Two Men At A Lake – A Story About Otters

A parody of Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team.

Two men go camping at a lake and undergo a transformative experience that leads them to become rescuers of various strange anthropomorphic animals they keep encountering on their journeys.

– Chapter 3: I know you better –

Two furry cavemen below a lake, playing, haggling, quibbling. Settling Catan, digging mud, robbing sheep.

„BZZT“ one of their floating spherical playmates said. „BZZT! YOU CAN'T DO THAT. I NEED THAT SHEEP FOR A TOWN“, holding onto the metal-clad sheep card by not releasing it from the electromagnetic grip that kept it floating in the air.

„Come on, man, you just have to accept that sometimes for sheep the grass is greener on the other side“ David said, fruitlessly trying to pull it towards him.

„FINE!“ the victim of robbery said and abruptly stopped the electromagnet, leaving David to fall on his back.

„Most painful board game I ever experienced..." he exclaimed. It wasn't just that this had happened for the fourth time already. These sheep had crushed many of his dreams today, and there seemed to be no end to it.

And so the game was soon concluded with a victory for the shepherd when the sheep learned that the grass was not in fact greener on the other side and finally allowed for total magnetic domination of the island with the sheer amount of wool they were producing alone. The grain-and-mud based villages of Matt and David proved to have been no match for Big Wool, and the other magnetic faction seemed to have colluded with the sheep just to see the otters flail and fail.

David felt like he knew now why they had been so desperate to find new players for their game. And now he was stuck with them in this cave. He definitely was not about to go the same way back and risk facing the execution committee of this subterranean world again, though. Even just thinking about it was making heart race.

He looked to Matt, who was still looking at the table, fuming, looking like he would want to flip over the board if all the pieces weren't held in place by electromagnets. He wasn't usually this much of a sore loser, but then again he was weirdly aggressive today anyway...

„BZZT! THANKS FOR LETTING US PLAY YOU... I MEAN WITH YOU!“ the victor cheerily announced, as if trying to break the tension.

„NOW ...“ hesitation creeping into their buzzing, distorted voice, „... A WAY OUT IS STILL NEEDED“

David sighed and took out some dried trout he had packed as a snack. This seemed like it might take a while. He settled down on a rock and passed his man something to gnaw on, too. He had to try to calm his nerves somehow.

The spheres looked around, but could could get no answers from the small crowd. Matt stared daggers at them, chewing on the fish aggressively, David looked at the ground, observing a puddle forming in a tiny cavity, feeling like standing at the edge of a huge sinkhole staring into the abyss, and Rose was silently observing the runlet flowing around the room, hugging the walls.

Finally, she groaned loudly. „Archeus help us, has no one here paid attention in school? Or do they not teach you properly above the ground? Look at this runlet--“

„What?“ David snapped, jumping up, believing he had witnessed his adopted demon summon a much bigger one and began frantically searching for this „Archeus“ figure. After all, couldn't anything happen at this point? What if it just manifested into the room out of thin air? But nothing happened, and Rose just turned towards him, brow furrowed.

„What... what are you doing?“

„Expecting the arrival of a much bigger presence...“ He knew even in that moment he wasn't usually like this, usually didn't feel like his nerves would fry him alive if he didn't find out what was going on here right then and there.

„What? Come on, don't act stupid... er than you are. There's just us here.“

David felt like that was exactly the problem. He was grasping at his hair, but it was too short to pull at it.

The magnetic spheres floated over to Matt, asking: „BZZT! HAS HE LOST HIS MIND OR JUST HIS MEMORY?“

Matt didn't answer and kept staring at them angrily.

„BZZT... PERHAPS THAT LAST FALL ON THE GROUND WAS ONE TOO MANY...“ one of them said, casting their eye down, dejected.

„Is there no way out of this?“ David nearly shouted, with a tone of desperation that resembled a plea to the heavens that he was so far removed from now.

„That's exactly what I was going to tell you, stupid! Just look!“ Rose exclaimed, still trying to draw everyone's attention to the runlet.

But David wasn't looking. He was now pacing up and down the room. Neither was Matt, who was still locked in a staring contest with the other game night host.

