Adventurous Anthros
Going Under (Part 1)(Season 1 Chapter 20)
Story by TheAnnonymousKat on Furaffinity
All characters belong to their respective owners, this fanfiction is a nonprofit project for fun, please support the official release of the respective series shown.

It was the day of the big mission, the Anthros, including Prince Adam and Chaor, had used the Gate Hopper to get fairly close to Underworld City without being at an easy to notice spot, and Kat had used his Mirror Vision to make sure Zero was indeed in the same world and in the castle. Everyone in the group save for Kat and Chaor went out of earshot to discuss something, leaving the hybrid alone with the underworlder. Kat paced back and forth while Chaor stood with his arms crossed, the anthros had spent nearly all of yesterday getting ready for the mission of storming Chaor's castle and taking down Von Bloot, from going over combat tactics, to getting plenty of rest. Chaor noticed Kat's pacing and inquired-
"Are you nervous?", Which caused Kat to stop pacing,
"A little bit, this is my first mission with all the guys, so I'm afraid of doing something dumb…" Kat explained,
"That's what you're worried about? Not you or your allies dying during this mission?" Chaor inquired
"Well that too, I'm just worried about a lot of things right now, despite all the crazy death-defying heists I've been on, this might very well be my biggest mission yet.." Kat explained,
"Ah I see, well don't let it get to you, I'm sure the rest of your friends are nervous too, though they've been at this for longer, so they're better at hiding it," Chaor explained,
"I see… say Chaor can I ask you something?" Kat inquired,
"What is it?" Chaor asked,
"What are your plans?" Kat asked,
"What do you mean?" Chaor asked,
"Like, as the ruler of the Underworld, what do you plan to do with your power… do you want to rule over several worlds with an iron fist?" Kat asked,
"What? No, my plan is the same as all the other tribe rulers, I want to fight for dominance in Perim," Chaor explained,
"So… you'll only keep your reign to Perim?" Kat asked, causing Chaor to sigh,
"Yes Kat, after all, leading my fellow underworlders to be the dominant tribe in this world has been my goal for as long as I can remember, you could almost call it a birthright" Chaor explained,
"Well ok, I guess as long as you stick to your own affairs, what you're doing isn't much worse than any of the other tribes," Kat commented,
"Why do you ask?" Chaor asked,
"Well, despite being "the ruler of the Underworld", you don't seem like such a bad guy," Kat commented,
"Well how were you expecting me to be like? Did you think I sat on a throne made of skeletons and had everyone who came here, creature and human alike, work themselves to death to please me?" Chaor asked,
"Kind of?" Kat replied,
"Well surprise, surprise, I might be tough but I'm not without mercy, plus I actually like humans," Chaor explained, causing Kat to tilt his head,
"You do?" Kat asked,
"Well, some of them… a very select few," Chaor explained. Kat pondered from Chaor's explanation,
"A select few?.. come to think of it.. that guy he mentioned, was he a human?" Kat thought to himself before asking-
"Hey Chaor? Who's Kaz?" Kat's question caused Chaor's eyes to widen,
"Uh.. where did you hear that name from?" Chaor asked dismissively,
"From you, yesterday," Kat replied. Suddenly the world around Chaor went photo negative before disappearing, before chains surrounded Chaor, and four Psyche-Locks appeared on them,
"No one, I was just saying names at random, I've never even met someone named Kaz," Chaor explained,
"Psyche-Locks?! Chaor must not be being honest with me.. though regardless I don't have anything to prove his dishonesty and this Kaz guy doesn't seem relevant to our current mission… I guess I'll just have to put a pin in this conversation," Kat thought to himself,
"Ok then," Kat replied aloud before the world around them returned to normal. Not long after the psyche-locks vanished, Panthro and the rest of the Anthros returned to Kat and Chaor,
"Y'all ready?" Panthro asked Kat and Chaor,
"If I wasn't ready I wouldn't be here," Kat replied,
"Let's get this over with," Chaor replied,
"Alright then, let's head to the castle," Panthro instructed.

The Anthros and Chaor then proceeded to make their way through Underworld City, there were a number of sentries patrolling around and some of the Anthros found it easier to sneak around than others, that being evident from those certain members nearly being spotted. Though despite a few close calls, the Anthros were at the entrance to the dark and intimidating castle in no time,
"I wish we were at your castle Adam, this place doesn't seem very welcoming…" Kat commented,
"To be fair, my castle wasn't always so welcoming either," Adam replied,
"Chaor, is there a secret entrance to get into the castle?" Doggie asked,
"Of course, follow me," Chaor instructed before leading the group towards a secret entrance into the castle.

