Rat speech, human speech

Here we go, chapter 1! Hope you guys enjoy!

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   A loud ship horn sounded in the air, two small castaways on a small piece of board they were using as a raft on the vast open ocean, watching as the ship passed by. Monstrous humans reached out, making grabby motions as they drifted out farther from them.

A boy in a blue jacket and jeans glared to the other next to him, blue eyes eyes narrowed under dark brown hair. A silver shackle on his right ankle gave a small shine in the morning sunlight.

"You just had to run across the table, didn't you?" He growled. The girl next to him looked at him, big, warm, milk chocolate colored eyes barely visible near the end of her raven black hair. Her raincoat was slightly bloodstained, a few holes from teeth marks, white shorts coming to her knees.

"Squeak?"

"Whatever. There goes our chance of getting to the city ports, now we're gonna have to take the long way around..." the boy groaned, resting his chin in his hand, glaring at the seawater below him.

The girl looked confused, before smiling, butting her head against his, giving a small nuzzle.

"Frien!"

"Squeaks, stop, you're giving me fleas!"

  Six gave a small chuckle as she saw the other, who she just called Blueberry, begin to scratch where she pressed her head against his.

Blueberry was always so loud and snappy, but she knew he had a good heart... somewhere. He was smart -- yes, pretty impulsive on The Maw, and may or may not have tried to leave her and one time attempted murder; but everyone has a friend like that sometime in their life.

"Hey, Blueberry, where are we going now? The big ship is going away," she said. Blueberry let out a groan, falling onto his back, placing an arm over his eyes, soft curses under his breath.

