As the rebel cats celebrate their victory, I glance down beside me and see that North has changed back to his cat form. After a moment of decision, I decide to do the same, hoping that there won't be any more invaders to fight from the other tunnels.

I almost fall on North again after transforming back, but I manage to catch myself at the last moment. North scrambles farther away from me.

"What's with you and falling today, Earth Cat?" North growls, shaking out his fur as he stalks off.

"Sorry!" I call after him. "I'm still not used to shapeshifting back and forth like that."

The rebel cats have finally calmed themselves down from their victory cries. Just as I walk towards everyone else, a realization comes to my mind; we need to find out if the other tunnels are safe.

I yowl, "Hey, rebels! Gather over here by the South Tunnel entrance."

North mutters, "Goodness, who made you leader?"

        He follows my command anyway, as does everyone else. I stand in front of the hole in the ground as the other rebels surround me, leaving me in the center. They look at me expectantly, some with puzzled stares.

        "I know that I'm not your actual leader," I start, stealing an intentional, quick glare at North before continuing, "and I'm also aware that we won the South Tunnel. But we still need to win the other tunnels, right?"

        Most of the rebels nod or meow in agreement.

        "So, here's the plan. If you are too injured to go on fighting, then stay here and wait. Otherwise, follow me to the West Tunnel."

        A voice pipes up, "What about the North Tunnel? I heard it's already captured."

         Some, probably the ones who haven't heard the news yet, widen their eyes in shock.

        I briefly pause, twitching my tail. Then, remembering what Rain said about it earlier, I respond, "Don't worry about it now. We'll get back the North Tunnel later."

        No one asks any more questions, so I turn around and say, "Let's go through the tunnel."

        Someone from behind me suddenly pokes my spine with a paw before I force myself through the entrance. An unmistakeable voice scoffs, "Hey, Earth Cat, do you even know how to navigate through the tunnel?"

        I don't even bother looking at North, let alone reply to him. Of course I don't know; I'm astonished that the thought hadn't crossed my mind moments before.

        North sharply exhales and brushes past me. He mutters, "I'll show you how to get there."

        He effortlessly slips inside the hole without another word. With a swish of my tail, I gesture everyone who's coming to follow me. Then, I enter the South Tunnel with North.

        As usual, it's so dark in there that I have to brush my whiskers against the walls in order to navigate the place. North leads me through the series of passages with little commentary. By the brisk, certain way he goes through the tunnel, it's clear that he's an expert at this type of thing.

"How are you so good at this?" I murmur in a low voice, trying to catch up with North. "I can barely stay in pace with you."

He replies, "It's easy. Maybe not for an Earth cat like you."

A few cats behind me purr in amusement. I flatten my ears as heat spreads through my body. Licking my chest fur to smooth it down, I keep on crawling.

        Several agonizing moments later, we reach the entrance of the West Tunnel. As I lift myself out of the darkness into the soft, indigo light, I brace myself for more fighting . . . only that there are no opponents to battle. The cats here from the Superior-Earth army are already fleeing into the distance. Some of the rebels sound terrified battlecries when they see us climbing out of the hole, but when they see me and North standing, they stop themselves.

        "The South Tunnel is saved," North loudly announces to the rebels. They all look happy and relieved. The Army cats reunite with one another and assemble themselves back into one big, muddy group, separated from everyone else. Many of the cats from Team Gardinia warily stare at them.

One of the cats from Team Gardinia rushes over to North and me. I recognize her as Snowflake, the cat I met a few days ago.

"Thank goodness all of you are still alive!" she exclaims. "That was a nasty Superior invasion."

North lashes his furry tail and narrows his eyes. "Was? The invasion is still going on. Those pests are all over the place! They captured the North Tunnel, and I have no idea about the East one."

Snowflake casts a nervous glance behind her. "Well, I'm sure Rain has a plan. The only problem is that she's hurt."

She gestures straight behind her with her tail and steps to the side. Several tail-lengths away, three cats are crowded around a gray tabby sprawled out on the ground. North and I immediately start towards her at the same time.

"Rain," I call as I approach, "are you okay?"

Rain is lying sideways, with her head and belly faced towards me. At first, I only see the minor scratches on her face and chest. However, as the three cats back away from her, I get a slightly better look at the deep, bleeding claw marks on her shoulders and back. Snowflake shifts her paws uncomfortably as she stands next to me.

Rain's breathing is shallow, and her eyes are unfocused, but she acknowledges me anyway by lifting her head and meowing, "I'm alright. Just got into a tough brawl with Mirage, that's all."

To my surprise, a wave of anger sweeps over me. How dare she hurt Rain? My claws dig into the ground as my ears twitch. I hiss, "Did she want to kill you?"

Rain purrs in amusement at my question. "Of course she did! Don't worry, I gave her a good beating, too. She and her minions won't be coming back soon."

With a grunt, she pushes herself to her paws and sits. Even this isn't easy for her at this point, since she winces and almost falls over again.