Little did Chaor and the Anthros know, they were spotted by a female demon-like creature with red skin who Chaor would find very familiar. The demon flew off of the side of the castle that she perched herself on, and discreetly made her way towards the top of the castle, where a certain teal harpy waited with his wings cloaked over his body. The demon bowed to him, and even though Von Bloot hadn't turned around, he still acknowledged her presence and began speaking with her,
"Yes? What is it?" Von Bloot asked,
"Chaor and the Anthros of Justice, they've arrived and they're making their way inside the castle," the demon explained, her explanation caused a smile to spread across Von Bloot's face. Von Bloot then let out a devious cackle,
"Excellent, I knew they'd come," Von Bloot commented,
"Do you wish for me to get all of our troops in the city and attack them?" The demon asked,
"No, there's no fun in that, the troops in the castle will be enough, just get back to your planned position and get ready for a fight," Von Bloot explained,
"Of course," said the demon with a nod before she flew off, leaving Von Bloot on the castle rooftop alone. Von Bloot was deep in thought before he looked over to the only entranceway to the rooftop,
"Chaor.. Anthros, I consider this to be not unlike an elaborate game of chess, what pieces will fall? And whose king shall be left standing by the end of it? I can hardly wait to find out!" Said Von Bloot excitedly to himself.

Back with The Anthros and Chaor, the group had made their way through a secret passageway and ended up in the castle's lobby,
"Nice job, we made it inside the castle," said Panthro,
"Though where would Von Bloot be?" Kat asked,
"I'm willing to bet that he's on the roof of the castle, waiting for me to return," Chaor explained,
"Then to the roof we go," Said Panthro,
"You guys aren't going anywhere," said a voice from above. The group looked up to immediately see a creature drop down from the ceiling, the creature had a demon-like appearance, yellow skin, hunched posture, bat-like wings on his back, a spike coming out of his head and along his back, pointed ears and teeth, a single eye, and he wore a brown loincloth, spiked metal bands on each wrist and what appeared to be a blue glowing collar around his neck,
"Krekk…" said Chaor upon seeing the yellow demon,
"You know this guy?" Kat asked,
"Unfortunately.. he works with Von Bloot as one of his loyal underlings," Chaor explained,
"And look how well that turned out, the big bad Chaor got defeated and usurped, while Von Bloot stands proudly atop your castle," said Krekk mockingly,
"And I suppose you're gonna stand in our way," Doggie speculated,
"That's right mutt," Krekk replied with a sneer,
"Give me a few seconds, I'll stomp this guy to the ground and we'll be right back on track!" Said Kat angrily as he started to approach Krekk, though to his surprise, Doggie stopped him by holding his arm in front of him,
"No Kat, I'll take him on, you guys continue to the rooftop," Doggie instructed. The rest of the Anthros looked at Doggie in surprise,
"Doggie? You want to take him on?" Panthro asked,
"Yep, trust me, I'll have this creep taken care of in no time, just focus on getting to the top, we need as many people heading towards Von Bloot as we can get, as we have no idea just how powerful he is," Doggie explained,
"Just the dog guy? Hate to break it to you, but Von Bloot isn't the only one who got a power boost, he gave a similar boost to all the guards in this castle," Krekk explained,
"In that case, I'll fight alongside Doggie, you guys go ahead," said Sulley as he stepped forward,
"Sull… are you sure?" Panthro asked in an unsure tone,
"Hey, I may prefer to stay out of fights most of the time, but I know how to throw a mean punch, now go, that Zero girl is waiting for you guys," Sulley instructed. All the Anthros save for Kat made their way further into the castle, leaving Doggie and Sulley near the entrance with Krekk,
"Doggie, Sulley, you two be careful, alright?" Kat instructed before he proceeded to follow the other Anthros,
"Don't worry Kat, we got this," Sulley replied without taking his eyes off Krekk. Sulley's comment elicited a chuckle from Krekk,
"You two have no idea just how powerful I am," Krekk explained menacingly as Doggie got out his shadow saber and Sulley cracked his knuckles,
"Well it's a good thing that I never underestimate my opponents, fiend," Doggie replied with a growl. Doggie was the first one to attack, in one swift motion he lunged at Krekk and slashed at him, though much to the anubian's surprise, Krekk managed to avoid the attack with a well timed side step. Sulley's attack came immediately after Krekk landed on his feet, the monster furiously attempted to punch the underworlder, though the underworlder took to the air and avoided Sulley's attack, causing Sulley's large fist to instead collide with the ground and leave a large crack in the castle floor. After Sulley shook his hand to try and lessen the damage that his own attack caused, both he and Doggie turned their attention back to the airborne Krekk to see the underworlder had a hand stretched out towards the Anthros,
"Iron Balls!" Krekk called out before a swarm of metal balls flew from Krekk's hand and towards Doggie and Sulley. Doggie quickly stood in front of Sulley and quickly cut every ball that came their way, leaving a number of metallic half spheres on the ground before they dissipated. Krekk then conjured a fireball with the hand that didn't release the iron Balls, and threw it at the Anthros as he said-
"Flame Orb!". Doggie also cut the fireball with his saber to keep it from reaching him and Sulley. Doggie then got out his morpher,
"Alright you winged cyclops, warm up is over, now the real battle begins! Spd Emergency!" Said Doggie before he activated his Morpher and a flash of light enveloped him.

