Inner-Selves, No. 19, Part A

Fidget lost all track of time, all he knew was that he had to get out of this hole, and fast. His body was beaten and bruised from several failed attempts to climb out without the use of his arms, but he saw no other way. He took a deep breath, and started running at the wall of the pit, as fast as he could. He started to scale the side of the pit, he got up about 7 or 8 feet before gravity took him down to the ground, fortunately he landed on his back this time. "Darn it, if only I could use my arms..." Fidget moaned through clenched teeth. He looked down at the chain links attached to his chest, another link had disintegrated, almost all of them were gone now. "It all seems so hopeless, if I can't clear this lesson, then Kat and I will both die" the bobcat thought to himself.
He then turned his head in the direction of a sound he'd heard, it sounded like someone was coming. "Hello? Is someone there?" he called out hopefully. Then he saw a rope being lowered into the pit, then he saw Scratch the rabbit slide down it. "Aww, you havn't given up yet have ya? That girl's counting on ya right?" the rabbit asked. "Shut up, how am I supposed to do this? I've tried several times to get out of here, but I've fallen every time, it would really help if I got these chains off my arms!" Fidget protested, sounding annoyed. "No can do, I have strict orders not to help ya in any way, shape, or form. I came down here to let ya know that your time is almost up, you've got only a few minutes left" the rabbit told him. "What're you talking about? There's still a few links left on my spirit chain, surely I've got more than a few minutes" Fidget said. "The last few links don't last as long, by the time most of them are gone, a spirit's energy is drained a large amount, so they degrade faster" Scratch answered. This worried Fidget more, now he really wanted this kid to get the chains off. "Oh yeah, I also came to ask if you were getting hungry" the rabbit added. "Hungry? What do you mean? I'm not hungry" Fidget replied. "That's good, because if you start feeling hungry, it's a sign that your turning into a spirit eater" Scratch said. Fidget gasped, he was worried before, but now he was trying hard not to panic. "Feeling thirsty is ok though, unfortunately I didn't bring any water with me, so if you want some you'd better hurry up and get out of here, I hope I don't have to help the boss kill ya" Scratch concluded.
Scratch started to shimmy on up the rope, Fidget was scared, for both himself and for what might become of Kat if he didn't get out of this thing quickly. "This is it, there's no way out of here, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die!!" he panicked in his mind. He got up and made one last desperate attempt to scale the side of the pit, he got a little further this time, he could almost see the top. "This is it, I'm gonna make it!" he declared. Unfortunately, he slipped again and fell back down, his hope had turned to despair as he hit the floor of the pit. "No, no, no, no, no!" he moaned as tears welled up in his eyes. "I'm sorry Kat, I'm so sorry" he apologized in his head. Fidget was so distraught that he didn't even notice that the links had been breaking down the whole time, the last one was being worn down at that very moment.
Up above, Speckle had come down to join Scratch, he brought Graham and Fluff with him. "Is he ready Scratch?" Speckle asked. "Oh yeah, that guy better hurry up, or he's a goner" the rabbit replied. They walked over to the pit together and looked down at Fidget, Speckle noticed the last link was about to vanish. "Looks like he's out of time, everyone, get ready to take him out" Speckle instructed. Then the last link disappeared, the hole left in Fidget's chest by the missing chain started to get hot, Fidget stopped crying about Kat and looked down. "Ouch, what's going on?" he asked. "Fidget....you failed..." Speckle said softly.
Fidget got to his knees and struggled to try to free his arms, he was afraid to die. "No, I want to live, I want to live!" he shouted. The heat generating from the hole in his chest increased, causing him intense pain, he started screaming. "It's starting" Graham said. "Yes, he's becoming a spirit eater" Speckle added. Various parts of Fidget's body were now being coated by a black substance, Fidget barely noticed it, he wished that he wouldn't die. Fidget desperately clung to his life, all he knew was that if he became a spirit eater, it'd all be over, for him, and for Kat. "No, no, no, no, no, no!" Fidget pleaded. The burning sensation escalated in his body, and the blackness started to swarm over his body even more. "Boss, we have to kill him before he can escape!" Scratch said. "Not yet Scratch, not yet" Speckle said. "But why Speckle? He's in horrible pain, and he's turning into a spirit eater, we should end his suffering" Fluff said. "Look at him closely" the dalmatian replied, "when a spirit turns into a spirit eater, it completely breaks down and then reforms as the spirit eater, but in this case, Fidget's spirit is retaining it's original form, and his body is going through a process called shading; that means he's resisting the transformation." "Oh...so what do we do then?" Scratch asked. "We'll wait a bit longer, there's still a chance that he'll become a youth sprite" Speckle answered. The team waited and watched Fidget closely, it was all up to him now.