I struggled against whoever was grabbing me. My shorter stature let me slip an arm or leg free, but there was always someone there to restrain it a second later. They had carried me horizontally.

  “Stay still.” A muffled voice said, huffing, as another hand gripped my just freed limb.

  My eyes itched as Dark Sight activated. I looked around wildly as I fought against my captors.

  We were in a tunnel, not a very large one. It was maybe four feet in diameter total. No clue how far down it was, though. I tried to find the entrance hole, the one they dragged me down from, but the entire tunnel was dark. There wasn’t so much as a hint of the fire filled sky. They must have closed it back up as soon as they could. I’m not even sure where they came from; tunnel was probably the wrong word to use. It looked like we were just in a small pocket underground.

  I turned my head as I fought, trying to see who the perpetrators were. I caught a glimpse of some dark furred arms and torso before one of them forced my head to the side of the tunnel.

  “Let me go! What the hell are you doing?” I yelled at them, flailing my legs. A question swiftly answered by a hand slapping into my face and covering my mouth, silencing any further questions. This situation left me with only one solution, I nipped at their palm, digging my teeth into the meat of asshole’s hand.

  A poor choice, I soon figured out. My teeth slowly scraped against what felt like straight rock, like I just tried to bite the side of a boulder. My whole jaw vibrated as it shut against the stony hand. Shit. Yep, that's climbing the ranks in my Worst Experiences on Kniyas list.

  I licked my teeth, checking for blood, I thought my gums might be hurt from the scraping. But to my surprise, nothing. They were totally fine. Whole mouth was actually. Though maybe it wasn’t that surprising, Mimic Teeth and all that. That for certain would have done some damage if for my main trope.

  “Tss. Bastard actually bit me.” A gruff, almost gravelly voice, the kind you’d expect from a fifty year-old man who’d been smoking since he got out of his mother’s womb, spoke up. And was apparently the one who was currently clamping my mouth shut.

  “Sheesh, dumb move on his part. Did yah harden up?” A feminine voice with a thick draw. Though she didn’t sound as close as the others, at least not close enough to be one of the ones holding me down.

  “Dammit, Shirles, did you have to put it like that?” Gravel mouth answered with a sigh. “Yes, I used Rock Skin.”

  “Good. Glad it's you and not me. Bet that woulda hurt like a bitch without it. Heard about them chompers from the chief, yah know. It's his trope.” The woman said as she clacked her teeth together.

  “Yep, surely true, Shirles, surely true.”

  I struggled once more as the strange exchange ended, managing to free an arm. I scratched at someone’s arm this time, but I don't think it was enough to actually hurt them.

  ”Daaamn, he’s a lively one, Roan. And green.” It was the woman again, much closer now, she spoke from just above my head, giving me an inspection most likely. “And a bit on the small side. Are you sure this is the guy Roan?”

  “Positive. And don’t complain, it’ll make moving him that much easier. It’s one of his, oh what did the chief call it? Phases? Modes?” This voice came from about my midsection, he must be the one holding my arms down. No discerning features like the others, maybe a slight draw like the woman, but it was hard to tell. Not that I was particularly concerned in figuring it out at the moment. I could see his body a little. This guy wore simple cloth pants with straps just like overalls. No shirt, just an incredibly hairy chest. No shoes either.

  “Fermphms.” I mumbled through the rock hand. If they were going to have the nerve to kidnap me, they might as well have my information correct.

  “Wassat? Ferns. Nah, it's something else. You’re right about the f though.”

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  Of course, I'm right about the f, they're my damn powers. I wiggled in defiance.

  “Forms, Sir.” Another new voice corrected the man. It was quiet, but firm. He must have been holding my feet. How many people were down here, it’s not that big of a tunnel.

  “That’s it. Thanks, Lock. Now let’s get going. Liam here has a date with the chief. Best to get him there on time. Shirles, get to digging.”

  Well, they knew my name. Which confirmed that I was, without a doubt, their target. But why? What date? Who’s this chief?