"Now what?" North growls. "I suppose you have a plan on how to get the North Tunnel back."

Rain snorts. "Let the losers keep the North Tunnel for now. The purpose of their attack was to take all of the tunnels away from us so that we would basically be driven out of our own territory. They also want full access to them. Their invasion is already a failure because they only got one tunnel; we still have the rest. I don't know about you guys, but once we find out what's going on in the East Tunnel, I'm calling it a night."

        Right at this moment, we hear a commotion behind me, North, and Snowflake. We turn to see several cats climbing out of the hole. Many of them yowl, "Victory, the East Tunnel is saved!"

        Everyone around me cheers as the war-battered rebels from the East Tunnel join us. I release a sigh in relief; we won't have to fight another battle tonight after all. However, as I peer at the felines that just arrived, my heart sinks as I notice that Ash is not one of them. Did he get injured, too?

        I step over to one of them and ask, "Do you know where Ash is?"

        The cat responds, "I think I saw him stay behind with Ice. Ash told us to go on without him."

North shakes his head and scoffs, "Typical Ash. Always shady and secretive. I won't be surprised if he turns out to be a traitor, just like what everyone says."

"What are you talking about?" I mutter. "Ash isn't a traitor."

North flattens his ears and glares at me. "How can you be so sure? He has a strange connection with Ice, and I don't like it. Maybe he's a spy who pretends to be on our side. He's probably spilling all of our plans to Ice as we speak. No wonder Team Gardinia loses so many battles."

        "No, he's not!" I hiss, shoving my nose into his face. "You're no better than him. You hate everyone."

        "Do you think I care what a stupid Earth cat thinks of me?"

        "I'm not stupid! You're worse than stupid, you idiot birdhead."

        "I bet you don't even have a brain."

        "Fight me!"

        "Hey, boys, back off from each other!" Rain cuts in, looking at us with a hint of alarm in her eyes. "The last thing we need right now is a physical fight between the two of you."

        At this point, a small crowd of curious cats forms around me and North as we stand nose-to-nose and poised to fight. For a moment, we stay frozen in position with tense muscles as we stare each other down. His cold, light green eyes appear hostile, and his body towers over me. This moment reminds me of when I was kidnapped by Ice. As soon as that thought crosses my mind, a terrifying flashback comes and shakes me to the core. Ice pinning me down to the forest floor. Indigo fog. Slowly blacking out as I got taken away to a different planet.

        My heartbeat quickens. A shiver runs down my back as my eyes widen and my fur ruffles. North slightly tilts his head at me, noticing the sudden change in my demeanor.

        Words slip out of my jaws without my intention. "Y-you don't know what it's like to be in a foreign planet with strangers and war. I'm no longer an Earth cat. You know why? It's because I have no way to get back home. You have no idea what it's like to be ripped away from your home."

        With wild eyes, I break my long gaze with North and peer around at everyone watching. A silence as thick as a rain cloud descends upon us. Finally having enough of him, I swivel around and shove through the crowd as I stalk away.

~~~~~~~~

        The next day, our usual rebel routines have resumed. Rain is recovering from last night's injuries, but she told everyone to continue with their daily tunnel patrols in case another invasion strikes. Thankfully, the Army and the Shadows have both decided to stick with us since they're happy about the outcome of the battle. Ash also eventually showed up, but he's not telling anyone where he was or what he talked about with Ice. He's acting strange lately, much more aloof than usual.

I pace inside of the East Tunnel, right next to the entrance, when I hear paw-steps from outside. I lower myself to the ground as I strain my eyes toward the entrance.

A rough, deep voice asks, "Did you decide yet?"

The fur on my back stands up, and I glance around in confusion. That's a horrifyingly familiar voice. Was that question directed towards me?

        It wasn't, since another deep voice answers shortly later. "No."

        I'm guessing the two voices are Ice and Ash. What is Ice doing here? I wonder if I should alert the others of his presence; I probably should. Just as I shift my body though, Ice's words make me freeze in place.

        "You said you wanted to end the war."

        Silence. My breathing sounds too loud. Suddenly afraid that they will notice me, I press myself against one of the walls.

        Ash finally answers, "I did."

        "What is the problem, then?" Ice asks. "We will fight tonight, and the one survivor will win the war. It is simple."

        "I'm not in charge of Team Gardinia, though. Rain is. Why do you think the fate of the rebels should be thrown on my shoulders?"

        "You do not know why? Everyone respects you, even that idiotic Forest. They will trust you to win for them. Rain is not capable of leading Team Gardinia now; she is injured. And everyone is worn down after last night's battle. They all want the war to end, not just you. It is a perfect time for you to take charge."

        "I have to speak with Rain about this. Come back before sunset, and I will have my decision. I promise."

        Another moment of silence. A breeze rustles the grass above me.

        Ice says, "Fine. I will be back."

The grass rustles again as paw-steps lightly fade away into the distance, leaving me to my thoughts about Ice's peculiar plan.