FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The next morning Oddclaw awoke with a wondrous stretch, groaning as he popped his muscles slightly with relish and headed down to the lake to wash himself and drink. Moonclaw was there along with Eggfang and Barren chatting away amidst the small group of raptors cleaning the dust from their scales on a cloudy afternoon.

"I find oddheads too chewy," said the mother, "I would not hunt them if I had another prey to seek."

"I agree," replied Eggfang, "to me nothing is tastier than a three-horn, they have such THICK chunks even a hatchling keeps me fed all day!"

"Ohhh they are lovely, but I enjoy the stonetail meat, once you get past the stone it is JUICY inside."

"Not as juicy as hunter meat," muttered Moonclaw.

"Wh-what!?" stammered Barren.

"UH-I mean other hunters, small ones, not ours, they were often around my home!"

"Hahaha, ohohhh I see."

The grey raptor made an honest smirk to show complacency as best as possible before Eggfang asked:

"What other meat have you eaten in your journey?"

"Ohhh well besides the small hunters, there were deathtails in the desert."

"Deathtails?"

"They are hard like stone, their tails sting you in the leg and you can die from that alone, but if you bite the tail off first, they will die and you can eat. Their flesh is not tasty, but their insides are!"

"I remember those!" said Barren proudly. "My mother always told me about her brother who died for being stupid, throwing one up in the air and playing it with before it stung STRAIGHT down into his head!"

"OH! Goodness!"

"He did not even make a sound, fell forwards into the sand and died."

"I kept your son far from them," added Moonclaw sagely.

"Indeed she did," said Oddclaw walking up to them.

Slipping into the waters to rake the dust off his back, his mother swished over and began to lick across his head in a nurturing way to help clean him.

"Good morning my son," she said.

"Morning mother...I hope I was not interrupting."

"Ohoh no just us females plotting like always."

"Plotting? Sand and Leaf are not here, they are skilled at that."

"Unfortunately," said Eggfang nibbling at the skin of her arms, "I have not seen them today. Probably playing with that thing Warmvoice gave them."

"And what a wonderful gift that was," replied Barren with cackling head raised. "Now they can stop putting stonefish up their vents like morons and give me some children!"

"I fear for the male who breeds them," said Moonclaw dipping her head in the water, "will he have to breed both of them?"

"Probably, even I cannot force the two apart."

"They are useless without each other," added Oddclaw, "when they hunt, they can kill any prey they find without fail, but only IF they keep each other focused. Without the other, they are lost to wander chasing sunwings into the sea."

"Not that I have seen much difference from their focus or lack of."

"ODDCLAW! ODDCLAW!"

A voice shrieked from above as he craned his neck to see the familiar shadow of a pteranodon circling the sky. He waved at it before the newcomer started to land, spiralling downwards in a huge sweeping arc before slowing to a stop at the waters of the lake. A large male with 6-foot body and a 17-feet wingspan that the raptors sneered in territorial defiance until Oddclaw approached him, wading out of the water.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Stonesea is in trouble," said the flyer, "he needs help!"

"Wh-what?!"

"Some odd beasts, th-they trapped him in a cave!"

"You cannot reach him?!"

"The cave is too small for me, and the beasts they throw rocks made of fire at us! There were two of us, but my f-friend he, th-they...they killed him, right out of the sky!"

"Oh...n-no, how awful!"

"Please, he needs your help!" The flyer frantically flapped his wings with urgency causing a brief cloud of dust across the raptor's chests. He begged me to find you!"

"Alright, I will go. Do you wish to carry me?"

"It would be faster for us, is that okay?"

Oddclaw nervously bit his lip with a heavy sigh of reluctance. Moonclaw came beside him with a gentle nuzzle to reassure him as she whispered:

"You claimed the sky as yours last time, did you not?"

"...I...I-i hope I did."

"I never saw a braver hunter than you that day, I can tell you that."

"...alright. Alright, I will go."

He turned towards his mother and sister who both looked shocked.

"I have to help my friend."

"Wh-who is this friend?!" asked Barren.

"Stonesea, he is a flyer that helped me and Moonclaw through the Skylands, I have to help him!"

"What, no! Oddclaw this has nothing to do with you!"

"Mother, I will not leave him to die!"

"Alpha would not allow thi-"

"I will handle him."

Eggfang stepped forwards with a gentle smile at her brother, much to her mother's shock and insult.

"I will tell him I sent you out on a hunting, you chased a prey that was already wounded far to its death."

"Wh-WHAT, Eggfang no!"

"Are you going to tell Alpha, and allow your son to be punished?"

"I-i do not, we are hunters, we are not involved in-"

"Alpha is fine with letting Oddclaw help the hairless, and you made friends with Warmvoice. How is it any different to him with his friend Stonesea?"

She struggled to find reason other than worry and the lack of warning given to her. Huffing with a slight fit, the mother snarled and relented with a stern tone approaching him.

"If you end up wounded by some beast far away I will NOT forgive you, understand?!"

"I know mother," he said calmly hugging her, "I am sorry but I have to-"

"No. Just, go it is fine, go. I will not say anything."

With awkward departure he stood waiting for the flyer to grab him by the shoulders and lift him straight up into the air across the plains towards the southwest region. The clear grasslands of sweeping verdant cascades that shimmered from the wind across their stalks, gave the motion of a sea peacefully to the raptor. It always soothed him to see this place, a wide open space that allowed him full view of the ocean to the south, the red canyons to the further west, his forest home east and the Skylands in the north. On the one hand it was a terrible place to hunt being there was absolutely no cover which was why many herbivores enjoyed these plains. On the other hand, it was beautiful and simple. The flyer kept his speed in check to not be too fast for Oddclaw's sake, the raptor feeling queasy from the lurching rush of the currents hitting against his naked body, shrinking his member into a curled foreskin as they approached what they called "the Jaws of the Earth".

Halfway towards the deep canyon was a small network of caves that linked towards the southern beach, interlacing with steep cliffs after what would have been an hour-long walk for Oddclaw across the great wide space. But in the flyer's grasp it only took the longest ten minutes of his life without any distraction as he landed down half-a-mile away from a small cavern's mouth lurched up in the soil. Stumbling onto his feet with upset stomach, he steadied himself before checking his holstered belt and shotgun were still ready to go as he approached. A small group of five creatures wearing green hooded cloaks with flowing armsleeves were circling around the cave's entrance ranting.

"Get IN there Pothec!"

"Wha-NO!"

"You drew the short straw now get in there and get our stuff back!"

"I-i-i-but, what if it bites me?!"

"Then the boss is gonna do WORSE to us if you don't do it!"

"Nnnnngh...f-fine, fine but I better get added pay fer this!"

One of them tried to crawl in on his hands as the raptor approached, slowly slipping the gun out from his holster whilst the pteranodon held back.

"Heeeere birdy-birdy-birdy! Come on, don't be nasty, just giiiiive me back the potion belt so I can-A-AOWW, OWWW G-GET ME OUT, GET ME OUT HE'S GOT MY HAND!"

