*Hey guys, how are you all doing? Good? So-So? I told you guys that my upload schedule is wonky. LOL! Well, this is the last part of the episode. Meaning that the new part for the new episode will come out next weekend. So, stay tuned. This is published on July 18, 2020. If you like this part, please vote and/or comment. That will be much appreciated. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this and have a blessed day. Enjoy!*

Meanwhile, McWinkle, Michellee, and Chad were in hot pursuit by the vehicle behind them. The bullets made a rippling sound through the truck, scaring Chad mostly.

"Hang on!" McWinkle shouted as the truck zoomed towards the stone drawbridge ahead of them. An arm slowly descended down to block off the drawbridge since it's going to open up soon. However, McWinkle didn't care.

Michellee had her eyes widened while gripping on the bar above the passenger window. "McWinkle--"

"I'm well aware of what's happening in front of me. Just hang on!"

Chad perked his head up and witnessed the vehicle they're in busted through the lever of the drawbridge. As the bridge slowly rose, the truck hopped over the small gap that was about to open. However, for the vehicle behind them, they tried to jump the drawbridge but crashed into the river instead. McWinkle rammed through the lever on the other side of the drawbridge, breaking it instantly.

Michellee took a glimpse behind her and sighed in relief. "Whew, we lost them."

"W-We did?" Chad stuttered and glanced over his shoulder to notice the drawbridge open with the cargo ship passing through. He let out a shaky breath. "We...We actually lost them."

When the group shifted their focus back ahead of the road, they immediately saw the three cloaked figures with their rifles pointed at them.

McWinkle's eyes grew large when he saw the rifles. "Duck your heads!"

Michellee and Chad instantly obeyed McWinkle's command as McWinkle swerved the truck into the forest with the bullets crashing onto the side. As McWinkle was driving through the forest and dodging every tree standing in his way, they soon realized that they were heading for the cliff up ahead.

Michellee gasped. "McWinkle--!"

"I see it!" McWinkle shouted back before slamming his feet onto the brakes of the truck. The truck screeched while the tires dragged on the grass, leaving a dirt trail behind.

"It's not going to stop in time!" Chad pointed at the cliff ahead of them. The brakes made a high-pitched eerie sound and stopped working, letting the truck zoomed towards the cliff.

"Oh no!" McWinkle gasped, noticing that the brakes weren't working.

"What?!" Michellee shouted her question with panic.

McWinkle used his shoulder to bust through the driver's door. The door flew open and off its hinges on the car. He quickly held out his arm for Michellee and Chad to grab. "Quick! Grab on!"

Without hesitation, Michellee wrapped her small thin arm around McWinkle's muscular one while grabbing Chad by the collar of his white shirt and black tie. McWinkle, Michellee, and Chad dove out of the car and tumbled onto the grass as the truck zoomed off the cliff and plummeted into the jungle far below from where they were. They sat up from the grass while having dirt sprinkled all over their clothes and furs. Chad's glasses were lopsided from tumbling onto the ground with a crack on its left side. Despite the glasses being broken, he readjusted to his glasses in its proper place. McWinkle's black hat covered half of his face while Michellee's brown frizzy hair poofed up to reveal her long messy poofy brown hair and her purple beanie floating in the air. It slowly landed on McWinkle's thigh, which caught his attention. Both he and Chad whipped their gaze over at Michellee with long messy hair. She stared out into the cliff for a brief moment before glancing over at the guys.

McWinkle picked up her purple beanie and handed it to her slowly. "I believe this is yours."

Michellee nodded her head slightly and gently took it out of McWinkle's big hand. She stuffed almost all of her messy hair back in her beanie until it showed off her short brown hair. She smiled nervously while her cheeks lit up in embarrassment of her messy hair.

Chad heard shuffling feet behind them while his eyes became enlarged with horror. "Guys! They're coming!"

McWinkle knew he had a short amount of time to think up of a plan. When he glanced at the trees with huge fold-up leaves beside them, an idea popped into his brain instantly.

