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"I wanna say three in the past..." Vetch thought for a minute, "...four days?"

Actually, said the trees, it was four.

Nook strolled casually up to the nearest tree and looked up at it, smiling. "Hi, trees!" he greeted, being his cheery Nook self. "Did you miss us?"

Dearly. replied the trees, but it was hard to tell if they were being sarcastic or not, due to their airy, monotoned, calm voices.

Nudge dashed behind Takari's front legs, quivering.

Don't be afraid, assured the trees. We'll keep you safe from the enemies we know are after you.

"I don't even remember who we're running from." mumbled Vetch as he trotted into the circle of the trees, then curled up in the dust, Nook following.

Suddenly, a loud thump sounded, making the pebbles on the oddly-colored ground bounce. Quickly. urged the trees. Everyone get inside. We'll shield you.

Nudge squeaked with fear, then looked up to Takari desperately, waiting to see what she'd do first.

When everyone was inside the circle of silver trees, they leaned their branches down, closing in every opening with their shining leaves of varying sizes.

Inside the orb of silver, Vetch growled, "What's going on out there?" as the ground continued to rumble.

Dartones. whispered the trees.

"What's a Dartone?" Nook whispered back, trying to find a tiny crack he could possibly see through.

The trees shifted one of it's gigantic leaves an inch to create a small, moushole-sized opening.

Nook pressed his face against the metallic trees to see through the hole with one eye. What he witnessed was indescribable. "Guys!" he whispered, loud enough to be heard over the rumbling of the ground. "There's three of them, and they're... huge! Bigger than elephants, I imagine!"

"What is?" snarled Vetch, dashing over to Nook as the small fox moved aside to allow Vetch to see. The Dartones were elephant-sized creatures with a dark red rhino body, a head shaped like a venus flytrap but with bright red and yellow scales, and two long tails with clubs on the tips of them, and their venus flytrap mouths were lined with uneven, jagged, yellowed fangs that were still visible when it closed its mouth.

Ooc:// Thought I might throw in some excitement, if you don't mind.

"Should we fight them?" proposed Vetch, unsure if they should take the risk.

"The trees will protect us, right?" Nudge squeaked, in the middle of a shivering fit.

Ooc:// Excuse shortness.

Nook grimaced, his tongue sticking out. "Yeesh, was this freaky planet CREATED to hold disgusting creatures?"

Hey. interrupted the trees in perfect unison.

Nook blushed, embarrased. "I didn't mean you, trees. You guys are the best!" The trees didn't respond, so he took that as an acceptance of his apology.

Vetch sat down with a frustrated thump. "So we're supposed to just sit here until they find a way to rip us all apart?"

"I'm not sure I want to." Vetch yukked. "But what if they break through the trees' branches?"

We will do our best to stand firm. answered the trees triumphantly.

Nudge tucked his head between his front legs and teetered back and forth in front of Takari.

Nook rolled his eyes, then tried to comfort his friend. "Come on, Nudge, you look pathetic."

Vetch rolled his eyes too. "Dear L- Y'know what? Let's throw this one outside as a peace offering." He gestured towards the teetering Nudge.