The squirrel, meanwhile, was running through the treetops with an Energy Cube in tow. Its size compared to him was so big that he had to use both his arms to carry it, and he had to leave the other one behind. Two cubes was too much to run and jump through trees with. He decided to drop it out of sight in a bush on the ground. And now he was making his way towards the Pyramid of Corn, equipped with the Balongus Bracelet and the Yalmton Bracelet, the latter of which was borrowed from that cat.

There was now only one small problem impeding his path to the pyramid: the fire had spread significantly and all the trees around it were engulfed in flames. Smoke rose high into the sky and blocked out the sun, which was in the midst of setting.

The squirrel switched to Plan Q: he would have to go all the way around the fire and get to his ship. Then he would fly it to the top of the Pyramid of Corn and blast his way in with the Energy Cube. It was a perfect plan. It was flawless. And it would only take a couple of hours, considering the size of the burn zone. He set off.

The gang, meanwhile, had entirely regrouped. Snorter, Hoofa, Klumpkrump, and Qaeron all heard Mushpuff’s loud yell from when his tail was jumped on by Bird and they had all swiftly made their way to the source of the sound. Mushpuff had just finished explaining the series of events that led to him being knocked out.

“So where the heck did those two Energy Cubes go?” asked Klumpkrump.

“It was that squirrel!!” exclaimed Snorter. “It had to have been! He’s a thief!”

“Yeah, he was a bit suspicious. We should probably go find him.”

Mushpuff then gasped. He had just now noticed that his bracelet was missing.

“I’ve just now noticed that my bracelet is missing!!” shouted the cat.

“THAT FREAKING SQUIRREL!!” yelled Snorter. “WE NEED TO GET HIM!”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Man, it’s getting so warm over here,” noted Plagiarize.

Everyone looked at the human and screamed. In the midst of their conversation, the fire had spread, as fire tends to do. Now it was about 2 meters to their left, which is where Plagiarize and his burning hair also was. Everyone screamed and ran, except they were smart about it and all ran in the same direction.

“Wait for me, guys!!” shouted Plagiarize, running after them.

After they were a safe distance from the fire, the gang stopped for a break. Qaeron flopped onto the ground, causing a mini earthquake.

“There is a foreseeable problem in the fact that the fire will continue to spread,” said Bird. “I say we should get to, like, a beach or something.”

“We landed at a beach when we arrived here!” said Mushpuff.

“Yeah, but between us and that is the fire. And there’s no way around that.”

“I object,” stated Plagiarize. “I can make it through.”

“Yeah, but that doesn’t really help us, yo,” said Bird. “But thanks for the offer.”

“Wait!” exclaimed Hoofa. “That squirrel’s ship is, like, totally over there. You can hijack it!”

“I suspect that the squirrel is also on his way there,” theorized Mushpuff. “In order to escape with his loot.”

“Then the sooner I leave, the better!” said Plagiarize, and without another word, he set off towards the fire.

Meanwhile, the squirrel was having a difficult time. He was attempting to go around the fire to get to the beach where his spaceship was, but the spreading fire kept pushing him farther and farther away. His path was quite diagonal. Even worse, he was starting to get tired. Night had fully fallen and he had been running for a long time. He hadn’t eaten anything since leaving the ship, and this cube was quite heavy. But he simply could not stop, because that would mean certain death at the hands of fire.

But, as it turned out, the sleepiness was too great. He would soon burn if he didn’t think fast. He did the only thing he could do: stick his paws into the Energy Cube, absorb some of its energy, and beam it upwards into the sky like a flare.