"Goodness, are you okay? You appear to be sick?" Regina says at my dropped mouth.

"You're the co guardian." I stammer.

She laughs. "Of course, dearest. Goodness, word spreads quickly." She says.

"Regina, that on your hoof--" I stammer. She nods in a graceful dip of her neck. "Yes..." She says slowly.

"We need to talk regarding--" I stutter.

She glances at her hooves. "Of course. Come to Jokul, we'll sort this. And bring the resistance leaders, we have resistance soldiers camped out at Jokul, in wait for Catastrophe, but they know that. Goodness, you're freezing, child! I'll fetch you some Winter Black Cherry." 

I think we should wait a tad for my attack. I think we need to contact some other orginazations and see if they have any information on the area we are going to fight in.

I'll start sending messages to different people through my contacts. I just left Catastrophe's base and I'm heading to the Inn right now. Alert me if you change course.

Organizations/places supporting us so far-

The People's Republic of Westshern, Eastern Kyngdom

The Elites

MRC (Mutants re-created)

Windrisen Kingdom, Northern Kyngdom

My native cat kingdom 

I wil help however I can. Tell me what to do.

Hazel~

Anwen! Rain talks about her all the time. How did I not recognize her? I'm glad she's helping.

We exit the hotel and head to the edge of the woods to search. 

The forest is dark, seeming to twist the light into grotesque figures that weave in and out of the undergrowth. Worst of all, it is silent.

"Anwen," I whisper. "Which way do you think she went?"

Anwen shrugs. "I think she probably came out for some fresh air--she doesn't like enclosed spaces very much. So, maybe over there?" She indicates a soft patch of plants at the edge of the woods. I suppose it smelled pretty fresh.

Up close, we find small footprints dotting the moss. The scene swims before my eyes, and suddenly, I look up to find Rain.

She looks at me, turns around, and bounds deeper into the Decoy Forest.

Wordlessly, I take off after her, dodging branches and bushes, calling for Rain to slow down!

I enter a clearing and Rain slides into the deep shadows. Oh no. It was a decoy.

And I left Anwen at the edge of the woods all alone!

I hear sniffling. Curiously, I follow the noise to a sheltered place a little farther into the woods. A deer--Rain--is tossing and turning in it. Is she a decoy? There's only one way to find out...

"Pssst...Rain...wake up..." I whisper, nudging her. She moans.

Then I hear another noise. Footsteps. I look up and Anwen is ploughing through the bushes, her eyes and ears covered. "Hazel, did you find her?" she asks loudly.

"Yes!" I call, being loud so she can hear me. "Well, it could be another trick. But it's at least something. We should take her to the edge...if we can find it."

Anwen only opens her eyes a slit when she gets to Rain and I. "Looks like her," she says, stroking Rain's back soothingly.

"Should we wake her up?" I ask.

Um, well I might not be up to too much fighting, but I was making these human automatons if that would help...I just have to finish the first model, then I can start production.

I am falling. I don't know where I came from, but I think I was asleep. It's cold. I can't stop myself from falling, so I stop trying. I've been falling for a long time, and eventually I fall asleep.

I wake up with a jolt. I realize that I'm three feet away from cold, hard ground and there is nothing I can do to stop myself, so I close my eyes and hope for the best. (Which would probably be breaking only an arm instead of my neck.) Then I hit the ground, and everything goes black.

Slowly, I come to. There are voices close by, and it's warm here. I can't open my eyes, but I feel like I can talk, so I give it a try. "Where I am I?" I whisper. The voices stop, and someone says, "Did she say something?"

I hear footsteps coming over to me where I'm lying on a blanket. Then the person kneels down next to me. I open my eyes, and I get a shock. "Sprocket? Where are we?"

"In an inn() owned by badgers," I say shakily. "What in the heck are you doing here?"

That was scary. We were in the library, talking about plans, when we heard a thump from behind the bookshelves. We went to investigate and found Rae lying on the floor. Moving her to the rug by the fire, we proceeded to try to wake her up. Nothing had worked. Finally she came to.

"I have no idea," she whispered. "I was falling and falling and I couldn't stop and then I hit and blacked out. That was weird."

I laugh. "Seems like you and I have a knack for falling off things."

She gave me a quizical look, one eye partially open. "What?"

"Later," I respond with smile.

Rae, what the heck happened? Why did you fall? 

We've only been here for a couple of hours, and already a bunch of new people and animals have either arrived, gone missing, or passed out. We're discussing war tactics when someone brings up where our troop supply will come from, but the meeting is cut short when more people come in. To top it off, Mina sneds us radio transmissions that she've convinced several organisations and kingdoms to join us, and a girl name Rae falls out of nowhere and blacks out. While she comes to, I talk to Shadow as she helps me catch up on everything.

"...so now the girl, Brynn, is missing, Alexandria has caught back up with Catastrophe's army, Elliot's good, and a cat diner's has opened up."

I nod and thank her for telling me everything when five people burst in through the doorway. But they're wearing uniforms that aren't ours. They're Catastrophe's people.

And the one leading them is the traitor that is my brother. 

Wait...Jake is with Catastrophe? And he's my brother? I'm confused. And why is he looking for Shadow? Does she have information or something?