Luckily, North's prediction is wrong. When we're back to where we were before, I take the opportunity to glance behind me and see the horde of cats trailing us.

        "Success!" Rain cheers to us in a hushed voice. "Everyone followed except for a few of them."

Ash nods, his ears tilting back. He asks, "Where do we go next?"

Rain gazes up at the darkening sky and then looks back at Ash. "I promised everyone else we'd be back before dark, so we don't have much time left. But I guess I can still go to the Army and hopefully bring more cats back. There's one problem, though . . ."

North finishes Rain's speech for her. "Ash and I can't come with you because the Army rejects all Superiors. There you go."

"Right. Good job on remembering that, North. It's also the reason why it can be harder to make them our allies, since they know we have a fair amount of Superiors in Team Gardinia." Rain swishes her tail and closes her eyes in deep thought.

"Interesting," North mutters, "I thought you said earlier that you had it all planned out."

After a moment, Rain opens her eyes and snorts, "Nah, I don't plan stuff. I just wing it. Anyway, Ash and North will stay behind with those cats over there. I'm not sure about Forest. I know he has a power, but he doesn't look like a Superior. He still doesn't have the Superior mark in his eye."

Ash says, "That is true. However, just in case, perhaps it would still be smart to leave him behind."

"Right," I cut in. "I'm not sure how much control I have over my power."

Rain nods to Ash and me. "Alright, so Forest will stay behind with Ash and North, then. Squirrel, Grass, Water, you guys can come with me," she meows, directing her last sentence towards the three regular cats from Team Gardinia who came along with us.

         With that, Rain pads to the group of Shadows that is standing around at a distance from us and tells the cats what is going on. Then, she leaves in the other direction with the three other normal cats.

Ash, North, and I silently sit alone until I hear light, quick paw-steps from behind me. I turn around and see a fluffy, little white kitten who looks much younger than me.

"Hi!" she squeaks, gazing up at me curiously with large, blue eyes.

I purr in amusement at the random kit who seems to have appeared out of thin air. "Hello!"

The kit sniffs my leg before jumping backwards, almost falling over in the process. She meows, "You smell weird. Is it true you came from a different planet?"

North snorts at the kit's comment.

"Well, yeah," I say to her. "I came from Earth, a planet that's pretty different from Gardinia."

North sits next to me and says to the kit in a serious tone, "Yeah, it's the planet where everyone smells bad and where every cat gets kidnapped by Ice to come here. Do you want to go there or something?"

The kitten shivers and stares at North with widened eyes. "No! I don't wanna stink or get kidnapped by Ice," she squeals, saying Ice's name as if he is the universe's worst nightmare.

. . I mean, I don't blame her. I think Ice is the universe's worst nightmare, now that I think about it.

By now, Ash has snapped out of whatever he was deeply thinking about and looks down at the kit. He asks, "Do you know where your mother is?"

She meows, "Yeah!"

At that exact moment, a high-pitched voice from the crowd of Shadows yowls her name. The kit immediately swivels around. "Gotta go!" she says, bounding away.

        North gives me a cross look. "See?" he growls. "Even the kits think you're weird."

        He stands up and pads to the lake. However, I'm not ready to finish my conversation with him, yet. My ears flatten to my head as I hear my heart steadily beating louder and faster.

        "She only said I smelled strange, genius!" I call after him.

"Same thing, loser. Why don't you talk to Ash instead of me? You two make the perfect pair: the Earth cat and the look-alike brother of the devil himself."

        "Oh, shut up!"

Ash doesn't seem to even notice that North has included him in our bantering. He's staring off into the distance with his body completely still. He mutters, "Someone is coming . . ."

        And, as always, Ash is right. Soon enough, a frazzled cat rushes through the crowd of Shadows. It's a cat I've seen before from Team Gardinia, although I can't recall her name. Her amber eyes are wide and terrified, and her short brown fur is ruffled as she searches for someone she recognizes.

Ash stands up and pads toward the cat. When her eyes fall on Ash, she runs to meet him.

"Ash!" the cat pants. She's so breathless that when she stops, she pauses to catch her breath. I'm starting to think that she ran all the way here. Her legs are uncontrollably shaking, and her ears are flattened to her head.

"What is it, Wave?" Ash asks. His tail is twitching in concern. Even North pauses from his drink to look at the she-cat.

With wide, frightened eyes, Wave explains, "The Earth-Superior Army is invading the tunnels. There are so many of them. I think they took some of the Earth Cat camps to fight, too."

        "What?" North and I blurt at the same time. My head floods with panic as I take in the dangerous situation. Because of the precise timing of the invasion, Rain isn't aware that the rebel cats in the tunnels are being attacked.

        However, Ash doesn't show panic or even shock in his body language. His eyes become focused as he automatically takes control. He faces both North and me and commands in a steady voice, "North, come with me and Wave. We will go with the Shadows to the East Tunnel to see what is going on."

        Ash locks eyes with me and continues, "Forest, while the rest of us depart, go find Rain and tell her about the invasion. You will go with her to the East Tunnel."

"Okay, you can trust me," I say, my voice trembling.

        Surprisingly, North quietly listens to Ash and follows him and Wave as they go to the crowd of cats who are still waiting. However, as he passes by me, he mutters in my ear, "Don't mess up, Earth Cat."

        When Ash begins to tell everyone what is happening, I rush in the direction where Rain went. I feel so disoriented and mixed up that I trip over a small stone and almost fall into the silver lake. Already frustrated, I shake out my fur and scan my surroundings. There is no sign of any rebel camp yet. However, I smell the air and realize that I don't need to waste my time searching for the Army; all I have to do is follow Rain's scent path.

