Zip Those Lips!

A rihog sniffed around an abandoned clearing in the city. It was hot on the trail, and it was getting visibly excited to catch its prey. It circled around a broken wheelbarrow, following a trail of blood droplets too small to see but giving off a very potent smell. 

The small aphex it had been tracking was crouched right behind that barrel, too scared to shiver. He trembled, too tired to move from his failed hiding spot, but nevertheless psyching himself up to put up one last fight. Clutching a cut on his side and a sharp rock with another, he waited until the rihog’s sniffing got closer, closer, closer…

“HAAAAA!” A solid, weighty strike on the muzzle from an unseen ambusher, and the rihog stumbled back in confusion. It tried to roar, but its mouth was zipped shut with a comically oversized zipper. 

The attacker got to their feet, striking a pose. “How do you like my zippers, you overgrown dart frog? You won’t be using those poison tusks anytime soon!”

The rihog migh have been down one weapon, but it could still charge. It wasted no time, aiming and barreling towards the figure. They didn’t dodge, only smirked. 

The moment before making contact, the figure struck two more times. The rihog fell onto its side and skidded to a halt, squirming to no avail. Its legs had been zipped to its belly, making it as mobile as a sausage. 

The figure stood over the rihog, watching it struggle and roar against its restraints. Then, they crouched, putting a hand on the beast and sighing in frustration. 

“All this death and carnage, for what?” The figure asked, as if the rihog could answer. “All these souls to take to Allure, all this tragedy…I just can’t understand what caused it.”

A creak. The figure’s head snapped to the wheelbarrow, and locked eyes with the bleeding aphex. The two stood in silence, barely able to process what they were seeing from the other. 

“...You’re a Cyphon!” The aphex whispered in awe, dropping the stone. “Wait, are you the blessed kind? O-or the soul eating kind–” The aphex stumbled, ducking down for the rock again. They couldn’t find it, and another spurt of blood came from their injury. 

“Stop, stop, you’ll make it worse–!” The Cyphon strode forward and put a huge paw over the aphex’s injury. When they took it off, a small zipper was holding the wound shut. 

“That should stop the bleeding for now.” The cyphon sighed, guiding the aphex to sit on the wheelbarrow while they stood over him. “Do you have a name, little one?”

“U-uh, everyone calls me Nor.” The aphex stammered. “A-am I dying? Do I get to go to Heaven?”

“You’re going to live, Nor, don’t worry.” The Cyphon sighed. “Come on, let's get you to an actual doctor.”

Nor cast a wary look at the Rihog still writhing on the ground. The Cyphon noticed, and laughed. 

“Don’t worry, I don’t like to kill if I can avoid it. That rihog will be perfectly fine once we put it into a suitable holding cell.”

“Oh, that’s great.” Nor muttered, in a tone that made it clear he wasn’t particularly stoked about that. “Well, thank you so much…your grace?”

The Cyphon laughed. “Everyone calls me Bucci.” 

“Okay, Bucci, your grace.”

Bucci snorted a laugh. “Oh, you’re quite the character, aren’t you?”

Nor tried to laugh in response, but groaned and clutched his side again. Bucci let him lean on them, looking around for any more danger around them. 

“Hey, uh…not saying I’m gonna die yet, but…”

Bucci patted the aphex’s shoulder reassuringly. “If, for some odd reason, that were to come to be, I would certainly take you to Allure, personally. Please, don’t worry yourself about anything but healing for now.” 

It took a bit of time for reinforcements to arrive, first responders and traveling fighters who scouted every dangerous area, the fighters fanning out and making sure the area was secure while the first responders coaxed Nor onto a stretcher to get him proper treatment. The last to arrive were scientists who were trying to get live rihogs to study why they were rampaging. Bucci stayed with them to make sure the beast wasn’t causing any more trouble and helped to load the restrained rihog into one of the many cages being constructed for this very purpose. 

Bucci watched the rihog slam itself against the cage it was in, snorting and roaring all the while. One of the scientists sadly informed him that they were running out of cages, despite the desire for more specimens to study. They urged Bucci to take action to keep themselves out of danger, by whatever means Bucci deemed necessary. 

“I will certainly do as I must.” Bucci nodded to them, and turned back towards the front lines to do it all again.