The preparations to leave for the new town began in the coming weeks. DIIN and CREFY watched as their parents sold every possession they had ever owned. Every utensil, every piece of jewelry, every piece of clothing that could be spared was sold off to whoever was willing to buy it. Even the huts they lived in were, much to their surprise, dismantled and sold off. The fact that the houses they slept in could be taken apart so easily fascinated both of them to no end.

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The SKIMMA was almost sold off as well. A nasty looking, old OSZA made a rather tempting offer to buy it. DIIN and CREFY fought with every ounce of their beings to stop it from happening. They cried their eyes out, and screamed as loudly as their tiny lungs allowed, when their friend was forcefully taken from them. Their mothers tried to hold them back, but DIIN and CREFY struggled with all their might, and kicked and kicked, until their mothers had no choice but to release them. They grabbed onto their fathers’ legs, and begged them to not separate them from their friend. Their fathers did not listen. It was only when their mothers made their husbands realize how much easier the journey to UTOPIA would be with the SKIMMA than without it, did they concede and send the nasty, old OSZA away.

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Both families slept wherever they could until the last of their possessions was sold. Everything earned was then counted, separated into portions, and hidden in various parts of their parents’ bodies. Both families left the town at first light the very next day, taking particular care to avoid running into something called gang members on their way out. The journey they were about to undertake excited DIIN and CREFY, as well as their canine, who promptly followed them as they walked beyond the outskirts of the town. Their felines, who seemed indifferent to it all at first, grew more reluctant as the edge of the town neared, refusing to leave the town when the moment arrived. DIIN and CREFY tried their best to convince them, refusing to take another step unless their friends went with them, but nothing they did seemed to work. They finally relented, and left their yawning feline friends behind, after CREFY’s father promised that he would send for the animals once they reached UTOPIA themselves. He promised them both that he had the means to do so once they had reached their destination. Their friends were too scared of traveling long distances on foot, he said. That’s how all felines were. He promised them that the animals would willingly come to UTOPIA in one of those flying vehicles they often saw over their village. And he knew where to get one once they arrived. He even managed to convince DIIN and CREFY to leave their big canine friend behind, so that he could watch over the smaller felines. Their tiny feline friends would be lonely otherwise. And the journey would tire their animal friends more than it would them. The children didn’t like it, but they ended up agreeing with everything he had said.

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And so, DIIN and CREFY said their goodbyes. Both children gave their three friends a long, tight hug. The felines didn’t seem to realize what was happening. They waited around for a few minutes before running away into the nearest trash heap, as if it was just another regular day. Their canine friend, however, knew exactly what was going on, and refused to leave them. All forms of shooing proved to be ineffective, and he had to eventually be tied up to a nearby pole. The children hugged his whimpering body one last time, for as long as their parents let them. The separation from their friend turned out to be too much for either of them to bear. They closed their teary eyes, and held their hands over their ears as tightly as they could, burying their faces in their parents’ bosoms, as they were carried away from their howling friend.