Way out yonder lies the little kingdom of Bongo Congo. A peaceful land, where contented natives play contented songs on their contented drums; bongo drums, the principal product of the kingdom. In fact, the only product of the kingdom.

But not quite everyone was perfectly content in this quaint little country. The two most particular were known as Itchy Brother and Biggie Rat. King Leonardo's incompetent, pothead brother, and his mobster partner.

"Today's the day," Biggie announced, pacing the wooden floor of their hideout, nestled high in the Sierra Bongo Mountains. One of his gray ears twitched as he tapped down a box of pocky sticks into an inner pocket on a blue trenchcoat.

"The day for what?" asked Itchy from the kitchen table. His legs were crossed on the tabletop, and his skinned, tan knees were being used as their own table. Itchy held a newspaper up in one hand, focused on a crossword, and held a pen in the other.

"Today's the day we take the throne from King Leonardo," Biggie answered, turning on his heel to look at the lion.

"How you plan to do that?" Itchy replied. His eyes didn't shift from the paper, and he scratched at his cheek with the hand holding his pen.

Biggie paused, then crossed his arms before raising one hand to his mouth. "That's the thing I'm not sure about."

The two sat in silence for a very long time. Biggie impatiently tapped his heel against the ground. Eventually, the rat dropped his stance and padded behind Itchy. Biggie wrapped his arms around his partner's neck and placed his head on Itchy's shoulder.

"What's the prompt?" he asked.

"Uhh," Itchy replied, his voice strained. "Medical stuff. I'm not doing a very good job."

Biggie nodded and glanced over the words Itchy had already filled in. He then extended one arm and pointed at clue Down 5.

"Inner bodily fluid," he read, "It's blood."

"You think?" Itchy replied.

"Yes."

Itchy pressed the paper into his legs and crudely wrote blood in the proper spot.

"See-" Biggie continued, pointing at clue Across 10. The clue was connected to blood on one of the O's. "Third most abundant element in the universe. Oxygen. It's right."

Itchy laughed as Biggie stepped away. He leaned his head back to face the rat properly. "You can't just say an answer and say it's right after you fill in another one!"

"That's exactly how crosswords work, Itch!" Biggie argued. Itchy continued to laugh as Biggie took another step away. He hummed, placing his hand to his mouth again. Then he snapped and pointed at Itchy, face full of excitement. "I've got it!" he claimed.

"Got what?" Itchy replied, wiping one of his eyes and scratching his face.

"An idea to get ol' Kingsy off the throne!"

"Kingsy?" Itchy replied, slight laugh in his voice.

Biggie didn't acknowledge the lion's statement. "Itch, when was the last time you saw your brother?" Biggie asked excitedly.

Itchy sucked his teeth and awkwardly scratched his face. "Ah, jeez… Uh…" He furrowed his brows and moved his legs off the table. He then faced the rat. "When I was, like, sixteen?"

"And how old are you now?"

"I'm twenty-nine," Itchy answered.

"So it's been, what, thirteen years since you last saw eachother?" Biggie went on. "The King'll be ecstatic to see you! We could just walk right in there!"

"We?" Itchy asked, standing from his chair.

"You're the King's brother," Biggie explained, "And I'm your husband!"

"Huh." Itchy replied, sitting back in the chair normally. "I dunno, don't feel great playing with Leo's feelin's like that."

Biggie padded back over and placed his hands on Itchy's shoulders. "Listen Itch, once you become the rightful king you can give Leonardo a high position! Just like you were supposed to. Okay?"

Itchy sighed and placed his hands atop Biggie's dark gray ones. "Okay."

So, the twosome proceeded to the palace. And were promptly stopped by the castle guards.

Odie O. Cologne, faithful servant of the King, soon brought the news to his highness. King Leonardo sat on his throne, muzzle deep into a comic book. The skunk was unbothered, and hopped up the step that the throne sat upon. Odie gently pulled on the King's red robe.

"May I interrupt you, sire?"

"Hm?" King Leonardo turned from his book to his assistant. "Oh, yes, yes! What is it, Odie?"

Odie took a step back as Leonardo adjusted into a proper sitting position. "Well," the skunk continued, "There are two people outside the castle gates who want to be let in. They-"

"Oh, great!" Leonardo interrupted, "I love speaking to my people, Odie. Send them in!"

"Yes, but sire," Odie continued, extending his arms forward to stop Leonardo before he could jump up. "They're, um… they're lower-classmen. Mange-ridden."

