Through the unboarded shop window, Colby could see the barrier shaking, as if something huge was smashing against it.

  “Dad…” Colby said. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Mom?”

  “Nothing good.”

  “Mommy, I’m scared,” Brie said, hugging Pepper’s leg.

  “There’s nothing to be afraid of, dear. Why don’t you go up to your room?”

  “But I don’t want to be alone.”

  “Mommy is preparing a special surprise for you. If you’re out here, then it’s not a surprise anymore.”

  Brie looked up at her mother with big, fearful eyes.

  “Is it a nice surprise?”

  “The best.”

  “Promise?”

  “Yes, Brie. Now, please go to your room. And wolf, protect her.”

  Thornelius barked. He grabbed Brie by the hem of her dress as he walked her to her room.

  “Colby,” his father said. “Help me.”

  Together, Colby and his parents did what they should’ve done the moment the barrier was erected. Wooden boards were raised, barricading the entrance to the shop. Hammer and nails weren’t Colby’s forte, so he was relegated to passing them to his more capable parents.

  He handed his mother another wooden board, staring at the trembling barrier. The shaking grew faster, more frantic, until it stopped.

  His father had noticed it too.

  Jack started to hammer faster, even calling for Colby to join in.

  He brought his hammer back for his first strike.

  The barrier ruptured. It shattered like glass.

  “Faster!” his father yelled.

  The three of them continued to board up the shop when a large announcement rang out throughout the town.

  “Citizens of Brinebrook, this is General Goodsell. Please remain in your homes. This is not a drill. Please remain in your homes. Do not be alarmed. The Knights and Arcanists of Paralos are swiftly dealing with the situation. I repeat, please remain in your homes.”

  That was not a good sign at all. Fortunately, there was only one last area that had to be boarded up.

  As his father nailed up the final board, a low rumbling tremored out from outside. Jack hammered faster, yelling for Pepper and Colby to get back.

  Colby and his mother stood behind the counter, unwilling to completely abandon Jack. Between the frantic pounding and the low rumbling, another sound crept in. It was weird, bumpy, and uneven. It was like… wheels on stone.

  Against better judgment, Colby rushed forward, peeking through a small gap in the boards.

  “Colby!” his mother yelled. “Get back here.”

  “Wait, Mom. I think it’s…Yeah, it is!”

  Outside was a familiar monster, Skate Goats.

  Donned in a horned helmet, they skated across the cobblestone path of Brinebrook in an unconventional stampede.

  But something was off.

  They weren’t pulling tricks of any kind. Instead, they all focused on skating as fast as their hooves could carry them.

  It was like the Lobster Mobster all over again.

  Scratch that, it was worse.

  Amongst the horde of Skate Goats, one stood out. Every other wheel was boring brown wood, that Skate Goat had a single yellow wheel.

  An idea popped into his mind. One that may or may not be potentially stupid.

  Colby turned to his parents. “Mom. Dad. Do you trust me?”

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “No,” his mother said flatly. “Now come back here.”

  “No,” his father said, standing up after driving the final nail in the door. “Unless it's about cheese.”

  “This is kind of related to cheese. And it’s really important.”

  “What do you plan on doing, Colby?” his father asked.

  “Just open the door for a minute.”

  Jack turned to Pepper, who vigorously shook her head. “Mom’s saying no.”

  “And when has that ever stopped you before, Dad? Please, just trust me. It’ll be quick. I promise. I’ll take over your shifts in the shop. I’ll eat my vegetables. Just please, Dad. Please.”

  With a sigh, Jack undid all of his hard work, gathered up the boards, and cracked the shop door just ever so slightly for Colby to poke his head out.

  He yelled at the top of his lungs.

  “Cheese wheels! Get your cheese wheels here! Cheese wheels for skateboards! Get them here!”

  Between the rumbling of dozens of wheels rattling over uneven stone and the Skate Goats' panicked bleatings, his voice was drowned out, along with any hopes of his idea succeeding. They kept skating, pushing faster, desperate to put more and more distance between whatever terror was strong enough to tear down the barrier.

  Oh well, it was worth a shot.

  Colby closed the door, but it wouldn’t shut all the way.

  A low bleat drifted in from outside. Colby hesitated, then opened the door again.

  It was a Skate Goat—that much was obvious. But it wasn’t just any Skate Goat. Its horned helmet extended behind its head, like a backwards cap. Also, it wore a rockin’ pair of shades.