The rest of the Anthros continued further into the castle until they stopped in their tracks upon seeing a woman stand in their way. The woman had snow white skin, long pointed ears, blue eyes angeled horns protruding out of her head, hair that was silver at the top though going down turned dark blue near the end, and markings on her arms and face, she also wore spiked fingerless gloves that reached up to her forearm, the same blue collar that Krekk wore, a black sleeveless dress that exposed the top of her breasts, a spiked belt with a skull buckle, netted leggings, and black thigh high boots with metal plates on the toes of her boots, the lace areas and the forelegs. The woman stood in front of the entrance that led to the next room as she had her arms crossed,
"You'll go no further without a fight," the woman explained, Kat turned towards Chaor,
"You know her too?" Kat asked, Chaor responded with a nod,
"Skithia, another one of Von Bloot's underlings," Chaor explained. Kat turned his attention towards Skithia and reached for a kunai,
"Well Skithia, if it's a fight you want-" Kat tried saying, though Jon cut him off, and grabbed his hand to prevent him from grabbing a kunai,
"I'll fight her," Jon explained,
"What? But why?" Kat asked,
"You want to save Zero right? Then leave the underlings to us Kat, and save your energy for Von Bloot," Jon instructed, causing Kat to look at the ground nervously,
"But… what happened to sticking together?" Kat asked,
"He's right Jon, I'll help you," Leomon offered, causing Jon's eyes to widen,
"Leomon, really?" Jon asked,
"Of course, I am a fighter too after all," Leomon explained before turning his attention to Kat,
"Kat, there may be more obstacles up ahead, but you must keep pressing on, for Zero.. for everyone," Leomon explained. After a contemplating pause, Kat nodded his head, causing Jon to finally release Kat's hand before the rest of the Anthros passed by Skithia,
"The rest of you may go ahead and pass, after all, other guards are along the way, and it'd be a shame if they didn't get a chance to fight," Skithia explained with a sneer. Leomon drew his sword as Jon put himself in a battle ready pose,
"Don't get so cocky witch, whatever guards your boss has along the way, our allies will get past them!" Said Leomon confidently,
"Perhaps, though even if they get past every guard, all your allies combined stand no chance against Lord Von Bloot," said Skithia with a smile,
"Talk is cheap, let's leave our fists to do the talking!" Said Jon before he lunged at Skithia with his beast cannon technique. Skithia simply smiled and pulled out a strange belt adorned with large round gemstones and fastened it around her shoulder, when Jon got close to Skithia a strange force field appeared around her that seemed to be projected from the belt, this force field sent Jon flying back and rolling on the ground,
"Jon!" Said Leomon in a concerned tone before he turned his attention towards Skithia,
"You witch, what did you do?!" Leomon demanded angrily,
"Why don't you attack me and find out?" Skithia asked. Leomon then punched in Skithia's direction and simultaneously sent an energy attack shaped like a lion head towards her as he yelled-
"Fist of the beast king!". Once again a forcefield appeared from the strange belt and caused the energy to dissipate upon contact,
"What is happening?" Leomon asked in confusion,
"The battlegear you see around my shoulder is called a Drawskin, it's very ancient, rare, and it has an amazing effect," Skithia explained with a smile,
"That being?" Leomon inquired,
"It can nullify every attack you throw at it," Skithia explained. Jon managed to get back on his feet,
"Every attack? I highly doubt that, I bet there's a limit to just how much it can nullify, and we're going to find it!" Said Jon angrily,
"Is that so? I welcome you to try, though I hope you don't think I'll just be standing here while you two muscle heads try and break through my defense," said Skithia as she prepared a fireball in her right hand.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Anthros continued making their way through the castle,
"Chaor, how many other guards should we be expecting?" Panthro asked,
