The Golden Walker

Arika's Gone

After two thousand good-byes and many thanks and gratefulness for Madame Grommet, the group finally set off after a week. The Boundless was returned back to Lil'ta and Palon's apartment, it would be too much of a load to carry. Danske was more than happy to go back home, he was dead scared of Wong Chi and there was a 50% chance of them meeting her again, and plus, the journey was going to get a whole lot darker. Leaving the merry towns of Lil, and the sweet village of Kristine, Kuttu felt unsafe. She definitely didn't wanna leave, everything was so quiet and peaceful. Yet her instincts told her to carry on. Yes, things would get worse, but she still had her friends. Jiti was okay. SHE was okay. Kuttu thought about all of this and completely ignored everyone. Cassandra worried a lot about her. "Hey guys, I'm going to take Chewie for a walk. I'll be back by dinner." Kuttu said to her friends, who were setting up camp. "Yes, sure. I need some worries lifted off anyway. Mittu, my dear, don't put up the tent like that. Gayatri, could you please help her? Thank you." Cassandra said breezily, while Mittu nearly ripped the tent apart out of frustration. "Aww, the tent's ruined. Never mind, I can share with Kuttu when she comes back. What'll we do with this now? Any ideas, Gayatri?" Mittu groaned, giving Gayatri the broken tent pole. An idea popped up in the girl's head. "Yes! Yes! I can take it! I've been saving up some car parts just for this. Thanks, Mittu!" she exclaimed, hugging Mittu tight and rushing off somewhere.  "That was out of the blue. Say, did you see her carrying Pimpi's old blaster along with her?" Mittu remarked, still a little surprised by Gayatri's sudden hug. "I saw her building some zany...weird...psycho...gun or something in the forest. " Anshu's muffled voice came out from her tent. "Parker, go sniff out some sheep to eat. Diamond, catch some fish. Go!" Luoxia whispered, watching over the horizon as her little pets scampered over the hills. Soon, it was dinnertime, and Diamond had brought back some delicious mackerel from the nearby stream and Parker accompanied her, dragging a dead sheep with his teeth. It may have looked disgusting but it was necessary since nobody wanted to go hungry that night. 

As Palon cut the meat and fried it on his portable stove, whistling a little tune, Kuttu suddenly ran into the camp, Chewie following, unleashed, behind her. Sitting down and panting horribly, she immediately took a piece of mackerel and ate it hungrily. "Kuttu. What on Vallilea is going on? You come back to camp with branches and leaves in your hair, cuts on your shoulders, and is that BLOOD dripping off your lips?" Cassandra cried out, her hand to her mouth. "No, no, Cassandra. That's just the sauce from the mackerel. RELAX. But I do need to tell you something." Kuttu reassured her, smiling softly. But the poor girl didn't realize some of the sauce from the dish had spilled on her injured leg from the Luox attack, making it look like it had blood all over as if it had been split in two. Cassandra noticed the blood-sauce and fainted, Lil'ta catching her just in time. "Shame that dear ol' Cassie cares too much." A voice came from behind Cassandra's worried peers. A cowgirl with fiery red & brown braids, yellow beady eyes, puffed out cheekbones including Jessie-the-Cowgirl-worthy boots stepped out into the light. On her sheriff's badge, it had the same dark hippogriff with red eyes, implying she worked for Xandivander. Pushing Jiti's defense out of the way, the cowgirl tutted as her boot smacked Cassandra, who was lying on the ground, still not having woken up. "Mah poor ex-bestie is jus' is too naïve, an', if ah were her, I'd smelled this comin' a mile away." the cowgirl remarked spitefully, before suddenly noticing Kuttu helping Cassandra, who had woken up and was coughing hard. "Leave her alone you infested psycho freak! I know what you're gonna do!" Mahi yelled. The cowgirl just smiled at her and moved on. "Huh, lookie here. This kiddo with bird-nest hair just so happens to match my boss' description o' the bounty. Listen up, just 'cause old Dumbhair couldn't catch ya don' mean ah can't. Surrender yerself or ah will slau'gher Smart-talk over here. " The cowgirl grabbed Mahi and started choking her. Hiding in a tree as Mahi suffered, Chakrika started feeling...angry. The walker was the only one who noticed and tried to warn the others, but they were too busy trying to help Cassandra AND Mahi. But in fact, Chakrika was so furious that unexpectedly, a gallon of water flooded the campsite, and the cowgirl, who seemingly couldn't swim, let go of Mahi, who was now unconscious and Fred helped her climb up a tree to safety.