Way of the Slugcat

Sky's the Limit

The ride was mostly uneventful. Well, aside from the many times the bird tried to knock Night off, refused his commands, flew in a circle for a few minutes, or tried to land. A piece of cake! Or, as Night himself would say, "I never had any problems getting that bird to fly in a straight line. No, never. What would make you think that?" Of course, that statement came with a healthy dose of sarcasm. In the brief moments of calm he did have, however, it was rather peaceful. The silence of the sky gave him a moment to breathe, to relax and admire the beauty of the world below him. He could see the slow gradient of the hues of leech grass, a bright red in the center of the fields that faded into shades of blue and gray. Whisks of clouds sped past him as the vulture wobbled and lurched in the air. Once, he even got a mouthful of one poorly placed at head level. The sudden bobs and weaves performed by his aircraft were disconcerting at first, but soon Night got to the point where he found them enjoyable. All of these wonders combined almost negated the fact that it was absolutely freezing up there. Oh, and the fact that the storm clouds were coming in frighteningly fast. It seemed as if the remaining iterator was putting out a little too much water. Night felt a bubble of hatred swell up inside his heart. He had never known anything about Moon's neighbor, and yet a feeling of loathing and disgust for them had crept its way into his heart.
"I really shouldn't..." Night muttered. He felt another small rebellion coming from the vulture, so he gave the vine an extra yank before continuing to speak to no one in particular. "They probably have similar issues, knowing the state of current technology. Besides, they probably did all they could to help her."
He attempted to reassure himself of this fact, but something in his gut continued to disagree. It was the most likely situation. After all, they must have been close friends if they were positioned together like that. Yet, he still could not convince himself otherwise. Eventually, he allowed all of his feelings to float away. Like dust on the wind, he left them behind and took a deep breath of fresh air. It was time to look forwards, not back.

Hibernation proved to be less of an issue than previously thought. When the clouds got a bit too close for comfort, Night simply allowed the vulture to land like it had been trying to for the last twenty minutes. As soon as its wings touched the ground, he flipped over its head, ripped off its mask and the red vine with his momentum, and took off running towards the nearest hole. As expected, the vulture tried to follow in a blind rage. Also as expected, the vulture was waiting to ambush him the next cycle. A hop, skip, and twirl of a vine later and he was back in the air atop a furious feathery beast. This time, however, the vulture had learned.
Night could finally see the casm! At last, he would be able to begin tracking Thorns down on foot. That is, if he had made it this far.
Of course he did! The slugcat reassured himself. He's a scrappy guy, he can probably make it all the way down there.
And yet his mind was being crept upon by doubt. It couldn't have been helped. After all, Night had seen Thorns die many times. In a world such as this, skill did not always solve problems, and luck was not always on your side. It was during this train of thought that Night made a grave error: letting his guard down.
It was as if the vulture could sense his concentration waning. At first, it did nothing. Then, an idea came. The beast wanted this parasitic rodent off its back for good, and it also wants its mask back! Hell, it would even only settle for the latter if only one was possible. Glancing down, it saw a nice flat plateau with no leech grass in sight. Perfect...
Night felt his altitude dropping. It happened so suddenly that his grip on the reins slipped. He watched in horror as the vine fell from his paws and went plummeting towards the ground, which just so happened to be the same direction he and the vulture were headed. He didn't have time to yell. The ground was coming up too quickly! So, he did the best thing possible. He held on for dear life.
The bird hit the ground with incredible force, turning itself so that its neck would be protected from the impact. It side slammed the ground at full force, splitting the plateau in two. With its last bit of strength, it launched itself into the air and fell again, attempting to jar the slugcat from its hide. This time, it worked. Night was launched off of its back and onto his. His breath had, quite literally, been knocked out of him. Both he and the beast lay there for a moment, the slugcat processing what had just happened and the vulture mustering the strength to rise and strike its target. Night scanned his surroundings. The vulture to his left, a field of grass not too far away, and a huge crack in the ground to his right. Upon closer inspection, it actually seemed to lead somewhere. Sunlight filtered through the opening and revealed a cobbled stone floor not too far below. He looked back at the vulture. It had its naked face staring right at him. Instinct took over. As his taxi, now turned predator, sped towards him, the prey dove into the hole.

"You... you are not serious." Thorns' jaw was open nearly to the floor. "You found me by sheer luck!?"
"I can't deny that I did."
"You really are a madman for trying something like that! And you succeeded! Well, for the most part."
"Haha! Yes, for the most part."
"You had some good karma on your side, my friend. And heaps of athletic skill!"
"I suppose I did." The black slugcat paused. "You know what, Thorns?"
"...what?"
"You did a great job getting here by yourself. You... you probably could have gotten all the way down even if I hadn't shown up."
He tried to hide it, but Thorns could sense it plain as day. A hint of sadness that invaded Night's usually serine and neutral tone.
"Well," Thorns started, "maybe I could have. But I do not think either of us would have been happy about that. After all..." He attempted to give Night a playful nudge with his elbow, then remembered that he couldn't move his arms. He decided to settle for a lighthearted chuckle instead. "I would not have anyone to appreciate the effort I went through to get this light!"
"Ah yes, the light!" Night responded. He was doing a better job at hiding his tone now. "I have seen scavengers carrying those around before. How did you come by it?"
"Well you see, it took some major skill to get my paws on it. It definitely had nothing to do with a lucky find that I had earlier this cycle..."
"I'm sure that some skill was involved. Continue?"
And the stories did continue. Outside, the world was underwater. Inside, however, the world was full of laughter and light.

Karma
Gives and takes, keeps the world spinning.