"I'm not sure, just keep focusing on moving forward," Chaor advised. The group ran for another minute or so before they stopped in their tracks, very nearly coming into contact with a fireball that lit part of the ground ablaze. The group looked up to see the red demon who was watching them earlier staying in the air with her dark red gargoyle-like wings. The demon landed on the ground and the group could get a better look at her, the underworlder had orange-red skin, long dark hair, a red spiky frill protruding from the top of her head, on her thighs, forearms and around her neck were bright yellow tiger stripes, her fingers were pointed like claws, and despite her humanoid appearance, her feet were clawed and seemed reptilian, the underworlder also wore a metal chestplate over a dark leotard, metal bracelets, and metal knee guards, and the same blue collar that Krekk and Skithia wore. The Anthros who were present turned their attention towards Chaor,
"Lemme guess, another underling of Von Bloot?" Panthro inquired, Chaor let out a sigh and wore a troubled expression,
"She wasn't until recently, her name is Takinom, and she used to be my most loyal soldier," Chaor explained with frustration in his tone,
"What happened?" Kat asked,
"I'm not sure, though if I had to guess, I'd say Von Bloot took control of her when he arrived at my castle," Chaor speculated,
"Keep going, I'll handle her," Winston instructed,
"Don't underestimate her, she's one of the most powerful underworlders I've ever seen.." Chaor explained,
"I'll be alright," Winston replied,
"Allow me to help you," Adam requested,
"No! We need as much manpower against Von Bloot as we can get, I can take her on by myself!" Said Winston before Takinom threw a few fireballs at the group. Winston quickly deployed his shield generator, and a large dome shaped forcefield encompassed all the Anthros and Chaor,
"I don't understand! Why don't we all just combat the guards? Why do you guys insist on breaking away from the group and taking the guards on yourself? If we all stick together we can accomplish so much more!" Kat proposed in frustration,
"You want to save Zero right? Every second we waste is another second Zero is in the hands of the enemy!" Winston replied,
"He's right Kat, we have no idea what condition Zero is in right now, we need to hurry to Von Bloot, let's go," Panthro ordered as all the Anthros save for Kat left the safety of Winston's shield and passed Takinom. As Winston summoned his Tesla cannon, he turned his attention to Kat,
"Kat… you better get going," Winston explained,
"I don't care what you guys say, I'm not going to leave you behind! Out of all the Anthros, you go on missions the least and instead spend your time in the lab, you're not a fighter! At least.. not one with nearly enough experience," Kat explained, as Takinom threw another fireball at Winston's shield, causing more cracks to appear on it. Winston pushed his glasses up, causing them to shine in such a way that Kat couldn't see the gorilla's eyes,
"Don't be ridiculous Kat, I have plenty of experience, I used to be a freelance hero, remember?" Winston asked,
"No you weren't! You're lying to me! I know you are!" Kat replied angrily,
"Then why don't you prove it?" Winston replied,
"I can't, at least not right now.. but that's another thing, I don't want to see anything bad happen to you because I want to know more about you! I want to know more about all you guys! You're all like family to me!" Kat explained with an emotional tone. Winston was silent for a moment, though when he saw Takinom throw another fireball at him and Kat, Winston lifted Kat up and quickly used his jump pack to get him and Kat to the entrance to the hallway that the others went through earlier, before he put Kat back on his feet. Winston was silent for a few moments before speaking,
"Kat…" said Winston in a casual tone
"Yeah?" Kat asked before Winston turned his head towards him, the shine disappeared from his glasses and a smile appeared on the gorilla's face,
"It's going to be ok.. I'll be right behind you," Winston explained with all the confidence he could muster. After a moment of contemplation after seeing Winston's heroic statement, Kat nodded his head,
"You better be," said Kat before he ran off to join the others. With Kat finally leaving Winston by himself, the gorilla turned his attention towards Takinom, and with a growl he got his cannon ready.