  It was the Skate Goat leader. Or boss. Master? It was the head Skate Goat.

  It rolled into the shop, coming to a stop right in front of the counter that his mother stood behind. With a casual hop, it flicked the skateboard up, sending it spinning onto the countertop while it landed lightly on the floor.

  “What is this, Colby?” his mother asked, staring at the skateboard in front of her.

  “Business opportunity. I think.”

  “What?” his father said, dumbfounded.

  The Skate Goat bleated and stomped its hoof.

  “Just a second,” Colby said, closing the door before jogging up to the counter. “By the way, it’s not free. It’ll cost you milk.”

  Colby couldn’t see it, but he could feel that the head Skate Goat was performing the most radical and death-defying eye roll imaginable behind the pair of shades.

  It tipped its head back and let out a long, drawn-out bleat.

  A few seconds later, there was pounding on the door.

  “Could you get that, Dad?” Colby asked.

  “Um, sure,” he said, still struggling to comprehend what was going on.

  He opened the door to some Skate Goats, rolling into the shop. Amongst them was the one that Colby had helped way back when—the one with a special yellow [Wheel of Cheese].

  The Skate Goat rolled up to Colby, holding a hoof out to him.

  He bumped it. “Good to see you again. Wheel holding up?”

  The Skate Goat bleated. Colby nodded, pretending to know what she had just said.

  The head Skate Goat let out another bleat, one low with a lace of impatience woven through it.

  A low growl met it back.

  Thornelius had come down the stairs. He barred his thorny sap-slick teeth at the head Skate Goat.

  “No, fighting everyone. No fighting,” Colby said. Thornelius stopped growling, but his eyes never left the head Skate Goat.

  “What is going on?” his father finally asked.

  “I needed milk,” Colby said. “Mom, could you grab some empty bottles for me?”

  His mother nodded, pulling out some empty glass bottles from her Inventory.

  “Pep,” Jack said. “I thought you were against this.”

  “I was. But I’m really curious to see where this goes.”

  Colby placed the empty bottles in the center of the shop and took a step back. The Skate Goat he helped nodded. She angled herself towards one of the bottles before kicking off. Moments before crashing into the glass, she leaped into the air, spinning her skateboard as a stream of milk shot out and into the bottle, filling it up.

  One by one, the other Skate Goats followed, filling up four bottles.

  Colby had never set a price on the wheels, but one bottle for one wheel seemed reasonable enough.

  He honed in on his Core, creating four [Hard as Cheese][Wheels of Cheese]. After removing the wooden wheels and installing the new cheesy ones, he handed the no-longer-fully-wooden skateboard to the head Skate Goat.

  It rolled around the shop, testing out the new wheels, popping into the air for trick after trick. Then it slid into a grind along the counter’s edge, which made Pepper shout.

  In return, the head Skate Goat offered more milk as an apology.

  “Thanks?” Pepper said. “I think.”

  The head Skate Goat rolled out of the shop, followed behind by the others. The Skate Goat he saved rolled up to Colby for one last fist bump before joining the panicking and stampeding horde of monsters, which had evolved into more than just Skate Goats.

  Colby did not want to know what other horrors lurked outside as he allowed his father to board up the door once more.

  That was a pretty good score, if he did say so himself.

  Just as his father was about to put the final nail in the door, bleating and banging struck.

  Turning towards Colby, he asked what he should do.

  Colby smiled and fluttered his eyelashes at his father.

  Begrudgingly, he opened the door, undoing all of his efforts. Again.

  As expected, standing outside were Skate Goats. A lot of Skate Goats. At the front was the head Skate Goat, who rolled in like he owned the place, bleating out an assortment of commands.

  Colby and his father just stood there, confused. Thornelius growled, leafy fur standing on its edge as he barred his fangs towards the head Skate Goat.

  Meanwhile, his mother opened up her Inventory and grabbed some empty glass bottles, placing them on the ground.

  One by one, Skate Goats kicked off and leaped into the air, filling up the bottles with milk. Then they rolled back, forming a line in front of the counter, offering up their wooden skateboards.

  As his mother picked up the filled bottles, replacing them with empty ones, she turned to Colby.

  “Well, what are you waiting for?” she asked. “They want wheels.”

  When life gives you Daisy Cows and Skate Goats, you exploit them for milk.