The team continued walking through the grasslands, until finally making out of the thick, tall, pale grass to find a huge lake, glimmering beautifully in the sunlight, the sky clearer than clean glass, the occasional cloud floating by. The grass was fresh and a very healthy green, the lush and modest breeze blowing against the crew's fur calmly and cooler than ice. By the lake was a large shed, where a mouse on a chair was sleeping peacefully... Too peacefully. On the lake was a beautiful boat, in brilliant condition for sailing the lake.

"Wow, this place is just gorgeous! It's all so peaceful...!" Derp squeaked, peacefully walking through the area.
"I know where I'm having my wedding!" Sapph nodded, blushing redder than a rose in the springtime."
"You're right there, Sapph~!" Bela agreed, laying back in the grass and relaxing. "I could stay here forever!"
"Well, don't get too comfortable, because we're setting off in a couple minutes..." Kagerou called out, examining the boat with interest. She looked towards the mouse and shook him to try waking him up. No response. She tried again, same thing happened. She then checked his pulse, letting out a quiet gasp which Mel soon heard.
"What's wrong?" she asked with minor concern.
"This mouse... He's dead." Kagerou replied, smiling softly. "He must have gone peacefully. No pain. No suffering. In his sleep." As she was speaking, a tear rolled down her cheek, falling onto the grass. "C'mon, let's go. We'll leave him here, and we'll use the boat. That way it doesn't go all mossy." The team nodded their heads, running to the boat. Derp walked towards the shed's door, grasping onto the doorknob and turning it. The door opened with a loud creak, and a flood of food supplies, clothes and knick-knacks.
"I think these will come in handy." Derp said, looking to everyone.
"Derp! Don't you think it's rude to invade someone else's property?" Bela soon muttered, facepalming.
"You heard Kage. He's gone. He won't really be able to use anything in here, and it would be best if we didn't let them go to waste. We can make weapons for defence." Derp explained. "We'll certainly need the help."
Sapph looked at Derp with a shy smile, giggling. "He does have a point, we don't wanna go out there defenceless. C'mon, let's get everything we need!"

After several minutes of putting the supplies into separate bags and putting them onto the boat, the team set off into the lake.
"I hope nobody gets seasick, because this will be a long journey." Kagerou joked, looking towards everyone. Everyone shook their heads and she let out a quiet giggle, looking towards the direction they were moving. Mel, Sapph and Bela were on one side of the boat, looking at the view and gossiping, and Derp was on the other side on his own, looking back at the shed and the mouse.
"That poor guy..." He muttered to himself. Kagerou overheard him and patted him on the shoulder, making him jump. "Jeez, Kage, you scared me!!" he said, chuckling nervously.
"I know what you're thinking, Derp. I'm thinking the same thing, he deserved to go that way. At least he didn't suffer." she said, patting his back.
"Actually, that wasn't what I was thinking." Derp replied. "I was wondering if he was an outcast like me when I was younger. I wasn't always like this, I used to be so depressed."
Kage's eyes widened as she heard this, sweat rolling down her face as she looked at him.
"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that. But he seemed to have lived happily." she said, trying to comfort him. A sudden explosion shook the boat, blue smoke appearing from a hole that was punched into the boat. Everyone was knocked backwards, except Derp, who was thrown overboard, having to grab onto one of the wooden planks with his claws just to stay out of the water. As he was climbing back up, another mouse appeared at the edge, wearing a blue blindfold, smirking at Derp.
"Well, well, well." the mouse sneered, smirking. "Look who we have here. A lousy rat who couldn't even stay on the boat." Derp was grabbed by the throat and holstered up into the air. The entire team was pinned down by mice that looked exactly like the one holding him by the throat. "It'll be fun watching you drown..." he snapped, pressing against his neck until he caught a pressure point.
"No!!!" Sapph cried out, trying to break free, instead being KO'ed by the mouse holding her down by a hand chop to the neck. Derp was defenceless as he was dropped into the lake, slowly sinking to the bottom. The others could do nothing but watch as he fell, knowing that it would be too late for them to try and save him as the mice dove off the boat and vanished without a sound.

"He's waking up, ma'am." a voice echoed in Derp's head as he was regaining consciousness. A nurse was standing beside Derp, holding a clipboard and looking down at him with an innocent smile. "Hey there, sleepyhead. You seem to be completely out of it!" she said, giggling as a Shaman walked towards him, sitting by him and tousling his furry head, the cake having been lost underwater.
"Don't mind her. She's new to this job and she's a great asset to keeping this hospital in a good mood, too." She smiled at the nurse for a split second before looking back to him. "Wow, you were out of it for 12 hours... You're lucky that you're alive, you were pressure-pointed and thrown into a lake. It's a miracle anyone even got to you in time. Someone witnessed the incident, helped your friends and helped them, too. One of them is unconscious, but with a blow to the neck that she got, she'll be awake in minutes."
"Hold on... The others are here, too?" Derp asked, his voice faint as he tried to sit up. The Shaman held him down politely by his chest.
"Don't try to move. I would give it a few hours before trying. Anyway, yes, your friends are here. They're in the lobby, if you want them to come in, I'll let them know." she spoke calmly, smiling widely. Derp nodded, dropping his head onto the pillow and closing his eyes. Minutes later, Mel and Bela entered the room, staying quiet and softly patting Derp on the shoulder.
"Hey, are you alright?" Mel asked, waiting for a response. Derp opened his eyes and saw the two of them, smiling lightly.
"Oh, hey guys... Where are Kage and Sapph?" They opened their mouths to speak, but stopped. They closed their mouths and looked at him with worry, looking up to the Shaman in hopes she could tell him. She nodded and looked at Derp.
"The one with the dress and the beige fur wanted to keep the one with the large hat and blonde hair company since she was still out cold." Derp's eyes widen with worry and sat up quickly.
"Wait, Sapph is unconscious?!" He screamed in pain as he fell back onto the pillow. "Aagh, my neck!!"
"I told you not to move!" the Shaman said, quickly tending to his neck. "Take it easy, it's amazing how you're moving when your spine was paralysed by those mice that attacked you!"
"Mel and I will go see to Sapph, to see if she's woken up. Try to take it easy, and get some rest..." Bela said, concerned about both Derp and Sapph. "Those mice will pay, don't worry." The two ran off, bumping into Kagerou as they left the door. She walked into the room and saw he was awake. She bowed to the Shaman and thanked her for her help.
"I'll take it from here." she said, smiling. The Shaman bowed her head and walked out of the room, as Kagerou sat beside him. "Hey, you alright? I saw what happened, and you passed out before you even hit the water." Derp nodded his head, slowly looking around the room. It was completely empty, except for the one stool where Kagerou was sitting, a window, a painting of Elise and Papaille, and an apothecary table which blended in well with the burgundy walls and cream white ceiling. The chandelier that dangled above was alight with scented candles that smelled like perfume.
"You just get some rest. I'll look for the person who saved your life and introduce him to you. He ran off before I could thank him but I remember what he looks like." Kagerou said to him, patting him on the head and leaving the room, as Derp passed out again.