Badgerclops woke up to the sounds of fighting.

At first, he wondered just what the heck was going on. Why was there fighting? There was no way that he would sleep through a monster alarm, though-

That was when memories of yesterday came back in bits and pieces, and he shot up. This was bad! Oh God he hadn't told Mao!

Without hesitating, he kicked the sheets off his body and sprinted outside just as a stray blast hit the door he had just exited, making him swallow nervously. This was not good at all. 

"Mao! Calm down!" he yelled out to his best friend, who was brandishing Geraldine as he swung it wildly at the guy he had saved yesterday.

"Badgerclops, thank you for finally showing up!" Mao Mao seemed to blatantly ignore his yells and instead demanded, "Come here and help me fight this savage monster!" 

"They're not a monster!!!!" Badgerclops argued as he rushed in between them. 

"Grrrrrrr!!" The wolf snarled back at Mao Mao, clearly aggravated by the other's brute arrogance. Something seemed to rub it the wrong way. But what? 

"Just, calm down, Mao!" he yelled. "It's all a misunderstanding!" 

Mao Mao scowled while the wolf's eyes had widened as a... blush began growing on its face. Only Adorabat noticed it look away, a flustered look in its eyes. 

"Badgerclops, this is ridiculous!" 

"You can't just attack someone like that!" 

"It's a monster!" 

Here, there was a visible flinch, and Badgerclops noticed, turning back to Mao Mao angrily, "What the heck was that for!?"

"Tch... " Mao Mao glared at him but soon put Geraldine away. "Fine. You're in charge of it."

"Thanks, Mao," Badgerclops then turned to the wolf, and slowly walked over. 

It flinched, backing off step by step, but soon it felt a gentle paw on its shoulder as Badgerclops smiled at it, "Sorry about Mao. He's a bit of a pain sometimes." 

It blinked slightly, ".... Pain?..." 

"He can be annoying," he quickly clarified once he saw the conflicted look on its face. "But don't worry. He'll warm up to you soon, for sure. He got used to me, after all." 

"HEY!" Mao Mao scowled, while Adorabat giggled slightly. 

The badger smiled upon noticing the snort that escaped its lips. This one seemed like a curious person, who wanted to know more about the world, not scared to ask questions... just like him. 

Here, he blushed slightly. A fellow intellectual, perhaps, before whatever happened to it. He loved people like that, so he couldn't help but be angry about the pain it must have gone through because of someone's selfish desires. Whoever it was, when they came after it, he was going to beat their butt! 

... Of course, assuming the person would come after it, but judging by all the advanced stuff it had, he doubted sincerely that the person would let their... experiment...go this easily.

He was still going to fight for it though-

"C-Cy...ber..." 

Huh?

He turned to the wolf. What did it say? 

"N-Name... Cyber..." it finally said. "G-Guy..." 

Oh! That was awesome! He remembered his name!

"Cyber's a cool name dude!" he grinned. "Nice to meet ya too! I'm Badgerclops, that's Mao Mao and the bat is Adorabat!"

"H-Hi..." he shyly smiled. "N-Nice to... meet... u." 

Badgerclops felt his heart skip a beat at that cute scene. It was so endearing. He couldn't, it was so adorable. 

And he was to see more of these wonderful moments as the days passed by. His temper was definitely not to be laughed at, sure, yet he patiently ignored Mao Mao's demands of kicking Cyber out and helped him the best he could. 

"This is going to end like all those monsters you took in!" he said one time. "You should stop right away!" 

"Cyber is NOT a pet!" he fumed at his best friend, angry at how he was so adamant about staying the way he was. "He is his own person and you NEED to get over that! He's a precious friend now, and if you can't see him beyond your first impression you're the fool!" 

Mao Mao seemed to get the point after that fight because he was a bit more pleasant and understanding, even helping him patrol and investigate the cave many times over. They found many records of the experiments, detailed explanations of what had happened, and their results. Each one made him angrier and angrier, especially with all the talk about "destroying light" and all that. It made no sense whatsoever, and it was downright wrong! Honestly, he was really ticked with this person, and he was prepared to smack that person and send them packing for what they did. 

He just didn't expect it to be so soon as the two were having a small picnic outside of town. They had been chatting, helping Cyber get better with his speaking, when out of nowhere, a yell of "CY133R!" made Cyber freeze. 

Badgerclops's head spun around to see a hooded figure storming over. He couldn't see their eyes, but the tone showed that they were not happy. 

Not. 

At. 

All.

Darkness was thoroughly infuriated and she was not about to let her hard work be undone by this interfering badger!

venusaura Alright, finally done! What do you think?