Given Kat's speed, it didn't take long for the hybrid to catch up with the rest of the group, though sure enough, after running together and making progress towards the roof of the castle, the group were once again stopped by an underworlder in their way. The creature this time was an anthro blue lizard man with an orange-yellow colored underbelly, red and dark blue colored quills sticking out of his head, a long reptilian tail, a hunched posture and a glowing blue collars like the other guards. Once again everyone turned their attention to Chaor, causing him to sigh,
"Friend of yours?" Kat asked,
"Like Takinom, he was, that's Agitos, my advisor" Chaor explained,
"Geez, how many guards are in this place?" Kat asked in frustration,
"I'm willing to bet one more past this point," Chaor speculated,
"That's correct, though you know, it's awfully rude to ignore someone right in front of you," Agitos commented with a grin. Adam stepped in front of everyone and readied his claws,
"If you want someone to keep you occupied, you've got it, I'll handle this overgrown lizard" Adam explained, causing everyone but Kat to rush past Agitos,
"Beast, don't-" Kat tried saying though Adam cut him off,
"We're not going to keep going through this Kat, I'll be fine on my own, focus on saving Zero," Beast instructed,
"No, I was just going to say don't get yourself killed, I'd rather not have to explain such a thing to Belle," Kat explained,
"Don't worry, returning to her side motivates me to fight with everything I've got, I'll be fine, now go" Beast instructed, causing Kat to once again take off to join his steadily shrinking group.

The group making their way up to Von Bloot was down to Kat, Panthro, Mercenary and Chaor, as they ran Kat asked-
"Chaor, how much further until we're on the roof?"
"Not much further, it's just down a few more corridors and up two more flights of stairs," Chaor explained before the group started running up one of the aforementioned flights of stairs. Given Kat's speed and much more limber body, he made it to the top of the stairs first and continued running ahead of the group,
"Kat! Where are you going?" Panthro asked,
"I'm going to scout ahead for guards or traps!" Kat explained,
"Well be careful, and don't get to the roof without us!" Panthro ordered,
"Gotcha," said Kat as he continued running. Kat's heart pounded in his chest as he kept making his way down the lengthy corridors, it wasn't long before the final guard in the castle stood in front of Kat's path. The underworlder was short, coming up to Kat's waist, he was very goblin-like with his green skin, though he also had two long distinct ears that were similar to a rabbit's and dropped down to his knees, large blue eyes, on each of the creature's hands were three fingers and two toes on each foot, with brown claws on each digit, the creature had a red mohawk, and fluffy patches of fur of a similar color on his forearms and chest, and the creature wore a simple brown vest, and of course a glowing blue collar around his neck. The underworlder looked at Kat with his brow furrowed, though Kat simply snickered,
"So you're the last line of defense in the castle?" Kat asked as he stifled his laughter,
"That's right, I'm H'earring, an underworlder spy, and don't think I'm not a threat because of my height!" Said the underworlder angrily as he spoke with a bit of a shrill voice. After a moment Kat's need to laugh subsided,
"Right sorry, it's just, I wasn't expecting the last line of defense to look so adorable," said Kat with a grin, causing H'earring to growl,
"If you're so confident, why don't you come closer and say that?" H'earring asked angrily,
"Please, I'll have you knocked out cold in the few seconds it'll take the rest of my allies to get here," Kat explained with a confident tone as he started to close the distance between him and H'earring. Before Kat could get very close however, Kuriboh suddenly appeared in his creature form in front of Kat and held his hands in front of the hybrid, saying-
"Kuri Kuri!" With a worried expression,
"Huh? What is it?" Kat asked. As Kuriboh explained something to Kat in his usual Kuriboh language, the rest of Kat's allies appeared at the entranceway and watched the conversation play out. Most of the guys at the entrance behind Kat had looks of confusion as Kuriboh kept talking,
"What's he saying?" Mercenary asked,
"He's telling Kat that he should save his energy for Von Bloot and offering to fight the little green guy in Kat's place," Panthro explained,
"You understand him?" Chaor asked in surprise,
"I guess I've been around Kat and Kuriboh long enough to get the gist of what Kuriboh is saying," Panthro explained with his arms crossed. After Kuriboh was finished speaking Kat scratched the back of his head,
"I guess when you put it that way, I'll leave it up to you," said Kat with a smile, causing Kuriboh to nod happily,
"Are you serious? You're leaving that brown hairball to fight me? You really have a bad habit of underestimating your opponent, y'know?" H'earring asked,
"Underestimating? Nah, I just have faith in Kuriboh," Kat explained before he gave Kuriboh a quick pet on the head,
"Show him that you're not just our mascot thanks to your cute looks buddy," Kat instructed, Kuriboh responded by nodding with a serious expression before the rest of the Anthros ran past H'earring. Kuriboh looked at H'earring with a glare as H'earring readied a fireball to throw,
"Hope you're ready to smell burning fur!" Said H'earring threateningly as Kuriboh started to multiply himself.

