The knights trudged along the moonlit tunnel until the jagged shadow of a cave mouth appeared before them—half-hidden by overgrown kelp and the dark sheen of seawater pooling at its base. The entrance yawned wide and cold, and even from outside, they could hear faint scraping and the echo of chains clinking deeper within.
Massive pawprints—each almost the size of a shield—led straight inside. Broken links of iron lay scattered across the rocks, some bent, some still slick with salt.
Mezzo peered down at one and whistled low. “Yeesh. Somebody’s got serious anger issues.”
“Maybe he just hates cardio,” Ray muttered, adjusting her grip on her hammer.
C.H.I.P. flickered to life beside Arcade, its bright holographic eyes casting pale light along the cave walls. “Scanning ahead…” it said in that chipper, slightly smug tone. “Multiple lifeforms detected. Aggressive signatures. High probability of hostility. In summary: they’re angry.”
Kirrin groaned. “Well, that’s perfect. Guess we’re in for a fight.”
Plum, already raising her arcbracer, chirped, “Don’t move—this lighting’s fantastic!”
Click. Click.
“Plum,” Ray said flatly, “you take one more photo and you’re bait.”
Celeste tried to suppress a nervous laugh. “I don’t think the werewolf’s camera-shy, Ray.”
Ray hefted heartbreaker and stepped toward the entrance. “Then I’ll introduce him to it up close. I’ll take point—”
“Bad idea,” Kirrin cut in. “That hammer’ll catch on the walls before you even swing.”
Ray frowned, glancing around the narrow passageway. She sighed when she realized Kirrin was right. “Fine. You lead then, bird girl.”
Kirrin rolled her eyes, extending one hand. A faint shimmer of golden mana gathered at her palm. “It’s gryphon, actually,” she said, voice lilting with her accent. From her belt she pulled a small metal handle—simple, unassuming. Then, channeling mana through it, she flicked her wrist. The handle bloomed into a glowing staff of etched light.
“Show-off,” Mezzo muttered, grinning.
Kirrin ignored him and moved forward, the gentle hum of her staff echoing softly against the stone.
Celeste followed close behind, tracing a paw along the wall. “There’s… scratches,” she whispered. Deep claw marks, some old, some fresh. “It’s been trapped here a long time.”
Behind them, C.H.I.P. buzzed happily. “Did you know that werewolves have an average jaw strength of—”
“C.H.I.P.,” Arcade interrupted, rubbing his temples, “just alert us to danger.”
“Oh, I will,” C.H.I.P. said sweetly. “Right after I finish my fun fact about teeth.”
Mezzo groaned. “We seriously need a mute button for him.”
Arcade nodded. “Working on it. Prototype’s called ‘a hammer.’”
Ray smirked. “Give me ten seconds and I’ll make it field-ready.”
C.H.I.P. made a wounded beep. “So much hostility. I feel underappreciated.”
Celeste hushed them all with a raised paw. The tunnel narrowed, the air thick with salt and damp fur.
Somewhere ahead, something moved.
A low growl rolled through the darkness—so deep it made the stone tremble beneath their feet.
Up ahead, the tunnel widened—and out of the shadows came the most absurd sight imaginable.
“Are those—?” Celeste blinked.
“Dolphin zombies,” Ray deadpanned. “Made of gummy candy.”
“And puffins,” Plum added, camera already up. “Made from rock candy. Oh, this is going viral.”
Mezzo just stood there, mouth open. “...You have got to be kidding me.”
The gummy dolphins flopped menacingly down the corridor, squeaking like broken toys, while the puffins waddled sideways, their candy wings clacking together like castanets. Then, all at once, they charged.
“Okay, nope!” Mezzo yelled, swinging his guitar-axe and smacking a gummy dolphin so hard it ricocheted off the wall like a chewy bowling ball. “This is NOT what I meant when I said I wanted a beach vacation!”
Ray slammed her hammer down, sending a puffin shattering into rock shards. “You’re the one who said you missed the sea!”
“Not the snack section!” Mezzo shouted back.
The gummy dolphins flopped menacingly down the corridor, squeaking like broken toys, while the puffins waddled sideways, their candy wings clacking together like castanets.
Then one of the dolphins sprang upward.
