"Dumb fox!"

A memory flashed through my brain at the worst possible time. A boy who barely came up to my chest was threatening me with a stick. He was calling me childish names and throwing a tantrum whenever his father or older sister told him to stop.

And it hurt. The pokes from that stick. The harshest words a nine-year-old could think to call me. The memories of it all. It hurt, but it was in the past. It wasn't today. It wasn't the witch with the monster arm who was drowning Kat in a river.

So I moved forward, barely acknowledging the grass that had grown up around my feet and calves. They tore away easily as I ran, so I didn't pay them much more thought. I focused instead on the face so full of open shock, and the fist I sent crashing against it.

I didn't hit him hard, but hard enough to knock him off his feet. Hard enough to make him slap his non-monstrous hand against the already swelling cheek. Tears welled up in his eyes as he glared at me and shouted, "Piece of shit!"

Colorful words. Definitely something his younger self never said to me before.

"You gonna let go of Kat?" I asked as I stood over him. His wide eyes switched from glaring at me to looking on in horror as I raised my fist. "Or do I have to hit you harder?"

Gust shut his eyes while letting out another colorful word. "Lilly!" he shouted to the clouds above us. "What are you doing?! Get him!"

Something tickled my feet and I looked down to see that the grass was once again growing upwards, looking to ensnare me. I easily stepped out of their reach and they could only lazily stretch after me, coming no where close when I backed up a step. I nearly hit the back of my head on a branch in the process, only to see that it was the monster arm that grew out from Gust's shoulder and ending somewhere at the bottom of a river.

The boy might be fragile, but this thing certainly didn't look it.

"I warned you, Gust," I said before spinning in place and landing the back of my heel against the wood-like skin of the boy's new arm.

I used a good bit more of my strength. A jolt of pain shot up through my leg at the impact. But I did not expect the severity of the bend in the oak of an arm as it crumbled against the blow, nor the high-pitched shout of pain that escaped Gust's mouth as he moved his hand from his red check to his trembling shoulder.

"Oh," I said as I hobbled backwards. The pain in my foot was pretty bad, but I could keep it on the ground if I didn't put too much weight on it. Gust, on the other hand, was practically writhing. "Oh, shit. Did it really hurt that much?"

"Of course it did!" Gust shouted at me. "That's my arm, stupid fox!"

The 'arm' in question was practically quivering. In fact, it's surface rolled and churned like it was made out of something liquid and not the very hard solid I had nearly broke my foot against. The bend I had made was still there, but it twisted and swirled like a whirlpool. The deep cracks that once made it look like bark now threatened to hypnotize me as I watched them spin around and around.

"Is it broken?" I asked only to immediately shake my head. "I mean, Kat is still drowning, Gust! Are you trying to kill her?!"

"I'm not doing anything!" Gust hissed back. He was breathing heavy and staring at his monster arm. I followed his eyes and saw that it wasn't just rippling like a disturbed lake, it was shrinking. Rapidly. The end of his arm soon came into view and I saw nothing but a twisted, brown hand.

"Then where is she?" I asked, rounding on the boy as he slowly got to his feet. "I saw her go into the river!"

"See for yourself."

Gust didn't give me time to react. As soon as his arm shrank back into something more proportional to his body, he shot it out again. The monstrous thing cleared the small space between us and slugged me right in the gut. It hit me much harder than either of my previous blows, and I was blown backwards. My body snapped through thorny bushes and weak limbs before it was stopped abruptly by something wrapping around my midsection. My head whipped back by the sudden impact and another electric shock raced up and down my spine.

My vision swam for a few seconds too long. Voices both loud and soft bounced around in my head. I had enough control of my limbs to feel for what had me gripped so tightly. My senses cleared as soon as my fingers registered the rough texture of tree-bark.

"'Bout time!" Gust snapped. I looked around a bit, only to realize the branch of the tree was holding me a good twenty or so feet in the air, with the boy and two others directly below me. "Why couldn't you do that before?!"

