I silently slip through the chimney of the inn, as I saw Catastrophe's troops enter in through the front door. I quietly set a camera containing data in the opening of the fireplace, so if worst comes worst, it could record what was happening and if we were captured, it would give the Resistance our information and location. Good thing I attached a small tracker to every Resistance member's pin before they got here. And good thing that I slipped a tracker onto the pin of the coat of the commander of one of the sections in Catastrophe's army.

I lower myself and look slowly out at the opening. Two sides stand confronted, and luckily Shadow's the closest to me. I take a very small piece of wood from the fireplace and ligthly throw it at her leg. She looks back slightly but doesn't pay it much attention.

Oh, right. They're all about to have a war. I climb back up the chimney when I reach the roof, and I walk along until I find an open window. I look in (I must seem like a stalker or something by now) and see Icy, sitting on her bed.

I lower myself through the window and she looks up.

"Mina!-"

I rush over and cover her mouth before she can finish. "Army in lobby."

She nods slowly and I take back my paw. "You have any weapons?"

"A knife...?" Icy says, handing one to me.

I shrug and take the knife. "Good enough."

I walk towards the door and she follows, and I can hear voices on the other side. I take a deep breath and open the door. 

People and animals look up suprised, from both sides.

I clear my throat. "H-hey, guys! What's going on?"

"You!" a dog in the front growls. "Traitor!"

I contemplate for a second. "Not sure what that means anymore."

Then a gun fires and hits a wood pannel right beside Shadow.

Once again, everyone's fighting hard. We have bad luck with inns. 

"Badgers? Are we underground?" I say, even though it seems to bright to be underneath the earth.

"No," Sprocket says with a little laugh. "Knowing you, you'd probably run out of here if we were."

"Yeah," I say, "I don't like being underground. I'm too used to SailHaven. Speaking of which..." I trail off, lost in thought.

"Speaking of what?" Sprocket asks. "Oh no...you weren't up there, were you?"

I smile sheepishly. "I was homesick. And mad at Octavia. And- Oh, wow. Did I fall from SailHaven? No wonder it took so long."

She has a horrified expression on her face, and she's staring at me like I'm crazy, which I probably am for going up there when I knew Octavia was in charge. "I'm going to go get you a hot drink, and a pillow so you can sit up," Sprocket says to me. "Then, we need to discuss safety, which I never thought I'd say. Saftey like; don't walk to the edge of a mechanical island in the sky."

She walks over to the counter, and I close my eyes. I'm so tired.

Every one is frozen. The Resistance. Catastrophe-ites. Person at the reception desk. The only people talking are shadow and a dude that just walked through the door. shadow looks like she was just slapped in the face, and the boy is as white as chalk.

I slowly move over to my table with the hummingbird on it and look for anything that could be a weapon. I reach for the peice that would be the beak and pocket it. Then I look back up at everyone.

Our guns are drawn. Their guns are drawn. We were just waiting for someone to make the first move. 

Hazel~

We enter the hotel and my jaw drops. Catastrophe's army--is in the inn. Or at least part of his army.

It's great to be blocking their exit and everything, but Catastrophe's soldiers hardly bat an eyelash at Rain's, Anwen's, and my sudden appearance. This tells me they have some powerful weapons or tools that they know they could fight us (and win) with.

I shift myself, inching my fighting stick out of its fastened spot across my back so that the enemies, who have waltzed through the room like they own the place, don't see me readying my weapon.

"If you don't mind my asking..." I say, hiding my nervousness within an expressionless face, "what do you all want?"

Everyone's confused and silent when someone we hear a gun shot from someone from the other side, missing Shadow. Then more shots break out, and pretty soon the beautiful furniture in the inn is being used as forts to protect those involved.

Then I realize there's only two ways to stop this. Either kill and get killed (we're outnumbered), or I would shift....

I look at Sprocket and shift to her, then standing up with my arms above my head. Luckily, Sprocket stays down.

"We'll stop!" I yell. "Just take one of us? And leave the rest of them alone."

The captain falls for the bait. "Fine, you. You've been on our Wanted lists for a while." 

I feel so weird, but it works. And I look exactly like Sprocket. Down to the finest detail on her mechanical arm.

By chance, Mina realizes what I'm doing, and she holds Sprocket down while they come and take me.

"Isn't there another way to work this out?" Shadow asks. "Honestly, you have to take a prisoner?"

"Or blow this inn up," a soldier replies.

A badger slightly whimpers, and I'm taken outside.

No big deal, they'll find me, hopefully. But I just really hope I can stay as Sprocket the entire time. 

Mina is holding me down, and she doesn't let me up until the-girl-who-looks-like-me and the soldiers are safely out of the room. 

"We have to go save her!" I whisper.

"No," Mina replies kindly but firmly. "She made her decision, and she will have to live with it. Also, we were outnumbered. Bad. If we go after her we will get all of us killed."

I knew she was right, but I still didn't want to accept it. She had done that to save us, and I was grateful to her.

Turning to Rae, I smile. "So, to catch you up.."

Hey Rae, I don't know if you know this, but SailHaven was destroyed. Maybe you could have fallen from the ruins? 

DARN! The one lunch break I have taken so far is during a giant fight. Sorry about that.

