Web Earth Online

"Ah, Tii, let her go. If she tires herself playing now, we don't have to worry about her later," Xena explained.

Velvet simply stared at her injured leg. She couldn't get any food now. Or could she? Velvet knew it would mean trying to make the humans give up some of their food. It was dangerous, but Velvet was willing to give it a try. Limping out onto the streets, she started to whimper, with large, cute watery eyes staring at all the humans passing by. Most of them made a high, squeaky noise when they saw her and just walked on. Finally, one human saw her and asked another human for some bread with a sausage in and came running back to her, dropping the sausage on purpose. Velvet ate it greedily and then limped back to the abandoned factory.

He relaxed as the female fox forgot about him and turned to her injured leg. His whiskers twitched as he lay down on the cool concrete floor, and he closed his eyes. The fox left for a while.
Rat's eyes flew open when he heard pawsteps limping back in, the fox now smelling like food. He stood up swiftly, wincing at the sharp pains that echoed over his right side, and glared distrustingly at Velvet, tail stiff and bristling.

"...But it's gross..." Tii mumbled, scooting away from the young kit.

Velvet sighed, like normal. "It's not as if I can hurt you with this stupid leg."

Riiiight... right... no no no, it was silly, RIDICULOUS that a fox both much bigger and older than him could hurt him with both eyes closed!!! No, that was certainly paranoia there, that was... Rat growled lowly, and shuffled around (painfully, as he refused to leave his protective crouch, and he strained his injured side) so that he wasn't facing her.

Velvet growled to herself. "Dumb fox..."

"Yeah, I'm that and much more!" Rat snapped, hearing her comment. He felt himself suddenly angry. His voice echoed in the abandoned factory. "I'm also a dog, an oversized toerag, runt, rabid, filthy, disgusting, thief, animal! Stupid was long on the list, and the least you could toss at me - me - who is summed up most concisely as Mangy. RAT!" As he continued on his rant, his quickly punctuated words grew into a snarl, voice grown to an immature roar and teeth bared and tail whipping when he let loose his name to the female fox, who probably wouldn't even recognize it for what it was... ...She wouldn't even know that he'd given his only name...

He'd been called many names. Mangy Rat was simply the one that stuck.

The moment he was done, he made no other noise, simply breathing heavily still standing in his hostile stance with teeth still bared, eyes wild, fur raised on end and tail ruffled from lashing out at the air. His side ached.

Velvet would have tears building up in her eyes, if foxes cried. "You don't know how much I've been through!" she snarled, sadness in her voice. Velvet threw aimed to throw a nearby rock with her paw at the more-than-angry young fox.

He dodged the rock, and simply bolted, running towards the door. Escape was second nature. He always had exits in mind, so he could leave before he was exterminated like all foxes should be. Like all foxes were treated. No way could any ever get along. They were all monsters.

He stopped running when he reached the forest. The icky, wet, dirt-smelling, leafy forest. A woods. A park. Whatever it was, it was unsafe. Safe is away from enemies.

Foxes were at the top of his enemy list. He was so hateful, of course they were the worst. Humans knew what they were doing. The Tall were only enemies because he was the enemy.

Rat collapsed against a tree, eyes fiercely dry. They'd dried themselves long ago, long before he'd ever even seen the outside of a dumpster.

He wanted to live... clearly, he had to be stronger. He was useless the way he was.

The rain suddenly flashes, clouds darken the sky, thunder and lightning come roaring down.
Velvet snarled, loudly, but guessed the quick-tempered male couldn't hear. "Fine, be angry and short-tempered, coward!" and then Velvet added. "Calm-a-llama down!" Velvet then stalked out of the factory, hungry again. Sniffing the air, she could smell- and hear- burning. Burning as in thunder. Velvet growled as the rain flattened her ears, she was already soaked to the skin. No humans would be out right now. That makes raiding bins more easy. Velvet knew there was a trash can nearby, on the other side of the factory. Limping there quite fast to the trash can, (She didn't want to get more wet than she already was, if it was possible.) she flung the lid off and sniffed for some food in it. Velvet was about to grab a chicken leg when she felt a sharp pain, Blood poured down her muzzle. She knew she had been cut. Grabbing the chicken drumstick, she limped back to the factory, gnawed some of the meat off the bone, and went to sleep.

He growled as rain soaked his coat, the tree branches not offering much protection from the onslaught. He stumbled around, tripping over a root and falling into a hole. He scrambled to get out of the mole-length dip, then stopped, and turned to start digging into the earth rapidly, quickly as he could. After half an hour of digging and mud and slipping and choking on dirt, he made a small burrow that kept him safe momentarily from the just as temporary rainstorm. Instinct had guided him in making the hole, though he ached to go back to the city. He curled up, angry, angry, angry. The same thoughts still circled in his head. Stronger. Stronger. Stronger. He tried to ignore them, but then didn't. He had no reason to ignore them. He had never had a family. He had never known kindness. He'd never had a friend. He'd always been hurt.

All he knew was that when he was hateful, the hurt went away, because everything else was hurting. Not him. They were hurt.

Stronger. Stronger. Stronger.

The words were getting purpose. Meaning.

He uncurled, and seemed to grow much larger than his small, ratty, pathetic self were, as though he were aging, as though a wound had healed not quite as it should.

He stood tall, wicked light starting to twinkle in his eye as he realized his purpose, inside the dark of the lonely, makeshift "home" that never was his home.

Mangy Rat was what he was. But far from scrawny. Far from weak. Stronger.

STRONGER. STRONGER. STRONGER.

A small baby evil had been born in the young fox.

And nobody would care to stop it before it grew large enough that he would die with it.

She glared at Tii " Excuse me? This wabitt is my friend!"

Velvet opened her eyes slowly, but all she could see was red. Velvet jumped up, barking in surprise.
"I'm blind! I'm blind!" and then Velvet stopped. Flicking through her memory, she worked out hat had happened. She had cut her muzzle, the blood going in her eyes while she was asleep, and her injured leg must have been bleeding... (Velvet had curled up with her injury next to her eye.) Velvet simply fell asleep from surprise.

He stalked outside, warily shielding his eyes against the rain. He had to get back to the city. Rat heard a small snap of a twig, and his head shot in that direction. A mouse. He stalked toward it, then pounced on it, ending its life and then consuming it. Mice, he reckoned, Are much easier to catch than rats. Rats were big and vicious. He grinned, contrasting with the scowl still on his face. He'd be bigger someday. Someday soon. The rats wouldn't be any trouble then. He headed toward the city, lengthening his strides to try to get there quicker.

He had a lot of things to learn. No more would he just barely survive. He would rule.

Somehow... a small voice echoed, the remainder of his hesitation said, trying to square itself against the whole of his confidence.