Not flopped.
Sprang.
Its gummy body twisted through the air, tail glowing with a sickly pink light.
Arcade’s eyes widened. “Wait—”
The dolphin spun like a missile.
“Bubble Ram!” C.H.I.P. announced cheerfully.
It slammed into Ray’s shield-side with enough force to skid her boots across the wet stone.
Ray stared at it. “Did that thing just use a move?”
Another dolphin snapped its tail down, spraying a pressurised arc of sticky foam across the corridor. The foam hardened instantly against the wall like sugar cement.
“Sticky Surf,” C.H.I.P. added.
Celeste’s ears shot up. “They can do that?”
A rock-candy puffin puffed itself up, chest glowing blue. It gave a tiny, furious squawk before launching a hail of sharp sugar shards from its wings.
“Shard Waddle,” C.H.I.P. said.
Mezzo ducked as the shards embedded in the cave wall behind him. “Sorry, since when do zombie snack animals get special attacks?”
Arcade’s face had gone pale with insulted disbelief. “I thought only we could do that!”
“Apparently the candy plague has learned branding,” C.H.I.P. chirped.
The puffins charged together, tiny feet slapping rapidly against the stone. One leapt at Plum’s camera, beak snapping.
Plum shrieked and stumbled backward. “No! Bad puffin! This equipment is expensive!”
Ray stepped in, hammer raised high.
“Crater Smash!”
She brought Heartbreaker down in a brutal overhead swing.
The hammer struck the ground with a thunderous crack, sending a shockwave rolling through the corridor. The nearest puffins shattered into glittering rock-candy fragments, while two gummy dolphins bounced wildly off the walls, stunned and squeaking.
Mezzo grinned, sparks racing across the strings of his guitar-axe. “Oh, we’re naming moves now? Brilliant.”
He spun the axe around his body, boots skidding across the wet stone as flame gathered along the blade. The music that burst from it was loud, sharp, and triumphant — like the ending of a guitar solo that had decided subtlety was for cowards.
“Amped Overdrive!”
He slammed the axe into the ground.
A pillar of fire erupted around him, roaring upward in a blazing circle. Gummy dolphins shriek-squeaked as the flames blasted them back, their candy bodies bubbling and warping. Puffins scattered, wings clacking frantically as sparks rained across the tunnel.
Mezzo rose from the firelight with a wild grin. “Now that’s how you do a finisher!”
Celeste stared. “That was amazing.”
Ray smirked. “Don’t encourage him.”
“Too late,” Mezzo said. “I’m encouraged.”
Behind them, Arcade raised his arcbracer. “Alright, enough candy chaos—C.H.I.P., big mode!”
With a flash, the corridor filled with mechanical light and sudden bulk. C.H.I.P. expanded to his full combat form—towering, armored, and completely wedged between the walls.
“Oh brilliant,” Arcade groaned, eyes wide. “He’s stuck.”
C.H.I.P.’s voice echoed, distorted by the cave. “I appear to be immobilized. This may compromise tactical efficiency.”
Celeste blinked. “You think!?”
The team split in half—Ray, Mezzo, and Plum fighting the sugar-coated horrors up front, while Celeste, Kirrin, and Arcade tried to push C.H.I.P. free.
“Okay, shove on three!” Celeste said.
“One—two—three!”
They pushed. Nothing.
C.H.I.P. beeped politely. “I would like to note that I weigh approximately four tons.”
Kirrin groaned, sweat beading on her forehead. “Arcade, just desummon him!”
Arcade froze. “...Why didn’t I think of that!?”
He smacked his wrist. Poof! C.H.I.P. vanished in a blink.
Celeste stumbled forward, falling on her knees as the hallway cleared. “Stars above—finally!”
They rushed into the next chamber—just in time to find Ray leaning on her hammer, Plum taking selfies with the fallen candy corpses, and Mezzo lounging dramatically on a shattered puffin.
Ray smirked. “Took you long enough.”
Plum waved her camera. “Say ‘sweet victory!’”
Mezzo grinned, flicking a gummy flipper off his shoulder. “Aye, we handled it. You could say…”—he pointed finger-guns at Celeste—“we stuck it out.”
Celeste groaned. “Please don’t encourage him.”