~.~

Three men with rifles strapped onto their backs stormed through the forest and approached the cliff where the dirt trail led them. Two more men followed behind them along with a priest. The priest walked on the edge of the cliff and stared down at the jungle far below them.

"They must have driven off the cliff. Dumb fools," The priest predicted as he turned to the men. "They are dead. We must report this to him."

"What if they survived, sir?" One of the men with a rifle questioned the priest.

"How could they have survived a fall like that? Unless they have powers like the powerful Outsider, they wouldn't have survived that fall," The priest responded while walking passed the men.

"Father...can I ask you a question?" the other man probed the priest.

"I don't know...can you?" the priest stated calmly.

The man rolled his eyes at himself. "May I ask you a question?"

"Of course, child."

"Why are we hunting them? What was the point?" The man asked with curiosity in his tone.

The priest sighed deeply. "Do you know what we do when facing a powerful entity who refused to join our cause?"

"Always look for the weakness."

"That's right," The priest responded with a simple smile formed on his face. "You see, this powerful Outsider refused to join us...so...we looked for his weakness. Do any of you know what his weakness is?"

The other man grinned evilly. "It's his family and friends, sir."

"That's right. For every time he refused to join us and denied the powers that Jeckles gave him, his family and friends will be slaughtered, whether it'd be by his own hands or by ours. Look what happened to Stovepipe because he refused...he refused to abide by us so we bombed his precious Stovepipe Junction. All of his family is dead because of him," The priest explained with a psychotic smirk. "Now, his friends and girlfriend are dead. So...the next step is to hunt down his little animal friends on top of finding that halfling and that stupid girl agent. Let's head out."

The men headed away from the cliff, unknowingly passing by trees with rolled-up leaves on the branches. The big rolled-up leaf by the ground unrolled itself and McWinkle slid out of it while carrying Michellee and Chad in his arms. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he let go of both Michellee and Chad.

McWinkle readjusted his hat that was lopsided for a second. "Well, now we know why they're after us."

"What makes them think that Guy will join in their cult?" Michellee growled lowly but not intentionally at anyone.

McWinkle shrugged his shoulders. "I guess with his powers...they can use it to their advantage."

"Stovepipe is...bombed?" Chad uttered sadly, his voice sounded broken.

McWinkle and Michellee turned to notice Chad with tears edging out of his eyes.

"M-My family is in Stovepipe...my parents...my aunts and uncles...my cousins...my siblings." Chad paused for a moment while tears streamed down on his cheeks. "M-My wife, who's pregnant with my first child. Everyone who I knew in Stovepipe was all there...please, McWinkle--Michellee, please tell me that it isn't true. Please." Chad's tears gushed out of his eyes and flooded in his glasses. He took them off and used his cloth that he normally kept in his pocket to wipe the drops off of his glasses. But he still kept his stare up at Michellee and McWinkle, which were blurred colors in his vision.

Michellee gazed at him softly and sadly as Chad continued, "I-I was going to take a week or two off from running the hotel just to meet my baby...I-I was going to come to visit my family in Stovepipe. I-I--I--"

Chad's sentence was interrupted abruptly by his own sobbing. He couldn't put his own glasses back on with his back hunched over while continuing to cry.

"Ju-Just please...tell me that it isn't true," Chad whimpered, glancing back up at Michellee and McWinkle. "Jus-Just tell me that those men were-were just lying. Jus-Just tell me--."

Michellee went up to him and hugged Chad to comfort him. Chad gripped around her tightly, choking on his sobs. Michellee rubbed his back to let him know that she's here.

McWinkle watched them with sympathy shown on his face. "I-I'm sorry, Chad."

Chad tried to stop his sobbing but thinking about his family just made him cry more. "We-We're planning on naming her...Grace."

"That's a beautiful name," Michellee uttered as she broke away from Chad to look into his tearful eyes.