"Please don't let this be a long trip..."

~~~

  It took three hours of Seven paddling and Squeaks doing nothing but nearly tipping the plank over for them to get to the sandy shore of a small beach.

Seven's legs burned and he felt like splinters had set up shop in his fingers and palms. As they came to the water's edge, the boy in blue let out a loud cry of tiredness. "UGGGHHH, finally!" he shouted.

Squeaks jumped off, splashing water as she let out happy cheers, starting to play in the clear water under her. Seven got to his feet, nearly falling over as his legs momentarily locked up as soreness ran through them.

He casted a glance to Squeaks, the feral child that was raised by rats playing and rolling over in the water, squeaking loudly as she splashed around. Occasionally, she'd shaking off and getting more water on him then there already was.

"Damn it, Squeaks, stop making so much noise before you wake up the whole..." he looked up, groaning loudly as he saw the multitude of trees, "... forest. Great."

Massive trees, boulders that boarded the sand and the ledge where the dirt jotted out. An eerie silence surrounded them, a light fog shifting far back in it.

This was not his ideal drop off spot, he had hoped it was somewhere else, somewhere that didn't hold bad memories or immediate dangers like the thousands of peering eyes he knew it held, possibly looking at them right now.

He waded through the water, sand sticking to his feet and the bottom of his pants legs. An eerie silence filled the beach around them as well he realized, fog hanging low in the darkness inside its neighboring terrain.

He narrowed his eyes, patting the side of his leg. "Squeaks, c'mon, we can't stay in this place long," Seven said, looking over his shoulder.

Squeaks came to his side, water dripping off her as she walked on all fours, shaking droplet of saltwater off of her once she came to him. She looked up, smiling at her partner.

Seven didn't give a smile back, instead looked back to the forest. 'Just set it off fire, get it over with,' he told himself. But no matter how much he wanted to take his lighter and start the wildfire he dreamed of creating for months, he couldn't. Not yet, anyways.

He took a deep breath, starting to make his way to the end of the forest, hearing Squeaks following behind him. He looked down, heart suddenly racing as he looked at the blades of grass.

They couldn't stay still for long once they stepped in...

Enemies triple their size waited, the woods itself could kill them, and if they still lived here (which they undoubtedly did) then--

Squeaks ran forward, diving into the bushes with excitement, not something Seven could find himself criticize her for, really. She seemed to never seen the outside world, so all of this was new to her, so blissfully ignorant of the dangers she took by charging in. The boy gave a sigh, taking a step in, beginning to follow after the animalistic minded child.

By the stars, don't let anyone find them.

Six charge forward, enjoying the air and wind she felt as she ran. Her bangs were lightly pushed to the side, as she slid down a small dip in the earth. Her cousin, Velvet, would love to be here.

Velvet was a small tan colored rat, black eyes as dark as shiny black glass. They would normally always wrestle, and she was sure the female rat would love to run in the wide open space.

Her smile slightly fell as she thought of the other. She grew up on The Maw, a large ship out in the middle of sea, raised by a large colony of rats. Now, here she was, running in the outside world, pretending nothing happened at what she once called home.

Pretending her adopted mother never died, her brother never attacked her, never giving a proper goodbye to the rest of her family.

The strange rat frowned, looking down at her paws. She nervously splayed her hand, uncurling them. They looked just like Blueberry's, just like a regular... human's? That's what they were called, right?

Blueberry came over from the hill, sliding down, making his way passed her, seeming to always know she'd follow behind him.

They walked for a while in the dew riddled grass, occasionally stopping to rest their paws; but would soon find themselves back to marching where they were going to. Where were they even going?

"Blue?"

"Squea?"

Seven didn't pay the feral any mind, hands stuffed in his pockets, eyes scanning the tree above them. Trees limbs waved in the distance, almost beckoning for them to come closer. He shook his head, looking back forward.

Focus, just, focus.

They neared a small river after what felt like an hour of cautiously marching forward blindly. The river was small and shallow enough for them to just wade across with no problem, thank goodness. Seven took the first step, the cool water making his shiver slightly. He came to the other side with ease, looking over as he noticed the absent of loud splashing behind him.

Squeaks had her nose to the ground, sniffing. She rose her head, looking toward upsteam, running off before the boy could even call her.

Seven let out a small annoyed sigh. "Squeaks, where are you going, get back here!" He shouted, running along his side of the river.

Squeaks put her nose back to the earth after a few minutes of running, Seven's already sore legs burning even more. She began circling, as though looking for something.

"What the hell are you even looking for?" Seven gasped, panting as he put his hands to his knees, hating how out of shape he was. If something came barreling out of the woods now, he might as well throw himself on the grill and ask if they wanted fries to go with their smoked child.

Squeaks dove in the tall grass behind her, before letting out a loud growl and squeak of surprise.

Six wasn't sure what she would find once she jumped into the grass, but was meet with something that made her jump back.

A first she thought it was a rat, before seeing the a thin, small, hairless body that resembled her and Blueberry's. He had brown fur on his head, a white cloth placed around his head, a feather sticking upwards. A cloth of some kind was wrapped around his lower area. His back was arched, growling as they both seemed to surprise one another.

He was small, a lot smaller than her. His skin still looked somewhat soft like a pup's, tiny claws digging into the soil under them. Then it finally hit her, he was a pup!

Six at first thought he'd speak whatever language Blueberry spoke, but was fascinated one she heard him speak. It was still a bit foreign, but they seemed to share some words.

"Grrrrrm bark, bark! Who you?" He growled.

Six blinked her eyes. "Do you know squeak?"

The young pup relaxed a bit, though still seemed a bit weary as he lowered his back slightly from its arch. "Kinda... squeak tricky."

