by Tom Jones
Bocchino finally regained his balance, and he returned by quickly trying to grapple Arcades. The fox this time parried the attack, and he pushed the cat’s hands aside before they were able to grab him. Bocchino realized that Arcades was not only dodging his attacks, “Motherfucker! Fuck you, dammit!” The cat threw a punch with his left hand, and Arcades quickly parried the attack and sidestepped yet again to avoid another sudden attack. The fox’s tail had swiped the cat multiple times at this point, and Bocchino’s anger had reached his boiling point. The cat vocalized a growl as he lunged forwards to attack Arcades, but the fox quickly moved out of the way right before the cat could hurt him. Bocchino shouted in frustration as his attack missed yet again, “Shit! Fuck!” Arcades spoke again with reason in his voice, “Bobby, I will not attack you.” Bocchino stood still for a moment before he sloppily lunged at the fox, “Fuck you, asshole!” Since the cat’s attack was sloppily performed, Arcades found it very easy to parry the attack. The cat then tried to attack the fox by using both punches and now kicks. Arcades parried every single one of the attacks, and Bocchino’s fighting style was becoming more and more sloppy as he was beginning to tire himself out. Bocchino’s eyes began to tear up as he realized that even with all of his strength, he could not harm Arcades.
Arcades could see the cat’s face was changing from pure anger to a look of defeat, so he attempted to reason with Bocchino yet again, “Bobby, we don’t need to do this. Please stop.” Bocchino stood still, wiped away some of his tears, and sniffled before commencing his final attack. The cat lunged forwards and tried everything that he could to attack Arcades. Every single one of his incoming attacks were either parried or dodged by the fox, but Arcades never returned Bocchino with a counterattack. The cat was now beginning to sob with every other attack he lashed out against Arcades. Bocchino’s final attack was a high kick, and Arcades quickly parried the attack by pushing the cat’s leg out of the way. Bocchino did not expect the fox to parry the attack, and he lost his balance. The cat began to fall backwards, but Arcades tried to prevent Bocchino from falling by reaching out to grab him. Bocchino weighed far too much for the fox to catch, and he landed on his back on the ground and began to weep.
Arcades dropped down to his knees next to Bocchino, and he began to reason with the cat yet again, “Bobby, please. Let’s not fight.” The cat covered his eyes as he wept, and Arcades remained at his side as he continued to speak, “I will not hurt you.” Bocchino sobbed loudly as he did not want to look at the fox who he was unable to attack. Arcades remembered that the cat hit the ground rather suddenly, “Did you hurt your head on the way down?” Bocchino did not reply, but Arcades gently lifted the cat’s head off of the ground and rubbed the back of his head. Jason was looking at the aftermath in silence, and he realized that he had watched Bocchino literally defeat himself. Arcades held onto the cat’s head, but he looked over to Jason and pointed to one of the pillows on the bed with his free hand, “Toss me one of those, please.” Jason grabbed one of the pillows from behind himself, and he tossed it towards Arcades. The fox caught the pillow in his free hand, and he placed it underneath Bocchino’s head before gently letting his head go. Bocchino continued to sob, but Arcades spoke to him again, “Bobby, I promise you that I’m not mad. I forgive you for this.” The fox’s words only made the cat weep harder, and Arcades waited a few moments to see if the cat would calm down.
After a few moments had passed, Arcades saw that Bocchino was still covering up his face with his arm. The fox reached out to grab Bocchino’s arm, “Why do you need to cover your face? Look at me, Bobby.” The cat did not remove his arm from his face, so Arcades slowly grasped the cat’s arm to remove it from his face. The fox began to pull the cat’s arm down, and Bocchino did not offer any resistance to the minimal amount of force Arcades used. With Bocchino’s arm now moved off of his face, the cat closed his eyes, for he still did not want to look at the fox. Arcades said with a soft voice, “It’s all over, Bobby. Don’t worry about it. I already told you that I’m not mad.” The cat continued to weep, and Arcades used the fur on his arms to wipe away some of Bocchino’s tears. Still on his knees, Arcades looked up at Jason and asked, “Can you get him a bottle of water?” The wolf nodded as he removed himself from the bed and proceeded towards the fridge in the room. The wolf opened the fridge, retrieved a bottle of water, and he handed it to Arcades, “Thanks, Jason.” When Jason had delivered the bottle to the fox, he climbed back on the bed and continued to watch Arcades diffuse the rather hostile situation.