Chad wiped the continuing tears away with his sleeves from his black suit while trying to edge out a tearful smile. "It is. My wife picked it out for her. She...she was supposed to have the baby this month...but...when those men came and almost killed me, I thought I wasn't going to see her or the rest of my family. It's a miracle that McWinkle came and saved my life. It's unexpected for me but I was happy inside because I-I thought that I was going to see my baby girl earlier than expected."

Chad's lip trembled while breathing heavily to try to talk without tearing up. "I-I guess either way...I'm never going to see my baby girl or my family again."

McWinkle frowned when Chad said that. He gazed around the open forest and figured out what to do next.

"I knew someone who might live nearby. Maybe we could take shelter there," McWinkle pointed out softly.

Chad took a moment to regroup himself despite feeling like falling onto the ground from where he stood and let out an outcry to stay where he was and let both Michellee and McWinkle go without him. "That-that sounds like a good idea."

"Let's go," Michellee urged gently while looking up to McWinkle to lead the way.

"Come on," McWinkle uttered and led both her and Chad through the forest to look for shelter.

~.~

"Are you sure that this is the way out?" Michael asked Vicky with curiosity taking over his tone while following her through the cafeteria with the big windows that overlooked the Jungle of Nool in the early evening.

Vicky nodded her head in assurance. "Yeah. It should be this way." She pointed at the kitchen that had the backdoor inside.

"Dang, you sure know which way you're going," Michael replied with a bright smile.

"It's called being street smart."

Michael chuckled lightly.

Atticus Goat gruffed a bit while shooting a deadly glare at Vicky. E.B rode on Mr. Jenkins's back with a curious gaze ahead of her. Jean sat on top of the little girl's head while noticing Goat's glare at the vixen. Jean climbed down from E.B's head and hopped on top of Goat's head.

"Um...am I missing something between you and Vicky?" Jean whispered to his friend.

"Huh? What do you mean? You're the one who kept the stupid scoreboard between us," Goat responded defensively in a quiet voice.

"That's because of the roasts. But--is there--?" Jean stopped himself mid-sentence and noticed the way Goat was staring at Michael and Vicky while they were having a fun conversation between them. The mouse broadened his eyes in realization. "Ooh, I think I know what's going on here."

"No, you don't know what's going on," Goat growled lowly.

Jean smirked. "Yes, I do, mon ami. Hey, I can still keep it a secret for you--"

"Jean, if you're implying what I think you're implying, it's not what you think."

"Come on, it's obvious...you care about him, don't you?"

Goat stopped in the middle of the cafeteria, letting Mr. Jenkins walked ahead of him. "He's my friend--"

"You don't treat all your friends as nicely as you treated Michael."

"Michael is just nice to me so I'm nice to him back."

Jean furrowed his brow. "Really? Last time I checked, some people are nice and care about you but...sometimes you don't give that care back in return. However, with Michael...it's something different. Why is that?"

"I don't know, okay!" Goat snarled at Jean, his voice echoing in the cafeteria, catching everyone's attention.

Goat groaned to himself irritably.

"Is everything okay?" Michael asked with concern in his voice.

Goat nodded his head hesitantly with a small embarrassed blush. "Yes, everything is fine--"

Someone immediately charged through the cafeteria and kicked Goat, sending him flying into the glass and creating a crack in the glass. Jean tumbled away from Goat, recovering his head. Vicky took out her pistol and pointed it at the Biologist, who had his sawblade ready.

"Guys! Get out of here!" Vicky ordered loudly while pulling the trigger. The bullets flew towards the mask of the Biologist but it didn't break through it.

The Biologist breathed heavily while running his saw and swiped it at Vicky. Michael tackled her out of the way and tumbled on the cold tile floor.

Before the Biologist could attack them again, Goat hopped onto the maniac's back.

"Get away from them!" Goat barked as he attempted to use his front leg to choke the maniac.

The Biologist wiggled his short body and managed to throw Goat off. Goat crashed onto the floor, landing on his injured foreleg first.

