Retracing Sabre: Part 3

Suddenly, Savior found herself in an overgrown forest. Lisa was talking to Sabre, who was even more crabby than usual.
"Unlike the koalas near Cosmo's den, Sabre, Bunny Burrow is under no Alpha's protection, not even Peck's. Harper is incredibly powerful for reasons unknown, but she isn't a valiant Alpha, and the others are... busied." she sighed. "We're doing as much as we can to stop the Queen, but this fort near Bunny Burrow is incredibly dangerous, protected by a Phantom Door. We've tried our best to evacuate the residents with Binky's help, but..."
"Stop talking!" snapped Sabre, his eyes full of impatience. Even Savior looked taken aback. "Aren't you EVER tired of your own VOICE?"
Lisa vanished in a holographic lotus flower that radiated a confident aura, and the vines covering a passageway nearby furled onto branches. Sabre only was slightly enamored, as if the ducks in the pond nearby had started to quack only a little more quietly.
"It's your choice, sciabola, but remember that the more field agents we send out, the faster the Queen tries to turn her prisoners into Dark Shells."
A bell of alarm turned on in Savior's head.
Dark shells?!
Sabre seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he pranced through the pathway to Bunny Burrow.

Before they went there, Sabre detoured into a grove hidden in the trees and opened a treasure chest.
Inside was a mighty sum of gems and a watering can filled with pristine water.
While Savior took the shiny coins, Sabre took the watering can in his teeth and carefully walked out of the grove and continued on to Bunny Burrow.
Savior was puzzled where the treasure came from and as how Sabre knew it was there, but she continued on in his lead.
After just a minute, they came to a stop in front of a wooden fence jutting out, with a sign that simply had the symbol of a bunny on it.
"Who comes there?" asked a white bunny in a yarn cap in a nearby tree. Yarn stars hung from strings on the cap, yet Savior knew it was some sort of youngster fashion fad.
"Hulaboloo!" Sabre grumbled, as if he'd gone over that many times.
"Welcome to Bunny Burrow! I'm Binky!" he said.
The rickety gate swung open, and both Sabre and Savior stepped through.

Through the gate, things weren't very impressive in Bunny Burrow.
It was mostly just a small village with four bunnies either sleeping, eating or chatting with others.
Savior had a feeling that
1. The river wasn't supposed to be covered with a thick crust of purple goo
2. The well water wasn't supposed to be poisoned and the plants smoking away from poison water
3. The population wasn't supposed to be so sparse and
4. The door to the only actual burrow in the town wasn't supposed to be locked. LOCKED!
Binky sadly looked at his neighbors, and Savior followed his gaze. Most slept on top of piles of leaves, but a bunny in a Scary Cat Hat was overlooking the river, playing with rubber jumping jacks.
"Hey, Harvey. Sabre's here." said Binky.
Harvey looked up from his intense game of jumping jacks.
"Oh, hi there, Sabre." he said absentmindedly. "Want to play with me?"
Binky smiled just a bit.
"Harvey, remember, he's here to help with our problem."
Harvey nodded vigorously.
"Right, right. So, this jumping jack is missing a leg, and won't jump properly-"
"Harvey, I mean the other problem."
"Right, right." Harvey replied hurriedly. He glanced at the river, then did a sweep of Bunny Burrow. Only then did Savior noticed other things.
For one thing, a shiny pipe was overlooking the river, and gunk was spilling out of it, fueling the crust on the river with... solidifying crust. Another thing was that a white and orange bunny was looking at the pipe, holding a cork in her paws. Savior also noticed that vines covered the exit to Bunny Burrow.
"Our problem that Binky is referring to is that our well water is poisoned, and when Pumpkin here-"
Harvey glanced at the orange and white bunny, who waved.
"-tried to water the plants, they went... poomf."
Savior didn't need much more of an explanation, since she could figure out the rest.
"We're running low on food, and we need your help to purify our water. We also would prefer it if you rid the phantom stronghold beyond of phantoms. Those guys probably did this; they're pesky."
Savior nodded, despite the fact that this was a sheer memory.
Suddenly, in a flurry of leaves and brambles, the other bunny in the compound (as Savior thought of it) awoke and smiled at Sabre.
"We've been expecting you, Sabre." he said simply. "My name is Buster."
After he spoke his name, Buster collapsed and started to snore.
Binky shrugged.
"Even my parents, George and Clover, can't wake up Buster during the day. During the night, though, he zips around Bunny Burrow like a sports car - not that we've seen any." said Binky. His eyes were alert, yet sad. "His sister, Cookie, disappeared into the woods yesterday, saying something about Mira's treasure chests. Personally, both of them are a bit cuckoo, but they're good people."
Savior wasn't satisfied, but it did explain the treasure chest in the forest grove, and a bit why there weren't a lot of bunnies in the compound.
"My parents vanished around the same time as Clover, vanished into the woods, probably. I think that their disappearance has to do with the Phantoms - as does the vanishing of my friends.."
Binky paused.
"Jack, Snowball, Oliver and Daisy."
Binky looked at Sabre.
"I'm going to take a nap now, if you don't mind. I need my rest here. I'll just conclude that once they vanished, the door to our house locked, so I'm borrowing Jack's nest for now."
And with that, he crashed on a pile of leaves indistinguishable from the others and started to sleep.

