The thing came out of nowhere, a blur of mismatched body parts and leathery wings. It was about the size of a large dog, but that’s where any semblance to a normal animal ended. Its body looked like it had been cobbled together by a drunk taxidermist with a wicked sense of humor and access to a mad scientist’s reject bin.

The creature’s head was vaguely canine, but with bulging, bloodshot eyes that pointed in different directions, giving it a perpetually confused look. Its body was a patchwork of fur, scales, and what looked disturbingly like human skin, all stitched together in a haphazard pattern. Six legs sprouted from its torso at odd angles—two were bird-like talons, one was a hooved leg, another looked like a human arm, and the last two were tentacles that wiggled obscenely as it flew.

The wings were a mismatched pair—one was feathered like an eagle’s, while the other was a bat-like membrane stretched over bony fingers. They flapped out of sync, giving the creature’s flight an erratic, lurching quality that somehow made it even harder to track.

A tail that looked like it belonged to three different animals whipped behind it, ending in what appeared to be a scorpion’s stinger, but instead of venom, it seemed to be leaking a substance that looked suspiciously like maple syrup.

As it snatched Snuggles, the creature let out a sound that was part bark, part squawk, and part maniacal laugh track. Snuggles’ indignant yells faded as the creature zipped away, its flight path as chaotic as its appearance.

Frankenflapper - Level 5

There was a description, but I didn’t bother reading it. The name was enough.

“What the actual fuck was that?” I gasped, still trying to process what I’d just seen.

“I don’t know,” Annalise replied, her eyes wide with shock, “but it’s got Snuggles. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but we need to go after that... thing.”

“Fuck, I guess you’re right. Let’s go.”

The Frankenflapper wasn’t the fastest of fliers. It’s absurd body jerked around the red sky like some drunk fisherman was reeling it in from somewhere. It had Snuggles in one claw and appeared to be staying fairly close to the ground.

Annalise and I sprinted toward the creature, soon catching up with it.

“Help me!” Snuggles screamed.

“We’re trying!” I shouted back.

“Try harder!”

“Fuck you!”

Annalise was faster than me, sprinting on ahead until she was almost level with the erratically flying creature. There was a large rock up ahead of her, and I watched in amazement as Annalise jumped up onto the rock and then leaped off of it into the air, timing her leap perfectly so she could punch the Frankenflapper right on its messed up head. The beast screeched when Annalise hit it, its mismatched eyes spinning in different directions.

The Frankenflapper wobbled in the air, clearly disoriented by the blow, but its grip on Snuggles remained firm. It dipped lower, now flying just a few feet above the ground.

I sprinted underneath the creature, my lungs burning with the effort. Reaching into my inventory, I pulled out Granny’s Knitting Needle of Fury, its pointed end glinting in the reddish light.

“Hold on, Snuggles!” I yelled, trying to stab upward at the beast. But even with my arm fully extended, I couldn’t quite reach it. The Frankenflapper’s erratic flight pattern made it impossible to get a clean shot.

“Throw it, you idiot!” Snuggles shouted, his voice strained as he dangled from the creature’s grip.

Without hesitation, I hurled the needle into the air. Time seemed to slow as the needle spun, and for a heart-stopping moment, I thought Snuggles wasn’t going to catch it.

But Snuggles, proving he was more than just a mouthy plush toy, reached out with his tiny paw and snatched the needle from the air. “Got it!” he crowed triumphantly.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Then, with a ferocity that belied his small size, Snuggles began stabbing at the Frankenflapper’s mismatched hide. The creature let out a series of yelps and squawks, each more bizarre than the last, as Snuggles turned into a blue, fuzzy ball of fury.

Finally, the beast’s grip loosened, and Snuggles tumbled free. The Frankenflapper, now leaking various colors of fluid from its wounds, flew on for a moment before crash-landing in a heap of tangled limbs and wings.

Snuggles hit the ground running, his stubby legs pumping comically fast as he charged at the downed creature. Before I could even catch my breath, he was on it, stabbing with a vengeance.

“Take that, you patchwork reject!” Snuggles yelled, punctuating each word with a stab. “This! Is! For! Ruining! My! Fur!”

The Frankenflapper twitched and jerked, letting out one final, confused-sounding squawk before going still. Snuggles stood atop its motionless form, Granny’s Knitting Needle of Fury held high like a conquering hero’s sword.

