Note for future chapters, this is rat speech and this is normal human speech.

I thought this would a lot easier incase I decided to suddenly change perspectives.

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Silence.

That's all the small rat could hear. Her tan pelt laid flat against her body, small pink ears pushed forward, shiny black eyes staring into the dark shadows around her.

Silence can be your friend, or your enemy.

From the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She looked over, small claws digging into the metal under her paws.

Silence can give birth to anxiety, and with it, paranoia.

Her tannish fur stood up, taking a small step away, eyes never leaving the shadows in front of her. Quietly, a growl a heard, footsteps following hers, circling around the small rodent.

And paranoia gives way to instincts and the will to survive.

From the shadows behind her, the rat was pounced on by a blur of yellow with a small roar. The rat let out a shriek, being sent rolling with her attacker. The light pressing of pointed teeth on her shoulder and short blunt claws on her sides made the rat squeak loudly with a small bout of laughter.

"Uncle! Uncle!" A satisfied snickering came from the yellow coated attacker, pulling away. The rat got to her paws, shaking out her fur before glancing at the other, who smiled brightly.

"Gotcha, Trinket," she squeaked, grinning as she laid and looked over at the other. The small tan rat, Trinket, give a sigh, rolling her black eyes.

"Yeah, yeah-- but only because I wanted you to!" Trinket said back, before resting on her haunches, licking her small pink paws and running them over the fur on her head and cheeks to clean her now slightly dirty pelt.

Six watched for a few heartbeat, crossing one of her paws over the other, laying on the ground with an amused look from her victory of sneaking on the rat.

She was fourteen now, she had filled out most of her yellow, sleek slip-on fur, and was just another normal rat in the colony.

Well, as normal as she could get, being completely furless (not counting the fur on her head) and her weird rubbery yellow pelt. Sure she had shorter teeth, blunt claws, no tail, no big ears, or anything like that; but, she still counted herself as being in the colony.

The rat with her, Trinket, was her older cousin; large pink rounded ears and beautiful black eyes. Her fur was soft, always plush from her constant grooming. She was Aunt Violet's daughter, the two of them were raised together since they were small pups.

It was hard to believe that just thirteen years ago them and all the other remaining pups were cuddled up around one another, now that Six thought about it. It felt like just the other day she was still in Marigold's nest with her and her adopted brother, Frost, another orphaned pup Marigold took in around the same time as her.

It was hard to believe they were nearly fifteen already, almost adults.

"Hey, Trinket to Six, c'mon, we got to get back to the colony camp and check on mom and Aunt Mari. We can't keep playing games all day anyways," Trinket said to her, dropping down to her paws. Six looked at her, before giving a small sigh.

"Fiiine, but only if you're up for a race," she stated quickly, getting up on all fours, nearly perfectly mimicking her cousin's stance. Her front paws were curled to avoid hurting her soft palms, something she learned quickly when she was learning how to walk. Her paws weren't padded like her cousin's, but she made it work.

The small rat narrowed her eyes in a playful manner, pink tail flicking behind her. "Oh, you're on!"

The two gave a small count down, before running off to go back to their colony. Laughter and loud squeaks filled the air around them as they ran, occasionally jumping over one another to gain the lead from the other.

The Great Ship groaned around them as they ran, scampering through vents and along pipes. Their figures dwarved by the towering structures above and surrounding them. Large crates that were ten times their size that reaked of old food that would even turn a roach's stomach.

Metal bolts the size of their heads covered rusting and grimy steel walls the protected them from the dark, relentless sea outside. Six was in the lead when they jumped down from an enormous pipe onto a much smaller one below them.

Their shadows were casted along empty rooms from small light far above them, Trinket leading their way as she jumped onto her cousin's back and in front of her.

Six gained the lead as they ran along a narrow exposed vent over a large drop. The drop was so deep, the bottom was covered by thick, heavy, toxic smog. Her paws were careful as she placed them on the weak metal.