Sabre immediately fumbled with the can, then set it down near Pumpkin.
"Eh?" she grunted, clearly captivated with the bits and bobs of her cork.
"You can have this can of water. It'll heal at least one plant."
"Oh, good. I'm an avid gardener, of course, so I'll even give you this cork in return for the can."
Pumpkin took the can in her paws, and examined it warily, as if she were wary about watering cans rather than personal information.
Sabre, as quickly as could be, inserted the cork into the pipe, plugging it. The backup sewage of the pipe made much pressure, and created the explosion - well, you get the idea.
The pillar of sewage arced up into the air, vanished with no trace. The crust thinned, but only a bit.
"Thank you." muttered Sabre as the vines furled onto the branch, yet wards appeared to prevent any phantoms to enter but animals to freely enter and exit.

The scene changed.
Savior was in another grove, with vines blocking her path. The plump trees resembled the trees of Bunny Burrow, but her bearings were still outside the borders, but very far away from Bunny Burrow.
Sabre stood in front of her, all of his fancy jewelry intact, but he had quite a few wounds on him. She wondered if the phantoms had been vanquished... and images flowed into her mind, igniting a sensation of full freedom, yet down-to-earth feelings.
She saw Sabre plugging pipes with corks relinquished from phantoms he'd lured into Chompers, and opening the Arctic Wolf emblem with a bit of pressed power that resembled the power grid of any normal arctic wolf. Savior wondered how such an old relic got outside of the borders, then remembered a story she vaguely remembered of Chorus and Amelia.
The temple of Mira... "The Lost Frontier".. "The Miracle Gateway"... A land not really part of Jamaa but recently reclaimed just enough for most Jamaasians to access it at auspicious times of day... The place where a Mark burned clearly...
Somehow, something clicked in her mind.
Chorus was her ancestor.
But she didn't have much time to dwell on that; as more images flowed in. Finding a watering can nestled on the edge of every well in the area once Sabre restored the water to normal, and restoring the plants to normal. Crossing the river and finding that Cookie had opened every chest in the area, and had kept the gems to spend whenever Liza visited and took the Bunny Burrow citizens to Jamaa Township's bazaar. She hadn't returned only because the river was impassable just as she finished her hunt. Taking Cookie back to the Burrow, much to find that Clover and George had also returned since they had also been stuck on the wrong side of the river after picking flowers. Breaking through the door with a key that Clover gave to him for finding Cookie. Defeating more phantoms while hiding in tall grass, and taking keys to release Binky's friends just as the Queen was about to corrupt them to unleash on Bunny Burrow. Receiving prizes from Liza for his bravery, then being teleported to wherever he was now.
Savior glanced up at Sabre, and realized he was gone. A pulling sensation tugged at her, though, and she followed it (mostly by being dragged.)
To be continued...