Stray Rats

A Stray Rat, wide-eyed and staring.

*“Cheese is falling from the sky!! Woo-hoo!! Hurray, hurraaayy!!!”*

ー *A Stray Rat, completely oblivious to Mad Rat and Heart witnessing his delusions.*

The **Stray Rats** are NPCs playing a minor role in *Mad Rat Dead*, first appearing in Stage 4-3 ('Rat Passage').

## Appearance

Stray Rats are wild Brown Rats (possibly also speculated to be *Black* or *Roof Rats* due to their differing stature from rats seen beforehand). Sickly, scruffy and generally unhealthy looking, and with a much scrawnier build than Mad Rat or the Mob Rats, they're described by Heart as looking 'dirty'. Their top-fur is a dull green/brown colour, with their underbellies and tails being a darker shade of brown, and their hands and feet being a purplish colour. They have much pointier ears and noses, longer teeth, more crooked whiskers and more unkempt fur than previous examples of this game's rats.

## Personality

Noticeably twitchier and more frantic than Mad Rat or the Mob Rats, the Stray Rats seen are constantly in a state of joyous ignorance- chasing hallucinatory delusions of cheese. It is *heavily* implied that the Rat God (or, at least, one of her kind) is behind the Stray Rat's delusions, as she was with Mad Rat's.

## Story

### Role in the Plot

An example of a Stray Rat first appears in the beginning cutscene Stage 4-3 ('Rat Passage'), drawing attention to himself by loudly celebrating over imagined cheese falling from the sky, which initially annoys Mad Rat.

After Mad Rat tries and fails to get the Stray Rat's attention, he darts off in pursuit of imagined cheese. After Heart tells Mad Rat that that's exactly how *he* was acting before his intervention, Mad Rat has a moment of clarity (and arrogant pride for himself and his species) and states; *"Rats are smart. I'm too smart to die before I find out what the hallucinations are."* - Seeing Mad Rat's newfound boldness, Heart encourages him to follow the Stray Rat in order to find out what's going on, and this is where Stage 4-3 ('Rat Passage') starts.

After dashing through the woods, Mad Rat and Heart happen across a small group of Stray Rats, bouncing and hopping around feverishly in a trance. Heart, slightly disturbed by their lack of self-awareness, regards them as 'scary' and cautiously suggests to Mad Rat that this might not be a good idea- however before Heart can finish, Mad Rat hotheadedly cuts him off, stating irritably *"If I don't talk to them, there's no point in coming all this way." -* Heart concedes, and Mad Rat tries his luck at getting the Stray Rat's attention again. Unfortunately, he yet again fails- with the group of Stray Rats squabbling amongst themselves over imaginary cheese, **completely** ignoring him much to his frustration.

Babbling incoherently with each other about cheese with a very unimpressed Mad Rat and Heart looking on, they then start to make a lot more sense when a few of them begin thanking the 'Rat God' supposedly for all the cheese raining from the sky. Grabbing Mad Rat's attention for a moment mentioning the deity and trying to question them about it, they all fail to notice an ominous (yet very familiar) black paw, with claws extended, coming straight for them.

While Mad Rat makes it out okay, the Stray Rats do not- all being killed and turned into a red stain on the ground by the Cat from earlier.

A Stray RatA Stray Rat celebrating over what he seemingly perceives as the best thing to ever happen to him.An oblivious Stray Rat celebrating, much to the annoyance of Mad Rat.A group of Stray Rats joyously reveling in their delusions before...... disaster strikes.