Fiona swerved to the side to avoid the snapping jaws of the beast, and Bonnie quickly leaped to a safe distance, Darla and Greg took a more unusual stance–rolling up their sleeves, and strafed to the side while Fiona drew the ire of the reptilian. She avoided the snapping jaws and swiping claws, dodging at the last second and feeling the lightest of breezes. The buzz of adrenaline and her heart beating in rapid-fire were all she could sense as she engaged against this crime against cuteness.

This is what she lived for. A giant, god-sized lizard might have killed her, but she got brought back to return the favor, in some cosmic balance of the universe.

“Swing, batter batter!” she called out as she saw an opening, hopped over the gnashing teeth of the gator, and landed a meteoric swing at the beast, catching it in the snout. It reeled backward with the blow, and tumbled across the stone of the underground aqueduct. It growled and got right back up in an instant, after righting itself and giving itself space.

“Fi, keep it in position! I’ll try to ensnare it!” Bonnie held her wand in hand, making small flicks with her wrist, tracing small runes that hovered in the air. Fiona had seen her use spells like this before in a rare bout of combat, back when she’d first met her, and she could easily disable and ensnare foes. She just needed to buy her time.

The gator, however, took note of this and lunged forward, trying to disrupt her casting. Fiona took the initiative to land another hammer blow, but the beast bulldozed past her, and sent her spinning to the ground–it had shrugged off the body blow without even being phased! She called out a warning, but Greg and Darla were already on the move.

Greg had his notebook in hand, a spiral of paper weaving around and wrapping around the gator’s snout, constricting and leaving the creature shaking its head–and Greg was thrown to the side, still tethered by the notebook. He tumbled gracefully to the side, snapping the notebook closed and tearing the paper, where it snapped like a rubber band to constrict the creature.

Darla wasn’t one to sit out of the fight, and used daring acrobatics to land sweeping blows with her fists. Fiona wouldn’t have thought much of it as she was raining down hammer blows, and her fists hit hard, sending the gator reeling. “Darla, you been working out?” she panted in between blows, and leaping over a massive tail swipe, coming up to smack the creature in the legs.

But she wasn’t hearing a satisfying crack when she hit. The scales cracked, but this creature's bones must be made of steel or something! Darla grinned and grabbed the creature by the neck, trying to rodeo it while landing blows on its face and let out a shout of joy.

“Dearie, we got bigger, scarier, nastier things in Underlune! This thing looks like someone’s lost pet!” Darla let out a whistle as she smashed one eye shut on the creature, who managed to snag one tooth on the paper binding and rip it, allowing its maw to open.

Acidic saliva drooled from the corners of its mouth, and slowly corroded the paper. Greg attempted to wrap more using his notebook, but got a glancing blow from a tail swipe and sent tumbling, all while Fiona dodged over a body charge. She grabbed Darla’s hand to steady herself on the creature’s back, where Darla held her steady from the thrashing and eccentric movements

“Bonnie, anytime with that warding spell, so I can play croquet!” she shouted out with glee. She smashed her hammer down into its mouth, and she heard teeth creaking. What was this thing made out of, anyway?

Her ponderance was interrupted by the bindings letting loose with an elastic snap and the gator tried to roll on its side and twist its body, flinging her and Darla forward. Luckily she had anticipated this and flung her body to an angle and kicked off the wall–while bringing her hammer to bear.

She smashed into the creature with a bone-jarring impact, and this time, she knocked a tooth loose from its jaw, causing it to flinch in pain. Now its scales were cracked and bleeding. It slashed out with its extra legs, catching her coat but not her body, and she was less than amused as her fashion wear got a great big gash. “Hey, easy on the outfit! I have to wear this to work!” she bellowed out.

“Only Fiona would worry more about the jacket, than getting a great bleeding chomp on her posterior,” Greg mused, having recovered and was scratching in a new rune into his spellbook.