Goat groaned in pain as he glanced up at the Biologist.

"NO!!!" Michael screamed and tackled the Biologist away from Goat. Michael and the Biologist rolled over each other on the floor. Finally, the Biologist was on top of him with his claw clenched at Michael's throat, choking him.

"Michael, no!" Goat yelled as he attempted to get up.

The Biologist raised his sawblade with it powered on. Michael gazed into the three green scopes of the Biologist, ready to go through the pain of his death. However, the Biologist froze, not moving his saw towards the fox.

Goat got up but noticed something off about the Biologist. He's not killing Michael right away as he did with the other victims.

Vicky froze too as she whipped her gaze at Mr. Jenkins, who backed away from the Biologist with E.B gripping tightly around his long thin neck.

Jean watched intensely, his brow raised at the situation arising.

"M-MiChAeL?" The Biologist uttered the fox's name in a soft glitchy voice.

Michael had his eyes widened while noticing that the saw blade was turned off. "D-Do I know you?"

The Biologist loosened his grip around the fox's neck. "I-I tHoUgHt YoU wErE dEaD."

Michael had his eyes bulged out in shock. "Dead?"

Before the Biologist could speak further, Vicky took the golden moment to jump on his back and pulled him back away from Michael.

"Wait!" Michael shouted but Goat bolted over to the fox and took him by the arm, despite flicking a withering glare at Vicky for attacking at the wrong time.

"Come on, Michael! We got to go!" Goat yelled as he helped Michael up on his feet. Jean immediately scurried up on the chickeraffe and climbed on E.B's shoulder.

The Biologist threw Vicky away from him with his claw, causing her to slide on the tile floor. She bolted back to her group quickly before the Biologist could chase after them.

The group ran into the kitchen as Vicky slammed the door behind her and used something to block the Biologist temporarily.

"Why did you attack him?! He's about to tell me what's going on!" Michael shouted at Vicky, a little bit angry.

"He's a hostile being--!"

"That doesn't mean that you just attack him because you want to show off the fact that you're not such a damsel in distress!" Goat interrupted her, concurring with Michael.

"Says the goat who pulled his friend out of the situation!"

"That's because you provoked the Biologist! Now he's going to bust down the door and sliced us all because of you!" Goat barked at Vicky aggressively.

E.B slid down from the chickeraffe and tried for the backdoor but soon realized that it's locked. "Uh, guys, the backdoor is locked."

Goat glared at Vicky, flicking his ears in rage. "Now you got us trapped in the flipping kitchen!"

"Hey! I didn't know that the backdoor was locked!"

"You said that you know the way out!"

"Yes, I do and it's that way!"

"Well, now, we can't go out that way, can we?!" Goat yelled at the vixen.

Michael twitched his ears to hear the Biologist trying to bust through the door. "Guys! Fighting about it isn't going to get us anywhere! We got to find another way out!"

Mr. Jenkins warbled fearfully while pacing around the room as the yelling from Goat, Michael, and Vicky continued on. E.B petted her friend to calm him down.

"It's okay, Mr. Jenkins--"

The pounding from the door added the sounds that caused the chickeraffe anxiety. Subconsciously, Mr. Jenkins extended his neck and bumped his head against the ceiling accidentally, unknowingly next to the door that would lead to the ceiling of the facility they're in. E.B massaged the chickeraffe's neck softly while looking up to meet his eyes.

"Calm down, Mr. Jenkins," E.B whispered softly. Both she and Jean, who perched on her shoulder, noticed the trapdoor that led out of the place they're in. Both E.B and Jean exchanged brief glances.

"We have to tell the others!" E.B uttered loudly while Jean nodded his head in agreement with a squeak.

E.B turned to the other animals, who were still arguing about the situation they got themselves.

"GUYS!" E.B shouted over the conversation but they didn't listen to her.

Vicky had her fists on her hips with a stern glare. "Look, you're just jealous that I can fight better--!"