The fox opened the bottle, and he moved it closer to Bocchino’s mouth, “Here, this will make you feel better.” The cat did not reach for the water bottle, but he did somewhat prop himself up in order to let Arcades give him water to drink. Bocchino drank from the bottle, and Arcades said, “There we go. Are you feeling better yet?” The cat slowly nodded his head after he took a drink, and he sniffled as well. Bocchino sat up, and he finally looked at the fox who was still kneeling directly to his left. Arcades reached out and hugged Bocchino, and the cat surprisingly hugged the fox back. Bocchino quietly spoke into Arcades’ ear, “I’m sorry Kurt.” The fox replied, “I forgive you. I’m not mad.” Both anthros continued to hug each other for an extended period of time, but Bocchino eventually let go of Arcades. When the fox could tell that Bocchino was finished, he let go as well and sat back down on his knees. Bocchino sat in silence, and he looked at Arcades still kneeling in front of him. Arcades held out his arm, and Bocchino looked at the water bottle that was in the fox’s hand. The cat accepted Arcades’ offer, and he took the bottle from the fox.
Arcades looked over to the small drawer with a lamp that was positioned between both of the beds, and he stood up in order to approach it. Jason’s eyes tracked the fox as he moved to the drawer, and the wolf looked back over to Bocchino to see what the cat was doing. From where the wolf was sitting, he was able to see Bocchino drinking from the water bottle as well as Arcades retrieving something from the drawer. The fox made a comment as he brushed off a decent amount of dust from the item he retrieved, “I’m glad they still leave these here.” The wolf returned his sight to Arcades, and he realized that the fox had retrieved the Bible which was in the drawer. Arcades returned to Bocchino while holding the book and said, “Why don’t you sit up there? It’s probably more comfortable.” The cat looked up at Arcades, and he saw that he was gesturing to him to sit on the empty bed. Bocchino looked at the bed, looked at Arcades, and then he saw that the fox offered his free hand to help the cat stand up. Bocchino accepted the offer, and the fox helped the cat stand up. Once Bocchino stood back up, he moved over to the bed and crawled on top of it. The fox looked down at the lone pillow on the floor, and he got on his knees right next to it. Arcades picked up the pillow and tossed it back to Jason before looking at both anthros who were now on elevated positions compared to himself.
The fox opened the Bible, and both anthros watched as Arcades was looking through the pages. Arcades finally stopped on a specific page which he found. The fox viewed the page before he looked up at the two anthros who were both looking back at him. Arcades began to speak to Jason and Bocchino, “In Matthew 12 verse 25, Jesus says that a house divided against itself shall not stand. Now, a house doesn’t always have to mean a place that you live. As you probably know already, a house can mean a group of people. We are a house. We’re supposed to stick together and work together to achieve our goals. We are not going to get anywhere if we keep fighting amongst ourselves. This can’t keep continuing.” The fox took a pause, and he looked at both of the anthros as he remembered the fight Jason and Bocchino almost had before they started their road trip. Bocchino looked at Jason, but the wolf returned a neutral look to the cat as opposed to the dirty look he gave the cat previously.
After both anthros returned their attention to the fox, Arcades began to speak again, “If we continue like this, then we’ll never be able to take down the Foundation. The only thing that we’ll accomplish is that we will tak
e ourselves down. That’s no way to go about this.” The fox paused again, and he waited to see if Jason or Bocchino had anything to say. After another moment of waiting, Arcades continued yet again by speaking to Jason directly, “Jason, I’m glad that you’re willing to change your ways. Yes, it may still take some time, but I don’t want you to give up. Remember that you must put your full trust in the Lord, and you will finally be free from that desire. It can happen, and I believe that it will happen.” Arcades then flipped several pages in the Bible before settling on a specific page. The fox looked over to Bocchino and spoke, “Now, I think that Romans chapter 14 applies here. Bobby, you should not be doing things on purpose to tempt Jason. It’s also not worth working yourself up on these matters. Whether Jason truly wants to change his ways or not is his business. You shouldn’t be setting a stumbling block in front of him. We both know very well that what he tried to do was wrong, but he’s already repented of that. You shouldn’t be judging him for that anymore. Christ died for that sin along with every other sin that everyone has committed in the past, present, and future.” Bocchino turned away from the fox, and it was clear to Arcades that the cat was feeling guilty. The fox continued speaking again, “It’s not worth causing this trouble. We still have a job to do, and we need to get it done.”
