BBOCT Rd2 - Struggle Pt1

Jester felt like he was swimming in his own mind. Floating out on a river, aware that he hurt all over but too exhausted to do anything. Things flashed across the dark river: Lysander with a fish... hissing sounds... the sound of chatter... Lysander being held in the air by the back of his neck, the rabbit hissing violently.

Jester'd blinked slowly, not sure if what he saw was real. Nanuk too had been there, being dragged by another four guards. Karpok, too; she being dug out from under the trees that had trapped her.

But Jester floated back into his river, shuddering at the familiarity of the scene.



He had been good at finding things. That was what Jester was known for. He was the one to find the shiny pebbles, the hiding fish, the good herbs, the best ways to heal, and the others when they played games. But their pod was a large one, making it hard to stand out. Despite this, Jester was their finder.

At least he had that.

But all of a sudden, without any warning, things had changed: a new king, something about discrimination, bipeds and quads fighting... in the midst of youth, he had hardly paid attention to any of that. There were games to be played, weren't they? Or didn't they know?

But soon the games stopped being played. All attention turned toward the fish, which seemed absent for the early autumn season. The others in their pod couldn't find fish like he did, and thus stared at his catches with envious eyes. And then they stopped being able to get up.





More hissing...



He recognized that snark!



Lysander...



Wait, why did his chest burn again…?










"He's waking up."



Lysander perked his ears at those words, giving a much needed break to the nurse that held him pinned against his bed as he laid a temporary pause in his struggle.

"How is he?" he quickly demanded, making it clear with his words' venomous tone how he didn't consider the doctor (yet another biped, this time a cross between lion and tiger) trusty of anything regarding their health--especially not tending the otter. However, his small pause was all the nurse he'd been struggling against had needed to get him back into his cage, much to his chagrin.

"He'll live. That's all you need to know for the time being." Was the doctor's flat response to him, much to the rabbit's frustration. It had been almost a week since the otter had been mauled and, while Lysander would be perfectly capable of holding his own on the field should the need arise, still not having the otter with him was distressing: not only was there the chance of the rabbit having broken his promise to his partner, but also, despite the otter's ability to send the lapin's annoyance level spikes to go off the chart, he had to admit that having had someone with such a positive disposition to talk to during their previous endeavor had been somewhat comforting.

Unfortunately, the bipeds had isolated them now, so the otter did not join him in his cage.

Instead, he was placed on the cage next to the rabbit's, leaving Lysander to be only able of bitterly gazing through the bars separating them since Jester seemed still too weak to be able to talk, or even tell what was going on around him. Talking to him then would've been useless.





By the next morning however, there were no changes still with the otter.

Jester's eyes were at least open and Lysander could tell that the otter could blink, as well as warily look around from his laying position.

The doctor came in, ran a medical check on Lysander, did the same for the otter and once again his nurse stopped any and all attempts made on the rabbit's part to have the both of them place him with his partner in the same cage.

However, this time they didn't place him back in his cage, though they did so for Jester. While confused at first, he quickly learned why he was being left outside as a couple of guards stepped in, announcing the start of the second round. He instantly felt torn about this.

On the one hand, he had to admit that being out there by himself meant less chance for the otter's condition to become worse, but on the other, he'd also be completely unable of keeping an eye on him. He quickly shrugged the latter off though, by convincing himself that if he handled the next fight quickly enough, he'd be back before the otter had any time to get worse by himself.

Well, that was until the otter talked.



Jester's vision was a blur. The first things he could make out were bright lights, a headache and gloved hands moving him from one hard bed to another.

Lysander's voice was still nearby, so that was a good thing. However, the rabbit's voice soon stopped reaching him. It didn't reach his ears through the entire night.

The next morning came, but that was all he could make out of where he was. More noises, voices... Lysander's hissing... Ah, so he was still alive!

Gloved hands once again, another hard bed and those bright lights shining over his head. He tightly closed his eyes to fight the pain, but he was soon returned to his former resting place. He realized now that there were bars on the sides of this bed.

A cage?

He didn't have time to wonder though, because he started making out words as well. And the first thing he heard was something about the second round.

His brain jumpstarted at this, and he realized that Lysander was on his way to the field! He was going to be left alone again!

"I'mm kohmin!" was the first thing he could muster, and apparently everyone in the room heard him, as the voices became silent. He noticed a biped approaching his cage and a face coming down over it.

"Did he just speak?" he heard Lysander's demanding question from across the room. The biped however, only opened the cage and pulled him out.

"Wait, what are you doing?" the rabbit continued, and, as he was picked up from his cage and his vision started becoming clearer (and he realized this was the biped that had been taking him in and out of his cage), he could see the lapin's glare being directed at the biped's face.

"I'm...coming!" the otter repeated, a bit more clearly now, and Lysander snorted at him in response.

"No, you're not," Lysander replied, flashing out his teeth, "you're going to stay here until you can actually do something other than slow me down." He harshly proceeded before looking over at the doctor, "Have him back in his cage, or I will not compete."

Jester prepared to respond, but he found himself unable to figure out a comeback to those words. Did Lysander really think he was useless?

It took him a few seconds to respond but, as the guards took the rabbit out of the hospital and the doctor proceeded to take him back to his cage, he started thriving and flailing in the biped's hands, wailing out to be taken along with his partner.

----

Whenever the pod slept, they did so together: sometimes in the river holding paws to keep from drifting apart, or on land piled on top of each other in a massive heap. It was warm as winter started to set in, chilling the air around their warm pile.

But now when Jester got up, others wouldn't stir. He'd watch Orion, the pod's dominant male, dig out the dead from the pile and take them away. No one said anything as the others were dragged apart; they just went to the river to hunt. And every day their numbers dwindled, the fish became harder to find, more didn't wake. Even Jester couldn't find enough to keep everyone full.

When the guards showed up some went willingly to the camp, figuring their odds could only be better there than in the graveyard that their river had become. The handful of surviving otters was dragged off to cages, and they soon found out how wrong they had been about the camp. There weren't any more fish in there than in the river. The games didn't come back. Life was even harder there than it had ever been before, his finding skills being put to the test every day. And then, as the last of his pod perished one morning, Jester found something new.

He found himself alone for the first time in his life.