Goat gritted his teeth angrily. "I don't flipping care if you can fight better or not--!"

"Guys! Come on! Why can't we be friends for a moment?!" Michael barked his question.

"Guys!" E.B yelled at her group.

"Not now, sweetie," Vicky responded softly but sternly to E.B like a mother.

"Sweetie?! Since when is E.B your 'sweetie'?! You barely know her!" Goat growled at the vixen.

The vixen's stern glare fell. She stopped shouting back and paused. Goat stopped too, his eyes widened from suddenly realizing what's going on with the vixen.

Michael sighed in relief as he heard the sawblade running. "Guys, we have to think about the way out."

Goat and Vicky exchanged soft glances at each other for a moment, while Goat nodded in agreement.

"I concur," Goat uttered, shifting his soft gaze at Michael.

"Guys, there is a way out," E.B replied while the others glanced over at her. She pointed at the trapdoor on the ceiling above her and Jean.

"Huh, there is a way out," Goat muttered to himself as the sawblade went through the door behind them.

"Open the door, quickly!" Michael commanded as E.B climbed up on Mr. Jenkins's neck and spun the wheel around to open the trap door up. She climbed through the opening and stood on the rooftop. Michael stood underneath the opening and placed his paws on top of each other so that he could help his group. "I'll boost you guys up!"

"Thanks!" Vicky replied while Michael boosted her up through the opening. Mr. Jenkins hopped onto the rooftop next to E.B after Vicky climbed through the opening.

Goat glanced back to see that the Biologist was almost through the door. He immediately ran up to Michael and Michael boosted him up to the opening. However, Goat immediately used his back hooves and hanged upside down so that his front hooves could grab Michael by the wrist.

"Michael!" Goat called as Michael glanced up to notice his hooves extended out towards him. The fox leaped and grabbed onto the goat's hooves. Goat pulled Michael up with the help of Mr. Jenkins grabbing one of his ankles and pulling him through the opening before the Biologist could bust down the blockade to get to them.

Goat and Michael immediately stood up on the rooftop.

"Close it!" Goat shouted as Vicky and E.B pushed the trapdoor on the rooftop closed. Both of the ladies sighed in relief until they heard the sawblade running again. The saw plunged through the rooftop next to the trapdoor, cutting out a square shape and letting the cutout fell into the building.

The Biologist hopped onto the rooftop with an incredible amount of effort in his legs and glared at all of them. Michael stood in front of them with a soft gaze.

"Look, man, we can still talk about this--"

Biologist's head began to twitch while groaning. "I-I'm S-SoRrY...hAd To FiNiSh WhAt I sTaRtEd."

"What did you start?!" Michael shouted his question as the Biologist trudged towards them.

The Biologist groaned while twitching his head. "I-I'm SoRrY."

Goat glanced around him, trying to think up of a plan fast before anything bad happened to them. He noticed a dam ahead of them, making him questioned why this building was standing in the middle of the way where the water may burst through the logs. Although, that just gave him the idea of what to do next.

Goat spotted Mr. Jenkins watching from the side, cowering in fear. He smiled brightly when he remembered something that he normally would like to forget.

"Jenkins! FETCH!" Goat yelled enthusiastically while pointing at the Biologist. "Fetch, Jenkins, fetch!"

Jenkins became rallied up with that word while fluffing his feathers and warbling excitedly.

Everyone around him arched a brow, having no idea what he's doing.

The Biologist tilted his head in confusion. "WhAT?"

As if it's on cue, Jenkins snatched the Biologist around the waist, spun him around and around, and threw him at the dam before the Biologist could take any action.

Everyone had their eyes widened except Goat, who just laughed maniacally.

"HA! Now you know how it feels!" Goat hooted with his hoof pumped up in the air. He soon realized that everyone had their stares set on him with confusion written on their faces. He cleared his throat. "Uh...pretend you didn't hear that."

E.B and the animals heard a creaking sound and lifted their gazes up at the dam.