When Arcades finished his last sentence, he heard a door open to his left, and he looked to his left to see that Jackie had just exited the shower. The vixen was wearing only a towel to cover herself. She saw Arcades on his knees on the floor holding the Bible while Jason and Bocchino each occupied a bed and asked an open question, “Am I interrupting something?” Arcades answered the question, “No. You’re not.” Bocchino spoke next, and he presented Arcades with a question, “Kurt, I do have one thing I gotta ask you: How many times would you forgive Jason if he kept on trying to do shit to you?” The fox spoke about one part of Bocchino’s question first, “Bobby, this doesn’t only have to do with Jason. The same could be said about anybody. We all have our own problems and personal sins that we wrestle with every day. I could say the same thing about you: How many times am I going to forgive you if you continue to try and fight me?” The cat was silent, and he could not come up with anything else to say to the fox. Arcades slowly nodded after he saw that the cat was silent, “I will answer your question, though; it is a completely valid question.” Arcades flipped through the pages of the Bible, and he stopped at Luke chapter 17. The fox read directly from the Bible, “If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.” Arcades looked up at the cat and spoke to him, “However many times it takes. The important thing is that you truly do repent of a particular sin. There is no such thing as a license to sin. You can’t ask for the Lord’s forgiveness if you’re going to keep on doing the same sin on purpose. He won’t forgive you like that.”
Bocchino considered what Arcades was telling him, and he closed his eyes as he slowly shook his head in guilt. Jason was still focusing on the kneeling fox, but he looked at Bocchino when he realized that Arcades was still observing the cat’s reaction. Jackie, with the towel still covering her private areas, sat on the bed right next to Jason. The wolf scooted over to allow the vixen to take a seat, but all three anthros focused on the fox still kneeling on the floor. Arcades looked at what he was reading again, and he did find another verse he found to be suitable for the situation, “How about this one here?” All three anthros waited for Arcades to speak, “Verse 6 states, ‘And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.’”. The fox began to explain the verse’s meaning to the three anthros, “I think this one is very important. We all look at the Omega Foundation as being this huge thing that we have no possible way of bringing down, but how are we even going to be able to get anywhere if we keep that mindset? When I was at the Omega facility in South Dakota, I trusted in the Lord that He would get Jason and I out of the facility unharmed. We did make it out, did we not?”
The fox looked up at the wolf, but Jason did not have anything to say to Arcades. Arcades looked down at the Bible for a moment, but he looked back up at his audience of three and spoke, “I guess you could say the lesson for this church session is that we need more faith in the Lord. Of course, moving a mountain such as the Foundation is no easy task. What we need to remember is that the Lord is still out there and He is willing to help us provided that we put our trust in Him and truly listen to what He has to say. The Lord knows what is best for us, and He will provide us with everything we need to get the job done. He will guide us to where we need to go. All we need is faith and trust. We have to trust each other too. We can’t keep fighting ourselves; Otherwise, we’ll crumble down and never recover.” The fox took a pause in his speech. Before continuing, he waited to see if Jackie, Jason, or Bocchino had any questions or comments. After he realized that they were still listening, the fox continued, “Of course, it is not going to be an easy task. I mean, we’ve already faced plenty of setbacks and problems over the course of the last few weeks. The important thing is that we’re all together here. We’re all alive, and we still have time to clean ourselves before the Lord. After all, we don’t want to spend eternity in damnation. We all have something that we still need to work on, so let’s not waste our time that the Lord has provided. With Christ’s forgiveness and grace, we will be able to become cleansed. My last message to all of you is that I hope you consider what I have said and remember to put your trust in Jesus to get us through this hardship.”
