Despite the tension she felt, nothing happened when they moved past the tree line. Actually nothing happened a little too much, the birds were quiet, there were no rustling leaves- perfect stillness is something you learn to fear when you need to survive in the forest every day.

“I am late, I am late.”

“You are late?”

“I think so, it’s too quiet, too quiet.”

“It sounds perfectly fine to me, how would it be otherwise? You are honestly the loudest mushroom I have ever heard.”

“I am not loud! Not loud! And I am no mushroom, no, no. I am a rabbit, with beautiful white… fur?” For the first time since waking up, the bunny actually looked at her forefeet. Long, black and shaggy fur stared back at her instead of the short white she was expecting.

“Am I dead?”

“I don’t think so?”

“My fur is not black. And, and my tail! My tail is not white. Why is my tail white?” Tension seemingly forgotten and replaced by bewilderment, the bunny changed from their careful gait to a careless one, not even impeded by bushes or greenery as they were sucked out of life to make way for them.

“There is something weird up ahead.”

Such was the bunny’s lack of attention that when they came to, they found themselves inside a clearing, facing a grand banana tree. What took up the most of their attention, however, was the vibrating mushroom crown on their head.

“Mushi?”

“There are things here, they are moving closer to us.”

Only then did she actually take in her surroundings. The sound of leaves rustling was now ever present as many creatures made themselves known on the trees surrounding the clearing.

Monkeys.

The bunny slowly put their back towards the tree, finally noticing the trail of decay they had left. Dread and understanding finally came through when they backed away from their watchers and the wilting grass followed.

“I-I think there is something wrong.”

“What are those things? Are they another type of tree? I don’t think I like how these trees are making me feel.”

Closer and closer the duo came to the banana tree, more and more agitated became the monkeys. They glared and hollered, banging their fists and showing their fangs.

“I think I mi-might be too late this time,” said the bunny, the mushroom crown’s response only the continuation of their incessant trembling.

This tense atmosphere continued in a crescendo as the bunny retreated toward the tree. They were boxed in. Seconds felt like minutes, and neither mushroom nor bunny even realized when three bumps on each side of the bunny’s back started throbbing. They unveiled like great tumors, until the bunny’s little tail touched the banana tree.

The banana tree wilted.

Six giant tentacles burst from the bunny’s flesh.

The monkeys attacked as giant horde.

<>

[This story is only available at RoyalRoad by DrySolace]

<>

The righteous anger of animals without care for the circumstances of others barred down on two confused and afraid little people, trembling in fear.

It was so so loud, the mushroom thought. Never had they felt such discordant notes, these beings didn’t talk, didn’t listen, they just screamed. Why could they not be like his new friend? Was it because they were not mushrooms like her? But the trees were nice, even when they were not very nice to them. They hated this. Never had they felt such emotion before.

They could see it in their eyes, the intent to harm. Coming for them so, so fast. But their friend, they were fighting. They could see the great mushroom spikes rising towards the sky, they too would help.

There once was a little bunny, that when born was not like her peers. They didn’t speak like her, didn’t feel like her. Their warmth and love were very nice, but never truly did they take her loneliness away. There was only one person that she found could ever understand her, only one person who replied back. Herself.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

But the lack of speech and the loneliness did not diminish her care for her family. She learned their ways, how little twitches could hold so much meaning, but it was for naught. She tried warning them of dangerous places, of dangerous animals, but never could they understand, and when they did, they forgot soon after. One by one her dear family left her, not by choice, but by the cruelty of nature. She would remember the warnings for them, she would live for them. And she would never again be too late.

But what good really, is a promise that is impossible to keep? She knew that sooner or later the day would come that she would be too late. And as the horde of monkeys approached like a great carpet of darkness with shining eyes, all she could do was close her eyelids as a mournful tear breached them. “I am sorry.”

The green Foldicap’s non-euclidean geometry made itself apparent at that moment, as the small crown unfolded itself over reality and materialized a dome around their fazed companion. It wouldn’t hold for long.

The bunny was startled into reality by the lack of pain, and the fact she was very much alive. She smiled.

“I am not late. Thank you.”

And that’s when the tentacles in her back speared the first row of monkeys into eternal oblivion.

It was not death by force, but by leeching. Four monkeys dropped as withered, hairy, husks on the floor. More kept coming, but they forgot one thing. A bunny’s bloodthirstiness was not something to be underestimated.

