For anyone wondering, my Easter went well!
Me and parents went to have dinner at each of my two brothers' houses.. which was very nice, and very filling.. Yum!

I mention it because this's the first new archive piece created after Easter Sunday, and because I can't say much about the upcoming co write yet, other than it's heavy on Becky, and it's got a surprise return in it.

 
Another long and dry twilight fell and passed over the city of Honorburg. It brought another night where, as usual, the city's ordinary, mostly honest citizens rushed to get from work and into the relative safe confines of their homes. Criminals come out at night, all for their own reasons, and the heroes come out to fight them, but we'll turn our attention to a normally well intentioned visitor to the city.

Becky bounced along under the lantern lit street lamps of Stewart Way and Jordan Street, basking in the green'ish glow as she and her Knob Goblins made their way towards the infamous Lieberman park.

The moons’ glows in the clear night was just right to where Becky could see without the need for extra light. Her Goblin guards could see, hmm, not quite so well. “Well Queen kitty said that I needed to bring her something special for prince baby!” Becky dodged through and under the thick branches of the trees of the park. "Oh and! Oh, and, and.. she said that we could take anything I want cause.. cause.. if Prince baby wants it and they won't give it to them then it's really mean!” Little that Becky knew was that she and her guards were being watched. A silent sentry over looked them from the tree tops.

"Hey, OUCH- Green," Red said, stumbling over a curb his Goblin eyes couldn't pick out. "Why's she telling us things we already know again?!"

"Ah.. I forget- OWWIE!" Green said, tripping over his own large and clumsy feet.

"I told you guys," Goblina said, rolling her eyes. "It's a dramatic recap. All very professional.. and.. um.. stuff."

Darson just shook his head. "I'm not terribly fond of the idea of stealing something in a city populated by super powered vigilante types."

"Well, we just deserve it is all!" Becky said, upset. "For the prince baby! Queen kitty said so and.. and.. oh, I'm tired, let's just get this over wif!"

"OW!" and "Hey watch it!" called out brothers Red and Green as they nearly tripped over each other, drawing a giggle from Becky.

Becky continued to look around. Then, something caught her eye - something shiny. What she saw was large diamond that was large enough to be mistaken as a pacifier- but it was adoring the head of a wolf like statue. There were, in fact, two of them. One to either side of the newly built entrance to the walking path around Lieberman Park. Becky's eyes went bright.

"Us.. that.. us.. gotta have.. that, I mean." Becky said between deep breaths. "We gotta get that!"

"What, why do we need a broken bicycle?!" Green said, looking the wrong way. Red spun him around unceremoniously, and after clearing the dizziness out of his eyes, Green's mouth dropped a bit as he spotted the prize. "Ohhhh. That."

"Wait.. why.. how.." Darson paused to get a hold of his thoughts, but Goblina spoke up.

"We're going to get that for the infant prince?" She raised an eyebrow, expecting- and hoping, for a 'just kidding' from Becky.

But Becky was determined, I'll give her that. "Hey, I'm determined, you gotta give me that! And yeah.. I want it!"

"Wait.." Red said, doing the math in his head. Probably by counting imaginary bowls of pasta. "How're we going to get that huge statue out, just the four, I mean five of us?"

"I never thought about that." Becky cast her eyes downwards. "I guess maybe there are downsides to stealing after all, sometimes."

"Yes, great," Darson said sarcastically. "I'm sure we're all going to go live a nice, healthy, productive life now."

"Hey, that's stupid and you're stupid!" Goblina said, but Darson ignored her.

"Oh! I know.." Becky said. "I got the perfect idea. And if asking it to steal itself doesn't work for some reason, I've got a backup plan!"

Her Goblins just starred at each other, then collectively shrugged.

"Maybe we should just skip to the backup plan," Darson suggested on their behalf, still trying to focus his Goblin eyes in the dimness of the night.

"K-kayerz." After dropping her catch phrase, Becky refocused on the matter at hand. "We'll just steal the head and we can take turns carrying it, like it's a chalice of some kind and we all have to stay near it so we don't get poisoned by miasma while we're looking for myrrh!"

The Goblins did a double take.

"What're you talking about?!" Darson asked, scratching his bum in confusion.

"Oh sorry, they're diamonds, not crystals." Becky said, "I am thinking of the wrong chronicle."

"Yeah, no kidding.. ow!" Red said before stubbing his foot on the ground, which he somehow didn't see in the dark.

"Kay, I can freeze the body and break it, and we'll get to stealing," Becky said, pulling out her toy yeti focus device, but as she pointed at the statue, a shadowy figure rose from the darkness and stretched out from the top of the statue edge of the park, covering Becky and her Goblins. The shadows of two wings rose from the figure, throwing the malicious shadow even further.

The figure looked down on the group with glowing icy blue eyes as the figure jumped down from the statue to approach Becky's group. The figure spread out his wings; it wore a cowl and mask over his head so that only his eyes’ glow could be seen. Despite the mysterious look, the white and silver wolf had a very familiar look, sporting stripes and streaks on his powerful wolf-like body which glowed green and a pair of familiar white wings.

Becky looked and immediately knew who it was right away!

She squinted her eyes. "Dat you, Becky Joy?!"

The wolf blinked, and looked like it wished it could facepalm. Then it let out a whine.

"Ohhh! I got it!" Becky snapped her fingers, looking proud. "Hi, Raw Hide! Long time no see!"

