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** Trial day puppy~**

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** ** Splicer groaned loudly as he finished off his meal and downed his coffee, he'd need all the mental energy he could get for this trial. He knew the badger would start them whenever they wanted, but he had no idea why now. He was hoping to let his still quivering legs recover for the rest of the afternoon, but that plan was gone. Walking on the elevator he wasn't getting any options, he wasn't expecting any.

He came out into the lobby and pulled on the front door, the action had become more a formality than anything else. He knew the door would never actually open, but maybe one day someone would forget to set the lock.

In the garden Splicer stepped out to an unfamiliar face. Well it looked somewhat familiar, he saw slight similarities of Laguna, except where his fur was pink and white, the fur standing before him had a much more muted palate. Black and white, with a slight coating of dust, turning his white dusty brown in spots. Splicer could tell from the body type, this badger spent hours working the fields, a thought flashed through his mind.

"I work and walk here all the time... How have I never seen you before?" The wolf asked the badger who was eyeing him up just as much as the wolf had eyed him.

"I was asked to stay off sight whenever you worked the gardens. I begged and pleaded with master to let me at least oversee you, but he refused. Every time I came out after you were done, I saw dozens of things you did wrong that I had to fix. Now I'm told I get to teach you the proper way to tend the gardens, for as long as I want."

"You're the outside help then?" Splicer recalled back when he was told something by the badger.

"More like did pretty much everything..." The badger liked being given proper credit where it was due, and the garden was stunning, well, used to be. He looked all around him, blue, blue, blue, was all he saw looking around him, the garden had lost the careful balance he had created, all at the paws of the wolf. He was going to work the wolf to the bone and beyond trying to fix this. "Name's Joven, you'd do well to remember it."

Wait, my trial is to, work the garden? I mean sure Joven will be running me around but how hard could it be? Splicer didn't get it, his mind ran circles around himself. He knew the badger well enough that something bad was on the way but he still couldn't quite see it. He shuffled nervously on his feet. He couldn't just stand around forever, he had to pass the trial after all, and with it seemingly so easy, he was pretty confident.

"So where do we start?"

"First we need to rebalance the garden," he pulled out a map of the grounds and laid it in front of the wolf, about a dozen plots were circled in red. "I'll provide you with everything you need, start pulling all those blue welters, make sure you keep the roots intact too, I refuse to waste a plant."

"You know about blue welters? I thought they only grew around my hometown..."

"Who do you think figured out how to get them to grow on these grounds? Stop stalling, get to work!"

Splicer jumped to work, he approached the first marked garden and began to dig up the first plant with his bare paws, keeping the whole root system intact, he was happy being told the flowers wouldn't be going to waste. Each one was a symbol of his desire to return home, and to cause one to die would be an equal blow to his hopes. A row later Joven had returned with an entire wheelbarrow full of plastic planters. Splicer took each flower he pulled up and gently placed them within the black plastic squares. He couldn't help but wondering where they'd be going. He hated the idea of his flowers being sold off somewhere, but on the other paw, he relished the idea of his flowers blossoming around, outside the facilities walls, like he wanted to be, like he would be, one day.

Splicer began the next row.

Huh, that's odd... why am I so tired already? Splicer had finished the full garden section, he felt his fur caked in sweat and dirt, his heart was racing.

My heart is racing? The wolf checked his pulse, the vein on his neck pounded underneath his fingertips. He figured out the badger's game for the trial. But he still wasn't sure what was so bad, sure he'd be a little tired, but he loved the feeling of his heart beating in his chest. It reminded him that he was still alive despite being pumped full of machines. He felt the electricity in his blood flow through his heart egging it to pump harder, keep him moving with a pep in his step the nanites couldn't give him. He finished another field of flowers, and another, and another. Joven observed the wolf's pace from his post, resting his hands on a buried spade. He was amazed the wolf could work for as long as he did without the nanites regulating his body's movement for him. Dozens of plastic planters were lined with blue flowers next to the badger's feet. The sun was up high in the sky, beaming down on the wolf's back. He stood up mid-way through the row he was doing and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Did I say you get a break yet? You're not paid to stand around I hope..." Joven's barking voice sent Splicer back to work.

"It was just... a... second." Splicer huffed out between heavy breaths.

He worked diligently, making sure every flower was perfectly removed from their spot and replanted. He lost count of the flowers but after the eighth field, there had to be at least hundreds if not thousands he had dug up, and there were so many fields left...

The sun was setting, the wolf was laying on his back panting up at the sky, a bottle of water flew into the dirt next to his muzzle, he had been working for eleven straight hours before being granted the mercy of a break. He grabbed the water bottle, he was glad it was warm, if it had been ice cold it his body surely would have gone into shock and purged it immediately. He gulped the water down, taking long drags. Another bottle hit the dirt, another bottle went in the wolf.

"Thank you..." Splicer panted out to Joven, truly grateful for the water he was given.

"Don't thank me yet, you've still got to replant all those plots..." Joven growled out, with a mixture of pity and wonder under his breath. His job was to make the wolf tap out, but here the wolf was, still hanging in there. He was honestly glad the wolf was resilient, they were getting so much work done for him he couldn't help but wonder how hard he could push it.