She snarled in frustration and gave up on explaining. The sound finally alerted David to her, yet it also made him feel apprehensive over the hyena girl he had effectively adopted earlier. He felt his odd, visceral fear deepening, like an instinctual drive his rational side was chiding him for. Why would he be afraid of a child? And that's when he noticed the fear of this fear starting to overtake. This was getting out of hand. Now there were two of them?

„Hello? Everything okay there? You seem to be shaking oddly.“

„I am... not, shaking“ he said.

Rose went and grabbed an open water bottle from his backpack.

„Oh yeah? Then hold this for a bit.“

He didn't refuse and took it between his paws. The water flew everywhere and the spheres quickly floated away to shelter.

„Okay, maybe a bit... Sorry.“ he said.

Rose ignored it and pointed to the runlet.

„Anyway, see how the water seems to come straight out of the ground? That means it's coming from a spring in this room, and then on the other side going through a sinkhole“ she said.

She pointed across the room to where the runlet disappeared into the ground again.

„So I think there has to be some cave or something even further below. We should investigate it!“

And before she had waited a moment, she jumped in to the water and to the surprise of everyone present, had wholly disappeared with a loud splash.

David didn't hesitate and jumped after her. It was ice cold water, surprisingly deep and murky from all the limestone that had been slowly dropping from the stalactites in the room. But it felt fresh, especially after the hours spending so many hours in the moist, humid underground air. His dizziness was washed away within moments and he wished he could stay where he wanted forever.

But he couldn't relax. He couldn't see her anywhere even after having dived full in. He went deeper until he realized the walls to the left and right had vanished and he was in what appeared to be a waterfall, loudly crashing into the small plunge pool, from which the runlet continued.

Ouch.

„Come on, did you need to be so dramatic?“ a familiar voice complained from a few strokes. If he wasn't hurting now all over his body he would have been even happier.

He saw her swimming some distance ahead of him.

„Sorry I was wrong, though. Turns out this was the sinkhole, and the spring was on the other side... but look, there's some light in the distance.“

He could barely see anything in the darkness, having left his flashlight behind, and couldn't even stand here properly either, bumping his head repeatedly against more stalactites, but there was something faintly glimmering in the distance. And before that, what seemed like holes in the ceiling letting in some light further ahead. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed the walls were tinted in a dark blue and had large groups of mushrooms glowing in green on the walls to the left and right.

Coupled with the fresh water, he felt like he should make this his new home, nothing from the outside could bother him, and he had a direct connection to the lake and its fish. He was a bit caught in the moment, just floating on the water, not even hearing the crying of another otter falling down the waterfall. It wasn't until he was briefly submerged into the water by something that had hit his back that he realized someone else had come down the sinkhole.

„Oof“ Matt exclaimed, looking around for David, who said no such thing, since his mouth was filled with water. Matt noticed this a moment later when he figured out how he managed to have such a soft landing on a peculiarly fuzzy ground.

- „Uhh, ... well, at least we are even now?“ Matt tried to joke, although when David had managed to get up, spit out the water and look at him he saw nothing but a very strained effort at a grin that would have made David wince if he didn't already from the pain in his back.

„I'm...“ he began, before more water forced its way out through coughs that only served to reinforce the concern on his man's face. „... fine.“ he finally managed to finish, involuntarily adding an „ouch“, Matt's uncharacteristically frown made David cringe on the inside.

„No really“ he began anew. „I'm ... I'll be fine, don't worry, please. You never do.“

Matt didn't say anything in return, and just looked down. They began to swim to the exit in silence, but it seemed to quickly become unbearable for both of them.

„But what's now going to happen with our game night hosts? We were supposed to rescue them, weren't we?“ David asked.

- “Our clients, you mean?“ Matt replied.

„That doesn't sound right. This isn't a business relationship, is it?“ David involuntarily imagined meeting with the magnetic spheres to negotiate a job offer, agreeing to work for them. But the mental image collapsed when he realized he had no idea what, if anything, these unusual beings even ate. Would they even have a need for it?

- „We do a job for them, they give us a reward. It's close enough, isn't it?“ A hint of cheekiness seemed to already have returned to Matt's voice.