“Amen…” Jason spoke once the fox finished. Arcades’ eyes moved over towards the wolf, and the fox perked up a small smile. The fox finally asked his crowd one last question, “Do you guys have anything you want to ask or say to me? I’ll listen to anything you have to say.” Jackie spoke to the fox first, “Kurt, when you brought me out of Vegas that one night, I would’ve never expected to see you again. Even though I… volunteered to go to the Foundation… I didn’t think that anybody would ever come to get me out and help me realize that… It’s not what is truly right.” The vixen’s short comment served as a revelation for two other anthros in the room, but Arcades was glad that Jackie was finally changing her mind about the Foundation. Arcades nodded with a smile, “I’m glad to hear that. I hope you will find peace in the Lord Jesus Christ. He will be able to make certain that desire never returns.” Jason was the next to speak to Arcades, “Kurt, my life was very different before my brother died, and I really wish that he did believe in his lifetime. I do believe that the Lord loves me enough to allow me more time to live and change my mind about a couple of things that I have done. For all I know, I would’ve died alone in the bloody cold with my brother. There’s definitely somebody out there who wants me to change, and I’m glad that you helped me find Him.” Arcades’ smile grew larger, “I’m glad to hear that Jason. I hope you stay with the Lord; He will provide you with everything you need. That’s guaranteed.”
Bocchino stood up from the bed, and he looked at the water bottle which he was still carrying. The bottle had about one-fourth of its original contents still left. The cat approached the kneeling fox before he began to speak, “Kurt, I think you’re one crazy son of a bitch. I used to think that you were fucking batshit insane, but now… I dunno, there’s something that’s different about you. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but you’re not like the other foxes I’ve met in my life. I also can’t seem to get away from you for some reason. You got fucking taken away by fucking mercenaries in bumfuck nowhere, and even the Omega Foundation snatched your sorry ass up, but you still somehow managed to get out of all of that shit.” Arcades listened to the cat in silence, but his smile had left him due to the cat’s way of wording his thoughts. The cat looked over to Jason and Jackie before looking back to the fox and conti
nuing, “One thing I do have to tell you is that I dunno how you’re so patient. I don’t know many people who are generous when it comes to second chances, so I guess I’m thankful for that.” Arcades spoke to the cat after he made his final thought, “When you get to know the Lord Jesus Christ, then you will know somebody who is even more merciful than I may be. The Lord died for us so that we can still be forgiven of even the worst of our sins. Sins that we all have. We have plenty of them, and we don’t need to add up more of them. Sin only leads to destruction, and you can never live a truly righteous life with sin in your life.”
Bocchino developed a small smile after Arcades finished speaking, and the cat reached down and pulled the fox higher up on his knees to give him a hug, “Thanks, Saint Arcades.” The fox could not hug the cat back since his arms were currently pinned to his sides, but he did respond, “I haven’t heard anybody call me that for a good while now.” Bocchino said, “Kurt, you’re one fox that I would actually trust. That’s all you really need to know.” With Arcades still unable to use his arms, he replied again, “You should look into trusting Jesus. I want to see all of you guys in Paradise. That’s not going to happen unless you repent and trust in Christ for eternal forgiveness and salvation. There is only one way into heaven, and that’s by Christ alone. There is nothing you can do to make you worthy of eternal life.” The cat chuckled as he began to easily drag Arcades off of his knees, “Heh… Oh Kurt, you always have something to say, don’t you?” The fox replied, “Are you going to at least consider what I’ve been telling you? I want all of you to be cleansed from sin.” Bocchino sat the fox back on his knees and let go of Arcades, “I’ll think about it. That’s all I can tell you.” Arcades collected himself on the ground, and he looked back up at the cat, “I’ll leave that between you and the Lord. It is your choice after all. That goes for everybody. You don’t have to listen to me if you don’t want to, and I encourage you to seek the wisdom of God for yourself by asking the Holy Ghost for guidance and eternal wisdom. Salvation is something that you settle with the Lord. I do pray that all of you become Born Again, though. When you’re Born Again, you have a new heart with new desires. You become a new creation that serves righteousness rather than sin.”