"Uh, you do realize that your flightless bird just threw my suspect at the dam, right?" Vicky indicated with her finger raised.

Goat furrowed his brows at Vicky. "I'm sorry, your suspect?! Zorra, the last time I checked, he's our suspect!"

"And you guys handled it by randomly singing in the bar, being abducted, and then laughed your heads off while the little girl rescued you? I say that you handled it perfectly well," Vicky answered with a sarcastic tone to mostly Goat. Jean used white chalk and marked another point on the scoreboard for Vicky.

Goat raised his brow to wonder how she knew about the laughing serum. He then shifted his focus on E.B, who just laughed nervously.

"I may have told her about the Laughing Serum incident while you guys were hiding in the locker," E.B added while rubbing her arm anxiously and plastering an innocent grin.

Goat gave her a deadpanned stare. "We don't share personal things with complete strangers, niña."

They heard more creaking sounds as they shot their glances back at the dam, witnessing the water bursting through one giant hole in the dam. It crashed onto the jungle terrain but it flooded by the building, not strong enough to knock it down.

"Hmph, it looks like we're going to have to fetch the Biologist out of the water," Goat uttered.

Vicky slowly turned her head at Goat. "How are we going to get him out of the water? He's a fast swimmer--"

"With no hands? All he got was a saw blade and a claw for hands. What more can he do besides dissecting people like he's in a Biology lab?" Goat gruffed with a cocky tone.

Vicky put her fists on her hips. "I wouldn't be questioning that if I were you."

Michael heard a sawblade sound from a distance with a perturbed gaze. "Uh...guys."

Goat and Vicky turned to Michael and noticed the dam slowly breaking through.

"He's breaking the dam," Vicky said with a quiet gasp.

"How would you know?!" Goat barked, his brow furrowed.

The water began to break through more as Jenkins warbled anxiously and shrunk himself into a dark pink furball, sucking Jean and the scoreboard into the ball. E.B noticed this as Jenkins used his foot to pull the little girl into the furball.

"Jenkins!" E.B yelped as the furball rolled off of the building.

Goat, Michael, and Vicky saw this with arched eyebrows.

"Well, it looks like we missed our ride." Goat sighed at the end of the sentence and shifted his attention to the dam. As if it's on cue, the water bursting some more before the whole dam broke down. Goat broadened his eyes with a surprised gasp. "Run!"

Vicky, Goat, and Michael leaped off of the one-story building and sprinting in all fours away from the rushing water. The water broke through the building that they were just standing on, engulfing it as the water rushed onward towards the three of them. Sadly, the three of them weren't able to outrun the flood chasing them. The water rushed through the group, consuming them.

Goat held in his breath while trying to swim out with his injured foreleg. Vicky found a trunk of a tree nearby and grabbed it with her claws while holding her breath. Michael struggled swimming, not strong enough to push himself back up into the surface.

Goat popped his head out of the water with a huge gasp and held onto a nearby rock, breathing heavily. He noticed Vicky holding onto the tree trunk for dear life, the water lowering itself for her to breath in the surface. He whipped his glance around him to look for Michael.

"Vicky! Where's Michael?!" Goat shouted his question to the vixen.

Before Vicky could answer, Michael lifted his head out of the water and grabbed onto a thin plant that wouldn't hold him for long.

"Atticus!" Michael called out Goat's real name, trying to keep his head above the rushing water.

Goat shot a surprised gaze at the fox behind him, his eyes enlarged. He extended his hoof for Michael to grab. "Michael! Swim up to me!"

"I-I can't!" Michael yelled as the plant was slowly breaking.

"Yes, you can! I believe in you, Michael!" Goat encouraged.

"No--I can't swim!" Michael barked his response, causing Goat to lose his encouraging smile. The stem of the plant broke off, letting the water washed Michael away from his friends. "Help!"

Goat whipped his focus back at Vicky. "I'm going to get Michael!"

Before the vixen could object, Goat let go of the rock and dove through the rushing water after Michael.