The sewer gator saw this and lurched back its head, making a slight gargling sound. Fiona knew by instinct what could happen, and threw him–and herself–to the deck, just as a gob of acidic mucus splashed into the floor, just where they had been. “Alright, you almost messed up Greg’s hair–and his head! That’s not gonna stand, Next week’s stunning sports jacket!” Fiona bellowed out, and picked herself up off the floor, hammer in hand. The creature appeared winded from the attack, giving Darla a chance to conjure–

…A frying pan? Fiona had seen crazy things, but when a cast iron frying pan appeared in her hand, and she wound up delivering a stunning blow, she’d never have thought that this would be possible.

“You can conjure chef items?!” Fiona gasped.

“Sure can!” The gator backed off after getting several whacks with the cast iron pan, and Darla made a furious roar at the creature, now trying to go after Bonnie.

Fiona and Darla had the right idea and heaved with all their might on the creature’s tail, and it yelped. She dug her boots into the stone walkway, feeling sweat trickle down her back from the intense fight–but this felt as exhilarating as ever! “Oh, no, no nibbling on the kitsune! That’s my job!” Fiona declared gleefully.

“Still here, still pretending I didn’t hear that!” Bonnie mostly ignored the comment and thrust her wand out, just as a series of glowing golden runes finished appearing. The rebar underneath the mason's work cracked the stone and twisted upwards, winding around the creature's limbs and immobilizing it, and Bonnie cackled as a piece of rebar wound around its snout. She gave it a boot to the face, for good measure, and it whined at this insult. “Well girls, I think he’s about done. He’s not going anywhere.”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Fiona gave the gator a menacing glare. “Oh, don’t you dare take a bite out of my friends, or you’ll get a walloping!” She shook her hammer for emphasis, and the venomous green eyes widened in fear. “Yeah, you like that? Let’s call the city patrol when we get a chance. Uh, Kae, Regis, where’d you guys go?!”

It had occurred to her that she’d lost track of them in the confusion. Did Mister Snappy here eat them at some point? Not likely, and Regis was already dead, so…

She heard a soft meow as Tucker pounced down from the crisscrossing girder beams forming the roof structure, along with a series of winding pipes. She let out a soft sigh. “Well at least you’re accounted for, cat. Where were you, while the giant sewer monster was trying to make me into ginger snaps?”

Bonnie snickered behind her, and clapped her shoulder lightly. “C’mon Fi, I think I saw them dart down the stairs, probably to avoid the fight. We should catch up to them before they get into even more trouble!”

“I concur. Regis might already be dead, but our transformed rat friend is somewhat more vulnerable.” Greg brushed himself off and clenched his fist at the captive gator, growling and trying to move–fruitlessly. “I now share your sentiment about making some monsters into something to remember them by. As fashionable attire, carefully stored in my closet.” Fiona swore she heard a slight sob from the gator, as if it knew what they were saying.

Yeesh. Wingding, tell me this isn’t another transformed person, or worse, transmigrated across the cosmos, in the most awful body swap, ever? I might have fared far better than most. She pushed the posturing to the side as the group dashed down the stairs, taking mind to keep to the sides of the aqueduct of water on the lower level.

At least it smelled better, this way. The water appeared clear and sparkling, and a few dim arcane lights accented the walls. Darla pushed ahead, sniffing with her nose. “I smell that rat–I got a scent of him when he leaped onto my shoulder. Hah! My chef skills coming into good use!”

“You battered him with a frying pan! Can you summon knives?!”

“I think knives would have been useless against that gator. I was inspired by ‘hammertime’ from a ferocious elf who makes a better wrecking crew than she does a merchant.”

“Hey, Darla? I don’t hand out five flirt discounts.” Fiona could feel her cheeks burning as that sassy barista kept up to speed with her. They moved at a hurried pace, following branching tunnels through the aqueduct.

What was interesting was the fact that there was a few wooden packing crates tucked by the walls–and they weren’t the only ones. Darla slunk up against a wall, before another twisting corner. “I think I heard someone. Up ahead.”