They scrabbled to pull him out by the legs as they stared at him and his throbbing bruised fingers. Their faces resembled beaks in a magenta tint, the same colour as their hands and feet as well as the tabard shirt covering the front of their robes.

"I, I, I-i-i-i th-think my hand is broken!"

"Oh just man up will you Pothec?!"

"HEY!" cried a female robe. "That phrase is not acceptable anymore-"

"OH GIVE IT A REST SALINE, THIS IS NOT THE TIME!"

"Do you wanna go back on the course!? If you make all of us and the boss go back on that training he is gonna turn you into brick plaster!"

"FINE, Pothec, shape up, get me the chloroform we're gonna smoke this bird out!"

Slowly moving away from the cave's small entrance, the beasts took a bottle from their sleeves and began to mix something sickeningly sweet inside it. The pteranodon nodded towards Oddclaw as their moment of attack, the flyer shrieking down and making a false swipe at their heads.

"WHA-AW DAMMIT HIS FRIEND IS BACK!"

"JUST THROW MORE STUFF AT HIM!"

One of them hurled a small vial shaped like a ball, with fuse attached causing it to explode in midair sending firey clouds and shrapnel scattering across the land, frightening the flyer from its strength.

"YEAH, YOU LIKE THAT, YOU WAN' SOME MORE YOU FILTHY-"

BANG

"G-AAAAAAAAGH!"

The taunting beast suddenly fell forwards with a crumpling slam, sending him into the grass with violent force as his back became peppered with shell fragments. Turning towards the raptor standing with one shot still in his weapon, they bolstered into an offensive position.

"WH-WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

"Leave now," said the raptor, "and I will not hunt you down."

"The-wha-WHO IS THIS?!"

"Who cares," squawked the female, "just some native, get rid of him!"

"Wha-HE HAS A GUN!"

"WELL MAN UP BUDDY, WE GOT BOMBS DON'T WE?!"

"HEY-EY-EY, HEY! YOU, DON'T GET TO SAY THAT TO ME-"

"SUCK IT YOU WYRM!"

The female creature grabbed one of her bombs from a pouch and hurled it with deadly accuracy, forcing the raptor to dodgeroll and briefly feel the explosion breathe across his flesh hotly with shards slicing across his waist. He fired the second shot to spread them out, winging one of them in the shoulder as he crouched and quickly reloaded in the short grass. The cloaks opened fire, hurtling a volley of small explosives across the way as he ran skirting round with utmost speed to evade the blasts. The fire did not frighten him so much as the tiny sharp slivers of light that came shrieking past threatening to shred his skin.

Gauging their movements was rather difficult, owing to the fact they swayed back and forth hopping from one foot to the other whilst hurling explosive orbs of glass that were hiding beneath their cloaks. Occasionally the flyer guard would come hurtling down to knock them from behind allowing Oddclaw the opportunity to attack but it was risky. The surprise attack was enough however for the raptor to rush forwards with shotgun in hand as he clobbered one of them across the face, turning hard behind him to pump one shell into another face causing their beak to crack violently.

Shrieking pain trembled through the hood as they fell back cowering with agony before one of the fiends hurled a bottle of green smoke at their feet, trapping Oddclaw in a cloud of vile gas that made him cough and sputter harshly. Staggering with tears moist in his eyes, the plumes coiled around his head irritating at his skin and forcing him to stumble out of the smog to try and find his enemies. One came from behind him out of the smoke to slam her fist across his head in a clothesline rush, sending him down to the grass before they hurried off enough of a distance to start hurling more explosives. He jumped high as he could to the side like a jungle beast to evade the following blasts, a triple shockwave that flattened the grass and scorched the earth into a small barren set of pockmarks whilst the smallest sparks grew into a fire.

The raptor hurried circling them once again to keep avoiding their deadly tonics, but one of them was now keeping their eye out for the flyer that tried to assault them, tossing straight into the air whenever he came close. Panicking with a start at the blinding flash, he flew off in haste to avoid being injured leaving Oddclaw without an ally as he tried to think smarter. In a desperate move with one shot still in his gun, he charged towards the enemy group of three who threw another vial of death at his head. With weapon out and ready he stopped halfway and fired as soon as he saw one of them with bomb in hand, hoping the shot scatter would hit enough at its target.

His target panicked from the shotgun firing, peppered by the spread and causing him to lose his grip in a stumbling fright, dropping the vial at his feet. His allies did not waste any time in fleeing fast as they could to avoid the blast, the shriek of a sudden burst sending the charred remnants of a tattered cloth straight up into the air to land upon a pile of smouldering ash. Two now left, and so they decided to charge at the raptor in vengeance for their fallen friend. The remaining male tossed another cloudy bottle to send a billowing smoke, briefly obscuring Oddclaw's vision before the fiend came rushing out of the mist to swipe at his face. The raptor retaliated in a ducking strike, punching straight into the masked enemy's gut to follow up with a strike from his shotgun, hard warm steel smacking against his face. But it was only the distraction needed as the smoke cleared to be replaced by a harmless shriek of light, flashbombing his face as he fell in panic.

"A-A-AAAARGH!"

He staggered falling back, hitting the earth whilst clutching his face from the hot rippling pain of his eyes that felt like they were going to melt, followed by the deafening throb inside his ears that turned the world into a dull watery tremble for a few seconds. Shuddering as his vision came back before him, he saw the female foe ready her next attack.

"GOTCHA!"

The raptor saw the bottle fly above his head, trapped in time with seconds to detonation as the fuse blinked by a thin cord of rope woven into the bottle's top and wiring down into a rose mixture of volatile liquid. Closing his eyes and covering his face, he did not see the sudden strike of pure flashing steel strike against the bottle with a tinny clang.

"Whaaaaa-"

"G-GET BACK!"

The explosion came back to them, detonating in the air but closer than they expected as they scattered fleeing with panic. Oddclaw was shocked to not feel any burning char of his skin as he opened his eyes.

"UP, UP YOUNG PAGE!"

"Wha-h-HUH!?"

Standing above him was what appeared to be a human-looking figure in pure steel cobalt armour, glistening like a jewel sculpted into a knight with white horns and a T-shaped opening in his helm.

"We must beat them back, do not tarry long!"

"Y-yes, yes wh-who are you?!"

"A friend to battle alongside with against these knaves, now help me fight them!"

"Yes, right, yes!"

The raptor stood up confused but bracing for the fight, his shotgun out and ready as he saw the human next to him wield a large wooden pole, that started with a handle and ended in a thick rigid triangular blade. The creatures stumbled back onto their feet and were met with shock at the new opponent.

"WHA, wh-WHA-AAAAAA_YOUUU!?_ NOOO! HOW DID YOU FIND US?!"

"There is no mistaking your acrid stench," called the stranger to them, "now cease thy imprecation or suffer my blade!"

"ENOUGH YOU, YOU, YOU STUPID SOD!"

