After a few hours of a forced run, the Commandos finally stopped and set up camp.
They were preparing a campfire and a quick dinner.
"Aaaah, a campfire's a sweet thing," sighed happily Rilla.
"Unless you're roasting over it," grumbled Dingodile as he was lighting the wood with his flamethrower.
Everyone laughed again at his hypocrisy, making him grumble even more.
Because of the laughs, no one, not even himself, noticed the small, relieved sigh he heaved when he stopped his flamethrower.
"I hope we won't get spotted," muttered Pinstripe.
"Who could spot us here?" asked snarkily Joe.
"I doubt the natives will go after us, after the beating we gave them," smirked Kong.
They laughed again, their mood lifting at the memories of their payback. Aku Aku and the bandicoots, them, rolled their eyes.
"Ah fuck!" barked angrily Moe, who was looking in the food's bag.
"What's wrong?" inquired worriedly Tiny.
"The natives ate almost all our food!"
Indeed, the bag was filled with empty cans and boxes, and some still intact.
Ripper being in crazy mode, it was pointless to ask him to calculate for how many lunches there was left.
But it wasn't necessary: it was painfully obvious the stocks were dangerously low.
"We barely have enough for tonight and tomorrow's lunch. And even then, we'll need to ration ourselves..."
"Thankfully, the next pit stop town isn't far," commented Coco. "You should reach it tomorrow, at the end of the afternoon."
"Good. Okay, let's eat, then..."
The fact they had to ration themselves put them in a sour mood, especially Kong and Tiny, who were the biggest eaters of the group.
They ate and went to sleep.
Dingodile had trouble to get to sleep.
Only later, he'd realize he started to finally succumb to slumber once the fire went off...

When dawn graced the trees, the group woke up and took back the road.
There was no incident or problem during the morning.
The only noticeable thing was that Dingodile didn't participate in the banters at all, and once or twice rudely barked at those who insisted.
They frowned, but relented. After what happened to him, it wasn't surprising he'd be in a bad mood.
A bad mood that infected everyone when came lunch, since the leftovers weren't enough to satisfy their stomachs.
But they had nothing else, so they ate.
As they tried and rest a bit before taking back the road, Kong muttered angrily. He still could feel his stomach being half-empty, and that pissed him off.
"Kong, look!" suddenly said Tiny, who was next to a bush.
"What?" muttered the koala.
"Grape!" replied the thylacine.
Kong looked closer.
Indeed, delicious-looking grape bunches were on the bush, and Tiny was happily pecking some.
Kong didn't hesitate to join him.
"Guys, look! Grape!"
The Commandos, happy at the idea of this unexpected dessert, came closer.
"Grape?" repeated in surprise Aku Aku. "But grape don't grow in bu... NO!!" he suddenly yelled. "STOP!! DON'T EAT THAT!!"
The uplifted froze in shock.
"Why?" asked Tiny. "It's gooooaaaah..."
He didn't end his sentence, as he and Kong dropped their grapes and zoned out, their eyes looking weird and their mouth open, making them look dumb.
Well, dumber than usual...

Art by  caseyljones
Original here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/30802074/
Tiny Tiger and Koala Kong © Naughty Dog