The colony camp came into view soon after, two guards stationed outside of the empty room the rats settled their giant nest in. Six was a good few whisker lengths away from Trinket, looking like a yellow blur compared to her.

As the entrance was nearing, the guards scrambled to get out of the way of the two speeding rats. Confidence surged through the yellow pelted other, it almost seemed impossible for the other to catch her now!

Six was shoved down for a moment, feeling something spring onto her back and bouncing off, a scaly tail tip hitting her across the nose. "Hey!"

Trinket slowed down as they came to the center of the tall, mostly empty space. She looked over, smiling, flicking her pink ear. "Looks like I win," she squeaked with a small chime.

Six gave a groan, rolling her eyes. Trinket smirked at her, before replacing it with a grin, pointing to the second entrance to the camp, a large chewed out hole that was big enough for just a handful of rats to enter through. "Mom and Aunt Mari are back!" she squeaked, seeing the two rats squeeze in.

Marigold swayed slightly as she walked, holding the nesting material in her small mouth. Violet helped her, noticeable holding the heavier stack. They were always working, even though they didn't have to due to being the daughters of the Captian.

It was unusual for the family of the monarch to work as a commoner, but the two sisters worked just as hard as anyone else. The two pups hurried over to their respective mothers.

"Wait, momma, let me help you," Trinket said, taking a small mouthful of the pieces of scrap paper, Six taking some from Marigold's pile as well.

"Thank you," the black rat said, voice weak and a bit muffled by the paper still in her jaws.

They made their way to the nursery den, the scent of old familiarity swarming Six's mind. It was just like yesterday Marigold would hold her and Frost close as she slept, her pelt keeping her furless body warm. Now she nearly as big as her mother, coming up to her shoulder.

"Thank you, girls. Cauliflower is going to love this," Violet said, nudging her daughter lovingly with her shoulder.

Trinket smiled at her, her tail thumping slightly. "Me and Six are gonna go ahead and make a scavenging patrol towards the tunnel with Patch and Frost. It's our turn anyways so might as well get it over early."

Marigold and Violet gave a small nod, turning to get to work on making new nests for the den and future mothers. "Be careful, stay out of trouble out there," Violet said, sending them off with a quick flick of her ear.

The two younger rats headed out, Trinket leading the way. They made their way through the tight vents and piping around The Maw, squeezing through grates and climbing down boxes. The two cousins talked as they went, falling into a steady pace by one another.

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You like Patch? As in, shy, nervous, scared-of-his-own-shadow Patch?" Six asked, before ramming her head playfully into her shoulder. "Trink, you furbrain! He's like, two ranks lower then you, Aunt Violet isn't going to agree to that."

"Who said she has to know? Maybe I want her to not know that way she can't dictate out of it," Trinket said, looking away.

"Yeah, she's a bit controlling, I'll agree with that... Why do you let her?" Six asked, jumping and gripping onto a crate and hauled herself up. Trinket hopped up with ease, her tail waving behind her like a ribbon.

"It's not really by choice, Six, I can't help it I'm the only doe in my litter. Anyways, back on subject, what about Wilt?"

"Bleh, too droopy earred,"

"Splash or Droplet?"

"Both too big of troublemakers for me. Why are we even talking about this? I thought we'd agreed I'm not interested in mates and all that jazz, just isn't interesting to me. Besides, who'd like me?"

"Siiix!" Trinket suddenly whined, looking over to her cousin with a small hurt look. "You're really pretty! Your fur is fluffy and you're super soft too. Perfect snuggle buddy! Any rat would be happy to have you."

Trinket nudged her shoulder against the the other's, nearly knocking Six off of the crate they were on. The strange rat let out a small squeak of surprise, before sighing soon after she regained her balance.

"Yeah, well, I don't want anyone,"

"Hey, don't get all huffy with me. Come on, we're almost there. Maybe when we get back you could maybe help me get my pelt looking good before I asked Patch."

"Wow, gutsy much?"