Vicky bit her lip while the waves kept pushing through the terrain harder. However, a familiar animal leg was extended in front of her. She followed her gaze up at Mr. Jenkins standing on the strong branch with E.B riding him and Jean sitting on her shoulder.

"Climb on, Vicky!" E.B shouted as Vicky smiled at the little girl and her animal friends. Vicky grabbed onto the leg as the leg pulled her up on the branch.

"We got to get Goat and Michael!" Vicky determined loudly as she hopped on the chickeraffe's back behind E.B and Jean.

The chickeraffe warbled in agreement and hopped through the tree branches to go after Goat and Michael.

~.~

Goat swam with the current to get to Michael faster. Michael tried to keep his head above the water but the water kept pushing him under, not letting him breathe. Goat noticed the cliff ahead that created a waterfall from the flood. He grunted and narrowed his eyes in determination. Michael had his paw raised above the water but that was soon buried underneath. Goat saw a rock that's near the parted the waters rushing to the cliff of the waterfall and hopped onto quickly. But, by then, Michael already fell off the cliff before Goat could reach him.

"Michael!" Goat cried out, his hoof trembling.

Michael crashed through the water below them. Mr. Jenkins arrived at the scene with Vicky and E.B riding him, standing on the tree branch extended towards the cliff.

"What happened?!" Vicky shouted her question.

Goat narrowed his brows together and then stepped back a few steps. He ran towards the ledge and dove off towards the water below them.

"Goat!" Both Vicky and E.B called out. The chickeraffe warbled and sprinted towards the way that would let them reach the bottom without jumping.

Meanwhile, Michael floated down into the water, his eyes fluttered close. There were no more bubbles coming out of his lips as he drifted below towards the darkness of the lake. His arms and legs were held out while his waist was the only weight that pulled him down. He could hear whispers around him as he was drowning...some were incoherent and some were just plain confusing.

"Take the boy!"

"Don't let them take my baby!"

"Run, Bailey! Run!"

"Get him somewhere safe!"

"Finish the job!"

Michael could also hear someone diving through the water after him. As the sounds faded away and the darkness enclosed him, he felt someone grabbing him by his wrists.

~.~

Mr. Jenkins arrived at the coast of the lake, scanning the lake. Vicky dismounted and walked towards the water.

She suddenly noticed bubbles popping through the surface. "Guys?!"

Before she could dive in and swim after Goat and Michael, both of them popped their heads out of the water. Goat had his arms wrapped around Michael's chest and kicked his hind legs through the water to take the passed out fox to the shore where the rest of the gang were standing. When his back hooves touched the shallow end, he gently grabbed Michael's nape with his mouth and used his fours to pulled him onto the sand.

Goat let go of Michael's fur and let him drop onto the sand. "Michael."

Michael didn't respond as Goat grabbed his face and examined him.

"Michael, can you hear me?"

Goat began to panic as he tried to find a way to wake him up. "Michael!"

He inhaled deeply and parted Michael's lips. He breathed into the fox's mouth, giving the oxygen into Michael's lungs. He pulled his head away from Michael's and placed his front hooves on the fox's furry chest and gave little pushes on the chest to get his heart going.

"Come on, Michael. Come on," Goat muttered underneath his breath as he parted the fox's lips again and breathed into him routinely. As soon as Goat pulled his head away from Michael's and gave little pushes on his chest, Michael coughed up the water that had been trapped inside of him. He gasped heavily but his eyes were still closed.

Goat smiled in relief. "Oh, Michael, you scared me." Goat rested his head on the fox's chest, hearing his heartbeat going again which made him smile even more.

"Guys, Michael is okay--!" As Goat turned around to look at the others, they disappeared without a trace.

Goat lost his smile. "Uh...where did you guys go?"

He turned back around and was too late to see a purple monkey knocking him out with a bamboo stick. Goat grunted and collapsed on the ground next to Michael, with darkness embracing him.

To Be Continued...