“Where did Regis go?! Like, he should have waited!” Fiona whispered, and peeked out around the corner. Darla used her tail to keep her from going too far–it was flexible, and strong, apparently. Tucker also took initiative and stacked up by the wall, rubbing at her ankle.

“Hey. Earn your pay, Tucker. See what’s around the corner,” Fiona whispered to him, and gave him a quick pat on the head before he let out a short chirp of excitement, and slunk around the corner–disappearing in little puffs of blue light as he phased from cover to cover. He peeked his head around the corner, and disappeared out of sight.

“You know, I noticed something on that gator,” Bonnie whispered from the rear. “I think it was domesticated. It had a collar on, when I took a closer look at it. Also don’t worry about it getting free anytime soon. That rebar I pulled from the stonework is mage steel. Corrosion resistant.”

“Why’s a domesticated sewer dragon running around?” Fiona whispered. Bonnie shook her head, ears at odd angles.

“Beats me. We also had some difficulty getting in. Maybe…hmm…maybe this is a smugglers accessway?”

“Nah. this is part of public works,” Greg countered, and peered around the corner quickly–making it quite crowded, and Fiona could feel him press against her shoulder. “I do wonder…the Lockheed family–er, my family–could have co-opted the connected tunnels and maintenance areas to move contraband undetected. You can get almost anywhere in Fiefdala, with the right tunnel.”

“Didn’t think to mention this sooner?” Bonnie sounded just a little pissed, and Greg let out a whisper-quiet sigh.

“I’ve been out of the loop, and I had no interest in ever coming back into the fold. After the possible arson attempt, I’ve been checking on my end to make sure my father wasn’t tracking me. He gets…obsessive.”

“Sounds like a medical condition,” Fiona grunted. But, she motioned for silence as a shrill squeak, and a muffled meow emerged from around the corner. Fiona stared as Tucker brought them a drool-covered rat about the size of Kae–except it wasn’t Kae, and he was panicking and beady-eyed.

“Get the cat away from meee! I don’t wanna die!” It shrilled while being held by the scruff of its neck. Wrapped around its back was a small leather sling–filled with gold coins, and Fiona patted Tucker proudly.

“Aww, such a good boy! You get treats at home for bringing this one free of holes!” she cooed, and Tucker spat out the rat enthusiastically, and nodded his head proudly. The rat sputtered and stood there, unwilling to run from the apex predator right next to him–and not the cat, either. She knelt and poked at the disheveled rat. “You’re not Kae, where’d you come from, and is this…stolen coins?”

“Yeah my name is Kae, and back off lady, I found it first! Steal your own loot!” the rat hissed, baring his teeth. Fiona narrowed her eyes, poked him on the nose, and withdrew before he could bite.

“Oh no you don’t, mister bitey! Tucker, if he tries that again, you get him as a treat.” The rat went wide eyed as a lecherous grin crossed her face, and Tucker started licking his lips and purring. “Spill it, pint-sized. Did you see another rat about your size and a robed skeleton come this way?”

“Oh, them? They went to pester my uh–” the rat’s voice suddenly lost confidence.

“What’s wrong, Kae? Cat got your tongue?” Fiona asked, while Tucker scraped his claws on the stone floor for emphasis. Which, was as unnerving as nails on a chalkboard, and the rat wore an anxious smile.

“Oh them, and Kae the thirty-first? They went that way, took a left, past the door with black bars, and through the opening for us ratfolks, where we bring uh... repossessed loot. We have to tithe a certain percentage. Worst business deal ever! We get all the risk, so little benefit, and no cheese.”

"Bonnie, bind him and bring him with us. Sounds like we got some smugglers stealing coins–my coins, and Regis’s family heirlooms! We’re putting a stop to that!” Fiona pounded her fist into her open hand, and Bonnie smirked softly.

“The adventurer left the battlefield, but the adventurer didn’t leave you, Fiona.”

“Guess I better call the town watch, before Fiona bulldozes the place.” It was telling that it wasn’t the first time Greg had said that, and the group pressed forward to get to the bottom of this swarm of tiny pilferers running amok in Fiefdala.