Broken Pure Heart (Mao Mao AU)

Great Escape

The feline was on edge the entire time as Badgerclops was casually looking around the cabin belonging to Orangusnake. The badger looked through every nook and cranny, in the closet, under the bed and even under a small picture of the orangutan and cobra separated.

"What do you think you're doing in here?" A hissing voice boomed that made both mammals freeze in their tracks. Mao Mao was especially stunned as the reptile's gaze fell upon him. But Orangusnake's glare quickly shifted to Badgerclops.

"What are you doing in here?" he repeated before pointing a figure at the trembling feline. "And what is he doing out of the cage again?"

"I let him out," Badgerclops admitted, taking a step forward. "We're gonna get the piece back and stop you."

Orangusnake looked at his former trusted cohort and scoffed. "Oh, please. You're a Sky Pirate! A bad guy. Stop kidding yourself and put him back in the cage!"

"Don't listen to him, Badgerclops. We're gonna put a stop to this," Mao Mao said, finding some resolve in having the badger nearby.

"I'm going to take that as an act of defiance!" The boss of the Sky Pirates grinned, reaching behind to deploy his axe. "An act that will be punished!"

With more speed than expected, the villain charged forwards and jumped into the air. Lifting his axe over his head, Orangusnake prepared to swing it down on the badger and cat below. Badgerclops's eye widened and in his own burst of speed he blocked the attack with his mechanical arm.

Mao Mao gasped in shock upon seeing this. Above him both Badgerclops and Orangusnake were pushing against one another, trying to overpower their foe.

"Badgerclops!"

"D-don't worry about me, dude! You just find your sword and the piece, alright?"

Mao Mao nodded and despite how much he wanted to help the feline turned around and continued searching for his katana. He looked around the room but found no trace of it in any of the obvious hiding places. He took a moment to think and an idea came to his mind. Looking around, Mao Mao simply took in the whole of the room, and he found his sword, lying on a display on the wall in plain sight. After jumping up to reach it a few times, he managed to knock it off the wall and into his grip.

Without sparing anymore time, Mao Mao darted out of the cabin and into the main hallway.

"Hey! What are you doing out of your cage?" Boss Hosstrich yelled, pointing to the escaped prisoner. Hearing the noise from another room, Ramaraffe and Ratarang ran into the hallway as well.

"What do we do?" Ramaraffe asked.

"Duh! Get him!" Hosstrich yelled, pointing at the feline.

Altogether, the Sky Pirates rushed at Mao Mao but the cat wasn't nearly as concerned about them as he was before. Once again, his katana was at his side and that gave him the confidence to persevere and get the piece back. With a single swing towards the three of them, Mao Mao managed to beat all of them back.

"Oh no! What can't let him get to the engine room!" Ramaraffe fretted.

"Yeah, we can't let him get down the hall and down the right," Ratarang agreed.

Mao Mao smiled to himself and took off for the engine room, leaving the foolish pirates behind. Following the rat-boomerang hybrid's advice, he ran to the end of the hall and broke right. Sure enough at the end of that hall was a metal door with the words 'ENGINE ROOM' written in all capital letters. Coming closer to the door, Mao Mao saw that the door had a rather large padlock keeping it from being opened.

With a simple swing of his blade, the padlock was cut off the door with ease. With a deep breath, Mao Mao stepped into the engine room and looked around the room. There was very little light and much noise from the ship's engine. There was no sign of the Ruby Pure Heart piece anywhere but there was a rather large metal box with a faint glow of light seeping through the cracks.

Mao Mao stepped forward and saw that this black box had a padlock of it's own keeping it locked. With a sigh and with another swing of his katana the smaller padlock was cut in half and it fell uselessly to the ground. Giving a heave of effort, Mao Mao lifted the top half of the box open to reveal the missing piece of the Ruby Pure Heart.

Quickly grabbing it, Mao Mao bolted back to the cabin where Badgerclops and Orangusnake were stil fighting. Hosstrich, Ratarang and Ramaraffe did nothing to stop the returning feline as he retreated into their boss' cabin.

"Badgerclops! I got the piece!" Mao Mao yelled, keeping it tucked close under his arm.

"That's great!" the badger said, looking back at the feline. In his distraction, Orangusnake took advantage of Badgerclop's distraction and swung his axe down upon him. The brown and white badger barley managed to dodge the swing at the last moment for the most part. He gasped and groaned in pain as his mechanical arm was slashed.

"Badgerclops!" Mao Mao yelled, rushing to his friend's side.

Orangusnake chuckled darkly, raising his axe high above his head. Before he could swing it down and finish the former Sky Pirate off, Mao Mao raised his own katana, blocking the chop. Grunting with effort, the feline pushed against the heavier weapon. Mustering a burst of strength, Mao Mao managed to push the villain back.

"I gave you everything you have," Orangusnake growled lowly. "And I can take it all away!"

Mao Mao closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hearing the leader of the Sky Pirates charging towards them. He dropped the Ruby Pure Heart piece and darted forwards. Just as he did before, Mao Mao blocked a swing from the axe. He lowered his body and swung and fast and hard as he could in a wide sideways arc.

His katana slashed into the armor of the villain. A cry of fear came from Orangusnake as he fell to the ground. As he did, the slash in his armor spread further until it split, separating him into his cobra and orangutan components.

After catching his breath, Mao Mao turned around and ran to the badger's side. "Badgerclops! Badgerclops!"

The badger rose to his feet and grabbed Mao Mao by the arm. "Come on we gotta go." The feline nodded and after grabbing the Pure Heart Piece, the two of them made a run for it. Badgerclops lead the way through the halls and out of the ship, leading them into the forest.