„Anyway“ he began again, „I was supposed to tell you from them that they won't come this way for at least an hour, because they are worried about accidentally fizzle-...“ He paused for a moment, as if his tongue had developed a life on its own. “...frizz... sizz- sizzle... ling you. I mean, scare- shock you and your daughter to death with their sparks and stuff if they move through the water here...

„Wait a moment... they explicitly only worry about me? Why not you?“ David asked.

- „Uhh... heh, I guess we aren't the best of friends...“ Matt tried clearing his throat, but just got water into it in the process. It took him a while to cough it up again.

„Just what did you do?“ David would have really wanted to see the look on the other otter's face now. And maybe grab him by the neck, gently.

„We... might have gotten into a bit of an argument over ... the... the game.“ If David hadn't been so distracted by his surroundings, he might have remarked at the time how uncharacteristic it was for Matt to stumble so much over his words. But he was, so he didn't.

„I might have pushed them over the edge, and then they pushed me, and that's why I landed on top of you. ...“ Matt continued, before adding a hasty „...Sorry about that again.“ under his breath.

David just sighed, submerging his head in the water for a moment to do something about the pulsating pain near his forehead that had appeared all of a sudden for no reason whatsoever.

Then, when he needed air he almost hit his head on the rocky ceiling, not having realized that the underground river almost completely filled the cave at this point.

There was nothing left to do but press forward. His lungs screamed out in silence more and more, a sensation of burning spreading in his upper body, forcing him to clench his teeth, force his mouth shout as he swam on, and on, and on. Stroke after stroke, one more stroke, another stroke, yet another stroke, he could barely see anymore where he was, stroke... stroke... stroke. The burning was spreading to his muscles, he felt a strange compulsion to just let go and float in what felt a sheer nothingness, the world around him already erased.

But it wasn't getting dark, it was all in fact getting brighter. Brighter, and brighter, the more he tortured himself by still going forward, all around him, the dark crystal blue becoming lighter and lighter and a source of light finally appeared on top of him. It seemed to shine a light onto his mind as well, as he slowly registered he had escaped the confines of the dungeon and now all he had to do was push upwards and upwards, towards the light.

He heard nothing, no one, felt nothing, just pain, his eyes now almost falling shut as he fought with the exhaustion, but he could smell the difference, and taste it. He had not yet resurfaced, but the very visceral memory of wrestling in the very same water with Matt just earlier in the morning had, giving him an unexplainable desire, burning stronger than even his pain, to seek Matt out again and pick up where they had left, he just had to go up, up, up... u p w a r d s and then the world abruptly went pop and he breathed it in and the pain slowly out.

The colors and shapes of the world gradually reappeared around him, feeling strangely both very distant and all too close and real for a moment as David readjusted to being fully among the living again, now frantically searching for his mate. Matt still needed to see how tough he really could be, earlier he had probably let him off too easily. Although it was difficult to remember, it already feeling like an eternity ago. He turned and turned, eventually realizing he was close to the same shore they had heard the human butterfly cry for help.

But now there was a new sign, and in front of it Matt was already standing, arms crossed. The training would have to wait, then.

„← RESCUE TEAMS GO THIS WAY“ the sign said.

„Man, can you believe it? Someone already took our idea and copied it.“ Matt said.

--„Your idea, you mean...“ David responded as he was getting out of the water and slowly swaying moved towards him.

„But it's our effort. We form a team. And now there are already other ones trying to take away our clients and get some of that fame?“

David noticed how Matt was getting exasperated, but he had no energy left to argue. Still, after a few weird moments of silence, he said:

--„If more people want to help, that can only be a good thing, right?“

„We'll see about that...“ Matt now finally turned towards his man, only to flinch when he saw him barely being able to stand up. „Oof, what happened to you? Are you okay?“

--“Jus-just a bit tired. I think I'll feel great if I can rest a bit, that river took a lot more out of me than I thought...“

„You're out of shape! Man, we really need to train more if we are to rescue more monsters and demons here. Especially if we aren't the only rescue team here anymore. I don't want you to just keel over at some point...“

--„I wonder how far away it is, whatever we are supposed to go to. I can still walk a bit...“ David tried to sound reassuring, but was undermined by his heavy, labored breathing and unusually quiet voice.