"EN GARDE YON VILLAIN!"

The armoured man rushed the three enemies remaining with vigorous strength, one having recovered from Oddclaw's shotgun blast to his armoured face as the knight went swinging his weapon low in their assault with bombs and vials of dubious intent. But with every arc they made he would simply drive them back, whacking them by the flat of his blade into either the sky or at their faces, cracking two of them dead-on with their own bottles like baseballs which exploded heading past them. One was knocked out cold, the other struggling to keep steady in their desperate attempt to avoid the stranger's assault.

Oddclaw rushed to his new ally's aid as soon as he saw the third one sweep her leg behind the man and raise a poisonous vial above, grabbing her by the wrist and slamming his feet hard to the back of her knees to drive her down to the floor screeching with frenzy. She tried to grab underneath her robe for something, but the raptor grabbed with his other arm and pulled both her wrists behind her back, forcing her to the ground with a bashing stomp to the back of her neck. Crunching hard into the earth, her muffled obscenities came shrieking to his ears as the knight faced off against the two males left. One tried to toss his smoke bomb, but the stranger in pure blue shoved the blade of his weapon into the earth and tossed an entire clump of earth against them with the strength of a boulder, suppressing the fog with dissipating force and pelting them hard with accelerated soil like rubber bullets. One of them fell down from the multi-impact, but the other remained standing and lit off another bomb to roll out along the ground like a bowling ball waiting to detonate.

But the knight stood his ground, gripping his his tool like a broadsword and felt his muscles start brimming with inner strength. His pointed triangular blade resonated a sharp light glinting in the sun between the clouds as he reared his weapon back, then struck the earth with the flat of his blade in a roaring force of fury. A resounding shockwave struck against the rolling bomb, sending it back like a hurricane as the fiend dodged out of the way in panic as the knight raised his blade like a spear and hurled it in an arc towards her feet. Piercing the explosive's glass container as it shattered with crescendo, blasting the enemies within its radius across the plains to crumple and roll in piles against each other. The weapon was also sent up into the sky from the detonation alone as he put out his hand and caught it by the shaft deftly.

"And that...as they say, is that."

Scanning the horizon with one hand over his T-slitted helmet to check if the coast was clear, the foreigner hurried towards Oddclaw who was still holding down the last remaining fiend.

"Are you well, young page?"

"Yes, HNNNGH! I-i-i am fine, thank you."

"GET OFF OF MEEE!" shrieked the enemy.

"SHUT UP, YOU ATTACKED MY FRIEND!"

"Madame Saline."

The knight bent down staring her straight into her hooded beak.

"You would do wise not to antagonise the one whose claws are mere inches from your spine."

"YOU DON'T FRIGHTEN ME!" she shrieked. "You can honey me with your graces but I'm not fooled! You're nothing but the dirt you shovel beneath your boot like a farmboy!"

"Says the one whose beak be buried within said dirt with the piety of a barnacle goose."

"UN...HAND ME NOOOOW!"

Looking up towards Oddclaw, the stranger nodded with confidence to do as she pleaded, the raptor releasing her but reloading his weapon behind her to make sure. The moment she sprang up from the ground she felt the blade of the shovel against her throat making her sweat.

"Leave this place," said the knight curtly, "or I shall dig through the mounds of dirt that fill your throat 'til I unearth that twisted little pebble that once was your heart."

"Wh-where will I go?!"

"Anywhere without these."

He swung the shovel downwards beneath her robe and slipped out an entire belt of alchemical solutions, a row of deadly concoctions strapped to their holsters. Fully disarmed, she talked no more and ran off towards the horizon with fury in her steps, not intimidated but certainly retreating as the knight turned towards the raptor with a courteous bow.

"Your assistance was appreciated young page, dare I say you fought well with yon blunderbuss."

"My...blunn-der-buss?" asked Oddclaw.

"Tis a brave thing to face the Plague Knight's minions unguarded. Foolish, perhaps, but brave nonetheless."

"Oh, th-thank you...sir."

"ODDCLAW?!" shrieked the cave.

"S-STONESEA!" he cried back in feral tongue. "Stonesea are you alright?!"

"I am fine! I...a-are those beasts gone?!"

"Yes, we are fine!"

"Another vermin?!" cried the knight. "Stay back, I shall deal wi-"

"WAIT WAIT S-STOP, STOP HE'S MY FRIEND!"

"Your...friend?!"

"Yes, the...the people were attacking him!"

"Truly?!"

"You can come out Stonesea, it is safe!"

Crawling out of the hideyhole came the young prince of the flyers, gasping with dirt on his wings slightly coughing from the musty air inside. Dragging along behind him was a long leather strap containing various ampoules and small beakers with strange liquids as he tried to shake it off.

"C-can you get this THING off of me?!"

"Wait, that...is that what the beasts wanted?"

"I-i do not know, I was flying low and did not see them when I crashed into their backs. This must have c-caught on my talons AGH!"

"HALT, CEASE!"

The man in sleek blue raised his hand with upset.

"Do not shake them so, they are volatile!"

"Wh-what does that mean?" asked Oddie.

"They might explode, and your friend will lose his life."

"What?!"

"Wh-what is he saying?!" screeched Stonesea.

"Do not move your leg!"

"What?!"

"The thing on your claws, it is dangerous, you must keep still!"

"AAAH! OH...o-oh no wh-what do I do?!"

"What do we do?!" asked the raptor to the knight.

"I will extricate it from him," he replied calmly, "tell your friend to be still and I shall free him forthwith."

"A-alright."

Relaying this to the flyer, the two primordial beasts kept silent and still as the armoured human approached cautiously. Without taking his hand off his weapon, he bent down and untangled the belt from Stonesea's foot before pulling the toxic chemicals away for safekeeping. The flyer hopped himself away as soon as he could.

"Hoh...th-thank you, Oddclaw and you hairless."

"He says thank you," replied Odd. "But, who are you?"

"Ah, yes, I did not introduce myself forgive me."

Pouring the chemicals out one by one into different parts of the barren cave dirt, he turned and thrust his weapon deep into the grass with stance of noble grace.

"I am known as the Shovel Knight. I thanketh thee for your assistance in our previous melee."

"I...I am glad that you helped me too, thank you um...Shovel Knight, I am Oddclaw."

"Well met Oddclaw," said the knight bowing with hand upon his chest. "May I ask what this place is? I seem to have lost my way and do not quite recognise this area."

"We are near the Jaws of the Earth, that way."

He pointed towards the red canyon where the grass would soon cease and be replaced by hard wretched stone. The stranger put a metal hand to his guarded chin stroking against the steel.

"I am not...familiar with that place, pray tell what other landmarks can you tell me?"

"There is...the Skylands to the north, the Hunter's Nest to the east and-OH! Wait, wait um, have you entered a um...p-portal recently?"

"Yes, actually! I was most astonished for I know my enemy current does not have such abilities-"

"It has happened again!"

"Wha-what?!"

