Reformed From Ruined Remnants

[CosmicChaos21]

Yep I'm making another one! I just had a great story idea so I had to make a new playthrough for it, hope y'all enjoy!

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The nine packs of the Imagination Isles were gathered to celebrate the Long-Life Feast, an event where the packs live in peace for a day to celebrate new and old life in the packs. It’s a day filled with eating, socializing, playing, and even fun challenges that both old and young nichelings can participate in. They all gather on an island with a dormant volcano laying in the middle, considering it to be sacred and the reason the packs can thrive which is why the event is held around it.

Nichelings of all nine packs were having fun and socializing, well the social ones were anyway. Breeze pack, Shore pack, Scorch pack, Earth pack, Storm pack, Bloom pack, Solar pack, and Lunar pack were all gathered in celebration of newborn pups and elders in each pack with every pack having their own stories to regale.

A sudden rumbling in the ground caused a wave of alarm to go through the gathered nichelings as they tried to figure out what was happening but before anyone could guess the volcano erupted! Chunks of flaming rock and lava spewed out of the peaceful volcano and smog started to fill the air causing shrieks of panic and swarms of confused nichelings to desperately attempt to scatter at the sudden danger.

Nichelings rushed for the stones that allowed them to enter and exit the island but it was quickly found out that the rumbling had offset the stones and made it so that once the stones had been used enough times they tipped and sunk into the sea, stranding many nichelings that couldn’t swim. Water-able nichelings quickly vanished into the sea and started to swim and winged nichelings took to the skies as they realized that the stones were out of commission and no longer an option. Parents rushed their terrified pups across the stones and others helped the older nichelings make haste.

But a large majority were trapped on the island with no way out leading to desperation as no nicheling wanted to be left behind to die. Some land nichelings tried to leave by sea only to end up digging their own watery grave while others huddled together in terror and waited for the inevitable as the lava crawled down the side of the volcano like a stalking predator.

The result was the breaking of the packs as they were and leaving only remnants of the former packs in their wake, the only living ones being lone wanderers or groups that were only a shadow of the size of the old packs.

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This is one such group, an amalgamation of the old packs with each member formerly being a part of a different one, leading to a lot of confusion and perhaps even disdain between certain members.

“And you’re saying I shouldn’t be the temporary leader?” Canyon, a brown-furred nicheling with a bat-like snout, said with a mix of annoyance and exhaustion as he looked over at the nicheling he was arguing with. Tiger Lily, a brown nicheling with red spots and water body, scowled at Canyon and aggressively shook her head in disagreement. “You’re far too pessimistic, a good leader needs to be able to look on the bright side sometimes, not to mention that things have to be done a certain way” Tiger Lily responded with far more agitation as her tail lashed behind her while trying to stare down the other nicheling, who simply tilted his head back with a sigh as he wondered if being in a group instead of being alone was a good idea.

Burn, a reddish-orange-furred nicheling with ram horns, watched the two argue with flattened ears as they wished those two wouldn’t argue so much over the whole ‘leadership’ thing. They jolted when they felt a paw touch their shoulder causing Shiver, a grey-furred nicheling with a red mane and blue eyes, to retract their paw as quickly as they placed it on the other nicheling’s shoulder before offering an apologetic smile. Burn tried their best to return it as they noticed who it was.

Smog, a black-furred nicheling with a fishing tail and velvet paw, talked to Wisp, a cream-colored nicheling with red patterning and water body, about whatever came to mind as soon as she realized that the two ‘leaders’ were arguing again and would probably be at it for some time. Wisp started talking about the crabbit that crawled onto shore as he pointed at it making Smog quickly jump on the topic and starting a new conversation to the two’s endless chatter.

Eclipse, a black-furred nicheling with ram horns and a brown mane, had been trying and kind of failing to make long-standing conversation with Shell, a brown-furred nicheling with a digging paw, as he waited for Tiger Lily and Canyon to stop arguing. Eclipse quit after hearing Shell only give short, though polite, answers to his questions and attempts of chatting, instead focusing on watching the two argue with a bit of exasperation at how often the two argue. He instead went over to talk to Spark, A beige-furred nicheling with antennae, who was much more talkative.

Eclipse was tempted to just take a nap because while it had been peaceful for a little bit Canyon and Tiger Lily were arguing AGAIN and he wondered if having these two stay in the group would ruin it later down the line. It wasn’t hard to see that the others shared his disdain of the two arguing as even Wisp looked annoyed at this point, quite a feat considering his usually cheery personality.

“Can you two stop arguing for like, a single day?!” Spark spoke first causing Tiger Lily and Canyon to both look over at the annoyed nicheling. “Deciding where we live is a huge decision and shouldn’t be taken lightly!” Tiger Lily said obviously intending her harsh words for the nicheling next to her which only caused him to grumble. “We can’t take forever to choose either, we don’t have the food for that so settling in a place like this would be the best choice” Canyon argued as he pointed out the lack of food the group had been dealing with for the past few days. “I’d be fine with this place as long as it makes you two stop arguing about it” Eclipse sighed as he started to clear grass without waiting for any type of go-ahead as he just wanted to sleep at this point.

Tiger Lily’s tail lashed but she just turned around and started to rip out bundles of grass as well, relenting as she realized there was almost no way she was winning this battle at the moment. But she promised herself that she would end up being the leader of this group so everything ran smoothly and was well planned out. The other nicheling’s relief was palpable, with Burn’s body practically deflating in relief as they realized that there wouldn’t be anymore conflict for the moment.

The nichelings spent the rest of the daylight helping to clear out grasses in their own ways. Tiger Lily, Canyon, and Shell were the most efficient about it though no one really saw Shell until it was time to sleep. Burn and Shiver were silently helping each other pull out the tougher bundles of grass as they felt no need to talk and preferred the comfortable silence. Wisp, Smog, and Spark were trying their best but ended up laughing and chatting more than helping with clean-up while Eclipse lazily plucked bundles at a leisurely pace.

By the time darkness stretched over the grasslands all nine nichelings were exhausted but a good enough area was cleared for them to settle down for the night. After some discussion it was decided that they would sleep fairly close for safety but needed a nicheling to stand guard while the other slept, Shell quickly offered to take up the position which caused the others to promise that she could sleep as long as she wanted the next day which she thanked them for before starting her duty.

Though they stuck somewhat close Burn did keep at least a few tail-lengths between them and the rest of the pile, though they didn’t protest Shiver’s offer to sleep next to them.

All the nichelings settled down after a few nichelings were warned that it was time to sleep not to chat and all drifted off to sleep.