"That's fine," the King argued. He stood up and pushed Odie gently out of his way. "I never took you for that kind of person, Odie."

Odie's face quickly shifted from cream to red in embarrassment. "No, no!" he replied. "I-it's just that, I'm not sure they're trustworthy, sire. There's a lion out there claiming to be your brother."

King Leonardo was several paces away from Odie by then. But at that sentence, he paused and whirled around on his heel to face the skunk once more.

"What does he look like?" King Leonardo asked.

"Huh?" Odie replied.

"The lion claiming to be my brother," Leonardo repeated, hurriedly, "What does he look like?"

Odie chuckled. "He's tan and maneless and he talks like a beatnik but, sire, it can't be Itchy. Itchy's been dead for years!"

"We never found his body! You're friends with the police chief, Odie, you should know that!" Leonardo countered. "And that sounds just like him! Tell the guards to let him in!"

"But sire-"

"I'd love to see him, Odie!" the King interrupted once more. "Let them in, it's fine!"

Odie sighed, but did not argue or deny his King any further. So, Itchy and Biggie were quickly rushed into the throne room where Leonardo impatiently waited.

"His Highness, the King!" Odie announced. He stood beside the two other citizens. One of Odie's hands was under his purple cloak, however, and rested on the handle of a dagger.

"Hiya, Kingsy!" called the dark gray rat.

King Leonardo took no interest in him, however. The lion rushed off his throne and toward the mangy lion. "Itchy!" he exclaimed, clapping their hands together excitedly and beaming. "Is it really you?"

"Yeah," Itchy simply replied, scratching his face with the hand his brother didn't have in his grasp.

It was hard to believe the two were brothers. Leonardo's pelt was a brilliant, sunny gold; his mane a nice, carmally brown; and his eyes a beautiful, sky blue. His clothes were sewn to fit perfectly; most importantly, Leonardo was clean-shaven and not a fur was out of place.

Meanwhile, Itchy's fur was a dirty tan; he had no mane to be spoken of, only a few strands of auburn hair on his head; his eyes were a dark, greenish-teal; his neon purple shirt and black shorts were both torn; and if Itchy had ever heard the word razor he would probably faint. Not to mention the several pinkish scars that littered Itchy's arms and legs, and the fleas that crawled across them.

Nevertheless, King Leonardo rushed forward to hug Itchy after shaking his hand for far too long. Odie cringed at the thought of his dear King getting infected with fleas.

"It's been so long since I've seen you!" Leonardo exclaimed, leaning back to face his brother. "I thought you died!"

Itchy simply nodded. The rat beside him cleared his throat and caught Leonardo's gaze.

"Oh," Leonardo laughed, "Yes. Greetings to you as well." Leonardo extended his hand to the rat. He shook it and before he could speak a word, Leonardo shifted his attention back to Itchy. He was much less excited as he spoke, though. "Is this a friend of yours, Itchy?" the King asked.

"I'm Itchy's husband," replied the rat, tapping against the ring on his finger with his thumb. A faint clack rang out to accompany his words. "and my name is Biggie Rat, thank you."

Itchy nodded and quietly added, "Yeah."

"Biggie Rat?" repeated Odie, half to himself.

"Biggie Rat?" asked Leonardo, finally giving Biggie proper attention. "The same Biggie Rat that Itchy, Odie and I used to play with as kids?"

Biggie's gaze flickered between the three other people. Eyes focused on Odie, he answered, "You could put it like that, yes." Odie's grip on his dagger's handle tightened as Biggie slowly looked back up to King Leonardo.

Leonardo hardly locked eyes with him before facing Itchy once more. He slapped his brother's shoulder and said, "Well that's just wonderful, Itchy! I'm very happy you found someone."

Itchy nodded, scratched his face, and hummed an mhm . Then Leonardo grabbed his brother's wrist and dragged him forward.

"Come!" he exclaimed, "I'll show you around the castle!"

Both Odie and Biggie hung back a few paces. Biggie opened his trenchcoat and shoved one of his hands inside. Odie's eyes widened as he focused on the motion. Biggie didn't pull out a gun however, instead he pulled out a thin red box. He then opened the red box and pulled out a black-and-white stick. After that, Biggie placed the box back in his coat and the stick to his lips.

Biggie then half-lidded his eyes and shifted his gaze from his hand to Odie, who looked bewildered and ready to attack at any moment. The rat then smirked at the skunk a foot away from him, and quickly padded after his husband.

"And this is the Blew Room!" King Leonardo announced, waving one arm to a door in a long hallway of other doors.

