Mother of Fluff

"Holy hell, that's one big bunny!" Tom said as he saw the creature getting closer.

It was at least twelve feet tall with a golden horn jutting from its head gleaming in the sunlight. Its snow-white fur flowed in the breeze as it hopped its way toward them. The area around them was littered with the corpses of the Bunnicorns they had already killed, and the team was still engaged in finishing the last of them, each one dying with a cute squeak as they were shot, stabbed, kicked, or set on fire.

In his haste to kill off as many of the Bunnicorns as possible, Jerky also accidentally set one of the gingerbread houses on fire and it was now smoking, the smell of burnt cookies wafting through the air. Quite a few of the munchkins lay dead or dying in the candy streets of the town while Tom continued to try to punt the annoying creatures out of the town as well as not step on any of the townspeople.

"This is getting ridiculous," Tom said as he activated his Tattoo of Absorption.

Fortunately, the System seemed to understand that he was trying to save the munchkins and only the Bunnicorns were affected by the skill. They had so little health that they began to drop around him like flies sprayed with Raid. One landed on a munchkin who cried out in pain, the forced smile never leaving its small face.

"That mama bunny is bigger than I expected. We are going to have to focus on it at some point." Jay called out to the others.

"Can you distract it while we finish here?" Tom called back.

"I can try," Jay said as he stabbed another Bunnicorn with a dagger before bounding off toward the Matriarch.

With the remaining bunnies in the town dead, Tom hopped back over the walls to use his skill near the others of his team. They too began to drop dead around him as he ran past them. He ran through the crowd still attempting to get at the fighters and a pile began to form of the bodies.

"That's not fair, I was enjoying this part," James said to him as he ran past him.

"Sorry, we need to get to the big one," Tom replied as he continued on his path through the mayhem.

Jay took out his kamas and chain and began twirling one end over his head. As he neared the Matriarch, he stopped running and threw the chain toward its feet. It wrapped around three of its four feet, and he pulled the chain tight. He was ripped off his feet but successfully tripped the giant rabbit causing it to tumble to the ground, its horn impaling the ground and sticking.

It squealed in anger as it tried to get free.

"Gotcha, bitch!" Jay exclaimed as he stood back up after being dragged a few feet.

Suddenly, a light began to shine from underground where the tip of its horn was stuck, and a high-pitched whirring sound could be heard as well.

"What the..." Jay began until the ground erupted up and out from a blast at the tip of the Matriarch's horn.

Debris, rocks, dirt, grass, and pieces of dead Bunnicorn were thrown in all directions as the Matriarch stood and screamed its displeasure at the sky.

"That's not good," Jay said as he began to scramble away after being tossed backward from the blast.

There was a "tunk" sound then a whistling as a grenade flew through the air and exploded right next to the Matriarch's head, blowing off a piece of its face and causing it to scream again in pain and rage as blood began to stain its perfectly white coat.

"How about another!" Kiera yelled at the creature and fired another grenade from her launcher toward it.

This time, the Matriarch was prepared and batted the grenade out of the air and back at the team with her horn.

"HIT THE DECK!" Derek called out to the team as he dove to the side.

The other members of the team scrambled to get away as the grenade exploded against a pile of dead Bunnicorns, sending pieces of them flying in all directions and spreading white Bunnicorn fur through the air like flaming snowflakes.

Tom rushed forward, activating his Tattoo of Strength, and ran straight at the Matriarch. It screamed its defiance, now having to turn its head slightly to see out of its one remaining eye. Tom roared out a battle cry in return and continued straight for it, his greatsword gripped in both hands.

When he reached the Matriarch, Tom swung his sword at it with both hands, all of his strength put into the swing. The Mother of all Bunnicorns reared back but misjudged the distance and Tom took off both of its front legs with the swipe.

"Ha! Lucky Rabbit's feet!" Tom laughed as he moved to strike again.

The Matriarch, however, swung its horn down at him and blocked the attack. With more strength than even Tom could muster, it tossed him back with a flick of its horn. Derek was right behind him though bringing his mace down on the head of the giant rabbit, stunning the creature as it stumbled back on its hind legs before falling to the ground.

Kiera fired another grenade in its distraction and this time it hit the side of the Bunnicorn as it lay stunned. Chunks of Bunnicorn flew in all directions spraying the ground with its blood. The Matriarch screamed in pain and jerked a few times.