"Ahh, I don't think these people are wolves," Green said. Then his eyes got big. "Unless.. there's wolves biting people and turning them into wolves! And then the wolves combine! AHHHH, get away from me you horrible.. Raw Joy!"

"Besides, he can't be Becky Joy, because that's you," Goblina calmly explained as a terrified Green ran around in circles screaming, "I don't wanna be a wolf and I definitely don't want to be a wolf if Red becomes a wolf! This could be my time to shine!"

Darson cleared his throat. "I'd suggest this might be a certain individual you've been.. what's the word? Seeking?"

"Oh, phew," Becky said. "I'm glad to see you, Cattaras!"

Green stopped running as everyone just starred at Becky, thinking maybe she was playing but Becky had a totally serious look on her face.

"Think.. wolf!" Red said, as he pulled out a large sausage-burger from a bag, lit it up with a fireball spell parchment (made of real goat skin), and started eating it, even though it was still half raw and now half burned. "Mmm delicious. Just like mama used to make!"

The wolf, tired of the guessing game and obviously upset at Becky, threw his cowl back, throwing the attached mask off of his head. He then returned his glare to the Knob Goblins around Becky. Becky's eyes lit up and she rushed over, wanting to hug and pet him.

"OHH! That is you Zanther! Guess what?!" Becky giggled. "I didn't know who you were, and I missed you, too!"

Zanther looked down at Becky smiled a little, but then let out a small puff through his noise. He shook his head with disappointment, then looked at the statue and then goblins. He was worried about her when they got separated during the war. Starting low, Zanther growled and his eyes stated to glow; he was ready to do battle with the small group of goblin, as he had no idea as to who they were.

"You stop that growling!" Becky ordered. "These are my Knobbies, and Kadlin said you gotta join us with the Feline Empire and Catrina, so you gotta get down and help me, Wolfie." Becky paused, seeing he was still upset. "Plllllease!"

Zanther stopped growling and sat in a more relaxed position, but didn’t show that he would join the empire. Which was impressive, since he couldn't talk, but anyway, Becky folded her arms. "Okay, we can play a game while my Knobbies steal the statue. Wanna play fetch?!"

Shaking his head, Zanther was trying to show Becky that stealing was wrong so he walked over to the statue, where Green was holding up a crowbow. Where'd that come from?!

"S'up, pup?!" Green asked, before striking a pose. "Pardon me a second, puppy dog." Green the raised the crowbow above his head with a maniac (mansion) look in his eyes. Before he could bring the crowbow down, Wolf raised his wing, slapping Green in the face and sending him falling back!

"Wolfie, Green and Red can't play wrestle now!" Becky said, protesting. "They gotta be busy stealing."

"This.." Darson started, raising his voice a little. "Might be bad idea. Maybe we should get back to looking for the princesses instead of petty theft."

Becky was adamant. "No, Wolf doesn't mind if we steal for Prince Baby, right Wolf?!" As Becky looked up at Wolf with that question, he looked at Becky with a harsh look, tilting his head as if to tell her, “Who says that it is ok to steal from others?”

"It's okay if we steal, silly Wolf!" Becky said, finally getting the point. "Kadlin and Queen Kitty, Catrina, said it'd be okay! Oh, and and we're buddies now. So don't be whiny!"

Zanther snorted again and took Becky by the wrist with his tail and shook his head and growled a little since it seemed that someone, he assumed Catrina, had taught Becky this. Becky, confused, shook his paw. "Good Wolf! Now do you wanna go play or something?!"

Red worried. "He looks dangerous. I don't think he wants us to steal the statue."

Goblina blinked. "Wow, your wolf pup friend is pretty smart, Becky."

"I know he's so smart, and cute and nice and. .. and and .." Becky almost melted down in a wave of pride.

After hearing himself being called a pup again he stopped and turned to look at the goblin that called him that and growled. Goblina jumped back. So did Green, because, well, he's kind of spineless.

"I don't think he likes being called cute," Red speculated.

"Look, if you don't wanna help us, we're just gonna have to leave you here!" Becky said, getting anxious to get back to her job. "I gotta go save some princesses, anyway. Two of 'em! And if you don't wanna help, you won't get to save anything and no Wolfie snacks!"

Wolf folded his ears back and snorted at Becky but followed her- at a cautious distance.

"So is it okay if we steal little things for the Prince Baby?!" Becky asked as she skipped ahead singing. "Just one or two or five?!"

Zanther, still keeping his distance, growled at the thought of Becky taking something that didn't belong to her.

Becky giggled, not very convincingly. "Um.. just kidding?! Hehe.."

Zanther then slightly nodded and looked a little more pleased since that was the way he remembered the way she used to be. Of course, she was still with the four Knob Goblins, and Wolf wasn't sure how to feel about that, but for now, he'd just see how things played out.

Extra note: Maybe we'll find out a bit more about Becky's trip over to Honorburg later on!

Solid return for Zanther Wolf. He didn't play into the first half of this one, but when he does show up, he makes an impression. Even better, we're going to another Becky/ Zanther piece next!

He'll show up more forcibly in that one.

I really think Zanther brings a lot out of Becky Joy, and it's very cool having him back in the game whenever he returns, too.

Her wanting to steal because she was told to and him not wanting her to due to his heroic nature made a great conflict.