As they worked in the dimly lit, oppressive mine, Olorun wrinkled his nose and glanced around with a pained expression. "Ugh, what’s that smell?" he groaned, wiping his brow with the back of his hand.

Eleo’s ears twitched, and he looked sheepish, his whiskers twitching. "Sorry," he muttered, "It’s my sweat. This place doesn’t exactly have a fresh breeze coming through." He let out a tired chuckle, but his eyes were dull from exhaustion.

Olorun sighed dramatically, throwing his hands up. "When is it lunch break, man? I need a break from this nightmare."

Sarugami, who was working nearby, looked over, his voice low and gruff. "Should be in a couple of minutes. They’re strict about the schedule here." His tone carried an edge, like someone who had been in this place too long and knew all too well how things worked.

Eleo’s eyes brightened just a little at the thought of food. "Man, I can’t wait to eat." His stomach growled loudly in agreement, and he clutched it, giving Olorun a half-smile. "At least food is one thing to look forward to around here."

After a few more minutes of grueling work passed, the heavy stomp of footsteps echoed through the mine as the chimpanzee guards barked orders. "Alright, you miserable fools," one guard shouted, his voice dripping with disdain. "It’s lunch break. Line up!"

The guards led Olorun, Eleo, and Sarugami through the narrow, rocky tunnels, pushing them along whenever they slowed. The smell of damp stone and sweat hung in the air, but the faint scent of food—though not pleasant—was a welcome change.

As they reached the mess hall, the prisoners were herded into a long, disorganized line. Olorun looked around, eyes darting nervously at the other animals glaring at him. Various species—lions, wolves, tigers, and more—glared at him with barely disguised hostility. He swallowed hard, muttering under his breath. "Great... now I’m gonna get beat up by the other animals. Just what I needed."

Sarugami, noticing Olorun’s unease, scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Don’t worry about them. I’ll handle it if they give you trouble." His voice was calm but had an underlying promise of violence.

Olorun raised an eyebrow, half-grateful, half-sarcastic. "Gee, thanks. Good to know the monkey’s got my back."

After what felt like an eternity, it was finally their turn in line. Eleo bounced a little on his feet, his ears perking up. "Oh man, I can’t wait to eat." His mouth watered slightly, even though he knew the food wasn’t going to be anything great.

The gorilla lunch lady stood behind the counter, her massive arms crossed. She squinted at Eleo before softening, her voice unexpectedly sweet. "Here you go, sugar." She poured a dollop of unidentifiable cafeteria slop onto Eleo’s tray, followed by a stale piece of bread.

Eleo blinked, staring at his tray. "Uh... thanks?" he said hesitantly, taking the tray and walking away with a bemused expression.

Next up was Olorun, who took one look at the food and recoiled in horror. "Aww hell naw! No, no, no, nope. No sir! What is this?" He turned his tray, inspecting the slop like it was something that had crawled out of the mine.

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The gorilla lunch lady glared at him, her tone dropping into a deep growl. "Take it or leave it, bud."

Olorun opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it. He shot the tray a disgusted look and took it begrudgingly. "Man, this food is gonna be the death of us. I’d rather starve to death than eat this." He muttered as he made his way toward Eleo.

Eleo was already seated, poking at the slop with his fork, looking both curious and repulsed. "I don’t know, Olorun. It might not be that bad... right?"

Olorun sat down across from him, slamming his tray on the table. "You’re way too optimistic, Eleo. I’m telling you, this is vomit in disguise. I don’t even know what this is supposed to be."

Before Eleo could reply, Sarugami sat down with them, his face hard as he dug into his food with a kind of grim acceptance. "Quit your damn crying. We’ve got bigger problems than bad food." He took another bite, not even flinching.

Olorun frowned, but before he could protest, a voice called out from across the room. "Yo! Over here!"

Eleo’s ears perked up as he recognized the voice. He and Olorun turned to see two familiar faces waving them over—Tony and Kenji. "Tony! Kenji!" they exclaimed in unison.

