Cider was taken aback and immediately let go. He looked across over to Chronos, who hadn't heard the snarl and wasn't concerned at all. Something was under this scrap and he had to deal with it - somehow.

He spotted a long stick near him and grabbed it.

"Don't these things have diseases? What if it bites me?" Cider worried to himself. His odd-shaped wooden stick was his only defense. Brave stick in hand, he poked it through the scrap, half hoping nothing would happen and he only imagined the snarl.

Everything was quiet.

"Must have been more scared of me than I was of him after all," Cider concluded. He tossed the stick to the side this time, no longer needing it.

Something suddenly bounded out from the scrap pile, sending a mess of debris into the air, messing up the neat and tidy circle. It darted for the stick, completely focused on getting to it. It was no rodent at all.

It was made of metal, mechanical. It had tiny hooves and tiny horns, tiny ears and a tiny tail. It was a teensy black mecha goat with lovely wine colored eyes, and his height came under one's knees. He bleated running after the stick, then stopped to smell it. His little mecha goat butt planted itself on the ground next to the stick and Cider stared at it in awe.

"You can't be the thing that snarled," He started and bent down with his hands on his knees. "You're too cute!"

The goat bit onto the tan stick.

"I wonder if you're lost, or homeless," Cider stepped forward and stretched his arm to touch the small goat. It bleated again as he lightly patted his head. "You're so adorable though, I can't leave you here alone." He studied the goat and found its metal to be aged. How long had this goat been here? He looked as old as the fence metal was and was quite rough textured.

"I bet Chronos can buff this out and sand it down so you look a bit nicer," He said to the goat. "You look like a wild child at the moment, but we can fix you up."

He picked up the little goat but had to set it back down rather quickly.

"What do you got in there, you weigh so much!" The goat peered up at him wondering why he was set down. His steel hooves did a little jog in place before planting his nose on the ground and digging with it back and forth. He didn't understand English.

"I'll just get Chronos to come over here instead." He assured the goat.

"Hey Chronos!" The orange haired male glanced over at him. "I found something you'll want to check out!"

Chronos stopped his sifting and sauntered to Cider. He immediately noticed the charcoal colored goat.

"Cider, what is that?"

"This is your new friend, and he's very cute. Look at him," Cider directed the goat to go towards Chronos. His big wine eyes were indeed adorable. It reminded Chronos of the innocent green eyes of Zephyr, but red instead.

"You found this creature here?" Chronos inquired.

"Yeah, he took my tire."

"Huh," Chronos looked over the goat. Strange place for a small animal like this to be. A small image on the goat's neck caught his attention.

"Oh? What's this?" Chronos said and took the goat's neck gently in his hand, using his other hand to rub away excess dirt. The image was faded, but very familiar.

"Cider, look at this." He pointed to the logo.

"That's the Emberguard logo he-"

"Belongs to Hypnos, yes." Chronos finished Cider's sentence.

"That doesn't make sense, why would Hypnos leave a lil' goat here for many years?" Cider asked.

"Many reasons. Could have forgotten about him, or not wanted him. Who knows." Chronos answered. Him belonging to Hypnos would explain the sleek, though worn, appearance of the goat. High tech mechanical animals like this don't just walk around anywhere. The goat must have served some important purpose he didn't know about quite yet.

"You know what, we should call Hex," Cider snapped his fingers. "If anyone would know about this creature, he'd know."

"I don't think he'd want to be bothered with something like this," Chronos disagreed. Hex wouldn't like his time being wasted.

"I don't adore the guy, but if it's to find out more about our Poker Goat, then I'll do it."

"Poker Goat?" Chronos questioned. Cider's naming wasn't always fantastic.

"I was gonna name him Lucky since it was luck that brought us together, but that's too boring. Now he's Poker Goat."

Cider fumbled his hand in his pockets and located his phone. He navigated to his contacts, swiping up until he found Hex's number. He hesitated but remembered it was for the little black goat. He could do this.

He tapped the number and waited for it to start ringing.

Someone picked up.