„No way, what if this is actually a trap set by someone? Maybe even a corrupt rival team? We need to be on guard here.“

„Uhhh“ David raked his mind trying to think of a way to avoid being left alone here again, like it had happened in the cave. He didn't want anything to happen to Matt again. „you know, what if that is what they want us to think? After all, they clearly expected us here, having put up that sign...“

Matt's eyes briefly widened in shock. „Oh right! Let's hurry away from here, then. I'll help you walk“

Against David's weak protests, Matt put his own arm around David, supporting him walk. It wasn't the intimacy David disliked, it was that he wasn't being trusted to stand on his own two feet anymore. Maybe that was even justified, but it hurt nonetheless. On some deep visceral level. But he didn't want to upset his friend let alone argue with him either, so he felt he had no choice but to let it happen.

The way the sign pointed to was fairly simple to follow, even and clear, leading them into the forest they had already visited, full of pines and spruces, creeks gently flowing through it. But this time, no voice seemed to call out from it. In fact, it was almost eerily quiet. Still, the way remained obvious enough at least, evidently having been used a lot by a lot of people... and maybe also other creatures. David still wasn't sure who it was he had been talking to all day. Heck, he still wasn't even sure who *he* was.

The rush of the previous events had kept the thoughts at bay but now that he didn't even have to focus on where he was walking to anymore it flooded his mind again. And now he needed a way to let it drain again. But it was no use, the more he tried to focus on other things, the past days, his surroundings, animals, Matt, it all just made him circle back to his present state. It was beginning to wear him down, and he slowed down, which abruptly made Matt slow down, too. David could see the increasing amount of concern in his eyes and so scrambled to pick up pace again. He wanted to smile, too, but his muscles didn't follow.

A moment later something hit him with such force, he would have almost fallen if he hadn't been carried by the stronger arm of Matt. Where was Rose? He was feeling like abysmal father at that moment, that he had managed to lose her out of sight so easily. His body began to shiver and Matt hugged him closer.

„What's wrong, man? Tired?“ he asked. David looked up. It really was getting dark now, they had spent the whole afternoon and then some in that cave. It didn't seem wise to be spending dusk in an unknown forest far away from all their things. Well, their remaining things. Much of what they had taken with them into the cave had stayed behind or gotten lost or broken during their escape, although David was still carrying the mostly empty backpack at least.

„Where ... where is Rose?“ David said.

- „Oof.“ Matt replied, ever rhetorically gifted. „I don't know.“

David winced. Matt didn't need to do any accusations, David's mind was filled with them already.

„Let's keep going. She's not here at least. Maybe she got ahead of us.“ Matt said, but his tone was lacking any of the usual enthusiasm, sounding almost a bit like a plea.

David, although still shivering, complied and started moving again. Not long after, a clearing appeared in the distance. As they got closer, they soon had a piercing rhythm of drums resonate in their entire bodies that only got louder with every step they took, accompanied by the sweet melodious tunes of a trio of flutes and the crackling of a large campfire that illuminated the whole clearing.

Once they had reached the end of the way, where it opened out into the campfire site surrounded by a number of larger oval constructions from wood that had grass growing on their roofs. Between the two, about a dozen creature-people seemed to have their eyes set on three figures standing in front of the fire, flanked by drum and flute players. And then above all of them they saw four familiar shapes, shiny and bright they glittered in the light of the fire. So the magnetic spheres had already found their way here, too!

„Oh my god.“ Matt whispered. „What is this place?“

„As long as we didn't disturb an ancient summoning ritual we should be fine“ David said. Matt gave him an incredulous look.

„What, after everything that happened this strikes you as weird? A simple concert near a bonfire?“ David continued, wondering why it was him that for once was that was not startled by another ... unexpected discovery.

- „No, I mean, look. They are clearly honoring a rescue team there. It must be one.“

„Why?“

- „Well, the path the sign showed us led us to here. Presumably the same was the case for them, unless the sign used to say something else before?“

David wasn't sure if this conclusion meant that Matt would make a very good or very bad detective. A familiar crackling sound -- distinct from the crackling of the bonfire, a buzzing sound underlying it -- alerted him that a certain multi-spherical being (or two) might have overheard them both and now weigh in on the question. He just hoped they hadn't inadvertently offended anyone.

