"Wake up, you dumb cactus-brained pile of lizard guts!" a voice snapped. Iris slowly opened her eyes, wincing from the light.

Where am I? she wondered, taking in the small room she was in. She was lying on something soft... A type of fur? She forgot all that when she saw the tiny fennec fox in the corner of the room.

At first, she thought it was Petunia since this fox could have been her twin. But this fox had battle scars all over her, and her voice was too rough, and Petunia would never, ever curse like that.

The strange fox suddenly turned her head and looked straight at her. Iris saw that one of the fox's eyes had been ripped out, probably by force. In its place was a small hunter-green piece of fabric.

The fox's fur was matted with dried blood that stained her fur, and there was a blood-soaked bandage around one of her forearms. Iris controlled her urge to flinch or scream, and instead tried to look around some more.

Suddenly, something glinted, catching her eye, and she turned her head to see the strangest thing she had ever seen. It must be the thing that was chasing me...

Iris was shocked. It was a beautiful fox, made of water, that could actually move. But that wasn't what shocked her. The thing looked exactly like Cobra Lily.

"Hello?" she tentatively told it.

"It's about time you greeted me, you worthless moldy pile of vole brains!" the fennec fox retorted. "Since you asked so politely - not - I will give you the honor of knowing my name. I'm Hunter. Of course, that isn't my real name. It's Sunflower. But never call me that. If you ever do call me that, I will rip off your claws and stab you with them and then jam them down your throat!"

Okay... thought Iris, wincing from the violent description. Flower name... she must have been born in Vine Den... Iris looked at the water copy of her sister, shivering. 'I'm... Iris..." she mumbled.

"What's that? Speak up! After all those missions, my ears aren't the same as they used to be, you mumbling vulture-headed idiot!" Hunter growled. Iris could see a flicker of something in her eyes... Was it... humor?

When Iris didn't respond, Hunter rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright, Iris the annoying mute shadow. Got that." Catching her staring at the water-sister, Hunter said, "That's just Cobra Lily's water projection. Nothing special, except that it can't talk. Now, that's nice, so it's one less thing to talk my ears off. These inconsiderate raptors around here talk way too much."

"Uh...uh...uh-huh," Iris responded, half paying attention, half examining the room.

Hunter sighed, then caught herself mid-sigh. "Great! You made me take my first sigh this week!" she growled sarcastically. "Wait, no, I had one during that possum-brained tutor's lesson, and when the Boss made me teach the annoying newcomers and... you know what, everybody's annoying. That's why I sigh."

"Oookay?" Iris told her.

Hunter looked her up and down appraisingly. "You're nice. You don't talk much and listen to my rants. Keep on doing that, and I might actually like you." Iris nodded mutely, confused by this strange, feisty fox.

Suddenly, she heard a voice through the door, "Honey! Sunnypie? I have a message, Sunshine!"

Hunter growled. "Mamba, I'm trying to be intimidating while I'm talking to this newbie! Can't you understand that?!" Iris squinted, shocked to see affection glinting in the sandy fox's warm amber eyes.

" 'kay, sugar! By the way, you need to lighten up!" said the most gigantic red fox Iris had ever seen, coming through the doorway. She gaped at him.

"Oh, hi! I'm Mamba," he told her good-naturedly. "But you can call me whatever you want. Just don't give her any nicknames," he smiled, flicking his tail towards Hunter. "She's grumpy, that one."

Rolling her eyes, Hunter muttered, "Don't how I put up with this rotten lizard-brained fool. Can't believe I left Vine Den for him - wait, I can. Vine Den is awful and too bright and flowery and smiley-"

"I think that those are not words," Iris pointed out.

"-and dumb, and bright, and not enough Mamba, and stupid flowery names, and all sorts of other cactus-brained stuff! I can't believe the Oracle is even real after seeing that place she created!" continued Hunter.

Mamba leaned in towards Iris. "Excuse my mate; she gets a bit passionate about some things. For example, Vine Den, the Oracle's existence, me, and our neighbor." He smiled at Hunter.

"Hey! Even you, Lord champion smiley face, agreed that he was annoying!" cried Hunter.

"I suppose..." said Mamba. "Anyhow, the Boss wants to speak with you, some sort of newcomer that I assume was Iris, and Cobra Lily." He nodded towards the water thing. "Get out your avatar, head to meeting room five."

The thing nodded, then disappeared. "Wow," uttered Iris.

Hunter shrugged. "Come on, you lazy slowpokes!" she cried, charging out of the room. Mamba smiled after her.

"Wh...What were you two banished for?"