Oddclaw approached him cautiously, offering a hand out in friendly gesture with a pleading smile.

"You must come with me! The humen at the base will want to speak with you."

"Wha-h-humen? OH, there are those like me in this place?"

"Yes, I think...well, I will ask them to come pick us up."

"Are they friendly?"

"Yes, they are friendly, they helped other humen before who came like you."

The raptor pulled his radio out from his pouches and clicked on.

"Jane? Jane hello, are you there? Jane, I found someone, another human, I-i think he came from a portal too! Jane?!"

No response came after two minutes before he clicked off, shrugging in confusion.

"They must be busy."

"Do not fear my lad," said the knight nodding, "I appreciate your concern but I must not delay, for I must find and apprehend the Plague Knight."

"Who is that?"

"A dreaded foe of ruthless megalomania, his vile concoctions are but a fraction of his miscreance and vexation. I assailed him after his escape from the Tower of Fate, but he fled into a portal with his minions in tow and so I harried after, ending in this place before thee."

The raptor gave a blank expression trying to parse his words as a confusing array of phrases that he struggled to comprehend. Instead he smiled politely and asked:

"What does this plague knight look like?"

"A cowl black as night, with long vociferous beak of malodorous green like the sickly pandemic he so takes his name after."

"Black...green, right, okay you should come with me."

"Where to, the human base?"

"No, my home, you will be safe there."

"Ah, good! Taketh me to yon homestead good sir, that will allow me to reconnoitre the landscape."

Before he left, Oddclaw turned towards Stonesea who was now joined by his lone guard.

"Are you alright Stonesea?"

"Yes I am fine...I...I am sorry about your friend."

"We give our lives to you, child of the wingmother."

"What happened to your friend?" asked Odd.

"Those beasts killed him, one of their fires struck him and he fell towards the sea."

"I...I am sorry."

"What matters is Stonesea is safe. Will you be alright returning home?"

"I will be fine. Take care Stonesea."

"I will," replied the prince, "and...thank you for coming to save me."

"I owe you that much for helping me before. Goodbye!"

"Be safe, fly free!"

The pterodactyls flew off into the sky leaving behind a gust of wind as Oddclaw invited the foreign traveller back to his home. The knight took note of the landscape around him, memorising briefly the various landmarks of significance as the wind streaked past his cobalt armour, the sounds of clanking steel rustling between his joints as his weapon attached magnetically to his back.

"Be there a township near? I would not trouble thee with my presence if I can find an inn accommodation."

"I...I-i-i do not think we have any town-ships, we DO have a ship but the humen have it."

"OH, nononono a TOWN young page, not a vessel."

"Ah. No, we do not."

"Hmm." The knight pressed his fingers to his helm-covered chin. "Very well, if you believe I am not intruding then I will gladly accept a place of respite."

"You do not speak like other humen," said Oddclaw, "your...your words are different."

"And I did not expect thee to speak with such diction, but nevertheless I wouldst never turn away a companion such as thee."

He placed a steel gauntlet upon the raptor's shoulder as they marched onwards, taking around 40 minutes to reach back to Oddie's homeland proper. Moonclaw and Barren were the first to see him as his mother remained wary of the stranger, but Moonclaw was more trusting.

"Another friend?" she asked. "It has been one-and-a-half cycle since the last ones."

"Yes," replied Odd, "has it really been that long?"

"Wha-who is that?!" demanded Barren. "Is this your friend you spoke of?!"

"No, he is another hairless, I have to take him to their home."

"But, you...ugh, sometimes I swear you think those hairless friends of yours are a second family."

"Mother please do not start this," whimpered Oddie rubbing his head with ache.

"Am I not entitled to have my son close to me?!"

"And if I leave with a new mate in future will you whine about it still?!"

"Of course not!" she ranted scratching the dirt viciously with her feet.

"Then how is this any different?! Why are you so angry with me going to the hairless when I am trying to help?"

"BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT YOUR TRIBE, THIS HOME IS YOUR HOME, THIS FAMILY-"

"ENOUGH MOTHER!"

Stomping forwards with a sudden dominance, he stood defiant before Barren despite her being a foot taller than him.

"Night and day do not end and begin at our home, there are other places, other creatures and we are ALL connected!"

"Those hairless have their own problems and do not need your help!"

"If you saw what beasts we had to face, you would change your tone."

"How DARE you!"

She lunged at her son with a vicious grip around his neck, pulling him down hard with jaws in a snarling shriek to make him learn his place as he kept still. The knight kept one hand on his shovel's handle but Oddclaw put out a hand gesture to keep him at bay, whilst Moonclaw stood in front of him as a precaution to not interfere. He understood.

"NEVER speak like that to me," sneered Barren through her teeth. "What would your father say if he heard you?!"

"That...will not work on me, mother."

"What?!"

"If my father CARED about this family, he would answer that HIMSELF!"

Suddenly grabbing her by the cheeks, he forcefully rolled her to the side and pinned his mother down by the throat as she gasped with struggle to push him away. The knight simply watched with quiet anxiety, uncertain if he should intervene between two feral beasts but kept himself ready with Moonclaw still barring his way.

"I am your son," panted Oddclaw, "I always will be and I will protect this tribe and keep it fed. But I will NOT turn a blind eye to the dangers that threaten ALL of us both far and near, do you understand mother?!"

"GHHHHRK! A-AAGHK! ...yes...I understand."

She settled down as he released her, getting up off her body with his dominance fading from his scent as he apologised.

"I am sorry."

"No...it is fine," she replied softly. "You are a grown hunter, you were able to return alive to us, I should not...I should trust your judgement."

"I respect you, you know that, you have taught me everything I know. But now I must learn new things."

"I...I know. I am sorry, I just-"

"It is alright."

The raptor pulled his mother into a tender embrace, licking each other across their necks and cheeks before she headed back to the nest. He walked back to Moonclaw and Shovel Knight standing awkwardly next to each other.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"I am fine. Sorry."

"No no it is fine, family is family."

"My apologies," said the armoured man, "I fear I have caused you upset by my presence."

"It is fine," repeated Oddclaw in English, "my mother and I, we...had to talk about things."

"Good HEAVENS that was your mother?! I would not have thought!"

"I am sorry about our fight. It does not happen every day."

"No, I assumed not," said the knight pensive, "so this be your home and lodging?"

"Yes."

"That would explain the lack of garments you wear."

"Wear?" asked Oddie looking down at himself. "Oh, no I do not like clothing."

"And yet you have a belt and sheath for yon weapon which, dare I say, is rather beyond the capacity of that I see here. Tell me, from what smith did you purchase it from?"

"It is a humen weapon. It shoots fire into bullets, I use it for enemies I cannot kill with my fangs and claws alone."

"Ahhh I see, this base you tell me of?"

"Yes. I will try and reach them again."