„BZZT! THERE YOU ARE! JOYOUS SIGHT“ their clients, all four of them, said in unison. The magnets attached to their round metallic bodies were flipping up and down in apparent delight.

„BZZ-BZZT! YOU SAVED US! AND OUR GAME NIGHT“ two of them said, presumably the ones they met in the cave. But David couldn't tell them apart. Not even a little bit. No matter how much he looked, they looked like quadruplets.

- „You're welcome!“ Matt was quick to reply with an uncomfortable amount of pride.

„PLEASE HAVE THESE TOKENS OF GRATITUDE“ one of them continued before floating away momentarily and reappearing with another small assortment of curious-looking berries in various colors and shapes, as well as an unusually large apple carefully balanced on top of them.

Matt's eyes were beaming at the sight. He grabbed the reward with a loud „Thanks“ that probably was loud enough to be heard even by those celebrating the other rescue team near the bonfire. To say that David was surprised to find out there were evidently other ones, too, was an understatement. But he couldn't really find fault with Matt's reasoning this time. That just raised more questions, though.

„So how come you came to us, and didn't ask someone with more ... experience?“ David asked.

„BZZ... WELL...“ one of their shiny customers began, before trailing off into an awkward pause.

„NONE OF THE OTHER TEAMS WOULD TAKE OUR REQUEST. BZZT-BZZT.“ another one finally replied with their solitary eye and magnet limbs cast towards the ground. „NO ONE ELSE HERE SEEMS TO APPRECIATE BOARD GAMES MUCH.“

„What, but they are awesome!“ Matt burst in.

„AND SO ARE YOU! BZZ!“ a third of the spherical creatures cheered.

„BUT HE REFUSED ALL OUR GREAT TRADING DEALS.“ the fourth one said, before turning to Matt. „YOU ARE TOO ATTACHED TO YOUR SHEEP!“

„Wait, was this what your argument was about?“ David asked Matt.

- „Yes...“

David groaned internally. He didn't want to see another fight in public involving Matt, like the almost weekly ones he remembered from college.

„Who is being celebrated there?“ he asked, pointing to the drums and flutes, just trying to redirect the attention.

- „BZZT?“ their customers replied in unison, as if not understanding the question.

„Like, is that another rescue team there?“ Matt added.

- „BZZT - SURELY YOU KNOW ABOUT TEAM A. C. T.?“ one asked.

A small shudder overcame David, as he felt he had inadvertently marked himself as an outsider with no clue about anything. Which, to be fair, he was. But it still hurt.

„ABRACADABRA CREED TEAM IS THE MOST POWERFUL AND FAMOUS TEAM! THEY HAVE RESCUED MANY OF US HERE.“ another one explained.

„THE ABRACADABRA CREED IS TO HELP THOSE IN DESPAIR, AND CRUSH THOSE WHO BRING DESPAIR“ the third elaborated.

„CRIMINALS FEAR THEM!“ the fourth exclaimed.

David tried to get a closer look at them, but they were standing too far away from where that other rescue team was receiving their honors, with the bonfire in the way, too. All he could make out was that they were tall and towering creatures, intimidating figures he would not want to cross.

„Could they help us find Rose?“ David asked, gaining a spark of hope.

- „BZZT! YOUR CHILD? BZZ...“ the first one replied. „DID SHE GET LOST? MY SYMPATHIES TO YOU.“

- „BZZ-ZT! I THINK I SAW HER ON THE WAY HERE, SHE MUST HAVE PASSED THROUGH THE VILLAGE AT LEAST.“ the third said.

„That is something, at least. Thanks! We will ask them.“

- „Nah, leave that all to me!“ Matt said. David had mixed feelings on this, but didn't say anything. He probably wasn't in the right frame of mind for talking to celebrities right now anyway. Someone with an overflowing sense of confidence was probably the man for the job here, since it would at least be of some use here.

