It was a long and treacherous journey to the lair of the boars, and approximately zero individuals died along the way. The gang, of course, had their energy shield, which they used to do something called Not Dying.

Along the journey, the gang and the boars walked outside the bounds of Pig City. Out here, the storm was even crazier. The rain was pretty much going sideways because of the strong wind and the ground was very mushy. They couldn’t see the ground except when lightning flashed, which was quite frequent. After, like, an hour of walking, everyone arrived at the entrance to the lair of the boars, which looked quite a lot like the mouth of a cave. Because of the fact that it was one. Of course.

The three boars led the way into the cave, lightning a torch once they were under protection of the roof. There was a very long spiral staircase that continued to go downwards until everyone’s feet were very tired of constantly turning. At the bottom of the spiral staircase was a tunnel with many other tunnels leading off of it.

“This is our lair,” said one of the boars. “It has served us well in the time we’ve been here.”

“How’d ya dig it out?” asked Klumpkrump.

“With our tusks,” said Boar. “Anyways, follow us!”

“We’ve been doing so,” said Plagiarize.

“Continue to do so, then.”

The gang followed the three boars, except this time they made sure to follow them even more than they already were. They were very following now. The boars led them to the end of the tunnel they were in and into a small room. On a table in this room was a glowing red gem.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

“Ooh, so pretties!” said Qaeron, reaching out his paw to touch the gem.

“Now hold on a second!” said one of the boars. “That gem is very hot, see? It will burn you if you touch it.”

“Well that shouldn’t be a problem for me!” exclaimed Plagiarize. “I’m immune to fire and/or heat!”

“Why is that?” asked the boar.

“My heart is a frog,” said Plagiarize, pushing Qaeron aside and picking up the Gem. “So how’s this thing work?” he asked.

“You just gotta thrust it forward,” explained one of the boars. “Quickly pull it back for a fireball or keep it forwards for a full continuous blast of fire.”

Plagiarize thrust the gem forwards at the wall and a big blast of flames shot out of the gem. The room was filled with immense heat. Plagiarize pulled it back and the flames stopped.

“Wowzers!” he said. “This is epic!”

“Maybe we can use that to destroy the collapsed building that’s on top of our ship,” said Mound. “Then we can get outta here.”

And so, with boars behind them, the gang began the long trek back to Pig City. Along the way, Mound got into a conversation with the boars. Mound explained why the Bearmy invaded Pig City and the boars recounted their various tales and stuff. Mound eventually agreed to come with them to whatever planet they were to be dropped off on.

“What planet are we going to be dropped off on?” Mound asked the gang.

“Why of course,” said Hoofa from atop Gumpton, “none other than my home planet!”

“We dropped off some fish there as well,” said Mushpuff.

“I wonder how they’re doing,” wondered Hoofa.