Arc 9: Of Pets and Prophecies

## Episodes

* Episode 72 - Toad Away
* Episode 73 - A Prickly Predicament
* Episode 74 - Holy Crow
* Episode 75 - Un-Fur-Gettable
* Episode 76 - I Was Once in Cashews
* Episode 77 - A Miner Inconvenience
* Episode 78 - Any Way the Wind Blows
* Episode 79 - Rain, Rain, Go Away!

## Synopsis

Winsler presented the Tear of an Angel to Kurt, and the pair eagerly started to look at the plans for attaching it to the golem. Mira opened the urn given to her by Neska, finding a small humanoid body suspended in a horrible smelling liquid. She immediately shut the urn and hid it under her bed.

In the morning, all four members of SWIM were woken with a knock on their doors to give them breakfast. Serinepth awoke to find that breakfast had already been set out on her table, and traced a dried slime trail back to her cupboard, where the slime sample they had taken from the kitchen was held. She spent a good part of the day trying to communicate with it, finding that it seemed happy at the mention of the kitchen or food.

Later in the day, all four students were summoned by Tol and brought to a golem maintenance closet, along with Cyndra Sunfire. They were told that as part of Underbough's final wishes they were all to take part in one last session of detention. They protested, but reluctantly started to work. Tol pulled Winsler aside and told him that they knew what he was doing, and that the Tear needed to be polished before it could be put onto the golem body.

As they worked, Serinepth picked up a strange looking rod with a brass frog's head attached to the end. When she did so, its mouth opened and proclaimed that a champion was needed to come to the Grand Duke's aid to defeat a beast. She snuck the rod into her robes, and a nobly dressed spectral frog emerged from it, passing through each of the students hearts before landing in front of them. It thanked them for their help then disappeared. The students all felt as though they had lost something, with Winsler profoundly feeling the loss of Mr Wiggles.

The students pets found themselves standing in a strange forest, with the ability to speak and understand each other. A noble looking frog welcomed them to Aleton Valley, and explained that they had been brought there to defeat a great beast. After some pleading from the frog, the pets followed him to a small village populated by animals, known as Aleton Village. They were brought to a large manor, and introduced to the Grand Duke Crazax, the red dragon who ruled over the valley. The Duke explained that the Valley had a prophecy about four heroes who would defeat a beast known as the Prickled Pest Who Pursues, pointing to a large mural above them that depicted exactly that. With the promise of a hefty reward and a way home, the pets agreed to try and fight this Pest.

They left the village, returning to the forest, and stumbled across the Prickled Pest itself. After a brief battle in which it summoned the spirits of dead animals and partially broke the bridge they stood on, the Pest fled and the pets continued to explore the Valley. They came across a Lumberyard, and after a bit of investigation were able to open a shrine dedicated to them, or at least four animals of the same species as them. Crowrigami submerged himself in a vat of black ink, gaining a new colouration and feeling more powerful.

They continued to travel the Valley, looking for signs of the Pest. Mr Wiggles followed the smell of rust to a large lake, from out of which stood a tall tower. The pets all flew over the lake and investigated the inside of the tower, finding three bells that rang at different pitches, as well as an orange door that shocked them when they touched it, and an open doorway into the bottom of the lake through which water wasn't coming in. Out in the middle of the lake they could see a small air bubble with something inside, so Ida rubbed some rust from the floor over her fur to protect it from the water and walked into the lake. Inside the air bubble was another set of bells that gave her the combination they needed to ring them in to open the door. Once they did so, they could enter through the orange door into the next sanctum.

This room closely resembled the one from the Lumberyard, except this time it contained a collar for Mr Wiggles to wear. He did so, and felt himself grow more powerful.

After they left the tower, the pets headed south towards the Road Which Ends, but turned off to visit the Sage's Hut. The Sage was initially suspicious of them, but let them in after recognising them as the heroes of the prophecy. The Sage was able to heal some of their wounds, as well as give them more information about the prophecy, namely that she believed it was cyclical and had occurred many times in the past. She was also able to give them an old map of the Valley, which contained information telling the pets where they needed to go to access the other sanctums.

They followed the map past the Temple of Heroes, which had been destroyed in some natural disaster, to the waterfall. They solved a word puzzle that required them to create different letters with their bodies, with the final code being *"YMCA"*. Once inside, they found a sanctum dedicated to Ida, with a karate gi that gave her new abilities. Afterwards they tried to return to the Sage's Hut, only to find it burned to the ground and the Prickled Pest standing outside. It told them it had killed the Sage for giving them information, before knocking Mr Wiggles unconscious and telling them it would be waiting for them in Aleton when they were ready to face it.

The pets decided to visit the Road Which Ends before finally facing the Pest. While the road itself did indeed abruptly end over a void of wind, there was a partially hidden cave in the side of the canyon through which the road ran. Inside there were accounts of all the previous times the Pest had appeared in the Valley, as well as cruder drawings of the murals in the sanctums. The information they found persuaded the pets to visit the Cave Not Travelled before going to fight the Pest. They trekked back up the Valley, seeing smoke rise and hearing screams from Aleton Village.

When they reached the Cave, they found a much older cave dedicated to the heroes, as well as a message that explained the creation of the Pest. The elements in Aleton possessed some sort of sentience, and the Pest was a result of the wind's jealousy at not being given the same care and respect as the other elements. The pets were also presented with the option to leave Aleton and return to Wildcliff, but decided not to take it. As a reward, they were given crystals that increased their power further.

Finally, the pets faced off against the Prickled Pest Who Pursues in Aleton. Crowrigami, Ida, and Mr Wiggles fought the Pest themselves, as well as several spectral animals it had summoned to help it. Meanwhile, Virgil pleaded with the wind to stop attacking them, promising to build a temple in its honour. Eventually he was successful, and the armour protecting the beast fell apart, revealing the body of a naked mole rat inside.

In the weeks after the battle, the pets helped rebuild Aleton, as well as a new temple dedicated to honouring all of the elements. Mr Wiggles was given a mansion, Ida opened a bakery, and Crowrigami opened a library. When the time came, the pets were all sent back home to Wildcliff.