The two squeezed into a small metal vent, padding through it as quickly as they could. They dropped down into a large room, chains nearly twice times their size hanging from the tall ceilings above. Wooden crates were to the side of a wall, a pipe opening leading down to the right of them.

A light fog covered the ground, dampening their fur. A steel catwalk above them hid a bit of the light from an overhanging spotlight that brighten the path before them.

Two rats could be seen in the thin fog, one squeaking softly to the other, whose shoulders were hunched and their ears were flat against them. The squeaking stopped as the rats looked over as the others joined them.

Both had neat snow white fur, though, the smaller one had a black patch on his nose, which brought out his sparkling blue eyes.

The other rat was far larger, nearly twice his size, pink paws decorated with long sharp nails. Dark reds eyes stared at them as they drew near. Under such a strange and intense gaze, Six felt her skin crawl just the tiniest bit. She could never really get over how red her brother's eyes were.

"Hey, you guys finally made it. Everything okay? Took you a bit," Patch asked, a sweet note of concern in his soft voice. Trinket smiled, the tip of her tail wagging the tiniest bit.

"Hey, Patch," the small brown rat said, coming over to the smaller white rat. Six caught Frost eyeing her from the corner of her eye, his ears back in a ticked off manner.

Six looked to her adopted brother, giving a small smile to him. "Hey, Frost."

Frost didn't reply to her, instead looking away, ears still pinned back. Six noticed his claws flexing and scrapping a tiny bit into the metal.

'Silent treatment as always then...'

"Looks like we're ready to head out then. I was thinking heading to the trash chute would give us some good finds." Patch stated. Trinket gave a nod.

"That works, I'm sure the monsters have refilled it by now. Come on, let's hurry," she squeaked. making her way to the rat hole on the opposite side of the room.

The group followed, getting ready to start diffrent series of small talk when they stopped. A white cloth suddenly fell from a barred window above, making Trinket let out a squeak of fear.

The small rat turn on her heels, running back. Patch let out a small squeak, telling everyone to hide.

The small group hurried away from the clearing, squeezing themselves between the crates that were against the wall. Trinket dashed between the boxes first, followed by Patch and Six. Frost was far to large to squeeze in, but it didn't matter as he just ran to hide between the next few boxes over.

Making sure they were safe from their view, the rat in yellow poking her head out to watch what was happening. She barely saw it, an outline of another creature in the fog.

They came down the cloth rope, climbing it with ease before dropping down when they got at the end. They ran to the clearing, the found of rather strange light pawsteps echoing as they stepped on the metal. Six tucking her head back to not be seen. As the pawsteps neared, Six growled, she could feel her cousin's fur prickling next to her.

All of a sudden the creature stop moving, Six carefully and slowly peeked her head out, thankful for her short muzzle. Her eyes stared for a second, before widen in shock, her breath hitched.

The creature, a male Six was guessing, stood on his back legs unlike her or her cousin. He had the same furless face and neck as her. He wore a blue slip on pelt, kinda like hers, and the same blue fur on his legs, only a darker shade. Rough, thick brown fur covered his eyes, hiding them.

A strange rat! Another one of her!

Trinket nudged her slightly, making Six turned and look at her.

"What's out there?" She asked in a quiet voice. Six couldn't hold her excitement, she had to meet him! There was no way she was going to miss this opportunity! Without a word, she jumped out from their hiding spot, shaking her head, making her fur a bit more presentable.

The other strange rat let out a small scream, stepping back as bit. Six sat up, a normal greeting pose, hoping he would follow her.

"Hi there! I'm Six, you are?"

"The hell... why are you only saying banana?"

"Banana? Yeah, I guess I kinda look like one. You remind me of a blueberry. I'm gonna call you Blueberry, Blue for short."

The strange girl dropped down on all fours, padding over to him. He seemed scared by her, backing up as she got closer to him. She jumped up, pushing him down onto the floor, smiling brightly. The other stared with wide eyes as he saw the rows of abnormally sharp teeth.

She leaned down to his neck, the boy under her whispering small threats, cursing at her, hoping she wouldn't bite his throat out.

