RUMINATION #15, FOR THE ANCHOVY (3/4)

As the Applesauce creature supported him flashes of light circulated, giving Rex the impression that he was lying on the floor of a

disco. Bob stood on the lower steps, “You got to get out of its way!” signaling the others. It didn’t matter for what reason; the words

compelled the dog to act. He leaned his back on the courageous fuzz ball, and supported himself enough to swing on his toes and fall

forward. Snig-the Emissary was carving off both the arms of a Phibian shock trooper. Brows arched and tight lipped, not seeming to be

in much control. Reducing the appendages to pulpy shredded bone brittle, he said, “When this gets going it’s hard to stop!” The rapier

drill burrowed through the protective armor and again through the two others behind the frog. From the right, an unidentified silver

object dashed into the field of battle. Over the sounds of murder and mayhem a voice unlike the Narrators said, “Sorry kid, those are

the breaks!” The drone deposited something (a bomb maybe), after taking off, rising higher. Rex received the wayward representative in

his open arms. Though creative in the spur of the moment, it seemed inevitable that they should fall. The skewered guards tipped

slightly backward. A tightly knit squadron of Phibs charged up the center, Padded feet struck a beat and was met by a rattling from the

metal benches. “WOH!” Rex heard himself cry out, the stink of frog breath was met by a sudden impact. The drill and its catch left the

Emissary and slain frogs collided and drew a gap in the ranks. The Emissary vibrated, sliding on his belly in perfect form. His twelve

spindly fingers went to grab the edge of a seat in an attempt to halt their progress. It was achieved but far too suddenly; both he and

the dog were simultaneously lifted. An empty feeling gripped Rex within his intestines, feeling as though they had departed somewhere

along the way. He felt uneasy, saw that his paws were above him and his body was taken over by a frightful acceleration “AUUUGH!” the

world had turned upside down so many times, Rex feared he would remain so permanently. The dog felt that he found shelter in

something warm and squishy and realized that Bob had him in one arm. “It’s alright, I got you!” he reassured and warded off attackers

with the blunt end of his weapon. A shriek arose in falsetto “One second,” Bob put Rex down and stomped across the girders to a fallen

enemy. The Applesauce creature growled between its legs. “Don’t you touch her!” and cleaved off the Phib’s head from its body. PUHT-

PUHT-PUHT-Bob fell on one knee; face gripped with pain Rex examined the darts imbedded in his thigh. “Not to worry, I’m fine.”

Though he clearly wasn’t, Bob removed the darts from his leg with a grimace. he reached for something “Can I have that please?”

requesting that Rex retrieve a service pistol. The monitors buzzed just as if it were houseflies-ZAP-ZZZAP-ZZAP. Bolts of lighting

ensued and drew from it. Rex popped the question: “How’d y’know it’s a girl?” having checked if the gun was loaded “Y'peek under it?”

At first Bob seemed reluctant to answer, “I guessed,” he said, “You can tell by their faces.” Rex saw pink jelly seeped from the

holes and immediately coagulated “Does that hurt?” the dog said with a frown “It doesn’t look normal.” Something exploded off a

monitor while it traveled midair. Rex saw something outlined in the inferno, falling with a glowing orange tail. Olives advanced up the

stairs through the horde; a guard with a fork under its chin shielded him from stingers. He cleared them away with six lethal swipes of

his blade. While kicking the dead aside, “Earp, Croak!” the otter found them curled at his feet and wounded.

“Is Rupe anywhere, did you see him?” asked the little frog while convulsing, puffy burnt marks on his skin

“He hopped shortly before Gianni threw us overboard.”

Chief Pepperoni brushed against Olives “This is not a social gathering,” he said and greeted the

orange Phibian. Chief Pepperoni attacks were low and swift “Sing minstrel! The Anchovy will not forsake me!” he focused the breadth of

his attacks at the knees.  

“No,” Croak shivered, “We don’t feel’s like singing right now. I want to take a nap.”

“Right here,” the Anchovy paused “In the middle of the battlefield?”

“One place is as good as any,” he said. A screeching hoot erupted. It was thought to be a frog in his death throws

“D’you hear an owl?” Rex looked around and set on an object. The elite guard were aimed their muskets and continued to hurl

thunderous volleys on the benches. Atomic was absorbing lightning into its right hand “EEEHH!” it’s neon mouth flickering. The android

was acting as if he were a walking lighting rod. The robot threw it right back, literally as if St.Elmo’s strings were summoned straight

out of a marionette. A fireball landed on a group and engulfed them

“We should get off this thing, it’s not safe.” “No, the giant is pushing the enemy right to us,” avowed malevolently. His

“Screw this, I’m leaving,” Rex murmured “Anyone else with me?” Bob raised his hand, supporting himself on his ax. They turned to see

the Emissary, prowling on his hands and knees “You can count us in,” Earp spoke for his friends “Do you see a way out?” a rocket

screeched a meter above them and speared several frogs at once “Go through the cracks,” Parmesan joined his brothers in a circle

“We’ll cover you,” He said and gave a shock prod to the Emissary, Rex picked up a pair of forks as Earp helped Croak gently down

between the seats. The rubber hand guards kept combined with the teeth gave the blades the look of claws. “Have at you!” he caught a

stinger in the teeth, twisting the blade so it would snap, the fork punctured the guard in the skull. Earp was next through the aperture.

The Emissary weakly jabbed the end of his prod, the Phib jolted, and was cut down by the ax-pick

“Bob, quit chopping and get down there!” Rex alerted his friend.

“Dude, I’m not going to be able to fit through there,” Bob replied, yanking the spike free.

A current of lighting shot one in the back “Atomics’ going into overload. You better go.”  