"Good enough for me," Six muttered, "my name is Six, you are?"

"Bandage," he replied, "why you in territory? Not safe for other special wolves."

"Didn't know, just passing by," she explained. Wolves? What were they?

Bandage gave a small groan, before lowering down into a sitting position, or as normal as he could.

"Family hunts here, not safe for passers-by," Bandage said quickly. Six gave a nod, looking over her shoulder as she heard Blueberry wading through the river.

"Sunflower! Come on, let's go."

Bandage looked on with an alert expression. "Hunter!"

Six shook her head. "No, he's a friend," she said, before turning, walking through the tall grass, leaving the other. "Sorry for jumping you like that!"

"Stay out future time!"

"Wow his squeaking is bad," Six mumbled quietly. She came to the other side, bumping against Blueberry as she crept out of the grass.

Blueberry gave a small jump, before following with a loud sigh, saying something else in his language. He turned back around, this time grabbing her hood and leading her across before letting go.

"There, don't know what the hell you found, but you smell like worse than what we did before..." he grumbled. He lead the way again, this time Six following behind him. Her mind thinking back at Bandage.

Was he another human? Well, obviously, he looked like one; but he didn't seem to walk on his hind paws and shared the same arch of surprise as she did. Did an animal raise him too? What animal raised him though? A... wolf? Yet he squeaked, but still didn't smell like rat or anything she was familiar with.

Blueberry came to a stop, putting a hand down as stopping her before she walked into whatever he saw.

"What's the matter?"
   
      

"Squea squeak?"

Seven stayed still, all focus suddenly put into listening, as though it were second nature. Soft sounds could be heard, but he couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from.

Squeaks seemed to hear it too, as she perked up, looking around.

A lot rumble filled the air, for a moment, Seven was too focused on the noise to notice the bright yellow, glowing eyes to the side of him. Suddenly, the rumbling got louder, to the point it was a roar, the loud sound of branches snapping and breaking filling the forested area.

Suddenly, Seven finally saw the eyes, beams of light shining through the dense fog. Before barely grabbed and pulled Squeaks out of the way as the beast roared in an angry scream.

Through the bushes and trees, Seven watched as a old, beat up, white pick up truck zoomed by. There looked to be kids inside, cries of laughter and excitement coming from them as they seemingly hijacked the vehicle.

"Brakes!"

Suddenly, it came to a quick and rather abrupt stop, almost sending the truck flipping as it did so. From the doors, two kids stumbled out. Seven coughed as the dust tried to settle, his eyes watering as he fanned his face.

"Halt! You're in Rebellion territory, state your name, age, and business!"

Seven looked back, seeing a young boy with a dark green tattered hoodie and dirty pants, another boy next to him wearing a lot of warm clothing, despite the humid air. An aviator hat sat on his head with crackled glasses sitting lopsided on it as well.

Squeaks growled, jumping forward in an attempt to scare them, earning a small scream of panic from the pair.

"Squeaks!"

Squeaks turned at her name. Seven snapped his fingers, point down. "Sit," he ordered. Squeaks gave a small annoyed look, shaking her head at him before looking back at the pair.

Seven gave a groan as the girl ignored his command, but didn't dwell too much on it. He looked to the younger boys, a glare as he practically hissed in hatred at them.

"Seven, age fifteen. We're just passing by, don't worry about us," he told them.

The boy in the heavy clothes shook his head. "Sorry, but you'll have to come with us. The Commander has been a lot more strict with wanderers."

Seven narrowed his eyes. He could take these couple of kids on, they barely came shoulder high to him. "What you gonna do, run us over with your truck or something? Ha! I'd like to see you try," He growled.

The boy in the green hood gave a small chuckle. "Oh, we don't have to do that, after all, we have a Three!"

"Three?"

Seven and Squeaks suddenly let out a small scream of surprise as they were plucked from their places, lifted into the air as large and powerful arms picked them up.

Seven couldn't even see what was holding them underneath the orange tarp they wore. He looked to the two smaller boys, glaring at them as he rose his hand, flipping them off.

The boy in green stuck his tongue out, copying his actions, before turning, leading the group through the tall grass. "We can come back for the truck later," the scarfed other mumbled.

They walked for a few minutes, Squeaks squirming and hissing as her raincoat collar dug into her neck as she was picked up by her hood. At least her collar gave a little give, unlike his jacket and zipper.

They all came to a small clearing, Seven spotting a rabbit burrow underneath a tree. He wanted to fight back, but given the lack of most of his oxygen, he could only weakly watch as they were carried in.

The tunnels were dark and tight, occasionally a small touch would light the way as they made their way to what seemed to be the heart of the long and twisting rabbit warren.

Seven stopped his soft cursing and grumbling to them and froze as he spotted a girl in a yellow coat. Her white shorts dirty from all her time in the tunnels. Her hair was dark brown, lighter than his, braided and resting on her shoulder, a small red ribbon holding it.

She had as small book in her hand, white dots on the leather in the formation of stars placed on its cover.

The boy in the dark green hood ran forward. "Oracle Rain! We found these two wanderers near the river," he reported.

The girl, Rain, looked up, eerie green eyes peeking from under her bangs. She went to speak, before looking at him with as look of horror and shock.

"Seven?"

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Finish - Jan. 29th, 2021

Nothing much to say except that I'm pretty excited about this chapter and what this story has in store.

Btw, I don't know what people are starting to call the boy from the second episode/comic of the LN 2 comics, so I'm just gonna call him Bandage cuz De thought it was cute.

* Edited Mar. 10th, 2021 *

The original way I wanted to introduce Five and Scarf was them come vrooming through the tree in the Hunter's pick up, so now you have this-

Hope you all enjoyed!

Take care!

* Edited May 18th, 2021 *

Time to make Bandage an enjoyable character woooo