It wasn't long after the group had left Kuriboh alone with H'earring that they had made it to the last hallway, where in the distance they could see a large flight of stairs. The group took a minute to stop and catch their breath from all the running,
"That stairway leads to the rooftop, right?" Kat asked,
"Yep, that's the one," Chaor replied,
"So once we get to the top, we can expect a fight…" Panthro commented,
"We better get moving then, I'd like to get this over with," said Mercenary before him, Panthro and Chaor began walking towards the stairway, though Kat hesitated. Kat grew suspicious of the hallway they were in and decided to use his eyes of a thief technique, when he did, what he saw caused his eyes to widen. Right in front of Mercenary's feet was a pressure plate that triggered a mechanism that ran to the back of the hallway,
"Yohei!" Kat yelled, though it was too late, Mercenary stepped on the pressure plate and caused the mechanism to activate. Kat's yelling caused the others to turn their attention to him then immediately to what was behind him. Kat looked behind him to see small panels on the brick walls of the hallway lifting up, and darts immediately shot out of them. Kat felt his heart racing and time slow down when he saw the darts, he wasn't sure what to do, if he ducked his allies would get hit by them, he had nothing to deflect the darts with, he had impressive reaction and movement speeds, though there were too many darts to catch in such a small time frame. As the distance between the darts and him shrunk, Kat clenched his eyes shut, waiting to get hit. Though in the moment it took the darts to reach Kat, something miraculous happened, Kat could feel large furry arms wrap around him and press him against a rather muscular chest. Kat heard a pained growl, and when he opened his eyes, he saw Mercenary had his arms around him as he was hunched over Kat. Kat swallowed hard since it didn't take long for the hybrid to realize that the Beastfallen had shielded him from the darts using his own body. Kat felt Mercenary's body go limp on top of him as they both fell to the floor, Chaor and Panthro quickly rushed over to Kat, pulled Mercenary off of him, quickly pulled the darts out of his back, moved him over to a wall, and leaned him against it. After Kat got back on his feet, Panthro went back over to the part of the floor Mercenary stepped on and began doing something to the area that Kat didn't pay attention to since his focus was on Mercenary. Kat's heart pounded in his chest as he approached Mercenary. The beastfallen's eyes were closed, and he seemed still,
"Mercenary..? Is he?" Said Kat fearfully as he bent down and pressed an ear against Mercenary's chest, he could hear a heartbeat and strained breathing,
"He's alive… for now," Chaor explained,
"For now? What do you mean, for now? What happened?" Kat asked as he looked at Chaor fearfully. Chaor picked up one of the darts that he got out of Mercenary's back and showed it to Kat. Almost immediately Kat saw some sort of bright yellow fluid and Mercenary's blood on the tip of the dart,
"Venom…" Kat commented, causing Chaor to nod,
"A very rare venom found from some dangerous creatures here in Perim, it only takes a little bit to cause a strong paralysis within the body," Chaor explained, upon closer inspection Kat saw Mercenary make very subtle spasms as his eyes remained closed,
"How long does he have?" Kat asked,
"Thankfully he's a big guy, so I'd say about an hour before the paralysis works its way to his heart, and he… well, you know" Chaor explained, attempting to spare Kat's feelings by avoiding saying the word that Kat dreaded hearing in his current situation,
"Is there anything we can do to help him?! Is there a cure?" Kat asked in a panic,
"Well there's healing mugic, though we don't have that on us, so the only alternate is a rare plant that grows in the Overworld," Chaor explained,
"The Overworld? We don't have time to go to the Overworld!" Kat commented with a frustrated yell,
"I know…" Chaor replied calmly,
"So what? We're just going to leave him here?" Kat asked in a panicked tone,
"Well what else can we do? It's impossible to save him, he knew the risks of coming on the mission with us" Chaor replied bluntly, causing Kat to become angered
"How can you say that?! He's our friend! He didn't just save me, but he saved you guys too! If the darts didn't hit him they would have flown past him and hit you and Panthro!" Kat replied angrily,
"I went along with you guys to reclaim my castle, he went along with you guys to save that girl, and you guys are here to take down Von Bloot because he's a high ranked villain, none of us are friends, we all had ulterior motives, and that's why we stuck together," Chaor replied bluntly, causing Kat to bare his sharp teeth and clench his fists,
"You bastard, even if we were doing this mission for different reasons, you don't have to be so heartless, his life is on the line from helping you but you just treat him like an expendable pawn!" Said Kat angrily as a dark aura aura surrounded him.