Regaining his footing, Tom rushed in and slashed down at its neck, severing its head with one clean cut. It rolled across the floor, its tongue lolling out of its mouth as it died.

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"That ended way better than I thought it would," James commented after the area was quiet.

Tom stood over the body of the creature panting slightly from the exertion. The others surveyed the area to make sure all the smaller ones were dead and then gathered near the town to check on the munchkins. A number of them were dead, including the one who had apparently bled out in the chocolate fountain.

Writing in the air began to show again as it slowly spelled out words they could read.

"Congratulations, you have found the source of the Invasion and have put a stop to the Bunnicorn's reign of terror." Tom read as he let his skills go.

The world began to dim around them, and they soon found themselves in the room of darkness that wasn't darkness. A stack of coins appeared just as it had before with the slot vending machine.

"That was disturbing," Michael commented.

"Can we do it again? I think I can do better." James said.

"It's random. But that was pretty short. Go for another?" Tom asked the team.

Everyone agreed, so they took their coins, placed them one at a time in the machine, and received their prizes. Most were given a basic weapon or piece of armor that wasn't nearly as good as what they already owned. Tom, however, was given a small rabbit's foot on a chain.

Matriarch's Lucky Rabbit Foot

As long as this item is on your person (not in your inventory) the wearer receives +5 to Luck.

"That's handy," Tom commented as he attached the foot to a belt loop on his pants.

"That hardly seems fair," James said from behind him.

"Tom's kill. Tom's prize. Can't argue with the System." Derek said off-handedly.

"Can and will," James replied.

"Let's just see what we can get for the next dungeon," Tom said as he stood and waited.

Nothing happened.

"Maybe we need to leave and come back?" Kiera asked.

The team saw the door appear behind them and all walked out of the room. When the door closed behind them, Tom reopened it and stepped inside. Sure enough, the words appeared in the air again when they closed the door and the die appeared in the air to be rolled.

"Good call, Kiera," Tom praised her before flicking the die again and watching it roll.

Number nineteen came up on the die this time and the world again began to shift around them. This time, the darkness grew between them. They reached out for each other, but they seemed to be pulled away from each other. Soon the darkness was all-consuming, and they couldn't see. Tom waved his arms around but couldn't even see those anymore.

Slowly, the world began to come back into focus. Tom looked around and found himself inside some kind of cage. He was sitting down at the back of the cage and tried to get to his feet. It was too small. He couldn't stand and found that both of his feet were shackled to the floor.

"What the hell?" Tom said aloud as he looked around to see where he was.

Stone walls lined the room along with several other cages, some empty, others holding only skeletons shackled as well.

"Guess I need to figure a way out of here. Gotta find the others." Tom said as he began to look at the locks on the shackles.

He tried to send them to his inventory like he had with the handcuffs but received a message in response to his attempt.

Error

Cannot place the item in your inventory as the item is too large.

"It must see them as part of the cage since they are connected." Tom thought to himself.

Pulling on the chain, he heard it groan, but it wouldn't give. He looked at his inventory screen to see what he had available and pulled out a dagger he had looted off of either something or someone he had killed. It bothered him a bit that he couldn't recall which, but he put it out of his mind for now as he began to work at the lock on one of the manacles.

Tom was not a professional lock pick. He had watched videos on YouTube about how to pick locks and had even bought one of those clear locks and a lock pick kit in an ADHD-filled moment to practice with. He remembered the lessons about the pins needing to line up but realized these weren't the same kind of lock.

He had seen a number of videos where they talked about how to pick the lock on a handcuff and looking at the holes on the shackles, they appeared to be similar. Remembering he had taken the keys to the handcuffs from the last time he was bound, he put the dagger away and retrieved the keys. Placing one in the lock, he turned it. The shackle opened just like a handcuff would.

"Yes!" Tom whispered to himself, and he undid the second shackle.

Looking at the cage, he found the panel that appeared to be the door and noticed it was locked as well, but this time with a padlock.

"What I wouldn't give for a bobby pin right about now," Tom mumbled as he stared at the lock.

Just then, the door at the far end of the room opened and a large man wearing a hood entered the room. He looked to be about the same size as Kevin, which gave him pause. He walked over to the cage and looked inside at Tom who sat defiantly.

"Good, you are awake. It is time to begin the procedures. Your friends were all given the chance to leave, and they decided to take it. Too bad. It would have been more fun with everyone."