Arcade pinched the bridge of his nose. “Next time, I’m bringing a mute button for both of you.”
Ray laughed. “You’d need a soundproof bunker, mate.”
Kirrin rolled her eyes but smiled. “Right, jesters. Fun’s over. Something big’s still down here—I can feel it.”
The laughter died off just enough for everyone to hear it—
A low, guttural growl echoing from deeper in the cave.
The cavern opened wide before them like the inside of a giant’s throat—dark, echoing, and glittering faintly where mana crystals jutted from the stone walls like shards of frozen lightning. Sea water shimmered at the bottom of a sunken pool, black as night, waves slapping softly against the edges. Sand and shells littered the floor, half-buried in glowing dust.
The air was damp. Cold.
And heavy with a sound that made Celeste’s fur stand on end—breathing.
In the center of the room, chained between two massive rocks, was the werewolf.
Its fur shimmered like moonlit smoke, dark grey streaked with silver. Each breath came in ragged growls, muscles rippling beneath the matted pelt. The broken chain around its neck clanked with every heave, glinting with faint traces of mana circuitry.
Celeste froze, eyes wide. The beast’s eyes glowed faintly blue—haunted, aware.
And then it howled.
The sound filled the cave, shaking loose sand from the ceiling. Celeste flinched and instinctively looked up toward a ledge. For a fleeting second—barely more than a blink—she saw a figure watching in the darkness above. A flash of fur, the glint of gold eyes, a long tail curling like smoke.
The Lynx.
And then the shadow was gone.
Before anyone could speak, the ground rumbled. The entrance behind them collapsed in a spray of sand and stone, sealing them in.
“Stars—!” Arcade threw up his arms, coughing. “We’re trapped!”
Celeste gripped her katanas but didn’t move closer. “It’s… not attacking.”
The werewolf’s head tilted slightly, its breath slowing. It looked at her—really looked—and for a moment, there was something behind those glowing eyes. Not rage. Not hunger. Just confusion. Pain.
Ray’s hammer lowered, her expression softening. “Wait…” she whispered. “Don’t.”
Mezzo frowned. “What? Don’t what? It’s a bloody werewolf, Ray!”
He pointed to the ground where scraps of torn black fabric lay tangled in the sand. A shattered arcbracer glinted beneath them.
“It’s Pitch’s hoodie!” Mezzo shouted. “That thing ate him!”
“Mezzo, stop!” Ray lunged forward, blocking his swing just in time.
He stared at her in disbelief. “Get off me! What are you doing!?”
Ray met his gaze, her voice firm but trembling. “Because that is Pitch.”
The room went dead silent.
Arcade blinked. “You’re joking.”
Ray shook her head. “He told me… weeks ago. His neural chip—it’s faulty. He bought it off a black-market tech smuggler. It’s supposed to suppress his feral shifts, but it barely works. He thought if anyone found out, he’d be kicked off the team.”
Plum’s ears flicked, her face pinched in frustration. “For crying out loud, Ray! You knew and didn’t say anything? We’re a team, not mind readers! Do you have any idea how dangerous that is?”
Ray’s tail lashed, guilt flickering across her eyes. “He was scared, alright? Terrified. Said he could feel it slipping. He didn’t want you to see him like this.”
The werewolf’s breathing hitched at her words—like it understood. Its claws dug into the stone, trembling.
Celeste stepped forward slowly, lowering her blades. “Pitch?” she whispered.
The creature’s ears twitched.
She took another step. “If you can hear me… it’s alright. We’re here.”
The werewolf growled—but the sound wasn’t rage. It was pain.
And then the chains creaked.
Kirrin’s eyes widened. “Uh… Celeste? Those aren’t gonna hold.”
Mezzo gritted his teeth, voice cracking with conflicted fury. “If that’s really him—then how do we help him?”
Celeste turned, her core glowing faintly through her chest fur. “We don’t fight him.”
Arcade blinked. “We don’t?”
Ray’s expression softened but stayed firm. “No. We remind him who he is.”
The chains shuddered again.
Pitch howled—louder this time, pain and moonlight and mana tearing through the cavern.
And for the first time, they saw it: the shimmer of his broken chip sparking against his neck, flashing like a dying star.