Matt didn't waste any more time and made his way to where the heroes of the village were still standing, not paying attention to all the creatures staring at him as he pushed past them, moving in big strides towards the stage. But David felt them all the more, or at least felt they were staring at him. He didn't actually dare to look at anyone. His mind was increasingly scrambled the more he thought, and just wished this trip had remained as solitary as Matt had promised when he first had brought it up.

The music had stopped and the only sound they he still heard was from the bonfire crackling and spitting, everyone else stunned into silence. Still, he walked on, not wanting to just stand where he was surrounded by eyes judging him already, preferring to stay close to his furry man. Who was already addressing the stage. David realized he could now finally get a good look at Team Act.

Three beastly people were staring down at them. Mostly at Matt.

On the left, an orange-colored dragon with two horns on his head, a a rectangular snout with raised nostrils, huge bat-like wings with blue-greenish undersides in addition to two arms with three claws each and a large cream-colored belly. But the most striking feature of the creature was the long tail, having the same colors and a burning flame at the end that seemed to never go out.

On the right, a veritable dinosaur in a grayish green, standing on two legs with strange large triangular black holes in them, with spikes on his head, back and short tail. While most of his body seemed covered in a thick stone-like skin, a diamond-shaped patch on his belly had blue-gray scales on it instead. Above it, to the left and right, were triangular black holes akin to those on his legs, but smaller.

The creature in the middle was the hardest to describe. He wasn't like anyone or anything David could remember ever having seen, not even in myths. Very vaguely he resembled a human, with two clawed legs and arms with hands, each having a thumb and two other fingers holding a spoon made from bone. But a very spindly, almost skeletal man, covered in thin yellowish ocher fur, an angular head with two very pointed ears resembling horns and a mustache almost as wide as his body was hanging from his small, triangular snout. His chest, shoulders and joints seemed to be covered in some kind of armoring.

„Excuse me... sirs, would you be able to help us look for a small hyena girl that passed through here? She's our daughter, small, gray fur, feisty“ said Matt, not missing a beat.

The spoonholder in the middle hesitated before answering, briefly looked towards his team members to the left and right, shifted slightly to the back before saying:

„Rather coldhearted, I am not. To save the otters' daughter, a large search is needed. My strong team can whip up a powerful effort. It's an easy matter for us.“

David's eyes brightened, and he was about to speak up, but the apparent leader of the team continued.

„Please submit a drawing of your daughter and where to look for her on the message boulder of the village. Thanks.“

- „Oh“ was all David could get out now and turned to leave. Matt soon followed after him, equally wordlessly.

After some minutes of walking away from the crowd, Matt finally spoke up.

„What a weirdo. Who talks like that?“

He didn't get a response, so to kill the awkwardness that was befalling the situation he attacked it with all the energy he could muster at the end of the day.

„Come on, where's this rock? We got some drawing to do!“

Still nothing. In the shadows, away from the bonfire, David was in fact barely visible now, as if he was disappearing. Matt sighed.

„It's going to get cold. We'll have to find some shelter... and even with our fur we might need to snuggle up, again“ he said.

It finally made David snicker, and quickly Matt was, too. After a bit of walking around the village with just the bonfire and moonlight to guide them they eventually found a small hut at the edge of the village that seemed presently unoccupied and had enough room for both of them.

Matt sighed.

„It's going to get cold. Even with our fur we might need to snuggle up again“ he said.

It finally put a smile on David's face that soon spread back to Matt. After a bit of walking around the village with just the bonfire and moonlight to guide them they eventually found a small hut at the edge of the village that seemed presently unoccupied and had enough room for both of them.

The floor was for the most part simply soil that seemed strangely disturbed, like it was composed of several unusually large molehills, but there seemed to be a large heap of dried moss and grass in the corner Matt decided to spread out to use as bedding.

The owner of this place, if there was one, would surely understand, David hoped.

As they lay down, close to each other, Matt asked:

„Are you worried, man?“

- „Uhh, no...“ David replied.

„I know you better. There's probably no one more worried than you in the world now.“ This time, Matt didn't wait for a reply before continuing. „Listen, we will find her. And if we have to do it ourselves. Even if it means climbing the tallest mountain.“