Trail Maid Rancher: The Untamed Hoops

Primitive Terrain

Day 612

The trio of Ranchers ended up in a cave. The cave had glowing teal lines within the rocks. "Okay, never saw this before!" breathed Helen. They soon moved off to look for any nearby Targa fruits. As they did, they heard a sort of soft rumbling sound. Maya tensed up.

"Oh no!" she gulped.

"Oh no?" repeated Sandra. Just then, a group of Trail Maid Hybrids came down from the cave ceiling, causing a massive shockwave on impact. The Ranchers picked themselves up to see that they were Hybrids, one of Rad origin and one of Phosphor. Both groups of Trail Maids had large fangs and the usual Feral eyes. The Ferals were roaring instead of shouting for food. They had large fangs coming out of their mouths and the frill on their dresses looked jagged. "Okay, did anyone bring food?!" called Sandra.

"My storage tanks are empty!" replied Helen.

"Mine too, sadly!" gulped Maya.

"Is there an exit?!"

"The only way out's through them! Even then, it's only to a place with Saber Rocks!"

"Oh lovely!" The Feral Saber Hybrids then jumped into the air. The Ranchers dodged and Sandra bumped into a rocky outcropping. As she pulled back from the stone sticking into her back...a Maid-hen fell. Sandra looked up, then used her flight skirts to lift herself up. As she got to the outcropping's top, she saw a plethora of Maid-hens. She grinned as an idea formed in her head. She pulled herself up and started waving her arms. "HEY! SABERS! OOGA-BOOGA! ME USE FIRE! OOOH! OOOH!" That attracted the Ferals' attention. They leapt towards her. She got caught up in the impact's shockwave, then picked herself up to throw Maid-hens at them. The Trail Maids jumped on them, skirt-swallowed them, then they produced orbas and calmed down. The Saber Phosphors helped her up.

"Are you all right?" asked one.

"I've been better," replied Sandra. As she was looked over, the Saber Rads jumped down to look over Helen and Maya.

"Good grief," muttered one, "you girls are tough to handle the shockwaves!"

"FrillCorp. really wanted to avoid a lawsuit," replied Helen. "You girls okay?"

"Much better," replied the other Saber Rad. Sandra and the Saber Phosphors then joined them.

"Hola!" called Sandra. She turned to Maya. "You weren't kidding, the Hoops ARE untamed!"

"Well, this is a first, I must admit," remarked Maya. "I never got to talk to any Sabers."

"It looks like there IS sufficient food around here," mused Sandra, "we just need to find it." She then got an idea. "May I take some Saber orbas?" she asked a Saber Phosphor.

"Of course," replied the Trail Maid. Sandra sucked up four Saber orbas and stored them in tank two. Maya then cried out in happiness.

"THERE THEY ARE!" she called as she pointed out a few fruits. They were orange with a bit of fuzz on their skins. They were growing out of small shrubs.

"Those are Targas?" asked Sandra.

"The most delicious fruit in the universe!" replied Maya. The Saber Trail Maids grimaced.

"That's your description of them?" asked a Saber Rad.

"I think you need your nose checked out," remarked a Saber Phosphor.

"Ah, you girls don't have taste buds!" dismissed Maya. The Ranchers vacced up the fruits, netting 25 in total. They were then led out of the cave to see Feral Saber Rocks prowling around.

"All right, we find a good source of food, then we hunt for Targas. Once you find food, get the Trail Maids' attention." They split up and searched the periphery, keeping out of the Ferals' line of sight. Maya then spotted something...multiple patches of Lover's Beets!

"Perfecto!" she whispered to herself. She then made her way to the patches, then started waving her arms. "¡Tus madres son Void-a-belles!" she taunted, getting the Ferals' attention. They leapt up and dove towards her. Maya leapt out of the way as the Ferals skirt-swallowed the food. They then calmed down, becoming normal Saber Rocks, and simply folded their arms at her.

"No mothers," muttered one. "Let's keep it clean."

"...¿Hablas español?" gulped Maya.

"Si," answered another Saber Rock.

"Oops," mumbled the Rancher. Sandra and Helen then joined them.

"Are you all right?" asked Sandra.

"Doing fine, I assure you," answered Maya.

"We're sane now," said a Saber Rock.

"Wonderful!" cheered Helen. "Now, girls, I think I found those mudballs Maya talked about."

"We're trying to keep the smell from stinking up the place," explained a Saber Rock.

"Why does everyone say they're smelly?!" protested Maya. "Sandra, Helen, help me bring the mudballs over here. There's a Targacracker around here." The mudballs were as tall as up to Helen's chin. They carried the mudballs to a large device shaped like a Trail Maid, as most of the technology is, but the skirts were split in half horizontally. "Watch this!" directed Maya. She put a mudball between the skirt halves. A weight sensor then activated the device, and the skirt halves pressed onto the mudball. The ball then burst and revealed Targas! Helen and Sandra tried one each and got the same results. They soon cracked all the mudballs and got 50 more Targas. "That's all 75!" cheered Maya. "Let's find a teleporter and get out of here!" As they looked, the Saber Rocks counted each other. Worry then crossed their brows.

"We were seven, right?" asked one.

"Where's the last?!" gulped a second. Everyone then heard the roar of a Feral Saber Rock. They followed the sound to see a Void-a-belle converting the last Saber Rock into another Void-a-belle. The two Void-a-belles then saw Helen.

"VOID BANE!" shouted the new one as they leveled their parasols at her.

"We were going to achieve perfection and you ruined our chances!" snarled the older one.

"Now we shall ruin you permanently! Your lives are forfeit! You and every human on this planet!"

"That includes those two with you!" Maya and Sandra looked at them in fear.

"Hold on!" called Helen. "Maya and Sandra weren't even involved!"

"All humans are scum, and we will render your kind extinct!" The Saber Rocks gave off a challenging roar before jabbing their parasols into the ground. The rocks that knocked the Void-a-belles aside were much larger than the ones Helen and Sandra saw on their ranch or in the Bodice Patches.

"...Primal Strength?" asked Helen.

"Bingo!" answered a Saber Rock. The Void-a-belles then fired a torrent of flames from their parasols, larger than the Fire Trail Maids.

"And now, THEY'RE using it!" The Void-a-belles then created rocks the size of the Saber Rocks' and knocked the Ranchers down. They were hurt pretty badly.

"So ends the Void Bane and her wretched people!" snarled a Void-a-belle. She raised her parasol, surrounding it in rock, and was about to bring it down...when a new Trail Maid grabbed her, then threw her into her partner. After that, the new Trail Maid pointed her parasol at the two dark belles and fired a stream of golden fire at them, knocking them off the cliffside and into the water below. The new Trail Maid then helped the three Ranchers up and handed them an orba each. They noticed that the Trail Maid seemed to be made of gold.

"It's not your time, Ranchers. Not now, not ever." The Trail Maid then opened her parasol and strolled away.

"...I never thought I'd live to see the day!" breathed a Saber Rock.

"Huh?" asked Maya. The Saber Rocks said nothing, still in a state of awe. "...I think we'd better leave; we've got the 75 Targas I need anyways!" Helen and Sandra followed Maya through the teleporter and vanished.