"Why'd you call it that?" asked Itchy.

King Leonardo stepped forward and threw the door open. Sunlight filled the entire room, and the furthest wall was gone. The central of Bongo Congo sprawled far forward, lined by the mountains that Itchy and Biggie lived in to the left, and the vast ocean skyline everywhere else.

"Last rainy season, a bad storm blew off the roof," Leonardo exclaimed. "And I quite liked it, so I kept it."

Itchy hummed. "Why don't you turn it into a sunroom?"

"A what?" Leonardo answered.

"Sunroom," Itchy repeated, "A nice room with-" he unlocked his arms from Leonardo's grasp and extended them as he spoke, "-Florida ceiling windows! You can grow plants in it and, like, watch the stars!"

Biggie chucked at his husband's motions while Leonardo placed a hand to his chin and hummed thoughtfully. Before he was able to reply, Odie came rushing up.

"May I interrupt you, sire!"

Leonardo turned to face the skunk. Odie stood several feet away, breathing heavily. He nodded at him, then at Itchy.

"Excuse me, Itchy," he apologized before padding in Odie's direction. Once Leonardo reached his assistant, he angrily whispered, "What is it now, Odie?"

Odie grabbed hold of Leonardo's wrist and pulled him further down the hallway and completely out of earshot of both Biggie and Itchy.

"It's Biggie, sire," Odie finally answered, whispering as well. "I don't… trust him."

"You don't trust anyone," Leonardo answered. "I think he's fine."

The King then jerked his arm out of Odie's hands and made his way back to his brother and inlaw. Odie simply watched, quietly reaching for his knife once more. Biggie pulled his pocky from his mouth and stepped in front of the King.

"Y'know, Kingsy," Biggie started, "Your castle? It's great, and I'm glad you've seen your brother again. But I'm here for the people, see."

Leonardo blinked, confused. "The people?"

"Oh, yeah…" Biggie cooed. Itchy had padded off further down the hallway, and Leonardo soon noticed.

He furrowed his brows. "Where did my brother get off to, anyway?"

"Oh, Itchy?" Biggie replied, tugging at his collar and fixing his fedora. "He got grabbed off by some lioness."

"Paige?" asked Leonardo.

"Yeah, sure, listen Kingsy," Biggie quickly continued, tugging on the sleeve of Leonardo's robe. As they walked together down the hall, Biggie went on. He held his pocky between his fingers like a cigarette. "Your people. Itchy and I are commoners- working class. And let me tell ya, no one out there cares about you whatsoever."

"What?" Leonardo exclaimed, outraged. "That's the most unheard of thing I've ever heard of!"

"Yeah," Biggie stated, placing his pocky back in his mouth. "Seems to me like you've lost touch. Tell me, Kingsy, when was the last time you went out on the town, no guards? Hm?"

Leonardo opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came out. He soon closed it, placed a hand to his chin and hummed.

"Exactly," Biggie replied with a snap. "You should get back in touch! No guards, no crown. And," Biggie stopped, pulling on Leonardo's sleeve once more. He stepped closer and lowered his voice to speak. "This is just between you and me, Leonardo. The guys out there in the bongo factories? They're talkin' about a revolution."

Leonardo pulled away quickly. "You're right! I should get back in touch with my people… We can't have a revolution, no, no, no… Biggie?"

"Yes, sire?" Biggie replied, the words laced with an ice-cold malice.

Leonardo paid the inflection no mind, however. "Itchy, he's my brother, do you think he would mind watching the throne while I'm gone?"

Biggie smirked. "Not at all, sir."

Leonardo nodded, "Thank you," he rushed out, then turned and ran down the hall the way he had come. "ODIE!" he called.

Odie was exchanging words and documents with a guard, though stopped in his tracks as then King neared.

"Yes, sire?" he answered.

King Leonardo panted a moment. After a second or two, he caught his breath and replied, "You and I, we're going out."

" Huh?" Odie answered, face flushing.

"Biggie thinks I'm out of touch with my people! I think I should go out and make myself known as someone…" he stepped back, smiled, and snapped, making finger guns at his assistant, "...relatable."

Odie chuckled. "Sure, sire."

Leonardo nodded at him and rushed away. Odie handed the papers back to the guard beside him and glanced back down the hallway at Biggie, ready for him to try something.

Biggie simply smirked. He chuckled with laughs of success, then turned on his heel and padded down the opposite end of the hallway. The curtains were closed in the hallway's windows; so Odie watched, his face shifting into that of a snarl, as the rat disappeared into darkness.