Way of the Slugcat

When All Else Fails

The slugcat's footsteps echoed among the hallway's walls. It stretched on for much longer than Thorns remembered, even if they were still speeding along its emptiness. Without the adrenalin, it was just another one of the many passageways littered throughout the factory.
Night's eyes still held a sort of softness to them, as if he had not not reached full awareness yet. Thorns had meant to pester him about the mushrooms earlier, but decided that this mystery was best left unsolved.
He would not reveal the answer to me, anyway. He sighed, although he could not help but be amused by his own imagination, filtering through the possibilities of how Night would answer.
"Stop!" Night and Thorns skidded to a halt. They had reached the end of the tunnel. Stretching out before them was the scaffolding bridge, looking no less terrifying than before.
"Alright, I have concocted a plan." Night started.
"Are you certain that it is a good one, considering your current state?"
"Um... no." The black slugcat rubbed one of his misty eyes.
"Alright, then how about we execute my plan?"
"You have a plan?"
"Of course!" And it is a darn good one, too, he thought as he attempted to hide his pride. This was the first time he had come up with a workable idea, uncontrolled by anger or greed. "Okay, listen up Night!" He exclaimed, straightening his posture. "I will run out onto the bridge and draw the vulture into the open, at which point the red vulture will come down out of the sky and kill it. I will make a quick turn and return to the tunnel while the two birds are fighting. After the green vulture is dead, the red one will fly off and we can take all the time we wish approaching the other side of the bridge. That way, we will not run head first into that blasted centipede again. How does that sound?"
"That... is much better than mine!" Night replied, a grin spreading across his face. "Mine was to simply run faster than we did before."
"Are you sure the mushroom has worn off?"
"About eighty percent sure, yes. Anyways..."
"I will see you after the vulture gets impaled again!" In a blur of white, Thorns darted out onto the scaffolding.
It started out as uneventful. He made it a little less than half way when the vulture showed up, descending from the clouds in a feathered ball of furry. All according to plan. It's naked face glared down at the little rodent in disgust.
"Do you want me!?" Thorns bellowed. "Then come and get me!" The slugcat made a quick turn, balancing on one leg as he spun to face behind him, and took off running back towards Night. The vulture followed without hesitation, changing direction as swiftly as Thorns had.
Any second now... come on, red vulture. Any time now...
Then, he spotted them. Two beams of red light shining down from the clouds. A faint beeping reached Thorns' ears.
He heard it, the sound of the red vulture's horn being launched through the air. He glanced over his shoulder, beaming to himself as the final step of his plan fell into place.
But it missed.
It was amazing, Thorns mused, how one twitch of a muscle could throw a wrench into his entire operation. Maybe the vulture had an itch. Maybe it thought there was some advantage to moving its neck mere inches from where it was originally placed. Regardless of the reason, the red vulture's harpoon went sailing past its target, and straight towards Thorns.
And then he was back. Back within the darkness of the shelter, listening to its gears turn and clank as the door opened.
"It was a good plan." Night said. His voice came from the same place it had last time, and in the same slightly pained tone. "I suppose that luck had other ideas, though."
"I... suppose." Thorns sighed, massaging the back of his neck. Why did the horn have to hit him there, of all places?
"Well, no giving up! Death is only a minor setback. Get your tail off the ground and get moving!"

It did not take long to trek back to the bridge. Yet again, the hallway posed no challenge. The slugcats sat and gazed out towards their destination, weighing ideas inside their heads. Night had suggested just running across like the first time. How ever could that go wrong? Thorns shook his head in disagreement, and the two continued staring out across the gap.
"What if we just... wait?" Thorns suggested.
"Hmmm..." Night's eyes wandered to the sky, then back to the bridge. "That would be a good idea if we were not on a time limit."
"I do not smell the rain yet, nor do I see clouds. We should be fine."
"Even so, something else may happen later that could force us to wait. That would waste even more dry time. I say that-"
"Night, Look!" Thorns' little white finger stuck out above the bridge, drawing attention to what lay beyond. The bright orange carapace of the centipede skittered out of its den. Hundreds of tiny legs moving together in near perfect unison. It moved in spastic bursts of speed, stopping and moving as if an invisible leash were tugging it along against its will. Black strings stuck up from its head. They twitched and moved from side to side as the bug weaved it's way into the scaffolding, going underneath, in between, left and right. It was looking for something. Looking for prey.
"Uh, Night?"
"Do not move. They are attracted to movement."
"That would have been nice to know earlier!"
The slugcats looked towards the bug. The light glinting off its pristine armor made it a little difficult to stare at. Then a shape descended out of the sky.
The maskless vulture had returned, not for revenge, but for a meal. It did not so much as hesitate to attack the bug, which seemed to have no idea that imminent doom was upon it. Its hundreds of legs flailed in the air as the bird yanked it from the scaffolding. The antennae upon its head went twitching uncontrollably. However, the centipede would not go down that easily. Both ends of the bug hung in mid air, swinging from left to right as the vulture prepared to take off. Every time it moved, the ends swung closer and closer together...
A shot from the sky, and a streak of red. It had missed its target yet again, but was not all in vain. The horn impaled the centipede, shattering a plate of its orange armor. The maskless vulture turned its head to face its attacker as it descended upon its green feathers. The red resorted to biting and pecking at the poor creature's naked face. During this confrontation, the centipede's ends finally connected.
The three creatures were engulfed in a flash of blue light. In a brilliant display of electric crackles and pops, the cluster of animals toppled into the abyss.
Thorns stared open mouthed at the bridge. Night simply stayed quiet.
"The... wh-what? T-the bug... and... what!?" Thorns stuttered.
"Let's just go..."

Silence filled the empty space around the duo as they clambered across the scaffolding. A light breeze tickled Thorns' nose. The world moved on as if nothing had happened. The events that had previously unfolded were just one of many incidents the old building had witnessed, and it would most certainly not be the last. The world is always moving, centered on no one and stopping for nothing.
Finally, the slugcats reached the entrance of their destination. Now devoid of bugs, they easily crawl their way underneath the rubble and emerge into sunlight once again. Below them, the remains of a pole descended down a steep drop, into an unusually lush patch of plant life.
"Ah, finally!" Night exclaimed. "We get the opportunity to enjoy ourselves down there. Let us get moving."
One after the other, the slugcats hurried off.

Patience
A key to many locks.