The two of them quickly grabbed their trays and made their way over to where Tony and Kenji were sitting at a small, worn-down table in the corner of the mess hall. Sarugami followed behind them, his eyes narrowing as he noticed someone else sitting with them.

As they approached, Tony grinned. "And look who we ran into while we’ve been stuck in here." He gestured to the third figure sitting at the table, a large shark with a

jagged grin. "Meet our new friend, Sharky." Sharky," Sarugami muttered under his breath as they approached. His tone was less friendly and more surprised, with a trace of guilt.

Sharky grinned, his sharp teeth showing as he leaned back in his seat, his voice cool. "Long time no see, Saru. Didn’t think I’d run into you here, of all places."

Sarugami’s fur bristled slightly, but he managed to keep his voice calm. "Yeah, well… it’s not exactly the kind of reunion I had in mind." He dropped his tray on the table and sat down, eyes still fixed on Sharky.

The tension between the two was palpable. Eleo and Olorun glanced between them, sensing the history there but not knowing the full story.

Tony, trying to ease the mood, gestured toward Sharky. "We ran into Sharky a few days ago. Thought you guys might wanna catch up."

Sharky’s grin widened. "Yeah, seems we both got ourselves into a mess, huh?" He gave Sarugami a pointed look. "Or rather, you got me into a mess."

Sarugami’s jaw tightened. "I didn’t force you to come with me. I asked for help. You made your own choice."

Sharky chuckled, shaking his head. "Right… because I had so many options. They were watching us, Saru. Listening. All they needed was for you to run your mouth about taking down Agharna, and boom—here we are. Stuck in this hellhole." He leaned forward, his eyes narrowing. "I told you it was a bad idea, but you wouldn’t listen."

Sarugami’s fists clenched. "I didn’t expect you to get caught up in it. That wasn’t the plan."

"Well, the plan didn’t go so well, did it?" Sharky shot back, though there wasn’t much heat in his voice. He didn’t seem angry—just resigned.

Forget about the past. What I’m mad about is that they took my sword." He glared at Tony, the anger in his eyes fierce. "You know how much that sword meant to me. And they just took it. Just like that."

Tony tried to calm him down, placing a hand on Kenji’s shoulder. "Kenji, we’ll get it back. You know we always find a way."

But Kenji wasn’t having it. He stood up, his hands trembling with barely restrained rage. "They didn’t just take a sword. They took the new one. The one I didn’t even get to use yet. Do you have any idea how long I waited for that blade?"

Eleo, trying to ease the tension, chimed in, his ears twitching nervously. "Hey, man, we’ll get it back. We just gotta lay low for now and figure things out."

Kenji shook his head, sitting back down heavily. "You don’t get it. That sword was everything."

The table fell into an uneasy silence, the weight of their collective frustration settling over them. Sarugami glanced back at Sharky, his expression softening slightly. "Look… I’m sorry, Sharky. I dragged you into something that wasn’t your fight. If I could go back—"

Sharky waved him off, his tone casual. "Don’t worry about it. What’s done is done. I’m not mad at you. I just think you should’ve thought it through a little better."

Sarugami gave a small nod, looking down at his tray. "Yeah… I’ll admit that."

Olorun, sensing the tension was easing, leaned back in his chair with a grin. "Well, now that everyone’s got their beef out in the open, can we talk about how we’re gonna get out of here? I’m not trying to spend the rest of my life eating whatever the hell this is."

Tony chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, that’s the real question. We’ve been talking, and… we might have a plan. But it’s risky."

Sarugami raised an eyebrow. "Risky, huh? Well, we’re not exactly swimming in options."

Eleo’s ears perked up again. "What’s the plan?"

Tony exchanged a glance with Kenji and Sharky before leaning in, lowering his voice. "First, we need to get our stuff back. Then, we make our move. But we need all hands on deck for this one."

Sharky’s grin returned, his sharp teeth flashing. "Sounds like my kind of party."

Sarugami smirked, a glint of determination in his eyes. "Alright. Let’s do this."

The group huddled closer, whispering plans of escape as the guards continued their rounds, oblivious to the brewing storm that was about to hit them.