He did not know what to expect truly, the sweet wide lake of cool water next to a tremendous forest where raptors occupied a large clearing of thick dirt and nesting mounds. It was not the worst smell he had known, but it was certainly unexpected from a feral pack of beasts, roaming back and forth gathering meat and feeding young as he crossed his arms feeling extremely out of place as he walked round the perimeter of the Hunter's Nest, keeping well away from hatchlings or mothers brooding in their nests. Soon the knight was staring upon the leader of the tribe, given a cursory introduction as the strongest guards made threatening bass rumbles in their throats.

"This is my leader," explained Oddclaw, "my tribe distrusts the humen, but I will translate best I can to see if you can stay here for the night."

"Very well," he replied.

"What have you brought now?" said Alpha with confused irritation. "Another hairless with strange scent?! Who are you?!"

"I am known as the Shovel Knight, I have come to hunt down an enemy of mine who may have passed through your lands."

"A hunter? Hmmmm and what is your prey?"

"The Plague Knight, an intolerable beast I must stop or else this land is in peril. I must reach the other humans when dawn hath risen, and I beseech you to let me stay for one night at least in your domain."

"We do not let hairless sleep on our grounds and never will. This is a Hunter's Nest."

"Am I not a hunter as you so called me? Then surely I would be counted amongst ye."

The knight did not step forwards but merely raised a finger as if educating on better values. Oddclaw struggled to translate the foreigner's eloquence, but he captured its meaning well enough that Alpha was taken aback by this.

"I...tch, I of course meant OUR kind, not yours hairless!"

"Ah, then please forgive me I misunderstood. If I cannot lodge within your grounds then perhaps I could be shown a place of safety and comfort to rest on my own?"

"That can be arranged. Oddclaw, take him to the dry mountain. He will rest safely there."

"Yes, Alpha."

With that the Shovel Knight bowed a curtsy of respect, as Oddclaw took him towards the small mountain peak where a cave lied within. He avoided Barkclaw, not wanting to upset him with the idea that an intruder would be near their special place, which remained firmly hidden beneath a large rock that blended in against the wall. The sun was still high with a clear blue sky as the knight watched over the great canvas of purest green with resplendent wonder, planting his shovel blade against the stone floor beside the raptor.

"What a magnificent home you have!"

"Thank you," replied Oddclaw.

"Rarely have I seen such wilderness unspoilt by Man's grasp of tenacity."

"I still cannot reach them on the ray-dee-oh." He waggled the device towards the knight as if to prove such. "They must still be busy."

"What is this ray-dee-oh?" asked Shovel Knight leaning back against the wall.

"It helps me speak with the humen from far away."

"AH, I see, long-distance communication! Well if they are not in the vicinity then we cannot hail them. I have time, though I hope they have not encountered that most dreadful Plague."

"Would you like one lump or two?" asked Ms. Kerkorian.

"Oh TWO please!" squeaked the visitor. "I have quite the sweet tooth you see heeheheee!"

"Ohoho I understand plenty. So, uh mister Pla-"

"DOCTOR Plague please, I am a man of SCIENCE after all!"

"Ohoh yes, yes of course."

Sitting in a break room at the T.E.A.R base, Anna the librarian sat opposite of a rather diminutive creature who wore a long black hood and a green mask resembling a bird's beak. His staff, black with bird's head at the tip, remained firmly grasped in his left hand whilst the right gripped a cup of tea, pinky out like a gentleman.

"Tell me how did you come by our base?" asked Anna.

"Well," said the doctor, "I was studying the landscape looking for herbal remedies, naturally!"

"But...surely you noticed we're on a beach."

"W-well I was looking for vegetation in the WATER clearly, saltwater aquatica, it's very complicated."

"I see."

She gently sipped her tea whilst he smashed his teacup into his mask to let it all drip off his beak. Dead silence for a few minutes as the robed physician tapped his fingers back and forth.

"Would you like to take off your robe?" she asked politely. "Must be awful hot for you in this heat."

"No no that's fine, I get QUITE cold easily heehaha, very VERY cold indeed, some joke that I am a walking corpse!"

"HAH, ohoho dear that must be quite...awkward in your position."

"Not really, I find death a fascinating process!"

"Reaaaallyyyy?" She leaned forwards with hand cradling her wattled neck. "Are you a mortician then?"

"Eventually!" he cried raising his cup. "Could I have some more tea please?"

"Oh yes certainly." Anna poured him another cup from the teapot. "It was very good of you to come, we have been having some trouble with this dimensional anomaly nonsense and it's quite hard to gauge it sometimes."

"Weheheeeell," chittered Plague, "I would not know any such thing!"

"Did you not mention you met another person not of this world, a white fellow?"

"OH yes, merely an acquaintance I told him to watch out for a dastardly fiend who has been hounding me, I explained already to your uh, Jane was it?"

"Yes yes," murmured Kerkorian. "Actually, since you are a medic, we DO have a pharmacist on staff duty, he's out at the moment collecting more samples."

"Of what?!" he squawked.

"Ohhh flowers, medicinal herbs, he could recommend you some things to pick!"

"MARVELLOUS, GEHEE!"

Plague slammed the teacup once again into his face as the woman looked on quizzically.

"Are you alright dear?"

"OH YES I'm fine, sorry I have a drinking problem RIGHT that's the tea party done!"

Gleefully hopping off his seat he waddled over towards Kerkorian after wiping his face clean with his sleeve.

"Perhaps you could show me to the laboratory."

"Oh dear I'm terribly sorry but I don't have access, I am just a librarian."

"Blast-I-i-mean OH...SILLY ME!" He balled up his fists before slapping them to his cheeks. "I would have thought such a deLIGHTful woman such as you would be perfectly educated in all manner of chemical things!"

"Ohohoooo that's not quite my field dear," she smiled kindly with a knowing nod, "but I DO appreciate you coming here after you landed all the way here, doctor Dixon is most terribly worried about this dimensional problem we're having."

"Ohhhh has it happened before?!"

"Why yes, only last year we had some dreadful problems with space pirates of all things!" She sipped her tea calmly as if discussing the neighbour's wallpaper. "I mean I have seen some terrible things in my life good sir, but space pirates was not one of them!"

"What an ABSURD notion, pirates do not live in space!"

"You would think me mad doctor but it is true, ask anyone around here and I daresay I am the most sane of them all."

"Find that hard to believe you old bat," he muttered quietly beneath his mask.

"Hmm?!"

"I MEAN I-i find that hard to believe you told THAT...with a straight face, it sounds almost like a child's putrid lithography!"

"Well, perhaps you would like to pass the time with a book?"

"Why not?! It will help stimulate the vitriols of my mind a-brewing yeeheehehee."

He walked behind Ms. Anna as she led him towards the library. The humans still found his presence to be odd but he had managed to infiltrate the place easily with unassuming posture as simply a lost doctor from another realm unfazed surprisingly by their technology.

