The next morning, Zeke woke up to a pleasant morning. The birds chirped, the sun glowed, the wind rustled the trees and Asher was...
nowhere to be found.
Zeke noticed this and he panicked, thinking that his friend either ran off or was probably taken.
Zeke: Asher? Asher!
He went through the forest calling his name.
Zeke: Asher! Yell if you can hear me!
Asher: Ahh!
Zeke's eyes widen.
Zeke: Oh no.
Asher: Ah! Ow!
Zeke: He's in trouble. Hang on, Asher! I'm coming, buddy!
He towards the direction of the lake to find...
Zeke's eyes widen again and turned into a withering frown.
Asher was busy fighting another fish he got out of the lake. I didn't take him very long until he lost. Asher got up off the ground, all dirty with fish scales on him.
Asher: Morning, boss.
Zeke: You almost gave me a heart attack. Where have you been? And what are you doing?
Asher: I thought I'd try and get us breakfast.
Zeke: (deadpanned stare) Have you caught anything, yet?
Asher: Well, no. They're slippery. And fast. And violent. And they have knife hands.
Zeke: Those are fins. They're sharp. Don't put your hands on them.
Asher: Yeah, I think I would've figured that out, by now.
Zeke rolled his eyes.
Zeke: How far is it to the mountain?
Asher: It's just a day's journey. We could be there by this afternoon.
Zeke: Then we'll just have to hustle for it. Finish cleaning yourself up, then we'll head out. And remember, watch out for any traps.
Asher: (scoffs) We're wolves. We know what traps are.
All of a sudden, a fish came out of the water, up from behind him, and bit his tail.
Asher: YYYEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWW! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!
Asher spun around, trying to get the fish off his tail, until he threw it in the water. Then realized he threw back the only fish he caught.
Asher: Aww, man.
Zeke: Asher, let's go.
Asher: Okay, I'm coming. Joy-kill.
Scene transitions to Zeke and Asher climbing up the snowy mountain. Zeke was climbing with ease while Asher was climbing above him, panting and out of breath.
Asher: I wonder how many heroes got hernias doing this crap.
Then his foot slipped and hit Zeke in the face.
Zeke: Ow!
Asher: Sorry.
Asher scurried up while his tail hit Zeke in the face, multiple times.
Zeke: That's the fifth time you've kicked me in the face. Can't you move up a little more?
Asher: It's a bit slippery.
Then he slipped and his butt hit Zeke's face again.
Zeke: Dude!
Asher: I'm sorry! What do you expect?!
Zeke finally decided to have Asher ride on his back the rest of the way up.
Asher: I'm seriously beginning to lose all feeling in my limbs.
Zeke: Can you calm down? We're almost there.
Meanwhile, Enoch and Rubble were investigating Zeke and Asher's campsite from the night before. Enoch was investing the charred logs from the fire and smelling the ashes. Then he went towards the lake.
Enoch: You found anything yet?!
All of a sudden, the water bubbled and the waters rose and turned into a being which turned into Rubble in his water form. A bunch of fish swam around in his form.
Rubble: Just fish.
Enoch sighed, not liking the answer.
Enoch: Anything besides the fish?
Rubble didn't say anything but pulled one of the fish out and opened its mouth to reveal a piece of cloth from Asher's jacket. Enoch pulled it out and sniffed it.
Enoch: All that can indicate is that the little short stack took a swim with the fishes.
He stroked the material and noticed some glittering dust on it.
Enoch: However, the residue that covers this provides us better evidence.
They both looked to the mountains as Rubble shook all the fish out and turned back into himself.
(What Enoch did was using a scanner in his mechanical eye to scan the dust from Zeke's guitar and it leads them to the origin, which is up in the mountains.)
Enoch: And when we get there, they are resi-"due", for a beatin'.
He then laughed at his own joke.
Enoch: See what I did there?
Rubble: Naw, not really.
Enoch glared at his brother.
Enoch: Are you fo' real, right now? Why is it every time I try to be funny, you always ruin it by bein' stupid?
Rubble: I ain't bein' stupid. I'm just--
Enoch: (having enough) Forget it. Forget it! C'mon, let's hit it.
Meanwhile, Zeke finally made it to the top of the mountain with Asher on his back.
Zeke: We made it. There it is.
Asher didn't respond because he was frozen and covered in icicles. He shivered and the ice and snow fell off of him. His hands, however, were frozen to Zeke's back. He had trouble pulling them off and he finally fell off.
Zeke: Asher, look.
Asher stood up and they both walked up to the edge of the mountain to see the village before them. It was nothing but a ruin covered in snow that law bellow a cluster of trees and cliffs.
Asher: There it is. We found it.
Then they cheered, laughed, and danced.
Zeke: So, that's it? We did it?
Asher: Well, not yet. We still have to find a way down this mountain.
He said as they both looked down the valley.
Zeke: You know, I couldn't have done this without you, so thank you.
Asher looked at him.
Asher: What? What for?
Zeke: Y'know. For everything.
Asher: Naw. Thank you.
Zeke: For what?
Asher: For the chance to do the right thing, for once. And for a new friend.
Zeke smiled, feeling a heartwarming feeling.
Asher then looked off into the distance of the village and stared with a blank look.
Zeke: Hey, what's wrong?
Asher: What if they're not alive?
Zeke: Asher--
Asher: What if they'll see me and want to hate me more after what I did?
Zeke: Hey, Asher, look at me.
He said as he kneel down to his level to reassure him.
