It had happened too fast for anyone to react. PK and Rhodes both ran desperately to the cliff’s edge and looked over it. It was too dark and foggy below to see anything.

“Shroomy!” PK yelled out, hearing her own voice echo into the lower cliff area. After that, only silence. She could feel her eyes tearing up as she turned and grasped Rhodes by the scarf in her frustration and sadness. “How could you set us up like this?! He liked you!”

She was met with equally tearful eyes. The poor Sneasel was confused. “I-I didn’t know about this! He only told me about taking the Deino here, I swear!”

The other Sneasels looked on in shock. They’d just seen their own leader practically commit suicide! In truth, he hadn’t told any of them he’d even be there, much less that he would pull such a sudden attack. It was somewhat scary to think that they might have no more leadership.

PK felt lost. She wanted someone to blame, to exact revenge on, but the only someone wasn’t here. He was gone, and so was Shroomsworth. She let go of Rhodes’s scarf and simply sat down. It felt like all she could do right now was sob openly in the cold, dark night. That is, until a familiar, blue face nudged in against her arm.

“We should go down there and see if he’s okay.” Sandy always had a way of being strangely direct about these things. Perhaps not actually seeing it was helpful in giving her a different perspective.

It made sense. It was hopeful. They had to try.

PK sniffled once more, then wiped her teary eyes, standing back up and facing the group of young Slasher gangers. “Is there a path down..?” Upon being met with silent disbelief, she asked again, louder and with some of her frustration returning, “is there a path down?! Come on!”

In the face of a dire situation, most of the Sneasels just continued to be lost. It’s as though they were explicitly directed not to think on their own. Their weakness was so great that they began to disperse in a panic, fleeing into the dark woods where they felt most comfortable.

All of them except Rhodes. He stopped his sniffling and approached PK. Despite his wounded face and confusion over his leader, he looked quite confident. “I know the way around... follow me close though, okay?”

The young Sneasel quickly began rushing upriver, prompting Sandy and PK to follow him. For better or for worse, they were going to find Shroomsworth.
=====

Tenth excerpt from Ch2 (the final excerpt from it actually) of 's Resignation

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