Meant To Be

Chapter Three

Hunter was relieved to find out that the slugcat was alive, but that begged the question of what to do next. Upon closer inspection, Hunter saw that she was shivering from the cold. It made sense because her pelt was soaking wet from the rain. She took off her coat and gave it to the slugcat to use as a blanket and held her to share body heat. While Hunter held her, she noticed that her side was now rising and falling as she breathed and was no longer completely still. Now knowing she was doing the right thing, Hunter continued to hold her until her breathing was back to normal. Shortly after, she began to give in to her growing tiredness and fell asleep despite the fact that she wanted to stay awake to be there for when the slugcat awoke.

A crying sound woke Hunter from her slumber. She opened one eye and saw the crimson slugcat huddled in one of the corners, shaking as she cried. Hunter could tell she was in a lot of pain and was dealing with a lot of sadness. She was clearly heartbroken. Hunter got up and went to sit beside the slugcat in hopes of comforting her, but she didn't even notice. They sat there together for some time before Hunter spoke. "Are you alright?" she asked worriedly, though she already knew the answer, as the slugcat looked up from the ground, only now noticing Hunter's presence. She seemed to consider what to say for a moment before replying. "No... I'm not..." She continued to cry and Hunter noticed that her tears were unusual colours; leaf green and teal. "Do you... want to talk about it? Or should I just try and go back to sleep?" She looked surprised when Hunter said that and smiled slightly. "Really? No one has been willing to listen since... well..." she cut off with a distant look in her eyes, as if she was remembering something. "That's not important. Well, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to say, but I'll tell you what I can handle right now." Hunter nodded in understanding, not wanting the slugcat to feel any pressure. "Of course. Tell me however much you're comfortable with." "Thank you..."

"I used to have pups but now they're gone. I didn't have a mate and I had to raise them alone. One cycle we were walking by a scavenger toll and one of them jumped out of my arms and took a pearl. The scavengers killed them seconds later and I tried to escape with my remaining pup, only to leap the gap to safety and be hit by a spear midair which separated us. I cleared the jump, but my pup fell into a pond of leeches. I dove in to try and save him, but..." She stopped there and cried even harder as Hunter tried to think of what to say. "I'm so sorry to hear that. Do you want to tell me about them?" She nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Yeah, I'd like that. They were twins named Eroder and Diffuser. Honestly, having them was the first time I really felt happy... I wish they were still alive..." She trailed off for a moment before continuing. "Eroder, or Ery for short, was the slightly older one. He had leaf green fur that made spiky little points at the tips of his ears. While neither of them lived long enough for their skills to fully awaken, Ery had chemical saliva that could melt small amounts of metal or just about anything for that matter. It was a bit of an issue for a while, actually!" She chuckled, closing her eyes and presumably remembering the mischief her pup had gotten into. "Diffuser was the slightly younger one. I called them Diffy for short. They had the fluffiest teal fur that made their ears and tail look round with how poofy it was. Diffy could lick bombs to deactivate their explosiveness. That was also a bit tricky to work with since I'd just find piles of my bombs turned back into normal rocks and have spent hours licking rocks for nothing!" Hunter was tempted to ask about the whole licking rocks to turn them into bombs thing, but she didn't. That could be a question for another time. For now, she was completely focused on what the grieving mother slugcat was saying. Hunter listened to her tell stories of funny and adorable things her pups had done until she eventually became so tired she fell asleep, her words slowly becoming quieter until they cut out all together. Soon after, Hunter also fell asleep to the sound of rain pattering against the roof of the shelter.

It has truly begun. From this point the good stuff really starts. Also, the names Eroder and Diffuser are made up by Pansear Doodles on tumblr. I'm just not good at coming up with title names for slugcats. Though, I did make one fan pup for them who will become part of this later on, but that's not important right now. The cover art is not by me.