Just a more shiny form of magic, he thought to himself traipsing along smooth steel corridors. Imbeciles they are to let me in so easily, everyone can trust a doctor it seems! TO THINK PERCY EVEN ONCE CLAIMED I WOULD HAVE BETTER LUCK AS A DENTIST OF ALL THINGS, WELL WHO'S LAUGHING NOW YOU HORSEHEADED FOP?! ...only wish I was not forced to leave behind my powders to infiltrate this place, my minions better take GREAT CARE of my vials, it took me twenty minutes to make that stuff deadly!

They soon reached the library, a charming well-lit area as he glanced across the various tomes with titles unfamiliar to him. He skimmed through a few of them with vapid interest as Ms. Kerkorian kept on her reading of Dostoevsky's The Idiot. A few minutes passed as insufferable boredom sank in, the plague doctor unable to keep his focus through the first chapter of whatever he had bothered not to read the title of until he made an excuse.

"A-ah miss, could you excuse me I need to use the facilities."

"OH of course," she said nodding, "just head out, turn right to the end and turn left, you should see the bathrooms there."

"THANK you!"

With a skip of desperation, the robed creature almost danced his way through the halls in frantic need to commit espionage. The military sections were sealed off in the other zones of the base, but he could at the very least work his way round the residential quarters and pick up information. He found the bathrooms and then noticed there were ventilation shafts, giving him an idea.

"Yesssss, like the plague itself I sneak into your home and LEAVE you robbed of all your secrets and dignity, yeeHEE!"

He clambered onto the toilet and screwed open the vent covers with the beak of his staff, pulling himself up with an ineffable struggle as his tiny legs kicked and swung like a flailing baby chimp.

"OH you sodding legs, get UP you-GAH, c-come on GUUH! Just, let me...hnnn...NNNNNNGUH!"

It was the most strenuous exercise he had ever performed in the last nine years, gasping as he hoisted himself forwards with a heaving breath into the claustrophic shaft.

"Hhhhh...hhhhhhhh...nnnngh...b-blasted physique, my damnable proportions need to be rectified with something a little more lean and...hmmmph, no, why should I weigh down this BRILLIANT mind with dead meat, it only has to move swift, not hard like some oaf!"

Taking great care to crawl forwards in the snug yet surprisingly spacious shafts, the little rogue heard conversations flowing back and forth from people underneath him. He circumnavigated around the base in a long trek of around 10 minutes' worth, but he could not find access to the laboratories.

BLAST, he ranted in his head, the fools must have a different ventilation for it! Let's see if I cannot find anything else useful at least.

Skirting round back towards the bathrooms, the plague doctor peered through slats hoping to pick up some worthy information. A few guards debated with each other on various topics, none of which he cared enough to hear but then he heard something coming from the office of Jane Addison.

" Jane, I have been calling you all day, where have you been?!"

"Sorry, sorry we were out investigating, I just got back myself, we just encountered another visitor!"

" R-really?! You found one too?!"

"Yes-wait...wait, what do you mean found one-h-h-have you found someone else?!"

" Yes, he is with me now, I want to take him to the base. Can you take us there in the ship?"

"Well I...oh, god um, we just found two of them ourselves, one of them is with us now, the other is out on a mission of his own apparently. What does this friend of yours look like?"

Sneaking closer towards the office, the plagued intruder peered through the vent to see Jane listen intently to a black metal brick.

" He said he calls himself the Shuh-ville Night. He wears blue armour like um...uhmmmm Peter from Narnia."

"A shovel knight?!" she asked leaning back to rub her head. "Right, well, you sit tight and I'll get to Brightman to pick you up."

" Yes, thank you."

"See you around thirty minutes."

The radio clicked off as she left her office. Taking a few minutes to wait in case she returned, he snuck down inside her room from the vent noticing that she had labelled different frequencies on the side of her radio for different people. He clicked the dial over to the right number and tested it quietly in the corner of the room.

"Kevin? Kevin, hello can you hear me?"

" Huh?! Who is this?"

"It's me, the doctor! I fear your friends have been tricked by that odious knight who was hounding me, the one I told you who worked for that AWFUL man?!"

" What?!" squawked an old man's voice crackling through. " Is that the fiend you were talking about?!"

"Yes, yes indeed professor! I want you to come to the base in thirty minutes' time, they will be landing at the beach where the large rocks are with all the little creatures are, the tide pools!"

" But Jane would not be fooled," argued Kevin.

"Ohhhh I beg to differ, this knight has words like a soothsayer, easy to manipulate one's will to his command by his detestful vocabulary."

" We're coming back now!" said the older crackled voice. " Mister Izquierda I am sorry but our recon must be delayed, we have to meet this knight and see what he knows about our target!"

" Right, o-okay then," stammered the medic, " but if you're about to do anything please, make sure Jane and our guards are not caught in the crossfire."

"Ohhh I wouldn't DREAM of it," said the plague doctor suppressing a fit of giggling, "you just come round when they land and I am SURE that our new friend will handle it."

Placing the radio back where Jane put it after resetting the dial back to Oddclaw's frequency, the doctor slithered his way back up inside the vent with a terrible struggle of heaving weak limbs and crawled back towards the bathroom vent, looking to see the coast was clear before landing down in the cubicle. Sauntering his way back with a merry whistling, he looked briefly at the sink and then at his face, forever frozen in a soulless gaze.

"So that dreaded knave has come to harangue me has he?! Well, he shall be my first subject once I learn this base's secrets as well as their discoveries of what herbal concoctions can exist in this world. Prepare yourself Shovel Knight, your fate is AT HAND FROM ME, YEEEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEE-"

"HEY, NO CACKLING!" shouted a guard outside. "WE WARNED YOU SCIENCE DUDES ABOUT CACKLING!"

"Hmph...imbeciles, just for that, I won't even give them the grace of personal hygiene when I am done with this place! Fear me!"

He swept his cloak behind him with the grace of a regent, flourishing into a dancing walk without even bothering to wash his hands in a disgraceful lack of respect. The false doctor even had the audacity to touch the taps with his measly green fingers but not even the soap, gleefully sniggering at his disdain for society's rules.

The alien ship "Petrie" soon landed on the coast northeast of the Hunter's Nest, well out of their territory in accordance to their rules. The pilots had a map charted with the world they had currently explored in a large C-shaped arc with an island dotted in the middle of the immense cove. The raptors' home had been drawn around it, noted as no-fly zone as Jane stepped off with two guards onto the rear loading walkway to greet Oddclaw and his new friend.

"Hello Oddie!"

"Hello Jane!" The two hugged before he turned her to their guest. "This is Shuh-ville Night."

"Ah...well, that is quite a name to describe yourself."

"A mere moniker those acquaint me with," the knight bowed with shovel piercing the dirt, "greetings my lady, 'tis a fine honour to acquaint with thee after our mutual friend Oddclaw spoke in great length of your township."

"T-township? Oh...hhahahagoodness, such manners! I thank you for your time good sir."

She made an attempt to curtsy by pulling her labcoat sleeves outwards, before bending her legs as if greeting a dance partner.

"Please, come aboard, we'll talk further on the ship."

