Two months have passed since Sunny moved to the city with his mother. Things have been going well. He started attending school again, going to therapy, and generally seeming happier. Or so it seems. Ever since Stranger helped him learn the truth and...
Basil rushed to find his friends, but also wanted to make sure the other townsfolk were okay. He then saw a group of people at the end of the road, dashing in that direction. He looked around and saw Hero talking to Aubrey. He had been crying, and she comforted him.
"Guys, I have a plan." Basil popped in.
"For what? All of us to be eaten? Just give up." Aubrey sighed, still patting Hero's back.
"We can't give up. I know how we can help Sunny. Just follow my lead."
Hero wiped his eyes and Aubrey groaned, grabbing her bat. They followed Basil back to the main square and Aubrey held her bat in the air.
"Where the fuck did this one come from??!!"
"Uh.." Hero scratched his head.
"Oh hi Aubrey." Kel said, yawning. He still rest upon the black beast, who was still angrily trying to escape. It had been doing that for the past 5 minutes without stopping.
"Uh. WHAT."
"Look I don't have time to explain that right now, just come over here." Basil ran to the beast, looking at it in the eyes. It glared at the three of them.
"What are you guys gonna do now? Eat me instead?"
"Ew, what? You look like you'd taste like mold." Aubrey squinted.
"....Thanks."
Basil sighed. "I know Sunny is in there somewhere. Because if you got full control, you would have already killed us all."
"Are you saying I'm weak!!??"
"No. I mean, you are very powerful on your own, but since you're still technically inhabiting Sunny's body, you're weaker. One of the reasons Kel can hold you like this so easily is because he's stronger than the both of us. He absorbed part of my beast's essence and was able to live. Even if there's a fraction of a beast inside of him, his body absorbed it, instead of the beast taking control of his body. The beast is weaker if it doesn't have full control."
"How do you know all this stuff?" Aubrey rose a brow.
"Well um.. Clover told me."
"Clover?" Hero was puzzled.
"Um, that's what my beast is named... Clover. That's what it wanted me to call it after we made peace."
"If you're gonna try to make me be all nice to the kid, you're wrong. Probably in the next few minutes he'll be gone. So work fast or else your little friend will cease to exist. Along with you."
Basil sighed. He looked at Kel. Kel snickered and bonked the beast's head with one of his paws.
"Ow!! What the hell!!?"
"Can you just listen to me? When Clover and I reconciled, it realized that it didn't need to feed on humans or other beasts to survive. It realized that wasn't it's full purpose. While it cannot completely leave my body, hence why it still resides in me, we managed to split. Clover grew into a beautiful Sunflower. I talk to it all the time. It actually brought me here in the first place.. It knew something was wrong. You can be like that. You can find a new purpose.. You can-"
"Just shut up, cut the cheesy crap and let me go." The beast growled, trying to move. Kel bonked it's head again and it wheezed in pain.
Hero sighed, looking down. "I don't know if we can get Sunny back. I feel like its too late.."
"Hero! Don't think that way, I'm sure he's still in there.. Somewhere.." Basil sighed.
Aubrey wiped a tear from her eye, biting her lip as she tried to hold back more of her tears.
"If Mari was here.... she'd probably hug that thing.. heh."
Hero chuckled sadly, nodding. "She'd think it's a giant cat and pet it like she did with Mewo."
"Then she'd get a giant laser pointer and play with it." Aubrey laughed harder.
Basil then had an idea. He slowly inched toward the beast, and it growled at him, baring its teeth at him. But Basil gently put a hand on the top of it's short snout. It looked confused. Basil started petting it.
"Basil what the fuck are you doing?!" Aubrey screeched.
"Trust me." Basil moved to the left and started scratching the beast's cheek. It began to purr, moving its head slightly toward him. Hero and Aubrey simply looked at this in astonishment. Kel was too busy looking at his paws to notice.
The beast's body became less tense and it closed its eyes, a small smile forming on it's lips. But it wasn't a smile of hunger, or evil. It was a smile of comfort. Basil motioned Kel to get off of the beast, which he noticed and slowly crawled off, watching quietly. Basil pet by its ear, slowly removing the vines from it's body. It was purring so loudly. It was calm.. almost immediately. Basil then stopped, reaching his hand away. The beast opened its eyes. Instead of going back to it's hostile demeanor, it still relaxed.
"That... felt nice.."
"Do you feel better now that you've calmed down?"
The beast nodded gently, letting out a soft sigh. It began to think about the damage it had done. Just because it was hungry.. It kind of wished it could live the life of a house cat, hearing Hero and Aubrey talk about it. It looked at Basil.