         The indigo sky stretches out above me, signifying that it's night. Although it's a little lighter than night on Earth, I still have to rely on my night vision to get around. It's easy to follow Rain's scent, though. Her familiar smell leads me around a few large rocks, between colorful bushes, and through an entire garden of flowers. I'm surprised to see so much vegetation; it's obvious why these two rebel groups are fighting over Silver Lake.

        Alright, it's time to focus on the task. My surroundings are now reeking with other cats, so it's getting more difficult to track Rain's scent. Soon enough though, I run into a place surrounded by tall rocks. This must be the camp, since I also hear the chatter of cats from inside. Hurriedly, I brush my whiskers against the smooth surface of the rocks until I find an opening. Then, I burst into the Army camp.

        Immediately, I'm surrounded by five cats. All of them have mud caked on their legs, tails, and foreheads.

        "Another trespasser?" one spits.

        "What do ya want?" another hisses.

        I freeze at the sight of them. Why are they all covered in mud?

        Swallowing down some of my fear and bewilderment, I meow, "Uh, hi. I'm really sorry for trespassing, but this is kind of an emergency. By any chance, did you see a small gray tabby walk in here? I really need to talk to her."

        The cats give each other strange looks as if I'm speaking in a foreign language. Before I ask if I need to repeat myself, one of them shakes his head in disgust and quickly walks toward one of the stone dens. "Follow me," he calls over his shoulder.

        I pad behind him as he enters the largest stone den in the camp. A shiver runs down my spine, since this place is starting to remind me of Ice's camp. My paws freeze in place as doubtful questions arise in my mind. Did I walk into the wrong camp? Is this cat trying to lead me into a trap? I'm such an idiot that I forgot to ask those cats if they're members of the Army.

        "Are you coming or not?" an angry voice shouts from inside the den.

        I guess there's no choice but to follow him. With slow, hesitant steps, I trudge into the den. To my relief, Rain is standing in the back with a large, mud-covered cat. The cat who led me here stands next to my side.

        Rain jumps up from a seated position and stares at me with surprised eyes. "Forest! Is everything okay?"

        I shake my head and explain, "We have to go. Wave came and alerted us that Ice and the Superiors are invading the tunnels. Ash and North already left with the Shadows."

        "Oh, no. This is bad news." Rain's ears flatten.

        Rain's voice deepens with authority as she turns to the cat standing next to her and loudly says, "It's now or never. Are we allies or enemies?"

The cat, probably the leader of the Army, tilts her head upwards and closes her eyes. Then, she opens them and looks at Rain while lashing her tail. "Fine, we will come with you. Don't you dare think that I have my full trust in you, though. We will gladly withdraw from the alliance as soon as I see that it won't work." She commands to the cat next to me, "Escort them outside of the front entrance."

The cat nods and exits the den. Rain runs to catch up with me as we follow him. When the muddy cat leads us just outside of the camp, instead of leaving, he stays near us. I can tell he is watching Rain and me from my peripheral vision. His constant supervision is starting to make me nervous.

        Leaning my muzzle to Rain's ear, I quietly ask, "Was that cat the leader of the Army?"

        Rain nods, scooting close to my face as well so that Creepy Cat won't hear our conversation. "I think she's crazy. She told me to call her Commander. Believe me, she almost started a physical fight with me while I tried to convince her to be allies with us. I'm surprised that she agreed at the end."

        "Why do they all have mud all over their fur?"

        "It's supposedly their way to identify themselves, especially in a battle so they know right away who is on their side without any confusion. It's actually kind of clever in my opinion. I suggested to Commander that we could use that method if they were to become allies with us."

        "Hey, love-kitties, now is not the time to be personal with each other!" Both of us almost jump out of our furs at the sudden new voice. I swivel around to glare at Creepy Cat.

        "We're not even mates!" I hiss at him as I feel my entire body heat up. A feeling of embarrassment washes over me.

        But Rain purrs in laughter. She meows to Creepy Cat, "There's always time for love, silly!"

Her joke just makes me want to hide somewhere even more.

The sound of many paw-steps come from behind me. We turn to face the Army, with Commander standing in front of them. Creepy Cat finally leaves us alone and takes his place behind Commander. There are about as many cats as there were in the Shadows. When I see this, a spark of determination rises in my chest. We're going to win the battle this time.

"Ready to go?" Rain asks.

Without answering Rain's question, Commander says, "Lead us to where the invasion is."

"Ash said to go to the East Tunnel," I meow to Rain.

"Right," she says. "I was about to lead everyone there anyway, since it's the closest one to us."

In a louder voice so that everyone can hear, Rain shouts, "Follow me!"

With that, we move towards the East Tunnel.

When we get there, it's so chaotic that I don't even see the entrance to the East Tunnel. The rebels, which are outnumbered, have formed a wall around it with their bodies as they defend themselves from Superior attack. Before Commander or Rain gets a chance to tell the Army to attack, Ice slips out from the battling cats and appears in front of Rain and me. To my confusion, he has a satisfied glint in his eye.

        When I hear what he has to say though, my puzzlement turns to shock.

        "We have come to take the tunnels," Ice says, "and so far, it is successful. We have already captured the North Tunnel."

~~~~~~~~

Thank you for reading Chapter 30 of Forest's Fate! I can't believe I've gotten this far with this book. Two years have passed since I started writing Forest's Fate, and I can see much improvement in my writing since I wrote that first chapter. (To be honest, I can't even look at Chapter 1 without cringing . . .😅😅😅)

I would love to hear what you think about the plot and characters so far. . . For example, other than me, who hates North? 😂

Thanks again for reading!

~Midnight