A Choice Beyond Pride

Chapter 5 "Shady Scheme"

Sorry, I know it's been a while again. This revised version of "Heart and Sight, Come Into Light" is meant to be a cannon tale for my newly established Mondtastico AU, but it still takes a backseat to my other projects, Unikitty! and otherwise. My Unikitty! content is primarily at home on Unikitty! Amino, and as of recently, Tumblr. So, if you want to see more from me, and more often, you can hop on either of those. ✨

"Hey, that's nice of you to carry me," thanked Puppycorn, lying comfortably in Hawkodile's arms, "but I could've climbed this cliff on my own."

"I don't think so, slugger," replied Hawkodile doubtfully, approaching the top of the cliff. "It's way too dangerous to climb something that steep."

"Uh, are you okay though? You seem tired," asked Puppycorn, concerned for his bulky friend. "Sorry if it was hard to catch up with me, I guess I was going pretty fast..."

"I-It's fine," replied Hawkodile, clearly short of breath from the strain of carrying his and Puppycorn's weight. "My wings just, aren't used to supporting anything besides myself. Nevermind, we're here."

Hawkodile landed on the cliff and Puppycorn jumped down from his arms. Straight ahead was the battered old dojo, complete with everything from broken windows to torn flags.

"There you two are!" said Unikitty joyfully, her happy sparkle matter littering the ground. "It's about time, I was growing a beard!"

"Hey sis!" greeted Puppycorn, running over to her.

"Princess, please don't fly off like that again!" scolded Hawkodile, lying on the ground out of breath. "This isn't the time to be kidding around!"

"Aw, I'm sorry Hawk," apologized Unikitty, "did you manage to get up here okay?"

"I'll be fine," groaned Hawkodile, carefully getting to his feet.

Suddenly, before anyone could start searching, they heard a heavy sneeze echo from somewhere nearby. 

"God bless you!" chirped Unikitty to Hawkodile, mistakenly believing he had sneezed.

"Thanks, but, that wasn't me?" replied Hawkodile.

"But then, who's sneezing?" questioned Puppycorn, scratching his head.

Momentarily after Puppycorn finished speaking, they heard another, similar sneeze.

"It's coming from in there!" gasped Unikitty, pointing towards the wrecked doorway of the dojo.

Instantaneously after Unikitty pointed out the sneeze's location with her paw, Hawkodile swiftly stormed towards the building, screeching a battle cry. "I'M COMING TO SAVE YOU, FOX GIRL!" boomed Hawkodile, Unikitty and Puppycorn chasing after him. When he reached the doors, he ripped one off by the hinges and violently threw it aside at lightning speed to continue forward. Upon charging into the remains of the building, to his great surprise stood his arch-rival near the edge of the cliff; Eagleator!

"Ugh, freakin' allergies..." mumbled Eagleator with a sniffle, wiping his scaly snout with his arm. Eagleator glanced up, noticing Hawkodile and his two friends staring at him in shock. His rival's sudden entrance into the dojo somehow caught him completely off guard, which felt humiliating. 

After a few moments of awkward glances between everyone, Hawkodile acknowledged who was being held by their tail in Eagleator's dark blue glove; their missing friend! "DR. FOX!" cried Unikitty, Puppycorn, and Hawkodile simultaneously. Hawkodile assumed discovering Dr. Fox would've offered him the relief he had been longing for all day, but unfortunately, he only felt increased tension.