"You were too far away," a weak voice protested. I could see the black of her hair as she knelt at the base of the tree, but couldn't place her voice. "Mother couldn't reach you."

The third person on the ground coughed. Kat. She was lying on her side directly beside the other girl, who was gently rubbing her back. I could see Gust's open mouth from here as he rushed to kneel in front of her.

"Is she okay?!" I shouted. I thought about tearing away the branch that held me, but there was nothing nearby that I could grab, and I seriously doubted I could walk away from such a free-fall. At least, not right away.

"Shut-up, fox!" Gust snapped—making me almost think the risk was worth it— before looking back at the two women. "Kat? Kat, can you hear me? What's wrong with her?"

"She swallowed a lot of water when you hit her into the river," the dark-haired girl said. Her voice was shaky, like she was on the brink of tears. "Did you have to hit her so hard?"

"I wasn't trying to!" Gust protested, standing up and pacing as his monster arm twisted and stretched around him seemingly by its own accord. "Is she going to be okay?"

"I-I think so," the girl stammered. "What happened to your arm?"

"What do you think happened?" I tensed when the boy's dark eyes shot up to glare at me.

The girl glanced up at me, allowing me to finally see her face. My stomach clenched at the sight. It was Lilly but, at the same time, it wasn't her. The Lilly I had known always looked so self-assured, more so than her twin, Gust, and sometimes even Maple. A smirk and a snide comment were always present. Not so with the girl who was looking at me now. She was paler than Gust, her dark hair oily and matted to her face. Her eyes almost resembled a raccoon's with the darkness that surrounded them.

My stomach twisted even tighter when a frail smile pulled at her thin face.

             "I told you fighting him was a bad idea." Lilly waved at me with a weak flap of her hand. "Hi, Foxy."

"H—" I started to answer, but was cut off by the sudden tightening of the branch around my ribs. I instead cried out as it felt like the bones were being crushed under the pressure.

"What are you doing?!" Gust shouted at his sister.

"Mother, stop!" Lilly shouted at me—at the tree that was squeezing me. She reached out as if to grab me despite the large gap of space. "You don't need to hurt him!"

Whatever she was trying to do, it wasn't working. This tree was going to kill me.

Well, if that was the alternative.

I gripped the branch and tore it out and away from my body. The relief was immediate, but so was the uncomfortable rising feeling in my stomach as I plummeted straight down.

"Lilly!" Gust cried. Lilly just screamed.

I tried to make sure the fall didn't kill me. I kept my head from being the first thing to hit the ground, but felt several bones in my right leg snap as soon as I landed. Whether it was the adrenaline or my supernatural body, it did not hurt right away. I was even able to get up on one foot as Gust and Lilly backed away.

"Gust—" I started.

"Hold him!" the boy ordered.

The girl only shook her head as she hugged herself and backed further away from me. I only noticed just then the chaotic rustling of bushes, branches, and grasses as if terribly violent beasts lurked just behind the cover of leaves.

"I can't," Lilly said with a groan. Her hands went from hugging to digging deep inside her greasy streaks of hair. "I cant stop mother."

"That isn't—!" Gust started, but cut himself off to throw his hand like a whip in my direction.

I ducked, but his arm simply cracked apart the branch of a tree that had been looking to pierce me through the back. He swung the pulsing thing to tear apart vines and grasses that had been attempting to ensnare Kat as she remained struggling to breathe on the ground.

"She's coming, Gust! We have to go!" Lilly suddenly cried. She was already up and running away, back through the drooping trees and moss. "We have to go now!"

"Shit," Gust said under his breath. Our eyes met.

"Gust," I tried again, hobbling the best I could away from the wildlife that reached for me. "What's going on?"

"Don't let the bug girl catch you," he said. He shot out his arm again, cutting down the greenery that had tried to go for Kat again. Only, this time, his arm twisted around Kat's body like a python and pulled her back with him as he took off after his sister. "She'll make you regret it!"

