Way of the Slugcat

Gambling

Night and Thorns fell into a restless slumber. The rain outside was hardly muffled by their surroundings, making it difficult to stay asleep. Night would occasionally move a paw to pluck some meat off the centipede corpse, then fall back into his half-sleeping state. When the rain finally puttered out, Thorns felt his muscles relax at last. He let his form sink into the uneven concrete floor below him. While it was not comfortable, he was far too tired to notice.
"Thorns! Thorns, get up!" Night called. The white slugcat groggily rolled over onto his back.
"But whyyyyyy? I am so tired..." He whined.
"I know, I am as well. Last cycle was... draining. Anyway, we need to get going. Our next leg of the journey requires us to find something."
Every cell in Thorns' body screamed at him to close his eyes. Every particle within his form wanted nothing more than to collapse back onto the ground and fall into a blissful slumber. Life, however, was not exactly fair. With much dismay, Thorns forced himself onto two paws and followed Night outside.
The slugcats clambered down the side of the building, digging their fingers into every crevice they could find. With the ladder nowhere in sight, the descent was a bit nerve wracking. At ground level, pools of stagnant water sat ankle deep and filthy. That made sense, Thorns decided, as that water had probably run for miles before coming to rest. It must have passed through a scavenger toll as well, for as Thorns jumped down from his final foothold the ball of his foot painfully collided with a white pearl.
"Ack! Stupid piece of hardened carbon!"
"Grrr?"
Thorns looked up from the puddle with a start. A large pile of trash in front of him shifted ever so slightly, and the little blue head of a lizard emerged. It let out a curious gurgle as small bubbles popped from its head. Thorns did not dare to take his eyes off of the tiny beast. It did not matter how small the creature was. He had met enough of them to know that lizards were bad news. Luckily, this one seemed to be a bit stuck.
"U-uh, Night?"
"Hmmm..." His friend seemed a bit preoccupied at the moment. A quick glance backwards informed Thorns that his gaze led off into the distance, towards the iterator's cans. Well, he supposed that now the word was no longer plural...
"Night! A lizard!"
"Ah! What?" The black slugcat snapped to attention. "Oh. It's only a blue one. They are quite small, so there isn't much need to worry. Just watch out for the tongue."
"Tongue? Like the white one had?"
"Yes, but this one is shorter. Thankfully..." At this, Night's white eyes met contact with the lizard's beady black. The little creature squirmed inside the rubble, unable to retaliate.
"It looks stuck." Thorns observed. Elders only knew what it felt like to be trapped like that. Had the lizard washed down with all of it during the rain? "Should we... help it?"
Thorns glanced towards his friend, seeking approval. Night cocked his head to the side.
"Are you sure you're alright, Thorns? You didn't hit your head or anything?"
"Ha! Yes, I am sure. I just want a little change of pace. Should I try to get that poor beast free?"
"I guess... just be careful."
"Will do!"
Thorns turned back to the lizard. It still had not made any progress. The white slugcat fished a spear from the rubble beside him and approached the tiny beast. However, no sooner had he set foot on the trash pile than the lizard managed to wrench its left paw free. It wiggled back and forth, side to side, until it finally freed its other set of claws, then began to drag itself out its scrap metal prison, hissing in Thorns' direction.
"O-oh, okay little thing! It looks as if you have made your own way out!"
"Thorns!" Night called.
"Yes, I know! Let us make our exit!"
Thorns turned and bounded down the heap of garbage. Just as the lizards' tail slipped out of the trash, both slugcats had rounded the corner of a building and sped out of sight.