"Sunny.. is still in here. I have a feeling he'll be returning soon.. but.. thank you. Do you think there's a way we can do what you and Clover did? He's not happy with me around, and I feel so trapped..."
"Once we can talk to Sunny, we'll see. It's also, y'know, midnight.. We all need rest."
The beast nodded once more, sitting up. It looked up at the stars above, never actually seeing them before. Kel then spoke, breaking the silence.
"So how do I like, not be a dog anymore?" He laughed nervously as he looked at Basil.
"Um.. just do what you did when you first transformed. But since you haven't mastered it you'll need something to cover yourself with. So just wait a bit."
"Ew am I gonna be naked?"
"Your clothes ripped, so obviously."
"Then how come you're fine?"
"Like I said, it takes time to master transforming. The clothing stays on me once I'm human again because it's easier to focus, as well as my beast aiding me."
"How does that work."
Basil shrugged. He then heard Hero and Aubrey run, looking back in their direction. The beast was becoming smaller. Sunny was okay. He was still here. Aubrey took off her jacket and covered part of Sunny with it, and Hero held him close as he slowly shrunk into his arms. He shivered, blinking and looking around. He had done it. The beast lost control of him. For now.
"Uh, hi.."
Aubrey, Hero and Basil hugged Sunny as they sobbed. Kel awkwardly tried to join the hug, wrapping his tail around them. Sunny looked around after the hug separated. So much damage had been done to the town center... Two buildings had caved in, and Kel and Hero's house was mostly destroyed. The road was cracked and broken in several places, and two lamp posts had crashed to the floor. There was also a bit of blood on the road from the fight.
"What.. happened?" Sunny said tiredly. He then looked behind him and screamed, jumping at the sight of Kel.
"Wh-What is another monster doing here??!!" Sunny panicked, putting his fists up. Hero put a hand on both of his fists and lowered them. Aubrey snorted.
"That's Kel." Aubrey said simply, crossing her arms. Sunny looked at her, confused. He looked around, and Kel was nowhere in sight. Only the dog stood by them.
"Hi Sunny!" Kel waved a paw at him. Sunny felt sick to his stomach. What the hell did he miss?
"How..." He yawned softly, his eyes heavy.
"We need to get somewhere safe.." Basil said as he stood up, looking around. The townspeople began to walk from where they hid, frightened by the sight of Kel.
"Everybody, it's okay. He's friendly. Just return to your homes and sleep... the threat is gone. I'm sorry for the damage... I will definitely help clean it up later." Basil chuckled nervously. Polly came to the front of the crowd and ran to him, hugging him.
"Are you okay? Are your friends okay?" Polly pulled away, her face pale as she spoke with a nervous tone.
"We're okay. I'm okay... But.." Basil looked at Kel and Hero's house. "Kel and Hero's family... don't have anywhere to go right now."
Polly frowned, beginning to think. "I know that our house is small, but how about your friends and their family stay for a couple of days until things are situated?"
Hero looked at Polly, still holding a very exhausted Sunny in his arms. He stood up, still covering Sunny's nether region with Aubrey's jacket. She honestly didn't care that it was there. She was just relieved to see that Sunny was okay..
Hero and Kel's parents, ran to Hero, his mother cradling Sally, who had fallen asleep. "We heard what Polly said... But.." Their mother looked at Polly with a worried expression.
"There's a lot of us. Are you sure that's okay?"
Polly smiled softly. "Of course. I have a spare bedroom, and the kids can go in Basil's room. We've done this before." She looked at Aubrey and winked. Aubrey flushed slightly. She remembered the time where her father tried to beat her, and she ran away to Basil's house. They let her stay for a few weeks until they found out her father abandoned them. It.. was bittersweet.
"Hero, where is Kel?" His father asked. He had heavy bags under his eyes.
Hero looked up at the dog that sat behind him, nodding. He couldn't point, as he was still holding Sunny.
"Hero I'm not fooling around where is he?"
"Dad he's literally the dog."
"Why would he be the dog? That's ridiculous! And where did those other monsters go?"
"Dad." Kel spoke, looking at his parents. "He's not lying. It is me. I... Guess I'm just a dog now?"
"A-Are you stuck as a giant dog forever!?" His mother panicked.
"No. I just, cant exactly return to normal right now.... because um. I'll end up like Sunny."