            "Wait!" I shouted. "Gust, stop!"

            Don't leave me.

            "Give Kat back!" I roared. I went to run, only to holler in pain as my right leg gave out. I fell in a twisted heap at the ground.

            Right, my leg was broken.

            "Damnit, you shit kid, you can't do that!"

            She's mine.

            I could only crawl after his retreating form, Kat dragging through the dirt behind him. They were already so far away.

            This was just like back then. Trying to keep up with them, and failing to.

            "Come back here!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "I'll kill you, Gust! I'll—"

            I was lifted into the air. Something had the back of my sweater, and the collar was digging deep into my neck, cutting off my threats. Whatever was suddenly carrying me was moving at a rapid speed towards Gust and Kat. I could feel it's powerful muscles working as my frail body bounced around in the air.

            "Damn, man, I liked it better when you were a fox," Stallion complained. "Grab my head, your clothes aren't going to cut it!"

            "Stallion?" I asked stupidly as my hands flailed a bit before finding purchase in his flowing mane. I almost couldn't believe it. He was supposed to be ahead of us, not behind.

            "I circled back when you guys took so long to catch up," he explained as we swiftly covered the distance between us and Gust. "Last time I willingly leave you two alone. Anyways, I'm dropping you on Kat. Get her out while I take care of the kid."

"Don't hurt him too bad. He's one of Kat's Masters." I released the horse as he pulled up beside Kat. Falling on top of her, I quickly grabbed hold of Gust's arm that was twisted around her body.

"Shit. For real?" The horse kept running. It would take him less than a second to reach the much smaller child. "I'll see what—"

Through all the noise; the violent shaking of trees, the crumbling rocks and tearing grass that fell away as Kat and I were dragged through the ground, and even Stallion's nervous words inside my head, a single, piercing sound broke through. The humming drone of something big. Something familiar.

A great, white flying beast broke into the road we were all running down. It gripped Stallion with it's two legs as it flew by and tossed him deeper into the woods like he was nothing but a toy. I didn't hear his words in my head again.

At the same time, I was once again rising in the air. Of course, it wasn't Stallion. Gust had stopped running as the white creature with scythes for hands circled back towards us. His arm raised Kat and I high into the air. For a third time, our eyes met.

"Keep Kat safe until we find you again."

Then, he threw us. High and far. The familiar, white beast was nothing but a white spec in a matter of seconds. The trees and river spun in a swirl of colors as Kat and I hurtled through the air. I held her tight against me, protecting her body the best that I could for when we would eventually land.

...

Gust looked after the disappearing familiars as the bug lady and her bug approached. When he could no longer see them, he slapped a hand over his face as his other arm shrank back to a more reasonable size.

I threw them too hard! He thought to himself. Dammit!

"There you are!" the bug lady called down to him. "That sure was a close one. Lucky your brother was able to find you. Right, Leaf?"

Leaf mumbled something akin to a feeble agreement. Gust sighed.

"So," He could practically hear the growing smile in her voice as the buzzing of her bug died away, "Just what were you and your little sister trying to do?"

Dad said familiars were made to be durable. Gust reasoned with himself as he turned to the bug lady with a prepared smile and lie.

Still, they better not be dead.

...

*Author's Note*

Kids, amirite? Sometimes they just don't know their own strength.

So, what do you guys think? Is the gang all dead? Are we now going to follow the misadventures of that one kid who smoked and tried to pick a fight with Foxy back in the first book? I don't think he ever got a name, but let's go with Greg. I'm sure you all are super excited to see what Greg has been up to after all these years! (Spoilers: he works as a salesman selling the latest and greatest strainer for those moms and dads who need their pasta drained just a little bit faster.)

Whatever your thoughts, feel free to comment! Which other side character should we be seeing more of if our main cast suddenly perishes? I mean, Greg is obviously the best answer, but I'd still like to know what everyone else thinks.