The raptor and the knight followed her onto the ship, the rippled walls and strange colours bewildering to the foreigner as they were lead to the crew's quarters.

"What a fascinating airship!" gasped the knight gazing around with wonder. "Such curious metals I hath never seen!"

"It's not ours," replied Jane, "we had some intruders last year in the form of space pirates."

"P-pirates, from SPACE?! Surely not, they are but rogues of the sky and sea, not from the stars!"

"Well these ones came from space, but we fought them back and well, took what pieces they had to make our own ships."

"By the gods...your people must be exceptional warriors!"

"We had some help," she said humbly, "a few friends who came like you to this worl, along with their enemies."

"Ah, yes, Oddclaw told me that arbitrations such as mine and Plague Knight are not a virgin occurrence."

"Plague Knight?"

The ship soon rumbled to life and moved towards the north, shimmering over the sea in a flash of indigo as its pulse engines chopped the sea in rippling distortions beneath the clear blue sky.

"He is an ignoble fiend," continued Shovel Knight, "a torrid beast who concocts acts of depraved ingenuity."

"I see. Just, for the sake of argument, can you describe him simply for me?"

"A black robe and a mask of green that resembleth a vulture."

The therapist gave a look to the guards who nodded as one of them left to send a radio message privately back to base. The knight looked up curiously as she replied:

"Iiiii think we might know who you mean."

"You, you do?!"

"We found someone who fits that description, he claims to be a doctor studying herbs in the area."

"A liar and a quack!" The warrior brandished his finger sternly at Jane's forehead. "Do not leave him unguarded for an instant, who knows what fabrications he may spin out by his poisoned spindle?!"

"Well we're just about to warn our people now, don't you worry."

"His people attacked us," replied Oddie leaning forwards. "They were attacking my friend Stonesea, they were throwing bottles that exploded!"

"What?! Oh my goodness!"

"A merit to his madness," added the knight sternly with finger raised to the heavens, "he cares not for his own minions, discarding them without a thought and so shall he do the same to you!"

"Well we can sort this all out when we land," said Addison diplomatically.

A half-hour of tension turned it into an agonising journey as the ship settled down into the sands of the shore not too far from the rocky tide pools some distance away from the human base. A small welcoming party came in the form of three soldiers accompanying Plague Knight, clearly dwarfed by them as Oddclaw and Shovel Knight strode out beside Jane and her two escorts. The knight and the doctor stared each other down without a single word, with everyone on edge. The smell of adrenaline rising was palpable to the raptor.

"Is that him?" asked Jane quietly learning in.

"Yes," replied Shovel Knight softly.

"What should we do?"

"Arrest him immediately. He must not be allowed to-"

"THAT'S HIM!" shrieked the plague doctor pointing. "THAT'S THE FIEND WORKING FOR MUJOE!"

"WH-WHAT?!"

"DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE, HE'S TRICKED THESE POOR FOOLS WITH HIS PRETTY WORDS!"

"ENOUGH YOU VOLATILE BUFFOON!" roared the knight. "NOW STAND DOWN OR ELSE I SHALL-"

KH-KHHHHHRRRRRRRMMMM!

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"WUZZAT A FUCKIN' BOMB!?!"

Something devastated the side of the ship with a monstrous blast, a fire wave scorching across the beach as the guards pulled out their rifles ready to fight. Jane hurried back inside the ship, but Oddclaw remained with shotgun alongside the knight who brandished his shovel as they gazed through the thick heated smoke. Two shadows stood amidst the fog as it parted. Oddclaw recognised one of them being Kevin, but the other was completely alien to him. With blue body, white limbs like thin plant stalks ending in bulbous pink boots and gloves, and an odd pale melon-shaped helmet with bright rose beacon, it was a strange creature that none of them recognised. They could not even tell whether it was human or not, despite the odd skin-coloured face peering from within the helmet, black beady oval eyes shining in their direction.

"WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" cried Kevin.

"EVERYONE PLEASE EVACUATE THE AREA!" said an old man's voice within the white stranger. "This one is OURS!"

In the brief distraction Plague Knight had forced himself free from the guards and ran sprinting across the beach towards Kevin and the stranger, the Shovel Knight hurrying after him.

"H-HEEEEELP, HELP MEEEE-"

"COME BACK HERE YOU DASTARD WORM I WILL HAVE YOUR TONGUE FOR THIS!"

"HE'S TRYING TO K-K-KILL MEEEE!"

"GET BACK ALL OF YOU!"

The guards had no idea who to shoot, backing off for some space as the ship started to fly itself above and away from the ensuing battle. Plague Knight hid behind Kevin with cowering shriek whilst the white-limbed creature pulled out a shiny black bomb from its back compartment that made a strange whirring noise unseen. The knight stopped himself short bringing his weapon up in defiance.

"That monster belongs to ME, stranger!"

"You want this doctor," screeched a radio in the blue body, "you'll have to get through us FIRST!"

"What, in the name of-...SO! You are one of HIS minions are you, consorting with explosives just as he!"

"Tell us where Mujoe is and we won't backblast you out into the ocean tinman!"

"T-TINMAN!? I will not be insulted by some metal fiend, IS THIS ONE OF YOUR FRIEND TINKER KNIGHT'S CONTRAPTIONS?!"

"Last warning!" The white bomber readied his pitching arm. "Surrender or ELSE!"

"I WILL NOT SURRENDER TO A MACHINE THAT CANNOT EVEN SPEAK FOR ITSELF!"

Shovel Knight swung his blade against the sand, kicking up a heavy cloud of dust to briefly blind his new opponent, charging with a slam of his steel elbow into the exposed pink face as he fell back with a yelp. But he still grabbed the bomb and set it alight to punch it across and behind the knight.

"LOOK OUT!"

Oddclaw's shriek in primal instinct alerted him as he felt the raptor pull him hard to the side, ducking behind one of the stone natural pillars of the beach to shield from the ensuing blast. A crater hollowed in the shoreline as the bomber stood to adopt a fighting stance, leg pulled back and arms bent in an L with fists up and ready.

"I hope you realise who you're fighting, tinman!"

"And I hope YOU realise whoever's voice that may be, that I do not tolerate such arrogant machinations!"

"GO GET 'IM BOMBERMAN!"

Charging across the sunkissed earth, the white-limbed robotic adversary blocked Shovel Knight's oncoming strike with a metallic clang against his wrist, slamming his other fist into the knight's chest to knock him down as Oddclaw fired instantly with one shot in the torso. Scattering pellets from his shell pinged against the steel body, but it hurt the machine enough to make it step back and wince like a human would. He pulled another bomb from his back by unseen manufacturing, lighting and throwing almost in the same movement as Oddie dodged frantically out of its blast radius with knight in tow.

