“Please shut up; you’re not starting this nonsense, too,” Stan said to his son.
“What, you don’t like your new royal title and bodyguards?” Cal couldn’t keep a straight face anymore, and the laughter exploded out of him. Fighting through his laughter, he managed to ask the question that had been burning in his brain. “How, how did this even happen?”
“Oh yeah, you probably do want the story, huh? Alright come on, Ethel and Jen are inside plotting an expansion anyway, so we can just go join them. Gnasher, Springtail, take Third Smasher to the general; I’m sure he wants to be filled in as well,” both squirrels saluted before breaking away from the bodyguards around Stan and leading Second Smasher away. Cal, Tiffany, and Frank filled in the gaps they left, making the space as needed for some of their larger forms.
“You should be proud of the dynasty your father has forged. We had no idea what a truly good leader was until he stepped up,” one of the squirrels said as they walked. There was a round of loud agreements to this, and even a few muttered insults to their old leader. That was a change Cal strongly welcomed.
“I’m glad he makes such an amazing monarch. Does this mean I’m a prince or first in line for a throne or something?” Cal asked, making sure his father saw the wink.
“God, no, I’m not that stupid. When we wrote an order of succession, I made sure Bug was first in line. Now, that’s someone capable of leading squirrels to war. You could learn a lot from her,” the mention of Bug drove home how much he missed the dog. She had been his only real companion for so many of the loops. He hoped she was doing well with Andy.
“Yeah, that makes sense. She’s pretty reliable,” Cal said with a smile as they reached the door.
“Alright, squirrels, we are going to do this reunion in private. I know how much you hate leaving me unguarded, but Frank will be there, and you’ve all seen what he’s capable of, so if you could just wait out here, thank you,” Cal was surprised to hear no arguments as the squirrels took stations alongside the walls with two of them flanking the doors. They all saluted and were given a nod by Stan before he opened the door and ushered them inside.
“I’m impressed at how well they listen. It took months before Third Smasher was even willing to talk to me without disdain,” Cal said as the door closed behind him.
“They aren’t really bad guys. It’s like the squirrel elders warned us: their former leader was a sociopathic monster who also happened to have mind control powers. If you think this is something, wait til you talk to Second Smasher, that’s a squirrel that has come a long way,” Stan replied.
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“No, they aren’t, and if someone had run off alone deep into the caves, he could have already learned this,” A shrill older voice said from a doorway. Cal knew who it was without looking. Apparently, Ethel had heard them enter.
“I’ve missed you too, Ethel, besides after the fight we had with the squirrel empire, did you really want to accompany me deep into the caves? There were abyssal beasts everywhere,” Cal expected his information to come as a bit of a surprise. Instead, not a single person showed any hint of shock at his news.
“Yes, and what exactly do you think I was doing here, resting? Get your ass in here and sit down. You’ve missed a lot, and it’s best you shut up before you put your foot in your mouth anymore,” Ethel turned and vanished from the open doorway, leaving Cal to wonder just how bad things had gotten without him. He was glad answers were at least soon at hand. Instead of any snarky reply, he just listened and followed her into the room, found himself a chair, and sat down.
“So, I guess just start at when I left and go from there,” Cal said looking at the faces around the table. Jen was still standing and adjusting pins on a giant map attached to the wall. Frank, who rarely found a chair big enough, was standing behind Stan, apparently taking his duties of guard to heart. Stan had taken the seat directly next to Ethel while Tiffany was resting on a large ottoman, also looking at Stan and Ethel expectantly.
“Alright, but try not to Interrupt too often,” Cal nodded to Stan’s request, unsure how well he would obey. “Basically, it started when we learned the Gryalth were making a play to get all the pools we knew about that they didn’t already control. That seemed like a terrible situation for us to be in, so we made the decision to stop them. I knew holding them was out of the question so instead, Excalibur offered the idea that he absorb their energy to increase his own power levels. He thinks that with enough, he will be able to make himself loop-aware due to our growing bond. I released Second Smasher to watch over the population here. Jen was busy spying on the other pools, and I didn’t want to pull her back or take everyone with me, so instead, I just brought Frank and Ethel as a quick strike force. This went extremely well until we hit an abyssal rift, or demon portal, as Excalibur put it. It turns out the Gryalth were pulling them into this universe for their own needs…” Stan was cut off.
“Oh yeah, we found that too,” Cal himself was cut off in return by Ethel hushing him.
Stan continued. “Excalibur was able to close the rift, but this cost him a lot of energy, so we are going to need to get a few of the pools they control now. But this angered the Gryalth, who realized there was a human presence on Pluto, and that’s more or less how we ended up at war. Now you can ask questions,” Stan finished, looking at his son expectantly.
“Well, that explains how it started, but what happened after that? This all didn’t just magically come together somehow, you’re a king. I want more explanations!” Cal demanded.