Galaxy of the Mustelids: A Spinoff of "The Ferret Universe"

Chapter 10

The next moment I opened my eyes, I heard distant waves. I sat up, realizing I was on the shores of a beach. Wendy, Wayne, Jaden, and Mildred were several yards ahead of me, chasing each other by the shores. They were all swishing their tails or doing slithery dances, causing the waves around them to rise, spin, or swirl.

I felt a wave of relief. They still had their Elemental Powers!

Also....Mildred....she was in a red bikini....

I shook my head, frowning at the sand.

Wait a minute....is any of this even real? I felt a strange mix of anxiety and despair course through me. I couldn't even trust if I had woken up in the right place anymore....was I in the world where the Cosmic Explosion happened, where I was part of some Chosen Trio called to save the scattered mustelids? Or was I in the real world—the world I thought was real—where I had last seen my friends and siblings get trapped into glass-balls filled with Black Fog?

Or....was I now in some entirely new world?

"Sonny...."

I turned at the sound of a familiar voice. Jedidiah was hovering up to me, his body in a vertical position and his hands behind his back. The old blackfooted ferret was dressed in his usual, torn dirty-yellow robe, with his ears and tail sticking out from the holes. His wizened eyes were narrowed as he fixed me with a mild smirk.

"Jedidiah!" I croaked, then winced at how hoarse my voice sounded. "Wh-what's going on? Which world am I in now?" I didn't realize I had blurted out the question...as if the elder ferret would've known what I was talking about.

Jedidiah stared at me in silence for a moment. Then he gave a quiet, wheezy chuckle. "Boy, you were knocked out for the past few hours after yer friends got trapped in dem glass-balls. Yer lucky I was already fighting dem wolverines....otherwise yer friends would've been as powerless as the wolverines themselves."

I gave a sigh of relief. Okay....so I'm in the real world. Or at least.....what I had thought was the real world....

"So you freed Wendy, Wayne, Jaden, and Mildred from those glass-balls?" I asked.

"And yerself," he said. "Zorro captured you in one for a moment. But I send a bunch of steel hands and feet to throw him off. After dealin' with the rest of dem wolverine varmints, I brought ya'll here since Felix and Adeline were already healing some mustelids who were also injured by a wolverine attack—they already summoned all the complicated herbal remedies to dissolve the Black Fog toxins you inhaled. It's thanks to them ya'll were able to restore your Elemental Powers."

I huffed. Those hippie ferrets were always mingling with mustelids across different planets, showing up at random places at random times. And now I had to be grateful for that.

It was then that I noticed a cave in the distance, beside the shore. A white ferret and a golden-cinnamon ferret were hovering at the opening.

Felix and Adeline!

Then I felt my fur bristle. The two ferrets were kneeling beside a limp, dark body covered in gashes.

It was Zorro.

The two ferrets were swishing their tails over him, causing smooth fronds to form over his wounds.

"Hey!" I glared. "What the black holes are they doing? Are they actually healing him?!"

I turned and then flinched. Jedidiah was nowhere to be seen.

Before I could experience another wave of frantic confusion, I felt a hearty shove against my shoulder.