Rex slashed his blades through the posterior of an opponent “What’d you say?”

“He said he’s going to try and stall Atomic before he detonates,” the Anchovy reiterated.  

“Detonates?” a cloud of dust hit Rex in the mouth, “(Poot)-What’re you talking about?”

“Just evaporated someone!” Bob recoiled “You’ll die if you stay a second longer. There’s a big hole I could probably fit through. It’s not

the best idea but I think I’ll be okay.”

In the same frame of time, Rex was reclining back. Olives was pulling him down, the otters standing over them “Wait a second. There’s

been a miscommunication!” he was lowered under the seats, grids of light cut through the darkness “Will you put me down!” Earp and

Croak shrugged at his request and Rex fell back, kicking up a cloud of dirt. The support beams of the stands were creaking, it seem

that at any moment the screws would come loose. He saw Chief Pepperoni walk briskly past him “There isn’t time to sit Rex.” Electricity

hummed and things popped and hissed unseen “Burn in Mo!” the dog filed in with the otters as he was dusting his tail, they ran a from

out of the shade of the bleachers and a full yards from the brewing electrical storm on top of it “I’m going back for Bob!”

“Stand under a structure ready to give way,” said Stan (the Anchovy) “Be my guest.” His friend was still up there, walking up the steps

while the flaming blue tendrils swept across the crowed of Phibian. Atomic glowed a yellow hue, sheer power streaming from his hands

“Hey,” Bob waved politely “Could you move over a bit? I need to get through.” The robot turned its head; “Buuuuuuuuuuuddddddddy!”

it’s eyes showed a pale blue hint of recognition. Rex saw his friend step back, the walking conduit wanted to hold him.

“Don’t do it Bob!” he cried out in desperation “He’ll kill you-don’t touch him!”

Bob darted out of arm’s reach-but too late! Atomic’s hand clasped around his wrists. SH-KOW! Flesh peeled off of his forearms,

reducing them to shards of eggshell “Uuuhhhh!”  

“Wait,” Rex, recalled something as his friend was being deep-fried “That’s Buddy!” Bob’s hands were made bare of flesh. What remained

were cheap metal claws in the place of the fragile ivory appendages inherent to the housept anatomy. KIT-WANG-as though church

bells were raining behind them. The bleachers suddenly collapsed; there was nothing but a pile of metal “Is he alright, Stan?” Rex asked,

ready to yank out his hair. Something shifted beneath it; the Emissary lifted a step out of the way “I’m okay (cough-cough), I’m okay!”

The Applesauce creature emerged after him, but was there no Bob and Atomic couldn’t be seen anywhere. The Emissary leaned one way

and said  “That was nasty, I’m surprised I still can walk.” As the otters helped to lift him out of the pile of debris, he looked to Rex “I

couldn’t see them, I think they’re still under there.”

“Good riddance,” said Croak “This isn’t the first time Atomic went off the deep end.”

There was a sudden intake of breath; the group simultaneously was taken aback. From the dead Atomic arose in the likeness of a

sentient cyclopean structure, Bob cradled in his arms “I killed him,” he stepped out of the debris “I killed my Buddy!”

“No you didn’t, dude,” the Emissary said quiet mysteriously “He’s lying down somewhere,”

Rex was as confused as everyone else “I left him there so he’d be safe.”

“Wait, which one are we talking about?” one of the orange frogs broke the silence.   “Bob-Buddy, whatever, he’s up there….”

“Oh,” Rex hid his face with a sniffle “I think I get what you’re saying, he’s dead.”  

“No-look,” the Emissary continued to say “He’s on the catwalk waving to us.”

The dog peeked with hope and saw exactly that “Well, what’s he doing up there!”

The Emissary didn’t respond to being struck in the arm “I just told you why, to be safe.”

“Let’s just leave him there for now, we’ve got more important things to discuss.”

There were still a number of frogs running in all directions. A gun rattled off somewhere, on the rim of the stadium Gianni sat on a

corpse with a silo-rifle. Rupert was tending to his fur, matted and burnt. The orange frog waved to his friends, applying a pin to secure

the sheet of bandages. “The officers are dead, who else could they take orders from?”  

Croak popped the cap on a tube of ointment “They’ll always be someone else,” he added, “Right now they’ll fall back on old

management. The Queen is the only one left alive.”  “Retain some form of order here, Chief Pepperoni and Rex will deal with her.”

Rex growled with disapproval “Thanks for volunteering me, Stan.”  

“D’res probably more all over,” said the guinea “It’take f’ever t’secure the area.”

“None of us are in the shape to do anymore fighting,” Olives regualted his breathe.


“As long as she remains in power the frogs will have their figurehead,”

the Anchovy explained “If we remove her we can take her place in the seat of power.”  

“It sounds like a solid plan,” said the Emissary “But we don’t know where she is.”

“She was on one of those monitors last time I saw her,” Earp recalled with a sigh.

“She’s hold herself up in her quarters,” explained Stan (the Anchovy) “It’s a synch.”

“I don’see d’point,” Gianni reloaded the silo-rifle “She’ll prob'ly off r’self eh mn'it f'm now.”

“We’ve a history,” said Chief Pepperoni, cold as night “It’s time we write the last page.” The otter bit his fingers and whistled, the great

white bird finished snacking on a morsel and waddled into place “Save some for us,” Rex felt his feet leave the floor and his butt

planted on the feathered back of the griffin, “We’ll be back in a moment.”    

“I’ll try n’keep d’buzzards off yeah,” Gianni hefted his gun “I cn’t guarantee any’ting.” The wingspan spread the farthest they could,

going up and down twice for good measure. With a gust of wind the goose left the ground “HOOOONK-HOOONK!”