When the door of the pyramid slammed shut, the squirrel managed to wedge his way out from beneath Qaeron. The bear ran after him, but the squirrel was too agile. He leaped off the side of the pyramid, down to the ground to where the Energy Cube landed all that time ago. Qaeron, being a bear, was unable to survive a fall from such a great height and could only watch as the squirrel grabbed the cube. He fired a warning shot at the bear, who backed up to get out of the squirrel’s line of sight/fire.
Now Qaeron felt bad. He had failed his mission of sitting on a squirrel for an indeterminate amount of time. What would everyone think when they saw this? Qaeron, assuming the squirrel had run away, sat down to devise a plan. What he didn’t realize was that the squirrel ran towards the tree that he had planted beneath the pyramid all that time ago. Because, you see, if you recall all the way back to chapter 79, I clearly stated, “When the tree’s top reached the bottom point of the pyramid, it did not stop growing. It simply began growing along the pyramid, crawling up the mossy bricks.” This was just what the squirrel utilized to slowly make his way up the pyramid with an Energy Cube in tow. He made sure to climb up the side opposite where he remembered Qaeron was standing, so that upon reaching the top, he would be safely positioned behind the bear and out of sight due to corn.
After a few minutes of sitting and thinking, Qaeron’s mind began to wander to other topics - things that only a bear such as he could think about, such as his past on Bear Stone Planet… and his past before even that. He decided to get up and walk around, because it was just one of those times where you’re thinking so hard, you need to get up and walk around. Happens all the time.
As he was walking along one of the edges of the pyramid, he thought he heard a sound in the distance. It sounded like the rustling of corn. Now, you may be asking yourself, “wouldn’t one constantly hear corn rustling if they were standing in a big flat place suspended high above the ground with lots of corn on it, such as the top of an upside-down pyramid?” Well, this particular rustling that Qaeron heard was distinct from the rest of the rustling all around him. It had a certain squirrelly quality to it that only sounds produced by a squirrel can have.
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Hearing this squirrelly rustling, Qaeron became instantly alert and ready for action. What he wasn’t expecting was what happened next. From his right, he heard what sounded like dozens of corn stalks simultaneously falling and hitting the floor, and the sound was rapidly getting louder. Looking in that direction, he saw with horror that an energy beam was whizzing by on its way towards him, slicing corn like a simile comparing an energy beam slicing through corn to something that is easily sliced.
Qaeron whipped to action, running towards the swiftly approaching beam of death and vaporization. The beam got closer to him and he got closer to it. It was extraordinarily intense, and nobody knew what was going to happen next. Neither Mushpuff, nor Bird, nor Plagiarize, or even Klumpkrump. Certainly not Snorter. And Hoofa? Well, let’s just say she also didn’t know. Even Qaeron didn’t know. The squirrel didn’t, either. Nor did Chris or DeBear II. So it came as a complete and utter shock to everyone involved that, just as Qaeron jumped off of the ground, nothing remarkable happened at all and he landed back on his feet mere moments later, the deadly beam having safely passed under him.
Now that Qaeron was now in the area where all the corn had been chopped by the beam, he could easily see in all directions. The squirrel was mere meters away. However, the squirrel also had a very clear line of sight to the bear, and so they both spotted each other at just about the same time. With no time to think, Qaeron made the leap of his life for the squirrel as the squirrel’s paws made the turn of their life (as in, to redirect the energy beam they were conducting back towards the bear in order to vaporize him). This would be a great cliffhanger to end the chapter on, but I think what will happen next is quite predictable, so I might as well give it to you now.
As Qaeron was majestically leaping through the air, the energy beam was slowly getting closer and closer to him. Alas, when it was mere centimeters from his fur, his front paws collided with the squirrel and crushed him into the ground. There was plenty of ripping and mauling, and soon the squirrel was no more.