Instead he was surprised, hearing her sniff going down along to his jacket.

"What the holy hell do you think you're doing?" He asked, watching as she reached back up, roughly grabbing his hair and pulled it forward towards her neck, squeaking again.

He only took a small breath to try and calm his nerves, before his eyes widen, tears lining them. The strong, scent of rat made him rear back, covering his nose. He pushed her off, puffing and huffing to clear his assaulted nose as quickly as he could from the horrid stench.

She looked at him strangely, creeping back up to him on all fours.

"Why didn't you sniff? I'm trying to be nice!" Six said, looking up at him.

"Six, get back here, let's just go!" Trinket called from between the crates. She peeked her eye out to look at them, anxiously bouncing from paw to paw.

"Give me a minute. Hi, sorry, I know this is a lot, but are there others? Is there a colony? Why were you walking on you back paws?"

"What are you saying! Can't you speak normal?" He shouted, though Six tilted her head. What did he say? She couldn't make out anything, just gibberish.

"You speak funny. I think you should come back home with us so mom and Aunt Violet can see you. Just imagine their shock when they see there's more of us!" She reached over, taking his blue furred arm into her mouth, pulling on it to get him to move.

"Whoa, hey! No, let go!" He tried to snatched his arm back, but she persisted, dragging him backwards. Why wasn't he making this easier on her? She wasn't going to hurt him!

She continued to pulled backwards, before the ground under them disappear, both of Six and the other strange rat falling down the open pipe from before. Their screams grew fainter and fainter as they fell deeper and deeper down into the submarine.

Trinket let out a gasp, running over, looking down. The pipe went so far down, no light could be seen on the other end. She reached a paw into the hole, ready to drop, before being pulled back by Patch.

"No, don't! It's not safe, you'll get yourself killed by falling in there!" Patch said, holding the distraught light tan rat. Trinket tried to squirm out of the other's paws, her fur ruffling in anxiety.

"We have to get her out!" She yelled. Patch frowned, his ears falling down.

"I know, but jumping down there isn't going to help us, if they're trapped there won't be anything to help them if we fall in too." He muttered. The two were silent for a moment, thinking about anything to get their packmate and the other strange rat out. Trinket's ears flicked up, her black eyes lighting up as she came up with an idea.

"The pipes! Patch, you said that all the pipes are connected somewhere in the upper levels. If we get there, then we can find them," she said, earning skeptical looks from the twins.

"The upper level? Tiny, you've got your head in the smog, how are we going to there anyways?" Frost challenged, his nose scrunching in disapproval at the other's words. He sat down a few tail lengths away, his eyes narrowed at them, which was normal of him to do.

"If we leave now, maybe we can catch her. We'll fit in every pipe and vent if we have to!" Trinket said, beginning to pad to the cloth rope.

"You're joking," muttered the solid white rat.

"Nope, now come on, let's go!" The small rat cheered, grabbing onto the cloth rope, beginning to climb it. Patch didn't say a word, and just followed her, the large white rat reluctantly close behind.

Frost watched them scurry up halfway up the rope, before he began to pull himself up as well. Turns out Milkweed was right, pipes are a good way to get rid of trash.

Now just to keep it that way.

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Finished - Oct. 3rd

- Removed cause De is an idiot -

*Updated on Dec. 19th*

A bit of touch up, character development, and better explanation.

Originally I never really gave a good reason on how Velvet knew of the pipes, so I hope this is a lot better of one.

Also, yes, Dog, you may cheer about you-know-who cause he made a shady appearance.

Anyways, hope you all enjoyed, don't forget to revote and comment, and I'll see you all next chapter.

Take care!

* Edited May 5th, 2021 *

I'm so tired rn, I'm about to pass out again-

I rewrote the entire beginning and fixed a few minor typos I found when skimming through. I think it turned out a bit better than before, but let me know what you think.

Anyways, there we go!

Hope you all enjoyed!

Take care!

* Edited July 6th, 2022 *

Been a while