  Aye, Aye, but I’m gonna need Rocky’s help getting rid of the dirt, unless you’d like to chew on it to make it disappear.”

  “I told you my name’s not Rocky girl, it's Rodis.”

  “Same difference.”

  “Rodis, can you do it one-handed? I didn’t think he’d have this much spunk after fighting for so long, but you're the only one who can safely hold his mouth.”

  “Yeah, but it’ll be slower. And it’ll drain my stamina quicker.”

  “Alright, just let Lock know when you get low. Shirles.”

  “Digging time, gents.”

  Sounds of earth shifting and breaking filled the tunnel when they finished talking. Their merry little band moved forward.

  I couldn’t lie, curiosity was killing me. Part of me wanted to chill out and see where this went. Hell, a break from the raid sounded pretty good. But that wasn’t really an option. Too many friends up there fighting without me. Plus I need to mimic the boss. Can’t really do that from down here. Though I never tried underground mimicking.

  I shook my head, well twitched my head, Gravels here made a full head shake impossible. It also earned me another face squeeze.

  “Dang it Roan, why didn’t we bring rope?” Gravels asked.

  “Because according to our intel, he’d probably break through them with his real tough bear form, and we’d have to do this anyway. And carrying metal shackles would have slowed us down too much.” The leader, this Roan, answered.

  Bear form. Great idea! But as I was about to shift out of Gremlin, I looked around again. The tunnel was pretty small, even if I shifted into Ursa form, I think I’d probably get free, but then just get stuck. Then, when I revert, I’d just get captured again. Or worse case scenario, I might collapse the whole tunnel fighting these goons off. No good. Buried alive is a terrible way to go. But how will I get out anyway? I’m not sure any forms would be good for digging. Man if only I’d have mimicked that Mole from a few months back. That’s it, mole form is going up on the list of new forms to acquire. If I get out of this at least.

  But I need to get free. I’ll worry about an escape once I get away from them. If only I could get just one limb free. God, I wish I had just one more appendage to help me here.

  Wait a second.

  A plan blossomed in my head as I evaluated the situation again. It wasn’t a great one, but it didn’t seem like I was going to have great plans today, just ones that would barely work. But it is better than nothing.

  I reverted to base form. My body grew back to its normal proportions as I left Gremlin form.

  “Roan, he’s shifting, we need to do something quick,” said the man holding my feet, voice completely devoid of any emotion or urgency his words would suggest.

  “I know, form change, I bet. Be ready, he’s probably going into the bear one. He’ll grow a bit.”

  Nope suckers.

  Fur grew on my face along with a mischievous smile as I shifted into Apis form.

  “What the hell is that?” The gravelly voiced man asked.

  My tail wiggled around for a second as I got used to the sensation of having the new appendage again.

  “Grab it!”

  “With what?”

  Before they could figure out what to do, I sent my tail down to my feet, feeling around until I found the quiet man holding my feet. My tail ran up his arms finding his neck, wherein I wrapped around it, just barely, however. I only had enough length to wrap around the man’s throat once, but I was banking on that being enough, because I don't think he’s a fighter.

  Sure enough, my plan was right, he let me go and grabbed at my tail with his hands. But I let him go just as quickly. With my feet free, I reared back and kicked him squarely in the chest with both feet. I heard his body tumble and hit the ground.

  “Lock!”

  My feet hit the ground. I kicked off of the ground while the leader was still off balance from the sudden shift in my weight. The blow was enough to send him into the tunnel wall. As well as release me from the stone man’s grasp on my face.

  I got one hand free and punched the leader’s stomach as hard as I could. Then kicked the other man in the shin before backing away from them.

  I rushed to the back of the cave, where the quiet man I first kicked had landed. He had already gotten to his feet, but wasn’t ready for the gut punch I delivered to him. He barreled over, but I stopped him. I got behind him and threw my arms around his neck, putting him in a chokehold. I wrapped my tail round his arms, fastening them down to his torso as I backed as far back as I could.

  The other two men got up and took a step towards me. The woman didn’t move from her spot at the front.

  “No! One more step and I swear I will break this dude’s neck!”