"Kat!" Said Panthro in a firm voice, Kat turned towards Panthro, causing their eyes to meet, while Kat's eyes clearly displayed anger with a hint of fear and sadness, Panthro's eyes were serious, bold and unwavering,
"There's still hope for Mercenary, if we can defeat Von Bloot, we can have Winston use his gate hopper to bring us closer to the area the plant is, then with how fast you and Doggie move, I bet you'd be able to find it in no time, though in order to do that we have to keep moving…" Panthro explained in a firm but reassuring tone. Upon hearing Panthro's explanation, the aura around Kat dissipated,
"You really think there's a chance for Mercenary?" Kat asked,
"I've seen more people die than I'd like to, though I've also been around for too long to think anything is impossible," Panthro explained. After taking a deep breath, Kat nodded, and walked over to Mercenary to talk with him for a little bit while Chaor spoke to Panthro,
"Is he your son or something? Why are you encouraging him to be delusional?" Chaor asked bluntly,
"He's my partner, and I don't appreciate you making him feel worse than he already does, we already have one out of the four of us being forced to sit this next battle out, we don't need another one of us with low morale," Panthro explained, causing Chaor to shake his head,
"I've been a part of wars before, this is nothing," Chaor replied,
"Yeah? Well I've fought in wars before too, though you know who hasn't? Kat, he's not built like us, he isn't some ruthless soldier who's been through hell and back, he's just a guy whose made some bad decisions and is trying to get his life back together," Panthro explained,
"Sounds like you care about him," Chaor commented,
"After what we've been through, I'd be crazy not to," Panthro replied. Chaor looked down to see there was a hole in the floor and some mangled scraps of metal next to Panthro,
"What have you been doing?" Chaor asked,
"I took the liberty of disabling the trap by carefully removing the part of the floor above it and destroying the trigger mechanism, though speaking of the trap, why in the blazes didn't you mention it?" Panthro asked angrily,
"It wasn't there before, Von Bloot must have had it installed for me," Chaor speculated,
"In a day?" Panthro asked skeptically,
"You were outside, he certainly has the manpower to get a project like that done in such a short time frame," Chaor replied. Panthro let out a deep sigh as he got to his feet,
"I guess that makes sense, Kat, we'll be waiting for you over by the staircase, make sure you're ready for this fight buddy," Panthro instructed as he headed towards the stairway, with Chaor following behind him,
"As for you, no more talking about Mercenary, less you want me to break one of your horns," Panthro threatened, though Chaor simply shrugged,
"Yeah yeah, I got it," Chaor replied casually. Meanwhile Kat was finishing up his comforting one-sided conversation with Mercenary, as he grabbed one of Mercenary's large hands, and held it in his own,
"Mercenary, we're going to leave you against this wall while we fight Von Bloot, but we're not going to leave you for dead! I'll do everything I can to make sure both you and Zero leave this castle alive and well," Kat explained, Kat's heart beat quickly as he felt Mercenary's small convulsions in his paralyzed state. Kat then stood up, carefully let go of Mercenary's hand putting it back to his side and adjusting Mercenary's large cloak so that his hood was over his head and his large body was covered,
"There we go, just try and relax, if you're relaxing, your heart won't beat as fast, thus the venom won't go through your bloodstream as fast, You're gonna see Zero again, I promise," said Kat hopefully as he hesitantly walked away from Mercenary and approach Panthro and Chaor, who were waiting for him by the stairway as they said they would,
"Ready?" Panthro asked, in response Kat took out a kunai, and replied-
"Let's do this," before he began his walk up the stairway, followed by Panthro and Chaor.

To Be Continued...