They took Gabria, and it's only a matter of time before they come back. Sprocket sits up and starts to talk to Rae, while I talk with Shadow.

"Hey Mina," she says.

I smile. "Hi. It's about time I caught back up with you guys. But first, do you have any extra weapons?"

She smirks. "Oh yeah. We brought extras in case. Here ya go."

She tosses me an Aether pistol and a small knife. "Thanks."

She nods and we both look at the rest of the inn. The badgers and others are working on putting the furniture back together, and we both start working on flipping back over couches and tables. 

"Anything new at all happen since I left?" I ask suddenly.

"Yeah. Harbor came in, and she told us that Mer was destroyed and Heather was killed. And Icy was recovering from when you shot her- yeah, what was that about?"

"Hang on-Mer destroyed, Heather dead?" I ask.

She nods.

"And the reason I didn't tell you I was going back jsut as a spy was because if they captured you and interrogated you if I got caught, you wouldn't know anything. Also, I just needed it to be real to get the perfect reactions from you," I reply.

Shadow narrows her eyes, but I can see a faint trace of a smile. "Cruel, Mina. Cruel."

"Yeah, well at least I didn't shoot to kill," I mutter. I look up at her. "Oh, and by the way, I saw Jake. What was that about?"

She turns a little red and messes with her hair. "Nothing."

I give her a look. "Could you be even more obvious? That guy obviously likes you."

"So?" she asks.

"And you like him ba-ack," I say in a sing-songy voice.

She laughs and pushes me to the side.

After cleaning up, all of us discuss our best course.

"Maybe we could stay here until they show up again and be prepared for it?" someone offers.

"Or we could pursue them," another one brings up. "They have that new Resistance soldier."

"Too risky," Sprocket says, looking over slightly at me.

I nod when Shadow shakes her head. "We can't leave her with them. They think she's actually Sprocket. They'll kill her or do worse."

"Worse?" someone asks.

I clear my throat. "Slow death."

There's a small silence before someone speaks up again.

"So what should we do?"

"I think," I reply. "We should split into two teams- one to get back Gabria and another to go back to the Resistance base to get more help. Then we can all meet at a rendezvous point."

"Good idea," Trillian says. "So how about me, you, Shadow, Sprocket, and Rae go to retrieve Gabria, and Harbor takes everybody else that we can to get back to the base and get help."

After talking about it, we all agree to meet up at a cafe (it's always a cafe) in Northwest Kyngdom.

I nod. "Let's move out." 

@Sprocket, Yeah, that's what I meant. I was writing quickly, and I guess I skipped over that fact. About the ruins, I mean.

"Neike, it's time to go."

I found out where they were going thanks to the trasmissions and directions thanks to Lisa, her sister Candy run's that Cafe (Winter Burrow). I left Heather with Lisa

I wonder what's bothering her. she cracked a bit more today. Maybe she's seeing he Wall.

I hope it's not bad enough to-

"Ok I'm ready Let's go see your friends." Neike has her Fur fluffed out.

"Better then the ater-"

"Shut up Alex!" she's not as hyper as she used to be for obvious reasons. normally she wouldpick me up by the tail.

"Alex arn't you gonna use the Hair-"

"I dont need a hair dryer to fluff up my fur! by the time we get there my 'Special Talent' should kick in!"

My mom's an Artic Fox Anthro

Neike rolls her eyes "What ever you say" she has no Idea about my mother.

I grab a feather out of my bag and grabbed Neike.

"Hold on!"

we later apper at the front enterence. 

"Get behind me," I say to Anwen and Rain. The other girl-Hazel, I think it is-pulls out a fighting staff and says something to Catastrophe's Army, but I don't hear it, because just then gunshots ring through the air, and the inn is a whirl of fighting and shouting. "No." Comes Rain's firm reply from behind me. I can feel her flank trembling against mine, and her eyes are filled with fear, but she stamps her hoof and her voice is defiant. "I'm sorry, Moonshadow. I have to fight with my people." She says. I'm stunned. It isn't like Rain. She's usually so gentle, so helpless, so afraid. But not today. I turn to Anwen with a quizzical look. "She joined the Elites." She says. "I guess she just doesn't want to desert them." I nod. "Go." I say. "Take Icy and go somewhere safe. I heard she's still recovering from being shot. She's in no condition to fight." 

"No! Moonshadow, I'm NOT leaving you!"

I sigh. There seems to be no getting rid of these two. 

"Besides, I'm with the Resistance now." Anwen says in a gentler tone. "You are? I am too!" I reply. 

Our eyes meet in mutual understanding that we have to fight, and all three of us jump into the battle.  

I start to compile all of my supply's in a bag. It seems like we have to do a prison break every other day. Hopefully we can get Gabrina out in time...

We walk in the snow for a long time. Darn snow. Gets everywhere and is absolutely freezing. There was a reason that I risked living in buildings during my times on the streets. At least in winter.

We track the soldiers for about an hour. Their tracks wind through the wood, scuffing up the fallen snow.

We reach a clearing and see the tracks are gone.

"Darn it," I mutter.

"They must have gotten on an airship," shadow sighed. This just made it a whole lot harder.