"Oh, a lot of things. I was from Viper Den and she from Vine Den, I'm a red fox and she's a fennec fox." started Mamba, still smiling as he thought about all the rules he had to break to be with Hunter. He stretched his legs before ambling after Hunter, with Iris in tow.

It's against the rules to fall in love with someone from a different fox subspecies?! What?! Wow. Just wow. Thought Iris, upset.

"And she was a guard, therefore technically not allowed to take a mate until they leave their position, but she didn't, so that was illegal." continued Mamba. "I snuck over to Vine Den to see her after the restriction came down to close the borders." He lifted his snout towards the ceiling, smiling.

Wow. Even though he smiles a lot, he's braver than I thought. He continued after Hunter, even with so many risks to take, he did it.

They stopped at a room, the only room in the hallway that had a vine overhanging to block what happened on the inside from the outside. "This is it," he told her. They heard Hunter's voice call from the inside, "Come on you scarab beetle dung brained turtle footed idiots! They're waiting!"

Wow. Thought Iris, feeling a twinge of respect for Hunter. It may seem reckless, but it's really brave to... yell such... Ah, kind things in front of her leaders, mused Iris sarcastically, as she followed Mamba inside the room.

She looked around in awe because... it was mostly empty. Weird. There was a huge map of the continent in the center of the room, though, labeled in large, no-nonsense letters (how can letters even feel that way? Must be written by a no-nonsense fox) that proclaimed, "Lupinox".

She gazed sadly at those letters, upset at what the continent had come to.

Looking away, her gaze rested on a familiar sight that she had so longed to see. "Cobra Lily!" she cried, somehow managing to knock aside Mamba as she leaped over the map and crushed her sister in her embrace.

"Yeah, yeah, Sprout, good to see you too." Cobra Lily smiled. "Now, I kind of need to get up now?'" she reminded Iris.

"Oh! Yeah! Sorry" she smiled, untangling herself from her sister. Spotting Mamba struggling to get up from when she ran over him, she called, "Sorry, Mamba!" He grunted in return, a silly smile on his face.

"Ahem." Ahah. The culprit of the no-nonsense map label...and, wait, were there two of them?!

There were two small practically identical gray foxes (probably siblings) sitting right next to each other with the exact same expression on their faces. Even stranger than the fact that it seemed like they not only looked like each other but acted like each other was that they had starling blue eyes, like ice creeping over Mist Den. They even seemed to radiate coldness. The only thing that was different about them was that the brother was bigger than the sister.

"Hello." rang the female's voice around the room - icy cold with a hint of warmth, just like Iris had imagined.

"Welcome to the Lupin Destroyers," the brother continued, his voice similar but slightly deeper.

"Now, since you are now banished for leaving the border, we will either let you join us or you can leave to become one of the nomads here." the sister added.

Iris shuddered, thinking about the pressing heat of the Territory of the Banished. "I.." she started. The brother's creepy gaze looked straight through her, all the way until it seemed that he had reached her soul. She gasped, then pushed her shoulders back, sat up tall, and tried to put on a brave face. "I'll stay," she told them, hopefully sounding more confident than she felt.

"Good choice," hissed the brother. "Lieutenant Cobra Lily shall now lead you to your quarters and explain the rest of the information."

Iris scrambled to her feet, cursing her clumsy paws in her head. She quickly followed Cobra Lily out of the room, feeling foolish.

Once they were out of earshot, Iris hissed to her sister, "Lieutenant Cobra Lily?!"

"Yeah," Cobra Lily told her offhandedly, waving to a small arctic fox who tripped getting out of her way. "I moved up quickly in the ranks. I think they like me here," she smiled, her eyes glinting mischievously.

She stopped at an opening with vines hanging like the previous ones. "This is your quarters," her sister said teasingly. "We don't have any recruits besides you, but Hunter and Mamba stay across the hall. But be warned- so does the annoying neighbor."

Iris smiled at her sister before stepping into the room. "Not very many amenities," noted Iris sarcastically, taking in the empty room that only had a small camel hide bed and a few shelves.

Cobra Lily snorted. "They're all like this. You'll get used to it. If you want, you can decorate it, but you don't seem to have much stuff to do that," she said, looking Iris up and down. "If you really have to be greedy, I suppose that I could let you have one of my pillows," teased her sister. "I'll let you rest for a bit, then show you around some more. Have fun!" Her sister strolled elegantly out of the room, greeting someone as she left.

Cobra Lily, ever teasing and popular. Iris smiled, before wandering over to the bed. It's been a long day. I suppose I could take a short nap, she thought as she draped her tail over her nose. Just a short one. She yawned, letting exhaustion take hold of her as she closed her eyes and drifted away.