With Third Smashers' return, there had been a large outpouring of celebrations amongst the squirrels. It turned out he was well respected by the soldiers. Second Smasher wasted no time in appointing him the third in command, following only himself and Stan the first.
Cal joined in on a few of these celebrations, trying to get into the merriment before the hard days to come, but ultimately, he always ended up back at the gates helping to defend against the siege. His thoughts just came easier in the heat of battle these days, plus he had to continue learning to integrate Sleek’s mana into his various abilities.
He fought a few practice sparring matches with Second and Third separately and then jointly to get a good measure of where Second Smasher was with his magic and how far Third had come in their travels. The longer the fought, the better the two did against him. He continued to be impressed at just how quickly they could adapt and learn.
The initial plan, it turned out, was not something the squirrel generals were happy with. This meant that their original strategy shifted several times until there was finally an agreed-upon plan: A multiprong distraction instead of a single focal point. The new idea was to make it look like they were pushing at all places at the same time looking for the weakest place to break through. While this was going on, the group would use a small tunnel the squirrels had been working on to sneak out and make their way to the caves from there. Cal was happy that he had missed most of these strategy meetings, as Stan had left them exhausted each time
As the week of his return to the grove came to an end, and it was already nearing time to leave again. It hadn’t been easy, but after several hours of arguing and explaining, Stan had convinced the squirrels that they had to do this without his bodyguards and that, in fact, they would be the ones in the most danger staying behind. In the end the only thing that had truly reassured them was that Frank would be joining them.
Apparently, he had also become something of a local celebrity within the squirrel society. He had introduced them to the concept of professional wrestling, and it had taken off like wildfire. Cal couldn’t believe it when he learned several fighters were already joining Frank in the ring. He was even more surprised to learn the ring was real. Frank had done a fantastic job helping them build an authentic wrestling ring on Pluto.
“Ethel is with the golems and a strong force of squirrels. Second and Third each have another force at different gates. Onelder is with the final force, and he had a surprisingly good idea, especially for him. He made some light replicas of us. They won’t be able to fight, so he’s just going to make sure they are seen on the wall, but that should buy even more of a surprise as long as we can keep up the momentum without being seen.” Jen explained to them. They had all gathered near a newly opened passage that Cal would be closing behind them as they left the grove.
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“That is a surprisingly good idea. I’m going to have to get over him and brother murdering me a couple hundred times eventually, aren’t I?” Cal sighed loudly, looking to his father for some comforting words.
“Look, I’m not big on them either, but we are stuck with what we can get in this war, and they are surprisingly useful. My big question is, just what are you planning to do with the squirrels in future loops?” Cal knew his dad was trying to distract him from the annoyance that were the alien brothers.
“Honestly, I’m not sure yet. I’ve gotta talk to Andrew and Ralth. Right now I have a lot of half-formed plans that may not even be possible with what we are capable of,” Cal answered. He wished he could use them as an army in the future, but he had no idea how to do that without alerting the Gryalth far too early of their involvement.
Two small squirrels ran up to them and climbed onto Tiffany, chittering as they did so. “Time for you all to go. It looks like they took the bait, and for whatever reason, they are moving their heaviest force against Ethel, not where they think you all are. Good luck.”
“Thanks, Tiffany. Tell Ethel to keep herself alive,” Cal said as he hopped into the hole. Once everyone was inside, he sealed it shut behind them. The plan was not to use this path on the way back but to fight straight through one of the passageways the Gryalth were infesting.
They quietly crept along the passage with just the slightest bit of mana from Cal, keeping them a little lighter on their feet. Once they reached the other end, Jen popped her head out and signaled the all-clear. As they made their exit, Cal once again sealed the tunnel behind them. If everything went as planned, they only had a few hours' walk from here to the nearest Gryalth-controlled pool.
“Next loop is a vacation loop, well, and probably a little training. I need some time on the beech with Bug,” Cal whispered as they walked, trying to keep his voice down.
“That sounds great. We should scout out a nice, secluded area for when we all need downtime. It might help keep us sane,” his dad whispered back.
“I think that ship sailed a long time ago,” Jen added with a smile.
“You are all walking through the caves of Pluto to fight extra-dimensional aliens alongside your favorite capybara and a giant wrestling plant man. That isn’t really that strange, is it?” Albert finished the rhetorical question with a quiet laugh.
“Points very strongly made, and I suppose my sentient, magical talking sword doesn’t help any argument against it either, does it?” Stan asked, his face a picture of a man not looking for an honest answer.