Zeke: I can't promise that they'll be alive and they start being nice, but I can imagine that they will cry tears of joy to see the one who saved the entire village. If not, you can always stay with me.
Asher smiled as his tail wagged.
Asher: Thanks, buddy.
Zeke: Now, come on, Asher. Take us to freedom.
Asher nodded, until he sensed something and looked behind them.
Zeke: What is it?
Asher: We're not alone.
The heard a droning noise behind them as the fog began to get darker. Red lights appeared and out of the fog, robot-like wolves appeared. Some flew like drones. Others somersaulted until they stood on their feet in front of the duo. They all surrounded them and pointed laser guns at them.
Asher: This doesn't look good. Are those robots?
Zeke: Yeah. One of Saul's creations.
They heard another noise and Rubble revved out of the fog on a snowmobile and Enoch appeared out of the sky and dropped down in front of them.
Enoch: (chuckles) Well, well, well. Looks like the scenic route didn't work too well, did it, Zacharias?
Asher: (unimpressed) Is he serious?
Zeke: Don't be intimidated.
Enoch: (chuckles) Y'know you really need to be more careful who you hire as a tour guide. If they in it fo' the money, they easily lead you in the wrong direction.
Zeke: We get the joke already, and thank you for speaking English this time. And you really need to workshop your dramatic entrance. It's too overdone and easily predictable. I mean it's like you're trying to be intimidating, but it's just becoming more and more stupid.
Rubble laughed.
Rubble: You see I tried to tell him the same thing, but he doesn't--
Enoch's face shifted into a glare at his brother to get him to stop.
Enoch: Who's side are you on, here?
Rubble: Sorry.
Enoch: Boy, shut up. It ain't about how many times you do it. It's about how you do it.
Zeke: (Trying to break up the monotony) How'd you find us?
Enoch: Did you honestly believe that we would be stupid enough to not check a place Saul actually attacked, before?
Zeke: (sarcastically) Uh, yeah. We were kind of hoping that.
Enoch: You see all we had to do was check yo' boy out to find out where he came from. It was pretty easy since he's not really good at keeping a secret.
Asher: (sarcastically) Haha. Funny. Where'd I hear that before?
Zeke rolled his eyes because he knew that was directed at him.
Enoch: Simply add those two together, along with the trail of breadcrumbs you left behind. Guess you weren't aware that you weren't the only one Saul keeps his eye on. You can't run, and neither can he. And we gonna make sure of that. You two are easy marks.
Zeke: Laugh all you want to. We are almost on our to the portal that we can basically taste the freedom already. You two don't have a chance.
Enoch: So you're gonna trust the rumor of an escape and a little bottom-of-the-crumb thief who just happened to wipe out his entire race?
Asher's eyes widened.
Asher: What do you mean? They would've made it, right? There's no way you know that! You're a liar!
Enoch: Oh, we know for sure. We also know that those prisoners that "escaped", there was no escape, fool. Saul moved them to an outside prison camp. Not even the real world knows about it, and we don't know its location. Saul hides the best information to make sure his worst enemies don't find out. And we gonna aim to keep it that way, so why we make this easier on ourselves and and you two hand yourselves over to Saul, or we can just, (pulls out his knife) kill ya' right here. The choice is yours.
Zeke's whole world crashed down after hearing what Enoch said. So, did Asher's. He really did kill his entire civilization. But then, Zeke had an epiphany. This wasn't a plan he based off of others' successes. And Asher was more than just a soldier in his eyes. He made a choice.
Zeke: No.
Enoch: (confused) I'm sorry?
Zeke: We're not going to do that.
Enoch: (Getting impatient) Oh, come on. Cheer up, already. A rumor is called a rumor for a reason, Zacharias. You must've been pretty foolish to confide in a hope that doesn't actually exist, but to drag a thief along down with ya'? (laughs) It's no wonder you keep losin' soldiers.
Zeke began to get more angry with his words.
Zeke: I didn't base this plan off of a rumor. This is my own decision.
Enoch: Doesn't make no difference. It doesn't change anything.
Zeke: It may not different from what others have done. I don't know how those guys got captured, but we're not them. And we don't plan on being like them. I'm not givin' up hope, now that we've gotten this far.
Enoch: "We", huh? He's a thief. The lowest of the low. You can't trust him.
Zeke: HE'S NOT A THEIF! He's a scavenger.
He said with pride in his voice. Asher's ears perked up.
Zeke: And he's my best friend. And I'm not letting anyone, not even rookies like you two, tell us any different.
Asher smiled at his best friend's kindness.
Enoch then sighed.
Enoch: Aight, then. Tried to reason wit' chu, but remember, you forced this on yourself.
He said with a glare as the robot soldiers moved in on them.
Asher: Uh, boss? You happen to have an escape plan, right?
He said as the soldiers readied their weapons.
Zeke: Uh, unfortunately, no. No, not this time.
Asher: Oh, good. 'Cause I have one.
Zeke: Ok, what are we going to do, jump off the side of the mountain?
Asher: Aw, dang you guessed it. But that doesn't matter.
Zeke: (surprised) Wait, what? Asher, I was just kidding, you wouldn't right?
Asher: 'Cause we're jumping in headfirst in three...
Zeke: Asher, let's be reasonable.
Asher: No, time like the present in two...
Zeke: Please don't.
Asher: ONE!
Then he launched himself at Zeke and they both fell off the side of the mountain together. Enoch and Rubble were both equally in shock.
Rubble: He just pushed him off.
Enoch looked at his brother with a blank.
Enoch: Ya think?