“And that,” he panted, “is why you don’t mess with a plushie, motherfucker.”

I jogged up. “Snuggles,” I said, “remind me never to get on your bad side.”

He grinned, his button eyes glinting. “You got it, boss. Now, how about we see what kind of loot this ugly bastard dropped?”

As Snuggles looted the corpse, I turned to Annalise. “Nice moves back there.”

“Thanks,” she said, unable to hold back her grin. “It feels like you’re in an action movie in this place sometimes.”

“A fucking horror movie, more like.”

“Yeah, that too.”

“Well,” Snuggles said, done looting the corpse. “I got myself a Chaos Feather for crafting magical items, a Patchwork Hide for low level armor, and a few other odds and ends. A decent haul, I’d say. And, I leveled up.” He grinned like a loon. “Snuggles is back in the game, folks.”

“Cool,” I said. “You can keep the knitting needle. It suits you better.”

“Thanks,” Snuggles said, grinning. “Don’t mind if I do. And by the way, thanks for the save, you two. I had it handled, though.”

“Like fuck you did, tiny. If it weren’t for us, you’d be flying off into what passes for the sunset here.”

Snuggles nodded grudgingly. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Eh, guys,” Annalise said. “We have less than an hour to find this Trial location. Let’s go.”

After Snuggles settled onto my shoulder again, I started running after Annalise. As we ran across the wasteland, cassette tape tumblers blowing past us, I kept checking the map to make sure we were heading in the right direction.

“It can’t be far now,” I said after half an hour, my body soaked in sweat, lungs burning like fuck. “The map says… we’re near.”

“Not near enough,” Annalise said, panting now as well. “Keep moving.”

We ran as fast as we could for a further fifteen minutes, and the whole time I gradually got this sickening feeling that we weren’t going to make it. We had wasted too much time. Even Snuggles had gone quiet, and I could sense his growing anxiety as he gripped my neck harder. The fucking Overseers were probably loving all this anguish, sipping on it like an afternoon cocktail, grinning to themselves as they watched us scrabble to survive. Bastards.

Annalise stopped suddenly, then pointed to the distance. “There,” she wheezed. “That has to be it, right?”

My map was saying we were right beside the Trial location now. In the distance, I saw what can only be described as a giant arcade machine, and people were walking into it. Other players who had just made the deadline.

“That’s definitely it,” Snuggles said. “Go-go-go!”

“It’s still too far!” Annalise wailed as we sprinted. “We only have a minute to reach it!”

“Stop!” I shouted at her as the last dregs of my adrenaline reserves flooded my system. “Climb onto my back! Hurry!”

“What?”

“Just do it!”

Annalise hesitated for a split second before leaping onto my back, her arms wrapping around my neck. Snuggles clung to my shoulder, his tiny claws digging in.

“I hope you know what you’re doing, Kade!”

“Hold on tight!” I yelled, then leapt into the air. “JUST FUCKING DO IT!”

The Nike sneakers ignited with a burst of energy, and suddenly we were rocketing across the barren landscape. The wind whipped past us, Annalise’s hair streaming behind like a banner. The giant arcade machine grew larger with each passing second, its neon lights pulsing like a beacon of hope.

“We’re gonna make it!” Snuggles whooped.

But fate, it seemed, had other plans. A rock, hidden in the ash-covered ground, caught my foot. Time seemed to slow as we tumbled forward, a tangle of limbs and curses. We hit the ground hard, skidding and rolling in a cloud of dust.

As the world stopped spinning, I looked up in horror. The timer in my vision showed less than ten seconds remaining.

“GO!” I roared, scrambling to my feet.

We ran, every muscle screaming in protest. The arcade machine loomed before us, a colossal Pac-Land cabinet that seemed to stretch into the blood-red sky. On its massive screen, Pac-Man sprinted endlessly, a yellow blur of determination.

Five seconds.

The door beneath the screen beckoned, a rectangle of blinding white light.

Four seconds.

Other players were disappearing into the light, their silhouettes swallowed by the glow.

Three seconds.

We were so close now, I could hear the tinny 8-bit music blaring from the machine.

Two seconds.

My lungs burned, my vision narrowed to that single point of light.

One fucking second.

“JUMP!” Annalise screamed.

With the last ounce of strength I had, I launched myself forward. Annalise and Snuggles were right beside me, their faces masks of desperation.

The light engulfed us.