"Alright!" Night began. "Keep on the lookout for smoke spores. I intend to get us a ride over all of those nasty weeds." He gestured off into the distance, towards the field of red leech grasses holding themselves eerily still in the wind. The occasional squidcada would swoop towards them, pulling up at the last second. Only then would they allow their stalks to move, tracking the bug's movements until it flew out of range. Thorns frowned.
"A ride? What on earth could be capable of carrying us across that? Those weeds are at least three times as tall as we are!" At that, Night turned towards his friend with a disapproving glare.
"Think on that for a moment."
"Uh... OH!" How could he have forgotten!? "The raindeer! I had no idea they enjoyed smoke spores."
"There are many things about that peculiar fungus that will surprise you." Night responded with a grin.
The slugcats searched as far as the leech grass would allow them. Apparently, not all of the tunnels had dried up from last cycle's flood. Those that were dry lacked the gold the friends sought. The little balls of fungi were nowhere to be found. After a few hours of searching, pouncing on batflies that flew too close, and wandering aimlessly around the sides of buildings, both slugcats let out a frustrated sigh.
"Alright, plan B." Night declared as he glanced at the sky. Despite one can having fallen, the amount of writhing clouds in the other's direction seemed to equal the mass of both can's outputs combined.
What is that iterator doing in there? Thorns wondered. It would be most convenient to him, and all other life down here, if the thing would follow its code of conduct. Unfortunately, the supercomputer did not have that in mind. Thorns forcefully shook the thought from his mind and addressed Night's declaration.
"Alright, what does 'plan B' consist of?"
"Catching a ride without bait. We will need a good vantage point."
"Like that one over there?" Sure enough, a sturdy looking ledge of overgrown bricks hung at the edge of the leech grass field. The only issue with it was the presence of a beehive sprouting in its dead center. "We could probably throw a rock at the bees from afar to get them to leave, right?"
"Ah, that works!" Night gave Thorns a nod. "Wait, hold on..."
A squidcada, this one of a blue and black color scheme, rounded the corner of a building. It flew over the slugcats without even glancing at them, seemingly focused on something in the distance. A little too focused.
"Scratch the rock plan, Thorns. Let's just let the bug do the work for us."
"That may be a little inconvenient in terms of timing... look!"
Thorns pointed his finger in the direction of the grass, where a large lumbering shale was slowly approaching the ledge. Clumps of brown fur hung off its round body. The creature's head sported a brilliant crown of antlers, branching off in every direction. It's yellow eyes caught sight of the slugcats, holding eye contact for maybe two seconds before it decided that they were not worth its time. Four spindly legs carried it seamlessly over the field of grass, closer and closer to the brick platform. Unfortunately, the squidcada was flying to the same area, and right over the top of the beehive...
It exploded into millions of tiny black bugs, all buzzing around the squidcada's body. The bug was consumed in red flashes and a net of black string. The bees that didn't get in on the action swarmed the platform, searching for any more victims. Still, the raindeer continued to walk towards it.
"Come on, die out! Die out!" Thorns yelled. The cloud of bees did not oblige. While the swarm had thinned, the remaining bees continued to fly around the platform. Some attempted to latch onto the raindeer as it passed, but the animal's thick fur prevented any harm.
"Just go!" Night yelled. "Keep moving and shouldn't be able to touch us!"
The slugcats bolted towards the platform. They clambered up the toppled bricks and leapt past the remaining bees, who's reactions were not nearly fast enough to string them up. They dashed past the squidcada, still struggling out of the bee's grasps, reached the very edge of the platform and-
"Stop stop stop!"
The slugcats skidded to a halt. The front half of Thorns' body hung precariously over the ledge. His eyes widened at the sight of what lay below. Hundreds- no, thousands- of hungry, red stalks of grass. They stretched themselves in his direction, desperately trying to reach. Thorns gasped and recoiled backwards.
"W-what, Night? Why did we stop?"
"We can't make that!" The black slugcat exclaimed, pointing at the raindeer that had lumbered just out of jumping distance. It had its back turned to them, showing no interest in turning around.
"Oh come now raindeer, please!" Thorns begged. "Please just turn around! I promise that we do not bite!"
No reaction.
Thorns turned his head in the can's direction. The grey cloud was exponentially increasing. Night seemed at a loss, looking frantically around for anything that could help, and then sighing. Thorns glanced over at the squidcada. It had almost gotten free from the bees, only one tentacle being trapped as of now.
Wait a minute. What if...?
Thorns turned and grabbed a hold of the bug. It buzzed in protest as he pulled it away from the beehive and held it above his head. He allowed for free movement of its wings, and could feel the bug struggling to pull vertically away. The white slugcat then ran to the platform's edge and leapt off.

Hitchhiking
Roll the dice and pray.