His parents looked at Sunny, realizing that he had no clothes. It clicked in their heads. Sunny must have been one of the beasts. Perhaps it was the large cat one... The one that was in their house in the first place. Kel's father sighed, rubbing his temples.
"Look, I dont have time for this. Polly, thank you for letting us stay, but we also have to bring Sunny back to his mother. It's not safe for him to visit anymore.."
"No!" Sunny sat up. He still looked tired.
"I-I want to stay. I want to help fix this mess. I want to be with you guys.."
"But Sunny, its not safe.." Hero looked at him with a concerned frown.
"It will be more safe if I clean up the damage that the beast- that we caused." Sunny held a hand up to his chest.
"For tonight. But we will be calling your mother tomorrow morning.." Polly said. "We can try to convince her what happened today um, really happened." She chuckled nervously.
"Can... I come stay the night too?" Aubrey spoke up. Polly smiled warmly.
"Of course, Aubrey. You know that you're always welcome in our home."
Aubrey smiled back, brushing a bit of hair out of her face. All of them decided to head to Polly's first, let Sunny rest, and gather whatever they could from the rubble at Kel and Hero's house. Kel could thankfully help by simply grabbing the pieces and allowing people to get what they needed. So that's what they did. Sunny and Aubrey set up their air mattresses in Basil's room, while Kel and Hero's parents did the same in the spare bedroom. Hero and Kel returned to their house, getting to work. They grabbed clothes, belongings, and anything else of importance. As soon as Kel could get his clothing he shrunk back down and quickly put the clothing on. But it was smaller on him- Hero snorted.
"Uh. Looks like you had a growth spurt." He joked. Kel sighed. Sunny told him things like this would happen. So he settled with the tight clothing.
"At least I'm the bigger brother."
"You already were as a dog, so dont say anything."
"Was I a cute dog?"
"If a giant dog with purple eyes and shark teeth is cute to you, I guess."
The boys continued to talk as they went to Polly's house. They then heard the sound of an animal, howling in pain. Hero looked around, and found the source of the noise. A ginger cat laid in the middle of the road, crying. Its legs had been crushed by a car that passed over it. The cat hissed as Hero got closer. Hero quickly, but gently, lifted up the cat, avoiding the cat's back legs to not hurt it any more. Kel looked at the cat sadly. The cat continued to howl, hissing at them, but it didn't have the energy to fight back. Thankfully Polly was a veterinarian..
Once they got to Polly's house, they saw Polly sitting on the couch. She then gasped as soon as she saw the cat, rushing over.
"Oh my gosh, this poor baby... Where did you find them?"
"In the middle of the road.. it's legs are broken.." Hero sighed softly.
The cat's howling had gotten quieter. That wasn't a good sign. Polly rushed to the kitchen where she pulled out a medicine kit from a top cabinet.
"Boys... I'll try to help this cat, but I'm not sure if it will last the night. Thank you for bringing it to me.. I'll see what I can do. You two have mattresses in Basil's room already set up. Just be quiet.. I think everyone there is asleep. Good night.."
Hero and Kel walked down the hallway to Basil's room, slowly opening the door. Everyone had really fallen asleep, Aubrey snoring the loudest of them. It was funny. She drooled as she slept. Kel yawned and went to lay on his bed, but as soon as he did, it popped and he hit the floor.
"Ow-"
"Uhm. Maybe I can ask her to get a regular mattress for you.... just for tonight."
"Yeah.. thanks bro." Kel chuckled nervously.
It had been a long night. And tomorrow would be another long day. Kel was still trying to process everything. He went from helping his friends with their problems, to having his own problem. Why didn't Basil just let him die? Kel wasn't mad at him.... but he wasn't too fond of being a monster either. He at least had Basil and Sunny to rely on for help.. Hero came back with a mattress, putting it on top of the broken air mattress. He was too tired to deal with that mess. Kel then laid on the mattress. He was huge compared to it, but he curled up and almost instantly fell asleep. Hero smiled softly, turning on his back, watching the ceiling fan spin. His smile faded as he thought about what had happened today. He was afraid. For his friends. For his family...
But... tomorrow was another day...
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Yes I really did just make Kel a monster too. I wanted there to be another death, but I couldn't think of a way to make it work without being super sad. I kinda just wrote about Kel dying and the idea of him being brought back to life just popped in my mind at the last minute. I guess it made sense? I know this story is all over the place, but I am truly having so much fun writing it.
If you've made it this far without dropping, wow. I'm surprised. This must be a cringefest. But whatever. I swear the next thing I have planned wont be so fucked up and angsty. And it wont have monsters thats for sure.
