He turned around and saw Peanut standing\nbehind him, blocking his means of escape.\n\"Peanut, buddy!\" the cowardly dog said, raising his paws in\nsurrender.  \"You're not going to kill me...\nare you?\"\n\"You killed Grape,\" Peanut growled, advancinig on him.\nYeah, but... hey, I'm sorry for calling you a cat lover!\" Bino\nstammered.  \"I didn't mean it.  It was just a joke.\"\nPeanut didn't reply, but kept coming towards him.\n\"Hey, listen, if you don't kill me, I'll let you back into\nthe Good Ol' Dogs Club, okay?\"\nPeanut was now within arms reach, and the pup lashed out and\ngrabbed ahold of Bino's chest fur.\n\"Peanut, please!\" Bino begged him.  \"It's a game, remember?  It's all just a game!\"\nPeanut pulled the coward closer to him, and said in a low,\nmenacing voice, \"Yeah, and you just lost.\"\nWith that, Peanut shoved Bino with all his might, sending\nhim over the edge of the cliff.  Bino let\nout a scream of terror, which lasted for several seconds before it was abruptly\ncut off.\nThe cannon boomed in the distance, and Bino's face appeared\nin the sky, confirming that was deceased. \nThen a lively tune began to play. \nFireworks shot into the sky, and Peanut's grinning face appeared.\n\"Congratulations!\" Tarot's voice rang out.  \"You have won the Hunger Games!\"\nUnlike his image in the sky, though, a smile did not appear\non Peanut's face.  Instead, he simply\nstood where he was, his gaze lowered, until the world began to fade around him,\nbringing him back to reality once more.\n"}