With enemies on all sides, the bunny jumped into the fray. Every touch and glance spreading death like a plague. The tentacles were a surprise, but one that they took with instinctual ease, as if they had been with them ever since their birth. And in a way, they had.

More and more the clearing was filled with dust, but the monkeys didn’t stop coming. The bunny hopped on the heads of their assailants, downing them with a single touch and working out a rhythm. Stab monkeys with her roots, use their bodies as support to jump further, land on a monkeys head, repeat.

But a rhythm also brings in predictability, and although the monkeys were enraged, they were not dumb.

The bunny could see the angry tide slowly receding. She could do this. And that’s when a monkey bit down on her flank, forfeiting their life in the process, but tearing a chunk out of her small body.

It had been a long time since she felt such pain, and she realized that not only was she screaming, but also her little mushroom crown. Accompanying their torment, there came a massive bellowing from their left. There, pushing trees out of the way as if they were mere toys, was a giant monkey, dark as the night, with golden eyes tinted with fury.

The bunny could already feel herself fading away, and imagine the blood flowing from her wound, but she couldn’t stop. Her tentacles speared the offending monkey and absorbed part of what she had lost. The Foldicap then took a more active role, covering her body in what looked like armor, made out of the hard tips of their giant, folded cap.

The tide gave way to the massive monkey as it approached. Different from his brethren his anger did not make him act in madness. He approached in measured steps, until he stood above his quarry.

A defiant small bunny mattered by dust and clad in green, her tentacles caressing the ground in large strokes, and draining all in their purview. Just trying to survive.

An enraged primate, 6 meters tall, cold in demeanor and clad in thick, black fur. His giant, bulging muscles taunt and ready. Avenging his precious tree, and his people.

Both faced each other for what was almost a second, frozen in time.

The bunny knew that this fight would not be like the others, there was such mass in this creature that even if she dug all her tentacles in them, by the time she was done he would have squashed her like a bug. There was only one option, and thankfully it was something that she was quite good at.

Time resumed it’s march.

“I need you to distract him for me,” screamed the bunny as she jumped backwards.

The monkey, acting with speed bellying his size, charged like a train off rails, his massive hand almost slapping her out of existence.

She leaped on his extended arm, running towards his back and using his leftover momentum to her advantage. I didn’t matter how fast something was if they were this big. Well, as long as she didn’t get caught.

Immediately wary of the new development, the monkey shot his other hand to stop it. He had his gaze locked into the green shape in his fur, together with the spreading numbness, there was no way they could hide from him. His hand closed around and squished his target, to his immediate glee. But he was still losing feeling on the upper layers of his skin, and it was moving towards his shoulder. Movement caught the corner of his eye, they were still alive. How. Dare. They!

When the mushroom told her to fold down her ears, she immediately complied. When the subtle pressure of her friend sheltering her form left her, she kept moving. They trusted them, they would not abandon her.

She kept moving.

The green foldicap was aware of their charming, beautiful and attention grabbing color. The monkey had only ever seen them clad on it, and so they did what they were asked for, a distraction. The bunny, with her ears down, was completely dark, like the fur they traversed, and when the Foldicap unfolded into the more mundane dimensions, his cap followed their relative position. This would take a lot out of them, they couldn’t just make a hollow shape, it needed to have substance. And so, much of their mass was used to unfold the shape of a green bunny that chased them.

The monkey was fueled by newfound rage, but it was much too late. The bunny had reached their shoulder, and sank her roots right behind it. The monkey’s attempt to squish her with his neck predicted, and avoided.

She followed behind her roots, burrowing was something she was quite experienced with, and she had no qualms with re-purposing her talents. Deeper and deeper she went, past the ribcage, absorbing blood and flesh alike. In only a matter of time, the screams and motion ceased.

“We did it, Mushi.”

“Mushi?” Lethargy of body and mind was her only answer. She received no response, like she was used to.

“I am so tired, Mushi, I think I might take a nap.”

Within the body of a great beast, both took their repose. And the blue berry that resided in the place of where the heart of this little bunny should have been, thumped once, and returned to it’s stillness.

<>

[Embwerglow's lost heir/mushi x bunny adventures unchained is only available at RoyalRoad by DrySolace]