Night came, floodlamps were brought out by the badger who was sitting in a chair he fished out of the building. The bright light hit the wolf's glistening form, sweat was pouring down the wolf's body as he used a paw spade to dig the who knows what number hole of the day, Splicer's mind had blanked to try and mitigate the exhaustion he felt, if he didn't think of it, he couldn't feel it. He planted the flower below him. A feeling he hadn't felt in over a year rocked his body, he collapsed back onto his hands and knees. He thought he was going to throw up, tears ran down his dirty cheeks as he felt hot liquid running down his dirty leg, down onto the flower he had just planted below, mixing with the dirt. Splicer felt the shame of what he did, clinging to him as the mud began to dry, sealing the obvious smell of piss to the wolf's fur. The water had run through him and the wolf pissed himself like a pup, he couldn't even remember the last time he did something like that. He sat on his hands and knees as the flood eventually stopped, being absorbed into the ground below. He wished he wasn't seen by anyone, but he knew that everyone saw.

"Did I tell you to fuckin' water the plants?" Joven roared out with a wide smile, he had no idea that Laguna was going to go that far.

He must really be trying to get under that wolf's fur. Joven thought, honestly watching the pathetic display of the wolf he really wasn't sure whether he should feel bad or aroused. He was aroused, very aroused.

Of course that bastard would pull some shit like this, DAMN IT! Splicer slammed his fist into the dirt, rising to his feet despite his burning lungs. He worked through the night with renewed fire, ignoring his screaming body asking him to quit. The sun was rising.

One more break, two more bottles, Splicer knew he wasn't done. He wanted to curl into a ball and die, he finished planting every flower the badger asked what now? He was wary about drinking the water, but his body demanded it and he gave in to his demands, next time he'd just have to find a tree or something...

Joven brought the wolf to a far off area of the garden, a large rectangle was marked out with spray paint around the perimeter in the grass. A shovel was thrust into his paws. He head something about a meter deep, but his brain was still stuck trying to process the rectangle. He held the shovel in his screaming arms and placed it on the ground right on the first white mark, he placed his aching foot on it and pushed down. He felt the electricity in his blood running short, he was running on fumes and to say he needed to recharge was an understatement. Splicer pulled a shovel full of dirt out and tossed it to the side. He did another shovel full, then another. His vision was blurry, he stepped on the shovel and fell forward, the shovel stood, Splicer did not. He felt a paw gently kick his shoulder, Joven was looking down with genuine concern in his eyes. Splicer got up without a word exchanged between the two, he knew this was some sort of endurance challenge, he braced himself on the shovel and got to work.

He felt the sun cooking his back, the sun was high in the sky at this point and splicer had gotten about halfway through the rectangle. His arms were quivering, lungs burning, paws covered in rough calluses and bleeding in spots. He felt the blue, lightly crackling blood seep into the wooden handle, he debated having a taste but aside from maybe helping his throat out it wouldn't do much for him. He took another wheezing breath.

Huh, funny... my heart was racing so fast a second ago, now I can't feel it at all... Splicer was tired, he laid against the wall of his hole. He was curious why he couldn't feel his heart beating anymore, he felt his eyes shutting. A sharp shock ran across his chest waking him up, his heart began weakly pumping blood again, the nanites kept him from just over the edge of death, nothing else. He was sitting in a puddle, he pissed himself again while he was out. He coughed weakly as he looked up at Joven who had jumped down into the hole after seeing the distressed wolf fall back against the wall. Splicer grabbed the outstretched paw that pulled him to his feet before a rough slap on his back nearly sent him back down. Joven watched as the wolf got back to word, admiring the tenacity to just get back work even after nearly kicking the bucket. He went off to rinse his paws off wanting to get the crackling liquid out of his fur. Splicer was amazed his blood was even still flowing, he figured the sun would have cooked it all at this point. He really wanted to cry, but his entire body was dry. He ran a tongue across the gravelly roof of his mouth. He thought back to when he was with Dakota and how long he could last without water, it was a lot longer than a day, he persevered. The hole was dug, Splicer was laying on his back in the middle weakly panting. He might have pissed himself a third time too, he honestly couldn't tell at this point because his fur was a caked-on mess of dirt and mud. He looked up at the sun sinking in the sky. He pondered if he was dead somehow, but he knew that he'd feel a hell of a lot better if he had died.

Joven sighed, looking down on the wolf starfished in a new puddle of their own making, he really wished the wolf would give up at this point.

"We're not done!" He barked out. "You dug the dirt, now move it!"

This fucking kid must be a zombie He thought, watching the wolf weakly rising to his feet, he was starting to look the part if nothing else.

Splicer stumbled, night fell as he moved dirt back and forth, making sure to place it exactly where the badger requested it, the pile was almost gone, he could taste the end, it felt sweet in his dry mouth, he stopped sweating hours ago, no liquid was left in his body. One final shovelful was put into place. Joven stood in awe. He had nothing left for the wolf to do, it was all done.

"Congratulations. You passed..." Joven muttered out, unsure of if it was his place to end the wolf's trail or not but he honestly had nothing left.

Splicer thought he was out of liquid but the tears flowed from his eyes again as he clawed at the badgers feet thanking him over and over again. Slowly the wolf's cries of thanks diminished as his body fell still. Joven reached down and checked their pulse, it was weak but still there. He gripped the scruff of the wolf and began trudging off down the trail with the wolf in tow.

Splicer smelt of piss and mud, but all he could smell was success.