Smoke began to cover the beach from an unknown source, obscuring the soldiers' vision with orders to pull back and not to fire for fear of harming allies. It almost began to envelop a wide circle that extended partly to the sea, canvassing a good length of both shoreline and jagged stones where Oddclaw hid. The Shovel Knight however stood brazen in the open sands, whirling his fearsome tool by the shaft and rushing to attack the bomber. A swiping cut of the shovel blade aimed towards the legs as the bomber jumped in a springing backflip, pulling another explosive to hurl down at the beach forcing the knight to dodgeroll out of harm's way. The blast scorched some of the sand in a burning cross, sending flumes of hot yellow dust into the air as the knight circled round his opponent. The seemingly-robotic enemy began tossing more and more bombs to try and stop him, causing a minefield destruction that Shovel Knight had to navigate himself through. Scattering showers of burning sand and rampant blasting fires came left and right, the armoured man strafing between the edges of the blast radius that he by now had figured out what was safe distance from.

The bomber felt a sudden shot to the back of his head, knocking him down with a yelp and turning to see the raptor aiming his shotgun down upon him. The robot sweep-kicked him hard before slamming his pink-fingerless fist into Oddclaw's face, the raptor countering with a second shotgun blast but the bomber smacked the gun away just before it fired inches from the right of its head. The enemy paid him back with another punch to the snout, knocking his head back to the sand before the striking slash of the shovel blade scored down the machine's back. Shrieking with a strangely human cry, he staggered forwards before swinging a roundhouse kick towards Shovel Knight behind him, the warrior blocking by the flat of his tool along with the following punching slalom.

The bomber started hammering him like a submachine-gun, flying fists that came within a dozen jabs like a swarm of bees pummelling against the knight's shovel as he batted away the rain of punches in a successive medley. The sounds of clanging thuds became a melody to itself until Shovel Knight parried one fist hard enough to knock it back, throwing the bomber off balance before slamming his blade across the steel white helmet like a baseball bat. The robot shrieked falling into a tumble, rolling across the dunes before stopping himself short pulling out two bombs instead of one. Oddclaw stumbled back up only to be dragged away by the Shovel Knight as a twin-set of explosions rocked the shoreline. Despite all this, the smoke that ringed around the impromptu battlefield never dissipated, the sounds of soldiers shouting and clamouring to try and see the chaos within that only Jane and the pilots on the ship above could observe as witness.

"WHAT IS EVEN GOING ON!?" she cried.

"I don't know!" shouted pilot Elaine. "This just happened out of nowhere?!"

"Yes!"

"Why don't we have GUNS on this ship?!" shouted Ted the co-pilot.

"Because there's nothing to SHOOT in this bloody world from a sodding airship!"

The battle continued as the white bomber hurled orb after orb of volatile ruin, searing black across the sky trying to outmaneuver the raptor and knight. The broken shore was dotted with black scorch marks, with one or two of the tide pools now crumbling to release a multitude of begotten crabs, lizards and insects all forced from their moist tiny homes. Ducking behind the rocky plinths for cover, the knight made a plan to Oddclaw as he reloaded.

"You are swifter than me, I need you to distract that fiend."

"Okay," he nodded, "what will you do?"

"I can face him in close quarters, I only need you to bide me time."

"Alright."

Diving from his cover, the raptor coaxed the white stranger towards him.

"HEY, HEY, OVER HERE!"

He fired with an insulting shot, too far to hurt the bomber but enough to make him a target as he hurled three bombs in succession. Arcing above his head, the raptor fired his second shell to blast the first one to ignite, sending a shockwave boom across the air as all three of them burst in the blue sky before cockily reloading in open sight.

"TRY AGAIN, BAS-TARD!"

The robot switched tactics, hurling two bombs overhead but then rolling a third one across the sand during Oddclaw's distraction. He managed to shoot both bombs from the sky, but when he saw the black orb come bowling towards him, he panicked and ran to the sea to duck behind the waves and avoid the force of the explosion. It was all the time needed for Shovel Knight to come up from behind with a rushing strike to whallop the machine with a meaty clunk to the body. The impact shined with the sound of swords clashing across the beach as the bomber forced himself into a rolling momentum, somersaulting like an Olympic gymnast and much to the knight's shock, threw another two bombs straight towards him in mid-cartwheel.

He took the chance and striked both of them back towards the robot, one after the other in a spinning flat-blade swing straight into the air, hoping they would arc and land right in front of the metallic fiend. But the bomber stopped in mid-tumble and suddenly vaulted high into the sky to kickflip both bombs straight back at him, the world briefly upside down as each foot connected to an explosive trembling for detonation. Both found their mark as the knight was blasted across the beach, scorched with volcanic heat blazing through his steel cyan armour as he roared from blistering agony, the pain to his chest from the impact explosion causing even more wounding anguish.

He staggered to the sea desperate to cool himself down, but the bomber was relentless coming after him with yet another bomb up his sleeve, hurling with incredible pitch. Fury briefly gripped the Shovel Knight as he tightly rubbed his fingers across his weapon's shaft, grinding with a determined focus until he suddenly turned and swung with diagonal strike.

" HRRRRRAAAAAAARGH!"

The bomb never stood a chance, suddenly carved in two black semi-circles like a rotting apple from the heat of his sharpened blade, scalping past him with gunpowder riddling past in dark ashen trails into the ocean. It was only then that the smoke would finally clear and the soldiers aimed for both of them.

"STAND DOWN, I SAID STAND DOWN!"

"PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN AND YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD, NOW!"

Both warriors of steel complied and sheathed their weapons if any, putting their hands up as Oddclaw peeked out of the ocean cupping some water in his claws to splash over the knight. The sizzling relief that came from him was palpable as he moaned with gratitude for the cooling ocean as Oddclaw kept scooping and tossing over him. The ship landed once more as the soldiers closed in with the battle now over as Jane hurried out to survey the scene.

"What in god's name just HAPPENED?!"

"I do not know!" cried Oddclaw. "I remember coming off the ship with Shuh-ville, and that green, black, thing, ran across the beach to Kevin and the white one-"

"What HAPPENED," said a radio from the bomber, "is that we defended ourselves from THIS rogue who is in cahoots with Mujoe!"

"DAMNABLE LIES!" roared Shovel Knight, "I was in the midst of arresting that pernicious demon Plague Knight, when YOU dared to stand against me!"

"And why is THAT hmm!? Because he knew of your association to Mujoe, ruining your plan to infiltrate?!"

"I do not know any Moo-joe, what in heaven's name is a Moo-joe?!"

"That playgh attacked my friend!" added Oddclaw in defence. "He had friends who tried to hurt mine for no reason!"

"What?!" asked the bomber's radio. "And who are you?!"

"I am Oddclaw, I live here and I would have been killed if mister Night had not come and saved me from the playgh's friends attacking me!"

"Is...is that true? ...hmmm."

The bomber seemed to turn pensive and looked back towards the west.

"Doctor do you have anything to say in your defe-...wh-where...where did he go?!"

There was not a trace of the Plague Knight anywhere to be found on the edge of the beach. But it was Oddclaw that noticed something more worrying.

"Where...wh-where is...Kevin?!"